Here at Curated Books, some of our oldest and most beautiful wares date back to circa 1850. One of the most popular authors around this time was none other than Mr Charles Dickens, an English writer and social critic. Within his lifetime, his works were celebrated with unprecedented popularity, and by the twentieth century both scholars and critics hailed him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories continue to be popular today, and he has created some of the world’s most well known fictional characters; Dickens’ works continue to inspire various adaptions in every artistic genre.

His life began in southern England, born in Portsmouth to a struggling family – he was forced to leave school and work in a factory when his father was thrown into a debtor’s prison. Despite little formal education, over his career he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas and hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles.

He rose to fame in 1836, with the serial publication The Pickwick Papers. Just a few years later, he had gained international celebrity status within the literary world, famous for his satire, humour and keen observation of character and society. His novels were often published in monthly or weekly instalments, which pioneered the serial publication of narrative fiction; which became the dominant Victorian mode for novel publication. Dickens used this to his advantage to shape his plotlines and comment on what was occurring in society at the time, and he used the instalment format to gauge audience reaction and weave in topical elements surrounding current affairs.

This style of publishing also opened up Dickens’ work to a new class of readers – many of the illiterate poor would chip in ha’pennies to gather round and have each new monthly episode read to them, with similar excitement to our modern day soaps and television serials!

Dickens’ life was not without controversy. He was married early on to his first wife with whom he had ten children, but in 1857 he helped Wilkie Collins pen the play The Frozen Deep. For this they hired a professional actress, Ellen Ternan, with whom Dickens fell madly in love with. Despite going strongly against Victorian convention, he separated from his wife (divorce at this time was simply unheard of, especially for someone as famous as he!) to be with Ellen, and their passion lasted until his death in 1870. Couldn’t write it if you tried!

Next week we will take a closer look at some of Dicken’s specific works; the most popular, and some of the lesser known, obscure pieces. In the mean time, take a look at our Antiquarian leather bound collection, for your own slice of Dickensian drama!

Dickens with his wife, Catherine, whom he left aged 45 for an 18 year old actress!