Collecting 101

1.

Early Life

On 7 February 1812, Charles John Huffam Dickens was born in Portsmouth, the second of eight children. While the family was middle class by origin, they enjoyed little stability, due to the financial ineptitude of Charles’ father, John Dickens.

The family moved to London when Charles was 10, into a less-than-salubrious part of Camden Town. There, the precarious situation only worsened, and by 1824, John was sent to debtor’s prison and the 12-year old Charles was forced to leave school to earn his keep. For three formative years, he worked in a blacking factory, where he developed a keen sense of the injustice of his circumstances. The feelings of oppression and isolation never left him, driving much of his fiction, perhaps most famously Oliver Twist.

2.

Sketches by Boz and The Pickwick Papers

After his time in the factory, and an unhappy stint in London’s law courts, Dickens finally found rewarding work as a journalist. He joined his uncle’s newspaper, the Mirror of Parliament, in 1831 and quickly earned a reputation as a distinguished parliamentary reporter.

In 1833, Dickens’ first literary work appeared in the Monthly Magazine: a short story of middle-class manners, which was followed by several more stories over the next year. It was during this time that Dickens started using the pen name ‘Boz’, whose sketches of London life drew much favourable attention. After featuring in various papers, the young writer was offered his first publishing deal. Sketches by Boz was published in two volumes in 1836, with illustrations by the celebrated caricaturist George Cruikshank.

Following the success of Sketches by Boz, Dickens was commissioned to write the letterpress for a series of illustrations by the comic artist, Robert Seymour. It was for this project that the character of Samuel Pickwick was born, which culminated in The Pickwick Papers. Published in monthly parts beginning in March, it was an instant hit and catapulted Dickens into the literary limelight. Just a month after the first part appeared, he married Catherine Hogarth. The couple would go on to have 10 children, and a somewhat miserable marriage, before eventually separating in 1858.

3.

'They flock around me as if I were an idol' - Success

In 1837, Dickens took a job as editor of a new monthly magazine, Bentley’s Miscellany. For two years, the publication was edited by ‘Boz’, with illustrations by Cruikshank, and featured a serialised version of Oliver Twist. Dickens left the magazine in 1839 but continued to produce works in serial form.

Soon, Dickens’ fame spread beyond the UK, and in 1842, he and Catherine set sail for the USA, to embark on a five-month book tour. He received a hero’s welcome, greeted by local dignitaries and cheering crowds. But the excitement quickly wore off and Dickens found himself exasperated by several aspects of American law and society, from the absence of an international copyright agreement to the horrors of slavery. Upon his return, he wrote a scathing account of his experience, American Notes, for General Circulation, proclaiming “All that is loathsome, drooping, or decayed is here.”

Over the course of the next two decades, Dickens’ output was prolific. He produced over a dozen novels, including seminal works such as A Christmas Carol (1843), David Copperfield (1849-50) and Great Expectations (1861). His characters captured the public imagination and the recurring themes of poverty and social injustice resonated with audiences across the class spectrum. Dickens was highly innovative and launched a series of public readings of his works. An entertainer at heart, he relished the opportunity to take to the stage, and his stories proved themselves particularly well suited to performance.

4.

Death & Legacy

On 8 June 1870, Dickens was at home working on his latest novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, when he suffered a stroke and lost consciousness. He died the next day, aged just 58. As a beloved public figure, he was buried in Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey, where thousands of mourners gathered to pay their respects.

The legacy of Dickens has been virtually inescapable for all novelists that have proceeded him. Writers from different cultures and periods have acknowledged his influence, from Dostoevsky to James Joyce, John Irving to Zadie Smith. His works have been repeatedly adapted for stage and screen, his characters and quotes becoming part of our collective consciousness.

5.

On the Market

New collectors are often delighted to discover how accessible Dickens editions can be. Thanks to the author’s prolific output, and the various formats in which his works were produced, there are many entry points for the modern bibliophile. A first edition “in book form” (i.e. its first appearance in a single volume) can be found at auction for as little as £50 to £100. At the other end of the spectrum, a copy of an important work with an inscription by the author can fetch tens of thousands of pounds.

One of the most popular starting points for collecting Dickens is the much-loved A Christmas Carol. While rare examples can fetch large sums, such as this first trial issue, sold by Bonhams for $16,562 inc. premium, there are more affordable copies on the market with first-edition copies starting at £300.