Happy Birthday, Mr. Dickens!
The 200th birthday of beloved author, Charles Dickens will be celebrated around the world in 2012. With the anniversary of his birth on February 7, 1812, there are numerous events scheduled to mark the occasion, from two new movies and biographies to festivals in Philadelphia, New York, London and his birthplace of Portsmouth, England.
Likewise, msusurplusbooks.com has multiple works of and about the man who was considered the most famous Englishman of his time. A 1929 copy of possibly his most copied work, A Christmas Carol, is illustrated with a full color frontispiece and pen and ink drawings. As with most of Dickens' novels, the holiday classic first appeared as a serial in one of two literary periodicals, Household Words and All the Year Round, that he kept afloat financially through the inclusion of his own sought-after stories. Especially popular were his annual Christmas short stories; one of which, Dr. Marigold's Prescriptions, we are fortunate to have a copy of from 1866, the year after it debuted in All the Year Round.
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In addition to these original works, the Charles Dickens Collection is comprised of A Cyclopedia of the Best Thoughts of Charles Dickens, Where Dickens Dreamed of Little Dorrit and a flier for the 100th anniversary of Dickens' death in 1870 from the British Museum. Published two years after his death, A Cyclopedia of Best Thoughts, is a 98-page softcover copy which serves as a sort of Bartlett's Quotations devoted to just one author. Culturally important as a remnant of the period in which works by Dickens were awaited much like a J.K. Rowling novel or a Stephen Spielberg movie of today, the compilation is combined with the two later publications. Where Dickens Dreamed of Little Dorrit, is an illustrated history of the debtor's prison where Charles' father, John, was incarcerated. Published by the printing business that later occupied the prison, this small twine-bound booklet includes numerous drawings of the prison grounds that informed the setting for Little Dorrit.
We're excited to have these items in our collection and look forward to the new biography, as well as the new movie adaptation of Great Expectations. But The Invisible Woman a movie about Dickens and Nelly Ternan looks most promising. In any event there is no shortage of ways to commemorate Dickens' 200th birthday.
