Charles Dickens

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Standard Name: Dickens, Charles
Birth Name: Charles John Huffam Dickens
Indexed Name: Charles Dickens
Pseudonym: Boz
Pseudonym: Timothy Sparks
A prolific novelist, journalist, and editor of periodicals such as Household Words and All the Year Round, CD crucially shaped Victorian fiction both by developing it as a dialogical, multi-plotted, and socially aware form and by his innovations in publishing serially. As a novelist he worked across a range of genres, including the bildungsroman, picaresque, Newgate, sensation and detective fiction, and usually with satiric or socially critical force. He was loved by readers for his humour, grotesquerie, action, and vigour. An influential public figure and phenomenally successful lecturer during his lifetime, his work continues to be central to popular understandings of nineteenth-century England, and in particular London.
Head-and-shoulders daguerrotype of Charles Dickens by Jeremiah Gurney of New York City, 1867-8. Dickens has a goatee beard, moustache, and hair combed forward on each side of his bald patch.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Occupation Barbarina Brand Baroness Dacre
Pastimes at The Hoo included fox-hunting and an annual race-meeting, but also private theatricals (like those of Bulwer-Lytton at nearby Knebworth), for which BBBD both wrote and performed. She also joined with Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Publishing Marguerite Gardiner Countess of Blessington
Marguerite Blessington agreed to write a society gossip column for Dickens 's Daily News (launched on 21 January).
Molloy, Joseph Fitzgerald. The Most Gorgeous Lady Blessington. 4th ed., Downey, 1896.
410
Friends, Associates Marguerite Gardiner Countess of Blessington
To her many friends and visitors Lady Blessington soon added the exiled Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte , John Forster , and in the early 1840s, Charles Dickens .
Molloy, Joseph Fitzgerald. The Most Gorgeous Lady Blessington. 4th ed., Downey, 1896.
340-1, 376, 419-0
After Louis Napoleon's escape...
Publishing Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton first Baron Lytton
Edward Bulwer-Lytton , as the author of Rienzi, published his two-volume occult novel A Strange Story. It was first commissioned by his friend Charles Dickens for the magazine All the Year Round.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
“Dictionary of Literary Biography online”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC.
21
The Athenaeum Index of Reviews and Reviewers: 1830-1870. http://replay.web.archive.org/20070714065452/http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/~asp/v2/home.html.
1790 (15 February 1862): 219-21
Friends, Associates Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton first Baron Lytton
His friends included Benjamin Disraeli , Charles Dickens , John Forster , and Thomas Babington Macaulay . Later in life he conducted a long, mentoring friendship by letter with Mary Elizabeth Braddon . He also...
Friends, Associates Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton first Earl Lytton
His international travel and family ties to England's literary scene ensured him a wide social circle. He knew Charles Dickens , John Forster , and Frances Mary Peard . While living in Florence, he became...
Textual Features Joan Aiken
Dickens , whose novels JA and her sister heard their mother reading aloud when they were children, is a shaping influence on these works: their teeming characters (with names like Miss Slighcarp and in later...
Friends, Associates William Harrison Ainsworth
At his home in Kensal Green he hosted many Victorian literary lions including Charles Dickens , William Makepeace Thackeray , Douglas Jerrold , William Wordsworth , and illustrator and collaborator George Cruikshank .
Corey, Melinda, and George Ochoa, editors. The Encyclopedia of the Victorian World. Henry Holt and Company, 1996.
Sutherland, John, b. 1938. The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford University Press, 1989.
The Concise Dictionary of National Biography: From Earliest Times to 1985. Oxford University Press, 1992, 3 vols.
Education Louisa May Alcott
LMA frequently attended lectures in Boston, and was present for the speeches of both William Makepeace Thackeray and Charles Dickens . Though she adored Dickens's writings, she judged him in person to be an old dandy.
qtd. in
Stern, Madeleine B., and Louisa May Alcott. “Introduction”. The Journals of Louisa May Alcott, edited by Joel Myerson et al., Little, Brown, 1989, pp. 3-39.
14
Friends, Associates Hans Christian Andersen
HCA dedicated his book A Poet's Day Dreams to Charles Dickens , whom he visited in 1857. He also, while visiting England, stayed with William and Mary Howitt at The Elms, Lower Clapton. Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Education Maya Angelou
Marguerite Johnson had already become a voracious reader, both of Black writers and of canonical dead white males. Shakespeare , she wrote later, was my first white love.
Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Heinemann New Windmill Series, 1995.
12
She also enjoyed and respected...
Intertextuality and Influence Maya Angelou
On the glamorous idea of touring with a show in Europe, MA writes that her images of London came from Dickens and Winston Churchill , her images of Paris from Guy de Maupassant , and...
Birth Daisy Ashford
Margaret Mary Julia Ashford (who wrote as DA ) was born at Elm Lodge in Petersham, Surrey, a house once inhabited by Dickens and now the home of her paternal grandmother and her aunt...
Education Daisy Ashford
DA 's mother, Emma , was an avid reader, and an unconventional amateur writer whose verses included brisk lines, slang, and knockabout humour.
Malcomson, R. M. Daisy Ashford: Her Life. Chatto & Windus, 1984.
53
She inscribed books that she gave away as gifts...
Textual Production Beryl Bainbridge
She later said the non-realism of this tale had dissatisfied her. She acknowledged the influence on it of Dickens and Robert Louis Stevenson , and then judged that the best bits . . . have...

Timeline

February 1778: Franz Anton Mesmer, inventor of animal magnetism,...

Building item

February 1778

Franz Anton Mesmer , inventor of animal magnetism, arrived in Paris to promote his theory.
Darnton, Robert. Mesmerism: and the End of the Enlightenment in France. Harvard University Press, 1968.
3-4

15 February 1791: The actress Harriet Pye Esten (daughter of...

Writing climate item

15 February 1791

The actress Harriet Pye Esten (daughter of novelist Anna Maria Bennett ) gave a highly successful recitation at Covent Garden Theatre of William Collins 's Ode on the Passions.
Maycock, Christopher. A Passionate Poet: Susanna Blamire, 1747-94: A Biography. Hypatia, 2003.
91-2

3 June 1829: Publisher Henry Colburn went into partnership...

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3 June 1829

Publisher Henry Colburn went into partnership with Richard Bentley (1794 - ­1871) (who, in order to do this, had just dissolved the partnership between himself and his brother Samuel Bentley as printers).
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
under Richard Bentley, 1794-1871

1830: William Bradbury and Frederick Mullet Evans...

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1830

William Bradbury and Frederick Mullet Evans went into partnership and established the publishing firm of Bradbury and Evans in London.
Rose, Jonathan, and Patricia J. Anderson, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 106. Gale Research, 1991.
106: 62

4 February 1832: Robert and William Chambers began publishing...

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4 February 1832

Robert and William Chambers began publishing the weekly Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.
Sutherland, John, b. 1938. The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford University Press, 1989.
112-13
Mitchell, Sally. Dinah Mulock Craik. Twayne, 1983.
19
Cox, Michael, editor. The Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press, 2002, 2 vols.

1833: Edward Lloyd, trained as a stenographer at...

Writing climate item

1833

Edward Lloyd , trained as a stenographer at a Mechanics Institute, established his own publishing firm with the appearance of Lloyd's Stenography, written, published, and promoted by himself.
Rose, Jonathan, and Patricia J. Anderson, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 106. Gale Research, 1991.
106: 173-4

January 1835: John Macrone established his own publishing...

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January 1835

John Macrone established his own publishing business at 3 St James Street, London.
Rose, Jonathan, and Patricia J. Anderson, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 106. Gale Research, 1991.
106: 196

4 November 1836: Richard Bentley (1794-1871) signed an agreement...

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4 November 1836

Richard Bentley (1794-1871) signed an agreement with Dickens to edit his new monthly periodical, Bentley's Miscellany.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
under Richard Bentley, 1794-1871
Sutherland, John, b. 1938. The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford University Press, 1989.
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.

3 May 1841: The London Library, established by Thomas...

National or international item

3 May 1841

The London Library , established by Thomas Carlyle with Harriet Martineau , Dickens , Thackeray , and others, first opened its doors.
The London Library. http://www.londonlibrary.co.uk.
“OSA Staff”. Oxford Spires Academy.
“Members’ News”. The Author, No. 29, 1 Sept.–30 Nov. 2015, p. 31.

March 1843: The Society of British Authors was forme...

Writing climate item

March 1843

The Society of British Authors was formed.
Sutherland, John, b. 1938. “The Institutionalisation of the British Book Trade of the 1890s”. Development of English Book Trade: 1700-1899, edited by Robin Myers and Michael Harris, Oxford Polytechnic Press, 1981.
101

1844: The Ragged School Union was founded and began...

Building item

1844

The Ragged School Union was founded and began opening schools in the slums of great cities.
Martin, Christopher. A Short History of English Schools, 1750-1965. Wayland, 1979.
16, 110
Borer, Mary Cathcart. Willingly to School: A History of Women’s Education. Lutterworth Press, 1976.
257
Mitchell, Sally, editor. Victorian Britain: An Encyclopedia. Garland Press, 1988.
661

1851: Johann and Bertha Ronge established at Hampstead...

Building item

1851

Johann and Bertha Ronge established at Hampstead the first kindergarten in England, a school designed to foster physical and mental development in young children.
Storey, Graham et al., editors. The Letters of Charles Dickens, Volume Seven 1853-1855. Vol. 7, Clarendon Press, 1993.
520

2 September 1852: The Manchester Free Library, the first major...

Building item

2 September 1852

The Manchester Free Library , the first major British public lending library, opened in Manchester.
Black, Alistair. A New History of the English Public Library: Social and Political Contexts, 1850-1914. Leicester University Press, 1996.
70
Kelly, Thomas. A History of Public Libraries in Great Britain 1845-1975. 2nd ed., Library Association, 1977.
27
Uglow, Jennifer S. Elizabeth Gaskell: A Habit of Stories. Faber and Faber, 1993.
303-4

28 August 1857: The Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act, also...

National or international item

28 August 1857

The Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act, also known as the Divorce Act, made divorce more readily available, but on unequal grounds for women and men.
Hammerton, A. James. Cruelty and Companionship: Conflict in Nineteenth-Century Married Life. Routledge, 1992.
199
Herstein, Sheila R. A Mid-Victorian Feminist: Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon. Yale University Press, 1985.
92
Weeks, Jeffrey. Sex, Politics and Society: The Regulation of Sexuality since 1800. Longman, 1981.
20, 24
Shanley, Mary Lyndon. Feminism, Marriage, and the Law in Victorian England. Princeton University Press, 1989.
378
The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Printed by J. Bentham, 1762–2025.
637
Donoghue, Emma. “Author’s Note”. The Sealed Letter, Picador, 2011, pp. 465-74.
473

4 June 1859: Household Words merged with Charles Dickens's...

Writing climate item

4 June 1859

Household Words merged with Charles Dickens 's new periodical All the Year Round.
Ackroyd, Peter. Dickens. HarperCollins, 1990.
850

Texts

Dickens, Charles, and John Leech. A Christmas Carol. Chapman and Hall, 1843.
Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1859.
Dickens, Charles et al. “An Introduction”. Legends and Lyrics, Fifteenth, George Bell and Sons, 1874, p. xi - xxxi.
Dickens, Charles, editor. Bentley’s Miscellany. R. Bentley.
Dickens, Charles, and Hablot Knight Browne. Bleak House. Bradbury and Evans, 1853.
Dickens, Charles, and Hablot Knight Browne. David Copperfield. Bradbury and Evans, 1850.
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. Chapman and Hall, 1861, 3 vols.
Dickens, Charles. Hard Times. Bradbury and Evans, 1854.
Dickens, Charles, editor. Household Words. Bradbury and Evans.
Lohrli, Anne, and Charles Dickens. Household Words: A Weekly Journal 1850-1859. University of Toronto Press, 1973.
Procter, Adelaide et al. Legends and Lyrics. New Edition, Bell and Daldy, 1866.
Procter, Adelaide, and Charles Dickens. Legends and Lyrics. 15th ed., George Bell and Sons, 1874.
Dickens, Charles, and Hablot Knight Browne. Little Dorrit. Bradbury and Evans, 1857.
Dickens, Charles, and George Cruikshank. Oliver Twist. R. Bentley, 1838, 3 vols.
Dickens, Charles, and Marcus Stone. Our Mutual Friend. Chapman and Hall, 1865, 2 vols.
Dickens, Charles, and George Cruikshank. Sketches by Boz. J. Macrone, 1836, 2 vols.
Dickens, Charles. The Letters of Charles Dickens. Editors House, Madeline and Graham Storey, Pilgrim Edition, Clarendon Press, 2002, 12 vols.
Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Chapman and Hall, 1839.
Dickens, Charles, and Luke Fildes. The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Chapman and Hall, 1870.
Dickens, Charles et al. The Old Curiosity Shop. Chapman and Hall, 1841.
Dickens, Charles et al. The Pickwick Papers. Chapman and Hall, 1837.
Procter, Adelaide, and Charles Dickens. The Poems of Adelaide A. Procter. Complete Edition, James R. Osgood, 1873.