Curious Dickens trivia relating to his life and work
1. Dickens’s house had a secret door in the form of a fake bookcase. The fake books included titles such as ‘The Life of a Cat’ in 9 volumes. This was at his home at Gad’s Hill, in Kent. He also reputedly had a series of fake titles called ‘The History of a Short Chancery Suit’ in 47 volumes (a reference to the very long Chancery case which inspired his novel, Bleak House).
2. In his courtship letters to her, Dickens addressed his future wife as ‘dearest Mouse’ and ‘dearest darling Pig’. These were almost certainly meant as terms of endearment, but it’s tempting to respond to them differently from our retrospective position: Dickens’s affection for his wife soon dwindled after they were married, and he seemed to harbour more romantic and sentimental interest in her sisters than in poor Catherine herself. When his sister-in-law Mary Hogarth died suddenly, aged 17, in 1837 (in Dickens’s arms), he was devastated. But his grief appears to have been disproportionate: he kept her clothes in the house and wore her ring for the rest of his life.
3. On days when he gave public readings, Dickens had two tablespoons of rum with fresh cream for breakfast, and a pint of champagne for tea. Half an hour before the start of the reading itself, he would also drink a raw egg beaten into a tumbler of sherry. Dickens’s public readings (of A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist, among others) were hugely popular, both in Britain and America; when he gave his first public reading in America, the line of people in New York City queuing for tickets was almost a mile long.
4. The Oxford English Dictionary credits him with the first use of butter-fingers, crossfire, dustbin, fairy story, slow-coach, and whoosh. He also gets the credit for ‘boredom’ in the Oxford English Dictionary, coined in his novel Bleak House (1852-3), but this has since been traced back even earlier, to 1830.
5. In 2009, an ivory toothpick once used by Charles Dickens was sold at auction for $9,000. Made of ivory and gold, the implement is engraved with Dickens’s initials. It was originally expected to fetch $3,000-$5,000, but the final sale was for a whopping $9,150 (£5,625). An authentication letter written by Dickens’s sister-in-law indicates that Dickens used the toothpick up to his death in 1870.
We have more great Dickensian trivia in our book of literary facts, The Secret Library: A Book-Lovers’ Journey Through Curiosities of History
If you’re looking for an authoritative and engaging biography of Dickens, we’d recommend Peter Ackroyd’s Dickens: Abridged
Image: Young Charles Dickens, c. 1830s, 1905 (republication) after Robert Seymour, public domain.
Pingback: October 19 in Literature: Philip Pullman Born | Interesting Literature
Pingback: Dickens and Catchphrases | Interesting Literature
Pingback: Guest Blog: Why Read Dickens? | Interesting Literature
Pingback: 7 Genuine Names in Dickens: A Dram of Dickensian Characters | Interesting Literature
Pingback: Guest Blog: The State of Victorian Studies | Interesting Literature
Pingback: Special Halloween Post: The Forgotten Victorian Novelist Who Outsold Dickens | Interesting Literature
Pingback: Ten Myths about the Victorians | Interesting Literature
Pingback: 10 T. S. Eliot Poems Everyone Should Read | Interesting Literature
Pingback: 10 Classic Victorian Novels Everyone Should Read | Interesting Literature
Pingback: 100 Interesting Facts about Famous Authors | Interesting Literature
Pingback: 15 Great Facts about Reading for International Literacy Day | Interesting Literature
Pingback: The Best Facts about Classic Authors | Interesting Literature
Pingback: Oliver Twist | Olimpia's Nook
Pingback: 30 Interesting Facts about Books | Interesting Literature
Pingback: cigarettes sale - buy online smokes
Dearest pig. Wow. I’m impressed she married him. He must have been amazing…
Reblogged this on chasingtheturtle.
Pingback: 5 lucruri bizare despre Charles Dickens - Azi Citesc
Reblogged this on misplaced smiles and commented:
Every single day we learn something new…
Huge Dickens fan, here. Love words. Love how in his books he even tells the reader what the horses are thinking! oh to be credited with being a creator of new words! Wow.
Pingback: Scurte #198 | Assassin CG
Truly one of my all-time favorite writers. Dickens also had a strange compulsion regarding his sleeping position: his head had to be pointed north. Whenever he’d stay at a hotel, the management had to rearrange the bed to accommodate their acclaimed guest’s (non)sense of direction.
I just love these facts. Thank you so much for sharing and please keep them comming :)
Pingback: Zero to Hero Day 11: Be a Good Neighbor–Leave Comments on Three New Blogs | Mileventwelve
One of my favorite of the authors we studied in English Lit and Humanities. So much of the human condition in his works.
I’ve nominated you for the Liebster Award. Please have a look at this post for details http://hightimezz.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/award-por-moi/…..you don’t have to join, its up to you :)
Excellent post. I was very struck by the comments on how Dickens prepared for his public readings. I came across a report of his last reading when I was researching in some old newspapers from 1870. Apparently he ended as follows: “from these garish lights I vanish now for evermore, with one heartfelt, grateful, respectful and affectionate farewell”.
I’m just a beginner on learning more about Literature, and I believe that this blog would serve as a great instrument of my learning. Thanks for the follow and stay awesome!
Honestly, I thought I knew quite a bit about Dickens, but a few of these surprised me. Thanks for the great post.
Pingback: Five Fascinating Facts about Charles Dickens | The Book Babe
“‘The Life of a Cat’ in 9 volumes.”
I doubt if both of our cats would warrant a paragraph… Eat, sleep, wage war on string. That’s about it.
Pingback: Five Fascinating Facts about Charles Dickens | roslionel
Another great post, i love learning these little facts
As always, fascinating facts which shed new light for me on a writer whose work I love :)
A pint of champagne for tea aye… that’s an idea with merit.
That toothpick…I feel like it can be a source of comedy or something because of how expensive it is for something so…mundane. Ah, freaking nuts!
Reblogged this on Aquila et Infans.
Pingback: Repost – from InterestingLiterature – Five Fascinating Facts about Charles Dickens | sublime days
Pingback: QUOTE (Charles Dickens) – Feb 7 | A DEVOTED LIFE
The little seaside resort of Broadstairs in Kent, England, celebrates Dickens once a year when half the population dress up in Victorian clothes and roam the streets and top of the white cliffs. Hi favourite holiday haunt, also called “Bleak House”, still stands today and is, I think, still open to the general public as a Dickens museum. I went off Dickens a bit, when I learned how catty he and his family were to fellow writer Hans Christian Andersen, when the poor socially inept drip outstayed his welcome at the Dickens’ family home.
Today is his b’day; Happy Birthday!
6. He shares a birthday with student/blogger extraordinaire the Curious Alouette :P (today!)
7. Dang, he was attractive when he was young.
He shares a birthday with me too :D
Happy birthday!
Thanks :) You too!
Very interesting! I love the fake bookcase and books … very fascinating to know where his “Chancery” inspiration for Bleak House came from! I’ve always wondered. Thanks so much for yet another intriguing post :)
Fun and interesting facts, thank you.
Reblogged this on Balloons Away.
I doubt if anyone would use a single interdens brush for years and authenticate it for auction in the same way as the ivory and gold one. I can’t help but wonder………….does the buyer USE IT!!!
Reblogged this on Wordz on a Page and commented:
Very interesting
Reblogged this on Wordz on a Page and commented:
Very interesting
Reblogged this on ISIDORO C. GOMEZ.
Good to read this, especially after just reviewing A Tale of Two Cities at some length (hope you enjoyed it!).
Has anyone seen the film “Invisible Woman?” An interesting book (fiction) about his affair with a much younger woman is Wanting by Richard Flanagan.
In the words of Spock, “fascinating”
Reblogged this on 1WriteWay and commented:
Some interesting facts about Charles Dickens. I don’t think his liquid fortifications for public speaking would have served me very well ;)
And to think that now people are more likely to form a mile-long queue for an iPhone. These are very interesting facts about Dickens, a truly great writer.
This makes me want to read more about him. Any suggestions for books?
Can I suggest Claire Tomalin’s The Invisible Woman? There is a film adaptation doing the rounds, though I’ve not yet read the book nor seen the film. Tomalin has also written a recent well-acclaimed biography of Dickens.
Thanks!
Hope you get a chance to read the book and/or see the film, Naomi — apparently they’ve taken a few dramatic liberties towards the end of the movie but Claire Tomalin approves so that’s alright then!
My favourite is still great expectations!
“But his grief appears to have been disproportionate: he kept her clothes in the house and wore her ring for the rest of his life.” — Could have been worse; he could have worn her clothes for the rest of his life! :P.
Such an interesting post!
I live near Portsmouth where Dickens came from. They are going to put up a statue soon I think. Does that count as an interesting fact? :-)
Very interesting! Thank you for sharing.
It’s not a good idea to have all that cream for breakfast, is it?
Oh how I love reading these :)!
Reblogged this on Anakin's reveries in multiverses and commented:
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/02/07/charles-dickens-on-grief-bereavement/
If I drank and ate what he did before a reading I’d turn up, puke, then fall asleep.