In 1837, a baby-faced, wavy-haired 25-year-old Charles Dickens moved into 48 Doughty Street. In the two short years that he, his wife Catherine and their two eldest kids called the Clerkenwell address home, the author penned The Pickwick Paper, Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby. The property was then used as a boarding house before being bought and saved from demolition by the Dickens Fellowship in 1923, opening as the Dickens Museum two years later.
Taking up two small rooms on the first and second floors of the building, the museum’s centenary exhibition, Dickens in Doughty Street, illustrates the life and legacy of one of London’s greatest writers via letters, manuscripts, rare first editions, sketches and the cheesy love poems he wrote at 18 (thought to be his earliest surviving writing).
The exhibit begins with a timeline of Charles’s portraits, tracing him from his 20s (modelling the aforementioned luscious locks) through to his 50s (sporting his signature ‘doorknocker’ beard). Move through the space and there are several cabinets showcasing manuscripts animated with scribbles, annotations and ink blotches, a wall displaying illustrations of his beloved stories and characters, like Little Nell and Fagin, and the court suit he wore to meet the royals just two months before his death (the only remaining suit of his in the world).
If The Muppets Christmas Carol is as far as your Dickens knowledge stretches, this is still an accessible showcase
A speaker plays extracts from four Dickens-related items on repeat, including a letter he drafted about the breakdown of his marriage, and a passage from his biography by close friend John Forster. On the floor above, the exhibits are soundtracked by a selection of behind-the-scenes insights into the museum's history. They’re slightly jarring as you try to take in the written text around the room, but offer some interesting little tidbits if you actually stop to listen.
Dotted through the rest of the house are maroon signs indicating other items related to the exhibition and deemed particularly important to Dickens’ life. Much of these, like the writing desk at which he wrote Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities are permanent pieces in the house. Granted, the space is small, but it feels a little disjointed to make these a part of the exhibition yet separate from the exhibition rooms themselves.
If The Muppets Christmas Carol is as far as your Dickens knowledge stretches, this is still an accessible showcase. At the very least, you’ll recognise the hand-written extract of A Christmas Carol’s famous concluding line: ‘and so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us everyone.’ You’ll leave feeling endeared to Dickens and charmed by the fervent admiration the museum evidently has for its subject.
