The Old Curiosiry Shop

Text Penguin English Library, ed. Angus Easson, introduction by

Malcolm Andrews (I 972).

Composition Begun early in I84o, completed at the beginning of

I84I (the final number appearing on 6 February). For details, see
below. For the composition of the closing chapters, Dickens made
his first known number-plans- memoranda to assist him in working
out the plot. Manuscript and portion of corrected proofs in Forster
Collection.

Serialization 40 instalments in Master Humphrey's Clock (see above):

the first on 25 April I84o, the second on I6 May, and thereafter
weekly until6 February I841. Division as follows: I (Ch. I); II (Ch.
2 ); III (Chs 3-4); IV (Ch. 5); V (Chs 6-7); VI (Ch. 8); VII (Chs 9-
w); VIII (Chs I I-I2); IX (Chs I3-I4); X (Chs I5-I6); XI (Chs
q-I8); XII (Chs I9-2o); XIII (Chs 2I-2); XIV (Chs 23-4); XV
(Chs 25-6); XVI (Chs 27-8); XVII (Chs 29-30); XVIII (Chs 3I-
2); XIX (Chs 33-4); XX (Chs 35-6); XXI (Ch. 37); XXII (Chs
38-9); XXIII (Chs 40-I); XXIV (Chs 42-3); XXV (Chs 44-5);
XXVI (Chs 46-7); XXVII (Chs 48-g); XXVIII (Chs 5o-I); XXIX
(Chs 52-3); XXX (Chs 54-5); XXXI (Chs 56-7); XXXII (Chs
58-9); XXXIII (Chs 6o-I); XXXIV (Chs 62-3); XXXV (Chs
64-5); XXXVI (Ch. 66); XXXVII (Chs 67-8); XXXVIII (Chs
69-70); XXXIX (Chs 7I-2); XL (Ch. 73). Illustrations by 'Phiz'
and George Cattermole. Portions of the manuscript were omitted
from the serial version for reasons of space; since the first volume-
edition follows the text of the serial issue in most respects, these
passages have usually not been restored. A selection of the cancelled
passages is included in the notes to the Penguin edition. See also
Angus Easson's essay in Dickens Studies Annual (I970). The serializ-
ation of The Old Curiosiry Shop restored the failing fortunes of Master
109

N. Page, A Dickens Companion

© Norman Page 1984
I IO Dickens' Writings
Humphrey's Clock, which had started with a sale of7o,ooo but quickly
dropped to so,ooo. By the end of its serialization the circulation of
the periodical had reached the staggering figure of I oo,ooo- a
record unequalled by any other of Dickens' major novels.

Publication Published in one volume by Chapman & Hall in I84I.

A preface and a dedication to Samuel Rogers were added. Another
preface was later written for the 'First Cheap Edition' in I848.

Reception For details of the public response to Little Nell, see

below. The circulation figures for the final part of the story (see
above) speak for themselves. Nell was hailed as a character of
Shakespearean profundity, and 'comparisons with Cordelia and
Imogen were frequent' (Philip Collins). As Professor Collins also
notes, the enthusiasm was not restricted to unsophisticated readers
or popular and middle-brow periodicals: even the Westminster
Review could regard Nell as 'the happiest and most perfect of
Dickens's sketches'. Other important elements in the novel-for
example, the comedy associated with Dick Swiveller and the
grotesque figure of Quilp- received less attention.

The novel was hugely successful on both sides of the Atlantic.

Forster said that it served 'more than any other of [Dickens'] works to
make the bond between himself and his readers one of personal
attachment'. Dickens' emotional involvement in his heroine's fate
was considerable: Forster commented that he 'never knew him wind
up any tale with such sorrowful reluctance as this. He caught at any
excuse to hold his hand from it ... ';and Dickens wrote in a letter
to Forster (?8January I84I ), 'I am the wretchedest of the wretched.
It [Nell's death] casts the most horrible shadow upon me, and it is as
much as I can do to keep moving at all .... Nobody will miss her
like I shall .... Dear Mary died yesterday, when I think of this sad
story.' (Mary Hogarth, Dickens' sister-in-law, had died on 7 May
I837 at the age of seventeen.)
Dickens' emotions were shared by at least some of his readers. His
actor-friend Macready noted in his diary (2 I January I 84 I): 'Asked
Dickens to spare the life of Nell in his story'; when the instalment
containing Nell's death arrived, he wrote, 'I dread to read it, but I
must get it over.' The once-ferocious critic Lord jeffrey was found in
tears: 'You'll be sorry to hear', he remarked, 'that little Nelly, Boz's
little Nelly, is dead.' (It is a sign of how quickly fashions in taste and