Karen Sharpe

Charles Dickens Desk Saved For Nation

Although on display at the Charles Dickens Museum in Doughty Street, the desk was privately owned and although it had been passed down through the Dickens family after his death in 1870, it was auctioned for the Great Ormond Street Charitable Trust in 2004.

Dickens used the desk in his final home in Gad’s Hill Place in Kent and Great Expectations, Our Mutual Friend and his unfinished novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood were penned at the desk.

The Charles Dickens Museum in London has been given a £780,000 grant by National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) to buy the desk and chair, which would otherwise have been sold at public auction.

The desk was made famous in two paintings begun the year he died, The Empty Chair by Luke Fildes and Dickens’ Dream by RW Buss.

Charles Dickens Desk & Chair

Charles Dickens’ desk and chair. Photo: © Charles Dickens Museum.

Karen Sharpe

I was born in London and have lived there for most of my life although I have now ‘decamped’ to what is known as the suburbs.
I have worked for an antiques removal/shipping company before joining the Metropolitan Police Force where I enjoyed a varied career for 14years. Since leaving I followed up…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may also like

Crystal Sceptre Given To The City of London by King Henry V On Display At Guildhall

  From 24 October 2015 until 3 December 2015, the Crystal Sceptre given by Henry V to the City of London in grateful thanks for their help in loaning him money for the Battle of Agincourt will be on show at the Guildhall Art Gallery.

Read more

David Hockney Exhibition at Royal Academy of Arts

Read more