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Charles Dickens

Image credit: National Portrait Gallery, London

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This pose shows Dickens at a specially-designed reading desk, reflecting a new stage of his high-profile career, that of a public reader of his works from 1858 onwards. The portrait was made at St Martin's Hall, London on 29 April 1858, the first of a series of public readings during the London season that year. He went on to tour cities including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast and Dublin, where his selection included passages from 'The Pickwick Papers', 'Martin Chuzzelwit' and 'The Story of Little Dombey'. Other regional tours followed in the autumns of 1859 and 1861–1862 before Dickens later embarked on a highly successful reading tour of America (1867–1868).

National Portrait Gallery, London

London

Title

Charles Dickens

Date

1858

Medium

albumen print, arched top

Measurements

H 20.3 x W 15.1 cm

Accession number

P301(20)

Acquisition method

purchased, 1985

Work type

Photograph

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National Portrait Gallery, London

St Martin’s Place, London, Greater London WC2H 0HE England

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