Dickensblog

Dickens: The wallpaper

Check this out! Mura Innovations in the U.K. has a wallpaper featuring Dickens characters, from the illustrations drawn by Joseph Clayton Clarke, a.k.a. "Kyd." It's part of their retro collection, which can be seen here. Wouldn't you just love to have this on a wall?

The company has very kindly offered me a framed print featuring the wallpaper. I'll post a picture when it gets here!

New Knickerbocker editions

A new flexibound edition of A Tale of Two Cities from Knickerbocker Classics, with a new introduction by Brian Bartell, comes out on Tuesday. The same publisher has already released Oliver Twist, and plans to release Great Expectations in February.

'A Tale of Two Cities' writing gloves

What could be better than having Dickens's words all over your hands when you're writing? I fell in love with these gorgeous writing gloves when Rachel McMillan got a pair, and I just had to get a pair for myself! They're not just beautiful and literary, they're also very helpful if you have a problem with cold hands when you're typing, as I tend to do.

Rare Dickens program on DVD

Creative Arts Television has made avaliable a DVD of the 1958 television special "London by Dickens," starring Alan Bates, which draws from many of Dickens's lesser-known writings. Thanks to Patrick McCarthy of the Dickens Forum for the tip!

(In case you're wondering, as I was, The Pic-Nic Papers mentioned in the description is not a typo. There really was such a work.)

From Dickens to Eliot

Now on display at the Dover Street Bookshop in Mayfair is a presentation copy of A Tale of Two Cities, inscribed by Dickens to George Eliot "with high admiration and regard." The book is priced at 275,000 pounds. If you're not anywhere near Mayfair, you can see a picture of it here!

7 Quick Takes, birthday edition

No, it's not the big day yet -- not for another two-and-a-half weeks -- but we're drowning in birthday news tonight!

• How and where to celebrate: Here's a list of Dickensian things to do and see in Philadelphia, Seattle, New York City, Baton Rouge, Dallas, the University of Leicester, and the University of Delaware. And of course there are all kinds of birthday bashes going on in Portsmouth. But this one's my favorite: The Groundlings Theatre in Portsmouth is turning into a "living museum," complete with a reenactment of the ball -- held at that very theater -- where Dickens's mother went into labor with him. Now that's what I call an authentic celebration.
• In my neck of the woods, there are a couple of historical walks, one in February and one in April.
• TIME magazine pays tribute with an article about Dickens (online it's subscriber-only; I haven't been able to find the print version yet) and a promise to blog about "his ten best books," starting Jan. 26. It also has a brief rundown of celebrations going on in London, Portsmouth, and New York.
• Britain's National Schools Partnership has created a new student resource pack, "What the Dickens?" The Times Educational Supplement promotes it here.
• The Wall Street Journal gets into the act with this article. It too is subscriber-only, but since I'm a subscriber, I'll treat you to a sample: ". . . Dickens is not safe, he is not 'heritage.' He is fierce, ferocious and formidable. No one has depicted the homeless with more sorrow and pity and terror than Dickens. He depicted them from both sides: from middle-class safety, looking outward, and from their own point of view, looking at a world that seems to offer such richness and happiness to everyone else. And then, as an act of mediation, he moves us between the two worlds so that we understand both." 
• Star Jeremy Irvine talks up the forthcoming Great Expectations feature film in this short interview.
• One more thing: We need readers for the charity fundraiser, folks! We've had several people express interest, but no one (except yours truly) has actually signed on yet. If you need help, just ask -- I'm more than happy to do whatever I can.

A tale of two fans

Next time someone suggests that my obsession with Dickens borders on unhealthy, I'm going to point them to this guy. He makes me look tame! (My word, how I'd love to get a look at his collection . . . )

And here's a lovely story about another longtime fan and Dickens Fellowship member, who's celebrating her 100th birthday as Dickens has his 200th. And like him, she's from Portsmouth. May she have a wonderful year!

7 Quick Takes Saturday

There wasn't enough room in yesterday's 7 Quick Takes Friday to cover all the recent items of interest. So here's a sequel!

• The Niagara Advance has a cool story about how one Canadian man's love of Dickens got him an invitation to Buckingham Palace.
• The Londonist has a roundup of bicentennial events taking place in the city.
• In a case of terrible timing, the Charles Dickens Museum is closing for renovations for several months this year.
• A new Irish film version of A Christmas Carol "was cast, crewed, financed and distributed via Facebook . . . with everyone working for nothing." And you can rent it through the film's Facebook page.
• The Independent asks, "Is Dickens suitable for children?"
• A New Jersey middle school might have the answer to that: It held its sixth annual "Dancing with Dickens" event last month, and according to this report, the students had a blast.
• Dickens has a crater on Mercury named after him! Who knew?

7 Quick Takes Friday

• The A.V. Club reviews three versions of A Christmas Carol: the 1970 animated version with the voice of Alastair Sim, the 1984 adaptation with George C. Scott, and my childhood favorite Mickey's Christmas Carol. Reviewer Zack Handlen observes: "There’s a reason this story gets told again and again: It just makes sense, in a way that’s hard to pinpoint, the way some stories seem to have existed long before anyone ever thought to put them down in words." Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times has a photo gallery of both film and stage Scrooges through the years.
• Here's a nice story about a family who really, really love A Christmas Carol.
• Thanks to James Clarke for letting us know that another of his short films about Dickens has gone online.
• The Guardian's John Mullan names Miss Wade from Little Dorrit one of the 10 best literary governesses. Um . . . define best.
• Salvation Army volunteer John Garenkooper had the brilliant idea of dressing up as Dickens to collect donations.
• Speaking of donations, here's another plug for our bicentennial charity fundraiser. If you're interested in participating, don't forget to get your page set up and start recruiting sponsors. The kickoff date for the readathon, January 1, is just a little more than a week away!
• On a personal note, I had the good fortune of seeing Gerald Dickens perform A Christmas Carol again, for the third year in a row. (And got my picture taken with him for the third year in a row -- see below.) He signed my copy of A Tale of Two Cities this time; I told him I'm going to keep coming back until I have a complete set of Dickens novels signed by him! While at the Golden Goose store for the signing, I picked up this adorable Dickens Village figurine. I've never bought one of those before -- but a figurine of a Dickens booksigning for sale at a Dickens booksigning? It was just too perfect!
  
  

 

Tweeting for treasure

If you have a Twitter account, you can enter Time Out magazine's drawing to win a boxed set of eight Dickens novels. Click here to learn how.