On this day in 1843, Charles Dickens’ classic story “A Christmas Carol” is published. Dickens was born in 1812 and attended school in Portsmouth. His father, a clerk in the navy pay office, was thrown into debtors’ prison in 1824, and 12-year-old Charles was sent to work in a ...read more
Charles Dickens is best known for his sagas of poverty and beauty in London—stories that contain slice-of-life details only a man who had lived in such conditions could capture. But Dickens did more than raise awareness of the plight of the poor in England. More than once, his ...read more
1. Charles Dickens The author of such beloved books as “A Tale of Two Cities” and “A Christmas Carol” was notoriously fussy about his working conditions. He kept to a military-strict schedule, always writing in his study between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. before striking off on ...read more
1. Catherine I The life of Empress Catherine I of Russia could easily be confused with something out of a fairy tale. The future queen was born in 1684 into a family of Lithuanian peasants, and was orphaned at the age of 3 after both her parents died from the plague. Taken in by ...read more
“I am born.” Born in 1812 to middle-class parents in the English city of Portsmouth, Charles Dickens—like several of his protagonists—entered the workforce at a young age. When his father was sent to debtors’ prison, 12-year-old Boz (Charles’ childhood nickname) helped ...read more
The last entry of the serialized novel Great Expectations is published on this day in 1861. The book had been serialized in Dickens’ literary circular, All the Year Round. The novel tells the story of young Pip, a poor orphan who comes to believe he will inherit a fortune. ...read more
The first monthly installment of The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, by 24-year-old writer Charles Dickens, is published under the pseudonym Boz. The short sketches were originally commissioned as captions for humorous drawings by caricaturist Robert Seymour, but ...read more
On this day, fans of Charles Dickens organize the Boz Ball, an elite party for the celebrated writer who had arrived in the United States in January for a five-month tour. (Dickens’ earliest works had been published under the pseudonym Boz.) Only members of New York’s aristocracy ...read more
On this day in 1859, Charles Dickens’ serialized novel, A Tale of Two Cities, comes to a close, as the final chapter is published in Dickens’ circular, All the Year Round. Dickens was born in 1812 and attended school in Portsmouth. His father, a clerk in the navy pay office, was ...read more