A Book

I recently read and enjoyed the Charles Dickens classic, ‘The Old Curiosity Shop’.  For me, this book had several layers of interest: my own family history with my particular copy, the story and its characters, and the olde English that the story was originally written in.

My book - 'The Old Curiosity Shop'

My copy of the book is shown above.  I think it is aesthetically pleasing and a treat to just hold.  I’ve thought that since the first time I noticed it on the shelves of my parents’ Secretary Bookcase in our home.  I was probably about twelve or thirteen years old.  It stood out from all our other books because of its size and finish.  All the other books that my parents had and read were hard covered, recently printed books, where as this book was much smaller in size, had a plush leatherette cover, and soft, thin onionskin paper.

The fine, thin onion skin pages of the book.

I have a vague recollection that the book was with my Uncle Jack’s belongings that were sent from Uncle Jack’s airforce base in Syerston, England, to my Grandmother Blair’s home in Regina in 1942.  That was the year he was killed in a Lancaster bomber when it was shot down over Germany.  I don’t know what all was sent back, but what has survived over the years is this book, Uncle Jack’s diary, his New Testament, and a hand made, solid steel model of a Spitfire fighter airplane.  I think that Dad held onto the book as a something to connect him to his lost brother.

Inside the book there is no reference to when it was printed.  On the internet I was able to find a reference that indicates the book was printed and sold in 1910.  The publisher was Collins Clear Type Press located in London, England and Glasgow, Scotland.  This version was available with a cloth cover for 1 shilling, or as a leather cover with gilded top edge for 2 shillings and 6 pence.

I can only imagine how my Uncle got hold of this book.  I presume he found it in some used bookstore when he was in England in 1942 and was attracted to it like I was.  Regardless of how it came to be in our family, I’m glad of it.  When my parents were gone and I had to clear out our house, all my parents’ books were given away or thrown out, except for this one.  I’ve held onto it ever since.

When I retired, I had a plan to read the well known classic novels.  Some of the classics I enjoyed, but a couple of authors, like Thomas Hardy and Edgar Allan Poe, I found too depressing and soon put them aside.  In those early retirement days I tried to read The Old Curiosity Shop, but I was confounded with the old English used by Dickens and gave up after a few days.  I don’t know what motivated me recently to pull the book from our bookcase and start to read it.  Again, after the first ten pages I almost quit, but then decided to push on with it.  I’m now very glad that I did.  With my medium sized Oxford Dictionary beside me to help with the many words of old England that I didn’t recognise, I slowly progressed through the story.

There are many places on the internet where you can research the story and there are even a couple of movies that were made, so I won’t go into the details of the story here.  In fact, having now read the complete book, I recommend that you don’t look or read any of what is available until after you finish reading the book yourself.

As with much of Dickens’ writings, much takes place within the squalor of old London in the early 1800s.  The lead characters are not well off and are constantly put upon by opportunists who try to take advantage of the destitute people who are the core of the story.  Dickens’ descriptions of the people and the environment was probably of interest to his readers at the time.  They would have been able to identify with the characters in the story.

Something that I noticed after reading about one hundred pages was the superb way in which Dickens describes the ambience and the environment of each location.  The descriptions are relatively long, but by the time he completes a description, I have a complete picture in my mind and am able to feel the stress on the people in the story.  The same can be said of his introductions of each character.  That is good writing.

In my case, I think I was able to formulate images of the place because of my time living in England in the mid 1960’s.  While there I often visited London.  At that time some of the buildings that had been bombed during WW2 were still in rubble.  I could sense the angst that the Londoners must have gone through.  The Thames River was not as clean as it is today; nevertheless, it was better than what those living in the mid-1800’s had to put up with—the river was severely polluted back then.

For interest, I’ve given a sample below of one of Dickens’ very thorough descriptions.

Here is a paragraph describing the difference between a place belonging to the rich and a place lived in by the poor.  You’ll notice there are some philosophical thoughts melded with a physical description.  Dickens does this a lot in this story.

And let me linger in this place, for an instant, to remark that if ever household affections and loves are graceful things, they are graceful in the poor.  The ties that bind the wealthy and the proud to home may be forged on earth, but those which link the poor man to his humble hearth are of the truer metal and bear the stamp of heaven.  The man of high descent may love the halls and lands of his inheritance as part of himself; as trophies of his birth and power; his associations with them are associations of pride and wealth and triumph;  the poor man’s attachment to the tenement he holds, which strangers have held before, and may tomorrow occupy again, has a worthier root, struck deep into a purer soil.  His household gods are of flesh and blood, with no alloy of silver, gold, or precious stone;  he has no property but in the affections of his own heart;  and when they endear bare floors and walls, despite of rages and toil and scanty fare, that man has his love of home from God, and his rude hut becomes a solemn place.

You’ll remember that I had my Oxford Dictionary beside me as I read the book.  Here’s a short list of some of the old English words that I had to look up.  I’m sure that, amongst my readers, these words are well known, but not to this writer.  Just a reminder—my formal education was not in the arts, but in engineering.  I’ll say no more about that.

capacious

profligate

inviolable

The wan

baize

I want to note that, when I lived in England in the 1960’s, I was astounded at the breadth of the vocabulary of the British people.

One thing more of interest.  At the time my version of the book was published in 1910, Collins was still using etchings for printing any images in the book.  Here is one that is in the book and it shows all the main characters in the story, as well as Dickens himself.

Esoterica

The Old Curiosity Shop did not begin as a serial novel; rather, Charles Dickens began it as a frame story for the weekly periodical Master Humphrey's Clock, edited and written entirely by Dickens and published from 4 April 1840 to 4 December 1841. The concept behind the frame story of the child and her grandfather in a gloomy but picturesque curiosity shop was that it would serve to introduce Dickens's persona, the story-teller Master Humphrey, who would describe his own life and  introduce his small circle of friends (other writers), and their penchant for telling stories. However, within four numbers Dickens realised that the public wanted a continuous narrative in serial rather than discrete articles and short stories.

by Philip V. Allingham,

Contributing Editor, The Victorian Web

Associate Professor, Lakehead University,

Thunder Bay, Ontario