Dickens's Study at Gadshill

Rochester, Kent

Source: Forster, II (1872), p. 156; (1879), p. 334.

1879

Composite woodblock engraving by the Dalziels

8.8 by 6.3 cm (3 ½ by 2 ½ inches), framed.

Other Views of Gadshill

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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Commentary

Illustration from the final volume of the twenty-two-volume Household Edition of John Forster's Life of Charles Dickens (1879), as reproduced in Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens; being eight hundred and sixty-six drawings by Fred Barnard, Hablot K. Browne (Phiz), J. Mahoney [and others] printed from the original woodblocks engraved for "The Household Edition." London: Chapman & Hall, 1908. Pp. 561-584.

This composite work, however, misses some of the images of places associated with Dickens's life and work. These images of the writer's retreat in Kent near Rochester, The Gadshill Estate, do occur in the final volume of the Household Edition (1879).

A more fanciful and psychological version of the study, with the great author seated, asleep, dreaming of his characters, occurs in Robert W. Buss's Dickens's Dream (1875). The famous study juxtaposes the massive desk at which the celebrated author created his later characters and the fifty-eight-year old novelist himself, and minimizes the books on the surrounding shelves. Thus, the present engraving defines the absent Dickens by his view of the gardens, which he improved considerably, and his substantial library. The implication is that he found solace in the view of nature beyond the large window and the works of other great writers.

Bibliography

Forster, John. The Life of Charles Dickens. The "Charles Dickens Edition." 2 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, [1872].

Forster, John. The Life of Charles Dickens. Book VII. — Public Reader. Chapter III. "Gadshill Place." The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1879. Vol. XXII, pp. 328-335.

Scenes and characters from the works of Charles Dickens; being eight hundred and sixty-six drawings, by Fred Barnard, Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz); J. Mahoney; Charles Green; A. B. Frost; Gordon Thomson; J. McL. Ralston; H. French; E. G. Dalziel; F. A. Fraser, and Sir Luke Fildes; printed from the original woodblocks engraved for "The Household Edition." London: Chapman and Hall, 1908.

Created 19 July 2007

Last updated 28 December 2024