Browse Collections (10 total)

Exhibition audio

Recordings made by actor and musician Dominic Gerrard to support the 'Decoding Dickens' exhibition.Find out more about Dominic's…

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Private collections

A black and white illustration. In the foreground a small wooden rowing boat is being rowed by a young woman with dark hair blowing in the wind. She wears a simple dress and a cloak and is looking over her shoulder as she raises the oars out of the water. A man is at the back of the boat crouched with one hand on each side. He has a dark grizzly beard and hair. He is dressed in a shirt with the sleeves rolled up and trousers. In the background of the picture is a skyline of tall buildings and a church spire with tall ships in port in front. Another small rowing boat is coming in to frame from the left.

Material from various private collections.

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Victoria and Albert Museum, London

A sheet of paper that shows fold lines in half horizontally and vertically. A red catalogue stamp just off centre. In the top right quarter, handwritten in ink, are details about the subject matter: 'Oliver Twist copy letter [...] Bentley from Forster October 22nd 1838'.

Material from the archives of the Victorian and Albert Museum, London.

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John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester, Manchester

A sheet of paper mounted in a large book. Five lines of Brachygraphy shorthand characters are handwritten in blue ink with annotations in between. Some words and phrases in the annotated explanations of the characters are underlined.

Material from the archives of the John Rylands Research Institute and Library.

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Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia

A longhand title in English reads 'Sydney Smith', followed by a line of Brachygraphy symbols.

Material from the newly digitised shorthand notebooks of Charles Dickens and Arthur P. Stone, from the archives of the Free Library of Philadelphia.

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Special Collections, University of Leicester, Leicester

The double page spread of a book. On the right hand page illustrated writing reads 'The Chimes A Goblin Story'. The letters in 'The Chimes' are made up of tiny bell shapes. The letters of 'Goblin Story' are formed by illustrations of tiny Goblins. Ornamental writing, parts gothic in style, give the subtitle and author. The page is decorated with ivy and images of spirits floating across clouds. On the left page is an illustration of an ornamental stone bell tower. A goblin sits on top of the tower and spirits like naked young women rush from the five ringing bells. Another goblin sits on top of the largest of the bells. Four cherubim hold the bell ropes at the bottom of the illustration. Both pages have the artist's signature and the right has the publisher's name printed at the bottom.

Material from the Special Collections department at the University of Leicester.

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David Wilson Library, University of Leicester, Leicester

A page of text. At the top is a page number, 166, and the heading 'The Pickwick Papers'. Four lines from the top of the page an inscription is centred and presented in all capitals, as follows:<br /> +<br /> B I L S T<br /> U M<br /> P S H I<br /> S. M.<br /> A R K <br /> Six paragraphs of text follow.

Material from the David Wilson Library at the University of Leicester.

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New York Public Library, New York

The right hand page of a small open book. Eight notes are written in different colours and shades of ink divided by underlining. Two of the notes are crossed out with heavy zig-zag lines. The second note on the page is three lines of Brachygraphy shorthand with 'Xmas 1855' written in longhand at the start.

Material from the archives of the New York Public Library.

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Morgan Library and Museum, New York

Four Brachygraphy symbols written in blue ink.

Material from the archives of the Morgan Library and Museum, New York.

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Charles Dickens Museum, London

A photostat of both sides of a letter, side-by-side. On the right, a letterhead in Gothic font reads 'Gad's Hill Place, Higham by Rochester, Kent'. This is followed by a date (the month in shorthand) and 22 lines of shorthand arranged in six paragraphs. On the left is an inscription in longhand: 'Copy. Letter to S. A. Chappell. Boston. Friday 22nd November 1867.'

Material from the archives of the Charles Dickens Museum, London, including the newly digitised Carlton papers.

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