The house had a lot of his old furniture, including the table that he wrote a lot of his novels on and some of his "desk furniture," like writing implements and a china monkey, which was one of his "favourite mascots."
Of course, there were a lot of original writings (both letters and manuscripts of his stories) and first printings. A letter they had in the dining room inviting a friend to dinner mentioned another person coming, a "man called Thackeray," i.e. William Thackeray who wrote Vanity Fair. There were also some original printings of Nicholas Nickelby in the series format that most of his works were published as. Most of his works were published as installments at the time of their first publication, but the interesting part is that his writing was in such high demand at the time that he had to work very fast, and never in his entire career did he come up with a detailed plan of what would happen in his stories -- he'd just sit down and write them, relying on his "imagination" to get him through it. Isn't that fascinating? Especially because Dickens wrote such involved plots. It's amazing he didn't get lost or end up with a story he couldn't finish logically or well. In 1843, though, he started making short-term plans for each monthly installment of what he was writing.
They also had some of the equipment used for illustrations back then. A lot of it was done by carving a wooden block or engraving a steel plate and sort of stamping it, which I knew, but seeing what they actually looked like was cool -- they were so detailed! On these little pieces of wood! I don't have a picture of that, but I do have a picture of a toilet-chair that's kind of funny:
After Dickens' House I took the tube to Shepherd's Bush to go to the Westfield Shopping Center, which is apparently the biggest mall in Europe. That's kind of cool, but it's actually not as big as the Garden State Plaza, so I'm not too impressed. Oh, I'm also unimpressed because it was closed. Yeah. For Easter. The food places were open, but the mall itself was closed, so I was pretty annoyed that I trekked all the way there and I didn't even get a new top or pair of earrings out of it.
On the way there, though, I noticed those places for people to play music again, and since no one was there I read the sign behind it. It says, "Licensed buskers are playing at this station legally, so please show your consideration." So they do have to get a permit, and probably reserve a time. I didn't know they were called "buskers," but that clears up my confusion over the "No Busking" sign I pass every day.
And on a completely unrelated note, I forgot about the funny street name I saw on Saturday during my shopping trip: Man in the Moon Passage. Isn't that cute?
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