See Charles Dickens’ rare manuscripts, teenage love letters and a copy of ‘David Copperfield’ who traveled to Antarctica

In 1925, Charles Dickens’ house in London was saved from demolition. Instead it became the Charles Dickens Museuma small space in Doughty Street dedicated to the 19th century writer’s legacy. To celebrate its 100th anniversary, the museum is staging a new exhibition showcasing a wealth of rare artifacts.

Dickens lived in Doughty Street with his wife and son. He wrote parts of many of his famous novels while living there, including The Pickwick papers, Nicholas Nickleby And Oliver Twist. The show will spotlight unique portraits, photographs and historical objects that celebrate Dickens’ life and literary genius.

“The Doughty Street museum has been brought together over the last century and displayed in London’s only surviving Dickens house, a beacon at the center of the urban landscape typically associated with the writer. It will be filled with objects that illustrate Dickens’ life and museum history,” said Cindy Sughrue, director of the museum BBC News.

There is a rare example of one of those objects David Copperfield who traveled with Captain to Antarctica Robert Falcon Scott‘s famous Terra Nova expedition in 1910. The novel entertained them during dangerous situations during their journey.

When the men were stranded in an ice cave, they read a chapter every night for two months, according to BBC News. As such, the text is “blackened by their fingerprints, probably caused by the seals’ blubber fire that heated the cave.”

Visitors will see works by artists who illustrated Dickens’ stories, among others Hablot Knight Browne, Johannes Leech, George Cruikshank And Fred Barnard-as well as early drawings for the original edition of A Christmas carol.

Other items offer attendees an intimate glimpse into the author’s early life. If Artnet‘ Jo Lawson-Tancred writes: ‘Most photographs show Dickens in his rough middle age; these works show an author with a much fresher face, in his late twenties and early thirties.” An 1843 painting by artist Margaret Gillies that has been missing for more than a century shows a wide-eyed young Dickens. The show also features love poems from the author’s early years.

“Some of [the poetry] it’s okay. Some of it is quite bad,” says Emma Harper, curator of the exhibition Guardianby Caroline Davies. “I think it’s really funny that it’s actually a teenage boy writing poetry for his loved one. You wouldn’t necessarily recognize it as a result of the genius of Victorian writing.

Extracts from Dickens’ correspondence will also be on display, including an early version of the remark he wrote about the end of his marriage.

“You can see Dickens’ original manuscripts, letters to friends and family and rare first editions of his most famous works,” the exhibition said website. “But you will also encounter Dickens the man, as well as Dickens the writer, his personal style, interests and passions.”

“Dickens in Doughty Street: 100 years of the Charles Dickens Museum” will be on display at the Charles Dickens Museum in London from February 5 to June 29, 2025.