A famous painting showing the library at Gad’s Hill Place (see above and below) was named The Empty Chair by the artist, Sir Luke Fildes. Painted in June 1870, shortly after Dickens’ death, the painting conveys the sense of loss felt by Dickens’ friends and family, as well as his readers all around the world. But the painting is also a snapshot in time, preserving for posterity a full-color view (in an era of black and white photos) of Dickens’ library and all its contents. Below is the complete version of the painting. The original desk and chair now reside at the Charles Dickens Museum in London at 48 Doughty…
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Tutorial: Mini Quill Pen and Inkwell
This is a fun and easy craft tutorial to make a quill pen and inkwell for a Hitty doll. You can use any kind of bird feather, as long as it is at least 2” long. You can buy them from craft stores or simply collect naturally shed feathers from birds in your area. Materials: Feathers, 2” long or largerSmall metal bead caps or round drum-shaped ceramic beads (about 8-12 mm high)ScissorsOne foam packing peanut Many types of bead caps or round ceramic beads can work for the inkwells. Use whatever you have available, or purchase new beads from a craft store. I got mine from Hobby Lobby. Take the…
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The Mighty Quill Pen
What type of pen do you use to write a letter to friend? Do you prefer a ballpoint, a fountain pen, a gel pen, or a Sharpie? During the Victorian era of Charles Dickens, most people used quill ink pens made from goose, turkey or crow feathers. In fact, the word pen comes from the Latin word “penna” which means feather. Quill pens were not very durable, and the nib (the part that you dip into the ink) frequently had to be re-cut with a pen knife. Also, an inkwell was a necessity, as well as a pen wipe to keep the tip clean. From Wikipedia, I learned that quills…
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Kitty at the Book Fair
Fall is here, the season of school book fairs. Kitty attended one recently to promote A Tale of Two Hittys. Here are some photos from the event.
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The Dickens Dresses
A Tale of Two Hittys begins in the year 1868. During the era, little girls wore bloomers, petticoats, a chemise (loose cotton undershirt), stockings and boots with buttons or laces. Depending on the age of the child, she might have to wear a corset. The dresses were often elaborate with lots of trimmings. For outerwear a little girl needed a coat, and the coat of choice was a paletot (pronounced “pal-uh-toe”). The paletot was a woman’s or girl’s jacket, usually worn over a skirt with a crinoline or bustle. Now, if you remember in the book, Hitty: Her First Hundred Years, Rachel Field describes Hitty’s Dickens outfit: “the watered-silk dress…
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Hitty in THE HORN BOOK MAGAZINE
Founded by Bertha Mahony Miller in 1924 with a mission to inform the public about the best in children’s writing, The Horn Book Magazine is still in business nearly 100 years later. You can read articles about children’s literature and subscribe to the magazine on the Horn Book’s website. After Rachel Field won the Newbery Medal for Hitty: Her First Hundred Years in 1930, Hitty became an American celebrity. The Horn Book Magazine published three articles about Hitty in the February 1930 issue, which I will summarize in this post. You can read all of the articles mentioned on archive.org. How Hitty Happened By Rachel Fieldpp. 22-26 In 1928, Rachel…
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Mary Angela “Mekitty” Dickens
Charles Dickens had several grandchildren, but Mary Angela, nicknamed “Mekitty,” was the eldest. Her father was Charles “Charley” Dickens, Junior, and her mother was Elizabeth “Bessie” Matilda Moule Dickens (née Evans), the daughter of Charles Dickens’ former book publisher, Frederick Mullett Evans. It is a wonder that Mekitty came to be such an important part of her grandfather’s life, because when his son Charley married Bessie, Charles Dickens didn’t even attend their wedding. Fortunately, after Mekitty was born, he reconciled with the family, and they became frequent guests at Dickens’ country home in Kent, Gad’s Hill Place. On October 31, 1868, when the book, A Tale of Two Hittys begins,…
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Meet Kitty
Anyone familiar with the real Hitty doll knows that she has a wooden body with feet carved like boots and painted black. No one knows exactly where or when she was carved, but some people claim that dolls with similar boots have been found and dated to the mid-19th century, not 1827, when she is supposedly carved in the book Hitty: Her First Hundred Years, by a traveling peddlar. I believe this may upset some die-hard book lovers. However, for me it is simply a fascinating mystery! In 2021, I purchased a small doll on ebay. She is only 6″ tall. She has a shoulderhead (meaning the head, neck and…
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Who is Hitty?
I first read Hitty: Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field when I was a teenager, and I still have the somewhat battered hardcover copy which I purchased used for $1. The edition was printed in October, 1943, and it had the colored frontispiece of Hitty sitting for her daguerreotype, illustrated by Dorothy P. Lathrop. I remember thinking at the time that it was a really good story, and as a young doll collector, I would have loved to have my own Hitty doll. But few people were making Hitty dolls at that time Above: photo of the real Hitty in the Stockbridge Library Museum in 2024 (courtesy of Beth…
