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 St. Dickens rented that house from March 1837 to December 1839, and his daughters Mamie and Katey were born there. But the only house he ever owned was Gad’s Hill Place, in Kent. He had admired the house while walking along the road to Dover as a very small boy. His own father told him that if he were to work very hard, he might some day come to live in it. And Dickens did live there from 1857 until his death in 1870. Gad’s Hill Place still exists, but it is now a private school.
Now let’s take a closer look at some items we might find on top of Dickens’ desk. Dickens always had paper, goose quill pens, a magnifying glass and a glass inkwell with blue ink on his desk. In addition to these practical items, Charles Dickens liked to place favorite knick-knacks nearby. The book, Dickens at Gad’s Hill describes some of these:
On top of the desk were the various objects Dickens enjoyed having in front of him when he was writing — the two fat toads fencing, the little monkey wearing a pill-box cap, the statuette of a dog-fancier with little dogs under his arms and peeping out of his pockets, the gilt leaf on which a rabbit was sitting erect. In this room, too, was the plaster cast of an Ottoman Turk wearing a fez, baggy trousers, and curley-toed shoes, seated comfortably on a divan enjoying smoke from a hookah.
DICKENS AT GAD’S HILL by Alan S. Watts
Charles Collins, Dickens’ son-in-law who married his younger daughter Katey, corroborates this description and mentions a few additional items on the desk, including a large ivory paper-knife (letter opener) that Dickens often held while doing readings of his books, and a green cup in which fresh flowers were placed every day.
Take a closer look at Charles Dickens’s writing desk at the Charles Dickens Museum
Some of the objects on Dickens’ desk still exist. You can click on the links below to see them online at the Charles Dickens Museum.
Desk and Chair
Ink Bottle on a Walnut Stand
Ceramic Jug
Magnifying Glass
Plaster Turk
The Charles Dickens Museum also owns an original watercolor painting of Dickens in the library at Gad’s Hill Place called Dickens’ Dream, painted by Robert William Buss in 1875. The center of the painting shows a color image of Dickens surrounded by his characters, such as Little Nell on her deathbed and Little Paul Dombey. Farther away, the color diminishes, leading us to wonder if the painting is unfinished. I personally believe the artist wanted it that way, to emphasize the lively imagination which Dickens used to bring his characters to life.
During his lifetime, Dickens used many desks for writing. In America, you can visit the New York Public Library to see one of these desks at a special exhibit called, The Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library’s Treasures. This exhibit opened on September 24, 2021. Admission is free, but you do need to reserve timed tickets. If you are unable to visit in person, you can listen to the audio guide and read the transcript here. The desk in the exhibit was used at Gad’s Hill Place, and on it is a calendar with the date of June 9th, untouched since Dickens’ death.
Another place to see one of Dickens’ desks in America is at the Free Library of Philadelphia. Below is a writing table that was used by Charles Dickens from 1837 up to his death in 1870, now housed in the Elkins Room of the Rare Book Department. It was originally purchased in an auction of furniture from Gad’s Hill Place and included a copy of the auction catalog with the sale.
Here is a painting of Dickens sitting in a chair next to yet another desk. As you can see, the chair clearly matches the chair in the library from Gad’s Hill Place. In the video above, it mentions that Dickens had a matching chair which he used at the office of All the Year Round on Wellington Street in London. It seems likely that this picture shows him there.
I hope you have enjoyed seeing some of the desks that Dickens used. There is one desk I have yet to mention which was in Dickens’ Swiss Chalet. But that is a story for another post!
SOURCES:
Blackburn Hart, H (Engraver) – Artist. Portrait of Charles Dickens. Illustrations. Free Library of Philadelphia: Philadelphia, PA. https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/43213. Accessed October, 2021.
Buss, Robert William. Dickens’ Dream, 1875. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dickens_dream.jpg. Accessed October 2021.
Charles Dickens Museum. “Take a closer look at Charles Dickens’s writing desk.” YouTube.
https://youtu.be/6tGVmV_Ofhs. Accessed October, 2021.
Fildes, Luke, Sir, 1844-1927 – Illustrator. The Empty Chair, Gad’s Hill – Ninth of June, 1870. Illustrations. Free Library of Philadelphia: Philadelphia, PA. https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/37251. Accessed October 2021.
Forster, John. The Life of Charles Dickens, Vol I-III, Complete. Project Gutenberg, June 20, 2008 [EBook #25851]. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25851/25851-h/25851-h.htm#Page_3_388. Accessed October 2021.
Rare Book Room FLP – Dickens Desk. ca. 1947. Illustrations. Free Library of Philadelphia: Philadelphia, PA. https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/37232. Accessed October, 2021.
Watts, Alan S. Dickens at Gad’s Hill. Elvendon Press, Berkshire, 1989, pp. 36-7.
