Charles Dickens bicentennial, and his link to Poe

In the next and last room of the exhibit is the splendid Elkins Library, named after philanthropist William M. Elkins, who gave the Dickens material — actually his entire library, including rugs — to the Free Library. Gerald Dickens slid happily into the chair at the desk Dickens used at Gad’s Hill Place. First editions, manuscripts, letters and book illustrations fill the library shelves. An oil painting hanging above the desk shows exactly how Dickens’s study looked in June 1870, when he died.

“The will stated that everything was to be sold and the proceeds divided among the children,” offered Gerald Dickens. “Family members took a few personal things — we have some in my family — and the rest was scattered to collectors around the world.”

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(AP/AP) - Charles Dickens.

“The one thing we have is the name,” said Dickens, noting that copyrights to Dickens’s works have long expired and the family derives no income from his creations. “Every Dickens boy since 1870 has had Charles as a middle name.

“But no one in the family has had the guts to name a baby Charles Dickens.”

Dickens Celebrations

According to Florian Schweizer, director of the Charles Dickens Museum in London and organizer of the Dickens 2012 compendium of celebrations in 100 countries, the Dickens program at the Free Library in Philadelphia is the largest non-academic celebration in America.

The University of Massachusetts at Lowell has a family-friendly program planned, including the pen-and-ink portrait of Grip that Dickens brought with him during his yearlong American tour in 1842.

The Morgan Library in New York City is focused on its collection of rare Dickens manuscripts and first editions.

At press time, there was nothing planned in Washington by the Library of Congress , which owns Dickens’s walking stick and other possessions.

Area enthusiasts can join a Dickens Walking Tour of Washington on Feb. 6 and April 15: Dickens visited in 1842 and 1868, meeting with Presidents Tyler and Johnston at the White House and doing sellout performances at downtown venues. Re-enactors in period costumes will perform at buildings Dickens would have known during his visits. For more information, see www.historicstrolls.com/dickensphotos.htm

Dickens Resources

● “Year of Dickens” at the Philadelphia Free Library: www.freelibrary.org/dickens

● Dickens 2012 lists worldwide events at www.dickens2012.org

● “Dickens and Massachusetts: A Tale of Power and Transformation,” Lowell, at www.uml.edu/FAHSS/English/Dickens

● “Charles Dickens at 200,” The Morgan Library and Museum at www.themorgan.org

● The Dickens Reading Project at www.readingcharlesdickens.com

●The Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site in Philadelphia is at www.nps.gov/edal

● Charles Dickens Museum, London is at www.dickensmuseum.com

Lane is a freelance writer.