The Ground Floor > The Dining Room
An Overview of The Dining Room
Charles Dickens's dining room at 48 Doughty Street is not particularly large, but given character by the curved rear wall, with its two curved doors. Here Dickens presided over the kind of dinner parties he delighted in throughout his life. A frequent guest was William Ainsworth, a popular novelist, and Dickens's first friend with an established literary reputation. He introduced the rising young auther of Sketches by Boz to his first publisher John Macrone, and his first illustrator, the celebrated George Cruikshank.
Other guests included Dickens's closest friend, and eventual author of the first biography of the novelist; journalist John Forester. The poet and essayist, Leigh Hunt, and painters Daniel Maclise and Clarkson Stansfield, often dined here and they were to remain close to Dickens throughout their lives.
Dickens's pleasure in dining with his friend is typically expressed in a letter of 7 February 1839 to J. P. Harley the actor, at the time appearing as Trinculo in The Tempest:
This is my birthday, many happy returns to you and me,
I took it into my head yesterday to get up an impromptu dinner on this auspicious occasion - only my own folks, Leigh Hunt, Ainsworth, and Forster. I know you can't dine here in consequence of the tempestuous weather on the Covent Garden shores, but if you will come to me when you have done Trinculizing, you will delight me greatly, and add in no inconsiderable degree to the 'conwiviality' of the meeting.
Lord bless my soul! Twenty seven years old. Who'd have thought it. I never did. But I grow sentimental.
I took it into my head yesterday to get up an impromptu dinner on this auspicious occasion - only my own folks, Leigh Hunt, Ainsworth, and Forster. I know you can't dine here in consequence of the tempestuous weather on the Covent Garden shores, but if you will come to me when you have done Trinculizing, you will delight me greatly, and add in no inconsiderable degree to the 'conwiviality' of the meeting.
Lord bless my soul! Twenty seven years old. Who'd have thought it. I never did. But I grow sentimental.
To the right of the door, hung below an advertisement for Christmas Sports is a picture of the dining room at Gad's Hill Place, illustrating how the Spanish Mahogany Sideboard, exhibited to the right of this picture, was once housed there. The Spanish mahogany sideboard, bought by Dickens late in 1839, no doubt with the larger dining room of his next home, 1 Devonshire Terrace in mind. This handsome piece of furniture points to the improved circumstances of the young author. It was kept by Dickens throughout his life, and may be seen in the adjacent photograph of the dining room in his last house, Gad's Hill Place, near Rochester in Kent. The large mirror at the back is a reminder of Dickens's fondness for mirrors, and their brightening effect upon a home.
Hanging above the sideboard are a watercolour of Gad's Hill Place, a pencil and wash drawing of Dickens, and a framed fragment of curtains that were hanging in Gad's Hill Place at the time of Dickens's death. Resting on the Mahogany Sideboard are a plaster sculpture and a silver plated Samovar. Next to the framed fragment of curtain is an illuminated inscription about Gad's Hill Place. To the right of this and in a corner of the room resting on a wooden pedestal is a cast of a bust of Dickens created in 1842. The next wall to the right of the bust are two windows, both containing sun catchers of Charles Dickens, one depicting a younger Dickens and the other an older Dickens. In front of the windows is a wooden chair used by Dickens. Between the windows may be seen a grandfather clock from the office of the Bath coach proprietor, Moses Pickwick. Dickens had travelled by coach to Bath as a young journalist, and would have known Moses Pickwick for some years. It was after him that Dickens named the hero of Pickwick Papers, and the original is alluded to in chapter 35 of the novel.
In the corner of the room directly opposite the door is hung a medicine cabinet which belonged to Dickens. Above this is a portrait of a young boy. To the right of the medicine cabinet and on the floor is a small table with candle holders. Hanging above the mantle is a replica of a portrait of Dickens, painted by Daniel Maclise. Next to this reproduction is the frontispiece of Nicholas Nickleby. Continuing to the right of the fireplace is the bust of George Cruikshank, who illustrated two of Dickens's works. To the upper right of the bust is a portrait of Angela Burdett Coutts, a philanthropist whom Dickens had advised. Hanging between two doors is a copy of a portrait of Charles Dickens by Samuel Drummond. Below this portrait is the occasional table from Dickens's drawing room at Gad's Hill Place. In the central showcase you can see a number of items that belonged to Dickens and his family including cutlery and crockery.
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