London Dickens museum evokes author's early success

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - At his writing desk in a central London townhouse the young Charles Dickens penned some of the novels that made this name as an author and set him on the path of becoming an eminent Victorian man of letters.

For the 2 years that Dickens resided at number 48 Doughty Street he wrote "Oliver Twist", "Nicholas Nickleby" and "The Pickwick Papers".

Now a museum that attracts fans and scholars of Dickens from around the world, the house in Holborn is host to treasures from his 1837-1839 tenure. It was here that he crafted the fictional lives of street urchins, villains and men of ambition whose adventures and mishaps delighted his contemporaries while bringing him wealth and fame.

Museum director Andrew Xavier told Reuters it was while living in the house with his wife and her sister that the young novelist really began his rise to great literary prominence.

"This house is the one he became famous in," Xavier said, adding it was during his time here that Dickens' fame allowed him to climb the ranks of Victorian society from relative obscurity to celebrated author.

The four-storey brick townhouse attracts about 26,000 visitors a year, from the casual fan to the determined academic bent on research.

The museum was almost destroyed before it ever even began. Threatened with the possibility of demolition in the 1920s, The Dickens Fellowship raised the finances to buy the property.

The museum is carefully furnished to resemble how it might have looked when Dickens graced its winding stairways.

Number 48 has an impressive research library which is a leading resource centre since it includes access to rare manuscripts and pictures of the more obscure Dickensian characters.

All of the rooms in the house are decorated in an early Victorian style to create a sense of authenticity. Examples include the drawing room, the wine cellar and the library (formerly Dickens's kitchen.)

The latter, houses an impressive array of book editions, translations of the author's work as well as related biographies.

Xavier told Reuters the museum is undergoing refurbishment and already the original wooden flooring has resurfaced.

One non-original item is to be the creation of a Victorian-themed tea room.

"One of the things we're asked constantly by the visitors is 'can I get a cup of tea?'" said Xavier.

A very English request that befits the museum's very English famous resident.

(Editing by Matthew Jones)