By Deed of Gift

Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit. Illustrations by H.K. Browne. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1857.

Reed’s original gift of 1948 included a collection of approximately fifty monographs relating to Charles Dickens, and a complete set of the periodical The Dickensian, from 1905 to 1947. The monographs included biographies, works of literary criticism, and a first edition of the novel Little Dorrit.

In addition, Reed donated his extra-illustrated edition of Forster’s Life of Charles Dickens, numerous letters written by Dickens and persons of his circle (see Case 19) and several ‘association’ books from Dickens’ library (Case 14).

Reed perused Dickens from childhood, and considered the English novelist his literary hero. After 1948, he continued to donate precious items of Dickensiana and would later justifiably claim that his Dickens collection was probably the most comprehensive of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit. Illustrations by H.K. Browne. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1857.
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Frederick Barnard. Character sketches from Dickens. London: Cassell, 1896.

The Reed Dickens Collection today numbers more than 2,200 volumes, and includes a significant number of first editions. Cases 9-11 contain items from Reed’s original gift of 1948.

Frederick Barnard. Character sketches from Dickens. London: Cassell, 1896.
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Richard Herne Shepherd (editor). The speeches of Charles Dickens, 1841-1870. Fine paper edition. London: Chatto & Windus, 1906.

Richard Herne Shepherd (editor). The speeches of Charles Dickens, 1841-1870. Fine paper edition. London: Chatto & Windus, 1906.
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The Dickensian: a magazine for Dickens lovers. Vol. 1. London: Chapman & Hall Ltd. for the Dickens Fellowship, 1905.

The Dickensian: a magazine for Dickens lovers. Vol. 1. London: Chapman & Hall Ltd. for the Dickens Fellowship, 1905.
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