Dickens' Personal Items Exhibit in London

Rare personal items and clothing belonging to author Charles Dickens will be displayed at the Charles Dickens Museum in London starting Wednesday, March 11. The exhibition includes a linen shirt collar worn by Dickens during his fatal stroke on June 8, 1870, and his black silk stockings, part of his only surviving suit.

Additional items on display include a set of six silver razors, a perfume bottle, silver candle snuffers, and a gold locket containing hair from Dickens and his son, Henry. These artifacts offer insight into Dickens' personal style, which contemporary accounts describe as flamboyant. The black silk stockings were worn by Dickens at a formal reception at St James's Palace on April 6, 1870, where he met Edward, Prince of Wales.

The exhibition aims to illustrate Dickens' image as a "real dandy," supported by eyewitness reports and a colorized photographic portrait from 1858. The Charles Dickens Museum, located at 48 Doughty Street, is the only surviving London residence where Dickens lived and wrote notable works such as *The Pickwick Papers*, *Oliver Twist*, and *Nicholas Nickleby*.