[DICKENS, Charles (1812-1870)].
Lot 42

[DICKENS, Charles (1812-1870)].

Closed13 December 2017

Price Realised

GBP 65,000

More Information

How to sell

[DICKENS, Charles (1812-1870)].

A William IV mahogany library table by M. Wilson [c. 1835]. The revolving circular top lined with tooled green-leather above eight alternating real and faux drawers, the pedestal with acanthus collar on a triform platform with paw feet, one drawer stamped 'M.WILSON', another drawer applied with oval silver plaque engraved 'Charles Dickens' Library Table / which stood in / his Library at Gad's Hill' (mark of Robert Hennell, London, 1873). 29 in. (74 cm.) high; 42 ½ in. (107.5 cm.) diameter.

Provenance: Charles Dickens (1812-1870), by descent to the present owner.

A library table used by Charles Dickens at Gad's Hill Place. Dickens acquired Gad's Hill near Rochester in Kent in 1856. He initially intended to spend only summers there and to let it out the rest of the year, but he quickly succumbed to the charms of the house and neighbourhood and made it his permanent family home from 1859. He sold his London residence, Tavistock House, and in 1860 ‘transferred to [Gad's Hill] his books and pictures and choicer furniture’ (Forster iii, 180). Among the numerous ‘improvements’ he made to the house was the transformation of a bedroom on the ground floor into a book-lined study (Forster, iii, 184). According to the engraved plaque within one of its drawers, it was in this room — which also included his famous writing desk (see Christie’s sale 7590, lot 369, June 4, 2008) — that he installed the present table.