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Portrait of Charles Dickens with an example of his signature

Printer: Yates, JamesPrimary artist: Maclise, Daniel RAPublisher: Chapman & HallPrintmaker: Finden, Edward

engraved by Finden as an oval as the frontis to the first edition that year (1839) of Dickens' "Nicholas Nickleby" printed by James Yates and published by Chapman & Hall.

The details are inscribed in the plate according to the copy held by the BM (1873,0712.677) and confirmed by the London Antiquarian Bookdealer, Shapiro, in their description of a copy of the volume in their Winter 2023 catalogue (item 16). Beneath the portrait oval in the original book frontis was an engraved facsimile signature below the greeting "faithfully yours."

RSA Librarian Meta Viles has inscribed the secondary support of the present work questioning the authenticity of the signature. It is certainly not an exact match for that on the book frontis above.

the portrait after the original in oil painted by Daniel Maclise in 1839 (Tate, on loan to NPG since 1954, NPG 1172) was



Additional details

  • Object data

    Date1839
    Accession1996.135
    Materials Support paper
    Dimensions Image size (oval)
    12.7cm x 9.8cm
    Secondary support
    22.5cm x 14.5cm
    MediumInk
  • Exhibitions

    No exhibition data for this record.

  • Sitters