Please sir, I want some more

Before it gets too late in the year, I want to join the commemoration of someone having a 200^th birthday this year. Charles Dickens, the great Victorian novelist, was born February 7, 1812.

During his life, Dickens made two trips to America, the first in 1842. He met with American writers Washington Irving, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Edgar Allan Poe, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Harriet Beecher Stowe and President John Tyler and was mobbed by fans who were well aware of his work.  

But not everything was quite so rosy. Copyright laws are not what they are today and much of his work published in America was pirated. In fact, a great deal of British newspaper reporting was lifted directly into U.S. papers. So although Dickens was widely read in the U.S, he wasn’t making, well, a farthing from it. He raised the issue in his public appearances, but to some Americans this sounded like sour grapes.

After the visit he wrote American Notes in which he strongly attacked the practice of slavery, was critical of “sharp” American business practices and greed and remarked that he saw "Despicable trickery at elections; under-handed tamperings with public officers; and cowardly attacks upon opponents, with scurrilous newspapers for shields, and hired pens for daggers".  He was also very critical of American newspapers, beyond the copyright infringement issue. In his next novel, Martin Chuzzlewit, the main character is taken advantage of by a greedy American businessman.

In response the American press did some nasty Dickens bashing, even while it continued to print his work without paying for it. He wrote to a friend after the trip, “this is not the republic I came to see; this is not the republic of my imagination". He was obviously disappointed that the U.S. hadn't live up to his expectations.

Twenty-five years after his first visit and in failing health, he decided on another trip to the U.S. in 1867-68. Dickens was lured in part by the opportunity to make money on a reading tour. He had done this very successfully in Britain and saw opportunity in America.  His earlier negative comments about America were quickly forgotten and the public lined up to see him. The readings were a huge success and there were reports of some pretty serious ticket scalping. 

His success in America must have helped soften his attitudes, and in a farewell speech before leaving, he claimed to have found “gigantic changes” for the better in America. He directed that a statement with his positive feelings about the U.S. be appended to any future copies of his two books that referred to America. As it turned out, more than 20% of his assets in 1870, when he died, had come from his American tour.

Charles Dickens Sculpture in Philadelphia

In his will, Dickens requested that no memorial be erected in his honor. But In the 1890’s an American sculpture, Francis Elwell, unaware of the writer’s wishes, created a life-size bronze of Dickens with one of characters, Little Nell.  It was shipped to England as a gift from the American people, but Dickens son, after hearing about it and trying to keep to his father’s wishes, insisted it be sent back. The statue ended up in a warehouse in Philadelphia, and was finally erected in Clark Park in that city, where it stands today.  But it seems attitudes are changing. This summer in the English city of Portsmouth, where Dickens was born, there will be a statue of him erected in his honor, with the blessing of his descendants. Perhaps, we Americans will be forgiven.