Phiz - real name Hablot Knight Browne - worked together with Charles Dickens for over 20 years, illustrating some of the best known characters in English literature. This book profiles the life of Phiz, which was as rich and colourful as any of Dickens' own creations.

The Old Curiosity Shop is one of two novels (the other being Barnaby Rudge) which Charles Dickens published along with short stories in his weekly serial Master Humphrey's Clock, from 1840 to 1841. It was so popular that New York readers stormed the wharf when the ship bearing the final installment arrived in 1841.The Old Curiosity Shop was printed in book form in 1841.

In Charles Dickens' classic novel, "The Old Curiosity Shop (Illustrated)", readers are drawn into the intricate world of Little Nell and her grandfather as they navigate the harsh realities of poverty and tragedy. Dickens' rich storytelling and descriptive style transport the reader to Victorian England, where the characters are vividly brought to life amidst a backdrop of societal struggles and moral dilemmas. The novel is filled with twists and turns, keeping the reader engaged until the very end. Dickens' use of irony and satire add depth to the narrative, making it a timeless classic in English literature. Charles Dickens, a prolific Victorian author, was known for his social commentary and portrayal of the lower classes in England. His own experiences with poverty and hardship greatly influenced his writing, giving him a unique perspective on societal issues prevalent during his time. Dickens' ability to create memorable characters and poignant scenes has solidified his place in literary history. I highly recommend "The Old Curiosity Shop" to readers who enjoy engaging with complex characters and thought-provoking themes. Dickens' mastery of storytelling will captivate and immerse you in a world filled with both heartache and hope.

The Old Curiosity Shop was expanded from a short tale to save Dickens's failing periodical Master Humphrey's Clock (1840-1); it is the first of his novels of which the complete manuscript, many corrected proofs, and some working notes survive. This makes it uniquely interesting to both the textual critic and general reader. Forster's Life of Dickens played down the novelist's dependence on his friend's help, but the proofs reveal at first hand the nature of Forster's assistance as well as Dickens's own practice. In conjunction with the manuscript, which contains two previously unprinted notes to his publisher, they show Dickens dealing with the unexpected demands of weekly serialization of an unplanned, full-length novel. This is most obvious as he approaches the death of Little Nell, in whose fate both he and his readers became emotionally involved. This is the first edition to benefit from the recent revelation of material which Dickens had himself obscured or discarded on manuscript versos, and the first to scrutinize the importance and impact of the wood engravings dropped into the text.

For more than one hundred years, tourists and residents alike have flocked to Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, located on Seattle's waterfront. Here a mummy nicknamed Sylvester, a collection of shrunken heads from Ecuador, a two-headed calf, and a mermaid preside over walls and cases crammed with an incredible jumble of souvenirs and trinkets, intermixed with authentic Northwest Coast and Alaskan Eskimo carvings, baskets, blankets, and other artworks. The guestbook records visits by Theodore Roosevelt, Will Rogers, Jack Dempsey, Charlie Chaplin, J. Edgar Hoover, Katherine Hepburn, John Wayne, Sylvester Stallone, and Queen Marie of Rumania, among many others. Ye Olde Curiosity Shop was founded in 1899 by Joseph E. "Daddy" Standley, an Ohio-born curio collector who came to Seattle in the late 1890s during the Yukon gold rush. Although Native American material vied for space with exotica from all corners of the globe, it soon grew to be the mainstay of the shop, which became identified with the whalebones displayed outside and the "piles of old Eskimo relics" within. Also to be found were baskets, moccasins, ivory carving from Alaska, Tlingit spruce root baskets, Haida "jadeite" totem poles, masks, paddles, and other curiosities from the Northwest Coast. Indians from the Olympic Peninsula brought baskets, coming up to the back door of the shop in their canoes. Others, originally from British Columbia but now living on the flats not far from the shop, carved miniature totem poles by the hundreds and full-size poles on commission. Trading companies supplied Indian curios from the Plains, Southwest, and California. An art historian trained in the classic arts of the Northwest Coast, Kate Duncan became interested in the history of the shop when she learned that it had not only been an active participant in Seattle's 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition but had also been a major source of important Northwest Coast collections in many museums, including, among others, the Royal Ontario Museum, the George G. Heye Collection (now in the Smithsonian's Museum of the American Indian), the Washington State Museum, the Newark Museum, the Portland Art Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History. Granted full access by the present owners - grandson and great-grandson of "Daddy" Standley - to the remarkably complete archives maintained from the time the shop opened, Duncan has provided a fascinating chapter in the history of Seattle, especially in its early years, as well as a significant contribution to the literature on tourist arts and collecting. Kate Duncan, professor of art at Arizona State University, is also the author of Northern Athapaskan Art: A Beadwork Tradition, and coauthor of A Special Gift: The Kutchin Beadwork Tradition and Out of the North: The Subarctic Collection of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology.