A mahogany occasional table with barley-twisted legs and a recessed front, featuring an engraved plaque recording it as the gift of Mamie Dickens to her "dear god-father John Forster," 790 x 630 x 435 mm (31 x 25 x 17 inches), minor cracks to top. Provenance: Sotheby's London, 29 June, 1982, lot 447. The engraved plate on the front reads: "Charles Dickens' Table from The Chalet, Gad's Hill Place June 1870 Given by Mamie Dickens to her dear godfather John Forster." John Forster (1812-1876) was a writer and editor who rose to early fame after publishing Lives of the Statesmen of the Commonwealth in 1836-39. He was introduced to Charles Dickens by their mutual friend William Harrison Ainsworth. The correspondence between Forster and Dickens led to the travelogue American Notes for General Circulation. From the 15th issue of Pickwick on, Forster saw all proofs of Dickens's writing, and was consulted during planning, writing, and revising of most of the later novels. The letter accompanying the gift of this table is no longer available, but it is quoted in the signage accompanying the piece in the accompanying photograph of the early exhibition: in part: "I beg you to accept [this table] as a remembrance from me to you of my beloved father and also as a token of my grateful affection for you. Auntie will tell you that the table is much associated with him as he used it as a prompt table at all his plays." "Auntie" is Georgina Hogarth, Dickens's sister-in-law who took over as his housekeeper after his divorce from Catherine.
A mahogany occasional table with barley-twisted legs and a recessed front, featuring an engraved plaque recording it as the gift of Mamie Dickens to her "dear god-father John Forster," 790 x 630 x 435 mm (31 x 25 x 17 inches), minor cracks to top. Provenance: Sotheby's London, 29 June, 1982, lot 447. The engraved plate on the front reads: "Charles Dickens' Table from The Chalet, Gad's Hill Place June 1870 Given by Mamie Dickens to her dear godfather John Forster." John Forster (1812-1876) was a writer and editor who rose to early fame after publishing Lives of the Statesmen of the Commonwealth in 1836-39. He was introduced to Charles Dickens by their mutual friend William Harrison Ainsworth. The correspondence between Forster and Dickens led to the travelogue American Notes for General Circulation. From the 15th issue of Pickwick on, Forster saw all proofs of Dickens's writing, and was consulted during planning, writing, and revising of most of the later novels. The letter accompanying the gift of this table is no longer available, but it is quoted in the signage accompanying the piece in the accompanying photograph of the early exhibition: in part: "I beg you to accept [this table] as a remembrance from me to you of my beloved father and also as a token of my grateful affection for you. Auntie will tell you that the table is much associated with him as he used it as a prompt table at all his plays." "Auntie" is Georgina Hogarth, Dickens's sister-in-law who took over as his housekeeper after his divorce from Catherine.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
