#nick nickleby

[psalm22-6]

Source: San Bernardino Sun, 13 March 1987 by Donald Kaul

This review from 1987 is too funny and I love that he calls Valjean the student’s uncle but also, it’s too optimistic about American politics lol. 

Save your McGovern buttons, folks; liberalism shall rise again. And soon. You can feel it. It's not merely that the air is going out of Ronald Reagan's balloon, it's that the times they are achangin'. Many liberals these days don't even bother with a secret handshake when greeting each other. Others have taken to openly advocating such controversial liberal ideas as public education, clean water and help for the homeless. You think I'm rushing it, don't you? Well, perhaps, but you'll have to forgive me. I've just seen "Les Miserables." 

Perhaps you haven't heard about it yet? You will. "Les Miz," as we on the fast track call it, is the latest stage phenomenon to hit this country. It is a grandiose musical  — really more of an opera —  based on Victor Hugo's novel. Like the last such phenomenon, "Nicholas Nickleby," it comes from London, and like "NickNick" (fast track again), it is going to be a smash hit. It is a genuine, hand-tooled, gold-leafed, can't-miss, must-see show. 

Overlooked in the hoopla of a hit, however, is the fact that it, again like "Nickleby," is a liberal show. Its story is the triumph of bleeding heart liberalism over hard-hearted conservatism. And people are going crazy for it. 

"Rambo" is out; "Les Miz" and "Nick-Nick" are in. 

"Les Miz" is the story of a poor Frenchman during Napoleanic [sic] times who steals a loaf of bread to feed his sister's starving child (which is, basically, the only reason liberals ever steal). He is caught and given 19 years in prison. Released from jail, Valjean is unable to get work because of his prison record, so he breaks parole and assumes a new identity. He is a great success in business and becomes mayor of a small town. 

Valjean is pursued through the years by a cop, Javert, who wears black clothes and smiles only when he steps on a butterfly. 

Javert keeps rediscovering Valjean and trying to arrest him, but the ex-con is too smart for him; he keeps slipping away. In the meantime, Valjean helps any widows and orphans he finds in his path. He is a sweetheart of a guy.

But does this cut any ice with Javert? Not a cube. He's determined that Valjean pay the price for breaking parole. He reminds one of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, actually. (If Valjean had been arrested for income tax evasion instead of stealing bread, they'd have probably let him off with a warning.) 

Finally, or almost finally, Javert is captured by idealistic rebels during a student uprising and is delivered into the hands of Valjean, who is being a sort of uncle to the students. Javert, naturally, expects to be shot. Instead, Valjean does the liberal thing; he lets him go. Javert later has a chance to return the favor and does, but he feels so unhappy at having violated the conservative code of honor by helping a liberal that he commits suicide.

Anvway, it all ends happily. Valiean dies, but he goes to heaven, where all good liberals go. Javert is conspicuous by his absence.

It is a great snow, the night I saw it at the Kennedy Center, Washington's liberals clapped so hard I thought their jewelry was going to fly off. 

The production is a return to the drama of the late 19th and early 20th century, before movies, when one of the things you went to the theater for was spectacle, crowd scenes, chariot races, waterfalls. The effects in "Les Miz" are magnificent. A pitched street battle with students and troops is reproduced on stage, then within moments we are in a Paris sewer with the escaping Valjean. The next minute we stay with Javert as he jumps from a bridge and plunges to his death.

As I said, it’s a great show and a harbinger of things to come. You still don't believe me? Listen: in his current film, Sylvester Stallone plays an arm-wrestler. Conservatism is being downsized. In his next film he'll probably play a social worker.

Remember, you read it here first. 

[ambercast]

who: nickleby dalton (@endlessreruns)

“Hey, hey, come sit and take a break,” Jamie said, waving Nick over. The other hadn’t taken a lunch break yet, which Jamie had noticed. He sat down in the diner near the kitchen entrance, and gestured for Nick to take a seat across from him. “You’ve been working a lot lately. I can ask Celia to give you a vacation for a few days if you need it.” He studied his sibling closely. “You’ve seemed a little down lately too. Is everything okay?”

[huntsvillehq]

The last day of the Faire, the sky was overcast, with rumbles of thunder in the far distance. As Mayor Nat stepped up to the podium set up in front of town hall, a small crowd gathered to hear the announcement. She proceeded to declare Pandora Flowers as the winner of the costume contest, and withdrew the sword to present to the winner of the tournament, Morgan Vovk.

Before she could, though, Quinn Buckley from the commune ran up on stage and grabbed the microphone from the podium.

“Listen! You have to listen. This, all of this, is because of a being far greater than us! It sent the creatures from the woods to test us! To separate the weak from the strong. It judges us because it wants us to be ready before it reveals itself. We have to listen! We have to—“

Sheriff Henry attempted to take the microphone from her, but she struggled against him, still shouting into the microphone.

“It’s real! I felt its presence! Those that listen will be saved!”

Thunder rumbled, closer than before, much closer. A loud crack of lightning illuminated the sky, blindingly bright. Beyond the clouds, briefly visible in that split second, loomed a shape, unrecognizable and massive, both bulbous and gangly. As quickly as it appeared it was gone, and what remained was the sizzling body of Tristan Wilde, struck by the lightning. The sky opened up, then, as thunder boomed directly above, and rain and hail pelted the town.

“It’s there! You all saw it! It’s real! We have to submit!” Quinn wailed, as Henry attempted to pull her off the stage. “I can prove it! I can walk amongst them untouched! I’ve been chosen! You can be chosen too!”

Her cries fell away in the deafening downpour, and those that had gathered scattered to find shelter in the nearest buildings. Whether or not they saw something or, if they did, if they believe what they saw, remains to be seen.

The storm raged on through the night, as the creatures wandered the streets unperturbed by the rain and hail. The lights of the town flickered and then, as lightning staggered across the sky, everything went dark.

(Those that ran to find shelter found themselves stuck for the night. Below you’ll find the (randomly selected) groups. You can choose for your characters to have seen the shape in the sky, to have not seen it, or to have seen it and not believe it.

Everyone can continue/finish their event threads, as all this took place on the final day of the Faire (the 29th). You may also time-jump threads, headcanon threads, or make new threads for the plot drop. The event officially ends on August 5th, at which time please do not make any more event starters, however you can continue all threads until completion.)

Town Hall

Aslan “Dodger” Ozdemir Bocephus “Beau” Romero Birdie Tilton Cain Barlowe Eagan Connolly Emma “Em” Dunford Evangeline Cruz Falco Romero Fletcher Cole Helena Theriot Hex Sif-Sidon Jessica Sinclair Kirby Louis Ryan Nickleby “Nick” Dalton Ocean Quinn Odette Abbott Olivia Hart Poppy Sarasa Prudence “Pru” Wheaton Ransome “Rance” Slade Saffron Aubert Scout Garcia Sierra Nevada Starlynn Flowers

Fire Station

Absinthe Capone Arachne Arthur “Arty” Drake Conrad Greene Corvin Delancey DJ Cruz-Dutton Harlow Cole Hawthorne “Hawk” Romero Izan Castillo Katarina “Rini” Roberts Lachlan Ramirez Logan Ferguson Lorcan Hara Luciana “Lucy” Rivera Mercy Wainwright Pandora “Andy” Flowers Phoenix Romero-Sawyer Rainn Scott Reggie Alson Ricardo Reider Ruben Hobbes Samantha “Sammie” Thompson Sebastian Keane Tae-Hyun Cho Theodore “Teddy” Collins Zain Madan

Police Station

Andrew Richardson Antonio “Toni” Estrada, Jr. Celia Ortega Elijah Atkins Emrys Rosser Finn Cunningham Halley McGillivray Hunter Hilton Jahi Karim Jane Doe Jareth Reid Kestrel Sideris Lincoln Abernathy Luke Matthews Mateo Suarez Morgan Vovk Pascal Mendoza Quinn Buckley Salem Salazar Vincent Lewis Violet Beauregarde William Monroe Wolf Lykaios Zachary Ryan Zarina West

Huntsville Bank

Alexander “Xander” Garcia Cabell “Cab” McCay Cassius Romero Catherine Wayne Christopher Winters Briana Ryan Dahlia Cruz-Dutton Frances “Frankie” Wallace Gabriel “G” Westfall Genesis “Sissy” Boone Harvey Langston Josie Reigh Mallard “Duck” Romero Mason Greene Maya Rae Mylene Karimi Raj Aiyangar Raphael Knightley Riley Saunders Sandra Quispe Sare Holmes Sasha Medvedev Spencer Holmes Valeria “Val” Moreno Wylie Bateman

Post Office

Avery Cowling Benjamin Cade Bowie Bardot Bram Williams Carter Behrens Cassandra “Cassie” Slade Eilana Kapur Freya Atkins Guillermo “Mo” Reyes Jasmine “Minnie” Sinclair Lennon Davies Leo Brockton Liam Jefferson Matthew Walker Mia Vazquez Monet Vogel Nathaniel Dawson Ondine Konar Paloma Ortiz Reed Hendrix Silas “Cyan” Canne Tari Park Wren Romero Xavier Cade Zoë Clark

Huntsville Library

Artemis Hayes Axel Addams Calloway “Cal” de la Luna Casey Nestor Claire Forbes Clara Jones Finch Sanders Floyd Blackward Hank McGillivray Iniya Beckett Ivy Oberon James “Jamie” Brennan Jeconiah “Jack” Abbott Jett Liu Kieran “KB” Barnes Michael “Mikey” Beauregarde Nicolas Garcia Parker Russo Peter “Rusty” Craven Peyton Wilson Reza Kogoya Roman Forest Rosemary “Rose” Felton Sicilia “Lia” Flowers Tamaraa Jillian “Jill” Adler

[xkcd-bracket]

Jack Nicholson - Actor in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, The Shining, Batman, Witches of Eastwick, The Bucketlist

Nicholas Nickleby - Charles Dickens protagonist in the novel by the same name

[lxvenderhxzehv]

(Miley Cyrus) [THE ROCKSTAR]. Please welcome [Tiffany ‘Tiff’ Royale (She/Her)] to Huntsville, WV. They are an [33]-year-old [RESIDENT] who lives in [TOWN]. You may see them around working as a [Private music Teacher]. They are looking for [Nickleby 'Nick’ Dalton] their [Half-sibling] Poor unfortunate soul. We’ll see if they survive.

Name: Tiffany Royale Actual Name: Daisy March Dalton Nicknames: Tiff Age/DOB: 33, september 24, 1990 Gender: cis-Female She/Her Sexual Orientation: PansexualPersonality type: The Rockstar Relationship status: single Occupation: Private music teacherDestianation: In Town

Bio:

Born Daisy March Dalton, Tiffany was her mother and fathers pride and Joy until was about 7 years old that's when Nick was born and suddenly her world the flipped upside down. Her parents split and her dad left them. Everything she had know was changing, but the one thing she still had was her music. and While she was against the idea of being an older sister and Nick and Tiffany fought like siblings do but there was one thing they could always bond over and that was music.

At a young age Tiffany had always been really good with music. She knew how to play piano and guitar by the time she was 8 years old. Then one instrument after another along with song writing Tiffany was well versed in music by the time she got to high school and was even in her own band with a few of her friends. Writing songs for them Tiff was perfectly find being be hind the scenes and in the back ground.

It was around her senior year that Tiff started dating a guy from the town over. His band had a bit more notoriety than her own. So when she got the news that his ban was moving on in the battle of the bands competition she packed her things and went on the road with them. The band did very well the first few rounds and even made it to the finals. When the band and the crew went out that night to celebrate the victories they had so far they went to a Karaoke bar. Tiff got on stage as a bet little did she, or the band for that matter that there was a producer in the crowd that night. He offered Tiff the opportunity of a life time.

Before she knew it she was the one of the most popular pop stars out there. Selling out arenas with in minuets, having more money than she knew what to do with. it was then she decided it was time to go back and see her family. However when she got to the last address she was given by there mom, all she was greeted with was a for sale sign and and Empty home. She tired to get in touch but never was able to get an answer so she gave up.

about 5 years ago Tiff decided it was time for a change, She had been doing pop for 10 years it was time to move into the rock scene. at first people didn't take her seriously, but suddenly she was just a popular then as she was before. She found her people where she belong.

now 15 years later she has found herself back in Huntsville after her tour bus broke down.

[endlessreruns]

(Jack Wolfe) [The Musician]. Please welcome [Nickleby 'Nick’ Dalton (they/them)] to Huntsville, WV. They are an [26]-year-old [RESIDENT] who lives in [TOWN]. You may see them around working as a [Chef at Bucky’s Diner].

Name: Nickleby Laurie Dalton

Nick-Names: Nick, Nicky

Face Claim: Jack Wolfe

Age: 26

Gender/Pronouns: Nonbinary, They/Them

Orientation: Gay

Town Resident

Neither Hunter or Gatherer 

Occupation: Cook at Bucky's Diner

Languages Spoken: English, French and some ASL

Traits: Gentle / Domestic / Lyrical / Punctual / Submissive / Insecure

----

tw: mentions of pedophilia, abuse, sickness, death

Nick was born their mother’s second child, unlike their older half sister they never knew who their father was. Their mother told them that their father had been in the military and had died overseas before they were born. The truth, however, was that their father was a man who still lived in town that she had slept with after a night at the bar, and didn’t think the man would be much help in raising a kid. 

Their mother never remarried after divorcing their half sister’s father, but there were constant boyfriends coming in and out of the house. Some were perfectly fine, but it just didn’t last. Others only stayed around long enough to find out she had kids. One online relationship that their mother thought was ‘the one’ had them packing up and moving out of town for a period of time when they were 12 years old.

At the age or 15 Nick developed a crush on their English and History teacher, something that the man took advantage of. It went on for much of the year until the teacher wound up caught outside by the monsters one night. While there were probably rumors among the students about this relationship, especially with the way Nick reacted to the death, it was never something that was outright proven or looked into by the authorities before the teacher died.

They started a relationship with another student that was one year older than them at the age of 17, and got married once they had turned 18, both had barely graduated high school, and they hadn’t dated for more than a few months. They were both riding the high of infatuation and being teenagers in love. Things were fine at first, but after a while Nick’s husband’s true nature started to seep out. It started out in small, imperceptible ways, but over time it grew into something much much worse, Nick finding ways to hide the results whenever they left the home that they lived in together. 

This all sadly went on for well over two years until one particularly bad night led to Nick slipping something into their husband’s food the next evening at dinner. They had only meant to make him sick, however it wound up being enough to kill him. Panicked and freaked out they sought out Earline, the woman having been the mother of their mother’s friend and they knew she was a safe person to go to. They made it to her place just before dark and she helped them figure out what to do next. 

Not wanting to remain in that home any more Nick moved back in with their mother, staying there until she fell ill and died when Nick was 24. They have continued to live here alone since.

Nick’s talent for music was discovered at a young age and over the years they picked up instrument after instrument. The piano and flute (including a pan flute that Lincoln made for them when they were a kid) are the ones they have the most talent and knowledge in, but they can also play the guitar, violin, viola, clarinet, and ocarina. All of which were bought second hand/used...many off of ebay before the paradox occurred.

has been working at the diner for a couple of months.

Has vision issues in their left eye as a result of their former husband

[howardhawkshollywoodannex]

Charlie Hunnam as Bosie in Cold Mountain (2003). Charles was born in Newcastle, England, and has 29 acting credits, from a 1996 movie on the telly to 12 episodes of Shantaram (2022).

His other notable credits include 10 episodes of Queer as Folk, Nicholas Nickleby (as Nick), Children of Men, Pacific Rim, 92 episodes of Sons of Anarchy, The Lost City of Z,and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (as Art).

[missjstanding]

anna's hands

[leguin]

would recommend LITANIES if you like nick cave, minimalist opera, and/or the nicholas nickleby (2002) soundtrack, or if you need some new eliot waugh music

[xserpx]

BBC Article about The Watch series

(Because this article actually makes me feel a lot better and everyone needs to read it):

Adam Hugill, Jo Eaton-Kent, Marama Corlette, Lara Rossi and Sam Adewunmi join cast ahead of start of production on September 30

Critically acclaimed actor and playwright Richard Dormer (Game of Thrones, Fortitude) is to lead the cast of the new BBC Studios drama for BBC AMERICA, The Watch.

Set in the fictional city of Ankh-Morpork, where crime has been legalised, The Watch is a uniquely anarchic and thrillingly entertaining police procedural. The character-driven comedy centres on a group of misfit cops as they rise up from decades of helplessness to save their corrupt city from catastrophe. The Watch is inspired by the legendary ‘City Watch’ subset of Sir Terry Pratchett’s bestselling “Discworld” novels and its many iconic characters.

Joining the unorthodox company of atypical heroes in this fantasy-thriller are Adam Hugill (1917, World on Fire), Jo Eaton-Kent (Don’t Forget The Driver), Marama Corlett (Blood Drive, Sick Note) and Lara Rossi (Crossing Lines, Cheat) together with Sam Adewunmi (The Last Tree, Stan Lee’s Lucky Man.)

The eight-part comedy-drama,that gleefully rips up the genre rulebook, follows several of Terry Pratchett’s best-loved creations on a riotous and emotional odyssey. Richard Dormer will star as Sam Vimes, Captain of The Watch, disempowered by a broken society that’s reduced his department’s jurisdiction to almost nothing. Jo Eaton-Kent will play the ingenious non-binary forensics expert Constable Cheery, ostracised by their kin and finding a new home and identity within The Watch. Adam Hugill will play Constable Carrot, the idealistic new recruit, raised by dwarfs, but really a human abandoned at birth. Marama Corlett will play the mysterious Corporal Angua who is tasked with Carrot’s training and keeping the rookie alive. Lara Rossi will play the formidable Lady Sybil Ramkin, last scion of Ankh-Morpork’s nobility who’s trying to fix the city’s wrongs with her chaotic vigilantism. Sam Adewunmi will play the wounded, wronged Carcer Dun, out to hijack destiny itself, take control of the city and exact a terrible revenge on an unjust reality.

The Watch will be brought to screen by highly acclaimed Director Craig Viveiros, whose credits include the BBC’s 2015 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, BBC Studios’ serial killer drama Rillington Place, and Mammoth Screen’s adaptation of The War of The Worlds.

Produced by BBC Studios and Narrativia the show’s Lead Writer is Simon Allen (The Musketeers, Das Boot). Joining Allen is a team of high-calibre writers, Joy Wilkinson (Nick Nickleby, Doctor Who), Catherine Tregenna (Torchwood, Stan Lee’s Lucky Man), Amrou Al-Kadhi (Hollyoaks, Little America) and Ed Hime (Skins, Doctor Who).

Richard Dormer says: “I’m so thrilled to be part of this brilliant madness and mayhem! I was immediately drawn to the multitude of layers to Sam Vimes, and I find the dynamic between him and his band of disenfranchised comrades very compelling.”

Director and Executive Producer, Craig Viveiros says: “The script for The Watch is like nothing I have ever read before. It’s anarchic, it’s noisy and raspy, and I am really looking forward to bringing it to life on screen. With such a talented line up of cast and crew together we can make something ground-breaking.”

Lead Writer and Executive Producer, Simon Allen says: “Sir Terry Pratchett is in the bloodstream of popular culture. He has a distinctly British kind of literary heart and humour but his ideas are defiantly human and universal. It’s been such a privilege to work with our world class director, producers and writers on building a television show that honours his legacy while striking out on its own in his name and spirit. Like the man whose genius inspired it, The Watch is a hopeful show that believes it’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness. I can't wait for everybody to see our joyously brilliant cast light candles and, of course, flamethrowers.”

[triss19]

My 10 Favorite Book to Movie Adaptions: Go watch them!

Some of these movies well known and loved but the other half are so incredibly under-rated and I just have to give them a shout out cause THEY DESERVE THE HYPE!

1. Treasure Island (1990) 

Christian Bale as Jim Hawkins and Charlton Heston (and Christopher Lee for a bit). Need I say more? Nobody loves the book more than I do and this movie is fuckin incredible, exciting, gritty, and VERY close to it’s source material. 

2. The Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (The Royal Shakespeare Company) 

Eight and a half hours of the best theater you will ever see. End of story. Nothing will ever come close. Holy shit. 

YES THEY FILMED IT, IT’S ON DVD, THANK GOD!

3. The Great Gatsby (2000) 

Paul Rudd! Paul Rudd makes this movie. He plays Nick who is the narrator in the book and in this movie you get watch him become more and more disgusted with the culture that he’s jumped into. 

This is not a very romantic movie. It’s gritty, and a bit bleak. You see the underside of the glossy Jazz Age. Bravo. 

4. Peter Pan (2003)

NO ONE TALKS ABOUT THIS FUKCIN MOVIE! DEAR GOD IT’S THE BEST LIVE ACTION CHILDREN’S MOVIE EVER MADE!

Everyone I know who’s seen this movie adores it. Because it’s perfect. It’s got Jason Isaacs as Captain Hook! You can’t get more bad ass. 

5. & 6. Richard Sharpe (Sean Bean) and Horatio Hornblower (Ioan Gruffudd)

Both of these books series were based during the Napoleonic Wars; Richard Sharpe in the British Army and Horatio Hornblower in the British Navy. But what is so special about these two series is that they were filmed during the 90s by the BBC so they are great fun to watch as a pair. 

(added bonus: Sean Bean is an action hero in 14+ stories and lives) 

7. Pride and Prejudice (2005) 

This movie owns my soul. 

8. Great Expectations (1999) 

If you don’t like the book you won’t like this movie either. 

BUT if you loved the book like I do you have to watch this. Ioan Gruffudd is a great fit for Pip because no matter how dumb or selfish Pip’s decisions are you can’t help but feel sorry for him and his fall from grace at the end of the story is super emotionally visceral. Thanks Ioan!

9. The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) 

Even though the story has to be paired down a ton since the book is so fucking LONG it’s still a great adaption. All the drama and sword fighting and intrigue that I like about the story is still there.  

10. The Lord of the Rings Duh, obviously.

[cultfaction]

James Greene passes away aged 89

James Greene passes away aged 89

Belfast-born actor James Greene has passed away at the age of 89 years old after a short illness. The sadnews was broken by his agent. Through his career Greene was known for his roles as Professor Purwell in The Moon Stallion, Mr. Trimble in Chocky, Colonel Tom Headlam in Faith, Eric in The Fades, Old Ian in Hunderby, Mr. Cobbey in The Life and Adventures of Nick Nickleby, The Abbott in Doctor…

[ambercast]

where: the pumpkin festival who: nickleby dalton (@endlessreruns)

Will still didn’t entirely know what to make of Nick, despite having crashed on their couch a few times now. They were quiet and shy in a way Will wasn’t used to except from his sister, and Nick was definitely not his sister.

“Didn’t take you for the type of person to be into Halloween. You look like a slamming door would spook you,” he said with a faint smirk from beneath his cowl.

[huntsvillehq]

(Miley Cyrus) [THE ROCKSTAR]. Please welcome [Tiffany ‘Tiff’ Royale (She/Her)] to Huntsville, WV. They are an [33]-year-old [RESIDENT] who lives in [TOWN]. You may see them around working as a [Private music Teacher]. They are looking for [Nickleby 'Nick’ Dalton] their [Half-sibling] Poor unfortunate soul. We’ll see if they survive. (It’s Pixie :3)

WELCOME TO HUNTSVILLE, WV, tiffany. Please follow this checklist and submit your account within 48 hours. Do not stay out after dark, and beware the whispers calling you into the woods at dusk.

[calmgrove]

Engraving of snail by Orlando Jewitt

George Braintree: Poverty and Oysters; how words inspired Charles Dickens Gotham Press 1970

“It’s a wery remarkable circumstance, Sir,’ said Sam, ‘that poverty and oysters always seem to go together.” — Sam Weller to Mr Pickwick

One of the most striking things about Dickens’ writings is the range of curious names his characters, places and book titles sport — Micawber, Chuzzlewit, Mudfog, Uriah Heap, and so on.

Georgian literature was replete with artful names, of course, usually suited to the nature of the person so called: Mrs Malaprop in Sheridan’s play The Rivals, for example, is from the French mal à propos (meaning ‘inappropriate’), and religious allegories like Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress were chock-full of them.

But the names Dickens invents are altogether more playful and seemingly pointless except for their memorability. Where did he get his inspiration for them? George Braintree thinks he knows.

A for Anchor appears in Braintree’s vintage book

He relates how he acquired an old picture book many years ago from an antiquarian bookseller. It was decidedly tatty, the binding almost separating from the leaves. A Child’s Alphabet Treasury had no author and no date but Braintree guessed it had been produced up to a decade either side of 1840.

But it was the illustrations that had attracted him. He recognised engravings from famous artists such as the brothers Thomas and John Bewick, but also Robert Branston, William Harvey, Orlando Jewitt and Thomas Wright, plus a host of anonymous engravers. Images were grouped together under each letter of the alphabet over a double foolscap page though none were actually labelled, presumably as part of the reader’s task to interpret them.

Braintree’s book includes facsimiles of all the pages so we can understand his arguments about Dickens’ procedures. They’re an odd collection of images, relying on what was available to snaffle from the corpus produced by the identified artists and their colleagues, all born in the 18th century. The subjects include cuts of popular saints and biblical figures, natural features and animals, chess pieces and court cards, figures from nursery rhymes such as ‘Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor’ and varied occupations from milkmaids to parsons.

Some pictures occur more than once, for example the Devil reappears as Old Nick under the N words, and St Paul’s Cathedral (which appears with cap, captain, laundry copper, church and cockerel, among others) is also found under D for dome. R includes rye, a rose, a river or rill, a robber, and a rich man; and, following Sam Weller’s observation about poverty and oysters going together, a picture of an oyster is indeed followed by a poor man on the next double page.

In his perusal of his new (but, I should add, unprovenanced) acquisition Braintree noticed two faint pencilled letters on the fly leaf, which he interpreted as C and D. His mind leapt immediately to two giant literary figures: Charles Dodgson, best known under his pen name Lewis Carroll, and Charles Dickens. Could he pin down a link between one or the other and the book, especially as both authors loved whimsical names?

I won’t go into lengthy reasons why he ruled out the author of the Alice books, but he did plump strongly for Dickens on account of the titles and the personages in the novels. Let me give some examples of his arguments, which he formulated after noting that some images were covered in pin pricks.

Bewick engraving of an Ape

Take Nicholas Nickleby, for instance. Braintree thinks Dickens used a form of bibliomancy, literally pinpointing the different syllables from the images: Nicholas from St Nicholas (under the guise of Father Christmas) plus Nick from devilish Old Nick and -by from Bee. Another name is David Copperfield, which he thinks comes from David slaying Goliath, an old-fashioned washing copper, and a field being ploughed. Dombey and Sons he derives from the dome of St Paul’s, the Bee (again) and the homophone Sun; Uriah Heap is made up of a yew branch, a stalk of rye grass and a heap of coal (which reappears under H as well as C).

Bewick engraving of a rill or river

And so it goes on: you can guess how Braintree accounts for The Mudfog Papers and, with images of a rock and a clock, Hard Times. A few like these last two are distinctly less convincing; the author even shows how he could derive his own name from St George defeating the dragon, a phrenology head and, of course, an oak tree, which somehow lessens his argument.

Bewick engraving for Fuel

Braintree seems to have convinced himself that Dickens owned this unique alphabet book, though I’m yet to be won over. A lot hinges on the pin holes that the author claims are there but for which he produces no photographic evidence; however he does include a close-up of the C and the D which I have to admit are very similar to, but less flashy, than the initial letters of some of the autographs — though these do evolve over Dickens’ lifetime.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

In the meantime I tried my hand at creating my own Dickensian title. Here’s what I came up with on my first go, randomly flipping between A, R and F: Ape — Rill — Fuel.

What the Dickens! George Braintree: Poverty and Oysters; how words inspired Charles Dickens Gotham Press 1970 "It’s a wery remarkable circumstance, Sir,’ said Sam, ‘that poverty and oysters always seem to go together."

[endlessreruns]

arlo demont / 25 / 5'8 (he/they) / town visitor / intro

ashley song / 33 / 5'0 (she/her) / town resident / intro

derek pardeshi / 41 / 5'9 (he/him) / town resident / intro

eagan connolly / 25 / 5'5 (they/she) / town visitor / intro

easton weston / 33/ 5'10 (they/he) / town resident intro

eldon harcourt / 28 / 5'11 (he/him) / commune visitor / intro

evora kaplan / 33 / 5'7 (she/they) / town visitor / intro

fallon barlowe / 20 / 5'4 (she/he) / town resident / intro

felix berkowitz / 25 / 5'7 (he/they) town visitor / intro

ferdinand 'ferdie' weaver / 22 / 5'5 (they/he) commune visitor / intro

harvey langston / 31 / 5'9 (he/him) / town visitor / intro

jasper larkin / 30 / 5'9 (he/him) town resident / intro

jeremy marsh / 24 / 5'10 (he/him) commune visitor / intro

kaveh del rosario / 21 / 6'0 (he/him) / commune resident / intro

kevin 'kc' carpenter / 32 / 5'11 (he/him) / town resident / intro

lincoln abernathy / 45 / 5'11 (he/him) / commune resident / intro

mason greene / 26 / 5'8 (he/him) / town visitor / intro

maverick cafferty / 29 / 5'10 (he/they) / town resident / intro

nadine briggs / 23 / 5'4 (she/her) commune resident / intro

nickleby 'nick' dalton / 26 / 5'9 (they/them) / town resident / intro

parker russo / 21 / 5'6 (he/they) / commune visitor / intro

poppy hastings / 21 / 5'3 (she/they) / commune visitor / intro

rivers caldwell / 25 / 5'10 (he/him) / town visitor / intro

roman forest / 22 / 5'7 (he/him) / 'town' visitor / intro

sicilia 'lia' flowers / 29 / 5'5 (she/her) / commune resident / intro

stella hendrix / 27 / 5'7 (she/her) town resident / intro