New read-along — The Old Curiosity Shop
by Charles Dickens
Dear classics readers,
I am very excited to announce our next read-along – of The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens – one of his strangest, darkest and most popular novels.
Famously, crowds are said to have swarmed the wharf at New York when the ship bearing copies of the final instalment arrived in 1841.
I’m suggesting we read The Old Curiosity Shop as Dickens’s first readers experienced it: in the original weekly instalments and with its original – largely forgotten – frame narrative. In this way we will reconstruct ‘one of the lost books of the earth’, as Dickens put it.
What is it?
The Old Curiosity Shop follows the picaresque fortunes of the strangely angelic, thirteen-year-old orphan Nell Trent, whose grandfather owns the curiosity shop of the title and whom Dickens surrounds with a carnival of ‘grotesque and wild’ characters, such as the monstrously lustful money-lender Daniel Quilp, the feckless Dick Swiveller, the lawyer Sally Brass and Short Trotters, a travelling Punch and Judy man.
The Old Curiosity Shop began as just one strand within a weekly miscellany, Master Humphrey’s Clock, which Dickens wrote on his own. In fact, the first few chapters only really make sense within this context. The popularity of Nell’s story, however, led Dickens to rethink his plans for the miscellany and he soon devoted the entirety of each weekly issue to instalments of The Old Curiosity Shop.
Today most people read The Old Curiosity Shop as a stand-alone novel. Occasionally the ‘other’ sections of Master Humphrey’s Clock are published as a separate volume, but very few people read the two together, as they first appeared.
‘Master Humphreys Clock, as originally constructed,’ said Dickens in 1848, ‘became one of the lost books of the earth – which, we all know, are far more precious than any that can be read for love or money.’
Why are we reading it now?
Master Humphrey’s Clock began circulation on 4 April 1840. We will read the original weekly instalments in real-time, on the same weeks of the year, starting on 4 April 2025.
We’ll see how The Old Curiosity Shop first appeared as a short story and then how it began to dominate and ultimately how it took over the miscellany, running in weekly instalments until early February.
How will we read it?
The Old Curiosity Shop is 550 pages long in my Penguin edition (see below) and it has 73 chapters. It was originally published across the first 45 issues of Master Humphrey’s Clock, between 4 April 1840 and 6 February 1841.
We will read the original weekly instalments, on the same weeks of the year, over ten months, from April 2025 until February 2026.
We’ll start reading on Friday 4th April.
For the first seven weeks, I’ll post a discussion each week:
On Friday 11th April we’ll discuss the first issue of Master Humphrey’s Clock: Master Humphrey, from His Clock-Side in the Chimney Corner and The Clock-Case.
On 18th April, we’ll discuss the second issue: The Giant Chronicles and Correspondence.
On 25th April we’ll discuss the 3rd issue: A Confession Found in a Prison.
On 2nd May we’ll discuss the 4th issue: The Old Curiosity Shop and Correspondence. This story later became ‘Chapter the First’.
On 9th May we’ll discuss 5th issue: Mr Pickwick’s Tale.
On 16th May we’ll discuss the 6th issue: The Second Chapter of Mr Pickwick’s Tale
On 23 May we’ll discuss the 7th issue: The Clock and The Old Curiosity Shop, Chapter 2.
After the first seven issues, The Old Curiosity Shop began to take up more space. We’ll touch base every two weeks:
On 6 June we’ll discuss Mr Weller’s Watch and The Old Curiosity Shop, Chapters 3-5.
On 20 June we’ll discuss The Old Curiosity Shop, Chapters 6-8 and Master Humphrey, from His Clock-Side in the Chimney Corner.
Then, from the twelfth issue, The Old Curiosity Shop took over entirely. I’ll encourage us to keep track of the weekly instalments and we’ll touch base every four weeks:
On 18 July we’ll discuss Chapters 9-16.
On 15 August we’ll discuss Chapters 17-24.
On 12 September we’ll discuss Chapters 25-32.
On 10 October we’ll discuss Chapters 33-39.
On 7 November we’ll discuss Chapters 40-47.
On 5 December we’ll discuss Chapters 48-55.
On 9 January 2026 we’ll discuss Chapters 56-65.
On 6 February we’ll discuss Chapters 66-72.
Finally, in the forty-fifth issue of Master Humphrey’s Clock, Dickens published ‘Chapter the Last’ and wrapped up Humphrey’s frame narrative. This was the issue that supposedly drove the New York readers wild.
On 13 February we’ll discuss Chapter the Last and Master Humphrey, from His Clock-Side in the Chimney Corner.
Which edition should I read?
There are lots of editions of The Old Curiosity Shop available. I will be reading the Penguin edition, which is easily available in the UK and the US.
For the other Master Humphrey’s Clock sections, I’ll provide links to the relevant (short) sections of this free online version of the text, so you don’t need a physical copy.
But if you would prefer to have one, I’d suggest hunting down the out-of-print 2020 Dover Thrift Edition. I found a cheap second-hand copy online.
What if I don’t want to read it?
If you don’t want to read The Old Curiosity Shop, you can opt out of our read-along emails and conversation. Just follow this link to your settings and under Notifications slide the toggle next to ‘The Old Curiosity Shop’. A grey toggle means you will not receive emails relating to this title.
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I’m very excited for this! I’m fortunate to own the original published in 1840 in three volumes with illustrations by George Cattermole and Hablot Browne. Volumes II and III were published in 1841. Fun fact, the cover identifies the appropriate volume with a clock set to the appropriate time.
The original also includes Barnaby Rudge just prior to the final Master Humphrey From His Clock-Side in the Chimney Corner. Wish we were starting today! I’ll upgrade to a paid subscription.
This is exciting news! I’m Bill Baker of Jackson, MS USA. I’ve been a fan of Dickens for decades and own a lot of his books including The Old Curiosity Shop. However, I’ve never read it so the timing couldn’t be better for me as I am committed to resume reading the Classics this year - currently reading ‘Oliver Twist’, ‘War and Peace’, and ‘Moby Dick’. Looking forward to doing this.