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Dover: Lock and Key of the Kingdom
Charles Dickens - David Copperfield (1850)
‘The Personal History of David Copperfield’ by Charles Dickens,
was published in November 1850, having appeared in serial
form between May 1849 and November 1850.
In Chapter 13 Dickens describes David’s arrival in Dover in his
search for his great-aunt Betsy Trotwood:
“When I came, at last, upon the bare, wide downs near Dover,
it relieved the solitary aspect of the scene with hope; and not
until I reached that first great aim of my journey, and actually
set foot in the town itself, on the sixth day of my flight, did it
desert me. But then, strange to say, when I stood with my
ragged shoes, and my dusty, sunburnt, half-clothed figure, in
the place so long desired, it seemed to vanish like a dream,
and to leave me helpless and dispirited.
I inquired about my aunt among the boatmen first, and
received various answers. One said she lived in the South
Foreland Light, and had singed her whiskers by doing so;
another, that she was made fast to the great buoy outside the
harbour, and could only be visited at half-tide; a third, that
she was locked up in Maidstone jail for child-stealing; a fourth,
that she was seen to mount a broom in the last high wind, and
make direct for Calais. The fly-drivers, among whom I inquired
next, were equally jocose and equally disrespectful; and the
shopkeepers, not liking my appearance, generally replied,
without hearing what I had to say, that they had got nothing
for me. I felt more miserable and destitute than I had done at
any period of my running away. My money was all gone, I had
nothing left to dispose of; I was hungry, thirsty, and worn out;
and seemed as distant from my end as if I had remained in
London.
The morning had worn away in these inquiries, and I was
sitting on the step of an empty shop at a street corner, near
the market-place,…”
Igglesden and Graves
The shop doorstep David rested on has long been identified as
that of the old established Dover bakers Igglesden and Graves
in the Market Square. The firm used this association on their
advertising for many years. The bakers closed in the late 1960s
and the shop became a stationers and bookshop.
The shop has now returned to its former catering role as a tea
room and sandwich shop, trading on its David Copperfield
connection as ‘Dickens Corner’.
was published in November 1850, having appeared in serial
form between May 1849 and November 1850.
In Chapter 13 Dickens describes David’s arrival in Dover in his
search for his great-aunt Betsy Trotwood:
“When I came, at last, upon the bare, wide downs near Dover,
it relieved the solitary aspect of the scene with hope; and not
until I reached that first great aim of my journey, and actually
set foot in the town itself, on the sixth day of my flight, did it
desert me. But then, strange to say, when I stood with my
ragged shoes, and my dusty, sunburnt, half-clothed figure, in
the place so long desired, it seemed to vanish like a dream,
and to leave me helpless and dispirited.
I inquired about my aunt among the boatmen first, and
received various answers. One said she lived in the South
Foreland Light, and had singed her whiskers by doing so;
another, that she was made fast to the great buoy outside the
harbour, and could only be visited at half-tide; a third, that
she was locked up in Maidstone jail for child-stealing; a fourth,
that she was seen to mount a broom in the last high wind, and
make direct for Calais. The fly-drivers, among whom I inquired
next, were equally jocose and equally disrespectful; and the
shopkeepers, not liking my appearance, generally replied,
without hearing what I had to say, that they had got nothing
for me. I felt more miserable and destitute than I had done at
any period of my running away. My money was all gone, I had
nothing left to dispose of; I was hungry, thirsty, and worn out;
and seemed as distant from my end as if I had remained in
London.
The morning had worn away in these inquiries, and I was
sitting on the step of an empty shop at a street corner, near
the market-place,…”
Igglesden and Graves
The shop doorstep David rested on has long been identified as
that of the old established Dover bakers Igglesden and Graves
in the Market Square. The firm used this association on their
advertising for many years. The bakers closed in the late 1960s
and the shop became a stationers and bookshop.
The shop has now returned to its former catering role as a tea
room and sandwich shop, trading on its David Copperfield
connection as ‘Dickens Corner’.
