Charles Dickens collection to be sold

[Mary]

Rare works by Charles Dickens, including a page from the original manuscript of "Pickwick Papers" and an illustration of the "Oliver Twist" character Bill Sikes, are going on the auction block.

 

The Kenyon Starling Library of Charles Dickens is expected to fetch more than $2 million when it is sold at Christie's on April 2.

 

Among the highlights is "The Uncommercial Traveller" (1861), inscribed by Dickens to novelist George Eliot. Its pre-sale estimate is $100,000 to $150,000.

 

A page from the original manuscript of Dickens' first novel, "Pickwick Papers," containing a comedic scene between Pickwick's valet, Sam Weller, and a gentleman, John Smauker, could sell for $150,000 to $250,000.