57–58 Lincoln's Inn Fields — Where Dickens First Read Aloud

57–58 Lincoln's Inn Fields in London is a 1730 townhouse where Charles Dickens gave his first private book reading in December 1844, inspiring his famous public performance career. Designed by Henry Joynes and updated by Sir John Soane around 1795 with a Roman Doric porch, the building hosted Dickens reading The Chimes to literary figures like Thomas Carlyle. It later served as the model for Mr. Tulkinghorn's offices in Bleak House.

London · from the walk “Secrets of Lincoln's Inn Fields” · audio ~3 min · Generated

57-58 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LJ

Why is 57–58 Lincoln's Inn Fields significant in the life of Charles Dickens?

Look up at this grand stone facade, with its heavy rusticated ground floor and elegant semicircular porch. You are standing before fifty seven to fifty eight Lincoln's Inn Fields... and if walls could speak, these would tell you about the night Charles Dickens discovered his second calling.......... The building dates to around seventeen thirty, designed by Henry Joynes. About seventeen ninety five, the great architect Sir John Soane divided the house in two and added that beautiful Roman Doric porch you see framing the double entrance. Inside, Soane also inserted an elliptical staircase running from basement to rooftop... one of only three of its kind known to exist, another being in Soane's own museum, just steps away on this very square.......... But the real magic happened upstairs. In eighteen thirty eight, John Forster, literary critic, fierce friend, and future biographer of Dickens, moved into number fifty eight. Over the years he expanded into more and more rooms, filling each one with his growing collection of books.......... Now picture this. In early December eighteen forty four, Dickens made a special journey all the way from Italy, where he'd been living most of the year, to treat Forster and a gathering of friends to a reading of his newest Christmas book, The Chimes. He intended to arrive on Sunday the first of December, but made such good progress he turned up a day early. He'd written the story in Genoa, inspired by the clamour of church bells audible from his villa.......... And what a guest list! Forster assembled reform minded liberals, artistic and humanitarian personalities... William Macready the actor, Douglas Jerrold the dramatist, Daniel Maclise and Clarkson Stanfield the painters, and the great Thomas Carlyle himself. Dickens had written from Genoa insisting... Carlyle, indispensable!......... The reading took place in the front, first floor room... right up there behind those windows. And the effect was Extraordinary. Daniel Maclise wrote to Dickens's wife Catherine afterward, saying... "There was not a dry eye in the house. Shrieks of laughter... and floods of tears as a relief to them."

...... Maclise captured the scene in a famous pencil sketch, which you can still see today at the Victoria and Albert Museum.......... Now here is what makes this spot truly significant. That reading was such a triumph that it planted a seed... it became the germ of those readings to larger audiences by which, as much as by his books, the world knew Dickens in his later life. The first paid public series launched in eighteen fifty eight, and absolutely took the country by storm. In Dublin there was almost a riot... people broke the pay box and freely offered five pounds for a stall!......... But those performances came at a terrible cost. The energy Dickens poured into them, insisting on performing even as his health worsened, is believed to have hastened his premature death on June the ninth, eighteen seventy. During his final series at Saint James's Hall, his doctor attended every single reading and had steps installed onto the stage.......... And one more thing. This very building also became the model for the sinister solicitor Mister Tulkinghorn's offices in Bleak House... one of Dickens's most dramatic murder scenes is set right here. So look up at those windows once more. Behind them, a man read a story aloud to his friends... and accidentally invented a new art form that would consume him, enrich him, and ultimately destroy him.

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