Dickens Collection

The special collection of works by Charles Dickens began at Queen's with the acquisition of the library of Walter Millen of Ottawa, whose sister, Charlotte Millen, sold the collection to the University in 1968 after her brother's death. At the time, Dr. Charles Pullen of Queen's Department of English evaluated the collection, which included first editions of 23 novels and other works, a set of Household Words and All the Year Round, as well as portfolios of contemporary illustrations of Dickens' characters. Several of the works in the Collection are in the original serial format. Since 1968, additional gifts and purchases have increased the collection to over 700 volumes. One of the highlights is a complete set of proof etchings for the first edition of Sketches by Boz, illustrated by George Cruikshank. Another rare item is A Christmas Carol in Prose: Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, with illustrations by John Leech (published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843). The collection is findable in Omni.