Know the Type: Charles Dickens Day

Welcome back to our series celebrating authors through readings of their most famous works!
The 7th of February marks the birth of the journalist, author, and social campaigner, Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) - regarded by many as the finest writer of the Victorian era. Starting with the serialised edition of The Pickwick Papers in 1836, Dickens went on to pen a further 14 novels, 5 novellas, and countless short stories. Oliver Twist; Nicholas Nickleby; David Copperfield; Great Expectations - not forgetting A Christmas Carol, which we’ve featured before in this series - all these were his, and many more besides!
Today’s reading, however, comes from another source. Dickens was a prolific letter writer, and would often reply to correspondence he received. This letter - housed at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York - is in reply to the German novelist Sophie Verena, who had dedicated her first book (Else; 1856) to Dickens. He was a deeply private and personal man: this letter provides us with a rare glimpse into both his writing process and personal life, written in his own hand.
(Music by Zapsplat.com)