The greatest writer of his time.Edmund Wilson One of the great poets of the novel a genius of his artEdgar Johnson His characters are marvelous his insights wonderful.you dont expect reality but you get something bigger and better.Ruth Rendell The Old Curiosity Shop was initially published in a weekly serial Master Humphreys Clock between 1840 and 1841. Charles Dickens story of the frail and innocent orphan had become such a phenomenon that New Yorkers stormed to the wharf in expectation of the ship carrying the final episode from England. The Old Curiosity Shop ultimately published in book form in 1841 is considered a lesser known work from Dickens yet its moving story is one of the finest examples of sentimental Victorian literature.