Join us in 2023 for Five Weekends Nov. 18 - Dec. 17, 10am - 6pm at the Historic Cow Palace!

The World of Charles Dickens

Learn More About Mr. Dickens

The Great Dickens Christmas Fair would not exist without our progenitor, the illustrious Charles Dickens! Learn more about Mr. Dickens, his works, and their significance by exploring this area of our website.

Aside from the warmth and frivolity at Mr Fezziwig’s Christmas Party (“DO come – you are all invited!”) special Dickensian environments can be found throughout the Fair: the irrepressible Mr. Crummles and his ever-so theatrical family (from Nicholas Nickleby) grace the VICTORIA & ALBERT BIJOU MUSIC HALL, while timeless and iconic scenes from Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol are presented in the lively Dickensian environment as well as throughout the Fair – watch Ebenezer Scrooge change from flinty miser to eager participant in the joy of Christmas under the tutelage of the Ghosts of Jacob Marley and Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come!

Scenes from Oliver Twist, too, play out in the streets of the Fair, as well as in seedy FAGIN’S DEN. The streets of the Fair are filled with Mr Dickens’ characters. Among the many lively characters stepping out of the pages of Dickens’ books, you may see the unctuous Uriah Heep menacing the virtuous Agnes Wickfield, and the heroic young David Copperfield and his adorably ditzy Dora wander through the twilight streets wrapped in the glow of young love. Watch the travails and triumphs of Nicholas Nickleby and his family unfold imperiled by the wicked Ralph Nickleby. Enjoy the merry antics of Mr. Samuel Pickwick, his clever manservant Sam Weller and the rest of the famous Pickwick Club! You may see and speak with characters from many of Dickens’ works including Bleak House, Our Mutual Friend, Sketches by Boz, and so many more!

And you may see the man himself – Mr. Charles Dickens – in NICKLEBY ROAD at the Fair, where his family and artistic friends congregate throughout the day. Mr. Dickens reads from A Christmas Carol at scheduled times in his parlour.

Make Dickens’ Characters Your Ringtone!

A “Bah Humbug” from Ebenezer Scrooge or “Aaaarrrgh” from the Ghost of Jacob Marley is just the thing to hear when that special person calls.

“Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings.”

~ Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

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