The Old Curiosity Shop

A limited-edition art print of the Old Curiosity Shop from the novel by Charles Dickens
 
Available in three sizes -
A4 (quarter size: 21 x 29.7 cm / 8.3 x 11.7 inches)
A3 (half size: 29.7 x 42 cm / 11.7 x 16.5 inches)
A2 (full size: 42 x 59.4 cm / 16.5 x 23.4 inches)
 
The inspiration for Dickens's Old Curiosity Shop is disputed. There's a real-world shop at 14 Portsmouth St, on the corner of Lincoln's Inn Fields in London, and Dickens would certainly have strolled past the building many times. But the shop from his story may never have existed, and the novel ends with the building ‘long pulled down’ and ‘a fine broad road…in its place’. In other words, it shouldn't still be standing! Not to mention the author’s sister-in-law, Georgina Hogarth, claimed that he'd always imagined it in Green St (now Irving St), behind the National Portrait Gallery. So, here, Seth Insua has drawn on a number of influences, using the Portsmouth St shop as his base, and decking it out in Victoriana for that all-important period detail.
 
“Kit made his way through the crowded streets, dividing the stream of people, dashing across the busy road-ways, diving into lanes and alleys, and stopping or turning aside for nothing, until he came in front of the Old Curiosity Shop, when he came to a stand; partly from habit and partly from being out of breath.
It was a gloomy autumn evening, and he thought the old place had never looked so dismal as in its dreary twilight. The windows broken, the rusty sashes rattling in their frames, the deserted house a dull barrier dividing the glaring lights and bustle of the street into two long lines, and standing in the midst, cold, dark, and empty—presented a cheerless spectacle which mingled harshly with the bright prospects the boy had been building up for its late inmates, and came like a disappointment or misfortune.”
- Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop
 
Note
Premium giclée prints on thick 310gsm fine art paper. Hand-signed and hand-numbered by the artist. All prints are sold unframed.
 
Prices
A4 (quarter size) - £65
A3 (half size) - £95
A2 (full size) - £125
 
Free delivery on orders over £40 in the UK, and over £100 worldwide