A Dickens of a display at library

Oamaru Library heritage and reference librarian Chris Meech catches up on his reading with a historic edition of Charles Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop, part of a display of the author's work this month.

On the table in front of him are the full serialised volumes of Little Dorrit.

Both have been lent by the Dunedin City Library.

The Old Curiosity Shop comes from Dickens' personal library and is marked 1870.

The serial volumes were produced from 1855 to 1857 and were so popular people in the United States queued whenever a new one arrived.

Also in the collection is the Oamaru Library's oldest Dickens volume, Christmas Books and Hard Times, published in 1894 and originally held by the Oamaru Athenaeum.

The Dickens display runs until the end of this month.