'The Old Curiosity Shop' (1840) by Charles Dickens

The Old Curiosity Shop is one of two novels (the other being Barnaby Rudge) which Charles Dickens published along with short stories in his weekly serial Master Humphrey's Clock, from 1840. It was so popular that New York readers reputedly stormed the wharf when the ship bearing the final instalment arrived in 1841.

The Old Curiosity Shop was printed in book form in late 1840. Queen Victoria read the novel that year and found it "very interesting and cleverly written".

The plot follows the journey of Nell Trent and her grandfather, both residents of The Old Curiosity Shop in London, whose lives are thrown into disarray and destitution due to the machinations of an evil moneylender and the grandfather's addiction to gambling.