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6 unusual facts about The Old Curiosity Shop

Master Humphrey

He is also the unnamed narrator of the first three chapters of Dickens's The Old Curiosity Shop which was originally published in that serial.

Sampson Brass

Sampson Brass is a fictional character in The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens.

Nell, having fallen in with a number of characters, some villainous and some kind, succeeds in leading her grandfather to safety in a far-off village (identified by Dickens as Tong, Shropshire), but this comes at a considerable cost to Nell's health.

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An adaptation for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in 1990, was narrated by Alex Jennings, with Emily Chenery (Nell), Phil Daniels (Quilp), Daniel Bliss (Kit), Trevor Peacock (Grandfather), Clive Swift, Anna Massey and Julia McKenzie.

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The village where they first meet the schoolmaster is Warmington, Warwickshire.

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The village where they finally find peace and rest and where Nell dies is Tong, Shropshire.

Dunce cap

John Ford's 1624 play The Sun's Darling is the first recorded mention of the related term "dunce table," a table provided for duller or poorer students; "dunce cap" appears first in the 1840 novel The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens.

Frederick Dickens

He was the inspiration for Fred, the dissolute brother of Little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop.

Lotta Crabtree

Having made a name in California, in 1863 Lotta left to tour the east coast where she began acting in plays such as The Old Curiosity Shop, Uncle Tom's Cabin and Little Nell and the Marchioness.