Books often have something more to tell us than their own story and this book is one such. This is an American book published in 1882 and is a sign of the enduring power of Charles Dickens on both sides of the Atlantic, a dozen years after his death. Even better for lovers of Dickens, this is the work of the Dickens family.
The format is simple, it’s a date-book or diary. The left hand pages have a piece of text from the works of Dickens for each day and blank spaces on the right hand side to be completed by its owner.
But this book has another story to tell, the story of a little American girl born I would imagine in the 1890s whose childhood is chronicled inside her pages. Her name was Katherine Leith, you can just about see it written above the book’s title on the cover and she seems to be from St Louis. Her childhood is packed into this book. This snapshot, I’m guessing 20 mos means 20 months old, captures a moment.
The book is full so more next time…..
The Solitary Reader 