Dickens's Favourite Blacking Factory: The story of Regency entrepreneur Charles Day, his clandestine affair and why Charles Dickens became interested in him

The book 'Dickenss Favourite Blacking Factory' tells the story of Charles Day, a nineteenth-century boot-blacking entrepreneur, and how his dispute over whose Will led Dickens to create the case of 'Jarndyce and Jarndyce' in 'Bleak House'. The author uncovered a 170,000-word document in the National Archives that reveals Charles Day's tragic last months, including his deteriorating mental faculties, philanthropy, blackmail, and illegitimacy. The book suggests that Dickens' 'Bleak House' may have reflected aspects of Charles Day's own life.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 464 pages
Publication date: 12 October 2023
Publisher: The Conrad Press

Charles Day, a self-made nineteenth-century boot-blacking entrepreneur, is the subject of the extraordinary story of Dickens' Favourite Blacking Factory. The argument over whose Will inspired Charles Dickens to write the seemingly endless case of 'Jarndyce and Jarndyce' in his novel 'Bleak House' is the focus of this remarkable and highly imaginative retelling of a true story.

After a decades-long search for information on his ancestor, the author makes a fluke discovery, revealing a sweeping story of Regency and early-Victorian London. An actual 170,000-word document uncovered in the National Archives exposes the tragic last two months of Charles Day's life. This includes his deteriorating mental faculties resulting from tertiary syphilis, his remarkable philanthropy, blackmail by a dodgy solicitor, the inertia of the contemporary legal system, and the shame of illegitimacy, particularly in the wealthy classes.

Perhaps the plot of Dickens' 'Bleak House' even reflects aspects of Charles Day's own life?

Weight: 404g
Dimension: 130 x 199 x 38 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781915494689