Charles Dickens Manuscript Collection

Dickens' Ink Supplies and the Conservation of his Manuscripts

Sep 30, 2009

Charles Dickens' use of iron gall ink threatened the existence of his manuscripts.

Dickens’ manuscripts are part of the Forster Collection, held in the National Art Gallery of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. They are the most treasured and frail possessions of the Library. The collection includes manuscripts of works as well as proofs and revisions of works with corrections. These are:

The manuscripts are an important resource for the chronology of Dickens’ writing as different ink supplies and writing instruments were used at different times. The ink Dickens had used had created problems for the manuscripts conservation.

Dickens' Ink Supplies

Dickens used different inks over time. He started with iron gall ink and moved to blue ink. The variation of the ink colour in his manuscripts is a result of different ink supplies, of ink corrosion and also of the different quills and nibs he used.

Iron Gall Ink

Charles Dickens initially used iron gall ink. This is a type of ink made from tannin, iron sulphate, gum and water and has been in continuous use from the Middle Ages until the 19th century. Leonardo Da Vinci used it, Van Gogh drew with it and a vast number of documents ranging from the U.S. constitution and Bach music notes to letters and wills are written in it.

The iron gall ink’s self-destructing properties which became public a few years ago and its threat to manuscripts posed a challenge to archive and manuscript conservation worldwide. The iron sulphate that is responsible for the ink’s rich black tone reacts with the surface of the manuscript and makes it yellow and brittle. Dickens used iron gall ink until 1843.

Blue Ink Supplies

In his Charles Dickens, The Story of His Life, John Hotten writes in 1870 that Dickens “disliked the necessity of blotting his manuscripts in the progress of composition and on finding that a certain make of blue ink dried almost immediately it left the pen, he invariably used that kind ever after; and thus began the fashion of blue ink among London journalists”.

As a result all literary men switched their ink supplies from black to blue ink. Blue ink did not pose any problems to conservation. In contrast, the black ink has turned to brown or blackish-brown. It was found, however, that ink corrosion in the cases that iron gall ink was used was not very advanced

Conservation of Dickens manuscripts

Conservationists in the Victoria and Albert Museum examined the Dickens manuscripts in the Forster Collection page by page and consulted international conservation experts. Ink corrosion, a result of the use of iron gall ink supplies, was severe only in a few instances. It was decided not to deacidify the manuscripts but to bind them between alkaline buffered papers.

Charles Dickens manuscripts in the Forster Collection can be viewed by appointment only on written application to the Deputy Keeper. For more information on the conservation of the manuscripts see the National Arts Library website.

The National Arts Library is located on the 3rd Floor of the Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road

Annette Low, "Conservation of Charles Dickens' Manuscripts", V&A Conservation Journal, no. 9 (October 1993), pp. 4-7.

Harry Stone (ed.), Dickens' Working Notes for His Novels, University of Chicago Press, 1987

The copyright of the article Charles Dickens Manuscript Collection in Historical Archives is owned by Lito Apostolakou. Permission to republish Charles Dickens Manuscript Collection in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.