A charming pair of antique bronze bookends depicting Charles Dickens' "Old Curiosity Shoppe"

The solid bronze bookends are inscribed "Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe 1837, Portsmouth Street, Lincoln Inn Fields" on the front. the back is inscribed "The home of Little Nell and her grandfather. The place was one of many for old and curious things which seemed to crouch in odd corners of the town. There were suits of mail standing like ghosts in armor, fantastic carvings, rusty weapons of various kinds, ivories, tapestry and strange furniture that might have been designed in dreams." Dickens published Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe in 1840.