Card dimensions: 650 x 930 mm. 54 stiff printed paper cards, backed in glazed lilac paper, including a rule card and 'receive one counter from each player' card. Preserved within the rare publisher's two-part glazed cream box, with front and rear of lower portion featuring a coloured title ('The characters of Charles Dickens. An interesting game' and illustration of Mr. Pickwick) and an advertisement for another Jacques game ('Bumble Puppy' respectively). A crisp set, with just occasional marking; some loss/splitting to box at edges.

A late Victorian edition, produced by Jaques of Hatton Garden, of a rare card game, for eight or fewer people, consisting of 13 'quartettes of characters from the works of CHARLES DICKENS'. Of these 13, ten feature a drawing and description of a character from within one of the author's novels (Oliver Twist, Barnaby Rudge, Curiosity Shop (sic), Chuzzlewit, Pickwick, Dombey & Son, The Chimes, Cricket on the Hearth, The Haunted Man and Bleak House), and three (Little Dorrit, David Copperfield and The Christmas Books) feature text only, and no illustration.

'Having sorted their cards, the game is commenced by the player on the left of the dealer playing one of his cards…for example, supporting a character in 'Bleak House' is played, 'Smallweed,' 'Mrs Bagnet,' 'Jo,' and 'Turveydrop,' will form a trick, which the last player may take.'

The game is completed, as the rule card explains, when three tricks of four cards are held by the same player.

The box containing this rare card game provides interesting details; in addition to the original pricing ('Price One Shilling'), we can see from the price label of 'John E. Stafford' of Brighton that this was sold there for Eight and three quarter pence.

OCLC locates just two examples of this rare game (Chicago and Harvard); COPAC adds one further, at Manchester.