British Banknotes 10 Pound Sterling note 1993 Charles Dickens
Bank of England
Obverse: Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at right. Seated Britannia as logo of Bank of England at left. Denominations in numerals are in top corners. In center in words. Signatures: Graham Edward Alfred Kentfield, Chief Cashier of the Bank of England.
Reverse: Portrait of Charles Dickens (1812 – 1870) was an English writer and social critic. On the left side, on foreground, The Cricket match Dingley Dell against all Muggleton from the Pickwick Papers 1836 (The Pickwick Papers, Novel by Dickens), in full The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, novel by Charles Dickens. Denomination in numeral is in top left corner. In center in words.
Watermark: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in young age.
The Historical series are so called because they feature a famous historical character and appropriate scenes on the reverse. The £5 was first issued on 7th June 1990, and the £20 on 5th June 1991. They remain the current notes in circulation today (1999). The £10 was first issued on 29th April 1992, and the £50 on 20th April 1994. The £50 note incorporates an additional security device in the form of a foil Tudor rose and medallion.
In preparation for the "E Series" of notes, issued by the Bank of England, photographs of The Queen were especially commissioned by the Bank. The photographs were taken by Don Ford in 1985-1986, one of the Bank’s technical photographers, under the direction of Roger Withington. Mr. Withington designed the notes of the "E Series" and prepared the engraving of the Queen, which appeared on this series of notes, from one of the photographs taken by Mr. Ford. The portrait shows Queen Elizabeth wearing Queen Mary’s "Girls of Great Britain and Ireland" Tiara, Queen Alexandra’s cluster earrings and, although difficult to identify, Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee necklace.
5 Pounds George Stephenson 10 Pounds Charles Dickens
20 Pounds Michael Faraday 50 Pounds Sir John Houblon
20 Pounds Michael Faraday 50 Pounds Sir John Houblon
The new series of notes. The £20 was first issued on 1st January 1999, and the £10 on 7th November 2000. The £10 note is the first to have the metallic security thread 'windowed' on the reverse rather than the front of the note.
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.
Born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
Dickens's literary success began with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers. Within a few years he had become an international literary celebrity, famous for his humour, satire, and keen observation of character and society. His novels, most published in monthly or weekly instalments, pioneered the serial publication of narrative fiction, which became the dominant Victorian mode for novel publication. The instalment format allowed Dickens to evaluate his audience's reaction, and he often modified his plot and character development based on such feedback. For example, when his wife's chiropodist expressed distress at the way Miss Mowcher in David Copperfield seemed to reflect her disabilities, Dickens improved the character with positive features. His plots were carefully constructed, and he often wove elements from topical events into his narratives. Masses of the illiterate poor chipped in ha'pennies to have each new monthly episode read to them, opening up and inspiring a new class of readers.
Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers — from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton — for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.
The Pickwick Papers, Novel by Dickens
The Pickwick Papers, in full The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, novel by Charles Dickens, first published serially from 1836 to 1837 under the pseudonym Boz and in book form in 1837. This first fictional work by Dickens was originally commissioned as a series of glorified captions for the work of caricaturist Robert Seymour. His witty, episodic accounts of the kindly, naive Samuel Pickwick and his friends in the Pickwick Club were instantly successful in their own right, however, and made Dickens a literary sensation.
The eccentric characters helped define the term Dickensian: caricatured in physiology, speech, temperament, and even name. The book contains some of the author’s best-known characters, Mr. Pickwick foremost among them, and lent another expression to English parlance, Pickwickian, to describe ironic deprecation fondly addressed to friends.