Take a good look at this mahogany desk. This is the same desk on which Charles Dickens wrote Great Expectations and a number of other late novels and short stories. This writing desk and chair from the study of Dickens' Gad's Hill residence, Kent, was passed on by descent to Christopher Charles Dickens and his wife Jeanne-Marie Dickens. Later, she donated them to Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity, with which Dickens had a close relationship. The Irish entrepreneur who purchased the desk for $850,000 called the price "a bargain" for such a piece of literary history.

Charles Dickens was not only a redoubtable champion for Great Ormond Street Hospital but also a determined fund-raiser.

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