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The Old Curiosity Shop (Cyclopedia of Literary Places)

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Places Discussed

Old Curiosity Shop. Curio shop in an unspecified part of London that is owned by Nell’s grandfather when the novel opens. The old man’s only source of livelihood, the shop provides a meager income that the grandfather tries to supplement with careless gambling ventures. When his gambling losses leave him in debt, he loses the shop to the avaricious dwarf Quilp. After Quilp dies at the end of the novel, the shop is destroyed to make way for a new building.

Dickens originally intended to make this novel a story about a lovely child surrounded by...

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