Charles Dickens the lower reaches of the Thames, all aspects of the capital are described over the course of his body of work. Authors frequently draw their portraits of characters from people they have known in real life. "David Copperfield" is regarded by many as a veiled autobiography of Dickens. The scenes of interminable court cases and legal arguments in "Bleak House" reflect Dickens's experiences as a law clerk and court reporter, and in particular his direct experience of the law's procedural delay during 1844 when he sued publishers in Chancery for breach of copyright. Dickens's father was sent to prison for
Joseph Clayton Clarke a freelance artist until 1900. Clarke's illustrations from Dickens first appeared in 1887 in "Fleet Street Magazine", with two published collections appearing shortly after as "The Characters of Charles Dickens" (1889) and "Some Well Known Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens" (1892). Early in the twentieth century five sets of postcards based on his Dickens drawings were published, as well as seven sets of non-Dickensian comic cards. From 1927 Clarke earned his living from watercolor sketches, mainly of Dickens' characters, which he sold to and through the London book trade. Frederic G. Kitton referred to Clarke in his book