Dickens in America in the 1850s. Miriam thinks Dickens would have been pleased to see the rebuilt monument. Ron Dale tells Miriam that Upper Canadians make it very clear that they distinguish themselves from Americans. Miriam travels to Toronto where she meets Dickens collector Dan Calinescu of "Boz and Friends Rare Books". His collection of over 5,000 items includes two original letters written by Dickens, a drawing of Nicholas Nickleby drawn by Catherine Dickens that looks a lot like her husband, first editions and playbills, including one from "The Frozen Deep" at Tavistock House. Miriam admits she is envious. In Montreal, Miriam tours
The Pickwick Papers of interest, and the illustrations merely of secondary importance. By this reversal of interest, Dickens transformed, at a stroke, a current type of fiction, consisting mostly of pictures, into a novel of contemporary London life. Simple as the process may appear, others who had tried the plan had all failed. Pierce Egan partially succeeded in his "Tom and Jerry", a novel in which the pictures and the letterpress are held in even balance. Dickens won a complete triumph. In future years, however, Dickens was suspiciously eager to distance himself from suggestions that Pierce Egan's "Life in London" had been a