1812–1870 · Writers

Charles Dickens signature

English novelist, 1812–1870

Inspired by Charles Dickens’s signature

A rendering in a modern handwriting font, made for this page. It is not the real signature; see where to view the original below. Where to see the original ↓Style: Mrs Saint Delafield, slant 6°

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Who Charles Dickens was

Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth in February 1812 and died at his house at Gad’s Hill, Kent, in June 1870. From The Pickwick Papers (1836–37) to the unfinished Mystery of Edwin Drood, his serial novels made him the most famous author of Victorian Britain.

He was also a tireless letter writer. Thousands of his letters survive, which is one reason his signature is among the most familiar of any nineteenth-century writer.

The story of the signature

Dickens signed “Charles Dickens” in full and then swept the pen beneath it in a large looping flourish, a paraph that often runs as wide as the name itself. The habit was already there in his twenties: a signature from 1838, the year Oliver Twist was being serialised, shows the same exuberant loops.

Flourished signatures were a long-standing way to make a name harder to imitate and quicker to recognise, and Dickens’s is one of the boldest of his era. Early in his career he also wrote as “Boz”, the pen name of Sketches by Boz (1836), but his letters were normally signed with his own name.

In later years he often wrote in blue ink, and many of his letters and manuscripts are in that colour. Most of his novel manuscripts went to his friend and biographer John Forster and are now in the Forster Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. As with any famous author, signatures cut from letters and outright forgeries are both on the market, so collectors rely on provenance and expert comparison.

What makes it distinctive

The paraph

A large flourish under the name, built from loops that cross and recross before trailing off.

Full name

He signed “Charles Dickens” rather than initials, so the flourish has a long base to sit under.

Forward lean

The writing leans to the right with the speed of someone who wrote for hours a day.

Blue ink

Many later letters are in blue ink, which became part of how people remember his hand.

How to give your signature a similar feel

Start in the Type tab of the signature generator with Mrs Saint Delafield or Great Vibes, set the Slant slider to about 6°, and choose dark blue or royal blue ink for a nod to his later letters.
Add the flourish yourself in the Draw tab: sign, then without stopping draw a loop back under the name and finish with a long horizontal tail. Speed helps, because the pad thins the line when you move fast.
Keep the name itself readable. The Dickens effect comes from contrast between a clear name and a free flourish.
Practise the flourish ten times on paper before drawing it on screen. One fluent loop looks better than several careful ones.

Where to see the original

These links lead to archives, libraries, museums and Wikimedia Commons.

Questions about Charles Dickens’s signature

Why does Dickens’s signature have such a big flourish?

A paraph under the name was a common way to personalise a signature and make it harder to copy. Dickens simply made his larger and freer than most.

Did Dickens sign as “Boz”?

Boz was the pen name on his early sketches, but his letters and documents were normally signed Charles Dickens.

Where are his manuscripts?

Most of his novel manuscripts are in the Forster Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.