Charles Dickens' desk saved for public display

The desk where Charles Dickens wrote 'Great Expectations' is finally on public display here thanks to a 780,000-pound grant.
The Charles Dickens Museum in London has been given the grant to buy the desk and chair, which has always been in private ownership.
They had been passed down through the Dickens family after his death in 1870, but were auctioned for the Great Ormond Street Charitable Trust in 2004.
Dickens used the desk in his final home in Gad's Hill Place in Kent.
'Our Mutual Friend' and his unfinished novel 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood' were also penned at the desk.

The furniture would have been sold at public auction if it was not for the grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF), the BBC reported.

Made famous in two paintings begun the year he died, the 'Empty Chair' by Luke Fildes and 'Dickens' Dream' by RW Buss, the desk and chair are already on display at the Charles Dickens Museum at the author's former home.
"We are delighted to have been able to acquire Charles Dickens' iconic writing desk and chair for permanent display in his study at 48 Doughty Street," Robert Moye, director of the Charles Dickens Museum, said.

"They hold a unique place in our literary heritage and, as we embark on our exhibition exploring The Mystery of Edwin Drood, it is timely that the desk he used when writing his final novel has been secured for the benefit of all our visitors," Moye said.