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[Lady Cop]

being a devoted Dickens fan, i liked this find...it's being restored now.

nicked from the daily fail.

The discovery of a room-dividing screen decorated by Charles Dickens with 800 images of the great and the good of the day has stunned historians.

It is believed to have been created in 1850 by Victorian novelist Dickens and his actor friend William Macready to educate the thespian's children and is a Who's Who of famous people from the 19^th century.

It includes images of the Duke of Wellington, Napoleon, Isaac Newton, Admiral Nelson, William Blake, Mozart, George III, Byron, John Swift, Samuel Butler, William Hogarth and George Washington.

Scenes from Shakespeare plays like Henry VIII were also stuck onto the screen by the two friends who spent hours gluing etchings and prints to the 7ft tall divider at the actor's home

A burn hole caused by a candle shows how someone in the past had been closely looking at it during the night.

'It is canvas on a wood frame and the pictures are probably from periodicals and have been stuck on with glue in a large collage.

'The pictures include the names of the day as well as Shakespeare and classical history - things Macready would want his children to know.'

The 10ft wide screen was found among the possessions of Sir Neville Macready's late mother and was bequeathed to the Friends of Sherborne House.

Sherborne House, was built in 1740, and is currently being sold by Dorset County Council which used to run it as a school.











A close up of images on the screen show The Duke of Wellington who served as Commander-in-Chief of the British Army until his death and Lord Nelson who died during the Battle of Trafalgar






On closer investigation, playwright William Shakespeare is also seen as well as a portrait believed to be that of Henry VIII who became King of England in 1509

a delicate restoration