Charles Dickens is the guest of honor at a number of events.

That evening, a reception is held for him at Papanti’s Dance Studio at today’s 2 Center Plaza (then 17 Tremont Row). The next day, a public festival is held in his honor of Dickens, and when tickets for his lectures subsequently go on sale outside Ticknor and Fields bookshop, the line stretches for a mile and a half and with people bringing food, mattresses, and blankets in order to gain admission. At the time, Dickens’ assistant George Dolby describes the excitement over his employer’s visit as “Boston madness.”