Unusual CDV portrait of English author Charles Dickens by photographer J. W. Black, published by J. E. Tilton & Co. of Boston, captures the novelist in a posed writing scene widely circulated during his 1867–68 American reading tour. Dickens appears at a writing desk in three-quarter profile, pen in hand, dressed in a dark coat with a watch chain visible at his lapel. The image is presented in an oval vignette format on an albumen print mounted to a plain card.

His expression is concentrated and downward, hair falling slightly across his brow, with the inkwell and writing materials arranged on the desktop beside him. The reverse bears a penciled inscription reading "Chas Dickens" and a dealer's notation dated 4/01/12 with the code DOLFXZ.

Charles Dickens (1812–1870) was among the most celebrated novelists of the Victorian era, author of Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, and A Christmas Carol. This image type was produced to meet enormous public demand during his final American tour.