The lot that was for auction after the Black Rock journal was something that belonged to Charles Dickens (read it on the captions).

Nice add for Des's story, since he loves CD.

Anyone catch what was up for bid in the auction after the Black Rock Ledger? Charles and Des are talking over the description of the item, but then you can clearly hear "...was in the possession of Charles Dickens when he died." Anyone catch exactly what the item was?

Des, as we know, is an avid Dickens reader, and was planning to read "Our Mutual Friend" (which was Dickens' final novel) as the last book he reads before dies (from LT,DA). He has the book when he is sent to prison, which has to be after 1996 because he was in prison for "failing to follow orders" in the Royal Scots Regimen (which I think was caused by his timeskipping; see http://www.thefuselage.com/Threaded/showthread.php?p=1796521#post1796521)

Unfortunately, I've never read it. Any thoughts?

I did not notice that. I did a quick check on Wiki about the book;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Mutual_Friend
Nothing jumped out at me. "in his possession when died", Hmmm ?

good catch!

Portsmouth got a mention - the first time we've had on air confirmation that the Black Rock sailed out of the port of that name in England, I believe.

Portsmouth is Charles Dickens birthplace. There was a celebration of his birthday in the museum in his former residence there in February (It's a few doors down from the Oliver Twist public house).

There's a virtual tour available under Portsmouth Museums - but it's not working at the moment. meh.

Not just Portsmouth, but "Portsmouth, England". It always annoys me when American TV does that (e.g. "Paris, France"), but we wouldn't want any poor viewers getting confused, would we? Hang on... this is Lost. Since when were they worried about viewer confusion? :)

When I think of this book, I think of Des saying he is going to read it before he dies and someone says, something to the effect of "do you know when you're going to die?"

Des probably will know when he is going to die. He'll probably see it. Also, in Our mutual friend, a man allows people to believe that he drowned in the Thames River. Could there be somethinig here with fake death, perhaps fake drowning?

Dickens is mentioned at the end of the auction scene. Besides the obvious connection to A Christmas Carole and the Desmond/Penny future phone call on Christmas Eve, did anyone else watching that scene immediately think about the line from A Christmas Carole where Scrooge asks the Ghost of Christmas Future if these are the vision of things that will be or simple visions of things that may be?

In Dickens' story, Scrooge believes that the future can be altered--he sees what MAY BE the future, so his consciousness's "unstuck" moment with the Ghost of Christmas Future allow him to change things. That was the point of all the visitation from the ghosts--that Scrooge could change his fate by having knowledge of his past, present, and future. Mrs. Hawkins earlier discussion with Desmond implied that there is no such alteration allowed, that fate gives room to make choices but that its ultimate course for a man cannot be changed.

I definitely heard the Dickens nod and mentioned it to a friend, he had forgotten about Desmond's book. I only wish I've read more of his stories.

What exactly was mentioned? I'm looking at the transcript and not seeing anything.

It's at the very end of the scene. Desmond is talking to Widmore, and the we can hear something connected to Dickens as the next item up for bid.

It's at the very end of the scene. Desmond is talking to Widmore, and the we can hear something connected to Dickens as the next item up for bid.

Oh, ok, it's not in the transcript. I'll have to go watch it again. Not that I mind. :biggrin:

I caught that, I thought it was a nice touch to the episode, brings Desmond's story full circle.