This unique volume of autograph letters, portraits, illustrations, and other materials is made up of materials from the John M. Patterson Dickens Archive, as well as items relating to the life and literary work of Charles Dickens housed at the Grolier Club. In addition to a catalogue of the exhibition materials on display at a 2006 Grolier Club exhibition, The Extraordinary Life of Charles Dickens contains an introduction, an explanation of the John Patterson and Dickens Archive, an essay on the development of the Patterson Archive, and a short retrospective on Patterson.