Little Nell is a 14-year-old girl with a heart of gold raised by her kind, secretive grandfather. He runs an antique shop, and borrows significant sums of money from Mr.Quilp, the moneylender. No one knows what the grandfather does with the money, but he is thought to be rich and increasing his assets. Then the secret comes out: the old man is a gambler, he hopes to secure the future of his beloved granddaughter by winning a fortune. That, of course, never happens. The grandfather keeps losing, gambling the money away every night and sinking deeper in debt. When Mr.Quilp finds out where his money is going, he takes the shop from the old man, and Little Nell and her grandfather flee from London. They live as beggars and travel mostly on foot, Little Nell leading the way and taking care of her devastated grandfather who becomes a weak, childlike creature unable to think for himself.

The Old Curiosity Shop was one of two novels (the other being Barnaby Rudge) which Dickens published along with short stories in his weekly serial Master Humphrey's Clock, which lasted from 1840 to 1841. The Old Curiosity Shop was printed as a separate book in 1841. 1985 Penguin Classics trade paperback edition is edited by Angus Easson, with an introduction by Malcolm Andrews and original illustrations by George Cattermole and Hablot K. Browne ('Phiz"), Samuel Williams and Daniel Maclise.