A batch of Charles Dickens' letters that were previously unseen and unpublished will this week go on display for the first time ever.

On Wednesday, the 11 letters will go on display, showing insight into the writer’s notes and reading habits.

The letters also include information about writing projects as well as details of a trip to Switzerland.

In a letter dated February 10 1866, Dickens also complains about the loss of a Sunday postal service and threatens to move away from his neighbourhood.

He writes: “I beg to say that I most decidedly and strongly object to the infliction of any such inconvenience upon myself.

Daily Echo: The letter dated February 10 1866, in which Dickens rails against a proposed change to the Sunday postal service (Charles Dickens Museum/PA)The letter dated February 10 1866, in which Dickens rails against a proposed change to the Sunday postal service (Charles Dickens Museum/PA)

“There are many people in this village of Higham, probably, who do not receive or dispatch in a year, as many letters as I usually receive and dispatch in a day … I am on the best terms with my neighbours, poor and rich, and I believe they would be sorry to lose me.

“But I should be so hampered by the proposed restriction that I think it would force me to sell my property here, and leave this part of the country.”

These letters are among more than 300 items that have been acquired by the Charles Dickens Museum from a US collector in 2020.

The items include personal objects, portraits, sketches, playbills and books.

The entire collection, worth £1.8 million, was acquired by the museum with the help of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund, Friends of the National Libraries and the Dickens Fellowship.

Emily Dunbar, a curator at the Charles Dickens Museum, said: “One of the best things about this collection of letters is that it shows Dickens writing in his thirties, forties and fifties and the variety of topics that were occupying his mind.

“The letter complaining about the loss of Sunday postal delivery is a great example of Dickens showing self-importance, his awareness of his great fame and position in society coming to the fore.

“He also mentions the huge volume of letters leaving and arriving at his address, of which this new set is a tiny but entertaining fraction.”

The exhibit will go on display at the Charles Dickens Museum and online from Wednesday (August 31).