There is nothing worse than a guest who outstays his welcome, and that was how Charles Dickens felt when Hans Christian Andersen came to stay 150 years ago.

The English novelist’s patience was so strained by Andersen’s refusal to leave, after staying for weeks, that Dickens’s daughter nicknamed him the “bony bore”.

The unfortunate episode has been recalled through an inscribed volume that has come to light before the London Antiquarian Book Fair at Olympia next month.

The Danish author of fairytales such as The Ugly Duckling first visited England in June 1847. He was a guest of the Countess of Blessington, who attracted the cream of Europe’s intelligentsia to her gatherings.

It was at one of these assemblies that Andersen was introduced to Dickens, whom he worshipped, calling him “the greatest writer of our time”.

Dickens, who reciprocated the admiration, visited him at his lodgings the following month. Discovering that Andersen was not in, he left him a parcel containing 12 presentation copies of his books, of which the Olympia example is one. A cordial correspondence developed between the two and Andersen returned to England for a fortnight as Dickens’s guest at Gad’s Hill in the summer of 1857.

Before his arrival, Andersen had written to Dickens promising: “I shall not inconvenience you too much.” But it was an invitation that Dickens would soon regret.

The Danish man of letters, a tall, gaunt and rather ungainly character, extended his visit to five weeks. Dickens dropped polite hints that he should leave, but they were, perhaps, too subtle. After he finally left, Dickens wrote on the mirror in the guestroom: “Hans Andersen slept in this room for five weeks — which seemed to the family AGES!”

David Brass, a Californian antiquarian dealer, who is bringing the volume to the Olympia book fair, said: "To Andersen, the visit was timeless Elysium, a holiday, a fairy tale come true. To Dickens, his wife, and particularly his children it was eternal torment, a holy hell, a horror story made real.

"Their patience strained to the limit, Dickens’s daughter Kate would later recall that Andersen 'was a bony bore, and stayed on and on'. A social blockhead, Andersen never quite understood why Dickens afterwards ceased to answer any of his letters."

The book, a copy of Pictures from Italy, 1846, is inscribed by Dickens in ink: “Hans Christian Andersen / From His friend and admirer / Charles Dickens / London Jul. 1847.” It is valued at $150,000 (about £75,000).

Mr Brass said: “This is the greatest Dickens discovery since I’ve been in the rare book business, over 40 years. It is a legendary literary artefact. I feel like Indiana Jones. It’s like finding the Lost Ark but without the curse, aggravation and people trying to kill you.”

He is among more than 150 leading dealers who will be exhibiting at the book fair, which runs from June 5 to 7.

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