# Mr. Krook — Bleak House character guide

> Mr. Krook in Bleak House by Charles Dickens.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Krook, old Krook

**First appearance:** 0010-ix-signs-and-tokens

## Snapshot

A rag-and-bottle merchant who hoards old papers and bottles in his dim shop, sitting at the edge of Chancery's secrets.

## Who they are

Old Krook deals in marine stores and wastepaper, and his cluttered shop becomes a strange archive of documents nobody else wants, including papers tied to the great suit. He is suspicious, half-literate, and morbidly curious, forever hinting at knowledge he cannot quite articulate. His hoard and his peculiar end give the novel one of its most memorable images of how Chancery's paper rot spreads into ordinary London life.

## In the story

### [A Morning Adventure](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/chapters/v-a-morning-adventure)

The old man who runs the rag and bottle shop; recounts the story of Tom Jarndyce's suicide and his knowledge of the Chancery suit.

### [Our Dear Brother](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/chapters/xi-our-dear-brother)

The landlord of the deceased, present at the inquest, but unable to provide much information about his lodger.

### [The Appointed Time](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/chapters/xxxii-the-appointed-time)

The rag and bottle shop owner is absent from his shop; his cap and coat are found on a chair, and a crumbled black mass on the floor suggests his death by spontaneous combustion.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/characters/mr_krook
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/characters