DICKENS, Charles (1812-1870). Autograph letter signed (''Charles Dickens'') to Cornelius Conway Felton, Gad's Hill Place, Rochester, Kent, 20 June 1859.

DICKENS, Charles (1812-1870). Autograph letter signed ("Charles Dickens") to Cornelius Conway Felton, Gad's Hill Place, Rochester, Kent, 20 June 1859.

Four pages, bifolium, 111 x 180mm, on Dickens's personal stationery (leaves starting to separate at fold).

"My story, too, has taken a great hold": Dickens discusses one of his most beloved novels, A Tale of Two Cities, and mentions A Christmas Carol. A Tale of Two Cities had premiered less than two months earlier in the inaugural issue of Dickens's latest weekly journal, All the Year Round, and would continue in weekly installments until that November. Here Dickens calls the new journal "an amazing success" that has "left the circulation of old Household Words in remote distance, and flourished amazingly." Of A Tale of Two Cities he writes that it has "taken a great hold, and strikes deeper every work." Dickens also mentions the possibility of "reading in America" – "I little thought I should ever cross the Atlantic again. Now, I begin to have hope that I may possibly enjoy the great sensation of reading the Christmas Carol to American listeners." The recipient is classical scholar Cornelius Conway Fenton (1807-1862), who later became president of Harvard University. Provenance: Anderson Galleries, 20 January 1920, lot 85 – Sotheby's New York, 10 December 1993, lot 291.

Pre-Lot Text
PROPERTY FROM THE ROGER D. JUDD COLLECTION OF HISTORICAL LETTERS, DOCUMENTS AND MANUSCRIPTS