$5,000
Autographed letter signed ("Charles Dickens"), two pages, on a bifolium, on Gads Hill Place letterhead, May 30, 1863. In this letter Dickens writes to his friend Captain Cavendish Boyle regarding a number of subjects including his son, Plorn, his reading engagements, and a curious dream he recently experienced. Dickens begins the letter by thanking Captain Boyle for recommending a tutor, "the Highgate gentleman" for Plorn, Dickens' youngest son. He continues to tell Boyle that he will be reading "The Poor Traveller" on June 12th and invites the Captain to the reading. Dickens also mentions that is his favorite reading to give. He ends the letter by responding to Boyle's request for more information about a dream he recently had involving a woman in a red shawl standing with his back to him; he approached the woman and discovering he did not know her, she introduced herself as Miss Napier. The following evening Captain Boyle and his sister Mary introduced him to their friend, Miss Napier, who was the very same woman Dickens had dreamed of the night before. Dickens' lifelong fascination in dreams and the supernatural is illustrated in this letter in which Dickens states, "the curious circumstance about Miss Napier is the only instance of such a thing that I ever got close to." Remnants of adhesive and backing paper along crease at verso; slight darkening to first page.
Auctioneer:
Leslie Hindman Auctioneers
Date:
2015-05-07
