Unsigned original manuscript fragment from Dickens’s essay “Lying Awake,” originally published in his periodical Household Words on October 30 1852, comprising approximately 13 lines in his hand on an irregular 4.5 x 3.5 sheet bearing several corrections and emendations. In part: “But sleep. I will think about sleep.... I must hold the word Sleep tight and fast, or I shall be off at a tangent in half a second. It would be curious as illustrating the equality of sleep, to inquire how many of its phenomena are common ... to every grade of education and ignorance. Her, for example, is her Majesty Queen Victoria in her palace, this present blessed night, and here is Winking Charley, a sturdy vagrant....” In very good condition, with irregular tear to top edge. The text is dark and clear. Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
