Journalist (1849–1912) and assistant editor of the Pall Mall Gazette famous for his anti-vice crusade and founder of The Review of Reviews who drowned in the Titanic disaster. He is widely considered to be the founder of modern journalism. TLS signed "W. T. Stead," one page, 8 x 5, 'The Review of Reviews' memorandum letterhead, August 1, 1890. In full: "Replying to yours of July 30th, re Sunday Afternoon Discourses. While thanking you for your kind invitation to give an address in November or December, I regret to say that my present state of health necessitates me to husband my strength; otherwise, I should have gladly fallen in with your request." Scattered creasing, wrinkling, and a vertical fold passing through his name, otherwise fine condition.
The Review of Reviews was a family of monthly journals established in the early 1890s by Stead, a man drawn into reform politics in the 1880s, eventually crusading for such causes as British-Russian friendship, the reform of England's criminal codes, and the maintenance of international peace. Despite an indication of ill health in this letter, Stead successfully oversaw his chain of publications in the years following this correspondence. Ironically, Stead, who would be among the Titanic passengers to perish in the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean on April 14, 1912, is considered the first person to predict the vessel's fate via his 1886 essay, 'How the Mail Steamer Went Down in Mid Atlantic.' A desirable letter from one of the most recognizable names of the period's Fourth Estate. RRAuction COA.
