English novelist and the author of such classics as Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities and David Copperfield. ALS, two pages on adjoining sheets, 4.5 x 7, Gads Hill Place letterhead, May 29, 1866. Dickens sends thanks for a book. In part, “I am but now in the receipt of your kind letter and accompanying book. If I had returned home sooner I should sooner have thanked you for both. I could not adequately express to you the gratification I have derived from your assurance that I have given you pleasure. In describing yourself as a stranger of whom I know nothing, you do me wrong however. The book I am now proud to possess as a mark of your good will and remembrance, has for some time been too well known to me to admit of the possibility of my regarding its writer in any other light than as a friend in the spirit; while the writer of the introductory page marked VIII, in this edition of last year had commanded my highest respect as a public benefactor and a brave soul.” In very good condition, with scattered toning and soiling (heaviest along the vertical fold), moderate mailing folds, one through small portion of signature, a notation in another hand at top of the first page, and a copy of the passage Dickens refers to affixed to the reverse of the first page. COA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
