ALS, one page, 4.25 x 7, black-bordered stationery, December 15, 1848. Dickens writes to Dr. [James] Wilson, his wife’s physician. In full: “In thanking you for your kind note of yesterday, allow me to beg your acceptance of a little book that will not be published before next Tuesday. I hope you may find something in it that will not accord ill with this time of year. Yours faithfully and obliged....” The work to which Dickens refers was The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain, the fifth and last of Dickens’s “Christmas” books, published a few days later, on December 19. The theme of the story, which explores the spirit of the holidays through memory, grief, anger, and self-discovery, is aptly summed up by the character Milly: “It is important to remember past sorrows and wrongs so that you can then forgive those responsible and, in doing so, unburden your soul and mature as a human being.” As in the most famous Dickens’s Christmas tales, A Christmas Carol, the story also incorporates a sage specter—a doppelgänger of the main character, Redlaw—as a narrative plot device. The Haunted Man sold some 18 thousand copies on the day of issue and was produced in a successful stage version at the Adelphi Theatre by the end of the year. Dickens’s use of mourning stationery relates to the death of his sister, Fanny, who died of tuberculosis a few months earlier at the age of 38. Subtle handling wear, otherwise fine, bright condition. A handsome letter with an excellent association! PSA/DNA Auction LOA and R&R COA.
