ALS, two pages on two adjoining sheets, 4.25 x 7, January 12, 1850. Letter to reference book editor Joseph T. Haydn, best known for compiling Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates. In part: “I should blush to accept your beautiful present, endeared to you by so honorable and gratifying an association, (for I know how little I have done to deserve it), if I did not feel a sincere pride in your good opinion, and an exalted respect for your character, and its unaffected modest independence. As a reminder of what it is good for me to have become acquainted with, and what it would be very bad for me to forget, and as something that I never can look upon without pleasure, I accept the seal with many thanks, and shall wear it from this time forth, religiously.” In very good condition, with intersecting folds, soiling first page, and stains to extreme edges. This letter is published in The Pilgrim Edition of the Letters of Charles Dickens. Dickens had recently helped Haydn out of some financial distress by recommending him for the ‘Queen’s Bounty,’ a one-time grant distributed through the Royal Literary Fund. It seems that Haydn thanked Dickens, who was in the midst of publishing David Copperfield, by presenting him with a fine signet ring. A lengthy, boldly penned letter with an appealing literary association. Pre-certified PSA/DNA.
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