ALS, one page, 4.5 x 7.25, January 9, 1844. Dickens writes from Devonshire Terrace to Dr. George Ehrenburgh. In part: "I am exceedingly sorry to say, in reply to your note, that it is quite out of my power to give you the employment you seek…. My publishers facilitate the German translations of my writings, by sending…sheets to certain German booksellers. But this is [sic] matter of arrangement between them. The books are translated in Germany; and the enterprise is not mine, or my publishers, but originates with German houses of business." Letter tipped to larger card along left edge. In very good condition, with mild intersecting mailing folds (a vertical fold through a single letter of signature), and scattered mild soiling and toning.
The specific work in question is A Christmas Carol, Dickens' most beloved holiday tale, which was first published less than a month earlier. He began to write A Christmas Carol in October 1843, and completed the novella in only six weeks-with the final pages written in the beginning of December, literally days before its December 17, 1843 publication. The first run of 6,000 copies sold out by Christmas Eve and the book, which received immediate critical acclaim, continued to sell well into the new year and was translated into various other languages, including German. As he discusses here, "My publishers facilitate the German translations of my writings," a "matter of arrangement" between the publisher and certain German booksellers. Such worldwide acclaim caught the attention of men like Ehrenburgh, who desired to render their services to Dickens...undoubtedly for a price.
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