ALS, two pages on two adjoining black-bordered sheets, 4.25 x 7, Devonshire Terrace, January 12, 1849. Letter to a gentleman. In part: “I am much obliged to you for your kind information about the Cenci. I will not trouble you to get the account transcribed (though you have so stimulated my curiosity that I must go and read it myself) for I merely wanted the narrative to send to a lady…the account prefixed to Shelley’s poem will answer her purpose well enough.” Intersecting folds (one vertical fold passing through a single letter of the signature), and the recipient’s name clipped out and professionally repaired, otherwise fine condition.
The Cenci, a verse drama written by Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1819, has become known as one of the greatest modern tragedies. It received high praise from Byron and Wordsworth, and George Bernard Shaw, after seeing a performance of the play, said that ‘Shelley and Shakespeare are the only dramatists who have dealt in despair of this quality.’ The “account prefixed to Shelley’s poem” that Dickens refers to in this letter is probably that of Mary Shelley, who published a preface entitled ‘Note on The Cenci’ in the 1839 edition of her husband’s Complete Poetical Works. This letter, with a crisp signature and excellent content, is a truly exquisite piece associating two of the greatest figures in literary history. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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