CHARLES DICKENS (1812-1870)
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CHARLES DICKENS (1812-1870)

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CHARLES DICKENS (1812-1870)
Autograph letter, signed 'Charles Dickens', from Gad's Hill Place, Higham by Rochester, Kent, 'Tuesday Fourteenth February 1865', 2pp, 8°, to George Russell, regarding the election of his friend William Henry Wills to the Garrick Club. He refers to Robert Bell and O'Dowd, both members of the committee, who he believes will block Wills's membership, asking Russell to 'force out what it is that the objector objects to. There was some old business transaction in which Wills and Bell were concerned, which, misrepresented, might be the Devil knows what'...'It is necessary to be armed and watchful at the committee meeting', relying on his discretion as 'my honorable and learned friend', with envelope with embossed 'C.D' monogram addressed to George Russell, signed by Charles Dickens, in common paper mount (mount slightly discoloured).
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Lot Essay

This letter is apparently unpublished (not in the Pilgrim edition of The Letters), although several letters referring to Wills's election written in February and March 1865 are included. Despite writing several letters urging members to vote for his friend, Dickens' efforts were in vain and Wills' application was turned down on 25 February. Later that month, Dickens wrote to an unknown correspondent apologising for and retracting a statement made in the committee meeting. On 2 March he wrote to Wills regarding an anonymous letter he had received stating that the reason for the blackballing was not animosity towards Dickens himself but another reason entirely, and urges Wills to challenge Bell on the matter. This issue was evidently not resolved satisfactorily as both Dickens and Wilkie Collins resigned from the club on 9 March.

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