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Details
DICKENS, Charles (1812-1870). Cabinet photograph signed on verso ('Charles Dickens') and dated, 1 May 1868, a full-length studio portrait photograph showing Dickens in a thick quilted overcoat, dandyishly turned back, standing in front of a desk, by J. Gurney & Son, 707 Broadway, New York, image 141 x 101mm (speckled). Provenance. Captain William Nelson Greenwood, and by descent.
DICKENS IN NEW YORK, A PHOTOGRAPH GIVEN TO THE 'MR VIGILANT' OF THE UNCOMMERCIAL TRAVELLER. Dickens's reading tour in the United States, from November 1867 to April 1868, was an undiluted success, and made him nearly £20,000. On 1 May 1868, when Dickens signed this photograph, he was in mid-Atlantic on the steamship Russia; the recipient was William Nelson Greenwood, 3rd officer on the Russia. The voyage is described in 'Aboard Ship', an article collected in the revised Uncommercial Traveller: 'Very dark, and the sea most brilliantly phosphorescent ... Vigilant captain on the bridge, vigilant first officer looking over the port side, vigilant second officer standing by the quarter-master at the compass, vigilant third officer posted at the stern rail with a lantern ... All of a sudden ... the third officer's lantern twinkles, and he fires a rocket, and another rocket ... A change is expected in the light, but none takes place. "Give them two more rockets, Mr Vigilant"...'. A periodical article of August 1897, describing Greenwood's career, refers to 'his corresponding acquaintance with ... Charles Dickens; he is the Mr Vigilant in "the Uncommercial Traveller". He possesses the photograph and also the autograph of Dickens'.
DICKENS IN NEW YORK, A PHOTOGRAPH GIVEN TO THE 'MR VIGILANT' OF THE UNCOMMERCIAL TRAVELLER. Dickens's reading tour in the United States, from November 1867 to April 1868, was an undiluted success, and made him nearly £20,000. On 1 May 1868, when Dickens signed this photograph, he was in mid-Atlantic on the steamship Russia; the recipient was William Nelson Greenwood, 3rd officer on the Russia. The voyage is described in 'Aboard Ship', an article collected in the revised Uncommercial Traveller: 'Very dark, and the sea most brilliantly phosphorescent ... Vigilant captain on the bridge, vigilant first officer looking over the port side, vigilant second officer standing by the quarter-master at the compass, vigilant third officer posted at the stern rail with a lantern ... All of a sudden ... the third officer's lantern twinkles, and he fires a rocket, and another rocket ... A change is expected in the light, but none takes place. "Give them two more rockets, Mr Vigilant"...'. A periodical article of August 1897, describing Greenwood's career, refers to 'his corresponding acquaintance with ... Charles Dickens; he is the Mr Vigilant in "the Uncommercial Traveller". He possesses the photograph and also the autograph of Dickens'.
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