DICKENS, Charles (1812-1870). Autograph letter signed (“Charles Dickens”), to John Kenyon, 5 June 1844.

3 pages, 8vo, on a bifolium, minor adhesion and mounting remnants on verso of final page of text (with very light show-through in blank upper margin on recto). Matted with a stereoscope photograph portrait by J. Gurney & Son, unexamined out of frame.

Dickens thanks Kenyon for his “liberal donation” to the Sanatorium, and recommends he read the report he will be receiving which “will show you what an excellent Institution is and how well it merits your voluntary support.” Mentions his upcoming engagements, including dining with the Milner Gibsons, before adding: “In this list I don’t include the slight engagement of having to finish Chuzzlewit; which I shall be very glad to dispose of, notwithstanding.” He concludes hoping they get together before his trip to (…): “We shall come and shake hands with you before we go ; and we shall meet you one night, I hope at Mrs. Macready’s. Let us take a vow to be better neighbours in time to come. As the boys say, ‘I will, if you will.’…”.

John Kenyon, patron of the arts and poet, was “a seasoned traveller and a lion of London society [who] made his home a mecca for the intelligentsia…Indeed, his later claim to fame rested largely on his generosity; his favourite role of host fostered his aptitude for arranging fruitful introductions, which in turn contributed to his popularity and extended his influence. Kenyon's reputation as a wealthy dilettante with a genial disposition and generous purse was universally acknowledged” (DNB).

From the Private Collection of Dennis Babcock, Minneapolis, Minnesota