Lot 199
Dickens, Charles - Smith, Arthur; Mackay, Charles - Scottish Readings Tour 1858
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photography
Auction: 11 January 2017 at 11:00 GMT
Description
Autograph signature of Charles Dickens, dated Sixth October 1858, and also dated Perth October 6th 1858, on slip 12.5 x 3 cm.; Smith, Arthur, [Charles Dicken's Tour Manager], [Reading Ticket] Envelope inscribed "Dear Sir, Please send the enclosed to Aberdeen by Train, Faithfully, Arthur Smith, Sept 8th", envelope with blue printed motif on rear "Mr Charles Dickens's Readings"; Mackay, Arthur (1814-89; author and journalist who worked with Dickens on the Morning Chronicle and the Daily News) Clipped signature "Yours truly, Chas. Mackay", 4 x 9 cm., pasted onto a piece of paper
Footnote
Note: Collection of interconnected items relating to Dickens Scottish Readings of 1858.
Arthur Smith was Dickens's Tour Manager from 1858 to 1861; Charles Mackay, a lifelong friend of Dickens born in Perth, was a renowned Scottish poet and publisher in his own right and was the sub editor on the Morning Chronicle (the editor of which was George Hogarth, father of Catherine, later to become Dickens's wife) for which Dickens worked as a Parliamentary reporter. It is surely no coincidence that Perth figures on Dickens's first Scottish Tour and the Dickens signature in his own hand notes it, the date and year. There is also an unusual monogram of two interlocking initials, either C.D. or R.D. ?
Smith's message on the back of the Dickens's Readings envelope is enigmatic. "Dear Sir.. Please send the enclosed to Aberdeen by train. Faithfully, Arthur Smith, Sept. 8th". What was in the envelope, tickets perhaps to Dickens's Reading at the Music Hall in Aberdeen ? Curiously there is no addressee on the envelope.
Apart from the interconnection of the signatures, the 1858 Scottish tour is highly important in terms of Dickens's personal life. In the early Summer of 1858 on his return with Arthur Smith from a highly successful American tour, the misdirected jewellery incident ended formally Dickens's marriage and exposed his affair with Ellen Ternan, an 18 year old actress. For a while it threatened to destroy the "home and hearth" image of Dickens as a stalwart family man.
At the time Dickens was terrified of the loss of his Public and the likely financial repercussions. Under instruction from Dickens Smith released a detailed letter - the "Violated" letter in which Dickens tried to defend his actions. It must have been with both trepidation and relief that Dickens soon after set off for Scotland to give a series of Public Readings in Edinburgh, Perth, Dundee, Aberdeen and Glasgow.
Dickens relied on Arthur Smith for the organisation and promotion of his Reading Tours (1858-1861). Arthur Smith in his own right was the English equivalent of Barnum in America. He sold Dickens as a "Brand". Dickens recognised Smith's talent when the latter successfully promoted his brother Albert Smith - who was as famous in his heyday as Dickens - as a poet, novelist and mountaineer, promoting his brother's "Ascent of Mont Blanc" production and creating Mont Blanc mania in London.
Financially the Scottish part of the Readings Tour was a great success. The net profit to Dickens of the English Tour had been upwards of three hundred pounds a week, but this was nothing to the success in Scotland, where his profit in a week, with all expenses paid, was five hundred pounds. Speaking of his last 1858 Edinburgh reading, Dickens wrote "the people had to be got in through such a crowd as rendered it a work of the utmost difficulty to keep an alley into the room. They were seated about me on the platform, put into the doorway of the waiting-room, squeezed into every conceivable place, and a multitude turned away once more. I think I am better pleased with what was done in Edinburgh than with what has been done anywhere, almost. "
2016 is the 150th anniversary of Dickens's second Scottish Reading Tour of 1866.