MR. DICKENS And MR. BENTLY. [accompanied by] ANs [3] by Richard Bentley [1839], 2 to Rev Richard Barham.

Item Details

London, 1871

1st separate printing. Not in Gimbel. Leaflet: 4 pages. Each ANs, 2 pages [each one sheet, writing both sides]. ANs dates: Saturday May 6 1837 [to Rev R. H. Barham], July 28 1837 [to Rev R. H. Barham], 8th July 1839. Leaflet: 7-7/8" x 5-1/8". Self-wrappers, now housed in a custom red cloth chemise & slipcase. Leaflet shows age-toning & soiling, some wear, Very Good. Case & chemise: average wear, Very Good. ANs: age-toning, some signs of wear. One with horizontal fold line, split at fold [see images]. 

The leaflet prints a letter from George Bently, Richard's son, to the Editor of "The Times" addressing the recently published Forster biography of Dickens, wherein the recounting of Dickens' Bentley's Miscellany editorship, and compensation therefore, was disputed by George, and laying out his father's actions, which portray Dickens as one who consistently renegotiated contracts, from one happy to have employment, to one perceiving his new 'fame' as worth more.

Bentley "was a 19th-century English publisher born into a publishing family. He started a firm with his brother in 1819. Ten years later, he went into partnership with the publisher Henry Colburn. Although the business was often successful, publishing the famous 'Standard Novels' series, they ended their partnership in acrimony three years later. Bentley continued alone profitably in the 1830s and early 1840s, establishing the well-known periodical Bentley's Miscellany. However, the periodical went into decline after its editor, Charles Dickens, left."

Barham "was an English cleric of the Church of England, a novelist and a humorous poet. He was known generally by his pseudonym Thomas Ingoldsby and as the author of The Ingoldsby Legends", which he began contributing to Bentley's Miscellany in 1837. [Wiki]

The letters are newsy in nature, occasionally alluding to Miscellany business, e.g. "I am anxious that Cruikshank should mistake the No. 6 of the Miscellany of the Family Stories. Can you favor me with it for that purpose early!"

NB. While the 3rd letter has no named recipient, as it is of the same nature, we presume it too to be to the Rev. Barham.

Order from the TavBooks site: <https://www.tavbooks.com/pages/books/51823>