A highly rare handwritten passage from Charles Dickens' masterpiece.
A signed, handwritten quotation by author Charles Dickens (1812-1870), the greatest English novelist of the Victorian age.
Dated January 24, 1859.
The manuscript features the final sentence from the first chapter of David Copperfield, one of Dickens' most celebrated and autobiographical works.
It reads in full:
"No, I lay in my basket, and my mother lay in her bed; but Betsey Trotwood Copperfield was for ever in the land of dreams and shadows, the tremendous region whence I had lately travelled; and the light upon the window of our room shone out upon the earthly bourne of all such travellers, and the mound above the ashes and the dust that once was he, without whom I had never been".
The single page manuscript measures 4.4” by 7.1”, and is written in blue ink on Dickens' headed stationary, bearing the address of his London home Tavistock House.
Dickens has signed beneath with an excellent example of his flowing signature.
The manuscript is in very good condition, with expected horizontal mailing folds.
David Copperfield was Dickens' own personal favourite of all his works, and original items connected to it are extremely rare on the open market.
The original manuscript is owned by the V&A in London. Dickens' letters to his biographer John Forster about the the novel are owned by Columbia University.
And in 2020 the Charles Dickens Museum acquired an archive of unpublished letters, including a handwritten passage from David Copperfield, in a private deal worth £1.8 million.
This item was originally owned by Boston University, and is supplied with an official letter of provenance from the institution.
A truly superb and highly desirable piece of Charles Dickens memorabilia, featuring a quotation from one of his most celebrated novels.
Discover more about this incredible letter.
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