Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1892 — Dickens and Thackeray. [ARTICLE]

Dickens and Thackeray.

Of the innumerable objects in the priceless collection of rare volumes and manuscripts which Mr. Childs presented to the Drexel Institute none absorb so much attention as the manuscript of Dickens’ “Our Mutual Friend,” and of Thackeray’s lecture on George 111. Dickens’ mode of work is exemplified in his manuscript copy. The first few pages of the manuscript are entirely taken up with a skeleton outline of his plot. This is entirely completed before the novelist attempts to get down to the solid work of writing the story. In this way it is seen that he had his work entirely mapped out, and knew just exactly what he was going to do with each character.

Dickens wrote a peculiar hand, the lines very close together and the letters very small, with frequent marks of change and erasure, showing the utmost care in the preparation of the work. In places whole lines have been scored out, to be replaced by another choice of words or a different mode of expression. In the first volume is inserted a letter from Mr. Dickens to Mr. Childs, in which the novelist invites his friend to visit him Gad’s Hill. The manuscript lecture on George 111. by Thackeray is in a wonderful state of preservation. It is handsomely bound, and is embellished by fine old steel engravings of the Georges, collected by Mr. Childs, and contains numerous drawings made by the author in colors. These are the only colored drawings of Thackeray in existence. Each sheet of the manuscript, which presents a strong contrast >n its neatness to Dickens’ writing, is pasted on heavy cardboard. This is the original copy, from which the author delivered his lectures. The manuscript is as readable as print, and its excellence is sustained throughout. There are annotations by Mrs. Ritchie, his daughter, who certifies to the genuineness of the work.—Philadelphia Record.