DICKENS, Charles (1812-1870). Autograph document signed (“Charles Dickens”), n.d. [ca 1837-39].

One page, ca 75 x 218mm, small tape stain in blank area of left-hand margin, mounting remnants along upper margin on verso.

In full: “Please to send me by Bearer, a pull of the whole for myself / Mr. Hicks / Messrs. Bradbury & Evans / Charles Dickens.”

Charles Hicks was the foreman-printer at Bradbury & Evans when they were printing Dickens’s works for the publisher Chapman and Hall. He is mentioned several times in the correspondence of Charles Dickens. Based on the handwriting this document appears to date from the earlier years of Dickens’ association with Bradbury & Evans, which began with the publication of his first novel, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, serialized between April 1836 and November 1837.

From the Private Collection of Dennis Babcock, Minneapolis, Minnesota