[Dickens]--Talfourd, Address written for the occasion of the amateur performance at Manchester, 1847

[DICKENS, CHARLES]--TALFOURD, T.N.

Address written for the occasion of the Amateur Performance at Manchester, on Monday, July 26, 1847, for the benefit of Mr. Leigh Hunt. By Mr. Serjeant Talfourd. Spoken by Mr. Charles Dickens. London: Bradbury and Evans, [1847]

8vo (228 x 145mm.), half-title, final blank, original printed wrappers, collector's silk chemise, green morocco gilt pull-off box by Sangorski and Sutcliffe and green cloth folding box, some minor staining and soiling to wrappers, minor loss to lower wrappers

In 1847, given the financial predicaments of Leigh Hunt (1784-1859), Dickens proposed reviving his amateur theatrical company for a series of performances to benefit the critic and poet. Just before intended London performances, Hunt was granted a pension. Other performances, however, went ahead: in Liverpool with an address by Bulwer-Lytton (read by Forster) and in Manchester with this address by Talfourd (read by Dickens). Hunt would provide the inspiration for the character of Harold Skimpole in Bleak House.

Dickens' friend Thomas Noon Talfourd (1795-1854, see also lot 74) was a barrister (later a Judge), an MP, essayist and dramatist who first met Dickens around May 1837. Dickens would dedicate Pickwick to him a few months after their first meeting. The pamphlet includes the cast lists for Ben Jonson’s Every Man in his Humour, Mrs Charles Gore’s A Good Night’s Rest and John Poole’s Turning the Tables. Dickens is the only actor to appear in all three.

PROVENANCE:

Oliver Brett (Lord Esher), bookplate, his sale, Sotheby's, 26 March 1946, lot 537