DICKENS, CHARLES. AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED, TO JAMES SHERIDAN MUSPRATT

1 page (8 3/4 x 7 1/16 in.; 222 x 180 mm) on light blue paper, single sheet folded, written in blue ink. Dover, 19 August 1849, signed ("Charles Dickens"), with envelope addressed in Dickens's hand.

"I am sorry to say that on my next visit to Liverpool," Dickens writes. "I shall be as little of a free agent as on my last, and for the same reason." James Sheridan Muspratt was the son of, James Muspratt, one of the biggest industrial chemicals manufacturers in the UK between 1825 and 1850. Sheridan Muspratt became a research chemist and teacher—he also took a keen interest in theatre, and helped organise a visit of Charles Dickens's amateur company to Liverpool in 1847.