BIB_ID
106560
Accession number
MA 1708
Creator
De Quincey, Thomas, 1785-1859.
Display Date
London, England, 1821 August 9.
Credit line
Gift of James P. Magill, 1956.
Description
1 item (2 pages) ; 18.5 x 11.2 cm
Notes
De Quincey gives the date of writing as "Thursday, August 9." Based on the articles that De Quincey describes in the letter, he appears to have been reading the August 1821 issue of the London Magazine; it contained, for instance, a report on the coronation of George IV on July 19, 1821. August 9th fell on a Thursday in 1821.
No place of writing is given, but it is known that De Quincey was living in London during this period.
De Quincey does not address his correspondent by name. Given the contents of the letter, it is likely to have been either John Taylor or James Augustus Hessey, publishers of the London Magazine.
Transcription available in the Collection File.
No place of writing is given, but it is known that De Quincey was living in London during this period.
De Quincey does not address his correspondent by name. Given the contents of the letter, it is likely to have been either John Taylor or James Augustus Hessey, publishers of the London Magazine.
Transcription available in the Collection File.
Summary
Mentioning a cheque for ten guineas; thanking Taylor for allowing him a little more time to finish a piece, "because I shall thus be able to execute some parts of it in perhaps a more satisfactory manner, and because I shall have time to write it more legibly - and with interlineation;" commenting in detail on the last issue of the London Magazine; praising Charles Lamb (writing as "Elia") as "a Pillar of strength;" mentioning a "Coronation Report and a "Life of [Thomas] Warton;" referring to an account of the soprano Angelica Catalani: "By the bye, she ought to pay for this : for the writer is the most effective proneur of her wonderful powers - I have yet met with;" wondering who the author of "Lines to Elia" is and commenting on the style of the piece.
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