BIB_ID
193975
Accession number
MA 4816
Creator
Thackeray, William Makepeace, 1811-1863.
Display Date
1853 Apr. 5.
Credit line
Purchased on the Gordon N. Ray Fund, 1991.
Description
1 item (4 p.) ; 17.7 cm + envelope.
Provenance
Mrs. Bayne, April 1853, recipient of letter; William T. Bayne, son of the above, and his unnamed sister, from enclosed newspaper account; Clara Millard, October [1893 or later], from an unidentified American [New York?] newspaper item reprinting material from The Times of London; recent anonymous bookplate with the initial C and an illustration after Beardsley.
Summary
Written during his lecture tour of the United States; saying he received her letter in Washington “where I passed three weeks pleasantly enough among the great folks of the Republic ... I saw the two presidents (they came together at my lecture) and dined at the White House in the reign of the late sovereign, Mr. Fillmore” ; saying that he then traveled into Virginia and referring to The History of Henry Esmond; mentioning Villette and My Novel; giving his opinions at length about slavery; making racist and derogatory remarks about enslaved people; mentioning Uncle Tom's Cabin and the abolitionist movement; saying that he is eager for the lecture tour to be over; referring to the wealth and fashion on display in New York; sending his best regards to “all our kinsfolk and friend...”.
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