BIB_ID
458710
Accession number
MA 14886.7
Creator
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron, 1803-1873, sender.
Credit line
Bequest of Gordon N. Ray, 1987.
Description
1 item (11 pages) ; 22.6 x 18.6 cm
Notes
One of a series of 14 letters from Edward Bulwer-Lytton to Robert Folkestone Williams (MA 14886).
Signed "EBL."
Written from "Poole / Dorsetshire."
On first and second items, embossed stamp with coat of arms in upper left corner recto: "Bath / Superfine."
Address panel with two postmarks (first from Poole) and seal: "R. Folkestone Williams Esq / 76 [C]ole[s]hill Street / Eaton Sq / London."
The work critiqued is a manuscript of Williams's novel The Luttrells: or, The Two Marriages (London: Henry Colburn, 1850); that novel's character Colonel Vincent is mentioned in the letter. See also MA 14886.8 and MA 14886.9.
"Godwin" referred to on p. 1 is possibly English journalist, philosopher, and novelist William Godwin.
Signed "EBL."
Written from "Poole / Dorsetshire."
On first and second items, embossed stamp with coat of arms in upper left corner recto: "Bath / Superfine."
Address panel with two postmarks (first from Poole) and seal: "R. Folkestone Williams Esq / 76 [C]ole[s]hill Street / Eaton Sq / London."
The work critiqued is a manuscript of Williams's novel The Luttrells: or, The Two Marriages (London: Henry Colburn, 1850); that novel's character Colonel Vincent is mentioned in the letter. See also MA 14886.8 and MA 14886.9.
"Godwin" referred to on p. 1 is possibly English journalist, philosopher, and novelist William Godwin.
Provenance
Gordon N. Ray.
Summary
Confirming he has "just finished your MS" and "hasten[s]" to "give you my impressions" of that work; conveying he "read it with quick & continuous admiration for its vividness, power & genius" and that in "force & vitality it excels your other works"; comparing it positively to the work of "Godwin"; lamenting "now comes my most difficult & delicate labor" of offering critiques of the work; advising "a reconsideration & remoulding of the entire plot"; offering a detailed, multipage critique of the work; suggesting the work would "do much better published at once" rather than serially; asking in postscript if he should return the manuscript to Williams by mail or keep it until "a week or two hence."
Catalog link
Department