CHARLES MACKAY - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 07/22/1886 - HFSID 73356

CHARLES MACKAY
The British literary figure sends letter of thanks to his friend for his support, after the suggestion from Lord Tennyson that a new committee be set up, signs name in black ink
Autograph letter signed: "Charles Mackay" in black ink. 3 pages integral leaf, 4½x7 folded, 9x7 flat. London, England. July 22, 1886. Addressed to Mr. A.F. Lawley. In part: "My dear friend, Your name as a subscriber to this work would be both an honour and an advantage. Lord Tennyson has suggested the organization of a new committee to get up another testimonial in my behalf. His name and influence will have much weight. Do you know a body who would act as secretary? To be paid a commission of ten per cent...I am still in deep waters and ready to sink". Charles Mackay (1812-1889) was an accomplished Scottish poet, journalist, author, anthologist, novelist and songwriter. An educated writer and scholar of languages, Mackay's career began as a journalist in London, where in 1834 he worked as an occasional contributor to The Sun; it was this same year that his first book Songs and Poems (1834) was published. The following year he took a job at the Morning Chronicle as an assistant sub-editor, a job he held until 1844, and during which he published his best known book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841), a history of popular folly. Eventually the editor of the Illustrated London News, Mackay had become a successful literary figure in Great Britain, and in the 1850s and 60s began travelling North America, publishing his observations in Life and Liberty in America (1859) and working as a The Times correspondent during the American Civil War, during which he discovered and disclosed the infamous Fenian conspiracy. He is the father of novelist Marie Corelli and of the minor poet Eric Mackay. Normal mailing folds. Creased throughout. Worn and slightly soiled. Torn along creases, slightly frayed. Corners creased. Very fragile. Otherwise, fine condition.