GERALD MASSEY - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED - HFSID 73512

GERALD MASSEY
The nineteenth-century British literary figure turns down an offer to speaks, signs name in black ink
Autograph letter signed: "Gerald Massey" in faded black ink. 3 pages integral leaf, 5½x8¾ folded. South Shields, England. In full: "My dear Sir, Your last letter reached me yesterday. My letters have been following me from place to place always a day or two behind. When I wrote first - the Friday I mentioned was the only night that I had to spare as I go on to Carlisle to lecture on Monday and Tuesday. I do not feel inclined to turn back again after I get so much nearer home, especially as among the Hesham folk no one should have volunteered to take us in - that did not sound encouraging. Many thanks to your Committee for their offer of another pound but I was looking forward to Hesham more in the way of meeting friends than otherwise. Many thanks also to you for your previous hospitality. Remember us kindly to your wife and Mr. Muir and believe me Yours ever". Gerald Massey (1828-1907) was an English poet and writer on Spiritualism and Ancient Egypt. As a child, Massey had a gloomy life working in laborious factories with a very poor family, therefore he was easily attracted to Christian Socialism, becoming well-associated with notables such as Frederick Denison Maurice and Charles Kingsley. His education led him to a deep interest in Egyptology, particularly the similarities between their mythology with Gospel stories, and he was a strong advocate of the comparisons between Jesus and the Egyptian god Horus. A promoter of spiritual evolution, Massey believed that Darwin's theory of evolution was incomplete without spiritualism. Massey's writings include the poems "Voices of Freedom and Lyrics of Love" (1850), The Ballad of Babe Christabel" (1854) and "A Tale of Eternity" (1869), as well as books on Egypt such as The Book of the Beginnings, The Natural Genesis, and his most well-known book Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World. Normal mailing folds. Toned. Creased throughout. Small tear in right margin. Edges frayed. Stained throughout. Otherwise, fine condition.