HALL (THOMAS HENRY HALL) CAINE - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 05/07/1910 - HFSID 100103

HALL CAINE. ALS: "Hall Caine/Ralph Hall Caine", 1p, 8x5¼, affixed to sheet of same size. Whitehall Court, 1910 May 7, Saturday. On verso of imprinted letterhead to "Hon Charlotte Knollys, Buckingham Palace". In full: "May the humblest of the Queen's friends offer her through your kind lips [word crossed out] a word [two words crossed out] of deep sympathy in her great sorrow praying God to give her strength in this dark hour please say the heart of the hole nation is [word crossed out] with her now." King Edward VII, the son of England's Queen Victoria (1837-1901), had died on May 6, 1910, the day before Caine wrote this letter of condolences. English novelist Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine (1853-1931) was one of Great Britain's most read authors between 1893-1930. Caine, who had begun his literary career by writing articles for trade journals, magazines and newspapers, was further inspired when he became Secretary to and friend of poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, whom he remembered in his 1882 work, Recollections of Rossetti. Caine published his first novel, The Shadow of a Crime, in 1885, and this was quickly followed by A Son of Hagar (1886) and The Deemster (1887). Caine's other works, many of which featured Biblical themes, include The Bondman and The Scapegoat (both 1890), Cap'n Davey's Honeymoon (1893), The Manxman (1894, his first big commercial success), The Christian (1897, which sold 650,000 copies), The Eternal City (1901, over a million copies sold worldwide) and The Prodigal Son (1904, novel and play). Caine, who edited King Albert's Book during WWI (the proceeds went to help Belgian refugees), published his last full-length novel in 1921 to devote himself to his life's work, a Life of Christ, which he had researched during several visits to Palestine and Transjordania. The book was published posthumously by his sons in 1938, twenty years after Caine had been knighted on the recommendation of Prime Minister Lloyd George. Ink smudged at one word. Lightly rippled from mounting. Slightly soiled. Unrelated newspaper clipping affixed to verso (no show through). Overall, fine condition.