DICKENS, CHARLES, AND GEORGE CRUIKSHANK [ILLUSTRATOR] | Unpublished autograph letter signed ("D"), to George Cruikshank, completed on the artist's proof, related to the publication of The Pic-Nic Papers

DICKENS, CHARLES, AND GEORGE CRUIKSHANK [ILLUSTRATOR] 

Unpublished autograph letter signed ("D"), to George Cruikshank, completed on the artist's proof, related to the publication of The Pic-Nic Papers

One page (4 1/2 x 7 1/8 in.; 114 x 180 mm) on a bifolium, edges gilt, dated "Tuesday fifteenth December" [no year, but likely 1840], with three pencil sketches executed by George Cruikshank on verso of second leaf; some toning and minor smudging. 

A remarkable unpublished letter completed on the artist’s proof, marking the collaborative efforts of Victorian literature's most prominent author, and one of its most prolific illustrators  

“When you have decided on the subject from the latter, will you let me know in order that I may keep the Text as you desire? … The cast is sure to yield a subject.”

Cruikshank illustrated some of Dickens's most enduring works, including Oliver Twist (serialized between February 1837 and April 1839). The present letter was likely composed in 1840, the year that the Dickens was primarily engaged in writing The Old Curiosity Shop (serialized between April 1840 and November 1841). Given that the present letter references a single volume (presumably of several), and the names of “Allan” [Cunningham] and [William Hamilton] “Maxwell”, the content of this correspondence and the accompanying proof would seem to be related to the formation and publication of The Pic-Nic Papers. By Various Hands (1841).

In 1834, when George Cruikshank was at the height of his fame, John Macrone, then editor of The Monthly Magazine, approached him to illustrate Dickens' Sketches by Boz. Cruikshank subsequently illustrated The Mudfog Papers (1837–38), and Oliver Twist (1837–1839). Cruikshank did not illustrate Dickens’ other serials as publisher Richard Bentley had engaged him exclusively for Bentley's Miscellany. He did, however, illustrate two works edited by Dickens: Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi (1838) and The Pic-Nic Papers.

The Pic-Nic Papers was a three-volume anthology comprising miscellaneous pieces by various authors. It was conceived by Dickens to benefit the widow and children of John Macrone—Dickens’ first publisher—who died suddenly of influenza in September of 1837 at the age of 28. Dickens had begun seeking out submissions in 1838, and himself contributed the Introduction, and the first piece featured in the collection, "The Lamplighter's Story". From this charitable venture, Macrone's widow eventually received £450 (over £45,000 in today’s money).

While Cruikshank and Dickens began as great friends, their relationship was tainted when Cruikshank claimed in the press that Dickens had pilfered his ideas for the plot of Oliver Twist. This was not the only time that Cruikshank would make such a claim; he also had a falling out with William Ainsworth, whose work he had also illustrated, over the question of authorship. In each case, Cruikshank claimed to have suggested the plot, and both Dickens and Ainsworth denied the accusations. Cruikshank never attempted to enforce his right in court, but neither Dickens nor Ainsworth ever sued for defamation. Incidentally, Cruikshank was not the first of Dickens’ illustrators to lay such a charge at the author’s feet. Robert Seymour who illustrated the Pickwick Papers suggested that the idea for that novel was originally his. In his preface to the 1867 edition, however, Dickens emphatically denied any sort of outside influence.

PROVENANCE

Dr. R.T. Jupp (his sale, Sotheby's London, 1-2 February 1922, Lot 179) — William Randolph Hearst (his sale, Gimbel Brothers New York, 25 March 1941, lot 6) — Jefferson Meagher (letters of authenticity from Gimbel Brothers and Hammer Galleries)