DICKENS’S 1867 TOUR OF AMERICA DICKENS (Charles, 1812-1870, Novelist)

Engraved invitation to Dickens's farewell dinner prior to his departure for America “Dinner given to Mr Charles Dickens on the occasion of His Departure for the United States, Freemason’s Hall, Great Queen St, Saturday, November 2nd 1867, Seven o’clock...”, the tickets are priced at One Guinea each, this one is numbered 39, 4½” x 3”, no place

While he contemplated a second visit to the United States, the outbreak of the Civil War in America in 1861 delayed his plans. On 9th November 1867, over two years after the war, Dickens set sail from Liverpool for his second American reading tour. Landing in Boston, he devoted the rest of the month to a round of dinners with such notables as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his American publisher, James T. Fields. In early December, the readings began. He performed 76 readings, netting £19,000, from December 1867 to April 1868. Dickens shuttled between Boston and New York, where he gave 22 readings at Steinway Hall. Although he had started to suffer from what he called the "true American catarrh", he kept to a schedule that would have challenged a much younger man, even managing to squeeze in some sleighing in Central Park. During his travels, he saw a change in the people and the circumstances of America. His final appearance was at a banquet the American Press held in his honour at Delmonico's on 18th April, when he promised never to denounce America again. By the end of the tour Dickens could hardly manage solid food, subsisting on champagne and eggs beaten in sherry. On 23rd April he boarded the Cunard liner Russia to return to Britain, barely escaping a federal tax lien against the proceeds of his lecture tour.

Item Date:  0

Stock No:  41977      £575

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