70 - DICKENS (Charles). Autograph letter signed “Charles Dickens,” in English, to George Lovejoy. London, October 24, 1843. One page, 2/3 of an in-8 sheet, with address on the back.

DICKENS (Charles). Autograph letter signed “Charles Dickens,” in English, to George Lovejoy. London, October 24, 1843. One page, 2/3 of an in-8 sheet, with address on the back. “My dear Sir, please do me the favor of assuring the committee of your literary and scientific institution that I am much gratified by their kind remembrances; and that it is no small matter that should prevent me from accepting their invitation for the twenty-fourth. I regret to add, however, that urgent commitments make it quite impossible for me to attend. I am no less grateful to the committee and to you; and with my heartfelt wishes for the success of your building, and with great pleasure in knowing that my friend Mr. Serjeant Talfourd will be present at its christening, to the representative of literature and champion of its rights...” THE MODEL FOR TOMMY TRADDLES IN *DAVID COPPERFIELD*, THOMAS NOON TALFOURD (1795–1854) was a lawyer (serving as a serjeant-at-law), magistrate, and essayist, and as a member of Parliament he supported Charles Dickens’s efforts to secure recognition of copyright. He is also the dedicatee of *The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club*. FOUNDER OF A TRAVELING LIBRARY, THE GEORGE LOVEJOY BOOKSTORE (1808–1883) associated with Mary Russell Mitford’s wife, John Ruskin, and Charles Dickens Literary, Scientific, and Mechanics Institution