EVENT TICKET. Charles Dickens Esq. in the Chair. Athenaeum. Thursday, October the fifth, 1843. #476.
[London]: 1843. Single sheet of lithographed white glazed card stock, 8 lines of text, fancy fonts. Blank verso. Nickleby portrait of Dickens at top; ornamental wreath, with 2 cherubs, surrounding text. Card: 3-1/2" x 5-1/2". General wear & age-toning. Faint evidence of prior mounting. A Very Good copy of this rare survivor. Item #51114
This ticket was to hear Dickens speak at a fundraising event held at the Manchester Athenaeum, a local society engaged in promoting education in the city. At the time, Manchester was renowned across the world as one of the most important hubs of the Industrial Revolution, but its sudden growth had been at great social expense, and it’s believed that the strict utilitarian rules and poor pay imposed by factory owners on the city's workers inspired Dickens to imbue Ebenezer Scrooge with a lack of charity and empathy—as he famously says, “Are there no prisons? … And the Union workhouses? Are they still in operation?” This, of course, on the heels of Nicholas Nickleby, a novel which also drew attention to the plight of underprivleged children.
While tickets to Dickens' later readings [late 1850s / 1860s] come regularly to the market, tickets from early 1840s events are much less common, decidely so.
Rare.
Price: $2,500.00