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Published by 23 September ; on letterhead fo Hawthorns near Keswick, 1891
Manuscript / Paper Collectible
A nice item linking one of late Victorian England s most popular novelists with its most critically admired. See the entries for Caine and Meredith in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Laid down on part of a leaf from the autograph album of Meredith s daughter Marie Eveleen (Mariette; 1871-1933), wife of Henry Parkman Sturgis (1847-1929), American-born banker and Liberal politician. Reads: To / George Meredith / With much admiration / Hall Caine / 23/Sept/91. See image. Note: Extracted from an Album of Autograph Letters created by Meredith's daughter which included letters to George Meredith from distinguished fellow-writers (as here) such as Henry James, George Eliot but also from people of distinction (such as Wellington and Clemenceau) to other correspondents.
Published by 10 April ; on letterhead of Heath Brow Hampstead Heath, 1917
Manuscript / Paper Collectible Signed
An excellent letter, in which Caine evaluates his wartime activities, criticises those of others, and gives his opinion of the the standing of the man of letters in the England of his time. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. A long letter: forty-two lines in Caine s distinctive close hand, with the first two pages on the rectos of the leaves, and the third page written lengthwise on the verso of the first leaf. Signed Hall Caine and addressed to My dear Sladen . This long letter is headed Private , and its postscript Strictly Private . He begins by apologising for having to give an unfavourable reply to Sladen s letter: if I could talk in your ear, what I cannot write, of my activies on behalf of our country since the war began (my own work has been stopped for 2 1/2 years & I have devoted myself almost entirely to natural work) & what I have attempted to do (sometimes privately, sometimes publicly) on great international affairs you would be the first to say that I am not indicated for the work you give me . He has no doubt the men and women Sladen mentions do splendidly , but knowing some of them for some years, he is far from standing in awe of their present positions & achievements, & certainly would not from choice adopt the character of their [public?] megaphone . He has been asked by the French Government to go to the Front very shortly to advice upon a new scheme of propaganda which (at their request) I suggested to them . He congratulates Sladen on his son s most brilliant progress in the Army. As far back as our days together in Italy [amended from Egypt ] I realised he was a born soldier . He ends with news of three male kinsmen , including his elest son, who has 5 large munition factories, & is in the sole charge . The Strictly Private seven-line postscript ends Pray destroy this letter. Only a friend ought to see what I wrote for a friend alone. In the postscript he writes: Looking at your letter again I see you say our Committee would be asked to revise etc a number of leaflets drafted by some other committee perhaps of the men & women you mention. My God think of it! We who have spent 30 or more years of our lives learning the great art of speaking to the public being asked to advise on & revise the grammar & style of the people who haven t a child s knowledge of the craft! In no other country in the world does the man of letters stand so low as in Gt Britain. But it is not our fault. We allow these people of no consequence to stand above us. .