Autograph Manuscript, 1 p, 4to, n.p., [1839-40], being a working manuscript of the final lines of Chapter 10 and the beginning lines of Chapter 11 from Thackeray's Catherine, with sketches in red chalk on the verso depicting a woman's head in profile and a ¾ torso sketch of a woman holding either a doll or a child, irregular margins, folds repaired or reinforced, lightly toned. MANUSCRIPT PAGE WITH SKETCHES FOR THACKERAY'S FIRST NOVEL. An excerpt from Thackeray's first full-length work of fiction: "...We passed down this extraordinary avenue no less than three hundred and eighty eight tails did I count on each side – each tail appertaining to an elephant twenty five feet high, each elephant having a two-storied castle on its back – each castle containing sleeping and eating rooms for the twelve new that formed its garrison and were keeping watch on the roof, each was bearing a flagstaff twenty feet long ... glistening with a thousand gems ... each standard bearing the well known device of Holker ... Through this gorgeous scene our little cavalcade passed, and at last we arrived at the quarters occupied by Holker ... That celebrated Chieftain's ... followers were gathered toward one of the British Bungalows ... When I entered the large room where he sat, I found him in the midst of a council of war. The chief quarrels ... seated round him; each smoking his hookah, as is the common way with these black fellows, before at and after breakfast, dinner, supper, and bed time. There was such a cloud raised by their smoke ..." Catherine was first written in serialized installments for Fraser's Magazine, appearing from May 1838 through February 1840. With this work, Thackeray was responding to what he felt was the glorification of criminals written by the Newgate School of Crime Fiction, but after basing Catherine on an actual 18th-century crime where a woman was burned to death for allegedly murdering her husband, the author came to love his subjects and the end result was a sympathetic portrayal of these underworld figures. Thackeray himself was disappointed in the work and refused to have it republished in his lifetime.
Autograph Manuscript, 1 p, 4to, n.p., [1839-40], being a working manuscript of the final lines of Chapter 10 and the beginning lines of Chapter 11 from Thackeray's Catherine, with sketches in red chalk on the verso depicting a woman's head in profile and a ¾ torso sketch of a woman holding either a doll or a child, irregular margins, folds repaired or reinforced, lightly toned. MANUSCRIPT PAGE WITH SKETCHES FOR THACKERAY'S FIRST NOVEL. An excerpt from Thackeray's first full-length work of fiction: "...We passed down this extraordinary avenue no less than three hundred and eighty eight tails did I count on each side – each tail appertaining to an elephant twenty five feet high, each elephant having a two-storied castle on its back – each castle containing sleeping and eating rooms for the twelve new that formed its garrison and were keeping watch on the roof, each was bearing a flagstaff twenty feet long ... glistening with a thousand gems ... each standard bearing the well known device of Holker ... Through this gorgeous scene our little cavalcade passed, and at last we arrived at the quarters occupied by Holker ... That celebrated Chieftain's ... followers were gathered toward one of the British Bungalows ... When I entered the large room where he sat, I found him in the midst of a council of war. The chief quarrels ... seated round him; each smoking his hookah, as is the common way with these black fellows, before at and after breakfast, dinner, supper, and bed time. There was such a cloud raised by their smoke ..." Catherine was first written in serialized installments for Fraser's Magazine, appearing from May 1838 through February 1840. With this work, Thackeray was responding to what he felt was the glorification of criminals written by the Newgate School of Crime Fiction, but after basing Catherine on an actual 18th-century crime where a woman was burned to death for allegedly murdering her husband, the author came to love his subjects and the end result was a sympathetic portrayal of these underworld figures. Thackeray himself was disappointed in the work and refused to have it republished in his lifetime.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
