Charles Dickens in America
WILLIAM GLYDE WILKINS
Charles Dickens in America, W. Glyde Wilkins
Jazzybee Verlag Jürgen Beck
86450 Altenmünster, Loschberg 9
Deutschland
ISBN: 9783849658731
www.jazzybee-verlag.de
CONTENTS:
CHAPTER III. THE BOSTON DINNER.. 15
CHAPTER IV. WORCESTER — HARTFORD — NEW HAVEN... 66
CHAPTER VI. THE DINNER AT NEW YORK.. 93
CHAPTER VII. PHILADELPHIA.. 115
CHAPTER VIII. WASHINGTON... 124
CHAPTER IX. RICHMOND, BALTIMORE AND HARRISBURG... 134
CHAPTER X. PITTSBURGH, CINCINNATI, LOUISVILLE AND CAIRO 151
CHAPTER XI. ST. LOUIS AND THE PRAIRIE.. 162
CHAPTER XII. THE RETURN TRIP; ST. LOUIS TO NEW YORK.. 170
CHAPTER XIII. INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT.. 178
CHAPTER XIV. THE PRESS DINNER AT DELMONICO'S. 194
FOREWORD
The writer, on reading American Notes and Dickens's letters from America in the volumes of his collected letters and his letters to Forster, printed in the latter's Life of Charles Dickens, has always been struck with two things: his very severe criticism of the American newspapers in 1842, and his bitterness on the subject of International Copyright. In order to satisfy himself as to the justness of Dickens's opinions at the time the book and letters were written, he has collected extracts from the newspapers of nearly every city which the Author visited during his first trip to the United States. These were so interesting, as giving the Presswriters' accounts of the visit, and their opinions of the Author personally, that the collection was further extended to include anything that could be found in print, by American writers, relating to the visit — some written during the time of the visit and some later.
Mr. Philip Hone, who was one of the committee which entertained Dickens in New York, kept a diary from 1828 to 1850, which was published in 1889 by Bodd, Mead"& Co., New York; and " Four Months with Charles Dickens during his First Visit to America: By his Secretary," published in the Atlantic Monthly shortly after Dickens's death — both contain much interesting matter relating to Dickens's first visit. One or two private diaries have been discovered containing references to Dickens which have never been published. All this material, much of which has been buried in the files of old newspapers for nearly seventy years, and in other places for a shorter time, has proved so interesting to the writer that he has ventured to arrange it in the order in which Dickens made his first American tour; and he hopes those who have read Dickens's own account of the trip will be equally interested in reading another account written by American writers. He has allowed these American writers to tell the story, with a few words here and there of his own to make the account a connected one. He has also collected a large number of contemporary engravings of the places mentioned in American Notes, and of hotels in which he lodged, which he believes are of equal interest with the text, many of which are reproduced.
The readers can draw their own conclusions as to the justice of Dickens's opinions and criticisms of the Press and people of the United States in 1842.
The account of the dinner given to Dickens by the Press of the United States, in New York in 1868, has also been included, as it contains so many beautiful tributes to the author by such famous editors and writers of the time as Horace Greeley, George William Curtis, Henry J. Raymond, William Henry Hurlbert and others, most of whom have passed away. These speeches have never been printed except in the newspapers immediately after the dinner, and the writer believes they should be preserved in more permanent and accessible form, which is the reason for their being included in this book.
WILLIAM GLYDE WILKINS.
Pittsburgh (Pa.), U.S.A., August, 1911.
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY
There can be no doubt in the minds of those who have read 'The Life of Charles Dickens', by his friend Forster, as to what was the prime object of the author's second visit to the United States in 1868. It was, to paraphrase Shakespeare, "to put money in his purse"; in fact, he frankly wrote Forster, who disapproved of the project, "Have no fear that anything will induce me to make the experiment if I do not see the most forcible reason for believing that what I could get by it, added to what I have got, would leave me with a sufficient future."
No fault can be found with him for this reason, as Dickens had a large family, his living expenses were heavy, and he desired to be able to leave his children provided for after his death.
Just what were the reasons which prompted his first visit in 1842 are not sb well known. There were to be no readings, and the journey was a tedious, uncomfortable and expensive one to make in those days. Some' have thought that the object of the trip was to procure the subject matter for his American Notes, published after his return. This, however, was not the principal reason, but was simply the means which he took to provide the necessary funds for his expenses, and, in fact, he had made arrangements with Chapman & Hall for the publication of the book before he left England. Others have thought that the object of the trip was to inaugurate a campaign for international copyright, but Forster has said that Dickens went to America with no intention of starting the question in any way, and Dickens himself has denied that this was the object. What was then the real object? This question is best answered by a quotation from a paper in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, by Dr. J. F. Snyder, entitled, "Charles Dickens in Illinois." Dr. Snyder writes —