Autograph Envelope Signed.

The recipient was the writer Richard Hengist Horne (1802–1884). A belated Romantic who had seen Hazlitt on his deathbed, worshipped Shelley, and once, according to his own account, thrown a snowball at Keats, Horne became acquainted with Dickens in the late 1830s. In 1845 Dickens appointed him to the staff of the Daily News as branch editor for Ireland, in which capacity he covered the opening stages of the great famine. In 1850 Dickens appointed him to a sub-editorship of Household Words. He also appeared as a member of Dickens's private theatrical troupe. In 1852, he emigrated to Australia in search of gold, though he continued to contribute to Household Words. When in 1862 he petitioned the Royal Literary Fund for assistance, his petition was strongly supported by Dickens. He returned to England in 1867, but he and Dickens fell out thereafter, Dickens being angry with him for having failed to support his wife while he was in Australia.

Envelope, approx. 7 × 12 cm. Addressed in blue ink in Dickens hand to “R. H. Horne Esquire/ Beaumont Cottage / College Road / Chalk Farm Lane / Hampstead Road / London” and signed Charles Dickens to the lower left. Mounted and framed with an oval portrait of Dickens, sitting, eyes closed and pondering.