Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-09-21
A HISTORIC FAN.
c;sred by Royalties and NotabiIities o,
tho Last Century-Some Dickens
Letters.
From the London TelcKr;

~ NatI OsHNO ~ IH
A Greek codex OF the four gospels, la
EoriOusly indited 1000 years ago, and
u fan scarcely a quarter of a century
old. inscribed with historic signatures.
make strange company, yet auction
jux.aposcs these curious antitheses.
he offered. along with the true account
OF the relations between Dickens and
Dora, venerable Illuminated manu-
scripts and flippant latters by Wilde
and Whistler. The fan is indeed a
mennonite mort. 1t Is that Jubilee fan"
charity bazaar at the luncheon party
given by the Duke of Edinburgh on
June 20, 1887. Signed by the royalties
az the time. 1t now reminds us OF those
who have passed away. Queen Victor
10. King Edward VII. the Emperor
Leopold III, Albert. king of Saxony.
Carlos. king of Portugal. and the Duke
of Clarence. The signatures of the king.
then Duke OF York. Queen Alexandra.
tho Emeperor William, as son OF the
crown prince. the King OF Greece, the
many others. combine to give the fan
extraordinary historic interest.
The Dickens letters, privately printed
fOr the Boston B%ibliophile society,
grove the labors OF Mr.. Stonehouse and
Professor Baker in calculating the love
sN0h y ~ SA1C CIV NIaIIS OCdu
nell. The first set OF letters. written In
1888, show the dramatic in%tenseness OF
IN attachment doomed to disappOint-
ineat. Over 20 years afterwards Dick
ems reOpened the correspondence. In a
touching letter he then wrote: What
eyer Of fancy. omance energy, pas
sion, inspiration, and determination be-
long to me. l never have separated, and
nev shall separate. from the hard
hearted little woman-you-whom 1t is
nothing to say 1 would have died for
with the greatest alacrity. You may
sul reflection OF the passion l had for
you. and a have thought 1t was
something to ave been loved so we'll.
and may have seen in little bits Of
Dora touches OF your old self ome
tunes. and u grace here and there that
may be revived In your little girl. years
hence. for the bewilderment Of some
other young l0ver-thought he will
. be as terribly, in earnest as 1
and David Copperfleld' were." Mr..
S~tonehouse's manuscript notes help to
identify many Of the originals of Dick
ens's characters. notably of MI. Wrinkle.
Lust year the manuscript OF Wilde's
Decay OF Lying" realized Fill. A
remarkable series OF others will be
equal bait to collectors. The original
Gray" and OF The F%lorentine Tragedy
and h draft OF The "Sphinx'' need only
be- mentioned. Then there is such q
poignant note an that written by Wilde
as q boy at school. thanking his mother
for . hamper. We have. too. a sonnet
In his hand. ION the Sale OF Auction
az Keats's Low Letters the beginning
OF which sums up the whole matter:
These are the letters which Endymios
wrote
To one he loved In secret and apart;
And now the brawlers OF the auction
mart
Bargain and bid for zach poor blotted
note.
The letters from whistler to wilde
restore us q little. Seeing his friend in
Chelsea wearing a coa '~befrogged and
wonderfully befurred." Whistler wrote:
'flow dare you? What means this I'M
wsemly carnival In Chelsea? Restore
those things to Nathan, and never let
ma see you again masquerading the
sereetx IN h combined character Of q
degraded Kossuth and Mr.. Mantalini."