Listed March 20, 2012 . . .

CHARLES FARRAR BROWN[E].  AUTOGRAPH LETTER DOUBLE-SIGNED "Charles F. Brown" and "'Artemus Ward.'" Written at age twenty-six to an unnamed gentleman. New York, January 2, 1861.

TOGETHER WITH two photographs and an autograph card, described further below.

the group of four items: $1,500

Approx. 17 X 17 cm. (6¾ inches). One page on light blue writing paper; verso blank. Old mounting traces on verso; old folds strong. Medium area toning or light dampstaining. Two ink smudges (original; one at the end of a line separating the two signatures but scarcely touching any but one final letter).

An early career letter by one of America's greatest humorists of the nineteenth century, written on a crucial day of his burgeoning national celebrity. The letter reads in its entirety as follows:

 

New York, Jan 2/61

My Dear Sir:

    Your note would have reached me much sooner had I con=
tinued a resident of Cleveland. I left there some six weeks since for this city, taking a very round=about route. I have at length arrived, and am now located here pr+++++++++lly – at least for the present, & shall publish a collection of the "Ward" letters in book= form shortly. I am happy to grant the request you do me the honor to make.

Very Truly Yours,

Charles F. Brown
"Artemus Ward."

 

The eradicated word in the text would have been too long to read, "presently." It was likely some humorous play on terms which Ward immediately reconsidered as too flippant, and marked out.

 

Charles Farrar BROWNE (April 26, 1834 – March 6, 1867) was patronized eagerly from coast to coast in his writings and stand-up comedy "lecture" performances. During a tour of the West in 1863-64, he befriended and inspired the somewhat younger Samuel Clemens (as yet a relative unknown), and then nearly died of a fever in Salt Lake City where admiring residents nursed him back to health. Thenceforth, his principal topics and entertainments centered around his experience among the Mormons, whom he caricatured fondly to full houses, and in large publication runs of his various books. Ward was enjoyed by Abraham Lincoln and applauded in crowded halls across the nation. He was ultimately praised and courted by sophisticated readers and audiences in London, where he gave his final performance on January 23, 1867, dying soon afterward before reaching his thirty-third birthday. For a more detailed overview of Browne's life, see the biographical article in the Dictionary of American Biography III:162-64, nicely written by the celebrated Canadian humorist and author Stephen Leacock.

:: TOGETHER WITH ::

 

ALBUMEN CARTE-DE-VISITE PHOTOGRAPH of Browne, the mount reading on verso, "Published by E. & H. T. Anthony, 501 Broadway, New York, Manufacturers of the best Photographic Albums." No date, but early 1860s?

Approx. 8 X 5½ cm. on somewhat larger mount. Three-quarter image, seated. A thin scratch line crosses the cheek, and there is considerable light mottling to the background, yet a reasonably attractive image. Roughly contemporaneous with the letter; Browne's lean visage appears younger than a slightly more "healthy" studio view taken in Boston illustrated in my Mormon List 67 (2011). ILLUSTRATED at left, and in enlarged detail above.

:: AND ::

ALBUMEN CARTE-DE-VISITE PHOTOGRAPH of Browne, the mount reading on verso, "Published by E. & H. T. Anthony, 501 Broadway, New York, From Photographic Negative in Brady's National Portrait Gallery." No date, but 1864-66.

8½ X 5¼ cm. on slightly larger mount. The mount is clipped at the four corners (without affecting the photographic print) and bears remnants of mounting on verso. Moderate background discoloration, yet a good image with pleasing dark contrasts.

Seated half-length, in fine attire. Ward's hair is heavily curled, showing that this image was taken no earlier than 1864, when he began curling his hair following a devastating illness in Salt Lake City. By late 1866, Ward's appearance had become more frail and emaciated than in the present image.

 

:: AND ::

 

AUTOGRAPH CARD DOUBLE-SIGNED: Faithfully yours, Charles F. Browne, "A. Ward"

5 X 9 cm. on a piece of heavy writing paper. Toned but very good; verso blank. Perhaps clipped from a larger autograph album page. No date, but 1860s, after Brown[e] had added the letter e to the end of his name.

THE LETTER OFFERED HERE dates from the very beginning of Ward's stunning catapult to national fame, written Wednesday, January 2, 1861, the very day Ward secured permanent employment as an editor at Vanity Fair, and the day after his arrival in New York. He here responds to one of several letters which were waiting for him at the Western Hotel, forwarded from Pittsburgh by his friend Charles E. Wilson. Following his initial breakthrough writing for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ward began to receive notice from more sophisticated circuits. He gave notice to his former employers toward the end of 1860 and then hit the road across Ohio, Indiana and Illinois for several weeks with traveling entertainer Ossian E. Dodge. That roundabout itinerary would explain why the now-unknown letter which Ward answers here (probably requesting some publishing privilege) had to follow Ward around for a period of time until January 2, 1861, when Ward wrote the following to Wilson:

. . . Well, here I am at last. I arrived at four o'clock Tuesday morning [January 1, 1861] and went to bed. Got up at one and went up-town. Couldn't see anybody and felt blue. Went to bed early. Got up this morning and went to Vanity Fair office. Good fellows—glad to see me. Talked ten minutes with them and made a permanent engagement at twenty dollars a week as one of the editors of the paper. Mr. Leland is editor-in-chief. First-rate fellow, I judge. I am to be there promptly at ten o'ck A.M. and go away at half past three. . . . I am certainly a lucky cuss. I don't understand it myself, but it is so. Things are new to me here now, and I shall proceed cautiously. But as soon as I get started I will make things whizz, so to speak. I intend to know everybody on Broadway in about six months. I shall withold my book for the present, until the d—d panic subsides. . . . Won't you have this notice published in the Plain Dealer?

"CHARLES F. BROWN.—This gentleman, widely known as the former local editor of this paper, has at last reached New York and joined the editorial staff of Vanity Fair!"

[Don C. Seitz, Artemus Ward (Charles Farrar Browne): A Biography and Bibliography (New York and London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, [1919]), 68-74]