The Charles Dickens Letters Project

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Individual letter:

Dickens, Charles. To [addressee], [date of letter]. Charles Dickens Letters Project, ed. Leon Litvack, Emily Bell, Lydia Craig and Jeremy Parrott (London: Dickens Fellowship). [URL of individual letter], [date of access].

Database:

Charles Dickens Letters Project, ed. Leon Litvack, Emily Bell, Lydia Craig and Jeremy Parrott (London: Dickens Fellowship), DickensLetters.com.

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Period:

1841-1850

Theme(s):

publishing

To MADAME SALA,1 6 JULY 1847

MS Shaun Springer. Address: Madame Sala | 3 John Street | Oxford Street | London. PM 6 July 47.

Broadstairs, Kent.

Sixth July 1847.

Dear Madame Sala.

Your letter has been forwarded to me here,2 and I hasten to reply to it. I fear a letter of introduction to Messrs. Bradbury and Evans would be of no service to you, as they scarcely publish at all except for myself,3 unless it be for the Writers in periodicals of their own proprietorship.4 Nor do I like to give you the pain, or them the trouble, of a fruitless interview; although I assure you, if I had the least reason – the very scantiest – to believe (having the means of judging) that it could lead to any useful result, I would most gladly comply with your request. As I can have no desire in such a matter but to point out to you the plain truth, and help you if I can, let me propose that this should stand over for ten or twelve days, until I can give you an interview. I purpose being in town on Sunday the Eighteenth, and will immediately write to you, proposing an appointment.5 As your eyes are bad, do not take the trouble to reply to this, unless you have any objection to urge. If I do not hear from you, I will take care to be mindful of my pledge.

Believe me / Very faithfully Yours

CHARLES DICKENS

Madame Sala

1. Henrietta Catherina Florentina Sala (née Simon; ?1788-1860), singer and actress; had acted in The Strange Gentleman and Is She His Wife?: see Pilgrim Letters 1, p. 302n. Her youngest son, George Augustus Sala (1828-96 Dictionary of National Biography), whose father was probably Captain Charles Fairfield, was later a regular contributor to Household Words and All the Year Round: see Pilgrim Letters 6, p. 458n.
2. CD was at Broadstairs 26 June to 29 Sept, visiting London as necessary on business.
3. CD had transferred from Chapman & Hall as his publishers to Bradbury & Evans in 1844: see PIlgrim Letters 4 and Robert L. Patten, CD and His Publishers, 1978, ch. 8. Bradbury & Evans were mainly printers and largely without the business experience to be publishers: see CD’s similar statements to G. H. Lewes (17 Feb 48; Pilgrim Letters 5, p. 248) and to Lady Blessington (4 Apr 48; Pilgrim Letters 5, pp. 271-2).
4. Bradbury & Evans were publishers of Punch from 1841 and of the Daily News from 1846. For details of Punch contributors they published and of other publications, see Pilgrim Letters 5, p. 248, n.3.
5. Not traced, if it took place, nor Mme Sala’s publishing proposal. CD came to London to rehearse the Amateurs (above) for the Manchester and Liverpool performances (To Willmott, 6 July 47; Pilgrim Letters 5, p. 119).