The Charles Dickens Letters Project
Period:
1861-1870
Theme(s):
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
copyright
To WILLIAM HENRY FRENCH,1 17 MARCH 1870
MS University of Rhode Island Library, Special Collections.
GAD’S HILL PLACE, | HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT.
Thursday Seventeenth March 1870
Sir
(a) In reply to your obliging letter, I beg to inform you that I have already conceded the sole copyright of my new book for translation in Germany, to Dr. Lehmann of Hamburg.(a)2
William Henry French Esqre.
Faithfully Yours
CHARLES DICKENS
- 1. William Henry French (1842-99), owner of the publishing company Johann Friedrich Hartknoch (1868-79); son of the artist and engraver William French (1815-98), who worked for the Leipzig publisher and engraver Albert Henry Payne.
- 2. CD had agreed in Nov 1869 with Emil Lehmann the right of translating Edwin Drood into German (Pilgrim Letters 12, p. 441); it was published by Tauchnitz, who also published the English language edition for sale on the Continent only (Pilgrim Letters 12, p. 492).