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Lot 253

NEWTON (JOHN)

22 November 2011, 10:30 GMT
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £1,750 inc. premium

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NEWTON (JOHN)

Autograph letter signed ("John Newton"), about his Letters to a Wife and their publisher ("...You may send for the 'Letters to a Wife' as soon as you please. I believe Mr Johnson is a good Bookseller. I have always found him honest, & of a generous turn – disdaining little sneaking things, which sometimes are found with Men, who talk more of Religion. Perhaps I may not see him again, before I leave town – but if Mr Dawson pleases to mention me, as having recommended Johnson to him, it will suffice..."); he also tells her that he has sent "No 8 & ( of the Brethren's mission paper", gives news of his travels and concludes: "I rejoyce in your happy delivery, & pray the Lord to bless the little boy, & all your children – Miss Catlett adds her love to mine", one page, laid onto an album leaf, light foxing, 4to, 3 August 1793

Footnotes

JOHN NEWTON OF OLNEY ON COWPER'S PUBLISHER, JOSEPH JOHNSON. Johnson, the leading radical publisher of the 1790s, acted as agent, editor and publisher to Newton's friend Cowper, as well as being prime mover behind publication of Paine's Rights of Man, commissioning plates from William Blake, publishing the early works of Wordsworth and Coleridge, and much else. In 1793 he published Newton's Letters to a Wife, in two volumes, compiled in the aftermath of his wife's death in 1790. The letters in the first volume were written between 1750 and 1754 and describe his three voyages to Africa as a slaver; while the second describes life after conversion. They have been greatly admired by, among others, Edward FitzGerald. The Miss Catlett referred to at the end is his niece and adopted daughter, Eliza, who was to look after him in old age.

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