![ARCHITECTURE - ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL Manuscript planning brief for work under the supervision of Inigo Jones, [c.1631]](/_next/image.jpg?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg1.bonhams.com%2Fimage%3Fsrc%3DImages%252Flive%252F2025-10%252F16%252F25762965-1-1.jpg%26width%3D650&w=2400&q=75)
![ADVERTISING POSTERfor 'The Suffragette' newspaper, [c.1913-1914]](/_next/image.jpg?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg1.bonhams.com%2Fimage%3Fsrc%3DImages%252Flive%252F2025-06%252F25%252F25680656-116-1.jpg%26width%3D650&w=2400&q=75)
![ILLUMINATED ADDRESS – CLARA CODD Illuminated printed address signed by Emmeline Pankhurst, [1909]](/_next/image.jpg?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg1.bonhams.com%2Fimage%3Fsrc%3DImages%252Flive%252F2025-06%252F25%252F25680656-32-1.jpg%26width%3D650&w=2400&q=75)
![MUSIC & RECORDINGS – ETHEL SMYTH Collection of printed music, song sheets and records, [c.1911-1912]](/_next/image.jpg?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg1.bonhams.com%2Fimage%3Fsrc%3DImages%252Flive%252F2025-10%252F09%252F25680656-99-1.jpg%26width%3D650&w=2400&q=75)
Darren Sutherland
Specialist
This auction has ended. View lot details
You may also be interested in
Literature and History
Lot 80
DICKENS JUVENILIA? The Strategems of Rozanza / A Venetian Comedietta by C.J.H. Dickens. Holograph Manuscript in an unknown hand, 131 pp recto and verso,
24 April – 4 May 2023, 12:00 EDT
Online, New YorkUS$2,000 - US$3,000
Looking for a similar item?
Our Books & Manuscripts specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
DICKENS JUVENILIA?
The Strategems of Rozanza / A Venetian Comedietta by C.J.H. Dickens. Holograph Manuscript in an unknown hand, 131 pp recto and verso, 8vo, n.p., c.1828, illustrated with 5 pen-and-ink drawings, each signed "H. Knight" and dated 1828, one in pencil unfinished, one in watercolor by a different hand pasted in, paper watermarked 1823, bound together in half calf, together with a volume of letters relating to the provenance of the play.
Provenance: gift of Georgina Hogarth to Mrs. Horace Pym (inscription); discovered, 1926 (period correspondence and newspaper clippings); sold Sotheby's London, December 17, 1981.
The fly-leaf of this volume is inscribed thus: "This book belonged to Miss Georgina Hogarth & was given by her to Mr. Horace Pym / Foxwold Chase / Brasted / Kent." This mysterious volume emerged publicly in 1926 and was instantly celebrated as a rare example of Dickens' juvenilia. The "C.J.H." stands for Charles John Huffman, his given name, though this is not a version of his signature that has ever appeared afterward. The manuscript is not in his hand. The play itself seems to be an adaptation of an operetta by 18th century Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni.
In the correspondence that accompanies the volume, including copies of a letter from Henry Dickens and actual letters from Col. Pym, the son of the bibliophile to whom it was presented, the volume's authenticity is debated. Henry Dickens denies any knowledge of the play and argues it cannot be right; Pym also says it is strange that he was not aware of the manuscript as a gift to his mother, but "I do not say it is impossible for anything to have been given without my knowing."
In the ensuing years, it does not appear that the mystery has been solved. Rozanza is almost always mentioned when discussing Dickens' juvenilia, but often with the modifier "possibly." The 1981 Sotheby's catalog mentions the controversies, adding that the present volume lacks literary merit, and the costumes of the characters seem to postdate 1828. Valerie Lester, the author of Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens, does not weigh in on Dickens's authorship, but does believe that the drawings are not inconsistent with the later work of Phiz (though they are very immature). In any case, a bibliographic mystery, and a fascinating piece of Dickensiana.
Provenance: gift of Georgina Hogarth to Mrs. Horace Pym (inscription); discovered, 1926 (period correspondence and newspaper clippings); sold Sotheby's London, December 17, 1981.
The fly-leaf of this volume is inscribed thus: "This book belonged to Miss Georgina Hogarth & was given by her to Mr. Horace Pym / Foxwold Chase / Brasted / Kent." This mysterious volume emerged publicly in 1926 and was instantly celebrated as a rare example of Dickens' juvenilia. The "C.J.H." stands for Charles John Huffman, his given name, though this is not a version of his signature that has ever appeared afterward. The manuscript is not in his hand. The play itself seems to be an adaptation of an operetta by 18th century Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni.
In the correspondence that accompanies the volume, including copies of a letter from Henry Dickens and actual letters from Col. Pym, the son of the bibliophile to whom it was presented, the volume's authenticity is debated. Henry Dickens denies any knowledge of the play and argues it cannot be right; Pym also says it is strange that he was not aware of the manuscript as a gift to his mother, but "I do not say it is impossible for anything to have been given without my knowing."
In the ensuing years, it does not appear that the mystery has been solved. Rozanza is almost always mentioned when discussing Dickens' juvenilia, but often with the modifier "possibly." The 1981 Sotheby's catalog mentions the controversies, adding that the present volume lacks literary merit, and the costumes of the characters seem to postdate 1828. Valerie Lester, the author of Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens, does not weigh in on Dickens's authorship, but does believe that the drawings are not inconsistent with the later work of Phiz (though they are very immature). In any case, a bibliographic mystery, and a fascinating piece of Dickensiana.