To ordinary men who are quite content with shilling or half-crown editions of standard works—"Everyman's" Library for example—a sale of what might be called literary curios is always something of a wonder. One such sale, principally of the works and letters of Dickens, has just been held in New York, and the sum of $17,726 realized. One of the highest priced items in the auction was a velure containing amongst othe things €9 autograph letters vy Dickens, most of them bearing upon incidents in his books, and for this the stm of $3,000 was paid. To the student these letters would doubtless provide a mine of information as to the methods of the great master, but there is one item in this auction—sold for $500—the value of which is hardly so apparent. This is not a Dickens relic but comes from Thackeray, and is an autograph letter from him to Elizabeth Barrett Browning declining to publish one of her poems in his magazine. Thackeray required two pages octavo to make his refusal, and to-day it is worth $500. Possibly because it was a_ masterpiece in the way of declining a manuscript, but if so it has not been generally followed by editors same no "declined with, thanks" of other periodicals. The "declined with thanks" type of refusal. accompanied by a request to send stamps next time to cover the cost of the return postage, has shown the Thackeray method to be_ inconsistent with true business efficiency and economy. All the note is ever likely to be purchased for $500 in the future.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.