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Condition: Good
Description: pp. xiii, 175 + Frontis by C. Stanfield. Text foxed. 185 mm. Original quarter leather with marbled boards binding. Spine perished. Boards worn. In January 1842, Charles Dickens set sail for a lecture tour in America, accompanied by his wife Catherine and her maid. In America he received a reception reminiscent of those that met mop-headed rock stars of the 1960's. Americans, expecting him to be grateful for their warm reception, were staggered when this young British goodwill ambassador, at a dinner held in his honor in Boston, dared to criticize them as copyright pirates. Though crowds began to get a bit angry, he did not back down. A week later, in Hartford, he argued that a native American literature would flourish only when American publishers were compelled by law to pay all writers their due, rather than being able to publish the works of any foreign author for free. He argued that it was a bad custom that only served to discourage literary production by American citizens. Before Dickens' visit the American people were generally uninterested in the question of the United States's joining the International Copyright Union. Book, newspaper, and magazine publishers, though, were utterly opposed, and successfully lobbied against any such move in Congress. Undaunted, Dickens circulated a pro-copyright letter which he and a number of other British writers had signed, firm in the belief of the righteousness of their cause. Dickens showed great courage but little tact in assailing American public opinion on this vexing matter while the United States was paying him honors worthy of a national liberator. That he had not mentioned this issue in advance meant that his adoring audiences, taken by surprise, felt chagrined by the criticisms of this obviously mercenary young upstart who had come to their shores to take their money at the theater door and again in the bookshop. The work itself concentrated on his (not always positive) impressions of American life. Of particularly interest are those aspects of social welfare which he took a reformer's interest in, such as the prison system, or care for people with disabilities like blindness. He also was lavish in his stinging condemnation of slavery. TRAVEL BX 5 0.0
Seller: FAMILY ALBUM, Kinzers, PA, U.S.A.