Bidspirit auction | DICKENS CHARLES: (1812-1870) An unusual

DICKENS CHARLES: (1812-1870) An unusual presentation marking the 33rd anniversary of Dickens´ s death - DICKENS CHARLES: (1812-1870) English novelist. A fine D.S., Charles Dickens , with paraph, being a signed cheque, London, 22nd April 1861. The partially printed cheque, completed entirely in Dickens´s hand, is drawn on Messrs. Coutts & Company of the Strand and made payable to Mr. Stone for the sum of eight pounds and fifteen shillings. The novelist´s signature is not affected by the bank ink cancellation. Neatly laid down to the centre of a commemorative pale pink silk ribbon featuring the ornate gold thread embroidered initials R. S. to the left and the place and date, London, 9th June 1903, to the right, and with both edges finished with frayed white fringe tassels. An attractive and unusual presentation, VG The present cheque may have been made payable to the English painter Marcus Stone (1840-1921). Dickens took a paternal interest in Stone and in 1861 (the same year as the present document) he arranged for Stone to illustrate the Cheap Edition of Little Dorrit , and soon afterward commissioned him for the 1862 Library Edition of Great Expectations . Their professional relationship continued into Our Mutual Friend (1864–65). The date of 9th June 1903 embroidered on the ribbon is not without significance and marked the 33rd anniversary of Charles Dickens's death. The Dickens Fellowship had just been founded in London a few months prior, in October 1902. By June 1903, the society was rapidly expanding, organising global branches, and hosting its very first wave of formal commemorative events.