AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED BY TENNYSON

TENNYSON, Alfred. Autograph letter signed. No place, no date. One sheet measuring 4-1/2 by 6-1//2 inches; framed with portrait, entire piece measures 14-1/2 by 17 inches. $1600.

The letter, dated "Dec. 9" in the top right corner, reads in full: "My dear Mrs. Howitt, I like you all very much indeed and I shall always retain a delightful recollection of the day I spent with you. I have been balancing with myself whether I could come to you but I find that I cannot at present for more reasons than I care to trouble you with: some other time, maybe, you will repeat your hospitable invitation and I shall be only too happy to accept it. I do not know, for I have left several things to be done till the last moment, whether I shall leave town today or tomorrow but here or there believe me with my best remembrances to Mr. Howitt and your amiable daughter. Ever yours, A. Tennyson." The recipient of this letter is most likely writer Mary Howitt, best known today for her translations of Hans Christian Andersen into English and her children's poem "The Spider and the Fly." Howitt and her husband were good friends of Tennyson, exchanging visits and letters; after moving to London in the 1840s, Tennyson was a neighbor of theirs.

Split along center of letter, affecting a few words; signature bold and clear.