Description:

Stoker Bram

Bram Stoker, Dracula Author, Dinner with Sir Henry Irving

 

BRAM STOKER, Autograph Letter Signed, to Arthur Warren, October 15, 1890. On embossed “Lyceum Theatre” stationery. 1 p., 5.75" x 9".  Expected folds; small tear on one fold affecting one word; very good.

 

This brief letter by Bram Stoker invites Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Warren to dine with his employer, actor-manager Sir Henry Irving (1838-1905). On Sunday, October 19, Irving had visited with poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) at Tennyson’s residence. From September 1890 to February 1891, Irving gave 99 performances in the lead role in Ravenswood, a play by Herman Merivale, based on Sir Walter Scott’s 1819 novel The Bride of Lammermoor, with music composed by Dr. A. C. Mackenzie.

 

Warren noted in his London Days: A Book of Reminiscences, “Irving’s...handwriting was almost the worst in the world.... I have letters from him which I cannot read to-day. I have forgotten what they were about and appear to have kept no key to their mystery. But I connect with them pleasant recollections, for they never concerned anything that Irving wanted for himself, but always something that he wanted to do for somebody else,—an invitation to the play for some distinguished visitor from my own country, a supper in the Beefsteak Rooms, a Sunday up the river, or something of the kind.... Stoker’s handwriting was almost as cryptic as Irving’s, but not quite. It could be read by due perseverance.”

 

Complete Transcript:

 

15.10.90

My dear Mr Warren

Mr Irving asks me to write for him to ask if you & Mrs Warren will come to the Play on Wed. 29th inst. and take supper with him in the Beefsteak room?

Yours [?]

Bram Stoker

 

Bram Stoker (1847-1912) was born in Ireland and was seriously ill as a child. He graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1870 with a bachelor’s degree and in 1875 with a master’s degree. He became interested in theater while in college and became the theater critic for the Dublin Evening Mail newspaper. After a favorable review of Henry Irving’s Hamlet at the Theatre Royal in Dublin in 1876, the two became friends. In 1878, Stoker married Florence Balcombe, and they moved to London, where he became the business manager of Irving’s Lyceum Theatre. He held the position for twenty-seven years and idolized Irving. Stoker traveled the world on Irving’s tours, including several trips to the United States. Between 1875 and 1911, Stoker wrote thirteen novels, the most famous of which was Dracula, published in 1897, and numerous short stories. He also published Personal Reminiscences of Henry Irving in 1906, after Irving’s death, which proved successful.

 

Arthur Warren (1860-1924) was born in Boston and worked as a drama critic in Boston from 1883 to 1888, then as the London correspondent of the Boston Herald from 1888 to 1897. Returning to the United States, he was an editorial writer and editor for the Boston Herald from 1897 to 1909. He was also the author of several books and magazine articles, including the autobiographical London Days (1920), which included a chapter on Henry Irving.

 

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

 

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