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Disraeli 7 page ALS, Helping Editors Assemble Writers for a New Newspaper
Disraeli 7 page ALS, Helping Editors Assemble Writers for a New Newspaper
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Description:

Disraeli Benjamin

Disraeli 7 page ALS, He Helps Editor Assemble Writers for New Newspaper

 

“Mr Maddyn...appears to me to be a pen worth attention.”

 

BENJAMIN DISRAELI, Autograph Letter Initialed, to Samuel Lucas, March 13, 1853, Grosvenor Gate, England. 7 p., 4.5" x 7.25".  Expected folds; pin holes in upper left corner.

 

Complete Transcript

Private                                                             Grosvenor Gate / Mar. 13, 1853

My dear Sir,

            Mr Maddyn, the author of the “Age of Pitt & Fox,” published some little time back, by Newby, & anonymously, appears to me to be a pen worth attention. He has some knowledge of political history, & when he takes pains, a striking style. I do not know him personally, but he has communicated with me; & you might mention to him, that having consulted me on your project, I had recommended you to avail yourself of his powers.

            His direction is, or was last autumn / 32 or 52 University Street

            You may mention or write also to Mr Kenealy, that having consulted me &c, I had given his name as that of a person, whose abilities I thought highly of, & wished to serve.

            As I am uncertain of Mr Maddyn’s direction, & cannot recal his Xtian name, you had better merely ask him to call on you, & not intrust any confidential communication to the post under the cir[cumstan]ces.

            In this, & in all cases, you must be careful always previously to ascertain, that the individuals have not, in the interval, entered into relations with the opposite party.

                                                                        Yours f[aithfu]lly

                                                                        D.

 

Historical Background

Early in 1853, Disraeli worked to establish a weekly newspaper that would raise the level of Conservative journalism and propagate his own Tory Democratic ideas. He initially considered Daniel O. Maddyn, who had served on the Morning Chronicle, for editor, but settled on Samuel Lucas, who had for many years been a well-known writer for The Times. In March 1853, Lucas began collecting his staff under Disraeli’s inspiration. The first issue of The Press appeared on May 7, 1853. It was published every Saturday morning, and was both a newspaper and a review. It included a short report of Parliamentary proceedings, common news items, leading articles on home and foreign politics, and critical essays on literature and the arts.

 

Daniel O. Maddyn (1815-1859), the son of a Cork merchant, wrote several histories and novels. He published The Age of Pitt and Fox in 1846, and Chiefs of Parties, Past and Present, with Original Anecdotes, in 1859. On March 15, Maddyn generally agreed to contribute to the new publication but wanted a retainer for at least a year. He contributed at least three identified articles for The Press that appeared between May and July 1853.

 

Irish barrister and writer Edward Vaughn Kenealy (1819-1880) wrote several pieces for the first few numbers of The Press but then withdrew. Twenty years later, Kenealy gained notoreity as the attorney for “the Claimant” in the Tichborne case that captivated Victorian England. After a civil court rejected the Claimant’s claim of being the long-lost Roger Tichborne, heir to a baronetcy, and a criminal court convicted him of perjury and imprisoned him, Kenealy was disbarred for his conduct in the cases.

 

 

Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) was born in London into a Sephardic Jewish Italian mercantile family. His father had his four children baptized into the Church of England in 1817, which opened for them the possibility of a political career. Disraeli was brought up as an Anglican, “the blank page between the Old Testament and the New,” as he described himself. He first stood for election in 1832 as a Radical, but lost. In 1835, after running as a Tory and again losing, he began writing for the Tory Party. In 1837, he won a seat in the House of Commons, his campaign funded in part by his writing of novels. He married widow Mary Anne Lewis (1792-1872) in 1839, who was wealthy and a dozen years his senior. Disraeli hoped to forge a paternalistic alliance between Tories and Radicals, and while he developed a personal relationship with radical John Bright, he was unsuccessful in establishing an alliance. During the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, Disraeli led the protectionists who battled repeal. In the late 1840s, Disraeli purchased Hughenden Manor, in Buckinghamshire. Disraeli served as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons under the Earl of Derby as Prime Minister in 1852, from 1858 to 1859, and again from 1866 to 1868. He served as Prime Minister in 1868 and again from 1874 to 1880, succeeded each time by Liberal Party leader William Gladstone. Disraeli maintained a close relationship with Queen Victoria, and in 1876, she appointed him as Earl of Beaconsfield. He published his last completed novel shortly before he died at the age of 76.

 

Samuel Lucas (1811-1865) was born into a Quaker family. In 1839, he married Margaret Bright (1818-1890), a younger sister of reformer John Bright (1811-1889). From 1845 to 1850, Lucas lived in Manchester, where he had an interest in a cotton mill and supported public schools. He and his wife were abolitionists and reformers who fought for the industrial middle class by participating in the Anti-Corn Law League, founded in 1838 by Richard Cobden and John Bright. They represented what Benjamin Disraeli called the “Manchester School” of economics that advocated a free market with only minimal government regulation. Back in London, Lucas served for one year as the inaugural editor of The Press (1853-1858), a weekly newspaper begun by Disraeli. Six years later, Lucas became the editor of the Morning Star (1856-1869), an abolitionist newspaper begun by Cobden and Bright in 1856 that was the only national British newspaper to support the Union side in the American Civil War. In 1859, Lucas also became the editor of the newly established Once A Week literary magazine (1859-1880).

 

 

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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