Charles Lamb (1775-1834) - photo 1

Charles Lamb (1775-1834)

Lot 121
15.12.2023 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 100
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1108920
Lot 121 | Charles Lamb (1775-1834)
Estimate value
£ 6 000 – 9 000
Charles Lamb (1775-1834)
Autograph manuscript poem signed ('C. Lamb'), 'To a Friend on his Marriage', [1833], and accompanying one autograph letter signed [to Charles Wentworth Dilke, editor of The Athenaeum], n.d. [3 December 1833]
The poem 28 lines on one page, the letter also one page, 319 x 202mm. Black morocco backed slip-case. Provenance: Arthur Houghton Jr (1906-1990) – his sale, Christie's, 13 June 1979, lot 284.

A poem to his close friend Edward Moxon on his marriage to the Lambs' adopted daughter, Emma Isola. Lamb's affectionate poem enumerates the virtues of Emma's mind and character, and concludes:

If these, dear friend, a dowry can confer
Richer than land, you have them all in her;
And beauty, which some hold the chiefest boon,
Is in your bargain for a make-weight thrown.

The accompanying letter to C.W. Dilke, editor of The Athenaeum on the occasion of the poem's publication provides a number of emendations for the last six lines, including an alternative text for the last two, to be used 'if you feel, the least sense of vulgarity in the last line'. Lamb notes 'I send this thro' Moxon, who is not to know of it till printed'; the date is provided by a reference to the celebration of 'my Sister's birthday, who is 69' at which the Moxons ('2 of them') are present.

Edward Moxon (1801-1858) was a close friend of Charles Lamb: it was at Lamb's encouragement that in 1826 he had published a volume of verse, and when in 1830 Moxon began a publishing firm, his first book was Lamb's Album Verses: he was to go on to be one of the most significant publishers of his times, with his authors including Wordsworth, Robert Browning and Tennyson. The occasion of the poem is Moxon's marriage on 30 July 1833 with the Lambs' adopted daughter, Emma Isola Lamb (1809-1891). The poem was published in The Athenaeum on 7 December, incorporating the changes suggested in Lamb's letter here, other than the alternative for the last couplet, where Dilke evidently felt the charge of 'vulgarity' was misplaced.

Place of origin:England, United Kingdom
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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