Title: Autograph Letter Signed by Georgian Author, Composer, Playboy and Practical Joker Theodore Hook.
Description: Athenaeum, London: circa [1832]. [1832]. - 38 words penned in black ink on a 6 inch high by 4-3/9 inch wide sheet of cream paper. The letter is matted within a larger sheet with a hand-drawn black frame around it. Signed "Theodore E. Hook". Folded twice for mailing with an additional crease where the matte has been folded. Very good.
Hook writes: "Have the kindness to give the bearer a copy of Baird's Life for me - it is for presentation to the Athenaeum." The book is Hook's "Life of General, The Right Honourable Sir David Baird, Bart." [1832]. The Athenaeum is the famous private members' club in London, founded in 1824.
Theodore Hook [1788-1841] was an English man of letters, composer and playboy, best known for his practical jokes. He was briefly a civil servant when his gift for improvising songs so charmed the Prince Regent that he was appointed to the salaried post of accountant-general and treasurer of Mauritius. He was the life and soul of the island until a discrepancy in the accounts led to his arrest and speedy return to England. Hook is remembered as one of the most brilliant figures of the Georgian age. He inspired the characters of Lucian Gay in Disraeli's novel "Coningsby" and Mr. Wagg in Thackeray's "Vanity Fair." Coleridge pronounced him "as true a genius as Dante". Very good .
Keywords: LITERATURE; BRITISH MAN OF LETTERS; GEORGIAN PLAYBOY; NINETEENTH CENTURY; 19TH CENTURY; AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED BY GEORGIAN AUTHOR, COMPOSER, PLAYBOY AND PRACTICAL JOKER THEODORE HOOK; ALS; A.L.S.; SIGNATURE; LIFE OF GENERAL, THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR DAVI
- Book number: 35718
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