Edward Lear: Two autograph letters signed (“Edward Lear”), to Spencer Vincent (“Dear Vincent”) and his dog (“Dear Fan”), the letter to the human containing a full-page picture of food for the dog to contemplate, with each morsel captioned (“…A. a noblong Biscuit/ B. a phlatt Biscuit/ C. a Lamtchopp./ D. a Chikkiboan./ E. a Nottper Taito./ F. a Dissho Orta…”); that to the dog, hoping that she has recovered from her rheumatism “arising from being with your Master at the Isles of Skye & Mull & Misty & such like wet places” and asking her to tell her master that he has now returned to England (“…I cannot offer you a biscuit, because I have not got any, but there is a pleasant prospic from my window up a mews, and a cab stand close by, from which you might make an excursion in a Hansom…”) and that he is publishing his book on Corsica (“…Say to your Master that I have been drawing on wood… & have done 30 vignettes & 34 plates with my own hand & that they are all for illustration of my book on Corsica, which I am about to publish by subscription at One pound. Do not, my dear Fay, confuse this pound with a pound of meat…”), after a series of doggie-cum-papal jokes, Lear concludes: “Adieu! my beloved little doggie! May you always have millions of bones to pick, & may you never grow older, & may you pass your later days happily in sneezing at the sun” and subscribes himself “Your sincere 2 legged friend”, 7 pages, some dust-staining (especially to blank page of first letter and last of the second), some pencil doodles to blank page, 8vo, Stratford Place and Duchess Street, London, 28 July 1868 and 29 July [1869].
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