ALS, 2 pp., 8vo, Liverpool, 19 September 1850, to an unidentified publisher or editor. Integral address panel verso.
Returning corrected proofs of a speech, Bright raises an editorial suggestion: "would it not be better to break the speech into parts or sections — it seems all like one huge unbroken paragraph — there are places where I think it might be done with advantage", though he acknowledges he cannot easily determine where to make the breaks without seeing the whole at once. He then gives instructions for forwarding the remaining proofs, explaining that he is travelling north: "I am intending to go on to Bowness tomorrow — & if you have the rest ready, you may address it to me at Bowness or Ambleside — perhaps the latter will be most likely to find me if sent after Friday." He closes by requesting "a copy of the paper also to Ambleside Post Office on Saturday."
Written at a pivotal moment in Bright's career, shortly after his celebrated campaigns for free trade and Parliamentary reform, the letter offers an appealing glimpse into his hands-on engagement with the publication of his speeches.
Signed "John Bright", with a contemporary identification in another hand to the upper left corner of the first leaf. Light age-toning and fold lines, else very good.
John Bright (16 November 1811 – 27 March 1889) was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, one of the greatest orators of his generation and a promoter of free trade policies.
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