Description

[004645] Cooper, Thomas. Autograph Letter Signed. No Place: No Publisher, 1856. First Edition. 12mo. Unbound. Letter. Signed by Author. Good+. Single sided autograph letter signed with conjugate blank, approximately 115mm x 185mm in size

Lightly creased, lower blank very lightly soiled, with three small newspaper articles about Cooper tipped on, otherwise quite bright and clean

The letter, dated October 28th, 1856, is to J.[osiah] J. Merriman (English lawyer, and General Council Member of the IWMA from 1864-7), Cooper encloses his November programme (no longer present), and goes on to note that “the coarseness and downright blackguardation of my opponents really surprise me. I had not thought them capable of such dirty talk”, he goes on to ask which gender Merriman’s new child is, and notes that “poor Peplow is dead and has left a widow and 2 children. God help them!”

The letter probably relates to Cooper rediscovering his belief. Though he had been a prominent Chartist (and jailed as such), and a freethinker, he never really lost his earlier strong religious convictions, and in 1856 he “announced his rediscovery of Christianity”, which led to him being involved in “angry debates”. (See Stephen Roberts in Bellamy and Saville (Eds), DLB, Vol. IX, pages 51-57)