James T. Fields, 1879 Autograph Letter Signed de Fields, James T - 1879

1879 Autograph letter signed by the noted American publisher to the editor of Youth's Companion magazine. Dated Oct. 6, 1879 on personal stationery from Gambrel Cottage, his summer home at Manchester by the Sea, Mass. Fields writes that $100 is due for his articles on Leigh Hunt and Miss [Adelaide] Procter. He notes that the magazine had already paid for articles on Mrs. [Elizabeth Barrett] Browning and Miss [Jessica] Mitford. On the reverse side, Fields offers to send portraits of the authors. About 5 x 7.5 inches. VG with mailing folds, small pinhole in the center. Old cello tape at the top. (No tear in that spot, so possibly from once being attached in an autograph album.) James T[homas] Fields (1817-1881) was a central figure in the New England literary scene of the 19th century. He published many of the leading authors of his day under imprints that included Ticknor and Fields and later Fields, Osgood & Co. He succeeded James Russell Lowell as editor of Atlantic Monthly magazine from 1861-1871. His books included the collections Underbrushes (1877) and Yesterdays with Authors (1871), his recollections of friendships with Wordsworth, Thackeray, Dickens, Hawthorne, et al.