ALS, one page, 5 x 8, Office of All the Year Round letterhead, June 18, 1863. Handwritten letter to Emma Pender, the second wife of Sir John Pender, a Scottish textile merchant, politician, and submarine communications cable pioneer, in full: “ I regret exceedingly that I cannot have the pleasure of dining with yourself and Mr. Pender on Sunday. But I have a family party at Gad’s Hill, and I shall have Mr. Fechter there too. I am singularly unfortunate when you invite me. Pray let me thank you on behalf of my son, who I am sure will be much gratified by your kind remembrance.” In fine condition. Charles Albert Fechter (1824-1879) was an actor and playwright who Dickens first saw perform in 1856 and thought him one of the finest actors of his generation. The pair were close friends in the 1860s.