"Ladies Ticket" illustrated engraved ticket invitation. [New York], [1842]. Signed in type by Secretaries C.D. Colden and D. C. Pell and Chairman Robert H. Morris . Period ink inscription to verso reads: "Ba_ke? Ball given to Dickens / Feb. 14, 1842 / With old papers sent (Mr. Davidson from Davidsons ?". "4 x 5" stamped in blue to verso. Visible 4 1/2 x 3 1/8 in. in. Handsomely matted and framed to 8 1/4 x 6 7/8 in.

A charming invitation for the "Boz Ball" thrown in honor of celebrated author Charles Dickens during his first trip to the United States in 1842. The invitation, specified as a "Ladies Ticket," features an engraved portrait of the young author and the text: "The pleasure of your company is requested to a Ball to be given in honor of Mr. Charles Dickens at the Park Theatre." Dickens's first American tour was highly anticipated as he had already achieved immense fame thanks to the popularity of The Pickwick Papers (1836), Oliver Twist (1837), and The Old Curiosity Shop (1840), novels which even entertained Queen Victoria. He spent over a month in New York, giving lectures, often on international copyright laws, a subject important to the young Dickens as his works were rampantly pirated in the United States.

This ball was organized by a committee of citizens of New York led by Mayor Robert Hunter Morris (1808-1855) when they learned of Dickens's arrival. The celebration was conceived with the stated "desire of tendering to Mr. Dickens those hospitalities and courtesies due to a stranger of such eminent genius and private worth..."

Arrangements for the ball including themed decorations, including a: "Ball Room [representing] various compartments of 'Curiosity Shop,' in which the productions of 'Boz' may be illustrated...a number of Tableaux Vivants be formed by competent Artists, in the intervals of the dance, drawn from the novels, sketches, poems and dramas of Mr. Dickens." (Welcome to Charles Dickens. The Boz Ball. To Be Given Under the Direction of a Committee of Citizens of New York, at the Park Theatre. New York: J.C. House, 1842).

The fête was covered extensively by New York newspapers to great fanfare. Dickens recorded his impressions of his visit and the ball in his travelogue "American Notes for General Circulation."

[Ephemera, Manuscripts, Engravings, Letters, Documents, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol]