[‘I have got hold of a rascally bad pen’: Thomas Hughes, author of the Victorian children’s classic ‘Tom Brown’s Schooldays’.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Miss Stead’, responding to a request for an autograph.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and folded twice for postage. One corner very slightly cropped. Signed ‘Tho. Hughes’. In response to a request for an autograph he writes: ‘My dear Madam / I have only just returned to town where I find your note, with the request contained in which I have much pleasure in complying & sending you my signature below, though it is not a good specimen as I have got hold of a rascally bad pen.’ See Image.