Engraved circular letter and 'Balance Sheets for 1858 and 1859' of the Playground and General Recreation Society (including reference to a speech by Charles Dickens), forwarded by secretary Edward West to committee-member Sophia Elizabeth De Morgan.

3pp., 4to. In bifolium. Good, on aged and lightly-creased paper. 'Mrs. de Morgan' in manuscript at the foot of the first page, and 'No 5' at the head. The first page carries the circular letter from 'Edwd. West, Secy.', engraved in copperplate. In sending the balance sheets he notes that 'the income is scarcely equal to the expenditure which is necessary for obtaining for the Society public support'. The second paragraph reads: 'The Committee have made a provisional agreement for opening a Playground, but are unwilling that Members of their Body should engage in increased repsonsibility without a guarantee against personal liability - though they are strongly of opinion that if the Playground were in operation, Subscriptions would be increased, and the success of a Bazaar, now suggested would be secured.' The letter continues with news of a 'guaranetee fund', and the date of the next general meeting. Each of the balance sheets covers a page, with separate sections on receipts, expenditure and 'Liabilities at the end of the Year'. Both Mrs De Morgan and Charles Dickens were members of the Committee, and Dickens made a speech (later published) at the Society's 'First Festival Dinner' on 1 June 1858. In the present item the expenditures for 1858 include the following references to that dinner: 'Advertising Dinner £59 2s 5d | Printing for ditto £26 4s 0d | Stationery for ditto £0 15s 0d | Petty Expenses for ditto £5 3s 0d | 500 Copies of Newspaper with Report £2 1s 8d | Band of 1st. Life Guards at Dinner £10 10s 0d | London Tavern Bill for Do. £114 2s 6d | Report of Mr Dickens' Speech at do. £2 2s 0d | Victuals at ditto £13 13s 0d'. Separate sums are noted for advertising in the Philanthropist, the Englishwoman's Journal, the Standard, the Morning Chronicle, Everybody's Journal and the Constitutional Press. The balance sheet for 1859 contains entries relating to a 'Lecture by Revd. T. H. Bullock'. An advertisement for the Society, in the Philanthropist of 1 October 1858, names the Society's officers and committee members, and gives a useful statement of its aims.