Autograph Letter Signed ('W. Harrison Ainsworth') from the English historical novelist William Harrison Ainsworth to the writer Stephen Watson Fullom, regarding a meeting at the London publishers Hurst & Blackett, and Fullom's 'future career'.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Ainsworth begins: 'My dear Mr. Fullom, I am happy to tell you that you are under a great mistake. Your manner, on the occasion you refer to, produced the most favourable impression upon me.' Fullom 'exhibited great delicacy and modesty', and Ainsworth 'stated as much to Mr. Hurst'. The omission was in fact on Ainsworth's own part, in neglecting to thank Fullom for his 'flattering proposal to dedicate your romance to me'. Ainsworth accepts 'this testimony of [Fullom's] regard with much pleasure', and assures him that he will watch his 'future career' with 'much interest'. He concludes by assuring Fullom that he will be happy to be of any assistance to him. Fullom's earliest book appears to be the novel 'The King and the Countess', published by Henry Colburn in 1849 (dedicatee unknown). COPAC only carries one work of his published by Hurst & Blackett: the fourth edition of his 'The marvels of science, and their testimony to Holy Writ', 1853.