George Eliot [Mary Ann Evans; Mrs Lewes] Autograph Letter Signed MALewes to [George] Meredith, fellow novelist and poet., thanking Meredith for a photograph (shadow) of his son

Two pages, 12mo, bifolium, fold marks, good condition, second leaf laid down on sl. larger part of an album leaf. See Image of second page.Text: Dear Mr. Meredith | Your boy is grand. Thanks for sending me his shadow. We are in retreat - have fled from the world for some months, while our house is being turned inside out. I imagine that you too enjoy a family solitude, & are sometimes well pleased to be secure against visitors. | That fine boy presupposes, I fancy, a fine mother. I hope that she retains health & strength to delight in her noble offshoot. | Always | Yours sincerely | MALewes. Note: A. The Leweses took up residence in Shotter Mill on 1 May 1871. As Lewes wrote: There I shall dig, and dig, and dig at the foundations of philosophy, and she will create. Middlemarch was being issued in parts at this time. And Lewes was to publish The Problems of Life and Mind(five volumes); B. Item detached from Meredith family album containing letters from distinguished contemporaries such as Henry James, Thomas Hardy, Clemenceau, etc etc. which are separately catalogued.