A Message From the Sea (hosted by Sara) - 4th Summer Read 2021

[Sara]

Totally interested! I missed the attribution to the American earlier. Maybe, since Dickens included such a central American character in this story, he felt he needed a tiny bit of American contribution. lol. Nailing down the provenance to stories from these periodicals is a difficult task and I so appreciate the scholarly approach you take to all your research.

I'll be watching for the links!

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

I have tried again, Sara, but don't want to clutter up this thread with irrelevant technical problems, so have gone to Mrs. Dickens Parlour for a sit down and cucumber sandwiches (and to explain).

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

"A Message from the Sea: A Drama in Three Acts" was written by Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins in order to establish the Dramatic Copyright of their December 1860 Christmas story. A pirated production was staged at the "Britannia Theatre" on 7th January 1861.

Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins visited Counsel's chambers the same day and threatened legal action against the manager, Mr. Lane. Charles Dickens put the authors' case in a letter to "The Times" newspaper.

"A Message from the Sea: A Drama in Three Acts" was published by G. Halsworth at the office of "All the Year Round", 1861. A version in four acts by John Brougham, an Irish playwright (whose adaptations of several of Charles Dickens's novels are on GR), was issued in "Dicks' Standard Plays, No 459".

[Sue]

No wonder Dickens worked so hard for copyright law.

[Sara]

Doesn't this kind of blatant theft make you crazy? I can imagine how Dickens and Collins must have felt.

Thank you so much, Jean, for posting this!

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Yes, I agree. We tend to just accept the protection in law, but Charles Dickens had to really round up his fellow writers to fight for it!