Yesterdays with Authors

In Short

This captivating memoir is a firsthand account of the golden age of English and American literature, written by the legendary Boston publisher who knew its greatest figures intimately. Combining personal recollections with previously unpublished correspondence, the author takes readers behind the scenes with Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Makepeace Thackeray, Mary Russell Mitford, William Wordsworth, and Bryan Waller Procter ("Barry Cornwall"). The narrative captures these celebrated authors not as remote icons, but as vulnerable, hard-working, and deeply human individuals facing self-doubt, illness, financial anxieties, and creative struggles. It has endured as an essential literary record because it offers an authentic, warm, and singularly privileged glimpse into the private lives and working habits of nineteenth-century literary giants.

The Story

The chronicle opens with an affectionate look at William Makepeace Thackeray during his American lecture tours. Away from the formal literary circles of London, Thackeray appears in full light: a warm, witty, and surprisingly self-effacing traveler sending brief, humorous notes from his hotel rooms. He reports on his "immense hawdience" and marvels at his own growing voice, joking about saving money and expressing a deep, genuine affection for Boston.

The narrative then shifts across the Atlantic to Nathaniel Hawthorne, unveiling a decades-long partnership that rescued a masterpiece. When Hawthorne was despondent and unemployed in Salem, he originally conceived The Scarlet Letter as merely one short piece in a collection of "Old-Time Legends." The publisher recognized the raw power of the opening chapters and persuaded a hesitant, self-doubting Hawthorne to expand it into a standalone novel. Through their ongoing correspondence, Hawthorne lays bare his creative anxieties, worrying that the story is too dark and that "it will weary very many people and disgust some." The narrative follows Hawthorne through his later years—his anxieties over The Marble Faun (which English publishers insisted on titling Transformation), his editorial fretting over Our Old Home, his financial negotiations, and his quiet desire for a sudden death—culminating in a moving description of his funeral in Concord, where Longfellow, Emerson, and former President Franklin Pierce gathered under the pines to lay the uncompleted romance upon his coffin.

A substantial portion of the volume is devoted to Charles Dickens, detailing a warm friendship that spanned both sides of the Atlantic. The narrative follows Dickens from his early American visits through his grueling reading tours and relaxing days at his Kentish retreat, Gad's Hill. Through lively correspondence, Dickens exposes his relentless work ethic, his amusement over his own comic characters like Mr. Pickwick and Mr. Pecksniff, and his uncanny ability to weave stories out of the thinnest air. Yet alongside his fame, the narrative records his deep sensitivity to poverty and distress, capturing him exploring the bleakest courts of Edinburgh or taking late-night walks through Cobham woods.

The journey continues into the quiet countryside with older luminaries. A nostalgic trip through Westmoreland evokes the enduring magic of William Wordsworth's poetry, remembered through childhood schoolbooks. In Berkshire, the author visits Mary Russell Mitford, whose lengthy, gossip-filled letters detail her severe physical suffering, her love of nature, her sharp literary judgments on contemporaries like Bulwer-Lytton and Shakespeare, and her heroic effort to finish her novel Atherton while battling crippling illness. Finally, the narrative explores the London home of Bryan Waller Procter ("Barry Cornwall"), detailing his rich memories of Charles Lamb, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and the tragic villain "Janus Weathercock." Throughout every chapter, the book traces the profound thread of human affection that united these creators to their devoted publisher.

How It Unfolds

A satirist on tour Thackeray travels through American cities delivering lectures, sending quick, playful notes to his American publisher about his ticket sales, his growing vocal confidence, and his fondness for Boston.

Unlocking a masterpiece The publisher visits a despondent Hawthorne in Salem and convinces him to expand a short, gloomy tale into a standalone book, overruling the author's fears that The Scarlet Letter would be too dark for the public.

A genius at Gad's Hill Dickens exchanges lively, affectionate letters detailing his grueling public readings, his walking matches outside Boston, and his quiet walks through Cobham Park where his iconic characters seem to walk beside him.

Echoes in the Lake District A rainy journey through Westmoreland and Grasmere evokes childhood memories of reading Wordsworth's poems, culminating in a poignant visit to the poet's church pew and grave.

Valiant spirits in the cottage Mary Russell Mitford writes long, cheerful letters from her sickbed, offering razor-sharp literary commentary on her contemporaries while fighting severe neuralgia to finish her final book.

Memories of the old bards In his quiet London library, the aging poet Bryan Waller Procter shares rare autographs, personal memories of Charles Lamb and Coleridge, and anecdotes of London's past literary world.

The People

• James Thomas Fields — The narrator and publisher whose warmth, tact, and business acumen earn the absolute trust of the greatest authors of the age. He acts as an editor, confidant, and tireless advocate, constantly encouraging doubtful writers and negotiating fair international terms for their work.
• Nathaniel Hawthorne — A genius plagued by deep self-doubt, timidity, and anxiety regarding his public reception. He leans heavily on his publisher's judgment, constantly worrying that his dark romances will alienate readers, yet remains fiercely loyal to his friends and true to his artistic vision until his quiet death.
• Charles Dickens — An energetic, generous, and hyper-observant creator who views his fictional characters as living companions. He drives himself relentlessly through writing and exhausting public reading tours, combining an intense empathy for the poor with a exuberant sense of humor.
• Mary Russell Mitford — A resilient, highly educated author who maintains an irrepressible cheerfulness and intense intellectual curiosity despite agonizing physical ailments, old age, and severe financial limitations.
• Bryan Waller Procter ("Barry Cornwall") — An old-world poet and gentleman of profound kindness and verbal grace, who serves as a living bridge to the earlier generation of Lamb, Hazlitt, and Coleridge.

In Its Own Voice

"Keeping so close to its point as the tale does, and no otherwise than by turning different sides of the same to the reader's eye, it will weary very many people and disgust some."

In a letter to his publisher, Nathaniel Hawthorne candidly voices his deep anxieties regarding the unyielding darkness of The Scarlet Letter prior to its publication.

"Suppose I choose to call this a character, fancy it a man, endue it with certain qualities; and soon the fine filmy webs of thought, almost impalpable, coming from every direction, we know not whence, spin and weave about it, until it assumes form and beauty, and becomes instinct with life."

During a country walk, Charles Dickens picks up a wineglass to illustrate the unfathomable mystery of how fictional characters gradually materialize in a writer's imagination.

"Almost every line has been written three times over, and it is certainly the most cheerful and sunshiny story that was ever composed in such a state of helplessness, feebleness, and suffering..."

Writing from her sickbed, Mary Russell Mitford describes the heroic physical effort required to complete her novel Atherton while battling debilitating illness.

What It's Really About

Beneath its charming anecdotes and literary gossip, the book is a meditation on the mechanics of creative genius and the quiet labor behind legendary works of art. It explores the profound fragility of the artistic mind—showing how masterpiece after masterpiece was produced amidst self-doubt, financial hardship, physical agony, and fear of public rejection.

The narrative reveals that great literature does not emerge in a vacuum; it requires a supportive ecosystem of friendship, editorial encouragement, and mutual trust. By pairing private letters with personal recollections, the text argues that an author's true character is best reflected not in public speeches or finished books, but in unstudied moments of generosity, humor, and private vulnerability. Ultimately, the work celebrates the enduring bond between writer and reader, demonstrating how art bridges geographical divides and outlasts the mortal lives of its creators.

Why Read It Today

This volume remains a delightful treat for literature lovers, biographical history buffs, and anyone curious about the human beings behind classic English and American books. Reading it feels like sitting in a cozy nineteenth-century library alongside a host who happened to be on intimate terms with the greatest minds of his century.

The prose is refined, lucid, and filled with quiet warmth. Rather than offering dry biographical summaries, it presents these legendary figures in all their everyday reality: Dickens staging a humorous walking-match on the Boston Mill Dam, Hawthorne nervously fussing over the wording of a single proof-sheet line, or Miss Mitford joking about American cookery recipes while nursing a sick pony.

Modern readers should be prepared for the book's episodic structure and its heavy reliance on nineteenth-century epistolary exchanges, which naturally reflect the formal phrasing and period attitudes of the Victorian era. Yet these original letters are precisely what give the book its timeless authenticity. To read this memoir is to lose the distance of centuries and see Dickens, Hawthorne, and Thackeray not as distant statues in a museum, but as living, breathing friends.