AUTOGRAPH LETTER TO LEEDS MERCURY EDITOR THOMAS WEMYSS REID SIGNED BY SCOTTISH JOURNALIST JAMES MACDONELL.

[London]: November 16, 1874., 1874.. Very good. - Letter penned in black ink & filling both sides of a sheet of black-bordered, 7 inch high by 4-3/8 inch wide cream paper. Signed "James Macdonell". Folded twice for mailing. Very good. <p>Macdonell writes to Thomas Wemyss Reid, editor of the Leeds Mercury. He apologizes at length for not having answered a note from Reid which arrived while Macdonell was away in the Highlands. He goes on to describe his current busy life as a journalist, mentioning "I am also gathering the material for a big book" [probably his book on France]. "But I have almost abandoned the hope of being able to write anything of that kind until I shall have freed myself from the shackles of my journalism."<p>Scottish journalist James Macdonell [1841-1879] began by writing for the Aberdeen Free Press in his native city and at the age of 22 became editor of the Northern Daily Express. He moved to London in 1865 to take up a staff position at the Daily Telegraph, which he held until 1875, serving as special correspondent in France in 1870 and 1871. He became a leader writer on the Times of London in 1873. His posthumous "France since the First Empire" was incomplete at his death but yielded insights into the French politics of his time.