This is a literary all points bulletin.
The Hampstead & Highgate Express reports on one man's search for a lost manuscript, an unpublished work about artist Robert Seymour, who is best known for illustrating several serial installments of Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers. The 350-page document by Rowland Morewood was last mentioned in a 1927 magazine article. It was then known to be housed in a deedbox.
Stephen Jarvis, in the process of writing a biography of Seymour, says of the missing work "I have little doubt that overall this is the most important archive of material relating to Seymour in the world. I have been trying to track it down for about two years now. The deedbox really is the Holy Grail for my research."
This seems a terrific longshot, but I suppose it's possible that this document has survived out there somewhere. If you know of it, I suspect Mr. Jarvis would be eternally grateful if you'd contact him. His email address is at the end of the article.
[h/t: Shelf:Life]
[Update: See Mr. Jarvis' comment below, which is important.]
