Autograph letter signed by aesthete and artist Frank Miles nd but c1880s

MILES, Frank (1852-1891). Autograph letter signed, inviting the recipient to meet the celebrated thought-reader Washington Irving Bishop. nd but c1880s
 
Autograph letter signed Frank Miles, undated but before 1889, addressed to "My dear Douglas". Single sheet folded to form four sides, written on the first and third sides, 90 x 115 mm. Old folds, mounting remnants to the final blank side from a previous album, otherwise a very good example.
 
A scarce autograph letter from the fashionable portrait painter Frank Miles, one of the central figures of London's Aesthetic movement and among Oscar Wilde's closest friends. Writing from his house in Tite Street, Chelsea, opposite the Victoria Hospital for Children, Miles arranges a social meeting and proposes bringing the celebrated American thought-reader Washington Irving Bishop:
 
"I shall be delighted to come Thursday evening... Will you look in here on Thursday afternoon at 6... would you like me to bring Bishop the thought-reader with me Thursday evening - he certainly might have some fun..."
 
Washington Irving Bishop was among the best-known entertainers of the late Victorian period as a stage mentalist, achieving international fame through his demonstrations of apparent thought-reading and mind-reading. 
 
Frank Miles (1852-1891) enjoyed extraordinary success as a society portraitist before mental illness brought his career to a premature end. His house in Tite Street became a gathering place for artists, writers and society figures, with Oscar Wilde a frequent visitor and, for a time, a house guest. Autograph letters by Miles are uncommon.