Autograph letter signed : Paris, to Wilkie Collins, 1856 Jan. 19.

Congratulating Collins on the progress of his book [After Dark] and referencing his own work on Little Dorrit. Proposing to meet at the office of Household Words when he next comes to London and to return to Paris together, and discussing rooms for Collins to let in Paris. Mentioning that he met "Madame Georges Sand the other day," and that "the human mind cannot conceive any one more astonishingly opposed to all [Dickens'] preconceptions," noting that if he had seen her in a state of repose and asked what he thought her to be, he should have said "The Queen's Monthly Nurse," and that she is very quiet and agreeable. Mentioning his hatred of "the way in which mysterious Frenchmen call and want to embrace [Dickens]" and the theater. Describing his small apartment, mentioning that he "live[s] in terror of asking Adelaide Kemble" to dine "lest she should not be able to get in at the dining room door." Discussing briefly ideas for Household Words.