BIB_ID
419864
Accession number
MA 1352.10
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1841 April 20.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 18.4 x 11.5 cm
Notes
The letter is part of a collection, MA 1352, which consists of letters from Charles Dickens to the Baroness, to her companion Hannah (Meredith) Brown, or the latter's husband, William Brown; with 70 letters written by others to Miss Coutts or to Dickens in his capacity as her unofficial almoner; and a few others. See the collection-level record for more information.
Written from "Devonshire Terrace."
Written from "Devonshire Terrace."
Provenance
The letters formed part of the Burdett-Coutts sale (Sotheby, 17 May 1922); they were purchased for Oliver W. Barrett in whose collection they remained until it was sold by his son (Parke-Bernet, 31 October 1951).
Summary
Thanking her for the offer of her box at the German Opera; giving her the names and addresses of a pork butcher and a woman who stole pork from him; saying he is having The Old Curiosity Shop bound in one volume which he will send to her and relating details of the binder; discussing the death of his raven; saying "The Raven's body was removed with every regard for my feelings, in a covered basket. It was taken off to be stuffed, but has not come home yet. He has left a considerable property (chiefly in cheese and halfpence) buried in different parts of the garden; and the new Raven - for I have a successor - administers to the effects. He had buried in one place, a brush (which I have made two efforts to write plainly) a very large hammer, and several raw potatoes, which were discovered yesterday; he was very uneasy just before death, and wandering in his mind, talked amazing nonsense. - My servant thinks the hammer troubled him. It is supposed to have been stolen from a carpenter of vindictive disposition. - He was heard to threaten, - and I am not without suspicions of Poison."
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