BIB_ID
419948
Accession number
MA 1352.32
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1843 July 28.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (2 pages) ; 18.3 x 11.4 cm + envelope
Notes
Envelope with seal and Dickens' signature to "Miss Coutts."
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 " 1 Devonshire Terrace / Twenty Eighth July 1843."
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 " 1 Devonshire Terrace / Twenty Eighth July 1843."
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
Acknowledging with gratitude her "noble letter last night. Trust me that I will be a faithful steward of your bounty; and that there is no charge in the Wide World I would accept with so much pride and happiness as any such from you. I should be uneasy if I did not let you know that your letter being put in my hands at the Freemasons' last night where the committee were sitting, I told them what it contained, before I arrived at your injunction of secrecy. But the gentlemen who were there, were far too much impressed by what I had conveyed to them, ever to betray your confidence, I am sure. I can answer for that; adding that his son "Charley will be ready at the appointed time, and is counting the clock already."
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