BIB_ID
419962
Accession number
MA 1352.34
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
Broadstairs, England, 1843 August 15.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (2 pages) ; 18.3 x 11.3 cm + envelope
Notes
Envelope with seal, postmarks and Dickens' signature to "Miss Burdett Coutts / Stratton Street / London."
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 "Broadstairs / Fifteenth August 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 "Broadstairs / Fifteenth August 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
Reporting on the "weekly expenses of the Elton Family;" assuring her that he has "...taken the utmost care that not a farthing of the money shall be appropriated to any but the main and single purpose of their support; and that no man, woman, or child shall interfere with its expenditure in any way. I will keep such a watch upon them as Argus could not have surpassed, though all his eyes had been melted down into one; and will take care that every shilling you entrust me with in their behalf, shall be satisfactorily accounted for. You will be glad, I am sure, to hear that the Subscriptions and benefits together, will amount to a couple of Thousand Pounds;" adding that he will see the children the following Friday and will call on her the next morning.
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