BIB_ID
419991
Accession number
MA 1352.344
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
Boulogne, France, 1853 September 18.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 17.9 x 11.2 cm + envelope
Notes
Signed with initials.
Written from "Villa des Moulineaux, Boulogne."
Envelope with postmarks: "Miss Burdett Coutts / Hôtel Bristol / Paris."
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 "Villa des Moulineaux, Boulogne."
Envelope with postmarks: "Miss Burdett Coutts / Hôtel Bristol / Paris."
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.
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
Saying that Wilkie Collins appreciates her recollection of him and her invitation; mentioning that he (Dickens) thinks he remembers seeing Collins's father, the painter William Collins, at her parties; saying that he and his traveling companions, Collins and Augustus Leopold Egg, do not plan to stay in Paris; explaining "Firstly, because I have not the smallest interest in your amiable friend [i.e. the Emperor Napoleon III], or in the flowers that grow on the graves of the murdered ; and secondly because we have made the staunchest and most inviolable of compacts to dine with [Chauncy Hare] Townshend on a certain day;" adding that he also wants to show Egg some Swiss interiors and backgrounds, and would like to do some research on his own account as well; making arrangements for sending her a box and other items; describing the return voyage to France; asking if there are any copies of Household Words in Paris and, if not, promising to send her two papers; sending regards to the Browns; adding in a postscript: "This place was decorated, three weeks ago, for the Emperor. All the triumphal arches (made of green boughs) have faded, and look exactly as if they were made of tea leaves."
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