BIB_ID
420006
Accession number
MA 1352.346
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
Boulogne, France, 1853 October 8.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (3 pages) ; 18 x 11.2 cm + envelope
Notes
Signed with initials.
Written from 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 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
Mentioning seeds and cider; saying that he was at the Home on Tuesday and "[a]ll was going on quietly;" proposing that he and his traveling companions, Wilkie Collins and Augustus Egg, dine with her on Tuesday; reporting that his son Charley has written from Germany: "He seems to be doing thoroughly well with the German language. In proof of which, he sends me all manner of compositions, translations, journals, and other performances, of which I can't read a word!"; mentioning that he has a game to show her, one that they have been playing in the evenings; writing in a humorous manner about how very much "the Baby" (i.e. his son Edward Dickens) is admired in Boulogne.
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