BIB_ID
420142
Accession number
MA 1352.361
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1855 February 6.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 18 x 11.2 cm + envelope
Notes
This letter is misdated; Dickens gives the year of writing as "1854," though based on the contents it was clearly written in 1855. See the published correspondence, cited below, for additional information.
Signed with initials.
Written from "Tavistock House."
Envelope with stamp and postmarks: "Miss Burdett Coutts / Holly Lodge / Highgate."
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.
Signed with initials.
Written from "Tavistock House."
Envelope with stamp and postmarks: "Miss Burdett Coutts / Holly Lodge / Highgate."
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 he has instructed work to begin on the drying apparatus; telling her at length about a conversation he had with Joshua Bates regarding where Charley would get the most useful work experience; saying that Bates suggested Charley work at a broker's and then a counting house, instead of at Baring Brothers; describing his feelings on the subject and what he has said to Charley about it; mentioning that he is about to leave for France, "having motes of new stories floating before my eyes in the dirty air, which seem to drive somewhere in that direction;" asking whether he can do anything for her "friend on the ricketty throne" (i.e. Napoleon III); mentioning the thaw and a joke currently circulating about the Ministry; sending his regards to the Browns.
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