Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Letter from Charles Dickens, London, to Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1854 April 16 : autograph manuscript signed.

BIB_ID
420343
Accession number
MA 1352.373
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1854 April 16.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 17.9 x 11.3 cm + envelope
Notes
Signed with initials.
Written from "Tavistock House."
Black-bordered envelope addressed to: "Miss Burdett 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.
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
Describing in detail an incident at Urania Cottage in which one of the residents, Frances Cranstone, was accused of causing trouble; telling her that Cranstone and another resident, Eliza Wilkin, have been discharged and describing how this came about; adding that he believes they should have discharged Cranstone long ago; mentioning that the upheaval has disturbed Mrs. Marchmont, but she hopes things will hereafter be calmer; saying that the gates are "rotten and falling away" and he has instructed a carpenter to replace them.