BIB_ID
420394
Accession number
MA 1352.379
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1854 June 22.
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 "Villa du Camp de droite, Boulogne."
Black-bordered envelope with postmarks: "Miss Burdett Coutts / Stratton Street / Piccadilly / 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 "Villa du Camp de droite, Boulogne."
Black-bordered envelope with postmarks: "Miss Burdett Coutts / Stratton Street / Piccadilly / 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.
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
Lamenting people who are charitable at someone else's expense; sending a detailed report from W. Henry Wills about Frances Cranstone; advising that her letter should not be answered, nor should it be sent to the Mendicity Society; describing the house they are staying in and the surrounding landscape; describing the military camp nearby in detail; saying that the children arrived on Tuesday, "in every stage and aspect of sea sickness [...] The Nurse was prostrate, and (generally speaking) was carried by the Baby [his son Edward] instead of carrying him. That wonderful young creature was the admiration of the sternest Mariner aboard [...] in consequence of the gentleness with which he was perpetually looking out of a white basin and, in the intervals of his paroxysms, pitying his family and attendants;" describing the chaos of their arrival, with custom agents, baggage carriers, and twenty-seven packages that had to be carried up an extremely steep hill: "The tremendous uproar is inconceivable;" mentioning the Crystal Palace and Madame Tussaud's Wax Works; saying that he has not yet gotten any writing done; sending kind regards to the Browns.
Catalog link
Department