BIB_ID
420410
Accession number
MA 1352.383
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1854 October 26.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 17.8 x 11.2 cm + envelope
Notes
Signed with initials.
Written from "Tavistock House."
The letter from Louisa Cooper that Dickens refers to here has been preserved and is cataloged as MA 1352.638.
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.
Black-bordered envelope with stamp and postmarks: "Miss Burdett Coutts / Bedford Hotel / Brighton."
Written from "Tavistock House."
The letter from Louisa Cooper that Dickens refers to here has been preserved and is cataloged as MA 1352.638.
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.
Black-bordered envelope with stamp and postmarks: "Miss Burdett Coutts / Bedford Hotel / Brighton."
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 would very much like to have seen her when she was in town, if only for a minute; mentioning a letter from Louisa Cooper, a former resident of Urania Cottage who was on her way to the Cape of Good Hope: "Poor little thing, I hope she will flourish out there;" responding to her concerns about an article of his titled "To Working Men" in Household Words; arguing forcefully that good living conditions for the working class must be a priority and that the government must be continually pressured, under threat of losing elections, to provide them; adding that he believes the war will be used as an excuse, "and that nothing will have been done when the cholera comes again;" bringing an article and a poem in the next week's issue of Household Words to her attention; teasing her about a word in her handwriting that he cannot make out; sending kind regards to the Browns.
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