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 November 17 : autograph manuscript signed.

BIB_ID
420440
Accession number
MA 1352.389
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1854 November 17.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (1 page) ; 18 x 11.2 cm
Notes
The case that Dickens refers to in this letter is that of Caroline Maynard Thompson. The manuscript containing Dickens's description of how he came to learn about her (through a letter from her brother Frederick Maynard), her past, and her current situation is held at the Berg Collection, New York Public Library. He also enclosed three letters, two from Frederick Maynard and one from Caroline Maynard Thompson; the first two are at the Morgan (cataloged as MA 1352.659-660), the last at the Berg. See the published correspondence for additional information.
Signed with initials.
Written from "Tavistock House."
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
Telling her that he is sending the "astonishing story to which I referred in my note of yesterday" (MA 1352.389); mentioning that he has given it page numbers to prevent confusion and saying that it is "not half as long as it looks."