BIB_ID
420448
Accession number
MA 1352.391
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1854 December 11.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 17.9 x 11.2 cm + envelope
Notes
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.
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
Enclosing a letter from Arthur Ryland (this is no longer with the letter); relating in detail his impressions of Caroline Maynard Thompson, a destitute single mother (her case is first discussed in MA 1352.389); writing "I feel confident that there can never have been much evil in her, apart from the early circumstances that directed her steps the wrong way [...] There is nothing about her from which you could suppose she had come to this [...] I cannot get the picture of her, out of my head. I particularly wish that you could see her and speak to her;" suggesting that she, and possibly her brother Frederick, could be sent abroad; saying that he would like to speak to her about this on Wednesday, as well as about the possibility of sending his son Charley to Birmingham; discussing the progress he is making on The Seven Poor Travellers.
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