BIB_ID
420532
Accession number
MA 1352.69
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
Brighton, England, 1847 May 23.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 18.2 x 11.2 cm
Notes
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 "148 King's Road, Brighton / Sunday Twenty Third May 1847."
Written from "148 King's Road, Brighton / Sunday Twenty Third May 1847."
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 he has been hard at work on Dombey and relating particulars of the house he saw on her behalf; saying "It is on the Acton Road. Less than two miles, I should say, from Hyde Park in Oxford Street. I have not the particulars here, but it may be got, I think for sixty or sixty five pounds a year, on lease for 7, 14, or 21 years. It is retired, but cheerful. There is a garden, and a little Lawn. The taxes are very low. A Stable would have to be changed into a wash-house, and I would decidedly fence the garden all round. It seems to me to want only that. I do not know the expence of such a thing, but I should say that an expenditure of fifty pounds or seventy five pounds may-be, in addition to Chesterton's estimate, would amply cover the whole. I have no doubt this is the outside. Chesterton thinks he has found an unexceptionable Matron. I am sure the house would please you. I told the owners it was designed for an Institution, and they did not object. I did not say what the objects were, or would be, or had been, because it seems to be a great point of usefulness and merit that this should never be told. I wouldn't label them among the neighbors. Charley, who came down yesterday for the Whitsun holidays, sends his love. Mr. King reports him rather weak still, but I mean to tumble him in to the Sea, tomorrow, and I hope that will freshen him up."
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