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, Broadstairs, to Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1848 August 13 : autograph manuscript signed.

BIB_ID
420708
Accession number
MA 1352.116
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
Broadstairs, England, 1848 August 13.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 18.0 x 11.4 cm + envelope
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 "Broadstairs / Thirteenth August 1848."
Envelope with seal, postage stamp, postmarks and Dickens' signature to "Miss Burdett Coutts / Stratton Street / Piccadilly / London."
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
Reporting that he brought Charley back to school and found her "kind present" when he got home; enclosing "Mrs. Holdsworth's balance of duties [...] I hope you will keep Mrs. Graves and Mrs. Holdsworth to their tether. It is intolerable to be met with such mincing nonsense from those toiling and all-enduring dowagers. I wish I could draw Mrs. Holdsworth's face for you, as she appeared when she opened her objection to me;" adding that Mrs. Dickens "...is none the worse, but [I] have cautioned her to keep quiet for some days. It was a very great alarm; and I assure you, on looking at the place, I cannot imagine how she escaped. The man is still disabled, but I don't think myself that he has received any permanent injury. The poney made two or three similar attempts with me, but we are pretty well acquainted, and in the course of five and twenty miles' trot, she seemed to begin to think a quiet life the best;" adding that he will come to Stratton Street at her convenience.