BIB_ID
420711
Accession number
MA 1352.444
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
Paris, France, 1856 January 10.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 19 x 12.4 cm + envelope
Notes
Written from "49 Champs Elysées, Paris."
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.
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
Saying that he thinks Catherine Dickens may have thanked her for the "noble cake" but he would like to add his own thanks; writing that he is very glad to hear that she has decided to take on W. Henry Wills as her secretary and praising Wills highly; mentioning that he is writing an installment of Little Dorrit and cannot come to London until he has dispatched that; saying that when his son Walter came over, he found that he was very deaf and had him examined by Prosper Ménière, the chief surgeon at the Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, who diagnosed him as having an ulcerated tympanum: "He said it was of long standing, must have caused him great pain, and he should have thought must have forced itself on the attention of the Masters of his school. He has greatly relieved and improved his patient, but says his sense of hearing will never be quite delicate;" adding that Walter is now taking daily classes to improve his French; describing the arrangement he has made with a French publishing house for the publication of all of his works in French translation; commenting on the portrait of him being painted by Ary Scheffer; mentioning the threat of a financial crisis; sending his love to Hannah Brown.
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