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, Paris, to Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1856 April 8 : autograph manuscript signed.

BIB_ID
420735
Accession number
MA 1352.449
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
Paris, France, 1856 April 8.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (3 pages) ; 22.7 x 19 cm + envelope
Notes
Signed with initials.
Written from 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.
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 has gone over her draft of a letter to Reverend Harry Baber and written it out again on the other side of his letter (pages 2-3 contain this draft, which has been transcribed and published in Appendix C, Volume 8 of the correspondence); saying "It seems to me to be as plain and unaffected as possible [...] I quite felt what you explain relating to Mrs. Brown, and most heartily perceived and sympathized with your delicate and considerate intention;" saying that William Charles Macready has come to stay with them for a few days and is anxious to talk to her about "Young Warner" (the son of the actress Mary Amelia Warner); adding that he cannot make out the second name of "Old Pierre" in her letter and writing humorously about how he will attempt to find him; including a manicule pointing to the other side of the sheet; sending kindest regards to Hannah Brown.