BIB_ID
420798
Accession number
MA 1352.136
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1848 December 19.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (3 pages) ; 18.1 x 11.0 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 on mourning stationery from "Devonshire Terrace / Tuesday Nineteenth December / 1848."
Written on mourning stationery from "Devonshire Terrace / Tuesday Nineteenth December / 1848."
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
Apologizing for the delay in replying to her letter; saying "...I discovered yesterday that barbarous murder was being done upon me at the Adelphi, and was fain to go down there and pass the day in bettering their interpretation of my haunted friend. I was down there at 10 this morning with the same view, and have been there all day. And as every word the actors say, is a rack to me, I am sure you will forgive my being so occupied;" adding that he will call on her the following afternoon "...and take my chance of finding you at home."
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