BIB_ID
420856
Accession number
MA 1352.157
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1849 May 7.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (3 pages) ; 17.8 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 "Devonshire Terrace / Monday Seventh May 1849."
Written from "Devonshire Terrace / Monday Seventh May 1849."
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
Informing her that he will be visiting Mr. Tracey's prison "...to see a young girl of 16, whose case he hopes is a good one. The worst of it, is, that she is committed for six months, and has only been there three; but possibly we might get her sentence commuted, if the circumstances seem favorable;" asking if she would subscribe to a book of poetry by Charles Whitehead, "(the author, some years ago, of a very clever novel indeed, called Richard Savage). He has been struggling with poverty all his life, and resorts to this form of publication as a means of keeping his brother (a lunatic) another year in an asylum. I am much interested in helping him to good names."
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