BIB_ID
420873
Accession number
MA 1352.164
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1849 June 21.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (2 pages) ; 17.8 x 11.1 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 / Thursday June Twenty First / 1849."
Written from "Devonshire Terrace / Thursday June Twenty First / 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
Thanking her for the "British Institution tickets, as I have never been there in the evening;" discussing an inmate named Isabella Gordon who "...had been in the habit of talking in a disorderly manner [...] I therefore thought it right to assume a severity towards her which should have an effect upon her, and through her upon the rest of them. I had not an opportunity of saying to you that I hoped you approved of it. I believe it will be beneficial, as it certainly was in Emma Lea's case - though I am not sanguine of her remaining with us. I have some idea that I have found out a very good case. It is not a prison one. If my further enquiries should turn out to be satisfactory, I will come to you."
Catalog link
Department