BIB_ID
420883
Accession number
MA 1352.167
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1849 July 6.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (3 pages) ; 17.8 x 11.1 cm + envelope
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 / Sixth July 1849."
Envelope with seal, postmark and Dickens' signature to "Miss Burdett Coutts / Stratton Street / Piccadilly."
Written from "Devonshire Terrace / Sixth July 1849."
Envelope with seal, postmark and Dickens' signature to "Miss Burdett Coutts / Stratton Street / Piccadilly."
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
Enclosing a letter from a woman [Bertha Wight] that Miss Coutts had helped, at Dickens' request, several years earlier; vouching for the woman's father and saying "I have no doubt that her narrative is true - indeed the leading facts came to my knowledge as a member of the Literary Fund not long ago - but whether there is any possibility of doing her real good, is for you only, to consider. I have been very unwell this week, from the effects of a fall, and have been cupped and blistered in the side pretty smartly. I think of going to the Albion Hotel at Broadstairs for three or four days, but I shall be back next week - on Friday or Saturday."
Catalog link
Department