BIB_ID
421009
Accession number
MA 1352.203
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1850 July 9.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (2 pages) ; 17.8 x 11.2 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 / Tuesday Evening / Ninth July, 1850."
Envelope with seal and Dickens' signature to "Miss Burdett Coutts."
Written from "Devonshire Terrace / Tuesday Evening / Ninth July, 1850."
Envelope with seal and Dickens' signature to "Miss Burdett Coutts."
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
Declining an invitation and explaining "I received a note from you at ten minutes to seven this evening, asking me to dine at Holly Lodge - I suppose, today, it being dated today, and no other day mentioned - at half past Six! This being clearly an impossibility, I folded my hands in a calm despair, and send this to explain why and how I fell into that condition of mind."
Catalog link
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