Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Letter from Charles Dickens, Broadstairs, to Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1850 September 22 : autograph manuscript signed.

BIB_ID
421041
Accession number
MA 1352.217
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
Broadstairs, England, 1850 September 22.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (4 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 "Broadstairs / Twenty Second September 1850."
Envelope with seal, postage stamp, postmarks and Dickens' signature to "Miss Burdett Coutts / Holly Lodge / Highgate / London."
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
Reporting that he has found "...the Ragged School Girls apparently improving - and decidedly much changed for the better, in their appearance;" reporting on his visit to the Office of the Commissioners of Sewers concerning the issue of the drains at the Home; saying he will not be able to attend the next Committee meeting, "[a]s I shall soon be sitting down to my final wrestle with Copperfield;" referring to her gift to Mr. Develin and informing her that "Mr. Charles Knight considered it expedient to withhold the greater part of your gift to that Mr. Develin (after consulting with me) until he was sure of its doing him some good; otherwise, he had made up his mind to return it to me. But Mr. Develin is now going to America; and (although I find it difficult to understand how that can do anybody good) we have descried hopefulness in giving him the rest. I mention this, in case he should write to thank you, and you should wonder why he does so, now, instead of long since."