BIB_ID
421110
Accession number
MA 1352.240
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
Broadstairs, England, 1851 October 9.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 18.0 x 11.0 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 on mourning stationery from "Broadstairs, Kent / Thursday Ninth October 1851."
Mourning envelope with seal, postage stamp, postmarks and Dickens' signature: "To be forwarded / Miss Burdett Coutts / Stratton Street / Piccadilly / London."
Written on mourning stationery from "Broadstairs, Kent / Thursday Ninth October 1851."
Mourning envelope with seal, postage stamp, postmarks and Dickens' signature: "To be forwarded / Miss Burdett Coutts / Stratton Street / Piccadilly / 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
Informing her that he paid £45 for the passage of three girls on a ship that will sail on the 25th; reporting on the girls at Shepherd's Bush; adding "I have no news - except that I am three parts distracted and the fourth part wretched, in the agonies of getting into a new house - Tavistock House, Tavistock Square. Pending which desirable consummation of my troubles, I can not work at my new book - having all my notions of order turned completely topsy-turvy. I hope when you come back you will find us settled, and me hard at work - and will approve, both the tangible house and the less substantial Edifice;" adding that he has "excellent accounts of Charley at Eton" and "[a]s for you, I suppose you are full of the change, novelty, and delight of travelling, and feel an elevated pity for the captive on a poor Cliff like this. Mrs. Brown, I take it for granted, agrees with Dr. Skey, in reference to all the Institutions you examine. I wish I were with you, to help the general unanimity!"
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