BIB_ID
421137
Accession number
MA 1352.523
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1841 January 18?.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (2 pages) ; 11.3 x 9.3 cm + envelope
Notes
Dickens dates the letter only "Monday afternoon." Based on the reference to the "Library Dinner" and the signature, it was most likely written on January 18, 1841. See the published correspondence, cited below, for additional information.
Written from "Devonshire Terrace."
Envelope with seal: "Miss Coutts."
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."
Envelope with seal: "Miss Coutts."
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.
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
Explaining that he must, on doctor's orders, stay home this evening: "I should not mind a bad cold, but I have the additional pleasure of a swelled face, which is too large even to be amusing to look at -- otherwise I should certainly have presented it in its deformity, despite all injunctions to the reverse;" adding that he hopes this is not the last "Library Dinner."
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