BIB_ID
421195
Accession number
MA 1352.274
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
Dover, England, 1852 July 25.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (3 pages) ; 17.9 x 11.4 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 "10 Camden Crescent, Dover / Sunday Twenty Fifth July 1852."
Envelope with postage stamp, postmarks and Dickens' signature to "Miss Burdett Coutts / Stratton Street / Piccadilly / London."
Written from "10 Camden Crescent, Dover / Sunday Twenty Fifth July 1852."
Envelope with postage stamp, postmarks and Dickens' signature to "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
Asking for news of Mrs. Brown's health; saying he has heard from Mrs. Morson "...that she is not elected [Matron of the Foundling Hospital], and that you have given her great joy by consenting to retain her. You have given me scarcely less, for I feel how kind and how right it is, and am sure she will prove worthy of it. The Bishop of Cape Town has written me a note, proposing to call on me at Tavistock House at 2 on Wednesday next;" enclosing a letter he received from Charley "Not only because he has done so well, but because it is such a brilliant boy's letter. The immense and overweening importance of the boatrace, and the necessity of returning to it with that tabular statement, amused me very much;" reporting on an excellent report he had on Walter adding "I am much pleased to hear it, as I have always thought him a little slow - though I have never made the mistake of attempting to quicken him, I must add in self defence. We are very pleasantly situated here in a very cool house. I suppose there is no Chance of your coming this way?"
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