BIB_ID
421219
Accession number
MA 1352.539
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1856 December 31?.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (1 page) ; 18 x 11.5 cm
Notes
Dickens gives "Wednesday Night" for the date of writing. Based on the contents, the letter was most likely written on December 31, 1856, the Wednesday before the dress rehearsal of "The Frozen Deep." See the published correspondence, cited below, for additional information.
Signed with initials.
Written from "Tavistock House."
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.
Signed with initials.
Written from "Tavistock House."
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
Writing "Monday stands fixed" (a reference to the fact that she had agreed to come to the dress rehearsal for "The Frozen Deep," which occurred on Monday, January 5, 1857); asking if his wife Catherine should write to Lady Falmouth to invite her, "or call -- or how? I ask, simply because I don't want to make a fuss about it, as if it were a great thing. Will you direct me?"
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