BIB_ID
421221
Accession number
MA 1352.540
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
Brighton, England, 1847 May 26?.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (2 pages) ; 18.2 x 11.3 cm + envelope
Notes
Dickens gives "Wednesday Evening" as the date of writing. Based on the contents, the letter must have been written on May 26, 1847, the Wednesday before Macready's dinner party and reception for Lind. See the published correspondence, cited below, for additional information.
Written from Brighton.
Envelope with seal: "Miss Burdett Coutts / Stratton Street / Piccadilly."
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 Brighton.
Envelope with seal: "Miss Burdett Coutts / Stratton Street / Piccadilly."
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
Apologizing but explaining that he is engaged for dinner on Sunday: "I am going to [William Charles] Macready's to meet Jenny Lind, who is almost the greatest genius, to my thinking, that the world has ever produced;" promising to come see her at about three o'clock.
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