BIB_ID
421360
Accession number
MA 1352.577
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
Higham, England, 1861 November 3.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (3 pages) ; 17.6 x 11.2 cm + envelope
Notes
Written on mourning stationery with engraved letterhead: "Gad's Hill Place, / Higham by Rochester, Kent."
Mourning envelope with seal, stamp, and postmarks: "France / Mrs. Brown / Hôtel du Louvre / Paris."
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.
Mourning envelope with seal, stamp, and postmarks: "France / Mrs. Brown / Hôtel du Louvre / Paris."
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
Saying that he received her letter at Norwich and is only at home for a day; writing of how glad he is that she has gone to Paris; mourning the death of Arthur Smith; adding that she and Angela Burdett-Coutts will be glad to hear that his readings have begun again "most prosperously;" mentioning that he gives a reading of one section from David Copperfield that he would very much like them to hear: "It seems to have a strong interest, and an expression of a young spirit in it, that addresses people of sensitive perception curiously;" writing very pessimistically about the prospect of his son Charley's marriage to Elisabeth Matilda Moule Evans; blaming the course of events on Catherine Dickens; adding "I have a strong belief, founded on careful observation of him, that he cares nothing for the girl;" mentioning an abrupt change in the weather; sending his "ever affectionate and never changing remembrance to Miss Coutts."
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