BIB_ID
421462
Accession number
MA 1352.599
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1854 May 3.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 17.9 x 11.2 cm + envelope
Notes
Written from "Tavistock House."
Black-bordered envelope with postmarks: "W. Brown Esqre. / Hotel Bristol / 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.
Black-bordered envelope with postmarks: "W. Brown Esqre. / Hotel Bristol / 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
Mentioning the legibility of his signature and a possible candidate for Urania Cottage; saying that he heard from the actor François-Joseph Regnier, who mentioned that he is coming to London for eight days, but he is sure Brown will find him before he leaves Paris; asking if he sees John Poole in the street, "whether he look very drunk, or only in his chronic state of brandy;" saying that everyone is anxious for news of the Crimean War; relaying two stories about Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Napier and the English fleet; mentioning that he met with Charles Mathews this morning, who told him that "his bankruptcy will make him a new man, and that he 'only' wants capital, to set the Lyceum going;" reporting further on Mathews and saying that he "went away shaking hands with me with his right hand and respectfully poking me in the waistcoat with his left, exactly as he goes off the stage;" asking him to pass along a joking message to Angela Burdett-Coutts; sending kindest remembrances to her and to Hannah Brown.
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