BIB_ID
456074
Accession number
MA 23931.5
Creator
Dowson, Ernest Christopher, 1867-1900, sender.
Credit line
Purchased on the Drue Heinz Fund for Twentieth-Century Literature, 2025.
Description
1 item (3 pages) ; 20.9 x 13.2 cm (folded); 20.9 x 26.4 cm (unfolded)
Notes
Date approximated from context.
Provenance
Sotheby's, 11 March 1968, lot 773; Barry Humphries (1934-2023; bookplate); Christie's, London, "Barry Humphries: The Personal Collection," 13 February 2025.
Summary
Commenting on a storm O'Riordan described in his last letter, and its coinciding with Smithers' arrival in Paris; making observations on the "'Savoy' business" and news of its resolution in a letter from Jepson; describing in great detail a visit to a friend of Smithers' who is currently incarcerated at Sainte-Pélagie Prison in Paris, and the seemingly luxurious accommodations there: "Why, oh why am I not a prisoner of Sainte-Pélagie?"; reflecting on the contrast with Oscar Wilde's prison experience; making reference in a postscript to "improper overtures" O'Riordan made to a boy in Paris which may have gotten the lad fired.
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