The Charles Dickens Letters Project

To CHARLES FROST,1 8 JUNE 1855

MS Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen.

Tavistock House | Friday Eighth June 1855.

Dear Sir,

I do not make the appointment you request, simply because I am unwilling to give you the trouble of coming here to no purpose. I assure you that I have not the slightest prospect of being able to visit Hull, during the next two years. All the engagements I could possibly make, to read for any Literary Societies, I made for next Christmas, six months ago. I am now on the verge of a new book,2 and am quite unable to contemplate any additional occupation.3 

Charles Frost Esquire

Dear Sir | Faithfully Yours

 CHARLES DICKENS

• 1. Charles Frost (?1781-1862; Dictionary of National Biography), of Kingston-upon-Hull, solicitor to the Hull Dock Co. and antiquary; ten times president of the Hull Literary and Philosophical Society between 1830 and 1855.
• 2. CD had been planning and working on Little Dorrit since early 1855: see To Miss Coutts, 6 Feb, and To Collins, 4 Mar (Pilgrim Letters 7, pp. 525, 555 & n).
• 3. CD gave public readings in Hull, 14 Sep, 26 & 27 Oct 58 (Pilgrim Letters 8, pp. 752- 753).