The Charles Dickens Letters Project

To JOSEPH ELLIS,1 5 DECEMBER 1848

MS Petrina Stevens. On mourning paper.2

1 Devonshire Terrace

Tuesday Fifth December

1848.

Dear Mr Ellis.

            As the safest form of remittance, I send you a cheque (crossed)3 in discharge of my account.

                        Faithfully Yours

                                    Charles Dickens

Mr Ellis.

• 1. Joseph Ellis (1783-1858), CD's wine merchant and proprietor of the Star and Garter Hotel, Richmond (where CD frequently dined). For CD's relations with the Ellis family see N.C. Peyrouton, "When the Wine Merchant Wrote to Dickens: The Dickens-Ellis Correspondence", Dickensian 57 (1961): 105-11.
• 2. CD's sister Fanny had died of consumption on 2 Sept 1848.
• 3. CD's bank account confirms a payment of £52.2s.6d to Ellis on 9 December 1848 (MS Messrs Coutts).