The Charles Dickens Letters Project

Period: 
1861-1870
Theme(s): 
health
friends
publishing

To FREDERIC CHAPMAN,1 2 FEBRUARY 1866

Facsimile in Swann Auction Galleries catalogue, May 2013 

GAD’S HILL PLACE,

HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT.

Friday Second February 1866

My Dear Sir  

I am very sorry to hear that your wife2 is so ill, and also that you have but newly passed through other domestic misfortunes. I hope that your removal of your invalid3 may lead to better results, and of course could not expect to see you at such a time. 

Faithfully Yours 

CHARLES DICKENS

Frederick Chapman Esquire

  • 1. Frederic (or Frederick) Chapman (1823-95), publisher. He became a partner of Chapman and Hall in 1847, and took over the firm when his cousin Edward Chapman (1804-80) retired in 1864. From 1865 he also published the Fortnightly Review.
  • 2. Clara Chapman, née Woodin, whom Chapman married on 21 November 1861.
  • 3. Chapman had taken her to Bournemouth, where she died on 28 February 1866.