The Charles Dickens Letters Project
Period:
1861-1870
Theme(s):
social engagements
public readings
friends
To GEORGE DOLBY,1 1 JULY 1866
Text from facsimile in Forum Auctions online catalogue, July 2017.
GAD’S HILL PLACE
HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT.
Sunday First July, 1866.
My Dear Dolby
As I have with great ingenuity hit upon a day that will not suit you,2 let us now try to hit upon one that will
I have written to Mr Chappell,3 and told him that you will confer with him, and propose a time to me4 that will meet the convenience of both of you.5
What do you say to Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the 16th, 17th and 18th.6 If those days will not do, propose any others in July, except the 11th.7
Faithfully Yours always
CHARLES DICKENS
George Dolby Esquire
- 1. George Dolby (1831-1900), manager of CD’s reading tours, 1866-70, on behalf of Chappell & Co. Became a personal friend of CD; author of Charles Dickens as I Knew Him (1885).
- 2. See To George Dolby, 26 June 1866.
- 3. Samuel Arthur Chappell (1834-1904), youngest son of Samuel Chappell, of Chappell & Co., music publishers, and a member of the firm that organised CD’s public readings.
- 4. "to me" written above caret.
- 5. Presumably to discuss the possibility of another reading tour; see To Arthur Chappell, 2 Aug 1866, in Pilgrim Letters 11, p. 229.
- 6. By 15 July, CD was at Gad’s Hill for the summer season and had invited 'family visitors' to stay; see To The Marquis Townshend, 15 Jul 1866, Pilgrim Letters 11, p. 223.
- 7. CD came to London on 11 Jul; see To Frederic Ouvry, 11 Jul 1866, in Pilgrim Letters 11, p. 222.