The Charles Dickens Letters Project

To JOHN THOMPSON,1 28 JUNE 1857

Text from digitized facsimile on eBay, Jan 2004.

Athenaeum Club2Sunday Twenty Eighth June | 1857

I called at the office3 today John, but no one was there. Enclosed is the list of things to be fetched from Mr. Stanfield’s4 by 10 tomorrow morning. Be particular to compare the things with the list,5 before bringing them away in order that you may be sure nothing is left behind. | CHARLES DICKENS

To fetch from Mr. Stanfield’s by 10 Monday Morning6

Coarse canvas frock7

Fur jacket

Cartridge belt

Knapsack

Model of Ship8

• 1. John Thompson (1822-71), CD’s trusted servant, c. 1841-67; he acted as dresser, secretary, and coachman. Stole money from CD's cash box, Nov 1866 (see Pilgrim Letters 11, pp. 262, 268), but not dismissed outright; CD eventually facilitated his finding employment as a tobacconist.
• 2. The Athenaeum Club, Waterloo Place, to which CD was elected in 1838. CD had moved into Gad’s Hill in March; Tavistock House, though still in his possession, was “stripped” (To Collins, 26 June 57, in Pilgrim Letters 8, p. 361). CD was using clubs as his base when in London.
• 3. Of Household Words, where John, after his marriage, had been established since 1852 to keep the office: see Pilgrim Letters 6, p. 822.
• 4. Clarkson Stanfield. CD was raising funds in memory of Douglas Jerrold, who had died 8 June (see Pilgrim Letters 8 and Michael Slater, Douglas Jerrold 1803-1857, 2002, pp. 270-2). Events included performances of Collins’s The Frozen Deep, originally performed 6 Jan 57 at Tavistock House: given at the Gallery of Illustration, Regent Street, privately before the Queen (4 July) and publicly, 18 and 25 July, 8 August: for performances in Manchester and their consequences, see Pilgrim Letters 8, pp. 432-4 and 447 & nn.
• 5. Stanfield had designed the sets of The Frozen Deep and supervised details of the settings; he may have stored items after the January performance or have had necessary items as properties in his studio.
• 6. Written on a separate scrap of paper; two short double strokes separate this heading from the list; above each item there is a short stroke, probably ticking them off.
• 7. A coat with long skirts: cf. “frock-coat”.
• 8. Possibly used by Stanfield when he painted the backdrop, showing the ship, for Act III (illustration in the Illustrated London News, 17 Jan 57; reproduced in Charles Dickens: An Exhibition to Commemorate the Centenary of His Death, 1970, no. 41 and Pieter Van der Merwe & Roger Took, Clarkson Stanfield, 1793- 1867, 1979, p. 160). The play does not call for a model ship: see Robert Louis Brannan (ed.), Under the Management of Mr. Charles Dickens: His Production of “The Frozen Deep”, 1960.