The Charles Dickens Letters Project

To SAMUEL JONES,1 [?NOVEMBER 1851]2

Envelope only.
MS James Williams.
Address: Samuel Jones Esquire | 50. Royal York Crescent3 | Clifton
Date: Penny red imperforate stamp on envelope used up to Feb 1854; handwriting confirms early 1850s.

• 1. Unidentified.
• 2. CD was in Bristol on 13-14 Nov 1851 with his amateur company, for performances of Edward Bulwer Lytton's comedy Not So Bad as We Seem and of Mr Nightingale's Diary, a farce writte by Mark Lemon and revised by CD. See "The Amateur Company of the Guild of Literature and Art", Bristol Mercury, 15 Nov 1851, p. 5. CD stayed at the Bath Hotel, Gloucester Place, Clifton Down.
• 3. From 1851 the lease for 50 Royal York Crescent was held by W.B. Curtis, a surgeon dentist. At the time of his Bristol visit CD was suffering from a tremendous cold that affected his eyesight; he complained to Henry Austin, "My eyes are so redolent of Gas, that I can hardly see to write this. As to voice, I am a Raven. And my hair has got into that state from wigs, glue, and exhaustion, that it is more like a Ratcatcher's cage for his game—than what Mr. Rowland would call the greatest ornament of the human form" (Pilgrim Letters 6, p. 537; dated 13 Nov 1851). While it is possible that CD consulted Curtis about his ailments, that does not explain the envelope's being addressed to a Samuel Jones.