Item Info

Accession Number: 87-385
Physical Description: [1] page
Transcription:

 Tavistock House

Tavistock Square, London. W. C.

Friday Third June 1859

My Dear Sir

I am sorry that I must decline to prefer your request to Mr. Forster. But I have less right to do so than anybody else, because I happen to have lately heard from Mr. Forster himself of the great inconvenience that ensued upon the long detention of the picture by the engraver, and of his determination not to part with it from its place again. Whether he may be induced to change that determination, I can not say, but I certainly should not feel justified in asking him to do so.

Faithfully Yours always

Charles Dickens

John Jaffray Esquire

MssDate: Friday Third June 1859
Media Type: Letters
Source: Rare Book Department
Notes:

Jaffray was the former Chairman of the Committee of the Fine Art Prize Fund Association, Birmingham.

Dickens is referring to Frith's recent portrait of himself, commissioned by Forster.

The engraver is Thomas Oldham Barlow (1824-89; DNB)--his mezzotint engraving was published by McLean in 1861.

The British Academy Pilgrim Edition: The Letters of Charles Dickens, Volume Nine, 1859-1861. Graham Storey, ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997, p. 72-73.

Recipient: Jaffray, John
Provenance: Hamilton 1959

Bibliography:

 The British Academy Pilgrim Edition: The Letters of Charles Dickens, Volume Nine, 1859-1861. Graham Storey, ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997, p. 72-73.

Creation Year: 1859
Call Number: DL J18 1859-06-03
Creator Name: Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870 - Author