(c) 2016 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Letter to Henry Ingersoll, Esq. from Philadelphia

correspondent Charles Dickens (Portsmouth, 1812 - 1870, London)

Date6 March 1842

Place MadeUnited States, North America

MediumInk on paper

Dimensions24.5 x 19.5 cm (9 5/8 x 7 11/16 in.)

ClassificationsManuscripts

Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Accession numberU27e57

eMuseum ID724860

EmbARK ObjectID24281

TMS Source ID8849

Last Updated8/9/24

Status

Not on view

Web CommentaryIn 1875, Isabella Stewart Gardner and her husband adopted three of their nephews, all of whom had been recently orphaned. Gardner was an attentive aunt and read aloud from the novels of Charles Dickens to the boys every weekend. Dickens was among the greatest celebrities of the nineteenth century, and Gardner displayed two documents bearing his signature in the Long Gallery of the museum.

ProvenanceNotesEntered Isabella Stewart Gardner's collection at an unknown date.