The Public Face of Wilkie Collins II 38
9. Melcombe Place June 7th Dear Mrs Mitchell, It is very kind of you to give “Armadale” a place on your bookshelves. I am unfortunately already engaged to dinner on Sunday -- or I should have been delighted to dine
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in Great Stanhope Street.
I hope early next week to be able to call. I have been very little in London since I last had the pleasure of seeing you.
Wilkie Collins |
Wilkie went for a short break to Paris for a break after the long struggle of
writing Armadale, which he had only finished on 12 April after three
years' work. In June he was turning it into a play which he had printed merely
to keep his copyright and stop others cashing in on it. In fact, it was never performed
on stage in this form. Wilkie later adapted it under the title Miss Gwilt
which had its premiere nearly nine years later in Liverpool on 9 December 1875.