To Margaret Carpenter, 14 June 1869

ALS to Margaret Carpenter (1793-1872) [Monday] 14 June 1869. Single sheet, cream laid paper, with blue engraved address, no watermark, integral blank leaf 203x134mm. Traces of folds. In pencil on page one at foot 'Wilkie Collins'. Fine.

The Public Face of Wilkie Collins II 137-138

	[90, Gloucester Place,  Portman Square. W.] Monday June 14th 1869 Dear Mrs Carpenter, Thank you, most  sincerely, for so  kindly thinking of  me. The little  book will take its  place among the  relics of my poor  dear mother which  are now the best
	treasures that I possess.  You could have made  me no present that  I should have valued  so highly as this.  I hear of you  often from the Wards,  and I hope you are  able to enjoy the  summer weather  which seems to be  slowly coming at last.
	As for me, the gout  threatens now and  then. But I contrive  to walk it off - and  I have really little to  complain of. With kind regards Believe me most truly yours Wilkie Collins P.S.  My brother is staying with  his father-in-law [del: at] in Kent.

NOTES
The only known letter to Wilkie's aunt, Margaret Sarah Carpenter née Geddes (1793-1872). The younger sister of Wilkie's mother, Harriet, she was a painter who exhibited at the Royal Academy. Her daughter Jane married Charles Ward.

Charles Allston Collins (1828-1873) was married to Charles Dickens's daughter Kate and was staying at Gad's Hill Place, Rochester.