Scrap cut from an ALS for the signature with text preserved on the other side. The reference to Mamie [Dickens] and Strathmore Gardens confirms the recipient - Georgina Hogarth lived there with Mamie. The date is based on the assumption that Collins was offering to meet them to discuss the edition of Dickens's letters. The watermark of ‘ROYAL EDINBURGH’ in a circle surrounding a crown is only found in Collins's letters from May 1878 to December 1879. It is possible that this letter is associated with the envelope in the Parrish Collection directed to Georgina Hogarth and postmarked 2 October 1879.
The Public Face of Wilkie Collins III 264
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me by sending me one line to say if you have an afternoon in the week, when you and Mamie are always to be found at home. When I call in Strathmore Gardens, I don’t want to hear that [text missing] |
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[text missing] With love to Mamie, Yours affectionately Wilkie Collins |
NOTES
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Georgina Hogarth, seen here c.1870, was the sister-in-law of Charles Dickens and kept house for him after his separation from his wife Catherine in 1858. She knew Collins well, and he gave her and Mamie a lot of advice about the publication of Dickens's letters. |
