Charles Dickens (1812-1870) - photo 1

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

Starting price
£ 100
Auction dateClassic
15.12.2023 11:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
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Archive
ID 1108889
Lot 90 | Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
Autograph letter signed ('Charles Dickens') to Frederic Ouvry, Gad's Hill Place, 28 April 1869
One page, 182 x 113mm, bifolium, printed address. Provenance: Sotheby's, 13 & 14 March 1979, lot 351; Sotheby's, 23 July 1987, lot 60.

Instructions to his solicitor on the drafting of his will. 'The Draft ... is not quite what I mean, as I will explain tomorrow. I wish the two boys to be only trustees as to their mother and eldest sister. It appears to me that as the draft stands, they usurp the functions of the ex[ecut]or and executrix. Also I desire Miss Hogarth's money, not to be left in trust, but to be left to herself absolutely'. He makes arrangements to meet Ouvry the next day to discuss this.

Dickens ultimately left £8,000 in a trust to be administered by his sons Charles and Henry for their mother, Catherine, and after her death, for his children, and he gave £1,000 and an annuity of £300 to his daughter Mary. Georgina Hogarth was left £8,000 absolutely. The most remarkable aspect of his will was however its opening clause, a legacy of £1,000 to his mistress, Ellen Ternan. Fredric Ouvry (1814–1881) had been Dickens's solicitor from the time of his separation from his wife in 1858. He was a significant bibliophile: his library sale in April 1882 included all four Shakespeare folios. Not among the eight letters to Ouvry published by the Charles Dickens Letters Project.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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