Beschreibung:

DICKENS, CHARLES. Five autograph letters signed ("Charles Dickens" with paraph) to Alfred, Count D'Orsay, London, 13 December 1841 - 10 March [1850]. Together 10 pages, mostly 8vo, with two envelopes addressed (one also signed) by Dickens with their wax seals nearly intact ; in crisply fine condition. "MY HEALTH...MAY SUFFER FROM TOO MUCH DINING" Alfred Guillaume Gabriel, Count D'Orsay (1801-1852), the handsome Frenchman whom Thomas Carlyle called the "Phoebus Apollo of dandyism," was a leader with Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington, of the artistic and fashionable world of London. They gathered round them in their drawing room at Gore House, Kensington, the social and literary celebrities of their day -- Charles Dickens first introduced to them in 1836, becoming one of their most intimate friends. D'Orsay was also a talented artist, specializing in portrait-drawings of notable friends and acquaintances; Dickens sat for him on a few occasions, as evident below. 13 December 1841: "...I need hardly say that I shall be more than pleased to give you any opportunity you require for the completion of that likeness. I am sorry to say, though, that every day this week I am engaged to dinner; and as I shall only have a fortnight left when this week is over [Dickens was to depart on a long tour of America in January 1842], I have 'registered a vow' to spend those fourteen days at home, both because I want to hold on tight by my household Gods to the last, and on account of my health which I am afraid may suffer from too much dining. Now, any morning this week, at any hour you name, I am wholly at your services...will repair to Gore House and sit there as long as you like..." Dickens sat for D'Orsay on 16 December; a photograph of the portrait-drawing done on the 16th (now at The Dickens House Museum in London) accompanies the letter. 2 January 1843: "Mrs. Dickens thinks the portrait [another drawing of Dickens, done on 28 December 1842], 'capital,' and so do divers other domestic authorities who have seen it [both of the drawings were pencil-and-chalk showing Dickens half-length in profile to the left] -- though some protest that the lower part of the face is susceptible of improvement..." (this drawing is also at The Dickens House Museum). "Monday Evening," no date [possibly December 1843]: "I think [Daniel] Maclise's profile, most excellent [a portrait of the fellow artist by D'Orsay]. I should have recognized it instantly, though I had seen it pasted on the wooden leg of a Greenwich Pensioner, or in any other equally unexpected place. It is a very striking likeness; and is full of character...My wife has just come in, and is delighted with Maclise's likeness, which, she says, he couldn't have done better, if he had done it himself." "Saturday Morning," no date [5 July 1845], accepting an invitation and recommending his servant: "...He can do anything; and is willing at all times and seasons to do anything...one of the most honest and excellent servants in the world...If I could afford to keep him, and had duties for a...servant to discharge, I wouldn't part with him for the weight of his head...in refined Gold..." 10 March [1850], accepting an invitation to dinner at Gore House and adding: "...I heard from [William Savage] Landor yesterday. When last seen, he was (as he seems to be still)...very hearty...though desperately smitten. I am happy to report that Rose Painter is a very charming girl and quite worthy of his devotion." (5)