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This handwritten note is a personal letter from Charles Dickens, dated April 13, 1864, inviting a couple for dinner at his home, Gads Hill Place, in Kent.
Transcription and Context
The text in the letter reads:
Gads Hill Place,
Higham by Rochester, Kent.
Saturday Thirteenth April, 1864
Charles Dickens will be very happy
to dine w. Mr and Mrs Benzon
on Tuesday the seventeenth of May.
This note uses Dickens's personal stationery from Gads Hill Place, the only house he ever owned and his country home from 1856 until his death in 1870. He frequently hosted friends and literary figures at the house, and similar personal letters from this period are known to exist and sometimes appear for sale as historical documents.
The note is a standard piece of social correspondence, indicating an invitation to dine on a specific Tuesday in May of that year.
The "Mr and Mrs Benzon" mentioned in the letter were likely Elizabeth and Frederick Benzon, close friends of Charles Dickens in the 1860s. Frederick Benzon was a successful businessman in London.
Dickens had a strong friendship with the couple, and the Charles Dickens Letters Project website has records of multiple letters he wrote to Mrs. Benzon (Elizabeth). The letter is a social invitation, a common form of correspondence for Dickens, who frequently hosted guests at his home, Gads Hill Place.
The Benzons and Dickens
Social Circle: The Benzons were part of Dickens's active social life in his later years, during which he was separated from his wife, Catherine.
Correspondence: The frequent letters indicate a close and personal friendship, not just a casual acquaintance.
Gads Hill Place: They were invited to dine at his only owned home, a significant place for Dickens.
