Hand-addressed and signed mailing envelope panel, 4.5 x 2.5, neatly addressed by Dickens in fountain pen to his brother-in-law, “Henry Burnett Esquire, 90 Upper Brook Street, Manchester,” and signed nicely in the lower left, "Charles Dickens." Matted with a portrait and nameplate to an overall size of 11 x 17.5. In fine condition, with light soiling.
Henry Burnett was a singer and music teacher (1812-1893) who as a young boy sang before the court in Brighton, standing on a table while the gout-stricken George IV was wheeled into the room wrapped in flannel and bandages. In 1832 he met Fanny Dickens (1810-48), Charles Dickens's sister, when they were both students at the Royal Academy of Music, and married her in 1837. He went on to the operatic stage, and in 1838 he joined Macready's company at Covent Garden and even played the title role in a theatre production of Nicholas Nickleby. Henry and Fanny’s invalid son, Harry (1839-1849), was the inspiration for Tiny Tim Cratchit and Paul Dombey.
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