Best Friends

On his 47th birthday Charles writes to Wilkie Collins that ‘I have not had the heart to make any preparation for it – you will know why’. It is his first birthday since he separated from his wife Catherine. Nonetheless Charles invites Wilkie to Brighton, clearly wanting his best friend to cheer him up on his special day.

Letter from Charles Dickens to Wilkie Collins, 6 February 1859

A464 © Charles Dickens Museum.