Details
Charles Dickens
An autograph note, signed, describing Mrs Gamp, a character from Martin Chuzzlewit ...a rusty black gown, the worst for snuff - a black bonnet and shawl to correspond. She is a fat old monthly nurse with a husky voice and a short neck, Charles Dickens, 1p.
Literature
HENRY, Sir Paul The Oxford Companion to English Literature, Oxford University Press

Lot Essay

L. and H. Nathan made the costumes required by Dickens for public and private performances. This note gives a interesting insight into Dickens' idea of how this character should be dressed on stage.

Sarah Gamp's cotton umbrella [described in Martin Chuzzlewit] apparently gave rise to the expression 'a gamp' for an umbrella, especially a large untidy one.

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