With every good wish for the New Year believe me
Your's very sincerely
Charles Manby
Lt Col: Cruikshank.
On January 2, 1872, Cruikshank replies as follows:—
263 Hampstead Road N W
My dear old Friend,—It is so long since I illustrated "Oliver Twist," that I do not at present know where the original sketches are, but will look over the bundles of papers for them and when found will let you know, and shall be highly pleased if you will visit my studio and take a peep at them, although some are so rough that they are hardly worth looking at, having been done in such haste. The sketches that Dr. Sheldon Mackenzie alludes to of "The Life of a London Thief" were made about 50 years back, when Charles Dickens was a little boy, and it is a chance if I ever see these sketches again, but I have a list of the subjects which I will show you.
Wishing you and your's a happy New Year and many of them,
I am, Dear Friend, Your's truly
George Cruikshank.
Charles Manby Esqre CE etc.