No. 5 of 15 · Quiet Words

A Regal Solitude

Pictures by Pierre-Joseph Redouté·Words by Charles Lamb

A delicate sprig of dog rose by Pierre-Joseph Redouté, painted in watercolour, opens to Charles Lamb's wry line that a sick-bed is a regal solitude where the patient lords it. The words come from Lamb's essay "The Convalescent", a gently teasing look at the small kingdom of being unwell. For someone resting up and on the mend.

Add four of your own photos and your own words; we print the card in the US and post it for you.

Inside, it says

If there be a regal solitude, it is a sick-bed. How the patient lords it there! Charles Lamb, 1833

On the back

Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Dog Rose, watercolour, 1817-24 / Words: Charles Lamb, "The Convalescent", Last Essays of Elia, 1833

A card for

• Just because
• Get well
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