20 March 1878 • Hartford, Conn. (MS: MB, UCCL 01546)
Bong voig
Bong voig to you, as the French say—th a remark which comes rather late, inasmuch as your journey is done. I wish you had given us another visit before you went away. We should have enjoyed it heartily.
You wouldn’t recognize our house to-day. The pictures are gone from the walls, the carpets from the floors, the curtains, the furniture, the books—everything has vanished away to the storage warehouseⒶemendation, & the place, is empty, desolate, & filled with echoes. For two or three years the coachman & family will stand guard at the stable, with the horses, & a private estate man at the house & the horses & keep the conservatory blooming & the hanging flower-baskets flourishing in the balconies.
We are packing the trunks to-day.
We expect to sail Apl 11 in the Holsatia for Hamburg. In view of that sea-voyage—pray for us!
With Remember me the kindest you know how, to the Club boys.
With a power of love, old Charley, from me, & kind regards from the madam,
MS, MB.
AAA/Anderson catalog, 4–5 April 1934, no. 4098, lot 129, partial publication, recipient and date misidentified as Charles Dudley Warner and 1891; AAA/Anderson catalog, 18–19 March 1936, no. 4242, lot 125, partial publication, recipient misidentified as Charles Dudley Warner; G. A. Baker and Co. catalog, 30 March 1939, no. 23, lot 69, paraphrase, recipient misidentified as Charles L. Webster; MicroPUL, reel 1.
The MS was offered for sale in April 1934 by AAA/Anderson as part of the collection of the late Mr. and Mrs. William K. Bixby; offered for sale in March 1936 by AAA/Anderson as part of the Abel Cary Thomas collection; and again offered for sale by G. A. Baker in March 1939. It was acquired by MB sometime thereafter.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.