"Aesthetics" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Letters/274 |
| Archive | |
| Epistolary Type | |
| Letter Date | 9 March 1888 |
| Address From | Alassio, Italy |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Havelock Ellis |
| Other Versions | Cronwright-Schreiner 1924: 133 |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
When Cronwright-Schreiner prepared The Letters of Olive Schreiner, with few exceptions he then destroyed her originals. However, some people gave him copies and kept the originals or demanded the return of these; and when actual Schreiner letters can be compared with his versions, his have omissions, distortions and bowdlerisations. Where Schreiner originals have survived, these will be found in the relevant collections across the OSLO website. There is however a residue of some 587 items in The Letters for which no originals are extant. They are included here for sake of completeness. However, their relationship to Schreiners actual letters cannot now be gauged, and so they should be read with caution for the reasons given.
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1To Havelock Ellis.
2Alassio, 9th March.
3
4Don’t mention to anyone Carpenter being here. I'm always trying to
5keep people from coming, and if they hear Carpenter or you have been
6they'll think they must come too. I've been curled up some days; feel
7weak. … Don’t ask about Mary Wollstonecraft. You musnt’t speak to a
8little hen when she’s laying her egg, otherwise she just pecks it open.
9 I’ve been making nice plans of travel for us. I enclose £1 more as
10you won’t tell me what I owe you. Please order me an Eastern Alps
11Baedeker. I'm spending all my money on Baedekers, so that when the
12time comes to start I shan't have any for travelling. Many thanks for
13the Zoology. Can you tell me of a good book about mammalia, giving
14their habits and family relations? Always tell me if you come across
15any good thing about the higher apes.
16
2Alassio, 9th March.
3
4Don’t mention to anyone Carpenter being here. I'm always trying to
5keep people from coming, and if they hear Carpenter or you have been
6they'll think they must come too. I've been curled up some days; feel
7weak. … Don’t ask about Mary Wollstonecraft. You musnt’t speak to a
8little hen when she’s laying her egg, otherwise she just pecks it open.
9 I’ve been making nice plans of travel for us. I enclose £1 more as
10you won’t tell me what I owe you. Please order me an Eastern Alps
11Baedeker. I'm spending all my money on Baedekers, so that when the
12time comes to start I shan't have any for travelling. Many thanks for
13the Zoology. Can you tell me of a good book about mammalia, giving
14their habits and family relations? Always tell me if you come across
15any good thing about the higher apes.
16
Notation
‘Mary Wollstonecraft’ concerns Mary Wollstoncraft (1792) A Vindication of the Rights of Woman London: J. Johnson. Schreiner agreed to write an ‘Introduction’ to a new edition of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, but which was never completed. A very early draft fragment of it appears in Carolyn Burdett (1994) History Workshop Journal 37: 189-93.
‘Mary Wollstonecraft’ concerns Mary Wollstoncraft (1792) A Vindication of the Rights of Woman London: J. Johnson. Schreiner agreed to write an ‘Introduction’ to a new edition of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, but which was never completed. A very early draft fragment of it appears in Carolyn Burdett (1994) History Workshop Journal 37: 189-93.