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Letter ReferenceOlive Schreiner: Extracts of Letters to Cronwright-Schreiner MSC 26/2.16/210
ArchiveNational Library of South Africa, Special Collections, Cape Town
Epistolary TypeExtract
Letter Date1 May 1905
Address FromCape Town, Western Cape
Address To
Who ToS.C. (‘Cron’) Cronwright-Schreiner
Other VersionsCronwright-Schreiner 1924: 253
PermissionsPlease read before using or citing this transcription
Legend
The Extracts of Letters to Cronwright-Schreiner were produced by Cronwright-Schreiner in preparing The Life and The Letters of Olive Schreiner. They appear on slips of paper in his writing, taken from letters that were then destroyed; many of these extracts have also been edited by him. They are artefacts of his editorial practices and their relationship to original Schreiner letters cannot now be gauged. They should be read with considerable caution for the reasons given. Cronwright-Schreiner has written the date and where it was sent from onto this extract, and, mistakenly, that the article mentioned could be ‘1899’, when it is clearly Olive Schreiner’s open letter about using the Taal in public life (“Letter on ‘The Taal’” Cape Times, 10 May 1905, republished as Appendix E in (ed) Cronwright-Schreiner (1924) The Letters of Olive Schreiner London: Fisher Unwin). Perhaps his mistake occurred because the ‘little story’ refers to ‘1899’. There are some differences between this transcription and the version that appears in The Letters....
1 …I was very glad to get your letter & it was such a surprise too, I
2wasn’t expecting it. I’m glad you liked the little story. I wonder
3how much it is because it is South Africa. But you have such a good
4artistic taste that I think you would not be misled… I am trying to
5write my article on the Taal today...
6
7
Notation
The 'little story' is likely to be '1899', published posthumously in Stodies, Dreams and Allegories; Schreiner's 'Letter on The Taal' was published in the Cape Times 10 May 1905 (p.9); it also appears in a shortened version as Appendix E in (ed) Cronwright-Schreiner (1924) The Letters of Olive Schreiner London: Fisher Unwin.