"Thrown away 10 years of my life to prevent inevitable" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | T120 (M722): W.T. Stead Papers/43- pages 177-180 |
| Archive | National Archives Depot, Pretoria |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | Sunday July 1897 |
| Address From | Morley’s Hotel, Trafalgar Square, London |
| Address To | |
| Who To | William Thomas Stead |
| Other Versions | |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
The Project is grateful to the National Archives Repository, Pretoria, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Micofilm Collections. Stead’s Notables of Britain was published in the first part of 1897 while, out of many occasions she was at Morley’s Hotel, Schreiner stayed there for some weeks during July 1897, hence the dating of this letter.
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1Morley’s Hotel
2Sunday
3
4^Private^
5
6Dear Friend
7
8I have just received your book of Notables of Britain. Yes I have a
9suggestion to make about my photograph: Seven years ago Eliot & Fry
10took the caricature of me which you ^have^ reproduced.
11
12I had given them special instructions to destroy the negatives & keep
13no copies of the photograph. Will you kindly let me know where you got
14the copy you have reproduced?
15
16If you care to have a photograph taken by the photographers you
17mentioned before, I will go & have one taken for the book you with
18great pleasure (if you will send me the address which I have forgotten!)
19 ^but please on the condition that if I think it bad it is to be
20destroyed^ but please don’t put that ^Elliot & Fry^ photo in the next
21edition! This note is private.
22
23Thine ever
24Olive Schreiner
25
26I know of course, dear friend, you thought the photograph was all
27right. I want to know how it got out of Elliot & Fry’s hands.
28
2Sunday
3
4^Private^
5
6Dear Friend
7
8I have just received your book of Notables of Britain. Yes I have a
9suggestion to make about my photograph: Seven years ago Eliot & Fry
10took the caricature of me which you ^have^ reproduced.
11
12I had given them special instructions to destroy the negatives & keep
13no copies of the photograph. Will you kindly let me know where you got
14the copy you have reproduced?
15
16If you care to have a photograph taken by the photographers you
17mentioned before, I will go & have one taken for the book you with
18great pleasure (if you will send me the address which I have forgotten!)
19 ^but please on the condition that if I think it bad it is to be
20destroyed^ but please don’t put that ^Elliot & Fry^ photo in the next
21edition! This note is private.
22
23Thine ever
24Olive Schreiner
25
26I know of course, dear friend, you thought the photograph was all
27right. I want to know how it got out of Elliot & Fry’s hands.
28
Notation
The book in question is: WT Stead (1897) Notables of Britain: An Album of Portraits and Autographs London: Review of Review Offices. The entry for Olive Schreiner, with the Elliott & Fry photograph referred to, is on page 205 and describes her as ‘the most remarkable woman of South Africa...; a brilliant writer; a vehement but somewhat Utopian politician.’.
The book in question is: WT Stead (1897) Notables of Britain: An Album of Portraits and Autographs London: Review of Review Offices. The entry for Olive Schreiner, with the Elliott & Fry photograph referred to, is on page 205 and describes her as ‘the most remarkable woman of South Africa...; a brilliant writer; a vehement but somewhat Utopian politician.’.