"Pinaar case" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Karl Pearson 840/4/2/26-29 |
| Archive | University College London Library, Special Collections, UCL, London |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 18 February 1886 |
| Address From | 5 Sea View Terrace, West Hill Road, Bournemouth, Dorset |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Karl Pearson |
| Other Versions | Rive 1987: 72-3 |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
The Project is grateful to University College London (UCL) and its Library Services for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Special Collections. The name of the addressee is indicated by content and archival location.
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1
5 Sea View Terrace
2 West Hill Rd.
3 Bournemouth
4 Feb 18 / 86
5
6 I should much have liked to hear Mr Parker’s paper. Have you or he
7ever read a certain large History of Prostitution by an American? It
8is not to be had at the British, but if you subscribe to the "London
9Library" or have a friend who does you can get it there. It is well
10worth reading, a better collection of facts of on that subject from
11Grecian times downward that^n^ is to be found anywhere else in English
12or French. I don’t know what they may have in German on the subject,
13do you? I think it would be a valuable thing if all the members of the
14club who felt inclined were to study the C. D. acts Blue Books on the
15subject. I must read more. I have studied the one for 84 I think. If
16you want it, Ellis will send it you, he has it. It is a mass of
17information one needs to study not to read quickly.
18
19 What thinkest thou of the riots? You see I have changed my camp. I got
20here yesterday. A multitude of reasons compelled my leaving Shanklin,
21but I have for it an undying affection. It has a wild individual
22beauty about it that no other place ^that I have^ in England has.
23Bournemouth is beautiful too. Does it ever strike you as such a
24comfort that wherever you wander there will always be solid earth & a
25sky, something of nature near you. even if it be obs-cured by houses &
26smoke? Just as I was writing it came upon me with a thrill of
27restfulness as I looked at the little bit of grey sky through my
28window It’s been raining here all day, now it’s going to leave off.
29 I have one big room for living & sleeping in so I can satisfy my
30Bohemian desires to the uttermost. I’m curled up. You said you would,
31 & now you don’t.
32
33 Olive Schreiner
34
35
36
2 West Hill Rd.
3 Bournemouth
4 Feb 18 / 86
5
6 I should much have liked to hear Mr Parker’s paper. Have you or he
7ever read a certain large History of Prostitution by an American? It
8is not to be had at the British, but if you subscribe to the "London
9Library" or have a friend who does you can get it there. It is well
10worth reading, a better collection of facts of on that subject from
11Grecian times downward that^n^ is to be found anywhere else in English
12or French. I don’t know what they may have in German on the subject,
13do you? I think it would be a valuable thing if all the members of the
14club who felt inclined were to study the C. D. acts Blue Books on the
15subject. I must read more. I have studied the one for 84 I think. If
16you want it, Ellis will send it you, he has it. It is a mass of
17information one needs to study not to read quickly.
18
19 What thinkest thou of the riots? You see I have changed my camp. I got
20here yesterday. A multitude of reasons compelled my leaving Shanklin,
21but I have for it an undying affection. It has a wild individual
22beauty about it that no other place ^that I have^ in England has.
23Bournemouth is beautiful too. Does it ever strike you as such a
24comfort that wherever you wander there will always be solid earth & a
25sky, something of nature near you. even if it be obs-cured by houses &
26smoke? Just as I was writing it came upon me with a thrill of
27restfulness as I looked at the little bit of grey sky through my
28window It’s been raining here all day, now it’s going to leave off.
29 I have one big room for living & sleeping in so I can satisfy my
30Bohemian desires to the uttermost. I’m curled up. You said you would,
31 & now you don’t.
32
33 Olive Schreiner
34
35
36
Notation
'Mr Parker's paper' is 'Sexual Relations among the Greeks of the Periclean Era', read at the February 1886 meeting of the Men and Women's Club. For the 'History of Prostitution', see: William W. Sanger (1859) History of Prostitution New York: Arno. 'C.D. acts' refers to the Contagious Diseases Acts of 1864, 1867, 1869 and the series of parliamentary 'Blue Books' reporting on their workings. Rive's (1987) version omits part of the letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.
'Mr Parker's paper' is 'Sexual Relations among the Greeks of the Periclean Era', read at the February 1886 meeting of the Men and Women's Club. For the 'History of Prostitution', see: William W. Sanger (1859) History of Prostitution New York: Arno. 'C.D. acts' refers to the Contagious Diseases Acts of 1864, 1867, 1869 and the series of parliamentary 'Blue Books' reporting on their workings. Rive's (1987) version omits part of the letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.