System Number: 00149
Date: 18 September 1878
Author: Theodore Allingham[1]
Place: London
Recipient: Sydney Morse[2]
Place: London
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler A148
Document Type: ALc
'14'[3]
55 Old Broad Street
London.
18. Sept. 1878
Dear Sir,
I am so sorry you took the Cabinet[4] away without thoroughly examining it - I have written Miss Corder[5] about the alleged missing headpiece but of course I cannot say that it was ever during Mr Whistlers ownership in any other condition.
Yours truly
* Theo: Allingham. (a)
(a) '* Mr Howell's Solicitor[6]'
Sydney Morse Esq
24 Coleman Street
E. C.
'You will remember[7] that I bought the cabinet from you & paid the purchase money to the Landlord[8] of 96
You had not paid the Midsr rent & the Landlord was threatening to distrain upon my goods. SM
for a specimen see his letter 23. Augt.
I bothered you after for a long time got me no answer but you wrote the previous letter'
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. Theodore Allingham
Theodore Frederick Allingham (b. 1845), solicitor [more].
2. Sydney Morse
Sydney Morse (1854-1929), solicitor [more]. Morse succeeded JW as tenant upon the expiry of his lease on 25 June 1878.
3. '14'
In pencil, in another hand.
4. Cabinet
A Chinese 'pagoda' cabinet sold by JW to Morse. Soon afterwards, it became the subject of a protracted wrangle between JW, Morse and Charles Augustus ('Owl') Howell (1840? - d.1890), entrepreneur [more]. It later turned out that Howell, the agent in the sale, had pawned the 'headpiece' of the cabinet whilst claiming it was in for repair. JW published his version of events in Whistler, James McNeill, Correspondence. Paddon Papers. The Owl and the Cabinet, London, [1882]. This letter is a reply to a letter from S. Morse to T. F. Allingham, 16 September 1878 (#00145).
5. Miss Corder
Rosa Frances Corder (1853-1884), artist [more]. Rosa Corder was then mistress of C. A. Howell.
6. * Mr Howell's Solicitor
This line, along with the asterisk before Allingham's signature, is added in pencil in another hand.
7. 'You will remember ... letter'
Note written in left-hand margin in Morse's hand. It has been scrawled over in pencil and blue crayon.
8. Landlord
Robert Booth Latter (d. 1869), solicitor and landlord of 2 Lindsey Row, later 96 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea [more].