System Number: 01108
Date: 5 February 1880[1]
Author: Marcus Bourne Huish[2]
Place: London
Recipient: JW
Place: [Venice]
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler F39
Document Type: ALS
THE FINE ART SOCIETY,
148, NEW BOND ST. W.
London.
5th Feb 1880.
My dear Whistler,
Herewith is the coin - fifty pounds - or what my our Bankers say will produce that amount.
So I hope that now we've met all your wants you will hurry back with all your trophies[3] which I'm very glad to hear of - for every one is getting very impatient & less scrupulous [p. 2] people are taking advantage of the stir that has been made of your being in Venice - for instance our late salesman Dowdeswell[4] has got from Howell[5] two old plates[6] of yours & he is actually saying that he's just received them from Venice from you -
Besides people are going off their feed very fast & will want a lot of bringing up to the scratch again -
[p. 3] This fifty pounds will of course bear interest from date of payment namely today at the rate of 5 per cent. until repayment and is secured in like manner to the former advance[7] -
Your letter[8] was very amusing & instructive - Shall I show it to Seyr Hn -[9]
Let me have an acknowledgement of the coin & a letter that you are about to start home -
Yours very truly
Marcus B Huish
J McN Whistler Esqr
[p. 4][10] The Union Bank of London
Argyle Place
have requested Messrs
S. & A Blumenthal & Co
3945 Traghetto S. Benedetto
Venice
to pay you £50 on your application. We register this letter so as to ensure its reaching your hands. The money is sent you by the Society.
Pellew Mugford[11]
Secy
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. 5 February 1880
JW probably arrived in Venice on 20 September 1879 and had meant to be back by the end of December. Huish's letter of 14 January 1880 requested JW's return (#01105) and JW in his reply asked for £50 (#02992).
2. Marcus Bourne Huish
Marcus Bourne Huish (1843 - d.1921), barrister, writer and art dealer, Director of the Fine Art Society [more].
3. trophies
Etchings (K.183-232, 240) and pastels (M.725-828) of Venice.
4. Dowdeswell
C. W. or one of his sons, Charles and Walter Dowdeswell, of Dowdeswell and Dowdeswell, art dealers.
5. Howell
Charles Augustus ('Owl') Howell (1840? - d.1890), entrepreneur [more].
6. plates
The etchings Tatting (K.112) and Two Ships (K.148) (see #02856).
7. advance
The Fine Art Society advanced £150 to enable JW to get to Venice, and agreed to pay £700 for the completed copper plates. Further advances of £50 were paid on 3 February, 20 October and 5 November, and £43.7.0 on 22 November. By December 1880 only £336.13.0 was still outstanding. The FAS did not charge interest on the original loan but charged JW for frames for exhibition (FAS account, 20 Dec. 1880, and letter from Huish to JW, 21 Dec. 1880 (#01119, #011120).
8. Your letter
JW's letter to Huish is #02860.
9. Seyr Hn -
Francis Seymour Haden (1818-1910), surgeon and etcher, JW's brother-in-law [more].
10. [p. 4]
This page was written in the hand of P. Mugford, employee of the Fine Art Society.
11. Pellew Mugford
P. Mugford, employee of the Fine Art Society.