System Number: 04712
Date: [26 July 1897][1]
Author: JW
Place: [London]
Recipient: Rosalind Birnie Philip[2]
Place: Paris
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler P352
Document Type: ALS[3]
My dear Major -
I have just come back from a trip on the boat, or schooner or whatever it is called, with Mr Webb[4] - I am burnt a deep red - like one of Cicey's[5] Indians! -
About Dieppe - Yes you might go on there, if Bunnie[6] go with you - I dare say a day or two by the sea will please her [p. 2] and you will of course see to the tickets, hotel etc -
Together you might look for the "appartement" - which though the season is coming on rapidly - you may still find - At the further part of the town they may still be possible - rooms I mean - or even in the outskirting villiages [sic] - though you must keep clear of the one where they say Oscar[7] has hidden himself! - and is visited by a little colony of enthusiastic compatriots - I dont remember its name at present - However I would stick to Dieppe - and avoid the sea front, which I fancy would be exhorbitant [sic] - as most fashionable - Besides it doesn't matter, for you need not be far back of it - and in a few steps walk down every morning -
I remember long ago the Sickerts[8] were in a little side street and the rooms were very nice and clean - and of course not too dear -
When you arrive in Dieppe you might [descend?] put up at the Hotel de la Paix - in the Grande Rue -
Because the head garçon recognised me in the street the other day - and said if next time I would go there, he would get me a nice room and take care of me -
He was the little fat waiter with side whiskers who used to wait upon us at the corner table of the Cafe Corrazza[9]
Bunnie would know him again - You would have to ask for Ernest and tell him that he must be most attentive - as I had said he would be - Say that he is to get you very nice room and tell you the price — And [p. 3] say that I am coming - I hope I may turn up myself on Sunday for a day at first -
Tell Bunnie that she will be amused to hear that Mrs Jack[10] of course came! and was full of plans and devoted proposals! I told her frankly of her never writing! and she was aghast and said that it was "brutal" to think of her in that way - and that of course she did write and the letter must have been lost! - - Well and she squeezed out a tear! and said I must promise never to go back on her friendship again - And of all things in the world what do you think she especially is craving for? - the Red Bunnie[11]! - not only because of its beauty as a picture but because of all the associations! - Of course I told her there were already other arrangements - She made me promise that if they[12] fell through she might then have a chance - which I could well do without risk of any kind -
More detail about Dieppe -
Many things to you all
the General
This document is protected by copyright.
Envelope:
'JULY 26 1897'
ToMademoiselle Birnie-Philip
110. Rue du Bac
Paris
[stamp:] POSTAGE & REVENUE / 2½
[postmark:] LO[NDON S. W.] / [6.15?] PM / JY 26 / 97
[postmark on verso:] 9 PARIS 9 / DISTRIBUTION / 1E 27 / JUIL / 97
Notes:
1. [26 July 1897]
Dated from the postmark. The same date was added in another hand on the envelope.
2. Rosalind Birnie Philip
Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958), JW's sister-in-law [more]. JW called her 'Major' and himself 'General'.
3. ALS
The stationery has a deep mourning border.
4. Mr Webb
William Webb (b. ca 1851), of G. and W. Webb, lawyer [more].
5. Cicey's
Cecil Constant Philip Lawson (b. 1880), JW's nephew [more].
6. Bunnie
Ethel Whibley (1861-1920), née Philip, JW's sister-in-law [more].
7. Oscar
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wilde (1854-1900), writer, critic and playwright [more], was staying at Berneval-sur-Mer, near Dieppe.
8. Sickerts
Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942), artist and writer on art [more].
9. Cafe Corrazza
A fashionable café in the Palais Royale, etched by JW in Café Corazza, Palais Royale (K.436).
10. Mrs Jack
Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840-1924), née Stewart, collector [more]. She had hoped JW would decorate a panel in Boston Public Library, but he never completed the design.
11. Red Bunnie
Red and Black: The Fan (YMSM 388). The painting was never sold.
12. they
Continued in the left margin.