System Number: 07018
Date: [29 August 1895][1]
Author: JW
Place: Bagnoles-de-l'Orne
Recipient: William McNeill Whistler[2]
Place: London
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler W1007
Document Type: ALS[3]
ETABLISSEMENT THERMAL
DE
BAGNOLES-DE-L'ORNE
SALON DE LECTURE
My dear Willie -
I am afraid you would find this place quite too dull and if any thing cold perhaps - But I have an idea that it is just your affair otherwise for your health.
That is to say that its speciality is Rheumatism and I suppose Gout - "Phlebite" - and ills of the kind - My Maitre Beurdeley[4] came here with Phlebite from which he suffered greatly, and I found him here the brown picture of health! He told me that after three days he threw away his elastic stockings!
Of course it is very very much cheaper that Hombourg[5] - But then it is dull - or it is now, and even triste - and there [p. 2] are no Princes - with their belonging in swell Restaurants! -
Still - I should think the waters are exactly your affaire [sic] - We are leaving tomorrow - and going accross to Dorsetshire[6] -
I have cleaned and signed your little picture[7] of the Devonshire sky and little village - and it comes out beautifully! - I have even added a few touches - so that I fancy it really means a good many more guineas than might have been supposed -
Only all these things take a certain way and time in the managing - and Paris is empty - and there are combinations that lead to a good end, and there are hurried ways of losing what I am pretty sure you can rely upon as a good round sum when it does come from the two pictures[8] - -
In haste with affectionate messages from us all to both of you,
Jim.
This document is protected by copyright.
Envelope:
ETABLISSEMENT THERMAL
DE
BAGNOLES-DE-L'ORNE
William McNeill Whistler. Esq. M. D.
8 Longford Terrace
The Lees
Folkestone
[stamp:] POSTE / 25 / REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE
[postmarks x 2:] CAEN / CALVADOS / 9E 29 / AOUT / 95
[postmark:] LONDON-W / X / AU 30 / 95
[postmark on verso:] FOLKSTONE / 1 F A / X / AU 30 / 95
Notes:
1. [29 August 1895]
Dated from the postmark.
2. William McNeill Whistler
William McNeill Whistler (1836-1900), physician, JW's brother [more].
3. ALS
The text is written at right-angles to the printed address. 'No 47' is written in an unknown hand in pencil at the top of p. 1 and on the envelope.
4. Beurdeley
Paul Beurdeley (1842-after 1902), advocate at the Cour d'Appel, Paris [more].
5. Hombourg
Homburg, a spa town in Saarland, in the south-west of Germany, visited several times by Dr Whistler and his wife. JW and his wife, Beatrix Whistler (1857-1896), née Beatrice Philip, artist [more], were in Bagnoles-sur-l'Orne, a spa town in Normandy, France, for her health. She was then suffering from terminal cancer.
6. Dorsetshire
In a constant search for health, the Whistlers moved on to Lyme Regis, Dorset in mid September 1895.
7. little picture
Green and Silver: The Devonshire Cottages (YMSM 266).
8. two pictures
That is, Green and Silver: The Devonshire Cottages and Whistler in his Studio (YMSM 63). JW was attempting to sell both pictures on behalf of Dr Whistler (see #09732 and #07254).