System Number: 10810
Date: [November 1898][1]
Author: JW
Place: [Paris]
Recipient: William Heinemann[2]
Place: [London]
Repository: Library of Congress
Call Number: Manuscript Division, Pennell-Whistler Collection, PWC 10/905/1
Document Type: TLc
Pour un petit quart d'heure[3], but you are far away and the pen is damnable. Ainsi, if a last word occurs to you, write with it yourself to-night, that I may have time perhaps to answer by the evening's post.
What Uzanne[4] was saying about the incompleted business, royalty, etc., will of course come out with proper dignity in your hands, and that is all I care about, as you know -
Bon voyage, alors, mon ami, et â bientôt[5].
[butterfly signature]
Mr. Good[6] has paid the 50 Ivanhoes in to Drummonds[7], but not the Associated.
'Nov. 98'
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. [November 1898]
According to the Pennells' note in this typescript, the date 'Nov. 98' was inserted by Heinemann. Dated also from the reference to Ivanhoe shares (see below).
2. William Heinemann
William Heinemann (1863-1920), publisher [more].
3. heure
Fr., for a little quarter of an hour.
4. Uzanne
Louis Octave Uzanne (1852-1931), writer [more]. The 'incompleted business' probably related to the publication of Whistler, James McNeill, Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly. A Valentine with a Verdict, Paris and New York, 1899 [GM, A.24]. JW became agitated when premature publicity about the American edition of the book appeared and he changed the first place of publication from London to Paris. JW and Heinemann 'staged' this event through their letters to the press (see #02257 and #13199).
5. bientôt
Fr., a good trip, and see you soon.
6. Mr. Good
Unidentified, possibly a broker. Both the 'Ivanhoes' and 'Associated' were shares in Western Australian Companies. The 'Ivanhoe' was a western Australian gold mine. The London and Globe Corporation acquired control of the mine and raised a major share flotation (460,000 shares at £2). By the end of November 1898 the shares in both companies were rising steadily but in the following year it was apparent that the speculations were a little risky. See Truth, vol. 42, 8 July 1897, p. 100; Times, London, 29 November 1898, p. 4; JW to W. Heinemann,4 November 1898, #10809, and 30 December 1898, #08512.
7. Drummonds
Drummond and Co., JW's London bankers.