Documents associated with: book, Eden v Whistler, publication
Record 5 of 12
System Number: 08505
Date: [10 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
Document Type: ALS
'[1898]'
Now by this time you must have had all my notes & letters - - This is another casual line - at a Café - for the Boulevards are simply perfect - amazing! - how can you stay among the tatooed! - to say that I want news - Also, and above all, to regret that I cannot be with you tomorrow evening when you receive the Lady Bettie & Sir Georges[3]! - - I would show him what he loses!
Such a superb case he never can again have! -
Tant pis![4] - You are coming over [p. 2] and we dine together on Saturday evening -
Wire - that I may arrange for Uzanne[5] and Viélé-Griffin[6] for Sunday - or Monday -
I dined last night at Griffins - excellent - He had seen Nathanson[7] - and left it all to be arranged by you - So that I am still quite safe - and have not in any way been committed to any thing -
Nothing is for a moment proposed to be 'fixed up' until you appear -
Lady Bettie wrote me a most charming letter[8] which I will show you -
And I notice that you are again entertaining the Signora[9]!!!!!!?
Harold Fredericks[10] Gloria Mundi is simply superb! - that is all the first part - But really masterly -
I have not got beyond -
I have had a letter from McClure[11] -
Do send for him and say that I will write and have been prevented by overwhelming work - but, not to lose time, I wish you to say that I should indeed be pleased to appear in America under his management - but that our experience is against lending the book itself!! - Of course if you can see a way out, as doubtless you will, [p. 3] why take it! - So that somebody protect[s] us from robbery -
Do appear on Saturday - or Sunday - I have told Viélé-Griffin that you are certain - and you would enjoy Paris now amazingly -
It is simply marvellous! - - Here am I sitting at the Napolitain, with a light summer overcoat on, and a sense of brightness you can have no idea of! -
It would be ridiculous to give this away next Sunday for Brighton! -
Always
[butterfly signature]
The pretty copies of the book [12]not yet come! -
Carmens Studio[13] stupendous! already about 60 éleves! and all the other ateliers daily emptying!
They come in squads! from everywhere -
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. [10 November 1898]
The date '[1898]' is written in another hand on p. 1. Dated from the references to books and to meeting in Paris (see below).
2. William Heinemann
William Heinemann (1863-1920), publisher [more].
3. Lady Bettie & Sir Georges
Elisabeth Lewis (1844-1931), née Eberstadt, wife of G. H. Lewis [more] and Sir George Henry Lewis (1833-1911), society lawyer [more].
4. Tant pis!
Fr., too bad.
5. Uzanne
Louis Octave Uzanne (1852-1931), writer [more].
6. Viélé-Griffin
Francis Vielé-Griffin (1863/1864-1937), poet [more].
7. Nathanson
Thadée Nathanson, co-proprietor of the Revue Blanche.
8. letter
Untraced.
9. Signora
Magda Stuart Heinemann (m. 1899), née Sindici, pseudonym 'Kassandra Vivaria', writer [more]; she and Heinemann were married in February 1899.
10. Harold Fredericks
Harold Frederic (1856-1898), novelist and journalist [more]. His novel Gloria Mundi was serialized in The Cosmopolitan between January-November 1898, and published in Chicago, New York, and by Heinemann in London in 1898.
11. McClure
Samuel Sidney McClure (1857-1949), journalist and publisher [more]. The letter is untraced. The book in question was JW's account of his dispute with Sir William Eden (1849-1915), painter and collector [more], over possession of Brown and Gold: Portrait of Lady Eden (YMSM 408). He had intended to publish his account with Heinemann but concerns that this might lead to further litigation eventually led to publication in Paris: Whistler, James McNeill, Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly. A Valentine with a Verdict, Paris and New York, 1899 [GM, A.24].
12. book
By 18 October JW was correcting proofs of Eden versus Whistler; see his letter to Heinemann, #09143.
13. Carmens Studio
The Académie Carmen, the Paris atelier opened by Carmen Rossi, model, proprietess of the Académie Carmen [more]. It opened early in October 1898 and closed in April 1901. JW had promised to visit it and in fact supervised it somewhat irregularly. See his letter to the Daily Chronicle, 1 October [1898], #07664. 'Carmens Studio ... everywhere -' is written in the left margin at right angles to the main text.