BLACKWELL FAMILY Anna Blackwell Blackwell, Henry B. 1871 - 79160 Gis. Av. N Eglan. Nov. 29. 1871. My dear Harry, I am glad to know that you have so pleasant a house & surroundings. By all accounts your new home must be a very agreeable one; & the prospect from the top of your house particularly fine. George has come out so strong as a chronicler that I regard any farther description of F. A's wedding as superfluous. Mr. Alofsen felt the sort of separation more sincerelythan was expected, & so instead of going at once to Italy, the young couple went to Fontainebleau & then came back to this city, which they are now leaving for their wedding trip. They are to be in Italy until the Spring, & will then join Mr A. in [Inisekey;?] somewhere in Holland; where he will spend the winter. The marriage promises to be a very happy one; & I heartily hope it may prove so to all concerned. My little house is very full just now; the Countess de [Purnar?] being here with her maid, & George also, so that every room is occupied. Marian seems inclined to come to Europe; I hope she will do so. There are many here who will be very gladto see her come back. The weather is cold & gloomy; everything betokens a winter very different from the new year enjoyed so much in St Domingo, the very first use I make of pecuniary independence, should I ever possess it, will be to get away from cold & snow. With love to Lucy & to Alice, I am, dear Harry, yrs afftily, AnnaAnna Blackwell 13 rue Lauristace Paris. May 5. 1875. My dear Harry, This letter will be handed to you by my valued friend, Mr Reed, who is just going to Boston, & whom, with Mrs Reed, I am desirous of introducing to you and Lucy. I am sure the acquaintance will be mutually agreeable, & doubt not that you will be as glad to hear of me from Mr & Mrs Reed as I shall be to hear of you from them on their return to this city. Yours affectionately Anna Blackwell. Anna Wimille. Pas de Calais Aug 24. 1875 My dear Harry as your letter, just arrived, says Georgie is with you, I send enclosed to him through you, asking you to forward it should he have left. If balloon travelling were going on regularly, I shouldn't mind taking a look at yr place, wh. by all accounts, is a very pleasant one; but as for crossing that abominable ocean, nothing wd induceme to rush into such misery, even were I free, wh I am not, and cannot be, until the Bridge is connected into money. To leave France, of which I've intensely sick & tired, wd be simply suicidal; as it wd involve the loss of my "daily bread" & therefore is not to be thought of. I cd not help smiling at the idea of yr jams, wh are no doubt excellent; but I cd only see the curly-headed brown boy, with his sleeves rolled up, & an apron on, defying] me with a grin over a great charcoal bucket with onions or some other contraband article simmering above it. The idea of that boy being gray haired, a husband, father, householder &c is something that cannot possibly get into my head. I've not made any jam this year, havinga lot from last yr & also from preceding year; & everything is bad this summer. Nothing keeps. I've made a lot of the lovely liqueur from Hack currants that the French call Cassis: it will about be ready by the time you come out here. My love to Lucy and Alice, yours afftely Anna. P.S. I've written to Mr Reed (to the Banner of Light) telling him you'd been looking for him, & asking him to send you his address. They are very nice people, great friends of ours. Anna Blackwell La Tresoreiue - Wincillle (Pas de Calais) June 20, '76 My dear Harry, I shall be very glad if you will undertake to manage for us a little matter of business which is dragging[?] annoyingly, thanks to its having been hitherto treated of only by letter, whereas, if you, who are on the spot, will take it in hand for me, a conclusion may probably be easily & quickly arrived at. Messrs Colby & Rich, Eds of the Banner of Light, are selling my translation of The Spirits' Book by Allan Kardec, having engaged to pay me 10 per cent. of the selling price of all the copies sold by them; we have allowed them to have a set of stereos cast from ours, at cost price, as the basis of this arrangement. Theyexpect to have the right of selling two others of my translations (viz. Heaven and Hell which is in hand, & Genesis, which will follow it; but they hesitate about taking up my translation of The Mediums Book, because they have already brought out a translation of their own of this book, which is the 2nd of the Kardec series. I am trying to induce them to suppress their translation which is extremely poor altogether unworthy of the original, & which they have already, not only recouped themselves upon, but have made a good profit upon) and to purchase, at cost price, a set of stereos of mine, which is excellent, so that only one edition of these works may be in the field in an English [?]. They profess the utmost friendliness, & desire to be useful in the spread of the views of which[?] these works are the basis; they know that I make no profit of them, but on the contrary, am doing this arduous work at heavy loss (of time & strength, which, in my case, means money) & I cannot understand their hesitation. They have unintentionally injured me by having brought out their inferior translation before mine was ready, [which?] enabled them to sell a considerable number to the spiritualists in England who would otherwise have bought mine, & who have naturally not been attracted by the very inferior presentation of the work which they have thus put forth, their ignorance of the original having prevented theirknowing how inferior it really is. As, by letting C. & R. have stereo of my translations for the mere price of the casting, I really give them, on excessively easy terms, the benefit of my hard & highly finished labour & of the heavy outlay involved in the printing of these works by one of the very first printing persons of Eng? -- (Ballantyne & co - the printers of Sir Walter Scott &c ) they really ought not to hesitate to sacrifice their trumpery translation for which they paid nothing, as Mr Reed (of Tiffany & Co, the jewellers paid the lady who did it, & C & R. have only done the printing, the cost of wh[ich?], as I know from Mr Reed, they have already covered two or three times over. If they do not consent to set aside their translation of this 2nd vol. of the Kardec series, & to adopt mine in its place, on the same terms as those agreed upon for The Spirits Book, I shall put my translation into the hands of another American firm. But this I should greatly regret, because I wish to be able to work fraternally with them, instead of setting up a rivalry; & also because, as the B. of L. appears to be the most widely known of the Spiritualist journals of America. I suppose the firm of C. & R. to be the most likely to push the sale, so that it would be more to my interest to come to terms with them than with any other firm. Now, Dear Harry, get all my points well into your mind,I try and bring these people to my view. I am aware that you take no interest in the great movement in which I am so deeply interested, but I am quite sure that, for my sake, & by way of helping me personally in a matter which is of considerable importance to me, you will be willing to give me the assistance I need. I came here just a week ago; we have had wintry weather up to this time, but summer, despaired of, appears to have set in yesterday & we are sweltering in a heat that I fear, portends a storm & a new relapse into cold weather and cold. I wish you and yours could look upon me in this funny but pleasant little hole, though, in contrast to your large & handsome place, it would doubtless appear to you a very modest little specimen of rusticity as indeed, it is. Elizabeth, who has been very seriously ill, reports herself as better, but I fear is much weakened by these dangerous & extremely painful attacks. Marian is with her.in London; &, not yet having decided where to pitch her tent, puts off coming here for another month. My love to you, to Lucy, & to Alice. Yours affectionately Anna[*Anna Blackwell*] Aug. 6. 79 Friel (Seine et Oise) France Dear old Harry, My address is simply as above. To add "Paris" would be much as though you added London, Berlin, or any other fancy adjunct. I am making all my arrangements for leaving by the night mail-train via Calais & Dover on Tuesday next. I go earlier partly because I have some little business to do in London, partly to see more of Alice, and will probably be able to come with A. & K. on Wednesday.she suggests the Caledonian Hotel. Strand - wh will suit me perfectly. I shall be very glad to see you again, dear old Harry, on this side of the great passage; also to make acquaintance with the 22-year old niece in whom I seem to be becoming so much interested. And I have been vainly longing, ever since my return to Europe, to make just such a re-visitation as you are planning, & wh I shall greatly enjoy if weather shd prove propitious. But I fear that is doubtful -- though it may grow fine again by the time we start. I've been for some days in Paris on business, I have only just seen your letter. Excuse scrawl as I am up tomy eyes in matters & things, & reserve all talk until we meet. Yours afftley Anna July 26. '79. Dear Harry, What a pity your visit to your native hemisphere should be so hurried! It seems too bad to cross that hideous ocean for a fortnight, to cross it twice, in fact most of the time of your trip being spent on the water!-- I shall do my utmost to meet you in London on the 16th of next month, as you suggest in yours from Hastings, just received. I have no doubt of being able to do so, though my presence here is important; -- but it w[oul]d be absurd to let you come to Paris for the short time which is all you could take for the run in this direction. I shall be delighted to revisit the old places,& to re-visit them with you; though a white-bearded Harry, with a daughter of 22, is something very different from the Harry I remember! I, too, with my 63 years behind me, must necessarily seem to you something very different from your remembrance of me!. I am glad E's quarters seem agreeable & comfortable to you. She will be delighted to have Alice with her, & Kitty is no doubt in a sort of Paradise. Marian will be terribly disappointed not to see you; I should not wonder if your arrival screwed her