Letter to Karl Marx, about May 18, 1862

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 18 May 1862


First published in MEGA, Abt. III, Bd. 3, Berlin, 1930
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 40


ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

[Manchester, about 18 May 1862]

Dear Moor,

You must excuse my not writing. Never have I been so overrun as I have this week. Austrians, backwoodsmen,[1] Frenchmen and, then, today, Borkheim is saddling me with his associé[2] —a nice prospect! I no longer know whether I'm coming or going. And, on top of it all, one's expected to go drinking with the whole crew and make oneself agreeable. May the devil take the exhibition.[3]

In the greatest haste,

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ Backwoodsmen was the name given to early colonists in North America, people settling in remote uninhabited areas. In a figurative sense, backwoodsmen means narrow-minded provincials.
  2. ↑ a partner
  3. ↑ This refers to the second Great Exhibition (world industrial fair) held in London from May to November 1862.