Letter to Nikolai Danielson, January 23, 1872

Author(s) Eleanor Marx
Written 23 January 1872


First published in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXVI, Moscow 1935. Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 44


ELEANOR MARX TO NIKOLAI DANIELSON

IN ST PETERSBURG

London, 23 January 1872

Dear Sir,

Papa is so very much overworked at the present moment that he begs you will excuse his not writing himself and my doing so for him.—He has so very little time that I am convinced you will for once not mind his not writing himself.—He says I am to tell you that notwithstanding all the work he has to get through, he would have written long since had he not put off doing so from day to day in the hope of being able to correspond directly with you.—A second edition of Papa's book[1] is about to appear in Germany, and this has given him much to do, for many changes have been made. A French edition[2] is also about to appear, and you can understand what work it is to prepare for all this.— He is up the greater part of the night writing, and all day he does not leave his room—I am much afraid that this will compromise his health.—It is to be hoped that he will soon have finished with these difficult editions. As to Roberti, Papa says I am to tell you that he has seen the essay in the Revue Positive, but never received the book.[3] —Thus it would be impossible for him to write anything in refutation of the said book—and the essay does not give sufficient matter for attack.—Papa thinks you would do well to retard the Russian edition in no way, but to continue as quickly as possible.860—I am in great hopes that when once a French edition of Das Kapital has appeared, an English one will soon follow[4] — the English ape everything the French do, only when a thing comes from Paris does it meet with success here.—For instance, the biography and portrait which appeared of Papa in the Illustration have been copied by no end of papers—not only here but in Spain, Italy, Germany, America, etc.—doubtless you also have seen it in Russia.

We are all beginning to feel very anxious about our 'mutual friend'.[5] —The interest we all take in him makes us fear greatly.[6] —Alas that he should ever have left England! — It is several months since we heard anything, and the last news was not reassuring.—

Hoping, dear Sir, that you will excuse Papa, and begging you to accept his best compliments,

I am

Yours most faithfully,

Eleanor Marx

[7]

  1. ↑ Volume I of Capital
  2. ↑ The surviving manuscript copy of the letter does not bear the name of the addressee. However, its contents and Marx's correspondence on the subject indicate that it was addressed to the heads of the Lachâtre publishing house in Paris. On 13 February 1872 Marx received a reply from the manager Juste Vernouillet, who informed him about the despatch of copies of the agreement on the publication of the French translation of Volume I of Capital. The agreement was signed on 15 February by Marx on one side, and Maurice Lachâtre and Juste Vernouillet on the other. It stipulated that the French edition was to be published in 44 instalments, and sold five instalments at a time. The French authorised edition of Volume I of Capital was published between 17 September 1872 and November 1875. The translation was done by Joseph Roy, who began in February 1872 and completed work in late 1873. The quality of the translation largely failed to satisfy Marx; besides, he was convinced that the original needed to be revised to adapt it to French readers.
  3. ↑ Probably a slip of the pen in Eleanor Marx's letter. The reference is apparently to La Philosophie positive, No. 3 for November-December 1868, which featured a short review of Volume I of Capital written by Yevgeny De-Roberti. Referring to De-Roberti's book, Eleanor Marx probably meant his Politiko- economicheskiye etyudy (Essays on Politics and Economics), which appeared in St Petersburg in 1869.
  4. ↑ Volume I of Capital first appeared in English under Engels' editorship in 1887.
  5. ↑ Hermann Lopatin
  6. ↑ On 10 June 1873 after two abortive attempts Hermann Lopatin managed to escape from prison in Irkutsk. That August Lopatin arrived in Paris.
  7. ↑ A note in the margin in Jenny Marx's hand: 'This Moreau is no doubt a police agent anxious to obtain the portraits of the Communists.'