Letter to Carl Hirsch, October 25, 1875

Author(s) Eleanor Marx
Written 25 October 1875


First published in the language of the original (French) in Society for the Study of Labour History, Bulletin No. 8, Leeds, 1964
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 45


ELEANOR MARX TO CARL HIRSCH

IN PARIS

London, 25 October 1875
41 Maitland Park Road

Dear Mr Hirsch,

I enclose herewith a short appreciation, written by my mother, of an English actor Mr Irving. Mama would be pleased if you could arrange for its insertion in the Frankfurter Zeitung.[1]

If he had enough time, Papa would himself have written an appreciation of Mr Irving in whom we are greatly interested (although we do not know him personally). First, because he is a man of exceptional talent and, secondly, because the entire English press, in consequence of the most wretched intrigues, has set about him, and engineered what can only be described as a plot against him. By getting the Frankfurter to print Mama's appreciation, you would be doing us a great service.[2]

I should also like to ask you on behalf of a friend, a Russian lady, if you think it might be possible to have an appreciation of Mr Irving published in the Journal des Débats, or else in the Temps or Le Siècle.

I very much hope you will forgive me for bothering you like this, but you have so many contacts with the French and German press, and your influence is so great that you are the only person to whom we could turn. I hope that you will excuse me, and not hold it too much against me.

Papa asks me to say how grateful he is to you for the newspapers you were good enough to send him. He also sends his warm regards, as do we all, to our friend Kaub. Mama thanks you in advance and, as for myself, I remain

Yours ever,

Eleanor Marx

Mama asks me to say that she does not wish her name to appear in the Frankfurter, but that if you want to say who wrote the appreciation, you may do so 'as between friends'.

  1. ↑ Jenny Marx's article was published anonymously in the morning issue of the Frankfurter Zeitung und Handelsblatt on 21 November 1875 under the heading 'Aus der Londoner Theaterwelt'. It was the first in the series of her articles dealing with English theatre and cultural life, and was devoted to Henry Irving, the best Shakespearian actor of the time. Until May 1877, Jenny Marx wrote four more articles for the Frankfurter Zeitung.
  2. ↑ Carl Hirsch was the Paris correspondent of the Frankfurter Zeitung und Handelsblatt.