Letter to Laura Lafargue, July 4, 1885

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 4 July 1885


First published in: Marx and Engels, Works, Second Russian Edition, Vol. 36, Moscow, 1964
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 47


ENGELS TO LAURA LAFARGUE

IN PARIS

London, 4 July 1885

My dear Laura,

Herewith the cheque £ 15.- as desired by Paul who I hope does not suffer too much from the heat which ought to be rather trying in Ste Pélagie[1] by this time.

Your adventure with the Russians vividly recalled to me the times when one was never sure that Dupont would not drop in about half past one in the morning with one or two citoyens[2] (something in a lightly elevated state) whom he then and there deposited for the night.

Justice announces, as you may have seen, that Reeves (a rather im- pecunious small man of Fleet St.) is going to publish a translation of Deville's extract of the Capital in 'numbers'. This is a dodge against our translation.[3] If it comes out I shall have to declare that Devil- le's extract is anything but faithful or rather too faithful in the second half, giving all the conclusions and leaving out most of the premises and all the qualifications.

Fortin of Beauvais sends me the beginning of his translation of The 18th Brumaire. I have not yet had time to look at it.

I have nearly done dictating of the 3rd volume[4] —what can be dictated. Then, after my return from the seaside (end of August)[5] comes first the sorting of the letters, etc. (and also of the books), and then the real work with the 3rd volume. Of the 2nd volume no news. If it does not come next week I shall write. These publishers always have some business pretext why a thing should not be brought out at once.

Mohr's trial at Cologne[6] is being reprinted in Zurich. Of the Russian translation [of] 2nd volume 18 sheets out of 33 are already done.[7]

Now I must go to town on urgent private affairs (cash), so no more today from

Yours ever affectionately,

F. Engels

  1. ↑ On 21 May 1885 Paul Lafargue was sent to Ste Pélagie prison, Paris, for two months for failing to pay a fine of 100 francs imposed on him in April 1883 by a jury in Moulins as punishment for his public speeches (see Note 9). To begin with, Lafargue was kept in the cell reserved for criminals, but later transferred to the part of the prison where the political detainees were kept.
  2. ↑ citizens
  3. ↑ Engels is referring to the report in Justice, No. 73, 6 June 1885 that the publisher William Reeves intended to put out Gabriel Deville's book Le Capital de Karl Marx. Resume... (see Note 81) in an English translation by John Broadhouse (Hyndman's pseudonym). At that time Engels was negotiating with the publish ers Kegan Paul and Co. about publishing the English translation of the first volume of Capital (see Note 56). These negotiations ended without success. Marx's work was put out by another publishing house and Deville's book did not appear in English.
  4. ↑ of Capital
  5. ↑ See this volume, pp. 62-63.
  6. ↑ Karl Marx vor den Kölner Geschwornen. Prozeß gegen den Ausschuß der rheinischen Demo kraten...
  7. ↑ To speed up the Russian translation of the second volume of Capital Engels sent Nikolai Danielson the proofs of the German edition as they were printed. The volume appeared in January 1886.