| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 19 December 1893 |
ENGELS TO LUDWIG SCHORLEMMER
IN STUTTGART
London, 19 December 1893
122 Regent's Park Road, N. W.
My dear Schorlemmer, If I have not written before now to thank you for your good wishes on my seventy-third birthday, you can blame it on Volume II I of Capital. This must now be finished once and for all and consequently I have had to put the whole of my correspondence on one side without compunction or remorse. I have now one section left to be done and shall be able to use the few days remaining before the festive season to catch up.
I only passed through Darmstadt 189—Mrs Kautsky, Bebel and wife, a Viennese doctor[1] resident over here and I were unable to ascertain the train in advance, which in any case only stopped for ten minutes or so, otherwise I should have telegraphed you. Otherwise the trip was very pleasant—apart from the tub-thumping I had to do, having once let myself in for it in Zurich. I travelled with Bebel to Salzburg, Vienna, Prague and Berlin and was away from home for a full two months, which did me a power of good. To observe the progress made in Germany both by industry and by the labour movement was in itself worthwhile, and to see our Viennese at work was also a pleasure.
As regards Carl's estate, 199 I have heard very little from Siebold and absolutely nothing about what has happened to the manuscripts and what contracts have been concluded with the publishers. Three matters are involved here:
1. The big work by Roscoe and Schorlemmer in an English and a German edition. 311
2. Carl's own Manual of the Chemistry of the Carbon Compounds[2] new edition of which was in course of preparation.
3. His manuscripts on the early history of chemistry 312 (according to what Spiegel says in the obituary, Siebold intends to publish this himself).
The English edition of Carl's Ursprung und Entwicklung der organischen Chemie[3] 313 will be handled in London by one of his pupils, now a professor there.[4]
But with regard to the above three points Siebold says little or nothing, Before I write to him again, I should like to ask you whether he has told you anything about the matter and if so what, and whether it is agreeable to you if I ask him for further information. For I have no right whatever, legally speaking, to intervene and would not like Siebold to refer to or even so much as hint at this. If, however, I go and ask him for information for which you have appealed to me, that is rather a different matter and puts me in an altogether different position.
Siebold is an absolutely sterling chap but by nature not over-energetic and in recent years he has been weakened by illness. In which case a little bit of extra help can do no harm.
I hope you are safely rid of your influenza and your wife of the after-effects of pneumonia and are in a condition to face up to the coming festive season with strength, fortitude and cheerfulness.
With kindest regards.
Yours,
F. Engels