The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 2 [1 ed.] 9781496203250, 9781496201188
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Copyright © 2017. Nebraska. All rights reserved. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 2, Nebraska, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central,
Praise for earlier volumes in The Complete Letters of Henry James series “Rippling through these letters are the first imaginative stirrings of one of the greatest fiction and travel writers in the language. [James] was also one of the most entertaining—and prolific—correspondents. . . . These are richly enthralling letters.”—PE T E R K E MP, Sunday Times (London) “The textual editing of the letters is fantastically thorough, every blot, deletion, insertion, and misspelling being lucidly presented in the text itself and further described in endnotes to each letter; for the reader this evokes the dash and spontaneity of James’s pen, and for the scholar it clarifies every possible ambiguity caused by that dash. . . . The letters themselves are so vivid, funny, and revealing that [the edition] is already indispensable.”—A LA N H O L L I NGH U RS T , Guardian “The general public has been deprived of James’s full epistolary record until now. . . . All the more reason to celebrate the present volumes, handsomely produced and extensively and intelligently annotated.”—PET ER B RO O K S, Bookforum “For a snapshot of nineteenth-century Europe—and a sampling of a great novelist’s young mind—there is perhaps nothing better than the latest, meticulously edited volume of The Complete Letters of Henry James [series].”—A LE XA N DE R T H EROUX , Wall Street Journal
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“These extraordinary, profoundly welcome volumes are the first fruits of an epic undertaking by two heroic American scholars, Pierre Walker and Greg Zacharias. . . . These early volumes give a wonderfully pleasurable picture of a writer at the beginning of his journey, enduring setbacks and barren spells, but already showing the impressive resilience, wisdom, and wit that were the foundations of his astonishing career.”—PH I L I P H OR N E , Daily Telegraph “Like earlier releases in the ambitious Complete Letters of Henry James series, this richly rewarding compilation is well annotated and scrupulously edited.”—J . J . BE N A R DET E , Choice
The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 2, Nebraska, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central,
“The volumes are beautiful, solidly put together, with big type, wide margins, and copious annotations.”—E D MU N D V. W H IT E , New York Review of Books “This edition is not just notable for its astonishing ambition, however; even at this early stage, it must also be reckoned a signal achievement. By every measure, the volumes we have so far are simply outstanding in every major respect. . . . The result is an embarrassment of critical and biographical riches.” —BRUC E B AW ER , New Criterion
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“This latest volume of the Complete Letters represents, no less than its forebears, an inestimable contribution to readers hitherto obliged to hunt down James’s Letters in various selections or scattered archives, and deserves to be greeted with the same jubilant chorus of praise and gratitude.”—A L I C IA R I X , Times Literary Supplement
The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 2, Nebraska, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central,
The Complete Letters of Henry James
1880–1883 VOLUME 2
Copyright © 2017. Nebraska. All rights reserved.
HJ
The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 2, Nebraska, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central,
The Complete Letters of Henry James GENERAL EDITORS Michael Anesko, The Pennsylvania State University; Greg W. Zacharias, Creighton University (Project Director) GENERAL EDITOR EMERITUS Pierre A. Walker, Salem State University TRANSLATION EDITOR Thomas F. Coffey, Creighton University ASSOCIATE EDITOR Katie Sommer EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Andrea Antidormi, Michael Bick, Jennifer Eimers, Caitlyn Ewers, Josi Freire, Sandy Buntemeyer Fyfe, Natalie Gorup, Elizabeth Hopwood, Jamie Jamieson, Krysta Larson, Michelle McGauvran, Tyler Nelson, Roz Parr, Jonathan Plumb, Kylie Regan, Elizabeth Rice, Natalie Roxburgh, Jay Spina, Nathaniel Windon EDITORIAL BOARD Susan Gunter, Westminster College (Salt Lake City); Steven Jobe, Hanover College (Indiana); George Monteiro, Brown University; Rosella Mamoli Zorzi, Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia ADVISORY GROUP Daniel Mark Fogel, University of Vermont; Robert Gale, University of Pittsburgh; Richard Hocks, University of Missouri–Columbia; Philip Horne, University College London; Bay James, Newbury, Massachusetts; Henry James, Dublin, New Hampshire; Fred Kaplan, City University of New York; David McWhirter, Texas A&M University; Lyall H. Powers, University of Michigan; Roberta A. Sheehan, Quincy, Massachusetts; Cheryl Torsney, University of Texas at El Paso; Ruth Bernard
Copyright © 2017. Nebraska. All rights reserved.
Yeazell, Yale University
The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 2, Nebraska, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central,
The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 VOLUME 2
Henry James Edited by Michael Anesko and Greg W. Zacharias
Copyright © 2017. Nebraska. All rights reserved.
Associate Editor, Katie Sommer
University of Nebraska Press
Lincoln and London
The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 2, Nebraska, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central,
© 2017 by the University of Nebraska Press All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. Set in Janson Text by Tseng Information Systems, Inc. Book designer R. Eckersley. ♾ Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: James, Henry, 1843–1916, author. | Anesko, Michael, editor. | Zacharias, Greg W., 1958–, editor. Title: The complete letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 / Henry James; edited by Michael Anesko and Greg W. Zacharias; associate editor Katie Sommer; with an introduction by Susan M. Griffin. Description: Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016. | Series: Complete letters of Henry James | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2015042483 (print) | LCCN 2015051042 (ebook) | ISBN 9780803285477 (v. 1: cloth: alk. paper) | ISBN 9780803288270 (v. 1: pdf ) | ISBN 9781496201188 (v. 2: cloth: alk. paper) | ISBN 9781496203250 (v. 2: pdf ) Subjects: LCSH: James, Henry, 1843–1916—
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Correspondence. | Authors, American— 19th century—Correspondence. | Authors, American—20th century—Correspondence. Classification: LCC PS2123 .A4 2016 (print) | LCC PS2123 (ebook) | DDC 813/.4—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015042483
The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 2, Nebraska, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central,
Copyright © 2017. Nebraska. All rights reserved.
For James Rambeau
The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 2, Nebraska, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central,
Copyright © 2017. Nebraska. All rights reserved. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 2, Nebraska, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central,
Contents
The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883, volume 2, contains 178 letters, of which 98 are published for the first time. Each letter is followed by previous publication information or a note that there is no previous publication.
Acknowledgments
xv
Symbols and Abbreviations
xix
Chronology
xxi
Errata
xxvii
1881 [November 1, 1881–April 25, 1882, or December 26, 1882–August 7, 1883] To Elizabeth Ellery Sedgwick Child
3
November 1
To William Dean Howells
3
November 3
To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
4
November 5
To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
5
November 5
To Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
6
November 5
To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
7
November 6
To Marian “Clover” Hooper Adams
8
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[November 6, 1881, November 20, 1881, or February 5, 1882] [November 9]
To Grace Norton
10
To Isabella Stewart Gardner
11
[November 10, 1881, November 24, 1881, or February 9, 1882] [November 14]
To Grace Norton
12
To Grace Norton
13
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[November 14]
To George Abbot James
14
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[November 15, 1881–January 7, 1882] To Mary Sherwin Gibbens
15
[November 16]
To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
16
November 17
To Isabella Stewart Gardner
17
November 17
To Frederick Macmillan
18
November 18
To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
20
November 19
To George Abbot James
21
[November 20]
To Thomas Sergeant Perry
22
November 21
To Abby Alger
23
November 23
To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
24
November 23
To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
25
[November 24]
To Isabella Stewart Gardner
27
November 25
To Elinor Mead Howells
28
[November 27]
To Elizabeth Ellery Sedgwick Child
29
[November 28]
To Elinor Mead Howells
30
[November 28]
To Thomas Sergeant Perry
31
[November 30]
To Thomas Sergeant Perry
32
[November 30]
To George Abbot James
33
December 3
To Charles Strong
34
December 5
To Robert Grant
35
December 6
To William Dean Howells
36
December 7
To Isabella Stewart Gardner
37
December 8
To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
39
December 10
To Julia Ward Howe
40
December 13
To Grace Norton
41
[December 18]
To Helena de Kay Gilder
43
[December 18]
To Whitelaw Reid
45
December 20
To Henry Adams
47
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December 26
To Whitelaw Reid
49
December 27
To Henry Adams
50
December 27
To Frederick Macmillan
52
December 29
To Whitelaw Reid
54
December 30
To Frederick Macmillan
55
January 1
To Edwin Lawrence Godkin
59
January 7
To Thomas Sergeant Perry
61
January 7
To William Ralston
63
January 8
To Sir John Forbes Clark
65
January 9
To William Dean Howells
69
January 9
To Henrietta Reubell
71
January 10
To Grace Norton
73
January 15
To Edwin Lawrence Godkin
76
January 15
To Jane Dalzell Finlay Hill
78
January 22
To Edwin Lawrence Godkin
81
January 22
To Mary Walsh James
83
January 23
To Sir John Forbes Clark
86
January 23
To Isabella Stewart Gardner
89
January 23
To Thomas Sergeant Perry
92
January 27
To Robertson James
94
January 27
To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
96
[January 29]
To Mary Walsh James
97
[February 2]
To George Abbot James
99
[February 3]
To Francis James Child
101
February 3
To Edwin Lawrence Godkin
102
[February 3]
To Isabella Stewart Gardner
104
[February 3]
To Thomas Sergeant Perry
105
February 7
To Charles Eliot Norton
107
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1882
The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 2, Nebraska, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central,
February 7
To Julia Ward Howe
108
[February 8]
To George Abbot James
109
February 10
To Caroline Dall
109
February 10
To George Abbot James
111
February 12
To Unidentified
112
February 13
To Mary James Wilkinson Mathews
112
February 14
To Elizabeth Boott
115
[February 14–April 25, 1882] To Daniel Chester French
116
February 17
To Helena de Kay Gilder
117
February 20
To George Abbot James
118
February 27
To Edwin Lawrence Godkin
119
February 27
To Archibald Philip Primrose,
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Lord Rosebery
120
[March 3, 10, or 17] To Grace Norton
122
March 4
To William B. Closson
123
March 4
To William Jones Hoppin
124
March 4
To Henrietta Reubell
127
March 7
To Abbott Handerson Thayer
129
March 11
To Unidentified
130
[March 18]
To Edwin Lawrence Godkin
130
[March 23]
To Grace Norton
131
March 29
To Isabella Stewart Gardner
133
March 29
To Arthur George Sedgwick
133
April 5
To John Milton Hay
135
April 5
To Frances “Fanny” Anne Kemble
137
April 7
To Isabella Stewart Gardner
139
April 11
To Grace Norton
140
April 11
To Thomas Sergeant Perry
141
April 12
To Isabella Stewart Gardner
142
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April 14
To Isabella Stewart Gardner
143
[April 16]
To Isabella Stewart Gardner
143
[April 16 or 17]
To Isabella Stewart Gardner
144
[April 17]
To Isabella Stewart Gardner
145
April 18
To Julia Ward Howe
146
April 20
To Francis J. Garrison
147
April 20
To Edmund Clarence Stedman
148
April 24
To Isabella Stewart Gardner
151
April 25
To Owen Wister
151
April 28
To Edward Waldo Emerson
153
[April 29]
To Thomas Sergeant Perry
154
[May 3]
To Elizabeth Ellery Sedgwick Child
155
May 25
To Grace Norton
156
May 25
To Mary Lucinda Holton James
158
May 26
To William Ralston
160
June 1
To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
161
June 5
To Isabella Stewart Gardner
163
June 5
To Edwin Lawrence Godkin
165
June 14
To Elizabeth Eberstadt Lewis
167
June 16
To Elizabeth Eberstadt Lewis
168
June 20
To Eliza Lynn Linton
169
June 27
To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
170
July 3
To Elizabeth Eberstadt Lewis
170
July 6
To Frank
171
July 12
To Frederick Macmillan
173
July 23
To Eliza Lynn Linton
174
July 27
To Elizabeth Eberstadt Lewis
175
July 28
To William Dean Howells
176
July 31
To Henry James Sr.
178
[August 1]
To William Dean Howells
181
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August 2
To Elizabeth Boott
182
August 2
To Edmund Gosse
184
August 2
To Grace Norton
185
[August 4]
To William Dean Howells
188
August 8
To William Dean Howells
189
[August 10]
To William Dean Howells
189
August 12
To William Dean Howells
190
August 12
To William Jones Hoppin
191
August 19
To William Dean Howells
192
August 29
To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
193
August 29
To James Ripley Osgood
194
September 3
To Isabella Stewart Gardner
196
September 3
To Henrietta Reubell
198
September 10
To Moncure Daniel Conway
200
September 11
To Henrietta Reubell
202
September 11
To Moncure Daniel Conway
203
September 14
To William Dean Howells
204
October 7
To Elizabeth Boott
206
October 15
To William James
210
October 15
To William Dean Howells
212
October 16
To Alice Howe Gibbens James
216
October 17
To Grace Norton
219
[18–28 October]
To James Ripley Osgood
223
October 28
To Henrietta Reubell
225
November 8
To James Ripley Osgood
227
November 12
To Isabella Stewart Gardner
228
November 13
To Sir John Forbes Clark
231
November 22
To Charles Hallam Elton Brookfield
235
November 22
To William Henry Huntington
238
The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 2, Nebraska, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central,
November 26
To John Milton Hay
241
November 27
To William Dean Howells
244
[November 30]
To Theodore E. Child
248
November 30
To William Dean Howells
248
December 1
To Elizabeth Eberstadt Lewis
249
December 5
To John Milton Hay
250
December 5
To Theodore E. Child
251
December 5
To Henrietta Reubell
253
December 6
To Robertson James
255
December 8
To Elizabeth Eberstadt Lewis
257
December 10
To Edmund Gosse
258
[December 11]
To Elizabeth Eberstadt Lewis
259
[December 24, 1882–August 12, 1883] To George Abbot James
260
To Charles Eliot Norton
261
December 26, 27
To William James
262
December 26
To Frederick Macmillan
266
[December 24 or 31]
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[December 28, 1882, or January 4 or 11, 1883] To Elizabeth Cabot Lodge James
268
December 28, 29
To William James
269
December 29
To Gertrude Bloede
273
December 30
To Robertson James
275
December 30
To Grace Norton
277
December 30
To Lady Louisa Erskine Wolseley
278
January 1
To William James
285
January 1
To James Ripley Osgood
287
1883
The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 2, Nebraska, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central,
289
General Editors’ Note
303
Works Cited
317
Index
327
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Biographical Register
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Acknowledgments
The Center for Henry James Studies at Creighton University, grants from the Gilbert C. Swanson Foundation, Inc., the College of the Liberal Arts and Department of English, Pennsylvania State University, a Fellowship for College Teachers and Independent Scholars from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a Sabbatical Fellowship from the American Philosophical Society, Mellon Fellowships to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, a fellowship from the Bibliographical Society of America, and a Lester J. Cappon Fellowship in Documentary Editing to the Newberry Library in Chicago contributed to this volume. Particular recognition must go to Pierre A. Walker, general editor emeritus, whose work will appear in one way or another in most of the volumes in this edition. Many other individual contributions of time and money helped make this volume possible. In addition to the general editors, associate editor, editorial assistants, editorial board, and advisory group of The Complete Letters of Henry James, many individuals have contributed to this volume and to this edition. Wendy Graham conducted the volume’s review for the MLA’s Committee on Scholarly Editions. Her work helped produce a better book. Joseph Biancalana continues his unprecedented support of the edition. We are most grateful to him. Nathaniel Windon, at The Pennsylvania State University, was instrumental in establishing the letter texts. Very special thanks to Susan Halpert, Emily Walhout, Rachel Howarth, Joseph Zajac, Mary Haegert, Peter Accardo, James Capobianco, Emilie Hardman, and Micah Hoggatt of the Houghton Library, Harvard University, for their excellent assistance and encouragement. We are grateful for the special and ongoing assistance of Patricia Burdick, Maggie Libby, and Erin Rhodes, Special Col-
xv
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Acknowledgments
lections, Colby College, Waterville, Maine. Thanks are in order as well to Richard Virr, acting head and curator of manuscripts, McGill University Library. Sabrina Beauchard of the Massachusetts Historical Society and Sara A. Borden of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania helped with timely assistance. Cherry Dunham Williams helped us to understand the contents of the Gilder manuscript collection, Lilly Library, Indiana University. Thanks to the Brighton and Hove City Libraries for their assistance with Henry James letters at the Hove Library. We are always grateful to Steven H. Jobe and Susan E. Gunter for their Calendar of the Letters of Henry James and a Biographical Register of Henry James’s Correspondents, which helps us and so many others interested in James’s letters. Natasha Vicente da Silveira Costa contributed research time and expertise to this volume during her visit to the Center for Henry James Studies from September to December 2015. Creighton University has been generous in its support of the letters project and the Center for Henry James Studies. Special thanks go to Rev. Timothy R. Lannon, SJ, former president, to Rev. Daniel Hendrickson, SJ, current president, and to Edward O’Connor, former provost, Dawn Wilson of the provost’s office, Tina Jones of the Creighton business office, and Bridget Keegan, dean of the Arts College. In addition, Gail Jensen, dean of the Graduate School, and colleagues Gregory S. Bucher, Christina Clark, Robert Dornsife, Jeff Hause, Brooke Kowalke, Brent Spencer, Bob Whipple, and Jackie Masker and Jill Dickey, each in his or her own way, have been generous in support of The Complete Letters of Henry James. Caitlyn Ewers, Natalie Gorup, Tara Knapp, Julie Kraft, Michelle McGauvran, Roz Parr, Patrick Phillips, Kylie Regan, Natalie Roxburgh, and Susanne Stahl provided important support for the project in the Center for Henry James Studies. The University of Nebraska Press continues an unprecedented commitment to The Complete Letters of Henry James. Our thanks go to those at the press with whom we have worked and continue to work. Richard Eckersley, who designed the pages for this edition and whose career as a book designer was long and remarkable, passed away just before the publication of volume 1 of The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1855–1872. We are privileged to have been able to work xvi
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Acknowledgments
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with a person of such skill, thoughtfulness, knowledge, experience, and kindness. We remember him through the beauty and elegance of this edition’s design. Our deepest thanks go to Bay James, on behalf of the James family, and to Leslie A. Morris, curator of Modern Books and Manuscripts, and William Stoneman, Florence Fearrington Librarian, in the Harvard College Library, on behalf of the president and fellows of Harvard College, for permission to publish those letters still under copyright.
xvii
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Symbols and Abbreviations
SYMBOLS USED IN THE EDITED LETTERS indicates the presence of an envelope with the original letter. ◇ represents an illegible character. ▬ represents the cancellation to a sequence of letters, probably a word. !"# at the end of a phrase indicates the end of material inserted interlineally; at the beginning of a phrase it indicates the beginning of material inserted interlineally when James did not write a caret. & is HJ’s sign for an ampersand.
REPRESENTS PRINTED LETTERHEAD FAMILY NAME ABBREVIATIONS AHGJ AJ AK GW J HJ MW J RJ Sr. WJ
Alice Howe Gibbens James Alice James Catharine Walsh (Aunt Kate) Garth Wilkinson James (Wilky, Wilkie) Henry James Mary Walsh James Robertson James (Rob, Robby, Robbie, Bob) Henry James Sr. William James
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COPY-TEXT FORM ABBREVIATIONS USED AL ALS APS MS Photocopy TLC
Autograph letter, not signed Autograph letter, signed Autograph postcard, signed Photocopy of lost manuscript Typed letter copy of lost manuscript
xix
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Chronology
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31 OCTOBER 1881–1 JANUARY 1883: CANADA, UNITED STATES, IRELAND, ENGLAND, FRANCE 1881
31 October: HJ arrives at 20 Quincy Street, Cambridge. Early November: Macmillan’s Magazine publishes the fourteenth and final installment of The Portrait of a Lady. 9 November: HJ dines with Isabella Stewart Gardner at Gardner’s home. 13 November: HJ lunches with the Gurneys. 14 November: HJ leaves for Newport, Rhode Island. Mid-November: The Atlantic Monthly brings out the fourteenth and final installment of The Portrait of a Lady. 16 November: HJ returns to Cambridge. 22 November: HJ travels to Boston. He breakfasts with Thomas Sergeant Perry. 24 November: HJ travels to Boston. 1 December: HJ travels to New York City. He attends the funeral of his cousin Mary Helen “Nelly” James Grymes. While in New York, he stays with Edwin Lawrence Godkin. 23 December: HJ returns to Cambridge for Christmas. While there, he sees Grace Norton, Charles Eliot Norton, and the Childs. He sees GW J for the first time in twelve years. 28 December: HJ again travels to New York City. 31 December: Whitelaw Reid hosts a dinner party for HJ.
1882
2 January: HJ leaves New York for Washington DC, stopping first in Philadelphia to pay a short visit to Frances “Fanny” Butler Wister at Butler Place. 5 January: HJ visits Henry and Clover Adams. 7 January: The Adamses host HJ for tea. 9 January: HJ accompanies Clover Adams to a party. Mid-January: HJ continues to socialize often with Henry and Clover Adams. He attends a party at George Robeson’s;
xxi
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Chronology sees former secretary of state James G. Blaine; meets President Chester A. Arthur; sees Mary Abigail Dodge (Gail Hamilton). 26 January: HJ dines with C. N. de Bildt, Swedish secretary of legation, and afterward attends a ball at the British legation. 27 January: From a letter RJ sent, HJ learns about MW J’s serious illness. 29 January: AHGJ telegrams HJ, telling him to return to Cambridge due to MWJ’s deteriorating health. Later that evening, MWJ dies. 30 January: HJ travels from Washington DC to New York City, where he learns of MWJ’s death. He sees relatives, including Helen Perkins, Eliza Ripley, Katie Rodgers, and Lily Walsh. That evening, he leaves for Boston. 31 January: HJ arrives in Cambridge. 1 February: After a small ceremony at the James family home, MW J is interred in a temporary vault in Cambridge. 8 February: HJ moves into rooms at 102 Mount Vernon Street in Boston. Mid-February to mid-March: HJ socializes little but sees Grace Norton often and dines almost daily with Sr. and AJ. He continues to write Daisy Miller: A Comedy and plans to market it to stage managers. AJ and Sr. move out of the family home at 20 Quincy Street and into a smaller home at 131 Mount Vernon Street. 21 March: HJ goes to New York City, where he stays with Edwin Lawrence Godkin. 22 March: HJ is elected to the Athenæum Club in London. Late March: RJ impulsively leaves Cambridge for Faial Island in the Azores. 27 or 28 March: HJ returns to Boston. Early April: After a short stay on Faial, RJ sails to San Miguel (also in the Azores) and then to Lisbon. After much consideration, HJ decides not to travel to the western part of the United States. He begins to plan his trip back to London on 10 May. 10 April: HJ visits the children of Charles Eliot Norton at Shady Hill. 13 April: HJ visits Isabella Stewart Gardner. Mid-April: HJ is briefly ill. 20 April: HJ visits Isabella Stewart Gardner.
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Chronology 21 April: HJ visits Julia Ward Howe. 27 April: Ralph Waldo Emerson dies. 30 April: Ralph Waldo Emerson’s funeral is conducted in Concord, Massachusetts; HJ attends after being invited by Emerson’s son, Edward. 1 May: In preparation for his voyage back to London, HJ leaves his rooms at 102 Mount Vernon Street and travels to Newport. 3 May: After traveling to Newport, HJ goes to Boston and stays at the Parker House. 7 May: HJ leaves Boston in anticipation of his voyage to Europe. 8 May: HJ dines at Butler Place, the home of Sarah Butler Wister, in Philadelphia. 10 May: HJ embarks on the Gallia from New York City for Europe. Mid-May: “Alphonse Daudet” (a review of Daudet’s Mon frère et moi: Souvenirs d’enfance et de jeunesse) is published in the Atlantic Monthly. RJ travels from Lisbon to London, where he waits for HJ. 22 May: After disembarking in Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland, and stopping for brief visits in Cork and Dublin, HJ arrives in London and meets RJ. Late May–Early June: Having given up his plan to stage Daisy Miller: A Comedy in New York, HJ works to produce the play in London. June–July: HJ spends a busy social season in London. He sees, among others, James Russell Lowell, Robert Barrett Browning, John Morley, William Edward Hartpole Lecky, Aubrey Thomas de Vere, Georgina Hogarth, Mary “Mamie” Dickens, Catherine “Kate” Elizabeth Macready Perugini, Anna Lovice Whitmore Van Rensselaer, Mary Louisa Boit, Henrietta Reubell, and Sarah Butler Wister. 5 June: HJ dines with James Russell Lowell. July: HJ privately prints “The Point of View” with Macmillan and Company in London in order to secure the American copyright. Mid-July: The Atlantic Monthly brings out “London Pictures and London Plays.” 29 July: HJ sees Elizabeth Eberstadt Lewis.
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Chronology August: HJ makes a series of short country visits, coming back between each to 3 Bolton Street. 5 August: HJ dines with Elizabeth Eberstadt Lewis. 15 August: HJ travels with William Dean Howells and RJ to Loseley, the estate of Lady Charlotte Temple and John Rose, for lunch. Late August: RJ leaves England for home. Early September: RJ arrives back in Cambridge. 2 September: WJ sails on the Parisian from Quebec to England. 10 September: W J arrives in Liverpool and journeys to meet HJ in London. 12 September: HJ leaves London for an extended visit to France, stopping first in Paris for ten days. W J also leaves London, going first to Cologne and then to Nuremberg, then to various other locations on the Continent. 22 September: RJ returns to Milwaukee. Late September to mid- October: HJ leaves Paris and records visits to provincial French towns, including Tours, Blois, Amboise, Loches, Bourges, Le Mans, Angers, Nantes, La Rochelle, and Poitiers. He spends time with Frances “Fanny” Anne Kemble, Sarah Butler Wister, and Owen Wister while in Tours. c. 13 to 17 October: HJ stays in Bordeaux. 17 October: HJ leaves for the south of France, stopping first in Toulouse on the way to Carcassonne. Mid- October: The Century Magazine publishes “Venice.” Late October: HJ travels to Avignon, where he stays for several days. 17 to 31 October: HJ travels south to Toulouse, Carcassonne, Narbonne, Montpellier, Nimes, Aigues-Mortes, Tarascon, Arles, Les Baux, Avignon, Villeneuve, Vaucluse, and Orange. He then moves north and records visits to Lyon, Mâcon, and Dijon. 1 November: HJ returns to Paris. 11 November: Beginning another week of social engagements, HJ dines with Eleanor Fearing Strong. 13 November: Clarence Rivers King, staying in rooms below HJ’s at the Grand Hotel in Paris, breakfasts with HJ and John Milton Hay. That evening, HJ dines with Lydia “Lily” Ward von Hoffmann.
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The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 2, Nebraska, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central,
Chronology Mid-November: The Century Magazine publishes “The Point of View.” 20 November: HJ returns to London. 22 November: HJ writes to British actor Charles Hallam Elton Brookfield, offering him the role of Eugenio in Daisy Miller: A Comedy. c. 8 December: HJ receives a telegram notifying him that Sr. is seriously ill. He suspends all social engagements in London while he awaits further news of his father’s health. WJ returns to London. 11 December: HJ leaves London for Liverpool in preparation for his voyage to the United States to be with his dying father. WJ stays in London. 12 December: HJ sails on the SS Werra for the United States. 18 December: Sr. dies. 21 December: Sr. is buried in Cambridge Cemetery. HJ arrives in New York City and travels directly to Boston. 22 December: AJ goes with Katharine Peabody Loring to the Loring family home in Beverly, Massachusetts, near the sea as therapy for AJ’s poor health. HJ is ill. 27 December: HJ begins to organize the execution of Sr.’s will with the help of lawyer Joseph B. Warner. 28 December: With HJ’s efforts to reconfigure Sr.’s last will to benefit GW J and RJ under way, HJ insists that W J remain away from the United States for the duration of WJ’s planned trip. 31 December: HJ visits Cambridge Cemetery to see his father’s gravesite. He also spends time with AHGJ and WJ’s children and visits Francis James Child. Afterward, he spends New Year’s Eve dining with Grace Norton.
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1883
1 January: HJ begins to plan a visit with GW J and RJ in Milwaukee to discuss their breaking Sr.’s will. AJ is mostly recovered.
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Errata
Errata from The Complete Letters of Henry James: 1855–1872 2: 102n97.10 Greek statue of Victory • A bronze winged Statue of Victory, approximately six feet in height, housed among other antiquities found near and in Brescia at the Museo Patrio. should read Greek statue of Victory • A bronze winged Statue of Victory, approximately six feet in height, housed in James’s time among other antiquities found near and in Brescia at the Museo Patrio and now housed at the Museo di Santa Giulia. Errata from The Complete Letters of Henry James: 1878–1880 2: 196n195.24 Marian Gilder (1875–76) should read Marion Gilder (1875–76). Errata from The Complete Letters of Henry James: 1880–1883
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1: 83n81.3–4 (p. 000) should read (pp.76–77).
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The Complete Letters of Henry James
1880–1883 VOLUME 2
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HJ
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1881
The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 2, Nebraska, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central,
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1881
ELIZABETH ELLERY SEDGWICK CHILD [1 November 1881–25 April 1882 or 26 December 1882–7 August 1883] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1922 (341) 5
Tuesday a.m. ———— Dear Mrs. Child. I shall be delighted to take tea with you on Sunday; & this time I think I can promise you not to play you false. Very truly H. James jr
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< 3.1 ELIZABETH ELLERY SEDGWICK CHILD • Elizabeth Ellery Sedgwick (1824–98), daughter of Robert Sedgwick (1787–1841) and Elizabeth Dana Ellery (1799–1862), married Francis James Child (1825–96), Harvard’s first professor of English, in 1860. The Childs were longtime friends of the James family. 3.2 [1 November 1881–25 April 1882 or 26 December 1882–7 August 1883] • Inclusive dates when HJ was in the United States, was likely to socialize with Mrs. Child, and used the “jr” in his signature (which he did occasionally even after Sr.’s death in December 1882).
WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS 1 November [1881] ALS Houghton
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bMS Am 1784 (253)-36 30
20 Quincy St. Nov. 1st My dear Howells Eccomi quà! I arrived here last night, after spending two days (& more) in the pathless wilds of Canada, af !"#subsequent!"# to 3
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The Complete Letters of Henry James
5
landing at Rimouski. I promptly opened your note, & assure you that I shall be delighted to see you. To see you here—but even more to see you in your own house. Say I came & took a look at you on Thursday afternoon? If I don’t hear from you that you are "to be!"# absent or engaged I will do so. It will remind me of old days. In tanto, with general salutes, your devotissimo H. James jr Tuesday p.m Previous publication: Anesko 218
< 3.33 Eccomi quá! • Here I am! 3.33–4.1 two days (& more) in the pathless wilds of Canada, [. . .] !"#subsequent!"# to landing at Rimouski • HJ left England from Liverpool on 20 October aboard the Allan Line’s SS Parisian and landed in Rimouski, Quebec, Canada, on 29 October before traveling south through Quebec to Cambridge. 4.6 In tanto • In the meantime. 20
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 3 November [1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1925 (942)-18
25
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30
20 Quincy St. Cambridge Mass. (Nov. 3d.) Dear Sirs. I beg to acknowledge with thanks the receipt, yesterday, of your cheque for $250, in payment for the November portion of the Portrait of a Lady; & the receipt, this morning, of your note of yesterday saying that you hold my semi-annual copyright acct. & cheque at my disposal. I should be be glad if you will forward them to the above address; & believe me very truly yrs. Henry James jr Messrs: Houghton Mifflin & Co. 4
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< 4.30 receipt • re= | ceipt 4.32 be be • be | be 4.33 forward • for= | ward
< 4.29 the November portion • The Portrait of a Lady was serialized in the Atlantic Monthly from November 1880 to December 1881. This installment, printed in volume 48 (November 1881), included chapters 50–52.
THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH 5 November [1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1429 (2557)
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Cambridge Nov. 5th My dear Aldrich. A 1000 thanks for the St. Botolph invitation, which it will give me great pleasure to make use of. It was very kind of you to think of it. I shall if possible, come in this evening; but I am rather afraid there will be obstacles. I shall try, however to surmount them. Yours, in haste, very faithfully H. James jr No previous publication
< 5.23 however • [w malformed]
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5.24 Yours, in [. . .] H. James jr • [written across the letter’s first page]
< 5.20 St. Botolph invitation • Boston’s St. Botolph Club was founded in 1880. Although HJ was not a member, a number of his acquaintances were, including Aldrich, William Dean Howells, and Daniel Chester French. It is not clear to what event HJ was invited.
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The Complete Letters of Henry James
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES JR. 5 November [1881] ALS Harvard Law Library Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Papers, box 44, folder 38 5
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Cambridge. Nov. 5th My dear Wendell I must write a line to tell you how sorry I was I didn’t find you last night at the Club Dinner—a pleasure I had been counting upon for several days. I was on the point of writing to you, to beg you to be sure to be there, but ◇ William told me you scarcely ever failed, so that I felt safe in letting you alone. But I shall see you soon, I hope, & your honoured wife as well. Don’t, however take the trouble of looking me up, here; for I am coming into Boston as soon as possible, to spend a fortnight, & I shall then take good care to find you. Before that, even, if I am able I shall call on Mrs. H., to whom I send my friendliest remembrances. It will be a great pleasure to me to again grasp you by the hand! Ever your fedelissimo H. James jr No previous publication
< 6.11 ◇ William • [W overwrites illegible letter]
< 6.1 OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES JR. • Lawyer, essayist, judge, and Supreme Court justice, Holmes (1841–1935) and HJ were close friends
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from the time both were young men. 6.2 [1881] • Year based on following inferences: Holmes married in 1872 (see line 13); the only subsequent times HJ was in Cambridge at Quincy Street on 5 November were in 1874 and 1881; if the “Club Dinner” to which HJ refers is the regular Friday evening club dinners in which W J, Thomas Sergeant Perry, and many others of the Jameses’ circle par-
6
The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 2, Nebraska, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central,
1881 ticipated, the letter was more likely written in 1881 than 1874, since in 1881 5 November was a Saturday, whereas in 1874 it was a Thursday; finally, extant letters written by HJ from Cambridge during the first week of November 1881, two of which were written on 5 November, are on the same stationery as this letter, unlike the early November 1874 letters written in Cambridge. 6.13 your honoured wife • Fanny Bowditch Dixwell (1840–1929). She married Holmes on 17 June 1872.
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 5 November [1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1925 (942)-19 15
20 Quincy St. Cambridge Mass. Nov. 5th Dear Sirs I must acknowledge the receipt of your statement of account for the last half-year, accompanied with your cheque for $22.95. Yours very truly H. James jr Messrs: Houghton Mifflin & Co. No previous publication
< Copyright © 2017. Nebraska. All rights reserved.
7.21 half-year • half- | year
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The Complete Letters of Henry James
MARIAN “CLOVER” HOOPER ADAMS 6 November 1881 ALS Massachusetts Historical Society Theodore F. Dwight Papers, Adams Correspondence, box 10 5
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Cambridge (20 Quincy St.) Nov. 6th 1881 ———— Dear Mrs. Adams. I wonder where I find courage (impudence you will perhaps call it) to write to you now, after having never written to you from the England you so cruelly deserted! I find it, I think, in the exhilaration of the prospect of soon seeing you in the Washington to which you so fondly cling{—in the thought of the pleasant hours we shall pass there together,—in the vision of the social services which I know you will be so eager to render me! Your gracious promises of this kind linger serenely in my memory, & I find in them a pledge of delightful intimate weeks. I have been at home but a few days (since the 1st,) but I cannot longer delay to let you know of my arrival—conscious as I am that it is fraught with happy consequences for you. I returned by way of Canada (in a ship of the Allan line) & getting off at a lonely village on the banks of the St. Lawrence, stole into the country, as it were, by the back-door. As therefore you may not have heard of my advent, this these few lines will come to you with all the force of a delightful surprise. I am afraid, however, I shall not be with you—(with you—I like that phrase!—) for a few weeks yet! When I do come, however, it will be "to stay!"# as long as possible. I remain another week or two at my father’s— then go for two !"#a!"# short time to Boston & New York—then take the train for the sunny South. I remember so well your last charming words to me: “it will be over there that we shall really meet familiarly!” I must tell you that I am prepared to be intensely familiar! America seems to me delightful: partly 8
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1881
perhaps because I have kept my rooms in Bolton St.! I shall bring you plenty of anecdotes—if your store has got low. E.G. (in Paris, at a party.) An American gentleman & H. J. jr. x x x The A. G. Did you read that charming little anonymous novel Equality? Have you any idea who its’ by? H. J. jr Not the smallest. But there "are!"# plenty of people over there—at least there are two or three—clever enough to have written it. The A. G. Oh, it’s not by an American—it can’t be—from internal evidence. H. J. jr Internal evidence? x x The A. G. There’s a single word that betrays the writer’s nationality. The princess is said to have worn mock-lace. Now that’s a phrase the English always use. The American’s "always!"# say “imitation-lace.” &c. &c. I spent 10 days at Tillypronie not long before sailing—where "there!"# is always an uneasy curiosity x x x x x. I should be so glad to have a word from you letting me know that you count on me even as I do on you! Love to Henry. Ever dear Mrs. Adams, impatiently & irrepressibly yours H. James jr Previous publication: HJL 2: 361–62; Monteiro 2: 47–48
< 8.11 perhaps • per- | haps 8.14 {— • [— overwrites .] 8.25 this these • [second e inserted; dot of i blotted out] 8.31 remember • re- | member
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8.34 familiar • fa- | miliar
< 8.1 MARIAN “CLOVER” HOOPER ADAMS • Marian “Clover” Hooper Adams (1843–85) was a photographer and art collector. She and Henry Adams (1838–1918) were married in 1872. 8.12 so cruelly deserted • After a year in Europe, the Adamses returned
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The Complete Letters of Henry James to the United States in the fall of 1880 (see HJ to Grace Norton, 20 September 1880, CLHJ, 1880–1883 1: 59–61). 8.13 soon seeing you • HJ visited Washington, D.C., in January 1882. While there, he socialized often with the Adamses. 8.22–23 a lonely village • Rimouski, Quebec (see HJ to William Dean Howells, 1 November [1881], pp. 3–4). 9.2 E.G. • exempli gratia, “for example.” 9.4 The A. G. • “The American Gentleman” previously mentioned, HJ’s dining companion in his anecdote. 9.5 Equality • Probably Henry Adams’s novel Democracy, which was published anonymously in 1880.
GRACE NORTON 15
[6 November 1881, 20 November 1881, or 5 February 1882] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (935)
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Miss Norton. ———— Dear Grace. When your note came last night I was out. Alice I think sent you word I would come this evening, but she didnt know I was engaged these many days. I hope you are better—& fear you are unhappy. I come in not with any belief that you can see me, but only to say that I will come out tomorrow Monday evening (if you can probably receive me then.) Send me down some comfortable or reassuring word & be glad that your legs can’t carry you out on "into!"# this odious carnival of dust. Ever H James jr No previous publication
< 10.22 your • [r inserted]
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< 10.15 [6 November 1881, 20 November 1881, or 5 February 1882] • These possible dates are the Sundays when HJ was living with AJ at 20 Quincy Street in Cambridge during his 1881–82 trip to the United States. 10.19–20 Miss Norton. ———— • Written on one side, otherwise blank, of the folded sheet. Conventionally, this would be page 4 of the letter, but likely written to be the first words that Norton saw.
ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER
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[9 November 1881] ALS Archives, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
20 Quincy St. Cambridge, Wednesday. Dear Mrs. Gardner. If it really doesn’t bore you, I shall be delighted to come & spend a night with you—say tomorrow Thursday. If this shouldn’t suit you I suppose you will have no difficulty in sending me a word by telegraph. If I hear nothing from you I will present myself in the afternoon, by some train that will bring me to Beverley at a discreet period before dinner. I don’t suppose I need specify the train, (as I don’t know about them,) for I shall have no difficulty in finding a conveyance at the Station, & still less in walking to your house. You see I am taking you well at your word! It will perhaps teach you greater caution! With many good wishes Very truly yours H. James jr
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No previous publication
< 11.20 telegraph • [second e inserted]
< 11.11 [9 November 1881] • 9 November 1881 is the best date for this letter for the following reasons: in his 17 November [1881] letter to Isa-
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The Complete Letters of Henry James bella Stewart Gardner (pp. 17–18), HJ thanks her for her hospitality, noting that his 14–16 November trip to Newport, Rhode Island, intervened between the visit to Beverly, Massachusetts, discussed in this letter and his ensuing formal thanks. Given that HJ’s visit to Beverly took place on the Thursday immediately before 14 November (i.e., 10 November), this letter (dated “Wednesday,” the day before the visit) must have been written on 9 November. 11.18 spend a night with you • HJ left for Beverly on 10 November, but if later, he must have returned to Cambridge no later than 13 November (when he was home, according to his [14 November 1881] letter to Grace Norton), and before he left again for Newport on 14 November. He thanked Gardner for her hospitality for the visit mentioned in this letter on 17 November [1881] (pp. 17–18).
GRACE NORTON [10 November 1881, 24 November 1881, or 9 February 1882] ALS University of Virginia Library Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Special 20
Collections, Papers of Henry James, MSS 6251-a, box 1, folder 42
Thursday p.m ———— 25
Dear Grace. I will come out & look at you tomorrow Friday evening, & hope to find you well afloat again. Would it be too much to ask
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you to telegraph in case you are to be engaged? Ever faithfully yours H James jr No previous publication
< 12.28–29 Ever [. . .] H. James jr • [written across the letter’s only page]
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< 12.17 [10 November 1881, 24 November 1881, or 9 February 1882] • Because of the reference to Norton’s health and HJ’s presence in Cambridge, Massachusetts, these dates are based on the assumption that this letter was written on the Thursday immediately following the letter HJ wrote on [6 November 1881, 20 November 1881, or 5 February 1882] to Grace Norton (p. 10), which also mentions her health.
GRACE NORTON
10
[14 November 1881] ALS Houghton
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bMS Am 1094 (924)
Quincy St. Monday noon. ———— Dear Grace. I must write you a line to say that I was prevented from coming in to see you last night by a sick headache, of mysterious character & origin, with which I struggled for two or three hours, & then went (that isn’t grammatical) feebly to bed, at 6.30 o’clock. I had been lunching at the Gurney’s—but I don’t know why such a cause should have such an effect. I had been “saving up” the evening, & was extremely distressed at losing it at last. Somehow I don’t see you as much as I expected: but one never does. You will think it a proof of this that I am at last veritably going to Newport "at 2 o’clock!"# this afternoon. But I come back on Thursday—& then—I shall see you more. I am depressed with the way my hours are all expended—though the way is usually pleasant. I mean that they all go—the hours— before I coul "can!"# count them. If it were in London I should understand it; but in Cambridge it’s a mystery; & yet not a romantic one.—Your four lines, with the elegant extract, is 13
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The Complete Letters of Henry James
"are!"# just handed to me. Such is fame! Imagine me gratified, but believe also that greater than my love of fame is the affection of yours ever H. James jr No previous publication
< 13.11 [14 November 1881] • The “Monday” of the week HJ traveled to Newport was 14 November 1881. 13.23 the Gurney’s • Ephraim Whitman Gurney (1829–86) and his wife, Ellen Sturgis Hooper (1838–87).
GEORGE ABBOT JAMES [14 November 1881] 15
ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094.1 (140)
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Dear George. A word to thank you for your visit & to say that I shall see you as soon as I can get into Boston to stay a few days—which I mean to do as soon as I return from Newport, whither I go to-day (to remain till Thursday.) It was very good of you to travel so far to see an old friend who has not forgotten you, & who will be very glad indeed to take you by the hand. He sends many greetings to your wife & child, & remains ever yours, faithfully H. James jr Cambridge Monday noon. ———— No previous publication
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1881
< 14.13 GEORGE ABBOT JAMES • James (1838–1917) met HJ during HJ’s short time at Harvard Law School in 1862. Their lifelong friendship was maintained through letters and visits by HJ to James’s vacation home in Nahant, Massachusetts. In 1864 George Abbot James married Elizabeth Cabot Lodge (1843–1908), the sister of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. They had one child, Ellerton James (1872–1926). 14.14 [14 November 1881] • Sent the Monday on which HJ departed Cambridge for Newport, Rhode Island. See HJ to Isabella Stewart Gardner, 17 November [1881] (p. 17). 14.21 return from Newport • In his 17 November [1881] letter to Isabella Stewart Gardner (p. 17), HJ notes that he returned to Cambridge on 16 November. 14.25 your wife & child • Elizabeth Cabot Lodge and Ellerton James.
MARY SHERWIN GIBBENS [15 November 1881–7 January 1882] ALS Yale University
20
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Za James 50
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Dear Miss Mary. I return the Revue with many thanks, having found exactly what I wanted in it last night after I got home. Will you kindly give the enclosed to Alice? Very truly yours H. James jr
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< 15.18 MARY SHERWIN GIBBENS • Mary Sherwin Gibbens (1851–1933),
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The Complete Letters of Henry James sister of AHGJ. She married philosopher William Mackintire Salter (1853– 1931) in 1885. 15.19 [15 November 1881–7 January 1882] • This date range is based on the reference to La Nouvelle Revue, likely the same article HJ mentions in 7 January [1882] and 23 January [1882] to Thomas Sergeant Perry (pp. 61, 92–93). La Nouvelle Revue of 15 November 1881 included Turgenev’s “Le chant de l’amour triumphant.” It is also possible, though less likely, that the referenced “Revue” could be the Revue Philosophique, in which Joseph-Remi-Léopold Delbœuf reviewed W J’s “The Feeling of Effort” in November 1881. In either case, because Mary Sherwin Gibbens lived in Cambridge, the letter had to have been written while HJ was in the United States. 15.27 Alice • AHGJ.
THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH [16 November 1881] ALS University of Virginia Library
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Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Special 20
Collections, Papers of Henry James, MSS 6251-b, box 8, item 20
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Dear Aldrich. Delighted to dine on Monday at 6. Tanti complimenti Ever yours H. James jr (I but this moment find your note—on my return from Newport.) No previous publication
< 16.17 [16 November 1881] • Because HJ mentions that he had just returned from Newport, and in his 17 November [1881] letter to Isabella Stewart Gardner HJ indicates that he arrived back in Cambridge late on
16
The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 2, Nebraska, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central,
1881 the previous evening (pp. 17–18), the best date for this letter is 16 November 1881. More, this letter makes dinner arrangements for the following Monday at 6:00 p.m. In HJ’s 18 November [1881] letter to Aldrich (pp. 20–21), HJ wrote, “I shall be very happy to dine with you on the 28th at six instead of the 21st.” In 1881, 21 November was the Monday following the 16th, and HJ was evidently rescheduling the plans articulated in this letter. 16.24 Tanti complimenti • Many congratulations.
ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER
10
17 November [1881]
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ALS Archives, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Cambridge. Mass. Nov. 17th. ———— Dear Mrs. Gardner. I should already have written you a line to thank you again for your gracious hospitality! But I started off for Newport as soon as I got back here, & returned only last night: during which time I was not master of my moments even enou[g]h to scrawl you a hasty greeting. I was lunched, & dined, & supped & walked, & talked & driven, & generally appropriated—so that as soon as I took up the pen I had to drop it again. Newport is brilliant & beautiful (though the Season is wholly defunct,) but it has not the sylvan sweetness of Beverley! I take advantage this morning of sending you my last little book (which, this time, is rather a big one,) to hope you are very well & are getting lonely in your little cabin=boudoir. In that case, as I go on Monday to Boston, one may perhaps see you about town. Please receive the volume safely, but don’t trouble to acknowledge it by the post. You can tell me that when you see me. Besides, then, perhaps, you will have read it. America seems to me more & more genial, & I trust I become so myself. Bore yourself a little—& give my friendly 17
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remembrances to your husband. Beli◇◇◇ Believe me also yours very gratefully & faithfully H. James jr Previous publication: Zorzi 69–70
< 17.21 enou[g]h • [g written off the page] 17.30 receive • re- | ceive 18.1 Beli◇◇◇ Believe • [eve overwrites illegible letters] 18.1 yours • [s inserted] 18.2 gratefully • [ly inserted]
< 17.27 little book • The Portrait of a Lady. 18.1 your husband • John “Jack” Lowell Gardner II (1837–98), an American businessman and, along with his wife, Isabella, a passionate art collector.
FREDERICK MACMILLAN 20
17 November 1881 Copy-text Christie’s, Gilvarry
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Will you kindly direct a copy of the “Portrait” to be sent to Baron Tauchnitz, Leipzig? Having paid this tribute to business, I may give you my greeting! Here I am . . . after a better voyage, better borne, than I hoped for & an absurd peregrination through the wilds of Canada in an attempt to find a short-cut from Rimouski, where the Canadian mails are landed (a day before you reach Quebec,) to the center of civilization (need I name Boston?) I don’t recommend any one to come as I came. . . . It is coming into the country by the back-door, or back window. . . . I have been leading for the most part a quiet family life here at my father’s, but in a day or two I go . . . to Boston and then to New York and other places, where my 18
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1881
existence will probably be more agitated. Every one is very loving (no visible hostility as yet,) or all my impressions are rose-coloured. The country seems greatly “improved”, it strikes one altogether as a “big place”, & has never appeared to me so agreable. I have just come back from three days at Newport, which . . . seemed to me singularly lovely. And the skies, and the weather and the sunsets, and the “sickle-pears” and various other little features, are such as I have long been a stranger to. I may confide to you however that I have always a secret sorrow gnawing at my vitals (homesickness for London is its name,) and that the next time I find myself rolling along in a hansom will be one of the happiest moments of my life. Let me anticipate it a little by hearing from you. Do up a little of London in letterpaper and post it to me . . . I hope the “Lady” is doing well. . . . Previous publication: Christie’s, Gilvarry 58–59; Christie’s, Engelhard 90–91
< 18.23 “Portrait” • [copy-text reads ‘Portrait’] 18.26 & • [copy-text reads &] 18.28 Rimouski • [copy-text reads Rimonski] 18.29–30 (need I name Boston?) • [Christie’s, Engelhard gives (need I name Boston?).] 18.30–31 as I came. . . . • [Christie’s, Engelhard gives as I came. . . .] 18.32 back window. . . . • [Christie’s, Engelhard gives back window. . . .] 18.33 father’s • [copy-text reads fathers] 19.3 “improved” • [copy-text reads ‘improved’] 19.4 “big place” • [copy-text reads ‘big place’]
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19.4 & • [copy-text reads &] 19.5 agreable • [misspelled] 19.7 “sickle-pears” • [copy-text reads ‘sickle-pears’] 19.13–14 letter- | paper • letter-paper 19.14 “Lady” • [copy-text reads ‘Lady’] 19.14 is doing well. . . . • [copy-text reads is doing well . . .]
19
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< 18.21 Copy-text Christie’s, Gilvarry • MS unknown. This text is edited from Christie’s, Gilvarry (58–59). The description for the item (145) gives the letter’s return address as “20 Quincy Street, Cambridge, Mass” and date as “17 November 1881.” 18.24 Baron Tauchnitz, Leipzig • Christian Bernhard Tauchnitz (1816–95), a German publisher who specialized in Continental editions of English-language books. His publishing firm published sixteen of HJ’s books. 19.7 “sickle-pears” • Seckel pears, sometimes called “sugar pears” for their intense sweetness. 19.14 the “Lady” • The Portrait of a Lady.
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THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH 18 November [1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1429 (2558)
20
My dear Aldrich I am very sorry to hear of Howells’s indisposition, & shall immediately go & ask about him. Meanwhile I shall be very happy to dine with you on the 28th at six, instead of the 21st. But I shall see you before that—early in the week. I should
25
already have done so, but that I have been constantly out of town (at Beverley, Newport, &c,) & have also postponed from day to day my déménagement into Boston. This will now,
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however, almost immediately take place.—I have just read your “Stillwater Tragedy”, which seems to me beautifully done. You 30
have a charming touch (excuse the phrase,) & I am sorry you are stopping authorship. I have also read with extreme pleasure Miss Jewett’s Deephaven—you see I am getting up my American literature. Deephaven is a little masterpiece. Recommend me 20
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1881
some other specimens of native talent, & believe me with many saluations to Mrs. Aldrich ever yours H. James jr Cambridge, Nov. 18th 20 Quincy St.
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< 21.2 saluations • [misspelled]
< 20.21 Howells’s indisposition • William Dean Howells, then editor of the Atlantic Monthly, was bedridden as the result of a nervous breakdown (Anesko 219n1; Lynn 253–54). 20.27 déménagement • relocation. 20.29 “Stillwater Tragedy” • Published in 1880, Aldrich’s novel The Stillwater Tragedy relates a tale of murder and malcontent among members of some trade unions in a small New England manufacturing town. 20.32 Miss Jewett’s Deephaven • Sarah Orne Jewett’s novel represents the fictitious seaport town of Deephaven, which was inspired by her native South Berwick, Maine. 21.2 Mrs. Aldrich • Mary Elizabeth “Lilian” Woodman (c. 1841–1927) married Thomas Bailey Aldrich on 28 November 1865.
GEORGE ABBOT JAMES
25
19 November [1881] ALS Houghton
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bMS Am 1094.1, box 2 ( James, G. A. 06)
Cambridge, Saturday, Nov. 19th Dear George. Thank you kindly for asking me to name a day to dine. Naming the day is proverbially a bashful business, but I risk Wednesday next 23d, if you have nothing against it? I shall be 21
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from that moment, for a week or two, at the Hôtel Vendôme, Boston. Ever yours H. James jr No previous publication
< 22.1 Hôtel Vendôme • A luxury hotel located at Commonwealth Avenue and Dartmouth Street in Boston’s Back Bay.
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THOMAS SERGEANT PERRY [20 November 1881] ALS Colby College Special Collections, Waterville, Maine
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Cambridge, Tuesday. "Sunday.!"# ———— Dear Tom. It’s a shame I haven’t managed to see more of you yet—but I have been up to my neck in Cambridge,—& in Newport. I go into Boston pretty definitely on Tuesday—that is, on Wednesday; but I have to go in "for business!"# on Tuesday morning. Won’t you, therefore, if it doesn’t derange the economy of your day, breakfast with me at, say, 10 o’clock, at Parker’s? So we can have a much-deferred talk. If I hear nothing from you I shall look out for you (in the female compartment, if I remember the place rightly,) at 10 sharp, on the said Tuesday 22d. I hope you can stay your stomach till then—I will prop it up afterwards. I don’t propose dinner, as I have a vista of engagements at that hour. Ever yours H. James jr
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1881
✉ T. S. Perry esq. 312 Marlborough St. Boston 5
[Postmarks:] BOSTON NOV 20 8 PM 1881 MASS[;] 11-21-81 8 A No previous publication
< 22.23 breakfast • break- | fast 22.24 much-deferred • much- | deferred
< 22.24 Parker’s • The Parker House, opened in 1855 at Tremont and School Streets, was one of Boston’s best hotels and included an excellent restaurant. 22.25 in the female compartment • The ladies’ dining room at the Parker House restaurant.
ABBY ALGER 21 November [1881] ALS Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
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Za James 10
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Cambridge Nov. 21st Dear Madam I am extremely obliged to you for the honour you do me in inviting me to address an audience of seventy young women at the Saturday morning club; but hasten to assure you that the absence of a topic, the entire want of the habit of public speaking, the formidable character of the assembly, & an extreme personal diffidence, present themselves to me as cogent reasons 23
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The Complete Letters of Henry James
for refusing myself the distinction you so kindly place within my reach. I remain, with many thanks, regrets & compline compliments, & the request that you will assure the ladies of the Saturday morning club of my extreme consideration, very 5
respectfully yours Henry James jr Miss Alger. Previously published: HJL 2: 363
< 24.2–3 compline compliments • [m overwrites ne]
< 23.21 ABBY ALGER • Abby Langdon Alger (1850–1917), author and translator. 23.31 the Saturday morning club • A Boston social and intellectual club organized by Julia Ward Howe in 1871.
THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH 20
23 November [1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1429 (2554)
Cambridge Nov. 23d 25
Dear Aldrich The points I wished to mention to you yesterday with regard to my proposed new serial are as follows:
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1̊ That it appear in January (or February) of 1883 & run twelve months exactly. 30
1 2̊ That it be published in the same manner as the p Portrait of a l Lady, that is, appear in an English magazine of the month preceding the date of its publication here. 3̊ That I receive for it $300 a number. 24
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—I think that is all. Would you kindly let me know your conclusions at your earliest convenience? Yours very truly H. James jr P.S. My address for the next fortnight will be Parker House Boston. ————
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< 24.30 1 2 • [2 overwrites 1] 24.30 p Portrait • [P overwrites p] 24.31 l Lady • [L overwrites l] 24.32 preceding • pre- | ceding 24.32 publication • publica- | tion
< 24.27 my proposed new serial • HJ’s proposal was not accepted. 25.1–2 your conclusions • In the margins of this letter, Aldrich penciled the words, “I declined this offer.”
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 23 November [1881] ALS Houghton
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bMS Am 1925 (942)-20
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Cambridge Nov. 23d. Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Dear Sirs. I had some talk yesterday with one of your gentlema gentlemen (in Park St.,) which appeared to be all that is necessary to be said just now in relation to Roderick Hudson. I desire that the American edition of the book should remain for the present out of print. The English edition is virtually a 25
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new book, & a very inferior "superior!"# one; & it is only in that form that I wish it presented again to the American public. As however the American public appears to be "in!"# no hurry for it (although the novel in question has had more success in England than any of my other productions,) it seems to me it had better be left to wait for. it. I do not, accordingly, suggest a new issue of Roderick Hudson now. Let it become scarce!—There is another point of which I wish to speak. Ten percent royalty on the retail price of the my volumes seems to me a very beggarly profit. Let me request then that it be raised then to fifty !"#twenty.!"# My "next!"# half-yearly account in that case will present a less meagre appearance than the last that you sent me. I Please let me receive your assent to this. Yours very truly H. James jr Previous publication: Horne 131–32
< 25.30–31 gentlema gentlemen • [e overwrites a] 26.13 I Please • [P overwrites I]
< 25.33–34 I desire that the American edition of the book should remain for the present out of print. • “To accomodate James [. . .] Houghton, Mifflin imported English sheets [. . .] of the one volume 1880 second English edition, revised, first impression [. . .], with new prelims, for the 1882 and 1885 American issues [. . .]” (Supino 26–27). 25.34–26.1 The English edition is virtually a new book • Roderick Hudson, first published by James R. Osgood and Company in 1875, was published in the U.K. by Macmillan in 1879 in three volumes and subtitled
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Revised Edition. The Macmillan edition contains numerous changes from the first, and HJ reorganized the original thirteen chapters into twenty-six. 26.6–7 a new issue of Roderick Hudson • In 1882 Houghton, Mifflin and Company imported from Macmillan sheets of the revised novel and bound them to match its 1881 edition of The Portrait of a Lady.
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ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER [24 November 1881] ALS Archives, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Parker House Thanksgiving Day. Dear Mrs. Gardner I am most annoyed & disgusted that the big little book should not yet have reached you. The order was sent to the publishers the day (or two,) before I wrote to you; & should immediately have been attended to. I will imme instantly look into it, & you shall receive the volume.—I am delighted to hear that you are coming to town next "so soon!"#, & shall lose no time in waiting fr "on!"# you, as you kindly propose. I shall be sure to turn up on Tuesday or Wednesday. If you are in town before the 1st. Dec, I am afraid that day will again become the limit of my stay. But that is not till the end of the week. How very becoming this snowstorm must be to you! Yours, with all the good wishes of the season, very faithfully Henry James jr Previous publication: Zorzi 71–72
< 27.11 imme instantly • [nstan overwrites mme]
< 27.2 [24 November 1881] • Date of Thanksgiving Day in 1881. 27.5 Parker House • Parker House hotel, Boston.
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27.8 the big little book • The Portrait of a Lady.
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ELINOR MEAD HOWELLS 25 November [1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1784.5 (31)-1 5
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Hotel Brunswick Boylston St. Boston ———— Dear Mrs. Howells. My mother called on Dr. Wesselhoeft yesterday & learnd that your husband was “doing as well as could be expected”; but if you could find time to write me three lines, to tell me from your self "—& from himself—!"# that he is better, I should be very grateful. In two or three days I shall come out again to see you—I have moved into town & am rather further from you now; but wh !"#meanwhile!"# (if you are not out of patience with all the notes you must have to write, I shall be delighted for a word of tidings. Give the sick gentleman my love & my blessing, & receive the extreme sympathy of yours very faithfully Henry James jr. Nov. 25th ———— ———— No previous publication
< 28.11 yesterday • yes- | terday
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28.11 learnd • [misspelled]
< 28.6 Hotel Brunswick • Built in 1876, the Brunswick Hotel in downtown Boston was one of the finest American hotels. 28.11 Dr. Wesselhoeft • Dr. Robert Wesselhoeft, a leading homeopathic doctor in Boston.
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ELIZABETH ELLERY SEDGWICK CHILD [27 November 1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1922 (342) 5
Brunswick Hotel Boston. ———— Dear Mrs. Childe I shall be delighted to dine with you on Sunday next at 6.30. It has been a great regret to me that I shld. have as yet seen so little of you. But I "shall!"# presently return to Cambridge & see more. Then I shall thank you properly for all the amiable things you say to yours very faithfully H. James jr Sunday p.m. ———— No previous publication
< 29.2 [27 November 1881] • HJ had been in Boston at the Hotel Brunswick since at least 25 November (HJ to Elinor Mead Howells, 25 November [1881], p. 28) and did not return to Cambridge until the end of November. The only Sunday on which HJ was a guest at the Brunswick
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was 27 November.
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ELINOR MEAD HOWELLS [28 November 1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1784.5 (31)-2 5
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Hotel Brunswick Monday. Dear Mrs. Howells. Thank you so kindly—I am delighted, & I earnestly hope that all will work smoothly. Of course I won’t come out now—I will spare you, most tenderly; especially as you had my mother & sister yesterday. But the 1st moment I may, I will come. I return to Cambridge in two or three days. Meanwhile, all good wishes. Very faithfully yours H. James jr No previous publication
< 30.2 [28 November 1881] • HJ had been in Boston at the Hotel Brunswick since at least 25 November (HJ to Elinor Mead Howells, 25 November [1881], p. 28) and did not return to Cambridge until the end of November. Monday, 28 November, is the only Monday HJ was a guest
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at the Brunswick.
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THOMAS SERGEANT PERRY [28 November 1881] ALS Colby College Special Collections, Waterville, Maine
✉ 5
Brunswick. Monday. ———— Indeed I will come (dear Tom) to the club dinner on Friday.— I enclose you a missive just rec’d. from Mrs. Howells, which don’t return. Greetings to your ladies, of every age. Your hurried H. J jr
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✉ T. S. Perry esq. 312 Marlborough St. Boston.
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[Postmark:] BOSTON NOV 28 5 PM 1881 MASS. [Partially legible postmark:] 11-[. . .]-81 8 A No previous publication
< 31.9 Mrs. Howells • Elinor Mead Howells, wife of William Dean
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Howells.
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THOMAS SERGEANT PERRY [30 November 1881] ALS Colby College Special Collections, Waterville, Maine 5
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Cambridge, Wednesday. Dear Tom. A sad obligation has co[me] upon me which prevents my dining on Saturday Friday. I go on to New York on Thursday p.m., to be present at the funeral of a near & dear relation (my cousin—the nearest of my cousins now—), Mrs. Alfred Grymes. I am extremely sorry to miss the dinner—but it [. . .] absolutely necessary. I sh[all] come back to Boston again as soon as I can, & I shall come in to see you to-day or tomorrow. In haste ever yours H. James [jr] No previous publication
< 32.7 co[me] • [MS torn] 32.11 [. . .] • [MS torn] 32.12 sh[all] • [MS torn] 32.15 [jr] • [MS torn]
< 32.10 Mrs. Alfred Grymes • Mary Helen “Nelly” James Grymes (1840–81); see HJ to George Abbot James, [30 November 1881],
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p. 33.
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1881
GEORGE ABBOT JAMES [30 November 1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094.1 (141)
189 BEACON STREET.
5
Wednesday 4.30 ———— Dear George—I am extremely sorry to miss both of you—& not to have managed to find you sooner—after all your kindness to me. But I have absolutely not been my own master. Tomorrow (evening) I go to New York suddenly, on a painful errand—i.e. to the funeral of my poor cousin Nelly Grymes (James) who has just died in childbirth. I come back here later (tho’ I hardly) know when) for a better visit. Many thanks to both of you & kind regards to Mrs. James. If I can tomorrow, I will try again. Ever dear George your’s faithfully H James jr No previous publication
< 33.13–14 Nelly Grymes ( James) who has just died in childbirth • Mary Helen “Nelly” James Grymes (1840–81) was the daughter of HJ’s uncle John Barber James. In 1868 she married Dr. Charles Alfred Grymes of
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New York City.
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CHARLES STRONG 3 December [1881] ALS University of Virginia Library Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Special 5
Collections, Papers of Henry James, MSS 6251-a, box 1, folder 56
115 EAST 25 TH STREET
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Dear Mr. Strong. I am greatly obliged to you for your friendly invitation. Godkin has made several engagements for me next week, but he tells me that I am at liberty on Tuesday. If that day is not inconvenient to you, therefore, I shall be very happy indeed to dine with you, & if I hear nothing from you to the contrary, will present myself at 7 o’clock. I am afraid, from what Godkin tells me, that I shall miss Mrs. Welman—but I shall, I hope see her later. Very truly yours H. James jr. Dec. 3d.
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< 34.1 CHARLES STRONG • Charles Edward Strong (1824–97), cousin of Manhattan jurist and diarist George Templeton Strong and estranged husband of Eleanor Fearing Strong. HJ met Charles Strong in Rome in 1869. 34.10 Godkin • Edwin Lawrence Godkin (1831–1902) founded the Nation in 1865 and published many of HJ’s earliest reviews and articles. In 1881 the Nation merged with the New York Evening Post, which Godkin
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edited from 1883 to 1900. 34.15 Mrs. Welman • Kate Fearing Strong (b. 1851), Charles Strong’s daughter, who married Arthur Welman in 1878.
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ROBERT GRANT 5 December [1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1115 (370)
115 EAST 25 TH STREET
5
Dear Mr. Grant. It is after the day, but I must thank you very kindly for your invitation to the dinner of the p Papyrus Club, which I have but just received. I came to New York on Thursday evening, just after parting with you at Mrs. Perkins’s, & was a hundred miles away (or much more) while you & your hospitable friends were feasting at the Revere House. Kindly express to the latter my cordial thanks & regrets, & reserve a measure of the same for yourself. I shall be in Boston again before the winter is over— & then perhaps you will pay me that visit which I never received in London! Very truly yours Henry James jr New York. Dec. 5th ———— No previous publication
< 35.9 p Papyrus • [P overwrites p] 35.14 reserve • re- | serve
< Copyright © 2017. Nebraska. All rights reserved.
35.1 ROBERT GRANT • Robert Grant (1852–1940) was an American author and probate court judge best known for his novel Unleavened Bread, published in 1900. 35.9 the dinner of the [. . .] Papyrus Club • The Papyrus Club was a Bostonian literary organization founded in 1872. American authors Mark Twain and Walt Whitman were two of its members.
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The Complete Letters of Henry James 35.13 Revere House • A luxury hotel on Bowdoin Square, Boston. 35.15 I shall be in Boston again • HJ did not return to Boston before the end of 1881. He returned only to Cambridge for Christmas (see HJ to Thomas Sergeant Perry, 7 January [1882], p. 61).
WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS 6 December [1881] ALS Houghton 10
bMS Am 1784 (253)-38
115 EAST 25 TH STREET
15
20
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25
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Tuesday. Dear Howells I must not let another hour pass without wishing you joy of your I trust placid convalescence. I came off hurriedly to this place (to attend the funeral of a near relative,) on Thursday night last, & since then have been uninterruptedly given up to family duties & to the social ministrations of Godkin, with whom I am staying. Even now I am writing with one eye on the clock, for an impending appointment. This therefore is not a letter; it is merely a scribbled stop-gap, to tell you that I shall very immediately write, that I envelop you with good wishes & that I am not the neglectful brute I seem. I earnestly hope that you are well out of the woods—& can see the sky & the horizon. You have had an odious moment, but I believe you now to be given over to the amiable languor of a repentant invalid. I won’t speak of New York to-day, but I will tomorrow or next day. It is very diverting & tremendously metropolitan. Si diverti anchè Lei! Congratulate your wife & children for me & believe me ever your devotissimo H. James jr Dec. 6th. ———— 36
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1881 Previous publication: Anesko 219
< 36.17 relative • [i inserted] 36.19 ministrations • ministra- | tions 36.28 tomorrow • to- | morrow
< 36.16 placid convalescence • Since mid-November 1881 Howells had been ailing from what is generally assumed to be a nervous breakdown (see Anesko 219n1; Lynn 253–54). 36.17 the funeral of a near relative • HJ’s cousin Nelly Grymes died in childbirth at the end of November (see HJ to George Abbot James, [30 November 1881], p. 33). 36.29–30 Si diverti anchè Lei! • May you also be enjoying yourself!
ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER 7 December [1881] ALS Archives, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
115 EAST 25 TH STREET
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20
New York. ———— Dec. 7th Dear Mrs. Gardener I didn’t come in, after all, that last day, as perhaps you noticed; I was so hard pushed to get away that evening that I hadn’t time even to ring your bell & run away—Then, too, I thought it probably probable Mrs. Palfrey would be there, or if not Mrs. Palfrey, some other of ces dames{, so that I shouldn’t see you—to call it seeing you—after all. I therefore said to myself—“I will write her a little note”; and that will make it up!” Here, accordingly, is the little note. You will say it has been a long time coming{—& my only answer to that can be that time goes so fast in New York. I have stepped into a network 37
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of engagements made for me by my genial host (Godkin,)— have rarely been able to lay my hand upon the fleeting hour ◇ & say “This is my own.” New York seems to me very brilliant and beautiful, & the streets amuse me as much as if I had come from Hartford, Conn,—or Harrisburg, Penn—instead of from London & Paris—& Boston! I have dined out every day for a week, & found the talk & the entrées equally good. Last night I was at a pleasant feast with three lovely ladies without their lords—Mrs. Butler Duncan, Mrs. Charles Post, & Mrs. Baldy Smith—the males being Charles Strong (the host,) Mrs !"#Godkin!"#, & my susceptible self. These ladies were charming, but what made most impression on me was that we talked of you. They wanted to know about you—they had heard you were so original! I gave a sketch—with a few exquisite touches—& then they sighed & said to each-other: “ah, if we only knew how to be like that!” But they don’t! I hope very much that your husband is doing well, & send m him my hearty good-wishes. Have you found your ink-bottle yet? If so, I should greatly value a few drops from it. Or if you haven’t, even a leadpencil might trace a few lines which though not indelible in themselves, would not easily be effaced from the memory of yours very faithfully H. James jr. Previous publication: HJL 2: 363–64; Zorzi 73–74
< 37.24 Gardener • [ first e inserted] 37.28 probably probable • [e overwrites y]
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37.29 {, • [, overwrites .] 37.31 ” • [blotted out] 37.33 {— • [— overwrites .] 38.3 ◇ & • [& overwrites illegible letter] 38.3 brilliant • bril- | liant 38.15 each-other • each- | other
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1881 38.17 m him • [h overwrites m] 38.19–20 lead- | pencil • lead- | pencil
< 37.28 Mrs. Palfrey • Likely Louisa C. Palfrey (b. c. 1840), mother of Anna, Marian, and Louisa Palfrey, who were, in later years, among Isabella Stewart Gardner’s correspondents. 38.9 Mrs. Butler Duncan • Wife of William Butler Duncan (1853– 1933). 38.9 Mrs. Charles Post • Mary Minturn (b. 1850), relative of HJ’s cousin Minnie Temple (1845–70). 38.9–10 Mrs. Baldy Smith • Sarah Ward Lyon (1840–99), wife of William Farrar “Baldy” Smith (1824–1903). 38.10 Charles Strong • Charles Edward Strong (1824–97); see HJ to Charles Strong, 3 December [1881], p. 34n34.1.
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 8 December 1881 ALS Houghton bMS Am 1925 (942)-21
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115 EAST 25 TH STREET, New York.
Dec. 8th 1881. ———— Messrs. Houghton Mifflin & Co. Dear Sir: I beg to acknowledge with thanks your cheque for $250, (sent to me at the Brunswick Hotel Boston, & which has but just reached me here) in payment for the concluding number of my serial in the Atlantic. I take the same occasion to ask you to be so good as to send a copy of the Portrait to: Mrs Stephenson Brunswick Hotel. New York City & greatly oblige yours very truly H. James jr 39
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< 39.28–29 my serial • The Portrait of a Lady was serialized in the Atlantic Monthly from November 1880 to December 1881. 39.31 Mrs Stephenson • Frances “Fanny” Matilda Van de Grift Osbourne (1840–1914), who married Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) in May 1880. Her marriage to Stevenson was her second, following that to Samuel Osbourne, with whom she had three children: Isobel (1858–1953), Samuel (1868–1947), and Hervey (1871–76). Fanny and Robert Osbourne were divorced in December 1879.
JULIA WARD HOWE 10 December [1881] 15
ALS Houghton bMS Am 2214 (214)
115 EAST 25 TH STREET
20
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25
30
Dec. 10th New York ———— Dear Mrs. Howe. Your kind note has just been forwarded to me here—whither I came more than a week ago, the day after having seen your delightful daughter. It gives me a sad sense of opportunity lost, & increases my constant fund of melancholy reflection on what might have been! I take refuge however in thinking hopefully of what may still be. I thank you very kindly for your invitation, & accept it eagrly for another time. I commend myself humbly to your daughter, & remain very faithfully yours—H. James jr No previous publication
< 40.29 eagrly • [misspelled]
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1881
< 40.13 JULIA WARD HOWE • Julia Ward Howe (1819–1910) was an American writer, abolitionist, and leader in the women’s suffrage and other social reform movements. Howe was a founder of Boston’s Saturday Morning Club. She may be best remembered for composing the lyrics to “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” HJ first met Howe in Newport in the 1860s. 40.24–25 your delightful daughter • Howe had four daughters, three of whom lived in or near the Boston area in 1881: Julia Romana Anagnos (1844–86), Florence Marion Howe Hall (1845–1922), and Maud Howe Elliott (1854–1948). It is not clear which daughter HJ met.
GRACE NORTON 13 December [1881]
15
ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (925)
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115 EAST 25 TH STREET
Dec. 13th My dear Grace. It seemed to me we had rather a ragged parting twelve days ago, & I have wished ever since to tell you that I had more to say to you than appeared on those occasions—for I include that complicated contact into which we were brought at Miss Curtis’s lunch. Since then, however, New York & E. L. Godkin have marked me for the◇◇ their own, & the sense of what I had to say then has been a good deal merged in the impression of what I might say now, if you were only here to say it to! This is, first of all, that I was a great fool to leave Cambridge when I did, & that I should be a wise man to return thither tomorrow. Godkin is most friendly & hospitable & is doing ◇ his best to make me have a “tempo assolutamente splendido,” as we lately read somewhere that the Queen of Italy expresses herself after any occasion 41
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that she has enjoyed. But I have none the less a complication of homesicknesses—one of which is for London & the other for the banks of the Charles. The remedy for the latter is nearest at hand; but I foresee that I sho "am!"# to get a great deal worse before I shall get any better. My next two months are to be devoted to getting worse. I shall neglect no means of becoming so, as apparently that is the work cut out for me at present, & I have at all times a love of thoroughness. I am going from here to Washington & the South, & when I come back to you, you may flatter yourself that you will be appreciated. New York is very pleasant, & I am going to remain here till the 23d; then I depart, never again to return! (This is strictly confidential.) Godkin & I dine out a great deal, & we subject New York society to an exhaustive criticism. We laugh a great deal, but he more heartily than I. I envy him his laugh. I have seen many persons—but no personages; have heard much talk—but no conversation. Nevertheless the sense one gets here of the increase of the various arts of life is—almost oppressive; especially as one is so often reminded of it. The arts of life flourish—but the art of living, simply, isn’t among them! I hope you are mastering them all, dear Grace, including that one. I think of you very often— with intense interest, & wish you so well—so well! That is what I wanted to say to you. Ever yours H. James jr Previous publication: HJL 2: 364–65
< 41.27 the◇◇ their • [ir overwrites illegible letters] 41.32 ◇ his • [h overwrites illegible letter]
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42.10 yourself • your- | -self 42.11 remain • re- | main
< 41.22 a ragged parting • At the beginning of December, HJ was called suddenly to New York to attend the funeral of his cousin Nelly Grymes (HJ to George Abbot James, [30 November 1881], p. 33).
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1881 41.25 Miss Curtis • Mary Frazier Curtis (1827–90) was the sister of Daniel Sargent Curtis (1825–1908). 41.33 “tempo assolutamente splendido” • a perfectly splendid time. According to the New York Times, the “King and Queen of Italy have returned home, having had, as the Queen herself remarked, ‘a perfectly splendid time’—un tempo assolumente splendido—at Vienna” (“In Behalf of Kings”).
HELENA DE KAY GILDER
10
[18 December 1881] ALS Lilly Library Gilder MSS, 1781–1984, box I, series I: correspondence, box 11
115 EAST 25 TH STREET
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15
Sunday p.m Dear Mrs. Gilder. I have delayed to write to you since Friday evening simply because I have not had the courage! I am so ashamed at having failed to come in on that occasion after the promise I so solemnly made you a week ago, that I have spent the last 48 hours with my head buried in my pillows, refusing both n consolation & nourishment. My mortification is the greater that my justification is so small. I went out to-dine on Friday (at the topmost part of the town,) with a full intention of getting away by (say) 9.15 & making the straightest possible tracks to your door. But man proposes & hostesses dispose! By this however I do not mean that my retreat at the hour I speak of was prohibited—such a probi prohibition I should have promptly defied. The naked fact is that I the dinner was late & numerous, that there was a great deal of talk, that the ladies were charming, & that as a consequence of all this I simply & absolutely failed to note the flight of time. Suddenly somewhat got up & spoke of departing, when to my infinite horror I found it was 10.30! 43
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At that hour (with the time it would take to reach you) I was ashamed to present myself, & I simply returned home to bury my shame, as I say, in my bolster. I am afraid I have deeply wronged you—though it seems very fatuous to assume that 5
my absence can be so great an injury. But I doubtless annoyed you—& my life shall be dedicated to making you compensation. I am too timid to come & see you just now, & I go back to Cambridge for Xmas—a few days; but on my return I shall try & believe that you are "have!"# ceased to care what I do, & shall not
10
"knock!"# at your door for forgiveness. Meantime I have been at least obeying your husband’s injunctions, & sitt !"#posturing!"# to Mr. Thayer, who has made a picture of me which will (naturally) be the ◇ most beautiful ornament of the Century. Believe that I am not perfidious, but only distracted, & always very faithfully
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yours H. James jr No previous publication
< 43.22–23 n consolation • [co overwrites n] 43.29 probi prohibition • [h overwrites b]; pro- | hibition 43.30 I the • [t overwrites I] 44.8 Cambridge • Cam | bridge 44.13 ◇ most • [m overwrites illegible letter] 44.13 ornament • orna- | ment
< 43.10 HELENA DE KAY GILDER • Gilder (1846–1916) was the sister of
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Katharine de Kay Bronson and the wife of Richard Watson Gilder, editor of the Century Magazine. She was a translator, a painter, and a founder of both the Art Students League (1875) and the Society of American Artists (1877) (Heller and Heller 210). 43.11 [18 December 1881] • Probably written on the same day as [18 December 1881] to Whitelaw Reid, also dated “Sunday” and in which HJ
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The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 2, Nebraska, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central,
1881 tells Reid that he will leave for Cambridge “next Thursday” for Christmas. The Sunday before Christmas 1881 was 18 December. 43.27 man proposes & hostesses dispose • A pun on the phrase “Man proposes, but God disposes” (Homo proponit, sed Deus disponit) from Thomas à Kempis’s early fifteenth-century devotional The Imitation of Christ. 44.12 Mr. Thayer • Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849–1921), an American painter and naturalist who also drew and painted portraits of celebrities such as Mark Twain and HJ. 44.13 most beautiful ornament of the Century • Thayer’s crayon-onpaper portrait of HJ was completed in 1881, and the subsequent engraving of Thayer’s portrait of HJ by Timothy Cole was published in the Century Magazine in November 1882.
WHITELAW REID [18 December 1881] ALS Library of Congress Reid Family Papers, container A 105
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115 EAST 25 TH STREET
20
Sunday p.m. Dear Mr. Reid. I have delayed writing to you till this evening, in answer to your friendly note, in order that I might be a little more clear in mind as to the number of days to which my present stay in New York is to extend. I hope very much my delay has not brought you inconvenience—especially as I am obliged to say to you that I am afraid I shall be leaving town (for Xmas,) too soon to have the pleasure of dining with you. My present pre plan is to go on Thursday next to Cambridge, to spend the festival just mentioned, at my father’s, & remain there for several days. How long I shall be in New York on my return (as I am going to Washington,) I don’t know as yet; but if it should be for an 45
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appreciable time it will give me great pleasure to let you know, & name a day, as you propose. I don’t propose one before that, as I am dining out continuously until Th◇◇ Thursday evening inclusive—& am very sorry to be able just now to do so little honour to your hospitality. But I shall not fail later, if the occasion comes. Meanwhile I send kind regards to Mrs. Reid, & remain with many thanks very truly yours H. James jr Previous publication: Parisian Sketches 222–23
< 45.28 inconvenience • in- | convenience 45.30 pre plan • [la overwrites re] 46.1 appreciable • appre- | ciable 46.3 Th◇◇ Thursday • [ur overwrites illegible letters]
< 45.16 WHITELAW REID • Reid (1837–1912) was a newspaper reporter during the Civil War and replaced Horace Greeley as editor of the New York Tribune in 1868. Reid later served as minister to France and ambassador to Great Britain, and he ran unsuccessfully for vice president of the United States on a ticket led by Benjamin Harrison. 45.17 [18 December 1881] • This letter explicitly dates to the Sunday preceding the Thursday before Christmas, on which date HJ asserts he will leave New York City for Cambridge in order to spend the holiday with his family. In 1881 the Sunday before Christmas was 18 December. The year 1881 was the only year in James’s life when he left New York for Cambridge in late December. In addition, HJ wrote from 115 East 25th Street in December only in 1881.
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46.6 Mrs. Reid • Elisabeth Mills Reid (1858–1931) was a philanthropist and social activist who used her vast inherited wealth to support various causes, including the American Red Cross.
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1881
HENRY ADAMS 20 December 1881 ALS Massachusetts Historical Society Theodore F. Dwight Papers, Adams Correspondence, box 10
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115 EAST 25 TH STREET
5
Dec. 20th 1881 ———— My dear Adams Godkin spoke to me the other day of having got a letter from you in which you asked for news of me & expressed a kindly interest in the question of my arrival in Washington. I have meant ever since to send you a personal answer to this inquiry—which should serve also as a response to the gracious note I received from your wife just after despatching her an (I trust) not less gracious one, three or four (five or six) weeks ago. I have been for the last three weeks the honoured guest of the master of this house, who has been showing me New York with great devotion & zeal. New York, as exhibited by Godkin, is a very brilliant & hospitable city—we have dined out every day that he has not had a little party at home—& I have been almost lulled into oblivion of subsequent "ulterior!"# plans. But I am beginning to remember them now. I have not really relaxed at all my imaginative grasp upon Washington. Three days ago I should have told you that I expected to turn up there the 27th or 28th of the month; but I have just decided to go & spend Xmas at my father’s, which (with another little delay{,) will determine my advent for the 6th or 7th of January. I shall desire to take counsel with you of many things—be prepared therefore to be judicious. I am really waiting for Guiteau to be hanged—“we” order those matters better in England, where not only Guiteau, but Judge Cox, Mr. Scoville & every one nearly or remotely concerned in the trial, would be delivered to the executioner. I enclose an elegant extract for your wife; & should like to 47
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know to what extent she deems it really compromising. Will the publication of such things really affect my social standing, & embarras my human relations? &c. If so I regret them, for I desire to live at peace with all the world. I hope you are living at peace, vous autres; & that you are having the same ethereal mildness. If your’e having the same, of course you are having greater. I embrace you both & remain very faithfully yours H. James jr Previous publication: Monteiro 2: 49–50
< 47.27 {, • [, overwrites .] 48.3 embarras • [misspelled] 48.3 ? • [? overwrites blotted ,] 48.5 ethereal • [third e inserted]
< 47.17–18 the master of this house • Edwin Lawrence Godkin. 47.30 Guiteau • Charles J. Guiteau (1841–82), the American lawyer responsible for the assassination of President James A. Garfield. Garfield died on 19 September 1881 from the gunshot wound Guiteau had delivered the previous 2 July. After a lengthy trial, Guiteau was hanged on 30 June 1882. 47.32 Judge Cox • Walter Smith Cox (1826–1902), the federal judge who presided over the trial of Charles Guiteau, assassin of President Garfield. 47.32 Mr. Scoville • George Scoville, who led his brother-in-law Guiteau’s defense on the grounds that Guiteau was legally insane and that President Garfield’s death resulted from medical malpractice rather than
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directly from Guiteau’s gunshot. 47.34 your wife • Marian “Clover” Hooper Adams. 48.5 vous autres • all of you. 48.5–6 ethereal mildness • Compare the opening line of James Thomson’s “Spring”: “Come, gentle spring, ethereal Mildness, come.”
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1881
WHITELAW REID 26 December [1881] ALS Library of Congress Reid Family Papers, container A 105 5
20 Quincy St. Cambridge, Mass. Dec. 26th Dear Mr. Reid. I am sure, just now, of being in New York only on Saturday & Sunday next—or I should perhaps say of being there disengaged; for I return thither from this place on Wednesday. On Saturday or Sunday I shall be very happy to dine with you, & if you will send me a word (to 115 east 25th St.) saying which of these days (if either is open to you,) you prefer, I will hold the engagement sacred. I am not to be at Godkin’s (who has gone, till Monday next, to Cincinnati) but don’t know at what hotel I shall be able to lodge. I owe you as usual an apology for delay—caused also as usual by my uncertainty from day to day as to my comings, goings, & stayings. With all the good wishes of the season to yourself & Mrs. Reid, believe me very truly yours H. James jr Previous publication: Parisian Sketches 223