"This is a strange world into which I have come, a world of dying beauty and harsh life."

This was number 6 in a sequence of eight Russia letters. In the Autobiography, however, it became number 3 as the letters that Colette wrote are not published there; number 3 appears before the letter in this version which is a typescript carbon of the Autobiography. The letter is on pp. 150-1.

The "strange world" is Petrograd, Soviet Russia, although the letter was not written there or on the date on the letter. It was written after his return from Russia on 30 June 1920.

The number 6 has been taken from other versions.

The original letter ended up in the possession of Lady Ottoline Morrell. It is number 1564 in the numbered sequence of letters to Ottoline, document .001564, record 18771.

There are three other transcriptions of this letter:

Document .052468, record 99955 (ribbon copy);
Document .200650, record 19655 (carbon copy);
Document .052459, record 99935 (a different typing).