BRACERS Record Detail for 18770

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Collection code
RA3
Recent acquisition no.
69
Document no.
001563
Box no.
2.68
Source if not BR
Texas, U. of, HRC
Recipient(s)
Malleson, Constance
Sender(s)
BR
Date
1920/05/12
Form of letter
AL(M)
Pieces
3
Notes, topics or text

"I am here at last, in this city which has filled the world with history, which has inspired the most deadly hatreds and the most poignant hopes."

This was number 5 in a sequence of eight Russia letters. In the Autobiography, however, it became number 2 as the letters that Colette wrote are not published there.

The city he is referring to is Petrograd, Soviet Russia, although the actual letter was not written from there or on the date written on the letter. It was written after his return from Russia on 30 June 1920.

The number 5 does not appear on the letter; that number comes from copies of the letter. It is number 1563 in the numbered sequence of letters to Ottoline Morrell, although the number does not appear on the actual letter, only at the top of the microfilm print. It somehow ended up in Ottoline's possession. In the Auto. Russell writes that this and the other letters were "antedated letters to Colette", i.e. Constance Malleson. When Julian Vinogradoff (Ottoline's daughter) wanted to publish this letter in 1955, Russell refused permission, writing that "these were not personal letters to your mother, but were sent to various people." (Document .053309, record 13763.)

There are four transcriptions of this letter:

Document .052467, record 99953 (ribbon copy)
Document .200649, record 19654 (carbon copy)
Document .052458, record 99934 (different typing)
Autobiography chapter "Russia", document .007050f2, pp. 149-50, record 116401.

Publication
Auto. 2: 105
Papers 15: 418
Malleson, After Ten Years, 143-6 (excerpts)
Russell letter no.
Russia letter 5
Permission
Everyone
Record no.
18770
Record created
Oct 19, 2014
Record last modified
Feb 21, 2023
Created/last modified by
duncana