BR TO EDITH RUSSELL, 31 JAN. 1948
BRACERS 20236. ALS. McMaster
Proofread by K. Blackwell

<letterhead>
27 Dorset House
Gloucester Place
N.W.1.
Jan. 31, 1948

Dear Edith

What a nice letter from you! I am relieved that you did not mind my derogatory remarks about the subject of your book. As we used to say in the cultured nineties, it is not the subject that makes the merit of a work of art, but the treatment.

My next job is going to be an autobiography, if war with Russia holds off long enough. It would be a great help if I could get hold of old letters of mine. I wonder if Helen Flexner kept any I wrote to her, and, if so, whether they could now be returned to me, if they still exist. There was, in particular, one I wrote on the last day of the nineteenth century, which I should like to have.

I wonder whether Lucy would some day let me have any old letters from me that she may still possess? I find one forgets so much that old letters recall.

The world is a terrible place now-a-days. The murder of Gandhi is typical of the universal madness. I am ashamed of belonging to a species so discreditable as homo sapiens.

Give my love to Lucy and tell her I hope for a letter. With love to yourself,

Yours very sincerely
Russell.