"My Beloved Angel—How dear and lovely of you to post a letter to me last night on your way here!"

"Sat. evg." "Today I wrote a review of Donald Hankey (Nation) and an article for Clarté." "La Civilisation et la Lutte des Classes", Clarté, no. 11 (21 Feb. 1920).

"Arrive Victoria 7.20 this evening will phone".

"Monday mg." Could do anything, any time for her,—except sacrifice obligation to child if he were to have one. How he loves her—"You can never be quite solitary, while my thoughts are with you." Apparently he realized her solitariness—"the inside of all your troubles".

"Tuesday My Beloved Do please manage to stay to dinner and as late as you can on Thursday—"

Excellent letter on how he loves her. [She withdrew physical love] "except once in a way".

"I can always talk to you of whatever I feel deeply—there is no one else in the world of whom that is true."

"Tuesday Beloved—Bless you for the tie and books—and the presents to C.A. which he loves—and bless you for your dear little line this morning."

"Friday Beloved—Your letter from Kettering has come—it didn't strike me as at all 'queer' under the circumstances—I am glad you have got your job—"

"Sunday" His work has become no good because she doesn't love him sexually.

"Thursday Beloved I will come to Priscilla's tomorrow at 8.15 if you will tell me the address which I don't know."

Shoulder [collar-bone] injury is mentioned.

"Monday night Beloved—A 1000 thanks for the really lovely flowers—it was extraordinarily good of you to think of them in the hurry of departure."

"Sunday Beloved—Thank you for your little line—I hate your going away—I am all alone here (Allen is away speaking) and have nothing to do but brood."

"Beloved—I was very glad of your letter which came this morning, and to know your rehearsal had gone well."

Miss Black can't stand Malleson.

His shoulder [collar-bone] is no better.

"Friday mg. Beloved—I shall be wild with joy to see you anytime Sunday except dinner, as I am dining with the Streatfeilds."

"Monday night Beloved—It was heavenly getting a glimpse of you yesterday and seeing you looking so happy."

"My shoulder [collar-bone] is really mending at last—I have got my clothes on properly at last, and only a sling, which I am to get rid of in a few days—"

"Thursday mg" "Tchekov's letters are most interesting—he is a very lovable man."

"Sunday My Darling—I got a telegram from you yesterday, but haven't had a letter for years—I long for news of you. I have my arm no longer in a sling."

"Sunday My Beloved, My Heart's Comrade, Thank you for your letter from Wellington which I got yesterday."

[Although dated "Sunday" by BR it seems unlikely this letter was written on the same day as document .200612.]

BR wants to go to Russia long enough to know how things work.

"Beloved—I wonder how you are getting on at Blackburn."

Her "new letters" have come.

"Today I am in a state, because I have to give a big lecture tonight at Kingsway Hall." ["Freedom and the Guilds"].

"Dora loves me, I love you, you love Casson, he loves his wife [Sybil Thorndike] ... where is happiness to be found in all this chain?"

Sat. mg. Beloved—It was a joyful surprise to hear your voice last night—but as Bob and Desmond MacCarthy were listening I couldn't say much."

"Wed." "Sorry ... to hear that your disease is so bad." Will write "the letters we spoke of" from Russia.

"Spain is off."

"Monday My Darling—Thank you for your letter from Bradford—I will come to the restaurant in Hammersmith I hour before the show."

"Since I came out of prison — now a year and a half — there have been just 2 months during which you have given me active love, the two after you first came to Lulworth."

"I should like to forget all my failures here — if the Russians welcome me at all kindly, I may settle there and never come back to England. My chief reason for wanting this is your coldness." "Part of my idea in proposing to you that we should make a joint book of letters was that, if we only corresponded without meeting, the difference in our physical feelings would not matter, and the mental things we have in common might have freer play."

"Forgive letter overworked all love".

"My beloved—I was cut off this morning in the middle of talking to you—it was dear of you to ring up—"

"Tuesday." BR says which in last batch of "letters" he liked best.

"Thursday mg." Has been in Paris for week or so. "Loved smelling Paris again—I hadn't been there for 7 years—" Saw Romain Rolland.

"Friday mg. in a taxi Bless you my Beloved for your 2 dear dear letters—I can't tell you half the joy they are to me—"

"Impossible leave before Wednesday".

"D'accord célébration cours écrivez sujet Evgeni [Eugeni] Ors splendid Black". She writes from Paris. 
 

"Passport Office Monday I am so miserable my dear as not to see you this time—"

"Sunday" After Spanish visa—back home about April 6 or 7.

"Sunday night Beloved—I have just come back from the Albert Hall—it was a grand meeting full of enthusiasm and I loved Lansbury."

"Tuesday Beloved—it wasn't my cold that kept me from you—"

BR has to leave tonight.

"Wednesday night 8.25 meet you 6.15 hope punctual arrival very happy Black".

Hotel Orient "Easter Sunday" lectures finished this morning.

"Hotel Oriente" "The papers are full of me".

"Soller Majorca".

"My Beloved I keep thinking of you and wondering what you are doing and feeling—"

"My Beloved—Thank you 1000 times for your dear dear letter this morning—bless you my heart's life—"

"Darling—I start Monday morning, 9.45 Kings Cross."

[April 23rd is questionable.]

"Thursday My Darling Love—Thank you for your dear letter this morning."

"Thank you Beloved—I will be at Lewes as arranged—"

"Monday My Loved One, My Heart's Life, It was wonderful being with you again—"

"Beloved—Yesterday was a very wonderful day—one of our unforgettable days—"

Leaving for Russia.

Hotel Transatlantic "My Beloved—Here I am, arrived 10.30—very sick the first half of the way, then the journey grew delightful—we came in sight of land yesterday evening and travelled through lovely scenery this morning."

From Bergen.

"Fri."

From Christina. Litvinov's wire raised difficulties about entering Russia.

Stockholm. [BR is studying a Russian grammar?]

Hotel Continental "I read documents about Russia all day—" "I am thinking a great deal, about rather fundamental political issues—heaven only knows what it will come to."

"My Dear, The day of my departure comes near, I have a thousand things to do, yet I sit here idle, thinking useless thoughts, the irrelevant, rebellious thoughts that well-regulated people never think, the thoughts that one hopes to banish by work, but that themselves banish work instead."

The date is written as April 24 1920 in Malleson's hand. She has also written the following on it: I; no. I for book in green ink with circle around it; London (twice)—one has a line through it; Cheyne Walk (scratched over with red ink).

The letter was actually written after Russell's return from Russia on 30 June 1920. This is a transcription of document .200662, record 19660.

The word "notable" is written by hand.

There are three other transcriptions:

Carbon copy of this transcription, document .052462, record 99948
Document .052454, record 99930; different typing.
Autobiography, document .0070050F2, pp. 148-9, record 116388.

"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 Malleson wrote are not published there.

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

The number "5" was added in ink to this ts. carbon.

The original letter ended up in the possession of Ottoline Morrell. It is number 1563 in the numbered sequence of letters to here (document .001563, record 18770).

There are three other transcriptions of this letter:

Document .052467, record 99953 (ribbon copy of this transcription);
Document .052458, record 99934 (different typing);
Autobiography chapter "Russia", document .007050F2, pp. 149-50, record 116401.

"This is a strange world into which I have come."

This was number 6 in a sequence of eight Russia letters. In the Autobiography, however, it became number 2 as the letters that Malleson wrote are not published there.

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

The number "6" was added in ink to this ts. carbon, which is paginated 3-4.

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

There are three other transcriptions of this letter:

Document .052468, record 99954 (ribbon copy of this transcription);
Document .052459, record 99935 (different typing);
Autobiography chapter "Russia", document .007050-F2, pp. 150-1, record 116402.

"On the Volga. Our boat travels on, day after day, through an unknown and mysterious land."

This typescript is paginated 17-19. It is initialled "L", BR's pseudonym. The number "8" is typed on it.

This was number 8 in a sequence of eight Russia letters. In the Auto., however, it became number 4 as the letters that Colette wrote are not published there.

This letter was not written on the Volga River or on the date written on the letter. It was written after BR's return from Russia on 30 June 1920.

The original letter is number 1565 in the numbered sequence of letters to Ottoline Morrell (document .001565, record 18772). It somehow ended up in her possession. In the Auto. Russell writes that this and the other letters were "antedated letters to Colette", i.e. Constance Malleson. There are four other transcriptions of the letter:

document .052461, record 99939 (carbon of .200651)
document .052469, record 99955 (ribbon copy)
document .200652, record 19657 (carbon copy of .052469)
Autobiography chapter "Russia", document .007050f2, pp. 151-52, record 116403.

There is also a handwritten version of the letter with the tense changed in The Problem of China at the end of Chapter 1. (Ms., Rec. Acq. 1027, box 7, pp. 13-16; record 116404.)

"On the Volga. Our boat travels on, day after day, through an unknown and mysterious land."

This typescript carbon is paginated 5-7. The number "8" was added in ink to this typed carbon. This letter is paginated 5-7.

This was number 8 in a sequence of eight Russia letters. In the Autobiography, however, it became number 4 as the letters that Malleson wrote are not published there.

This letter was not written from the Volga or on the date written on the letter. It was written after BR's return from Russia on 30 June 1920.

The original letter is number 1565 in the numbered sequence of letters to Ottoline Morrell (document .001565, record 18772). It somehow ended up in her possession. In the Autobiography Russell writes that this and the other letters were "antedated letters to Colette", i.e. Constance Malleson.

There are four other transcriptions of this letter:

document .200651, record 19656 (ribbon copy)
document .052461, record 99939 (carbon of .200651)
document .052469, record 99955 (ribbon copy of this carbon)
Autobiography chapter "Russia", document .007050f2, pp. 151-52, record 116403.

There is also a handwritten version of the letter with the tense changed in The Problem of China at the end of Chapter 1. (Ms., Rec. Acq. 1027, box 7, pp. 13-16; record 116404.)

"My Dear—The day of my departure comes near...."

This letter is undated but it is numbered "1". It was written after Russell's return from Russia on 30 June 1920. The date used here comes from a transcription.

It is printed in the Autobiography as part of a chapter, rather than at the end of a chapter, which was the usual practice, and appears as number 1. There are four letters in all printed in the Autobiography's Russia chapter. Before them Russell wrote: "After I returned to England I endeavoured to express my changing moods, before starting and while in Russia, in the shape of antedated letters to Colette...."

There are four transcriptions:

(ribbon copy), document .200648, record 19653, date of 24 April 1920 added in Colette's hand (carbon copy);
document .052462, record 99948, date of April 1920 added in BR's hand;
document .052454, record 99930, date of 24 April is typed;
Autobiography chapter "Russia", document .007050f2, pp. 148-9, record 116388, date of April 1920 is typed.

Note that the published version uses the more specific date of 24 April.

"By the kindness of the courier who starts tomorrow, there is a chance of writing."

"Arrived today staying because Allen in nursing home all love Russell British Mission Reval".

L. Haden Guest, the physician, is mentioned.

"Hotel Continental" "I loathed the Bolsheviks and their regime." "I felt too crushed and too afraid of the ubiquitous spies to write anything while I was" in Russia.

[Envelope is pmk. 2 July 1920, London; it probably doesn't belong with this letter.]

"Home Wednesday tell Haydon all love Russell".

I.e. L. Haden Guest.

An invitation to go to China.

"Your letters are just as good as mine, Dearest. They do have a lofty quality—they are sincere and passionate, and sometimes flash like a lighthouse; and they are well-written: you have a real sense for rhythm and choice of words."

"Thursday My Darling I hope your milestones came back all right, with my letter in the same envelope—"

"Friday Beloved—C.A.* is back, better in health and spirits than I had dared to hope."

*Clifford Allen.

"Tuesday My Darling—I was glad to get a letter from you last night."

"Wed. My Darling Love—Thank you for your letter—I am glad to be coming to Clacton—"

Spent whole day and evening with daughter of a well-known Russian social revolutionary exile. "Today she is gone to Cornwall."

The daughter was Vera Volkovsky.

"Friday Beloved—I have written to the Attic to thank you for your letter of yesterday—which is the most wonderful wonderful joy to me—"

This is not a letter but a schedule of ports of call for the voyage to Peking on the S.S. Porthos. It contains the correct day of departure, 6 September, which is written over the crossed-out original day of departure of 18 August, presumably by Malleson, but it doesn't look like her hand. Russell probably sent it to her in mid-August. On August 10 she still doesn't know when he is leaving.

"Darling—Here are your letters and the green shawl."

"My Beloved—It was hard to say goodbye—"

"Wed." "My Colette, My Dear One, Your little letter has just come—"

"Friday My Darling Love—So far as I can find out, there is no late train from Portsmouth, and you can't arrive before 10.30 Sunday morning."

"Friday Beloved—I want to see you too, quite desperately."

"Monday mg. My Beloved—It was very very hard saying goodbye to you—"

"Tuesday My Beloved—A thousand thousand thanks for your dear kindness in sending me the sachets and the soap—you are good to me."

"Wed. My Darling Love—I have written every day, but sent letters to 'The Theatre, Leicester'—I suppose that is why you didn't get them—"

"Thursday Beloved—Thank you for your letter—yes, last days are difficult—"

Located in file 2. The document number belongs to a sequence in box 6.67.

Dated after Xmas 1930.

"Friday Beloved—Thank you for your little letter—"

"Sunday Beloved—It was good to hear your voice for one moment today—"

Long letter on Russia.

"Deepest love now and always".

"Wednesday My Beloved—Two dear letters from you I have just had—Sunday and Monday—"

"Friday My Darling—Your telegram has just come—"

"Thursday morning" "I am very sorry, my Darling, that I have only written such miserable letters hitherto, but it has been difficult, particularly because of work on my book."

[Letter is not signed.]

"Monday" "I work endlessly at my Russian book—it won't be hasty—most of the work was done before I left London."

BR cares for Dora much more than before she went to Russia.

"Wed. "Yes, get the Letters of Jane Welsh Carlyle—very interesting—also Froude's Life of Carlyle."

"Thursday" Russia book done, except for odds and ends.

"In train to Marseilles Sunday Beloved—At last we are off—the boat goes tomorrow—the book got finished last night at two in the morning—it is not a bad book I think."

"S.S. Porthos" Finished Russia book at 2 a.m. yesterday.

[Letter is not signed.]

"On the Mediterranean" "The sea is so calm that the stars are reflected in it."

[Letter is not signed.]

"In the Red Sea" Professor Liang spends his time translating BR's Russia book into Chinese.