BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, 29 DEC. 1945
BRACERS 19825. ALS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

Grosvenor Lodge, Babraham Rd,
Cambridge.1
29.12.45

Dearest Colette

Thank you for your very nice letter.2 I am glad you like having my History.3 It is not yet published in England. When we meet I will write in it. I dare say you are right that it will be best to meet in London (which would suit me better than Tring).4 So will you let me know, when you can, how soon in London would suit you?

Kate5 was demobbed from the Office of War Information, and was offered a Fellowship at her College in America,6 so she went back there. John7 was sent, not to the Far East, but to Washington, where he still is. It is however likely that he will be moved from there soon.

As to politics, I enclose a rough draft of a letter8 which appeared, somewhat altered, in the Times. I am very busy, in my spare time, with the atomic bomb9 and the feeding of starving Germans10 and others. I should avoid Finland if I were you; it is likely to be a war area again. I recommend New Zealand, Tierra del Fuego, or the Antarctic Continent.

I long to see you. Much love and good wishes for New Year.

Ever yours
B.

• 1

  [document] Document 200831.

• 2

  your very nice letter This letter is not extant. It may have been written from Dunster in Somerset as Colette wrote on the top of this letter in red ink: “Arrived when I was at Dunster.” Her friend Phyllis Urch had spent Christmas with Colette at Dunster.

• 3

  my History  A History of Western Philosophy (B&R A79). BR probably sent her a copy. The delay in British publication was because of paper shortage.

• 4

  Tring In Hertfordshire.

• 5

  Kate Katharine Jane Russell, born 29 December 1923 to BR and his wife Dora. Her surname became Tait upon marriage.

• 6

  her College in America Radcliffe.

• 7

  John John Conrad Russell, born 16 November 1921 to BR and his wife Dora.

• 8

  a rough draft of a letter It is not clear what letter he is referring to. There are no letters from him in The  Times in either December or November; he had two letters published in The  Times on “Mass Deportations”, 23 and 31 Oct. 1945, p. 5 (B&R C45.20–.21; 50 and 51 in Papers 24, forthcoming). Only a typed carbon of the first is in his archives; perhaps he sent Colette his carbon of the second.

• 9

  the atomic bomb BR wrote his first article on the bomb (“The Atomic Bomb”, B&R C45.14) the morning that the second bomb was dropped, on Nagasaki; by the time of the present letter he had written several more articles and spoken in the House of Lords.

• 10

  the feeding of starving Germans BR was involved with his wife in the organization “Save Europe Now”. A letter from BR, Victor Gollancz and the Bishop of Chichester, “Food Parcels Still Needed” appeared in The  New York Times, 3 Nov. 1945, p. 14 (B&R C45.23; 49 in Papers 24, forthcoming).