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Turgenev checks in at the British Museum

Turgenev, Ivan, Russian novelist (1818-1883). Autograph letter signed ("Iv. Turgenev").

[Six-Mile Bottom near Newmarket], "October [probably in error for November] 1st, Friday", [1878].

1 page. Small 8vo.

To "my dear friend", probably the scholar and librarian William Ralston (1828-89) at the British Museum, his translator and close friend. In 1869, Ralston had published his famous translation (which he called "Liza") of Turgenev's novel "Home of the Gentry". He was a member of Turgenev's British circle around George Eliot and her companion, the philosopher and critic George Henry Lewes.

Turgenev announces his return to London the next day and promising to call in the afternoon before going on to Keppel Street: "I come tomorrow to London and will call upon you between 1 and 2 o'cl. I will go afterwards to Keppel Street which is in your neighbourhood […]".

Turgenev was a regular visitor to England. He had known Lewes during his student days in Berlin, but had not met him again for 32 years until 1871. Turgenev became firm friends with Lewes and George Eliot, as well as with Ralston.

The house from which the present letter is written, Six Mile Bottom (between Cambridge and Newmarket), was the home of William Henry Bullock (1837-1904), who had inherited the property and changed his name to Hall, being then known as W. H. Hall. The Lewes's were regular visitors to Six Mile Bottom, but it is not recorded that Turgenev was also a guest there until the well documented visit which began on 21 October 1878. It was on this occasion that Lewes proposed a toast to Turgenev as "the greatest living novelist", only to have the Russian reflect the accolade back to George Eliot.

On stationery with printed letterhead of Six Mile Bottom. Slightly browned, but overall very well preserved.

References

Cf. Patrick Waddington, "Turgenev and George Eliot: A Literary Friendship", Modern Language Review 66, No. 4 (Oct. 1971), pp. 751-759. The George Eliot Letters, ed. Gordon S. Haight (Yale 1978), vol. IX, p. 239.