UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

System Number: 08091
Date: [24/25 May 1888]^[1]
Author: JW
Place: Paris
Recipient: Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac^[2]
Place: Paris
Repository: Library of Congress
Call Number: Manuscript Division, Pennell-Whistler Collection, PWC 2/28/1
Document Type: ALS^[3]

BEEFSTEAK CLUB.

Cher Monsieur de Montesquiou -

Votre lettre charmante m'a fait un grand plaisir, et j'avais certainement l'intention malgré les confidences de "l'ami^[4]", de me rendre à votre invitation si attirante -

Je brule du desir de voir vos belles choses, et aussi ai-je un projet dont je veux vous causer! -

Mais venez donc [p. 2] dejeuner avec moi d'abord -

Je vous fais passer l'eau, dans l'intention sinistre de vous faire encore regarder encore des eaufortes [sic] que je viens de mettre en exposition chez Durand-Ruel^[5] - aussi certaines Nocturnes - et autres choses mystérieuses! -

Je suis forcé de partir pour Londres^[6] ce soir, et je serai très heureux de vous avoir vu avant mon départ-

J'attends donc votre reponse avec impatience, et je propose midi ici pour rendez-vous - [5]

Tout à vous

J. McNeill Whistler

[butterfly signature]

Hotel du Tibre -
Rue du Helder - 8.

This document is protected by copyright.

Translation:

Dear Monsieur de Montesquiou

your charming letter gave me great pleasure and I was certainly intending to accept your attractive invitation, despite the confidences of "the friend".

I am burning with the desire to see your beautiful things and so I have a plan which I should like to discuss with you.

So do come and lunch with me first. I am making you cross the water, with the sinister intention of making you see the etchings which I have just put on exhibition at Durand Ruel - also certain nocturnes - and other mysterious things! -

I am forced to leave for London this evening, and I shall be very happy to have seen you before I leave -

So I shall await your reply with impatience and propose noon here as a rendezvous.

Yours truly

J. McN. Whistler

Notes:

1.  [24/25 May 1888]
Dated from the mention of the exhibition at Durand-Ruel, which opened on 25 May. This letter was marked by Montesquiou as one of the earliest letters from JW, 'Celle-ci des plus anciennes,' when he sent the letters to Rosalind Birnie-Philip.

2.  Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac
Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac (1855-1921), Symbolist writer and poet, and collector [more]. A letter dated 25 May 1888 is almost certainly Montesquiou's reply, #04106.

3.  ALS
Written on borrowed notepaper; JW was in Paris, not London. Published in Newton, Joy, La Chauve-Souris et le Papillon. Correspondance Montesquiou-Whistler, Glasgow, 1990, no. 7, pp. 44-46.

4.  l'ami
William Stott of Oldham (1857-1900), genre and landscape painter [more]. JW and Stott came into conflict over Mary Maud Franklin (1857- ca 1941), JW's model and mistress [more].

5.  Durand-Ruel
Paul Durand-Ruel (1828 or 1831-1922), Paris art dealer, or one of his sons, Joseph (1862-1928), Charles (1865-1892) or Georges (1866-1931). The Exposition, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1888, included four Nocturnes and a number of drawings and etchings.

6.  Londres
JW was returning to London for a meeting of the Royal Society of British Artists, on 4 June, at which he resigned as President.