UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

System Number: 01447
Date: 24 September 1888
Author: Mary Bacon Ford^[1]
Place: London
Recipient: JW
Place: Tours
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler F379
Document Type: ALS

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So it's Wunderlich^[2]!

I had no idea that you were etching for him in France: how should I?

We gathered from what you said when we spoke of him that the Exhibition was to be of things you had already done - that he had already seen - and that beyond shipping them off you had little to do with the matter: a minor affair -

Then again we understood you at another time to say that you had no thought of going away anywhere: and so how should we have known?

When will your work for him be completed? (first -)

When do you think you will be quite at liberty to sail? (second -)

(p. 2) Does your contract with him include and provide for your going to America? (third)

We have neither seen nor heard from Mr Lewis^[3] since last writing -

Our syndicate want us to get our contract^[4] signed: then they wouldn't bother us perhaps & then we wouldn't bother you:

Please let me hear from you at once in regard to [the] three above questions: & I will immediately write you again:

With kind regards from both of us to Mrs Whistler^[5] -

Faithfully Yours -

Mary: Bacon: Ford:

29 Berners St -
Oxford St. W.

Sept - 24 - '88:
Monday:

This document is protected by copyright.

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Envelope:

Monsieur
J: McN: Whistler:
14 Rue de la Scellerie:
Tours -
Indre et Loire
France:
[stamp:] POSTAGE & REVENUE / 2½
[postmark:] LONDON W. / X / SP24 / 88 / 2
[postmark:] CALAIS À [illegible] / 25 / SEPT / 88
[postmark on verso):] TOURS / INDRE-ET-LOIRE / 6E 25 / SEPT / 88
[postmark on verso:] PARIS À BORDEAUX-RAPIDE / 25 / SEPT / 88

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Notes:

1.  Mary Bacon Ford
Mary Bacon Ford, née Martin, art agent [more].

2.  Wunderlich
Hermann Wunderlich (ca 1839 - d.1892), print dealer [more]. JW was planning an exhibition at Wunderlich's gallery in New York (see JW to M. B. Ford, #01446). It eventually opened in the spring of 1889 ('Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', H. Wunderlich and Co., New York, 1889).

3.  Mr Lewis
Sir George Henry Lewis (1833-1911), society lawyer [more].

4.  contract
The contract concerned the Ford's proposal that JW undertake a series of etchings to be entitled 'Whistler's American Etchings' and a lecture tour in America. However, as JW soon found out, it handed over control over his affairs to the Fords and a syndicate of New York investors (see M. B. Ford to JW, #01448, letter dated 27 September 1888). See also JW's correspondence with the Fords during this period (see #01449; #01451; #01443; #01449).

5.  Mrs Whistler
Beatrix Whistler (1857-1896), née Beatrice Philip, artist [more].