Name/Title
LETTER FROM WASHINGTON IRVING TO CATHERINE IRVINGEntry/Object ID
W 3427Description
Letter from Washington Irving to his niece, Catherine Irving, on folded, glossy, stationery paper; three pages of text; fourth page contains two lines of text and the signature at the top of Washington Irving with "Eben. Irving, Esqr. / Tarrytown / Westchester County / New York / for Miss C. Irving" at center of page; remnants of red wax seal at center right side; remnants of red seal at center of right side of third page; text as follows:
[PAGE 1]
"Barcelona, July 11, 1844 / My dear Kate / I have been a long time your debtor for a / most affectionate and acceptable letter, but I know you / will not take my long delay unkindly, knowing how / many I have to write to. Besides (?) I count my long letters / to your aunt as (illegible word) bulletins to the cottage to keep / you all informed of my movements. / Sarah Storrow has just forwarded to me a letter which / she had recieved from her mother written about the 11th of / June, shortly after her arrival at the cottage. It is written / with the usual freshness of feeling and gives a delightful / picture of dear little Sunny Side [sic]. It is most gratifying / to her how your aunt retains her (illegible word) to every / thing that is beautiful and agreeable in nature / and what pleasure she derives from the rural objects / which surround the cottage. She speaks too with much / feeling of the affectionate reception she experienced on / arriving at the cottage, and of the kind attention she receives / from you all. But I was sure it would be so. I know your / affectionate natures, and that you (illegible word) every thing / in your power to make her residence among you comfortable / and cheerful, that you will be in fact daughters to /
[PAGE 2]
her now that her own daughter is far away. One great / object that I had on building Sunnyside, was, that it should / afford her a pleasant summer retreat instead of being / obliged to (illegible word) the country and it is a great / source of gratification to me to find she continues to delight / in it. I consider her my representive among you, and / as such, ( two illegible words) of (three illegible words - her own desires?), I recommend / her to that loving kindness which I hope, at some future / day to recieve - on my own person - at your hands. / I cannot conceive of any more pleasant addition to the / advantages of the cottage than that of having Julia Grinnell / and her family at her (illegible word) house. It gives you the variety / of rural visiting with the ease and privacy of the (illegible word) / circle. When her husband's family (illegible word) up your little / neighborhood will be complete. I can fancy now how those / paths which I laid out will be well worn by constant / (illegible word) , and will be padded by the little feet of /the magniminous Bulbo and his sisters. - Well - well - / I hope one of these days to be once more among you all / in my sweet, quiet, little house with two or three genera- / tions of nieces and nephews swarming around me. / In a long letter written a few days since to your aunt, I / gave an account of my arrival at Barcelona , and of the / first few days of my residence in this beautiful city. I continue / to be greatly pleased with it . The city is for the most part /
[PAGE 3]
old and quaint and (illegible word) but there is a larger / part of it new and (illegible word) and elegant, built in the / Italian style. Indeed the place often reminds me of Italy. / It has the (three illegible words), bright sunshine (illegible word) / delightful climate. The harbor is like an Italian harbor / with its long (illegible word) with a light house at the end, enclo- / sing and sheltering the picturesque latine rigged shipping of the / Mediterranean and then beyond is the broad, blue / sea, with white sails just gleaming on the horizon/ / July 13. Since writing the foregoing I have received letters from / your aunt and from (illegible word) Pierre, giving me more news from / beloved (?) little Sunnyside, and of the stirring time which you / all had in preparing Julia Grinnells (sic) house for her reception / I have also received a dispatch from Government by which (I {covered by seal}) find the President has granted me a leave of absence from my / post for two months. I shall profit by it to postpone my / return to Madrid until after the summer heats are over, / and make an inroad into France and visit Sarah / at Versailles. I count upon that time for my complete / reestablishment in my usual state of health, and think / by next autumn I shall be in first rate condition. / I have to conclude this letter of (illegible word) / not "because the carriage is at the door" as you will [?] / plead in excuse, but because I have to hurry it into / a parcel with others, to go off by the French consult...(end of word illegible) / courier. So farewell my dear Kate, give/
[PAGE 4]
my love to all at Sunnyside and to the Grinnell / house in the bargain / Your affectionate uncle / Washington Irving"Condition
Notes
Remarks: Deep fold marks on all pages; center fold is split about two inches from the bottom upwards; minute holes on first page and at fold corners; small holes at fold corners on third page; small tear and hole at center of right side of third page, just above the seal remnant; surface dirt.Relationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Catharine Ann Irving (1816-1911)Notes
RecipientGeneral Notes
Note Type
Curatorial RemarksNote
Letter given to HHV in 2009 by donor who obtained it from his godmother, May Irving (Grinnell) Edwards [Donor correspondence, 9/15-16/2008].
May Irving (Grinnell) Edwards was the daughter of William Irving Grinnell (born 1855) and Lucy Alice MacNabb. William Irving Grinnell was the son of William Russell Grinnell (1819-1888) and Charlotte Van Wart (Irving) Grinnell (1824-1914), who married in 1847. Charlotte Irving was one of Washington Irving's nieces.Note Type
DepartmentNote
Library