Letter to Wilhelm Bracke, August 1, 1877

Author(s)	Karl Marx
Written	1 August 1877

First published, in Russian, in Marx-Engels Archives, Vol. I (VI), Moscow, 1930
Printed according to the original
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 45

MARX TO WILHELM BRACKE

IN BRUNSWICK

[London,] 1 August 1877

Dear Bracke,

I shall be leaving London at the end of this week or the beginning of next and going to the Continent since my state of health necessitates my taking a cure.^[1] In the meantime I have been forbidden work of any kind and you will therefore have to look elsewhere for someone to revise the translation of Lissagaray's book,^[2] since without revision the thing's unprintable. (C. Hirsch might be able to suggest someone to you.)

Needless to say, Lissagaray finds the month's hiatus, during which you have failed to communicate with him, far from edifying and I consider his grievance to be fully justified.

Yours very sincerely,

K. M.

↑ Marx, accompanied by his wife and daughter Eleanor, took a course of treatment in Neuenahr (Germany) from 8 August 1877 and returned to London about 27 September.
↑ Considering it very important to familiarise workers with the true history of the Paris Commune, Marx became actively involved in the commissioning of a German translation of a book written by one of its members, Prosper Olivier Lissagaray, Histoire de la Commune de 1871. He requested Wilhelm Bracke, and Engels asked Wilhelm Bios to find somebody to do the job. The sample translation done by Julius Grunzig failed to satisfy Marx, as did that by Isolde Kurz. Although Marx was already overburdened with work, he had to spend a great deal of time and effort editing the translation. In the autumn of 1877, on Marx's and Engels' proposal, Wilhelm Bios was recruited as another editor. Lissagaray's book appeared in German in Brunswick late in 1877.

[1] Marx, accompanied by his wife and daughter Eleanor, took a course of treatment in Neuenahr (Germany) from 8 August 1877 and returned to London about 27 September.

[2] Considering it very important to familiarise workers with the true history of the Paris Commune, Marx became actively involved in the commissioning of a German translation of a book written by one of its members, Prosper Olivier Lissagaray, Histoire de la Commune de 1871. He requested Wilhelm Bracke, and Engels asked Wilhelm Bios to find somebody to do the job. The sample translation done by Julius Grunzig failed to satisfy Marx, as did that by Isolde Kurz. Although Marx was already overburdened with work, he had to spend a great deal of time and effort editing the translation. In the autumn of 1877, on Marx's and Engels' proposal, Wilhelm Bios was recruited as another editor. Lissagaray's book appeared in German in Brunswick late in 1877.

[1]

[2]