Letter to Pasquale Martignetti, April 2, 1891

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 2 April 1891


First published, in the language of the original (German), in La corrispondenza di Marx e Engels con italiani. 1848-1895, Milano, 1964
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 49


ENGELS TO PASQUALE MARTIGNETTI

IN BENEVENTO

London, 2 April 1891

Dear Friend,

It will be perfectly acceptable to me if Fantuzzi publishes the Socialismo utopistico,[1] though I shall write and tell him not to inflict on me prefaces by unknown quantities à la Gori.[2] The biographical sketch from Lo Sviluppo can also be used.[3] I have just had my photograph taken again and shall send you one as soon as I myself receive the prints.

So as to assist you in your English studies I have sent you the English edition of the Communist Manifesto[4] and shall get hold of a copy of the English edition of Capital[5] for you. Just now there is no English socialist periodical worth reading. From time to time, however, I shall send you a copy of a — if possible interesting — bourgeois newspaper for you to study. With an English grammar and a dictionary you will then make good progress. Admittedly you won't learn the pronunciation unless you have a good teacher. However the language is very easy, since it has virtually no grammar.

If you would like to have a copy of the Manifesto in German, let me know by postcard.

With most cordial regards,

Yours,

F. Engels

  1. ↑ the Italian edition of Engels' Socialism: Utopian and Scientific
  2. ↑ P. Gori, 'Prefazione', in: F. Engels, L'origine della famiglia, della proprieta privata e dello Stato, Benevento, 1885
  3. ↑ The 1883 Italian edition of Socialism: Utopian and Scientific contains no sketch of Engels' life. Engels probably means the biography published in the 1885 Italian edition of The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (see also this volume, p. 161).
  4. ↑ K. Marx and F. Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party. Authorized English translation. Edited and annotated by Frederick Engels. London, 1888.
  5. ↑ K. Marx, Capital: a critical analysis of capitalist production. Translated from the third German edition by Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling and edited by Frederick Engels, Vol. I, London, 1887.