BIB_ID
407935
Accession number
MA 35.14
Creator
Burney, Fanny, 1752-1840.
Display Date
1806 October 9.
Credit line
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1905.
Description
1 item (4 pages, with address) ; 23.3 x 19.1 cm
Notes
FBA gives the place of writing as "No. 100. Rue Fauxbourg St. Honoré / Paris" and the month of writing as "Ottobre."
Address panel: "Captain Burney, / of the Royal Navy, / James Street / Westminster."
Alexandre d'Arblay adds a short signed note at the end of the letter, written in French, informing James about the status of his translation of James's book and the probable difficulty of seeing it through to publication, given the disruptions caused by the war and his inability to guarantee that he could deliver the second volume.
Address panel: "Captain Burney, / of the Royal Navy, / James Street / Westminster."
Alexandre d'Arblay adds a short signed note at the end of the letter, written in French, informing James about the status of his translation of James's book and the probable difficulty of seeing it through to publication, given the disruptions caused by the war and his inability to guarantee that he could deliver the second volume.
Provenance
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan from the London dealer Quaritch in July 1905 as part of a collection of Burney's correspondence and fragments of manuscripts, bound in three volumes. Disbound in 1925.
Summary
Commenting on how long it has been since they have exchanged letters; describing their grief at the death of their friend and relative Antoine Bourdois (husband of Fanny's niece Maria): "He was so much the stoutest of the five, for we all arrived nearly at the same time, that we looked upon him as the probable survivor of every one, for though his wife was nearly 10 years his junior, she was so delicate, so weak, & subject to so many complaints, that we frequently lamented in secret the idea & fear of her being early snatched from him, but never anticipated her living to mourn his life"; explaining that she and her husband had depended on Bourdois acting as a substitute parent for their son Alex, should he be orphaned: "We built so entirely upon M. Bourdois's out-living us, that we considered him, should our Alex become an Orphan while we are yet here, as his prop, his Guardian, his director & his consoler; & so tenderly, so fondly Bood [Alex's nickname for Bourdois], kind Bood loved him, & with such pride in his improvements & successes, that I am sure, having no Children of his own, he would have taken him to his arms as well as his cares as an adopted son"; asking for detailed news of his wife Sarah Payne Burney and his children Sarah and Martin; asking about James's book A Chronological History of the Voyages and Discoveries in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean (the second volume of which had been published in the spring of 1806); explaining that Monsieur d'Arblay had worked diligently on a translation of the first volume, until he learned that "a work unfinished was unsaleable; that not a Bookseller would buy, or even print it, & that, till it is entirely compleated, it must lie by in its own dress, or find a translator who can afford to be at the whole expence & risk of the impression"; writing that he has since moved on to other translation projects "to serve more essential, however vulgar purposes"; adding that she looks forward to reading the second volume; sending Maria Bourdois's "kind love" to James and his family.
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