Letter R22 The Hague, c. 15 January 1883
Amice Rappard,
Is your health still improving? I am eager for news from you. The other day I bought twenty-one volumes of the Graphic, namely 1870-1880. What do you think of that? I hope to receive them this week. I got them very cheap, you understand, or else I couldn't have afforded it. But I heard that they were for sale, and I strongly recommended them to someone who is also interested in them.
I have been working hard since your illness on black-and-white drawings, and I hope to learn a few more things about the forces of black and white from these Graphics. I wish we could have a talk again, for, my dear fellow,
there is such a lot to do!
What I have been working at especially of late is heads �heads of the people 1 �fishermen's heads with sou'westers, among other things.
As soon as I have looked through the Graphics, I shall write you again, and then in more detail. Of course I shall get a lot of duplicates in this way.
Now you will oblige me greatly by giving me more particulars about the lot you bought �I mean not only by telling me whether there are duplicates, but also what interesting prints you have found in general.
I have found a “Head of a Little Girl�by Percy Macquoid which is splendid; it is a wood engraving after a picture of his. Other beautiful sheets that I have found are, to mention only some of them: B. Constant “Sick Fellahs on the Bank of the Nile�p style="line-height:25px;text-indent:32px"> Julien Dupré “Female Cowherd�p style="line-height:25px;text-indent:32px"> Smith “A Street in South Lambeth�p style="line-height:25px;text-indent:32px"> Ridley “Boat Race�p style="line-height:25px;text-indent:32px"> Robinson �� Green “Street in Whitechapel�p style="line-height:25px;text-indent:32px"> Régamey “Prison in New York�p style="line-height:25px;text-indent:32px"> Thulstrup “Workroom in Sailors' Hospital or Home�p style="line-height:25px;text-indent:32px"> Abbey “Winter Girl�p style="line-height:25px;text-indent:32px"> �“Peter Stuyvesandt�p style="line-height:25px;text-indent:32px"> Reinhardt “Fishermen�p style="line-height:25px;text-indent:32px"> Barnard Six sheets Ed. Frère “Woodgatherers�p style="line-height:25px;text-indent:32px"> Buckmann “Renkeys on Hampstead Heath�p style="line-height:25px;text-indent:32px"> �“Gathering Poppies�p style="line-height:25px;text-indent:32px"> Waller “Tip Girls�(Miners) I did not get these Graphics without trouble. For instance, the Jew I bought them from forced me to do two portraits of his father and mother (i.e. two of each!) But isn’t it a lucky find!
But it’s so funny that they’re already my property and that I haven’t even seen them. The fact is that they are stored in an auction room together with a big lot of books, but the Jew will get them out this week.
Among the books there is Gavarni’s La Mascarade Humaine, which I have, but what about you? And the Jew has a lot of other things besides, some of them probably good.
Well, more soon; I hope your recovery is progressing steadily �in haste!
Ever yours, Vincent
1. Vincent wrote this in English.