84, Charing Cross Road Read Online Free Page B
Author: Helene Hanff
Tags: Humor, books, Letters, Correspondence
nearly $2.00.
About the eggs—I have talked to the rest of the inmates here and we all seem to think that the fresh ones would be nicer. As you say, they would not last so long but they would taste so much better.
We are all hoping for better times after the Election. If Churchill and Company get in, as I think and hope they will, it will cheer everyone up immensely.
With best wishes,
Yours sincerely,
Frank Doel
For MARKS & CO.
----
14 East 95th St.
New York City
November 2, 1951
Dear Speed—
You dizzy me, rushing Leigh Hunt and the Vulgate over here whizbang like that. You probably don’t realize it, but it’s hardly more than two years since I ordered them. You keep going at this rate you’re gonna give yourself a heart attack.
that’s mean. You go to so much trouble for me and i never even thank you, i just needle you, it’s mean. I really am grateful for all the pains you take for me. I enclose three dollars, I’m sorry about the top one, I spilled coffee on it and it wouldn’t sponge off but I think it’s still good, you can still read it.
Do you carry hard-cover vocal scores, by any chance? Like Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and Handel’s Messiah? I could probably get them here at Schirmer’s, but they’re 50 cold blocks from where I live so I thought I’d ask you first.
Congratulations on Churchill & Co., hope he loosens up your rations a little.
Is your name Welsh?
HH
----
Marks & Co., Booksellers
84, Charing Cross Road
London, W.C.2
7th December 1951
Miss Helene Hanff
14 East 95th Street
New York 28, New York
U.S.A.
Dear Miss Hanff,
You will be glad to know that the two boxes of eggs and the tins of tongue have all arrived safely and once again we all wish to thank you most sincerely for your extreme generosity. Mr. Martin, one of the older members of our staff, has been on the sick list for some time and we therefore let him have the lion’s share of the eggs, one whole boxful in fact, and of course he was delighted to get them. The tins of tongue look very inviting and will be a welcome addition to our larders, and in my case will be put on one side for a special occasion.
I enquired at all the local music shops but was unable to get the Messiah or Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in stiff covers in clean, secondhand copies, and then I found they were available from the publisher in new editions. Their prices seemed a bit high, but I thought I had better get them and they have been sent by Book Post a few days ago, so should arrive any day now. Our invoice, total £1/10/=($4.20) is enclosed with the books.
We are sending you a little gift for Christmas. It is linen and we do hope you will not have to pay any duty on it. We will mark it “Christmas Gift” and keep our fingers crossed. Anyway, we hope you will like it and accept it with our sincere best wishes for Christmas and the coming year.
My name is certainly not of Welsh origin. As it is pronounced to rhyme with the French word “Noel,” I think there may be a possibility that it originated in France.
Yours sincerely,
Frank Doel
For MARKS & CO.
----
[CARD ENCLOSED WITH HEAVILY WORKED, HAND-EMBROIDERED IRISH LINEN TABLECLOTH ]:
Christmas Greetings
and
All Good Wishes for the
New Year
from
Geo. Martin Megan Wells W. Humphries
Cecily Farr Frank Doel J. Pemberton
----
Marks & Co., Booksellers
84, Charing Cross Road
London, W.C.2
15th January, 1952
Miss Helene Hanff
14 East 95th Street
New York 28, New York
U.S.A.
Dear Miss Hanff,
First of all, we were all so glad that you liked the cloth. It gave us a lot of pleasure to send it and it was one little way of thanking you for all your kind gifts over the last few years. You may be interested to know that it was embroidered, quite recently, by an old lady of over eighty who lives in the flat (apartment) next door to me. She lives all by herself and does quite a lot of needlework as a hobby. She does not often part with any of her work,
About the eggs—I have talked to the rest of the inmates here and we all seem to think that the fresh ones would be nicer. As you say, they would not last so long but they would taste so much better.
We are all hoping for better times after the Election. If Churchill and Company get in, as I think and hope they will, it will cheer everyone up immensely.
With best wishes,
Yours sincerely,
Frank Doel
For MARKS & CO.
----
14 East 95th St.
New York City
November 2, 1951
Dear Speed—
You dizzy me, rushing Leigh Hunt and the Vulgate over here whizbang like that. You probably don’t realize it, but it’s hardly more than two years since I ordered them. You keep going at this rate you’re gonna give yourself a heart attack.
that’s mean. You go to so much trouble for me and i never even thank you, i just needle you, it’s mean. I really am grateful for all the pains you take for me. I enclose three dollars, I’m sorry about the top one, I spilled coffee on it and it wouldn’t sponge off but I think it’s still good, you can still read it.
Do you carry hard-cover vocal scores, by any chance? Like Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and Handel’s Messiah? I could probably get them here at Schirmer’s, but they’re 50 cold blocks from where I live so I thought I’d ask you first.
Congratulations on Churchill & Co., hope he loosens up your rations a little.
Is your name Welsh?
HH
----
Marks & Co., Booksellers
84, Charing Cross Road
London, W.C.2
7th December 1951
Miss Helene Hanff
14 East 95th Street
New York 28, New York
U.S.A.
Dear Miss Hanff,
You will be glad to know that the two boxes of eggs and the tins of tongue have all arrived safely and once again we all wish to thank you most sincerely for your extreme generosity. Mr. Martin, one of the older members of our staff, has been on the sick list for some time and we therefore let him have the lion’s share of the eggs, one whole boxful in fact, and of course he was delighted to get them. The tins of tongue look very inviting and will be a welcome addition to our larders, and in my case will be put on one side for a special occasion.
I enquired at all the local music shops but was unable to get the Messiah or Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in stiff covers in clean, secondhand copies, and then I found they were available from the publisher in new editions. Their prices seemed a bit high, but I thought I had better get them and they have been sent by Book Post a few days ago, so should arrive any day now. Our invoice, total £1/10/=($4.20) is enclosed with the books.
We are sending you a little gift for Christmas. It is linen and we do hope you will not have to pay any duty on it. We will mark it “Christmas Gift” and keep our fingers crossed. Anyway, we hope you will like it and accept it with our sincere best wishes for Christmas and the coming year.
My name is certainly not of Welsh origin. As it is pronounced to rhyme with the French word “Noel,” I think there may be a possibility that it originated in France.
Yours sincerely,
Frank Doel
For MARKS & CO.
----
[CARD ENCLOSED WITH HEAVILY WORKED, HAND-EMBROIDERED IRISH LINEN TABLECLOTH ]:
Christmas Greetings
and
All Good Wishes for the
New Year
from
Geo. Martin Megan Wells W. Humphries
Cecily Farr Frank Doel J. Pemberton
----
Marks & Co., Booksellers
84, Charing Cross Road
London, W.C.2
15th January, 1952
Miss Helene Hanff
14 East 95th Street
New York 28, New York
U.S.A.
Dear Miss Hanff,
First of all, we were all so glad that you liked the cloth. It gave us a lot of pleasure to send it and it was one little way of thanking you for all your kind gifts over the last few years. You may be interested to know that it was embroidered, quite recently, by an old lady of over eighty who lives in the flat (apartment) next door to me. She lives all by herself and does quite a lot of needlework as a hobby. She does not often part with any of her work,
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