Letter by John Cavafy to C. P. Cavafy

GR-OF CA CA-SF02-S01-SS02-F20-SF001-0067 (1149)

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[Alexandria] Sunday 6 September 1885

   My dear Constantine,
    I received this morning mother’s
   letter of the 31st August. I have
   gone thro’ it carefully, and it
   has caused me much pain to
   detect, between the lines, an
   undercurrent of reproof.
   I therefore write to you, to ask
   you to intercede on my behalf,
   and to obtain mother’s forgiveness
   for any unwilling misdemeanour of mine.
   Nothing short of absolute ne-
   cessity would have induced me
   to retain the £10 in question.
    Inasmuch as I personally
   am concerned, I could be content
   to dispense with renewing my
   clothing, but for the sake of
   appearances, I cannot do this.
     You can judge from my
   remittances and my salary,
   during the last three years,
   what money I have spent
   in clothes, ― and you know
   what things I had when I

   left Constantinople.
     I am well aware that you
   are much worse off than I
   am: none feels it more
   than I do: but how could
   I have acted in these three years
   otherwise than I have done?
   I shall look upon the £10 as so
   much money borrowed from the
   family, and I shall refund them    as soon as possible.
   I am sorely grieved that I should
   have unwittingly offended our
   good mother, and I request you
   my dear Constantine, to tender
   her the sincere apologies of
   a son and a gentleman.      Due note is taken of mother’s
   wishes about pillows and the
   furniture in general. I trust
   the £140 will have reached
you safely. ―
     Mr. Moss is still here.
          I am
     Yours affectionately
               John.

      P.S. Poor Pegasus has lost
   his wings and is now an
   eminently prosaic beast!
               id.

DIGITAL OBJECT DESCRIPTION

IDENTITY AREA

REFERENCE CODE:

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GR-OF CA CA-SF02-S01-SS02-F20-SF001-0067 (1149)

TITLE:

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Letter by John Cavafy to C. P. Cavafy

DATE(S):

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6/9/1885

LEVEL OF DESCRIPTION:

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Item

EXTENT AND MEDIUM:

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20.5 x 13 cm

FORMER REFERENCE CODE:

Records the former identifier of the item as given by the Historical G. P. Savvidis Catalogue.

Χ.φ. Φ Γ’-ΣΤ’

CONTEXT AREA

NAME OF CREATOR(S):

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Cavafy, John

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE AREA

SCOPE AND CONTENT:

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Handwritten letter by John Cavafy to C. P. Cavafy on two letterheads of R. J. Moss & Co. The first three pages are numbered. Reference to their mother’s discontent regarding a financial matter. (Alexandria)

CONDITIONS OF ACCESS AND USE AREA

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CC BY-SA 4.0 Cavafy Archive Onassis Foundation

LANGUAGE AND SCRIPT NOTES:

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English

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS:

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Writing in ink. Indiscernible watermark. Physical item wear: oxidations.

NOTES AREA

NOTE:

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The transcription and editing of the letters of John Constantine Cavafy addressed to C. P. Cavafy was first carried out by Katerina Ghika; said transcriptions were subsequently uploaded to the official website of the Cavafy Archive.