Letter by John Cavafy to C. P. Cavafy
GR-OF CA CA-SF02-S01-SS02-F20-SF001-0017 (392)
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[Alexandria] 1 March 1883
My dear Constantine I hasten to acknowledge your letter 19th ultimo, which came to hand yesterday after the departure of the Khedivieh Mail, thus obviating an earlier reply.
The weather still continues stormy but sufficiently better to allow steamers to enter and leave the harbour. With your letter we safely received those from mother and Paul to Peter. The latter requests me to say that he has written to Salem Pasha in Cairo about Paul’s certificate, and will forward same immediately on arrival. Thanks for your criticism on “Darkness and Shadows”; it is a rarity of fraternal clemency, but I cannot agree with you as to the use of the word “stars”. This
is an expression adopted in all high literature, such as poetry, rhetoric etc. as an equivalent for the light-diffusing spheres, irrespective of any special identity. I understand your postscript. The French “soigner” is best rendered in English by the compound verb “to take care of”. “Ch” in “orchard” is pronounced as in “church”. For your guidance “ch” is always so pronounced in English, excepting only when it is intended to represent the Greek “χ” e.g. Achilles, Chiron, Choe- phorae etc. In “decisive” the second syllable takes a long “i” and the accent falls thereon. -
I see from the Egyptian Gazette that James Whittall of Smyrna is dead. This man, you must know, was the head of both the firm in Constantinopoli and Smyrna. He is reputed to have been the wealthiest merchant of the Levant and leaves an enormous inheritance. Moreover he was an ardent collector of coins and is well-known in London as the donor of a valuable numismatic collection to the British Museum. Lady Dufferin’s Charity Ball in Cairo was a great success, and a large sum of money has thus been raised in aid of the Alexandria Relief fund.
The names for the largest donations on the list are: The Khedive £ 100. The Ex-Khedive £ 100. The Khedive’s grandmother £ 100. G. Antoniadis £ 100. (G.A. it appears wants to cut a figure, no matter with what detriment to his private purse) ― With much love to all I am, my dear Constantine Yours ever John.
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DIGITAL OBJECT DESCRIPTION
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REFERENCE CODE:
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GR-OF CA CA-SF02-S01-SS02-F20-SF001-0017 (392)
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Letter by John Cavafy to C. P. Cavafy
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1/3/1883
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Item
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44 x 27.5 cm
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Handwritten letter by John Cavafy to C. P. Cavafy, on the first and third pages of a double sheet notepaper of R. J. Moss & Co., Alexandria. Comments on one pf his poems; linguistic remarks. Social news.
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English
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Writing in ink. Watermark: R. J. Moss & Co Alexandria. Physical item wear: oxidations.
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RELATED WORKS BY C. P. CAVAFY:
Reference to the works of C. P. Cavafy that are directly related to the described digital object, followed by their number of entry in the C. P. Cavafy Bibliography (ed. by D. Daskalopoulos).
“Darkness and shadows” >Α524
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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.
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Comments on the poem “Darkness and Shadows”.
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Cavafy, John Constantine. “Letter by John Cavafy to C. P. Cavafy”. Letter, 01.03.1883. GR-OF CA CA-SF02-S01-SS02-F20-SF001-0017 (392), Onassis Foundation C. P. Cavafy Fonds. From The Digital Collection of the Cavafy Archive, edited by Onassis Foundation, Athens, last modified 01.10.2025. https://doi.org/10.26256/CA-SF02-S01-SS02-F20-SF001-0017.
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DOI: 10.26256/ca-sf02-s01-ss02-f20-sf001-0017
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PERSONAL PAPERS
Correspondence of C. P. Cavafy
Family correspondence
Incoming correspondence of C. P. Cavafy
Incoming correspondence by John Cavafy