Marx-Engels Correspondence
Source Karl Marx, Letters to Dr Kugelmann (Martin Lawrence, London, undated). Letter from Freiligrath referred to in Letter to Kugelmann, 6th April 1868.
11 Portland Place, Lower Clapton, NE
Dear Marx
The receipt of Laura’s wedding card today gave us the most pleasant surprise. We had no idea that the great event was so near and now send the young pair, as well as you and your dear wife, our best wishes from the bottom of our hearts.
And now let me at last thank you for the friendly remembrance you showed in sending me the first volume of your Kapital and do not, because it comes so late, think my gratitude the less warm or sincere. I had intended all the time to thank you personally, but in all the work and excitement that the last few months have brought me I could not find the time. So let me thank you now and be assured that, if anybody is, certainly I am one of the many who rejoice in recognising and admiring the spirit, the knowledge and the amazing diligence with which you have, in this work, built yourself a monomentum aere perennius [a monument more lasting than bronze].
You know I am not an expert (merely an economist ‘in sentiment’) and will not therefore demand of me a detailed judgement – but I can say that from reading, or rather from studying your book, I have already drawn the most varied instruction and the most abundant enjoyment.
It is really a book that should be studied and therefore its success will not, perhaps, be very rapid or loud; but it will quietly produce an effect that will be all the more profound and lasting. I know that in the Rhineland many young merchants and factory owners are enthusiastic about the book. In these circles it will accomplish its real purpose and will in addition be an indispensable source of reference for the man of learning. Again my warmest thanks. And at the next opportunity you will also write your name in my copy, won’t you?
Our Louise is also engaged to be married. Once the infantile sickness of engagement and marriage-making seizes hold of a house, nothing can stop it. It must take its course. The matrimonial measles!
But the marriage is still a long way off. Louise is still very young and must wait. Her fiancé is Heinrich Wiens, a cousin of Kätchen’s husband and also a regular Baltic pirate, like those who captured the daughters of the old poets.
I hope your health is better again. We shall soon come over and convince ourselves about it. Meanwhile the most cordial greetings to you and your ladies from us all.
Yours
F Freiligrath