1889-04 to Jacques-Émile Blanche

Autograph letter signed, New York Public Library, 306 words

[Edited for paragraph breaks, capitalization, spelling and punctuation.]

8 Kings Bench Walk, Temple

[April 1889]

My dear Blanche

I sent you today a copy of the new edition of the Confessions dedicated to you in my very best French. It amuses me sometimes to try and write French and I am sure these ten or a dozen lines took me a week to lick into shape.

I hardly dare imagine what you must think of my long silence; the fact is I have been expecting the new edition of my book from week to week for the last three months and I was determined not to write before I sent you the book.

Mr. Lowrey, the bearer of this letter, is a very great friend of mine. He is the art critic of Truth and a great admirer of your work; he has never written anything but charming things about you. He is anxious to make your acquaintance and he is also anxious for you to paint a portrait of his wife. He is afraid your price for a portrait will be out of his means. I hope this is not so and that you will be able to come to terms. If you don't so much the worse as you say in French, but I am quite sure you will not fail to appreciate the value of his very great appreciation of your work; and you will not fail to like him. He would like to see Degas work. Give him a letter to the man who lives in the Rue de Lisbon; you know who I mean — the great picture collector.

I hope to be in Paris on the first of May. Believe me my dear friend.

Affectionately yours

George Moore