OC to AL 1894

Transcription of a letter from Ogden Codman Jr. to Artur Little dated April 10, 1894. Codman often dispensed with punctuation, as reflected here. The quotation used in exhibition label is in BOLD.

[PAGE 1]

Tuesday April 10th 1894.

RUE DE PONTHIEU

Dear Arthur: I have enjoyed / your letters so much / I am just reading the / last one – about the

[illeg.] / I will wait till I come / home for them!

How funny about Archie / Coolidge & Corinna I wonder / if they will be engaged / again I

wonder if you mean Phil Lydig – / who I consider rather / handsome I think it / must have been

fun at / Farleys that ev’g as / the man [illeg.] by Lil Cod must have been too

[PAGE 2]

funny for words.

What an illumination / you must have had with / the eleven gilt candlesticks /

Skin Skin [?] is on her way / to Europe and will be in / Paris before I go.

What did she do at / Farleys I wonder – / George Adams is really / more suited to my father /

than to me. I think Ned / Cod is right. I like him / but I prefer foreigners / it is too flat to go /

round here with just / some one, one sees at / Boston, and not amusing / to see there. I have

been seeing a lot of young Walter Burns / Pierpont Morgans

[PAGE 3]

nephew, and of the / Babe as we call Howard / Sturgis friend, not / “wife” husband would / be

more like it / but son is really what it / amounts to.

The “babe” has been here / nearly a week & I have / been showing him Paris / I have seen a good

deal / of Paris with a French / friend who writes for the “Vie Parisienne” & / is very amusing.

I saw Monty Sears in / the street tiresome as / ever – I did not speak / to him, Fancy Aunty Belle

coming to Rome

[PAGE 4]

for the winter, I am / glad I am not going to / be in Boston that winter / I find it will take twelve /

volumes to hold my / few Italian photos! / I am making a collection of French photos & Books /

+ shall have a very fine / library in time, but I / don’t think I shall get / any old books till some /

of these new clients pay / The [illeg. “Cutting”?] place came / today I have begun on / that at

once.

The Millers come the / end of May I doubt / if I get home till July

[PAGE 5]

which pleases me very / much, you would scarcely / recognize me now I am / so smart Single

eye glass, Boutoniere, grey or brown / linen waistcoat varnished / boots, top hat & cutaway / coat

or frock grey or / black my smartest / gloves everything from / the swellest London people. / I

constantly see myself / in the glass & wonder / who it is, pink blue / or mauve shirts / butterfly

ties etc do / make a difference / My mustach [sic] is curled / like this [sketch of mustache]

the ends / get nearly into my

[PAGE 6]

my eyes. Oh this is the / kind of place I love. / I am going to see some / Watteau over doors to /

morrow in such a nice place in the Marais / Lunch at Voisins with / Freddy d Houteville / The

Babe & Walter or / rather they lunch with / me. I go over to Cambridge / soon to stop a few days

with one of the Dons / I dine with Egerton Winthrop / Lester tomorrow May / be away

from the Boits / Dance tonight on acc. / Theo. Chases’s death / but have been to

[PAGE 7]

the opera etc as before / people seem to like me / here much more than / in Boston and that does /

make me feel at home / and half New York is / drifting through Paris / Business is brisk I / spent

the afternoon doing things for the [Cutting?] house.

The Shop people are so / very intelligent here / and help one so much / it is wonderful / I shall

miss it so at home / and such lovely stuffs / well I never thought it / would be half so nice.

I long for Mrs Miller / to get here she will

[PAGE 8]

be such fun, Oh Arthur / did I tell you such a find / a place where they have / [illeg.] backs from

three / dollars up. & Old Colored / & Marble mantels from / 30 $ up some good Louis / XVI for

60 $ and / 200 $ will get beauties / Louis XIV, XV, or XVI. / And they have hundreds / of them –

I feel as if / I could not possibly / believe it but its true

Sincerely yours

Ogden Codman Jr

I have such a nice spirit / lamp to heat the tongs to curl my moustache / you would love it