Letter from Friedrich Engels to Florence Kelley-Wischnewetzky in New York, London, 7 May 1887. Written in English. Text from: F. A. Sorge (ed.), Briefe und Auszüge aus Briefen von Joh. Phil. Becker, Jos. Dietzgen, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx u. A. an F. A. Sorge und Andere (Stuttgart, 1906), pp. 264-265. Sorge prints the letter abridged. The rows of dashes are his. Spanish translation

London, May 7th 1887.

Dear Mrs. Wischnewetzky.

I have received your note of April 25th with thanks, but no preface; if I receive it pr. next Steamer on Monday I shall send you word at once. In the meantime as I received no copy of the book as yet, will you please see that I get at least something to work upon, a proof sheet or whatever it is, as the V. Z. translation cannot pass under any circumstances. I shall work at the translation as fast as my inflamed eye will allow; I am only sorry you did not send the Ms. or a proof as the idea of a German translation occurred to you. — — — — — — — —

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Nobody was more rejoiced than I when I learnt that the book was finally out of the hand of that despisable Executive and of the S. L. P. generally. Forty years experience have shown me how useless and literally thrown away are all those publications by small cliques, that by their very mode of publication are excluded from the general book-market, and thereby from literary cognizance. It was the same thing even with the party publications in Germany up to 1878; and only since the Sozialistengesetz which forced our people to organize a book trade of their own, in opposition both to the Government and to the officially organized Leipzig book-trade, has this been overcome. And I do not see why in America where the movement begins with such gigantic and imposing force, the same mistakes, with the same drawbacks in their wake, should be quite unnecessarily gone through over again. The whole Socialist and, in England, Chartist literature has thereby been made so extinct that even the British Museum cannot now procure copies at any price.

I remain dear Mrs. Wischnewetzky very sincerily yours

F. Engels.