My dear Katie / Your papa and I came / back on Friday from such a / delightful time in Paris. - I / want you to thank him for me / for giving me such a treat - / we got up very late every / morning and then had some / chocolate, and then lighted / our cigars and strolleld up / and down the Rue Rivoli / looking in shop windows. / I never saw such pretty things as were in the shops / I bought myself a new hat / I hope you will like it - I thought / it very pretty, and more stylish / than any I see in / London.(drawing of hat here) / It is usually worn in the late / afternoon / it looks very / delightful seen / from the back. / Your papa's / was not / such a good one as mine - it / was very serviceable but had / no style - neither was Mr. Carr's / at all equal to mine - we / walked a great deal up and / down a delightful place called / the Boulevards. People looked at / my hat a great deal. / Katie! There were streets / that had none but sweetmeat / shops in them - ! / others that only had shops / full of dolls. / The sea was very rough, / and I thought rude, as we / came back, and I was / too unwell to present myself / at Clifton Gardens, also / my new hat had been / blown overboard, for which I was too / vexed to be able to hide my / grief - so I didn't call. I / hear it has landed at the / isle of Wight - much damaged - / but it was a very handsome one / Your affectte mr. beak / mind and give my message to your / papa and tell him I shall never forget Judic in that / charming play.
General note re the album: almost all letters signed variously "Mr. beak", "Beak", "B", or with a sketch of a bird or bird's head with a large beak, or with the artist's initials or name; one drawing signed inscribed (88); a few drawings inscribed, including two of the Rubens parodies: "P.P. Rubens pinxit" (49), and "Peter Paul Rubens pinxit" and "Bartolozzi sculpsit" (51); a few drawings numbered (60, 62 to 65) This first letter in the album is inscribed: "Dear Mrs. Lewis/ I must tell you before I forget a/ precious story of Morris -/ it happened yesterday morning - as he came/here: in pelting rain - he stopped at some/little spikes at Ottos house to tie his boot/string, planting his foot firmly on the spike/ & so far all was well - But essaying/ [verso] to remove his foot, lo! the spike/had caught him, even as he had/ many a time caught gudgeon & the/like/ and the next minute he landed/ (softly I am glad to say) on his/ back - still hooked fast, and to/the shrieking delight of two muffin/ boys - who looked on in a way you/may imagine. - Oh dear I've put/the wrong foot up which is a /judgement on me - but I must stick/ to it now./ then having his powerful mind/free, he thought, and remembering/ the way you disengage a cat/whose claws are fixed in you/ [rectoo] by pushing & not pulling, he/ liberated himself & proceeded / sadly to the Grange - but/ Busch should do it - Busch/ should have seen it - don't/ tell though - for I like my/ Morris a little statuesque - / [?] I must tell you - [?] I. Goodbye. people are/ come & I must end,/ Always Yours EBJ/ now find this a proof then/ I'm better? indeed the last two days home done/more than the three weeks/ before:" Inscription content: General note re the album: almost all letters signed variously "Mr. beak", "Beak", "B", or with a sketch of a bird or bird's head with a large beak, or with the artist's initials or name; one drawing signed inscribed (88); a few drawings inscribed, including two of the Rubens parodies: "P.P. Rubens pinxit" (49), and "Peter Paul Rubens pinxit" and "Bartolozzi sculpsit" (51); a few drawings numbered (60, 62 to 65) This first letter in the album is inscribed: "Dear Mrs. Lewis/ I must tell you before I forget a/ precious story of Morris -/ it happened yesterday morning - as he came/here: in pelting rain - he stopped at some/little spikes at Ottos house to tie his boot/string, planting his foot firmly on the spike/ & so far all was well - But essaying/ [verso] to remove his foot, lo! the spike/had caught him, even as he had/ many a time caught gudgeon & the/like/ and the next minute he landed/ (softly I am glad to say) on his/ back - still hooked fast, and to/the shrieking delight of two muffin/ boys - who looked on in a way you/may imagine. - Oh dear I've put/the wrong foot up which is a /judgement on me - but I must stick/ to it now./ then having his powerful mind/free, he thought, and remembering/ the way you disengage a cat/whose claws are fixed in you/ [rectoo] by pushing & not pulling, he/ liberated himself & proceeded / sadly to the Grange - but/ Busch should do it - Busch/ should have seen it - don't/ tell though - for I like my/ Morris a little statuesque - / [?] I must tell you - [?] I. Goodbye. people are/ come & I must end,/ Always Yours EBJ/ now find this a proof then/ I'm better? indeed the last two days home done/more than the three weeks/ before:" Literature: First published as a book 'Letters to Katie' by W. Graham Robertson in 1925; an abridged facsimile edition, 'Letters to Katie from Edward Burne-Jones', was published in 1988, with an introduction by John Christian who records that some of the drawings (such as the 'fat ladies' and the Rubens parodies) were probably made for George and Elizabeth Lewis rather than for Katie. See also The Arts Council of Great Britain exhibition catalogue, 'Burne-Jones The paintings, graphic and decorative work of Edward Burne-Jones 1833-98', 1975, p.96, no.356. See also the Christie's sale catalogue for 24.11.1998 (no.169) for a description of a similar album of 80 drawings by Burne-Jones including caricatures and humorous drawings and Peter Nahum, 'Pre-Raphaelite, Symbolist, Visionary' at Leicester Galleries, London, 2001, no. 17 (with illustrations), for 'Margaret's Book', 36 pp, made by EBJ for his daughter Margaret and illustrated for his grand-daughter Angela. This album is most recently discussed by John Christian, 'Edward Burne-Jones: the Hidden Humorist', London, 2011, pp. 42-4, figs. 2.12 (Morris falling over)