Dear Sir

It is with the fullest acknowledgment of my importunity and with a real repentence of taking away Your precious time by my futile correspondence that, at last, I determined on writing You this letter, but dear Sir, I hope You will forgive me when I say You that all this time, from the receipt of Your very kind message of 2 May, I was quite in a fever of expectation and till this day (14 May, eight days after Your letter) I have not received the proofs You had the goodness to send me.² All printed matters send to Russia must be sous bande, that is, open at two ends, and if this precaution is neglected, the message will go as a parcel which are very often lost.

I have received very much book-parcels from M^r. Truebner³ and all generally came in five days and very regularly, not one was lost, imagine then what a unhappy occurence that is, that the most dear of all the parcels should be lost by the bad management of the Continental Post Offices   I will patiently(?!!) wait for the printed sheet and pray You, dear Sir to put them simply in ordinary letter covers (as You send Your letters), one sheet in one cover, and send them without prepaying or putting any stamps, direct on my adress; or deliver them to M^r. Truebner whom I shall request to send the sheets as letters and register them.

My adress can be shortened thus: Petite Morskaja, m. Mitkoff (via Belgium)⁴

The bear skin will go to London by one of the first steamers, but this year the river is covered till yet with ice, and the snow is laying man-high in the woods.⁵

Yours | very faithfully | W Kowalewsky