Letter to Friedrich Engels, April 21, 1857

Author(s)	Karl Marx
Written	21 April 1857

First published in English in The Letters of Karl Marx, selected and translated with explanatory notes and an introduction by Saul K. Padover, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliff, New Jersey, 1979
First published in full in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXII, Moscow, 1929
Published in English in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 40

Keywords : Letter, Friedrich Engels

MARX TO ENGELS^[1]

IN MANCHESTER

[London,] 21 April 1857

Dear Engels,

Be so kind as to write by return, telling me how to reply to the enclosed letter from Dana.^[2] I must send off an answer by Friday's post.

By following Christ's precept 'if thy tooth offend thee, pluck it out',^[3] I have at last found relief, at the same time discovering that this wretched tooth was the source of all the other ailments that have been plaguing me for months. You have located our house correctly. The title of Mr Edgar's^[4] book is not Englische Eindrücke but Englische Freiheit^[5] l/4 of it is said to be about Mormonism. The whole claims to provide the physiognomy OR, IF YOU LIKE, physiology of the national character. I haven't read any of it. Will write to you

IN SOME DAYS.

Salut.

Your

K. M.

↑ This letter was first published in English in The Letters of Karl Marx, selected and translated with explanatory notes and an introduction by Saul K. Padover, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliff, New Jersey, 1979.—66, 97, 122, 143, 225, 315, 321, 328, 369, 378, 429
↑ A reference to Dana's letter to Marx of 6 April 1857 inviting him to contribute to The New American Cyclopaedia, 'a popular dictionary of general knowledge' prepared by a group of progressive bourgeois journalists and publishers on the New-York Daily Tribune editorial staff and edited by Charles Dana and George Ripley. It was published in 16 volumes by D. Appleton and Company, New York, in 1858-63 and reprinted in 1868-69. A number of prominent US and European scholars wrote for it. On Engels' advice Marx agreed to contribute a number of articles. But Engels wrote most of them himself so that Marx could complete his economic research. Marx wrote mainly biographical essays on military and political figures with help from Engels in dealing with the military aspect. Marx and Engels wrote their articles from revolutionary-proletarian, materialist positions notwithstanding the condition laid down by the editors that they should not express their party point of view. Because of this condition Marx limited the range of his subjects mainly to military matters and to studies on different countries, renouncing his initial intention of writing essays on the history of German philosophy, the Napoleonic Code, Chartism, socialism and communism. He held that these subjects could not be dealt with in a spirit of even apparent neutrality. It may have been for this reason also that Marx did not contribute the article 'Aesthetics', as originally planned. The articles in The New American Cyclopaedia were published anonymously, and only volumes II, V and XVI contained lists of the authors of major articles. Marx was mentioned as the author of the articles 'Army', 'Artillery', 'Bernadotte', 'Bolivar', 'Cavalry', 'Fortification', 'Infantry', and 'Navy' (actually these articles, except for 'Bernadotte' and 'Bolivar', were written by Engels). Marx's and Engels' authorship of other articles has been established on the basis of the Marx-Engels correspondence, Charles Dana's letters to Marx, Marx's notebooks, which recorded the despatch of articles to New York, and of other archive material (conspectuses, extracts for articles, etc.). In all, the authorship of 81 articles has been established. Marx and Engels contributed to The New American Cyclopaedia from July 1857 to November 1860, their articles (those we know of) appearing in volumes I-V, VII, IX and XII. They were also included, unchanged, in the 1868-69 edition of the Cyclopaedia but were not reprinted any more during the authors' lifetime. They were collected and published in 1933 in the Soviet Union in Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XI, Part II. The most complete publications of these articles are to be found in Volumes 14 (1959) and 44 (1977) of the Second Russian Edition of the Works of Marx and Engels and in Vol. 18 of the present edition (1982). However, these publications did not include the articles 'Austerlitz', 'Augereau' and 'Badajos', of which Engels was erroneously regarded as the author. When preparing the Russian edition, the editors established the true authors of a number of articles wrongly attributed to Marx and Engels by some bibliographers. Thus the articles 'Abd-el-Kader' and 'Chartism' were written by William Humphrey, 'Austerlitz' by Henry W. Herbert, 'Epicurus' by Hermann Raster, 'Socialism' by Parke Godwin, and 'Hegel' by Henry Smith. The article 'Aesthetics' cannot be by Marx either, for it conflicts with the views on the subject expressed in his works.—122, 134
↑ Cf. Matthew 5:29, 30
↑ Edgar Bauer's
↑ See this volume, p. 106.

[1] This letter was first published in English in The Letters of Karl Marx, selected and translated with explanatory notes and an introduction by Saul K. Padover, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliff, New Jersey, 1979.—66, 97, 122, 143, 225, 315, 321, 328, 369, 378, 429

[2] A reference to Dana's letter to Marx of 6 April 1857 inviting him to contribute to The New American Cyclopaedia, 'a popular dictionary of general knowledge' prepared by a group of progressive bourgeois journalists and publishers on the New-York Daily Tribune editorial staff and edited by Charles Dana and George Ripley. It was published in 16 volumes by D. Appleton and Company, New York, in 1858-63 and reprinted in 1868-69. A number of prominent US and European scholars wrote for it. On Engels' advice Marx agreed to contribute a number of articles. But Engels wrote most of them himself so that Marx could complete his economic research. Marx wrote mainly biographical essays on military and political figures with help from Engels in dealing with the military aspect. Marx and Engels wrote their articles from revolutionary-proletarian, materialist positions notwithstanding the condition laid down by the editors that they should not express their party point of view. Because of this condition Marx limited the range of his subjects mainly to military matters and to studies on different countries, renouncing his initial intention of writing essays on the history of German philosophy, the Napoleonic Code, Chartism, socialism and communism. He held that these subjects could not be dealt with in a spirit of even apparent neutrality. It may have been for this reason also that Marx did not contribute the article 'Aesthetics', as originally planned. The articles in The New American Cyclopaedia were published anonymously, and only volumes II, V and XVI contained lists of the authors of major articles. Marx was mentioned as the author of the articles 'Army', 'Artillery', 'Bernadotte', 'Bolivar', 'Cavalry', 'Fortification', 'Infantry', and 'Navy' (actually these articles, except for 'Bernadotte' and 'Bolivar', were written by Engels). Marx's and Engels' authorship of other articles has been established on the basis of the Marx-Engels correspondence, Charles Dana's letters to Marx, Marx's notebooks, which recorded the despatch of articles to New York, and of other archive material (conspectuses, extracts for articles, etc.). In all, the authorship of 81 articles has been established. Marx and Engels contributed to The New American Cyclopaedia from July 1857 to November 1860, their articles (those we know of) appearing in volumes I-V, VII, IX and XII. They were also included, unchanged, in the 1868-69 edition of the Cyclopaedia but were not reprinted any more during the authors' lifetime. They were collected and published in 1933 in the Soviet Union in Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XI, Part II. The most complete publications of these articles are to be found in Volumes 14 (1959) and 44 (1977) of the Second Russian Edition of the Works of Marx and Engels and in Vol. 18 of the present edition (1982). However, these publications did not include the articles 'Austerlitz', 'Augereau' and 'Badajos', of which Engels was erroneously regarded as the author. When preparing the Russian edition, the editors established the true authors of a number of articles wrongly attributed to Marx and Engels by some bibliographers. Thus the articles 'Abd-el-Kader' and 'Chartism' were written by William Humphrey, 'Austerlitz' by Henry W. Herbert, 'Epicurus' by Hermann Raster, 'Socialism' by Parke Godwin, and 'Hegel' by Henry Smith. The article 'Aesthetics' cannot be by Marx either, for it conflicts with the views on the subject expressed in his works.—122, 134

[3] Cf. Matthew 5:29, 30

[4] Edgar Bauer's

[5] See this volume, p. 106.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

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Letter to Friedrich Engels, April 21, 1857

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