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Royall Tyler to Robert Woods Bliss, December 22, 1937 [2]

22.XII.37

Dear Robert.

I’ve cabled you today to tell you that marriage beltBZ.1937.33. and spoonsBZ.1937.35–42. are sailing by the Newport News, due to reach Baltimore on 6 Jan.

I tried to get the spoonsBZ.1937.35–42. for £500—but I admit the old man, who is ill, got the better of me over the last £100. I think it’s true that he paid more for them than he is getting. On the other hand, the beltBZ.1937.33. is certainly worth more than the spoons—but the belt, I verily believe, is a piece of luck such as only happens once in a blue moon.

I thought it better to have them photoed before sending off, but I’m having GiraudonAdolphe and Georges Giraudon founded a photographic library in 1877 in Paris that specialized in photographic reproductions for “artists and scholars.” See Monique Le Pelley Fonteny, Adolphe et Georges Giraudon: Une bibliothèque photographique (Paris: Somogy, 2005). send you the negatives. RancherayeDe La Rancheraye et Cie., a shipping company in Paris. is having them insured, not Lloyds, and Potier is doing the packing.

I lunched with Mrs. GayMatilda Travers Gay, wife of Walter Gay. yesterday. Walter Gay’s things were being removed at that very moment. All goes to the Louvre.Walter Gay had amassed an important Old Master drawing collection that he bequeathed to the Musée du Louvre and that his widow, Matilda Travers Gay, transferred to the museum in 1938 as “La Donation Walter Gay.” See René Huyghe, “La Donation Walter Gay au Musée du Louvre,” Bulletin des musées de France 10, no. 1 (January–February 1938): 6–8; and M. E. Jaffrenou, “Catalogue des dessins de la collection Walter Gay conserves au Cabinet des Dessins du Louvre (écoles françaises et anglaises)” (PhD diss., École du Louvre, Paris, 1984). The collection is to be shown at the Orangerie for 2 months from 8 Jan., and then goes to the Museum. Mrs. Gay’s idea was that by placing them there before her death, she could make sure they were worthily housed.

Much love to you both

Yrs

R. T.

P.S. I’ve paid for both beltBZ.1937.33. & spoons,BZ.1937.35–42. which as I said in my today’s wire, almost exhausts what I had in hand. I’ll send you my ac/ shortly.

 
Associated People: Walter Gay
Associated Artworks: BZ.1937.33; BZ.1937.35-42