第33封信 - 1951.12.07

“细品每一封信，感受日期，感受人类的长情。”

寄语

《84, Charing Cross Road》
从前的日色变得慢
车、马、邮件都慢
一生只够爱一个人

细品每一封信
感受书信的缓慢
感受人类的长情

英文原文London, W.C. 2

7th December, 1951 Miss Helena Hanff 14 East 95th Street

Dear Miss Hanff,

You will be glad to know that the two boxes of eggs and the tins of tongue have all arrived safely and once again we all wish to thank you most sincerely for your extreme generosity.Mr. Martin, one of the older members of our staff, has been on the sick list for some time and we therefore let him have the lion’s share of the eggs, one whole boxful in fact, and of course he was delighted to get them. The tins of tongue look very inviting and will be a welcome addition to our larders, and in my case will be put on one side for a special occasion.

I enquired at all the local music shops but was unable to get the Messiah or Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in stiff covers in clean, secondhand copies, and then I found they were available from the publisher in new editions. Their prices seemed a bit high, but I thought I had better get them and they have been sent by Book Post a few days ago, so should arrive any day now.Our invoice, total £1/10/= ($4.20) is enclosed with the books.

We are sending you a little gift for Christmas. It is linen and we do hope you will not have to pay any duty on it. We will mark it “Christmas Gift” and keep our fingers crossed. Any-way, we hope you will like it and accept it with our sincere best wishes for Christmas and the coming year.

My name is certainly not of Welsh origin. As it is pro-nounced to rhyme with the French word “Noel,” I think there may be a possibility that it originated in France.

Yours sincerely,

Frank Doel

For MARKS & CO.