D’Hulst to Naville, August 26, 1888, page 3

[Il l’avait apporté chez un jouaillier qui]

[1] après pretendait de n’avoir reçu que deux 

[2] bracelets & une bague, de là querelle entre 

[3] eux qui causait l’affaire de devenir connue. 

[4] Le Mudir l’a pris en mains et il a 

[5] recouvert aux moins une partie de la 

[6] travaille.

[7] Dans le courant de la semaine il y

[8] a eu un incendie chez Dr. Grant & le bruit

[9] court qu’on lui avait volé des scarabees &

[10] antiquités précieuse ; que la pluspart de sa 

[11] collection serait detruite ou par le feu ou 

[12] par l’eau & que le feu serait éclaté en deux 

[13] chambres simultanément & qu’on avait 

[14] arrêté son domestique Arabe.

[15] Je vous écrirai encore quand 

[16] j’aurai achevé mon travail.

[17] En attendant veuillez agréer

[18] mes salutations empressées

[19] R. d’Hulst

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Transcription notes :

[1] prétendait

[9] scarabées

[10] antiquités précieuses

[11] détruite

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Translation

[He had brought it to a jeweler who] 

[1] later claimed to have received only two 

[2] bracelets & a ring, hence the quarrel between 

[3] them which caused the affair to become known. 

[4] The Mudir took it in hand and 

[5] he recovered at least a part of the 

[6] work.

[7] During the course of the week there

[8] has been a fire at Dr. Grant’s & the rumor

[9] going around is that scarabs and 

[10] precious antiquities were stolen from him; that most of his

[11] collection had been destroyed either by fire or

[12] by water & that the fire had broken out in two

[13] rooms simultaneously & that they had 

[14] arrested his Arab servant.

[15] I will write again when

[16] I have finished my work.

[17] In the meantime, please accept

[18] my warm greetings

[19] R. d’Hulst

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Historical notes:

[4] Mudir: a local governor (in Egypt or Turkey)

[8] Dr James Andrew Sandilands Grant (1840 – 1896), Scottish physician, Egyptologist and collector. See the British Medical Journal, September 8, 1888, p. 590, for a published notice about the fire which took place on August 21, 1888.

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 MS Source:

Bibliothèque de Genève, Ms. fr. 2542, f. 232