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
Transcription notes :
[1] prétendait
[9] scarabées
[10] antiquités précieuses
[11] détruite
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
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.
MS Source:
Bibliothèque de Genève, Ms. fr. 2542, f. 232
