Decbr 12th /71.Hôtel de France.My dear Challey,

On the same floor of the hotel as ourselves there lives a certain M. Leconte, who finding himself in a similar position as our own, & taking a great interest in all that concerns you, we have grown to be very friendly with. We can’t exactly make out what this individual is; but personally, he is most amiable, & politically, he has been mixed up in the late movement of Paris, after having been expulsed from France for long years during the Empire.— Now, as Paul found out that he was most desirous of being useful to the “cause” & that into the bargain he was a friend of Maurice Lachâtre’s—the Editor—he thought we might as well turn this friendship to account.

So the other day Paul went to pay him a visit pretexting the return of the “Illustration” that he had lent us—We get M. Leconte’s papers before he has read them himself—& en passant he hinted a word or two on the publication of your bookDie französische Ausgabe des ersten Bandes des „Kapital“ erschien in periodischen Lieferungen von 1872 bis 1875 in Paris. Siehe Karl Marx: Le Capital. Traduction de M. J. Roy, entièrement revisée par l’auteur. Paris: Lachâtre [1872–1875]. In: MEGA II/7. S. 1–699. Zur Entstehungsgeschichte dieser Ausgabe siehe ebenda, S. 713–733.. M. Leconte at once jumped at Paul’s proposal to write to Lachâtre in order to know what conditions he would make. Yesterday Leconte received a letter from his friend, the Editor, in which the latter declares himself ready & delighted to publish your book. But the said Editor shall speak for himself:

Vous me demandez mon avis sur le projet de publication du livre de Karl Marx “Le Capital”. Je crois que ce serait faire une bonne œuvre que de vulgariser ce livre du grand philosophe; ce serait rendre un service signalé à la cause du Socialisme.

Je ne suis pas encore fixé sur la question de savoir s’il vaudrait mieux publier une édition populaire à 3Fs qu’une édition de luxe à 6Fs. Au point de vue des principes et de la propagande; il faudra faire l’édition populaire; plutard plus tard on pourra faire l’édition de bibliothèque.

—This extract from Lachâtre’s letter is in the handwriting of M. Leconte which to his delight is very like your own.—

—Now as regards the popular Edition for which no doubt you will decide:—3 frs. is a very low price for so big a volume—& of course the book would not be so fine a one in all respects as your german Edition. It would have to be brought out in the form of the popular Edition of Louis Blanc’s Histoire de la révolution. Lachâtre is to send you the first “fascicule” of this work in order that you may judge. For the rest: the conditions are the following.

It appears that no more than 4000 frs. are required for the beginning: of these Lachâtre is to furnish one half, the author the other half. Paul at once accepted this part of his proposition, for as we have a few thousand francs at Bordeaux, they may just as well be made use of by Lachâtre as lie idle in the hands of Messrs Lamarque & Hue.—The translator is to receive about 1500 frs. Your portrait is to be pre-fixed to a biography written by whomsoever you please & a preface by the Editor in which he wishes to call attention to the fact of your book having been recommended to & by the workmen in one of their congresses. Paul has been asked to write your biography: to dwell largely upon the active part you took in the revolutionary mouvement in Germany & elsewhere & to quote at length from your paper: the New Rhenish Gazette. But you must know best how & by whom your biography is to be written; & these are merely propositions & not conditions of the editors.—Finally, & this is a point which I fancy is important, Mottu is to give your book en prime with his paper “le Radical”. This of itself would get the “Kapital” circulated widely: it is true that Lachâtre seems assured of the success.

Lachâtre makes it a condition that his name shall be mentioned nowhere & to nobody until the book shall have appeared. He is afraid of being interrupted while bringing it out.

—As for the translator: we don’t know what has become of Keller, perhaps you will be able to find out at London for he was known to many of the refugees—to Vaillant among the rest. Lachâtre will make inquiries at the same time at Paris—auprès de Germain Baillére, éditeur de livres de médecine—whose translator Keller was.

Goodbye, my dear Challey, my best love to all at home & a merry Christmas to you. You must write to us at once on the subject of this letter.Your affectionate Laura.