18 Giugno 1896.
Ricevo tua 16 corrente: vedo le tue osservazioni circa la brevità del tempo - non devi prendere alla lettera l’epoca che ti ho indicata: se invece di 2 mesi, riescisse necessaria ed utile prolungare la tua dimora costì un altro mese, meno male. Intanto, secondo ciò che mi dici, farò partire
Quanto a lavori di avvisi, di etichette ecc = il
Aspetto risposta pel volume Mandolino e Chitarra di cui ti scrissi circa al formato: ho ricevuto anche i fascicoli
Quanto alla
Poichè parlo di salute, spero che tu ne avrai tutte le cure possibili - come spero che
Affettuoso abbraccio ad amendue
Tuo Papà
18 June 1896
Dearest Tito,
I received your letter of the 16th of this month, and read your observations about how short the timeline is. You shouldn’t take so literally the deadline I indicated: if instead of 2 months you were to find it necessary and useful to prolong your stay for a third month, no problem. Meantime, based on what you tell me, I’ll have Pavone leave at the end of this month: he could have, if necessary, an additional two months to learn the ropes under your tutelage – at which point you can be the judge of the best course of action to take. It is not possible to take care of things at the Paris branch without one of us on site: you yourself have seen firsthand the problems there. I had thus estimated that you could finish up things by early this coming September: I’ll assume this will have to stretch into October, if that should prove be necessary for the London branch. And should your stay in Paris also need to be prolonged that won’t be a bad thing either, since you could thus take a hop to London for a couple of days to see how Pavone is faring, left to his own devices. But everything in its own due time.
As far as work on posters, labels etc. is concerned, Sig. Calabi, when he was in Milan some time back, referred to me things that confirmed your opinion about potential business possibilities: that would be fine, indeed excellent, so long as we do not have a repeat of what happened with Olympia!!... For while it is true that one must undertake some risks in the world of business, too many bis in idem [double jeopardy] will ultimately lead to ruin. Therefore, do go ahead and cultivate this area, but with great caution. Calabi also mentioned the possibility of creating a new type of the famous Christmas and New Years’ cards, with images of Italy by Italian artists. Is this doable?... This sector has reached such a high level of luxury, variety and excellence that I cannot say whether it’s worth taking a risk with something like this.
I await a response about the format for the volume for Mandolin and Guitar I wrote you about, and I also received the Cesi fascicles. Be advised that Cesi added others, also excellent: thus, the distribution of the fascicles needs to be revised, increasing the quantity. I can take care of that, but I’ll send you the brief biographical sketches to translate, as I did for the others. You need to tell me, though, whether these brief translated sketches should be placed at the foot of the page, as in the Italian edition.
As for Cricrì’s housekeeper, think carefully about it a bit more: it’s wise not to have her leave immediately because she has a bad tooth with a bit of periostitis, which forced her to seek treatment. She’s much better now and I think she will soon be completely cured but until that happens it’s not a good idea to have her undertake a trip, since she could get sick again while traveling or when she gets there, which would be a serious problem both for the trouble it would cause and for the expense.
As long as I’m writing about health I hope you’re taking care with your own, and that Cricrì is doing fine as well.
An affectionate embrace to you both.
Your Father