Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818-1883)
An invitation to Yulia Vrevskaya. 1875
Autograph letter signed ('Iv. Turgenev') to Yulia Petrovna Vrevskaya, 50 rue de Douai, 12/25 May 1875.

In Russian. One page, 210 x 132mm, on a bifolium.

An invitation to Yulia Vrevskaya: Turgenev will be in Carlsbad the following week, staying at the 'König von England' hotel, and he hopes to meet her there; he mentions the 12-day difference between the Russian (Julian) and non-Russian (Gregorian) calendar.

Baroness Yulia Petrovna Vrevskaya (1838-1878) was a Saint Petersburg socialite whose decision to sell her estate and enlist as a nurse during the Russian-Turkish War in 1877-78 made her a folk heroine: she died of typhus in Bulgaria towards the end of the campaign. She had met Turgenev in 1873, and the two formed a passionate friendship over the subsequent years, meeting on a number of occasions including in Carlsbad as proposed in the present letter.

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