Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818-1883)
'I never was banished or exiled from Russia'. 1879
Autograph letter signed ('Iv. Tourguéneff') to [Eugene] Schuyler, Les Frènes, Bougival, 14 June 1879.

In English. 1²⁄₃ pages, 211 x 135mm, on a bifolium with Turgenev's printed address and monogram. Provenance: Heritage, 19 October 2017, lot 47223.

'I never was banished or exiled from Russia'. Turgenev hastens to correct a misconception expressed in a letter from Schuyler: 'I just received your kind letter – and hasten to answer you – that I never was banished or exiled from Russia, that I intend to go to Petersburg before the end of the year – though I certainly received – during my last stay there – some friendly and half-official hints: – that my temporal absence was a desirable thing. I had nothing to fear for myself – but my young friends could suffer from my staying longer – as they did actually ... So I went'. He mentions his approaching trip to Oxford, 'where the University intends to confer upon me the dignity of D.C.L. [Doctor of Civil Law]. A very great – and very unexpected honour'. Turgenev sympathises with Schuyler's impending change of residence, but 'it is impossible not to prefer Rome to Birmingham'.

Eugene Schuyler (1840-1890) was the first American translator of Turgenev – as also of Tolstoy. He had been inspired to study Russian after striking up friendships with officers of the Russian flagship, Alexander Nevsky, in New York in 1863: his first translation, of Fathers and Sons, was published in 1867. He met Turgenev in Baden-Baden in the same year, en route to a diplomatic posting in Moscow. He remained in Russia until 1876, and at the time of this letter had just been posted as consul general in Rome.

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