. . . Except for my incomparable friend, Pusinelli, I have heard nothing very wonderful about the one-time Dresden acquaintances of Minna and myself. . . .
But I do ask in all seriousness for my letters to Minna. No disposition of any kind can be made of such letters: as long as the recipient was living they belonged to her, she could keep them or destroy them. If Minna has definitely and demonstrably done the latter with my letters, I have, of course, nothing to say against it: but if she has kept them, they necessarily revert to the sender, and in case Minna should have given these letters away, I shall fight this illegal action with every legal means, if this should be necessary, and insist on the surrender of the papers. Only, it would be nice if you would give me information about this and help me in every way you can to get the letters back; in any case I claim them as my property.
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner: The Burrell Collection, ed. John N. Burk (Macmillan, 1950), No. 299