Dear Sir,
Could you find out for me how much - i.e. in terms of money - the Uhlig family estimates my letters to my late friend to be worth? It is of course a matter of no mean importance to me to know that letters of such personal intimacy are being kept as merchandise to be sold to the first bidder who comes along, providing only that he pay the highest price, but I have never before had to make an offer in such a matter, and, in any case, am not so comfortably well-off that I could simply give way to my feelings, since I am burdened with obligations in life of the most disparate kind. This by way of explanation in the matter of this friendly favour which I have to ask of you. I should not like to think of these letters to Uhlig being sold off for monetary gain in any other quarter. Within the family circle it must surely be sufficient for them to have copies to remind them of my dearly departed friend, since these at least give the content; but the same is not true of me and my son, who wants to have what belongs to his father. - I look forward to receiving a friendly reply, and remain, with every good wish,
Your old devoted friend,
Richard Wagner.
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 424