Very Honoured Herr Hofrath,
The firm of C. A. Klemm, commissioned by you, has sent us a transcript of the letters of Richard Wagner which he addressed to your deceased father from 1843 to 1881, with the inquiry whether we would care to undertake the publication of this collection of letters.
We have read these letters through with pleasure — indeed, with agitation — and have been much affected by this insight into a beautiful bond of friendship; hence it follows that we are thoroughly disposed to undertake the publication of these letters.
Now the publication can follow only with the consent of Richard Wagner's heirs, according to the status of copyrights in the present law of the Empire, as well as in the outline for reorganizing this law. The receiver and possessor of letters certainly has a right to forbid the publishing of them by a third person, but the copyright of letters whose publication is suited for the purpose of literary sale belongs solely to the heirs of the writer of the letters, in this case, therefore, Frau Cosima Wagner and the Wagner heirs.
For this reason, we have communicated to Frau Cosima Wagner the fact of your offer, and we have told her, after reading through the submitted copy, that we should consider these letters a beautiful memorial to her departed husband, since in this representation of his struggle because of and for his works and in the internal struggles under the burden of his first marriage, a portrait of his character comes forth from the correspondence in such a way that it will bring to him still further the love of his admirers. At the same time, we mentioned in addition that inasmuch as some passages and some letters — as in every intimate correspondence — are decidedly not intended for the general public, it therefore seemed advisable that, provided she at all agrees to the publication, we set up the letters at the start with the necessary omissions, and submit the proof-sheets to her.
Regarding this, Frau Wagner has requested us to ask you, in her name, very kindly to permit the transcript of the letters to be sent to her at Bayreuth, where she will return on the 8th of November. Only when she has read these letters will she be able to decide to give permission to their publication. On this occasion Frau Wagner has charged us with best greetings for you, whom she has known since her youth.
You will see from this communication that we, of course, do not feel authorized to send Frau Wagner these letters without your express permission. When we made the proposal to Frau Wagner of submitting the letters to her with some omissions, this was done principally in view of Letter No. 32. We do not know whether the intended episode that is mentioned there will have a wounding effect upon her. If you also feel that this is possible, then perhaps it would be more suitable to separate this letter for the present, lest she might take offence at something in the publication and, in a general feeling of displeasure, not approve of the idea of publishing.
As for the publishing itself, by far the greatest part of the letters can stand in their entirety. Accordingly, one therefore could submit it, after having received permission, either complete or in a copy of the parts which are suitable for publication. In connexion with the publication itself, a passage in Letter No. 25 would probably have to be withdrawn, since it is addressed only to the intimate physician; likewise it would be appropriate to delete the name of the person mentioned in Letter No. 60. Since we have read the letters with a feeling of love for the thing, we might be permitted to suggest that, of the letters which Richard Wagner addressed, not to your father, but to your mother, the last one, No. 84, be withdrawn. The two closing letters, No. 83 together with the reply from your mother, conclude the whole thing so beautifully that the little note with its more external contents does not seem to us suited for the conclusion of this life-portrait, no matter in how friendly a way these lines also are ended. In so far as the title denotes only the letters to your deceased father, there is no need to close with this letter, and it therefore remains a matter of free will how far one may wish to exceed that by adding anything. Nevertheless, take this only as a humble suggestion which occurred to us as a natural impression while we were reading.
Respectfully and devotedly yours,
Breitkopf & Härtel
Source: The Letters of Richard Wagner to Anton Pusinelli, trans. and ed. Elbert Lenrow (Alfred A. Knopf, 1932), No. 108