Letter from Sigmund Freud to Eduard Silberstein, July 24, 1873

Vienna, July 24, 1873

Dear Friend,

I am wretched and annoyed at the news in your letter that you have received neither book nor letter from me. I want you to know that I posted you the Zeplichal,1 for which I had paid 2.50 guilders, the day after I received your order on the sixteenth of July, and that two days later, that is on the eighteenth (or nineteenth or twentieth) of July, I followed it up with a letter weighted with the remaining fifty kreuzer. Admittedly, I didn't register the book, but only to save on the cost, since as it was the postage came to ten kreuzer, and since I thought it was safe enough anyway and that it would be a remarkable thing if an unregistered letter or book had no chance of reaching its destination. I am rather more worried, I confess, about the letter—the fifty kreuzer in two twenties and a ten-piece coin may have been noticeable and attracted the attention of the post office staff. But even then, it should have reached you—you would only have had to pay a small excess fee. Since neither of the two has arrived they must, in the opinion of the post office here, and in my own as well, be waiting in Roznau. So please apply to Halumiczek, whose genius is probably responsible for the delay, and to [the] postmaster, who is, after all, an amiable fellow, and ask them for what I sent you. I have no doubt that it must be there and if you only pursue the matter with zeal, it will turn up. For in all honesty, if it is not