Postcard of Vermeer's ‘Gezicht Op Delft’ Amsterdam; 13 January [Dearest Dave]

Alas, no sign of the music you want in Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam; in fact there appears to be nothing on sale but HAWKES POCKET SCORES - which may be good for business, but isn't awfully exciting. Love to all, from Howard.

Dearest Dave,

As far as the enclosed Errata are concerned, your guess is as good as mine; that is to say, mine are onlyguesses, for I don't really know one way or t'other.

Theminiature-scoreplace- butmoreout-of-the-waynewscoresthan second-hand ones - is: Miller's music Shop, Sidney Street, Cambridge. It's worth asking them for even the most unlikely things.

Sickening about the ‘Dies’ recording [power-cuts altered the pitch between movements]. This cold and its consequences is (or are) really frightful. You're lucky to have central heating. Love to you both, from H.

Dearest Dave,

Many thanks for your card. The weekend of 9May would probablybe all right; the only thing is that a friend of Raymond's [Raymond Clausen was a South African friend of mine] is going into the R.A.F. about that time, and if it proved to be that very weekend we might have to rally around and help to get him off. But may we risk it and say ‘Yes', with the slight possibility of a last-minute alternative? So sorry to be thus indefinite - but I think it should be all right.

I sat at my desk and busily typed all the time I should have listened to ‘Dies’ and my own Bach Fugue the other afternoon. Quite mental.

Much love to you both, from H.

I'm going to see Nigel [Barnicot] on Thursday.

Dearest Joy and Dave,

Just a line to let you know we reached town in comfortable time, and to thank you for those perfect few days. I was awfully grateful to you for allowing me to bring Ray down, a) because I'm fond of him, b) because I wanted him to know you both, and c) because it was nice for him to see the country for the first time [he had recently arrived from S. Africa]; apart from these admirable reasons, I feel a different person as a result.