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January 25th., 1947

Dear Dr. Friedlaender:

At last after so many years I have heard about your good news, and received your address through Miss Grete Ring, and cannot wait to send you a few lines.

As you probably know, during the tragic years so many strange and harrowing stories, some unfortunately true, some fortunately not, were heard, that in certain cases it was with a certain amount of skepticism I listened to them. I hope thus that you did not have to go through all the grueling experiences connected with your whereabouts. Be it as it may, I am so very happy to hear you are well, and I hope that next spring when I contemplate going over to Europe I shall have an opportunity of meeting you either in England or somewhere on the continent.

Meanwhile, I would be only too pleased if there was anything I could do for you over here. To begin with, from a very material point of view, could any food parcel be agreeable, and if so of what order - Coffee, chocolate, sweets in the form of honey or anything that the Dutch shops may not have? I know you will understand the true spirit of this offer, and that you will not hesitate to answer me accordingly.

Now in the spiritual field, remembering you as I do, you have most probably kept abreast of all the questions and matters which interest you, but there again if you have any queries or desires do let me hear.

Having been in London you have had opportunities to learn about the art markets and how distressingly segregated they are to and in each and every country, so that probably for the first time in the history of the world each country, aesthetically speaking, has had and still is living on its own substance, though there are of course the famous exceptions which confirm the rule.

In your particular field of Flemish Primitives, I am afraid there is very little I could report to you, as to my knowledge very few have changed hands in the last few years. There has been right along such an upsetting tendency to praise and laud but the so called modern schools to such an extent that the bulk of my business has been mainly in the field of 19th., and 20th., Century paintings. However, I should mention, should you not have been posted already, that the lovely "Madonna and Child" by Memling from the Schiff collection which I had was purchased a couple of years ago by the Kansas City Museum.

In spite of this trend I am still personally very much attached to Primitives and in fact sent a little while ago to Miss Grete Ring, who I was told was writing a very complete book on this subject, the photograph of a French Primitive
I recently

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