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                                           -15-
                                      June 17, 1955

Mr. Germain Seligman
Ritz Hotel 
Place Vendôme
Paris, France

Dear Mr. Seligman:

I'm afraid I should apologize for not having written you sooner about what I have been doing, but as Mrs. Seligman will tell you, I have been quite up to my neck in the files, and I am afraid I just put it off. I have done quite alot of work on the pedigrees for OUR BUSINESS and am now in the process of weeding out all the ones which are completed and up to date. I think that probably two-thirds of them are completely finished, and the others are almost finished. There will only be a few to really dig for, and when I finish weeding out the completed ones I will have a clear picture of just what is left to be done.

First of all, as you know, I put each item on a card of its own and filed it by medium or type, such as paintings, tapestries, sculpture, etc. That is the list we went through before you left. The entire list has been retyped with the help of Miss Winter according to Collector. Each card (filed the two ways) bears the pertinent information regarding whether we have a photo, a negative, permission to reproduce and credit line, so it is quite easy by looking at the cards to find out everything.

The pedigrees themselves I have typed in triplicate on letter-size paper so they can be filed three ways; by medium, by collector (same as the cards) and the third way by school. At this point I have found it simplest to file them French, 14th Century, or Italian 16th Century, rather than trying to say Renaissance or Gothic, since in so many cases it is controversial to do it the latter way. Each pedigree has everything we would have had in a pamphlet on the item except the description as well as invoice date, our number, etc. I think it will be quite clear and easy to follow. 

In order to compile this information I have had to go through all the invoices of the firm, all the collection files, some correspondence, all the negatives, etc., and have consequently had a small housecleaning job on my hands, but I think everything in the back room is in fairly good order now, and I might say that just doing that has been a great help to me, as it has familiarized me with all the things you have sold and other things that will perhaps come up in the future and which I hope I will be less blank on!!

I have also found a good many more photographs in the files, some of which I had no idea we had, for instance, all the Mortimer Schiff things except Fragonard's "Esquisse du Four de Negreplisse".

I don't know that I need ask you anything that can't wait till you come back. I am slowly getting things together and hope it will be what you want when you return. I hope you are having a pleasant and a successful trip and are getting some rest and that you and Mrs. Seligman will have a very enjoyable time in Paris,
                                    Sincerely,