Letter to Dr. Ernst about The War in South Africa

From The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia

This letter was written by Arthur Conan Doyle after the publication of his book The War in South Africa: Its Cause and Conduct (16 january 1902).

Dr. Ernst was the London representative of the Viennese newspaper Neues Tagblatt.


Letter

My dear Dr Ernst

You shall have the proofs very soon. I will send the whole set in the hope that you may find other suitable extracts. "The Concentration Camps" for example. I hope my slow translator is at last nearing the end.

The preface is excellent. But surely it should be 'Deutscher' where I have marked it. I want Austrians to get the whole book for themselves, and should be glad to tell them that it is published by Bloch, Potsdammer Strasse, Berlin.

We separated too soon the other night. I went round to the National Sporting Club, and as the boxing was very good I regretted that you were not with me. But perhaps that is a side of life which does not interest you.

I see that the Boer paper 'Petit-Bleu' [1] describes my book as 'ce mechant livre' [2] which is a good sign.

With all kind regards, my dear Doctor Ernst.

Yours very truly

A. Conan Doyle.










  1. The 'Petit-Bleu' was a Brussels-based paper which fiercely condemned British conduct in South Africa.
  2. 'this evil book' (in French)