V. I.

Lenin

18

To:   HIS SISTER MARIA [2]

Manyasha, I got your letter from the doctor and was very glad to
have some news from home. I have received the bag Mother
sent and think it will be very convenient. I shall probably
take advantage of your proposal to make extracts from books in the Rumyantsev
Library. [3] Yesterday I managed to find the famous local library belonging to Yudin, who
gave me a hearty welcome and showed me his collection.
He gave me permission to work in the library and I think
I shall be able to. (There are two obstacles in the way;
first, his library is outside the town, although the distance
is short, about two versts, so it will make a pleasant walk;
second, the library is not fully organised, so I may be a
nuisance to the owner by making frequent requests for books.) We’ll see how it works out in practice. I think the
second obstacle, too, will be removed. I have not seen all
his library by far, but in any case it is an excellent collection of books. There are, for example, complete sets of
journals (the most important) from the end of the eighteenth
century up to date. I hope I shall be able to make use of
them for the information I need so much for my work.

I see from the newspapers that in the spring fast trains
will be coming here—8 days from
Paris [1] to Krasnoyarsk, which means six days from Moscow. It will then be much
more convenient to correspond.

Yours,

V. U.