London, 20 March 1894 
122 Regent’s Park Road, N. W. 

Dear Comrade, 

Owing to my absence from London ** I have been prevented from an- 
swering your letter of 24 February any earlier. This I duly received as well as 
the Manifestul comunist and Socialism utopic si socialism stintific* for which 
very many thanks. Unfortunately I am not yet sufficiently versed in 
Romanian to be able to give an opinion on the merits of your translation. But 
I would caution you against taking the French translation as a basis when 
working on a German book. 

Unfortunately time does not permit me to comply with your request that I 
write a preface to the new edition. I am busy putting the finishing touches to 
Volume II I of Marx’s Capital and, since printing is going rapidly ahead, I 
must devote all my time to the completion of the rest of the manuscript in 
order that no hold-ups should occur. 

With kindest regards, 
F. Engels