[London,] 17 May 1884 

Dear Ede, 

The ms.* will be finished today; there remains the checking and the 
polishing, which will take a day or two. Then you shall have it. 
I think that Kautsky is arranging for the Neue Zeit to print the chapter 
on the family (minus monogamy”) as a sample and that the whole 
will be printed separately. You can let me have your suggestions 
about ways and means when you get it. 

A word on the Paris elections‘ and other matters as soon as I have 
time. At the moment I am impatient to be done with the ms. and 

@ F. Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State.-” See present edi- 
tion, Vol. 26, pp. 170-82.-° See this volume, p. 141. 

have left everything else, however urgent, on one side. It will be 
long — approx. 130 closely written octavo pages and is called Die Ent- 
stehung der Familie, des Privateigentums und des Staats.* 

Time for the post and a meal. Regards to Kautsky. 

Your 

F.E. 

Amongst other vicissitudes, Pumps’ little boy is very dangerously 
ill; I am very anxious about him.