9 July 1912

Dear Giacomo,

   I received yesterday's letter from you when ours with the treasury bonds of the Banca d'Italia had already gone out, addressed to Torre del Lago — you will have no difficulty retrieving it, since I believe they will alert you as soon as it arrives.

   When Adami has finished — and it will be by the end of this month — I'll send you the new "Anima allegra" and you can judge whether it suits you in its revised version.

   It seems to me that Illica has a hundred good arguments against the "Tre moschettieri", old and musty stuff that once entertained us...... as something to read!! Years ago at the Porte Saint-Martin I saw certain "Tre moschettieri" that made for a delightful evening of non-stop laughter — and that impression has never left me.

   You've said nothing more about "Hanele" — are you no longer considering it?

   Do you want me to write to D'Annunzio to help move him along? You know it's a question of money — and who knows that the voice of the publisher might not be more "moving" than that of the poet.

   I have not read Torrefranca's book and I have every intention to avoid it, since I don't want to become angry — he's a conceited minor author I saw at the famous convention last year in Rome when Rosadi, Podrecca, and Montefiore hurled their hateful invective against Casa Ricordi — I'll get myself a copy of the Tribuna and read the article by Gasco — and that will be sufficient.

   Don't push your body or spirit to exhaustion, dear Giacomo, over this vacation — enjoy it in peace with your "Cio-cio-san", and remember that there's a man who envies you — and that man is me, forced to pull the plow in this broiling heat!! You'll see that a subject will be found, and just the one you feel is right for you.

   Tomorrow or the day after I'll send you a photograph of poor father on his deathbed — you'll see how beautiful and majestic it is — a perfect likeness of him, dear father, just as he was toward the end of his life — I thought this memory would be a precious one for you.

An embrace from

your

Tito Ricordi