1. The available translation of Adam Bede cost 2.90 guilders; presumably Van Gogh received the bookshop discount of 10%. The translation was to be had both as a separate publication (‘3e dr. Sneek, J.F. van Drunten (Rott., D. Bolle.) 1871’) and as vol. 2 of George Eliot’s romantic works: ‘Uit het Engelsch. Nieuwe uitgaaf met inleiding en onder toezicht van P. Bruyn (From the English. New edition with introduction and editorial supervision by P. Bruijn), Sneek, Van Drunten & Bleeker (Rott. D. Bolle) 1870-1873’. Because the Novellen mentioned in the previous letter appeared as vol. 1 in the series (see letter 101, n. 3), this last edition must have been the birthday present in question.

2. The present was well chosen: Mr van Gogh found Adam Bede a ‘wonderful thing to have’ (FR b2507, 19 February 1877).

3. The Grote Kerk (also called the Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk) facing Grote Kerksplein.

4. Pieter Rijken and his wife, Maria Aelmans, kept a lodging-house at Tolbrugstraat (Waterzijde) A 312; on the ground floor they ran a greengrocer’s shop. Van Gogh was their lodger from January to May 1877. They sometimes had as many as four or five lodgers at a time. See Verzamelde brieven 1973, vol. 1, pp. 110-112 and Molendijk 1990, pp. 5-7.

5. The storehouse of Blussé & Van Braam was next to Vincent’s lodging-house. During the flooding, Van Gogh carried heavy cartons of wet paper upstairs. People recollecting the incident commented also on his physical strength as well as his introversion. See Verzamelde brieven 1973, vol. 1, p. 109.

6. A bank note of the highest value, namely 1,000 guilders.

7. Aelbert Cuyp.

8. Some of Van Gogh’s possessions had to be sent from England. Mrs van Gogh wrote to Theo: ‘It was with great pleasure that I sent Vincent a parcel with several items this week; his clothes are still in England’ (FR b2502, 19 January).

9. Ary Scheffer, Christus Consolator ; see letter 85, n. 7.

10. These English prints of the pilgrims on the road to Emmaus have not been traced.

11. Luke 24:29.

12. Cf. Matt. 4:16 and Isa. 9:1 (in KJ Isa. 9:2).

13. Ps. 30:6 (in KJ Ps. 30:5).

14. Cf. 2 Cor. 7:10.

15. Matt. 11:28-30.

16. Luke 9:23.

17. John 3:3.

18. Cf. Ps. 103:10-12.

19. John 2:17; cf. also Ps. 69:10 (in KJ Ps. 69:9).

20. Heb. 12:29.

21. Cf. Acts 18:25 and Rom. 12:11.

22. Hymn 189:1.

23. Cf. 1 John 2:24.

24. John 1:1.

25. John 3:16.

26. Cf. Rom. 8:38-39.

27. Hymn 113:1. Vincent wrote ‘Juich Aarde’ (Rejoice on earth) instead of ‘Juicht Christenen’ (Rejoice, Christians).

28. Hymn 114:1.

29. Hymn 180:5. Cf. Pabst 1988, p. 62.

30. Rhy. ps. 42:1. Cf. Pabst 1988, p. 62.

31. Rhy. ps. 42:7. Cf. Pabst 1988, p. 62.

32. Hymn 189:1.

33. The French Church on the corner of Visstraat and Voorstraat.

34. Rev. 3:11.

35. Ps. 137:5.

36. A series of windmills on the Weeskinderendijk. Van Gogh would make a drawing of these windmills in 1881; see letter 171.

37. When travelling from Paris to London and vice versa, Van Gogh no doubt saw the coastal town of Dieppe and the chalk cliffs (falaises) on the north-west coast of France. These trips occurred in May 1873, October 1874 and May 1875.

38. Vincent’s journey from Ramsgate to London in June 1876; see letter 84.

39. 2 Chron. 29:10.

40. Rijsbergen is a village c. 6 km north of Van Gogh’s birthplace, Zundert, and its churchgoers were part of Mr van Gogh’s congregation. The Aertsen family, who are mentioned in letter 108, were among the Van Goghs’ friends there.

41. In 1810-1813 the road was paved and planted on either side with oak and beech trees. See Kools 1990, p. 61.

42. For ‘O Jerusalem’, see n. 35.

43. Rhy. ps. 42:7.

44. Hymn 36:2 and Eph. 3:20.

45. Hymn 118:8, ‘Te zien hoe hoog, als wij gena’ verkrijgen, Gena’ kan stijgen’ (If grace we can obtain, to see the heights that grace may gain).

46. A prayer written and often recited in the family circle by Mr van Gogh; see letter 113.

47. Apparently this was an important image Van Gogh remembered from his youth, because an early drawing (in a sketchbook made for Betsy Tersteeg) also shows a small church with birds on the roof (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, inv. no. d409). Cf. Kools 1990, p. 63.

48. Ps. 104:30.

49. Rev. 21:5.

50. Luke 15:11-32.

51. 2 Cor. 6:10.

52. 2 Cor. 6:9.

53. Cf. letter 89: ‘Charity... is meek, it is woe-spirited, it has woe and spirit’. Mr van Gogh wrote to Theo: ‘I do imagine that he always has the inclination to melancholy. He simply shouldn’t dwell on it too much, and I hope that he receives encouragement through the awareness that he can come up to scratch’ (FR b2502, 19 January 1877).

54. Cf. Gen. 41:51.

55. Evidently the Gemeentelijke Hogere Burgerschool (HBS) (municipal high school) and the Burgeravondschool (secondary evening school) had drawing examples published by Goupil on approval from Tersteeg (via Blussé). It is possible that the drawings in question belonged to the Bargue series (for his Cours de dessin and Exercices au fusain, see letters 136 and 156). At the Burgeravondschool, housed in the former Armhuis (poorhouse) on the Stek, pupils above the age of 12 received instruction in arithmetic, mathematics and drawing. See J.L. van Dalen, Geschiedenis van Dordrecht. 2 vols. Dordrecht 1931, vol. 2, pp. 926-928.

56. Van Gogh is referring to the passage ‘Je vois d’ici une dame’ from the chapter ‘Les aspirations de l’automne’ in L’amour (see letter 14, n. 19). He had already asked Theo to send this in letters 89 and 90.

57. A wooden reading-desk preserved in the Van Gogh family could be the one mentioned here. It is now to be found in the Van Gogh Museum (inv. no. v44 V/1975). Ill. 1816 . See cat. Amsterdam 1987, p. 500, cat. no. 3.12. That the reading-desk was once Vincent’s is recorded in a ‘Memorandum’ written by V.W. van Gogh dated 8 October 1975, though he later doubted whether it had actually been the one used by Vincent.