1. Arthritis, specifically in the knee.

2. Theo had probably said in his letter that he was considering marrying Marie; in letters 336 and 339 Van Gogh makes similar allusions.

3. Elbert Jan van Wisselingh worked with the art dealer Daniel Cottier in London in 1874-1882. He left in the winter of 1882 and until the autumn of 1884 he was an independent dealer in Paris at 52 rue Laffitte. He lived at 52 rue Lepic. See Heijbroek and Wouthuysen 1999, pp. 29-30.

4. This scratch is the letter sketch Woman digging (F - / JH 337); the drawing in question is not known.

a. Read: ‘zodanig’ (so that).

5. A drawing with a similar subject is Scheveningen woman with a wheelbarrow (F 1021 / JH 362); Meedendorp dates this to March 1883. See cat. Otterlo 2007, pp. 194-195.

6. Most probably the draughtsman, wood engraver and lithographer Willem Hendrik Stam, who had lived in The Hague. Between 1853 and 1872 his work was seen at exhibitions in The Hague in the form of woodcuts, wood engravings and drawings, as is evident from the Kunstkronijk. No information about an auction of his estate has been found, but there is a detailed survey of his graphic work in a scrapbook with numerous prints after the work of various artists (Amsterdam, Library Rijksmuseum).

7. Van Gogh’s interest in Lhermitte as a Black and White artist was prompted by what he had read about him in The Graphic: see letters 307-310.

8. For this visit by Van der Weele in November 1882, see letter 285.

9. Digger (F 1656 / JH 262 ). The drawing for this is not known; two other studies are Digger (F 906 / JH 260 ) and Digger (F 907 / JH 261 ).

10. Van der Weele was working on the painting A misty morning; see letter 327, n. 1.

11. This entrance gate at the back of the pawnshop was in Korte Lombardstraat. A year earlier Van Gogh had done the drawing The entrance to the Pawn Bank, The Hague (F - / JH 126 ) there; it shows how the walls on either side of the gate were covered with posters. One of them also bears the words: ‘Prospectus EIGEN HAARD geïllustreerd tijdschrift’ (Prospectus of the Eigen Haard illustrated periodical). See cat. Amsterdam 1996, pp. 105-109, cat. no. 24.

12. Van Gogh’s description is not entirely accurate. This is one of the prints in the series ‘Bohèmes’ in Gavarni’s La mascarade humaine with the text ‘LOST / A LITTLE GIRL’; below it the words ‘Sevigne and his wife take children to be weaned’ (IL A ETE PERDU / UNE PETITE FILLE / Sevigne et son épouse prennent les enfants en sevrage) (Gavarni 1881, p. 129). Ill. 2087 .

13. The print in question is found in the series ‘Les propos de Thomas Vireloque’, included in La mascarade humaine. The sign reads ‘AT THE MEETING POINT / OF BROTHERR HOOD’; below the print the words ‘Brothers, perhaps! But, for cousins, not cousins!’ (AU RANDÉ VOU / DE LA / FRATAIRNITÉ / ‘Frères, possible! mais, pour cousins, pas cousins!’) (Gavarni 1881, p. 97). Ill. 2088 . Edmond and Jules de Goncourt discussed this work in Gavarni, l’homme et l’oeuvre (Goncourt 1873, pp. 355-356).

14. At the International Exhibition, which opened in Amsterdam on 1 May 1883, Anthon van Rappard was represented by Peintres en brique (no. 190): Tile painters (Middelburg, Zeeuws Museum). Ill. 332 . The painting both matches Van Gogh’s description and accords with his remark that it is ‘large’, since it measures 65.5 x 120.5 cm. But Van Rappard’s dating of the work, 1884, is a problem. It could mean that Van Rappard painted a second version of it (one in 1883 and one in 1884), or that he later made changes to the 1883 work and altered the date. See exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1974, p. 82, cat. no. 93. The fact that Van Gogh knows of this painting leads to the conclusion that he must already have received Van Rappard’s letter, for which he thanks him in letter 332.

15. An expression, also quoted in letter 333.

16. These studies for the painting A misty morning are not known.

b. Means: ‘strook van kreupelhout die een veld begrenst’ (strip of undergrowth bordering a field).