1871.04.18 English

     the royal institute for the deaf-mutes 18th of april 1871

my dear brother   thank you so much for your letter and for the lecture   it really caught my interest   it is in every respect excellent   clear as well as funny or at least entertaining    yet in spite of it being easily comprehensible i do believe that your audience hasn’t been able to make out even the simplest aspects of the writing ball   i am concluding from my own experience   even if people see the machine on the outside and inside and have seen everything and they have understood it all   yet still i regularly get questions like   but how does the new line come about   or how do you move the platen to get a new line   i am longing to get news about our dear brother in your latest letter you mentioned a severe cold   with us there is nothing new   my beloved kathrine send her fondest greetings and also from the toddlers   little emma’s prattling skills are now improving day by day   juliane and engelke are delighted to take a daily walk with father and mother   for my next letter i hope to be able to write to you on my new type-setting machine[1]  i suppose i will have to travel extensively abroad in may or juli in order to get some benefit from my patents[2]

best wishes and regards to dear mother og to dear brother john and yourself from your deeply devoted brother   please write soon

                                               R.  Malling Hansen                                                                                               (signed by hand)