a. Expression meaning ‘to make the most of an opportunity’. In the context of this letter, it could also be meant literally.

1. Theo attended secondary school in Oisterwijk in the province of North Brabant. He walked the 6 km to school from his parents’ house in Helvoirt. The fact that Vincent assumes Theo must have felt ‘anxious’ during these long walks must have something to do with the stormy autumn weather: they were having at the time, which included frequent showers, strong winds and occasional thunderstorms (KNMI).

2. The trotting races took place on Saturday, 28 September at 11.00 in the Haagse Bos, during the Nationale- en Internationale tentoonstelling (National and International Exhibition) held on the Malieveld from 21-30 September 1872 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Hollandsche Maatschappij van Landbouw (Dutch Agricultural Association). See Landbouw-Courant 26 (1872), 21 September, no. 39, p. 162.

3. The programme included a display of fireworks on Thursday on the terrace of the Stedelijk Badhuis (Municipal Baths); an illumination on Friday in the garden of the Zoölogisch Botanisch Genootschap (Zoological Botanical Society), and, in the same garden, a Bengal light on Saturday. The bad weather caused the fireworks to be postponed several times, according to a report in Het Vaderland of 30 September 1872, no. 232.

4. The family of Carl Adolph Haanebeek was distantly related, via his second wife, Leonarda Catharina Adriana Stricker, to the Van Gogh family.

5. Van Gogh boarded with Willem Marinus Roos and his wife Dina Margrieta van Aalst, who lived at Lange Beestenmarkt 32 in The Hague. The couple had no children.