1. Four people on a bench (F - / JH 195) and Three people on a bench (F 1039 / JH 196). There is also a drawing of the first subject with the inscription ‘Bezuidenhout’ (F 952 / JH 194). For Bezuidenhout, see letter 269, n. 3.

a. Means: ‘allicht’ (most probably).

2. The large watercolour is probably Four people and a baby on a bench (F 951 / JH 197

), which measures 25 x 37 cm. The painting on which Van Gogh based the second watercolour enclosed is not known.

3. For the description of the potato market, see letter 261. The only known depiction of this location is the watercolour Potato market (F 1091 / JH 252).

4. Studies of horses are not known, but cf. in this connection the hoofed animals in Donkey cart with boy and Scheveningen woman (F 1079 / JH 192) and Study of donkey carts (F 952 / JH 193).

5. It may be inferred from the examples Van Gogh gives that in any case he knew the December 1880 and January 1881 issues of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, both ‘The European edition’. There the article by G.F. Muller, ‘The city of Pittsburgh’, Harper’s New Monthly Magazine 62 (December 1880), no. 367 pp. 49-68 was accompanied by the following engravings by Walter Shirlaw: A night arrival (p. 49); View of Pittsburgh (p. 50); Block-house of Fort Duquesne (p. 51); From the Bell Tower (p. 52); View of Pittsburgh from the opposite heights (p. 53); From the hurricane deck (p. 54); At the lock (p. 55); Coke-burning (p. 56); A blast-furnace (p. 57); Steel-works – Puddling (p. 58) Ill. 1227

; Emptying the crucible (p. 59) Ill. 1943

; From the pulpit (p. 60) Ill. 1944

; Rolling steel plates (p. 61) Ill. 1945

; View corner of Fifth Avenue and Wood Street, Pittsburgh (p. 62); Window-glass blowers (p. 63) Ill. 1946

; Oil-refinery (p. 64); Pipe-making (p. 65) ill. 1947

; Stephen C. Foster and Grave of Stephen C. Foster (p. 66); The arsenal (p. 67) and Saturday evening at the variety (p. 68).

6. The article by Howard Pyle, ‘Old-time life in a Quaker town’, Harper’s New Monthly Magazine 62 (January 1881), no. 368, pp. 178-190 is accompanied by the following prints by and after Pyle: Old Swedes church, Wilmington (p. 180) Ill. 1226

; Going to church (p. 183); At evening (p. 184); The umbrella – A curious present (p. 185); William Cobbett’s school (p. 188); The destruction of the sign (p. 189) Ill. 1948

and The British in Wilmington (p. 190). No clues have been found in the June-November 1880 or February-May 1881 issues, so it is impossible to establish which was the third issue of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine that Van Gogh had in his possession.