1. Van Gogh is referring to the four-page folder (‘Extra supplement’) accompanying the Christmas number of The Graphic of 1882. This prospectus gives a detailed description of the production and distribution of the magazine, with illustrations of the engravers at work and views of a modern printing establishment. Van Gogh’s mistake about the year may have been caused by a phrase in the magazine: ‘We begin to think of Christmas 1883’ (p. 4).

2. A reference to the extract from Herkomer’s article ‘Drawing and engraving on wood’ received from Van Rappard: see letter 278, n. 1.

3. The quotation – slightly shortened by Van Gogh – is on p. 1. The Christmas number says: ‘actual professional artists’, ‘good friends’ and ‘constantly sending’ (p. 1).

4. Herkomer’s remark ‘dearth of good draughtsmen’ had been quoted by Van Gogh earlier: see letter 278, n. 5.

5. The cover of the magazine was a group portrait by Theodore Blake Wirgman, Some Graphic artists, depicting the leading illustrators C. Green, S.P. Hall, E.J. Gregory, H. Woods, L. Fildes, J. Nash, H. Herkomer, G. Durand, F. Holl and W. Small. In the estate there is a copy with handwritten notes by Van Gogh. Ill. 2015 . (t*1004).

6. Van Gogh could have known of this episode from Forster’s The life of Charles Dickens: see Forster 1872-1874, vol. 3, pp. 429, 477-479 (with a few divergent details). He may also have known the story from the text accompanying the print Houseless and hungry by Fildes, published in The Graphic Portfolio of 1877: ‘Mr J E Millais RA forwarded a copy (of the first number of the Graphic containing Fildes’s ‘Houseless and Hungry’) to Mr Charles Dickens, who was so struck with the originality displayed in the drawing that he engaged Mr Fildes to illustrate The mystery of Edwin Drood, the work he was engaged upon at the time of his death.’ Cf. exhib. cat. Nottingham 1974, pp. 22, 44 (quotation The Graphic Portfolio) and exhib. cat. London 1992, pp. 89, 92-93, 138, cat. nos. 84-85, p. 146, cat. no. 122. The episode may also be found in Ackroyd 1990, pp. 1056-1057.

7. For Fildes, The empty chair , see letter 251, n. 11.

8. The concepts ‘grandeur matérielle’ and ‘grandeur morale’ occur literally in Victor Hugo’s Les misérables (book 1, chapter 4), where the essence of socialism is summed up. In a society based on such principles as equality, sharing of property, brotherhood, democracy and justice both forms of ‘grandeur’ would be attainable; see Hugo 1951, p. 882. It is not until the end of March that Van Gogh writes in letter 333 that he is reading the book, but it is clear from the various times it is mentioned that he was occupied with this long novel for a considerable length of time. He also read many other works by Hugo during this period. On Les misérables: letter 333, n. 12.

9. A reference to Matt. 7:13-14.

10. The estate has 36 prints from The Graphic 7 and 8 of 1873; there are none from 1882.

11. Van Gogh must have walked in Schaarbeek between November 1880 and April 1881, when both he and Van Rappard were living in Brussels. Willem Roelofs lived at Chaussée de Haecht 218 in the 1870s. This long street leaves the city from St Joost-ten-Node via Schaarbeek in a northeastern direction and more or less borders on Josefatwetering (La vallée de Josaphat). See De Bodt 1995, p. 102 and Jean d’Osta, Dictionnaire historique des faubourgs de Bruxelles. Bruxelles n.d., pp. 227-233. Cf. also letter 605.

12. The edible leaves of dandelions that grow under molehills (WNT).

a. Means: ‘soldatengevangenis’ (‘guardhouse’).

b. Means: ‘cel’ (‘cooler’)

13. Adrien Emmanuel Marie and Godefroy Durand, both known as illustrators.

c. Means: ‘steeds weer met vervelende praatjes aankomen, drukte maken’ (pester someone with annoying chatter, fussing about).

14. The description ‘Triomphe de la médiocrité’ is ‘used with frequency’ in Zola’s Mes haines of 1866. See Sund 1992, pp. 276-277 (n. 3), and letter 393.

15. A reference to p. 4 of the magazine: ‘We propose to continue The Graphic Types of Beauty’; some of these ‘Beauties’ had already appeared in 1874 and 1880-1881 (see letter 279, n. 2).

16. The series Heads of the people drawn from life that had also appeared in The Graphic. It included the following works by Hubert von Herkomer: The agricultural labourer – Sunday ; The coastguardsman and The brewer’s drayman; see letter 235, n. 37.

17. Colour lithographs. The prospectus repeatedly refers to work ‘in colour’.

18. For the Household Edition of Dickens’s work, see letter 133, n. 53.

19. Latin, means: ‘see’.

20. The text in The Graphic is slightly different. After saying that ten years before something that happened on Saturday could not be printed until the following Saturday, it is proudly stated that now things are much quicker: ‘By improved machinery it has become possible to illustrate an event happening on the Tuesday of the same week, and now we propose, by the aid of the new electro-dynamo machines, to save many hours in electrotyping, and so be able to give our latest news-pictures up to Wednesday evening’ (p. 2).

21. In the text and the legends in the prospectus accompanying The Graphic the possibility of engraving by artificial light in the evenings is raised.