Letter from Artaria & Co. in Vienna reacting to the news that the glass plate negatives they sent arrived broken and that the work will have to be done again.

Artaria & Co. were astounded and distressed to hear of the sad state in which the glass plate negatives they sent arrived in England, particularly because the photographer did not keep any copies in reserve and will have to do the work all over again, with all the difficulties that entailed. The firm refuses to accept the blame, because it is plain, from Ruland's description of the state of the parcel when he received it, that the original packaging had been removed from the box during its journey or on arrival. There follows a detailed description of the careful way in which the negatives were packed for dispatch. Artaria ask Ruland to let them know anything he can about what happened, so that a repetition can be avoided. The letter goes on to state that Artaria & Co. have made another search of the Esterhazy collection for the drawing referred to in Passavant Volume III, page 204 no. 580, but nothing has been found. If it was once in the collection, it was presumably among the items stolen a few years ago. Finally, Artaria have obtained the coloured works on the Austrian Army that Ruland ordered for the Prince Consort's Library and are about to send them; the cost is £10.3.0. The publishers may issue supplementary pages to cover recent or future small changes in troop units, but each of the 3 present editions is complete in itself. A note added presumably by Ruland records that the bill was paid and instructions given regarding packaging and labelling.