[Ads-l] Quote: Sir your letter is before me, and it will presently be behind me. Attributed to Lord Sandwich

Wed Oct 3 01:23:31 UTC 2018

Here is one instance of the English version of German composer Max
Reger's reported response to a negative review:

I am sitting in the smallest room of my house. I have your review
before me. In a moment it will be behind me.

I've been searching for other German instances that fit into this
class of jokes. This task is complicated because my familiarity with
German is minimal. This mandates reliance on the remarkable (yet
flawed) tools Google Books and Google Translate. The metadata and text
in the Google Books database contains errors, e.g., optical character
recognition (OCR) errors.

Perhaps list members proficient in German can help to determine
complete and accurate citations and excerpts, coupled with insightful
commentaries. Please click the accompanying links to examine the page
scans displaying original text.

Year: 1833
Title: Taschenbuch zur Erheiterung für Freunde des Scherzes:
Schwarm Berliner, Wiener und Hamburger Spaßvögel von jeder Farbe und Geschlecht
Author: Superbe Kurzweil (Pseudonym)
Publisher: Schuberth & Niemeyer, Hamburg & Itzehoe

https://books.google.com/books?id=ichiAAAAcAAJ&q=%22bald+werde%22#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt - may contain OCR errors]
Ihr Werthes vom 7ten dieses Monars habe ich vor mir, bald werde ich es
hinter mir haben.
[End excerpt]

[Begin translated excerpt]
I have the letter(?) of the 7th of this month(?) before me, soon I
will have it behind me.
[End translated excerpt]

Date: December 2, 1877
Periodical: Neue Freie Presse (New Free Press)
Periodical Location: Wien (Vienna)
Article: Feuilleton, Aus der Professoren welt, Von Arnold Ruge
(Feuilleton, From the Professors World, By Arnold Ruge)
Quote Page 1, Column 3,
Database: Google Books Full View

https://books.google.com/books?id=8egUOspn2OoC&q=%22mir+haben%22#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt - OCR errors possible]
Mein Freund Asverus führte neben der Professur noch ein
Advocatengeschäft; dabei gerieth er einmal mit einer Schweinfurter
Firma in scharfen Briefwechsel und ich erinnere mich eines Schreibens
welches so anfing: "Hochgeehrtes Schwein--
furter Handlungshaus!
Ihren Brief habe ich vor mir bald werde ich ihn hinter
mir haben . . ."
[End excerpt]

[Begin Google translation]
My friend Asverus had an advocacy business besides the professorship;
At the same time he was in sharp correspondence with a company from
Schweinfurt, and I remember a letter that began like this: "Dear pig!
furter storehouse!
I have your letter in front of me soon I will leave it behind have me. . . "
[End Google translation]

The citation below does not show the excerpt because it is nearly
identical to the text above.

Date: Juni 1878 (June 1878)
Periodical: Für Mussestunden: Zeitung für das höhere Unterrichtswesen
Deutschlands
(For Honeymooners: Newspaper for the higher education of Germany)
Periodical Location: Leipzig
Article: Anekdoten aus der Professorenwelt (Anecdotes from the
professors' world)
Quote Page 22
Database: Google Books Full View

https://books.google.com/books?id=Vf4BAAAAYAAJ&q=%22mir+haben%22#v=snippet&

Below is a citation attributing the quip to Max Reger. The quotation
is truncated. Only a snippet is visible, and ultimately it will be
necessary to access this citation via hardcopy or a scan.

Year: Circa 1923
Periodical: Die Neue Zeit (The New Time)
Volume 41, Part 2
Quote Page 317
Database: Google Books snippet; must be verified with hardcopy

https://books.google.com/books?id=ORjOAAAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22Ich+sitze%22

[Begin extracted text]
Freilich — etwas von Musik muß man schon kennen, wenn man alle
„Pointen" verstehen will. Zwar die Postkarte von Max Reger an einen
Kritiker: „Ich sitze im kleinsten Zimmer meines Hauses und lese Ihre
Kritik. Noch habe ich sie vor mir — —" oersteht jeder;
[End extracted text]

[Begin Google Translate]
Of course, you have to know something of music if you want to
understand all the "punch lines." Although the postcard by Max Reger
to a critic: "I'm sitting in the smallest room in my house reading
your criticism — —" everyone says;
[End Google Translate]

Garson O'Toole
On Mon, Oct 1, 2018 at 4:59 AM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks for your responses, Mark and Geoff. The Yale Book of Quotations
> and other references have an entry for a statement attributed to
> German composer Max Reger (responding to Rudolf Louis) that mentions
> the "smallest room of my house" ("kleinsten Zimmer in meinem Hause").
>
> Max Reger died in 1916, and the citation for the quotation is in the
> 1953 book "Lexicon of Musical Invective: Critical Assaults on
> Composers Since Beethoven’s Time". This evidence is somewhat late.
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Ich sitze in dem kleinsten Zimmer in meinem Hause. Ich habe Ihre
> Kritik vor mir. Im nächsten Augenblick wird sie hinter mir sein.
>
> I am sitting in the smallest room of my house. I have your review
> before me. In a moment it will be behind me.
> [End excerpt]
>
> I've found a snippet match with a Google Books date of 1923 for an
> instance attributed to Max Reger in German.
>
> I've also found German instances of matching jokes in 1833, 1877, and
> 1878, I believe. Perhaps list members will be able to help with the
> German translations.The Lord Sandwich citation is still the earliest
> in 1815 (internal date 1786).
>
> I will try to post the information within a few days.
> Garson
> On Mon, Oct 1, 2018 at 2:18 AM Geoffrey Nathan <geoffnathan at wayne.edu> wrote:
> >
> > I share Mark’s memory of this story, and vaguely recall
> >
> > that it was a reply to a music critic, and the speaker was either
> >
> > Beethoven or Schubert.
> >
> >
> >
> > Geoff
> >
> >
> >
> > Geoffrey S. Nathan
> >
> > Professor Emeritus and Retired Chief Privacy Officer
> >
> > Wayne State University
> >
> > Detroit, Michigan
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Mark Mandel <mark.a.mandel at GMAIL.COM>
> > Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2018 7:47:54 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: Quote: Sir your letter is before me, and it will presently be behind me. Attributed to Lord Sandwich
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Mark Mandel <mark.a.mandel at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: Quote: Sir your letter is before me, and it will presently be
> >               behind me. Attributed to Lord Sandwich
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I recall seeing that letter prefaced by the words "I am sitting in the
> > smallest room of my house." It was long ago and I don't remember the
> > reference or the attribution.
> >
> > Mark Mandel
> >
> > On Wed, Sep 26, 2018, 2:23 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > A rare book dealer asked me to explore the scatological quip in the
> > > subject line. The Yale Books of Quotations, Cassell's Humorous
> > > Quotations, and many other references contain instances this remark.
> > >
> > > In 2008 Fred Shapiro presented an attribution to the Earl of Sandwich
> > > in an 1843 citation.
> > >
> > > https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/2043-you-can-quote-them
> > >
> > > Here is an attribution to the Earl of Sandwich within an 1815 memoir.
> > > The year specified in the memoir is 1786.
> > >
> > > Year: 1815
> > > Title: Historical Memoirs of My Own Time: Part the Second from 1781 to 1784
> > > Author: Sir N. William Wraxall.
> > > Section: 1781 (Yet, context specifies 1786)
> > >
> > > https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4010789;view=1up;seq=548
> > >
> > > [Begin excerpt]
> > > How laconically, yet forcibly he could write, with what Conciseness
> > > and Severity blended, he exhibited in his memorable Note to Mr. Eden,
> > > afterwards created Lord Auckland. That Gentleman, when he quitted his
> > > political Friends in 1786, in order to join Mr. Pitt, who sent him
> > > over to Paris, for the purpose of negociating the Commercial Treaty;
> > > addressed a circular Letter to them, endeavouring to explain and to
> > > justify his Line of Conduct. Lord Sandwich, in answer to the Letter
> > > that he received on the Occasion, instantly wrote back these Words.
> > > "Sir your letter is before me, and it will presently be behind me. I
> > > remain, Sir, your most humble Servant."
> > > [End excerpt]
> > >
> > > Garson O'Toole
> > >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
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