Handwritten 4 page letter to Ekaterina Erastovna Zborovskai͡a describing the life of the Imperial family in exile in Tobol'sk. Includes original envelope, postmarked January 14, 1918.
Rough English translation:
No. 24 Tobolsk. 1918
9 - 11 January
Katia, dear:
My great thanks for your letter of December 14. But you put no. 32 [on it] for the second time; you probably got confused, or why then?… Tell Nina for me that I am very grateful for the rose and that I am very touched. How is her health? O[lga] received your letter and wrote to you long ago. Very many letters get lost, to my great sorrow. Did Nik[olai] Il[ich?] visited you alone or with his [family?]. Pass on my profuse thanks to your Mama and to Vict[or] for their congratulations; and to the rest too. It is very strange, but we have not got even a single line from Elen[a] Nik[olaevna?] since we came here, so we do not know where she is now. Are you getting letters from Ver[a] Geor[gievna]? – It is awful even to think of how long we have not seen you! Well Katia , sweetheart, I would rather not think about it; otherwise I feel awfully miserable!… How do you, sweetie, spend your time? We have already started studying. A terrible wind has been blowing these last few days; it was almost a snow storm (Do you remember the song “the snow storm is storming along the street”? I keep thinking of it for some reason.) Today the weather is much quieter and better, but it is still winter. I have to stop writing now, so I will not finish [this letter] today.
Hi Katia, darling, I am finishing this latter on January 11. – Pass on this postcard to Vict[or], and ask him to forward it to Petrenko[?] I was awfully glad to hear from him. My Jim is sitting here and sending you his regards. Today is a year that he has been my “sweet pug”. We lead the same life in spite of an incredible amount of talking we do every day. Dreadfully weak and dull the talks are! Iza came here after surgery, but they did not admit her here, and she even had to move to a small apartment from Kor[…]‘s house. Poor thing, she made such a trip in vain! That is it, and other similar clever things! Well, you probably are not very much interested in all this, huh? My brother sends his regards to you. The weather is better today, and it is snowing lightly. We were building our ice mound in the afternoon. … My sisters send their regards; they are here now, writing letters; one of them is playing the piano; this is the rule: each of us has to play the piano an hour a day, the way we do our homework. It is not very warm in our room; it is not more that 12 or 9 degrees [Centigrade]. Have your sisters come? Our warmest and kindest regards to all yours from all of us. How is Iuzik doing? I am so much interested in whether this letter will ever reach you; I hope it will. My warmest regards to Vict[or]; I kiss your Mama. I wish you many good things. I am sorry that I have written such a silly and boring letter. I cannot and do not have enough skill to do it differently. I kiss, hug, and love you. Yours, A[nastasiia]
If God allows, we will see each other some time, and it will be possible to tell you a lot of things, both sad and funny, and in general, how we live; I will not write about it of course….
