Each letter written on folding card with a color etching on the front of a German scene. Accompanied by a letter to Willicombe from “Harry,” a member of Hearst’s party, transmitting a German newspaper with an article on and pictures of Hearst.
Newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst is touring Germany in the fall of 1934 (he was to meet Hitler on the journey), and writes to his longtime private secretary and close friend Joseph Willicombe. In the longer of the two letters, in an envelope dated Sept. 24, 1934, Hearst thanks Willicombe “for the pictures of the puppies. They look as good as anything of the Dachshund breed that we have seen in Germany. Still we may bring home a new dog of some kind. Gandhi and Marion are still inseparable… We hunted up Lea Wrangall over here had have had her as one of the maids. She is a very nice girl as you know and we are going to take her back with us. She told us that Mrs. Albert had written her telling her she couldn’t come back. I hope Mrs. Albert is not getting a swelled head. I would hate to have her go the way of Mrs. Drew. But I can’t have her deciding who shall be at the ranch and who shall not…” Hearst concludes with a brief discussion of his health, “…The doctor here says however that it takes two or three months after the cure to reach the best condition so I suppose the operation would better be postponed for awhile…” The second letter, undated and without envelope, is shorter, “In Munich… and other southern towns, it was delightfully warm. Perhaps that heightened the appreciation of the beer. All the walled towns and picturesque places have pageants, and are making themselves especially attractive for tourists – like flowers luring bees. WRH.” The letter from Harry is in some ways the most interesting. In addition to transmitting the newspaper (in which Hearst is pictured drinking some of the aforementioned beer), Harry discusses the “New Germany” and some of Hearst’s experiences, “The Chief has seen Haufstaegl, a Hitler aide, will see shortly Rosenberg, head of the Hitler newspaper group, and by the time this reaches you may have seen Der Fuhrer himself at Nurnburg. There are three things of paramount interest in present day Germany. Driving through one cannot help but notice that in the flag draped villages the swastika outnumbered the tricolor fifty to one, proving a unanimity - even if in certain cases one feels compulsion – for Hitler.” Harry also notes the presence of anti-Jewish signs in may villages. Also present is an empty envelope, sent from Germany, addressed by Hearst to Willicombe, dated Sept. 29, 1934, with notation on it in red pencil “Hitler & health.” Provenance: Joan Willicombe, daughter of Joseph Willicombe.