January 7, 1904

Jack sailed through the Golden Gate on the S.S. Siberia headed for Yokohama and Korea.

Letter Dated Jan 8, 04

Dear Charmian, dear my own,

Three handwritten pages on letterhead from the SS Siberia.

“God knows I love you, my woman. I know it now, as never before. And I know, also, that I shall see until I die the picture of a woman’s gray form – stark against the black crowd – as she stood on the pier-end and kissed, and kissed, and kissed her lover goodbye. I see you now, as clearly as I saw you yesterday and it was better than the last kiss, my darling. It was you, all you & all abandon, there on the ______-piece of the pier kissing your love to me. And because you could not get the last kiss, no woman got the last kiss from me yesterday. I kissed George on the lips by the gang-planks. Dear Charmian, dear my own. I shall come back, & soon. And we shall be happy, so happy. There are two correspondents on board with their wives, & how I envy them – not their wives, but the fact that they may take their wives with them, while my true wife remains at home.

Jack wrote Charmian 33 letters between Jan 8, 1904 and June 30, 1904

This letter is the first in the series. All the letters written to Charmian on the Japan trip were Not signed by Jack.

see: Letters of Jack London: Vol 1 – pages: 406-431

June 30, 1904: on the ocean aboard the S.S. Korea, from Yokohama, Jack London was served with papers for “separation and maintenance.”

Bessie filed for divorce – August 18, 1904

 

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