George Borrow met John Hasfeld (a Dane) in St. Petersburg in 1833, where Borrow had been sent by the British and Foreign Bible Society to print the Scriptures in Manchu. Borrow and Hasfeld became good friends and when Borrow left St. Petersburg Hasfeld presented him with a Jewish shekel.
For many years the two friends were separated, George Borrow achieving fame through his adventures and books. It wasn’t until 1857 that the pair met again, when Hasfeld visited Borrow at Yarmouth.
During their many years apart they wrote to each other and Sir Angus Fraser (the late president of the George Borrow Society), collected and published some of the letters in two short books. Sir Angus was a Borrovian expert and both books benefit from his expertise in the subject.
Both books are now out of print (and were published in limited editions anyway) so if you want to see a copy have a look at our out of print books page.
BORROW, George. Letters to John Hasfeld 1835-1839, Edited by Angus M. Fraser. Edinburgh: The Tragara Press, 1982. 140 copies.
BORROW, George. Letters to John Hasfeld 1841-1846, Edited by Angus M. Fraser. Edinburgh: The Tragara Press, 1984. 150 copies.