Concerning the selection of material let it be said that in all
cases of doubt the authenticity of every utterance was proved;
Beethoven is easily recognizable in the form and contents of his
sayings. Attention must be directed to two matters in particular:
after considerable reflection the compiler decided to include in
the collection a few quotations which Beethoven copied from books
which he read. From the fact that he took the trouble to write
them down, we may assume that they had a fascination for him, and
were greeted with lively emotion as being admirable expressions
of thoughts which had moved him. They are very few, and the fact
that they are quotations is plainly indicated. By copying them
into his note-books Beethoven as much as stored them away in the
thesaurus of his thoughts, and so they may well have a place
here. A word touching the use of the three famous letters to
Bettina von Arnim, the peculiarities of which differentiate them
from the entire mass of Beethoven's correspondence and compel an
inquiry into their genuineness: As a correspondent Bettina von
Arnim has a poor reputation since the discovery of her pretty
forgery, "Goethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde" (Goethe's
Correspondence with a Child). In this alleged "Correspondence"
she made use of fragmentary material which was genuine, pieced
it out with her own inventions, and even went so far as to turn
into letters poems written by Goethe to her and other women. The
genuineness of a poem by Beethoven to Bettina is indubitable; it
will be found in the chapter entitled "Concerning Texts." Doubt
was thrown on the letters immediately on their appearance in 1839.

Bettina could have dissipated all suspicion had she produced the
originals and remained silent. One letter, however, that dated
February 10, 1811, afterward came to light. Bettina had given it