Joseph Arnould to Robert Browning, 19 December 1847: 'My dear Browning do you know the German transcendental writers at all -- especially [italics]Fichte[end italics]? an enterprising American bookseller here has been translating all his exoteric works i.e. all except his Formal System of Metaphysics -- the titles will show you the nature of the Books[:] "The destination of Man" "The nature & vocation of the scholar" "Characteristics of the present age" [...] I have been reading them with that engrossing, rapt, concentrated attention which no book can command except one which speaks to the very soul of the reader: formalized in Fichte's books I find what has long been hovering vaguely before my own mind as truth: especially on Religion & Christianity. Do READ THEM -- they are not costly[,] the price of the hitherto published is as follows Characteristics of the Present Age 7s Vocation of the Scholar 2s The Destination of Man 3s 6d'.