Beethoven sends his publisher Steiner two letters which should be passed on (neither of which has survived). Furthermore he has enclosed an explanation concerning the significance of the treble clef in the cello part of his works (HCB Br 241), which he would like to see published in the edition of op. 97. (Steiner carried this out: according to Kinsky Halm it was first of all on a separate leaf inserted into the printed cello part, later it was printed on the last page of the part.)
Beethoven also asks to be informed immediately once the trio has been printed as he would like to send a copy to the dedicatee, Archduke Rudolph.
He asks for the post to be sent on to him without delay. He mockingly adds that the Lied op. 100 will probably only be published "when people are ice-skating" (in actual fact it was published in September 1816). Concerning the String Quartet op. 95 he asks for it to be read through again carefully. He can only proofread it himself if he is sent the engraver's model. In his correspondence with the Steiner publishing house Beethoven often jokingly uses military language. This is why he calls Steiner "Generalleutnant". He refers to himself in this connection as "Generalissimus" (as he does here, using the abbreviation "g-s"). The person referred to several times in the letter as "Adjutanten" is Steiner's employee Tobias Haslinger.
