We arrived at 770 at about 2:30 on Monday afternoon, Sivan 2 (May 12). (Shavuos was Thursday evening.) The Rebbe was at the ohel when we arrived.

We immediately sent a memorandum to the Rebbe stating that we had brought with us a consignment of the first printed bilingual Tanya, comprised of ten leather-bound and seventy-four ordinary-bound volumes; these being all that were ready when we left for New York. We also pointed out that although the Rebbe had instructed that the Tanyas have marker ribbons and jackets, these seventy-four volumes did not. (“No strings attached,” as Rabbi Sudak had previously mentioned.) We explained that we thought it better to bring them as they were than not at all. We considered the Rebbe would have preferred them in that condition, rather than if we had left them behind in England. The Rebbe would now have those extra seventy-four Tanyas on hand, in stock.

When the Rebbe returned from the ohel, I was waiting in the hallway. I immediately received my reward for the journey: one of the Rebbe’s most glorious smiles, which is something worth receiving and seeing. We davened mincha at 8:45 p.m. long after sh’kiyeh (sunset).

We later received a note from the Rebbe instructing us to send in to him the ten leather-bound copies but to ensure that the other seventy-four were first completed properly (i.e. markers and jackets had now to be affixed.)

No company could be found that would do the job in the short time we required. So, Rabbi Sudak and Hershel obtained plastic jackets and rolls of silk ribbon. They cut the ribbons into equal lengths and affixed them to each Tanya, after which, they put the jackets on; all within a day.

Those seventy-four Tanyas have a distinctive and unique feature that all other bilingual Tanyas do not have: the two markers are in different colors – red and yellow. The thousands since produced have two brown markers.