  Two letters from William Burnside have recently been found in the Nachlass of
Robert Fricke that contain instances of Burnside's Problem prior to its first
publication. We present these letters as a whole to the public for the first
time. We draw a picture of these two mathematicians and describe their
activities leading to their correspondence. We thus gain an insight into their
respective motivations, reactions, and attitudes, which may sharpen the current
understanding of professional and social interactions of the mathematical
community at the turn of the 20th century.
