GE and GHL with Smith Elder & Co., Agreement For Romola, London, 21 May 1862
Title
GE and GHL with Smith Elder & Co., Agreement For Romola, London, 21 May 1862
Title
GE and GHL with Smith Elder & Co., Agreement For Romola, London, 21 May 1862
Sender
George Eliot, George Henry Lewes, with Smith Elder & Co.
Recipient
Agreement For Romola
Date(s)
- 1862-05-21
Place
London
Letter Content
GE and GHL with Smith Elder & Co., Agreement For Romola, London, 21 May 1862
MS: National Library of Scotland. The copyist, uncertain about how GE wished her name given, left a blank, which she filled in with "Marian Evans" before she and GHL signed.
It is agreed between Mrs. Marian Evans Lewes and George Henry Lewes Esq. and Messrs. Smith Elder & Co.
That Mrs. Lewes shall write a novel of sufficient length to fill 384 pages of "the Cornhill Magazine" and deliver the Manuscript to Smith Elder & Co. in twelve monthly portions.
That Smith Elder & Co. are to have the copyright of the Novel (for Great Britain and the Continent) both for publication in "the Cornhill Magazine" and for publication in separate form for a period of six years after the appearance of the last part in the Magazine, and the right of disposing of early sheets for America.
After the expiration of the six years the copyright is to revert to Mrs. Lewes, but Smith Elder & Co. are to continue to sell the copies they may then have, and may reprint and sell the Book during the whole term of copyright in any one form they may determine on.
Smith Elder & Co. are to pay Mrs. Lewes for such copyright as is secured to them by this agreement £583.6.8 (five hundred and eighty three pounds six shillings and eight pence) on delivery of each portion of the Manuscript, and such copyright is to be formally transferred to Smith Elder & Co. should they at any time require it.
London | May 21st 1862
Marian Evans Lewes.
G. H. Lewes.
MS: National Library of Scotland. The copyist, uncertain about how GE wished her name given, left a blank, which she filled in with "Marian Evans" before she and GHL signed.
It is agreed between Mrs. Marian Evans Lewes and George Henry Lewes Esq. and Messrs. Smith Elder & Co.
That Mrs. Lewes shall write a novel of sufficient length to fill 384 pages of "the Cornhill Magazine" and deliver the Manuscript to Smith Elder & Co. in twelve monthly portions.
That Smith Elder & Co. are to have the copyright of the Novel (for Great Britain and the Continent) both for publication in "the Cornhill Magazine" and for publication in separate form for a period of six years after the appearance of the last part in the Magazine, and the right of disposing of early sheets for America.
After the expiration of the six years the copyright is to revert to Mrs. Lewes, but Smith Elder & Co. are to continue to sell the copies they may then have, and may reprint and sell the Book during the whole term of copyright in any one form they may determine on.
Smith Elder & Co. are to pay Mrs. Lewes for such copyright as is secured to them by this agreement £583.6.8 (five hundred and eighty three pounds six shillings and eight pence) on delivery of each portion of the Manuscript, and such copyright is to be formally transferred to Smith Elder & Co. should they at any time require it.
London | May 21st 1862
Marian Evans Lewes.
G. H. Lewes.
Signature
Marian Evans Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, George Henry Lewes, with Smith Elder & Co, GE and GHL with Smith Elder & Co., Agreement For Romola, London, 21 May 1862, Complete George Eliot Letters(2026), George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/91864