GE to John Blackwood, London, 31 December 1868
Title
GE to John Blackwood, London, 31 December 1868
Title
GE to John Blackwood, London, 31 December 1868
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1868-12-31
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, London, 31 December 1868
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: Cross, III, 70-72.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
December 31. 1868.
My dear Sir
Many thanks for the cheque, which I received yesterday afternoon. Mr. Lewes is eminently satisfied with the sales, and indeed it does appear, from authoritative testimony, that the number sold is unusually large even for what is called a successful poem.
The cheap edition of the Novels is so exceptionally attractive in print, paper and binding, for 3/6, that I cannot help fretting a little at its not getting a more rapid sale. The fact rather puzzles me too, in presence of the various proofs that the books really are liked. I suppose there is some mystery of reduced prices accounting for the abundant presentation of certain works and series on the bookstalls at the railways, and the absence of others. Else, surely those pretty volumes would have a good chance of being bought by the travellers whose taste shrinks from the diabolical red-and-yellow-pictured series. We often wonder how that very handsome 7/6 edition of Thackeray sells: perhaps better, in his case, than a cheap one would. I am sure you must often be in a state of wonderment as to how the business of the world gets done so as not to ruin two thirds of the people concerned [in] it; for judging from the silly propositions and requests sometimes made to me by bald-headed experienced men there must be a very thin allowance of wisdom to the majority of their transactions.
I have been reading "The Ring and the Book" aloud to Mr. Lewes. At present it verifies the fear we have always had when we have heard Browning talk of the poem, namely that the subject is too void of fine elements to bear the elaborate treatment he has given to it. It is not really anything more than a criminal trial, and without any of the pathetic or awful psychological interest which is sometimes (though very rarely) to be found in such stories of crime. I deeply regret that he has spent his powers on a subject which seems to me unworthy of them. But I should not choose to say this in ordinary talk: I should choose to be silent on the whole matter. The review in the Athenaeum especially was a laughable mixture of impertinence and attempted compliment. I thought it bore the stamp of the great Dixonian seal. 853 I recognize the often recurring phrases -- "breadth of tone," "warmth of colour" and "certainty of outline."
Mr. Lewes is attracted by the biographical studies of George the Second's Time, but last night after he had done reading about Berkeley, 854 I heard him laughing over "Doubles and Quits." It is agreeable to think that I have that bit of cheerful reading in store.
Our first snow fell yesterday and melted immediately. This morning the sun is warm on me as I write. The doctors say that the season has been horribly unhealthy, and that they have been afraid to perform some operations, from the low state of vitality in the patients, due to the atmospheric conditions. This looks like very wise writing, and worthy of Moli'e8re's M'e9decin.
Mr. Lewes joins me in sincere good wishes to Mr. William Blackwood as well as yourself for the coming year -- wishes for general happiness.
The chief particular wish would be that we should all in common look back next Christmas on something achieved in which we share each other's satisfaction.
Always yours truly
M. E. Lewes.
John Blackwood Esq.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: Cross, III, 70-72.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
December 31. 1868.
My dear Sir
Many thanks for the cheque, which I received yesterday afternoon. Mr. Lewes is eminently satisfied with the sales, and indeed it does appear, from authoritative testimony, that the number sold is unusually large even for what is called a successful poem.
The cheap edition of the Novels is so exceptionally attractive in print, paper and binding, for 3/6, that I cannot help fretting a little at its not getting a more rapid sale. The fact rather puzzles me too, in presence of the various proofs that the books really are liked. I suppose there is some mystery of reduced prices accounting for the abundant presentation of certain works and series on the bookstalls at the railways, and the absence of others. Else, surely those pretty volumes would have a good chance of being bought by the travellers whose taste shrinks from the diabolical red-and-yellow-pictured series. We often wonder how that very handsome 7/6 edition of Thackeray sells: perhaps better, in his case, than a cheap one would. I am sure you must often be in a state of wonderment as to how the business of the world gets done so as not to ruin two thirds of the people concerned [in] it; for judging from the silly propositions and requests sometimes made to me by bald-headed experienced men there must be a very thin allowance of wisdom to the majority of their transactions.
I have been reading "The Ring and the Book" aloud to Mr. Lewes. At present it verifies the fear we have always had when we have heard Browning talk of the poem, namely that the subject is too void of fine elements to bear the elaborate treatment he has given to it. It is not really anything more than a criminal trial, and without any of the pathetic or awful psychological interest which is sometimes (though very rarely) to be found in such stories of crime. I deeply regret that he has spent his powers on a subject which seems to me unworthy of them. But I should not choose to say this in ordinary talk: I should choose to be silent on the whole matter. The review in the Athenaeum especially was a laughable mixture of impertinence and attempted compliment. I thought it bore the stamp of the great Dixonian seal. 853 I recognize the often recurring phrases -- "breadth of tone," "warmth of colour" and "certainty of outline."
Mr. Lewes is attracted by the biographical studies of George the Second's Time, but last night after he had done reading about Berkeley, 854 I heard him laughing over "Doubles and Quits." It is agreeable to think that I have that bit of cheerful reading in store.
Our first snow fell yesterday and melted immediately. This morning the sun is warm on me as I write. The doctors say that the season has been horribly unhealthy, and that they have been afraid to perform some operations, from the low state of vitality in the patients, due to the atmospheric conditions. This looks like very wise writing, and worthy of Moli'e8re's M'e9decin.
Mr. Lewes joins me in sincere good wishes to Mr. William Blackwood as well as yourself for the coming year -- wishes for general happiness.
The chief particular wish would be that we should all in common look back next Christmas on something achieved in which we share each other's satisfaction.
Always yours truly
M. E. Lewes.
John Blackwood Esq.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, London, 31 December 1868, 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/92679