GE to John Blackwood, London, 5 April 1879
Title
GE to John Blackwood, London, 5 April 1879
Title
GE to John Blackwood, London, 5 April 1879
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1879-04-05
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, London, 5 April 1879
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: Cross, III, 353-354.
The Priory | 21 North Bank | April 5. 79.
My dear Mr. Blackwood
After weighing what you have said I agree to the publication of Theophrastus in May. If you had at all suspected that the book would injure my influence you would not have wished me to give it forth in its present form, and in the uncertainty of one's inner and outer life it is not well to depend on future capabilities. There are some things in it which I want to get said, and if the book turned out to be effective in proportion to my other things, the form would lend itself to a [Second Series,] supposing I lived and kept my faculties.
I think Mr. William has communicated to you that the transactions with the firm of Harper might perhaps be best opened by writing to the Mr. Harper whose initials (and number!) he has discovered.
As to the price for the right of translating about which you ask, I see that Paetel gave me £100 for Deronda, but for Middlemarch, Duncker (whose business I think has not prospered of late) gave only £30. You will judge whether you ought to allow Tauchnitz to reprint. I imagine you will think it injurious to the English edition.
If you will kindly undertake these negotiations for me, I shall be thankful. And pray remember that I don't want the book to be translated, so that it will be well to wait for the application and to ask a sufficient sum to put the publisher on his guard as to the selection of a translator. (But of course this little book cannot be paid for according to the difficulty of translation.)
You see I have been so used to have all trouble spared me that I am ready to cast it on any willing shoulders. But I am obliged now to think of business in many ways.
I am so glad to know that Mrs. Blackwood has the comfort of a good report about you from the doctors. Perhaps it may seem to you the wrong order of sympathy to be glad for your sake in the second place.
Always yours truly
M. E. Lewes.
Our daughter-in-law with her two little children is on her way from Natal -- terrified away by the image of a Kafir irruption.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: Cross, III, 353-354.
The Priory | 21 North Bank | April 5. 79.
My dear Mr. Blackwood
After weighing what you have said I agree to the publication of Theophrastus in May. If you had at all suspected that the book would injure my influence you would not have wished me to give it forth in its present form, and in the uncertainty of one's inner and outer life it is not well to depend on future capabilities. There are some things in it which I want to get said, and if the book turned out to be effective in proportion to my other things, the form would lend itself to a [Second Series,] supposing I lived and kept my faculties.
I think Mr. William has communicated to you that the transactions with the firm of Harper might perhaps be best opened by writing to the Mr. Harper whose initials (and number!) he has discovered.
As to the price for the right of translating about which you ask, I see that Paetel gave me £100 for Deronda, but for Middlemarch, Duncker (whose business I think has not prospered of late) gave only £30. You will judge whether you ought to allow Tauchnitz to reprint. I imagine you will think it injurious to the English edition.
If you will kindly undertake these negotiations for me, I shall be thankful. And pray remember that I don't want the book to be translated, so that it will be well to wait for the application and to ask a sufficient sum to put the publisher on his guard as to the selection of a translator. (But of course this little book cannot be paid for according to the difficulty of translation.)
You see I have been so used to have all trouble spared me that I am ready to cast it on any willing shoulders. But I am obliged now to think of business in many ways.
I am so glad to know that Mrs. Blackwood has the comfort of a good report about you from the doctors. Perhaps it may seem to you the wrong order of sympathy to be glad for your sake in the second place.
Always yours truly
M. E. Lewes.
Our daughter-in-law with her two little children is on her way from Natal -- terrified away by the image of a Kafir irruption.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, London, 5 April 1879, 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/92684