GE to John Blackwood, London, 9 April 1879
Title
GE to John Blackwood, London, 9 April 1879
Title
GE to John Blackwood, London, 9 April 1879
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1879-04-09
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, London, 9 April 1879
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: Cross, III, 356-357.
The Priory | April 9. 79.
My dear Mr. Blackwood
I enclose the proof of Title-page and motto. Whether the motto (which is singularly apt and good) should be on the title-page or fly-leaf, I leave to you to judge. Certainly everybody who does not read Latin will be offended by its claiming notice, and will consider that only the deepest-dyed pedantry could have found the motive for it. But I will not leave it out altogether. 218
I have no notions about advertisement except what I mentioned before and you seemed to concur in -- that the table of contents might be given, to hinder the supposition of its being a novel. And I heartily approved your suggestion that you should give Mr. Harper a full idea of what the volume would be.
I have had such various letters from time to time asking me to reprint or write Essays, that perhaps some of the public will not be disappointed that the volume is not a story. But that must be as it may, and if you think the acceptance dubious it is much the better plan not to stereotype. Tauchnitz is sure not to offer anything considerable enough to compensate for extensive reduction of sale.
What energy there is in Mr. Kinglake in spite of the somewhat shattered health that his Wesen gives one the impression of! Among incidents of war that one can dwell on with anything like gladness, that account of the Rescue of the Colours at Inkerman 219 is memorable, is it not?
I go out every day, drive beyond the ranks of hideous houses in the Kilburn outskirts and get to lanes where I can walk in perfect privacy among the fields and budding hedgerows.
I hope Mr. Julian Sturges will take care of his writing and do something lasting. He seems to me to have a strain above the common in him. And he is not writing for his bread or even his butter. I don't know why I say this just now, except that I had it in my mind to say long ago, and it has just come uppermost as I was thinking of the magazine.
Always yours truly
M. E. Lewes.
The notice that M.S. was in your hands last year should be given on a fly-leaf, should it not?
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: Cross, III, 356-357.
The Priory | April 9. 79.
My dear Mr. Blackwood
I enclose the proof of Title-page and motto. Whether the motto (which is singularly apt and good) should be on the title-page or fly-leaf, I leave to you to judge. Certainly everybody who does not read Latin will be offended by its claiming notice, and will consider that only the deepest-dyed pedantry could have found the motive for it. But I will not leave it out altogether. 218
I have no notions about advertisement except what I mentioned before and you seemed to concur in -- that the table of contents might be given, to hinder the supposition of its being a novel. And I heartily approved your suggestion that you should give Mr. Harper a full idea of what the volume would be.
I have had such various letters from time to time asking me to reprint or write Essays, that perhaps some of the public will not be disappointed that the volume is not a story. But that must be as it may, and if you think the acceptance dubious it is much the better plan not to stereotype. Tauchnitz is sure not to offer anything considerable enough to compensate for extensive reduction of sale.
What energy there is in Mr. Kinglake in spite of the somewhat shattered health that his Wesen gives one the impression of! Among incidents of war that one can dwell on with anything like gladness, that account of the Rescue of the Colours at Inkerman 219 is memorable, is it not?
I go out every day, drive beyond the ranks of hideous houses in the Kilburn outskirts and get to lanes where I can walk in perfect privacy among the fields and budding hedgerows.
I hope Mr. Julian Sturges will take care of his writing and do something lasting. He seems to me to have a strain above the common in him. And he is not writing for his bread or even his butter. I don't know why I say this just now, except that I had it in my mind to say long ago, and it has just come uppermost as I was thinking of the magazine.
Always yours truly
M. E. Lewes.
The notice that M.S. was in your hands last year should be given on a fly-leaf, should it not?
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, London, 9 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/92696