GE to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 22 September 1859
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 22 September 1859
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 22 September 1859
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1859-09-22
Place
Wandsworth
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 22 September 1859
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
Holly Lodge | Wandsworth | September 22. 59.
My dear Sir
When I wrote to you I felt no disposition to publish in the Magazine beyond the inclination to meet your wishes -- if they still pointed in that direction, and if I could do so without sacrifice.
Your letter confirms my presupposition that you would not find it worth your while to compensate me for the renunciation of the unquestionable advantages my book would derive from being presented to the public in three volumes with all its freshness upon it.
It was an oversight of mine not to inform you that I do not intend to part with the copyright, but only with an edition. As, from the nature of your offer, I infer that you think my next book will be a speculation attended with risk, I prefer incurring that risk myself.
I don't know whether you have had any glimpse of the annoyances I am still suffering from Mr. Bracebridge and the other friends of Liggins. Mr. Bracebridge still maintains that Liggins gave me my materials! But, worse than this, he has taken a journey into Staffordshire, and has busied himself among people named Poyser in order to identify my supposed portraits! 319 He has discovered that I had an aunt and uncle who were Wesleyans, and is informing his acquaintances that Dinah and Seth are portraits of my aunt and uncle -- two aged people, dead these twelve years, with no other resemblance to my characters than that they were pious Wesleyans. Mr. Irwine, it appears, is a "Rev. George Hole," of whom I never heard in my life -- etc. -- etc. I hope the world is getting a great deal of good out of Adam Bede -- it will signify less, then, that the author gets so much pain out of it. Mr. Bracebridge has had a severe letter written to him, calling on him to apologize for the implications he casts on me, of using other people's materials and disavowing them. Whether it will be effective passes the bounds of sane conjecture. He appears to be so nearly an idiot, that it would not be safe to predict his mental processes.
Ever yours truly
George Eliot.
John Blackwood Esq.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
Holly Lodge | Wandsworth | September 22. 59.
My dear Sir
When I wrote to you I felt no disposition to publish in the Magazine beyond the inclination to meet your wishes -- if they still pointed in that direction, and if I could do so without sacrifice.
Your letter confirms my presupposition that you would not find it worth your while to compensate me for the renunciation of the unquestionable advantages my book would derive from being presented to the public in three volumes with all its freshness upon it.
It was an oversight of mine not to inform you that I do not intend to part with the copyright, but only with an edition. As, from the nature of your offer, I infer that you think my next book will be a speculation attended with risk, I prefer incurring that risk myself.
I don't know whether you have had any glimpse of the annoyances I am still suffering from Mr. Bracebridge and the other friends of Liggins. Mr. Bracebridge still maintains that Liggins gave me my materials! But, worse than this, he has taken a journey into Staffordshire, and has busied himself among people named Poyser in order to identify my supposed portraits! 319 He has discovered that I had an aunt and uncle who were Wesleyans, and is informing his acquaintances that Dinah and Seth are portraits of my aunt and uncle -- two aged people, dead these twelve years, with no other resemblance to my characters than that they were pious Wesleyans. Mr. Irwine, it appears, is a "Rev. George Hole," of whom I never heard in my life -- etc. -- etc. I hope the world is getting a great deal of good out of Adam Bede -- it will signify less, then, that the author gets so much pain out of it. Mr. Bracebridge has had a severe letter written to him, calling on him to apologize for the implications he casts on me, of using other people's materials and disavowing them. Whether it will be effective passes the bounds of sane conjecture. He appears to be so nearly an idiot, that it would not be safe to predict his mental processes.
Ever yours truly
George Eliot.
John Blackwood Esq.
Signature
George Eliot.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 22 September 1859, 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/92742