GE to William Blackwood, [Wandsworth], 6 June 1859
Title
GE to William Blackwood, [Wandsworth], 6 June 1859
Title
GE to William Blackwood, [Wandsworth], 6 June 1859
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
William Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1859-06-06
Place
[Wandsworth]
Letter Content
GE to William Blackwood, [Wandsworth], 6 June 1859
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: Cross, II, 111-112.
June 6. 59.
My dear Major Blackwood
I shall be much obliged to you if you will accept for me this amended offer on Tauchnitz' part. 144
The "Liggins business" does annoy me, because it subjects you and Mr. John Blackwood to the reception of insulting letters and the trouble of writing contradictions. Otherwise, the whole affair is really a subject for a Moli'e8re-comedy -- "The wise men of Warwickshire," who might supersede the "Wise men of Gotham."
The letter you sent me was a very pleasant one from Mrs. Gaskell, saying that since she came up to town she has had the compliment paid her of being suspected to have written "Adam Bede." "I have hitherto denied it: but really I think, that as you want to keep your real name a secret, it would be very pleasant for me to blush acquiescence." "Will you give me leave?" I hope the inaccuracy with which she writes my name is not characteristic of a genius for fiction, though I once heard a German account for the bad spelling in Goethe's early letters by saying that it was "genial" -- their word for whatsoever is characteristic of genius.
Yours very sincerely
George Eliot.
Major Blackwood.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: Cross, II, 111-112.
June 6. 59.
My dear Major Blackwood
I shall be much obliged to you if you will accept for me this amended offer on Tauchnitz' part. 144
The "Liggins business" does annoy me, because it subjects you and Mr. John Blackwood to the reception of insulting letters and the trouble of writing contradictions. Otherwise, the whole affair is really a subject for a Moli'e8re-comedy -- "The wise men of Warwickshire," who might supersede the "Wise men of Gotham."
The letter you sent me was a very pleasant one from Mrs. Gaskell, saying that since she came up to town she has had the compliment paid her of being suspected to have written "Adam Bede." "I have hitherto denied it: but really I think, that as you want to keep your real name a secret, it would be very pleasant for me to blush acquiescence." "Will you give me leave?" I hope the inaccuracy with which she writes my name is not characteristic of a genius for fiction, though I once heard a German account for the bad spelling in Goethe's early letters by saying that it was "genial" -- their word for whatsoever is characteristic of genius.
Yours very sincerely
George Eliot.
Major Blackwood.
Signature
George Eliot.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to William Blackwood, [Wandsworth], 6 June 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/94178