GHL to John Blackwood, London, [15 December 1868]
Title
GHL to John Blackwood, London, [15 December 1868]
Title
GHL to John Blackwood, London, [15 December 1868]
Sender
George Henry Lewes
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1868-12-15
Place
London
Letter Content
GHL to John Blackwood, London, [15 December 1868]
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
Tuesday.
My dear Blackwood
Your news about the subscription is indeed satisfactory and has given Mrs. Lewes a (temporary) filip.
As from all appearance the poem is likely to go on selling don't you think it would be polite and fair to call every 1,000 a new edition? Absurd as the motive is people are influenced in their desires to possess a work by the knowledge that a great many other people possess it, and I often hear the number of editions referred to as proof of excellence. Now the publisher of the Earthly Paradise was quite astonished when I told him the first edition was 2,000 copies -- so you see it would only count as 1,000 in his eyes. I can picture Mr. Simpson's [mens conscia] about the Advertisements.
If your friend Capt. Lockhart talks half as well as he writes, he must be a glorious companion. By all means bring him.
I was dining out last night with one of the new ministers 849 and have a low pulse this morning as a consequence, but if my pulse is low my morale is in a state of exaltation owing to my seeing my way more and more clearly in my researches.
Mrs. Lewes is putting on her things to go out, but I send her kind messages for her.
[Signature cut away]
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
Tuesday.
My dear Blackwood
Your news about the subscription is indeed satisfactory and has given Mrs. Lewes a (temporary) filip.
As from all appearance the poem is likely to go on selling don't you think it would be polite and fair to call every 1,000 a new edition? Absurd as the motive is people are influenced in their desires to possess a work by the knowledge that a great many other people possess it, and I often hear the number of editions referred to as proof of excellence. Now the publisher of the Earthly Paradise was quite astonished when I told him the first edition was 2,000 copies -- so you see it would only count as 1,000 in his eyes. I can picture Mr. Simpson's [mens conscia] about the Advertisements.
If your friend Capt. Lockhart talks half as well as he writes, he must be a glorious companion. By all means bring him.
I was dining out last night with one of the new ministers 849 and have a low pulse this morning as a consequence, but if my pulse is low my morale is in a state of exaltation owing to my seeing my way more and more clearly in my researches.
Mrs. Lewes is putting on her things to go out, but I send her kind messages for her.
[Signature cut away]
Signature
[Signature cut away]
Citation
George Henry Lewes, GHL to John Blackwood, London, [15 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/94623