GHL to John Blackwood, Richmond, [13 December 1857]
Title
GHL to John Blackwood, Richmond, [13 December 1857]
Title
GHL to John Blackwood, Richmond, [13 December 1857]
Sender
George Henry Lewes
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1857-12-13
Place
Richmond
Letter Content
GHL to John Blackwood, Richmond, [13 December 1857]
MS: National Library of Scotland.
Park Shot | Richmond | Sunday.
My dear Blackwood
Can you lend me a copy of Stephens's Book of the Farm, 353 in which I suspect there will be a few details useful for me to know? If you haven't got a cut copy I will go to the Brit. Museum and look at it there.
When I had the pleasure of a visit from your brother I mentioned to him the scheme of a "Physiology of Common Life" which has taken shape in my mind to replace the systematic work on Physiology for which I have been several years making collections. I propose to do for Life what Johnston has done for Chemistry -- and to explain popularly yet according to the latest results of science what is known of Hunger and Thirst -- Food and Drink -- Digestion and Indigestion -- Respiration and Suffocation -- The Blood and its Circulation -- Poisons and Poisonings -- The Moral and Physical Qualities We Inherit from Our Parents -- Sleep and Dreams -- Our Senses and Sensations -- etc.
I propose to publish articles in the Magazine on these topics first, and to enlarge and alter them afterwards. In the first article 354 -- sent by this post -- you will see a specimen. It contains an amount of facts and cases which have never been assembled before in any work that I am acquainted with.
One or two of the topics -- such as Digestion -- have been touched on by Johnston, but my treatment will be not only more exhaustive than his, but will be strictly physiological, and include the unpleasantness so familiar to many which cluster round the disturbances of Digestion.
What do you say to the scheme? If you think we had better publish at once without first appearing in Maga, that also can be done; but there are many advantages in having the work in type, as it were, before beginning the serial publication.
I have been commissioned by my friend Mr. Max Schlesinger 355 of 4 King William St., Strand, to tell you that whenever you publish any work likely to find a sale in Germany, Holland, or Russia, if you will forward him a copy he will notice it in his London Letter, which he contributes to 60 of the principal German papers. His notice will not be a review, but will take the form of literary news -- in fact it is a splendid advertisement which not only appears in his 60 papers, but is copied by a variety of other journals. He announced my "Life of Goethe" in that way, and I had immediately two offers from publishers for the sale of the German translation -- and two for the English reprint. It is of no use sending books not likely to have a foreign sale. But Alison -- Johnston -- Aytoun -- and my book would I think benefit by such advertisement. However, I have explained the matter, and leave it to your judgement.
Ever faithfully yours
G. H. Lewes.
John Blackwood Esq.
MS: National Library of Scotland.
Park Shot | Richmond | Sunday.
My dear Blackwood
Can you lend me a copy of Stephens's Book of the Farm, 353 in which I suspect there will be a few details useful for me to know? If you haven't got a cut copy I will go to the Brit. Museum and look at it there.
When I had the pleasure of a visit from your brother I mentioned to him the scheme of a "Physiology of Common Life" which has taken shape in my mind to replace the systematic work on Physiology for which I have been several years making collections. I propose to do for Life what Johnston has done for Chemistry -- and to explain popularly yet according to the latest results of science what is known of Hunger and Thirst -- Food and Drink -- Digestion and Indigestion -- Respiration and Suffocation -- The Blood and its Circulation -- Poisons and Poisonings -- The Moral and Physical Qualities We Inherit from Our Parents -- Sleep and Dreams -- Our Senses and Sensations -- etc.
I propose to publish articles in the Magazine on these topics first, and to enlarge and alter them afterwards. In the first article 354 -- sent by this post -- you will see a specimen. It contains an amount of facts and cases which have never been assembled before in any work that I am acquainted with.
One or two of the topics -- such as Digestion -- have been touched on by Johnston, but my treatment will be not only more exhaustive than his, but will be strictly physiological, and include the unpleasantness so familiar to many which cluster round the disturbances of Digestion.
What do you say to the scheme? If you think we had better publish at once without first appearing in Maga, that also can be done; but there are many advantages in having the work in type, as it were, before beginning the serial publication.
I have been commissioned by my friend Mr. Max Schlesinger 355 of 4 King William St., Strand, to tell you that whenever you publish any work likely to find a sale in Germany, Holland, or Russia, if you will forward him a copy he will notice it in his London Letter, which he contributes to 60 of the principal German papers. His notice will not be a review, but will take the form of literary news -- in fact it is a splendid advertisement which not only appears in his 60 papers, but is copied by a variety of other journals. He announced my "Life of Goethe" in that way, and I had immediately two offers from publishers for the sale of the German translation -- and two for the English reprint. It is of no use sending books not likely to have a foreign sale. But Alison -- Johnston -- Aytoun -- and my book would I think benefit by such advertisement. However, I have explained the matter, and leave it to your judgement.
Ever faithfully yours
G. H. Lewes.
John Blackwood Esq.
Signature
G. H. Lewes.
Citation
George Henry Lewes, GHL to John Blackwood, Richmond, [13 December 1857], 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/94717