John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 11 November 1873
Title
John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 11 November 1873
Title
John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 11 November 1873
Sender
John Blackwood
Recipient
George Eliot
Date(s)
- 1873-11-11
Place
Edinburgh
Letter Content
John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 11 November 1873
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
George Street, | Edinburgh.
November 11/73.
My Dear Mrs. Lewes
I was very glad to receive your pleasant letter and especially to observe the paragraph about your simmering towards another big book. That this simmering will boil up to the right point I feel very hopeful. There are as good fish in the Sea as ever came out of it, and those really studying and loving Middlemarch will feel that the proverb applies to your mind instead of harking back to that great book as a climax.
I inclose table showing the very gratifying sale of the 21/- Middlemarch for which I propose to send settlement after the turn of the year. Beyond this table of printed and sold there are 500 printed on which we are just beginning to break bulk. 875 We do not think that this 500 will be exhausted before it will be fair to bring out the one-volume edition, but from the way the sale has gone on we consider that it will always be desirable to keep on a 4-volume edition. The sheets of the one-volume edition will begin to be sent to you for correction tomorrow, I think.
Have you and Lewes seen Mr. Main's preface to the second edition of your Sayings? It seems to me that our friend puts the case rather too strong in favour of his compilation as compared with the Works. I am sure he does not intend what his words may seem to convey, but will Lewes and you look at the points where I have put a query?
We got back to Edinburgh last week and you will be sorry to hear that I found my nephew laid up from an accident in the hunting field. When he was addressing himself to a fence, a beast on a runaway brute galloped bolt against him and caught him on the ankle. Fortunately the bone is not broke but it is [a] terrible bruise and necessitates confinement to bed or sofa for some time. The shock to the general system at first was great but now his general health is all right and Doctor says he is going on as well as possible.
It is very hard and very provoking. It was only his second day of the season.
always yours truly
John Blackwood.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
George Street, | Edinburgh.
November 11/73.
My Dear Mrs. Lewes
I was very glad to receive your pleasant letter and especially to observe the paragraph about your simmering towards another big book. That this simmering will boil up to the right point I feel very hopeful. There are as good fish in the Sea as ever came out of it, and those really studying and loving Middlemarch will feel that the proverb applies to your mind instead of harking back to that great book as a climax.
I inclose table showing the very gratifying sale of the 21/- Middlemarch for which I propose to send settlement after the turn of the year. Beyond this table of printed and sold there are 500 printed on which we are just beginning to break bulk. 875 We do not think that this 500 will be exhausted before it will be fair to bring out the one-volume edition, but from the way the sale has gone on we consider that it will always be desirable to keep on a 4-volume edition. The sheets of the one-volume edition will begin to be sent to you for correction tomorrow, I think.
Have you and Lewes seen Mr. Main's preface to the second edition of your Sayings? It seems to me that our friend puts the case rather too strong in favour of his compilation as compared with the Works. I am sure he does not intend what his words may seem to convey, but will Lewes and you look at the points where I have put a query?
We got back to Edinburgh last week and you will be sorry to hear that I found my nephew laid up from an accident in the hunting field. When he was addressing himself to a fence, a beast on a runaway brute galloped bolt against him and caught him on the ankle. Fortunately the bone is not broke but it is [a] terrible bruise and necessitates confinement to bed or sofa for some time. The shock to the general system at first was great but now his general health is all right and Doctor says he is going on as well as possible.
It is very hard and very provoking. It was only his second day of the season.
always yours truly
John Blackwood.
Signature
John Blackwood.
Citation
John Blackwood, John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 11 November 1873, 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/95178