John Blackwood to GHL, Edinburgh, 29 February 1876
Title
John Blackwood to GHL, Edinburgh, 29 February 1876
Title
John Blackwood to GHL, Edinburgh, 29 February 1876
Sender
John Blackwood
Recipient
George Henry Lewes
Date(s)
- 1876-02-29
Place
Edinburgh
Letter Content
John Blackwood to GHL, Edinburgh, 29 February 1876
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
George Street, | Edinburgh.
February 29/76.
My Dear Lewes
I had a pleasant letter from Mrs. Lewes on Saturday and note from you today and I only wish they contained better accounts of both your healths but I trust better weather and the continued most cheering reception of Deronda will help to put you soon right.
As Mrs. Lewes says she has got a little confused about the total number sold, I have had the memorandum I inclose made up which will be about accurate.
The sale of Book 2 is greatly more than that of Book one at the corresponding date last month and in the course of March I hope he will quite overtake Book 1. Mudie has not yet sent in for the second supply 250 that he took of Book 1 but from the demand on the part of the public Langford feels confident he must have it immediately.
From the state[ment]s you have of Middlemarch you will see that Deronda has already got ahead of his great predecessor.
The impression the book is making is enormous and the small cavillers will only do good by exciting discussion and helping on the overwhelming verdict against them.
On the whole the Critics are behaving very well, and I only wonder those who take little exceptions venture, on the imperfect state of their information, to do anything but cry hurrah over the splendid banquet that is opening before them. If Mrs. Lewes heard the excited speculations over Mordecai among the privileged few here who have read Book V she would be more than satisfied with the impression her wonderful Jew is making. The printers promise Book 6 tomorrow and I hope proofs will be ready to post for you but I am not quite certain.
I am very sorry to see what you say of Lady Lytton's health and also that you do not think him looking very fit. I do hope all will go well with them. A sort of comparative coolness had arisen between him and me, but as I felt that it arose from his being so much in the hands of poor Forster, who was always an unfriend to Blackwoods, it did not interfere with my warm regard to Lytton and his charming wife.
Write soon to tell me how you both are.
ever yours truly
John Blackwood.
Should we repeat Motto on the back title of each volume of Deronda. 413
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
George Street, | Edinburgh.
February 29/76.
My Dear Lewes
I had a pleasant letter from Mrs. Lewes on Saturday and note from you today and I only wish they contained better accounts of both your healths but I trust better weather and the continued most cheering reception of Deronda will help to put you soon right.
As Mrs. Lewes says she has got a little confused about the total number sold, I have had the memorandum I inclose made up which will be about accurate.
The sale of Book 2 is greatly more than that of Book one at the corresponding date last month and in the course of March I hope he will quite overtake Book 1. Mudie has not yet sent in for the second supply 250 that he took of Book 1 but from the demand on the part of the public Langford feels confident he must have it immediately.
From the state[ment]s you have of Middlemarch you will see that Deronda has already got ahead of his great predecessor.
The impression the book is making is enormous and the small cavillers will only do good by exciting discussion and helping on the overwhelming verdict against them.
On the whole the Critics are behaving very well, and I only wonder those who take little exceptions venture, on the imperfect state of their information, to do anything but cry hurrah over the splendid banquet that is opening before them. If Mrs. Lewes heard the excited speculations over Mordecai among the privileged few here who have read Book V she would be more than satisfied with the impression her wonderful Jew is making. The printers promise Book 6 tomorrow and I hope proofs will be ready to post for you but I am not quite certain.
I am very sorry to see what you say of Lady Lytton's health and also that you do not think him looking very fit. I do hope all will go well with them. A sort of comparative coolness had arisen between him and me, but as I felt that it arose from his being so much in the hands of poor Forster, who was always an unfriend to Blackwoods, it did not interfere with my warm regard to Lytton and his charming wife.
Write soon to tell me how you both are.
ever yours truly
John Blackwood.
Should we repeat Motto on the back title of each volume of Deronda. 413
Signature
John Blackwood.
Citation
John Blackwood, John Blackwood to GHL, Edinburgh, 29 February 1876, 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/95409