Main, Alexander (1841-1918)

Alexander Main was a reader and disciple of George Eliot’s novels. He introduced himself to Eliot in a letter in 1871, praising her novels extravagantly. Eliot responded that his appreciation made her cry for joy. Main proposed to compile an anthology of Wise, Witty, and Tender Sayings in Prose and Verse, Selected from the Work of George Eliot, which was published by Blackwood in time for Christmas, 1871. In his preface, Main compares Eliot with Shakespeare and maintains that 'she had forever sanctified the novel by making it the vehicle of the grandest and most uncompromising moral truth.' Main also assembled a series of quotations for the George Eliot Birthday Book, a diary decorated with inspirational aphorism from the author for each day of the year. Eliot and George Henry Lewes worried the diary was vulgar and were critical of the book’s binding. Nevertheless, Lewes encouraged Main’s devotion.

5:174, 5:175, 5:182, 5:184, 5:192, 5:194, 5:201, 5:205, 5:210, 5:211, 5:212, 5:213, 5:218, 5:228, 5:229, 5:239, 5:250, 5:260, 5:267, 5:275, 5:283, 5:292, 5:297, 5:300, 5:302, 5:309, 5:323, 5:325, 5:337, 5:358, 5:360, 5:366, 5:382, 5:396, 5:397, 5:398, 5:399, 5:404, 5:415, 5:417, 5:431, 5:439, 5:442, 5:447, 5:449, 5:460, 5:465, 5:470, 5:472, 6:6, 6:7, 6:12, 6:20, 6:30, 6:49, 6:71, 6:79, 6:95, 6:106, 6:125, 6:128, 6:131, 6:146, 6:156, 6:175, 6:209, 6:218, 6:226, 6:244, 6:362, 6:431, 6:433