GE to John Blackwood, London, 15 December 1875
Title
GE to John Blackwood, London, 15 December 1875
Title
GE to John Blackwood, London, 15 December 1875
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1875-12-15
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, London, 15 December 1875
MS: National Library of Scotland. Published: Cross, III, 267-269.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
December 15. 75.
My dear Mr. Blackwood
Your letter is an agreeable tonic -- very much needed, for that wretched hindrance of a cold last week has trailed after it a series of headaches worse than itself. An additional impression like Mr. Langford's of the two volumes is really valuable as a sign that I have not so far failed in relation to a variety of readers. But you know that in one sense I count nothing done as long as anything remains to do, and it always occurs to me that the worst difficulty is still to come. In the sanest, soberest judgment, however, I think the third volume (which I have not yet finished) would be regarded as the difficult bridge. I will not send you any more M.S. until I can send the whole of Vol. III.
We think that Mr. Simpson has conducted our Australian business admirably. Remembering that but for his judgment and consequent activity we might have got no publication at all in that quarter, we may well be content with £200. I am quite satisfied too with the prospect of the wrapper, which I think will be just what I wanted.
Mr. Lewes has not got the life of Heine and will be much pleased and obliged by your gift.
Major Lockhart's lively letter gives me a longing for the fresh breezy life and fine scenery it conjures up. You must let me know when there is a book of his, because when I have done my own I shall like to read something else by him. I got much pleasure out of the two books I did read. 364 But when I am writing, or only thinking of writing fiction of my own, I cannot risk the reading of other English fiction. I was obliged to tell Anthony Trollope so when he sent me the first part of his Prime Minister, though this must seem sadly ungracious to those who don't share my susceptibilities.
Apparently there are wild reports about the subject-matter of Deronda -- among the rest, that it represents French life! But that is hardly more ridiculous than the supposition that after refusing to go to America I should undertake to describe society there.
It is wonderful how Middlemarch keeps afloat in people's minds. Somebody told me that Mr. Henry Sidgwick said it was a bold thing to write another book after Middlemarch, and we must prepare ourselves for the incalculableness of the public reception in the first instance. I think I have heard you say that the chief result of your ample experience has been to convince you of that incalculableness.
I congratulate you on your return to golf and Mrs. and Miss Blackwood on the delight of riding, which helps to compensate for the loss of Strathtyrum.
Always yours truly
M. E. Lewes.
What a blow for Miss Thackeray -- the death of that sister 365 to whom she was so closely bound in affection.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Published: Cross, III, 267-269.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
December 15. 75.
My dear Mr. Blackwood
Your letter is an agreeable tonic -- very much needed, for that wretched hindrance of a cold last week has trailed after it a series of headaches worse than itself. An additional impression like Mr. Langford's of the two volumes is really valuable as a sign that I have not so far failed in relation to a variety of readers. But you know that in one sense I count nothing done as long as anything remains to do, and it always occurs to me that the worst difficulty is still to come. In the sanest, soberest judgment, however, I think the third volume (which I have not yet finished) would be regarded as the difficult bridge. I will not send you any more M.S. until I can send the whole of Vol. III.
We think that Mr. Simpson has conducted our Australian business admirably. Remembering that but for his judgment and consequent activity we might have got no publication at all in that quarter, we may well be content with £200. I am quite satisfied too with the prospect of the wrapper, which I think will be just what I wanted.
Mr. Lewes has not got the life of Heine and will be much pleased and obliged by your gift.
Major Lockhart's lively letter gives me a longing for the fresh breezy life and fine scenery it conjures up. You must let me know when there is a book of his, because when I have done my own I shall like to read something else by him. I got much pleasure out of the two books I did read. 364 But when I am writing, or only thinking of writing fiction of my own, I cannot risk the reading of other English fiction. I was obliged to tell Anthony Trollope so when he sent me the first part of his Prime Minister, though this must seem sadly ungracious to those who don't share my susceptibilities.
Apparently there are wild reports about the subject-matter of Deronda -- among the rest, that it represents French life! But that is hardly more ridiculous than the supposition that after refusing to go to America I should undertake to describe society there.
It is wonderful how Middlemarch keeps afloat in people's minds. Somebody told me that Mr. Henry Sidgwick said it was a bold thing to write another book after Middlemarch, and we must prepare ourselves for the incalculableness of the public reception in the first instance. I think I have heard you say that the chief result of your ample experience has been to convince you of that incalculableness.
I congratulate you on your return to golf and Mrs. and Miss Blackwood on the delight of riding, which helps to compensate for the loss of Strathtyrum.
Always yours truly
M. E. Lewes.
What a blow for Miss Thackeray -- the death of that sister 365 to whom she was so closely bound in affection.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, London, 15 December 1875, Complete George Eliot Letters(2026), George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://www.georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/92613