GE to John Blackwood, Richmond, 5 November 1858
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Richmond, 5 November 1858
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Richmond, 5 November 1858
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1858-11-05
Place
Richmond
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, Richmond, 5 November 1858
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
Richmond | November 5th 1858.
My dear Sir
Thank you for your letter. I care for the fact that my story has touched you, not merely as a guarantee of success, but as a matter of personal sympathy.
The specimen page you have sent me distresses me, I confess. It looks shabby by the side of the pages of Clerical Scenes. I suppose the calculations have been based on a fair average of my MS. pages which are very unequal, the size of my writing varying with my moods. If so, there is no help for it, but to make the volumes rather thinner for the sake of getting a handsome page. On looking at the novels we have by us, I find them usually of not more than 300 pages to the volume -- a very respectable size. But your experience and judgment are a better guide than my own notions on these subjects: and on the time of publication also, though I was rather disappointed to find that a delay was desirable. Still, I have no motive for haste that would outweigh your opinion as to what is best for the book.
I enclose an acceptance of your proposition, with a slight modification of the terms, which I hope will not be otherwise than agreeable to you.
Thank you once more for writing me such cordial words of admiration. I was rather desponding, now I am singing [Viva la joia, fidon la tristessa.] 1216 Ever, my dear Sir,
Yours very truly
George Eliot.
John Blackwood Esq.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
Richmond | November 5th 1858.
My dear Sir
Thank you for your letter. I care for the fact that my story has touched you, not merely as a guarantee of success, but as a matter of personal sympathy.
The specimen page you have sent me distresses me, I confess. It looks shabby by the side of the pages of Clerical Scenes. I suppose the calculations have been based on a fair average of my MS. pages which are very unequal, the size of my writing varying with my moods. If so, there is no help for it, but to make the volumes rather thinner for the sake of getting a handsome page. On looking at the novels we have by us, I find them usually of not more than 300 pages to the volume -- a very respectable size. But your experience and judgment are a better guide than my own notions on these subjects: and on the time of publication also, though I was rather disappointed to find that a delay was desirable. Still, I have no motive for haste that would outweigh your opinion as to what is best for the book.
I enclose an acceptance of your proposition, with a slight modification of the terms, which I hope will not be otherwise than agreeable to you.
Thank you once more for writing me such cordial words of admiration. I was rather desponding, now I am singing [Viva la joia, fidon la tristessa.] 1216 Ever, my dear Sir,
Yours very truly
George Eliot.
John Blackwood Esq.
Signature
George Eliot.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, Richmond, 5 November 1858, 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/92718