GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Foleshill, 12? April 1846]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Foleshill, 12? April 1846]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Foleshill, 12? April 1846]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1846-04-12
Place
[FOLESHILL]
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Foleshill, 12? April 1846]
MS: Yale. Mostly published: Cross, I, 140-141.
Beloved Achates,
I have been guilty of the most unpardonable piece of carelessness for which I am stretched on a rack of anxiety and mortification. In the proof (the one which begins p. 385) that came on Thursday I unwittingly drew out a 'bc sheet with the blotting paper, and did not discover the mistake until Saturday morning when about to correct the last proof. Surely the printer would discover the absence of the four pages and wait for them -- otherwise I would rather have lost one of my toes 612 or all the hair from my head than have committed such a faux pas. For there were three very awkward blunders to be corrected. Maintaining had been put for maintains, making nonsense of a whole sentence -- in for is in an important passage -- and later theologians instead of the latter theologian which is worse than all because it would be taken for a mistranslation instead of a misprint. 613 All this vexation makes a cold and headache doubly intolerable and I am in a most purgatorial state on this "good Sunday." 614 I shall send the proofs with the unfortunate 'bc sheet and an explanation to-night to Mr. C. 615 -- and prithee do thou inquire and see that the right thing is done. It is all right anent the volumes.
The tears are streaming from my smarting eyes, so fare well.
Thine entirely
Pollian.
Sunday.
MS: Yale. Mostly published: Cross, I, 140-141.
Beloved Achates,
I have been guilty of the most unpardonable piece of carelessness for which I am stretched on a rack of anxiety and mortification. In the proof (the one which begins p. 385) that came on Thursday I unwittingly drew out a 'bc sheet with the blotting paper, and did not discover the mistake until Saturday morning when about to correct the last proof. Surely the printer would discover the absence of the four pages and wait for them -- otherwise I would rather have lost one of my toes 612 or all the hair from my head than have committed such a faux pas. For there were three very awkward blunders to be corrected. Maintaining had been put for maintains, making nonsense of a whole sentence -- in for is in an important passage -- and later theologians instead of the latter theologian which is worse than all because it would be taken for a mistranslation instead of a misprint. 613 All this vexation makes a cold and headache doubly intolerable and I am in a most purgatorial state on this "good Sunday." 614 I shall send the proofs with the unfortunate 'bc sheet and an explanation to-night to Mr. C. 615 -- and prithee do thou inquire and see that the right thing is done. It is all right anent the volumes.
The tears are streaming from my smarting eyes, so fare well.
Thine entirely
Pollian.
Sunday.
Signature
Pollian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Foleshill, 12? April 1846], 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/93801