GHL to Alexander Main, London, 26 September 1871
Title
GHL to Alexander Main, London, 26 September 1871
Title
GHL to Alexander Main, London, 26 September 1871
Sender
George Henry Lewes
Recipient
Alexander Main
Date(s)
- 1871-09-26
Place
London
Letter Content
GHL to Alexander Main, London, 26 September 1871
MS: Morgan Library. Envelope: Alex. Main, Esq | West Mary St. | Arbroath | N.B. Postmarks: LONDON-N.W. | 5 | SP 26 | 71; ARBROATH | C | SP 27 | 71. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
September 1871.
My dear Sir
Mrs. Lewes you will be sorry to hear is too weak to answer your letter 370 -- she is only now recovering from a sharp attack which for two or three days kept me very anxious. However she is now fairly on the way to recover again and it was a real gratification to her -- as to me -- to receive your letter with its "happy thought." Some years ago a lady suggested that [texts] should be selected from the works to hang up in schoolrooms and railway waiting rooms in view of the banal and often preposterous bible texts, thus hung up and neglected. Your idea is a far more practical one, and executed by one like yourself who has shown such real and unusual insight, it would I think be both a treasure for readers, and a good speculation for the publisher. We should like Blackwood to publish it, and with your permission I will propose it to him; or perhaps it would be better if I gave you a letter of introduction to him which you could send with your own proposal in full. It would be desirable that you should deal directly with him. What title do you propose?
Thoughts and Sentences in Prose and Verse
Selected from the works of George Eliot By A. Main. does not seem a bad title. 371 [Beauties] at any rate must be avoided.
Should you adopt some sort of classification of subjects? This is but a hurried scrawl. I wished however not to lose a post.
Very truly yours
G. H. Lewes.
A. Main Esq.
We should be glad of your photo -- if you have one. Enclosed is mine. Mrs. Lewes has not had one done of her -- her shrinking from publicity has made her refuse all overtures.
MS: Morgan Library. Envelope: Alex. Main, Esq | West Mary St. | Arbroath | N.B. Postmarks: LONDON-N.W. | 5 | SP 26 | 71; ARBROATH | C | SP 27 | 71. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
September 1871.
My dear Sir
Mrs. Lewes you will be sorry to hear is too weak to answer your letter 370 -- she is only now recovering from a sharp attack which for two or three days kept me very anxious. However she is now fairly on the way to recover again and it was a real gratification to her -- as to me -- to receive your letter with its "happy thought." Some years ago a lady suggested that [texts] should be selected from the works to hang up in schoolrooms and railway waiting rooms in view of the banal and often preposterous bible texts, thus hung up and neglected. Your idea is a far more practical one, and executed by one like yourself who has shown such real and unusual insight, it would I think be both a treasure for readers, and a good speculation for the publisher. We should like Blackwood to publish it, and with your permission I will propose it to him; or perhaps it would be better if I gave you a letter of introduction to him which you could send with your own proposal in full. It would be desirable that you should deal directly with him. What title do you propose?
Thoughts and Sentences in Prose and Verse
Selected from the works of George Eliot By A. Main. does not seem a bad title. 371 [Beauties] at any rate must be avoided.
Should you adopt some sort of classification of subjects? This is but a hurried scrawl. I wished however not to lose a post.
Very truly yours
G. H. Lewes.
A. Main Esq.
We should be glad of your photo -- if you have one. Enclosed is mine. Mrs. Lewes has not had one done of her -- her shrinking from publicity has made her refuse all overtures.
Signature
G. H. Lewes.
Citation
George Henry Lewes, GHL to Alexander Main, London, 26 September 1871, 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/94418