GHL to John Blackwood, London, [18 November 1875]
Title
GHL to John Blackwood, London, [18 November 1875]
Title
GHL to John Blackwood, London, [18 November 1875]
Sender
George Henry Lewes
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1875-11-18
Place
London
Letter Content
GHL to John Blackwood, London, [18 November 1875]
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
Thursday.
Dear Blackwood
I agree with you entirely on the question of monthly rather than bi-monthly issues. But although there would be some advantages in issuing number 1 on the 15 or later of January -- (though announcing it for the 1 February) yet I have doubts as to whether that would interfere with the American reprint. I suppose they must not publish on 1 January -- if we only come out on the 15th -- and if we come out on the 15th we do not give them the fair start for February 1. As it is a question of 1500 £ 342 you will see that it is worth considering. If there is no objection to their appearing on January 1, then it might be well to anticipate the opening of Parliament by a few days. But on consideration the 15th seems to me too early since it will make six weeks between 1 and 2. The newspapers might have their copies earlier than the public.
I have read and reread the parts with a view to decide as to their divisions and come to the decided conviction that the present arrangement is on the whole the best -- except that I throw the last five pages of volume I on to the opening of volume II. 343 At each close there is a strong expectation excited -- the best of all closes. The end of the scene in Mrs. Meyrick's moves me so that I can't patiently read the few pages which follow -- they come as anticlimax but would open volume 2 quite pleasantly.
We are so pleased that you continue to like the book. It gets better and better and what it will be at last!
Yes, the gossipping paragraph will be good as advertisement and a hint as to the subject will serve to correct that absurd rumour about American life. 344 It takes so much advertizing to make the public alive to the fact of a new work's existence so that a little preliminary notice is always good.
Ever yours
G. H. Lewes.
Antaeus it is said recovered his lost vigour whenever he touched the earth. I seem to have recovered some of mine on handling my old friends the frogs -- I was at work in the Cambridge laboratory last week, and now I can write of a morning!
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
Thursday.
Dear Blackwood
I agree with you entirely on the question of monthly rather than bi-monthly issues. But although there would be some advantages in issuing number 1 on the 15 or later of January -- (though announcing it for the 1 February) yet I have doubts as to whether that would interfere with the American reprint. I suppose they must not publish on 1 January -- if we only come out on the 15th -- and if we come out on the 15th we do not give them the fair start for February 1. As it is a question of 1500 £ 342 you will see that it is worth considering. If there is no objection to their appearing on January 1, then it might be well to anticipate the opening of Parliament by a few days. But on consideration the 15th seems to me too early since it will make six weeks between 1 and 2. The newspapers might have their copies earlier than the public.
I have read and reread the parts with a view to decide as to their divisions and come to the decided conviction that the present arrangement is on the whole the best -- except that I throw the last five pages of volume I on to the opening of volume II. 343 At each close there is a strong expectation excited -- the best of all closes. The end of the scene in Mrs. Meyrick's moves me so that I can't patiently read the few pages which follow -- they come as anticlimax but would open volume 2 quite pleasantly.
We are so pleased that you continue to like the book. It gets better and better and what it will be at last!
Yes, the gossipping paragraph will be good as advertisement and a hint as to the subject will serve to correct that absurd rumour about American life. 344 It takes so much advertizing to make the public alive to the fact of a new work's existence so that a little preliminary notice is always good.
Ever yours
G. H. Lewes.
Antaeus it is said recovered his lost vigour whenever he touched the earth. I seem to have recovered some of mine on handling my old friends the frogs -- I was at work in the Cambridge laboratory last week, and now I can write of a morning!
Signature
G. H. Lewes.
Citation
George Henry Lewes, GHL to John Blackwood, London, [18 November 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/94629