GHL to John Blackwood, Richmond, [5 December 1857]
Title
GHL to John Blackwood, Richmond, [5 December 1857]
Title
GHL to John Blackwood, Richmond, [5 December 1857]
Sender
George Henry Lewes
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1857-12-05
Place
Richmond
Letter Content
GHL to John Blackwood, Richmond, [5 December 1857]
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
Park Shot | Saturday.
My dear Blackwood
I wish to submit to your judgement the two plans by which the editing of Johnston 1021 may be executed. The ordinary plan is that of leaving the text unaltered, and placing the corrections in footnotes, signed Ed. Instead of this I suggest that the corrections, which will be very numerous, should be made silently in the text; the editor keeping as much out of sight as possible, and only making a note when a difference of opinion seems called for -- as for instance when Johnston adopts the current doctrine but the editor thinks it right to indicate that other authorities hold another view.
By this plan it seems to me the book will be far more readable. Controversial notes distract attention and call attention to the editor, who ought really to be in the background. But of course on this plan the reader will not see the amount of alteration in the new edition. When I add that the corrections are mostly of a physiological nature -- the mistakes arising from the author treating physiological subjects on chemical principles, which from Liebig downwards has been the cause of a flood of hypotheses and errors -- you will I think agree with me that the less obvious the editorial alteration the better.
What an admirable and interesting book it is! I do not wonder at its great success.
I am at work collecting material and shall allow nothing to interrupt me in getting on. If you are in any hurry to reprint, I can send you the parts as they are finished.
G. E. has come to stay at Richmond and is writing his new story with a fresh influx of confidence (much needed) from having heard of a rector of a large parish having "cried like a child" over Janet's Repentance. If a few more rectors would be equally tearful I think E. would at last really begin to believe in his power.
Have you thought of an index for Seaside Studies? I think there should be a minute one made because the book contains such a mass of details.
Ever faithfully yours
G. H. Lewes.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
Park Shot | Saturday.
My dear Blackwood
I wish to submit to your judgement the two plans by which the editing of Johnston 1021 may be executed. The ordinary plan is that of leaving the text unaltered, and placing the corrections in footnotes, signed Ed. Instead of this I suggest that the corrections, which will be very numerous, should be made silently in the text; the editor keeping as much out of sight as possible, and only making a note when a difference of opinion seems called for -- as for instance when Johnston adopts the current doctrine but the editor thinks it right to indicate that other authorities hold another view.
By this plan it seems to me the book will be far more readable. Controversial notes distract attention and call attention to the editor, who ought really to be in the background. But of course on this plan the reader will not see the amount of alteration in the new edition. When I add that the corrections are mostly of a physiological nature -- the mistakes arising from the author treating physiological subjects on chemical principles, which from Liebig downwards has been the cause of a flood of hypotheses and errors -- you will I think agree with me that the less obvious the editorial alteration the better.
What an admirable and interesting book it is! I do not wonder at its great success.
I am at work collecting material and shall allow nothing to interrupt me in getting on. If you are in any hurry to reprint, I can send you the parts as they are finished.
G. E. has come to stay at Richmond and is writing his new story with a fresh influx of confidence (much needed) from having heard of a rector of a large parish having "cried like a child" over Janet's Repentance. If a few more rectors would be equally tearful I think E. would at last really begin to believe in his power.
Have you thought of an index for Seaside Studies? I think there should be a minute one made because the book contains such a mass of details.
Ever faithfully yours
G. H. Lewes.
Signature
G. H. Lewes.
Citation
George Henry Lewes, GHL to John Blackwood, Richmond, [5 December 1857], 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/94738