Henry George Bohn to GHL, London, 13 June 1856
Title
Henry George Bohn to GHL, London, 13 June 1856
Title
Henry George Bohn to GHL, London, 13 June 1856
Sender
Henry George Bohn
Recipient
George Henry Lewes
Date(s)
- 1856-06-13
Place
London
Letter Content
Henry George Bohn to GHL, London, 13 June 1856
MS: Yale. Extract published: Haight, George Eliot, p. 200.
4, 5, & 6, York Street, Covent Garden.
London June 13th 1856.
Dear Sir,
With regard to my delay in going to press with your Spinoza, you would under any circumstances have little cause of complaint. After taking more than two years to produce what I had reason to expect in a few months, you bring it me at a time when there is no encouragement to publish it. The book was originally a proposition of your own, to be carried out in conjunction with Mr. Kelly; and as our agreement was never completed, and you had given me no indication of your intention to proceed, I concluded you had abandoned it for the more lucrative pursuit of [Goethe.] Your letter of a recent date announced your completion of the work, but added that as my hands were probably full, you would like to keep it by you till I was ready. You say you spoke frequently to my son about the work, which he does not recollect; and you certainly did not speak to me about it, unless very lately, which does not alter the case.
I never for a moment dreamt of your reprinting the old translation and therefore could not have agreed to it. I gave you that volume as I should have given you any other on the subject, which I might happen to have in stock to aid your labors, but not to become a substitute for them; and when I see that you have not made a single correction in an antiquated text I have reason to be apprehensive. The notion of abridging it may have been in your own mind, but certainly never entered mine, for I detest abridgments. You say I forget that the 75£ covers not only the cost of editing, but also the translation of the Ethics. I remember that our intention was to have translations both of the Ethics and the Tractatus made by Mr. Kelly and accompanied by an Introduction and notes by yourself; and my impression is that you were to receive 25£ for editing and he the remainder of 50£ for translating. My rule of paying 3/-/- or 3/3/- per sheet of 32 pages for translating and editing is so uniform that it must be something more than ordinarily inviting which would tempt me to swerve from it. But you have my son's memorandum of an intended agreement and I will abide it, although unsigned, as far as it commits me to what you state. You will remember that I have nothing which could bind you to the performance of your part of the contract, which I should have required had it been completed in the usual form. Please to bring the paper with you and we will then enter into a proper agreement, for I should not consent to publish without one. I remain,
Dear Sir, Yours faithfully
Henry G. Bohn.
G. H. Lewis, Esq.
MS: Yale. Extract published: Haight, George Eliot, p. 200.
4, 5, & 6, York Street, Covent Garden.
London June 13th 1856.
Dear Sir,
With regard to my delay in going to press with your Spinoza, you would under any circumstances have little cause of complaint. After taking more than two years to produce what I had reason to expect in a few months, you bring it me at a time when there is no encouragement to publish it. The book was originally a proposition of your own, to be carried out in conjunction with Mr. Kelly; and as our agreement was never completed, and you had given me no indication of your intention to proceed, I concluded you had abandoned it for the more lucrative pursuit of [Goethe.] Your letter of a recent date announced your completion of the work, but added that as my hands were probably full, you would like to keep it by you till I was ready. You say you spoke frequently to my son about the work, which he does not recollect; and you certainly did not speak to me about it, unless very lately, which does not alter the case.
I never for a moment dreamt of your reprinting the old translation and therefore could not have agreed to it. I gave you that volume as I should have given you any other on the subject, which I might happen to have in stock to aid your labors, but not to become a substitute for them; and when I see that you have not made a single correction in an antiquated text I have reason to be apprehensive. The notion of abridging it may have been in your own mind, but certainly never entered mine, for I detest abridgments. You say I forget that the 75£ covers not only the cost of editing, but also the translation of the Ethics. I remember that our intention was to have translations both of the Ethics and the Tractatus made by Mr. Kelly and accompanied by an Introduction and notes by yourself; and my impression is that you were to receive 25£ for editing and he the remainder of 50£ for translating. My rule of paying 3/-/- or 3/3/- per sheet of 32 pages for translating and editing is so uniform that it must be something more than ordinarily inviting which would tempt me to swerve from it. But you have my son's memorandum of an intended agreement and I will abide it, although unsigned, as far as it commits me to what you state. You will remember that I have nothing which could bind you to the performance of your part of the contract, which I should have required had it been completed in the usual form. Please to bring the paper with you and we will then enter into a proper agreement, for I should not consent to publish without one. I remain,
Dear Sir, Yours faithfully
Henry G. Bohn.
G. H. Lewis, Esq.
Signature
Henry G. Bohn.
Citation
Henry George Bohn, Henry George Bohn to GHL, London, 13 June 1856, 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/95122