John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 17 September 1873
Title
John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 17 September 1873
Title
John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 17 September 1873
Sender
John Blackwood
Recipient
George Eliot
Date(s)
- 1873-09-17
Place
Edinburgh
Letter Content
John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 17 September 1873
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
George Street, | Edinburgh.
September 17/73.
My Dear Mrs. Lewes
I am happy to tell you that the 21/ 4-volume edition of Middlemarch still goes on selling, but the divan here, chiefly Mr. Simpson, are strongly of opinion that we should be ready with a cheap one-volume edition to present to the public when the demand for the 4 vols. flags although still keeping that edition on sale. 841 The proposition is that the one-volume edition should be on paper the size of the 2-volume edition of Felix Holt and with a page and type somewhat similar to the cheap one-volume edition of Lorna Doone, in which shape Middlemarch would make about 640 pages. For illustration we propose a first-rate drawing of a fancy English village by Berket Foster 842 to be engraved in steel in the best style by Jeens 843 as a vignette on Title page.
The first two thousand of such an edition would about pay expenses, but we propose to pay you a honorarium of £50 for that and for every copy sold beyond the 2000 we should pay you a lordship of 1/6 per copy, the selling price nominally to the public being 7/6 and this lordship would, we calculate, be fully two-thirds of the profits at least.
The artist and engraver have been sounded and if this plan and proposal are agreeable to you we would proceed with the edition at once so as to have it ready to bring out at the right time. It might be a success and is about as feasible as anything I can think of, but you (especially Lewes) are capital judges and may suggest something else. The inclosed extract from a letter from Collins 844 is a curious coincidence and may amuse you.
I hope you are enjoying the country in spite of the weather.
ever yours truly
John Blackwood.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
George Street, | Edinburgh.
September 17/73.
My Dear Mrs. Lewes
I am happy to tell you that the 21/ 4-volume edition of Middlemarch still goes on selling, but the divan here, chiefly Mr. Simpson, are strongly of opinion that we should be ready with a cheap one-volume edition to present to the public when the demand for the 4 vols. flags although still keeping that edition on sale. 841 The proposition is that the one-volume edition should be on paper the size of the 2-volume edition of Felix Holt and with a page and type somewhat similar to the cheap one-volume edition of Lorna Doone, in which shape Middlemarch would make about 640 pages. For illustration we propose a first-rate drawing of a fancy English village by Berket Foster 842 to be engraved in steel in the best style by Jeens 843 as a vignette on Title page.
The first two thousand of such an edition would about pay expenses, but we propose to pay you a honorarium of £50 for that and for every copy sold beyond the 2000 we should pay you a lordship of 1/6 per copy, the selling price nominally to the public being 7/6 and this lordship would, we calculate, be fully two-thirds of the profits at least.
The artist and engraver have been sounded and if this plan and proposal are agreeable to you we would proceed with the edition at once so as to have it ready to bring out at the right time. It might be a success and is about as feasible as anything I can think of, but you (especially Lewes) are capital judges and may suggest something else. The inclosed extract from a letter from Collins 844 is a curious coincidence and may amuse you.
I hope you are enjoying the country in spite of the weather.
ever yours truly
John Blackwood.
Signature
John Blackwood.
Citation
John Blackwood, John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 17 September 1873, 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/95203