John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 21 November 1877
Title
John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 21 November 1877
Title
John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 21 November 1877
Sender
John Blackwood
Recipient
George Eliot
Date(s)
- 1877-11-21
Place
Edinburgh
Letter Content
John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 21 November 1877
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
George Street, | Edinburgh.
November 21/77.
My Dear Mrs. Lewes
I inclose proof of The "College Breakfast Party" which I should have written with before, but the subject of this striking dialogue is not one on which I feel well qualified to write or speak although I daresay I have thought as much as most people about it.
Were I to attempt to criticise the conversation of Hamlet and his friends 768 I fear I should be as much puzzled as any of the interlocutors, but one does not require to be a philosopher or theologian to appreciate the poetical beauty of the thoughts and language. There are lines without end for quotation and the whole picture is characteristic of the Youth of the present day who are given to beating out their brains upon what it is not granted to them to understand.
What a comment upon most sermons is your concluding line. They do indeed "leave the soul in wider emptiness." Confident divines do not allow their lips to be sealed as Hamlet does. What form of publication do you think of?
Simpson is writing to you about the omission of the Motto 769 in the 7/6 edition of Deronda for which he has visited the printing office justly and severely. The edition I am happy to say is going off well and we have only some 400 left of the 5250 printed.
The Cabinet edition of the novels is going to be a beautiful book and we shall be happy to meet Lewes' suggestion of increasing the lordship after the sale of 2000 copies by making it after that number are sold 1/3 on each of the 17 volumes and 1/7 and 1/10 on each of the other two volumes.
Smith and Elder's cheap edition will be a formidable competitor to our 3/6 edition of Romola, but we shall print it in that form like the others.
How have you been since you came back to Town? The weather has been very trying but I hope you have not suffered from it and have been able to take advantage of the occasional fine days for walking.
We left Strathtyrum about a fortnight ago, and as usual there was weeping and wail at leaving the country. "It's awfu' dull when ye're away" was the pathetic farewell of the gardner's wife to my wife and daughter, and her words found an echo in their hearts. However we are pretty cheery in Town and I hear of various ongoings contemplated. The weather makes one think more of the unfortunate wretches on both sides in Bulgaria and Asia Minor. It is too horrible.
With best regards to Lewes and hoping to get good accounts of you I am
always yours truly
John Blackwood.
P.S. I had nearly forgot to send the inclosed from friend Main. What do you think? We are willing to undertake the book if you approve. 770
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
George Street, | Edinburgh.
November 21/77.
My Dear Mrs. Lewes
I inclose proof of The "College Breakfast Party" which I should have written with before, but the subject of this striking dialogue is not one on which I feel well qualified to write or speak although I daresay I have thought as much as most people about it.
Were I to attempt to criticise the conversation of Hamlet and his friends 768 I fear I should be as much puzzled as any of the interlocutors, but one does not require to be a philosopher or theologian to appreciate the poetical beauty of the thoughts and language. There are lines without end for quotation and the whole picture is characteristic of the Youth of the present day who are given to beating out their brains upon what it is not granted to them to understand.
What a comment upon most sermons is your concluding line. They do indeed "leave the soul in wider emptiness." Confident divines do not allow their lips to be sealed as Hamlet does. What form of publication do you think of?
Simpson is writing to you about the omission of the Motto 769 in the 7/6 edition of Deronda for which he has visited the printing office justly and severely. The edition I am happy to say is going off well and we have only some 400 left of the 5250 printed.
The Cabinet edition of the novels is going to be a beautiful book and we shall be happy to meet Lewes' suggestion of increasing the lordship after the sale of 2000 copies by making it after that number are sold 1/3 on each of the 17 volumes and 1/7 and 1/10 on each of the other two volumes.
Smith and Elder's cheap edition will be a formidable competitor to our 3/6 edition of Romola, but we shall print it in that form like the others.
How have you been since you came back to Town? The weather has been very trying but I hope you have not suffered from it and have been able to take advantage of the occasional fine days for walking.
We left Strathtyrum about a fortnight ago, and as usual there was weeping and wail at leaving the country. "It's awfu' dull when ye're away" was the pathetic farewell of the gardner's wife to my wife and daughter, and her words found an echo in their hearts. However we are pretty cheery in Town and I hear of various ongoings contemplated. The weather makes one think more of the unfortunate wretches on both sides in Bulgaria and Asia Minor. It is too horrible.
With best regards to Lewes and hoping to get good accounts of you I am
always yours truly
John Blackwood.
P.S. I had nearly forgot to send the inclosed from friend Main. What do you think? We are willing to undertake the book if you approve. 770
Signature
John Blackwood.
Citation
John Blackwood, John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 21 November 1877, 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/95223