John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 25 April 1879
Title
John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 25 April 1879
Title
John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 25 April 1879
Sender
John Blackwood
Recipient
George Eliot
Date(s)
- 1879-04-25
Place
Edinburgh
Letter Content
John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 25 April 1879
Text: Copy in Blackwood Letter Book. Hitherto unpublished.
George Str. Edinburgh | April 25th 1879.
My Dear Mrs. Lewes
It gives me great pleasure to receive your letter and I am quite gratified that my letter to Mr. Harper should meet so thoroughly with your approbation. I too would have proposed that he had given a round sum but I do not think that we could do otherwise than accept his offer which will I hope turn out well.
I am glad that you mentioned the discrepancy which naturally struck you between the 2/- for the 5/ parts of Middlemarch and Deronda and the 3/ for the 10/6 volume. The difference arises in this way that the preliminary expenses advertising etc. are in proportion larger in starting the one volume than the four volume book, also as you will see Theophrastus is much larger and handsomer than a volume of Deronda but mainly the difference proceeds from our calculations being necessarily based upon a much smaller sale.
Yesterday was what is called the Fast or preaching Thursday here and bitterly cold and gloomy it was. To-day we are almost rejoicing in not exactly a pleasant rain but certainly a softer air.
I rejoice to think of your getting away to the country and I look forward with much interest to seeing you in May.
Jack has gone to St. Andrews for the preaching week and I daresay is perfectly indifferent to the weather.
Always yours truly
(signed) John Blackwood.
Text: Copy in Blackwood Letter Book. Hitherto unpublished.
George Str. Edinburgh | April 25th 1879.
My Dear Mrs. Lewes
It gives me great pleasure to receive your letter and I am quite gratified that my letter to Mr. Harper should meet so thoroughly with your approbation. I too would have proposed that he had given a round sum but I do not think that we could do otherwise than accept his offer which will I hope turn out well.
I am glad that you mentioned the discrepancy which naturally struck you between the 2/- for the 5/ parts of Middlemarch and Deronda and the 3/ for the 10/6 volume. The difference arises in this way that the preliminary expenses advertising etc. are in proportion larger in starting the one volume than the four volume book, also as you will see Theophrastus is much larger and handsomer than a volume of Deronda but mainly the difference proceeds from our calculations being necessarily based upon a much smaller sale.
Yesterday was what is called the Fast or preaching Thursday here and bitterly cold and gloomy it was. To-day we are almost rejoicing in not exactly a pleasant rain but certainly a softer air.
I rejoice to think of your getting away to the country and I look forward with much interest to seeing you in May.
Jack has gone to St. Andrews for the preaching week and I daresay is perfectly indifferent to the weather.
Always yours truly
(signed) John Blackwood.
Signature
(signed) John Blackwood.
Citation
John Blackwood, John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 25 April 1879, 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/95237