John Chapman to George Combe, London, 28 February 1854
Title
John Chapman to George Combe, London, 28 February 1854
Title
John Chapman to George Combe, London, 28 February 1854
Sender
John Chapman
Recipient
George Combe
Date(s)
- 1854-02-28
Place
London
Letter Content
John Chapman to George Combe, London, 28 February 1854
MS: National Library of Scotland. Endorsed: London | John Chapman.
London February 28. 1854.
My dear Sir,
I was out this afternoon when your letter arrived, and therefore could not answer it in time for the evening mail. I am very vexed to find that you did not get the proof along with my letter; on enquiry this evening it seems that the youth who took it to the post did not put it in until after 6 when it was "too late," and moreover that by some incomprehensible blundering he did [not] stamp it at all so that you would doubtless be charged double rate, as also would be Dr. Browne. I therefore send you 1/- worth of stamps to pay for the result of the error. Perhaps when next writing to Dr. Browne you would send him the 6d and explain the circumstance. Of course the proofs will have arrived ere this.
Concerning the reduction of the Pamphlet to the limits of an Article: -- I am somewhat perplexed; the delay in giving me any assurance that the thing was feasible and would be done, and the doubt which has been intimated as to its practicability have kept me in suspense so long that I found myself running the risk of relying on the Article when in fact it might not be supplied to me so that I was in danger of being an Article short although the time for beginning to print had come. I felt myself compelled to provide for the emergency and therefore, last Friday, agreed for an article to be ready for April in place of yours if yours were not available, but yet with the hope that if at the 11th hour yours were prepared to go in, the Review might admit it without much exceeding its usual bulk.
Your letter of yesterday is the first intimation that I might really expect the article, and now therefore I have made an approximative estimate of the space which will be occupied by the 8 articles already engaged, and I find, I am sorry to say, that with the Contemporary Literature they will exceed the 300 pages which ought to be the size of the Review. Under these circumstances I am constrained to ask whether you could allow of the postponement of the publication of the article until the appearance of the July number? I incline to think that no legislation on the subject will take place in the mean time. I am dear Sir
Yours very sincerely
John Chapman.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Endorsed: London | John Chapman.
London February 28. 1854.
My dear Sir,
I was out this afternoon when your letter arrived, and therefore could not answer it in time for the evening mail. I am very vexed to find that you did not get the proof along with my letter; on enquiry this evening it seems that the youth who took it to the post did not put it in until after 6 when it was "too late," and moreover that by some incomprehensible blundering he did [not] stamp it at all so that you would doubtless be charged double rate, as also would be Dr. Browne. I therefore send you 1/- worth of stamps to pay for the result of the error. Perhaps when next writing to Dr. Browne you would send him the 6d and explain the circumstance. Of course the proofs will have arrived ere this.
Concerning the reduction of the Pamphlet to the limits of an Article: -- I am somewhat perplexed; the delay in giving me any assurance that the thing was feasible and would be done, and the doubt which has been intimated as to its practicability have kept me in suspense so long that I found myself running the risk of relying on the Article when in fact it might not be supplied to me so that I was in danger of being an Article short although the time for beginning to print had come. I felt myself compelled to provide for the emergency and therefore, last Friday, agreed for an article to be ready for April in place of yours if yours were not available, but yet with the hope that if at the 11th hour yours were prepared to go in, the Review might admit it without much exceeding its usual bulk.
Your letter of yesterday is the first intimation that I might really expect the article, and now therefore I have made an approximative estimate of the space which will be occupied by the 8 articles already engaged, and I find, I am sorry to say, that with the Contemporary Literature they will exceed the 300 pages which ought to be the size of the Review. Under these circumstances I am constrained to ask whether you could allow of the postponement of the publication of the article until the appearance of the July number? I incline to think that no legislation on the subject will take place in the mean time. I am dear Sir
Yours very sincerely
John Chapman.
Signature
John Chapman.
Citation
John Chapman, John Chapman to George Combe, London, 28 February 1854, 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/95492