William Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, [? November 1880]
Title
William Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, [? November 1880]
Title
William Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, [? November 1880]
Sender
William Blackwood
Recipient
George Eliot
Date(s)
- 1880-11
Place
Edinburgh
Letter Content
William Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, [? November 1880]
Text: Blackwood Letter Book.
My dear Mrs. Cross
It is a long time since we have heard from one another and I feel the fault lies on my side but it is not from my not thinking of you as I have daily intended for weeks past to write you but some matter of business more urgent than another seemed to crop up day after day and made me postpone my letter to you. When I last heard from you you had not been very well and had gone to Brighton for some bracing air which, I was glad to learn from a letter you wrote to either Mr. Langford or Mr. Henderson shortly after, had done you much good and I trust the improvement continued and that this finds you strong for the short and sunless winter days. I suppose you will have left Witley and are now settled in Cheyne Walk for the winter and I hope are liking it.
Your kind words and sympathy with us in our heavy sorrow were very comforting and gratifying and sorely have I felt my gallant and warm hearted brother's death. 558 Every mail continues to bring us fresh particulars of how he was wounded and killed and how much he was valued which keeps opening up the wound although it makes the memory of him a proud satisfaction to us. Poor fellow he was wounded early in the fight in the inside of the thigh which disabled him from riding as the day wore on, then in the ankle and finally a sabre cut on the head killed him when fighting with the brave 66th in the garden enclosures. But I must not inflict you with more harrowing details of the sad disaster and our grief.
Now to business matters. I am very happy to tell you that although business in general has been terribly dull your books have been selling capitally and I enclose you memo of last month's London sales which will interest you. Mr. Langford also writes me that they have been doing equally well during this month. Theophrastus in the 5/- form has not however started as well as I expected and the London subscription was 620 and between Glasgow and Dublin and here we disposed of about another hundred I daresay. But I have no doubt there will be a continuous dropping sale which should we have any new work from you to bring out is sure to give it a fresh impetus and I hope I may soon hear from you that there is something on the stocks.
You will I expect be deeply interested in Laurence Oliphant's forthcoming work "The Land of Gilead," 559 and your acceptance of a presentation copy will give me pleasure. I shall also be sending you the first Volume of our Philosophical Classics next week and I hope you will be pleased with the way Mr. Mahaffy has done Cervantes. 560 The series will not I fear be so popular as our Ancient Classics but yet I hope it will do fairly well. I wonder if you will read Endymion. 561 I have read the first volume and it amused me greatly and I long to get at the second this evening.
Looking forward to a letter from you soon and hoping this finds both you and Mr. Cross well believe me
Always yours sincerely
William Blackwood.
Text: Blackwood Letter Book.
My dear Mrs. Cross
It is a long time since we have heard from one another and I feel the fault lies on my side but it is not from my not thinking of you as I have daily intended for weeks past to write you but some matter of business more urgent than another seemed to crop up day after day and made me postpone my letter to you. When I last heard from you you had not been very well and had gone to Brighton for some bracing air which, I was glad to learn from a letter you wrote to either Mr. Langford or Mr. Henderson shortly after, had done you much good and I trust the improvement continued and that this finds you strong for the short and sunless winter days. I suppose you will have left Witley and are now settled in Cheyne Walk for the winter and I hope are liking it.
Your kind words and sympathy with us in our heavy sorrow were very comforting and gratifying and sorely have I felt my gallant and warm hearted brother's death. 558 Every mail continues to bring us fresh particulars of how he was wounded and killed and how much he was valued which keeps opening up the wound although it makes the memory of him a proud satisfaction to us. Poor fellow he was wounded early in the fight in the inside of the thigh which disabled him from riding as the day wore on, then in the ankle and finally a sabre cut on the head killed him when fighting with the brave 66th in the garden enclosures. But I must not inflict you with more harrowing details of the sad disaster and our grief.
Now to business matters. I am very happy to tell you that although business in general has been terribly dull your books have been selling capitally and I enclose you memo of last month's London sales which will interest you. Mr. Langford also writes me that they have been doing equally well during this month. Theophrastus in the 5/- form has not however started as well as I expected and the London subscription was 620 and between Glasgow and Dublin and here we disposed of about another hundred I daresay. But I have no doubt there will be a continuous dropping sale which should we have any new work from you to bring out is sure to give it a fresh impetus and I hope I may soon hear from you that there is something on the stocks.
You will I expect be deeply interested in Laurence Oliphant's forthcoming work "The Land of Gilead," 559 and your acceptance of a presentation copy will give me pleasure. I shall also be sending you the first Volume of our Philosophical Classics next week and I hope you will be pleased with the way Mr. Mahaffy has done Cervantes. 560 The series will not I fear be so popular as our Ancient Classics but yet I hope it will do fairly well. I wonder if you will read Endymion. 561 I have read the first volume and it amused me greatly and I long to get at the second this evening.
Looking forward to a letter from you soon and hoping this finds both you and Mr. Cross well believe me
Always yours sincerely
William Blackwood.
Signature
William Blackwood.
Citation
William Blackwood, William Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, [? November 1880], 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/95637