William Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 23 May 1860
Title
William Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 23 May 1860
Title
William Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 23 May 1860
Sender
William Blackwood
Recipient
George Eliot
Date(s)
- 1860-05-23
Place
Edinburgh
Letter Content
William Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 23 May 1860
MS: Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
George St. Edinburgh | 23 May 1860.
My dear Madam
I have just received your letter of the 18th to my brother John, who is at present in London, and as I know he cannot write you tomorrow, being bound for the Derby, 543 I shall endeavour to give you the best account I can of the progress of the Mill on the Floss, that your very unnecessary anxiety about it may be relieved as soon as possible. First as to tangible proofs Mudie took his third thousand, a day or two, I think it must have been, after my brother wrote you. The whole six thousand have been out of our hands for some time, and though there were still copies in the Row, we went to press with another five hundred, 544 which are now just ready to send to London, not, I am pretty confident, before they are wanted. Mr. Langford has not sent us any account for some time of how stock stood with the wholesale houses in the Row, but unless Simpkins have still copies there can be none worth mentioning. All the reviews and notices of the book with exception of those of one or two obscure newspapers have been most favourable, and to crown the whole the Times came out on Saturday 545 with a very good one too in which justice is done to your genius. I hope a copy will reach you with this as instructions were sent Mr. Langford yesterday on the subject and will be again today with your address at Florence. The Times reviewer I think leaves the impression on the reader that the characters in the book are harder, more disagreeably selfish than you have drawn them, and he is wrong I think in saying that the interest in the story is less in the Mill than in Adam. I have heard different opinions on this point, but I think the interest one feels in Maggie is intense, and if one pauses in the story it is only in consequence of the excellence of the scenes through which it is conducted. All our friends are loud in their praise of the book.
I am delighted to hear you have been enjoying your sojourn in Italy so much and have benefited in health by it. Lewes too notwithstanding your reference to headaches, will I hope return much refreshed by travel and change. The horrible winter, which you left this country in the possession of, continued to within the last ten days, when summer came upon us at one stride. I never saw so rapid and beautiful a change in the scenery of this northern climate. Ten days ago grass and trees were alike brown and bare. Now the former is green and thick and the trees covered with blossom and fresh leaves. It has reminded me of the change in India when the first fall of rain comes after the hot winds have hidden all vegetation with layers of sand, where it has not burnt it up, and the verdure comes fresh in a night. Certainly we have a claim for a fine summer if an eight months continuous winter gives it.
The Physiology is doing very well, tell Lewes, and we hope it is taking a fine hold of the public. With kind regards to him Believe me, My dear Madam,
Yours truly
W. Blackwood.
MS: Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
George St. Edinburgh | 23 May 1860.
My dear Madam
I have just received your letter of the 18th to my brother John, who is at present in London, and as I know he cannot write you tomorrow, being bound for the Derby, 543 I shall endeavour to give you the best account I can of the progress of the Mill on the Floss, that your very unnecessary anxiety about it may be relieved as soon as possible. First as to tangible proofs Mudie took his third thousand, a day or two, I think it must have been, after my brother wrote you. The whole six thousand have been out of our hands for some time, and though there were still copies in the Row, we went to press with another five hundred, 544 which are now just ready to send to London, not, I am pretty confident, before they are wanted. Mr. Langford has not sent us any account for some time of how stock stood with the wholesale houses in the Row, but unless Simpkins have still copies there can be none worth mentioning. All the reviews and notices of the book with exception of those of one or two obscure newspapers have been most favourable, and to crown the whole the Times came out on Saturday 545 with a very good one too in which justice is done to your genius. I hope a copy will reach you with this as instructions were sent Mr. Langford yesterday on the subject and will be again today with your address at Florence. The Times reviewer I think leaves the impression on the reader that the characters in the book are harder, more disagreeably selfish than you have drawn them, and he is wrong I think in saying that the interest in the story is less in the Mill than in Adam. I have heard different opinions on this point, but I think the interest one feels in Maggie is intense, and if one pauses in the story it is only in consequence of the excellence of the scenes through which it is conducted. All our friends are loud in their praise of the book.
I am delighted to hear you have been enjoying your sojourn in Italy so much and have benefited in health by it. Lewes too notwithstanding your reference to headaches, will I hope return much refreshed by travel and change. The horrible winter, which you left this country in the possession of, continued to within the last ten days, when summer came upon us at one stride. I never saw so rapid and beautiful a change in the scenery of this northern climate. Ten days ago grass and trees were alike brown and bare. Now the former is green and thick and the trees covered with blossom and fresh leaves. It has reminded me of the change in India when the first fall of rain comes after the hot winds have hidden all vegetation with layers of sand, where it has not burnt it up, and the verdure comes fresh in a night. Certainly we have a claim for a fine summer if an eight months continuous winter gives it.
The Physiology is doing very well, tell Lewes, and we hope it is taking a fine hold of the public. With kind regards to him Believe me, My dear Madam,
Yours truly
W. Blackwood.
Signature
W. Blackwood.
Citation
William Blackwood, William Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 23 May 1860, 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/95649