The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1834-1872, Vol. I XXVI. Emerson to Carlyle
by John Stuart Mill
Concord, 6 August, 1838
My Dear Friend,--The swift ships are slow when they carry our
letters. Your letter dated the 15th of June arrived here last
Friday, the 3d of August. That day I was in Boston, and I have
only now got the information necessary to answer it. You have
probably already learned from my letter sent by the "Royal
William" (enclosing a bill of exchange for L50), that our first
two volumes of the Miscellanies are published. I have sent you
a copy. The edition consists of one thousand copies. Of these
five hundred are bound, five hundred remain in sheets. The
title-pages, of course, are all printed alike; but the
publishers assure me that new title-pages can be struck off at a
trifling expense, with the imprint of Saunders and Ottley. The
cost of a copy in sheets or "folded" (if that means somewhat
more?) is eighty-nine cents; and bound is $1.15. The retail
price is $2.50 a copy; and the author's profit, $1; and the
bookseller's, 35 cents per copy; according to my understanding
of the written contract.
Here I believe you have all the material facts. I think there is
no doubt that the book will sell very well here. But if, for the
reasons you suggest, you wish any part of it, you can have it as
soon as ships can bring your will.
When you see your copy, you will perceive that we have printed
half the matter. I should presently begin to print the
remainder, inclusive of the Article on Lockhart's Scott, in two
more volumes; but now I think I shall wait until I hear from
you. Of those books we will print a larger edition, say twelve
hundred and fifty or fifteen hundred, if you want a part of it in
London. For I feel confident now that our public here is one
thousand strong. Write me therefore by the steam packet
your wishes.
I am sure you will like our edition. It has been most carefully
corrected by two young gentlemen who successively volunteered
their services, (the second when the first was called away,) and
who, residing in Cambridge, where the book was printed, could
easilier oversee it. They are Henry S. McBean, an engineer, and
Charles Stearns Wheeler, a Divinity student,--working both for
love of you. To one other gentleman I have brought you in debt,
--Rev. Convers Francis* (brother of Mrs. Child), who supplied from
his library all the numbers of the Foreign Review from which we
printed the work. We could not have done without his books, and
he is a noble-hearted man, who rejoices in you. I have sent to
all three copies of the work as from you, and I shall be glad if
you will remember to sanction this expressly in your next letter.
* This worthy man and lover of good books was, from 1842 till his
death in 1863, Professor in the Divinity School of Harvard
University.
Thanks for the letter: thanks for your friendliest seeking of
friends for the poor Oration. Poor little pamphlet, to have
gone so far and so high! I am ashamed. I shall however send you
a couple more of the thin gentry presently, maugre all your hopes
and cautions. I have written and read a kind of sermon to the
Senior Class of our Cambridge Theological School a fortnight ago;
and an address to the Literary Societies of Dartmouth College;*
for though I hate American pleniloquence, I cannot easily say No
to young men who bid me speak also. And both these are now in
press. The first I hear is very offensive. I will now try to
hold my tongue until next winter. But I am asked continually
when you will come to Boston. Your lectures are boldly and
joyfully expected by brave young men. So do not forget us: and
if ever the scale-beam trembles, I beseech you, let the love of
me decide for America. I will not dare to tease you on a matter
of so many relations, and so important, and especially as I have
written out, I believe, my requests in a letter sent two or three
months ago,--but I must see you somewhere, somehow, may it please
God! I grieve to hear no better news of your wife. I hoped she
was sound and strong ere this, and can only hope still. My wife
and I send her our hearty love.
Yours affectionately,
R.W. Emerson
* The Address at the Cambridge Divinity School was delivered on
the 15th of July, and that at Dartmouth College on the 24th of
the same month. The title of the latter was "Literary Ethics."
Both are reprinted in Emerson's Miscellanies. These remarkable
discourses excited deep interest and wide attention. They
established Emerson's position as the leader of what was known as
the Transcendental movement. They were the expressions of his
inmost convictions and his matured thought. The Address at the
Divinity School gave rise to a storm of controversy which did not
disturb the serenity of its author. "It was," said Theodore
Parker, "the noblest, the most inspiring strain I ever listened
to." To others it seemed "neither good divinity nor good sense."
The Address at Dartmouth College set forth the high ideals of
intellectual life with an eloquence made irresistible by the
character of the speaker. From this time Emerson's influence
upon thought in America was acknowledged.
