A Publisher And His Friends (Fiscle Part-4) - Samuel Smiles (books like beach read TXT) 📗
- Author: Samuel Smiles
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Following His Father, Who Was A Captain Of Militia. He Went From South
To North, From Kent To Edinburgh, Where He Was Entered As Pupil In The
High School, And Took Part In The "Bickers" So Well Described By Sir
Walter Scott. Then The Boy Followed The Regiment To Ireland, Where He
Studied The Celtic Dialect. From Early Youth He Had A Passion, And An
Chapter 30 ( George Borrow--Richard Ford--Horace Twiss--John Sterling--Mr. Gladstone--Death Of Southey, Etc.) Pg 175Extraordinary Capacity, For Learning Languages, And On Reaching Manhood
He Was Appointed Agent To The Bible Society, And Was Sent To Russia To
Translate And Introduce The Scriptures. While There He Mastered The
Language, And Learnt Besides The Solavonian And The Gypsy Dialects. He
Translated The New Testament Into The Tartar Mantchow, And Published
Versions From English Into Thirty Languages. He Made Successive Visits
Into Russia, Norway, Turkey, Bohemia, Spain And Barbary. In Fact, The
Sole Of His Foot Never Rested. While An Agent For The Bible Society In
Spain, He Translated The New Testament Into Spanish, Portuguese, Romany,
And Basque--Which Language, It Is Said, The Devil Himself Never Could
Learn--And When He Had Learnt The Basque He Acquired The Name Of
Lavengro, Or Word-Master.
Such Was George Borrow When He Called Upon Murray To Offer Him The Mss.
Of His First Book, "The Gypsies In Spain." Mr. Murray Could Not Fail To
Be Taken At First Sight With This Extraordinary Man. He Had A Splendid
Physique, Standing Six Feet Two In His Stockings, And He Had Brains As
Well As Muscles, As His Works Sufficiently Show. The Book Now Submitted
Was Of A Very Uncommon Character, And Neither The Author Nor The
Publisher Was Very Sanguine About Its Success. Mr. Murray Agreed, After
Perusal, To Print And Publish 750 Copies Of "The Gypsies In Spain," And
Divide The Profits With The Author. But This Was Only The Beginning, And
Borrow Reaped Much Better Remuneration From Future Editions Of The
Volume. Indeed, The Book Was Exceedingly Well Received, And Met With A
Considerable Sale; But Not So Great As His Next Work, "The Bible In
Spain," Which He Was Now Preparing.
_Mr. George Borrow To John Murray_. _August_ 23, 1841.
"A Queer Book Will Be This Same 'Bible In Spain,' Containing All My
Queer Adventures In That Queer Country Whilst Engaged In Distributing
The Gospel, But Neither Learning, Nor Disquisition, Fine Writing, Or
Poetry. A Book With Such A Bible And Of This Description Can Scarcely
Fail Of Success. It Will Make Two Nice Foolscap Octavo Volumes Of About
500 Pages Each. I Have Not Heard From Ford Since I Had Last The Pleasure
Of Seeing You. Is His Book Out? I Hope That He Will Not Review The
'Zincali' Until The Bible Is Forthcoming, When He May, If He Please,
Kill Two Birds With One Stone. I Hear From Saint Petersburg That There
Is A Notice Of The 'Zincali' In The _Revue Britannique_; It Has Been
Translated Into Russian. Do You Know Anything About It?"
_Mr. George Borrow To John Murray_. Oulton Hall, Lowestoft, _January_
1842.
Chapter 30 ( George Borrow--Richard Ford--Horace Twiss--John Sterling--Mr. Gladstone--Death Of Southey, Etc.) Pg 176
My Dear Sir,
We Are Losing Time. I Have Corrected Seven Hundred Consecutive Pages Of
Ms., And The Remaining Two Hundred Will Be Ready In A Fortnight. I Do
Not Think There Will Be A Dull Page In The Whole Book, As I Have Made
One Or Two Very Important Alterations; The Account Of My Imprisonment At
Madrid Cannot Fail, I Think, Of Being Particularly Interesting....
During The Last Week I Have Been Chiefly Engaged In Horse-Breaking. A
Most Magnificent Animal Has Found His Way To This Neighbourhood--A
Half-Bred Arabian. He Is At Present In The Hands Of A Low Horse-Dealer,
And Can Be Bought For Eight Pounds, But No One Will Have Him. It Is Said
That He Kills Everybody Who Mounts Him. I Have Been _Charming_ Him, And
Have So Far Succeeded That He Does Not Fling Me More Than Once In Five
Minutes. What A Contemptible Trade Is The Author's Compared With That Of
The Jockey's!
Mr. Borrow Prided Himself On Being A Horse-Sorcerer, An Art He Learned
Among The Gypsies, With Whose Secrets He Claimed Acquaintance. He
Whispered Some Unknown Gibberish Into Their Ears, And Professed Thus To
Tame Them.
He Proceeded With "The Bible In Spain." In The Following Month He Sent
To Mr. Murray The Ms. Of The First Volume. To The General Information As
To The Contents And Interest Of The Volume, He Added These Words:
_Mr. George Borrow To John Murray_.
_February_, 1842.
"I Spent A Day Last Week With Our Friend Dawson Turner At Yarmouth. What
Capital Port He Keeps! He Gave Me Some Twenty Years Old, And Of Nearly
The Finest Flavour That I Ever Tasted. There Are Few Better Things Than
Old Books, Old Pictures, And Old Port, And He Seems To Have Plenty Of
All Three."
_May_ 10, 1842.
"I Am Coming Up To London Tomorrow, And Intend To Call At Albemarle
Chapter 30 ( George Borrow--Richard Ford--Horace Twiss--John Sterling--Mr. Gladstone--Death Of Southey, Etc.) Pg 177Street.... I Make No Doubt That We Shall Be Able To Come To Terms; I
Like Not The Idea Of Applying To Second-Rate People. I Have Been
Dreadfully Unwell Since I Last Heard From You--A Regular Nervous Attack;
At Present I Have A Bad Cough, Caught By Getting Up At Night In Pursuit
Of Poachers And Thieves. A Horrible Neighbourhood This--Not A Magistrate
That Dares To Do His Duty.
"P.S.--Ford's Book Not Out Yet?"
There Seems To Have Been Some Difficulty About Coming To Terms. Borrow
Had Promised His Friends That His Book Should Be Out By October 1, And
He Did Not Wish Them To Be Disappointed:
_Mr. George Borrow To John Murray_.
_July_ 4, 1842.
Why This Delay? Mr. Woodfall [The Printer] Tells Me That The State Of
Trade Is Wretched. Well And Good! But You Yourself Told Me So Two Months
Ago, When You Wrote Requesting That I Would Give You The Preference,
Provided I Had Not Made Arrangements With Other Publishers. Between
Ourselves, My Dear Friend, I Wish The State Of The Trade Were Ten Times
Worse Than It Is, And Then Things Would Find Their True Level, And An
Original Work Would Be Properly Appreciated, And A Set Of People Who
Have No Pretensions To Write, Having Nothing To Communicate But
Tea-Table Twaddle, Could No Longer Be Palmed Off Upon The Public As
Mighty Lions And Lionesses. But To The Question: What Are Your
Intentions With Respect To "The Bible In Spain"? I Am A Frank Man, And
Frankness Never Offends Me. Has Anybody Put You Out Of Conceit With The
Book? There Is No Lack Of Critics, Especially In Your Neighbourhood.
Tell Me Frankly, And I Will Drink Your Health In Rommany. Or, Would The
Appearance Of "The Bible" On The First Of October Interfere With The
Avatar, First Or Second, Of Some Very Lion Or Divinity, To Whom George
Borrow, Who Is Neither, Must, Of Course, Give Place? Be Frank With Me,
My Dear Sir, And I Will Drink Your Health In Rommany And Madeira.
In Case Of Either Of The Above Possibilities Being The Fact, Allow Me To
Assure You That I Am Quite Willing To Release You From Your Share Of The
Agreement Into Which We Entered. At The Same Time, I Do Not Intend To
Let The Work Fall To The Ground, As It Has Been Promised To The Public.
Unless You Go On With It, I Shall Remit Woodfall The Necessary Money For
The Purchase Of Paper, And When It Is Ready Offer It To The World. If It
Chapter 30 ( George Borrow--Richard Ford--Horace Twiss--John Sterling--Mr. Gladstone--Death Of Southey, Etc.) Pg 178Be But Allowed Fair Play, I Have No Doubt Of Its Success. It Is An
Original Book, On An Original Subject. Tomorrow, July 5, I Am
Thirty-Nine. Have The Kindness To Drink My Health In Madeira.
Ever Most Sincerely Yours,
George Borrow.
Terms Were Eventually Arranged To The Satisfaction Of Both Parties.
Borrow Informed Murray That He Had Sent The Last Proofs To The Printer,
And Continued:
_Mr. George Borrow To John Murray_.
_November_ 25, 1842.
Only Think, Poor Allan Cunningham Dead! A Young Man, Only Fifty-Eight,
Strong And Tall As A Giant, Might Have Lived To A Hundred And One; But
He Bothered Himself About The Affairs Of This World Far Too Much. That
Statue Shop [Of Chantrey's] Was His Bane! Took To Bookmaking
Likewise--In A Word, Was Too Fond Of Mammon. Awful Death--No
Preparation--Came Literally Upon Him Like A Thief In The Dark. I'm
Thinking Of Writing A Short Life Of Him; Old Friend Of Twenty Years'
Standing. I Know A Good Deal About Him; "Traditional Tales," His Best
Work, First Appeared In _London Magazine_, Pray Send Dr. Bowring A Copy
Of The Bible-Another Old Friend. Send One To Ford, A Capital Fellow. God
Bless You--Feel Quite Melancholy.
Ever Yours,
G. Borrow.
"The Bible In Spain" Was Published Towards The End Of The Year, And
Created A Sensation. It Was Praised By Many Critics, And Condemned By
Others, For Borrow Had His Enemies In The Press.
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