WCP4960

Letter (cc) (WCP4960.5396)

[1]1

21st February [189]82

D[octo]r. Alfred Russel Wallace,

Dear Sir,

We shall be very glad to receive the whole of your M[anu]S[cript].3 as soon as it is ready. We will see that it run[s] through the press without a hitch. We quite approve of setting the type-arrangement of the "Preface" to [V]accination.4 As soon as we have the first proofs ready, we will put them into the hands of a decorative artist, & submit to you his design for the cover. Unless he feel[s] capable of something really good that is emblematical, it could be safer to do a purely geometrical design; but any suggestions you may have to offer for the former would be acceptable. We will employ a light paper, which we also prefer on the grounds both of convenience to the reader, & of economy. We have several applications from American publishers as to an ed[itio]n [2] for the States, & have given the J. Appleton Co[mpany].5 [sic] whose London representative, Mr. Sheldon, said you had communicated with him about the book, a short time <ago> to consider a/

[page(s) missing]

1
The letter bears no heading, but originates from ARW’s London publisher Swan Sonnenschein & Co., founded in 1878 by William Swan Sonnenschein (1855-1931).
2
Year inferred from context.
3
The author refers to Wallace A. R. (1898). The Wonderful Century; Its Successes and Its Failures London, Swan Sonnenschein & Co.
4
Wallace, A. R. (1898). Vaccination a delusion. Its Penal Enforcement a Crime: Proved by the official evidence in the reports of the Royal Commission London, Swan Sonnenschein & Co. Ltd. This monographic criticism of vaccination was published in the Spring of 1898, then incorporated into ARW’s The Wonderful Century published by Swan Sonnenschein & Co. Ltd. later that year.
5
Daniel Appleton (1785-1849). Founder of the American publishing house D. Appleton & Company in 1831. It issued the works of contemporary scientists at moderate prices, including Herbert Spencer, John Tyndall, Thomas Huxley and Charles Darwin. His four sons, one of whom was John Adams Appleton (1817-1881), formed a partnership on his retirement in 1848, but the name D. Appleton & Company was retained until merger with the Century Company in 1933.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (cc) (WCP4960.5396)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by O'Dell, Sandra [2018-08-15]

Please cite as “WCP4960,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 29 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP4960