WCP5070

Letter (cc) (WCP5070.5548)

[1]1

6th Nov[ember] [1]900

Dear Sir,

Your letter of 31st October2 has been laid before our Board. We have heard from Mr. Hopwood3 and have quoted him 6d [6 pence] per copy nett for an edition of 500 & 5d per copy nett for an edition of 1000 of your "Vaccination a Delusion"4 in paper covers —

We think that an illustrated edition of "The Wonderful Century"5 with the chapter on Vaccination omitted and the scientific chapters written up to the end of the century6 would be likely to have a considerable sale [2]7 and as many of the illustrations from the Wonderful Century Reader8 would be available there need be no inconsiderable but few additional blocks9 made specially.

So far as we can see at present we shall be willing to consider it as a new work and we shall be glad to hear which modifications in the present agreement10 you suggest —

We are, dear Sir, | Yours very truly | NW [signature in initials]

A R Wallace Esq[uire].

1
The letter bears no heading but is signed in the name of ARW’s London publisher Swan Sonnenschein & Co., founded in 1878 by William Swan Sonnenschein (1855-1931).
2
See WCP5179. This letter is presumed lost or does not survive, but is mentioned in WCP5069, which is the reply to it.
3
Hopwood, Charles Henry (1829-1904). British Liberal politician and judge. Co-author of Taylor, P. A. & Hopwood, C. H (1883) Speeches of Mr. P.A. Taylor and Mr. C.H. Hopwood on vaccination: in the House of Commons, June 19th, 1883 London, E.W. Allen.
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
Wallace A. R. (1898). The Wonderful Century; Its Successes and Its Failures London, Swan Sonnenschein & Co.
6
The book proposed in ARW’s letter of 31 October 1900 (see Endnote 3) is referred to in WCP5074, as "a revised and enlarged edition of The Wonderful Century". It appeared as the 5th Edition in September 1903, with 107 illustrations: Wallace, A. R. (1903) The Wonderful Century; The Age of New Ideas in Science and Invention. New (Fifth Edition) "revised and largely rewritten" London, Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Ltd.
7
The page is stamped "294".
8
Wallace A. R. (1901). The Wonderful Century Reader London, Swan Sonnenschein & Co., published in November 1901, was an abridged illustrated version of the 4th Edition (February 1901) of The Wonderful Century, first published in 1898.
9
The engraved boxwood block or woodcut dominated early Victorian book illustration. Electrotyping later replaced woodcuts for the production of fine artwork in books. In the second half of the century, most woodblock engravings were actually printed from electrotypes.
10
The present agreement refers to that in place for publication of the current, probably 4th, edition of The Wonderful Century (1st ed. June 1898; 2nd ed. Dec. 1898; 3rd ed. May 1899; 4th ed. Feb. 1901).

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (cc) (WCP5070.5548)]

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 “WCP5070,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 29 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP5070