Ɛpsilon

WCP5155

Letter (cc) (WCP5155.5665)

[1]1

17th Dec[ember]. [190]3

D[octo]r. Alfred Russel Wallace.

Dear Sir,

We are obliged by your letter of date; & are pleased to learn that you are prepared to accept our offer of 3d. per copy for on the sale of 500 of "The Wonderful Century"2 at 4s 9d. to Mr. Cole3 of Melbourne, and to any others who may buy large quantities. We are proposing to fix this matter up as follows, in order to render our account-keeping clear:

"Colonial Edition"4 (3/6) [3s 6d]

On all orders for 100 copies or more if sold at 1s. 9d. Royalty 3d.
On all orders for less than 100 copies Royalty 6d.

The prices we are making to our [2]5 two colonial travellers, one of whom in Australasia, & the other Canada & South Africa, are as follows

100 @ 1s 9d.

50 @ 2s. 0d.

so that you will see that on all orders for 50 copies (only) you will receive the full royalty & we the profit we make on the sales of 100 at one time.

All orders of the 7s/6d ed[itio]n (if any) from the Colonies will be executed as heretofore at the full English trade-price, & your royalty as the full English selling-price credited to you.

We trust you will regard this settlement of a point which involves a little difficulty as a fair one, which will serve our separate interests satisfactorily[.]

Yours very truly

1
A large tick in blue pencil appears at the head of the letter. Although there is no heading or signature, the letter originates at ARW’s London publisher Swan Sonnenschein & Co., founded in 1878 by William Swan Sonnenschein (1855-1931), a son of Adolphus Sonnenschein, a teacher and writer originally from Moravia, and his first wife Sarah Robinson Stallybrass. In the light of the hostility to Germans during the First World War William Swan Sonnenschein changed his surname to Stallybrass for the remainder of his life, as did some of his family. The author is likely to be F. R. Stallybrass (see WCP5163 in the same hand), presumably a relative of the founder of the publishing house.
2
Wallace A. R. (1898). The Wonderful Century; Its Successes and Its Failures. London, Swan Sonnenschein & Co.
3
Cole, Edward William (also known as 'E. W. Cole of the Book Arcade') (1832-1918). English-born Australian bookseller. He founded Cole's Book Arcade, in Melbourne in 1883, which grew into one of the great book businesses of Australia with one of the largest stocks in the world.
4
The colonies were British overseas territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom in the 19th and early 20th centuries, principally Canada, parts of Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Australia, New Zealand and parts of the Far East. Colonial editions of books were cheaper versions to be sold overseas.
5
The page is stamped "994".

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (cc) (WCP5155.5665)]

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 “WCP5155,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP5155