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Letter ReferenceHRC/OliveSchreinerUncatLetters/OS-TFisherUnwin/35
ArchiveHarry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin
Epistolary TypeLetter
Letter Date8 February 1897
Address From19 Russell Road, Kensington, London
Address To
Who ToT. Fisher Unwin
Other Versions
PermissionsPlease read before using or citing this transcription
Legend
The Project is grateful to the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, the University of Texas at Austin, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Manuscript Collections. This letter is by and from Olive Schreiner, with Cronwright-Schreiner acting as her amanuensis or secretary.
119 Russell Road,
2Kensington, W.
38th Feb. 1897
4
5Dear Mr Unwin,
6
7Your letter of today has just arrived (evening) with proof of
8dedication, which is in order. The photogravure will probably arrive
9tomorrow. On receipt I will at once telegraph wire you, so that if it
10is satisfactory (as no doubt it will be) you may not be delayed in the
11least. I presume you won’t want the copy back.
12
13Yes, the whole book is now passed for the press: we do not need to see
14anything more of it, provided that the corrections I have indicated
15have been made, & that no other alterations are made: as, of course,
16will be the case.
17
18The concluding sentence in your letter surprises me somewhat. Mrs
19Schreiner confidently expects that you will have a full supply to send
20out by the 17th, as indeed is implied in the agreement. This, I feel
21sure, will be the case, as, in the first instance, you offered to
22bring the book out in ten days, when nothing was ready: whereas, now,
23you have the whole book set up, covers & photogravure ready; you have
24had twelve days to make arrangements, & there are still eight full
25days from tomorrow morning to the evening of the 16th. Mrs Schreiner
26trusts that, on no account, will that appear which you indicate as a
27possibility; as her idea in publishing this book was not so much to
28make money (as you have proof of) as to secure a prompt & widespread
29distribution of it. Things in S. Africa are in a perilously critical
30state, and it is of the most vital importance that the public all over
31the United Kingdom should be promptly supplied with as many as they
32will buy. Mrs Schreiner therefore relies on your having the full
33supply out on the day arranged.
34
35Will you please let her have her 24 copies as soon as you can? She
36also asks me to mention to you the Free Review, The Progressive Review,
37 The New Age, & The Christian Chronicle ^Commonweal,^, as papers to
38which (if they are not already on your list) she would like you to
39send advance copies of ‘Peter Halket’ for review.
40
41It is perhaps unnecessary for me to mention that one object in
42securing a prompt and at the same time a wide spread distribution of
43the book is to prevent Mr Rhodes from at once securing, en block, a
44large proportion of the copies as soon as they pass from your control,
45& thus interfere with a rapid & widespread sale & prevent or delay its
46perusal by the public.
47
48Yours very sincerely,
49S.C. Cronwright Schreiner
50
Notation
The proofs referred to are those of Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland, and the photograph is of the hanging tree in Bulawayo which acts as its frontispiece.