1991.1016.167.1

Samuel Butler (author)

Letter to Mrs Mary Grace Walker from Samuel Butler (1991.1016.167.a), with its original envelope (1991.1016.167.b). both dated 11th April 1901, thanking her for her letter re his sonnet book. Found inserted in the book, Seven Sonnets and a Psalm of Montreal by Butler, Samuel, when acquired by the museum, shelf L10 (B) . Part of the Emery Walker Library.

London

1901-04-11 - 1901-04-11 1901 - 1901

Arts & Crafts

letter, envelope

Letter dated 11th April 1901 from Samuel Butler to Mary Grace Walker. Found in a copy of Seven Sonnets and a Psalm of Montreal by Samuel Butler. 15, Clifford Inn, London, E. C. April 11 1901 Dear Mrs Walker I should have written sooner to thank you for your very kind letter about my Sonnet book, but I have been [inserted so] incessantly occupied with the completion (and arrangements with Mr Grant Richards[i]) of my new book Erewhon Revisited[ii] that I have put all letter writing on one side. Today the arrangements, thanks to my good friend your husband, have been completed, & the work is in the printer’s hands; I therefore hasten to tell you haw gratified [inserted I am] to find that my book has made the impression upon you that I should wish it to make. I see that Mr Churton Collins[iii] in his recent book Ephemera Critica, (or whatever the title is) while speaking respectfully of it, declares that it it carries no conviction, but he advances nothing to shake my confidence that my conclusions are sound, & if he talks so much nonsense about the Sonnets that I feel neither regret not surprise that I should have failed to convince him. As for Sidney Lee[iv] no words can express the strong revulsion of feeling which his book caused me. Again, let me thank you very sincerely and beg you to believe me Yours very truly S. Butler[v] P. S. I am afraid you will detect by the errors and omissions of this letter that I am – as indeed I am – somewhat brain-fagged. The envelope to this letter survives and is addressed as follows: Mrs Walker Dorset Villa The Esplanade Shanklin Isle of Wight [Footnotes: [i]Grant Richards (1897 – 1948) was an eminent publisher. [ii]Erwehon Revisited, published in 1901, was a sequel to Samuel Butler’s satirical novel Erewhon, published in 1872. [iii]John Churton Collins (1848 – 1908) was a literary critic and his Ephemera Critica was published in 1901. [iv]Sir Sidney Lee (1859 – 1926) was a biographer and critic. He was editor of the Dictionary of National Biography, contributing some 800 articles on Elizabethan authors and statesmen. [v] Samuel Butler (1835 – 1902) was an author who wrote in the genres of fiction and non-fiction, covering a wide range of subject matter. CAW]