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Letter 22.
It has become so natural for me to demand advice of you that I shall not even ask pardon for the trouble I may put you to. This is what one gets for being kind to such an ignorant thing as an author.
Will you let me (and this of course is confidential) [know] what you know of the present condition of the house of Harper & Brothers?
I have been approached by another house upon the subject of my new book—the new publishers taking for granted that I shall not wish to continue with the present management, which, they maintain, is not Harper and Brothers at all, but merely a business conducted by a receiver to pay off his creditors, in which he may sell any of the books at any time.
As you know I like the Messrs. Harper—they have always been kind to my interests, and I do not wish to leave them unless it is true that the business is not really under their direction, or unless I might reap greater advantages for my book.
Will you write me what you think about it?
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