University of Virginia Library

16.

Either I must have expressed myself carelessly in my letter to you or you must have misunderstood what I said. I told you what the printer had said not because I cared about his opinion as his opinion, or cared a bit about his scruples, but because if a printer takes that view you can be quite sure that the booksellers will take it, that the libraries will take it, and that an inconvenienly large section of the general public will take it. You have told me frankly that you look to your future being helped by your literary work. The best way of retarding that result will most certainly be to persist in the publishing of stories which — I speak commercially, not artistically — will get you a name for doing work which most people will regret. You will understand that it is not my view which has to dictate our conduct in this matter. It is both the effect which your persistence would have on the commercial possibilities of the book, and the effect that the publication of that book as it now stands in manuscript would have on our business generally. It would be easier to explain to you why I think you are taking a wrong course when you refuse either to make any alterations or to suppress the stories if I could have the opportunity of talking the matter over with you. I hope, however, that this letter will show you that from

the point of view of policy there are two sides to the matter, and that you will see your way to alter the position you have taken up. In any case, please put on one side the idea that you seem to have, that I am at all interested in our printer's conscience. Sincerely yours,