BOSTON - MASSACHUSETTSAs Written:MASS.
YourAs Written:Yr very kind note is at hand. I can only say that I will do my best with yourAs Written:yr ManuscriptAs Written:Mss., & that, I trust I do not need to say.
2 points I am not quite clear about. You speak of "reinstating the clippings." I was not aware that I omitted any. I simply changed their positions in some instances, sometimes copying them for that purpose.
2. "I call yourAs Written:yr attention to the copy. When you leave it saying 'the following can be read backward & make sense' & then introduce words which prevent this." So you write.
I do not remember saying that anything can be read backward, & make sense. However, perhaps I shall understand yourAs Written:yr point when I see the copy again.
Now I wish to urge upon yourAs Written:yr attention 2 points.
The 1st is mechanical. In yourAs Written:yr past copy (proofs) the side heads were away from the page — thus [*]Archival Note: There is an illustration of the page drawn here. I find it would be better to have these notes set in, — thus [*]Archival Note: There is an illustration of the page drawn here. They look better so; & besides, the plates will last much longer. As the whole thing will have to be reset, it could be just as well done in this way.
2ndAs Written:d: This point is more important.
Leave S. & H. mainly as it is. Make this a new book with a new title. Call it simply C. S.; or The Ch Scst., or C. S. Exemplified As Written: Examplified ; or C. S. Restated; or Immortal Mind & Its Work or Imm. Mind & Its Issues. or something better.
Several ends will be gained by this course:
a. You will feel more at liberty to add new material.
b. You can cite & quote the old matter as much as you please, by stating in the preface that you draw largely upon the older work.
c. By thus having a new vol., & not merely a new ed. of an older vol., you avoid the criticism of vacillation. You know yourAs Written:yr books are advertised with a cut of S. & H. resting on the Bible,— a good device for the purpose. Now the Bible remains unchanged (substantially) from age to age; but if you so greatly change S. & H., you see how inevitably a contrast is forced upon the mind (mortal mind.)
d. When yourAs Written:yr new ed was published, 4 yearsAs Written:yrs ago, there were some who regretted the old. There will be more who wouldAs Written:wd cherish a regret now, to whom the present version has become the old one. Now, leave these thousands of readers the peace of mind whichAs Written:wch comes from their familiar volumesAs Written:vols., while at the same time they see how the new tongue is constantly driving out materialism, dispelling the mists et ceteraAs Written:&c. et ceteraAs Written:&c.
e. The title S. & H. I never liked, because it does not cover the ground; but I never suggested a change, because all such changes are bad. Best let names alone, even if not the best. New Englanders still talk about shillings, though they are all out of our currency, & have been for near a century.
f. Our Yankee facture is in forever pulling up our flowers, to see how they grow. Don't! Power grows with standing in the same place, though we may enlarge our business on that spot.
g. By thus having a new book, you will sell more copies, in the aggregate, thus spreading yourAs Written:yr theories farther.
h. A new book, under an old name, will make many say: Has she changed? Doesn't she know her own mind? et ceteraAs Written:&c. et ceteraAs Written:&c. A new book with an new title will answer these questions most potently, — nay, it will prevent the raising of these questions in toto.
The past is unchanged, yet you give more light in dark places.
How wouldAs Written:wd The New Jerusalem of C. S. do for a name; or C. S. the New Jerusalem. or some title drawn from the Apocalypse. (Revelations)
This persistent fellow adds a p. s.
Do!
Do!!
Do!!!
have a new book, not a new ed.