Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart.
Walter Scott to John Ballantyne, 17 October 1814
“Dear John,” he writes, (Oct. 17, 1814), “your expedients are
all wretched, as far as regards me. I never will give Constable, or any one, room to say I have
broken my word with him in the slightest degree. If I lose every thing else, I
will at least keep my honour unblemished; and I do hold myself bound in honour
to offer him a Waverley, while
he shall continue to comply with the conditions annexed. I intend the new novel to operate as
something more permanent than a mere accommodation; and if I can but be
permitted to do so, I will print it before it is sold to any one, and then
propose, first, to Constable and Longman, second, to Murray and Blackwood, to take the whole at such a rate as will give them
one-half of the fair profits; granting acceptances which, upon an edition of
3000, which we shall be quite authorized to print, will amount to an ![]()
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immediate command of L.1500; and to this we may couple
the condition, that they must take L.500 or L.600 of the old stock. I own I am
not solicitous to deal with Constable alone, nor am I at
all bound to offer him the new novel on any terms; but he, knowing of the
intention, may expect to be treated with at least, although it is possible we
may not deal. However, if Murray and
Blackwood were to come forward with any handsome
proposal as to the stock, I should certainly have no objection to James’s giving the pledge of the
Author of W. for his next work. You are
like the crane in the fable, when you boast of not having got any thing from
the business; you may thank God that it did not bite your head off. Would to
God I were at let-a-be for let-a-be;—but you have done your best, and so must
I. Yours truly,
W. S.”
James Ballantyne (1772-1833)
Edinburgh printer in partnership with his younger brother John; the company failed in the
financial collapse of 1826.
John Ballantyne (1774-1821)
Edinburgh publisher and literary agent for Walter Scott; he was the younger brother of
the printer James Ballantyne.
William Blackwood (1776-1834)
Edinburgh bookseller; he began business 1804 and for a time was John Murray's Scottish
agent. He launched
Blackwood's Magazine in 1817.
Archibald Constable (1774-1827)
Edinburgh bookseller who published the
Edinburgh Review and works
of Sir Walter Scott; he went bankrupt in 1826.
Thomas Norton Longman (1771-1842)
A leading London publisher whose authors included Southey, Wordsworth, Scott, and
Moore.
John Murray II (1778-1843)
The second John Murray began the
Quarterly Review in 1809 and
published works by Scott, Byron, Austen, Crabbe, and other literary notables.
