My dear Miss Yonge I have arranged with Mr Armitage a painter of considerable reputation particularly for pictures of Sacred & Christian subjects to draw us three designs for your The Pupils of St John. As I hope we may be able to make our start in January, it will be needful to be getting on with both the drawing and the engraving. Could you give Mr Armitage any hints that would enable him to make ... continue reading

Dear Miss Yonge I write mainly to acknowledge the receipt of your last four chapters, and also to say that your sketch seems to me very good. But were you not to give a third pupil of St John?

I will see Miss Martin today she will no doubt write to you on any point of detail. I do not in the least anticipate any difficulty on point of church arrangements. Only one thing has struck me ... continue reading

Dear Mr Macmillan, I send up the two next chapters of St John, in case it should be convenient to show Mr Armitage the description of the scene with the Robber. Do you mean to have vignettes? If you do the cup with the serpent should come at the end of the last chapter I send you, and the one I am writing now should have the golden candlestick, I should try for Diana for the ... continue reading

Dear Miss Yonge I have sent the description to Mr Armitage, who I am sure will be very glad to have it.

About vignettes I am rather uncertain. They are very dangerous. Anything short of high excellence is apt to be commonplace and conventional. The cup with the serpent dos not commend itself to me quite. I am afraid I have not much taste for arbitrary symbolism - meanings in fact I do like and in words.

However ... continue reading

My dear Miss Yonge . I have forwarded your letter to Miss Martin who has gone to Bude. I am sure there will be no difficulty in arranging matters. Her only object as I understood her was as the Series is to go over a long space there would be serious danger of one book repeating the work of another, and so there would [be] too much of one part given, and details of another that would ... continue reading

Dear Miss Yonge I am very sorry indeed that you should be perplexed about this matter[.] I hope we will be able to arrange it without giving you serious trouble. I was under the impression that you understood that the volume should be about the size of the Hugh Macmillans - between 300 & 400. On May 10 I am sure I wrote to that effect.

As matters stand I think we had better publish in parts ... continue reading

Dear Miss Yonge Yesterday Mr Craik paid £200 into Hoare’s in your a/c. I hope my not telling you before will have caused you no [illegible]

I am very sorry you do not like the illustrations. It is now impossible to get fresh ones done, and pardon me saying I really like them. I hope you will get reconciled to them by and by

[Rest of letter indecipherable as is the one, dated 22 January 1868, that follows]

Dear Mr Macmillan, I believe the Little Duke has been translated into French, I am sure I have given leave for it, but I do not always hear whether a translation comes to anything

The Cameos would certainly be the better for an Index, I do not think a genealogical table is wanted

I find I still have one of your books, besides Julius Caesar. I will return them together.

The gilt edged copy is very pretty - many ... continue reading