https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Letter_to_Grant_Richards_%281898-1899%29 2026-06-04T05:03:55Z Revision history for this page on the wiki MediaWiki 1.44.2 https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php?title=Letter_to_Grant_Richards_(1898-1899)&diff=92121&oldid=prev 2019-11-02T09:30:35Z

<p>Created page with &quot;<a href="/wiki/File:Letter-acd-1898-1899-grant-richards-duet-recto.jpg" title="File:Letter-acd-1898-1899-grant-richards-duet-recto.jpg">thumb|200px|right|</a> <a href="/wiki/File:Letter-acd-1898-1899-grant-richards-duet-verso.jpg" title="File:Letter-acd-1898-1899-grant-richards-duet-verso.jpg">thumb|200px|right|</a> This letter was...&quot;</p> <p><b>New page</b></p><div>[[File:letter-acd-1898-1899-grant-richards-duet-recto.jpg|thumb|200px|right|]]<br /> [[File:letter-acd-1898-1899-grant-richards-duet-verso.jpg|thumb|200px|right|]]<br /> <br /> This letter was written by [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] from Undershaw, between december 1898 and january 1899, to [[Grant Richards]] (publisher) about the publication of [[A Duet, with an Occasional Chorus]] (published in march 1899).<br /> <br /> <br /> == Letter ==<br /> <br /> My dear Grant Richards<br /> <br /> The only valid reason I can ever give a publisher for quitting him is that I can get better terms. So if I come to you with &quot;A Duet&quot; my terms must be high. But they would be great in a convenient form... as thus.<br /> <br /> : 1. No advance.<br /> <br /> : 2. Half yearly accounts.<br /> <br /> : 3. Two shillings per copy on 6/ book.<br /> <br /> : 4. Your guarantee to fairly spend £100 in advertising.<br /> <br /> : 5. The form to be such as I approve.<br /> <br /> How does this strike you? If too high or too anything then let me know at once.<br /> <br /> I propose to sacrifice the serial rights of this book and bring it out at once in book form. This will in itself be an interesting experiment &amp; should, I believe, help the sale of the book materially. To bring it out at a low price would be a second experiment and I think it would it would be well to try one experiment at a time. Therefore let it be 6/.<br /> <br /> The book will be from 60 to 70 000 words. Over 50 000 are done — so it should be ready for appearance early in March. I shall have what I have done typed without delay.<br /> <br /> This is only the English rights of course.<br /> <br /> I am on very friendly terms with Smith and must return to him, so don&#039;t be hurt when I do so with my next book. The fact is that this book &lt;u&gt;ought&lt;/u&gt; to be published by a young married couple and so I give you the refusal of it.<br /> <br /> I shall be in town on Wednesday morning if you wanted to see me on any point — but I shall be rather rushed.<br /> <br /> : With kind regards<br /> <br /> :: Yours very truly<br /> <br /> ::: A. Conan Doyle.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ----<br /> * [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:Letters|Back to Conan Doyle&#039;s letters]]<br /> * [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|Back to Conan Doyle]]</div>

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