NEW LITERARY PROJECT.
1839.
Thoughts for the Future--Doubts of old Serial
Form--Suggestion for his Publishers--My
Mediation with them--Proposed Weekly
Publication--Design of it--Old Favorites to be
revived--Subjects to be dealt with--Chapters on
Chambers--Gog and Magog Relaxations--Savage
Chronicles--Others as well as himself to
write--Travels to Ireland and America in
View--Stipulation as to Property and
Payments--Great Hopes of Success--Assent of his
Publishers--No Planned Story--Terms of
Agreement--Notion for his Hero--A Name hit
upon--Sanguine of the Issue.
THE time was now come for him seriously to busy himself with a successor
to _Pickwick_ and _Nickleby_, which he had not, however, waited thus
long before turning over thoroughly in his mind. _Nickleby's_ success
had so far outgone even the expectation raised by _Pickwick's_, that,
without some handsome practical admission of this fact at the close, its
publishers could hardly hope to retain him. This had been frequently
discussed by us, and was well understood. But, apart from the question
of his resuming with them at all, he had persuaded himself it might be
unsafe to resume in the old way, believing the public likely to tire of
the same twenty numbers over again. There was also another and more
sufficient reason for change which naturally had great weight with him,
and this was the hope that, by invention of a new mode as well as kind
of serial publication, he might be able for a time to discontinue the
writing of a long story with all its strain on his fancy, in any case to
shorten and vary the length of the stories written by himself, and
perhaps ultimately to retain all the profits of a continuous publication
without necessarily himself contributing every line that was to be
written for it. These considerations had been discussed still more
anxiously; and for several months some such project had been taking form
in his thoughts.
While he was at Petersham (July, 1839) he thus wrote to me: "I have been
thinking that subject over. Indeed, I have been doing so to the great
stoppage of _Nickleby_ and the great worrying and fidgeting of myself. I
have been thinking that if Chapman & Hall were to admit you into their
confidence with respect to what they mean to do at the conclusion of
_Nickleby_, without admitting me, it would help us very much. You know
that I am well disposed towards them, and that if they do something
handsome, even handsomer perhaps than they dreamt of doing, they will
find it their interest, and will find me tractable. You know also that I
have had straightforward offers from responsible men to publish anything
for me at a percentage on the profits and take all the risk; but that I
am unwilling to leave them, and have declared to you that if they behave
with liberality to me I will not on any consideration, although to a
certain extent I certainly and surely must gain by it. Knowing all this,
I feel sure that if you were to put before them the glories of our new
project, and, reminding them that when _Barnaby_ is published I am clear
of all engagements, were to tell them that if they wish to secure me and
perpetuate our connection now is the time for them to step gallantly
forward and make such proposals as will produce that result,--I feel
quite sure that if this should be done by you, as you only can do it,
the result will be of the most vital importance to me and mine, and that
a very great deal may be effected, thus, to recompense your friend for
very small profits and very large work as yet. I shall see you, please
God, on Tuesday night; and if they wait upon you on Wednesday, I shall
remain in town until that evening."
They came; and the tenor of the interview was so favorable that I wished
him to put in writing what from time to time had been discussed in
connection with the new project. This led to the very interesting letter
I shall now quote, written also in the same month from Petersham. I did
not remember, until I lately read it, that the notion of a possible
visit to America had been in his thoughts so early.
"I should be willing to commence on the thirty-first of March, 1840, a
new publication, consisting entirely of original matter, of which one
number, price threepence, should be published every week, and of which a
certain amount of numbers should form a volume, to be published at
regular intervals. The best general idea of the plan of the work might
be given, perhaps, by reference to the _Spectator_, the _Tatler_, and
Goldsmith's _Bee_; but it would be far more popular both in the subjects
of which it treats and its mode of treating them.
"I should propose to start, as the _Spectator_ does, with some pleasant
fiction relative to the origin of the publication; to introduce a little
club or knot of characters and to carry their personal histories and
proceedings through the work; to introduce fresh characters constantly;
to reintroduce Mr. Pickwick and Sam Weller, the latter of whom might
furnish an occasional communication with great effect; to write amusing
essays on the various foibles of the day as they arise; to take
advantage of all passing events; and to vary the form of the papers by
throwing them into sketches, essays, tales, adventures, letters from
imaginary correspondents, and so forth, so as to diversify the contents
as much as possible.
"In addition to this general description of the contents, I may add that
under particular heads I should strive to establish certain features in
the work, which should be so many veins of interest and amusement
running through the whole. Thus the Chapters on Chambers, which I have
long thought and spoken of, might be very well incorporated with it; and
a series of papers has occurred to me containing stories and
descriptions of London as it was many years ago, as it is now, and as it
will be many years hence, to which I would give some such title as The
Relaxations of Gog and Magog, dividing them into portions like the
_Arabian Nights_, and supposing Gog and Magog to entertain each other
with such narrations in Guildhall all night long, and to break off every
morning at daylight. An almost inexhaustible field of fun, raillery, and
interest would be laid open by pursuing this idea.
"I would also commence, and continue from time to time, a series of
satirical papers purporting to be translated from some Savage
Chronicles, and to describe the administration of justice in some
country that never existed, and record the proceedings of its wise men.
The object of this series (which if I can compare it with anything would
be something between _Gulliver's Travels_ and the _Citizen of the
World_) would be to keep a special lookout upon the magistrates in town
and country, and never to leave those worthies alone.
"The quantity of each number that should be written by myself would be a
matter for discussion and arrangement. Of course I should pledge and
bind myself upon that head. Nobody but myself would ever pursue _these
ideas_, but I must have assistance of course, and there must be some
contents of a different kind. Their general nature might be agreed upon
beforehand, but I should stipulate that this assistance is chosen solely
by myself, and that the contents of every number are as much under my
own control, and subject to as little interference, as those of a number
of _Pickwick_ or _Nickleby_.
"In order to give fresh novelty and interest to this undertaking, I
should be ready to contract to go at any specified time (say in the
midsummer or autumn of the year, when a sufficient quantity of matter in
advance should have been prepared, or earlier if it were thought fit)
either to Ireland or to America, and to write from thence a series of
papers descriptive of the places and people I see, introducing local
tales, traditions, and legends, something after the plan of Washington
Irving's _Alhambra_. I should wish the republication of these papers in
a separate form, with others to render the subject complete (if we
should deem it advisable), to form part of the arrangement for the work;
and I should wish the same provision to be made for the republication of
the Gog and Magog series, or indeed any that I undertook.
"This is a very rough and slight outline of the project I have in view.
I am ready to talk the matter over, to give any further explanations, to
consider any suggestions, or to go into the details of the subject
immediately. I say nothing of the novelty of such a publication
nowadays, or its chances of success. Of course I think them very great,
very great indeed,--almost beyond calculation,--or I should not seek to
bind myself to anything so extensive.
"The heads of the terms upon which I should be prepared to go into this
undertaking would be--That I be made a proprietor in the work and a
sharer in the profits. That when I bind myself to write a certain
portion of every number, I am insured, _for_ that writing in every
number, a certain sum of money. That those who assist me, and contribute
the remainder of every number, shall be paid by the publishers
immediately after its appearance, according to a scale to be calculated
and agreed upon, on presenting my order for the amount to which they may
be respectively entitled. Or, if the publishers prefer it, that they
agree to pay me a certain sum for the _whole_ of every number, and leave
me to make such arrangements for that part which I may not write, as I
think best. Of course I should require that for these payments, or any
other outlay connected with the work, I am not held accountable in any
way; and that no portion of them is to be considered as received by me
on account of the profits. I need not add that some arrangement would
have to be made, if I undertake my Travels, relative to the expenses of
traveling.
"Now, I want our publishing friends to take these things into
consideration, and to give me the views and proposals they would be
disposed to entertain when they have maturely considered the matter."
The result of their consideration was, on the whole, satisfactory. An
additional fifteen hundred pounds was to be paid at the close of
_Nickleby_, the new adventure was to be undertaken, and Cattermole was
to be joined with Browne as its illustrator. Nor was its plan much
modified before starting, though it was felt by us all that, for the
opening numbers at least, Dickens would have to be sole contributor, and
that, whatever otherwise might be its attraction, or the success of the
detached papers proposed by him, some reinforcement of them from time to
time, by means of a story with his name continued at reasonable if not
regular intervals, would be found absolutely necessary. Without any such
planned story, however, the work did actually begin, its course
afterwards being determined by circumstances stronger than any project
he had formed. The agreement, drawn up in contemplation of a mere
miscellany of detached papers or essays, and in which no mention of any
story appeared, was signed at the end of March; and its terms were such
as to place him in his only proper and legitimate position in regard to
all such contracts, of being necessarily a gainer in any case, and, in
the event of success, the greatest gainer of all concerned in the
undertaking. All the risk of every kind was to be undergone by the
publishers; and, as part of the expenses to be defrayed by them of each
weekly number, he was to receive fifty pounds. Whatever the success or
failure, this was always to be paid. The numbers were then to be
accounted for separately, and half the realized profits paid to him, the
other half going to the publishers; each number being held strictly
responsible for itself, and the loss upon it, supposing any, not carried
to the general account. The work was to be continued for twelve months
certain, with leave to the publishers then to close it; but if they
elected to go on, he was himself bound to the enterprise for five years,
and the ultimate copyright as well as profit was to be equally divided.
Six weeks before signature of this agreement, while a title was still
undetermined, I had this letter from him: "I will dine with you. I
intended to spend the evening in strict meditation (as I did last
night); but perhaps I had better go out, lest all work and no play
should make me a dull boy. _I_ have a list of titles too, but the final
title I have determined on--or something very near it. I have a notion
of this old file in the queer house, opening the book by an account of
himself, and, among other peculiarities, of his affection for an old
quaint queer-cased clock; showing how that when they have sat alone
together in the long evenings, he has got accustomed to its voice, and
come to consider it as the voice of a friend; how its striking, in the
night, has seemed like an assurance to him that it was still, a cheerful
watcher at his chamber-door; and now its very face has seemed to have
something of welcome in its dusty features, and to relax from its
grimness when he has looked at it from his chimney-corner. Then I mean
to tell how that he has kept odd manuscripts in the old, deep, dark,
silent closet where the weights are; and taken them from thence to read
(mixing up his enjoyments with some notion of his clock); and how, when
the club came to be formed, they, by reason of their punctuality and his
regard for this dumb servant, took their name from it. And thus I shall
call the book either _Old Humphrey's Clock_, or _Master Humphrey's
Clock_; beginning with a woodcut of old Humphrey and his clock, and
explaining the why and wherefore. All Humphrey's own papers will be
dated then From my clock-side, and I have divers thoughts about the best
means of introducing the others. I thought about this all day yesterday
and all last night till I went to bed. I am sure I can make a good thing
of this opening, which I have thoroughly warmed up to in consequence."
A few days later: "I incline rather more to _Master Humphrey's Clock_
than _Old Humphrey's_--if so be that there is no danger of the pensive
confounding master with a boy." After two days more: "I was thinking all
yesterday, and have begun at _Master Humphrey_ to-day." Then, a week
later: "I have finished the first number, but have not been able to do
more in the space than lead up to the Giants, who are just on the
scene."