In a Letter Written to the Publisher of an English Magazine, the Famous
Novelist Demanded as Good Pay as That of the "Monthly Nurse."
There are authors' clubs and authors' societies in nearly every national
literary center in the world, but up to the present time the trade of
authorship has not been formally affiliated with that of any kind of
trade-unionism. For this very reason, authors are compelled to make their
demands individually.
This was the situation that confronted William Makepeace Thackeray at a
time when his writings were first beginning to win popularity in England.
It was in 1837, the year after his marriage to Isabella Shawe--a
chronological sequence which perhaps accounts for his increased need of
money. He was contributing "The Yellowplush Papers" to the successive
issues of _Fraser's Magazine_, and he had made up his mind that his work
ought to yield him a more satisfactory financial return. The result was he
went on strike, as may be seen by the following letter which he wrote to
James Fraser, the proprietor of the magazine:
Boulogne, Monday, February.