The following flight of fancy refers to supposed errors of judgment
on the part of an eminent firm of publishers, with whom Stevenson had
at this time no connection. Very soon afterwards he entered into
relations with them which proved equally pleasant and profitable to
both parties, and were continued on the most cordial terms until his
death.
[_Chalet am Stein, Davos, March 1882._]
MY DEAR HENLEY,--Last night we had a dinner-party, consisting of the
John Addington, curry, onions (lovely onions), and beefsteak. So
unusual is any excitement, that F. and I feel this morning as if we had
been to a coronation. However I must, I suppose, write.
I was sorry about your female contributor squabble. 'Tis very comic, but
really unpleasant. But what care I? Now that I illustrate my own books,
I can always offer you a situation in our house--S. L. Osbourne and Co.
As an author gets a halfpenny a copy of verses, and an artist a penny a
cut, perhaps a proof-reader might get several pounds a year.
O that Coronation! What a shouting crowd there was! I obviously got a
firework in each eye. The king looked very magnificent, to be sure; and
that great hall where we feasted on seven hundred delicate foods, and
drank fifty royal wines--_quel coup d'oeil_! but was it not overdone,
even for a coronation--almost a vulgar luxury? And eleven is certainly
too late to begin dinner. (It was really 6.30 instead of 5.30.)
Your list of books that Cassells have refused in these weeks is not
quite complete; they also refused:--
1. Six undiscovered Tragedies, one romantic Comedy, a fragment of
Journal extending over six years, and an unfinished Autobiography
reaching up to the first performance of King John. By William
Shakespeare.