Think of Blaine’s book and its sale by subscription.
The difference between one volume published in the ordinary way, and two volumes by subscription, may be the difference between a profit of two thousand dollars and one of two hundred thousand dollars.
Blaine’s book, sold over the counter, might have gone to the length of five thousand copies. Sold by subscription, it made him rich.
On this point, however, Mr. Appleton’s opinion is worth ten of mine.
Newburyport, Mass., April 26, 1889.
My Dear Sir: The pamphlet has only just arrived.
So far as the comments are necessary to elucidate the text, and to explain why and how the text came to be uttered, they are justified—no farther. Your uncle was such a master of expression that almost anything placed in juxtaposition must suffer from the contrast.
Let him have the whole floor, I say, and just give the indispensable explanations. It would be impossible to enhance the effect of his characteristic passages. They need, like diamonds, a quiet setting.
Very truly yours,