ANNALS OF A PUBLISHING HOUSE

Otago Witness, Issue 2310, 9 June 1898, Page 53

ANNALS OF A PUBLISHING HOUSE

When Mrs Oliphant, in the eventide of a busy life, sat down to chronicle the rise of the great publishing house with which she was so long associated, she essayed' a task -that must have been a labour of love. Unfortunately, the talented authoress did not live to complete the whole work, and another volume is to be issued, but what sh? has written gives a history of the firm down to a comparatively recent date. The sfcory she has to /tell is admirably told, as was to be expected from, a writer of such wide experience and ability, and there can be no doubt that she has made the best use of the large mass of material at her disposal. The history of the firm of Blackwood resolves itself necessarily into the history of the magazine which bears their name. In these days when the daily press exercises so wide aninfluence,' and when people insist on having their news and the comments thereupon served up to them with vinfailing regularity, it is somewhat difficult to realise the im-

portant part played' in' the early years of the century by such periodicals as the Edinburgh and Quarterly- Reviews, which were only issued every three months. rltr It was William Blackwoodj then a , bookseller ia Edinburgh, who conceived the idea of start ing a magazine the contents of which should be less ponderous than the 'quarterlies,.,while it was to appear monthly. Bis firsD venture in this direction -was a decided failure, owing mainly to the incompetence of the two editors, Messrs Pringle and Cleghorn,- and the publication of the periodi • cal was stopped after six numbers had been issued. But Blackwood was nqt a man to b? daunted by this. It must be remembered that in these days the capital of Scotland was in its highest glory as a centre of intellectual life and influence. Such men as Scott, Macaulay, Sydney Smith, Brougham. Jeffrey, and Horne.r were contributing to the Edinburgh Review, and it was necessary to find writers who could compete with

these for the projected monthly. Two young aspirants were found for the work, in the person of John Gibson Lockhart and John Wilson, and the joint editorship was placed in their hands. The first copy of Blackwood's Magazine was issued at the end of October, 1.817, and the publisher in a letter to Wilson, who is more generally known by his sobriquet of Christopher North, expresses his gratification at the success of the undertaking. That first number was to attain a truly wonderful celebrity, on account of the article entitled " Tne Chaldee Manuscript," which created an ex-

traordinary sensation. Mrs Oliphant gives a full account of 'this almost forgotten incident in literary history, and to us latter day journalists it furnishes a strong contrast between the past and the. present. Lockhart and Wilson were both' Oxford men, and had come' to" Edinburgh as the best place in which to ; obtain employment for theiv talents. , Ere long Lockhart was to take up his residence in London ■where for many years he edited the Quarterly, but Christopher North remained faithful to "Maga," and the success attained was mainly /due to him and tlie writers he managed to gather -abound him. The mere enumeration of their names is sufficient to conjure up memories in the minds of those who take an interest in literature. James Hogg, the Ettrisfc Shepherd, whose contemptible character Mrs Oliphant clearly depicts, was one of the first contributors to the periodical, and Sir Walter Scott also .wrote several articles for the early numbers. Then there followed witty Dr Maginn, subsequently the chief mainstay of Eraser's, an erratic genius who gave the publisher a good deal of trouble ; De Quincey, the most miserable of mortals, always late with his copy and eager for prepayment ; and Coleridge, ready with advice that no practical man would consider for an instant. Truly William Bla,ckwood had a difficult task to keep all these turbulent spirits in hand, and that he was able to accomplish it is proof that he possessed both shrewdness and tact in an eminent degree. " Maga " was the one thing in which he felt a' supreme interest, and its extraordinary success was .almost entirely due to the judicious control he exercised over the s wayward geniuses who furnished the matter for his magazine. As an instance

of -his independent nature we may mention that he. even ventured to criticise Scott's ■>" Black Dwarf, "^and went so far as to suggest a better upwinding of the plot, which called forth the following- letter from the -great Wizard of the North, written to James BaUantyne : — " Dear James, — I have received Blackwood's impudent letter. G d his soul ! Tell him and his coadjutor that I belong to the Black Hussars of Literature, who neither give nor receive criticism. I'll be cursed but this is the most impudent proposal that ever was made. — W. S." This letter gives us an insight into the character of Blackwood as drawn by Mrs Oliphant. It shows that, although he was "without anything that could be callsi learning," as 'Lockhart said of him in his " Life of Scott," he was capable of deciding •what the public* wanted and had the courage of his opinions. Lord Byron wrote once in angry mood, " Now Barabbas was a publisher," but the innuendo would certainly not apply to the founder of the Blackwood firm, who was always most generous to the authors who contributed to the success < f "Maga." The first volume of this work gives one a peep behind the scenes of literature and discloses many secrets that were previously hidden, bufc it is outside the scope -of a newspaper criticism to refer to these in detail, and it will be sufficient to say that the narration of these incidents, as given by 'Mrs Oliphant;, affords entertaining reading. It may Ye worth' noting that the literal judgments of " Maga " have not in many instances been borne out by the verdicts of a latter day. But we must bear in mind . that political feeling ran very- high in those . times and, according to the Blackwood creed anybody who was not a Tory was considered a fair target for abuse. The attack made on what was called the " Cockney " school of poetry was no doubt due to the fact that Shelley and Keats were pronounced

* " William Blackwood and His Sons." By Mrs Oliphant. Two volumes. London { Blackwood Mid Sana. Duaedla jJ, Horsburgiu

Radicals, but it is amusing to see these names coupled with that of one oornelius Webbe, whose poems have long since been forgotten. When William Blackwood died in 1834 there was much anxiety felt in icgard to the fate of "Maga." The publisher's personal influence had been so important a factor in the success of the undertaking that it appeared exceedingly doubtfal if the influence of the magazine could be maintained under fche altered circumstances. The sons, however, had been carefully trained to follow in the footsteps of the father, and Mrs Oliphant, whose connection with " Maga" extended over a period of 40 years, shows clearly that the traditions cf the firm were well sustained and that 'he prestige of the magazine was not impaired. Alexander, Robert, and John Blackwood succeeded their father, and at a later period another brother, Major William Blackwood, who had served in the Indian army, joined the firm. All these gentlemen appear t3 have inherited the caution of the original founder of the house, and there seems to have been no little hesitation on their part in accepting at once the first work o f fiction of George Eliot, which was submitted by George Henry Lewes. This was " Scenes of Clerical Life," which created such a profound sensation on its appearance in Ihe magazine, and was followed by other novels by the writer. It is amusing to read of 'he mystification created in the minds of ♦•he publishers as to the identity of the author, although it is evident that John Blackwood made a shrewd guess in regard to this matter when. he paid a visit to Lewes's house, ft would be easy enough to quote copiously from these admirable volumes, which are full of interest to all who concern themselves with literary history. Mrs Oliphant's long and honourable connection with this celebrated firm of publishers is well-known, and she tells the story of her early struggles in the field of literature with consummate ability. Apart from its historical value, the great merit of the work is that it enables the student to obtain a clear conception of a period long passed away, when the circumstances surrounding social conditions were very different from those that exist at the present time. The rank and file of the contributors to " Maga " included many men of undoubted talent, and if their methods of dealing with political opponents were rather more strenuous than would be considerel acceptable nowadays, there can be no question that the periodical had an enormous influence in the early part of its career.