Identity area
Reference code
ALL/11/162
Title
Letter from R N Chance to Herbert Allingham
Date(s)
- 20-Feb-11 (Creation)
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Item
Extent and medium
1 piece, Typescript document
Context area
Name of creator
(1867-1936)
Repository
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Scope and content
Headed notepaper: Editorial Department, 25 Bouverie Street, Fleet Street. Signed.
'In reply to your letter, I shall be very sorry for you to finish the story in the manner you suggest. On the other hand, I could not pay such a price as you suggest for the story, which has been running such a length of time. You started the story at the rate of one guinea a thousand, and it has always been usual for authors to complete yarns at the original rate.
As you have left the instalments until the last moment - to finish the story up in one instalment would inconvenience me considerably, as it would not give me the slightest chance to make a fresh arrangement. Therefore I should be glad if you could see your way of doing for me another ten or eleven thousand words of this story so that I can start another yarn after it. Otherwise I should be compelled to have the end of the story written by another author, which besides being a difficult task would be a great pity.
You might turn this over in your mind and let me have a reply by return, as I am anxious to know exactly where I stand.'
'In reply to your letter, I shall be very sorry for you to finish the story in the manner you suggest. On the other hand, I could not pay such a price as you suggest for the story, which has been running such a length of time. You started the story at the rate of one guinea a thousand, and it has always been usual for authors to complete yarns at the original rate.
As you have left the instalments until the last moment - to finish the story up in one instalment would inconvenience me considerably, as it would not give me the slightest chance to make a fresh arrangement. Therefore I should be glad if you could see your way of doing for me another ten or eleven thousand words of this story so that I can start another yarn after it. Otherwise I should be compelled to have the end of the story written by another author, which besides being a difficult task would be a great pity.
You might turn this over in your mind and let me have a reply by return, as I am anxious to know exactly where I stand.'
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