3730. RB to Edward Chapman
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 22, 111.
Paris, 3 Rue du Colisée,
Feb. 6. ’56.
My dear Chapman,
I begin to think that I must have missed getting some letter of yours in reply to my last: the Post is at fault sometimes. Do pray have the goodness to let me see the Xtmas account,—of the old books, at any rate: as for “Men & Women” not a word have you written since the pleasant one three months ago. Here’s my wife working hard at such an admirable poem—though I say it that should not say it—and you ought to do your best to encourage her & yours ever faithfully
R. Browning.
I had a letter from America two days since telling us fabulous things about the sale there: [1] to be sure, it was not from Fields himself, though the writer is his friend & intimate. [2] I had a capital letter from Forster the other day: [3] one from Carlyle: three from Ruskin– Now for yours!
Publication: NL, pp. 88–89.
Manuscript: Pierpont Morgan Library.
1. Unlike the disappointing sale of Men and Women in England (see letter 3694, note 14), the sale of the book in America was robust. The first impression of the American edition, with a print run of 2,000 copies, sold out in a few months, necessitating a second impression, with a print run of 500 copies, on 11 February 1856. Price may have been a factor in the contrasting sales: the American price was $1.00 (equivalent to about 4 shillings), whereas the English price was 12 shillings. Between 1863 and 1885, sixteen more impressions of Men and Women were issued by Ticknor and Hall and their successors. See Louise Greer, Browning and America (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1952), pp. 253–256.
2. Two possible candidates are William Wetmore Story and Thomas Gold Appleton, both of whom were in Boston at this time, as indicated in letter 3734. It is doubtful, however, that either was a “friend & intimate” of Fields.
3. Not extant.
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