3841. RB to Charles Stephen Francis
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 23, 36.
London, 39 Devonshire Place,
Regent’s Park.
August 20. ’56
Dear Sir,
Many thanks for your note of July 10. ’56: I accede to all the propositions made therein: you shall receive the sheets of the new Poem as soon as we can conscientiously send them corrected—and the whole shall be in your hands long before we publish here: but a great deal of transcription has been necessary, and the m.s went to press only a week ago. My wife will give you the declaration you require concerning your payment to her and her wishes on your behalf. [1]
I have presented your cheque to Mr Law, [2] who accepts the same.
Herewith I transmit to you thro’ that gentleman, the three vols of the new edition of EBB’s Poems [3] —not to appear in London for six weeks.
With repeated thanks, pray believe me,
Yours very sincerely,
Robert Browning.
C. S. Francis Esq.
New-York.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library.
2. Edward Law (1822–85), bookseller and publisher, with premises at 16 Essex Street, Strand, acted as British agent for Francis & Co., New York. The “cheque” was for £25 and had been held by RB since June (see letter 3802). It was the first of three instalments that would total £100 (see letter 3802, note 2).
3. As previously noted (letter 3802, note 3), Francis did not publish an American edition of Poems (1856). However, in a reworked edition of The Poems of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “corrected by the author” (New York, 1857), he included the three new poems that had appeared in Poems (1856): “A Denial,” “Proof and Disproof,” and “Question and Answer” (see letter 3768, note 8). This edition also contained Prometheus Bound (revised version), Sonnets from the Portuguese, and Casa Guidi Windows. Francis had been issuing these since 1851 in one volume entitled Prometheus Bound, and Other Poems; Including Sonnets from the Portuguese, Casa Guidi Windows, etc.
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