Page:Sartor resartus; and, On heroes, hero-worship and the heroic in history.djvu/12

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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

heavily on the book trade, having meanwhile passed—Carlyle made a new attempt, writing to Fraser that he had now determined to slit the book up 'into strips and send it forth in the Periodical way,' and offering him the refusal. With some doubts, reflected in his reduction of Carlyle's pay to twelve guineas a sheet (less than the usual rate, whereas he usually received more), Fraser accepted. The 'strips' began to appear in November 1833, and were continued till August 1834 amid constant expressions of disapproval from subscribers to the magazine, varied only by some praise from America. The publisher paid his money (£82:1s. in all) like a man, but declined to reprint the articles in book form. Carlyle, however, had stipulated that the magazine printer should make up some thirty or forty complete copies as he printed it, to be used for private distribution, and thus as a 'readable pamphlet of 107 pages, all made up without break,' did Sartor Resartus come into existence as a book, the printer liberally producing fifty-eight copies. On its title-page it bore the words 'Reprinted for Friends,' and in this ambiguous condition might it have remained had not its success in America given English publishers encouragement. Forced in 1835 to be content with three copies when they wanted 150, the Americans the following year printed an edition of 500, which appeared in April, and was sold out by September. A second American edition was printed in 1837, orders for copies of it being received from England. By September 1837 Emerson was able to tell Carlyle that in all 1166 copies had been sold in the United States. Yet Fraser still could not recover any belief in the book, and it was to Saunders and Ottley that Carlyle, in June 1838, gave the 'privilege of printing 500 copies of Teufelsdröckh' on the half-profit system. Thus at last did Sartor Resartus 'get itself published' as a saleable book in England, the edition appearing in July, and being