To William Dean Howells
23 March 1882 • Hartford, Conn.
(MS, typewritten, with holograph changes: MH-H, UCCL 02178)
hartford conn. march 23d. 1882.
my dear howells:—
what would you do about the counter copy-right convention, submitted by the present british [minister?.] i cannot see that it differs from the one which we proposed, except that the foreign author may with-hold publications of his [book, during] several months, and still hold his [copy-right]; whereas in ours, he must publish in both countries simultaneously, in order to make his [copy-right] good. if i have read the thing aright, this is an improvement. i am at work upon bret harte, but am not enjoying it. he is the worst literary shoe-maker, i know. he is as blind as a bat. he never sees anything correctly, except californian scenery. he is as slovenly as thackeray, and as dull as charles lamb. the things which you and clark have marked, are plenty good enough in their way, but to my jaundiced eye, they do seem to be lamentably barren of humor. still i think we want some funereal rot in the book as a foil.
ever yours,
mark.
Textual Commentary
Source text(s):Previous publication:
MTHL, 1:396.
Provenance:
See Howells Letters in Description of Provenance.
Emendations and textual notes:
minister?. • [sic]
book, during • book,during [words typed without a space, comma handwritten]
copy-right • copy- | right
copy-right • copy- | right
