inserted and boxed in upper left corner: Private.

Those are very puzzling questions, because I have no data to guide me. I do not know whether your book is to be religious, scientific, humorous, poetical, agricultural, or what—& I do not know whether it is to be issued by subscription, or through the “trade.” However, perhaps these facts would not really help me, if I had them.—for one can’t really tell what it is worth to write a book till the public have bought it or declined to buy it.

Now I will just make a blind dash at it & say the publisher should pay all the expenses, of whatever sort, & give you a royalty of 10 per cent., clear of all offsets & rebates. Make him that proposition; if it doesn’t suit him, it will then be his turn to make one. What you will do with it after he has made it, is not a matter to be bothering over now—let each stage of the business take care of itself & in its own proper season.

I have just this week contracted to make just about such a book as the one you speak of. It may be of value to you to know my terms; so I will tell you, in strict confidence—for business matters should be kept private, you know:

I shall need several hundred books to make extracts from: I must furnish my publisher a list of these, & he must get them for me. He must have copying done in cases where the books are not purchasable. I am to put the volume into his hands within a reasonable time, all complete & ready for the compositors. He is to publish it, taking all risks, & pay me 70 per cent of the profits ‸ over & above cost of manufacture, he to pay the advertising, clerk hire, agencies, & all other costs of distributing (i. e. selling) the book out of his 30 per cent.

I told him I would take 75 per cent & buy all those needful books myself; or I would take 70 per cent & he buy them. Of course he preferred the latter, “by a large majority.”

One more item for your private information: If your publisher pays you 10 per cent—say 35 cents per copy—he will still clear about 75 cents a copy himself. Ask me further, if you wish to—I will tell you whatever I can.