Letter from Mary Howitt, London, to Epes Sargent, 1864 February 27 : autograph manuscript signed.

Saying that publication of his "Peculiar" in London, edited by her husband, has delayed publication of her novel; saying "The publishers, Messrs Hurst & Blackett would not allow husband & wife to clash against each other in a disadvantageous manner, therefore time has been delayed so as to give yours with my husband's name as editor, fair play. I do not know how long it may be thought right to keep mine back, but [illegible] some weeks yet;" saying she sent the manuscript for volume 1 of her book to her nephew, Ellis Yarnell, in Philadelphia and he has offered to show it to several publishers in New York and Boston; adding "He therefore may already have disposed of the American copyright. But we thought if the trouble were not too great you would perhaps ascertain from him what has been done...I shall, at all events, take the liberty of forwarding the sheets to you & if Mr. Yarnell has disposed of them may I then trouble you further, to let them be sent to the publisher whose name he will give you - if not - I then leave them with you to experimentize upon. One thing however is very important. The work must not be published in America until Mess'rs Hurst & Blackett have given as much time to Peculiar as they think necessary, because until then mine will not be published here. You will already have noticed some good opinions of Peculiar given in the advertisement of the work in The Times. The publishers have not given your name in the advertisements, though it stands in the Title-page because they fear to attract the attention of other publishers. We hope it will have a good success here. All private opinion, so far, is very favourable to it."