BIB_ID
408957
Accession number
MA 9198.16
Creator
Caird, John, 1820-1898.
Display Date
[1887?] September 10.
Credit line
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1908.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 20.4 x 12.6 cm
Notes
Acquired as part of a large collection of letters addressed to William Angus Knight, Chair of Moral Philosophy at the University of St. Andrews and Wordsworth scholar. Items in the collection have been individually accessioned and cataloged.
The year of writing is not provided, however the letter discusses issues related to his book "Spinoza" which was published by Blackwood and Sons in 1888 as part of a series edited by Professor Knight and titled "Philosophical Classics for English Readers. The year of writing may be 1887. It should be noted, however, that with the publication of the volume on Leibniz in 1884, Blackwood lists the volumes "In Preparation" which includes Caird's volume on Spinoza.
Written on the stationery of The University, Glasgow, however that has been crossed through and "Rosetta, Peebles" written beneath it.
The year of writing is not provided, however the letter discusses issues related to his book "Spinoza" which was published by Blackwood and Sons in 1888 as part of a series edited by Professor Knight and titled "Philosophical Classics for English Readers. The year of writing may be 1887. It should be noted, however, that with the publication of the volume on Leibniz in 1884, Blackwood lists the volumes "In Preparation" which includes Caird's volume on Spinoza.
Written on the stationery of The University, Glasgow, however that has been crossed through and "Rosetta, Peebles" written beneath it.
Provenance
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan from William Angus Knight, 1908.
Summary
Concerning his progress on Spinoza; saying "I write with fear & trembling, & from serial emotions have hitherto delayed writing. I have only been able to give Spinoza odds & ends of time, though not from devotion to any larger literary projects, for these have become moonshine. But the result is that I find I have been working on a scale much larger than that of your 'Classics', so that, though I am nearly finished, the MS. would extend in print to I think double what one of your volumes could contain. 'Abridge, then' you will say. But abridgement would mean simply changing the scale & mode of treatment & re-writing the whole; & for that I have neither time nor heart. My interest in the subject is exhausted & I could not produce another book on it. Nor is there any part of it that I could simply cut out without maiming the whole. I am ashamed & grieved beyond measure, especially after Martineau's failing you, to have to write thus, & no one can be more sensible than I, how much, after so long delay, I deserve to be reproached by you for my failure. I am quite ready - but that w'd be no atonement - to make a present of what I have written to Blackwood & let him do what he likes with it. The sacrifice of the money w'd be nothing compared with the pain I feel in disappointing you. As to your kind invitation, I have been betrayed into a lecturing & preaching visit to Dundee in November & I fear I cannot undertake what would imply a second absence from the Chapel so early in the Session. It is very kind of you to ask me, but at any rate how could I face you after what has taken place?"
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