BIB_ID
408964
Accession number
MA 9198.18
Creator
Caird, John, 1820-1898.
Display Date
[1887?] October 11.
Credit line
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1908.
Description
1 item (3 pages) ; 20.3 x 12.7 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.
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.
Provenance
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan from William Angus Knight, 1908.
Summary
Concerning the manuscript for Spinoza; apologizing that it has caused him so much anxiety; saying "I did not immediately answer your letter, partly because there were some things in it which I did not know very well how to answer. Moreover I had not in the country access to my MSS. & could not calculate as to omissions & abridgments. Whilst I cannot undertake to re-write on a reduced scale, I am quite willing to omit or cut & carve on my poor production in any way that will not leave the thing a mere fragment. In fact I am profoundly conscious [illegible] book on such subjects I am a mere amateur & that it will be a failure at the best, so that I need [illegible] less at reducing its dimensions. The 'Life & Letters' would occupy about 60 pages of print. Omitting that, & further leaving out what I had to say as to Spinoza's social & political views, though he directly deals with that line of things in the 'Ethics' (iv. 37), & also ignoring the Theol. Pol. Treatise, I find that what is left of my MS. would extend to about 300 pages printed matter, & I w'd require about 30 more to wind up. In revising I will try to be ruthless & to cut the thing down still more. I fear that even with these omissions it may still exceed your utmost limits. But what more can I do?"
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