Letter from Elizabeth Gaskell, London, to Edward Chapman, 1850 December : autograph manuscript signed.

Stating the title she would like for her book and expressing her displeasure at the rumors that she was writing again; saying "I do not like the title you have chosen, & I cannot think why I did not tell you so the other day, for I fully intended to do so. - May it, please be December Days, which is much more suggestive of the quiet tone of the story;" saying she had an offer from a friend to get a notice of her book in the Examiner and if he thought that would be helpful he should send a copy of the book to the name and address she provided; commenting on a rumor that she is writing again; saying "I could not tell you yesterday because Mr. Shaen was there, but Simms had no right whatever to say that he had been told by any friend of mine that I was writing again. No one in Manchester, (except my husband of course) knows of it or can do more than suspect it; but I know more than one who would try, and fish out from Simms if he knew anything about it, by stating it as a fact, and expecting him then either to contradict or confirm it, as he was the person to fix suspicion on me before. I will disown that book if you call it The Fagot; - the name of my book is December Days."