The Anaconda standard., 1895-12-23
RLAINE.s BOOK.
His Publisher Tells How "rwenty Years of
ConOress- Came to Be Written.

HIS Publisher Tells How Twenty Years of
| Congress" Came to Be Written.
From the Lewiston, Me-. Journal
c. c. Haskell. of Norwich, Conn, presi-
| dent OF the Henry Bill Publishing COM
| pany. has been telling the story OF the
/ blaine book He says: 1T happened In
| this wise: Immediately after the assas-
| sinatIon of Garfield II occurred to me
that the life of Garfield by James @.
Blaine would be a valuable book 1
wired Mr.. Blaine at Augusta, and waited
| IN vain for a reply. I then started for
| Maine, leaving word that were a reply to
| nv dispatch received 1t should be for
| warded to me. Then I went to Augusta
4 had never met Mr. Blaine and / called
| with some forebodings and sent up my
card. Mr. Blaine received me cordially IN
his library and at once put me at ease.
| Have you received a dispatch from meT
1 asked. Very likely. said Mr.. Blaine,
| pointing to a big pile of unopened mail,
| but you see II takes time to get to the
bottom of the pile. May ask what your
| proposal is?'
Then / unfolded my plan: 1 said:
| There's no man in the country who could
| write so effective a biography of Garfield
as you. Mr.. Blaine-and that, for obvious
| reasons You have been intimately as
| ISOLATED with Garfield; he was shot
/ down at your side. You can have access
| to original documents. no doubt. be-
lieve our company could sell 100000 vol
umes.' Then outlined the royalty which
4 in my Judgment 1 said to Blaine. would
net you s25O.O00 for writing the book.
| Blaine instantly replied: L want every
dollar of the profit from this book to go
to Mollie Garfield. should not accept a
cent
After further conference a dispatch
| was sent to Mrs. Garfield, suggesting the
/ Mi Il hack n NOrWich- brlt
| word of reply was received from Mrs.
Garfield. 1 got ready my prospectus, but
| of course, could put out nothing until
| matters were settled with her. After
waiting till i was unable longer to delay
i went to Mentor, o., where she at that
time resided, and had an interview. The
interview amazed me- Mrs. Garfield had
entrusted the biographical issue to two
or three friends and put the case to them
| The objection raised was not that Mr..
| Blaine would not write a good biography,
but that 1t was thought the contemplated
work should not be written by a personal
| friend. You know the result. Biographies
of Garfield we got, but we lost Blaine's
| Garfield.
"You may be sure / went back to Nor
! witch with a heavy heart" continued Mr..
| Haskell. but it occurred to me that
there was q work which Blaine might
write even of more enduring worth.
| twenty III SOuBIcSS WtIC thC
words that rang in my ears. / again vfs-
tied Blaine and broached the subject TO
him. He was not in the best of health.
and he was yet immersed in politics, and
he hesitated. / visited him repeatedly.
and he agreed to write the book, but he
was not ready to sign the contract. FL
nally met him in New York. Gail Ham
flton advised him to sign the contract
and hasten the execution of work for
which he obviously possessed eminent fit
ness, both in experience and literary art.
Finally he signed the contract and set
himself to work in his library: but be-
fore he had done it he had been APP
preached by a New York publisher who
said: Whatever you are offered for writ
ing Twenty Years in Congress" we will
double the price That tempting and
strange offer, however, did not in the
least change Mr. Blaine's determination
to give the publication of the book to the
house that had suggested it.
when Mr.. Blaine set at work he exc
cuted rapidly and little in the vein 1 had
contemplated. He changed the title oi
the work from Twenty Years in Con.
| gress,' which / had suggested, to Twenty
Years of Congress- a change which tool
Mr. Blaine's personality out of the book
so far as its heroes are concerned, but in.
tensified the personality so far as the
| freedom of the pen was concerned
l
first volume, and only very modestly il
! the second volume. Blaine was not writ
| ing his autobiography. Mr.. Blaine pro
duced copy with great rapidity. 1 asked
, him why he did not dictate to the type
writer and he replied: Because l car
write better with a pen to help me- Th'
. first volume was written with great ra
, pidity. In the second volume the type
writer was frequently invoked"
Were there many changes in th'
proof?"
Yes, 1T cost us almost as much to cor
rect the proof as to set up the type in th'
first instance. The proof was changed
! great deal. The wonderful part of 1t i
that the changes were largely verbal, an,
, for better expression. Blaine had tn
book in his head when he sat down L
write H. He occasionally referred L
I other books, but the book was in his owl
brain. Hence the rapidity of it's produc
tion was marvellous i remember at on
of my early visits j found him in bed bu
he got up and soon appeared animated
His social magnetism was marvellous. Hi
memory was a phenomenon.
I'VE published 100000 volumes O
3 Blaine's Twenty Years of Congress-
| was a great seller. After the book ha
. been out three months l got dispatc
from Blaine saying he needed some NOR
ey sat down and sent him a check 70
s40.000-the first item of our account. NJ
relations with Mr.. Blaine were delight
full. / had hard work to get him started
but once started he became absorbed
the work in hand. I don't know as 1 eve
should have got the work started bu
for the important help of his private sec
retary, John Sherman, my old schoolmat
I'm Bucksport, and Gail Hamilton. 1t wa
!, Blaine's natural reluctance to begin tn
' work and cast the die that had to I
: overcome. Blaine's book is now sellin
well. IL created no animosities because
was full of magnanimity and breadth
/ view"