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SKU: A01886 Categories: ,

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Description: In three autograph letters signed –7 pages – separately written to Charles Kinglsey (Feb 22 & Feb 26, 1864) and Mrs. Kingsley (Feb 24, 1864), the publisher Alexander Macmillan reassures them about Kingsley’s comments directed at John Henry Newman. In Jan 1864, Charles Kingsley, a fervent Anglican priest, published a review in Macmillain’s Magazine of James Anthony Froude’s History of England which included Newman’s critique of stereotypical Anglican views of Catholicism. Kingsley asserted, “Truth, for its own sake, had never been a virtue with the Roman clergy. Father Newman informs that it need not, and on the whole ought not to be.” His review prompted an exchange between the two clergymen as well as Newman’s Apologia Pro Vita Sua which traces his break from the Oxford movement. Clearly supportive of Kingsley, Macmillan tries to put him at ease, so that he would not rush into a verbal exchange with Newman. He is much more impassioned about the “Newman affair” in his letter to Mrs. Kingsley. He also mentions engravings based on a picture by [Robert?] Farren for a “future edition of the Water Babies” and asks her if she would be godmother to his son as “a good many of the near relatives are dissenters so that [they] are driven out of [their] family circle.” The letters provide a glimpse into the prevailing religious tensions of the times.

“My dear Kingsley,

Newman’s pamphlet is answered at Longmans as reprint. I am trying to find a copy about the trade. . . . Even if Froude is right that you should answer–and perhaps under the circumstances he is; there is not the slightest reason why you should hurry or worry yourself about it. Newman’s apparent accusation, that you said what you did not mean is one which he and no one else even partially believes. That you said it without reasonably good grounds is an accusation which you can easily refute at your leizure (sic).  I think the magazine would be the best place but if it is to go in this month it will have to be with us tomorrow and then go in as a separate print. . . . Next month is some time to wait, but I am not sure it would not be better than a pamphlet. But you will hear what Dr. Stanley [Dean of Westminster, Arthur Penrhyn Stanley] says. In the meantime there is no reason for you to worry– in a hurrying yourself (sic).

I will try to collect all Newman’s works since he turned papist and send them to you I hope in a week or so. Some of them are scarce, but I will try to find them by hook or crook.

Mrs Kingsley says you have not had the proofs of the Lectures complete. Cannot understand this- I have written to Clay (Cambridge[?]) about them. I have had duplicates of the 11 lectures, and the Inaugural. Clay told me this is all he has had from you. Are there any more coming? …”

~~~

“My dear Mrs Kinglsey,

. . . I do hope he is not worrying himself about that wretched Newman affair. It certainly is understood in its right light by all whose judgement he would value. If it were needful even to say that no words in that sermon bore out the assertion that was made, it could still be pointed out that an apology for unmanliness what the world would call sneaking was not unlikely to leave an impression on the most candid mind that for its own sake integrity and truth are not valued. What would be thought of a man teaching young men that they were to be indifferent whether conduct they pursued might look like stealing a [?] in the eyes of the world. A man who stands whom truth has no need even to seem dishonest or sneaky in the world. A strong able intellect like Newman’s taking that position would most likely lead many weak men to feel justified in placing something above truth & letting it go to the wall if that something requires sacrifice. It was not unnatural that on a young impulsive nature hating lying that this sort of teaching should seem what Kingsley designates it. And after all it remains–what did Newman want to teach?  . . .  I do hope Mr. Kingsley will not worry himself. He knows he is substantially right, and so does every one else.”

~~~

In the third letter Macmillan lists the books he has sent to Kingsley and from whom he borrowed them from so Kinglsey knows “how to get rid of them all, as [he would] be glad to do when [he is] done with them-namely send them to [him, Macmillan].” He also informs Kingsley that he has been paid for his books “The Roman and the Teuton and the new Water Babies,” and would give him a “full statement” and a “balance of some dimensions which will be due to [him].”

The letters are signed “Yours ever/most faithfully/A. Macmillan”

Written on approx 7½” x 5” folded, ivory letterhead of Macmillan and Co./Publishers to the University of Oxford,/23, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, W. C.  Included with the letters is a folder indicating these letters were at some point sold by the London firm…Bernard Quaritch, Ltd. Item #A01886

Alexander MacMillan (1818-1896) was a Scottish publisher who, with his brother Daniel, founded the Macmillan Publishers. in London in 1843. He  built up its literary reputation and expanded the company into a worldwide organization. They published notable writers such as Charles Kingsley, Thomas Hughes, Christian Rosetti, Mathew Arnold, Lewis Caroll, Lord Tennyson and Rudyard Kipling. They also published magazines, including the prestigious science journal, Nature.

Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) was an Anglican clergyman who was highly critical of Catholicism. He was a fervent Anglo-Saxonist, sympathetic to the ideas of evolution, sought certain reforms but also supported the brutal English stronghold in Jamaica and hated the Irish, whom he looked down upon as “white Chimpanzees.” He was appointed chaplain to Queen Victoria (1859) and private tutor to the Prince of Wales (1861). His numerous books covered a broad range of topics from social reform to children’s books. His controversy with John Henry Newman began after he accused him of deceit and untruthfulness.

Condition: Mailing folds lines, scattered light soil, generally very good condition.