Charles W. Chesnutt to Houghton Mifflin Company, 8 October 1921
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October 8, 1921.
Houghton Mifflin Company,
4 Park Street,
Boston, Mass.
Dear Sirs:-
I wish to offer for publication a novel which I have entitled, tentatively "Paul Marchand, F. M. C.," the manuscript of which I send you herewith.1 I should have liked to call it "The Honor of the Family," but Balzac has used that title.2
I naturally think of your house first in this connection, since most of my other books are on your list. I realize that it has been some years since I published a book, but my name was well and favorably known, and my books, as you know, still sell, and if I have written a good one, I imagine it would sell regardless of the others.3
By reference to Mr. Pratt, Manager of your Syndicate Bureau,4 you will learn that the right to publish serially my "The House Behind the Cedars" has been sold to a Chicago newspaper,5 and the moving picture rights in "The House Behind the Cedars" to a film corporation.6 The publicity given by these things certainly ought not to hurt the sale of a new book.
Please let me know at your earliest convenience what you think about it, and oblige7
Yours very truly,Correspondent: Houghton Mifflin Company had its roots in Ticknor and Fields, a notable publishing house founded in 1832 in Boston, Massachusetts. By 1880, Houghton, Mifflin & Company (later incorporated as Houghton Mifflin Company) had become a major force in U.S. publishing, a position strengthened when it began to publish textbooks in the 1890s. The firm published both of Chesnutt's short story collections and two of his three novels, and as publishers of the Atlantic Monthly, several of his short stories. Chesnutt corresponded with the company from 1891 to 1931.
1. Chesnutt's manuscript for his novel Paul Marchand, F. M. C. was rejected by three major publishing companies: Houghton Mifflin Company; Harcourt, Brace and Company; and Alfred A. Knopf. It was never published during his lifetime. The novel is set in antebellum New Orleans and its eponymous protagonist is a mixed-race "free man of color" (F. M. C.). [back]
2. The 1842 novel by the French novelist Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850), La Rabouilleuse (English title The Black Sheep or The Two Brothers) was adapted for the stage by French playwright Émile Fabre (1869–1955) in 1903. The English version of that play was titled The Honor of the Family and first performed on Broadway in 1908. It was also made into a (lost) silent movie by the Rex Motion Picture company in 1913. [back]
3. From his annual royalty payments, which accompanied an August 31, 1921, letter from Houghton Mifflin Company, Chesnutt was aware that under 50 of his books had sold that year. [back]
4. William Brace Pratt (1886–1961) was a White Bostonian who graduated from Yale in 1906. He worked for Houghton Mifflin's Special Sales department from 1907 to 1929; as the manager of the syndicate bureau, he frequently correspondended with Chesnutt about the film rights to his works in the 1920s. [back]
5. While possibly prompted by discussions about a combined serialization and movie-rights contract involving Micheaux Film Corporation and the Chicago Defender in the summer of 1921, Chesnutt ultimately decided on a separate contract with the Defender for the serialization rights of The House Behind the Cedars for $125.00, of which $31.25 (25%) went to Houghton Mifflin. The novel was serialized in 19 weekly parts from October 29, 1921, to March 4, 1922 (part 1 on pages 1 and 8; parts 2–11 on page 8 only; and parts 12–19 on page 2 of the weekly paper's new "Feature Section"). [back]
6. Between January and September 1921, Oscar Micheaux negotiated with Chesnutt to pay $500 in five installments for the film rights to Chesnutt's novel The House Behind the Cedars. This was a low sum for movie rights to a novel, but Chesnutt likely took into account that Black-produced films had low budgets. Ultimately, 25% (rather than the originally suggested 33%) of the money received went to Chesnutt's publisher, Houghton Mifflin Company. Several of the payments were delayed, and Chesnutt never received the final installment. Micheaux's film adaptation was released in December 1924. [back]
7. The manuscript was rejected on behalf of Houghton Mifflin Company by Herbert R. Gibbs (1850–1925) on October 24, 1921. It was subsequently sent to and rejected by Harcourt, Brace, and Company (see submission on November 11, 1921) and Alfred A. Knopf (see submission on December 20, 1921). [back]
