Houghton Mifflin Company to Charles W. Chesnutt, 31 August 1921
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Boston
August 31, 1921
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
In account with
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
Mr. Charles W. Chesnutt,
1105 Williamson Building,
Cleveland, Ohio.
Dr.
| August 31, Check to balance, | 11 30 |
| 11 30 |
Cr.
| Copyright on | |||
| 10 | Conjure Woman1 | .20 | 2 00 |
| 8 | Wife of Youth2 | .30 | 2 40 |
| 23 | House Behind Cedars3 | .30 | 6 90 |
| 11 30 |
Prices increased.4
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 individual short stories. Chesnutt corresponded with the company from 1891 to 1931, often but not always with specific employees.
1. Chesnutt's collection of short stories, The Conjure Woman, was published by Houghton, Mifflin & Company in March 1899. [back]
2. The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color Line was published by Houghton, Mifflin & Company in December 1899. It was reprinted once in 1901, but not reprinted again; in 1924, the printing plates were melted down because of low demand. [back]
3. The House Behind the Cedars (Houghton Mifflin, 1900) was Chesnutt's first published novel. House evolved over more than a decade from a short story, "Rena Walden," first drafted in the late 1880s. It was the only novel by Chesnutt to be serialized, once in 1900-1901 in the monthly Self Culture and again in 1921-1922 in the Black weekly Chicago Defender. House was also his only novel to be adapted to film (1924 and 1932). [back]
4. The original price for The Conjure Woman was $1.25; The Wife of His Youth cost $1.50, as did each of Chesnutt's three novels. Several letters from 1921 indicate that Chesnutt was aware that the prices had increased to $1.50 and $1.75, respectively, but two surviving annual copyright statements sent to Chesnutt by Houghton Mifflin Company for 1921 and 1922 indicate that the price forThe Conjure Woman had further increased to $2.00, and for The Wife of His Youth and The House Behind the Cedars to $3.00. The new edition of the The Conjure Woman published in 1928 cost $5.00. [back]
