Creator
Walter H. Page
Recipient
John Muir
Transcription
[Page 1]
Dear Mr. Muir,
I thank you very heartily for your telegram that has just been received, and I wait with eagerness for your letter. At the risk of making myself a nuisance I was on the point of writing to you an additional experience that I have had which I cannot help thinking will interest you.
Mr. John Burroughs has been spending a little while with me, and he talks about nothing else so earnestly as about you and your work. He declares in the most emphatic fashion that it will be a misfortune too great to estimate if you do not write up all those bags of notes which you have gathered. He encourages me, to put it in his own words, to “keep firing at him, keep firing at him.”
Now when I have on my side two such allies as Professor Sargent and Mr. Burroughs, you will have to make your fortifications very
"[page 2]
Strong to resist. The Atlantic wants all the matter that you will write, and then as soon as it is done in the Atlantic, Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Company wish to bring it out in beautiful and attractive book form. For both uses you must name your own terms (within the possibilities of the good business conduct of the magazine and of the publishing house). I confess I shall not die satisfied if your bags of notes are not turned into literature, and if that literature is not put in the beautiful shape which its permanent quality requires and is not put along with that compact and large body of American literature that is put out by this firm.
I beg you to believe me that in all this I am not selfish, for I am trying my best to serve the most appreciative public that we have, and, if you will let me say so, it is a matter of no little pride that in doing this we should also serve your best interests.
If I bore you by so many letters, you have only yourself to blame and your kindliness in permitting the assault.
Very heartily yours, Walter H. Page (over)"
"[page 3]
P.S. I am hoping to receive the article on Parks written a week or so in time for the Dec. Atlantic. W.H.P. "
Location
Boston
Date Original
1897 Oct 15
Source
Original letter dimensions: 21 x 14 cm.
Recommended Citation
Page, Walter H., "1897 Oct 15 Walter Page to JM p1" (1897). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 4864.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/4864
Resource Identifier
muir00_151-let
File Identifier
MSS 301 Shone
Collection Identifier
Online finding aid for the microform version of the John Muir Correspondence http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt0w1031nc
Copyright Status
Copyright status unknown
Copyright Statement
The unpublished works of John Muir are copyrighted by the Muir-Hanna Trust. To purchase copies of images and/or obtain permission to publish or exhibit them, see http://www.pacific.edu/Library/Find/Holt-Atherton-Special-Collections/Fees-and-Forms-.html
Owning Institution
Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library. Please contact this institution directly to obtain copies of the images or permission to publish or use them beyond educational purposes.
Pages
3 pages
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
