| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 27 November 1851 |
To Marx in London
[Manchester,] 27 November 1851
Dear Marx,
You will have received the few lines I wrote you the day before yesterday.[1] If Weerth can't raise the necessary forthwith, I shall see to it that the thing's cleared up the day after tomorrow or by Monday at the latest. In any case you will be able if needs must to keep the matter in suspense until Tuesday.
I return Master Pieper's letter herewith. Heine seems to have come in very handy in helping him fill up the requisite 4 pages.[2] You have, I hope, written him a letter about the Proudhon[3] that will spur him on to action, for once he's back here again you'll neither see nor hear anything of the manuscript for some time to come. Pieper and Ebner give very conflicting reports about Lowenthal, but the second is at any rate the more trustworthy. As regards what Pieper says about starting off with the history of economy, I believe that, if Lowenthal really has this in mind, it would be best for Ebner to object that it wouldn't do to upset your whole scheme, that you had already begun to elaborate the critique, etc. But if there's no other alternative, Lowenthal should undertake to contract for two volumes and, indeed, you would need something of this length, partly on account of the critical section to be anticipated, partly to make the proposition reasonably economic for you, the fee being in no way commensurate with the price of things in London. Next would come the socialists as 3rd volume, and as 4th the critique—ce qu'il en resterait[4] —and the much-vaunted 'positive', being what you 'really' want. In such a form the thing may have its difficulties, but it has the advantage of not divulging the much coveted secret until the very last and of keeping bourgeois curiosity whetted throughout 3 volumes before revealing the fact that what one is producing isn't Morison's Pills.[5] For those with a modicum of intelligence the allusions in the first volumes, the anti-Proudhon[6] and the Manifesto,[7] will suffice to put them on the right track; the common run of buyers and readers will lose interest in the history, etc., if the great mystery has already been revealed to them in Volume I; they will, as Hegel says in his Phänomenologie, have read the 'preamble', where the general outline is to be found.
Undoubtedly your best course is to conclude an agreement with Lowenthal in any case—with decorum, but on any acceptable terms, and to strike while the iron is hot. The best way would be to do the opposite of the Sibyl. For every louis d'or he cuts you down per sheet, you force him to take the number of extra sheets required to extract it from him again, and you fill those additional sheets with quotations, etc., which cost you nothing. 20 sheets at £3, or 30 sheets at £2 amount after all to £60, and to put together 10 sheets, at no expense in time or money, from Petty, Stewart, Culpeper and other such fellows is, after all, easy enough and your book will be all the more 'instructive'...
The main thing is that you should once again make a public debut with a substantial book, and preferably with the most harmless, the history. Germany's mediocre and lamentable literati know perfectly well that they would be ruined if they did not present the public with some kind of trash 2 or 3 times yearly. Their tenacity sees them through; although their books sell only moderately, the booksellers finally end up by believing that they must be great men because their names appear several times in every Fair catalogue. Again, it's absolutely essential to break the spell created by your prolonged absence from the German book market and, later, by funk on the part of the booksellers. But once one or two instructive, erudite, well-grounded and withal interesting things of yours have appeared, alors c'est tout autre chose,[8] and you can snap your fingers at booksellers who offer you too little.
Another thing is that you can do this history only in London, whereas you can do the socialists and the critique anywhere. Hence it would be a good idea if you were to take advantage of the opportunity now, before the crapauds[9] get up to some sort of nonsense and again deposit us on the theatrum mundi.[10]
The New York Schnellpost will arrive tomorrow.
As I have already said, stick to Lowenthal so long as circumstances are at all propitious. If it's no go with him, then Ebner's resources, Pieper writes, will be exhausted. In any case, we should subsequently be able to do more with Lowenthal than with the others, because we have Ebner in Frankfurt who can be for ever at his heels. Should he fail to achieve anything with Lowenthal, upon whom he can bring pressure to bear day in day out, the thing becomes much more problematical in the case of the other ones who are not in Frankfurt. You should write to Ebner telling him that he has full authority to act and should at once conclude an agreement; the longer the thing drags on, the sooner Lowenthal will tire of it, and political fears about 1852 intervene. Should there be the slightest curtain raiser in Paris, any prospect of a publisher will go to pot, and if the Federal Diet passes press laws before a contract has been drawn up in black and white, it will also be all up with you. You must cast a sprat to catch a mackerel, or else te resigner, ce qui n'est pas trop agréable.[11]
The more I think about the matter, the more practical it seems to me to start off with the history. Sois donc un peu commerçant, cette fois![12]
So far as my Proudhon commentaries[13] are concerned, they are too insignificant to warrant much being done with them. The same thing would happen as in the case of the Critical Criticism[14] for which I similarly wrote a few sheets because a pamphlet was envisaged, and you turned it into a full-blown book of 20 sheets in which my trifle looked strange indeed. Once again you would assuredly do so much to it that my contribution, in any case hardly worth mentioning, would quite disappear before your heavy artillery. Otherwise I should have no objection, save that your business with Lowenthal is far more important and urgent.
Your
F. E.