John Munting to Elizabeth Drake
15a, Whittington Terrace, Bayswater
[The opening sheets of this letter are lost, but the date is evidently some time in January.]
… proofs coming along at express speed, I am enjoying a magnificent illusion of importance and busyness. The novel will be out before the Life , which is being held up considerably by copyright bothers over the plates. All the better, as it is a mistake to bung two books out right on top of one another.
I am feeling a great deal more sympathetic with Lathom just now. The earnest Harrison has transferred his attentions, for the moment, to me, because, as a literary man, I can, of course, tell him exactly how best to prepare his fungus-book for the press. He comes teetering in at my busiest moments to discuss points of grammar. I tell him my opinion and he contradicts it at great length, pointing out subtleties in his phrasing which I have not grasped. At length I either tell him that his own original idea expresses his personality best, or fall back on The King’s English if the error is really too monstrous to let pass. This works all right for a time, and he carries the book off with much gratitude—returning later, however, with the demurrer to Mr. Fowler carefully written down on paper. I once made the foolish suggestion that he should write to Fowler and thrash it out with him direct; this was fatal, as I had to listen to (a) the letter; (b) the reply; (c) the rejoinder—so I now fall back as a rule on the phrase about expressing personality. There was also a dreadful day when a watercolour picture of fungi came out too green by three-colour process. Lathom and I suffered dreadfully over this