Transcription:
-2- the Century Company would probably wish to publish them, and you implied that, while you had no arrangement with them,
it would be more or less natural for them to expect the book, inasmuch as they re-published in book form the papers that make
up The Mountains of California . The policy (I prefer, indeed, to call it a principle) of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin and Company
has always been not to poach on other publishers' preserves, and to regard an obligation of an author to his publisher as
an intimate and inviolable relation. I can, therefore, say nothing, and should wish to say nothing, if you already have an
arrangement with the Century Company that you regard as definite, whether it be expressed or only implied. But if you have
not any such arrangement, I do not hesitate to say, of course without the slightest prejudice to them, that I believe it would
be a better thing for you to have your books published by Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin and Company if for no other reason than
this very important reason; viz:-- EDITORIAL OFFICE OF The Atlantic Monthly, BOSTON. September 1, 1897. Dear Mr. Muir,
It was a considerable disappointment that I did not receive your article on the national parks in time for our anniversary
(October) number,-a disappointment because when we wish to put our best foot foremost we naturally wish something from you.
But I shall not remember this against you, because you have already been kind enough to wipe out more grievous sins than this
one. I shall now look for the paper as soon as you are able to write it after your return, and it will come with as hearty
a welcome then as if it had been received sooner. Referring to a subject that was mentioned in a previous letter by each
of us, may I say another word about the publication of your next books, of one of which these magazine articles will forma
part? You wrote that02340