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1 September 18, 1902, My dear Mr. Muir, By the request of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin and Company I take pleasure in sending
you by express today the advance sheets of Volumes XIII. and XIV. of Sargent's Silva of North America. I am under the strong
impression that you were good enough to promise some years ago to review this work for the Atlantic whenever it should be
completed. As the thirteenth volume, and the Supplement and Index, making Volume XIV., are now so nearly ready for publication,
we wish to express the earnest hope that you may find time within the next few weeks to write a review of the Silva for the
magazine. I need not say that no one could do it so acceptably to 03054 2 the readers of the Atlantic. Professor Sargent,
as you may be interested to know, called at the office the other day, and expressed, as he has repeatedly on former occasions,
his strong desire that you might undertake this task. Will you not do so ? I should like to take advantage of this opportunity
to suggest another matter, which I must ask you to treat for the present as a matter of confidence. We are thinking of issuing
during 1903 a California number of the Atlantic Monthly in which every article shall be written by a Californian. It is really
surprising to see what a strong list of Atlantic writers we have upon the Pacific coast, and I feel sure that such a number
will be of interest to our readers throughout the Union as indicating the literary activity of a single section pf the country.
But it goes without saying that a California number of the Atlantic which did not contain a contribution