The Archive · 1928

MISADVENTURES OF MSS

Literary history furnishes numer-

A little over twenty years ago a firm of London publishers received the manuscript of a historical novel, without a title and without an author's name. It was published urder the title of "The INS. in a Red Box," so called from the fact that it had been forwarded in a box of that colour, and it proved very suecessful; but who the author was was never made public.

Defoo's "Robinson Crusoe" was. only taken up by Taylor—who purchased the manuser: pt, and netted one thousand pounds by the pubicution—after every book sell bookseller refused to give twenty-five pounds for who INS, of "Tom Jones"; while another who bought it cleared no less than teen thousand pounds for the venture during his lifetime,

Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.

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