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34 34 REUBEN GOLD THWAITES. half of every profit arising from it, if you will attend to it, have it Completed as far as it is possible and necessary, prented published &c. including the advances which have and may be necessary &c." Biddle does not appear to have accepted this financial proposition. More familiar with the book market, he probably anticipated the failure of the project. Throughout the entire course of the work Conrad con- tinued his friendly concern, and assisted Biddle in his strenuous search for a publisher. November 12 he tells Biddle by letter that he has tried Johnson & Warner with- out success, that firm "seem to have so incorrect an idea of the value of the work and probable profits arising from the publication of it." He advises Biddle to "agree to Mr. Bradford's offer. It is I am confident the best bar- gain you can make for Genl. Clarke. The copyright I presume will be in him (Genl. C.) & I suppose he will derive the entire benefit of the sale of the M. S. in Eng- land." This advice Biddle in due time felt impelled to accept, and February 23, 1813, tells Clark that having found Bradford's terms "not such as I thought advantageous I made proposals to all the booksellers in town. The stag- nation in that branch of business was so great that no one was willing to embark in it, and after a great deal of fruit- less negociation I was obliged to return and on the advice of M r. Conrad accept M r. Bradford's proposals * * * I now wait only for the engravers who will soon I hope finish their work and then we can strike off the printing immediately & in a little time the work will be published." A year was, however, exhausted in the mechanical execu- tion of the two small volumes. During this time the pub- lishing firm of Bradford & Inskeep, which undertook the work, in their turn became insolvent, and at the actual