In order that her husband's original text might be copyrighted, she
herself brought out an expurgated edition, which was called the
"Household Edition." By this means she was enabled to copyright three
thousand pages of her husband's original text, and only excluded two
hundred and fifteen. She says, "Richard forbade me to read these
pages until he blotted out with ink the worst words, and desired me
to substitute not English but Arab society words, which I did to his
complete satisfaction." Of course to bring out a work of this kind,
and to bear the whole burden of the labour and initial expense of
it, was no ordinary task, and it is to Isabel's efforts and to her
marvellous business capacity that the credit of publishing the book
is due. From a financial point of view the Burtons had no reason to
regret their venture. At the beginning a publisher had offered Burton
500 pounds for the book; but Isabel said, "No, let me do it." It was
seventeen months' hard work, and during that time they had to find
the means for printing and binding and circulating the volumes as they
came out. The Burtons were their own printers and their own publishers,
and they made between September, 1885, and November, 1888, sixteen
thousand guineas, six thousand of which went towards the expenses of
publishing and ten thousand guineas into their own pockets. Isabel
writes, "It came just in time to give my husband the comforts and
luxuries and freedom which gilded the last five years of his life.
Pages:
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321