Manuscript written on Ruskin House stationery, 156 Charing Cross Road, London; George Allen, publisher.
Removed from: Ruskin, John. The seven lamps of architecture. London : Smith, Elder, and Co., 1855 (PML 195391).
Manuscript chronology, signed and dated, in the hand of publisher George Allen, recording the various steps leading up to the publication of the 1880 reissue of Ruskin's "The seven lamps of architecture", in 29 entries dated July 29, 1879, to the end of May, 1880. Allen summarizes key correspondence between himself and Ruskin pertaining to the publication of the book, from the publisher's initial suggestion that the book be reissued and the author's assessment and treatment of the text, to the final stages of the book's production, including the selection of illustrations, binding, and inclusion of an errata slip. At the end of his account, Allen affixes his concluding remarks: "The above is an accurate record of all that occurred. The payment to the author has exceeded the sum first named as a possible profit to him more than twice over." The manuscript was evidently composed by Allen at the request of dealers B.F. Stevens & Brown, Ltd., who handled the sale of Ruskin's 1855 copy of "The seven lamps of architecture", with his extensive manuscript annotations and revisions for the 1880 edition.