<\/p>\n
From:<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John Pettifew Clark<\/p>\n To:<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Crowmarsh, Eustace [mail to:ecrowmarsh@randomhouse.co.uk]<\/p>\n Subject:<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hugh Thomson<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dear Eustace<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thank you for sending me the MS of Hugh Thomson\u2019s The Green Road into the Trees<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I will post you the copy-edited manuscript by surface mail.\u00a0 I have followed normal UK publishing practice <\/p>\n Meanwhile, in addition to the usual solecisms and stylistic quirks that I see all too often from writers who have <\/p>\n You should be aware that along the way, on what is ostensibly a walking book across England, Thomson manages <\/p>\n To be specific, and listing them in order of occurrence, he insults or makes gratuitous reference to:\u00a0 vegetarians, <\/p>\n It is possible that there is some overlap between these groups (vegetarians, for instance, may be Paul McCartney fans, <\/p>\n Moreover, just to ensure that he makes a clean sweep of the majority of the population, he takes a sideswipe at <\/p>\n Nor has he taken his own advice and travelled with an animal (a dog, or perhaps like Stevenson, a donkey), <\/p>\n I would suggest that in future it might be safer to commission him to write a book about a less populated part of <\/p>\n Best wishes \u2013 and thank you again for that excellent lunch at the Garrick.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yours<\/p>\n <\/p>\n John<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n John Pettifew Clark<\/p>\n <\/p>\n PS I will enclose a hard copy of this with the manuscript.\u00a0 Remember to take it out!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John Pettifew Clark To:\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Crowmarsh, Eustace [mail to:ecrowmarsh@randomhouse.co.uk] Subject: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hugh Thomson Dear Eustace Thank you for sending me the MS of Hugh Thomson\u2019s The Green Road into the Trees. I will post you the copy-edited manuscript by surface […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1811,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"page-without-sidebar.php","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1847","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1847"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1859,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1847\/revisions\/1859"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nand Random House house style in my editing and instructions to the typesetter.<\/p>\n
\nnot had a classical education,\u00a0 I did want to raise a few concerns.<\/p>\n
\nto alienate a great many of his potential readers.<\/p>\n
\nWilliam Dalrymple (who is the favourite writer of most aunts in England), Paul McCartney, the Prince of Wales,
\npublicans with beards, model aeroplane groups, the custodians of Stonehenge, all three of the major political parties
\n(comparing the Liberal Democrats at one point to Pagans), rentier farming landlords, the Church of England,
\nthe neo-pagan group \u2018Dragon Order\u2019, gastropubs, bird-watchers, aristocrats, the army on Salisbury Plain, archaeologists,
\nminicab drivers, hunters of wood pigeons, the Vikings (who, we should remember, have many descendants), postmodern
\narchitects, Will Self (a popular writer and TV personality), Amazon and Katie Price (also known, I believe, as \u2018Jordan\u2019);
\nalong with numerous others.<\/p>\n
\ngiven his association with Linda;\u00a0 many aunts who read William Dalrymple are likely to be members of the Church of
\nEngland), but it still seems a high-risk marketing strategy, and risks offending many.<\/p>\n
\nmarried Englishwomen – and their husbands as well.<\/p>\n
\nwhich would have ensured commercial success;\u00a0 the British public always like to read about animals, and they
\nare less liable to involve contentious issues of class or history.<\/p>\n
\nthe world, or at least one that has fewer special interest groups, or readers.\u00a0 I see from the author biography that
\nhe has travelled to Afghanistan.\u00a0 Why not send him there?\u00a0 Or even better, the Empty Quarter of Arabia.\u00a0 It worked for Thesiger.<\/p>\n