R. D. Blackmore letter to Francis Abel William Taylor Armstrong

"Blackmore discusses wording in the preface to the 20th (1882) edition of "Lorna Doone" which he is changing at the suggestion of Armstrong whose watercolors were the basis for the wood engravings in that edition. He notes that the "cover has turned out a ghastly failure" with a background of "spectral yet bilious green" and is pleased that the publisher will have another designed. He will try to have the publisher send Armstrong six copies including one for "Squire Dickey," presumably Armstrong's younger brother Walter Richard Armstrong, who must have in someway resembled "Squire Dickey," the personable hero of "Christowbell.""