ABSTRACT
As we saw in the first chapter of this study, Alexander Macmillan had a way of ingratiating himself with eminent writers, cultivating personal and professional relationships that led to the appearance of their work in Macmillan’s Magazine and in Macmillan & Co. books. In this chapter, I hope to show how this process operated and how it evolved over time, concentrating on Margaret Oliphant, whose interactions with Macmillan and others affiliated with his firm during three and a half decades are especially richly, if not always quite clearly, documented. The abundance and the variety of her work – nonfiction as well as fiction, periodical writing, including serials, as well as books – and the different ways in which it moved from conception to execution make it possible to derive a remarkable picture of how one representative author accommodated herself to the requirements of Macmillan’s Magazine and its parent company – and also of how those who paid her for what she produced often had to accommodate themselves to her demands.
