535 | https://historysoa.com/items/show/535 | The Author, Vol. 24 Issue 04 (January 1914) | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=%3Cem%3EThe+Author%3C%2Fem%3E%2C+Vol.+24+Issue+04+%28January+1914%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 24 Issue 04 (January 1914)</a> | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Publication">Publication</a> | 1914-01-01-The-Author-24-4 | | | | | 93–122 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=24">24</a> | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1914-01-01">1914-01-01</a> | | | | | | | 4 | | | 19140101 | Che HMuthbor.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors.<br />
<br />
FOUNDED BY SIR<br />
<br />
Monthly.)<br />
<br />
WALTER BESANT.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Vor. XXIV.—No. 4.<br />
<br />
JANUARY 1, 1914.<br />
<br />
[PRIcE SIXPENCE.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
TELEPHONE NUMBER:<br />
874 VICTORIA.<br />
<br />
TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS:<br />
AUTORIDAD, LONDON.<br />
<br />
—<br />
<br />
NOTICES.<br />
<br />
—+—~<9+—_<br />
<br />
RR the opinions expressed in papers that<br />
are signed or initialled the authors alone<br />
are responsible. None of the papers or<br />
paragraphs must be taken as expressing the<br />
opinion of the Committee unless such is<br />
especially stated to be the case.<br />
<br />
Tue Editor begs to inform members of the<br />
Authors’ Society and other readers of The<br />
Author that the cases which are quoted in The<br />
Author are cases that have come before the<br />
notice or to the knowledge of the Secretary of<br />
the Society, and that those members of the<br />
Society who desire to have the names of the<br />
publishers concerned can obtain them on<br />
application.<br />
<br />
ARTICLES AND CONTRIBUTIONS.<br />
<br />
Tue Editor of The Author begs to remind<br />
<br />
members of the Society that, although the<br />
paper is sent to them free of cost, its production<br />
would be a very heavy charge on the resources<br />
of the Society if a great many members did not<br />
forward to the Secretary the modest 5s. 6d.<br />
subscription for the year.<br />
Communications for The Author should be<br />
addressed to the offices of the Society, 1, Cen-<br />
tral Buildings, Tothill Street, Westminster,<br />
S.W., and should reach the Editor not later<br />
than the 21st of each month.<br />
<br />
Communications and letters are invited by<br />
ed Editor on all literary matters treated from<br />
<br />
on. X IV,<br />
<br />
the standpoint of art or business, but on no<br />
other subjects whatever. Every effort will be<br />
made to return articles which cannot be<br />
accepted.<br />
<br />
ADVERTISEMENTS,<br />
<br />
Messrs. Matthews’ Advertising Service,<br />
Staple Inn Buildings, High Holborn, W.C.,<br />
will act as agents for advertisements for<br />
“The Author.” All communications respect-<br />
ing advertisements should be addressed to<br />
them.<br />
<br />
As there seems to be an impression among<br />
readers of The Author that the Committee are<br />
personally responsible for the bona fides of the<br />
advertisers, the Committee desire it to be stated<br />
that this is not, and could not possibly be, the<br />
ease. Although care is exercised that no<br />
undesirable advertisements be inserted, they<br />
do not accept, and never have accepted, any<br />
liability.<br />
<br />
Members should apply to the Secretary for<br />
advice if special information is desired.<br />
<br />
+—> +<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE SOCIETY’S FUNDS.<br />
gg<br />
<br />
ROM time to time members of the Society<br />
desire to make donations to its funds in<br />
recognition of work that has been done<br />
<br />
for them. The Committee, acting on the<br />
suggestion of one of these members, have<br />
decided to place this permanent paragraph in<br />
The Author in order that members may be<br />
cognisant of those funds to which these con-<br />
tributions may be paid.<br />
<br />
The funds suitable for this purpose are:<br />
(1) The Capital Fund. This fund is kept in<br />
reserve in case it is necessary for the Society to<br />
incur heavy expenditure, either in fighting a<br />
question of principle, or in assisting to obtain<br />
copyright reform, or in dealing with any other<br />
<br />
* 3 i<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
MR. GOSSE’S ESSAYS.*<br />
<br />
oe<br />
volume of Mr. Gosse’s<br />
<br />
collected essays will be welcomed<br />
<br />
alike by those who made the ac-<br />
quaintance of these particular essays when<br />
they first appeared, and by those to whom they<br />
are new. Few writers, past or present, can<br />
invest with so much charm the critical and<br />
anecdotal saunter round the shelves of a<br />
book-room as our author. Few, too, have such<br />
sane views of what a library should be—“ a<br />
small one, where the books are carefully<br />
selected and thoughtfully arranged in accord-<br />
ance with one central code of taste, and intended<br />
to be respectfully consulted at any moment by<br />
the master of their destinies.”’ If fortune made<br />
him possessor of one book of excessive value,<br />
Mr. Gosse tells us, he would hasten to part<br />
with it. This is true wisdom. The first<br />
quarto of “Hamlet” may be left to the<br />
Transatlantic millionaire.<br />
<br />
The essays before us range over a vast<br />
period of literary history. From Camden’s<br />
‘“‘ Britannia,” early in the sixteenth century,<br />
they travel by degrees to Meredith’s “‘ Shaving<br />
of Shagpat.” The first and the last, it will be<br />
seen, deal with well-known works. Perhaps<br />
the most pleasing, however, are those which<br />
take as their subject obscure or forgotten<br />
books —such as Wither’s ‘‘ Shepheards<br />
Hunting,” Lady Winchilsea’s “ Miscellany<br />
Poems,” Farquhar’s ‘“‘ Love and Business,”<br />
and that extraordinary panegyric on prize-<br />
fighting, “‘ The Fancy,” of which the author<br />
was Keats’s friend, John Hamilton Reynolds,<br />
disguised under the alias of Peter Corcoran.<br />
The last-named essay—for it takes its title<br />
from the title of _Reynold’s book—is an<br />
admirable example of the man of letters at the<br />
ring-side. With what gusto does Mr. Gosse<br />
quote Corcoran’s apology to his lady-love :-—<br />
<br />
“ Forgive me, and never, oh never again,<br />
<br />
Tl cultivate light blue or brown inebriety ;<br />
<br />
Tl give up all chance of a fracture or sprain,<br />
<br />
And part, worst of all, with Pierce Egan’s society.”<br />
and explain that “heavy brown with a dash<br />
of blue in it’ was the fancy phrase for stout<br />
mixed with gin !<br />
<br />
There may be those to whom it seems<br />
grotesque to turn the pen to discourse of such<br />
things as these. To them may be commended<br />
the lines from Samuel Daniel’s “* Musophilus,”<br />
which Mr. Gosse quotes as the motto of his<br />
book, beginning<br />
<br />
**O blessed Letters, that combine in one<br />
<br />
All ages past, and make one live with all. . . .”<br />
<br />
* “Gossip in a Library,” by Edmund Gosse, C.B.<br />
London; William Heinemann.<br />
<br />
HE second<br />
<br />
CORRESPONDENCE.<br />
<br />
—~> + ——<br />
** ONLY.”’<br />
<br />
Sir,—The irritating misuse of the word<br />
‘only ’? to which your correspondent “ Richard<br />
Free ” called attention in your last issue, is by<br />
no means confined to careless writers. Many<br />
who denounce the split infinitive have not yet<br />
had their grammatical consciousness awakened<br />
to this solecism. For example, I have culled<br />
the following three passages from the latest<br />
edition of ‘“‘ The King’s English,” the best<br />
book we have on the ill-treatment of English.<br />
<br />
‘“ We shall now only make three general<br />
remarks before proceeding to details.”’<br />
<br />
‘““The mistakes are nearly always on one<br />
side, the infinitive being the form that should<br />
only be used with caution.”<br />
<br />
“For a person’s name can only require a<br />
defining cause to distinguish him from others<br />
of the same name.”<br />
<br />
The intended meanings are certainly not<br />
“only make,’ ‘“‘ only require,”’ or “ only be<br />
<br />
used,’’ as a moment’s analysis shows.<br />
This is perhaps the commonest error in both<br />
spoken and written English at the present day ;<br />
<br />
once perceived, it is undoubtedly one of the<br />
most irritating, and your correspondent<br />
deserves thanks for calling attention to it.<br />
I am,<br />
Your obedient servant,<br />
Ernest A. Baker.<br />
<br />
SE ann a a<br />
<br />
New anp AMUSING TRICK OF THE<br />
Lirersary AGENT.<br />
<br />
Dear S1r,—The literary agent has found a<br />
new way of amusing his authors. He has a<br />
special cheque printed with a receipt upon the<br />
back which requires a penny stamp. He pays<br />
his author with one of these cheques and of<br />
course does not stamp his receipt. The author<br />
is abroad, or he has only embossed envelopes<br />
upon his desk, and the fun begins. Publishers<br />
are taking up this delightful little novelty.<br />
<br />
The author finds on the back of the publisher’s<br />
<br />
cheque a printed receipt, in which he is invited<br />
to make over to the publisher all sorts of rights<br />
he never sold when the. bargain was made.<br />
Any alteration of the receipt invalidates the<br />
cheque. Letters, explanations, recriminations.<br />
What an infernal nuisance all this<br />
<br />
smartness is!<br />
X,<br />
<br />
<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors.<br />
<br />
Monthly.)<br />
<br />
Che Author.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
FOUNDED BY SIR<br />
<br />
WALTER BESANT.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
VoL. XXIV.—No. 4.<br />
<br />
JANUARY 1, 1914.<br />
<br />
[PRICE SIXPENCE.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
TELEPHONE NuMBER:<br />
874 VICTORIA.<br />
<br />
TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS:<br />
AUTORIDAD, LONDON.<br />
<br />
———<br />
<br />
NOTICES.<br />
<br />
a<br />
<br />
RR the opinions expressed in papers that<br />
are signed or initialled the authors alone<br />
are responsible. None of the papers or<br />
paragraphs must be taken as expressing the<br />
opinion of the Committee unless such is<br />
especially stated to be the case.<br />
<br />
Tue Editor begs to inform members of the<br />
Authors’ Society and other readers of The<br />
Author that the cases which are quoted in The<br />
Author are cases that have come before the<br />
notice or to the knowledge of the Secretary of<br />
the Society, and that those members of the<br />
Society who desire to have the names of the<br />
publishers concerned can obtain them on<br />
application.<br />
<br />
ARTICLES AND CONTRIBUTIONS.<br />
Tue Editor of The Author begs to remind<br />
<br />
' members of the Society that, although the<br />
<br />
paper is sent to them free of cost, its production<br />
would be a very heavy charge on the resources<br />
of the Society if a great many members did not<br />
forward to the Secretary the modest 5s. 6d.<br />
subscription for the year.<br />
<br />
Communications for The Author should be<br />
addressed to the offices of the Society, 1, Cen-<br />
tral Buildings, Tothill Street, Westminster,<br />
S.W., and should reach the Editor not later<br />
than the 21st of each month.<br />
<br />
Communications and letters are invited by<br />
~ Editor on all literary matters treated from<br />
ou. X IV,<br />
<br />
the standpoint of art or business, but on no<br />
other subjects whatever. Every effort will be<br />
made to return articles which cannot be<br />
accepted.<br />
<br />
ADVERTISEMENTS.<br />
<br />
Messrs. Matthews’ Advertising Service,<br />
Staple Inn Buildings, High Holborn, W.C.,<br />
will act as agents for advertisements for<br />
“The Author.” All communications respect-<br />
ps advertisements should be addressed to<br />
them.<br />
<br />
As there seems to be an impression among<br />
readers of The Author that the Committee are<br />
personally responsible for the bona fides of the<br />
advertisers, the Committee desire it to be stated<br />
that this is not, and could not possibly be, the<br />
ease. Although care is exercised that no<br />
undesirable advertisements be inserted, they<br />
do not accept, and never have accepted, any<br />
liability.<br />
<br />
Members should apply to the Secretary for<br />
advice if special information is desired.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
—- +<br />
<br />
THE SOCIETY’S FUNDS.<br />
Seg<br />
<br />
ROM time to time members of the Society<br />
desire to make donations to its funds in<br />
recognition of work that has been done<br />
<br />
for them. The Committee, acting on the<br />
suggestion of one of these members, have<br />
decided to place this permanent paragraph in<br />
The Author in order that members may be<br />
cognisant of those funds to which these con-<br />
tributions may be paid.<br />
<br />
The funds aatable for this purpose are:<br />
(1) The Capital Fund. This fund is kept in<br />
reserve in case it is necessary for the Society to<br />
incur heavy expenditure, either in fighting a<br />
question of principle, or in assisting to obtain<br />
copyright reform, or in dealing with any other<br />
<br />
* 2 ;<br />
<br />
<br />
94<br />
<br />
matter closely connected with the work of the<br />
Society. : :<br />
(2) The Pension Fund This fund is slowly<br />
increasing, and it is hoped will, in time, cover<br />
the needs of all the members of the Society.<br />
<br />
—_———_+ <> —___——__<br />
<br />
THE PENSION FUND.<br />
<br />
— 1<br />
<br />
N January, the secretary of the Society<br />
I laid before the trustees of the Pension<br />
Fund the accounts for the year 1912, as<br />
settled by the accountants. After giving the<br />
matter full consideration, the trustees in-<br />
structed the secretary to invest a sum of £300<br />
in the purchase of Buenos Ayres Great<br />
Southern Railway 4% Extension Shares, 1914,<br />
£10 fully paid. The number of shares pur-<br />
chased at the current price was twenty-five<br />
and the amount invested £296 1s. 1ld. The<br />
trustees are also purchasing three more Central<br />
Argentine Railway New Shares at par, on<br />
which as holders of the Ordinary Stock they<br />
have an option.<br />
<br />
The trustees desire to thank the members<br />
of the Society for the continued support which<br />
they have given to the Pension Fund.<br />
<br />
The nominal value of the investments held<br />
on behalf of the Pension Fund now amounts<br />
to £4,764 6s., details of which are fully set out<br />
in the following schedule :—<br />
<br />
Nominal Value.<br />
<br />
6.1 d<br />
Local LOANS: ..........-¢-s.--- 500 0 0<br />
Victoria Government 3% Consoli-<br />
<br />
dated Inscribed Stock ........ 291 19 11<br />
London and North-Western 3%<br />
<br />
Debenture Stock ............ 250 0 0<br />
Egyptian Government Irrigation<br />
<br />
Trust 4% Certificates ........ 200 0 0<br />
Cape of Good Hope 33% Inscribed<br />
<br />
StoGk, $3 occ lice ots dn 200 0 0<br />
Glasgow and South-Western Rail-<br />
<br />
way 4% Preference Stock 228 0 0<br />
New Zealand 34% Stock ....... 247 9 6<br />
Trish Land 22% Guaranteed Stock 258 0 0<br />
Corporation of London 23%<br />
<br />
Stock, 1927-57). 0.5 scenes cus 438. 2 4<br />
Jamaica 34% Stock, 1919—49 .. 182 18 6<br />
Mauritius 4% 1987 Stock ....... 120 12 1<br />
Dominion of Canada, C.P.R. 84%<br />
<br />
Land Grant Stock, 1988 ...... 198 8 8<br />
Antofagasta and Bolivian Railway<br />
<br />
5% Preferred Stock .......... 237 0 0<br />
Central Argentine Railway Or-<br />
<br />
dinary Stock ....... veavcan. &. 282:.0..0<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
Nominal Value.<br />
<br />
£ &@<br />
$2,000 Consolidated Gas and<br />
Electric Company of Baltimore<br />
44% Gold Bonds ........--. 400 0 0<br />
250 Edward Lloyd, Ltd., £1 5%<br />
Preference Shares ........+.-- 250 0 0<br />
55 Buenos Ayres Great Southern<br />
Railway 4% Extension Shares,<br />
1914 (fully paid) ............ 550 0 0 &<br />
8 Central Argentine Railway £10<br />
Preference Shares, New Issue.. 30 0 0<br />
Total 2. i263 ce £4,764 6 0<br />
<br />
PENSION FUND.<br />
<br />
—+~> +<br />
<br />
Tue list printed below includes all fresh dona-<br />
<br />
tions and subscriptions (i.e., donations and |<br />
<br />
subscriptions not hitherto acknowledged)<br />
received by, or promised to, the fund from<br />
April, 1913.<br />
<br />
It does not include either donations given<br />
prior to January, nor does it include sub-<br />
scriptions paid in compliance with promises<br />
made before it.<br />
<br />
Subscriptions.<br />
<br />
19138.<br />
<br />
April 8, Caulfield-Stoker, T. .<br />
June 12, Wimperis, Arthur .<br />
June 16, Ballantyne, J. W.<br />
June 16, Thorold, Rupert<br />
Oct. 8, Rees, Miss Rosemary<br />
Oct. 8, Pearce, J. 2 : :<br />
Oct. 9, Drummond, Miss Florence<br />
Oct. 9, Rumbold, Hugo<br />
Oct. 13, Knowles, Miss<br />
Oct. 20, Collison, Harry :<br />
Oct. 21, Buchanan, Miss Meriel<br />
Oct. 25, Baker, E. A. . ;<br />
Nov. 6, Bentley, E. C. :<br />
Nov. 6, Petersen, Miss Margaret<br />
Nov. 7, Lang, Mrs. John<br />
Nov. 19, Langferte, Raymond<br />
Nov. 24, Webb, W. Trego<br />
Nov. 24, Mackenzie, Compton<br />
Dec. 4, Vansittart, Robert<br />
Dec. 4, Lunn, Arnold . :<br />
Dec. 4, Stewart, Miss Marie .<br />
Dec. 4, Berry, Miss Ana<br />
Dec. 4, Vallois, Miss Grace<br />
Dec. 17, Beresford, J. D.<br />
<br />
1913.<br />
<br />
CUMANOAH As<br />
<br />
—<br />
<br />
_<br />
<br />
SOHO Ot OS OS Or Or Or Or St Or Oc Or<br />
cococacocosososcoscooossoooooF®<br />
<br />
ecocoooreoccoocoosorososooororoth<br />
<br />
—<br />
<br />
Donations.<br />
<br />
April 2, Daniel, E. H. . ; .<br />
April 2, Hain, H.M. . : » 0 45<br />
<br />
oon<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR. 95<br />
<br />
th<br />
~%<br />
<br />
April 7, Taylor, Miss Sueties M. .<br />
April 7, Harding, Newman . ‘<br />
April 9, Strachey, Miss Amabel .<br />
April 10, Aspinall, Algernon.<br />
<br />
April 15, Craig, Gordon ; .<br />
April, Robbins, Miss Alice<br />
<br />
June 12, Peel, Mrs... :<br />
<br />
June 18, Barlow, Miss Hilaré :<br />
June 13, Kynnersley, E. M. Sneyd.<br />
July 5, Williams, Robert . .<br />
July 11, Broadbent, D. R. . ‘<br />
July 22, Cameron, Mrs. Charlotte .<br />
Sept. 29, Peacock, Mrs. F. M.<br />
Sept. 30, Wallis-Healy, F. <<br />
Oct. 7, Darwin, Sir Francis . :<br />
Oct. 9, Carroll, Sydney Wentworth<br />
Oct. 21, Troubetzkoy, The Princess<br />
Oct. 27, Frankish, Harold ;<br />
Oct. 30, Rossman, Miss<br />
<br />
Nov. 3, Holland, Theodore<br />
<br />
Noy. 3, Steane, Bruce<br />
<br />
Noy. 3, Batty, Mrs. Braithwaite<br />
Nov. 10, Elvington, Miss Helen<br />
Nov. 10, Waterbury, Mrs. . <<br />
Dec. 5, Dymock, R. G. Vaughton .<br />
Dec. 6, Macdonald, Miss Julia :<br />
Dec. 11, Little, Mrs. Archibald. . 1<br />
Dec. 11, Topham, Miss Ann .<br />
<br />
_<br />
<br />
_<br />
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<br />
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<br />
COMMITTEE NOTES.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
| last meeting of the Committee of<br />
Management for 1913 was held at the<br />
offices of the Society on December 1.<br />
After the reading of the minutes of the previous<br />
meeting, the committee proceeded with the<br />
election of members. Thirty-three members<br />
and associates were elected. The committee<br />
are pleased to state that the elections this year<br />
have exceeded the number elected in 1912, and<br />
give the Society another record, 349 members<br />
and associates having been elected. The<br />
committee then accepted with regret eight<br />
resignations, bringing the resignations for the<br />
year up to ninety-one. Here, again, the com-<br />
mittee may congratulate the members. The<br />
resignations are slightly fewer than in 1912,<br />
when the number was ninety-nine. It must<br />
be remembered that in proportion to the size<br />
of the Society the decrease is even more marked<br />
than might, at first sight, seem apparent.<br />
The solicitor of the Society then reported on<br />
the cases with which he had been dealing during<br />
the month.<br />
<br />
The first, which has been running on for<br />
some time, arose out of a dispute on accounts.<br />
It is possible this matter may be settled by<br />
the purchase outright by the publisher of<br />
the member’s copyright.<br />
<br />
The next matter referred to a dispute as to<br />
the payment by a certain publisher of an<br />
amount due, the publisher having disclaimed<br />
the full liability owing to non-fulfilment of<br />
part of the contract by the author. A sum<br />
has now been agreed in settlement.<br />
<br />
In the last issue, reference was made to<br />
a difficult case. An agent had sold certain<br />
rights in an article to an American magazine<br />
without referring the question of price to the<br />
author. The American magazine insisted on<br />
its strict legal rights, in spite of the author’s<br />
wishes to the contrary. It appeared, after<br />
investigation, that the agent had exceeded his<br />
instructions, and, in consequence, that the<br />
editor of the American paper, from his point of<br />
view, had acted within his rights, the only<br />
claim open to the author being against the<br />
agent for exceeding his authority. Another<br />
question arose out of a dispute between author<br />
and publisher, dealing with the publication<br />
of a book. At the author’s suggestion, she<br />
attended personally and explained the full<br />
details to the committee. The committee<br />
carefully considered the rights of the matter<br />
from every point of view, the Society’s solicitor<br />
setting out the legal position. After full dis-<br />
cussion, the committee came to the conclusion<br />
that the publisher had not broken or exceeded<br />
his contract, and there was no legal claim<br />
enforceable by the member against him. The<br />
solicitor was instructed to report to the member<br />
accordingly.<br />
<br />
The solicitors then reported that the Society’s<br />
case, Corelli v. Gray, taken to the Court of<br />
Appeal at the instance of the defendant, had<br />
been heard, and that judgment had been given<br />
in that Court in confirmation of the judgment<br />
given in the court below. A report of the case<br />
appeared in the December issue of The Author.<br />
<br />
In a dispute between author and publisher<br />
on the terms of a contract the committee<br />
decided to go ahead.<br />
<br />
The next question dealt with the delay in<br />
publication of a book. The solicitors had<br />
already received instructions to bring pressure<br />
on the publisher, and the committee decided<br />
that whatever steps might be necessary to<br />
ensure early publication should be taken.<br />
<br />
In a dispute arising between an author and a<br />
magazine relating to infringement of copyright,<br />
the solicitors reported that a settlement had<br />
been reached on the basis that the editor had<br />
<br />
<br />
96<br />
<br />
agrecd to publish an apology drafted on behalf<br />
of the member.<br />
<br />
A member of the Society appealed to the<br />
committee in the following circumstances :—<br />
<br />
A book had been published by a certain<br />
firm for the member, but had been adver-<br />
tised in the publisher’s lists as by another<br />
author. The matter had been taken in hand<br />
at once. The publisher had expressed his<br />
regret and had undertaken to do what he could<br />
to remedy the mistake. This settlement had<br />
been agreed to by the author.<br />
<br />
A dispute on one of the unsatisfactory con-<br />
tracts which authors so often make, binding<br />
themselves in respect of future books, had<br />
arisen. The question at issue was the number<br />
of books which had been offered to the pub-<br />
lisher and the royalties payable on those<br />
accepted. The matter was one of importance,<br />
as the amount of the author’s royalty depended<br />
upon the correct interpretation of the agree-<br />
ment. The solicitors advised that they con-<br />
sidered the author had a sound case, and<br />
the matter will be submitted to arbitration<br />
under a clause in the agreement to that<br />
effect.<br />
<br />
In three small claims for moneys due the<br />
solicitor reported that in the first case he had<br />
signed judgment. -In the second case he had<br />
issued a summons, and in the third he<br />
proposed now to take steps to commit the<br />
defendant for contempt of court as he had<br />
failed to attend an appointment to be examined<br />
before the Master. The committee authorised<br />
these proceedings.<br />
<br />
A difficult case arose under an agreement<br />
executed some years ago, in which it was<br />
claimed that the acting rights in a play included<br />
the cinematograph rights. It was decided to<br />
await further developments and the committee<br />
instructed the solicitors to report fully when<br />
further information was to hand.<br />
<br />
The next matter related to a dispute between<br />
two members of the Society as to whether one<br />
member had infringed the other’s copyright.<br />
The solicitor was given instructions, having<br />
heard statements from both parties, to<br />
endeavour to arrange a settlement, and if<br />
unsuccessful, to offer to have the matter<br />
settled by an arbitrator appointed by the<br />
Society’s committee. The result will be<br />
reported to the next meeting.<br />
<br />
The secretary then reported to the committee<br />
certain eases which had arisen, which had not<br />
been in the hands of the solicitors.<br />
<br />
The first was an alleged breach of contract<br />
by an Australian editor. It was decided to<br />
place the matter in the hands of a lawyer in<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
Australia if the solicitors of the Society advised<br />
the claim was a sound one.<br />
<br />
In a case of dispute between a member of the<br />
Society and‘an agent which had been placed<br />
before the Society by the agent, the committee<br />
decided it was impossible for them to advise<br />
the agent as to the course to be pursued, the<br />
advice, if any, only being available to the<br />
member and at his request.<br />
<br />
The secretary reported that in a case which<br />
the committee had agreed to take in Germany<br />
subject to the approval of the member con-<br />
cerned—for whom counsel’s opinion had been<br />
taken—the member, after consideration, had<br />
decided not to trouble the Society any further.<br />
<br />
An important case being fought out in<br />
America—important to all authors—English<br />
<br />
and American—had been brought to the notice’<br />
<br />
of the Society, not only by the American<br />
Authors’ League, but by an American member<br />
of the Society. The committee decided to<br />
assist the Authors’ League of America to fight<br />
the case as they considered a judgment on the<br />
issues of vital importance to all authors.<br />
Another American case involving questions as<br />
to the international arrangements between the<br />
United States and England was brought to<br />
the notice of the committee, and the committee<br />
decided to put the full details before the Board<br />
of Trade or whatever Government office might<br />
be competent to deal with the details.<br />
<br />
In another case in the United States—a<br />
dispute between an author and an agent—it<br />
was decided, on the author’s statement that<br />
he did not wish to press the matter, to write<br />
to the agent to draw his attention to the<br />
unsatisfactory nature of the explanation given.<br />
<br />
The question of the right of the Income Tax<br />
Commissioners to demand from publishers<br />
detailed statements of the sums paid in<br />
royalties to their authors was considered, and<br />
it was decided to obtain counsel’s opinion on a<br />
matter which was of such vital importance to<br />
authors.<br />
<br />
The secretary reported that, owing to the<br />
pressure of work at the office, it had been found<br />
absolutely essential to engage a new clerk.<br />
The engagement was confirmed by the com-<br />
mittee.<br />
<br />
A letter from Sir Alfred Bateman, who was<br />
unable to attend the meeting, was read. It<br />
dealt with certain important questions of<br />
international copyright in which he had been<br />
working for the benefit of the Society. The<br />
committee expressed their thanks to Sir Alfred<br />
for his labours.<br />
<br />
The committee sanctioned the drawing of a<br />
cheque for Christmas boxes for the clerks of<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
nesinematerer mn<br />
<br />
alg<br />
ue |<br />
<br />
fe |<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THER AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
the Society as the work of the Society had been<br />
successful during the year. They also sanc-<br />
tioned the purchase of certain office furniture.<br />
<br />
Mr. Rann Kennedy received the thanks of<br />
the committee for his generous action in paying<br />
costs ineurred by the Society in a copyright<br />
ease in Winnipeg. The amount—£15—was<br />
paid into the capital account.<br />
<br />
The committee also thanked Mr. Banister<br />
Fletcher for a donation of £5 5s. to the same<br />
fund.<br />
<br />
The questions of loans to authors and the<br />
International Gathering of 1915 were adjourned<br />
to the next meeting.<br />
<br />
te<br />
<br />
Dramatic SuB-CoMMITTEE.<br />
<br />
Tue December meeting of the Dramatic<br />
Sub-Committee was held on Friday, Decem-<br />
ber 19, at three o’clock.<br />
<br />
After the reading of the minutes, the<br />
secretary reported that the draft Royalty<br />
Agreement, with notes and comments, had not<br />
yet been finally settled, but that the delegates<br />
appointed to settle it hoped to be able to lay it<br />
before the sub-committee at the next meeting.<br />
<br />
The secretary read some very interesting<br />
letters he had received from the secretary of<br />
the Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs<br />
Dramatiques in regard to cinema rights in<br />
France, and laid on the table an agreement<br />
which had been settled for the marketing of<br />
these rights. He was instructed to make<br />
further enquiries of the French society, and to<br />
inform the society that the sub-committee<br />
would be ready to consider any proposal for an<br />
international conference.<br />
<br />
The secretary also read a letter on the same<br />
matter from Mr. Rex Beach, who was acting<br />
for the United States Author’s League, and he<br />
was requested to thank Mr. Beach for his<br />
letter.<br />
<br />
The sub-committee then settled their<br />
nominees for the coming year, and a notice will<br />
be sent round to the dramatic section in due<br />
course.<br />
<br />
The question of placing powers of attorney<br />
in the hands of foreign lawyers was again con-<br />
sidered, and a draft power of attorney was laid<br />
on the table. The matter was referred to the<br />
Committee of Management for their sanction.<br />
<br />
An interesting letter from an American<br />
lawyer to Mr, Charles Frohman, setting out the<br />
method by which dramatic copyright could be<br />
secured in Canada, was read to the sub-<br />
committee, and the secretary was instructed<br />
to enquire of Mr, Frohman whether he would<br />
<br />
97<br />
<br />
have any objection to its being published in<br />
The Author.<br />
<br />
Mr. Jerome put before the sub-committee<br />
an important case in which he was involved,<br />
and the sub-committee referred the matter to<br />
the Committee of Management for their favour-<br />
able consideration.<br />
<br />
The secretary then pointed out the necessity<br />
for dramatists to register their plays in<br />
Australia, in order that they might obtain the<br />
benefit of the summary proceedings under the<br />
Australian Act. He was instructed to write to<br />
the Registrar in Australia to obtain full details,<br />
with registration forms, if possible, so that the<br />
Society might carry through such registration<br />
on behalf of its members.<br />
<br />
One of the members of the sub-committee<br />
raised the question of the interference of<br />
middlemen between dramatic authors and<br />
managers, and the secretary was instructed to<br />
write a paragraph on the point for insertion in<br />
The Author. —<br />
<br />
—><br />
<br />
Composers’ SuB-COMMITTEE.<br />
<br />
Tue December meeting of the Composers’<br />
Sub-Committee was held on Saturday,<br />
December 18, at No. 1, Central Buildings,<br />
Tothill Street, Westminster, S.W., at 11 a.m.<br />
<br />
After the minutes of the former meeting<br />
were read and signed, the sub-committee<br />
considered the following questions :—<br />
<br />
The secretary reported that a paragraph<br />
had been sent to the papers, and also men-<br />
tioned the papers in which it had appeared.<br />
It was hoped that this paragraph might have<br />
some effect in bringing composers more<br />
closely together,<br />
<br />
Arising out of this it was suggested that an<br />
article should be written in one of the papers<br />
dealing with mechanical reproduction and<br />
composers’ rights, and the secretary was<br />
instructed to see whether he could get such an<br />
article inserted in one of the London papers.<br />
<br />
The sub-committee next considered the<br />
question of stamps on mechanical instruments.<br />
It appeared that the stamps which, under the<br />
Board of Trade regulations, had been affixed<br />
to mechanical reproductions, were often falling<br />
off. The companies whose duty it was to<br />
affix the stamps, stated that all they had to<br />
prove was that the stamps were affixed, and<br />
that if the stamps dropped off, the fault was<br />
due to the copyright owners who had supplied<br />
stamps inadequately gummed. The sub-<br />
committee thought the matter of serious<br />
importance, as it was very difficult to check<br />
piracies unless the matter was carried out<br />
<br />
<br />
98<br />
<br />
according to the spirit of the Act. It was<br />
decided to write to other collecting agencies<br />
with a view to joint action being taken in<br />
submitting the matter to the Board of Trade.<br />
<br />
Another question arose as to the supplying<br />
of stamps in foreign countries, and the sub-<br />
committee decided to accept a proposal at<br />
any rate, for one year, put forward by one of<br />
the foreign collecting socicties, in order to test<br />
a suggestion that they had made.<br />
<br />
The question of the loaning of orchestral<br />
parts and works by certain lending libraries<br />
attached to music publishing houses was con-<br />
sidered. The arrangement frequently left the<br />
composer with no monetary reward, and it<br />
appeared clear that if the idea was carried<br />
forward to any great extent, it would be<br />
possible for the publishers to avoid paying<br />
any very large sums in royalties, owing to the<br />
fact that the publishers need not sell, but<br />
might only loan the composers’ works.<br />
<br />
The next question had reference to the<br />
prices which the composers of comic songs<br />
received for their performing rights and<br />
mechanical instrument rights. The secretary<br />
was instructed to obtain further information.<br />
Members of the Committee, also, promised to<br />
obtain information and report.<br />
<br />
An article written on instructions given by the<br />
sub-committee at their former meeting, deal-<br />
ing with the collection of mechanical fees, was<br />
read, and the sub-committee decided, with<br />
the approval of the Committee of Management,<br />
that the article should appear in The Author.<br />
They also decided, with the approval of the<br />
committee of Management, that the com-<br />
poser’s pamphlet should be printed, containing<br />
the secretary’s article on The Commercial<br />
Side of Music, the article by Mr. E. J. Mac-<br />
Gillivray on Composers’ Rights, and a Com-<br />
posers’ Royalty Agreement, when it is settled.<br />
It is hoped these matters will be carried through<br />
in the beginning of the year.<br />
<br />
The arrangements for the meeting with the<br />
delegates of the Society of British Composers<br />
were finally settled, and a report will be sub-<br />
mitted to the next meeting of the sub-<br />
committee.<br />
<br />
The question of agents’ fees in foreign<br />
countries was considered and adjourned,<br />
pending the arrival of further information<br />
which was expected before the next meeting<br />
of the sub-committee. The consideration of<br />
the royalty agreement was also adjourned.<br />
<br />
oe<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
Cases.<br />
<br />
Durine the past month there have been<br />
eighteen cases in the hands of the secretary.<br />
There were four cases, disputes on agree-<br />
ments, two of which have been negotiated ;<br />
one has been placed in the hands of the<br />
Society’s solicitors and one has only recently<br />
come to the office.<br />
<br />
In two claims for MSS. from editors, the<br />
MSS. have been returned and forwarded to the<br />
authors.<br />
<br />
There has been one application for accounts<br />
and money, but as the matter lies in the<br />
United States, it will be some time before it<br />
is possible to report the result.<br />
<br />
There have been ten applications on behalf<br />
of members for default of payment; four of<br />
these have been successfully carried through ;<br />
three have had to be placed in the hands of the<br />
Society’s solicitors, and of the remaining three,<br />
two have only recently come to the office, and<br />
the last one is in course of negotiation.<br />
<br />
In one case of infringement of copyright, the<br />
infringement has been acknowledged and the<br />
matter has been settled.<br />
<br />
Of the eighteen cases three were in foreign<br />
countries. It is useful to note that the<br />
number of complaints which the Society is<br />
asked to settle outside the British Isles<br />
increases monthly.<br />
<br />
There are three cases open from former<br />
months, not counting those which have had<br />
to be placed in the hands of the Society’s<br />
solicitors. Of these two are in the United<br />
States and one is in Canada. It is hoped,<br />
however, that negotiations will be carried<br />
through successfully, indeed in one case the<br />
matter seems almost to be at an end.<br />
<br />
——<br />
<br />
December Elections.<br />
Armstrong, Cecil Ferard 164, Ebury Street,<br />
S.W.<br />
Smith Street,<br />
<br />
Barnby, Miss. ;<br />
Westminster, S.W.<br />
<br />
Berry, Ana M. . . 8, Sloane Court,<br />
S.W.<br />
<br />
Bradley, Miss Edith Greenway Court,<br />
Hollingbourne,<br />
Kent.<br />
<br />
Coales, H. G. (“‘ Market<br />
Harborough ’’).<br />
Coats-Bush, W. . :<br />
<br />
Market Harborough.<br />
<br />
Villa Vecchia, Davos<br />
Dorg, Switzerland.<br />
<br />
6, Pembroke Walk<br />
Studios, Kensing-<br />
ton, W.<br />
<br />
Cook, Miss Margaret C.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
-<br />
q<br />
fi<br />
<br />
hp ea<br />
<br />
<br />
Comper,<br />
<br />
Cotes,<br />
<br />
Miss Frances<br />
M. M.<br />
<br />
Cory, Mrs. Theodore .<br />
<br />
Mrs.<br />
(“* Sara<br />
Duncan ’’).<br />
<br />
Everard<br />
Jeannette<br />
<br />
Cross, Miss May . ‘<br />
<br />
Davies, Emil<br />
<br />
tr<br />
<br />
“. 7 JONES,<br />
<br />
Fraser,<br />
<br />
Hampden-Cook,<br />
<br />
Deane, Sara ‘ ‘<br />
<br />
Dymock, R. G. Vaugh-<br />
<br />
ton (““ R. Penley’’).<br />
Maj.-Gen. Sir<br />
Thomas, K.C.B.,<br />
<br />
C.M.G.<br />
<br />
Gaul, Miss Lilian J. .<br />
<br />
Rev.<br />
‘Ernest, M.A.<br />
<br />
Horn, Miss Kate (‘‘ Mrs.<br />
<br />
Weigall”).<br />
<br />
Ernest, M.D.,<br />
<br />
M.R.C.P.<br />
<br />
* King, Cecil<br />
<br />
Lubbock, Basil<br />
<br />
i Lunn, Arnold<br />
<br />
rity<br />
<br />
ph Meese<br />
<br />
3 ¢<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Mitford, E.<br />
<br />
| Vavasour-Earle,<br />
<br />
Watson,<br />
<br />
Bruce,<br />
<br />
F.R.G.S.<br />
<br />
Roberts, Dr. C. G. D..<br />
Smyth, Dr. Ethel<br />
<br />
Steuart, Maria S. .<br />
Vallois, Grace Mary.<br />
<br />
a ' -Vansittart, Robert :<br />
Vaughan Miss Evelyn<br />
<br />
Goode.<br />
Miss<br />
Aimée.<br />
<br />
Alex. C.<br />
(“ Alexander Camp-<br />
bell”) —_(** Campbell<br />
Watson’’).<br />
<br />
Watson, Augusta Gor-<br />
<br />
don,<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
1, Stratford Street,<br />
Oxford.<br />
<br />
The White House,<br />
Hampton Court.<br />
36, Buckingham<br />
<br />
Gate, S.W.<br />
<br />
86, Worple Road,<br />
Wimbledon, S.W.<br />
<br />
65, 66, Chancery<br />
Lane, W.C.<br />
<br />
28, Wellington Court,<br />
Knightsbridge,<br />
S.W.<br />
<br />
Prestfelde,<br />
bury.<br />
<br />
83, Onslow Square,<br />
S.W.<br />
<br />
Shrews-<br />
<br />
Gillott Lodge, Gillott<br />
Road, Edgbaston.<br />
<br />
Methlic, Brentwood,<br />
Essex.<br />
<br />
391, Upper Rich-<br />
mond Road, Put-<br />
ney, S.W.<br />
<br />
69, Portland Court,<br />
W.<br />
<br />
225, Goldhurst Ter-<br />
race, South Hamp-<br />
stead, N.W.<br />
<br />
The Manor House,<br />
Hamble, Hants.<br />
8, Upper Woburn<br />
<br />
Place, W.C.<br />
<br />
29, Sternhold<br />
Avenue, Streat-<br />
ham, S.W.<br />
<br />
8,Sergeants Inn, W.C.<br />
<br />
Coign, Hook Heath,<br />
Woking.<br />
<br />
79, Great King<br />
Street, Edinburgh.<br />
<br />
59, Cambridge Road,<br />
Kilburn, N.W.<br />
<br />
31, Princes Gate,S.W.<br />
<br />
Fullarton, Adelaide,<br />
S. Australia.<br />
<br />
The Haven, 53,<br />
Queen’s Road,<br />
St. John’s Wood,<br />
N.W.<br />
<br />
4, Queen<br />
Edinburgh.<br />
<br />
Street,<br />
<br />
8, Cadogan Gardens,<br />
S.W.<br />
<br />
99<br />
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY MEMBERS.<br />
<br />
——— +<br />
<br />
While every effort is made by the compilers to keep<br />
this list as accurate and exhaustive as possible, they have<br />
some difficulty in attaining this object owing to the fact<br />
that many of the books mentioned are not sent to the office<br />
by the members, In consequence, it is necessary to rely<br />
largely upon lists of books which appear in literary and<br />
other papers. It is hoped, however, that members will<br />
co-operate in the compiling of this list, and, by sending<br />
particulars of their works, help to make it substantially<br />
accurate,<br />
<br />
ARCH ZOLOGICAL.<br />
<br />
Norres oN THE CHURCHES IN THE DEANERY OF KeEnn,<br />
Devon. By Bearrix F. CResswetn. 9 x 6. 91 pp.<br />
Exeter: J. J. Commins and Son.<br />
<br />
ARCHITECTURE.<br />
<br />
An Intropvuction to Enciise CHurcH ARCHITECTURE<br />
FROM THE ELEVENTH To THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. By<br />
Francis Bonn, M.A., F.G.S., Hon. A.R.1.B.A. Two<br />
Vols. xxxv + vi+ 986pp. Milford. Two guineas n.<br />
<br />
ART.<br />
<br />
PAINTING IN THE Far East. An INTRODUCTION TO THE<br />
Hisrory oF Picrortan ArT IN ASIA, ESPECIALLY CHINA<br />
AND Japan. By Laurence Bryyon. Second edition<br />
revised throughout. 10} x 8. xviii + 295 pp. Edward<br />
Arnold. 21s. n.<br />
<br />
More asout Cottectinc. By Sir James Yoxatt, M.P.<br />
8} x 6. 339 pp. Stanley Paul. 5s. n.<br />
<br />
VisvakaRMA: Examples of Indian Architecture, Sculp-<br />
ture, Painting, Handicraft. Chosen by Ananpa K.<br />
Coomaraswamy, D.Sc. Part VI. 11 x 8%. 100 pp.<br />
2s. 6d. (Rs. 2).<br />
<br />
BIOGRAPHY.<br />
<br />
MacponaLp or THE Isues. By A. M. W. Srra.ina.<br />
9 x 5}, xii + 295 pp. John Murray. 12s. n.<br />
<br />
Memories oF A Musician: REMINISCENCES OF SEVENTY<br />
Years or Musicat Lire. By WinetmMGanz. 9 x 5h.<br />
xiv + 357 pp. John Murray. 12s. n.<br />
<br />
My Betovep Sour. By Mrs. T. P. O'Connor. 9 x 53.<br />
vili + 427 pp. G.P. Putnam’s Sons. 10s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG.<br />
<br />
SHAKESPEARE’S Srorres. By Constance and Mary<br />
Maup. 73 x 5. 346 pp. Edward Arnold. 5s. n.<br />
Marcarer’s Boox. By H. Frenpinc-Harn. 9 x 6}.<br />
<br />
284 pp. Hutchinson. 7s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
DRAMA.<br />
<br />
LANDED Gentry: A Comepy In Four Acts. By W.S.<br />
Mavecuam. 7 x 5. vii+ 168 pp. Heinemann. 1s. 6d.n.<br />
<br />
EDUCATIONAL.<br />
<br />
WINGS AND THE CHILD, oR THE Bur~pine or Maarc Ciriss.<br />
By E. Nesprr. 8 x 5}. xiv +197 pp. Hodder and<br />
<br />
Stoughton. 6s, eg owen %<br />
FICTION. 7 #3 Ta" |S] We!<br />
<br />
THE Epvucation or Oriver Hyp. By Rezcrnatp E.<br />
Satwey. Digby, Long & Co.<br />
<br />
Five Years anp 4 Monto. By Fanny Morris Woop.<br />
Duckworth & Co.<br />
<br />
Loor yrom tHe Tremere or Fortuns. By Horacu<br />
Awnestey Vacuetn. 74 x 5. 310 pp. Murray. 6s.<br />
<br />
StmPLe Smmon. His Adventures in the Thistle Patch. By<br />
A. Nem Lyons. Illustrated by G. E. Pero. Lane<br />
6s.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
100<br />
<br />
FOLK-LORE.<br />
By Rev. 8. Barinc-Goutp, M.A.<br />
<br />
K oF FOLK-LORE. ee<br />
i (The Nation’s Library.) Collins<br />
<br />
6% x 44. 264 pp.<br />
<br />
Clear Type Press. 1s. n.<br />
HISTORY.<br />
[mpErtaLisM AND Mr. GLADSTONE, 1876-1888. Compiled<br />
by R. H. GRETTON. 7k x 43. 120 pp. Bell. le. n,<br />
LITERARY.<br />
<br />
Joun Muurncton SYNGE AND THE Trish THEATRE. By<br />
Maurice Bovrexois. Demy 8vo. xvi-+ 338 pp.<br />
Buckram. With 16 full page illustrations by Joun B.<br />
Yuats, R.H.A., Jack B. Yuats, JAMES PATERSON,<br />
R.8.A., JoHN CURRIE and others. Constable & Co.<br />
<br />
Tue LIGHTER SIDE oF ENGLISH Lrrs. By F. FraNxrort<br />
Moors. With Illustrations in Colour by GORGE<br />
BeLcuer. 8 x 5}. 284 pp. Foulis. 5s. n.<br />
<br />
Tur KIRRIEMUIR EDITION OF THE Works or J. M. BaRRIE.<br />
‘Ten Vols. 9% x 6%. Hodder and Stoughton. £6 6s.<br />
the set.<br />
<br />
Reminiscent Gosstr oF MEN AND MATTERS.<br />
Baker, F.R.G.S. 7} x 5}. viii + 246 pp.<br />
man and Hall. 6s.<br />
<br />
MISCELLANEOUS.<br />
<br />
Our Wrésr. A Collection of Sketches of Life in the<br />
Canadian West. Illustrated with photographs. Thomas<br />
Murby & Co., 6, Bouverie Street, E.C. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
NATURAL HISTORY.<br />
<br />
Wiup Anmats aT Home. By Ernest THOMSON SETON.<br />
8} x 5B}. xvi+ 224pp. Hodder and Stoughton. 6s. n.<br />
<br />
Tu BopLey HeAD NaTuRAL HisTORY. By E. D. CuMING.<br />
With Illustrations by J. A. SHEPHERD. Vol. Il. British<br />
Birds. Passeres. 6} x 5. 122 pp. Lane. 28. n.<br />
<br />
POETRY.<br />
<br />
Tar Porms oF Francois VILLON. Translated by H. Dr<br />
Vere STacroonn. 9 xX 6}. xii + 300 pp. Hutchin-<br />
son.<br />
<br />
POLITICS.<br />
<br />
War anp THE Workers. By Norman ANGELL.<br />
<br />
63 pp. The National Labour Press. ls.<br />
REPRINTS.<br />
<br />
A Selection from Irish Poetry. By<br />
93 x 6}. xxvi + 160 pp. Sidg-<br />
ls. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
By JAMES<br />
Chap-<br />
<br />
7k x 5.<br />
<br />
THe Wimp Harp.<br />
KATHARINE TYNAN.<br />
wick and Jackson.<br />
<br />
A Century oF Paropy anp Imitation. Edited by<br />
Water Jerrotp and R, M. Leonarp. 1k XG:<br />
xv + 429 pp. Humphrey Milford. 1s. 6d. n<br />
<br />
Tue Hus or Home. By L. MactEan Watt. With the<br />
Pentland Essays of Robert Louis STEVENSON. 8) x 5h.<br />
259 pp. Foulis. 5s. n.<br />
<br />
SCIENCE.<br />
<br />
“ Wuo's Wuo IN Scrence” (International). Edited by<br />
Hl. H. Sreruenson. 9} X 6. 667 pp. J. and A.<br />
Churchill. 10s. n.<br />
<br />
Continurry, THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH<br />
ASSOCIATION, BIRMINGHAM, MCMXIII. By Sm Oxtver<br />
<br />
Loven. Printed in full, and supplemented by Explana-<br />
tory Notes. 7} x 5. 118 pp. Dent. 1s. n.<br />
SOCIOLOGY.<br />
<br />
Conriictine IpEats! Two Sikes OF THE Woman’s<br />
Qumstion. By B. L. Hurcutns. 74 x 5. vii + 83 pp.<br />
Murby. ls. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
THEOLOGY.<br />
<br />
L’Imrration ps Jesus CHRIST. Introduction par Mer.<br />
R. H. Benson. 6} x 4. xiii + 374 pp. (Collection<br />
Gallia.) Paris: Georges Cres et Cie. London: Dent-<br />
<br />
i te. n., eel ay<br />
(lem igettee op avert.<br />
<br />
A Woman’s Wrxter my Arrica. By Mrs. CHARLOTTE<br />
Cameron. Demy 8vo. Printed throughout on_ art<br />
paper, with 155 illustrations. 403 pp. Stanley Paul<br />
& Co. 18s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
Tur Guipe To SouTH AND East AFRICA. For the use of<br />
Tourists, Sportsmen, Invalids, and Settlers. Edited<br />
annually by A. SAMLER Brown and G. Gorpon Brown,<br />
¥.R.GS., for the Union Castle Mail Steamship Company.<br />
Twentieth edition, 1914. 74 x 4%. liv+ 695 pp.<br />
Sampson, Low.<br />
<br />
+<br />
<br />
LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL<br />
NOTES.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
E are asked by the executive officers of<br />
the Alfred Russel Wallace Memorial<br />
Fund to state that, if a sufficient sum<br />
can be raised, the following memorials to the<br />
late Dr. A. R. Wallace are proposed : (1) A<br />
medallion to be offered to the Dean and<br />
Chapter of Westminster Abbey ; (2) a portrait,<br />
for presentation to the Royal Society, to be<br />
painted by Mr. J. Seymour Lucas, RA. to<br />
whom Dr. Wallace had, within the last few<br />
months of his life, consented to sit ; (3) a copy<br />
of the portrait for presentation to the nation ;<br />
and (4) a statue to be offered to the trustees<br />
of the British Museum for erection in the<br />
Natural History Museum. It is estimated<br />
that £350 will cover all expenses connected<br />
with the portrait by Mr. Lucas, including a<br />
hotogravure reproduction, signed by the<br />
artist, for each subscriber of one guinea and<br />
upwards; and that an additional £750 will<br />
permit the scheme being carried out in its<br />
entirety. Subscriptions will be received and<br />
acknowledged by Professor R. Meldola, 6,<br />
Brunswick Square, London, W.C.; Professor<br />
E. B. Poulton, Wykeham House, Oxford ;<br />
Sir Wm. Barrett, Kingstown, Co. Dublin ;<br />
and the Manager, Union of London & Smith’s<br />
Bank, Holborn Circus, London, E.C. Direct<br />
payments to the Manager will be the most<br />
convenient course.<br />
<br />
A. shilling pamphlet entitled ‘“* National<br />
Principles and ational Duty.” by the author<br />
of ‘National Revival,” with a preface by<br />
the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Selborne, K.G., has<br />
been issued by the Women’s Printing Society,<br />
Ltd., Brick Street, Piccadilly.<br />
<br />
A. Swedish translation of Mr. Francis.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
uk<br />
<br />
<br />
eS ae aS<br />
. . @<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR. 101<br />
<br />
Gribble’s ‘‘ Court of Christina of Sweden ”’ will<br />
be published by Messrs. Walstrom and<br />
Widstrand.<br />
<br />
Among the Fellowship Books published by<br />
Messrs. Batsford, at 2s. net, are “ A Spark<br />
Divine,”’ a book for animal lovers, by Mr. R. C.<br />
Lehmann ; “* Romance,” by Mr. Ernest Rhys ;<br />
* Friendship,”” by Mr. Clifford Bax; ‘* The<br />
Joy of the Theatre,’’ by Mr. Gilbert Cannan :<br />
and “ The Country,” by Mr. Edward Thomas.<br />
<br />
A revised and cheaper edition of Mr.<br />
Frederick A. M. Spencer’s ‘“ Meaning of<br />
Christianity’? has now appeared (Fisher Unwin,<br />
2s. 6d. net).<br />
<br />
Viscount Esher, G.C.B., contributes a pre-<br />
face to Mrs. St. Clair Stobart’s ‘‘ War and<br />
Women from Experiences in the Balkans and<br />
Elsewhere ” (G. Bell & Sons, 3s. 6d. net).<br />
<br />
Mr. R. A. Scott-James’s “‘ Influence of the<br />
Press” is published by Partridge & Co. at<br />
3s. 6d. net.<br />
<br />
Mr. James Baker’s new work is ‘“‘ Reminis-<br />
cent Gossip of Men and Matters ” (Chapman<br />
& Hall, 6s.).<br />
<br />
Mr. A. R. Haig Brown, in “‘ My Game-Book,”’<br />
deals not only with sport in Surrey, Sussex,<br />
Norfolk, ete., but also with early adventures<br />
at Charterhouse and later days at Lancing<br />
(Witherby, 5s. net).<br />
<br />
H.M. the Queen and H.M. Queen Alexandra<br />
have both been graciously pleased to accept<br />
copies of “ A Woman’s Winter in Africa,”’ of<br />
which the publishers are Messrs. Stanley Paul.<br />
‘The author, Mrs. Charlotte Cameron, has been<br />
elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical<br />
Society.<br />
<br />
Messrs. S. Paul announce the issue, in due<br />
course, of ‘‘ Napoleon in Exile at Elba ” and<br />
“Napoleon in Exile at St. Helena,” by<br />
Mr. Norwood Young, who sails this month on<br />
his second trip to the two islands to complete<br />
his study of local Napoleonic history. Mr.<br />
A. M. Broadley will be responsible for the<br />
illustrations to the books.<br />
<br />
Mr. E. Pearse Wheatley’s ‘“ Out West ?—<br />
according to the Times, “short and breezy<br />
descriptions of life in the Canadian West,<br />
illustrated with photographs ”—is published<br />
in paper covers at 6d., by Thomas Murby &<br />
Co.<br />
<br />
A volume on “ Practical Pathology, includ-<br />
ing Morbid Anatomy and Post Mortem<br />
Technique,” by Dr. James Miller, Assistant in<br />
Pathology to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary,<br />
is shortly to be added to Messrs. Black’s<br />
Edinburgh Medical Series.<br />
<br />
Mr. Julius Price’s ‘‘ My Bohemian Days in<br />
Paris” was published on November 25<br />
<br />
([T. Werner Laurie, 10s. 6d. net, with 32<br />
drawings by the author, and a frontispiece<br />
portrait).<br />
<br />
Miss Gladys Davidson’s “ Stories from the<br />
Operas”? is now issued in one complete<br />
volume, combining the three previous series<br />
of plots of the most popular grand operas<br />
performed in England during recent years<br />
(Laurie, 6s. net).<br />
<br />
Mr. J. Stanley Little contributed an article<br />
entitled “ Insurgent Women ”’ to the November<br />
issue of Hast and West.<br />
<br />
“A Manor Book of Ottery Saint Mary ”’ is<br />
edited by Mrs. Catherine Durning Whetham<br />
and her daughter Margaret, with a note on the<br />
history of the dependent manor of Cadhay,<br />
by Mr. W. C. D. Whetham, F.R.S. (Longmans,<br />
Green & Co.).<br />
<br />
“ The Early Weights and Measures of Man-<br />
kind,” by General Sir Charles Warren,<br />
G.C.M.G., K.C.B., F.R.S., R.E., is published<br />
by the Committee of the Palestine Exploration<br />
Fund.<br />
<br />
Mr. Herbert W. Smith has written “A<br />
Trip on _a Trader, or Holidays Afloat ”<br />
(Madgwick).<br />
<br />
The Clarendon Press publishes, under the<br />
title of ‘* Robert Bridges, Poet Laureate,<br />
Readings from his Poems,” a public lecture<br />
delivered in November last in the Examination<br />
Schools, Oxford, by Professor T. Herbert<br />
Warren, President of Magdalen College.<br />
<br />
In “ The Birthright of Grimaldi ” (Kegan<br />
Paul, 4s. 6d.), Mrs. Hope Huntley claims as<br />
the birthright of the animal exemption from<br />
torture, on the plea that the essence of its life<br />
is one with the human, however greatly it may<br />
differ in degree. The right of scientific experi-<br />
ment upon living animals is questioned from<br />
the moral standpoint only, quite irrespective<br />
of medical benefits believed to be acquired<br />
thereby. H.M. Queen Alexandra has been<br />
graciously pleased to accept a copy of this<br />
book.<br />
<br />
Mr. W. L. George’s new novel, ‘The<br />
Making of an Englishman,” will be published<br />
this month by Messrs. Constable in England,<br />
and Messrs. Dodd, Mead, in the United Statcs,<br />
<br />
Mr. Reginald E. Salwey’s novel, “ The<br />
Education of Oliver Hyde,” is being pub-<br />
lished by Digby, Long & Co.<br />
<br />
A new 2s. 6d. edition has appeared of Mrs.<br />
H. M. Watson’s ‘ When the King came<br />
South ” (Religious Tract Society).<br />
<br />
“Tom Kenyon, Schoolboy,” is the name of<br />
a story by Mrs. M. Harding Kelly (Religious<br />
Tract Society). The same author has brought<br />
out “ When ?” and ‘“‘ Then,” described respec-<br />
100<br />
<br />
FOLK-LORE.<br />
<br />
A Boox or Foix-Lore. By Rev. §. Barrxa-Govrp, M.A.<br />
Collins’<br />
<br />
6% x 44. 264 pp. (The Nation’s Library.)<br />
Clear Type Press. 1s. n.<br />
HISTORY.<br />
<br />
[mprriatisM AND Mr. GLADSTONE, 1876-1888. Compiled<br />
by R. H. GRETTON. 74 x 43. 120 pp. Bell. 1s. n,<br />
<br />
LITERARY.<br />
<br />
Joun MILLINGTON SYNGE AND THE Trish THEATRE. By<br />
Mavriczk Bovrenos. Demy 8vo. xvi-+ 338 pp.<br />
Buckram. With 16 full page illustrations by Joun B.<br />
Yrats, R.H.A., Jack B. Yuats, JAMES PATERSON,<br />
R.S.A., JoHN CURRIE and others. Constable & Co.<br />
<br />
Tur LIGHTER SIDE oF ENGLISH Lirz. By F. FRANKFORT<br />
Moore. With Illustrations in Colour by GEORGE<br />
BrLcHER. 84 x 5}. 284 pp. Foulis. 5s. n.<br />
<br />
Tur KIRRIEMUIR EDITION OF THE Works or J. M. BARRIE.<br />
Ten Vols. 9% x 6%. Hodder and Stoughton. £6 6s.<br />
the set.<br />
<br />
Reminiscent Gossip oF MEN AND Marrers. By JAMES<br />
<br />
Baker, F.R.G.S. 7} X 54. viii + 246 pp. Chap-<br />
man and Hall. 6s.<br />
MISCELLANEOUS.<br />
Ovr Weér. A Collection of Sketches of Life in the<br />
Canadian West. Illustrated with photographs. Thomas<br />
<br />
Murby & Co., 6, Bouverie Street, E.C. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
NATURAL HISTORY.<br />
<br />
Wiup Anmats at Homr. By ERNEST THoMsoN SETON.<br />
8} X Bh. xvi+ 224 pp. Hodder and Stoughton. 6s. n.<br />
<br />
Tas BopLey Heap Naturat History. By EK. D. CuMINe.<br />
With Illustrations by J. A. SHEPHERD. Vol. Il. British<br />
Birds. Passeres. 6} x 5. 122 pp. Lane. 2s. n.<br />
<br />
POETRY.<br />
Tue Porms oF Francois VILLON. Translated by H. Dz<br />
<br />
VERE STACPOOLE. 9 X 6}. xii + 300 pp. Hutchin-<br />
son.<br />
POLITICS.<br />
Waranp THE Workers. By Norman ANGELL. 7% X 5.<br />
<br />
63 pp. The National Labour Press. ls.<br />
<br />
REPRINTS.<br />
A Selection from Irish Poetry. By<br />
93 x 6}. xxvi + 160 pp. Sidg-<br />
1s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
THe Witp Harp.<br />
KATHARINE TYNAN.<br />
wick and Jackson.<br />
<br />
A Century or Paropy anp Inrration. Edited by<br />
Water JERRoLD and R. M. Lxeonarp. 7 x 5.<br />
xv + 429 pp. Humphrey Milford. 1s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
Tas Hitts or Home. By L. Macuzan Watt. With the<br />
<br />
Pentland Essays of Robert Lovis STEVENSON. 8} x 5}.<br />
259 pp. Foulis. 5s. n.<br />
<br />
SCIENCE.<br />
<br />
“ Wuo’s Wuxo IN Science” (International). Edited by<br />
H. H. Srepnenson. 9} x 6. 667 pp. J. and A.<br />
Churchill. 10s. n.<br />
<br />
ContTINvrry, THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS TO THE British<br />
Association, Brruincuam, MCMXIII. By Sm OLrver<br />
Loven. Printed in full, and supplemented by Explana-<br />
tory Notes. 7} x 5. 118 pp. Dent. Is. n.<br />
<br />
SOCIOLOGY.<br />
Conruictinc pears! Two Sips oF THE Woman's<br />
Quzstion. By B. L. Hurcuis. 73 X 5. vii + 83 pp.<br />
Murby. ls. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
THEOLOGY.<br />
<br />
LIanration pz Jesus Curist. Introduction par Mer.<br />
BR. H. Benson. 64 x 4. xiii +374 pp. (Collection if<br />
Gallia.) Paris: Georges Cres et Cie. London: Dent. i<br />
<br />
Fo ols. n. Atte bem ya ao<br />
ee Raver.<br />
<br />
A Womay’s Wrxter my Arrica. By Mrs. CHARLOTTE 0)<br />
Cameron. Demy 8vo. Printed throughout on art %<br />
paper, with 155 illustrations. 403 pp. Stanley Paul |<br />
& Co. 183. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
Tun GuipE To SouUTH AND East Arrica. For the use of<br />
Tourists, Sportsmen, Invalids, and Settlers. Edited basit<br />
annually by A. SAMLER BRowN and G. Gorpon Brown, ue<br />
F.RB.G.S., for the Union Castle Mail Steamship Company. a<br />
Twentieth edition, 1914. 74 x 4}. liv + 695 pp. a:<br />
Sampson, Low.<br />
<br />
————_0 <> —_____<br />
<br />
LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL shi<br />
NOTES.<br />
<br />
——<br />
<br />
E are asked by the executive officers of<br />
the Alfred Russel Wallace Memorial<br />
Fund to state that, if a sufficient sum<br />
can be raised, the following memorials to the<br />
late Dr. A. R. Wallace are proposed: (1) A<br />
medallion to be offered to the Dean and<br />
Chapter of Westminster Abbey ; (2) a portrait,<br />
for presentation to the Royal Society, to be<br />
painted by Mr. J. Seymour Lucas, R.A., to<br />
whom Dr. Wallace had, within the last few<br />
months of his life, consented to sit ; (3) a copy<br />
of the portrait for presentation to the nation ;<br />
and (4) a statue to be offered to the trustees<br />
of the British Museum for erection in the<br />
Natural History Museum. It is estimated<br />
that £3850 will cover all expenses connected<br />
with the portrait by Mr. Lucas, including a<br />
photogravure reproduction, signed by the<br />
artist, for each subscriber of one guinea and<br />
upwards ; and that an additional £750 will<br />
permit the scheme being carried out in its<br />
entirety. Subscriptions will be received and<br />
acknowledged by Professor R. Meldola, 6,<br />
Brunswick Square, London, W.C.; Professor<br />
KE. B. Poulton, Wykeham House, Oxford ;<br />
Sir Wm. Barrett, Kingstown, Co. Dublin ;<br />
and the Manager, Union of London & Smith’s<br />
Bank, Holborn Circus, London, E.C. Direct<br />
payments to the Manager will be the most<br />
convenient course.<br />
<br />
A. shilling pamphlet entitled “ National<br />
Principles and National Duty.” by the author<br />
of “National Revival,” with a preface by<br />
the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Selborne, K.G., has<br />
been issued by the Women’s Printing Society,<br />
Ltd., Brick Street, Piccadilly.<br />
<br />
A. Swedish translation of Mr. Francis.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
Gribble’s “ Court of Christina of Sweden ”’ will<br />
be published by Messrs. Walstrom and<br />
Widstrand.<br />
<br />
Among the Fellowship Books published by<br />
Messrs. Batsford, at 2s. net, are “A Spark<br />
Divine,” a book for animal lovers, by Mr. R. C.<br />
Lehmann ; “* Romance,” by Mr. Ernest Rhys ;<br />
** Friendship,” by Mr. Clifford Bax; ‘‘ The<br />
Joy of the Theatre,” by Mr. Gilbert Cannan :<br />
and “ The Country,” by Mr. Edward Thomas.<br />
<br />
A revised and cheaper edition of Mr.<br />
Frederick A. M. Spencer’s ‘‘ Meaning of<br />
Christianity ’’ has now appeared (Fisher Unwin,<br />
2s. 6d. net).<br />
<br />
Viscount Esher, G.C,B., contributes a pre-<br />
face to Mrs. St. Clair Stobart’s ‘‘ War and<br />
Women from Experiences in the Balkans and<br />
Elsewhere ” (G. Bell & Sons, 3s. 6d. net).<br />
<br />
Mr. R. A. Scott-James’s ‘‘ Influence of the<br />
Press’ is published by Partridge & Co. at<br />
<br />
3s. 6d. net.<br />
<br />
Mr. James Baker’s new work is ‘‘ Reminis-<br />
cent Gossip of Men and Matters” (Chapman<br />
& Hall, 6s.).<br />
<br />
Mr. A. R. Haig Brown, in “‘ My Game-Book,”’<br />
deals not only with sport in Surrey, Sussex,<br />
Norfolk, ete., but also with early adventures<br />
<br />
at Charterhouse and later days at Lancing<br />
<br />
(Witherby, 5s. net).<br />
<br />
H.M. the Queen and H.M. Queen Alexandra<br />
have both been graciously pleased to accept<br />
copies of “ A Woman’s Winter in Africa,”’ of<br />
which the publishers are Messrs. Stanley Paul.<br />
‘The author, Mrs. Charlotte Cameron, has been<br />
elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical<br />
Society.<br />
<br />
Messrs. S. Paul announce the issue, in due<br />
course, of “‘ Napoleon in Exile at Elba” and<br />
“Napoleon in Exile at St. Helena,” by<br />
Mr. Norwood Young, who sails this month on<br />
his second trip to the two islands to complete<br />
his study of local Napoleonic history. Mr.<br />
A. M. Broadley will be responsible for the<br />
illustrations to the books.<br />
<br />
Mr. E. Pearse Wheatley’s ‘‘ Out West ”—<br />
according to the Times, “short and breezy<br />
descriptions of life in the Canadian West,<br />
illustrated with photographs ”—is published<br />
in paper covers at 6d., by Thomas Murby &<br />
Co.<br />
<br />
A volume on “ Practical Pathology, includ-<br />
ing Morbid Anatomy and Post’ Mortem<br />
Technique,” by Dr. James Miller, Assistant in<br />
Pathology to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary,<br />
is shortly to be added to Messrs. Black’s<br />
Edinburgh Medical Series.<br />
<br />
Mr. Julius Price’s “‘ My Bohemian Days in<br />
Paris” was published on November 25<br />
<br />
101<br />
<br />
(T. Werner Laurie, 10s. 6d. net, with 82<br />
drawings by the author, and a frontispiece<br />
portrait).<br />
<br />
Miss Gladys Davidson’s “ Stories from the<br />
Operas”? is now issued in one complete<br />
volume, combining the three previous series<br />
of plots of the most popular grand operas<br />
performed in England during recent years<br />
(Laurie, 6s. net).<br />
<br />
Mr. J. Stanley Little contributed an article<br />
entitled ‘‘ Insurgent Women ” to the November<br />
issue of Hast and West.<br />
<br />
“A Manor Book of Ottery Saint Mary ”’ is<br />
edited by Mrs. Catherine Durning Whetham<br />
and her daughter Margaret, with a note on the<br />
history of the dependent manor of Cadhay,<br />
by Mr. W. C. D. Whetham, F.R.S. (Longmans,<br />
Green & Co.).<br />
<br />
“The Early Weights and Measures of Man-<br />
kind,” by General Sir Charles Warren,<br />
G.C.M.G., K.C.B., F.R.S., R.E., is published<br />
by the Committee of the Palestine Exploration<br />
Fund.<br />
<br />
Mr. Herbert W. Smith has written “A<br />
Trip on a Trader, or Holidays Afloat”<br />
(Madegwick).<br />
<br />
The Clarendon Press publishes, under the<br />
title of “Robert Bridges, Poet Laureate,<br />
Readings from his Poems,” a public lecture<br />
delivered in November last in the Examination<br />
Schools, Oxford, by Professor T. Herbert<br />
Warren, President of Magdalen College.<br />
<br />
In “ The Birthright of Grimaldi ” (Kegan<br />
Paul, 4s. 6d.), Mrs. Hope Huntley claims as<br />
the birthright of the animal exemption from<br />
torture, on the plea that the essence of its life<br />
is one with the human, however greatly it may<br />
differ in degree. The right of scientific experi-<br />
ment upon living animals is questioned from<br />
the moral standpoint only, quite irrespective<br />
of medical benefits believed to be acquired<br />
thereby. H.M. Queen Alexandra has been<br />
graciously pleased to accept a copy of this<br />
book.<br />
<br />
Mr. W. L. George’s new novel, “The<br />
Making of an Englishman,” will be published<br />
this month by Messrs. Constable in England,<br />
and Messrs. Dodd, Mead, in the United States,<br />
<br />
Mr. Reginald E. Salwey’s novel, ‘“ The<br />
Education of Oliver Hyde,” is being pub-<br />
lished by Digby, Long & Co.<br />
<br />
A new 2s. 6d. edition has appeared of Mrs.<br />
H. M. Watson’s “When the King came<br />
South ” (Religious Tract Society).<br />
<br />
“Tom Kenyon, Schoolboy,” is the name of<br />
a story by Mrs. M. Harding Kelly (Religious<br />
Tract Society). The same author has brought<br />
out “ When ?” and “‘ Then,” described respec-<br />
102<br />
<br />
tively as a story of to-day and a tale of to-<br />
morrow (Marshall Brothers).<br />
<br />
Early in February will appear a new novel<br />
by Mr. Frederick Arthur, callec “The Great<br />
Attempt,” dealing with the aspirations and<br />
sufferings of the losing side in the political<br />
struggle which ended at the battle of Culloden<br />
(John Murray).<br />
<br />
Count Plunkett, K.C.H.S., has been elected<br />
an honorary member of the Danish Society<br />
“Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftselskab,”<br />
better known throughout Europe as the<br />
Société Royale des Antiquaires du Nord.<br />
<br />
Mr. Herbert Flowerdew’s new romance,<br />
“Love and a Title,” will be published by<br />
Greening & Co. early in the year. The serial<br />
rights of Mr. Flowerdew’s latest sensational<br />
story, ‘“‘ The Motor Ku-klux,”’ have been pur-<br />
chased in America by the Frank A. Munsey<br />
Co., and in England by Messrs. Leng, of<br />
Sheffield, the latter of whom are also bringing<br />
out in their Weekly Telegraph series of novels<br />
“The Love of Women,” which has _ not<br />
hitherto appeared in book form. In addition<br />
to his short stories in Hulton’s Christmas<br />
Magazine and the Christmas number of the<br />
Weekly Telegraph, Mr. Flowerdew has com-<br />
plete stories to appear in the Red Magazine,<br />
the Novel Magazine, and Pearson's Weekly.<br />
Mr. Flowerdew’s last published novel, “ Mrs.<br />
Gray’s Past,” is being published serially in<br />
Germany, following the example of his “‘ Ways<br />
of Men,” ‘“ The Third Wife,” and “ The Villa<br />
Mystery.”<br />
<br />
E. Reid Matheson (Mrs. E. Midgley) has a new<br />
novel entitled ‘‘The Unconscious Quest,” of<br />
which the publishers are Sidgwick and Jackson.<br />
<br />
Messrs. Walter Jerrold and R. M. Leonard<br />
are the editors of ‘“‘ A Century of Parody and<br />
Imitation ” (Humphrey Milford, Oxford Uni-<br />
versity Press, 1s. 6d. net), in which they<br />
endeavour to provide a corpus of representa-<br />
tive parodies and imitations, beginning with<br />
** Rejected Addresses’ in 1812 and coming<br />
down to the present era, though without<br />
including the work of any living writer.<br />
<br />
Miss Sheila Kaye-Smith has just brought<br />
out a volume of verse, partly ballads and partl<br />
lyrics (Erskine Macdonald, 2s. 6d.). The title<br />
is ‘‘ Willow’s Forge, and other Poems.”<br />
<br />
Messrs. John Richmond will publish early<br />
this year ‘“‘ Winged Thoughts,” a collection of<br />
representative poems from 1586 to 1914,<br />
dealing with birds, butterflies, and moths.<br />
The poems have been selected and arranged<br />
by Mrs. Irene Osgood and Mr. Horace<br />
Wyndham.<br />
<br />
Mr. Alex J. Philip has revised and brought<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
up to date the fourth edition of Greenwood’s<br />
“British Library Year Book,” to which the<br />
title is now given of ‘‘ The Libraries, Museums,<br />
and Art Galleries Year Book, 1914’ (Stanley<br />
Paul).<br />
<br />
“The Young Gordons in Canada,” by Mrs.<br />
Mary Bourchier Sandford, is published by the<br />
Religious Tract Society, uniform with other<br />
volumes in their Every Girl’s Bookshelf series<br />
(1s. 6d.).<br />
<br />
Miss Ethel M. Dell’s new novel is ‘“ The<br />
Rocks of Valpre ”’ (Fisher Unwin).<br />
<br />
Mr. W. Trego Webb, author of ‘“ Indian<br />
Lyrics,”’ ete., issues through Headley Brothers<br />
‘By Silva’s Brook, or Songs of the Faith,” a<br />
collection of religious verse.<br />
<br />
The Rev. Henry Lansdell, D.D., is bringing<br />
out the fifth part of his work on ‘ Princess<br />
Aelfrida’s Charity ”’ (6d., or 7d. post free).<br />
<br />
The first part of a new illustrated quarterly,<br />
Ancient Egypt, edited by Professor Flinders<br />
Petrie, F.R.S., F.B.A., has just made its<br />
appearance, the price being 2s. per quarterly<br />
part, or 7s. yearly, post free. The publishers<br />
are Messrs. Macmillan and the British School<br />
of Archeology in Egypt.<br />
<br />
Miss Beatrice Chase will shortly have pub-<br />
lished by Mr. Herbert Jenkins, “* The Heart of<br />
the Moor ” the outcome of ten years’ residence<br />
on Dartmoor.<br />
<br />
Mr. Arnold Haultain, Goldwin Smith’s<br />
literary executor, is preparing a second series<br />
of his late chief’s letters, and asks us to be so<br />
kind as to say that he will be grateful to any<br />
friends of Goldwin Smith who would lend him,<br />
or send him, copies of any letters which the<br />
recipients think may or should be made public,<br />
other than those included in the first series<br />
(published last spring by Mr. Werner Laurie,<br />
of Clifford’s Inn). Anything addressed care<br />
of the Bank of Montreal, 47, Threadneedle<br />
<br />
Street, London, E.C., will be thankfully<br />
acknowledged.<br />
DRAMATIC.<br />
<br />
We much regret to have to record the death<br />
last month of Mr. Stanley Houghton, author<br />
of *‘ Hindle Wakes,” ‘‘ The Younger Genera-<br />
tion,” and other plays. He was only thirty-<br />
two years of age when he succumbed to<br />
disease of the lungs at Manchester, the town<br />
of his birth and the scene of his first introduc-<br />
tion to the dramatic public by Miss Horniman.<br />
<br />
At the Globe Theatre on December 6 was<br />
produced ‘‘ The Night Hawk,’ by Messrs.<br />
Lechmere, Worrall and Bernard Merivale.<br />
<br />
“Woman on her Own,” a version by<br />
Mrs. Bernard Shaw of Brieux’s “ La Femme<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
Seule,” was seen for the first time at the<br />
Woman’s Theatre (the Coronet, Notting Hill)<br />
on December 8.<br />
<br />
“In and Out,” a version by George Paston<br />
(Miss E. M. Symonds) of Béniére’s ‘ Papillon,<br />
dit Lyonnais le Juste,”” was produced at the<br />
Shaftesbury Theatre on December 16.<br />
<br />
Mr. Jerome K. Jerome’s ‘‘ Robina in Search<br />
of a Father” was produced at the Vaudeville<br />
Theatre on December 16.<br />
<br />
Mr. Winchell Smith’s four-act play, ‘“‘ The<br />
Fortune Hunter,’’ was produced at the Queen’s<br />
Theatre on December 17.<br />
<br />
“The Sleeping Beauty Re-awakened,” a<br />
children’s pantomime by Messrs. G. R. Sims<br />
and Arthur Collins, was produced at Drury<br />
Lane on Boxing Day.<br />
<br />
Among the plays revived by Mr. and Mrs.<br />
Granville Barker during their repertory season<br />
at the St. James’s Theatre, have been ‘‘ The<br />
Doctor’s Dilemma,” by Mr. G. Bernard Shaw,<br />
and “Nan” and “The Silver Box,” -by<br />
Mr. John Galsworthy.<br />
<br />
** The Passing of the Third Floor Back ”’ was<br />
revived at the Coronet at the beginning of<br />
December, with “A Love Passage,” by<br />
Messrs. W. W. Jacobs and P. E. Hubbard, as<br />
the curtain-raiser.<br />
<br />
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘‘ The Speckled<br />
Band ”’ was played at the Kennington Theatre<br />
on December 8.<br />
<br />
On Monday afternoons, December 1 and 8,<br />
dramatic recitations of Mr. John Masefield’s<br />
** Everlasting Mercy ” were given at the Little<br />
Theatre by Mr. Alexander Watson.<br />
<br />
On December 19 an amateur performance<br />
was given at Felixstowe of a new one-act play<br />
by Mr. G. S. Layard, entitled “The Shirt of<br />
Nessus.”’<br />
<br />
“Courtship, Ancient and Modern,” a two-<br />
scene sketch by Fanny Morris Wood, was<br />
produced for the first time at the Maidenhead<br />
Theatre on November 19.<br />
<br />
Miss Elizabeth Baker’s plays, ‘“‘ The Price<br />
of Thomas Scott ’’ (produced at Manchester<br />
in September last) and ‘‘ Miss Tassey,” have<br />
both been published in book form by Messrs.<br />
Sidgwick & Jackson.<br />
<br />
_ Mrs. Frances Helen Harris has brought out<br />
in book form ‘‘ Eight Plays for the School ”’<br />
(Routledge & Sons).<br />
<br />
A play founded on Mr. Flowerdew’s novel,<br />
“The Realist,”’ is shortly to be produced at<br />
the Longacre Theatre, New York.<br />
<br />
“The Dramatic Author’s Companion,” by a<br />
Theatrical Manager’s Reader, has been pub-<br />
lished by Messrs. Mills & Boon. Mr. Arthur<br />
Bourchier contributes an introductory note.<br />
<br />
103<br />
<br />
PARIS NOTES.<br />
<br />
— +<br />
<br />
HE “Song Offerings,” by Rabindranath<br />
Tagore, have now been translated into<br />
French by André Gide and are<br />
<br />
published as ‘“‘ L’Offrande Lyrique.”<br />
<br />
The second volume of “Les Mceurs du<br />
Temps,” by Alfred Capus, is as entertaining<br />
as the first volume, published last year. The<br />
celebrated dramatic author is an optimist and<br />
a keen observer. With his never-failing good<br />
humour and delicate irony, he writes on all the<br />
questions of the day, shows up the weak<br />
points, indicates failings, and then passes on<br />
like a true philosopher. The whole volume<br />
is well worth reading.<br />
<br />
** Les Etats-Unis et la France ”’ is the title<br />
of the third volume published by the Bzblio-<br />
theque du Comité France-Amérique. The book<br />
is written by ten different authors. M. E.<br />
Boutroux, the well-known philosopher, to<br />
whom Bergson owes so much, writes a chapter<br />
on French thought and American thought.<br />
M. James Hyde takes as his subject the<br />
historical intercourse between France and the<br />
United States from 1776 to 1913; M. Léon<br />
Bénédite, M. Louis Gillet, and M. Paul Bartlett<br />
write on painting, sculpture, and architecture.<br />
There are chapters on French and American<br />
society by M. Walter Berry; on public life,<br />
by Baron d’Estournelles de Constant; on<br />
the French and American ideal, by M. Baldwin.<br />
M. Hill and Moreton Fullerton write on<br />
politics and intercourse between the two<br />
nations in the future. There are about<br />
eighteen illustrations bearing on the history<br />
of art in the United States.<br />
<br />
‘““Les Idées et les Hommes” is the title<br />
of the latest book by André Beaunier. Among<br />
the men he has chosen as subjects for his<br />
studies are Homére, Baudelaire, Edmund<br />
Gosse, and Gabriel Monod.<br />
<br />
** Les Tribunaux pour Enfants,” by Clément<br />
Griffe. The subject of this book is one that<br />
is being studied with great interest in France.<br />
The idea has been put into practice and the<br />
results are excellent.<br />
<br />
M. René Gillouin has obtained the prize<br />
awarded by the Association des Critiques<br />
littéraires, for his ‘‘ Essais de Critique littéraire<br />
et philosophique.”<br />
<br />
“Du Terreur au Consulat ’’ is the title of<br />
a volume of romantic histories of the revolu-<br />
tionary days, by Ernest Daudet.<br />
<br />
We have had numbers of books on ‘“* Old<br />
Paris.”” We now have one on “ Le Nouveau<br />
Paris,” by Raymond Escholier. The sub-<br />
104<br />
<br />
title, “‘ La Vie artistique de la Cité Moderne -<br />
explains the object of the author. The<br />
preface is written by Gustave Geffroy.<br />
<br />
Camille Flammarion has just published his<br />
“ Annuaire Astronomique et Meétéorologique<br />
pour 1914.” It is only a small volume of<br />
132 pages, but it is full of information. It<br />
gives us all the celestial phenomena for the<br />
year and many scientific notices, and it is also<br />
illustrated. :<br />
<br />
Any friends or admirers of George Gissing<br />
will be glad to hear that the scheme proposed<br />
some years ago, and headed by Madame<br />
Lardin de Musset, sister of Alfred de Musset,<br />
is being taken up once more. The idea was to<br />
have a fund for keeping flowers on the grave of<br />
the author of ‘“‘New Grub Street,’ who died<br />
in exile and was buried at St. Jean de Luz.<br />
Hitherto his grave has been tended entirely<br />
by French hands. For the tenth anniversary<br />
of his death, December 28, we have decided<br />
to accept the help of various French and<br />
American friends and, with Madame Lardin<br />
de Musset’s name at the head of our subscrip-<br />
tion list, organise a scheme which will ensure<br />
the tending of George Gissing’s grave in the<br />
future.<br />
<br />
At the Odéon ‘“‘ Rachel”? seems to have<br />
every chance of a long run. At the Théatre<br />
des Arts an excellent adaptation of Balzac’s<br />
‘“‘ Kugénie Grandet ”’ is being played.<br />
<br />
“TInstitut de Beauté’ continues to be a<br />
success at the Variétés. Madame Sarah Bern-<br />
hardt has found in ‘“‘ Jeanne Doré”’ a play<br />
admirably suited to her.<br />
<br />
Auys HALLarp.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
“T?/Offrande Lyrique” (La Nouvelle Revue Francaise).<br />
“Les Meurs du Temps” (Grasset).<br />
<br />
“ Les Idées et les Hommes ”’ (Plon).<br />
<br />
“Les Tribunaux pour Enfants” (Fontenmoing).<br />
<br />
* Annuaire Astronomique et Météorologique pour 1914 ”<br />
(Flammarion).<br />
<br />
tt<br />
<br />
DRAMATIC RIGHTS.<br />
<br />
—_>—-.<br />
<br />
ROM time to time it is necessary to call<br />
the attention of authors to the extent<br />
of their rights. This is especially the<br />
<br />
case since the passing of the recent Act.<br />
Under this Act an author’s rights have been<br />
extended in various ways. The author of a<br />
play, for instance, has the right to convert it<br />
into a novel, the bookright in the play itself,<br />
the performing right, which includes the<br />
reproduction of the play on mechanical<br />
contrivances, either the cinematograph or the<br />
gramophone, and the translation rights.<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
The right of performance by itself is fre-<br />
quently divided up into many portions.<br />
There is the right of production in a West<br />
End London theatre, there is the right of<br />
production in the suburbs, in the provinces—<br />
this again may be sub-divided according to the<br />
size of the towns: the A list, the B list, the<br />
C list, and fit up—the right in the Colonies,<br />
the right in the United States and Canada, the<br />
amateur rights, and the rights in translation<br />
on the Continent.<br />
<br />
It is the ignorance of all these points and<br />
niceties that makes the author fall readily into<br />
the pitfalls laid for him either by the agent or<br />
the manager.<br />
<br />
The first essential for a dramatic author is<br />
production. He must, therefore, never be led<br />
away by financial consideration to grant a<br />
licence unless production is secured.<br />
<br />
If a manager asks for control over the<br />
provincial rights, he may have the option over<br />
them if production takes place within a<br />
specified time.<br />
<br />
The same rule must apply to the Colonial<br />
and United States rights.<br />
<br />
The author, in neglect of his best interests,<br />
often transfers rights to a manager and then<br />
finds that the manager has no intention of<br />
producing the play outside the walls of his<br />
own West End theatre. It is not only the<br />
novice who makes the mistake; there are<br />
others. When the situation is realised, as it<br />
often is by the requests coming from managers<br />
abroad or in the United States, the author can<br />
do nothing but wish that he had taken more<br />
pains to inquire what rights he had and how<br />
they ought to be controlled.<br />
<br />
There is, however, an increasing danger<br />
against which the young dramatic author must<br />
especially be warned.<br />
<br />
Some middlemen are springing up who are<br />
gambling with the work of the author’s brain ;<br />
they buy up his dramatic effort for a comfort-<br />
able sum in advance of a very small royalty.<br />
They are not producers themselves and have<br />
no intention of producing, but the author is<br />
deceived partly by the sum in advance and<br />
partly by the purchaser’s protestations. The<br />
purchaser then proceeds to market the work<br />
to the highest bidder. In consequence, it<br />
sometimes happens that there are as Many as<br />
three middlemen between the authors and the<br />
manager, each of whom is absorbing part of<br />
the profits that might have been the author's.<br />
<br />
It is necessary, therefore, to repeat that the<br />
first essential for a dramatic author is produc-<br />
tion. He should never lease out his property<br />
unless production is assured.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
aL NII ED PIII TRIESTE STI HGS NTE<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
U.S.A. LEGAL DECISION.<br />
ee<br />
(From the Authors’ League Bulletin, U.S.A.)<br />
<br />
HE case of Dam v. Kirk La Shelle Company<br />
decided in the United States Circuit<br />
Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, in<br />
January, 1910, is of such importance to writers<br />
for magazines and other periodicals as well as<br />
to publishers that it deserves careful attention.<br />
This case may be said to be the last important<br />
decision on the question of what protection the<br />
blanket copyright secured by a magazine pub-<br />
lisher, upon his magazine, affords the authors of<br />
the various stories, articles and poems contained<br />
init. The facts were briefly as follows :—<br />
Henry J. W. Dam wrote a story in 1898,<br />
called ** The Transmogrification of Dan.” In<br />
1901 he sent the manuscript to the Ess. Ess.<br />
Publishing Company, a corporation publishing<br />
the Smart Set Magazine. The editor accepted<br />
the story and sent a cheque in return for $85,<br />
together with a receipt reading :—<br />
<br />
“Received of the Ess. Ess. Publishing<br />
Company $85 in full payment for story<br />
entitled ‘‘ The Transmogrification of Dan.”<br />
<br />
This Dam signed and mailed back to the editor.<br />
At no time did he have any interview with the<br />
editor or any correspondence bearing on the<br />
understanding with which the story was sold.<br />
<br />
The story came out in the Smart Set for<br />
September, 1901, and the particular number<br />
in question was copyrighted by the Ess. Ess.<br />
Publishing Company, in its own name, and<br />
bearing a notice which read :—<br />
<br />
“ Copyrighted, 1901, by Ess. Ess. Publishing<br />
Company.”<br />
<br />
No steps were taken by the magazine or by Dam to<br />
copyright the story separately from the magazine.<br />
<br />
Some time afterward Paul Armstrong wrote<br />
a play entitled ‘‘The Heir to the Hoorah,”’<br />
which Dam claimed was founded on his story,<br />
“The Transmogrification of Dan.” The defen-<br />
dant, Kirk La Shelle Company, presented the<br />
play by arrangement with Paul Armstrong.<br />
<br />
On October 27, 1905, the Ess. Ess. Publishing<br />
Company assigned to Dam its copyright of the<br />
- number of the Smart Set in which<br />
<br />
is story appeared, in so far as it covered or<br />
protected his story, and all its interest in the<br />
story itself and any claim or demand which it<br />
might have for the infringement of the copy-<br />
right in question.<br />
<br />
In due course Dam sued for a preliminary<br />
injunetion against the defendant, and in his<br />
affidavit swore :—<br />
<br />
_““Thave not at any time parted with any<br />
right or interest in said literary work entitled<br />
<br />
105<br />
<br />
‘The Transmogrification of Dan,’ except the<br />
right for publication thereof in said number<br />
of the Smart Set for September, 1901.”<br />
<br />
Later on, the complaint was amended so as<br />
to allege simply that Dam sold and assigned<br />
the story in question to the Ess. Ess. Publishing<br />
Company.<br />
<br />
Among other things in defence the Kirk<br />
La Shelle Company set up the claim that Dam’s<br />
original statement, sworn to in his complaint<br />
to the effect that he had not sold any of his<br />
rights in the story to the Smart Set, except the<br />
right of publication in the particular number<br />
in question, must be taken as true; and<br />
that it followed as a necessary consequence<br />
that the blanket copyright secured by the Ess.<br />
Ess. Publishing Company, on the particular<br />
issue of the magazine, only operated to afford<br />
such protection as the Publishing Company<br />
needed as publishers of the magazine, and did<br />
not operate to protect the rights which Dam<br />
retained, whatever they might have been,<br />
including the right of dramatisation which<br />
Dam claimed had been infringed and for which<br />
he asked an injunction.<br />
<br />
The Cireuit Court of Appeals found as a fact<br />
that Dam’s statement that he had parted with<br />
no right or interest in the story except that of<br />
serial publication was not the case, and (in spite<br />
of Dam’s original allegations to the contrary)<br />
that when he mailed the story to the Smart Set<br />
and the editor sent him a cheque for $85 this<br />
constituted an absolute sale without reserva-<br />
tions, and that the Ess. Ess. Publishing Com-<br />
pany thereby acquired all rights in the story,<br />
including the dramatic rights.<br />
<br />
This, in itself, would have been a decision of<br />
considerable importance, in view of the widely<br />
prevalent belief that when a magazine writer<br />
sends his product to a magazine, without an<br />
accompanying letter specifying the terms under<br />
which the story or article is offered, he is selling<br />
merely the serial rights thereto. But the<br />
Court in discussing the facts in general went<br />
somewhat beyond the precise point in issue and<br />
held that if it had been true that Dam had<br />
offered for sale and sold to the Ess. Ess. Pub-<br />
lishing Company only the right to print the<br />
story in serial form, that probably, as matter of<br />
law, the dramatic rights would never have been<br />
copyrighted at all, since it was a fundamental<br />
proposition that no one could copyright that<br />
which he did not own, and, if the Ess. Ess.<br />
Publishing Company had purchased only the<br />
serial rights in the story, the copyright upon<br />
the particular number of the Smart Set would<br />
have operated to protect only those serial<br />
rights, and that as Dem had taken no further<br />
<br />
<br />
106<br />
<br />
steps to protect or copyright the rights or<br />
interests in the story which he had reserved,<br />
and as the story had been published, there would<br />
have been an abandonment of it to the public<br />
and no protection for the dramatic rights at all.<br />
<br />
The opinion of the Court is reported in 176<br />
Federal Reporter, page 902, and reads as<br />
follows :—<br />
<br />
“It is claimed, however, that such steps<br />
accomplished no more than to obtain such<br />
protection needed as publishers of the maga-<br />
zine. Assuming that Dam retained the<br />
dramatic rights to the story, there would be<br />
much force in this contention. In such a<br />
case we doubt very much whether the steps<br />
which the publisher took to copyright his<br />
magazine, especially in view of the form of<br />
the copyright notice, would have been<br />
sufficient to protect the dramatic rights.”<br />
After referring to the case of Mifflin v.<br />
<br />
Dutton (190 U. S. 265), the Court continued :—<br />
“In view of this decision by the Supreme<br />
Court, we think that had Dam retained the<br />
dramatic rights to his story, the entry of the<br />
magazine and the notice of copyright would<br />
have been insufficient to protect them. .. .<br />
In the case of the reservation of dramatic<br />
rights, in addition to the notice of the copy-<br />
right of the magazine, it may well be that it<br />
should appear in some distinct way that such<br />
reservation of such rights to the particular<br />
story is made for the benefit of the author.<br />
Indeed, it may be that the author should<br />
contemporaneously take out in his own<br />
name a copyright covering such rights.”<br />
The Court then proceeded to hold that in-<br />
asmuch as the Ess. Ess. Publishing Company<br />
had in fact acquired all rights to the story, the<br />
copyright which they secured on the particular<br />
number of the magazine in question did operate<br />
to protect all rights, including the dramatic<br />
rights; and that, since there had been a<br />
reassignment by the Ess. Ess. Publishing Com-<br />
pany to Dam of the dramatic rights, he could<br />
properly ask for an injunction and an account-<br />
ing, and they thereupon awarded to the com-<br />
plainant, who, at the time the decision was<br />
rendered, was the administratrix of Dam’s<br />
estate, the total profits received by the Kirk<br />
La Shelle Company from its production of the<br />
play. The case was not appealed to the<br />
Supreme Court, but has since been settled and,<br />
therefore, represents the law to-day, which may<br />
be stated as follows :—<br />
<br />
(a) The sale by an author of a story to a<br />
magazine, and the acceptance of a sum of<br />
money in full payment for the story, without<br />
<br />
THB AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
any further agreement, is in legal fact an<br />
absolute sale without reservation, carrying<br />
with it as an incident of ownership the exclusive<br />
right to dramatise the story.<br />
<br />
(b) The copyright of such magazine is<br />
sufficient to secure the copyright of the story<br />
published therein, and protects the right to<br />
dramatise it when the publisher is the owner of<br />
both the story and the dramatic rights.<br />
<br />
(c) (Dictum.) Where the owner of a story<br />
sells the same only for magazine or serial pub-<br />
lication the copyright of the magazine does not<br />
protect those rights which the author retains,<br />
unless he takes some independent steps to<br />
copyright them himself; and since the pub-<br />
lishing of the story in the magazine operates as<br />
an abandonment of such rights, if the story is<br />
thereafter dramatised by a third party the<br />
author can have no redress.<br />
<br />
The action, although a recent one, was brought<br />
under the former copyright law, but there would<br />
not seem to be anything in the present Act<br />
which would qualify or render less significant<br />
the decision. The attorney for the Authors’<br />
League of America doubts seriously whether<br />
the dictum of the Court (c) is the view which<br />
will undoubtedly prevail if the point is<br />
eventually properly raised either before the<br />
Circuit Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court<br />
of the United States. He believes that this<br />
Court could have reached the same decision in<br />
the Dam case by another process of reasoning<br />
more consistent with the general understanding<br />
under which authors are accustomed to submit<br />
their manuscripts to editors and _ publishers.<br />
This he believes to be that, in default of any<br />
written or oral agreement between the parties,<br />
an editor or publisher of a magazine who pur-<br />
chases a manuscript does so on the implied<br />
understanding that he shall copyright the same<br />
and hold the copyright thereof in trust for the<br />
author, thus protecting not only the dramatic<br />
rights, but all other rights for the author’s<br />
benefit. If this be so, the author can compel a<br />
reassignment of the copyright to himself when<br />
necessary, such as Dam secured voluntarily<br />
from the Ess. Ess. Company.<br />
<br />
But, in any event, so long as this and similar<br />
matters remain in doubt, both authors and<br />
publishers should, for their own protection,<br />
agree on some system whereby the dramatic<br />
and all other rights are thoroughly safeguarded.<br />
This can be accomplished in either of two<br />
ways :—<br />
<br />
(a) The editor can copyright each story or<br />
article separately in the author’s name, printing<br />
at the bottom of the first page thereof a proper<br />
<br />
copyright notice, as follows :—<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Q<br />
4<br />
4<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
a<br />
a<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
** Copyright, John Doe, 1913.”<br />
<br />
The author should then immediately on pub-<br />
lication mail ‘one copy of the magazine to the<br />
Registrar of Copyrights in Washington, in con-<br />
formity with the requirements of the present<br />
Act, enclosing the fee of one dollar. This is,<br />
perhaps, the simplest way, although it involves<br />
a separate registration of the magazine for<br />
each story or article so copyrighted.<br />
<br />
(6) Or the author can sell his story outright<br />
to the editor or publisher and safely reserve<br />
his equitable interests in the dramatic or other<br />
rights thereto by attaching to his manuscript<br />
a “‘ rider ” or slip somewhat as follows :—<br />
<br />
“This manuscript is submitted with the<br />
understanding that, if accepted for publication,<br />
the same shall be copyrighted by the publishers<br />
and all rights under said copyright (except that<br />
of magazine publication) shall be held in trust<br />
for the benefit of the writer or his assigns, and<br />
will be reassigned to him upon demand.”<br />
<br />
The writer believes that, under the present<br />
state of the law, only by one of the two methods<br />
outlined above can a magazine writer be sure<br />
that his rights will be properly protected.<br />
<br />
ARTHUR C. TRAIN,<br />
Attorney for Authors’ League of America.<br />
<br />
—_ 9<br />
<br />
ROYALTIES ON GRAMOPHONE RECORDS.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
MoNnckKTON v. PaTuk FRERES<br />
PaTHEPHONE, LTD.<br />
<br />
‘as was an appeal from the decision of<br />
<br />
Mr. Justice Phillimore relating to the.<br />
<br />
payment of royalties on gramophone<br />
records of the ‘‘ Mousmé Waltz,’’ which the<br />
plaintiff, Mr. Lionel Monckton, composed in<br />
1911 before the new Copyright Acts came into<br />
operation. The defendants, who are manu-<br />
facturers and sellers of gramophone records,<br />
made records of the waltz in Belgium and<br />
imported them into England, as they were<br />
lawfully entitled to do before July 1, 1912,<br />
when the Act came into force; and since that<br />
date they had been selling the records without<br />
the plaintiff's consent and without paying him<br />
any royalties.<br />
<br />
It was in respect of the sale, after July 1,<br />
1912, that the plaintiff brought the action,<br />
and claimed an account of the money received<br />
by the defendants from such sales, and an<br />
injunction to restrain them from making or<br />
selling any records without his consent.<br />
<br />
107<br />
<br />
Mr. Justice Phillimore decided that under<br />
section 19 of the Act, which provides for the<br />
payment of royalties on gramophone records,<br />
the defendants were not liable to pay royalties<br />
on records made before July 1, 1912, but that<br />
if they sold any records made after that date<br />
they would have to pay royalties by the<br />
purchase and affixing of stamps in accord-<br />
ance with the regulations of the Board of<br />
Trade.<br />
<br />
The plaintiff appealed against this decision<br />
and claimed that the defendants had infringed<br />
his copyright by selling after July 1, 1912,<br />
records made before that date without the<br />
payment of royalties.<br />
<br />
There was a cross appeal by the defendants,<br />
who alleged that the regulations of the Board<br />
of Trade as to the mode of payment of royalties<br />
were ultra vires, and that they could not be<br />
compelled to purchase and affix adhesive<br />
stamps to the records.<br />
<br />
The Court of Appeal reversed the decision<br />
of Mr. Justice Phillimore as to the exemption<br />
from payment of royalties, and held that on<br />
all records of the waltz sold by the defendants<br />
after July 1, 1912, the plaintiff would be<br />
entitled to royalties at the rate of 24 per cent.<br />
on the ordinary retail price ; and that the sale<br />
of the records without the plaintiff’s consent<br />
or the payment of royalties was an infringe-<br />
ment of the plaintiff’s copyright.<br />
<br />
In the course of his judgment Lord Justice<br />
Buckley said that the seller of a record autho-<br />
rises the use of the record, and such user is a<br />
performance of a musical work; and as copy-<br />
right includes the sole right to authorise a<br />
performance of the work, an improper sale of<br />
the record would constitute an infringement<br />
of the copyright. The right of the plaintiff,<br />
however, was qualified by the provisions in<br />
the Act relating to the payment of royalties,<br />
for if these were duly paid the sale of the records<br />
would not be an infringement.<br />
<br />
The argument advanced on behalf of the<br />
defendants had reference to section 24, and<br />
particularly the proviso (b), which gives pro-<br />
tection to any person who has incurred expense<br />
before July 26, 1910, in the reproduction of a<br />
work then lawfully made, unless he is paid<br />
compensation for his rights which were sub-<br />
sisting and valuable at that date. It is<br />
difficult, however, to understand how section 24.<br />
could afford any protection to the defendants<br />
upon the facts before the Court. There was<br />
no dispute as to the circumstances. The<br />
records made by the defendants were not made<br />
before the year 1911, when the waltz was<br />
composed, and the Court of Appeal held that<br />
<br />
<br />
108 THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
the contention of the defendants could not be<br />
maintained. :<br />
<br />
The plaintiff, therefore, was entitled _to<br />
royalties unless the defendants could bring<br />
themselves within the exemption mentioned<br />
in section 19 (7) (0). :<br />
<br />
The provisions of section 19 as to the pay-<br />
ment of royalties may be generally stated as<br />
follows :— : :<br />
<br />
(A) On records of musical works published<br />
before July 1, 1912.<br />
<br />
(1) If records have been lawfully made<br />
before July 1, 1910, no royalties are pay-<br />
able on records sold before July 1, 1913.<br />
<br />
(2) If otherwise, royalties at 24 per cent.<br />
are payable.<br />
<br />
(B) On records of musical works published<br />
<br />
after July 1, 1912 :—<br />
<br />
(1) On sales prior to July 1, 1914, royalties<br />
at 24 per cent. :<br />
<br />
(2) On sales after July 1, 1914, royalties at<br />
5 per cent. :<br />
<br />
As the defendants could not claim exemption<br />
under (A) (1), they became liable for the pay-<br />
ment of royalties under (A) (2), that is to say,<br />
at 24 per cent. so long as the copyright in the<br />
waltz continues.<br />
<br />
Upon the cross appeal Lord Justice Buckley<br />
in his judgment said that the question turned<br />
upon the meaning of the word “ securing ”<br />
in section 19 (b). Under that section the<br />
Board of Trade might make regulations<br />
prescribing the mode of payment of royalties<br />
requiring payment in advance or otherwise<br />
securing the payment of royalties.” If the<br />
word ‘securing’? meant doing some act by<br />
which the debt for royalties should become<br />
secured, as distinguished from an unsecured<br />
debt, the defendants were right; but if it<br />
meant ‘ensuring or rendering certain” the<br />
payment of royalties, then the defendants<br />
were wrong. The Board of Trade had made<br />
regulations whereby, unless it were otherwise<br />
agreed, royalties were payable by means of<br />
adhesive stamps purchased from the copy-<br />
right owner and affixed to the records. The<br />
royalties were very small amounts payable<br />
upon a large number of records, and there was<br />
obviously a great difficulty in ensuring that<br />
the debt created by the sale of each record<br />
should become known to and paid to the copy-<br />
right owner. In these circumstances the fair<br />
meaning of the word “securing’’ included<br />
ensuring or rendering certain the payment of<br />
the royalties. The regulations of the Board of<br />
Trade, therefore, were not ultra vires, and the<br />
cross appeal failed.<br />
<br />
Haroip Harpy,<br />
<br />
CARD INDEXING THE LITERARY<br />
MARKET.<br />
<br />
(From the ‘“‘ Editor,’’ U.S.A.)<br />
<br />
HERE are so many good things in “ The<br />
Literary Market ” that I must use every<br />
day that I have devised a card index<br />
<br />
system of classifying it. Not all of the informa-<br />
tion is pertinent to the material I write, so I<br />
file only those items in which I am interested.<br />
I use a three by five card index drawer and<br />
enter items under the following heads: Auto-<br />
mobiles, Boys and Girls, Crops, Dairying,<br />
Flowers, Horticulture, Household, Household<br />
Mechanics, Humour, Live Stock, Motor-cycles,<br />
Popular Mechanics, Poultry, Short Stories.<br />
<br />
There is a guide card for each subject, and the<br />
cards on which the information is entered are<br />
prepared like the following sample :—<br />
<br />
Humour.<br />
<br />
Browning’s Magazine, 16, Cooper Square,<br />
N.Y.<br />
<br />
Short burlesques and narrative humour.<br />
<br />
100 to 500 words.<br />
<br />
Jokes.<br />
<br />
1 cent a word on acceptance.<br />
<br />
When I have a humorous article to sell, I<br />
look over the cards marked ‘‘ Humour ”’ and<br />
decide which market is most promising.<br />
Supplementing the index is a file of all the<br />
papers in which I am interested. As soon as<br />
T learn of a new paper that offers a market for<br />
the kind of material I write, I send for a sample<br />
and file it with the other papers of like nature.<br />
Unless I am very familiar with the paper I look<br />
it over carefully before submitting anything to<br />
it that differs from something I have sold it<br />
previously. I have something over 200 papers<br />
in my files.<br />
<br />
In addition to the subject index I have a<br />
graveyard—an index in which papers are filed<br />
alphabetically by name. These are only those<br />
papers that have suspended publication. It<br />
is sometimes important to know that these are<br />
no longer published.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Joun Y. Brary.<br />
—_—_‘_ oo<br />
<br />
MAGAZINE CONTENTS.<br />
<br />
eee<br />
BriTIsH.<br />
<br />
The Exclusiveness of Journalists. By G. K. Chesterton.<br />
<br />
Religious Drama. By W. L. George.<br />
<br />
Our Conventional Press. By Scriptor.<br />
<br />
Dramatists of To-day : III. John Masefield ; IV. Stan-<br />
ley Houghton.<br />
<br />
ConTEMPORARY.<br />
The Ballad—English and Scotch. By E. R. Montague.<br />
Literary Supplement: Saint Nicholas.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
+i<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br />
——<br />
<br />
1, VERY member has a right toask for and to receive<br />
EK advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br />
lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br />
business or the administration of his property. The<br />
Secretary of the Society is a solicitor; but if there is any<br />
apecial reason the Secretary will refer the case to the<br />
Solicitors of the Society. Further, the Committee, if they<br />
deem it desirable, will obtain counsel’s opinion without<br />
any cost to the member. Moreover, where counsel’s<br />
opinion is favourable, and the sanction of the Committee<br />
is obtained, action will be taken on behalf of the aggrieved<br />
member, and all costs borne by the Society,<br />
<br />
2, Remember that questions connected with copyright<br />
and publishers’ agreements do not fall within the experi-<br />
ence of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use<br />
the Society.<br />
<br />
3. Before signing any agreement whatever, send<br />
the document to the Society for examination,<br />
<br />
4, Remember always that in belonging to the Society<br />
you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you<br />
are reaping no direct benefit to yourself, and that you are<br />
advancing the best interests of your calling in promoting<br />
the independence of the writer, the dramatist, the composer.<br />
<br />
5. The Committee have arranged for the reception of<br />
members’ agreements and their preservation in a fire-<br />
proof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as<br />
confidential documents to be read only by the Secretary,<br />
who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers:<br />
(1) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action<br />
upon them. (2) To keep agreements. (3) To enforce<br />
payments due according to agreements. Fuller particu-<br />
jars of the Society’s work can be obtained in the<br />
Prospectus.<br />
<br />
6. No contract should be entered into with a literary<br />
agent without the advice of the Secretary of the Society.<br />
Members are strongly advised not to accept without careful<br />
consideration the contracts with publishers submitted to<br />
them by literary agents, and are recommended to submit<br />
them for interpretation and explanation to the Secretary<br />
of the Society.<br />
<br />
This<br />
The<br />
<br />
q. Many agents neglect to stamp agreements.<br />
must be done within fourteen days of first execution.<br />
Secretary will undertake it on behalf of members.<br />
<br />
8. Some agents endeavour to prevent authors from<br />
referring matters to the Secretary of the Society; so<br />
do some publishers. Members can make their own<br />
deductions and act accordingly.<br />
<br />
9. The subscription to the Society is £1 1s. per<br />
annum, or £10 10s. for life membership.<br />
<br />
—~ ><br />
<br />
WARNINGS TO THE PRODUCERS<br />
OF BOOKS.<br />
<br />
—_1—~<——_<br />
<br />
ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an<br />
agreement, There are four methods of dealing<br />
with literary property :—<br />
<br />
I, Selling it Outright.<br />
This is sometimes satisfactory, if a proper price can be<br />
<br />
109<br />
<br />
obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a<br />
competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of<br />
the Society,<br />
<br />
Il. A Profit-Sharing Agreement (a bad form of<br />
agreement),<br />
<br />
In this case the following rules should be attended to :<br />
<br />
(1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br />
duction forms a part without the strictest investigation.<br />
<br />
(2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br />
profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements<br />
in his own organs, or by charging exchange advertise-<br />
ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements,<br />
<br />
(3.) Not to allow a special charge for “ office expenses,”<br />
unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br />
<br />
(4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br />
rights.<br />
<br />
(5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights,<br />
<br />
(6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher.<br />
As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br />
doctor !<br />
<br />
III. The Royalty System.<br />
<br />
This is perhaps, with certain limitations, the best form<br />
of agreement. It is above all things necessary to know<br />
what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now<br />
possible for an author to ascertain approximately the<br />
truth. From time to time very important figures connected<br />
with royalties are published in Zhe Author,<br />
<br />
IY. A Commission Agreement.<br />
<br />
The main points are :—<br />
<br />
(1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production.<br />
(2.) Keep control of the advertisements.<br />
<br />
(3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book.<br />
<br />
General.<br />
<br />
All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four<br />
above mentioned.<br />
<br />
Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author.<br />
<br />
Never sign any agreement without competent advice from<br />
the Secretary of the Society.<br />
<br />
Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp.<br />
<br />
Avoid agreements by letter if possible.<br />
<br />
The main points which the Society has always demanded<br />
from the outset are :—<br />
<br />
(1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement<br />
means.<br />
<br />
(2.) The inspection of those account books which belong<br />
to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the<br />
nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or<br />
withheld.<br />
<br />
(3.) Always avoid a transfer of copyright.<br />
<br />
<> —____—_<br />
<br />
WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS.<br />
<br />
ae<br />
<br />
EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the<br />
Secretary of the Society of Authors or some com-<br />
petent legal authority.<br />
<br />
2, 1t is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for<br />
the production of a play with any one except an established<br />
manager.<br />
<br />
3. There are three forms of dramatic contract for plays<br />
in three or more acts :—<br />
<br />
(a.) Sale outright of the performing right. This<br />
is unsatisfactory, An author who enters into<br />
such a contract should stipulate in the contract<br />
for production of the piece by a certain date<br />
and for proper publication of his name on the<br />
play-bills,<br />
110<br />
<br />
(b.) Sale of performing right or of a licence to<br />
perform on the basis of percentages on<br />
gross receipts. Percentages vary between 5<br />
and 15 per cent, An author should obtain a<br />
percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts<br />
in preference to the American system. Should<br />
obtain a sum inadvyance of percentages. A fixed<br />
date on or before which the play should be<br />
performed. :<br />
<br />
(c.) Sale of performing right or of a licence to<br />
perform, on the basis of royalties (i.c., fixed<br />
nightly fees). This method should be always<br />
avoided except in cases where the fees are<br />
likely to be small or difficult to collect. The<br />
other safeguards set out under heading (0.) apply<br />
also in this case,<br />
<br />
4, Plays in one act are often sold outright, but it is<br />
tetter to obtain a small nightly fee if possible, and a sum<br />
paid in advance of such fees in anyevent. It is extremely<br />
important that the amateur rights of one-act plays should<br />
be reserved.<br />
<br />
5. Authors should remember that performing rights can<br />
be limited, and are usually limited, by town, country, and<br />
time, This is most important.<br />
<br />
6. Authors should not assign performing rights, but<br />
should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction<br />
is of great importance.<br />
<br />
7, Authors should remember that performing rights in a<br />
play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager<br />
holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot<br />
print the book of the words.<br />
<br />
8. Never forget that United States rights may be exceed-<br />
ingly valuable. They should never be included in English<br />
agreements without the author obtaining a substantial<br />
consideration.<br />
<br />
9. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully<br />
drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced.<br />
<br />
10, An author should remember that production of a play<br />
is highly speculative: that he runs a very great risk of<br />
delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract.<br />
He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in<br />
the beginning.<br />
<br />
11. An author must remember that the dramatic market<br />
is exceedingly limited, and that for a novice the first object<br />
is to obtain adequate publication.<br />
<br />
As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete, on<br />
account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con-<br />
tracts, those authors desirous of further information<br />
are referred to the Secretary of the Society.<br />
<br />
pe ge<br />
<br />
REGISTRATION OF SCENARIOS AND<br />
ORIGINAL PLAYS.<br />
<br />
_—<br />
<br />
haar typewritten in duplicate on foolscap paper<br />
forwarded to the offices of the Society, together with<br />
a registration fee of two shillings and sixpence, will<br />
<br />
be carefully compared by the Secretary or a qualified assis-<br />
tant, One copy will be stamped and returned to theauthor<br />
and the other filed in the register of the Society. Copies<br />
of the scenario thus filed may be obtained at any time by<br />
the author only at a small charge to cover cost of typing.<br />
<br />
Original Plays may also be filed subject to the same<br />
rules, with the exception that a play will be charged for<br />
at the price of 2s, 6d. per act.<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
DRAMATIC AUTHORS AND AGENTS.<br />
<br />
RAMATIC authors should seek the advice of the<br />
Society before putting plays into the hands of<br />
agents. As the law stands at present, an agent<br />
<br />
who has once had a play in his hands may acquire a<br />
perpetual claim to a percentage on the author's fees<br />
from it. As far as the placing of plays is concerned,<br />
it may be taken as a general rule that there are only<br />
very few agents who can do anything for an author<br />
that he cannot, under the guidance of the Society, do<br />
equally well or better for himself. The collection of fees<br />
is also a matter in which in many cases no intermediary is<br />
required. For certain purposes, such as the collection of<br />
fees on amateur performances, and in general the trans-<br />
action of frequent petty authorisations with different<br />
individuals, and also for the collection of fees in foreign<br />
countries, almost all dramatic authors employ agents; and<br />
in these ways the services of agents are real and valuable.<br />
But the Society warns authors against agents who profess<br />
to have influence with managers in the placing of plays, or<br />
who propose to act as principals by offering to purchase<br />
the author's rights. In any case, in the present state of<br />
the law, an agent should not be employed under any<br />
circumstances without an agreement approved of by the<br />
Society.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
REE AG a Se<br />
<br />
WARNINGS TO MUSICAL COMPOSERS.<br />
<br />
oe<br />
<br />
ITTLE can be added to the warnings given for the<br />
assistance of producers of books and dramatic<br />
authors. It must, however, be pointed out that, as<br />
<br />
a rule, the musical publisher demands from the musical<br />
composer a transfer of fuller rights and less liberal finan-<br />
cial terms than those obtained for literary and dramatic<br />
property. The musical composer has very often the two<br />
rights to deal with—performing right and copyright. He<br />
should be especially careful therefore when entering into<br />
an agreement, and should take into particular consideration<br />
the warnings stated above.<br />
<br />
———__+—>—_e—____—_-<br />
<br />
STAMPING MUSIC.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The Society undertakes to stamp copies of music on<br />
behalf of its members for the fee of 6d. per 100 or part<br />
of 100. The members’ stamps are kept in the Society’s<br />
safe. The musical publishers communicate direct with the<br />
Secretary, and the voucher is then forwarded to the<br />
members, who are thus saved much unnecessary trouble.<br />
<br />
Se<br />
<br />
THE READING BRANCH.<br />
ae<br />
EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this<br />
Mi branch of its work by informing young writers<br />
of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and<br />
treated as a composition is treated by a coach. The term<br />
MSS. includes not only works of fiction, but poetry<br />
and dramatic works, and when it is possible, under<br />
special arrangement, technical and scientific works. The<br />
Readers are writers of competence and experience. The<br />
fee is one guinea,<br />
—_—_—__.-<—e___<br />
<br />
REMITTANCES.<br />
<br />
_——<br />
<br />
The Secretary of the Society begs to give notice<br />
that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post.<br />
All remittances should be crossed Union of London and<br />
Smiths Bank, Chancery Lane, or be sent by registered<br />
letter only.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
ESE<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Su<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
COLLECTION BUREAU.<br />
<br />
—_—~—+<br />
<br />
HE Society undertakes to collect accounts and money<br />
due to authors, composers and dramatists.<br />
1. Under contracts for the publication of their<br />
works.<br />
<br />
2. Under contracts for the performance of their works<br />
and amateur fees.<br />
<br />
3. Under the Compulsory Licence Clauses of the Copy-<br />
right Act, i.e., Clause 3, governing compulsory licences for<br />
books, and Clause 19, referring to mechanical instrument<br />
records.<br />
<br />
The Bureau is divided into three departments :—<br />
<br />
1. Literary.<br />
2. Dramatic.<br />
3. Musical.<br />
<br />
The Society does not desire to make a profit from the<br />
collection of fees, but will charge a commission to cover<br />
expenses. If, owing to the amount passing through the<br />
office, the expenses are more than covered, the Committee<br />
of Management will discuss the possibility of reducing the<br />
commission.<br />
<br />
For full particulars of the terms of collection, application<br />
must be made to the Collection Bureau of the Society.<br />
<br />
AGENTS.<br />
<br />
Holland : : A. REYDING.<br />
United Statesand Canada. WALTER C. JORDAN.<br />
Germany Mrs Pogson.<br />
<br />
The Bureau is in no sense a literary or dramatic<br />
agency for the placing of books or plays.<br />
<br />
GENERAL NOTES.<br />
<br />
——-—-e——<br />
AUSTRALIAN CoPyRIGHT REGISTRATION.<br />
<br />
Ir is very important that the attention of<br />
dramatic authors should be called to the<br />
clauses in the Australian Copyright Act, 1912,<br />
dealing with summary proceedings and regis-<br />
tration.<br />
<br />
This Act was printed as a supplement to<br />
the April number of The Author, and gives<br />
some very powerful Summary Remedies, but<br />
the advantages to be gained by the special<br />
remedies provided under Sections 15, 16,<br />
and 17, can only be taken by those whose<br />
copyright is registered. Under the Act<br />
registration is optional. All those dramatists<br />
who have had their works infringed in the<br />
Colonies know how exceedingly difficult it<br />
is to stop an infringement in a distant<br />
country. Indeed, it is almost impossible to<br />
do so if a civil action has to be taken against<br />
the manager of a travelling company.<br />
<br />
Under the United States Act, where criminal<br />
proceedings are allowed, great advance has<br />
been made in stopping infringements, in the<br />
different States, and the same advance will,<br />
no doubt, take place through the summary pro-<br />
<br />
iit<br />
<br />
ceedings allowed under the Australian Act ; but<br />
it is essential, in order that dramatists may<br />
obtain the full value of the powers given them,<br />
that they should register their plays. We<br />
advise all dramatists, therefore, without delay,<br />
to take steps to see that their works are regis-<br />
tered in due course under the Australian Act<br />
in that country.<br />
<br />
AUSTRALIAN Boox NOovreEs.<br />
<br />
A MEMBER of the Society has been kind<br />
enough to forward some notes on the sale of<br />
books in Australia. He has taken the trouble<br />
to make certain pointed inquiries from<br />
Australian booksellers, and finds the complaint<br />
which has been put before the Society in past<br />
numbers of The Author has been amply con-<br />
firmed, namely, that the American publisher is<br />
much more enterprising and pliable and is<br />
willing to meet the Australian bookseller on<br />
better terms and is altogether a better man<br />
of business than the English publisher. He<br />
informs us that one or two publishers in<br />
England show some enterprise, but the<br />
majority do not do so.<br />
<br />
In Melbourne it appears that novels are<br />
mostly in vogue, and that, outside novels, the<br />
more important books are difficult to get and<br />
in many cases cannot be secured without much<br />
delay. This is no doubt a good deal the fault<br />
of the publisher, as the Australian bookseller<br />
seems willing to take the more expensive books<br />
for a moderate sale could he secure them<br />
readily.<br />
<br />
In the Melbourne lending libraries, just as in<br />
the English libraries, there is a certain amount<br />
of censorship. Of novels the most popular are<br />
certainly not the best written, but the advan-<br />
tage of cheaper cables will probably bring about<br />
a readier sale. A bookseller in Sydney, how-<br />
ever, one of the largest in Australia, does not<br />
welcome the cheaper cables as it would<br />
encourage the smaller firms, but the author<br />
and the public will, of course, welcome the<br />
increasing competition.<br />
<br />
Enquiry at the minor shops both in Australia<br />
and New Zealand, confirms the same points.<br />
That there is a ready sale for novels if the<br />
English publisher would only take advantage<br />
of that sale; that the American publisher has<br />
taken advantage of it, and is doing good<br />
business.<br />
<br />
Finally, a point of interest to dramatic<br />
authors was noticed; that several English<br />
playwrights have agents and that the piracy<br />
in Australia has almost died out.<br />
<br />
<br />
112 THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
AGENTS’ CLAUSES IN PUBLISHERS’<br />
AGREEMENTS,<br />
<br />
Ir has become necessary to mention once<br />
again the danger that may result from the<br />
insertion of the agency clause in an agreement<br />
between a publisher and an author, that is<br />
the clause enabling the agent to collect, to<br />
give valid receipts and sometimes even to<br />
have the control when disputes arise. This is,<br />
to use a legal phrase, an authority coupled<br />
with an interest, and cannot be cancelled as<br />
between the author and the publisher. Even<br />
the best agents in London are in the habit of<br />
inserting the clause in publishers’ agreements,<br />
and to this we very strongly object. If, how-<br />
ever, the agent, who is supposed to be acting<br />
on behalf of the author—not only draws the<br />
author’s attention to the fact that he is insert-<br />
ing this clause, but explains to him fully the<br />
dangers of the clause when it is inserted, and if<br />
when the full explanation has been laid before<br />
the author the author is still willing to sign the<br />
agreement, then nothing can be said against<br />
the agent or his methods of doing business ; but<br />
if he inserts the clause without calling the<br />
author’s attention specially to it, or if he does<br />
call the author’s attention to it, doing so in an<br />
off-hand manner, then he is acting unfairly by<br />
the author, and without due sense of the<br />
responsibilities of his position as author’s<br />
agent. We do not desire to use any stronger<br />
term as to his conduct, but think it essential<br />
that the author should be warned of the posi-<br />
tion.<br />
<br />
U.S.A. Ricuts.<br />
<br />
WE are reprinting from the Bulletin of the<br />
Author’s League of America a case which was<br />
tried some time ago, because the points then<br />
settled have been raised again in an important<br />
case which Mr. Jack London is carrying<br />
through the American Courts. A short state-<br />
ment of this appeared in the November issue<br />
of The Author. It is as well that members of<br />
the Society should understand some of the<br />
dangers which may be ahead of them as far as<br />
the United States copyright law is concerned,<br />
in order that, in the future, they may be able<br />
to safeguard themselves.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
REGISTRATION AT WASHINGTON,<br />
<br />
THE secretary has had a courteous reply<br />
from the registrar of copyrights at Washington,<br />
who has forwarded to him not only the<br />
<br />
circulars issued from the library with regard to<br />
the filing of dramatic pieces, but also copies of<br />
the forms which it is necessary to fill up. The<br />
registrar has also kindly forwarded samples of<br />
the other forms, and the Society will be ready<br />
to supply members should they wish to have<br />
them for the purposes of registration.<br />
<br />
The Society is deeply indebted to Mr.<br />
Solberg for his kindness.<br />
<br />
REMAINDER SALES.<br />
<br />
Durinc the last two or three months some<br />
serious questions have arisen with regard to<br />
remainder sales. In one or two agreements<br />
dealing with the publication of expensive books<br />
—from 15s. to 30s.—no clause has been in-<br />
serted covering the right of the publisher<br />
to sell remainders. In the cases referred to<br />
the publishers have remaindered the books<br />
without any notice to the authors. As no<br />
clause has been inserted in the agreements<br />
with regard to remainder sales, or the amount<br />
of royalty to be paid on such sales, a very<br />
difficult position is the result. Under the<br />
agreement the publisher would be bound to<br />
pay a certain percentage on the full published<br />
price. Under the usual clause for the sale of<br />
remainders the publisher generally pays a<br />
certain percentage on the net amount received.<br />
It is difficult to know what the legal decision<br />
would be if the author should bring an<br />
action for the full royalty on the published<br />
price. He would have to show that his damage<br />
amounted to that sum; whereas a publisher<br />
might maintain that, as the book was not<br />
selling, his damage really amounted only to<br />
the sum paid as a percentage on the remainder<br />
sales. We put the matter forward as a warning<br />
to authors. In almost every agreement there<br />
is a clause which deals with remainders; if<br />
there is no such clause, then we think, as a<br />
matter of courtesy, quite apart from the right,<br />
the publisher should give the author notice<br />
before he effects a sale. It would be interesting<br />
to take a case into court where a remainder<br />
sale had been made without any clause lying<br />
in the agreement dealing with the matter, in<br />
order to test the author's rights. Perhaps<br />
some. day such a case may be tried.<br />
<br />
CANON SHEEHAN MEMorRIAL.<br />
<br />
Ir has been proposed that a memorial should<br />
be set up in Doneraile, to Canon Sheehan,<br />
who died recently, and the secretary of the<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
fund has written to the Society of Authors to<br />
enquire whether any member of the Society<br />
would be willing to subscribe. Canon<br />
Sheehan must be well known to the members<br />
of the Society as the writer of a large number<br />
of books and novels. He was a member of<br />
the Society for many years, and has been a<br />
warm supporter of the Society throughout<br />
his membership. The patrons of the fund are<br />
the following :—<br />
The Right Hon. Lord Castletown, of Upper<br />
Ossory.<br />
The Right Hon. Alderman O’Shea, Lord<br />
Mayor of Cork.<br />
Sir John Arnott, Bart.<br />
Sir Bertram Windle, President University<br />
College, Cork.<br />
Colonel Grove White.<br />
Langley Brasier-Creagh, M.C.C.<br />
Lieutenant-Colonel Cuming.<br />
Captain Nichols.<br />
Should any member desire to subscribe,<br />
subscriptions should be sent to Rev. Br. P. A.<br />
Mulhall, Hon. Secretary, Doneraile.<br />
<br />
1<br />
<br />
COMMITTEE ELECTION.<br />
<br />
4<br />
<br />
N pursuance of Article 19 of the Articles of<br />
<br />
I Association of the Society, the committee<br />
<br />
give notice that the election of members<br />
<br />
of the Committee of Management will be pro-<br />
ceeded with in the following manner :—<br />
<br />
(1) One-third of the members of the present<br />
Committee of Management retire from office in<br />
accordance with Article 17.<br />
<br />
(2) The names of the retiring members are:—<br />
<br />
Sir Alfred Bateman,<br />
W. W. Jacobs,<br />
Stanley Leathes,<br />
Aylmer Maude.<br />
<br />
(3) The date fixed by the committee up to<br />
which nominations by the subscribing members<br />
of candidates for clection to the new committee<br />
may be made is January 31.<br />
<br />
(4) The committee nominate the following<br />
candidates, being subscribing members of the<br />
Society, to fill the vacancies caused by the<br />
retirement of one-third of the committee,<br />
according to the constitution :—<br />
<br />
Sir Alfred Bateman,<br />
W. W. Jacobs,<br />
Stanley Leathes,<br />
Aylmer Maude.<br />
<br />
The committee remind the members that,<br />
under Article 19 of the amended Articles of<br />
Association ‘‘ any two subscribing members of<br />
<br />
1138<br />
<br />
the Society may nominate one or more sub-<br />
scribing members other than themselves, not<br />
exceeding the number of vacancies to be filled<br />
up, by notice in writing sent to the secretary,<br />
accompanied by a letter signed by the candi-<br />
date or candidates expressing willingness to<br />
accept the duties of the post.<br />
<br />
The complete list of candidates will be<br />
printed in the March issue of The Author.<br />
<br />
—_———+ >_> —___——_-<br />
<br />
THE PENSION FUND COMMITTEE.<br />
<br />
pe<br />
<br />
N order to give members of the Society,<br />
I should they desire to appoint a fresh<br />
member to the Pension Fund Committee,<br />
full time to act, it has been the custom to place<br />
in The Author a complete statement of the<br />
method of election under the scheme for<br />
administration of the Pension Fund. Under<br />
that scheme the committee is composed of<br />
three members elected by the committee of the<br />
Society, three members elected by the Society<br />
at the general meeting, and the chairman of the<br />
Society for the time being ew officio. The three<br />
members elected by the Society are Mr. Owen<br />
Seaman, Mr. M. H. Spielmann, and Mrs. Alec<br />
Tweedie. This year Mrs. Alec Tweedie retires<br />
under the scheme and submits her name for<br />
re-election.<br />
The members have, however, power to put<br />
forward other names under clause 9, which runs<br />
as follows :—<br />
<br />
“ Any candidate for election to the Pension Fund Com-<br />
mittee by the members of the society (not being a retiring<br />
member of such committee) shall be nominated in writing<br />
to the secretary at least three weeks prior to the general<br />
meeting at which such candidate isto be proposed, and the<br />
nomination of each such candidate shall be subscribed by<br />
at least three members of the society. A list of the names<br />
of the candidates so nominated shall be sent to the members<br />
of the society, with the annual report of the managing<br />
committee, and those candidates obtaining the most votes<br />
at the general meeting shall be elected to serve on the<br />
Pension Fund Committee.”<br />
<br />
In case any member should desire to refer to<br />
the list of members he can do so if he gives<br />
notice to the secretary, or if he prefers he can<br />
forward the name of his proposed candidate or<br />
candidates and the secretary will inform him<br />
if they are members.<br />
<br />
It will be as well, therefore, should any mem-<br />
ber desire to put forward a candidate, to take<br />
the matter within his immediate considera-<br />
tion. The general mecting of the Society is<br />
usually held in March. It is desirable that all<br />
nominations should be in the hands of the secre<br />
tary before January 31.<br />
<br />
<br />
114<br />
M. ANATOLE FRANCE IN LONDON.<br />
<br />
—— +<br />
<br />
ANATOLE FRANCE has been on a<br />
visit to London during the past month<br />
and on December 10, a dinner was<br />
given in his honour at the Savoy Hotel. Lord<br />
Redesdale presided at the dinner, among those<br />
present at which were the Earl of Cromer,<br />
Viscount Goschen, Mrs. Humphry Ward, Mr.<br />
H. G. Wells, Miss Marie Corelli, Mr. Alfred<br />
Sutro, Mr. Israel Zangwill, Mr. W. J. Locke,<br />
Mr. John Galsworthy, Madame Sarah Grand,<br />
Mr. C. Lewis Hind, Mr. Jerome K. Jerome,<br />
Mr. W. W. Jacobs, Sir Frederick Pollock, Mr.<br />
T. P. O'Connor, M.P., Sir D. Mackenzie Wallace<br />
<br />
and Sir James Yoxall, M.P. Apologies for.<br />
<br />
inability to attend were sent by Mr. Asquith,<br />
Mr. Balfour, and Mr. Thomas Hardy.<br />
<br />
The chairman, in proposing the toast of the<br />
guest of the evening, said that he might have<br />
referred to him as one who has distinguished<br />
himself in many capacities, one who was an<br />
antiquary, a scholar, a man of science, an<br />
artist ; but he preferred to speak of him in a<br />
capacity which included all those qualifications,<br />
the capacity of an illustrious novelist. The<br />
novel was the champagne of prose literature—<br />
and it was a Yorkshire parson, Sterne, who<br />
invented the novel, as it exists to-day. He<br />
hoped he would not be charged with boasting<br />
if he weleomed M. France to the home of the<br />
novel.<br />
<br />
M. France, in the course of his reply, said<br />
that it was fitting the chairman should have<br />
spoken of the novel, both because he was the<br />
admirable writer who had made known in<br />
Europe the heroic tales of Japan, and because<br />
he was an Englishman. During two centuries<br />
English writers had produced masterpieces in<br />
this genre. Need he recall the names of<br />
Richardson and Fielding, Swift and Defoe,<br />
Seott, Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot ?<br />
There he pulled up, in order not to confer on<br />
the living a premature apotheosis! England<br />
was the native home of the novel, as was<br />
Normandy of the apple or Valencia of the<br />
orange. ‘Why? That question could be<br />
answered only in a large volume or in a single<br />
word. He would answer it in a word. The<br />
novel was in its nature intimate, cordial, and<br />
homely, and the spirit of the Englishman was<br />
homely, intimate, and cordial. What was<br />
infinitely precious to him as their guest, he<br />
gontinued, was the opportunity which was<br />
given to him now to express his respectful and<br />
tender affection for England, and to pay<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
homage to all there who represented the<br />
essential English genius, to all of them who,<br />
after a long series of robust generations,<br />
conveyed the vast and profound spirit of<br />
Shakespeare and Bacon. In this English<br />
genius there was a vigorous continuity which<br />
provoked wonder and compelled admiration.<br />
Its gravity, wedded to a perfect good humour,<br />
its happy combination of realism with a<br />
sublime idealism, its patient effort after justice,<br />
its virile energy and constancy in virtue, made<br />
it a perpetual homage to human liberty and<br />
human dignity. It had won the esteem of the<br />
whole world and had nowhere been better<br />
known nor more esteemed than in France.<br />
<br />
———_+— + —_—___<br />
<br />
UNITED STATES NOTES.<br />
<br />
——<br />
<br />
HERE still continues to be discussion<br />
about the relative quantity and quality<br />
of books produced in the United States ;<br />
<br />
and the: Publishers’ Weekly, in whose columns<br />
the matter has been amply debated, has<br />
recently expressed the hope that ‘‘ the much-<br />
abused slogan ‘ fewer and better books’ is at<br />
last being heard.” Figures do not, indeed,<br />
support the idea that the output of books (of<br />
all kinds) is decreasing at the moment, since<br />
the Fall Announcement List shows an increase<br />
in titles of 5 per cent. over last year’s—itself<br />
nearly 29 per cent. larger than that of 1911.<br />
But it is thought that, on the whole, there will<br />
prove to have been a numerical decline in<br />
book-production for two years past, accom-<br />
panied by an improvement in quality in the<br />
non-fiction class. One Boston publisher has<br />
ventured on the opinion that the ery ought<br />
now to be changed to ‘‘ more and better books.”<br />
It is noteworthy that the publishers profess<br />
the most vivid interest in the question. The<br />
authors are comparatively silent.<br />
<br />
Biographical works have been unusually<br />
numerous since I last wrote. First place may<br />
be given to ex-President Roosevelt’s and<br />
Admiral Dewey’s autobiographies. Then there<br />
are Senator H. Cabot Lodge’s “ Early<br />
Memories ” ; Amelia Barr’s ‘“ All the Days of<br />
My Life”; Mrs. John A. Logan’s ‘‘ Reminis-<br />
cences of a Soldier’s Wife ’? ; and F. T. Martin’s<br />
“Things I Remember.” ‘Harrison Gray<br />
Otis”’ is portrayed by S. E. Morrison, a<br />
descendant. W.J. Johnson writes of “ Lincoln<br />
the Christian,” Dr. W. Elliot Griffis of “‘ Hep-<br />
burn of Japan,’’ Caroline Ticknor of ‘‘ Haw-<br />
thorne and his Publisher.’’ W. E. Ford edits<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
“The Writings of John Quincey Adams,”<br />
Frederick Bancroft ‘‘The Speeches, Corre-<br />
spondence, and Political Papers of Carl<br />
Schurz,’ and Sara Norton and M. A. de Wolfe<br />
Howe, conjointly, ‘‘ The Letters of Charles<br />
Eliot Norton.”<br />
<br />
Among the historical works are Senator<br />
J. H. Lewis’s ‘‘ Two Great Republics—Rome<br />
and the United States’; J. Spencer Bassett’s<br />
“‘ Short History of the United States”; G. L.<br />
Rives’s “‘The United States and Mexico,<br />
1821-1848’; Rear-Admiral Fiske’s ‘‘ War<br />
Time in Manila”; J. A. Le Roy’s “ The<br />
Americans in the Philippines’; R. M. John-<br />
ston’s ‘ Bull Run: Its Strategy and Tactics ” ;<br />
and R. F. Guardia’s ‘‘ Discovery and Conquest<br />
of Costa Rica.”<br />
<br />
Two notable Anglo-American books are<br />
Senator Lodge’s “‘One Hundred Years of<br />
Peace’’; and Mr. Whitelaw Reid’s ‘“* American<br />
and English Studies.”<br />
<br />
Ex-President Taft has a work to his credit—<br />
“Popular Government: Its Essence, its<br />
Permanence, and its Perils.” Somewhat<br />
similar in the suggestion of its title is H. C.<br />
Emery’s ‘‘ The Politician, the Party, and the<br />
People.”’ Political also are ‘‘ The Theory of<br />
Social Revolution,’ by Brooks Adams ; ‘‘ The<br />
Monroe Doctrine, an Obsolete Shibboleth,” by<br />
H. Bingham ; and “‘ A Preface to Politics,”’ by<br />
Walter Lippmann. The feminist question is<br />
considered in ‘‘Sex Antagonism,” by W.<br />
Heape; ‘‘ Woman in Science,” by H. J.<br />
Mozens; and “A Survey of the Woman<br />
Problem,” by Rosa Mayreder. “ Present<br />
Forces in Negro Progress,” is by Dr. W. D.<br />
Weatherford. C. O. Gill and G. Pinchot<br />
discuss ‘‘ The Country Church: Its Decline<br />
and the Remedy.”<br />
<br />
Professor W. G. Bleyer is the author of<br />
“Newspaper Writing and Editing,” and Pro-<br />
fessor F. P. Graves of ‘‘ A History of Education<br />
in Modern Times.”<br />
<br />
Literature and art do not claim a long list<br />
of recent books. Among them, however, is<br />
ex-President Roosevelt’s “‘ History as Litera-<br />
ture, and other Essays.” ‘“‘ The Book of the<br />
Epic,” is by H. A. Guerber ; ‘‘ Art and Common<br />
Sense,” by Royal Cortissoz; ‘‘ London in<br />
English Literature,” by P. H. Boynton. In<br />
“The Wallet of Time,’’ William Winter deals<br />
with the American stage between 1791 and<br />
1812, while Dr. R. E. Burton writes about<br />
‘* The New American Drama.”’<br />
<br />
Travel books and the like are fairly numerous.<br />
“The Panama Gateway,’ by J. B. Bishop ;<br />
“The Panama Canal,” by Earle Harrison ;<br />
“The Story of the Panama Canal,” by Logan<br />
<br />
115<br />
<br />
Marshall ; and “‘ Pacific Shores from Panama,”<br />
by E. C. Peixotto, all derive their inspiration<br />
from one source. Home is dealt with in R. H.<br />
Schauffler’s ‘‘ Romantic America,”’ Caroline<br />
Richards’s ‘‘ Village Life in America (1852-<br />
72), and Belmore Brown’s ‘‘ Conquest of<br />
Mount McKinley.” P. J. Eder, with ‘‘ Colom-<br />
bia,” and D. R. Williams, with ‘“‘ The Odyssey<br />
of the Philippine Commission,” go further<br />
afield; and further still, Theodore Dreiser’s<br />
** A Traveler Abroad,’ C.S. Oleott’s ‘‘ Country<br />
of Sir Walter Scott,” and A. H. Exner’s<br />
** Japan as I Saw It.”<br />
<br />
By exercising a discrimination,, which .may<br />
not be entirely just, it is possible to reduce the<br />
army of new novels to reasonable dimensions.<br />
Undoubtedly the most popular of the autumn<br />
volumes were Gene Stratton-Porter’s ‘‘ Laddie”’<br />
and Rex Beach’s ‘“‘ The Iron Trail.’ The best<br />
sellers’ lists have also included ‘‘ The Way<br />
Home,” by Basil King; ‘A Fool and his<br />
Money,” by G. B. McCutcheon; “ Otherwise<br />
Phyllis,’ by Meredith Nicholson; ‘The<br />
Business of Life,” by R. W. Chambers ; “ The<br />
Lady and the Pirate,” by Emerson Hough ;<br />
and ‘“‘ The White Linen Nurse,”’ by Eleanor<br />
Hallowell Abbott. Richard Harding Davis’s<br />
new novel is ‘‘The Lost Road”; Payne<br />
Erskine’s ‘“‘ The Eye of Dread ”’ ; R. W. Kauff-<br />
mann’s ‘‘ The Spider’s Web ”; G. R. Chester’s<br />
“Wallingford and Blackie Daw”; Kate<br />
Douglas Wiggin’s ‘‘ The Story of Waitstill<br />
Baxter”; L. J. Vance’s “ Joan Thursday ”’ ;<br />
Ridgewell Cullum’s “‘ The Twins of Suffering<br />
Creek’; Edith Wharton’s “‘ The Custom of<br />
the Country’; Stewart Edward White’s<br />
** Gold ” ; F. H. Spearman’s ‘“‘ Merrilie Dawes ”<br />
Harriet Hobson’s “‘ Sis Within ’?; and Harold<br />
Bell Wright’s ‘‘The Eyes of the World.”<br />
Margaret Deland has brought out “ Partners ” ;<br />
Samuel Blythe, ‘‘ The Price of Place” ; Anne<br />
Elliott, ‘‘ The Memoirs of Mimosa ”’ ; Marjorie<br />
Patterson, ‘‘ The Dust of the Road”; David<br />
Potter, “‘ The Streak’; Anne Wharton, “A<br />
Rose of Old Quebec’’; Laura E. Richards,<br />
“The Little Master’?; Mrs. Corra Harris,<br />
“In Search of a Husband’; Will Levington<br />
Comfort, ‘‘Down among Men”; Harold<br />
MacGrath, ‘‘ Deuces Wild’; Mary Johnston,<br />
‘Hagar’; Gouverneur Morris, “If You<br />
Touch Them They Vanish”; J. B. Ellis,<br />
‘“‘TLahoma’’; and W. M. Harvey and J. C.<br />
Harvey, ‘“‘The Hills o’ Hampshire.” Mrs.<br />
R. C. Sheffield’s novel, ‘‘ The Golden Hollow,”<br />
sprang into immediate fame owing to an<br />
attempt by the lady’s husband to prevent<br />
its publication, on the ground that he was<br />
libelled in it !<br />
<br />
<br />
Finally, mention must not be omitted of<br />
two posthumous works of fiction—Myrtle<br />
Reed’s “Threads of Grey and Gold,” and<br />
Vaughan Kester’s ‘‘ The Hand of the Mighty,<br />
and other stories.” :<br />
<br />
The obituary of the past half-year contains<br />
many names of writers, though perhaps the<br />
majority of them are but little known in<br />
England. In June, too late for inclusion in<br />
the last issue of these notes, occurred the deaths<br />
of Lucius Harwood Foote, a poet who was once<br />
U.S. Minister to Korea; of the Rev. Dr. C. A.<br />
Briggs, hero of a Presbyterian heresy-trial<br />
eleven years ago, and a prolific religious writer ;<br />
of M. M. Muhleman, author of a number of<br />
financial works; of T. A. Janvier, editor,<br />
novelist, ete., and friend of Frédéric Mistral ;<br />
of the Rev. E. G. Murphy, a southern philan-<br />
thropist ; and of Judge T. M. Norwood, ex-<br />
Confederate and Senator. Early in July died<br />
Mrs. Mary Harrison Seymour, a writer of<br />
children’s books. Miss Nell Speed, another<br />
worker in the same line, followed her at the<br />
beginning of August. Professor J. C. Coney,<br />
of Princeton University, died on July 25.<br />
September saw the deaths of Professor A. G.<br />
Newcomer ; of the Kentuckian, R. T. Durrett ;<br />
of the Rev. Dr. James Orr; and of Eliakum<br />
Zunser, the Yiddish poet. In October died<br />
Stanley Waterlow; Stephen Jenkins; the<br />
Rev. Dr. J. I. Mombert; Professor C. F.<br />
Richardson ; Mrs. Sara Andrew Schafer; W.<br />
Garrott Brown; Mrs. M. B. Crowninshield,<br />
widow of the Admiral; and Reuben Gold<br />
Thwaites, of Wisconsin University. Price<br />
Collier died on November 8, when on a visit to<br />
the Baltic. The writings of the last named are,<br />
of course, as well known in the Old World as<br />
in the New.<br />
<br />
Puitie WALSH.<br />
<br />
—————p-~<¢—___<br />
<br />
ARTISTS, CRITICS, AND EXHIBITIONS.<br />
<br />
—-— +<br />
<br />
A” interesting article in a recent issue<br />
of The Author on artists and critics<br />
<br />
prompts me to offer a few remarks on<br />
the subject; my excuse being that I have<br />
been writing about art for more years than I<br />
care to recall, and that during that time I have<br />
had considerable opportunity, not merely of<br />
thinking about the vexed question of the<br />
legitimate limits and province of art criticism,<br />
but what is more to the point, of learning<br />
from all sorts and conditions of artists, their<br />
views thereon.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
116 THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
I would like to epitomise, as briefly as<br />
possible, these views with which, I confess,<br />
I have a large measure of sympathy. Artists<br />
generally hold, as your contributor hints,<br />
that it is absurd, speaking generally, to suppose<br />
that one man can be competent to tackle<br />
every phase of artistic thought and expression :<br />
every school of art. They hold that the critic<br />
is lacking, commonly, in catholicity of taste,<br />
<br />
and that his knowledge of painting and ~<br />
<br />
sculpture is necessarily limited, in a technical<br />
sense and in other regards. In most cases the<br />
critic has a strong bias toward a particular<br />
school of painting, so that he is apt to judge<br />
everything that comes under his review from<br />
the standpoint of its approximation to, or<br />
deviation from, the preconceived standard<br />
he has set up in his mind, The literary<br />
man is in a much happier case in regard<br />
to the newspaper judgment of his work,<br />
because, in the first place, his critic is<br />
another literary man and consequently knows<br />
something about the technical difficulties of<br />
the literary vehicle of expression. Moreover,<br />
as your contributor remarks, the editor sees<br />
that a book coming to him for review is sent<br />
out to the critic who has made, or is supposed<br />
to have made, a special study of the subject<br />
treated in that particular book. Editors know<br />
that such and such a reviewer on their list is<br />
incompetent to judge, say, a theological work,<br />
though he may be trusted not to make a fool<br />
of himself in dealing with a treatise on the<br />
arts and crafts.<br />
<br />
Artists maintain that the language of art<br />
is art, and that although Ruskin and others<br />
have tried to translate it, put it into words,<br />
that is to say, it remains a thing apart, to be<br />
understood fully by the practitioners of art<br />
only. A writer can only tell you what is<br />
wrong with a picture, whereas he should he<br />
able both to point out a fault and tell you<br />
how to correct it.<br />
<br />
If a critic should tell a writer that his book<br />
is full of split infinitives; that the meaning is<br />
often obscured by the too free and too com-<br />
plicated use of parenthesis, that its facts are<br />
faulty; its opinions based on insecure or<br />
fallacious grounds ; its style loose, or what not,<br />
he has not only pointed out definite faults,<br />
but in doing so has suggested remedies. The<br />
assumption is that the literary critic knows<br />
how to write well enough to improve the book<br />
he criticises, and this he either proves or the<br />
reverse by the quality of his own literary style<br />
and the character of his criticism; whereas<br />
an art critic is not called upon to prove his<br />
power to improve a picture in writing about it.<br />
<br />
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<br />
THE AUTHOR. 117<br />
<br />
In view of these and cognate considerations,<br />
it is held by artists that they are to be pardoned<br />
if they look upon art criticism generally in<br />
the light of “notices,” rather than as a<br />
guide to aid and correct performance. Conse-<br />
quently, it is not unnatural that when a<br />
notice becomes offensive they commonly<br />
resent it.<br />
<br />
' If a painter should come into another<br />
painter’s studio and say bluntly, ‘‘ That arm’s<br />
too long,”’ or ‘‘ That nose is too short,” indicat-<br />
ing the alteration necessitated with a piece of<br />
chalk, he is in fair way to prove himself right<br />
or wrong; the matter can be determined one<br />
way or the other. The like applies to much<br />
more subtile criticisms. Whereas, when a<br />
critic arbitrarily declares that a picture is<br />
‘too degraded in tone,” that it lacks distinc-<br />
tion, that the artist needs to take lessons in<br />
perspective, that his colour gradations are in<br />
defiance of truth, or too truthful to be<br />
beautiful, and so forth, he merely makes<br />
assertions upon which no onus of proof rests.<br />
<br />
To come from the general to the particular.<br />
It is undeniable that mixed exhibitions in<br />
London and other great cities are, generally<br />
speaking, arranged with the design to attract<br />
attention, to draw the town, so to speak; to<br />
express and take advantage of any new theory<br />
that may have ‘“‘ caught on.” The result is<br />
that pictures not painted with these aims are<br />
fairly certain to be overlooked by the critic<br />
whose one preoccupation frequently is to make<br />
“copy.” So that in recent days, truth to<br />
nature no longer counts, and the indirect<br />
result is that too many artists, rather than<br />
run the risk, amounting almost to a certainty,<br />
of being left behind, throw nature and truth<br />
overboard. They become frantically eager to be<br />
in the movement, to assert their “individuality ”’<br />
and so secure notice. To-day, moreover,<br />
pictures are more and more regarded as mere<br />
wall decorations, and this being so any new<br />
convention pleases for the moment, so long, that<br />
is to say, as the particular scheme of colour<br />
and design is in the mode. To this scheme<br />
pictures must accord. The result is lament-<br />
able for the landscape painter ; for what does or<br />
can the average fashionable Londoner know<br />
about the country, which he merely resorts to<br />
in the holiday-maker’s spirit? As the town<br />
continually increases its boundaries, this must<br />
be more and more the spirit in which the<br />
country is regarded and tolerated. Despite<br />
the fact that motors take Londoners from<br />
centre to centre, their view of the country<br />
must be merely panoramic, and their apprecia-<br />
tion of it must become increasingly super-<br />
<br />
ficial and artificial.* The real life and soul of<br />
nature, the real meaning of the countryman’s<br />
life and habit of |thought become less and less<br />
understood. Hence, if a landscape painter in<br />
any case is to attract a wide public his work<br />
must become more and more decorative and<br />
conventional: it must be painted to supply<br />
a@ want.<br />
<br />
The time has already arrived, speaking in<br />
the social sense, when London exists solely for<br />
those who follow fashion and resort to it to be<br />
tickled with the latest novelty. Its exhibitions<br />
of pictures must, if they are to pay their way,<br />
conform to the inexorable necessity of tickling<br />
the palates of the groundlings. Consequently<br />
the true artist is returning to that happier<br />
and far more gracious state when exhibitions<br />
and critics were factors outside his considera-<br />
tion. He is becoming content to paint for<br />
those few whom the good God gives him; for<br />
appreciative folk of his own neighbourhood,<br />
folk familiar with and loving the scenes he<br />
depicts. He works, as all great artists of old<br />
worked, to please those with whom he comes<br />
into direct contact, leaving his fame now and<br />
hereafter, in a more extended sense, to take<br />
care of itself. The artists who have arrived at<br />
this sensible and dignified resolve are much<br />
happier in themselves and in their work than<br />
those to whom exhibitions and newspaper<br />
notices are necessities.<br />
<br />
Jas. STANLEY LITTLE.<br />
——_——_ + —~>—__+-—______—__<br />
<br />
WHO’S WHO, 1914.*<br />
eg<br />
<br />
2 HO’S Who” is so well known as<br />
hardly to stand in need of recom-<br />
‘ mendation. There is in any year<br />
very little to be said about this valuable annual<br />
except that it has again grown larger, and will<br />
so be more helpful than heretofore. We have<br />
only to remark that the new volume maintains<br />
its traditional level, which is giving it the<br />
<br />
highest praise that can be bestowed upon it.<br />
ae<br />
<br />
WHO'S WHO YEAR-BOOK FOR 1914—15.¢<br />
<br />
ne<br />
<br />
N a few words contained in his preface, the<br />
editor of ‘‘ Who’s Who” very justly draws<br />
attention to the assistance which all<br />
<br />
possessors of that work will derive from this<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
* “Who's Who, 1914.” Sixty-sixth year of Issue.<br />
London: Adam and Charles Black.<br />
<br />
+ ‘“Who’s Who Year-Book for 1914—15.” London :<br />
Adam and Charles Black.<br />
118<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
fellow-volume, the ‘‘ Who’s Who Year-Book.”’<br />
The commodious alphabetical arrangement of<br />
the larger volume necessarily precludes any<br />
grouping of the vast amount of information<br />
which it contains. This grouping of infor-<br />
mation is, at the same time, indispensable<br />
when a name has to be sought; and 1s<br />
immediately provided by the exhaustive<br />
indexes under various headings presented in<br />
the ‘‘ Year-Book.’’ We therefore entirely<br />
agree with the editor that “it can be truly<br />
said that no one who does not spend an extra<br />
shilling on the lesser work can reap the full<br />
advantage of the larger one.’”’” Among new<br />
tables included for the first time in the present<br />
edition are: A list of the Heads of Universities,<br />
of General Officers and Admirals on the Active<br />
List, of Premiers of Colonies, and Members of<br />
Royal Commissions now sitting. While recom-<br />
mending the work generally, we must add that<br />
it is one likely to be particularly useful to<br />
journalists as well as to other literary men.<br />
<br />
——_+ + —___<br />
<br />
THE WRITERS’ AND ARTISTS’ YEAR-<br />
BOOK.*<br />
<br />
1<br />
<br />
S there any occasion to say that ‘‘ The<br />
Writers’ and Artists’ Year-Book ”’ ought<br />
to be in the hands of every author? We<br />
<br />
hope that there is not, for no manual of equal<br />
value exists, whilst its price puts it within the<br />
easy reach of all. Among the new features of<br />
the volume of 1914 are an article on cinema-<br />
play writing by an expert, a detailed list of<br />
cinema companies and their requirements, and<br />
an article on press photography. In addition<br />
to this the book has been this year greatly<br />
enlarged by the inclusion of fresh matter;<br />
whilst a last but most happily invented<br />
novelty is, at the end of the volume, the<br />
provision of blank pages, duly ruled, on which<br />
authors may record where MSS. are sent and<br />
when, and with what results. The conve-<br />
nience of this will be instantly apparent to<br />
all contributors to periodicals, and ought alone<br />
widely to increase the popularity of this<br />
valuable little book.<br />
<br />
* “The Writers’ and Artists’ Year-Book, 1914,” Iondon:<br />
am and Charles Black.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
**BOOK PRICES CURRENT.” *<br />
<br />
oo<br />
<br />
HE numbers of Book Prices Current lying<br />
aL before us complete the twenty-seventh<br />
volume; and record the sales from<br />
March 18 to August 1, 1918. We learn from<br />
the preface that the auction season has been<br />
‘*one of the busiest on record, as well as one<br />
of the most successful.”” The total amount<br />
realised, in more than sixty high-class sales,<br />
has closely approached £200,000, a sum exceed-<br />
ing any previously on record for a corresponding<br />
period; whilst the average sum realised<br />
throughout the season has been £5 Os. 7d. ;<br />
also the highest on record; 1911, 1912,<br />
previously the highest average recorded, gave<br />
an average of £5 Os. 2d. This remarkable<br />
record has not been due to the Huth sale alone.<br />
During the last two years a very large number<br />
of rare and valuable books have come into the<br />
auction rooms, and they have fetched there<br />
higher prices than at any previous date. On<br />
the other hand, other books, of value, but not<br />
such as are sought by the book collector have<br />
sold for sums considerably smaller than they<br />
fetched a fewyears ago. Here the scholar, as<br />
distinct from the book collector enjoys an<br />
advantage, and may hope to purchase volumes<br />
<br />
required for working purposes at somewhat -<br />
<br />
diminished prices. The editor of Book Prices<br />
Current speaks of the impression that ‘“ all<br />
sorts and conditions of owners desire to dispose<br />
of their possessions as quickly as possible ’’ as<br />
an. “‘ illusion,”” but we must confess to wishing<br />
that we could be quite sure of that ; or even sure<br />
that authors at least paid as much attention as<br />
their calling demands to the possession of<br />
books—and to reading them. A depreciation<br />
in the value of books that are not collectors’<br />
books has a sinister appearance of being of one<br />
piece with a good many other phenomena of<br />
“the advance of education,” or what at present<br />
passes for such.<br />
<br />
We have, unfortunately, space for picking<br />
out only a very few plums from the widely<br />
interesting details of the new numbers of this<br />
always entertaining periodical. Those who<br />
like to read of strange books, of the most<br />
varied description, should turn to the pages<br />
<br />
recording the sale (April 3, 4, Sotheby) of the ©<br />
<br />
first portion of a book-lover’s library. Authors<br />
are likely to be particularly interested in such<br />
lots as (April 3, Hodgson) Meredith ‘‘ Ordeal<br />
of Richard Feverel,”’ first edition, 8 vols.,<br />
original cloth, 1859, £8 15s. The same price<br />
<br />
* “ Book Prices Current,” Vol. XXVII., Nos. 4 and 5,<br />
1913. 2s<br />
<br />
London : -Elliot Stock.<br />
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te het Sg a ES<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR. 119<br />
<br />
was paid (April 23, Sotheby) for two works by<br />
Gissing (“Workers in the Dawn,” “ The<br />
Unelassed’’), both similarly first editions in<br />
three volumes in the original cloth. Very<br />
striking were the prices fetched at the sale of<br />
the Browning Collections (May 2, MSS. ;<br />
May 5—7, printed books, Sotheby). Particu-<br />
larly the prices paid for the MSS., should be<br />
noted. Every one of them would be worth<br />
quotation if we had space ;_ but we can record<br />
here only such things as pairs of small manu-<br />
script note-books selling for £33, £50, and £52 ;<br />
and the autograph of “* Sonnets from the Portu-<br />
guese” for £1,130. The printed books also<br />
fetched quite fancy prices on account of<br />
ownership, autographs and manuscript notes.<br />
Eleven volumes of the Tauchnitz classics sold<br />
for £24. On June 2 Messrs. Sotheby began the<br />
sale of the fourth portion of the Huth library.<br />
It will be needless to say that, as on previous<br />
occasions, no notice could possibly do justice<br />
to the rarities offered for sale. Mr. Bram<br />
Stoker’s Library was sold by Sotheby on<br />
July 7 and 8. The original MSS. of “ Personal<br />
Reminiscences of Henry Irving ”’ sold for £1 4s.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE PUBLISHING TRADE FROM<br />
WITHIN.*<br />
<br />
——_— +<br />
<br />
HIS is really an American book, though it<br />
comes to us from an English house ; and<br />
it is solely of the transatlantic conditions<br />
<br />
of the book trade that it treats. The author,<br />
it must be added, writes from the publisher’s<br />
point of view, and fails to perceive a good many<br />
things which are conspicuous from the view-<br />
point of this Society. He writes, for instance,<br />
as if 10 per cent. were the royalty fixed by<br />
the laws of nature, and does not seem-to see<br />
the abandonment of those costly advertising<br />
methods which, in America at all events,<br />
once afforded some justification for the<br />
doctrine warrants the appropriation to the<br />
writer of a larger share of the returns. Nor<br />
does he take sound views of the functions of<br />
literary agents; and, indeed, it is not quite<br />
clear what his views on that branch of the<br />
subject really are. On one and the same page<br />
he writes that the agent “‘ is often a beneficence<br />
to publisher as well as author,” and that,<br />
‘depending equally upon author and publisher<br />
for his livelihood, he is always at odds with one<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
_ * “The Publisher,” by Robert Sterling Yard. Constable.<br />
4s, 6d. net.<br />
<br />
of them.’ Why either publisher or author<br />
should always be ‘‘ at odds” with one who is<br />
labouring successfully for his advantage we<br />
have some difficulty in understanding ;_ but,<br />
perhaps, the key to the mystery is contained<br />
in the following sentence :—<br />
<br />
‘** It is only when slack business or exces-<br />
sive zeal drives him into forcing royalties or<br />
luring authors from their natural publishers<br />
in order to win a commission by placing<br />
them with others that he becomes the devil.”<br />
<br />
The implication here seems to be that the<br />
agent is all right as long as he does no work for<br />
his commission beyond the packing up of<br />
parcels, and that, when he does any other<br />
work, he does it, not in the interest of his<br />
client, but in the interest of the new firm to<br />
which he allures his client, and is entitled to be,<br />
and commonly is, paid a commission by that<br />
firm for his services. That is a view of literary<br />
agency against which we have often had occa-<br />
sion to protest. In England, at all events, it is<br />
illegal as well as immoral; and it is doubly<br />
important to emphasise its impropriety when<br />
we find a publisher’s representative writing<br />
as if he thought it a legitimate proceeding,<br />
offensive to no one except the publisher who<br />
suffered by it.<br />
<br />
Still, though we often disagree with Mr. Yard,<br />
we are glad to have read his book. It is<br />
desirable that the author should know what is<br />
in the publisher’s mind; and Mr. Yard not<br />
only tells him this, but tells it in a light<br />
and entertaining manner, and with a real<br />
enthusiasm for literature as well as for success.<br />
<br />
—__+.—_o—._<br />
<br />
“PICTURES” AND PICTURE-PLAYS.*<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
ag does not, at first sight, seem to be<br />
<br />
much that concerns authors, as authors,<br />
<br />
in the subject which gives its title to<br />
Mr. Talbot’s book. Nevertheless, even those<br />
who are not attracted by the idea that they<br />
may read therein something about the<br />
practical side of the art or industry which<br />
provides us with ‘“‘ the pictures’? on every<br />
vacant spot where it is possible to erect a<br />
‘* palace ’’—even those may turn with interest<br />
to the eighteenth chapter of the book and see<br />
what Mr. Talbot has to say about picture-<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
* ‘ Practical Cinematography and its Applications,” by<br />
Frederick A. Talbot. London: Wm. Heinemann,<br />
120<br />
<br />
plays and the writing of them. The vogue of<br />
the picture-palace, he points out, has created<br />
a new profession ; and, while at the start the<br />
public was not exacting as to the quality of<br />
the drama shown upon the screen, content with<br />
the mere novelty of the exhibition, now the<br />
state of affairs is quite different. Better fare,<br />
stronger plots (coupled with improved mount-<br />
ing and acting) are demanded, and the un-<br />
known struggling dramatist, foiled hitherto by<br />
the lack of enterprise on the part of the<br />
theatrical managers, has a golden opportunity.<br />
Mr. Talbot speaks enthusiastically :—<br />
<br />
To-day the embryo dramatist never bestows a thought<br />
upon writing for the stage ; the cinematograph will absorb<br />
all that he can produce, and as rapidly as he can complete<br />
it. No longer need a budding genius starve unknown and<br />
unappreciated in a garret. If his work possesses any merit<br />
the cinematograph will turn it to profitable account.<br />
About 300 picture-plays are placed upon the world’s<br />
market every week, and consequently the consumption of<br />
plots is enormous. What is more important from the<br />
author’s point of view is the expanding nature of this<br />
market, where supply cannot keep pace with demand, and<br />
the proportionate improvement that is manifest in the<br />
scale of remuneration. Ten years ago a plot seldom<br />
fetched more than five shillings ; to-day the same material<br />
will command anything between £5 and £50. In this field<br />
of activity reputation counts for nothing. The play, and<br />
the play only, is the thing.<br />
<br />
We could quote much more, but it is un-<br />
necessary, to show what a boon Mr. Talbot<br />
considers that the development of cinemato-<br />
graphy has bestowed upon the author with<br />
dramatic talent. We must add that he finds<br />
the British producing firms lagging behind the<br />
times, though signs of awakening are becoming<br />
evident, and one or two of the most pro-<br />
gressive establishments now pay up to £10 for<br />
a play. Further, we are told that so much is<br />
the standard of excellence rising that ‘‘ the<br />
highest work only now stands a chance of<br />
being accepted.’ It must not, therefore, be<br />
thought that anyone can write a picture-play,<br />
nor must we trust the “ advertisements freely<br />
inserted in the various periodicals offering to<br />
teach the art of writing plays for the cinemato-<br />
graph and to submit the plots to the various<br />
producers in the manner of a literary agency.”<br />
The author should submit his work directly to<br />
the producer and deal with him alone, while<br />
the art of writing cannot be taught by schools,<br />
but can only be acquired by experience.<br />
<br />
In a way the title of the chapter, “‘ How to<br />
write photo-plays,” is misleading. Mr. Talbot<br />
is not so foolish as to attempt to supply the<br />
place of the experience which he declares<br />
essential. Tis chapter, however, is suggestive,<br />
and gives additional value to a book which can<br />
be thoroughly commended on other grounds.<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
A large number of illustrations accompany the<br />
text, showing both the apparatus by which<br />
moving-pictures are taken and some most<br />
instructive results.<br />
<br />
-_-<br />
<br />
A MODERN ENGLISH DICTIONARY,*<br />
<br />
y VERY dictionary must be written from a<br />
special view-point. Even Sir J. A. H.<br />
Murray’s world-famed production, ex-<br />
haustive as it is, cannot contain everything.<br />
In a dictionary the general get-up is a matter<br />
of vital importance. It must not be too large,<br />
it must not be too heavy, the printing must be<br />
clear, the paper good. In these essentials<br />
the ‘Modern English Dictionary’? must be<br />
commended.<br />
<br />
One feature is a series of glossaries con-<br />
taining comprehensive lists of technical terms<br />
referring to certain sports. These lists are<br />
compiled by such well-known authorities as<br />
Lord Hawke on cricket, James Brady on golf,<br />
Claude Grahame White on aviation, and J. E.<br />
Raphael on Rugby football.<br />
<br />
We are not so satisfied with the illustrations.<br />
It is really an impossible thing to illustrate a<br />
dictionary, and though the examples of aero-<br />
planes may give to the reader of 1913 some<br />
interest, yet the examples of marine engines,<br />
p. 284, seem to be quite hopeless, and unable<br />
to suggest anything even to the mind of an<br />
engineer, certainly nothing to the lay mind.<br />
<br />
The coloured illustrations also are not very<br />
satisfactory. The standard cattle, p. 158, to<br />
give but one example, afford little real infor-<br />
mation to those who search the dictionary for<br />
knowledge on the subject.<br />
<br />
The illustrations in a dictionary are bound<br />
to be so limited that it were better to omit<br />
them.<br />
<br />
For the dictionary itself, as far as it has been<br />
possible to peruse it, there is nothing but com-<br />
mendation. Indeed, the names of the editorial<br />
contributors on the front page, Sir James<br />
Yoxhall, Professor Gollanez, Professor Walter<br />
Rippmann, Henry R. Tedder, H. J. L. J. Masse,<br />
at once carry conviction that the work has<br />
been satisfactorily done. There are, in addi-<br />
tion to the glossaries, some useful appendices.<br />
The book should prove of value to those who.<br />
want a dictionary which attempts to bring<br />
the outstanding interests of life into its<br />
compass.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
* “The British Empire Universities Modern English<br />
<br />
Dictionary.” Published by the Syndicate Publishing<br />
Company, 41, Southampton Row, W.C.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
CORRESPONDENCE.<br />
<br />
+<br />
* Onxy.”<br />
I.<br />
<br />
Sr1r,—It was high time that protest should<br />
be made against the misplacement of “ only.”<br />
My books are crammed with marginal cor-<br />
rections of examples; to cull them would fill<br />
columns. But I will give only one, and that<br />
from Lord Morley’s “ Diderot” (Vol. L., ii.,<br />
p- 77), ‘‘ He only speaks as one brooding,” etc.<br />
A writer in the current number of 7. P.’s<br />
Weekly flatters Lord Morley by imitation,<br />
‘when he says of a bookseller that “* of twenty<br />
novels submitted to him he only ordered two.”<br />
<br />
Yours faithfully,<br />
Epwarp CLopp.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
II.<br />
<br />
Sir,—Your last issues contain letters in<br />
which exception is taken to such sentences as<br />
“the tide had only turned two hours before,”<br />
‘“* T shall now only add three remarks for your<br />
consideration,” ete. So far from being a<br />
‘* vulgar error,” this throwing forward of the<br />
‘only ” is a natural and instinctive action of<br />
the mind by which the hearer is warned as<br />
early as possible of the nature of the statement<br />
asa whole. Of possibilities of various degrees,<br />
a minor one is to be put forward as the predi-<br />
cate. A colour and a force is thus often given<br />
to what would be otherwise a mere correct<br />
verbal statement. If a man asks me to give<br />
him a book I have in my hand, I reply: “I<br />
bought it only yesterday,” I am giving him a<br />
formal verbally correct piece of information.<br />
But if I say: “I only bought it yesterday,”<br />
I am also making a protest. The “only”<br />
represents my chief emotion and must come<br />
out at once. Personally, I prefer living<br />
language to dead formalism.<br />
<br />
Yours obediently,<br />
Louis ZANGWILL.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Boox Covers.<br />
<br />
S1r,—I should like to utter a protest—I fear<br />
a futile protest, for vulgarity is the order of<br />
the day—against the paper covers, not only<br />
with startling but with misleading pictures on<br />
them which even respectable publishers give<br />
to the books they issue. Has the author any<br />
centrol over these? Reviews had _ lately<br />
attracted me to a certain book but I was<br />
inclined to think I must have been mistaken<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
121<br />
<br />
as to its character when I saw the wrapper.<br />
The pictorial decoration, however, proved to<br />
be a gross exaggeration of an incident in the<br />
novel—a noble book. The dodge, in order to<br />
attract readers who would not be in sympathy<br />
with the contents, was like to alienate those<br />
<br />
who would be. It struck me as being bad<br />
business as well as insulting to the writer.<br />
Faithfully yours,<br />
IsosEL Fitzroy Hecur.<br />
<br />
THE LATE Dr. ALFRED RussEL WALLACE.<br />
<br />
Dear S1r,—The family of the late Dr. Alfred<br />
Russel Wallace having invited me to arrange<br />
and edit a volume of letters and reminiscences,<br />
they would be thankful if those of your<br />
readers who have letters or reminiscences<br />
would kindly send them to me for this purpose.<br />
The letters would be safely and promptly<br />
returned.<br />
<br />
Will provincial, American, colonial and<br />
foreign newspapers kindly republish this letter.<br />
<br />
Yours faithfully,<br />
JAMES MARCHANT.<br />
<br />
BROWNING RELICs.<br />
<br />
Dear Srr,—Will you kindly permit me to<br />
interest some of the readers of The Author in<br />
the following facts ?<br />
<br />
It has been my privilege to purchase the<br />
wonderful oak bookcase of that great poet—<br />
and great man—Robert Browning. My object<br />
in doing so was to save it to our own land,<br />
as there was imminent danger of its leaving<br />
the country.<br />
<br />
I wish to give any and every lover of<br />
Browning’s memory and poetry, an oppor-<br />
tunity of subscribing his or her coin, as he or<br />
she is able, towards the £250 required to secure<br />
the bookcase a permanent resting place in<br />
England as a national heirloom.<br />
<br />
I am told that it would easily fetch from<br />
two to three thousand pounds from America.<br />
But that, of course, is unthinkable to fellow-<br />
countrymen and women of the Brownings.<br />
The insignificant sum of £250 should be easily<br />
forthcoming within the three months for which<br />
the offer remains open, if each sympathiser<br />
will contribute his or her coin promptly and<br />
endeavour to interest others. Would it not<br />
be a shame and a national disgrace were we<br />
to permit this precious relic to go abroad ?<br />
<br />
The bookcase is of fine old carved oak,<br />
gathered together by the poct himself, as he<br />
wandered about Italy. Some of it is fifteenth<br />
<br />
<br />
122 THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
century oak; other pieces are of early<br />
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The<br />
bookcase is 11 feet high by 7 feet broad. It<br />
stood in the drawing room at Casa Guidi, and<br />
later in Browning’s London home. It is<br />
mentioned in Mrs. Browning’s letters to<br />
Miss Mitford, July 4, 1848. And there is a<br />
very’ interesting allusion to it in “ Bishop<br />
Blougram’s Apology,” which, if read in con-<br />
junction with Mrs. Browning’s letter, sheds a<br />
very pretty light on a personal matter in the<br />
Brownings’ history.<br />
<br />
Many of the poet’s MSS. must have been<br />
locked up in the fine cupboard at the base of<br />
the bookecase—probably ‘“‘ The Little Yellow<br />
Book” itself found here a_ resting-place.<br />
If any of your readers would care to see the<br />
bookease, I should be glad to send them<br />
permits to view it, which, thanks to the kind-<br />
ness and hospitality of Mr. J. R. Thomas, is<br />
now housed in the Georgian Galleries belong-<br />
ing to that gentleman, and situated at 10, King<br />
Street, St. James’s, S.W.<br />
<br />
I am, dear sir, faithfully yours,<br />
(Mrs.) E. M. Story.<br />
Orchard House,<br />
Whelton Road,<br />
Twickenham.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Dear Srr,—I am suffering from a dis-<br />
agreeable emotion—regret for having tried to<br />
do a kind action for my fellow authors. I have<br />
just received the following letter :—<br />
<br />
*“DEar Mapam,—Acting on the sugges-<br />
tion in your letter in The Author dated<br />
September 16, I directed my publisher to<br />
send a copy. of my (name of book) to<br />
Monsieur Paul Louis Hervier, 28, Rue de<br />
Beaumont, Bourges, France. He has not<br />
acknowledged the book, nor taken any<br />
notice whatever of a second application<br />
asking him to do so—to return the book—<br />
or give the review for which purpose now so<br />
long ago it was sent. To my thinking, such<br />
conduct reflects discreditably on the recom-<br />
mendation, or . . . A brief acknowledgment<br />
would have met the need—one cannot<br />
afford to give books away in this way. I<br />
shall feel obliged if you will bring the<br />
omission to his notice, as my pen fails to<br />
have any effect.”<br />
<br />
“Yours truly,”<br />
<br />
ee o><br />
<br />
The ellipsis represents a libellous suggestion<br />
which The Author would not print,<br />
I do not know when the book referred to<br />
<br />
was published, but my letter appeared in<br />
October’s Author, and La Nouvelle Revue is<br />
published only twice each month; so, even<br />
if the book was sent to the French editor<br />
immediately, but four numbers have made<br />
their appearance since.<br />
<br />
I am writing to Monsieur Hervier, but not<br />
quite in the way my correspondent suggests.<br />
I am writing to apologise for a compatriot,<br />
and to express the hope that he will not be<br />
disgusted with his work of helping with a kind<br />
and clever brain the English authors whose<br />
books are sent to him.<br />
<br />
By the way, this lady and her publisher<br />
have evidently had the unique experience of<br />
having every ‘“‘review copy” noticed gor<br />
** acknowledged ”’—wonderful !<br />
<br />
Yours truly,<br />
<br />
Maup ANNESLEY.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
ADVERTISEMENTS.<br />
<br />
Srr,—It frequently is the misfortune of<br />
those who read the daily papers to find after<br />
wading through half a column of chatty gossip<br />
that it all ends in advertisement—a recommen-<br />
dation to buy some patent medicine, or to<br />
dine at some special restaurant. All this is<br />
bad enough; but it is my desire to call the<br />
attention of my fellow members to an editorial<br />
liberty that has been taken twice to my know-<br />
ledge and, probably, much more often.<br />
<br />
The editor of a young magazine—the name<br />
can be obtained from the secretary—altered<br />
the locale of a short story he had bought<br />
by changing the name of one well-known<br />
restaurant inserted by the author to that of<br />
another whose advertisement he held.<br />
<br />
The matter would have been of less import-<br />
ance if only the description, somewhat detailed<br />
of the former, applied to the latter. It did not.<br />
<br />
Interested by this little incident I forgot<br />
myself so far as to purchase another copy of<br />
the magazine some months later. There I<br />
found the heroine “* daintily throwing away the<br />
end of her cigarette.”” I immediately<br />
turned to the advertisement pages and found<br />
’s cigarettes being advertised. If the<br />
author desires to advertise some special<br />
abnormity, let him do so.<br />
his taste or his art. But it is not fair that he<br />
should be at the mercy of the editor. I should<br />
like very much to see an action brought.<br />
What damages would the British jury award,<br />
I wonder.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Yours truly,<br />
AGGRIEVED.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I do not admire . | https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/535/1914-01-01-The-Author-24-4.pdf | publications, The Author |