537 | https://historysoa.com/items/show/537 | The Author, Vol. 24 Issue 06 (March 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+06+%28March+1914%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 24 Issue 06 (March 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> | 1914-03-02-The-Author-24-6 | | | | | 153–180 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | <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=1914-03-02">1914-03-02</a> | | | | | | | 6 | | | 19140302 | Che Muthbor.<br />
<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br />
<br />
FOUNDED BY SIR WALTER BESANT.<br />
<br />
Vou. XXIV.—No. 6.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Marcu 2, 1914.<br />
<br />
[PrIcE SIXPENCE.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
TELEPHONE NUMBER: the standpoint of art or business, but on no<br />
<br />
other subjects whatever. Every effort will be<br />
e74 VICTORIA. made to return articles which cannot be<br />
TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS: accepted.<br />
<br />
AUTORIDAD, LONDON.<br />
<br />
ADVERTISEMENTS.<br />
<br />
t, 1G<br />
<br />
Messrs. Matthews’ Advertising Service,<br />
<br />
NOTICES. Staple Inn Buildings, High aikorn: W.C.,<br />
<br />
1 will act as agents for advertisements for<br />
<br />
OR the opinions expressed in papers that “ The Author.” All communications respect-<br />
<br />
K are signed or initialled the authors alone 18 advertisements should be addressed to<br />
are responsible. None of the papers or them.<br />
<br />
paragraphs must be taken as expressing the As there seems to be an impression among<br />
<br />
opinion of the Committee unless such is readers of The Author that the Committee are<br />
<br />
especially stated to be the case. personally responsible for the bona fides of the<br />
<br />
advertisers, the Committee desire it to be stated<br />
<br />
that this is not, and could not possibly be, the<br />
<br />
Tue Editor begs to inform members of the CS¢- | Although care is exercised that no<br />
Authors’ Society and other readers of The undesirable advertisements be inserted, they<br />
Author that the cases which are quoted in The do not accept, and never have accepted, any<br />
Author are cases that have come before the liability.<br />
notice or to the knowledge of the Secretary of Members should apply to the Secretary for<br />
the Society, and that those members of the advice if special information is desired.<br />
Society who desire to have the names of the<br />
publishers concerned can obtain them on ee oe<br />
<br />
application. THE SOCIETY’S FUNDS.<br />
<br />
—<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
ARTICLES AND CONTRIBUTIONS. ROM time to time members of the Society<br />
<br />
Tue Editor of The Author begs to remind desire to make donations to its funds in<br />
members of the Society that, although the recognition of work that has been done<br />
paper is sent to them free of cost, its production for them. The Committee, acting on the<br />
would be a very heavy charge on the resources suggestion of one of these members, have<br />
of the Society if a great many members did not decided to place this permanent paragraph in<br />
forward to the Secretary the modest 5s. 6d. he Author in order that members may be<br />
subscription for the year. cognisant of those funds to which these con-<br />
<br />
Communications for The Author should be tributions may be paid. ;<br />
addressed to the offices of the Society, 1, Cen- The funds suitable for this purpose are:<br />
tral Buildings, Tothill Street, Westminster, (1) The Capital Fund. This fund is kept in<br />
<br />
_ §.W., and should reach the Editor not later reserve in case it is necessary for the Society to<br />
than the 21st of each month. incur heavy expenditure, either in fighting a<br />
<br />
Communications and letters are invited by question of principle, or in assisting to obtain<br />
<br />
the Editor on all literary matters treated from copyright reform, or in dealing with any other<br />
Vou. XXIV,<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
154<br />
<br />
matter closely connected with the work of the<br />
Society. : :<br />
<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 />
THE PENSION FUND.<br />
<br />
—<br />
<br />
N January, 1914, the secretary of the<br />
Society laid before the trustees of the<br />
Pension Fund the accounts for the year<br />
<br />
1913, as settled by the accountants. After<br />
giving the matter full consideration, the<br />
trustees instructed the secretary to invest a<br />
sum of £350 in the purchase of Great Eastern<br />
Railway Ordinary Stock. The amount pur-<br />
chased has been added to the investments set<br />
out below.<br />
<br />
The trustees desire to thank the members of<br />
the Society for the continued support which<br />
they have given to the Pension Fund. They<br />
have given notice to the Pension Fund Com-<br />
mittee that there is sufficient money at their<br />
disposal to enable them to give another<br />
pension.<br />
<br />
The nominal value of the investments held<br />
on behalf of the Pension Fund now amounts<br />
to £5,419 6s., details of which are fully set out<br />
in the following schedule :—<br />
<br />
Nominal Value.<br />
<br />
fos<br />
<br />
: d<br />
500<br />
<br />
Local Loans... .25-sen pecs esses 0 0<br />
Victoria Government 3% Consoli-<br />
dated Inscribed Stock ............<br />
London and North Western 3%<br />
Debenture Stock ..................<br />
Egyptian Government Irrigation<br />
Trust 4% Certificates.............<br />
Cape of Good Hope 34% Inscribed<br />
Stock<br />
Glasgow and South-Western Rail-<br />
way 4% Preference Stock ......<br />
‘New Zealand 34% Stock ......... i<br />
Trish Land 22% Guaranteed Stock<br />
Corporation of London 23%<br />
Stock, 1927—57 ............eceees ;<br />
Jamaica 34% Stock, 1919-—49 ...<br />
Mauritius 4% 1937 Stock ..........<br />
Dominion of Canada, C.P.R. 33%<br />
Land Grant Stock, 19388 .........<br />
Antofagasta and Bolivian Railway<br />
5% Preferred Stock ...............<br />
Central Argentine Railway Or-<br />
dinary Stock 5 2..0....-sc).ieseicisse<br />
<br />
291 19 11<br />
250 0 0<br />
200 0<br />
200<br />
228<br />
247<br />
258<br />
438<br />
1382<br />
120<br />
198<br />
237<br />
<br />
232<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
Nominal Value.<br />
<br />
£ 8. a.<br />
<br />
$2.000 Consolidated Gas and<br />
<br />
Electric Company of Baltimore<br />
44% Gold Bonds<br />
<br />
250 Edward Lloyd, Ltd., £1 5%<br />
Preference Shar es<br />
<br />
55 Buenos Ayres Great Southern<br />
<br />
Railway 4% Extension Shares,<br />
<br />
1914 (fully paid) .-......4..22..<br />
<br />
3 Central Argentine Railway £10<br />
<br />
Preference Shares, New Issue...<br />
<br />
Great Eastern Railway Ordinary<br />
<br />
Stock 20.0<br />
<br />
409<br />
<br />
250<br />
<br />
PENSION FUND.<br />
<br />
—+—~< ——<br />
<br />
Tue list printed below includes all fresh dona-<br />
tions and subscriptions (i.e., donations and<br />
subscriptions not hitherto acknowledged)<br />
received by, or promised to, the fund from<br />
October, 1913.<br />
<br />
It does not include either donations given<br />
prior to October, nor does it include sub-<br />
scriptions paid in compliance with promises<br />
made before it. :<br />
<br />
Subscriptions.<br />
1913.<br />
<br />
Oct. 8, Rees, Miss Rosemary<br />
Oct. 8, Pearce, J. ; : ;<br />
Oct. 9, Drummond, Miss Florence<br />
Oct. 9, Rumbold, Hugo<br />
Oct. 18, 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 />
Dec. 29, Inge, Charles . ‘<br />
Dec. 29, Cross, Miss May .<br />
Dec. 29, Hardy, Thomas, O.M.<br />
<br />
oe<br />
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S Or or Or<br />
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<br />
ee<br />
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<br />
weecococooomoocoosocoorsocsom<br />
Secoacocooo op eseoesoooOoSoSO So Om<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
2<br />
<br />
1914.<br />
Jan. 7, Ford, Miss May<br />
Jan. 7, Sephton, J.<br />
Jan. 16, Singer, I. :<br />
Jan. 16, Cooke, Arthur O.<br />
Jan. 23, Exley, Miss M. ‘<br />
Jan. 26, Sarawak, The Rance of<br />
<br />
Feb. 20, Eden Guy : : :<br />
Feb. 21, Mayne, Miss Ethel Col-<br />
<br />
boura . : :<br />
Feb. 21. K. ‘ e<br />
<br />
coooocow<br />
<br />
ee 9<br />
<br />
1913. Donations. COMMITTEE NOTES.<br />
<br />
—— +<br />
<br />
BSc February meeting of the Committee<br />
of Management was held at the offices<br />
of the Society, No. 1, Central Buildings,<br />
Tothill Street, Westminster, S.W. After the<br />
minutes of the former meeting had been read<br />
and signed, twenty-five new members and<br />
associates were elected. The Committee are<br />
pleased to see that the elections are well<br />
maintained. This gives an election of over<br />
one a day for the first two months of the year.<br />
The total number at present elected being sixty-<br />
nine. Five resignations were laid before the<br />
committee and these were accepted with<br />
Dec. 20, Edwards, Percy J. . regret. The committee then considered the<br />
Dec. 21, Keating, J. Lloyd numerous cases before the Society, the solicitor,<br />
1914. in the first instance, making his report. In<br />
Jan. 3, Church, Sir Arthur three small cases against papers he was able<br />
Jan.5, Anon. : to report that the money had been recovered.<br />
Jan. 5, Joseph, L. 5 In a ease of dispute on accounts, which has<br />
Jan. 5, Swan, Miss Myr been running on for some time, the solicitor<br />
Jan. 5, Vernede, R. E. ; ‘ reported that the matter had been settled as<br />
Jan. 6, De Crespigny, Mrs. Champion the member had decided to sell the balance<br />
Jan. 6, Rankin, Miss F. M. . . of his interest in the work fora sum down. In<br />
Jan. 7, Sneyd-Kynnesley, E. M. a small claim against a magazine, the solicitor<br />
Jan. 7, Lathbury, Miss Eva . reported that as no notice had been taken of<br />
Jan. 7, Toplis, Miss Grace his first application for money, a summons had<br />
Jan. 8, Palmer, G. Molyneaux been issued. There were two disputes with<br />
Jan. 9, Mackenzie, Miss J. . a certain publisher. In the first, proceedings<br />
Jan. 10, Daniell, Mrs. E. H. . had to be taken but the matter had been<br />
Jan. 12, Avery, Harold : satisfactorily closed. In the second, the<br />
Jan. 12, Douglas, Mrs. F. A. publisher had been to see the solicitor and<br />
Jan. 15, Pullein, Miss Catherine he hoped that the negotiations would result<br />
Jan. 15, Thomas, Mrs. Fanny in a settlement.<br />
Jan. 16, James, Mrs. Romane In a complicated dispute between agent and<br />
Jan. 19, P. H. and M. K. author it was decided not to take the matter<br />
Jan. 19, Greenstreet, W. J. . any further. The committee instructed the<br />
Jan. 19, Gibbs, F. Leonard A. solicitor to write to the complainant setting<br />
Jan. 23, Campbell, Mrs. L. A. R. . out the reasons why the committee had come<br />
Jan. 28, Cameron, Mrs. Charlotte, to this decision. ;<br />
F.RGS. . ; It was brought to the notice of the committee<br />
Jan. 28, Blunt, Reginald that authors and playwrights had been placed<br />
Jan. 24, Raphael, Mrs. Mary. in a very serious position owing to the use<br />
Jan. 25, Plouman, Miss Mary by various film manufacturers of titles which<br />
Jan. 80, Gibson, Miss L. S. . had been used by the authors in respect of their<br />
Feb. 5, Brooker, Lt.-Col. E. P. books or plays. From the evidence before<br />
Feb. 6, Buchrose, J. E. ‘ them the committee, fecling that the matter<br />
Feb. 7, Smith, Herbert W. . was of high importance, decided to take up a<br />
<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, Rosman, Miss Alice Grant<br />
Nov. 3, Holland, Theodore<br />
<br />
Nov. 3, Steane, Bruce ;<br />
‘Nov. 3, Batty, Mrs. Braithwaite<br />
Nov. 10, Elrington, Miss Helen<br />
Nov. 10, Waterbury, Mrs. . :<br />
Dec. 5, Dymock, R. G. Vaughton .<br />
Dec. 6, Macdonald, Miss Julia<br />
<br />
Dec. 11, Little, Mrs. Archibald<br />
Dec. 11, Topham, Miss Ann .<br />
<br />
pent<br />
ecooceorrw cece oocorwon<br />
<br />
oon owirteKEanaaw»soodcso<br />
eooeoooceooaoaceoecsooeoaso<br />
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<br />
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COMM OoWVWooUInnnouwuowmneucd-<br />
<br />
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0<br />
0<br />
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0<br />
0<br />
0<br />
0<br />
0<br />
0<br />
0<br />
0<br />
0<br />
0<br />
0<br />
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0<br />
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COneK an one<br />
acocooaocoo Saceocoecoeooonooooooaoacos<br />
<br />
CHE COOHE<br />
<br />
_<br />
<br />
<br />
156<br />
<br />
case asa testcase. If the result of such a case<br />
was to give no relief, then it was agreed to<br />
approach the Government with a view to the<br />
introduction of remedial legislation. In_ the<br />
meantime, the secretary was instructed to<br />
obtain all the support possible from managers<br />
of theatres who themselves held copyright<br />
plays, and also the cinematograph film manu-<br />
facturers who had suffered and were suffering<br />
equally with authors and playwrights from<br />
similar practices. The matter was adjourned<br />
for further consideration.<br />
<br />
A case of copyright infringement in Burmah<br />
was brought to the notice of the Society. It<br />
appeared very doubtful to the committee<br />
whether under the existing law it would be<br />
possible to take any action. As the claim was<br />
a very small one and it was probable that<br />
at no distant date, the India Council will<br />
have passed fresh copyright legislation, the<br />
committee instructed the secretary to inform<br />
the member that they could not take up the<br />
case.<br />
<br />
In a complicated dispute on an agreement<br />
which had been dealt with at former meetings,<br />
a further complaint from the member was laid<br />
before the committee, and the chairman was<br />
instructed to write to the member putting<br />
forward the work the Society had done and<br />
explaining that it was impossible for the com-<br />
mittee to go any further as the member had<br />
shown no legal ground for the interference of<br />
the Society. It was decided to take up a case<br />
of infringement of the dramatic rights of a<br />
member in Germany.<br />
<br />
One of the members, whose case had been<br />
settled by arbitration, wrote a letter to the<br />
committee suggesting the manner in which she<br />
desired the matter should be dealt with in The<br />
Author.<br />
<br />
The committee requested the secretary to<br />
inform her that she must be content with one<br />
of the two alternative courses : (1) that the full<br />
award with the full letter of apology settled by<br />
the arbitrator as part of the award should be<br />
published, or (2) that the whole statement should<br />
be withdrawn from publication. In a case of<br />
breach of agreement between dramatic author<br />
and manager, the committee decided that the<br />
secretary should write and explain the legal<br />
position to the member concerned, expressing<br />
their regret that they were unable to take the<br />
matter further, and setting out the reasons<br />
for this decision. :<br />
<br />
In a case of infringement of dramatic copy-<br />
right in Canada the secretary was instructed<br />
to obtain the solicitor’s opinion as to the exact<br />
position of the law, and if that opinion was<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
satisfactory, to write to the Canadian lawyers<br />
to carry the matter further if it was possible<br />
to do so.<br />
<br />
Sir Edward Elgar, O.M., was elected a mem-<br />
ber of the council and a share was allotted to<br />
him.<br />
<br />
It was agreed to change the name of the<br />
Incorporated Society of Authors to the Incor-<br />
porated Society of Authors, Playwrights and<br />
Composers, and the secretary was instructed<br />
to take the necessary legal steps to see that<br />
this matter was carried through.<br />
<br />
A letter from a member on the subject of<br />
the library censorship was read and considered,<br />
and the secretary was instructed to thank the<br />
member concerned on behalf of the committee<br />
for the interest he had shown in the matter.<br />
<br />
The report of the committee for 1913 was<br />
considered and passed. An article for inser-<br />
tion in The Author was also considered and<br />
passed, and instructions were given for the<br />
publication of the same.<br />
<br />
It was decided to invest a sum of £200 from<br />
the Capital Account of the Society. °<br />
<br />
As it has been found that the present form<br />
of guarantee, signature to which the com-<br />
mittee require before action is taken on behalf<br />
of amember, was not quite satisfactory, either.<br />
to the member or to the Society, a revised<br />
form was drafted and placed before the com-<br />
mittee and accepted by them.<br />
<br />
On the recommendation of the Dramatic<br />
Sub-Committee, the Committee of Manage-<br />
ment agreed to send out a list of the names<br />
and addresses of the members of the Dramatic<br />
Section to Mr. Walter Jordan, the Society’s<br />
New York agent. ;<br />
<br />
The secretary reported that the Board of<br />
Trade had conferred with him on the subject<br />
of a book exhibition to be held at Leipzig. It<br />
had been suggested that such an exhibition<br />
might interfere with an author’s copyright.<br />
The secretary pointed out, that some diffi-.<br />
culties might arise on an author’s contract.<br />
when the sales of books by English publishers.<br />
were limited as to country. Notice will be<br />
given in due course in The Author on the<br />
matter.<br />
<br />
The secretary read letters he had received.<br />
in regard to Canadian and New Zealand copy-:<br />
right. It appears that an Act has been passed<br />
in New Zealand which will come into force in.<br />
April of the current year. The Act is printed<br />
in full as a Supplement this month. -<br />
<br />
Two letters from members of the Society.<br />
were laid before the committee. The. com-<br />
mittee regretted they were unable to support.<br />
the suggestions put forward. i<br />
<br />
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<br />
Dramatic Sus-CoMMITTEE.<br />
<br />
I,<br />
<br />
A SPECIAL meeting of the Dramatic Sub-<br />
Committee was called on Friday, January 30,<br />
at No. 1, Central Buildings, Tothill Street,<br />
Westminster, S.W., at 3 o’clock, to consider<br />
the question of the infringement of rights<br />
in titles as shown in two or three special cases<br />
recently brought to the Society’s notice. It<br />
appeared in three cases that the titles of plays<br />
and books had been taken for films.<br />
<br />
The sub-committee considered the subject<br />
one of importance. There was _ consider-<br />
able discussion as to what action should be<br />
taken.<br />
<br />
Finally, it was decided'to urge the Committee<br />
of Management to take up one case as a test<br />
ease. If the Committee of Management con-<br />
sented to this course, and judgment went<br />
against the Society, it would then be necessary<br />
to decide what further action should be<br />
taken, in order to save dramatists and authors<br />
alike from the serious loss inflicted on their<br />
property.<br />
<br />
It was decided, also, to get into touch with<br />
the film manufacturers, as it was clear that<br />
this appropriation of titles would affect them<br />
in a similar manner.<br />
<br />
It was further decided to ask the Committee<br />
of Management, if it should prove impossible to<br />
obtain any redress under the law as it at<br />
present exists, to consider seriously the advis.-<br />
bility of asking the Government for legislation<br />
on the subject.<br />
<br />
II.<br />
<br />
TueE February mecting of the Dramatic Sub-<br />
Committee was held at the offices of the Society,<br />
1, Central Buildings, Tothill Street, West-<br />
minster, S.W., on Friday, February 20, at three<br />
o'clock.<br />
<br />
After the reading of the minutes of the<br />
previous meeting the secretary laid before the<br />
sub-committee a report of a dramatic agent’s<br />
transactions with members of the Society.<br />
<br />
Two play-producing societies had submitted<br />
their agreements for the consideration of the<br />
sub-committee, with a view to obtaining, if<br />
possible, from the sub-committee approval of<br />
the forms they proposed to submit to authors<br />
whose plays they accepted. After careful<br />
consideration the sub-committee thought it<br />
inadvisable to give this approval, but instructed<br />
the secretary to write to the societies and inform<br />
<br />
_ them that their agreements were not such as<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
157<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
the sub-committee could advise authors to<br />
accept.<br />
<br />
A suggestion was then made by a member<br />
that a fighting fund for dramatic cases should<br />
be established. The idea was approved by the<br />
sub-committee, but further discussion of the<br />
details was adjourned to the next meeting.<br />
<br />
A letter received from the Society of West<br />
End Managers in regard to the Managerial<br />
Treaty was laid before the sub-committee.<br />
The secretary was instructed to send, as<br />
requested in that letter, a copy of the treaty as<br />
at present settled to the solicitor of the Society<br />
of West End Managers.<br />
<br />
A letter from a member of the Society was<br />
read. It contained a suggestion that the sub-<br />
committee should deal with the plays of<br />
members and assist them in obtaining intro-<br />
ductions to managers and others. The sub-<br />
committee regretted they were unable to adopt<br />
the suggestion and instructed the secretary to<br />
write accordingly.<br />
<br />
A letter from the National Operatic and<br />
Dramatic Association of Worcester was laid<br />
before the sub-committee. It was decided to<br />
give this association the same facilities in<br />
regard to the borrowing of MSS. as are at<br />
present accorded to the Dramatic Clubs’<br />
Association.<br />
<br />
Authority was given to the secretary to write<br />
to one of the agents of the Society who had<br />
failed to reply to letters addressed to him.<br />
The secretary was instructed to request the<br />
agent to give immediate attention to these<br />
letters.<br />
<br />
Mr. Cecil Raleigh was formally appointed to<br />
attend an international meeting of dramatists<br />
in Paris on March 2, when questions were to be<br />
discussed dealing with cinematograph repro-<br />
duction.<br />
<br />
Certain legal cases were next discussed.<br />
<br />
The first matter related to the infringement<br />
of authors’ rights in their titles by cinema pro-<br />
ducers. The secretary reported the steps that<br />
had been taken in the cases which the com-<br />
mittee had decided to take up. He also read<br />
letters he had received from certain associations<br />
in the cinematograph trade. It was decided to<br />
call a conference to which representatives of<br />
the film-producing industries, the Theatrical<br />
Managers’ Association, and the Touring<br />
Managers’ Association should be invited, for a<br />
discussion of the questions at issue.<br />
<br />
The secretary reported e of breach of<br />
contract in Australia which con placed in<br />
the hands of the Society’s s ors in Sydney.<br />
<br />
A dramatic author’s case which had been<br />
placed before the Committee of Management<br />
158<br />
<br />
(which body had regretted its inability to<br />
support the member) was referred to the<br />
Dramatic Sub-Committee for an expression of<br />
their opinion, as the case had not previously<br />
been before them. The sub-committee re-<br />
gretted they could not do anything further,<br />
and supported the view of the Committee of<br />
Management.<br />
<br />
In the last dispute discussed the sub-com-<br />
mittee regretted they could not recommend<br />
the Committee of Management to take any<br />
further action. This case will be referred<br />
to the Committee of Management in due<br />
<br />
course.<br />
<br />
——<br />
<br />
Composers’ SuB-COMMITTEE.<br />
<br />
Tur Composers’ Sub-Committee met at the<br />
offices of the Society on Saturday, February 14,<br />
at eleven o'clock. Following the reading of<br />
the minutes of the previous meeting, a question<br />
referred back by the Committee of Manage-<br />
ment was discussed. It dealt with the practice<br />
of loaning composers’ music for performing<br />
purposes. The sub-committee decided to draw<br />
the attention of the Committee of Management<br />
to the fact that, as a rule, speaking broadly,<br />
although the performing rights ought to be<br />
held by the composers, they were, in fact, held<br />
by the publishers.<br />
<br />
The secretary then raised the question of<br />
agreements between publishers and com-<br />
posers. He pointed out that in all agreements<br />
which had any pretensions to being equitable<br />
as between party and party, there were a<br />
certain number of clauses which might be<br />
termed common form clauses; that in most<br />
music publishers’ agreements these clauses<br />
were not to be found. No doubt this was due<br />
to oversight on the part of the publishers. He<br />
suggested it would be as well to approach the<br />
Music Publishers’ Association with a view to<br />
agreeing to certain clauses which should appear<br />
in all contracts. He instanced the account<br />
clause, and pointed out that it was as much for<br />
the benefit of the publisher as for the composer<br />
to have some clause in the contract settling<br />
dates for delivery of accounts. In the absence<br />
of such a clause the publisher was liable to be<br />
called upon to deliver statements at reasonable<br />
times, although such times might be very<br />
inconvenient to him in his business.<br />
<br />
_ A question arose as to the legality of the<br />
importation of records, and the secretary was<br />
instructed to obtain an opinion on the matter<br />
and, if it was clear that the records so imported<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
infringed copyright, to write to some of the big<br />
collecting agencies to invite them to join with<br />
the Society in taking legal action.<br />
<br />
A composer who was a member of the Society<br />
wrote to the secretary a statement for sub-<br />
mission to the sub-committee in regard to one<br />
of his works, and suggested that an article<br />
should appear on the subject in The Author.<br />
The sub-committee passed an article and<br />
referred the matter to the Committee of<br />
Management.<br />
<br />
A question of the collection of mechanical<br />
instrument fees by publishers and companies<br />
was then discussed. The chairman laid before<br />
the sub-committee a letter he had received<br />
from one of the publishing houses, and the<br />
secretary read a letter to the sub-committee<br />
from a composer on the same subject. It was<br />
decided to invite the composer to discuss the<br />
question with the secretary, and, if he cared to<br />
do so, to attend the next meeting of the sub-<br />
committee.<br />
<br />
The last matter related to the interpretation<br />
of a section of the Copyright Act in regard to<br />
the mechanical reproduction of a composer’s<br />
works, and it was decided that, if a clear<br />
case came forward, to ask the Committee of<br />
Management to take the case into court, so<br />
that the point might be settled finally by case<br />
law.<br />
<br />
Cases.<br />
<br />
Durtnc the past month the secretary has<br />
dealt with nineteen cases. The largest number<br />
was for the return of MSS. In one case only,<br />
so far, has the Society been successful, though<br />
in another some of the MSS. have been<br />
forwarded. There are still five of these<br />
matters waiting settlement.<br />
<br />
There have been four demands for money,<br />
two have been satisfactorily terminated, the<br />
cheques have been received and forwarded to<br />
the authors. In two cases, however, although<br />
answers have been received, the money has not<br />
as yet been paid, one excuse or another being<br />
put forward. It is probable, however, that<br />
cheques will be received in the course of the next<br />
few days, in which event there will be no need to<br />
put the claims into the hands of the Society’s<br />
solicitors.<br />
<br />
There have been two disputes over the<br />
interpretation of agreements, one has been<br />
settled, but one in the United States of<br />
America is still outstanding.<br />
<br />
There have been four cases for accounts and<br />
<br />
<br />
money; one has _ been successful, in one<br />
accounts have been rendered and the money<br />
will be paid in due course, but the other two<br />
are still in the course of negotiation. It is<br />
well to draw the attention of composers, who<br />
are members of the Society, to the fact that<br />
great difficulty is experienced with music<br />
publishers owing to no proper account clause<br />
being inserted in their agreements. No doubt<br />
music publishers think this plan is satisfactory,<br />
but as a matter of fact, it is much more<br />
inconvenient to the publisher than it is to the<br />
author, forif there is no formal account clause<br />
in the agreement, a composer has a right to<br />
make demands at any reasonable time. In<br />
consequence, as the publisher never seems<br />
<br />
ready, considerable difficulty arises when<br />
' demands for accounts, or for accounts and<br />
money are made. No doubt in time the music<br />
publisher will see that his agreements are<br />
properly drawn up.<br />
<br />
There have been two claims for accounts<br />
<br />
only. One has been settled and one is still<br />
open.<br />
From cases reported in former months, three<br />
are still lying open; one it has been impossible<br />
to carry through owing to the fact that the<br />
address of the defendant cannot be found.<br />
Another case of a demand for the return of<br />
a MS. will have to be placed into the hands of<br />
the Society’s solicitors. The last one is a<br />
complicated case of dispute which is still in<br />
course of negotiation. All the other cases have<br />
either been settled or have been placed in our<br />
solicitors’ hands.<br />
<br />
——-—< +<br />
<br />
February Elections.<br />
<br />
Barker, John Goddard.<br />
<br />
Beeston, L. J. .<br />
<br />
Best, Florence<br />
<br />
“* Stratton Strawless.”<br />
<br />
Bowditch, Miss Lucy<br />
A. M.<br />
<br />
Bradley, R.N. . “<br />
<br />
M.<br />
Gwelo, Rhodesia.<br />
<br />
61, Temple Fortune<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
Coventry, R.G.T. .<br />
<br />
Ewing, Montague<br />
Floyer, Mrs. Frederick.<br />
<br />
Hill, Graham : :<br />
Hubert, John<br />
<br />
_ Jacks, L. P.<br />
<br />
Lorimer, Emilia Stuart<br />
Mahoney, Nellie O.<br />
Molesworth, Arthur W.<br />
<br />
Nicholson, Watson<br />
<br />
M.A., Ph.D.<br />
Nicholson, Mrs.<br />
<br />
Florence Emily, B.L.<br />
Petrie, Gerald<br />
<br />
Prendergast, Mrs. T. J.<br />
W.<br />
<br />
Rathbone, R. Le B.<br />
Small, Louisa Watson<br />
(‘* Mary Buckley.’’)<br />
Stroud, D. Aikenhead,<br />
<br />
LL.D. (Lond.).<br />
Vale, W. T., A.R.C.O. .<br />
<br />
Wignacourt, John<br />
<br />
159<br />
<br />
Sherridge<br />
Malvern.<br />
<br />
Upper Walmer, Kent.<br />
<br />
Holywood Cottage,<br />
Sway, Hants.<br />
<br />
45, Stanhope Road,<br />
Streatham, S.W.<br />
12, Victoria Cres-<br />
<br />
cent, Jersey.<br />
<br />
Strete, Shotover,<br />
Oxford.<br />
<br />
45, Marston’ Street,<br />
Oxford.<br />
<br />
Lyceum Club, 128,<br />
Piccadilly, W.<br />
<br />
43, Albemarle Street,<br />
W.<br />
<br />
28, Bedford Place,<br />
W.C.<br />
<br />
28, Bedford Place,<br />
W.C.<br />
<br />
20, West End Man-<br />
sions, West End<br />
Lane, N.W.<br />
<br />
cjo Messrs. Cox<br />
& Co., Bankers,<br />
Charing Cross.<br />
<br />
8, Ravenscourt<br />
Square, Hammer-<br />
smith, W.<br />
<br />
2, Sicilian House,<br />
Southampton<br />
Row, W.C.<br />
<br />
Solicitors’ Depart-<br />
ment, General<br />
Post Office,<br />
London.<br />
<br />
Pittville, Upper<br />
Duke’s Drive,<br />
Eastbourne.<br />
<br />
Lodge,<br />
<br />
—_—____.——_e-_—__—_<br />
<br />
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY MEMBERS.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Brodzky, Miss Beatrice<br />
Brooker, Lt.-Col. E. P.,<br />
<br />
R.E.<br />
Brown, Miss Julia .<br />
<br />
Byles, Charles Edward.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Hill, Hendon,<br />
N.W.<br />
<br />
22, Hawarden Grove,<br />
Herne Hill, S.E.<br />
<br />
Centinilla, Dene-<br />
wood Road, High-<br />
gate, N.<br />
<br />
17, Narbonne<br />
Avenue, Clapham,<br />
S.W.<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 />
BIOGRAPHY.<br />
<br />
In THE Footsteps or THE Brontis. By Mrs. Exvis H.<br />
Cuapwick. 8} x 5}. 502 pp. Sir Isaac Pitman.<br />
16s. n.<br />
160<br />
<br />
Tue Memorrs oF Maria Stevia (LADY NEWBOROUGH).<br />
By Hersey. Translated from the original French by<br />
M. Harrier M. Cares. 9 Xx 5}.- 299 pp. Nash.<br />
10s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
Paut VeRLaine. By Witrrip Tuortry. (Modern<br />
Biographies.) 63 x 43. 107 pp. Constable. 1s. n.<br />
<br />
REMINISCENCES oF MY Lire. By Henry Hovipay.<br />
104 x 64. 475 pp. Heinemann. 16s. n.<br />
<br />
DRAMA.<br />
<br />
Tue Pray or THE Fururn. By SypNEY GRUNDY.<br />
72 x 54. 41 pp. French. 6d.<br />
<br />
ParsIFAL AND Tristan unD Isotpu. The Stories of<br />
Richard Wagner’s Dramas told in English by R. Fynzs<br />
and Lovis N. Parker. 7} 5. 88 pp. Smith,<br />
Elder. Is. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
Tur Mextine Por. By Israry Zanewrtu. A Drama in<br />
Four Acts. 8} x 53. 216pp. Heinemann. 2s. n.<br />
Stories FROM THE OPERAS. By Guapys Davipson.<br />
<br />
74 x 5}. 559 pp. Werner Laurie. 6s. n.<br />
<br />
ECONOMICS.<br />
<br />
Tue Nature anp Frrst PrrycrPLe oF TAXATION<br />
R. Jones. Witha Preface by SipNey WEBB. 8}<br />
299 pp. P.S. King. 7s. n.<br />
<br />
MarriaGE oN SMALL MEANs.<br />
7k x 5. 193 pp. Constable.<br />
<br />
By Mrs. C.<br />
3s. 6d.<br />
<br />
FICTION.<br />
By Darrett Fieais.<br />
<br />
JacoB ELTHORNE. 7k x 5.<br />
435 pp. Dent. 6s.<br />
<br />
THe WANDERER’S NeckLAace. By H. Rrper Haaaarp.<br />
7% x 5. 328 pp. Cassell. 6s.<br />
THe Maxine or AN ENGLISHMAN.<br />
<br />
74 x 5. 369 pp. Constable. 6s.<br />
<br />
Cuppy YarsorovucH’s Davucuter. By Una _ L.<br />
SmBERRAD. 74 X 5. 350 pp. Constable. 6s.<br />
<br />
Lonpon, 1913. By Maragaret DE VERE STACPOOLE.<br />
74 x 5. 347 pp. Hutchinson. 6s.<br />
<br />
THE MarriaGEor Ceca. By Maupr Lesson.<br />
400 pp. Fisher Unwin. 6s.<br />
<br />
Tue Puree Mists. By F. E. Mitus Youna.<br />
360 pp. Lane. 6s.<br />
<br />
THe Wonprer YEAR. By MauprE GoLpRIne.<br />
319 pp. Erskine Macdonald. 6s.<br />
<br />
Tue Cockney aT Home. Stories and Studies of London<br />
Life and Character. By Epwix Puan. 7} x 5.<br />
296 pp. Chapman and Hall. 6s.<br />
<br />
BEHIND THE VEm. True Stories of London Life. By<br />
Gro. R. Sims. 73 x 5. 272 pp. Greening. 2s. n.<br />
THe Turee Trees. By Guy Rawuence. 7} x 5.<br />
322 pp. Fisher Unwin. 6s.<br />
Tut Icr. By ANNE WEAVER.<br />
<br />
Long. 6s.<br />
<br />
Tue Lost Roap. By Ricuarp Harpine Davis. 7} x 5.<br />
266 pp. Duckworth. 6s.<br />
<br />
TuroveH OTHER Eyes. By Amy McLaren.<br />
322 pp. Murray. 6s.<br />
<br />
A Maponna oF THE Poor AND OTHER Stories. By<br />
Cuive Hottanp. 74 x 5. 320 pp. Lynwood. 6s.<br />
Man and Woman. By L. G. Mosuriy. 72 x 5.<br />
<br />
307 pp. Methuen. 6s.<br />
<br />
Money or Wire. By Erriz ADELAIDE RowLanps.<br />
7? x 5. 320 pp. Ward, Lock. 6s.<br />
<br />
Wun Guost MEETS Guost. By Witt1am Dr Mora@an.<br />
7% x 5. 892 pp. Heinemann. 6s.<br />
<br />
Iyitration. By Rozsert Hugo Benson.<br />
396 pp. Hutchinson. 6s.<br />
<br />
A Lapy- or Letsurz. By Erxen Srpewick.<br />
420 pp. Sidgwick and Jackson. 6s.<br />
<br />
By W. L. Grorce.<br />
<br />
7k X 5.<br />
7} X 5.<br />
<br />
7% x 5. 320 pp. John<br />
<br />
72 x 5.<br />
<br />
74 x 5.<br />
<br />
Tk Xx 5.<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
Smatt Sours. By Lovis Covuprrus.<br />
ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE Marros.<br />
Heinemann. 6s.<br />
<br />
Ten-Minute Stories. By AtaERNON BLAcKWoop.<br />
7k x 5. 271 pp. Murray. 6s.<br />
<br />
THE Ransom ror Lonpon. ByJ.8. FLErcurEr. 7} & 5.<br />
296 pp. J. Long. 6s.<br />
<br />
SEHABORNE OF THE BonneT SHop. By R. K. WerExzs.<br />
7} x 5. 42 pp. Herbert Jenkins. 6s.<br />
<br />
Tue Spirit Peas. By Heapon Hi. 7} x 43. 288 pp.<br />
Stanley Paul. 6s.<br />
<br />
THe Paraway. By GerrrupE Pace. 320 pp.<br />
Ward, Lock. 6s.<br />
<br />
Tue Way or THESE WomEN. By E. Puiviips OPPEN-<br />
HEIM. 73x 5. 316 pp. Methuen. 6s.<br />
<br />
Una and THE Lions. By Constance SMEDLEY. 7} & 43.<br />
305 pp. Chatto and Windus. 6s.<br />
<br />
TurovucH Fouiy’s Minx. By Avice and CLaupDE ASKEW,<br />
7% x 5. 319 pp. Ward, Lock. 6s.<br />
<br />
Tue Fryine Inn. By G. K. Cuusrerron.<br />
301 pp. Methuen. 6s.<br />
<br />
One Krinp anp Anotuer. By Barry Parn.<br />
308 pp. Martin Secker. 6s.<br />
<br />
Gay Morninc. By J. E. BuckRose.<br />
Mills and Boon. 6s.<br />
<br />
Tue Waters or Letue. By DoroTHEA GERARD. 72 X 5.<br />
320 pp. Stanley Paul. 6s.<br />
<br />
Tue Master or Merrivitr. By EprEn<br />
72 x 5. 304pp. Ward, Lock. 6s.<br />
<br />
Dust From THE Loom. By Epwarp Nos Le.<br />
842 pp. Constable. 6s.<br />
<br />
Buinp Eyres. By Marcarer Peterson. 7} x 5. 303 pp.<br />
Melrose. 6s.<br />
<br />
Tue Decoy. By the CounrEss oF CROMARTIE. 7} x 5.<br />
<br />
7} x 43.<br />
<br />
Translated by<br />
72 x 5. 315 pp.<br />
<br />
7% x 5.<br />
<br />
72 x 5.<br />
1 Xx 5.<br />
<br />
id x 5.<br />
<br />
316 pp.<br />
<br />
PHILLPOTTS.<br />
<br />
72 X Be<br />
<br />
176 pp. Erskine Macdonald. 3s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
TerMsS oF SuRRENDER. By Louis Tracy.<br />
346 pp. Cassell. 6s.<br />
<br />
THE QuestTine Brast.<br />
Martin Secker. 6s.<br />
<br />
THE GaRDEN oF Dreams. By H. GRAHAME RICHARDS.<br />
72 x 5. 356 pp. Hutchinson. 6s.<br />
<br />
A Bespoxen Bripe. By Frep WuHiIsHAW.<br />
320 pp. J. Long. 6s.<br />
<br />
Way Sue tert Him. By Frorence WARDEN.<br />
320 pp. John Long. 6s.<br />
<br />
Otp Monz’s Nover. Revised and Expurgated by<br />
GILBERT CANNAN. 6} X 4}. 63 pp. Martin Secker.<br />
6d. n.<br />
<br />
Miser Hoapiey’s Secret. By A. E. Marcumont.<br />
(Cheap Reprint.) 64 x 44. 247pp. Methuen. 7d.n.<br />
<br />
Tue Ducuess oF WrexE: Her DEcLINE anD DEATH.<br />
A Romantic Commentary. By HucH WaLPoLe.<br />
7k x 5. 421 pp. Martin Secker. 6s.<br />
<br />
Havuntep HicgHways AnD Byways. By E. O’DoNNELL.<br />
72 x 5}. 220 pp. Nash. 3s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
Smpson. By Exryor Morpavnt. 332 pp.<br />
Methuen. 6s,<br />
<br />
7% x 5.<br />
7k x 43.<br />
<br />
By Ivy Low. 7} x 5. 301 pp.<br />
<br />
72 x 5.<br />
<br />
7% x 5.<br />
<br />
7t X 5.<br />
<br />
One Man Returns. By Harotp SPENDER.<br />
316 pp. Mills and Boon. 6s.<br />
<br />
Tur Tracy Tussses. By JESSIE Pops.<br />
246 pp. Millsand Boon. 3s. 6d.<br />
<br />
DistuRBERS. By W. H. Witt1aMson and “‘ CANADIENNE” |<br />
7% x 5. 316 pp.<br />
<br />
Tue Mayor’s NI&cE.<br />
<br />
ANNE OF THE BARRICADES.<br />
64 x 44. (Sevenpenny<br />
Stoughton.<br />
<br />
Evrerypopy’s Secret. By Dron Crayton CaLTHROP.<br />
(Popular Edition.) 7$x 5. 344 pp. Alston Rivers. 1s. n,<br />
<br />
Tur ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK Hommes. By A. ConaN<br />
Doyir. (Nelson’s Library.) 6} x 44. 379 pp.<br />
Nelson. 7d. n.<br />
<br />
By G. A. BirmincHam. 256 pp.<br />
By 8S. R. Crocxert. 323 pp.<br />
Library.) Hodder and<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR. 161<br />
<br />
HISTORY.<br />
<br />
CALENDAR OF STATE PaPerRs. Colonial Series —America<br />
and West Indies, December 1, 1702-1703. Preserved<br />
in the Public Record Office. Edited by Cec, Hreapiam.<br />
10$ x 74. 998 pp. Wyman. 15s.<br />
<br />
HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY.<br />
<br />
Tue Ancrent Roman EMPIRE AND THE BriTIsH EMPIRE<br />
in Inpia. Tue Dirrusion oF RoMAN AND ENGLISH<br />
<br />
_ Law THROUGHOUT THE WorRLD. Two Historical<br />
<br />
Studies. By James Bryce. 84 x 532. 138 pp.<br />
Milford. 6s. n.<br />
<br />
THe Tracutnc oF Inpian History. An Inaugural<br />
Lecture. (January 20, 1914.) By Witt1am HoLpEN<br />
Hutton, B.D., Reader in Indian History in the Univer-<br />
sity of Oxford. 9 x 6. 29 pp. Oxford: Clarendon<br />
Press. London: Milford. ls. n.<br />
<br />
LITERARY.<br />
<br />
Men and Martrers. By WitrreD WARD.<br />
451 pp. Longmans. 12s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
MEDICAL.<br />
<br />
Exrectant MotHserHoop: Its SUPERVISION AND<br />
Hyaerenr. By J. W. Batuantyne, M.D. 8} x 5}.<br />
288 pp. Cassell. 6s. n.<br />
<br />
AMBIDEXTERITY AND MentTaL Cuitture. By H.<br />
MacnaucuTon-Jonges. 62 x 44. 102 pp. Heine-<br />
mann. 2s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
MISCELLANEOUS.<br />
<br />
A Morauist’s Birtupay Boox. Quotations Selected<br />
and Edited by Marx Merepirn. 4} x 34. 256 pp.<br />
67, Dale Street, Liverpool.<br />
<br />
ORIENTAL.<br />
Apu’. ALA, THe Syrran. By H. Banrvern.<br />
99 pp. (Widsom of the East Series.) Murray.<br />
<br />
PAMPHLETS.<br />
Waar 1s ‘‘ Womanty’’?? By Laurence Housman. The<br />
Women’s Freedom League. 4d.<br />
POETRY.<br />
<br />
More Ruopestan Ruymes. By CuLLeEN GouLpsBurRyY.<br />
74 x 5. 136 pp. Bulawayo: Philpott and Collins.<br />
<br />
9 x 52.<br />
<br />
62 x 5.<br />
2s. n.<br />
<br />
Man, OruerR Poems, AND A Prerace. By Marie C.<br />
Storrs, D.Sc., Ph.D., F.L.S., Fellow of University<br />
College, London. 74 x 5. 76 pp. Heinemann.<br />
3s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
Wittow’s Force anp OTHER Poems. By SHEA<br />
Kayer-Smitu. 73? x 54. 52 pp. Erskine Macdonald.<br />
<br />
A Batitap oF Men anp OrHer Verses. By WiLiiamM<br />
BuaneE. 73 x 5. 78 pp. Constable. 3s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
Distrkes. Some Modern Satires. By C. MASEFIELD.<br />
7k x 54. 48 pp. Fifield. 1s. n.<br />
<br />
POLITICAL.<br />
<br />
Tue GOVERNANCE OF ENGLAND. By Sipney Low. New<br />
Edition, revised and reset, with Introductory Essay.<br />
8 x 53. 320 pp. Fisher Unwin. 3s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
SPORT.<br />
<br />
Tue TRAD OF THE SANDHILL Sta.<br />
Naturalist to the Government of Manitoba.<br />
93 pp. Hodder and Stoughton. 3s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
THEOLOGY.<br />
<br />
Pastor Fururvs. <A Dramatic Idyll. By Joun<br />
Huntiey Sxrine, D.D. 8 x 54. 295 pp. Longmans,<br />
5s. n.<br />
<br />
By E. T. Szton,<br />
72 x 6.<br />
<br />
Toe Tree or Knowieper. A Series of Lessons for<br />
Children on the First Half of the Book of Genesis. By<br />
Sys Smiru. 74 x 5. xiv + 250 pp. Milford. 3s. 6d. n<br />
<br />
THe Meanrne or Curistianity. By F. A. M. Spencer.<br />
(Second Edition, Revised.) 8} x 5}. 350 pp. Fisher<br />
Unwin. 2s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
TOPOGRAPHY.<br />
<br />
Iy Cunyne WALK anpD THEREABOUT. Containing Short<br />
Accounts of Some Ingenious People and Famous Places<br />
that were by the Riverside at Chelsea. By REGINALD<br />
Buunt. 9 xX 534. 322 pp. Mills and Boon. 10s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
A CorNER OF THE CoTswoLps. Through the Nineteenth<br />
Century. By M. Strurar GREeTTon. 9 x 53. 289 pp.<br />
Methuen. 7s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
TRAVEL.<br />
<br />
Royat Spain or To-pay. By :TrypHosa Bares<br />
BaTcHELLER. 10 Xx 6%. xxiii +614 pp. Longmans.<br />
25s. n.<br />
<br />
—__+—~>—<br />
<br />
LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL<br />
NOTES.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
N R. WILLIAM DE MORGAN’S new book<br />
is entitled ‘* When Ghost meets Ghost,”’<br />
and is published by Heinemann at 6s.,<br />
<br />
and, in two volumes (library edition), 10s.<br />
<br />
‘“‘ Initiation’ is the name of Monsignor<br />
Benson’s novel published last month (Hutchin-<br />
son).<br />
<br />
Mr. Edwin Pugh’s volume of short stories,<br />
‘“The Cockney at Home,” is published by<br />
Chapman and Hall.<br />
<br />
The same firm publishes Mr. Tighe Hopkins’s<br />
** Romance of Fraud ”’ (7s. 6d. net); and “‘ The<br />
Trial of John Jasper for the Murder of Edwin<br />
Drood,” in which Mr. G. K. Chesterton was<br />
judge and Mr. Bernard Shaw foreman of the<br />
jury (2s. 6d. net).<br />
<br />
Mr. G. K. Chesterton’s novel “‘ The Flying<br />
Inn,” is published by Methuen & Co., while a<br />
1s. net edition of his ‘“‘ Bernard Shaw’”’ is<br />
announced by John Lane.<br />
<br />
Mr. Francis Gribble’s ‘‘ Life of the Emperor<br />
Francis Joseph” appeared on February 19<br />
(Nash, 16s. net).<br />
<br />
““ The Way of These Women ” is a novel by<br />
Mr. E. Phillips Oppenheim (Methuen & Co.).<br />
<br />
Mr. Frederick Arthur in “The Great<br />
Attempt ” deals with the struggle that ended<br />
at Culloden (John Murray).<br />
<br />
“The Strength of a Chain,” by Hester<br />
White, is published by Heath, Cranton and<br />
Ousely. The same firm announces for April<br />
Mrs. Mary F. Raphael’s “ Phoebe Maroon.”<br />
<br />
J. E. Buckrose has just published, through<br />
Mills and Boon, a _ novel entitled ‘“ Gay<br />
Morning,” which is appearing simultaneously<br />
<br />
<br />
160<br />
<br />
Tue Memorrs or Marra STELLA (LADY NEwsBoRouGH).<br />
By Hersetr. Translated from the original French by<br />
M. Harrrer M. Capes. 9 x 53. 299 pp. Nash.<br />
10s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
Paut VERLAINE. By Witrrip THORLEY. (Modern<br />
Biographies.) 63 x 43. 107 pp. Constable. 1s. n.<br />
REMINISCENCES OF MY Lire. By Henry Hovipay.<br />
10} x 6}. 475 pp. Heinemann. 16s. n.<br />
DRAMA.<br />
THe Pray or THE Foturr. By Sypney Grunpy.<br />
7} x 54. 41 pp. French. 6d.<br />
<br />
ParsiraAL AND Tristan unD IsotpE. The Stories of<br />
Richard Wagner’s Dramas told in English by R. FynEs<br />
and Louis N. Parker. 7} xX 5. 88 pp. Smith,<br />
Elder. Is. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
Tue Murine Por. By Israrn Zanewityt. A Drama in<br />
Four Acts. 8} x 54. 216 pp. Heinemann. 2s. n.<br />
STORIES FROM THE OpprRAS. By Guiapys Davipson.<br />
<br />
7s X 5}. 559 pp. Werner Laurie. 6s. n.<br />
<br />
ECONOMICS.<br />
Tue Nature AND First PrincipLe oF TaxaTION. By<br />
<br />
R. Jones. Witha Preface by SipNeY Wess. 8} X 5$.<br />
299 pp. P.S. King. 7s. n.<br />
Marriage on Smatt Means. By Mrs. C. 8. PEEL.<br />
7s x 5. 193 pp. Constable. 3s. 6d.<br />
FICTION.<br />
Jacop Exruorne. By Darren Ficais. 7} x 5.<br />
435 pp. Dent. 6s.<br />
<br />
THE WANDERER’S NeckLAce. By H. Riper Haaaarp.<br />
7% x 5. 328 pp. Cassell. 6s.<br />
<br />
Tue Maxine of AN Enciisuman. By W. L. Grorae.<br />
<br />
74 x 5. 369 pp. Constable. 6s.<br />
Cuppy Yarporoucn’s Davucuter. By Una _ L.<br />
SmBERRAD. 7$ Xx 5. 350 pp. Constable. 6s.<br />
Lonpon, 1913. By Marcaret DE VERE STACPOOLE.<br />
74 x 5. 347 pp. Hutchinson. 6s.<br />
<br />
THe MarriaGe or Crciuia. By Maupr LEEson.<br />
400 pp. Fisher Unwin. _ 6s.<br />
<br />
THe PurpPLe Mists. By F. E. Mitts Youne. 7} x 5.<br />
360 pp. Lane. 6s.<br />
<br />
THe Wonprer YEAR. By Mavupr Gouprine. 72 x 5.<br />
319 pp. Erskine Macdonald. 6s.<br />
<br />
Tue Cockney at Home. Stories and Studies of London<br />
Life and Character. By Epwix Pucn. 72 x 5.<br />
296 pp. Chapman and Hall. 6s.<br />
<br />
BeninD THE Vem. True Stories of London Life. By<br />
Guo. R. Sms. 7} x 5. 272 pp. Greening. 2s. n. ~<br />
<br />
Tue Turee Trees. By Guy Rawuence. 7} x 5.<br />
322 pp. Fisher Unwin. 6s.<br />
<br />
Tun Icr. By ANNE WEAVER. 72 X 5. 320pp. John<br />
Long. 6s.<br />
<br />
Tue Lost Roap. By Ricuarp Harpine Davis. 72 x 5.<br />
266 pp. Duckworth. 6s.<br />
<br />
THrovcH OTHER Eyes. By Amy McLaren. 7? x 5.<br />
<br />
322 pp. Murray. 6s.<br />
<br />
A Maponna oF THE Poor AND OrHerR Srortrs. By<br />
Crive Hottanp. 74 x 5. 320 pp. Lynwood. 6s.”<br />
<br />
Man and Woman. By L. G. Moperiy. 7} x 5.<br />
307 pp. Methuen. 6s.<br />
<br />
Monty orn Wire. By Errre AprLarpn Row anps.<br />
7i < 5. 320 pp. Ward, Lock. 6s.<br />
<br />
Wuen Guost ments Guost. By Wimxiam Dr Moraan.<br />
72 x 5. 892 pp. Heinemann. 6s.<br />
<br />
Initiation. By Rosert Hvucn Benson.<br />
396 pp. Hutchinson. 6s.<br />
<br />
A Lapy-or Lutsurz. By Erne. Smewicx.<br />
<br />
420 pp. Sidgwick and Jackson. 6s.<br />
<br />
7} x 6.<br />
<br />
7k X 5.<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
SmaLL Sov.s.<br />
<br />
By Lovis Covupsrrus.<br />
ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE Marros.<br />
Heinemann. 6s.<br />
<br />
Translated by<br />
7% x 5. 315 pp.<br />
<br />
Ten-Minute Stories. By ALGERNON<br />
74 x 5. 271 pp. Murray. 6s.<br />
<br />
Tue Ransom For Lonpon, By J. 8. Frercuer.<br />
296 pp. J. Long. 6s.<br />
<br />
SEABORNE OF THE Bonnet SuHor. By R. K. Wrexzs.<br />
7} x 5. 42 pp. Herbert Jenkins. 6s.<br />
<br />
Biackwoop.<br />
<br />
Tk x 6.<br />
<br />
Tue Spirit Peas. By Heapon Hint. 7} x 4}. 288 pp.<br />
Stanley Paul. 6s.<br />
Tue Patuway. By GerTruDE Pace. 7} x 5. 320 pp.<br />
<br />
Ward, Lock. 6s.<br />
<br />
Tur Way or THESE Women. By E. Puitiips Opren-<br />
HEM. 7} x 5. 316 pp. Methuen. 6s.<br />
<br />
Una AnD THE Lions. By Constance SMEDLEY. 7} x 43.<br />
305 pp. Chatto and Windus. 6s.<br />
<br />
TurovuGH Foiiy’s Mint. By Axicr and CLaupE ASKEW,<br />
<br />
72 x 5. 319 pp. Ward, Lock. 6s.<br />
Tue Frying Inn. By G. K. Cnuestertron. 7} x 5,<br />
301 pp. Methuen. 6s.<br />
<br />
One Kinp anp ANOTHER. By Barry Parn. 7% x 5,<br />
308 pp. Martin Secker. 6s.<br />
<br />
Gay Morninc. By J. E. Buckrosr. 7} x 5.<br />
Mills and Boon. 6s.<br />
<br />
Tue Waters oF LETHE. By DororHea GERARD. 73 X 5.<br />
320 pp. Stanley Paul. 6s.<br />
<br />
THe Master or Merripir. By Epren Pxrmporrs.<br />
<br />
72 x 5. 304pp. Ward, Lock. 6s.<br />
<br />
Dust rrom THE Loom. By Epwarp Nose. 7} x 5,<br />
842 pp. Constable. 6s.<br />
<br />
Buryp Eyres. By Margaret PETERSON. 7? X 5. 303 pp.<br />
Melrose. 6s.<br />
<br />
Tue Decoy. By the CounrEss or CRomarTiE. 7} x 5},<br />
176 pp. Erskine Macdonald. 3s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
TERMS OF SURRENDER. By Lovis Tracy. 72 x 4%.<br />
346 pp. Cassell. 6s.<br />
<br />
Tur Questine Beast. By Ivy Low. 7}? x 5. 301 pp.<br />
<br />
Martin Secker. 6s.<br />
<br />
THE GARDEN OF Dreams. By H. GRAHAME RICHARDS.<br />
7% x 5. 356 pp. Hutchinson. 6s.<br />
<br />
A Bespoken Bripe. By FrRep WuisHaw. 7? xX 5.<br />
320 pp. J. Long. 6s.<br />
<br />
Wry Sue tert Him. By Firorence Warpren. 7} x 5.<br />
<br />
320 pp. John Long. 6s.<br />
<br />
Otp Motn’s Nover. Revised and Expurgated by<br />
GILBERT CANNAN. 64 x 4}. 63 pp. Martin Secker.<br />
6d. n.<br />
<br />
Secret. By A. E. Marcumont.<br />
64 x 44. 247pp. Methuen. 7d.n.<br />
Her Dercrine anp DEatTH.<br />
By HucH WALPOLE.<br />
<br />
Miser Hoapiey’s<br />
(Cheap Reprint. )<br />
Ture Ducuess or WREXE:<br />
A Romantic Commentary.<br />
<br />
74 x 5. 421 pp. Martin Secker. 6s.<br />
<br />
Havuntep Hicuways anp Byways. By E. O’ DoNNELL.<br />
72 x 54. 220 pp. Nash. 3s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
Srmpson. By Exinor Morpaunt. 7} x 5. 332 pp.<br />
Methuen. 6s.<br />
<br />
Ont Man Returns. By Harotp SrenpDER. 7} X 5.<br />
316 pp. Mills and Boon. 6s.<br />
<br />
THe Tracy Tussses. By JxEsste Popr. 7} X 43.<br />
<br />
246 pp. Mills and Boon. 3s. 6d.<br />
DistuRBERS. By W. H. Wititamson and ‘‘ CANADIENNE”<br />
7% x 5. 316 pp.<br />
<br />
Tue Mayor’s Niece. By G. A. BrrmincuaM. 256 pp.<br />
<br />
ANNE OF THE Barricapes. By 8S. R. Crockett. 323 pp.<br />
64 x 44. (Sevenpenny Library.) Hodder and<br />
Stoughton.<br />
<br />
Everypopy’s Secret. By Dron Cuayron CALTHROP,<br />
(Popular Edition.) 7} 5. 344 pp. Alston Rivers. 1s. n.<br />
<br />
THe ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HotmEs. By A. Conan<br />
Doyur. (Nelson’s Library.) 6} x 4}. 379 pp.<br />
Nelson. 7d. n.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
316 pp. .<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
ALD<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
HISTORY.<br />
<br />
CALENDAR OF STATE PaPerRs. Colonial Series.—America<br />
and West Indies, December 1, 1702-1703. Preserved<br />
in the Public Record Office. Edited by Cec, Hrapiam.<br />
103 x 74. 998 pp. Wyman. 15s.<br />
<br />
HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY.<br />
<br />
Tue ANCIENT RoMAN EMPIRE AND THE BritisH EMPIRE<br />
mn Inpra. Tue Dirruston or Roman anv ENGLISH<br />
<br />
Law THROUGHOUT THE WorRLD. Two Historical<br />
<br />
. Studies. By Jamzs Bryce. 8} x 53. 138 pp.<br />
Milford. 6s. n.<br />
<br />
Tue Tracuinc oF Inpran History. An Inaugural<br />
Lecture. (January 20, 1914.) By Witi1am HoLpEN<br />
Hurron, B.D., Reader in Indian History in the Univer-<br />
sity of Oxford. 9 x 6. 29 pp. Oxford: Clarendon<br />
Press. London: Milford. ls. n.<br />
<br />
LITERARY.<br />
<br />
Men anp Matters. By WriirreD WARD.<br />
451 pp. Longmans. 12s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
MEDICAL.<br />
<br />
Expectant MornerHoop: ITs SUPERVISION AND<br />
Hyoeienr. By J. W. Batxantyne, M.D. 8} X 5}.<br />
288 pp. Cassell. 6s, n.<br />
<br />
AMBIDEXTERITY AND Mentat Cutture. By UH.<br />
Macnavucuton-Jones. 62 X 4}. 102 pp. Heine-<br />
mann. 2s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
MISCELLANEOUS.<br />
<br />
A Morauist’s Brrtapay Boox. Quotations Selected<br />
and Edited by Mark Merepiru. 4} x 3}. 256 pp.<br />
67, Dale Street, Liverpool.<br />
<br />
ORIENTAL.<br />
Asu’t ALA, THe Syrian. By H. Barrer.<br />
99 pp. (Widsom of the East Series.) Murray.<br />
<br />
PAMPHLETS.<br />
Wuat is “ Womanty”’ ? By LavrENcE HovusMAN.<br />
Women’s Freedom League. 4d.<br />
<br />
POETRY.<br />
<br />
More RuopesiaN Ruymes. By CuLLEN GOULDSBURY.<br />
7k x 5. 136 pp. Bulawayo: Philpott and Collins.<br />
5s. n.<br />
<br />
Man, OruerR Poems, AND A Prerace. By Marie C.<br />
Srorzs, D.Sc., Ph.D., F.L.S., Fellow of University<br />
College, London. 74 xX 5. 76 pp. Heinemann.<br />
3s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
Wiuow’s Force sanp OrTnEeR Poems. By SHEILA<br />
Kays-Smitu. 73 x 5}. 52 pp. Erskine Macdonald.<br />
<br />
A Battap or Men anp OTHER VersES. By WILLIAM<br />
Buang. 7} x 5. 78 pp. Constable. 3s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
Distixes. Some Modern Satires. By C. MasFIELp.<br />
7k x 5}. 48 pp. Fifield. 1s. n.<br />
<br />
POLITICAL.<br />
<br />
Tur Governancn oF ENGLAND. By Sipney Low. New<br />
Edition, revised and reset, with Introductory Essay.<br />
8 x 5}. 320 pp. Fisher Unwin. 3s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
SPORT.<br />
<br />
The TRAIL oF THE SANDHILL STAG.<br />
Naturalist to the Government of Manitoba.<br />
93 pp. Hodder and Stoughton. 3s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
THEOLOGY. .<br />
A Dramatic Idyll.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
9 x 5B<br />
<br />
63% x 5.<br />
2a Ti<br />
<br />
The<br />
<br />
By E. T. Seton,<br />
7 x 6.<br />
<br />
Pastor Futurvs. By Joun<br />
<br />
Hunriey Sxrivz, D.D. 8 x 5}. 295 pp. Longmans,<br />
53. ne<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
161<br />
<br />
Tue TREE or Knowiepcr. A Series of Lessons for<br />
Children on the First Half of the Book of Genesis. By<br />
Sypit Smirn. 74x 5. xiv + 250 pp. Milford. 3s. 6d.n<br />
<br />
THE MEANING OF CHRISTIANITY. By F. A. M. SPENCER.<br />
(Second Edition, Revised.) 8} x 5}. 350 pp. Fisher<br />
Unwin. 2s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
TOPOGRAPHY.<br />
<br />
In Curyne WALK AND THEREABOUT. Containing Short<br />
Accounts of Some Ingenious People and Famous Places<br />
that were by the Riverside at Chelsea. By REcrnaLp<br />
Buunt. 9 xX 54. 322 pp. Mills and Boon. 10s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
A CoRNER oF THE CotswoLps. Through the Nineteenth<br />
Century. By M. Sturcr Grerron. 9 x 5}. 289 pp.<br />
Methuen. 7s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
TRAVEL.<br />
<br />
Roya Sparn or To-pay. By :TrypHosa BatTEs<br />
BatcHELLER. 10 X 6}. xxiii+ 614 pp. Longmans.<br />
25s. n.<br />
<br />
—<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL<br />
NOTES.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
R. WILLIAM DE MORGAN’S new book<br />
is entitled ‘‘ When Ghost meets Ghost,”’<br />
and is published by Heinemann at 6s.,<br />
<br />
and, in two volumes (library edition), 10s.<br />
<br />
“Tnitiation’’ is the name of Monsignor<br />
Benson’s novel published last month (Hutchin-<br />
son).<br />
<br />
Mr. Edwin Pugh’s volume of short stories,<br />
‘*The Cockney at Home,” is published by<br />
Chapman and Hall.<br />
<br />
The same firm publishes Mr. Tighe Hopkins’s<br />
“ Romance of Fraud ” (7s. 6d. net); and “ The<br />
Trial of John Jasper for the Murder of Edwin<br />
Drood,” in which Mr. G. K. Chesterton was<br />
judge and Mr. Bernard Shaw foreman of the<br />
jury (2s. 6d. net).<br />
<br />
Mr. G. K. Chesterton’s novel ‘‘ The Flying<br />
Inn,” is published by Methuen & Co., while a<br />
1s. net edition of his ‘“‘ Bernard Shaw’”’ is<br />
announced by John Lane.<br />
<br />
Mr. Francis Gribble’s ‘‘ Life of the Emperor<br />
Francis Joseph” appeared on February 19<br />
(Nash, 16s. net).<br />
<br />
“The Way of These Women ” is a novel by<br />
Mr. E. Phillips Oppenheim (Methuen & Co.).<br />
<br />
Mr. Frederick Arthur in “The Great<br />
Attempt ” deals with the struggle that ended<br />
at Culloden (John Murray).<br />
<br />
““The Strength of a Chain,” by Hester<br />
White, is published by Heath, Cranton and<br />
Ousely. The same firm announces for April<br />
Mrs. Mary F. Raphael’s “ Phoebe Maroon.”<br />
<br />
J. E. Buckrose has just published, through<br />
Mills and Boon, a novel entitled “ Gay<br />
Morning,” which is appearing simultaneously<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
162<br />
<br />
in the United States. This author’s “ Dewn<br />
Our Strect ” and ‘‘ Love in a Little Town”<br />
are being issued in a new shilling cloth-covered<br />
edition, while a series of sketches called “* Billy<br />
Finding Out” is about to appear in the Pall<br />
Mall Magazine.<br />
<br />
‘Frances of the Farm,” an Australian<br />
story by an Australian writer, M. Lillian Paten,<br />
is published by Murray and Evenden at 2s.<br />
net.<br />
<br />
Stanley Paul & Co. announce “ The Gates<br />
of Doon,” a new story of England in Georgian<br />
days, by Mr. Rafael Sabatini. The book is<br />
to be included in Stanley Paul’s Empire<br />
Library. :<br />
<br />
The authors of “ Birturbiss,’ a novel<br />
introducing the Iroquois Indians and Pontiac’s<br />
rebellion, are W. H. Williamson and<br />
“Canadienne ”’ (T. Wérner Laurie, 6s.).<br />
<br />
Mr. Clive Holland collects some of his short<br />
stories under the title of ‘‘ A Madonna of the<br />
Poor ” (Lynwood & Co.).<br />
<br />
“The Purple Mists,” by Miss Mills Young,<br />
is published by John Lane.<br />
<br />
Mrs. Agnes E. Jacomb Hood’s new novel,<br />
“The Fruits of the Morrow,” will be brought<br />
out this month by Methuen & Co.<br />
<br />
The first book of the spring publishing<br />
season of Herbert Jenkins, Ltd., was ‘“ Sea-<br />
borne of the Bonnet Shop,” by R. K. Weekes.<br />
<br />
Mrs. Stanley Wrench’s “ Potter and Clay ”<br />
is to appear on March 5.<br />
<br />
Miss Edith C. Kenyon’s Welsh novel,<br />
“The Wooing of Mifanwy,” is to come out<br />
in a sixpenny edition about Easter.<br />
<br />
Only a few months ago the most famous of<br />
English comic actresses in the past was dealt<br />
with by Mr. P. W. Sergeant in his ‘“ Mrs.<br />
Jordan, Child of Nature.’ Now a new<br />
biography of the same lady is announced b<br />
the firm of Nash, the title being “ The Story<br />
of Dorothy Jordan,” and the author Clare<br />
Jerrold. Mrs. Jerrold, we learn, has had<br />
access to important letters and private papers,<br />
which help to solve the numerous doubts and<br />
difficulties connected with the actress’s life.<br />
<br />
Mr. Walter Jerrold has recently completed<br />
the biography of his grandfather Douglas<br />
Jerrold, on which he has long been engaged,<br />
and it will shortly be published by Hodder<br />
and Stoughton.<br />
<br />
“Love in a Thirsty Land,” by Mrs. A. C,<br />
Inchbold, is a romance which begins in<br />
France and is continued in Palestine, the hero<br />
being a young American and the heroine a<br />
French girl of aristocratic family (Chatto and<br />
Windus).<br />
<br />
Mr. John Law, author of “ Glimpses of<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
Midden India,” has had published through<br />
Thacker Spink, of Calcutta and Simla, a<br />
story entitled “* The Horoscope.’<br />
<br />
“The Chow-chow ” is the name of a work<br />
by Lady Dunbar of Mochrum, which deals<br />
with that breed of dogs in which the author<br />
is so deeply interested, and of which she is a<br />
scientific breeder. The book is illustrated<br />
with many photographs, and is published by<br />
Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd.<br />
<br />
Mr. W. L. George’s book of essays upon the<br />
drama will be published by Sidgwick and<br />
Jackson this month, under the title ‘‘ Dramatic<br />
Actualities.”’<br />
<br />
“The Doges of Venice,” by Mrs. Aubrey<br />
Richardson, is published, with 16 illustrations,<br />
at 12s. 6d. net.<br />
<br />
Mr. Adclphe Smith’s new work is ‘‘ Monaco<br />
and Monte Carlo ” (Grant Richards, 15s. net).<br />
<br />
Mr. Reginald Blunt’s “In Cheyne Walk and<br />
Thereabouts ” contains, according to the sub-<br />
title, short accounts of some ingenious people<br />
and famous places that were by the riverside<br />
at Chelsea (Mills and Boon, 10s. 6d. net).<br />
<br />
The Rev. Ashley L. Barnes-Lawrence issues,<br />
through the S.P.C.K., a little work entitled<br />
“The Marriage Vow: a Call to Churchmen.”<br />
The price is 8d.<br />
<br />
Messrs. Methuen & Co. announce a new<br />
work by the Rev. P. H. Ditchfield, F\S.A.,<br />
entitled ‘‘ London Survivals,”’ illustrated by<br />
over 100 drawings by Mr. Wratten. It will<br />
be published in the spring. Mr. Ditchfield<br />
has also finished another book for the same<br />
firm, which will appear in the autumn. He is<br />
writing a series of articles in the Badminton<br />
Magazine on Famous Houses, and contributing<br />
to the Field, the Treasury, the Quiver and<br />
other magazines. He is editing with Mr. W.<br />
Page the Victoria County History of Berk-<br />
shire, in four large quarto volumes, and hopes<br />
<br />
the last two will be issued shortly; the<br />
“Memorials of Old Berkshire,” for the<br />
Memorials of the Counties of England<br />
<br />
Series, of which he is the general editor; and<br />
has undertaken to write a new book for Messrs.<br />
Dent & Co. His article in the Treasury last<br />
month is on “‘ Belgian Pulpits.”<br />
<br />
“Celtic Britain and the Pilgrim Movement,”’<br />
by the Rev. G. Hartwell Jones, M.A., D.D.,<br />
is published by the Hcnourable Society of<br />
Cymmrodorion at the price of one guinea net,<br />
<br />
Mr. James Baker, F.R.Hist.S., gave recently,<br />
at Plymouth, a lecture upon “ R. D. Blackmore,<br />
the man and his work,” in the course of which<br />
special reference was made to the fact that<br />
Blackmore strongly resented being called a<br />
one-book man, The lecturer supported Black-<br />
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Jenkins, Ltd.<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR. 163<br />
<br />
more’s position with quotations from many of<br />
his novels.<br />
<br />
Miss Beatrice Chase, in ‘‘ The Heart of the<br />
Moor,” is enthusiastic about the spell of<br />
Dartmoor, and says that to her the days spent<br />
away from it are irrevocably lost (Herbert<br />
Jenkins, Ltd.).<br />
<br />
Mr. W. Barnes Steveni, formerly St. Peters-<br />
burg correspondent of the Daily Chronicle, has<br />
recently completed a book upon the Volga,<br />
the largest river in Europe. The name is<br />
“The History of the Volga and its Towns.”<br />
Mr. Barnes Steveni has also completed two<br />
books on ‘“‘ Sweden, the Land of the Goths<br />
and Vikings,” one of which will be brought<br />
out by Seely, Service & Co. in the autumn.<br />
<br />
Mr. Charles Rann Kennedy has published in<br />
book-form his new five-act play ‘“ The Idol<br />
Breaker” (Harper and Brothers, New York,<br />
$1.25 net).<br />
<br />
“The Memoirs of Babur”’ is a new trans-<br />
lation by Annable S. Beveridge of the “ Babur-<br />
nama,” incorporating the 1826 translation by<br />
Lagden and Erskine (Luzac & Co., 10s. 6d.<br />
net). The same author has in the Journal of<br />
the Royal Asiatic Society some ‘“* Notes on the<br />
Babur-nama.”’<br />
<br />
A book of stories, sketches, and verse, grave<br />
and gay, dealing with life in Siam, by Mr.<br />
Eric Reid, has been published by the Bangkok<br />
Times Press, Ltd., under the title “‘ Chequered<br />
Leaves from Siam.”<br />
<br />
Mr. W. H. Harwood’s ‘“‘ The Modern Poet,<br />
and other verses” is. published by Constable<br />
& Co. at 3s. 6d. net.<br />
<br />
“‘ The Wheel of Life and Some of its Spokes ”<br />
is a small volume of essays by V. E. M.<br />
Fetherstonehaugh-Frampton, published by<br />
H. G. Commin, of Bournemouth.<br />
<br />
Miss A. M. Everest’s anthology of German<br />
poetry will be published by Erskine Macdonald<br />
on March 2. The same firm will print, shortly,<br />
a second impression of Miss E. Crosby Heath’s<br />
* Little Poems.”<br />
<br />
In the February Cornhill Mr. Gilbert<br />
Coleridge had an article called ‘“‘ Rory of the<br />
Glen,” a character-study and description of<br />
the local surroundings of a Highland keeper<br />
on a Scottish deer-forest—a type of man that<br />
is fast dying out.<br />
<br />
In the February Windsor Mrs. Dawson<br />
Scott has some verses entitled the “ Moving<br />
Finger.’<br />
<br />
Mr. W. H. Dawson is the editor of ‘“‘ The<br />
Year-Book of the Universities of the Empire,<br />
1918—14,”” published for the Bureau of the<br />
Universities of the Empire by Herbert<br />
<br />
DRAMATIC.<br />
<br />
After its performance by the Play Actors at<br />
the Court Theatre on January 26, Mr. Israel<br />
Zangwill’s four-act drama, “The Melting<br />
Pot,” was put on at the Queen’s Theatre,<br />
where it still occupies the nightly bill.<br />
<br />
On January 28 ‘‘ The Music Cure,” a new<br />
playlet by Mr. Bernard Shaw, was produced,<br />
in front of Mr. G. K. Chesterton’s ‘‘ Magic”’<br />
at the Little Theatre. In the same house on<br />
February 3 ‘‘ The Ladies’ Comedy,” by Mr.<br />
Maurice Hewlett, was seen at a matinée.<br />
<br />
“The Eleventh Hour,” a short comedy by<br />
Mr. Temple Thurston, was put on at the<br />
Coliseum on February 2.<br />
<br />
‘The Tyranny of Tears,” by Mr. C. Haddon<br />
Chambers, was revived at the Comedy Theatre<br />
on February 5.<br />
<br />
‘“* A Midsummer Night’s Dream”’ was revived<br />
by Mr. Granville Barker at the Savoy on<br />
February 6.<br />
<br />
Mr. Norreys Connell’s play, “ Thank Your<br />
Ladyship,” was produced at the Playhouse<br />
on February 12.<br />
<br />
On February 16 ‘‘ Damaged Goods,” a<br />
translation by Mr. John Pollock of Brieux’s<br />
“Les Avariés,” was played at a matinée by<br />
the Authors’ Producing Society at the Little<br />
Theatre.<br />
<br />
On February 17 ‘“ Helen with the High<br />
Hand,” an adaptation by Mr. Richard Price<br />
of Mr. Arnold Bennett’s novel, was produced<br />
at the Vaudeville Theatre.<br />
<br />
The run of Sir J. M. Barrie’s “ Quality<br />
Street ? ended on February 21, and its place<br />
at the Duke of York’s Theatre was taken on<br />
February 26 by Mr. Somerset-Maugham’s<br />
new play, ‘“‘ The Land of Promise.” :<br />
<br />
On February 28 Mr. Joseph Keating’s<br />
“‘Pegay and Her Husband” was staged at<br />
the Royalty Theatre.<br />
<br />
“ The Two Virtues,” Mr. Alfred Sutro’s new<br />
comedy, is announced for production by Sir<br />
George Alexander at the St. James’s Theatre<br />
on the 5th instant.<br />
<br />
There was a revival of Mr. Sydney Grundy’s<br />
“A Pair of Spectacles” at the Marlborough<br />
Theatre last month.<br />
<br />
Mr. Norman V. Norman has a new one-act<br />
play by Miss Cicely Hamilton. {<br />
<br />
Among the plays to be expected are Mr.<br />
Louis Parker’s version of “ David Copper-<br />
field,” for Sir Herbert Tree ; and Mr. Bernard<br />
Shaw’s ‘“‘ Pygmalion,” also at His Majesty’s<br />
Theatre. :<br />
<br />
Sara Jeanette Duncan has, in collaboration<br />
with Mr. Forbes Dawson, dramatised her<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
164<br />
<br />
Indian story which was published under the<br />
title ‘‘ Sonny Sahib.” :<br />
<br />
‘“Consarnin’ Sairey Uggins ” is a one-act<br />
piece by Wilfrid Blair, produced under Miss<br />
Horniman’s management at the Gaiety<br />
Theatre, Manchester. The play deals with<br />
rival claimants to a widow’s hand, and shows<br />
how the attempt of two of the rivals to score<br />
off a third when their own suits have failed<br />
results in the success of the third claimant.<br />
<br />
In the cast were Miss Muriel Pope and Mr.<br />
Leonard Mudie.<br />
<br />
MusiIcat.<br />
<br />
At the Royal Philharmonic Society’s concert<br />
at the Queen’s Hall, on February 19, Sir<br />
Charles Stanford’s ‘‘ Fourth Irish Rhapsody ”<br />
was given for the first time. 2<br />
<br />
Mr. H. E. Hodson’s ‘“ Golden Legend,”<br />
published in 1880, and performed in London<br />
for the first time the following year, was<br />
presented as an opera at the Academy of<br />
Musie on January 29.<br />
<br />
Mr. Cecil Sharp’s songs and incidental music<br />
composed for the “‘ Midsummer Night’s Dream”<br />
at the Savoy, have been published by Simpkin<br />
and Marshall, at 1s. 6d. net.<br />
<br />
Miss Agnes Mary Astle is the composer of<br />
two new songs, “ Brenda” and ‘ Morning-<br />
tide’ (Cary & Co., 2s. net each).<br />
<br />
———_— 6 +<br />
<br />
PARIS NOTES.<br />
een EEE<br />
<br />
HE literary prize in the form of an<br />
annuity, offered by Prince Roland<br />
Bonaparte, has just been awarded to<br />
Jules Huret and to Pierre Mille. Both these<br />
writers are great favourites with the French<br />
public—Jules Huret for his excellent studies of<br />
foreign countries, and Pierre Mille for his<br />
<br />
colonial studies from life.<br />
<br />
It seems incredible to English and American<br />
readers that the great French philosopher,<br />
M. Emile Bontroux, should only recently have<br />
been elected a member of the French Academy.<br />
It seems just as incredible, it is true, that one<br />
or two members of the French Academy<br />
should ever have been elected members.<br />
<br />
To those who like to see themselves as others<br />
see them, we would recommend a book entitled<br />
““ Le Socialisme et l’Evolution de l’Angleterre<br />
contemporaine.”<br />
<br />
“Le Sermon sur la Montagne ” is a volume<br />
illustrated by that incomparable artist,<br />
M. Eugéne Burnand. M. Léonce Benedite,<br />
Curator of the Luxembourg Museum, has<br />
written the preface, and there are about forty-<br />
five reproductions in the volume. ~<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
There have been several extrem ely interest-<br />
ing theatrical representations during the past<br />
month. A Turkish play by Miss May de Witt<br />
Hopkins has been produced in Paris under the<br />
title of ‘‘ Ménages Turcs.” It is an extremely<br />
strong play of great dramatic interest repre-<br />
senting life in modern Constantinople. The<br />
leading réle was to have been played by<br />
M. Burhaneddine Bey, but, most unfortunately,<br />
this interesting Turkish actor was wrongfully<br />
arrested under the charge of being implicated<br />
in the attempted political murder last month<br />
in Paris. He was proved to be innocent,<br />
and is to give the play as soon as arrangements<br />
can be made for it to be put on again.<br />
<br />
The Théatré Idéaliste gave a performance<br />
of “ Les Fétes Galantes,” a two-act play by<br />
Paul Verlaine and Adrien Remacle, last month.<br />
The music was by Adrien Remacle.<br />
<br />
Mr. Philip Carr’s venture, ‘‘ The Little<br />
English Theatre,” was inaugurated last month<br />
with the most brilliant success. The ‘‘ Mer-<br />
chant of Venice” was given three times to<br />
crowded houses. The ensemble was admirable,<br />
and the Shylock has probably never been<br />
surpassed. The matinée was given to an<br />
almost entirely French public, and the applause<br />
was so genuine and so enthusiastic that<br />
Mr. Carr has promised to return shortly to<br />
Paris with one of Bernard Shaw’s plays, and<br />
The Little English Theatre may now be<br />
considered one of the institutions of literary<br />
Paris.<br />
<br />
The Paris branch of the Lyceum Club was<br />
honoured this last month by the visit of<br />
Madame Poincaré, wife of the President of the<br />
French Republic. She was received by the<br />
Dowager Duchess of Uzés, who is president<br />
of the Club, and was entertained to tea and<br />
presented with flowers. The entente cordiale<br />
seems to reign supreme in Paris between the<br />
French and English.<br />
<br />
Atys HALLARD.<br />
<br />
a<br />
<br />
A GRAYE FLAW IN INTERNATIONAL<br />
COPYRIGHT LAW. -:<br />
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+<br />
<br />
S? serious is the significance of the judgment<br />
pronounced by the Swiss courts in the<br />
<br />
case of A. Samler-Brown v. J osef Kiinzli,<br />
which was supported by the Soc'ety, that it<br />
appears desirable to record the facts in the<br />
simplest manner possible, so that any one,<br />
without possessing technical legal knowledge,<br />
may perceive the] meaning of what has<br />
happened.<br />
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_ In 1903 Mr. A. Samler-Brown, a member<br />
of the Society, published in London a work<br />
with the title: “ Madeira, Canary Islands, and<br />
Azores, Practical and Complete Guide for<br />
Tourists, Invalids, and Residents, with Twenty<br />
Coloured Maps and Plans, and many Dia-<br />
grams.”’<br />
<br />
In the summer of 1907 Josef Kiinzli, of<br />
Aadorf, Thurgau, Switzerland, a representa-<br />
tive of the firm of A. G. Kiinzli, of Zurich<br />
{illustrated postal-card publishers), at the<br />
instigation of Joseph Ratschiiler (at the time<br />
manager of the Hotel Quisana, in Santa Cruz,<br />
Tenerife), reproduced, without the author's<br />
permission, 21,240 copies of maps in Mr.<br />
Samler-Brown’s book, in the form of postal-<br />
cards. Of these cards, Ratschiiler took 5,000.<br />
Josef Kiinzli had to dispose of the others how<br />
he could, and, on the occasion of a visit to<br />
Tenerife, handed them over to an agent,<br />
Richardson, for sale.<br />
<br />
Supported by the Society of Authors, Mr.<br />
Samler-Brown instituted proceedings against<br />
Josef Kiinzli on September 15, 1910, in the<br />
District Court of Zurich; and, as the verdict<br />
of that court was given against him, proceeded<br />
to the High Court of Appeal of the Canton.<br />
This court, on November 12, 1913 confirmed<br />
the sentence of the lower court, and acquitted<br />
the defendant Kiinzli on the ground that—<br />
<br />
No offence had been committed of which the<br />
Swiss courts could take cognizance.<br />
<br />
This was for the following reasons :—<br />
<br />
(1) The cards were not produced in Switzer-<br />
land, but by Emile Pinkau & Co., of Leipzig.<br />
<br />
(2) The cards were not distributed from<br />
Zurich, but were all delivered directly, through<br />
Hamburg, to Tenerife. (The publishing firm<br />
of A. G. Kiinzli had had nothing to do with the<br />
transaction, of which there was no record in<br />
their books.)<br />
<br />
(3) The plea that, although the cards were<br />
not of Swiss production, and had not been<br />
delivered from Switzerland, the correspond-<br />
ence respecting them issued from Zurich, was<br />
declared to be beside the question. Even if<br />
Kiinzli had written to Richardson from<br />
Zurich to place the sale of the cards in Richard-<br />
son’s hands, this would not have been an<br />
actionable act performed in Swiss territory,<br />
because it was not an act of distribution, but<br />
4 mere preliminary thereto. Nor could any-<br />
thing be gained by proving that a correspond-<br />
ence had been carried on from Zurich as in<br />
the case of offences committed by means of<br />
correspondence the place where the letter is<br />
received and read is regarded by Swiss law<br />
<br />
as the place where the offence is committed.<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
165<br />
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<br />
The receipt of moneys in Zurich, and the corre-<br />
sponding entries in commercial books kept<br />
there, were mere consequences of what had<br />
been done in Tenerife, but not in themselves<br />
infractions of copyright.<br />
<br />
The legal technicalities of the case (into<br />
which we do not here enter) are somewhat<br />
complicated ; but the result is very simple,<br />
and is this :—<br />
<br />
That Josef Kiinzli reproduced, without the<br />
author’s consent, copyright matter, sold his<br />
reproductions, and secured the profits of these<br />
transactions, is not disputed. As, however, he<br />
is domiciled in one country, has reproduced in<br />
another, and sold in a third, he is acquitted of<br />
infringement of copyright, notwithstanding<br />
all the international laws and agreements<br />
respecting copyright which are at present in<br />
existence.<br />
<br />
That this should be possible appears to<br />
show that, up to the present, a grave flaw<br />
exists in international copyright law; or is<br />
the flaw in the domestic law of Switzerland ?<br />
<br />
—$__ +e ______<br />
<br />
DRAMATIC COPYRIGHT.<br />
<br />
a<br />
“Toe Beccar Grru’s WEDDING.”<br />
Rees v. Robbins.<br />
<br />
HE decision of Mr. Justice Warrington<br />
in this action was a finding of fact, but<br />
certain observations of the judge upon<br />
<br />
the law of copyright and his application of it<br />
to the evidence in the case before him cannot<br />
be regarded as satisfactory from an author’s<br />
point of view. The proposition that two per-<br />
sons may arrive at the same results from<br />
independent effort, and that, even if the work<br />
of the one resembles the work of the other,<br />
there may be no infringement of copyright, is<br />
based upon cases under the old law relating to<br />
the making of directories and other compila-<br />
tions. But it is well to bear in mind that<br />
copyright under the new Act does not mean<br />
“* conscious copying ” ; for if a person produces<br />
a play which is in any substantial part a<br />
reproduction of another play, it may be an<br />
infringement of copyright ; and it is no defence<br />
to allege that the later play was written with-<br />
out referring at the time to a copy of the<br />
earlier play. The dramatist may have drawn<br />
from his experience and powers of invention,<br />
but if reading another author’s play is part of<br />
that experience, this may suggest a presump-<br />
tion that he took ideas from that play, even if,<br />
166<br />
<br />
in fact, he had no copy of the play before him,<br />
and did not consciously copy from it. :<br />
<br />
The plaintiff, Miss Rosemary Rees, claimed<br />
damages against the defendant, who is pro-<br />
fessionally known as Walter Melville, for<br />
infringement of the copyright in her play<br />
entitled “A Beggar Bride.” The plaintiff<br />
wrote her play in 1906 and sent it to the defen-<br />
dant, who asked Mr. Douglas Bruce to read<br />
it. Mr. Bruce expressed a very favourable<br />
opinion and considered that the play was worth<br />
£150, and the defendant bought the play from<br />
the plaintiff for £60. After the defendant<br />
had read the play some type-written copies<br />
were made, but these were put away for a time<br />
as the play was not produced by the defendant.<br />
<br />
The plaintiff, however, was anxious to have<br />
her play performed and eventually bought it<br />
back from the defendant for the sum of £60<br />
which she had received from the defendant.<br />
At the same time the defendant stipulated<br />
that he reserved the right to use the title ““ The<br />
Beggar Girl’s Wedding,’ and_ two_type-<br />
written copies of the play were handed over<br />
to the plaintiff, but one copy remained in<br />
the defendant’s possession.<br />
<br />
Subsequently in March, 1908, the plaintiff's<br />
<br />
play was produced at Brighton under the title<br />
of “‘ A Desperate Marriage,”’ and the defendant<br />
was present at the performance. In June of<br />
the same year the defendant wrote- his play<br />
“The Beggar Girl’s Wedding,” which was<br />
produced at the Lyceum Theatre and proved<br />
a notable success. The plaintiff saw the<br />
performance at the Lyceum Theatre and was<br />
immediately struck with the similarities in<br />
“The Beggar Girl’s Wedding ’”’ and her own<br />
play.<br />
; A number of witnesses, including Miss<br />
Cicely Hamilton, Mr. Temple Thurston, and<br />
Mr. Cecil Armstrong gave evidence as to the<br />
similarity in the plot, divers scenes, dramatic<br />
situations and incidents in the two plays, and<br />
Mr. Herbert Lloyd, who had acted in both<br />
plays, expressed the opinion that they were the<br />
same.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, it was contended that<br />
the defendant had had great experience in<br />
writing melodramas and that he drew from the<br />
store of knowledge in his mind.. He dictated<br />
his play, which was original work, and there<br />
was no copying from the plaintiff's play.<br />
<br />
The defendant in his evidence stated that his<br />
play was written from his dictation within the<br />
period of a week, and that it contained the<br />
common stock incidents and purely conven-<br />
tional characters. He had only read the<br />
plaintiff's play once and did not refer to it<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
when writing his play. Other witnesses were<br />
called, including Mr. Douglas Bruce, who<br />
stated that it never occurred to him that there<br />
was any similarity in the two plays.<br />
<br />
Mr. Justice Warrington in his judgment<br />
said that the position of the owner of copy-<br />
right was different from that of an inventor<br />
or owner of a patent. The patentee had the<br />
sole right to use his invention and anyone<br />
who used it, although he made the discovery<br />
by independent investigations, was infringing<br />
the patent. In the case of copyright it was<br />
possible to arrive at the same result from<br />
independent sources, and the fact that a<br />
defendant produced something like the<br />
plaintiff's work did not constitute an infringe-<br />
ment of copyright.<br />
<br />
After dealing with the characteristic features<br />
of melodrama, his lordship said that he believed<br />
the defendant’s statement that he did not have<br />
the plaintiffs play in material form before him<br />
when he wrote his play. The defendant may<br />
have had some recollection mixed up with his<br />
dramatic experiences of the subject-matter<br />
of the plaintiff's play, but only as part of a<br />
general dramatic experience ; and he did not<br />
believe for a moment that the defendant<br />
consciously copied from the plaintiff's play.<br />
It was clear that the defendant had not per-<br />
formed the plaintiff's play. The two plays,<br />
except for one matter, were as different as two<br />
plays of that class could be. The defendant<br />
had drawn from his own experiences in his.<br />
profession and from his powers of invention,<br />
although it was a fact that the defendant had.<br />
seen and read the plaintiff's play, and that was.<br />
part of his experience. He came to the con-<br />
clusion that the defendant had not infringed.<br />
the plaintiff's copyright and therefore the<br />
plaintiff's action failed.<br />
<br />
Haroip Harpy.<br />
<br />
—_———_+———____—_—__<br />
<br />
AGREEMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL,<br />
COPYRIGHT BUREAU.<br />
<br />
—+ <><br />
<br />
HE Committee of Management of the<br />
<br />
Society has found it necessary from<br />
time to time to print agreements in the<br />
columns of The Author, and to make comment<br />
upon them, in order to draw the members’<br />
<br />
attention to points and difficulties that may<br />
<br />
arise if such agreements are accepted without<br />
alteration and without any suggestion on the<br />
part of the author.<br />
the following agreement is printed :—<br />
<br />
With this object in view<br />
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<br />
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT made this<br />
, one thousand nine hundred and 2<br />
BETWEEN (hereinafter called ‘‘ the<br />
author’’) of the one part, and Tar INTERNATIONAL<br />
Copyricnut Bureau, Lirrep, of Dewar House,<br />
Haymarkct, London, S.W. (hereinafter called ‘‘ the<br />
company ’’) of the other part, WHEREBY IT IS AGREED<br />
<br />
as follows :—<br />
<br />
1. The author hereby appoints the company his sole<br />
agents for the placing of his play at present entitled<br />
throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain and<br />
treland, the British Colonies and Dependencies, the United<br />
States of America, and the Dominion of Canada.<br />
<br />
2. The company agrees to act as agents for the author,<br />
and shall do its utmost to get the said play accepted. The<br />
company may make any arrangements it may consider<br />
desirable for the assignment or lease of the performing<br />
rights or any part thercof in the said play. It is under-<br />
<br />
must<br />
<br />
stood that the company Sor ae<br />
approval to any such arrangement. The author hereby<br />
gives the company full power to sign and execute on his<br />
behalf any such agreement dealing with the said play in<br />
the countries aforesaid, and to receive all payments for the<br />
sale of such rights, or all fees payable in pursuance of any<br />
such agreement, and to give good receipts therefor, and the<br />
author also hereby agrees to sign, do and execute all such<br />
further documents, acts, deeds and other things as may be<br />
necessary or, in the opinion of the company, expedient to<br />
effectuate any such agreement or arrangement.<br />
<br />
3. The author shall not himself or by any other agent<br />
negotiate or attempt to negotiate the placing of the said<br />
play in any of the aforesaid countries without the distinct<br />
approval in writing of the company.<br />
<br />
4. The company shall retain or receive out of all monies<br />
received by them in respect of the said play, or otherwise<br />
payable in respect thereof, a commission of 10 per cent. in<br />
tespect of the business done in the United Kingdom of<br />
Great Britain and Ireland, and of 10 per cent. in respect<br />
of business done in the British Colonies and Dependencies,<br />
and of 15 per cent. in respect of business done for and in<br />
the United States of America and Canada.<br />
<br />
5. The company shall also have a free hand as to the<br />
producing rights in the play in all foreign countries. The<br />
company shall bear all costs of translation, adaptation,<br />
printing, producing ; the author in fact to be exempt from<br />
all costs in connection therewith. All gross proceeds from<br />
any sale, or lease, or assignment of the performing rights<br />
in all countries, except those mentioned in clauses ] and 4,<br />
shall be divided as to 50 per cent. for the author and 50 per<br />
cent. for the company.<br />
<br />
6. The company shall be at liberty to employ sub-agents<br />
in any of the aforesaid countries, such sub-agents to have<br />
the rights of the company in respect of the several countries<br />
for which they may be appointed.<br />
<br />
7. In the event of the company not having succeeded in<br />
placing any of the aforesaid rights in any of the aforesaid<br />
countries by * , the author and the company<br />
shall each have the option, by giving notice in writing, of<br />
declaring this agreement at an end upon such date or any<br />
date thereafter.<br />
<br />
* Eprror’s Norz.—The date inserted is generally from<br />
a year to two years from the date of the agreement.<br />
<br />
8. The company shall deliver to the author all monies<br />
dlue nereunder within one week from their receipt.<br />
As witness the hands of the said parties.<br />
<br />
In the first clause there is not very much to<br />
Object to.<br />
<br />
The second clause, however, is full of dangers<br />
as it gives the agent much too great powers.<br />
<br />
day of<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
obtain the author’s<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
167<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
An author must remember when dealing with<br />
an agent that the agent should never have the<br />
power to act as principal.<br />
<br />
No agent can conduct business to the<br />
advantage of an author, if there is a chance<br />
that the author will have to compete with him<br />
acting also as principal.<br />
<br />
One line taken from clause 2 runs as follows :<br />
“It is understood that the ip<br />
<br />
need not<br />
obtain the author’s approval to any such<br />
arrangement.’ The mere fact that this clause<br />
is placed in the alternative tends to lead the<br />
author into great dangers. In no circum-<br />
stances should the agent be allowed to act<br />
without the author’s approval, indeed, every<br />
contract which the agent makes, must be<br />
approved and signed by the author. The<br />
rest of the clause, therefore, is very dangerous.<br />
<br />
In discussing agency agreements, and es-<br />
pecially the dramatic agency agreement which<br />
was settled by the sub-committee, attention has<br />
been drawn to the danger of allowing an agent<br />
to collect fees all through the time that the<br />
contract is running. The agent, no doubt,<br />
would be entitled to fees if his agreement with<br />
the author allows them, but that he should be<br />
allowed to collect in any circumstances is a<br />
most dangerous licence. Should the author<br />
at any time desire to resume the collection<br />
himself, he should be entitied to do so, paying<br />
the agent his fees in due course. As a matter<br />
of fact, authors who employ agents are, as a<br />
rule, quite willing that the agent should collect<br />
subject to the author’s power of resumption if<br />
he is dissatisfied. It has been shown on various<br />
occasions how these dangers arise. An agent<br />
may be in a bad way financially, and it is not<br />
fair that the author should run the risk<br />
of having his fees swept away in the agent’s<br />
bankruptcy. An agent may fail to check<br />
the accounts properly, and otherwise to safe-<br />
guard the author’s interests. It is not fair to<br />
the author that he should run the risk of such<br />
carelessness after it has been detected. The<br />
part of the clause that refers to giving<br />
good receipts only makes the position more<br />
dangerous.<br />
<br />
During the continuance of the agreement, it<br />
is fair to the agent that the author should not<br />
be allowed to negotiate for the play in any of<br />
the countries mentioned without the approval<br />
of the agent, for otherwise the author might,<br />
and probably would, hamper any good agent<br />
who is conducting the business on the proper<br />
lines.<br />
<br />
With regard to the amount to be paid the<br />
agent, this question has also been touched upon<br />
<br />
<br />
168<br />
<br />
in the agreement which was drafted by the sub-<br />
committee. They consider that it is fair that<br />
an agent should obtain his fee for placing and<br />
negotiating a play by a fixed percentage up to<br />
a certain figure. After that figure has been<br />
reached the agent, if the author is willing to<br />
leave the matter in his hands, should remain<br />
merely as a collector of monies.<br />
<br />
Clause 5 is at once impossible. Here the<br />
agent endeavours to act straight away as<br />
principal, the only condition being that the<br />
author shall receive 50 per cent. of the returns.<br />
This position must be combated at once.<br />
The clause ought to be deleted. If any clause<br />
is to be inserted it must be put on the usual<br />
agency basis, namely, that if during the con-<br />
tinuance of the agreement the agent is success-<br />
ful in negotiating for the production of the<br />
play in any foreign country, under an agree-<br />
ment signed and approved by the author, then<br />
he shall be entitled to 10 per cent. of the<br />
amounts as and when received under the<br />
contract. That he should be entitled to<br />
50 per cent. is absurd. As the clause stands,<br />
no doubt the agent’s answer would be: “ But I<br />
have to pay all the costs of translation,<br />
adaptation,” etc., but this is in reality no<br />
answer, for the author has the right himself to<br />
determine what costs shall be paid for trans-<br />
lation, adaptation, etc., and it is not for the<br />
agent to act as principal in the matter, or<br />
employ any translator, or adaptor he may<br />
think fit. From another point of view, the<br />
answer is no answer; in some countries<br />
the translation is undertaken by the theatre<br />
that produces the work, and it is not fair in<br />
that case that the agent should be paid<br />
50 per cent. of the author’s royalties.<br />
<br />
Clause 6, again, is a most dangerous clause,<br />
especially when the former clauses are taken<br />
into consideration, for if the agent has powers<br />
to act as principal in the former clauses, he can<br />
delegate these powers under clause 6, and it is<br />
impossible to say what would be the result.<br />
An agency contract is a very personal contract.<br />
Though the author may fairly trust the person<br />
with whom he is dealing, he should not be in<br />
the position of holding no power whatever over<br />
the sub-agents that may be appointed. The<br />
old legal motto, therefore, ‘ delegatus non<br />
potest delegare,”’ should be sternly adhered to.<br />
<br />
The time limit of one year set out in<br />
clause 7 would not be unreasonable if the<br />
rest of the clause were not so adverse to the<br />
author. Suppose, however, the agent suc-<br />
ceeded, under a contract approved by the<br />
author, in placing the play for a week’s run<br />
in the provinces, then it would appear that<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
the author would have no power of terminating<br />
this contract. It is possible to conceive the<br />
position where the agent made a contract<br />
which was approved by the author for a<br />
reasonable run at a West End theatre; that<br />
after the run, the agent took no trouble to<br />
place the play in other countries in the Colonies<br />
or in the provinces, and the author being unable<br />
to determine the contract under clause 7, would<br />
be left at the mercy of the agent. Some years<br />
afterwards, perhaps, the author might succeed in<br />
placing the play in America—many plays have<br />
succeeded in America which have failed in<br />
England, and vice versd—the agent might then<br />
turn round and say: “I am entitled to my fees<br />
on your contract,’’ although he had for many<br />
years neglected the play and had not been<br />
instrumental in any way in securing the con-<br />
tract on which he demanded payment. Clause 7,<br />
therefore, is perhaps the most serious in the<br />
whole agreement. If the agent has not<br />
succeeded within the time mentioned in<br />
placing the play, then the author should have<br />
the right of determining the contract in those<br />
countries or limited districts where the agent<br />
has failed. He should not be at the mercy of<br />
the agent in a matter of this kind.<br />
<br />
The main points, therefore, which should be<br />
before an author’s mind when considering this<br />
agreement are: (1) that the powers given to the<br />
agent in the countries named in clause 1 are<br />
far too large; (2) that the power given to the<br />
agent in clause 5 to deal as principal should<br />
never be granted; and (3) that the right of<br />
termination set out in clause 7 should be very<br />
strictly limited.<br />
<br />
eo<br />
<br />
MAGAZINE CONTENTS.<br />
<br />
— +o<br />
BRITISH REVIEW.<br />
<br />
The Unworldliness of Journalists. By G@. K. Chesterton.<br />
<br />
With Dumas in Derbyshire. By Mrs. Andrew Lang.<br />
<br />
Dramatists of To-day: Bernard Shaw. By Edward<br />
Storer.<br />
<br />
The Music of the Novelists,<br />
Harris.<br />
<br />
“ Anna Karenina” at the Ambassador's Theatre. By<br />
J. E. Harold Terry.<br />
<br />
CONTEMPORARY.<br />
<br />
By Clement Antrobus<br />
<br />
The Recent Dramatic Movement in Germany. By The<br />
<br />
Count de Soissons.<br />
Literary Supplement: The Gentle Art of Teaching<br />
English.<br />
<br />
FORTNIGHTLY,<br />
<br />
Lady Dorothy Nevill. By Edmund Gosse, C.B.<br />
<br />
A Practical Repertory Theatre. By E. A. Baughan.<br />
Feodor Dostoieffsky. By J. A. T. Lloyd.<br />
Wordsworth at Rydal Mount. By John Eglinton.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br />
<br />
— oe —<br />
<br />
1. VERY member has a right toask for and to receive<br />
advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br />
lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br />
<br />
business or the administration of his property. The<br />
Secretary of the Society is a solicitor; but if there is any<br />
special 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 />
8. 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 />
lars 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 />
7. 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 />
This<br />
The<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 />
———__——— 6 —— 9<br />
<br />
WARNINGS TO THE PRODUCERS<br />
OF BOOKS.<br />
<br />
ap<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 />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
169<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<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 />
II. 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 />
te<br />
<br />
WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS.<br />
<br />
—_+—>—+—<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. It 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 />
<br />
play-bills,<br />
170<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 in advance of percentages. A fixed<br />
date on or before which the play should be<br />
performed. :<br />
<br />
(e.) Sale of performing right or of a licence to<br />
perform on the basis of royalties (‘.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 (%.) apply<br />
also in this case.<br />
<br />
4, Plays in one act are often sold outright, but it is<br />
etter to obtain a small nightly fee if possible, and a sum<br />
paid in advance of such fees in any event. 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 />
tbe 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. ‘hey 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 />
ds 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 />
———+—>——-—_____<br />
<br />
REGISTRATION OF SCENARIOS AND<br />
ORIGINAL PLAYS.<br />
<br />
—+— ><br />
<br />
ie, REE 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 />
<br />
-tules, with the exception that a play will be ch<br />
:at the price of 23, 6d. per act. a a<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
DRAMATIC AUTHORS AND AGENTS.<br />
<br />
1<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 />
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 />
<br />
Society.<br />
———<br />
<br />
WARNINGS TO MUSICAL COMPOSERS.<br />
eg<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 />
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 />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
—<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 />
—+_<br />
THE READING BRANCH.<br />
<br />
ae<br />
EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this<br />
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 />
<br />
<br />
<br />
—~>—<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 />
<br />
<br />
<br />
COLLECTION BUREAU.<br />
<br />
—.— os<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 eovered, 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 />
Oe<br />
<br />
GENERAL NOTES.<br />
<br />
—— +—<— 4<br />
UnireEp STATES COPYRIGHT.<br />
<br />
In another column we print a short article,<br />
taken from the Publishers’ Weekly of the United<br />
States, dealing with the present position of<br />
copyright in that country.<br />
<br />
We are glad to see that there is “a dis-<br />
position to consider modifications of the copy-<br />
right code,’’ but it would appear that these<br />
proposed modifications do not affect books<br />
written in the English language. The deposit<br />
copies at Washington are to be reduced to one<br />
instead of two, but not in the case cf books<br />
in the English language. It seems that the<br />
second copy of English books is used so that<br />
the American publishers should have a prompt<br />
list of those books that have been filed. We<br />
trust the day is not far distant when America<br />
will see the justice of modifying its copyright<br />
law for the benefit of those countries that<br />
produce books in the English language, and<br />
will see fit to rank themselves with other<br />
civilised nations by joining the Berlin Conven-<br />
tion.<br />
<br />
It would be interesting to know, if it were<br />
possible to find out, the amount of extra<br />
printing which was acquired by the American<br />
<br />
‘<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
17L<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
printers under the typesetting clause. It<br />
cannot be more than a few thousands in any<br />
event. The law, as often as not, prevents.<br />
works being copyrighted in America which,jif<br />
copyrighted, would in many cases be printed!<br />
in the United States. In consequence the<br />
great majority of books are sold to the United!<br />
States in sheets, and the American typesetter<br />
obtains no benefit whatever.<br />
<br />
AMERICAN ROYALTIES.<br />
<br />
F A MEMBER of the Society has called our<br />
attention to the fact that American publishers<br />
are cutting down the price at which novels.<br />
are issued to the public. The usual price used<br />
to be $1.50 and the royalty was paid on that<br />
price. Now the price is $1.25 and sometimes.<br />
even less. The member aptly.says, “It is<br />
no joke to be asked to give up a proportion<br />
of one’s royalty ostensibly to support a<br />
system which has done nothing for me.”<br />
<br />
The matter is certainly very serious, for in.<br />
the English market authors have suffered<br />
severely from the reduction in prices.<br />
<br />
There is another point which may possibly<br />
affect the royalties of authors in the American<br />
market, namely, the case which has recently<br />
been decided in the American courts that<br />
publishers cannot by law maintain the prices<br />
at which the books are sold to the trade.<br />
They can sell to a certain person under a<br />
certain contract, but they cannot bind others.<br />
who have no direct contract with them to<br />
maintain prices. It is possible that the result<br />
of this may be a system of rate-cutting, and<br />
should such a calamity arise, it is almost certain.<br />
that the author’s profits will suffer.<br />
<br />
CopyriGHT IN INDIA.<br />
<br />
WE are informed that the new Indian Copy-<br />
right Bill is still under the consideration of the<br />
India Council, but that the Imperial Copy-<br />
right Act of 1911 was brought into force in<br />
India by proclamation on October 31, 1912, so<br />
that in spite of the new Bill not having as yet<br />
been passed by the Council, the 1911 Act is<br />
in force through the Empire of India, with the<br />
exception, of course, of certain native States.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
AutTHors AND TRADES UNIONS.<br />
<br />
WE have read with interest the report of a<br />
discussion at the Lyceum Club on the question<br />
of “The Betterment of Authorship as a.<br />
<br />
<br />
170<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 in advance 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 (%.) apply<br />
also in this case.<br />
<br />
4, Plays in one act are often sold outright, but it is<br />
better to obtain a small nightly fee if possible, and a sum<br />
paid in advance of such fees in any event. 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. ‘hey should never be included in English<br />
agreements without the author obtaining a stbstantial<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 />
iis 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 />
aare referred to the Secretary of the Society.<br />
<br />
—_——__ +e — —____<br />
<br />
REGISTRATION OF SCENARIOS AND<br />
ORIGINAL PLAYS.<br />
<br />
—+-~<> + —_<br />
<br />
Pe eae 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 />
vtant. 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 />
Original Plays may also be filed subject to the same<br />
<br />
-tules, with the exception that a play will be cha. d<br />
-at the price of 23. 6d. per act. an Lee<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
DRAMATIC AUTHORS AND AGENTS.<br />
<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 />
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 />
se<br />
<br />
WARNINGS TO MUSICAL COMPOSERS.<br />
BES<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 />
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 />
<br />
<br />
—<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 />
+ —___<br />
THE READING BRANCH.<br />
eg ees<br />
EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this<br />
Mi branch of its work by informing young writes<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 />
<br />
<br />
<br />
9 —____—<br />
<br />
REMITTANCES.<br />
<br />
Se<br />
<br />
The Secretary of the Society begs to give notict<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 />
<br />
<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 i : 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 />
—_—___—_e——_os____<br />
<br />
GENERAL NOTES.<br />
<br />
UnItrED STATES COPYRIGHT.<br />
<br />
In another column we print a short article,<br />
taken from the Publishers’ Weekly of the United<br />
States, dealing with the present position of<br />
copyright in that country.<br />
<br />
We are glad to see that there is “a dis-<br />
position to consider modifications of the copy-<br />
right code,’’ but it would appear that these<br />
proposed modifications do not affect books<br />
written in the English language. The deposit<br />
copies at Washington are to be reduced to one<br />
instead of two, but not in the case cf books<br />
in the English language. It seems that the<br />
second copy of English books is used so that<br />
the American publishers should have a prompt<br />
list of those books that have been filed. We<br />
trust the day is not far distant when America<br />
will see the justice of modifying its copyright<br />
law for the benefit of those countries that<br />
produce books in the English language, and<br />
will see fit to rank themselves with other<br />
civilised nations by joining the Berlin Conven-<br />
tion.<br />
<br />
It would be interesting to know, if it were<br />
possible to find out, the amount of extra<br />
. printing which was acquired by the American<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
17E<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
printers under the typesetting clause. It<br />
cannot be more than a few thousands in any<br />
event. The law, as often as not, prevents.<br />
works being copyrighted in America which,jif<br />
copyrighted, would in many cases be printed!<br />
in the United States. In consequence the<br />
great majority of books are sold to the United!<br />
States in sheets, and the American typesetter<br />
obtains no benefit whatever.<br />
<br />
AMERICAN ROYALTIES.<br />
<br />
F A memper of the Society has called our<br />
attention to the fact that American publishers<br />
are cutting down the price at which novels.<br />
are issued to the public. The usual price used<br />
to be $1.50 and the royalty was paid on that<br />
price. Now the price is $1.25 and sometimes.<br />
even less. The member aptly.says, “It is<br />
no joke to be asked to give up a proportion<br />
of one’s royalty ostensibly to support a<br />
system which has done nothing for me.”<br />
<br />
The matter is certainly very serious, for in.<br />
the English market authors have suffered<br />
severely from the reduction in prices.<br />
<br />
There is another point which may possibly<br />
affect the royalties of authors in the American<br />
market, namely, the case which has recently<br />
been decided in the American courts that<br />
publishers cannot by law maintain the prices<br />
at which the books are sold to the trade.<br />
They can sell to a certain person under a<br />
certain contract, but they cannot bind others.<br />
who have no direct contract with them to<br />
maintain prices. It is possible that the result<br />
of this may be a system of rate-cutting, and<br />
should such a calamity arise, it is almost certain<br />
that the author’s profits will suffer.<br />
<br />
CopyriGHT IN INDIA.<br />
<br />
WE are informed that the new Indian Copy-<br />
right Bill is still under the consideration of the<br />
India Council, but that the Imperial Copy-<br />
right Act of 1911 was brought into force In<br />
India by proclamation on October 31, 1912, so<br />
that in spite of the new Bill not having as yet<br />
been passed by the Council, the 1911 Act is<br />
in force through the Empire of India, with the<br />
exception, of course, of certain native States.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
- Autuors AND TRADES UNIONS.<br />
<br />
WE have read with interest the report of a<br />
discussion at the Lyeeum Club on the question<br />
of “The Betterment of Authorship as a.<br />
<br />
<br />
172 THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
Profession.”” The question was raised with<br />
a view to forming a trades union. This is a<br />
subject which has been from time to time<br />
before the committee and sub-committees of<br />
the Authors Society ; but at present, 1n spite<br />
of endeavours and suggestions, 1t has_been<br />
found impossible to form a union on a similar<br />
basis to the trades unions which govern<br />
mechanical labour. There is no doubt that<br />
one side of authorship is a trade, but the other<br />
side of authorship is an art. In consequence<br />
it has so far been impossible to place a mass of<br />
authors on a given level in the same way as<br />
it is possible to place a mass of mechanics on a<br />
given level. Bricklayers can place so many<br />
bricks an hour, and can receive a certain wage<br />
for that work ; printers can set up a certain<br />
amount of type per hour and can receive so<br />
much wage for that work. One author may<br />
write in an hour something which can be sold<br />
not only during the term of copyright, but<br />
throughthe centuries, and will bring in hundreds<br />
of pounds. Another author may write the<br />
same number of words in an hour, but the<br />
result may not be worth the same number of<br />
pence as the work of the other is worth<br />
hundreds of pounds.<br />
<br />
The discussion at the Club seems to have<br />
been carried on without reference to the work<br />
the Society of Authors has done and is doing ;<br />
indeed, no inquiry appears to have been made<br />
as to whether such a proposition had ever come<br />
before the committees of the Society for<br />
discussion. From the report it appears that<br />
a committee of the Club has been appointed<br />
to consider what ought to be done. We shall<br />
be very interested to know the result of that<br />
committee’s reflections.<br />
<br />
One important suggestion was made that<br />
an Author’s Agency should be established, run<br />
by authors for authors. This point has been<br />
very frequently discussed by the committee<br />
of the Society, but the committee, for various<br />
reasons which it is difficult to put forward in a<br />
short paragraph, came to the conclusion that<br />
it was inadvisable for the Society to run such<br />
an agency, yet no doubt such an agency would<br />
be of considerable use to the profession. One<br />
strong point which the Society gains by not<br />
being bound to any agency liesin the fact that<br />
it can criticise equally all agents, all publishers<br />
and all trading concerns. If the Society had<br />
started an agency, those authors who were dis-<br />
contented with the work of that agency would be<br />
inclined to resign from the Society, and those<br />
authors who did not belong to the agency, or<br />
whose work the agency could not take up, would<br />
always taunt the Society with running the<br />
<br />
agency for aclique of authors. If the Society<br />
is to be of value to ALL authors, it is much<br />
better that the committee should be entirely<br />
independent in their work and the Society<br />
should be entirely independent in its position.<br />
<br />
Another suggestion that was made was that<br />
an authors’ bank should be established. This<br />
question has also been discussed by the<br />
committees of the Society, and found, for<br />
various reasons, to be unworkable from the<br />
Society’s point of view. No doubt if such a<br />
bank was established it might be of considerable<br />
value to a number of authors, but it would not<br />
be able to deal with all authors in the same<br />
way in which the Society, under its present<br />
constitution, can deal with all authors who<br />
have copyright property to protect.<br />
<br />
If it is possible to form a trades union on the<br />
basis of the trades unions formed by ordinary<br />
labour organisations, the committee of the<br />
Society would very willingly consider again,<br />
as they have considered in the past, any<br />
suggestions that could be made, with a view<br />
to bringing about a practical result. The<br />
usual answer from those who come fresh to<br />
the subject and have not given it careful<br />
consideration over a number of years is that<br />
the French dramatists have formed a close<br />
ring. At one time it was hoped that the<br />
English dramatists, containing a smaller<br />
number of members than the profession of<br />
novelists, might be able to bind themselves<br />
into such a close ring, but so far the efforts<br />
in that direction have proved unsuccessful.<br />
We shall welcome any effort that may be<br />
made in the right direction, and suggest<br />
as the Authors Society already exists with a<br />
membership of some 2,500, and with a certain<br />
amount of capital, that if any organisation is<br />
possible it should be made through the channels<br />
of the Society and with the assistance of the<br />
Society’s funds.<br />
<br />
We await with interest the report of the<br />
result of the meeting of the committee.<br />
<br />
————<br />
<br />
COMMITTEE ELECTION.<br />
1<br />
a the January number of The Author a full<br />
statement was given with reference to<br />
the election of members to the Committee<br />
of Management for the current year.<br />
The names of the committee’s nominees for<br />
that election were :—<br />
Sir Alfred Bateman.<br />
W. W. Jacobs.<br />
Stanley Leathes.<br />
Aylmer Maude.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
January 31 was the last day on which the<br />
names of nominees could be received, and, as<br />
no nominees were put forward by the members,<br />
the nominees of the committee are elected<br />
without opposition.<br />
<br />
~_¢—<>—_ ¢ ——— -<br />
<br />
NEW ZEALAND COPYRIGHT ACT, 1913.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
HE provisions of the Copyright Act, 1911<br />
are substantially adopted by the New<br />
Zealand Legislature in the Copyright<br />
<br />
Act, 1918, which will come into operation cn<br />
April 1. But there are certain modifications<br />
and additions relating to procedure and<br />
remedies to which attention may be drawn,<br />
as they are important to copyright owners.<br />
In New Zealand registration of copyright is<br />
optional, but it has substantial advantages,<br />
particularly in the way of certain summary<br />
remedies, which are not available to the copy-<br />
right owner who is not registered. For instance,<br />
in the ease of an unauthorised performance of<br />
a musical or dramatic work, the person who<br />
permits a theatre to be used for such a per-<br />
formance is liable on summary conviction to<br />
a fine of £10, and every person who takes part<br />
in the performance, after receiving a written<br />
warning not to do so, is liable to the same<br />
penalty. But, in order to secure these<br />
privileges, the copyright owner must be<br />
registered, and on a conviction he is entitled<br />
to the fines imposed, by way of compensation<br />
for the injury sustained. Moreover, the regis-<br />
tered owner is given special remedies in<br />
respect of the seizure of infringing copies and<br />
a right to search premises where infringing<br />
copies are supposed to be. In England a<br />
warrant to seize infringing copics or to search<br />
premises may be obtained under the Musical<br />
(Summary Proceedings) Copyright Act, 1902,<br />
and the Musical Copyright Act, 1906, in<br />
respect of musical works, while the New<br />
Zealand Copyright Act confers these remedies<br />
not only on musical composers, but on the<br />
registered owner of the copyright in any<br />
literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work.<br />
<br />
A further advantage of registration is that<br />
a certified copy of any entry in the register is<br />
prima facie evidence as to the copyright<br />
owner and other particulars contained in the<br />
register ; so that in an action for infringement<br />
the production of the document may be<br />
sufficient without calling witnesses to establish<br />
the plaintiff's title, and this applies also to<br />
summary proceedings where the prosecutor<br />
is registered owner of the copyright. There<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
173<br />
<br />
is also a provision for the registration of<br />
assignments of copyright and licences. The<br />
mode of registration is by an application to<br />
the registrar, andthe delivery of one copy in<br />
the case of a book, and for works of art one<br />
copy of the work or a representation of it.<br />
<br />
There are provisions analogous to those in<br />
section 15 of the Copyright Act, 1911, which<br />
require a copy of each book to be sent by the<br />
publisher to the British Museum, and, if<br />
demanded, to certain other libraries. By<br />
section 52 of the New Zealand Copyright Act<br />
the publisher is required to deliver two copies<br />
of every book to the librarian of the General<br />
Assembly Library within a month from the<br />
date of publication, and in case of default the<br />
publisher is liable to a fine of £5 and the value<br />
of the copies.<br />
<br />
A curious distinction is noticeable in the<br />
provisions of the Act giving power to the<br />
Governor to make Orders in Council relating<br />
to other parts of the British Dominions and to<br />
foreign countries in the Copyright Union.<br />
Under section 28 the Order relating to<br />
British Dominions may provide that the rights<br />
conferred by the Order shall be “ subject to<br />
the accomplishment of such conditions and<br />
formalities as are prescribed by the Order.”<br />
In section 33, relating to foreign countries, the<br />
words are, ‘subject to the accomplishment<br />
of such conditions and formalities, if any, as<br />
may be prescribed by the Order.” It remains<br />
to be seen whether the Orders in Council will,<br />
in either case, prescribe any conditions and<br />
formalities, the abolition of which was expressly<br />
agreed upon by the unionist countries under<br />
article 4 of the Berlin Convention.<br />
<br />
Haroitp Harpy.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
— ee<br />
<br />
THE PRESENT STATUS OF COPYRIGHT<br />
IN THE US.A.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
(From the “ Publishers’ Weekly” of U.S.A.)<br />
cL is worthy of note that piracy of copy-<br />
right material is lapsing into the limbo<br />
of the past, like piracy on the high seas,<br />
and modern instances are sporadic rather than<br />
chronic. Jack London has just brought to<br />
terms, by a_ successful compromise, the<br />
“movies” proprietors who had ignored his<br />
rights; and in a pending case in New York,<br />
where a theatre manager had put a play on the<br />
boards without authority and, too late,<br />
<br />
pleaded his willingness to pay royalty, a pre-<br />
liminary injunction was promptly granted, and<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
174<br />
<br />
the United States district attorney, of his own<br />
volition, started to put the criminal features<br />
of the Copyright Act into practical application.<br />
Happily we are establishing a standard as to<br />
literary and like property which is likely to be<br />
fully maintained.<br />
<br />
There is a friendly disposition apparent to<br />
consider modifications of our copyright code<br />
in the interests of foreign authors where this<br />
ean be done without detriment to American<br />
interests, and a Bill is pending in Congress,<br />
which is approved by the Copyright Office, to<br />
reduce the number of deposit copies from two<br />
to one in the case of books in foreign languages.<br />
In the case of books in the English language,<br />
the Library of Congress makes good use of two<br />
copies by utilising one for copyright record and<br />
the other for prompt card cataloguing, so that<br />
American publishers have no reason to ask for<br />
the reduction of the number of deposited copies.<br />
But in the case of foreign books, and, indeed,<br />
in the case of all other copyright material<br />
except books, the Copyright Office needs only<br />
one copy, and the second copy is rather a<br />
burden than a help to it. It is therefore<br />
probable that Congress will make the change<br />
indicated, and it is not impossible that a like<br />
change may be ultimately made as to other<br />
objects of copyright.<br />
<br />
The important question which must pre-<br />
sently come to the front is our relation with<br />
British authors. The ad interim period,<br />
amounting to sixty days, has proved inadequate<br />
for any test of the American market, and<br />
though it has usefully met the objections to<br />
the simultaneous publication requirement of<br />
the old law, it is not otherwise of much benefit<br />
to our English brethren. Some extension of<br />
the period, therefore, will be welcomed by<br />
English authors and should not be harmful to<br />
American interests.<br />
<br />
Copyright relations are making some progress<br />
in South America, but so far the provisions of<br />
the fourth Pan-American Convention have<br />
been accepted only by half a dozen of the minor<br />
States, as well as by the United States. Brazil<br />
is showing some intent to come into wider<br />
copyright relations, and it is to be hoped that<br />
Argentina, which has already extended its<br />
domestic copyright by reciprocal arrangements<br />
to several European nations, will not long delay<br />
entering into the excellent convention which<br />
makes possible a Pan-American copyright<br />
federation.<br />
<br />
On the whole, the copyright cause is making<br />
gcod progress, and the one uncertain factor<br />
is the Dominicn of Canada. There nothing<br />
seems to:have been done either as to accepting<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
the Imperial Act, as has been done by Australia,<br />
New Zealand and Newfoundland, or making<br />
progress towards a new code, as is being done<br />
in South Africa. It is to be hoped that our<br />
neighbours across the border will soon be taking<br />
steps and following the precedent of Australia,<br />
rather than of the United States.<br />
<br />
>< —____<br />
<br />
THE POPULAR FICTION MARKET.<br />
<br />
Irs REQUIREMENTS AND REWARDS.<br />
<br />
Sa<br />
By FREE-LANCE.<br />
I.<br />
<br />
Le writing of the fiction market, let me say at<br />
the outset that I refer only to the British<br />
fiction market, and to the periodical<br />
market at that. The money side of book-<br />
writing has been dealt with pretty often of<br />
late, in doleful or glowing articles, by writers<br />
of varying temperaments and ideas as to what<br />
is adequate pay for the labour involved. But<br />
to the general reader, and to the young writer,<br />
the question of what is wanted by the popular<br />
press, and what is the usual remuneration,<br />
is likely to be of greater interest.<br />
<br />
Professional authors will agree with me,<br />
I think, when I say that the first thing for<br />
the aspiring writer of short stories and sevials<br />
to do is to assure himself of the fact that his<br />
is not an art, but a trade; a skilled trade<br />
certainly, and one which will call for much<br />
mental ingenuity, and very much patience<br />
under rebuffs, but still a trade.<br />
<br />
This may sound cynical, and there will not<br />
be wanting those who will be ready to point<br />
out that the present writer has a very poor<br />
opinion of his profession. Well, I can say<br />
with sincerity that of the art of authorship<br />
I have a very high opinion indeed. To all<br />
those authors who have been, and are, faithful<br />
to their ideals in the produce of literature,<br />
I accord my whole-hearted admiration and<br />
respect. But I am not dealing here with<br />
authorship as an art, but with authorship as<br />
a business. It is at least as honest as most<br />
other businesses ; the pay to the hard-working<br />
and skilful craftsman is good, and it can be<br />
practised in the comfort and quietness of one’s<br />
own home. With the spread of education<br />
during the past twenty or thirty years the<br />
profession of letters has entirely changed.<br />
Where there was one reader thirty years ago<br />
there are a hundred to-day, and, naturally,<br />
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the number of writers has increased in<br />
proportion.<br />
<br />
The working classes; the mill and factory<br />
hands of both sexes; the miners and their<br />
wives; the shop-girls; the seamstresses ; all<br />
these have to be catered for to-day—and<br />
geniuses of a certain type have come forward<br />
to do it. The result is that the newsagents’<br />
counters and the railway bookstalls are laden<br />
with a mass of cheap periodicals specially<br />
designed to meet the requirements of this<br />
class of reader—a class which is overwhelm-<br />
ingly greater than any other in Britain.<br />
This being so, the astute business-author<br />
naturally enough decides that he must purvey<br />
that style of fiction for which there is the<br />
<br />
greatest demand.<br />
Il.<br />
<br />
A youth, fired with high ambitions and a<br />
proper respect for the honour of literature,<br />
may set out to win his spurs and financial<br />
reward as a writer of what for want of a better<br />
term may be styled “high-class fiction.”<br />
Having been duly warned as to the thorny<br />
nature of the path he has elected to tread,<br />
he is prepared for disappointment at the start.<br />
This of course is just as well, for the disap-<br />
pointment will not be lacking.<br />
<br />
Indeed, if he is—as I am presuming him<br />
to be—dependent upon his fiction—writing<br />
for a livelihood—I fancy that it will not be<br />
long ere he is forced to a certain pessimism.<br />
He will learn from the lips of those editors<br />
whose duty it is to provide for popular taste<br />
that fine writing is not wanted—and I go so<br />
far as to say that this applies not only to those<br />
weeklies which are either rather blood-thirsty<br />
or distressingly sentimental, but to the average<br />
monthly magazines. ‘‘ Give us action!” is<br />
what they are perpetually crying, and action<br />
they must have.<br />
<br />
They have no patience with character-<br />
drawing unless it is done very quickly and<br />
very broadly; descriptions of scenic effects,<br />
no matter how deftly and artistically written,<br />
are blue-pencilled at once; subtlety is not<br />
allowed—and, indeed, but frequently under-<br />
stood—and cleverness is the last offence.<br />
<br />
All this, of course, is ‘‘ generally speaking.”’<br />
There are some magazines where the manner<br />
is counted as important as the matter, where<br />
artistic work is welcomed, and where cul-<br />
sl and distinguished writers give of their<br />
<br />
est.<br />
<br />
But these magazines are few in number,<br />
and are so well catered for by the members<br />
.of the old school with the big names, and<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
175<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
by the American ‘“ topnotchers,” that they<br />
are practically closed to the young and<br />
unknown writer.<br />
<br />
_Since I started my own career as a profes-<br />
sional author I have written for practically<br />
every one of the better known fiction-using<br />
periodicals in Britain, and have had the<br />
satisfaction of appearing at intervals in the<br />
pages of such magazines as I have mentioned<br />
above. But I came to realise after some time<br />
and many hardships that, if I trusted to good<br />
work and the better-class magazines, I would<br />
very soon have to use some poor-house as<br />
a postal address.<br />
<br />
The young writer, then, will early discover<br />
that he must either give up the idea of making<br />
a good living by his pen or he must face the<br />
degradation of writing down to the level of<br />
a class, excellent and worthy in many ways,<br />
but of a far lower mentality than his own.<br />
I number among my friends a great many<br />
fellow-writers, some of them men and women<br />
of the highest culture and refinement, who<br />
have made wise use of all the advantages of<br />
good education, and, judging from them, I<br />
should say that free-lance authors lacking<br />
private means are an army of pessimists and<br />
grumblers.<br />
<br />
It may be said that they have themselves<br />
to blame; that they should have discovered<br />
what was in store for them before burning<br />
their boats and pinning their faith to fiction-<br />
writing. That, no doubt, is perfectly true,<br />
but what ambitious boy or girl with literary<br />
talents and a store of courage will believe<br />
that disillusionment lies ahead ?<br />
<br />
In this, as in so much else, experience is<br />
the only practical teacher, and her lessons are<br />
often bitter.<br />
<br />
I am purposely leaving out of count those<br />
who imagine that they are going to make a<br />
good income by writing novels of the usual<br />
six-shilling order. Warnings have been given<br />
to them in plenty.<br />
<br />
Of course one may point to A. and B. and C.,<br />
and so on—all brilliant writers who have<br />
built up fortunes by their works ; but it would<br />
be interesting to learn just how many years<br />
A. and B. and C. took to achieve their present<br />
position, and whether they were not at first<br />
free from the toils of money-making—or at<br />
least spared the necessity of making money<br />
by their pens.<br />
<br />
The trouble with the average reader of<br />
periodicals is that he will not think; all the<br />
thinking must be done for him by the author.<br />
The reader is usually in a hurry; he must<br />
be swept into the heart of the action or the<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
176 THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
mystery at once, for he refuses to get there by<br />
leisurely methods. :<br />
<br />
Broad sensationalism, broader humour, still<br />
broader sentimentalism—that is what 1s<br />
wanted by the biggest reading class to-day,<br />
and it is for that that editors and publishers<br />
are willing to pay.<br />
<br />
IIT.<br />
<br />
Bathos is at a premium among those<br />
long-headed merchants who attend to the<br />
wants of the half-educated, and the man or<br />
woman who can supply enough of it is sure of<br />
a steady and a large income.<br />
<br />
There are, after all, very few monthly<br />
magazines in Britain for the average writer,<br />
and it is hopeless to depend upon them to<br />
provide sufficient money to pay for rent, and.<br />
food, and so on. But the man or woman<br />
who casts aside literary scruples, who is<br />
frankly “‘ out for cash,” and who learns the<br />
tricks of the trade, may be very comfortable<br />
indeed.<br />
<br />
To the beginner of this nature one might say:<br />
“ Write a magazine story or a literary article<br />
now and then to ease your conscience, but for<br />
your living attend to the framing of what pro-<br />
fessionals pleasantly term ‘ muck.’ Go to your<br />
newsagent ; spend a shilling on buying twelve<br />
of those weekly papers—appealing for the<br />
most part to girls and women—and soak in the<br />
stuff that you will find there.<br />
<br />
“Tt is to serial stories that you must look<br />
for the bigger part of your income, so read the<br />
serials. If you have a sense of humour at<br />
all and any appreciation for good writing,<br />
these serials will, frankly speaking, disgust<br />
you, though they may raise a smile now and<br />
then by their sheer banality. But remember,<br />
while you read, that if you are to be financially<br />
successful as an author from the start, you<br />
must school yourself to write exactly the type<br />
of matter which you are reading. ‘<br />
<br />
“You will be expected to increase the<br />
circulation of the paper you work for by the<br />
description of ‘The girl who looked down<br />
on her mother,’ or something of that sort,<br />
and it will be very painful for you. But after<br />
all, few people are able to make money to-day<br />
by doing work which they like and of which<br />
they may reasonably be proud.”<br />
<br />
From personal experience I know that there<br />
are two classes of serial writers. (I am not<br />
dealing with serials in magazines nor in daily<br />
papers, but with those which appear in what<br />
may be styled the ‘‘ Home Weekly”’ class.)<br />
One class is composed of highly intelligent<br />
<br />
persons, possibly of good social position, who”<br />
<br />
write with their tongues in their cheeks and<br />
self-shame in their hearts; the other class,<br />
and be it noted by far the more successful,<br />
comprise those writers who are proud of their<br />
work and of themselves for being able to do<br />
it! They believe—and I have had the felicity<br />
of meeting some editors and editresses who<br />
also believe—that the twaddle which they<br />
produce is not only wholesome and “ human ”<br />
—a favourite word with them—but is the<br />
outcome of high literary abilities.<br />
<br />
IV.<br />
<br />
Here, then, is the field for the writer with<br />
an eye to the rewards, who cannot wait to<br />
make a public by novel writing, and who<br />
wants more than the pickings which he can<br />
get from the magazines.<br />
<br />
He will find, as I found, that the writers<br />
of charm whose names he knows and respects<br />
are but poorly-paid workers as compared to<br />
the army of hacks whose names are not always<br />
divulged to the public, and who disport them-<br />
selves week by week in the pages of those many<br />
papers which set out to capture the attention<br />
of the humbler readers.<br />
<br />
For the sake of these readers I hope that the<br />
editors who provide for them under-estimate<br />
their brain power, but I doubt it. Not long<br />
ago an editor said to me, ‘‘ The more common<br />
and vulgar I can make my paper, the better<br />
it will sell.”’ I suppose he was right, though<br />
I would fain think otherwise.<br />
<br />
Publishers of periodicals, remember, are not<br />
philanthropists who are wishful to raise the<br />
standard of the people’s literary tastes ; they are<br />
in business in order to make money, and they<br />
are ready to pay well the editors and writers<br />
who can help them.<br />
<br />
Although I have written here disparagingly<br />
of these serials upon which the servant-girl<br />
and the factory-hand feeds, it must not be<br />
thought that the writing of them is necessarily<br />
easy. Far fromit. <A great deal of cleverness<br />
and dexterity—more by the cultured writer<br />
than by his brother, who takes the thing<br />
very seriously—and, above all, an unfaltering<br />
patience, is needed. The young writer will<br />
fancy at first that every single idea has been<br />
used before, and editors will probably badger<br />
him nearly to despair in an effort to please<br />
their several and peculiar wants.<br />
<br />
But if he makes a fair start and keeps<br />
going, he will do well.<br />
<br />
The pay is not large—even the well-known<br />
serialist of this order is seldom paid more than<br />
a guinea or thirty shillings a thousand words.<br />
‘But if a writer can turn out such stuffas is<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
ft<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
TIE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
wanted, and works hard, he may reasonably<br />
expect to make anything from five hundred<br />
pounds per annum upwards. I know men<br />
and several women—who are making, without<br />
apparently undue exertion, fifteen hundred and<br />
two thousand pounds a _year—but they are<br />
~of course the masters of their trade, and most<br />
distressingly active.<br />
Probably a novice would be lucky to get<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
_ fifteen shillings a thousand words, but he could<br />
<br />
lee oo << PAE<br />
<br />
climb to the guinea ere long, and after that<br />
yt would be merely a matter Of time and grow-<br />
ing reputation before being in receipt of an<br />
income bigger by far than any which he could<br />
have reasonably looked for in the pleasanter<br />
<br />
realms of magazine work.<br />
<br />
THE BRITISH INTERNATIONAL ASSO-<br />
CIATION OF JOURNALISTS’ ANNUAL<br />
MEETING AND DINNER.<br />
<br />
— <> +<br />
<br />
HIS Association had not a Cabinet<br />
Minister for their chief guest at the<br />
annual dinner this year, as in the past<br />
<br />
two years, but they invited one whose influ-<br />
ence upon journalism has been great. The<br />
Professor of Poetry of Oxford University, and<br />
President of Magdalen, Dr. Herbert Warren,<br />
at some inconvenience, for the date was fixed<br />
during the first days of term, accepted the<br />
invitation, and gave a speech that has been<br />
quoted on every hand. There was a goodly<br />
gathering including such well-known past<br />
officers of the Association as Mr. Arthur<br />
Spurgeon, Mr. S. S. Campion and Mr. J. H.<br />
Warden. Sir James Yoxall, M.P., Editor of<br />
the Schoolmaster, presided.<br />
<br />
The toasts, after the loyal toasts, were but<br />
two. In proposing the guests, Sir James<br />
Yoxall made an interesting speech, dealing<br />
with the journalism of to-day. Journalism<br />
to-day was very near to literature, and was a<br />
constant source of education, and was educat-<br />
ing the coming generation. This in spite of<br />
the fact that journalists could not spend time<br />
in polishing their sentences, and their work<br />
could not attain the perfection of Gibbon. In<br />
referring to the guest of the evening, the<br />
President of Magdalen, he spoke of the impor-<br />
tant positions Dr. Warren had filled and the<br />
important work he had done. He was one of<br />
the most distinguished university men of<br />
England. He was a poet, reviewer, editor of a<br />
famous edition of Plato, a journalist, and a<br />
<br />
ATT<br />
<br />
contributor to the Quarterly and Edinburgh<br />
Reviews. As journalist and littérateur they<br />
honoured him.<br />
<br />
op-~<de<br />
<br />
ENCYCLOPADIA OF COPYRIGHT.*<br />
<br />
—+ <4<br />
<br />
HOUGH the name of Professor Réthlis-<br />
berger is of itself sufficient to recom-<br />
mend to immediate attention any work<br />
<br />
that issues from his pen, it is only just<br />
that very strong insistance should be laid upon<br />
the value of this his latest book, both on<br />
account of the skill with which it has been<br />
constructed and on account of its encyclopedic<br />
character. The single volume contains a com-<br />
plete representation of the whole of the law of<br />
copyright as it stands at the present day. If<br />
any evidence of the reality of this complete-<br />
ness is required that is furnished by the<br />
volume itself; for a supplement of the laws<br />
and agreements which have come into force<br />
whilst the volume was in the press does not<br />
fill a single page; all else being embodied in<br />
the various sections of the work.<br />
<br />
The arrangement of the first part, which<br />
comprises the copyright laws of the various<br />
States, is alphabetical, under the names of the<br />
several countries. Here it will be found that<br />
nothing in the shape of actual legal enactments<br />
or of regulations respecting their administra-<br />
tion has been omitted. The second part of the<br />
work contains the various treaties ; first of all<br />
those of the Unions which include several<br />
States (the Berne Union, the Union of Monte-<br />
video, the Central-American Union, the<br />
Bolivian Union, the Panama Union); and<br />
after these the numerous particular treaties<br />
which have been made by various countries—<br />
all being alike set out at full length. (In this<br />
part of the work we are struck by the very<br />
different extent in which various countries<br />
have availed themselves of this method of<br />
protection of copyright. Belgium has eight<br />
such particular treaties, Germany six, France<br />
twenty-four, Great Britain only two.) After<br />
less than a page of Addenda (already men-<br />
tioned), the volume concludes with (1) a<br />
Register in the order of the contents, present-<br />
ing a conspectus of all that has been already<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
* Dr. Ernst Réthlisberger. Urheberrechts—Gesetze und<br />
—Vertrage in allen Laindern nebst den Bestimmungen<br />
iiber das Verlagsrecht. Dritte, gainzlich umgearbeitete<br />
Auflage. Leipzig. G. Hedeler. 1914.<br />
<br />
Copyright Laws and Treaties of all countries together<br />
with the terms of agreement with publishers. Third,<br />
completely revised, edition.<br />
<br />
<br />
178<br />
<br />
set forth, but here growping all the legislation of<br />
each country under the three headings of<br />
Laws, Unions, Treaties ; and (2) an Index of<br />
Matters, in which the subject-matters of the<br />
laws, treaties, ete., of all countries will be<br />
found grouped under their respective headings ;<br />
for example, under “ Duration of Copyright ”<br />
will be found references to all the enactments<br />
respecting duration of copyright whether<br />
enunciated in laws or set forth in various<br />
treaties. On the immense value of this<br />
Subject Index it is unnecessary to dwell, as the<br />
amount of labour which will be saved by<br />
reference to it must be evident to all. The<br />
toil which it must have cost seems appalling ;<br />
and Professor Réthlisberger has every reason<br />
to express in his Preface a hope that in every<br />
case of excerpts or quotations from his book a<br />
reference to it may be made out of considera-<br />
tion of the labour which has been bestowed<br />
upon it ; labour, he justly remarks, of transla-<br />
tion as well as of arrangement—for there are<br />
to be found here in a single language legal<br />
documents whose originals must have appeared<br />
in some score of tongues.<br />
<br />
The work appears in German, and may be<br />
regarded as one more of those works which<br />
demonstrate that in the present day no<br />
educated man ought to be ignorant of that<br />
language : for what pursuits can a man now<br />
take up without finding that the investigations<br />
which his work necessitates will be seriously<br />
hampered if he cannot avail himself of the<br />
labours of the Germans ? At the same time it<br />
is a notorious fact that among Englishmen<br />
such a knowledge of German as is practically<br />
useful is not common; and we shall soon be<br />
hearing said of this book, ‘‘ I wish it was in<br />
English!” Only where shall we look for the<br />
English legist who would have compiled it, or<br />
the English publisher who would consent to<br />
produce it ?<br />
<br />
Leaving, however, those questions to be<br />
answered by any one who ean answer them,<br />
we shall content ourselves with repeating that<br />
Professor Réthlisberger has produced a work<br />
absolutely indispensable for the copyright<br />
legist and specialist, and one of the very<br />
greatest value. Its nature of a pure compila-<br />
tion excludes the possibility of its exhibiting<br />
any of that wide-reaching clear-sightedness<br />
and deep penetration of copyright questions by<br />
which Professor Réthlisberger has distin-<br />
guished himself; but its completeness, and<br />
the lucidity of its arrangement, and, above all<br />
else, the great judgment shown on the treat-<br />
ment of the Subject Index, cannot but add to<br />
the laurels of the compiler.<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE IN<br />
THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.*<br />
<br />
—1—~>—»+ —_<br />
<br />
WN R. KINGSFORD’S “ English Historica}<br />
Literature in the Fifteenth Century ”<br />
is a critical survey of the sources of<br />
English history beginning with Thomas Walsh-<br />
ingham, and concluding with a chapter on the<br />
Sixteenth Century Historians and Fifteenth<br />
Century History. The subject of the work<br />
will, therefore, appear to many to be a tolerably<br />
arid one. As every one will also agree with<br />
the author’s opening statement, that “ the<br />
history of the fifteenth century in England<br />
leaves on a first acquaintance the impression<br />
that it is somewhat barren of interest and<br />
deficient in variety and concentration of<br />
purpose,”’ so there will be few who will not be<br />
most agreeably surprised alike by the manner<br />
in which the author collects a unity out of the<br />
scattered records, and brings into relief, one<br />
after another, innumerable particulars of<br />
striking interest. The latter feature of the<br />
work will render it attractive not to those alone<br />
who are in quest of stern historical evidence,<br />
but also to all educated explorers of the origins<br />
of English literature and the course of its<br />
developments, and to all who can with pleasure<br />
turn over out of the way records of the past.<br />
Nor would we omit a mention of the suggestive-<br />
ness of the author’s careful appreciations of<br />
values, appreciations which are one of the<br />
fundamental aims of his book, but respect-<br />
ing which, be it confessed, it may seem pre-<br />
sumption for us to express any opinion,<br />
though we liked them, and were particularly<br />
grateful for a kind word said for our old friend<br />
Polydore Vergil. Be that as it may this is a<br />
book which can be thoroughly enjoyed, and it<br />
is difficult to say whether the chapters dealing<br />
with subjects so well-known as the “ Gesta<br />
Henrici Quinti’’ and ‘The Brute,’ or the<br />
pages devoted to private correspondence and<br />
the chapter on “ Poetry and Ballads ” are the<br />
more attractive. The author has succeeded in<br />
compiling upon what at first appears to be a<br />
tedious subject an eminently readable as well<br />
as a valuable volume. Everywhere the foot-<br />
notes are excellent ; and a portion of the work<br />
on no account to be neglected is the appendix<br />
of hitherto unpublished documents: among<br />
which is a ballad that has not previously<br />
appeared in print. Incidentally it may be<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
* “English Historical Literature \fin the Fifteenth<br />
Century,” by Charles Lethbridge Kingsford. Oxford,<br />
Clarendon Press, 1913, 15s, nett.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Boe<br />
<br />
a4<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
mentioned that the historical novelist, who is<br />
not seldom at a loss where to discover a basis,<br />
not yet hackneyed, for a new tale, might in<br />
more than one instance find what was wanted in<br />
Mr. Kingsford’s pages. Has any one ever<br />
attempted a novel on the fate of Eleanor<br />
Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester? More is<br />
known about her than in some cases sufficed<br />
Sir Walter Scott for the foundation for a tale ;<br />
and the historical facts present also just those<br />
elements of diversity of contemporary opinions<br />
which are so dear to the novelist.<br />
<br />
Notable features of the work are a full<br />
bibliography and a most excellent index ; the<br />
more valuable and helpful as the evidence<br />
there gathered together is often scattered<br />
in many different documents.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
CORRESPONDENCE.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
PHOTOGRAPHS AND REPRODUCTION.<br />
<br />
Srtr,—I do not know whether the following<br />
matter is worthy of your attention, nor even<br />
whether Zhe Author concerns itself with<br />
photographic work, but I venture to bring<br />
it to your notice on the chance that it may<br />
affect some of your readers as it affects me.<br />
I am a photographer and also a writer on<br />
natural history subjects, and contribute work<br />
of both kinds to several of the illustrated<br />
sixpenny wecklies. I find that, although the<br />
editors of most of these papers consider my<br />
photographic work worthy of a page in their<br />
journals, they do not apparently think that<br />
my name is good enough to appear below my<br />
work. It is true that in some cases the name<br />
of the photographer is inserted at the foot of<br />
the page, but it is in such minute type that<br />
a casual reader will probably overlook it<br />
altogether. Others have a still more objection-<br />
able practice. No name is published with<br />
the photographs, but at the end of the paper,<br />
among a maze of “‘ special pages ” and adver-<br />
tisements, is a small paragraph: ‘ Our<br />
pictures are from photographs as follows,”<br />
and there the photographer may find his name<br />
buried with those of the rest of the unfortunate<br />
illustrators. I am not speaking of small<br />
pictures, nor of illustrations in the text, but of a<br />
photograph or series of photographs, that<br />
occupy a whole page of the magazine.<br />
<br />
If, on the other hand, I contribute an<br />
article or story to the same number of the<br />
said paper, my name is published thereunder<br />
<br />
iva<br />
<br />
in large type. Does the editor consider that<br />
the photographer is on a lower level than the<br />
author ? Yet his work occupies a place as<br />
important, and is paid for at rates as good.<br />
Why then may he not receive the same recogni-<br />
tion? I am not, of course, speaking of the<br />
leaders in either case, but of the rank and file.<br />
I remain, Sir,<br />
Yours faithfully,<br />
** ONE OF THE RANK AND FILE.”<br />
<br />
———1<———_<br />
<br />
Dear Str,—Would you be so kind as to grant<br />
me a little space for this letter in your paper ?<br />
<br />
Mrs. Archibald Mackirdy’s house has been<br />
burnt completely down, and she has absolutely<br />
nothing to wear but the clothes she escaped<br />
in—all her clothes, papers and other things<br />
are destroyed.<br />
<br />
We do not know the dates, addresses or<br />
times of Mrs. Mackirdy’s public engagements.<br />
She is advertised to speak at large meetings all<br />
over the kingdom. She will be glad to keep<br />
her engagements after she gets some clothes,<br />
and has found a furnished house, provided<br />
dates, addresses and times are sent, so that<br />
they can be re-booked. Until then, it is quite<br />
impossible for her to go anywhere.<br />
<br />
It would be a very great help, if you would<br />
kindly let people know through this paper.<br />
<br />
With thanks, I am, sir, yours faithfully,<br />
<br />
CHARLOTTE COTTRILL,<br />
Private Secretary.<br />
<br />
i ——<br />
<br />
S1r,—I send two questions, which, perhaps,<br />
some of your readers may be kind enough to<br />
answer.<br />
<br />
First.—Is there any book in existence<br />
which explains the principles and mysteries of<br />
what is known as ‘stagecraft’? I have<br />
several books which tell how to write plays,<br />
but none of them gives information on the<br />
subject I mention.<br />
<br />
Second.—Is there any “ authority ”’ for the<br />
prohibition of splitting infinitives ? Or is it<br />
only a superstition? We split every other<br />
mood and tense.; why not the infinitive also ?<br />
<br />
Yours very truly,<br />
Wiiiram Parrick KELty.<br />
<br />
—-—>— 4 —<br />
<br />
Tur FREELANCE.<br />
Sir.—In connection with what appears in<br />
your February issue on the subject of “ Free-<br />
lance” work, I think you are very wise to<br />
<br />
<br />
180<br />
<br />
emphasise the desirability of having some other<br />
means of support before embarking on such<br />
work. In my own case, though I could make<br />
quite a long list of the publications to which I<br />
have contributed, ranging from the defunct<br />
Speaker to the Daily Herald, and including such<br />
magazines as Nash’s, Red, ete., and weeklies<br />
such as Madame and London Opinion, pro-<br />
vincial newspapers such as the Manchester<br />
Guardian and the Glasgow Herald, I have no<br />
hesitation in saying that had I been under the<br />
necessity of living out of the proceeds I<br />
should have starved long ago. Nine out of<br />
ten of the Freelance’s MSS. are returned to<br />
him: some are published and paid for twelve<br />
months after they are sent out: some he is<br />
not paid for at all, or only after threats of legal<br />
proceedings. I advise any young man or<br />
woman who desires to become a writer for the<br />
press to have some other employment as well,<br />
be it ever so poorly paid. To make an income<br />
worth having at so-called Freelance work<br />
means a drudgery at hack work that surpasses<br />
the drudgery of an office by far. The Free-<br />
lanee who has to live on it has no time, and<br />
soon no spirit, for that great book that is to<br />
bring him fame.<br />
<br />
In conclusion, let me give a little anecdote<br />
by way of dispelling the delusion that out-<br />
siders’ work stands an equal chance with that<br />
of others. A very charming lady of my<br />
acquaintance who moves in literary circles<br />
said to me one day, “I like young Mr. So-and-<br />
so, and I’m doing my best to help him.” ‘“ In<br />
what manner?” I asked. ‘‘ Oh, I’ve asked<br />
him to dinner once or twice to meet the right<br />
people—editors and so on.”<br />
<br />
The moral is, get asked to dinner to meet the<br />
right people. It helps wonderfully, in any<br />
calling, and in none more than in—writing. I<br />
was going to say literature, but I won’t.<br />
<br />
Yours faithfully,<br />
PAvLus.<br />
<br />
—+o<br />
<br />
AUTHOR’S CORRECTIONS.<br />
<br />
Dear Mr. Epvrror,—I have read with much<br />
interest the article on ‘‘ Author’s Corrections ”<br />
and may I, with due humility, state my method<br />
with regard to the tiresome things ?<br />
<br />
When the first proofs come, I correct<br />
printer’s errors in black ink, and make my<br />
author’s corrections in red. Those proofs go<br />
back in due course, are corrected at press,<br />
and return to me again, with clean second<br />
proofs as well. Second proofs go back,<br />
passed. Thus first proofs with ‘ author’s<br />
corrections ”’ remain in my possession, and<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
these I duly present to my publishers, together<br />
with the original MS. which, in accordance<br />
with the ordinary routine of proof correcting,<br />
inevitably ends its days in the author’s posses-<br />
sion also.<br />
<br />
My self-invented little system appears to<br />
ameliorate the hard lot of my long suffering<br />
publishers, and is no extra trouble whatever to<br />
me, while it prevents any possibility of mistake<br />
on any side.<br />
<br />
Yours respectfully,<br />
OLIvE Katuarine Parr.<br />
<br />
+e<br />
On SomME EpiToriAL EccENTRICITIES.<br />
<br />
S1r,—The letter of ‘‘ Senex ” in the February<br />
Author is such a candid confession of injury to<br />
authors that I trust it will not be allowed to<br />
pass unnoticed. “Senex” is apparently an<br />
author; he admits that he is ‘“ perhaps<br />
approaching his dotage” ; and he admits that<br />
he is in the habit of sending letters to the Press<br />
which “as a rule are inserted.” Is he aware<br />
that by habitually supplying editors with copy<br />
gratis, he is “ blacklegging ’’ authors? How<br />
long will it be before authors form themselves,<br />
like all other workers, into a trade union, and<br />
take steps to prevent this and the hundred and<br />
one other evils which afflict them ?<br />
<br />
By writing this letter I am following the<br />
bad example of “Senex.” But I only send<br />
a letter to a journal when it appears that the<br />
expression of an opinion is badly needed, and<br />
is either clearly to the public advantage or<br />
to my advantage. I cannot complain like<br />
““Senex’”’ that editors have ever seriously<br />
tampered with my letters. The few which I<br />
have sent have always been promptly and<br />
conspicuously inserted, and without any altera-<br />
tion. Sometimes a passage has been struck<br />
out, but only when it might have been offensive<br />
to some readers.<br />
<br />
Yours truly,<br />
TraDE UNIONIST.<br />
<br />
Music PuBLISHERS AND MECHANICAL<br />
REPRODUCTION.<br />
<br />
Srr,—I notice that some of the music pub-<br />
l'she:s are entering the mechanical instrument<br />
trade as reproducers of gramophone and<br />
kindred reproductions of their compositions.<br />
This should be good news to composers, who<br />
may now, surely, expect to see the end of the<br />
exorbitant claim of the music publisher to<br />
50 per cent. of the mechanical fees.<br />
<br />
Yours, ete.<br />
A Victim, | https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/537/1914-03-02-The-Author-24-6.pdf | publications, The Author |