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465	https://historysoa.com/items/show/465	The Author, Vol. 10 Issue 03 (August 1899)	<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.+10+Issue+03+%28August+1899%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 03 (August 1899)</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>	1899-08-01-The-Author-10-3					57–76																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=10">10</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1899-08-01">1899-08-01</a>							3			18990801	The Hutbor.<br /> <br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors.<br /> <br /> Monthly.)<br /> <br /> COMOCUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Vou. X.—No. 3.]<br /> <br /> AUGUST 1, 1899.<br /> <br /> [Prick SIXPENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> For the Opinions expressed in papers that are<br /> signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br /> responsible. None of the papers or para-<br /> graphs must be taken as expressing the<br /> collective opinions of the Committee unless<br /> they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br /> Thring, Sec.<br /> <br /> Sos<br /> <br /> hee Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br /> <br /> remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br /> <br /> requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br /> important communications within two days will write to him<br /> without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br /> Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br /> letter only.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br /> all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br /> jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br /> returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br /> <br /> Po<br /> <br /> GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an<br /> agreement. There are three methods of dealing<br /> with literary property :—<br /> <br /> I. THAT OF SELLING IT OUTRIGHT.<br /> This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br /> <br /> price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br /> managed by a competent agent.<br /> <br /> Il. A PROFIT-SHARING 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.<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.<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 /> <br /> VOL. X.<br /> <br /> As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br /> doctor !<br /> (7.) To stamp the agreement.<br /> <br /> Ill. THE ROYALTY SYSTEM.<br /> <br /> It is above all things necessary to know what the<br /> proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible<br /> for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly<br /> the truth. From time to time the very important figures<br /> connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br /> Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br /> “Cost of Production.”<br /> <br /> The four main points which the Society has always<br /> demanded 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.) That there shall be no secret profits.<br /> <br /> (4.) That there shall be no charge for advertisements<br /> in the publisher’s own organs and none for exchanged<br /> advertisements.<br /> <br /> eK<br /> <br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ie By wa member has a right to ask for and to receive<br /> <br /> advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br /> <br /> lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br /> business or the administration of his property. If the<br /> advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor,<br /> the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s<br /> solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is<br /> desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s<br /> opinion. All this without any cost to the member.<br /> <br /> 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br /> and publisher’s agreements do not generally fall within the<br /> experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br /> to use the Society.<br /> <br /> 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past<br /> accounts with the loan of the books represented. The<br /> Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new<br /> or old, for inspection and note. The information thus<br /> obtained may prove invaluable.<br /> <br /> 4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br /> posed document to the Society for examination.<br /> <br /> 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you<br /> are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are<br /> <br /> F 2<br /> 58 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing<br /> the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen-<br /> dence of the writer. 2<br /> <br /> 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of<br /> members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br /> safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br /> fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who<br /> will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :—(1)<br /> To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To<br /> stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon<br /> them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments<br /> due according to agreements.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE READING BRANCH.<br /> <br /> A EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> branch of their work by informing young writers of<br /> Their MSS. can be read and treated<br /> The Readers are<br /> The fee is one<br /> <br /> its existence.<br /> as a composition is treated by a coach.<br /> writers of competence and experience.<br /> <br /> guinea.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> <br /> HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br /> Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br /> of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br /> <br /> heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br /> many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br /> 6s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br /> <br /> Communications for The Author should be addressed to<br /> the Offices of the Society, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn<br /> Fields, W.C., and should reach the Editor not later than the<br /> 21st of each month.<br /> <br /> All persons engaged in literary work of any kind,<br /> whether members of the Society or not, are invited to<br /> communicate to the Editor any points connected with their<br /> work which it would be advisable in the general interest to<br /> publish.<br /> <br /> The present location of the Authors’ Club is at 3, White-<br /> hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for<br /> information, rules of admission, &amp;c.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> LITERARY PROPERTY.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I.—In TERNATIONAL LITERARY AND ARTISTIC<br /> ConGREss.<br /> <br /> “ E DROIT D’AUTEUR” publishes the<br /> folowing programme for the twenty-<br /> first congress of the “ Association Litté-<br /> <br /> raire et Artistique,’ which is to take place at<br /> <br /> Heidelburg in September next, commencing on<br /> <br /> the 23rd, and concluding on the 30th.<br /> <br /> 1. The author’s moral right in his production :<br /> <br /> MM. Lermina, Mack, Maillard, Vaunois.<br /> <br /> (a) The right of any author of an intellectual<br /> work to establish his prerogative of author, and<br /> <br /> to take legal proceedings against any persons<br /> appropriating the credit of the work.<br /> <br /> (6) His right to interdict reproduction of his<br /> work in any form except by his consent. Can an<br /> author’s creditors offer the right of reproduction<br /> for sale P<br /> <br /> (c) Right of the author who has assigned his<br /> work to compel regard for his right as author to<br /> oppose the assignee’s reproducing or exhibiting<br /> the work in any modified or altered form, or his<br /> making any use of the work not stipulated in the<br /> contract.<br /> <br /> (d) Right of the executors or heirs of the<br /> author to compel regard for the author’s moral<br /> rights. Power of the tribunal to compel respect<br /> for the work, even against the heirs, and after the<br /> work has become public property.<br /> <br /> 2. Protection of inlaid work: M. Soleau.<br /> <br /> 3. Reports on jurisprudence, state of public<br /> opinion, and legislative proceedings in different<br /> countries.<br /> <br /> (a) Report on the new German law. Examina-<br /> tion of the principal reforms to be desired: M-<br /> Osterrieth.<br /> <br /> (6) Condition of the preparatory labours of the<br /> English law: M. Iselin.<br /> <br /> (c) Proposed reform of Italian law: M.<br /> Armar.<br /> <br /> (d) Projected Russian law: M. Halpérine-<br /> Karminsky.<br /> <br /> (e) Literary property in Roumania: M.<br /> Djuvara.<br /> <br /> (f) Literary property in the United States:<br /> M. Paul Ocker.<br /> <br /> Persons desiring to join in the conference<br /> should forward their names to M. Jules Lermina,<br /> perpetual secretary of the Association, Hétel des<br /> Sociétés Savantes, 28, Rue Serpents, a Paris.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Il.—TxHE Burne ConveENTION.<br /> <br /> The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Princi-<br /> pality of Montenegro has, by a memorandum of<br /> April 1, 1899, informed the Swiss Federal<br /> Council, in the name of his Government, that the<br /> Principality, for reasons of economy, withdraws<br /> from the International Union for the Protection<br /> of Literary and Artistic Works created by the<br /> Convention of Sept. 9, 1886.<br /> <br /> According to the terms of the 2oth article of<br /> the Convention, the Convention will remain in<br /> force in the Principality of Montenegro until the<br /> expiration of one year from the date of the<br /> denunciation, that is to say, until April 1, 1900.<br /> <br /> The Swiss Federal Council has communicated<br /> this denunciation to the contracting countries by<br /> a circular dated May 15, 1899.—From Le Droit.<br /> d@ Auteur.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> TII.—Copyrieut 1n Russta.<br /> <br /> Our Italian contemporary in J Diritti D’ Autore<br /> mentions that the Russian Imperial Commission<br /> for the revision of the copyright law is thinking<br /> of giving foreign authors a ten years’ copyright<br /> in translations of their works on condition that<br /> the translation into Russian is made within three<br /> years of the publication of the original work.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> TV.—Tue Srxpenny Nove.<br /> <br /> With reference to the able note on the six-<br /> penny novel in the May number of The Author,<br /> will you allow me, as cne who has seen something<br /> of the matter from the trade side, to suggest<br /> that the price at which new novels shall be<br /> issued could be promptly settled by united action<br /> on the part of the heads of the literary profes-<br /> sion? A publisher who makes fiction a feature<br /> of his lists cannot make o/d standard works his<br /> staple. By old standard works, I mean novels<br /> which still have life in them, as non-copyright<br /> works, after an existence of forty years or more<br /> as copyright works. If he wants to issue new<br /> copyright novels at sixpence, he can only do so<br /> (1) by purchasing the copyright outright, or (2)<br /> by getting the author to accept a royalty on<br /> the sixpenny form. As to purchasing the copy-<br /> right outright, it is notorious that, except in very<br /> rare instances, a novel, the copyright of which<br /> can be purchased for £20 or so, has not a poten-<br /> tial sale behind it of sufficient copies to make a<br /> sixpenny edition pay; and if a publisher pur-<br /> chases outright the copyright of new novels by<br /> prominent writers for payments of £750 to £2000,<br /> say, he will have made the sixpenny edition so<br /> expensive to himself that only fabulous sales will<br /> secure him a profit. No advertisement revenue<br /> that is likely to accrue on the large majority of<br /> new novels would set the balance right.<br /> <br /> But a publisher who makes fiction a staple<br /> must come to the prominent writers, the writers<br /> whose books he can sell for certain, whose novels<br /> the public wants to read, As he cannot afford<br /> to purchase the copyright, he must try to get the<br /> author to take a royalty, if the sixpenny form is<br /> to be floated. This must mean a heavy loss<br /> to the author, as compared with the six-shilling<br /> system. To take a rough diagram of the situa-<br /> tion—Suppose that an author can sell 50,000<br /> copies of a novel in six-shilling form, and that he<br /> gets only a shilling a copy on the published<br /> price (practically, of course, he gets much more) ;<br /> he will receive on sales £2500. If the novel<br /> were issued at sixpence, and the author got a<br /> penny a copy royalty, then—supposing that the<br /> cheaper price doubled his sales—he would on the<br /> sale of 100,000 copies receive £416 odd, and be a<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 59<br /> <br /> loser of over £2000 as compared with the six-<br /> shilling edition. Even if the lowered price<br /> trebled his sales—a big supposition—he would<br /> be a loser of well over £1500. Let us suppose<br /> an author commands a sale of 10,000 copies ;<br /> under the six-shilling arrangement (same figures<br /> as above) he gets £500—on a corresponding<br /> sixpenny arrangement (as above) he would only<br /> get £410dd. As for the author who sells 10,000<br /> copies, not being so widely known or so widely<br /> popular as the author who sells 50,000 copies, the<br /> lowered price would not quicken or increase his<br /> sales so much. ‘Then there is a considerable<br /> number of writers, holding an excellent place in<br /> literature, whose novels sell 5000 to 6000. They<br /> would probably find their incomes gone and their<br /> MSS. unsaleable under the sixpenny régime.<br /> This will mean a real and severe loss to English<br /> art and letters if it is allowed to take place.<br /> <br /> If prominent authors, after carefully consider-<br /> ing their interests, determine that they do not<br /> intend to have their novels issued at 6d. (first<br /> edition), and so instruct their agents, the matter<br /> will soon settle itself.<br /> <br /> But one may safely take it for granted that<br /> the heads of the literary profession would not<br /> only consider their own financial interests in such<br /> a case but the interests of literature. Who is to<br /> publish the Walter Paters and Emily Brontés of<br /> the future? Unless such writers are able and<br /> willing to publish at their own expense, and<br /> go without remuneration, they will have silence<br /> enforced on them under the sixpenny régime.<br /> Their MSS. will be met with the fatal objec-<br /> tion that there is not probable sale enough<br /> in them to make a sixpenny edition profitable to<br /> any publisher, and thus a chain of writers of<br /> whom English people are justly proud will be<br /> broken, and one may reasonably fear that the<br /> man of the sixpenny shocker will arise in their<br /> stead.<br /> <br /> Of course, there are many educated men and.<br /> women who would like to buy new novels but<br /> cannot afford the six-shilling form. But these<br /> readers would buy the book because of its<br /> intrinsic worth, not because it was the newest<br /> thing published. Would not publication in<br /> sixpenny form two years after first publication<br /> meet their requirements in a satisfactory way ?<br /> Only a few novels continue to bear fruit in the<br /> shape of royalty on the six-shilling edition<br /> twenty-four months after first publication. If<br /> the cost of composition, &amp;c., had. been met by a<br /> more expensive edition at first, perhaps a<br /> sixpenny edition might be issued after that lapse<br /> of time with satisfaction to everybody. Those<br /> who can and do afford to keep up a library<br /> subscription or to buy books in six-shilling form<br /> 60<br /> <br /> would not wait two years in order to get them in<br /> sixpenny form; so the first and more expensive<br /> edition would not be interfered with by the<br /> later and cheaper edition. The book would get a<br /> revival, the intelligent reader with a small purse<br /> would have a chance of acquiring it, and the<br /> publisher would be able to work the potential<br /> profit of the book out in each form.<br /> <br /> Mo.LeEcvtLe.<br /> 2 ee<br /> PUBLISHERS’ DRAFT AGREEMENT.<br /> <br /> HE following draft form of royalty agree-<br /> ment is one of the forms issued by the<br /> Council of the Publishers’ Association,<br /> <br /> and submitted to and approved by Mr. Joseph<br /> Walton, Q.C., and Mr. Arthur Ingpen.<br /> <br /> It was published in The Author of July, 1898,<br /> but it has been thought necessary to re-issue it,<br /> together with the comments of the Secretary<br /> of the Society of Authors, as agreements con-<br /> taining some of the clauses have been placed<br /> on one or two occasions recently before the<br /> Secretary.<br /> <br /> There is Very little to add to the comments which<br /> then accompanied the agreement except to state<br /> that where the blanks have been left im the dratt<br /> form they have been generally filled up to the<br /> advantage of the publisher and to the disadvantage<br /> of the author. It is needless to state the amount<br /> of royalty inserted in sections a, b, c, of clause 4.<br /> Tn one case, however, where the royalty was only<br /> to be paid after a certain number of copies were<br /> sold, 10 per cent. was offered on all copies after<br /> the sale of 1500 copies. The sales never reached<br /> 1500. The author never received a royalty.<br /> If they reached 1400 the publisher made<br /> £100 to £120. If they went over 1500 he<br /> made only about £60. An agreement should<br /> always be drawn so that both parties should<br /> be equally interested in promotion of the sales.<br /> In section d the blank has been filled up by<br /> the word “ fifty per cent.,” thus showing, as often<br /> repeated, that for ordinary agency transactions<br /> the publisher takes 50 per cent. where the agent<br /> would take ten or fifteen! In clause 8 the<br /> copyright has generally been vested in the<br /> name of the publisher. A warning against this<br /> is given in the comments. In clause g the<br /> blanks have been filled up to the great dis-<br /> advantage of the author, giving the publisher,<br /> as put forward in the comments, a chance of<br /> retaining the author’s money for nearly eighteen<br /> months.<br /> <br /> There is no need to make other new comment<br /> onthe agreement. It is put forward again for the<br /> sake of a warning to authors.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Drarr Form or suacEsteD Royatty AGREE-<br /> MENT BETWEEN AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER,<br /> DRAWN UP BY THE COUNCIL oF THE PuB-<br /> LISHERS’ ASSOCIATION AND SUBMITTED TO AND<br /> APPROVED BY Mr. JosepH Watton, Q.C.,<br /> anp Mr. Artuur R. Ineren.<br /> <br /> Royalty Agreement.<br /> Memoranpum or AGREEMENT made this<br /> day of between<br /> (hereinafter termed the Author) of the one part,<br /> and<br /> (hereinafter termed the Publisher) of the other<br /> part, whereby it is mutually agreed between the<br /> parties hereto for themselves and their respective<br /> executors, administrators, and assigns (or succes-<br /> sors, as the case may be), as follows :—<br /> <br /> 1. The Publisher shall at his own risk and<br /> expense, and with due diligence, produce and<br /> publish the work at present intituled<br /> b<br /> and use his best endeavours to sell the same.<br /> <br /> 2. The Author guarantees to the Publisher that<br /> the said work is in no way whatever a violation<br /> of any existing copyright, and that it contains<br /> nothing of a libellous or scandalous character, and<br /> that he will indemnify the Publisher from all<br /> suits, claims and proceedings, damages, and costs<br /> which may be made, taken, or incurred by or<br /> against him on the ground that the work is an<br /> infringement of copyright, or contains anything<br /> libellous or scandalous.<br /> <br /> 3. The Publisher shall during the legal term<br /> of copyright have the exclusive right of producing<br /> and publishing the work in the English language<br /> throughout the world. The Publisher shall have<br /> the entire control of the publication and sale<br /> and terms of sale of the book, and the Author<br /> shall not during the continuance of this agree-<br /> ment (without the consent of the Publisher)<br /> publish any abridgment, translation, or dramatised<br /> version of the work.<br /> <br /> 4. The Publisher agrees to pay the Author the<br /> following royalties, that is to say :—<br /> <br /> (a) A royalty of on the published<br /> <br /> price of all copies (13 being reckoned as<br /> 12 or 25 as 24, as the case may be) of<br /> the British edition sold beyond<br /> <br /> copies.<br /> <br /> (6) In the event of a cheaper edition bemg<br /> issued, a royalty of per cent. on the<br /> published price.<br /> <br /> (c) In the event of the Publisher disposing of<br /> copies or editions at a reduced rate for<br /> sale in the United States, or elsewhere,<br /> <br /> (d) In the event of the Publisher realising<br /> profits from the sale, with consent of the<br /> Author, of early sheets, serial or other<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 61<br /> <br /> rights, or plates for production of the<br /> work in the United States, or elsewhere,<br /> or as remainders, a royalty of<br /> <br /> per cent. of the amount realised by such<br /> sale.<br /> <br /> or from claims for infringement of copy-<br /> right, a royalty of per cent. of the<br /> net amount of such protits remaining<br /> after deducting all expenses relating<br /> thereto.<br /> <br /> No royalties shall be paid on any copies given<br /> away for review or other purposes.<br /> <br /> 5. The Author agrees to revise the first, and.<br /> if necessary, to edit and revise every subsequent<br /> edition of the work, and from time to time to<br /> supply any new matter that may be needful to<br /> keep the work up to date.<br /> <br /> 6. The Author agrees that all costs of correc-<br /> tions and alterations in the proof sheets exceeding<br /> 25 per cent. of the cost of composition shall be<br /> deducted from the royalties payable to him.<br /> <br /> 7, In the event of the Author neglecting to<br /> revise an edition after due notice shall have been<br /> given to him, or in the event of the Author being<br /> unable to do so by reason of death or otherwise,<br /> the expense of revising and preparing each such<br /> future edition for press shall be borne by the<br /> Author, and shall be deducted from the royalties<br /> payable to him.<br /> <br /> 8. During the continuance of this agreement,<br /> the copyright of the work shall be vested in the<br /> <br /> who may be registered as the proprietor<br /> thereof accordingly.<br /> <br /> 9. The publisher shall make up the account<br /> annually to<br /> and deliver the same to the Author within<br /> months thereafter, and pay the balance due to the<br /> author on<br /> <br /> 10. If the publisher shall at the end of three<br /> years from the date of publication, or at any<br /> time thereafter, give notice to the author taat in<br /> his opinion the demand for the work has eased,<br /> or if the Publisher shall for six months after the<br /> work is out of print decline, or, after due notice,<br /> neglect to publish a new edition, then and in<br /> either of such cases, this agreement shall termi-<br /> nate, and, on the determination of this agreement<br /> in the above or any other manner, the right to<br /> print and publish the work shall revert to the<br /> Author, and the Author, if not then registered,<br /> shall be entitled to be registered as the proprietor<br /> thereof, and to purchase from the Publisher forth-<br /> with the plates or moulds and engravings (if any)<br /> produced specially for the work, at half-cost of<br /> production, and whatever copies the Publisher<br /> may have on hand at cost of production, and if<br /> the Author does not within three months pur-<br /> chase and pay for the said plates or moulds,<br /> <br /> engravings, and copies, the Publisher may at any<br /> time thereafter dispose of such plates or moulds,<br /> engravings, and copies, or melt the plates, paying<br /> to the author in lieu of royalties per cent.<br /> of the net proceeds of such sale.<br /> <br /> 11. If any difference shall arise between the<br /> Author and the Publisher touching the meaning<br /> of this agreement, or the rights or liabilities of<br /> the parties thereunder, the same shall be referred<br /> to the arbitration of two persons (one to be named<br /> by each party) or their umpire, in accordance<br /> with the provisions of the Arbitration Act,<br /> 1889.<br /> <br /> 12. The term “Publisher” throughout this<br /> agreement shall be deemed to include the person<br /> or persons or company for the time being carrying<br /> on the business of the said<br /> under as well its present as any future style, and<br /> the benefit of this agreement shall be transmissible<br /> accordingly.<br /> <br /> As witness the hands of the parties.<br /> <br /> CoMMENTS BY THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> Firstly, then, the parties to the agreement.<br /> “It is agreed for themselves, their respective<br /> administrators, executors, and assigns, or suc-<br /> cessors, as the case may be.”<br /> <br /> It is the greatest mistake for an author to<br /> contract with the executors, administrators, and<br /> assigns, or successors of a publisher. The con-<br /> tract is between principal and agent, and is a<br /> personal contract, and should be maintained as a<br /> personal contract. Supposing an author were<br /> dealing with one of the best publishing houses in<br /> England, and the partners of that publishing<br /> house, for some reason or other, desired to retire<br /> from the business; to clear up matters they<br /> might put up the contracts for sale by auction or<br /> otherwise. Under these circumstances an author<br /> might find the right to publish his work pur-<br /> chased by some enterprising tradesman, who<br /> would bring it out in a manner and form which<br /> would be utterly repulsive to the author, and he<br /> would have no means of stopping him; and the<br /> same thing might occur should a firm go bank-<br /> rupt. It is, therefore, a most dangerous thing to<br /> allow the agent who is dealing with the property<br /> to have a right to assign his agency.<br /> <br /> In Clause 1 the publisher undertakes to pro-<br /> duce the work with due diligence. These words,<br /> as far as they go, are satisfactory, but the clause<br /> is not nearly comprehensive enough. The follow-<br /> ing points are suggested for consideration: that<br /> a date ought to be fixed on or before which the<br /> book should be produced ; that the form in which<br /> the edition is to appear should also be stated,<br /> and the price at which it is to be sold to the<br /> public.<br /> 62 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Clause 2 may, on the whole, be passed, with<br /> the single exception of the words “incurred<br /> by.” Itis fair as between the parties that the<br /> publisher should be protected from all suits<br /> against him, but there is no reason why the<br /> author should indemnify him from all expenses<br /> incurred by him, as he might incur unnecessary<br /> expenses without the sanction of the author.<br /> There ought, therefore, to be some words of<br /> limitation by which the author has a voice in any<br /> action taken by the publisher.<br /> <br /> Clause 3.—It is difficult to deal with Clause 3<br /> without, in fact, re-drafting the whole of the<br /> agreement, but it should be pointed out that the<br /> rights which the author is expected to transfer by<br /> this agreement include the rights of production in<br /> Tauchnitz formand in America. Such rights are<br /> generally left in the hands of an agent, and much<br /> better so than in the hands of publishers, for this<br /> reason—that a publisher does not,as a general rule,<br /> undertake the work of the literary agent; that his<br /> office is not to place literary work in other hands,<br /> but to produce literary work for the author; that<br /> work of this kind left in the hands of publishers is<br /> not likely to receive anything like the same atten-<br /> tion as it is if left in the hands of a literary agent ;<br /> that the publisher is the only person who gains<br /> by having control of this work, and that the<br /> author loses by leaving it in his hands. It should<br /> be further pointed out that the publisher does not<br /> anywhere in the agreement undertake to secure<br /> the American copyright for the author, nor even<br /> to do his best to obtain it. It may pay an English<br /> publisher better to sell sheets or stereos to<br /> America, and pay the author a royalty, as per<br /> Clause 4 (d), ‘of per cent. of the net amount<br /> of the profits remaining after deducting all ex-<br /> penses relating thereto.”<br /> <br /> It should be added, although no prices are<br /> stated in this agreement, that for this agency work,<br /> while the literary agent charges 10 per cent.,<br /> the publisher actually asks from 30 to 50 per cent. ;<br /> out of a large series of agreements in my hands<br /> from all sorts and conditions of publishers the<br /> lowest charge for this literary agency business<br /> has been 25 per cent., and this only in one case.<br /> <br /> The last part of the clause is extraordinary.<br /> It seems astounding that the author should not be<br /> allowed to deal with the translation and dramati-<br /> sation of his own work without the consent of the<br /> publisher. An author must be mad to part with<br /> his dramatic rights, perhaps more important than<br /> all the rest put together. With regard to the<br /> question of abridgment even, it is not fair that<br /> the author should be bound not to abridge the<br /> work unless the publisher is reciprocally bound<br /> not to obtain an abridgment or to run any other<br /> technical work which is likely to conflict with the<br /> <br /> author’s. So far, this clause has been considered<br /> from the general point of view, but from the<br /> point of view of the writer of technical works,<br /> educational, medical, theological, &amp;¢., &amp;c., the<br /> clause is still more disastrous.<br /> <br /> Under no circumstances should a writer of<br /> technical books hand over to his publisher so large<br /> a right of publication. It should be limited,<br /> especially as to the number of the edition, giving,<br /> if the author thinks fit, an equitable right to<br /> produce further editions.<br /> <br /> A technical writer must keep the command of<br /> his work, must be able, if necessary, to alter,<br /> amend, amplify. He cannot do this with a free<br /> hand if he does not keep undivided control.<br /> <br /> The publishers’ answer will be: “ But this is<br /> provided for by Clauses 5 and 7.”<br /> <br /> But it is submitted that it is one thing for the<br /> author to have unfettered judgment, and another<br /> thing to be forced to revise at request of his<br /> publisher or see his work arbitrarily revised by<br /> another. Whilst considering this question, it<br /> should be mentioned that one of the peculiarities<br /> of publishers’ contracts is that in the case of<br /> technical works a clause is nearly always intro-<br /> duced conveying the copyright to the publisher.<br /> <br /> An agreement containing such a clause should<br /> never be signed by an author.<br /> <br /> Clause 4.—In Section (a) the royalty is to be<br /> paid thirteen copies as twelve or twenty-five as<br /> twenty-four. The alternative appears to be left<br /> wholly to the discretion of the publisher, who<br /> naturally will prefer to pay on thirteen as twelve.<br /> Royalties should never be calculated on this basis.<br /> All the royalty accounts put forward by the<br /> Authors’ Society have been (wrongly) reckoned<br /> on the basis that the royalty is paid on every copy<br /> sold, it having been previously taken into account<br /> in the Cost of Production that the publisher had<br /> to sell thirteen for twelve to the booksellers. This<br /> they do not really do, except they sell in quantities<br /> and a great many booksellers are unable to afford<br /> to buy in quantities; therefore, in taking the<br /> royalty to be paid as in Section (a), the publisher<br /> is not only profiting by the liberal estimates of<br /> the Society with regard to royalties, but is also<br /> endeavouring to take in an extra 8 per cent., and<br /> the extra amount on those copies, of which there<br /> are many, sold in less numbers than twelve.<br /> <br /> This fact should also be made clear, that some<br /> of the older and more reliable firms have never<br /> put forward in their agreement a clause on this<br /> basis, but have always paid on every copy.<br /> <br /> The clause is also drafted that the royalty<br /> should be paid on all copies sold beyond a certain<br /> number. This seems to imply that no book can<br /> afford to have a royalty paid on it from the<br /> beginning. Of course, this is not the case, but<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> when such an agreement is placed before an<br /> author as an equitable agreement, these points of<br /> equity should be clearly explained.<br /> <br /> If the royalty is to be paid after the sale of a<br /> certain number (generally such a number whose<br /> sale will cover the cost of production), then the<br /> author must take care (1) that a number beyond<br /> the number specified is printed ; (2) that he gets a<br /> proportionately higher royalty for foregoing it so<br /> long—e.g., he must then get 50 per cent. of the<br /> trade price.<br /> <br /> All royalty agreements should further have the<br /> royalty increasing with the sale if they cannot<br /> bear a high royalty from the beginning. A<br /> royalty increasing with the sale is certainly a fair<br /> arrangement as between author and publisher.<br /> <br /> Section (6.)—The issue of a cheap edition<br /> appears under this section, as, indeed, under the<br /> drafting of the whole agreement, to lie entirely<br /> with the publisher. This is by no means a<br /> satisfactory arrangement. Here, again, there is<br /> no proposed increasing royalty according to the<br /> number of the cheap edition sold.<br /> <br /> Section (c).—It is a common thing for the<br /> author to receive a share of the nett amount<br /> realised by the sale of remainders, but royalties<br /> as a general rule are paid on the published price<br /> of the sale of the book in the United States.<br /> An author should not allow such a loose clause<br /> to be in any agreement with the words “ copies or<br /> editions sold at a reduced rate should be subject<br /> to — per cent. of the amount realised on such<br /> sale.” Who is to decide what is a reduced rate?<br /> There are many different methods of selling<br /> books to the trade; many of these might be called<br /> books sold at a reduced rate. Under these cir-<br /> cumstances it is unfair to the author to obtain a<br /> share merely of the amount realised. Royalties<br /> must be paid always on the published price,<br /> except in the case of a remainder.<br /> <br /> Section (c) therefore should allow a share of<br /> the amount realised on bond fide remainder sales.<br /> The rest should be altered. The case of re-<br /> mainder sales should be distinguished with great<br /> care from the sale of books at reduced prices ;<br /> this clause cannot but tend to confuse the two<br /> issues.<br /> <br /> Section (d).—If the publisher is successful in<br /> doing the agency work stated in that section, it<br /> is fair that he should have 10 per cent. commis-<br /> sion on the returns, in accordance with the charges<br /> of all ordinary agents. He might also perhaps<br /> be fairly entitled to a 10 per cent. commission if<br /> he was mainly instrumental in recovering money<br /> for infringement of copyright. The balance would<br /> be paid to the author.<br /> <br /> The final section of clause 4 is a little vague.<br /> Of course, no royalty ought to be paid to the<br /> <br /> VOL. x,<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 63<br /> <br /> author on copies given away by him or sent for<br /> review, but the words “other purposes” might<br /> cover a good deal more than this, and are insuffi-<br /> ciently precise.<br /> <br /> Clause 5.—The wording of the fifth clause is<br /> not very satisfactory. In the case of technical<br /> works, to which a clause like this specially refers,<br /> the publishers should in the first instance be only<br /> given a right to publish a limited number of<br /> copies, and the author might in equity give him<br /> the option of producing further editions, subject<br /> to certain limitations. Under those circumstances<br /> the right to revise would lie within the author’s<br /> hands, as it should do with the creator of any<br /> work, who ought alone to have power to add or<br /> subtract from what he has already put before the<br /> world. This has all been explained when com-<br /> menting on Clause 3, but the principle is of such<br /> importance that it is worth while to repeat it.<br /> <br /> Clause 6.—The author is not safeguarded here.<br /> Could it not be provided that periodically (say<br /> weekly) during the printing the author be<br /> informed of the cost of corrections. He must in<br /> any case be informed what is the cost of com-<br /> position, and what is the connection between<br /> corrections and shillings.<br /> <br /> Clause 7 might, under certain circumstances—<br /> that is if the publisher has purchased the copy-<br /> right—be inserted in an agreement, but in the<br /> present form of royalty agreement it should be<br /> struck out. There is no need for it. Its imprac-<br /> ticability with regard to technical writers during<br /> their lifetime has been explained.<br /> <br /> Clause 8.—There is no need either for the<br /> insertion of clause 8. The copyright is the<br /> author’s, and must remain so. The clause is<br /> inserted evidently with the idea of the copyright<br /> being vested in the name of the publisher. This<br /> would be a mistake. :<br /> <br /> Clause 9, the account clause, is so beautifnlly<br /> vague that it is hardly worth while to comment<br /> upon it, except to point out that it is a mistake<br /> to have accounts made up annually delivered<br /> three months after they are made up, with the<br /> amounts due payable three months after this,<br /> making it possible for the publisher to retain the<br /> author’s money for nearly eighteen months. That<br /> is a common account clause amongst publishers,<br /> and no doubt they find it exceedingly useful to<br /> have the control of the author’s money for so long<br /> a period. The mere interest on such money would<br /> go a long way to pay the office expenses in a big<br /> office. But the inconvenience to the author, not<br /> to mention the danger of bankruptcy or similar<br /> contingencies to the firm, is very considerable.<br /> <br /> Clause 10. — The first part of clause 10 is<br /> certainly necessary for the protection of the<br /> author, as it would be very awkward supposing<br /> <br /> @<br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 64<br /> <br /> the publisher refused to produce the book when<br /> the author had a certain market for it. If, how-<br /> ever, as in the case of some educational works,<br /> the publisher desired still to maintain the control<br /> of the market, so as not to allow the author to<br /> republish a book in competition with one which<br /> the publisher had already before the public, it<br /> would be easy to evade the clause by having a<br /> few copies ready on hand. The latter part of the<br /> clause, however, could not possibly be equitable<br /> as between author and publisher. It is quite<br /> possible that the moulds and engravings might<br /> be so worn that they would not be worth half the<br /> cost of production, and the copies of the book that<br /> the publisher had on hand might not be worth<br /> the whole cost of production, as itis quite possible<br /> that they might have been damaged or otherwise<br /> defaced. If, therefore, the author refused to pur-<br /> chase the books at the cost of production on<br /> account of some damage that they had received, it<br /> would be possible for the author in reproducing<br /> the work with some other publisher to be under-<br /> sold. The author saould have the o.tion of<br /> taking over the stock and plates at a valuation.<br /> The danger, however, is not a very large one, as<br /> if the book was in such a condition that the<br /> author desired to bring out a new edition and<br /> the publisher did not, it would most probably<br /> argue that the book had very nearly reached the<br /> end of its sale, in which case there would most<br /> probably be only a few copies on hand. The<br /> danger, however, is one that should be guarded<br /> against.<br /> <br /> Clause 11 ought to be struck out, as, until<br /> a dispute arises, it is impossible to say whether<br /> it is a fit subject for arbitration ; besides,<br /> arbitration is more expensive than an action at<br /> law.<br /> <br /> Clause 12 should on no account stand. It is<br /> most important, as explained when discussing the<br /> parties to this agreement, that the contract should<br /> be a personal contract, and this point should<br /> always be before authors when signing agree-<br /> ments. They should under no circumstances<br /> allow such a clause to pass.<br /> <br /> This is a fair comment on the royalty agree-<br /> ment as it stands. Many suggestions might be<br /> made as to the insertion of various clauses, and<br /> the protection of the author on other points.<br /> But these are faults of omission, and the agree-<br /> ment has only been dealt with as regards the<br /> drafted clauses. It might be well to mention<br /> that some definite time should be fixed on, before<br /> which a publisher should not be allowed to make<br /> remainder sales.<br /> <br /> i i<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> PARIS NOTES.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 5, Rue Chomel, Paris.<br /> <br /> NHE matinée Alfred de Musset, recently given<br /> 7 by the Bodiniére, was a great success.<br /> The poet par excellence of “l’amour, les<br /> femmes, et les fleurs” is still a living voice to the<br /> present generation. For over forty years the<br /> annual pilgrimage of his disciples to his tomb at<br /> Pére-Lachaise in the beginning of “le joli mois<br /> de mai” has been piously continued, and this<br /> year the tomb of the great Hugo is reported to<br /> have been honoured with less than half the<br /> number of the floral tributes deposited on that of<br /> Alfred de Musset. But Hugo died more than a<br /> quarter of a century later, so his admirers are<br /> content to read his works and temporarily forget<br /> his anniversary until Time’s mellow aureole has<br /> gilded his fame. Though Alfred de Musset’s last<br /> days were troubled by pecuniary cares (including<br /> the expenses of his own interment), the only<br /> thing he asked of his friends was “ a light shade”<br /> over his grave; and the willow which now casts<br /> over his last resting-place the “light shade” so<br /> pathetically requested was brought from Parana<br /> by a South American poet—Hilarip Escasubi by<br /> name—who cheerfully undertook the long voyage<br /> in order personally to fulfil the desire of the poet<br /> whose works he revered. Apropos of this fact<br /> may be mentioned the assertion that the poems<br /> of de Musset and the memoirs recently published<br /> by his old housekeeper, Adéle Colin, are reported<br /> to have had almost as wide a circulation among<br /> foreigners as among the poet’s own compatriots.<br /> M. Paul Deschanel, President of the Chamber<br /> of Deputies, has been elected to fill the vacant<br /> fautewl of M. Edouard Hervé. This is not<br /> the first time that the newly fledged Academi-<br /> cian has obtained the suffrages of the august<br /> body of which he is now a member. Eleven<br /> years ago a clever volume from his pen, entitled<br /> “Orateurs et Hommes d’Etat” (containing a<br /> series of studies on Frédéric II. and Bismarck, Fox<br /> and Pitt, Lord Grey, Talleyrand, Berryer and Glad-<br /> stone), was recompensed by the French Academy ;<br /> and the following year his interesting ‘“‘ Figures<br /> de Femmes,” containing appreciations of Mmes.<br /> d’Epinay, Necker, Récamier, &amp;c., obtained the<br /> same honour. Despite the exigencies of his<br /> political career, M. Deschanel has found time<br /> since then to sign other valuable social and<br /> political works, including numerous _ historical,<br /> literary, and political articles which have prin-<br /> cipally appeared in the Journal des Deébats<br /> andthe Temps. Only two literary members of<br /> the Academy were absent on the occasion of his<br /> election, viz—M. Anatole France, who sent his<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> g<br /> .<br /> i<br /> f<br /> <br /> ae<br /> Sa<br /> 1f<br /> r<br /> re<br /> ti?<br /> 1<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> excuses, and M. Henri Lavedan, who was elected<br /> a short time ago, but has not yet been officially<br /> received. The latter is reported to be writing a new<br /> play on irreproachably moral lines, as a sort of<br /> amende honorable for that exceedingly un-<br /> academical and successful comedy ‘Le Vieux<br /> Marcheur,” which was M. Lavedan’s first produc-<br /> tion after his accession to the dignity of an<br /> Immortal. Worst of all, the offending play was<br /> advertised on the theatrical posters with his new<br /> title of Academician appended to the author’s<br /> name. Whereupon it was decided in conclave<br /> that though any Immortal who desired was free<br /> to produce plays ad libitum, he was strictly for-<br /> bidden to parade his Olympian connection on the<br /> public hoardings.<br /> <br /> The death of M. Victor Cherbuliez places<br /> another fauteuil at the disposal of the Academy.<br /> The deceased writer was of the same creed as M.<br /> Pierre Loti, being one of the few Protestants who<br /> are members of the above assembly. The titles of<br /> his works are too numerous and well-known to<br /> require recapitulation here; and the numerous<br /> tributes paid to his memory by his most eminent<br /> contemporaries bear evidence of the high esteem<br /> in which he was held and which he so worthily<br /> merited. ‘‘ He was the originator of what is<br /> called the cosmopolitan novel,’ wrote de Meur-<br /> ville on the morrow of his death. ‘He was<br /> also an art critic in his esthetical studies, which<br /> revealed something more than a _ philosophy<br /> —a religion of the Beautiful after Ruskin’s<br /> pattern.” At the funeral ceremony M. Brunetieére<br /> declared that the name of Victor Cherbuliez<br /> would undoubtedly survive, since his place was<br /> already marked in the history of French litera-<br /> ture; while M. Marcel Prévost depicted Cher-<br /> buliez as the representative of the imaginative<br /> novel, and M. Emile Ollivier rendered eloquent<br /> testimony to the merits of the dead man, both in<br /> his private and public capacity.<br /> <br /> But though Cherbuliez was a writer of the first<br /> water, he was entirely lacking in the art of<br /> producing scenic effects. His theatrical début<br /> was most unfortunate, though his collaborator<br /> was no less a personage than the celebrated Henri<br /> Meilhac. His first play—‘ Samuel Brohl” by<br /> name—dramatised from one of his most successful<br /> novels, was unlucky from commencement to finish.<br /> Accepted by the manager of the Odéon towards<br /> the close of the year 1877, it was twice delayed on<br /> account of unpropitious outside events, only to be<br /> produced finally on the historical thirtieth of<br /> January which witnessed the election of M.<br /> Jules Grévy to the Presidency. A worse<br /> moment could scarcely have been chosen. The<br /> public, more interested in actual than fictitious<br /> events, passed the latest evening papers from<br /> <br /> 65<br /> <br /> hand to hand, jeering at the tragic and remaining<br /> obstinately mute during the ludicrous incidents in<br /> the performance. Meanwhile the attitude of the<br /> two unhappy collaborators was characteristic.<br /> Henri Meilhac sat in a corner of the managerial<br /> sanctum, fixedly regarding an evening paper<br /> which he held upside down. At the conclusion<br /> of the first act he uttered a hollow moan; at the<br /> conclusion of the second he gave vent to despair-<br /> ing groans and extended himself full length on<br /> the ground, like a patient in an ambulance<br /> waggon; at the conclusion of the third—which<br /> was greeted by the public with the cries of a<br /> menagerie of wild animals—Meilhac was com-<br /> pletely overwhelmed, closed his eyes, clenched his<br /> hands, while drops of agonised perspiration<br /> beaded his brow; and at the conclusion of the<br /> fifth and last act he was picked up—inert, motion-<br /> less—and despatched home in a cab. Cherbuliez,<br /> on the contrary, supported the disaster with<br /> equanimity. Ensconced in a corner box, he had<br /> followed every movement of the recalcitrant<br /> public with a curious, almost an indifferent, eye.<br /> He bravely waited until the stormy finale, utter-<br /> ing no complaint, giving vent to no bitter word ;<br /> only, when the moment of withdrawal arrived,<br /> he politely accosted the disconsolate manager,<br /> requesting a renseignement. ‘“ Faites,” said<br /> Duquesnel, briefly. “ Dites-moi,” responded Cher-<br /> buliez, with imperturbable naiveté ; “est bien<br /> cela qu’on appelle une chute, n’est-ce pas ?”<br /> <br /> The editors of the Revue Blanche have under-<br /> taken a herculean task, being no less a work<br /> than the re-edition—as far as possible literally—<br /> of the world famous ‘“ Arabian Nights’ Tales,”<br /> the French “ Mille et une Nuits.” This publica-<br /> tion will extend over a period of five years,<br /> three volumes per year being given the public.<br /> Seven editions exist at the present time in the<br /> Arabic, of which the best and most correct is<br /> reported to be the Egyptian version of Boulak,<br /> which is the one adopted by Dr. Mardrus, the<br /> translator chosen by the Revue Blanche. The<br /> latter is an intelligent and highly educated young<br /> man, who is now following the profession of a<br /> doctor at Marseilles. His training for the task<br /> he has voluntarily undertaken commenced with<br /> his earliest years. “Iam no Syrian,” he recently<br /> wrote, in rectification of a journalistic error, “I<br /> am a true son of the city of Cairo, where my<br /> father and grandfather were born. And even for<br /> nourrice (beginning of the ‘Arabian Nights’<br /> Tales’ in my childish eye!) I had a pure-blooded<br /> amber-hued Egyptian, whose finger tips were<br /> darkened with henna, and who wore a collar of<br /> turquoises round her neck to avert the evil eye,<br /> and silver bracelets on her ankles to conjure the<br /> witcherafts of the terrible Zar.” This auspicious<br /> 66<br /> <br /> commencement of the future translator’s vocation<br /> was augmented by a liberal French education<br /> intermingled with prolonged sojournings in<br /> Arabia, and these two influences combined have<br /> rendered Dr. Mardrus the fittest man in Europe<br /> for satisfactorily concluding the arduous task he<br /> has already commenced. The first volume of the<br /> “ Mille et Une Nuits” has just been issued, and<br /> is (as all the succeeding volumes are intended to<br /> be) complete in itself, containing the narrative of<br /> the first twenty-four nights.<br /> <br /> “ Paris Intime ” (chez Flammarion) is the title<br /> of M. Adolphe Brisson’s new book. It deals<br /> with the ‘“dessous”’ of the political, dramatic,<br /> artistic, and literary life of Paris, and is<br /> written in the easy “causerie” style with<br /> which all who know M. Brisson’s works are<br /> familiar. The headings of the seven parts into<br /> which the book in question is divided give a<br /> fair idea of its contents; they are as follows,<br /> viz.: (1) Vieux Murs, Vielles Maisons; (2)<br /> Plein Air (Le Bois 4 cing heures du matin, Une<br /> Journée aux Courses) ; (3) Quelques Originaux ;<br /> (4) L’Académie et l’Ecole (Les Habits Verts,<br /> Bacheliers d’hier et d’aujourd’ hui, Souvenirs de<br /> Polytechnique) ; (5) Les Bienfaiteurs (Charité<br /> mondaine, Pour les inondés) ; (6) Paris en joie<br /> (Une nuit 4]Opéra, Soupeurs et soupeuses, Les<br /> Confetti) ; (7) L’Art et le Bibelot (Les Mystéres<br /> du Louvre, Les Petits Secrets du Salon, Les<br /> Coulisses de l’Hétel des Ventes). Each of the<br /> seven divisions are subdivided into chapters,<br /> several of whose titles are given in the above<br /> parenthesis. In short, this is a clever, entertain-<br /> ing book, well worthy the perusal of all interested<br /> in the varied phases of Parisian life.<br /> <br /> The Trades and the Muses have evidently<br /> renewed their medieval pact. The legend of<br /> Hans Sachs, the cobbler-bard of Nuremberg, has<br /> found its counterpart in our own days in the<br /> person of Jacques Lorrain, the cobbler-poet of<br /> Paris, who recently bade adieu to his humble<br /> booth in the Rue Du Sommerard to enter the<br /> College of Sainte Barbe as a substitute, in order<br /> to continue his literary studies unimpeded. Nor<br /> is this a solitary instance. Only a week or two<br /> ago the editorial sanctum of M. Brisson was<br /> invaded by a young man of resolute mien<br /> who brusquely announced himself as “ Hugéne<br /> Granger, déménageur.” The editor of the Annales<br /> was about to disavow any intention of changing<br /> his residence, when the young man promptly<br /> <br /> interposed : “I am not only a déménageur,” said.<br /> <br /> he; “I am also a poet,” and drawing a small,<br /> yellow volume from his pocket, he placed it in the<br /> editor’s hands and fled precipitately. The little<br /> volume was entitled “ Les Mis¢éreux,’” and several<br /> of the verses it contained were so rhythmically and<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> magisterially ¢roussés that M. Brisson gave it the<br /> foremost place in his weekly review, even while<br /> expressing his misgivings lest M. Hugene Granger<br /> had deceived him respecting his habitual occupa-<br /> tion. Meanwhile the publication of the “ Jeu de<br /> Massacre ” of M. André Barde, the talented young<br /> poet of the Tréteau de Tabarin, is attracting a<br /> good deal of attention. The critics emphatically<br /> declare him to be a poet with a future. For the<br /> benefit of the uninitiated we may mention that<br /> the Tréteau de Tabarin is scarcely a suitable place<br /> of recreation for a newly-married couple or the<br /> ubiquitous young person; and for the benefit of<br /> the curious we would further state that the young<br /> poet is a tall youth with a finely-cut mouth, pene-<br /> trating eyes, moustache “en pétarade,” beard “ en<br /> broussaille,” and hair in revolt. Serenely con-<br /> scious of his brilliant endowments, M. Barde<br /> disdains the idea of pleasing his readers; on the<br /> contrary, he flatly assures them that his is no<br /> book to flatter the fossil, or “le bourgeois<br /> solennel, le mufle, ou Jlimbécile,’’—which is<br /> certainly rather hard on the majority.<br /> <br /> In addition to the above noteworthy publica-<br /> tions of the month, we have a translation of the<br /> new novel of Mathilde Serao, the George Sand of<br /> Italy, entitled “ Sentinels, prenez garde a vous!”’<br /> (chez Calmann Levy) ; ‘‘ Passage de Bédouins,”’<br /> a stirring romance by Myriam Harry; “ Le<br /> Journal de Marguerite Plantin,”’ by Jean Berthe-<br /> roy (chez Armand Colin et Cie., Bibliothéque des<br /> romans pour les jeunes filles), of which we hope<br /> to say more anon; “La Bombarde,’ by Jean<br /> Richepin (chez Fasquelle, Bibliotheque Charpen-<br /> tier), containing over sixty exquisite tales in<br /> apparently impromptu verse; “Les Fleurs<br /> Amoureuses,” by Armand Silvestre (chez Ollen-<br /> dorf); ‘Notre Masque,’ by Michel Corday,<br /> which novel recently appeared as a serial in the<br /> columns of the Figaro; the seventh volume of<br /> the “Contemporains” series by Jules Lemaitre<br /> (chez Lecéne et Oudin) ‘“ L’Affaire Blaireau,”<br /> by Alphonse Allais; ‘Mensonges,” by Paul<br /> Bourget; ‘Les Sans-Galette,’” by Henry de-<br /> Fleurigny; “George Sand,’ by W. Karénine ;<br /> “ Bétes roses,” by Catulle Mendés; ‘“ La Renais-<br /> sance Catholique en Angleterre,’ by Thureau-<br /> Dangin ; “ Thomas Carlyle,” by E. Barthélemy;<br /> “Paysages et Paysans,” by M. Charlot; and a<br /> score of fictional efforts by minor authors.<br /> <br /> Darracorre Scorv.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> me Re ae.<br /> <br /> sy<br /> ft<br /> &amp;<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> MR. MURRAY AND THE SOCIETY OF<br /> AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> CALLED attention in the last number of<br /> The Author to certain remarks and state-<br /> ments made by Mr. John Murray, Presi-<br /> <br /> dent of the Congress of Publishers.<br /> <br /> It will be remembered that he alleged that the<br /> Society had treated publishers as if they were one<br /> and all dishonest.<br /> <br /> I referred last month to a very simple refuta-<br /> tion of that assertion, viz., that contaimed in one<br /> of the warnings issued month by month for a<br /> long time in this paper. It seems, however,<br /> necessary to return to this unpleasant subject, in<br /> order to show more clearly what has been the<br /> position of the Society from the beginning in this<br /> respect.<br /> <br /> There are, in fact, a great many express and<br /> open denials of this charge to be found in all<br /> the publications of the Society.<br /> <br /> I would refer, first, to my own History of the<br /> Society from 1888-1892. I there say (p. 20) :<br /> <br /> “This being so, we were not at all surprised to<br /> find that frauds were being carried on very<br /> extensively. Not universally. We have always<br /> most carefully made that necessary reservation.<br /> We have been constantly accused—I shall be<br /> accused to-morrow most probably—of charging<br /> all publishers as a body with dishonesty. I say<br /> again, that five or six years ago, when we had<br /> acquired some knowledge of what was going on,<br /> we found—with this reservation carefully insisted<br /> upon —a wide-spread practice of fraudulent<br /> accounts.”<br /> <br /> This is surely clear enough. Can anyone want<br /> amore explicit statement that the Society does<br /> not lump all publishers up together in one<br /> charge of dishonesty ?<br /> <br /> T find, also, on looking back into the pages<br /> of The Author, that over and over again, aad<br /> year after year, either a protest has been recorded<br /> against the charge, or that a simple assertion of<br /> reservation or a separation of the dishonest pub-<br /> lisher from others has been openly and plainly<br /> stated. Most of these protests or disclaimers<br /> were made in reply to such allegations as that of<br /> Mr. Murray — allegations repeated again and<br /> again in the face of these protests.<br /> <br /> Thus in vol. I. I find no fewer than twelve such<br /> passages. In vol. II. thereare seven; in vol. III.,<br /> eight; in yol. IV., two; in vol. V., four; in vol.<br /> VL, three; in vol. VIL, two; and in vol. VIII,<br /> two. Of all these reservations or disclaimers, I<br /> have in my hands a list which can be quoted in<br /> case of necessity, i.e., in case of having to take<br /> action in a court of law. There has not been<br /> <br /> AUTHOR. 6<br /> <br /> a single year, therefore, since 1891 inclusive,<br /> when we have not been called upon to protest,<br /> over and over again, against this sweeping<br /> charge.<br /> <br /> What does it mean?<br /> so persistently repeated ?<br /> <br /> It may mean several thinzs: the reckless repe-<br /> tition of a mere rumour: the snatching up of the<br /> first stone to throw at a Society which exposes<br /> the facts of the case: the excuse to cover the fact<br /> that the speaker or writer has not offered the<br /> slightest assistance to the Society in bringing the<br /> truth to light.<br /> <br /> There may be other reasons. I do not ask for<br /> Mr. Murray’s motives. I merely state that he<br /> repeats a charge which has been over and over<br /> again met and denied in the publications of the<br /> Society.<br /> <br /> Now, the three main charges that we have mad<br /> against certain publishers are briefly these :—<br /> <br /> 1. The practice of taking secret profits.<br /> <br /> 2. The practice of charging advertisements not<br /> paid for.<br /> <br /> 3. The absence of any guarantee against dis-<br /> honesty, such as the right of audit.<br /> <br /> These charges are not made against the whole<br /> body of publishers, but always, as stated over and<br /> over again, with reservations of what we called<br /> “ honourable” houses.<br /> <br /> The Publishers’ Association have produced<br /> “model”? agreements, and they have held a<br /> congress with discussions on many points.<br /> <br /> We find in those “ models,’ which have been<br /> dissected by our Secretary, and in the discussions<br /> at their Congress, silence absolute upon these<br /> three points :<br /> <br /> (1) There is no word against secret profits<br /> On the other hand, the publishers claim the right<br /> in their agreements to make profit, in certain<br /> forms of agreement, on every single item. The per-<br /> centage is actually left blank, and not one word<br /> is said against secrecy or to denounce secret<br /> profits.<br /> <br /> (2) Not one word has been said against the<br /> charging of advertisements not paidfor. Yet the<br /> right of doing so simply confers upon the pub-<br /> lishers the power of putting everything in their<br /> own pockets! This cannot be denied. Yet, not<br /> one word !<br /> <br /> (3) Not one word has been said about any<br /> guarantee against dishonesty: such as the right<br /> of audit.<br /> <br /> All these things, therefore, are passed over in<br /> silence by the committee of the Association, whose<br /> President is Mr. John Murray.<br /> <br /> Why is this statement<br /> <br /> reas<br /> 68<br /> NOTES AND NEWS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Y correspondent ‘“X.,’’ whose letter may<br /> M be read on p. 70, speaks of one thing<br /> while I speak of another. By “ litera-<br /> ture” he means good work, work of literary<br /> worth. Now, in these columns we are not critics :<br /> we take the low line—it may be very low, but it<br /> is useful—of considering literary property alone,<br /> apart from literary worth. Now, literary pro-<br /> perty may exist quite independently of literary<br /> worth. The two things, as I have insisted upon<br /> over and over again, are not commensurable.<br /> You cannot estimate a poem by money: nor can<br /> you estimate the literary worth of a work by its<br /> commercial value. What I say is, that so many<br /> people—so many thousands, if you please—live<br /> by the Pen: and for the most part manage to<br /> live in comfort. My correspondent “ X.” speaks<br /> of “journalistic hack-work’’ with contempt. I<br /> do not despise journalism: no one despises<br /> journalism: I see nothing degrading in a man<br /> writing in newspapers.<br /> <br /> It is, on the other hand, a pride and a privilege<br /> to instruct the world on any subject on which one<br /> is qualified to speak by means of the daily, or<br /> weekly, or monthly Press. This is by no means<br /> always “the multiplying of flimsies ” ; or this and<br /> that in a “rag-bag”’ journal.<br /> <br /> I do not thik that any good is gained by con-<br /> cealing facts: Let the truth be known—al) the<br /> truth—about the Profession of the Pen. Part of<br /> the truth, at least, is the fact that a great many<br /> people do actually live by it. “X.” says that a<br /> great many do not. Well, that is another fact<br /> which must be taken into account. But in<br /> every profession there are a great many who<br /> fail. Great prizes will always attract competi-<br /> tion, and will always make success more difficult.<br /> But there are great prizes in the Profession of<br /> the Pen.<br /> <br /> Those who would live by the Pen must adapt<br /> themselves to circumstances, and take such work<br /> as offers. If they do this, as others do, they will<br /> probably find time enough to bring out the best<br /> that isin them. It may not prove to be popular<br /> work, yet it may be very good indeed. To be<br /> very good and yet not to be popular seems a hard<br /> fate. Perhaps, however, it may be but a passing<br /> phase. How long did George Meredith have to<br /> wait before he was fully recognised? Nay, we<br /> may well ask—how wide—how deep—is the<br /> recognition of this great writer to-day? Again,<br /> Walter Pater produced very fine work indeed,<br /> but he could not live by it. On the other hand<br /> there is the case of Louis Stevenson. It will not<br /> be denied that his work is good—very good. Yet<br /> he did succeed in gaining popularity: he did live<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> by his work: he did achieve the proof of popu-<br /> larity in a large and substantial income.<br /> <br /> &lt;=<br /> <br /> The concluding remarks of “X.” about the<br /> failures of certain publishers do not concern the<br /> question, because if all publishers failed the<br /> great commerce of Literature would go on in<br /> other hands.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> But is Literature a profession? It is always<br /> said that anyone may come in without previous<br /> training or apprenticeship. Every year a new<br /> novelist arises: sometimes he stays: sometimes<br /> he goes up like a rocket, and so down again in<br /> obscurity. But who knows by what preliminary<br /> studies, reading, practice, he has qualified for the<br /> work? Poetry requires an enormous amount<br /> of practice and of study. No man suddenly<br /> becomes a poet, or a dramatist, or an essayist,<br /> or anything that is good. Literature, proper,<br /> is the work of industry and patience working<br /> with natural aptitude. It is true that a new<br /> writer does sometimes appear unexpectedly in<br /> special branches of experience and study. A<br /> man who has travelled widely and observed much:<br /> a man who knows Courts: a man who is a<br /> scholar in out-of-the-way subjects: a man who<br /> explains science in a popular manner, may come<br /> in at any time, and become at one step a literary<br /> man of good standing. But, you see, there has been<br /> preparation with experience. The average man of<br /> the street, with his average knowledge and his<br /> views of the world taken from the morning<br /> leaders, has no more chance of being received<br /> into the ranks of Literature than of being received<br /> into an orchestra at the opera. For which<br /> reasons, and others, [I call Literature a Pro-<br /> fession: I say that the Profession of the Pen<br /> maintains many thousands: that it may be pre-<br /> carious, but is no more precarious than other pro-<br /> fessions, that a young man would be wise not to<br /> try living by his Pen while he is feeling his way<br /> to such perfection as he is capable of attaining:<br /> and that with these broad facts before one it is no<br /> answer to say, “ Literature is precarious, because<br /> —look at mz!” I have had two or three other<br /> letters on the same subject, but none so impor-<br /> tant or so strong as that of “ X.,’”’ with whom I<br /> am most sorry not to be able to agree.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I should like to call attention to a common<br /> practice, becoming daily more common, of<br /> inviting a company of literary men and women<br /> to give their opinion on certain subjects. These<br /> opinions, published all together, are supposed to<br /> carry weight. But they have to be put very<br /> briefly: the reasons and arguments cannot be<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> f<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 69<br /> <br /> marshalled: the opinion of an expert may be<br /> placed between those of two persons who know<br /> nothing about the subject: their opinions follow<br /> each other, sandwich fashion—Aye—no—Aye—<br /> no—the Ayes have it. Last week I received two<br /> such invitations. One was a request that ina<br /> brief paragraph I would give my opinion on the<br /> Christian religion. The second, that I would give<br /> my opinion on the Transvaal question. These<br /> invitations, of course, reduce the method to an<br /> absurdity. Should not men and women of letters<br /> hesitate before they plunge needlessly into any<br /> such controversy ? There are many things that<br /> even a poet may be supposed incapable of con-<br /> sidering—e.g., the Boer Question, on which we<br /> hear so many contradictory statements. Then,<br /> even if he does seem entitled to an opinion, what<br /> is it worth among a dozen others ?<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> About once a quarter or so a suggestion is<br /> made by a correspondent that the Society might<br /> help contributors to magazines by publishing a<br /> table of the tariff or prices current paid for<br /> articles by the various magazines. The sugges-<br /> tion is based on the assumption that there is<br /> such a tariff for every magazine. If so, it is<br /> never allowed to appear. And there are the<br /> widest differences in payment for articles. Some<br /> time ago the contributor of a most important<br /> paper to what is supposed to be a leading<br /> monthly received for his paper, which was fifteen<br /> very full pages in length, the magnificent sum of<br /> £7 10s. He asked the Secretary’s advice. ‘“ You<br /> have no contract,” he said. “You might sue<br /> them for such a sum as you consider adequate.<br /> You would at least expose their meanness. But<br /> it would give you a great deal of trouble. Why<br /> not send back the cheque with the intimation<br /> that a mistake has been made?” He did so.<br /> By return of post there arrived a cheque for<br /> double the amount and an apology. I have<br /> known an article in a monthly rewarded with a<br /> single guinea. I have heard of articles in weekly<br /> penny papers paid for by shillings. But I have<br /> never known of any fixed tariff, or rate, or<br /> custom, or practice of a magazine or weekly.<br /> The best way—the only safe way—would be to<br /> state plainly that the MS. is offered for so much<br /> and can be left with the editor so long only, with<br /> stamps for return. Of course, if the editor does<br /> not like this method of transacting business, he<br /> will return the MS. I think that most editors<br /> would prefer conducting business in a practical<br /> and straightforward manner. He can make a<br /> proposal: if that is accepted the author cannot<br /> grumble: he can send back the MS.: the author<br /> cannot complain. Water Besant.<br /> <br /> A FABLE FOR AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> GOOSE owed money to the Fox, and at his<br /> solicitation insured her life in his favour<br /> with the Secretary Bird. Now, it chanced<br /> <br /> that besides doing her duty in the ordinary<br /> way, about once a year the Goose laid a<br /> golden egg. The Fox knew this, and so<br /> agreed that if she would give him the golden<br /> eggs one after another until his debt was<br /> satisfied he would not annoy her in any manner.<br /> All the other eggs the goose laid she ate, for only<br /> by so doing could she lay the precious golden<br /> eges once a year.<br /> <br /> But no sooner was the Fox secure in his assign-<br /> ment of the golden eggs than he laid claim to all<br /> the Goose’s other eggs, and threatened her direly<br /> with ferrets and weasels and vermin if she did<br /> not release them to him. For the Fox said to<br /> himself: ‘It will be a long time before the<br /> golden eggs amount to the sum of my claim, but<br /> whenever the silly goose dies—by starvation or<br /> otherwise—the Secretary Bird must discharge it<br /> in full.” Now, when the Goose saw the design of<br /> the Fox to do her to death, notwithstanding she<br /> was weak and exhausted through trying to lay for<br /> him golden eggs as large and as often as possible,<br /> she said to herself: “Bird, you deserve your<br /> name. Do you not see that you have insured<br /> your creditor so well that your death is more<br /> profitable to him than your life?” And taking<br /> advice of her misfortune, she flew up into the<br /> air and sailed away across the Tropic of Capri-<br /> corn.<br /> <br /> The Secretary Bird watched her flight, and,<br /> when she had disappeared, informed the Fox,<br /> saying, “My agreement with you is void, for<br /> behold your Goose has gone to parts unknown<br /> beyond the equator. I can take no more risks on<br /> her life.”<br /> <br /> “Oh, well,” said the Fox with a wry face,<br /> “if you won’t, you won’t. But no doubt I shall<br /> come out about even, after all, for the Goose<br /> comes of a long-lived breed, and is just such<br /> a poor, simple, honest creature that she will<br /> continue to lay me golden eggs, even in the sweet<br /> Hesperides.”<br /> <br /> But time passed, and one day the Fox confessed<br /> in vexation to the Secretary Bird: “I am indeed<br /> a victim of my own folly. Had I not been so<br /> pressing, the silly Goose would have striven to<br /> pay me, and, likely, died of the effort. Then you<br /> would have discharged my debt in full. But<br /> now, I have nothing, and cannot even sue my<br /> Goose.”<br /> <br /> And the Secretary Bird nodded.<br /> <br /> ALBION WineGAR TOURGEE.<br /> THE<br /> <br /> MR. BRYCE ON AUTHORSHIP.<br /> <br /> N | R. BRYCE, M.P., was the principal guest<br /> at a dinner given on July ro at the<br /> Authors’ Club.<br /> <br /> Lord Monkswell presided, and in proposing his<br /> health, said that of all men Mr. Bryce would be<br /> one of the best to send to South Africa at the<br /> present moment, on account of his well-known<br /> calmness. As an historian, Mr. Bryce’s peculiar<br /> excellence lay in his thoroughness and impar-<br /> tiality.<br /> <br /> Mr. Bryce, in reply, said he considered that<br /> literature was divided into three branches—<br /> journalism, poetry, and fiction. He could not<br /> claim to be a journalist, although he was once<br /> offered the editorship of a morning paper, and<br /> in the same way he could not pose as a poet,<br /> though he had a connection with it. No doubt<br /> the best thing was to write really good poetry,<br /> but the next best thing was not to publish it—<br /> (laughter)—and that distinction he was able to<br /> claim. As regarded fiction, he would own to<br /> having begun to write a novel, but he was waiting<br /> until the particular phase of public taste suited<br /> his particular novel, and then he would publish it<br /> —anonymously. No doubt he was expected to<br /> say something on the preseut state of English<br /> literature, but he thought that question was not<br /> worth discussing, because if people considered<br /> their own literature was in a bad way they<br /> certainly ought not to say so. At the present<br /> moment there was an immense demand for good<br /> and brilliant literature, but this did not have the<br /> slightest effect on the supply. He considered<br /> that it would be far better for publishers to issue<br /> cheaper books. Critics had completely changed.<br /> They were all authors themselves, and nearly all<br /> authors were critics, and their morality had risen<br /> considerably, for there was probably nut one who<br /> did not cut the leaves of a book before reviewing<br /> it. If there was a real danger in the future it<br /> was from the publishers and the public, and that<br /> was owing to the enormous public to be addressed.<br /> It was quite conceivable that the time would<br /> come when the public would be so impatient to<br /> have new works from an author who was appre-<br /> ciated that it would encourage him to produce<br /> hasty work and so lose his reputation. It would<br /> be a great pity if the blandishments of publishers<br /> should draw authors to come down from the high<br /> standard they had set themselves. Those who<br /> used the English tongue addressed a public twice<br /> or three times as large as those who wrote in any<br /> other language, and that public was always grow-<br /> ing.— Daily Chronicle.<br /> <br /> 7O<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> pecs<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> LITERATURE AS A PROFESSION.<br /> <br /> YIR WALTER BESANT may be certain that<br /> no man of letters will ever attack him, least<br /> of all myself, and what I said about his<br /> <br /> optimism leading amateur authors astray as to the<br /> golden sands of the literary Pactolus had no tinge<br /> of bitterness in it. But I cannot help thinking he<br /> is wrong-in many points. And, first of all, Litera-<br /> ture (with a big L) ¢s a beggarly profession. Who<br /> with any tinge of the real stuff in him can make<br /> a living out of writing which is literature? It is<br /> idle to give as examples such an one as Tennyson,<br /> the bourgeois Chrysostom, who succeeded in<br /> touching the public by spoiling Sir Thomas<br /> Malory and not by his best work. What of our<br /> greatest, indeed our only real literary, novelist F<br /> Did he not have to eke out a living by reading<br /> for a publisher? No, very few can make a living<br /> out of good work. Even according to Sir Walter<br /> Besant, the best must scrape odd guineas by<br /> journalistic hack-work. The few who make four<br /> figures (mostly out of inferior novels) only<br /> accent the poverty of the rest. There is no pro-<br /> fession of literature. It is an abuse of the term<br /> to call it a profession. Hvery waiting barrister,<br /> every idle doctor, every half-pay captain, can<br /> come in and make a little out of writing. It<br /> would be rather rough on the barrister if every<br /> outsider with a tongue could cut into his work.<br /> Even if fifty writers make over a thousand a<br /> year, how mapy are writing for a living? I<br /> should like an estimate. The Royal Literary<br /> Fund may not have assisted many this year or<br /> last, but that is no gauge of the number who<br /> needed help. I remember a man whose name<br /> is known very well indeed having a column to<br /> himself in the Times the very morning he bought<br /> a red herring and cooked it over a scanty fire in<br /> his bedroom. One of our best writers half-<br /> starved himself for twelve years. I know this,<br /> as I was a great friend of his. Even now his<br /> income is a very precarious four hundred a year.<br /> All that Sir Walter Besant says about the<br /> number who live by the pen is beside the point.<br /> No one denies that many live by it. So do many<br /> live by the pick and shovel, and by the jemmy,<br /> for that matter. But is the writing of para-<br /> graphs, the multiplying of flimsies, the odd job<br /> in reviewing, the turnover in a weekly, the loathly<br /> interview in a rag-bag journal, Literature ?<br /> Why, then, Mr. Harmsworth is a Jupiter of<br /> Literature, and round the Sunday Sun are many<br /> awful planets. Publishers enter the trade, even<br /> more of them! That is not a proof that litera-<br /> ture is a paying profession surely. It proves<br /> nothing more than that out of the struggles<br /> of innumerable writers a living can be obtained by —<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> fag<br /> <br /> esl<br /> <br /> y q<br /> | Ot<br /> rit<br /> <br /> aw<br /> <br /> a8<br /> OF<br /> 3<br /> ‘ihe<br /> CHE<br /> <br /> ie<br /> <br /> ag<br /> 1<br /> <br /> ot<br /> <br /> oh<br /> 9a<br /> rise<br /> | OE<br /> i: 48<br /> i Ga<br /> Soe<br /> a Of<br /> age<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> = good writer can make a fairly good income.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> yet another publisher. It suggests that other<br /> publishers once did very well. But we know that<br /> the new publishers have cut terribly into the<br /> profits of the older firms. And if few go bank-<br /> rupt many get absorbed. How many publishing<br /> firms have disappeared lately? How many are<br /> known to be making nothing ?<br /> <br /> But all this is beside the point. In every club,<br /> says Sir Walter Besant, there are more yearly<br /> who attempt the-profession. Exactly so, and they<br /> attempt it mostly on the basis of an income of<br /> their own. Again, the gentleman with a little<br /> money, the captain on half pay, the out-o’-work<br /> barrister cut in to make their tailor’s bill. They<br /> do it, perhaps, but the professional writer suffers.<br /> In saying all this I do not mean to infer that<br /> these men should not write. But their doing so<br /> does not make writing a better business, but a<br /> worse one, for those who rely on it; and any-<br /> thing that encourages men and women to go into<br /> the literary ‘‘ scrimmage ” (for it is nothing but a<br /> fight) is harmful to them and us. It is idle for<br /> Sir Walter Besant to say he does not encourage<br /> the outsider. This paper of his in the June<br /> number of The Author is nothing but an<br /> encouragement through and through to any poor<br /> fool who fancies he has the gift of the pen.<br /> Certainly, as Sir Walter says, nothing has been<br /> said in The Author about any one person’s<br /> income, but that is nothing when the whole argu-<br /> ment has been again and again that any fairly<br /> For<br /> that is not true, and never has been true, and it<br /> looks as if it never would be true. In saying this<br /> I by no means rely only on my own experience.<br /> We all probably think we are better writers than<br /> we are, but even if I were the feeblest failure in<br /> English letters, I know where to put my hand on<br /> men of real literary eminence, some of whom do<br /> very little better and some very much worse. I<br /> did not say, nor did I mean, that Sir Walter<br /> Besant helped to draw those who had no literary<br /> aptitude into the “ Profession.” What I ventured<br /> to criticise him for was his encouragement to that<br /> really large body of clever people who can learn<br /> to write well, and after learning must only sap dis-<br /> appointment in a literary workhouse.<br /> <br /> ec<br /> <br /> AGE-END IDEAS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> N misfortune Man is his own providence.<br /> Misfortune is the unlovely daughter of mis-<br /> understanding.<br /> <br /> : The highest fortune is founded on the deepest<br /> <br /> and widest understanding.<br /> <br /> ) One great enemy of understanding lies in vanity.<br /> <br /> 72<br /> <br /> Vanity dies in shame of its own self-under<br /> standing.<br /> <br /> The very vainest fancy they have no vanity.<br /> <br /> Genius, love, or religion never made men mad ;<br /> but shams sometimes will.<br /> <br /> Genius is the saner element in any mind: love,<br /> the sanest essence of every soul.<br /> <br /> Religion and science may be reconciled by poetry.<br /> <br /> Sentiment without science has no body.<br /> <br /> Science without sentiment lias no soul.<br /> <br /> To satisfy most people is less a personal duty<br /> than a social expediency.<br /> <br /> The ideal sect consists of only one member—<br /> oneself.<br /> <br /> None ever reached the haven of Truth by making<br /> a head-pilot of Wish.<br /> <br /> Divine justice can have no victims, but human<br /> law must have many.<br /> <br /> Some Untruth may be of temporary use to dilute<br /> the oxygen of Truth.<br /> <br /> To The Perfect Being, Untruth and Wrong do<br /> not exist.<br /> <br /> Inner Nature may echo God: outer Nature must<br /> mirror Man.<br /> <br /> Man may favour uniformity: Nature must foster<br /> variety.<br /> <br /> Without variety, no vitality: without vitality, no<br /> Universe.<br /> <br /> There need be no more mystery in sex than in<br /> variety.<br /> <br /> The full interests of both sexes are indissolvably<br /> wedded.<br /> <br /> All human interests<br /> question.<br /> <br /> Lawyers cannot justify, nor priests sanctify, what<br /> Love has not made divine.<br /> <br /> here is no sex in slavery or in tyranny.<br /> <br /> The slave is the passive tyrant: the tyrant, the<br /> active slave.<br /> <br /> Whoso loves best ministers most.<br /> <br /> There is no inferior sex, and there are no equal<br /> souls.<br /> <br /> Marriage is the focus of all social reform—for<br /> good or for ill.<br /> <br /> Anarchism generally wants too<br /> Socialism usually wishes too much.<br /> <br /> Art helps mankind to feel, Science to think,<br /> Religion to will—wisely.<br /> <br /> The coming science is the Science of the Soul.<br /> <br /> Blessed are the practical, for they may regenerate<br /> the Earth.<br /> <br /> Thrice blessed are the poetical, for they must<br /> recreate the Universe.<br /> <br /> centre in the marriage<br /> <br /> little law:<br /> <br /> Finuay GLENELG.<br />  <br /> <br /> 72 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> CORRESPONDENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I.—A Recanrarion.<br /> <br /> N “Be One and Nothing Else” I advised a<br /> I young author to stick to literature in spite<br /> of failure if he felt inspired thereto, and I<br /> added, of course in a vein of boastful anticipation,<br /> “it remains to be seen whether I shall turn the<br /> corner this time myself.” Well, see how the<br /> circumstance alters the case! I have very<br /> decidedly not turned the corner ; in fact, I have<br /> received stronger evidence than ever before that<br /> I am no author in the publisher’s estimation ; and<br /> now the whole duty of the man who failed<br /> appears in my disillusioned eyes to be, earnestly<br /> to warn young authors not to stick to literature,<br /> but, after a few failures, to jump out of its decep-<br /> tive quagmire as quickly as possible and turn<br /> their hand to something more lucrative, such as<br /> bricklaying. I, for instance, have hugged myself<br /> in my blind hopes once more up to the brink of<br /> ruin, and am now working eleven hours a day<br /> carrying planks in a sawmill for £3 10s. a month<br /> and feeling myself, with my hands cut to pieces<br /> and my limbs as stiff as wood, to be for the first<br /> time in many years almost a man. It appears to<br /> me that a highly educated man who has spent<br /> his youth in vain dreams of literary fame is men-<br /> tally competent for nothing but the lowest<br /> form of manual labour, for which also he is<br /> manually least competent. It is therefore a<br /> dangerous flame to play with, this authorship ;<br /> nevertheless, by all means give it three years<br /> <br /> during the twenties, if unmarried.<br /> <br /> JULIAN CROSKEY.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Ii.—Tue PusiisHers’ CONFERENCE.<br /> <br /> [ The third International Congress of Publishers<br /> was held at Stationers’ Hall on June 7, 8,<br /> and 9.|<br /> It has been amusing to hear these gentlemen<br /> <br /> talk! How one would delight to hear what they<br /> think. And if one could get the corporate con-<br /> science of some old firm to speak out, what rules<br /> of conduct should we hear! Iam reminded (by<br /> the fine upstanding virtue and nobility of some of<br /> these*publishers) that I had dealings with one of<br /> the best of them years ago, and I have some<br /> bitterness in me yet at the firm’s methods. Was<br /> it his method, or his firm’s corporate conscience-<br /> less method? You shall judge, you who sit in<br /> the judgment seat!<br /> <br /> But first, who that knows business does not<br /> know how the man and his body of servants may<br /> differ? Tradition rules the office; the careful<br /> manager and the cashier combine ; they are faith-<br /> ful to the name outside, and to the little god<br /> <br /> above, or in the big room at the back. They<br /> know (as many suspect) that most businesses —<br /> <br /> succeed in paying by the little bit they cheat or ..<br /> This means<br /> money in the aggregate; it means a fine success. _<br /> <br /> overreach in every little transaction.<br /> <br /> ful business, and perhaps a yearly increment in<br /> salaries, a better holiday, an easier master. And —<br /> so to an example.<br /> the way the financial trading corporate conscience<br /> blows.<br /> , belonging to this firm, for so much copy at<br /> so mucha page. The copy was satisfactory, and<br /> was printed, and each month I got a cheque less<br /> by a guinea, or half a guinea, or ten shillings, —<br /> than my agreement called for. Had this<br /> happened once or twice only I might have<br /> thought it an error. But it happened over a<br /> series of eight articles, and I perceived a method<br /> init. “ Give him just a little less than his due<br /> and the poor devil won’t dare grumble, and on<br /> eight transactions we (our firm with its noble<br /> traditions) shall make about five pounds. And<br /> just imagine, brother, that we have five hundred<br /> other lots of cheques to draw out and pass and<br /> get signed! We (our noble firm of impeccable,<br /> unimpeachable honesty) shall net about £2500in<br /> the year. We have, indeed, done well, and are<br /> faithful servants.”<br /> <br /> Noble Publisher de te Fabula! But this is no<br /> mere fable.% x<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> TII.—Contremporary HstTIMarEs.<br /> <br /> The last edition of “ Who’s Who” contains<br /> an enormous mass of information in a handy<br /> form, and at a most moderate price; but it may<br /> be questioned whether the selection of subjects<br /> has been altogether well inspired. The inclusion<br /> of the most obscure peers and baronets occupies<br /> valuable space and to no useful purpose. Some<br /> of these gentlemen are, of course, distinguished<br /> on other grounds than those of inherited title;<br /> but the great majority have no special claim to<br /> mention, and all that needs to be known of them<br /> can be found in easily accessible books of refer-<br /> ence—Whitaker’s “ Titled Persons” or Walford’s<br /> “Shilling Peerage.” But not only is this the<br /> case; the remaining space is most capriciously<br /> filled, writers of real importance and distinction<br /> being omitted, while Grub-street swarms as in &amp;<br /> modern “ Dunciad.’”’ Some, at least, of our modern<br /> Concanens and Oldmixons have contributed their<br /> own records. K. H.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> IV.—“ Tue Exrravacant Dinner.”<br /> <br /> I quite agree with your other correspondents<br /> that the charge for a ticket at the Society’s dinner<br /> is far too high; at least, it effectually keeps away<br /> young writers who, like myself, are anxious to see<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> It is nothing, only it shows a ie<br /> <br /> I made an agreement with the editor of<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 73<br /> <br /> . «heir fellow members in the flesh, and to feel<br /> _»s:aemselves distantly akin to them in craft. Why<br /> «i a guinea charged? Is it that the Society<br /> ~sjaakes a profit on the dinner? Or is it to suit<br /> _ ol ae lordly tastes of the few “big men” who can<br /> f= fford the sum? The cost per head could not<br /> | vlourely be more than 3s. 6d. or 5s., if the dinner<br /> vere given at cost price. H. A. S.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> V.—Tue CasuaL ConrRIBUTOR.<br /> <br /> -. | I am glad that my letter has been noticed, as<br /> + he matter may, after all, be taken up seriously.<br /> -..9 For the information of those readers who do<br /> “= jot remember my words, I will explain that the<br /> <br /> » »art of my letter not quoted contained the gist of<br /> “. iy suggestion, ¢e., that an isolated unknown<br /> 4-,ontributor using business-like terms when ad-<br /> “ecressing an editor might give offence. By<br /> “seusiness-like terms I, of course, meant plain<br /> 1s peaking concerning pounds, shillings, and pence.<br /> »bul Judging from the courteous letters I receive<br /> 6 sorom editors, they possess a good deal of deli-<br /> ~/s&#039;atesse, and I repeat that printed forms would<br /> Jnake things more satisfactory all round. Editors<br /> fould not object to anything so general, and<br /> ‘a¢ontributors would avoid the risk of future<br /> +“ mpleasantness. Jack IN-THE-Box.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> po<br /> BOOK TALK.<br /> Ly R. J. M. BARRIE has finished his new<br /> ( story, which is a sequel to “Sentimental<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> x Tommy.” It will be called “ Tommy<br /> <br /> ) Ond Grizel.”<br /> <br /> if Mr. George Macaulay Trevelyan and Mr.<br /> . &quot;glidgar Powell have almost completed a history<br /> ourolume, which will form an appendix to the<br /> _emryormer’s recent work entitled ‘England in the<br /> to Sige of Wycliffe.” This will consist of a collec-<br /> ‘© sion of unpublished documents, and will be called<br /> <br /> “1 The Peasants’ Rising and the Lollards.”<br /> te lessrs. Longmans, who will publish the work in<br /> elo} detober, have also in preparation “The History<br /> ‘J £ Lord Lytton’s Indian Administration, 1876-<br /> &quot;28 880,” compiled by Lady Betty Balfour from<br /> &#039; @@yetters and official papers.<br /> » A development in providing cheap novels is<br /> | beaade by Mr. Grant Richards. This publisher is<br /> e-issuing at reduced prices a number of the<br /> 0oks published by him during the last two<br /> ears. Among these are “True Heart.” by Mr.<br /> ‘rederic Breton; “ The Cattleman,” by Mr. G. B.<br /> Surgin ; “The Actor-Manager,” by Mr. Leonard<br /> lerrick; “Wives in Exile,’ by Mr. William<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Sharp; and “An African Millionaire,” by Mr.<br /> Grant Allen.<br /> <br /> Mr. H. Rider Haggard’s commonplace book for<br /> 1898, entitled “The Farmer&#039;s Year,” will be pub-<br /> lished in October by Messrs. Longmans.<br /> <br /> Mr. Egerton Castle’s Temple Bar serial,<br /> “Young April,” will be published in October by<br /> Messrs. Macmillan.<br /> <br /> Mr. Guy Boothby’s new novel, “ Love Made<br /> Manifest,” will be published immediately by<br /> Messrs. Ward, Lock and Co. This firm also<br /> will publish in the autumn a volume of short<br /> stories by Mrs. Clement Shorter.<br /> <br /> Mr. Edward A. FitzGerald has finished the<br /> record of his climbing and exploring expedition<br /> to South America, and the book will be published<br /> next month by Messrs. Methuen under the title<br /> “The Highest Andes.”<br /> <br /> Sir Edward Russell’s volume of Reminiscences<br /> will be published in the autumn by Mr. T. Fisher<br /> Unwin entitled “That Reminds Me.” Sir Edward<br /> Russell’s literary career began about 1860, and he<br /> has been the editor of the Liverpool Daily Post<br /> since 1869.<br /> <br /> Mr. Bolton King has completed the political<br /> history of Modern Italy which has been his<br /> principal occupation for ten years. In his pre-<br /> face he remarks that the eagerness of the Italians<br /> to publish everything, however trivial, that bears<br /> on the Revolution, reaches almost to a literary<br /> mania, but that Italian historians have not been<br /> successful in weaving the material into any very<br /> well-proportioned or readable whole. One of Mr.<br /> King’s aims is to make the re-birth of a noble<br /> and friendly nation better understood to English-<br /> men. His work, in two volumes, called “ A<br /> History of Italian Unity, 1814-1871,” will be<br /> published in September by Messrs. James Nisbet<br /> and Co.<br /> <br /> “The Tragedy of Parnell” is the title of Mr.<br /> T. P. O’Gonnor’s forthcoming volume which<br /> Messrs. Pearson will publish. It will be remem-<br /> bered that Mr. O’Connor strongly dissented from<br /> certain statements about himself which appeared<br /> in Mr. Barry O’Brien’s biography of the late Trish<br /> leader.<br /> <br /> A series of letters written from Spain by<br /> Lowell, while he was Minister there, to friends in<br /> America, has been edited by Mr. Joseph B.<br /> Gilder for publication shortly by Messrs. Putnam<br /> in a volume called “ Impressions of Spain.”<br /> <br /> A volume of letters to the Right Hon. John<br /> Hookham Frere, translator of Aristophanes, and<br /> one of the best known society men in London in<br /> the early years of the century, will be published<br />  <br /> <br /> &quot;4 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> by Messrs. Nisbet. Canning, Pitt, Nelson, Cole-<br /> ridge, Southey, and Rossetti are some of the<br /> writers or subjects. Most of the letters were<br /> found in an old chest in a library. They are now<br /> edited by G. Festing.<br /> <br /> Mr. Henry James has been making a long stay<br /> in Italy this spring, but he will, according to<br /> present arrangements, leave Rome early this<br /> month for his house at Rye, from which the<br /> traces of the fire are being obliterated in his<br /> absence.<br /> <br /> Mr. Stephen Crane has just finished the novel<br /> on which he has been engaged since his return<br /> from Cuba. The book will probably not appear<br /> until next year, as the novel isto be published<br /> serially in the first instance.<br /> <br /> Messrs. George Bell and Sons are offering a<br /> set of fifty or of 100 volumes from Bohn’s<br /> Library at a reduced price, with a copy of<br /> ““Webster’s Dictionary ” to the bargain. Pur-<br /> chasers are allowed to make their own selection<br /> from among 800 volumes, and the books are<br /> delivered as soon as the first instalment of the<br /> price is paid.<br /> <br /> Mr. James Bowden is about to dispose of his<br /> publishing business, having aecepted the post of<br /> general manager of the Religious Tract Society.<br /> <br /> Mrs. Gertrude Atherton’s book of adventure<br /> for boys entitled ‘‘ The Valiant Runaways,” will<br /> be published in the autumn by Messrs. James<br /> Nisbet and Co., who also will publish Mrs.<br /> Meade’s new novel, ‘‘ All Sorts.”<br /> <br /> Mr. A. L. Baldry has written a book called<br /> “Sir John Everett Millais: His Art and Influ-<br /> ence,” in which he aims at supplying an account<br /> of the artist’s varied life as it may be read from<br /> his pictures. Some of these will be reproduced<br /> for the first time in the volume, which is to be in<br /> a style uniform with Mr. Malcolm Bell’s “ Sir HE.<br /> Burne-Jones.”<br /> <br /> Messrs. Greening and Co. will shortly publish<br /> a volume of humorous verse called ‘“ Bachelor<br /> Ballads,” by Harry A. Spurr, the author of “A<br /> Cockney in Arcadia.” Mr. Hassall, whose draw-<br /> ings were such a feature of the latter book, will<br /> supply fifty illustrations to the new one.<br /> <br /> Mr. H. G. Wells’s new book ‘ When the<br /> Sleeper Wakes,’ has three of the remarkable<br /> illustrations which accompanied its production in<br /> the Graphic. These are by M. Lanos, for whose<br /> benefit the work was translated into French.<br /> <br /> We are glad to hear that the first edition of Mr.<br /> W. B. Yeats’ new book, “The Wind in the<br /> Reeds,” is nearly exhausted, and a second edition<br /> is in active preparation.<br /> <br /> . only a few months ago retired from the positio<br /> <br /> OBITUARY.<br /> <br /> IR WILLIAM HENRY FLOWER, K.C.<br /> the Director of the Natural History Depart.<br /> ment of the British Museum, died<br /> <br /> London on July 1, aged sixty-seven years. Aft<br /> serving as assistant-surgeon to the 63rd<br /> ment in the Crimean War, he was appoin’<br /> Demonstrator of Anatomy to Middlesex Hospit<br /> and in 1861 accepted the post of Curator of #<br /> Hunterian Museum of the Royal College<br /> Surgeons. In 1869 he became Hunterian Pi<br /> fessor of Comparative Anatomy, and in 1884<br /> was appointed to the position he held at dea<br /> An authority on the horse, upon which<br /> wrote a book, he wrote several articles for ¢<br /> “Encyclopedia Britannica,’ and among oth<br /> literary labours were his notable introductions<br /> “The Osteology of Mammalia” and ‘“ The St<br /> of Mammals, Living and Extinct.’ For twen<br /> years he was president of the Zoological Sociei<br /> and he presided at the 1889 meeting of the Briti<br /> Association.<br /> <br /> Dr. Richard Congreve, the well-known Pos<br /> vist, died at Hampstead, on July 5, at the age<br /> 80. Educated at Rugby under Dr. Arnold, a<br /> at Wadham College, Oxford, he afterwa<br /> embraced the tenets of Comte, and founded t<br /> first “Church of Humanity” in England.<br /> edited, in 1866, the work called ‘“ Internatio:<br /> Policy: Essays on the Foreign Relations<br /> England,” by himself, Messrs. Beesly, Bridg<br /> Harrison, and others; and in 1874 published<br /> volume of ‘Essays: Political, Social, and<br /> gious.” His literary works also included<br /> edition of “ Aristotle’s Politics,” ‘“‘ Human Ca’<br /> licism,” and “The Worship of Humanity.”<br /> <br /> The deaths have also to be recorded of I<br /> Arthur Tennyson (born in 1814), a youn<br /> brother of the late Poet Laureate; Mr.<br /> Thackray Bunce, who edited the Birmingh<br /> Daily Post for over thirty-five years, and h<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> the Bishop of Limerick (Dr. Charles Graves)<br /> well-known writer on antiquarian subjects; La<br /> Shelley ; Sir Alexander Armstrong, the explo<br /> Director-General of the Medical Department<br /> the Navy from 1869 to 1880, author of °<br /> Personal Narrative of the Discovery of the Nor<br /> West Passage” and “ Observations on Na<br /> Hygiene”; and Professor Banister Fletch<br /> author of several works on architecture, ¢<br /> struction, and sanitation.<br />  <br /> <br /> THE<br /> BOOKS AND REVIEWS.<br /> <br /> .\: In these columns notes on books are given from reviews<br /> sich carry weight, and are not, so far as can be learned,<br /> s\irollers.)<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> « 4) «He History or YippIsH LITERATURE IN THE NINE-<br /> - santo CunturRY, by Leo Wiener (Nimmo, gs. net), is ‘a<br /> sfs/aplete account of the whole curious literary movement<br /> “) cong the Russian Jews during the present century”<br /> fm teterature), with “a sufficient number of examples to<br /> sy ac? = ble the reader to judge the character and merits of this<br /> = [esnarkable phenomenon.” “Probably a majority of Mr.<br /> _ »seener’s readers,” says the Daily Chronicle, “ will find in<br /> » loo book an unexpected gratification, such as in these days<br /> te-seslose-gleaning literary industry one has little reason to<br /> Jeqiicipate from any author —nothing less than a new litera-<br /> ) ‘s) 9, full of life and beauty, and glowing with the fire of<br /> ‘latenistakable genius.”<br /> @.1FE AND LETTERS OF SIR JosEPH PRESTWICH, written<br /> | Gatibl edited by his wife (Blackwood, 21s.), is a work that will,<br /> Lod} s the Literary World, “at once command and long<br /> ‘a(sq@ Sain public attention and interest.” The chapters deal-<br /> o&gt; dif with the antiquity of man, especially the visits to<br /> lie beville, and the famous ‘human jaw’ of the p&#039;ace, the<br /> ‘ley .0t value of which as evidence has never been deter-<br /> usr Saed, will be read with keen interest by all who are<br /> efe-dents of science.” “This volume,’ says Literature,<br /> ‘efjontains an immense amount of matter interesting to<br /> sreologists, and is amiong the best biographies of a scientific<br /> ® 9yn we have seen for some time.”<br /> 191, JLIVER CROMWELL, by Samuel Rawson Gardiner (Goupil,<br /> &gt; ot :.), from an artistic point of view “leaves nothing to<br /> &#039; soils desired,” says Literature. It makes accessible to the<br /> 4 lic a number of most interesting portraits, the majority<br /> ®* deinwhich are rarely seen. ‘“ From a literary point of view,<br /> “ibvet). Gardiner has never done anything so good,’ and “it<br /> id sthe highest merit of his enthusiastic eulogy that it has<br /> ‘2 Belvbled us to realise more clearly than ever” that Cromwell<br /> ov) 8 great in spite of his inconsistency. ‘‘ Except that it<br /> ¥6)&quot;7 ora no index and no analysis of the ckapters, this book,”<br /> i (l sdi+a the Daily Chronicle, “is a model of what sucha man’s<br /> . ({deography ought to be.”<br /> \J074 SKETCHES AND Srupius in SourH Arrica, by W. J.<br /> = 111 sox Little (Isbister, 10s. 6d.) is “a bright and picturesque<br /> “i qiseription of a brief tour,” says the Guardian, adding<br /> ai os” vt “so far as Canon Knox Little describes his own experi-<br /> + 948 se and impressions he is pleasant, useful, and readable.”<br /> «#9 Times describes the author’s view as being “ that all<br /> si od in South Africa flows from Mr. Rhodes and all evil<br /> “| em President Kruger.”<br /> 00% eas Encuish Soutn Arrican’s Vinw oF THE SITUA-<br /> &quot; . won, by Olive Schreiner (Hodder, 1s.), is described by the<br /> -2 mes as containing the view “that Kruger and all things<br /> Seeanating from Kruger are good, and that Rhodes and all<br /> ‘&quot;) Sengs emanating from Rhodes are bad.’ Considering the<br /> ook as an appeal for peace between Great Britain and the<br /> f8veansvaal, the Daily Chronicle says: “never has a writer<br /> euime genius spoken a more timely word, or with a better<br /> ©? @ase to serve.”<br /> “MGREMINISCENCES OF THE Kina or Rovmanta, edited<br /> _ 288 Sidney Whitman (Harpers, tos. 6d.), “apart from the<br /> a &amp; that it puts before us an authentic account of a<br /> e rae, furesque and noble personality, with which we, in Eng-<br /> t +d at any rate, are all too unfamiliar,” forms, says the<br /> i itly Telegraph, ‘“‘ a most instructive record of the fortunes<br /> 96 the Balkan States in general, and of Roumania in parti-<br /> ‘iar, during a very critical period of their history.”<br /> ‘esterature describes the work as “excellently rendered<br /> 1) om the original German,” and adds that it ‘will prove a<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> is<br /> <br /> is<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 13<br /> <br /> valuable contribution to the literature of European politics<br /> during the past generation.”<br /> <br /> Tur Heart or Astra, by F. H. Skrine and E. D. Ross,<br /> (Methuen, ros. 6d.) “ may be strongly recommended,” says<br /> the Daily News, “ to every student of Central Asian history<br /> and politics.” Beginning with a rapid sketch of the Greek<br /> period, it carries the reader through the successive eras of<br /> Abbasides, Samanides, Ghaznavides, Seljuks, Mongols, and<br /> the rest, to Russia’s first invasion, and her steady expansion<br /> to the year 1895.<br /> <br /> INDUSTRIAL CUBA, by Robert P. Porter (Putnam, 15s.),<br /> Mr. Porter was sent as Special Commissioner of the<br /> United States to report upon the commercial and indus-<br /> trial conditions of Cuba, and his book, says the Daily News,<br /> ‘“‘ will be a most valuable book of reference to all who study<br /> the Cuban question.” ‘‘ Mr. Porter takes a hopeful view of<br /> the prospects of the island,’ says the Spectator, and the<br /> volume is “ full of interesting descriptions and narratives.”<br /> <br /> JAPAN IN TRANSITION, by J. Stafford Ransome (Harpers,<br /> 16s.) summarises the impressions received by the author<br /> during his residence in Japan, and is, says the Daily News,<br /> “a readable, instructive, and thoroughly impartial study of<br /> the policy and progress of the Japanese since the war.” The<br /> Spectator commends the book for the many useful hints it<br /> gives to the traveller in Japan.<br /> <br /> THE Quest oF FaitH, by Thomas Bailey Saunders<br /> (Black, 7s. 6d.) consists of essays dealing in the main with<br /> the question of religious belief—with such aspects of it as<br /> have lately attracted notice. While they bring us to no<br /> positive result, says the Guardian, all the essays are<br /> vigorous and lucid, and “ they clear the ground and leave<br /> us in a better position for a healthy, unprejudiced study of<br /> the Christian religion.” ‘It is full of thought on every<br /> page,” says the Daily Telegraph, ‘and ought to be of the<br /> greatest service to those who wish to make a fresh start<br /> for themselves from the points of view reached by some of<br /> the latest workers in the fields of speculative thought.”<br /> <br /> Tae MeEssaAGE AND PosITION OF THE CHURCH OF ENG-<br /> LAND, by Arthur Galton (Paul, 3s. 6d.) “argues the case of<br /> the Anglican Church against Rome and Puritanism with<br /> considerable force,’ says the Spectator, and the author’s<br /> “ indictment of Roman practice is formidably vigorous.”<br /> <br /> WoRDSWORTH AND THE COLERIDGES, by Ellis Yarnall<br /> (Macmillan, 10s.) consists of the author’s reminiscences—<br /> covering seventy years—of Wordsworth, Macaulay, Charles<br /> Kingsley, Matthew Arnold, John Stuart Mill, and others,<br /> and is cordially recommended by Literature “to every<br /> reader who is interested in what alone is worthy to interest<br /> him in famous men of the past.”<br /> <br /> Napo.ron’s INVASION oF Russta, by Hereford B.<br /> George (Unwin, 12s. 6d.), is ‘a very clear and interesting<br /> narrative of the great campaign of 1812,” which, says<br /> Literature, “should be useful to all students of history,<br /> and not merely to the military specialist.’ ‘‘ With the<br /> minutest possible detail gathered laboriously from all<br /> possible sources at home, in France, in Russia, and in<br /> Germany,” says the Daily Telegraph, Mr. George “follows<br /> every movement of the army to Moscow.” The Daily<br /> Chronicle describes Mr. George as a writer “with a true<br /> historical method and a sense of proportion, as well as a<br /> knack of interesting the reader, and a style sufficiently<br /> picturesque.” ‘ He blows to atoms the last shred of the<br /> absurdity Napoleon so assiduously propagated, that the<br /> failure of the Russian campaign was due to the cold.”<br /> <br /> Tus Earty Mountvarnesrs, by Francis Gribble (Unwin,<br /> 21s.), is “ executed in a scholarly fashion,” says Literature,<br /> the survey beginning, in effect, with the date of the Deluge,<br /> and ending about 1834. ‘The book is, from its nature, to<br /> <br /> some extent addressed mainly to specialists, but Mr.<br /> Gribble has managed to flavour his mediwval stories with a<br />  <br /> <br /> a6<br /> <br /> sufficient spice of modern epigram to make it palatable to a<br /> wider public.” The Daily Telegraph says Mr. Gribble<br /> “ has limited himself in this excellent volume to recording<br /> explorations of the Alps, Pyrenees, and Apennines,” “ and<br /> the result is a volume which every one can read with<br /> pleasure and profit.”<br /> <br /> Wiup Lirr 1n THE HAmpsHIRE HiaHLANDs, by George<br /> B. Dewar (Dent, 7s. 6d. net). ‘Although the author,”<br /> says the Daily News, “not seldom calls upon us to<br /> admire with him some far-reaching view, he has less<br /> to say of broad effects than of the too often unconsidered<br /> details—the birds, the flowers, the insects—that, to every<br /> follower of old Gilbert White, add so very much to the<br /> pleasure of a country walk.” ‘The book is a very good<br /> specimen of its class,” says Literature, “as Mr. Dewar is<br /> not only a sportsman but loves Nature for its own sake, and<br /> is a scholar to boot.”<br /> <br /> HigHLAND Dress, ARMS, AND ORNAMENT, by Lord<br /> Archibald Campbell (Constable, 21s.), ‘contains much<br /> useful information for amateurs of Highland antiquities,”<br /> says the Times. “The author is thoroughly versed in his<br /> subjects, and notably he is a connoisseur in sword blades.”’<br /> <br /> TwrELVvE Montus 1n KionprKe, by Robert C. Kirk<br /> (Heinemann, 6s.) is described by the Daily Chronicle as a<br /> plain matter-of-fact narrative by a most careful observer,<br /> whose “residence in the Yukon during the most eventful<br /> year of its history has supplied him with excellent material<br /> for a really useful and interesting volume.” Literature<br /> says it is “ written in an entertaining style, and interspersed<br /> with lively anecdotes concerning the vicissitudes of the<br /> miners’ fortunes.”<br /> <br /> Wits Zoua In ENGLAND, by Ernest Alfred Vizetelly<br /> (Chatto, 3s. 6d) isan “ amusing book” (Daily Chronicle)<br /> giving a rapid sketch of M. Zola’s adventures in England,<br /> and some hints of his observations on our manners and<br /> customs. It reads “like a very much up-to-date detective<br /> story,” says the Daily Telegraph.<br /> <br /> ’PosTLE Farm, by George Ford (Blackwood, 6s.) is “a<br /> clever, entertaining, and in some ways a beautiful story,”<br /> says the Daily Chronicle. ‘The characters, for the most<br /> part humble Devonshire peasants, are all individualised and<br /> all interesting.”<br /> <br /> Tan Hoonigan Nieuts, by Clarence Rook (Richards,<br /> 6s.) is the life and opinions of an impenitent London boy-<br /> criminal, whose character, says the Daily News, ‘as shown<br /> by his biographer, has, with all its drawbacks, a certain<br /> brutal frankness that is almost engaging. Mr. Rook has<br /> done his task skilfully and sympathetically —and his<br /> cockneyisms have a charming air of truth.” ‘“ The accounts<br /> of Young Alf’s crimes and exploits must, of course,’’ says the<br /> Daily Telegraph, “ bear a certain resemblance to each other,<br /> but the uniqueness of the point of view and the position of<br /> the raconteur render them unfailingly entertaining.”<br /> <br /> Tue ARCADIANS, by H. C. Minchin (Oxford: Blackwell,<br /> 3s. 6d.), “is not a novel,” says the Guardian, ‘nor an<br /> essay, nor is it a biography; yet it is something of all<br /> three, and leaves a peculiar and pleasant flavour on the<br /> mind.” Humour is kept in the same low key as the<br /> melancholy, and ‘there is in the book a suggestion of<br /> deeper thought than appears on the surface.” “The book<br /> is extremely slight,” observes the Daily Chronicle; “it is<br /> even ‘ frothy,’ if you will—but it is amusing.”<br /> <br /> Gintzs IncruBy, by W.E. Norris (Methuen, 6s.), says<br /> the Spectator, introduces readers to the usual polished<br /> circle in which Mr. Norris’s characters live and move. His<br /> hero is for a short time a City clerk. who in a few chapters<br /> is turned “into a poet and man of letters, whose future<br /> income is prophesied by a competent editor to be about<br /> to exceed £6000 a year.” “It is a pleasant, wholesome<br /> tale,” says the Daily Telegraph, with much sound sense,<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> -and in the same volume is a story which also gives “<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> and there is ‘a complete absence of those impossible people<br /> and incidents which some authors delight in creating.” :<br /> Tue Magic or THE Dxsert, by W. Smith-Williams<br /> (Blackwood, 6s.) has “charm and readability,” says the<br /> Spectator. The first half isa society novel of England, and<br /> afterwards of South-West Australia. This is “very well<br /> done,” but the second half, which is purely a novel of -<br /> adventure, is perhaps the more amusing; the fights,<br /> escapes and the adventures of every sort during the revola.<br /> tion in a little republic are what a schoolboy would<br /> “ripping.”’<br /> At A WINTER’s FrRE, by Bernard Capes (Pearson, 6s,),<br /> is a volume of stories by “a conscious craftsman” (D.<br /> Chronicle), nearly every one of which “deals with<br /> portentous side of nature, with strange sights and so<br /> and physical cataclysms, and the culmination of many ig<br /> ghastly spectacle.” ‘To those who like ‘a grue’ in theip<br /> fiction, and who can appreciate felicity of phrase and disti<br /> tion of style,” the Daily News can recommend Mr. Capes’s<br /> new volame. i<br /> AN OBsTINATE ParisH, by M. L. Lord (Sidney Christian)<br /> (Unwin, 6s.), as a timely “novel with a purpose” will 4<br /> thoroughly enjoyed, says the Spectator, by readers who —<br /> happen to be of Mr. Kensit’s way of thinking. “The book<br /> gives an account of the devastation created in a q<br /> country parish by a handsome young High Church vicar.’<br /> Tur GREATER INCLINATION, by Edith Wharton<br /> (Lane, 6s.) is “a collection of stories,’ says Interature.<br /> “each one of which has to do with a crisis, a turning point,<br /> the entering of a door or the turning away from it.” “The<br /> book abounds in meditation upon the problems of life; :<br /> humour ; in dialogue which has the effect of spoken words;<br /> in knowledge both of the world and of books; in a knows<br /> ledge of women which, from a woman, might be expected<br /> and a knowledge of men to which a woman does not always<br /> attain.”<br /> RosaLBa, THE Story oF Hur DEVELOPMENT, by Oliv<br /> Pratt Rayner (Pearson, 6s.), “is a really clever and spirite<br /> bit of pseudo-autobiography, and one as daring and original<br /> as it is clever,” says the Literary World. “Certainly —<br /> Rosalba is the most genuine flesh and blood heroine we ha:<br /> encountered for a long while.”<br /> RicHaRD CaRvEL, by Winston Churchill (Macmillan, 68.), —<br /> a romance of the War of Independence, set partly in the ©<br /> province of Maryland, partly in the London of the latter<br /> half of the eighteenth century, “is to be recommended,’<br /> says the Daily News, “as an animated if not exciting<br /> record of a time pregnant with momentous issues. It is<br /> savoured with quiet humour, and it has the interest o<br /> character.” ‘ Worthiness and solidity,” says the Spectator,<br /> are the epithets by which it would be best described. :<br /> Mrs. Jim Barxer, by V. Fetherstonhaugh (Chap<br /> 6s.), is ‘ a pleasant little story of Canadian life ” (Spectator,<br /> <br /> amusing and vivid account of ranch life in Canada.” 1<br /> author is congratulated on possessing “a decided gift<br /> interesting and lifelike character-drawing.” The Dai<br /> News says that the author’s knowledge of his subject, al<br /> his freshness and vigour of narrative, render the<br /> eminently readable.<br /> <br /> Mr. J. Eveleigh Nash,<br /> <br /> LITERARY AGENT,<br /> AMBERLEY HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET,<br /> <br /> STRAND, W.C.	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/465/1899-08-01-The-Author-10-3.pdf	publications, The Author