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Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1892-04-01 Volume 2 Issue 11 Pages Page range in volume 343–380 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18920401 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Hbe Hutbor* (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESA1TT. Vol. II.—No. ii.] APRIL i, 1892. CONTENTS. [Prick Sixpence. TAQE Warnings 345 Notices 345 Literary Property— I.—Transfer of Contract 347 II.—Literary Agents 348 11L—The supposed Increase of Magnalnra 348 IV.—The Output 349 The Authors' Syndicate 349 American Authors— 1.—The American Society of Authors 3S» II—The Book of the Authors' Club 35' The Report of 1891 352 The Story or Anita 354 Notes from Paris 35s Spring. Bv F. Bayrord Harrison 300 T^../..l D««l... .. .. 3OO 361 Useful Books Notes and News. By Walter Besant PAOB An Old Master 3<>4 Scott on the Art of Fiction 365 Author and Editor— I.—" Advice to Contributors" 367 II. —No Use in Writing 3*8 III. —A Kindness and its Sequel 30S IV. —Returned Unread 3'9 V.—With no Name 3('9 VI.—Long Kept, and then Returned 369 Correspondence— I.—Novels on Commission 3&9 II— The Library Stamp 37° III. —How Books are not Read 37° IV. —Mr. Traill's List of Poets 37< V.—The Great Use of a Table of Conteuts 37 > VI.—Compositors' Errors 37' "At the Author's Head" 371 New Books and New Editions 373 EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE. INVESTMENTS. A List of 1,600 British, Colonial, and Foreign Securities, with the highest and lowest prices quoted for the last twenty-two years. 25. 6(7. "A useful work of reference."—Money. PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES ON BOTANICAL SUB- JECTS. By E. Bonayia, M.D., BrigadeSurL-eon, I.M.D. With 160 Illustrations, a*, 6(7. KEAL ARMY REFORM, THE ESSENTIAL FOUNDA- TION OF. By Ioxo-rra. 6d. "Those who would understand the general argument of those who favour conscription cannot do better than read this pamphlet." —Army and Navy Gazette. MY GARDENER (Illustrated). By H. W. Ward, Head Hardener to the Right Hon. the Earl of Radnor, Longford Castle, Salisbury, zs. t>d. "The l>ook is replete with valuable cultural notes indispensable to the millions who arc now turning to gardening as a source of pleasure and profit."—Gardener's Chronicle. STATE TRIALS, Reports of. New Series. Vol. III., 1831—40. Published under the direction of the State Trials Committee. Edited by John Macdonell, M.A. io». PUBLIC GENERAL ACTS, 1891. Red Cloth, 3s. Contains all the Public Acts passed during the year, with Index, also Tables showing the etfeot of the .year's Legislation, together with complete and elassitied Lists of the Titles of all the Local and Private Acts passed during the Session. REVISED STATUTES. (Second Revised Edition.) Royal 8vo. Prepared under the direction of the Statute law- Revision Committee, and Edited by G. A. R. Fitzgerald, FORECASTING BY MEANS OF WEATHER CHARTS, Principles of. By the Hon. Ralph: Abeeceomuy, F.R. Met. Soc. as. HYGIENE AND DEMOGRAPHY. Transactions of the Seventh International Congress of. To be published in thirteen volumes. Vol. XII. (Municipal Hygiene and Demography). Now ready, as. (id. List of the Series on application. METEOROLOGICAL INSTRUMENTS, Instructions in the use of. a«. 6<7. THE LITERATURE RELATING TO NEW ZEALAND. A Bibliography. Royal 8vo. Cloth, 2*. (id. COPYRIGHT LAW REFORM: an Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill. With Extracts from the Report of the Commission or 1S78. and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lelv, Esq., Itarrister-at-Law. i*. 6(7. KEW BULLETIN, 1891. Monthly, id. Appendices, ad. each. Annual Subscription, including postage, )s. gd. Volume for 1S91, 3s. yr/.. by post. MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. Descriptive Catalogue of the Musiral Instruments exhibited at the Royal Military Exhi- bition. 1S90. Compiled by Capt. Day, Oxford Light Infantry. Illustrated. 21s. "Unique, as no earlier l»ook exists in English dealing exhaus- tively with the same subject A very important con- tribution to the history of orchestration."— Athenaum. PUBLIC RECORDS. A Guide to the Principal Classes of Documents preserved in the Public Record Office. By S. R. Scaegill-Birp. F.S.A. 11. "The value of such a work as Mr. ScargillBird's con scarcely be over-rated."— Times. Esq. Vols. I. to IV. now ready, price 7*. 6(7. each. TEN YEARS' SUNSHINE. Record of the Registered Sunshine at 46 Stations in the British Isles, 1881-1890. a«. Monthly Lists of Parliamentary Papers upon Application. Quarterly Lists Post Free, an". Miscellaneous List on Application. Every Assistance given to Correspondents; and Books not kept in stock obtained without delay. GOVERNMENT AND GENERAL PIHLIKHERS. KVKK awl SPOTTISWOODE, Her Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, Loudon, E.C.  ## p. 344 (#748) ############################################ 344 ADVERTISEMENTS. Cfje ^orietg of 8utfiora (finrorporatelO. PRESIDENT. The Right Hon. the LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L. Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E. Alfred Austin. A. W. a Beckett. Robert Bateman. Sir Henry Bergne, K.C.M.G. Walter Besant. Augustine Birrell, M.P. R. D. Blackmore. Rev. Prof. Bonney, F.R.S. Lord Brabourne. James Bryce, M.P. P. W. Clayden. Edward Clodd. Hon. John Collier. W. Martin Conway. Marion Crawford. Oswald Crawfurd, C.M.G. COUNCIL. The Earl of Desart. A. W. Dubourg. John Eric Erichsen, F.R.S. Prof. Michael Foster, F.R.S. Herbert Gardner, M.P. Richard Garnett, LL.l). Edmund Gosse. H. Rider Haggard. Thomas Hardy. Rudyard Kipling. Prof. E. Ray Lankkster, F.R.S. J. M. Lely. Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. F. Max Muller, LL.D. George Meredith. Herman C. Merivale. Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wake, F.L.S. Hon. Counsel—E. M. Underdown, Q.C. Pembroke and J. C. Parkinson. The Earl of Montgomery. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart. LL.D. Walter Herries Pollock. A. G. Ross. George Augustus Sala. W. Baptists Scoones. G. R. Sims. J. J. Stevenson. Jas. Sully. William Moy Thomas. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. Baron Henry de Worms, F.R.S. Edmund Yates. MP., A- W. k Beckett. Hon. John Collier. W. Martin Conway. Edmund Gosse. H. Rider Haggard. J. M. Lely. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman—Walter Besant. Sir Frederick Pollock. A. G. Ross. Solicitors—Messrs. Field, Roscoe, & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Secretary—S. Squire Sprioge. OFFICES. 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January 1891 can be had on application to the Secretary. 2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary- Property. Issued to all Members. 3. The Grievances Of Authors. (The Leadenhall Press.) 2*. The Keport of three Meetings on the general subject of Literature and its defence, held at Willis's Kooms, March 1887. 4. Literature and the Pension List. By \V. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) 3s. 5. The History of the Societe des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigge, Secretary to the Society, is. 6. The Cost of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, &c, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 2s. 6d. 7. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprigge. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society's offices, the various kinds of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 3s.' 8. Copyright Law Eeform. An Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill now before Parliament. With Extracts from the Keport of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely. Eyre and Spottiswoode. i*. 6d.  ## p. 345 (#749) ############################################ ^Ibe Hutbot\ (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. n.] APRIL i, 1892. [Price Sixpence. For the Opinions expressed in papers that are signed or initialled the Authors alone are responsible. WARNINGS. Readers of the Author are earnestly desired to make the following warnings as widely known as possible. They are based on the experience of six years' work upon the dangers to which literary property is exposed :— (1.) Never sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, until you have proved the figures. (2.) Never enter into any correspondence with publishers, especialli/ with those who advertise for MSS., who are not recom- mended by experienced friends or by this Society. (3.) Never, on any account whatever, bind yourself down for future work to any one firm of publishers. (4.) Never accept any proposal of royalty until you have ascertained exactly what the agreement gives to the author and what to the publisher. (5.) Never accept any pecuniary risk or respon- sibility whatever without advice. (6.) Never, when a MS. has been refused by respectable houses, pay others, whatever promises they may put forward, for the productionjofjthejwork. (7.) Never sign away American rights. Keep them. Refuse to sign an agreement con- taining a clause which reserves them for the publisher. If the publisher insists, take away the MS. and offer it to another. VOL. 11. (8.) Keep control over the advertisements by clause in the agreement. Reserve a veto. If you are yourself ignorant of the subject, make the Society your agent. (9.) Never forget that publishing is a business, like any other business, totally unconnected with philanthropy, charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do with business men. Societi/'s Offices:— 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. NOTICES. THE Secretary will be much obliged if any members who have kept the Report for 1890 will kindly send their copies to him. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of this Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. Members and others who wish their MSS. read are requested not to send them to the Office without previously communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in which they are received. It must also be distinctly understood that the Society does not, under any circumstances, under- take the publication of MSS. B b 2  ## p. 346 (#750) ############################################ 346 THE AUTHOR. The official directions for the .seeming of American copyright by English authors were given in the Author for June 1891. Members are earnestly entreated to take the trouble of reading those directions. Members are earnestly requested to forward agreements to the Society for inspection before they sign them. Once signed, the mischief is generally irreparable. Communications intended for the Authors' Syndi- cate should be addressed to W. Morris Colics, the Honorary Secretary. An American Success. "There are," writes an American author, "in our country as in yours, various kinds of success. Thus, the late Mr. E. P. Roe has obtained a success ; Mr. Howells is successful; and a certain writer, whom we will call Mr. Smith, to prevent jealousies, is also successful. But Mr. Hoe's success, if it is measured by sales, compared with Mr. Howells', and that again with Mr. Smith's, may be represented in the continued proportion of 1,000 : 7 : i. "The general method of publication with novels, by which the greatest successes are obtained, has hitherto been to bring them out at a dollar or a dollar and a half at first, and afterwards in paper at i*. or 2s., as a cheap edition. Let me give you one or two experiences. A novel was published two or three years ago by one of our most successful men. It was his most successful work. He published it first in serial form, for which he obtained the price of a thousand pounds, or perhaps more. His English publishers set it up in this country, and gave him—for sole remunera- tion—the plates, which he handed to his American publishers, who allowed him a i5 per cent, royalty, in consideration of having the plates given to them, which saved composition. There were sold 2,000 copies at 4s., or one dollar, and 16,000 at I*. You may easily calculate the royalty to the author. He got £180 only. His publisher, for his share, supposing the returns to have been honest, of which there was no proof, made about £260. And this with a man who stands in the front rank of American writers. "Here is another experience. A novel was brought out by a new writer. Here was risk, it may be said. But the publisher owned that he had sufficient prestige to plant at least 1,200 copies of every work he produced. And in this case the book was heralded by a letter of praise, written by one of the best known and best trusted critics in the country. The author was to receive 10 per cent, on all copies after the first 5oo. There were subscribed 7,000 copies at a dollar, and 20,000 copies at is. The author obtained £240 for his work. The publisher, for his share, netted £480 or £5oo—just twice as much. This with a book about which no risk at all could be pretended. You English authors will do well to be on your guard when you deal with our publishers. "But, above all, do not expect too great results. A circulation of 2,5oo copies of a dollar book is a remarkable—a noteworthy—success. That of 5,ooo copies is a most unusual success. One of 10,000 is phenomenal. Tilings may alter in accordance with the new Copyright Bill, but let your antici- pations be moderate and you will not be dis- appointed. For you, as for us, the serial right will remain the most valuable," The Pantheon. This is a gratis advertisement for the man Morgan, for the International Society of Literature, Science, and Art, and for the official journal of that institution. Undismayed by repeated exposure, this precious Association still sends out numberless circulars, and perhaps still receives a fair proportion of guineas in return. Blue Books and Bed Books, Clergy lists, and Calendars have all been ransacked, with the result that everyone of the slightest official position has been assured, that by a special resolution of the Council he can become a Fellow of the Society, without further formula, upon payment of one guinea. And now the Pantheon has arrived, the official organ of the Society. We reproduce from this sheet part of the article headed, " the Literary Department." "The Department under- takes the whole cost of the revision, production, and publication of Fellows' and Members' work, where more than usual merit is apparent (even though it be the Author's//'«Y work), paying to the Author an agreed share of the profits. In other cases the Author will be required to pay one-half of the estimated cost" (whose estimate ?) " taking one-half of the net proceeds arising from the Sides, but in no instance will the entire estimated cost of an accepted Work be required of the Author, as demanded by ordinary publishers. Works that are likely to prove a failure will not be undertaken. Arrangements have been made whereby all Works published will be reviewed by the press. Thus Authors will secure the two essentials to success too often denied them, viz., production of their first works and publicity." (Italics are the Pantheon's.)  ## p. 347 (#751) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 34; To anyone with the least idea of what a bona fide publishing offer looks like, these suggestions form a very clear case. But probably many people will be caught by them. "Here," will the aspirant siiy, " is my chance. Production and advertisement secured, with only half the risk to lie run! And to be dubbed an Author with a capital A ! and to see my MSS. called Work with a capital \V!" Of course the Secretary of the Literary Department will receive MSS. by the thousand. The particular method is so obvious to readers of the . tut/tor, and to all who know, that we refer to it apologetically. A Novel Book Club. A new kind of Book Club has been started at Bridgwater. It is designed partly to furnish new books for the Free Library in that town. A small library has been founded, consisting of about 400 volumes, selected with some care. Those who use the library find in every volume one of the deposit forms used in the Post Office. Every member affixes a postage stamp before returning the book. If, therefore, a l>ook is kept for four days and is then taken out, it will earn, not counting Sundays, 78 pence in the year. Now, with 78 pence, or 6*. 6d., certainly two, and possibly three, books can be bought for the library. And if there is a steady circulation of 3oo out of the 400 books on the shelves, the amount realised would be nearly £100 a year. Everything depends upon the honesty of the reader. In these little things honesty may perhaps be expected, especially pro- vided the readers feci a certain assurance that they may be detected in dishonesty. Here is a circular which runs as follows :— "Of Paramount Importance, and should be Bead by every Author! HINTS TO AUTHORS and LITERARY ASPIRANTS, by Liber. Cr. 8vo., 6d. a copy, sent post free on receipt of 7 stamps. Contents:— Advice to Authors and Literary Aspirants, Publisfters and Publishing, on makin;/ a Booh, Poetry, MSS., Proof-correctimj, SfC, Remuneration." It was with an expectant eye that we glanced over the pages of this little work, for the contents, as advertised, ought to interest us much, if they were properly done, and should be of much service to authors. We give an introductory sentence, which rendered it unnecessary to read more. "No one can write poetry, unless they have the poetic vein or gift, and most assuredly they cannot write books, or for the press, <$c, unless they have those natural endowments which ensures an ap- preciative public." We did, however, read a little more. The rest of the work is full of vague encouragement to all who have MSS. to print them, and in an accom- panying letter, Messrs. Alder & Co., "who have twenty years of experience in publishing," offer to revise MSS. and to generally assist the fortunate author. We give the firm this credit—it is not likely that their pamphlet will bring even the youngest of aspirants to them for advice. Their wording is too clumsy. When we remember the letters of the London Literary Society, of the City of London Publishing Company, of Mr. MeGuire, and of Messrs. Bevington and Co., and recall the fact that these letters secured applicants by the score, it is hard to believe that any lwit can be too coarse. But " Liber's" utter freedom from syntax would shake a baby's confidence in his advice. ♦•»••♦ LITERARY PROPERTY. 1. Transfer of Contract. "fTMIE Author calls attention to a recent advet*- I tisement in the Times, in which a firm of publishers, having more MSS. of novels in their possession than they can for some time publish, offer to part with the contracts relating to several MSS. by good authors (some being subject on publication to a royalty), and point out 'this is an admirable opjwrtunity for a young lirm who want to start with a good lot of publications without any loss of time,' the adver- tisement being addressed to 4 Young Publish- ing Firms or others commencing a publishing business.' The Author 4 has always been of opinion that a contract by one author with one publisher, except in the case of sale, could not be passed on to another publisher without the author's consent,' but thinks that the question is one for lawyers to consider. The general rule as to assignability of contracts is that all contracts are assignable by either party on notice to the other, but without the  ## p. 348 (#752) ############################################ 348 THE AUTHOR. consent of the other, except in cases where the individual skill or other personal qualifications of the assigning contractor were relied on by the party contracting with him, and the modern ten- dency of the Courts appears to be in favour rather of extending than narrowing the assignability of contracts (see 'Chitty on Contracts,' 12th edit, at p. 862, citing The British Waggon Company v. Lea, 44 Law J. Rep. Q. B. 321). In two cases, however—that of Stevens v. Benning, 6 De G. M. & G. 2 23, and Hole v. Bradbury, 48 Law J. Kep. Chane. 673—contracts between author and pub- lisher have been held not to be assignable. In Stevens v. Benning, a complicated case arising out of 'Forsyth on the Law of Composition with Creditors,' it was held that an agreement on the half-profit system was of a personal nature on both sides, so that the benefit of it was not assignable by either party without the other's consent. In Hole t\ Bradbury, another half-profit agreement between Canon Hole and Messrs. Bradbury and Evans for the production of 'A Little Tour in Ireland, with Illustrations by John Leech,' was held also to be personal, and to be put an end to by a complete change of partnership in the publishing firm. From the language of Lord Justice Fry in delivering judgment, it is clear that that learned and literary judge was of opinion that, except where the copyright passes, the contract between author and publisher is personal and not assignable, but that there is a great distinction arising if the copyright is sold to the publisher, and in such a case we cannot but think that as a copyright is assignable ad infinitum, a contract to produce copyright must be assignable ad infinitum also, but assignable by the publisher only, and not by the author also. At any rate, authors would do well, in contracting to produce a work of which they sell the copyright and receive no further re- muneration, to restrain the assignability of the contract in some reasonable manner, as it is obvious that publishers must differ very much from one another in capability to get a book sold.'' In ordinary cases, therefore, publishers' contracts are not assignable, and those authors who find their works passing into the hands of publishers others than those with whom they originally contracted, will do well either to consult their own solicitors or to apply to our secretary forthwith. It seems also to be worth while to restrict assignability in cases where the copyright is sold, otherwise an author who expects to be published in London may suddenly find himself published in Cornwall, and in Cornwall only.—Law Journal (March 19). II. Literary Agents. Two or three letters have been received on the subject of literary agents and their use in the literary world. A good deal of doubt and of mis- understanding exists on the subject. For instance, those, who think that an agent can succeed in placing work that has l>een already refused by editors and publishers arc certain to be disap- pointed. They may get the agent to make the attempt; in the end they will grumble at paying for services which have proved useless; they may suspect that these services have never been rendered at all. No one—not a literary friend, not a well- known man of mark, not an agent—can succeed in getting editors to accept MSS. unsuitable, or pub- lishers to produce work of no commercial value. No one can help the author but himself. He alone has to besiege the fort. Very often he has to retire; in some few cases the fort presently sur- renders. Of what use, then, is the agent? Of every use to the writer tcho has already created a demand. The agent undertakes his work, esti- mates his market value, keeps him out of mischief, and leaves him free from money worries. There are so few, comparatively, who have succeeded in creating this demand for their work, that they may reasonably Ijc siipj>osed to know the agents who can be trusted. A bad ageut—one who plays into the hands of fraudulent publishers—audits and passes fraudulent accounts—is a worse shark than the most dishonest of publishers. Beware of him! In a word. Let no one go to any agent on the faith of an advertisement. And let no one who is not already on the ladder of popularity go to any agent at all. III. The supposed Increase of Magazines. On the subject of magazines, we are always ready to cry out at the increase in their numbers of late years. The following, however, is a list of monthly magazines published in the year 1807, with their prices. It will be observed that, com- paring the population of Great Britain in 1807 with that of 1892, there were many more magazines in proportion to population than there are now; and comparing the proportion of reading classes, very many more. And if we consider the Colonies and India, there is no comparison possible. Then iu 1807 the population of England alone was 9,000,000. In 1892, it is 27,000,000, or three times that of  ## p. 349 (#753) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 349 the former year. Now, consider the magazines of 1807. They were :— Athenaeum, 2*. Monthly Repository, Agricultural, is. 6d. is. Britannic, 1*. Methodist, 6d. Botanical, 3s. Monthly, is. 6d. Christian Observer, is. Monthly Mirror, is. 6d. Evangelical, 6d. Naval Chronical, is.Sd. European, is. 6d. Naturalist's Miscellany, Gentleman's, is. 6d. 2*. 6d. Gospel, gd. Orthodox Churchman, Literary Recreations, is. 6d. is. 6d. Philosophical Mining, Literary Panorama, 2s. 6d. 2s. 6d. Philosophical, 2s. 6d. Ladies', is. Repertory of Arts and Ladies'Museum, is. Manufactures, 2s.6d. La Belle Assemblee, Records of Literature, 2S. 6d. 2 s. 6(7. Le Beau Monde, 2s. 6d. Sporting, i». id. Medical and Physical, Theological and Bibli- 2s. 6d. cal, 6d. Universal, is. 6d. Besides these there were the reviews:— The Annual, £1 is. Literary, 2s. 6d. Anti-Jacobin, 2s. 6d. Monthly, 2s. 6d. British Critic, 2s. 6d. Medical and Surgical, Critical, 2s. 6d. is. 6d. Eleetric, is. 6d. Oxford, 2s. 6d. Edinburgh, 5s. In short, there were in 1807,40 magazines to 9,000,000 people. But, at the very least, five-sixths of these, rustics, children and the working classes, read nothing. That makes one magazine for every 40,000 people. Observe again that these magazines touched only the better class. At the same rate we ought now to have 700 magazines of the higher class. IV. The Output. The autumn harvest of books is followed by a spring gathering almost as rich. The Laureate, our President, contributes his new drama, advertised for the last day of March. Lord Lytton's posthu- mous volume " Marah " is out. Sir Edwin Arnold has produced his " Potiphar's Wife "; Dr. Abbott, his book on the "Anglican Career of Cardinal Newman"; Mr. Molesworth, his "Stories of Saints for Children "; Prof. Earle, his "Deeds of Beowulf "; the Dean of "Winchester, his " History of France "; Prof. Jebb, the " Fifth Part of his Sophocles"; Archdeacon Farrar, his new Volume of Sermons; Grant Allen, his new novel, the "Duchess of Powysland"; a popular edition of Mrs. Oliphant's "Life of Laurence Oliphant"; Mr. S. Baring Gould, his new novel, " Margery of Quether"; Mr. Dubourg, whose silences are too prolonged, is ready with his romantic drama "Angelica"; "Melmoth the "Wanderer" is revived once more; Mr. George Gissing produces his "Denzil Quarrier"; Churchill's "Rosciad" is reprinted. And when we consider the long lists which are not advertised in the ordinary channels and never appear in the Saturday, the Spectator, or the Athaneum, there is little reason to doubt that the output of 1892 will equal that of the preceding years. All the more reason to keep hammering into the minds of those who are terrified at this output the fact that it is intended for an enormous multitude of readers, every day growing greater and more greedy for literary food. Wc need not l>e afraid about the quantity; that concerns the purveyors only; as for the quality, let us remember that it is what our educators make it. If the quality is low, raise the standard by education—or by example. Meantime, let us do our Iwst to prevent the publishing of books worth- less and not wanted. THE AUTHORS* SYNDICATE. THE progress of this offshoot of the Society has already fulfilled the expectations of those who are responsible for its formation and management. An Honorary Council is now formed, and the work is being put on an extended basis, so that it may now undertake the management of all forms of literary property. The difficulties which had to be overcome at the outset were not inconsiderable. The natural distrust of a new and unknown organisation, the active competition of rivals, and the overt or covert opposition of a few who regarded the association as " superfluous " were so far successful that they prevented progress from being as rapid as could be desired. Much time was occupied in establishing business relations with publishers and with the periodical press in all parts of the world. Our agents and travellers have been actively engaged in introducing the association and explaining its method of working. The result so far is as satisfactory as could be wished. A large number of publishing houses in this country and in America have not only expressed their willingness to co-operate but have entrusted tlx? Syndicate with negotiations on their behalf. It is not perhaps putting it too high to say that we have the ear of the British Press throughout the world. We are efficiently represented in  ## p. 350 (#754) ############################################ 35° THE AUTHOR. America by agents of tried integrity. From this it will be seen that the encouragement which the association has received is highly promising. Many publishers, nearly every journal of standing in the kingdom, many journals in the colonies, and in India, and either directly, or through our agents, a large number of established journals in the United States have requested that we will keep them constantly informed of the rights we have to offer. In addition, a large number of periodicals have expressed their willingness to deal through the Syndicate, provided it can supply them with the material they require. Only two journals and one magazine have expressed any unwillingness to do business, in each cast; simply on the ground that their conductors object to the intervention of such an intermediary. The applications which reach the Syndicate for the work of the best writers are steadily increasing. There is, too, a small but growing demand for work on its merits, apart from name, and the Syndicate has even been asked to send out work of all kinds with its imprimatur. When the necessary arrangements have been completed a reading staff will be esta- blished, whose recommendation shall be given with as much jealousy as that of a publisher's reader. It is obvious that work which secures so valuable a recommendation is certain to receive favourable attention. Again, the knowledge possessed by the advisers of the Syndicate of the markets for literary property will be, at least, instrumental in sparing members much disappointment. It must bo understood that this department is quite distinct from the reading department of the Society. The Syndicate does not give an educa- tional opinion, but passes judgment upon the commercial value of a MSS. submitted to it.* The Syndicate, it must lie repeated, acts merely as the agent of members, and its e.\j>enses are met by a commission charged upon moneys received. It is now in a position to look after all rights that may be entrusted to it. The information accumulated in the archives of the Society is at its service, and it is simply impossible to exaggerate the value of that information. Its conductors are by means of this knowledge acquainted with the methods of business of every publishing house in the trade. The future of the Syndicate now depends only on the support it receives from the members of the Society, and it is hoped that they will, in their own interests, strengthen the hands of its conductors. Members who receive applications for work from the manager will materially advance the interests of the Syndicate if they will endeavour, as far as possible, to meet its demands, although these must, necessarily, * No MSS. whatever must be sent to the .Syndicate without previous communication with the secretaries. often be somewhat peremptory. None of the work of the association is more important than that it should, as far as possible, satisfy the needs of its clients. It has been objected that the Syndicate is designed to sow distrust between authors and editors or publishers. Nothing could be further from the fact. The jiersonal relations of publishers and editors with authors will most certainly con- tinue cordial so long as their business negotiations are conducted for them by means of such an asso- ciation as our own. Nothing is so conducive to a rupture of the entente cordiale as those misunder- standings which constantly arise when an author conducts his own business for himself. The history .of literature is full of such misunderstand- ings and quarrels. It is a preposterous condition to insist that a distinguished author shall do his own "marketing." And it must be remembered that the only way in which authors can act with each other, and for themselves, is by means of such an association as this, in which they are not e.rploites for the advantage and interests of one |>erson. It is the interest of the Syndicate to advance the position of everyone who takes advantage of its services. There are no traps or secret profits. W. M. C. AMERICAN AUTHORS. I. The Amekican Society of Authors. Prospectus: PltOTECTION of authors and of literary property. First. By advice before publishing; by arbi- tration or by appeal to law in all cases where members have been swindled or oppressed by publishers. Second. By enacting here the French statutes in regard to!literary property; in particular that one which compels the publisher to affix to each book printed by him a stamp furnished by the author of said book and inflicting legal penalties if he neglects or refuses to do so. (A law which would do away entirely with the wholesale cheating of the author by the publisher in the return of books sold.) Third. Extension of the present term of copy- right to the lifetime of the author, or fifty years.  ## p. 351 (#755) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 35* Fourth. Carriage of literary property (MSS.) through the mails at the same rates charged for property not literary. Fifth. Co-operation with the British Society of Authors for needed amendments to the present International Copyright Law. Sixth. Cultivation of a fraternal spirit among writers by monthly meetings for discussion and the reading of papers on literary topics, and by the publication of a monthly journal devoted to the interests of authors and of the Society. Seventh. Reading of MSS. for authors, and opinions as to its value, &c. Membership. All persons, male or female, who have written a book, or are engaged in writing for the press, to be eligible to membership. Annual Dues. Limited to $5 (the dues of the British Society), in return, each member to be entitled to legal and expert advice gratis, and, if wronged, to have his case prosecuted by the Society; also to one year's subscription to the Society's journal. Officers. A President, Secretary, and Board of Managers, to be elected by members at an annual meeting, the Secretary to be executive officer, the Board of Managers to control the affairs and shape the policy of the Society. The above prospectus is followed by a letter, of which the following is an extract:— "We ought to have in America a society of at least 5,ooo members. If such a society did nothing more than force Congress to enact the French statutes (noticed above), it would prove abundantly its "raison d'etre." But it could do much more. Will you join us in creating such a society, by pledging your name as a member when organised, and, if convenient, by attending a meeting for organisation, to be held privately in New York not later than May 1 st? If 100 favourable replies to this circular are received, it is proposed to organise such a society at once. "To those who fear to incur the resentment of publishers by joining such a society, we would say that its proceedings and lists of members could be kept secret, if desired, but no publisher would be so foolhardy as to antagonise such a body, since with the British Society (whose co-operation is VOL. 11. pledged by their Committee) and the French Society, it would control nearly the entire literary output of the world. "Charles Burr Todd," Author of "Life and Letters of Joel Barlow." "Story of the City of New York." "Story of Washington, D.C." II. The Book of the Authors' Club. An erroneous account of a project recently entered upon by the Authors' Club appeared in several of the New York daily papers a few days since. The enterprise has proceeded so far that its success is no longer problematical, but the Club was not quite ready to announce it. Now, how- ever, the Critic is authorized to set forth the matter as it is. The Club will publish a sumptuous volume, made up of stories, poems, essays, and sketches, written specially for it by 100 or more of the members. One hundred and six have definitely promised to contribute. The length of the con- tributions will vary from one page to a dozen pages. Those contributors who are artists as well as authors arc asked to illustrate their articles. The volume will be as handsome typographically as the De Vinne Press can make it. The head of that establishment, by the way, is himself an author and a member of the Club, and will contribute to the book an article on " Typographic Fads." But one edition will be printed, and that one limited to 251 numbered copies, 25o of which are to be sold to subscribers. In every copy of the book, each article will be signed, in pen and ink, by its author. The subscription price is 8100, and the Club may reserve the right to raise the price after the first 100 copies have been sold. Type-written copies of the articles are prepared for the printer; and the original manuscripts, clean and whole, are to be bound up by themselves and sold to the highest bidder. About 5o of the contributors have already placed their articles in the hands of the Committee. These include, among others, essays by Poultney Bigelow, James Howard Bridge, Andrew Carnegie, George Cary Eggleston, Henry R. Elliott, George H. Ellwanger, Parke Godwin, Laurence Hutton, Rossiter Johnson, Albert Mathews, Brander Matthews, Oscar S. Straus and Charles Dudley Warner; poems by Henry Abbey, Elbridge S. Brooks, John Vance Cheney, Richard Watson Gilder, Arthur Sherburne Hardy, Henry Harland (" Sidney Luska "), John Hay, James B. Kenyon, Walter Learned, William Starbuck Mayo, James Herbert Morse, David L. Proudfit, Clinton Scollard C c  ## p. 352 (#756) ############################################ 35* THE AUTHOR. and "William Hayes Ward; stories by William H. Carpenter, John D. Champlin, Jr., Maurice F. Egan, Harold Frederic, Charles Ledyard Norton, Horace Porter, Theodore Roosevelt and George E. Waring, Jr.; sketches by Samuel L. Clemens (" Mark Twain "), Moncure D. Conway, Thomas W. Knox, James M. Ludlow and Horace E. Scudder. The intention is to carry the book through the press during the spring and summer, and have it ready for delivery next autumn. The Club has not yet formally opened a subscription list, but a good many subscriptions have been sent in. Letters re- lating to it should be addressed to the Secretary of the Club, Mr. Rossiter Johnson, i, Bond Street, New York. The money to be raised by this publi- cation will be held as the nucleus of a building fund; but as the Club has never been in debt, and its finances have always been managed remarkably well (belying the popular dictum that literary men do not understand business), it is not probable that a clubhouse will be erected very soon.—New York Critic. THE REPORT OF 1891. f | ^HIS Report is, in every respect, the most i satisfactory that the Society has had to show. There is advance in every direction. First, as regards numbers. The election of over 200 during the year; the loss, by death or retirement, of no more than 3o or so; the increase of members to 800; these are very satisfactory figures. They have not, as yet, assumed the proportions which we desire, but a list of 800 means a very consider- able advance in power. We now have among our members nearly all the best known writers of the day. The opposition which we formerly received has, in great measure, disappeared. It still pleases certain journals persistently to misrepresent the aims and the work of the Society. They have, no doubt, their motives and their inspiration. Meantime, it is now generally understood that our chief raison d'etre is the definition and the maintenance of literary property. With this end in view, we have investigated the exact meaning of the various systems of publication—" half-profits," royalties, &c.—and have shown what these mean to publisher and to author, and have exposed the various frauds practised under their methods. Wc therefore continually and earnestly entreat everyone who has nn agreement submitted to him to ascertain, before he signs it, what proportion in the returns of his own property is offered him, and what is reserved for the publisher. If he has any doubt on the point, let him ask the publisher for an estimate of this proportion on the supposition of certain results. Or, which is simpler, let him refer the agreement to the Secretary, remembering to forward not only the agreement, but the length of the MS. and the kind of form in which it is to appear. There has been, from the beginning of the Society, a persistent attempt made to represent it as hostile to publishers. This is, of course, the trick of the fraudulent publisher in order to cover his own iniquity. He pretends that not only he himself, but all the fraternity, are attacked. We will repeat, if necessary, with every number of the Author, that the Society fully recognises the necessity and the justice of allowing the publisher his just fees and share of the property whose rents he collects and which he manages. Like the solicitor, too, he must be paid first- But he must not make secret—which are fraudulent—profits. And in every agreement it must be clearly understood what share he is to receive, without any other secret—and fraudulent—profits. What is this share? Is it possible to arrive at a method of publishing which can be applied to every form of book alike, whether cheap or dear, large or small? Perhaps. Let us try. We will state the problem in plain language, and refer it to our members. Perhaps between us all an answer may be found. Suppose that answer will not be accepted by publishers? Well, in the present competitive condition of business no method based upon fair play is in the least likely to be refused by the better houses. If it were refused, the next step would be easy. In point of fact, men and women of letters have their independence in their own hands, if they choose to accept it on the only possible terms. They must cease, absolutely and at once, from believing that the material side of literature is a branch of gambling; they must cease from prating nonsense about publishers' generosity—a jargon as degrading to letters as it is mischievous and false in fact; they must regard their work as property for the administration of which they must pay; they must regard those who want to administrate it as they regard solicitors, of whom some are good and honourable, some indifferent, many dishonest and incapable; and, above all, thev must desist from talking as if the material side was beneath their dignity. The material side is everything; properly treated it gives indepen- dence and freedom to the artistic side; it must be watched jealously, closely, continually. Where wealth is gathered, thither flock the thieves; where property is to be administered, thither flock the rogues who hope to steal that property. Not to watch over property is the attitude of a madman;  ## p. 353 (#757) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 353 to drop contentedly into the nttitudc of a mendi- cant is the act of a slave. What literature—what art—comes from the bondsman? What—where —of what quality—are the fruits of Grub Street? All this is very different from clutching greedily after guineas. One does not desire that literature should be followed as a means of acquiring immense fortunes, nor does one envy in the least a successful publisher who honourably accumulates an immense fortune. But we must no longer ask what a publisher will give; the question henceforth must be what the book will bring in—if anything—on a definite system. That this will be the attitude—this the question—of the future admits of no doubt. That it will become immediately the attitude of all writers is matter of considerable doubt. Let those begin, at least, who have already achieved such a measure of success as will make that attitude possible. Consider, for a moment, the change which will be effected by the adoption of a common and recognised method of publishing. The author will have no trouble in bargaining; he will simply offer his book; he will understand his own popularity— if ho has any; the extent and nature of his own following; he will be in true partnership with his publisher; be will be under no delusions; ho will suspect no tricks; the accounts which concern his work will be his own, for inspection whenever he pleases. There will be no affectation of generosity on the one hand, no attitude of mendicancy on the other; there will bo no suspicion of trickery; both parties to the agreement will stand upright, man with man. Compare this independence, this openness, with the sullen suspicion, the jealousy, the smouldering wrath, the outspoken accusations which prevail at the present day. Listen to the talk of authors among themselves; listen to the stories they whisper or suggest of fraud and treachery ; some of them get into these columns, but not a fiftieth of what arc told. Are they all true? Those that we give are true, not all the rest; but they are all founded on suspicion, or on cases that are, unhappily, true to the letter. One would have thought that men engaged in this business would catch at anything—anything—that promised to relieve them of this atmosphere of suspicion. This, however, has not generally proved to be the case. Everything is in the hands of men and women of letters. But they must learn to act together, with common objects and that amount of confidence which springs from the possession of common interests. The Society has from the outset re- garded common action as one of the most inq>ortiint objects to be realised. Understand. No con- cession of individual freedom is desired. In the world of letters, foolishly called a Bepublic, where there is no equality jwssible, every man must stand apart and individual. But every man is not necessarily the enemy of every other man. There are common interests. Where these are concerned let us be friends; where they are not concerned, we need not be deadly enemies to each other, even though there may be disagreements. It is time that the old brutal slogging and hammering of author by author should cease—most of it, indeed, has ceased; it is more than time that men of letters should adopt those outward forms of respect towards each other which are enforced in the professions of the law and medicine. This does not preclude criticism. When a man sends his book to be criticised, he invites a judgment; he has no right to complain if that judgment is harsh; he has invited an opinion. But for a man to go out of his way in order to attack, wantonly, spitefully, and maliciously a man of the same calling, deliberately to sit down unasked, unprovoked, in order to stab a member of the same calling; deli- berately to besmirch a reputation by throwing mud, like a dirty little schoolboy; deliberately to insult another writer for the mere enjoyment of insult—■ all this is plainly and simply brutal and black- guard. A barrister who should dare to do such a thing would be disbarred; a physician would be expelled the college; in private life a man who should wantonly insult another man at a club would have his name removed. There ought to bo —there must be—found some way in which such men shall be made to feel that they arc exactly in the same position as those lawyers, physicians, or club men who have been expelled from the society of their brethren. Who, it may be asked, does such things? Perhaps, no one. The question may be answered by any reader for himself. The dependence of writers is, no doubt, greatly increased by the continual influx of those who have no business to take up literature as a profession, and no capacity to do more than the production of books which are not wanted, and of literary work which is purely hack. There must always be such writers. Let us do our best to urge and persuade those who would swell the unhappy ranks that in any other line—any other—a more easy living, with more money, more independence, more self- respect can be obtained than in the lowest walks of literature. If they must and will write—the impulse is sometimes as strong for the incompetent as for those who have the gift—let them take up some other position and give to writing their spare hours. Every member who sends his yearly guinea enables the Society to act for other members. This is the first step towards common action in matters connected with law and property. The creation of public opinion as regards literature as a calling has yet to be achieved. It may prove C c 2  ## p. 354 (#758) ############################################ 354 THE AUTHOR. difficult, but so much has been done already, owing to the efforts of the Society, that it does not seem impossible. And we look for the co-operation of editors in the enforcement of these outward forms of respect. Without them, indeed, the profession of letters would long since have been an arena of maddened gladiators. The newly formed Authors' Club will also prove of assistance in this respect. The club, even if it does nothing more, will make it difficult for men who meet in friendliness to go away and stab each other in spite and malice. The newly formed Writers' Club should exercise a similarly beneficent effect upon ladies. We have spoken of the work already effected by this Society. It. has already taught those who have work to produce what it will cost to produce; it has enabled them to understand, for the first time in the history of literature, what agreements mean. And it has made publishers far more care- ful in the agreements which they submit to authors. The old cynical impudence with which arrange- ments, ridiculously unfair, used to be offered, has almost vanished, while certain firms which a year or two ago were remarkable for barefaced trading on the ignorance of their clients, are now offering agreements which leave little to desire. The Society does not propose to arrogate to itself the functions of a judge; it neither protends to punish, nor does it bear malice; where fair agreements are offered, the past may be forgotten. But it does its best to keep away from fraudulent houses as much work as it possibly can. This course it has pursued for seven years with satisfactory success; it. has mulcted certain houses in many thousands of pounds; it has taken out of their hands authors by the dozen j and this course it will still continue to pursue. «~*-» THE STORY OF ANITA. IT became ridiculous; it became proverbial; it became maddening. What was there in the commonplace work of this commonplace girl —they liked the double use of the adjective- commonplace, they said—that caused her work to be taken by magazines—paid for properly, mind, with good sound substantial cheques—to be accepted by publishers and issued in series which included some of the very biggest names? Other maidens with similar ambitions, curiously turned over the leaves of her stories and tossed them contemptuously one to the other. Some said, " Well!" and it was as if there were rivers and lakes dammed up behind. Others said, " Ah!" and it was as if a cataract was ready to leap and bound. Others again looked round them and asked of the silent heavens, the patient earth, and the unsympathetic ocean, " Can anyone tell me why?" For it could not be denied, even by Anita's worst enemies, to say nothing of her most bosomly friends, that her tales were commonplace in the conception, slovenly in their execution, and vulgar in sentiment; that her plots were old, feeble, and ridiculous, and the style was what is commonly called that of the school girl. "Anita Palaska has got a story in the Chcapside this month!" It was in one of the halls of the British Museum. There were half-a-dozen girls talking together. She who spoke had the dis- cordant tones of envy. "She had one in the Hat/market last month!" With a wail of pain. "And one in the Regent Street the month before!" The voice was that of one who prefers an accusation against fate. "And she is doing a weekly fashion letter for the Young Ductess!" This in a minor key, as of one reciting a Penitential Psalm. "And oh !" cried another, "Mr. Cyril Muckle- more is announcing a new novel by Anita Palaska. 'Preparing. Will be ready in a month.' Ah! Can anyone—will anyone—anyone tell me why?" It was as the cry of a Lost Soul, antl along the sonorous ceiling of that vast hall rolled the notes, echoing as they rolled, " tell me why—why—hy—y —y—y." "I have read everything Anita has ever written," said one, " and there is not a lino, or a sentence, or a character—not a situation or a thought—which is not feeble and commonplace. Not one. All as commonplace as her appearance." "Well, my dear," murmured a bosom friend, "you certainly ought to be a judge of the commonplace." But she said aloud, "I have tried to read our Anita, and I confess that I cannot." They all had desks and drawers and chests and boxes full of MSS.—these inky Graces. They were all mad—insatiably mad—for literary fame. They were all poor, badly dressed, and insufficiently fed; they wanted dollars almost as much as they wanted literary fame. And here was Anita—one of themselves—who twelve months before had been in the same quagmire of neglect and contempt with themselves, now blossoming into a popular author. The thing called for a universal sniff to begin with—wrath could come after, but the sniff came first—a thing so absurd, so foolish, so unjust—a popular—popular—Hear! Oh Heavens! Anita Palaska was already a popular—popular—popular author, while they— they—they—the unsuccessful—those of the inky  ## p. 355 (#759) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 355 fingers—were as much on the outside as the Foolish Virgins! What did it mean? By what magic did Anita persuade editors to take her stuff? Let the truth be told plainly—her skimble skamble, foolish, futile, commonplace, weary, dreary, languid, miserable, copied, imitated, second-hand, humbug- ging stuff—while her sisters had their works—far better—everyone knew it, and was not ashamed to say it—better? Gracious! Comparison was out of the question.—Their lovely work returned, hurled back in their faces, with a slap of contempt, so that all the cheeks of all these maidens were always red and glowing, and their eyes aflame with rage, and their tongues like forked serpents charged with venom and hatred, and spite, and all uncharitablcness. There is nothing in the world for these cpialities like a disappointed literary woman, unless it is the disappointed literary man. It will be readily understood tiiat whenever these angry and defeated ladies met together the conversation speedily turned on the success— tenqwrary only — everyone agreed upon that— of their more fortunate sister. And the talk always assumed such a character as that indicated above. One day, then, while three or four of them were gathered together in the luncheon room of the Museum, that Tavern with the sign of the Inky Finger, the Spirit of Envy being in their midst, the subject of their discourse appeared. She opened the door and stood there for a moment smiling. By the quick snap of all the mouths; by the quick glance of all the eyes; by the little shudder which ran round the group; by the little blush of shame; by the sudden silence, it was plain to Anita, being a woman of at least ordinary intelligence, that they were talking about her. At this she was not surprised; she knew even the kind of discourse they would be holding about her. In such matters a girl has but one rule of judgment. She puts herself in the place of the others. Anita Palaska was a tall and rather fine-looking girl — her friends said that her real name — but that matters nothing. She looked English and had a foreign name—a Servian name? A Polish name? A Czetch name ?—what does it matter? Almost a handsome woman, large and generous in her proportions, and about 24 years of age. "Commonplace in her appearance," said her friends. Not quite. These ladies were not, perhaps, the best judges of what is attractive in a woman where man is concerned. Nor did they understand in the least—certainly they had never had an oppor- tunity of observing—the latent power in Anita's eyes. They could not even guess how those eyes could dilate; how they could tremble; how they could fascinate; how they could flicker; how they could mean wonderful inexpressible things; how they were, as she pleased, persuasive, coaxing, innocent, limpid, loving, fresh, candid, sincere, alluring, promising, saintly. Her friends never even suspected the magic, and said she was as commonplace in her style as in her manner. Poor deluded girls! As for literary style, that may be conceded. For her manner, however— "I have been correcting my new proofs," she said, addressing the assemblage. "My story is going into the Cheapside this month." "So we see," said the eldest of the damsels, with a little prolongation of the sibilant. "We were just asking each other if you would be kind enough to tell us the secret of your success, which, indeed, we cannot understand. Your stories, of course, are taken on their merits. . . ." She tossed her head. Anita laughed softly. "Outside the profession I should say, ' Send in good work and it will be taken.' To you I cannot say that." "No, no." They all hastened to exclaim assent. Had they not all—to a female—sent in good work which had been sent back to them? And Anita had sent in bad work and it was accepted. "No. To you I say this: There are just a few living writers who really have got the art of writing attractively. They are very few. Everybody wants their work, and there isn't enough to go round. Then there are a great many who all write up to a certain level, and that a low level. Now do you begin to understand?" They did not. They shook their heads. Each one felt that she, in fact, was a good bit above the level achieved by her sisters. "Well, it is so, however. And the great diffi- culty of editors is to select from this vast expanse of commonplace something a little better than the rest. Now do you see?" She spoke very sweetly, and they began to see, and the gleam of that new light brought fire into their hearts which burned them up, internally. "I am not a ltudyard Kipling nor a Barrie," Anita went on, modestly, " I don't pretend to such great ness. But I may be—you see—a little—just a wee bit—above the general level of those who send in contributions. That is why I am accepted. Only ever so little above the commonplace. The expla- nation is quite easy. You have only to be a little, very little, bit above the average level." She nodded pleasantly, and took a table by herself, where she taxed the resources of the establishment for her selfish gourmandise. And the rest felt themselves—all—all—lying on the low, cold, watery, despised levels of incompetence. They crept back to their work, one after the other, unhappy, crushed, trodden upon.  ## p. 356 (#760) ############################################ 356 THE AUTHOR. Anita, luncheon despatched, took a MS. out of her hand bag, and run through it hurriedly. "I think it will do," she said. "At all events, if it won't do he must make it do. If it is not good when he's dressed it up, it is his fault, not mine." She put it back—rose—and walked away. The editor of the Ilaymarltct sat in his room at work. It was a cosy room, with one or two comfortable chairs and a bright fire and the appear- ance of seclusion, with a window which looked out upon a quiet churchyard, not yet turned into a playground. A boy brought him a card. He read it; he changed colour; he put it down. "I am busy," he said. "Lady says she can wait any time," replied the boy. "She's taken a chair and a book." "In that case—show her up," replied the editor desperately. She came in smiling sweetly. She gave him her hand; nay, she pressed his hand tenderly with her softly gloved fingers. For purposes of pres- sure, the persuasive cover of a Swede is better than the nudity of bony and knuckly fingers. "Best of editors," she murmured. "What can I do for you, Miss Palaska?" "Fie! last time it was Anita—so—now we are friends again. Between friends everything is easy. I have brought you—" she opened her bag and af- fected not to hear his groan—"a MS. This is really very, very much better than the last. Oh ! I know there were weak—terribly weak—points about that tale, though your beautiful touches improved it so wonderfully. This, however, is much better. It is quite, quite an original story. I will tell it you in brief. There are two most charming lovers—girl like me, you know—and the man—vain creature! you look in the glass! They are separated by a horrid lack of money. There is little hope, but when things arc desperate, her long-lost uncle comes from India. Oh! it is beautifully original and full of pathos. I know you will like it. I wrote it on purpose for you—for you—my best of editors. She laid the MS. on the table, and touched his hand with her's accidentally. Were there ever such eyes, so full of admiration, of respect, of humble handmaidenly devotion? Was there ever a face so full of tender interest and sympathy? "You are quite well?" she asked, "Quite— quite well? Do they watch you enough? You are not working too hard or anything? You are not in love, are you?" She laughed softly and consciously. Now this wretched man had a wife— but he trembled and he reddened, and he murmured, "Except with you, Anita? Impossible." He leaned his face; he kissed her forehead. She held his hand, and her eyes lay upon his face like sunshine, filling it with glow and radiance. Then she rose. "You will put it in the very next number? Dear friend! make any altera- tions—any. Farewell!" She left him. The moment after she left the room, the spell of those eyes died away. He took up the MS.—looked into it—fell into a blind rage over it—hurled it on the floor and jumped upon it. Then he picked it up and smoothed it out, and spent the rest of that day and the whole of the next in correcting it and re-writing it. But it still remained, after his corrections, about as bad a paper as the magazine had ever seen. And he knew that unkind things would be said about it, and perhaps the proprietor might .... Anita went away with a dancing step and a laughing eye. This time she was going to see the publisher of her new novel, Mr. Cyril Mueklemore. He was an aged gentleman whose brows had long been frosted. As for his reputation, it was like unto that of the nether millstone. Anita possessed an agreement-signed by Mr. Cyril Mueklemore—the beautiful Christian name inspired confidence—in which the firm agreed and bargained to give her a deferred royalty. She was to receive 16s. a copy after the first 500 had been sold. It was a noble offer. No other house, Mr. Cyril Mueklemore assured her, would possibly make such an offer. In fact, as the libraries did not give him so much for a copy, it was what the world would call princely. Mr. Mucklemore's record is full of such princely episodes. But the good and generous patron of literature could very well afford these noble terms, because, you see, he knew very well that 3oo copies would be the very utmost that he could cram down the throats of the libraries, and nobody outside the libraries would buy one single copy. Therefore he had had an edition of 35o, and no more, printed, and he had already distributed the type. But this he did not tell the author. When the proper time came, he would be the first to lament the failure of the work, and to express regrets more on the author's account than on his own. As a matter of fact, he proposed to make a nice little profit of £100 and more, to the author's double duck's egg. "You think," said a certain adviser of Anita—a male novelist—" that old Mueklemore mains to let you have any money? Not he. I know his tricks and his ways. Not a penny will you ever get out of him." In fact, this good old man had the warm heart and the kind word of every author who had ever gone to him. Hence his princely fortune; hence, too, or closely connected with the warm heart and the kind word, was his eminent piety, for he was of a very advanced and stalwart form of Christianity, and in his will he has endowed a college for decayed—but this is anticipating the charitable intentions of a good and great man. "I think," said Anita, "that Mr. Mueklemore will  ## p. 357 (#761) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 357 be persuaded to give me a cheque on account." Her adviser laughed scornfully. Anita smiled darkly, mysteriously. "If you are a witch, Anita . . ." She smik'd again, and she sallied forth. "Dear Mr. Mucklemore !" said Anita, sinking into a chair and holding the hand of this Christian person in her own. "You are well? You look anxious. Do they consider you enough? Do they watch over you? You are not worried about anything? Have wicked men written you angry letters? You are not—Oh! you are not—anxious about my little book, are you? Dear Mr. Muckle- more! I could never forgive myself if I thought you were going to lose money over my little venture." "No, I shall not lose much money," said Mr. Mucklemore. A benevolent smile stole over his countenance. "Not more than I can afford, over your little book, Miss Palaska." He looked down upon her with a certain growing interest. The damsel was comely, and she met bis wrinkled old eyes with looks so full of sympathy, that he began to forget his seventy years. She certainly did show for him a tenderness and a consideration—and, could he be seventy? Those eyes—those eyes—" I feel your kindness so much, dear Mr. Mucklemore —Oh! so very, very much. I feel almost like a daughter to you." "Yet I can never feel like a father to you," replied the Inflammatory Old. "No? Well you are quite as kind as a father to me, anyhow. You may call your kindness what you please, dear Mr. Mucklemore." They were quite alone. Mr. Mucklemore melted. He felt less and less like a father. He told her that she reminded him of his young days, and that she made him lament his youth, and that he thought such an interest in a girl as he now felt had long since gone, and presently he had his benevolent old arms round her slender waist. Nobody would have recognised at that beatific moment the saintly Mr. Mucklemore. Presently Anita drew herself slowly away from this glimpse of Eden. "Dear Mr. Mucklemore," she murmured, "you must not take advantage of woman's weakness. But you will always be young in heart." "Um—urn—urn," murmured the Inflammatory over her fingers. "And oh!" continued Anita, "How good it is when one no longer—quite—so young is so young." "To you, Miss Palaska—Anita "—he became poetical with passion—the Passionate Publisher— "Methusalem would be young, and old Parr himself a boy in buttons." "Flatterer! But why did I call here this morning? You make me forget everything, even that I am wasting your most valuable time, and outside—outside," she said this without a ghost of a smile, "there are a dozen people at least waiting to bless your generous heart." Ho caught her by the hand, again murmuring his " Um—um —um." "What I came to say is only this, dear Mr. Mucklemore. You have given me an agree- ment by which you promise me a royalty—a most generous royalty—of 16s. a copy when ooo have been sold. You are the only man in the profession, everybody tells me, who would ever make such a splendid offer to a novelist. How can I ever sufficiently thank you? Meanwhile sit down, my dear friend, and write me a cheque for a £100—a little £i5o — that will do—in advance, and on account of those royalties." He did it. He did it without a word, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do, and yet, as you have heard, he had only printed 35o copies, and the type was already distributed. Now you understand the secret of Anita's success, and yet they said she was as commonplace in appearance as in style. Something has happened, however. No one knows how these things do happen. Some one must have communicated the thing under promise of secrecy; then it got whispered in a club smoking- room—but nobody knows. Only one day, when Anita called with a new MS. upon one of her editors, she was coldly received, and was presently informed in plain words that her work could no longer be received in exchange for the pressure of a hand, and the kindly light of pretty eyes. She went away, feeling sad, and called on another editor. The same reception awaited her, almost in the same words. And good old Mr. Cyril Mucklemore has gone, and his heir has discovered that Anita's last novel resulted in a real loss. "I am going"—Anita was sitting with her friends, the Children of Defeat, in the Tavern of the Inky Finger at the British Museum—" I am going very soon to New York. I have been very much disgusted of late about several little things. I thought that editors were gentlemen. Well, you will hardly believe it, but I have met once or twice with things—things, you know—one of them once actually wanted to kiss me." "Imposs sible," cried the young lady who had called Anita commonplace. "True—and another—and another. What is the world coming to? Well, of course I cannot any longer offer to contribute when such insults have been attempted, and I have been considering. Now, I find that the American magazines are far better, richer, and finer than our own; that they welcome good work ." Everybody coughed slightly.  ## p. 358 (#762) ############################################ 358 THE AUTHOR. "Work above the average, when they can get it —they pay four times as well—and their editors are high-souled gentlemen, incapable of insulting a lady. Oh! America is fast becoming the only country in the world for a gentlewoman. Chivalry has a new and a better home in Broadway." She got up and went away, conscious that she could not make a better exit. Yet they had called her as commonplace in style as in manner! "Oh!" cried one of them, who spoke for all, "what does it mean? Can anyone—anyone—tell me why?" Along the lofty walls and along the cornice of the panelled ceiling rolled, and rang, and echoed her question, "Tell me—tell me—why—why—by —hy—y—y—y—." ——-—♦-♦-« NOTES FROM PARIS. SEVERAL paragraph-writers, commenting on what I wrote last month about Ishmael sweating Ishmael, have asked me why I did not give the names of the " reputed author " who sweated, and of the " unfortunate youth" who was sweated in the case I cited. My principal reason was to avoid giving offence to the latter, who, being now a successful feuilletonist on his own account, would hardly have; liked the record of his early struggles made public. A secondary reason was that the "reputed author" would certainly have sent me a challenge, and I have had all the duelling I care for. It is not dangerous, but each duello cost you—for landau, refreshments, doctor's fee for attendance, and lunch to one's seconds at the Cafe Anglais after the affair—a matter of £i5, and, what is worse, obliges you to rise at the unearthly hour of half-past live. Now I do not think I could get up at half-past five even to be guillotined. Apropos of duelling, it is perhaps to be regretted that the fashion of it has gone out so completely in England. I fancy if it existed still the critics of one's works and persons would be more civil. I could not help thinking this as I read the notices about Mr. John Gray's translation of " Lc Baiser," produced at the beginning of this month at the Independent Theatre, and the abominably offensive personalities which were indulged in against him. I understand that he has commenced one suit for libel, but the majority of the critiques were not such as could be attacked in a court of law, and in this way would very summarily have been dealt with. English literary criticism, by the way, is a thing which French men of letters are totally unable to understand. I remember reading some of those malevolent critiques, for which a particular paper has gained a reputation and a sale amongst our splenetic fellow citizens, to a very prominent novelist here. He said, "If a Paris newspaper were to publish such critiques, everybody would be convinced that it was attempting to blackmail either the author or the publisher." I had con- siderable difficulty in persuading him that these notices were written with a certain amount of bona fides on the part of their authors. There is little or no criticism of general literature in Paris. In sending you a book for review the Paris publisher also sends you his card, and—with a priere (Tinserer-—a small printed notice of the book. If one can find room the notice goes in, if not it does not. One would never think of reading the book for the sake of writing a few lines about it, unless the author were a friend and one wanted to oblige him. It would not pay to do so. Three hours is the least one would spend in gaining an honest opinion of a book, and there are very few books on which, in justice to one's journal and to one's public, one could write a critique of more than, say, twenty lines. Fourpenee a line is the maximum rate for articles in a leading Paris paper, so that the remuneration for three hours of such labour would amount at the utmost to eight francs. Three francs would, however, be nearer the average. With coals at 5os. the ton in Paris, men of letters cannot work at those rates, and so literary critiques are not supplied to the Paris papers. Of course, when any big novel or book— a Daudet or a de Maupassant, a Zola or a Dumas —appears, all the papers review it. It is the actuality and is dealt with in the leading article or premier Paris. But the minor authors do not get reviewed at all and seem none the worse for it. Spiteful criticism of the kind which helps to sell a number of moribund publications in England is practically unknown here. It would soon be put a stop to were any innovator to introduce it. That innovator would have to be getting up early most days in the week, to have an excellent balance at his bank, or to have a very tough hide. The only man of letters here who is attacked in the British fashion of attack is George Ohnet, who is a cripple and cannot defend himself. It is all the more cniel that he feels it deeply. I have often found him almost prostrate with mortification at spiteful  ## p. 359 (#763) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 359 tilings which have appeared against him. I remember his once pathetically exclaiming to me, "I wonder why they so hate me, I am sure I have never done anything wrong. I never stole any spoons, and am a decent lived man as a whole." I suppose it is the phenomenal success of his books stirs the gale. It is fair to say that the attacks are made by nonentities, the same class, I presume, who harass the British author. George Ohnet works three hours a day regularly, during which time he writes four pages of small MS., amounting to about one thousand words. He then revises carefully, and, having finished his corrections, hands his MS. to his wife, who makes a beautifully neat fair copy for the printer. She is an immense admirer of his talent, but never allows herself to make any suggestions. A thing which always astonishes French men of letters is to hear a British author talking about the number of words his novel is to consist of. When you tell him that custom has it that a book to be sold at such a price has to contain a minimum of so many words, incredulity first, and then pity comes into their eyes. The commercial side of literary production is what they never can and never want to grasp. It may be accepted as a general rule that all lwoks, other than those of authors who have made a name, which are published in Paris are produced at the author's cost. A French publisher would never dream of risking a farthing in a publication. When Charpentier settled a small income on Emile Zola, to enable him to have leisure to write, he did a most unusual thing. On the other hand, I have never heard of any Parisian publisher practising the frauds by which most British amateur authors are victimised. An ordinary French novel or volume of poems will be produced in good style at from £20 to £32. As soon as a man gets a little known the best he can hope for is a sum of £10 on account of royalties for a novel or a volume of poems. The author in Paris who wants to make money tries for the newspaper serial stories. These are splendidly remunerated. The majority of French authors and poets, however, write for glory. It would be considered lunacy on a man's part to look for a living to the production of books. Those here—barring a few exceptions—who live by their pens are engaged in journalism or in writing for the stage. Many well-known writers VOL. II. follow commercial or professional pursuits. Huys- mann, for instance, is employed at one of the Government offices, and is partner in a bookbinding business. Alexander Dumas is tired of life in Paris. He is selling his mansion in the Avenue Villiers, and all the art treasures it contains, and is about to retire definitely to the country. Most enviable Alexander, tired of worlds to conquer. The catalogue of the books in the French National Library has at last, after years of labour, been completed. Some time, however, must elapse liefore this most interesting work can be published. It appears that the money for its publication is not forthcoming, and cannot be hoped for for some time. Yet France spends £40 a minute on her army. I wonder if ever we shall succeed in getting the author's rights to the benefit of his work as fully recognised in England as they are in France. Here is an instance of this recognition in France. A friend of mine, who is just now collaborating with Catulle Mendes on a play, told me a night or two ago that he receives annually a few sous as heir of his grandfather, who many years ago wrote the libretto of a certain operette, of which Offenbach, I think, wrote the music. Of this operette only one air has survived the change of taste, and it is constantly being fitted to fresh words of topical interest. During the Exhibition, for instance, it was to this tune that a song about the Eiffel Tower was set. The original libretto in general and the song to this air in particular have long since been forgotten, but French justice holds that the writer of the libretto to some extent suggests the music to the composer, and is therefore entitled to a certain share in the proceeds of the music, even if his words are no longer used. Accordingly, when- ever that song is sung, the heir of the man who wrote the original words to it is credited by the agencies with a certain per-centage of the composer's droits cTauteun I hear from Madrid that the widow of de Gonzales has just died in an almshouse. Gonzales was the Dumas of Spain, and his works are still immensely popular. He received very large sums from his publishers, but was a sad spendthrift, and would only work when need pressed him. At last his publishers agreed to give £12 a day against so much copy to be delivered daily. He used to fetch D d  ## p. 360 (#764) ############################################ 36° THE AUTHOR. his money every evening at six, then hasten off to a cafe and keep it up all night till five in the morning. Then he would begin dictating to a couple of secretaries, and his task lx'iug finished, would go to bed until the time came for fetching a fresh supply of doubloons. As a rule, he never had enough money left to pay the cab that took him to his publishers. These, by the way, are all millionaires, chiefly thanks to the Gonzales copy- rights. Why did they let his widow die in a work- house? It may not be generally known that Mr. Oscar Wilde is by maternal descent the grand-nephew of Charles Maturin, where " Melmoth the Wanderer" is at List attracting attention in England. I say "at last," inasmuch as it has been a classic for nearly sixty-five years in France and Germany. It won for its author the admiration of Balzac, and was a livre de chevet of Baudelaise. It contributed greatly to the literary movement in France in i83o. In the course of a conversation I had the other day with Mr. Ernest Renan, I happened to ask him his opinion about Emile Zola's work. These are his own words: "Zola! Nay, Monsieur, you must not ask me about him, for I have no opinion on him. It is low, far away, beneath. It is the mud, and a pity for French literature. I have a horror for what is coarse. At Pompeii, all that was coarse was secreted and hidden away. It is a pity we do not do the same in these days. I confess that I cannot understand how the French, so lettered, so scholarly and so full of taste, can tolerate such horrors as are the modern French novels." I must now ask Zola what he thinks of Mr. Renan's work. SPKING. Oil! to wake at early morning, and to hear the thrushes sing, To watch the steady sunshine stealing over everything. And to know that now, at last, is come the first wann day of spring! Oh! to open wide the window, and to taste the scented bree/e— Sweet and pungent from the breathing of the flowers and tlie trees, And to listen to the humming of the discontented bees! Oh! to step out on the grassplot and to note the sprinkled dew, To look above the lurk's song at the deep unfathomed blue, And to feel the world is still the same as springs ago we knew! Oh! to sit at noontide idle in the chestnut's flickering shade, To hear the cuckoo calling from every knoll and glade, And to catch the perfect harmony by Nature's discords made! Oh! to wander in the evening, with the pink clouds over- head, To listen to the nightingale when his song is freely shed, With one companion by my side, one dear friend, long since dead! Oh ! to tell out all my thoughts to her, my loneliuess and pain, Pale hopes and glowing memories, the toil of heart and brain, And all my deep delight and grief that Spring is come again '. Oh 1 to lie at night and listen to her solemn whispering, While I strain my soul to try and hear what tidings she may bring, And to learn if I may dare to look for everlasting Spring! F. Baykord Harrison. USEFUL BOOKS. It is reported that the Parisian publishers are organising an immense lottery by means of which to rid themselves of huge accumulations of unsold stock. The prizes will lie assortments of reading with a work of art (cruel distinction) thrown in. One publisher declares himself ready to contribute one hundred thousand volumes. And still the pens run on Robert H. Shekard. Paris, March, 20th, 1892. ACORRESPONDENT recently suggested the formation of a list of useful books, i.e., books useful to those engaged in literary work. Here is a contribution to such a list. No doubt others will help to swell the list and to make it really serviceable :— P. M. Roget. Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases. (Longmans.) T. Stormonth. Etymological and pronouncing Dictionary of the English Language. (Black- wood.) Webster's Complete Dictionary of the English Language. Authorised and unabridged Edition. New Edition. (Bell and Sons.) T. Walker. The Rhyming Dictionary of the English Language. (Routledge.)  ## p. 361 (#765) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 361 W. B. Hodgson. Errors in the use of English. (Edinburgh. Douglas.) E. A. Abbot. How to write clearly. (Seeley, Jackson, and Halliday.) Chambers's Encyclopaedia. New Edition. (Chambers.) E. C. Brewer. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Cassell. E. C. Brewer. The Header's Handbook. (Chatto and Windus.) W. J. Lowndes. Reference Catalogue of Current Literature. (t. K. Portescne. Subject Index of Modern Works added to the Library of the British Museum from 1880 to 1885. W. J. Stead. Annual Index of Periodicals and Photographs. E. B. Sargeant and B. Whitshaw. A Guide Hook to Books. NOTES AND NEWS. THE literary event of the month, the appear- ance of the President's Drama, occurs just as these proofs have been ptssed, too late for notice here. American rights, long sighed after, have now become American expectations. We have been accustomed to think of the United States as the author's land of milk and honey. Every- body who produces a book now looks to its reproduction and a wide popularity in America. With this view every publisher and most editors in the States are deluged with offers, and books are given to newspapers for nothing in order to get copyright. -Time will, of course, bring its experiences and its disappointments. It will be discovered that it is not enough to lie a British author in order to command success; but that one must also write what the American public want, anil that will be done very largely for them by their own authors. In the. case, however, of the men thev do want, an American author, on p. 346, shows pretty clearly what they may expect. The figures will come to some of us as a revelation. I commend for our very serious consideration certain passages in Mr. Itoliert Sherard's Notes from Paris in this number. French men of letters are, he says, wholly unable to understand the criticisms, spiteful and cruel, which appear in cer- tain English papers. The love of insult is kept in check by the fear of the duel. No French publisher ever dreams of risking a farthing in the production of a book. Strange! Every English publisher is vol.. n. always dreaming that he risks immense sums. Perhaps Mr. Sherard will give us more information on this side of French literature. Here is a very curious and complete coincidence. One day last year an unfortunate girl connected with one of the theatres in London committed suicide on account of some love disappointment. Just, before this event a story was given in at the office of the New York Herald, for the London Sunday edition, in which the life of this girl—of whom the author had never heard—her love business, and her suicide were all faithfully pour- trayed, anil her very name, with one vowel wrong, was also used. This curious coincidence happened to Mr. Joseph Forster. It was mentioned in the New York Herald—in the American edition—nt the time, but seems not to have attracted any attention. The New York Critic, referring to a certain paper on the work of the Society of Authors in the Forum for March, sums up the situation by saying that "the cases brought forward against certain publishers could very easily be parallelled in every other branch of business." That is very likely. Does that, however, concern us? Do a thousand wrongs justify one other wrong? But there are certain considerations which make our position different from that of other producers. We are for the most part robbed under the guise of friendship; the fraudulent publisher will not, if he can help it, allow the business to be treated as business; he must be considered as the confidential adviser and friend—the generous, disinterested, large-hearted friend. If these things, and things like them, go on in all other lines of business, then a time will come when the whole edifice of cor- ruption will fall to pieces; and if these things are done in the holv name of religion, then it is the worse for that, religion, and for the people who should be guided by that religion. Walt Whitman is dead. It is a long time since we heard that he was paralysed, though he has gone on working almost to the end. When, many years ago, his earliest volume came over here, it was handled at first by critics and by readers with disgust and contempt. Then came a reaction: the book so gross, so coarse, so misshapen, was found to have great thoughts in it. The reaction pre- vailed; the reputation of Walt Whitman has been growing steadily higher. He is said to have, now, more readers in this than in his own country. E e  ## p. 362 (#766) ############################################ 362 THE AUTHOR. On Wednesday, March the 9th, a bust of Richard Jefferies, executed by Miss Margaret Thomas, was unveiled in Salisbury Cathedral by the Bishop in the presence of the Dean and a small company. The inscription on the bust is as follows :—" To the memory of Richard Jefferies, born at. Coate, in the Parish of Chiseldon and County of Wilts, 6th November 1848. Died at Goring, in the County of Sussex, 14th August 1887. Who, ob- serving the works of Almighty God with a poet's eye, has enriched the literature of his country, and won for himself a place among those who have innde men happier and wiser." The Bishop made a short speech, followed by the Dean, who spoke; at greater length. It is very much to be regretted that not one of those who had promoted the acquisition of this monument, nor a single man of letters, except Mr. Lcith Derwent, who resides in Salisbury, was present, on this occasion. Not even the sculptor was in- vited to be present or informed of the time at which the ceremony would take place. The committee were absolutely ignored. This discourtesy, or neglect, was the sole cause of the absence from the ceremony of those who would otherwise have marked their respect and affection to the illustrious author by their presence. The chief credit for the idea of this bust must be assigned to Mr. A. W. Kinglake, of Haines Hill, Taunton. He it was who conceived the idea and would have carried it out single handed, but for ill-health, which obliged him to hand over the matter to a London committee. It is not the last, one hopes, of the many acts of national recognition which have been instituted by the creator of the Somersetshire Valhalla. The placing of the bust of Jefferies in Salisbury Cathedral reminds us of the great increase of interest in everything connected with the world of Fields and Hedges. To be sure, he was only one of a succession—Gilbert White of Selborne, Thomas Burrows, Jefferies—a very fine procession, not to speak of the scientific explorers, Romanes, Lubbock and others. But the succession has not ceased, it is carried on by more than one diligent and peacef ul lover of nature. One of the new books, by one of Gilbert White's successors, is in my hands. It is " Nature's Fairy Land," by H. W. S. Worsley-Benison, already in its fourth edition; a book that one may take up in the evening for a quiet hour; which carries you away into country scenes, and to lovely places; on the sands; among the gorse; in the garden. If one who is not a student of nature, yet a humble reader of books on nature—may name with commendation such a book, I venture to do so. It is never tedious; nor is it a catalogue, as some of Jefferies' earlier books were cruelly said to be; it is always pleasant, and always instructive. The late Lord Lytton died, pen in hand, correct- ing and finishing the verses which, under the name of " Marah," have just been produced in a collected form, and in a daintily bound volume (Longman). One more poem still remains to be published, after which there will be no more of Owen Meredith. Perhaps many of the readers of the Author may like to possess this volume as a memento of a man who valued the Society so highly, and hoped so much for its future. The following lines are from the Epilogue :— 1 My songs flit away on the wing; They are fledged with a smile or a sigh; Anil away with the songs that I sing Flit my joys, and my sorrows, and I. 2. For time, as it is, cannot stay, Nor again as it was, can it be; Disappearing and passing away Are the world, and the ages, and we. 3. Gone, even before we can go, Is our past, with its passions forgot, The tears of its wept-away woe, And its laughters that gladden us not. 4- The builder of heaven and of earth Is our own fickle fugitive breath; As it comes in the moment of birth, So it goes in the moment of death. 5. As the years were before we l>egan Shall the years be when we are no more; And between them the years of a man Are as waves the wind drives to the shore. 6. Back into the Infinite tend The creations that out of it start; Unto every beginning an end, And whatever arrives shall depart. 7- But I and my songs, for awhile, As together away on the wing We are borne with a sigh or a smile, Have been given this message to sing.  ## p. 363 (#767) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 8. The Now is an atom of sand, And the near is a perishing clod; But Afar is as Faery Land, And Beyond is the Bosom of God. In a talk on things literary, one chanced to say, "I am convinced that an uncomfortable pen, or paper of a kind to which I am not accustomed, makes twenty per cent, difference in the quantity I write under ordinary circumstances in a given time. I know that it is absurd to be affected by such trifles—but that is so." "It is not absurd at all," replied the other, a man of science, " but perfectly natural. You speak of the point of a pen, or the degree of rugosity of the surface of the paper as small things. Have you ever considered how very much smaller things are the molecules of the brain, and the infinitesimal changes taking place in them that are all the time guiding your hand and thought? It is only reasonable to suppose that living fibres of a delicacy so infinite would bo very much affected by finding their operations hindered by objects comparatively so large as the point of a pen, or the grain of the surface of a sheet of paper." Those who have visited the Shakespeare house at Stratford-on-Avon of late years will regret to learn that the curator who did so much to give interest to every object preserved there, Mr. Joseph Skipsey, has resigned the post. He has returned to his native country, and now resides at Newcastle. A volume of his collected poems has just been pub- lished by Walter Scott . Many of the pieces have, no doubt, been seen already by the poet's friends. The whole form a collection of singular interest. The charm of the verse lies chiefly in its simplicity and purity. The source of inspiration is the village, the country, the coal mine, the village beauty. For instance—there are certainly poems of a higher flight than this, but everybody will recognise the sweetness and simplicity of the following lines :— Coal black are the tresses of Fanny; But never a mortal could see The coal-coloured tresses of Annie, And be as a body could be. White, white is her forehead, and bonnie; And when she goes down to the well, The beat of the footsteps of Annie, The wrath of a tiger would quell. Bed, red are her round cheeks, and bonnie; And when she is knitting, her tone— The charm of the accents of Annie, Would ravish the heart of a stone. Nay, rare are her graces and many; But nothing whatever can be Compared to the sweet glance of Annie, The glance she has given to me. At the dinner held in aid of the Booksellers' Provident Institution, Mr. F. Macmillan, the chair- man, in support of his contention that MSS. are really read and considered, made an interesting statement. Out of 166 books, including new editions, issued by his firm last year, no fewer than 22, he said, were printed from 3i5 MSS. sent in without being invited. I have always stated my own conviction that in the more important houses all MSS. are fairly read and honestly considered, and it is satisfactory to obtain this confirmation of my view. There are, of course, only some people can never be persuaded of this, houses and houses, publishers and publishers, just as there are lawyers and lawyers. From informa- tion received one is quite certain that in some firms MSS. are not properly considered. The per-cent- age of books accepted, 22 out of 315, or 7 per cent., is much higher than that which other publishers have reported as the result of careful reading. Mr. F. Macmillan is reported to have dwelt with some emphasis on the identity of interests of author, publisher, and bookseller. It was rather dangerous, unless the chairman was willing to accept the logical consequence, to dwell too strongly on identity of interests, though no one in this Society has ever questioned this identity. For, if we are all agreed, as we should be, alxwt this identity of interests, we must therefore be agreed upon the necessity of a mutual understanding as to a just division of these interests. At present things are so constituted that the publisher knows the share of interest which goes to the bookseller, but the bookseller does not know the share that goes to the publisher. In the same way the author knows his share, but has l)een hitherto care- fully prevented from knowing the publisher's share. What recognition of identity of interests is that in which the publisher stands in the middle and says to the bookseller, "Here, my identically in- terested friend, is your share," and to the author, "Here is your share out of our identical interests. Mine? Oh '. mine is my own affair to myself."  ## p. 364 (#768) ############################################ 364 THE AUTHOR. Here, for instance, is a little sum for booksellers and authors alike to consider. For book, our old friend the 6s. novel. A successful book. Cost of production, say iod., in order to be liberal. The bookseller gives, say, 3s. ^d. for it, and sells it for 4.S. 6d. The author gets, say, 2d. in the shilling, or is. a copy. The publisher pays iorf. for it to the printer, binder, paper maker, and advertisements. lie gives the author is., and he gets 3s. \d. The interest of all three parties are identical, says Mr. F. Maemillan. Quite so. Identical must, I apprehend, be taken to mean equal. If not, what does it mean? Here, then, are the actual shares of the three persons concerned in the publication of that book :— The publisher gets 15. 6d. The bookseller gets 1*. zd. The author gets 1 s. Suppose it were agreed—no fraudulent cost of production being allowed, no charging for adver- tisements where nothing has been paid—to make the interests of all three actually identical, then each would make is. 3d. by every copy on a large sale. Shall we "go" for a real identity of interests? But in many cases the trade pays more than 3s, $d., and in many cases the author does not get so large a royalty as a sixth. Walter Besant. AN OLD MASTER. AMONG the best books of this season is "Melmoth the Wanderer," of which Messrs. Bentley and Son have just issued a new edi- tion, together with a portrait of the author, a very interesting account of his life, a chronology of his work, and a scholarly estimate of his literary position. "Melmoth the Wanderer" has been known to most readers by name, and many attracted by the chance mention of the work in the writings of— among others—Scott, Thackeray, and especially Balzac, have promised themselves that at some time or another they would read Maturin's masterpiece. Few, however, have carried out this resolution, for the book has been very hard to come by. One or two incomplete versions have been presented to the public in cheap form, hut for most of the people whose curiosity had been stimulated by Balzac, such editions have no existence, and for many years " Melmoth the Wanderer" has been rather a book-collector's prize. It has never fetched any maniacal price, but its rarity has l>een sufficiently pronounced to make it a stimulating object for a collector, and to preclude any wide knowledge of the story. And now that the story is offer*! to the public in a complete, convenient, and hand ome form, it will be interesting to see in what spirit it is read, and, indeed, if it is widely read at all. For undoubtedly "Melmoth" l>elongs to an old- fashioned class of books. It is one long record of horror and mystery, and the author's designs to produce thrills are such as are now-a-days likely to have but little effect. Satanic compacts and the crimes of the Inquisition have had their day, with the terrors of oubliettes and of madhouse cells. The latter have been pictured for us now so often, that they have not only lost through familiarity their power of shocking, but they have actually become forbidden subjects for an author, taking their place in the category of rescues from mad- bulls or rapidly incoming tides, of the heroine's sprained ankle, and of mistakes in the identity of twin-brethren. And of treaties with the devil, what is to be said? Does the consideration of these blood-signed contracts cause the skin to tighten or the scalp to lift? No longer. It is to be feared that our growth in wisdom has led to serious dimi- nution of our happiness in many ways, notably, that what we have gained in solid knowledge we have lost in airy illusion. A story of diablerie, to be successful as such, must at this time have something of the sad, cynical, humourous, extravagant touch, for as a l>ogey-man Satan has got behindhand. "Melmoth the Wanderer," though it is extravagant enough, is certainly not sad, humourous, or cynical. Yet it is very possible that the book will be a popular success, though its subject is rococo, its incidents familiar, and its treatment not too artistic. Then the Reverend C. Robert Maturin is about to enjoy at the end of the century some little measure of the fame that he enjoyed at its commencement. For the hare-brained Irish parson has a magnificent power of story-telling. His romancing is consistent and spontaneous, and the action of his drama is so quick that the absurdities pass unnoticed in the whirl of events. Though the mysterious appearance of the "Wanderer" may not bring terror to our souls, nor the baleful glare of his eyes seem to us to gain in malignity by the origin that is suggested for it, yet the note of horror is struck—even for us. And it is the author's triumph that this should l>e, for our own horror is a direct tribute to his skill in telling the story. It means that the reader has been convinced that what frightens all the bold bad men in the book so really and so terribly, must have its real and terrible side. He takes this for granted, and hurries on to see what is going to happen. It is something in the nature of an experiment to issue such a book in these davs, but it is more than  ## p. 365 (#769) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 365 possible that the excellence of the story will outweigh its absurdities, and will secure for it a big public. The cheap mutilated editions seem to have had a vogue, and was certainly directed rather to meet the demands of an uncritical public, asking only for a good interesting story, than to supply cultured taste with a curio to speculate over, or a text upon which to hang essays in celebration of the improve- ment of fiction. This new issue, with its elaborate and trustworthy editorial additions, should secure for Maturin a fresh crop of admirers.* O. J. OBSERVATIONS ON "THE TALE-TELLING ART" IN SIR WALTER SCOTT'S INTRODUCTIONS TO THE "WAVERLEY NOVELS." 11. HAVING learned what, in Sir Walter Scott's opinion, constitutes perfection in a romance, and in what quarters an author should seek for the elements of his stories, it will be natural next to enquire what Sir Walter Scott has to say respecting the choice of subjects. Here, may well be placed first an observation, which, though it says no more than Horace's— Sumite materiam vestris, qui scribitis, scquam Viribus.f and indeed, contains but a very trite truism, still expresses happily a fact with which all authors must reckon. "It is not sufficient that a mine be in itself rich and easily accessible; it is necessary that the engi- neer who explores it should himself, in mining phrase, have an accurate knowledge of the country, and possess the skill necessary to work it to advantage."—(Introduction to St. Ronan's Well.) In several passages bearing generally upon the choice of subject, Sir Walter Seott insists upon attaching paramount importance to novelty. This is not novelty in the sense of some theme or motif never before attempted. That kind of novelty, indeed, many would assert to be impossible of dis- covery: though it seems more temperate to doubt whether all the possible combinations of human existence could ever be exhausted; whilst La Fontaine has pertinently remarked— La feinte est an pays plcin de terres desertes, Tons les jours dos autcurs y font des decouvertes.J * Maturin, Charles Eobert. "Mclmoth the Wanderer." Bcntley. A new edition from the original text with n memoir and bibliography of Maturin's works. Frontispiece. 3 vols. t Ars Poetica, 38. J Fables, Livre 3, 1. The novelty, however, upon which Sir Walter Scott insists, consists in the choice by an author of subjects of a sort that he himself has never pre- viously treated. This the great novelist seems to hold indispensable to success. It would be inte- resting to know how far the experience of the living novelists of the present day corroborates or goes against Sir Walter Scott's view. Do they really find that they recruit additional readers, and increase the circulation of their works when they quit the particular kind of romance in which they have hitherto laboured, to attempt a story of an entirely different description? Or is their ex- perience quite the contrary? Certainly, it is a very common thing to hear the enthusiastic readers of a well-known author cry out at once, when he quits the themes with which be has hitherto dealt to break some new ground. "So-and-so's new book," they promptly declare, " is not a bit like any of the others. It is just like a tale by such-an-onc." And the speaker almost always goes on to say that he hates such-an-one's books. This seems to indicate that to continue to excel in stories of the type an author has found most congenial to his taste should lie his aim, rather than to attempt novelties. And that is what most of our present authors appear to do. But Sir Walter Scott very distinctly expresses his opinion, that no author should write many books of the same kind, and that, if he wishes to maintain his popularity, new departures are indispensable. So, after the publication of his Scotch novels, commencing with "Waverley," and ending with "The Bride of Lammermoor," Sir Walter Scott writes in the preface to " Ivanhoe "— "The author of the 'Waterley Novels' had hitherto proceeded in an unabated course of popu- larity, and might, in his peculiar district of lite- rature, have been termed L'Enfant Gate of success. It was plain, however, that frequent publication must finally wear out the public favour, unless some mode could be devised to give an appearance of novelty to subsequent productions. Scottish manners, Scottish dialect, and Scottish characters of note being those with which the author was most intimately and familiarly acquainted, were the groundwork upon which he had hitherto relied for giving effect to his narrative. It was, however, obvious that this kind of interest must in the end occasion a degree of sameness and repetition. . . . Nothing can be more dangerous for the fame of a professor of the fine arts than to permit (if ho can possibly prevent it) the character of a mannerist to be attached to him, or that he should be supposed capable of success only in a particular and limited style." In his very next novel, " The Monastery," he is again in quest of something new.  ## p. 366 (#770) ############################################ 366 THE AUTHOR. "There was a disadvantage ... in treading the Border district, for it had already been ran- sacked by the author himself, as well as others, and, unless presented uuder a new light, was likely to afford ground to the objection of crambe bis cocta. To attend the indispensable quality of novelty, something, it was thought, might be gained by contrasting the character of the vassals of the Church with those of the dependants of the Barons."—(Introduction to " The Monastery.") And again, in the "Introduction to St. Ronan's Well ": "This style of composition was adopted by the author rather from the tempting circum- stance of its offering some novelty in his com- positions, and avoiding worn-out characters and positions." It seems, therefore, that, in Sir Walter Scott's opinion, novelty in choice of subject is indis- pensable. Some general remarks upon how Sir Walter proceeded in the construction of his plots, con- tained in the "Prefatory Letter—Dr. Dryasdust to Captain Clutterbuck," preceding "Peveril of the Peak," have been already quoted in the previous paper. To these may be added a con- siderable number of hints and passages, some of them too long to be here quoted at full length, bearing upon several different sorts of romance. Historical romance may be first mentioned. On this important kind of fiction, in the opinion of many the highest form of which romance is capable, Sir Walter Scott has written a complete short treatise in the "Dedicatory Epistle to the Rev. Dr. Dryasdust," preceding "Ivanhoe." In the "Introduction to Ivanhoe" this letter is mentioned as a formal statement of the author's views respecting historical romance—"expressing the author's purpose and opinions in undertaking this species of composition." It is full of remarks of the highest suggestiveness, but the reader must be referred to it. The "Letter" is too long to be quoted in extenso, and the connection of the whole so close that the value of the remarks it contains would be seriously impaired by the separation of selected passages from the context. The " Letter" deals with most of the difficulties of historical romance, and, whilst replying to many of the ob- jections that have been raised against this form of fiction, enunciates those general principles which now seem to be pretty widely accepted as rules of the legitimate treatment of historical facts in fiction. Respecting stories whose date is, to quote the dramatist, "the present," Sir Walter Scott nowhere offers any particular suggestions, saving a few remarks upon " St. Ronan's Well," in the Introduc- tion to that story, which will be again mentioned presently. In the first chapter of "Waverley," however, he makes a remark which shows his opinion to have differed from that of more recent authors, who have found themes for successful fiction in every epoch. "A tale of manners, to be interesting, must, either refer to antiquity so great as to have become venerable, or it must bear a vivid reflec- tion of those scenes which are pissing daily before our eyes, and are interesting from their novelty." We seem to possess no English equivalent for the expressive German term Tendcnz-Roman. "The novel with a purpose" is undeniably an awkward phrase. Of the value of "the novel with a purpose" opinions differ widely. Not even Horace's dictum— Ouine tulit punctual, qui miscuit utile dulci.* can persuade some people to like powders in their jam. And it would seem that these may claim Sir Walter Scott as a supporter of their opinion. In the "Introduction to the Fortunes of Nigel " he writes, "I am, I own, no great believer in the moral utility to be derived from fictitious composi- tions." In the "Introductory Epistle " preceding the same work, he says frankly, " I write, I care not who knows it, for the general amusement." Romance with a supernatural element is at present extraordinarily popular. Respecting this supernatural element Sir Walter Scott has a good deal to say in the " Introductory Epistle—Captain Clutterbuck to Dr. Dryasdust," placed before " The Fortunes of Nigel" (dated 1822; "The Monas- tery" was published in 1820), and in the " Intro- duction to the Monastery " (dated 183o). All has reference to the " White Lady of Avenel," of whom he writes, "There is a general feeling that the AVhite Lady is no favourite." "The formidable objection of incrcditltis odi was applied to the White Lady." In the "Introductory Epistle" Sir AValter Scott makes rather merry over his unsuccessful introduction of the supernatural, confessing the White Lady " too fine drawn for the present taste of the public," and promising that his next novel shall contain "no dreams, or presages, or obscure allusions to future events. Not a Cock-lane scratch, my son—not one bounce or drum of Jedworth—not so much as a poor tick of a solitary death-watch in the wainscot. All is clear and above board—a Scots metaphysician might believe every word of it." Writing the "Introduction to the Monastery" eight years afterwards, Sir Walter Scott enters into a more serious discussion of his "White Lady," concluding by saying — "Either . . . the author executed his pur- pose indifferently, or the public did not approve of * Ars Poetica, 340.  ## p. 367 (#771) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 367 it. For the White Lady of Avenel was far from being popular. He does not now make the present statement in the view of arguing readers into a more favourable opinion on the subject, but merely with the purpose of exculpating himself from the charge of having wantonly intruded into the narrative a being of inconsistent powers and propensities." This certainly reads as if Sir Walter Scott would have liked to find his supernatural incidents acceptable to the public, even whilst he keenly felt the force of Horace's terrible incredulus odi. Indeed, the tone of the "Introduction to the Monastery" contrasts strongly with the scathing satire which Henry Fielding, in the first chapter of the eighth book of " Tom Jones," pours upon " that species of writing which is called the marvellous." The "Introduction to the Pirate " contains an interesting remark on "the explained super- natural." It refers to Morna. "The professed explanation of a tale, where appearances or incidents of a supernatural character are explained on natural causes, has often, in the winding up of the story, a degree of improbability almost equal to an absolute goblin tale." To come to the plots of particular novels. Four prefaces present features of more interest than others. The "Introduction to the Monastery" relates the whole genesis of that romance from the selection of the first elements upon which it was built. The "Introduction to the Fortunes of Nigel" is much more brief, but of a similar character. Sir Walter Scott himself says that it presents " the materials to which the author stands indebted for the composition of the . . novel." The short "Introduction to the Pirate" plainly shows that romance to have been principally sug- gested by a locality and its scenery, whilst some of the dramatic elements the author has worked into his tale are contained in the "Advertisement." Finally, the short "Introduction to St. Ronan's Well" affords a few hints of how the elements of Sir AValter Scott's one tale of contemporary man- ners were selected. It is impossible to present the substance of these Introductions in any form better than that in which they stand, and the reader is therefore referred to them. The result of a novelist's labours in shaping his plot is his scenario. Sir Walter Scott only twice alludes, incidentally, to any kind of sketch or plan of his romances. Waverley was written without a scenario. "I must frankly confess that the mode in which I conducted the story scarcely deserved the success which the romance afterwards attained. The tale of " Waverley " was put together with so little care that I cannot boast of having sketched any distinct plan of the work."—(General Preface to the Waverley Novels.) In the " Introductory Epistle " preceding " The Fortunes of Nigel" Sir AValter Scott speaks of finding a great difficulty in keeping to the scenario after he had made it. "You should take time at least to arrange your story," observes the captain. "Author. That is a sore point with me, my son. Believe me, I have not been fool enough to neglect ordinary precautions. I have repeatedly laid down my future work to scale. . . . But I think there is a demon who seats himself on the feather of my pen when I begin to write, and leads it astray from the purpose. Characters expand under my hand; incidents are multiplied; the story lingers, while the materials increase; my regular mansion turns out a gothic anomaly, and the work is closed long before I have attained the point I proposed." Some remarks of Sir Walter Scott's on characters, titles, and a few other matters remain, and shall form the subjects of another paper. Henry Cbesswell. AUTHOR AND EDITOE. 1. "Advice to Conthiijutors." THE " advice to contributors " published in the March number of the Author, although good, is not, in my opinion, the best that could be given to the ordinary or casual contributor, for (i) if you, a comparatively unknown writer, suggest a good subject to the editor of a magazine or news- paper he probably knows someone who will treat the subject in a manner which will surely commend itself to him, whilst with your treatment of it he may not be satisfied, consequently it often happens that the only reply received to a suggestion or offer of this kind is that the same subject is being treated by one of the regular staff, or that an article upon it is already in hand. (2.) To put any price on your contribution is a sure method of obtaining its prompt return unread and without thanks. To the third and fourth rules no objection can be raised, but with respect to the fifth, whether you keep one copy, or fifty, of your MS. is nothing whatever to do with the editor, although some editors assume that you do keep a copy, and, consequently, take less care of MSS. sent in. The best advice that can be given to intending contributors is that they obtain a personal intro- duction to the editor of the magazine to which they  ## p. 368 (#772) ############################################ 368 THE AUTHOR. wish to contribute. To produce good work, readable work, marketable work, is not to obtain the open sesame of the market, the entrance to which can be effected easily by the intervention of one of the select few in possession of it. This method is that usually followed, and is the plan adopted by many now successful writers; an entrance may be forced, but in this few succeed. Why should editors treat MSS. so badly? What right have they to scrawl hieroglyphics and ciphers of their own upon a neatly named and signed manuscript? What right have they to scribble "Declined with thanks upon paper which is not theirs? Is it editorial etiquette or sheer careless- ness that results in MSS. being returned stained with coffee and porter; torn and creased, and without a wrapper; with the author's name scrawled by an office lx>y on the back thereof, and a postage stamp of the lowest denomination affixed thereto, although the correct postage for return was forwarded? Publishers of the highest standing and editors of the most successful periodicals are the worst offenders: the second-rate men cannot afford to be rude: those wonderfully kind letters which the great literary men are said to write when they are forced to return a manuscript are things we never receive, but of which we frequently read. As often as not MSS. are returned without a word, printed or otherwise, sometimes with a stereotyped refusal, still less frequently they are refused by postcard; a most reprehensible method, although practised by at least one London quarterly and one London monthly. At the Authors' Club there should be an album for the original " D. W. T." forms of all periodicals; the future generation of editors may then learn which to avoid. There is enough and to spare of editorial etiquette in London, but the home of editorial courtesy is, at present, north of the Tweed, as the place aVhonneur will be accorded to the Scotch firms. G. W. If. No Use in Writing. "I have had so much trouble to get my MSS. stories out of the Family Hearthrug that I must give you my experience, and beg you, if you have not had yours back, to act somewhat as I did. First, I wrote and called in all five times. Then I wrote saying I should be obliged for an answer, 'Yes' or 'No' as to whether they had the MSS. or had lost them, and enclosed a stamped envelope. Still dead silence. Then I sailed down to the office with a new novel—not in MS.—under my arm, and said I had come to stop until my packet was found, or till the editor could give me an explana- tion. The man in charge was exceedingly rude, but I did not care in the least. I sat down on a shelf in front of the counter (not at all uncom- fortable if you get your back against the window), pulled out my book, and read steadily from 11.4.5 till 2 o'clock, without speaking or stirring, except to cut the page. At 2 p.m., the man in charge, who had spent the time in staring at me, and shuffling in and out of a back hole (where presumably the editor was hiding), suddenly found my story and handed it to me, but with no explanation. I thanked him, and begged him to request the editor to accept the stamped envelopes I had showered on him, as a slight recognition of his trouble, and caine off triumphant. I tell you all this, because I am convinced that you will not get your story back by writing for it." [The lady to whom this letter was written sent it on to us, and we are happy to reproduce it for the benefit of other people who may be thinking of sending manuscripts to the Family Hearthrug, so that they may consider before doing so, if they are of the temperament to stand such treatment, if they can afford to give stamps away by the hand-full, and to spend half a working day in recovering their own property from a person who proposes to keep it. There is also another point on which we must add a few lines of warning. When the MSS. have once been despatched, we arc often powerless to help the author. If they have been destroyed we cannot recover them. If it should be denied that they have ever been received, we cannot prove the opposite. If they have been lost we cannot find them. But if the author will only consult us before sending his MSS. to the editor at all we can advise him as to the course he should pursue.] III. A Kindness and its Sequel. Here is a case of kindness not often met with and worthy of record. Years ago I sent a MS. to an editor, who, declining it for his own paper, told me he had sent it on to a friend who would print it, and pay the same price per column. This was my first entrance into a periodical which has printed a number of articles during some 10 or 12 years. The periodicals were published respectively in New York and Boston; the editors were, or rather are, both Americans. Is such kindness only to be found across the ocean? Such certainly is my experience. S. B.  ## p. 369 (#773) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 369 IV. Returned Unread. "I should like to relate my recent experiences with MSS. I was careful to observe the rules of the magazine to which I sent them. I had them type-written, so that they should be clear to read. I then started the MS. on their travels, forwarding in my letter an addressed postcard to acknowledge the arrival of the parcel. One editor used the postcard to state that the work was not suitable, und sent it back without opening the parcel. Most editors stated that they were flooded with con- tributions, and unable to consider anything for months. Only two attempts were made to read the MS. Now, I conduct a provincial journal. Whenever I put in work of my own the circulation increases. My work, therefore, suits my readers. Why not the general mass of readers? How can I, however, get editors to consider it?" V. With no Name. May I call attention to a fact in my literary exi>erience which has puzzled me a good deal, but which some of your readers may be able to explain. Here it is. I have contributed verse of a lyrical type to a certain high class, well-known London journal. I was most liberally and promptly paid by them. But—and here the shoe pinches— they would not append either my name or initials to the poems. This omission, to a poet feeling his way, as it were, amid the labryinths leading to Fame's Temple, is a fatal one. The increase of reputation was the desideratum in my case, even more than the "jingle of the guineas," and I may safely say, my reputation would have been increased materially, owing to the high standing of the journal in question, had only my name appeared. The omission seems to me rather "rough" on the contributor. What should we think of a pub- lisher who accepted a volume of poems from a young author, conditionally on his name not appearing on the title page? The author might tell his friends, of course, but the world at large would be in the dark, unless he turned egotist, and wrote to all the papers avowing the authorship! His reputation would not be increased one jot, at any rate, for some time. The puzzle for me lies in the reason the editor in question had for omit ting my name or initials. I cannot conceive any possible reason. If good enough for insertion, why conceal the writer's name. B. VI. Long Kept, and then Returned. Here is a case in which a writer was invited by the editor of a certain magazine to send him a paper on a definite subject. This he did. The paper was kept for three years and a half (!) and then returned with a curt note to the effect that the editor could not use it "this year," and there- fore returned it. What is to be done in such a case? Obviously, a claim for compensation, for the editor was bound, having invited the work, to return it if it was not suitable within a reasonable time. CORRESPONDENCE. I. Novels on Commission. Sir, You have advised many an author on the production of his own books, and by far the most frequent advice that you have felt it your duty to give him has been—do not do it. "Our first impulse," says the Author of January last, "has always been to try and turn him (the would-be author) from his project, because it is our general experience that these undertakings end in dis- appointment." But although you thus make it your usual rule to dissuade authors from publishing upon commission you allow that in more than one special case it is to the author's advantage to bear the cost of production himself, and, indeed, in the article from which I have just quoted you pointed out—to me convincingly—that this was the right course to pursue with regard to certain scientific and professional books. I should like to persuade you to go one step further, and admit that it may be the right course to pursue when an author's first novel is the work under consideration. I recognise that it would be a dangerous ad- mission for our Society to make, and that once made it would expose the Society to the insinuation that it was ready to encourage incompetency— for a consideration. Now, Sir, as this is exactly what I understand we do not do, and as for one person who wants to publish a scientific treatise there must always be 20 who want to publish a romance, I venture to think that some steps might be taken to assist them in this object—some- times. Not generally, but sometimes. In fact, I think there should be added to the classes of books where the author is encouraged by you to take the actual cost upon himself—scientific books and trade books—a third class, viz., first novels. At the  ## p. 370 (#774) ############################################ 37° THE AUTHOR. risk of taking up too much of your valuable space, I have set clown a few facts which appear to iue to support my proposition :— (i.) It is extremely difficult for a new author— good, bad, or indifferent—to get an immediate hearing. (2.) Yet every distinguished author—good, bad, or indifferent, and some distinguished writers are by no means good writers—must have been a new author at the beginning.- (3.) It is a fact that more than one master-piece of fiction, in more than one language, has been rejected by publishers, and only readied the public after much delay, with infinite mortification to the author. (4.) At the present day a work of fiction does not require to be a masterpiece at all, to be a very saleable piece of property: certainly more copies have been sold of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab in five years, than of Rhoda Fleming in over twenty years. I think it must appear from those that there are arguments in favour of occasionally relaxing your rule, and of occasionally encouraging the new author to publish his own romance for himself. If a book is not good enough for a good publisher, it may be urged that it is not good enough for the public. But the public is not as critical either as the young critic would have it, or as the first-class publisher seems to consider it, and surely our society must beware, lest in attempting to act as a check upon the excesses of the incompetent, we withhold from the public, matter that it would have welcomed. And more care will have to be exer- cised on this point from day to day, as more people begin to wield a facile and fluent pen, and, as by the spread of education a larger public is provided, whose hunger for fiction is not attended with an over-critical palate. I believe that many a story-teller—no great genius, no possessor of a Vanity Fair or a Jane Eyre—but still able to write as good a book as many that are in print, might with advantage be encouraged to try his luck for himself. There is much against him, but if he does not do this, how is be to start, yet, once started, though, as I have said, no great genius, he may fill a want and make nn income. And what matter that two or three people fail, if the Society should be the means of one such success. I would respectfully urge that every new author's MS., when it has been read by one of our readers, and has met with some commendation, should be looked at by our secretary, or by a sub-committee appointed for the purpose. If on such scrutiny the work appeared saleable—not, perhaps, a work of high genius, if I may be excused the repetition, but saleable—the author may be encouraged, nay, helped to publish at his own risk, if no publisher could be found for him. Again, if such a com- mittee proved instrumental in placing on the market one or two good books, there are many publishers who would seriously consider MSS. vouched for by people who had shown their discrimination. A Member op the Society. [The Syndicate can always find for such a work an honourable publisher, who will take it on com- mission. The warning offered every month against paying for publication is directed against the ac- ceptance of the terms proposed by low-class firms, who delude their victims with hopes of great returns when failure is certain. In the case suggested by our correspondent, of a work well thought of by readers, yet refused by good houses, prolwbly on the ground of risk, and also refused by editors of magazines, it might be the best thing possible for the author to get it—with the advice and help of the Syndicate—printed at his own expense, and placed in the hands of a publisher on com- mission. This, for example, is exactly what was done by myself twenty years ago with my collaborateur in our first novel, with admirable results.—Ed.] II. The Library Stamp. A number of copies of my first book were taken on approval by a certain library, but as some of them failed to be sold, they were ultimately returned. All these were stamped with the ineffacable name of the library. Now, sir, when a person buys an old library book from this firm, an additional stamp is made on the fly-leaf, " Sold." Anyone, however, who now buys these returned copies of my book finds nothing but the name of the library embossed inside, and to all intents and purposes it would appear as though they had purloined them. I do not think it fair on the part of the firm thus to deface the books. It may be of interest to note, perhaps, that I have just had an article accepted by a magazine to which I forwarded it twenty-two months ago. Everything comes to him who waits. A Waiting One. III. How Books are not Read. The last number of the Author contained an interesting reply to a correspondent who wished to know "bow books get read." Recently I met with an amusing instance of how books come not to be read.  ## p. 371 (#775) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 371 I was witli a young lady, a great novel reader, in the chief circulating library of a large and fashionable watering place. My fair companion was complaining that she could find nothing new to read, and I suggested a recent novel, in my opinion a very good one, by a well-known author. "What, one of So-and-so's books!" exclaimed the lady indignantly. "As if I would read anything written by that man! Why, he lircs here!" IV. Mr. Traill's List of Poets. To my note of omissions in Mr. Traill's list of poets I would now add Mr. Joseph Skipsey " the poet of the coalfields," Mr. Alexander Anderson, "the railway surface-man," and, may I be per- mitted? Mr. Traill himself. Presumably Mr. Traill does not intend his list to include, living hymn writers, however excellent their work, or it would be easy to mention the Rev. Sabine Baring- Gould, Dr. Walsham How, the Rev. H. R. Haweis, and others. Mackenzie Bell. V. The Great Use of a Table of Contents. Permit me to congratulate the Author on the very good example it has set in having a good table of contents printed on the page which soonest meets the eye. Why do not all newspapers, magazines, and reviews do this? Some of them come out with no tables of contents at all, with the result that an author who wishes to consult some back number for information valuable to him may have to expend an hour on a search which ought not to take up more than a minute. I suppose the reason for placing a table of con- tents either in a bad place or in no place at all is that the best place is wanted for advertisements. But surely advertisers might fairly be asked to pay a little more for space in a page to which readers would be so much more frequently sent by a good table of contents. SCRIPTOR IgNOTUS. VI. Compositors' Errors. In the "long ago," before I had ventured to tread the thorny paths of authorship, or to commit my "flights of fancy" to the public gaze, I was accustomed, in all good faith, to attribute whatever mistakes or absurdities appeared in story or article to the carelessness or ignorance of the author, and many were the derisive epithets and contemptuous criticisms launched, in consequence, at his unconscious head. I no longer make that mistake; experience, aggravating and reiterated, has taught me to "saddle the right horse," which is (in nine cases out of ten) the compositor. Not, I hasten to add, in wholesome dread lest the present philippic should never see the light, your compositor in particular, Mr. Editor, but everybody's compositor. For from all quarters of the scribbling world the cry goes up. Even across the sacred pages of the Author itself is seen the "trail of the"—again discretion stays my hand. Now, in accordance with the axiom, old as the hills—older—that "where there is smoke there must bo fire," so, for a practice thus widely extended, there must be a reason. What is it? "The reason is soon given," replies the cynic, "you authors write so execrably that the unfortu- nate compositor, in despair of deciphering, makes a dash at the nearest word." Well, "I'm no denyin'," as Mrs. Poyser says, that some authors do write execrably, and some— do not—yet the result in print, is so nearly the same that there is no difference. My own cali- graphy, for instance, has frequently been " awarded honourable mention "; yet, when in a praiseworthy endeavour to be abreast of the times, I ventured to transform an ancient "spook" into a "Kama Rupa," Mr. Compositor swooped down upon the (presumably) unknown word, and promptly changed "Ka " into' " Ye "! By what peculiar obliquity of mental or physical vision he " mistook" such utterly dissimilar letters I do not pretend to say, but "Icama Rupa" the unfortunate ghost appeared —and remains. Should it meet the eye of any wandering tlicophist, I shall get the credit of having discovered (or invented) a new denizen of the " Astral Plane " !" You expect too much of the genus compositor," urge other apologists," they do not profess to be highly educated men, nor to lie gifted with an intuitive perception of the ortho- graphy of strange and obscure words." Granted. Then why not, in doubtful cases, act on the supposition that possibly the author may be the best judge of what he intended to convey, and just content themselves with copying the letters of the text? To illustrate once more from my own experience—it is nearest to hand, wherefore the egotism—I am addicted to the (from a compositor's point of view) reprehensible practice of occasionally using out-of-the-way words. People say 'tis "characteristic," which may be intended as a compliment—and may not. Anyway it is slightly  ## p. 372 (#776) ############################################ 372 THE A UTHOR. disconcerting when reading over one's productions in print, to find the word upon which one had relied to give a touch to the picture, or point to the story, transformed into something altogether different. "Homey," for instance (meaning home- lihe), invariably appears as "homely"; a good enough word in its way, but not at all carrying the meaning I wished to convey. Again, why should a compositor when "setting up " a chatty descrip- tion of a country ramble, substitute "lump" for "tump "(my "Is" and "ts " are not identical)? "Tump" means, as even his attendant imp could have told him, a " hillock"; while " lump" might be anything (from putty to pudding), but one would scarcely choose to sit down upon it! Then why, oh why, should the well-known process of expelling an obnoxious member from clubland be transformed into " blackmailing," suggesting Hounslow Heath rather than Piccadilly. But now the apologist waxes wrath and demands, "Did it never strike you that compositors often discharge their duties under extreme pressure, especially in newspaper work, which renders mistakes unavoidable? You would substitute a wrong letter now and then with the ' devil' waiting importunately at your elbow." I should—more than one! And doubtless hurry has much to answer for. I am sure it had when a devout old lady, who figures in a story for which I am respon- sible, was represented as indulging in "irreverent (irrelevant) remarks "! But, Inn ing conceded so much, I return to the charge, and, on the strength of accumulated evidence, culled from observation no less than experience, I assert (sealing thereby the fate of this article !) that " compositors' errors" are not chiefly due to bad writing, to ignorance, nor to haste, but to the compositor's overweening conceit. He thinks he knows better than the author, and "acts accordin'." On what other possible supposition could that unfortunate "spook" have been re-christened? Sylvia Neun. -c->oc "AT THE AUTHOR'S HEAD." "rpHE ^aw of the Press," by Joseph E. Fisher, I B.A., and James A. Strahan, LL.B., is a most valuable work, and editors and proprietors of newspapers are strongly recommended to keep a copy by them. The whole of the law relating to the press in this country has been gathered into a single volume, and the result is not only a compre- hensive but a lucid digest. The book contains the answers to numerous questions that have been put to us at this office, different chapters being devoted to the registration of newspapers, to the postal regulations, to lottery advertisements, to copyright of articles, to contributors' piracy, to libel as a civil injury, to criminal libel, i-.nd to the foreign press laws. The want of such a book must often have been felt by persons connected with the press, to whom a knowledge of their legal rights and of the responsibilities incurred in their business must be very valuable. The book is published by- Messrs. Clowes and Sons at 27, Fleet Street. A volume of short stories by the late Mr. Bales- tier, "The Average Woman," is to be issued, with a memoir by Mr. Henry James. Mrs. Edmonds has translated another Greek novel, which will be published by Fisher Unwin. Its title is "The Herb of Love," and it is a tale of peasant life laid in Eubcea. The customs and superstitions of that district form the groundwork of the story. Mr. Horace Victor's novel "Mariam" has been issued by Macmillan & Co. simultaneously in England and America. A Colonial edition has also been prepared. Messrs. Bentley and Son have done the lovers of old books and old fashions of sensation a veritable kindness in reprinting Maturin's "Melmoth the Wanderer." It is the book of the month, and its anonymous editor must be heartily congratulated on his prefatory notes. Mr. Evelyn Ballantyne contributes a paper on "Some Impressions of the Australian Stage" to the April number of the Theatre. An article on "The Milky Way," by Mr. J. E. Gore, F.R.A.S., appears in the Gentleman's Magazine for March; and another on " New and Variable Stars," with especial reference to the new star which recently blazed out in the Milky Way in Auriga, will appear in the same magazine for April. Messrs. Jarrold and Son have published "A Charge to keep," by Mr. P. A. Blyth; and the Religious Tract Society have published "The Inheritance of Little Amen," and "A Tale of a Sign Post," by the same author. Mr. Alfred H. Miles, editor of "The Poets and Poetry of the Century," is about to issue a new volume. It will discuss the women poets from Joanna Baillie to Mathilde Blind. The principle contributors of articles are Dr. Garnett, Mr. Ash- croft Noble, Dr. Japp, and Mr. Mackenzie Bell.  ## p. 373 (#777) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 373 .Mrs. Grimwood's first novel begins this week (April 2ii<l) in Mrs. Stannard's periodical, Winter's Magazine, as a serial. The profound impression created by the heroism of Mrs. Grimwood at Manipur, and the immense success of her book "My Three Years in Manipur," will doubtless cause her first effort in fiction to be read with unusual interest and curiosity. The story will afterwards be issued in volume form by Messrs. F. V. White & Co. John Strange Winter's latest shilling story has just made its appearance under the title of "Mere Luck." This is the twenty-first novel published by Messrs. White & Co. for this author. During the present month the same publishers will bring out .her long novel, which is now running in Lloyd's News under the title of "Justice." It will be remembered that Mr. Herbert Spencer produced a book under this title a few weeks before John Strange Winter's story began in Lloyd's New. Mr. Spencer very courteously waived all objection to the title being retained—thereby avoiding the great expense and inconvenience a change of title at the last moment would have involved. When the book appears in two-volume form next week it will bear the title of "Only Human." A new work of fiction by Mr. J. A. Steuart will appear during the present month. It will be published in the "Whitefriars' Library of Wit and Humour " under the title of "Life's Medley: or the Order of the Jolly Pashas." Mr. Steuart's last novel, " Kilgroom: a Story of Ireland," besides being very favourably received by the press, attracted the attention of Mr. Gladstone, who wrote to the author that " The praises deservedly given to Miss Lawless for her ' Hurrish' " were due to him," but in a higher degree for a fuller and better adjusted picture." Mr. Gladstone adds that he finds the story " truthful, national, and, highly inte- resting." The book is receiving attention abroad too. The Allr/cmcine Zeitung, in reviewing it the other day, called it a "striking romance," and, speaks of "the fine flow of the narrative, and the delicate characterization of the individual person- ages," adding that it gives an "unusually vivid picture of the Ireland of to-day." A new edition of "Kilgroom" will shortly be issued. ♦-»•♦-— NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. Theology. Davidson, Rev. A. B., D.D. The Book of the Prophet Eiekiel. With Notes and Introduction. "Cambridge Bihlc for Schools and Colleges." 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The Report of three Meetings on the general subject of Literature and its defence, held at "Willis's Eooms, March 1887. 4. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, g5, Strand, W.C.) 3*. 5. The History of the Societe des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigge, Secretary to the Society, is. 6. The Cost Of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, &c, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. Henry Glaisher, g5, Strand, W.C. 2s. 6d. 7. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprigge. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society's offices, the various kinds of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. Henry Glaisher, g5, Strand, W.C. 5s. 8. Copyright Law Reform. An Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill now before Parliament. With Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely. Eyre and Spottiswoode. is. 6rf. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 02 Issue 11 (April 1892) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 02 Issue 11 (April 1892) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&amp;view=1up&amp;seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1892-04-01-The-Author-2-11 publications The Author