https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/276/1895-05-01-The-Author-5-12.pdf bea2b3650ca7e26dcf90ad3fc01e278f PDF Text Text ���������������������������� 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 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) 1895-05-01 Volume 5 Issue 12 Pages Page range in volume 305–332 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18950501 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin C be El u t b or, (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CON DUCTIED BY WALTER BES ANT. VoI. W.-No. 12.] MAY 1, 1895. [PRICE SIXPENCE. For the Opinions earpressed in papers that are signed or initialled the Authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as eaſpressing the collective opinions of the committee unless they are officially signed by G. Herbert Thring, Sec. *-*. --> * = - HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and requests that all members not receiving an answer to important communications within two days will write to him without delay. All remittances show.ld be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered letter only. Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub- jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS. *-* -º a- - - WARNINGS AND ADWICE. I. RAWING THE AGREEMENT.-It is not generally understood that the author, as the vendor, has the absolute right of drafting the agreement upon whatever terms the transaction is to be carried out. Authors are strongly advised to exercise that right. In every form of business, this among others, the right of drawing the agreement rests with him who sells, leases, or has the control of the property. 2. SERIAL RIGHTS.—In selling Serial Rights remember that you may be selling the Serial Right for all time; that is, the Right to continue the production in papers. If you object to this, insert a clause to that effect. 3. STAMP You R AGREEMENTs. – Readers are most URGENTLY warned not to neglect stamping their agreements immediately after signature. If this precaution is neglected for two weeks, a fine of £10 must be paid before the agree- ment can be used as a legal document. In almost every case brought to the secretary the agreement, or the letter which serves for one, is forwarded without the stamp. The author may be assured that the other party to the agree- ment seldom neglects this simple precaution. The Society, to save trouble, undertakes to get all the agreements of members stamped for them at no ea'pense to themselves eacept the cost of the stamp. - WOL. W. 4. ASCERTAIN WHAT A PROPOSED AGREEMENT GIVES To BOTH SIDES BEFORE SIGNING IT.-Remember that an arrangement as to a joint venture in any other kind of busi- ness whatever would be instantly refused should either party refuse to show the books or to let it be known what share he reserved for himself. 5. LITERARY AGENTS.—Be very careful. You cannot be too careful as to the person whom yow appoint as your agent. Remember that you place your property almost un- reservedly in his hands. Your only safety is in consulting the Society, or some friend who has had personal experience of the agent. Do not trust advertisements alone. 6. COST OF PRODUCTION.--Never sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, until you have proved the figures. 7. CHOICE OF PUBLISHERS.–Never enter into any cor- respondence with publishers, especially with those who ad- vertise for MSS., who are not recommended by experienced friends or by this Society. 8. FUTURE WORK.—Never, on any account whatever, bind yourself down for future work to anyone. 9. PERSONAL RISK.—Never accept any pecuniary risk or responsibility whatever without advice. IO. REJECTED MSS.—Never, when a MS. has been re- fused by respectable houses, pay others, whatever promises they may put forward, for the production of the work. II. AMERICAN RIGHTS.—Never sign away American rights. Keep them by special clause. Refuse to sign any agreement containing a clause which reserves them for the publisher, unless for a substantial consideration. 12. CESSION OF COPYRIGHT.-Never sign any paper, either agreement or receipt, which gives away copyright, without advice. I3. ADVERTISEMENTS. —- Keep some control over the advertisements, if they affect your returns, by a clause in the agreement. 14. 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. Be yourself a business man. Society's Offices :— 4, PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN's INN FIELDs. * -- ~ *-* HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY, I. VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub. lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice F F 2  ## p. 306 (#320) ############################################ 306 THE AUTHOR. sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Com- mittee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually engaged upon such questions for us. 3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree- ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor- mation thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. If the examination of your previous business trans- actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should take advice as to a change of publishers. 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks of every publish- ing firm in the country. 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. - 8. Send to the Editor of the Author notes of everything important to literature that you may hear or meet with. 9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers:—(1) To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. > º: THE AUTHORS’ SYNDICATE, TEMBERS are informed: I. That the Authors' Syndicate takes charge of the business of members of the Society. That it submits MSS. to publishers and editors, concludes agree- ments, examines, passes, and collects accounts, and, gene- rally, relieves members of the trouble of managing business details. - 2. That the terms upon which its services can be secured will be forwarded upon detailed application. 3. That the Authors' Syndicate works only for those members of the Society whose work possesses a market value. 4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiations whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia- tions are placed eaclusively in its hands, and that all communications relating thereto are referred to it. 5. That clients can only be seen by the Director by appointment, and that, when possible, at least two days' notice should be given. 6. That every attempt is made to deal with all communi- cations promptly. That stamps should, in all cases, be sent to defray postage. 7. That the Authors' Syndicate does not invite. MSS. without previous correspondence ; does not hold itself responsible for MSS. forwarded without notice; and that in all cases MSS. must be accompanied by stamps to defray postage. 8. That the Syndicate undertakes arrangements for lectures by some of the leading members of the Society; that it has a “Transfer Department’’ for the sale and purchase of journals and periodicals; and that a “Register of Wants and Wanted '' is open. Members are invited to communicate their requirements to the Manager. There is an Honorary Advisory Committee, whose services will be called upon in any case of dispute or difficulty. It is perhaps necessary to state that the members of the Advisory Committee have no pecuniary interest whatever in the Syndicate. NOTICES. HE Editor of the Awthor begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and communications on all subjects connected with literature from members and others. Nothing can do more good to the Society than to make the Author complete, attractive, and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this work send their names and the special subjects on which they are willing to write P Communications for the Author should reach the Editor not later than the 21st of each month. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the 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 under- stood that the Society does not, under any circumstances, undertake the publication of MSS. The Authors’ Club is now open in its new premises, at 3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, &c. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year P If they will do this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the trouble of sending out a reminder. º Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the warning numbered (8). It is a most foolish and may be a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them- selves into literary bondage for three or five years P Those who possess the “Cost of Production ” are requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15 per cent. This means, for those who do not like the trouble  ## p. 307 (#321) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 3O7 of “doing sums,” the addition of three shillings in the pound on this head. In other words, if the cost of binding is set down in our book at eight pounds, to this must now be added twenty-four shillings more, so that it now stands at £948. The figures in our book are as near the exact truth as can be procured; but a printer's, or a binder's, bill is so elastic a thing that nothing more exact can be arrived at. Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged in the “Cost of Production” for advertising. Of course, we have not included any sums which may be charged for inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines, or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket, by inserting any number of advertisements in his own magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it. *-*. --> sº- ºr -ºss LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—CANADIAN COPYRIGHT. Ottawa, April 14. HE collection by Customs officials of the 12% per cent. author's royalty on reprints of British copyright works brought into Canada will not cease until the present Parlia- ment is dissolved. The view is now held by departmental experts that, until England consents to a Canadian copyright law, the royalty must be collected, as an Imperial statute cannot be over- ridden by a mere Canadian enactment.—Times, April 15, 1895. In the House of Commons at Ottawa yesterday, the Hon. G. E. Foster, Minister of Finance, announced that at the request of the Imperial Government a Canadian representative would be sent to England to discuss the copyright question personally with the Imperial authorities for the purpose of coming to an understanding. In the meantime the proclamation of the Canadian Copyright Act of 1889 would be withheld.— Times, April 23, 1895. II.—THE CANADIAN CASE. “Certain erroneous statements,” it is stated, “having been circulated with regard to the Canadian Copyright Act of 1889, it has been deemed advisable by the Copyright Association of Canada to issue the following statement:” The Canadian Copyright Act of 1889 was unanimously passed by the Parliament of Canada, and assented to by the Governor- General. - The Act was to come into operation on pro- clamation of the Governor-General. The Governor-General has not yet proclaimed the Act. The Canadian Government contend that they have the right to legislate fully on copyright, it being one of the classes of subjects intrusted to º Parliament of Canada by the B.N.A. Act of 1867. The following are among the reasons why the Act should be proclaimed: A Copyright analogous to a Patent. A copyright is analogous to a patent. Canadian Copyright Act is analogous to the Canadian Patent Act. The Patent Act requires manufacture in Canada. The Imperial Government did not disallow the Patent Act. The Imperial Government would not propose that a United States patentee, on securing the British patent, should thereby secure the Canadian patent. Why should the Imperial Government assure the United States author, that on securing copyright in Great Britain, he thereby secures copyright in Canada? Canada exclusively legislates as to the terms on which patents may be secured in Canada. Canada should be permitted to exercise the same powers as to the terms on which copyrights may be secured in Canada. The Canadian Market must not be sold. The United States publisher when buying from a British author the copyright for the United States, stipulates that Canada shall be included. Canadians resent this sale of their market, and persist in their claim to adopt such legislation as will put a stop thereto. Canadian Reprints cannot flood other Markets. The fear that Canadian publishers would flood the British and United States markets with cheap editions, is utterly unfounded, as the Copyright Acts of those countries prohibit the importation and sale of unauthorised editions, and impose a heavy penalty for violation of the law. Canadian publishers, therefore, could not flood either market with cheap editions. It has happened that orders for books sent to London have been returned with “cannot supply.” marked thereon, thus forcing Canadians to buy those books from the United States publishers. On the other hand, the British publisher prints a cheap edition of a work by a United States author. This cheap edition is exported to Canada. An illustration on this point is furnished in the case of F. Marion Crawford's book, “The Ralstons.” This book was published in the United States at 2 dollars. It was published simultaneously in Great Britain at 12s. But the British publishers printed a cheap Colonial edition which sold in Canada for 75 cents. This cheap  ## p. 308 (#322) ############################################ 308 THE AUTHOR. edition was on sale in Canada within a day or two after the publication of the United States 2 dollar edition. Here, then, is a British publisher issuing a cheap paper edition for sale in Canada—when one of the main objections of the opponents of the Canadian Act, which is made to do duty on every occasion, is that the Canadian publisher will issue cheap paper editions which will flood the United States market in competition with the more expensive United States editions ! . It must be distinctly understood, however, that this cheap paper edition, which is sold in Canada, does not flood the United States market, for the very excellent reason, already stated, that the United States Copyright Act prohibits its importation or sale in the United States. Imports allowed from Britain. The Canadian Act permits the importation of British editions of works, whether copyrighted here or published under the royalty clause of the Act; but excludes foreign editions. No Piracy in Canadian Act. Should the author (be he British or American) neglect to secure copyright in Great Britain, any publisher may reprint the work there without paying the author. Should the author neglect to secure copyright in the United States, any publisher may reprint the work there without paying the author. Should the author neglect to secure copyright in Canada, no Canadian publisher could reprint the work in Canada without paying the author Io per cent. royalty. It is therefore clearly seen that while the British and United States Acts permit the piracy of authors’ works, the Canadian Act does not. The Royalty Clause. The introduction of the royalty clause in the Canadian Act was not original with the promoters thereof. The idea was suggested by the Foreign Reprints Act, passed by the Imperial Parliament, which allows a United States publisher, or other foreign publisher, who has printed a copyright book without permission, to supply the Canadian market on payment of a royalty of I2; per cent. collected on the wholesale price of the book, which royalty goes to the British copyright owner. It was but natural for the Canadian to desire to be placed on an equal footing with the foreign publisher so far as his own market was concerned. Therefore a royalty of Io per cent. on the retail price of the book was suggested. Furthermore, many difficulties have been encountered in collecting the royalty on imports, it being almost impossible to keep a complete and accurate list at every Custom House, and to check every invoice therefrom. The collection of the royalty on reprints, on the other hand, is provided for by the Canadian Law in a perfectly safe manner, as the Inland Revenue Department is to stamp the title page of each copy of every book issued, and before this is done the royalty must be paid to the Government to the credit of the author. As a matter of fact, then, the author will exchange his royalty of I2; per cent. on imports, which is uncertain of collection, for a royalty on reprints of Io per cent. on the retail price, which is certain of collection. Geographical Position. In considering this question, the geographical position of Canada, side by side with the United States, ought not to be overlooked. This fact makes Canada's position very different indeed from that of any other British colony. Advantages given to Authors. Compare the United States Copyright Act, now in operation, with the Canadian Copyright Act, and it will be seen that many advantages are given to authors by the latter. To secure copyright in the United States, the British author must print his book there from type set within the limits of the United States, or from plates made from type set within the limits of the United States. The Canadian Act provides for no such restriction, but allows both British and United States authors to set the type in Canada, or print from plates, as they may think best. In anticipation of the Canadian Act coming into force, the Canadian Government passed a special enactment allowing plates for books to be imported into Canada free of duty. This concession was made, thinking that it would be appreciated, but those opposing the Act seem determined to ignore the concession. Yet the concession is there, and it proves that Canada. grants British authors copyright in Canada, on far more liberal terms than they can secure copy- right in the United States; and that Canada. grants United States authors copyright in Canada on far easier terms than Canadians are granted copyright in the United States. Injustice to important Canadian Interests. Canada has not only lost the printing of works by foreign authors, but is fast losing the printing of works by Canadian authors, not because the books can be printed cheaper or better abroad, but because they have to be manufactured in the |United States in order to secure copyright there. When that is done, there is no necessity for issu- ing a Canadian edition, as the Canadian market can be supplied by the United States edition.  ## p. 309 (#323) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 3O9 Reading Public inconvenienced. Under the present law, the Canadian readin public are ignored, and the works of both British and United States authors must be imported into Canada, and, moreover, these editions are, in many cases, published at such prices as to put them beyond the reach of the great majority of Canadian readers. British authors are now able to secure copy- right in the United States, and United States authors are now able to secure copyright in Great Britain (which covers Canada). Therefore the copyright owners now refuse to print in Canada. They supply this market with editions printed either in the United States or Great Britain. This is considered a great injury to the printing, paper, and allied industries in Canada. It is, moreover, a source of trouble and annoyance to the people of Canada, as the British market is so far away that, after the supply on hand of a book is exhausted, some weeks must elapse before a new supply can be procured. Objections refuted. A circular, containing objections to the Canadian Act, has been recently issued in England. These objections should not prevail. The circular states that Canada has asked the British Government to sanction arrangements to take copyright in Canada away from all British authors except such as are Canadians. Such is not the case. Canada does not propose to take away copyright in Canada from British authors. The British author and the United States author may, under the Canadian Act, secure copyright in Canada on exactly the same terms as the Canadian author. It is objected that the Canadian Act will injure the value of the British edition, because the Canadian edition could be imported into the United Kingdom and the other colonies, and compete with it. But from the report of Lord Knutsford’s Copyright Commission of 1892, it appears that, at the instance of the British copy- right owners, the law of Great Britain was framed so that the importation of Canadian reprints of British works into Great Britain is prohibited. It is objected that the Canadian Act is at variance with the Free Trade principles of the United Kingdom. That may be. The Canadian Tariff Act is also avowedly at variance with the Free Trade principles of the United Kingdom— yet the British Government would not propose to interfere with it. It is objected that the Canadian Act will destroy the British author's present means of securing copyright in the United States of America. That is only an opinion. Are not the British publishers themselves alone responsible for the agitation against allowing British authors to hold copyright in the United States ? The action of the British Music Publishers’ Associa- tion in contesting what is known as the “manu- facturing ” clause in the United States Act, has done British authors incalculable harm in the United States; and if the British music pub- lishers will not accept that manufacturing clause (as British book publishers have very wisely done), British authors may yet find themselves deprived of the benefit of copyright in the United States. As to the Berne Convention, it should be under- stood that the Canadian Parliament never adopted or agreed to the Berne Convention. On the con- trary, the Canadian Parliament has twice asked that notice be given of Canada's desire that the Convention be denounced. Most of the other objections are based on the supposition that the author loses control over his work under the Canadian Act. Nothing could be further from the fact, since, by complying with the terms of the Act, authors and copyright owners retain entire control of their works and may suppress old editions, or issue new ones as desired. Canadians stand by the Act of 1867. Canadians insist on the full right of the Parlia- ment of Canada to pass and enact legislation on copyright as desired from time to time; the same as they enjoy on the other subjects intrusted to that Parliament under the B.N.A. Act of 1867. The right of the Parliament of Canada to enact and enforce its own copyright legislation has been indorsed by the unanimous vote of the Parliament and Senate of Canada; by the News- paper Press of Canada; by the Board of Trade of the City of Toronto, and other cities; by the Employing Printers of Canada; by the Typo- graphical Unions and Printing Pressmen's Unions; by the Trades and Labour Councils (comprising representatives from the various trades), by the Booksellers’ and Paper Makers’ Association, and by many others. The above reasons, amongst others, for the enforcement of the Copyright Act of 1889, were laid before Sir Mackenzie Bowell, the Premier of the Dominion of Canada, and Sir Charles Hibbert Tupper, the Minister of Justice, by an influential deputation of the Copyright Association of Canada, at Toronto, in February, 1895. Signed on behalf of the Copyright Association of Canada, J. Ross ROBERTSON, President. DAN. A. RosB, Vice-President. RICHARD T. LANCEFIELD, Hon. Secretary.  ## p. 310 (#324) ############################################ 3 IO THE AUTHOR. - III.--THE OTHER SIDE. Hitherto we have had only expressions of opinion from publishers, and politicians in the hunt for votes, and the vital point at issue has been completely ignored. It is not a question whether a wrong has been done to Canada by not allowing her to legislate as to copyright, nor whether United States publishers are to be allowed to flood the Canadian market with British authors’ works printed in the United States, but the crucial question is whether the authors, engravers, printers, sculptors, and photo- graphers of the country are to be deprived of the vast benefits of the Berne Convention at the bidding of a few clamorous publishers. When a cause is bad, false issues are always raised. It does not matter one iota to the public where the books are printed and bound, provided they are cheap and good, and it must be conceded that we can get a cheaper and better class of work from Europe and the United States. Last year I had the privilege of paying Canadian publishers about 1100 dollars for a limited issue of a work on the Patent law of Canada, some of which have been sold in European countries as well as in the United States, and my attention has been drawn to copyright matters, both as a lawyer and in my daily practice as a solicitor of patents, and my firm is even now procuring Canadian and European copyrights for a client for a work of universal interest ; so I claim to be better posted generally than the public, who are ignorant of the rights which are being thrown away to obtain this mongrel Act of 1889, by the passing of which our membership in the Berne Convention is severed, and our privileges destroyed. By simply obtaining a Canadian copyright, the protection of the courts, without further registration, is obtained throughout the United Kingdom and all its colonies and posses- sions, also in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and other places. In the recent case of “ Harfstaengel v. Baines and Co. (1895), I. A. C., p. 20, “The Empire Theatre Living Picture Case,” the right of suit in British courts was conceded to a German copyrighter, although no registration had taken place under the British Copyright Act. The only condition precedent to obtaining copyright in the foregoing countries is that the formalities prescribed by law in the “country of origin” must be complied with. Ten years are allowed within which translation may be made, and authorised translations are protected the same as original works. By the British Act of 1842, copyright was obtainable covering all the colonies, &c., provided the work was first (or simultaneously) published in the United Kingdom, and it was immaterial whether it was printed in the United King- dom or whether it was written by a British subject or not. This has ever since been the policy of British statesmen, who aimed at the benefit of the masses and the encourage- ment of art and literature in the country; printers and publishers could not dictate the policy of the Government to suit themselves, as unfortunately has been the case both in the TInited States and Canada. Why should Canada at the bidding of publishers, printers, and a portion of a noisy press pursue a policy of isolation and make this country take a step backward of fifty years towards the Dark Ages to pander to a few who will never benefit much by the Act of 1889, if it ever should become law P. There have been International Copyright Acts in the United Kingdom—1844, 1852, 1875—with the principal countries of Europe; the Berne Convention was merely an enlargement and consolidation of these Acts. No literary man or artist who understands the matter and the privileges which are being thrown away has asked to have the foolish Act of 1889 become law; indeed it would be folly to suppose so. Canada and the United States are both far behind Europe in art, science, and literature; reputation and progress among the nations of the world do not count when the almighty dollar steps in. The United States, however, have separate international treaties with all the foreign countries named of the Berne Convention (except Spain and Luxembourg), and also with Denmark and Portugal, which are not members, while poor Canada with suicidal folly will by the passing of the Act of 1889 be completely isolated, and will not retain even the reciprocal advantages granted us by the Imperial Act of 1886. The Act of 1889 imposes impossible conditions on British authors, whose property is to be taken without their leave, and, besides that, is so badly drawn as to embody several glaring mistakes, so that lawyers will be able to drive the traditional coach and four through it in the usual manner. On a future occasion I may take this up. The official returns from the ad valorem duty of 12% per cent. on reprints of British works hitherto collected in the Camadian Customs since December, 1850, for British authors, and now happily ended, show what a farce the collection has been, and will arouse grave doubts whether much of the beggarly IO per cent, royalty provided for in the Agt of 1889 would find its way to the pockets of the British author.— Yours, &c., John G. RIDOUT. Toronto, April 4. Toronto Mail and Earpress, April 6.  ## p. 311 (#325) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 3 II IV.--THE “IIVING PICTUREs '’ LITIGATION. The following summary of this case was pub- lished (Friday, April 26th) by the Westminster Gazette : “What happened was this : the Empire Theatre, starting what has since become a very popular form of “show,” produced some living groups on the stage. These groups were arranged after some pictures by foreign artists, the copyright of which belonged to the fine art publisher, Herr Hanfstaengl. In due course of business, the Daily Graphic and the Westminster Budget published outline sketches, more or less rough, of the performances at the Empire. Herr Hanf- staeng1 thereupon proceeded at law for infringe- ment of copyright: 1. Against the Empire, in respect of the living groups; 2. Against the Empire, in respect of the painted backgrounds to the groups; 3. Against the Daily Graphic, in respect of its sketches of the performances at the Empire ; 4. Against the Westminster Budget, on the same ground. The fate of these proceedings was as follows: 1. Carried to the Court of Appeal, and dis- missed with costs; . Mr. Justice Stirling granted an injunction; the Court of Appeal overruled him, and were sustained by the House of Lords; 4. Mr. Justice Stirling, basing himself on the decision of the House of Lords, dismissed the case with costs; 2. This was the case decided on April 25th. Mr. Justice Stirling dismissed it so far as concerned most of the pictures, but decided that the back- grounds of two of them were an infringement of copyright. We need not trouble our readers with any more law than this—namely, that what the Copyright Acts forbid, as piracy, is “copies or colourable imitations of the painting [or photograph] or the design thereof.” What, therefore, the Courts have now decided in the group of cases in ques- tion is—(1) that living groups, posed after pictures, are not—apart from any question of painted backgrounds—infringements of copy- right; (2) nor are rough sketches of pictures such as are familiar to the public in the illus- trated papers.” W.—THE RETAIL PRICE. The following letter appeared in the Athenæum of April 8: Park-street, Bristol, April 1, 1895. It is, possibly, typical of the inertness of book retailers that the statement quoted in the Athenæum, March 23, as to 6s. novels “sold to the trade at 3s. 7#d.” is allowed to pass without comment. This is one of the misleading half- WOL. W. truths constantly appearing in the Awthor. Retailers would be glad to find someone who would supply them with the 6s. novels they want at 4s. There is evidently a good living going begging if the Author be correct. W. GEORGE’s SONS. As regards “misleading half-truths,” it is remarkable that those who speak about them never venture to correct them. The Author would like, above all things, to be correct. Why do not these booksellers state plainly what they have to pay ? How, then, was the sum of 38.7%d. arrived at as a fair average estimate of the general retail price of a 6s. book P. In this way. The general retail price of a 6s. book is nominally 4s. 2d. But 5 per cent. discount is allowed “for the account,” and thirteen are allowed as twelve. That works out at 3s. 7+}d. The fraction was reduced in favour of publishers from +} to #. It was thus intended to make some allowance for bad debts. The Society, in issuing these figures, was not considering the relations of booksellers to publishers, but of authors to publishers. Its first care, therefore, was not to overstate their own case. With this object it assumed that all books were bought at thirteen as twelve, which is very far from being the case, though, it must be remembered, in order to get at an average price, with some publishers the thirteen ordered are allowed to be of various books. If all the books were bought simply as single copies our royalty tables would have to be altered throughout, and authors’ royalties very much increased. We have, so far, received no complaints from pub- lishers as to the alleged understatement of the retail price. rº- + -º THE DEFERRED ROYALTY. HE proportion of proceeds that the author T should assign to the publisher can never be decided, once for all, on equitable prin- ciples, because no connection can be established between the author’s work and the publisher's. The former conceives and executes the book, bring- ing to his work all his knowledge, learning, skill, and ability. This is one kind of work. The pub- lisher performs the mechanical part: he sends the MS. to the printer, and he gives it the help of his own machinery in introducing the book to the world. This is another kind of work. The two kinds are incommensurable. Therefore some kind of recognised principle, adopted and agreed upon by all, is the nearest approach that we can expect to the settlement of the question. Thus, it has always been supposed, till lately, that a half profit system, in the case of any ordinary book, was as fair a method as could be devised. In the rare case of a very successful G. G.  ## p. 312 (#326) ############################################ 3I 2 THE AUTHOIR. work, in one certain to be in great and extra- ordinary demand, this plan would be manifestly unjust. But the half, profit system has been discredited by those publishers who falsify their accounts; for £IOO writing £I IO or £I2O : and charging for advertisements for which they have not paid. “I like the half profit system,” said Douglas Jerrold, “for there is certain to be no division with the publisher.” Discredited as it has been, it still remains in practice, especially with those persons who continue—there are not many left—to falsify their accounts. There remains, however, in the minds of authors a feeling that more than one-half of the profits ought not to be taken by the publisher; and they fondly believe that any offer made to them is based upon that principle. Nor does the publisher ever openly demand more than one-half; in certain cases he asks for no more than one-third. We have already seen in these columns what is meant by a royalty of Io, I 5, 20, or 25 per cent. Our calculations were based upon a trade price which we assumed to be general, though it was really placed somewhat too low. We shall perhaps be able to revise this table of royalties. Meantime it must be observed that it is extremely difficult for an author to get a royalty which actually corresponds to a half profit return, a fact which would by itself suggest that in many cases the accounts were falsified, and the “half profits” returned were only a fourth, or even less. We have now to consider a system which has come in of late years, and must be exposed. It is that of the deferred royalty. Under the old half profit system the publisher said, “I will stand in with you—my risk of money against your risk of time.” Under the royalty system the publisher says, “If there is any risk I take it”—of course, in most cases, there is none, or, as a man of business, he would not take it—“ and from the outset, which increases the risk, I load the book with so much royalty.” A deferred royalty at first sight seems perfectly fair. What could be fairer than that profits should be reckoned after the cost of production has been defrayed P As usual, however, the cost of production is very carefully withheld, and the mere mention of such a thing is violently resented. And, again, the publisher who flourishes his deferred royalty is extremely shy of stating what the proposal means to himself. When will authors have the courage to say: “Make me an offer showing in exact details what you propose for yourself out of my property, and what you will give me P’’ or, failing this, why do they not always bring their agreements to the Society for explanation before they sign them P Here, for instance, are a few cases of actual proposals of a deferred royalty : 1. This was the case of a very distinguished man of letters. He was asked to write a book for a certain series. Terms: Royalty of so much per cent. — a very moderate percentage — to begin after two editions of a thousand copies each had been sold. In other words, the enterprising firm calmly proposed to take for themselves the whole proceeds of two editions before they gave the author anything ! 2. This was the case of an educational book. The author was offered a little cheque down with a royalty of so much—not much—to begin after many thousands (!!) of copies had been sold. Making a very rough calculation, it looked as if the generous and noble-hearted firm was proposing to make a profit of about six or seven times what it gave the author, before the moderate royalty began. This kind of business seems to be more common in educational books than in general literature. There is no reason why there should be any difference. Some educational books are costly to produce, but a book that is once established is a mine of gold. There is, doubtless, real risk attached to the publication of some educational books, though the name of the writers of books produced by reputable firms should be a guarantee of their value. In such cases, the old half profit system was designed to meet the difficulty. Let the author, when considering any proposed agreement, simply demand an estimate in writing of the cost of production and the comparative shares of profit. If he has any doubt about the document, let him refer it to the Society; of course, it must be a detailed estimate, showing the number of sheets, the size of the page, the character of the type, the style of binding, the price of stereos, and so forth. If the firm refuse that estimate let him go elsewhere The deferred royalty proposal has a much better chance of catching the ignorant and credulous author when a small cheque down is proposed than with nothing. The author thinks that he is certain to get something. This, with the fact that his book is going to appear, reconciles him. It was a publisher with a real knowledge of human nature who first invented the little cheque on account. The offer might be miserable and grasping, but there was at least something down, and the writer's vanity was flattered by the pro- duction of his book. - 3. The next is the case of a three-volume novel. The author was to receive a royalty— quite a large and handsome royalty—after the sale of 350 copies. He was at first greatly uplifted with admiration of the princely firm  ## p. 313 (#327) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 3 I 3 which had made him this magnificent offer—an admiration which suddenly vanished when he found out that no more than 350 copies had been printed and that the type had then been distri- buted. So that the generous publisher never meant him to have anything at all out of his book, and knew very well beforehand how many would be taken by the libraries. 4. The last is a case quoted in “Methods of Publishing,” in which the royalty was to begin “after the expenses are defrayed.” Nothing at all was said about any audit of accounts, and so the author was expected to take the publisher's word as to what the expenses were. The royalty system, since the Society exposed its early iniquities, has been greatly improved. Royalties are given now which would have been indignantly refused a few years ago, when ignorance of the figures enabled grasping dealers to deal with royalties as they pleased. But the deferred royalty still offers grand opportunities for grasping and greed. Now, it cannot be said that any of the cases above quoted, or any cases similar to them, are, strictly speaking, fraudulent, unless in the last case, where an opening was left for falsifying the accounts. How, then, can these cases be described P. If a man places himself in the hands of another, whom he believes to be honourable and upright; if the former, further, believes that in the manage- ment of his property he will receive a fair proportion, say half the proceeds, and if that man so trusted gets the other to sign an agree- ment by which two-thirds, or three-fourths, or five-sixths of the profits go secretly into his own pocket; if he does this, knowing ſhe other to be ignorant of the figures, how shall we describe that man P. He is, at least, one who trades on the ignorance of others, one who systematically “bests” his partners. If the royalty is to begin after the expenses are defrayed, these expenses must be laid down at the outset, and an audit of the books granted as a matter of course. This would not absolutely stop cheating, if that were attempted; but it would make it more difficult, because it would involve the assistance of accomplices. Then, as soon as the actual expenses of a whole edition are defrayed, the royalty should be 50 per cent. on the actual trade price of the book until that edition is exhausted. To repeat, it has never been argued or held that a publisher should for his share in the work be entitled to ask for more than one-half. Yet see, by the cases given above, what a monstrous share he may secretly seize by such an agreement as any one of those quoted above. WOL. W. LETTER FROM PARIS. UR young friend George Hugo, the grand- son of the poet, will in future be known as Comte George Hugo. He succeeds to the family title by the death of Comte Leopold Hugo, who was the eldest son of Victor Hugo's elder brother, Abel Hugo, the eldest son of the gallant general, Joseph Hugo, of whom M. de Ménéval, Napoleon's private secretary, writes that he was a young officer full of fire and activity, who rendered yeoman’s service to the Emperor and King Joseph in Spain, and wrote Some most interesting memoirs on the war in Spain, which were published with a preface by his eldest son, Abel. Leopold Hugo cannot be described as a literary man. He was rather a savant, with a speciality for geography, and was in high repute at the Academy of Sciences. Just before he died he asked that his little cousin, Charles Daudet, the son of Leon Daudet and Jeanne Hugo, should be brought to him. He will be much regretted by all who knew him. George Hugo, or rather Comte George Hugo, and his little son Jean are now the only representa- tives of the male branch of this distinguished family. George Hugo, by the way, is coming to London on May 6, in the company of the Daudets. Apropos of this visit, I may mention that M. de Goncourt told me on Thursday last that he did not intend to accompany his º to London. “I don’t like ovations,” he Sal Ol. Speaking of de Goncourt, one is glad to hear that next month Charpentier will publish the eighth volume of the “Journal des Goncourt,” of the strong interest of which to all those who are interested in contemporary French life, literary, social, and artistic, I have already spoken. I hear that the author has submitted the proofs to various persons of whom he has spoken in this volume, so as to avoid any such complaints about indiscretion as were made in reference to previous volumes of the same diary. Apropos of the “Journal des Goncourt,” which I may perhaps explain may be translated either as the “Goncourt's Newspaper’ or as the “Gon- court's Diary,” a barrister told me that once when defending a prisoner down in the South of France he made copious quotations from these books, with visible effect on the jury. His client was acquitted, and after the trial the foreman of the jury came to see him and asked him in the name of various members of the jury to inform them where the “Goncourt's Newspaper " was published, whether it was a daily or a weekly paper, and what were the terms for subscription. The name of the barrister who told me this is G G 2  ## p. 314 (#328) ############################################ 3I4 THE AUTHOR. Raymond Daly, himself a writer of no mean order. A volume of his short stories, to be entitled “The Gold and the Grey,” are being translated by Mr. Stewart Merrill, the American poet, and will be published in London next autumn. Admirers of Gustave Flaubert have long desired to possess an adequate life of the greatest master of prose that France has seen in this " century. One is therefore pleased to read that in a few days from now we shall possess such a book, written by M. Albert Collignon, & man well suited for the task. M. Albert Collignon was for many years editor of La Vie Littéraire, and is the author of numerous works of fiction and biography. Almost simultaneously with the Flaubert book he will publish a work on Diderot. But the Flaubert book will interest you and me the more, I think. A new French slang dictionary is in prepara- tion and will be welcomed by those who love to stray on the by-paths of philology. It is being put together by M. Dellesalle. It will be in two parts, French-Slang and Slang-French, just like any other dictionary of two languages. It should be useful to writers of realistic novels, and will save them the trouble of studying French slang in the unpleasant regions where it flourishes. I have another little anecdote about William Wordsworth which may interest those who are interested in this poet. A lady tells me that when she was a little girl—it is the same little girl who sent the epic and the half-crown to the destitute poet—she used to stay at Rydal Mount, and that William Wordsworth used to make her read aloud to him, not for his diversion, indeed, but in order to train her voice. “He used to con- stantly interrupt me to correct my enunciation whenever I raised my voice unduly, either in read- ing or speaking, and would quote Shakespeare's “sweet low voice, an excellent thing in woman’ till I conceived a strong dislike for Cordelia, which was only removed by Ellen Terry's splen- did acting of the part.” It was rather hard on a little girl, home for the holidays, to be exercised in this way—a way worthy rather of the Blimber establishment; but Wordsworth had particular views on many subjects. It is, however, quite certain that his views on hospitality were sadly traduced by Miss Martineau, who related that the poet had told her that he received so many visitors at Rydal Mount that he could not afford to entertain them all, and that he had instructed his wife to supply tea and bread and butter only to strangers, and to charge cost price for anything else in the way of refreshment. Why did Miss Martineau say this, I wonder P. It was, of course, an utter falsehood. According to M. Jules Huret, the victor in the Huret-Mendés duel, there is in preparation a “History of the Second French Empire,” with notes by the Empress Eugenie. This should be an interesting work. I often have regretted that Baron Haussmann never wrote a history of those Imperial days, and I remember suggesting to him. that he should do so. But he said that his memoirs ought to suffice, and that he would not betray the confidence which his master had put in him, even after his death, by betraying State secrets of which, by his position and owing to his friendship with Napoleon III., he had become cognisant. No man knew better what had gone on behind the scenes during that lurid period of French history than Baron Haussmann. ROBERT H. SHERARD. 123, Boulevard Magenta, Paris. * - - -* *- - -s. NEW YORK LETTER, New York, April 13. ERHAPS the most important literary news P of the past few weeks is the announcement just made that certain of the leading professors of history in the chief American Universities, in conjunction with other historical students, have determined to establish an American Historical Review. At present there is no periodical in the pages of which the his- torical investigator really feels at home, for the little monthly Magazine of American History tries to be “popular,” and is given over largely to the amateur and to the notes and queries collector. A meeting was held in New York last Saturday, attended by representatives of most of the colleges where history receives special attention, and an editorial board was elected consisting of Professor Adams (of Yale), Professor W. M. Sloane (the writer of the serial biography of Napoleon now appearing in the Century), Mr. J. B. McMaster (the author of the “History of the American People,” the fourth volume of which the Appletons have just published), Pro- fessor H. Morse Stephens (of Cornell), and Professor A. B. Hart (of Harvard). It is con- sidered probable that Professor Hart will be the managing editor, and that Longmans, Green, and Co. will be the publishers of the new periodical. It will be a quarterly not unlike the English Historical Review, also published by Longmans, Green, and Co. The first number of this American Historical Review will not appear before the autumn, but thereafter its appearance is assured for at least three years, a substantial  ## p. 315 (#329) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 3 I5 guarantee fund having been raised to make this a certainty. Probably few readers in England, except those who have had special occasion to consider the subject, have any conception of the very extra- ordinary work which the American Universities are now doing in history, and more particularly in the allied departments of political science, sociology, and economics. This is one of the points to which Mr. Bryce called attention in his speech introducing Lowell at the first dinner, the Society of Authors gave. At Columbia College alone in the School of Political Science there are three full professors of political economy, besides a professor of sociology, a professor of adminis- trative law, a professor of comparative juris- prudence, a professor of international law, a professor of constitutional law, and half a dozen professors and lecturers on history. At Harvard and at Yale, at Johns Hopkins, and at Chicago, there are faculties inferior only in numbers to that at Columbia. And nearly all these institutions issue periodicals, generally quarterlies. By a thoughtful arrangement the Harvard Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Columbia Political Science Quarterly, and the Yale Review are issued each a month later than the other, so that the three taken together appear every month in the year. All three of them give a certain amount of space to history, and will probably continue to do so. The Suwanee Review, edited by Professor Trents of the University of the South, is frankly devoted to literature and to history. Half a dozen years ago there was a New Princeton Review, edited by Professor Sloane, but dissensions arose among the owners, and it was finally absorbed by the Columbia Political Science Quarterly. In it. Pro- fessor Sloane tried to combine the solid merits of the old-fashioned quarterly reviews with the more alluring vivacity of the brisker monthly reviews. The venerable North American Review, to which Bryant contributed “Thanatopis,” and, which Lowell edited for years, was bought by a rich and foolish young man named Rice a dozen years ago. Under the advice of Mr. Laurence Olyphant, Rice made it a monthly, modelling it upon the Nine- teenth Century of Mr. Knowles, but going much farther in search of sensationalism—so far, indeed, that the present North American Review has been characterised as “a monthly edition of the New York Herald.” Its management is now in the hands of Mr. David Munro, a shrewd Scotch- man, and of Mr. William H. Rideing, an English- man with a very large acquaintance with the writers of England. Perhaps this is the reason why the North American Review gives up a large proportion of its space to articles by European writers on European topics. Its chief rival, the Forum, also a monthly, is edited by Mr. Walter H. Page; it is more digni- fied, less sensational, and far more American in its list of contributors and in its choice of subjects. A third monthly review called the Arena, is published in Boston; it is edited by Mr. B. O. Flower; it is rather the organ of the faddists of all sorts, the cranks and the freaks, than a vehicle for serious discussion of serious topics. The scholarly Atlantic Monthly, now edited by Mr. H. E. Scudder, is still the periodical that most steadily maintains a lofty standard. The Atlantic is half a magazine and half a review. It admits fiction and poetry, and it discusses politics now and again; but it devotes a very large proportion of its space to literature. Its book reviewing is generally done by experts, but it is mostly anonymous, and therefore lacks authority. Perhaps the best book reviewing in America is to be found in the pages of periodicals like the Political Science Quarterly and like the Educational Review of Professor Nicholas Murray Butler, in which every book worth consideration is sent to an expert, who vouches for his opinion with his name and address. In the United States, as in Great Britain, there is a tendency of the unsigned book review to be wanting in the weight—to be more careless, not to say more flippant, than the article can afford to be which the writer guarantees with his own name. The most exhilarating and stimulating criti- cism of belles lettres we have had here in America. for several years was that contributed monthly to Harper’s when Mr. Howells had charge of the “Editor's Study.” Whether one agreed with Mr. Howells's opinions or not—in fact, more especially when one did not agree with them—they were unfailing stimulants to thought. They tended to make every reader examine again the founda- tions of his own opinions. Mr. Howells has been missed from the Editor's Study of Harper's Monthly for several years now ; but he has just 'begun to contribute almost every week to Harper's Weekly a signed article on a new book, a group of new plays, or an exhibition of new pictures. His article this week is on the absurd “Degeneracy” of Dr. Nordan, in the course of which he not only exposes the pretensions of the German author, but he declared again what seem to him to be the real and abiding merits of Tolstoi, Ibsen, and Zola. “Stops of Various Quills” is the title of the volume of poems by Mr. Howells which Harper and Brothers will publish shortly. A novelette of his, which has just been concluded in the Cosmopolitan, will also be published by the Harpers during the spring. And another  ## p. 316 (#330) ############################################ 316 THE AUTHOR. novel, “The Story of a Play,” will begin in Scribner's Magazine later in the year, to run through half a dozen numbers. Mr. Howells has also recently edited the recollections of his father, whose early wanderings through Ohio are fresh and characteristic and interesting. Mr. Stedman and Professor Woodberry con- tinue to work steadily on their complete edition of the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Four volumes containing the prose tales are now published, the first of which opened with a brief, compact, authoritative biography by Professor Woodberry, and followed by a critical introduction to the stories by Mr. Stedman; while to the last of the four Professor Woodberry appended various bibliographical and explanatory notes. For the first time in any edition of Poe his text is here adequately revised, and his slovenly quotations are amended and traced to their sources. There are portraits of Poe in every volume, one of which has never before been engraved. There are illustrations by Mr. Albert E. Sterner. The making of the book, the taste of the typography, the harmony of the page and of the type and of the paper, reflect great credit on the publishers, a young and enterprising Chicago firm, Messrs. Stone and Kimball. The fifth volume, contain- ing “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym " and the “Journal of Julius Rodman,” will probably be ready next month. The other five volumes completing the edition are to be expected before the end of the year. Mr. Stedman has had an attack of the grippe which has delayed the appearance of his long-promised “Victorian Anthology,” intended to accompany his discussion of the “Victorian Poets.” Mr. Bryce, at that first dinner of the Society of Authors, said that the two things he had recently noticed in American literature were, first, the great variety of political and economic writing; and, second, the abundance of short stories having a strong local flavour, redolent of the soil. This local short story continues to be very popular in our magazines, until now there is hardly any part of the United States which someone has not taken as a field for fiction. Among the recent volumes of these tales are Mrs. Margaret C. Graham’s “Stories of the Foot Hills '’ of California and Miss Murfree’s “Phantoms of the Footbridge,” in which “Charles Egbert Craddock” sets up before us again the strange and uncouth mountaineers of Tennessee. Also to be noted are Mrs. S. M. H. Gardner’s “Quaker Idyls;” Mr. William Henry Shelton’s “Man with a Memory '' (chiefly war stories); Mrs. Mary Tappan Wright’s “A Truce’” (chiefly New England tales); while Mr. Louis Pendleton's story of “The Sons of Ham ” is a discussion of the duty of the nation toward the enfranchised negro clothed in the garb of fiction. At the Publishers' Night of the Authors’ Club —the first formal entertainment given by the club since it moved into its new and permanent home in Carnegie Hall—Mr. Charles J. Long- man was among the guests. Mr. Longman has been in America for a month or more, having had a fortnight of sunshine in Florida, and having spent two or three days in Washington among the relics of ancient man in the Smithsonian Institute. The importance of the American branch of Longmans, Green, and Co. is increasing year by year. The number of books by American authors published by this oldest of London houses is also steadily growing, Indeed, as the Long- mans and the Macmillans have both found, it is impossible for any British publishing house to hold a position of consequence in the United States without having on its list a great many books of American authorship. Mr. Longman expects to sail for England a week from to-day. Mr. John Lane was also among the guests of the Authors—and so was Mr. Richard Le Gallienne, who returns home to-day. A story told at this reception of the Authors' Club is said not to be new—but it is perhaps true. A very unfunny article was sent by an ambitious amateur to an American comic paper, and at the foot of it the aspiring author has written in pencil, “What will you give for this P” “Ten yards start” was what the unfeeling editor wrote under- neath when he returned the MS. FI. R. - *- ~ 2-sº * NOTES AND NEWS. HE Canadian Copyright business still con- tinues to trouble the world. We publish in another part of this paper the Canadian case drawn out by themselves. It amounts, appa- rently, to this ; that while every civilised country in the world has acknowledged literary property to be as real and as worthy of being guarded as any other kind of property, Canada alone desires to secede from this honourable convention, and to appropriate and “convey ’’ literary property to her own supposed advantage—that is, the advan- tage of a few printers for whose sake this great iniquity is to be perpetrated. It has been found impossible to keep American books out of Canada, or Canadian books out of America. It is ridiculous to keep repeating that the laws forbid the importation of such books. Who regards the law P Who enforces it?  ## p. 317 (#331) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 31 7 Canada used to be overrun by American cheap piracies. Distant colonies, such as Jamaica and the Cape, used to be overrun by American cheap piracies, notwithstanding the law. With a frontier unprotected, unguarded, thousands of miles long, there can be no protection for such a law. For all intents and purposes the books published in America might have been before the Copyright Act published in Canada. And so it will be again. As for the old royalty of 12% per cent., from which the author never got anything, that is to be exchanged for one of Io per cent, the receipts from which are equally dubious. We are told that no book is to be issued without a stamp. And who is to enforce this provision over the broad extent of Canada? Are we to expect the whole Canadian people individually to insist upon this stamp P Moreover, to offer a successful author Io per cent, when he receives I5, 20, and sometimes 25 per cent. is impudent. As, however, no one will now get anything, it matters nothing what they offer. Only it would have looked better to make the illusory proposal a little more attractive. The Canadians “resent the sale of their market.” What does this mean? It means that the American publishers buy of the author the Canadian rights; in the same way they buy the American rights. This gives them undisputed right to sell in Canada. Now, it is perfectly open to Canadian publishers, if there are any, to set up an office in New York. English authors will be Quite as ready to deal with them as with American publishers. It will be but a question of fair dealing—not a 10 per cent. royalty—and enterprise. English publishers have done this. Longmans have a house in New York; there is a Cassell and Co. in New York. Why cannot the Canadians do the same On the proposed Canadian Copyright Act, a small collection of opinions from three authors and two publishers appeared in the Contemporary Review of April. The opinions are very clear, and very clearly put. The Act is a blow against the recognition of literary property which has been obtained from all civilised nations. It proposes practically to take the works of English and American authors; to reprint them as the Canadian booksellers—they have no publishers— please; to cut them up and mutilate them as they please. These facts are plainly and forcibly brought out, and the opinions ought to be put together in a pamphlet with the rest of the protests against this iniquitous proposal. That the Act is not defended by the better class of Canadians is shown oy a protest of a Canadian lawyer here reproduced (see p. 3 Io), which first appeared in a Toronto paper. The last has not been said on this subject, nor has the Act yet become law. Meantime it is shameful that a country like Canada should for a moment enter- tain a proposal to revert to the old time of international piracy. . Here is a noble chance for novelists, or aspirants, who can construct a story of mystery. The Chicago Record offers to authors the following prizes for novels of incident, dramatic situations, and mystery. Bear in mind these conditions, O ye candidates Incident — always more incident — dramatic situations, surprises, and Tableaua, in every chapter : the mystery of a great and wonderful secret, to be discovered on the last page, to be kept up throughout. That is the first condition. The next is that the story must have been written by the candidate who sends it; sworn evidence of that must be sent with the story. Thirdly, the story must be, in length, from 140,000 to 160,000 words—viz., the average length of a serial to run six months in a weekly paper, viz., about 5000 or 6000 words for an instalment. Fourthly, the subjects must not be those of certain popular novels of the day. As to the prizes, they range from £2OOO down to £100. And the Chicago Record reserves the right of using such stories as do not win a prize for its own columns at 5 dollars, or £I, per column. Unsuccessful stories will be returned. Very well, the whole thing may be bogus; but I do not think that it is bogus, because so much publicity has been given to such an offer. If I were a young novelist I would have a try. Think of a mystery—murder, money, jewels, a claimant, a forgery. Fix upon as strong a motif as you can —don't be afraid of making it too strong; and then go ahead. The MSS. have to reach Chicago before Oct. I of this year. You have therefore less than five months to spend over the work. Chapman’s “Magazine of Fiction,” vol. I, No. 1, is lying before me. A magazine entirely devoted to fiction would seem a perilous undertaking, especially at a time when in every other number of every other magazine there appears an article on the Decay of Fiction. At the same time, however, in every advertising column there is a long list of books in their fiftieth, their hundredth edition, showing that the small num- ber of English families which can buy books are buying that class of book. The editor, Mr. Oswald Crawfurd, has probably gauged the demand before making the venture. Meantime  ## p. 318 (#332) ############################################ 3.18 THE AUTHOR. there is one new feature. The magazine is to contain dramatic dialogues; stories in dialogue; and even plays. We all know how much more pleasantly dialogue can be made in skilful hands to tell the story than long and tedious narrative. It is one of the later developments in the art of fiction that it is becoming more and more dramatic in form—not in set “tableaux,” after the old fashion, but in the substitution of dialogue for description. The new number contains eight papers—by Bret Harte, Anthony Hope, Stanley Weyman, George Brett, James Payn, Frankfort Moore, Violet Hunt, and John Davidson. A propos of Free Libraries and Tauchnitz books, the following suggestion seems worthy of con- sideration. Perhaps some Bradford citizen may take it up. I have to thank a correspondent, “F. N. W.,” for it. In nearly every case the borrowers of books from Free Libraries are compelled to pay one penny per annum for the renewal of their tickets. TXoes not this constitute a hiring within the letter of the law P I have submitted the case to three legal gentlemen, and all admit that it is an exceedingly nice point. At any rate, it seems to me to be worthy of consideration. I have before me the rules of the new Hampstead Public Libraries. I do not find in them anything about the payment of a penny. There are fines for the detention of books, but not for the renewal of a ticket. Perhaps there is no penny demanded at Bradford. Is not, how- ever, the circulation of a Tauchnitz book by a public library the infringement of the law P Is it not the same thing as the open distribution of smuggled goods P One is curious to watch the effect of the Free Libraries on the Circulating Libraries. For my own part, I do not expect any perceptible effect. The general shrinkage of incomes, if it goes on, will more and more diminish the number of sub- scribers, but not the Free Libraries, which will be used by the class below those who pay three guineas a year to Smith or Mudie. And since this class cannot possibly afford to buy books, not harm at all, but good, will be done by the exten- sion of the Free Libraries. Surely it is a good thing for an author to feel that his book will have the chance at least of being read by millions instead of by thousands. Surely those who desire to reach and to influence these millions will rejoice in thinking that their books are now within reach of so vast an audience; and surely it will not be a bad thing in the immediate future for a publisher to feel that he can place the whole of one edition at once among the libraries of the country. Authors are an irritable race, especially and proverbially those who write verse. The fol- lowing note explains the repetition of this maxim: My little volume I sent you, which was considered suffi- cient passport for enrolment in your honourable Society, has failed to be recognised in the Awthor in any way whatever, although all my friends (men of letters, too) have called Some of the poems perfect cameos, unique, and so on. I see, therefore, that my merits as an author by authors do not warrant my burdening the Society with my name. In other words, a member of the Society has withdrawn because he did not receive a notice of his book in these columns. The Author is not a review; it does not profess to publish criticisms on books. It does, however, announce and men- tion new books and new editions. Until lately it published a list of all the new books; for the sake of getting space this list has been now abandoned. With regard to young poets, it is found that the fairest way with these is to let them speak for themselves. And the little volume referred to has either not reached me—it is still, probably, on the shelves of the secretary’s office—or I have mislaid it, for which, as the author takes it so much to heart, I am sorry. If he had communi- cated with me I would have had a search made for the book, and should have given him the same chance as the others—viz., allowed him to speak for himself. This restriction as to criticism does not prevent the writer of “Book Talk” from mentioning, selecting, or praising any book which he thinks may deserve it. The following must be taken for what it is worth on some results of the proposed “Net’” system: Some remarks made to me yesterday by a country book- seller upon the “Net” system in the price of books appear to me to touch upon a probable source of injury to authors through the “Net” system which, so far as I have seen, has been unnoted in the Awthor. He said: “I do not know to whom the extra profits go—certainly not to the booksellers; and, to prove that the profits do not go to us, I may tell you that for the future, unless we are paid ready money for books that are sold net, we are going to charge our customers twopence in the shilling upon the net price. We cannot afford to give credit unless we do this. Should our customers hesitate about paying twopence in the shilling upon the net price in the event of the book being put to their credit, we shall decline to order the book.” I will try to obtain by the next number some results of the “Net” system as applied to royal- ties. So far as the figures have been furnished me, they are simply surprising. If the system prevails, which seems unlikely, if only for the reason that the British public, which grows poorer every year, is not going to pay 6s., or even 5s.,  ## p. 319 (#333) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 3 IQ instead of 4s. 6d., we shall have to revise the whole of our royalty tables. A letter appears to-day (April 26) in the Daily Chronicle which looks like the commencement of an outpouring against literary agents. A certain kind of publisher is never tired of attacking the wickedness of the literary agent, who makes his former practices impossible. This writer, who signs himself “An Onlooker,” accuses the literary agents of “emasculating ” literature by making Contracts for authors in advance, and “half a decade” or five years in advance. He sees in imagination, or has been told to see, a miserable author, pen in hand, hurriedly grinding away day and night, throwing off his sheets, producing far too rapidly for his powers, “bribed” by his agent. There is really nothing in the world on which greater rubbish, more ignorant rubbish, more mischievous rubbish is constantly written and believed than the production of literature, espe- cially fiction. To begin with, it is not the agent but the publisher who makes the contract ; it is a very rare thing for a publisher to trust an author's staying powers so long in advance as five years. It is the case that editors of good maga- zines secure the services of writers a year or two years in advance; it is also the case that pub- lishers secure the book rights of the same works in advance. Then comes the question whether, by engaging himself beforehand, an author neces- sarily hurries himself? Of course he does not. He may be so foolish as to undertake too much ; but most novelists bring out one novel only a year, and perhaps two or three short stories. Why should they not place these novels in advance? I should like to learn the names of any authors who have been “bribed ” into hurried and incom- plete work, or are under contracts beyond their powers to fulfil honourably. The agent does not — cannot — increase the production; he only relieves the writer of what is the most irksome, the most irritating, the most anxious part of his work—the commercial side of it. WALTER BESANT. *—- - -* NATURE AS INTERPRETED IN THE POEMS OF GEORGE MEREDITH, |TF the lover of Wordsworth were to seek among later English poets for his successor as the High Priest of Nature, he would be not a little surprised to find that his most ardent disciple is, not the late Laureate; not Matthew Arnold, who was loudest in his praise; but Mr. George Meredith whose genius appears at first glance so unlike that of Wordsworth as to leave but few points of resemblance. Notwithstanding this diversity, even the most cursory reader of Mr. Meredith’s poetry must be struck by the fact that in it the lesson which Wordsworth made it his life’s highest aim to inculcate has found its simplest as well as fullest expression. The familiar stanza in the second part of “Expostulation and Reply ’’ in which Words- worth declared that - One impulse from a vernal wood May teach you more of man, Of moral evil and of good, Than all the sages can, must surely have lingered in Mr. Meredith’s memory when he wrote the concluding lines of his poem on “South-West Wind in the Wood- land ’’ in which he tells us that he who hearkens to the voice of Nature and yields his spirit to her benignant influence with a complete trust in her powers and purposes will obtain More knowledge of her secret, more Delight in her beneficence, Than hours of musing, or the lore That lives with men could ever give. That this was more than a mere passing phase of thought in Mr. Meredith’s mind no reader of his poems can doubt. The volume in which the lines quoted occur is the earliest collection of his poems; that published by Parker in 1851, and though the poet in it did not lay so much stress on the importance to man of a close communion with Nature, as he does in later volumes, there is nevertheless more than one significant reference to the love of Earth for her children, and her beneficent influence in restoring the moral as well as physical health of those who have for- saken her for a season. In “London by Lamplight,” a later poem in the same book, the writer expresses his belief in the sanative forces of Nature and faith in her power to regenerate the dwellers in crowded cities could they but be restored to her arms. He who loves Nature will, he declares, never be forlorn ; and a vision of her loveliness is more than a recompense for days of weariness and toil, In more than one poem he tells us that he who once gains Nature as his friend will never lose her; that the joys of her bestowal are never ending. In “Modern Love, &c.,” a book published eleven years later, the poet dwells with even greater emphasis upon a theme which may truly be said to constitute the most important portion of his message to his fellowman. In this volume the “Ode to the Spirit of the Earth in the Autumn” is devoted to the proclamation of an evangel, which though it has found many  ## p. 320 (#334) ############################################ 32O THE AUTHOR. expositors has not, since preached by Words- worth, been urged on man’s acceptance with a force and persistence equal to Mr. Meredith’s. The truth and beauty of earth who is “our only visible friend,” her love and care for her offspring, who renounce and denounce her, her serenity, her sanity, her healthfulness, her free- dom from sorrow, are dwelt on with an ecstacy of expression for which the only parallel is to be found in the utterances of the earlier poet. Even death, hitherto the great bugbear of humanity, ceases to be thus regarded by the lover of earth, O, green bounteous earth ! Bacchante Mother stern to those Who live not in thy heart of mirth; Death ! Shall I shrink from loving thee P Into the breast that gives the rose, Shall I with shuddering fall P Earth knows no desolation, She smells regeneration In the moist breath of decay. She knows not loss : She feels her need, Who the winged seed With the leaf doth toss. - And to this serenity, this majestic calm, man may aspire if he truly loves and feels confidence in Mother Earth, She can lead us, only she, TJnto God’s footstool, whither she reaches; Loved, enjoyed, her gifts must be ; Reverenced the truths she teaches, Ere a man may hope that he Ever can attain the glee Of things without a destiny | The fervour and depth of Mr. Meredith’s utterances on this theme are plainly shown by the fact that after an interval of over twenty years, during which the poet was immersed in prose, he devoted a complete book to “Poems and Lyrics of the Joy of Earth,” in which we find the same expressions of joyous confidence in Nature. Man, we are told, is a compact of blood, and brain, and spirit, and should he, in his folly, attempt to favour anyone of these at the expense of the others a dire result may be expected. The purely sensual nature is equally in danger with the purely intellectual or the rigidly ascetic. Earth from whom we derive the health which is the source of all lasting happiness demands that blood, and brain, and spirit maintain a happy union, and, for love of her, we unquestionably obey her behests with ultimate and certain good to ourselves. Earth your haven, Earth your helm, You command a double realm Labouring here to pay your debt, Till your little sun be set, Leaving her the future task Loving her too well to ask. From her we can learn every lesson if we but hearken to her, and bear with us a wise receptive- ness. By thus doing we gain “a larger self,” and a sweeter fellowship with all animate things 6. In SU162S. In a poem entitled “Earth and Man” their relationship is even more clearly defined than in any earlier work from the same hand, and the folly of man's attempt to read “the riddle of the painful earth,” instead of resignedly and calmly accepting a mother's love, is shown in no mis- takable terms. The poem resembles, in treat- ment, a familiar passage in “Empedocles on Etna,” inasmuch as it shows that man, while he curses earth, is one with the power against which his curses are levelled, a power which labours for man’s good whether he curse or bless, If he aloft for aid Imploring storms, her essence is the spur, His cry to Heaven is a cry to her He would evade. #: $ # e #: :#: And her desires are those For happiness, for lastingness, for light. 'Tis she who kindles in his haunting night The hoped dawn-rose. As if the poet had, with this book, exhausted this fruitful theme, we have no hint of it in “Poems and Ballads of Tragic Life,” published in 1887, the contents of which deal with phases of human life and passion, but the subject was happily far from exhausted, and accordingly, in the following year a volume entitled “A Reading of Earth’’ was published. This book, which is the last volume of poetry he has written, must for the present be considered to contain Mr. Meredith’s final expressions on “man and nature, and on human life.” In it he sets himself not so much to demonstrate man's relationship to nature as to interpret her many moods, and to state the benefits accruing to man from a con- templation of each and all of them. In “Rough Weather ” a comparison is drawn between a life of ignoble ease and warmth, and one of hardship and wrestling with adverse forces, and the gifts of Nature are proved to be designed for him who has courage to endure. Nature Judged of shrinking nerves, appears A mother whom no cry can melt ; But read her past desires and fears, The letters on her breast are spelt. Would we learn of earth her lesson P. Then we must be prepared to accept symbols instead of words; yet we have but to ask to learn— Harsh wisdom gives Earth, no more ; In one the spur and the curb : An answer to thoughts or deeds, To the Legends an alien look; To the Questions a figure of Clay.  ## p. 321 (#335) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 32 I Yet we have but to see and hear, Crave we her medical herb. And to love her is to gain this For love we Earth, then serve we all ; Her mystic secret then is ours, the secret of unruffled calm and enduring patience mingled with a steadfast faith in the welfare of the human race. Nature has been variously interpreted by the poets since Wordsworth's day, but by none with such keen vision and set purpose as by Mr. Meredith. His interpretation while it differs in some points from Wordsworth's, more closely resembles it than does that of any of his contem- poraries. In Lord Tennyson’s poems, save in “In Memoriam ” in which she is described as antagonistic to and careless of life, Nature assumes the appearance of a vast field in which human figures move, and to which it forms a suitable background. In Mr. Browning's we get a degree nearer; here her sunshine and her storms exhibit her sympathy with the woes and joys of man. Mr. Swinburne's interpretation—if such it can be called—resembles Mr. Browning's, while Rossetti's exhibits an affinity to the Laureate's, with the addition that the poet evidently sees with a painter's eye; and Mr. Wm. Morris also selects his landscapes and groups his figures with a view to artistic effect. Matthew Arnold’s alone ap- proaches Mr. Meredith’s conception, and that very rarely; once, in the passage of “Empedocles” already referred to, and again in a short poem entitled “A Wish,” in which he speaks of the Earth as a friend Which never was the friend of one, Nor promised love it could not give, But lit for all its generous sun, - And lived itself, and made us live. It is rumoured that Mr. Meredith intends for the future to devote himself exclusively to poetry. Such an announcement cannot but be gratifying to all lovers of poetry, for Mr. Meredith, while he has followed the steps of Wordsworth in his interpretation of Nature, has also realised his predecessor's conception of the poet inasmuch as he is a teacher, a great teacher. As a con- tribution to the literature of optimism his poems occupy an important position. They have the same health-giving powers as Nature herself, and are as inspiriting as the seasons. *-* - *- - - HE WOULD BIE AN AUTHOR, DO not for a moment suppose that my experiences have been in the least extraor- dinary. Perhaps it is unwise of me to attempt to write them down: and yet they may have some interest for hopeful aspirants to literary honours, even if they should be of no service to such. First let me state the conditions under which I began to scribble. Before attaining my ninth birthday I left school to begin work at a mine, the School Board being then in its infancy. From that early age until I was over twenty-one a pen was scarcely ever in my fingers, although, like Mr. Toots in “Dombey and Son,” I could perhaps have managed to “chalk a bit.” Hitherto the whole of my time had been spent in work and play, with a little random reading in my leisure, a very little indeed. Perhaps I had some discri- mination between what was good and what was not of the little reading I did, but so far from my mind was the thought of authorship that I do not remember even to have written a letter. Being an impulsive and impressionable youth, I wasted most of my leisure in courting, wooing one delicate girl to such good purpose that by the time I had attained my majority I had been married nearly three years, and was over head and ears in debt, having known what it was to be out of work and to have the doctor calling for weeks together. These facts are given simply to show how thoroughly unfitted and unprepared I was for any attempt at authorship, even if I had then pos- sessed the desire for it, which, let me admit, I did not. About this time, however, the idea struck me that it would be a pleasant pastime to copy out such short pieces of prose or verse as took my fancy, wherefore I purchased a sixpenny exercise- book and occasionally put my hand to the task of improving my writing, but betrayed no great earnestness in the matter. Having never been a visitor at public-houses, my evenings were mostly spent at home; yet, with the exception of two or three old standard books and the serial stories of the local newspaper, I still read very little. One day a friend lent me a volume of Burns' poems, which proved a delightful revela- tion, and gave me an appetite for more. Later I read Cowper, Thomson, Wordsworth, Byron, Moore, &c., each of whom in turn delighted me, and thenceforth I became a student of literature in general, with a slowly increasing enthusiasm for books and writers. Now, when the new magazines come to the reading-room I look them over with a feverish eagerness that is almost painful. About seven years ago, being still in low cir- cumstances, I began occasionally to puzzle out a few verses, with now and again a very short sketch in prose. Instead of consigning these first attempts to the flames, I sent them to an editor who sometimes publicly criticised the work  ## p. 322 (#336) ############################################ 322 THE AUTHOR. of would-be authors, wherefore I had the glorious satisfaction of seeing some of them in print. After a number of failures and a little unremune- rated success, one lucky piece at last merited, or gained at any rate, the distinction of being paid for. The circumstances under which this first payment reached me make an almost tragic story, which there is no space to tell in this paper. - This brings me to about five years ago. The period between that date and the present is the time of my most important experiences. Finding that I was now able to write short sketches and verses which might merit the consideration of editors, I began to inclose stamped addressed envelopes with my MSS., a judicious practice not hitherto adopted. My handwriting was still that of an unpolished scribbler; the punctuation may have been fairly good, but the spelling—. This latter feature of my composition is even yet very imperfect; it is doubtful if I shall ever learn to spell correctly. The theory of grammar is one to which I could never give any continued attention. A careful estimate of my work, done during leisure evenings these five years, gives the follow- ing result: About 450 pieces have been written, short stories, short articles, and verses, chiefly the latter. As near as I am able to compute, the work may be divided into 190 prose pieces and 26o of verse. Of the whole 450, the accepted pieces, all of which have been paid for, number 360; verses 250, stories and articles I IO; thus leaving eighty prose pieces and ten of verse declined. The verses average about four stanzas in length, and the payment has varied from 5s. to half-a- guinea. The length of the stories and articles varies from two to six pages of foolscap, and the payment from Ios. to two guineas. The successful pieces have not all been accepted the first time they were submitted, not a few having been returned, rewritten, and sent again. Several contributions have come back after they had been cut up and given out to the printers Only some four or five pieces have been entirely lost. The rejected work has mostly been returned within a fortnight or three weeks, but occasionally pieces have stayed away longer, a few having come home after they had been away over a year. Most of the accepted work has been paid for about the date of publication, but I have found the most regularly paying publishers subject to slight variation, while others pay for work a week or two after it appears. Some publishers send a copy of the journal containing one's contribution, but others don’t ; wherefore, seeing that I have not been a regular subscriber to every paper written to, a number of stories have been accepted which I have never had the pleasure of seeing in print. Besides the verses, articles, and short stories, I have to count two attempts at serial story writing, neither of which have been persevered with, both having been dropped before the tenth chapter was begun. From these a few chapters were accept when offered as short stories. A third attempt promises to be more successful, as it is now about half written, and has something more than a mere chance of being accepted. Verse writing has been a very pleasant recreation. My method is to write them on a slate, so that it is easy to erase a word or a line and substitute a better. I find it hard work to write prose, and am very slow at it, seldom pro- ducing more than three pages of foolscap in four hours. During the last few years I have often been disheartened, but have quickly regained hope, and have persevered in the face of discourage- ment and difficulty; yet I am fully pursuaded that the same time and energy given to any other kind of work might have made me a fortune. It seems to me that in order to become a " successful author one should have a great enthusiasm for literary work, a good education, exceptional experiences, unlimited patience, un- ceasing perseverance, a rare imagination, and a reliable bank account to fall back upon during the “declined with thanks’ period. Of course, if one has been reared in the literary atmosphere, and editors are among one's friends, it is easier to get a start. My lot was not cast in this atmosphere, and I am afraid I do not possess anyone of these qualifications. So far I look upon myself as a failure, but have put down these facts for what they might be worth to any aspirant who finds himself at a similar dis- advantage. Perhaps I may be able to gain a livelihood by this kind of work in time, with health and good fortune to assist me. Seeing that I was over twenty-eight years of age when my first story was accepted, and am now only thirty-three, also taking into consideration the fact that I gave little or no study to literature until a few years ago, it is evident I am still a child in the literary school. Probably this paper will be regarded as unwarrantably egotistical, which doubtless it is, wherefore, although my experiences are not half told, I must bring it to a close.  ## p. 323 (#337) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 323 AUTHORSHIP AND JOURNALISM IN RUSSIA. HE literary profession the wide world over is one long tale of disappointment, drud- gery, deprivation, and destitution. The few exceptions to the rule only go to prove its generalness. Authorship in the Tsar's realms is about at its lowest ebb. The daily feuilleton in the news- papers has almost completely done away with works of a lasting character. Instead of authors trying to elevate the reading public, they have descended to their level. They only seek to amuse them and pander to their tastes without any attempt at instruction. The details of the latest domestic scandal are woven into a dialogue, utterly devoid of plot or moral, and presented for the readers' delectation. The few composi- tions exhibiting any signs of originality in con- struction of plot or portrayal of character are invariably of foreign origin, and find their way into the Russian press in translation. In this latter branch of the art British authors are in great vogue, and several familiar names are to be met with in contemporary magazines. A short while ago the statistics of a provincial library showed that the authors, taken in their respec- tive order of popularity, most in demand were Tolstoi, Lermontoff, Turgenieff, Gogol, Pees- wensky, Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Mayne Reid, Walter Scott, Dickens, and Lord Byron. I did not see a single contemporary English author, but this was not to be wondered at, as the trans- lations of their works appear in magazines and newspapers, and seldom, if ever, come out in book form. The literature of to-day, in more senses than one, is of the most ephemeral nature. The puerile, pernicious productions which at present find acceptance testify to the decline and gradual decay of the author's craft. Racy writers on topical subjects flourish abundantly, but masters of pure diction, finished style, aiming at instruc- tion and elevation, will be sought for in vain. The halo of mystery which encircles the harem, the brutishness which distinguishes the Orient, the 'breath of scandal which taints a noble name—all these have their slaves. It is only the contempla- tion of the workings of the passions of the lowest possible order that stirs a ripple of interest on the placid surface of the great sea of surfeited pleasure which characterises the present genera- tion. Some affirm that Tolstoi was little known before his realistic book “ Kreutzer Sonata ?” turned the general public's attention to him. And who now of all living Russian writers can claim to rank among first-rate authors P. They could be counted on the digits of one hand. The only one that enjoys a world-wide renown is Tolstoi. And he is as if he were no more. He came of that Russian strain which had Pushkin and Lermon- toff for its representatives. They studied natu- ralism, and died in practising it. Both writers met their death in a duel, in consequence of an unholy love. In his youth Tolstoi was also not free of the divine passion, and out of his youthful experiences he evolved a tale which was true to the life, and for which the world thanked him. But now he is returning to the fallacies of a by- gone age. He is vainly trying to revive the myths of a long-flown past; to rehabilitate the Garden of Eden; to hasten the Milennium—all equal impossibilities. The hoary head befits the philosophical mind, but his “Babellic” structure constructed to a fantastic Utopian design will never exist on its chimerical groundwork. The store of sound reason and clear judgment which he has rejected will yet become the corner-stone of a more substantial and enduring edifice erected on the principles of labour and progress. One trait in his character we cannot help admiring is his sincerity. He is sincere in everything he does, as long as his belief in its virtue lasts. But, then, belief is so very flexible. He may change it to-morrow. At the risk of being discursive, I will relate the following as illustrative of the commercial value of a name: When the Count was on the Caucasus serving in the army, he sent some of his first effusions to a Moscow editor, who replied that he would accept them, but could not pay for them. Now Tolstoi is offered fabulous prices for his works, but he replies that he accepts no pay. What would then have been treasured beyond all measure is now despised as mere worthless dross. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, saith Solomon — espe- cially riches, for they take wings and fly away with the morn. “Two things have I required of Thee,” saith Agur, the prophet, “deny me them not before I die. Remove me far from vanity and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me.” The ordinary scribe has often to exist and nourish a wife and family on the poorest pittance —pay which a daily labourer would scorn. In pro- portion to the vast population, it is a surprisingly small percentage of the people that ever take a paper into their hands. The “Negramotnia,” or those unable to read or write, are in an over- whelming majority in rural districts, and in the towns themselves the number is simply appalling. Sometimes the number of those in villages boast- ing only a rudimentary education descends to as low a figure as I per cent., and even lower, so it  ## p. 324 (#338) ############################################ 324 THE AUTHOR. is no matter for amazement, when we consider the ignorance of the populace, that the writer's labours in Russia are so little valued. True, his lot has been slightly bettered by the liberal grant of the Tsar, but it is only like a drop in the oeean, and can only prove of real benefit to the indigent writer if the Imperial example is fol- lowed by private subscriptions to the fund from wealthy patrons of the literary art. Of course we must recollect that the teeming millions of the Russian empire are as yet in the elementary stages of civilisation, but the Govern- ment is using its best endeavours to educate the masses, and its efforts must eventually be crowned with success, and then a brighter day will dawn for those engaged in literature. WILLIAM ADDIson. Odessa, 27 March I I. *-- ~ * e= * * BOOK TALK. HE Dover Chronicle says Mr. Joseph Hatton is sojourning at St. Margaret's Bay and making excursions about the coast between Deal and Dover with a view to certain incidents in a new novel that is to begin its serial career during the autumn in a London weekly. “The Banishment of Jessop Blythe.” is Mr. Hatton's latest book, and he chose to adopt the method of three volumes in one, in which shape the novel is in active demand at the libraries and booksellers’. In May or June Mr. Hatton will publish a shilling novelette entitled “Tom Chester's Sweetheart" (Hutchinsons). It will be an extended treatment of the author's story entitled “The Editor” that appeared in the Ludgate Monthly. “The Banishment of Jessop Blythe’’ is published in America by Messrs. Lippincott. The large edition of “The Money Lender Unmasked,” by Mr. Thomas Farrow, was entirely exhausted within one month from the date of publication. A second edition has been prepared and is now ready. This work appears to be one of the successes of the season, and, in view of the attention of Parliament having been drawn to the subject, promises to be of much service as a standard work of reference should a Royal Com- mission be granted. In the new edition Mr. Farrow has still further strengthened the “Intro- ductory” portion. Mr. C. L. Marson's book, “The Psalms at Work,” will shortly appear in a second edition (Elliot Stock). A revised edition of “The Blessed Dead in Paradise,” by J. E. Walker, with an introduction by Canon Bell, will also be published immediately by the same firm. Mrs. Alec Tweedie’s first book, “A Girl’s Ride in Iceland,” will be published in a third edition in May by Mr. Horace Cox. It will be brought out at Is., but will be much revised, making it up to date. Several Icelandic stories will be added, and many new illustrations. Mrs. Tweedie's last book, “Wilton, Q.C., or Life in a Bighland Shooting Box,” is in a second edition, the first having sold out a month from publica- tion. “John Bickerdyke” will shortly issue a volume of reminiscences, short stories, and essays on the scientific side of angling. The volume will be entitled “Days of My Life on Waters Fresh and Salt, and Other Papers,” and will be illustrated by an intaglio frontispiece and a number of full- page illustrations made from photographs taken Ha the author. The publishers are Longman and Co. The same author also has in the press a volume on modern sea fishing. This book, which is expected about July, will form one of the Badminton Series (Longman and Co.). It is being illustrated by Mr. C. Napier Hemy and Mr. R. E. Pritchett, and will contain contributions on Antipodean and other foreign fish, tarpon, and whaling by Mr. William Senior (“Red Spinner”), Mr. Alfred C. Harmsworth, and Sir H. Gore Booth, About the end of May Mr. E. Norrys Connell will issue a new novel called “The House of the Strange Woman.” Mr. Connell is already favourably known as the author of “In the Green Park.” This book should have been out earlier, but the firm of printers who were origi- nally charged with its production took exception to certain chapters on conscientious grounds. The volume is to be the pioneer of a new series of four-shilling novels which, at Mr. Connell’s sug- gestion, Messrs. Henry and Co. purpose issuing in an unique form. The “Parnassos,” the Philological Society of Athens, have elected—époqêvos—unanimously— as honorary member Mrs. Elizabeth M. Edmonds, author of “Amygdala’’ and of many works on modern Greece and modern Greeks. Professor Warr’s book for the “Dawn of Euro- pean Literature” series (S.P.C.K.) on the Greek epic will appear next month. Captain Lionel Trotter, author of “India under Victoria,” “Warren Hastings,” &c., is engaged upon a “Life of General John Nicholson,” who, after a brilliant career in the Punjaub, fell in the prime of manhood while leading his storming  ## p. 325 (#339) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 325 column along the ramparts of Delhi, in Septem- ber, 1857. Several of Nicholson's old friends have promised their aid in this work. The Delegates of the Clarendon Press are about to issue Vol. XIII. of Professor Buchheim’s “German Classics,” consisting of Schiller's pathetic tragedy, “Maria Stuart.” The text will be provided with a complete commentary, and preceded by an historical and a critical introduction. The distinguishing features of this edition will consist in the fact that the drama will be annotated strictly in accordance with the English, French, and Latin sources consulted by Schiller, and that several of his sources have been traced for the first time by the Editor. Mr. Robert H. Sherard’s new novel, “Jacob Niemand,” will be published as a six-shilling volume in June by Messrs. Ward and Downey, Mr. Sherard has recently written, and disposed of for publication in serial form, a story entitled “The Mocking Bird.” His authorised biography of Mme. Sarah Bernhardt is not yet finished, and cannot be ready till the autumn. “Greece and Her Hopes and Troubles,” by “Hilarion” (Glasgow: James Maclehose and Sons), is a short and plain statement of what Greece is, what she has done, and what she hopes to accom- plish. It contrasts the Greece of the present day with the time of bondage to the Turk. The object of the author is to set down the exact truths concerning the country and the people without exaggeration or suppression. The cession of the Ionian Islands, for instance, is regarded from the Hellenic point of view as one of the most generous acts ever recorded of any nation. The Rev. James Bowmes has just published a volume of verse (Sonnenschein) called “Randolph Lord De Vere, and other Poems.” extract gives one of the shorter poems: Ye merry breezes fresh that come and go, And mark your course by songs from waving corn, And laughter from the rivers as they flow, Ye cannot move a heart all worldly worn Thou sun that spreadest with thy radiant light The forest, vale, and heathered mountain side, And causest them to look contented, bright, Thou can’st not soothe a heart that time has tried Ye stars that dwell within the sapphire sky, And view with tender eyes the earth below, With all your love and all your sympathy, Ye cannot cheer a heart bowed down with woe Then, breezes, airy spirits, roam around ! Shine, sun, until thine everlasting gloom Gaze, stars, from out the blue expanse profound ! All will behold some day my silent tomb “The Two Dunmores: a Sporting Love Story of To-day,” is apparently a first work by “Blake Lamond.” It is published by Remington and The following . Co. The author should avoid the habit of giving too much detail. In order to convey a vivid picture not all the background should be painted. The impression is best produced by selection and suggestion. “Ernest England : a Drama for the Closet,” is by J. A. Tucker, late editor of the Daily News, Calcutta (Leadenhall Press). The work is a mixture of prose and poetry. It is a perfectly serious work, of great length, and treats of many subjects. Why, alas ! will men write such terribly long dramas P Three hundred and fifty pages | Who, even in a long review, could do justice to this lengthy prose-poem P “Tales from the Western Moors,” by Geoffrey Mortimer, a new name. The book contains nearly twenty tales, some of them more than about twelve pages long. The writer knows his country, and the dialect and manners of the people, well. The publishers are Gibbings and Co., Bloomsbury. “French Gems ” is quite a little book (Elliot Stock)—a booklet of eighty pages—containing on the left hand a sentence, a reflection, a text, a poem, in French ; and on the right hand “Reflec- tions,” in English verse. The author of the “Reflections,” “J. G.,” hopes to assist the mission to French-speaking foreigners in Great Britain in connection with the French Reformed Church, Bayswater, under the care of the Rev. J. M. H. Du Pontet de la Harpe. “A Future Roman Empire’ is a pamphlet rather than a book, by Mr. George Edward Tanner (Elliot Stock). It is a sequel to a work by the same writer, called “Unpopular Politics.” The writer contemplates the possibility of the revival of a second great Roman Empire, of which he gives a map. He is, apparently, determined that the second empire shall be exactly the same as the first. He includes all the countries round the Mediterranean to the British Isles, but excludes Germany and Russia, and Asia beyond the Euphrates. Most of us will probably emi- grate when that empire arrives. Mr. George Moore has finished the scheme of his new novel, and will now set to work upon it. It deals with the career of a prima donna who feals uneasy about the life she is leading, and at length submits herself to a priest for advice. His counsel is that she should go into a convent, and this agrees with her own inclinations. So she becomes a nun; and around the secrecy of life in a convent the story is woven. Mr. Moore antici- pates that the writing of the book will occupy him for two years. His completed work, called “Celi- bates,” will be issued within the next few days.  ## p. 326 (#340) ############################################ 326 THE AUTHOR. the autumn by Messrs. Methuen. Mr. John Hollingshead's Reminiscences will be published early this month by Messrs. Sampson Low, in two volumes. The title is “My Life- time,” and a portrait of the author is given. Messrs. Chapman and Hall have in prepara- tion a novel entitled “Elizabeth's Pretenders,” by Mr. Hamilton Aidé; also “Pages from the Day Book of Dethia Hardacre,” by Mrs. Fuller Mait- land. Mr. Douglas Freshfield, the president of the Alpine Club, has written a book on Mountaineer- ing, which will be published by Mr. Edward Arnold. It will consist of a record of the explo- ration of Central Caucasus by members of the club throughout the last twenty-five years, and of the author's own experiences particularly, he hav- ing spent two summers there lately. The book will be in two large volumes, illustrated, and with maps. Another new work of travel is “Three Months in the Forests of France,” by Miss Mar- garet Stokes,” the author of “Six Months in the Apennines.” The book is a description of a pil- grimage in search of the Irish saints of France. Messrs. Bell and Sons are the publishers. The series of letters written by Robert Louis Stevenson, during his life in Samoa, to his friend Mr. Sidney Colvin, are to be published early in These are said to be the most interesting of any of Stevenson's correspondence during the period of his remote exile, and contain a record from month to month of his work and opinions. A portrait of the novelist will be the frontispiece to the book, which will appear simultaneously in America. Mr. Lilley's recent lectures at the Royal Insti- bution are to appear in book form under the title “Four Humorists of the Nineteenth Century.” Dickens represents the democrat in humour. Thackeray the philosopher, George Eliot the poet, and Carlyle the prophet. To his many other successes, Mr. Stead will attempt to add that of a novel writer. His first novel will be called “A Modern Maid in Modern Babylon,” and will relate the adventures of a young girl who came to London some years ago. It will be published some time this year. The Marquis of Lorne has written a “Gover- nor’s Guide to Windsor Castle,” which Messrs. Cassell have published. This will doubtless set a fashion in such things, and it is interesting reading, which can be appreciated either at the Castle or at home. - Mr. Justin McCarthy expects to have the last two volumes of his “History of the Georges,” ready at the beginning of next year. The latter part of Mr. J. H. McCarthy’s work on the French Revolution is to appear in the autumn. Another series of fiction has made a start, namely “The Times Novels.” This, of course, consists of stories that have appeared in the Weekly edition of the Times. The series, which is published by Messrs. Osgood, opens with “A Daughter of the Soil,” by Mrs. Francis. Mr. Egerton Castle’s “Light of Scarthey’” will be the next to appear. The next reprint in the beautiful Kelmscott Press series will be “Sir Percyvelle of Galles.” It appears shortly, but Mr. Morris has already sold the greater part of the issue, which consists of 35o paper copies, and eight on vellum. A new work by Mr. Frank Vincent, in which he gives a survey of the entire continent of Africa. from his recent journeyings there, will be published shortly by Mr. Heinemann. It will be called “The Actual Africa; or, the Coming Continent,” and will have IOO full page illustrations. Mr. Henry James will also at an early date issue “Terminations,” a new volume of stories (Heinemann.) Messrs. Nichols are about to issue Victor Hugo's works in English. There are from twenty to thirty volumes in the series, fully illustrated, and they will appear at intervals of a month. No English translation of Hugo exists so complete as this. A series of handbooks on the Cathedrals of England is about to be commenced by Messrs. Dent. Everything of interest concerning the buildings, the traditions, and historical associations surrounding them, will be told by writers who are thoroughly conversant with the matter. “Canter- bury,” by the Hon. and Rev. W. H. Fremantle, Dean of Ripon (a former Canon of Canterbury), will appear first. “Ely,” by Dean Stubbs; and “Tewkesbury,” by Dr. Spence, will follow. Another book for children comes soon from Mrs. Molesworth, entitled “Sheila's Mystery.” It will be published by Messrs. Macmillan. This writer has now produced about seventy books. Mr. Clement Scott's book on Irving First Nights, from “The Bells” to “King Arthur,” is. expected to be ready by the end of the month. Mr. G. W. Smalley, who will soon cease to be the Dondon correspondent of the New York Tribune and becomes the New York correspondent of the Times, is bringing out a new book entitled “Studies of Men,” which Messrs. Macmillan will publish this month. It consists of a large number of Mr. Smalley’s character sketches of eminent men, which are mostly reprints in a revised form from  ## p. 327 (#341) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 327 the Tribune. Among the subjects are the German Emperor, Lord Rosebery, Sir William Harcourt, Cardinal Newman, Professor Tyndall, Mr. Balfour, Prince Bismark, Mr. Parnell, and about forty others. Before he leaves London the distinguished journalist is to be entertained at dinner by a Select company of his American and English confrères. The announcement of a “Ruskin Reader ’’ from Mr. George Allen's press serves to remind us that this publishing house is named after Ruskin, a fact which might pardonably be forgotten, since Mr. Allen is extending his business so far beyond Ruskinian literature alone. The new reader is to be out in a few days. It has been compiled from “Modern Painters,” “The Seven Lamps of Architecture,” and “The Stones of Venice,” and is intended for young students. From Ruskin House will also come “The History of Huon of Bordeaux,” by Mr. Robert Steel, illustrated by Mr. Fred Mason; and “Biographical Essays"— of Dean Stanley, Dean Alford, Mrs. Duncan Stewart, and others—by Mr. Augustus J. Hare, in addition to the latter's Life of the Gurney Family already announced. Mr. E. Denison Ross has completed the trans- lation of “The Tarikk-i-Rashidi,” a rare Persian work, which has hitherto existed only in manu- script, and the volume will be issued by Messrs. Sampson Low shortly. It forms a history of the Central Asian section of the Moghuls, who separated themselves early in the fourteenth century from the main stem of the Chaghatai dynasty. Their princes became masters of Moghulistan and of all Eastern Turkistan, and continued powerful for more than 250 years. The author of the work is Mirza Mohammad Haidar, cousin of the Emperor Baber of Hindustan, the grandfather of the famous Akbar. Mr. Ney Elias, H.M.'s Consul-General for Khovason, has superintended the translation and written an introduction and explanatory notes. Mr. H. E. Watts’s “Life of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra,” which will be uniform with his new edition of “Don Quixote,” is to be published by Messrs. A. and C. Black on July 1. The book of the month has been the “Tetters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge,” published by Mr. Heinemann. The letters are mostly new, and include those written to Mrs. Coleridge, Words- worth, Southey, Charles Lamb, John Murray, and Thomas Poole, giving much invaluable light upon the poet's career. They extend from 1785 to 1833, but are yet not a complete collection. The editor, Mr. Ernest Hartley Coleridge, grand- son of the poet, says that “a complete collection must await the ‘coming of the milder day,” a renewed long suffering on the part of his old enemy the ‘literary public.’” Great eagerness was manifested in getting a translation of Tolstoy's new novel, “Master and Man * into sale. Six days after receiving the MS. Messrs. Chapman and Hall had a large edition in the market. Mr. Walter Scott follows more leisurely with a translation. What would have been the first to reach this country, however, was stopped and suppressed, for some reason, on the Russian frontier. A “Life of the late Lord Randolph Churchill” will be published very shortly. Mr. T. H. S. Escott is the biographer, and he has been assisted in compiling the work by Lord Dufferin, Lord Reay, Sir Henry Drummond Wolff, and Sir John Gorst. Messrs. Hutchinson are the publishers. The City Treasurer of Birmingham, Mr. W. R. Hughes, who wrote “A Week's Trip in Dickens's Land,” has placed his valuable collection of Dickens' editions and memorabilia at the service of Mr. Thomas Wright for the “Life of Dickens.” which the latter is preparing. A good deal of new matter has, it is said, been established by Mr. Wright, chiefly concerning the novelist's childhood. The work will not be ready before the end of the year, at the earliest. In Mr. David Nutt’s “Tudor Translation ” series the next issue will be North’s “Plutarch,” with an introduction by Mr. George Wyndham. It will appear in six volumes, between now and December. Forthcoming publications in the series include “Holland's Suetonius,” “Fenton's Bandello,” “Shelton's Don Quixote,” and “Holand's Livy.” Messrs Bell have in course of preparation a new series of Royal Naval Handbooks, which will be edited by Commander C. U. Robinson, author of “The British Fleet.” Admiral Sir Vesey Hamil- ton writes on Naval Administration and Organisa- tion, Professor Laughton on Naval Strategy, Captain C. Campbell on the Internal Economy of a Warship, and Captain H. G. Garbett on Naval Gunnery. The Entry and Training of Officers and Men is by Lieut. J. Allen, Torpedoes by Lieut. J. Armstrong, Steam in the Navy by Fleet-Engineer R. C. Oldknow, and Naval Architecture by Mr. J. J. Welch. Mr. Israel Gollancz is working at an edition of Henry VI., besides having in preparation books on the “Hamlet Saga,” “Tancred and Gismunda,” and the Anglo-Saxon poems in the Exeter book. The “Temple Shakespeare,” which is edited by Mr. Gollancz, has had an enormous sale, Messrs. Dent putting it at considerably over 200,000.  ## p. 328 (#342) ############################################ 328 THE AUTHOR. The past month has witnessed the appearance of the New Budget, an illustrated weekly, which took the place, without the loss of a week, of the Pall Mall Budget, the latter having been with- drawn, somewhat unaccountably, from the field on the last Saturday of March. The editor of the deceased magazine, and the majority of its staff, have come over to the new venture, which is being conducted with spirit largely on the same lines. Mr. Harry Furniss, having accepted control of the art section, his own journal Lika Joko likewise closes its career. Another new sixpenny weekly is The Hour, which is edited by Mr. C. H. Wil- liamson. It is of course illustrated, and it makes a feature of prize competitions and insurance schemes. Vanity Fair changed hands last month, but the new proprietor is not announced, except that he is “a gentleman of taste and credit.” Mr. Charles Dixon's book on “The Migration of British Birds” will be ready at Messrs. Chap- man and Hall's immediately. In it the author advances what is believed to be an entirely new law governing the geographical dispersal of species, and illustrates its application in the case of British birds. Several volumes of verse will be published by Mr. Lane immediately. These include Mr. Le Gallienne's new book, entitled “Robert Louis Stevenson, an Elegy; and Other Poems, mostly Personal ; ” and Mr. Francis Thomson's, which is called “Songs Wing to Wing; ” “Vespertilia and other Poems,” by Mrs. Rosamond Marriott Watson (for which Mr. Anning Bell has designed a special title-page); and “Poems of the Day and Year,” by Mr. Frederick Tennyson. A novel called “Consummation,” by Victoria Cross, is also announced to appear soon from the Bodley Head, and will be the first of a new four-and- sixpenny series. A correspondent assures the Chronicle that the circulation of one million copies was not secured, as it had stated, by a single novel by the American writer, Albert Ross (Lynn Boyd Porter), but by a series of six novels. He points out that of “Ben Hur,” another American book, 4OO,OOO copies were sold ; while “Mr. Barnes of New York,” first written by Mr. A. C. Gunter as a play, and then adapted in despair to novel form, caught on to the extent of 250,000. But the million record appears still to be a-begging, The sale of King Solomon’s Mines,” which is being reprinted, will thus be brought up to IOO,OOO in this country and the colonies, and Max O’Rell's “John Bull and Co.,” is in its 20th thousand. “The Bonnie Brier Bush,” by Ian Maclaren, approaches 40,000, and a “Yellow Aster” 28,000. One result of General Booth’s recent Trans- atlantic tour will be a work on “Darkest America.” He will not have it ready for a considerable time, however. Two new volumes will shortly appear in the “Chief Ancient Philo- sophies” series of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. They are “Platonism,” by the Rev. T. B. Strong, of Christ Church, Oxford; and “Neo-Platonism,” by the Rev. Dr. Charles Bigg. “The Greek Epic,” by Professor Warr, of Ring's College, which will also be issued imme- diately, is an addition to the “Dawn of European Literature” series. Mr Fisher Unwin publishes a biography of the late W. F. A. Gaussen, of Pembroke College, Cambridge, the translator of Potapenko's Works. The book is called “Memorials of a Short Life,” the Rev. Canon Browne of St. Paul’s edits it, and writes an introduction, the remainder consisting of personal letters. In the “National Churches" series, pub- lished by Wells Gardner, the next volume will be “The History of the Church in America,” by Dr. Leighton Coleman, Bishop of Delaware. It will be issued simultaneously in England and America in a few days. “The Musical Educator” is the title of a work which Messrs. Jack, of Edinburgh, will issue in five illustrated volumes. Amongst the contribu- tors are Mr. James Sneddon, Mr. J. C. Grieve, Mr. William Townsend, Mr. F. Lauback, and Mr. William Daly. Dr. John Greig is the editor. Esmé Stuart's new novel “Married to Order ’’ will be issued immediately in the two-volume library form. Esmé Stuart is the author of “Joan Wellacot,” “A Woman of Forty,” “ Kestell of Greystone,” &c. The publisher is Horace Cox, Windsor House, Bream's-buildings. “A Fisherman’s Fancies,” by F. B. Doveton, published by Elliot Stock, is a book of collections of short sketches which will no doubt appeal to those of the public who desire to pass away a pleasant half-hour. The sketches that touch on fishing, and which no doubt give the name to the book, are excellent reading for those who are fond of that sport. Mr. Justin Charles MacCartie, author of “Making his Pile,” has just produced a new story called “The Darleys of Dingo Dingo,” which deals with Australian country life of the present day. It is published by Messrs. Gay and Bird. It has been announced in the Academy and other papers that Mr. F. H. Perry Coste, B.Sc., &c., is the author of “Towards Utopia,” and “On the Organisation of Science,” which have been issued under the nom de guerre of a “Free  ## p. 329 (#343) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 329 Lance.” Towards Utopia,” which, in spite of its Utopian title, disclaims any very “Utopian’” dreams, is mainly occupied with an attempt to trace broadly the various economic and moral factors through which a natural evolution of society to a semi-Utopian state may be brought about. The American rights in “Towards Utopia’’ were acquired by Messrs. Appleton as soon as the book appeared; and immediately afterwards the author received and refused an offer for a German transla- tion. The output of new books in the United States last year was in the following order:—First, fiction, then political and social science, then theology, religion, biography, history, travels, and poetry. There were 2821 books by American writers printed in the United States, IOS6 books were imported, and 577 books by English and other foreign authors were produced on the other side. The greatest number of importations was in theology and religion, and reached 262 volumes In 1893 a large number of volumes, already in hand, had to be published, though the times were unfavourable, and in 1894 the publishers, already fearful of hard times, were more careful about entering into new engagements.-PWestminster Gazette. Another case of a public library circulating pirated books has been discovered by the West- minster Gazeffe. We have before us Ruskin’s “Time and Tide,” bearing the following inscription on the title page: “New York : John Wiley and Sons, 15, Astor-place, 1888.” For many months past this “pirate ’’ has been freely issued at the Tate Lending Library, Brixton. We learn from the Chief Librarian that it was a presentation copy, and while he would certainly not dream of purchasing a “pirate,” he saw no reason to refuse one as a gift. It is a nice case for the conscience. He would be a very conscientious person who would refuse to keep on his shelves a gift book because it belonged to a pirated edition. But surely a public library is in a different position; such a book certainly ought not to be kept on the shelves and lent out to readers. *– ~ --" &= - - CORRESPONDENCE, I.—EDITORS’ RULES. FEAR, we are but wasting time, paper, and ink in this controversy if we are to wait until the editors, out of the kindness of their hearts, bind themselves to pay within a certain time for MSS. Probably the end of this world will arrive before they do so. No, there are two paragraphs in your last copy of the Author which contain, I think, the key to the difficulty. Page 281 (under “Warnings and Advice”): “It is not generally understood that the author, as the vendor, has the absolute right of drafting the agreement upon whatever terms the transac- tion is to be carried out.” This is surely as true of the magazine article as of the book. Page 304 (under “Musical Publishing”) : “It is for the greatest (writers) composers to begin to insist upon more equitable terms.” To those whose papers are too well known, and too valuable, to be refused because “equitable terms ” are necessary to secure them we, the smaller fry, must look for help in this matter. Let them insist on a certain set of rules (as the rule) and editors will soon cease to take their own time to settle accounts, and learn the valuable lesson that “Short accounts make long friends.” R. L. I. II.—PARALLELISM. Mr. Langbridge's sort of “ Kubla Khan’’ experience is one which, I fancy, a good many people can parallel, though whether one should be scrupulous “in tampering with the gift of a dream ” is a matter which I leave the Psychical Researchists to decide. It may not be unin- teresting to your readers to give the experiences of others who have dreamed poems or books or speeches and have just caught hold of the last line or last sentence as they awoke. Twice I have, on coming up to the surface of consciousness, finished, once a poem and once a sermon, out loud. The poem ended with the sonorous line And stemmed the torrent with a pervious prone; the sermon with Churches are the martello towers of religion. I have not “tampered with these dream-gifts,” and leave others to discover their literary or philosophic value ! April 9. G. S. LAYARD, Lorraine Cottage, Great Malvern. III.-GoD AND THE ANT. May I ask Frederick Langbridge if he has ever published the sonnet he gives on p. 304 of the Author? If not, both he and Coulson Ker- nahan are “parallelists,” for I have seen exactly the same thought somewhere, though I cannot place it, and in extremely similar words to those which Mr. Langbridge uses. Or am I a “parallelist” also P ALAN OSCAR.  ## p. 330 (#344) ############################################ 33O THE AUTHOR. IV.--THE RIGHT, OR THE WRONG, To MUTIILATE A PAPER. It would be interesting to all writers who contribute papers to magazines to know certainly whether in so doing they render themselves liable to have their paper mutilated to suit editorial difficulties concerning space. It seems to me that, although an editor has the absolute right of refusing any paper, once he accepts it he binds himself to reproduce it as it stands, unless by special agreement with the author. Personally I have always held this ground, and am happy to say that in the course of fifteen years of very extensive work for many magazines I have only on two occasions had any cause for Complaint. I regret to have to say that one of these has oc- curred in the present year. Early in 1893 I offered an article to one of the illustrated magazines to which I have frequently contributed, and by which it was accepted, but publication delayed, About December, 1893, I prepared a very care- fully written account of the details of an event of which I was anxious to preserve a permanent record. As I had secured a good illustration, I offered it to the same magazine, which, as usual, welcomed it. Publication, however, was delayed, and only the following autumn were proofs sent to me. I corrected these most carefully, bringing the subject up to date. In December another copy of these proofs, not corrected, was sent to me, and I again corrected them, the editor expressing his regret at the prolonged delay in publication. The paper was announced as being in the February number, and various persons interested ordered copies, to find a dull, matter-of-fact article compressed into three pages, without illustration, upwards of twenty paragraphs having been cut out from ten distinct places, the result naturally being as bald as the letter of a hurried newspaper correspondent. Supposing that the editor must have been suffering from influenza, and that some stranger was responsible for this discourtesy, I wrote asking for an explanation, and, receiving none, I wrote again more strongly, requesting the return of the paper and illustrations sent in 1893. To which the editor replies: “He is glad to be able to repudiate entirely the charge of dis- courtesy—a charge which would with more justice be brought against a contributor who demands an apology for the absolutely necessary abridg- ment which every editor is fully entitled to make in any article sent to him for publication.” Is he P. That is just the question. Does every contributor to a magazine lay himself open to find his most careful work mutilated in this barbarous manner, and then presented to the public with his (or her) signature at the end of it P I hope not. But when an editor who has printed perhaps a dozen of my papers verbatim suddenly deals thus with one—and, strangely enough, the only one of the whole lot which was really of consequence—where does security lie? On my requesting the return of the article accepted two years ago, it was sent with some minor illustrations. I wrote back stating that two large paintings had not been sent. To this the editor replies that they had been photo- graphed and returned to me by parcel post about the end of December, and that he is not respon- sible for accidental loss. That is to say, they were despatched in the busiest week of the year without any notice or any subsequent inquiry as to their receipt not having been acknowledged. This seems to me another point which ought to be clearly defined. When illustrations or MSS. are returned by parcel post, ought not an intimation to that effect to be sent by ordinary post? A general business agree- ment on these points would be satisfactory. C. W.—MINOR POETs. Your correspondent of April, “Mary Augusta Salmond,” is probably unaware that when a minor poet publishes a volume of verses, he does so almost invariably at his own risk. In any case, the chances of profit accruing to himself from such a source are infinitesimal. Again, there are few, if any, periodicals that will pay for a poem in lyrical form. For these reasons, it is rarely indeed that the writer of the words of a song, however popular it may become, makes anything beyond his fee for the musical copyright. Therefore, whilst heartily agreeing with Mrs. Salmond on other points, I must, in the interest of brother minor poets, point out that, though the price paid for the copyright may be considered a fairly adequate return for a mere drawing-room or schoolroom song, in the case of a ballad or more important work being taken up by a public singer it is not so, and some arrangement should in justice be made by which the poet would have a share, however small, in the performing rights of his work, as well as the composer, singer, and publisher. The words are manifestly the raison d'être of the composi- tion. HELEN MARION BURNSIDE. VI.-A CoINCIDENCE. May I ask for a few lines of your space? In the Times of March 29 last I read: “The monologue is less an English than a French off-  ## p. 331 (#345) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 33 I shoot of the drama, but it would soon cease to be so were many such pretty sketches or dramatic episodes written as that produced last night by Mr. Henry Hamilton under the title of ‘For- tune’s Fool.” An unhappy lover in his lonely chambers bewails the fate that has snatched away from him the woman of his dreams. * Life has no more charm for Philip Challoner, and, after evoking all his sweetest souvenirs by reading her letters, and, seated at the piano, singing her favourite song, he swallows a dose of poison. The postman knocks, and the doomed man takes from the letter-box two letters, one informing him that he is heir to a fortune, the other from the lady herself, declaring her inability to live without him, and her resolution to marry him at all hazards. As he dies, a dis- creet knock at the door announces the lady’s arrival, whereupon the curtain falls.” The omis- sions indicated are not material, and, with one exception, the above account very closely renders the course of the monologue acted by Mr. Lewis Waller. The exception—I attended at the Hay- market Theatre on April 5—lay in the fact that, not two letters, so far as I myself could gather, but only one, the second of the two noted above, was delivered by the postman, and received by the lover—too late. A short story entitled “Arsenic” appeared in Beecham's Christmas Annual (Messrs. F. J. Lambert and Co., Temple-chambers and Bouverie- street) for 1889. The contributors to the number included Joseph Hatton, James Greenwood, Fergus Hume, Florence Marryat, and Manville Fenn, and I was informed that at the price—viz., one penny—more than 400,000 copies had been sold. “Arsenic ’’ purports to be the narrative of a man who, committing suicide by means of that poison, writes of his ruin and his hopelessness, and watches for the gradual symptoms as long as he can hold the pen. In this way he is made to tell the story; and between the lines the reader should discern a tale of feminine infidelity which the writer, the deserted husband, does not suspect. He evokes his sweetest souvenirs. These, how- ever, are not associated with a wealthy person whom he loves apparently in vain, but with his little dead child, upon the slenderness of whose resemblance to her mother he seems to dwell with gratification—all such gratification as may be left to him in his last hour. He becomes delirious; he dies. The next morning the postman knocks at his door with a registered letter. The post- man's comment, “It’s the unexpected, voyez-vous, that happens,” forms the last word. “Arsenic ’’ was contributed to the number in question by myself; and it bore my name. The differences of treatment in the two cases are obvious, but it has been pointed out to me that a republication of the story, with some others, might expose me to an unfounded charge of plagiarism. My sole object, therefore, now, is to beg, Sir, for an opportunity of stating in your columns that the appearance of my little story “Arsenic’’ did not follow, but preceded, and by about five years, the production of Mr. Hamilton’s monologue “Fortune's Fool.” H. F. WooD. 3, Rue de Miromesnil, Paris, April 17. [The resemblance is worth noting. It is also worth noting that Mr. Wood does not suggest any kind of plagiarism. Such a situation—the unfortunate suicide just when everything was coming right—is one likely to suggest itself to any imaginative writer.—ED.] VII.-‘‘JANE | ?” In the last of Mr. R. Sherard’s interesting letters from Paris, he says that the finding in “Moll Flanders ” a passage similar to one in “Jane Eyre' has led him to think less as a work of art of the latter powerful and most common of stories, and, though he does not say this, it has certainly led him to think less of, Charlotte Bronté as a woman. For “when asked,” he writes, “how she came to think of so striking a scene (the hearing by Jane of blind Rochester's far-away cry for her), she wsed to drape herself in some mystery ğı and reply, ‘ I wrote it because it is true,” leaving one to imagine that this was a thing of her own experience”—surely, if Mr. Sherard’s ex- planation be the right one, a mean and unworthy subterfuge, and one altogether at variance with the character we know of honest, single-minded Charlotte. 3. That the dire need of some loved one in distress —the cry across the gulf of separation of one human soul to another in sympathy—may make itself heard in some plane of emotional conscious- ness normally latent is a truth too vital to have confined itself to the recognition of Defoe alone. For my own part, that little note of Mr. Sherard's confirms a conviction I have always had—viz., that the love of Jane for Rochester is the story of some unrecorded love in Charlotte Brontë's own life. - I have never read the passage in question without having been strongly impressed with the sense that that cry for “Jane ! Jane ! Jane!” had at some time or another entered, iron-like, into the writer’s own soul. The intense and passionate tenderness por- trayed—the love tearing itself up by its bleeding human roots in order that its ideal shall not suffer—is too vivid to have taken origin wholly in  ## p. 332 (#346) ############################################ 332 THE AUTHOR. fancy. The writer interprets a passion she knows—a thing as different from mere delinea- tion of a passion she knows about as genius is from talent. In “Jane Eyre’ Charlotte Brontë has interpreted, perhaps more truly and touch- ingly than any other. writer, a woman's love— intense, sincere, high-minded, yet all the while tenderly human. I greatly doubt that Defoe had anything to teach her. ARABELLA KENEALY. VIII.-AMERICAN DELAYs. I began to write a novel a year last October. By the following March it was in a publisher's hands, and by the end of May my agreement with an English firm was signed. In the mean- time a friend in the States arranged with an American firm to copyright the story there. The American contract was signed by me in September last. The book is not yet out, and my English publishers write that they cannot get the Americans to fix any positive date. It will be said I should have insisted upon a certain time in my agreements. To this I reply that I am not a “known” author, and, considering myself fortunate in having received fair offers from two well-established publishers, I was satisfied to trust them, especially as the making of any such decided arrangement would have entailed much delay in signing contracts, and endless correspon- dence. Moreover, the book is one whose value depends greatly on an early appearance—a fact, I thought, obvious to any press reader, and which my London publishers recognised. They wanted to get it out last season, and advertised it in their autumn announcements. Here, then, is a “frightful example” for English writers and publishers. My novel would have been published six months ago, or earlier, had it not been for the American copyright. Are we to have the same trouble with Canada? By the way, has the Authors' Syndicate agents in the States ? And, if not, would it not be possible to establish a branch there? We newly- hatched ones are so ignorant NEW COMER. IX. —OUR ExTRAVAGANT DINNER. Mild private protests availing nothing, here, with your permission, a public one. Is the annual dinner intended for all the members of the Society, or only the more wealthy P. If all, then why guinea tickets P Cannot we have the pleasure of meeting one another once a year without an unnecessary, in many cases prohibitive, tax P Public dinners are always indifferent, and a satis- fying meal can be obtained for a quarter of this tax. I was well (as the place goes) and sufficiently fed the other day for just that sum. The occasion also a club dinner, and at the same restaurant. We are not gluttons, but come to the dinner less to devour our half-guinea's worth than to meet one another and hear the speeches and uphold the Society. Why, again, must those who do not drink wine pay for it—even those who are wine bibbers not choosing their wine, but having that which is given them P The cost of the dinner is equal to the cost of one year's subscription to the Society; the satis- faction transient, and the benefits nil. I feel so disgusted with this extravagance I contemplate resigning. Those who have the management of the dinner should consider all the members, and not merely their own particular tastes and means. I believe this grumble will be echoed by many members of the Society, particularly those living outside London, who to come to the dinner incur the additional cost of about a sovereign for bed, breakfast, and railway fare. This sort of thing is all very well for wealthy publishers, but not for those like A Dw ELLER IN RURAL GRUB STREET. P.S. Grumble No. 2.--Why should we waste Our money in advertising the dinner and the list of big and medium guns who are going to be present at it P Every member receives the notice privately, and we do not invite the public to come in their thousands, so the money seems absolutely thrown away. The publication of such a list of names is, I venture to assert, in questionable taste. A. D. IN R. G. S. [Perhaps an answer to the “grumble’” may be found in the following considerations: (1) The “tax * is not demanded of members; no one need pay it who does not choose. (2) Public dinners are expected to have a certain amount of show. (3) The dinner is a public occasion at which the Society shows to the world something of its im- portance. (4) The wine question and the charge of wine to those who do not drink it is one of practical management. The issue of cheaper tickets without wine has been tried, and proved unworkable for various reasons. (5) The adver- tisement of the stewards is the best advertisement we can have of the Society itself. To these con- siderations it may be added that frequent sugges- tions have been made to hold a conversazione or a series of lectures or readings, at which the Society may gather without payment. It is to be hoped that some practical suggestions may be brought before the committee. Perhaps the evening might take the form of a private dinner among ourselves at very moderate cost, without advertisement or publicity.—ED.] 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. 05 Issue 12 (May 1895) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 05 Issue 12 (May 1895) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015013732253" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015013732253</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1895-05-01-The-Author-5-12 publications The Author