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Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1895-09-02 Volume 6 Issue 4 Pages Page range in volume 85–100 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18950902 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.) C O N DU C T ED BY WA. L TER BES ANT. VoI. VI.-No. 4.] SEPTEMBER. 2, 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. *- : * ~ * e- * ~s 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 should 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. *- - --> 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 eaccept the cost of the stamp. 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 WOL. VI. refuse to show the books or to let it be known what share he reserved for himself. - 5. LITERARY AGENTs.-Be very careful. Yow cannot be too careful as to the person whom you 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 M.S. 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 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 K 2  ## p. (#440) ################################################ 86 THE AUTHOR. 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 Awthor 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. *- -” - * -- THE AUTHORS’ SYNDICATE. 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. - -* or - - - - NOTICES. HE Editor of the Author 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 Awthor 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. 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 EMBERS are informed : 1. 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 ea clusively 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 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 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,  ## p. (#441) ################################################ THE AUTHOR. - 87 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. *~ * = a- * -sa LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—ON REMUNERATION. REMUNERATION. Reward; recompense : The act of paying an equivalent for services, loss, or sacrifices. 2. The equivalent given for services, loss, or sacrifices. |HIS is the definition of the word in Webster’s T English Dictionary. It is not supposed that anyone will dispute this authority. How, then, does it apply to the case of the author P Of late years—or even months—there has been a remarkable and very suggestive persistence, when certain disinterested persons are writing on the commercial aspect of literature, in calling the author's side of the business his “remuneration.” The suggestion implied is, of course, that he is the servant of the publisher. It is against the use of the word in this sense, that we must protest continually. The author is remunerated where he executes piece or paid work—is in plain words a servant—prepares a new edition with a bio- graphy, or a critical notice, notes, index, &c.; or contributes a volume to a series for a stated sum of money; or writes a paper forming part of a volume ; in short, whenever an author performs service for pay he is rightly said to be remunerated. Many persons engaged in literary pursuits are always in this kind of service, and are therefore remunerated. The cases in which the author is not remunerated are those in which he creates for himself, without being paid, an estate, large or small, which he either sells or hands over to a middleman to administer. Take the case of a great historian, who would dare to speak of remunerating Macaulay P Or what services have Ruskin, Herbert Spenser, Lecky, Seeley, Froude, Freeman, and other great writers rendered to their publishers that they should be “remunerated ” by them P The word is an insult. We must always bear in mind that there are now writers in every conceivable branch of literature—except a few scientific branches— writers by the hundred, whose works represent in every case an estate, large or small—generally small; of enduring or of ephemeral kind— generally the latter. This is quite a new thing in literature; it belongs to the literary revolution which is going on all round us; a revolution which has enlarged our readers by millions and spread our literature over the whole globe. Never before has there been seen in any country or in any age so great a number of writers in all branches whom the world receives with welcome. Every writer, therefore, who belongs to this com- pany, thus made free of the world, should say, when he brings a MS. to a publisher, “This is my property, my own; I wish it administered. Let us agree, if we can, on the remuneration you shall receive for administering it. If we cannot agree I will take it elsewhere.” In all such cases, the situation is reversed. The publisher is in the service of the author. He must be remunerated for his services. II.-AN AGREEMENT. Here is another agreement. In this case it was the first published volume of a writer who had already had a certain amount of success in magazines. We will assume that it was of the character called risky. Now where was the risk P. The difference between the first six months’ returns and the cost of production. If two thousand copies were printed, of which only 500 were bound at first, the cost would be, for an average 6s. book of about 8o,ooo words, about £IOO. But, of course, none of this money would be paid till after the first returns came in, except a little for advertising, and that a very little unless the book showed signs of moving. What were the terms P I. For the author. First 500 copies. Nothing. Second 500. Five per cent. Five He would, therefore, receive for the sale of IOOO copies the magnificent sum of 37 IOs. For the second Iooo. 33O. For following thousands, say three, at the rate of I2; per cent., & II 2 Ios. II. For the publisher. On the first 500 copies. Nothing. The returns would about balance the cost. We must remember that with a new writer there would be very few large orders, and single volumes are sold at about 3s. Io; d. instead of 3s. 6d. On the next 500 the assumed average of 3s. 6d. a volume is much below the mark for the above reason. But it may stand. Ten per cent., or 5OO at 3s. 6d. ................. 387 IO Less the author's dole ......... 7 Io 298o o So that on the first thousand the publisher nets 380 and the author £7 Ios. The  ## p. (#442) ################################################ 88 THE AUTHOR. old and much despised arrangement used to be half the profits, by which each would take 343 I5s. On the next thousand at 3s.6d., the returns are 3175 less the author's dole of £30. The publisher therefore gets 3145. But the book is successful. Another edition is called for of 3000 copies. It costs about 31 20. The returns at 3s. 6d. a volume are 3525. The publisher therefore stands as follows: Returns ............ 48.525 O Cost of production 312o o Author at I2; per cent. II 2 IO 232 IO 3292 Io Therefore, on the whole book, the pub- lisher receives 3517 Ios. ; the author 3157 Ios. What does the world think of the publishing business P Let us all crowd in. III. The bookseller. His case is simple. He pays an average of (say) 38. 9d. mostly in single copies, and receives 4s. 6d. He gets 9d. a copy for his profit. We therefore stand as follows: I. Author on the first IOOO copies .................. “t tº e I#d. a copy. Publisher on the first Iooo copies ..................... Is. 7#d. a copy. Bookseller on the first IOOO copies ......... s & e 9d. a copy. 2. On the second IOOO copies. Author per copy ......... 7#d. a copy. Publisher per copy ... ... 2s. IOd. a copy. Bookseller per copy...... 9d. a copy. 3. On the following thousands. Author receives ......... 9d. a copy. Publisher receives ...... 2s. a COpy. Bookseller receives ...... 9d. a copy. These figures we commend to the very careful consideration of our friends the booksellers, especially to those who believe the pretty story about the authors’ unbridled greed. - III.-AN UNFORTUNATE PUBLISHER. A certain publisher was reported a few weeks ago to have made the following statement about the new agreements with the successful author. He said, weeping, that he could only make, for himself, sixpence or sevenpence a copy out of the work, while the author, who had done nothing in the world except write the book, made eighteen- pence. Poor man He counted all his own office expenses, and would allow none of the author's ; nor would he allow anything for the booksellers' expenses. He then went on to say that things had come to such a pass that a successful author would no longer be able to find anyone to publish for him. Really What if this person had, at the very time of speaking, actually made in two or three months over £1400 out of a single successful novel by his own showing, that is, at 7d. a volume on a successful book—figures not to be blindly accepted P. Sevenpence a volume for doing nothing, because he had included every possible “office expense”! For doing nothing at all ! And yet the successful author would find it impossible to find a publisher! And yet the poor, downtrodden publisher was making over £1400 out of this greedy author—all for doing nothing ! Is it possible that such things should be actually believed and accepted P. Is it possible that readers should be found to believe them? Is it hº that editors should be found to admit them P IV.-CANADIAN CoPYRIGHT. There can be little doubt that if the absolute right of Canada to legislate upon copyright is admitted by the Imperial Government, the United States International Copyright Law cannot long endure, and British authors will suffer in con- Sequence. The Canadian market considered as a market for Canadian readers is of very little importance, but the Canadian market considered as a vantage ground from which to send unautho- rised reprints into the United States is of very Serious consequence.—Harper's. *- Am. …mº 4- * *-*. NOTES FROM PARIS, Tº letter from Paris is being written from Peel in the Isle of Man. I think it is as well to confess this at once, as last night I was reading “Literary Impostures” in D'Israeli’s “Curiosities of Literature,” and fear is upon me. I will also admit, however, that this fear is mixed with amusement at the severity of the indictment of these “impostures,” for times have moved since then, and with the new journalism and the introduction of American journalistic habits, this kind of imposture has become almost universal. At any rate it is looked upon by American editors, at least, as inevitable in many cases. I remember meeting in Paris an American corres- pondent who made his living by contributing St. Petersburg letters and Russian news generally to a syndicate of American papers, and these letters always appeared as coming from St.  ## p. (#443) ################################################ THE AUTHOR. 89 Petersburg. He would have been highly in- dignant if I had called him an impostor, and yet no doubt D'Israeli would have included him in his series. One would like to write Paris letters for ever from Peel for the rest of one’s life. Such at least is one’s first impression of the place. No doubt, after a fortnight, or say a month, monotony would make itself felt, and there would be hankering after the boulevard and the café, and the rush and whirl of metropolitan life. In the meanwhile it is delightful to look up from one's paper and admire the bay, the ruined castle beyond, the fishing-boats, and, above all, the marvellous lights on sea and land. This Isle of Man is a wonderfully reposeful spot, and there are times when one longs for repose. But the bustle of the great world . . . . I am very much obliged to various distinguished correspondents to the Author for assisting to enlighten me on the question of the truthfulness of writers of fiction. The question was suggested to me by a confession by Daudet that fibbing entranced him. The novelist must, I think, have a difficulty in steering clear of embellishment, and there is really no reason why he should endeavour to do so. Ilying under such circum- stances is indeed a complimentary effort on the part of the speaker to interest his audience. Another question on which I very greatly desire enlightenment is this: Why is it that, as a rule, poets, who speak about their music and are described as “singers” and so on, knew absolutely nothing about music? I know a very distinguished singer who cannot distinguish between “God save the Queen’’ and “La Marseillaise,” and who one day asked me if “Tommy, make room for your uncle,” played on a barrel-organ, was not an aria—he said aria—from La Traviata. I have many poets amongst my acquaintances, and Ithink that the best musician amongst them is a gentle- man who can play “Home, sweet home” on the piano with his index finger. Yet they are all “sweetest singers.” There is Rollinat, of course, a “sweetest singer,” who composes beautiful tunes, but since he occupies himself with composition of music, he has practically abandoned the other kind of music. Was Shakespeare a musician, or Shelley, or Keats? Baudelaire was not, Poe was not, Victor Hugo was not. And, vice versa, most musicians whom I know have no idea of poetical composition. How very few writers of operas compose their own librettos, or writers of songs their own words. One can explain that this is so in England, that land of literary sweating, by the fact that as poets can be had cheap, to-day, to-morrow, and the day after, the composer does not care to take the trouble to write his words. He can get a nice poem as low as five shillings. In France, however, the writer of the libretto, or of the words for a song, is entitled to one half the royalties paid by the opera or the song, so that it would really be worth the composer's while to dispense with a collaborator. Massenet told me that the royalty on One of his operas or songs is six per cent. of the takings, and that of this he gets half and the librettist the other half. I asked Massenet why he did not write his own words, and he said that he was no poet and had no ear for music of that sort. Gounod and Bizet would have said the same. Beethoven wrote his songs without words. Verdi goes to Boito, and Sullivan to Gilbert. I knew that a great many people object to what they call “talking shop,” and that many authors affect the same objection. For my part, I care for nothing else but shop (of a literary kind). I live in it, I hope to die in it, and shop I must talk whilst my tongue can wag in its socket. So here is a story of literary earnings, told me by a writer who lives in Paris. “I am thirty-four,” he said, “and have been writing twelve years. The other day in looking over my ledger I found that the sum total of my earnings during these twelve years had been a little over £6000. In my first year, I earned £92; in a fat year, I earned £1 IOO. My work has been in every field of literary activity. I have written sonnets, and I have translated into the French and the German languages the caialogues of ironmongers and of export chemists. I have written a life of Napoleon, and I have composed cookery recipes for the Gastronomical Press. I have contributed variously to the Athenæum, the Bottlers' Gazette, the Saturday Review, Tit-Bits, the Wood - Pulp Gazette and Papermakers' Journal, Truth, the World, the Lancet, and the Boot and Shoe Trade Review. I have written short stories, reviews, novels, biographies, para- graphs, trade notes, words for songs, translations; in fact, in every department of the trade I have been active and zealous. I have done special correspondence in peace and war, have en- countered dangers, was brick-batted by Belgian miners, and shot in the arm by rioters in Naples. And it all amounts to £6000 in twelve years. In actual production these 36OOO represent the actual writing of about 9,000,000 words—for I have worked at a rate as low as 4s. the IOOO words, and as high as 35. So that altogether since I started writing for a living I have written what, allowing eighty words to the inch of closely- printed newspaper matter, would make a galley slip of I, I 25,OOO inches in length—that is to say, considerably over a mile and a half in length; a slip of printed matter more than nine times the  ## p. (#444) ################################################ 90 THE AUTHOR, height of the EiffelTower, a length which would be an eighteenpenny cab fare, or half an hour's walk from the Alpha of my literary production to its Omega. I have written what, cut up into lengths of the length of a popular novel, would make a library of nearly seventy-five volumes.” Since I have been in the Isle of Man, I have seen a great deal of Hall Caine, and I may say that if this admirable artist and great genius had done no other services to humanity, all authors owe him great respect for the manner in which he has maintained and imposed the dignity of the profession of literature. The Manx people are Conservative of Conservatives; the Conservative notion about writers is what we know; yet in the Isle of Man Hall Caine holds, qud writer, the position that a feudal lord held in the old days amongst his vassals. I shall not soon forget with what enthusiam he was received by a crowded house of Manx people, at the Grand Theatre, when after the performance of Wilson Barrett's version of “The Manxman,” he came before the curtain and made a short speech. Whenever he walks abroad, his whole time is occupied in answering bows and curtseys. It is a pretty sight for a penman. A swordsman never had such honours paid him. He deserves it all, for his sense of the dignity of authorship exceeds that of any captain of the dignity of swordsmanship. And the people recognise it. There is some excitement in Communist circles in Paris in consequence of the announcement that a novel dealing with the Commune is shortly to appear in London, as announced in various Parisian papers. This is Mr. Francis Gribble's “The Red Spell,” which is being published by Constable and Co. One will read this book with interest. It is said, and in de Maupassant’s case this was perhaps proved, that the writer of short stories rarely succeeds as a writer of novels. Mr. Francis Gribble has written some admirable short stories—some quite equal to de Maupassant’s work—and “The Red Spell” is, I believe, his first novel. However, as it had a very good reception in serial form, no doubt the saying will in his case he disproved. Mr. Rider Haggard, I read, complains of the people who write paragraphs about authors, and asks, “Why should paragraphs be written about authors P” He calculates that the writers of paragraphs about authors make larger incomes than the authors themselves. I wonder if his calculation is a correct one. I wonder if Mr. E. Curtice or Mr. Durrant knew of authors’ objec- tions to this same paragraphing. Indeed, I Can- not help but wonder. I notice, in a recent report of the Societé de l'Hospitalité de Nuit, in Paris that, during the last year, seven homeless authors sought the hospitality of their shelters. There were 400 terrassiers, or earth-workers, entertained during the same period. But, then, I suppose that there are more bricklayers than authors in Paris. I wonder who the seven hommes de lettres were ! Naturalists, possibly. For my part, if ever I come to stand in the dock in France, may there be an author or twain among the jury ! I should feel easier then as to liberty or life. I remember Zola's views on the criminal code, as he expounded them during the period in which he sat as a juryman in the Paris Court of Assizes; and, quite recently, I met in Madame Adam's office a large-eyed and largely- known man of letters, who kept saying, “I shall acquit him ; oh, I shall certainly acquit him.” In the end, as he repeated this statement with tedious frequency, I asked him what was the matter, who it was whom he intended certainly to acquit, and for general information on a subject which seemed to be affording him some perplexity. I then learned that I was talking to M. Jules Bois, that he was sitting on a jury at the Paris Court of Assizes, and that he could not find it in him to send the prisoner (who, it appears, had rather a fine head) to penal servitude. The man was subsequently acquitted. Zola voted for the acquittal of every prisoner brought before him. Thus we are in Bohemia. The great difference between the literary world of Paris and the literary world of London is this, that in London the literary blackleg stalks un- tarred and unfeathered at the coat-tails of the newspaper proprietor and publisher. The news- paper proprietor gives him so much a line for writing down “innovators,” the publisher gives him an occasional guinea for rejecting occasional manuscripts. In Paris such literary blacklegs as try to crawl betwixt heaven and earth would be rapier or pistol targets if they did not, by nature, prefer to be public spittoons. In London we elbow them in our clubs, in Paris they dare not show their faces. These literary blacklegs— I could name many, but would rather spare my pen—-are so-called men of letters and should be with us, but prefer to be Ishmaels with one hand turned against the authors and the other hand extended for the coppers of those who are not the friends of men of letters. As long as we authors tolerate in our midst, at our fingers' ends, at Our tables, in our salons or garrets these persons, we shall look for solidarity in vain. In Paris no successful author would read the manu- script of another author for a publisher; in Paris no successful author would write, otherwise than under his own signature, a criticism on another author's book; in Paris no author would  ## p. (#445) ################################################ THE AUTHOR. 91. espouse the cause of the publisher who, quá publisher, is the author's antagonist. In London a number of blacklegs—Do you know them P Yes, I do—are doing this daily, hourly, minutely, and, like sheep before their shearers, we are dumb. We even invite them, some to a drink, some to a week at our country-houses. Let us, for our protection form a Wehmgericht, or, since in this age we must be practical, let us have a black book, privately printed and privately circu- lated, in which the blacklegs or black sheep in our midst are denotated and set down ; a waist- coat pocket booklet with their names and addresses; so that when we meet the literary blackleg we may show him the fall of our coats, velvet or shoddy, over the shoulders, and waist, and—beyond. I have spoken strongly in these pages, but I have always spoken in my own name, and for the further guidance of those who are not content I have given the date of my utterance and the address at which it was uttered. And I can only repeat what Cluny said in Cluny’s Cage, in the finest story that was ever written, that if any gentleman is not “preceesely satisfied” . . . . Well, you know the rest. RoBERT H. SHERARD. Author's Club, 3 Whitehall Court, S.W. Aug. 20th. *- a -º z-sº NEW YORK LETTER, New York, August 15. iſ T is curious to note how the taste of the American public differs from that of the British public. If the American and the British tastes were exactly alike, the New York branches of Macmillan and Co. and of Longmans, Green, and Co. would be still what they were probably intended to be when they were founded— merely distributing offices for the books produced by the London houses. As a matter of fact, both of these houses publish books in London which they do not publish in New York, and they also publish books in New York which they do not publish in London; and both houses are anxious to get the works of leading American authors for publication in New York. In other words, the American houses of Longmans, Green and Co. and of Macmillan and Co. are no longer merely branches of the London houses of the same name, but they are also American publishers on their own account. Both of them act also as American agents of other English publishers. Messrs. Macmillan WOL. VI. and Co., besides their own list of authors, are the American representatives of Messrs. George Bell and Sons (and therefore of the Bohn Libraries), of Messrs. A. and C. Black, and of the Clarendon Press. They also have taken most of the volumes published in London by Messrs. Seeley and Co., and by Messrs. J. M. Dent and Co., as well as many of those issued by Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co. In America they have undertaken the publication of the books issued and to be issued by the new Columbia University Press, which has been founded to do for Columbia College what the Clarendon Press does for Oxford. And this last alliance of theirs is only one of many which are rapidly making the American house of Macmillan and Co., the publishers having almost the closest relations with the professors of the American Universities. Within the past five years they have issued a great many treatises and text-books by instructors in American colleges. As a result of all this activity, the list of books advertised last year in New York by Messrs. Macmillan and Co. very greatly exceeded that of any other house. Pro- bably the sales of not a few of the books of British authorship were very small; but even the humblest of the volumes was actually published in America ; it was offered to the American public ; it had its chance of popularity. The course of Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co. in America has been more conservative perhaps; but they also have been steadily seeking for American authors, and in two departments at least they have been eminently successful—ir. theology and in text-books for college use. Their first venture in the latter department was the excellent series of “Epochs of American History,” edited by Professor A. B. Hart. Their second was the “College Series of Histories of Art,” edited by Professor J. C. Van Dyke, who wrote the volume on painting himself, and who secured Professor Hamlin, of Columbia, for the volume on architecture, and Professor Marquand, of Prince- ton, for that on sculpture. Both Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co., and Messrs. Macmillan and Co. publish in Great Britain text-books of every variety for school use; I think I am under- stating the case when I say that not one in a dozen of these British school-books has any chance of selling in the United States, where the educational conditions are wholly different. And when a sale in America is possible it is due generally to a very careful revision of the text by an American teacher to adapt it to American habits of speech and to American methods of teaching. Thus both the excellent grammar prepared by Mr. Salmon and the excellent geography also issued by Messrs. Longmans, L  ## p. (#446) ################################################ 92. THE AUTHOR. Green, and Co. have won their way into certain American schools. The latest American series to be undertaken by Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co., is, perhaps, the most important of any yet announced by them. It is the result of the strong and wide- spread interest in the study of literature as litera- ture, which is one of the most characteristic of the recent developments of American education. It is a series of those English classics (both by American authors and by British) which are re- quired in the uniform entrance examinations in English at the majority of American universities. Certain of these works are used in the English local examinations, and have been edited more than once in England. But to American educa- tors these texts (and especially the most of those issued by the Clarendon Press) are unsatisfactory, because their editors neglected to bring out the literary side of the works they annotated, pre- ferring to dwell almost exclusively on the lin- guistic peculiarities of the authors. In the new series now in preparation by Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co., special attention is paid to the literary merit of each work, to the position of its author in the history of literature, to the influences which moulded him, to the influence this work in turn exerted on other books; in other words, these English classics are to be edited as if they were primarily literature to be read and enjoyed first of all, and then, secondarily, to be explained and expounded. They are not to be edited as though they were dead matter to be dissected— merely as material to be examined on. The series will appear under the general editor- ship of Professor G. R. Carpenter, of Columbia College, and will, for the school year 1895-6, consist of the following works, which include the books prescribed for the college entrance exami- nations in 1896: Irving’s “Tales of a Traveller,” with an introduction by Professor Brander Matthews, of Columbia College; George Eliot's “Silas Marner,” edited by Mr. Robert W. Herrick, of the University of Chicago; Scott's “Woodstock,” edited by Professor Bliss Perry, of Princeton; Defoe's “History of the Plague in London,” edited by Professor Carpenter him- self; Daniel Webster’s “First Bunker Hill Oration,” edited by Professor F. N. Scott, of the University of Michigan; Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice,” with an introduction by Professor F. H. Stoddard, of the University of the City of New York; Macaulay’s “Essay on Milton,” edited by Mr. J. G. Crosswell, Head Master of the Brearley School; Shakespeare’s “A Mid- summer Night's Dream,” with an introduction by Mr. G. P. Baker, of Harvard ; and Milton’s “L’Allegro,” “Il Penseroso,” “Comus,” and “Lycidas,” edited by Professor W. P. Trent, of the University of the South. Subsequent volumes in the series, uniform with the above, will con- sist of the works prescribed for reading and study under the uniform entrance requirements of 1897 and 1898, and will be edited by various scholars. and experienced teachers from the leading American colleges and secondary schools. Twenty years ago, and for fifty years before that, the American publishing house which had the closest connection with British authors, and which more especially issued the most British fiction, was the firm of Harper and Brothers. When the “Seaside Library’ began the era of piracy, and the old “courtesy of the trade ’’ broke down, the publishing of the latest fiction by foreign authors was only doubtfully profitable to an honourable house forced to compete with dealers in stolen goods. So for twenty years now Messrs. Harper and Brothers have been giving their attention more and more to American authors, with the result that in a recent list of their “Latest Books” advertised in a literary weekly there were only four volumes of British authorship to nine of American, and to one translated from a foreign language. It may be noted also that of the nine books of American authorship, four have already been published in London—Mr. Smalley’s “Studies of Men,” Mr. Henry James’s “Terminations,” Mr. R. H. Davis’ “Princess Aline,” and Mr. J. W. Moore’s “His- tory of the American Congress.” And two others are certain to be issued in London sooner or later, although I have not yet seen them announced : one of these is the very vigorous and striking story of Chicago life, Mr. Fuller's “With the Procession,” and the other is Mr. Howells' literary autobiography, “My Literary Passions,” the story of Mr. Howells' early likes and dis- likes in literature, and of the changes time has wrought in them of late. Within the past three or four years the house of D. Appleton and Co. has come forward as the chief purveyor of British fiction to the American public. In a recent advertisement of theirs, headed “Some Standard Fiction,” I counted twenty-four works by British authors, four by American, and four translated ; and from this count I omit three volumes by Maarten Maartens, not knowing whether or not to classify them also as British. Probably the size of this list is due to the energy of Mr. G. W. Sheldon, who has been the London agent of Messrs. Appleton for several years now. Although most of the other leading publishers seem to have found the paper- covered series at 50 cents, a volume unprofitable of late, and have given it up, Messrs. Appleton continue to issue, twice a month, the neat little  ## p. (#447) ################################################ THE AUTHOR. 93 brown books which they call the “Town and Country Library,” and in which they print most of the less important British novels which they arrange for. The more important British novels are issued in cloth covers at a dollar and a dollar and a half each. A dollar and a half is six shillings English money, and this seems just now to be the normal price for a work of fiction both in Great Britain and in the United States. Yet there is no lack of series at a dollar a volume and less. A dollar is the price of every number of Messrs. Harper and Brothers’ new series called “Harper's Little Novels,” of which the first five numbers were by American authors. The sixth was Mr. Benson’s “Judgment Books,” and the seventh is American again—Mr. Howells' “A Beginning and an Ending.” Seventy-five cents. is the price of the volumes in the “Buck- ram Series” of Messrs. Henry Holt and Co., in which are included six books by Mr. “Anthony Elope” (including the “Prisoner of Zenda,” announced as in its seventeenth edition). More than half of the volumes in this Buckram series are by British authors, including Mr. Wells's “Time Machine” and Mr. Morrison’s “Neigh- bours of Ours.” This last has been re-named for the American market “Slum Stories of London,” and is thus a companion to another volume of the same series, Mr. J. W. Sullivan's strikingly realistic “Tenement Tales of New York.” Also in this buckram uniform is a volume of “Quaker Idyls,” by Mrs. S. M. H. Gardner. - Next year two British novelists will contribute Serial stories to important American magazines circulating widely in England. Mrs. Humphry Ward's new story will appear in the Century, and Mr. J. M. Barrie's “Sentimental Tommy’ will appear in Scribner's. And, oddly enough, short Serials by the foremost of American novelists, Mr. Howells, will also be published in both of these magazines at the same time. A recent paragraph informs us that “two- cent. literature, a Zulu Chief,” was asked for in a book-store the other day. It turned out that the asker really wanted a life of the martyred Haytian general, Toussaint L’Ouverture, although why he thought him a Zulu is not easily ex- plained. But “Toussaint L’Ouverture * does sound a little like “two-cent. literature,” curiously enough. Another book-store oddity was the memorandum from a student, who wanted “an ad valorem Shakespeare.” H. R. NOTES AND NEWS, HE death of Baron Tauchnitz, at Leipsig, on Aug. 14 last, removes a personality of great interest, not only to many living but also to the history of literature. Long before the Baron began the reprinting of English works there were reprints published in Paris and elsewhere in which the publishers exercised their legal rights of using literary property not their own for their own purposes without consideration for the pro- prietors. Baron Tauchnitz was the first to accompany the publication of English books abroad with a cheque to the author. Action so disinterested could not but call forth expressions of the most lively gratitude. No one, either then or after- wards, ventured to ask whether the cheque sent bore any proportion to the sale of the work; and under the circumstances, perhaps, no one ever will ask that question. It was enough that a man who might legally use a thing for nothing actually paid for it; and there can be little doubt that the growth of public opinion in favour of an international copyright and protection of literary property throughout the world has been largely due to this remarkable—even unique— honesty of Baron Tauchnitz. We have once or twice in these columns spoken of the injury which is done to all persons con- nected with literary property in this country by the practically free importation and sale of the Tauchnitz edition in this country. When we remember the hundreds and thousands of English and American travellers who every year return to England from the Continent, everyone of them bearing with him some two or three, some many copies of Tauchnitz books, everyone of which represents a corresponding loss to the trade, it is to be hoped that the matter will be taken up sooner or later seriously, and the importation stopped. This laxity on the part of the Customs House has, of course, nothing whatever to do with the Baron or his business. We hope it may be continued and carried on, for many genera- tions, in the same spirit of confidence, and even of gratitude, which has hitherto marked the history of the Tauchnitz series. In another column will be found a list of those members of the new House of Commons who have written books. There are fifty-four in number—about one in twelve. An analysis of their works shows that many have written in more than one branch of literature, while the des- cription of others is imperfect. Thus, the  ## p. (#448) ################################################ 94 THE AUTHOR. Marquis of Lorne, who has written poems, and, I believe, one tale at least, is set down as author of a “Guide to Windsor Castle.” Thus allowing for this overlapping, so that one man may occur in more than one class, it is found that social and political economy takes twenty; travel, six; history, eight; philosophy and essays, nine ; education, four ; law, four; the army and navy, three ; colonies, three; trade, three ; fiction, six; literature, one; medicine, one; poetry, two. It has not been thought beneath the dignity of the St. James's Gazette to inquire into the Fiction of the Kitchen. Why should it be beneath the dignity of any paper to inquire into any branch of literature? “But the penny novel- ette is not literature.” do we draw the line P The writer in the St. James's Gazette has made, to begin with, a dis- covery of very considerable interest. He has found a literary manufactory; more than one; he suggests the existence of several. So far as the outsider can be initiated into the mysteries of the literary trade, it appears to be carried on in this way. There are a couple of dozen well-known literary emporiums where several practised hands—mostly women—are kept regularly at work at fairly remunerative wages. To these hands are distributed week by week a certain number of stock plots, situations, incidents, characters, and phrases, out of which they must manufacture a readable story for the parlour-maid class of readers. No doubt the master spirit of the establishment adds little graceful finishing touches, in the shape of mildly amorous poetry, before the production is finally placed upon the market; and these slight differences—imperceptible to a novice reader—will convey to the experienced customer the particular firm from which this or that literary ware emanates. Of what kind are the works which emanate from these firms ? A striking feature of this school of fiction is its well- intentioned, if peculiar, morality. Unlike the criminal literature so largely read by boys of the lower class, it is difficult, if not impossible, to find a single chapter or passage which is directly subversive to morality or virtue. Furthermore, a reviewer who is accustomed to the circula- ting-library novels written by progressive ladies for the delectation of their own sex, will be compelled to admit that they compare unfavourably with the fiction produced for Mary Ann in point of decency, propriety, and good taste. You may search the dull and decorous pages of these novelettes in vain for a single suggestive or coarse sentence or double entendre or vicious sentiment. Virtue is always triumphant—not, of course, in the first chapter, or what would become of the story ; and vice is as uniformly punished in the last chapter. It is in this false morality— a morality that is not answerable to the facts of life—that we discern its immoral influence upon the minds of imma- ture and ignorant persons. The stories purport, almost without exception, to treat of real life, and it is conse- quently a dangerous and fatal defect that the writers should be not only completely ignorant of the literary art which would enable them to present life artistically, but, what is of more significance, in a state of virgin innocence in Why not ? And where everything concerning the causes, nature, and consequence of men’s passions, the complex consequences of human action, and the laws of nature’s retribution. After all, the thing might be worse. A story which is always moral, which deals not with their own class but an imaginary class above their social station, may give the girl who reads it a momentary yearning after the impossible, or a transient discontent with what cannot be helped. I doubt whether any real or permanent harm is done to the self-respect or the principles of a girl by reading of the handsome guardsman and the girl whom he loves, but cannot marry. The housemaid knows very well that she is reading about a world that does not exist; very likely she waits upon the very class depicted, and she knows how different they are. And, if the characters do belong to an existing world, she cannot attain to it—a thing which she knows perfectly well. A great novelist, according to the Times, has appeared in the City of Chicago. I am glad to hear it, because, two years ago, I pointed out— without being believed—that there exists in Chicago a society of literary students who are working seriously and earnestly with the ambi- tion of producing something real. There is also at Chicago a rich and flourishing university, with a great many professors on a great many subjects, and a great many students. There are good schools in Chicago; there is a good literary paper in Chicago. There are libraries, museums, art collections, concerts, theatres, and, in fact, all the necessary aids to culture. When, in so great a city, we find a number of people steadily cultivating every form of art, it is pretty certain that, before long, one or more will come to the front. The man who has come is one Henry B. Fuller, and the name of his book is “With the Procession.” My prophecy was held up to scorn at the time, especially by those who still think that Chicago is a small collection of log huts, with a saloon or two, populated by gaunt men with revolvers and bowie knives. I can only hope that the book is as good as the Times correspondent thinks. The name of Mr. Needell, author of “Julia Karslake's Secret,” “The Wengeance of James Vansittart,” &c., was accidentally omitted from the list of those present at the dinner given to the editor of this paper. WALTER BESANT.  ## p. (#449) ################################################ THE 95 A UTHOR. JOHN KEATS, BoFN 29th OCTOBER, 1795. Lyrist, who—nursed not by Aonian flow, But rush and roar of London's wilderness, Ere scathed by scorn Tartarean—felt the stress That fired the Greek, the pearl’d Spenserean glow, And garden-glamour of Boccaccio, Roams he thro' happier regions of redress P Whom the gods loved—by some divine caress Dower'd with high song a hundred years ago. He has survived the critic’s venom'd fang, The day-star of his fame has cleft the gloom, Around him no elusive phantoms loom, Nor knows he fruitless passion’s arrowy pang : Still peer the Roman violets round his tomb, Whose chant was sweeter than the bird’s he sang. C. A. KELLY. *-- ~ -* - * *- WHAT BOYS READ, Tº following is a list of the actual number of times which various books have been taken out of a house library at one of the great public schools during the past eight terms. Books taken out by sixth-form boys are not included. The figures are of interest as some clue to what boys read:— Henty ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2O2 i Mary Rowsell ............ I8 Ainsworth ............... I44 || R. L. Stevenson Rider Haggard ......... 58 Q. '''''' 17 Captain Marryat......... 56 | Whyte-Melville ......... I6 Jules Verme............... 49 || Kingston R Dickens .................. 43 || Philips-Wolley “” “4 Edna Lyall ............... 41 Rev. A. J. Church } 2 Hume Nisbet 2 Charles Kingsley e I Sir W. Scott } * * * * * * * * * 5 | F. Cooper J. Grant l 2 Charles Lever y “"“” II R. Boldrewood y ‘’’ ‘’’ 4 Sponge's Sporting Tour O R. M. Ballantyne } 2 R. D. Blackmore } I Lytton y ‘’’ ‘’’ 3 Farrar } 2I J. Corbett, 5 ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' No other author reaches double figures—not even Rudyard Kipling, though his books, it should be explained, have only been recently added to the library.—Westminster Gazette. * - - -* * * *- WHY THERE ARE FEW AMERICAN AUTHORS, HERE is probably no country in the world T where literature is held in greater esteem than in America. Many circumstances contribute to this result; leisure and opportunity for reading and study are secured by the climatic conditions, which enforce a period of comparative idleness in the cities during summer heat, and in the country during the rigours of winter. The isolated life of the well-to-do farmers, the limited social amenities in the villages and small towns, tend equally to a recognition of books as the best of company; while the natural intelligence and alertness of the whole people find an agreeable stimulus in the lighter forms of literature, and promote an easy perception of the material advan- tages to be derived from more serious application. Thus the soil is well prepared for the American author; he can appeal to a population of more than sixty millions, increasing annually by leaps and bounds, almost all able to read, eager to learn, anxious to be amused, and possessing to an unusual degree the means of gratifying their tastes. At a first glance it might be supposed that, with so fair a field to work in, the profession of authorship must be crowded to excess. But this is not the case, and the reasons are not hard to find. The immense size of the country and the high prices of labour and materials make the production and circulation of books a much more expensive affair than in England, so that the publishers are more chary about undertaking risks unless a large sale can be anticipated. Many a work which would readily find a publisher in England, if it were thought that a thousand or even a few hundred copies could be sold, would be declined without hesitation in America, and thus a young author finds it extremely difficult to get a chance of distinguishing himself. Nor do the magazines and periodicals, which play so important a part in American literature, afford an easier introduction to the public, for the vast scale of their operations necessitates the utmost vigilance on the part of the editors to maintain an enormous circulation, and with this object the safest course is to give the public their favourite authors at any cost. The young American author, then, finds his career blocked in every direction, whether he aspires to be a novelist, an essayist, or a writer on politics or science; if he can leap into fame it will be well with him, but the ring fence he has to surmount is stiff and forbidding ; probably Only under stress of circumstances will he face it, in default of an opening elsewhere. And this brings us to the principal cause of emptiness in the ranks of literature. It is notoriously hard to recruit an army in prosperous times, when better paid work is to be had for the asking; in the United States, in spite of bad years, there has been no such pressure of competition, no Such overcrowding in more remunerative occupa- tions as drives men and women in this country to accept the hard labour and small rewards of łiterary work. There is still an El Dorado across the Atlantic for the man of brains who chooses to employ them in commerce, manufactures, or  ## p. (#450) ################################################ 96 THE AUTHOR. ** finance; every day witnesses some fresh develop- ment of industrial resources, involving boundless possibilities of wealth and work; what wonder if literature is less attractive as a profession than avocations which breed millionnaires P-(From “The Profession of Literature in America.”— Times). *- ~ 2-9 * * * LITERARY MEN IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, HE following is a list of the men of letters in the new House of Commons. The list is compiled from the Times’ “New House of Commons °:— Acland, Right Hon. Arthur Herbert Dyke (R.). — Joint author of “Studies in Secondary Education,” of “Handbook in Outline of the Political History of England,” and of “Working Men Co-operators.” Arnold-Forster, Hugh Oakley (L.U.). — Author of “In a Conning Tower,” “The Citizen Reader,” and many school books. Contributed many letters to the Times on military and other subjects. Brookfield, Arthur Montagu (C.). — Author of Mortem,” “The Speaker’s A. B. C.,” and other psycho- logical and political works. Bowsfield, William Robert, Q.C. (C.).-Author of a work on the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Act. Broadhwrst, Henry (R.). — Author of Leasehold Enfran- chisement Bill, and the Sites for Chapels Bill, and Deceased Wife's Sister Bill 1884-5. Baden-Powell, Sir George Smyth, K.C.M.G. (C.).-Author of “New Homes for the Old Country,” “Protection and Bad Times,” “State Aid and State Interference,” and numerous articles on economic, financial, and colonial affairs. Bowles, Thomas Gibson (C.). — Author of “The Defence of Paris,” “Maritime Warfare,” “Flotsam and Jetsam,” &c. Balfowr, Right Hon. Arthur James (C.).-Author of “A Defence of Philosophic Doubt,” “Essays and Ad- dresses,” 1893, and “Foundations of Belief, being Notes Introductory to the Study of Theology,” 1894. Bartley, George Christopher Trout (C.).-Author of “A Handy Book for Guardians of the Poor,” of “The Parish . Net,” “The Seven Ages of a Village Pauper,” “Schools for the People,” “One Square Mile in the East of London,” “The Provident Knowledge Papers,” &c. Bwaton, Sydney Charles (R.).—Author of “ Handbook to Political Questions,” “Political Manual,” “Finance and Politics : an Historical Study,” “Handbook to the Death Duties,” &c. Birrell, Augustine, Q.C. (R.).—Author of “Obiter Dicta,” of “Charlotte Bronte,” and of “Res Judicatae.” Bryce, Right Hon. James, P.C. (R.).-Author of “The Holy Roman Empire,” “Transcaucasia and Ararat,” “The Americall Commonwealth,” articles on subjects political, legal, and economical, in various magazines. Cameron, Robert (R.).—Writer and lecturer on literature, science, &c. - Curzon, Right Hon. George Nathaniel (C.).-Author of “Russia, in Central Asia,” “Persia and the Persian Question.” Clarke, Sir Edward, Q.C. (C.).-Author of a Treatise on the Law of Extradition. “Post, Cooke, Charles Wallwyn Radcliffe (C.). — Author of a Work on Agricultural Holdings, and of “Four Years in Parliament with Hard Labour.” Colomb, Captain Sir John Charles Ready, K.C.M.G. (C.).- Author of “The Protection of Commerce,” “Naval and Military Resources of the Colonies,” “The Defence of Great and Greater Britain,” “Imperial Federation, Naval and Military,” &c.; and has contributed to Blackwood, Fraser, and Nineteenth Century, &c. Crombie, John William (R.).—Author of “Some Poets of the People in Foreign Lands.” Dilke, Sir Charles Wentworth (R.).—Author of “Greater Britain,” “The Fall of Prince Florestan,” “Position of European Politics.” Darling, Charles John, Q.C. (C.).-Author of “Scintillae Juris,” “Meditations in the Tea Room,” &c. Drage, Geoffrey (C.).-Author of “German Criminal Code,” a translation with commentary of “Cyril,” a novel passed through seven editions, “Eton and the Empire,” “Eton and the Labour Question,” “The Unemployed,” and “The Problem of the Aged Poor.” De Worms, Right Hon. Baron Henry (C.).-Has published “Memoirs of Count Beust,” “The Austro-Hungarian Empire,” &c. Farquharson, Dr. Robert (R.).—Author of medical works, including “A Guide to Therapeutics.” Green, Walford Davis (C.).-Author of “The Political Career of George Canning.” Hobhouse, Henry (L.U.).—Joint author with Mr. Justice Wright of “An Outline of Local Government and Local Taxation,” and works on the Local Government and Corrupt Practices Acts. Howorth, Sir Henry Hoyle (C.).-Author of “A History of the Mongols,” “A History of Chinghiz Khan and his Ancestors,” “The Mammoths and the Flood,” “The Glacial Nightmare and the Flood : a second appeal to common sense from the extravagance of some recent Geology,” &c., editor of “The History of the Vicars of Rochdale,” of a large number of scientific memoirs, and numerous letters on political and other matters in the Times. Healy, Timothy Michael (A.-P.).-Author of “Why is there an Irish Question and an Irish Land League P” “A Word for Ireland,” &c. Hogan, James Francis (A.-P.).-Various articles in Mel- bowrme Review, the Victoria Review, the Contemporary, Westminster Review, Chambers’s Jowrmal, and has published “An Australian Christmas Collection,” “History of the Irish in Australia,” “The Australian in London,” “The Lost Explorer,” “The Convict King,” and “Robert Lowe, Wiscount Sherbrooke.” Writes extensively to London Press on Colonial subjects. Hamson, Alderman Sir Reginald (C.).—Author of “A History of the Tea Trade.” Harwood, George (R.).—Author of “Disestablishment,” “The Coming Democracy,” and “From Within ’’ and “A Candidate's Speeches.” Heaton, John Henniker (C.).-Author of “The Australian Dictionary of Dates and Men of the Time.” Haldane, Richard Burdon, Q.C. (R.).—Author of “Adam Smith,” joint author and editor of “Essays in Philoso- phical Criticism,” and joint translator of “World as Will and Idea.” - - Hwmter, William Alexander, L.L.D. (R.).—Author of “Roman Law in the Order of a Code,” and of an “Introduction to Roman Law.” Johnston, William (C.).—Author of “Night Shade,” “Under which King,” &c.  ## p. (#451) ################################################ THE AUTHOR. 97 Jebb, Richard Claverhouse (C.).-Author of “The Attic Orators,” “Translations into Latin and Greek Verse,” “Bentley’ (in the “English Men of Letters ” series), an edition of the “Characters of Theophrastus,” an addition of “Sophocles,” and translation and “Lectures on Greek Poetry,” &c. Lorne, Right Hon. Sir John Douglas Sutherland Campbell, Marquis of (L.U.).—Author of “Guide to Windsor Castle.” Labouchere, Henry (R.).—Editor and proprietor of Truth. Lubbock, Right Hon. Sir John, Bart. (I.U.).—Author of numerous works. Leng, Sir John (R.).-Author of “America in 1876,” and numerous pamphlets. McCarthy, Justin (A.-P.).-Author of “A History of Our Own Times,” “A History of the Four Georges,” and numerous novels. Macdona, John Cumming (C.).-Author of “Across the Andes,” &c. Marks, Harry Hanamel (C.).-Author of “Small Change, or Leaves from a Reporter's Note-Book.” Maclean, James Mackenzie (C.).-Author of “Maclean’s Guide to Bombay.” Macneill, John Gordon Swift (A.-P.).-Author of “The Irish Parliament, What it was, and What it did,” “How the Union was Carried,” and a work on Irish peerages. C’Connor, Thomas Power (A.-P.).-A journalist, formerly editor of the Star, and now of the Swn and Weekly Swn, and author of “Tife of Lord Beaconsfield,” “ Gladstone’s House of Commons,” “The Parnell Movement,” “Charles Stewart Parnell: Memory,” &c. Rickett, J. Compton (R.).-Author of “The Christ that is to be,” and “The Quickening of Caliban.” - Rwssell, Colonel Francis Shirley (L.U.). — Author of “Russian Wars with Turkey,” “Memoirs of the Earl of Peterborough,” &c. Stanley, Henry Morton (L.U.).—Author of “How I Found Livingstone,” “Through the Dark Continent,” “The Congo and the Foundling of its Free State,” “In Darkest Africa.” Stuart, James (R.).—Published numerous works, articles, speeches, and pamphlets on educational, scientific, and Social questions. Sullivan, Timothy Daniel (A.-P.) — Author of “Poems,” “Green Leaves,” &c. Trevelyan, Right Hon. Sir George Otto, Bart. (R.).— Author of “The Competition Wallah,” “A Life of Lord Macaulay,” “The Early Life of Charles James Fox,” &c. Whittaker, Thomas Palmer (R.).-A Journalist, and con- tributed articles to Nineteenth Century, Dublin Review, Westminster Review, Macmillan’s Magazine, &c. Webster, Robert Grant (C.).-Author of the “The Trade of the World,” “Shoulder to Shoulder,” &c. Wylie, Alexander (C.).-Author of “Labour, Leisure, and Luxury,” &c. - —” --- - *- ,-- B00K TALK, UBLISHING houses are issuing their pros- pectuses for the autumn season, which gives an all-round promise of an output as useful as numerous, though, perhaps, some- what lacking in books of verse. Mr. Clark Russell will be represented by two three-volume novels—“Heart of Oak : a Three Stranded Yarn,” and “The Tale of the Ten ‘’; and Mr. Grant Allen by a volume of “Moorland Idylls,” all to be published by Messrs. Chatto and Windus. - John Oliver Hobbes's next novel, “The Herb- Moon,” will come shortly from Mr. Fisher Unwin; also a volume of stories by Mr. Clark Russell, called “For Honour and the Flag.” Perhaps one of the most interesting books of its kind to appear in the coming season will be the “Memoirs of Lady Eastlake,” edited by her nephew, Mr. Charles Eastlake Smith. The work will consist principally of extracts from the letters and journals of this talented lady, who, in her various capacities as author, artist, and art critic, kept a minute record of the events she took part in, and of the famous people she met. Fac- similes of Lady Eastlake's drawings will adorn the volume, which Mr. Murray is to publish. Miss Alice Balfour, sister of Mr. Arthur Balfour, has written a book describing a tour she made in South Africa. It is to be named “Twelve Hundred Miles in an Ox-Wagon,” and there will be illustrations from the author's own drawings. Mr. Edward Arnold is to publish the book in the autumn. - Another work which will come from the same publishing house about this time is Slatin Pasha's record of his experiences in Mahdiland. The illustrations will be by Mr. R. Talbot Kelly. The title is “Fire and Sword in the Sudan.” Among autobiographies of the forthcoming season will be that of Mr. Henry Russell, of “Cheer Boys, Cheer,” fame, which probably will be the title. The fact of his wide travels aud the many interesting acquaintanceships he enjoyed— Dickens and Charles Mackay, for instance—will ensure for Mr. Russell’s volume a keen expectancy in a very large circle. The volume of reminiscences by Mr. Frederick Locker-Lampson, which the poet had completed a short time before he died, will be published on an early date, edited by Mr. Augustine Birrell, Q.C., M.P. Miss Beatrice Harraden is returning to England to arrange for the publication of the new Califor- nian story she has just finished. Short stories by Mr. R. D. Blackmore, Mr. Crockett, Mr. Clark Russell, M. Jules Lemaître, and M. Jules Claretie, are to appear in a new illustrated annual which Messrs. Sampson Low will inaugurate this autumn. “Slain by the Doones’’ is the title of Mr. Blackmore's, which will have some affinity to “Lorna Doone.” Mr. J. M. Barrie's new book, “Sentimental Tommy,” will not appear until the autumn of 1896, as it is first to run serially in Scribner's Magazine, beginning in the January number.  ## p. (#452) ################################################ 98 THE AUTHOR. Another study of childhood will be Mrs. Hodgson Burnett's new story entitled “Two Little Pilgrims’ Progress,” to be illustrated by Mr. R. W. Macbeth, A.R.A., and published by Messrs. Warne. - The life of the Irish novelist, William Carleton, which is being prepared by Mr. David J. O'Donoghue, will be published by Messrs. Downey probably this month. It is founded on an un- finished autobiography, which will now be made public for the first time, and it will have photo- graphs. A romance by Mrs. Egerton Castle, entitled “My Little Lady Annie,” will be published in the early autumn by Mr. Lane. Mr. Robert Barr's new works, to appear in the autumn, are “A Woman Intervenes,” and a volume of short stories entitled “Revenge.” Messrs. Chatto and Windus are the publishers. • ‘ The autumn will probably see the publication of a volume of essays by Professor Huxley, representing his later activities, one article having been finished very shortly before he died. Mr. Henley is to edit a new library edition of the works of Byron, which Mr. Heinemann will publish. Mr. W. E. Gladstone's notes to authors upon their works have been by no means rare, and have sometimes made the fortune of the books referred to ; but the author of “A Forgotten Great Englishman’” must have been somewhat astounded at receiving a note written by Mr. Gladstone on the Monday when all the rest of England was wondering over the remarkable election returns. The note proves also a careful and even minute study of this fifteenth century book, for it refers to a statement in a quotation, thus, “The Life, combined with the fact you state, that Huss and Jerome both studied at Oxford, completely explains a very curious puzzle.” The book has already received very marked atten- tion from the reviewers, and this note will again. draw attention to a work that puts a great Englishman back into a niche in English history, after being lost sight of for four centuries. The “Dictionary of National Biography” is to have an article on his life, and Mr. James Baker's work has thus been thoroughly successful. “Sword and Song,” by R. Mounteney-Jephson, author of “Tom Bullkley of Lissington,” &c., will be issued by Messrs. Simpkin Marshall and Co. early in October, price 6s., I vol. Mr. Joseph Pennell is publishing in book form the course of lectures he delivered at University College last winter on the art of illustration. A volume on Christina Rossetti and her work, by Mr. Mackenzie Bell, will be published soon by Messrs. Ward, Lock, and Bowden. B. Yeats figuring as leaders. Mr. George R. Sims has written of “Dagonet Abroad,” and the volume will appear immediately from Messrs. Chatto and Windus. The same publishers have in preparation a volume of “The Impressions of Aureole,” the diary, it is said, of a well-known society lady. An anonymous writer is publishing, through Messrs. Archd. Constable & Co., an account of an imaginary excursion of the minor English poets to Parnassus, with W. Le Gallienne and Mr. W. Should the humour of the author of “All Expenses Paid” overstep tolerance he will be prepared to apologise. Dr. Conan Doyle’s “Stark-Munro Letters” will appear in bound form in a day or two. The Christmas number of the Illustrated London News will contain the only short story that Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson left at his death. It is entitled “On the Great North Road,” and the action takes place at the end of last century. Dr. George Macdonald's new romantic story, “Lilith,” will be published immediately. Mr. W. J. Hardy, F.S.A., is the author of “Lighthouses, their History and Romance,” which the Religious Tract Society will publish in a few days. - Mr. Gladstone, in addition to a lengthy intro- duction to the “People's Bible History” (Sampson Low), has written an introduction to the “Life of Sir Andrew Clark,” by Malcolm MacColl and W. H. Allchin, which is being prepared for publication by Messrs. Longmans. Besides “The Life and Times of Cardinal Wise- man,” the latter firm has also in preparation “The Life of Ford Madox Brown,” written by Ford Madox Hueffer. A monograph on Frances Mary Buss and her work in the cause of education, written by Annie E. Ridley, is to appear from Messrs. Longmans Green in the autumn. Colonel Olcott, president of the Theosophical Society, is writing a book of Reminiscences. “The Gurneys of Earlham,” by Mr. Augustus Hare, is definitely announced by Mr. George Allen for publication next month. Scarcely any books appeared in the earlier part of the month, but towards the end the activity suspended during the General Election period begins to return to the publishing world. These, however, may be noted in the August produc- tion: “Joan Haste,” by Rider Haggard (Long- mans Green); “Jacob Niemand,” by Robert H. Sherard (Ward and Downey); “A Comedy in Spasms,” by “Iota ?? (Hutchinson and Co.); “Nelson,” by John Knox Laughton, in English Men of Action Series (Macmillan); and “The Greater Victorian Poets,” by Professor Hugh Walker (Swan Sonnenschein).  ## p. (#453) ################################################ THE AUTHOR. 99 The book which attracted most interest, how- ever, was “M. Stambuloff,” by Mr. A. Hulme Beaman, in the Public Men of To-Day Series (Messrs. Bliss, Sands, and Foster). A recent contributor to the Saturday Review told how the slain Bulgarian statesman was sitting one night with his friends at a variety theatre; the revelry had reached its highest when he signalled to an official to bring him a document, which he promptly signed, exclaiming “I like contrasts' " It was a death warrant. To partly the same effect is the summary of the minister's character which Mr. Beaman, who was an intimate friend, gives thus:—“Taught in the hard school of want and adversity his nature was rugged as the mountains which were his youthful home and refuge. . In Stambuloff we see the strong man defending his house.” The Badminton Magazine is the title of a new shilling sporting monthly of a high class, which began with August. It is edited by Mr. A. E. T. Watson, and the contributors secured include distinguished people who are also noted in some line of sport and pastime. The magazine is pub- lished by Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co. Besides starting a quarterly review devoted entirely to history, America has just added to its monthlies in the Philastine, issued from New York, its raison d’etre being “to lay the dust of convention, and drive out the miasma of degene- racy.” But why periodical ? is what the West- minster Gazette, boasting conquest at almost a single stroke on this side, cannot understand. “Phil May's Sketch Book” is the title of a volume of full-page cartoons by that artist, which Messrs, Chatto and Windus will publish soon. Mr. Clement Shorter is to edit a work about the Bronté Papers, which were bought in Ireland by Mr. Thomas J. Wise, the well-known London book-collector, from the aged husband of Char- lotte Brontë. They purport to be a “second series” of the Young Men's Magazine for various months of 1830 and 1831, and are penned in a handwriting too delicate for reading by the naked eye. Mr. Wise has lately edited, for private cir- culation, a complete collection, in two little volumes, of Shelley’s letters to Leigh Hunt, many of which are now published for the first time. Mr. H. G. Wells, whose highly imaginative work, “The Time Machine,” recently secured an encouraging meed of praise, has written a second book. It is entitled “The Wonderful Visit,” being satirically the life and impressions of a visitor from an unknown world. Mr. Morley's reverse in political fortune will afford him time to complete the Chatham bio- graphy for the “Twelve English Statesmen’’ series. Whether he will add to the “English Men of Letters ” volumes meantime is doubtful, for politicians count upon his return to Parliament early next year; but he has in view an Irish historical work, dealing with the period of the Union, and based upon a large and important collection of State papers (1795-1805) which he examined while at Dublin Castle. Here it may be remarked that Mr. Tim Healy, M.P., is preparing a volume of his Reminiscences. Professor Ferri, a member of the Italian Parliament, has written a book on “Criminal Sociology,” which will appear in the autumn in the Criminology Series published by Mr. Fisher Unwin. Individual and social amelioration of the lot of the people he advances as the great cure for crime, A new edition of Wordsworth, by Professor William Knight, will form one of Messrs. Mac- millan's Eversley series. Eight volumes are to be devoted to the poems, three to the prose, three to the journals, and two to biography. Messrs. Reeves and Turner are employing Mr. Buxton Forman’s text in the new edition of Keats, which they are about to issue. The first edition of Mr. Mackenzie Bell’s “Spring's Immortality and Other Poems ” being exhausted, Messrs. Ward, Lock, and Bowden will publish shortly a second edition, prefixed to which will be a new poem addressed to Edmund Clarence Stedman. During Michaelmas Term, 1895, Dr. K. Lentzner will deliver in English five public lectures: one on Titerary Ethics, and four on The Danish Nursery-Story as an Art-Form. A new serial story by “John Strange Winter,” entitled “I Married a Wife . * begins in The Golden Penny on Sept. 7th, in which the popular author of “Bootles' Baby” amusingly describes the possible results of matrimony on a regiment. This novel—which has been written at Birching- ton-on-Sea, where Mrs. Stannard has passed the Summer—is said to be the most vivacious its author has yet penned. Her last novel, “A Magnificent Young Man,” published a few weeks ago by Messrs. F. W. White and Co., has proved unusually successful, the second large edition being already nearly exhausted; and a similar success has attended its American issue by the J. B. Lippincott Company. The Queen has been graciously pleased to accept a copy of Sir William Charley’s new work in vindication of the House of Lords, entitled “The Crusade against the Constitution,” which was favourably criticised in the February number of the Author. The Prime Minister has written to congratulate Sir William Charley on “the distinguished honour” thus conferred upon the work. “I am sure,” he adds, “that it has been  ## p. (#454) ################################################ IOO THE AUTHOR. very valuable in influencing opinion, and correcting current misconceptions.” - Headon Hill's new volume, entitled “The Divi- nations of Kala Persad, and Other Stories,” re- printed from the magazines, will be published early this month by Messrs. Ward, Lock, and Bowden. The same author's serial, “Guilty Gold,” just commenced in Pearson’s Weekly, is appearing simultaneously in the Melbourne Argus. * -- ~ -º r- - -, CORRESPONDENCE, I.—Re EVERY MAN HIs Own PUBLISHER. I. N the August number of The Author you ask, after printing my letter to the Westminster Gazette, “Are not the figures wrong? How could a publisher give 4s. for a 5s. book?” The figures, sir, are right enough. My trade- agents—I did not say publishers—pay me 4S. for each 5s. book (the public pay me 5s.). And there is no nonsense between us of either baker's or devil's dozens; they take and get no more than twelve copies to the dozen, and each quarter-day their cheque appears sharp to time with never a blessed halfpenny deducted on any plea. Were I in a publisher's hands, the outlook I’m thinking would scarcely be so cheerful. It does seem odd that an unadvertised and altogether unlog-rolled book, by an obscure author, should sell well pertinaciously year after year, since it is emphatically not a work of fiction, nor can it come under the designation either of a cookery book, or a volume of SerD10IlS. I can only state the facts; I cannot pretend to explain them. THE SAME OLD CANNY SCOT. II. “A Canny Scot’s” letter interested me very much, and if she would give a few more par- ticulars of her mode of action it might be of value to others beside myself. How did she get her book on to the booksellers' counters? That is the difficulty in the case, as I apprehend. I often wonder why young authors do not try her plan. My first book was published so. It was a modest bit of local history, about 16,000 words in length. A printer in our nearest town printed 500 copies in good type, and bound them neatly in paper for £8. I paid £I I Is. for adver- tisements in local papers and One London journal. Two or three local booksellers undertook to sell the book for me at a profit to them of twopence in the shilling. I kept account for some time of the copies sold, but then discontinued. About 200 copies had been disposed of when I last calculated the number. The price was 9d. each, of which 7; d. came to me. This gave me 36 5s. where with to meet 39 IIs. spent for printing and advertisements. A loss, of course, but not so great as if I had not been my own publisher; and, small as the book was, it paved my way to more profitable ventures. But in this case I knew my booksellers; should I have succeeded as well with strangers? NINGUNA. II.-A GERMAN AUTHORs' CLUB. The “Club of the German Society of Authors” was founded a few years ago by that society to promote social intercourse among authors, artists, and men of science. The great majority of the members consist of Berlin writers, for instance, Herr von Wildenbruch, Herr Otto Eric Hartleben, and others; a goodly number are musicians, amongst them. Herr Capellmeister, C. A. Raida, who is not unknown in this country, and actors, as Herr Alexander, Herr Tiebscher, Herr Krauss- neck, &c. At present the club occupies four pretty rooms on a first floor of the Kronen- Strasse, in the best quarter of Berlin. The rooms are open from IO a.m. till 2 a.m. Refreshments can be had at any time within these limits. Here it is that critics congregate after a first night, and one can hear the sharpest tongues of Berlin give judgment for or against the new piece. Smoking is not allowed in the library and reading room, nor is it permitted to take books from the former, or to make cuttings from the papers and maga- zines. Only members in possession of members’ cards are admitted. They are allowed to intro- duce guests three times, writing their names in the strangers' book before entering the rooms. The club fees amount to 5s. a quarter, on payment of which one receives the member’s card above mentioned. If anyone wishes to cease being a member, he must give notice in a registered letter three months before June 30. Dinners are given now and then, and every year a “feast ’’ is held under the auspices of the society for some benevo- lent fund; in the winter a ball is given. The principal object, however, is to provide a pleasant place of meeting free from every social restraint, where men can stroll in and out just as they please, and that this has been sucessfully attained no one can doubt that has ever been in the rooms. On the same floor is the bureau of the society, where manuscripts of all descriptions are handed in, for which the society endeavours to find a publisher or an opening in a paper or magazine. 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. 06 Issue 04 (September 1895) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 06 Issue 04 (September 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 1895-09-02-The-Author-6-4 publications The Author