https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/311/1898-01-01-The-Author-8-8.pdf 4f5abef625d327cbee8b221e6523aec7 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) 1898-01-01 Volume 8 Issue 8 Pages Page range in volume 201–228 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18980101 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin XI b e Huthot. {The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. Vin.—No. 8.] JANUARY i, 1898. [Price Sixpence. CONTENTS. Oeneral Memoranda. Literary Property— 1. The Discount (Question 1. The Law of Author and Publisher 3. The CoBt of Binding 4. The Copyright Association 5. Haddock v. Blackwood 6. Shelley's Publisher Russian Copyright. By Henry Cresswell New York Letter. By Norman Hapgood PAOK ... 201 ... 203 ... 204 ... 205 ... 205 ... 205 ... 207 ... 208 ... 210 Notes and News. By the Editor. A Chapter of the Past Mr. Balfour on the Novel International Relations of Authors Personal Correspondence—1. A Young Author's Grievance lished Price Book Talk Literature in the Periodicals The Books of the Month The p.* cik ... 211 ... 214 ... 217 ... 217 ... 218 Pnb- ... 218 ... 219 PUBLICATIONS OP THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January 1897 can be had on application to the Secretary. 2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary Property. Issued to all Members, 6*. 6d. per annum. Back numbers are offered at the following prices: Vol. I., 10*. 6d. (Bound); Vols. II., III., and IV., 8s. 6d. each (Bound); Vol. V., 6s. 6d. (Unbound). 3. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) 3s. I. The History of the Societe des Gens de Lettres, By s. Squire Sprigqe, late Secretary to the Society. 1*. 5. The Cost of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, <fcc, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 2s. 6d. 6. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprioge. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society's offices, the various forms of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 3*. 7. Copyright Law Reform. An Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill of 1890. With Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely. Eyre and Spottis- woode. i«. 6d. 8. The Society Of Authors, A Record of its Action from its Foundation. By Walter Besant (Chairman of Committee, 1888—1892). i«. 9. The Contract of Publication in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland. By Ernst Lunge, J.U.D. 2*. 6d. \  ## p. 200 (#634) ############################################ 11 AD VER TISEMENTS. §t)e g>ociete of Jtuffrors (gncotporateb). PRESIDENT. GEOBQE MEEEDITH. COUNCIL. The Eabl of Desart. Austin Dobson. A. Conan Doyle, M.D. A. W. Duboubo. Pbof. Michael Foster, P.E.S. D. W. Fbeshfibld. Kichabd Garnett, C.B., LL.D. Edmund Gosse. H. Rider Haggard. Thomas Hardy. Anthony Hope Hawkins. Jerome K. Jerome. Eudyard Kipling. Prof. E. Eat Lankester, F.E.S. W. E. H. Lecky, P.C., M.P. J. M. Lely. Mrs. E. Lynn Linton. Bev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mus.Doc. Prof. J. M. D. Meiklejohn. Counsel — E. M. Underdown, Sib Edwin Abnold, K.C.I.E., C.S.I. J. M. Babbie. A. W. X Beckett. Eobebt Bateman. F. E. Beddabd, F.E.S. Sib Henby Beronb, E.C.M.G. Sir Walteb Besant. Augustine Bibrell, M.P. Eev. Prof. Bonney, F.E.S. Eight Hon. James Bryce, M.P. Eight Hon. Lord Bubghclxre, P.C. Hall Caine. Egebton Castle, F.S.A. P. W. Clayden. Edwabd Clodd. w. mobbis colleb. Hon. John Colliee. Sib W. Martin Conway. F. Marion Crawford. Eight Hon. G. N. Cdbzon, P.C, M.P. Hon. Herman C. Meritale. Eev. C. H. Middleton-Wake. Sib Lewis Mobbis. Henry Norman. Miss E. A. Obmebod. J. C. Parkinson. Eight Hon. Lobd Pibbbight, P.C, F.E.S. SibFbedebick Pollock, Babt., LL.D. Walteb Hebbies Pollock. W. Baptists Scoones. Miss Flora L. Shaw. G. E. Sims. S. Squire Sprigge. J. J. Stevenson. Francis Storr. William Moy Thomas. H. D. Traill, D.CL. Mrs. Humphry Wabd. Miss Chablotte M. Yongi. Q.C. A W. X Beckett. Sib Walteb Besant. Egeeton Castle, F.S.A. W. Mobbis Colles. COMMITTEE Chairman- OF MANAGEMENT. -H. Eider Haggard. Sir W. Mabtin Conway. D. W. Freshfield. Anthony Hope Hawkins. J. M. Lely. Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mus.Doc. Henby Norman. Fjiancis Storr. COMMITTEES. MUSIC. C. Villibrs Stanford, Mas.D. (Chairman). Jacques Blumenthal. SUB ART. Hon. John Collier (Chairman). Sib W. Martin Conway. M. H. Spielmann. f Field, Eoscoe, and Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. \, G. Hebbebt Thbino, B.A., 4, Portugal-street. Secretary—G. Herbert Tubing, B.A. OFFICES: 4, Pobtuoal Stbeet, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C DEAMA. Henry Arthur Jones (Chairman). A. W. X Beckett. Edward Eose. Solicitors IP. WATT <Sc SO¥, LITERARY AGENTS, Formerly of 2, PATERNOSTER SUUARE, Have now removed to HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, LONDON, W.C. THE TEMPLE TYPEWRITING OFFICE. YPEWEITING EXCEPTIONALLY ACCURATE. Moderate prioes. Duplicates of Circulars by the latest process. S OPINIONS OF CLIENTS— Distinguished Author:—"The most beautiful typing I have ever seen." Lady op Titlb:—"The j work was very well aud clearly done." Provincial Editor:—"Many thanks for the spotless neatnesB and beautiful accuracy." MISS &KNTEY, KLDON CHAMBERS, 30, FLEET STREET, E.C. T  ## p. 201 (#635) ############################################ TLhe Hutbor, (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. VIII.—No. 8.] JANUARY i, 1898. [Pbick Sixpence. For the Opinions expressed in papers that are signed or initialled the Authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as expressing the collective opinions of the Committee unless they are officially signed by G. Herbert Thring, Sec. THE Secretary of the Society begs to give notioe 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 Bent by registered letter only. Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on all subjects conneoted with literature, but on no other sub- jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS. GENERAL MEMORANDA. IT^OR some years it has been the praotice to insert, in J every number of The Author, certain " General Con- siderations," Warnings, Notices, &o., for the guidance of the reader. It has been objected as regards these warnings that the tricks or frauds against which they are directed cannot all be guarded against, for obvious reasons. It is, however, well that they should be borne in mind, and if any publisher refuses a clause of precaution he simply reveals his true character, and should be left to carry on his business in his own way. Let us, however, draw up a few of the rules to be observed in an agreement. There are three methods of dealing with literary property:— I. That of selling it outright. This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper price can be obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a competent agent. II. A profit-sharing agreement. In this case the following rules should be attended to: (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro- duction forms a part. (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pooket by charging for advertisements VOL. Till. in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise- ments. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for " office expenses," unless the same allowance is made to the author. (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental rights. (5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher. As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or doctor! (7.) To stamp the agreement, ni. The royalty system. In this system, which has opened the door to a most amazing amount of overreaching and trading on the author's ignorance, it is above all things neoessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures connected with royalties are published in The Author. Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the "Cost of Production." Let no one, not even the youngest writer, sign a royalty agreement without finding out what it gives the publisher as well as himself. It has been objected that these precautions presuppose a great success for the book, and that very few books indeed attain to this great success. That is quite true: but there is always this uncertainty of literary property that, although the works of a great many authors carry with them no risk at all, and although of a great many it is known within a few oopies what will be their minimum circulation, it is not known what will be their maximum. Therefore every author, for every book, should arrange on the ohanoe of a success which will not, probably, come at all; but which may come. The four points whioh the Society has always demanded from the outset are:— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld. (3.) That there shall be no secret profits. (4.) That nothing shall be charged whioh has not been actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no oharge for advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for exchanged advertisements and that all discounts shall be duly entered. If these points are carefully looked after, the author may rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the same time he will do well to send his agreement to the secretary before he signs it. a 2  ## p. 202 (#636) ############################################ 202 THE AUTHOR. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. I. "T7WERY member has a right to ask for and to receive Fj advioe upon his agreements, his ohoioe 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 ia 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. Eemember that questions connected with oopyright and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not soruple to use the Sooiety first—our solicitors are continually engaged upon suoh questions for us. 3. Send to the office oopies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the bookB 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 ohange 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 Sooiety 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. THE AUTHORS' SYNDICATE. MEMBERS 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 oan 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 exclusively 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 Btamps 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. THE 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 Seoretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. The Editor ia always glad to receive short papers and communications on all subjects oonnected 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 oommunioate 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 Seoretary. 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 Sooiety 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, &o. 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 following warning. 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 oome, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest  ## p. 203 (#637) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 203 or dishonest f Of course they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them- selves into literary bondage for throe 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 oost of binding is set down in onr book at eight pounds, to this must now be added twenty-four shillings more, so that it now stands at JE9 48. 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 elaatio 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 Hums whioh may be charged for inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines, or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too often go, there iB 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 frand; it is not known what those who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it. LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—The Discount Question. 1. THE Publishers' Association having con- sidered the report of the Sub-Committee of the Society of Authors, published in The Author last month, has forwarded the following letters, which explain themselves :— "H. Eider Haggard, Esq., Society of Authors. "Dec. 9, 1897. "My dear Haggard,—I laid the report of your Society on the discount question before our council to-day, and the following resolution was passed: 'That in view of the report of the Society of Authors, the council feel that it is not possible for them to proceed with the proposed scheme in its present form, but they are not without hope that some other means of meeting the difficulty may be suggested.' I was requested to forward a copy of this resolution to you, and also to the Associated Booksellers.—I am, yours faithfully, "(Signed) Chables James Longman, "President." 11. "T. Burleigh, Esq., Hon. Sec. Associated Booksellers, 370, Oxford-street, W. "Dec. 9, 1897. "Dear Mr. Burleigh,—Tou have no doubt seen the report of the Society of Authors on the discount question. It was considered by the council of the Publishers' Association to-day, and I need hardly inform you that they greatly regret the authors' decision, for though the council were conscious of many difficulties in the way of carrying out the scheme, they were pre- pared to give it a fair and loyal trial if the co- operation of the Authors' Society had been secured. Although the present effort must be considered to have failed, the council hope that all who are interested in the circulation of books will continue to give the matter full and careful consideration in the endeavour to discover some practicable scheme. The following resolution was carried unanimously at to-day's meeting: 'That in view of the report of the Society of Authors, the council feel that it is not possible for them to proceed with the proposed scheme in its present form, but they are not without hope that some other means of meeting the difficulty may be suggested.'—I am, yours faithfully, "Wm. Poulten, Secretary." in. Mr. Burleigh, hon. secretary of the Associated Booksellers, has addressed the following letter to the secretary of the Publishers' Association:— 370, Oxford-street, London, W. Dec. 13,1897. Dear Mr. Poulten,—I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 9th inst., with the copy of resolution of the Publishers' Council. The disappointing condition of affairs will be considered at our next council meeting early in January. I trust the council and booksellers generally will support me in the determination to continue the struggle, until literature of a higher class can be profitably placed upon our shelves, and many authors, now smothered, obtain a better chance with the public.—Yours faithfully, Thomas Burleigh. Hon. Sec. Associated Booksellers. W. Poulten, Esq., Secretary, The Pubhshers' Association. IV. The following letters also explain themselves. The first is addressed to the secretary:— Dec. 5, 1897. Deab Sib,—I have belonged to the Society of Authors for some years, and I am much indebted to it for valuable advice given me on one occasion when I was in a position of great difficulty. But I so entirely disagree with the Report of the Sub- committee on the Discount Question, and am so anxious to dissociate myself from it, that I am  ## p. 204 (#638) ############################################ 204 THE AUTHOR. forced to resign my membership of the Society, as I now do. There is hardly any kind of business in which the evils of reckless competition have not been felt during the la>t half century, and remedies of various kinds have been sought after and adopted with success in many trades. To take their stand, as the Committee do, on the formulae which were current in 1852 about the " freedom which ought to prevail in commercial transactions," seems to me an absurd anachronism. Had it been clear that the Committee had accepted Mr. Longman's offer, and had met with the publishers' sub-committee in conference on the subject, I should attach more importance to their contention that the proposed organisation could not be carried out. I am sending a copy of this letter to the presi- dent of the Publishers' Association.—I remain, yours sincerely, (Signed) Wm. Cunningham. v. Dec. 6, 1897. The Rev. W. Cunningham.—Dear Sir,—I am in receipt of your letter, and have removed your name from the books of the Society for the reason that you disapprove of the Report of the Com- mittee on the Discount Question. The Committee did not take their stand "on the formute which were current in 1852." They have had a great amount of evidence before them, and it is on this evidence that they have come to draw their present conclusions. We did not meet the sub-committee of the publishers, because we had already the publishers' views in the fullest manner before us from the documents we had collected. We did, however, as you will see by the Report, have the views of booksellers of all classes, who surely are more concerned in the affair than the publishers. I must apologise, however, for going into these details now.—Tours truly, G. Herbert Thring. II.—The Law of Author and Publisher. An order was made last week by the Lord Chief Justice of considerable interest to authors and the publishing trade. It related to the deal- ing with copies of books remaining unsold upon the bankruptcy of a publisher. The decision come to was in the nature of a compromise, and lacks the authority of a judgment; but it is probable that the case may become a precedent, and the facts have therefore a special interest to those connected with literature. The plaintiff was Mr. Frederick Wicks, and the defendants Remington and Co. (Limited), Mr. Sidney Cronk, the liquidator of the company, and Mr. John Grant Macqueen, the purchaser of Remington's business. The company and its predecessors, Eden, Remington, and Co., had published and sold three editions of "The Veiled Hand," of which Mr. Wicks is the author, and had printed a fourth edition of 5000 copies. Between 2000 and 3000 of these remained unsold when the company went into liquidation. The company had also printed 5000 of "The Broadmoor Patient" and 5000 of " The Infant," by the same author, and had sold about 2000 of each. The defendant Macqueen therefore acquired posses- sion of some 8000 copies of the three works. The agreements made by Mr. Wicks with Messrs. Remington were agreements to print and publish only, and in each case the author retained the copyright. It is part of the established law that agreements of this kind are not assignable with- out the consent of the owner of the copyright, and that they do not pass to an assignee in bank- ruptcy nor to a liquidator of a company. Mr. Cronk, however, assigned the agreements, and sold the stock to Mr. Macqueen, who gave him an indemnity for all the consequences of this act. The correspondence showed that Mr. Wicks en- deavoured to procure from Mr. Macqueen some acknowledgment of his rights and some arrange- ment for the continuance of the sales; but his title to any participation in the proceeds of the sale was denied in the first instance by both parties. Later an endeavour to make an arrange- ment was promised by Mr. Macqueen, but Mr. Wicks was requested to wait until full considera- tion could be given to the matter. A few months later, nothing having been arranged, Mr. Wicks found his books on sale at Messrs Smith and Son's bookstalls at a slightly reduced price. He ascertained that some 1200 copies had been bought and paid for three months before without any consent on his part, and when he applied for an account it was refused. Some months after he was offered a third of the royalty stipulated by the original agreement on a part of the sales only, and the court was applied to. Pressure being put upon the parties by the Lord Chief Justice to make an arrangement, it was ultimately decided to take an order requiring Mr. Macqueen to bind the books to the satisfaction of Mr. Wicks, to sell them at prices agreed to by Mr. Wicks, to expend a reasonable amount in advertising the books, which amount would be fixed by a third person, and to pay to Mr. Wicks the amount acknowledged in the account rendered, and a royalty on future sales as stipulated in the origi- nal agreement respecting "The Veiled Hand." This agreement fixed the royalties at 1*. lod. per  ## p. 205 (#639) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 205 copy on the 10s. 6d. edition, and 9^. on the 3s. 6d. edition, to be increased to 2*. 3d. and io\d. respectively after the sale of 5000, which has been the case with "The Veiled Hand." The liquida- tor of the company, who, the Lord Chief Justice said, had assigned agreements that he had no power to assign, was ordered to leave in the hands of .the plaintiff five guineas paid into court.—The Athenmum, Dec. 25. m.—The Cost of Binding. Exception has been taken to our estimate of t,d. as the cost of plain binding. We have called attention to an increase in the cost of binding. This increase seems to belong to small orders. Those who have sufficient business to give large orders for cloth can still bind very cheaply. The following taken from a publisher's account shows what is actually paid for binding. There were 1328 copies bound, viz.:— 262, in paper, at id. 150 at 31*. 6d. a hundred, or $zd. a volume. 916 at 38s. 6d. the hundred, or $\d. a volume. The average amounts to 3^m«?.—i.e., a little over 3|rf. It is pleasant, after hearing frantic declarations that the work cannot be done at the price, to receive actual accounts showing that the work has been done at the price. IV.—Thk Copyeight Association. A service of plate was presented to Mr. Daldy on Dec. 9 by the Copyright Association in recog- nition of his services in the cause of copyright. The association, as is well known, has been in existence a long time. It consists of a few authors and some publishers: of late it has been working with the Society. It is now very much to be desired that the authors who are in the association should remember that the Society has done a great deal of solid work in connection with * copyright, and that a continuance of their membership might lead to complications with the Society, which should have the first claim upon their support. V.—Muddock v. Blackwood. (Before Mr. Justice Kekewich.) This was a copyright case of some importance. Two copyright actions had been brought, one having been commenced in the Chancery Division and the other in the Queen's Bench Division, but they had since been consolidated by an order in the Chancery action. The writ in the Chancery action was issued on Nov. 24, 1896, by the plain- tiff, Mr. James Edward Muddock, the author or and the registered proprietor of the copyright in a work called "A Wingless Angel," against Mr. James Blackwood, a publisher, and a firm of pub- lishers called J. Blackwood and Co., claiming an injunction, an account of profits, and delivery-up of copies in respect of a work published by the defendants under the same title, and being, in fact, a reprint of the plaintiff's work. On Dec. 10 the principal defendant, Mr. James Blackwood, wrote to the plaintiff offering to submit to an in- junction, to pay =£10 as damages, to deliver up all copies in his hands, and to pay the plaintiff's costs as between party and party. The plaintiff, however, refused the offer, and on Dec. 18 made a demand in writing on the defendants under sect. 23 of the Copyright Act, 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c. 45), for all copies of the book unlawfully printed or imported; and then, on Dec. 23, 1896, issued the writ in the Queen's Bench action, claiming damages for wrongful conversion of copies of the book unlawfully printed without the consent of the plaintiff. Then he delivered a statement of claim in that action, and on Feb. 1,1897, obtained an order in chambers in that action transferring it to the Chancery Division, but expressly reserv- ing the costs of that action to be dealt with by the Chancery judge at the trial. On Feb. 8 Mr. Justice Kekewich, on the plaintiff's application, made an order that the two actions should be consolidated and proceed as one action, and in the consolidated action the plaintiff delivered a state- ment of claim, claiming an injunction, delivery up of all copies in the defendants' possession, an account of profits made by the defendants by the infringement, or, alternatively, damages in respect of the infringement, with an inquiry as to the amount thereof, £2 50 damages for conversion as in an action of trover, and costs. It appeared that the plaintiff had not published any copies of his work since 1875; that in 1886 the defendant Mr. James Blackwood bought the stereotyped plates of the work at an auction sale at Messrs. Puttick and Simpson's, of Leicester-square, and had used them without demur until last year. An account furnished by the defendant showed that in 1886 he sold 1010 copies at a total price of ■£38 199. g^d., and at a profit of £8 lot. 4$<Z.; also that in 1896 he sold 29 copies at a profit of £1 4«. 2d., his total profits thus amounting to =£9 148. 6\d. -. also that, after taking into account the purchase of the plates and repairs, amounting altogether to <£io, there had been a net loss on production and sale of the book of 58. $\d. Warrington, Q.C., and J. G. Joseph for the plaintiff, relied on sect. 23 of the Copyright Act, 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c. 45) (Scrutton on Copyright, p. 246), which provides that "all copies of any book wherein there shall be copyright, and of which entry shall have been made in the said  ## p. 206 (#640) ############################################ 206 THE AUTHOR. registry book, and which shall have been unlaw- fully printed or imported without the consent of the registered proprietor of such copyright, in writing under his hand first obtained, shall be deemed to be the property of the proprietor of such copyright, and who shall be registered as such, and such registered proprietor shall, after demand thereof in writing, be entitled to sue for and recover the same, or damages for the deten- tion thereof, in an action of detinue, from any party who shall detain the same, or to sue for and recover damages for the conversion thereof in an action for trover." Renshaw, Q.C. and J. W. Baines, for the defendant Blackwood, referred to sect. 15, which enacts that " if any person shall, in any part of the British dominions, after the passing of this Act, print or cause to be printed, either for sale or exportation, any book in which there shall be subsisting copyright, without the consent in writing of the proprietor thereof, or shall import for sale or hire any such book so having been unlawfully printed from paits beyond the sea, or, knowing such book to have been so unlawfully printed or imported, shall sell, publish, or expose for sale or hire, or cause to be sold, published, or exposed for sale or hire, or shall have in his possession, for sale or hire, any such book so un- lawfully printed or imported, without such con- sent as aforesaid, such offender shall be liable to a special action on the case at the suit of the pro- prietor of such copyright, to be brought in any court of record in that part of the British dominions in which the offence shall be com- mitted." They submitted that the two sections were inconsistent, and that the plaintiff was wrong in claiming, as he had done, both in detinue and in trover, for, under sect. 23 he must select the one mode of action or the other, not both. As to the alleged profits made by the defendant, when the price of the plates and the usual trade dis- count were taken into consideration, it was clear there could be no profits. [Mr. Justice Kbke- wich.—I should think wingless angels would require some discount to make them fly. (Laugh- ter.)] The plaintiff had resorted to a "multi- plicity" of actions, when he might have sought relief by one action. The action had been, in fact, continued without any necessity, the defen- dant having offered all the plaintiff could justly claim. Mr. Justice Kkkkwich said it was somewhat strange that in the end of the year 1897 he should be called upon for the first time to say what was the meaning of sect. 23 of the Act 5 & 6 Vict, c. 45—whether the remedy given by that section was inconsistent with that given by sect. 15; but he supposed he was really called upon to do that because no counsel had suggested to him that there was any decision; and, moreover, the book on copyright which was in the bands of the pro- fession, and to which reference was usually made on all questions of copyright, did not give any case on the subject. Two points had been raised. First, it was said on behalf of the defendant that sect. 15 gave the proprietor of copyright a remedy by special action on the case: that that meant that this was the remedy which he was intended to pursue, except so far as his remedies at common law were not interfered with; that the offender under sect. 23 was a different person to the offender under sect. 15; that under sect. 15 he was dealing with a person who had " unlaw- fully printed or imported " a book in which there was a subsisting copyright, and that the other Kect., 23, provided a remedy against the accidental possessor of the infringing book, so as to give a right of action against that accidental possessor independently of his being otherwise a wrong- doer. That might b-j the right view, but the language of the sections was not sufficiently clear to compel his Lordship to adopt it. No doubt there were words in sect. 15 which were not to be found in sect. 23, and he was unable to suggest why the two sections should not have been put into one, and why they should have been sepa- rated as they were. But, on the other hand, he did not see why, because the proprietor of copy- right had a remedy under sect. 15 against the wrong-doer, he could not sue that wrong-doer, if so advised, under sect. 23. Then the next point was this. The book being vested in the pro- prietor of the copyright, sect. 23 said he "shall, after demand in writing, be entitled to sue for and recover the same or damages for the deten- tion thereof, in an action of detinue, from any party who shall detain the same, or to sue for and recover damages for the conversion thereof in an action of trover." That provided an alternative remedy; and the argument on behalf of the defendant was that the plaintiff claiming to sue • under that section must elect to sue either in detinue or in trover, and could not sue in both. That was an easier point than the other. There was an alternative remedy. It would, in his Lordship's opinion, be adopting an extremely narrow construction of the Act to say that the proprietor of the copyright in a book, knowing that a person had a certain number of copies in his hands and that he had sold other copies, could not sue that person in respect of the copies that he had detained, and also in respect of those that he had converted to his own jise. It seemed tolerably plain upon the Act itself, and in accordance with what was the appa- rent intention of the Legislature, that the two  ## p. 207 (#641) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 207 actions might be reduced to one action distributed in the way he had suggested—that is to say, the plaintiff might sue in detinue in respect of the copies the defendant had detained, and might sue in trover in respect of the copies he had sold and converted to his own use. Having got so far, the plaintiff in the present case, who was the proprietor of the registered copyright in a book called "A Wingless Angel," was entitled to sue under sect. 23, and to sue the defendant not- withstanding that he might have brought what was called " a special action on the case " under sect. 15; and he might have exercised his privi- lege of bringing an action on the case by pro- ceeding in the Chancery Division. What, then, was the plaintiff's remedy? In his Lordship's opinion he was entitled to the delivery-up on oath of all books in the possession of the defendant—that is to say, delivery-up, and also damages as in an action of trover for the books the defendant had sold. The defendant had sold twice. In 1886 he sold 1010 copies and realised .£38 19*. g^d., or, say, .£39, making a profit of £8 10s. 4%d.; and then he published the book again in 1896, and sold twenty-nine copies, and made a profit of <£i 40. 2d., which on his own showing was rather more than one-eighth of what he had made in 1886. His Lordship de- clined to order an inquiry as to damages. It would be almost wicked to send the case to the master or to an official referee to find damages for conversion; if necessary, he should have the inquiry before himself. Mr. Warrington had asked him to fix a sum, and if he added forty guineas for the whole, he thought he was giving the plaintiff as much as he was entitled to. The plaintiff was also entitled to an injunction as part of the order. Upon the question of costs, his Lordship said that the plaintiff might have obtained all the relief he sought by one action in the Chancery Division. He seemed, however, to have determined to multiply costs in every possible way, and his Lordship would do his best to mark his sense of that proceeding. He should therefore give him only the costs of the Chancery action; the costs of the other proceedings he must be ordered to pay.—The Times, Nov. 17. SHELLEY'S PUBLISHES. CHARLES OLLIER began his working life in Messrs. Coutts's bank, but a classical education had developed literary tastes, and these he first indulged by becoming a publisher. He had not been a year in business when, through Leigh Hunt—whose "Foliage," "Hero and VOL. VIII. Leander," and the second edition of " The Story of Rimini" he published—he was introduced to Keats, and the acquaintance led to his publishing the first poems of Keats in 1817. The book was not a success; Keats blamed the inactivity of the publisher, and went over to Taylor and Hessey with his subsequent works. With Shelley the case was different. It was due to Oilier that Shelley's "Laon and Cythna" was altered and converted into "The Revolt of Islam"; and, although the poet complained of that proceeding, all his subsequent works published in his life- time, except "Swellfoot the Tyrant," were brought out by Oilier. When Shelley sent his "Defence of Poetry" to Oilier in 1821, indeed, he wrote that " if any expressions should strike you as too unpopular, I give you the power of omit- ting them; but I trust you will, if possible, refrain from exercising this." Although his brother James was the man of business, the firm of Charles and James Oilier, of Vere-street, did not prosper. Li 1819 he published " The Literary Pocket Book," in which Shelley's poem of " Mari- anne's Dream" was first printed; and in 1820 he brought out the first part of " Oilier's Literary Miscellany, in Prose and Verse, by Several Hands." This publication, which, as the title- page said, was "to be continued occasionally," contained a remarkable article on the German drama by Archdeacon Hare, and another by Peacock on "The Four Ages of Poetry." As the latter, in which the writer regarded poetry as a worn-out delusion of barbarous times, provoked Shelley's "Defence of Pcetry," the following entertaining passage may be quoted as a taste of its quality. The year of writing is 1820:— In the origin and perfection of poetry, all the associa- tions of life were composed of poetio materials. With us it is decidedly the reverse. We know, too, that there are nu Dryads in Hyde Park nor Naiads in the Regent's Canal Bat barbaric manners and supernatural interventions are essential to poetry. Either in the scene, or in the time, or in both, it must be remote from our ordinary perceptions. While the historian and the philosopher are advanoing in and accelerating the progress of knowledge, the poet is wallowing in the rubbish of departed ignoranoe, and raking up the ashes of dead savages to find geegaws and rattles for the grown babies of the age. Mr. Scott digs up the poachers and cattle stealers of the anoient border. Lord Byron cruises for thieves and pirates on the shores of the Morea and among the Greek islands. Mr. Southey wades through ponderous volumes of travel and old chronicles, from which he carefully selects all that is false, useless, and absurd, as being essentially poetioal; and when he has a oommonplace book, full of monstrosities, strings them into an epic Mr. Wordsworth picks up village legends from old women and sextons; and Mr. Coleridge, to the valuable information acquired from similar sources, superadds the dreams of crazy theologians and the mysticisms of German metaphysios, and favours the world with visions in verse, in whioh the quadruple elements of sexton, old woman, Jeremy Taylor, and Emanuel Kant are harmonised into a T  ## p. 208 (#642) ############################################ 208 THE AUTHOR. delicious poetical compound. Mr. Moore presents as with a Persian, and Mr. Campbell with a Pennsylvanian tale, both formed on the same principle as Mr. Southey's epics, by extracting from a perfunctory and desultory perusal of a collection of voyages and travels, all that useful investiga- tion would not seek for and that common sense would reject. "Very clever, but false," said Shelley of Pea- cock's tilt against poetry. Shelley's " Defence" was originally intended to appear in the second part of "Ollier's Miscellany," but no second part ever appeared. Then Ollier's business was wound- up, and the " Defence" came into the possession of John Hunt, who prepared it for publication in the " Liberal," but that periodical also expired before it could be published. Meanwhile Oilier had become a literary adviser to Bentley, and he continued long in this position. He also contributed to magazines, and occasion- ally gave lectures on celebrated writers. He admired Shakespeare to such a degree, and held himself under such a loyal weight of obligation to him, that, says Hunt, "I have known him involuntarily measure persons, whom he other- wise respected, from head to foot if tbey ventured to maintain the least objection to the great poet; as though, in default of some possible intellectual cause for it, he was trying to discover some cause physical." As an author, Oilier possessed two faults in Leigh Hunt's eyes. First, he should have written more; and, secondly, he should have taken more pains to keep what he did write before the public. His first work was "Altham and His Wife: a Domestic Tale" (1818). Shelley wrote of this: "It is a natural story, most unaffectedly told in a strain of very pure and powerful English." Sir Walter Scott, in a critique which he wrote in the Quarterly Review on the novel of " Haggi Baba" in England, refers to the story of "Altham and His Wife" as furnishing pleasant authority for the telling of love-tales under umbrellas during a shower. Ollier's second book, "Iuesilla; or, the Tempter: a Romance, with Other Tales" (1824), Hunt said was "the best bit of diablerie in the language." So high an opinion was entertained of it by the authoress of "Frankenstein," that a publisher having proposed to piece out the requi- site size of a volume of stories from her pen by one worthy of its companionship, she said she should prefer this production of Mr. Oilier. Then followed "Ferrers" (1842), a romance on the execution of Earl Ferrers in 1760; "Fallacy of Ghosts, Dreams, and Omens, with Stories of Witchcraft, Life-in-Death, and Monomania" (1848), reprinted from Ainsworth's Magazine, and published by the author himself. Edmund Oilier, author, who died in 1886, was a son of Charles Oilier. EUSSIAN COPYBIGHT. AT present, no international copyright exists in Russia. Not only is the Russian Empire by far the largest and by far the most important of the European States outside the Berne Convention, but it is also without any private copyright convention with any other State. The readers of The Author will not require to be told what that implies. The results are, of course, as unsatisfactory to Russian authors as they are to the authors of other countries, all whose works are at the free disposal of the subjects of the Tsar. Even editors and publishers do not find it always convenient to be unable either to inhibit the unlimited introduction of translations of foreign works, or to get any protection for those which they have themselves brought out. In fact, the situation appears to be rapidly becoming intolerable. The object, however, of the present article is not to explain that the results of unlimited piracy are as unsatisfactory in Russia as elsewhere. That is a matter of course. But it is pleasant to be able to mention, on the other hand, that the Russians are beginning to realise that piracy is unsatisfactory, and that, in consequence, some steps in a more hopeful direction have been recently taken. For some time past pleas have been urged in favour of the renewal of the copyright conven- tion formerly existing between Russia and France. This lapsed upon the denunciation, in 1887, of the treaty of 1861. In 1893 M. Zola published in the Temps, "An Open Letter to the Russian Press." In 1894 both the St. Petersburg Society of Authors and the St. Petersburg Association of Publishers named commissions to consider pro- posals for some new legislation. The Musical Society of St. Petersburg and the Society of Artists took also similar steps. In the meantime the Russian Government had instituted under the presidency of Count Muravieff, then Minister of Justice, but at present of Foreign Affairs, a com- mission for the revision of the Russian code. Upon reaching the section relating to copyright, certain new regulations, in accordance with modern views, were proposed and submitted for consideration to various Russian societies com- petent to give opinions concerning them. More recently the text of the proposed legislation was communicated to the congress at Monaco, accom- panied by a letter from the Chancellor of the Russian Imperial Commission. This letter ex- plained that the projected regulations were by no means to be regarded as final, and that the right of translation, at present  ## p. 209 (#643) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 209 treated in a manner altogether inconsistent with the spirit of the Berne Convention, would probably be reconsidered and placed upon an entirely different basis. The Monaco Congress was naturally much gratified by the compliment paid it by the Russian Government, and a special commission of the association was nominated to study the proposals laid before it. Those who are specially interested in the subject will find lengthy and highly instructive articles upon it in the recent numbers of Le Droit d'Auteur, to which publication we are indebted for the facte briefly summarised in the following paragraphs. All literary, musical, and artistic works are to be protected. With some restrictions, copyright is accorded also to collections of national ballads, and of other folk-lore, hitherto orally transmitted (an excellent provision in a country so rich in folk-lore as Russia), and to editors of ancient manuscripts—the last without prejudice to editors of other manuscripts of the same work. Lectures, sermons, and public discourses are also to be copyright. Of judicial, municipal, and other public speeches of the same kind, the authors are to have a copyright, but the newspapers to be free to report. Laws and public regula- tions are not copyright. Both writer and receiver, or their heirs, have control over private letters. Amongst artistic works the following are particularly specified as protected—maps, plans, and architectural and technical designs. Photographs are protected, with some restric- tions. Unpublished literary and artistic works cannot be seized. Damages can be claimed for infringe- ment of copyright, whether wilful or uninten- tional. In the latter case the culprit is respon- sible only for a sum representing his actual gain. Proceedings before either civil or criminal tribunals will be easily taken. The owner of the copyright can proceed within a limit of three years after his discovery of the infringement of his rights. The penalty for illicit production of dramatic works will be forfeiture to the author of the whole of the gross receipts. Cession of a work does not include cession of the right of translation. Cession of right to publish a drama does not include right to perform. The author's rights are subject to certain restrictions. The entire reproduction of works of insignificant extent is permitted if they are reproduced in voluminous works of an original character. Reproduction in chrestomathies, or in similar works of a scientific or educational character, is also allowed. Periodicals are allowed to copy matter from the columns of others, pro- vided that the extracts are of small extent, not VOL. VIII. of a literary character, and not continuously drawn from the same source. All such extracts are to be accompanied by an indication of their origin. The interests of the author are also sacrificed to those of the musical composer. Words for music may be taken freely from any published work, unless the words have been written exclusively for setting to music, and the composer may sell the words with the music without restriction. For restrictions on the rights of artiste we must refer the rt ader to Le Droit d'Auteur. A literary work may be dramatised without the author's consent after a lapse of ten years from its publication. Respecting translation much remains to be desired. The author of a work published in Russia enjovs an exclusive right of translation for ten years, if this right is expressly reserved by a declaration on the title or in the preface, and if he publishes a tsanslation within three years after the appearance of the original work. Works simultaneously published in different languages are to be considered as original works in every one of these languages. When the right of translation has become public property, a translator has no power to inhibit any other translation of the same work. The duration of copyright will be the same as at present, the life of the author and fifty years afterwards. This applies also to music. Fifty years from the death of the author is the dura- tion of the copyright of posthumous works. Fifty years from the date of publication will be the duration for— (a) First editions of folk-lore; (6) First editions of ancient manuscripts; (c) The publications of universities, academies, educational institutions, and learned societies. The copyright of an anonymous or pseudony- mous publication has a duration of thirty years from the date of publication, unless the author declares himself within that period, in which case he acquires his ordinary rights. The duration of copyright for a photograph is five years only; for a translation it is the life of the translator and thirty years afterwards. The editors of periodicals, encyclopaedias, almanacks, and similar works, composed of the writings of different authors, have a fifty years' copyright commencing from the date of publi- cation. The contributors, without prejudice to their rights in the miscellany, may, unless the contrary has been expressly stipulated, reprint their works two years after their appearance in the miscellany. The author who has ceded his right for a single edition may, unless the contrary has been ex- pressly stipulated, publish a new edition as soon t 2  ## p. 210 (#644) ############################################ 2IO THE AUTHOR. as the first is exhausted, or, even if it be not exhausted, after five years; or at any time, if the work has undergone such modifications as will make it really a new book. These regulations will apply to all works pub- lished in Russia, whether the author be a Russian or a foreigner. They apply also to the works of a Russian subject published in a foreign country. No protection is given to the works of foreigners published outside the Russian Empire. Nor is any hint given of conventions ultimately to be concluded with other States. This would appear to indicate that complete non-recognition of the rights of foreigners is to be the rule. Happily, the letter of the Chancellor of the Imperial Com- mission leaves some hopes of an ultimate more liberal arrangement. Henby Cbesswell. NEW YORK LETTER. New York, Dec. 17, 1897. ANUMBER of interesting changes in the tendencies of publishing are visible in the Christmas books this year, and they are nearly all encouraging. All of the leading houses are publishing less of those books which, intended exclusively for Christmas sale, are of flimsy and ephemeral character, with slight real interest. Trifles for children, and gift-books full of cheap illustrations and decorations, are not published by any but some of the weaker houses. Instead of that we see the solid books being advertised as especially suitable for gift-books. A few of the smaller houses, however, have just as large a supply of tinsel as ever. Among the solid books which seem to be especially popular for this par- ticular purpose are those on the popular aspects of science and philosophy, and especially on those branches of those subjects which can be treated in a half pictorial way, which explains an un- common amount of literature about birds and plants this year, and also explains the big Christmas demand for books on art and travel. The decoration is improving in the same way as the contents. Really rich and luxurious paper and binding are taking the place of the cheaper devices, although one wasteful tendency is notice- able—that of making the books so delicate that any reasonable amount of handling would ruin them. Perhaps of all the Christmas books, properly speaking, the two most conspicuous are Gibson's book on London (published by tbe Scribners) and "Joan of Arc," by Boutet de Mouvel, published by the Century Company. John Li Farge's "Artist's Letters from Japan" has attracted a good deal of attention, and it is a reminder that the growing familiarity with Japanese and French ideas in regard to decoration is responsible for much of the im- provement. One of the most interesting of all the solid books is the history of dancing from the earliest stages to our own times, published by Appleton and Co. as a translation from the French. The text itself is complete and intelligent, and the illustrations reproduce some of the finest works of art from the earliest times down to Sargent, Degas and Cheret. Among the books which will appear before a great while it must be said, to the credit of the cheap magazines and the cheap publishing houses, that the most interesting, to my mind at least, will be given by Mr. Munsey. It will be made up of a series of articles now running in the magazine which give the judgment of various writers of fiction on their favourite novelists. The date of the issue cannot be fixed until it is known when the series will be completed. Anthony Hope's article on Sterne, in the November number of the magazine, struck me as being the best piece of literary criticism of recent publication that I have seen anywhere. It suggested one rather gloomy conclusion for the professional critic, which is, that the man who sits down occasionally to express ideas which he has thought of for many years gives something more permanently worth while than most of the criticism which is written by men who turn everything they know into copy. This observation, by-the-way, has its relations to an article which Professor H. T. Peck has recently written, in which he says that the influence of the magazine on authors has been generally deteriorating, by inducing them to write too constantly. Except in the cases of genius, he thinks it makes no difference to the author, because he wouldn't do anything anyway; but where a man has genius he is ruined by the in- ducement to hasty work. The corresponding harm to the public is obvious. Mr. Howells, who has just returned from Europe, said while abroad that there was no one in this country whose good opinion was like that of Mr. Gladstone, able to make a reputation, and that Lowell's opinion in his closing years would have done more in that way than any other. Seeking the reason for this truth, the Nation thinks that it is because criticism here is too gentle, and that Mr. Lowell's influence lay largely in his freedom from the fault of indiscriminate praise, which is surely an explanation altogether insufficient to explain the lack of strong criticism here—-ather the effect than the cause.  ## p. 211 (#645) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 211 One queBtion that might with profit be dis- cussed fully in this country is the ethics of editing, which has received such thorough treat- ment from The Author. The degree to which some of the magazine editors change the words and ideas in signed articles, not only in those written by the less known men, but often in those written by some of the most prominent authors in the world is very marked. It would not he safe for me to give the facts too specifically. A subject about which I have found marked differences of opinion lately is that of dating books. One writer of long experience held that in publishing a book of essays it was decidedly better to date each essay, in order that the earlier ones might be recognised as not the latest product of the author's mind. Another man, of equal ability and almost equal experience, said that to date the essays, or in any way, as by an acknowledgment in the front of the book, to show that they had been published, would injure the sale, so strong is the desire for " something new." The literary success of the last few weeks in New York belongs to England. The enthusiasm with which intelligent people have received " The Princess and the Butterfly" is as much due to Mr. Pinero'8 literary qualities as to the dramatic ones. There is no doubt that the play has made a stronger impression on the minds of the intelli- gent people of New York than anything else which has been given here this year. Norman Hapoood. NOTES AND NEWS. THE Speaker once more kindly devotes two or three columns of abuse to this Society. It appears that we contain few men of recog- nised standing: that we are run by a small clique of busybodies: that we claim to determine the conditions upon which books shall be sold: that nine-tenths of the known authors of the country know nothing about the Society: that it is the desire of the Society to establish a fixed royalty for the author: that our Report on the Discount System is a masterpiece of inconsequential reasoning: and so on. Of course they put my name forward as the supposed leader in all this wickedness: to that I am quite accus- tomed. It is the old trick of representing the Society as consisting of one man. I only wonder that they ever allow any others to be connected with it at all. There are others, how- ever: the writer acknowledges so much, though, as he assures his readers, my friends, like myself, only " cater for the middle class." This is a very terrible charge. How is one to get out of it? Since, however, the middle class of this country furnishes the great bulk of readers: since from the middle class come all our men of science, of art, of literature; all our preachers, most of our leaders, all our engineers, lawyers, merchants—in fact, all the people who ever do any- thing— I really see no disgrace in "catering" for them. The Speaker, of course, " caters " for the aristocracy alone. I wonder how it is done. However, the true meaning of all this wrath presently appears when the writer wanders from his subject in order to talk about royalties. It is the increase of the royalty which inspires this real and genuine indignation. Now, it is certainly not true, as the writer says, that we have ever advo- cated a fixed royalty. We have, however, pub- lished the meaning of royalties—what they give to authors and what they give to publishers. These truths have given a great deal of dissatisfaction. It is undoubted that, thanks to the action of the Society, royalties have very greatly advanced; it is also true that certain publishers who used to offer a sweating royalty, say, of 5 per cent., have had to treble, and more than treble, their terms, or else to see books taken elsewhere. Other little trifles have also been secured to the author, such as dramatic rights, American rights, Continental rights, through the action of the Society in pub- lishing the facts of the case. Authors, again, have been kept out of certain hands to the great loss and detriment of those hands: light has been poured upon the meaning of production and its cost. In this way it is possible that dividends may have fallen in this or that company. Such a consideration suggests a very simple explanation if a paper should happen to be controlled by a publishing house. But, if the Speaker can reason at all on the subject, one would ask if any purpose is gained by all this invective? Is the Society one whit the worse for these attacks \ I believe not. Never has any associa- tion been more savagely attacked than the Society of Authors. Yet it is larger, stronger, and of better repute to-day than ever before. And the editor of the Speaker may ask himself if, by any of his previous attacks upon the paper, he has injured the Society in the slightest way? And we may ask, generally, all these persons, publishers or other- wise, who attack the Society, whether they find their own position improved by these attacks? And we may ask the whole world whether authors, like other people, are prepared to give up an asso- ciation which has so enormously advanced their own interests? . Let us remind our members that ten or twelve years ago a 10 per cent, royalty was the utmost  ## p. 212 (#646) ############################################ 212 THE AUTHOR. ever offered. Generally it was less—a 5 per cent, with something down. A certain very popular novel was once given to a publisher for .£50 in advance and a 5 per cent, royalty. That author's terms would now be 25 per cent. Look at the difference on a sale of a thousand. On a 5 per cent, royalty .£15 per thousand copies. On a 25 per cent, royalty ,£75 per thousand copies. On a sale of fifty thousand—it was more than that—there was a difference — clear gain — of £3000. And this is evidently the work of the Society which was the first to investigate the meaning of the figures and the corresponding meaning of royalties. Take, however, a more common case, the old royalty of 10 per cent, compared with that of 25 per cent. On 10 per cent, the sum of ,£30 for every thousand copies. On 25 per cent, the sum of J675 for every thousand copies. On a sale of fifty thousand—I repeat that the book in question was very popular—the author is a gainer of £1250. As to other services of the Society, we may speak of them at another time. Let the reader only consider that if the Society were to become extinct these figures would very speedily be lost and forgotten—and the old con- dition of things would be restored. I have before me certain remarks upon our estimates and figures in a new paper of which this is only the second number. It is called the Qtiilldriver. The writer speaks well of the Society, but complains that in The Author young writers are led to believe that the average circu- lation of a novel is 3000. Not so: the average is not spoken of; in preparing these figures we have nothing to do with the average, we have to deal with the possibilities. In dealing with, or speaking of, literary property we must consider actual, substantial literary property — which means the achievement of popularity: we must prepare agreements for possibilities — never, perhaps, to be realised, yet always possible. That is the meaning of our figures. When we assume a circulation of 3000 it is in order to provide for the possibility of that number. Nor can I believe that anyone is so foolish as to think that the majority of novels do actually attain this figure. When a young barrister enters upon his profession he considers the prizes: the great practice possible: the great reputa- tion; he then lays himself out, so to speak, for the attainment of this great practice: he does not consider the many failures which are, of course, possible for him as for any other. So a young writer should, and does, consider the great prizes open to him, though he may never arrive at them. That is, again, the meaning of the thousands introduced into our figures. The writer before me goes on to say that he has made a list of 150 writers well known to the public; that he applied to their publishers for information as to the circulation of their books; and that this information was actually supplied! This is a most wonderful thing. Publishers are confidential agents; they have no more right to reveal the secrets of their authors than lawyers those of their clients. It is conceivable that such a revelation might damage a writer very seriously, say, when one of deserved name and reputation was found to enjoy a very limited circulation. However, for some unknown consideration, all the publishers of the Hundred and Fifty are said to have betrayed their trust, and to have given the information asked for. The average circulation of the lot, says my writer, was 4535 volumes. Yes, perhaps. But is this the average of the whole army of novelists? Can it be considered as even approximately the average? Let us just examine the figures. There were 150 novelists selected; their average was 4535. This represents no more than 68,025 volumes. Consequently it cannot include Hall Caine, whose last novel circulated to the tune of 150,000 copies at least. Put him in: the average rises to 1444 copies for every one of the 151. Nor does it include Rider Haggard, whose most successful story means at least 120,000. Add Eider Haggard and the average for 152 goes up to 2224. Add "Treasure Island" with, I believe, 80,000, and the average for 153 is 2732. Add Marie Corelli with 80,000 (say) and the average goes up to 3234 for 154. Putin adozen others with a circula- tion of only 10,000 each and the average for 166 amounts to 3723. With these figures before us it becomes evident that the figures quoted cannot represent an average, which must include the successful as well as the unsuccessful: and that if, in The Author, we were to claim 3000 as an average we might perhaps be justified. We do not, however, advance any such claim. We are quite prepared to admit that most novelists fail to catch the public ear: in all professions it is only the small minority that succeeds; we are also prepared to admit that if we take the lower half of living novelists their average is very small. But then the lower half includes the unhappy people who believe that by paying for production they pay for publication, and that a printed book is a published book, and that every novel is a mine of gold.  ## p. 213 (#647) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. The report of the Sub-Committee to consider the proposals made by certain publishers for the enslaving of the bookseller has been received by the world with apparent satisfaction. Our own members, with one exception, have not expressed any dissatisfaction at the result of the inquiry. The one exception sent a letter to the secretary, which he also forwarded to the Publishers' Asso- ciation. It is printed in another column. One would not deny to every member the right to his own opinion; but in cases where, as in that lately before us, the independence of literature, the dignity of men and women of letters, and their material interests, were all together threatened under cover of coercing booksellers: when, under the same pretence, it was sought to raise the price of books upon a public which already pays too much: in such a case it is above all things neces- sary that authors should stand together, and that they should sink their individual opinion and think only of the general good. That means that they should accept the decision of the Committee, which alone, remember, was able to hear the evidence. Mr. Cunningham says that the decision was arrived at by adhering to old arguments. That is not a correct statement of the case. The whole report has been published in this paper, so that readers may judge for themselves. Weight was certainly given to the opinions of the men of 1852—distin- guished men—all of whom have a right to be considered, even fifty years after the event. But the Committee were chiefly guided by the evidence before them, rather than by the arguments of 18 5 2; they learned and recognised the absolute impos- sibility of coercion: the degradation of the book- seller, who, if the proposed plan succeeded, would become a mere clerk and servant of the publisher: and the absolute certainty that the next step would be the degradation of the author. Indeed, the Times, in making a precis of the report, left out altogether the statement of the case in 1852, so little importance was attached by their reader to that part of the report. Mr. Cunningham disagrees with the report. That is to be lamented; but everyone must form his own opinion. He then, after acknowledging the valuable aid which he has received from the Society, withdraws from membership. This step shows that he has not the least esprit de corps, and that he owes no sense of duty or of brother- hood to others engaged in literary work. How could the Society have assisted or advised him but for the association of a great many who by their collective subscriptions enable us to provide offices, collect cases, get legal advice, and maintain a staff? How can such a Society be kept up if every member who disagrees with a report or with the action of the Committee immediately withdraws? Surely a certain amount of loyalty is required in the defence and the advancement of every cause— in our case more than any other, on account of the fierce resentment which has always met it on every side, and the unscrupulous falsehoods with which it is constantly assailed. The first thing necessary, however, is the feeling that every writer ought to support the Society not so much for the assistance which he may receive, or for gratitude for the assistance which he has received, so much as for the solid work which the Society has rendered to the material interests of litera- ture, and for the assistance which it is constantly giving to writers in trouble or in doubt. To do this effectively, we ought to have at least 2000 members—that is, 600 more than our present number. . Literary men will do well to take legal advice before accepting employment under the city of New York, if the experience of Mr. Charles Burr Todd, the historian of the city, counts for any- thing. In 1895 the Common Council was desirous of printing the early records of Dutch Man- hattan and English New York which were stored in ancient safes in the city library, and were fast going to pieces with age and handling. The Mayor appointed a committee to superintend their publication, the members of which previous to appointment met the Mayor in his office, and agreed to serve without pay provided they could have a secretary and editor to do the work, who should be paid, and they named Mr. Todd as such editor. The Mayor said he had wished Mr. Todd on the committee, but it was pointed out that the latter could not afford to serve without pay; to all of which the Mayor agreed. Mr. Todd was soon after appointed on the committee, and, with the understanding that he should be paid, accepted. Later the committee appointed him editor, agree- ing to pay him, though no sum was fixed. He served eight months and resigned, whereupon the committee voted him 150 dollars per month. The city refused to pay on the ground that the com- mittee were to serve for nothing, whereupon Mr. Todd sued for the amount. The case was tried before Judge Russell in the Supreme Court of New York, on Nov. 18, and the learned judge held that as Mr. Todd was a member of a com- mittee which was appointed to serve without pay he could recover nothing. Mr. Todd says that while this may be good law it is very poor equity and justice; that somebody laid a trap for him in order to get his services as editor for nothing,  ## p. 214 (#648) ############################################ 214 THE AUTHOR. and that altogether it is pretty small business for the second largest city in the world. He worked five years preparing his history of the city, for which he has received about one hundred and fifty dollars, and thinks if he per- forms other services for the city it should be willing to remunerate him. Waltee Be8ANT_ A CHAPTER OF THE PAST. THE following extracts from Babbage's "Economy of Machinery " are interesting at present:— (295.) . . . "A powerful combination, of another kind, exists at this moment to a great extent, and operates upon the price of the very pages which we are now communicating informa- tion respecting it. A subject so interesting to every reader, and still more so to every manu- facturer of the article which the reader consumes, deserves an attentive examination. "We have shown in Chapter XX., p. 166, the component parts of the expense of each copy of the present work; and we have seen that the total amount of the cost of production, exclusive of any payment to the author for his labour, is 28. tfd. "Another fact, with which the reader is more practically familiar, is, that he has paid, or is to pay, his bookseller six shillings for the volume. Let us now examine into the distribution of these six shillings, and then, having the facts of the case before us, we shall be better able to judge of the merits of the combination and to explain its effects. Distribution of the profits on a six-shilling hook. BayB at. Sells at. Profit on capital expended No. 1. The publisher, who s. d. s. d. accounts to the author for every copy received 3 10 4 2 10 per No. 2. Bookseller, who retails cent. 4 2 6 0 44 per cent. Or 4 6 6 0 33i Par cent. "No. 1, the publisher, is a bookseller, he is in fact the author's agent. His duties are to receive and take charge of the stock, for whieh bo sup- plies warehouse room, to advise the author about the times and methods of advertising, and to insert the advertisements. As he publishes other books, he will advertise lists of those s^ld by him- self; and thus by combining many in one adver- tisement, diminish the expense to each of his principals. He pays the author only for the books actually sold, consequently, he makes no outlay of capital, except that which he pays for advertisements, but he is answerable for any bad debts he may make in disposing of them. His charge is usually 10 per cent, on the returns. "No. 2 is the bookseller, who retails the work to the public. On the publication of a new book the publisher sends round to the trade to receive subscriptions from them for any number of copies, not less than two. These copies are usually charged to the subscribers, on an average, at about 4 or 5 per cent, less than the wholesale price of the book, in the present case they pay 4«. 2d. for each copy. After the day of publica- tion, the price charged by the publisher to the booksellers is 4*. 6d. Different publishers offer different terms to the subscriber, and it is usual after intervals of about six months for the pub- lisher again to open a subscription list, so that if the work be one for which there is a steady demand, the trade avail themselves of these oppor- tunities of purchasing at the reduced rate enough to supply their probable demand. (296.) "The volume thus purchased of the publisher at 4*. 2d. or 4*. 6d. is retailed by the bookseller at 6s. In the one case he makes a profit of 44, in the other of 33 per cent Even the smaller of these two rates of profit on the capital employed certainly appears too large. It sometimes happens, when a purchaser inquires for a book, the retail dealer sends across the street to the wholesale agent, and receives for this trifling service one-fourth part of the money the purchaser pays; and perhaps the retail dealer also takes six months' credit for the price which the volume actually costs him. It is stated that all retail books> Hers allow their customers a dis- count of 10 per cent, upon orders above .£20; and that, therefore, the nominal profit of 44 or 33 per cent, is considerably reduced. H this is the case, it may fairly be inquired why the price of £2, for example, is printed upon the back of a book when every bookseller is ready to sell it at £1 16s.; and why those who are unacquainted with that circumstance should be made to pay more than others who are better informed? Another reason has been assigned for the great profit charged upon books, namely, that the pur- chasers take long credit. This is probably a fact, and, admitting it, no reasonable person can object to a proportionate increase of price. But certainly, it is equally clear that gentlemen who do pay ready money should not be charged the same price as those who defer their payments to a very remote period. In the country there is a greater  ## p. 215 (#649) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 215 appearance of reason for a considerable allowance between the retail dealer and the public, because the profit of the country bookseller will be diminished by the expense of the conveyance of the books from London; but even in this case it appears to be too large when compared with the rate of interest which capital produces in other trades. (297.) "That the profit in retailing books is really too large is proved by two circumstances: First, that the same nominal rate of profit existed in the bookselling trade for a long series of years, notwithstanding the great fluctuations in the rate of profit on capital invested in every other business; secondly, that until very lately a multitude of booksellers in all parts of London were willing to be satisfied with a much smaller profit, and to sell, for ready money, or at short credit, to persons of uudoubted character, at a profit of only 10 per cent., and in some instances even at a still smaller percentage instead of that of 25 per cent, on the published prices. "It cannot be pretended that this high rate of profit is necessary to cover the risk of the book- seller having some copies left on his shelves, because he need not buy of the publisher a single copy more than he has orders for; and even if he do purchase more at the subscription price, he proves, by that very purchase, that he himself does not estimate that risk at above from 4 to 8 per cent. . It should also be remarked, that the publisher is generally a retail as well as a whole- sale bookseller; and that beside the profit which he realises on every copy sold by him in his capacity of agent, he is allowed to charge the author as if every copy had been subscribed for at 4«. 2d., and of course he receives the same profit as the rest of the trade for those retailed in his shop. (298.) "Now a certain number of the London booksellers have combined together. One of their objects is to prevent any bookseller from selling a book at less than 10 per cent, under the pub- lished price; and, in order to enforce this prin- ciple, they refuse to sell books, except at the publishing price, to any bookseller who declines signing their agreement. By degrees many were prevailed upon to join this combination; and the effect of the exclusion it inflicted left the small capitalist no option between signing or having his business destroyed. Ultimately nearly the whole trade, comprising about two thousand four hundred persons, have signed the agreement. "As might be naturally expected from an agree- ment so injurious to many of the parties to it, disputes have arisen, several booksellers have been placed under the ban of the combination, who allege that they have not violated its rules, and who accuse the opposite party of using spies, &c, to entrap them. (299.) "The origin of this combination has been explained by Mr. Pickering, of Chancery- lane, himself a publisher, in a printed statement entitled, ' Booksellers' Monopoly.' "The following list of booksellers has been copied from that printed at the head of each of the cases published by Mr. Pickering of the booksellers who form the committee for conduct- ing this combination: Allen, J., 7, Leaienhall- street; Arch, J., 61, Cornhill; Baldwin, R., 47, Paternoster-row; Booth, J.; Duncan, J., 37, Paternoster - row; Hatchard, J., Piccadilly; Marshall, R., Stationers'-court; Murray, J., Albemarle-street; Rees, O., Paternoster-row; Richardson, J. M., 23, Cornhill; Rivington, J., St. Paul's Churchyard; Wilson, E., Royal Exchange. (300.) "In whatever manner the profits are divided between the publisher and the retail bookseller, the fact remains, that the reader has paid for the volume in his hands 6s., and that the author will receive only 3s. ioe?.; out of which latter sum the expense of printing the volume must be paid, so that in passing through two hands this book has produced a profit of 44 per cent. This excessive rate of profit has drawn into the book trade a larger share of capital than was really advantageous, and the competition between the different portions of that capital has naturally led to the system of underselling, to which the committee above-mentioned are en- deavouring to put a stop.* "There are two parties who chiefly suffer from this combination—the public and authors. The first party can seldom be induced to take an active part ag linst any grievance; and, in fact, little is required from it except a cordial support of the authors in any attempt to destroy a combination so injurious to the interests of both. "Many an industrious bookseller would be glad to sell for 5«. the volume which the reader holds in his hand, and for which he has paid 6*.; and, in doing so for ready money, the tradesman who paid 4*. 6c?. for the book would realise, without the least risk, a profit of 11 per cent, on the money he had advanced. It is one of the objects of the combination we are discussing, to prevent the small capitalist from employing his capital at that rate of profit which he thinks most advan- * The monopoly cases, Nos. 1,2, and 3 of those published by Mr. Pickering, should be oonsulted; and as the pnblic will be better able to form a judgment by hearing the other side of the question, perhaps the chairman of the 00m- mittee (Mr. Richardson) would print those regulations respecting the trade, a copy of which Mr. Piokering states is refused by the committee even to those who sign thorn.  ## p. 216 (#650) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. tageous to himself; and such a proceeding is decidedly injurious to the public. (301.) "Having derived little pecuniary advan- tage from my own literary productions ; and being aware that from the very nature of their subjects they can scarcely be expected to reimburse the expense of preparing tbem, I may be permitted to offer an opinion which I believe to be as little influenced by any expectation of advantage from the future, as it is by any disappointment at the past. "Before, however, we proceed to sketch the plan of a campaign against Paternoster-row, it will be fit to inform the reader of the nature of the enemy's forces and his means of attack and defence. "Several of the great publishers find it con- venient to be the proprietors of reviews, maga- zines, journals, and even of newspapers. The editors are paid in some instances very hand- somely for their superintendence, and it is scarcely to be expected that they should always mete out the severest justice on works by the sale of which their employers are enriched. The great and popular works of the day are, of course, reviewed with some care, and with deference to public opinion. Without this the journals would not sell, and it is convenient to be able to quote such articles as instances of impartiality. Under shelter of this a host of ephemeral productions are written into a transitory popularity; and by the aid of this process the shelves of the book- seller, as well as the pockets of the public, are disencumbered. To such an extent are these means employed, that some of the periodical pub- lications of the day ought to be regarded merely as advertising machines. That the reader may be in some measure on his guard against such modes of influencing his judgment, he should examine whether the work reviewed is published by the bookseller who is the proprietor of the review, a fact which can sometimes be ascertained from the title of the book as given at the head of the article. But this is by no means a certain criterion, because partnerships in various publica- tions exist between houses in the book trade, which are not generally known to the public; so that, in fact, until reviews are established in which booksellers have no interest, they can never be safely trusted. (302.) "In order to put down the combination of booksellers, no plan appears so likely to succeed as a counter-association of authors. If any con- siderable portion of the literary world were to unite and form such an association; and if its affairs were directed by an active committee much might be accomplished. The object of this union should be to employ some person well skilled in the printing and in the bookselling trade, and to establish him in some central situation as their agent. Each member of the association to be at liberty to place any or all of his works in the hands of this agent for sale; to allow any adver- tisements or list of books, published by members of the association, to be stitched up at the end of each of his own productions, the expense of preparing them being defrayed by the proprietors of the books advertised. "The duties of the agent would be to retail to the public for ready money, copies of books published by members of the association. To sell to the trade, at prices agreed upon, any copies they may require. To cause to be inserted in the journals, or at the end of works published by members, any advertisements which the committee or authors may direct. To prepare a general catalogue of the works of members. To be the agent for any member of the association in treating respecting the printing of any work. "Such a union would naturally present other advantages, and as each author would retain the liberty of putting any price he might think fit on his productions, the public would still have the advantage of reduction in price produced by com- petition between authors on the same subject, as well as of that arising from a cheaper mode of publishing the volumes sold to them. (303.) "Possibly one of the consequences re- sulting from such an association would be the establishment of a good and an impartial Review, a work whose want has been felt lor several years. The two long-established and celebrated Reviews, the unbending champions of the most opposite political opinions, are, from widely different causes, exhibiting unequivocal signs of decrepi- tude and decay. The Quarterly advocate of despotic principles is fast receding from the advancing intelligence of the age, and the new strength and new position which that intelligence has acquired for itself demands for its expression new organs, equally the representatives of its intellectual power and of its moral energies; whilst, on the other hand, the sceptre of its Northern rival has passed from the vigorous grasp of those who established its dominion into feebler hands. "A difficulty has been stated that those most competent to supply periodical criticism are already engaged. But it is to be observed that there are many who now supply literary criticisms to journals whose political principles they disap- prove, and that, if once a respectable and well- supported Review* were established, capable of * At the moment when this opinion aa to the necessity for a new Review was passing through the press, I was informed that the elements of snoh an undertaking were already organised.  ## p. 217 (#651) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 217 competing, in payment to its contributors, with the wealthiest of its rivals, it would very soon be supplied with the best materials the country can produce.f" ME. BALFOUR ON THE NOVEL. MR. ARTHUR J. BALFOUR, M.P., pro- posed the toast of "Literature" at the fourth annual dinner of the Sir Walter Scott Club, held in Edinburgh on the 20th ult. He said it was hard to believe there was a time when the world did without novels, and, in its own opinion, did well without novels. Like tobacco and the daily Press, novels had now become a general necessity. It was an interest- ing speculation to reflect what the future of the novel was to be. He took it that there was hardly any instance in literature of any sub-class of composition being cultivated with success for an indefinite period. The cause of decay was commonly to be found either in the habit of driving peculiarities to excess so that the whole species of composition seemed weighed down by its own exaggerations, or else dying away in a kind of senile imbecility and perishing slowly amid general contempt. An example of the first kind they found in the death of the Elizabethan drama, and of the second in that particular kind of literature of which Pope was the greatest ornament. But as to the novel, if there were any signs of decadence, peihaps they should look for it in the obvious difficulty which novelists now found in getting hold of appropriate subjects for their art to deal with. Scott, however, had not only his unique genius to depend upon; he had the specially good fortune to open an entirely new vein. Where was the modern novelist to find a new vein? Every country had been ransacked to obtain theatres upon which their imaginary characters were to show themselves. They had stories of civilised life, of semi-civilised life, of barbarous life. They had novels of the natural and the supernatural; they had scientific novels, and they had thaumaturgic novels. So hardly set were they for subjects that even the quint- essence of dulness was extracted from the dullest t It baa been suggested to me that the doctrines main- tained in this chapter may subject the present volume to the opposition of that combination which it has opposed. I do not entdrtain that opinion, and for this reason—that the booksellers are too shrewd a class to supply such an admirable passport to publicity. But, should my readers take a diffe- rent view of the question, they can easily assist in remedy- ing the evil by each mentioning the existence of this little volume to two of his friends. localities, and turned into a subject of artistic treatment. Yet there was one aspect of human nature, and perhaps the most interesting of all, which for obvious reasons had been very sparingly treated by the novelists—the develop- ment of character extending through the life of the individual. A novel seldom or never—not in one case in a thousand—attempted to take an individual and trace what in natural science would be called his life history. It would be very inappropriate and very unnecessary to dwell upon reasons why this biographical form of fiction was difficult—he would not say impossible —and he certainly did not venture to foretell that any artist would be found who would be able to overcome them. Whatever be the future of the novel, they might always console themselves with the reflection that every great literary revival had been preceded by a period in which no revival could by any possibility have been anticipated by the closest critics of the time. He doubted whether any contemporary of Sydney could have foreseen Shakespeare; he doubted whether any- body living in the Commonwealth was likely to have foreseen Dry den in his maturity. He felt sure nobody living in the time of Johnson could really have foreseen Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Scott. But though the provinces of literature were many, the kingdom of literature was one; however diverse were the fields, they all furthered one cause. He did not pretend that literature necessarily softened the manners or carried all the cardinal virtues in its train. But it was the greatest engine for the production of cultivated happiness. It was daily producing more innocent and refined pleasure in every class in every country where education was known than any other source of pleasure. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF AUTHORS. IN the recent " Memoir" the evidences given of good feeling toward America and Americans on the part of Lord Tennyson have been noted in the papers. To be sure, one might ask, "Why not r And yet there were special annoy- ances from American sources which must have been particularly trying. An American man of letters visiting England, years ago, spent some time not far from Fresh- water. Knowing many of Tennyson's American and English friends, it would have been natural, perhaps, for him to obtain an introduction; yet he even kept away from Tennyson's end of the Isle of Wight. Meeting once, in London, the younger son of the Laureate, he told him he could  ## p. 218 (#652) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. tell his father that at least one American was not peering over his fences or shying stones at his Farringford chickens. The prying English tourist made himself a nuisance to the Laureate; but the tourist who came across the seas was, perhaps, a little more likely to be troublesome, owing to his greater enthusiasm and enterprise. But, however a sensitive bard may have resented intrusion upon his privacy, and whatever com- plaints of their inconsiderate countrymen some visiting Americans may at times have had to listen to, it is evident that good feeling for " kin across sea " was at the bottom of the poet's large heart. Some of his American friends are named in the book, but there were other American acquaint- ances, some of an earlier date than certain of those chronicled. There were Americans unknown to fame who met with warm welcome from the master of Farringford, and gained there a genuine, helpful, and lasting friendship. A pleasant chapter in the curiosities of English literature could be made of international literary relations—those between Scott and Irving, Emer- son and Carlyle, for instance. Such a chapter might include the friendship of American and English writers with individuals less distinguished of the opposite country. Some of the most inti- mate friends of the Brownings were Americans, and Lowell had English friends true and stead- fast. International relations of this kind do not depend upon any treaty; they ought to, and do, favourably affect the public opinion of the two countries. While writers on both sides have done much to fan the flames of unreasoned prejudice, men of letters, being often, fortunately, men of imagination, insight, and goodwill, have also stood for brotherhood, and not for the brutal inherited instinct of fight.— " Topics of the Time," Century Magazine Christmas number. PERSONAL. THE American Ambassador, Colonel John Hay, was the guest of the Omar Khayyam Club at its first dinner of the season, held in Frascati's Restaurant on Dec. 8, Mr. Henry Norman, the president, in the chair. His Excel- lency passed an eloquent eulogy upon FitzGerald's translations of the Quatrains. Omar was a Fitz- Gerald before the letter, or FitzGerald was a reincarnation of Omar. Each seemed greater than his work. Omar sang to a half barbarous province, FitzGerald to the world. Wherever the English speech is spoken or read the Rubaiyat had taken their place as a classic. He heard Omar quoted once in one of the most lonely and desolate spots of the high Rockies. Certainly, Omar could never be numbered among the great popular writers of all time. The suffrages of the crowd were not for the cool, collected observer, whose eye no glitter could dazzle, no mist suffuse. Mr. Augustine Birrell, Q-O, M.P., delivered an address at the Commemoration Service of Brown- ing, held at the Robert Browning Settlement, Walworth, on the 12th ult. The obscure poet of the obscure " Sordello," he said, had an influence on literature which was indescribably majestic. Like Carlyle and Tennyson, he never bowed the knee to Baal. Poverty they knew, and depression of spirit, but no one of them abated a jot or tittle of his pretensions, or ever asked the people what they wanted. Browning's religious belief was not attained through the dark and mystical passage of the Sacraments, but rather was the result of a firm belief in a personal God, and his strong faith in the soul of man. To call him a cheerful poet would be wrong. He was too well read in the literature of hell. But he was indeed a cheering poet. The Christmas dinner of the New Vagabond Club took place in Holborn Restaurant on the 10th ult. The company was very numerous, and included many ladies. Mr. Israel Zangwill pre- sided, and Lord Charles Beresford was the particular guest. Lord Rosebery, speaking at the annual meeting of the Scottish History Society, suggested that there should be a book of those dignities which were conferred by the Stuarts after their depar- ture from England in 1689. Owing to the pressure of the Jubilee year, the committee charged with the project of a memorial to Robert Louis Stevenson in Edinburgh did not make an urgent appeal for subscriptions in the year just closed. They will now shortly do so. As to the form the memorial shall take, a monument in St. Giles's Cathedral and another on Calton Hill are suggested. Professor Masson, who for thirty years occupied the chair of English Literature in the University of Edinburgh, has been presented with his portrait painted by Sir George Reid. CORRESPONDENCE. I.—A Young Author's Gbievancb. IRECENTLY read some letters in The Author complaining of the time taken by editors in returning rejected MSS. Personally I have always found that rejected MSS. were returned  ## p. 219 (#653) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. within a reasonable time, and it must be remem- bered that contributions sent in on chance are not invited. When, however, an editor has personally interviewed an author, and verbally arranged with him to accept a certain article for a certain number of a magazine, the author natu- rally looks for his article in—let us say, the number for June. The proof is sent to the writer some time in May, but on looking at the magazine in June he is often doomed to disappointment—at least if he is a young author feeling his way. None of his work appears. He calls on the editor, and is told that his article was "crowded out," but that it will appear in July. He looks again in the July number, but to no purpose. He is put off with the same excuse for three, four, or even six months. All this time he is obliged to stand out of his money. Of course such a thing could not happen to a well known man, but most of us must climb the ladder of fame by degrees. This is essentially a young author's grievance, and is felt by those who are entirely dependent on their pens. C. B. B. II.—The Published Peice. It is satisfactory to learn from Mr. Millar's letter in your last issue that the Dundee Adver- tiser, as well as Literature, the Literary World, and the Bookman, announces in the reviews themselves the prices of all b >oks reviewed. It may, perhaps, be hoped that this at present very rare practice may gradually become more general, and that publishers and authors will combine to encourage it by procuring the price to be marked on the binding, or a notification of the price to be sent out with the review copies, and by selecting as recipients of review copies those newspapers which adopt the practice. By the way, of the 379 "books of the month" catalogued in your last issue at page 198, I observe that no less than thirty-seven—about one-tenth of the whole—have no price affixed to them. How are the prices of the omitted thirty- seven to be ascertained? J. M. Lely. Dec. 20. BOOS TALE. ME. MACKENZIE BELL'S memoir of Miss Christina Rossetti will be pub- lished by Messrs. Hurst and Blackett early this month. Two offers of marriage, we are told, were made to Miss Rossetti, but the charming lady simply chose to be an "old maid." This volume will give for the first a little Italian "octave " written by her father, Gabriele Rossetti, in celebration of his " dear daughters" Christina a.nd Maria—" fresh violets, opened at dawn." Mr. Bell also records that Miss Rossetti and her brothers and sisters were accustomed to address their father invariably in Italian, his native language. Several portraits of the poetess will appear in the memoir, including, as frontispiece, a reproduction of the chalk drawing of his sister, which Dante Rossetti executed in 1866. The scene of Mr. Rider Haggard's new historical romance is laid in Holland in the days of William of Orange. He has also engaged to write for the Graphic a story of the Boers at the time of their great trek in 1836. It will be called "Swallow," and will commence in the above journal in the latter part of this year. Mr. Gilbert Parker has written a storv called "Mrs. Falchion." Mr. Max Pemberton has gone to the Balearic Isles, which will be the scene of his next story. Mr. E. L. Voynich, author of "The Gadfly," is about to visit Austria in order to collect material for a work dealing with contemporary life there. Mr. Henry Seton Merriman has written for Harper's Magazine, beginning with the January number, a novel entitled " Roden's Corner." The score or so letters which passed between Emerson and Sterling, and which were briefly noticed in The Author a few months ago, are now to be published by Messrs. Gay and Bird in book form, edited by Edward Waldo Emerson, and entitled "A Correspondence between John Sterling and Ralph Waldo Emerson." The letters appeared during last year in the Atlantic Monthly. Mr. William Black has completed his new novel, and entitled it "Wild Eelin; otherwise called Eelin of the Eyes like the Sea Wave." It will begin its course as a serial this month. Miss Lilian Goadby is retelling the story of Homer's Iliad for bovs and girls. The book, entitled "The Wrath of Achilles," will be pub- lished shortly by Messrs. Edwin, Vaughan and Co. Mr. Anthony Hope has written a sequel to "The Prisoner' of Zenda," entitled "Rupert of Hentzau." It is now running serially in the Pall Mall Magazine. Miss Emily Lawless is publishing with Messrs. Methuen a volume of Irish stories, entitled "Traits and Confidences."  ## p. 220 (#654) ############################################ 2 20 THE AUTHOR. Mr. Bram Stoker has written the first story— "Miss Betty," a seventeenth century romance— for a new fiction series, which Messrs. C. Arthur Pearson and Co. are projecting. This series aspires to give in each volume six shillings' worth of material for half-a-crown. Mr. Stoker's volume will appear this month. Succeeding volumes, to be issued at monthly intervals, will be by Messrs. W. L. Alden, Clive Holland, Joseph Hatton, Douglas Sladen, George Griffith, Fred. Whishaw, and others. Miss Adeline Sergeant has completed a novel called "The Lady Charlotte " for publication by Messrs. Hutchinson shortly. Mr. Grant Allen has written a story entitled "The Incidental Bishop." Mr. William Le Queux is staying at Milan, and writing a novol to be called "Scribes and Pharisees." Mr. Robert H. Sherard is writing the story of the Dreyfus case for an American magazine. "David Lyall's Love Story" is a volume of Scotch idylls which Messrs. Hodder and Stough- ton are publishing immediately. There has been much speculation as to the identity of "David Lyall," the author of this work and of " The Land o' the Leal." We believe she is a sister of Annie Swan (Mrs. Burnett Smith). The Christmas number of Good Words con- sisted of a novel entitled " The Looms of Time," by Mrs. Hugh Fraser. It will be published in book form by Messrs. Isbister during the spring. Mrs. de Courcy Laffan (" Mrs Leith Adams ") is writing a novel called " The Prince's Feathers: a Story of Leafy Warwickshire in the Olden Time," and a story of public school life entitled "The Gift of God." "A Voyage of Consolation" is the title of a new story by Mrs. Everard Cotes. Mrs. Pendler Cudlip (" Annie Thomas ") has a novel, "Dick Rivers," about to be published by Messrs. F. V. White and Co. She is engaged upon another, to be called "Between the Devil and the Deep Sea," and also upon a group of stories for Messrs. Tillotson. Mrs. Lovett Cameron's new novel "Devil's Apples," will be published this month by Messrs. White. Mr. R. Andom has written of cycling incidents and misadventures in a volume entitled "Side Slips" which Messrs. Pearson will publish. "Scenes from the Suburbs " is another humorous work by the same author, which will be published by Messrs. Jarrold. The books will appear in the spring, the former illustrated by Mr. A. Frederick, the latter by Mr. A. Carruthers Gould. A volume of Stories from soldier fife, by Mr. E. Livingston Prescott, will be published this month by Messrs. Warne. The author has now in hand a romance (not military), entitled " Dearer than Honour." Mr. Archibald Forbes's "Life of Louis Napo- leon" will be ready about the middle of the month. It will contain, among other illustrations, a drawing of the house which, prior to 1848, the future head of the Third Empire occupied in London. Mr. Richard Kearton, F.Z.S., is writing a series of sketches and tales of open-air life in the North of England. Dr. W. G. Blaikie is writing the life of the late Principal David Brown, of the Free Church College, Aberdeen. Professor Max MUller's recollections of royalty, and of musical, literary, and social life, which have appeared in Cosmopolis, will be published shortly in a volume by Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co., under the title " Auld Lang Syne." The features of Cosmopolis this year will include, in English, unpublished letters of John Mill and notes of Coleridge; in French, the letters of Emile Ollivier to Richard Wagner, the correspondence of Marshal Magnan, and the memoirs of the painter Ingres; and in German, further correspondence of Tourguenieff. Mr. Meredith has written three " Odes in Contribu- tion to the Song of French History," entitled "The Revolution," "Napoleon," "Alsace- Lorraine," which will appear in the numbers for March, April, and May. The manuscript of "In Memoriam," given by the poet to the late Sir John Simeon, has been presented by the Hon. Lady Simeon to the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, Tennyson's own college, to which he intended it should fall. A volume of sporting reminiscences by Mr. Thomas Haydon will shortly be published by Messrs. Bliss, Sands, and Co. Mr. R. Farquharson Sharp, of the British Museum, has compiled " A Dictionary of English Authors, Biographical and Bibliographical," being a compendious account of the lives and writings of 700 British writers from the year 1400 to the present time. Mr. George Redway will publish the work. English translations of two notable French works will be published shortly, simultaneously with the appearance of the originals in Paris.  ## p. 221 (#655) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 221 These are M. Zola's new novel "Paris," trans- lated by Mr. Vizetelly; and M. Huysman's " La Cathedrale," whose translator is Mrs. Clara Bell. Mr. William Archer and Miss Diana White have completed their translation, from the Danish, of Dr. Georg Brandes's critical study of Shakespeare. The important work "Industrial Democracy," upon which Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Webb have long been engaged, is to be issued by Messrs. Longmans on the 4th. Prince Henry of Orleans's book of travels, "Tonkin to India," is due this week from Messrs. Methuen. Sir Martin Conway's "Climbing and Explora- tion in the Karakoram Himalayas" (Unwin, 1894) having been translated into French and published serially in the Tour du Monde, is now issued, abridged, in book form, by MM. Hachette et Cie. Several of Mr. A. D. McCormick's pictures to the work are reproduced in the French volume. A propos the teaching of English literature in schools, the Academy notes that a recent school edition of Carlyle's essay, " The Hero as Divinity" (George Bell and Sons) is composed as follows: Introduction, 90 pages; Carlyle's Essay, 42 pages; Notes, 53 pages; Index, 4 pages. The essay thus forms about 22 per cent, of the whole, and our contemporary asks whether it is the powder or the jam. America sent over a story the other day, which had some appearance of actuality, telling of a popular music-hall artiste having been subjected to a kissing test. How many kisses could a woman stand? The limit of endurance was reached, if we remember the story rightly, at 547 or thereabouts. Our brisk Chicago contemporary, the Chap-Book, on the other hand, has just been discovering what it calls "the most thoroughly kissed young woman in English fiction." This curiosity, it avers, is the heroine Birdalone in William Morris's posthumous romance "The Water of the Wondrous Isles." She is pissed eighty-six times according to the analysis of the Chap-Book—fifty-two by men, and thirty-four by women and children. Here is a summary and description of the men's kisses :— 1 Merchant 4 Peasants 8 Servants Hands. Feet Face. Mouth. 4 ... ... 2 ... ... 0 ... ... 1 .. 0 ... ... 1 ... » ... ... 0 ... 6 ... 13 t 3 33 Mr. A. C. Benson is writing a biographical history of Eton and leading Etonians. Mr. Edward Marston will shortly have ready another book on outdoor life. There will be an Edition de lujce. The publishers are, of course, Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston and Co. Mr. E. F. Benson is preparing for publication by Messrs. Methuen his story called "The Vintage," which has been appearing in the Graphic. It deals with the opening year of the Greek War of Independence in 1820. A new publisher. He is John Long, 6, Chandos- street, Strand. Mr. Long's programme is: "Fiction by popular authors; fiction by new writers of undoubted promise; works of travel; medical works; poetry that may appeal to the public." A re-edited and enlarged edition of Dickinson's "Glossary of Cumberland Words and Phrases" is to be published, by subscription, by Dr. E. W. Prevost, of Newnham, Glos. The work was origi- nally published by the English Dialect Society. Many words and phrases are being added in the re-issue. A special sub-committee of the Publishers' Association is considering the subject of title- pages. The late strike of printers in Edinburgh caused delay in the appearance of a number of books during the past month. One that has suffered postponement from this cause is the biography of the Prince of Wales, which Mr. Grant Richards now expects to publish early this month. The narrative is said to exhibit "a truly loyal and intelligent appreciation of His Royal Highness's career and his services to his country." The first representation of the play " Admiral Guinea," by Messrs. W. E. Henley and Robert Louis Stevenson, took place on Nov. 29 at the Avenue Theatre, London. It was produced by the New Century Theatre Company, and got a favourable reception. Immediately before the rising of the curtain Miss Elizabeth Robins delivered a prologue written for the oocasion by Mr. Henley, of which the following is a part: Once was a pair of Friends, who loved to chance Their feet In any by-way of Romance. They, like two vagabond schoolboys, unafraid Of stark impossibilities, essayed To make these Penitent and Impenitent ThieveB, These Pews and Oaunts, each man of them with his sheaves Of humour, passion, cruelty, tyranny, life, Fit shadows for the boards: till in the Btiifo Of dream with dream, their Slaver-Saint came true, And their Blind Pirate, their resurgent Pew (A figure of deadly farce In his new birth) Tap-tapped his way from Hades back to earth; And so, their Lover and his Lass made one. In their beat prose this Admiral here was done. One of this Pair sleeps Ull the crack of doom Where the great ocean-rollers plunge and boom, The other waits and wonders what his Friend, Dead now, and deaf, and silent, were the end Revealed to his rare spirit would find to say If you, his lovers, loved him for this Play.  ## p. 222 (#656) ############################################ 222 THE AUTHOR. Mrs. Sara H. Dunn has written "Sunny Memories of an Indian Winter," which Messrs. Walter Scott Limited will publish. Mr. W. E. Henley has resigned the editorship of the New Review, which hereupon ceases to be a monthly magazine. Uncertain health and the necessities of his own literary work have com- pelled Mr. Henley's retirement. The Review, completely transformed, will appear shortly as a weekly journal, price 3c?. Mr. James Britten retires from the editorship of Nature Notes, which he has conducted for six years. Mr. E. Heron-Allen is translating Omar Khayyam's " Rubaiyat," from the original Persian, Many quatrains not hitherto translated will be included, and the original Persian text will also be given page for page. Messrs. H. S. Nichols and Co. are the publishers. Early in the year an illustrated book of "Allegories," by Dean Farrar, will be published by Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co. He has in hand a more important work which will be called "Texts Rightly Interpreted." Gallant little Wales now comes in for its volume in the series of Stories of the Nations, published by Mr. Unwin. The writer of the history is Mr. Owen M. Edwards, Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. The same publisher will shortly issue a volume entitled " The Welsh People," consisting of a series of essays, by Pro- fessor Rhys and Mr. Brynmor Jones, on the history, antiquities, ancient laws and customs, and the social characteristics of Wales. Mr. Oscar Browning is to write a life of Charles XII. of Sweden, which Messrs. Hurst and Blackett will publish. The same writer's Life of Peter the Great is on the point of publication by Messrs. Hutchinson and Co. A century and a half is a long life for a news- paper. The Aberdeen Journal first appeared on Jan. 5, 1748, so that in a day or two it will have completed its 150th year. Some time ago it published a pamphlet recording its life-history. It was founded by a fellow-apprentice of Benjamin Franklin; its conductors bore an exciting patt in the romantic rebellion of '45; it chronicled the visit of Dr. Johnson and Boswell to Aberdeen and the north; and its office was visited by Robert Burns. In the United Kingdom only four other daily newspapers of to-day can call up a longer flight of years than the Aberdeen Journal. They are Leeds Mercury (1718), Bristol Times and Mirror (1735), Be/fast News Letter (1737), and Birmingham Gazette (1741). The oldest existing newspaper in the world is the Gazette de France (1631), for which Louis XIII. wrote an article. Mr. Inderwick W. Foster has published (Biscoke and Son, Richmond) a Bibliography of Lawn Tennis (1874-1897). The work contains titles and particulars of nearly 250 books, pamphlets, <fec, on the game of lawn tennis. Professor Buchheim, who has already contri- buted two popular volumes to Macmillan's " Golden Treasury Series," viz., "Deutsche Lyrike" and "Balladen und Romanzen," will shortly add a third volume, entitled, "Heine's Lieder und Gedichte," selected, and edited with notes and an introduction. We also hear that the professor, who, by-the-bye, has recently received the honorary degree of M.A. from the University of Oxford, is engaged on a monograph treating of the attempts made in this country and America to popularise Heine as a poet and a prose writer. Mr. Rider Haggard, at the request of the Com mittee of Management, has writteu a Christmas appeal for the Victoria Hospital for Children at Chelsea. It is called "A Visit to the Victoria Hospital." The Daily Chronicle has discovered a new poet—Mr. Henry Newbolt (London: Elkin Matthews, ii.) I have sent for a copy of his poems. Meantime, I venture to extract one poem from the columns of the Daily Chronicle in the belief that it will send all our readers straight to their booksellers to order a copy. DRAKE'S DRUM. Drake he was a Devon man, an' ruled the Devon seaa (Capten, art tha sleepin' there below P), Rovin' tho' his death fell, he went wi' heart at ease, An' dreamin' arl the time 0' Plymouth Hoe. "Take my drum to England, hang et by the shore, Strike et when your powder's runnin' low; If the Dons sight Devon, I'll qnit the port o' Heaven, An' drum them up the Channel as we drummed them long ago." Drake he's in his hammock an' a thousand mile away, (Capten, art tha sleepin' there below ?), Slung atween the round shot in Nombre Dios Bay, An' dreamin' arl the time o' Plymouth Hoe. Yarnder lames the island, yarnder lie the ships, Wi' sailor lads a-danoin' heel-an'-toe, An' the shore-lights flashin', an' the night-tide dashin', He sees et arl so plainly as he saw et long ago. Drake lies in his hammock till the great Armadas oome, (Capten, art tha sleepin' there below P), Slung atween the round shot, listenin' for the drum, An' dreamin' arl the time o' Plymouth Hoe. Call him on the deep sea, call him np the Sound, Call him when ye sail to meet the foe; Where the old trade's plyin' an' the old flag flyin', They shall find him ware an' wakin', as they found him long ago. Early this year Sir Charles Alexander Gordon's "Recollections of Thirty-uine Years in the Army"  ## p. 223 (#657) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 223 will be published by Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein. Sir Charles was in the Mutiny, with Lord Elgin in China, and in Paris during the siege. A new edition of Whitman is to be published by Messrs. Putnam, with thirteen short poems that did not appear in the edition prepared by the poet shortly before his death. "Though you have put the finishing touches on the 'Leaves,'" said one of his friends to Whitman, " you will go on living a year or two longer and writing more poems. The question is, what will you do with these poems when the time comes to fix them in the volume?" "I am not unprepared," said Whitman, and I have a title in reserve—' Old Age Echoes'—applying not so much to things as to echoes of things reverberant, an aftermath." A translation of the Italian masterpiece, the "Pecorone" of Ser Giovanni Fiorentino, has just been published by Messrs. Lawrence and Bullen. Although it was published in 1558, this novel has never before been done into any tongue. The translation will be by Mr. W. G. Waters, and illustrations will be by Mr. E. R. Hughes, R.W.S. Here is a tale of literary appropriation from America. Mr. George Cable has been correcting an American editor as to the authorship of a certain poem. The editor had credited it to some one named George Cooper, but Mr. Cable recog- nised the poem, and wrote to the editor as follows: I have an impression that it was Coopered by quite another George. My impression is that it was written by myself twenty-seven years ago, on the occasion of the birth of my first child. If yon can't take my word for it, I can show yon the child. I am not a frequent versifier, and never should have prized this bit if it had not immediately, upon its first publication (in the New Orleans Picayune), begun a mad career of getting stolen—like " Helen of Troy" and others. It is only three days since I wrote to a Chicago publishing house to say that it was not written by Mortimer M. Thompson, as accredited in a volume called "The Humbler Poets." Let me tell you, oven the humblest poet "will turn." And I wish my consoious or unconscious trespassers would give this much-stolen trifle a respite. Zounds, man! have I done nothing else worth stealing? It's mortifying. Mr. Walter Wood has completed and delivered to Messrs. Tillotson and Son, for serial publica- tion, a military story which deals largely with Frontier warfare. The story will run for about three months and publication is to begin at an early date. This is the second military serial which has been written of late for Messrs. Tillot- son by Mr. Wood, who has just published a series of short stories in To-day. The issue of the "Literary Year Book" for 1898 will be edited by Mr. Joseph Jacobs. This annual, published by Mr. George Allen, now makes its second appearance. The editor this year has been assisted by two eminent bookmen, a popular novelist, and a well-known editor. Mr. Buskin's portrait will be the frontispiece. At the sale of the second portion of the library formed by the late Earl of Ashburnham, a remark- able price was paid for a Caxton. This is " Le Fevre (R.), a Boke of the Hoole Lvf of Jason, translated out of the French by William Caxton," circa 1477, black letter, small folio, a rare Caxton book, one of the earliest productions of the press at Westminster. The whole of the volume is genuine throughout, sound, and clean. It was formerly Richard Heber's, and was sold in 1817 for .£162 15s., afterwards for .£95 11*., and at the Heber sale for £87. The late Earl bought it from Payne, the bookseller. It now fetched the record price of .£2100, the purchaser being Mr. Pickering. Mr. John LI. Warden Page has written two papers, which he has also illustrated, for Travel. One is a description of the Great Fair of Nijni Novgorod, the other is callled " Up the Volga." The same author's new book on the "North Coast of Cornwall" (Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.) is now ready, with twenty-one vignettes by the author, and a map. The price is 6*. net. Her Majesty the Queen has been graciously pleased to accept a copy of Miss H. M. Burnside's volume of verses and ly rics, "Drift Weed" (Hutchinson and Co). Messrs. Nelson and Son have just published two stories for children, written by Miss Burn- side, entitled "The Little V.C." and "The Lost Letter." LITERATURE IN THE PERIODICALS. Authors, Publishers, and Booksellers. Leading articles: The Times, Deo. 6; Daily Chronicle, Dec. 4; Publishers' Circular, Deo. 11 ; The 8peaker (" A Question of Discount") Dec. 11. Letters: "Z" and "Economist" in Times, Deo. 4; "Country Bookseller" in Daily Chronicle, Deo. 27; "Z." in Daily News, Dec. 7; Mr. Frankfort Moore, Mr. Frederick Evans, and " A Publisher" in Chapman's Magazine for December. What the Trade Thinks. Interviews with Mr. Burleigh, Mr. Frederick Evans, and others, regarding Society of Authors' Committee Report on Discounts: Daily Chronicle, Deo. 6. BOOKBELLINO: A DECAYING INDUSTRY. Neville Beeman. New Century Review for January. Literary Grievances. From various standpoints. And leading article. Morning Post for Deo. 18.  ## p. 224 (#658) ############################################ 224 THE AUTHOR. The Payment and Fostering) op Poetry. Glasgow Herald for Nov. 20. The Comino Litebabt Bevival. II. J. S. Tunison. Atlantic Monthly for Dooember. The Importation of German. Leslie Stephen. National Review for December. Commenting upon the "carefully-prepared report" of the Society of Authors' special Com- mittee on book-discounts, the Titnes agrees that "no compact can restore the country bookseller to his old position," and advises him to reshape his way of doing business and be to his customers more than a mere transmitter of orders. The contingency of an author publishing his books through a bookseller, through a printer, through a literary agent, or through a draper, the Times says " is not so very probable," although " there are authors powerful enough to defeat any attempt to fix the terms on which their books are to be sold." But, finally, our great contemporary states that " both authors and publishers are apt to overlook the interests and bias of the reader, who never was less disposed to fall in with proposals to put things right at his expense. For good books, which are rare, he does not probably pay enough, but for indifferent and ephemeral productions he is satisfied that he pays too much." The Daily Chronicle, in placing the facts and issues of the report before its readers, confesses also that it sees no way to an artificial enhance- ment of prices, and reads the country bookseller the lesson that if he would survive " he will be wise to lay to heart the suggestions made to him by the Society of Authors." In anticipating the concurrence of the Publishers' Association with the finding of the Committee, it observes that the relations between authors and publishers were never closer or more sympathetic than at the present moment; and "never was a mere author of the least merit so certain of a publisher and therefore of a chance to win for himself an audience ": Therefore neither publishers nor authors stand in need of any adventitious helps. The; would both oommit a fatal error if in an attempt to turn back the stream of irresis- tible economic forces, they tried to help a section of the retailers at the cost of the multitude of readers. "Economist," writing in the Times, thinks that if it is the interest of the author and the publisher to have their books on show in shops all over the country, surely the necessary steps ought to be taken by them and at their expense. As to any idea of restrictions upon the price at which a bookseller shall offer books to the public, we quote "Economist's " own words: The druggist is more necessary to the well-being of a country town than the bookseller, and, nowadays at least, he is usually a man more expensively educated. Yet he has to go outside his proper sphere, selling tobacco, hair- brushes, and any " fal-lals " that he can find room for. The reason is that the turnover even of his indispensable goods is not great enough to occupy all his time, or to furnish the inoome that he desires. The country bookseller merely suffers under a general disadvantage. It there are to be trade combinations to supply him with an inoome greater than the market affords, why not go back to pure medievalism and put on restrictions all round to make every tradesman happy. "A Country Bookseller" says that publishers could stop the anomalies to-morrow if they would forget the superstitious age and call twelve a dozen, giving to the poor what they give to the rich; if copyright publishers would sell five copies at the same rate each as twenty-five; and the non-copy- right man would sell twenty at the same rate as 200. We are assured by the Publishers' Circular that although " publishers have done all in their power to aid the retail trade," booksellers will not cease to agitate. Mr. Burleigh, the secretary of the Associated Booksellers, has said as much, indeed, to an interviewer. The booksellers—who are, of course, disappointed with the report— cannot give up the movement, he said, "unless they are to relinquish all prospects for them- selves." Mr. Frederick Evans spoke to the same effect. Mr. F. Stoneham, on the other hand, who represents the discount side of the trade, thought the report a very fair statement of the whole case. "It got together the essential facts governing bookselling, and, that done, its conclusions were inevitable." The recommendation of greater energy and enterprise in the bookselling trade is not, the Publishers' Circular considers, "to be taken seriously." The remaining criticisms which the organ of the publishing trade passes upon the report are contained in the following passage: Publishers are told they would do well to remember the development of the system of serial publication; in other words, they are asked to pay attention to a method of pub- lication whioh they have themselves called into existence and are carrying on. Collective wisdom could not go beyond that. Whether the bookseller can be converted into a news- agent, or the newsagent into a bookseller, readers may decide for themselves. It is true there are houses which now handle both books and newspapers in large quantities; but the results of a general adoption of the principle are, to say the least, a little doubtful. The Speaker acknowledges, in the name of the world, that the report is an "amusing document." Hasn't seen anything so amusing for a long time. The writer hurls at the Society of Authors, after some personalities, the state, ment that the whole question is one of money; and concludes with the assertion that the people of Great Britain begrudge every shilling which they spend upon literature, and the pro- phecy that"the middleman will disappear, leaving  ## p. 225 (#659) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 225 as his only memorial a thousand desolated homes, and the wholesale publishers will become more and more the masters of the great trade in books." Mr. Neville Beeman tells booksellers that they are chiefly responsible for their impecuniosity. They are incompetent to buy cautiously, and unable to sell in an intelligent manner. But in defence of the bookseller it must be said that many pitfalls are laid for him by those who should be his best friends. To take the author: he writes a good book; he becomes known by it; he is seized by the wicked literary agent, who "proceeds to make arrangements with as many publishers as possible, who are all keen to secure a rising man, and one fine morning the author wakes up to find he is bound to write so many words a day, whether he feels inclined or not, to fulfil the contracts which his master has concluded for him." Mr. Beeman uses the word "master" advisedly, his one objection to the literary agent ("a useful and even necessary adjunct to the literary man") being that he is "master" instead of "servant." The author, then, having scored a success with his first book, proceeds to turn out hurried and slipshod work; meanwhile the bookseller, buying on the original reputation, finds himself saddled with dead stock. Moreover, "there is no device, however low, that an author will not stoop to in order to puff and advertise himself to the notice of the bookseller." Mr. A. rides on his bicycle in velvet knickerbockers and lace frills. Mr. B. always drinks toddy while writing. Mr. De Bow sends a notice to the papers saying that he is off to Monte Carlo to study up local colour, but Mrs. De Bow secretly divulges the fact that poor Mr. De Bow is really at the British Museum getting h*8 local colour! The bookseller's grievance against the publisher is even more serious. "The bookseller has no one to blame so much for his present position than [sic] the publisher." In his selection of MSS. the publisher is guided, as a rule, by his readers, the greater number of whom — so Mr. Neville informs us — " are authors who have failed to make a living them- selves at writing." Readers, then, are full of cranks and fads in their choice of books. A publisher is perhaps unable to fill his autumn list with books of good merit, so he makes up with second-rate books. And as the publisher's traveller is persuasive, and the bookseller easily persuaded, the latter in the end is stocked up with books that do not suit him, and suffers a serious loss. A third sinner arraigned alongside the author and the publisher, is the Press, against whom Mr. Beeman makes charges in connection with reviewing. But we pass to the panacea which the writer suggests to the Book- sellers' Association: Instead of trying to mnlct the pnblio of extra pennies, which do the trade no good, and only drive away business, they should suggest to the publishers that they should Bupply a oopy of every new book to the Booksellers' Asso- ciation one clear fortnight before issue. The Association should appoint an expert to examine each book and report on its merits. Then to each member of the Asso- ciation a report would be sent, and, in the event of the book proving saleable, a short epitome of the plot should be printed on a leaflet for the bookseller's guidance. This would get over to a large measure, the item of bad stock. Following up Mr. Lang's article of the previous month, an author — Mr. Frankfort Moore — a publisher (anonymous), and a bookseller (Mr. F. Evans) give their views in Chapman's. Neither Mr. Moore nor Mr. Evans thinks that the reduc- tion of discounts to the public need necessarily mean a diminution of sales; and the publisher remarks that his class has nothing to gain by proposing to enforce " 2d. in the is.," but they wish to save the booksellers from ruin. An author, a publisher, and a critic air their re- spective grievances, by request, in the columns of the Morning Post, which devotes a leading article to their views. The author says the London publisher is " very much of a sheep; he lacks initiative." If one publisher gets a " boom" with a certain kind of novel, then nothing will serve either him or his publishing brethren but that kind of novel written by Tom, Dick, and Harry, till the reader is gorged. Publishers do not know how to advertise their books, and they do not offer them to the dying country bookseller on the principle of sale or return. The critic, too, is given over to a belief in fashions; and he is too generous to the established popular favourite, too grudgini; to the deserving writer who has not quite arrived. The critic, on his part, implores authors to lighten his labours by making their work either very good or very bad. Most of the books that come under his notice are pretty good, and he is overwhelmed by the the monotony of their average excellence. Finally, the publisher is on the whole well content except that he is troubled about the retail bookseller's condition. His remedy for this is suggested by the following confident conclusions: "To advertise a book at a fixed price and then to tell buyers privately that that is not the price is a sham and a delusion unworthy of our honourable calling. The price at which a book is published and advertised is the price the public should pay for it. The true solution is to fix a net price which the public must pay, and from which no bookseller can make any allowance whatever—and live. That is the conclusion of the whole matter." The Post finds the most interesting feature of these letters  ## p. 226 (#660) ############################################ 226 THE AUTHOR. the fact that the author and the publisher think poorly of the criticisms of the periodical Press, while the reviewer's complaint is merely that great works are rare, and bad work not so common as is supposed. It suggests that the general public would welcome "selection," and the practice of curtailing reviews of most books to a few words, saying whether they are worth reading or not. Anyhow, " there is evidently at present a magnificent opportunity for critics whose judgments can win the public confidence. To no man is a greater reward offered in the literary world than to him who can prove his judgment is so true and so fair that the public will be ready to read the books which he recom- mends." We noticed in this column some months ago the proposal of Mr. Le Gallienne that millionaires should endow the genuine poets of the country. He had thought, of course, of the State doing something, but abandoned the idea as hopeless, and turned persuasively to the millionaires, and offered them the opportunity of immortality by providing for the material wants of our singers. The Glasgow Herald, however, harks back to the State. The apathy of the public to poetry at the present day is very plain, and yet, says our Scottish contemporary, "there is probably no one among us that is so much of a Philistine or so pronounced a Platonist as to wish to see poetry starved out." To place all the proved poets of the day beyond the reach of want, and thus enable them to cultivate their poetical gifts with their whole mind, a not very extravagant annual sum would be required. The question arises, how to prove them; and here the Glasgow Herald writer sees the possible use of some body like the French Academy, which would raise the higher criticism from the slough of sheer com- mercialism into which it has fallen within the last quarter of a century. "If such a body were formed, the State would find in it, and ready to its hand, a committee of selection which would guide as to who are and who are not proved poets. Here, at all, events, is a suggestion for adding to the beneficent powers of the State which has in it no taint of Socialism." THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH. [Nov. 24 to Dec. 23.—299 Books.] Abcrnethy, J. S. Life and Work of James Abernethy, 0. E. 7/6. Abbott, Jones. Abney, Captain. Scientific Requirements of Colour Photography. 1/- net. Frowde. Adye, General Sir J. Indian Frontier Policy. 3/6. Smith. Elder. Ainslie, Noel. Among Thorns, 6/'- Lawrence. Alcock, D. By Far Euphrates. A Tale. 5/- Hodderand Stoughton. Allen, A. M. Gladys in Grammarland. 8/6. Boxburghe. Andrews, W. (ed.). Bygone Durham. 7/6. Andrews. Anonymous. AH About Animals. For Old and Young. 10/6. NewneB. AnonjmouB. (" H. M." and " M. A. R. T."). Handbook to Chris- tian and Ecclesiastical Borne. Part 11. 5/- Black. Anonymous. The Official Guide to the Klondyke Country. 2/- Bacon. Anonymous. (" O. B. P."). The Soul in Paradise. Poem. 1/6. Church Printing Company. Anonymous. The Print Gallery. Reproductions of Eugravings from end of XVth to beginning of XlXth Century. Vol. I. 21/- Grevel. Anonymous. Victorian Art. Reproduction of Pictures. 91/6 net. Blades. Anonymous. MrB. Turner's Cautionary Stories. 1/6. Richards. Anst«d,A. A Dictionary of Sea Terms. 7/6. Upcott Gill. Armstrong, Jessie. Through Rosamund's Eyes. 3/6. Jarrold. Atlay, J. B. Trial of Lord Cochrane before Lord EUenborough. 18/- Smith, Elder. Bacon, E. M. Chronicles of Tarry town and Sleepy Hollow. 5/- Putnam. Bain, R. Nisbet. The Pupils of Peter the Great. 1 6 - net Constable. Baldwin, J. H. Social and Ethical Interpretations in Mental Develop- ment. 10/- net. Macmillan. Baly, E. Eur-Aryan Roots, with their English Derivatives, Ac. 50/- net. Kegan Paul. Banbury, G. A. L. On the Verge of Two Worlas. 8/6. Boxburghe. Barkly, F. A. From the Tropics to the North Sea. 8/6. Roxburghe. Barrett, Wilson. The Harlequin's Last Leap, Ac. 1/- Saxon. Barstow, 0. H. Natty's Violin. 1/6. Warne. Becke, Louis. Wild Life in Southern Seas. 6/- Unwin. Baoby, 0. E. Creed and Life. Beverley: Wright Bellot, H. L. and Willis, B. J. The Law relating to Unconscionable Bargains with Moneylenders. 7/6. Stevens and Haynes. Berenson, B. The Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance. 4/6. Putnam. Rerridge, Ruth. The Baby Philosopher. 3/6 Jarrold. Bickford-Smith, R. A. H Cretan Sketches. 6/- Bentley. Bicknell, Anna L. The Story of Marie Antoinette. 12/- Unwin. Binns, Charles F. The Story of the Potter. 1/- Newnes. Black, Hugh. Friendship. 2/6. Hodder and Stoughton. Boas, Mrs. F. English History for Children. 2/6. Nisbet. Boulger, D. C. The Life of Sir Stamford Raffles. 21/- net Horace Marshall. Brewer, H. W. Medissval Oxford: a Bird's Eye View. D. Fonrdrinier. Briggs, U. M. By Roadside and Biver. 4/- Stock. Brockman, Louisa. Bright Thoughts. 2/6. Digby. Bryant, Emi'y M. Norma: A School Tale. 3/6. Digby. Budd, A , and others. Football. 1/- Lawrence. Budge, E. A. Wallis (ed.). The Book of the Dead: The Chapters of Coming Forth by Day. 60/- Kegan Paul. Builder, The. Album of Royal Academy Architecture, 1897. Builder Offlce. Butcher, E. L. Story of the Church of Egypt. 16/- Smith, Elder. Butler, Life and Letters of William John. 12/6 net Macmillan. Carey, R. Nouchette. Other People's Lives. 6/- Hodderand Stoughton. Chambers, C. H. An Underground Tragedy, Ac. 1/- Saxon. Channing, F. A. The Truth about Agricultural Depression. 6/- Church, Dean. Village Sermons Third Series. 6/- Clark, W. Eras of the Christian Church: The Anglican Revival. 6/- Olark. Clarke, H. B. The Cld Campcador and the Waning of the Orescent in the West 6/- Putnam. Cochrane, B. (ed.). Four Hundred Animal Stories. 2/6. Chambers. Cohn, J., and Swales, F. Practical Horse Dentistry. 3/6. Vinton. Coillard, Francois (tr. by 0. W. Mackintosh^. On the Threshold of Central Africa. 15/- Hodder and Stoughton. Collins, W. E. Beginnings of English Christianity. 8/6. M<" Conrad, Joseph. The Nigger of the " Narcissus." 6/- Heini Conybcare, Edward. A History of Cambridgeshire. 7/6. Stock. Ooonley, L. A. (worda by). Singing Verses for Children. 8/6 net. Cooper, E. H. The Marchioness against the County. 6/- Chapman. Cordery, J. G. (tr.). The Odyssey of Homer. 7/6. Methnen. Cotton, A. E. Queer Creatures. 2/6. Simplrin. Couch, M. Qulller. Some Westora Folk. 8/6. Horace Marshall.  ## p. 227 (#661) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 227 Cox, the father of Rev. W. S. Evly Promoted: A Memoir. 2/6. Low. Oragg, A. B. HintB to Young Valuers. Land Agent s Record. Crawford, Arthur. Our Troubles in Poona and the Deccan. 14/- Constable. Greswlcke, Louis. Love's Usuries. 3/6. Drane. Crosland, N. Bumbles Round my Life, 1819-96. 7/6. E. W. Allen. Cuthbertson, Evan J. William Shakespeare. 1/- Chambers. D'Ache, C., and Wolseley, Hon. F. The Story of Marlborough. 10/6. Grevel. Danvers, F. C. (ed.). Letters Received by the East India Company from its Servants in the East. 21'- net. Low. Derbyshire, A. An Architect's Experiences. Manchester: Cornish. Dawson, W. J. The Endless Choice, 1/6. Nisbet De la Pasture, Mrs. H. Deborah of Tods. 6/- Smith, Elder. De Nolhac, Pierre* (from the French of). Marie Antoinette the Dauphine. 63/-net. Simpkin. De Salis, Mrs. Art of Cookery, Past and Present. 2/- Hutchinson. D'Esperance, E. Shadow Land. 6/- net Redway. Dircks, Rudolf. Verisimilitudes. 3/6. Unicorn Press. Dixon, Charles. Onr Favourite Song Birds. 7/6. Lawrence. Douglas, Sir Goo., Bart. Poems of a Country Gentleman. 3/6. Longmans. Drummond, Henry. The Ideal Life, and other Unpublished Addresses. 6/- Hodder and Stoughton. Drummond, Henry. The Monkey that Would Not Kill. 2/6. Hodder and Stoughton. Dubois, AbM J. A. (ed. by H. K. Beaucbamp). Hindu Manners, Customs, and Ceremonies. 21/- net. Frowde. Duggan, J. Steps Towards Reunion. 61- Eegan Paul. Ebbs, Ellen H. The Inner Light and Other Poems. 1/6 net. Digby. Egerton, George. Fantasias. 3/6. Lane. Ellis, Havelock. Affirmations. 6/- Scott. Erskine, the Hon. Stuart. Lord Dullborougb. 3/6. Arrowsmith. Evans, late Rev. E. H. True and False Alms, 6/- Hodder and Stn. Evans, T. J. Notes on Carpentry and Joinery.—I. 7/6. Chapman. Furrar, Dean. Sin and Its Conquerors. 1/6. Nisbet. Ferguson, R. Art of Elocution and Public Sp aking. 1/- Greening. Field, Eugene (selected by E. Grahame). Lullaby Land. 6/- Lane. Fields, A. Life and Letters of Harriet Beecher Stowe. 7/6 Low. Fincham, H. W. Artists and Engravers of British and American Book Plates. 21/- Eegan Paul. Fiske, John. Old Virginia and Her Neighbours. 16/- Macmillan. Fltchett, W. H. (" Vedette "). Deeds that Won the Empire 6/- Smith, Elder. Flu-Gerald, S. J. Adair. Fame the Fiddler. 6/- Greening. Fitzgerald, P. Pickwickian Manners and Customs. 2/6. Roxburghe. Fitzgi-rald, P. The Real Sheridan. F. J. Griffiths. Fletcher, B. F. and H. P. Carpentry and Joinery. D. Fourdrinier. Fletcher, J. S. The Making of Matthias. 5/- Lane. Forman, H. B. The Books of William Morris. 10/6 net. Boilings. Fowler, G. H. On the Outside Edge. (Skating.) field Office. Fox, John, jun. The Kentuckians. 5/- Harper. Francis Beam. The Gentlemanly Giant, Ac. 3/6. Hodder and Stn. Francis, Henry. The White Cat. 4/6. Beeves. Fulleylove, John (text by H. W. Nevinson). Pictures of Classic Greek Landscape and Architecture. 31/6 net. Dent lepenkerl, Maj Tactics. 81- Goimaraens, M. P. Portugese Rita. 1/- Harrison, Benjamin. Constitution and Administration of U.S.A. 2/6. Nutt. Harrisse, Henry. Diplomatic History of America, 1452-93-94. B. F. Stevens. nanff, W. (tr. by B. J. Craig). Mary of Lichtenstein. 6/- Digby. Haweis, H. R. Ideals for Girls. 2/6. Bowden. Headlam, A. C. The Teaching of the Russian Church. 1/6 Rivingtons. Heath, Sidney. Songs for the Children. 6/- Chapman. Herrick, Robert, Ten Songs gathered from the Heaperides of. Set into music by Joseph S. Moorat 61- G. Allen. Higginson, E. A Forest Orchid, and other Stories. 6/- Macmillan. Hill, G. B. Letters of D. G. Rossetti to William Allingham, 1854-70. 12/- Unwin. Hobbes, John Oliver. The School for Saints. 6/- Unwin. Hodder, Edwin. In Strange Quarters. SI- Hodder and Stn. Horner, Susan. Greek Vases: Historical and Descriptive. 3/6. Sonnenschein. Hovenden, Frederick. What is Life? 6/- Chapman. Humphry, Mrs. Manners for Women. 1/- Bowden. Hurry, J. B. District Nursing on a Provident Basis. 2/- Scientific Hyde, W. D. Practical Idealism. :>',-net. Macmillan. Isabell, John. Wonderland Wonders. 5/- Home Words Office. Jenkins, W. H. J. How Tom Jeffrey Saw the World. 6/- Simpkin. Johnson, Robert U. Songs of Liberty and Other Poems. 4/6. Unwin. JoneB, 0. G. Rock Climbing in the English Lake District, 15.- net. Longmans. Jones, Miss Whitmore. Games of Patience. 5/- Upcott Gill. ■'' ' 8/6. Garland, Hamlin. Wayside Courtships. 61- Gerard, FranceB. Picturesque Dublin, Old and Now. 12/- Hutchlnson. Gerard, John. Gunpowder Plot and the Gunpowder Plotters. 1/- Harper. Gethen, H. F. Partners. A School Story. 2/6. Nelson. Giberne, Agnes. A Modern Puck. 5/- Jerrold. Gibson, Charles Dana. London, as seen by. 20/- Lane. Gibson, Charles Dana. People of Dickens. 20/- Lane. Gilbert, W. S. Bab Ballads, and Songs of a Savoyard. Complete odition. 7/6. Routledge. Giovanni, Ser. (tr. by H G. Waters). The Pecorone. 42/- net. Lawrence Golechmann, L. (tr. from the Russian). Adventures of a Siberian Cub. 3/6. Jarrold. Gomme, G. L. Lectures on the Principles of Local Government. 12/- Oonstable. Gordon, H. L. Sir James Y. Simpson and Chloroform. 3/6. Unwin. Grsjme, Roland. From England to the Back Blocks. 3/6. Sonnenschein. Grlepenkerl, Major (tr. by a retired officer). Letters on Applied Digby.' Hadow, W. H. A Croatian Composer. Haydn. 2/6 net Seoley. Hamerton, Philip G. The Quest of Happiness. 6/- Sceley. Harbottle, T. B. Dictionary of Quotations (Classical). 7/6. Sonnenschoin. Hardy, F. H. The Mills of God. «/- Smith, Elder. Harraden, Beatrice. Untold Tales of the Past. 6/- Blackwood. Longmans. Joyce, O. W. A Chlld'B History of Ireland. 14 Eay Jay." Rose: A Romance of 192—. 2/- Arrowsmith. Eemble, E. W. The Blackberries and their Adventures. 6/- Eegan Paul. Kemp, Geraldine. A Modern Merfbah. 3/6. Skefflngton. Eennedy, H. Angus. The Story of Canada. 1/6. Horace Marshall. Kennedy. T. History of Irish Protest against Over-Taxation, 1853- 97. 57- Dublin: Hodges, Figgis. Kenyon, Edith C. The Hand of His Brother. 6/- Gay and Bird. Kenyon, F. G. (ed.). The Poems of Bacchylides. 21/- British Musoum. Kerr. A. W. Scottish Banking, 1865-96. 5/- E. Wilson. Knight, Arthur Lee The White Ensign. 6/- Jarrold. Lang, Andrew (ed ). The Nursery Rhyme Book. 6/- Warne. Langton, C'ara. The Light of Shakespeare. Stock. Lebon, Andre*. Modern France, 1789-1895. 5/- Unwin. Le Conte. C E The Stttue in the Air. 3/6. Macmillan. Lee, Sydney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 53. 15/- net. Smith, Elder. Lee, Krimund. Hinemoa, and other PoemB. Clarke. Lees, B. J. A Corner Wall Mystery. 6d. Arrowsmith. Leighton, the late Lord. DrawingB snd Studies in Pencil, Chalk, and other Mediums. ''Facsimiled." 63/-net. Fine Art Society. Lehmann, R. C. Bowing 5/- Innes. L'Epine, Charles. The Devil in a Domino. 1/- Greening. Letchford, Albert, reproduced from pictures by. A Series of Seventy Original Illustrations to Burton's •■ Arabian Nights." 63/-net. Nichols. Leyland, John. The Thames, Illustrated. 10/6 Newnes. Lloyd-Taylor, N. By Still Harder Fate. 3/6. Sonnenschein. Lock, Prof., and Sanday, Prof. Two Lectures on the "Sayings of Christ." 1/6 net. Frowde. Lockyor, Sir N. The Sun's Place In Nature, 1*/- Macmillan. Lord. Walter Frewen. Sir Thomas Maitland. 5/- Unwin. Lummis, C. F. The King of the Broncos. 6/- Newnes. Lutoslawski, W. Origin and Growth of Plato's Logic. 21/- Longmans. M'Crlndlo, J. W. (ed. and tr.) The Christian Topography of Cosmos, an Egyptian Monk. The Hakluyt Society. MacGregor, B. King Longbeard, Fairy Tales. 6/- Lane. Mcllwraitn, F. W. A Book about Shakespeare. 2/- Nelson. Macklnnon, James. Leisure Hours in the Study. 6/- Unwin. Mahan, A T. The Interest of America in Sea Power. 10/6. Low. Malcolm, C. H. Justitia; or Result of Obstinacy. 3/6. Roxburghc. Martin, David. The Glasgow School of Painting. 10/6 net. Bell. Maxtee, J. Popular Dog-Keeping. 1/- Upcott Gill. Mayson, W. H. The Stolen Fiddle. 8/6. Warne. MeUone, S. H. Studies In Philosophical Criticism and Construction. 10/6 net. Blackwood. Melrose, C. J. Modern Scientific Whist. 6/- Upcott Uill, Metcalfe. W. E. On the Other Tack. 3/6. Jarrold. Meyer, F. B. Workaday Sermons. 2/6. Bowden. Miles. Alfred H. (ed.) The Household Oracle. 8/6. Hutchinson. Miller, J. A. Practical Handbook for Working Miner and Pro- spector. Spon. Milne, J. The Gordon Highlanders. 1/- Macqueen. Moborly, R. C. Ministerial Priesthood, 14/- Murray. Moffat, Douglas. Crickety Orioket. 2/6. Longmans. Montgomery, Florence. Tony. A Sketch. 2/- Bentley.  ## p. 228 (#662) ############################################ 228 THE AUTHOR. Morris, the Hon. Martin. Transatlantic Traits. 6/- Stock. Muir, Sir. W. The Hon. James Thorn.!son 2/- Clark. MQller, F. Max (ed.). The Sacred Books of the East.—Vol. 43. The Satapatha-Brahmana. Part 4 (tr. by J. Eggoling.) 12/6. Frowde. Naegely, H. J. F. Millet and Rustic Art. 6/- Stock. Neale, C. M. Index to Pickwick. 8/- Printed for the anthor by J. Hitchcock, Streatham. Nicholson, W. (words by R. Kipling). An Almanac of Twolve Sports. 2/6, Heinemann. Nye, G. H. F. Our Island Home. 8/6. Bemrose. O'Donoghae, D. J. Life and Writings of James Clarence Mangan. Edinburgh : Geddea. Ohlson, J. L. Outlines of the Art of Elocution. 1/0. E. W. Allen. O'Sullivan, Vincent. The Houses of Sin. 5/- net. Smithers. Otterbnrn, Helton. Nurse Adelaide. 6/- Digby Overton, Canon Tho Anglican Revival. (Victorian Era Series.) 2/6. Blackle. Oxenham, F. N. The Validity of Papal Claims. 2/6. Longmans. Paget, Stephen. Ambroiae Pare" and His Times. Putnam. Parker, E. D. Opera under Augustus Harris. Saxon. Parker, J. Are the Writings of Dionysius the Areopagite Genuine? 1/- Parker. Parkyn, E. A. The Law of Master and Servant. 7/6. Butterworth. Patrick, P.. and Groome, F. H. (eds.). Chambers's Biographical Dictionary. 10/6. Chambers, Penn, Rachel- Cherriwink. «/- Macqueen. Pennell, Joseph. Pen Drawing and Pen Draughtsmen. 42'- net. Macmillan Pennell, Joseph. The Work of Charles Keene. 78/6. Unwin. Penton, Stephen. The Guardian's Instruction; reprinted from 1688 edition. 2/6. Robinson. Phelps, E. S. The Story of Jesus Christ. 6/- Low. Phillips, J. G. Flora Macdonald, the Maid of Skye. 6/- Digby. Filial, G. Paramaswaran. Representative Indians. Boutledgc. Pollard Bedford. Elsie's Adventures in Fairyland. */- Stock. Poors, Lady. My Sister Barbara. 1/- Downey. Powers, G. W. England and the Reformation, 1485-1603. 1/. Blackle. Purey-Cust, Dean A. P., and others. Our English Minsters. Second Series. 7/6. Isblster. Qnaile, E. Illuminated Manuscripts. 21, Quaritch'a (B.) Catalogue Monuments of Liverpool: Young. 7/6. Quaritch. Suffolk and Berkshire, Earl of; Peek, H.; and Aflalo. F. G- (editors). The Encyclopiodla of Sport. Vol. L A.—Leo. 25,- Lawrence. Symons, A. (ed.). A Selection from the Poems of Mathilde Blind. 7/6. Unwin. Synge, M. B. Brave Men and Brave Deeds. 2/6. Nelson. Temple, Sir B. (ed.). Life of Sir John Hawley Glover, B.N. 14/- Smith, Elder. Thomas, Rose H. Pan. A Collection of Lyrical Poems. 6/- Bliaa. "Thormanby." Kings of the Turf. 16/- Hutchinson. Thorne. George. Jots. 1/- Arrowsmith. Thorold, Bishop. Selections from the Works of. 5/- Isbister. Tomkins.H. G. Abraham and His Age. 6/- Eyre and Bpottiswoode. Toogood, W. Pastures anil Pasture Plants. 1/6 net Macmillan. Tovey, D. C. Reviews and Essays in English Literature. 5/- net Bell. Trevor, John. My Quest for God. {/- Labour Prophet Office. Trotter, L. J. Life of John Nicholson, Soldier and Administrator. 14/- Murray. Twain, Mark. More Tramps Abroad. 6/- Chatto." t Shall It ] • Ramsay, Mrs. W. M. Everyday Life in Turkey. 5/- Hodder and Stoughton. Ramsden, Lady G. A Smile Within a Tear, and Other Fairy Stories. 8/6. Hutchinson. Ratiigan, II. A. B. Law of Divorce applicable to Christians In India. 18/- net. Wlldy. Rawnsley, H. D. Henry Whitehead, 1825-1896. MacLehose. Raymond, Harry. B. I. Bamato. A Memoir. 6/- Isbister. Rhoades, Walter. A Houseful of Rebels. 4/6. Constable Rhys, Ernest (ed.). Hampstead Annual, 1897. 2/6 net. S. C. Mayle. Roberts, Morley. Strong Men and True. 3/6. Downey. Robertson, 0. Grant Voces Academics]. 3/6. Methuen. Root, J. W. Tariff and Trade. 10/6 net. Abbott, Jones. Rothenstein, Will. English Portraits. Part VHI. 2/6 net Richards. Runk, E. J. Washington. A National Epic. Putnam. Russell, J. M. Geordie the Black Prince. 2/- Jarrold. Bnssell-Jeaffreson, J. The Faroe Islands. 7/6, Low. St Aubyn, Alan. A Fair Imposter. A Story of Exmoor. 6/- White. St. John, Henry. The Voyage of the Avenger. 5/- Jarrold. Salvation Army. Progress. Work of " Darkest England" Scheme in 1897. Salvation Army Headquarters. Sanderson, E. The British Empire in the 19th Century. VoL IV. Blackle. Scott, Edward. Dancing a Pleasure. 2/- Drane. Seymour, Gordon. Cui Bono. 31- Richards. Sharp, Evelyn. All the Way to Fairyland. 6/- Lane. Sienkeewicz, Henry (tr. G. J. Ourtin). Hania. 4/6. Dent. Singer, H. W., and Strang, W. Etching and Engraving, and tho other Methods of Printing Pictures. 16/- net Kegan Paul. Smith, E. G. Songs from Prudentlus. 6/- net Lane. Sola, A. E. I. Klondyke. 6/- Mining and Geog. Institute. Somervell, B. (arranged by). Parallel History of Jewish Monarchy. Part I. 2/- Clay. Bpencer, Herbert. Various Fragments. 4/- WflliamB and Norgato. "Sphinx." To All Whom It May Concern. 1/6 net Wisbech: Gardiner. Spurgeon's (C. H.) Autobiography. VoL I. 1884-1854. 10/6. Passmore and Alabaster. Stead, W. T. Satan'B Invisible World Displayed. II- Reviev of Reviews Office. Stein, O. Self and Comrades. Tales by a Soldier. 3/6. Vinton. Stockton, Frank B. The Great Stone of Sardis. 6/- Harper. Studio, The. The Art of 1897. Studio Office. Tweedale, Violet. What t Profit a Man? 6/- Digby. Von Beber, F., and Bayersdorfer, A. Classical Sculpture Gallery. 21/- Grevcl. Venahles, Canon. Lincoln Cathedral. 1/- Isbister. Vivian, Herbert. Servia, the Poor Man's Paradise. 15/- Longmans. Vuilller, Gaston, from the French of. A History of Dancing. 36/- net. Heinemann. Walkley, 8. Io Quest of Shoba's Treasure. 3/6. Warne. Wallace, L. Wooing of Malkatoon and Oommodns. 10/6. Harper. Warborough, M. L. Tom Unlimited. 5/- Richards Ward, A. W. Sir Henry Wootton. 3/6. Constable. Ward, W. Life and Times of Cardinal Wiseman. 24/- Longmans. Warden, Florence. Dolly the Romp. 3/6. White. Warden, Florence. Girls will be Girls. 6/- White. Wardle, O. S. Voices of the Day. 3/6. Stock. Waterhouse, J. M. The Medhursts of Mindala. 6/- Stock. Watson, William. The Hope of the World, and other Poems. 8/6 net Lane. Way, T. R. and Wheatley, H. B. Later Bellquea of Old London. 21/- net BeU. Westlake, N, H. J. An Authentic Portraiture of St. Francis of Assisi. 7/6. Parker. White, Walter. The Journals of. «/- Chapman. Whitehead, Mrs. A E. (tr. from the French.) Dealings with the Dead. 8/6 net, Redway. Wilson, Ernest. Electrical Traction. 5/- Arnold. Winter, C. Gordon. The Crime of Vivian Carr. 6d. Roxburghe. Wister, Owen. Lin McLean. 6/- Harper. Wood, James L. Unveiling the Papacy. 1/- Marshall Bros. Woodhouse, W. J. Aetolia: Its Geography, Topography, Ac. 21/- not Frowde. Wyndham, Eric. Revelation. A Romance. 6/- Digby. Younghusband, G. J. Indian Frontier Warfare. 10/6. Kegan Paul. "THE AUTHOR." SCALE FOR ADVERTISEMENTS. Front Page Other Pages Half of a Page Quarter of a Page Eighth of a Page Single Column Advertisements Bills for Insertion per inch per 2000 .£400 3 0 0 1 10 0 . 0 15 0 0 7 6 0 6 0 8 0 0 Reductions made for a Series of Six or Twelve Insertions. All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed either to the Advertisement MANAGER, The Author Office, 4, Portugal-street, W.O.; or to the Publisher (Hoaaoi Oox),1 buildings, E.O.  ## p. 228 (#663) ############################################ AD VER TISEMENTS. iii A Charming Gift-Book. "What would not the intelligent tourist in Paris or in Borne giro for such a book as this?"—The Timet, "A brilliant book."—The Sketch. ** Particularly good."— The Academy. "The result of long experience and careful study."—Qlangov Herald. *' written in a delightful literary style."—Dundce Courier. *' In this neatly bound book will be found all the interesting features, old and new, of the richest, largest, wealthiest, and most populous city in the world. —Manchester Courier. Claret Roan, Gilt, 6s. net. LOUDON in the Time of the DIAMOND JUBILEE. By EMILY CONSTANCE COOK AHD E. T. COOK, M.A., Author of " Studies in Rustin" «Crc. DARLINGTON'S "Nothing better conld be wished for."—Britith Weekly. "Far superior to ordi- nary guides." — London Daily Chronicle. HANDBOOKS M Sir Henry Ponsonby is commanded by the Queen to thank Mr. Darlington for a copy of hie handbook." Edited by RALPH DABLHSQTON, F.BM.S. Is. each. IUuttrated. Maps by John Bartholomew, F.B.Q.S. THE ISLE Of WIGHT. I THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. THE TALE OF LLANGOLLEN. THE NORTH WALES COAST. BRECON AND ITS BEACONS. I THE SEVERN VALLEY. BOURNEMOUTH AND THE NEW FOREST. I THE WYE VALLEY. BRIGHTON, EASTBOURNE, HASTINGS, AND ST. LEONARDS. LLANDUDNO, RHYL, BETTWSYCOED, BANGOR, AND SNOWDON. ABERYSTWITH, TOWYN, BARMOUTH, AND DOLGELLY. MALVERN, HEREFORD, WORCESTER, AND GLOUCESTER. LLANDRINDOD WELLS AND THE SPAS OF MID-WALES. BRISTOL, BATH, CHEPSTOW, AND WESTON-SUPER-MARE. 3s. 6d. net, 60 Illustrations, 24 Maps and Plans. LONDON and Environs. Lokdoh: 8IMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO. Llisoollis: DARLINGTON AND CO. THE Fcap. 8to., 1b. HOTELS OF THE WORLD. Llaxoollkk: DARLINGTON & CO. Londoh: 8IMPKIN. MARSHALL, ft CO. Ltd. Railway Bookstall * and all Booksellers. PHOTOGRAPHS-BIRTHDAY and SEASON CARDS from negatives by Ralph Dablinoto'i, F.R.G.8.. of ocenery. Ruins, ftc, in Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, and Egypt, Is., Is. 6d., 2s., 2s. Od. Mounted Specimen, post free, with complete list. Is. DARLINGTON <&e CO., LLANGOLLEN. Demy 8vo., cloth boards, price 10a. 6d. IN NEW SOUTH AFRICA. Travels in the Transvaal and Rhodesia. With Map and Twenty-six Illustrations. By II. LINCOLN TANGYE. Introductory. CONTENTS. PABT L Cuaptkr I.—The Land of Gold and the Way there. II.—Across Desert and Veldt. III. —Johannesburg the Golden. IV. —A Transvaal Coach Journey. V.—Natal: the South African Garden. VL—Ostracised in Africa. Home with the Swallows. PAST IX—EAMBLES IN BHODESIA. Chapter I—Eendragt Maakt Magt. ,, II.—Into the Country of Lobengula. „ m.—The Trail of War. ,, IV.—Goldmlning, Ancient and Modern. ,, V.—Sle Transit Gloria Mundl. „ VL—To Northern Mashonaland. „ VIL—Primitive Art. The Misadventures of a Wagon. London: Horace Cox. Windsor House, Bream'a-buildings, E.C. Crown 8to., with illustrations, price 6s., to be had of all booksellers. FOE HIS COUNTRY'S SAKE; or, Esca, a British Prince at the Court of Trajan. By L. M. P. BLACK. HORACl COX, Windsor House, Bream's-bulldlngs, London, E.O. RECENT VERSE. Cloth lettered, By HENBY TODD. LYRICS. By Dr. J. A. GOODCHILD. price 5s. NOBTH COUNTRY BALLADS. Price 6s. TALES IN VERSE. By Dr. J. A. GOODCHILD. Cloth lettered, price 5s. SONGS OF THE CASCADES. By ERL VIKING. Fcap. 8vo., cloth boards, 3s. 6d. SONGS OF THE PLNEWOODS. By ARTHUR CAMP- BELL. Price 3s. 6d. THE FAIREST OF THE ANGELS, and Other Verse. By MAEY COLBOBNE-VEEL. Fcap. 8vo., cloth boards, 3s. Cd. Some of the shorter lyrics are much above the average, being s of the collec- tion aro considerable."— The Bookman. clear in thought and musical In expression. The meritB t THE WANDERER IN THE LAND OF CYBI, and other Poems (1886-93). By CLIFFORD BROOKS. Fcap. 8vo., cloth boards, 3s. 6d. POEMS. By THOMAS BARLOW. Crown 8vo., beveUed boards, gilt edges, price 5s. POEMS. By LEWIS BROCKMAN. Crown 8vo., oloth boards, 5b. 11 The ballads are full of the spirit and directness of style proper to the ballad."—Saturday Review. 11 Mr. Brockman is a writer of good poetic mettle, and no doubt the reading world will hear more of him yet."—aicugov Herald. "The graceful smoothness of Mr. Lewis Brockman's poems."— Daily Telegraph. M He is decidedly inventive, and often highly Imaginative. . . . The element of originality pervades the book. . . . His long poem, 1 Ronald's Cross,' is well BUBtalned . . . it is like the plaint of the ♦ Mariner,' and it holds us."—Queen. "A reader who values cultured sentiments and flawless versifica- tion will find much to admire."—Scotsman. London: Horace Cox, Windsor House, Bream's E.C.  ## p. 228 (#664) ############################################ iv AD VER TISEMENTS. MERCANTILE TYPEWRITING OFFICE. (Manageress-MISS MOEGAN.) 158, LEADENHALL STREET, LONDON, E.C. Authors' MSS. carefully copied from lOd. per 1000 words. Special Terms for Contract Work. All descriptions of Typewriting. Shorthand, and Translation work executed with accuracy and despatch. TYPEWRITING. Authors' MSS. accurately Copied from IOd. per IOOO words. EIOHTY unsolicited testimonials. MBS. BRAY, 53, BEDFORD BOAD, CLAPHAM, S.W. T Y IF E -W RITIITG With Aoouraoy and Despatch. Authors' MSS. 9d. per IOOO words. Plays, Translations, Indexing, General Copying. MISS WAY, 33, OSSIAN ROAD, STBOUD GBEEN, LOUDON, N. MRS. Q- ILL TYPB-WBITINO OFFICE, 35, LUDGATE HILL, E.C. (ESTABLISHED 1883.) Authors' MSS. carefully copied from Is. per 1000 words. Duplicate copies third price. Skilled typists sent out by hour, day. or week. French MSS. accurately copied, or typewritten English translations supplied. References kindly permitted to Sir Walter Besant: also to Messrs. A. P. Watt and Son, Literary Agents, Hastings House. Norfolk-street. Stniml, W.O. Stick in your Soraps with STICKPHAST PASTE. Heaps better than gum. 6d. and Is., with strong, useful brush. Sold by Stationers, Chemists. Stores, Ac. Factory, 8TJGAK LOAF COUKT, K.C. Miss G-. XXA/\TI£.S, 178, OAKLET STREET, CHELSEA, S.W. Typewriting Accurately and Promptly Executed. A Floating Policy of Insurance. All MSS. received are Insured against loss or damage while being copied and on transit. Published every Friday morning; price, without Reports, 9d.; with Eeporta, Is. THE LAW TIMES, the Journal of the Law and the Lawyers, which has now been established for over half a century, supplies to the Profession a complete Record of the Progress of Legal Reforms, and of all matters affecting the Legal Profession. The imports "i the Law Times are now recognised as the moat complete hteaor, «. 1. ,eries published. o. , r, a ,. , .Windsor House, Bream's-buildings, E C Stem, O. Self and (Tom.-— Stockton, Frank R. The Gi\». Typewriting bt Ci.rrsyman's Daughter add Assistants. MISS E. M. SIKES, The West Kensington Typewriting Agency, 13, Wolverton Gardens, Hammersmith, W. (Established 1893.) Authors' MSS. carefully and promptly copied. Usual Terms. Legal and General Copying. Typewritten Circulars by Copying Process. Authors' References. MISS PATTHX, TYPIST. 44, Oakley Street Flats, Chelsea. S.W. Authors' MSS. cabkfully transcribed. References kindly permitted to many well-known Acinous. Fire - Proof Safe for MSS. Particulars on application. Telegraphic address: "Patikn, London." AUTHOR'S HAIRLESS PAPER-PAD (The LBADENHALL PRESS LTD., Publishers & Printers 50, Leadenhall Street, London, E.C.) Contains hairless paper, over which the pen slips with perfect freedom. Sixpence each. 5s. per dozen, ruled or plain. Authors should note that Ths Leadenhall Press Ltd. oannot be responsible for the loss of MSS. by Are or otherwise. Duplicate copies should be retained. A N Elderly MAN, who for some years had a School in Hampstead, would thankfully UNDERTAKE TRANSLATION, or work of any kind requiring good classical scholarship, for the most modest remuneration. Address "A. B.,*' Care of The Author. TheTh? Artof I89?nd PubUahed °y Hobacb Cox, Windsor House, Bream's-buildings, London, E.C. 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. 08 Issue 08 (January 1898) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 08 Issue 08 (January 1898) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049239455" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049239455</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1898-01-01-The-Author-8-8 publications The Author