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Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1899-02-01 Volume 9 Issue 9 Pages Page range in volume 197–216 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18990201 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin TLhc Hutbot\ (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. IX.—No. 9.] FEBRUART 1, 1899. [Price 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 Sooiety begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and requests that all members not receiving an answer to important communications within two days will write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered letter only. ______ Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub- jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS. GENERAL MEMORANDA. FOB some years it has been the practice to insert, in every number of The Author, certain " General Con- siderations," Warnings, Notices,&c., for the guidance of the reader. It has been objeoted 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 oarry 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 pocket by charging for advertisements VOL. IX. 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. III. 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 necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both aides. 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 oarry with them no risk at all, and although of a great many it is known within a few copies 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 chance of a success which will not, probably, come at all; but which may come. The four points which 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 which has not been actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge 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 oarefully 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. Y 2  ## p. 198 (#210) ############################################ 198 THE AUTHOR. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. I. IiTVEBY member has a right to ask for and to receive Pj advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the oonduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advioe sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com- mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this without any oost to the member. 2. Remember that questions connected with oopyright and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually engaged upon such questions for us. 3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree- ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor- mation thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. If the examination of your previous business trans- actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should take advice as to a change of publishers. 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks of every publish- ing firm in the country. 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advanoing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of every- thing 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 Sooiety 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. NOTICES. ri 1HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the I Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 6>. 6i2. subscription for the year. Communications for The Author should reach the Editor not later than the 21 st of each month. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communioate 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 oommunioating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in which they are received. It must also be distinctly under- stood that the Society does not, under any circumstances, undertake the publication of MSS. The present location of the Authors' Club is at 3, White - hall-court. Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, &c. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year? 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 come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign themselves into literary bondage for three or five years? "Those who possess the 'Cost of Production' are requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15 per cent." This clause was inserted three or four years ago. Estimates have, however, recently been obtained which show that the figures in the book may be relied on as nearly correot: as near as is possible. Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged in the " Cost of Production " for advertising. Of oourse, we have not included any sums which may be charged for inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines, or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket, by inserting any number of advertisements in his own magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it. LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—The History of Copyright. IT is not often that we can depart from the principle generally observed in these pages —not to review or to pass under criticism any new books. It is obvious that hostile criti- cism of books by our own members would be inju- dicious, to say the least. Aud it is obvious that laudatory notices might possibly be expected by all the members as a right. It is also necessary to remember that the Society has nothing to do with the literary value of books, but solely and entirely with literary property. There has, how- ever, recently appeared a work on literary pro- perty which must be noticed in these columns, partly on account of the subject, which concerns, every reader of The Author, and partly because, for the first time, that subject has been treated in  ## p. 199 (#211) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 199 such a manner as to make the dry bones of law and Acts of Parliament full of life. The Origin of Copyright: the Stationers' Company and the First Copyright Statute: the Battle of the Booksellers for Perpetual Copyright: Legis- lative Enactments: Literary Larceny: and the Present Situation, are the subjects of as many chapters in this volume by Mr. Augustine Birrell (Cassell, 3*. 6rf. netl. Now, as the Law of Copyright is every day becoming of greater importance to authors, because they are every day learning more about the value and import- ance of their own property, and are becoming more jealous about its administration, this book, the only one on the subject which does not bristle with impediments and impossibilities in the way of the non-legal reader, should be in the hands of every member of the literary profession, in which is included every person who writes a book. There has grown up in the minds of many writers a singular apathy as regards their own property. This feeling has sprung from the apparent hopelessness of the situation. One publisher after another springs up, with the same old tale of secret profits and overcharges. There is the same attempt at concealment of real profits: the same outcry when the true figures are produced. The work of the Society ought to have done much in dispelling this apathy: the advance of the author towards independence has been of late years marked and rapid, in spite of the most strenuous hostility and the most violent opposi- tion. The situation, in fact, is no longer impos- sible. And the brief survey of the history of publishing which may be read, some times between the lines, in the pages of Mr. Augustine Birrell, will be found most helpful to every one who wishes to understand the subject. Among other excellent things the learned author presents us with the case of George Wither in the year 1603, and quotes that poet's description of the "Honest" and the "Mere" Stationer and Pub- lisher. The description of the Honest publisher could hardly be put better even in this day; as, for instance, when he says that the Honest Stationer "loves a good Author as his Brother, and would be ready to yield him the due portion of his Labours without wrangling." As for the " Mere" stationer, he says: If an Author oat of meere necessity do but procure meanes to make sale of (i.e., to publish) his owne booke or to preuent the combinations of such as he by some Royall or laufull priveledge, he presently cryes it downe for a Monopoly: affyrming that men of his profession may go [and] hang themselves if that be suffred. Marry ; Authors haue a long time presented a very thankfull generation of them from hanging if they cannot afford them one booke of ten Millions to releeue them withall in a case of need—and when that booke was the Authors owne alsoe and no parte of the Stationers former liuelihood. This is just as reason- able a complaint as if a Company of Hagglers should prefer a bill against the Cnntry Farmers, for bringing their own Corne and other prouisions to the next markett. The book contributes a passage which should effectually clear the air of the confusion which prevails between the literary and the commercial value of a book. In these pages it has been con- tended over and over again that the two things are not commensurable. They have nothing to do with each other. If a bad book gets a great circulation, it means that it is a great property. Whether it deserves its popularity is a question for critics, not for the Society. So, if a good book fails, the Society has nothing to say to its failure: that is for the critics. Mr. Birrell puts the case strongly and unmistakeably. The com- mercial value of a book is represented by its sale, and nothing else. Literary property may be created by very bad literature, but property must be defended, whether it belongs to good or bad literature. If it is objected to the Sooiety that it too much empha- sises the commercial side of literature, the answer must be, it is with the commercial side of literature the Society is concerned. After all, why should not a really bad author like Mr. Thomas Hot or Miss Blatheria Gabblegoose make £ 100,000 out of their trashy books, if as a matter of fair commerce* that sum represents their true share of the profits? Why should Rot's children and Gabblegoose's nephews and nieces be deprived of the cash value of their relatives' ridiculous popularity? Educate the masses if you can, so as to make that popularity impossible, but so long as it exists it is as much (within the limits of the period as signed by the law which, indeed, it will never exceed) the property of its creator as if it were somebody's soap or so-and-so's pill8- __=»c__ II.—Copyright in Press Telegrams. In the Ceylon Legislative Council, on Dec. 2, Mr. Layard moved the first reading of "An Ordinance to secure in certain cases the right of property in telegraphic press messages." Sir E. Noel Walker seconded, and the Bill was read a first time, and set down for second reading at the next meeting of the Council. The text of the Bill is as follows. "Whereas it is expedient to secure, in certain cases, the right of property in telegraphic press messages: Be it therefore enacted by the Governor of Ceylon, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows:— "1. When any person, in the manner hereinafter mentioned, publishes in any newspaper or other printed paper, published and circulated in Ceylon, any message by electric telegraph from any place outside the said island, lawfully received by such  ## p. 200 (#212) ############################################ 200 THE AUTHOR. person, no other person shall, without the consent in writing of such first-mentioned person, or his agent thereto, lawfully authorise, print or publish, or cause to be printed or published, such telegram, or the substance thereof or any extract therefrom, until after a period of forty-eight hours from time of first publication; provided that such period shall not extend beyond sixty hours from the time of the receipt of such message (Sundays and public and Bank Holidays excepted), and the publica- tion of the whole or any part of such telegram, or of the substance thereof, or (excepting the publi- cation of any similar message in like manner sent) of the intelligence therein contained or any comment upon, or any reference to such intelli- gence, shall be deemed to be a publication of the same. "2. If any person wilfully print and publish, or cause to be printed and published, any matter contrary to the provision of this Ordinance, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred rupees; and every person who is con- victed a second time of any offence against this Ordinance, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred rupees. "3. Telegraphic messages published under the protection of this Ordinance shall be printed under the heading 'By Submarine Telegraph,' and shall state the day and hour of their receipt, and such statement shall be prima facie evidence of the time of the receipt of such messages. "4. (1) During the period of forty-eight hours hereinbefore mentioned, no intelligence protected by this Ordinance shall be transmitted by electric telegraph to any person outside Ceylon by or on behalf of any person other than the person who, nnder the provisions of this Ordi- nance, is entitled to the exclusive use of such intelligence. (2) Any person acting in contra- vention of this section shall be guilty of an offence, and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two hundred rupees for any subsequent offence. '5. In any prosecution under this Ordinance, the production of any document which purports to be a telegraphic message from some place out- side Ceylon, and which contains the intelligence published in the newspapers as aforesaid, and which has been delivered to some person entitled to receive the same by the proper officer of the Telegraph Department, shall be prima facie evidence that the message published as herein- before described in such newspaper is a message within the meaning of this Ordinance; and proof that any person is owner, or is, or is acting, or appears to be acting as editor or manager of any newspaper in which there has been any publica- tion contrary to the provisions of this Ordinance, shall be prima facie evidence that such person has wilfully caused such unlawful publication. "6. Nothing in this Ordinance shall extend to any document published by the Government Printer, or to the report of any proceedings in the Legislative Council. "7. This Ordinance shall be cited as 'The Telegram Copyright Ordinance, 189—.'" The above extract has been printed from the Indian Daily News. _____ It appears that the Ceylon Legislative Council is going boldly to deal with a question which has been agitating the Press and all those interested in copyright in England for many years, and which has not been satisfactorily dealt with in this country owing to the many difficulties that surround the question. According to the Ceylon Bill, clause 1, copyright is given for forty-eight hours, and is on the whole very comprehensive. The Bill that was before the House of Lords last session by clause 11 asks, as regards newspapers, for "Copyright in such news and information as have been specially and in- dependently obtained." Mr. Moberly Bell, the manager of the Times, was called and examined at great length on this clause. The questions put to him and the answers he gave are exceedingly interesting and instructive to those who desire a full knowledge of the subject. It seems altogether unfair that where a paper like the Times has obtained a telegram at enormous expense it should have the benefit that may be likely to accrue to it destroyed by publication of a copy of the telegram in other papers the same day. Mr. Bell was in favour of a twenty-four hours copyright. Of course if the telegram had been also in- dependently obtained by another newspaper there would be copyright in that telegram also. The Bill was drawn to prevent papers taking the news from one another without a fair payment, and if some such copyright law were passed it is quite probable that the Times or any other paper that obtained independent news would sell the right of reproduction, and thus obtain an adequate remuneration for the trouble and expense in- curred. No doubt the point will be satisfactorily dealt with when the Government have thought fit to take up the long deferred question of copyright. ai[ III.—The Same Old Agreement. Memorandum of Agreement made this day of , 189 between of , hereafter called the publisher of the one part, and of hereafter called the anthor, of the other part. The said publisher agrees to produce in tasteful form, and publish in the usual manner at his own expense, an edition of a volume written by the said author and entitled  ## p. 201 (#213) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 20I "," the said volume to consist of one hundred and ninety-two pages orown octavo size, and to be published at five shillings per copy. The said author hereby agrees to be responsible for the sale of three hundred and fifty copies of the said volume, and undertakes at the expiration of six months from the daet of issue to purchase at the rate of three shillings per copy whatever number of oopies, if any, may be necessary to make the sales up to the said number of three hundred and fifty copies. This edition to be the property of the said publisher, bnt it is understood that the copyright is and remains the pro- perty of the said author. All proofs of the said work to be oorrected and returned promptly to the printer by the said author. The agreement printed above has again been handed by a member of the Authors' Society to the Secretary. Three or four times already the agreement has been printed in The Author and the other productions of the Society, and the dangers arising from such agreement explained. That in one certain case the agreement may have worked out fairly is not an argument that the agreement i3 a good one, but this argument has been urged by the publisher, for an agreement should be so drawn that in any case and whatever the sale of the book, it should be an equitable agreement between the parties concerned. The dangers of this agreement have so often been set forward that it was hoped, as indeed has been the case for some time, that no such agreements had been recently circulated. Perhaps it will be necessary to explain once more in general terms the unreasonableness of the agreement as it stands. To begin with, the book is a small one, 192 pp. cr. 8vo., and it is published at a large price for such a small book, viz., 5*. The author guarantees to purchase 350 copies by the end of six months at the price of 3$., making in all a sum of .£52 i0s., a sum which must go a long way towards paying the cost of production if not covering it alto- gether, especially as no mention is made of the size of the edition. If 750 copies only were printed, it may be understood that the publisher would virtually have no risk. This is not all however. It does not pay the publisher to push the book in the least degree for the first six months, for if he should do so he will not obtain the author's money. He therefore has nothing to do but let the book lie on his shelves and at the end of the six months send in his account for the number of copies unsold. No agreement should be drawn on such lines that it is not for the benefit of the author and publisher to be working in unison. Looking into the agreement further, it is obvious that no mention is made whatever of the profits to accrue after the sale of 350 copies, except in the last clause, in which it says: "This edition is to be the property of the pub- lisher." As has been pointed out no hmit is mentioned to the edition. If, therefore, the book chances to be a success the publisher could go on printing and selling the book, putting all the profits into his own pocket and stating that the first edition was, say, 10,000 copies. The Pub- lishers' Association have not as yet settled that great point, what should be the number of an edition. Summing up the whole results, therefore, of the agreement, it does not pay the publisher to work in unison with the author. Their benefit is not mutual. The publisher runs no risk and may possibly make a large profit. From the author s point of view the author stands to lose .£52 i0*., and cannot possibly make anything, however suc- cessful the book is. This agreement, therefore, cannot possibly be called equitable as between the parties. G- H- T- IV.—A Friendly Critic. I have been an associate of the Authors' Society now for six years, and have during that time tried to keep in touch with it by occasionally making some irresponsible comments on the contents of its journal. Having just polished off my year's work, and received a copy of the December Author, I take the liberty of criticising that number—for publication or not, as you like, of course. The motive, as I say, is merely that of keeping in touch—marking my gratitude, perhaps, for the education I receive through the journal, which I might, if I did not acknowledge it some- how, be thought not to appreciate. Page 151: "A Curious Question." Sales reported to date, say, 500; account delivered and royalty paid thereon. The week after, a certain bookseller tells the publisher he has 100 copies of that publisher's dead books on hand (which include, say, twenty copies of the book in ques. tion), and will he " exchange" them? (the same thing as buying them back). Publisher does so; he has therefore paid author royalty on twenty more copies than he has sold. The "curious question " (and it is aptly called) amounts, then, divested of "fatal generalisation," to this: If the book manages to sell again (or not, for that matter), shall the author refund the royalty on those twenty copies? Sir W. B. says No. The publisher took them back for his own purposes, and the author has nothing to do with that. Mr. Thring replies with admirable equivocation (which may be non- committal, but does not assist the author), " It is a point of moral obligation."  ## p. 202 (#214) ############################################ 202 THE AUTHOR. Since you expressly invite opinions, this is mine: The books were not sold, and, although no publisher would think of asking for a cash return, he would be justified in reselling those twenty copies before any other, and the author if asked would assuredly reply that it was his moral obli- gation to be glad that the publisher had an oppor- tunity of recovering his over-payment. And this is why I have the temerity to gainsay Sir Walter. If you put your invention in the hands of a dealer to sell for you, it would be fool-pidgin (in the language of the East) to restrict him in the management of the sales. The Authors' Syndicate itself stipulates, I believe, that, once put in charge of an invention, the inventor shall not meddle with their management of it. Now, one of the most difficult matters for the publisher (and the difficulty arises chiefly on account of the author's suspiciousness) is that everlasting ques- tion of " Sale or Return." You may notice that Mr. Zeitgeist (Literary Property, III.), who apparently proceeded by the advice of the Society, put all his books "on sale." Very often you simply can't deal with " Smith's" except on that arrangement. When the time for rendering accounts comes, the publisher finds that Smith has taken 500 copies " on sale." What is he to do with the author? He can't leave the whole parcel out of his account; it probably represents the major part of the edition. If he gives him the royalty on the 500, what is he to do when next week 100 soiled copies come back on his ,hands, with the curt remark, "Book dead"? This is a question in itself worth your treat- ment if you have not already treated it; but there can be no doubt that in such a case the books have not been sold, and that, if the author has received royalty on them, he ought to refund it. I know that you will immediately reply, " This is beside the question; we were not talking of books on sale." With your leave I shall say that you were. In reality, a number of books sold to a bookseller are not really sold; they are placed on the counter for sale. I could mention to you at least three London booksellers, and two provin- cial ones, who make a constant practice, and a very annoying one, of arranging with the "traveller" to make certain exchanges of dead books for live ones; their invariable argument is, "Well, if we weren't sure that you would see we were not'left' with dead paper, we should not order so many." Now the traveller has a new book in his bag which he is anxious to place by the dozen (his own commission is in question, too) and he exercises his proper discretion (if you wish a traveller to push, you must give him discretion) by arranging for the return of the old books, or at least by promising that in the case of this particular new book he will see, if the bookseller will take a dozen, that he is not "left." In short, there is always a certain amount of " on sale or return " business going on; the publisher himself kicks at it, but his traveller (the most important part of the firm) insists on discre- tionary powers, and the author should be ready to grant similar discretion to bis publisher. As another instance, I will take the liberty of men- tioning Messrs. Denny Brothers, not only a very large and important firm of booksellers, but very prompt, honest, and practical business men. I believe they can only take stock once a year. Suppose they find to their surprise that they have £100 worth of dead stuff from a single publisher (not, of course, bought in one year, but consisting of special books which are carried forward for a long time before their demand is certainly dead), what are they to do in this case? They put it to the traveller; the traveller puts it to the firm; the publisher kicks, and says it is their own look-out if they overstock, and, if they like to be fools, he is not going to pay for their folly. Now, what is Mr. Denny going to reply to this? If he does not ominously say nothing, and quietly return the traveller his samples with a conclusive " Two each," he may very justly reply: "I buy your books by the dozen and give them a good show. I get no better terms than anyone else, but I do more for your authors than many smaller dealers. I cannot keep an eye on every book I buy, and they go into the shelves and are lost sight of. I own that I have bought and paid for these books, and that I have no right to ask you to buy them back. None the less, I find that I have lost over them, chiefly through taking your word that they were better than they are. I must sell them for waste paper and lose .£90. Do you care to bear part of that loss with me? If I had not stocked them, you would have lost that <£i00 yourself. If you cannot meet me, I must give over pushing your books and buy them only to order, devoting my show space to more lucrative stuff." Now, what is the publisher to do? He knows, more than your authors appear to do, how much a book depends on the bookseller. He knows that if Denny takes a dozen, he will sell nine; but if he only takes two, he will only sell that two. Is it not better to virtually put that dozen "on sale," even if, a year after, he has to buy back three? I will own that as a rule the publisher does not see it in this light, chiefly because it muddles up the accounts, and because the author will not treat him with the same give-and-take. But it illus- trates my theoretical contention that no book is sold until the bookseller has sold it, and that the author has no right to royalty on books which the publisher buys back. I reply to the "Curious  ## p. 203 (#215) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 203 Question," then, that the publisher has not only the right to resell those books which come back, first, but that, if they ave dead, he has even a right to ask the author to refund the royalty on them. [Very well. But why does the publisher return as "sold " books which are not paid for? He can surely wait till he gets the money or till the books are returned.—Ed.] "Literary Property—III." merely calls for a repetition of my remarks above concerning the "traveller." "Zeitgeist" tells us that he has printed 3000 copies for <£118, "advertising extra." But what on earth is printing and advertising? That is not publishing a book. He says triumphantly, "The book is well groomed, and the publisher nowhere — not wanted." I venture to " beg his pardon." He says, "My egg may be addled." "With every regret I am bound to say there is every likelihood of that catastrophe, because he has- overlooked the true raison d'itre of the publisher's existence. Publishing consists not in printing and adver- tising, but in putting the book on the market. How is this done? By travellers. The author may, if he likes, " travel " London himself at a cost not exceeding 6d. a day and his time. Unless he has the good fortune to have been a trave ler by profession, he will find that it will take him a good fortnight to do London alone, and then he will probably miss the most important exporters. There is no way of finding out the full list of buyers in London except by tedious experience or the advice of a professional, and, after all, it would be peine perdue, for he would find that three-fourths of them would not "open an account" with a private person. Then he has to collect his accounts, deliver his small parcels—oh Lord! he little knows who would be his pub- lisher himself. To travel " the country" would take about three months, at a minimum expense of 15*. a day. And, in short, no author is fit to "travel" at all, and he would only make a fool of himself. I presume that "Zeitgeist" sold through Simpkins; it' he didn't, he can't have "published " himself at all. It is too long to go into, but I believe I could jirove conclusively that an unknown author has a far better chance of a sale and of profit on a 15, or even a 10, per cent. royalty from a good firm, than by playing amateur publisher himself. That is one mischief you do, Mr. Author. You uncon- sciously persuade young aspirants to undertake something quite out of their line, and which they are entirely unfit for. Your only off-set to this misdirection of zeal is your old advice that a book which a publisher will not accept is a book that is not worth publishing. You ought VOL. IX. certainly to add this to your permanent front page. And I wish next time anyone tells you how they had gone behind the publisher you would exact a full account of the methods employed vis-a-vis the booksellers, and the result. That would be useful; we should learn by other authors' mistakes. [Very well, again. But my correspondent is mistaken. No one wants a young author to "travel" for himself, or to become an " amateur publisher." Nor is Simpkin the only distributing publisher. Nor has every firm its own travellers. The '• Method of the Future " has nothing to do with amateur publishing, and nothing to do with private attempts to sell a book.—Ed.] I pass on to "VII. Author and Publisher" —" Glenfruin." To begin with, I have a fault to find with the tone of this letter, a tone con- stantly recurring in The Author; it is one which is not "business," and does great harm to the business character of the journal. "Glenfruin" says: "The present relations between A. and P. are truly ridiculous to contemplate. 'You give me your book,' says P. to A., 'and you see nothin', and you ask nothin', except what I may be jolly well pleased to give you, for I am the Immaculate Llama of Literature.'" Mr. Author—that "nothin'," that "jolly well"! It is all very jolly, but it is not la guerre. With all respect to Mr. Glenfruin, I think the older or sager members of the Society might ask you to use the blue pencil occasionally so that we may not seem children. And now for " Grlenfruin's" contentions. How comes it that you insert this letter without a note re-stating your own frequent refutation of it? "Glenfruin " thinks that a book depends on the critics, and that the critics are in the pay of the publisher. Both these are exploded fallacies. A book is subscribed before it is published, and no bookseller reads reviews. Bad reviews cannot alter the "subscription," which is the only sale the new author gets unless his book is good. If it is good, sufficient reviews will find it out to persuade a certain number of readers to take it from the library, and these readers do the rest. If Jones tells you the book is " jolly good," are you influenced because Literature tells you it is tiresome? No. The vivil voce recommenda- tion is the one that tells. You know Jones; you don't know the critic. Secondly, I repeat, if the book is good, you may be sure the majority of the critics will say so. Every unknown book gets from thirty to fifty notices in the English Press; every book by a kiiown author from fifty to 100. Out of a score of critics, how many will be influenced by a publisher, by "private enmity," z  ## p. 204 (#216) ############################################ 204 THE AUTHOR. or by inherent malice? At the outside, five. The rest may not know a good book from a bad one, or share your own notions of what is good, but you may be pretty sure that ten of them, taken together, have a better "general idea" of what the public likes than you have. But apart from this, and "thirdly," out of that score of critics not more than five are so much as read by book buyers ; people who can afford to buy books, if they want criticisms at all to go by, look to a dozen papers at the outside, and not many of that dozen will notice you at all, unless you are "good." The idea of a critic of any importance sedulously hobnobbing with a dozen publishers daily, and going over with them the pile of books on his table, is pretty, but "it won't wash clothes." Here and there an important critic has a friendship, or an interest, with one or two publishers, and may receive a hint that a good review of one of the firm's books would be grate- fully received, but it doe< not occur "every time "; and such influence could only be secured to praise a book, and a book that would bear praising without loss to the critic's prestige. With unabated admiration for the work of the Society. M. Ottawa, Dec. 1898. [The practice in these columns has been to let members of the Society have their say, within reasonable limits. What "M." says has been said already, over and over again, as to the value of reviews. As to the connection between critics and publishers, that is not a point to be settled out of hand. One hears so many stories, and makes so many observations, that such a connection some- times exists, to the destruction of fair reviewing. That it is a common practice one would be very unwilling to believe.—Ed.] >«^——. THE AMERICAN BOOK TRADE. THE book trade of America is in an exceed- ingly prosperous state so far as the sale of books goes, but there, as in this country, the position of the bookseller is becoming a matter of anxiety. An extremely optimistic article on book-buying appeared lately in the New York Times, wherein it is stated that the most remarkable evidence of increased demand is the very conspicuous place which books now have in the shops and in the advertisements of the department stores and other mercantile esta- blishments that have lately entered that branch of trade. What a few years ago was at most a book counter has in many of these establishments become an immense book store, furnished forth with a great stock of books, and prepared to take and fill orders to supply any book published any- where. Old houses seem to be doing a larger business than ever, and the new ones that are established from time to time seem to find room for themselves. The conclusion is inevitable, therefore, that the people are buying more books, and the Areic York Times finds the reason for this to lie in the fact that books are cheap to- day: "The old, well-known books, the classics of literature which it is commonly assumed that everybody has read, and which comparatively few have really ever had in their hands, are so very cheap that persons who ever talk about books are ashamed not to own some of them, and have them in the house. Cooper, Thackeray, Dickens, not to mention Macaulay and Gibbon, are at anybody's command for a surprisingly small sum: not in sumptuous editions, not in library bindings, but still in readable form." Yet in the midst of all this activity the dis- tributor of books is in difficulties. In the words of the Dial, "his occupation is slipping from him, through the action of irresistible economic laws, and the thoughtless public pays little heed to his plight." The great dealers in miscellaneous merchandise are absorbing the retail trade in books, and are even getting possession of the customers who have hitherto supported the book- sellers of the smaller towns. "The bookseller who used to think 50 per cent. not too large a profit upon his wares, considering that he offered as a bonus his good advice and genial friendship, has given place to the merchant who can wax fat upon 10 per cent., or less, of profit, but is too busy to have either advice or friendship to spare for you." It appears that a striking experiment has recently been made by a publishing house, which advertises broadcast its willingness to send any of its publications to any address upon the receipt of a post-card request, trusting to the honesty of the prospective purchaser either to return the book or to pay for it. The general adoption of this plan, remarks the Dial, would tend to eliminate retail bookselling from the list of business occupations. Still, another experi- ment of which the bookseller makes complaint is that of selling books of the more expensive sort upon the instalment plan, the entire work being delivered upon receipt of the order and the first payment. These and other "insidious devices for sup- planting the bookseller must lie met, if they are to be met at all, by the more effective organisation of his trade." Follow the example of Germany—says the Dial. If the American bookseller, by co-operating with the publishers, could arrange that his customers should have  ## p. 205 (#217) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. copies of books on approbation—or, in the phrase so common in England, "on sale or return "—there would no longer be any real com- petition between the two classes, but a relation of mutual helpfulness that would impel each of them to cherish the interests of the other. But, beyond all suggestions of this kind, the future of bookselling does not seem to the Dial to be unpromising. There is the broad general fact that the appetite for books is constantly growing among the population, and it is folly to assume that book stores will be lacking to satisfy this appetite, " since the book-buyer, as a rule, wants to inspect his books before buying, and the retail trade in books is as sure of customers as the retail trade in eggs and poultry. That trade, we have not the least doubt, will emerge triumphant from its seeming temporary eclipse, but it will be adapted to the new conditions, it will be reorganised to meet the new demands, and it will be willing to find in its larger sales a com- pensation for its lessened percentage of profit." PAEIS NOTES. THE sudden death of Georges Rodenbach on Christmas night, at the comparatively early age of forty-three years, made a vast impression here on the literary world. The papers had not yet notified his illness when the tidings reached us that the well-known poet and novelist, the friend of Alphonse Daudet and Edmond de Goncourt, had already rejoined his illustrious comrades in that shadowy land from whence no traveller returneth. Born at Tournai and brought up at Brussels, he depicted the subtle poesy enveloping the "dead city which mirrors its ancient towers in its motionless canals" with wonderful graphic force, joined to a languorous, lotus-like charm, the outcome of an intensely analytic and reflective mind which possessed in no ordinary degree the power of placing picturesquely before the reader the smallest detail, the most hazy outline of the various canvasses on which he worked so untir- ingly. He especially delighted in the sonorous melody of church bells; and as Victor Hugo bequeathed to the bells of Notre Dame the immortal spirit of Quasimodo, so the Belgian endowed the cathedral bells of his native land with a living soul. Among his most celebrated works on this subject may be mentioned "Le Carillonneur," "Bruges la Morte," and "Le Voile," which last was performed with great success at the Com^die Francaise. A cortege of devoted friends and fellow-workers—MM. Sully Prudhomme, Anatole France, de Heredia, Leon Dierx, Rodin, and Emile Verhaeren (the latter having come from Brussels expressly to assist at the interment)—bore the body of Georges Roden- bach to its last resting-place, and M. Catulle Mendes, in the funeral oration delivered at Pere- Lachaise, rendered a graceful and touching tribute to the memory of his brother poet: "dont personne ne saurait dire qu'il est mort tout entier." A complete novel, entitled " Made- moiselle Noémi, and a large collection of verses were found among Georges Rodenbach's unpub- lished works. The Academy has again a vacant fauteuil owing to the death of M. Edouard Herve, one of the two journalists cited in our last issue as completing the tale of literati belonging to that illustrious body. M. Herve was the founder of the first large daily newspaper issued at a halfpenny, and it is not as the refined and cultured lettre but as the editor and originator of Le Soleil that his name will be remembered by the public at large. He belonged to the punctilious, old-fashioned Prevost- Paradol school of journalists, and the only rash act recorded of him during his long public career is the challenge sent to Edmond About on the appearance of a certain article, containing more gall than honey, in the Dix-Neuvieme Siecle, which the latter was then editing. M. Herve leaves two works almost completed, of which one is reported to deal largely with Richelieu. The 2 5 9th anniversary of the birth of Racine was fitly commemorated at the two great national theatres (the Odeon and Comedie Francaise) by various excerpts from the most celebrated works of the famous dramatists, while various journals devoted a column more or less to enumerating his titles to the gratitude of posterity. The previous revival of "Britannicus" (Theatre Antoine) evoked, however, as little enthusiasm among the nineteenth century spectators as in the far-off days when Boileau was forced to undertake the defence of this powerful but tedious masterpiece. It is easier to revive the costumes of the past than to put the public in sympathy with the exaggerated hyperbole of our forefathers. A neat adaptation of modern sentiment in ancient garb is both picturesque and lucrative, whereof the success of "Cyrano de Bergerac" witnesseth; and in framing their playbills, theatrical managers would do well to bear in mind the present predilection for modern tableaux in antiquated settings. In the early dawn of the bicycle furore a sapient professor of the Sorbonne opined that its universal adoption would prove a harmless safety-valve for the superfluous feminine energy otherwise likely to be devoted to fomenting an  ## p. 206 (#218) ############################################ 206 THE AUTHOR. interior domestic revolution in France. But he was mistaken. The bicycle furore and the Feminist agitation have developed amicably side by side, and the fact that only last month the Fourth Chamber of the Seine Tribunal pro- nounced no less than 284 divorces in the short space of four hours makes us understand why the divorce question is so hotly discussed and so variously represented by the rising generation of French writers. Among the host of new play8 which have recently appeared on this subject, two have especially attracted attention and comparison—not only from their striking similarity in plot, but also from the totally different reception they have received from the hands of the public. I allude to "Le Berceau" by M. Brieux, and "Le Voyage autour du Code" by MM. Duval and Hennequin; the former, despite the powerful support of M. Francisque Sarcey, having been assailed by a storm of invidious criticism, while the latter has been applauded and acclaimed to the skies. Unfortu- nately, each successive work of M. Brieux has fallen short of (he high expectations originally formed of his talent; his style is too speculative, his characters are too negative and abstract to awaken the genuine enthusiasm of the gallery gods on whose support he relies, and the bids he makes for popular favour in the shape of hackneyed situations materially decrease the value of his later work. Apropos of Francisque Sarcey, the doyen of the critics, "notre bon Oncle Francisque," as the Parisians love to call him, a good story is in circulation relating to the volume of poems which Mlle. Yvette Guilbert is about to publish. The petite histoire, which has vastly amused the Parisians, is as follows. M. Sarcey, having one night mislaid his ordinary rose-coloured spec- tacles, found Mlle. Guilbert's voice no longer to his taste. He forthwith expressed his opinion in print, and was unwary enough to visit the Scala the following night. Immediately the sprightly divette came on the scene she turned towards the critic's box and began to sing the well-known refrain: Chamean! 0, le chamean, saluting M. Sarcey at each recurrence of the word "chameau," while, to the accompaniment of the orchestra, the public yelled: M on oncle! O, mon oncle! until the unlucky critic was forced to beat a retreat. The controversy still continues, and it is to avenge herself for the biting critiques on her performance which followed this; scene that Mlle. Yvette Guilbert is reported to have entered the literary lists as a versificator. The "Leonard de Vinci " of M. Eugene Muntz (librairie Hachette) is the most complete and copious biography of the great painter, sculptor, man of letters, mathematician, and architect, that has yet been produced. But in this depart- ment M. Muntz has few equals, and the popula- rity attained by his " Raphael, sa vie, son ceuvres et son temps," "Precurseurs de la Renaissance," "Donatello," "La Renaissance en Italie," &c., ensure the success of his present venture. His latest volume contains reproductions of all the works either attributed or authentically proven to owe their existence to the brush or chisel of the great Italian master. The collectors of historical souvenirs and heir- looms recently experienced a shock on learning, through the agency of the Figaro, that, at the late sale of the Charles Yriarte collection, a choice relic—the only authentic photograph of Daguerre's portrait of Balzac, which the famous novelist had himself presented to Gavarni—had been sold for thirty francs! The original plaque was preserved in a villa at St. Cloud until Jan. 26, 1871, when it was destroyed by a Bavarian soldier, and the supposed only authentic photo- graphic copy thus cheaply disposed of bore an inscription in Charles Yriarte's handwriting which concluded thus: "The historian of Balzac, Viscount Spoelberg de Lovenjoul, presented me with this token as a souvenir of the original portrait now destroyed." The lamentations of the perturbed corps of literary collectors and connoisseurs were, however, soon cut short by the arrival of a letter from the Viscount Spoelberg de Lovenjoul himself, stating that the portrait sold was merely a copy of the original photo- graph, which last formed one of the most precious jewels of his own Balzacien collection. Whereat the respective sentiments of the collectors and actual purchaser underwent a speedy transforma- tion. The lovers of Pierre Loti's dainty verses will be glad to hear that Conquet has just issued an "exquise nouvelle japonaise," entitled "La Chanson des Vieux lipoux," by this charming author. The booklet is enriched with water- coloured sketches by Henry Somno. This is probably the last work we shall have for some time from the e?er-juvenile Immortal, who is now at Hendaye busily engaged in preparing his trunks for a Persian trip. M. Paul Bourget is still enjoying the tranquility of his charming villa near Hylres, as is his usual custom during this inclement season. He usually devotes himself entirely to literary work during the first two or three months of the year. At the  ## p. 207 (#219) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 207 present moment the Revue Hebdomadaire is publishing the second series of his famous "Voyageuses," in which we find again the "Gladys" of "Claude Larcher." We regret that space will not permit ns to quote a few extracts from the wonderfully graphic word-paintings of surrounding scenery with which this work abounds. M. Bourget is also engaged on a psychological novel, entitled "Reine Verdit-r," which will shortly appear in Les Annale*. The "Femmes Nouvelles" of the brothers Margueritte is extremely ri propos at this moment, when the Feminist question forms one of the topics of the day in all fin de siecle salons. MM. Margueritte are now hard at work in preparing "Les Troncons du Glaive," a novel dealing with national defence, which will form a continuation to the "Desastre." Immediately the former is in the press, they will commence a third volume on the same lines, entitled "La Commune." The popularity of the "Desastre" certainly justifies a sequel, and, if the two later works equal their predecessor in interest, the trilogy cannot fail to attain a great literary and pecuniary success. Mme. Jean Bertheroy does not occupy herself with any of the vexed questions relating to her sex. She lives a life apart in her quiet hermitage at Montmorency, too enveloped in the glamour of the past to desire to take part in the burning topics of the present moment. She has now three works on hand: the first, entitled "La Dame de Pompeii," which deals entirely with that far-off period when Pompeii figured on the maps of the ancient world; the second, entitled " Le Journal de Marguerite Plantin," dealing with the old Musee Plantin at Anvers, which two hundred years ago figured as a printing establishment; and the third, " Le Jardin des Tolosatti," which presents us to no less a personage than the cele- brated Clemence Isaure, who instituted the floral sports in 1490. Perhaps, after all, Mme. Ber- theroy is more permeated by the spirit of the present age than she would care to acknow- ledge; else, wherefore her choice of the latter subject? M. Victorien Sardou has no love for reporters, and delights in putting them off his trail if possible. Despite his precautions, however, sundry details of the work on which he is now engaged have leaked out, and the fact that his apartment is encumbered with a prodigious pile of documentary lore relating to the period of the Revolution, gives colour to the assertion that we shall shortly have either a drama or prose study of "Robespierre" from the pen of the famous dramatist. [This is confirmed by the announce- ment that M. Sardou has written a play on Robespierre for Sir Henry Irving, who will signalise his return to the Lyceum by producing it.—Ed., A.] M. Marcel Prcvost has just returned from a lecturing tour in Holland, which he undertook at the invitation of the Alliance for the propagation of French literature abroad. In addition to holding the pen of a ready writer, M. Prevost possesses in perfection the art of a ready and interesting speaker. Needless to add that he received a warm reception in the Netherlands, and that the tour was a great success. "George Sand, sa vie et son ceuvre," formed the subject of his lecture. Bon chien chasse de race, as a visit to M. Leon Daudet's study amply testifies. "Sebastien Gouves," a thick volume recording the miseries meted out to a man of genius by unworthy charlatans, from whom he is finally rescued by filial devotion, stands completed; "La Con- seillere," a domestic drama long promised the Odeon, is receiving its finishing touches; and (most interesting of all!) a species of pamphlet- causerie " La Dignite de la litterature," is also under way. Of the latter he says: "The matter is vast, and I treat it without reticence." He is likewise contemplating the filling-in of a numerous list of sketches of future dramas, comedies, novels, pamphlets, &c.—a work sufficient in itself to fill the lifetime of several ordinary writers. But Leon Daudet cannot be considered as an ordinary writer; he is the exceptionally clever inheritor of a famous patronymic, and this fact has un- doubtedly influenced both his character and choice of a caieer. M. Eugene Rostand, poet, orator, journalist, historian, founder of numerous patriotic and useful institutions for the benefit of the poorer classes, and last—but by no means least—father of the celebrated author of " Cyrano de Bergerac," has recently been elected a member of the Academic des Sciences, Morales, et Politiques. The dramatic genius of M. Edmond Rostand may thus be considered as the direct perpetuation of a hereditary talent. Recent inquiries have also unearthed the interesting fact that, in addition to having broken the existing record in the theatrical world, "Cyrano de Bergerac " (in book form) has numerically scored one of the greatest literary successes hitherto known in France. Darracotte Dene.  ## p. 208 (#220) ############################################ 2o8 THE AUTHOR. NOTES AND NEWS. IN "The Pen and the Book," which was advertised in last month's Author, nothing is advanced which has not been put forward again and again, not only in this paper, but in the reports and circulars of the Society. Nothing can be argued against these points which has not been argued again and again in a hundred letters written to protest against the wicked authors who desire to know what the management of their own property actually means. But our friends are never tired of protesting. They are always ready to mis- represent and to distort and to conceal, over and over again, even in the teeth of notorious facts and the steady extension of the light. Therefore I was not surprised to find in Literature a letter based on a long series of the most daring state- ments ever put forward. Think, for instance, of a publisher, after all these years of the Society's action, imagining that such statements as the following can be believed: (i.) "In profit-sharing agreements the author has a voice in the choice of printer and binder, and often knows beforehand what the estimate is." I have seen hundreds of agreements of the kind but never one with such a clause. (2.) "Wilful overcharging can only be tested by giving definite accounts from definite indi- viduals. As these are not furnished the general charge may be dismissed as unworthy of con- sideration." In another paper of the same date, another publisher is actually confessing to the practice and defending it! (3.) He says that in publishers' commission— a. Fees are never charged. On the contrary fees are constantly charged. /3. That "percentages are the creation of prejudiced counsel." Really! Tet the Publishers' Association in their draft agreements claim the right—actually the right—of adding percentages in commission publishing, on every item, and what they please! y. That authors are asked to suggest the medium of advertising. I never heard of any such invitation. I have, however, heard of a certain sum named for adver- tisements and of its expenditure in the publisher's own organs. He says also that publishers do not "care a rap " for commission business. Why, the number of such publications is simply enormous and is increasing every year. There are also many passages " quoted," i.e., in inverted commas or without, which I have been unable to find in the book. He further attacks certain printers' estimates given by me. He may attack the printers as much as he likes. It is their business, not mine. If he means that I have invented the estimates, that is another point altogether. The rest of his letter is answered by me in Literature. . The reason why I mention the matter here is that one or two points are raised about which we cannot be too clear in all dealings with publishers. These are:— 1. Overcharges. Remember that in every partnership or joint enterprise, if one partner spends .£i00 and says he has spent .£120, secretly pocketing the odd sum, he is regarded as a Thief. Apply the principle to publishing. A man may make any excuses he pleases about secretly taking discounts, but the fact—the broad, disagreeable fact—remains that he who deceives his partner, and makes secret profits by his misrepresentations, is a Thief. And this fact is the real cause of nearly the whole hostility that has been displayed towards the Society from the outset. 2. Advertisements. The power of charging for advertisements in a publisher's own organ, is simply the power of taking to himself, if he pleases, the whole pro- ceeds of the book. I have had several letters on the subject—some of them important: some trivial. It is important to be told by one that a certain publisher of standing confessed to him that a large part of his profits consisted of secret discounts. Another, also important, from a former employe" in a pub- lisher's house—" one of the new firms "—reveals, if it is true, a system of systematic robbery. I wish the firm in question could read what is written about them by an ^.-employ i. It may be said, of course, that the old servant was spitefully bringing false charges. Perhaps ; therefore I do not quote his words: but it is not a false charge to offer a word of practical advice. "Now is the time for some of the authors to have their accounts examined thoroughly — not for the past half year only, but where they have been running some time, especially for any books that have had a great sale: every voucher " and every record of sales as the books have been sold to be seen." Perhaps something practical may be the out- come of this correspondence. The case is, as I  ## p. 209 (#221) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 209 have always pointed out, entirely in our own hands. It depends simply on authors being able to overcome their old prejudices and jealousies and to act together. If they show any power of common action, the battle is won at a single coup. For four reasons I did not send out " The Pen and the Book" for review. First, because the book was not written for the general public at all, but for the literary aspirant. Secondly, because a part of the book—that containing the facts and figures concerning the commercial side of publishing, are Greek and Hebrew to the reviewer, who will be quite prepared to believe the first publisher who tells him that they are invented—some of them are already beginning this little perjury; thirdly, because I think that it is time for authors to have a voice in the papers in which they invite a review; and, lastly, because I think it would be well in the case of a book which is certain to awaken all the old hostility to the work of the Society, to let the animus be shown in uninvited comments from those who love the secret profits, and the fine old vague talk about risk, and expense, and loss, to which we have been accustomed for the last six years. The hostility is silent for a while, then it breaks out again with the stale old allegations and distortions. For these reasons also I have not yet adver- tised the book. I shall do so after, not before, the first free flow of invective. Meantime, I may be believed by our members, I hope, when I state that I have not published this book with the desire of making money by it: that I am, above all things, desirous of seeing it read and studied by the class for whom it is intended: and that I can think of no better way than to get it into the free libraries. Therefore, since a very large number of these libraries have great difficulty in buying all the books they would like to have, I shall be very much obliged to the readers of these columns if they will send me the names and addresses of the free libraries in their neighbour- hood. I do not mean village libraries, but those of cities and town*. I propose, therefore, to set apart 300 copies, and will have them forwarded as presentation copies to the address given. If the member would like to give a copy himself, I can have it sent to him direct, and will leave it to him to give the library. I should like letters on this subject addressed to me at Hampstead, and in case of any considerable response I will undertake to have the books sent in order of application. As an illustration of the decay of the book trade, a circular has been sent to me by a correspondent in Bradford, Yorkshire. It announces the melancholy fact that one of the leading booksellers in the town is giving up the sale of books altogether. The firm says, in this circular: "Bookselling has been very unremu- nerative for many years past, and as we require the room for our quickly increasing stationery trade, we have decided to give up bookselling altogether." My correspondent adds: "There are 300,000 inhabitants in this city. There is not one shop now selling new books, and nothing else. And there is only one second-hand bookseller." Meantime it is nearly a year since the Pub- lishers' Association sent out its proposals and since the Society of Authors considered those proposals. Are they going to propose any new method? It must be remembered that the prin- cipal features of the former scheme were—(1) to tax the public by adding something like 11 per cent. to the price of a book; (2) to take an addi- tional twopence or so on a six shilling volume for themselves; (3) to give the bookseller an additional fourpence or so; and (4) to give the author nothing more at all. They also propose to strike at the root of freedom and independence by refusing to allow the bookseller to treat his own property as he pleases. These proposals, therefore, were rejected. In any new ones it is certain that the public must not be taxed ; that the booksellers' position must be improved; and that the publishers must suffer some loss. The authors will find out what that is, and take steps accordingly. It is, of course, too much to hope that the publishers will openly place the real figures before the authors and the booksellers. We must do that for them. The proposal that the author shall pay a certain sum of money towards the publication of his book is now, I am assured by the Secretary, becoming much more common with publishers than was formerly the case when reputable persons would not produce a book, or offer to produce a book, with such help from the author. To propose it would have seemed to show either a disbelief in the book or the poverty of the house. When the amount asked for is equivalent to the whole cost of production, or more, it means that the publisher may gain a great deal and cannot lose. A variant has lately appeared. 1 saw recently an offer which at first sight seemed quite " sport- ing." The publisher offered a royalty of 40 per cent. on the first 500 copies, and then 15 per cent.  ## p. 210 (#222) ############################################ 2IO THE AUTHOR. for all copies to follow. This seemed really noble! The royalty, if the book was a 6*. one, meant over 2s. 4d. a copy for 500 copies and iOjrf. for all following copies. Very pretty, indeed. What does a grumbling, greedy, grasp- ing Society think of that? Well, it meant a firm belief in the future success of the book, because the first royalty must mean a dead loss on 500 copies. Thus, for a tolerably large edition, costing with advertising is. a copy, or, say, .£150, after the first 500 copies, the publisher would lose .£130 approximately. After the first 1000, he would be a loser of .£65. After the next 1000 he would be a gainer of .£65. After the third 1000 he would be a gainer of £ 195. In every follow- ing 1000 the difference between the author and himself would be enlarged. You now see the true generosity of this offer. But, somehow, he distrusted his own proposal after all, for he supplemented it by a suggestion that if the author would kindly advance a certain sum on the cost of the book he should have such a number of the books sent to him as he could retail among his friends for the double. A hundred per cent. profit! Who could resist such a temptation Y And what a beautiful prospect of publishing in the near future opens out before us! We are to pay a publisher for producing the book (which is done by the printer), and we are then to sell the book ourselves. We shall have to hawk it about at dinner parties: in clubs: on the golf links: wo shall stand at church doors with the books in a basket: between the acts we shall offer it to the stalls: we shall insert an advertisement of the book in every private letter: we shall send slips describing the book to all our friends: we shall engage those who are near to us to join in this charming excursion into retail lines. There is no end to the dignity, the honour, the glory that awaits Literature when this nobleman—I must anticipate tlie distinction that awaits him—has succeeded in persuading authors to accept his proposals. Walter Besant. MILTON'S HOETON. BY common consent Milton is considered our second greatest poet, and therefore Milton's shrine (or shrines) should rank only second in interest to that of Shakespeare. Yet for a hundred pilgrims who visit Stratford- on-Avon there is not probably more than one who betakes him to Horton, or Chalfont, or even to Cripplegate. This is partly accounted for by the fact that all Shakespeare's life was connected more or less with Stratford; but Milton wandered much. Part of his youth was spent at Horton, in Buckinghamshire, and his latter days in London. He wrote" Comus," " L'Allegro," "II Penseroso," and, perhaps, "Lycidas" at Horton; and therefore it seems fitting that the literary pilgrim should think about Milton in the fields and woods of Buckinghamshire before seeking his more frequented shrine in the City of London. John Milton, the poet's father, was a scrivener in Bread-street, London, where his son was born; he retired from business, and went to live at Horton. Thither the son also retired at the age of twenty-four, and his pastoral poems appear to have been the expression of his peace and contentment in that rural home. This was after his scholastic life at Cambridge, and before his foreign travel and all the storm and stress which tossed him about in his maturer years. We could ill afford to lose the product of the five years passed so tranquilly at Horton. It may be true, as the late Mark Pattison remarks in his volume on Milton in the English Men of Letters Series, that this poet's love of Nature was chiefly academical; that he regarded Nature as he thought she ought to be regarded, and as the Latin poets had regarded her; that he did not look at her with the close and original observation of a naturalist or a painter; that he wrote of her from a subjective point of view, describing not so much Nature herself as the feelings which she awakens in one whose outer eyes are half-closed, and whose spirit takes in but vague suggestions. Yet, oven so, why not r< Nature's visible moods have been chronicled by many poets, of whom the foremost is Wordsworth; the influence of Nature reflected on the mind of a student and scholar has been exquisitely indicated by Milton. And what did he see at Horton which could suggest the lovely lines of his pastorals, and infuse into them a grace which makes them, even now, household words'? And what do we see when we visit the Buckinghamshire village, so near to the metropolis, yet so apart from the rush of life? It is practically the very Horton of the seventeenth century; a church, two or three gentlemen's houses, and a score of scattered cottages; its tale of deaths is about eight a year, and of weddings it sees about one in three years. We behold the very scene which Milton saw. Wraysbury Station is situated on the sluggish Colne, which is here utilised for a mill; there is a sound of water falling gently over a small weir, and a few feet lower all is placid again. From  ## p. 211 (#223) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 21 I the station we walk on a dusty unshaded road for the distance of a mile; on either side are ditches, banks, and hedges, revelling in all the riot of June; roses star the hedges, and privet thrusts forward its thick white fingers; forget-me-not and meadow-sweet nod above the still water in the broad ditch. Overhead in the fathomless blue the lark is shaking down his "delirious music "; the swallow skims over the field where men are lazily turning the thin crop of hay. We pass a weed-grown marsh, and, turning to the left, soon come upon the Colne again; here it moves another mill, of which the irregular out- buildings are reflected in the unrippled pool, making a pretty picture. A little further on and we are in the village, where even now the children drop curtseys to the stranger pilgrim. On the right is the red-brick lodge to the grounds of a modern private house which stands on the site of that occupied by John Milton, senior. Before building the present structure it was ascertained by the owner of the land that no vestige what- ever remained of the house wherein the great poet spent his only long spell of country life. On the left we come to the Five Bells Inn, so called, it is believed, because the inn is parish property and there are five bells in the church tower. At the time of the Queen's first jubilee there was some talk of adding another bell to the peal, but public opinion would not permit an act which would have rendered unintelligible the name of the old inn! A few steps further on is the church, the shrine to which we are travelling; that church in which Milton must have constantly worshipped. It is restored, and yet it is the ancient one; we enter, and the spirit of prayer is upon us. They should count themselves blest who can here worship with every surrounding of reverence and every privilege of devotion. Looking to the modern chancel, which speaks of frequent services, we see that the east window, newly placed there, is in memory of Milton. As to the fabric, it retains some most valuable features; the north porch is in the main a very ancient one, singularly wide; the door is set within an arch finely carved in rows of elaborate moulding. The interior, airy and spacious, shows us short, thick, Norman pillars; a massive stone font is also Norman, and has a cable mould- ing round the rim. As we walk about the church we see many stones beneath our feet commemo- rating the forefathers of the hamlet, and bearing dates of the 17th century. Just within the chancel is a dark grey slab of marble with this inscription: "Heare lyeth the body of Sarah Milton, the widow of John Milton, who died the 3 of April, 1637." In the lives of famous men we usually find that the mother's influence played a great part; but in Milton's autobiographical writings little is said of his mother. Yet, by comparing dates, we discover that immediately after Sarah Milton's death her husband and his family left Horton, and never again lived in the country except during the short and unimportant stay at Chalfont St. Giles, also in Bucks; it would seem that the charm of rural quietude was broken by the death of the wife and mother. The widower returned to the busy bustle of London; the poet son set off on his continental travels. Here, at our feet, where "the kneeling hamlet drains the chalice of the grapes of God," lie the remains of the mother of one of England's greatest poets; it is a spot which is, for every reason, very sacred to us. We leave the neatly-kept churchyard, littered only by rose leaves, and, passing through the lych-gate, proceed a little further into the village, noting the unfrequented roads and lanes sentinelled by elms, just as they were two hundred years ago. At one point a sudden opening reveals the grey outline of Windsor Castle, with its sturdy Bound Tower "bosomed high in tufted trees." To Milton's eyes that tower appeared precisely as it does to ours this day—the crown of the royallest of all royal residences in Europe. This gap which arrests us for a long gaze is exactly facing the front door of Horton Rectory, which we now enter. Here we find the typical English parish priest —the man of culture and courtesy, with the sur- roundings of a good citizen. The house is partly old and partly new—the old probably of anterior date to Milton's days. He may have sat dreamily in this quaint and beautiful garden hall, seeing the bright flowers in the garden, hearing the twitter of birds and the humming of bees. Oak beams support the ceilings, and oak panels face the walls. Over everything is the hush of midday and midsummer, and quiet talk about the past and about the poet seems wholly in keeping with the same. And we feel ourselves presently in actual manual touch with Milton's days, for the rector brings forth a thin volume which contains the register of the burial of Sarah Milton, three days after her death. True, it is but copied from an older register, but this book is dated only a little later than the poet's death. After seeing all that is to be seen, and, indeed, little remains in any way connected with Milton, we take leave of the hospitable rectory, and go out again among the pasture fields and waving trees, and stretches of marshy ground, and glimpses of distant blue hills, and all those un- altered features of Nature, who retains her youth and freshness as long as man leaves her to her-  ## p. 212 (#224) ############################################ 2 I 2 THE AUTHOR. self. The pilgrim returns to the city which was, after all, Milton's chosen home; and in his memory will long dwell the picture of the little tranquil village and the cool, silent church. Often in his later years of blindness and trouble the poet must have re-imaged to himself those same scenes—his father's house, his mother's grave. F. Bayford Harrison. Ventnor Villa, Weybridge. CORRESPONDENCE. L—William Black and the Saturday Review. TI THE story which you treat with some | scepticism in your "Notes and News" was one that our friend Black was fond of telling. Sir Wemyss Reid has stated that Black told him he brought out "A Daughter of Heth" anonymously because the Saturday had "slated" his previous novels. This was not a joke of Black's, but the literal fact. When the novel first came out Black and I were acting as assistant editors to Mr. Frank Hill at the Daily News. This work threw us, necessarily, much together, and I do not think anyone now living was more intimate with Black than I was in those happy days. He kept the secret of his book from all his friends, and I first knew that " A Daughter of Heth" was his when one night at the office he produced the paper with the favourable review, and showed it with a boyish glee at the "rise" he had taken out of his enemy. Of all our friend's literary triumphs, and they followed rapidly on the success of "A Daughter of Heth," not one gave him such un- bounded satisfaction as this. The three years or so that he remained with us at the Daily News after this recognition of his genius, were the golden days of his early and rising fame, and he never forgot the friends nor the events of that exciting time. May I also suggest that the statement "there were only two novels to 'slate '" in 1871 is not accurate. "James Merle" I never saw, but "Love or Marriage" and "In Silk Attire" were followed by "Kilmeny," and that by "The Monarch of Mincing Lane." I am not quite sure as to the order in which the last two appeared, but I think that if Black had put an author's name on the title-page of "A Daughter of Heth," he would have described himself as the author of "Kilmeny," which is the best of the novels of his earlier and unappreciated days. 1, Upper Woburn-place, P. W. Clayden. Jan. 5, 1899. II.—Type-writing as a Profession. Some members of the Society of Authors, who make it a matter of conscience, wherever possible, to help struggling people with work, may be interested in learning the system on which their typewriting will perhaps be done for them at certain offices. The manager of the office undertakes to type your work at, say, l0d. per thousand words. She also takes pupils in typewriting for three or six months, who pay her so many guineas as a premium. The manager takes your money and their pre- miums, and they do your work! It may be urged that there is nothing actually dishonest in this. The work is done at the price agreed, and the pupils learn to use, and have practice in using, a type-writer in return for the premium. But the net result is that your money goes into the hands not of the young women who type but of the astute manager (or more often manageress) who exploits them. Meantime, of course, offices managed on this system compete with the struggling individual typist, and as they not only pay nothing for their labour, but even are paid by their pupils for the privilege of doing the work, it is easy to see that the competition is severe. In order to combat this system I would suggest to members of the Society that they should, as far as possible, employ only typists who actually do their work themselves, and do not either farm it out (on the sweating system) to others, or, worse, use it as a means of getting premiums. In these hard times there are so many young women who type-write for a living, and find a diffioulty in earning a bare subsistence, that no one would willingly take the bread out of their mouths in order to enrich clever exploiters of other people's labour. T r r St. John E. C. Hankin. III. — Payment on Acceptance of Articles. I see one of your contributors brings a com- plaint against the Strand Magazine. I am un- connected with this periodical, and therefore know nothing of its justness; but there is one merit that the Strand Magazine possesses—in common, so far as my own wide experience goes, with but one other magazine, viz., the Woman at Home—for which it ought to receive the fullest praise. It pays on acceptance. Only the hardworking, modest contributor knows how much hardship and even suffering are inflicted by the unfair and unbusinesslike proceeding of the majority of magazines in paying on publication.  ## p. 213 (#225) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 213 Can any of your readers suggest any legal means by which pressure could be put on such periodi- cals P Penman. IV.—Forms Wanted. Considering the constant difficulties that occur between editor and contributor respecting pay- ment, may I suggest that the Society provide printed forms for sale to its members which shall express in polite and businesslike terms all that is necessary for an unknown author to say when offering his work for publication. Another suggestion I venture to make, i.e., that the Society grant to those of its members and associates who care to make use of it, the right to put some distinguishing initials after their names. I have found by experience that careless and unprincipled persons frequently respect the Society, and do not lightly trifle with its members when they know them to be such. If isolated authors were to address editors in a businesslike tone, or should they make their membership of the Society too evident, it might offend. A Well-Wisher. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. L 'Tis true that 'twas right to dissemble your love, But why did yon kick me down stairs? COULD any of your readers tell me where the above lines come from, and in connec- tion with what, if any, historical event or personage they were written? J. M. Lely. H. Will one of your readers kindly inform me which is the correct way to write this question: "Who am I like ?" or " Whom am I like ?" also which is the best way of expressing the following sentence: "She wanders onward by the hedge oblivious of his presence, whomsoever he may be," or " whoever he may be." Ignoramus. BOOK TALE. fl^HE most remarkable item of news this I month is the fact that Messrs. Methuen contemplate an interesting experiment in publishing. They are about to issue at six- pence, under the general title of "Methuen's Library of Fiction," stories by well-known authors of the day. A few books will be reprints, but most will be new works hitherto un- published in book form. The first book thus published will be a new novel by Mr. E. W. Hornung. Mr. Robert Barr and Mr. Cutclitfe Hyne will follow, and later will be published books by Mr. Baring Gould aud others. In some cases the book will lie published simul- taneously at sixpence and at a higher price. Messrs. Methuen say that they "recognise the inevitable tendencies of an age of cheap litera- ture. The theatre has its stalls and its pit, the railway its first and its third classes: so the novelist may well have a double audience, and, while the wealthy will still pay 6*. for their novels, those of limited means may purchase the same book in a decent but less luxurious form." Other examples of sixpenny books are two volumes of Lord Tennyson's Poems, which Messrs. Macmillan are issuing. The first will contain all the earlier poems and " In Memoriam," and the second will contain "Maud." Benjamin Swift's next book, entitled "Siren City," is virtually a study of Puritanism versus Paganism. The title refers to Naples, the scene being laid in the old Maddaloni Palace there. The first chapter, however, begins, and the last closes, in London. The work will appear during the spring. '. Accessory Before the Fact " is the title of a new book by Mrs. Leith Adams (Mrs. R. S. de Courcy Lafl'an), which Mebsrs. Digby, Long, and Co. are publishing. Dr. A. Conan Doyle is naming his new novel "A Duet with an Occasional Chorus." It is the story of the happy married life of a young couple of the middle class. It has not appeared serially, and it will be published next month. Mr. S. R. Crockett's story, "A Woman of Fortune," will be published by Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton. It has been appearing in monthly instalments in the Woman at Home. Miss Ethel Hynam is editing, for publication by Mr. Elliot Stock, a new series of folk tales entitled " The European Folk Tale Series." The collection will represent Russian, Mongolian, Slavonic, Polish, Bohemian, and Servian tales, each volume containing the tales of one country. The first, entitled "The Secrets of the Night/' contains examples of Esthonian folk stories, and will be illustrated by Mr. H. Oakes-Jones. Mr. Stanley's " Through the Dark Continent," is being published in eighteen sixpenny parts by Messrs. Newnes, by arrangement with Messrs. Sampson Low.  ## p. 214 (#226) ############################################ 214 THE AUTHOR. Miss Mary Deane has written "The History of the Family of Dean, Deane, and Adeane," which Mr. Elliot Stock will bring out shortly. An article on the poetesses of the day appears in the current number of the Quarterly Review. Mr. John Lane is about to publish in monthly parts an edition of White's " Selborne," contain- ing notes by Mr. Grant Allen and pictures by Mr. E. H. New. Mr. Edward H. Cooper has passed for press a volume of short stories entitled "Children, Race- horses, and Ghosts," which Messrs. Duckworth will publish this month. Mr. Cooper has also nearly completed a new racing novel called " The Monk Wins." He has in view a series of fairy stories for publication in November. The awards of the Academy for the best books of the past year are as follows: 50 guineas to Mr. Sidney Lee for his " Life of Shakespeare "; 50 guineas to Mr. Maurice Hewlett for "The Forest Lovers"; 50 guineas to Mr. Joseph Conrad for his " Tales of Unrest." It should be explained that the Academy's object in this enterprise is " to seek for promise, sincerity, and thoroughness in literary art rather than to acknowledge fulfilment." Only two books were "crowned " in the previous year, but the selec- tion this year proved such a difficult matter that three prizes were awarded. Mr. Wirt Gerrare, author of " The Warstock," is writing a historical tale treating of firearms on their introduction into Europe. The story is laid in France in the period of Jeanne d'Arc. Mr. A. H. Evans, of Clare College, is the author of the ninth volume of the Cambridge Natural History, in which he treats of birds, essaying "the difficult and apparently un- attempted task of including in some 600 pages a short description of nearly every form in very many of the families, and of the most typical or important of the innumerable species included in the large Passerine Order. Prefixed to each group is a. brief summary of the structure and habits." A volume of stories by Mr. Bernard Capes, entitled "At a Winter's Fire," will be published shortly by Messrs. Pearson. Mr. F. Carruthers Gould has collected for publi- cation in volume form his political and other cartoons that have appeared in the Westminster Gazette during the last two years. They number rorty in all, and the volume will be published from the Westminster Gazette office in two editions shortly before the opening of Parlia- ment. Mr. Castell Coates has sent copies of his "Fairy Book" to H.M. the Queen and to Princess Henry of Battenberg, which have been graciously accepted by them. Colonel H. B. Hanna will produce early this month the first volume of the "Second Afghan War; its Causes, its Conduct, and its Conse- quences," published by Messrs. A. Constable and Co. Mr. George Moore has re-written a large part of his latest novel, " Evelyn Innes," which was published in June last, in view of a new edition. The alterations concern the middle chapters of the story, and principally affect the character Sir Owen Asher. Mr. William Sharp has written a tragic romance, entitled " Silence Farm," and a volume of short stories, which will appear under the title "Sister Eunice." He has also nearly ready for publication two volumes of literary criticism, namely, " Studies in Contemporary Literature" and " From Delacroix to Whistler." A writer in the Daily Chronicle, by the way, suggests that Mr. Sharp and the author known as "Fiona Macleod " are identical. A mining story, by "Victoria Cross," will be published by Messrs. Walter Scott. It is called "A Girl of Klondike." Miss Florence Warden lays the scenes of her next novel in Scotland. The work has just been completed, and will appear under the title "The Love that Lasts." "The Letters of Robert Browning and Eliza- beth Barrett" will appear on the 7th inst., from Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co. These two volumes contain the love letters of the famous couple. A library of copyright works of fiction is being issued for the colonies and India by Messrs Chatto and Windus. The first of the series will be " Infatuation," by Mrs. B. M. Croker, which was published a few weeks ago. This will be followed by Sir Walter Besant's " St. Katherine's by the Tower," and works by other authors. The volumes in this new series are to sell at half- a-crown. Miss Beatrice Harraden is calling her new story, which is to be ready in April, "The Fowler." The reference is to the passage in the Ptalms "Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler." The Rev. Dr. John Watson (Ian Maclaren) has finished his " Life of Christ." The Queen has been graciously pleased to accept a copy of Mr. William Toynbee's book of  ## p. 215 (#227) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 2'5 verse, "On Oaten Flute," which was published last month by Mr. H. J. Glaisher of Wigmore- street. The initial chapters of Mr. G. S. Layard's work on " Suppressed Plates" (of the legitimate sort) are now appearing in the Pall Mall Magazine. A curious experiment in translation by the same author will be found in the Cortihill. Mr. Max Pemberton has dramatised his "Kronstadt." THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH. [Dec. 23 to Jan. 23—208 Books.] Aitken, W. H. M. H. The Romance of Christian Work and Achieve- ment. Shaw. Anderson, J. W. The Power of Nature in Disease. 1/6 net. Simpkin. Andrews, W. (ed.). Bygone Church Life in Scotland. 7/6. Andrews. Andrews, W. (ed.). Ecclesiastical Curiosities. 7/6. Andrews. Annand, E. F. With the Tirah Field Force. 1/- Terry. Anonymous (*). Alone. An Introspective Work. 6/- net. Smithers. Anonymous (" A Gentleman of the University of Cambridge.") The Tale of Archais. A Romance in Verse. 2/6. Paul. Anonymous (Author of "A Desperate Remedy "). In Sackcloth and Ashes. 16. Stevens. Anonymous (0. T. M.). Sonnets. 2/6. Edinburgh: R. W. Hunter. Archibald, D. Weather Types in Relation to Long-Period For coasting. Eyre and Spottiswoode. Arkwright, J. P. Cablnet-Making for Amateurs. 2/6. L. U. Gill. Arnold, A. W. The Attack on the Farm, and Other Stories 6/- Wnlte. Arumugam, S. From Siva to Christ. 1/- Marshall Bros. Bagsbawe, J. B. Rosary Meditations. 1/- Oath. Truth Soc, Bailey, G. H. Advanced Inorganic Chemistry. 3/6. Clive. Bailey, L. H. Sketch of the Evolution of Our Native [American] Fruits. 7/6 net. Macmillan. Bain, F. W. On the Realisation of the Possible, and the Spirit of Aristotle. 7/6. Parker. Ball, W. W. R. Notes on History of Trinity College, Cambridge. 2 6 net. Macmillan. Barry, William. The Two Standards. 6/- Unwin. Battersby, C. Song of the Golden Bough, and Other Poems. 3/6 net. Constable. Bennett, Lucy A. White Hyacinths, and Other Poems. 2/6. Marshall Bros. Benson, M., and Gourlay, J. Temple of Mut in Asher. 21/- Murray. Berry, A. Short History of Astronomy. 6/- Murray. Birrell, Augustine. Seven Lectures on the Law and History of Copy- right in Books. 3/6 net. Cassell. Birrell, Augustine. Oration on the Ideal University. 6d. University College Union Society. Bouvier, J, Encyclopaedic Dictionary of English and American Law. 507- net. Sweet and M. Briekdale, 0. F., and Sheldon, W. R. The Land Transfer Acta, 1875 and 1897. 20/- Stevens. Bridges. M. M. A New Handwriting for Teachers. 5/- net. Frowde. 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