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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) 1899-09-01 Volume 10 Issue 4 Pages Page range in volume 77–96 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18990901 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Che &#utbor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. CONDUCTED Monthly.) BY WALTER BESANT. 2% ~=36-: Voz. X.— No. 4.] SEPTEMBER 1, 18g9. [PRICE SIXPENCE. For the Opinions expressed in papers that are stgned 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 iS they are officially signed by G. Herbert . Thring, Sec. HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and ‘ requests that all members not receiving an answer to ~ geri important communications within two days will write to him ~ Jie without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered tis’ letter only. Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub- jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are » returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS. a GENERAL MEMORANDA. ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an agreement. There are four methods of dealing with literary property :— : I. THAT OF SELLING IT OUTRIGHT. #2 This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper 2° price can be obtained. But the transaction should be ‘wee, managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the 81508 Secretary of the Society. 1. A PROFIT-SHARING AGREEMENT (a bad form of u°otes agreement). tol ‘Tn 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 without the strictest investigation. : (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the ' profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements © in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise- / ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “ office expenses,” unless the same allowance is made to the author. VOL. X. (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 ! II. THE ROYALTY SYSTEM. It is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures connected with royalties are published in The Author. Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the “Cost of Production.” IV. A COMMISSION AGREEMENT. The main points are :— (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production. (2) Keep control of the advertisements. (3) Keep control of the sale price of the book. GENERAL. All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four above mentioned. Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author. Never sign any agreement without competent advice from the Secretary of the Society. Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp. Avoid agreements by letter if possible. The main 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. > exe WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS. 70 2. Never negotiate for the production of a play with anyone except an established manager. H 2 EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some competent legal authority. 78 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract :— (1) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT. This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters into such a contract should stipulate in the con- tract for production of the piece by a certain date and for proper publication of his name on the play-bills. (2) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE HALF-PROFIT SYSTEM. This method can only be entered into when a fixed sum is agreed per week for cost of produc- tion. It is not a common method. (3) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES (4.e., royalties) on gross receipts. Royalties vary between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts. Should obtain a sum in advance of royalties. A fixed date on or before which the play should be performed. 4. Authors should remember that performing rights can be limited, and are usually limited by town, country, and time. This is most important. 5. Authors should not assign performing rights, but should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is of great importance. 6. Authors should remember that performing rights in a play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot print the book of the words. 7. Never send a copy of the play to America unless it is protected by a preliminary performance in the United Kingdom. 8. A satisfactory agreement for collaboration is difficult. Such agreements should be avoided. 9. An author should remember that production of a play is highly speculative: that he runs a very great risk of delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract. He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in the beginning. to. An author must remember that the dramatic market is exceedingly limited. As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete on account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con- tracts, those authors desirous of further information are referred to the Secretary of the Society. Ss * HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. I. is member has a right to ask for and to receive advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solici- tor, 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 Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publisher’s agreements do not generally fall within the THE AUTHOR. experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society. 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the books represented. The Seoretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The information thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :—(1) To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. THE READING BRANCH. EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this branch of their work by informing young writers of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated asa composition is treated by a coach. The Readers are writers of competence and experience. |The fee is one guinea. NOTICES. rs Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. Communications for The Author should be addressed to the Offices of the Society, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn Fields, W.C., and should reach the Editor not later than the 21st of each month. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Hditor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. The present location of the Authors’ Club is at 3, White- hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, &c.  THE AUTHOR. 79 LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—On Commissron—A WARNING. Pr tinite on commission might be—may be, with proper care—the best method of publica- tion—the Method of the Future. As it is at present practised, and as it is proposed to practise it by the Draft Agreements of the Publishers’ Association, it is the very worst. At the present moment many publishers are making every effort to produ:e books on commission. The following extracts from the “ Draft Agreements,” showing what it means according to their avowed claims, should prove useful as a warning : 1. A fee of shall be paid to the pub- lisher previous to opening an account for its production and publication. 2. The Publisher will supply the author with estimates for the printing, and will charge a com- mission of per cent. on the trade prices for printing, paper, binding, advertising, and other disbursements, and reserve to himself the right to take the usual credit or the equivalent cash discount for cash payments, but no such discount shall exceed 7} per cent. 3. The Author or Proprietor shall, before the work is sent to press, pay the publisher a suffi- cient sum to meet the estimated charges for production and publication, including such a sum for advertising as the Author or Proprietor may deem desirable. 4. The Publisher will charge a commission of per cent. on the sales. 5. The Publisher shall account at the customary trade terms for all copies sold, but in cases where copies have been sold for export or at rates below the customary trade terms, as remainders or otherwise, such copies shall be accounted for at such lower prices. 6. The entire management of the production, publication and sale of the work shall be in the hands of the Publisher. 7. Accounts will be made up annually to and rendered within months after the date of making up, and the balance due paid on : This means that the publisher must get some- thing, even if the book does not sell. It will be seen immediately that he means to get a great deal, whether the book sells or not. Observe the wording, the “Publisher will supply, &c.” Now the “ Printer will supply.” Therefore, the Publisher may send in his own estimate, charging what he pleases. On this he takes a percentage of what he pleases. It is his interest that everything should be charged as highly as possible. For instance, it does not matter to him whether the author loses or how much he loses. It is his interest that the book should be advertised as largely as possible, but under clause 3 the author can control the advertising. As to binding, it is not usual to bind more than is wanted. His estimate will include binding for the whole. There is nothing to prevent this. In addition he is to take 7} per cent. discount. Why in advance? Printers, &c., are not paid in advance. This gives the publisher the use of the money for six months or so. How much should his commission be ? What are “customary trade terms ae The “entire management”? But by clause 3 the author is to decide what sum should be spent on advertisements. In. other words, in every case except the one in which skilled advice is wanted, the Publisher is to have the manage- ment. In that case, in which the Author is pre- sumably quite ignorant, and the Publisher has some skill, the Author must decide. Accounts are to be made up “ annually.” Why not semi-annually ? Payments to be made so many months afterwards. Why not immediately? Because 80 THE AUTHOR. 8. The Publisher does not undertake to send the publisher wants to have the use of the out copies of the work on sale or return. _ money. g. The Publisher will not be responsible for Why should not books be sent out on sale or loss or damage by fire or in transit. return? It is the only way of offering certain 10. The Publisher will deliver the five copies books to the public. required by Act of Parliament for the British Museum and Public Libraries. 11. The Author shall guarantee to the Pub- lisher that the said work is in no way whatever a violation of any existing copyright, and that it contains nothing of a libellous or scandalous character, and that he will indemnify the Publisher from all suits, claims, proceedings, damages, and costs which may be made, taken, or incurred by or against him on the ground that the work is an infringement of copyright, or contains anything libellous or scandalous. 12. When the Publisher considers that the Why should the Publisher have the right of demand for the work has ceased, the unsold stock disposal of remainder copies? They belong to may be returned to the Author or Proprietor, or the Author. G.HT disposed of at the Publisher’s discretion, after due notice of such intention has been given to the Author or his representatives. A simple example will show the nature of a commission agreement, such as that proposed by the above “ draft.” : : We will take our favourite unit, the six-shillmg book, and an edition of 3000 copies, costing £150. Any other kind of book will do, but we may assume for our purpose any book we please. That most familiar is adopted. : ‘The author agrees to pay a commission of 10 per cent. with a fee of £5 in advance. He there- fore naturally supposes that he is to get the trade price less 10 per cent.—or as 3s. 6d. is the average trade price, that-he will get, for each copy, the sum of 3s. 1¢¢. He makes calculations. He reads in the “ Cost of Production” that his book can be produced for about £150, so that the sale of 1000 copies will clear him. By the sale of 2000 copies he will realise £160. By that of 3000 he will realise £300—everybody knows the dreams of the penniless. When the accounts come in, he learns the true meaning of publishing on commission according to the “equitable” arrangements—pronounced “equitable”’ by a learned Q.C. : In the figures published in The Author of last July, it was assumed that the publisher would make fuller use of the licence granted him. The percentage on the sales was taken to be 15 per cent. The fee was taken as £10. It is suggested that if the full amount charged for binding was not spent, the publisher would have to return it when the stock came in. But the stock does not “come in,” as a rule: it is sold as remainder copies in sheets for a very small sum. The case is now, however, presented with more moderate, if not more probable, figures. The publisher sends, not the printer’s, but Ais own estimate, called in the draft agreement the “trade prices.” He sends an estimate charging 10 per cent. additional, on which, again, he is to charge a commission. He charges 10 per cent. On the discount he is to take 74 per cent. He sets down sales, not at the actual price, but at the “customary” trade price. This enables him to take off another percentage on the plea of bad debts or anything else. : The author pays in advance, and is repaid in a year or a year and a half. Now, then, for the account: Cost of production : £ i s. Printer’s estate 2.00.60 ka 80 0 oO ia, Publishers estimate 0... ce mes 88 0 Oo With the addition of 10 per cent. on these trade prices ......... 96 16 0 ' 6  THE AUTHOR. 81 Binding : Binder’s estimate (say 33d.) Publisher’s estimate .............6.-.605. Oe Ditto with ro per cent. on trade price, say, at 43d. .........-0+ Advertising : Money paid, say........ceeesseeeeseecee ens Money charged with percentage .............1..:.---seeereer tte tree In publisher’s own organs The sale of 2000 copies at “ customary trade prices” what he pleases. Perhaps he will be content with 73 per cent. under this heading. 10 per cent. for commission. The account now stands thus: 2 og Cost of printing and paper ...... G0 16 © Pett 56 2G CO Adverse cc AG TO OO @orrections (Gay) ........s......-- 2.0 0 Rublishers tee. >. 4. 5 OO Extra expenses ......... 7 5 oO 8 gs 292 10 O o 0 33 OO 4 50° 5 9 Os 25 OO 27 10 0 20 0 C€ 47 10 0 gives the publishers the right of setting down He then deducts ss. 8, a. Sale of 2000 copies at ‘ custo- mary trade price,” say 3s. 3d... 325 9 O Tness ro percent, .................. 32 10 0 Z92 10 oO 202 10 © _ The author, therefore, who has had to pay £209 118. in advance, loses on the sale of 2000 copies £130 12s. But the publisher must return the sum not spent in binding. He must, legally. Let the author, therefore, recover the sum of £18 15s. in a court of law. What has the publisher made ? On the cost of printing On the cost of binding ...... 2 On the cost of advertising py Ghetee .. ss... - st By the “ customary trade price’ By the commission on the sales ......... > By the use of £200 for six months at 5 per cent. FL By the use of £78 for a year and a half at 5 per cent. Beye ea ENON Cece Cetra sere rs SEO ses £2 10. Clase a ee oS: 16 16 22 10 Oo Oo IO oO 17 000000008 Ww bv uu nuit 125. 3 0 This is a very profitable little piece of business, all to be got out of a 10 per cent. commission. Now, had the author received a royalty of 15 per cent. only he would have made £90 instead of losing £130. commission. I].—Tue Manacement or MSS. The question of the retention of MSS. by editors has been agitating the minds of a great number of members of our Society. It might be as well, therefore, to say a few words about the position of editors, legally and otherwise, with regard to MSS., and about the action of authors generally in the matter. In “The Pen and the Book,’ by Sir Walter Besant, a good deal has been written on this subject. Some of the main points, however, might be repeated in The Author. It is therefore intelligible why so many publishers are now trying to get books on like to hear the arguments by which this agreement and these results are called equitable. WB: Manuscripts should, when sent to magazines, be typewritten, and the author should invariably keep a copy. These two principles are funda- mental, and if authors adhered to them the complaint of the retention of MSS. would not be so frequently heard. Next, authors should be careful about the magazines they send their MSS. to—in the first instance, that the magazines are periodicals of substance and reputation ; secondly, that the MSS. are suitable to the particular magazines to which they are sent. In forwarding MSS. stamps and a directed envelope should be 82 THE AUTHOR. enclosed, and the author’s name and address should be written on the MSS. In some maga- zines editors invite MSS. to be sent to them, but the author must remember that when demanding the return of a MS. he must be able to show that it has reached the office, and not only has reached the office, but has come to the hands of a responsible party. In other magazines the editor makes no request for MSS., and, therefore, his position with regard to the possession of MSS. is slightly different from that of the editor men- tioned above.. In the first place, if the MS. has reached his hands, he will be bound to take rather more care of it than in the latter case, but in neither case may the editor be wilfully neglectful of the property in his charge. If, however, the MS. has not been acknowledged, and letters have been left unanswered, it is exceedingly difficult for the author to show that the MS. has reached the office, that it has come to the hands of a respon- sible party, and that it has been lost through the wilful neglect of theeditor. It isa simple matter, if the author has a copy of his MS., to write to the editor and state that he withdraws the offer of his MS. unless he hears definitely before a certain date, and that he will try and place it elsewhere. It is almost a universal rule that editors are courteous, obliging, and business-like, and will do their best to assist authors in the recovery of their MSS., but authors at the same time must remember that editors are overwhelmed with MSS. of all sorts and kinds, and that after all they are but human. It is very seldom that such a case occurs as once occurred at the office of the Society, when an editor stated that he would burn the MS. if the Society wrote again to him on the matter. This was in the early days of the Society. After a little mature consideration, the editor thought it advisable to adopt a different plan, and the MS. was returned in due course. It is quite certain that some of the so-called rudeness and unbusinesslike conduct of editors is due to corresponding characteristics in the authors who forward their MSS. It is exceed- ingly difficult for the Society to act in ca-es of this kind where the editor has been roundly abused by an author without any apparent cause or reason. Amongst the pile of MSS. and correspondence the editor cannot by any means reply by return of post, and it is often the case that through press of business he may not be able to answer for three or four weeks. In that case if the author is in a hurry to place his work he could withdraw the offer from the editor and ask for the return of his MS., but he must not grumble if the editor should finally repudiate his work and be unable to accept it for the magazine. It has, however, frequently occurred that the Society has been able to obtain a satisfactory answer from an editor and a satis- factory explanation when the author has been — unable to do so. In many cases this is due to the position which the Society now holds, and in other cases it is due to the fact of the author's unbusinesslike correspondence. Finally, it should be made clear to all authors that it is very doubtful, now that it is so easy to obtain typewritten copies of MSS., whether it might not be considered in an action brought against an editor a case of contributory negli- gence where the author failed to keep a copy of his own composition, and that though the © Society would be very willing to assist those who are unable to recover their MSS. when the case is — clear and the editor has been guilty of wilful neglect, yet in the ordinary course of business touching the circulation of MSS. it should be remembered that a great deal depends upon the machinery being carefully oiled, in other words, upon the courtesy and tact of the authors them- selves in the matter. G. FT. III.—Tuer BooxsELLERS AND THE PUBLISHERS, The following letter has been recently sent to the committee of the Publishers’ Association by a bookseller of high standing. He gives permis- sion for its publication. The name of the writer — is suppressed :— June 27, 1899. The Secretary of the Publishers’ Association. Dear Sir, I have pleasure in signing agreement re sale of net books, and return herewith. I cannot but observe, however, that it is a very one-sided affair, as it is in no way binding on the publishers themselves, who, so far as the agree- ment is concerned, are at liberty to supply “schools, libraries, and institutions,” below the net prices enforced on the retail trade. It is well known that these sources of business (though wrongfully ) are toa great extent supplied direct by the publishers themselves. I do not suppose that the publishers who sign — the ‘agreement ”’ claim a higher morality in trade matters than that which they assume governs the ~ retail members of the trade ; consequently there is the same danger of net prices being depreciated by the publishers themselves, as is apprehended by — them from retail booksellers. It is only fair, therefore, that a joint agreement — expressing equal obligations against under- — selling should be signed by both publishers and — retailers. I shall be glad to hear your views, as the  {ot iad THE AUTHOR. representative of the Publishers’ Association, on this subject. Tam, dear Sir, faithfully yours, A. B. To this letter, which is quite clear and straight- forward, a reply has been sent. The secretary of the Publishers’ Association informs the writer that his letter has been laid before his committee: and that he is directed to to state that “a clause embodying your sugges- tion was drafted by the publishers when the Form of Agreement was under consideration.” This is so far satisfactory. There was, therefore, some discussion as to the rights of the bookseller—the other party to the agreement. Why, then, has the “drafted” clause dis- appeared For the most amazing reason: the most unex- pected : the most inexplicable. Because they were advised that “it would have been illegal, and would invalidate the agreement.” Read the explanation carefully: read it again. Does it raean that it is beyond the power of the Law to bind both parties to certain terms and conditions ? What else can it mean? Let us learn what it means. It is not for us to suggest an explanation: there is a simple statement: the clause by which it was proposed that publishers should not undersell booksellers, and should not furnish libraries, schools, and institutions was actually framed and proved to be “illegal.” This is the only possible deduction. Booksellers are earnestly invited to consider this statement. It was pointed out in the June Author that the agreement bound the publishers to nothing and the booksellers to everything. They were called upon to promise to sell all books, if neces- sary, nothing being said to the contrary in the agreement, at a price fixed by the publishers. They were made to surrender the liberty of the subject, the personal right of dealing as they pleased with their own property. In return for this enormous concession they get—what? The advantage of a shilling or two on a high-priced book of which they might sell twenty, thirty, or fifty in the year. Is this good enough ? Is it not worth con- sidering whether the agreement should not be torn up until real and new concessions are made ? Meantime the Society of Authors, which was not consulted in this second agreement, has yet to be considered. 1V.—Copyrieut 1n RePpoRTED SPEECHES. An injunction was granted by Mr. Justice North in the Court of Chancery on Aug. 10 on behalf of Messrs. Walter, the proprietors of the VOU. X 83 Times, who sought to restrain Mr. John Lane from publishing, under the title of “ Apprecia- tions and Addresses delivered by Lord Rosebery,” reports of Lord Rosebery’s speeches copied from the Times. Mr. H. Terrell, Q.C. and Mr. McSwinney argued the case for the plaintitts, and Mr. Serutton for the defendant. In giving judgment, Mr. Justice North said (Daily Chronicle, Aug. 11): The question was not as between the author of the speech and the defendant, but as between the defendant and the person who reported the speech. If the person who made the report had any copyright in his report it was admitted that that copyright was now vested in the Times. The only question, therefore, was whether the reporter had copyright in the reports he had made. The reporter was not the author of the speeches, but he was the author of his report of the speech, and there was no doubt that it required a certain amount of experience to make these reports. He did not see why such a person should not have copyright, not in the speech itself, but in his version of the speech which he had made. Several reporters might make reports of a speech made in public, and each might have the copyright in his own publication if he had got the materials for himself. If Lord Rosebery wanted himself to publish these speeches, and could not write them from memory, he did not see the hardship of his being deprived of the right to publish speeches thrown to the winds without being regarded as of sufficient importance for copies to be kept of them. No doubt, if Lord Rosebery could remember these speeches, or had kept a record of them, or he might even refresh his memory from reports of them, he might be entitled to publish them, but he (the learned judge) did not think Lord Rose- bery would be entitled to publish the Tvmes reports of his speeches. The plaintiffs had satisfied all legal requirements for protecting the copyright that Mr. Brain (the reporter) might have in these reports, and that copyright was now vested in them. That being so, the plaintiffs were entitled to the injunction they asked for, and the defendant must be restrained until the trial of the action from copying the reports of _ these speeches or material parts thereof. It was intimated that the defendant would appeal. oo V.—Copyricut In JAPAN AND MONTENEGRO. A recent number of the London Gazette announced that by Order in Council the provisions of the International Copyright Convention will extend to Japan from July 15 last, and to Monte- negro from April 1 next. I 84 THE PARIS NOTES. , Rue Chomel, Paris. NHE majority of the lettered Parisian public is now en villégiature, and the capital is invaded by the usual summer swarm of “personally conducted parties,” private tourists, and globe-trotters. The heat is overpowering, making one’s thoughts turn yearningly in the direction of the cool moors and fresh sea breezes of the North, while the diurnal rise in the ther- mometer registers a corresponding depression in intellectual activity. The pulse beats langour- ously in this tropical atmosphere ; the fibres of the brain are submerged by a species of mental inertia which is oppressive as a living nightmare ; but enough! revenons a nos moutons. The election of M. Philippe Gille to the Académie des Beaux Arts has met with universal approval. It fitly coincided with the appearance of his monumental work on Versailles, in which he devotes several particularly fine chapters to discussing French art in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. M. Gille is competent to speak with authority on this matter, since he is himself a sculptor of no mean talent. Indeed, he appears to possess the happy faculty of assimilat- ing and making himself master of whatever subject he chances to undertake. In this respect he resembles our own Bulwer Lytton, though his work is, perhaps, more conscientious and less brilliant than that of the versatile Englishman. He is no believer in the old axiom respecting the fallacy of having too many irons in the fire at once, as his varied literary, dramatic, historical, critical, and journalistic achievements amply testify. By his election the Académie des Beaux Arts numbers four journalists among its forty members. According to the /égaro, the French Academy possesses six journalists in the same number of members, viz., MM. Legouvd, Mézitres, Claretie, Sorel, Lemaitre, and Paul Deschanel—though we should hardly consider four out of the six gentlemen above cited as journalists proper. Whether their number will be increased remains to be seen, since there are at present two empty fau- teutls vacated by the recent deaths of MM. Pail- leron and Cherbuliez. The latter was one of the famous Commission du Dictionnaire de la Langue Frangaise which, according to regulations, must always embrace six members. His death has reduced the number to five; hence the necessity of electing his successor as speedily as possible. As the Academy desires its tale of members to be complete at the opening of the year 1900, the election of the two new members and M. Lave- dan’s official reception will take place at the end AUTHOR. of the present year; while the following year’s proceedings will be opened with the official recep- tion of M. Paul Deschanel. A recent decree has authorised the Académie des Sciences to extend the number of its national and foreign correspon- dents to 116 contributors in lieu of 100. Among the foreign correspondents the Académie des Sciences already numbers, we find, no less than eighteen Englishmen and five Americans (United States) as opposed to eleven Germans, four Russians, and four Italians, the remaining nation- alities boasting no more than one—or, at most, two representatives. England likewise claims the pre-eminence on the list of foreigners admitted to the Institut de France as members and enjoying the same privileges as their French confreéres, seven Englishmen having been received against five Germans, five Italians, three Belgians, and one American, Austrian, Swede, Russian, Spaniard, Swiss, Dutchman, Hungarian, &c., comprising altogether thirty-two foreign members. And still further apropos of French academies may be mentioned the legacy of 420,000 francs lately bequeathed by M. Nobel to the Institut de France (which institute comprises the Académie Francaise, Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Académie des Beaux Arts, and Académie des Sciences), for the foundation of five annual international prizes, the said prizes being intended to recompense the following achievements: The three first, a discovery in physics, in chemistry, and in physiology; the fourth, a literary work of ideal tendency; while the fifth is to be bestowed on the person who shall have done the most. to establish the fraternity of nations in regard to the suppression or reduc- tion of standing armies and extension of peace congresses. The fourth prize is not likely to lack entries, since it offers a European reputation, in addition to the neat little sum of 300,000 franes. “La Faute des Roses” is the title of M. Felicien Champsaur’s new novel. This author is a well known literary celebrity, having contributed for upwards of twenty years to all the leading literary periodicals. The Italians call him the French D’Annunzio. “ Grand, brun, l’allure d’un mousquetaire—n’a pas encore quarante ans,” 1s the pithy description of his personality given by one of his acquaintances. But though M. Champ- saur's latest work is undoubtedly well written, and contains some interesting pages on Italy, Florence, and Venice,. the charm of the book is marred hy the licentious scenes therein portrayed. The Vicomte Brenier de Montmorand has been awarded a thousand francs by the French Aca- demy for a work entitled “ La Société Francaise Contemporaine”; and now M. Victor du Bled ?  THE AUTHOR. 85 proposes to give the public a “ Histoire de la Société Francaise,” beimg the publication of a series of lectures delivered by the author in the aristocratic salons of Mmes. la Comtesse d’Eu, la Duchesse de Vendéme, les Princesses de Mon- tholon-Sémonville and d’Arenberg, &c. The volume in question will deal with the society and women of the sixteenth century; the Court of Henry IV. and Marguerite of Navarre; the society surrounding Cardinal Richelieu ; Mazarin’s Nieces; Port Royal Society ; Alfred de Musset ; the ancient Diplomatists; Wits and Women of the eighteenth century, and French Society during the emigration period. M. du Bled is extremely popular in the circles he frequents, and it is not probable that his present literary venture will diminish the social prestige he now enjoys. The Correctional Chamber has deferred the hearing of M. Emile Zola’s suit against MM. Judet, Lasseur, and Marinoni of the Petit Journal until Oct. 8 next. In the meantime Mile. Adrienne Neyrat, editress of [Ami des bétes, has published an interesting letter from M. Zola, in which the eminent novelist assures her of his entire sympathy with her in the good work she has undertaken on behalf of “ our little brethren, the animals.” He further affirms that one of the cruellest out of the many bitter hours he has passed was that in which he abruptly learned in exile the death, ‘loin de moi,” of the little four-footed friend who had been his faithful companion during nine years. He con- tinues: “My wife wrote that he sought me everywhere, that he had lost his gaiety; that he followed her step by step with an air of infinite distress. I wept for him like a child, . . and even now it is impossible for me to think of him without being moved to tears, Of all my sacrifices the death of my dog in my absence has been one of the hardest.” Only those who have known by experience the unswerving fidelity, attachment, and abnegation of which a dog is capable, can fully appreciate or comprehend M. Zola’s grief on learning the death of his small canine comrade. Theatrical managers must undoubtedly con- sider “Cyrano de Bergerac” as the modern synonym of the bird that lays golden eggs for their benefit. MM. Moncharmont and Luguet’s travelling company which left Paris with this play on April 1, 1898, has returned, after touring for fifteen months in the principal towns of France, Belgium, Holland, Alsace - Lorraine, Switzerland, Algeria, Tunis, and Italy. This is the largest enterprise of the kind which has ever been undertaken, and it has been eminently successful. The outlay has not been small, including 225,000 francs paid to fifteen com- panies and states for conveyance of personnel and baggage by land only ; 270,000 franes disbursed to the artistes of the troupe; upwards of 30,000 francs paid to various gas and electric light com- panies; upwards of 75,000 francs given to the Public Assistance Caisse; 250,000 francs ex- pended in hiring theatres; and 60,000 francs in accessories, scenic decorations, arms, costumes, &e. Nevertheless, the receipts from “Cyrano” have been so satisfactory that MM. Moncharmont and Luguet have obtained a new licence from the author for a second tour which will commence with a series of representations at Brussels. The dissensions aroused by the will of Adolphe d’Ennery are now happily ended, the First Chamber having recognised the legality of the testament made by the wealthy dramaturgist in favour of his natural daughter, Mme. Leroux. The coquettish demurs of the State as to the advisability of accepting M. and Mme. d’Ennery’s donation of their private hotel and Oriental collec- tion (supplemented by an annual bequest of 16,000 francs for its conservation) have termi- nated in an affirmative ; and it is formally settled that, in accordance with the testator’s desire, the hotel in the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne shall be forthwith transformed into a Musée d’Ennery for the benefit of the public. The legal complications hampering the endowment of the long-expected Académie des Goncourt show small chance of being as speedily regulated. Kdmond de Goncourt founded a literary academy of ten members, of whom he only named eight, leaving the other two to be elected by the eight members already chosen immediately his new institution commenced to exercise its functions. In the interim the founder and his friend, Alphonse Daudet—one of the prin- cipal members—died ; and it is not altogether im- probable that the remaining members will follow their example before the affair is finally settled. Possibly they do not regard this contingency with a very lively regret, since at the recent anniversary of Edmond de Goncourt’s death the only flowers deposited on the brothers’ tomb were those plucked in the Grenier d’Auteuil by their faithful servant, Pélagie. Tt has been announced that the monument of Victor Hugo, by Barrias, destined to adorn the square which bears the great poet’s name, will not be erected for three years. No reason is given for this prolonged delay. The sub- scriptions, amounting to upwards of 64,000 franes, received by the Comité du monument d’Alexandre Dumas ji/s have enabled the com- mittee to request the State to nominate the sculptor it considered most competent to execute this commission satisfactorily. In accordance with the wishes of the Alexandre Dumas family, 86 THE and the preference expressed by the committee, M. de Saint-Marceaux, the clever artist of the Daudet monument, was the sculptor chosen. The rough cast of the proposed Dumas //s monument is already finished, and is composed of a group of three persons, viz., of Alexandre Dumas /ils and two symbolical figures representing the Theatre and Feminism, of which latter the great writer was one of the most eloquent apostles. This design is to be carried out in stone, and when finished it will be erected on the Place des Trois-Dumas. Armand Colin has recently published a rather notable book by M. Gaston Deschamps, entitled ‘La Malaise de la Démocratie.” The volume is dedicated : ‘‘T’o the good citizens who are afflicted by the Present and disquieted for the Future ; to the great Minister whom we lack, and the States- man whom we await.’ It is reported to be written in an agreeable style, and contains much solid information, including the author’s views on “ Les Débuts du régime démocratique, les Politiciens, le Césarisme et la Médiocratie, Pornographie et Scandales, les Aumoniers de la démocratie, la Pédagogie allemande, la Manie Anglo-Saxonne, la Malaise de l'Université, la Malaise de la jeunesse, Armée et la démocratie,’ and the im- perative need of reform. From the above category we should esteem M. Deschamps’ work an interesting and valuable publication ; yet it is scarcely sufficiently frivole to be recommended for holiday reading during the dog-days of August. M. Camille Flammarion, the renowned astro- nomer whose falsely reputed defection from the ranks of spiritualism lately caused such a com- motion among his numerous disciples of all nationalities, is at present engaged on a new volume entitled “L’Inconnu et les problémes psychiques,” which specially treats of the appari- tions and manifestations seen by the dying. His investigations on this subject are aided by the revelations of the famous medium Eusapia Paladino. M. Flammarion is an extraordinary man. He began life as an infant prodigy, and at the age of thirteen he quitted his family to establish himself in the Quartier Latin of Paris. At sixteen he was twice bachelor of arts ; at sixteen and a half he was admitted as a pupil to the Observatory; and at nineteen years he published “La Pluralité des mondes habités,” which work obtained the approval of Henri Martin and Sainte Beuve. Twelve years ago he founded the Astronomical Society of France; and in claiming for him a rosette from the Government M. Faye, doyen of the Académie des Sciences, wrote: “The study of astronomy re- sponds to a need of the human mind, This need AUTHOR. may be said to have been created and sustained in France solely by M. Flammarion.” His admirers are legion; in North America he is revered as a supernatural genius, while South America has founded a Société Flammarion at Bogota (Colombia). Under these circumstances a new work from his pen is quite a literary event. Darracotre Scort. Secs IS LITERATURE A PRECARIOUS PROFESSION ? N the question whether Literature is a precarious profession, I have received several letters from writers who have failed, to all of which the same answer may be given, viz., the answer that was given in the last number of The Author. Here, however, are one or two further considerations. Litera- ture, considered as a profession, offers many and great prizes. The pecuniary prizes of popular success, if not so great asthe Bar and Medicine, are yet very substantial, and are increasing by leaps and bounds. The other and the greater prizes of respect and fame are also increasing as the taste for good literature increases. As in every other profession there are many failures for one success. How many barristers, solicitors, physicians, surgeons, architects, and men of all other professions are there who find their calling precarious? But Literature has one great advantage over all other professions. It is impossible that fine work, great work, should be passed over with neglect. -It may be that the circle of recognition is at first small: it may be that a large commercial success-is not obtained: but there is always some audience ready to recognise and to applaud the writer who has a thing to say, a story to tell, a song to sing, and can do these things with credit. And this cannot be said of any other profes- sion. Critics, editors, scholars, are always look- ing for good work and for good writers. There may be log-rolling of private friends, but there is never, so far as my experience goes, a hostile reception offered by critics or readers to the new comer who offers a fine or great work. The case of Walter Pater is one in point. His readers are comparatively small in number: but they are of the best kind, the most scholarly, the best cultured. He himself would not have desired a better audience. He occupies a place which will rise continually higher year by year: his name will grow more and more: his works are, to English prose, something akin to those of Matthew Arnold in verse. Who can deny that the  THE prize which Literature has bestowed upon Walter Pater is as great and as desirable as any that the Law or Medicine has to offer ? On the commercial side, however, the place of this fine writer was probably very low down. Literature, again, has many branches: 1t can be, and often is, carried on with other professions. Every science which has its professor has also its literature. A scientific man becomes known, not only by his researches, but by his writings. A schoolmaster magnifies his influence and his name, and sometimes his income, by his educa- tional works. Specialists find the columns of reviews, magazines, and daily papers, open to them. A lawyer’s reputation may be made by his works on law. For every study, every pursuit, as well as every science, there is its own literature —and for those who contribute to that literature there is the possible prize of literary reputation or popular success. Among the letters received upon this subject there are four to which I would especially refer, though I have not published them, The first is from a man who has been writing for fourteen years. He has written novels, short stories, children’s stories, and papers on many subjects. He can quote favourable reviews. He has worked hard and honestly. Yet he cannot command even a bare living. He asks, “Would a doctor or a solicitor of equal ability in their own respective professions find themselves in my position at the end of fourteen years’ practice?” I should say that, even taking for granted the ability, there are hundreds of solicitors and doctors no better off. Another writer is a novelist, and only a novelist. His first novel proved a loss—‘ owing to the author’s ignorance of publishing.” His second proved a success. He cannot get his following works published at all.“ Mere literary ability,” he says, “‘ being largely dependent upon the happy combination of circumstances for success, often fails. Would it not be kinder to warn the literary aspirant of this?” The third writer argues that it is impossible for editors to read all the MSS. offered to them. He advises, as the result of his own experience, never to try living by the pen. This is excellent advice—I have always advised young writers not at first to try living by the pen. In the case of success there may come a time when a writer of fiction, verse, belles lettres, will find himself justified in living by his pen. My correspondent also advises writers not to send MSS. to e Litors on the chance of being accepted. It will be observed that the failure of each of these writers is alleged as an example and proof that Literature is precarious, without the least reference to the AUTHOR. 87 facts that it has given to others great prizes and very numerous prizes. The proper treatment of a single case is to examine (1) why success has not been achieved —and (2) if the case is one in which the literary worth cannot, for reasons to be ascertained, be accompanied by commercial success. One cannot repeat too often that the two kinds of success are absolutely incommensurable and have not of necessity any connection with each other. Again, one refers to the case of Pater. It is not true that the failures of a thousand aspirants every year —at least that number do fail every year—make Literature a precarious profession. If persons without the natural apti- tude—one is not allowed to use the word genius, which I should prefer—without serious prepara- tion: without knowledge of life or views of life: without dramatic powers: without imagination: without strength of conception: without practice in literary expression—try every year by the thousand to write novels, poetry, plays, essays— and fail, this fact does not touch the question at all. It shows only that itis not given to everyone to enter upon the profession of Literature: and that these incompetent persons are only making feeble attempts to enter upon it. It is well that they should understand beforehand that Literature must not be taken up in this random fashion. Fifty years ago, when a man had no other opening, or when he had broken down in any other line, he started a private school. When a woman had to earn her livelihood, there was the same attempt, generally a feeble and helpless attempt, to start a school. Sometimes, by way of a variant, a “ Berlin and Fancy” shop was opened. In these days Literature is the line first attempted by the impecunious: and with similar results. But these people must not be con- sidered as belonging to the profession of Litera- ture. In the fourth letter mentioned above the writer also complains that Literature is precarious. Why? His history is this: He wrote for twenty years with a fair means of success. He then went abroad and wrote nothing for seven years. When he returned he found himself forgotten, and has not yet been able to recover his old position. Now let us consider this case. What would happen if a solicitor or a doctor, after getting a successful practice, were to retire for seven years and go out of the country? When he returned could he expect to recover his past clients and patients? Would he therefore blame the profes- sion or would he blame himself ? It is always better to have things said than whispered. For this reason the three communica- 88 THE tions on pp. 93, 94 are published in the present number. In one, the successful author, meaning novelist, is accused of paying for paragraphs, that is, puffs : or for illustrated interviews. “ Press booms and advertising are indispensable to success.” Or the novelist, to be successful, must be the friend of some proprietor of a journal. And all reviews, it seems, are written by rival novelists. The second writer attacks editors generally for what they accept and for what they reject. He also accuses successful literary men of that kind of petty jealousy which prevents them from giving useful advice to beginners. The third letter supposes that because a man spends months on a piece of work, and cannot sell it, that the craft of producing this kind of work is not one to be followed. The three papers contain what, I fear, are wide-spread illusions. Now the proprietor or editor who would sacrifice ‘the interests of his paper to oblige an incompetent writer because he was a friend either does not exist or is on the high road to bank- ruptcy. The thing is absurd. Yet it is widely believed. Every literary man is constantly entreated to “use his influence’ for the accept- ance of articles. The belief that literary men pay for paragraphs in papers is absolutely unfounded. Ido not know any paper which could be even suspected of such dealings. Nor have I ever heard of a writer paying for an interview. On the other hand, private friends of an author or of his publisher do certainly sometimes succeed in getting the puff indirect into a paper. But to accuse all successful writers of countenancing such methods is monstrous. As for “petty jealousy,” I am quite certain that leading men of letters are always willing to give such advice as is asked for. They are not, however, willing to give such assistance as they are too often asked for, viz., ‘“ their great influence ’’ with editors; because the “ great influence ”’ does not exist, and because the recom- mendation of bad work would be a betrayal of friendship. When one reads such statements as these, one asks what becomes eventually of the great rejected. Do they ever reach acceptance and recognition ? One reads of books refused by readers which have turned out great successes: there may also be MSS. refused by editors. I should like to know, among the more noteworthy of the articles in the magazines, how many have been previously refused. It seems a hard thing to say to writers suffering from disappointment and rejection that editors are paid for sifting good work from bad: that if AUTHOR. they accept bad work on account of private friend- ships, they not only betray their trust, but they ruin their paper. Is not this simple fact a reply to these three correspondents ? W. B. De THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. ROFESSOR CRAYE was standing near the window of his sitting room. It was on the second floor of a house in Canonbury; for the professor was not rich. But the view from the window was pleasant; the house overlooked a square which was bright with well-filled par- terres and old smooth turf; children were running and shouting merrily under the tall limes and sycamores, and the summer sunshine glorified the scene. Charles Craye held a pro- fessor’s chair in a big London college, where much learning was expected and a small stipend was paid. He lectured to women as well as to men, and the former fact was the origin of the reverie in which he indulged as he gazed into the sunny square. He wished to marry one of his pupils, and he felt sure that she would accept him, though he was a man of forty and she was eighteen years younger. But he had been waiting because he was poor, and he believed that fame and a moderate fortune in consequence of it were not far off. Charles Craye had been for twenty years pre paring a treatise on the philosophy and life of an eminent German. He meant that his treatise should be a standard work, and he had spared neither his time nor his means in collecting and reviewing material at first hand. The German was so eminent that a treatise—a full and scholarly treatise, containing striking conclusions which were soundly supported—could not be ignored; and Professor Craye had just finished the treatise. The bulky manuscript lay on the table behind him. When he left the window he turned to the table and fingered one or two of the sheets of the manuscript with an air of abstraction. “JT wonder who would be the best publishers for it?” he mused. ‘Singleton is a good man, and Stubbin and Howe are suitable people. But then Guddle and Simm are more likely to be interested in the subject than anybody else. They published all Trasker’s books on the theme—the whole six of them—and Trasker is considered to be the first authority in England on the subject. However,” the professor thought, smiling to him- self, “I don’t fancy Trasker will be an authority much longer; for if I have demonstrated one thing more clearly than another, it is that Trasker  THE AUTHOR. 89 was a charlatan, and incredibly careless in com- piling his books.” So the professor packed up his manuscript and dispatched it to Guddle and Simm, together with a letter in which he modestly set forth his qualifications for the work which he had under- taken. A month later Mr. Guddle walked into Mr. Simm’s private room at No. 115, Benedicite- avenue, where the firm had offices. “T say, Simm,’ he remarked, thoughtfully, “T’ve been reading the report on Craye’s book. It seems to bea first-class bit of work. But it’s right up against Trasker.” Mr. Simm had been writing a letter. He looked up with a preoccupied air and answered “ Well, that can’t be helped. 'Trasker was a bit ofa humbug. We only put him on to do the stuff because he could write it up in a popular kind of way. There’s room for a real standard © work.” “Yes, my boy,” resumed Mr. Guddle, “ but we've got six of Trasker’s books, and we bought the copyright of all of them at a fairly stiff figure: for old Trasker knew his way about. Well, they’re properties, those books are, and they’ll go on being properties so long as Trasker is considered to be the standard authority on the subject. But if Trasker is shown up, we shall stand to lose. And, damn it, philosophy’s all very well; but that isn’t business.” Mr. Simm began to manifest more interest in the conversation. “ How much money should you think there is in this man Craye’s book?” he asked. “Oh,” said Mr. Guddle, “it’s a big volume; it would be expensive to produce. The sale wouldn’t be big, and it would be slow though it would be certain. The stuff is right above the head of the average reader, and it’s too abstruse to be made popular even with alterations. I should think there’s a safe hundred and fifty or perhaps two hundred in the book for the first six months, and driblets afterwards.” “ Well, it isn’t worth while to knock the bottom out of Trasker’s copyrights for that,” observed Mr. Simm, and he resumed writing his letter. “Shall I fire the man’s manuscript back to him?” Mr. Guddle asked, after a pause. “Tf you like,” said Mr. Simm, “I shouldn't, though.” “Publish it ? ” inquired Mr. Guddle. Mr. Simm turned round and faced his partner. “Yes, publish it,” said Mr. Simm, and a queer smile played round his mouth after he had uttered the words. “T think so too,’ Mr. Guddle remarked stolidly. é “Let’s have him up here, and see what he’s like, and how much he knows,” said Mr. Simm after another pause. “ Will you write to him, Guddle ? ”’ “Yes, Dll write to him,” said the senior partner. And then he lighted a cigar, and strolled from the room. On the following day Professor Craye received a kind and flattering letter from Messrs. Guddle and Simm. He learned from this communi- cation that the firm was extremely interested in his work, and that they hoped to publish it. At the same time, Mr. Guddle felt that it was right to express the view that the book could not command anything in the nature of a popular sale. He hoped that he might have the pleasure of an interviev with Professor Craye. Perhaps the Professor would be able to lunch with him at half-past one on the following Thursday at the Locrian Club? Charles Craye lunched with Mr. Guddle, and found him a very agreeable and well-informed man, who took an enlightened interest in litera- ture quite apart from his commercial under- takings. After lunch they drove to Mr. Guddle’s office, and the Professor smoked one of Mr. Guddle’s cigars in Mr. Guddle’s private room. « And now let’s come to business, Mr. Craye,” said Mr. Guddle, when the cigars were lighted. “We publishers are always having to come to business, you know. What would you expect by way of terms for your book ? ” “T really know so very little about the terms which are usual for such books,’ said the Professor, after a moment’s hesitation. ‘I have not any clear idea on the subject.” “Well, Mr. Craye,” resumed the publisher, “there are a great many forms which the transac- tion between author and publisher may take. There is the royalty agreement, and there are agreements providing for a deferred royalty, and there is purchase outright. But I think this is eminently a case for a half-profits agreement. If the book does well, so much the better for us all; if not, we bear the burden between us. How do you think that would suit you? ” * What sort of arrangement was made with Mr. Trasker ’” asked Professor Craye. “Oh, that was a case of purchase,” replied Mr. Guddle, airily. ‘ But, then, we ourselves indi- cated the work to Mr. Trasker, and supplied him with material, and defrayed his expenses while he wasabroad engaged upon the necessary researches. And he was—habitually, we may say—in our employment to a certain extent. And, of course, it was only fair that all that should be taken into consideration in determining the scale of remuneration. No, I don’t think you would like go to sell the rights in the book on similar terms. Your work will probably become a classic, Mr. Craye, and I take it that you would wish to have a permanent hold upon its earnings.” “Why, yes. I should much prefer to have an abiding interest in the sales of the work,”’ said the professor. “J thought so,” remarked Mr. Guddle, and he nodded cordially. ‘“ Well, then, it’s just a case for balf-profits. All that we shall ask from you is the exclusive license to publish throughout the term of copyright. We shall spare no expense in the get-up of the book. We shall be proud of it, and shall issue it in first-class style. As I say, it is an expensive book to handle, and it will only appeal to a limited class. That,” continued Mr. Guddle, with a sad but pleasant smile, “is a drawback which in the nature of things attaches to much of the very best work. But merit does sometimes make its mark in this country of England.” Mr. Guddle, feeling that his last sentence seemed a mere platitude, took his cigar from his lips and blew his nose to cover the weak ending of his remarks. Professor Craye had received so many com- pliments from Mr. Guddle that he desired to make a suitable response. ‘I leave myself in your hands,” he said to Mr. Guddle. ‘The reputation of your firm is an ample guarantee forme. And now I am afraid I am occupying a great deal of your valuable time, Mr. Guddle. I know you business men have very little leisure.” The professor rose to take his leave, and Mr. Guddle bade him farewell in the most cordial manner and expressed the hope that he might before long be able to renew the pleasure of conversing with the professor. Two days later a long form of agreement reached Charles Craye by post, and he signed it without understanding what the clauses of it really meant. There was a great deal of delay before the book was printed, and when it appeared the publica- tion took place at a time when a war scare was occupying all minds, and literary topics were neglected. Craye’s work was very favourably received in a few quarters; but most of the great daily papers and many of the weekly reviews passed it over in silence, which was, perhaps, not astounding, inasmuch as these periodicals did not receive review copies from Messrs. Guddle and Simm. The explanation offered by Mr. Guddle to Charles Craye was different—the abstruseness of the subject, the popular pre-occupation about foreign politics, &c. ‘The daily papers, and many of the weekly papers too,” Mr. Guddle wrote, “are no doubt only anxious to print. THE AUTHOR. matter which will catch the eye of the average reader, and at such a time as the present they are exceptionally prone to neglect work of per- manent rather than immediate interest.” Mr. Guddle’s tone about the prospects of the book was pessimistic in the extreme. “It is not a work,” he said in conclusion, “ which would be helped by catchpenny advertisements. It will advertise itself among those who are able to understand it.” This, of course, fully explained why Professor Craye’s book was not advertised with the other publications in Messrs. Guddle and Simm’s list. Charles Craye was bitterly disappointed ; Mr. Guddle was not. People who were interested in the subject tried to get the book at the libraries, but there was always a difficulty about it, and delay as well, and before long inquirers were told that the volume was out of print; another edition would probably appear—but the other edition never saw the light. So Charles Craye’s magnum opus, of which only _ three hundred and fifty copies had been printed, and which had been issued at a prohibitive price, soon passed into oblivion. And Trasker’s books held the field and continued to bring handsome profits to the firm of Guddle and Simm. “Tt’s the continued vogue of Trasker’s works that annoys me most,” the professor said at a later date, ‘and it annoys Guddle too, for the matter of that. He’s a very well informed man, you know. His firm is a first-class firm, and I put myself in their hands, and they did every- thing they possibly could for me ; 80, it’s not their fault. In fact, they’re grievously disap- pointed, and heavily out of pocket, I’m sorry to say. Well, it all comes of writing above the heads of the people. One gets so absorbed in a subject that becomes one’s hobby, and then the theme could not be properly treated in a popular vein. It was very good of Guddle and Simm to publish itat all, And as for me,” he added with a sad smile, “I wasn’t meant to be anything but an old bachelor professor, who just gives lectures to young people—and, after all, that’s . work which ought to be its own reward.” MOoLEcuLe. OO OS MORE FRIENDLY CRITICISMS, ET me hark back to the March Author ; I have never seen the columns so vigorous, our Secretary so decisive, or the general matter and correspondence so full of interest, suggestiveness, and optimism. Its resentment of the Atheneum’s comments does the heart good to read. It is just possible that candid friends may  THE be terrified at the suggestion that the Society should boycott the advertising columns of a paper which does not stand up for authors, but the touch of nature, in its allusion to the brute force of our trade union, does more to make us kin than years of cautious jargon. Posterity, but no remote one, will do full justice to the work of the Society ; but we will not wait for posterity; we will not gape and smile, and stand by while the forwards do the rushing; I, an insignificant voice in the crowd, call on all members to lock arms, lower butts, and follow up the ball and its carrier until it is touched-down by sheer force behind the gouls of free trade between author and public, let the scrummages be as brutal as they may. Our opponents are too practised in the game for deft dodging to defeat them. What we have got to do, is to keep on rushing until the secret profits and unaudited accounts are driven by sheer weariness to succumb. As I remarked in these columns some years ago, when I first presump- tuously questioned the prudence of the club I had joined, this is not rashness, this is not the uproar of personal resentment; it is the one and only policy suited to the case, and if the exponents of it are occasionally stung into strong language, so much the better for the policy. Saute or Seconp-Ciass NoveEL.s. The feuilleton, “‘ A Second-Class Novel,’ besides being a really excellent plot fora story, is I think, more suggestive and enlightening than anything I have read in The Author for a longtime. I hope that it is actual experience, for it is impor- tant enough to be made the docus classicus of the young author’s difficulties. The only point about it that makes me doubtful is the 1000 copies. Mr. Guddle, the publisher, says, “A yarn of this quality will get an easy sale of 750 copies in England ”—without pushing, with only £10 spent on advertisement, with only 250 copies first bound, and therefore presumably subscribed. The book was a novel, written by a young man of twenty, “rather a slab,” that is to say, a long one, refused by four good firms, and published at 6s. for a total cost of £85. ‘‘ Molecule” would do aservice to young authors, and no harm to his credibility, by stating if a publisher has actually told him that he can count on a sale of 750, even of a good book, by a young writer. My own experience has been that you may indeed just manage to subscribe 250 copies of a 6s. novel by a well-known author, but that you cannot count on a sale of more than 400, which means a loss or £10 or £20 to the publisher ; and that, instead of looking on “ second-class novels” as a “safety” which will go towards office expenses, they regard it as a necessary AUTHOR. gl outlay for the maintenance of their “ list,” and for the capture of an occasional success. On the whole, I like Mr. Guddle. I consider him an excellent business man, who understands his trade very well. From his point of view, which is precisely the same as that of “ A Publisher ”’ in Literature of Jan. 21, he has got to make his charges, or base his offer of deferred royalty, so that “it shall make it worth his while to under- take the business.” Mr. Guddle’s offer is a 10 per cent. royalty after 500 copies, by which he expects to pay the author £7 Ios., and pocket about £32 himself. He makes the offer without pressing it unduly, and “ Molecule”? makes the author refuse it as a matter of course. The question which arises in my mind is, was the author wise to refuse? Would it be wise to refuse, even if the probable sale were only 500, by which he would get nothing at all? For my part, if I had had the book refused by, say, half a dozen houses, and still believed it would be a creditable advertise- ment to my name, I think I should have been glad to get a capitalist to invest £80 in me for that purpose. I shall always believe, even when the Method of the Future is in full swing, that litera- ture, like other businesses, requires an initial outlay in advertisement ; and if { can make that outlay by giving away a work which has been a pleasure to write, I should be content to expect my remuneration in the future. I think there is a possible error in a root idea current in The Author—the idea that it is the single book which alone is in question. RoyvaLty Paip In ADVANCE. For my part, I look on the single books as mere items of a whole; and that whole, a life’s work, which shall show a profit on the net result. What is a lasting source of sur- prise with me is that out of five publishers I have dealt with, four have acceded to my request for a royalty on the first 500 in advance. In the case of my first book, in the ‘‘ Pseudonym library,” a certain sale was safe, because the “ library” had a fixed minimum circulation, like a magazine ; but in the case of a later one, which was published by Mr. John Lane, and my last, which is in the hands of another firm, there was really no guaran- tee that the books would cover the cost of pub- lication. The reason that I have obtained advance payments is that I have made a rule for myself to exact this condition as long as I have cash enough in my pocket to feed me for a month ; this is because (1) I esteem apublisher’s calcu- lations as a good working criterion of mert, and I do not believe a book would do me any good in which a publisher had not sufficient 92 THE AUTHOR. confidence to risk at least. £15 over and above the cost of production ; and (2) because I have suffi- cient confidence in my ultimate success, that is to say, in my capability for improvement, to be able to withdraw and lay by a manuscript which has not been accepted on these terms. I will own it is an expensive extravagance; I have with- drawn, and therefore to a certain extent wasted, four such books for which my best offer has been “ commission.” An OPINION FOR BEGINNERS. This brings me to a very interesting suggestion raised by “ Molecule’s” feuilleton, that of an author finding himself the publisher of his own first book. The time is coming, I understand, when the French system is to prevail of an author having to pay costs of production himself instead of finding a capitalist to start him. Now (I address beginners only), have you ever seriously considered your MS. from the business point of view of profit and loss? Have you, after failing to find a publisher, brought yourself face to face with the alternative, so sarcastically put by “A Publisher” in Literature, of risking your last £100 on your maiden effort? 1 have: only recently, and for the first time. I assure you it put quite another aspect on affairs. In the first place, I have found it simply impossible to eliminate the creator’s vanity and insubordinate sanguineness from my judgment; I have had to snatch at my unprejudiced “ reader’s opinion” betwixt sleep and waking, leaving off the moment I begin to picture the printed page in rosiness. I came to the conclusion that I should not be wise in risking that £1oo unless I had a capital of £1000 to draw it from; and I believe that no young author would be justified in spending more than one-tenth of his available funds on such an enterprise. If he is prepared to push the buok personally, he might do very well to spend from £30 to £50 on a paper-covered edition of a story of from 30,000 to 50,000 words, if such a length happened to be “in the market ”’ ; but he would be running a great risk in spending £100 on a book of 80,000 to 100,000 words, unless he were rich. I should gather from the pages of The Author and the multiplicity of commission books that there are many authors now who possess an income, or vice versd; but it is my prejudice not to take such aristocrats into account. Of course, it is quite a different thing when an author has made his name. He is then one of the “no-risks,” to adopt an Americanism ; on the other hand, as clearly shown in the feuilleton discussed, he can generally get as much profit as the. book will bear out of the ordinary publisher. Messrs. AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER. Now, over and over again an author, suc- cessful or not, does not get even the fair value of his book; and, even if he is willing to give away his first work for advertisement, that is no reason why he should not hold the patent and receive the royalties, if any, thereof. In saying that he might be wise to accept a deferred royalty in a doubtful case, I by no means suggest that he should let Mr. Guddle swindle him out of his copyright ; and we see by the feuilleton that this was just Mr. Guddle’s intention, and that, if the Society of Authors did not exist, the novice would be in a fair way of being “ guddled.” In the case of a deferred royalty, the author has got to exact a full royalty, or at least 25 per cent., on all copies after 500; and he has got to word his agreement so that lie shall be sure of knowing just how many copies are being sold, and just how much is due to him. And after the first edition of 1000, which has paid expenses and given the publisher a sop, he ought to have greatly improved terms. Only the Society of Authors can enable him to do this, because we know that the publisher will never of his own accord consider the author his partner. “Shall the author receive the full benefits of all the advantages I obtain?” says “A Publisher” in Literature. “Should it follow that, because I can obtain certain allowances on the material I buy, I should make the author a present of them ? By no means. The author is not my partner.” That is clear enough, I think, is it not? Well, we want a publisher who says that the author ts at least a fellow venturer. That is what the Society is aiming at. But if our fellow venturer is prepared to lend us our half of the capital, we must be prepared to pay interest on it over and . above the half shares. PoputaR AMERICAN MaAGazINEs. Speaking of American magazines, I inclose the printed refusal forms employed by the leading monthlies here, as you have made a point of pub- lishing such particulars. As you will see, they are excellent models, and I may add that MSS. are read and returned generally within a fort- night. It is no news to mention the enormous circula- tions enjoyed by the American ten-centers ; Munsey’s, for instance, is aiming at the half- million. Their excellence and enterprise is in- credible. You would be astonished to see the display even in a little town of 50,000 inhabi- tants like Canada’s capital. There are five or six book shops here, but, horrendum dictu, no public library. The 6d. American paper-covers have a. great sale. But perhaps the most popular literature  THE AUTHOR. 58 are the New York, Chicago, and Buffalo Sunday editions of the dailies, which cost in Canada 33d. While speaking of Canada, I cannot refrain from mentioning an instance of the precariousness of fame. I had an introduction to Archibald Lamp- man, whose recent death here is a serious loss to Canada; and knowing that he was in the Postal Service, I inquired for him at the General Delivery wicket. Will you believe it that the gentleman on duty there, one of the oldest clerks of the department, did not know his name? Why? Red-tape. After much brain-cudgelling my amiable informant believed, now he came to think of it, that there was a man of that name in another department in the Parliamentary block. Your correspondent’s suggestion to mutilate review copies, coupled with your own remarks about the Athenzeum, will have caused a flutter in the dovecotes. Review copies are an important asset to the reviewer. If the £5 or £10 (cost price of 100 copies of a new novel) were spent in advertisement, it would probably be just as effective. The Reviews would have to buy copies or cease to exist. And there would be less useless and pernicious log-rolling. Your long Paris letter is interesting to the few, but do you observe that in your foreign letters you are virtually playing the Review If so, why not a London letter? Until you go in for the responsibilities of criticism one only expects business notes from Paris and New York. Your American correspondent animadverts on the Paper Trust. He might have added the Type Foundry Trust, which controls the other indis- pensable of printing. Type is some (?) 20 per cent. dearer in the States than in Canada. Printing presses, on the other hand, are of course far cheaper there, there being a heavy duty on machinery imported into the Dominion. If Canada could import machinery free it might well become a great printing country, for it has unlimited supplies of pulp spruce and water power, and Canadians are greedy of books. One other point. Your correspondents speak as if the Wide World and the Strand were under different editorship. It is a pity Messrs. Newnes, Pearson, &c., cannot haveacentral editorial depart- ment, like Harpers. I have had tales refused by Wide World which, I understand, would have been accepted say by Zvt-Bits, under the same roof. Ottawa, Canada. M——. Sp 0 «: CORRESPONDENCE. On THE Srpe oF FAILURE. 1 LL authors must have read Mr. Julian Croskey’s “A Recantation” with keen interest. Is he aware that it is necessary to create a literary sensation in order to succeed ? Are there not appalling difficulties in the path of others? The secret of a successful author, taking, of course, his talents or the reverse into account, is his power of forcing his personality on his public in either paid paragraphs or illustrated interviews. In other words, he must beat the drum. Press booms and advertising are indis- pensable in winning recognition. The next best thing in gaining a living by the pen is to be well in favour with or else the friend of proprietors running some strictly com- mercial “ ring” of rag-bag and domestic journals, where anything approaching literature is severely boycotted in the interests of religion and morality. Woe betide the author who here soars above commonplace. A fairly clever and amusing novel will sell, if treated with the generous aiiver- tising of a Mother Siegel’s Syrup, or a well- pushed soap or cocoa, far better than a much finer one that takes its chance amid a batch of others less prominently brought forward. The public care nothing about art or style in a book, but must be amused, interested and startled. They will buy what pleases them if their notice is constantly drawn to it. Huge picture posters with ghastly incidents from a novel, sketched in lurid colours and greeting one at every turn, are expensive, perhaps, but fine media for effecting sales and hence winning fame. : Then, again, the merest trifles, the veriest non- sense properly utilised will often make a book go. Society holds the key to the success of a certain class of fiction. For an author to “ paragraph” in newspapers and journals a sentence, or even a whisper, favourable to his novel that has been breathed in his ear by the Prince of Wales, for instance, is to secure a safe income for life. As for reviews, they are nearly all written by authors and, hence, rivals. Can a rival ever be quite unbiassed or dispassionate? Friends here may fare better than strangers. It is the same thing in submitting novels to publishers’ readers. Yet the glut of fiction and the deadly battle still con- tinue. ANNABEL GRAY. Il. In last month’s Author “ X.”’ treats the subject of Literature with a firm hand and atrue. What 94 THE he states appeals to one’s reason. No doubt the -greater part of writers struggling for standing room are weak on some point most essential for their success, but the odds on the chance of any success for an unknown beginner are fearful. It does not hurt one to see better work than one’s own published, but to discover that one’s self gets a slap in the face while another is respectfully received because a high-sounding title is Zacked on to a contributor’s name, or a writer is accepted because his or her nonsense is highly spiced with objectionably-flavoured suggestions distasteful to God and man, that is galling. It you are poor, to commence with, you are likely to be poorer still before the door at which you knock shall be opened the slightest bit. It is a costly business, the constant carriage to and fro of MSS. A literary lady gave me the advice on one occasion—Keep on sending. All very well if one has ample means. Unfortunately, some of us have not the strength to carry planks in a saw mill or even sweep a crossing when we have spent all. Spero meliora we whisper to ourselves morning after morning, but no omnipotent editor speaks comfortably to us, and hope to which we cling becomes so frail a thread we tremble lest it give way altogether. Another question. Are successful writers capable of petty jealousy? I know one, whose name is not altogether strange to this Society, but not upon the council, I may say, who will answer questions in a beautifully frank and Christian tone upon various personal and social topics, but approach that one upon literary ground and beg for lines how to proceed, or refer to one’s self as daring to aspire to literary heights, the audacious questioner is snubbed immediately, and told to “ quench such ambition,” and in some cases no reply to such is vouch- safed! And for years that author has made large sums of money out of the public, and still speculates on drawing more, although not forced by the compelling necessity of poverty or narrow means. “Self! self! all for self!” seems the axiom im- printed upon the grasping natures of the children of this generation, “and let estimable virtue go hang.” L. 8. III. I must confess that Mr. Croskey’s experiences are very interesting. My own literary experience is so whimsical that I cannot think it is without interest entirely. The only species of literary employment which I have found productive at all AUTHOR. is that of contributing to a professional journal, for which, at all events after an interval, I can always acquire a certain honorarium. Like many other of your contributors, in oblivion of the lexicographer’s maxim that “no man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money,” I have written in non-paying magazines. There are many arguments against such a proceeding, and babbling Bozzy’s officious and gratuitous com- ment on Johnson’s observation is an example of his worst glossing powers, on a footing with his idiomatic solecisms, as when he writes esprit du corps. Junius never required any fee, and if he was not a blockhead, he was a rascal. There lies an uneasy feeling in the region of my sub- consciousness that in writing for non-paying magazines I may have implicitly written myself down as an ass, like Dogberry, and should have cheated the editor if I had received a fee. Not only do I not get paid, but I remark that the briefest and most cursory notices are generally given to the longest articles and those which require the most research. A London editor of eminence has delivered the somewhat contradictory judgment that, though some of my work may be scholarly, I am unfitted for journalism. I also find that when I have specialised on a literary question, my articles are “ only not accepted,” as was said of a bribe offered to an_ historical character. But much more superficial views on the same subject written by myself previously were not only accepted, but actually gamed me a few guineas. My friends need not blush for me; Tam a hack wriler who has never received black- mail, as Lord Campbell said Francis did. All that I have ever gained from literature does not total to a hundred pounds, though I have written thousands of pages. Like Mr. Croskey, I have fallen among the thorns in attempting the rdle of novelist. When I receive carefully typed notes from publishers on unexceptionable paper, quite wafer-like enough to have another Dreyfus bordereau written on them, with a few words of perfunctory and unchallenged criticism, I begin to think that there is something more unpleasant than Canning’s candid friend, and that is a publisher who, though a total stranger to you personally, familiarly informs you that you are ~ “ didactic and uninteresting,’ or that, even if you were to pay the cost of publication, he would not bring out your book. I feel inclined, under such circumstances, to quote from Junius : “ This may be a very good answer for aught I know at cross-purposes, but it is a very whimsical one to a man in my circumstances.” I cannot, in short, echo the pronouncement of authority that litera- ture offers a serious calling in view of my own experience that a novel by an unknown hand, and  THE AUTHOR. e apparently any number of them, cannot secure any price, even a nominal one, though it may represent several months’ work. N. W.S. BOOK TALK. American critic, author of ‘“ Southern Statesmen of the Old Regime,” is writing the volume on American Literature for the series of Literature Histories, edited by Mr. Gosse. Mr. W. Clark Russell, whose new book ‘‘ The Ship: Her Story,” will be published by Messrs. Chatto and Windus on the 14th inst., is writing another sea story to be called ‘‘ he Ship’s Adven- ture,’ which will describe the salving of ship and cargo in the North Atlantic by a man, a girl, and a dog. This will be published in the spring by Mr. James Bowden. Se acs W. P. TRENT, the well-known The Rev. Frederick Langbridge’s new volume of poems, “Little Tapers,” will be published immediately by the R.T.S. Its predecessor, “ A Cluster of Quiet Thoughts,” has reached a third edition. Mr. Langbridge has also completed a short novel, “ Love has no Pity,” which will begin its serial course in January, 1900. An illustrated memorial of the art and life of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, on an elaborate scale, 1s being prepared by Mr. H. C. Marillier for publi- cation by Messrs. Bell. Among the contents will be reproductions from the valuable collection of Rossetti’s works owned by Mr. Rae, of Birken- head. Mr. Rider Haggard has written a new romance which will be called “The Secret of Sword Silence ; a Tale of the Old Dutch.” It is laid in the time of William the Silent. The story will appear serially in the Graphic next year. Mr. H. W. Auden, assistant master at Fettes College, Edinburgh, is to edit for Messrs. Black- wood a new series of classical texts. The volumes are to be cheap, attractive, and practical, and they will contain maps and other illustrations from the best German and other sources. Another series of illustrated classics is being edited by Mr. EB. GC. Marchant, classical master at St. Paul’s School, for Messrs. Bell. These will be issued with or without vocabularies, to suit the require- ments of the different schools. Mr. Hew Morrison, librarian of Edinburgh Public Library, is writing a biography of Mr. Andrew Carnegie which Messrs. Nelson will publish. Mr. Stanley Weyman, whose new eighteenth: century romance, ‘ Sophia,” now appearing in the Queen, will be published by Messrs. Long- mans about the end of the year, will contribute a serial story to Cornhill. in 1900, as will Mr. isk Seton Merriman. Mr. Robert Barr’s volume on his travels in the near East some time ago will be published shortly by Messrs. Chatto and Windus. One incident of the journey was his arrest by the Turkish authorities. The book is called “The East While you Wait.” Mr. H. G. Wells’s new book consists of five stories grouped under the title of “ Tales of Space and Time.” The two longest are laid in London and the valley of the Wye, and in all the author blends imagination with scientific theories. Mrs. Marcus Clarke has arrived in London from Australia, and is arranging for the publica- tion of her late husband’s unfinished novel, «Felix and Felicitas.” Mr. Swinburne’s new drama, ‘‘ Rosamund,” will be published this month by Messrs. Chatto and Windus. A new volume of poems by the same author will appear later in the autumn. Mr. W. L. Courtney is writing a monograph on Mr. Hardy for the “English Writers of To-day” series, published by Messrs. Greening and Co. Self-revealing as all Stevenson’s letters are, the reader does not find many passages more striking than the following, which appears in the August instalment in Scribner’s. It occurs in a letter written by the novelist to Mr. William Archer in 1885: Not only dol believe that literature should give joy, but I see a universe I suppose eternally different from yours; a solemn, aterrible, but a very joyous and noble universe, where suffering is not at least wantonly inflicted, though it falls with dispassionate partiality, but where it may be, and generally is, nobly borne ; where, above all ‘ any brave man may make out a life which shall be happy for himself, and, by so being, beneficent to those about him. And if it fails, why should I hear him weeping? I mean, if T fail, why should weep? why should you hear me ? Then to me morals, the conscience, the affections are, I will own frankly and sweepingly, so infinitely more important than the other parts of life, that I conceive men rather triflers who become immersed in the latter ; and I will always think the man who keeps his lip stiff, and makes “a happy fireside clime,” and carries a pleasant face about to friends and neighbours, infinitely greater in the abstract than an atrabilious Shakespeare or a backbiting Kant or Darwin. No offence to any of these gentlemen, two of whom probably (one for certain) came up to my standard. Among forthcoming works of fiction are the following : “ Kit Kennedy,” by 8. R. Crockett (James Clarke and Co.) ; «Terence, an Irish story, by Mrs. Croker; “A Crimson Crime,” by’ 96 G. Manville Fenn (Chatto); “A Gentleman Player,” by R. N. Stephens, whose hero is a young actor of Shakespeare’s time (Methuen) ; “ Jocelyn Errol,” by Curtis Yorke (Jarrold). Mr. Horace Round is bringing out, through Messrs. Constable, a volume treating of the early history of the City of London, and entitled “ The Commune of London.” Sir Walter Besant has written a prefatory letter for the book. The full title of Sir Herbert Maxwell’s forth- coming work (Sampson Low) is “The Life of Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington, and the Restoration of the Land Forces of Great Britain.” “The white man, yes, and the white woman, will save both the soul and the soil of Africa for the good of the world. The white man will purify the black, the black will fortify the white. The white will give brain and the black will give physique, each working together in one more phase of human development for good.” The above passage is taken from W. Edwards Tirebuck’s new romance, “ The White Woman.” Commenting upon this a reviewer remarks: “If Mr. Tirebuck had written that after, instead of before, Sir G. Taubman-Goldie (at the Colonial Nurses’ Association) had said that ‘the civilisa- tion of tropical Africa was part of the white woman’s burden,’ he would have been charged with plagiarism.” Mr. Joseph Hatton’s new novel ‘The White King of Manoa” went into a second edition within about two weeks, showing that “the off season” may not be so detrimental to publishing as is generally thought. The author had been engaged on the book for some years. A labour of love, he relinquished the profit of serial rights that he might write it in comparative leisure and publish it immediately on completion. In this way it seems to clash somewhat with the date of publication of “When Rogues Fall Out,” which was really written before the completion of “The White King of Manoa,” and has been appearing serially under the syndicate arrangements of Messrs. Tillotson. The original chapters, how- ever, for book publication, have been revised and extended It is to be published shortly by Messrs. Pearson. Having sold an edition of fifty thousand of the 6d. edition of Mr. Hatton’s “ By Order of the Czar,” Messrs. Hutchinson have withdrawn it in favour of the 2s. issue of which, with the more expensive editions, over 100,000 have been sold in England; while the sales in the United States have outnumbered the English issue very considerably. A volume on prehistoric Scotland, by Dr. Robert Munro, will be published shortly by Messrs. Blackwood. In this firm’s series of THE AUTHOR. “Periods of European Literature,” the next volume will be by Mr. Oliver Elton, who deals with “ The Augustan Ages.” Messrs. Hurst and Blackett are about to bring out a one volume novel by Miss Christabel Cole- ridge, author of “The Main Chance,” “An English Squire,” &c. Derek Vane, author of “The Three Daughters of Night,” a novel published by Messrs. Hutchin- son, which excited considerable interest, is now writing a series of short stories for the Weekly Telegraph. Messrs. Pearson will also shortly ublish a series by the same author, entitled “The Adventures of a Spy.” Messrs. Cassell and Co. will publish on the 13th a new novel, by Mr. John Bloundelle-Burton, which, in so far that it deals with modern days, is a departure from his more recent stories. It is, however, a book of adventure, the scene being laid in British Honduras, and the hero a naval officer. This novel ran as a serial in Cassell’s Saturday Journal, and under the auspices of the McClure Syndicate in the U.S. (where Messrs. Appleton will also publish it in volume form on the 13th), and will be the first romance dealing with the present day which the author has pro- duced for ten years. It will be entitled “ A Bitter Heritage.” => oe. OBITUARY. HE death-roll of the month contains the names of Mr. William Simpson, R.L., the veteran artist and war correspondent (76), a devoted student of shrines and outward signs of belief, and author of “The Buddhist Praying Wheel”; the Rev. William Wright, D.D. (62), editorial superintendent of the British and Foreign Bible Society since 1876, author of “Palmyra and Zenobia,’ “The Brontés in Treland,” and other works; Rev. Alexander Balmain Bruce (68), Professor of Theology in the Free Church College, Glasgow; and Sir Edward Frankland, K.C.B., &c. (74), for long the Government analyst of the Metropolitan water supply, and author of books bearing on that subject. Mr. J. Eveleigh Nash, LITERARY AGENT, AMBERLEY HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET STRAND, W.C. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 10 Issue 04 (September 1899) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 04 (September 1899) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1899-09-01-The-Author-10-4 publications The Author