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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) 1899-11-01 Volume 10 Issue 6 Pages Page range in volume 117–136 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18991101 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Che Hutbor, (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vou. X.—No. 6.] NOVEMBER 1, 189. [PRIcE SIXPENCE. For the Opinions expressed in papers that are signed or tnitialled the Authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as expressing the collective opinions of the Committee unless they are officially signed by G. Herbert Thring, Sec. Pes HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and requests that all members not receiving an answer to important communications within two days will write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered letter only. Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub- jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS. eo 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. This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper price can be obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Il. A PROFIT-SHARING AGREEMENT (a bad form of agreement). In this case the following rules should be attended to: _ (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro- duction forms a part 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. : G) 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 — bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or VOL, X. Ill, 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. ees WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS, I. EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some competent legal authority. 2. Never negotiate for the production of a play with anyone except an established manager. 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 PROFIT-SHARING 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. mM 2 118 (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. Never forget that American rights may be exceedingly valuable. They should never be included in English agreements without the author obtaining a substantial consideration. g. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced. Never admit a collaborator when once the actual work of writing the play has begun or after it is finished. 10. 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. 11. 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. ———— HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. 1. VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a 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 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 Secretary 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 cf other writers, even if you are THE AUTHOR. 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. _—_— or THE READING BRANCH. %%MBERS 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 as a composition is treated by a coach. The Readers are writers of competence and experience. The fee is one guinea, ee NOTICES. HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. 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 Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the gen interest to publish. The present soon Authors’ Club is at 3, White- hall-court, Chari ossay Ad, he Secretary for information, rules of admission ERARY PROPERTY. I.—Tur Present Siruation. HE present situation is full of promise—for those who desire the emancipation of the author. It was necessary that he should be able to meet the publisher, in business matters, on equal terms. Since he cannot do so, as a rule, we have encouraged him to use the literary agent. For the first time in literary history literary property of all kinds has begun to be negotiated on the same footing, subject to the same compe- tition, as every other kind of property. The exposure by the Society of the true meaning of Cost of Production, of Risk, of Trade Prices, —  THE AUTHOR. of Royalties; the exposure of the many tricks by which authors have been ensnared to their undoing ; the union of so many men and women of letters for the defence of their own interests ; the newborn recognition of the fact that it is the absolute duty of every writer to join an associa- tion which has no other object than the defence of the common interests; the slow—very slow— recognition of the truth that commercial value is a thing quite apart from literary value, so that a man may be a very fine writer yet may never achieve popularity, and the converse; the corollary that there is nothing sordid or mean in looking after property of one kind more than any other kind ; that what is done blamelessly and laudably by artists, lawyers, physicians, architects, engineers, and every branch of intellectual endeavour, may be done as blamelessly and as laudably by writers —all these things working together have effected —say, perhaps, have commenced —a complete revolution in the prospects and position of litera- ture. It is not yet acknowledged. Some of the old forms are still kept up. But the revolution is upon us, and the question now before us is what we should do for the consolidation and the security of what has been already gained. Among many causes which have assisted in advancing this Revolution, I do not think that any one has been more potent than the production of the “equitable” Draft Agreements by the Publishers’ Association. It is very much to be desired that every literary man or woman should possess, and should study, this most important document, with its exposure by Mr. Thring. In its columns the Publishers stand self-confessed and self-condemned. They have never been accused by their enemies of anything quite so amazing as they here claim as their nght. For they simply claim the power of taking everything. They want to be publishers, and to be paid as such: to be also agents, and to be paid as such: to act on commission, and to be paid as printers: to agree for half profits, and to charge blank percentages on the printing, paper, and everything. In one word, no one is entitled to speak at all upon the relation of Publisher and Author unless he has first read this document, with the com- ments issued by our Committee. But their silence is even more damaging than their utterances. Thus :— 1. Their committee have steadily ignored every grievance, every claim, and every protest of the Society of Authors. 2. They have taken no steps to prevent the con- tinuation of secret profits. 3. They have not denounced the system of secret profits, even at a time when Lord Russell’s Bill 11g promises to make the practice as criminal in the eyes of the law as it has always been in the eyes of honest men. 4. They have not denounced the practice of charging advertisements that have not been paid for. This practice, which actually gives the publisher the power of sweeping into his own pocket the whole proceeds of a book, has not even been mentioned by the Association, so that they tacitly reserve this power. 5. They have observed a significant silence on the right of audit. 6. Although the most shameless attacks have been made on the Society’s figures concerning its published “cost of production ”’—which are real figures taken from estimates and printers’ accounts —and the meaning of royalties, the Publishers’ Association has preserved absolute silence on the subject. 7. Although similar shameless statements have been made on the meaning of “risk” as exposed in the Society’s papers, the Publishers’ Associa- tion has maintained absolute silence on the subject. These silences are studied and deliberate. The only conclusion that can be drawn is obvious. It is like a conclusion in Euclid. Against these silences place their claims— 1. Thus, they claim the exclusive right of publishing a work all over the world, with the rights of abridgement, translation, and dramatic version of the work. What they get at present from any important author is the English volume right alone; an agent manages the rest for a percentage. 2. They make no proviso whatever against dishonesty. 3. They demand a blank percentage on office expenses, allowing no office expenses for book- seller, and none for author. 4. In the case of commission books, a blank fee is to be paid in advance; they are to send in their own estimate of cost—not the printer’s estimate—their own ; a blank percentage is to be charged on every item, besides a blank commis- sion; they are also to take a discount on every item; the books are to be accounted for, not at the price they actually realised, but at ‘“ customary trade prices ”—7.e., at any price that the publisher chooses to call “customary.” For other claims see the “ Forms of Agreement” published by the Society. 5. At the Publishers’ Congress recently held, there was an opportunity for protesting against inflated estimates and secret profits; there was also an opportunity for acknowledging that if the claims of our Society were not recognised in other 120 forms of business, the whole of the commercial structure would fall to the ground. That opportunity was not taken. 6. The publisher, therefore, stands before the world, and says: ‘I, the middleman, mean to take all that I choose. That is equitable. So that there may be no mistake, read this paper. Here ure my intentions revealed in agreements which eminent counsel have approved. You see, I claim blank percentages. I offer no guarantee against dishonesty. I claim to charge just whatever I like. Iclaim that according to equity ; it is my right to take whatever I choose.”’ 7. A circular was last year sent round among | publishers calling attention to the admirable | system which prevails in Germany, where the | bookseller is the mere slave of the publisher, and | the author is not allowed to be concerned with the | matter of property at all. 8. At the Congress every speaker was allowed the tacit assumption that literary property belongs as of right to the publisher. If the author was spoken of, it was as to the ‘‘ remunera- tion”? offered to him; he was thus openly con- sidered and spoken of as the clerk or employé of the publisher. These were brave words. Could they be followed by action there would be swift and sudden ruin to the literary profession. The old dependence was mitigated by competition of the trade. Without competition there would be mere slavery. But they have not been followed by action. It is really a most remarkable situation. The committee which issues these forms contains repre- sentatives of the three largest publishing houses in the country. At least one would expect them to set an example to the rest of the fraternity and to stand by their guns. Not a single publisher, great or small, ventures to submit these terms to an author of the least zmportance. Here is a proof, which cannot be denied, that the whole situation lies in the hands of the authors themselves. Ihave seen agreements embodying these claims ; but they were tried on the less important writers. There is not a single writer, I repeat, of any importance, unless he is in the employment and pay of a publisher, who does not retain, when he enters upon a profit-sharing or a royalty agree- ment, his American rights, his continental rights, his dramatic rights, and his translation rights. What, then, becomes of the “equitable” forms of agreement ? They stand simply to show what our friends will do if we allow them. If we do not allow them they can do nothing. THE AUTHOR. Another point. We all remember when the publisher was not going to deal with the literary agent: the literary agent was called by one indignant innocent a “canker”: all sorts of things were threatened. The literary agent is now eagerly run after by publishers and entreated to give them something good. In other words, free competition has set in: the value of Literary Property is understood on both sides. Nothing could be better for our side. Meantime, the Society acts as a watch-dog and as a policeman. It constantly examines and revises agreements: it advises authors on all points: it makes the low-class editors—the word “low-class” is used advisedly, because the com- plaints are very few indeed concerning reputable journals and magazines—pay for the work they have taken: and it finds out traps, and dangers, and tricks, and exposes them continually and repeatedly. Another most useful service is rendered by the Society. The Secretary is asked by hundreds of members every year concerning publishers. There are certain houses to which he never directs an inquirer, for excellent reasons, which have unfor- tunately to remain secret because the other side does not wish publicity. Let the reader ask himself what the effect of this steady omission, year after year, of any given house is likely to be. In the Society we know what it is, and we know, besides, that every year brings us wider power and greater knowledge. It is said that we are now threatened with a Ring. We need not be greatly afraid that a Ring would succeed, but it might, and it must be guarded against. It could only succeed (1) by a combina- tion of all publishers—this has been attempted ; (2) by the complete reduction of booksellers to slavery—this also has been attempted; (3) by the acquisition of complete control of literary pro- perty—we have seen that this also has been attempted ; (4) by the continued ignoring of authors’ protests—which is maintained by the Association and by their congress; (5) by the abolition of the literary agent—this is ardently desired. ~ All the conditions necessary for the formation of a Ring have therefore been attempted and are still being attempted. Against these attempts we have the Society of Authors — that and nothing else—to protect us. W. B. II.— Pus isHine oN COMMISSION, AND THE Commission PUBLISHER. We have repeated over and over again the © advice never under any circumstances to pay for — the production of what the ordinary publisher  a THE AUTHOR. 121 refuses to take. It is a most sound rule. It is one which needs to be enforced in the strongest terms, at the present moment, when many pub- lishers are tempting authors to bear the whole or a part share in the cost of production. They are general publishers, and the reasons why this method is to be shunned are as follows: 1. If the book had in it the promise of com- mercial success the publisher would jump at it, and the only question would be as to his proposed terms. 2. Although he proposes to take a commission on the sales he means secretly to make a profit on every item connected with the book. (See the Publishers’ Draft Agreements in which this is claimed asa right.) Now consider the position of the commission publisher. He neither claims nor exercises any right to make any secret profit at all or any profit on the production. He says plainly, “T will sell your book for you if I can: and I will take 10 per cent. on the sales, and you shall have all the rest.” This, you observe, is a very great difference. In the first case the author pays the publisher not only the cost of production, but anything else he may choose to set down. He also pays what he is charge’l for advertisements costing nothing. He also has to pay percentages for office expenses before he gets the commission itself. Thus, if the true cost of production is £150, and the sales amount, say, to £350—by the first method the author’s returns would probably appear as about £70. By the second method they would appear as £165. The worthy geitlemen who make the liberal offers exposed below are those who desire to publish on commission. They are not commission publishers. The commission publisher is, as will be seen in a few years, the publisher of the future for those writers whose works command success. The com- mission publisher produces no books as his own yenture, but only on commission. TII.—Tuer Orp Trick. Once more there has been brought to the Society the old, old agreement by which the unfortunate author is first made to pay the whole cost of production “to cover his whole liability,” and is then dunned for more money, and finally finds that there has been no sales. In this case the agreement was briefly as follows : 1, Author to pay £69—viz., £39 in signing the agreement, and £30 on delivery of the final proofs. The edition to be 750 copies. 2. The author to be charged for corrections “in excess of the usual correction of printers’ errors.” The “usual correction” means nothing. 3. Half-yearly accounts. Two-thirds of the money received by the publisher to be paid to the author. The book to be issued at 6s. 4. If new editions should be called for the publisher would produce them at his own ex- pense, and give the author a royalty of 2s. a copy, or 332 per cent. Think of that!! 5. The publisher was to advertise the work to the amount of £15, but should the expenses of advertising exceed that sum, such additional advertising were to be a first charge on the sales. Now let us consider what the unfortunate author could make by the transaction, in the extreme case of the whole edition being sold, allowing eighty copies for Press and presentation. But there are the corrections. In this case a little bill for £6 or so was sent in. Also the publishers demanded £7 for “additional adver- tising.” By the agreement they can take that off the sales. So that we now stand thus: £ & 4d, Author pays ......ee 69 Sales .........05 117 45.0 Corrections ......-..+++++ 6 <Author’s share 78 3 4 Additional advertising 7 Author’s loss... 3°10 5 £82 How does the publisher stand by the trans- action ? Tf we take certain figures given in “ The Pen and the Book,” it will be easy to prove that, even without the sale of a single copy, the publisher is certain to make a fair profit. How is it that silly people can be caught by such simple and transparent dodges ? 1. To begin with, they are wholly ignorant of the meaning of publishing. 2. If you place in their hands the figures they are too stupid to understand them. 3. They are caught by two phrases contained in all their agreements. ‘The amount paid to constitute the whole of their liability.” And “Future editions to be brought out at the expense of the publisher giving the author a royalty of 2s. a copy.” 4. They do not understand that under the heading of corrections the publisher can send ina bill for anything that he pleases. 5. They do not see through the transparent trick which in the same clause limits the adver- tising to £15, yet gives the publisher the night of further charges to any extent he pleases “‘ out of sales.” 6. Lastly, there comes in the vanity of the author, which seems to vary in the inverse pro- portion to his own ability, so that the more feeble 122 is his performance the more swollen are his expectations. : And so they are caught. The Society publishes these exposures time after time, over and over again. Yet the angler baits his hook—* reader’s opinion most favourable”: “offer most excep- tional’’: ‘no further liability’: “ two-thirds of the sales returned”: for new editions, as if the “new editions with following editions” was certain, a royalty far above that offered by other houses. The fish bites: is played with: and is landed. When it is too late comes the appeal to the Society, neglected when it would have been useful, for help when no help is possible. So these fishers of men get on: they even issue alist. Itis another kind of bait: the list con- tains hundreds of names. Is there one—a single name — of an author distinguished or even known ? Can anything be done? Can we ever protect ignorance and vanity ? Will the readers of these columns do their best to make known the folly of producing books which responsible publishers refuse, with the certainty of a large initial invest- ment and the equal certainty that under the most favourable circumstances it is bound to result in a loss ? rec PARIS NOTES. 5, rue Chomel, Paris. HE wisdom of the twopence-halfpenny augmentation on the price of the 3fr. 50¢. volume has been widely discussed, both in book-buying and _ bookselling circles. The aforesaid work, invariably marked 3fr. 5oc., and as invariably sold for 2fr. 75c., is henceforward only obtainable at 3 francs net. The cause of this augmentation is the falling-off of book-buyers and the consequent loss to the bookseller, who is no longer content to accept from the publisher a new work which will only yield him a profit of two sous per volume. The French publishers, as a body, have held aloof from the movement, declaring it to be a matter out of their province, and one which must necessarily be settled by the parties principally concerned, viz., the booksellers and the public. The Maison Flammarion, one of the largest publishing and bookselling establish- ments here (and formerly one of the warmest advocates of a reduction in the existing prices) at first opposed the additional twopence half- penny per copy; but, after due reflection, with- drew its opposition, and registered its vote in support of the augmentation proposed by the Booksellers’ Syndicate. THE AUTHOR. Frencu BooxsELLeRS 'N DIFFICULTIES. M. Fasquelle, head of the well-known publish- ing firm of Charpentier, likewise avers that he regrets the increase on the price of the so-called 3fr. 50c. volume—though he has not been person- ally consulted on the matter, having only been informed of the booksellers’ decision through the agency of the newspapers. This is the more surprising since the Maison Charpentier heads, by a long way, the annual list of sales of the 3fr. 500. volume, having produced three of the great pecuniary successes of the year, viz., the “ Paris” of Zola, the “Cyrano de Bergerac” of Edmond Rostand, and the ‘Soutien de Famille” of Alphonse Daudet. Personally M. Fasquelle would have preferred another method of meeting the deficit in the bookseller’s account than that resorted to by the syndicate. Having recently become concessionnaire of the railway libraries of the stations “du réseau de l’Ouest,” where the 3fr. 50c. volume has always previously been sold at published price, he has announced his intention of adopting the new price fixed by the Book- sellers’ Syndicate all along the line, and of hence- forth selling the volume in question in the Seine and Seine-et-Oise departments at the reduced rate of 3 francs per copy. He humorously adds that this time the public is not likely to complain of the difference. BuaMine THE Bicycle. The remainder of the publishers have accepted the booksellers’ innovation with an tnsoucrance the publie is far from copying. The reason of the apathy displayed in publishing circles is obvious. The outlook in the bookselling trade, especially in the provinces, is undoubtedly gloomy. Publishers and booksellers are agreed that the bicycle is at the bottom of the mischief, since the development of a taste for outdoor physical exercise is not conducive to the development of the nervous, imaginative faculties fostered by fiction. But to discover the root of the evil is not to remedy it; and the fact that the booksellers could not continue to sell at the existing prices unless the publishers allowed them a larger commission was evident even to outsiders. The publishers themselves were ready to adopt any expedient which would preserve them from further outlay at the present moment. Nor can they be blamed on this account zf the figures furnished by them, and currently accepted by the public, are correct. The French literary market is absolutely glutted. The principal firms are reported to publish, on an average, fifteen volumes per day, of which a goodly pro- portion are destined to find a permanent resting- place in one of the huge warehouses in which the  THE AUTHOR. hag various publishing firms store up the unsold editions of the majority of their clients, in the rarely-realised hope that a future success by the same author will obtain a tardy market for his earlier productions. The Maison Flammarion alone has at present more than a million such yolumes stored up in its enormous warehouse at Montrouge. In the seventh century B.c., Omar, destroyer of the Alexandrine library, was held in execration by all civilised nations ; but we doubt if the publishers of the nineteenth century would regard him in the same light. THe Acrors’ ASSOCIATION. The committee of the Association générale des Artistes Dramatiques et Lyriques de Frauce has now definitely established its bureau at 17, rue de la Grange-Batelitre (Faubourg Mont- martre), under the presidency of M. Silvain, of the Comédie-Francaise, aided by two vice-presi- dents, viz., M. Armand Silvestre (inspecteur des beaux-arts) and M. Adolphe Milliaud (directeur de la Renaissance). M. Edouard Guillaumet, founder of the Association, has undertaken the office of General Administrator. The bureau of the Association is daily open from 9 a.m. to 5 p-m., and its official organ is the Bulletin des Artistes, which appears every Sunday morning, and keeps all members informed of the proceed- ings of the Association, in addition to supplying them with much interesting and valuable matter relative to their profession. The utility of this institution may be recognised from the fact that its list of members is daily increasing, and that a large number of engagements have already been ratified through its agency. In short, the thanks and congratulations of the whole artistic fraternity are due to M. Guillaumet for his praiseworthy and disinterested initiative on behalf of the French artiste. A Story or DuMaAs PERE. Speaking of theatrical matters reminds me of a charming anecdot2 recently narrated by M. Jules Claretie anent the revival of the superb “Dame de Montsoreau”’ of Alexandre Dumas pere and Auguste Maquet at the Porte-Saint- Martin Theatre. This “bon Dumas,” this intel- lectual giant who is credited with having taught French history to three-quarters of the French nation, and who boasted of having ‘toute Pantiquité & faire—ou plutot a refaire, car, jusqu’ 4 présent, on ne l’a guére que défaite ”— was, nevertheless, extremely tenacious of his. glory, and insisted on having a contract drawn up in which it was expressly stipulated that in all the mutual productions of Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet, the illustrious name of VOL. x. Alexandre Dumas should alone be given the public. On the evening of the first representa- tion of “ Les Trois Mousquetaires ’ Dumas pére proudly walked the planks of the Ambigu Theatre in high glee at the tremendous success his work was achieving, while Auguste’ Maquet stood aloof in one of the side scenes, pensively enawing the ends of his moustache. Presently Dumas approached his anonymous collaborator and inquired if the latter’s mother chanced to be present that night. Maquet sadly replied that she was in one of the second row of boxes. “Eh bien!” responded Dumas, “ tout 4 Pheure, ne perdez pas de vue cette seconde loge. Regardez- la, je vous prie!” On the conclusion of the play the spectators tumultuously demanded the name of the author. Mélingue, previously instructed by Dumas in a rapid aside, forthwith announced that the drama just represented was the work of M. Alexandre Dumas and—(a prolonged pause)—M. Auguste Maquet ! A double cry grested the latter name, out- stripping the rapturous applause of the crowd— the joyous cry of Mme. Maquet and the grateful ery of her son Auguste The latter threw him- self into the arms of his generous colleague, who, clapping him fraternally on the back, gaily responded :— “Eh bien! Etes-vous content? Ce sera comme ca pour les autres pi¢ces! Allons travailler!” The great man probably remembered the far- off days when he himself worked so assiduously and untiringly as a poor copying clerk in order to send a portion of his meagre pittance to his widowed mother. Tur New ACADEMICIANS. Passing rapidly along the Grands Boulevards yesterday, I encountered the keen cursory glance of “les beaux yeux bridés qui pétillent de malice et desprit” of M. Henri Lavedan, who recently quitted his charming retreat at Veules-les-Roses to assist at the hundred and tenth representation of “Le Vieux Marcheur” at Paris. According to the Figaro, this play has been given no less than 225 times in the brief space of six months. Of course, this estimate includes the representa- tions given by the touring company beyond the French frontier. M. Lavedan has employed his summer holiday in writing the necessary oration to celebrate his official reception to the French Academy. The manuscript is now in the hands of the Seerétaire Perpctuel of the Immortals, and is reported to contain a graphic sketch of French society under the Second Empire. M. Paul Deschanel has followed the example of his illustrious comrade. Headroitly contrived N 124 to throw the reporters off his track, and then slipped quietly away to a secluded retreat on the borders of a Swiss lake in order to compose his Academical oration undisturbed. Although his official reception does not take place until February, 1900, his arducus political duties leave him small leisure for literary undertakings. Hence the necessity of composing his Academical speech so long beforehand. A Untversat LANGUAGE. M. Léon Bollack is a remarkable man. He has endeavoured to re-establish the unanimity of language which prevailed on the earth previous to the erection of the Tower of Babel in 2233 B.c. by inventing a “Langue bleue,” which professes to teach all languages in one—and that one, needless to add, is the “ Langue bleue” invented by M. Léon Bollack. Yet, even though the new grammar and language composed by M. Bollack never become as universally adopted as their author confidently predicts, his method is sufficiently plausible and ingenious to awaken some interest in the quarter most nearly affected, viz., in the vast army of teachers and professors whom the success of his theory would inevitably deprive of the posts they at present occupy. A New Bioeraruy or GrorGEe SAND. But to my mind, the most vividly interesting publication of the month that has come under my notice is the two-volume Liography of “George Sand, sa vie et ses ceuvres,” (1804- 1876), by Madame Vladimir Karénine, a Russian lady. In no country, not even in her native land, have the works of the gifted French authoress been more highly appreciated than in Russian literary circles. “ Belicve me,” wrote Tourgueneff to Souvorine, ‘George Sand is one of your saints!” Fedor Dostoiewski speaks of her still more enthusiastically. “She was,’ he says, “one of the most sublime an‘ beautiful representatives of womanhood, a woman almost unique by the vigour of her mind and talent—a name henceforward become historical, destined never to fall into oblivion or disappear from the history of European humanity.” A little later he adds: ‘Sans s’en douter elle- méme, elle fut un des adeptes les plus complets du Christ” ; which judgment is difficult to recon- cile with the verdict of Henri Heine, who, in speaking of George Sand’s literary productions, opined that, even though they illuminated many dungeons where no other consolation could pene- trate, their pernicious flames would, at the same time, destroy the peaceful shrines of innocence.” Madame Karénine has compiled the most com- plete biography of this extraordinary and gifted THE AUTHOR. woman that has yet been produced. It is the outcome of ten years’ patient study and diligent research. We would also mention: “ L’Histoire de la Langue ct de la littérature frangajses” (1830- 1900), by M. Henri Chantavoine (chez Armand Colin) ; “Lettres Répondues,”’ by M. Ludaux (chez Lemerre); “Le Petre Milon,’ by Guy de Maupassant (uvres inédites series, chez Ollen- dorf) ; “ Prométhée, by M. Iwan Gilkin (Poétes francaise de I’étranger, chez Fischbacher) ; *“Drames baroques et mélancoliques,” by M. Frédéric Boutet (chez Chamuel) ; “ Les Soirdées de la Duchesse,” by Comte Camille de Renesse ; “Tes Mémoires de Mme. de la Ferronnays”; and “Le peintre Gabriel,” by M. de Poiseux. oa NOTES AND NEWS. HE following extract from the Canadian Bookseller, I have cut out of a New York paper : Does the recent combination of the Harper and Double- day-McClure houses foreshadow a new trust—a vast and universal consolidation of all the publishing interests of the country in one great publishing trust? The idea is cer- tainly a fascinating one, and it is so heartily in accord with the spirit of the age that any objection to it must be branded at once as old-fogeyism, as a mere repetition of arguments already answered a bundred times. If the pub- lishers should feebly pleai their right to live, the flat answer is that they have no more right to live than oil men, or sugar refiners, or steel makers, or other conductors of obsolete industries. If their employes protest against starvation, they may be reminded that they are a painful but necessary sacrifice to the march of improvement. As for the poor author, why should he object to taking his place with the other producers, and allowing his compensa- tion to be adjusted by the exigencies of the dividends ‘on the common and preferred stock of the combination? Why should the rights of the literary producer be any more sacred than those of any other industry * What reason hag the author for oxistance except to produce his literary wares ? ee In another column the Present Situation is dis- cussed. There seems to be little fear of a single Publishing Trust. Thereis, however, no doubt that the American publishers will come over here —some of them are over here alreagly—and that they will introduce new methods which will finish off the old-fashioned publisher. At first, the serious competition of the Americans will be beneficial to the literary profession, becausenothing is of more importance to the maker or creator of things which have a commercial value than the open competition of the market. It is difficult, moreover, to understand how open competition, which will certainly place the best work in the  THE AUTHOR. hands of the richest houses, can become a single {rust, But the reader is referred to the note on the Present Situation. ——<— + Is a writer justified in sending copies of his MSS. to more than one editor at the same time? The question is raised by a correspondent (see p- 133). The answer is surely quitesimple. The editor runs his paper on business lines : he endeavours to make his journal financially successful: the contributors have only to follow his example, and, on their side, conduct the com- mercial side of their work also on business principles. There can, therefore, be no reason why the contributor should not offer his work to two or more editors at the same time. It may be objected that. editors would refuse to consider work so offered. They might: they would be, of course, within their right if they did. As, how- ever, a good magazine must have good work, they would certainly have to give in when good and desirable work was offered. Those writers only would be injured whose work was doubtful. As to the other question, whether articles for monthlies are accepted by sending proofs without other notice, it needs no answer, because, if there were any doubt in the editor’s mind, he would not send the paper to the press without a note beforehand to the author. ——$> > Mr. Andrew Lang, in Longman’s, speaks about the hardship and injustice caused to authors by the running out of copyright. Itis a great hard- ship and a great injusuce. But it will prove most difficult to persuade people cf its injustice. I believe that in the new Copyright Bill some extension of the term is all that can be asked for. People have got firmly fixed in their heads the notion that if the term copyright is indefi- nitely extended certain books, now, as they are pleased to call it, the property of the nation— really the property of competing publishers—will be suppressed. “Suppose,” they say, «<The Pilgrim’s Progress’ were to fall into the hands of a Catholic 2”? The true answer would be, that the fact of this work being always in demand and that it was a property like a coal mine, would effec- tually prevent that property being ruined or destroyed. Another objection to the extension of copyright is the fact that publishers are always trying to get copyright in their own hands. The agreements submitted to authors always demand copyright or the exclusive right of publi- cation during the time of copyright; or if they buy a book outright of course copyright goes with it. Therefore an extension of copyright _ would only mean the continuance during such 125 extension of the agreement made with the author. And this, as the “ Draft Agreemen's ” (Equitable) show, would leave the author, as a rule, very little cause for congratulation as to the benefits of the extension. Now, people very rightly think that they would rather have the competing publisher than the publisher who is sole owner. It is not only property that has to be pro- tected, it is the author. Until recently literary property was wholly misunderstood. ‘The execu- tors of this kind of property throw it away. “The present law does not injuremany novelists,” Mr. Lang says. It injured Scott, Dickens, and Thackeray: it is about to injure the heirs of Charles Reade and George Eliot and Charles |Kingsley. It will certainly injure the heirs of Louis Stevenson. But there are writers like Keats and Coleridge who, Mr. Lang thinks, would have left their successors a competence. Perhaps; but how many editions of Keats and Coleridge have there been during the last forty or fifty years? How many thousand copies of either have been taken by the public? Ten thousand? There is not much of a competence to be got out of the author's share in 10,000 copies of a little volume of verse. I think that Literary Property being what it is —viz., uncertain as regards the future, though it is absurd to use the word “risk,” except for dishonest purposes, about the works of many hundreds of living writers—it is quite impossible to predict of any book by a living writer that it will be a living force in twenty years’ time. This uncertainty is the real “risk” as applied to writers of name. Such an uncertainty attaches to no other kind of property. The future possi- bilities of books are, in fact, so very uncertain that they are practically neglected. In dealings between author and publisher the future, after the first year or two, is not considered at all. Most writers would get as good terms for a five years’ agreement as for the whole of copyright. 1 think, therefore, that this kind of property should be treated as requiring special legislation. The term of copyright should be certainly extended— perhaps there should be no term at all —the State does not take away a man’s coal mine after forty years. And purchase of copyright should be limited to periods of five or six years. Most books suffer painless extinction after the first year ; a few last for three or four years ; very few, indeed, are in demand more than five years. For those books which have the good fortune of extended life, it is surely fair to the creator of the property that there should be a fresh deal. 126 THE AUTHOR. The death of Grant Allen removes a familiar figure from our midst. For twenty-five years this writer has been following the profession of literature, with what success we all know. As a popular exponent of science he wrote many books which gave him a name if not a fortune. And when he turned to fiction grudg- ingly and with some professed contempt for the work, he succeeded more rapidly and more surely than as a writer on science. I think that the world likes to have its science presented by the discoverers and the workers in the laboratory. Tt must be owned that Grant Allen was outside the laboratory: he loved science, and he followed the results of research, but I think that he pursued no research of his own. At the same time, his knowledge was considerable, and his love for Nature in every branch of observation was true and deep His early struggles, which were severe, embittered him against the profession of letters. He advised a young man rather to sweep a cross- ing than to live by literature. He resented the small returns of his scientific books. In fact, he made the common mistake of confusing com- mercial with literary worth, and, because he knew that he had written well, he was angry because people did not buy his books. Yet these early books made the calling of letters possible for him and introduced him to the men whom, above all, he most desired to know. His history, in consequence of this advice of his, has been often instance to show the pre- carious nature of the literary profession. On the contrary, it shows most clearly that he who can write what people want to read will get on in the sense of getting an income; while he who writes what the people do not want to buy will also, if his work is good, get on in reputation and distinction. Grant Allen’s later years were spent in such comfort as his commercial success bestowed upon him, and in such consideration as his learning and his reputation bestowed upon him. How many lawyers, medical men, clergymen, schoolmasters, architects, pass through years of ill-paid drudgery ? How many never win recogni- tion at all? How many at the age of fifty-three can look back, as Grant Allen could, to fifteen years at least of success and substantial comfort ? As a man of letters among others, he was large minded : he was entirely free from envy or jealousy: he was always ready to acknowledge good work in others: he neither gibed nor scoffed at other writers. So far he was what the Ameri- cans call whole-souled. There was, however, a strange tendency in him to take “the other side” in everything. It was not a kicking against convention: it was an inborn spirit of revolt against everything estab- lished. In religion, in politics, in social matter :, he was a kind of rebel. But a rebel with whom it was pleasing at all times to talk: a man swift to understand, to receive, to return with interest; a man full of ideas and brimming over with cleverness ; a man, in some points, as simple as a child. Water Besant, Saeas SLEIGHT OF HAND. M* SENNETT, the agent, looked up sharply from the letter which he had been reading, gazed towards the door of his private office, and said “Come in.” Mr. Palinode, his right-hand man, entered, carrying a manuscript. “ Wasn’t sure whether anybody knocked or not,” said Mr. Sennett. “You have the suaviter in modo in perfection, Palinode, even in the matter of tapping on a door. Well, what have you come up about ?” “This,” replied Mr. Palinode, as he seated himself opposite his principal. He put the manu- script on the writing-table, and pointed to it with his forefinger. “Well, you’ve had a look at it?” Mr. Sennett inquired. “Yes,” said Mr. Palinode, ‘and though I’ve got a sort of nausea of manuscript from con- stantly seeing it and handling it, and can’t usually relish any sort of fiction, I must say this strikes me as being positively great. It’s more than talent, you know-— there’s a touch of genius in it.” “So I thought,” said Mr. Sennett, meditatively, “though I only read scraps of it; and that was why I asked you to run through it. It ?s fine stuff. I should like to get it published.” Mr. Palinode shrugged his shoulders and leaned back in his chair. : “JT don’t know who would take it,” he observed. “Tt’s splendid stuff, but it’s too short and it’s gloomy. And, then, the author’s utterly unknown. They’d kick at it; it’s too much of a risk. I don’t believe you'd get anybody to take it.” “I must make somebody take it,” said Mr. Sennett. Mr. Palinode smiled. Half an hour later Mr. Guddle, the senior partner in the publishing firm of Guddle and Honey, was ushered into Mr. Sennett’s private room. He greeted the agent in a very friendly manner, and talked affably for some time about eS es  THE the weather and the news, and about minor matters of business which were pending between his firm and Mr. Sennett. Mr. Sennett waited patiently, and, when Mr. Guddle considered that he had successfully avoided any appearance of eagerness, he came to the reason of his visit. “Now, there’s Brumber’s book,” he began with a smile, “Yes,” Mr. Sennett replied, in a serious tone ‘what do you think of it ?” “We like it,” said Mr. Guddle. here to talk about it.” “T thought, perhaps, that was so,’ Mr. Sennett, and he smiled quietly. “Well, about terms, you know, Sennett,” resumed the publisher. Mr. Sennett frowned as if he were confronted with a puzzle. “It’s rather early to talk about terms,” he said, slowly. “I haven’t got a free hand. Brumber’s a queer chap. My instructions are to refer all offers. And there’s competition about this book; more than half-a-dozen firms have been putting pressure on me to let them see it.” Mr. Guddle’s face fell. “fs Brumber in England now ?” he asked. “No; he’s away yachting; coast of France somewhere. He'll be back in a fortnight.” “You know, he’s likely to follow your recom- mendation, Sennett,” said the publisher. He looked inquiringly at Mr. Sennett. “ Well,” said the agent, vaguely—‘ Oh, by the way, Guddle, I’ve something with a touch of most unusual talent in it. Palinode’s read it, and I’ve had a look at it, and we both enthuse.” “Fiction ? ” “T came up ’ remarked « Yos.”’ ““ Who’s the author ?”’ “Oh, a new writer. Calls herself Jacob Linden. There’s the copy.” He pointed to the manuscript, which Mr. Palinode had left upon the writing table. The publisher took up the manuscript and fingered it carelessly. “It’s very short,” he observed, in a tone of disapproval. Then he read the last three pages with an air of frowning abstraction. ‘The ending’s fearfully gloomy,” he said, when he had finished the perusal. “No, I don’t think we want it. When can you let us hear about Brumber’s book?” “Oh, I'll let you know as soon as T can,” Mr. Sennett replied coldly. The publisher looked uncomfortable. do the best you can for us, Sennett, won't your he asked. “ Weshouldn’t like Brumber to go to someone else.” “T haven’t a free hand,” Mr. Sennett repeated. “Tm sorry you don’t like that story you've just “ Youll ” AUTHOR. 127 looked at. I’m keen about getting it published; I think it’s well upto theright standard. But the difficulty there is about getting any of you men to oblige us! You want us to oblige you, you know.” : Mr, Guddle glanced up sharply at Mr. Sennett ; but the agent’s face was impassive. Mr. Guddle’s demeanour betrayed annoyance and hesitation. “Oh, the story’s very short,” he said after a pause, “and it seems dismal. Still it may be all right. Of course we'll have it read if you send it in to us.” “Thanks very much,” said Mr. Sennett, and he smiled amiably. ‘‘ Somehow one does like to be humoured.” Some more small matters of business were mentioned, and then Mr. Guddle took his leave. A fortnight later he called upon Mr. Sennett again. “Well; is Brumber back nowr ” he asked, as he seated himself in the chair which Mr. Sennett offered him. “Yes, he’s back,’ Mr. Sennett replied, indiffe- rently. ‘“ He’s comivg up to town to-night, and he’ll call here to-morrow.” “ Ah,” cried Mr. Guddle in gleeful expectation. “ There’s a lot of competition for that book,” said Mr. Sennett, severely. ‘“ Five more people have been up here about it.” Mr. Guddle looked serious. “ Ah, and about that yarn of J: acob Linden’s,”’ Mr. Sennett resumed, carelessly. ‘‘ Have you had a report about that yet? I hope you're going to fall in love with it.”’ Mr. Guddle fidgeted in his chair. “Oh, but we're not,” he observed. ‘ We've had a report. There’s some good stuff in it from the purely literary point of view, no doubt. But I don’t believe it would have a sale. It’s morbid; it’s horribly gloomy.” “ Gloomy as King Lear?” Mr. Sennett asked, siniling. “Oh, that’s different,’ Mr. Guddle answered. “You've got to consider the fiction public of the present day. It’s altogether different. I don’t say that a whole lot of gloomy novels haven’t done well; but still one has a feeling against them. And then there’s the length. Its too short. Readers want bulk for their money.” “You disappoint me,” said Mr. Sennett. “You really do. I thought you were going to oblige me about the book. However, I’ve no night to ask it. Yes, Brumber will be here to-morrow, and of course I shall report your offer with the others.” There was a pause in the conversation. “Oh, hang it all,” Mr. Guddle cried at length, “if your mind is really set on getting this woman 128 who writes as Jacob Linden a hearing, I suppose we may as well do it. It isn’t such bad stuff altogether. It may do—though it’s a risk. But we want to be obliging. I’1l write a letter to you and make an offer for the story. And now— you won't forget us, eh? What time will Brumber be here ?”’ “ Half-past eleven.” “Tl call round—oh, wait. Can you have lunch with me to-morrow? No? You're lunching Brumber? I see. Well, I'll call round at three. Ta-ta!”’ Mr. Sennett shook cordially. So Messrs. Guddle and Honey secured Mr. Brumber’s book on terms satisfactory to Mr. Brumber, and Jacob Linden secured the publi- cation of her novel on terms satisfactory to herself. The event falsified Mr. Guddle’s pre- diction ; for the story attracted much attention, and the sales were very encouraging. “Jacob Linden” thanked Mr. Sennett enthusiastically. Then she wrote another novel. And she thought that it would be an act of courtesy to call on Messrs. Guddle and Honey when she had com- pleted it. She was a nervous woman, whose health was delicate ; she knew nothing of commerce, and the the publisher’s hand prospect of a visit to a man of business frightened her. But she went. Mr. Guddle was affability incarnate. even solicitous. “Of course we shall be pleased to see your next book,” he said, with a beaming smile. “ We should be very disappointed if you took it to anybody else. We hope both to gain and keep your confidence, Mrs. Linden. There’s a great deal of talk about hostility between author and publisher, but we believe that the old pleasant relations are still possible, and I assure you we don’t always spare ourselves in the effort to maintain them.” “IT suppose I had better send the manuscript through Mr. Sennett?” the author inquired, confidingly. Mr. Guddle spread out his hands, and made as if he were about to whistle softly. “Oh! if you’re in any way tied to Mr. Sennett,”’ he began. “No, not at all,” said the author. “But I thought—I wouldn’t do anything at all which would appear like slighting Mr. Sennett. Of course, I am very grateful to him,” The publisher laughed as if in frank merri- ment, “ Sennett won’t mind,” he cried. “ He’s over- worked as it is. He’ll be only too glad to be saved the trouble,” He was THE AUTHOR. “Oh, I wouldn’t give him needless trouble for the world,” said the author, and her face flushed. “Well now, really, do you know,” Mr. Guddle resumed, ‘I think you had better deal with us direct. Mr. Sennett wouldn’t have sent your story to us if he thought that you couldn’t trust us.” “ OF course not.” “And the ro per cent. commission that he gets is nothing to him. Unless it’s a very big deal, he won’t thank anyone for troubling him. Well, of course it has to be deducted from your profits, if it’s to be paid at all.” The author nodded her head, but hastened to remark, “I shouldn’t mind that in the least.’ “T know, I know,” said Mr. Guddle. “But it’s merely a question of not bothering Sennett, and doing the business in a simpler and more direct way. I must say I think it’s pleasanter all round,” When Mr. Sennett and Mr. Palinode heard that “ Jacob Linden ” was dealing direct with Messrs. Guddle and Honey they sighed and shrugged their shoulders. “The way of the world,’ observed Mr. Pali- node. ‘She wants to save her 10 per cent. like everybody else.” Mr. Sennett said nothing. Jacob Linden’s second novel was very favour- ably reviewed. Some people told her that it was having a brisk sale. But it proved rather less lucrative than ber first book, when she received her accounts from Messrs. Guddle and Honey. Four years later a friend who was in Mr. Guddle’s confidence asked the publisher what he thought of Jacob Linden’s work. “My boy, she lays the most charming little golden eggs at regular intervals,” said Mr. Guddle. ‘“ We gei all her stuff, and we have all the American rights, and if we serialise one of the yarns we get all the money. She costs us about two hundred a year, and she’s quite happy. Doesn’t know the A B C of business. We explain it all to her at intervals.” Mr. Guddle winked. ‘ We tell her what terrible expenses we have about her stuff, and that she’s found ‘fit audience though few.’ We took her away from Sennett, you know. We had to. Just ask your- self, my boy, if she’d stayed with Sennett, what prices she’d be getting now? Why, she'd be taking three-quarters of the profits, if not more. That’s not publishing as I see it. I like the old pleasant, direct, personal relations between author and publisher.” Mr. Guddle winked again. MoLEcULE.  “LITERATURE” AND THE AUTUMN LIST. E are indebted to Literature for a complete list of the autumn books as furnished by the publishers. The paper, to which we refer the reader, has rendered signal service by the publication of this list, which ought to be in the hands of every literary man or woman. Tt is a document which enables the reader to ascertain by a little analysis and study the character of every publishing house of any standing: the kind of book which it publishes : the standing which it possesses: and the class of writers most attracted by each house. It does more. To one who understands anything about the present situation it indicates as clearly as if it were written down whether a publisher is going up or is coming down. It is not numbers alone which are useful in this respect: numbers go for something, but names go for more. If, for instance, we find that a publisher has ouly early works of well-known writers who with later works have gone elsewhere, the inference is obvious. There must be reasons for this desertion. If this oceurs with several names of mark, the inference to be drawn is like the conclusion of a proposition in Euclid—the man is to be avoided. Now, both in quantity and in quality some of ths older houses show this year, if not an actual then a relative falling off as compared with previous lists: on the other hand, certain of the younger houses which promised great things some years ago are evidently already in a state of decay, while others are flourishing mightily with lists both long and important and valuable. As regards these younger houses, there are two or three questions to be asked: (1.) Are they energetic and quick in seeing opportunities and in pushing books? (2.) If so, how do they stand as regards their agreements? (3.) Do they retain their good men ? There are seventy publishers on this list. The divisions adopted by Literature are as follows :— No. of Works. No. of Works, Archmology......... as Medical <........... 6 RE ce 34 Miscellaneous ......... 5! Biography .........-.: 103 Masia. 2.52 fcc: 4 Juvenile Books ...... 181 Natural History ...... 12 Claasical ............... 34 Naval and military... 24 Drama......... ocak 17 Oriental ..... 00.0666 12 Economics and Philosophy ............ 17 Soociology......... -- 20 Poetry 65.620 kas 35 Educational............ 49 Political ............... 15 Engineering ......... 11 Reprints ............++- 87 Figtion..........0.:6606 353 Science ......... ei 22 Folk-lore..............+ 12 Sport: oss eccc vie eteee 22 Geography ...........: q Theology ...........-++ 181 History ......ececceoes 78 Topography......... 1 20 BAM og ehcess 15 MraVel occ eiscc ee 42 Literary ...........5-+ qt — Mathematics ....... 2 Wotel nc. 1551 THE AUTHOR. 129 An analysis has also been made ot the number of books published by each house, but it would be misleading to quote this, because many of the lists are swollen by quite unimportant things, such as children’s books and the ventures of young poets. Other lists consist almost entirely of books which have been refused by responsible houses, and are published at the author's expense to gratify the author's vanity, and presently to change that vanity into disappointment. Setting aside these books, it is curious to observe how certain of the younger houses already spoken of surpass many of the older ones both in importance and in numbers: it is, indeed, astonishing to see the miserable promis? made by some of these older firms. One observes with great satisfaction that the Cambridge Univer- sity Press and the Clarendon are attracting scholars more and more. This is as it should be, These two houses ought to produce b.tween them all the best books in scholarship and learning. The departments of Education and Science seem imperfect, probably because they do not observe times and seasons. If we turn to Fiction we find 353 entries. From these may be deducted forty-eight as either translations or books known to be those spoken of above, the rejected by responsible publishers and printed—one cannot say published—on terms often exposed in these columns (see p. 121). There remain 305. Going carefully through the list and noting every name that is at all known, one finds a little over 100 novels which are safe to cover expenses—books, namely, which carry no risk, though in many cises there may be a very small profit. They may be looked upon as certain to reach 600 or 700 copies. As regards the remaining 200, a great many, but no one can tell how many, are paid for by the authors : the vast majority will not reach 500 copies : many of them will not sell 100: some of them are produced at the publisher’s risk on the recommendation of a reader and in the hope of a “ boom.” The amount risked is the difference between the first sul- scription and the actual cost of production. Asit is no use sending good money after bad, very little is wasted in advertising these productions : and as only those copies are bound which are taken by the libraries, the cost of production is really very small. There is another point suggested by this list. How are all these books to be presented to the public ¢ There are only three ways. (1) By the circulating libraries. (2) By the reviews. (3) By the booksellers. 130 There are over 1500 books on the list. The larger number do not belong to the circulating library at all. They will be all out before the end of November. How are the reviews to notice 1500 books by the end of the year, after which most of them will be dead and past recovery? Of course they cannot. They must make a selection—a double selection. First, selection of subjects. The general columns of review do not notice archeology, children’s books, classical, educatioval, scientific, geographical, topographical, legal, medical, or musical books: nor reprints nor theology nor philosophy nor Oriental subjects. That reduces the possible choice to about 850. The second choice has, therefore, to be made out of 850. There are two courses open to the reviewer. The one is to take the more important Looks, to recognise their importance, and to give them the space which they deserve. The other is to lump up all together, and to crama dozen “ reviews”’ (!) into one page. The former method, now out of fashion, preserves the dignity of literature and the reputation of the journal: the other destroys the dignity of literature, lowers standards, and deprives the journal of any weight. It further aceustoms readers to neglect altogether the review column and to be guided in the choice of books entirely by the opinion of their friends. There remain the booksellers. Of these it can only be said that not even the richest could afford to subscribe to a quarter of the books they may note as “possible,” while, as regards the “ doubtful” books, no one would be so foolish as to subscribe to any. Now, a book is not published unless it is offered to the reader. It is only printed. Therefore it is a melancholy conclusion that a very large number of the long autumn list will not be published at all. There is only one way out of it. The book- sellers must have the choice of books on sale or return. If it is alleged that those which are not sold come back soiled, the auswer is that at least they have had their chance of being sold. The public has been invited to look at them. These observations should be read in connec: tion with the paper (p. 118) on the Present Situation. Se ‘THE LITERARY YEAR-BOOK.” I. (comMUNICATED. ) HE “Literary Year-Book” for tgoo will be an entirely new compilation, appearing under the editorship of Mr. Herbert Morrah. The greater part of the book will be THE AUTHOR. devoted to facts, the only criticisms included being of a special character, and written by critics of eminence in their various departments. No “portraits and appreciations” of individual writers will appear in the new issue, which will contain a vast amount of information useful to all engaged in literature, and arranged in a most convenient form for purposes of reference. The editor desires to take this last opportunity of reminding authors who have not yet received a form for the direc‘ory that communications and suggestions will be welcomed by him. These should be addressed to the Editor of the “Literary Year-Book,” Ruskin House, Charing Cross-road, London, W.C., before the 1st of December next. IL. The prospectus of “ The Literary Year-Book ” has now been sent out. It will be, perhaps, remembered that the first issue of this annual was in some respects unfortunate, especially in its attempt to become an organ of criticism. Opinions may, of course, differ as to what a Literary Year-Book ought to be : perhaps criticism should be a part of it. For myself, I consider that what is wanted in such an annual is that it should be a handy book of reference to the numerous company of those who write and those who have to do with writers: that it should disregard altogether the outside public: and that it should include everything that a literary man now has to find out for himself. Now what the literary world does not want, what it will not go out of its way to read, is a collection of critical articles on its own works by those of the same craft. There are already plenty of critical organs —as many as there are daily or weekly papers: monthly magazines or quarterly reviews. When your literary man or woman has been “slated” by some and lauded by others: when the praise or blame at the year’s end can do neither his book nor his own reputation any good or harm, is it conceivable that he desires to read any more “reviews”? Other people may like to go on reading “critical reviews ”’ about books of the last year, for the most part dead and gone and forgotten already. But the literary man certainly does not. He neither desires to read criticisms of his own books nor of his friends’ books, nor even of his enemies’ books. Therefore, for my own part, I am sorry to observe that criticism of any kind is to take a part in the Year-Book, whose success I greatly desire, if that success makes it useful and neces- sary for the Literary Life. Otherwise, I do not see that we want it at all. If, however, it is thought that the prospects and present condition of Literature should be  THE AUTHOR. treated, at any time, with reference to the general character and average of the last few years, that is another question altogether. I am reminded of an excellent essay by Professor Saintsbury, in which, without naming a single author, he dis- cussed contemporary fiction dispassionately and judicially, so that everyone might, if he chose, take unto himself the critic’s lessons and warn- ings, and yet no one could be hurt or offended. Of course the same thing might be done with poetry, the drama, or any other branch. In fact, it should be done from time to time. But the pro- auctions of asingle year cannot allow of any such general treatment. I would, again, submit that the great and important branch of _ literary work which includes educational books should not be passed over. It is far too much the custom to assume that authorship means work of imagination only. A Year-Book which provides a dictionary of living writers in all branches: which abstains from individual criticism as outside its own pro- vince : which contains all such information as is likely to be useful to an aspirant or to an old hand, ought to command success. But criticism of last year’s books certainly is not wanted, and, in my opinion, if attempted can only be carried out very incompletely, and must interfere seriously with the usefulness and the circulation of the work. The following is the table of contents of Part II. Surely there is enough here to fill the 400 pp. promised ? Agents. Articles, i.e, a Literary Index for the Year 1899. Artists. With full particu- lars of Books Illustrated during the past year. Authors. A practically com- plete List of Writers of Books, with full Addresses, Names, Publishers, and prices, of Books published in 1899. Bookbinders. Book Printers. Booksellers. Clubs. Contributor’s Guide. Editors. Events of the Year 1899. Foreign Magazines, Reviews, Publishers, and Societies. Indexes. Lecturers Societies. Literary Searchers. Periodical Publications. Plays produced in 1899. Printers. Process-Block Makers. Pseudonyms. Poblishers : a new and much Extended Directory. Series. Societies: and their work in 1899. Typewriters. Trade and Technical Infor- mation. and Lecture For instance, under the head of “ Booksellers ” will there be any information as to the attempt made to bind this unfortunate class in chains and slavery? Will there be any reference to the reports of the Committee of the Society of Authors on this important subject? And will there be any advice offered as to improving the condition of the trade? Under the head of “Publishers,” will the famous “ Draft Agreements,” warranted “ equi- 131 table,” with the exposure of their meaning by the Society of Authors, receive any attention ? And under the head of “Trade and Technical” information, will the Year-Book keep its readers supplied with what they most desire—the average cost of production in all its branches, the trade price, &e.? In other words, the Literary Year-Book should be compiled for the furtherance of the interests of literary folk, and of none others. If informa- tion wanted by them is withheld because this class or that Class wishes to keep it secret and concealed, it cannot be accepted as a true and trustworthy guide. For my own part I can see no reason why the Society should not itself provide such a book, or at least furnish such information as is wanted for any publisher who would produce a book for literary workers only, without reference to any other interests what- ever. W. B. ——<res BOOK AND PLAY TALK. M~ GEORGE GISSING enters the field of romance with his forthcoming novel, “The Crown of Life.” It is a modern story, touching on many modern problems, and tells the love-story of a man who, battling with adverse circumstances, seeks and wins the love of his ideal woman. Mr. Churton Collins is engaged upon an edition of the works of Robert Greene, the sixteenth century poet and playwright. “ Passages in a Wandering Life” is the title under which Mr. Thomas Arnold, second son of Arnold of Rugby, is giving his reminiscences to the world. One of the books of this month will be Mr. Edward A. FitzGerald’s record of the moun- taineering expedition he conducted two years ago in the Andes of South America. The direct results of this expedition, which was one of the most completely equipped that ever left England, included the ascent for the first time of the very high peak of Aconcagua, 23,800ft. above the sea, and of its fellow Tupungato. Chief among Mr. FitzGerald’s companions in the hardships and achievements of the party was Mr. Stuart M. Vines, who contributes chapters to the book. Professor Bonney and other authorities determine the scientific results of the expedition, and the work contains many beautiful and interesting photographs of this unique performance in mountaineering, besides special maps. Messrs. 132 Methuen will publish the book in a week or two from now. The Standard newspaper is issuing a “ Library of Famous Literature,’ consisting of twenty volumes, and we quote from the extensive adver- tisements the following statistics of the new books produced yearly in this and other countries :— Germany...........6-.6-ee 24,000 France........ 13,000 Italy ........ 9500 Great Britain. 7300 United States .:......5..cc:0 cecepenecnereecs ees 5300 Netherlands <...0.6<c. . cegeser gs ers pent rere ec es 2500 In special departments of literature the coun- tries at the head in each case are as follows. In— Biotin oc eitesedtes oe Great Britain (2438) Education Germany (5442) Arts and Sciences ............ Germany (2938) Belles Lettres..........s00e0e0s Germany (2453) PE YOVOL cys ves ccepeswi sires se eces Germany (1139) Political Economy ............ Italy (2994) PEIBUORY ©.c2 3 sc0 ss cet pee sets France (1164). Atasale of Kelmscott Press books the other day, among others sold, the Chaucer realised as much as £58, “ The Story of Sigurd,” £20 1os.; Keats’s Poems, £23 10s.; “The Earthly Para- dise,” £21. The Dean of Winchester is editing and con- tributing to “A New History of the English Church,” which Messrs. Macmillan are to publish. Among other contributors to it will be Canon Capes, Canon Overton, and Mr. James Gairdner. Mr. Selwyn Brinton is preparing a volume on Correggio for Messrs. Bell’s series called ‘“ Great Masters in Painting and Sculpture.’ Earlier works in this series willbe by Mr. H. H. Strachey on Raphael and by Miss H. Guiness on Andrea del Sarto. Two new dailies are being prepared for produc- tion in London, one at $d. and the other a penny illustrated journal. Mr. Edgar Sanderson’s next essay in the realm of history consists of a book entitled “ Historic Parallels to Affaire Dreyfus.” Modern history supplies some trials in which, through the influence of religious bigotry or political hostility, or both, Mr. Sanderson seeks to show that gross injustice was done to innocent persons. The book will be published by Messrs. Hutchinson. A series of handbooks on Egypt and Chaldea are being edited by Dr. Wallis Budge and Mr. L. W. King. The volumes will be published by Messrs. Kegan Paul and Co. Miss May Crommelin has written a short story on Dutch country life for the Leisure Hour, and several short stories of hers. are now running in country papers. THE AUTHOR. Miss Jean Ingelow is about to publish a new novel, called “The Yellow Badge,” through Messrs. Digby and Long. Professor E. B. Tylor’s two series of Gifford Lectures on “ The Natural History of Religion,” have been revised for publication by Mr. Murray this autumn. Mr. M. H. Spielmann has compiled a book of and about the hitherto unidentified contributions of Thackeray to Punch. This will be published soon by Messrs. Harper. The Stage Society is a new combination whose managing committee consists of Mr. Charles Charrington, Mr. Laurence Irving, Mr. William Sharp, Mr. James Welch, and Mr. Frederick Wheeler. The membership is limited to 300, the subscription is two guineas, and the society is to meet on one Sunday in each month for nine monthsin the year. Most interesting of all, it is laid down in the rules of the society that at least six performances shall be given during the year. Three plays have already been selected, namely, “ You Never Can Tell,” by George Bernard Shaw, which will be presented on Sunday, the rgth inst. ; “The League of Youth,” by Henrik Ibsen, Sun- day, Dec. 17; and “ Mrs. Maxwell’s Marriage,” by Sydney Olivier, which will be given on Sunday Jan. 21. Plays by M. Maeterlinck, Herr Suder- mann, and M. Hauptmann will be produced later. The proceedings will only be open to members, and the Grosvenor Galleries is the probable place of meeting. : “San Toy,” the new Chinese musical comedy by Mr. Edward Morton, was successfully pro- duced at Daly’s with Miss Marie Tempest and Mr. Hayden Coffin in the principal parts. The lyrics are by Mr. Adrian Ross and the late Mr. Harry Greenbank. The Haymarket is well provided for the future, three plays being practically ready for presenta- tion at any time they may be wanted. These are by Mrs. Craigie, Mr. J. M. Barrie, and Miss C. W Graves. That by Miss Graves is a comedy in verse founded on “ The Rape of the Lock.” The next new piece at the Adelphi will pro- bably be Mr. Zangwill’s version of his novel, “The Children of the Ghetto.” Before these lines are read two new plays will be in course in centra] London—Mr. Grundy’s adaptation of “ La Tulipe Noire,” produced at the Haymarket (Oct. 28) by a company which includes Miss Winifred Emery as Rosa and Mr. Frederick Harrison as William of Orange; and Mr. L. N. Parker’s new modern play “ Captain Birchell’s Luck,” which Mr. Scott Buist is putting at at Terry’s Theatre (Oct. 30).  THE AUTHOR. Although Mr. Wyndham will soon open his new theatre with “ David Garrick,” and follow on with the “Tyranny of Tears,” “Dandy Dick,” and ‘Cyrano de Bergerac,” it is no secret that Mr. Henry Arthur Jones is already well advanced with a new play for him. This will be a four-act comedy of modern life. Mr. Kinsey Peile, author of “ An Interrupted Honeymoon,” is writing a four-act comedy for Mr. Arthur Bourchier and Miss Violet Vanbrugh. Mr. Herman Merivale has written a drama in three acts for Mr. Charles Cartwright. It is laid at Dartmoor, about the middle of the century. The farewell benefit in honour of Mrs. John Billington will take place at the Lyceum Theatre on Tuesday afternoon, the 21st inst., and the benefit performance for Mr. John Hollingshead at the Empire Theatre on the afternoon of Jan. 30. The new play by Miss Constance Fletcher (George Fleming), entitled “The Canary,” is being rehearsed at the Prince of Wales’s, and will be presented on Nov. 11 by Mr. Forbes Robertson and Mrs. Patrick Campbell. OBITUARY. Mi R. GRANT ALLEN died at his resi- dence at Hindhead, Surrey, on Oct. 25, illness that after an involved much suffering. As we go to press news comes of the death of Florence Marryat (Mrs. Francis Lean), the well- known novelist. She was the author of about seventy books, chiefly in fiction and travel, the first of which was “Love’s Conflict,” which appeared in 1865. Many of these were very popular alike in the home country, America, and the colonies: and many of them were translated. In 1872 she published “Life and Letters of Captain Marryat ”—the famous author of “ Mid- shipman Easy ’—whose sixth daughter she was, and about the same time she became editor of London Society. Florence Marryat was also dramatist, actress, lecturer, and operatic singer. She was twice married, and the fact will not escape the curious that so much literary work was done amidst the domestic duties involved in bringing up eight children. Some of the best known of her books are “Tom Tiddler’s Ground,” “The Crown of Shame,” “A Fatal Silence,” “The Nobler Sex,” and “ Parson Jones.” FRE 133 CORRESPONDENCE. << > T—Own Tryinc More roan One Epitor. AS one the right to send work to two H or more editors simultaneously? “An Editor,” in his little book “How to Write for the Press” (Horace Cox), main- tains that one has. He says “In the case of monthlies I have found ‘duplicating’ very successful, and there is little or no danger of clashing. Send out two copies of your article at the same time, and immediately one is accepted write to the editor holding the other and ask him to return it or destroy it, as another magazine has accepted it. This suggests to the editor a certain amount of independence on the part of the contributor, and if the more dilatory editor is sorry that a more alert brother has snapped up, before his very nose, as it were, an interesting article, he will be more ready to give early attention to the next MS. submitted by the same writer. “By thus duplicating MSS. it is possible to place a magazine article in much less time than by relying on or submitting a single copy to one editor; and I must say that, speaking both as an editor and a contributor, I fail to see wherein the practice is to be condemned, so far as monthly publications are concerned; or in the case of weeklies, when a contributor meets with an editor who isin no hurry either to use or return his MSS.” Now I myself have some things out which have been out from six weeks to three months—and no indication of acceptance or rejection. And this with very well-known monthly magazines..-WhatI want to know is: Do any monthlies publish without first submitting a proof or sending a notification of acceptance? For, if not, then I should be perfectly safe in sending out at once three or four copies of the same piece of work; seeing that, immediately a notice of acceptance by one editor reached me, I could write withdrawing all the others. It seems to me that the question is of much importance, for if contributors can safely do this, then the retention-of-manuscripts diffi- culty will be practically solved. All that we require to be sure about is that editors of monthlies never publish without a preliminary notice of some sort to the contributor. Is this the case? Perhaps an editor and some contri- putors of wide experience will shed some light on the point. Perry Barr. =— IL.—No ANSWER. Having been connected with Cornwall for many years, I sent to the Cornish Magazine in  134 November last a paper on a subject which I thought could not fail to interest Cornish readers. : I sent also a polite note to the editor, and inclosed a stamped directed envelope for the return of the article if he could not use it. I waited a month or two, and, hearing nothing, wrote again, saying I should be much obliged by the return of the article if not suitable. To neither of these communications did I receive any reply. I waited a month or two longer, and then wrote again, inclosing another stamped envelope, and requesting the return of the article. This letter has also failed to elicit any reply. The editor appropriates my stamps and retains my paper, which seems to me neither courteous nor business-like. Have I no remedy? I should mention that I am not a novice. I have published several books, and have had articles in many leading magazines, including the Nineteenth Century, Temple Bar, and Mac- millan’s, but this is the first time I have met with editorial discourtesy. A Memser or tux Society or AUTHORS. III.—Userress Reviews. Incidentally “ W.” raises two issues—Should review copies be sent? Are reviews useful as an aid to the sale of a book ? The first, question can only be answered by the Publishers’ Association or the Society of Authors. If either of these bodies decides that its members ought not to send books for review, then those daily, weekly, and monthly journals, dependent for a considerable fraction of their circulation on their literary columns, must needs buy copies. Such a resolution would be an advantage for the pub- lishers and authors of the comparatively few important works that must be noticed, and a dis- advantage for the producers of the vast majority of books that can safely be ignored. With regard to the second question, when all is said, a review is an advertisement, and as such, even if it be purchased at the net cost of a copy of the book, it surely is as useful as a bare announcement, at so-and-so much per inch, on the pages that are passed over by at least go per cent. of readers. “W.,” however, is chiefly interested in a third question—the distribution of copies for review. He has stated his case; his publisher sends copies to the Slocum Gazette, the North Thule Advertiser, and to similar papers of no import- ance, for the columns of which the reviews are written by utterly incompetent critics. He is avowedly a young (or perhaps I should say a new) writer. But he has published two THE AUTHOR. books, and can speak with more authority than I, who have only just published one, can aspire to. But let me tell him the result of my venture, My publisher distributed some forty-odd copies for review, and in the list they sent me I do not see the name of any unimportant paper. I observe that copies were sent to eight important London morning papers and to four (penny) evening papers, to twelve weeklies (those which devote their pages entirely or in part to litera. ture), to two monthly journals, and to fourteen country papers (ten English, three Scotch, and one Irish publication). I have read all the reviews, and I cannot say—though in some cases it would be a sop to my vanity if I could—I believe any of them to have been written by the office-boy in intervals of boot-blacking ; but some may have been written by the daughters of editors, yet certainly not as a holiday task. If “W.” has not overstated his case for the sake of effect, I should advise him to change his publisher, and then, before finally selecting any firm, he might inquire if they send copies for review to the Slocum Gazette, &c. L. M. De BOOKS AND REVIEWS. (In these columns notes on books are given from reviews which carry weight, and are not, so far as can be learned, logrollers.) THE Mar or Lirz, by W. E. H. Lecky (Longmans, 10s. 6d.) might perhaps be called, says the Times, “a sort of impersonal and objective autobiography, a record of experience, reflection, and opinion, tinged with the mitis sapientia of advancing years, and inspired by the harmless belief that the writer has something of importance to com- municate to his generation.” The Daily Chronicle remarks that ‘‘Mr. Lecky’s style is always admirable, and is so wedded to his thought as to make it a perfect vehicle for expression.” The volume has “ much social and political interest,” says the Daily News, while Mr. W. L. Courtney in the Daily Telegraph interprets its real objectas “ to show how far compromise in ethics, politics and religion is neces- sary and advisable at the present stage of human evolu- tion.” A History or Iranian Unity, by Bolton King (Nisbet, 24s. net) is ‘not only of great value for English people, who have hitherto had no complete and impartial history of modern Italy, but-it is interesting throughout,’ says the Daily Chronicle. ‘Mr. Bolton King has many of the qualities of a great historian,” and ‘we think that his judgments will on the whole stand.” He has given us, says the Spectator, “what was long needed—a comprehensive, impartial, and thoroughly readable history of the Italian movement for unity and independence.” ‘The entire work is founded on original documents.” A PRISONER OF THE KHALERFA: Twelve Years’ Cap- tivity at Omdurman, by Charles Neufeld (Chapman, 128.), is described by Literature as a straightforward story, which throws a vivid light upon the history of the Soudan before its latest chapter was closed by Atbara and Omdurman. It includes a narrative of Gordon’s end taken down from the  THE lips of Gordon’s own orderly. “ On the whole,” says the Spectator, “we may say that this volume is more prolific and picturesque than Slatin’s book; but we do not feel so confident as to its historic value.” The Times remarks that ‘If there are people who still honestly believe that the Khaleefa deserves any sympathy, such a book as this should effectively undeceive them.” Tye TRANSVAAL FROM WITHIN: a Private Record of Public Affairs, by J. P. Fitzpatrick (Heinemann, 10s. net) is, says the Times, simply and unpretentiously what it professes to be—a sketch of the Transvaal as seen from within, Mr. Fitzpatrick writing frankly as an Uitlander putting forward the case of the Uitlanders. “ Few readers will lay down the volume without feeling that they know more than they have ever known before of the real issues on trial in South Africa.” The Spectator remarks that the anthor “ does not merely censure the Boers, but shows how and why the Out- landers have found it impossible to live under their rule.” Literature says it will be generally admitted that Mr. Fitz- patrick “ has marshalled his arguments logically, powerfully and picturesquely.” The Daily Telegraph describes the book as “ lucid and dispassionate.” Tur CoMMUNE oF LONDON, and Other Studies (Constable, 12s. net), prompts Literature to say that so long as the author, Mr. J. H. Round, “ continues to write on historical subjects there is no danger of history becoming as dry as an old almanac. Whenever he has appeared he has accus- tomed us to expect ‘wigs on the green’; and his latest volume does not disappoint our expectations.” The Guardian says that ‘‘ the book certainly contains many valuable essays, and cannot be overlooked by students of English history.” Sr. PAut tHe Masrer-BurtpER, by Walter Lock (Methuen, 3. 6d.), is commended by the Times as a sugges- tive little book. It is the outcome of an experiment on the part of the Bishop of St. Asaph to provide for the clergy of his diocese a brief course of instruction year by year. The book contains four lectures by the Warden of Keble College. The Daily Chronicle defines Dr. Lock’s object as being practically to present “a kind of report upon the conclu- sions that have been arrived at and adopted with a fairly general consensus of opinion by modern scholars engaged upon the study of the Epistles of St. Paul.” Tur Story oF THE AUSTRALIAN BUSHRANGERS, by G. E. Boxall (Sonnenschein, 6s.) “‘ enables us to study one of the strangest episodes in the history of crime,” remarks the Spectator ; and the Daily Chronicle does not “ know of a more comprehensive record of bushranging and its chief personalities than this work.” A Farmer’s Yzar, by H. Rider Haggard (Longman’s, 7s. 6d. net) “is no technical discourse,” says Literature, “and no wearisome reiteration of trivialities about the weather and the crops, but agreeable small talk, not only about the price of wheat and the rate of wages, but also about the thousand and one other topics which invite the attention of the intelligent agriculturist.” The book is described by the Daily Telegraph as “an exceedingly practical and somewhat sombre-toned account of twelve months’ farming in an eastern county.” The author is “cheerful and discursive,” despite bad luck, but ‘“ he proves conclusively that the farmer’s balance sheet is apt to be melancholy reading, no matter how much care and forethought it represents. A Boox or THE WEST, being an Introduction to Devon and Cornwall, by S. Baring-Gould (Methuen, 12s), supplies, says the Daily Chronicle, “exactly the sort of information which Murray and Black and the rest of them can never be expected to afford.” ‘It makes no claim to be exhaus- tive,” says the Times, “but it does describe with good taste and ample knowledge the principal objects and sub- AUTHOR. 135 jects that are likely to interest an educated traveller.’’ “The tourist, as a rule,” says the Guardian, “ wants some- thing that is readable, and something that is definite in its teaching, and certainly he gets both in these two charming volumes.” : ALASKA AND THE KLoNDIKE, by Angelo Heilprin (Pearson, 7s. 6d.), is the best of the Klondike books that Literature has seen. ‘It is a narrative of a three months’ tour by a professor of geology, written in a pleasant, easy, cultivated style,” and is recommended “ both to those who want instruction and to those who only desire entertain- ment.” ‘ Here,” says the Daily Chronicle, ‘we have the testimony of a past president of the Geographical Society and Professor of Geology at the Academy of Natural Science in Philadelphia—of one who went to the Yukon with a full mental equipment and a complete absence of bias. Herein lies the special value of this volume, and happily Professor Heilprin is as entertaining as he ia reliable.” Tue Lire of FRANCIS WILLIAM CrossLEY, edited by J. Rendel Harris (Nisbet, 6s.), is described by the Spectator as a “concise but intensely interesting memoir of one of the noblest and most saintly men of the century.” The Daily Chronicle says it is a “ cheerful memoir,” and that it will be “helpful and attractive to those who wish to know what a good man can be among men.” SraLKy AND Co., by Rudyard Kipling (Macmillan, 6s.), is “wonderfully clever” (Daily News) and deemed by the Spectator to be “ entirely worthy of Mr. Kipling’s genius.” Though all boys will like it, it is by no means exclusively a boy’s book. ‘Not only the three boys,” says Interature, “but their schoolfellows, the masters, the Devonshire country people, and the different stray intruders are painted with the bold and vital touch which Mr. Kipling possesses.” The theme running through the book “ is the use and glory of the spirit of individual adventure.” “The most virile writer of his age, who has mastered the heart both of man and beast, has not failed to understand the heart of boy,” says the Daily Telegraph ; while the Daily Chronicle says that “none reading ‘Stalky and Co.’ may for a moment doubt that it is largely autobiographical.” MIRANDA OF THE Baxcony, by A. E. W. Mason (Macmillan, 6s.), is ‘a bright, engrossing book (Daily Telegraph), which derives its title from the scene in which hero and heroine first make acquaintance with each other.” Tt has, says the Spectator, “a complicated, ingenious, and highly original plot.” As a story of exciting incident it “ is excellent company, the effect being heightened by the author’s swift, straightforward, and nervous narrative style.” It is the “strongest” book Mr. Mason has given us, says Literature. “The plot is ingenious almost to excess, though its main outline is a simple one. Charnock, the hero, risks his life and his position on behalf of Miranda, the woman whom he loves, in discovering and rescuing her worthless husband. But the outline is elaborately filled in,” and the book “brings to extraordinary perfection the art of story-telling on its technical side.” “ From every point of view,” says the Daily Chronicle, “it is an excellent novel.” The verdict of the Daily News is that “the story holds the reader’s interest no less from the novelty of its plot than from the vividness and spirited manner of its telling.” Lirtie Novets or Irauy, by Maurice Hewlett (Chap- man, 6s.), “is a book to give warm thanks for,” says the Guardian, which adds that “short stories seem to suit Mr. Hewlett’s genius better than long ones.” He “ boldly takes his plots and situations from the rich but corrupt life of Renaissance Italy, without, however, allowing any strain after local and historic colour either to interfere with the 136 THE AUTHOR. spontaneity of his scenes and the universality of his charac- ters, or to obscure the honest English homeliness of his motives and ideals.” ‘The book strikes a new note and reveals a new world,” says Literature. “It pulls back the curtain of four long, sad, hundred years, and you step out into the gay, bright-coloured, noisy, turbulent, quite immoral, but very devout, life of the Lombard cities of the Quattuorcento.” “ These stories,” says the Daily Chronicle, “are all ablaze and a-glitter with the rich and varied hues of renascent Italy.” GiLIAN THE DREAMER, by Neil Munro (Isbister, 6s.), is “a Highland story set back into the early part of the century, when good wives are yet wearing their ‘ Waterloo blue silks’ and ‘ Waterloo tabinet gowns’ to remind them of the rejoicings for that great day of victory.” Itis the book of a mystic and a dreamer, continues the Daily News; “he who opens it will not readily put it down, and he will be right; for indeed it is one of the best books that have appeared this season.” ‘In point of style,’ the Spectator has-“‘ no hesitation in pronouncing Mr. Munro to have more individuality and distinction than any Scottish novelist now living, and to approach nearer than any of his compeers to the grace and audacity of Stevenson.” Literature says that “with the exception of the masterpieces (and the master- pieces only) of Mr. Stevenson and Mr. Barrie, it is the best Scottish novel that has been produced in the last quarter of a century.” On Triat, by Zack (Blackwood, 6s.), is a short novel, the scene of which is laid in Devonshire. The motive, says the Spectator, is unusual: Zack has chosen for her central figure a young soldier impelled at every crisis in his life by cowardice, physical as well as moral. ‘The quality of poignancy, which we noted in Zack’s earlier work, is present with redoubled force in this engrossing tragedy.” The Daily Telegraph compliments the author on falling into “that simple dignity of phrase which often characterises unlearned and ignorant folk under the stress of great emotion.” The Daily Chronicle says that ‘ On Trial” is the sort of book that many readers will call “ painful.” “The critic will not call it painful, because he knows that pain is not the right word for the emotion that such fine art as this evokes.” In the opinion of the Daily News the book shows that its author’s “sense of humour and power of character-study are no whit inferior to his—or her— dramatic ability.” Our Lapy or Darkness, by Bernard Capes (Black- wood, 6s.), is a “very clever novel,” says the Spectator. The Daily News states that the book opens on the eve of the French Revolution, and “ from the first we breathe the atmosphere of a time charged with volcanic forces.” The scene is largely set in rural France and in Paris. Itisa tragic tale, and “it holds us to the end by the sheer force of its presentation of a nation in the throes of hysteria or of evil possessions.” Tux Coxossus, by Morley Roberts (Arnold, 6s.), has the counterpart of Mr. Rhodes for hero, and the Spectator, after saying that the book “inaugurates a new school of portrait fiction,’ remarks that the author’s dexterous dove- tailing of fact and fiction, of photography and imagination, is undeniably clever.’ “ Mr. Roberts’s book,” says the Daily Telegraph, “is a piece of good careful work, and his delineation of his subject’s personality is masterly.” Mr. Rhodes is represented as Mr. Eustace Loder, * the biggest Real Estate Agent on Harth,” engaged in prosecuting a future railroad from Cairo to Capetown. The scene is laid at a Cairene hotel. The book is described by the Daily News as “a careful and transparent character study,” and by the Daily Chronicle as an “intensely interesting piece of portraiture.” Rep Porracs, by Mary Cholmondeley (Arnold, 6s.), is “full of dramatic incidents and picturesque situations,” says the Daily Telegraph, but “these are lost sight of in our contemplation of the characters which Miss Chol- mondeley puts before us, characters of real life, re-drawn for us with no slight knowledge and mastery. For com- pleteness and finish, for quiet excellence, her book must go right to the front of contemporary literature.” The Daily News says that “the book will doubtless make its mark, and interest the public in general.” ‘Though Miss Chol- mondeley’s dramatis persone are many, yet she entwines the threads of narrative so deftly that none appear superfiuous, and all blend naturally with the development of the plot.” A Name To ConsurE Witu, by John Strange Winter (White, 2s. 6d.), is described by Literature as “ a serious and even impressive study of the growth of the drink habit on a nature the reverse of weak or self-indulgent.” WINE ON THE Lexs, by J. A. Steuart (Hutchinson, 6s.), “might be described as dealing with the drink question,” says the Daily Telegraph, “ but Mr. Steuart preaches no sermon ; he does not even deduce a moral—he allows his characters to demonstrate their points of view, leaving something to the credit of both the reformer and the publican.” It is “a very good piece of work,” and “ con- tains much that can only be the result of serious thought on a question of vital import.” Itis ‘“ not a book to be neglected,” says the Daily Chronicle. ‘It has its own meaning and power, and on every open mind it will pro- duce its own effect.” Literature says Mr. Steuart “ pre- sents his realistic pictures of East-end life with truth and humour.” Tue Human InrErsEst, by Violet Hunt (Methuen, 6s.) is “a clever, capable sketch,” says the Daily Telegraph, “with a strong vein of cynicism and even a little bitterness brought to the making of it.’ ‘‘ Most people will read the book with zest.” The Spectator says that “Miss Hunt’s mordant humour enables her to carry off scenes and situa- tions which in other hands would be unpleasant or absurd.” po “THE AUTHOR.” SCALE FOR ADVERTISEMENTS. Front Page one ase eee eee ase . oss £4 0:0 Other Pages... aes se ace eae = ove w 3 00 Half of a Page ... pen tee sa ane see ose «w. 110 0 Quarter of a Page ae uae ee oes oon ave «w. 015 0 Eighth of a Page a wee ae aa UT 8 Single Column Advertisements ‘ perinch 0 6 0 Bills for Insertion ... ts sue per 2000 3 0 0 Reductions made for a Series of Six or Twelve Insertions. All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed to the ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER, The Author Office, 4, Portugal-street, London, W.0, Mr. J. Eveleigh Nash, LITERARY AGENT, ~ AMBERLEY HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET STRAND, W.C. S 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 06 (November 1899) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 06 (November 1899) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1899-11-01-The-Author-10-6 publications The Author