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274	https://historysoa.com/items/show/274	The Author, Vol. 05 Issue 10 (March 1895)	<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=%3Cem%3EThe+Author%3C%2Fem%3E%2C+Vol.+05+Issue+10+%28March+1895%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 05 Issue 10 (March 1895)</a>			<a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015013732253" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015013732253</a>								<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Publication">Publication</a>	1895-03-01-The-Author-5-10					253–280																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=5">5</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1895-03-01">1895-03-01</a>							10			18950301	C be El u t b or,<br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors.<br /> Monthly.)<br /> CON DUCTED BY WALTER BES ANT.<br /> VoI. V.-No. 10.]<br /> MARCH 1, 1895.<br /> [PRICE SIxPENCE.<br /> For the Opinions earpressed in papers that are<br /> signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br /> responsible. None of the papers or para-<br /> graphs must be taken as earpressing the<br /> collective opinions of the committee unless<br /> they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br /> Thring, Sec.<br /> 3- ~ *<br /> = * *-es<br /> HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br /> remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br /> requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br /> important communications within two days will write to him<br /> without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br /> Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br /> letter only.<br /> Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br /> all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br /> jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br /> returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br /> *— 2- --&quot;<br /> * * *-*.<br /> WARNINGS AND ADVICE,<br /> I . RAWING THE AGREEMENT.-It is not generally<br /> understood that the author, as the vendor, has the<br /> absolute right of drafting the agreement upon<br /> whatever terms the transaction is to be carried out. . .<br /> Authors are strongly advised to exercise that right. In , ,<br /> every form of business, this among others, the right of<br /> drawing the agreement rests with him who sells, leases, or<br /> has the control of the property.<br /> 2. SERIAL RIGHTS.—In selling Serial Rights remember<br /> that you may be selling the Serial Right for all time; that<br /> is, the Right to continue the production in papers. If you<br /> object to this, insert a clause to that effect. .<br /> 3. STAMP YOUR AGREEMENTS. – Readers are mos<br /> URGENTLY warned not to neglect stamping their agreements<br /> immediately after signature. If this precaution is neglected<br /> for two weeks, a fine of £10 must be paid before the agree-<br /> ment can be used as a legal document. In almost every<br /> case brought to the secretary the agreement, or the letter<br /> which serves for one, is forwarded without the stamp. The<br /> author may be assured that the other party to the agree-<br /> ment seldom neglects this simple precaution. The Society,<br /> to save trouble, undertakes to get all the agreements of<br /> members stamped for them at no expense to themselves .<br /> eacept the cost of the stamp.<br /> WOL. V.<br /> 4. ASCERTAIN WHAT A PROPOSED AGREEMENT GIVEs To<br /> BOTH SIDES BEFORE SIGNING IT.-Remember that an<br /> arrangement as to a joint venture in any other kind of busi-<br /> ness whatever would be instantly refused should either party<br /> refuse to show the books or to let it be known what share he<br /> reserved for himself.<br /> 5. LITERARY AGENTS.—Be very careful. You cannot be<br /> too careful as to the person whom you appoint as your<br /> agent. Remember that you place your property almost un-<br /> reservedly in his hands. Your only safety is in consulting<br /> the Society, or some friend who has had personal experience<br /> of the agent. Do not trust advertisements alone.<br /> 6. COST OF PRODUCTION.--Never sign any agreement of<br /> which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part,<br /> until you have proved the figures. -<br /> 7. CHOICE OF PUBLISHERS.–Never enter into any cor-<br /> respondence with publishers, especially with those who ad-<br /> vertise for MSS., who are not recommended by experienced<br /> friends or by this Society.<br /> 8. FUTURE WORK.—Never, on any account whatever,<br /> bind yourself down for future work to anyone.<br /> 9. PERSONAL RISK.—Never accept any pecuniary risk or<br /> responsibility whatever without advice.<br /> IO. REJECTED MSS.—Never, when a MS. has been re-<br /> fused by respectable houses, pay others, whatever promises<br /> they may put forward, for the production of the work.<br /> II. AMERICAN RIGHTS.—Never sign away American<br /> rights. Keep them by special clause. Refuse to sign any<br /> agreement containing a clause which reserves them for the<br /> publisher, unless for a substantial consideration.<br /> 12. CESSION OF COPYRIGHT.-Never sign any paper,<br /> either agreement or receipt, which gives away copyright,<br /> without advice.<br /> 13. ADVERTISEMENTS.--Keep some control over the<br /> advertisements, if they affect your returns, by a clause in<br /> the agreement.<br /> 14. NEVER forget that publishing is a business, like any<br /> other business, totally unconnected with philanthropy,<br /> charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do with<br /> business men. Be yourself a business man. *<br /> Society’s Offices — -<br /> 4, PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN&#039;s INN FIELDs.<br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> I. VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br /> advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub.<br /> lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br /> business or the administration of his property. If the advice<br /> -- A. A 2<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 254 (#268) ############################################<br /> <br /> 254<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member<br /> has a right to an opinion from the Society’s solicitors. If the<br /> case is such that Counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Com-<br /> mittee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion. All this<br /> without any cost to the member.<br /> 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br /> and publisher&#039;s agreements do not generally fall within the<br /> experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br /> to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually<br /> engaged upon such questions for us.<br /> 2:3. Send-to the office copies of past agreements and past<br /> accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in<br /> order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree-<br /> ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively<br /> so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any<br /> agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor-<br /> mation thus obtained may prove invaluable.<br /> 4. If the examination of your previous business trans-<br /> actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should<br /> take advice as to a change of publishers.<br /> 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br /> posed document to the Society for examination.<br /> 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in<br /> the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks of every publish-<br /> ing firm in the country.<br /> 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you<br /> are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are<br /> reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing<br /> the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen-<br /> dence of the writer.<br /> 8. Send to the Editor of the Author notes of everything<br /> important to literature that you may hear or meet with.<br /> - 9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of<br /> members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br /> safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br /> fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who<br /> will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :-(I)<br /> To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To<br /> stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon<br /> them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments<br /> due according to agreements. .<br /> *-- ~ *-*<br /> •-<br /> THE AUTHORS, SYNDICATE.<br /> i / TEMBERS are informed : -<br /> 1. That the Authors&#039; Syndicate takes charge of<br /> the business of members of the Society. That it<br /> submits MSS. to publishers and editors, concludes agree-<br /> ments, examines, passes, and collects accounts, and, gene-<br /> rally, relieves members of the trouble of managing business<br /> details. -<br /> 2. That the terms upon which its services can be secured<br /> will be forwarded upon detailed application.<br /> 3. That the Authors&#039; Syndicate works only for those<br /> members of the Society whose work possesses a market<br /> value.<br /> 4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiations<br /> whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia-<br /> tions are placed ea clusively in its hands, and that all<br /> communications relating thereto are referred to it.<br /> 5. That clients can only be seen by the Director by<br /> appointment, and that, when possible, at least two days&#039;<br /> notice should be given. . . . -<br /> 6. That every attempt is made to deal with all communi-<br /> cations promptly..., That stamps should, in all cases, be sent<br /> to defray postage. * * - - - - - - - - - *, *<br /> 7. That the Authors&#039; Syndicate does not invite MSS.<br /> without previous correspondence ; does not hold itself<br /> responsible for MSS. forwarded without notice; and that<br /> in all cases MSS. must be accompanied by stamps to defray<br /> postage.<br /> 8. That the Syndicate undertakes arrangements for<br /> lectures by some of the leading members of the Society;<br /> that it has a “Transfer Department ’’ for the sale and<br /> purchase of journals and periodicals; and that a “Register<br /> of Wants and Wanted ” is open. Members are invited to<br /> communicate their requirements to the Manager.<br /> There is an Honorary Advisory Committee, whose services<br /> will be called upon in any case of dispute or difficulty. It<br /> is perhaps necessary to state that the members of the<br /> Advisory Committee have no pecuniary interest whatever in<br /> the Syndicate. -<br /> NOTICES,<br /> HE Editor of the Author begs to remind members of the<br /> Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br /> of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br /> heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br /> many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br /> 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. r -<br /> The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and<br /> communications on all subjects connected with literature<br /> from members and others. Nothing can do more good to<br /> the Society than to make the Awthor complete, attractive,<br /> and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this<br /> work send their names and the special subjects on which<br /> they are willing to write P<br /> Communications for the Author should reach the Editor<br /> not later than the 21st of each month.<br /> All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether<br /> members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate<br /> to the Editor any points connected with their work which<br /> it would be advisable in the general interest to publish.<br /> Members and others who wish their MSS. read are<br /> requested not to send them to the Office without previously<br /> eommunicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable<br /> despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in<br /> which they are received. It must also be distinctly under-<br /> stood that the Society does not, under any circumstances,<br /> undertake the publication of MSS. w<br /> The Authors’ Club is now open in its new premises, at<br /> 3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary<br /> for information, rules of admission, &amp;c.<br /> Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they<br /> have paid their subscriptions for the year P If they will do<br /> this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker’s<br /> order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the<br /> trouble of sending out a reminder. - - -<br /> Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the<br /> warning numbered (8). It is a most foolish and may be a<br /> most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding<br /> for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they<br /> would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five<br /> years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest<br /> or dishonest P Of course they would not. Why then<br /> hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them-<br /> selves into literary bondage for three or five years P<br /> Those who possess the “Cost of Production” are<br /> requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15<br /> per cent. This means, for those who do not like the trouble<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 255 (#269) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 255<br /> of “doing sums,” the addition of three shillings in the<br /> pound on this head. In other words, if the cost of binding<br /> is set down in our book at eight pounds, to this must now be<br /> added twenty-four shillings more, so that it now stands at<br /> £948. The figures in our book are as near the exact truth<br /> as can be procured; but a printer&#039;s, or a binder&#039;s, bill is so<br /> elastic a thing that nothing more exact can be arrived at.<br /> Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged<br /> in the “Cost of Production” for advertising. Of course, we<br /> have not included any sums which may be charged for<br /> inserting advertisements in the publisher&#039;s own magazines,<br /> or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too<br /> often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from<br /> sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket,<br /> by inserting any number of advertisements in his own<br /> magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are<br /> who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those<br /> who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it.<br /> *= a -ºr<br /> wº- - -<br /> THE GENERAL MEETING OF THE<br /> SOCIETY,<br /> HE General Meeting of the Society of<br /> Authors was held on Monday, Feb. 25, at<br /> 4.30 p.m., in the rooms of the Royal<br /> Medical and Chirurgical Society, at 20, Hanover-<br /> square. Mr. W. Martin Conway took the<br /> chair, and amongst those of the committee and<br /> council to support him were Mr. Hall Caine, Mr.<br /> Rider Haggard, Mr. Anthony Hope, Mr. W. E. H.<br /> Lecky, Mr. J. M. Lely, and Mr. E. Clodd.<br /> Mr. Conway stated that as the report had been<br /> circulated to all the members of the Society he<br /> would take it as read, but would be glad to hear<br /> if any of the members present had any sugges-<br /> tions to make, or anything to say on the matter.<br /> He further stated that the work done by the<br /> Society had been very satisfactory. They had<br /> settled virtually IOO cases during the past year,<br /> and had elected 233 new members.<br /> Mr. Stuart-Glennie proposed that there should<br /> be a more detailed statement of account in the<br /> next year&#039;s report, and Mr. Conway replied that<br /> he would gladly put the matter before the Com-<br /> mittee at their next meeting.<br /> The report was then unanimously approved by<br /> the meeting.<br /> Mr. Hall Caine was then called upon to propose<br /> the following resolution :-‘‘That in the opinion<br /> of this meeting of the members of the Incor-<br /> porated Society of Authors the Canadian Copy-<br /> right Act is unjust and impracticable, and<br /> calculated to affect injuriously the interests of all<br /> authors.” Mr. Hall Caine stated his diffidence in<br /> speaking on such a subject before the meeting,<br /> as authors were more at home with the pen. He,<br /> however, pointed out what had been the legisla-<br /> tion of all civilised countries with regard to the<br /> matter of copyright. That the property of<br /> authors had after many years of considerable<br /> struggle been recognised universally to be<br /> distinct and apart from any trade considerations.<br /> Then he proceeded to point out the danger of<br /> Canada obtaining the Royal Assent to the Copy-<br /> right Bill in its present condition, and finally<br /> summed up by saying that he thought all authors<br /> should bind together to oppose the passing of the<br /> Act. -<br /> Mr. Rider Haggard seconded the resolution;<br /> discussing shortly the provisions of the Canadian<br /> Act, and pointing out the impracticability of its<br /> working.<br /> Mr. W. Oliver Hodges, who acted on behalf<br /> of the society in conjunction with the Secretary<br /> on the General Committee which was summoned.<br /> last year to consider the question of Canadian<br /> copyright, pointed out the fallacy of the licensing<br /> clause in the Canadian Act, and how unsatis-<br /> factory the collection of the royalties had been in<br /> past years.<br /> Mr. W. E. H. Lecky also spoke of the necessity<br /> of energetic action, as it was understood that the<br /> Royal assent would be given, if at all, within the<br /> next four weeks.<br /> After short speeches on the subject by several<br /> other members, the motion was put and unani-<br /> mously carried. t<br /> Mr. Stuart-Glennie then rose to bring forward<br /> the following resolution: “That the executive of<br /> the Society be now instructed to take more<br /> vigorous action in ascertaining, defending, and<br /> enlarging the rights of authors; and that a<br /> special committee be appointed to report to the<br /> Society with reference to such more vigorous<br /> action.” He referred as one of his reasons to his<br /> own case which had been before the committee<br /> during the past year. He stated, however, that<br /> he did not mean to bring the motion forward as<br /> a vote of censure on the committee.<br /> Mr. Bigelow seconded the motion on Mr.<br /> Glennie&#039;s behalf.<br /> As the Chairman (Mr. Conway) considered<br /> that the action of the Committee of the Society had<br /> been called into question, he asked the solicitors<br /> of the Society to make a short statement in<br /> defence of the action of the committee. -<br /> Mr. Emery, the Society&#039;s solicitor, pointed out<br /> how it had been impossible to take up Mr.<br /> Glennie&#039;s case; that the Society had on two<br /> separate occasions taken legal advice on the sub-<br /> ject, and finally put the issues at stake from a<br /> statement of facts prepared by Mr. Glennie&#039;s and<br /> the Society solicitors before counsel; that counsel<br /> had given it as his opinion that Mr. Glennie could<br /> not succeed. Under the circumstances, therefore,<br /> the action of the committee had been thoroughly<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 256 (#270) ############################################<br /> <br /> 256<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> justified, and there was no cause for blaming the<br /> committee.<br /> Mr. Rider Haggard then moved the rejection<br /> of the motion on the grounds of the facts stated<br /> by the solicitors, and he further pointed out that<br /> Mr. Glennie&#039;s motion virtually amounted to a<br /> vote of censure on the committee.<br /> Mr. Haggard&#039;s amendment was seconded by<br /> Mr. Douglas Sladen. -<br /> There were various other speakers, who all<br /> seemed to coincide with the opinion of Mr.<br /> Haggard that Mr. Glennie&#039;s motion amounted to<br /> a vote of censure on the committee. -<br /> Mr. Bigelow rose and stated that he had no<br /> idea in seconding the motion that a vote of<br /> Censure had been intended.<br /> Mr. Haggard’s amendment rejecting the reso-<br /> lution was then put, and was carried with but<br /> One dissentient.<br /> The proceedings then terminated.<br /> -**<br /> *<br /> LITERARY PROPERTY.<br /> I.—MUSICAL PUBLISHING.<br /> \PIE musical composer, like the dramatist, but<br /> unlike the author, has two rights in his<br /> work, the copyright and the performing<br /> right. He ought, therefore, if his work were pro-<br /> perly managed, to have two sources of income, but<br /> this is not the case. -<br /> The musical composer, like the author in<br /> the past, seems to be absolutely ignorant of his<br /> rights, and is still in shackles, bound hand<br /> and foot. The perusal of many of the musical<br /> publishers&#039; agreements in all their varieties<br /> clearly shows this. And the case is more<br /> disastrous, as the performing right and the<br /> copyright might be of great value, both being<br /> good properties, whereas for the dramatic writer<br /> the performing right is virtually his only pro-<br /> perty, and for the author of literary wares his<br /> copyright.<br /> As a matter of fact, the musical composer<br /> recklessly assigns away both his rights to<br /> the publisher in absolute ignorance of their<br /> value. What does he get in return ? For<br /> the performing right nothing, and even the<br /> publisher very seldom uses what might be a<br /> good property.<br /> This abandonment of valuable property has<br /> been going on for so long that it has almost<br /> become a recognised custom. It is not, however,<br /> too late to change the procedure, but the difficulty<br /> is for the composer to bring about this alteration.<br /> If he endeavours to do so, he is met by alternative<br /> answers from the publisher:<br /> (I) A willingness to publish on certain terms,<br /> the composer retaining the performing<br /> right;<br /> (2) A refusal to publish without the assign-<br /> ment of this right.<br /> Under case (I) the terms are generally so<br /> stringent that the composer cannot possibly<br /> accept them. If, however, he should make an<br /> agreement the question is how, to utilise this<br /> right. An intending performer calls on the<br /> publisher and states what he wants. He receives<br /> the answer at once that the performing right is<br /> held by Mr. , who will probably make a<br /> charge, whereas if he purchases from them some<br /> other composer&#039;s work they will let him have the<br /> right of performing for nothing. -<br /> It is obvious that handicapped to this extent it<br /> is impossible for the composer alone to make the<br /> alteration. There ought, therefore, to be a<br /> combination between composers and publishers.<br /> For the latter, although originally mere agents,<br /> have become through the stringency of their<br /> agreements and the carelessness of composers<br /> holders of valuable property. Such a combina-<br /> tion would be easy, as the music publishers are<br /> few, and it would not be difficult to arrange so<br /> that the outside public would be forced to pay<br /> for other people&#039;s property which they now receive<br /> gratis. The publishers would at once feel the<br /> benefit, as they are the greatest holders of per-<br /> forming rights. The composers would, it is<br /> hoped, feel the benefit in the near future, when<br /> they have come to recognise the value of their<br /> own property.<br /> The argument that the publishers—who do<br /> not care about wandering from their old and<br /> well worn track—would at once bring forward is,<br /> of course, that the public would not pay for<br /> performing rights. This argument may, however,<br /> easily be repudiated, as is shown in the case of<br /> dramatic works. The English musical public is<br /> constantly on the increase, and is as eager for<br /> some new thing as the theatrical world.<br /> These remarks on the performing rights of com-<br /> posers refer chiefly to the longer compositions, such<br /> as Cantatas, oratorios, operas. They only refer<br /> in a minor degree to songs. For the difficulty<br /> in the way of enforcing a claim in the latter case<br /> is obvious, and the charge would be small. If,<br /> however, some simple method of collection<br /> could be devised, the right is still a valuable<br /> OT162,<br /> The next question to be considered is what the<br /> composer receives for his copyright. In many<br /> cases the pleasure of seeing his work produced is<br /> considered sufficient reward. If it should chance<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 257 (#271) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 257<br /> that terms are proposed, he is offered four different<br /> kinds of agreements. These agreements may be<br /> termed:<br /> (1) The commission agreement.<br /> (2) The purchase outright.<br /> (3) The royalty agreement.<br /> (4) The half-profit agreement.<br /> But they differ frºm the ordinary book pub-<br /> lisher&#039;s agreements of these names in that the<br /> music publisher appropriates all the performing<br /> rights and copyrights, and is otherwise more<br /> stringent in his terms, and in many cases threatens<br /> the composer with non-publication unless these<br /> rights are transferred.<br /> (I) is perhaps the most unsatisfactory system<br /> for the composer, for, although the publisher<br /> undertakes to publish the work, he in reality<br /> does little more than produce it. He makes<br /> no attempt to place it before singers, does not<br /> advertise it, does not send it round with his<br /> travellers (or, if he does, does so in a half-hearted<br /> way), but lets it lie in a neat brown paper parcel<br /> on One of the shelves of his warehouse. If the song<br /> is to have a success, it must come from the result of<br /> the composer&#039;s unaided efforts; but success does not<br /> attend this method of publishing except through<br /> some extraordinary chance. In addition, the com-<br /> poser pays for the cost of production, and this<br /> is generally put at £2 or £3 more than the real<br /> cost. The total result therefore is a considerable<br /> loss to the composer and a slight gain to the pub-<br /> lisher. If, however, through the untiring energy<br /> of the composer, the song is placed before the<br /> public, the publisher reaps a fair commission, a<br /> Commission for which he has mot worked. In<br /> fact, it pays the publisher to let the song lie idle.<br /> He cannot lose, he may make a fair amount; and<br /> perhaps, if the composer subsequently becomes<br /> famous, a great amount<br /> (2) When a publisher purchases a work out-<br /> right he generally does so with the idea of<br /> making it a success. He employs all the means<br /> in his power to bring it to notice. He sends out<br /> copies to singers; he advertises it in the papers;<br /> he gets up concerts for its performance; he pays<br /> singers to sing it, or parts of it; he sees that the<br /> concerts are well reported. The consequence is<br /> very often a great success, and the composer<br /> sees the publisher making hundreds of pounds<br /> where he has only made tens, and where he<br /> cannot hope to make any more. It must be<br /> remembered that the cost of production of a<br /> Cantata or a song compared with its selling price<br /> is much less than the cost of a book, so this is<br /> much sooner covered by the sales, and the profits<br /> are consequently greater. There is only one<br /> advantage to the composer in this method of<br /> publication, and this is a deferred advantage in<br /> case he desires to place another song or other<br /> musical composition before the public.<br /> (3) The royalty system is the only one in<br /> which under the present methods it appears that<br /> the author can reap any proportionate profit.<br /> The ordinary royalty is a variable quantity,<br /> varying sometimes, but not always, with the<br /> prices of the work if it chances that the price<br /> is mentioned in the agreement, an omission which<br /> frequently occurs. In any case the royalty is<br /> always smaller than with the author when the<br /> two costs of production are compared, and<br /> especially when in the payment of these royalties<br /> seven copies count as six. In the booksellers’<br /> trade thirteen copies count as twelve, or twenty-<br /> five as twenty-four, but the iniquity of seven as<br /> six is only reached in the publication of music.<br /> * There are various other arrangements in which<br /> a royalty is paid : sometimes after the sale of a<br /> certain number of copies, sometimes after the<br /> cost of production has been govered. It is, how-<br /> ever, impossible to exhaustively discuss the<br /> different forms of agreement or to show in what<br /> proportion the royalties should be raised in<br /> arrangements where the publisher is virtually<br /> protected from loss before the composer receives<br /> any remuneration. One point, however, it is<br /> necessary to mention before leaving royalty<br /> agreements, that is, on what form of production<br /> a royalty is paid. In the case of songs and small<br /> pieces of instrumental music it is paid on the<br /> vocal part with the piano score, or on the piano<br /> score; and this is fair, for this is the only form<br /> that has a sale. The sale and hire of band parts<br /> must be small, and would hardly cover the<br /> cost of production, possibly might never do so.<br /> In the case of Cantatas, oratorios, glees, and part<br /> songs, it is paid on the vocal part with the piano<br /> score, but there is this difference between the two<br /> instances: in the latter the publisher produces<br /> the vocal parts — treble, alto, tenor, bass —<br /> separately, and sells them or hires them in this<br /> form to choral societies. As on the separate<br /> parts no royalty is paid, he, to a great extent,<br /> nullifies his own agreement with the composer,<br /> and certainly puts his interest as agent and that<br /> •ot the composer as principal at variance. The<br /> curious part of this transaction is that the<br /> publisher, in a half-profit agreement, credits and<br /> debits the accounts with the moneys expended<br /> and received on this item, but in a royalty agree-<br /> ment does not recognise the sale. The composer<br /> should always take care that the publishers’<br /> interest and his own are parallel.<br /> (4) The objections to an half-profit agreement<br /> are most serious, yet can only be mentioned in<br /> this short paper and not discussed:<br /> (1) The complication of accounts.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 258 (#272) ############################################<br /> <br /> 258<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> (2) The control of all expenditure, including<br /> advertisements, lying with the publisher.<br /> (3) The ignorance of the author of the cost of<br /> production.<br /> (4) The ignorance of the author of the methods<br /> and necessities of publication.<br /> In short, it must be stated that this form of<br /> agreement which sounds so fair is in reality the<br /> worst for the composer.<br /> Finally, it should be pointed out that there are<br /> certain elements in the cost of musical production<br /> that do not enter into the production of literary<br /> wares. The actual paper, &amp;c., is no doubt much<br /> cheaper compared with the selling price, but in<br /> the first instance the writer of the words has to<br /> be paid. His claim is generally settled by a sum<br /> paid down. In case (1) it is paid by the author;<br /> in cases (2) and (3) by the publisher; and sometimes<br /> in case (3), and always in case (4), it is brought into<br /> account before royalty or profit is paid. Then<br /> the music of songs and smaller pieces is sent out<br /> gratis broadcast. Fifty or sixty copies of a book<br /> may be sent out for review. Five or six hundred<br /> copies of songs are sent out to musical people,<br /> singers, &amp;c. Lastly, the singer has to be paid to<br /> sing the song in public ; for this he is paid by a<br /> sum down or by a royalty. All these items tend<br /> to reduce the profit in songs and pieces to which<br /> they specially apply.<br /> On the other hand, it must be taken into con-<br /> sideration that some of the musical publishers<br /> also run concerts, which are very lucrative invest-<br /> ments, for the special purpose of airing their own<br /> Wą,I&#039;êS. - -<br /> From the business point of view, however, to<br /> sum up the whole situation, musical composers<br /> are in a shocking position, and the sooner they<br /> band together either to run a new publisher or to<br /> refuse to publish except on equitable terms the<br /> better it will be for them. The old stories are<br /> still cropping up of terms settled at the pub-<br /> lisher&#039;s dinner table, the unbusiness like propen-<br /> sities of composers, and the absolute impos-<br /> sibility of getting them to sign agreements.<br /> Surely it would be an easy thing for the publisher,<br /> who is a man of business, to insist on business-<br /> like arrangements. The only deduction that can<br /> be made is that it pays him better not to do so.<br /> II.-ANGLo-AUSTRIAN COPYRIGHT.<br /> Vienna, Wednesday.—The official Gazette to-<br /> day announces that the operation of the Anglo-<br /> Austrian copyright treaty has been extended to<br /> India, Newfoundland, Natal, Victoria, Queens-<br /> land, Western Australia, and New Zealand.—<br /> Reuter.<br /> III.—EDUCATIONAL AND SCIENTIFIC Books.<br /> Of all kinds of literary profits those in educa-<br /> tional and scientific works are hardest to estimate<br /> before actual publication. There is, however, the<br /> undoubted fact that the educational branch of<br /> literary property is by far the most valuable and<br /> the most profitable. If a work dealing with some<br /> educational or scientific subject gets once an estab-<br /> lished position as a standard book for school use in<br /> England or America, the returns are constant and<br /> most substantial. There would seem, however,<br /> to be no midway between a good and substantial<br /> return and virtually no return at all. Under<br /> these circumstances it is of great importance to<br /> educational and scientific writers never to sell out-<br /> right a work which may be a mine of gold, and<br /> never, under any circumstances whatever, to part.<br /> with the copyright of such a work. It has been<br /> stated by some publishers that they will refuse to<br /> deal in any educational or scientific work unless<br /> the author will assign the copyright to them, on<br /> the ground that it is necessary, should the work<br /> prove a success, that they should be able to<br /> benefit by that success as well as the author. On<br /> the other hand, it must be remembered that it is,<br /> of the most vital importance that the author<br /> should ot lose, but should retain, the command<br /> —which he can only do by retaining the copy-<br /> right—of his work. -<br /> The following are among the reasons why an<br /> author should retain his copyright: º<br /> I. An educational or a scientific book must be<br /> altered from time to time in order to be brought<br /> up to date. New scientific discoveries may make<br /> the best book antiquated. New methods may be<br /> introduced; new theories may be advanced. The<br /> only way for the author to meet these changes is.<br /> by making corresponding changes in his book.<br /> 2. But the publisher is interested in these<br /> changes. He may be. He may not be. He may<br /> have a younger man to advance, thinking that he<br /> will be more popular. -<br /> 3. He may sell his business, or go into bank-<br /> ruptcy, or buy another man&#039;s business. In<br /> either case an author&#039;s book goes with his other<br /> Copyrights, perhaps to find himself on the same<br /> shelf with his most important rival. -<br /> It is, of course, always possible to insert<br /> clauses in the agreement by which the publisher<br /> shall have the option of producing second, third,<br /> and subsequent editions on reasonable terms.<br /> Should the publisher refuse to deal except on<br /> the condition of getting the copyright, the author<br /> should go elsewhere. - -<br /> One case, however, has come before the Society.<br /> in which a publisher fully recognised the import.<br /> ance of giving the author a free hand with regard<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 259 (#273) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 259<br /> to alterations in a scientific work, and although<br /> the author had inadvertently assigned the copy-<br /> right to the publisher, the latter consented to<br /> reassign it on consideration that he should have<br /> the option of publishing subsequent editions. It<br /> is necessary that this warning should be con-<br /> stantly before educational and scientific authors,<br /> “that they should on no account whatever assign<br /> their copyright.” They may, if they so desire,<br /> give the publisher every help and assistance with<br /> regard to the right to publish future editions,<br /> but they must make no assignment. If they do<br /> not know how to draw the necessary agreement,<br /> the Society will advise them in the matter.<br /> IV.-AN IMPORTANT CASE.<br /> H. RIDER HAGGARD AND LoNGMANs, GREEN,<br /> AND Co., complainants, against THE WAVERLY<br /> CoMPANY, defendant.<br /> (Circuit Court of the United States, District of<br /> New Jersey.)<br /> Brief of Respondents on demurrer to the Bill of<br /> Complaint. -<br /> STATEMENT. — The principal ground of de-<br /> murrer urged by the defendant is the third :<br /> “That said bill fails to show that due and law-<br /> ful notice of said pretended copyright and copy-<br /> rights was inserted as required by section 4962<br /> of the Revised Statutes of the United States in<br /> the several copies of every edition published in<br /> manner and form in said section aforesaid speci-<br /> fically set forth.” The clauses of the bill thus<br /> attacked are as follows: “Fourth.—And your<br /> orators further show that the aforesaid editions<br /> of their said copyright book, entitled ‘Nada the<br /> Lily,’ were printed from plates made within and<br /> type set within the limits of the United States,<br /> as required by law. That due notice of said<br /> copyrights and entries, and that said copyrights<br /> had been completed, was given by the Secretary<br /> of the Treasury by publication in his official cata-<br /> logues of the title entries of books and other<br /> ar icles in the weekly lists of the title of all books<br /> wherein the copyright has been completed, all of<br /> which said catalogues are ready to be produced<br /> in court. That the notice required by section<br /> 4962 of the Revised Statutes of the United<br /> States has been duly and lawfully given in the<br /> several copies of said editions so published as<br /> aforesaid.” Section 4962 of the Revised Statutes<br /> is as follows: “Section 4962. No person shall<br /> maintain an action for the infringement of his<br /> copyright unless he shall give notice thereof by<br /> inserting in the several copies of every edition<br /> published, on the title page, or the page imme-<br /> diately following, if it be a book, or if a map,<br /> chart, musical composition, print, cut, engraving,<br /> WOL. W. - *<br /> photograph, painting, drawing, chromo, statue,<br /> statuary, or model or design intended to be per-<br /> fected and completed as a work of the fine arts,<br /> by inscribing upon some visible portion thereof,<br /> or of the substance on which the same shall be<br /> mounted, the following words, viz.: “Entered<br /> according to Act of Congress, in the year 5<br /> by A. B., in the office of the Librarian of Con-<br /> gress, at Washington,’ or at his option, the word<br /> ‘ copyright,’ together with the year the copyright<br /> was entered, and the name of the party by whom<br /> it was taken out, thus: “Copyright, 18 , by<br /> A. B.’” The demurrer claims that the bill is<br /> bad because it does not in its terms declare that<br /> the copyright notice has been inserted “in the<br /> several copies of every edition published; ” the<br /> actual averment being that the notice required<br /> was “duly and lawfully given in the several<br /> copies” of the editions published as set forth<br /> in the complaint, being all the editions men-<br /> tioned therein, except defendant’s alleged pira-<br /> tical edition. Subordinate grounds of demurrer<br /> are that the book in question was not composed<br /> by a citizen or resident of the United States—<br /> which attacks the constitutionality of the Inter-<br /> national Copyright Law—and that the com-<br /> plaimants by asking, in their prayer, for damages<br /> and the delivery for destruction of the unsold<br /> copies of the piratical edition demand more than<br /> a court of equity can grant. A further ground<br /> of demurrer is alleged indefiniteness in the charge<br /> of infringement. These points will be considered<br /> in the foregoing order, which is the order of im-<br /> portance as urged by demurrant.<br /> First.—I. The requirements of the statute<br /> which are conditions precedent to the perfection<br /> of copyright are—I. Deposit before publication<br /> of printed copy of the title. 2. Deposit after<br /> publication of two copies of the book. 3. Print-<br /> ing of the prescribed notice in the copies pub-<br /> lished: (Wheaton v. Peters, 8 Peters, 591 ;<br /> Merrell v. Tice, IO4 U. S. 557; Thompson v.<br /> Hubbard, 131 U. S. 123.) It has been held that<br /> as matter of fact the requirement of notice means<br /> that the prescribed words shall be inserted in the<br /> several copies of every edition which the proprietor<br /> of the copyright, as controlling the publication,<br /> publishes : (Thompson v. Hubbard, 131 U. S.<br /> 123; Supreme Court of the United States,<br /> May 13, 1889.) Since the last-named decision<br /> the International Copyright Act has been passed<br /> (March 3, 1891), which greatly widens the field<br /> of application of copyright law. Is it still true<br /> that, to maintain an action on his copyright for<br /> infringement, a person must literally and exactly<br /> give the United States copyright notice “in the<br /> several copies of every edition published” by<br /> him P. The section in question (section 4962)<br /> IB B<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 260 (#274) ############################################<br /> <br /> 26o<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> was not altered by the Act of 1891, but was in<br /> force previously. Doubtless the possible effects<br /> of not changing this section escaped the aqtention<br /> of the legislators. For, if there be no limitation<br /> in construction put upon the words “every edition<br /> published,” an English author, for example,<br /> publishing his book not only in the United States,<br /> but also in Great Britain, or in Australia, or in<br /> South Africa, or in China, loses his United States<br /> copyright unless notice of the latter be inserted<br /> in every copy published anywhere in the world.<br /> And this will be the case, notwithstanding he com-<br /> plies fully with the English copyright laws. We<br /> submit that this is not the legal intention of the<br /> Act. That such is not the intention is evidenced<br /> by the provisions of section 4956 of the Copy-<br /> right Act, to the effect that in order to complete<br /> copyright the two copies of the book required to<br /> be deposited with the Librarian of Congress<br /> must be “printed from type set within the limits<br /> of the United States or from plates printed there-<br /> from.” And during the existence of the copy-<br /> right the importation into the United States of<br /> any book so copyrighted, or any edition or edi-<br /> tions thereof, or any plates not made from type<br /> set within the United States, is prohibited. That<br /> is to say, in order to avail himself of the protec-<br /> tion of the copyright law of the United States,<br /> the author, foreign or otherwise, must print and<br /> publish within the United States, and the impor-<br /> tation of any edition printed from type not set or<br /> plates not made within the United States is for-<br /> bidden. It matters not, then, how many foreign<br /> manufactured editions are published outside.<br /> The United States law does not protect them, nor<br /> does it allow them to interfere with books manu-<br /> factured and copyrighted here. They are ex-<br /> cluded from the consideration of the Copyright<br /> Act. Hence it would be absurd to hold that the<br /> notice required by section 4962 means, literally,<br /> “every edition published ” by the person copy-<br /> righting. It means every edition published,<br /> printed from type set or plates made within the<br /> United States—that is, every edition manufactured<br /> in the United States. This must be so, because<br /> no other editions can be made the subject of<br /> copyright law at all. * *<br /> II. It is fundamental that in the construction<br /> of statutes the whole and every part must be con-<br /> sidered. “The intention of the law-maker will<br /> prevail over the literal sense of the terms; and<br /> its reason and intention will prevail over the strict<br /> letter:” (Kent&#039;s Com., 461 ; Sutherland on Sta-<br /> tutory Construction (1891), p. 32O.) “The mere<br /> literal construction ought not to prevail if it is<br /> opposed to the intention of the Legislature<br /> apparent from the statute; and if the words are<br /> sufficiently flexible to admit of some other con-<br /> complaint P<br /> struction by which that intention can be better<br /> effected, the law requires that intention to be<br /> adopted: ” (Sutherland on Stat. Construction,<br /> p. 321, and cases there cited.) These well-esta-<br /> blished doctrines have received application in<br /> regard to the international copyright law in the<br /> United States Circuit Court, District of Massa-<br /> chusetts, in the case of Werckmeister v. Pierce<br /> and Bushnell Mfg. Co., decided Aug. 7, 1894,<br /> Putnam, J. This was the case of a painting<br /> sought to be copyrighted by a German subject,<br /> on the original of which no notice of United<br /> States copyright, as required by section 4962, was<br /> ever inscribed, although the other conditions of<br /> copyright were complied with, and the copyright<br /> notice was inscribed on the published photo-<br /> graphs of the painting. In this case the court<br /> departs from the literal reading of the statute,<br /> and holds that the intent of the law must govern,<br /> and that under construction according to the<br /> intent, it is not necessary to place the copyright<br /> notice upon the original, though the statute<br /> expressly says, that if the article be a painting,<br /> the notice shall be inscribed, “upon some visible<br /> portion thereof, or of the substance on which the<br /> same shall be mounted.” If, for the purpose of<br /> sustaining the intent of the legislators, so bold a<br /> departure from the literal sense, as in this case,<br /> may be taken in construing section 4962, how<br /> much more, in the case at bar, is a construction<br /> warranted, which alone can make the Act har-<br /> monious in its parts, and without which the<br /> whole law would become a nullity. Its purpose<br /> in securing international copyright otherwise<br /> would be entirely defeated. As a matter of fact<br /> it is not the custom to put the United States<br /> copyright notice on English editions of a work<br /> copyrighted in America. Much more unlikely<br /> would such notice be thought important in<br /> editions published in more remote countries. The<br /> result would be to make the copyright protection<br /> evidently intended to be given to works manu-<br /> factured in the United States practically null<br /> and void, and to destroy the International Copy-<br /> right Law.<br /> III. Thus much premised, are the allegations<br /> in the bill sufficient? They set up the publica-<br /> tion of the editions described, “printed from<br /> plates made within and type set within the limits<br /> of the United States, as required by law. That<br /> the notice required by section 4962 of the Revised<br /> Statutes of the United States has been duly and<br /> lawfully given in the several copies of said<br /> editions so published as aforesaid.” The only<br /> question here would seem to be will the court<br /> presume, outside the record, that there are other<br /> editions of the work than those set forth in the<br /> If it should be the fact that the<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 261 (#275) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 26 I<br /> editions pleaded constitute “every edition pub-<br /> lished,” there is, of course, a sufficient cause of<br /> action. Will the court presume otherwise upon<br /> demurrer? Reasonable presumptions are ad-<br /> mitted by demurrer as well as the matters<br /> expressly alleged : (Foster&#039;s Federal Practice,<br /> vol. I, p. 209; Amory v. Laurence, 3 Clifford,<br /> 523, 526.) But, says the court in Warfield v.<br /> Fisk (1883; 136 Mass., p. 219), “We cannot draw<br /> inferences of fact upon demurrer.” If it appear<br /> that the required notice was given in the several<br /> copies of every edition of which the court can<br /> take any cognisance, it is a “reasonable pre-<br /> sumption ” that the law has been complied<br /> with. It would be a violent presumption<br /> to assume outside the record, that there are<br /> other editions in which no notice, or defective<br /> notice, was given. The bill would be sufficient<br /> on the hearing if the facts alleged were proved.<br /> It would not be necessary even to prove literally<br /> the insertion of the notice in every copy. Pro-<br /> duction of one copy with the notice and general<br /> testimony as to the issue of the edition would be<br /> sufficient: (Falk v. Gast Lith. and Eng. Co. Ld.,<br /> 4o Fed. Rep. 168.) The contention of the defen-<br /> dant would make his pleading a “speaking de-<br /> murrer” where by argument or inference a mate-<br /> rial fact is suggested that is not alleged in the<br /> bill. Such a demurrer will be overruled: (Beach,<br /> Modern Equity Practice, vol. I, p. 265, and cases<br /> there cited.) Moreover, the copyright is per-<br /> fected by taking the three steps required by<br /> statute before and coincident with publication.<br /> Primă facie then, the copyright being perfect,<br /> the complainants are entitled to maintain their<br /> action. A copy of the record in the office of the<br /> Librarian of Congress, with the books showing<br /> the notice, make out a primá facie case against<br /> an infringer. If there has been any omission in<br /> subsequent or other editions than those pleaded,<br /> it is for the defendant to plead and prove that the<br /> complainant has by his omissions lost the copy-<br /> right he once had and which presumptively he<br /> still has. The notice is not a condition to the<br /> obtaining a copyright, but to the maintaining an<br /> action for infringement. If the facts allow it,<br /> the defendant, in case of lack of universality of<br /> the notice, must plead in abatement. He has no<br /> standing on demurrer. It may be added that the<br /> practice books giving forms of bills of complaint<br /> in copyright cases, give a pleading setting out<br /> generally that the complainants are the owners of<br /> a copyright taken out “previous to the publica-<br /> tion of the book in question, and secured according<br /> to law.” No other detail of fact is given in<br /> order to make out a primá facie case: (Beach,<br /> Modern Equity Pleading, vol. 2, p. 1281.) In<br /> Thompson v. Hubbard (131 U. S. 123), on which<br /> VOL. W.<br /> the demurrant seems to rely, the decision was<br /> rendered after the facts appeared on the trial and<br /> not on demurrer.<br /> Second.—Inasmuch as the demurrant in its<br /> brief does not insist upon the ground of demurrer<br /> questioning the constitutionality of the Interna-<br /> tional Copyright Act, the complainants will not<br /> discuss that topic at this time.<br /> Third.—There is no merit in demurrant&#039;s con-<br /> tention respecting failure to waive penalties end<br /> forfeitures. At the most the prayer of the com-<br /> plainants in this respect is surplusage. A bill to<br /> obtain relief against an infringement of a copy-<br /> right need not contain a waiver of the com-<br /> plainant’s statutory right to a forfeiture of the<br /> piratical plates: (Foster&#039;s Federal Practice (2nd<br /> ed.), vol. I, p. 175; Farmer v. Calvert Lith. Co.,<br /> I Flippin, 228.) If any part of the relief is<br /> proper, the demurrer on this point will be over-<br /> ruled. This is the latest doctrine in these cases:<br /> (Chicago, M. &amp; St. P. Ry. Co. v. Hartshorn,<br /> Treas., &amp;c., 3O Fed. Rep., 54 I (1887; Shiras, J.);<br /> Town of Strawberry Hill v. C. M. &amp; St. P. Ry.<br /> Co. et al, 4 I Fed. Rep. 568 (1890).)<br /> Fourth.-Nor is there room for argument that<br /> the charge of infringement is indefinite. The<br /> defendant is charged with having published,<br /> without authorisation, the book copyrighted.<br /> What has been copyrighted has been set forth in<br /> the bill. This is sufficient to put the defendant<br /> upon his answer.<br /> Fifth. — The questions involved before the<br /> court at this present time are purely questions of<br /> law. The defendant in his brief, has seen fit to<br /> talk “ to the galleries,” and to claim that this<br /> action was brought in bad faith, “solely for the<br /> purpose of intimidating the trade.” This autho-<br /> rises the complainants to say that there is no<br /> doubt whatever that the complainant, H. Rider<br /> Haggard (an author of no mean repute) is the<br /> author of the work “Nada the Lily;” that<br /> Longmans, Green, and Co. (the oldest firm of<br /> publishers in the world, and of undoubted re-<br /> spectability and standing) are the authorised<br /> publishers of the work; that the defendant, the<br /> Waverly Company, has published, without autho-<br /> rity, a piratical edition of this book, with the<br /> idea that through some technical lapse, the copy-<br /> right due to the complainants, and which they<br /> have believed they possess, has been vitiated ;<br /> and the said defendant is now trying to defeat<br /> complainants in the enforcement of these supposed<br /> rights upon which they have always in good faith<br /> relied. The complainants are prosecuting this<br /> action, not alone to secure their own rights, but<br /> also in behalf of the trade to ascertain, for the<br /> benefit of all, what the meaning of the Inter-<br /> national Copyright Law is, by its proper judicial<br /> B B 2<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 262 (#276) ############################################<br /> <br /> 262<br /> THE AUTHOIR.<br /> onstruction. Too important interests are in-<br /> volved for the case to be determined upon tech-<br /> nicalities; and though the complainants are<br /> advised and firmly believe the demurrer should<br /> be overruled, they ask, in case the court should<br /> take a different view, that they may have leave<br /> to amend on the usual terms; whereupon they<br /> will so amend by setting forth fully the exact<br /> facts in the case, and all collateral facts, that a<br /> full adjudication may be obtained upon demurrer<br /> before the highest tribunal, as to the meaning of<br /> the new law. Resting upon such an adjudication<br /> the entire book and publishing trade may intelli-<br /> gently shape its course. The main question<br /> involved is as to the meaning of section 4962, the<br /> complainants&#039; contention respecting which has<br /> been hereinbefore urged. Upon this point, espe-<br /> cially, the complainants pray for an authoritative<br /> expression of judicial opinion. And they asked<br /> that the demurrer in all respects be overruled,<br /> with costs.<br /> (Argued Oct. 6, 1894, before Hon. Marcus W.<br /> Acheson, at Philadelphia.)<br /> DICKINSON, THOMPson, AND MCMASTER,<br /> No. 1, Montgomery-street,<br /> Jersey City, N.J.,<br /> Solicitors for Complainants.<br /> DANIEL GREENLEAF THOMPson,<br /> No. 111, Broadway, N.Y. City,<br /> Of Counsel.<br /> W.—CANADIAN COPYRIGHT.<br /> The following letter appeared in the Times of<br /> the 26th Feb. : -<br /> “SIR,-Attention has already been called in<br /> your columns to the fact that the Canadian<br /> Copyright Bill, now awaiting the Royal assent,<br /> seriously menaces the interests of English authors<br /> and copyright owners. It is understood that<br /> a decision will shortly be arrived at on the<br /> question at issue between the Canadian and<br /> Imperial authorities. The danger being therefore<br /> imminent, those whose interests are threatened<br /> must now enter their protest against the Bill.<br /> By it any Canadian publisher will be permitted<br /> to produce, in any form and at any price he<br /> pleases, the work of any British author which has<br /> not, within one month of its first publication in<br /> this country, been reprinted and published in<br /> Canada, on the sole condition of paying a royalty of<br /> Io per cent. on the published price of the book.<br /> The officers of the Department of Inland Revenue<br /> are charged with the duty of collecting and<br /> paying these royalties, but they are specially<br /> exempted from any obligation to ‘account for<br /> any such royalty not actually collected.’<br /> “The objections to these proposals are weighty<br /> and obvious; it will suffice to indicate one or<br /> two.<br /> “The limit of one month is ridiculously insuffi-<br /> cient, and the provision suffices to deprive English<br /> authors, with the possible exception of a few<br /> writers of popular fiction, of any real copyright<br /> in Canada.<br /> “The absurd machinery which makes the Inland<br /> Revenue officials at once responsible and irrespon-<br /> sible for the collection of royalties is not new,<br /> and is of proved inefficiency. English authors<br /> and publishers can only look back with grim<br /> amusement on the futile attempt on the part of<br /> Canada to collect similar royalties on American<br /> pirated reprints with similar machinery. More-<br /> Over, in the absence of accounts, how is an<br /> English author to seek a remedy when he has<br /> reason to believe that a particular publisher has<br /> failed to make due payment P The needful<br /> evidence would not in practice be obtainable.<br /> It is true that the Canadian market is not<br /> large, nor, in the absence of a leisured and<br /> cultured class, is it likely to prove expansive. If<br /> Canada. Only were in question, English authors<br /> would probably submit to the injury likely to be<br /> caused by piracy of their works in a small<br /> literary area. But Canada does not stand alone.<br /> If this Bill becomes law, Canadian reprints will<br /> inevitably flood, as they are intended to flood,<br /> the market of the United States, and the rights<br /> which English owners of literary property now<br /> enjoy there will be seriously endangered. If, in<br /> Consequence of the action of Canada, the United<br /> States were to repeal their International Copyright<br /> Act, English authors would suffer great and<br /> irreparable loss.<br /> “In order to give united expression to the<br /> objections felt by persons whose interests are<br /> threatened by the proposed legislation, a petition<br /> to the Colonial Secretary has been prepared,<br /> which it is hoped will be largely signed<br /> during the next three weeks by authors, pub-<br /> lishers, artists, and owners of copyrights gener-<br /> ally. Copies of this petition may be obtained<br /> from the secretary of the Society of Authors, and<br /> signatures should be forwarded to him at the<br /> Society&#039;s offices, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn-<br /> fields, W.C.<br /> “I am, sir, your obedient servant,<br /> “W. M. ConwAy, Chairman of Committee of<br /> the Incorporated Society of Authors.”<br /> *- - -º<br /> w&quot; -<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 263 (#277) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 263<br /> NOTES FROM NEW YORK,<br /> RATHER curious survival of the old<br /> A colonial attitude towards England is<br /> demonstrated by the fact that any impor-<br /> tant series issued in the mother country is sure<br /> to be published over here; while, on the other<br /> hand, when an American series is brought out,<br /> only those volumes having more than a local<br /> interest appear in England. Thus, of the Great<br /> Commanders Series, which contains biographies<br /> of “Admiral Farragut’ by Captain A. T. Mahan,<br /> of “General Taylor &quot; by General O. O. Howard,<br /> U.S.A., of “General Jackson &quot; by James Parton,<br /> of “General Greene’’ by Captain Francis W.<br /> Greene, U.S.A., of “General J. E. Johnston ’” by<br /> Robert M. Hughes, of “General Thomas” by<br /> Henry Copee, LL.D., of “General Scott’ by<br /> General Marcus J. Wright, of “General<br /> Washington’ by General Bradley T. Johnson,<br /> of “General Lee’” by General Fitzhugh Lee, and<br /> of “General Hancock’” by General Francis A.<br /> Walker, only one volume has so far been repro-<br /> duced in England, and that was the first, which<br /> was doubtless due to Captain Mahan&#039;s own<br /> reputation. It was evident that the subject of<br /> the biography was not well known, since in the<br /> Times it was announced as “a new book by<br /> Captain Mahan, a life of the great Confederate<br /> Admiral, Farragut.” To another of our impor-<br /> tant series, that on American Men of Letters,<br /> there has just been added the biography of<br /> “George William Curtis,” by Mr. Edward Cary.<br /> This series is edited by Mr. Charles Dudley<br /> Warner, who contributed the first volume, the<br /> life of “Irving.” The other volumes are “Noah<br /> Webster,” by Horace E. Scudder; “Thoreau,”<br /> by Frank B. Sanborn; “George Ribley,” by O. B.<br /> Frothingham; “Cooper,” by T. R. Lounsbury;<br /> “Margaret Fuller Ossoli,” by T. W. Higginson;<br /> “Emerson,” by Dr. Holmes; “Poe,” by George<br /> E. Woodberry; “N. P. Willis,” by Henry A.<br /> . Beers; “Benjamin Franklin,” by John B.<br /> McMaster ; “Bryant,” by John Bigelow; and<br /> “William Gilmore Simms,” by William P. Trent.<br /> Of all these, the volumes on Cooper and on<br /> Emerson are the only two published in England.<br /> Two books of the series are model biographies<br /> —the “Cooper’ by Professor Lounsbury, and<br /> the “Poe’” by Professor Woodberry. In each<br /> case the authors took an immense amount of<br /> trouble to amass material, and then wrote a clear,<br /> concise, and comprehensive biography, which<br /> protruded no trace of the work behind it. There<br /> are soon to be added to this series the lives of<br /> “Lowell,” by Professor Woodberry, of Columbia<br /> College; “Whittier,” by Professor George R.<br /> Carpenter, of Columbia; “Motley,” by Professor<br /> Brander Matthews,<br /> Jameson; and “Parkman,” by Mr. John Fiske.<br /> This series is modelled on Mr. John Morley&#039;s<br /> “English Men of Letters,” only that the<br /> American volumes always contain a steel<br /> engraved portrait and a careful index—adjuncts<br /> lacking in the British books.<br /> An instance of failure to give “every man his<br /> due,” which would never have occurred in America,<br /> is to be found in the case of the “Great Educators<br /> Series.” This series was thought out, planned,<br /> brought out, and edited by Professor Nicholas<br /> Murray Butler. It is an international series<br /> having volumes by American, French, and<br /> British authors. It is printed in America and<br /> published here by Scribner&#039;s. Certain of the<br /> volumes have been exported to England and<br /> issued by Heinemann, and it is there known<br /> as Heinemann’s “Great Educators Series,” no<br /> mention whatsoever being made about Professor<br /> Butler&#039;s share in its production, or of its<br /> American origin.<br /> Macmillan and Co. are continuing their two-<br /> volume experiment at a dollar a volume, or 8s.<br /> for the work. This experiment was begun with<br /> “ Marcella,” and then continued with “ Katherine<br /> Lauterdale,” and now with “The Ralstons.” Mr.<br /> Crawford is the most popular of American<br /> novelists, and every new book of his sells at the<br /> rate of from 50,000 to 60,000 copies, while its<br /> immediate predecessor has a renewed sale of<br /> about Io,000. Although an American, Mr.<br /> Crawford does not know his New York as he<br /> does his Italy, and it is pleasing to note that in<br /> “Casa Braccia *-now running in the Century—<br /> he has returned to his old fields of operation,<br /> and is telling a new melodramatic tale of cos-<br /> mopolitan life.<br /> Four seasons ago Mr. T. J. B. Lincoln founded<br /> a literary club, called “The Uncut Leaves.” The<br /> club began very modestly with only a few<br /> members, who met once a month either at each<br /> other&#039;s houses or in a small hall hired for the<br /> occasion, where they listened to authors of various<br /> nationalities read from their unpublished manu-<br /> scripts. The success of this venture has been so<br /> great that the club now has several hundred<br /> members enrolled on its lists, and a suite of rooms<br /> is engaged for its monthly meetings at one of the<br /> best known halls in New York. Six readings are<br /> given during a season, and prominent men of<br /> letters are most happy to read or talk before such<br /> a sympathetic audience as is found gathered<br /> together on these occasions. Strangers are<br /> heartily welcomed, and Mr. Christie Murray has<br /> twice been present at the meetings, and each time<br /> succeeded in amusing the members. Mark Twain,<br /> Edward Eggleston, Mrs.<br /> Wiggin, and Mr. H. C. Bunner have all either<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 264 (#278) ############################################<br /> <br /> 264<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> read or spoken before the club this winter or last.<br /> There are no committees, nor is there even a<br /> president to run the club, Mr. Lincoln under-<br /> taking all the work, such as getting the speakers,<br /> fixing dates, hiring the hall, seeing to the<br /> announcements, and even constituting himself<br /> treasurer and presiding officer for the introduc-<br /> tion of the readers.<br /> An experiment has recently been tried by Mr.<br /> Alexander Black, who is both an amateur photo-<br /> grapher and a journalist. It is a form of enter-<br /> tainment which he calls a “picture play.” Mr.<br /> Black has written a story entitled “Miss Jerry,”<br /> which he reads to his audience, giving each<br /> character its own individuality by a slight change<br /> in his voice. At the same time numerous photo-<br /> graphs, which illustrate the many situatiºns, are<br /> thrown by a magic lantern slide on a large sheet.<br /> The plot of the story is a mere thread on which is<br /> strung many incidents that introduce well-known<br /> people. Miss Jerry is a bright, vigorous girl,<br /> who takes up the business of reporter as a con-<br /> genial means of livelihood, and her adventures in<br /> that capacity form the basis of the plot, around<br /> which is woven a slight love story. Mr. Black<br /> has been to much pains to make his photographs<br /> as realistic and natural as possible, and thus we<br /> See Miss Jerry boarding an elevated train, inter-<br /> viewing Mr. Chauncey Depew in his office, visiting<br /> the slums, and taking part in a brilliant ball.<br /> These are only a few of the many sides of New<br /> York that Mr. Black has written about and<br /> depicted. Whether this venture will prove a<br /> lasting success it is impossible to say, but that it<br /> is a mºst enjoyable form of entertainment, and<br /> has many as yet undeveloped possibilities in it, is<br /> very evident. -<br /> The travelled American has often stated that<br /> he wondered why no American periodical had as<br /> large a circulation as the Strand Magazine. As<br /> a matter of fact, two of our periodicals have over<br /> three-quarters of a million circulation, yet neither<br /> of them is published in New York, the centre of<br /> the publishing trade. The papers referred to are<br /> the Ladies&#039; Home Journal, issued in Philadelphia,<br /> and the Pouth&#039;s Companion, issued in Boston. It<br /> was on the former of these that the English<br /> Woman at Home was modelled. The Ladies’<br /> Home Journal is a monthly of thirty or forty<br /> pages of the size of the Illustrated London News,<br /> and its sale is principally outside this metropolis,<br /> for it aims to appeal to a more provincial audience.<br /> From its title it would be judged exclusively a<br /> woman’s paper, but this is not the case. There<br /> are always running through the year some articles<br /> especially applicable to men, such as the series<br /> called “When He is Sixteen,” articles written by<br /> four prominent women on all that concerns a boy<br /> at that age—his studies, amusements, choice of<br /> professions, &amp;c. Now a new series has been begun<br /> entitled one month “The Woman Who Has Most<br /> Influenced Me,” and the next “The Man Who Has<br /> Most Influenced Me ;” these naturally are written<br /> alternate months by men and women. The<br /> monthly always contains at least one serial story,<br /> and it was in this paper that Mr. Howell’s<br /> “Coast of Bohemia’’ appeared, and also Mr.<br /> Stockton’s “Pomona&#039;s Travels;” and there is,<br /> besides, generally a short story or two. A most<br /> delightful series of articles are now being written<br /> for it by Mr. Howells on “My Literary Passions.”<br /> The editorials are always timely, and on some<br /> broad subject. Besides this there are articles of<br /> general interest, comic or otherwise, and a poem<br /> or two. Another feature of this paper is the<br /> separation of the departments for answering<br /> correspondents, divided under the heads of<br /> “Floral Helps and Hints,” “Side-Talks with<br /> Girls,” “Hints on Home Dressmaking,” “Sug-<br /> gestions for Mothers,” “Art Help for Art<br /> Workers,” “Literary Queries,” and, lastly, “The<br /> Open Congress;” these (i.epartments are all under<br /> the direction of what might be called specialists.<br /> The illustrations and printing are both of a high<br /> order, and it would be hard to cite a periodical<br /> that has more widespread influence—an influence<br /> which is elevating both morally and intel-<br /> lectually.<br /> The Youth&#039;s Companion is a paper of an<br /> entirely different stamp, and with a different<br /> mission to fulfil. It is a wholesome weekly of<br /> good literary style, designed for readers of both<br /> sexes from fourteen to twenty-four years.<br /> Amongst its announcements for 1895 appear<br /> the following: A paper on “Nursing,” by<br /> Princess Helena of Schleswig-Holstein, and an<br /> account of a sculptor&#039;s work, called “The Story<br /> of a Statue,” by Princess Louise (Marchioness of<br /> Lorne); an article on the “Recollections of My<br /> Physician,” by Mr. Gladstone; a reminiscent<br /> account by Mr. J. M. Barrie, entitled “A School<br /> Revisited;” an article by Mr. Rudyard Kipling,<br /> “The Bold &#039;Prentice;” a speculative paper, “If<br /> Telescopes were Bigger,” by Camille Flammarion;<br /> an article on “How to Tell a Story,” by Mark<br /> Twain, and one on “An Editor&#039;s Relations with<br /> Young Authors,” by Mr. Howells; also “Bits of<br /> Scottish Character,” by the late Robert Louis<br /> Stevenson. From this array of names it is easy<br /> to see that the taste of the American youth is as<br /> much considered as that of his seniors. Indeed,<br /> we are singularly lucky in the type of our<br /> juvenile periodicals, for Harper&#039;s Young People<br /> and St. Nicholas have enormous circulations and<br /> much influence, and both have very high<br /> standards of literary and artistic merit. Thus<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 265 (#279) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 265<br /> the young American mind is not only catered to,<br /> but elevated.<br /> A circular has recently been sent around to the<br /> various members of the writing craft that a table<br /> of statistics concerning newspaper reviews had<br /> been made, and that the New York Times “led<br /> all the rest &quot; in regard to the number of books<br /> criticised in its columns, and in regard also to the<br /> space it devoted to literature. On looking through<br /> the table, it is surprising to find that of the 419<br /> American and British works appearing during the<br /> period of Oct. I to Dec. 31, 1894, the Times has<br /> actually reviewed 277, and that these reviews<br /> have occupied 117 columns. The promptness<br /> with which these reviews appeared after the<br /> publication of the books is also much to be com-<br /> mended—out of the 277, at least 240 were reviewed<br /> within a month. The statistical pamphlet is<br /> arranged in alphabetical order as regards the pub-<br /> lishers, and thus, as an example, out of the<br /> fifteen books issued by Longmans, Green, and<br /> Co., the Times reviewed eleven, and devoted<br /> fifty and one-half columns to them, whereas the<br /> Tribune reviewed five of them, the Post four, and<br /> the Sun only two. But, on the other hand, the<br /> JPost has far more book advertisements than the<br /> Times; sometimes it has as many as three pages.<br /> It is a great convenience to authors and publishers<br /> to know where books are most likely to receive<br /> prompt attention, and so this table of statistics is<br /> welcome.<br /> Ibsen&#039;s latest play “Little Eyolf’’ has just<br /> been published by Stone and Kimball, of Chicago,<br /> in the Green Tree Library. The volume is a<br /> dainty specimen of bookmaking, being tastefully<br /> and well bound, of a convenient size, and printed<br /> with care and thought. It has been most warmly<br /> received. It is interesting to note how curiously<br /> alike it is in subject to Mrs. Margaret Deland’s<br /> recent novel, “Philip and His Wife.” Although<br /> differing in every detail and in most of the inci-<br /> dents, yet the two books are almost parallel in<br /> the problem they present. It is a pleasure to<br /> announce that Mrs. Deland’s book has been<br /> deservedly a great success, and is already in its<br /> fifth edition.<br /> It is astonishing how the “Trilby’’ boom keeps<br /> up, and even seems on the increase. Word has<br /> come from Harper and Brothers that so far in<br /> printing the book IOO tons of paper have been<br /> used. It is a great pleasure to mention the fair-<br /> ness with which Harpers have dealt with Mr.<br /> Du Maurier. Upon accepting “Trilby,” the<br /> publishers, believing in the book, offered Mr.<br /> Du Maurier a very handsome royalty; but the<br /> author preferred a lump sum in proportion to<br /> their belief in the book, which was very great.<br /> Now, seeing the enormous success of the story,<br /> : Hugo&#039;s remarks.<br /> Harper and Brothers have notified Mr. Du<br /> Maurier that from Jan. I of this year he<br /> will receive a royalty, and not only a royalty on<br /> “Trilby,” but also on “Peter Ibbetson,” for<br /> which they had also paid a large sum down, but<br /> which has been lately carried along by the success<br /> of its author’s more recent book. A parody has<br /> just appeared, entitled “Biltry,” and the drama-<br /> tisation of “Trilby &quot; by Mr. Paul Potter<br /> is quite completed, and Mr. A. M. Palmer<br /> expects to produce it on March 4 in Boston. A<br /> “Trilby’’ afternoon has been arranged in aid of<br /> the New York Kindergarten Association. There<br /> are to be tableaux, taken from the illustrations,<br /> and all the songs mentioned in the story will be<br /> sung—thus it will be seem that “Trilby’’ has<br /> taken New York hearts by storm. One of the<br /> latest jokes current at present is the answer<br /> which supposedly appeared in a paper to an<br /> anxious inquirer—“No, Napoleon did not write<br /> ‘Trilby;” you have confused the magazines.”<br /> HALLETT ROBINSON.<br /> *~ - ~-&#039;<br /> r—- - ---,<br /> LETTER FROM PARIS,<br /> AM writing this in the melancholy of the<br /> loss of our dear Auguste Vacquerie, a<br /> friend of twelve years&#039; standing, a very<br /> kindly man, who, for his way of life, was one<br /> to be looked up to in this career of ours. He<br /> was in every sense of the word a gentleman of<br /> letters, and these are few in France.<br /> The first time that I met Auguste Vacquerie was<br /> twelve years ago, at the house of Victor Hugo,<br /> whose inseparable companion he was. Of the<br /> two poets, the disciple—for Vacquerie always pro-<br /> claimed himself but the disciple of Victor Hugo—<br /> haddecidedly the superior distinction, and, to con-<br /> fess the truth, I listened with far more interest to<br /> the things that he said that night than to Victor<br /> I frequently met him after-<br /> wards at the same house, and was on one occasion<br /> invited to call and see him at his own home, a<br /> fine mansion in the Rue Durmont d&#039;Urville. I<br /> called there one morning and found Vacquerie in<br /> bed, for, as he told me, he never rose till noon.<br /> “I wake at seven,” he said, “and immediately<br /> read all the morning papers ”—the floor of the<br /> bedroom and the counterpane of the bed were<br /> strewn with gazettes—“ and when I have read<br /> all the news, I write my daily article for the<br /> Rappel.” By the bedside stood a little table,<br /> with writing materials on it, and a bowl<br /> of bouillon, in draughts of which the editor<br /> sought inspiration. His process was different from<br /> that of Victor Hugo, and indeed he remarked on<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 266 (#280) ############################################<br /> <br /> 266<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> this, for Hugo always wrote standing, imitating<br /> Voltaire in this respect. “But,” said Vacquerie,<br /> “I am only a disciple.” Ithink that it was a pity<br /> that he contented himself with his position of<br /> disciple and imitator of Hugo, for he had decided<br /> originality and a particular sweetness of style,<br /> which would have sufficed to give him an excellent<br /> standing of his own in French literature. I shall<br /> never forget the kindness of his reception of me<br /> on that occasion, miserable little journalistic hack<br /> that I was at the time. He insisted on keeping<br /> me to breakfast, and after breakfast showed me<br /> over his art collection. I remember with what<br /> glee he pointed to a Delacroix, a picture of the<br /> good Samaritan, which he had bought for<br /> 50 francs, “a picture worth a hundred times that<br /> sum to-day.” He pressed me to return and see<br /> him, and I did so once or twice, but it is now a<br /> long time since I saw him last. I contented my-<br /> self with being his contemporary, and liked to<br /> think that there was a kindly Auguste Vacquerie,<br /> who was well disposed towards me, living in<br /> Paris. One has many friends like that. And<br /> now he is dead and buried, and I shall never<br /> see him again Paris seems different to me<br /> to-day.<br /> I noticed that several papers commented on the<br /> divorce between Jeanne Hugo and Léon Daudet<br /> with comments which were unjustifiable. Thanks<br /> to the excellent French law in this matter,<br /> no particulars of divorce cases may be published<br /> in the French papers—a law that might well be<br /> introduced, in despite of the penny and half-<br /> penny editors, into England—and, as In conse-<br /> quence nobody except the friends of the family<br /> knew anything about the case, nobody was in a<br /> position to comment upon it. It was a mere case<br /> of incompatibility of temper, and, though<br /> separated, the two ex-spouses have remained<br /> excellent friends. This is a good thing for the<br /> sake of the little boy, Victor Hugo’s great-grand-<br /> SOIl.<br /> I had expected to be able to give a description<br /> in this letter of the banquet which was to be<br /> given on Friday last to Edmund de Goncourt by<br /> his friends and admirers. In consequence, how-<br /> ever, of the sudden and regretted death of<br /> Auguste Vacquerie, M. de Goncourt wrote<br /> to the organisers of the banquet to ask them<br /> to postpone it till the following week. This<br /> being so, I fail to understand why certain French<br /> journalists have pointed to this postponement as<br /> another proof of the persistent bad luck which<br /> has pursued the de Goncourts through life. It<br /> is true that their first book was killed by the fact<br /> that it was published on the very day on which<br /> the coup d&#039;état was carried out in Paris, and<br /> consequently passed unnoticed ; but since then<br /> Having done so,<br /> fortune has, in my opinion at least, made ample<br /> reparation to the surviving brother. He holds a<br /> unique place in French literature, and will remain<br /> standing after many of the apparently more<br /> fortunate ones have been swallowed up in<br /> obscurity. Certainly his books have not sold by<br /> the hundred thousand, but that is a circum-<br /> stance on which so perfect an artist may rather<br /> congratulate himself.<br /> I am greatly interested at present in the<br /> writings of the German philosopher Nietzsche,<br /> which are being greatly read in Paris. The<br /> writer, I am sorry to say, will be silent hereafter,<br /> for his brain has given way, and he is confined in<br /> some German madhouse. Possibly this may be a<br /> subject for congratulation, for it is evident, from<br /> the direly pessimistic tone of his enunciations,<br /> that he was a very unhappy man—a Schopenhauer<br /> without Schopenhauer’s obvious insincerity—a<br /> Leopardi without the consolation of the poet’s<br /> art; and where ignorance is bliss—you know<br /> the rest<br /> The following is one of Nietzche&#039;s sayings<br /> about bad books: “Das Buch soll nach Feder,<br /> Tinte und Schreibtisch verlangen: aber gewöhnlich<br /> verlangen Feder, Tinte und Schreibtisch nach.<br /> dem Buche. Deshalb ist es jetzt so wenig mit<br /> Büchern.”<br /> The study of pessimism is an excellent one for<br /> young people. Pessimism is a disease, which,<br /> like measles, attacks everybody at least once in a<br /> lifetime. It is well to inoculate oneself with it<br /> early in life, so as to be protected against it at a<br /> time when it might less easily be borne. Ten years<br /> ago I was the gloomiest of melancholy Jacques.<br /> To-day the world seems a charming place to live<br /> lll.<br /> Amongst my papers I find the following auto-<br /> graph letter from William Wordsworth. It has<br /> never been printed before, and so I give it.<br /> Things have not greatly changed in the matter<br /> of poetry since the day on which it was<br /> written :<br /> MY DEAR SIR,<br /> Very pressing engagements have prevented me.<br /> looking over the MSS. you sent me till this evening.<br /> and remembering your conversation<br /> with me upon the subject, it seems unnecessary that I<br /> should say more than that the verses in some respects do<br /> much credit to their author, and show an easy command of<br /> language and are not deficient in harmony; and the story of<br /> the tale, though not having much novelty in it, is agree-<br /> able.<br /> I mention to you what is apparent enough, that poetry is<br /> not much in favour with the public at present, and there-<br /> fore if I thought these specimens of merit much superior to<br /> what, candidly speaking, I reckon them to be, I could not<br /> feel confident that their publication would be profitable to<br /> the writer.<br /> I must add, however, on the other side, that, as tastes and<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 267 (#281) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 267<br /> fancies are so various, it is impossible to foresee what would<br /> or would not succeed.<br /> - I remain, my dear sir,<br /> Faithfully yours,<br /> WM. WORDSwor&#039;IH.<br /> Rydal Mount,<br /> Jan. 28, 1841.<br /> Wordsworth used to be overwhelmed with<br /> MSS. from all parts of the world—an experience<br /> common to most writers whose names are known<br /> to the public. A whole room in Rydal Mount<br /> was set aside for the storage of these manuscripts,<br /> but, in spite of every precaution, many used to get<br /> lost. I remember my mother telling me that<br /> when she was quite a little girl, and was staying<br /> at Rydal Mount, she was one morning greatly<br /> upset by a pathetic letter from some poet in the<br /> South of England, who wrote saying that he had<br /> sent a long epic to Wordsworth some months<br /> previously, and that, though he had applied for<br /> its return several times, he had never received<br /> any answer. He added that all his hopes in this<br /> world were based on that epic, and implored for<br /> its return. She spent all that day, and the next<br /> day too, in looking for this manuscript, but was<br /> unable to find it. In the end she selected from<br /> a pile of poems, which for some reason or other<br /> could not be returned to their writers, one which<br /> was also an epic, and of about the same length<br /> as the missing one, and sent it to the poet, saying<br /> that she hoped that this one would as well. She<br /> inclosed in the letter the sum of half-a-crown,<br /> the whole contents of her savings-box, and asked<br /> the poet to accept this as a solatium. He was<br /> apparently satisfied, for he never wrote again.<br /> Speaking of the old days reminds me that a<br /> day or two ago I was looking over a book of<br /> accounts, which was kept in the house of an<br /> English nobleman, in the years 1622-23-24.<br /> It is most methodically kept, and includes every<br /> penny that was spent in that family during that<br /> period. The items vary from “Almesmonie,” as,<br /> for instance, “Item given to the prisoners in the<br /> Fleet,” or “Item given to my sister Anna Walker<br /> to helpe to buy her a wedinge gown,” to<br /> “Chardges in Travell,” &amp;c. I have read all the<br /> items through without finding that during those<br /> three years there was spent in that nobleman&#039;s<br /> family a single penny on literature in any shape<br /> or form, and this in spite of the fact that<br /> periodical visits were paid by his lordship and<br /> family to town. Things have certainly improved<br /> in England since those days, and fortunate it is<br /> for us who write that this is so.<br /> Is it not a pity that the very best portrait of<br /> our gentle Stevenson should be in America, and<br /> that there is little chance of its ever being seen in<br /> England again P. This is the portrait painted by<br /> Mr. Alexander, of Paris, whom many consider,<br /> with Whistler and Sargent, the finest portrait<br /> painter in the world. More than this, it is, next<br /> to his remarkable portrait of Walt Whitman, the<br /> painter&#039;s best work. What good portraits of<br /> Stevenson are there in England for our great-<br /> grandchildren to look at P<br /> Any publisher or editor who wants a cheap<br /> advertisement need only follow the example of<br /> various American editors and publishers in offering<br /> fantastic sums to Count Tolstoi for the right of<br /> publishing his new works. Tolstoi always refuses<br /> any dealings with his books and so no risk is run<br /> and Messrs. Puff, Quack, Réclame, and Co., of<br /> Paternoster-row, can safely offer him 2 dollars<br /> a letter for his work, as the American publisher<br /> did the other day. Nay, they might offer<br /> £10 a word, provided that they let the fact be<br /> known, and the paragraphists would do the rest.<br /> Are we not all very glad of the great success of<br /> Mr. Sala&#039;s last book—the most entertaining set of<br /> memoirs which has appeared for some years P. It<br /> is a book that every literary aspirant should read<br /> for his encouragement—the story of a brave life in<br /> a hard career of persistent heroism. One is proud<br /> to be the confrère of such a man.<br /> Daudet&#039;s new book, “La Petite Paroisse,” is a<br /> very clever study of jealousy—a passion much<br /> à la mode for literary treatment in Paris just<br /> now. Lemaître expounds it after his fashion in<br /> “Le Pardon ’’ at the Comedie. In the copy which<br /> Daudet sent me he wrote that he hoped I had<br /> been jealous, so that I might tell him if his book<br /> were true. I was glad to be able to tell him that,<br /> since childish jealousies in the matter of tops or<br /> tarts, I had never experienced that feeling which<br /> is said to be the only mental suffering which is a<br /> physical suffering at the same time. I under-<br /> stand that jealousy produces a very painful<br /> feeling below the breastbone, as when one has<br /> eaten too many blackberries. These are not<br /> sensations that I run after. Daudet&#039;s hero suffers<br /> badly, but is very brave through it all, and here<br /> again Daudet has shown that, in spite of all, he<br /> will look on the bright side of life, and on what is<br /> good in human nature. This is what is so<br /> excellent in his work. -<br /> I was very sorry to hear of the death of John<br /> O&#039;Neill, announced in last month&#039;s Author. I<br /> had never met him, but just before I last left<br /> London I received a very kind and encouraging<br /> letter from him, which came at a time when I<br /> was extremely despondent. Letters like that are<br /> a blessing to struggling authors. I had hoped<br /> to thank John O&#039;Neill for writing to me in<br /> person, and now that can never be.<br /> Marcel Schwob’s translation of “Moll Flanders”<br /> is the book of the season in Paris, next to<br /> Daudet&#039;s latest. Schwob has an excellent know-<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 268 (#282) ############################################<br /> <br /> 268<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> ledge of English literature, and is the personal<br /> friend of many of our leading writers. We<br /> English owe him a debt of gratitude for his<br /> championship of English literature in a country<br /> where people are singularly ignorant of its<br /> beauties. RobºFT H. SHERARD.<br /> I23, Boulevard Magenta, Paris.<br /> *- -*<br /> - * *-y<br /> NOTES AND NEWS,<br /> E need merely chronicle here the elections<br /> of Mr. W. Martin Conway as chairman<br /> of the committee of management, and of<br /> Mr. Anthony Hope Hawkins as a member of the<br /> council and of the committee of management.<br /> A brief report of the general meeting of the<br /> Society, which was held in the room of the<br /> Medical and Chirurgical Society, on the afternoon<br /> of the 25th ult., will be found in another column.<br /> We wish to call the attention of members to the<br /> resolution moved by Mr. Hall Caine and seconded<br /> by Mr. Rider Haggard, relating to Canadian<br /> Copyright. In another column will be found<br /> the Chairman&#039;s invitation to members to sign the<br /> petition which has been drawn up, and is lying<br /> for signature at the offices. It should be borne<br /> mind that the threatened legislation would<br /> destroy the homogeneity of British copyright,<br /> and would jeopardise the whole of the benefits<br /> resulting from American copyright. The danger<br /> is real and urgent, and members are invited to<br /> send in their names forth with.<br /> A communication addressed by Mr. R. Under-<br /> wood Johnson, the secretary of the American<br /> Copyright League, to the (New York) Evening<br /> Post is disquieting. From this it appears that a<br /> Copyright Bill has been introduced and reported<br /> by the Committee on Patents with a proviso which<br /> limits the total sum to be recovered under the<br /> statute (sect. 4965, ch. 3, title 60) to double the<br /> value of the “thing infringed upon,” &amp;c. Mr.<br /> Johnson enters a protest against this reform on<br /> many grounds, and points out that the proviso<br /> extends so as to cover literary as well as artistic<br /> work, so that, while this legislation is ostensibly<br /> intended to protect innocent infringers of photo-<br /> graphic copyright from blackmailing proceedings,<br /> it promises to enable any pirate to copy any<br /> periodical matter, whether literary or artistic,<br /> with comparative impunity.<br /> Though belated, for reasons which need not be<br /> explained, we lay a wreath upon the grave of<br /> Christina, Rossetti, The words found in another<br /> column are written by one who knew her. These<br /> are the occasions on which the mere critic, even<br /> the admiring or the reverential critic, must stand<br /> aside to let those speak who had the privilege of<br /> knowing the dead poet.<br /> *– ~ *<br /> e- - -<br /> THE LOSSES IN LITERATURE, 1894.<br /> BIE losses in literature, which have been both<br /> numerous and severe, include Professor<br /> James Anthony Froude, LL.D. ; Mr.<br /> Robert Louis Stevenson; Mr. Walter Pater; Dr.<br /> Oliver Wendell Holmes ; Professor William<br /> Robertson Smith, D.D., LL.D. ; Professor Henry<br /> Morley, LL.D.; Rev. Richard Morris, LL.D.; Sir<br /> James F. Stephen, the legal writer and essayist;<br /> Sir Austen H. Layard, of Nineveh fame; Miss<br /> Christina Georgina Rosetti; Professor John<br /> Nichol, biographer and poet, late Professor of<br /> English Literature in Glasgow University; Dr.<br /> John Weitch, Professor of Logic and Literature in<br /> Glasgow University; M. Leconte de Lisle, the<br /> distinguished French poet; the Comtesse Agenor<br /> de Gasparin; Professor William Dwight Whitney,<br /> the philological and Orientalist author; Mr.<br /> Edmund Yates ; the Hon. Roden Noel ; Mr.<br /> Charles H. Pearson, LL.D., the constitutional<br /> writer; Mrs. Augusta Webster; Mr. R. M.<br /> Ballantyne, the popular story writer; M. Maxime<br /> du Camp, the French author and academician;<br /> Professor James Darmesteter; Dr. George<br /> Bullen, formerly keeper of the Printed Books at<br /> the British Museum; Mr. William T. M&#039;Cullagh,<br /> Torrens; Miss Alice King, the blind novelist ;<br /> Rev. R. Brown-Borthwick, the hymnologist; Mr.<br /> George Ticknor Curtis; Rev. Alexander J. D.<br /> D&#039;Orsey; Rev. Edmund S. Ffoulkes; Dr. Brian<br /> Houghton Hodson, the Orientalist writer; F. W.<br /> Weber, the Prussian poet ; Dr. Francis Henry<br /> Underwood ; Señor Oliveira Martins, the eminent<br /> Portuguese historian ; Mr. John Francis Waller,<br /> LL.D.; Miss Elizabeth Peabody; Dr. H. W.<br /> Dulcken ; Miss Constance Fenimore Woolson;<br /> Dr. Terrien de Lacouperie, the Orientalist writer<br /> and scholar ; Dr. John Lord, LL.D., the his-<br /> torian; M. Armand Pagès, the French novelist;<br /> Dr. James M&#039;Cosh, the philosophical writer;<br /> Captain Lovett Cameron ; Mrs. Pitt-Byrne; Mrs.<br /> Jane Austin, the American authoress; Miss<br /> Sophia Dobson Collett, writer on Theism and<br /> Atheism; Miss E. Owens Blackburne, the Irish<br /> novelist; the Rev. Robert Anchor Thompson,<br /> historical writer; Miss Patton-Bethune, writer of<br /> sporting novels; M. Dugast-Matifeux, an eminent<br /> French antiquary ; Rev. J. Hamilton Thom ; Rev.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 269 (#283) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 269<br /> John Nassau-Simpkinson; Ludwig Pfau, the<br /> German poet and art critic; Mrs. Augusta<br /> Theodosia Drame, a well-known Roman Catholic<br /> writer; M. Victor Fournel, the literary critic;<br /> Mr. Andreas Edward Cokayne, antiquarian<br /> writer; Professor Karl Dillmann the emi-<br /> ment Ethiopic writer; Mr. Thomas George<br /> Stevenson, an Edinburgh author and publisher;<br /> M. Foucaux, Professor of Sanskrit at the Collège<br /> de France; M. Astié, Professor of Philosophy at<br /> Lausanne ; the Rev. Naphthali Levy, Jewish<br /> writer; Mr. Walter H. Tregellas, a Cornish<br /> author; Mr. Thomas Farrall, a popular Cumber-<br /> land writer; Mr. Henry Vizetelly, author of<br /> “Glances back through Seventy Years,” &amp;c.;<br /> Mr. J. J. Shean, of Hull, a county historian ; Mr.<br /> John Chessell Buckler, antiquarian writer; Mr.<br /> Mansfield Parkyns, writer on Abyssinia; Herr<br /> J. ter Gouw, author of the “History of<br /> Amsterdam. ”; Mr. Brackstone Baker, writer on<br /> Canadian and railway subjects; Herr Max Moltke,<br /> the German poet, philosopher, and translator;<br /> Mr. John Patrick Prendergast, author of “The<br /> Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland”; M. Dussieux,<br /> author of works on the reign of Louis XIV. ;<br /> Professor J. Von Dümichen, the eminent writer<br /> on Egyptology; Dr. J. Bradshaw, editor of<br /> “Grey ’’ and “Milton,” and of “The Chesterfield<br /> Letters ”; Voislav Ilic, the “Servian Heine ‘’;<br /> Helgi Hálfdanorson, the Icelandic poet ; Mr.<br /> Henry Manners Chichester, writer on British<br /> military history; Dr. William F. Poole, compiler<br /> of the “Index to Periodical Literature&quot;; Dr.<br /> Frankl, Austrian poet and prose writer; Professor<br /> Wilhelm Roscher, the eminent political economist;<br /> Mr. Edward Capern, the postman poet of Bide-<br /> ford; Mr. Cecil Robertson; Rev. Josiah Wright,<br /> classical writer; M. Louis Roumieux, the French<br /> “Provincial Ovid’’; Mr. W. O&#039;Neill Daunt,<br /> Irish historical writer; Mme. Betty Paoli (Barbara<br /> Glück), the Austrian poetess; Mr. Herbert Tuttle,<br /> historical writer; Mr. J. Dobie, Professor of<br /> Hebrew in Edinburgh University ; Nikolai<br /> Michailowitsch Astyrew, the Russian author;<br /> Mrs. Celia Thaxter; M. Jean Fleury; Mr. Eugene<br /> Lawrence, American historical writer; Dr. Siegfried<br /> Szamatolski, a promising German writer; Miss<br /> Augusta de Grasse Stevens; Mr. W. Douglas<br /> Hamilton, historical writer; Mr. John Russell,<br /> assistant editor of Chambers’s Journal; Dr. H.<br /> N. Van der Tunk, the greatest Malayan scholar<br /> of the century; Mr. Francis Romano Oliphant;<br /> Mr. John Askham, the Northamptonshire poet;<br /> M. Léon Palustre, a learned writer on the French<br /> Renaissance ; Professor Dr. Henrich Rudolf<br /> Hildebrand, the linguist and lexicographer; Mr.<br /> J. Bedford Leno, the Buckinghamshire poet; Mr.<br /> George H. Jennings; M. François de Caussade,<br /> of an almost unique personality.<br /> librarian of the Mazarine Collection; M. Claudio<br /> Jannet, Professor of Political Economy in the<br /> Catholic University of Paris; M. Victor Duruy,<br /> the historian; Rev. Caesar Malan, the Oriental<br /> scholar; Dr. John Chapman, proprietor and<br /> editor of the Westminster Review ; Mr. Alexander<br /> Ireland; Dr. Heinrich Hoffman, author of the<br /> famous “Struwwelpeter’”; and the Rev. William<br /> John Blew, hymnologist, &amp;c.—The Times, Jan. I.<br /> *- : *-*<br /> * * -<br /> CHRISTINA, G, ROSSETTI.<br /> ſ TVHE editor of this periodical has courteously<br /> T requested me to say something about<br /> Christina Rossetti in the March number of<br /> the Author, and I comply with his request,<br /> though with diffidence.<br /> Words are only the means whereby we strive<br /> to express our conceptions or to convey our<br /> impressions. And never does a writer feel so<br /> keenly how inadequate words are at the best as<br /> when he strives to show to others in some<br /> measure the sweetness, the irresistible fascination<br /> For the<br /> influence of personal qualities, such as those<br /> possessed by Christina Rossetti in so remark-<br /> able a degree, is well-nigh untranslatable into<br /> words.<br /> Time, skill in word-painting, and above all<br /> much preparatory thought, are needed before any<br /> success, however small, can be attained in such an<br /> endeavour. But if a volume is ever written,<br /> revealing the inner aspects of her character, as far<br /> as these could be revealed with a due sense of<br /> delicacy and proportion, the volume will be a<br /> permanent and priceless addition to English litera-<br /> ture. And, despite the difficulty of his task, I<br /> envy him who shall write the volume; the con-<br /> templation of such a character as that of<br /> Christina Rossetti will alone recompense him for<br /> his labour.<br /> The critic of the far future, of whom we hear<br /> so much and think so little, will accord a high<br /> place among the great poets of the century to<br /> the poet to whom we owe “Amor Mundi,” “An<br /> Apple Gathering,” “Maude Clare,” “The Con-<br /> vent Threshold,” and “Maiden-Song.” He will<br /> single out as among the finest love songs in our<br /> language such a flawless lyric as “When I am<br /> dead, my dearest &quot;-a lyric so full of atmosphere,<br /> so perfect in its tenderness and portrayal of<br /> unchanged and unchangeable affection. Nor<br /> must we forget that Christina Rossetti—whether<br /> we look to the quality or quantity of her<br /> devotional poetry—was pre-eminent among the<br /> illustrious English poets who have enriched<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 270 (#284) ############################################<br /> <br /> 27O<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> Christian literature by their genius. As long as<br /> Christianity remains the most vital force in the<br /> lives of millions of English-speaking people<br /> the memory of that poet of their faith who<br /> gave them such a poem as “Passing away, saith<br /> the world, passing away,” or “Paradise,” with<br /> its exquisite last stanza, the very quintessence of<br /> Christian expectation — who gave them that<br /> beautiful hymn, part of which, beginning “The<br /> Porter watches at the gate,” was sung so fittingly<br /> at her funeral service — who gave them the<br /> perfect lines, beginning “Thy lovely saints<br /> do bring Thee love,” will be cherished and<br /> honoured.<br /> Personally, Christina Rossetti had the quiet<br /> simplicity of real greatness, and this simplicity<br /> was doubtless in itself an evidence of genius. In<br /> intercourse with her one lost consciousness of<br /> being in the presence of a distinguished poet,<br /> because one became conscious of being in the<br /> presence of a woman distinguished in the more<br /> noble womanly qualities. Nature evidently had<br /> endowed her not only with the gifts proper to a<br /> poet, and these in a lavish degree, but also with<br /> choicest gifts of the heart and soul. But if this<br /> was so, it was equally true that Christina Rossetti<br /> had herself matured and perfected her natural<br /> gifts by that sublimest education of all—the<br /> education of the soul.<br /> She was a recluse, but she never talked to me as<br /> such, and even amid weakness and suffering she<br /> was constantly cheerful. The very tones of her<br /> voice, in their slow and distinct intonation, were<br /> pleasant to hear. She was quite willing to talk<br /> about her favourite authors, and I remember the<br /> amusement she betokened on learning that a<br /> French translation of “David Copperfield,” which<br /> I had picked up secondhand on the Quais during<br /> a recent visit to Paris, was entitled “Le Neveu<br /> de Ma Tante.”<br /> Deeply religious, she never obtruded her piety,<br /> yet I felt instinctively that I was in the company<br /> of a holy woman. In a copy of her “Verses,”<br /> given to me, she wrote in her own clear hand-<br /> writing—handwriting firm as long as she could<br /> continue to write at all—“Faith is like a lily,<br /> lifted high and white,” and to her the things and<br /> persons of the future life were realities. Probably<br /> this was the reason of her wonderful—her<br /> heroic endurance of pain. Despite her profound<br /> humility, and her vivid sense of human short-<br /> comings, she was sustained by the conviction<br /> that God’s angel Death would soon release<br /> her, and she no more doubted the existence<br /> of a state of coming blessedness than the<br /> traveller doubts the existence of the place for<br /> which he is bound, when setting out on a<br /> journey. I shall always feel proud and glad<br /> that I knew personally one of the most lovable<br /> women who ever lived.<br /> MACKENZIE BELL.<br /> *~ - --&quot;<br /> r- * ~,<br /> MRS. CARLYLE.<br /> ILL a voice ever be raised in defence<br /> of Carlyle P Much has been written<br /> touching Mrs. Carlyle’s married un-<br /> happiness, which everyone lays at the door of<br /> this long-suffering philosopher.<br /> In a recently published article, by the late<br /> Mrs. Alexander Ireland, she describes a visit she<br /> paid to Froude, in order to gain his permission<br /> to write Mrs. Carlyle&#039;s life. She gained Froude&#039;s<br /> permission because their view of Mrs. Carlyle&#039;s<br /> character was identical, for she says that Froude<br /> “deeply compassionated Mrs. Carlyle.”<br /> Perhaps it hovers closely on superfluousness.<br /> and temerity to argue so difficult a question, or<br /> to seek to readjust the balance between these<br /> two vexed and irreconcilable immortals; yet, in<br /> justice to Carlyle&#039;s memory, I would affirm that<br /> there was no lack of love, or even tenderness, on<br /> his part towards his wife.<br /> I have often heard one speak, who, in a quiet<br /> unobtrusive way, held intimate intercourse with<br /> the Carlyles, having experience of them in one of<br /> their gloomiest periods, for it was in the ten years<br /> during which Carlyle, under the shadow of his<br /> “Frederick the Great,” wrestled with the writing<br /> of his history. It was also the time when the<br /> unconscious philosopher paid his much resented<br /> visits to Lord and Lady Ashburton—at least, the<br /> period when Mrs. Carlyle most resented his so<br /> doing.<br /> But the impression this lady received, when<br /> she saw them together, which she did often, was<br /> of Carlyle&#039;s deep and abiding love for his wife,<br /> and of the high value he set upon her literary<br /> judgment, always reading to her his MS. and<br /> altering passages at her advice; how he strove<br /> with these emendations the following little<br /> touch by Mrs. Carlyle, related tâté-à-tête, best<br /> shows:–<br /> “The first day Mr. Carlyle came down very<br /> cross, in the evening, saying that he had done<br /> nothing all day, hang it ! had spent all the after-<br /> noon trying to alter that paragraph of hers, and<br /> he could not. The second day uneasy; the third<br /> day more so ; the fourth, sent J. in post haste to<br /> recall the proofs, that he might strike out<br /> the whole of “our melancholy friend&#039;s remarks.’<br /> Mrs. Carlyle sorry to find fault, and not to<br /> seemed pleased, as he is always dispirited himself<br /> at first, and wants encouraging.”<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 271 (#285) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 27 I<br /> One questions if from the mocking satirical<br /> spirit of Mrs. Carlyle there ever flowed much<br /> encouragement, prone as she was to discourse of<br /> him to friends and acquaintances in a carping,<br /> unkindly spirit. On the other hand, I have<br /> heard this lady before quoted assert that in his<br /> bearing to his wife there was a chivalrous,<br /> reverent strain, difficult to describe; said she<br /> always in conclusion, “his manner to Mrs.<br /> Carlyle was beautiful.” As tending to the cause<br /> of some unhappiness between them, much stress<br /> has been laid upon her superior position socially,<br /> and of the luxury and comfort she relinquished<br /> on her marriage; but between a Scotch country<br /> doctor&#039;s daughter, at the beginning of this<br /> century, and a farmer&#039;s son, was there such a<br /> yawning gulf fixed P Might not genius and love<br /> have bridged it over P at least if Mrs. Carlyle had<br /> been dowered with but a little more of the latter<br /> golden elixir—then perhaps she would not have<br /> deemed it such an unmitigated misfortune to<br /> have made a pudding, or baked a loaf of bread;<br /> though her biographers have dealt as darkly<br /> upon her days of domestic activity at Craigen-<br /> puttock as did Charles Dickens, with more reason,<br /> upon his days of degradation in the blacking<br /> factory. -<br /> Mrs. Carlyle, or rather wayward Miss Jane<br /> Welsh, desired before all things to marry a man<br /> of genius. It was the survival of an early girlish<br /> ambition, and, unlike the general course of girlish<br /> ambition, it was fulfilled, for fate, a trifle<br /> maliciously, as the sequel proved, chose to fasten<br /> it upon her by producing the man. It failed to<br /> make her happy, because she was unable, partly<br /> by health and temperament, to face all the<br /> discomforts and disenchanting details which fall<br /> to the lot of the wife of a struggling, ill-paid<br /> man of genius; and “the plain living and high<br /> thinking,” coupled with the absolute silence and<br /> solitude necessary to the “high thinking,” grew<br /> irksome to her. These were the conditions of her<br /> early married life; then, when success came, with<br /> social homage to herself, it found her a dis-<br /> appointed, embittered woman, bereft of any but<br /> the most fitful power of enjoyment, seeing all<br /> things clad in her own feverish distaste for them.<br /> In a letter written to her from her intended<br /> husband not long before their marriage, he<br /> strenuously insists upon that which eventually<br /> proved to be the essential need of her whole life,<br /> for he writes:<br /> “You have a deep, earnest, and vehement spirit,<br /> and no earnest task has ever been assigned to it.<br /> You despise and ridicule the meanness of the<br /> things about you. To the things you honour you<br /> can only pay a fervent adoration, which issues in<br /> no practical effect.” Was not this the root of the<br /> restless misery in her life? Destitute of any earnest<br /> purpose, her brilliant gifts found no outlet; instead<br /> her mocking spirit played round men and things,<br /> and her keen satire, like sheet lightning, lit up<br /> the words and the deeds of the men and women<br /> round her with the cold light of destructive irony,<br /> which recoiling at the last upon her heart, warped<br /> it from all invigorating effort. But she was a<br /> shrewd and kindly friend to those she loved. Far<br /> be it from me to dwell upon her character, or<br /> life, in a censorious spirit. Novalis has it,<br /> character is destiny; and her perpetual malady<br /> of unhappiness was in a measure due to lack<br /> of health, but still more to that which she<br /> herself described, in humorous despair, as an<br /> absence of “the faculty of being happy.” At<br /> times one is almost tempted to think she wore<br /> her grief as a fantastic garment, for in the<br /> dolorous liturgy of her diary there is some-<br /> thing theatrical and unreal. When all literary<br /> and fashionable London rolled up to her door,<br /> still she railed at fate, because it failed to amuse<br /> her.<br /> There must be a great many “mute, inglorious ”<br /> Mrs. Carlyles in the world who cannot give voice<br /> to their disillusionment with life as wittily as<br /> did she, who yet make a very cheerful fight of it,<br /> having successfully learnt the gentle art of being<br /> happy ; therefore is not the world a little harsh<br /> in its judgment when it ascribes all Mrs. Carlyle&#039;s<br /> lamentations due to the temper of the melancholy<br /> Creator of “Sartor Resartus P”<br /> GRACE GILCHRIST.<br /> *- Am aims--&gt;<br /> ,- w -.<br /> AN AUTHORS BEST WORK<br /> T is important to an author to know the<br /> circumstances under which he ordinarily<br /> does his best work. The experience of the<br /> majority of writers shows that the hour at which<br /> a man works, the place, and not a few other<br /> attendant circumstances of his labours—circum-<br /> stances in themselves apparently unimportant—<br /> exercise a great effect upon his ordinary capacity<br /> for literary production. The phenomenon is not<br /> quite universal. Anthony Trollope trained him-<br /> self into writing at any time, and in almost any<br /> place. Charles Dickens, when he was young,<br /> would write his newspaper reports on the palm<br /> of his hand, by the light of a dim lamp, in a<br /> post-chaise. But these were exceptional cases.<br /> Later Dickens&#039; letters mention predilections for<br /> quiet spots in which to write, and yearnings for<br /> strolls in the streets of London to inspire him;<br /> and probably nineteen authors out of twenty<br /> will echo the sentiments of a dramatist of some<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 272 (#286) ############################################<br /> <br /> 272<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> note who has said that all his happiest ideas<br /> present themselves to him in his own library.<br /> Nevertheless, many authors seem to give no<br /> serious attention to the lessons that might be<br /> derived from their experience of the difference<br /> both in quantity and quality of copy produced<br /> under more or less favourable circumstances.<br /> That is a mistake. The time of an author who is<br /> at all successful soon becomes very valuable,<br /> and its loss by mismanagement—and more time<br /> is lost by mismanagement than in any other way—<br /> is a real misfortune. The greater too a man’s<br /> success, the greater his reason for doing every-<br /> thing in his power to maintain his work at its<br /> highest level. It would be, in consequence,<br /> mere common prudence for an author to watch<br /> himself, and to take to heart as many lessons<br /> about his own strength and weakness, and about<br /> the circumstances under which he does his best<br /> work, as his experience will afford him. Such<br /> lessons are sometimes valuable results of failures,<br /> things that “one learns by making mistakes *-<br /> to quote Metastasio.<br /> It is true that some writers fall into an oppo-<br /> site error. Quite recently, amongst an author’s<br /> papers, was found a journal, not of hours only<br /> but of minutes, covering months and years, in<br /> which the employment of every moment had been<br /> chronicled with scrupulous accuracy with a view<br /> to ascertaining what time had been most<br /> profitably employed. Such finicking attention to<br /> infinitesimal details is a temptation to minds of<br /> a certain mould. It leads, of course, to waste,<br /> and not to economy of energy.<br /> Without, however, falling into this mistake,<br /> those who will “know themselves” may learn<br /> from a little self-observation a great deal that<br /> is well worth remembering. Personal experience<br /> will immediately suggest in every case to what<br /> the individual should turn his more particular<br /> attention, and to enumerate all that an author<br /> might with advantage try to observe would far<br /> exceed the limits of the present article. The<br /> following seem to be leading points which might<br /> suggest others.<br /> Where does a man find his finest stimulants of<br /> thought and invention ? Dickens found them in<br /> the crowded streets of London. More men have<br /> found them in the completest solitude. Few<br /> realise to how great a degree all that seems most<br /> spontaneous is really recollection. In conse-<br /> quence many men never adequately work the<br /> mine of their own memories. Instead they go<br /> about seeking—honestly, painfully, and often<br /> with many disappointments—what they all the<br /> time carry within themselves. M. Dumas, Fils,<br /> observes that “books teach nothing.” Those<br /> who, like Molière, take men rather than books for<br /> their study, will immediately understand the<br /> statement. Still Molière&#039;s favourite author was<br /> Lucretius, and Lucretius was never yet a favourite<br /> with any man who was not a close and careful<br /> reader. M. Dumas&#039; dictum has also been flatly<br /> contradicted, and the assertion made that “books<br /> teach everything.” That may be an exaggera-<br /> tion or an epigram, two things much alike; yet<br /> De Balzac observes, with truth, “the mission of<br /> art is not to copy nature, but to express nature,”<br /> which means, for the novelist, that the literary<br /> habit of thought is indispensable. But how wide<br /> a question is here opened for every author who<br /> would know what amount of inspiration he<br /> draws from the world, and how much from his<br /> reading.<br /> What assistance does an author get from his<br /> common-place books? Some years have passed<br /> since Mr. James Payn recommended the memo-<br /> randum-book to every one who desired to write.<br /> And it is needless to say how many authors have<br /> availed themselves of the help of note-books.<br /> But may not every author with advantage ask<br /> himself how much aid his note-books, have given<br /> him, or how little P And, if so, why little P<br /> One phenomenon connected with note-books must<br /> be familiar to all who have used them, their tire-<br /> Some suggestiveness of what is not wanted, and<br /> the temptation, never to be allowed an instant’s<br /> influence over the judgment, to use something,<br /> because it is in the note-book, and because it<br /> looks telling, when it is evidently not quite in<br /> place. An author, who has made his memoranda,<br /> has still something of importance to learn in dis-<br /> covering the best way of using them.<br /> What time and what labour an author saves<br /> who has found out what is, in his own case, the<br /> best method of perfecting a plot, and of resolving<br /> upon the lines of each successive chapter after<br /> the plot has been constructed Mr. William<br /> Black has said that many of his tales have been<br /> planned in the open air. M. Zola confesses his<br /> absolute inability to think out anything unless he<br /> has a pen in his hand. “My ideas only come in<br /> writing. I could never evolve any idea.<br /> by sitting in my arm-chair and thinking.” An<br /> English authoress has said the exact contrary.<br /> “I never attempt to write anything until I have<br /> Sat still for a long time thinking.” Here are<br /> three different ways of proceeding. And there<br /> are no doubt many others. Only it must be<br /> most important for an author to know which way<br /> is most helpful to himself. A man, who has not<br /> yet discovered that, might be in the position of<br /> Zola in an easy chair. On the other hand, here<br /> is a passage from a letter of Dickens: “I didn’t<br /> stir out yesterday, but sat and thought all day;<br /> not writing a line, not so much as the cross of a,<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 273 (#287) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 273<br /> “t” or the dot of an “i’ I imagined forth a good<br /> deal of Barnaby by keeping my mind steadily<br /> upon him ; and am happy to say I have gone to<br /> work this morning in good twig, strong hope, and<br /> cheerful spirits.”<br /> Another complete contrast between Dickens<br /> and Zola, suggests how great a difference there<br /> may be in the degree of elaboration which diffe-<br /> rent authors find it worth their while to give a<br /> scenario. Zola&#039;s scenario is longer than his book.<br /> Dickens, when he made a scenario, wrote only a<br /> few suggestive lines for each chapter. One<br /> author may waste his energies and tie his own<br /> hands by preparing a scenario that affords no<br /> scope for the development which the tale will<br /> take under his hands; and another lose time by<br /> constructing a scenario inadequate for his needs,<br /> so that he is compelled to recommence inventing<br /> his tale when he wants to be writing it. A<br /> writer ought to know exactly what form of<br /> scenario is most helpful to himself. A little<br /> attention to his own experiences would always<br /> show him how to construct it.<br /> That naturally next suggests the question of<br /> rapidity of composition. Rapid work is generally<br /> successful work. Hurried work is never rapid<br /> work. Any attempt to hurry invariably results<br /> in the composition dragging and everything going<br /> wrong. On the contrary, composition that flows<br /> out rapidly of itself is ordinarily a man’s best<br /> work. “The works and passages in which I have<br /> succeeded have uniformly been written with the<br /> greatest rapidity the parts in which I<br /> have come off feebly were by much the more<br /> laboured,” says Sir Walter Scott. “Slowness of<br /> production,” wrote Eugéne Delacroix, “is a blot<br /> on the talent of the artist. It leaves a stamp of<br /> fatigue.” Now, no phenomenon of literary work<br /> is so remarkable as the astonishing speed at which<br /> literary work can be done, at which some of the<br /> most remarkable literary work in the world has<br /> been done. Does it not follow that a man, who<br /> discovers something perpetually standing in the<br /> way of his getting on with his work, is probably<br /> pursuing a mistaken method, one perhaps con-<br /> genial to another man, but fatal to himself. He<br /> has not yet discovered the circumstances under<br /> which he does his best work. Many writers, for<br /> instance, never find a rapid flow of composition<br /> possible until after they have been writing for an<br /> hour or two. Dickens mentions this peculiarity.<br /> “I worked pretty well last night, but I have four<br /> slips to write to complete the chapter; and, as I<br /> foolishly left them till this morning, have the<br /> steam to get up afresh.” Suppose that a man<br /> who had thus “to get up steam ” thought that<br /> he could write easily and without fatigue by<br /> “doing a little every day,” then he would never<br /> reach the point where, in his case, the real flow of<br /> spirits and invention commenced.<br /> Connected with this difficulty of “getting up<br /> the steam ” may be the indisposition some men<br /> feel to set to work. Others start with a real zest.<br /> Perhaps these do not have to get up steam. But<br /> many can certainly echo De Balzac&#039;s Je m&#039;y mets<br /> avec désespoir. It is almost impossible to exag-<br /> gerate the reluctance such men feel to beginning.<br /> When this is the case an author should certainly<br /> discover what is, in his case, the best method of<br /> dealing with this dislike to going to work.<br /> Another question there is of a very different<br /> kind. An ancient adage runs, “Tailors and<br /> writers must follow the fashion.” The highest<br /> work will always lead the fashion rather than<br /> follow it; but failures are occasioned by insuffi-<br /> cient attention to what people desire to read, and<br /> it is possible for an author, annoyed by ill-<br /> success, to turn his attention to writing rather<br /> what is popular than what his own feelings<br /> prompt him to write. It would be most valuable<br /> to him to observe the results of his experiment.<br /> More is involved than at first sight appears in a<br /> consequent success or failure. He may find that<br /> it was a mistake to quit, a speciality that suited<br /> him. He may discover that he has a much<br /> greater versatility than he suspected himself of<br /> possessing. He may even descry a path leading<br /> to successes never previously obtained because<br /> the direction in which they lay had escaped his<br /> observation.<br /> This is touching up on a few salient points<br /> alone. Only in the cases mentioned would it be<br /> possible to overrate the value to the author of<br /> knowing the circumstances in which he could<br /> reckon upon doing his best work.<br /> HENRY CRESSWELL.<br /> *--<br /> z- - --&gt;<br /> THE WALUE OF A NOWEL,<br /> Tº: following case is reported, as follows, in<br /> the Daily Chronicle for Feb. 17:<br /> Yesterday, in the Westminster County Court, the case of<br /> Johnson v. Dicks came before his Honour Judge Lumley<br /> Smith, Q.C., and was a claim in formá pawperis for £50,<br /> as damages for the loss of MS. The plaintiff said that in<br /> 1888 he was at the house of Mr. John Dicks, at Streatham,<br /> and he asked him to write a story, which he sent to the<br /> defendant&#039;s place of business in the Strand, and was told<br /> a cheque would be forwarded, but he was afterwards<br /> informed that the story had been destroyed. He therefore<br /> claimed 350 for the damage. He had published many<br /> books, “Fairy Tales” in 1869, and others. Plaintiff said<br /> this was a large volume novel, and he was a well-known<br /> author. His Honour: But “Paradise Lost’’ was sold for<br /> £15, was it not P Plaintiff : But Black gets £1000 for a<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 274 (#288) ############################################<br /> <br /> 274<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> short novel, and reserves to himself the copyright. I have<br /> had 3 Io a week for thirteen weeks from the London<br /> Journal. Defendant said he never saw the story, and was<br /> not a member of the firm now. His Honour : I think 392<br /> will pay you well. Defendant : But I am not liable. His<br /> Honour: 382 will not hurt you. (Laughter.) Judgment for<br /> the plaintiff for £2.<br /> If this case is accurately reported, and there is<br /> no reason for believing the contrary, it is a most<br /> extraordinary and wonderful case. The author<br /> sues in formá pauperis (thus keeping up the<br /> glorious traditions of the literary profession)<br /> for the sum of £50 as damages for the loss of<br /> a MS. -<br /> Very good. He said that he was at the house<br /> of Mr. John Dicks in 1888, and was by him<br /> invited to write a story for him, i.e., one supposes<br /> for one of his papers. Here come one or two<br /> questions: (1) Was he asked to write a story<br /> without specification of length or subject? (2)<br /> Was his story to be sent in on approval, or was<br /> the author&#039;s reputation taken as a guarantee of<br /> good work P. (3) What price was proposed by<br /> the publisher ? (4) What price did the author&#039;s<br /> stories usually command, i.e., what was he accus-<br /> tomed to receive P (5) Would the author name<br /> some of his stories, and mention what prices he<br /> received for them P (6) Was Mr. John Dicks<br /> authorised to invite novelists in the name of the<br /> firm or company P<br /> These questions, observe, are not hostile to<br /> either party; they are only necessary to get at<br /> the truth. The plaintiff then said that he was<br /> promised when he delivered the story that a<br /> cheque should be sent. What was the amount<br /> he was to get by that cheque? It does not<br /> appear. He was then told that the MS. had been<br /> destroyed. How P By fire! If so it would be<br /> arguable whether the firm was liable.<br /> dentally P Also it might be arguable whether<br /> the firm was liable. He assessed his own damages<br /> at £50, and said it was a “large volume novel.”<br /> What is a “large volume novel P” Is it a three-<br /> volume novel, or one of the average length of a<br /> three-volume novel, which is about 180,000<br /> words P<br /> The defendant said that he had never seen the<br /> story; that he was not a member of the firm ;<br /> and that he was not liable.<br /> to leave a firm in which he has been a partner,<br /> is he still liable to that firm’s engagements P<br /> Then the judge, after some irrelevance about<br /> “Paradise Lost,” ordered the defendant to pay<br /> £2 | Now, either the defendant was liable or<br /> he was not. If he was not, why should he pay<br /> anything P If he was, he ought to have paid the<br /> value of the work, calculate 1 on the value of<br /> other works by the same author. As it is, the<br /> author appears to have been insulted, and the<br /> Acci-<br /> If a man is allowed<br /> publisher appears to have been fined. One more<br /> question ought to have been asked, Why did<br /> the author wait for seven years before bringing<br /> his claim P<br /> *- a -º<br /> r- - -<br /> ON, SELLING A BOOK OUTRIGHT.<br /> HIS is a method which has one or two<br /> obvious advantages. It gives the author<br /> what he very likely wants, a sum of money<br /> down; and it relieves him of any anxiety about<br /> the commercial success of his book. On the other<br /> hand, it sometimes makes him part with a very<br /> valuable copyright for a song ; and it tempts him<br /> to spend at once what should be spread over a<br /> term of years, viz., the whole life of his book.<br /> Most of the miseries of authors have been due to<br /> their regarding as income the lump sum obtained<br /> by selling the work of years. When, however,<br /> an author wishes to sell his book outright, or a<br /> publisher wishes to buy it, there are certain<br /> obvious considerations. To capitalise an author&#039;s<br /> interest in his book should be Conducted, as in<br /> every piece of business, with due regard to the<br /> probable, or the certain, results of the book. For<br /> instance, to buy a book of an author for a sum of<br /> money not one-tenth of what it will produce, as<br /> the purchasers know, but the author does not<br /> Know, is very commonly done.<br /> The following figures will show some of the<br /> points to be considered : We take our old friend<br /> the 6s. volume. It costs, we will say, Is. a copy<br /> to produce. It is sold to the trade at 3s. 7#d. ;<br /> the author on a 20 per cent. royalty would receive<br /> about 1s. 2%d. a copy; the publisher about 1s. 5d.<br /> If an author sells his book for a certain sum,<br /> what amount of sales would that cover ?<br /> Say he takes £50, that would cover royalties<br /> representing a sale of 825 copies.<br /> Say he takes £100, that would cover royalties<br /> representing a sale of 1650 copies.<br /> Say he takes £400, that would cover royalties<br /> representing a sale of 3400 copies,<br /> and so on. All copies beyond that limit would<br /> belong to the publisher, together with his own<br /> royalty on the preceding copies. -<br /> If, on the other hand, there is a certainty that<br /> the book will sell so many copies as a minimum,<br /> and a probability that it will sell so many more,<br /> the sum to be paid must represent that minimum<br /> first and the probability next ; and, of course, in<br /> such a transaction there is always the element<br /> of chance on both sides, so that one may<br /> give too much—of which we seldom hear—and<br /> the other may get too little, of which we often<br /> hear. -<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 275 (#289) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 275<br /> In making any such calculation or bargain as<br /> the above one must remember that the old-<br /> fashioned half-profit system still lingers as a<br /> rough-and-ready recognised method of apportion-<br /> ing the returns. Without accepting it formally,<br /> one may take it as a basis.<br /> The purchase of a book for a small sum, either<br /> knowing that it is going to prove a certain pro-<br /> perty or in the well-founded hope that it will do<br /> so, is a very important secret in the art of getting<br /> rich by the labour and brains of other people.<br /> Readers of the Author will remember how the<br /> venerable and religious Society for the Promotion<br /> of Christian Knowledge was proved to be in pos-<br /> session of this important secret, and how its<br /> righteous committee used the secret in a manner<br /> truly Christian by purchasing for £12, 320, £25,<br /> books which ran into thousands upon thousands.<br /> Let us take another case—a book sold for<br /> 3s. 6d. costing, in quantities, about 8d., a copy.<br /> As a rule it would be less.<br /> The author receives, say, £20, £25, or 330.<br /> The book is sold for 2s., which leaves a profit of<br /> Is. 4d.<br /> Tor the price of<br /> .820 means a royalty of 7d. for a<br /> sale of ................................. 700 copies.<br /> £25 means a royalty of 7d. for a<br /> sale of .............. ................ 850 copies.<br /> 330 means a royalty of 7d. for a -<br /> sale of ................................. I IOO copies.<br /> After which the publisher has the whole future<br /> proceeds o&#039; the book for himself.<br /> * ~ *-**<br /> e- * =<br /> BOOK TALK,<br /> Sº authors will doubtless appre-<br /> ciate the following extract from Harriet<br /> Martineau’s “Autobiography:” “I do not<br /> very highly respect reviews, nor like to write<br /> them ; for the simple reason that in ninety-<br /> nine cases out of a hundred the author under-<br /> stands his subject better than the reviewer.<br /> It can hardly be otherwise while the author<br /> treats one subject, to his study of which his<br /> book itself is a strong testimony; whereas the<br /> reviewer is expected to pass from topic to topic to<br /> any extent, pronouncing, out of his brief survey,<br /> on the results of deep and protracted study. Of<br /> all the many reviews of my books on America and<br /> Egypt there was not, as far as I know, one which<br /> did not betray ignorance of the respective coun-<br /> tries. And, on the other hand, there is no book,<br /> except a very few which have appeared on my own<br /> particular subjects, that I could venture to pro-<br /> nounce on ; as, in every other case, I feel myself<br /> compelled to approach a book as a learner, and<br /> not as a judge. This is the same thing as saying<br /> that reviewing, in the wholesale way in which it.<br /> is done in our time, is a radically vicious practise;<br /> and such is indeed my opinion. I am glad to see<br /> scientific men, and men of erudition, and true<br /> connoiseurs in Art, examining what has been done<br /> in their respective departments; and everybody<br /> is glad of good essays, whether they appear in<br /> books called Reviews, or elsewhere. But of the<br /> reviews of our day, properly so-called, the vast<br /> majority must be worthless, because the reviewer<br /> knows less than the author of the matter in<br /> hand.”<br /> The sixth volume of the fifth edition of<br /> “Chitty&#039;s Statutes of Practical Utility,” which is<br /> being published in about twelve volumes by<br /> Sweet and Maxwell Limited and Stevens and<br /> Sons Limited, under the editorship of Mr. J. M.<br /> Lely, has just appeared. The arrangement of the<br /> statutes is in alphabetical and chronological<br /> Order, under about 200 titles, such as “Act<br /> of Parliament,” “Adulteration,” “Copyright,”<br /> “Death Duties,” “Intoxicating Liquors,” “Local<br /> Government,” “Poor,” “Water,” and the like.<br /> Each title is prefaced by a separate table of<br /> contents, and so are many of the particular Acts.<br /> The foot-notes give the effect of or reference to<br /> decided cases and statutory rules. The final<br /> volume will contain a chronological table of the<br /> statutes printed in the work, an alphabetical table<br /> of short and popular titles of statutes, and a<br /> “general index,” in the compilation of which Mr.<br /> Ormsby will assist. Assistance in the annotation<br /> has been given by Mr. Craies as to the Metropolitan<br /> Acts, the Local Government Act 1894, and other<br /> subjects; by Mr. Mundahl as to the Extradition<br /> Acts; by Mr. W. A. Peck as to the Conveyancing<br /> Acts, the Settled Lands Acts, and the Trustee<br /> Acts; by Mr. Pulling as to the Merchant Shipping<br /> Act; and Mr. Simey as to the Factors Act and<br /> Highway Acts. The price of the whole work to<br /> subscribers was six guineas, but the price is now<br /> One guinea per volume.<br /> “A Mountain Path&quot; is the title of a book by<br /> Mr. John A. Hamilton (Sampson Low, Marston,<br /> and Co. Price 3s. 6d.). It is a collection of<br /> parables, fables, and talks about natural things<br /> which have already appeared in periodicals. The<br /> author states that the only aim in writing this<br /> book was to foster natural piety in children.<br /> “Walter Inglisfield” is publishing through<br /> Messrs. Sonnenschein a new volume of verse. .<br /> Miss F.F. Monterson has produced (Hutchinson<br /> and Co.) her new work, “Into the Highways and<br /> Hedges.” g<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 276 (#290) ############################################<br /> <br /> 276<br /> THE AUTHOIR.<br /> Mrs. Cliffe&#039;s translation of Longuardi&#039;s poems<br /> ls about to appear in a second edition.<br /> Byrne&#039;s story called “A Fragment,” together<br /> with his Parliamentary speeches, is published in<br /> the fifth volume of the Tauchnitz edition of his<br /> complete works.<br /> In recognition of his numerous historical<br /> articles that have appeared in the magazines and<br /> reviews, but perhaps more especially for his<br /> important contribution to fourteenth and fifteenth<br /> century history, the volume entitled “A Forgotten<br /> Great Englishman,” Mr. James Baker, the author,<br /> has just been elected a Fellow of the Royal<br /> Historical Society. He is at present travelling in<br /> Egypt, from whence he is writing a series of<br /> articles on that country.<br /> Miss Margaret Cross has completed a new<br /> novel, which Messrs. Hurst and Blackett will<br /> publish next month. It is called “Newly<br /> Fashioned,” and it will have on its title-page<br /> the suggestive motto,<br /> Such is the power of that sweet passion,<br /> That it all sordid baseness doth expel,<br /> And the refined mind doth newly fashion<br /> Into a fairer form.<br /> Mr. William Tirebuck&#039;s new story, “Miss<br /> Grace of All Souls,” will be published by<br /> Beinemann and Co. in the spring. It is dedicated<br /> to the author&#039;s brother, the Rev. Thomas<br /> Tirebuck, of Birmingham. The arrangements<br /> were concluded by the Authors&#039; Syndicate.<br /> Mr. Basil Thomson’s “Diversions of a Prime<br /> Minister” (Blackwood and Sons). The Prime<br /> Minister is Mr. Thomson himself, and the realm<br /> which he administered was the island of Tonga.<br /> Messrs. A. and C. Black will publish this month<br /> a novel in one volume called “The Grasshopper.”<br /> It is by Mrs. Alfred Sidgwick, who under the<br /> name of Mrs. Andrew Dean has contributed<br /> several stories to the Pseudonym Library.<br /> “His Egyptian Wife,” a novel by Hilton Hill,<br /> will be issued in March by Digby, Long and Co.<br /> The book will be published simultaneously in New<br /> York and London.<br /> “Conscience makes the Martyr,” by S. M.<br /> Crawley Boevey is published by Mr. Arrowsmith,<br /> and has been kindly criticised by the Literary<br /> Płorld, The Academy, and other papers.<br /> The Authors&#039; Syndicate has arranged for the<br /> publication of Mr. John Lloyd Warden Page&#039;s<br /> new book, “The Coasts of Devon and Lundy<br /> Island,” through Mr. Horace Cox. The volume<br /> will be profusely illustrated.<br /> M. Dim. Vikelas, the eminent novelist, is the<br /> president of the International Committee of the<br /> Olympic games to be held at Athens from<br /> April 5th to 15th, 1896. The official programme<br /> of the games is now in type.<br /> Mr. Gladstone, the inexhaustible, is ready with<br /> another volume—his edition of the Psalter, to be<br /> published in Europe and America immediately.<br /> IIe contributes a concordance and a condensed<br /> commentary.<br /> Mr. Balfour&#039;s book on “ The Foundations of<br /> Belief.” has undoubtedly been the book of the<br /> past month. As usual, someone has turned up<br /> to accuse the writer of having stolen his ideas.<br /> This time it is Dr. Beattie Crozier, who publishes<br /> his plaint in the Chronicle.<br /> Sir Benjamin Richardson has confided to a con-<br /> temporary not only that he possesses a number of<br /> sketches and jottings made by Cruikshank for his<br /> own biography, but that he also hopes some day<br /> to write this hitherto neglected book, and embody<br /> his valuable material.<br /> It is hard reading for authors whose manu-<br /> scripts are returned to read that there are quite<br /> a number in the habit of declining publisher&#039;s<br /> invitations. A contemporary says that Mrs. J.<br /> R. Green, for instance, is unable to do any literary<br /> work for at least four years; while Dr. Jessop is<br /> said to have mortgaged the next six years. Mr.<br /> Stanley Weyman, we believe, has gone for a<br /> year&#039;s holiday, during which he refuses to work;<br /> while Mr. S. R. Crockett has contracts signed,<br /> sealed, and delivered for all the work that he can<br /> possibly produce during the present century.<br /> The Westminster Gazette wishes to know what<br /> has become of the Life of Adam Smith, by Mr.<br /> Leonard Courtney, and that of Bishop Berkeley,<br /> by professor Huxley. To these might be added<br /> a number of bookly promises not performed. For<br /> instance, first and foremost, where is Mr. John<br /> Morley&#039;s Life of John Stuart Mill? Second,<br /> where is the long expected and greatly desired<br /> Life of John Delane of the Times 2 Third,<br /> where is Lord Rowton’s Life of the Earl of<br /> Beaconsfield P<br /> Professor Rhys Davids, upon whose pension<br /> from the Civil List such a bitter attack was<br /> made in Parliament, has been delivering a course<br /> of lectures called “The Literature and Religion<br /> of India,” at Harvard and John Hopkins Univer-<br /> sities, in the United States, and Messrs. Putnam<br /> will shortly publish them simultaneously on both<br /> sides of the Atlantic under the above title.<br /> Messrs. Osgood will begin the publication of<br /> the collected works of Mr. Thomas Hardy in a<br /> few weeks with “Tess.” The volumes will be<br /> monthly, and the second will be “Far from the<br /> Madding Crowd.”<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 277 (#291) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 277<br /> The following interesting series of impromptu<br /> dedications written by Stevenson in a set of his<br /> works given to his American physician, Dr.<br /> Trudeau have appeared in the New York Book-<br /> Öuyer.<br /> “A CHILD’s GARDEN OF VERSEs.”<br /> ——To win your lady (if, alas ! it may be)<br /> Let&#039;s couple this one with the name of<br /> Baby |<br /> “TREASURE ISLAND.”<br /> I could not choose a patron for each one :<br /> But this perhaps is chiefly for your son.<br /> “KIDNAPPED.”<br /> ——Here is the one sound page of all my writing,<br /> The one I’m proud of, and that I delight in.<br /> “DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE.”<br /> Trudeau was all the winter at my side :<br /> I never spied the nose of Mr. Hyde.<br /> “ UNDERWOODs.”<br /> Some day or other (&#039;tis a general curse)<br /> The wisest author stumbles into verse.<br /> “THE DYNAMITER.”<br /> As both my wife and I composed the thing,<br /> Let&#039;s place it under Mrs. Trudeau&#039;s wing.<br /> “MEMORIES AND PORTRAITs.”<br /> Greeting to all your household, small and big,<br /> In this one instance, not forgetting—Nig<br /> “THE MERRY MEN.”<br /> If just to read the tale you should be able,<br /> I would not bother to make out the fable.<br /> “TRAVELs witH A DONKEY.”<br /> It blew, it rained, it thawed, it snowed, it thundered—<br /> Which was the Donkey P I have often wondered<br /> “PRINCE OTTO.”<br /> This is my only love tale, this Prince Otto,<br /> Which some folks like to read, and others not to.<br /> “MEMOIR OF FLEEMING JENKIN.”<br /> The preface mighty happy to get back<br /> To its inclement birthplace, Saranac<br /> “FAMILIAR STUDIES OF MEN AND Books.”<br /> My other works are of a slighter kind;<br /> Here is the party to improve your MIND !<br /> VIRGINIBUs PUERISQUE.”<br /> I have no art to please a lady’s mind.<br /> Here&#039;s the least acid spot,<br /> Miss Trudeau, of the lot.<br /> If you’d just try this volume, &#039;twould be kind<br /> Mr. Le Gallienne&#039;s name is prominent among<br /> the announcements of new books. His “Book-<br /> Bills of Narcissus,” the first and, perhaps, the<br /> most charming book he has written, has just been<br /> published in an enlarged edition, and a new edition<br /> of his “English Poems” is to be issued imme-<br /> diately. Besides these a new volume of verses<br /> called “Robert Louis Stevenson : an Elegy; and<br /> Other Poems, Mainly Personal,” and a collection<br /> of odds and ends of literary criticism entitled<br /> “Retrospective Reviews: a Literary Log,” are<br /> announced. Mr. Lane is, of course, the pub-<br /> lisher.<br /> The next volume in Arrowsmith&#039;s Bristol<br /> Library will be “The Adventures of Arthur<br /> Roberts: by Railroad and River,” told by him-<br /> self and chronicled by Mr. Richard Morton. It<br /> is to be an anecdotal biography of the famous<br /> burlesque actor.<br /> The forthcoming season promises to be specially<br /> rich in biographies. For instance, Mr. John Rae’s<br /> “Life of Adam Smith;” a “Biography of Sir<br /> John Drummond Hay, for forty years our Repre-<br /> sentative in Morocco,” by his daughters; a “Life<br /> of George Borrow,” by Professor Knapp, of<br /> Chicago; a “Biography of Dr. Holmes,” by Mr.<br /> John T. Morse, jun. ; “Reminiscences of Richard<br /> Cobden,” by Mrs. Schwabe, with a preface by<br /> Lord Farrer; the “Life of Sir Samuel Baker;”<br /> and Mr. Leslie Stephen&#039;s Memoirs of his brother,<br /> Sir James Fitzjames Stephen. -<br /> Mudie&#039;s Library is said to have refused Mr.<br /> Arthur Machen’s book, “The Great God<br /> Pan.” -<br /> Mr. Fisher Unwin, who publishes already half-<br /> a-dozen “libraries &#039;&#039; or series of books, announces<br /> yet another, with the comparatively commonplace<br /> title of “The Half-Crown Series.” Mr. Robert<br /> Buchanan’s “Diana&#039;s Hunting ” will be the first,<br /> and Mrs. Rita L. Humphreys—who is best known<br /> by her Christian name—the second, called “A<br /> Gender in Satin.” -<br /> It seems strange that Mr. Stanley should have<br /> waited so long before giving the world an account<br /> of “My Early Travels and Adventures.” Much<br /> of this book has never been reprinted from the<br /> newspapers to which it was originally contributed,<br /> and part of it is entirely new. It will be con-<br /> cerned with Indian warfare in America and the<br /> tragic end of General Custer, who was out-<br /> manoeuvred and killed by Sitting Bull; the early<br /> history of the Suez Canal; and the exploration of<br /> Palestine, Persia, the Caucasus, and Armenia.<br /> Messrs. Sampson Low and Co. will issue the book<br /> about Easter.<br /> Messrs. Cassell and Co. have hit upon an idea<br /> for an important series of books, to be entitled the<br /> “Century Science ’’ series, of which Sir Henry<br /> Roscoe is the editor. The first, to be published<br /> immediately, will be by the editor himself, and<br /> called “John Dalton and the Rise of Modern<br /> Chemistry.” It will be followed by “The Rise<br /> of English Geography,” by Mr. Clements R.<br /> Markham, the distinguished President of the<br /> Royal Geographical Society.<br /> Two new reprints of standard authors are just<br /> making their appearance. The first is Messrs.<br /> J. M. Dent&#039;s complete edition of Defoe, in sixteen<br /> volumes, with editorial notes and illustrations,<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 278 (#292) ############################################<br /> <br /> 278<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> produced in the delightful style to which this<br /> firm has accustomed us. The series costs 28. 6d.<br /> a volume, net, and will be completed by October.<br /> The second reprint is the new edition of George<br /> Eliot’s works, which Messrs. Blackwood will issue.<br /> It is to be known as the “Standard” edition, and<br /> to consist of twenty-one volumes, also at 2s. 6d.<br /> “Adam Bede’’ is to appear at once in two<br /> volumes, and “The Mill on the Floss &#039;&#039; will<br /> follow.<br /> The star of Ouida does not shine so brightly as<br /> it once did. Perhaps her forthcoming book,<br /> which Messrs. Methuen announce, will win her<br /> back something of the public approval which<br /> seems rather unjustly to have left her. The titles<br /> of some of its articles—such as “The Failure of<br /> Christianity,” “The Sims of Society,” “Some<br /> Fallacies of Science,” “The State as an Immoral<br /> Factor,” and “The Penalties of a Well-known<br /> Name &quot;—promise, however, more polemics than<br /> entertainment. *<br /> Mr. Henry Arthur Jones has been a devoted<br /> contributor to the magazines, and lecturer before<br /> playgoing societies, on theatrical topics. No<br /> doubt his forthcoming book, “The Renascence of<br /> the English Drama,” to be published immediately<br /> by Messrs. Macmillan and Co., is a reprint<br /> of these. Mr. Jones&#039;s plays are of varying<br /> interest, but his opinions, whether expressed on<br /> the stage, the page, or the platform, are always<br /> original and interesting — as Matthew Arnold<br /> found when he was captivated by “Saints and<br /> Sinners.”<br /> Three new monthly magazines have to be<br /> chronicled as the month&#039;s contribution to the<br /> flowing tide of periodical literature. First,<br /> London Home, an obvious competitor to the<br /> Strand Magazine, at half the price, edited by<br /> Mr. Ralph Caine, and published by Horace Cox.<br /> Second, On Watch, edited by Mr. Herbert<br /> Russell, the son of Mr. Clark Russell, and pub-<br /> lished by Sampson Low at 6d., is to be entirely<br /> given up to naval subjects and news. Third,<br /> Messrs. Chapman and Hall are about to join the<br /> ranks of publishers who have magazines of their<br /> own, and announce, for publication in May,<br /> Chapman&#039;s Magazine, a 6d. monthly, to be<br /> edited by Mr. Oswald Crawfurd, the chairman of<br /> Chapman and Hall Limited. Besides these, the<br /> indefatigable Mr. Shorter has issued during the<br /> past month the Album, a 6d. weekly collection of<br /> photographs; and he is about to launch still<br /> another illustrated weekly, devoted entirely to<br /> sport.<br /> . A new series called “The Northern Library” is<br /> announced by Mr. Nutt. Among the early<br /> volumes to appear will be “The Saga of King<br /> Olaf Tryggwason,” translated by the Rev. John<br /> Sephton ; “The Ambales Saga,” edited and<br /> translated by Mr. Israel Gollancz; and “The<br /> Faereyinga Saga,” translated by Mr. F. York<br /> Powell, Regius Professor of Modern History at<br /> Oxford.<br /> Two books by Colonel Reginald Hart, Director<br /> of Military Education in India, entitled “Reflec-<br /> tions on the Art of War,” and “Sanitation and<br /> Health,” have just been published by Messrs.<br /> W. Clowes and Sons Limited. They have both<br /> been very well reviewed.<br /> Messrs. Dent and Co. will shortly issue a<br /> revised and illustrated edition of Mrs. Alford<br /> Baldwin’s “Story of a Marriage.”<br /> “A Year of Sport and Natural History,” edited<br /> by Mr. Oswald Crawfurd, C.M.G., has just been<br /> published by Messrs. Chapman and Hall. It is<br /> composed of a series of natural history articles<br /> that were issued in Black and White. The work<br /> is beautifully illustrated, and is in every way<br /> first class.<br /> CORRESPONDENCE,<br /> I.—“EDITIONs.”<br /> HE announcement in the last number of the<br /> Author that Pierre Loti’s new book bears on<br /> the title page the legend of its being the<br /> “twenty-eighth edition,” though, in fact, the work<br /> is not yet issued to the public, raises the old ques-<br /> tion of what is an “edition;” whether it is worth<br /> the publisher&#039;s while to continue such literary<br /> fictions as “second edition, “third edition ”—or<br /> even “twenty-eighth edition ?” An “edition ”<br /> may mean any number of copies from 50 to<br /> 50,000. At one time it meant that the volume<br /> had been reprinted a specified number of times,<br /> and was therefore some guarantee that the book<br /> was not only in good demand, but had received<br /> the author&#039;s latest corrections; in fact, what is<br /> now termed a “new edition.” In a day of<br /> universal printing from stereos, this is no longer<br /> the case, even with technical treatises. In short,<br /> this numbering of “ edition,” is little better than<br /> a transparent fraud on the less sophisticated part<br /> of the publishers “public.” By a sort of vague<br /> understanding, never reduced to any protocol,<br /> and therefore never acted upon, an “edition ”<br /> was supposed to be IOOO copies, though why sales<br /> need have been counted in this rather cumbersome<br /> fashion it is rather difficult to understand. If it<br /> is allowable to estimate the merits of a book by its<br /> sale, would it not be more in accordance with reason,<br /> not to say common honesty, to intimate that the<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 279 (#293) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 279<br /> booksellers have taken 500, 800, 15OO, to 5000, or<br /> whatever may be the numerical expression of their<br /> confidence in the selling value of the author&#039;s<br /> name P But even then this does not quite meet<br /> the merits ºf the case. There are, as poor authors<br /> sometimes learn on settling up accounts with the<br /> modern Sosii, such things as “ sale or return,”<br /> which enable them to discount the inflated an-<br /> nouncements about the number of copies ordered<br /> “by the trade,” or which have been subscribed<br /> for in the after-enthusiasm of Mr. So and So&#039;s<br /> annual dinner. Pierre Loti’s twenty-eighth-<br /> edition-in-anticipation is no doubt perfectly<br /> justified by experience. But what is to be said of<br /> the minor novelist who prints at least three<br /> “editions” at the same time, though actually the<br /> total number of copies may be counted by<br /> hundreds P. On the other hand, it would not be<br /> difficult to point to popular books which sell by<br /> the thousand, without the publishers thinking it<br /> necessary to stimulate the flagging zeal of the<br /> public by announcements which, at best, are<br /> meaningless, and at worst might be characterised<br /> by a word not to be whispered where the dealings<br /> •of such honourable men as the purveyors of<br /> literature are concerned. R. B.<br /> II.-A DEFENCE OF RUSTIC READING.<br /> I think your contributor who speaks of village<br /> reading is dealing with what was the case thirty<br /> or forty years ago, rather than at the present<br /> time. I have had the means of knowing a good<br /> deal of what is the course of literature in an<br /> average south country parish, in great part<br /> agricultural, but not far from a large railway<br /> station.<br /> A man who acts as agent for a local weekly<br /> &#039;paper, and is also clerk to the parish council, and<br /> secretary to the village club and reading room,<br /> tells me that there are not above a dozen houses<br /> where a newspaper of some sort is not taken in,<br /> either Lloyd&#039;s or a local one ; and I have certainly<br /> found even the elder children at the schools<br /> aware of public events.<br /> There is a centre in the county which lends out<br /> books to village reading rooms, and for the last<br /> six or eight years this has kept up a constant<br /> exchange of biography, travels, good novels, and<br /> tales of adventure. Marryatt, Kingston, Mayne<br /> Reid, Harrison Ainsworth are favourites with the<br /> younger men and lads, and they read eagerly any<br /> tale of seafaring life. -<br /> There are besides, two lending libraries, chiefly<br /> for the women and children, but that the men<br /> also read the books is shown by the inquiries for<br /> print large enough for father. I know from the<br /> reports of a society for which I am the literary<br /> associate, that most parishes have likewise<br /> good libraries, generally well resorted to. The<br /> women also are apt to obtain books of the<br /> penny dreadful order, of course on their own<br /> account.<br /> “Fox&#039;s Book of Martyrs’’ is often to be met<br /> with, generally an inheritance ; and the two books<br /> that all have heard of and wish to read are the<br /> “Pilgrim’s Progress&quot; and “Robinson Crusoe,”<br /> but I cannot think that the writer of “Rustic<br /> Reading ” can really know John Bunyan&#039;s great<br /> classic if he thinks it likely to terrify children into<br /> the way of virtue. It generally contains only one<br /> illustration at all alarming, e<br /> I doubt, too, whether he can be familiar with<br /> parish magazines. The two most popular ones,<br /> The Banner of Faith and the Church Monthly,<br /> certainly contain tales and papers that do not<br /> deserve the term mawkish. Perhaps I may also<br /> observe that the nickname Hodge is one that<br /> greatly displeases both the peasant and all that<br /> are interested in him. C. M. Y.<br /> III.-LITERATURE IN RUSSIA.<br /> The new young Tsar, Nicholas II., apparently<br /> holds men of letters in high esteem, and is capable<br /> of estimating the true worth of their efforts for<br /> the dissemination of knowledge among the classes<br /> through the medium of the press and other<br /> channels, he having granted a sum of £50,000<br /> (500,000 roubles) to be paid out of the exchequer<br /> for the formation of a special fund to relieve<br /> journalists, authors, and others engaged in<br /> literature, in distress, and to permanently pro-<br /> vide for their widows and orphans at death. A<br /> grand and general burst of joy and jubilation<br /> went forth from the united Russian Press at the<br /> reception of the glad news, as every indigent<br /> pressman is now sure that, when the breadwinner<br /> is removed, his wife and family will not be left to<br /> starve. The Russian Emperor has truly set a<br /> noble example, which might with advantage be<br /> emulated by our Government.<br /> Count Leo Tolstoi has completed a new work<br /> entitled “Master and Servant.” It will make its<br /> appearance in the columns of the Northern<br /> Gazette in the course of a month or so. A few<br /> details of the everyday life of this veteran writer<br /> may be of interest to the readers of the Author.<br /> When I visited him at Yasuaja Poliana, on his<br /> own estate, I was very hospitably entertained by<br /> him and his family, and shall never forget the<br /> kindness shown me. Count Tolstoi is a staunch<br /> teetotaler, a strict vegetarian, and a non-smoker.<br /> He invariably rises at 8 a.m., and, after partaking<br /> of a cup of coffee, adjourns to his study, a sparely<br /> furnished room, which he tidies up and dusts<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 280 (#294) ############################################<br /> <br /> 28O<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> himself, as no abigail is allowed to enter its<br /> sacred precincts, where he writes until ten. He<br /> then takes his constitutional, returning for lunch<br /> about twelve. The bill of fare during my stay<br /> was boiled millet, cabbage sprouts, cauliflower,<br /> and stewed apples and plums. Lunch ended,<br /> he enjoys a snooze. An hour later he is hard at<br /> work again in his sanctum. At six he dines of<br /> much the same fare as at lunch. His family are<br /> not all vegetarians and teetotalers; in fact, the<br /> countess, his wife, strongly disapproves of his<br /> ascetic habits, and takes no trouble to conceal her<br /> dislike of them. The count sometimes mows<br /> the grass, but he has given up tilling the ground,<br /> as his medical advisers have forbidden over<br /> exertion as dangerous in the weak state and poor<br /> action of his heart. Coffee has also been pro-<br /> scribed, and he is gradually weaning himself<br /> from its use. The count is still hale and hearty,<br /> and when he can take “Shank’s pony” to<br /> Moscow and back without feeling any evil<br /> effects from his pedestrian feat, one is inclined<br /> to prophesy a good lease of life yet for the<br /> great novelist. He has crossed the span of life<br /> alloted to man by the Psalmist, and now stands<br /> on the threshold of the outside limit, which can<br /> only be attained by reason of strength.<br /> Odessa, 27 Feb. 8. W. ADDIson.<br /> IV.-A World of ENCOURAGEMENT.<br /> then resigned their membership. An instance is<br /> also cited in the Author for the current month of<br /> a writer, who, under such circumstances, became<br /> a member, his obligation to the Society being<br /> £15 at the time of his resignation against a set-<br /> off of one guinea entrance fee. I, for one, most<br /> strongly protest against such an abuse being<br /> permissible a second time, and consider that in<br /> justice to the Society we should protect our-<br /> selves against such vampires, who would only<br /> cripple its interests and usefulness. Cannot a<br /> resolution be passed rendering any member<br /> abusing an advantage of the Society ineligible<br /> for re-election ? ANNIE BRADSHAw.<br /> Feb. 16.<br /> W.—How LONG TO WAIT P<br /> I think “S. B.&#039;s.” suggestions in your last issue<br /> are well worthy the attention of the Society of<br /> Authors, especially that of a limit of time as to<br /> payment after publication.<br /> The great uncertainty as to the date of pay-<br /> ment is the cause of much difficulty and distress<br /> amongst women writers especially, who do not<br /> like to press for payment, and yet often need the<br /> money sadly.<br /> I write for several periodicals, the publisher of<br /> one of which sends a cheque regularly at the end<br /> of the following month after publication; another,<br /> once in three months; one, only once in the year,<br /> i.e., in January.<br /> I do not object to any of these arrangements,<br /> for, although I consider the first-named the best,<br /> I know when to expect the money due, and can<br /> arrange accordingly. But in the case of other<br /> periodicals, which profess to settle accounts every<br /> three months, the money is usually, after the first<br /> quarter of the year, withheld until the following<br /> January (this year until Feb. 1), and therefore<br /> the sum due to me in June, 1893, does not reach<br /> my hands for seven months, while that due in<br /> September is four months late in payment. In<br /> my own case this does not press so hardly as it<br /> might in many others, as I happen to have an<br /> income independent of my writings; but I<br /> tremble to think to what depths of despair my<br /> poorer sisters must be reduced by this long drawn-<br /> out “hope deferred.”<br /> Moreover, it is a species of dishonesty, for the<br /> money thus withheld for seven months should<br /> bear interest, and this is a clear gain to the<br /> publisher, and a similar loss to the writer.<br /> I notice in the report of the Committee of<br /> Management for the year ending in January, a<br /> statement to the effect that writers have joined<br /> the Society when in difficulty, and upon being<br /> released from their difficulty, at possibly both<br /> trouble and expense to the Society, they have<br /> Surely this might be remedied by a “certain set of<br /> rules” being drawn up (as suggested by “S. B.”),<br /> by which all the , members of the Society of<br /> Authors should abide, forwarding with the MS.<br /> a printed copy of these rules, and thus avoiding<br /> the unpleasant necessity of either “dunning” the<br /> editor (with the probable result of dismissal, or<br /> rejection of future MSS.) or living on expecta-<br /> tions, instead of cash down, for an unlimited<br /> number of months. R. L. I.<br /> VI.-AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERs.<br /> I have read with interest the letter from the<br /> Secretary of the Incorporated Society of Authors<br /> in the issue of the Athenaeum of 23rd Feb. It is<br /> evident from the statement of facts that it would<br /> have been impossible for the Society to support<br /> such a case. I have no doubt its decision will<br /> strengthen the Society’s hands. The judicial<br /> manner in which you have acted throughout will,<br /> I am sure, very much strengthen the feeling of<br /> confidence which members of the Society have in<br /> your judgment and discretion. I think that you<br /> have been largely instrumental in preventing the<br /> Society from drifting into aimless and inutile<br /> litigation. A WELL-WISHER.	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/274/1895-03-01-The-Author-5-10.pdf	publications, The Author