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310	https://historysoa.com/items/show/310	The Author, Vol. 08 Issue 07 (December 1897)	<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.+08+Issue+07+%28December+1897%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 08 Issue 07 (December 1897)</a>			<a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049239455" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049239455</a>								<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>	1897-12-01-The-Author-8-7					173–200																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=8">8</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1897-12-01">1897-12-01</a>							7			18971201	Uhc Butbot\<br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br /> CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br /> Vol. VIII.—No. 7.] DECEMBER i, 1897. [Price Sixpence.<br /> General Memoranda<br /> The Society of Authors and the Discount Question .<br /> Literary Property—<br /> I. Report on Copyright<br /> J. The Cost of Production<br /> 3. Serial Rights<br /> 4. A Case<br /> 5. A Fancy Offer<br /> New York Letter. By Norman Hapgood<br /> CONTENTS.<br /> PASS PA8B<br /> ..ITS j Note* and News. By the Editor. 187<br /> .. 175 Two Poems—1. Ishmael. 2. Light and Night 190<br /> Correspondence—1. &quot;Literature.&quot; 2. The Published Price. 8.<br /> .. 182 Current Criticism. 4. The Publisher&#039;s Header as School-<br /> ..182 master. 5. &quot;The Scotsman&#039;s Library.&quot; 6. A Book Wanted 190<br /> .. 182 Book Talk 192<br /> ..184 ! Literature in the Periodicals 198<br /> .. 185 1 Story Competition 198<br /> .. 185 The Books of the Month 198<br /> PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY.<br /> 1. The Annual Report. That for January 1897 can be had on application to the Secretary.<br /> 2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary<br /> Property. Issued to all Members, 6*. 6d. per annum. Back numbers are offered at the<br /> following prices: Vol. I., io«. 6d. (Bound); Vols. II., III., and IV., 8s. 6d. each (Bound);<br /> Vol. V., 6s. 6d&lt; (Unbound).<br /> 3. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher,<br /> 95, Strand, W.C.) 3*.<br /> 4. The History of the Societe des (Jens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigqe, late Secretary to<br /> the Society, i*.<br /> 5. The Cost of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type,<br /> size of page, Ac, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of<br /> books. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 2s. 6d.<br /> 6. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprigqe. In this work, compiled from the<br /> papers in the Society&#039;s offices, the various forms of agreements proposed by Publishers to<br /> Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various<br /> kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements.<br /> Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 3s.<br /> 7. Copyright Law Reform, An Exposition of Lord Monks well&#039;s Copyright Bill now before Parlia-<br /> ment. With Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix<br /> containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely. Eyre<br /> and Spottiswoode. i*. 6d.<br /> 8. The Society Of Authors. A Record of its Action from its Foundation. By Walter Besant<br /> (Chairman of Committee, 1888—1892). is.<br /> 9. The Contract of Publication in Sermany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland. By Ebnst<br /> Lunoe, J.TJ.D. 2s. 6d.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 172 (#602) ############################################<br /> <br /> AD VER TISEMENTS.<br /> lft)e $ociefg of Jluffrors (gncotporqfe&amp;).<br /> PRESIDENT.<br /> C3-EOieC3:E MEEEDITH.<br /> COUNCIL.<br /> S.I. | Austin Dobson.<br /> A. Conan Doyle, M.D.<br /> A. W. Duboueg.<br /> Pbof. Michael Fosteb, F.E.S.<br /> D. W. Freshfibld.<br /> Richard Garnett, C.B., LL.D.<br /> Edmund flossn.<br /> H. Rider Haooabd.<br /> Thomas Habdt.<br /> Anthony Hope Hawkins.<br /> P.C. | Jerome K. Jerome.<br /> Rudtard Kipling.<br /> Prof. E. Rat Lankester, F.R.S.<br /> W. E. H. Leckt, P.C.<br /> J. M. Lelt.<br /> Mrs. E. Lynn Linton.<br /> Rev. W. J. LoFTiE, F.S.A.<br /> Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mas.Doc.<br /> Prof. J. M. D. Meiklejohn.<br /> Herman C. Merivale.<br /> Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E., C.I<br /> J. M. Barbie.<br /> A. W. X Beckett.<br /> Robert Batsman.<br /> F. E. Beddard, F.R.S.<br /> Sib Henrt Bebone, K.C.M.G.<br /> Sir Walter Besant.<br /> auqustine blrkell, m.p.<br /> Rev. Prof. Bonnet, F.R.S.<br /> Right Hon. James Bryce, M.P.<br /> Right Hon. Lord Burohclere,<br /> Hall Caine.<br /> Egerton Castle, F.S.A.<br /> P. W. Clatden.<br /> Edward Clodd.<br /> W. Morris Colleb.<br /> Hon. John Collier.<br /> Sir W. Martin Conwat.<br /> F. Marion Crawford.<br /> The Earl of Dbsart.<br /> Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wakk.<br /> Sir Lewis Morris.<br /> Henry Norman.<br /> Miss E. A. Ormerod.<br /> J. C. Parkinson.<br /> Right Hon. Lord Pirbrioht, P.C,<br /> F.R.S.<br /> Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D.<br /> Walter Herries Pollock.<br /> w. bapti8te scoones.<br /> Miss Flora L. Shaw.<br /> O. R. Sims.<br /> S. Squire Sprigge.<br /> J. J. Stevenson.<br /> Francis Storr.<br /> William Moy Thomas.<br /> H. D. Traill, D.C.L.<br /> Mrs. Humphry Ward.<br /> Miss Charlotte M. Yonge.<br /> Hon. Counsel — E. M. Underdown, Q.C.<br /> A.. W. X Beckett.<br /> Sir Walter Besant.<br /> Eoerton Castle, F.S.A.<br /> W. Morris Colles.<br /> COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT.<br /> Chairman—H. Rider Haooabd.<br /> Sir W. Martin Conway.<br /> D. W. Frbshfield.<br /> Anthony Hope Hawkins.<br /> J. M. Lely.<br /> Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mas.Doo.<br /> Henby Norman.<br /> Francib Storr.<br /> COMMITTEES.<br /> MUSIC.<br /> C. Villiers Stanford, Mus.D. (Chairman).<br /> Jacques Blumenthal.<br /> J. L. Molloy.<br /> SUB<br /> ART.<br /> Hon. John Collier (Chairman)<br /> Sir W. Martin Conway.<br /> M. H. Spislmann.<br /> 8oUeitors f *&quot;IBLD&gt; Roscob, and Co., Lincoln&#039;s Inn Fields<br /> \ G. Herbert Thring, B.A., 4, Portugal-street. Secretary—G. Herbert Thbino, B.A OFFICES: 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln&#039;s Inn Fields, W.C.<br /> DRAMA.<br /> Henry Abthub Jones (Chairman).<br /> A. W. X Beckett.<br /> Edward Rose.<br /> j±. :p. watt &amp; sonsr,<br /> LITERARY AGENTS,<br /> Formerly of 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE,<br /> Have now removed to<br /> HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND,<br /> LONDON. W.C.<br /> THE TEMPLE TYPEWRITING OFFICE. *<br /> TYPEWRITING EXCEPTIONALLY ACCURATE. Moderate prioes. Dnplioates of Circulars by the latest<br /> -*- process.<br /> OPINIONS OP CLIENTS.—Dibtihbuishrd Abthor:—&quot;The most beautiful typing I have ever Been.&quot; Lady or Title:—&quot;The<br /> work waa very well and clearly done.&quot; Provincial Editor :—&quot; Many thanlra for the spotless neatness and beautiful accuracy.&quot;<br /> MISS GENTRY, KLDON CHAMBERS, 30, FLEET STREET, E.C.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 173 (#603) ############################################<br /> <br /> XL he Hutbor*<br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br /> CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br /> Vol. VIII.—No. 7.] DECEMBER 1, 1897. [Price Sixpence.<br /> For the Opinions expressed 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 expressing the<br /> collective opinions of the Committee unless<br /> they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br /> Thring, Sec.<br /> THE 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 /> GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br /> EOR some years it has been the practice to insert, in<br /> every number of The Author, certain &quot; General Con-<br /> siderations,&quot; Warnings, Notices, Ac, for the guidance<br /> of the reader. It has been objected as regards these<br /> warnings that the tricks or frauds against which they are<br /> directed cannot all be guarded against, for obvious reasons.<br /> It is, however, well that they should be borne in mind, and<br /> if any publisher refuses a clause of precaution he simply<br /> reveals his true character, and should be left to carry on<br /> his business in his own way.<br /> Let us, however, draw up a few of the rules to be<br /> observed in an agreement. There are three methods of<br /> dealing with literary property :—<br /> I. That of selling it outright.<br /> This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br /> price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br /> managed by a competent agent.<br /> II. A profit-sharing agreement.<br /> In this case the following rules should be attended to:<br /> (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br /> duction forms a part.<br /> (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br /> profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements<br /> TOIi. VIII.<br /> in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise-<br /> ments.<br /> (3.) Not to allow a special charge for &quot; office expenses,&quot;<br /> unleBS the same allowance is made to the author.<br /> (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br /> rights.<br /> (5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights.<br /> (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher.<br /> As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br /> doctor!<br /> (7.) To stamp the agreement.<br /> HI. The royalty system.<br /> In this system, which has opened the door to a most<br /> amazing amount of overreaching and trading on the<br /> author&#039;s ignorance, it is above all things neoessary to know<br /> what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now<br /> possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very<br /> nearly the truth. From time to time the very important<br /> figures connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br /> Headers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br /> &quot;Cost of Production.&quot; Let no one, not even the youngest<br /> writer, sign a royalty agreement without finding out what<br /> it gives the publisher as well as himself.<br /> It has been objected that these precautions presuppose a<br /> great success for the book, and that very few books indeed<br /> attain to this great success. That is quite true : but there is<br /> always this uncertainty of literary property that, although<br /> the works of a great many authors carry with them no risk<br /> at all, and although of a great many it is known within a few<br /> copies what will be their minimum circulation, it is not<br /> known what will be their maximum. Therefore every<br /> author, for every book, should arrange on the chanoe of a<br /> success which will not, probably, come at all; but which<br /> may come.<br /> The four points which the Society has always demanded<br /> from the outset are:—<br /> (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement<br /> means.<br /> (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong<br /> to the author. We are advised that thiB is a right, in the<br /> nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied o<br /> withheld.<br /> (3.) That there shall be no secret profits.<br /> (4.) That nothing shall be charged which has not been<br /> actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for<br /> advertisements in the publisher&#039;s own organs and none for<br /> exohanged advertisements and that all discounts shall be<br /> duly entered.<br /> If these points are carefully looked after, the author may<br /> rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the<br /> same time he will do well to send his agreement to the<br /> secretary before he signs it.<br /> Q 2<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 174 (#604) ############################################<br /> <br /> i74 THE AUTHOR.<br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> i. ill 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 /> sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member<br /> has a right to an opinion from the Society&#039;s solicitors. If the<br /> case is snch that Counsel&#039;s opinion is desirable, the Com-<br /> mittee will obtain for him Counsel&#039;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 /> 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 houBes—the tricks of every publish-<br /> ing firm in the oountry.<br /> 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society yo<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&#039; 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 Seoretary, who<br /> will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers:—(1)<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 /> THE AUTHORS&#039; SYNDICATE,<br /> &quot;V/T EMBERS are informed:<br /> J3_L 1. That the Authors&#039; Syndicate takes charge of<br /> the business of members of the Society. That it<br /> Bubmits 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 whioh 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 exclusively 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 &quot;Transfer Department&quot; for the sale and<br /> purchase of journals and periodicals; and that a &quot; Register<br /> of Wants and Wanted&quot; 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 /> f 11HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br /> I 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 Seoretary the modest<br /> 6s. 6d. subscription for the year.<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 Author oomplete, attractive,<br /> and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this<br /> work send thoir names and the special subjects on which<br /> they are willing to write?<br /> Communications for Tlie Author should reach the Editor<br /> not later than the 21 st 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 /> communicating 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.<br /> The Authors&#039; Club is now open in its new premises, at<br /> 3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary<br /> for information, rules of admission, Ac.<br /> Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they<br /> have paid their subscriptions for the year? If they will do<br /> this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker&#039;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 /> following warning. 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 /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 175 (#605) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> i75<br /> or dishonest? 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 t<br /> Those who possess the &quot;Cost of Production&quot; 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 /> •f &quot;doing sums,&quot; 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<br /> at £g 48. The figures in our book are as near the exact<br /> truth as can be procured; but a printer&#039;s, or a binder&#039;s,<br /> bill is so elastic a thing that nothing more exact can be<br /> arrived at.<br /> Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged<br /> in the &quot; Cost of Production &quot; 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 /> •ften 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 /> THE SOCIETY OP AUTHOKS AND THE<br /> DISCOUNT QUESTION.<br /> THE Report printed below has been forwarded<br /> to Mr. C. J. Longman, president of the<br /> Publishers&#039; Association, with the following<br /> letter from the chairman of the Committee of<br /> Management of the Society of Authors:—<br /> &quot;Nov. 30, 1897.<br /> &quot;My dear Longman,—In reply to your letter of<br /> July 6 re the publishers&#039; and booksellers&#039; pro-<br /> posals on the discount question, I now beg to<br /> forward to your Association a Report which has<br /> been presented to us by a sub-committee of our<br /> society appointed to consider and take evidence<br /> upon these proposals. The Committee of Manage-<br /> ment of this Society endorse and adopt the con-<br /> clusions arrived at by its sub-committee. I may<br /> add, however, that, independently of these detailed<br /> conclusions, we feel it impossible to give support<br /> to the joint proposals of the publishers and book-<br /> sellers as presented in the papers forwarded by<br /> you, on the broad ground that, even were it<br /> possible to carry them into effect—which remains<br /> an open question—they would, as we understand<br /> them, be in restraint of free trade and a fetter on<br /> individual liberty.<br /> It is with the greatest regret that we have<br /> come to a decision adverse to the wishes of your<br /> Association and to those of a large proportion<br /> of the bookselling trade, since the result of our<br /> inquiries and our own observations amply convince<br /> us that the distress among the country book-<br /> sellers is genuine and widespread.<br /> Thanking you for so kindly submitting the<br /> matter to the consideration of our Society,<br /> Believe me to remain, my dear Longman,<br /> Very sincerely yours,<br /> (Signed) H. Rider Haggard,<br /> Chairman of Committee of Management.<br /> P.S.—I shall be much obliged if you will con-<br /> sider the enclosed Report as confidential to your<br /> association until its appearance in The Author on<br /> Thursday next.<br /> To C. J. Longman, Esq.,<br /> President of the Publishers&#039; Association<br /> of Great Britain and Ireland.&quot;<br /> REPORT OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE.<br /> Report of the Sub-Committee ■ appointed by the<br /> Committee of Management of the Society of<br /> Authors to consider the Publishers&#039;&#039; and Book-<br /> sellers&#039;1 proposals with regard to Raising<br /> Discounts.<br /> YOUR Committee have been constituted to<br /> inquire into and report upon a letter<br /> addressed to the Society on July 6th by<br /> Mr. C. J. Longman, President of the Publishers&#039;<br /> Association, which is to the following effect:—<br /> &quot;Stationers&#039; Hall, E.C.,<br /> July 6th, 1897.<br /> My dear Haggard,<br /> In accordance with a resolution passed<br /> item. con. at a special general meeting of the<br /> Publishers&#039; Association, held on July 1st, I am<br /> writing to ask the attention of the Society of<br /> Authors to a matter which has for some time<br /> been the subject of anxious consideration in the<br /> bookselling trade. I need not go into the matter<br /> in detail, as the papers I inclose herewith, which<br /> I hope you will lay before your Society, contain<br /> full information on the matter in which we ask<br /> your co-operation. Briefly, we are anxious to<br /> assist the retail trade in the very serious<br /> difficulties which beset their business owing to<br /> the excessive discounts which are now given to<br /> the public in London and many other towns,<br /> though not in all. Although it is the retail<br /> trade only which are directly interested in the<br /> movement which we ask you to support, yet it is<br /> a matter of great importance, both to authors and<br /> publishers, that a numerous and flourishing body<br /> of retailers should exist throughout the Kingdom.<br /> I inclose six copies of a Report of the Sub-<br /> committee on Trade Terms to our Council,<br /> which contains the details of the proposal, and<br /> also six copies of the Publisher«&#039; Circular for<br /> July 3rd, containing a report of the meeting on<br /> July 1st, which I have already mentioned. Great<br /> hopes are entertained among the retail booksellers<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 176 (#606) ############################################<br /> <br /> 176<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> throughout the country that this movement will<br /> be carried to a successful issue, as has been done<br /> satisfactorily in France and in Germany.<br /> We trust, therefore, that we shall receive the<br /> hearty support of the Society of Authors.<br /> Should this be the case we have little doubt of<br /> the success of the movement, while in the<br /> contrary event the proposal must necessarily<br /> drop, to the deep disappointment of the retail<br /> trade.<br /> Should you desire it our Sub-Committee would<br /> be happy to meet you to give any further<br /> information you may desire.<br /> I am, yours faithfully,<br /> (Signed) C. J. Longman,<br /> President Publishers&#039; Association of Great<br /> Britain and Ireland.<br /> H. Rider Haosaed, Esq.,<br /> Incorporated Society of Authors.&quot;<br /> Your Committee having read the various<br /> documents and pamphlets placed before them, and<br /> having examined a numb, r of booksellers and<br /> representatives of trade societies, have now the<br /> honour to report:<br /> At the general meeting of the publishers on<br /> July 1st, the chairman, Mr. Longman, began<br /> by stating that &quot;It is alleged by retail book-<br /> sellers, in town and country, that it is impossible<br /> for them to make a living profit by the sale of<br /> copyright books at the discount now given of 3d.<br /> in the shilling. . . . It is not stated that<br /> booksellers as a whole do not make a profit, but<br /> that the profit is derived from the sale of non-<br /> copyright literature, stationery, and fancy goods.&quot;<br /> (Publisher&#039;s Circular, July 3, 1897, p. 7). The<br /> proposals of the publishers to remedy the<br /> grievance were set forth by Mr. F. Macmillan at<br /> the same meeting as &quot;Briefly, that the present<br /> trade terms should be given only to booksellers<br /> who agree to allow no more than 2d. in the<br /> shilling on ordinary books, and sell net l&gt;ooks at<br /> full prices : and that those dealers who refuse to<br /> come into the arrangement, or who break their<br /> agreement, should be supplied at no better terms<br /> than scrip without odd books, or discount at settle-<br /> ment&quot; (16. p. 8); or, speaking in plain terms, if<br /> a bookseller chose to sell the books at 25 per cent,<br /> discount, he would be selling them at cost price.<br /> Mr. Macmillan concluded by observing, &quot;It is<br /> imperative that before entering into any arrange-<br /> ment with the Associated Booksellers as to this<br /> important question, we should approach the<br /> Society of Authors, should explain to them what<br /> it is that we and the booksellers propose, and<br /> should get them to agr^e with us in saying that<br /> the suggested action is taken in the interest of<br /> all connected with the commercial side of<br /> literature—of the authors who write books, of<br /> the publishers who bring them out, and of the<br /> booksellers who sell them to the public. I do not<br /> anticipate that there will be any difficulty in<br /> putting the matter before the Society of Authors<br /> in such a way as to induce them to coincide with<br /> our views and those of the booksellers&quot; (ib.<br /> p. 8).*<br /> Your Committee desire at the outset to<br /> endorse the statements as to the present<br /> depressed state of the retail book trade. Injury<br /> to the bookseller must partly fall upon the<br /> author, since much of his own welfare is bound<br /> up with the prosperity of the bookseller. Many<br /> books, indeed, cannot be said to be effectively<br /> published until the booksellers are interested in<br /> them; and no bookseller can be said to be<br /> interested in a book unless he gains a fair profit<br /> from selling it. In the general interest of<br /> literature, moreover, it is important that the<br /> race of trained and intelligent booksellers in<br /> this country should not be crowded out of<br /> existence.<br /> While fully recognising and deploring the<br /> existing conditions of the bookselling trade, your<br /> Committee cannot recommend you to give the<br /> &quot;hearty support&quot; asked for in Mr. Longman&#039;s<br /> letter, and still more difficult do they find it<br /> to agree with Mr. Macmillan&#039;s much more<br /> decided assertion that &quot;the suggested action is<br /> taken in the interest of all connected with the<br /> commercial side of literature.&quot;<br /> The discount question is not one of senti-<br /> ment. It is purely an economic question, and<br /> must be considered from a commercial point<br /> of view. It is produced by modern com-<br /> petition, and it is to be paralleled by examples<br /> in many other trades. Chemists and druggists<br /> make the same complaint of excessive reductions<br /> in the retail price of patent medicines and well-<br /> known drugs.<br /> Retrospect.<br /> So far in general terms. Before proceeding<br /> to consider the question in detail, and as<br /> it is affected by the conditions of the day, it if<br /> necessary to recall previous attempts made in the<br /> same direction.<br /> The first and most serious attempt to regulate<br /> the rate of discount was made in the years&#039;<br /> 1848-52. On July 12, 1850, the following de-<br /> claration was signed by every bookseller re-<br /> * The exact words of the resolution referred to by Mr.<br /> F. Macmillan were:<br /> &quot;That the present trade terms should be given only to<br /> those booksellers who pledge themselves not to exceed 2d.<br /> in the Is. discount, and to maintain the published price of<br /> Net Books.<br /> &quot;Those who are unwilling so to pledge themselves to b»<br /> supplied at scrip, net, and no odd copy.&quot;<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 177 (#607) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> •77<br /> siding within twelve miles of the Post Office.<br /> Their number was 1200.<br /> &quot;1. That we will not supply books at trade price,<br /> except to those who are in possession of a<br /> ticket. Special trades dealing occasionally<br /> in books connected with their trade, may<br /> be supplied with such books at trade price,<br /> at the discretion of each bookseller.<br /> &quot;2. That, as a general rule, no greater allow-<br /> ance than 10 per cent, for cash be made to<br /> private customers unconnected with the<br /> trade or with publishing.<br /> &quot;3. That, as a general rule, no greater allowance<br /> than 15 per cent, be made to book societies.<br /> &quot;4. That we will not advertise, or ticket, at less<br /> than the publication price, copyright books,<br /> unless bond fide second-hand or unless<br /> depreciated by the publisher, or such as<br /> are notoriously unsuccessful.<br /> &quot;We mutually agree that any one systematically<br /> acting contrary to these regulations, after remon-<br /> strance, shall be no longer considered entitled to<br /> the privileges of the trade.&quot;<br /> This engagement was broken as soon as made.<br /> The chairman himself (Mr. J. M. Richardson<br /> at that time) admitted that he supplied books to<br /> the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge,<br /> and that the latter re-sold them to its members<br /> at cost price. Another prominent member<br /> supplied books to a college at 25 per<br /> cent, discount. A third supplied the books to<br /> form the Bank of England library at a similar<br /> discount; and so on. Certain country book-<br /> sellers would on no account be guilty of selling a<br /> book under its published price, but to be equal<br /> with their neighbours who had no such scruples,<br /> they fell upon the following expedient: &quot;If a<br /> person asked one of them for a book, published<br /> at 2s. 6d. for example, it was offered to him at<br /> that price, but if he objected that he could get it<br /> at 2s. elsewhere, the vendor at once overcame the<br /> difficulty by cutting open a few leaves of the<br /> volume, or if it chanced to be cut when published,<br /> by allowing a drop of ink to deface it—the<br /> conscientious bibliopole being able to regard it<br /> in that condition as &#039; second-hand,&#039; and therefore<br /> holding himself entitled, according to orthodox<br /> principles, to sell it at a reduced price!&quot;<br /> In April, 1852, an important paper on &quot;The<br /> Commerce of Literature &quot; appeared in the West-<br /> minster Review. It was written by Mr. John<br /> Chapman. This article vigorously opposed the<br /> restrictive action of the publishers. The Times<br /> followed up the article; that great paper could<br /> not discover any valid reason for &quot; this anomalous<br /> interference with the free course of competition<br /> and the natural operation of trade,&quot; and did not<br /> hesitate to call the methods of the publishers &quot;an<br /> organised system of coercion.&quot;<br /> On May 6th, 1852, a meeting of authors was<br /> held at Mr. Chapman&#039;s, 142, Strand, Charles<br /> Dickens taking the chair. It was a very<br /> remarkable gathering.<br /> Amongst the men distinguished in literature<br /> and science who were present were Professors<br /> Owen, Newman, and Ansted, Mr. Babbage, Mr.<br /> Tom Taylor, Dr. Lankester, Dr. Arnott, and<br /> Mr. Crabbe Robinson. Letters concurring in<br /> the views of the meeting were read from Mr.<br /> Carlyle, Mr. John Stuart Mill, Mr. Gladstone,<br /> Professor de Morgan, Mr. James Wilson, M.P.,<br /> Mr. Cobden, M.P., and others. From this meet-<br /> ing there arose the definite steps taken which<br /> ended in the abolition of the trade restrictions.<br /> Five resolutions were adopted, declaring that<br /> free trade ought to be applied to books as to all<br /> other articles of commerce; that the principles<br /> of the Booksellers&#039; Association were not only<br /> opposed to free trade, but were tyrannical and<br /> vexatious in their operations, and had the effect<br /> of keeping the prices of books much higher than<br /> they would otherwise be; and that the retailer,<br /> not the publisher, should determine the retail<br /> prices.<br /> This was not enough. On April 30, 1852, a<br /> circular was issued by Messrs. J. W. Parker and<br /> Son, addrossed to leading authors, inviting them<br /> to send a reply to the following question:<br /> &quot;If a retail bookseller, of ascertained credit and<br /> respectability, applies to your publisher for copies<br /> of any book in which you are directly or indirectly<br /> interested, which he is ready to purchase on the<br /> terms at which the publisher has offered them to<br /> the trade at large, but with the avowed intention<br /> of retailing his purchases at a smaller profit than<br /> that provided for between the wholesale rate and<br /> the retail price fixed for single copies, do you<br /> consider the intention to sell at a low rate of<br /> profit a good and sufficient reason why the pub-<br /> lisher should refuse to supply him with books<br /> which he is ready to purchase and to keep in<br /> stock at his own risk?<br /> All, with the exception of three, who were<br /> dubious, answered in the negative.<br /> Among those who then replied were J. S. Mill,<br /> Tennyson, Dickens, Carlyle, Qoldwin Smith,<br /> Herbert Spencer, Darwin, Charles Kingsley,<br /> Francis Newman, Babbage, Forbes Winslow,<br /> Cornewall Lewis, and Leigh Hunt.<br /> Finally the question was referred to a commis-<br /> sion, consisting of Lord Campbell, Dean Mil-<br /> man, and George Grote. The commission decided<br /> that the regulations were unreasonable and in-<br /> expedient, and contrary to the freedom which<br /> ought to prevail in commercial transactions.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 178 (#608) ############################################<br /> <br /> 178<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> This, then, was the opinion of the most distin-<br /> guished men in Literature, Law, and Science in<br /> 1852.<br /> In 1869 another attempt was made to impose<br /> restrictions upon the retail booksellers. This<br /> proposal was speedily dropped.<br /> Witnesses and Documents.<br /> Your Committee, in order to ascertain the facts<br /> and figures necessary for th«ir guidance, have<br /> received evidence from:<br /> 1. Mr. Thomas Burleigh (secretary of the<br /> Booksellers&#039; Association), 370, Oxford - street,<br /> W.<br /> 2. Mr. E. Gowing-Scopes (secretary of the<br /> Retail Newsagents&#039; and Booksellers&#039; Union, 185,<br /> Fleet-street, E.C.)<br /> 3. Certain representatives of booksellers, viz.:<br /> Mr. Frederick H. Evans, of Queen-street,<br /> Cheapside, E C.<br /> Mr. Henry Glaisher, of 95, Strand, W.C.<br /> Mr. Henry W. Keay, of Eastbourne.<br /> Mr. Robert Maclehose, of Glasgow.<br /> Mr. N. V. Collier (Mr. Edward Stanford&#039;s), of<br /> Cockspur-street, S.W.<br /> Mr. Arthur L.Humphreys (Messrs. Hatchard&#039;s),<br /> of Piccadilly, W.<br /> Mr. John Stone ham, of Cheapside, E.C.<br /> 4. The Committee have also before them a<br /> pamphlet issued by Mr. William Heinemann,<br /> of 21, Bedford-street, W.C, who kindly forwarded<br /> it to them.<br /> 5. The evidence contained in various issues of<br /> the Publishers&#039; Circular, together with a full<br /> account of the speeches of Mr. Frederick Mac-<br /> millan and others, setting forth the publishers&#039;<br /> views on the subject.<br /> 6. An article that appeared in the Westminster<br /> Review of 1852, entitled &quot;The Commerce of<br /> Literature.&quot;<br /> 7. A pamphlet by Mr. Thomas Bosworth, of 215,<br /> Regent-street, W., dated 1868.<br /> 8. The evidence from the Booksellers&#039; Review<br /> and correspondence in the Times and the other<br /> papers on the subject, together wifh a &#039; mass<br /> of private and confidential letters written to the<br /> Committee.<br /> 9. They have also had before them the answers<br /> of members of the Council of the Society to the<br /> same question as that put in 1852 by Messrs.<br /> Parker.<br /> Evidence.<br /> The following facts and opinions have been<br /> elicited:<br /> 1. It has been stated that the larger book-<br /> sellers get better terms than the smaller.<br /> 2. &quot;Office expenses&quot; are by some booksellers<br /> &#039;estimated as high as 15 or 16 percent, on receipts.<br /> This item must obviously vary enormously.<br /> 3. It is stated that country booksellers obtain<br /> 10 per cent, discount, instead of the London<br /> allowance of 5 per cent., as a set-off against<br /> carriage.<br /> 4. Books that are non-copyright are sold to the<br /> trade at various prices. The most common terms<br /> are a little over half the published price.<br /> 5. It is stated that the increasing practice of<br /> the drapers in selling non-copyright books very<br /> cheaply—even under cost price—greatly injures<br /> booksellers.<br /> 6. Several of the most experienced witnesses<br /> stated as their conviction that the proposed<br /> coercion could not be carried out; although they<br /> were aware that in the case of magazines some-<br /> thing has been done in certain provincial towns<br /> by the Newsagents&#039; Association.<br /> 7. The probable effect of raising the price<br /> was variously estimated. The public, according<br /> to many booksellers, will not mind the addition of<br /> sixpence or so: the public, according to others,<br /> will not pay an additional sixpence: the public,<br /> according to some, will readily pay a net price:<br /> according to others, will insist on getting dis-<br /> count. The truth appears to be that the public<br /> will have discount if they can get it. As for<br /> reducing the retail price, it is generally considered<br /> by the trade that the increased sale would not<br /> compensate the loss.<br /> 8. Several witnesses were of opinion that some<br /> form of &quot;sale or return&quot; would be very helpful.<br /> One practical proposal before your Committee was<br /> to treat books as magazines are treated, viz., to<br /> allow so many per doz. to be returned; the book-<br /> sellers, of course, to have the choice of books to<br /> be sent to them. In the case of highly priced<br /> books it is absolutely necessary that they should<br /> be sent on sale or return if they are to be shown<br /> to the public by the smaller country booksellers.<br /> 9. There seems to be a universal consent in the<br /> trade that it would be of no use to rearrange<br /> terms with publishers unless some way could be<br /> found to prevent further increase of discount.<br /> 10. The publishers fix the price of books. One<br /> witness suggested that the publishers should fix<br /> only the trade price, leaving the booksellers free<br /> to sell the books at any price they please. This<br /> is the custom with prayerbooks.<br /> 11. As regards the proposed regulation of the<br /> trade, it is urged, on the oue hand, that there is no<br /> fear of further coercion, and that booksellers cannot<br /> be worse off than they are. On the other hand, it<br /> is pointed out that booksellers desire immediate<br /> relief by the reduction of the discount, and that<br /> they do not realise the state of dependence in which<br /> the attainment of their desires would place them.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 179 (#609) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> &#039;79<br /> Causb8 of Depression.<br /> So far for the evidence. We have next to<br /> consider the causes of the present depression of<br /> trade.<br /> 1. The 3d. in the shilling discount is generally<br /> advanced as the sole cause. This, however, is not<br /> the case; there are other causes, and this<br /> discount is not universal. Where the practice<br /> prevails, it is quite clear that the small bookseller<br /> cannot live by the sale of copyright works alone.<br /> Booksellers, however, have brought this discount<br /> system upon themselves. Publishers do not appear<br /> to have recognised it in their trade prices. Book-<br /> sellers introduced the system, and there is no<br /> possible guarantee that they would not be com-<br /> pelled, in the future, by the necessities of com-<br /> petition, to render inoperative any improved<br /> terms of sale that might be introduced with a<br /> view to their benefit.<br /> 2. A second cause of the position of the book-<br /> seller is the depression of agriculture, which has<br /> inflicted such enormous losses on country gentle-<br /> men, cathedral and county clergy, and fellows of<br /> colleges, all of whom were formerly buyers of<br /> books.<br /> 8. The competition of other traders who have<br /> added books to their other wares.<br /> 4. The partial loss of the educational book<br /> trade, whether of elementary or of higher schools,<br /> which is now often carried on direct between<br /> schools and publishers.<br /> 5. The practice of many Free Libraries, which<br /> deal with the publisher or the wholesale agent<br /> direct instead of with the local bookseller.<br /> (i. The failure of the bookseller to meet the new<br /> demands for reading from the many millions<br /> added to the number of readers by the spread of<br /> education. The drapers, for instance, seem to<br /> have discovered a new stratum of purchasers.<br /> 7. A want of energy and &quot;push&quot; among book-<br /> sellers as a whole. It is quite evident that if<br /> the mass of people are to buy books they must<br /> have lK&gt;oks attractively offered to them.<br /> Conclusions.<br /> In considering the condition of the trade, and<br /> the proposals of the booksellers and publishers,<br /> your Committee have come to the conclusion<br /> that the coercive measures proposed could not<br /> be carried out.<br /> This was proved in 1852. Evasion in every<br /> form was then, and would be now, practised by<br /> the discontented, and successfully practised now<br /> as then.<br /> In connection with the vital question of the<br /> possibility of enforcing upon unwilling booksellers<br /> a uniform and reduced discount, your Com-<br /> mittee think it necessary to draw attention to an<br /> VOL. VIII.<br /> aspect of the matter which frequently escapes<br /> notice.<br /> Let us suppose that the publishers decide to<br /> raise their terms or to refuse books to any<br /> bookseller who gives a discount of more<br /> than 2d. in the shilling. Many booksellers<br /> would gladly welcome the announcement, but<br /> others—amongst these the great London shops,<br /> who often sell in an hour as many copies<br /> of a popular work as a small country book-<br /> seller sells in a year—certainly would not. On<br /> the contrary, they would frankly endeavour to<br /> find some method of evasion. &quot;But,&quot; reply<br /> the publishers, &quot; since ex hypothesi we should all<br /> be united in action, evasion would be impossible.<br /> The would-be 25 per cent, discount man simply<br /> could not get his books to sell, cither from us, or<br /> from a wholesale distributor himself dependent<br /> upon us.&quot;<br /> It is in comment upon this assertion that your<br /> Committee feel it necessary to speak. The<br /> publishers&#039; contention may be perfectly true con-<br /> cerning the publishers who now exist, though all<br /> publishers do not belong to &quot;the Association &quot;:<br /> it is completely shattered by the fact that nothing<br /> prevents other publishers from coming into<br /> existence—indeed, from coming into existence<br /> ad hoc.<br /> For example, the success of the publishers<br /> would be at the mercy of a single author whose<br /> new book was certain beforehand of a very large<br /> sale. Such an author is in no way dependent<br /> upon a publisher. He might publish his new<br /> book hiinself, publish it through a bookseller,<br /> through a printer, through a literary agent, or<br /> through a draper. Having done so, he would<br /> supply it to booksellers at cheaper rates than<br /> those previously charged for his books, and<br /> leave the booksellers to give what discount they<br /> chose. Thus, instead of retail discount being<br /> reduced by the combinaton of publishers, it might<br /> well be increased.<br /> Lest it be thought that your Committee is<br /> imagining an impossible state of things, we may<br /> call attention to two statements in the evidence<br /> before us. First, a retail bookseller, doing,<br /> perhaps, the largest business in the United<br /> Kingdom, seriously asked your Committee, &quot; Why<br /> not start a branch of the Authors&#039; Society as<br /> the Authors&#039; Publishing Association?&quot; Secondly,<br /> a witness of great experience, being asked<br /> whether booksellers would be prepared to deal<br /> with the author direct, replied: &quot;The trade<br /> would be quite willing to deal with a popular<br /> author direct, providing he gave suitable terms.<br /> In my opinion, such a move would have astound-<br /> ing results.&quot;<br /> We know of no reason why the retailer of<br /> R<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 180 (#610) ############################################<br /> <br /> i8o<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> books should be fettered as to the prices he<br /> charges, more than the retailer of any other<br /> commodity.<br /> If it were found possible to enforce the<br /> present proposals, other and more stringent<br /> restrictions would, doubtless, follow, such as<br /> refusal to supply books to booksellers who bought<br /> of firms outside the Publishers&#039; Association. The<br /> independence of the author would be seriously<br /> compromised by the existence of a close ring of<br /> publishers and booksellers, who might as easily<br /> dictate to him a royalty of 5 per cent, as to the<br /> bookseller a 2d. discount.<br /> If experience showed that the public, would<br /> pay without complaint the enhanced price of<br /> books caused by the lowering of the discount, the<br /> next step would be that publishers would be<br /> strongly tempted to use the monopoly thus created<br /> to go on augmenting the price of their wares.<br /> Thus a result of the present proposals would<br /> probably be that the individual book - buyer<br /> would have to pay more and more for his<br /> literature.<br /> It should be observed that, according to the<br /> figures given to us, a 6s. book, now sold to the<br /> public at 48. 6d., yields to the bookseller a profit<br /> of from lOd. to Is.; if sold at 5s., it would yield<br /> him a profit of from Is. 4d. to Is. 6d.; on the<br /> other hand, a book sold to the public at a net<br /> price of 5s., yields to the bookseller, by the present<br /> arrangements of the trade, a profit of Is. 0|d.<br /> Thepubbsher receives for a 5s.net book from 3|d.<br /> to 5|d. more than for a 6s. book subject to the<br /> discount system, whether the discount be 3d. in<br /> the Is., or whether it be lowered (as by the<br /> proposal under consideration) to 2d. The net<br /> system, therefore, being so much more profit-<br /> able to publishers, would tend to supplant the<br /> revised discount system, and the author must<br /> be prepared to rearrange terms with the publisher<br /> on this new basis.<br /> If proposals limiting the freedom of the<br /> retail bookseller are to be considered at all —<br /> a course of action which your Committee<br /> earnestly deprecate — they must be taken up<br /> by representatives of authors, publishers, and<br /> booksellers. In every such consideration or dis-<br /> cussion the whole question of book production<br /> will have to be freely and openly laid on the<br /> table, including actual cost of production, money<br /> actually spent on advertisements, &amp;c, before<br /> anything definite can be arrived at as regards<br /> the proper proportion of profit to be assigned<br /> to the author, the bookseller, and the publisher.<br /> With regard to the pamphlet issued by Mr.<br /> Heinemann, and sent by him to your Committee:<br /> The German system there explained is a system<br /> of which it can only be said that no tiador<br /> in these islands could possibly adopt or endure it.<br /> While all other dealers and traders around<br /> him were free to do as they pleased with<br /> their own property, he alone would be a ser-<br /> vant and a clerk, ordered to sell as he was<br /> told or to be ruined. The pamphlet invites<br /> the closest attention, as showing the actual<br /> desire of some among the promoters of these<br /> measures. Your Committee believe that the<br /> Germanisation of the British Book Trade in-<br /> volved in these proposals would not be to the<br /> advantage either of the &quot;commercial,&quot; or any<br /> other side of literature.<br /> Remedial Measures.<br /> Tour Committee venture to suggest the<br /> following as remedial measures:<br /> 1. An endeavour by local booksellers to get the<br /> whole of the local trade—school books, prize<br /> books, books for free libraries—and to reach the<br /> lower strata of readers by stocking and pushing<br /> the sale of cheap editions of sound literature.<br /> Greater energy and enterprise, as displayed in<br /> other retail trades, if the country book trade is to<br /> be saved from extinction.*<br /> 2. The development of a system of sending<br /> out on sale or return books protected in suitable<br /> wrappers or cases.<br /> 3. The publication of non-copyright books by<br /> booksellers for themselves. The printing and<br /> issue in an attractive form of such books would<br /> require little preliminary capital, provided there<br /> were an undertaking of the trade generally to<br /> further the sale of the series.<br /> 4. It is obvious that unless the retail book-<br /> seller himself knows the difference between<br /> good and bad style and workmanship in paper,<br /> print, binding, and illustration, he cannot direct<br /> the taste of his customers to purchases which,<br /> while securing for him a remunerative business,<br /> provide them with a collection of books of<br /> permanent and even increasing value.<br /> 5. It is suggested that country booksellers<br /> should add to their business that of selling<br /> second-hand books.<br /> 6. A great feature of modern trade in printed<br /> publications is the sale of magazines, and the<br /> consequent notable increase in the number of<br /> newsagents. It is suggested that the news-<br /> agent, who must (at present, at any rate) be<br /> a local tradesman, is destined to supplant<br /> the country bookseller, unless the latter, on his<br /> * Ono of our most capable witnesses—himself a book-<br /> seller—declared that the country bookseller who fails to<br /> make a living deserves to fail, and that the profits upon<br /> bookselling are sufficient to-day in the hands of a man of<br /> real intelligence, ingenuity, and industry to enable him to<br /> thrive.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 181 (#611) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 181<br /> side, takes over the business of the newsagent,<br /> and adopts his methods, as, indeed, the more<br /> enterprising are already beginning to do. Pub-<br /> lishers, we think, will do well to bear this<br /> development in mind, and extend accordingly the<br /> system of issuing expensive books in cheap weekly<br /> or monthly parts.<br /> 7. The fusion of the Booksellers&#039; Association<br /> with the Booksellers&#039; Union and the sinking of<br /> minor differences, are desirable in the interests of<br /> the trade.<br /> your Committee venture to suggest that the<br /> Committee of Management of the Society of<br /> Authors should signify to the Booksellers&#039; Trade<br /> Organisations aud other similar bodies their<br /> willingness to advise and assist in the discussion<br /> of trade questions if so desired.<br /> Tour Committee make the above suggestions<br /> as the best that have come to their notice, with-<br /> out, however, attaching undue importance to<br /> them. We cannot hope that the country book<br /> trade will be restored to prosperity by com-<br /> paratively superficial methods. Owing to the<br /> operation of economic forces, destined in the<br /> future to increase and not to diminish in<br /> energy, the old - fashioned methods of book-<br /> selling cannot possibly survive. Rapid- and<br /> cheap means of communication tend to place all<br /> small local dealers at a disadvantage, and no<br /> formation of trading rings, or limited monopolies<br /> of sale, can invert the normal development of the<br /> processes of trade. It is only by following and<br /> taking advantage of new opportunities afforded<br /> by that normal development that injuries suffered<br /> can be repaired.<br /> (Signed) A. VV. a&#039;Beckett.<br /> P. E. Beddard.<br /> Walter Besant.<br /> Martin Conway.<br /> Henry Arthur Jones.<br /> Henry Norman.<br /> P. Storr.<br /> Henry R, Tedder.<br /> The Bookselling Question,<br /> As one who has had nearly forty years practical<br /> experience of the book trade, perhaps you would<br /> allow me to venture a suggestion that, if given<br /> effect to, might help very considerably to relievo<br /> the present unsatisfactory condition of the retail<br /> book business.<br /> The main pressure upon the town and, particu-<br /> larly, the country bookseller is felt in the risk he<br /> is made to run in stocking his shop with new<br /> copyright books. These, when asked for, he is<br /> expected to dispose of at so bare a margin ($d. in<br /> the is.) above the invoice price that insufficient<br /> VOL. VIII.<br /> profit remains to allow of a certain proportion of<br /> his stock failing to find purchase, but which<br /> he has to pay for all the same. Here it is<br /> the publishers might come to the help of the<br /> retailer by adopting the practice which so largely<br /> prevails in Germany of permitting the bookseller<br /> to obtain new books &quot; on sale or return&quot; for a<br /> limited time after publication. By this means<br /> the retailer is freed from loss on unsuccessful<br /> books, while the volumes are exposed to the public<br /> on his counter, and the author can count upon his<br /> work being brought within the purview of the<br /> book-buyer for a month or two after it has been<br /> published. This arrangement may not be an alto-<br /> gether agreeable one to the publishers, who have<br /> naturally a strong preference for the &quot; buying out<br /> and out&quot; system. They don&#039;t take kindly to<br /> &quot;returns.&quot; Nevertheless, the proposed relaxation<br /> of the purchase terms would radically improve the<br /> pecuniary conditions of retail bookselling, and at<br /> the same time be a gain to the public and. to the<br /> author as well. _____ Ex-Publisher.<br /> Additional.<br /> [The following additional considerations are submitted<br /> by a member of the Committee.]<br /> The bookselling trade has been subject to two<br /> contrary, though not contradictory, tendencies of<br /> the age, the tendency to combination, and the<br /> tendency to differentiation, and by both these<br /> movements the present race of booksellers have<br /> been disastrously affected. The former move-<br /> ment, of which the Co-operative Stores are the<br /> concrete embodiment, will be considered in a later<br /> portion of this report. Of the tendency to<br /> specialisation, one result is such an integral<br /> feature of our inquiry that it must be clearly<br /> pointed out at starting. To the general public,<br /> booksellers form a single class, distinguished only<br /> by the extent of their business. Those behind<br /> the scenes know that they may be roughly<br /> divided into two distinct classes—those who deal<br /> in copyright books, and those who deal in non-<br /> copyright books. There is, of course, the hard-<br /> and-fast line between the two; the seller of new<br /> books will keep among his ware a popular reprint<br /> of a standard work, and the seller of reprints will<br /> speculate in a new novel bearing some well-known<br /> name on its title-page—there are not at the<br /> present moment more than half a dozen such<br /> names at most—and he will procure for his cus-<br /> tomers any new book they may demand, but he<br /> will not keep it in stock. But though the two<br /> classes may overlap, the distinction between them is<br /> essential. Thus among the hundreds of book-<br /> shops and bookstalls east of St. Paul&#039;s, we<br /> believe there is not a single boo_aeller, in the<br /> older and stricter sense of the word. And the<br /> b 2<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 182 (#612) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> reason is not far to seek. In rough figures, the<br /> seller of copyright books makes 15 per cent,<br /> gross profits on his sales, the seller of non-<br /> copyright books makes anything from 2 5 to 50<br /> per cent., or even more.<br /> This is a no less serious matter for authors<br /> than for booksellers. A book that is not dis-<br /> played can hardly be said to be published, and<br /> the vast majority of the population, all—in fact,<br /> except the inhabitants of great centres like<br /> London, Manchester, and Oxford—have uo oppor-<br /> tunity of seeing a new book, unless it happens to<br /> be in the Free Library, or they order it through<br /> the Circulating Library, and the class which<br /> makes use of these two agencies is not to any great<br /> extent a book-purchasing class.<br /> LITERARY PROPERTY.<br /> I.—Report on Copyright.<br /> THE Report of the Royal Commission on the<br /> Law of Copyright, which has been out of<br /> print for some ten years, has been reprinted,<br /> in consequence, we presume, of a fresh demand<br /> being caused by the proceedings in the House of<br /> Lords in connection with the amending Bill pro-<br /> moted by the Society of Authors last session, which<br /> passed the House after investigation by a Select<br /> Committee with the assistance of skilled witnesses.<br /> Since the first issue of the Report in 1878, con-<br /> solidation and amendment of the law have been<br /> three times attempted: first, in 1879, by the<br /> present Duke of Rutland, then Lord John<br /> Manners, on behalf of the Conservative Govern-<br /> ment; secondly, in 1886, by the Society of<br /> Authors in a Bill which was not brought before<br /> Parliament; and thirdly, in 1891, by Lord<br /> Monkswell&#039;s Bill, promoted by the same society<br /> after consultation of all parties interested, and<br /> read a second time in the House of Lords subject<br /> to the singular condition imposed by Lord Hals-<br /> bury, as representing the Government, that it<br /> should not be further proceeded with. Various<br /> amending Bills have also been introduced, notably<br /> that of last session by Lord Monkswell, which<br /> will be re-introduced in Parliament as soon as<br /> possible. All the Bills, whether consolidating or<br /> amending, have, as might be expected, been<br /> framed on the lines marked out by the Report<br /> of the Commission of 1878. The Bill of 1891 is<br /> prefixed by an elaborate memorandum summaris-<br /> ing its contents, and giving reasons for almost<br /> every alteration proposed; and the same course<br /> was pursued on a smaller scale in connection with<br /> the Bill of last session. Perhaps the best mode<br /> of procedure in the matter would be for Parlia-<br /> ment to pass the Bill with such amendments, if<br /> any, as may seem desirable, but to postpone its<br /> operation for a few months, before the expiration<br /> of which period a consolidating Bill repealing<br /> and precisely re-enacting it may also be passed.<br /> This procedure, which has the advantage of dis-<br /> tinguishing amendment from re-enactment, and<br /> of enabling the opinion of Parliament to be taken<br /> separately on amendments, was successfully fol-<br /> lowed in connection with the amendments of the<br /> law of lunacy which were placed on the Statute-<br /> book in 1889 and 1890.—Law Times, Nov. 13,<br /> 1897.<br /> II.—The Cost of Production.<br /> I have before me estimates from four printers<br /> of a certain piece of work. I tabulated these<br /> estimates, and compared them with the corre-<br /> sponding figures in the Society&#039;s &quot;Cost of<br /> Production.&quot; Whenever I get accounts or esti-<br /> mates I always make this comparison, and always<br /> with the same result. And yet we find certain<br /> publishers gravely and impudently asserting that<br /> the figures in the &quot;Cost of Production&quot; are far<br /> too low:<br /> Composing Printing Paper for the<br /> Per sheet. Per sheet. whole work.<br /> £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d.<br /> Society&#039;s figures 1 16 6 ... o 16 2 ... 28 7 o<br /> PrinterA i is 6 ... 1 4 6 ... 18 2 3<br /> » B 1 16 o ... 1 40 ... 30 2 o<br /> „ C 2 5 o ... o 17 6 ... 18 o o<br /> ( (Lumped these items }<br /> 1, U &gt; . , i IS II O<br /> (. togother) ) 3<br /> The very low estimate of printing—16s. zd.<br /> a sheet—(see &quot;Cost of Production,&quot; p. 28) is<br /> perhaps due to its being the charge for printing<br /> after stereotyping.<br /> Observe the wonderful unanimity of the charge<br /> for composing. As for the cost of paper, we<br /> must, it is evident, lower this item by 36 per<br /> cent., an immense saving.<br /> The Secretary showed me recently three<br /> accounts. They all came from the same house:<br /> they were all, under every head, lower than those<br /> of the Society&#039;s book.<br /> I think, with these facts before us, we need not<br /> distress ourselves with the complaints about our<br /> impossible figures. W. B.<br /> III.—Serial Rights.<br /> As serial rights have been steadily growing in<br /> importance, it has been found necessary from<br /> time to time to repeat in The Author the difficul-<br /> ties of dealing with this kind of property and the<br /> pitfalls that should be avoided.<br /> By serial publication is meant not publication<br /> in a series of books, but publication in the form<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 183 (#613) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> »83<br /> of periodical issue. Serial rights may be divided<br /> as follows.<br /> These are the common formB:<br /> :. Rights in Some important London maga-<br /> zine or paper.<br /> 2. Rights in some important American maga-<br /> zine or paper.<br /> 3. Secondary rights in England.<br /> 4. Secondary rights in America.<br /> 5. Rights in the Colonies and Dependencies<br /> of Great Britain.<br /> In selling any of these rights the author<br /> should be very careful of what he is selling, and<br /> of the date of publication.<br /> If the author is careless, he may find that he<br /> has sold all serial rights, that his story is being<br /> syndicated in the provinces and in America and is<br /> bringing in moneys that he could have put into<br /> his own pocket, or that his work is being con-<br /> stantly reproduced in serial versions in the same<br /> paper.<br /> Another result of this carelessness may be that<br /> he finds his work in serial form advertised at<br /> absurdly cheap prices, which may tend to depre-<br /> ciate the value of any fresh work from his pen.<br /> He may find again, that he has brought him-<br /> self within the toils of the 18th section of the<br /> Copyright Act. The 18th section runs as follows:<br /> &quot;XVIII. And be it enacted, that when any pub-<br /> lisher or other person shall, before or at the time<br /> of the passing of this Act, have projected, con-<br /> ducted, and carried on, or shall hereafter project,<br /> conduct, and carry on, or be the proprietor of<br /> any encyclopaedia, review, magazine, periodical<br /> work, or work published in a series of books or<br /> parts, or any book whatsoever, and shall have<br /> employed or shall employ any persons to compose<br /> the same, or any volume, parts, essays, articles,<br /> or portions thereof for publication in or as part<br /> of the same, and such work, volumes, parts,<br /> essays, articles, or portions shall have been or<br /> shall hereafter be composed under such employ-<br /> ment, on the terms that the copyright therein<br /> shall belong to such proprietor, projector, pub-<br /> lisher, or conductor, and paid for by such pro-<br /> prietor, publisher, projector, or conductor, the<br /> copyright in every such encyclopaedia, review,<br /> magazine, periodical work, and work published in<br /> a series of books or parts, and in every volume,<br /> part, essay, article, and portion so composed and<br /> paid for, shall be the property of such proprietor,<br /> projector, publisher, or other conductor, who<br /> shall enjoy the same rights as if he were the<br /> actual author thereof, and shall have such term<br /> of copyright therein as is given to the authors of<br /> books by this Act; except only that in the case<br /> of essays, articles, or portions forming part of<br /> and first published in reviews, magazines, or<br /> other periodical works of a like nature after the<br /> term of twenty-eight years from the first pub-<br /> lication thereof respectively, the right of publishing<br /> the same in a separate form shall revert to the<br /> author for the remainder of the term given by<br /> this Act: Provided always, that during the term<br /> of twenty-eight years the said proprietor, pro-<br /> jector, publisher, or conductor, shall not publish<br /> any such essay, article, or portion separately or<br /> singly, without the consent previously obtained<br /> of the author thereof, or hiB assigns: Provided<br /> also that nothing herein contained shall alter or<br /> affect the right of any person who shall have been<br /> or who shall be so employed as aforesaid to<br /> publish any such his composition in a separate<br /> form who by any contract, express or implied,<br /> may have reserved or may hereafter reserve to<br /> himself such right; but every author reserving,<br /> retaining, or having such right shall be entitled<br /> to the copyright in such composition when<br /> published in a separate form, according to this<br /> Act, without prejudice to the right of such<br /> proprietor, projector, publisher, or conductor, as<br /> aforesaid.&quot;<br /> It will be seen from this that when the pro-<br /> prietor employs and pays (a most important<br /> feature) a writer on the terms that the copyright<br /> in the work done shall belong to such proprietor,<br /> then the proprietor can for twenty-eight years<br /> republish the work, but only with the consent<br /> of the author; but that the author may on the<br /> other hand expressly or impliedly retain his copy-<br /> right.<br /> The question of what would happen if nothing<br /> was said about copyright is left open. Does the<br /> author impliedly reserve it?<br /> One case decided in the courts seems to point<br /> to this view, but the question is still by good<br /> authorities considered doubtful.<br /> The author should always endeavour to have a<br /> special contract with regard to the sale of serial<br /> rights, and should under all circumstances try to<br /> avoid coming under the ban of the 18th section.<br /> The Society of Authors in their Copyright Bill<br /> which passed through the House of Lords last<br /> session, having been settled by a very strong<br /> committee of that House, have remedied this<br /> difficulty, and in that Bill have repealed the 18th<br /> section.<br /> The committee of the Society intend to use their<br /> utmost endeavours to push the Bill through, as<br /> they have the support of the Publishers&#039; aud<br /> Copyright Associations and hope to succeed, but<br /> as the 18th section is still law it must still In-<br /> dealt with.<br /> If the author can sell both the American and<br /> English serial rights he must arrange for simul-<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 184 (#614) ############################################<br /> <br /> 184<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> taueous publication so as not to lose t he American<br /> copyright.<br /> There are certain periodicals that publish long<br /> stories in single numbers. This is often the case<br /> with annuals.<br /> The author when selling to such periodicals<br /> should keep this point before him, as it is possible<br /> that such circulation may damage the book rights,<br /> and if this is likely he should secure an enhanced<br /> price.<br /> The author should never sign a receipt for<br /> moneys in payment for serial use which is so<br /> expressed as to convey the copyright to the<br /> proprietor.<br /> If an author does not understand what he is<br /> signing he had better take the advice of someone<br /> who does.<br /> He should be careful of the date of publication,<br /> for the very simple reason that the tale will be<br /> published in book form, and it cannot appear in<br /> this form until it has ran at any rate for some<br /> months as a serial.<br /> It is important for an author to arrange that<br /> the publication of one story does not conflict with<br /> the publication of another.<br /> There is the further question that many<br /> periodicals do not pay until publication takes<br /> place. This, of course, could not be delayed<br /> indefinitely, but the expense and difficulty of<br /> bringing the machinery of the law to work ought,<br /> if possible, to be avoided. Let the contract<br /> be quite clear by taking a little care in the<br /> beginning.<br /> Authors should be careful also that their MS.<br /> is sent type-written. If type-writing is too<br /> expensive, then the writing should be very<br /> distinct.<br /> There is no doubt, however, that a type-written<br /> MS. increases an author&#039;s chance of being read,<br /> and he should not neglect this chance.<br /> The author should always retain a copy in case<br /> of accidents, and should be very careful of the<br /> position and repute of the periodical he intends<br /> to deal with.<br /> An author when writing to an editor should<br /> clearly state what he is offering for sale. Thus:<br /> &quot;Dear Sir,—I beg to offer you the enclosed<br /> for serial publication in number of ,<br /> or any number that may be subsequently agreed<br /> upon.&quot;<br /> The author should also mention the price that<br /> he is willing to take, that is if he is particular on<br /> this point.<br /> If the tale is accepted without any further<br /> special stipulations, then it is accepted on the<br /> terms of the letter.<br /> It is important therefore to keep copies of<br /> letters.<br /> Lastly, and this is most important, do not<br /> assign to publishers when contracting with them<br /> for the publication of a book, &quot;serial, &amp;c, &amp;c.,<br /> rights,&quot; either on half profits or any other<br /> terms.<br /> The much-abused agent charges in nearly all<br /> cases between 5 and 15 per cent., whereas the<br /> publisher when undertaking this agency work for<br /> sale of serial rights charges anything from 2 5 to<br /> 50 per cent.<br /> He is, in addition, not nearly so competent as an<br /> agent to carry through this work, and in many<br /> cases does not even attempt to do so.<br /> As this work is really outside his publishing<br /> business he does not strive to make a good<br /> bargain in order to maintain the author&#039;s interests,<br /> but is willing to sell for whatever he can get, as<br /> he is reaping a large benefit from that for which<br /> he has not toiled.<br /> It would be possible to quote many clauses<br /> taken from various agreements in the Society&#039;s<br /> hands, but the following, as perhaps most<br /> typical, is chosen as an example:<br /> &quot;That the publisher shall have the sole right<br /> to sell or assign the serial, American, Colonial,<br /> Continental translation and dramatic rights in<br /> the above work, and the publisher shall pay to<br /> the author one half of the profits from the sale<br /> of the same, such amounts to be payable as and<br /> when provided in Clause 5 hereof. In the case of<br /> stereo-plates, electro-plates, or shells with rights<br /> being sold, the net profits of their sale, after<br /> deducting the invoiced cost of their production,<br /> shall be received, divided, and paid over in the<br /> same way. Quires or bound copies sold to<br /> America shall come under Clause 5 hereof.&quot;<br /> IV.—A Case.<br /> The following case will no doubt be a very<br /> interesting one to members of the Society :—<br /> An article was sent to one of the best known<br /> evening papers on a certain subject, and shortly<br /> afterwards the writer obtained the following<br /> letter:<br /> Aug. 24, 1897.<br /> Dear Sir,—Your article on&quot; &quot;has been accepted<br /> by this paper, and will be nsed in due course,—Tours<br /> faithfully, (Signed) ,<br /> Acting editor of the paper<br /> Two months later, without hearing anything in<br /> the meantime, the writer received the subjoined<br /> letter. He had naturally taken for granted that<br /> his article would either appear in due course, or in<br /> case of non-publication that the editor would at<br /> any rate pay him for it as it had been definitely<br /> accepted. It never entered his head that the<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 185 (#615) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> •85<br /> editor would not carry out the contract that he<br /> had entered into: ^ a ^<br /> The editor of the&quot; &quot;regrets that he is unable to<br /> make use of the enclosed MS., whioh he accordingly returns<br /> with many thanks.<br /> The article has been returned to the paper, but<br /> nothing further has been heard from the editor up<br /> to the present date.<br /> The secretary of the Society will be pleased to<br /> give the name of the paper to any member of the<br /> Society who cares to verify this statement.<br /> V.—A Fancy Offee.<br /> Here is a publisher&#039;s offer of a fancy or sport-<br /> ing kind. A young writer has a MS. which he<br /> thinks likely to attract attention. He offers it to<br /> a certain firm; he receives the following pro-<br /> posal:<br /> 1. He is to pay down in advance «£uo.<br /> 2. The publishers will produce an edition of<br /> 1500 copies free of cost to the author.<br /> 3. After 100 copies have been sold, they will<br /> pay the author is. 6d. a copy royalty.<br /> Let us see how this works out.<br /> (1) On the sale of 500:<br /> £ s. £ s.<br /> Cost of production, say 100 o<br /> Royaltyon400at2*.6rf. 50 o<br /> Profit to publisher ... 47 10<br /> 197 10<br /> (2) On the sale of 1000:<br /> Cost of production ...<br /> Royalty on 900 at2s. 6d.<br /> Profit to publisher ...<br /> I 10<br /> 0<br /> 87<br /> 10<br /> 100<br /> 0<br /> 112<br /> 10<br /> 72<br /> 10<br /> IIO<br /> 0<br /> 175<br /> 0<br /> 197 10<br /> 285<br /> (3) On the sale of 1500 copies:<br /> Cost of production ... 100 o<br /> Royalty to author on<br /> 1400 copies 175 10<br /> Profit to publisher ... 97 o<br /> 285<br /> 372 10<br /> By author no o<br /> Sale of 1500 at 3*. 6d. 262 10<br /> 372 10<br /> £ *.<br /> So that, the author, by 500 copies, loses 60 o<br /> „ 1000 „ gains 2 10<br /> „ 1500 „ „ 65 io<br /> The publisher by 500 „ „ 47 10<br /> 1000 „ „ 72 10<br /> 1500 „ » 97 °<br /> Very likely the new writer accepted the pro-<br /> posal because he wanted his work to appear.<br /> Yet, you see, the publisher, who is completely<br /> covered from risk, gains =£72 io*. on a thousand<br /> copies, and the author £2 10s. I<br /> The fault of the agreement is that the royalty<br /> is paid by the publisher to the author instead of<br /> by the author to the publisher.<br /> NEW YORK LETTER.<br /> New York, Nov. 16.<br /> THE questions of ethics and of business<br /> between authors and publishers are being<br /> discussed with as much liveliness now in<br /> the United States as they are in England. The<br /> latest contribution to the subject is an article by<br /> Professor C. G. D. Roberts, a minor poet of some<br /> reputation, in the Illustrated American. He<br /> makes some pleasant concessions to the human<br /> nature of publishers, but says that before the<br /> days of international copyright they acted like<br /> brain cannibals. One of his exceptions, the<br /> Harpers, who tried to pay Mr. Gilbert some-<br /> thing on account of one of his operas, had the<br /> cheque returned by him with a sarcastic letter!<br /> Rather entertaining light is thrown on the busi-<br /> ness of providing the public with what it wants<br /> by the prospectus for 1898, just published by<br /> Scribner&#039;s Magazine. A series of articles on<br /> great businesses is to be continued another year.<br /> The central idea of each article is to show what a<br /> tremendous lot of brains the men who run the<br /> business possess. Anything critical, anything<br /> which takes away from the magnificence of<br /> the impressions, is frowned upon. The idea is<br /> not unlike that which animates our so-called<br /> yellow journals, to get the reader excited, enthu-<br /> siastic, to give him what we call a sensation. Of<br /> course, that is only one part of a great magazine,<br /> though it is coming to be the principal part.<br /> Another of the Scribner&#039;s announcements is a con-<br /> tinuation of a series of articles which tell how a<br /> college graduate occupied himself with various<br /> humble employments and learned to know the<br /> people. This series has been very popular, and<br /> shows that there is rather wide taste for this<br /> condescending interest in all sorts and con-<br /> ditions of men. One of the more cheerful signs<br /> of the times as given by the fodder promised<br /> by the magazine is that, if a man is famous<br /> enough, he may write as well as he pleases. A<br /> poem is promised on Stevenson by James Whit-<br /> comb Riley, which will undoubtedly have life in<br /> it, and Kipling is to be a contributor. Henry<br /> Cabot Lodge will write a history of the American<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 186 (#616) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> Revolution in instalments, and it is interesting<br /> to notice that the principal emphasis is put on<br /> the pictures. The picture is becoming the central<br /> point, not only of magazines, but of a large part<br /> of the book-publishing business. The other day<br /> a writer was talking to a publisher about a forth-<br /> coming yolume. &quot;I wish we could have that<br /> book,&quot; said the publisher, &quot; it would go well; but<br /> the difficulty would be to make the pictures.&quot;<br /> Now, the book was a series of essays, requiring<br /> absolutely no illustration in the real sense, for<br /> pictures would do nothing to bring out the mean-<br /> ing of the text. The publisher&#039;s comment simply<br /> represented a judgment which is becoming an<br /> instinct.<br /> Another commercial feature of the treatment of<br /> literature is brought out by the Chap Book in its<br /> last number in connection with a matter of which<br /> I have already spoken, the great library of the<br /> World&#039;s Best Literature. The periodical calls<br /> attention to the fact that Abigail Adams has 25<br /> pages and Addison 23 ; iEschylus 17 and T. B.<br /> Aldrich 37; Alfieri 12 and George W. Cable 20.<br /> The moral is very obvious, and besides, it has been<br /> clearly enough stated before.<br /> Clearly as we may see these unhappy elements<br /> of literary life, however, it is only decent to<br /> realise the strength of the temptation. Most of<br /> our publishers are exceptionally moral and high-<br /> minded men. They almost always succeed in<br /> deceiving themselves before they deceive the<br /> public. When a strong temptation to make a<br /> popular move comes up they reason about how<br /> much more good you can do by working with the<br /> prejudices of the populace than by working<br /> against them, and what bad taste and unkind-<br /> ness it is to speak evil of anybody. After a little<br /> course in this sort of thought, the habit of cater-<br /> ing to a large circulation becomes an easy one,<br /> quite in line with their convictions.<br /> While some men seem to lose their equilibrium<br /> in the business desire to stretch the maxim Vox<br /> Populi Vox Dei beyond its legitimate meaning,<br /> others lose it by too thorough distrust of the<br /> popular verdict. George Bernard Shaw, whose<br /> clever play &quot;The Devil&#039;s Disciple&quot; is running<br /> with unexpected success here, has taken the<br /> trouble to write an open letter, in which he shows<br /> how he is always right and the public always<br /> wrong whenever there is any difference of opinion<br /> about the success of one of his manwuvres. Now<br /> the particular thing which aroused bis wrath was<br /> not a moral or intellectual difference at all, but<br /> a very bad piece of execution, where human<br /> beings were made to act ridiculously in order to<br /> keep the outcome of the plot from being seen at<br /> a particular time. Mr. Shaw accuses the public<br /> of Philistinism, which whether true or not,<br /> is beside the mark. The audience in America,<br /> at least, and presumably elsewhere, is an un-<br /> critical mass of persons which responds to<br /> certain dramatic effects and fails to respond<br /> to others. It may put its judgment in intellec-<br /> tual terms, but what really causes the success or<br /> failure of the play is usually a matter of con-<br /> structive workmanship. Mr. Barrie&#039;s &quot;Little<br /> Minister,&quot; now running in New York to remark-<br /> able houses, is an instance of practically perfect<br /> dramatic construction. The play is so well<br /> balanced and so neatly written, so without any<br /> superfluous touches, that even Mr. Charles<br /> Frohman&#039;s characteristic move of making one of<br /> the principal characters unimportant in order to<br /> pay only one prominent actor, fails to ruin the<br /> play. An instance, however, of how a bad play<br /> can be made to score some sort of a success is<br /> being given at the same time. &quot;A Lady of<br /> Quality &quot; is constructed in such a childish way,<br /> so full of idiotic speeches, long pauses, and<br /> affected explanations, that almost everybody is<br /> surprised that even Julia Arthur&#039;s acting carries<br /> the venture to success, but it does with the aid of<br /> a liberal allowance of scenery.<br /> One of our most intelligent actors, Minnie<br /> Madden Pisk, has just made a strong protest<br /> against what is known as the Theatrical Trust,<br /> an institution which does more to stifle original<br /> dramatic production than anything else in the<br /> country. It is under the control of two or three<br /> small-natured but successful business men, who<br /> control the largest theatres in all of the cities,<br /> and all of the theatres in some of the cities, and<br /> refuse to allow any play or actor there until con-<br /> cessions are made to them. Not one of these<br /> two or three men has any idea of art, or any<br /> ideal beyond money and large type for his<br /> own name in the playbill, and the result is<br /> disastrous.<br /> One trifling incident which happened a few<br /> weeks ago has been a good deal misjudged.<br /> &quot;Les Miserables &quot; was excluded from a course of<br /> reading in a Philadelphia school on account of<br /> supposed impropriety. The Journal des Debats<br /> say that commercial motives were uppermost in<br /> this move. A good deal has been done to favour<br /> American books, but nothing quite so ridiculous<br /> as that. The motive was honest, however foolish.<br /> It was a case of ignorant goodness.<br /> Norman Hafoood.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 187 (#617) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> NOTES AND NEWS.<br /> THE Keport of the Sub-Coruuiittee appointed<br /> to consider the publishers&#039; proposals with<br /> regard to the discount question will be<br /> found in another page. The Committee was<br /> intended to be a representative one. In Mr.<br /> a&#039;Beckett and Mr. Henry Norman, Literature and<br /> Journalism are combined. Sir Martin Conway is<br /> not only a distinguished traveller but he is also a<br /> distinguished writer on Art. Mr. Beddard, F.R.S.,<br /> is a leader in science. Mr. Storr, editor of the<br /> Journal of Education, is an authority on all<br /> subjects connected with educational literature.<br /> Mr. Henry Arthur Jones very fitly represents the<br /> Drama. Mr. Tedder probably knows more about<br /> books and the history of books and their circu-<br /> lation than any other living man. Of the last<br /> member, myself, it would be false modesty to<br /> pretend, after five years&#039; chairmanship of the<br /> Society, and six years&#039; editing of The Author, that<br /> I do not know something of the subject.<br /> I hope that every member of the Society will<br /> read this Report very carefully, and will agree<br /> with it. The Sub-Committee, briefly, cannot adopt<br /> the proposals. There is every conceivable reason<br /> why they should not, and not one why they<br /> should, for—<br /> (i.) The 3(7. in the shilling discoimt is only<br /> one of many reasons, as is shown in the Report,<br /> for the alleged depression in the book trade.<br /> (2.) There is no depression in the book trade,<br /> which was never more flourishing, but a grave<br /> depression in the trade of the country bookseller.<br /> (3.) It would be impossible to carry out the<br /> proposed coercion.<br /> (4.) If it were possible, the reduction of a large<br /> body of men to practical slavery is a thing against<br /> which all Englishmen must protest.<br /> (5.) The system is in vogue in Germany, where<br /> it is a grinding tyranny.<br /> (6.) These reasons are enough, but the Report<br /> shows more. Should we, for instance, regard the<br /> proposal as the first step in an organised plan for<br /> placing the whole of the business of literature in<br /> the hands of the publishers H<br /> (7.) The next step would then be to prohibit<br /> booksellers from buying and selling any other<br /> than the books of the Publishers&#039; Asssociation.<br /> (8.) That step would prevent the author from<br /> publishing at all, except through the Association.<br /> (9.) The Association would then be able to make<br /> any terms they pleased with authors.<br /> (10.) The slavery of the author following on<br /> that of the bookseller, would naturallv lead to the<br /> decline of literature.<br /> This anticipation is not by any means imagi-<br /> nary. There is every reason to believe that some<br /> such action is contemplated with the view of<br /> bringing royalties down to 10 per cent.<br /> What does a 10 per cent, royalty mean? It<br /> means several things. (1.) That the publisher<br /> on a 6s. book gives the author jd. and takes for<br /> himself is. nd. (2.) That no one except the<br /> few very successful men could live by writing.<br /> (3.) That a writer who now makes ,£2000 a year<br /> would be reduced to £800 a year. (4.) That a<br /> writer who now makes £600 a year would be<br /> reduced to £250. Of course similar reductions<br /> would be made in the magazines.<br /> If any other reason were wanted, we might find<br /> it in the consideration that the reduction of the<br /> discount by one penny in the shilling would<br /> increase the price of books in a corresponding<br /> degree, and therefore prohibit the sale. In a<br /> word, people will not pay 5*. when they have been<br /> accustomed to pay sixpence less.<br /> But the whole business is a question for book-<br /> sellers. If they agree among themselves in any<br /> town it is open and legitimate for them to do so.<br /> It is also to be observed, very carefully, that the<br /> proposals of the publishers do not cost themselves<br /> a single penny. On the other hand, as they<br /> contemplate the substitution of net prices for the<br /> present system, they actually mean to put a<br /> substantial addition of money into their own<br /> pockets.<br /> Thus, the 6«. book will become 5*. net.<br /> At present the publisher gets 3s. 6d. on an<br /> average for a 6s. book. At the net price he will<br /> get 3«. n^d.<br /> He therefore pockets 5|rf. by the change so<br /> benevolently advanced for the good of the book-<br /> seller, who takes for his share about $d. It is<br /> indeed disinterested.<br /> The question of the Publishing &quot; Trust&quot; must<br /> be kept over for a time. Action of some sort may<br /> be forced upon us sooner than was anticipated.<br /> Meantime many encouraging notes have been<br /> received, and I shall be glad to hear more if<br /> members, especially members whose works have<br /> been successful, will consider the scheme, or any<br /> scheme of a similar nature. It may, for instance,<br /> be found more easy to develop the trade outside<br /> the regular channels: to make drapers and others<br /> booksellers in reality of new and copyright<br /> works. _<br /> I have received the following private letter<br /> from a member. It seems to me to concern all of<br /> us, not the editor of this paper alone; therefore,<br /> I have asked leave to publish it:—<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 188 (#618) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> &quot;I am always concerned when I read the<br /> annual report of the Committee to mark how slow<br /> the progress of the Society is. Do you agitate<br /> enough? Do you make the world of letters<br /> really understand that the Society does not exist<br /> for novelists only, as our enemies are fond of<br /> declaring: that it is not a fad or a sham distinc-<br /> tion or an affectation of this, that, or the other:<br /> t hat it is not a body which arrogates to itself the<br /> function of &#039;encouraging&#039; literature, or &quot; advanc-<br /> ing &quot; literature: but that it is, on the other hand,<br /> a perfectly serious society, whose work is wholly<br /> devoted to the business aspect of the literary<br /> profession? If writers once understood and<br /> realised this they would all flock in. If they<br /> would be taught, at the same time, what the<br /> Society has already effected: how royalties have<br /> been doubled, trebled, quadrupled; how lying<br /> accounts have been checked; how the cost of<br /> production has been, for the first time, revealed<br /> to the world, having always before been studiously<br /> concealed—the intention being to trade on the<br /> ignorance of the author: how, for the first time,<br /> the author has found himself protected: then<br /> there would be no hesitation: every man of letters<br /> whose work was a property, however small, would<br /> become a member. And it would be the duty,<br /> even of those who did not want the services of<br /> the Society, to join for the sake of others.<br /> &quot;General literature and fiction, I take it, are<br /> well represented on your list. I believe that<br /> education is very poorly represented. Why is<br /> this? Educational books are, commercially, the<br /> most important branch of letters. Your late<br /> report shows how widespread are the iniquities<br /> endured by educational writers. Why do they<br /> not become members in larger numbers? They<br /> have great interests, increasing every day, to<br /> defend. They seem to have received your educa-<br /> tional report with a kind of apathy. In business<br /> matters they are for the most part entirely at the<br /> mercy of their publishers. Yet they seem<br /> incapable of making an effort for themselves even<br /> by joining a society which would look after their<br /> affairs for them. It may be that some of them<br /> are afraid of publishers. If they themselves are<br /> of repute and in demand, they have no occasion<br /> to be afraid, because where there is money there<br /> are always business men to snatch at it. Some,<br /> perhaps, look on their books as a means of extend-<br /> ing their own connection: still, if their books sell,<br /> there are men of business always ready to take<br /> them over. My point is this: Why do not educa-<br /> tional writers give the Society a larger support P<br /> &quot;Men of science, I am informed, do belong,<br /> but not all men of science. My own desire is to<br /> see the Society a catholic body, including men<br /> and women in all branches of literature—that is<br /> to say, in every line of intellectual endeavour,<br /> because every line has its own literature. Will<br /> not the members themselves take this view, and<br /> bring the claims of the Society before those who<br /> have not yet thought it worthy of support from<br /> themselves?&quot; _____<br /> I make no apology for criticising the critic, first<br /> because he ought to be criticised as well as the<br /> author; second, because in this case it is the<br /> Spectator, a paper which, more than any other,<br /> endeavours to present the whole truth to its<br /> readers. The paper to which I refer is a review<br /> of Putnam&#039;s &quot;Authors and Publishers,&quot; a book<br /> which has been already noticed in these columns.<br /> The writer, after pointing out that the Messrs.<br /> Putnam do not like the literary agent, and quite<br /> failing to see the humourous nature of their<br /> objection, goes on to speak of the literary agent.<br /> He says, &quot;After all, it is the author who, though<br /> he may not know it, pays the literary agent.&quot; Is<br /> it?<br /> Let us examine. The author hitherto has been<br /> made to sign agreements in complete ignorance<br /> of what they mean. It therefore follows, as a<br /> matter of course, that his ignorance has been<br /> made the means of getting a one-sided agree-<br /> ment. Much stronger language might be used,<br /> suitable for the great majority of cases. But this<br /> will suffice. The literary agent knows. That is<br /> the first thing. He knows. He therefore pre-<br /> vents his client from suffering through his<br /> ignorance. The publisher has to substitute a<br /> proper agreement.<br /> Who pays for that transaction? The author,<br /> whose property is perhaps doubled in value?<br /> Or the publisher, whose gains have shrunk by a<br /> half?<br /> Here are two cases, both of which are abso-<br /> lutely true:<br /> I. A. B. is a novelist of repute. He took a<br /> MS. to a certain firm, who offered him a<br /> certain sum of money. Fortunately he<br /> became suspicious. He went to a literary<br /> agent, who, the very same day, obtained<br /> from the very same firm four times their<br /> original offer!<br /> II. C. D. received a call from a publisher, who<br /> invited him to write a paper for a certain<br /> magazine. C. D. expressed his willing-<br /> ness to consider the proposal. The pub-<br /> lisher drew out his cheque book. &quot;Let<br /> me say,&quot; he spread it on the table and<br /> took a pen. &quot;Let me say—so much.&quot;<br /> He relied on the temptation of an out-<br /> ward and visible cheque. &quot;My work,&quot;<br /> said C. D.,&quot; is in the hands of Mr. .<br /> He will call upon you.&quot; The literary<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 189 (#619) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> agent called: the amount he arranged<br /> for was exactly five times the amount<br /> offered.<br /> Who paid the literary agent in these two trans-<br /> actions? Was it the author or was it the pub-<br /> lisher F<br /> And now, I hope, if the writer of that review<br /> sees this note he will alter his views as to the side<br /> which pays the agent. |<br /> If one thinks of the situation for a moment it<br /> becomes .self evident that so long as the literary<br /> agent exists, it is the publisher who pays him and<br /> not the author at all. For the literary agent<br /> exists for the purpose of obtaining fair terms for<br /> the author. The moment that the publisher of<br /> his own accord proposes those fair terms, the<br /> literary agent is not wanted: he has no locus<br /> standi: if the author knows that he has only to<br /> present himself to the publishers to receive equi-<br /> table proposals, there is no reason at all for the<br /> existence of the agent. That existence, in fact, is<br /> a standing proof that publishers as a body do seek<br /> to trade on the ignorance of the author, to get<br /> him to accept the very lowest terms they can<br /> venture to offer. Ten years ago nothing was more<br /> common than a royalty of 10 per cent, or even of<br /> 5 per cent. Where is now the publisher who dares<br /> to offer a royalty of 5 per cent.? Out of the<br /> difference between the old prices and the new the<br /> literary agent is paid—by the publisher.<br /> The Americans take a sensible view of the<br /> literary agent. I have before me a long slip from<br /> the New York Sun, describing the work .and the<br /> great success of the literary agent in this country.<br /> The writer, who is not accurate in all the details,<br /> begins with a statement which will be received<br /> with a smile :—<br /> The literary agent is one form of the middleman against<br /> whom little complaint has been heard. Maybe this oomes<br /> from the fact that he deals with writers who are apt to<br /> know little abont business matters. However that may be,<br /> it is certain that the writers accepted the middleman with<br /> enthusiasm. With his advent the traditional antagonism<br /> between publishers and writers lost its sharpest edge. Nor<br /> does the old spirit vent itself on the agent who serves as<br /> buffer between the opposing interests. The writers swear<br /> by him. The publishers are not unfriendly to him.<br /> He has never heard of the publisher&#039;s clerk who<br /> was put on to abuse the literary agent in a maga-<br /> zine; or of the publisher who called the literary<br /> agent a &quot;canker,&quot; because he protects authors;<br /> or of the publisher who refused to deal with the<br /> literary agent—till he found he was obliged to do<br /> so; or of the publishers who go behind the back<br /> of the agent and try to trap the author into con-<br /> ducting the business himself. Whatever the<br /> American publisher may do, the English pufj<br /> lisher as a rule resents the appearance of the<br /> agent and would refuse to deal with him if he<br /> dared. In America, according to the Sun, the<br /> publisher is pleased to deal with an agent simply<br /> because he is a business man. As regards his<br /> work and functions, they are thus summed up:—<br /> The snocess of the literary agent here is easy enough tc<br /> understand, for he relieves the writer of the work whioh<br /> the latter was least capable of doing. The agent has time<br /> to make himself acquainted with facts whioh the writers<br /> wonld never have the opportunity of finding out. He knows,<br /> for instance, where books or stories of a eertain kind are<br /> needed and how badly they are wanted. He knows which<br /> magazine is buying material and spending its money and<br /> which is using only stuff that was bought long before.<br /> Among the publishers, he knows whioh firm is in search of a<br /> book on any particular subject, or, if a novel is wanted,<br /> what kind it should be. These are things which no writer<br /> has the time to find out, even if he oonld learn them.<br /> Knowing the situation as well as he does, the literary agent<br /> can demand better terms. It happens sometimes that a<br /> magazine may have enongh stories of adventure or travel to<br /> last for two or three years and yet be entirely withont<br /> stories of social life. In another office exactly the opposite<br /> condition may exist. The writer does not know this<br /> usually, and it is a waste of time to send to these places the<br /> sort of material which is not needed. But writers do this,<br /> and it of course moans a loss of time. The agent knows<br /> just where to place material so that it will have a show.<br /> One magazine has for the past two years paid out<br /> absolutely nothing for fiction and has used the large supply<br /> on hand. But writers are not supposed to know that, and<br /> the magazine had no idea of allowing it to become known.<br /> So writers continued to send stories right along, and the<br /> manuscripts were always returned. By placing work<br /> where it is most wanted and by attending to the business of<br /> writers, with a care which the writers themselves are not<br /> likely to show, the agents can get better rates and insure<br /> the sale of more matter. Since I have had an agent to take<br /> charge of my work I have as many orders as I can fill and<br /> get a cent more a word than I ever did before.<br /> The agent simply means the introduction of<br /> business principles into the business of publishing.<br /> One cannot understand why a publisher should<br /> resent his intervention save on the ground that<br /> he decides to go on the old system of trading in<br /> ignorance. If there is any other reason one would<br /> like to know what it is.<br /> I cut the following paragraph from the West-<br /> minster Gazette of Nov. 23 :—<br /> The old literary gibe, &quot; Now Barabbas was a publisher&quot;<br /> has been steadily losing point since the new generation of<br /> publishers arose. The London correspondent of the<br /> Western Daily Mercury hears of a case of confidence placed<br /> in one of the newest of our publishers by a novelist whose<br /> books sell by thousands and tens of thousands. This<br /> writer was so well satisfied with the fairness and even<br /> generosity displayed by the publisher in regard to his last<br /> book, that he has now given him his next work unreservedly,<br /> without contract or promise, saying that he will be per-<br /> fectly content with whatever cheque the publisher may<br /> ultimately send to him.<br /> This is a very pretty paragraph. First, we are<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 190 (#620) ############################################<br /> <br /> i go<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> informed that &quot;since the new generation of pub-<br /> lishers arose&quot; the old gibe has lost point. Does<br /> that mean that the older publishers were all<br /> robbers? I suppose that it is useless to ask<br /> whether the author of the remark has ever read a<br /> book issued by the Society of Authors, called<br /> &quot;Methods of Publishing&quot; The old gibe has cer-<br /> tainly not lost its point, Barabbas is among the<br /> new publishers as well as the old. Yet not even&#039;<br /> new publisher—any more than every old publisher<br /> —is a Barabbas. There are new publishers who,<br /> if they can, will fleece and rob every author who is<br /> so unfortunate as to go to them. This is not a<br /> surmise or a suspicion. It is a grave, serious<br /> fact: and it is the reason why the Society must be<br /> carried on, and why literary agents exist. Next,<br /> for the story of the confidence case. A novelist<br /> whose novels &quot;sell by tons of thousands &quot;—■<br /> there are not a dozen of them, so that it would be<br /> easy to &quot;spot&quot; the writer—is pleased with the<br /> fairness and &quot;even the generosity&quot; of his publisher.<br /> Generosity? I really had thought that we had<br /> done with the degradation of the word<br /> &quot;generosity.&quot; Is the steward &quot; generous &quot; with his<br /> employer&#039;s money? Has this novelist no sense of<br /> self-respect at all? He has now given his next<br /> work unreservedly to his publisher, and will be<br /> content with whatever the latter is good enough<br /> o give him. Well, he can do what he likes with<br /> his own. If he chooses—1&gt;eing the master—<br /> to become the servant: bein&lt; the employer, to<br /> become the employe1: being the owner of a great<br /> estate, to give it to a steward: he can. At the<br /> same time, as I know the names of all the novelists<br /> whose works command a sale of &quot; tens of thou-<br /> sands,&quot; and as I know, besides, how most of them<br /> manage their own affairs, I venture to express my<br /> profound disbelief in the whole story.<br /> Walter Besant.<br /> TWO POEMS.<br /> I.—ISHMAEL.<br /> Some men have souls like gardens:<br /> Fair plots of fruitful ground;<br /> Smooth lawns, and ways well orderM,<br /> With choicest blossoms border&#039;d,<br /> And walls to fence them round.<br /> Oh, still and safe and fragrant!<br /> Fair homes of peace and lore!<br /> All things unoouth excluding.<br /> Free only to the brooding<br /> Of the great sky above.<br /> Tis said, by angel footsteps<br /> Those garden paths are trod—<br /> Angels, the sky forsaking,<br /> Tend every blossom, making<br /> A pleasure-place for God.<br /> I have walk&#039;d in some such garden.<br /> How well it was, how meet&#039;.<br /> Yet, down eaoh alley shining,<br /> With tears I wander&#039;d, pining<br /> For wild things round my feet.<br /> Sweeter than thrush or robin,<br /> To me, the seagull&#039;s scream.<br /> Fairer the blacken&#039;d heather<br /> That fronts the bleak moor-weather,<br /> Than that soft garden-dream!<br /> Ob, peace is not bo precious,<br /> Perchance, as is distress&#039;.<br /> Forbid Thine angels, Father,<br /> To tend me! Keep Thou rather<br /> One unwall&#039;d wilderness!<br /> II.— LlOHT AND NlOHT.<br /> Ligh t.! Light! Light!<br /> Mother of the wide-ey&#039;d flowers,<br /> Mother of glad lips, and bright<br /> Dancing feet of the noon-day hours,<br /> Dancing with delight!<br /> Oh, the joy, the rapture (strong<br /> Thrilling thro&#039;- the adoring air,<br /> When thy glory rides along<br /> Heaven&#039;s high ramparts Dare!<br /> Mother of ecstasy, mother of might,<br /> Come, sweet Light:<br /> Light, fierce Light!<br /> O intolerable gaze!<br /> 0 unslaked, relentless blight,<br /> Battening thine insatiate blaze<br /> On hidden roots of sight!<br /> Mercy! mercy! Mind and heart<br /> Writhe beneath the answering 6re.<br /> Mercy, mercy, Light&#039; Depart,<br /> O thou first-born of Ire!<br /> O for darkness, dulness, Night!<br /> Hence, dread Light!<br /> B. K. B.<br /> CORRESPONDENCE.<br /> I.—&quot; Literature.&quot;<br /> IAM delighted to see that the new publica-<br /> tion, Literature, print* the prices of the<br /> books reviewed in the review itself, and is<br /> issued with machine-cut pages, but regret that<br /> the publishers have not seen their way to placing<br /> the table of contents on the front page, as in The<br /> Author, the Spectator, and one or two other<br /> weeklies, but, alas! no dailies as yet.<br /> The important new departure in treatment of<br /> books sent for review and not intended by the<br /> editor to be reviewed (on which I commented in<br /> your last issue) is carried out as follows in the<br /> issue of Nov. 6:<br /> A considerable number of volumes, which will not be<br /> noticed in Literature, are at the disposal of publishers,<br /> and will be handed to anyone they may authorise to receive<br /> them. They will be otherwise disposed of if not called for<br /> by the 20th inst.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 191 (#621) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 191<br /> The period during which the books are to be at<br /> the disposal of the publishers is, I think, shorter<br /> than that stated in the prospectus, but this altera-<br /> tion would be a small matter when the importance<br /> of the new departure—which cannot be too widely<br /> made known—is considered.<br /> As for the contents of the new publication,<br /> their praise (or blame) &quot;is hymned by loftier<br /> harps than mine,&quot; but I will ask you to allow<br /> me to suggest, hpropos of the fourth volume of<br /> Dr. Pusey&#039;s life and its review (unhappily omitted<br /> from the table of contents) that four octavo<br /> volumes are too much for the biography of any<br /> man whatever, and the index to the fourth volume<br /> might well have been at least four times longer<br /> than it is. J. M. Lely.<br /> Nov. 7.<br /> II.—The Published Price.<br /> In the current number of The Author Mr.<br /> J. M. Lely writes as if the only periodicals that<br /> announce the prices of books in reviews were<br /> Literature, the Literary World, and the Book-<br /> man. Permit me to state that for many years<br /> past the Dundee Advertiser has regularly given<br /> the prices of all books reviewed, where these prices<br /> had been furnished by the publishers. I have<br /> forwarded the two most recent copies of the<br /> Advertiser in which reviews appear, and from<br /> these you will see how this announcement is<br /> made. A. H. Millar.<br /> Dundee, Nov. 11.<br /> III.—Current Criticism.<br /> Have you not admired Mr. Stephen&#039;s bold and<br /> original estimate of Tennyson in the National<br /> Review? Surely, in the din of indiscriminate<br /> eulogy, it is something to find the voice of a critic<br /> who can keep his head. One is reminded of<br /> Landor&#039;s comment on the &quot; Ode on the Exhibition<br /> of 1862,&quot; where the grand old Pagan writes: &quot;I<br /> wish our present roets would pay more attention<br /> to solid models, and less to hollow and light<br /> plaster. The Laureate could well afford to<br /> throw away the last verse, which, in fact, is two<br /> verses—an Alexandrine in an overall. Do not<br /> think I undervalue this excellent man o&#039; poetry.&quot;<br /> Mr. Stephen is one of the few sincere and<br /> thoughtful critics who have seen that the real<br /> merit of the late Laureate is his technique and not<br /> his philosophy. If only he could have had<br /> Browning&#039;s mind, or Browning his incomparable<br /> art!<br /> You are perhaps acquainted with an anecdote<br /> which shows how much truer was Tennyson&#039;s own<br /> appreciation. Dining with John Sterling at<br /> Ventnor, about the time when his lovely little<br /> volume of lyrics appeared, he suddenly observed:<br /> &quot;I don&#039;t think that since Shakspere there has<br /> been such a master of the English language as<br /> I,&quot; and when those at table looked round as if<br /> astonished, added calmly, &quot;To be sure I&#039;ve got<br /> nothing to say.&quot;<br /> I had this from one who was present; and it<br /> may be new, and not uninteresting, to some of<br /> your readers. Senex.<br /> IV.—The Publisher&#039;s Beader as School-<br /> master.<br /> Another terror for the unfortunate author!<br /> The manuscript of a novel which I submitted a<br /> few weeks ago to a well-known publishing firm<br /> has just been returned to me &quot;declined with<br /> thanks.&quot; So far, so bad! But what is my<br /> amazement and horror, on turning over the pages<br /> of my work, to discover that the obliging<br /> &quot;reader&quot; has been amusing himself by giving<br /> gratuitous advice and making gratuitous correc-<br /> tions, and that page after page of the manuscript<br /> will have to be re-typed at considerable expense.<br /> On and off I have been scribbling for the press<br /> for a good many years, but this is the first time<br /> in my experience that a &quot;reader&quot; has assumed<br /> the post of schoolmaster as well. A broad state-<br /> ment against the work as a whole might have<br /> been wholesome, and perhaps tolerable; but the<br /> finicking manner in which this gentleman has<br /> played the critic is, to a sensitive author, simply<br /> unbearable. I cull one or two instances from<br /> many of this &quot;reader&#039;s&quot; method.<br /> I wrote colloquially, &quot;A &#039;varsity man&quot;; the<br /> correction is &quot;university man.&quot; &quot;Rubbish and<br /> commonplace&quot; is the comment in another place.<br /> I am not even allowed the use of certain words,<br /> and for &quot;pallid&quot; my censor insists on &quot; pale.&quot;<br /> As for punctuation, I am nowhere; and the self-<br /> appointed critic waxes diffuse on this subject.<br /> &quot;Clauses in opposition,&quot; he says, &quot;must not be<br /> divided by a full stop.&quot; Heavens alive! why<br /> not? He is rigid, too, on capital letters. I<br /> ventured to personify wind and rain, honouring<br /> them with a capital W and a capital B respec-<br /> tively. The &quot;reader&#039;s&quot; well-pointed pencil<br /> stabbed them through, and neat &quot;l.c.&#039;s dis-<br /> figured the margin for yards.<br /> Somehow I cannot escape the conviction that<br /> this gentleman has gained the critic&#039;s chair from<br /> the compositor&#039;s desk at a single leap.<br /> Bichard Free.<br /> V.—&quot;The Scotsman&#039;s Library.&quot;<br /> Will you allow me to inquire among your<br /> correspondents and readers whether anyone<br /> knows a small book called &quot;The Scotsman&#039;s<br /> Library&quot;? I bought a copy of it in Edinburgh<br /> some years ago; it has lost its title-page; the<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 192 (#622) ############################################<br /> <br /> 192<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> printer&#039;s name is D. Sidney and Co., Northuniber-<br /> iand-street, Strand. The only information I<br /> could obtain respecting its authorship is that it<br /> was compiled by &quot;Mitchell of Aberdeen.&quot; I should<br /> be very glad to know who Mitchell was, who<br /> Sidney and Co. were, and whether they are non-<br /> represented by any publishing firm.<br /> F. Bayford Harbison.<br /> f ^Suffolk House, Weybridge,<br /> Nov. 14.<br /> VI.—A Book Wanted.<br /> May I suggest to authors through The Author<br /> that a book is much wanted describing and illus-<br /> trating the mansions of Great Britain, something<br /> after the style of &quot;Baronial Halls,&quot; published in<br /> 1858, and &quot;The Stately Homes of England,&quot;<br /> 1 inly that it should be very much more compre-<br /> hensive and complete than either?<br /> Owners would probably give a competent<br /> author considerable assistance. The work would<br /> probably comprise several volumes. It would be<br /> in great demand by owners, the various branches<br /> of their families, by local residents, solicitors<br /> and agents, as well as by the general public.<br /> C. P. Dowsett.<br /> 3, Lincoln&#039;s-inn-fields. London.<br /> BOOK TALK.<br /> MR. MORLEY is writing a work on<br /> modern political history, in which, we<br /> understand, much of the inner history<br /> of the Irish Home Rule movement will be<br /> revealed. It is probable that his monograph on<br /> Lord Chatham, for the &quot;Twelve English States-<br /> men&quot; series, will also, at length, be completed<br /> before long.<br /> The first volume of the important revised<br /> edition of Byron—prose and verse—will probably<br /> be ready about the beginning of February. It<br /> is being issued with the authority of the family<br /> and representatives of Byron, whose grandson,<br /> Lord Lovelace, and Mr. E. H. Coleridge are<br /> responsible for the laborious revision. There will<br /> be twelve volumes in all, and new material from<br /> the MSS. in the possession of Mr. Murray will<br /> be incorporated. Thus the first volume will con-<br /> tain several unpublished poems of Byron&#039;s early<br /> days, and some new portraits of him. The pub-<br /> lisher of the work is, of course, Mr. Murray.<br /> A series of College Histories of Oxford, and<br /> another of Cambridge, will be published by Mr.<br /> F. E. Robinson during the next two years, begin-<br /> ning early in 1898. Each book will be written<br /> by one connected with the College; the Oxford<br /> series will consist of twenty-one volumes, and the<br /> Cambridge of eighteen, price 54-. net each. Among<br /> the writers in the Oxford series are: University<br /> College, A. C. Hamilton, M.A.; Balliol, H. W.<br /> Carless Davis, B.A.; Queen&#039;s, Rev. J. R. Magrath.<br /> D.D., Vice-Chancellor of the University; New,<br /> Rev. Hastings Rashdall, M.A.; All Souls, C.<br /> Grant Robertson, M.A; Magdalen, Rev. H. A.<br /> Wilson, M.A.; Brasenose, J. Buchan; Corpus<br /> Christi. Rev. T. Fowler, D.D.; Trinity, Rev<br /> H. E. D. Blakiston, M.A.; Jesus, E. G. Hardv.<br /> M.A.; Wadham, J. Wells, M.A.; Pembroke,<br /> Rev. Douglas Macleane, M.A. The writers iu<br /> the Cambridge series include: Peterhouse<br /> College, Rev. T. A. Walker, LL.D.; Clare, J. R.<br /> Wardale, M.A.; Pembroke, W. S. Hadley, M.A.;<br /> Caius, J. Venn, Sc.D., F.R.S.; Corpus&quot; Christi.<br /> Rev. H. P. Stokes, LL.D.; King&#039;s, Rev. A. Austen<br /> Leigh, M.A.; Queen&#039;s, Rev. J. H. Gray, M.A.;<br /> St. Catherine&#039;s, the Lord Bishop of Bristol;<br /> Christ&#039;s, John Peile, Litt.D., the Master; St.<br /> John&#039;s, J. Bass Mullinger, M.A.; Magdalene,<br /> W. A. Gill, M.A.; Trinity, Rev. A. H. F. Boughey,<br /> M.A., Fellow and late Tutor of Trinity, and<br /> J. Willis Clark, M.A.<br /> After a month, the late William Morris&#039;s<br /> Kelmscott Press will be no more. The type will<br /> be retained by the trustees; the special orna-<br /> ment will be discontinued; and in the British<br /> Museum the charming wood blocks will find a<br /> resting place. There are still some works to<br /> appear from the Press, however. Among them<br /> &quot;Sigurd the Volsung,&quot; &quot;Love is Enough,&quot;<br /> &quot;The Sundering Flood,&quot; and &quot;Some German<br /> Woodcuts of the Fifteenth Century.&quot; The last-<br /> named consists of thirty-five reproductions from<br /> books that were in the library at Kelmscott<br /> House. Last of all will come &quot;A Note by<br /> William Morris on his Aims in Starting the<br /> Kelmscott Press,&quot; to which Mr. Coekerell adds<br /> a list of the books there printed.<br /> Mr. Wells&#039;s &quot;War of the Worlds&quot; will In-<br /> considerably revised, and several chapters added,<br /> for book publication, which will take place iu<br /> January (Heinemann). The author is writing a<br /> long novel of city life in the next century, to be<br /> entitled &quot; When the Sleeper Wakes.&quot;<br /> Mr. Kipling will contribute &quot; Just-So Stories&quot;<br /> —about animals— to St. Nicholas during 1898.<br /> Mrs. Croker&#039;s new novel, to be published<br /> by Messrs. Chatto, is called &quot;Miss Balmain&#039;s<br /> Past.&quot;<br /> Mr. Zangwill&#039;s &quot;Dreamers of the Ghetto,&quot; is<br /> not expected lefore January. It will contain<br /> a character-sketch of Heine.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 193 (#623) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> i93<br /> Mr. Robert Chambers is writing &quot; The Haunts<br /> of Men,&quot; which will appear early in 1898.<br /> Mr. William Le Queux&#039;s novel of Monte Carlo<br /> life, &quot;If Sinners Entice Thee,&quot; is running in the<br /> Golden Penny and New York Truth.<br /> &quot;Edna Lyall&quot; is writing a romance of the<br /> period of William and Mary&#039;s reign. The action<br /> is in the North Country, and the title will be<br /> &quot;Hope the Hermit,&quot; but the book will not appear<br /> for a year yet.<br /> Lady Gregory will publish shortly (Smith and<br /> Elder) the correspondence of her late husband&#039;s<br /> grandfather, the Bight Hon. William Gregory,<br /> Under-Secretary for Ireland from 1813 to 1830.<br /> New light on the government of Ireland during<br /> that period is promised in the work.<br /> A Life of the Prince of Wales is being prepared.<br /> Dr. Traill, the editor of Literature, is reported to<br /> be the author, but the ascription is not confirmed.<br /> The publisher is Mr. Grant Richards.<br /> The Life of Cardinal Wiseman, by Mr. Wilfrid<br /> Ward, will appear on Dec. 7 (Longmans).<br /> Mr. P. H. Emerson has edited a genealogical<br /> history of the family from the earliest times,<br /> which Mr. David Nutt will publish shortly under<br /> the title of &quot; The English Emersons.&quot;<br /> The first volume (of four) of the Life of<br /> Spurgeon, edited by Mrs. Spurgeon and Mr.<br /> Harrald, who was the preacher&#039;s private secre-<br /> tary, will be ready about the middle of this<br /> month.<br /> A book on the Indian frontier warfare, from<br /> the pen of Major Younghusband, will be issued<br /> shortly by Messrs. Kegan Paul, in their<br /> &quot;Wolseley &quot; series.<br /> Commenting on the analysis of the books of<br /> the season, which appeared in The Author last<br /> month, the Globe says:—<br /> It is a little sad to find only 20 books of essays on this<br /> list. The essay is so exquisite a vehicle for the presentation<br /> of thought and fancy and pleasant personality, that one can-<br /> not bnt regret that its vogue is for the time over. Perhaps<br /> a better day will dawn soon. When the 20 volumes of essays<br /> are placed beside the 54 mathematical works our loss is<br /> made the more clear. Nor is it right for 221 theological<br /> books to assail ns in one Beason. The number of children&#039;s<br /> books is again vastly greater than it should be. Children<br /> are not to-day one whit happier, with all this reading<br /> afforded them, than they were a hundred years ago, with a<br /> nursery library of some poor half-dozen volumes. A poor<br /> half-dozen—but better thumbed than is the case with any-<br /> thing now published.<br /> Mr. Warington Smyth was superintendent of<br /> mines under the Siamese Government for five<br /> years, and he is about to publish, through Mr.<br /> Murray, a work on &quot;Siam and the Siamese,&quot;<br /> with reproductions of his own sketehes<br /> Captain Count Gleichen, of the Grenadier<br /> Guards, who acted as Intelligence Officer to Mr.<br /> Rennell Rodd&#039;s mission to Abyssinia, has written<br /> an account of the expedition, entitled &quot;With the<br /> British Mission to Menelik, 1897,&quot; which Mr<br /> Edward Arnold will publish immediately.<br /> &quot;The great historic county of Bucks,&quot; as<br /> Beaconsfield, who knew the district well, called<br /> it, is the principal subject of Mr. J. K. Fowler&#039;s<br /> &quot;Records of Old Times,&quot; which Messrs. Chatto<br /> and Windus are about to publish. Its character<br /> is variously social, historical, sporting, and<br /> agricultural.<br /> A series of volumes on modern schools of<br /> painting, under the editorship of Mr. Gleeson<br /> White, is announced by Messrs. Bell. The first,<br /> &quot;The Glasgow School,&quot; will be by Mr. David<br /> Martin, with an introduction by Mr. Frank<br /> Newbery and sixty reproductions of paintings.<br /> Count Tolstoy&#039;s new book, translated by Mr.<br /> A. Maude, and to be published by the Brother-<br /> hood Company, Croydon, will be called &quot;On<br /> Art.&quot;<br /> Mr. Arthur H. Neumann tells of his elephant-<br /> hunting experiences in East Equatorial Africa,<br /> in a volume which Messrs. Rowland Ward will<br /> shortly publish, with illustrations and a map.<br /> Captain Mahan, of the United States Navy, is<br /> publishing through Messrs. Sampson Low a work<br /> on &quot;The Interest of the United States in Sea-<br /> Power, Present and Future.&quot; He will also con-<br /> tribute a paper to the third volume of Mr. Laird<br /> Clowes&#039;s History of the Royal Navy.<br /> Mr. Sidney Low has resigned the editorship of<br /> the -S&#039;f. James&#039;s Gazette, and is succeeded by his<br /> assistant, Mr. Hugh Chisholm.<br /> Mr. Barry Pain has succeeded Mr. Jerome as<br /> editor of To-Day.<br /> &quot;The Antipodean,&quot; a Christmas annual written<br /> by Australians, will be published shortly by Messrs.<br /> Chatto and Windus.<br /> Mr. E. S. Prior is dealing, in a book on English<br /> Gothic which Messrs. Bell will publish, with the<br /> evolution of an original and characteristic style<br /> from the style which, introduced by the Normans,<br /> was for a time common to England and Northern<br /> France. Mr. Gerald Horsley will illustrate Mr.<br /> Prior&#039;s work.<br /> The story of England&#039;s growth from Elizabeth<br /> to Victoria has been told by Mr. Alfred Thomas<br /> Story, in two volumes which Messrs Chapman<br /> and Hall will publish shortly, entitled &quot;The<br /> Building of the Empire.&quot; There will he portraits<br /> of these two Sovereigns in photogravure, and<br /> upwards of 100 portraits and illustrations.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 194 (#624) ############################################<br /> <br /> i94<br /> THE AUTHOli.<br /> From the Pall Mall Gazette :—<br /> BALLADE OF THE PUBLISHING SEASON.<br /> Year by year, at the sommer&#039;s close,<br /> I watoh the Season of Books draw nigh,<br /> Troops of poetry, hordes of prose,<br /> Books, books, books for the world to buy.<br /> Can you wonder reviewers sigh i<br /> Think of the parcels strewn about,<br /> Cases for critics to test and try—<br /> MoBt of them books we could do without.<br /> • • * •<br /> But fiction—there is the stuff that goes:<br /> Novels and stories, piled on high,<br /> What becomes of them? Goodness knows<br /> Critics are hard to satisfy.<br /> Many are smitten hip and thigh<br /> (They sell the better for that, no doubt).<br /> Some are published only to die—<br /> Those are the books we conld do without.<br /> Envoy.<br /> Prinoe! Who writes this rubbish, and why &#039;&lt;<br /> All the lot should be put to rout,<br /> Save two or three; and you can&#039;t deny<br /> Most of their books we could do without.<br /> Mr. Frank Preston Stearns, an American, is the<br /> author of &quot;Modern English Prose Writers,&quot;<br /> which Messrs Putnam will publish.<br /> Mr. T. B. Harbottle has during many years<br /> been preparing a dictionary of classical quotations.<br /> The work is nearly ready to be published by<br /> Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein.<br /> &quot;The Gleaming Dawn,&quot; by James Baker,<br /> which has just gone into its third thousand,<br /> has elicited some remarkable letters from well-<br /> known Churchmen. The Bishop of London, in<br /> writing upon it, says: &quot;It deals with a period<br /> of English history which is often overlooked.<br /> The connection of England with Bohemia is of<br /> great interest, and Peter Payne is a forgotten<br /> Englishman who deserves notice. I think your<br /> story is very true to the time of which it treats.&quot;<br /> The Bishop of Manchester also writes: &quot;I have<br /> read &#039; The Gleaming Dawn&#039; with great interest,<br /> and believe it may be profitable at the pi&#039;esent<br /> time. It is written with great spirit and power.&quot;<br /> The Bishop of Hereford, Dean Farrar, and<br /> Archdeacon Sinclair also write of it in terms of<br /> appreciation and praise.<br /> Mr. Lawrence Gomme&#039;s lectures on &quot; Principles<br /> of Local Government,&quot; delivered last year at the<br /> London School of Economies, have been revised<br /> and will be published by Messrs. Constable.<br /> The letter Z will be reached in the &quot; Dictionary<br /> of National Biography&quot; in the course of 1899.<br /> Another year will be occupied with getting out<br /> a supplement containing memoirs of persons who<br /> have died during the progress of the &quot;Dictionary,&quot;<br /> and a general index.<br /> The relations of Scot&#039;, and the Ballantynes are<br /> discussed from a special point of view by the Rev.<br /> James Hay. of Kirn, in a work on Sir Walter<br /> Scott which he is writing. Scott, he contends,<br /> was ambitious of reaching the position of head of<br /> a great publishing house which should outrival<br /> that of Constable.<br /> An essay on bimetallism, by Major Darwin, is<br /> among Mr. Murray&#039;s forthcoming publications.<br /> Lord Charles Beresford and Mr. H. W. Wilson<br /> are writing the &quot; Life of Nelson,&quot; and giving new<br /> letters, &amp;c. Messrs. Harmsworth are publishing<br /> the work in parts.<br /> A new edition of Mr. Ferrar Fenton&#039;s &quot;New<br /> Testament in Current English &quot; is called for, and<br /> will be shortly issued. This will make the fifth<br /> edition of his &quot;St. Paul&#039;s Epistles&quot; and the<br /> second of the Gospels.<br /> A one-act play by Mrs. Clifford, the author of<br /> &quot;Mrs. Keith&#039;s Crime,&quot; &amp;c., will be produced at the<br /> Comedy Theatre in a few days. It is called &quot; A<br /> Supreme Moment.&quot; The chief part is to be<br /> taken by Mrs. Bernard Beere. It has been<br /> translated into French by Mr. Walter Pollock<br /> with a view to its production on the French staj;e.<br /> An adaptation of one of Mrs. Clifford&#039;s stories<br /> was lately played in Paris. The author is herself<br /> dramatising the same story for home consump-<br /> tion.<br /> &quot;A Woman Tempted Him,&quot; a story written by<br /> William Westall and syndicated by Messrs.<br /> Tillotson and Son, will be published by Chatto<br /> and Windus early in 1898. The same author is<br /> writing a story for Pearson&#039;s Weekly, and in the<br /> course of next year he hopes to complete a<br /> historical romance, begun some time ago, dealing<br /> with the same period as &quot; With the Red Eagle,&quot;<br /> which is now in a third edition.<br /> Several illustrated poems by Miss Helen<br /> Marion Burnside are published as Christmas and<br /> New Year gift-books by the Artistic Lithographic<br /> Company, 13, Buuhill-row. Of these one entitled<br /> &quot;A Cycle of Song&quot; is also suitable for a gift-book<br /> for any season. The same firm also issues daily<br /> text-books, edited by Miss Burnside.<br /> Mrs. George Corbett has been one of the first<br /> to make copy out of the new goldfields, and her latest<br /> novel, &quot; The Star of Yukon,&quot; is now running in<br /> serial form. It is being syndicated by Messrs.<br /> Tillotson and Son, and will be published in book<br /> form twelve months after the commencement of<br /> the serial run. Mrs. Corbett has also written a<br /> musical farce entitled &quot;Back from Klondyke,&quot;<br /> which was enthusiastically approved by the<br /> West-end audience before whom it was produced<br /> on Oct. 21.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 195 (#625) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> i95<br /> Jean Carlyle Graham hopes to finish a seven<br /> years&#039; labour of love early in 1898. She wishes<br /> to present &quot;The Words of Oliver Cromwell&quot; on<br /> good paper, printed at the Edinburgh University<br /> Press, bound in comfortable volumes, with por-<br /> traits of Cromwell, his family, and correspon-<br /> dents. Only 100 copies will be printed, and she<br /> trusts that each free library in the British<br /> Empire will possess a copy, in order that the<br /> veriest man in the street may have, at last, a<br /> chance of knowing the mighty Englishman who<br /> strove to win for him hie individual liberty.<br /> &quot;Many Memories of Many People,&quot; by Mrs.<br /> Simpson, daughter of the late Mr. Nassau Senior,<br /> is to be published by Mr. Arnold. The daughter<br /> was companion to the father, and with him dwelt<br /> among various distinguished people.<br /> A privately-circulated volume of the reminis-<br /> cences of Miss Grant of Rothiemurchus, after-<br /> wards the wife of General Smith, of Baltiboys,<br /> co. Wicklow, is now to be published by Mr.<br /> Murray, and is being edited by Lady Strachey, a<br /> niece of the author. A chief note of the book,<br /> which is to be called &quot;The Memoirs of a High-<br /> land Lady,&quot; will be its light upon Scottish social<br /> life in the early part of this century. The author,<br /> however, also introduces the names of Mr. Perce-<br /> val, Mr. Canning, Lord Lauderdale, Shelley, Sir<br /> Walter Scott, and other notabilities.<br /> Dr. Max Nordau is very displeased with the<br /> Maupassant monument which Paris has just<br /> erected in the Pare Monceau. The monument is<br /> a bust on a pedestal, below which is represented<br /> a French woman reclining on a couch with one of<br /> Maupassant&#039;s novels in her hand. &quot;The likeness,&quot;<br /> says the author of &quot;Degeneration,&quot; &quot;is almost<br /> terrifying. It has the low forehead, the short<br /> fleshy nose, the bristling moustache, the vulgar,<br /> coarsely sensual mouth, and the general expres-<br /> sion of a soldier on his Sunday out bent on gay<br /> adventures.&quot;<br /> Travel and adventure are to be the interests of<br /> a new magazine—the &quot;Passport &quot;—which Mr.<br /> Pearson will begin to publish, probably in the<br /> spring.—Mr. Newnes, at a much earlier date,<br /> gives to the world a monthly paper called the<br /> &quot;Ladies&#039; Field.&quot;<br /> Antiquarian Gossip is a new sixpenny monthly<br /> which will aim at making the study of antiquities<br /> popular.<br /> Mr. H. C. Cust contributes an introduction to<br /> the ninth of the reproductions of Tudor trans-<br /> lations, Philemon Holland&#039;s &quot; Historie of Twelve<br /> Ceesars, Emperors of Rome,&quot; translated from<br /> Suetonius. The work will be issued (600 copies)<br /> early next year by Mr. Nutt.<br /> LITERATURE IN THE PERIODICALS.<br /> Authors, Publishers, and Booksellers. The Times<br /> on the following dates: Article, &quot;From a Correspondent,&quot;<br /> Nov. 9; E. Marston and K. MaoLehose, Nov. 10; the editor<br /> of the Bookseller and Messrs. Skeffington, Nov. 11 ; Secre-<br /> tary of the Society of Author?, Eev. Harry Jones, and<br /> W. Day, Nov. 12 ; The Writer of the Article, A Member of<br /> the Publishers&#039; Association, M. J. B. Baddelcy, A Country<br /> Hook seller, Publisher&#039;s Reader, Alfred Wilson, Nov. 15;<br /> Leading Artiole, Nov. 15; The Writer of the Article, F.R.S.,<br /> Andrew W. Tuer, Nov. 19.<br /> Thc Bookselling Question. Andrew Lang. Chap-<br /> man&#039;s Magazine for November.<br /> An Academy -of Letters. The Academy for Not. 6,<br /> 13, 20.<br /> Is it Literary Suicidei Daily Chronicle for Oct. 28.<br /> Tennyson. Hamilton Wright Mabie. Atlantic Monthly<br /> for November.—Blackwood&#039;s Magazine for November.—<br /> Tennyson in Ireland : A Reminiscence. Alfred Peroival<br /> Graves. Cornhill Magazine for November.<br /> Modern Education. Professor Mahaffy. Nineteenth<br /> Century for November.<br /> The Coming Literary Revival —I. J. S. Tunison.<br /> Atlantic Monthly for November.<br /> The analogy between the bookselling question<br /> of the early fifties and that of the late nineties<br /> is borne out in still another respect by the appear-<br /> ance of this controversy in the columns of the<br /> Times. If such a mild judgment may be allowed<br /> to one who has studied both series of letters,<br /> there is now a spirit of reticence and guardedness<br /> in expressing opinion in favour or against the<br /> proposed system of uniform discounts, which<br /> was not a pronounced feature of the letters of the<br /> earlier period. This may be, and probably is,<br /> clue, however, to the fact that the Society of<br /> Authors has the matter under consideration.<br /> One correspondent, Mr. Robert MacLehose, of<br /> Glasgow, does, indeed, attest anxiety and zeal, if<br /> these qualities be judged by the fact that, writing<br /> from the important bookselling centre of the West<br /> of Scotland, he is able to publish a reply to the<br /> Times article in the very next issue of that journal.<br /> The article &quot;From a Correspondent&quot; which<br /> opened the discussion, did not favour the new<br /> proposal of compulsorily making the discount 2d.<br /> in the shilling instead of $d. In the first place,<br /> he argued, a strong minority of the booksellers<br /> themselves is opposed to it. Let such be boy-<br /> cotted &#039;i But that was done in 1850, and yet the<br /> recalcitrant firms succeeded in obtaining the<br /> books they wanted; and it has been done now in<br /> the case of certain firms who persisted &quot;in doing<br /> what they liked with their own,&quot; with the same<br /> result. Next, the proposal is one involving &quot; thc<br /> well-being, nay, the very existence of the author.&quot;<br /> Were the rate of discount reduced, sales would<br /> drop; because the public cries aloud for cheap<br /> books. In this connection the writer places<br /> books outside the economic pale as being neither<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 196 (#626) ############################################<br /> <br /> 196<br /> lllh AUTHOR.<br /> necessity nor luxury. Willy, nilly, the average<br /> book-buyer thinks that in this age of mechanical<br /> ingenuity books might be produced both in better<br /> taste and at less cost; and the writer goes so far<br /> as to say that, as a rule, sixpence more or less<br /> will decide whether a book shall be bought or<br /> remain unsold. Nor has salvation been found in<br /> the net system, which, he says has been &quot;prac-<br /> tically abandoned owing to the rooted aversion of<br /> buyers.&quot; The writer plumps, therefore, for a<br /> cheaper book:—<br /> Matthew Arnold was generally accounted a visionary, bat<br /> he was eminently practical when he pleaded for cheap books.<br /> That way lies the true remedy for existing evils. Were a<br /> popular writer and powerful publisher to make the experi-<br /> ment of bringing out, let ub say, the six-shilling novel at<br /> 3s., the result would probably be gratifying beyond expecta-<br /> tion—provided, of course, the booksellers did not repeat<br /> their old folly. Tne history of popular literature proves<br /> that fortunes lie, not in high prices, but in big sales. The<br /> cost of production need not frighten anyone. The book of<br /> to-day is produced at a figure which even five years ago<br /> would have been thought impossible ; and the cheaper book<br /> could be produced at a yet lower rate without sacrifice of<br /> quality. What has been done in France with Buoh signal<br /> success can be done in England. With the three-shilling or<br /> the half-crown volume &quot;every genuine reader,&quot; to quote<br /> Arnold again, &quot; will feel that the book be cares to read he<br /> will care to possess.&quot; Would not that awakened desire of<br /> possession be the best of all auguries? Would it not, in<br /> fact, mean a final solution of all the difficulties whioh now<br /> hamper and oppress the book-trade?<br /> &quot;A Member of the Publishers&#039; Association&quot;<br /> came forward with a case for the 6*. novel. He<br /> takes a recent popular book; he estimates the cost<br /> of production and advertising at is. 6d. per copy;<br /> he knows very well that it is under a shilling:<br /> this fact vitiates all the figures that follow.<br /> &quot;A Country Bookseller &quot; asks, what is the use of<br /> books being both &quot;good&quot; and &quot;cheap&quot; if the<br /> public is not to have a chance of examining them<br /> in booksellers&#039; shops? The public ought to pay<br /> adequately for this service, and every town, large<br /> or small, support its bookseller. The Rev. Harry<br /> Jones, on his part, attributes the non-purchasing<br /> of books to the fewness of the booksellers, whom<br /> also he would have show their menu as attractively<br /> as the newspaper shop at the corner of a dirty<br /> street.<br /> The editor of the Bookseller credited the<br /> Society of Authors with having, in taking up<br /> with the matter, recognised the advantage that<br /> less-known writers would reap if booksellers<br /> were enabled to display their books; stated<br /> that, as a matter of fact, the author was a<br /> &quot;wholly unimportant factor in the arrangement of<br /> trade terms&quot; ; and was corrected on the following<br /> day by Mr. Thring for having assumed that the<br /> Society had assented to the new proposal—the<br /> fact being, of course, that the sub-committee had<br /> not yet issued its report. He supported the idea<br /> of coercion, pointing to the leading case of<br /> Germany as a shining example of &quot;completest<br /> success &quot; in this policy. Even at home, in places<br /> where the reduced discount had been now<br /> enforced, the public readily acquiesced in the<br /> arrangement, and the booksellers&#039; turnover had in<br /> no way suffered. As for the cry for cheap litera-<br /> ture, to obtain this a wide circulation must be<br /> assured, and, except in the case of a well-known<br /> and popular writer, such wide circulation was<br /> usually impossible. Let the coercion be rigid, and<br /> recalcitrant booksellers would soon find resistance<br /> to be unprofitable. Apropos,&quot; Publisher&#039;s Reader&quot;<br /> suggested that someone learned in the law should<br /> first say &quot;whether it will be a sufficient protection<br /> for the Publishers&#039; Association, should they<br /> resolve to follow the editor&#039;s advice, to declare<br /> themselves a &#039;trade union,&#039; and register their<br /> association under the Trades Union Act of 1871.&quot;<br /> Mr. MacLehose intervened in defence of the<br /> net system, which, he said, so far from having<br /> been &quot;practically abandoned,&quot; had grown quite<br /> remarkably within the last few years. Mr.<br /> M. J. B. Baddeley testified that his &quot;Thorough<br /> Guide &quot; series, notwithstanding the facts that the<br /> net price was printed on the binding and that big<br /> firms in London who advertised 25 per cent, dis-<br /> count on all books had boycotted these volumes,<br /> had been eminently successful all round. In<br /> answer to Mr. E. Marston, publisher, who said<br /> that whatever the published price might be the<br /> public expected their full 2 5 per cent, therefrom,<br /> Mr. Alfred Wilson, bookseller, said that the<br /> public certainly wanted to buy at the lowest<br /> price, but if they could get no discount they<br /> would be quite content to pay the published price<br /> if they thought the book worth it.<br /> Mr. Andrew W. Tuer contributed to the dis-<br /> cussion the interesting speculation that &quot; books,<br /> like tea and tallow, may oue day perhaps be<br /> bought and sold by the pound,&quot; but, for a league<br /> of publishers to charge all booksellers alike would<br /> mean simply that another and more complacent<br /> race of publishers would arise. &quot;Too many<br /> books and &#039; cutting&#039; are ruining the book trade.<br /> Among the other letters was one of Mr. W.<br /> Day, a business man, who suggested a fresh way<br /> out of the difficulty, namely:—<br /> for the publisher to work out the exact net amount per<br /> book he gets from the large buyer, including odd books and<br /> extra discounts, and then, having arrived at the figure, for<br /> ever after charge this price, thus getting rid of odd copies<br /> and extra discounts, charging the bookseller who buys one<br /> book the same price as the man who buys 1000. The little<br /> man would thus have the same rate of profit as the big man,<br /> and would have a margin of profit to work upon. The<br /> country bookseller would be at a disadvantage still as com-<br /> pared with the London bookseller, as he would have to bear<br /> carriage in addition to the cost of the books.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 197 (#627) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 197<br /> Everything turns, said the Times itself officially,<br /> on the point of whether the frugal and often<br /> impecunious book-buyer will be persuaded to<br /> forego the discount of 3d. Upon this it will not<br /> commit itself at the present stage. If the bulk of<br /> the leading publishers legally decline to supply<br /> books except on the basis of the 2d. discount, &quot;it<br /> is not very easy to see how eveu the largest retail<br /> booksellers can continue to make a profit by selling<br /> at the larger discount.&quot; And if the case were<br /> properly put to him the aforesaid frugal book-<br /> buyer would probably recognise that his interests<br /> and requirements are best served by supporting<br /> the booksellers. After a reflection upon the general<br /> superiority of the provincial bookseller &quot;whom<br /> many of us recollect,&quot; compared with his successor<br /> who to-day &quot;ekes out a precarious existence by<br /> catering for the taste in trifles of customers whose<br /> taste in literature is nothing if not trifling,&quot; the<br /> Times concluded as follows:<br /> Meanwhile the &quot; hungry sheep,&quot; who onee were wont to<br /> browse on the pastures of good literature, &quot;look up and are<br /> not fed &quot;—we will not continue the quotation, though it is<br /> not a little to the purpose. In any case we are satisfied<br /> that if the retail bookseller could be restored to his former<br /> ttatus and dignity in the world of letters neither authors<br /> nor publishers, neither booksellers nor book-buyers, would<br /> in the long run have any reason to complain of the result.<br /> It may be, as our correspondent has suggested, that the loss<br /> incurred by book-buyers through the proposed reduction of<br /> discount will have to be compensated in some measure by a<br /> general reduction in the price of books. But ... it<br /> is not perhaps amiss to observe that publishers probably<br /> understand their own business best, and that not many of<br /> them have been known to make their fortunes.<br /> Mr. Lang does not pretend, in his discussion<br /> of the question in eight pages of Chapman&#039;s<br /> Magazine, to give an opinion about the discount<br /> question, which, he says, &quot; I am sensible is beyond<br /> my limited faculties.&quot; He is willing that his own<br /> royalties should be cut down, if that will make even<br /> one bookseller happy. But before &quot;the few rich<br /> authors&quot; will be equally charitable, publishers<br /> must have a trade union, and persecute the pub-<br /> lisher who pays the author more than a certain<br /> rate. Mr. Lang confesses, indeed, that he knows<br /> no remedy for devotion to discount but increased<br /> enerosity, and no specific against the circulating<br /> brary but the production of books which<br /> readers will desire to own—though verily the<br /> public &quot;does not greatly want any book.&quot; But<br /> in the last case he appeals to &quot;our great dealers<br /> in fiction.&quot; &quot;Peddling science and history of<br /> belles lettres are ndgligeables. We therefore<br /> await the voice of the novelist on Discount.&quot;<br /> The custom of using bad paper in books—a<br /> subject which contains the possibility of &quot; literary<br /> suicide &quot;—has not offered any practical evidence<br /> up to the present at the British Museum. Dr.<br /> Garnett has not seen any consumptive books<br /> there, but probably the particular kinds of paper<br /> which hold the germs of decay have not been in<br /> use sufficiently long to permit of the disease show-<br /> ing itself. Mr. John Murray wonders whether<br /> poor land in England might not be employed to<br /> grow some fibrous plant which would make good<br /> paper at a cheap rate. Much of the paper now iu<br /> use he stigmatises as abominably cheap and<br /> nasty. The interviewer who has thus questioned<br /> several authorities on the matter supposes the<br /> case of a historian, three generations hence,<br /> going to the British Museum to consult Blue<br /> Books, which, as he takes them up, fall to dust in<br /> his hand; for Blue Books, on the authority of<br /> Mr. MacAlister, are the worst offenders. Such a<br /> prospect Mr. John Murray&#039;s father used to laugh<br /> over. &quot;It will be the grand time for publishers,&quot;<br /> he would say, &quot;when a book on falling from a<br /> table goes to pieces like a piece of china.&quot;<br /> Finally, the views of Mr. Frank Lloyd, of the<br /> great paper-manufacturing firm of Edward Lloyd<br /> (Limited), on this question of bad paper (which a<br /> committee of the Society of Arts is now consider-<br /> ing) possess a special interest:—<br /> There were one or two facts whioh might be taken for<br /> granted. A considerable proportion of the paper printed<br /> upon at present must be expected to prove wanting in the<br /> qualities of very lengthened endurance. He instanced<br /> paper made from wood pulp from which the resin had not<br /> been extracted. Technically this ingredient was called<br /> &quot;mechanical wood,&quot; as distinct from wood pulp which had<br /> been purified by ehemioal process. Needless to say, paper<br /> made from the latter oost muoh more than paper manu-<br /> factured from the former. Now, paper in which there<br /> remained &quot; mechanical wood &quot; had for years been used in<br /> the printing of books. The Germans had done a good deal<br /> towards the introduction of this, but the great factor was<br /> the rise and development of popular literature. That meant<br /> the production of paper at less and less cost; otherwise<br /> there could not be the wonderfully cheap books. It was<br /> one thing or the other. Similarly it was only the cheap-<br /> ness of paper that made possible the size of the modern<br /> journal. &quot;I am afraid,&quot; Mr. Lloyd summed up, &quot; that after<br /> a hundred years a book would not bear handling if its paper<br /> had been of the nature to whioh I have alluded.&quot;<br /> The &quot;coming literary revival&quot; is coming on<br /> the other side of the Atlantic. There, the present<br /> is the age of the short story and the minor poet,<br /> two classes of literary art that &quot; lack seriousness,<br /> if considered as an end in themselves,&quot; and &quot;are<br /> characteristic of a tentative, a waiting age.&quot; Who<br /> is to write the great American novel, or the great<br /> American drama, or the great American epic?<br /> If the outline here given of the opportunities of<br /> genius be approximately correct, this much-<br /> desiderated American may never emerge. &quot;The<br /> only lesson which America is now teaching the<br /> world in the ideal realm is precisely the lesson<br /> which von Hartmann has already put in words—<br /> namely, that the literature of the future is to be<br /> as the tarce which the Berlin business man goes<br /> g<br /> li<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 198 (#628) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> to see of an evening by way of recreation.&quot; The<br /> writer would welcome a profoundly one-sided<br /> thinker who should arise and &quot;shake to pieces<br /> the eminently respectable but fatally monotonous<br /> philosophy of the American schools.&quot; For him a<br /> search will be made over a wide area in another<br /> article.<br /> Professor Mahaffy discovers, in spite of national<br /> reforms in education, a decline in the quality of<br /> our reading: the great masters—poets, philo-<br /> sophers, historians, even novelists—set aside for<br /> the trivial, the sensational, the affected, the<br /> ephemeral.<br /> STORY COMPETITION.<br /> Jw<br /> APRIZE of .£100 is offered by the People&#039;s<br /> Journal, Dundee, for the best short serial<br /> story, in fifteen or twenty instalments of<br /> about 4200 words each. Stories must be located in<br /> Scotland, in some place or district the correct<br /> name of which is given, while its features are<br /> described and its local peculiarities introduced.<br /> The story should be told as largely as possible<br /> in dialogue, and the subject be either historical<br /> or modern—modern factory life, railway life,<br /> mining life, or school teachers&#039; life, &amp;c. Com-<br /> petitors must send in the first three chapters of<br /> their stories, along with a short summary of the<br /> remainder, not later than Jan. 14, 1898.<br /> THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH.<br /> [Oct. 25 to Nov. 23.-379 Books.]<br /> Abbott, T. K. Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the EpiB<br /> to the Ephosiana and to the Colossians. 10/6. Clark.<br /> Addcrley. James. Paul Mercer. 8/6. Arnold.<br /> Adie, B. H., and Woods, T. If. Agricultural Chemistry. 11- net.<br /> Regan Paul.<br /> Aflalu, F. Q. Sea Fish. (Angler&#039;s Library) 6 - Lawrence.<br /> Alexander, Rupert. 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Spottiswoode.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 199 (#629) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 199<br /> Kdwardcs, Charles. In Jutland with a Cycle. 6/- Chapman.<br /> Edwardes, Charles. Dr. Burleigh&#039;s Boys. 5/- Griffith, Farran.<br /> Edwardes, Clement. Bail way Nationalisation. 2/6. Methuen.<br /> Edwards, Ellis. A Journey through South Africa, if. net. Liver-<br /> pool: Tlnling.<br /> Egerion, II. E. A Short History of British Colonial Policy. 12/6.<br /> Methuen.<br /> Ehrlich, A. (tr. hy B. H. Legge). Celebrated Violinists. 5;- The<br /> Stro/i Office.<br /> Eliot, C. W. American Contributions to Civilisation. 10/6. Unwin.<br /> Elliot, D. G. The Gallinaceous Game Birds of North America.<br /> Suckling.<br /> Elliot, Edward S. In the Days of tha Pioneers. C as sell.<br /> Eve, G. W. Decorative Heraldry. 10/6 net. Bell.<br /> Everett-Green, E. A Clerk of Oxford. 5/- Nelson.<br /> Everett-Green, E. For the Queen&#039;s Sake, 2/6. 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Of the views, we must admit there ia<br /> much in them that is true, and we regret it in proportion to Its<br /> truth.&quot; Literary World.<br /> &quot;We have obviously not reached the millennium, and he seeks an<br /> explanation of this state of affairs. He finds one which is at any<br /> rate original. . . . This pessimistic prophet without any living<br /> faith.&quot; Review of Reviews.<br /> •l The author works out his thesis with great skill. . . . Mr.<br /> Hornblow, M.P., the friend of the people, a very clever bit of work.<br /> . . . xlc (the author) has certainly ideas of his own, and can<br /> expound them in good forcible English. His satire, too, is pungent.<br /> There is a good deal of food for reflection in &#039;That Tree of Eden,&#039;<br /> apart from its intrinsic merits as a story.&quot; Pall Mall Gazette.<br /> &#039;* There is plenty of common seme—though It may be heresy to say<br /> so—in some of hia contentions.&quot; the Standard.<br /> &quot;We have here a most suggestive, and at the same time a most<br /> courageous book. ... To drive borne his point, it may be that<br /> the author makes the case of Exford an extreme one, and he is quite<br /> justified in doing so if thereby he can better draw attention to the<br /> very real danger education, as now understood, seems to be bringing<br /> in its train. North British Daily Mail.<br /> &quot;The book is really a tissue of fallacies,&quot; The Academy.<br /> &quot;There is some excellent satire . . . an abundance of wit . . .<br /> a chapter called * The Revolt&#039; contains work of extraordinary graphic<br /> power. The style is decidedly original.&quot; Manchester Courier.<br /> &quot;He (the author) says many good and true things by the way.&quot;<br /> Bradford Observer.<br /> &quot;The question discussed In a very thoughtful fashion in this book<br /> . . . certainly not a popular view, but the writer&#039;s arguments<br /> deserve consideration. They are evidently the fruit of much thought<br /> and extensive reading, and are urged with a moderation and<br /> restrained strength that adds much to their impressiveness.&quot;<br /> Liverpool Mercury.<br /> &quot;The author describes his book as &#039; a study in the real decadence,&#039;<br /> and he takes passages from Eccleaiastea and Ben an as the keynotes<br /> of his able discourse, the tone of which is decidedly pessimistic.<br /> . . . The book is a remarkable one in many respects.&quot;<br /> Western Morning News.<br /> &quot;In many respects a clever and well-written book. . . . clever<br /> and often amusing. . . . The author himself is evidently a culti-<br /> vated man in spite of his sneers at culture. He has a pretty gift of<br /> cynical wit. and however little one may sympathise with bis dogmas,<br /> one can enjoy his smart1 hits &#039; &#039;* Glasgow Herald.<br /> &quot;Not a little that is suggestive will be found throughout the<br /> pages.&quot; Belfast News-letter.<br /> &quot;Written in rather peculiar style. . . . Provides food for<br /> serious reflection.&quot; Birmingham Gazette.<br /> &#039;The book stimulates thought.&quot; Newcastle Leader.<br /> NOW READY, xxlx. and 233 pp.. crown 8vo., cloth, gilt lettered, 3s. 6d., of all booksellers, or post free from the author, 83, Denmark-road,<br /> Manchester, on receipt of published price. 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