| 490 | https://historysoa.com/items/show/490 | The Author, Vol. 14 Issue 05 (February 1904) | <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.+14+Issue+05+%28February+1904%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 14 Issue 05 (February 1904)</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> | 1904-02-01-The-Author-14-5 | | | | | 113–140 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=14">14</a> | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1904-02-01">1904-02-01</a> | | | | | | | 5 | | | 19040201 | Che Hutbor.<br />
<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Sociely of Authors. Monthly.)<br />
<br />
FOUNDED BY SIR WALTER BESANT.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Vou. XIV.—No. 5d.<br />
<br />
TELEPHONE NUMBER :<br />
374 VICTORIA.<br />
<br />
TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS :<br />
AUTORIDAD, LONDON.<br />
<br />
oe -<br />
<br />
NOTICES.<br />
<br />
—1—~— +<br />
<br />
OR the opinions expressed in papers that are<br />
signed or initialled the authors alone are<br />
responsible. None of the papers or para-<br />
<br />
graphs must be taken as expressing the opinion<br />
of the Committee unless such is especially stated<br />
to be the case.<br />
<br />
Tue Editor begs to inform members of the<br />
Authors’ Society and other readers of The Author<br />
that the cases which are from time to time quoted<br />
in The Author are cases that have come before the<br />
notice or to the knowledge of the Secretary of the<br />
Society, and that those members of the Society<br />
who desire to have the names of the publishers<br />
concerned can obtain them on application.<br />
<br />
—+-—>—»<br />
<br />
List of Members.<br />
<br />
THE List of Members of the Society of Authors<br />
published October, 1902, at the price of 6d., and<br />
the elections from October, 1902, to July, 1903, as<br />
a supplemental list, at the price of 2d., can now be<br />
obtained at the offices of the Society.<br />
<br />
They will be sold to members or associates of<br />
the Society only.<br />
<br />
——<br />
<br />
The Pension Fund of the Society.<br />
<br />
THE investments of the Pension Fund at<br />
present standing in the names of the Trustees are<br />
as follows.<br />
<br />
This is a statement of the actual stock; the<br />
<br />
Vou, XIV,<br />
<br />
FEBRUARY Ist, 1904.<br />
<br />
[PrIcE SIXPENCE.<br />
<br />
money value can be easily worked out at the current<br />
price of the market :—<br />
<br />
@OnsOls 25 6 £1000 0 0<br />
WioGal OWNS 6.0. 500 0 0<br />
Victorian Government 8 % Consoli-<br />
dated Inscribed Stock ............... 291 19 11<br />
War Hoant 201-9 3<br />
Wotal 6. 2. £1,993. 9 2<br />
Subscriptions from October, 1903.<br />
LS. We<br />
Noy. 13, Longe, Miss Julia. : - 0 & 6<br />
Dec. 16, Trevor, Capt. Philip. ~ 07) 0<br />
1904.<br />
Jan. 6, Hills, Mrs. ©. H. . : 0. 5 0<br />
Jan. 6, Crommelin, Miss . ; 010 30<br />
Jan. 8, Stevenson, Mrs. M. E. . 20 55 26<br />
Jan. 16, Kilmarnock, The Lord . 0 107 6<br />
Donations from October, 1903.<br />
Oct. 27, Sturgis, Julian 50 0 O<br />
Nov. 2, Stanton, V. H. : 56 00<br />
Nov. 18, Benecke, Miss Ida. 120. 0<br />
Noy. 23, Harraden, Miss Beatrice oo 0-0<br />
Dec. Miniken, Miss Bertha M. M.. 0 5 0<br />
1904.<br />
Jan. 4, Moncrieff, A. R. Hope . 25-0 0<br />
Jan. 4, Middlemas, Miss Jean . ~ 0 10.0<br />
Jan. 4, Witherby, The Rev. C. . 0 500<br />
Jan. 6, Key, The Rev. S. Whittell . 0 5 0<br />
Jan. 14, Bennett, Rev. W. K., D.D. 015 0<br />
<br />
There are in addition other subscribers who do<br />
not desire that either their names or the amount<br />
they are subscribing should be printed.<br />
<br />
a aioe<br />
<br />
FROM THE COMMITTEE.<br />
eS<br />
HE Committee of the Society met on Monday,<br />
January 11th, at 389, Old Queen Street,<br />
Storey’s Gate, 8.W.<br />
<br />
This was the first meeting of the New Year,<br />
which opens satisfactorily, as the Committee had the<br />
<br />
pleasure of electing 30 Members and Associates.<br />
<br />
<br />
114<br />
<br />
Mr. Douglas Freshfield, Mr. Francis Storr, and<br />
Mr. Sydney Grundy were re-elected Members of the<br />
Committee.<br />
<br />
The other matters discussed were either of<br />
slight importance or were adjourned to the<br />
following meeting.<br />
<br />
—+—<—+ —<br />
<br />
Cases.<br />
<br />
Since the last issue of Ze Author three cases<br />
<br />
have been taken in hand. From this it is evident<br />
that during the Christmas holidays the Members<br />
have given little thought to business. Of these<br />
one has been settled and the Secretary is negoti-<br />
ating for the settlement of the other two, on<br />
favourable terms.<br />
<br />
Of the cases quoted in the January number<br />
there are still six which have not been concluded.<br />
One deals with a demand in the United States, the<br />
other five with matters at home, and there is every<br />
hope that a satisfactory termination will be arrived<br />
at. One case has been taken into the County<br />
Court with the sanction of the Chairman, and will<br />
be most probably heard in February. Other cases<br />
in the hands of the Society’s Solicitors are pro-<br />
ceeding. In cases of bankruptcy or liquidation the<br />
progress is regrettably slow. This, however, is<br />
not the fault of the Society or its Solicitors but of<br />
the present system.<br />
<br />
++<br />
<br />
January Elections.<br />
<br />
Bennett, The Rev. W. H. 18,<br />
D.D.<br />
Bernard, Henry<br />
<br />
Denning Road,<br />
Hampstead, N.W.<br />
The Bath Club, Dover<br />
<br />
Street, W.<br />
<br />
Brewer, John Francis . 83, St. Quintin’s<br />
Avenue, W.<br />
<br />
The Brooms, Baldersby,<br />
8.0., Leeds.<br />
<br />
20, Endsleigh Street,<br />
Gordon Square, W.C.<br />
<br />
10, Dryden Street, Pil-<br />
ing, Edinburgh.<br />
<br />
221, Underhill Road,<br />
Dulwich, 8.E.<br />
<br />
Clark, Miss Margery Stan- 6, Esplanade, Seaford,<br />
ley. Sussex.<br />
<br />
Dearmer, Mrs. Percy 11, Chalcot Gardens,<br />
England’s Lane, 8.<br />
Hampstead,<br />
<br />
Koniggratzer Strasse,<br />
Berlin.<br />
<br />
Ely,C. J... : . 26, Great Ormond<br />
<br />
Street, Russell 8q.,<br />
W.C.<br />
<br />
Buckton, Mrs. Robert<br />
Burgess, W. S.<br />
Bryde, Margaretta (Mrs.)<br />
<br />
Cassidy, James<br />
<br />
Dillon, Dr. E. J.<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
Fabeck, Madame de Villa delle Grazie,<br />
<br />
Alassio, Liguria,<br />
<br />
Italy.<br />
Gosset, Major-General Deadham, Essex.<br />
Hamilion, Angus Authors’ Club, 3,<br />
Whitehall Court,<br />
S.W.<br />
Hassall, John, R.T. 88, Kensington Park<br />
Road, W.<br />
Heath, Dudley ; . 10, Fitzroy Street, W.C.<br />
Hicks, Rev. Edward, St. George’s Vicarage,<br />
D.D. Macclesfield.<br />
Kilmarnock, The Lord . 8, Rue du Taciturne,<br />
Brussels.<br />
<br />
Killaha, St. Albans.<br />
c/o Messrs. Bemrose<br />
& Sons, 4, Snow<br />
<br />
Knight, Maude C. (Mrs.)<br />
Mendis, M. . : :<br />
<br />
Hill, E.C.<br />
Pretor, Alfred Wyke, Weymouth.<br />
Reynard, F. H. Camp Hill, Bedale,<br />
Yorkshire.<br />
Sackville, Lady Margaret Inchmery, Exbury,<br />
Southampton.<br />
Stidston, E. A. Dale View, Beech Alton,<br />
Hants.<br />
<br />
Trevor, Captain Philip<br />
(“ Dux”).<br />
Thackeray, Lance .<br />
<br />
83, Mount Ararat Road,<br />
Richmond, Surrey.<br />
42, Linden Gardens,<br />
<br />
W.<br />
75, Clancarty Road,<br />
Fulham, 8.W.<br />
Workman, Mrs... . c/o Messrs. Brown,<br />
Shipley & Co., 123,<br />
Pall Mall, S.W.<br />
Clarendon Road, Leeds,<br />
Yorkshire.<br />
<br />
Wood, Starr .<br />
<br />
“Margaret Wilton ”<br />
<br />
————_——_o—<——_e—___——_<br />
<br />
OUR BOOK AND PLAY TALK.<br />
<br />
—+——+ —<br />
<br />
R. ‘Thomas Hardy’s “The Dynasts ” (Part L,<br />
Macmillan) is just out.<br />
<br />
nineteen acts; one hundred and thirty scenes.<br />
<br />
“The Dynasts” is concerned, Mr. Hardy tells us, —<br />
with the Great Historical Calamity or Clash of —<br />
<br />
Peoples, artificially brought about some hundred<br />
years ago. This chronicle-piece, is a kind of<br />
panoramic show,<br />
performance, and not for the stage.<br />
<br />
dramas, other than that of contemporary OF<br />
frivolous life.<br />
<br />
some hundreds, exclusive of crowds and armies, —<br />
<br />
and Phantom Intelligences are introduced as —<br />
spectators of the terrestrial drama. .<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
It isa Drama of ©<br />
the Napoleonic Wars in three parts; —<br />
<br />
a play intended for mental :<br />
Mr. Hardy —<br />
raises the question whether mental performance —<br />
alone may not eventually be the fate of all —<br />
<br />
The dramatis persone number —<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
3 ai<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
fl<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR. 115<br />
<br />
Mr. I. Zangwill, who will not return to England<br />
for some months, is at present busily engaged on<br />
acomedy in four acts, entitled ‘‘ The Serio-Comic<br />
Governess,” based on his story of the same name.<br />
<br />
Miss Norman Lorimer has just finished a novel<br />
dealing with the brigands of Etna. In it the<br />
scenery and life of the people are depicted, and<br />
much information about the brigands and the<br />
Mafia is interwoven. Between three and four<br />
thousand copies of Miss Lorimer’s novel ‘“ By the<br />
Waters of Sicily’ have been sold.<br />
<br />
A new poetic drama entitled “ Philip of Macedon ”<br />
by Frederick Winbolt, author of ‘“ Messalina,”<br />
“Frithrof the Bold” etc., will very shortly be<br />
issued by the De la More Press.<br />
<br />
Miss Rosaline Masson is writing the letter-press<br />
of “Edinburgh” for Messrs. A. & C. Black. The<br />
illustrations are the work of Mr. Fullylove.<br />
<br />
Major F. C. Ormsby-Johnson has written a novel<br />
which is now in the hands of the publishers. He<br />
has also nearly completed a tale some eighty-five<br />
thousand words in length.<br />
<br />
“Christian Thal,” the latest published work of<br />
M. E. Francis (Mrs. Francis Blundell) deals<br />
entirely with musical life. The interest chiefly<br />
centres round the Leschetzki School of Music at<br />
Vienna, which city figures in the book under the<br />
name of Stattingen. Mrs. Blundell has recently<br />
finished a romance of the days of Queen Anne<br />
entitled “ Lychgate Hall,” which after running its<br />
serial course in the Weekly Edition of the Times,<br />
will be published in England and America by<br />
Messrs. Longman.<br />
<br />
A one act play from her pen in collaboration<br />
with Mr. Sydney Valentine entitled “The Widow<br />
Woos,” was successfully produced at the Hay-<br />
market Theatre on the afternoon of January 9th.<br />
Dramatic versions of two of Mrs. Blundell’s<br />
recent romances are in course of preparation.<br />
<br />
Mr. Charles Marriott has just completed a novel,<br />
“‘Genevra,” which will be published by Messrs.<br />
Methuen in the autumn of this year. The story is<br />
an attempt at a study of feminine temperament,<br />
and the scene is a farm in a valley in the Land’s<br />
End district of Cornwall. Mr. Marriott is now<br />
engaged upon two novels, one romantic, the other<br />
realistic ; both dealing with the present day.<br />
<br />
Mr. Robert Aitken has nearly completed a<br />
volume of sea sketches which he hopes to issue<br />
very shortly. That will be followed by a novel<br />
which is already half finished.<br />
<br />
Miss May Crommelin, whose novel “ Partners<br />
Three” (John Long) has sold well, is at present<br />
writing short stories for Zhe World. Having<br />
spent a considerable portion of last year in<br />
Palestine and Norway, Miss Crommelin is thinking<br />
of studying Sicily, and writing a serial there.<br />
<br />
Mr. Marmaduke W. Pickthall’s new novel,<br />
<br />
entitled “ Enid,” is to be published early this year<br />
by Messrs. Constable. The heroine, daughter of a<br />
rich parvenu, marries a poet, to her discomfort and<br />
his destruction. That is the main thread of the<br />
story-design ; but there are others all contributing<br />
to a view of the transition state of Society to-day.<br />
<br />
Mr. Pickthall is now at work on another piece<br />
of fiction, which will probably not see the light<br />
until the Spring of 1905. Messrs. Methuen & Co.<br />
have bespoken it.<br />
<br />
Mr. M. H. Spielmann’s “Charles Keene:<br />
Etcher”’ is out. The price of the best edition is<br />
fifty guineas. The other edition can be bought for<br />
thirty guineas. Both editions are strictly limited.<br />
<br />
Mrs. M. H. Spielmann’s “ Littledown Castle ”<br />
has gone into a second edition, and is being<br />
translated into French.<br />
<br />
Mr. W. L. St. John Lucas has just published a<br />
book of short stories called “The Vintage of<br />
Dreams” (Elkin Matthews), and Messrs. Constable<br />
& Co. are bringing out his book of poems in the<br />
early spring. Besides this Mr. St. John Lucas is<br />
writing a weekly literary causerie for Zhe World;<br />
he is about to begin a new novel.<br />
<br />
Owing to pressure on space, we omitted to<br />
mention that Mr. Clive Holland has a Japanese<br />
novel partly written ; also, a story dealing with art<br />
student life in the Quartier Jatin.<br />
<br />
Messrs. Jarrold & Sons will issue this month<br />
the second edition of Dr. Panter’s “ Granuaile,<br />
a Queen of the West.”<br />
<br />
Mrs. J. K. M. Iliffe’s “Tales Told at Twilight”<br />
has been brought out in New York by Mr. H. W.<br />
Bell. The Tales are in verse, being founded on<br />
German and French folk-lore. It is appropriately<br />
illustrated by Mr. Percy Billinghurst.<br />
<br />
Mr. Laurence Binyon, whose new volume of poems,<br />
entitled “ ‘The Death of Adam and other Poems,”<br />
was issued quite recently by Messrs. Methuen at<br />
3s. 6d. nett, has contributed an introductory note<br />
to the first number of Messrs. Macmillan & Co.’s<br />
new Art periodical, “The Artist Engraver,” a<br />
periodical to be devoted entirely to original work.<br />
<br />
Miss Nellie K. Blissett’s novel, ‘‘ The Bindweed,”<br />
will be published shortly by Messrs. Constable & Co.<br />
Her romance, “The Winning of Douce,” is running<br />
as a serial in Zhe Free Lance.<br />
<br />
Mr. Walter Del Mar has published through<br />
Messrs. A. & C. Black a fully illustrated volume<br />
entitled “Around the World Through Japan.”<br />
Intending travellers will find his final chapter,<br />
“Suggestions to Tourists,” particularly useful.<br />
There is a good index.<br />
<br />
In connection with the revival of the Book-<br />
producing Trades of Ireland, Mr. ©. I. Jacobi<br />
has been delivering a lecture on the “Art and<br />
Craft of Printing” at Dublin, Cork, Limerick,<br />
and Belfast, under the auspices of the Department<br />
<br />
<br />
116<br />
<br />
of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for<br />
Ireland. The lecture is illustrated by lantern<br />
slides, and by the exhibition of specimens. Mr.<br />
Jacobi is the author of various technical works on<br />
printing.<br />
<br />
Mr. Francis H. Gribble, author of “ Early Moun-<br />
taineers,” &c., has written “The Story of Alpine<br />
Climbing” for the Library of Useful Stories,<br />
issued by Messrs. George Newnes, Ltd., at 1s.<br />
This little book is well illustrated, and is some-<br />
thing more than a mere Tourist’s Guide.<br />
<br />
Mr. A. R. Hope Moncrieff’s “ Around London”<br />
is a Guide to the environs for twenty miles round.<br />
Tt is issued in three parts, in paper covers, at 6d.<br />
each. The three parts, bound together in one<br />
yolume, can be had for 2s. 6d. (A. & C. Black).<br />
Each section contains maps of the district dealt<br />
with ; there is a list of railways and stations ; a<br />
table of distances for cyclists, and an index of<br />
places.<br />
<br />
“Beyond the Northern Lights” is a tale of<br />
adventure in unknown seas, by Mr. Reginald Wray,<br />
author of “Tales of the Empire,” ‘ Adventures on<br />
Land and Sea,” &c. This story for boys and girls<br />
is published by Mr. T. Burleigh, and is No. 1 of<br />
the Reginald Wray Adventure Series.<br />
<br />
A story of world travel, by the Hon. Mrs. E. A.<br />
Gordon, entitled “ Clear Round,” is now in a third<br />
edition, revised and enlarged, with illustrations,<br />
maps, and an introductory letter from the late<br />
Professor Max Miiller. Mrs. Gordon has dedicated<br />
this book to her children. Not long ago this<br />
authoress published, through Messrs. Kegan Paul,<br />
at 15s., “The Temples of the Orient and Their<br />
Message.”<br />
<br />
The first two volumes of Mr. Herbert Paul’s<br />
“History of Modern England” are to be published<br />
immediately by Messrs. Macmillan & Co, The<br />
author takes as his starting point the fall of Sir<br />
Robert Peel’s Cabinet in 1846. Though the work<br />
will present a picture of England under Free<br />
Trade, the book is not a mere history of politics,<br />
but passes under review the whole life of the<br />
nation as manifested also in science, literature,<br />
and art.<br />
<br />
The first of the two volumes of “ Modern<br />
England” carries the story down to 1855; the<br />
second begins with the Treaty of Paris, signed<br />
after the Fall of Kars, and terminates with the<br />
close of the Palmerstonian era in 1865.<br />
<br />
Mr. W. M. Rossetti contributes a preface, a<br />
memoir of his sister, notes and appendices, to<br />
the new edition, in one volume, of “The Poetical<br />
Works of Christina Georgina Rossetti,” which<br />
Messrs. Macmillan will issue at once.<br />
<br />
Lord Avebury’s new volume of “Essays and<br />
Addresses, 1900—1903” (Macmillan), covers a<br />
wide field. Among others, there are papers on<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
Our Fiscal Policy; Bank Holidays and Early<br />
Closing ; Richard Jefferies and Macaulay; and<br />
there is the first Memorial Lecture delivered at<br />
the Anthropological Institute on Huxley’s Life<br />
and Work.<br />
<br />
Mr. G. 8. Layard’s novel, “ Dolly’s Governess.”<br />
is to be published in April by Messrs. Isbister &<br />
Co.<br />
<br />
The February issue of The Monthly Review will<br />
contain an article by Mr. Robert Machray on the<br />
Eastern Question.<br />
<br />
“Letty” reached its one hundredth perform-<br />
ance at the Duke of York’s Theatre on Thursday,<br />
January 14th. The next production at this theatre<br />
will be “ Captain Dieppe,” the three-act comedy by<br />
Anthony Hope and Harrison Rhoades.<br />
<br />
“A Chinese Honeymoon” celebrated its 932nd<br />
performance at the Strand Theatre on Wednesday,<br />
January 20th, thus breaking the record as regards<br />
musical plays.<br />
<br />
“A Country Girl” celebrated its second anni-<br />
versary at Daly’s Theatre on January 18th.<br />
<br />
Mr. Beerbohm Tree will start two companies on<br />
tour this month. One will play “The Darling<br />
of the Gods”; the other will play a series of<br />
Shakespearean dramas. In “The Darling of the<br />
Gods”? Mr. Robert Pateman will take Mr, Tree’s<br />
part of Zakkuri. In the Shakespearean plays,<br />
Miss Constance Collier, Mr. Oscar Asche, and Mr.<br />
Lionel Brough will appear.<br />
<br />
At the Haymarket Theatre, on the evening of<br />
January 19th, a brilliant comedy in three acts, by<br />
Mr. H. A. Jones, was presented with marked success.<br />
It is entitled “Joseph Entangled.” Mr. Cyril Maude,<br />
Mr. Sam Waring, Mr. Sam Sothern, Miss Ellis<br />
Jeffreys, Miss Winifred Arthur Jones, and Miss<br />
Beatrice Ferrar are in the cast. At the end<br />
of the play, Mr. H. A. Jones was called before<br />
the curtain and received an ovation from the<br />
appreciative audience.<br />
<br />
———_—<\_+—<—__+____——<br />
<br />
PARIS NOTES.<br />
<br />
—+——<br />
<br />
" E Pays natal,” by M. Henry Bordeaux, has<br />
<br />
recently been published in a new edition, —<br />
<br />
and, as this author is now in high favour,<br />
everyone is glad to have the opportunity of reading<br />
his first novel. There is nothing about it to suggest<br />
<br />
that it is a first novel, and one can only conclude<br />
that the author had very wisely waited until the<br />
right time before sending out any of his work into<br />
the world. -<br />
<br />
“Le Pays natal,” like all the later books by M. -<br />
Bordeaux, is remarkable for its simplicity and<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
od<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
ifs<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
absolute sincerity. There is no seeking for effect,<br />
neither are there any wild stretches of the imagina-<br />
tion. It is just a simple story simply told, but<br />
with a whole world of meaning for those who care<br />
to think.<br />
<br />
It touches on a subject that has been much dis-<br />
cussed of late years in France: decentralisation<br />
and the individual responsibility of landowners.<br />
<br />
The story opens with the return of Lucien<br />
Halande, at the age of thirty, to his pays natal,<br />
Savoy.<br />
<br />
Since the death of his parents he has been<br />
living in Paris, and his intention is to sell the<br />
estate he has inherited and return to the capital<br />
for the rest of his days.<br />
<br />
This is not as easy as he had imagined it would<br />
be. As he sets foot once more in the old home he<br />
finds that it is full of old memories, and he also<br />
wakes up to the fact that for the last ten years he<br />
has been selfishly shirking his duties as a land-<br />
owner. There is a romance, too, running through<br />
the story from this point. Lucien meets again his<br />
old playfellow, Annie Mérans, and if only he had<br />
come back a few years earlier would certainly<br />
have married her. He has returned too late, and<br />
is only in time now to be a witness to the good<br />
fortune of another man and a man who is quite<br />
unworthy of Annie. Lucien settles down in his<br />
old home and is tortured by all that he sees, and<br />
by the thought that things might have been so<br />
different had he not wasted ten years of his life.<br />
The chief interest of the story commences with<br />
Annie’s wedding, and never flags to the end of the<br />
book. M. Bordeaux is too true and conscientious a<br />
novelist to avoid all that is unpleasant when telling<br />
his story, but he never lingers over unpleasant<br />
things and does not drag in unnecessary details.<br />
There is a wholesomeness about his books which<br />
is as refreshing as that mountain air of his beloved<br />
Savoy which seems to pervade most of his volumes.<br />
<br />
“Terres de Soleil et de Brouillard,” by Brada,<br />
is a most delightful volume, consisting of sketches<br />
of Italian and English life. The description of<br />
Tuscany and its people is most interesting, and<br />
the explanation of many things connected with<br />
Rome very instructive. When the author touches<br />
on England and her people we are glad to see our-<br />
selves for a time as others see us, but though we<br />
agree with very much that is said about us, we<br />
certainly think that there is something else to add<br />
to these chapters on the “land of fog.”<br />
<br />
Five books by the Abbé Loisy are prohibited by<br />
the Catholic Church. The titles of these works are,<br />
“Autour d’un petit livre,” ‘“L’Hvangile et<br />
L’Eglise,” “ Etudes Evangeliques,” “ La Religion<br />
d’Israé#l,” and “L’Evangile de St. Jean.” The<br />
Abbé has distinctly advanced ideas.<br />
<br />
Among other books published recently here are ;<br />
<br />
117<br />
<br />
“Les Etapes du socialisme”? by Paul Louis ;<br />
“Les Amitiés francaises,” by M. Maurice Barrés ;<br />
“‘ Mediterranée,” by Mlle. Lucie Felix Faure ;<br />
“Tes Epées de fer,’ by Maurice Montégut ; “La<br />
Jungle de Paris,’ by Jean Rameau ; “ Impres-<br />
sions Africaines,” by Bonnafos; “ L’dme et<br />
Lévolution de la littérature,” by Georges Dumes-<br />
nil; ‘ Les Fiaacailles d’ Yvonne,” by J. H. Rosny ;<br />
“Tes Arts et les Lettres,” by M. Leon Riotor ;<br />
“T’Aube du théitre romantique,”’ by Albert Je<br />
Roy.<br />
<br />
The Goncouré Academy prize was awarded to<br />
M. John Antoine Nau for his novel, ‘ Force<br />
ennemie.”<br />
<br />
Madame Arvéde Barine has just received the<br />
decoration of Chevalier de la Légion d’ Honneur<br />
for her literary work.<br />
<br />
Madame Barine and Madame Daniel Lesueur<br />
are the only two women writers in France who<br />
have been awarded this distinction. Madame<br />
Barine’s works are the following : ‘“ Portraits de<br />
Femmes,” ‘“ Essais et Fantaisies,” ‘* Princesses et<br />
Grandes Dames,” “ Bourgeois et Gens de Peu,”<br />
“ Névrosés,’ ‘* Bernardin de Saint Pierre,”<br />
“ Alfred de Musset,” “Francois d’Assise et la<br />
Légende des Trois Compagnons,” “ La Jeunesse de<br />
la Grande Mademoiselle.”<br />
<br />
At the Comédie-Frangaise, M. Hervieu’s piece<br />
“Te Dédale” is still being played, and at the<br />
Odéon “ L’Absent.” The French version of “The<br />
Second Mrs. Tanqueray” is soon to be given at<br />
this theatre. At the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre<br />
“ La Sorciére”’ still draws a full house.<br />
<br />
M. Antoine continues to give us a three-play<br />
bill and to put on new pieces with astonishing<br />
rapidity. At the Vaudeville, since the departure<br />
of Mme. Réjane, M. Porel appears to be trying an<br />
experiment, which certainly deserves reward. He<br />
has sent round a letter in which he states that since<br />
‘Mme. Sans Gene” no piece has been given in his<br />
theatre to which parents could take their daughters,<br />
and he adds that the play he has now put ‘on,<br />
“Frere Jacques,” is at the same time “ultra<br />
Parisian ” and a “ piece de famille.”<br />
<br />
At the Gymnase, “ Le Retour de Jérusalem,” and<br />
at the Renaissance, “ L’Adversaire,” appear to be<br />
greatly appreciated, so that altogether Parisians<br />
cannot complain this season of any dearth of<br />
excellent plays.<br />
<br />
M. Bour has put on, at the Théatre Victor Hugo,<br />
a somewhat daring piece entitled “Le Droit des<br />
Vierges.” The author is M. Paul Hyacinthe<br />
Loyson, son of the celebrated Pere Hyacinthe, and<br />
the play is written with a distinct purpose. Inan<br />
unpublished version of it which M. Loyson gave<br />
me some time ago to read, there is a preface by<br />
Bjérnstjerne Bjornson and a short explanation by<br />
the author of “ Le Droit des Vierges,” in which he<br />
<br />
<br />
118<br />
<br />
tells us that the idea of this piece is founded on an<br />
episode of which he was once a witness. M. Paul<br />
Loyson has taken up a delicate mission most<br />
courageously, just as his father did before him<br />
many years ago.<br />
<br />
M. Bour has staged this piece admirably, and<br />
<br />
lays his own part to perfection.<br />
<br />
The Weekly Critical Review published on the<br />
92nd of January a double number in honour of<br />
its anniversary. A special article was written for<br />
it by the Viscount Melchior de Vogiié, whose book,<br />
“Te Maitre de la Mer,” has been such a success<br />
this season. The subject of this article is “ Joseph<br />
Chamberlain,” and it is published in French and<br />
English.<br />
<br />
Other articles of interest in this number are<br />
“Tes Décadents,” by M. Rémy de Gourmont ;<br />
“ Le Retour au Paysage Historique,” by M. Frantz;<br />
“Discovery of a Michel An gelo in Paris,” “ Bimini,”<br />
by John Gurdon; ‘‘Le Roman Contemporain ;”’<br />
“Moscow,” by Arthur Symons; and an exquisite<br />
poem entitled “ Hymn to Earth,” by Arthur Symons.<br />
This review has recently published several excellent<br />
poems, among others “ ‘The Great Idea,” by George<br />
Cabot Lodge, whose verses we have only seen,<br />
hitherto, in Seribner’s Magazine. In these days<br />
when poetry worthy of the name is so rare in<br />
England, one is glad to see exceptional work of<br />
this kind in the magazines.<br />
<br />
The death of George Gissing has not passed<br />
unnoticed here. By the deep regret expressed by<br />
all who knew his works or who had met him since<br />
his residence in France, one realises how thoroughly<br />
he was appreciated.<br />
<br />
That, in England, his success should have been<br />
so tardy seems absolutely incomprehensible. The<br />
first book of Gissing’s which was translated into<br />
French drew attention to him here. After the publi-<br />
cation of the second in serial form, in a daily paper,<br />
he was spoken of as “the English Balzac.” The<br />
French have undoubtedly the gift of discrimination<br />
in literature, and one can only regret now that a<br />
translation of each of Gissing’s books was not<br />
brought out here soon after the publication of the<br />
work in England.<br />
<br />
Both “New Grub Street” and “ Eve’s Ransom”<br />
have been used in French as serials and afterwards<br />
published in volume form, The translation of<br />
these two works is admirable. In some English<br />
paper it was stated that Gissing translated “ New<br />
Grub Street” himself, but this isa mistake. He<br />
certainly had a thorough knowledge of the French<br />
language, and another translator, who was then<br />
at work on “The Whirlpool,” expressed great<br />
surprise that Gissing did not write his books in<br />
French as well as in English. “In the Year of<br />
Jubilee” is to appear shortly in French as a serial<br />
in a daily paper. “The Odd Women,” too, is<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
translated, and “The Paying Guest” and “The<br />
Town Traveller ” are arranged for.<br />
<br />
Personally, too, Gissing was highly esteemed<br />
here. Exclusive as the French are, they were<br />
more than willing to open their doors to him.<br />
Shortly after his death I received a letter contain-<br />
ing the following lines, bearing the signature of<br />
one of the best known names in France: “ On<br />
me dit que la mort de M. Gissing a été annoncée<br />
dans le journal Ze Temps. Pouvez-vous me dire<br />
si cette nouvelle est exacte, vous savez tout<br />
Vintérét que je portais & cet homme de talent, de<br />
coeur et d’ un caractére adorable.” Everyone who<br />
had met him here speaks with genuine sorrow of<br />
his death.<br />
<br />
Auys HALLARD.<br />
<br />
i<br />
<br />
THE NOBEL PRIZE.<br />
<br />
ee<br />
MEETING of the Committee for the Nobel<br />
prize for literature was held on Thursday,<br />
January 14th, at the offices of the Incor-<br />
porated Society of Authors, 39, Old Queen Street,<br />
Storey’s Gate,S. W.,Mr. Rdmund Gosse in the chair.<br />
The purpose of the meeting was to receive the<br />
votes collected in answer to the circular sent out<br />
last November by the Committee, and to authorise<br />
their transmission to Stockholm. :<br />
These votes will now be sent to the Committee wid<br />
of the Swedish Academy, as an indication of the tee<br />
wishes of those in England qualified under the<br />
regulations of the Nobel Bequest, to express an<br />
opinion. The award will be made in the autumn ig<br />
of the present year, by the Committee of the Wa<br />
Swedish Academy constituted for that purpose, |<br />
with which Committee alone the power of decision<br />
rests. The votes from the English contingent this<br />
year are numerous, including in their list the names<br />
of most of the eminent writers of the day.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
———_—_?—<—_2—____-<br />
<br />
SWEDEN AND THE BERNE<br />
CONVENTION.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
INCE Denmark has joined the Berne Conven-<br />
tion the partisans of a similar step in Sweden<br />
have recovered courage and are now making<br />
<br />
new exertions to bring their country out of the isola-<br />
tion which begins to press doubly hard upon them.<br />
As early as the 12th October, 1894, the Swedish<br />
Society of Authors (Sveriges Forfatterforening)<br />
addressed to the king an address, strongly supported<br />
by documentary evidence (an analysis of which<br />
will be found in Le Droit d’ Auteur, 1896, p. 159,<br />
etc.), in favour of the extension of international<br />
protection of authors, and more particularly in<br />
favour of a more liberal solution of the question of<br />
<br />
<br />
if<br />
<br />
wo<br />
<br />
8 LD: pera<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
the rights of translation.<br />
ber last the same Society presented a new petition<br />
to the Swedish Government praying that a pro-<br />
position for such a modification of the present<br />
legislation as may enable Sweden to follow the<br />
example of Denmark may be presented to the<br />
Riksday. This petition was signed by MM. Karl<br />
Warburg, Verner von Heidenstam, George Nor-<br />
densvam, Gustaf af Geyerstam, F. U. Wrangel,<br />
Axel Raphael, Knut Michaelson, Per Hallstrém,<br />
Hellen Lindgren.<br />
<br />
On the 19th of September M. Ossian Berger,<br />
Minister of Justice, forwarded this petition to the<br />
two societies of Swedish publishers, the Svenska<br />
Bokforliggare-Foreningen and the Nya Bokforldg-<br />
gare-Foreningen, as well as to the Society of Swedish<br />
Journalists, in order to obtain their opinions on<br />
the question. The first of the above-named<br />
Societies has already arrived at a decision entirely<br />
favourable to the desires of the authors. The<br />
society also goes further and formally unites its<br />
request with that presented in the petition ; and<br />
this is the more remarkable seeing that the same<br />
society in 1895 dissuaded the Swedish Govern-<br />
ment from joining the Berne Convention. The<br />
Swedish Parliament meets on the 15th of Janu-<br />
ary ; and the friends of the Union firmly hope<br />
that the Riksdag may be authorised to proceed to<br />
a revision of the Swedish internal law of copyright,<br />
and that so Sweden may in the course of the year<br />
become one of the countries of the Union.<br />
<br />
This hope has now been confirmed. The Society,<br />
which has for some time been endeavouring to<br />
obtain a special copyright agreement between<br />
Sweden and the United Kingdom, has heard from<br />
His Majesty’s Foreign Office that “ there will be<br />
no need to proceed further in the matter as His<br />
Majesty's Minister at Sweden reports that the<br />
Swedish Government intend shortly to submit to<br />
the Diet a proposal for the accession of Sweden to<br />
the Berne Convention.”<br />
<br />
or<br />
THE CONTRACT OF BAILMENT.<br />
Se<br />
“ H. T.,” in the December Author, and<br />
<br />
“An Editor” in The Author for<br />
<br />
January, have treated the question of<br />
the editor’s responsibility for the safety of<br />
unsolicited manuscripts from different points<br />
of view, and at first sight appear to hold<br />
different opinions as to the principles which should<br />
govern the question of his liability. Perhaps,<br />
however, in considering concrete instances they<br />
would frequently arrive at the same conclusions,<br />
although sometimes their “ findings of fact” would<br />
not be the same, and their deductions as to the<br />
legal position would differ in corresponding degree.<br />
<br />
119<br />
<br />
On the 14th of Septem They would differ sometimes (and so would most<br />
<br />
people having interests at stake, and being, there-<br />
fore, to some extent, “ prejudiced”) as to what<br />
constitutes or implies an invitation to strangers<br />
to contribute to a periodical, and as to whether a<br />
certain state of facts exists “for the benefit” of<br />
both parties.<br />
<br />
Let me quote the notice to would-be contri-<br />
butors which appears in the Free Lance, a<br />
weekly penny periodical probably known to some<br />
if not to all of the readers of The Author :-—<br />
<br />
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO CONTRIBUTORS.<br />
<br />
While declining responsibility for the safety of MSS.<br />
submitted to us, every possible care will be taken.<br />
<br />
All MSS. must have the author's name and address<br />
written legibly on the title page. When payment is<br />
desired the price must also appear on the title page.<br />
Every manuscript must be accompanied by a stamped<br />
and addressed envelope for return in case of unsuitability.<br />
<br />
In future all rejected manuscripts not accompanied by<br />
stamped and addressed envelopes will be destroyed.<br />
<br />
What is the position of the editor of the Free<br />
Lance, assuming that his notice is brought under<br />
the observation of his contributor? It is true<br />
that he does not in terms invite anybody to write<br />
for him, and that he “declines responsibility ” for<br />
the MS. submitted to him at the commencement<br />
of his notice ; but does not the whole notice,<br />
including even the last two lines, constitute an invi-<br />
tation to the author to submit MSS. to the editor,<br />
and does it not thus establish a system of bailment<br />
for the mutual advantage of both? In such cir-<br />
cumstances is not the editor bound to take good<br />
care of and to return any MS. which he may not<br />
make use of ? I do not suggest that he is obliged<br />
to convey it or even to post it to the sender (except<br />
in those cases in which he gives a direct or implied<br />
undertaking to do so), but I do not see why he<br />
should not, at law, be responsible for it during a<br />
reasonable time and be bound to hand it back to<br />
the contributor who calls and asks for it. Has he<br />
any right to treat it more carelessly than those<br />
which he has accepted and will in due course make<br />
use of to his own profit ? Can he lose it if he is<br />
reasonably careful? In the notice quoted the<br />
editor lays down acondition with regard to sending<br />
stamped and addressed envelopes, which implies an<br />
undertaking to return all MSS. accompanied by<br />
these useful receptacles. The receptacle prepared<br />
by him for the MS. not so accompanied is,<br />
apparently, the waste-paper basket or the fire.<br />
The editor deliberately warns his correspondents<br />
of this, and the would-be contributor who reads<br />
the notice will probably comply with it. Let us<br />
suppose, however, that he does not do so either<br />
(1) deliberately or (2) through temporary forget-<br />
fulness. With regard to (1), would “ An Editor,”<br />
who evidently has the advantage of a legal training,<br />
venture to advise a client that he might invite the<br />
<br />
<br />
120<br />
<br />
deposit of valuable property upon his premises for<br />
his inspection for the mutual good of the depositor<br />
and himself, that he might couple with this invita-<br />
tion a condition easily fulfilled, but at the same<br />
time easily omitted, and that upon a failure to<br />
comply with the condition he might safely destroy<br />
the property so deposited? ‘An Editor” will<br />
perhaps consider that I have overstated the case,<br />
and that the “notice to contributors” which I<br />
have quoted goes beyond anything which he con-<br />
templated. I am inclined to doubt, however,<br />
whether the editor of the Free Lance (except<br />
in the fact that his notice affords evidence of his<br />
position) is more liable to his contributors than<br />
any other editor who selects from MSS. sent to<br />
him unsolicited by strangers such as are suitable<br />
for his paper, publishes and pays for them. If the<br />
editor of a periodical never reads any unordered<br />
MSS., and still more if he also puts a notice in his<br />
paper to that effect, he occupies a very strong<br />
position with regard to any unsolicited MSS. which<br />
may find their way into his letter-box.<br />
<br />
{ hazard the suggestion, however, that in fact<br />
no such MSS. would ever reach his office except<br />
through a mistaken idea on the part of the sender<br />
as to the attitude of the editor. I may hate alcohol<br />
with all the energy of the keenest prohibitionist,<br />
and someone may send me a consignment of old<br />
port of peculiar quality and rarity under the<br />
impression that I am a connoisseur who will<br />
jump at the chance of purchasing it. The mis-<br />
take may be due to the grossest carelessness, the<br />
most reckless want of inquiry, but I doubt if I<br />
should therefore be justified in throwing that old<br />
port into the sewer ; particularly if I knew the<br />
name of the consignor, and had every reason to<br />
believe that he would like to have it back and<br />
would some day apply for its return, should I not<br />
accept his offer. I have put the case (2) of tem-<br />
porary forgetfulness where such a notice as that<br />
of the editor of the Free Lance is concerned ; but<br />
T am not sure that on principle temporary forget-<br />
fulness on the part of the sender makes very much<br />
difference to the position of the recipient who wilfully<br />
destroys the thing sent. What is the position then<br />
of the person who receives avaluable article, whether<br />
a MS. article or a case of ’47 port or anything<br />
else, without having asked for it either in terms or<br />
by implication ? Would “G. H. T.” argue (to<br />
quote from his last paragraph) that the articles are in<br />
such a case “sent for the benefit of both parties,”<br />
and that “ under these circumstances” the recipient<br />
“ig more than a mere gratuitous bailee, and would<br />
be responsible accordingly ?”” I should hardly agree<br />
with him if he put his case so high as that. I<br />
should say that the receiver had no right to destroy<br />
the goods sent, or to refuse to give them up if<br />
within a reasonable time a proper request were<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
made for them, but that beyond this the sender<br />
would have little, if any, claim upon him, even if<br />
he did not treat them as carefully as he would<br />
have treated his own property. I should also say,<br />
however, that a little want of tolerance and courtesy<br />
on the part of either or both might land them in<br />
litigation, of which the issue would be doubtful, and<br />
would depend upon the particular facts proved.<br />
This applies, no doubt, to many cases where<br />
publishers or editors, and authors are concerned.<br />
A little good sense and care on the part of the<br />
author, as “ An Editor” very ably explains in_his<br />
last paragraph but one, is of considerable aid in<br />
avoiding difficulties. He should gain some super-<br />
ficial acquaintance (say, by glancing at the cover<br />
or index) with the magazine to which he sends his<br />
work, or with the books of the publisher (say, by<br />
glancing at his advertisements). He might in the<br />
case of periodicals look for and read the “ notices<br />
to contributors,” although this might prevent him<br />
from some day denying on oath that he had seen<br />
them. He would get a general idea of what was<br />
in the editor's mind even from a notice such as<br />
that in the Free Lance, although he might not be<br />
able to grasp at once all the possible contingencies<br />
which might follow upon non-compliance with the<br />
conditions laid down. What, for example, is the<br />
position of the editor of the Free Lance where a<br />
contributor has written his name and address on<br />
the back of his MS. instead of on the “ title page,”<br />
or where he has given his address on the MS. and<br />
has enclosed stamps for its return (a common<br />
method with which many editors are quite satis-<br />
fied), but has not sent a stamped and addressed<br />
envelope? Surely*G. H. T.” and “ An Editor ”<br />
might meet and confer upon the possibilities<br />
suggested by the latter state of affairs.<br />
editor in the circumstances suggested burn the<br />
MS. and keep the stamps? If he may do this,<br />
may he use the stamps for his private corre-<br />
spondence ? If so, may he, should he prefer it,<br />
burn the stamps and keep the MS., also for his<br />
private use, such as to paper the walls of his office,<br />
or in order to write his own copy on the back of<br />
it? Or may he use for his own ends (other than<br />
those intended by the author) both MS. and stamps?<br />
All these questions suggest themselves and more<br />
<br />
also, and in any case the particular facts must be |<br />
<br />
known before an opinion can be worth much, and<br />
T am not aware thata good typical case of the loss<br />
or destruction of the unsolicited MS. has ever been<br />
<br />
fairly tested. Perhaps this is partly because editors /<br />
are not all quite as black sheep as some unlucky or:<br />
<br />
imprudent authors would have us believe. I have<br />
had MSS. lost myself. In one instance at least I<br />
have been compensated, but then as far as I<br />
<br />
remember, I had kept a copy and only asked<br />
for the price of retyping it, which was all the<br />
<br />
May the ~<br />
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<br />
THE<br />
<br />
damage I had suffered. I am not at all sure, how-<br />
ever, that I did not once receive the price of the<br />
story after it was lost and before I had found my<br />
copy, and forwarded it. In any case I have often<br />
(I regret it from my personal point of view only)<br />
received back unsolicited MSS. with which I had<br />
enclosed neither envelope nor stamps.<br />
HK, A. A,<br />
<br />
—_—___e— > —____<br />
<br />
AN ESTIMATE OF THE COST OF<br />
PRODUCTION.<br />
<br />
—+->-+—_<br />
<br />
HEN the “Cost of Production” was first<br />
issued by the Society there was an outcry<br />
from some publishers and printers that it<br />
<br />
was impossible to print on the terms set forth in<br />
its pages.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, frequent proofs came to the<br />
Society’s office that the figures were not only<br />
reasonable, but in many cases in excess of the<br />
estimates sent in by thoroughly responsible printing<br />
houses who had their works in the country. It<br />
was only in the case of some of the old established<br />
London houses that the estimates were in excess of<br />
those given in the “ Cost of Production,” and even<br />
in these cases the difference was only a small one—<br />
a matter of some 5 per cent.<br />
<br />
The “Cost of Production” is out of print ; but<br />
from time to time, as examples have come to the<br />
office, specimens of estimates for book production<br />
have been printed, and Sir Walter Besant in his<br />
work “The Pen and the Book” wrote a chapter<br />
under this heading.<br />
<br />
Since the time when the “ Cost of Production ”<br />
sold out, and since the date of the issue of<br />
“The Pen and the Book,” prices have altered con-<br />
siderably, and work is being done more cheaply.<br />
<br />
In order to show this by definite example, the<br />
cost of production, received through a publisher<br />
from a firm in the country, of 1,000 copies of a<br />
book, is printed for comparison with the cost of pro-<br />
duction of a similar book, taken from the Society’s<br />
former work.<br />
<br />
The book is one of nine sheets of thirty-two pages<br />
with about 250 words to a page, crown octavo.<br />
The estimate is for 1,000 copies.<br />
<br />
The estimate received this year is as follows :—<br />
<br />
8.1.<br />
<br />
Composition, 9 sheets of 32 pages at<br />
38s. : : ; : ; » 17 2.0<br />
Presswork, 9 sheets of 82 pagesat 16s. 7 4 0<br />
Paper, 11 reams at 15s. : 12880<br />
<br />
Binding, say in two colours on board<br />
at per copy 4d. 16 13-4<br />
£49 4 4<br />
<br />
AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
121<br />
<br />
The figures for the same book, published in the<br />
Society’s “ Cost of Production ” :—<br />
<br />
& 8, a.<br />
Composition, 9 sheets of 32 pages at<br />
£2 15s. . ; : : . 2415 0<br />
Presswork, 9 sheets of 32 pages at<br />
Sits, ; : ; : 090<br />
Paper, 9 sheets of 82 pages at £115s. 15 15 0<br />
Binding, say at 4d. : : » 16 18 4<br />
<br />
£66 12 4<br />
<br />
It will be seen from a comparison of the two<br />
sets of figures that the cost of composition is con-<br />
siderably less ; that the cost of printing is about<br />
the same, and the cost of paper enormously reduced,<br />
and that these figures huld generally may be taken<br />
as an accepted fact.<br />
<br />
As a proof of this statement another estimate is<br />
printed where the number of words on a page was<br />
fewer, and the type in which the book was set up<br />
was larger, the pages of the book being slightly<br />
smaller than those in the book referred to in the<br />
previous estimate.<br />
<br />
Printing 1,000 Copies. £ sa.<br />
Setting types, per 32 pages, say 9<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
sheets, 26s. . : : 1 14<br />
Printing, 1,000 copies per 32 pages,<br />
<br />
9 sheets, at 15s. 6d. : 619° 6<br />
Paper (say)... ; : : - 1 100<br />
Binding, 1,000 copies at 43/7. = 181540<br />
<br />
£144 18 6<br />
<br />
——————1——>—o—__<br />
<br />
THE COPYRIGHT LAW OF THE UNITED<br />
STATES AND THE AUTHORS OF THE<br />
CONTINENT.<br />
<br />
—_—<br />
<br />
1 the Senate of the United States, December<br />
8th, 1903, Mr. Platt, of Connecticut, intro-<br />
duced the following Bill; which was read<br />
<br />
twice and referred to the Committee on Patents.<br />
<br />
A Birt To AMEND CHAPTER Forty-NINE HUNDRED<br />
AND Firty-T'wo oF THE REVISED STATUTES.<br />
<br />
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of<br />
Representatives of the United States of America<br />
in Congress assembled, That section forty-nine<br />
hundred and fifty-two of the Revised Statutes be,<br />
and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as<br />
follows :<br />
<br />
“Sec. 4952. The author, inventor, designer, or<br />
proprietor of any book, map, chart, dramatic or<br />
musical composition, engraving, cut, print, or<br />
photograph or negative thereof, or of a painting,<br />
drawing, chromo, statue, statuary, and of models<br />
or designs intended to be perfected as works of the<br />
<br />
<br />
122<br />
<br />
fine arts, and the executors, administrators, or<br />
assigns of any such persons shall, upon complying<br />
with the provisions of this chapter, have the sole<br />
liberty of printing, reprinting, publishing, com-<br />
pleting, copying, executing finishing, and vending<br />
the same, and in the case of a dramatic composi-<br />
tion of publicly performing or representing it or<br />
causing it to be performed or represented by others ;<br />
and authors or their assigns shall have exclusive<br />
right to dramatize and translate any of their works<br />
for which copyright shall have been obtained under<br />
the laws of the United States.”<br />
<br />
“ Whenever the author or proprietor of a book<br />
in a foreign language, which shall be published in<br />
a foreign country before the day of publication in<br />
this country, or his executors, administrators, or<br />
assigns, shall, within the twelve months after the<br />
first publication of such book in a foreign country,<br />
obtain a copyright for a translation of such book<br />
in the English language, which shall be the first<br />
copyright in this country for a translation of such<br />
book, he and they shall have, during the term of<br />
such copyright, the sole liberty of printing,<br />
reprinting, publishing, vending, translating, and<br />
dramatizing the said book, and in the case of a<br />
dramatic composition, of publicly performing the<br />
same, or of causing it to be performed or represented<br />
by others.”<br />
<br />
—<_?<br />
<br />
In March, 1891, certain amendments were<br />
inserted as part of the Copyright statute which<br />
had for their purpose the bringing the United<br />
States into copyright relations with the other<br />
literature-producing nations of the world. The<br />
several European States had, from an early<br />
period in the century (1880—1834) entered into<br />
individual treaties with each other under which<br />
their authors (and artists) secured for their pro-<br />
ductions reciprocal protection ; and in 1887 these<br />
States came together, under the Berne Convention,<br />
jn an association the regulations of which secure<br />
copyright recognition throughout nearly the entire<br />
territory of Europe (Holland, Austria-Hungary,<br />
and Russia are still outside) and also in Tunis,<br />
Liberia, and Japan. :<br />
<br />
It had for many years been a ground for mortifi-<br />
cation to citizens who were jealous for the good<br />
name of their country, that the United States had<br />
refused, in regard to the recognition of property<br />
in literature, to enter into the comity of nations.<br />
As far back as 1837, an association had been<br />
organized (of which the late George P. Putnam<br />
was secretary) to bring about an international<br />
copyright, but a contest of more than half a<br />
century was required before it proved practicable<br />
to interest and to educate public opinion, and to<br />
secure from Congress favourable action for a bill<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
securing property rights for foreign authors, and<br />
(under reciprocity arrangements) protection across<br />
the Atlantic for the productions of American<br />
authors. Before the Act of 1891, copyright could<br />
be secured in this country only for the productions<br />
of citizens of the United States or of those who<br />
could be classed as permanent residents. Under<br />
the new law, the protection of the statute is made<br />
to cover the works of authors whether resident or<br />
non-resident, with the condition that for the non-<br />
resident author the country of which he is a<br />
citizen shall concede to American authors copyright<br />
privileges substantially equal to those conceded by<br />
such foreign State to its own authors. It is also<br />
a condition (applying both to resident and non-<br />
resident authors) that the book securing American<br />
copyright shall be published in the United States<br />
not later than the date of its publication in any<br />
other country. It is a farther condition of such<br />
copyright for all authors, whether resident or non-<br />
resident, that all the editions of the work so copy-<br />
righted must be printed “ from type set within the<br />
limits of the United States or from plates made<br />
therefrom.” This provision was instituted in the<br />
new act at the instance of the Typographical<br />
Unions and was insisted upon by them as essential.<br />
The unions were under the apprehension that if<br />
international copyright should be established with-<br />
out such condition of American manufacture, a<br />
large portion of the book manufacturing now done<br />
in this country would be transferred across the<br />
Atlantic, to the injury of American type-setters<br />
and printers and of the other trades employed in<br />
the making of books.<br />
<br />
The provisions of the Act as finally passed were<br />
not a little confused by amendments inserted<br />
hastily during the last weeks of the session, amend-<br />
ments which had not been planned in connection<br />
with the original drafts of the bill and which pre-<br />
sented certain new conditions more or less incongru-<br />
ous with the general purpose of the bill and likely<br />
to produce difficulties in the consistent working of<br />
the law. These amendments were submitted for<br />
the most part on behalf of the various interests<br />
having to do with the manufacturing of books and<br />
of reproductions of works of art, and were accepted<br />
by Congress as in line with the general protective<br />
policy of the country. The changes in the text of<br />
the bill as originally drafted were accepted by those<br />
who had been for many years working for inter-<br />
national copyright, because if they had not been<br />
accepted it would have been impossible to bring into<br />
enactment any international copyright measure<br />
whatsoever. It seemed better, for the cause of the<br />
<br />
recognition of literary property irrespective of<br />
political boundaries, to place upon the statute book<br />
a law more or less imperfect and incongruous than<br />
to leave the United States for a<br />
<br />
further indefinite<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
term alone among civilized nations in its failure<br />
to recognize the just claims of foreign authors and<br />
artists. It was also increasingly important to<br />
secure a recognition on the other side of the<br />
Atlantic for the property rights of American<br />
literary producers whose productions were securing<br />
from year to year increasing attention from English<br />
and continental readers.<br />
<br />
It is proper to state that the law has, in many<br />
respects, worked more smoothly than was antici-<br />
pated. Attention has, however, been called by<br />
more than one Attorney-General and also by the<br />
present Librarian of Congress and by his assistant,<br />
the Registrar in charge of the Bureau of Copy-<br />
rights, to the material defects in the wording of the<br />
statute. Fear has been expressed that these<br />
defects would sooner or later stand in the way of<br />
securing consistent action in the courts for the<br />
adequate protection of the rights of literary pro-<br />
ducers. It isthe case, however, that comparatively<br />
few issues have as yet arisen in the courts under<br />
which these unsatisfactory provisions of the law<br />
could be tested.<br />
<br />
The law has had the effect of securing from<br />
year to year for an increasing number of British<br />
authors very satisfactory returns from the sales in<br />
the United States of their copyrighted property ;<br />
and under the reciprocity arrangement, which came<br />
into effect with Great Britain in July, 1891,<br />
American authors are each year securing larger<br />
returns from their readers in the British Empire,<br />
returns which are bound to increase proportionately<br />
with the development of American literature.<br />
English authors have found some inconvenience<br />
in connection with the requirement for simultaneous<br />
publication (a requirement which also obtains<br />
under the British law) and the further require-<br />
ment for the manufacturing of the copyrighted<br />
book within the territory of the United States,<br />
but there has been no substantial difficulty, under<br />
the arrangements that have come into force between<br />
the publishers on either side of the Atlantic and<br />
their respective circles of authors, in meeting these<br />
two requirements for books originating in the<br />
English language.<br />
<br />
It is the case, however, that very serious and<br />
well-founded criticisms of the law have come from<br />
the authors of France, Germany, and Italy, who<br />
find that, under the requirements of American<br />
manufacture and simultaneous publication, the<br />
difficulties are almost insuperable in the way of<br />
securing American copyright for books which have<br />
to be translated before they are available for the<br />
use of American readers. In Germany, the dis-<br />
appointment and annoyance at what are held to be<br />
the inequitable restrictions of the American statute<br />
have been so considerable that steps have been<br />
taken on the part of authors and publishers to<br />
<br />
123<br />
<br />
secure the abrogation of the Convention entered<br />
into in 1893 between Germany and the United<br />
States. ‘he defenders of the Convention have<br />
thus far succeeded in preventing it from being set<br />
aside, but it is their report that they will not be<br />
able to maintain this Convention for many years to<br />
come unless the grievances complained of by German<br />
authors shall receive satisfactory consideration.<br />
The disappointment and the criticism on the part<br />
of the authors of France are no less bitter. It is<br />
only the fact that certain substantial advantages<br />
have been secured under the law to continental<br />
artists, and the expectation that the American<br />
people will not long remain satisfied with granting<br />
international copyright in form while refusing it<br />
in fact, that prevent organised attacks not only in<br />
Paris and Berlin, but also in Rome, upon the<br />
present international arrangements.<br />
<br />
I myself had occasion while attending, in June,<br />
1901, the convention held at Leipsic of the Inter-<br />
national Association of Publishers, to listen to a<br />
memorial which had been prepared by the Associa-<br />
tion of German Authors, and which was submitted<br />
for the approval of the assembly of German pub-<br />
lishers, which memorial had for its purpose the<br />
abrogation of the Convention between Germany<br />
and the United States. I succeeded at that time<br />
in securing a decision on the part of the publishers<br />
to lay upon the table a resolution approving this<br />
memorial of the authors, and the authors them-<br />
selves later also agreed to defer action. I reported<br />
to the representatives of the continental publishers<br />
and authors that, at the instance of the American<br />
Publishers’ Copyright League, an amendment to<br />
our statute had been drafted which had for its pur-<br />
pose the remedying asfaras might now be practicable<br />
these grievances of the authors of the continent.<br />
I promised that nothing should be neglected on<br />
the part of the American publishers, American<br />
authors, and others interested in international<br />
copyright and in maintaining the copyright rela-<br />
tions of the United States with Europe, to secure<br />
favourable attention from Congress for the amend-<br />
ment in question. It has, however, proved more<br />
difficult than was anticipated two years back to<br />
secure such attention on the part of the legislators<br />
in Washington. Other matters have intervened<br />
in each session which seemed both to Representa-<br />
tives and Senators of much more importance than<br />
the question of copyright. Apart from the usual<br />
delays on the ground of lack of interest in Con-<br />
gressional committees in such a subject, the<br />
representatives of the Publishers’ Copyright League<br />
found that they had again to give consideration<br />
to objections on the part of the typographical<br />
unions. :<br />
<br />
The amendment as first drafted provided that<br />
the European author of a book originating in a<br />
<br />
<br />
124<br />
<br />
language other than English should be allowed a<br />
term of twelve months (or, as later suggested, of<br />
not less than six months), within which to secure<br />
arrangements for an American edition of his book<br />
and to have completed the required translation.<br />
The American edition which was to have the pro-<br />
tection of copyright was of course to be “printed<br />
from type set within the limits of the United<br />
States.” During this interregnum term of six<br />
months, importation into the United States of<br />
copies of the work as issued in the original text<br />
could be made and the owner of the copyright was<br />
rotected against any unauthorised appropriation<br />
of his production. This provision was worded<br />
with the purpose of avoiding the expense that<br />
under present conditions must be incurred of<br />
putting into type in this country an edition of<br />
the work printed in the language of origin. There<br />
is, as a rule, not sufficient demand from American<br />
buyers, even in the case of an author of repute, for<br />
a book originating in French or in German, to<br />
make the American publication of such work,<br />
printed in the original language, a satisfactory<br />
business undertaking. It is, on the other hand,<br />
as a rule, not practicable to have a translation<br />
produced in time to enable the American edition<br />
as translated to be issued in the United States<br />
“not later than the date of publication” in the<br />
country of origin. The French or German pub-<br />
lisher is generally not willing to agree with his<br />
author to lose a season’s sale of his edition of the<br />
book for the chance of securing for such author<br />
the advantage of an American edition.<br />
<br />
The typographers objected to the amendment as<br />
worded on the ground that it gave copyright pro-<br />
tection for a term of, say, six months to a book in<br />
an edition which had not been printed in the<br />
United States. It was pointed out by the pub-<br />
lishers (many of them themselves printers and all<br />
of them interested in the production of American<br />
editions) that no book could, under such amend-<br />
ment, secure the final protection of the law unless<br />
an American edition was produced. It was<br />
emphasized further that, under the present con-<br />
ditions, the publishers were not willing to make<br />
investments in American editions of continental<br />
works which were well suited for the requirements<br />
of American readers, but that if the publishers<br />
could, as would be possible under this amendment,<br />
secure the copyright control of such editions, a<br />
number of books would be put into print in the<br />
United States which would not otherwise have been<br />
taken up, and from the manufacturing of which the<br />
printing and allied trades would secure business<br />
advantage.<br />
<br />
It did not prove practicable, however, to con-<br />
vince the typographers that there might not be<br />
some risk of disadvantage to their trade in the<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
proposition, The amendment was therefore re-<br />
shaped so as to meet their objections. Under<br />
the amendment as now worded, a work originating<br />
in language other than English is left open to<br />
“ appropriation” unless an authorised American<br />
edition shall have been produced within the term<br />
of twelve months after the first publication of the<br />
book in the country of origin and unless such<br />
edition shall have been produced and duly pro-<br />
tected by copyright in advance of any unauthorised<br />
edition. In case, however, within such term of<br />
twelve months, the book shall be brought into<br />
print in the United States in an edition which<br />
shall comply with the other requirements of the —<br />
law, the author of such book, or his assign, shall<br />
enjoy for the term of copyright the full protection<br />
of the law, not merely for such English version,<br />
but for the entire text in any version. Under the<br />
working of the present statute, the producer of an<br />
English version (whether authorised or unautho-<br />
rised) of a continental work secures the protection<br />
of the law only for his own version. In case this<br />
first version secures a success, there is always the<br />
risk that other versions may be produced by<br />
unauthorised reprinters desiring to take advantage<br />
of the literary judgment and of the advertising of<br />
the publishers producing the unauthorised version,<br />
Such appropriation of the text of the original will<br />
be impracticable when the pending amendment has<br />
become a part of the statute.<br />
<br />
The typographers have given their approval to<br />
the amendment as now worded, realising that it<br />
ought to have the effect of increasing the pro-<br />
auction of American editions of continental works.<br />
While it is an advantage that the continental book<br />
should be open to “ appropriation” for a term of<br />
twelve months (or less) and that should unautho-<br />
rised editions have once been issued no copyright<br />
control can be secured for the work through the<br />
publication of an unauthorised edition, it is<br />
believed that under actual business conditions<br />
this advantage may not prove serious. It is the<br />
fact that the unauthorised reprinters prefer, as a<br />
rule, to follow the literary judgment of the pub- —<br />
lishers who act us the representatives of the authors.<br />
The “ piracy” firms find it “better business” in<br />
the selection of works by continental authors to<br />
appropriate a work which has secured the approval<br />
of a leading publishing house than to risk ventures<br />
based upon their individual judgments. :<br />
<br />
The amendment in question has been introduced<br />
into the Senate by Senator O. H. Platt, of Con- —<br />
necticut, who is an old-time friend of international —<br />
copyright, and whose service in connection with —<br />
the Act of 1891 was of the greatest importance. —<br />
The bill (which bears the number “ Senate 849 "oe<br />
has been referred to the Committee on Patents, —<br />
and its supporters hope to be able to secure —<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE<br />
<br />
favourable action on it early in the regular session.<br />
The amendment has also been introduced into the<br />
House (House No. 2229) by Mr. Currier. It is of<br />
essential importance, if the copyright relations of<br />
the United States with France, Germany, and Italy<br />
are to be preserved, that no further delay should<br />
be incurred in remedying the very serious injustice<br />
to which the authors of the continent are now<br />
exposed. It would also be a serious mortification<br />
for Americans who have at heart the good name<br />
of their country to have these international copy-<br />
right conventions cancelled on the ground that<br />
the American Government had failed to carry out<br />
in good faith the reciprocity conditions of the Act<br />
of 1891 on the strength of which conditions the<br />
States of Europe have extended to American<br />
authors the full protection of their own copyright<br />
laws.<br />
TEORGE HavEN PUTNAM.<br />
<br />
——_____—_—_e———__e—___—_<br />
<br />
THE UNITED STATES PUBLISHING<br />
CONTRACT.<br />
_—~>—+ —_<br />
<br />
HE contract of publication in the United<br />
States is one that must with increasing<br />
frequency be placed before writers in Eng-<br />
<br />
land. Perhaps therefore a few notes on a form of<br />
contract put forward by a United States publisher<br />
may be of service to Members.<br />
<br />
The difficulty of making alterations in such a<br />
contract on account of the length of time that<br />
must elapse between one mail and the answer to<br />
that mail, is evident.<br />
<br />
There are very few United States publishers<br />
who have agents in London whose authority will<br />
permit them to settle contracts on behalf of their<br />
principals. Many authors, therefore, enter into<br />
bad contracts in order that their books may be<br />
produced simultaneously ; and others, wearying of a<br />
lengthened and desultory correspondence, embrace<br />
the same fault. The two remedies for this position<br />
are that, firstly, the author should deal in full<br />
time with the United States rights, and secondly,<br />
should be careful to deal with the best United<br />
States publishers. Then what they may lose on<br />
some of the minor points in the contract, which<br />
they have been unable for one reason or another to<br />
settle satisfactorily, they may gain from the reputa-<br />
tion and position of the publishing house with<br />
which they are dealing.<br />
<br />
As a rule the contracts from United States<br />
publishers are voluminous, verbose, and even then<br />
incomplete. They demand too much from the<br />
author, and give insufficient security that the work<br />
willbe carried out on the best lines. If, of course,<br />
the author deals with a first-class house, the latter<br />
mistake corrects itself.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
125<br />
<br />
It should be added that some of the latercontracts<br />
received from the other side of the water, like some<br />
of the later contracts received from English<br />
publishers, contain considerably better terms, and<br />
are drafted on a much more satisfactory basis for<br />
the author, than those which were in existence five<br />
<br />
or ten yearsago, An example of the United States<br />
contract is printed here :—<br />
<br />
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT<br />
between and<br />
laws of the State of<br />
<br />
Said being the author and proprietor of a work<br />
entitled “ ” in consideration of the covenant and<br />
stipulations hereinafter contained, agreed to be performed<br />
by the said publishers, grants and guarantees to the<br />
publishers the exclusive right to publish said work during<br />
terms of copyright and renewals thereof, hereby covenant-<br />
ing with said publishers that he is the sole author and<br />
proprietor of said work.<br />
<br />
Said author further guarantees to said publishers that<br />
the said work is in no way whatever a violation of any<br />
copyright belonging to any other party, and that it con-<br />
tains nothing of a scandalous or libellous character and<br />
that he and his legal representatives will hold harmless the<br />
said publishers from all suits and all manner of claims and<br />
proceedings which may be taken on the ground that said<br />
work is such violation, or contains anything scandalous or<br />
libellous ; and he further hereby authorises said publishers<br />
to defend at law any and all suits and proceedings which<br />
may be taken or had against publishers for infringement of<br />
any other copyright, or for libel, scandal, or any other<br />
injurious or hurtful matter or thing contained in or alleged<br />
or claimed to be contained in or caused by said work, and<br />
to pay to said publishers such reasonable costs, disburse-<br />
ments, expenses and counsel fees as they may incur in<br />
such defences.<br />
<br />
Said publishers in consideration of the right herein<br />
granted, and of the guarantees aforesaid, agree to publish<br />
said work at their own expense, in such style and manner<br />
as they may deem expedient, and to pay said author or his<br />
legal representatives a royalty of per cent. on the retail<br />
price of the first five thousand copies sold, and per cent.<br />
thereafter.<br />
<br />
Provided, nevertheless, that no percentage whatever<br />
shall be paid on any copies destroyed by fire or water, or<br />
sold at or below cost, or given away for the purpose of<br />
aiding thesale of said work ; and provided further, that on<br />
all copies of said work sold for export, whether sold in<br />
sheets or bound, the amount of royalty to be paid on such<br />
copies shall not exceed per cent. of the net price<br />
received for such sales :—and in case the said publishers<br />
are able to dispose of duplicate plates for export, there<br />
shall be paid to the author a sum not to exceed per<br />
cent. of the amount received for such sale.<br />
<br />
Any expense incurred for alterations or additions made<br />
by author after manuscript has been put into type,<br />
exceeding ten per cent, of cost of composition and stereo-<br />
typing or electrotyping said work, is to be charged to the<br />
author’s account.<br />
<br />
Statements to be rendered annually in the month of<br />
February, and settlements to be made in cash within two<br />
months after date of statement. The first statement shall<br />
not be rendered until six months after date of publication.<br />
<br />
If, on the expiration of five years from date of publica-<br />
tion, or at any time thereafter, the demand for such work<br />
should not, in the opinion of the said publishers be sufficient.<br />
to render its publication profitable, then this contract shall<br />
cease and terminate, and thereupon said author shall have<br />
the right, at his option, to take from said publishers at not<br />
<br />
made this day of<br />
a corporation chartered under the<br />
<br />
<br />
126<br />
<br />
exceeding actual cost of manufacture the stereotype or<br />
electrotype plates and engravings (if any) of said work,<br />
and whatever copies, bound or in sheets, they may then<br />
have on hand, or failing to take said plates and copies at<br />
cost, then said publishers shall have the right to dispose of<br />
the copies on hand as they may deem fit, free of any per-<br />
centage or royalty, to melt up the plates, and to cancel this<br />
contract.<br />
<br />
In consideration of the mutuality of this contract, the<br />
aforesaid parties agree to all its provisions for themselves,<br />
their heirs, assigns, or legal representatives, and in testimony<br />
thereof affix their signatures and seals.<br />
<br />
Twelve complimentary copies to author.<br />
<br />
Additional copies at best trade rates.<br />
<br />
This document, although drawn in more concise<br />
language than most agreements, yet contains many<br />
faults which may, as suggested, be rectified by<br />
dealing with a satisfactory house. For instance,<br />
the style, manner, and date of publication appear<br />
to be left in the hands of the publisher. It may<br />
be a serious matter to omit any definite arrange-<br />
ment on these points if the author does not happen<br />
to be of the same opinion as the firm with which<br />
he is contracting. The clause referring to libel and<br />
infringement of copyright gives too wide a scope<br />
to the publisher, although his power is somewhat<br />
limited by the word ‘‘ reasonable ” at the end of the<br />
clause, though “ reasonable costs, disbursements,<br />
expenses and counsel fees” is a very indefinite<br />
phrase. The main object of a contract is finality.<br />
<br />
The proviso at the end of the second clause is<br />
also unsatisfactory; and the account clause is bad.<br />
There is no doubt that statements of account<br />
should be rendered semi-annually, and this is<br />
the arrangement which, by degrees, is becoming<br />
universal in publishing houses. Annual accounts<br />
may often leave the author’s money for an incon-<br />
veniently long time in the publisher’s possession.<br />
The clause dealing with the termination of the<br />
contract is, on the whole, sound, the author having<br />
the option of taking over the stock. In many of<br />
the contracts with English publishers this clause is<br />
very unsatisfactory. This is especially so in the<br />
agreements drafted by the Publishers’ Association.<br />
The worst point of the whole contract is that there<br />
is no mention whatever of an arrangement to<br />
secure copyright in Great Britain, her Colonies,<br />
and Dependencies. There is no clause which binds<br />
the publisher to produce by a certain date in order<br />
to meet the requirements of the Act. It may, of<br />
course, be argued that this is a United States con-<br />
tract, but in answer to this, it should be stated<br />
that this special contract was for the procuration<br />
of the copyright in the United States of a book<br />
that was to be published in England. Therefore,<br />
such a clause should have been inserted.<br />
<br />
In another United States contract, which is a<br />
typical example of draftsmanship—who does under-<br />
take to draw these contracts? Can the United<br />
<br />
States Publishers’ Association explain ?—there is<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
an interesting clause with regard to simultaneous<br />
publication. It runs as follows :—<br />
<br />
“In order to fulfil the requirements of the revised<br />
Statutes of the United States for securing copyright the<br />
Author shall place in the hands of the Publishers, the<br />
manuscript or fair typewritten copy, or advanced printed<br />
sheets, of said work in ample time to allow the Publishers<br />
to do the typesetting, electrotyping, presswork, and<br />
binding, so that they may be able to publish their edition<br />
simultaneously with any other edition of the said work, or<br />
of any translation thereof, published in Great Britain or<br />
elsewhere. The publication of any edition of the said<br />
work, or of any translation thereof, other than that<br />
published by the Publishers shall be made at such time<br />
only as will enable them to make the publication of their<br />
edition simultaneous therewith. They, on their part, agree<br />
not to anticipate the authorised foreign publication of the<br />
said work, and not to publish their edition until the day<br />
mutually agreed upon by them and the Author. It is<br />
further understood and agreed that if, by any act or<br />
omission in the publication or edition of the said work<br />
in any foreign country or in any way or manner without<br />
the fault of the Publishers the copyright in and to the said<br />
work within and for the United States of America shall be<br />
lost or rendered nugatory, then the Author shall be respon-<br />
sible to the Publishers for any loss or damage which they<br />
may suffer thereby, and the Publishers may then, at their<br />
option, terminate this Agreement, and in that event they<br />
shall not thereafter be obliged to perform any of the acts<br />
herein provided for.”<br />
<br />
This clause in its verbosity is an example of the<br />
rest of this agreement and needs no comment.<br />
<br />
Should any members of the Society, from time<br />
to time, have interesting forms of copyright agree-<br />
ments with publishers in the United States, the<br />
Secretary would be glad to see them. As a rule<br />
the agreements run to fourteen or fifteen clauses.<br />
The difficulty of dealing satisfactorily with them,<br />
in a correspondence which may last for three or<br />
four months, is considerably increased.<br />
<br />
—_+-——_e_—__<br />
<br />
RESUME OF THE NUMBER OF BOOKS<br />
PUBLISHED IN THE PAST YEAR.<br />
jo<br />
REPRINTED FROM THE Publishers’ Circular BY<br />
Krinp PERMISSION OF THE EDITOR.<br />
<br />
HE total number of books recorded in 1903<br />
<br />
is about a hundred below 1889 and 1898,<br />
<br />
four hundred below 1897, and a thousand<br />
above 1902; but there is an increase recorded in<br />
Miscellaneous of about five hundred, and most of<br />
these are pamphlets at a few pence each ; while<br />
there were about three hundred sixpenny novels<br />
during the year, most of them, of course, ‘new<br />
editions,” not new books. The total of Fiction is<br />
about a hundred more than in the previous year.<br />
Theology, Educational, Politics, and Commerce are<br />
up in number; Arts and Sciences and Law are<br />
down ; History and Biography, Voyages and<br />
Travels, about the same; Medicine, Year-Books,<br />
Belles-Lettres, and Poetry and the Drama slightly<br />
<br />
up.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THER AUTHOR. 127<br />
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| |<br />
| | B 8 EB<br />
Bo 2 eS SS<br />
Subjects. e a S - : : 2 z 3 a l=<br />
2 & |= < = 5 5 4 R Se | 2 A<br />
So ae |<br />
REG CRA Toe eee, \ { |<br />
a (|a36| 42| 49] 63] 55] 51| 25] 431 42] 70| 86] 87 | 639<br />
1. Theology, Sermons, Biblical ... 1|o 3 9 8 4 2 5 5 7) 3 2 <1 ie<br />
| | | = 702<br />
D Mincensl «Classical, and {| 2 61| 66| 70 | 86 | 65| 62| 83) 47| 51] 51| 65) 53 | 650<br />
est—st—i | et} | 6] 4] 7) 9} 18| i6| 10] 98<br />
748<br />
3. Juvenile Works and Tales,|| ~ 97 | 98 | 150| 87/135] 98] 94] 155 | 169 | 296 | 347 | 133 1859<br />
Novels, Tales, and other ;| 4, 98| 50| 67| 94] 85| 64] 50| 44| 52] 102] 108] 57/ 801<br />
Fiction ) 2650<br />
{la 7 5 8 3 4 6 3 3 i 1 5 ii 57<br />
4. Law, Jurisprudence, &c. ib 2 3 8 5 5 ees 1 7 uf 6 30<br />
87<br />
5. Political and Social Economy, )| @ 42 43 |} 50) 34 51 37 82 | 46 | 29) 41 54 50 | 509<br />
ee it 4] | o5| 12] 8] 7] wt] | 12] 2} 100<br />
, —- 609<br />
BF oad Wists 1 2 27 |) 26 | 82] 26) 88] 50] 17| 24) 85] 21) 46 | 71 | 413<br />
ee ee Boel s | Ge 1) t| 2 1) 2) 8 kb 32<br />
ee o us<br />
Be be, ed Geo | 1 | | 9] 16] 18) 10) 15] 12) 6) 7) BF) 17<br />
graphical Research ... fe 2 2 1 3 2 2 4 5 9; —| 34 ace<br />
: (| @ 40 42 31 27 8 35 33 38 18 42 60 98 | 482<br />
8. History, Biography, &c. wb 7) 18 8 5 9 4 4 4 6 5 6] 20] 91<br />
— 573<br />
(| @ 28 12 36 30 21 24 10 16 26 30 37 33 | 303<br />
9. Poetry and the Drama 118 6 7 6 5 2 3 3 4 3 161 18 15 | 88<br />
| 391<br />
10, Year-Books and Serials in}|786| 35| 20| 23| 24) 24| 15) 15) 31 | 44| 55| 85 | 457<br />
Volumes <... ee Re ee ee | ae me ae Fo ee<br />
| | —— 457<br />
as (ois) 91 te) ig) ib | 20 | 16) 28) 6. 18) 18 | 25 | 187<br />
11. Medicine, Surgery, &c. sale 8 7 9 7 1 D Ge alt 13 | 14 1 95<br />
| | 282<br />
cs Mone || 2 10 | 81 28) 9 | oT) BL] AL] 19) 20) 39| 46) 33} 284<br />
graphs, om : eee 1 2 7 2 | 2 : . Le 8 2 : 2) 31<br />
: | 315<br />
13. Miscellaneous, includin a@58| 66) 46) 65 3 o£) 67) 62) 71 48 | 50 | 32 | 687<br />
Pamphlets, not Sermons Z b 6 8 | 26} 30 22 28 14) 29 16 10 | 18 12 | 219<br />
| | oe<br />
591 | 585 | 708 | 583 | 708 | 645 | 466 | 622 | 638 | 887 | 1089} 859 | 8381<br />
a New Books; b New Editions.<br />
The Analytical Table is divided into 13 Classes; also New Books and New Editions.<br />
a | 1902. 1903. e<br />
Divisions. | New Books. New Editions. New Books. New Editions.<br />
Theology, Sermons, Biblical, &e. : oP ae eo 567 8] 639 63<br />
Educational, Classical, and Philological | 504 68 650 98<br />
Novels, Tales, and Juvenile Works | 1,743 lO 1,859 801<br />
Law, Jurisprudence, &e. 88 46 57 30<br />
Political and Social Economy, Trade and Commerce 463 130 509 100<br />
Arts, Science, and Illustrated Works 420 44 413 32<br />
Voyages, Travels, and Geographical Resear ch. 162 38 172 34<br />
History, Biography, &c. . ie 480 57 482 91<br />
Poetry and the Drama . 272 76 303 88<br />
Year-Books and Serials in Volumes os see a 408 ao 457 —_<br />
Medicine, Surgery, &c. . a oe bes 153 84 187 95<br />
Belles-Lettres, Essays, Monographs, ee. ah 227 44 284 31<br />
Miscellaneous, including Pamphlets, not Ser mons ... 352 Q 17 GSt | 219<br />
1 | 5,839 1,542 | 6,699 1,682<br />
5888 | 6,699<br />
Z | 7,381 _ | 8,381<br />
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<br />
<br />
MAGAZINE CONTENTS.<br />
<br />
—>—+—<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
BLACKWOOD’s MAGAZINE,<br />
<br />
John Chilcote, M.P. By Katherine Cecil Thurston.<br />
<br />
Three Gambits.<br />
<br />
Scolopaxiana: Dogs. By Scolopax.<br />
<br />
One Night’s Experiences in Thibet. By C. H. Lepper.<br />
<br />
Old Galway Life: Random Recollections.<br />
<br />
“Sally”: A Study. By Hugh Clifford, C.M.G.<br />
<br />
The Siege of Arrah : An Incident of the Indian Mutiny.<br />
By E. John Salano.<br />
<br />
The Birds of Hawaii. By J. A Owen.<br />
<br />
‘A Statesman-Adventurer of the Pacific.<br />
<br />
Musings Without Method.—The Lost Influence and<br />
Dignity of the Daily Press—The Speeches of an Emperor—<br />
The Psalms of David in Daily Life.<br />
<br />
‘A Fiscal Solution : For Commonplace Minds. By Selim.<br />
<br />
Zussia and Japan : The Naval Outlook. By Active List.<br />
<br />
Foreign Trade Fallacies.<br />
<br />
THE CORNHILL MAGAZINE.<br />
<br />
The Truants (Chapters iv.—vi.). 3y A. E. W. Mason.<br />
<br />
Some Empty Chairs. By Henry W. Lucy.<br />
<br />
Macedonia—And After?<br />
<br />
‘A Grandmother's Budget. By Mrs. Frederic Harrison.<br />
<br />
Historical Mysteries. I, The Campden Mystery. By<br />
Andrew Lang.<br />
<br />
Among Japanese Hills. By Ernest Foxwell.<br />
<br />
The Welsh in London. By J. HK. Vincent.<br />
<br />
Han and Kawan, By Laurence Housman.<br />
<br />
The Motion of the Solar System through Space. By<br />
Frank Watson Dyson, F.R.S.<br />
<br />
The Improvement of Westminster. By Thomas Fairman<br />
Ordish, F.S.A.<br />
<br />
Theodor Mommsen. By Professor Tout.<br />
<br />
Provincial Letters. XIV. From Beaconsfield. By<br />
Urbanus Sylvan.<br />
<br />
The Visits of an Editor. By Leonard Husley,<br />
<br />
THE FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW,<br />
<br />
What can be done to Help the British Stage? An<br />
Appeal. With a List of Signatures.<br />
<br />
First Principles in the Far East. By “ Calchas.”<br />
<br />
The Financial and Economic Situation in Japan. By<br />
W. Petrie Watson.<br />
<br />
English History in Napoleon’s Notebooks. By Henry<br />
Foljambe Hall, F.R.Hist.s.<br />
<br />
George Gissing. By Arthur Waugh.<br />
<br />
On Some French Novels of To-day. By Le Comte de<br />
Ségur.<br />
<br />
The State Discouragement of Literature, By William<br />
Watson.<br />
<br />
The Problem of High Asia. By Demetrius C. Boulger.<br />
<br />
The Life of a Song. By Stephen Gwynn.<br />
<br />
President Roosevelt. By Sydney Brooks.<br />
<br />
The Protectionist Ideal of Foreign Trade. By W. M.<br />
Lightbody.<br />
<br />
The Royalist Movement in France. By Normannus.<br />
<br />
Leonaine: An Unpublished Poem by H. A. Poe. By<br />
Alfred R. Wallace.<br />
<br />
Eugene Sue. By Francis Gribble.<br />
<br />
Theophano. Chaps. x.and xi. By Frederic Harrison.<br />
<br />
Correspondence :—The Known and the Unknown in Mr.<br />
Chamberlain’s Policy.—A Correction. By A, C. Pigou.<br />
<br />
LONGMAN’S MAGAZINE.<br />
<br />
Nature’s Comedian (Chapters xv., xvi), By w. E.<br />
Norris.<br />
<br />
Sikhim, The Land where the Rhododendrons Grow. By<br />
M. C. Paget.<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
Astrida’s Lover. By F. Whishaw.<br />
<br />
The Swimming Powers of Animals. By Paul Fountain.<br />
Miss Fenella. By May Kendall.<br />
<br />
A Gateway of Empire. By Esther Hallam Moorhouse.<br />
At the Sign of the Ship. By Andrew Lang.<br />
<br />
MACMILLAN’S MAGAZINE.<br />
<br />
The Court of Sacharissa. By Hugh Sheringham and<br />
Nevill Meakin. Chapters vii.—ix.<br />
<br />
The Training of Teachers. By Miss Hodgson.<br />
<br />
Ten Years in a Prohibition Town. By John Davidson.<br />
<br />
La Rata Encoronada. By W. Spotswood Green,<br />
<br />
The Football Fever. By H. F. Abell.<br />
<br />
The President of Mexico. By Andrew Marshall.<br />
<br />
Studies in Shakespeare's History. By J. L, Etty.<br />
VII. Antony and Cleopatra. :<br />
<br />
Imperial Purposes and their Cost. By T. B. Browning.<br />
<br />
THE PALL MALL MAGAZINE.<br />
<br />
The Duke and Duchess of Devonshire at Devonshire<br />
House.<br />
<br />
Dr. Sven Hedin at Home. By Georg Brochner.<br />
<br />
Master Worker: George Frederick Watts, O.M. By<br />
Harold Begbie.<br />
<br />
Pictures and the Public. By E. Rimbault Dibdin.<br />
<br />
How and Why Animals are Coloured. By R. J. Pocock.<br />
<br />
Literary Geography : Thackeray. By William Sharp.<br />
<br />
Stories by Maurice Hewlett, Mrs. Craigie ( John Oliver<br />
Hobbes”), H. Fielding Hall, W. H. Pollock, U. L. Silberrad,<br />
Charles Marriott.<br />
<br />
THE WORLD’s WoRK.<br />
<br />
The March of Events—An Illustrated Editorial Record<br />
and Comment :<br />
A New Political Era.<br />
The Far East.<br />
The Future of Medical Science in London.<br />
Our Commercial Advantage in France.<br />
The Sale of Artificial Pearls.<br />
India and Free Trade. By Sir Edgar Vincent, K.C.M.G<br />
MP,<br />
Crossing the Channel by Railway. By George Cerbelaud<br />
The Pope's Secretary of State: Cardinal Merry Del Val.<br />
The Conflict in the Far East. By Alfred Stead.<br />
The Walking Wheel.<br />
The St. Louis Exposition.<br />
Colombia and the New Republic of Panama, By<br />
Theodore 8. Alexander.<br />
The Mosely Education Commission. By Alfred Mosely,<br />
C.M.G.<br />
The New Discovery Concerning Cancer. By E. 8. Grew.<br />
The Potato Harvest and the Boom. By Toye Vise.<br />
The British Tradesman Abroad. By U. P. R.<br />
A Modern Hot-air Balloon. By Edward J. Forster.<br />
Food-Frauds in France. By Frederic Lees.<br />
The Girl Gardener: Is she Going to be a Success ?<br />
«“ Home Counties.”<br />
A New View of the Home. By Lady Mclaren.<br />
How to Adopt the Metric System. By Thomas Parker.<br />
‘A Revolution in Milk-Supply. By C. W. Saleeby.<br />
Chair-Leg Turners at Work. By W. Bovill.<br />
The Work of the Book World.<br />
Among the World’s Workers—A Record of Industry :<br />
«A British Industry Really Ruined.”<br />
How Fast can a Horse go in Harness ?<br />
Young Men as Irrigation Engineers.<br />
A Floating Theatre.<br />
A New Air Condenser.<br />
Foreign Beer in the United Kingdom.<br />
An Electrical Canal-‘owage System.<br />
How London’s Tube Railways are made.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Geary<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
WARNINGS TO THE PRODUCERS<br />
OF BOOKS.<br />
<br />
oe<br />
ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an<br />
agreement. There are four methods of dealing<br />
with literary property :—<br />
<br />
I. Selling it Outright.<br />
<br />
This is sometimes satisfactory, if a proper price can be<br />
obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a<br />
competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of<br />
the Society.<br />
<br />
II. A Profit-Sharing Agreement (a bad form of<br />
agreement).<br />
<br />
In this case the following rules should be attended to:<br />
<br />
(1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br />
duction forms a part without the strictest investigation.<br />
<br />
(2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br />
profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements<br />
in his own organs, or by charging exchange advertise-<br />
ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements.<br />
<br />
(8.) Not to allow a special charge for “ office expenses,”<br />
unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br />
<br />
(4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br />
rights.<br />
<br />
(.) Not to give up serial or translation rights.<br />
<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 />
<br />
III. The Royalty System.<br />
<br />
This is perhaps, with certain limitations, the best form<br />
of agreement. It is above all things necessary to know<br />
what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now<br />
possible for an author to ascertain approximately the<br />
truth. From time to time very important figures connected<br />
with royalties are published in The Author.<br />
<br />
1Y. A Commission Agreement.<br />
<br />
The main points are :—<br />
<br />
(1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production.<br />
(2.) Keep control of the advertisements.<br />
<br />
(3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book.<br />
<br />
General.<br />
<br />
All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four<br />
above mentioned.<br />
<br />
Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author,<br />
<br />
Never sign any agreement without competent advice from<br />
the Secretary of the Society.<br />
<br />
Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp.<br />
<br />
Avoid agreements by letter if possible.<br />
<br />
The main points which the Society has always demanded<br />
from the outset are :—<br />
<br />
C1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement<br />
means.<br />
<br />
(2.) The inspection of those account books which belong<br />
to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the<br />
nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or<br />
withheld.<br />
<br />
(3.) Always avoid a transfer of copyright.<br />
<br />
eg ees<br />
<br />
WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS.<br />
<br />
Lo.<br />
<br />
EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the<br />
<br />
Secretary of the Society of Authors or some com-<br />
petent legal authority.<br />
<br />
2. [t is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for<br />
<br />
the production of a play with anyone except an established<br />
manager.<br />
<br />
129<br />
<br />
3. There are three forms of dramatic contract for plays<br />
in three or more acts :—<br />
<br />
(a.) Sale outright of the performing right. This<br />
is unsatisfactory. An author who enters into<br />
such a contract should stipulate in the contract<br />
for production of the piece by a certain date<br />
and for proper publication of his name on the<br />
play-bills.<br />
<br />
(%.) Sale of performing right or of a licence to<br />
perform on the basis of percentages on<br />
gross receipts. Percentages vary between 5<br />
and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a<br />
percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts<br />
in preference to the American system. Should<br />
obtain a sum in advance of percentages. A fixed<br />
date on or before which the play should be<br />
performed.<br />
<br />
(¢c.) Sale of performing right or of a licence to<br />
perform on the basis of royalties (i.c.. fixed<br />
nightly fees). This method should be always<br />
avoided except in cases where the fees are<br />
likely to be small or difficult to collect. The<br />
other safeguards set out under heading (0.) apply<br />
also in this case.<br />
<br />
4. Plays in one act are often sold outright, but it is<br />
better to obtain a small nightly fee if possible, and a sum<br />
paid in advance of such fees in any event. It is extremely<br />
important that the amateur rights of one-act plays should<br />
be reserved.<br />
<br />
5. Authors should remember that performing rights can<br />
be limited, and are usually limited, by town, country, and<br />
time. This is most important.<br />
<br />
6. Authors should not assign performing rights, but<br />
should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is<br />
of great importance.<br />
<br />
7, Authors should remember that performing rights in a<br />
play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager<br />
holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot<br />
print the book of the words.<br />
<br />
8. Never forget that United States rights may be exceed-<br />
ingly valuable. ‘hey should never be included in English<br />
agreements without the author obtaining a substantial<br />
consideration.<br />
<br />
9. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully<br />
drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced.<br />
<br />
10, An author should remember that production of a play<br />
is highly speculative: that he runs a very great risk of<br />
delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract.<br />
He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in<br />
the beginning.<br />
<br />
11. An author must remember that the dramatic market<br />
is exceedingly limited, and that for a novice the first object<br />
is to obtain adequate publication.<br />
<br />
As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete, on<br />
account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con-<br />
tracts, those authors desirous of further information<br />
are referred to the Secretary of the Society.®<br />
<br />
—_—_———<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
WARNINGS TO MUSICAL COMPOSERS.<br />
<br />
——>+<br />
<br />
ITTLE can be added to the warnings given for the<br />
assistance of producers of books and dramatic<br />
authors. It must, however, be pointed out that, as<br />
<br />
a rule, the musical publisher demands from the musical<br />
composer a transfer of fuller rights and less liberal finan-<br />
cial terms than those obtained for literary and dramatic<br />
property. The musical composer has very often the two<br />
rights to deal with—performing right and copyright. He<br />
<br />
<br />
130<br />
<br />
should be especially careful therefore when entering into<br />
an agreement, and should take into particular consideration<br />
the warnings stated above.<br />
<br />
fo a<br />
<br />
HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br />
<br />
——<br />
<br />
1. 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 />
<br />
business or the administration of his property. The<br />
<br />
Secretary of the Society is a solicitor, but if there is any<br />
<br />
special reason the Secretary will refer the case to the<br />
<br />
Solicitors of the Society. Further, the Committee, if they<br />
<br />
deem it desirable, will obtain counsel’s opinion. All this<br />
<br />
without any cost to the member.<br />
<br />
2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br />
and publishers’ agreements do not fall within the experi-<br />
ence of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use<br />
the Society.<br />
<br />
3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past<br />
accounts, with a copy of the book represented. The<br />
Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new<br />
or old, for inspection and note. The information thus<br />
obtained may prove invaluable.<br />
<br />
4, Before signing any agreement whatever, send<br />
the document to the Society for examination.<br />
<br />
5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society<br />
you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you<br />
are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are<br />
advancing the best interests of your calling in promoting<br />
the independence of the writer, the dramatist, the composer.<br />
<br />
6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception<br />
of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fire-<br />
proof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as<br />
confidential documents to be read only by the Secretary,<br />
who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :<br />
—(1) To read and advise upon agreements and to give<br />
advice concerning publishers. (2) To stamp agreements<br />
in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep<br />
agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to<br />
agreements. Fuller particulars of the Society’s work<br />
can be obtained in the Prospectus.<br />
<br />
7. No contract should be entered into with a literary<br />
agent without the advice of the Secretary of the Society.<br />
Members are strongly advised not to accept without careful<br />
consideration the contracts with publishers submitted to<br />
them by literary agents, and are recommended to submit<br />
them for interpretation and explanation to the Secretary<br />
of the Society.<br />
<br />
8. Many agents neglect to stamp agreements This<br />
must be done within fourteen days of first execution. The<br />
Secretary will undertake it on behalf of members.<br />
<br />
9. Some agents endeayour to prevent authors from<br />
referring matters to the Secretary of the Society; so<br />
do some publishers. Members can make their own<br />
deductions and act accordingly.<br />
<br />
10. The subscription to the Society is £4 ds. per<br />
annum, or £10 10s for life membership.<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
THE READING BRANCH.<br />
<br />
— +<br />
<br />
EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this<br />
branch of its work by informing young writers<br />
of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and<br />
<br />
treated as a composition is treated by a coach. The term<br />
MSS. includes not only works of fiction, but poetry<br />
and dramatic works, and when it is possible, under<br />
special arrangement, technical and scientific works. The<br />
Readers are writers of competence and experience. The<br />
fee is one guinea.<br />
<br />
_____¢——e —___—_<br />
<br />
NOTICES.<br />
<br />
—_+-—<—+-_—_<br />
<br />
HE Editor of Zhe Author begs to remind members of<br />
<br />
the Society that, although the paper is sent to them<br />
<br />
free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a<br />
<br />
very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br />
<br />
many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br />
5s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br />
<br />
Communications for Zhe Author should be addressed to<br />
the Offices of the Society, 39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s<br />
Gate, §.W., and should reach the Editor not later than<br />
the 24st of each month.<br />
<br />
All persons engaged in literary work of any kind,<br />
whether members of the Society or not, are invited to<br />
communicate to the Editor any points connected with their<br />
work which it would be advisable in the general interest to<br />
publish.<br />
<br />
a<br />
<br />
Communications and letters are invited by the<br />
Editor on all subjects connected with literature, but on<br />
no other subjects whatever. Every effort will be made to<br />
return articles which cannot be accepted.<br />
<br />
——<br />
<br />
The Secretary of the Society begs to give notice<br />
that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post,<br />
and he requests members who do not receive an<br />
answer to important communications within two days to<br />
write to him without delay. All remittances should be<br />
crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery Lane, or be sent<br />
by registered letter only.<br />
<br />
—_—__——_e —>—_+___—_<br />
<br />
THE LEGAL AND GENERAL LIFE<br />
ASSURANCE SOCIETY.<br />
<br />
——<br />
<br />
N offer has been made of a special scheme of<br />
Endowment and Whole Life Assurance,<br />
admitting of a material reduction off the<br />
<br />
ordinary premiums to members of the Society.<br />
Full information can be obtained from J. P. Blake,<br />
Legal and General Insurance Society (City Branch),<br />
158, Leadenhall Street, E.C.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
én<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
AUTHORITIES.<br />
<br />
~+—<— —<br />
<br />
N pursuance of the intention expressed in our<br />
I January number, we print under Corre-<br />
spondence the letters on “ Should Well-known<br />
Writers ‘Farm-out’ Fiction,” held over from the<br />
last issue by order of the Committee. The writers<br />
have had, and have in several cases availed them-<br />
selves of, the opportunity of revising their com-<br />
munications after perusal of the Committee’s note<br />
on “ Proxy’s”’ letter.<br />
<br />
THERE is no need to add anything to the appre-<br />
ciation of Mr. George Gissing, from the pen of<br />
Mr. E. W. Hornung, except to state that Mr.<br />
Gissing had been a member of the Society since<br />
1894, and, with Mr. Justin McCarthy, was elected<br />
a member of the Council in March of last year.<br />
It is with great regret that we must add one more<br />
to the distinguished list of members of the Society<br />
who have died during the past six months.<br />
<br />
We print elsewhere a copy of a proposed Bill<br />
brought forward for the purpose of amending the<br />
existing United States Copyright Law, followed<br />
by an article from the pen of Mr. George Haven<br />
Putnam, which appeared in the New York Critic.<br />
<br />
In the “ English Bookman” there was a short<br />
reference to this Bill, stating that it upset the<br />
copyright as existing between the United States<br />
and Great Britain, and calling the Society’s atten-<br />
tion to the point. We thank the editor for his<br />
courtesy, but fear he must have been misinformed,<br />
as the present Bill does not alter the effect of the<br />
section as far as Great Britain is concerned.<br />
<br />
GEORGE GISSING.<br />
<br />
—1+—<——<br />
<br />
HE death of George Gissing came as a<br />
complete shock to most of us who mourn<br />
him. Delicate he had been for years, but<br />
<br />
in no such degree as to alarm his friends, who<br />
were under the impression that he had derived<br />
great benefit from his protracted sojourn at St.<br />
Jean de Luz. Only a few days before Christmas<br />
one heard with delight that there was just a chance<br />
of his coming back to live in England. He must<br />
have been upon his death-bed at the time. He<br />
had been working very hard. Hard work with<br />
<br />
131<br />
<br />
Gissing meant as much writing in a day and a<br />
half as most men accomplish in a week. His book<br />
was his life while it lasted; often it had almost<br />
been his death, for he scorned to spare himself till<br />
the last page was written. His last book was<br />
never finished. It was one that he had carried<br />
in his mind for many years ; it is said that he was<br />
within sight of the end; the irony might have<br />
have been his own. Pneumonia struck him down ;<br />
in three weeks he was dead.<br />
<br />
It is hard to write of a dead man and his living<br />
<br />
-work, especially when one knew the man better<br />
<br />
than the work, and cared for him infinitely more.<br />
There are many who speak of Gissing and his<br />
work as though the two were warp and weft.<br />
Those who knew him best will be the last to<br />
accept that view. The man was one of the most<br />
lovable ; the work was hardly that. The man had<br />
abundant humour ; there is little humour in the<br />
bulk of his books. He had a glorious laugh—a<br />
laugh inconceivable to those who have only read<br />
him. There was an appreciative sympathy, a<br />
cordial humanity, which it would be difficult to<br />
deduce from his writings. His serious view of<br />
life may have been acrid and even savage, but he<br />
was certainly not in the habit of obtruding his<br />
serious view of life. This, of course, is only to<br />
speak of the man as one had the privilege of<br />
knowing him ; it is not to pretend to have known<br />
the whole man, or to have plumbed his depths, but<br />
only to have found him all unlike his books,<br />
humorous, human, and humane.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, there can be no denying that<br />
much of his own personality and many of his<br />
own experiences found or forced their way into<br />
his fiction. Too fine a nature to sit down<br />
deliberately to “make copy” of his joys and<br />
sorrows, he was too true an artist not to dip his<br />
<br />
en into his own cup as his inspiration urged.<br />
At first sight it would appear that his knowledge<br />
of life was entirely first-hand, his poverty of mere<br />
imagination only compensated by the depth and<br />
truth of his extraordinary insight into the secrets<br />
of the heart. Yet there is more imagination in<br />
“ New Grub Street” alone than is ever likely to<br />
meet the ordinary eye. It was written in the days<br />
when George Gissing frequented the Reading Room<br />
at the British Museum. He made that the chief<br />
scene of his story, likened the Readers in the wheel<br />
of radiating desks to the flies in a spider’s web, and<br />
drew their imaginary lives. There was, I believe,<br />
in the author’s mind at least, a flesh-and-blood<br />
original of every literary person in the book; and<br />
some of them are Readers to this day. Written<br />
as the book was, on Gissing’s own showing, in six<br />
weeks to pay the rent, one of the characters,<br />
Reardon, is depicted in that self-same plight ;<br />
and when, in a candid criticism of Reardon’s<br />
<br />
<br />
132<br />
<br />
work, it is claimed for him that his best pages<br />
were instinct with a certain “ intellectual glow,”<br />
the self-portrait seems complete. There could be<br />
no fitter phrase for the peculiar literary quality<br />
which distinguishes the characteristic pages of<br />
George Gissing. But the contrasting type, the<br />
cynically successful young man of letters, is at<br />
least as justly realised, as strongly drawn. And it<br />
is difficult to believe that Gissing ever fraternised<br />
with such a one in all his literary life.<br />
<br />
During the last few years he had made a second<br />
reputation for himself as a sane and illuminating<br />
critic of Charles Dickens.<br />
were discussed with equal sympathy and acumen<br />
in a monograph and in the introductions to the<br />
Rochester edition in course of publication by<br />
Messrs. Methuen. It is greatly to be hoped that<br />
all the introductions, so honest alike in. their<br />
strictures and their enthusiasm, have long been in<br />
the publishers’ hands. “I don’t relish this critical<br />
writing,” he wrote with the task in hand; but it<br />
is to be doubted if he ever did anything very much<br />
better; for that beautiful veiled autobiography,<br />
“The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft,” brilliantly<br />
written as it is, and touchingly eloquent of the<br />
man, is in many places marred for his friends<br />
by an alien misanthropy and an almost morose<br />
<br />
erversity of view.<br />
<br />
Notable novelist as he was, with a vogue among<br />
his peers indubitably dearer to his fine soul than<br />
the plaudits of the crowd, there are those who<br />
knew George Gissing through and through, and<br />
who hold that novel-writing was not his true<br />
vocation. ‘They say he was a greater scholar than<br />
could possibly be gathered from his books, and that<br />
he would have been truly great as a scholar pure<br />
and simple. He had indeed a passion for the<br />
classics, and the very temperament to have taken<br />
kindly to a cloistered life; but it is futile to<br />
pursue the thought. He spent his life in writing<br />
the most modern novels imaginable, in a miscro-<br />
scopic hand (a thousand words to the sheet of<br />
sermon paper) in keeping with his microscopi¢<br />
observation; and he has left behind him more<br />
than one that may well survive as uncompromising<br />
transcripts of their time. And a vivid memory of<br />
the man, of his fine face, his noble head, his winning<br />
kindness, will endure as long as the last of those<br />
who knew him. That he retained his great personal<br />
charm through all the storms of his inner life, is not<br />
more extraordinary than the fact that he remained<br />
to the last the most acutely sensitive of men. Into<br />
the secret of those storms, as into the entire peace<br />
cof his last years abroad, he admitted only his chosen<br />
few ; for the rest of us it is enough to know that<br />
the storms had long abated, and that the last years<br />
swere the happiest of his life.<br />
<br />
E. W. Hornune.<br />
<br />
2 THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
‘he immortal works ©<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
HENRY SETON MERRIMAN.<br />
<br />
—1——+<br />
<br />
HE many lovers of high-class fiction begin<br />
this year with an irreparable loss. Two of<br />
our leading novelists have fallen out of the<br />
ranks, both in the prime of life and at the height<br />
of their powers. Mr. G. Gissing is spoken of<br />
elsewhere. He wrote under his own name. Mr.<br />
Hl. S. Merriman did not. His name, no doubt<br />
familiar to all readers of “ The Author,” was Hugh<br />
Stowell Scott. He was a north-countryman, a<br />
Tynesider, whose father, a successful self-made<br />
man, wished his sons to adopt business as a<br />
career. Though he knew the leaning of one<br />
of his sons towards literature he did not desire to<br />
encourage it. :<br />
<br />
One day taking up a book that had interested<br />
him, called “ Young Mistley,’ he said, “If you<br />
could write like this I should not object to your<br />
following a literary career.” As a matter of fact<br />
Hugh Stowell Scott “could write like that,” for he<br />
was its author. But he did not divulge the fact<br />
at the time.<br />
<br />
The writing both of Mr. Gissing and Mr. Merri-<br />
man was close and intimate, charged with refine-<br />
ment. But the advantage in subject was probably<br />
Merriman’s. Merriman was so early a traveller as<br />
to lay the story of “ Young Mistley” in India.<br />
His characters were people of position. He was<br />
able to write with as much realistic accuracy of<br />
Paris and of peasant and noble in Russia in “‘ The<br />
Sowers,” as he had done of India and of life on a<br />
P. and O. boat in “ The Grey Lady,” and was to do<br />
of Dantzic in “ Barlasch.” This last work was<br />
perhaps the finest effort of his genius, and the<br />
investment of his subject with local colour showed<br />
the work of a great writer. He possessed at the<br />
same time a marvellous faculty for creating character<br />
to accord withit. All is bitten in with the clearness<br />
of an etching, and one feels his thorough command<br />
of idea and pen. The book is permeated with<br />
historical atmosphere ; and while he presents an<br />
immense background dominated by Napoleon, he<br />
achieves the vital success of projecting into the<br />
foreground all sorts and degrees of men with per-<br />
sonalities equally strong. Here as ever he wrote<br />
with convincing assimilation of, the incidents<br />
moulding the lives he created. Alas! never again<br />
can we say “A new novel by Merriman!” In<br />
bidding adieu to Barlasch we bade adieu to his<br />
maker. The one is as real to us as the other.<br />
And each must have passed with the same supreme<br />
satisfaction in good work accomplished.<br />
<br />
, Mary Enz. Stevenson,<br />
Author of “ A Maid of the Moor,” ete.<br />
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THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
MEDICAL LITERATURE IN PUBLIC<br />
LIBRARIES.<br />
<br />
—_— eS<br />
By A MepicaL AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
HAVE just had placed in my hands the first<br />
of a series of “ Special Bulletins” which has<br />
been ordered by the Public Libraries Com-<br />
<br />
mittee of Birkenhead to be printed and circulated<br />
for the information of those interested. It is my<br />
idea that all members of a society like the Society<br />
of Authors should be interested in Public Libraries,<br />
for every day, I think, brings us nearer to the time<br />
when libraries, whether municipally conducted, or<br />
founded by private munificence, or run on business<br />
lines, will be the chief customers of the author.<br />
These “Special Bulletins” form a sort of sub-<br />
catalogues to the general catalogue of the six<br />
Public Libraries at Birkenhead, and are issued to<br />
show how the libraries provide for different sections<br />
of the ratepayers of the town. The first of the<br />
series is a classified list of books on medicine and<br />
kindred subjects, contained either in the Central<br />
Library or the Reference Library, and when I had<br />
read it I was certain that a good many books got<br />
into public libraries that are not in themselves of<br />
much use and the perusal of which might do<br />
considerable harm. I will take the sense of<br />
readers of 7’he Author on these points.<br />
<br />
The classified list is arranged alphabetically, and<br />
under the head of “‘ Anatomy and Physiology ” we<br />
have thirty-two works. Of these several are com-<br />
pletely obsolete, while others owe their interest<br />
more to their historical position than to their<br />
actual advancement of modern learning. Under<br />
the head of “ Bacteriology” we have nine works,<br />
of which one at least is a completely worthless<br />
book, while three are shown by their dates to be<br />
more or jess obsolete. Under the head of “The<br />
Brain” we have seventeen books which are fairly<br />
well selected ; two of them, however, are distinctly<br />
not standard works, and one—exactly the one that<br />
I can imagine the lay public being most anxious<br />
to obtain—is a distinctly unsound work. Under<br />
the head of “ Diseases of Children” there are<br />
sixteen books, largely of the advice-to-mother<br />
order. Of these books two are never heard of<br />
among medical men, and two were published<br />
twenty years ago and have not, as far as I know,<br />
been republished. They were, however, at their<br />
date of issue good text-books, and if editions have<br />
been issued since 1885 it might be worth while<br />
for a public library to obtain them. Of the seven<br />
books intended to form medico-domestic guides to<br />
young mothers this much may be said—such<br />
books are useful if they are intelligently used, and<br />
mischievous if they are not. ‘I'he twelve books on<br />
“The Eye” are on the whole well chosen, though<br />
<br />
133<br />
<br />
the teaching of two must be obsolete. ‘Twenty-six<br />
books are arranged under the heading of “ Food,”<br />
and they form a curious medley, for four are<br />
obsolete ; one seems to be a cookery-book; two<br />
are completely unknown to scientific students of<br />
dietetics ; and several others cover identical ground.<br />
Then follow seven books on ‘The Hand,” four<br />
books on chiromancy being catalogued in company<br />
with such genuinely scientific works as that of<br />
Galton on Finger-Prints, that of the late Professor<br />
Humphry on the Human Foot and Hand, and<br />
Sir David Wilson’s disquisition on Right and<br />
Left-handedness. Next come five books on<br />
Hydrophobia, of which three are obsolete.<br />
Then we have eighty-four books on Hygiene<br />
and Public Health, which are on the whole well<br />
chosen. Of: these thirty-two are made up by<br />
the Transactions of the International Congress of<br />
Hygiene and Demography of 1891 and of the<br />
International Health Exhibition of 1884. Such<br />
transactions have a proper place in a reference<br />
library. Several of the other books are obsolete,<br />
and of one or two I have no knowledge even by<br />
hearsay. The remainder are thoroughly well-<br />
chosen works. ‘The next eight volumes deal with<br />
Hypnotism and Mesmerism, the best known book<br />
on the subject not being included among them,<br />
while the Transactions of the Psychical Society and<br />
the works of the leaders of that Society are also<br />
absent. Then come seventy-one books headed<br />
*‘ Medicine and Health.” This is a heterogeneous<br />
collection ranging from well-known manuals and<br />
text-books, through household medicines and<br />
popular guides, to such works as a dissertation on<br />
a particular mineral-water, an indictment of vac-<br />
cination, a seventeenth-century epitome of The<br />
Secrets of Surgery, an eighteenth-century Her-<br />
barium, an essay on Dress in its Relation to<br />
Health, a Student’s Guide to the Medical Pro-<br />
fession dated before the passage of the Acts of<br />
Parliament by which the medical profession is now<br />
regulated, and a Girls’ Book of Health and Beauty.<br />
Then we have twenty-two books upon “ Nursing,”<br />
among which are some of the more valuable treatises.<br />
Under the head of “Physical Culture” we have<br />
seventeen works of varying value and scope. On<br />
the whole the works in this section are good, but<br />
Sir Frederick Treves, Mr. Eugene Sandow, and<br />
the late R. A. Proctor can hardly before have ,<br />
found themselves in the same special class of a<br />
library catalogue. Under the head of “Surgery ”<br />
are included works on surgical anatomy and ambu-<br />
lance lectures. The two best manuals of surgery<br />
are in this list—a comparatively short one, consist-<br />
ing of twenty-four works only. Works on Throat<br />
and Voice and on Vivisection are followed by a<br />
heading called “Miscellaneous ””—and miscella-<br />
neous it is—for under it fall a work on scientific<br />
<br />
<br />
134<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
dressmaking, a herbalists’ manual, a work on<br />
artificial limbs dated fifty years ago, a note on<br />
hydropathy, a highly scientific work by the late<br />
Professor Tyndall, and a note on scent by a<br />
well-known perfumer.<br />
<br />
It will be seen from this rough and ready<br />
analysis that the ratepayers of Birkenhead are in<br />
possession of a fairly good medical library, not<br />
sufficiently modern or comprehensive to be of any<br />
use to medical men engaged in research work or<br />
scientific literary pursuits, but including more<br />
standard works than anyone not a medical man is<br />
likely to want to consult, or to be benefited by<br />
reading. I am not sure what purpose Free<br />
Libraries are meant to serve, but it seems to me<br />
that the collection of works in the Special Bulletin<br />
No. 1 of the Birkenhead Public Libraries caters<br />
for no one. It is not a scientific collection and it<br />
is not a popular collection. As far as scientific<br />
workers are concerned, Free Libraries can never be<br />
of much good in the more progressive branches of<br />
science, for the ratepayers cannot be expected to<br />
provide new and expensive works on bacteriology<br />
or physiology every year, yeb every year brings<br />
some new discovery which ought to be recorded.<br />
As regards the needs of the general public such<br />
works are not of much use, unless the practical<br />
application of their teaching to the needs of every-<br />
day life is well brought out. This is the case in<br />
only a small proportion of the books in the Special<br />
Bulletin ; but just where the public are mostly in<br />
want of instruction—that is to say, in matters<br />
relating to food and general hygiene—it is gratify-<br />
ing to point out that the Birkenhead Free Libraries<br />
supply sound literature.<br />
<br />
I wonder if members of the Society of Authors,<br />
whose special knowledge lies in different directions<br />
to my own, have any experience of the contents of<br />
the large Free Libraries as far as their own<br />
pursuits are concerned. Is law, is theology, is<br />
engineering similarly served? Are the works<br />
dealing with these branches of learning, supplied to<br />
the public out of the ratepayers’ money, either not<br />
scientific enough or modern enough for the<br />
purposes of the serious student, or too abstruse for<br />
the general reader? Because if so, Free Libraries<br />
would seem somewhat to fail in their aims. As far<br />
as medical books are concerned, I am quite sure<br />
that the Committees that manage Free Libraries<br />
ought to pursue one policy. They should save the<br />
ratepayers’ money by buying only a few standard<br />
medical works, renewing these when their advisers<br />
in the matter warn them that new editions are<br />
necessary. Special care should be taken that the<br />
medical works put into general circulation are<br />
sound and authoritative, while works on palmistry,<br />
cookery, and district nursing should not be<br />
catalogued as medical. Preference also should be<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
given to books of general instruction, books<br />
containing general principles, dictionaries and<br />
works of reference. Manuals for students should<br />
not be bought. There is never any particular<br />
reason for purchasing one special treatise more<br />
than another, while the premises of Free Libraries<br />
are not intended to shelter genuine medical<br />
students for whom other provision is always made.<br />
With regard to amateur medical students, it is<br />
important that medical books should be inspected<br />
from the point of view of the wholesomeness of<br />
their contents before they are put into circulation.<br />
Some medical books make dangerous public reading.<br />
<br />
The composition of our Free Libraries is a<br />
matter of national importance. Too many people<br />
think that when they have voted for a library-rate<br />
they have done their duty, and that a well-chosen<br />
collection of books will immediately occur. This<br />
need not be the case, at any rate if general con-<br />
clusions may be drawn from the special cireum-<br />
stances to which I have alluded.<br />
<br />
gee 9<br />
<br />
A PLEA FOR PEDANTRY.<br />
<br />
—1 ><br />
<br />
“ (P\HAT ain’t sense!” a well-known member<br />
[ of the House of Commons is reported to<br />
have remarked after the reading of an<br />
amendment; and the ejaculation, both in its<br />
matter and its manner, is characteristic of the<br />
age. How often the dignity of sense suffers in<br />
the expression of it! “There is a good deal of<br />
sense in that article,” remarks pater familias,<br />
buttoning his overcoat before starting for the<br />
City; and his eldest son, “fresh from the<br />
beauty and the bliss” of Balliol, takes up the<br />
paper and reads, “The Liberals are clamouring<br />
and Mr. Balfour obdurately silent ’—and all he<br />
notices is that the writer is ungrammatical,<br />
because, great man though the Prime Minister<br />
be, he can claim only the singular verb like any<br />
ordinary mortal. Sense may be the dish; but<br />
style is the cookery: and the palate of the purist<br />
receives many a rude shock. In these modern<br />
days of newspapers full of paragraphs “ written<br />
up” by a jaded journalist overnight, and hastily<br />
scanned by an equally jaded reader in the stifling<br />
“Tube” next morning ; of letters spoken into a<br />
phonograph and typed off in duplicate ;—yea, of<br />
novels produced in the same fashion at the rate of<br />
three or four a year; of political pamphlets and<br />
books of biography and of travel hastily put<br />
together and rushed through the printing press<br />
in order to catch an ephemeral market ;—in these<br />
modern days, what chance has our stately and<br />
beautiful language, with all its history behind it ?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
Then let us welcome the pedant and the purist, for<br />
_ they have their uses.<br />
<br />
The lack of leisure, in literature as elsewhere, is<br />
accountable for much, since many errors are due to<br />
the habit of condensing. ‘You must try to love<br />
me as you have your parents ” is ungrammatical,<br />
yet harmless ; but how about the assertion that<br />
“He loathed sausages as much as his wife” ?<br />
What a picture is given of domestic disquietude !<br />
__whereas the reality, fatally obscured by the omis-<br />
sion of the little word “did,” was a distinctly<br />
harmonious breakfast-table. It is painful to read<br />
that “when the chemical students had given in<br />
the results of their researches, they were sealed up<br />
in test-tubes and set aside to be analysed by the<br />
professor.” What a fiscal problem is presented by<br />
this sentence: ‘He spent two guineas a week on<br />
cigars which he might have given to the poor ”!<br />
<br />
Many errors are due, not to condensing, but to<br />
bad arrangement :—“ Tennyson’s ‘ May Queen ’ is<br />
a poem about a girl divided into three parts.”<br />
And, “opposite stretch the long lines of blanched<br />
walls, where now live the King of United Italy<br />
and his fair Queen Margherita of Savoy, some-<br />
what plain-faced and bald, and descending whole<br />
streets in their enormous length and breadth of<br />
circuit.’ The words only, merely, and not are<br />
pitfalls in this respect, and the Post Office authori-<br />
ties fell headlong into one of them when they<br />
informed the public “The address only. to be<br />
written on this side.” ‘To the purist, this conveys<br />
that the address is only to be written, not, for<br />
example, typed.<br />
<br />
When once the habit of noting errors becomes a<br />
hobby, they seem to crop up everywhere—in news-<br />
papers, sermons, speeches, books, letters, advertise-<br />
ments. How often we hear of “a house on the<br />
left side going down the street,” or “a cab-stand<br />
coming up the road.” “Each of us have” and<br />
“neither of them were’’ are sadly familiar, even<br />
within bookcovers. When there are two brothers,<br />
is not the elder invariably the eldest ? And of<br />
two apples, is not the bigger always the biggest ?<br />
“This is one of the commonest errors that has<br />
crept into the language,” one is told. “Has<br />
they?” the pedant answers mildly. “ Strictly<br />
speaking, there was no necessity ”__noor participle,<br />
without a relation to support it !<br />
<br />
Often pronouns are the cause of woe. What<br />
can be made of this: “He told me his brother<br />
had a friend and he wished him to emigrate ; but<br />
he had said he ought to wait till he saw if his<br />
uncle would help him, as he told him he would if<br />
he approved of him.” Then there is the fatal<br />
impersonal pronoun “one,” that no Briton can<br />
handle with safety. The British are less successful<br />
than the French with verbs also. How often the<br />
novelist, in the midst of a narrative, leaps from<br />
<br />
135<br />
<br />
the past tense to the present and back again !<br />
And how hopelessly muddled the reporter becomes<br />
during three columns of indirect quotation ! And,<br />
most familiar of all, “ Mr. Jones will have much<br />
pleasure in accepting Mrs. Smith’s kind invitation.”<br />
“ What ought you to say instead of ‘I shall have<br />
much pleasure in accepting’ ?” a teacher asked his<br />
class. “I will have much pleasure!” cried an<br />
eager Scot. Folk north of the Tweed have to<br />
submit to much quizzing for their use of shall<br />
and will and for other Scotticisms ; but there are<br />
not a few colloquialisms peculiar to the dwellers<br />
south of that river. It strikes the Scottish ear at<br />
once when someone says “ different to” instead of<br />
“ different from,” or “differ with” instead of<br />
“differ from.” It was perhaps a rash and<br />
carping pedantry that prompted someone to<br />
demand of a renowned barrister that he should<br />
say “disagree from.” He listened to the logic<br />
and courteously announced himself convinced ; but<br />
presently he was heard to mutter below his breath,<br />
“] disagree from you, my lord,—my lord, i<br />
disagree from you. No,no! Couldn’t! Couldn’t<br />
possibly!” The English seem prone to the use of<br />
“lay” instead of “lie”—Byron and Shelley are<br />
both defaulters—“ There let it lay” : and to the<br />
substitution of “like” for “as”—‘ Like I did.”<br />
But perhaps the Englishism most noticeable to<br />
the stranger is to be heard in the addition of<br />
the letter 7 after the vowel a—‘ the sofar is,”<br />
_“the idear of it!’”—“ Mariar ought.” This is<br />
now as prevalent as the inserted 4, and among a<br />
more cultured class. As with the h, the r is not<br />
only inserted where it ought not to be, but is left<br />
out where it owght to occur, and hence that horror,<br />
the “ Cockney rhyme ”—“ palm—harm,” and “ Oh<br />
Mamma, See the star!”<br />
<br />
It is pleasant to find the Chronicle entering the<br />
lists as a purist. A few days ago it called atten-<br />
tion to “a common error,” and cited examples<br />
culled from its own pages :—“‘ Mr. A. B. Walkeley<br />
writes to Mr. Bourchier: “I could not go to a<br />
theatre from which I had been excluded without<br />
that exclusion being publicly apologised for 47<br />
“Pardon me saying” and “ Forgive me coming y<br />
are simpler forms of the same.<br />
<br />
“ Fyom May to December, inclusive,” or ‘‘ From<br />
G. to N., inclusive,” is universal ; but is it sense ?<br />
“To and from Regent Street and City, 37.” meets the<br />
eye of many literary people on their way befween<br />
fashion and Grub Street : does it vex their souls ?<br />
As to “Bespoke Bootmaker” and “ Practical<br />
Chimneysweep,” they are beneath notice.<br />
<br />
Once we enter the realms of pure pedantry, there<br />
is much to engage our attention. The dainty<br />
disused subjunctive meets us reproachfully. The<br />
rival claims of the pronouns that and which wait,<br />
as they have waited since the Elizabethan age, to<br />
<br />
<br />
136<br />
<br />
be settled. The doubtful grammar of “these<br />
kind” and “those sort” has to be seriously con-<br />
sidered. The poor word demean demands a<br />
knight-errant to rescue her from the clutches of<br />
mean, to whom she owes no allegiance, and<br />
restore her to her proper relation demeanour.<br />
And in the train of demean come many mis-<br />
used words—mutual and aggravate, replace and<br />
appreciate, the debased awful, fallen from her<br />
high estate, and all the rest. There is also the<br />
phrase “and which ”—a phrase that, it is alleged,<br />
a certain weekly in its palmy days used to keep a<br />
special proof-reader to delete. There is “fine<br />
day” when the day is only fair; and there is<br />
“infinitely less,” when the comparison is between<br />
things necessarily finite. ‘A sentence should<br />
never have a preposition to end up with” was the<br />
remark of someone who taught better by precept<br />
than by example. But purists go further, and, not<br />
content with objecting to “quite perfect” and<br />
“quite better,” even question the propriety of<br />
“more true.” But this last contention seems to<br />
step beyond the realms of literary criticism alto-<br />
gether, and to land one in the hazy atmosphere of<br />
philosophy.<br />
<br />
The errors that have been enumerated are only<br />
a few of the most common, but will help to recall<br />
many others to the mind, and may perhaps<br />
persuade some readers to own that, though the<br />
pedant be a fractious and annoying member of<br />
any society—most of all of the Society of Authors<br />
—he is not altogether without his uses, nor yet<br />
altogether without his excuses.<br />
<br />
ROSALINE Masson.<br />
<br />
Oa<br />
<br />
THE ARTIST AS CRITIC.*<br />
<br />
+<br />
<br />
HE Editor’s note to this, the twelfth,<br />
volume of Messrs. Macmillan’s edition of<br />
Thackeray’s Works explains that for the<br />
<br />
first time the “Critical Papers in Literature ” are<br />
brought together in one volume and arranged in<br />
chronological order instead of being scattered<br />
throughout the various volumes of the editions.<br />
The advantages of such a plan are obvious, but it<br />
does not appear from this preface what was the<br />
compelling cause to make any exceptions; the<br />
exceptions, however, are carefully noted, and<br />
reference is given to the other volumes in which the<br />
papers severally appear. Thus the first review<br />
known to have been written by Thackeray, on<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
* “Critical Papers in Literature,’ by William Makepeace<br />
Thackeray. London: Macmillan & Co., Limited, 1904.<br />
Crown 8yo., 3s. 6d,<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
Robert Montgomery’s poem, ‘ Woman : The Angel<br />
of Life,” was published in 7'e National Standard<br />
dated the 15th of June, 1833, and is now reprinted<br />
in vol. ix. of this edition; in the same volume<br />
appears his review of Victor Hugo’s “ Etude sur<br />
Mirabeau ” ; other literary papers entitled respec-<br />
tively, “Madame Sand and the New Apocalypse,”<br />
“Qn some French Fashionable Novels: With a<br />
Plea for Romances in General,” and “ French<br />
Dramas and Melodramas” are reprinted in vol.<br />
vii. of this edition; finally a note of importance<br />
will be found in vol. xi., covering the question of<br />
other reviews supposed to have been contributed by<br />
Thackeray to Fraser’s Magazine, some of which<br />
have been positively identified and are reprinted in<br />
that volume.<br />
<br />
Of the twenty-nine papers included in the present<br />
volume, six are reprinted for the first time, four are<br />
reprinted for the first time in England, and twenty-<br />
one are for the first time included in an edition of<br />
Thackeray’s Works. The most important “find ”’<br />
from the bibliographer’s point of view is an invoice<br />
sent by Thackeray to 7%e Times for contributions<br />
during November, 1838; this “ find” was made by<br />
Mr. Moberly Bell, who sent a copy of the letter<br />
and invoice to Messrs. Macmillan; reference to a<br />
file of The Times disclosed articles entitled “The<br />
Annuals,” Tyler’s “Life of Henry V.,” Fraser’s<br />
“Winter Journey to Persia,’ Count Valerian<br />
Krasinski’s “History of the Reformation in Poland,”<br />
all of which are now reprinted for the first time,<br />
and a couple of paragraphs entitled “ Steam Navi-<br />
gation in the Pacific,’ which are omitted as not<br />
coming within the scope of the volume. The two<br />
other articles now first reprinted are a review of<br />
the “Memoirs of Joseph Holt, General of the Irish<br />
Rebels in 1798,” which appeared in Zhe Times for<br />
the 31st of January, 1838, and Thackeray’s sole<br />
contribution to The Edinburgh Review, which was<br />
published in October, 1845, ridiculing N, P. F.<br />
Willis’s “ Dashes at Life with a Free Pencil.”<br />
<br />
Of the other fifteen papers now first included in<br />
an edition of Thackeray’s Works the most interest-<br />
ing, regarded as Critical Papers, are the ‘ Duchess<br />
of Marlborough’s Private Correspondence,” “ Eros<br />
and Anteros, or ‘Love’,” “A Diary Relative to<br />
George IV. and Queen Caroline,” “The Poetical<br />
Works of Dr. Southey,” “ Fielding’s Works,” “ Mr.<br />
Macaulay’s Essays,” and “Coningsby, or the New<br />
Generation.” These, with the more familiar papers<br />
on Carlyle’s “French Revolution,” “Grant in<br />
Paris,” ‘Dickens in France,” and ‘Jerome<br />
Paturot,” enable one to arrive at a definite opinion<br />
of Thackeray’s claim to consideration as judge of<br />
other people’s work, and to assess the worth of the<br />
artist in his other réle of critic.<br />
<br />
His own opinion of the function of the critic is<br />
recorded in this volume. An eminent artist had<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
as<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
suggested that it was the writer's duty only to speak<br />
of pictures particularly when one could speak in<br />
terms of praise ; not, of course, to praise unjustly,<br />
but to be discreetly silent when there was no<br />
opportunity. “Itis a fine maxim,” says Thackeray<br />
in his genial way, ‘“‘and should be universally<br />
adopted—across a table. Why should not Medi-<br />
ocrity be content, and fancy itself Genius? Why<br />
should not Vanity go home, and be a little more<br />
vain? If you tell the truth, ten to one that<br />
Dulness only grows angry, and is not a whit<br />
less dull than before—such being itsnature. But<br />
when I becomes we—sitting in judgment, and<br />
delivering solemn opinions—ie must tell the truth,<br />
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth ;<br />
for then there is a third party concerned—the<br />
public—between whom andthe writer, or painter, the<br />
critic has to arbitrate, and he is bound to show no<br />
favour. What is kindness to the one, is injustice to<br />
the other, who looks for an honest judgment, and<br />
is by far the most important party of the three ;<br />
the two others being, the one the public’s servant,<br />
the other the public’s appraiser, sworn to value, to<br />
the best of his power, the article that is for sale.<br />
The critic does not value rightly, it is true, once in<br />
a thousand times ; but if he do not deal honestly,<br />
wo be to him! The hulks are too pleasant for<br />
him, transportation too light. For ourselves, our<br />
honesty is known ; every man of the band of critics<br />
(that awful, unknown Vehmgericht, that sits in<br />
judgment in the halls of ReGrna) is gentle, though<br />
miserable, loving, though stern, just above all. As<br />
fathers, we have for our dutiful children the most<br />
tender yearning and love; but we are, everyone of<br />
us, Brutuses, and at the sad intelligence of our<br />
children’s treason we weep—the father will ; dwt<br />
we chop their heads off.”<br />
<br />
Indeed they do. And where decapitation of the<br />
culprit seems to be the proper end, Thackeray sees<br />
to it that the capital penalty is preceded by<br />
scourging more or less severe. Sometimes his<br />
whip has but a single thong. In “ Eros and<br />
Anteros, or ‘Love,’” for instance, he deprecates<br />
any claim to being regarded as omniscient with a<br />
parenthesis that disarms hostility. Lady Charlotte<br />
Bury wrote a novel in which all the figures are<br />
exclusives, fashionables, or lords; the silly things<br />
they severally do are best left in the oblivion to<br />
which they have sunk, but the critic challenges<br />
the accuracy of the picture. “Thank Heaven,”<br />
he says, “the world (unless in the most exclusive<br />
circles) does not do this.” In that admission of<br />
the possibility of his own ignorance there is brine<br />
in which the thong is soaked. Sometimes his<br />
whip has double thongs: Lady Charlotte Bury<br />
felt it, owing to her responsibility for the “ Diary<br />
Relative to George LV. and Queen Caroline.” “ We<br />
never met with a book more pernicious or mean.”<br />
<br />
137<br />
<br />
Phrase after phrase of bitterly scornful denuncia-<br />
tion falls from the curling lip of the judge to<br />
culminate in an almost savage peroration. ‘There<br />
is no need now to be loyal to your prince or tender<br />
to his memory. Take his bounty while living,<br />
share his purse and his table, gain his confidence,<br />
and learn his secrets, flatter him, cringe to him,<br />
vow to him an unbounded fidelity—and when he<br />
is dead, write a diary and betray him!”<br />
<br />
Jules Janin felt it, too, and it is noteworthy<br />
that it was on behalf of Dickens that Thackeray<br />
seized his double thonged whip and laid about the<br />
shoulders of the French critic. ‘“ Dickens in<br />
France” the article is called, and it will repay<br />
study as an example of culminative scorn: as an<br />
example, too, of the justice on which he prided<br />
himself, for it is by textual quotation of the<br />
culprit’s own words and of passages from his own<br />
paper that he establishes his case.<br />
<br />
Naturally, several of the longer essays are<br />
expository rather than critical, but they are admir-<br />
ably written: the article on Tyler’s “ Life of<br />
Henry V.” is Thackeray’s own precis of the story<br />
as told by the old chroniclers; that on Count<br />
Valerian Krasinski’s “ History of the Reformation<br />
in Poland” is little more than one long quotation<br />
from the book itself; those on Holt’s “ Memoirs,”<br />
Fraser’s “ Winter Journey to Persia,” and Willis’s<br />
« Dashes at Life” are little more than summaries<br />
enlivened by comment characteristic of Thackeray,<br />
and, especially in the case of the last book, relieved<br />
by not unkindly banter. Willis, indeed, seems to<br />
have been treated too leniently.<br />
<br />
It is in the estimates formed of Carlyle’s “ History<br />
of the French Revolution,” of Macaulay’s * Essays,”<br />
of “Coningsby,” of Fielding’s Works and of<br />
Southey’s collected poems that Thackeray’s right to<br />
be deemed a sound critic may most fairly be tested,<br />
and for our own part we think it has been estab-<br />
lished by general consent. Carlyle’s opinion of<br />
Thackeray’s opinion of him is recorded in the<br />
preface : “ His article is rather like him, and, I<br />
suppose; calculated to do the book good’’: rather<br />
grudging perhaps, but surely the best possible<br />
tribute to the quality of the criticism, which ought<br />
to be as much the expression of the critic’s indi-<br />
vidual self as the book should be of the author’s.<br />
It is pleasant to recognise the man’s alacrity to<br />
recognise merit in his contemporaries ;_ the<br />
courteous, almost deferential, respect he has for<br />
Macaulay’s attainments, the singular aptness of<br />
the epithets he applies to Disraeli’s ‘« Coningsby,”<br />
and the acumen and sanity of his judgment of<br />
Southey’s Poems. The whole-hearted, generous<br />
enthusiasm he cherishes for Fielding, communi-<br />
cates a glow, and we welcome an edition of<br />
Thackeray containing this essay. Altogether, this<br />
book has given us a great deal of pleasure already,<br />
138<br />
<br />
and we are glad to record, in addition to our love<br />
for Thackeray the artist, our respect for Thackeray<br />
the critic. V. E. M.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
_—-—_»<br />
<br />
CORRESPONDENCE.<br />
<br />
—1~>—-<br />
<br />
/ SHOULD WELL-KNOWN WRITERS<br />
“FARM-OUT” FICTION ?<br />
<br />
AN,<br />
<br />
Sir,—In your December number appears a<br />
contribution from “ Proxy,” entitled, ‘Should well-<br />
known writers ‘farm-out’ fiction ?” in which he<br />
attempts to justify popular authors in palming off,<br />
as their own original work, novels and tales written<br />
by “ghosts” in their employ. - “ Proxy ” supports<br />
his theory that such an act is perfectly justifiable<br />
by the argument “ whether Blank himself actually<br />
writes the books or whether he employs someone<br />
to write them for him is really of no great con-<br />
sequence as far as the reader is concerned.”<br />
<br />
To the grocer who takes half-a-crown across<br />
the counter, it is of no great consequence whether<br />
the coin has been stolen or honestly earned, but<br />
pocket- picking is a felony nevertheless.<br />
<br />
By the way, I find in this article an allusion to<br />
“poor Gilbert’s inimitable humour.” J am much<br />
obliged to the writer for his sympathetic reference<br />
to me, but why “poor?” If he means that I am<br />
in embarrassed circumstances, I have much pleasure<br />
in assuring him that I still contrive to keep my<br />
head above water. If he is under the impression<br />
that I am a helpless invalid, it gratifies me to<br />
inform him that I am in robust health. If he<br />
supposes me to be disembodied, I am pleased to<br />
say that I am not even an author’s ghost.<br />
<br />
Yours faithfully,<br />
<br />
W.S. GILBERT. -<br />
<br />
ah ae ae a<br />
<br />
Il.<br />
<br />
Srr,—After reading the article with the above<br />
title, signed ‘“‘ Proxy,” in the December issue of<br />
The Author, one has to ask oneself whether it is<br />
intended to be taken seriously or as a joke. It<br />
seems hardly possible to believe that it is serious,<br />
or else the writer must be one who can see no<br />
wrong in defrauding nor in being defrauded.<br />
<br />
It makes no difference to the case whether the<br />
author is well-known or not, although, of course,<br />
the circumstances could not apply to an obscure<br />
one. The writer of this article compares an author<br />
who employs a proxy with a person carrying on<br />
<br />
THER AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
the business of a manufacturer or storekeeper<br />
under some other name than his or her own, and<br />
seems to think that there is no difference. In<br />
buying at a certain store, whether a piece of<br />
furniture, a gun, a watch, a garment or any other<br />
thing, no one supposes that the head of the firm<br />
makes every article sold there, neither does he put<br />
them forward as his individual handicraft ; it is<br />
work made or sold under his auspices and for<br />
which he takes the responsibility. It is the<br />
publisher who should be compared with such a<br />
person, not the writer of a work. The publisher isa<br />
dealer in books (which he may get written or pro-<br />
duced to order), and each work is put before the<br />
public as his publication, but not as his composition.<br />
One does not buy a book for the sake of the<br />
publisher, but for the sake of the matter or of the<br />
writer ; the composition is set forth as being by<br />
such and such a person, as being that person’s<br />
original work, for which reason that person takes<br />
the name of author ; and, if the supposed author’s<br />
name is on the title-page and the work is not his or<br />
her composition, then is fraud being committed.<br />
If an “author” employs a proxy, then it should be<br />
stated that the work is produced for or under the<br />
auspices of that “well-known writer,” otherwise<br />
the publisher is put in the same position as a<br />
picture-dealer who sells the work of one artist as<br />
that of another.<br />
<br />
This practice in favour of which “ Proxy ”<br />
writes is causing money to be obtained under faise —<br />
pretences, and is deliberate fraud by the supposed<br />
author and the proxy on the publisher and the<br />
public, and also by the proxy on him or herself.<br />
<br />
Doubtless some member of the Society of<br />
Authors is acquainted with a work written by a<br />
proxy or “ ghost ’? and put forward as that of some<br />
well-known writer ; if so, I should very much like<br />
to see the Society instigate, on behalf of a member<br />
purchasing a copy of such a work, a prosecution for<br />
fraud of the supposed author whore name appears<br />
on the title-page, or else see a publisher undertake<br />
the prosecution of such a supposed author.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
HvuBert HAEs.<br />
<br />
<><br />
<br />
III.<br />
<br />
Sir,—A writer calling himself “ Proxy” has<br />
detailed to us, in the December number of The<br />
Author, the sophistries with which he, and, of<br />
course, his principal before him, have succeeded in<br />
drugging conscience. He offers those arguments<br />
to us as an excellent prescription, as if we too<br />
must be anxious to get rid of that tiresome voice<br />
which urges probity !<br />
<br />
‘To begin with, his claim to authority on the<br />
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THE AUTHOR.<br />
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subject of “ ghosting,” as being himself a “ ghost,”<br />
is hardly valid. It could not logically be allowed<br />
without conceding the same high standpoint to all<br />
who profit by malpractices, wherever found. The<br />
law of the land, judge and jury, would then count<br />
for nothing. We should appeal to the receiver of<br />
stolen goods for an anonymous verdict.<br />
<br />
But why does “ Proxy” stand forth at all?<br />
We have no personal quarrel with him or his tribe.<br />
What we wish to see stopped is the practice, said<br />
to be widespread, of flourishing authors choking<br />
the market, filling space valuable to others, with<br />
work not their own. ‘The selfishness is only made<br />
possible by a downright, fraudulent lie ; for, I take<br />
it, most authors regard their name or pseudonym<br />
appended to work as nearer to an affidavit than “a<br />
sort of trade-mark.” “Proxy” may be simply an<br />
honest man in reduced circumstances. “ Blank,”<br />
his employer, is, frankly, a scoundrel.<br />
<br />
The reference to modern business methods as<br />
the standard of honesty is downright funny.<br />
Indeed, ‘“ Proxy’s” whole article has the ring of<br />
fine satire, making one scent a hoax.<br />
<br />
“T may say, to begin with, that the writers for<br />
whom I act as proxy know me sufficiently well to<br />
be aware that I am not likely ever to blackmail<br />
them, and in selecting a proxy this is of course an<br />
extremely important consideration.”<br />
<br />
Shade of Mistress Quickly! ... Is not this<br />
pure satire? Or can “ Proxy,” after writing that,<br />
still really wonder at members of the Authors’<br />
Society agreeing “ that the practice is reprehensible<br />
in the extreme”?<br />
<br />
Just one more quotation. This is one of the dire<br />
alternatives presented to “the writer of popular<br />
fiction”? who receives applications for work in<br />
excess of his output:— He must decline to<br />
undertake to get through more than a compara-<br />
tively small amount of work, and thus, in the<br />
language of the box-office, ‘turn good money<br />
away.’” In other words, he must decline to get<br />
money by dishonest means, degrading to himself,<br />
defrauding to others, and unfair even to the<br />
“ghost” who is robbed of personality. Isn’t it<br />
hard on the poor devil ?<br />
<br />
That there are among “ghosts” men keenly<br />
alive to a debasement into which real want has<br />
fcrced them, we are fain to believe. Mr. Leonard<br />
Merrick’s “ Cynthia” contains a convincing picture<br />
of such an one. [If all were as cynically content in<br />
their background as “ Proxy ” pretends to be, pity<br />
would be wasted on them. But contempt is by<br />
no means wasted on their employers. Like other<br />
cheats they deserve nothing but the cold shoulder,<br />
and will get it, sure enough, when discovered.<br />
But the job is to catch them.<br />
<br />
MARMADUKE PICKTHALL.<br />
<br />
139<br />
<br />
IV.<br />
<br />
Str,—You have now published in The Author<br />
three letters and one article dealing with the inte-<br />
resting process which the writers thereof describe,<br />
according to their differing opinions upon the<br />
subject, either by the airy name of “ ghosting,”<br />
or the more solid and uncompromising term,<br />
“ fraud.”<br />
<br />
One has heard before, generally in fiction, of the<br />
literary vampire who sucks the brains of the un-<br />
<br />
fortunate hack; and I do not think that one has<br />
<br />
felt much inclined to believe in his existence out-<br />
side the pages of romance. The recent corres-<br />
pondence in Zhe Author, however, seems to prove<br />
that the vampire is a very actual personage indeed<br />
—on the testimony of no less a person than the<br />
hack himself, who certainly ought to know, and<br />
who appears quite willing to take us into his<br />
(strictly anonymous) confidence, in spite of the<br />
vows of silence and secrecy which he has sworn to<br />
the vampire whom he serves.<br />
<br />
Of course, if the hack chooses, or is forced by<br />
circumstances, to earn his living by writing for the<br />
vampire, that is nobody’s business but his own.<br />
Of the two parties concerned in a dirty business,<br />
the hack should have the clearer conscience. But<br />
it certainly has struck me as singular that three<br />
out of the four communications published have<br />
unblushingly tried to whitewash this ghosting<br />
affair. Indeed, *‘ Proxy,” in his article, reaches a<br />
point beyond even the whitewash pot. He boldly<br />
sets himself to prove that the ghosting system is<br />
perfectly fair and honest, and tells us that he looks<br />
upon the vampire as “a Heaven-sent being, and<br />
not, as some appear (!) to consider him, a species<br />
of imposter.” “ Proxy’s” idea of a “ Heaven-sent<br />
being” seems rather dangerously original, to say the<br />
least of it—but let that pass. He goes on to make<br />
a statement which one cannot let pass so easily.<br />
“ Whether Blank himself actually writes the books,<br />
or whether he employs someone to write them for<br />
him,” he declares, “is really of no great conse-<br />
quence so far as the general reader is concerned.<br />
The general reader looks upon Blank’s name as @<br />
sort of trade mark—nothing more.”<br />
<br />
Now, in the name of the general reader, I protest<br />
against this statement of * Proxy’s.” I, for one,<br />
do not look upon Blank’s name upon the novel<br />
which he offers to the public as his own as “a sort<br />
of trade mark.” When I order a book purporting<br />
to be written by Blauk, I do not expect to geb a<br />
novel which “Proxy ” has written for Blank to sign<br />
—-andsell. I want Blank, I order Blank, I expect to<br />
get Blank ; and if [ get “ Proxy ” instead of Blank<br />
I maintain that I have as good a right to consider<br />
myself cheated as though I had asked for—and<br />
paid for—butter, and received margarine. I am<br />
<br />
<br />
140<br />
<br />
not depreciating ‘‘ Proxy’s”’ work—it may be as good<br />
as, or even better than Blank’s; but that argument<br />
has nothing to do with the case.<br />
<br />
I cannot help thinking that this is the view the<br />
general reader will take, in spite of ‘‘ Proxy’s” com-<br />
fortable conscience—salving sophistries to the con-<br />
trary. The public undoubtedly buys Blank’s book,<br />
and orders it at the libraries, on the strength of<br />
the position Blank has already achieved in fiction ;<br />
if it finds out that such a system as “ Proxy” reveals,<br />
and upholds, is in vogue, it is not difficult to foresee<br />
that, however unsatisfactory the sale of novels<br />
may be at present, it will soon become infinitely<br />
worse.<br />
<br />
We have heard a good deal about the iniquities<br />
of the publisher, but if the state of things described<br />
by “Proxy” and others really exists, then it seems to<br />
me that the virtuous, long-suffering author stands<br />
in a glass house in which he will find it exceed-<br />
ingly difficult to throw stones at his natural enemy.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, as a consequence of these interesting<br />
revelations by “ Proxy” & Co., the literary profes-<br />
sion stands practically under the imputation of com-<br />
mitting a wholesale and comprehensive fraud upon<br />
an unsuspecting public. Three successive numbers<br />
of your periodical have reiterated the accusation ;<br />
and so far not one novelist of prominence has come<br />
forward to deny, in his own name at least, this<br />
shameful charge. “ Proxy” and his fellows have<br />
flung down the gauntlet—is there no writer who<br />
dare lift it, for the honour of the art he serves ?<br />
Or is it indeed true that we are all a set of dis-<br />
honest hucksters, cheating the public and lying<br />
amongst ourselves, thinking only of our price per<br />
thousand, and not caring by what fraudulent methods<br />
it is obtained ?<br />
<br />
CHALLENGER.<br />
<br />
P.S.—Since the above was written, the Com-<br />
mittee has issued a note in The Author, very<br />
properly recording its opinion of the practice<br />
which “ Proxy” defends as “a gross fraud both<br />
on the publisher and the public.” So far, so<br />
good ; but is it not possible to go a little further<br />
—to take steps to discover and publish the names<br />
of the culprits? In Mr. Ascher’s letter on the<br />
subject in the October number he speaks of<br />
instances of “ ghosting” which have fallen under<br />
his own notice. Surely if he or any member of<br />
the Society possesses proof of a case of this kind,<br />
he owes it to the whole literary profession to make<br />
it public. It may be very difficult, for many<br />
reasons, to stop “ghosting” altogether; but<br />
exposure seems to me to be the first and most<br />
powerful weapon against it. No condemnation<br />
<br />
of the system, as a system, will effect much good<br />
unless the actual individual concerned can be<br />
shown up. It is almost impossible to believe that<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
popular and well-paid writers can carry on this<br />
fraud for any great length of time with impunity,<br />
and one can only hope that the first proven case of<br />
the kind which comes to the knowledge of the<br />
Society will mect with the public disgrace which it<br />
so richly deserves.<br />
<br />
ig<br />
<br />
V.<br />
<br />
DEAR Srr,—The defence in your December<br />
number of farming out literary work, whether<br />
real or fictitious, certainly shows that for a poor<br />
“ohost”” half a loaf is better than no bread, and<br />
it also illustrates the increasing difficulty of getting<br />
good work accepted on its merits. A great many<br />
modern magazine editors and publishers are quite<br />
incapable of judging for themselves as to the<br />
quality of work submitted to them. Tell a story is<br />
by some well-known writer, and at once they read<br />
merit into it. This is what gives the farmer his<br />
chance. He depends upon their lack of critical<br />
faculty, and power of distinguishing between one<br />
man’s style and another’s. They want names, and<br />
names only. Very often, too, in the lower walks<br />
of fiction the difference between the work of one<br />
man’s and another's is that between Tweedledum<br />
and Tweedledee, but the fact that one of the two<br />
has succeeded by a fluke gives him a certain market<br />
value. Farming out work and taking pay from<br />
publishers at rates that would not be given if the<br />
publishers knew the truth, is simply a form of<br />
swindling, and the authors who do such things<br />
may justly fear blackmail, and wish to be quite<br />
sure of their partner. For the poor accomplice,<br />
unknown to fame, despairing of ever attaining it,<br />
and driven by necessity, one can have little save<br />
pity. At any rate he honestly does the work for<br />
which he takes pay, and if he does not object<br />
to letting another get the credit, no third party<br />
need revile him; but what are we to say of the<br />
man who employs him? An instance has recently<br />
come to my knowledge of a poor gentleman, fallen<br />
on evil days, a scholar and a linguist, who for about<br />
£30 did the translation of a long and highly<br />
technical work that bears on its cover the name of<br />
a popular author as the translator. ‘The “ ghost”<br />
did not complain. It was not from him, or with<br />
his knowledge, I heard of this flagrant case. I<br />
believe he had hopes the popular author would<br />
recommend him to publishers to undertake other<br />
translations. How likely! When I read the<br />
favourable comments of the Press on the book in<br />
question, of the skill shown by Mr. So-and-so in<br />
turning it into English, it “makes me tired,” if<br />
you will pardon the Americanism.<br />
<br />
Yours faithfully,<br />
<br />
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