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493	https://historysoa.com/items/show/493	The Author, Vol. 14 Issue 08 (May 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+08+%28May+1904%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 14 Issue 08 (May 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>	1904-05-01-The-Author-14-8					197–224																		<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=1904-05-01">1904-05-01</a>							8			19040501	Che Huthbor.<br /> <br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br /> <br /> FOUNDED BY SIR WALTER BESANT.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Vou. XIV.—No. 8.<br /> <br /> May Ist, 1904.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> [Prick SIXPENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> TELEPHONE NUMBER :<br /> 374 VICTORIA.<br /> <br /> TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS :<br /> AUTORIDAD, LONDON.<br /> <br /> _—________¢ ~&lt;—e —___—_-<br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> <br /> —+—&lt;&gt; +<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 /> Tue 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 /> Tx Trustees of the Pension Fund met at the<br /> Society’s Offices on the 19th of February, and<br /> having gone carefully into the accounts of the<br /> fund, decided to purchase £250 London and North<br /> Western 3 % Debenture Stock. Accordingly, the<br /> investments of the Pension Fund at present<br /> standing in the names of the Trustees are as<br /> follows.<br /> <br /> Vou. XIV.<br /> <br /> This is a statement of the actual stock; the<br /> money value can be easily worked out at the current<br /> price of the market :—<br /> <br /> Gorisols 24 96.5.2... .... £1000 0 O<br /> Local laosis: &lt;...-..2--. 6.7...) 500 0 0<br /> Victorian Government 3 % Consoli-<br /> <br /> dated Inscribed Stock .............--<br /> War loan 3... ees<br /> London and North Western 3 % Deben-<br /> <br /> GUC SLOCK 00h ee<br /> <br /> 291 19 11<br /> 20k 9 8<br /> <br /> 250 0 0<br /> <br /> Subscriptions from October, 1903.<br /> <br /> Nov. 18,<br /> Dec. 16,<br /> 1904.<br /> <br /> Jan. 6, Hills, Mrs. C. H. .<br /> <br /> Jan. 6, Crommelin, Miss .<br /> <br /> Jan. 8, Stevenson, Mrs. M. BE. .<br /> Jan. 16, Kilmarnock, The Lord .<br /> Feb. 5, Portman, Lionel .<br /> <br /> Feb. 11, Shipley, Miss Mary<br /> <br /> Mar. Diiring, Mrs. . : :<br /> Mar. Francis Claude de la Roche<br /> April18, Dixon, W. Scarth .<br /> April18, Bashford, Harry H.<br /> April19, Bosanquet, Eustace F.<br /> April23, Friswell, Miss Laura Hain<br /> <br /> Longe, Miss Julia.<br /> Trevor, Capt. Philip<br /> <br /> OS Oo 1 So or<br /> <br /> on<br /> <br /> SGCanmnocooocorooooo<br /> <br /> Se<br /> NDOOrn<br /> <br /> Donations from October, 19038.<br /> Oct. 27, Sturgis, Julian<br /> Nov. 2, Stanton, V.H. .<br /> Noy. 18, Benecke, Miss Ida.<br /> <br /> Nov. 23, Harraden, Miss Beatrice :<br /> Dec. Miniken, Miss Bertha M. M. .<br /> 1904.<br /> Jan. 4,<br /> Jan. 4,<br /> <br /> ooococo<br /> <br /> Moncrieff, A. R. Hope .<br /> Middlemas, Miss Jean .<br /> Jan. 4, Witherby, The Rev. C. .<br /> Jan. 6, Key, The Rey. S. Whittell<br /> Jan. 14, Bennett, Rev. W. K., D.D.<br /> Jan. 2, Roe, Mrs. Harcourt<br /> <br /> Feb. 11, Delaire, Miss Jeanne<br /> <br /> ee ooo co}<br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> FROM THE COMMITTEE.<br /> <br /> 1<br /> <br /> T the meeting of the Committee held on<br /> Wednesday, April 13th, at the Office of<br /> the Society, twenty-five members and<br /> <br /> associates were elected, making the elections for<br /> the current year one hundred and three. The<br /> recent steady increase in the Society’s numbers is<br /> well maintained.<br /> <br /> A suggestion was laid before the Committee that<br /> the Society should take up the additional duties of<br /> Authors’ agents. The Committee, after careful<br /> consideration rejected the proposal on the ground<br /> that to take such action would be contrary to the<br /> principles on which the Society was founded.<br /> <br /> Several members of the Society entered into<br /> contracts some years ago with a firm of publishers<br /> for the publication of certain works in a series<br /> which the firm stated it was their intention to<br /> issue. This series appears at present to be incom-<br /> plete. No accounts have been rendered and the<br /> firm asserts that under the existing agreements it<br /> is not liable either to render accounts or to pay<br /> anything. So far, accordingly, the members have<br /> received no remuneration for the works whichhave<br /> been published. The legal position is difficult and<br /> involved. The Committee decided to take Counsel’s<br /> opinion in order to ascertain whether it would not<br /> be possible, under the contracts, to force the firm<br /> in question to render accounts, and pay royalties<br /> on the books already issued.<br /> <br /> Since the last issue of The Author the Committee<br /> have taken further steps with regard to the infringe-<br /> ment of copyright in the case of Mr. Rudyard<br /> Kipling’s “ Barrack Room Ballads.” They have<br /> received an answer to the Report which was laid<br /> before the Chief Commissioner of the Police, and<br /> they have placed a full statement of the case in the<br /> hands of the Home Secretary. It is the intention<br /> of the Committee to take all the steps in their<br /> power to obtain an alteration in the existing law.<br /> <br /> The Report of the Copyright Sub-Committee on<br /> the United States Copyright Law was read to the<br /> Committee. It had already been forwarded, in<br /> accordance with the Committee’s former instruc-<br /> tions, to the American Copyright League. The<br /> Committee propose to print the Report in a future<br /> number of Zhe Author.<br /> <br /> There was one contentious matter before the Com-<br /> mittee, and they decided on the advice of the<br /> Society’s solicitors to take action against the<br /> publisher involved.<br /> <br /> 1<br /> Cases.<br /> <br /> One of the county court cases taken in hand<br /> last month has been satisfactorily settled—the<br /> debt and costs were paid the day before the hearing.<br /> <br /> In another county court case which was placed in<br /> the hands of the Society’s solicitor, the money was<br /> paid and the matter settled before the summons<br /> was taken out.<br /> <br /> Ten cases have been in the secretary’s hands.<br /> Of these, two were for accounts, four: for money,<br /> and four for MSS. Prompt settlements have been<br /> the rule. The accounts have in one case been<br /> rendered, and will, doubtless, be rendered in the<br /> other case also, though the matter must be delayed<br /> owing to the fact that the demand is against a<br /> New York firm. In the four cases where money<br /> has been demanded, three claims have been satisfied,<br /> whilst the fourth is still waiting settlement. Two<br /> of the four cases for the return of MSS. have been<br /> settled, but in the other two—more recent—the<br /> issue is still open.<br /> <br /> Of the cases remaining in the hands of the<br /> secretary from former months there are only two<br /> unsettled, one of which for the cancellation of an<br /> agreement, is very nearly adjusted. There has<br /> been some correspondence, but the final arrangement<br /> has not yet been arrived at. In the other case<br /> the publisher has promised to forward the accounts<br /> which are in demand, but they have not yet come<br /> <br /> to hand.<br /> ES<br /> <br /> April Elections.<br /> <br /> Alliston, Norman . . Kamesburgh, Becken-<br /> ham, Kent.<br /> <br /> Daly’s Theatre.<br /> <br /> Education Office,<br /> <br /> Maritzburg, Natal.<br /> <br /> Barrington, Rutland<br /> Barnett, P. A.<br /> <br /> Bashford, Henry Howarth<br /> Bissett, J. L. ; :<br /> <br /> 80, Sherwell Street,<br /> Johannesburg, 8S. A.<br /> Nethercote, Colwyn<br /> Bay, North Wales.<br /> Woodsgate, Pembury,<br /> Tunbridge Wells.<br /> Vevey La Tour, Swit-<br /> zerland.<br /> Mount<br /> Hampstead.<br /> 41, Princes Square, W.<br /> 11, The Mount, York.<br /> 22, Grafton Street, W.<br /> Les Quenetens, Bar-<br /> riere Rouge, Pont<br /> de Briques, P. de<br /> C., France.<br /> St. Michael’s Vicarage,<br /> Burleigh Street, W.C.<br /> “ Seabreeze,” Netley<br /> Abbey, Hants.<br /> Aber Maw, Wimble-<br /> don, 8.W.<br /> <br /> Bolton, Miss Anna<br /> <br /> Bosanquet, Eustace F.<br /> (S. Ashton) : :<br /> Chesney, Major-General<br /> F. R.<br /> Chidell, E. F. (Viator) . 2, Vernon,<br /> Davidson, A.F..<br /> Dixon, William Scarth<br /> Harcourt, R. Vernon<br /> Hight, G. A. . :<br /> <br /> Hunt, Rev. W. Henry<br /> Metcalfe, Ethel E. . :<br /> <br /> Myall, Mrs. Ambrose<br /> (Laura Hain Friswell)<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> 15, Woodville Gardens,<br /> Ealing, W.<br /> <br /> 26, Rue du Mont Tha-<br /> bor, Paris.<br /> <br /> Oxenham, John<br /> <br /> Pavitt, A. (Saxo-Norman)<br /> <br /> Plunkett, The Right<br /> Hon. Sir Horace,<br /> <br /> 105, Mount Street, W.<br /> 37, Norfolk Square, W.<br /> Evening Mail Cham-<br /> bers, Nutchett<br /> Street, Bendigo,<br /> Australia.<br /> 27, Southampton Street,<br /> Strand, W.C.<br /> “Plasisaf” Caerwys,<br /> Flintshire.<br /> One member does not desire the publication of<br /> name or address.<br /> <br /> 9<br /> <br /> K.C.V.0., F.RB.S., ete.<br /> Prideaux, Miss 8. T.<br /> Taylor, Charles E.<br /> <br /> Weymouth, Edward S. .<br /> Williams, E. C.<br /> <br /> BOOKS PUBLISHED BY MEMBERS OF<br /> THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> (In the following list we do not propose to give more<br /> than the titles, prices, publishers, etc., of the books<br /> enumerated, with, in special cases, such particulars as may<br /> serve to explain the scope and purpose of the work.<br /> Members are requested to forward information which will<br /> enable the Editor to supply such particulars.)<br /> <br /> a<br /> <br /> ART.<br /> <br /> THe PHin May Fouio of Caricature Drawings and<br /> Sketches in Line Block, Half-Tone, and Photogravure.<br /> With a Biography. 17$ x 11, xv. + 245 pp. Thacker.<br /> £2 28. n.<br /> <br /> Greav Masters. Part XI. With Introduction by SIR<br /> MARTIN Conway. Heinemann. 5s. n.<br /> Great Masters. Part XII. With Introduction and<br /> <br /> Descriptive Text by Str MARTIN CONWAY. Heine-<br /> <br /> mann. 58. n.<br /> BIOGRAPHY.<br /> <br /> Kines AND QuEENS I HAVE<br /> VACARESCO. 9 X 5%, 320 pp. Harpers. 10s. 6d.<br /> <br /> New Lerrers or THOMAS CARLYLE. Edited and Anno-<br /> tated by ALEXANDER CARLYLE. Two Vols. 8% X 5%,<br /> xiii. + 326 + 359 pp. Lane. 25s. n.<br /> <br /> Str WiLtLIAM Henry Fiower, K.C.B., F.R.S., &amp;c., late<br /> Director of the Natural History Museum, and President<br /> of the Royal Zoological Society. A Personal Memoir.<br /> By C. J. Cornisu, F.Z.S., author of “ The Naturalist on<br /> the Thames,” &amp;c. 9 x 6,274 pp. Macmillan. 8s. 6d. n.<br /> <br /> Rosserr1.—By A.C. Benson. (English Men of Letters.)<br /> 745, 238 pp. Macmillan. 2s, n.<br /> <br /> Known. By HELENE<br /> <br /> BOOKS OF REFERENCE.<br /> <br /> THe STATESMAN’S YEAR-Book, 1904. Edited by J.<br /> Scorr Ketrte. Forty-first Annual Publication.<br /> <br /> 74 x 5, 1,398 pp. Macmillan. 10s. 6d. n.<br /> <br /> DRAMA.<br /> <br /> His PontricaAL Conscience. By HA,RoLxo. 2nd edition,<br /> 9 x 54,73 pp. Burleigh. 2s. 6d. n.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 199<br /> <br /> ECONOMICS,<br /> <br /> FiscaAL Facts AND Fictions. By F. G, SHAw, F.G,.S.,<br /> Assoc. M. Inst. C.E., &amp;c. 83 X 54, 240)pp. Bailliere.<br /> 5s. n.<br /> <br /> FICTION.<br /> <br /> THE CELEBRITY AT Home. By VIOLET HUNT.<br /> 304 pp. Chapman and Hall. _ 6s.<br /> <br /> Wuat OvugHt SHE TO Do? By FLORENCE WARDEN.<br /> 73 x 5,311 pp. Chatto and Windus. 6s.<br /> <br /> Tatty. By EMILy PEARSON FINNEMORE.<br /> 304 pp. Hurst and Blackett. 3s. 6d.<br /> <br /> THe GAGE OF RED AND WHITE. By GRAHAM HOPE.<br /> 73 x 5, 323 pp. Smith, Elder. 6s.<br /> <br /> 73 x 5h,<br /> <br /> 7% x 54,<br /> <br /> Comin’ THRO’ THE RyE. By HELEN MATHERS. Popu-<br /> lar Edition. 7 X 5,437pp. Simpkin, Marshall. 1s.<br /> JOHNNY FoRTNIGHT. By EDEN PHILLPOTTS. (Cheap<br /> <br /> Edition.) 84 x 54,127 pp. Arrowsmith. 6d.<br /> <br /> THE MoNEyY-MakeER (Le Brasseur D?’Affaires). 3y<br /> GeEorGES OHNET. Translated by F. ROTHWELL.<br /> 72x5, 851 pp. Chatto and Windus. 6s.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Ayuwin. By THEODORE WATTS - DUNTON. (The<br /> World’s Classics.) 6 X 4, xv. + 486 pp. Grant<br /> Richards. 1s. n.<br /> <br /> RuLeRs oF Kinas. By GERTRUDE ATHERTON. 7? X 5},<br /> 358 pp. Macmillan. 6s.<br /> <br /> THe AMAZING VERDICT. By MARIE LEIGHTON.<br /> <br /> 73 X 54, 468 pp. Grant Richards. 6s.<br /> <br /> RANDAL OF RANDALHOLME. By AUSTIN CLARE. 7$ X 5,<br /> 341 pp. Chatto and Windus. 6s. 7<br /> <br /> THE ORIGINAL WOMAN. By FRANKFORT MOORE.<br /> 343 pp. Hutchinson. 6s.<br /> <br /> THE FIGHT FOR THE Crown. By W.E. Norris. (Cheap<br /> Edition.) 84 x 53,120 pp. Seeley. 6d.<br /> <br /> “ SrpE SHows.” By HELEN MATHERS. Popular Edition.<br /> 74 X 4%, 245 pp. Simpkin Marshall. 1s.<br /> <br /> Nepo THE NAILER. By 8. BARING-GOULD.<br /> Edition.) 8% X 53,123 pp. Cassell. 6d.<br /> <br /> THE CourT OF SACHARISSA. A Midsummer Idyll. By<br /> HvuGH SHERINGHAM and NEVILL MEAKIN. 7%} X 5,<br /> 314 pp. Heinemann. _ 6s, ’<br /> <br /> By SNARE oF Love. By A. W. MARCHMONT. 7} X 54,<br /> 375 pp. Ward, Lock. 6s.<br /> <br /> Mapr oF Money. By DoroTHEA GERARD. 7} X 54,<br /> <br /> 1= X 6,<br /> <br /> (Cheap<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 330 pp. Methuen. 6s<br /> ANNA, THE ADVENTURESS. By E. PHILLIPS OPPEN-<br /> HEIM. 7# X 5,320 pp. Ward, Lock. 6s.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> A DANGEROUS QU<br /> Long. 68.<br /> <br /> st. By F. E. Youne. 7? x 43, 319 pp.<br /> <br /> THe SANYASI. By F. E. PENNY. 7% X 5, 328 pp.<br /> Chatto and Windus. 6s.<br /> <br /> THe VINEYARD. By JOHN OLIveR HOBBES. 7% X 5,<br /> 376 pp. Unwin. 6s. e :<br /> <br /> URIAH THE HITTITE. By DoLF WYLLARDE. 7% X 4§,<br /> 307 pp. Heinemann. 6s. A<br /> <br /> THe SuccEssor.—By R. Pryce. 735,332 pp. Hutchin-<br /> son. 62.<br /> <br /> Happy THougutTs.—By Sir Francis C. BURNAND.<br /> <br /> 7x 4g, 244 pp. Bradbury, Agnew. 2s. 6d. n.<br /> A DEAD RECKONING.—By JOHN BLOUNDELLE BURTON.<br /> 725, 306 pp. White. 6s,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> PAULETTE D’EsterRE. By HAROLD VALLINGS. 7}X5,<br /> 307 pp. J. Long. 6s.<br /> HISTORY,<br /> INDIA IN THE VicTORIAN AGE.—By RomesH Dutt,<br /> <br /> C.1.E., Lecturer on Indian History at University College,<br /> London. 84 x 53.628 pp. Kegan Paul. 10s. 6d.<br /> <br /> A Hisrory oF SourH Arrica. From the First Settle-<br /> ment by the Dutch, 1652, to the Year 1903. By H. A.<br /> BRYDEN. 8 X 5,363 pp. Sands. 6s.<br /> <br /> <br /> 200<br /> <br /> By ELIZABETH<br /> <br /> SocIAL LIFE UNDER THE STUARTS.<br /> Grant Richards.<br /> <br /> GopFREY. 93 x 53, xxiii. + 273 pp.<br /> 12s. 6d. n.<br /> LITERARY.<br /> THE DANTE SOCIETY LECTURES.<br /> Austin, H. J. CHAYTOR, and Others.<br /> The Athenzeum Press. 2s. 6d.<br /> <br /> Vol. I. By ALFRED<br /> 64 X 44, 241 pp.<br /> <br /> MUSIC,<br /> <br /> To MeEmoriIzE Music, with<br /> By C. Frep Kenyon.<br /> <br /> Numerous Musical<br /> <br /> How<br /> 7% X 54, 56 pp.<br /> <br /> Examples.<br /> Reeves. 1s. :<br /> OLIVET TO CALVARY CHURCH CANTATA for Lent. By<br /> <br /> J. H. Maunder. Novello. Ils, 6d.<br /> <br /> PAMPHLETS.<br /> <br /> THE FOUNDATIONS OF A NATIONAL DRAMA — A<br /> Lecture delivered by HENRY ARTHUR JONES at the<br /> Royal Institution, Albemarle Street, W., on Friday<br /> evening, March 18, 1904. Chiswick Press,<br /> <br /> POETRY,<br /> Porms.—By ST. JOHN Lucas. 73X5},127 pp.<br /> <br /> be. n.<br /> POLITICAL.<br /> <br /> THE New Far East. By A. Diosy,<br /> 83 X 53, xviii. + 368 pp. Cassell. 38. 6d.<br /> [ With brief new preface. |<br /> <br /> REPRINTS.<br /> <br /> THE HAMPSTEAD SHAKESPEARE. With THE LIFE OF<br /> SHAKESPEARE, by S. LEE. Four Vols. 7} x 54, 544+<br /> 6444 666+xxvi.+495 pp. Finch. 21s. and 27s, n.<br /> <br /> SPORT.<br /> <br /> GREAT GOLFERS.—Their Methods at a Glance.<br /> BELDAM. 9 X 6, xxiv.+480 pp. 12s. 6d. n.<br /> FISHING HoLipAys.—By STEPHEN GWYNN.<br /> <br /> 299 pp. Macmillan. 7s. 6d.<br /> <br /> Constable<br /> <br /> 4th Edition.<br /> <br /> By G. W.<br /> <br /> 84x54,<br /> <br /> TRAVEL<br /> THE BALKANS FROM WITHIN.—By R. Wyon, 9 x 53<br /> 475 pp. Finch. 15s. n.<br /> <br /> 2<br /> <br /> LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL<br /> NOTES.<br /> <br /> ————+_.<br /> <br /> 7. Autobiography of Mr. Herbert Spencer<br /> has been published in 2 Vols. demy octavo,<br /> <br /> with his Portrait and other illustrations, at<br /> the price of 28s. net.<br /> Mr. Spencer himself, in the Preface, states as<br /> follows :—<br /> <br /> “Tt has seemed to me that a natural history of myself<br /> would be a useful accompaniment to the books which it has<br /> been the chief occupation of my life to write.<br /> <br /> In the following chapters I have attempted to give such<br /> a Natural History. That I have fully succeeded is not to<br /> be supposed, but perhaps I have succeeded partially. At<br /> any rate, one significant truth is made clear—that in the<br /> genesis of a system of thought the emotional nature is a<br /> ree factor, perhaps as large a factor as the intellectual<br /> nature.”<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> An American friend of Mr. Herbert Spencer, who<br /> has read the book, says :-—<br /> <br /> “Tt is as broad and many-sided as human experience,<br /> and the marvel and charm of it is its simple, straight-<br /> forward, and obvious truthfulness. It seems to me to<br /> exceed any of his former works in interest and practical<br /> value, and I have been a constant reader of his writings<br /> from their first publication in this country. Mr. Spencer’s<br /> supreme loyalty to truth and his native frankness have made<br /> his account of his life very open and unreserved.<br /> <br /> The report which was circulated in the St. James’<br /> Gazette that Dr. Richard Garnett had written a<br /> play with Shakespeare as the leading character for<br /> production at a West End house is incorrect. We<br /> have Dr. Garnett’s authority for stating that he has<br /> written a play, which will shortly be published,<br /> founded on an incident in the life of Shakespeare,<br /> but it was written without any view to the stage,<br /> and the possibility of its performance has not yet<br /> been considered.<br /> <br /> Mr. Richard Pryce’s new book, “ The Successor,”<br /> has just been issued by Messrs. Hutchinson. If<br /> the subject—-an unspoken understanding between<br /> a husband and wife—is a little risky, the papers<br /> appear to acquit the author of any offence in the<br /> treatment.<br /> <br /> The exhaustive “Guide for Authors, Editors,<br /> Correctors of the Press, Compositors, and Typists,”<br /> on which Mr. F. Howard Collins has been working<br /> continuously for moresthan two years, and in which<br /> Mr. Herbert Spencer took a practical interest until<br /> prevented by ill-health, is now completely in type,<br /> and the revision well in hand. Among those who<br /> have read all the proofs may be mentioned Prof.<br /> Skeat, Mr. Henry Bradley (of the Oxford English<br /> Dictionary), Mr. Theo. L. De Vinne, of New York,<br /> the Oxford and Cambridge University Presses,<br /> some of the largest firms of English and Scotch<br /> Printers, and many members of the London<br /> Association of Correctors of the Press.<br /> <br /> Miss Constance Hill’s book “Juniper Hall,”<br /> with illustrations by Ellen G. Hill, has been<br /> published by Mr. John Lane at the price of<br /> £11s.net. It is a pleasant account, with some<br /> hitherto unpublished particulars, of certain French<br /> refugees, who lived for a time at Juniper Hall near<br /> Mickleham in Surrey, and it contains, incidentally,<br /> the story of the courtship and marriage of Fanny<br /> Burney, afterwards Madame D’Arblay.<br /> <br /> One of the expensive books of the season will be<br /> the forthcoming “Master of Game,” the oldest<br /> English hunting book, which singularly enough has<br /> hitherto remained unpublished. A modern text as<br /> well as the old one will be given. It is illustrated<br /> with 52 plates. President Roosevelt has written<br /> the Foreword for the American edition, but it<br /> will also be given in the English edition. His<br /> Majesty the King as well as the Prince of Wales<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> have become subscribers. Ballantyne, Hanson &amp;<br /> Co. are publishing it for the editors, Mr. and Mrs.<br /> Baillie-Grohman. Ordinary copies £5, edition de<br /> luxe £30, of the latter only two remain unsubscribed.<br /> It will be out this month. -<br /> <br /> We are pleased to see that The Country Life<br /> Library of Sport, under the editorship of Mr.<br /> Horace G. Hutchinson, is slowly increasing.<br /> The books are demi-octavo, illustrated, bound in<br /> cloth, at the price of 12s. 6d. a copy. Cricket<br /> and Shooting have already been issued, and<br /> Fishing is about to appear. Mr. Hutchinson’s<br /> name is a sufficient guarantee for the accuracy of<br /> the works.<br /> <br /> The next volume in the Woburn Library pub-<br /> lished by Messrs. Hutchinson and Co. will be<br /> Mr. F. G. Aflalo’s work on “ British Salt Water<br /> Fishing.” This book, like all its predecessors in<br /> the series, will be iilustrated with coloured plates.<br /> Mr. Aflalo, as the former editor of “ The Encyclo-<br /> peedia of Sport,” is well known as a great authority<br /> on all fishing, but especially on sea fishing.<br /> <br /> Theatrical papers, like Ze Fra, have welcomed<br /> Mrs. Alec. T&#039;weedie’s last volume, “ Behind the<br /> Footlights.” Messrs. Hutchinson are the publishers.<br /> The price is 18s. net. In Sicily, Mrs. Alec. Tweedie<br /> has found much material for a new volume, which<br /> she hopes to have ready for autumn publication.<br /> <br /> Edith C. Kenyon’s new serial, “ Rex Harley’s<br /> Stratagem,” will commence shortly in the columns<br /> of Woman’s Life. Her serial, “Two Girls in a<br /> Siege” is nearing its conclusion in Our Own Gazette.<br /> “Little Robin Grey,” by the same writer, is in the<br /> press, and “A Girl ina Thousand” by her will<br /> also be published in the autumn.<br /> <br /> Mr. James Blyth, the author of “ Juicy J oe,” has<br /> written a new novel, “Celibate Sarah.” Like its<br /> author’s first book, it treats of life in the marsh-<br /> lands and the question of the regeneration of the<br /> marsh people. Mr. Grant Richards published the<br /> book on April 20th.<br /> <br /> “ Oddities, Others and I,” is the title of a new<br /> book which Miss Henrietta Corkran has published<br /> through Messrs. Hutchinson &amp; Co. The price is<br /> 16s. net. It is, as the title suggests, a revelation<br /> of the author herself, and her impressions of the<br /> people she has met.<br /> <br /> The same firm has also published Mr. Frankfort<br /> Moore’s new novel entitled ‘‘ The Original Woman.”<br /> It is a story of modern life with the element of<br /> witchcraft interwoven. He treats the ancient cult<br /> from the standpoint of the modern man of science.<br /> “ The White Causeway ” is the title of another work<br /> by Mr. Moore, the opening chapters of which will<br /> appear in the May number of 7&#039;he Lady&#039;s Realm.<br /> <br /> ‘A second edition of Mr. W. H. Wilkins’ book,<br /> “A Queen of Tears,” has been issued by Messrs.<br /> Longmans and Co. at the price of 36s.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 201<br /> <br /> Messrs. Longmans also announce the publication<br /> of a new romance entitled “‘Lychgate Hall,” by<br /> M. E. Francis (Mrs. Francis Blundell) at the price<br /> of 6s.<br /> <br /> “Qld Hendrik’s Tales,” by Capt. Arthur 0.<br /> Vaughan, is a collection of animal stories gathered<br /> by the author from the Hottentots during the<br /> recent Boer War. Messrs. Longmans and Co. are<br /> the publishers.<br /> <br /> A new novel, by the author who writes under the<br /> pseudonym of “ Airam,” entitled “ Rudderless<br /> Ships,” will be published shortly by Mr. Henry<br /> Drane, at the price of 6s. It is a novel with a<br /> purpose—its purpose being to endeavour to prevent<br /> the increase of insanity by deterring children whose<br /> parents have any taint of insanity from marrying.<br /> The author has for many years had much to do with<br /> the treatment of mental disorders, and has felt the<br /> necessity for some steps to be taken to prevent<br /> their increase.<br /> <br /> The Gentleman’s Magazine for April contains a<br /> Russian story, in four chapters—* A Painter of<br /> Shrines ”—by Robert Bowman.<br /> <br /> «The Padre,” by Rose Harrison (author of<br /> “Esther Alington’’) is a story which depicts the<br /> stress, storm, and triumph of human experience in<br /> a world of temptation.<br /> <br /> Mr. Grant Richards has published a new sensa-<br /> tional story by Marie Connor Leighton, entitled<br /> “The Amazing Verdict.”<br /> <br /> Mr. T. Werner Laurie, for many years manager<br /> to Mr. Fisher Unwin, will shortly commence<br /> publishing on his own account. His address till<br /> June 30th, is 11, Paternoster Buildings, H.C.<br /> <br /> Messrs. Smith, Elder &amp; Co. have published a<br /> novel by his honour Judge Parry, entitled<br /> “ England’s Elizabeth.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Brimley Johnson has just published a new<br /> shilling edition (5th imprint) of “A Maid of the<br /> Manse,” by Mrs. E. Rentoul Esler. The book<br /> is excellently produced, in a tasteful paper<br /> cover. The new edition has a preface by the<br /> author.<br /> <br /> “The Shrine in the Garden.””—As applications<br /> are being made for this work, the Orient Press<br /> finds it necessary to state that its publication is<br /> unavoidably delayed. The book in question, which<br /> is a portion of the diary of a person recently<br /> deceased, is being kept back pending a legal<br /> decision in regard to certain matters with which it<br /> deals.<br /> <br /> Professor Lewis Campbell has edited a selection<br /> from the Poems of Thomas Campbell for inclusion<br /> in Messrs. Macmillan &amp; Co.’s Golden Treasury Series.<br /> The poems are specially arranged for this issue,<br /> and a biographical and critical introduction is<br /> contributed by the editor.<br /> <br /> Mr. R. Mounteney Jephson, who has just<br /> <br /> <br /> 202<br /> <br /> returned from the South of France, has been<br /> astonished to find his death reported in the Daily<br /> Chronicle.<br /> <br /> The paragraph referring to the republication in<br /> cheaper form of Mr. Jephson’s excellent story,<br /> “Tom Bulkeley,” stated that the Author died as<br /> recently as 1885, and that he had written eight or<br /> nine military and sporting novels. Mr. Jephson,<br /> we are glad to say, has returned from his stay<br /> abroad in the best of health, and is about to<br /> publish a new novel entitled “Froth.” The<br /> publisher is Mr. G. A. Morton, Edinburgh.<br /> The book is in two parts and written with a light<br /> <br /> en.<br /> = ?Op o’ my Thumb,” the one act play by<br /> Messrs. Frederick Fenn and Richard Pryce which<br /> was produced last month by the Stage Society has<br /> been bought by Mr. Frank Curzon for Miss Hilda<br /> Trevelyan, who made so great a success in the<br /> title-role.<br /> <br /> “Saturday to Monday,” by the same authors,<br /> was produced by Mr. George Alexander at the<br /> St. James’s Theatre, on April 14th.<br /> <br /> Mr. R. C. Carton’s new comedy, ‘The Rich<br /> Mrs. Repton,” was produced at The Duke of<br /> York’s Theatre, on Wednesday, April 20th. Miss<br /> Compton took the leading part.<br /> <br /> eg ae ge<br /> <br /> PARIS NOTES.<br /> <br /> —-—o— 1 —_<br /> <br /> HE French Academy has awarded the Gobert<br /> Prize of 10,000 francs to the Marquis Pierre<br /> de Ségur for his work entitled “ Le maréchal<br /> <br /> de Luxembourg.” The second prize of 1,000 francs<br /> is awarded to M. Thouvenel for his works, “ Pages<br /> de Phistoire du second Empire ” (1854-1866) and<br /> “Trois années de la question d’Orient” (1856-<br /> 1859).<br /> <br /> The Thiers Prize of 3,000 francs for the encou-<br /> ragement of historical literature and research has<br /> been given to the Abbé Sicard for his book in three<br /> volumes, entitled, “ Ancien Clergé.”’<br /> <br /> _ The Academy of Moral and Political Sciences has<br /> divided the Audiffred Prize between M. Henri<br /> Hauser, for a book on the teaching of Social<br /> Science; M. Piolet on “La France hors de<br /> France” ; M. Vast for his volume on “ PAlgérie<br /> et les colonies francaises,” and to M. Salaun for<br /> his work on ‘1’Indo-Chine.”<br /> <br /> The laureates of the Societé de Géographie are<br /> M. Sven-Hedin, who has been presented with the<br /> gold medal, the Capitaine Lenfant, M.M. Alfred<br /> Lacroix, Paul Pelet, Lieutenant Chédeville, Lieu-<br /> tenant Drot, Lieutenant Nieger, M. Bonnel de<br /> Mézieéres, the Commandant O. Barré.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> “Force ennemie,” the novel by M. John-Antoine<br /> Nau, which has won for its author the first prize<br /> awarded by the Académie Goncourt, is a most<br /> remarkable book. It is supposed to be written by<br /> a madman who realises in his lucid moments that<br /> he is living in a private lunatic asylum. He gives<br /> an account of his coversations with his keeper, his<br /> doctor, and various inmates of the asylum. He<br /> analyses his own state of mind, discusses the<br /> various arrangements of the house, criticises the<br /> doctors, and describes in detail many of the inci-<br /> dents that take place. One of the other lunatics<br /> discusses with him their mental state and explains<br /> that the cause of their misfortune is the “ Force<br /> ennemie” within them. This idea haunts Veuly,<br /> and as time goes on he is convinced that it is true,<br /> and that he is “inhabited” by another creature<br /> who obliges him to do and say things entirely con-<br /> trary to his own inclinations. Unlike. Guy de<br /> Maupassant’s ‘‘ Horla,” this unwelcome guest is<br /> no second self, but a visitor from another planet,<br /> who introduces himself to Veuly by the name of<br /> “Kmdéhotn.” He informs his host that he had<br /> been waiting to find a human body to inhabit, and<br /> that he chose Veuly, because from one pole to the<br /> other he could never have found a man s0 easy-<br /> going, so wanting in energy, and altogether so<br /> weak-minded and imbecile. Veuly is not precisely<br /> flattered by this preference, and he is horrified at<br /> the thought that he can never again be alone, that<br /> whether he should wish it or not, from henceforth<br /> he must share every secret thought with this<br /> uncanny visitor. There is much unpleasant reading<br /> in the book, as the “ Force ennemie” induces<br /> Veuly to act entirely against his own judgment, so<br /> that he earns for himself a terrible reputation and<br /> can never succeed in explaining to the doctors that<br /> he is not responsible for his actions when under<br /> the influence of his unpleasant guest. The book<br /> is extremely curious and original, and the unplea-<br /> sant parts are relieved by the amusing conversations<br /> of the keeper. The author, who was comparatively<br /> unknown, has come to the front, thanks to the ©<br /> Goncourt Prize, and his book is now in the seventh<br /> edition. :<br /> <br /> “Le Lac Noir,’ by M. Henri Bordeaux, is an<br /> entirely different book from anything to which this<br /> author has accustomed us. Once again the scene<br /> is laid in Savoy. The story turns on a trial for<br /> murder and the zeal of the lawyers employed in<br /> the case.<br /> <br /> The object of the book appears to be to give a<br /> psychological study of a conscientious lawyer and<br /> magistrate, and also to prove how much super-<br /> stition still exists among the peasant classes of<br /> Savoy. The whole volume is delightfully written,<br /> and the various characters live, but the story itself<br /> is gruesome.<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> “La Vie Amoureuse de Francois Barbazanges,”<br /> by Marcelle Tinayre, is an exquisite picture of<br /> seventeenth century life in the quaint little town of<br /> Tulle. The authoress of “La Maison du Péché ”<br /> has given us another gem of literary workmanship.<br /> The story opens in 1673 with the birth of Francois.<br /> His father, M. Barbazanges, is devoted to astrology,<br /> and he at once studies the heavens in order to<br /> calculate his son’s horoscope. Francois grows up<br /> an imaginative boy with romantic ideas. Just<br /> as the hero of the “ Maison du Péché ” is steeped<br /> in religious traditions so Frangois is devoted to old-<br /> world romance. He grows up unlike other youths<br /> and is always in search of the ideal Jadye of his<br /> dreams. His various adventures on his way<br /> through life until he meets her take up the<br /> greater part of the volume. His strange meet-<br /> ing with his ideal woman, and his tragic fate are<br /> told in the final chapters. There is no strong plot<br /> to the story, and the charm of the book lies in<br /> the word-painting and the faithful evocation of the<br /> seventeenth century in provincial France.<br /> <br /> “Le Fléau,” by Gustave Guitton, is a book that<br /> might be read with profit in England as well as in<br /> France. It is a story of life in the working class,<br /> and shows the temptation which is placed in the<br /> way of the working-man in manufacturing<br /> districts by the drink shop, which is always so<br /> near to the factory. The author has taken the<br /> trouble to get statistics in proof of what he asserts.<br /> He tells us that in 1830 there were 281,000 public<br /> houses in France, that in 1899 there were 540,000,<br /> and that since that date there are 10,000 more.<br /> <br /> In this novel we follow a workman in his<br /> career and see how almost impossible it is for<br /> him to steer clear of the temptations with which<br /> he is beset. It isa tragic story and most pitiful<br /> as regards the hereditary taint in his children,<br /> When finally he is being tried for manslaughter his<br /> advocate boldly asserts that if his client should be<br /> condemned it would be unjust for the wealthy<br /> members of Parliament who have won _ their<br /> fortunes by his degradation to get off with no<br /> penalty. He declares that “drunkenness is a<br /> State institution, that through it the budget is<br /> ‘supplied with vast sums of money, that it is the<br /> source and foundation of many hundreds of huge<br /> fortunes, and that it is tacitly approved and<br /> encouraged by many members of Parliament, who<br /> are styled ‘ Honorable,’ and who are treated as<br /> honest men.” The book is well worth reading, as<br /> many facts are set forth which are worthy of con-<br /> sideration.<br /> <br /> Several interesting translations have appeared<br /> recently from various languages.<br /> <br /> Among these is “Le Troisitme Sexe,” by<br /> <br /> Ernst von Wolzogen, translated by the Prince B.<br /> Karageorgevitch. The translation is excellent,<br /> <br /> 203<br /> <br /> and the book seems to gain rather than lose by its<br /> conversion into a more concise and elegant<br /> language.<br /> <br /> The “third sex’ is an admirable title, as without<br /> this definition one would be ata loss where to place<br /> the group of “creatures” described by the German<br /> author. Judging by this novel, one would imagine<br /> that just as in the “modern style” craze many of<br /> the German artists exaggerated the new idea until<br /> their designs were mere caricatures, so the “‘ New<br /> Woman” in German dress appears to be a carica-<br /> ture. Looked upon as a third sex she is merely a<br /> curiosity.<br /> <br /> We are introduced in this novel by M. von<br /> Wolzgen to the most extraordinary individuals.<br /> There is a doctoress of medicine and two sisters<br /> who are bankers, a she-lawyer, and then a group of<br /> the kind of men who can admire these specimens of<br /> the “ third sex.” Altogether the persons to whom<br /> one is introduced are not the kind one would care<br /> to know in real life, but meeting them in this way<br /> one is entertained by their conversation, their<br /> theories about life, their philosophy, their egotism,<br /> and, above all, their absurdities. The book is a<br /> clever satire and well worth reading, and, as we<br /> have already said, it is more readable in French<br /> than in the original.<br /> <br /> In the theatrical world the subject of a Theatrical<br /> Trust is once more being agitated. The Société<br /> des Auteurs dramatiques is very firm on this<br /> point, and will not hear of a “Trust” being<br /> formed.<br /> <br /> M. Deval, actor-manager of the Athénée, and<br /> M. Richemond, manager of the Folies Drama-<br /> tiques, have had great success with these two<br /> theatres. M. Roy, a banker, took over the lease<br /> of the Bonffes, and wished to be nominal<br /> manager of this theatre, with Messrs. Deval and<br /> Richemond to run it. The Société des Auteurs<br /> dramatiques objected to this arrangement, and a<br /> lawsuit is now going on between M. Roy and the<br /> Société. More recently M. Alphonse Franck,<br /> manager of the Gymnase, applied to M. Roy,<br /> and there was a plan formed for running this<br /> theatre on new lines.<br /> <br /> Once more the Société des Auteurs dramatiques<br /> has interfered. Another lawsuit is the consequence,<br /> so that M. Roy’s “ Theatre Trust” does not seem<br /> likely to succeed.<br /> <br /> M. Alfred Capus, President of the Committee of<br /> the Société des Auteurs dramatiques, explains<br /> that it would be against the interests of the authors<br /> and artistes to allow several theatres to be in the<br /> hands of one man. “The author’s rights,” he<br /> <br /> says, ‘‘the percentage on every performance exacted<br /> by the Société would be given up, a play would<br /> be bought for a fixed sum varying according to<br /> If the “ Trust” only<br /> <br /> the celebrity of the author.<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> 204 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> bought from these authors, what would then<br /> become of the others who are anxious to make a<br /> beginning ?”<br /> <br /> M. Deval and M. Richemond reply to this by<br /> quoting the words of M. Capus, who declares that<br /> “authors need artistic managers to control the<br /> theatres, and not directors of financial companies.”<br /> M. Deval then goes on to say that if authors want<br /> theatres at all for their pieces, they will have to sub-<br /> mit to having their theatres supported by financiers.<br /> As regards the author&#039;s rights, MM. Deval and<br /> Richemond declare that “ they are prepared to pay<br /> the same as the present contract with the Société<br /> exacts, 12 per cent. on the gross receipts and the<br /> 100 frances of billets de faveur for each performance.”<br /> They then go on to answer the other objections<br /> raised by the Société, and they propose that<br /> a clause should be added to the contract, stipu-<br /> lating that every year each theatre should be com-<br /> pelled to put on a piece by an author who either<br /> does not belong to the Société, or who has had no<br /> piece played for five years.<br /> <br /> It is very evident that the idea of this “Trust”<br /> is very tempting to the capitalists, but the Sociéte<br /> des Auteurs dramatiques holds the reins in France,<br /> and it does not consider that authors would gain<br /> much by following the example of Americans with<br /> regard to Theatre Trusts. It might be good for<br /> the few, but not for the majority, and as M. Capus<br /> is one of the most successful of French authors,<br /> one cannot help admiring the way in which he is<br /> fighting for his confreres.<br /> <br /> The great theatrical event is of course the new<br /> play at the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre. “ Varennes ”<br /> is a piece in six tableaux by MM. Lavedan and G.<br /> Lendtre. It is most admirably staged, and as<br /> regards the historical details it is well known that<br /> M. Lendtre is one of the greatest living authorities<br /> on this period. M. Sardou frequently consults him<br /> on any doubtful points of history, so that with<br /> M. Lendtre’s knowledge of the subject and M.<br /> Lavedan’s brilliant dialogue, the success of the<br /> literary side of the play was assured. Everyone<br /> was curious to see Madame Bernhardt in the réle<br /> of Marie Antoinette. She is admirable in her<br /> part, so admirable in fact that the great regret of<br /> everyone is that her réle is not enough. In the<br /> scenes where she does not appear there is a general<br /> feeling of disappointment—the other artistes are<br /> excellent, M. Magnier as Fersen, Mme. Dufréne as<br /> Mme. de Rochereux, M. Guy most amusing in his<br /> part; but the whole company cannot make up for<br /> the absence of Madame Sarah Bernhardt, and the<br /> spectators were inclined to blame the authors for<br /> causing them this disappointment.<br /> <br /> As regards the other theatres, “Le Retour de<br /> Jérusalem ” is certainly the greatest success of the<br /> season. At the Vaudeville “1’Esbroutfe” is still<br /> <br /> running, and at Antoine’s “ Oiseaux de Passage,”<br /> At the Gaité “a Montansier,” and at the Ambignu<br /> M. Pierre Decourcelle’s piece “ La Baillonnée ” ig<br /> a great success. At the Athenée, with the “ Prince<br /> Consort,” there is always a full house, and at the<br /> ThéAtre Victor Hugo M. Bour has put on “ Don<br /> Quichotte.”<br /> Atys HALLarp.<br /> <br /> a<br /> <br /> SPANISH NOTES.<br /> <br /> —-~&gt;+—_<br /> <br /> i<br /> T is difficult for English people to realise the<br /> important part played by the imagination<br /> in Spain. “&#039;<br /> <br /> The King has lately issued a Royal Decree with<br /> respect to the celebration of the tri-centenary of<br /> the publication of “ Don Quixote” in May, 1905,<br /> which shows the place taken by that book in the<br /> hearts of the Spaniards. For this Royal Decree<br /> commands that a Committee be formed of the<br /> President of the Congress, the Ministers of State,<br /> War, Navy, and Public Instruction ; representatives<br /> of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando ;<br /> the Society of Authors and Artists; and the<br /> Scientific, Literary, and Artistic Atheneum of<br /> Madrid, with the Director of the National Library,<br /> etc., etc., to consider the best modes of doing honour<br /> to the great work of Cervantes in their different<br /> departments.<br /> <br /> “After the present Prime Minister questioned<br /> the right of a newspaper editor, who is a deputy,<br /> to publish the uncalled-for attacks consequent on<br /> his appointment of Sefior Nozaleda as Archbishop<br /> of Valencia, several telegrams purporting to come<br /> from the land of Shades were read aloud at the<br /> Press Banquet to give voice to the spirit of censure<br /> against Senor Maura ; and the other day one of<br /> the leading newspapers published a long discourse<br /> supposed to have been sent by Sagasta from the<br /> other world. ‘The Republicans who recently strove<br /> to start disloyal discourses in the public streets<br /> were quickly silenced, ana the speeches of such<br /> dissentients in the Congress as Canalejas, Moret,.<br /> Villaverde, etc., are more easily controverted than<br /> an attack from such an unassailable source as that<br /> of the deceased Prime Minister.&quot; Sagasta is sup-<br /> posed to mock at Seftor Maura’s ideal of making<br /> the Congress “the point of contact between the<br /> Crown and the country,” which he is hoping to:<br /> accomplish by the reform in the Parliamentary<br /> Elections whereby the deputies would be voted<br /> for at the public polls instead of being appointed<br /> by the ministers, which has been the custom since<br /> 1812. ‘This idea was first propounded in Colonel<br /> Figuerola Ferretti’s loyal Petition to his beloved.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> cd<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> sovereign on 3rd November, 1902.* Had Sagasta<br /> allowed the Petition to reach King Alfonzo, who<br /> is always anxious for the welfare of his country, the<br /> successive governments of Silvela and Villaverde<br /> would probably not have been so quickly over-<br /> thrown and the present one in such danger now,<br /> for it was respectfully suggested that a Provisional<br /> government composed of sections of each party<br /> with a Royal decree sanctioning the elections at<br /> the polls for a new government, would secure the<br /> adhesion to the Monarchists of those who waver to<br /> Republicanism from their despair of seeing this<br /> reform. Many members of a well-known London<br /> Club addressed Colonel Figuerola Ferretti a letter<br /> appreciative of a patriotism sincere enough to<br /> seek the consolidation of the monarchy even at<br /> a sacrifice, presumably only temporary, of his own<br /> position at Court. His “ Cantos de Espana”<br /> (giving the history of the Regency) breathe<br /> devotion to the King and Queen and present an<br /> interesting lyrical picture.<br /> <br /> Speaking of literature reminds me that Galdos, the<br /> great novelist and dramatist, has just produceda new<br /> drama in Madrid called “ El abuelo ” (the Grand-<br /> father) which is shortly to be performed in German<br /> in Berlin, Frankfort, Munich, and Vienna. Senor<br /> Linares Rivas-Astray (son of the government<br /> minister) has just given to the stage a striking<br /> picture of “high life” in Madrid, in a play called<br /> “ Aire de Fuera,” in which the well-known actress<br /> Sefiora Guerrero, wife of Senor Diaz de Mendoza,<br /> a grandee of Spain, takes the first part. Women<br /> also begin to rank as dramatists in Spain, for<br /> Senora Emilia Pardo Bazan’s piece at the theatre<br /> of the Princesa called ‘lia Suerte”? (Fate) was the<br /> one chosen for the Benefit of Maria Tubau.<br /> <br /> “Ta Catedral,” the last work of Blasco Ibanez,<br /> has now also excited great attention in Madrid, but<br /> the author’s Republican views detract from the<br /> interest of the féte given in his honour. The<br /> Spanish capital is looking forward with great<br /> enthusiasm to greeting the wife of Maurice<br /> Maeterlinck this month, for under her well-known<br /> name of Georgette Leblanc she is to play in her<br /> husband’s celebrated play of “ La Joyzelle” at one<br /> of the leading theatres.<br /> <br /> Music also claims much attention in Madrid<br /> just now. The daughter of the well-known pro-<br /> fessor Sefior Benaiges has shown great talent in<br /> her recent pianoforte recital, and Sauer’s concert<br /> was a great success, under the patronage of the<br /> Royal family.<br /> <br /> His Majesty King Alfonso has testified his<br /> appreciation of practical literary work in pre-<br /> senting Don Ezequiel Solana with the prize as the<br /> <br /> Oe<br /> <br /> * The Paris New York Herald of November 12th, 1902,<br /> applauded this movement.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 205<br /> <br /> first teacher in Madrid; for this energetic director<br /> of a boys’ school has just published as the outcome<br /> of his two years’ travel and study, “A Manual of<br /> the Schools of Europe,” and two other Spanish<br /> books entitled respectively, “ Primary Education<br /> in Italy” (“ La Enseianza primaria en Italia”),<br /> and “Practical Guide to Manual Educative Work”<br /> (“Guia practica del trabajo manual educativo ”).<br /> The King’s trips into the provinces tend greatly<br /> to add to his popularity in the country, for not<br /> only was his important rencontre with the<br /> Emperor of Germany at Vigo preceded by most<br /> successful visits to Segovia and Toledo, but his<br /> time in Barcelona bids fair to dispel the shadow of<br /> separatism.<br /> <br /> The literary taste of Sefior Silvela (the late<br /> Prime Minister) is evidenced by the active part he<br /> took in the weekly conferences held at the charm-<br /> ing theatre of San Luis. On the one day he held<br /> forth on the life and character of Maria de Agreda,<br /> the potent counsellor of Philip IV., and on another<br /> his lecture on Beatrice Galindo, the governess and<br /> companion of Isabel I. of Spain, shows that he<br /> appreciates the power exercised in the past by the<br /> fair sex in his country.<br /> <br /> The Infanta Dona Maria de la Paz, sister of the<br /> late King Alfonso XII. and wife of Prince Louis<br /> Ferdinand of Bavaria, of world-wide reputation<br /> in the science of surgery, has recently published a<br /> charming little book called ‘* Mi Peregrinacion a<br /> Roma,” which gives a most interesting account of<br /> her visit to the “ Eternal City.” The wondrous<br /> churches and picture galleries are described in the<br /> poetic spirit characteristic of the Princess. Her<br /> emotion at the benediction of her children by the<br /> late Pope shows the fervour of her religious senti-<br /> ment, and her pleasure at again meeting Cardinal<br /> Rampolla, known to her in her youth as the Pope’s<br /> Nuncio in Madrid, and her enthusiasm at the sight<br /> of the Spanish pilgrims at St. Peter’s testify to her<br /> abiding love of her own country. The secretary<br /> of the royal authoress tells me that the book has<br /> just been translated into English by Frau Johanna<br /> Szeliuska.<br /> <br /> Echegaray’s new play “ La Desequilibriada”’ has<br /> excited great interest in Spain. The heroine, as<br /> the title shows, is an unbalanced character—<br /> unbalanced in her love which she sets against her<br /> admirer’s sense of honour in a matter of business ;<br /> so unbalanced in her hatred of her husband when<br /> she found that his subterfuge had won her as his<br /> wife, that she compassed his death ; and finally so<br /> unbalanced in her sense of maternal duty that she<br /> abandons her child for ever, leaving him in the<br /> care of her lover, from whom her remorse also<br /> separates her.<br /> <br /> Senor A. Palacio Valdés, well known in England<br /> by his novels, “ Froth,” “The Grandee,” and “The<br /> <br /> <br /> 206<br /> <br /> Fourth Estate,” has added to his reputation by his<br /> last work, entitled “ La Aldea Perdida” (the Lost<br /> Hamlet). The sweet harmonious joys of a Spanish<br /> village, described from the experiences of the<br /> author’s own boyhood form a truly pastoral poem,<br /> but the romantic becomes tragic when the un-<br /> bridled passions of the new-comers who work the<br /> mines, cause the death of two of the four chief<br /> characters.<br /> <br /> When mentioning Galdos’s new play of “ El<br /> Abuelo,” which has created such a furore in<br /> Madrid by its masterly presentation of the force<br /> of the human passions and the superhuman power<br /> of gratitude, I should have added that the great<br /> novelist and dramatist has himself elicited that<br /> virtue by the generous way he has just devoted the<br /> <br /> rofits of his Benefit to the Chipiona Sanatorium<br /> for Sick Children.<br /> <br /> When Senor Picon, the well-known author of<br /> “Bl Enemigo” (the Enemy), declined the other<br /> day the invitation of the President of the Congress<br /> to make a speech, the newspaper called Hspana<br /> said the writer evidently wished to show that deeds<br /> are of more value than words, and in this Sefior<br /> Galdos has excelled.<br /> <br /> Percy Horspur.<br /> <br /> ———_————— 2 —__—_<br /> <br /> LEGAL NOTES.<br /> <br /> +4<br /> <br /> The Attempt to Maintain Net Prices in the State of<br /> New York.<br /> <br /> N important case for authors and publishers<br /> who place books upon the market within<br /> the state of New York has recently been<br /> <br /> decided by the New York Court of Appeals. It is<br /> one also which, owing to the principles involved, is<br /> of interest to those who do not publish books<br /> within the jurisdiction of the Court in question.<br /> <br /> The appellants sought to establish the legality<br /> under Chapter 690, laws 1899, New York, of a<br /> combination of publishers and book agents to keep<br /> up net prices, by refusing all dealings with retail<br /> booksellers who sold books published at a net price<br /> below that price, or who had any connection, either<br /> proved or suspected, with any such underselling.<br /> The combination had been declared unlawful in<br /> the court below and the Court of Appeal upheld<br /> this ruling by a majority of five judges to two.<br /> <br /> The act in question was passed :<br /> <br /> “To prevent monopolies in articles or commodities of<br /> <br /> common use and tojprohibit restraints of trade and<br /> commerce... .”<br /> <br /> And it provides that—<br /> <br /> “ Every contract agreement, arrangement or combination,<br /> whereby a monopoly in the manufacture production or sale<br /> in this state of any article or commodity of common use 1s<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> or may be created, established or maintained, or whereby<br /> competition in this state in the supply or price of any such<br /> article or commodity is or may be restrained or prevented,<br /> or whereby for the purpose of creating, establishing or<br /> maintaining a monopoly within this state of the manufac-<br /> ture, production or sale of any such article or commodity,<br /> the free pursuit in this state of any lawful business, trade<br /> or occupation is or may be restricted or prevented, is<br /> hereby declared to be against public policy, illegal and<br /> void.”’<br /> <br /> Those alleged to have offended against this law<br /> were the American Publishers’ Association and<br /> others connected with the publishing business,<br /> representing about 90 per cent. of the book trade,<br /> and the complainants were R. H. Macy &amp; Co., a<br /> firm conducting a “department store” in New<br /> York, in which they do a very large business and<br /> own a book department of considerable size.<br /> Messrs. Macy &amp; Co.’s complaint alleged—<br /> <br /> “That during the year 1900 a number of prominent<br /> publishers, including defendants hereinbefore described as<br /> publishers for the purpose of securing to themselves an<br /> unreasonable and extortionate profit and at the same time<br /> with intent to prevent competition in the sale of books and<br /> for the purpose of establishing and maintaining the prices<br /> of all books published by them, or any of them, and all<br /> books dealt in by them, or any of them, and preventing com-<br /> petition in the sale thereof, unlawfully, illegally and con-<br /> trary to the public policy and the statutes of the state of<br /> New York . .. combined and associated themselves<br /> together ’’ etc.<br /> <br /> The methods used were further described thus :<br /> <br /> “ That as a part of said unlawful scheme and combination<br /> the members of said association agreed that such net copy-<br /> righted books, axd all other books, whether copyrighted or<br /> not, or whether published by them or not, should be sold<br /> by them to those booksellers only who would maintain the<br /> retail net price of such net copyrighted books for one year,<br /> and to those booksellers and jobbers only who would<br /> furthermore sell books [the word “ copyrighted ’’ is omitted<br /> at this point] at wholesale to no one known to them to cut<br /> or sell at a lower figure than such net retail price, or whose<br /> name would be given to them by the association as one who<br /> cut such prices.”’<br /> <br /> In explaining and commenting upon the arrange-<br /> ment thus described Chief Justice Parker made the<br /> following observations :<br /> <br /> “It will be seen that while the leading object of this<br /> portion of the agreement apparently is to maintain the<br /> retail net price of copyrighted books, it operates in fact so<br /> as to prevent the sale of books to dealers who sell books of<br /> any kind to one who retails copyrighted books at less than<br /> the net retail price.<br /> <br /> “ And the agreement further provides that evidence shall<br /> not be required by the bookseller or jobber in order to<br /> restrain him from selling to one who has been blacklisted,<br /> but that all that shall be required to govern his action, and<br /> to prevent him from selling to such a person, shall be that<br /> the name has been given to him by the association as one<br /> who cuts such net prices. It has been admitted, and must<br /> be, that the agreement may be so worked out as to deprive<br /> a dealer from selling any books whatever, thus breaking up<br /> his business.’’<br /> <br /> The actual carrying out of the agreement thus<br /> entered into was also referred to, and after<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ®<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> reviewing its terms and the facts, which were not<br /> disputed, the learned chief justice held it to be an<br /> undertaking to interfere with the free pursuit of a<br /> lawful business in which any member of the com-<br /> munity was free to engage. He accordingly, with<br /> the assent of the judges who concurred with him,<br /> dismissed the appeal.<br /> <br /> In delivering a dissenting judgment of some<br /> <br /> length, Judge Gray pointed out that the agree-<br /> ment of the appellants only endeavoured to govern<br /> the sale of copyright books to be sold at net price,<br /> and not that of others.<br /> <br /> “The contract,’? he observed, ‘ did not extend to the<br /> copyrighted books other than by way of penalty, as the<br /> refusal to deal in them might be incidental to the refusal<br /> to deal with booksellers who would not co-operate in an<br /> agreement to maintain the net retail price of a copy-<br /> righted book. It is not unlawful for a person to refuse to<br /> deal with others as his judgment or fancy may impel him.<br /> His business is his own, and the only limitation upon his<br /> pursuit of it is that he shall not interfere with the legal<br /> rights of others. It seems to me that what he may law-<br /> fully do himself he may unite with others in doing, if of<br /> some common advantage.”<br /> <br /> The other dissentient judge, Judge Bartlett,<br /> followed the same line of argument; he asserted<br /> the right of the individual to trade with whom he<br /> pleased, and maintained that more than one might<br /> combine to do what one might do alone, adding<br /> that<br /> <br /> “The refusal to maintain trade relations with a given<br /> individual is an inherent right which every person in<br /> business may exercise for reasons which he deems<br /> sufficient, or for no reason whatever.”<br /> <br /> Judge Bartlett also made some pregnant obser-<br /> vations on the cutting of prices by big traders to<br /> the injury of small ones and of the trade generally,<br /> characterising the procedure adopted as one of the<br /> saddest phases of modern business life.<br /> <br /> “Tt is a well-known fact,’’ he said, “that the great<br /> department stores of the country have encroached upon<br /> many lines of trade entirely distinct from the main and<br /> legitimate business in which they are engaged. As an<br /> illustration, a dry goods establishment, engaged in selling<br /> a vast number of articles legitimately related to its busi-<br /> ness, concludes, in order to promote its principal trade, to<br /> offer for sale books, furniture, druggists’ sundries and<br /> numerous other articles that need not be mentioned, at cut<br /> prices, representing only the cost of production, and often-<br /> times far below it. The inevitable effect of this policy is<br /> to draw a large number of people to these establishments,<br /> and in the final result the dealer makes good his losses in<br /> the outside trade by the prices he obtains in his legitimate<br /> business.<br /> <br /> It may be fairly assumed that the general business is<br /> conducted at a profit.<br /> <br /> The result is a large number of the retail dealers in the<br /> various kinds of articles thus undersold are driven out of<br /> business, many of them at a time of life when they are<br /> unable to reinstate themselves in some other calling.<br /> <br /> It also results in great damage to manufacturers, pro-<br /> ducers, and wholesale dealers in loss of customers, who have<br /> been driven into insolvency.”<br /> <br /> 207<br /> <br /> To this he added that no doubt the proprietors<br /> of department stores had a right to sell as cheaply<br /> as they pleased, or, indeed, to give away their<br /> goods to their customers, but that equally manu-<br /> facturers, producers, and wholesale dealers had a<br /> right to protect themselves by dealing or not<br /> dealing as they pleased, such a right being inci-<br /> dental to the right to exist and to act in self<br /> defence.<br /> <br /> With regard to this case it may be observed that<br /> the wording of the New York law as quoted appears<br /> to justify the finding of the New York Court of<br /> Appeals, although the principles laid down by<br /> the dissenting judges will commend themselves to<br /> many as being based upon justice and sound sense.<br /> In England, combinations alleged to be in restraint<br /> of trade have, from time to time, occupied the<br /> attention of the Courts. These have usually had todo<br /> with the relations between masters and workmen,<br /> and it was in a case of this kind (Allen . Flood, 1898,<br /> A.C. 1) that the law upon the subject was recently<br /> reviewed at great length. It seems impossible from<br /> the judgments in that case to conclude that a com-<br /> bination among publishers such as that which has<br /> been held illegal under the New York law could be<br /> successfully attacked by a bookseller under the<br /> Common Law of England. The opportunity, how-<br /> ever, is not likely to arise. The difficulty of com-<br /> bining and of organising the numerous units which<br /> make up the publishing trade in Great Britain and<br /> Ireland so as to drive out of the book trade all<br /> retailers suspected of disregarding net prices would<br /> be too great. In the State of New York it was<br /> possible to obtain the co-operation of 0 per cent.<br /> of the publishing houses, all unanimous in support-<br /> ing a policy of net prices. Similar efforts have<br /> been made in England, but not upon so compre-<br /> hensive a scale, and without such unanimity and<br /> without the power to crush or to injure seriously<br /> the trade of the recalcitrant bookseller, the action<br /> of only a limited number of publishers, even though<br /> they acted in unison, could hardly be open to the<br /> suggestion of illegality, or even of moral turpitude.<br /> There are two ways, moreover, in which an arrange-<br /> ment for the restraint of trade may be looked at.<br /> The agreement entered into may be void as between<br /> the parties to it, so that they cannot legally enforce<br /> it against one another, without being illegal so as<br /> to lay it open to attack from without. This, how-<br /> ever, may be described as a matter of legal detail.<br /> Attempts to bind down the retail dealer to a<br /> minimum price, below which he may not sell<br /> whether at a profit to himself or not, are not, of<br /> course, confined to the book trade. In any trade, how-<br /> ever, in England in which a large number of manu-<br /> facturers, both great and small, are engaged, it has<br /> been found difficult as a rule to secure the necessary<br /> unanimity and organisation. In the bicycle trade,<br /> <br /> <br /> 208<br /> <br /> to quote a recent example, great efforts were at one<br /> time made to keep up prices, and retailers who did<br /> a large cash business in machines and in their<br /> accessories were ‘‘ boycotted’ or an endeavour was<br /> made to “ boycott” them by manufacturers, whose<br /> small customers naturally protested that they could<br /> not compete with the prices of their stronger rivals.<br /> Of the precise position of the matter at the present<br /> day I am not aware, but a considerable cheapening<br /> of everything has taken place, and I think I am<br /> right in saying that the artificial keeping up of<br /> prices by combination among manufacturers and<br /> wholesale distributors has been found impracticable.<br /> As to the conditions under which it is possible in<br /> the book trade, the Macy case in New York isa<br /> good example. :<br /> <br /> Only the questions of legality, and of the<br /> possibility of combination have been discussed in<br /> this article. The desirability of maintaining net<br /> prices, and of keeping up the price of books<br /> generally has not been gone into. It involves the<br /> consideration of whether such a policy would keep<br /> in the trade a greater number of small booksellers,<br /> while it curtailed the trade of bigger dealers, and<br /> this again would raise doubts as to whether the<br /> larger number of smaller dealers selling at higher<br /> prices or the smaller number of larger dealers<br /> selling at lower prices is the better condition for<br /> the author, for the publishers, and last but not<br /> least, for the reading public. These are interesting<br /> problems which have frequently been ventilated in<br /> the Author, and no doubt will continue to be so in<br /> the future.<br /> <br /> E, A, ARMSTRONG.<br /> <br /> &lt;&gt; ¢<br /> <br /> THE LITERARY YEAR BOOK.*<br /> <br /> a<br /> General.<br /> <br /> HE “Literary Year Book” for 1904 is now<br /> a before the public. ‘his is the eighth year<br /> of issue.<br /> <br /> In the main features of this useful annual<br /> publication no alteration has been made, and, on<br /> the whole, the 1904 edition is an improvement on<br /> its predecessors. Like other works of reference its<br /> tendency is to increase in size, so that the editor<br /> may expect, before long, to be confronted by the<br /> necessity of omitting those parts which are least<br /> wanted. The “calendar” and “signs used in<br /> correcting proofs” could be easiest dispensed with,<br /> and the resumé, which occupies twenty-seven pages,<br /> might be considerably condensed. Nevertheless,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> * “Literary Year Book,’ 1904: George Allen, 5s.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> rather than delete any feature or reduce the size of<br /> the type, it would be more serviceable were the<br /> book printed on thinner paper. Without increasing<br /> the bulk of the work, extra pages could then be<br /> added after the style of the “ Unique Manuscript<br /> Register” (A. J. Baynes, 441, Strand), on which<br /> the author could record conveniently an account of<br /> his year’s labours for future reference. The advan-<br /> tage of this to the “ Year Book” publisher would<br /> be, that the volume so used would not be lent, and<br /> each author would have to buy his own copy.<br /> <br /> To ensure a work of this character being gene-<br /> rally referred to, every list given ought to be as<br /> complete as possible. Turning to the ‘ Calendar”?<br /> we miss a record of the birthdays of the following<br /> well-known authors :—In January—Maria Edge-<br /> worth, R. Savage, Aikin, Bentley ; in February—<br /> Archbishop Whateley, Hallam the historian, About,<br /> Lowell, Grimm and Lover; in March—Manzoni ;<br /> April—Mme. de Staél and Froude; May—Le Sage,<br /> J. S. Mill and Lytton; July—Klopstock and<br /> Petrarch ; August—Fénélon; September—Chateau-<br /> briand, M. J. Daumas, Korner, Jane Taylor and<br /> Mrs. Hemans; October—S. T. Coleridge and<br /> Adelaide Procter; November—Hans Sachs and<br /> Shenstone ; December—E. Burritt, Mary Mitford,<br /> A. Cunningham and Samuel Smiles.<br /> <br /> The “Obituary” section has no note of the<br /> death of the eminent musical writer, H. J. Hipkins,<br /> author of the monumental ‘‘ Musical Instruments,”<br /> published by Black, the “ History of the Piano-<br /> forte” (Novello), and contributor of upwards of<br /> five hundred articles in Grove’s “ Dictionary of<br /> Music” and the “Encyclopedia Britannica.”<br /> Other names excluded from last year’s death list<br /> are Mrs. E. T. Cook, author of “The Bride’s<br /> Book,” ‘Highways and Byeways of London”<br /> (d. June 19); J. A. McNeill Whistler, author of<br /> the “Gentle Art of Making Enemies” (July 17) ;<br /> Wilfrid Cripps, C.B., F.S.A., author of “Old<br /> English Plate,” “Old French Plate,” (Oct. 26) ;<br /> James Innes Minchin, translator of Dante’s<br /> “Divine Comedy” (Jan. 13) and Richard Savage<br /> (Oct. 11). In the section devoted to “ Books of<br /> Reference” there is no mention of the “ World<br /> Directory of Music,” published by De Witt,<br /> Leipzig.<br /> <br /> Coming to “Authors,” when lesser lights are<br /> included, why are the following names overlooked ?<br /> Gilder, Joseph B., author of ‘‘Carnegie’s Gospel<br /> of Wealth,” ‘“Lowell’s Impressions of Spain,”<br /> &amp;e.; Bruce, John Mitchell, author of much medical<br /> literature and assistant editor of Quain’s Dic-<br /> tionary ; Parkin, G. R., author of ‘ Imperial<br /> Federation,” “Round the Empire,’ “The Great<br /> Dominion,” &amp;c.; Edwards, Osman, author of<br /> “Studies of Theatrical Life,’ “A Gauntlet,”<br /> “ Japanese Plays and Playfellows,” &amp;c. ; Watson,<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Aaron, author of “ Brown Studies,” ‘ Waifs<br /> and Strays,” “For Lust of Gold,” &amp;c. ; Foakes<br /> Jackson, Rev., author of the “ History of the<br /> <br /> Christian Church,” &amp;c. ; Angus, Orme, author of,<br /> <br /> “Sarah Tuldon,” a Story of Wessex Life ; Ford,<br /> William, author of “ Baja the Freebooter,” “ Pun-<br /> jaub Coach,” &amp;c. ; Forrest, Sir John, author of<br /> ‘ Explorations in Australia,” &amp;c.; Prowl, Ebenezer,<br /> author of about a dozen authoritative text books<br /> on music which have been translated into French,<br /> German, and Italian ; Fraser, J. Foster, author of<br /> “ Round the World on a Wheel,” &amp;c. ; Lancaster,<br /> W. J. Cosens, author of many excellent nautical<br /> novels. Victor Spiers is mentioned, but why is<br /> R. Phené Spiers, the author of valuable architectural<br /> works, left out ?<br /> <br /> Space restricts our naming more omissions of<br /> general writers, but, if we particularise in one<br /> department, and turn to the topic of most interest<br /> this year—i.e. the War—and recall the books<br /> dealing with Russia, Korea, and Japan brought<br /> before the public towards the end of last year, we<br /> will find that the writers of such works are con-<br /> spicuous by their absence in the “ Literary Year<br /> Book,” published last March. There is no mention<br /> of the authors of the following :—“‘The Russian<br /> Advance ” (Albert Beveridge), “Sixteen Years in<br /> Siberia” (Leo Deutsch), “ In the Uttermost East”<br /> (Chas. H. Hawes), “The World’s History “(Dr<br /> H. F. Helmolt), “Manchuria” (Alex. Hosie),<br /> “The Far East: its History and its Question ”<br /> (Alex. Krausse), “‘The Path of Empire” (George<br /> Lynch), “History of Russia” (Alfred N. Ram-<br /> baud), “The Great Siberian Railway ” (Michael<br /> M. Shoemaker), “Korean Sketches” (Rev. J.<br /> S. Gale), “Japanese Girls” (Alice M. Bacon),<br /> “Japan: its History, &amp;c.” (Captain F. Brink-<br /> ley), “The Heart of Japan” (C. L. Brownell),<br /> “Things Japanese” (Basil Hall Chamberlain),<br /> “ Handbook of Japan” (W. Mason), “ Evolution<br /> of the Japanese” (Sidney Gulick), “ Japanese<br /> Training” (H. Irving Hancock), “Japan and<br /> her People” (Anna ©. Hartshorne), “ Kokoro”<br /> (Lafcadio Hearn), “ Feudal and Modern Japan”<br /> (Arthur May Knapp), “Tales of Old Japan”<br /> (A. B. Mitford), “History of Japan ” (Fred.<br /> Millard), “Japan and its Trade” (J. Morris),<br /> “Japan in Transition” (S. Ransome), “ Tmpres-<br /> sions of Japan” (G. H. Rittner), ‘‘ Three Rolling<br /> Stones in Japan” (Gilbert Watson), “ Japan :<br /> Aspects and Destinies” (Petrie Watson), and<br /> “ Ships and Shipping” (Francis Miltoun). Many<br /> of the above topical works are new editions of<br /> old ones, and few of the authors are novices.<br /> The incompleteness of the List of Authors seems,<br /> indeed, to imply that the value of the “ Year<br /> Book” for personal reference is overlooked. A<br /> reliable directory of the iiterary world would enable<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 209<br /> <br /> a publisher to communicate direct with any author<br /> he pleases. In these days, when an author seldom<br /> confines himself to one publisher, the public also<br /> should be able to refer to the “‘ Year Book” for a<br /> complete list of the works of a favourite author ;<br /> and, to facilitate such inquiry, the addition of a<br /> List of Titles, classified under Theology, Travel,<br /> Science, Fiction, Poetry, &amp;c., would be welcome.<br /> <br /> The list of periodical publications needs also<br /> more careful revision. For instance, the London<br /> addresses of the following papers are wrong :—<br /> Belfast News Letter, 435, Strand ; Daily Dispatch,<br /> Manchester, 68, Fleet Street ; Newcastle Chronicle,<br /> 22, Essex Street ; Norfolk Chronicle, 149, Strand ;<br /> Nottingham Daily Express, 75, Fleet Street.<br /> <br /> Musical periodicals are nearly all omitted. Not<br /> one of the following well-known papers is given :—<br /> British Bandsmen, 188,Strand, W.C. ; Music Trades<br /> Review, 1, Racquet Court, E.C.; Journal of the<br /> Incorporated Society of Musicians, 19, Berners Street,<br /> W.; Musical Record, 199, Regent Street, W. ; Music,<br /> 188, Wardour Street, W.; J/usical Opinion, 35,<br /> Shoe Lane, E.C. ; Musical Standard, 83, Charing<br /> Cross Road, W.C.; Orchestral Association Gazette,<br /> 28, Gerrard Street, W.; Organist and Choirmaster,<br /> 9, Berners Street, W.; Strad, 3, Green Terrace,<br /> Rosebery Avenue.<br /> <br /> Amongst the Press Cutting Agents no German<br /> firm is mentioned, and amongst magazine photo-<br /> graphers one of the most enterprising firms—the<br /> City Art Photo. Co. (manager, Mr. W. D. Horn)<br /> —is overlooked.<br /> <br /> We offer the foregoing criticisms in the friendliest<br /> spirit, our desire being that so excellent a publica-<br /> tion may be made as perfect and complete as<br /> possible, for there is no reason why, with proper<br /> organization, the “Literary Year Book” should<br /> not be as comprehensive and up-to-date as<br /> “Dod’s” Peerage or “Crockford’s” Clergy List.<br /> If advantage is taken of such hints as those we<br /> have given, the result will be profitable to the<br /> publisher and the immense community to which<br /> he appeals.—A. R.<br /> <br /> Legal.<br /> <br /> The legal side of the book is one which, more than<br /> any other, needs the consideration of members of<br /> the Society of Authors.<br /> <br /> The articles included deal with the numerous<br /> points on which authors desire information and<br /> protection, but in most cases, though correct,<br /> so far as they go, are insufficient. This is the<br /> real difficulty in the production of a book of this<br /> kind. Insufficient information may often lead an<br /> author into serious errors, but we do not desire to<br /> cavil and find fault. We fully recognise that it is<br /> impossible for an editor to provide against all<br /> <br /> <br /> 210<br /> <br /> contingencies on any question, more especially<br /> when those questions deal with copyright and the<br /> legal side of literary property. Even with the<br /> added assistance of the “ Literary Year Book” an<br /> author should be particularly careful, and in many<br /> cases should not consider himself secure without<br /> special expert advice. : :<br /> <br /> Agreements and copyright, in their respective<br /> chapters, with some slight deflections, are admir-<br /> ably dealt with, clearly and lucidly expounded, and<br /> very accurate.<br /> <br /> The agreements are classed under the following<br /> four heads— :<br /> <br /> Royalty Agreement ; Sharing profits ; The author<br /> commissioned ; The publisher commissioned.<br /> <br /> This is a fairly satisfactory division, but The<br /> Author Commissioned is rather a different form of<br /> agreement to the sale outright. If the publisher<br /> commissioned a book from an author he would be<br /> entitled to make larger demands from the author<br /> than if he merely purchased the copyright. On<br /> the whole, the divisions set forth in The Author<br /> are the more satisfactory. Sale Outright, Profit<br /> Sharing Agreement, The Royalty System, and The<br /> Commission Agreement.<br /> <br /> Mr. Charles Weekes, who is responsible for these<br /> chapters, sets out a series of usual clauses, explains<br /> them, and notes their omissions, but expresses no<br /> opinion as to how far he considers an author has a<br /> right or is entitled to make demands from a pub-<br /> lisher. From his point of view, as editor, he is<br /> justified in taking this line, if, indeed, it is not the<br /> only line he could adopt.<br /> <br /> The question of serial rights is treated hardly at<br /> sufficient length. This is often the most important<br /> side of the property of the writers of fiction, and<br /> also of writers of educational and technical works.<br /> The Editor states, ‘‘ All serialisation should cease<br /> when the book is published”; but difficulty often<br /> arises owing to the lack of finality in the contract<br /> with editors when the sale takes place.<br /> <br /> It would have been a good thing if he had dealt,<br /> perhaps in a separate article, with serial rights and<br /> the contract for the sale of those rights, and the<br /> difficulty that surrounds it.<br /> <br /> There is also another omission of great import-<br /> ance to authors—the agreements made between<br /> authors and their agents ; for as the agent is ina<br /> position more confidential to the author than the<br /> publisher or anyone else who deals with his pro-<br /> perty, it is essential that his agreement should be<br /> carefully controlled, and the author should see,<br /> when dealing with the agent, that he is not dealing<br /> with a man who is also acting on behalf of the<br /> publisher.<br /> <br /> There is very little fault to find with the other<br /> comments Mr. Weekes has made. In “The Author<br /> Commissioned” it might be as well for the author<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> to insist as one term of the contract that no altera-<br /> tion should be made in the MS. without his<br /> sanction, for although it is stated “that the<br /> assignment of copyright does not convey the right<br /> <br /> ‘to alter or revise the book in such a manner that<br /> <br /> the author’s reputation suffers,” yet there are<br /> many alterations possible which would annoy and<br /> disgust an author, but which need not necessarily<br /> be considered by a judge and jury as damaging to<br /> his reputation.<br /> <br /> Turning from the Agreements to the chapter on<br /> Copyright, we are pleased to say that the errors<br /> are few, as far as the exposition of the copy-<br /> right law is concerned. Only those who have<br /> tried the task can imagine how exceedingly<br /> difficult it is to compress a subject of this kind<br /> into so small a space, but the statements made<br /> are clear, correct, and, within limits, satisfying.<br /> The author, under the heading of “ Extent,” says<br /> that an assignment for any less period than the<br /> whole term of copyright, would be a licence only.<br /> From whence does he get this statement? Surely,<br /> it is possible to assign the whole copyright for a<br /> limited period, without merely assigning a licence<br /> to publish; otherwise, there would be no need for<br /> the registration of assignments at Stationers’ Hall.<br /> <br /> Under the heading of Magazines and Periodicals,<br /> the distinction that exists under the eighteenth<br /> section between Encyclopedias and Reviews,<br /> Magazines, etc., is hardly sufficiently emphasised.<br /> To anyone who read the paragraph as an amateur<br /> the difference would certainly not be clear. The<br /> writer states under the same heading, ‘‘ The work<br /> of a servant would vest in his employer from the<br /> first.” This point, in the absence of any evidence<br /> to the contrary, must be yielded; but he continues,<br /> “it is doubtful if the sender of a voluntary con-<br /> tribution, though his work was used, would have<br /> any rights unless the terms were expressly men-<br /> tioned.” This sentence is enigmatical. Does the<br /> writer intend to convey that the author in those<br /> cases where a contribution has been sent without<br /> a special demand to an editor, and the contribution<br /> has been printed and paid for, would possess no<br /> rights whatever, and would therefore be considered<br /> to have sold the copyright ? Surely, this deduction<br /> cannot be correct.<br /> <br /> Again, under the heading of “Drama,” the<br /> following statement appears—<br /> <br /> “ After publication in print, but before authorised<br /> representation, it is doubtful whether a common<br /> law action would lie against an unauthorised per-<br /> former.” This is contrary to the view taken by<br /> Mr. Scrutton, whose statement of the law we<br /> personally are inclined to follow. Under the same<br /> heading, the writer is certainly ambiguous in the<br /> following sentence :—<br /> <br /> “As to performing right and copyright as they<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> may be retained or lost by first performance or<br /> publication outside the United Kingdom, first<br /> performance in ‘America does not divest the Com-<br /> mon Law right here.” This passage surely needs<br /> a little further explanation for the uninitiated.<br /> <br /> Under the “International” heading, it will be<br /> seen that Austria and Hungary are included in the<br /> Berne Convention. This is not correct. Austria<br /> and Hungary have a special Treaty with Great<br /> Britain, and some other countries, but they are<br /> not members of the International Convention.<br /> <br /> To sum up, however, the impression conveyed<br /> to a critic of that portion of the work, dealing with<br /> the legal side of literary property, is thab it is<br /> sound and trustworthy, and may, with limitations,<br /> be safely employed by those who seek information<br /> on the points which the writer has sought to<br /> elucidate. G. H. T.<br /> <br /> ——_+—&gt;—_+—___——_<br /> <br /> MUSICAL COPYRIGHT.<br /> <br /> ————+—<br /> Minority Report.<br /> <br /> N the March number of 7&#039;he Author we printed a<br /> summary of the majority report on the ques-<br /> tion of Musical Copyright, issued by the<br /> <br /> departmental committee.<br /> <br /> Since that date the Musical Copyright Bill<br /> introduced by Mr. Mount has come up and passed<br /> a second reading in the House of Commons, and<br /> has been referred to the Standing Committee on<br /> Law. It has gone even further, It has been<br /> amended, and printed as amended.<br /> <br /> Mr. Caldwell, the sole author of the minority<br /> report, took the opportunity of placing his views<br /> before the House of Commons in his speech on the<br /> second reading ; perhaps, however, it would be<br /> fairer to take the statement of his views from his<br /> considered report rather than from his speech.<br /> <br /> In the opening paragraph he states as follows :—<br /> <br /> “The general evidence given disclosed the existence of<br /> another interest—that of the general public interested in<br /> the cultivation of music—an interest, however, which was<br /> not specially represented at the enquiry ; which is prac-<br /> tically ignored in the report of the majority of the Com-<br /> mittee, but which, nevertheless, fails to be considered in any<br /> amendment of the law which may be deemed necessary.<br /> <br /> “The whole of the witnesses examined (excepting the<br /> ‘King of the Pirates’) regard musical copyright as a right<br /> of property, such as a man has in his watch, entitling the<br /> owner of the copyright to exercise his right of property in<br /> any manner he pleases without any regard to the interests<br /> of the general public or to the advancement of music in the<br /> community. It is also upon that assumption that summary<br /> proceedings, analogous to those of the criminal law, seem to<br /> be recommended.<br /> <br /> “ A slight consideration will show that copyright is not<br /> such an absolute right of property as is claimed, but is a<br /> ‘liberty’ or privilege, conferred by Parliament, with the<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 211<br /> <br /> view of encouraging music in the general community into<br /> which the public interest enters, as well as that of the<br /> owner of the copyright, and over the exercise of which by<br /> the owner of the copyright Parliament has and exercises a<br /> right of control.’<br /> <br /> In order to prove the final contention he quotes<br /> at length the Acts on which copyright is founded.<br /> <br /> We venture to think that his judgment is<br /> entirely incorrect, and that a deeper consideration<br /> of the subject would have secured a sounder<br /> opinion.<br /> <br /> The Government found a certain form of pro-<br /> perty existing, which, perhaps, more than any<br /> other, should be reckoned the sole property of its<br /> originator. They found that this property was<br /> ill-secured and easily filched from the owner.<br /> Accordingly, in order to secure it, they passed<br /> Copyright Statutes. At that time a cry was raised<br /> by people who, like Mr. Caldwell, considered they<br /> represented the public ; but the plea of the public<br /> was shown many years ago by the most distin-<br /> cuished authorities, and those who had given the<br /> matter their fullest attention to be without<br /> foundation. It is late in the day to bring up the<br /> question again, and it would take too much space<br /> to quote the learned authorities referred to. It<br /> would be interesting to enquire whether Mr. Cald-<br /> well has studied the legislation dealing with copy-<br /> right property since the passing of the Act of<br /> 1842; whether he has noted that all modern<br /> legislation in all the countries of the world has<br /> been to confirm the property in the author, to give<br /> him wider limits, not only as far as country but also<br /> as far as time! is concerned ; and that in the great<br /> majority of cases which have been taken into the<br /> courts of law the Acts have as a rule received the<br /> most liberal interpretation in favour of the authors<br /> of literary, dramatic, and musical property.<br /> <br /> He goes on to state that the owners of musical<br /> copyright have exercised their sole and exclusive<br /> “liberty” in a manner highly detrimental to the<br /> interests of the general public, as well as to the<br /> advantage of music, and have practically tempted<br /> and induced piracy.<br /> <br /> “To find anything like an approach to the present piracy<br /> of musical copyright, one has to go back to the piracy of<br /> books by American editions, owing to the high prices<br /> charged for books in this country placing books of educa-<br /> tional value quite beyond the reach of the general public,<br /> notwithstanding the cheapness of paper and printing. By<br /> the issue of cheaper editions for the general public the<br /> temptation to piracy has been removed ; and the public<br /> being now supplied at a reasonable price there is no market<br /> for pirated books, notwithstanding the somewhat irrelevant<br /> reference in the concluding paragraph of the report of the<br /> majority as to the alleged piracy of Mr. Arthur Balfour&#039;s<br /> pamphlet and Mr. Kipling’s poems.<br /> <br /> “The evidence has disclosed that the author or composer<br /> of a musical composition does not himself publish the sub-<br /> ject of his copyright. A trade or business has sprung up<br /> <br /> of publishers, who purchase musical copyrights either for a<br /> small sum, cash down, in the case of unknown composers,<br /> <br /> <br /> 212<br /> <br /> or for a royalty of from one penny up to fourpence per copy<br /> sold—the customary royalty being threepence per copy,<br /> subject to a deduction of one-seventh. The publisher in<br /> the case of such purchases takes the place of the original<br /> owner of the copyright, with the same powers and subject<br /> to the same limitations and responsibilities.<br /> <br /> “ The publishers who are purchasers of copyright appear<br /> to have an arrangement amongst themselves with regard to<br /> the prices to be charged. The prices charged to the public<br /> seem to be the same in all cases, irrespective of the royalty<br /> paid to the author and composer, although the discount to<br /> the trade may vary as regards individual compositions and<br /> individual publishers. The successes are made to pay for<br /> the failures ; and as the failures are said to be five-sixths of<br /> the total, a heavy tax is by this arrangement laid upon the<br /> general public. A business arrangement of this kind is not<br /> contemplated by the Copyright Acts, which, although<br /> necessarily permitting sales of copyright, confer no further<br /> power in the assignee than that which existed in the<br /> original owner of the copyright.”’<br /> <br /> The statements contained in the first paragraph<br /> just quoted are not in accordance with fact ; it<br /> must, therefore, logically follow that the deductions<br /> are equally erroneous.<br /> <br /> No doubt he is, to a certain extent, correct with<br /> regard to the attitude of the publishers. They<br /> purchase, in many instances for small prices, from<br /> the composers, and then market the music for<br /> their profit without any consideration for the<br /> public which Mr. Caldwell so boldly champions.<br /> <br /> This point of view has been well set forth in a<br /> statement received from a member of the Society,<br /> dealing with the present situation :—<br /> <br /> “ Hitherto the public has only been acquainted with the<br /> matter from the point of view of the publishers. Inasmuch<br /> as the publisher and shopkeeper are bosom friends, the<br /> composer, unless he is a genius with business ability who<br /> can look after himself, comes off worse even than the public,<br /> in the bargain. In private, the composer is willing enough<br /> to air his grievances, but in public, inasmuch as there is no<br /> combination amongst composers for mutual defence, the<br /> individual musician who has suffered, being afraid that his<br /> further compositions may not be accepted, thinks that dis-<br /> cretion is the better part of valour, Unfortunately for<br /> the composer there is no Sir Walter Besant in the musical<br /> profession. Zhe Musical News, which could do much for<br /> him, concentrates its attention on the evils of bogus colleges<br /> which interfere with the earnings of the music teacher, but<br /> the members of the syndicate owning that paper who could<br /> criticise music publishing methods if they liked, much to<br /> the distaste of the publishing houses, preserve a policy of<br /> silence. As nearly all the other musical periodicals, like<br /> the Musical Times and Musical Record, are owned by pub-<br /> lishers themselves, the individual composer, who is of little<br /> use to the advertisement manager, has no channel through<br /> which to air his wrongs.”<br /> <br /> But we cannot agree with Mr. Caldwell in com-<br /> paring the present musical piracy with the piracy<br /> of works in the United States some years ago, and<br /> a moment’s consideration will show his reason to<br /> be false. It must be clear to anyone who has<br /> studied the subject, that any literary, dramatic or<br /> musical property can always be produced by the<br /> pirate at a cheaper rate than it can be produced on<br /> behalf of the owner of the copyright. The pirate<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> has merely to think of his profit on the cost of<br /> production ; the legitimate publisher has to con-<br /> sider the profit of the author, in addition to the<br /> profit on the cost of production. Mr. Caldwell is,<br /> no doubt, right in some of his deductions as to the<br /> profit that is paid to the composer, as it is clear<br /> from the frequent instances which come before the<br /> Secretary of the Society, that the unfortunate com-<br /> poser is in a much worse position than is the author<br /> of literary and dramatic pieces, owing to his un-<br /> willingness to join an organised body of defence,<br /> which exists in the Society; but if the composer<br /> obtained the full share of the profit of the work, the<br /> outcome of his brain, it is not likely that the price<br /> of music would be appreciably reduced to the<br /> public. Mr. Caldwell should also remember that<br /> the surest way of increasing the study of music is<br /> by protecting adequately the producers of this<br /> work. If one, who has within him the capacity of<br /> a great composer, is to obtain a living wage, he<br /> must receive some fair security for his labours.<br /> This security, confirmed by Statute, must necessa-<br /> rily raise the price of these labours to the public.<br /> Mr. Caldwell states, with a precision which is<br /> hardly justified : “ Piracy of musical composition<br /> is due, therefore, to the same causes which at one<br /> time produced piracy in the case of books, and<br /> which, in the case of books, has been removed by<br /> the issue of cheaper editions, at a price within the<br /> reach of the general public.”<br /> <br /> The piracy of musical compositions is not really<br /> due to the same causes which brought about the<br /> piracy of books in the United States. The piracy<br /> of books in England never existed to a great<br /> extent, and the piracy of books in the United<br /> States only existed because there was no protective<br /> law, and not for the reason put forward by Mr.<br /> Caldwell, that they desired cheaper books on the<br /> market. There are many other interesting remarks<br /> in the minority report which have not been dealt<br /> with, and there are many interesting remarks in<br /> the evidence of Mr. James Frederick Willetts,<br /> known as “The Pirate King,” who wishes to pose<br /> as an altruist and public benefactor ; but it is hardly<br /> worth while to deal with the question at great<br /> length.<br /> <br /> It was essential, however, that members of the<br /> Society should comprehend fully some of the argu-<br /> ments—fallacious though they be—which are still,<br /> unfortunately, put forward to prevent remedial<br /> legislation for the protection of copyright property.<br /> There are, no doubt, many disputed points in<br /> copyright law, arising from the different interests<br /> of authors and publishers, but it is astonishing in<br /> the twentieth century to see arguments soberly<br /> put forward, which ought to have been laid in<br /> their graves seventy years ago.<br /> <br /> G. HoT.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE PUBLISHERS’ ASSOCIATION.<br /> <br /> ——<br /> <br /> HE Report of the Annual General Meeting<br /> a of the Publishers’ Association was printed<br /> too late to be inserted in the April number<br /> <br /> of The Author. We are pleased to hear that Mr.<br /> <br /> ’ Reginald Smith, K.C., of Messrs. Smith, Elder and<br /> <br /> Co., has been elected to the Presidency of the<br /> Association. We congratulate Mr. Smith on his<br /> honourable appointment, and the Association on<br /> having secured so able a President.<br /> <br /> There seems to have been, at the meeting and<br /> during the past year, considerable work done in<br /> dealing with the sale of educational books and the<br /> question of preferential discounts to educational<br /> houses. ‘The matter is one of great importance to<br /> all writers of educational works.<br /> <br /> We are pleased to see that the Publishers’ Asso-<br /> ciation made a substantial grant to the expenses<br /> of the defendants in the case of Aflalo and Cook v.<br /> Lawrence and Bullen. Mr. Longman, in his speech,<br /> said that the resulting judgment established a<br /> principle of considerable importance to the publish-<br /> ing trade. The Committee of the Authors’ Society<br /> also considered the legal point important. The<br /> fact that the Publishers’ Association supported the<br /> defendants on the grounds put forward by their<br /> President finally does away with the ill-considered<br /> conclusion hastily arrived at by some members of<br /> the trade, that the action, commenced by the<br /> plaintiffs and supported by the Society, was<br /> frivolous and vexatious,<br /> <br /> In the Report are also issued the definitions of<br /> some simple publishing terms, which it would be<br /> useful for authors to remember :—<br /> <br /> Inpression—A number of copies printed at any one<br /> time. When a book is reprinted without change it<br /> should be called a new “impression,’’ to distinguish<br /> it from an “edition,’’ as defined below.<br /> <br /> Edition. An impression in which the matter has under-<br /> gone some change, or for which the type has been<br /> re-set.<br /> <br /> Re-issue.-—A republication at a different price, or in a<br /> different form, of part of an impression which has<br /> already been placed on the market.<br /> <br /> It is exceedingly useful to have these explana-<br /> tions authoritatively promulgated, and it is hoped<br /> that they will be strictly enforced. We can-<br /> not help, however, putting forward once again<br /> that it would be still more advantageous if the<br /> Association settled on the unit of an impression,<br /> and insisted on the members adopting the unit<br /> universally. Thus, if the unit was fixed at 1,000<br /> copies, a limited issue of 500 copies would be half<br /> an impression, a sale of 100,000 copies would be<br /> 100 impressions. If this rational course was<br /> adopted, the trade would get rid of the absurdity<br /> of an imprint on a book of “Third impression”<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 213<br /> <br /> when only thirty copies had been sold. Such<br /> action is not only ridiculous, but it constitutes a<br /> mild fraud on the public.<br /> <br /> —_———_&lt;$*_1———_e———____<br /> <br /> THE APRIL MAGAZINE CONTENTS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> LiveRARY, Dramatic, AND Musical<br /> <br /> BLACKWOOD’S MAGAZINE.<br /> <br /> Lord Acton’s Letters—The Scientific Historian in Theory<br /> and Practice—Tacitus and his Translations in “ Musings<br /> without Method.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> CONTEMPORARY REVIEW.<br /> <br /> Lord Acton’s Letters. By Augustine Birrell, K.C,<br /> Tshaikovski’s Operas. By A. E. Keeton.<br /> <br /> CORNHILL MAGAZINE.<br /> Sir Leslie Stephen. By Frederick Harrison.<br /> Memories of “The Times.’’ By Alex. Innes Shand.<br /> <br /> THE EDINBURGH REVIEW.<br /> The Philosophy of Herbert Spencer.<br /> Mr. Morley’s Life of Gladstone.<br /> The Letters of Ernst Curtius.<br /> The Letters of Horace Walpole.<br /> Sir George Trevelyan on the American Revolution.<br /> <br /> THE FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW.<br /> <br /> Of the True Greatness of Thackeray. By H. H.<br /> Statham.<br /> <br /> Mr. Bodley on the Crown. By Justin McCarthy.<br /> <br /> D’ Annunzio’s New Play. By May Bateman.<br /> <br /> Letters on the Drama. Madame Navarro; Mrs.<br /> Craigie.<br /> <br /> INDEPENDENT REVIEW.<br /> <br /> Lord Acton at Cambridge. By John Pollock.<br /> <br /> Mr. Paul’s History of England. By Augustine Birrell,<br /> K.C<br /> <br /> “To Soria-Moria Castle.’’ By Edmund Garret,<br /> <br /> MACMILLAN’S MAGAZINE,<br /> Alfred Ainger. By the Master of Peterhouse.<br /> <br /> THE MonTHLy REVIEW.<br /> <br /> Edward Fitzgerald. By the late Whitwell Elwin.<br /> <br /> The True Story of the Stratford Bust. By Mrs. Stopes.<br /> THE New LIBERAL REVIEW.<br /> <br /> The Rise of the Drama in Ireland. By John Campbell.<br /> <br /> THe NINETEENTH CENTURY REVIEW.<br /> The Place of Whistler. By Frederick Wedmore.<br /> Aeschylus and Shakespeare. By the Rev. R. §. De<br /> Courey Laffan.<br /> <br /> THE QUARTERLY REVIEW.<br /> <br /> Gabrielle d’Annunzio. By Henry James.<br /> Leslie Stephen and his Works.<br /> <br /> The Novels of &#039;homas Hardy.<br /> <br /> Marco Polo and his followers in: Central Asia.<br /> <br /> TEMPLE BAR.<br /> <br /> On Browning in a Library. By the Rey. Archie F.<br /> Wibling.<br /> <br /> <br /> 214<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO THE PRODUCERS<br /> OF BOOKS.<br /> <br /> BEDE<br /> ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an<br /> agreement. There are four methods of dealing<br /> <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 /> (3.) 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 /> (5.) 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 isnow<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 Zhe Author.<br /> <br /> IY. 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 /> Neyer 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 /> @.) 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 /> ——_+—&gt;—_<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> og<br /> EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the<br /> Secretary of the Society of Authors or some com-<br /> petent legal authority.<br /> 2. It is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for<br /> the production of a play with anyone except an established<br /> manager,<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <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 /> (b.) 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. They 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 reterred to the Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> 0<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO MUSICAL COMPOSERS.<br /> oe<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 /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<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 /> ——__—__—_—_—_+—&gt;—_&gt;—__—_<br /> <br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> so<br /> <br /> 1. VERY member has a right toask 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 veason 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 /> <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 preser ration in a fire-<br /> proof safé. 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 endeavour 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 £1 1s. per<br /> annum, or £10 40s for life membership.<br /> <br /> 215<br /> THE READING BRANCH.<br /> <br /> — 1+<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, he 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 /> oe<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> <br /> —-—+—<br /> <br /> TYNHE Editor of Zhe Author begs to remind members of<br /> the Society that, although the paper is sent to them<br /> free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a<br /> very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<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 21st 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 /> — nl<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 /> ge<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 /> <br /> crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery Lane, or be sent<br /> by registered letter only.<br /> <br /> ++<br /> <br /> LEGAL AND GENERAL LIFE ASSURANCE.<br /> SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> +<br /> <br /> ENSIONS to commence at any selected age,<br /> either with or without Life Assurance can<br /> be obtained from this socieiy.<br /> <br /> Full particulars can be obtained from the City<br /> Branch Manager, Legal and General Life Assurance<br /> Society, 158, Leadenhall Street, London, E.C.<br /> <br /> <br /> AUTHORITIES.<br /> <br /> 19<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> N the month of May, 1905, the Spanish<br /> I nation will celebrate the Tercentenary of the<br /> <br /> production of Don Quixote.<br /> <br /> To publish at this period an article on the<br /> subject, and the sonnet, the reproduction of<br /> which Mr. Austin Dobson has kindly sanctioned,<br /> may seem to some anticipating events; but the<br /> Spaniards were making arrangements for the fétes<br /> in honour of this celebration so early as the end<br /> of 1903. If the Spaniards are taking action we<br /> musi not be behindhand. In a future number of<br /> The Author we shall give full details of the pro-<br /> posed fétes. The arrangements are in the hands<br /> of a Special Commission, including among its<br /> members the Mayor of Madrid, the Prime<br /> Minister, and other influential people, and a<br /> large sum has been voted towards the expenses.<br /> It has always been a kindly jest against the<br /> Spaniards that they put off everything till “ to-<br /> morrow,” but in this case they seem to be taking<br /> ‘time by the fore-lock.”<br /> <br /> WE regret to see in the March number of The<br /> American Author notice that the periodical will<br /> cease to exist with that issue. This must bea very<br /> serious matter to all those who have wished for the<br /> success of the American Authors’ Society. The<br /> Editor states that “the periodiocal joins the long<br /> phalanx of publications which have failed for lack<br /> of financial backing.” This can only mean that<br /> the majority of the Authors of the United States<br /> have not joined the combination of their profession<br /> as they should have done. What is the reason of<br /> this? Perhaps we can give some explanation from<br /> our own experience. For many years now we have<br /> been endeavouring to obtain the cost of production<br /> of different forms of American books. We have<br /> applied frequently to the American Authors’<br /> Society asking for information on this point,<br /> but so far without success. When passing through<br /> New York we had the honour of meeting the Secre-<br /> tary and the President of the Society, and suggested<br /> the advisability of issuing books on the same lines<br /> as the English Society’s Cost of Production, and<br /> Methods of Publishing, as on these two points was<br /> based the whole system of authors’ profits. Is it<br /> possible that the citizens of a nation like the United<br /> States, who flatter themselves that they are so<br /> go-ahead and possessed of such strong business<br /> capacity, have shown themselves in the question of<br /> authorship alone wanting in the power of combina-<br /> tion, and lacking in the solution of the practical<br /> issues. We sincerely hope the withdrawal of The<br /> Amerwan Author is only temporary, and that at<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> no distant date, when the Authors’ Society shall<br /> embrace all those whose names are constantly<br /> swelling the ranks of writers, the periodical will<br /> be started again under more healthy auspices.<br /> <br /> WE regret to chronicle the death of Mr. Julian<br /> Sturgis, who was a warm supporter of the Societ<br /> and its aims, He was a subscriber of £50 to the<br /> Pension Fund, and joined the Society in 1892.<br /> <br /> —_1.—~»~—+ ___<br /> <br /> SIR EDWIN ARNOLD.<br /> <br /> —_— 1<br /> <br /> N Sir Edwin Arnold, whose death took place<br /> I in South Kensington on March 24th, English<br /> literature has lost an ardent worker, and a<br /> host of friends a personality whose charm was<br /> appreciated best by those who had the privilege of<br /> the most intimate acquaintance with it. Born in<br /> June, 1832, the distinguished writer had thus nearly<br /> completed his seventy-second year at the time of<br /> hisdeath. Educated at King’s School, Rochester,<br /> and King’s College, London, he won a scholarship<br /> at Oxford, and it was there his taste for letiers<br /> showed itself, almost his first essay in poetry, the<br /> “Fall of Balshazzar,” winning the Newdigate<br /> prize for English verse. His love for Oxford and<br /> University College is indicated by the fact that<br /> vnly two months ago, at the other extreme of a<br /> strenuous life spent in the continuation of studies<br /> to which Oxford gave him the first incentive, he<br /> asked that his ashes, after cremation, might go<br /> back and rest in her classic precincts.<br /> <br /> After leaving College with a Master of Arts<br /> degree, he was attached for a time to King<br /> Edward’s school, Birmingham, and from thence,<br /> with his wife and one young child, went out to<br /> India as Principal of the Government Deccan<br /> College at Poona. If Oxford had filled him with<br /> the learning of Greece and Rome the East opened<br /> his mind to the knowledge of still earlier civiliza-<br /> tions. He took an instant and heart-whole delight<br /> in a people whose ancient philosophies and beliefs<br /> it is one of his best memorials to have done more<br /> than any other Englishman to make intelligible to<br /> his countrymen at home. “The Light of Asia,”<br /> though not written till long afterwards, was the<br /> outcome of actual contact with those to whom the<br /> great epic is a living reality. It is undoubtedly<br /> Sir Edwin Arnold’s chief work as a poet, yet it was<br /> written not in the calm seclusion that would have<br /> seemed essential to such a labour, but during the<br /> stress of busy London life, and amongst scenes the<br /> very antipode of those with which it deals.<br /> <br /> After five years in India Sir Edwin returned to<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> England, and subsequently joined the staff of the<br /> Daily Telegraph, working unceasingly for that<br /> paper practically up to the day of his death, and<br /> “ contributing to its columns an incalculable volume<br /> of material, historical, descriptive, or imaginative,<br /> and worthy to rank with the very best journalistic<br /> work of its generation.”<br /> <br /> A great traveller in all parts of the world, to him<br /> to travel and write were inseparably connected.<br /> Few of his books in this branch of literature have<br /> been so popular as those upon Japan. He made<br /> that charming land his own, and foresaw her place<br /> amongst the nations long before alliances or<br /> successful wars had awarded it to her. His third<br /> wife was a Japanese lady, to whom it fell to<br /> lighten the burden of his last days, a task accom-<br /> plished with unswerving tenderness. In the course<br /> of such a life, in the centre of politics and society,<br /> it was inevitable Sir Edwin should make innumer-<br /> able friendships, and the volume of his Memoirs<br /> which is to appear shortly will be not the least<br /> interesting of the many such books which have<br /> appeared of late. At one time a keen sportsman,<br /> and always a lover of nature and the country, Sir<br /> Edwin, moved by the kindly precepts of the<br /> religions he had studied, latterly put by rod and<br /> gun and devoted himself to yachting, for which he<br /> had a great fondness. None but those who knew<br /> him intimately could value fully the gentleness of<br /> his nature, the brightness of his outlook on life and<br /> the future, or the immense stores of knowledge to<br /> which even his books give but hasty and inadequate<br /> expression. To such his loss is indeed irreparable.<br /> <br /> The position that Sir Edwin Arnold held among<br /> the writers of the day and the value and beauty of<br /> his work has been dealt with so fully in the papers<br /> that it would be superfluous to say anything more<br /> in this short article. It must be added that he<br /> was a member of the Society and Council since its<br /> foundation.<br /> <br /> It is sad at so short an interval to have to<br /> chronicle the death of another of the earliest<br /> members of the Society.<br /> <br /> ——__+—&lt;_+____—__<br /> <br /> SIR HENRY THOMPSON, BART.,<br /> M.B.LOND., F.R.C.S.ENG.<br /> <br /> ——_— +<br /> <br /> IR HENRY THOMPSON, whose death took<br /> place on April 18th, after a few days’ illness,<br /> <br /> wag one of the earliest members of the Society of<br /> Authors. He joined almost on the foundation of<br /> the Society, and showed genuine sympathy with<br /> our efforts at a time when the scheme of our asso-<br /> ciation was barely formulated, and when the support<br /> of a man so well-known in artistic, literary, social<br /> and scientific circles was especially valuable to us.<br /> <br /> 217<br /> <br /> Sir Henry Thompson was born in Framlingham,<br /> a small Suffolk town, where his father was long in<br /> business. He was educated at a local Grammar<br /> School, and elected rather late in life to be a<br /> medical man, for he was twenty-eight years of age<br /> when he entered University College, London, as a<br /> medical student, and in the “forties” it was cus-<br /> tomary for the medical man to commence his<br /> curriculum at the age of sixteen or seventeen.<br /> His University career was one of unmitigated<br /> success. He took prizes and scholarships in most<br /> subjects, graduated with honours at the earliest<br /> opportunity, and immediately received a junior<br /> appointment at University College Hospital. Suc-<br /> ceeding within four years of obtaining his first<br /> surgical diploma to a place on the staff of the<br /> hospital, he was marked out for a career of excep-<br /> tional brilliance, and he fulfilled his promise. He<br /> was an admirable artist, heredity probably playing<br /> a part here, for his mother was the daughter of<br /> Samuel Medley, the portrait painter; he was also<br /> the possessor of a clear literary style, and had a<br /> logical way of arranging his knowledge. It is not<br /> surprising, therefore, that his medical writings<br /> were an immediate success, and as his hospital<br /> work gave him full opportunities for perfecting his<br /> practice in the special departments of surgery to<br /> which his theories mainly related, he soon became<br /> one of the best known surgeons in the world. He<br /> operated upon the late King of the Belgians and<br /> the late Emperor of France, and for at least a quarter<br /> of a century his name was a synonym for the per-<br /> fection of skill and resource in his particular branch<br /> of operative surgery.<br /> <br /> Sir Henry Thompson joined our body, however,<br /> as an author of fiction, for, as is now well-known,<br /> he was the writer, under the pseudonym of Pen<br /> Oliver, of two novels, “ Charlie Kingston’s Aunt,”<br /> and “ All But.” The first of these books achieved<br /> considerable success, which it deserved, for it<br /> contained an excellent situation, while it furnished<br /> an accurate and interesting picture of the manners<br /> of the London medical student in what may be<br /> termed the mid-Victorian epoch. But as a painter<br /> he was much more in his own groove than he was<br /> asa novelist. His pictures, which for some years<br /> were hung regularly in the Academy and some-<br /> times in the Salon, were the result of careful<br /> observation and skilled training; there is no<br /> doubt that if his professional calling had failed<br /> him his skill as an artist would have brought him<br /> into prominence. As a host Sir Henry Thompson<br /> was famous for his dinners of eight courses for<br /> eight persons at eight o’clock, known as “ octaves.”<br /> He was a skilled gastronomist, and until recently<br /> knew every one in the literary, artistic, and<br /> <br /> scientific worlds, and he gave as much thought to<br /> the selection of the company at his table as to the<br /> <br /> <br /> 218<br /> <br /> preparation of the food. He aimed at making his<br /> ‘“‘ octaves” as much a mental as a gustatory treat,<br /> and invariably he hit his mark. :<br /> <br /> Sir Henry Thompson was President of the<br /> Cremation Society, a keen opponent of municipal<br /> abuses, and an ardent automobilist, and his pen<br /> was constantly active in the columns of The Times<br /> or The Lancet, now praising modern locomotion,<br /> now denouncing the crude methods of earth to<br /> earth burial, and now calling attention to the<br /> shortcomings of our sanitary authorities. Old age,<br /> which came slowly upon him, was accompanied by<br /> no abatement of ardour in his many pursuits;<br /> rather, by bringing him leisure from his surgical<br /> work, it left him more free to expend energy in<br /> other and multifarious directions.<br /> <br /> The Society of Authors has lost a useful friend<br /> in this brilliant and many-sided man.<br /> <br /> —— ee<br /> <br /> THE TRUE SPIRIT OF DON QUIXOTE OF<br /> MANCHA.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> T is reserved for only the very greatest<br /> | makers of fiction to create a character the<br /> interest of whose individuality shall equal or<br /> exceed the author’s. Dickens has done this; so<br /> has Thackeray ; and, in a more conspicuous degree,<br /> Cervantes. I do not know how Thackeray died ;<br /> but I remember, one by one, the last moments of<br /> Colonel Newcome. Most of us could write offhand<br /> a biography of Don Quixote; but it takes a<br /> specialist, with years of wearying research behind<br /> him, to produce a biography of Cervantes. And<br /> has not Argamasilla de Alba a wider fame as the<br /> birthplace of the Sorrowful Knight than Alcala<br /> de Henares as the birthplace of the Sorrowful<br /> Novelist.<br /> <br /> Many will think it late in the day to analyse<br /> Don Quixote’s character with any critical or cor-<br /> rective purpose. Nevertheless, it has been said<br /> and echoed by the vulgar of all time that<br /> Cervantes’ object in producing the Quijote<br /> was to sweep away a certain class of literature.<br /> Once more I protest against this fallacy. There is<br /> no moral aim in Cervantes’ chapters, any more than<br /> there is a moral aim in Shakespeare’s plays. No<br /> work “with a purpose” could soar so high or<br /> live so long. The aim is flawless portraiture,<br /> the only base of all immortal art. Homer,<br /> Velazquez, Dante, Cervantes, Shakespeare—serene,<br /> dispassionate, punctilious portraiture denotes them<br /> every one. The more the artist haggles over this<br /> or that opinion, the more he subdivides his interest.<br /> He pleads a selfish cause—his own. Notso if he<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> presents a portrait. Something of ourselves will<br /> <br /> certainly be here, broad enough and bold enough<br /> Therefore it is not his own _<br /> <br /> for all to recognise.<br /> selfishness that the author should indulge, but that<br /> <br /> of his audience, offering them a fragment, more or __<br /> <br /> less considerable, of their personal image. And we<br /> <br /> are so inexorable in this selfish expectation that it<br /> gives us greater pleasure to see our own vices<br /> <br /> delineated, than the virtues of another.<br /> <br /> The motive for the introduction of the books of<br /> chivalry was technical, not moral.<br /> Don Quixote’s exploits is the treeless, thinly-popu-<br /> lated region of La Mancha, possessing at the most.<br /> a wild Titanic beauty derived from emptiness and<br /> space, but never from diversity. It is nota region<br /> fitted for adventure. Similarly the Manchegans<br /> are not—are not reported tc have been—a com-<br /> munity of adventure-seekers. To frame a narrative<br /> out of these chilling factors demands some stimulus<br /> extraordinary, beyond the people and the place.<br /> This stimulus was provided by the books of<br /> chivalry, a means of making incident, where inci-<br /> dent, under normal circumstances, was sheerly<br /> inconceivable. Don Quixote must plunge into<br /> adventure ; yet if he lead a regular Manchegan<br /> life no possible adventure can encounter him. In<br /> a little world whose motto is tranquillity, only the<br /> criminal or the madman can tweak society’s nose<br /> and make a veritable stir. The criminal in this<br /> case was inadmissible. Therefore Don Quixote<br /> must be mad ; just mad enough to turn the hum-<br /> drum upside down, but never incoherent to the<br /> point ot idiocy. He must, in fact, be cursed (or<br /> blessed) with just a half or quarter madness, such<br /> as most of us are credited with, His mania, too,<br /> had better be grandiose and kindly. And so with<br /> aquiline perception Cervantes pounced upon a<br /> fashionable and attractive madness, a Spanish<br /> megalom: nia, the craze for knight-errantry. Here<br /> were pa‘. .os, humour, energy, in abundant store,<br /> together vith vital interest in the portraiture for<br /> manya paniard and non-Spaniard to behold their<br /> own ru.zction. Such, I am positive, was the<br /> genesis of Don Quixote’s “ eccentricity.”<br /> <br /> Apart from detail of this nature it is no slur<br /> upon the Spaniards to say that Don Quixote is a<br /> permanent likeness of their inmost shape and<br /> quality. The church and the sword, or perhaps I<br /> had better say the monastery and the sword, have<br /> created between them the whole of Spanish history.<br /> What is Don Quixote but a joint embodiment of<br /> the ascetic and the warrior? He wages war; he<br /> worships women ; but his warfare, like his gallantry,<br /> is that of a Sir Galahad :—<br /> <br /> ““ My good blade carves the casques of men,<br /> My tough lance thrusteth sure,<br /> My strength is as the strength of ten,<br /> Because my heart is pure.<br /> <br /> The theatre of 7<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 /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 219<br /> <br /> « How sweet are looks that ladies bend<br /> On whom their favours fall !<br /> For them I battle till the end,<br /> To save from shame and thrall.”<br /> <br /> All women in Don Quixote’s eyes are equally<br /> beautiful, equally supramundane. All of us<br /> at some time have attempted to believe the same.<br /> Here, then, are lines of universal portraiture ; and<br /> as we titter at Don Quixote’s madness, we stumble<br /> with asudden cry upon our own.<br /> <br /> Returning to the eminently Spanish features of<br /> our hero. Don Quixote, regarded as typical of<br /> Spain, displays to us a nation whose magnanimity<br /> is equalled by her roughness. The singular im-<br /> pulse marking the crusader and the knight-errant,<br /> particular apostles of those only objects of peren-<br /> nial worship, God and woman—has lasted longer<br /> in Castile than anywhere, developing, throughout<br /> that region and between the eighth and eighteenth<br /> centuries, into an over-ripeness highly detrimental<br /> to the commonwealth. Even now this spirit in<br /> Spain is not extinct. Manuel Bueno asserts with<br /> perfect truth that his countrymen are at once<br /> generous and inhuman. The paradox, borne out<br /> by Fouillée and other authorities, applies with<br /> obvious fitness to Don Quixote. I would suggest,<br /> however, that the Spaniard’s generosity is older<br /> and less eradicable than his inhumanity ; witness,<br /> once more, Don Quixote. The baser quality is the<br /> fruit of centuries of fighting. The nobler is<br /> apparently indigenous.<br /> <br /> Then, as the complement of Don Quixote the<br /> Spaniard, we have Don Quixote the brother of us<br /> all, or even (dropping modesty and clinging to our<br /> comfortable classic*) our very self. His character<br /> is therefore regional and extraterritorial. Compare<br /> him in this aspect with Hamlet, miscalled the<br /> Dane. Both fragile Hamlet and the fragile<br /> champion of La Mancha are exquisitely human,<br /> but only Don Quixote is exquisitely national<br /> besides. Hamlet is one of us; Don Quixote one<br /> of us, and also one of our friends the Spaniards.<br /> To this extent Don Quixote’s is the fuller portrait.<br /> He has been described as “the emblem of faith.”<br /> Tf this be so, Hamlet is just as much “ the emblem<br /> of doubt”; and faith and doubt between them<br /> keep the world a-spin. But faith and doubt in<br /> these two instances are carried to an ecstasy, and<br /> want of mental balance is the outcome. We must<br /> not doubt, we must not hope—except with modera-<br /> tion. Is it not insignificant that of these two<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> * “Whilst [| study to find how I am a Microcosm, or<br /> little World, I find myself something more than the great.<br /> There is surely a piece of Divinity in us, something that<br /> was before the Elements, and owes no homage unto the<br /> Sun. Nature tells me I am the Image of God, as well as<br /> Scripture: he that understands not thus much, hath not<br /> his introduction or first lesson, and is yet to begin the<br /> Alphabet of man.”—Religio Medici.<br /> <br /> characters, Hamlet and Don Quixote, who stand<br /> together upon the very pinnacle of fiction, one<br /> should be mad and the other mad enough to be<br /> suspected of madness? This sometimes prompts<br /> me to suppose that only the insane is worth<br /> recording in the chronicles of human thought.<br /> “What is beyond?” is the question which Don<br /> Quixote always asks. The same question is always<br /> on the lips and in the heart of Hamlet. But<br /> where Don Quixote asks with confidence, the other<br /> asks with dread. Otherwise, what have they not<br /> in common? “A virgin heart in work and will”<br /> belongs to both. Hamlet’s words are very<br /> frequently as “ wild and whirling ” as Don Quixote’s<br /> deeds ; but the ambitions and aspirations of either<br /> are equally sound and equally charitable.<br /> <br /> How often, as I roamed across La Mancha, did<br /> I believe myself to contemplate Don Quixote in<br /> the flesh and in the soul. How noble was his<br /> forehead, how fearless and benign his glance, his<br /> upward gaze how earnest and inspired, how lucid<br /> and majestic his address. Each of these aspects<br /> and emotions came upon me with a jewel crisp-<br /> ness :—<br /> <br /> Parea ciascuna rubinetto, in cui<br /> Raggio di sole ardesse si acceso,<br /> Che ne’ miei occhi rifrangesse lui.<br /> <br /> As to the scenes Don Quixote has immor-<br /> talized—somnolent Argamasilla, the mournfal<br /> Cave of Montesinos, the sedgy meres, with their<br /> Arthurian sadness, of Ruidera—these seem to stand<br /> before me even now, detached with meteor clear-<br /> ness from the firmament of memory, and crystal-<br /> lized by time and truth into unclouding splendour.<br /> <br /> LronarpD WILLIAMS.<br /> -——&lt;—_<br /> <br /> DON QUIXOTE.*<br /> ao<br /> EHIND thy pasteboard, on thy battered hack,<br /> Thy lean cheek striped with plaster to and<br /> fro,<br /> Thy long spear levelled at the unseen foe,<br /> ‘And doubtful Sancho trudging at thy back,<br /> Thou wert a figure strange enough, good lack !<br /> To make Wiseacredom, both high and low,<br /> Rub purblind eyes, and—having watched thee go—<br /> Dispatch its Dogberrys upon thy track :<br /> Alas ! poor Knight ! alas ! poor soul possest !<br /> Yet would to-day when Courtesy grows chill,<br /> And life’s fine loyalties are turned to jest,<br /> Some fire of thine might burn within us still !<br /> Ah, would but one might lay his lance in rest,<br /> And charge in earnest . . . were it but a mill!<br /> Austin Dosson.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> * Printed from the last Edition, 1902, of Mr. Austin<br /> Dobson&#039;s collected poems, with his kind permission.— Ep,<br /> 220<br /> THE ANNUAL DINNER.<br /> <br /> —1—&lt;—+—_<br /> <br /> (PNHE Annual Dinner of the Incorporated<br /> Society of Authors, was held on April 20th,<br /> at’ the Hotel Cecil, the Chairman of the<br /> <br /> Committee of Management, Mr. Douglas Freshfield,<br /> <br /> occupying the chair. Nearly 150 members and<br /> <br /> guests were present, the latter including Lord<br /> <br /> Alverstone, Lord Chief Justice of England, and<br /> <br /> Sir W. B. Richmond, R.A., who occupied seats to<br /> <br /> the right and left of the Chairman, the Right Rev.<br /> <br /> the Lord Bishop of Bristol, Admiral Edward<br /> <br /> Field, C.B., Sir Harry Johnston, Major Darwin,<br /> <br /> Mr. Appleton, the well-known New York pub-<br /> <br /> lisher, Mr. W. Heinemann, and many others. At<br /> <br /> the conclusion of dinner, for which grace was<br /> said by the Bishop of Bristol, the usual loyal<br /> toasts were duly honoured, and the Chairman rose<br /> } to propose success to the Society, for which he<br /> suggested a more appropriate name might have<br /> been “The. Society for the Protection of Authors,”<br /> or even ‘“ The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty<br /> to Authors,” since it was concerned with the legal<br /> and business rather than with the literary aspects<br /> of authorship. They were equally ready to protect<br /> the rights of a writer on golf or of an immortal<br /> poet. Their Committee discussed not matters’ of<br /> style and taste, but of accounts and agreements.<br /> Business had been said to be the bane of author-<br /> ship. But this was an antiquated and obsolete<br /> view. The days of Grub Street were long past,<br /> and no one now seriously held that it was incon-<br /> sistent with the dignity of authorship to write for<br /> money. With regard to the relations of author<br /> and publisher, the public was apt to pay too much<br /> regard to the pecuniary risk run by the publisher,<br /> | and to disregard the value of the capital introduced<br /> | by the writer, consisting of that which the average<br /> | common-sense man did not so much esteem, and<br /> i perhaps did not keep a stock of—brains. / Mr.<br /> Freshfield went on to refer to the decision in<br /> » Aflalo vy. Lawrence and Bullen in the House of<br /> _ Lords. The satisfactory point about this decision<br /> was that, although it had entailed heavy expenses<br /> to the Society, it had finally determined a doubtful<br /> and very important question in copyright law. In<br /> arriving at this result it was a satisfaction to the<br /> Committee to feel that they had been acting in<br /> co-operation with the Publishers’ Association,<br /> which, recognising the importance of the point<br /> involved, had, it was announced, contributed to<br /> the costs of the defendants. While he in no way<br /> presumed to question the decision arrived at, Mr.<br /> <br /> Freshfield thought that as to one matter of fact<br /> <br /> the Law Lords had gone astray. It was surely<br /> <br /> unfair to argue that the mere fact that a contri-<br /> <br /> butor to a magazine or encyclopedia received a<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR:<br /> <br /> snbstantial sum for his article was evidence that<br /> he intended to part with all his rights in it. The<br /> amount of the return the publisher might reason.<br /> ably expect, or had actually obtained, from the<br /> original periodical publication, as well as the<br /> amount paid down by him, was an_ essential<br /> element in the consideration of the bargain. Re-<br /> ferring to the present multiplication of middlemen<br /> in literature, Mr. Freshfield suggested that the<br /> main work to be done by the Author’s Society was<br /> to make the best of the present system of book<br /> production. He looked back with regret to the<br /> eighteenth century. In those days, under the old<br /> system of subscriptions, the author went round to<br /> his friends. He collected their money, and he had<br /> not to wait twelve months to get it. Publishers<br /> and booksellers had not then been differentiated,<br /> and he simply went to the publisher and had his<br /> book printed and distributed. Nowadays there<br /> was the printer, the illustrator, the bookbinder,<br /> and after they had passed by them they had to<br /> reckon with the literary agent, the publisher, and<br /> the bookseller. All of them must make their<br /> profit, and he did not say they made an exorbitant<br /> profit. Fortunes were not made by publishers at<br /> all to be compared with the great fortunes that<br /> were made in other businesses. ‘The Dictionary<br /> of National Biography ” was published not with<br /> the profits of publishing, but, as Mr. Murray Smith<br /> often used to avow, with the profits of Apollinaris.<br /> Mr. Freshfield next made allusion to a recent<br /> article on the subject of Literary Agents in The<br /> Author, and expressed a wish to see a reply to it<br /> which should indicate the proper sphere of such<br /> agency, which he understood had been found<br /> serviceable by many distinguished authors, though<br /> it was no doubt open to abuse. He also touched<br /> upon the correspondence concerning the “ ghost”<br /> in literary work, pointing out that the system of<br /> making use of a “ ghost ” for latin verses was one<br /> of very old standing in public schools, where the<br /> employer, when discovered, was likely to receive at<br /> the hands of the headmaster a summary lesson in<br /> {literary morals. /In conclusion, Mr. Freshfield paid<br /> / a tribute to the honourable dealings of the better<br /> i class of publishers, and reverting to his comparison<br /> between the Society and that for the protection of<br /> children, suggested that while many authors are<br /> in their business dealings very like children, pub-<br /> lishers might be considered like parents, as defined<br /> by a member of the rising generation, as ‘‘ good on<br /> the whole, but the better for being looked after.”<br /> The toast of the Society was replied to by Mr.<br /> Sidney Lee, who alluded early in his speech to the<br /> confidence of all members in the Committee and in<br /> the Secretary, as carrying on the traditions of the<br /> founder of the Society, Sir Walter Besant. He<br /> also referred with satisfaction to the decision in<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> the Aflalo case as settling a doubtful legal point.<br /> In touching upon the relations between author and<br /> publisher, Mr. Lee spoke of the Committee as<br /> exercising judicial functions, and pointed out that<br /> publishers were not the ogres that the fancies of<br /> some authors painted them, whereas there existed<br /> arrogant humbugs among authors. The author&#039;s<br /> grievance, he observed, might really be against the<br /> reading public, but that it was for the interest of<br /> both author and publisher to encourage the main-<br /> tenance of a high standard of literary work.<br /> <br /> Sir Arthur Conan Doyle proposed the health of<br /> the guests in a vigorous speech, declaring that as<br /> a man was known by his friends so a society was<br /> known by its guests. The Author’s Society had as<br /> its guests the Lord Chief Justice of England and<br /> Sir William Richmond, the former of whom was a<br /> lawyer, an author, and a sportsman, whose fair<br /> play and ruthless honesty recently displayed in<br /> connection with the Alaska arbitration, would<br /> make-the name of Lord Alverstone descend as a<br /> peer of those great men who made his office famous.<br /> With regard to Sir William Richmond, Sir Arthur<br /> Conan Doyle pointed out that he had turned his<br /> back upon a life of ease and material gain in order<br /> to serve the community upon the London County<br /> Council, a body of which it might be said that<br /> none on earth needed the presence of an artist<br /> more, if London was to cease being a city of mean<br /> streets and lost opportunities, and to become the<br /> greatest city that the world had ever seen. In<br /> conclusion, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle observed that<br /> a schoolboy had defined ‘“‘elocution” as “an<br /> American method of putting criminals to death,”<br /> and suggested this as a reason for not prolonging<br /> hisspeech. With the names of guests mentioned he<br /> associated those of the Bishop of Bristol, Admiral<br /> Field, Sir Harry Johnston, and Major Darwin.<br /> <br /> Before Lord Alverstone rose to reply for the<br /> guests, the Chairman read a friendly message which<br /> he had justreceived from the Institute of Printers and<br /> Kindred Trades, who were dining in another room,<br /> and he informed the society that he had returned<br /> suitable good wishes and congratulations in reply.<br /> <br /> The Lord Chief Justice, after thanking Sir<br /> Arthur Conan Doyle for the complimentary terms<br /> in which reference had been made to his own<br /> judicial and other public services, expressed his<br /> admiration of and gratification at the manner with<br /> which the Authors’ Society regarded its litigation,<br /> and particularly the late adverse decision in the<br /> House of Lords. He expressed himself wishful<br /> that all litigants might accept their defeats in the<br /> law courts in the same calm spirit. One of his<br /> predecessors, Lord Coleridge, had said that it was<br /> the duty of a judge to dismiss all suitors from his<br /> court wquos placatosque, and he should himself look<br /> forward in the future to seeing both sides satisfied<br /> <br /> 221<br /> <br /> because a point of law had been settled and<br /> established. His Lordship expressed his pleasure<br /> and interest in social intercourse with authors,<br /> dwelling upon the distinction between the lawyer&#039;s<br /> task in dealing with facts, having but little<br /> scope even in advocacy for the play of his fancy,<br /> and the work of the author, who could give his<br /> imagination free play.<br /> <br /> Sir W. B. Richmond, K.C.B., R.A., observed<br /> that he had trained himself for the position of<br /> Alderman which he had accepted upon the London<br /> Council, by serving first upon the Council in his<br /> borough, and spoke of the work that he had done<br /> in combating Philistinism. Referring to the<br /> decoration of St. Paul’s, he declared that if crimes<br /> in that connection were charged against him the<br /> Bishop of Bristol, who sat near him, had been a<br /> culprit with him. With regard to the cry of<br /> “ Art for Art’s Sake,” Sir William avowed him-<br /> self unable to understand its meaning, but he<br /> deprecated any doctrine that one art should divorce<br /> another. Alluding to any demand that might be<br /> made that artists should paint “on lines of highest<br /> technique,” Sir William Richmond likened the<br /> stress laid upon technique, in art criticism, to<br /> judging the author of a book by his handwriting.<br /> He dwelt on the inspiration derived by artists<br /> from the Bible, from the works of Homer,<br /> Sophocles, Virgil, Shakespeare, Milton, and other<br /> classic writers. He also alluded in complimentary<br /> terms to the subjects for his skill which the artist<br /> might find in the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.<br /> “ Great authors,” he said, “ stimulate painters with<br /> ideas.”<br /> <br /> In proposing the health of the Chairman, the<br /> Bishop of Bristol protested against Mr. Freshfield<br /> posing as merely a business man. He was, his<br /> lordship said, a distinguished author who, like Sir<br /> Leslie Stephen, began writing through his desire<br /> to describe the Alps. His volumes upon the<br /> Caucasus were among the “ heaviest” books in his<br /> (the Bishop of Bristol’s) library, but there was not<br /> a dull page among them, and he had recently added<br /> to them an excellent description of the Himalaya.<br /> <br /> Mr. Freshfield, in reply, regretted that the Pre-<br /> sident of the Society, Mr. George Meredith, should<br /> be prevented by ill health from taking the chair,<br /> and expressed his thanks to the company for the<br /> kindness they had shown to him as a substitute.<br /> In excusing himseif from prolonging the evening<br /> by anything but a brief speech, he mentioned that<br /> at a previous dinner of the Society he had over-<br /> heard one lady author say to another on her way<br /> from the dining hall, “ My dear, [am nearly dead,”<br /> to which the other had answered, “I am quite.”<br /> Mr. Freshfield had no desire to diminish the number<br /> of the Society’s Members in the manner indicated,<br /> and he accordingly invited those present to adjourn<br /> <br /> <br /> 222<br /> <br /> to the next room, where the usual conversazione<br /> was held, and where the rest of a highly successful<br /> evening was spent.<br /> <br /> The following members and guests were present :<br /> Madame Albanesi, W. W. Appleton, E. A. Arm-<br /> strong, Miss Agnes Armstrong, A. W. a’Beckett,<br /> The Rev. F. W. Bamford, Robert Bateman, Mrs.<br /> Beville, Miss Helen Boddington, Miss Philippa<br /> Bridges, Clifford Borrer, Oscar Browning, Mrs.<br /> Mona Caird, F. Carrel, Miss Challice, A. R.<br /> Colquhoun, Mrs. Colquhoun, Sir William Charley,<br /> Mrs. E. M. Davy, Miss Jean Delaire, Miss Sarah<br /> Doudney, C. F. Dowsett, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,<br /> Miss O’Connor Eccles, Mrs. Edison (“ George<br /> Frost’), T. Mullett Ellis, W. B. Home Gall,<br /> »R. Garnett, C.B., Mrs. Aylmer Gowing, Horace G.<br /> Groser, Lady Glover, A. P. Graves, Francis<br /> Gribble, Mrs. Gribble, Major Arthur Haggard,<br /> Major-General Sir Reginald Hart, K.C.B., A.<br /> Hope Hawkins, Miss Henslowe, Miss Con-<br /> stance Hill, Mrs. Katherine Tynan Hinkson, Mrs.<br /> Willoughby Hodgson, H. Martin Holman, Miss<br /> M. C. Home, Mrs. Humphreys (“ Rita’’), The Rev.<br /> Henry N. Hutchinson, Miss Ionides, Scarboro<br /> Johnson, Mrs. Jordan, C. A. Kelly, G. T. Knight,<br /> Mrs. Knight, Sidney Lee, Robert J. Lees, Mrs.<br /> Low, Mrs. Belloc Lowndes, ‘‘ Maarten Maartens,”<br /> Miss M. M. Macpherson, Miss Constance Maud,<br /> Athol Maudsley, Mrs. Maudsley, E. K. Muspratt,<br /> E. P. Oppenheim, Louis N. Parker, 8. F. Pells,<br /> Mrs. Perrin, Major Douglas Phillott, C. Harvard<br /> Pierson, Lionel Portman, Jaakoff Prelooker, G. W.<br /> Prothero, Miss Lucy Redpath, Sir W. B. Richmond,<br /> K.C.B., Mrs. Reeves (‘Helen Mathers”), Emil<br /> Reich, A. Rogers, Miss Rossi, “ Leicester Romayne,”<br /> William Royle, C. M. Russell, Miss May Sinclair,<br /> Prof. W. W. Skeat, LL.D., Mrs. Michael Smith,<br /> Mrs. Isabel Smith, Miss Hannah Stanton, A. A.<br /> Strong, F. Stroud, Miss Stroud, Arthur J. Thomas,<br /> G. Herbert Thring, Mrs. Thring, Herbert Trench,<br /> Mrs. Alec Tweedie, Miss E. Underdown, H. Faure<br /> Walker, Mrs. Faure Walker, Percy White, “ Dolf<br /> Wyllarde,” R. Whiteing, and W. Wellington<br /> <br /> Young.<br /> 9<br /> <br /> “WHAT’S IN A NAME?”<br /> <br /> 1<br /> <br /> HERE is no copyright in the name of a book<br /> or play. It does not form part of the thing<br /> copyrighted, which is the “composition,”<br /> <br /> a.¢., the play or the book.<br /> <br /> In the year 1881 the Judges of the Court of<br /> Appeal held that no one could seize upon a few<br /> words of the English language and create a<br /> monopoly in them by saying that thenceforth<br /> nobody else could apply them publicly as the name<br /> or description or label of another composition.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Such few words are not capable of giving rise to<br /> any proprietary rights such as copyright involves,<br /> <br /> But, and it is obviously a large But, the ordinary<br /> common law doctrine of fraud or misrepresentation<br /> applies, that is to say, according to the technical<br /> phrase of the common law an action of “ deceit”<br /> will lie, wherever one man tries to pass off his goods<br /> as if they were another’s. For example, if a book<br /> or a play by A.has acquired a market value (or draws<br /> the public) and is known to the public by a certain<br /> name, X., then B. cannot use the name X. in such<br /> a way as to induce the public to come and buy or<br /> see his own, a different, book or play, under the<br /> belief that it is the well-known X.<br /> <br /> You will observe that it is an essential fact in —<br /> such a case that the particular book or play by A.,<br /> named X., has acquired already a trade reputation<br /> with the public. who identify it by the name X.<br /> The result is that when two or more books or<br /> plays are brought out at the same, or practically<br /> about the same time, under the same title, none of<br /> them can stop the others from using that title ;<br /> for in the early stages there can be no public repu-<br /> tation grown round any of them. That was the<br /> case which came before the Court of Appeal, where<br /> two serial tales appeared both in the same year,<br /> entitled ‘‘Splendid Misery,” one being by Miss<br /> Braddon.<br /> <br /> With a play, no doubt, if it were a success,<br /> the public reputation would grow round it, and<br /> become attached (as part of its “ goodwill’) very<br /> rapidly. But if a play be a failure, I take it that<br /> anybody can always produce another under the<br /> same name, for the whole doctrine of “ deceit ” or<br /> “* passing off” could not apply in such a case.<br /> <br /> When a play from its age or from its inferiority<br /> has no market reputation to draw the public it is<br /> obvious that no one who uses its name for another<br /> work is trying thereby to trade upon the reputation<br /> of the prior play.<br /> <br /> If two plays appeared about the same time at<br /> West End London theatres by authors of. equal<br /> fame or equally unknown, under the same title—<br /> although it might be an inconvenient thing, no<br /> action would lie—in the absence, that is to say, of<br /> any other evidence of “ deceit ” or of desire on the<br /> part of the less successful venture to create confu-<br /> sion in the public mind between the two plays.<br /> <br /> When the older play had a well-established<br /> market reputation attaching to it—which might<br /> accrue very rapidly—it would clearly be a risky<br /> business to bring out a new play under the same<br /> title, for the public would be sure to confuse the two,<br /> and the author of number 2 could hardly prove<br /> the innocence of his intentions in using that title.<br /> <br /> Between new plays a very slight difference in<br /> title would clearly prevent confusion.<br /> <br /> W. S. SHERRINGTON.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> CORRESPONDENCE.<br /> <br /> —_1——+<br /> Tas New DEPARTURE IN EpITING.<br /> <br /> Drar?Str,—Will you allow me a few lines to<br /> reply to M.P.’s letter in the April Author on “ The<br /> New Departure in Editing ?”<br /> <br /> In the first place neither of the phrases which<br /> he quotes—* Feeble in plot” and “ Weak in style”<br /> —appears in the printed form which we send with<br /> returned manuscripts : and in the second place,<br /> our editorial comment 7s welcomed, as our corre-<br /> spondence testifies, by many hundreds of writers<br /> who have submitted stories for our consideration.<br /> <br /> It is difficult to understand M.P.’s attitude ;<br /> have editors been unkind to him ; is he an unsuc-<br /> cessful aspirant to literary fame ? I do not know.<br /> But I feel sure of one thing. No “self respecting<br /> writers ” (to use his own phrase) would wish to<br /> associate themselves with his views.<br /> <br /> A person who describes as impertinent a sugges-<br /> tion which, whatever its merits, was conceived in<br /> the interests of writers and is undoubtedly appreci-<br /> <br /> ated by them : who deliberately misquotes, or who ©<br /> <br /> does not take the trouble to read the document<br /> which he is criticising: and who speaks dis-<br /> paragingly of the stories published in magazines to<br /> which every author of repute is contributing, has<br /> certainly little claim for consideration at the hands<br /> of either author or editor.<br /> Yours faithfully,<br /> Tue Epitor,<br /> Pearson’s Magazine.<br /> <br /> —1— 1 —<br /> <br /> Wuat’s In A NAME?<br /> <br /> Sir,—The pages of The Author have already<br /> chronicled certain views upon the important<br /> subject of the ownership of book-titles. Those<br /> interested in the matter—and who of us is not ?<br /> —-should refer to the October and December, 1896,<br /> and May, 1898, numbers of this journal, wherein<br /> sundry defensive methods similar to those now pro-<br /> posed by Miss Mary Cholmondeley were put forward.<br /> <br /> “(Can anything be done?” this lady aptly<br /> enquires. The passage of years has increased<br /> rather than lessened the difficulties of a solution.<br /> I imagine, however, the idea of a registration<br /> bureau of some sort founded on the lines indicated<br /> still finds most favour ; with, presumably, a time<br /> limit for the shelter of any bantling which may be<br /> catalogued.<br /> <br /> It certainly does seem hard that all the labour<br /> expended upon selecting an appropriate attractive<br /> name for a work in process of construction may<br /> become liable to wreckage through an unfortunate<br /> conflict of choice. The experience of many writers<br /> must point to vexatious collisions of this nature ;<br /> <br /> 223<br /> <br /> in my own humble way I have been the victim of<br /> mishap. be ee<br /> <br /> It will be wise, therefore, to seek a safe remedy<br /> for one of the by no means minor trials which<br /> beset the paths of authorship. Union is strength.<br /> Combined effort should surely result in the dis-<br /> covery of some satisfactory scheme for the relief of<br /> a troubled community.<br /> <br /> Grcin CLARKE.<br /> <br /> —-—&gt;—+—<br /> <br /> Srr,—I have adopted the above title, not because<br /> I intend to answer the question which it embodies,<br /> but because 1 propose to deal with some of the<br /> contents of Mary Cholmondeley’s communication<br /> under that heading in the April issue of The<br /> Author.<br /> <br /> In that are raised, among others, the questions of<br /> how to ascertain whether a title is new ; whether<br /> it is possible to institute a register of the titles of<br /> books, to which all new ones should be added ; and<br /> whether it is possible for arrangements to be made<br /> for securing a title in advance of the publication<br /> of the work, on payment of a fee.<br /> <br /> All of these questions are intimately connected<br /> with those of Registration of Copyright and the<br /> management of our National Library ; and, in<br /> what follows, I confine myself to books and to the<br /> British Isles.<br /> <br /> The suggestion of securing a title in advance of<br /> publication was mentioned in 7’%e Author of June,<br /> 1894 (p. 6), as having been made by Mr. George<br /> Haven Putnam. It is one which could very easily<br /> be carried out if the chaos which, in this country,<br /> goes by the name of copyrighting were reduced to<br /> system.<br /> <br /> Such a proposed new title would, of course,<br /> need to be entered in a register, and that register<br /> would (likewise, of course) need to be kept at the<br /> office of registration. ‘The office at which pro-<br /> yisional copyright is thus to be secured would<br /> need, of course, to be the Copyright Registry, or<br /> Office; and, to enable the registrar to know<br /> whether any proposed title were new, he would<br /> need to be able to consult the register of titles<br /> already used.<br /> <br /> At present there is no such register ; there is<br /> only a list of those titles which have been regis-<br /> tered at Stationers’ Hall, and the British Museum<br /> catalogue. Now, Stationers’ Hall, where copy-<br /> rights are registered, is not a government institu-<br /> tion, but the head-quarters of the Company of<br /> Stationers, to whom the registering of copyright<br /> has been delegated, and it has no other means of<br /> ascertaining what title is new than from its own<br /> registers, which are not consulted unless the<br /> applicant makes special payment therefor. The<br /> British Museum catalogue is an author’s, and not a<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 224<br /> <br /> title-catalogue—except in the case of anonymous<br /> works—and search therein for a title is, therefore,<br /> extremely difficult.<br /> <br /> For the purposes of copyright in this country,<br /> registration of a work (which would, of course,<br /> include the title) is not necessary ; copyright comes<br /> into being from the mere fact of publication; neither<br /> is it necessary, to secure copyright, to deposit a<br /> copy of any work either at the Copyright Registry<br /> or at the National Library. Consequently, many<br /> works are not entered on the copyright register,<br /> although copies of them are to be found in the<br /> British Museum ; and, also, many works are not<br /> sent to the British Museum, because, although the<br /> delivery of a copy of all British-published books<br /> thereat is by law compulsory, there is such laxity<br /> in enforcing the law, that advantage is taken of it<br /> not to deliver them.<br /> <br /> There is, thus, no complete catalogue of British-<br /> published books.<br /> <br /> What is wanted to remedy this state of affairs<br /> is, first of all, that the Copyright Registry be made<br /> a branch of the National Library, and the registers<br /> of books in possession of the Company of Stationers<br /> be transferred to the British Museum. The<br /> second thing required is that the British Museum<br /> compile a titles-catalogue which, besides containing<br /> all the titles in the Stationers Company’s registers<br /> and in its own catalogue, should contain those of<br /> all books known to have been published in the<br /> British Isles, whether in the library or not. Those<br /> not in the library would be easy distinguishable<br /> from those present by the absence of a press-mark.<br /> <br /> The third thing required is that, to secure copy-<br /> right, registration of the work and the copyright-<br /> owner’s name, at the National Library, should be<br /> compulsory on the day of publication ; and that,<br /> at the time of registration, there should be delivered<br /> at the Copyright Registry (which would be the<br /> National Library) a copy of the work registered.<br /> No copyright should exist in any work published<br /> in this country unless those two conditions be<br /> fulfilled, and any one should be at liberty to<br /> reprint and sell such British-published works as<br /> had not been thus dealt with.<br /> <br /> A further condition, in the case of an anonymous<br /> work, should be the depositing, at the time of<br /> registration, a sealed envelope containing the<br /> writer’s name, which, unless permission be given<br /> previously, should be revealed at the expiration of,<br /> say, fifty years, or at the writer’s death.<br /> <br /> No charge should be made in the first instance<br /> for registration of the copyright, the book being<br /> regarded as its equivalent in value ; but charges<br /> might be made for a certified copy of any entry ;<br /> for the transference of a copyright ; and, where it<br /> is desired to register a title in advance, for an<br /> examination of the register.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THER AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> By the above-suggested means the ownership of<br /> the copyrights of all British-published books would<br /> always be beyond dispute, and all British-published<br /> books and their titles would find their way auto-<br /> matically into the National Library and its<br /> catalogue.<br /> <br /> As the novelty or otherwise of a title would,<br /> thus, be instantly ascertainable, an outcome of this<br /> proposed plan could easily be the registration, in<br /> a separate register, of new titles, in advance of<br /> publication, for a period of, say, one year, on pay-<br /> ment of, say, one guinea; and the ability, to<br /> secure a title temporarily would be a great con-<br /> venience to many writers, besides being a source<br /> of revenue to the Copyright Registry.<br /> <br /> The completing, so far as possible, the list of<br /> British-published works, would, I believe, help<br /> largely to complete a national collection of them ;<br /> and to have, as nearly as possible, a complete<br /> collection of British-published books is, it seems to<br /> me, one of the chief functions of a British National<br /> Library.<br /> <br /> Huprert Hags.<br /> ——*——+—<br /> <br /> A PLEA FoR PEDANTRY.<br /> <br /> Sir,—I have been interested to see the mention<br /> of “that terrible compound whatever” in your<br /> correspondent’s letter under the above title. I<br /> am well aware that the word is under a ban. But<br /> I must confess that I have never understood the<br /> exact rationale of the ban. And I sometimes<br /> doubt whether those who are most inexorable in<br /> enforcing it themselves know exactly what it<br /> means. Does it mean that not whatever but what-<br /> soever is the correct form? Or does it mean,<br /> for this is what some of the expressions used seem<br /> to imply, that whatever is simply a vulgar equiva-<br /> lent of what? But whilst whatever and whatsoever<br /> are evidently interchangeable, it seems to me that<br /> there is the same distinction between what and<br /> whatever as between where and wherever, or between<br /> the Latin guod and quodcunque. And I think it<br /> would require some courage, or ignorance, to assert<br /> that quod and quodcunqgue have identical meanings.<br /> Of course to use whatever for what is a blunder ;<br /> but it is not an equal blunder to use what for<br /> whatever. When Rossetti (“House of Life,”<br /> Sonnet XLVII. 9) writes :—<br /> <br /> But now, whatever while the soul is fain<br /> To list that wonted murmur—<br /> <br /> it is evident that whatsoever might (if the verse<br /> would admit it) be substituted for whatever, but<br /> what would alter the meaning. 1 too “ am not an<br /> expert,” but I wish that one of your readers who is<br /> would kindly make the situation logically plain.<br /> <br /> ANOTHER MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY.	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/493/1904-05-01-The-Author-14-8.pdf	publications, The Author