| 513 | https://historysoa.com/items/show/513 | The Author, Vol. 16 Issue 05 (February 1906) | <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.+16+Issue+05+%28February+1906%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 16 Issue 05 (February 1906)</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> | 1906-02-01-The-Author-16-5 | | | | | 129–160 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=16">16</a> | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1906-02-01">1906-02-01</a> | | | | | | | 5 | | | 19060201 | Che HMutbor.<br />
<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br />
<br />
FOUNDED BY SIR WALTER BESANT.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Vou. X VI.—No. 5.<br />
<br />
FEBRUARY I1sT, 1906.<br />
<br />
[Prick SIXPENCE.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
TELEPHONE NUMBER :<br />
374 VICTORIA.<br />
<br />
TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS :<br />
AUTORIDAD, LONDON.<br />
<br />
—_——-+-~> +<br />
<br />
NOTICES.<br />
<br />
+<br />
<br />
<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 />
THe 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 />
Tu 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 />
1<br />
<br />
The Pension Fund of the Society.<br />
<br />
Tux Trustees of the Pension Fund met at the<br />
Society’s Offices in April, 1905, and having gone<br />
carefully into the accounts of the fund, decided<br />
to invest a further sum. They have now pur-<br />
chased £200 Egyptian Government Irrigation<br />
Trust 4 per cent. Certificates, bringing the invest-<br />
ments of the fund to the figures set out below.<br />
<br />
VoL, XVI.<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 />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Consoin 26 Gs STOOD UY<br />
Juocal ligans=. 500 0 0<br />
<br />
Victorian Government 3 % Consoli-<br />
dated Inscribed Stock ............... 291 19 11<br />
Wart Wont 3... es. 201° 9 3<br />
<br />
London and North Western 3 % Deben-<br />
ture SbOcK 6 ee 250 0 9<br />
<br />
Egyptian Government — Irrigation<br />
Trnst. 4 °% Certificates ............-.. 200 -0 ©<br />
otal ee £2,443. 9 2<br />
Subscriptions, 1905. £8. a.<br />
<br />
July 13, Dunsany, the Right Hon. the<br />
Lord : : . : : 20 5 20<br />
Oct. 12, Halford, F. M. ; : / 0 5 oO<br />
., Chorbucn, WM. : 0 100 0<br />
Nov. 9, ‘ Francis Daveen ’’. : 70. 8 6<br />
5s alr, J Osep)) : : .- it 1 0<br />
», 21, Thurston, Mrs. ; ; ei<br />
Dec. 18, Browne, F. M. ; : 7 0. 60<br />
Donations, 1905.<br />
<br />
July 28, Potter, the Rev. J. Hasluck GO 5 0<br />
Oct. 12, Allen, W. Bird : O25 0<br />
Oct. 17, A. C. N. : : : 1 0 30<br />
Oct. 17, Hawtrey, Miss Valentina 0. 52.0<br />
Oct. 31, Williamson, C. N. 1150<br />
Oct. 31, Williamson, Mrs. 1 6<br />
Noy. 6, Reynolds, Mrs. Fred. ea)<br />
Nov. 9, Wingfield, H. 0 10 6<br />
Nov..17, Nash, T.A. . le 0<br />
Dec. 1, Gibbs, F. L. A. 010 6<br />
Dec. 6, Finch, Madame 113 6<br />
Dec. 15, Egbert, Henry 0 5 0<br />
Dec. 15, Muir, Ward . : P16<br />
Dec. 15, Sherwood, Mrs. A. . 010 O<br />
Dec. 18, Sheppard, A. T. 010 6<br />
Dec. 18, 8. F. G. : 010 0<br />
<br />
1906.<br />
Jan. 2, Jacobs, W. W. . : 7b 8 0<br />
Jan. 6, Wilkins, W. H. (Legacy) 50 0 0<br />
Jan. 10, Middlemas, Commander A. C. 0 10 0<br />
130<br />
COMMITTEE NOTES.<br />
<br />
— 1<br />
<br />
rYNHE first meeting of the committee for the<br />
<br />
year 1906 was held at the Society’s offices,<br />
<br />
39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s Gate, on Mon-<br />
day, January 8th. :<br />
<br />
The year opened auspiciously with an elect on<br />
of twenty-three members and associates.<br />
<br />
The three members of the committee who, under<br />
the Memorandum and Articles of Association,<br />
are bound to,retire were Sir Henry Bergne, Mr.<br />
A. W. 4 Beckett, and Mr. Austin Dobson, These<br />
gentlemen resigned, submitted their names for<br />
re-election, and were re-elected in due course.<br />
<br />
The next question to be considered by the com-<br />
mittee was the appointment of a sub-committee to<br />
settle the report for the past year, and Sir Henry<br />
Bergne and Mr. A. Hope Hawkins kindly con-<br />
sented to pass the draft. This, when it has been<br />
settled, will as usual be circulated to all the<br />
members.<br />
<br />
There were two or three important cases before<br />
the committee for discussion. In one, referring to<br />
the insufficiency of a publisher’s accounts, the<br />
committee decided to appoint an accountant on<br />
behalf of the member to go fully into the matter<br />
and check the details. In another the com-<br />
mittee decided, subject to the approval of the<br />
Society’s solicitors, to print a letter in The Author.<br />
No legal remedy existed, but the committee thought<br />
it essential to bring the facts to the notice of the<br />
members of the Society through the columns of<br />
The Author. ‘here was another case, referring to<br />
the infringement of artistic copyright, which,<br />
owing to the unsatisfactory state of the artistic<br />
copyright law, contained many legal difficulties.<br />
In consequence, the committee decided to take<br />
counsel’s opinion before any further action was<br />
sanctioned. On the other cases it is impossible to<br />
report, owing to their confidential nature. The<br />
Secretary reported that he had received during the<br />
past month another letter from the Foreign Office,<br />
with reference to Egypt and the Berne Convention.<br />
With the consent of the Foreign Office, the<br />
correspondence will be printed in one of the coming<br />
numbers of Z’e Author. It would appear that under<br />
existing arrangements it is possible to protect the<br />
copyright property of English authors in the mixed<br />
tribunals in Heypt.<br />
<br />
The Secretary announced to the committee two<br />
donations to the pension fund—one from Mr. W.<br />
W. Jacobs—an amount recovered through the<br />
Society’s agency for infringement of copyright in<br />
Norway, and the other a sum of £50 left under<br />
the will of the late Mr. W. H. Wilkins.<br />
<br />
oo<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THER AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
Cases,<br />
<br />
During the past month six cases have passed<br />
through the secretary’s hands. One referred to<br />
the settlement of a contract. This has not as yet<br />
been terminated. One referred to accounts, and<br />
in this case the accounts have been delivered and<br />
forwarded to the member. One referred to a<br />
demand for publication and money due. This<br />
has been settled by the editor consenting to pub-<br />
lish within the next two months and pay the<br />
amount due on publication. The author has<br />
agreed to the arrangement. ‘Two of the others<br />
were demands for money for articles that had been<br />
published. In the one case the cheque has been for-<br />
warded to the author, in the other the editor has<br />
refrained so far from answering the secretary’s<br />
letters. The last case was for the return of a<br />
MS. As this has only just been placed in the<br />
secretary’s hands the editor has not as yet had<br />
time to reply.<br />
<br />
Of the cases mentioned in the previous issue of<br />
The Author there are still four unsettled. Two of<br />
these refer to actions abroad, one in America and<br />
one in Canada, and will take some time to negotiate.<br />
The others are still in the course of negotiation,<br />
but one of the demands for money is in an un-<br />
satisfactory condition, as the editor repudiates<br />
liability and refuses to answer letters, and purports<br />
to hold letters from the author, of which the latter<br />
has no copies. Members of the society cannot be<br />
advised too strongly of the importance of retaining<br />
copies of their letters, otherwise, energetic action<br />
on the part of the committee is almost impossible,<br />
as at any moment they may be met with a letter<br />
which, having escaped the recollection of the mem-<br />
ber, upsets the legal position of the contract and<br />
the member’s demands.<br />
<br />
1+<br />
<br />
January Elections.<br />
<br />
Alwyn, Harold Crowther Wentworth House,<br />
Folkestone.<br />
<br />
Berry, William Grinton, 838, Vesta Road,<br />
<br />
M.A. Bromley.<br />
<br />
Branson, William P, 8. 59, Gordon Square,<br />
WiC,<br />
<br />
Buckton, Miss Alice M. Sesame House, 434,<br />
Acacia Road, St.<br />
<br />
John’s Wood, N.W.<br />
34, Westbourne Gar-<br />
dens, W.<br />
Chettle, Blandford,<br />
Dorset.<br />
<br />
16, Montgomerie Cres-<br />
cent, Glasgow, W.<br />
121, Rue de Varenne,<br />
<br />
Paris.<br />
<br />
Burdon, The Rev. H. N.<br />
Castleman, Henry C. ff. .<br />
Clark, Miss Margaret S.<br />
<br />
Dawson, Francis War-<br />
<br />
rington<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
2, St. James’ Square<br />
S.W.<br />
<br />
4, Grange Road, Gun-<br />
nersbury, W.<br />
<br />
49, Drayton Gardens,<br />
S. Kensington.<br />
<br />
c/o. Agent-General for<br />
Queensland, Victoria<br />
Street, Westminster.<br />
<br />
c/o. Messrs. Grindlay &<br />
Co., 54, Parliament<br />
Street, S.W.<br />
<br />
25, Colville Road, Bays-<br />
water.<br />
<br />
74, Carlisle Mansions,<br />
Victoria Street, S.W.<br />
<br />
Falmouth,<br />
The Viscountess<br />
<br />
Maxwell, H. B.<br />
<br />
Middlemass, Commander<br />
<br />
A. C., R.N.<br />
Mills, Miss Ethel<br />
<br />
Norman, F. J. : :<br />
<br />
Palmer, J. E.<br />
Prichard, Mrs. Hesketh .<br />
<br />
Rowland-Brown, Miss Othey Grove, Harrow<br />
Lilian (Rowland Grey) Weald.<br />
Sergeant, P. W. . . The Authors’ Club, 8,<br />
Whitehall Court,<br />
S.W.<br />
<br />
Still, Alfred Yette Lodge, Ellesmere<br />
Park, Eccles, Lanca-<br />
shire.<br />
<br />
Bank of Scotland<br />
House, Callander,<br />
Perthshire.<br />
<br />
229, West 139th Street,<br />
Manhattan, New<br />
York City, U.S.A.<br />
<br />
Charlottenburg, Uh-<br />
landstrasse, 194.<br />
<br />
Royal Societies Club,<br />
St. James’, S.W.<br />
<br />
The Anchorage, Como,<br />
Province of Quebec,<br />
Canada; Constitu-<br />
tional Club, W.C.<br />
<br />
Thomson, William Harold<br />
<br />
Vance, Louis Joseph<br />
<br />
Wentzel, Frau Grace D.<br />
Barlow von<br />
Whyte, Frederic W.<br />
<br />
Wintle, Gilbert C. H.<br />
<br />
———<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY MEMBERS OF<br />
THE SOCIETY.<br />
—-——<br />
<br />
(In the following list we do not propose to give more<br />
than the titles, prices, publishers, etce., 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 particulars, )<br />
<br />
ART.<br />
<br />
SocIAL CARICATURE IN THE 18TH CENTURY. By Gro.<br />
<br />
Pasvon. 15} x 11}. 144 pp. Methuen. £2 12s. 6d.n.<br />
BIOGRAPHY,<br />
JosEPH CHAMBERLAIN, IMPERIALIST. By N. MURRELL<br />
Marris. 71x 5, 275 pp. Routledge. Is.<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
131<br />
<br />
DRAMA,<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR’S APOLOGY FROM<br />
FESsION. By BERNARD SHAW.<br />
by John Corbin. 7 x 44.<br />
60c. n.<br />
<br />
Mrs. WARREN’S PRO-<br />
With an Introduction<br />
66 pp. New York. Bretano’s.<br />
<br />
EDUCATIONAL.<br />
<br />
AN EMBASSY TO THE GREAT MOGUL.<br />
A SosgourN AT LHa-ssa. 112 pp.<br />
SINTRAM DE LA MOTTE-FOUQUE. 140 pp.<br />
THE VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN JAMES. 118 pp.<br />
PRESCOTT’S CONQUEST OF PERU (abridged).<br />
THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM. 132 pp.<br />
<br />
THE ADVENTURE OF MoNTLUC. 117 pp.<br />
ENGLISH ScxHoon Texts. Edited by W. H. D. Rouse,<br />
<br />
136 pp.<br />
<br />
128 pp.<br />
<br />
Litt. D. 6} x 44. Blackie. 6d.<br />
<br />
STORIES FROM GRIMM. Edited by A. R. Hope Mon-<br />
CRIEFF. (Modern Language Series.) 6} x 4}. 122pp.<br />
Blackie. Is. 6d.<br />
<br />
FICTION.<br />
<br />
A SICILIAN MARRIAGE.<br />
5. 308 pp. White. 6s.<br />
<br />
THE EXPIATION OF EUGENE.<br />
FOUR. 73x 5. 452 pp.<br />
<br />
THROUGH THE RAIN. x<br />
302 pp. J. Long. 6s.<br />
<br />
THE Scar. By Francis W. Dawson. 7% x 5}. 310 pp.<br />
Methuen. 6s.<br />
<br />
Six WomEN. By VICTORIA CROSS.<br />
Werner Laurie. © 6s.<br />
<br />
AT SUNWICH PoRT.<br />
Will Owen. 188 pp.<br />
x 53. Newnes. 6d.<br />
<br />
THE Beauty SHop. By DANIEL WOODROFFE.<br />
338 pp. Werner Laurie. 6s.<br />
<br />
THE ARROW OF THE‘NorTH. By R. H. Forster. 7} x<br />
5. 316 pp. J. Long. 6s.<br />
<br />
THE House oF RIDDLES. 3y DoROTHEA GERARD.<br />
7% x 5. 320 pp. Hutchinson. 6s.<br />
<br />
Her HIGHNKSS. By FRED WHISHAW. 7} x 5.<br />
J. Long. 6e,<br />
STELLA FREGELIUS. -A<br />
H. RIDER HAGGARD.<br />
Longmans. 3s. 6d.<br />
PEARL, or A PASSING<br />
<br />
By DoUGLAS SLADEN. 7} x<br />
<br />
By Freperic H. BAL-<br />
Greening. 6s.<br />
<br />
By Mrs. HUGHES-GIBB, 7} X 5}.<br />
<br />
7% x 5. 293 pp.<br />
<br />
3y W. W. JAcoss. Illustrated by<br />
(Newnes’ Sixpenny Novels.) 83<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
7% x 5.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
317 pp.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Tale of Three Destinies. By<br />
New Edition. 8 x 53. 361 pp.<br />
<br />
3RIGHTNESS. By OLIVE KATH-<br />
<br />
ERINE Parr. 74 x 53. 260 pp. Sands & Co. 3s. 6d.<br />
GARDENING.<br />
<br />
PICTORIAL PRACTICAL FLOWER GARDENING. Edited<br />
<br />
By W. P. Wricut. 74x 5. 152 pp. Cassell. 1s. n.<br />
HISTORY:<br />
<br />
ByY-PATHS OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE History, By J. Por-<br />
TER Briscon, F.R.S.L. 73x 5. 160 pp. Saxton.<br />
Nottingham. 3s, 6d.n.<br />
<br />
LITERARY.<br />
<br />
TREASURE OF THE HUMBLE. 3y MAURICE<br />
Translated by ALFRED SuTRO. 6}<br />
Humphreys. 6s, n.<br />
<br />
THE<br />
MAETERLINCK.<br />
6, - 218 pp.<br />
<br />
MISCELLANEOUS.<br />
<br />
CHILDREN'S ANSWERS. Shrewd, witty, nonsensical, and<br />
<br />
pathetic. Collected by J. H. Burn. New and Enlarged<br />
64 x 49.<br />
<br />
Edition. 282 pp. Treherne. 2s. n.<br />
<br />
<br />
132<br />
<br />
PAMPHLETS.<br />
<br />
HAPPINESS AND THRIFT. Being the Substance of an<br />
‘Address to the Members of the Booksellers’ Provident<br />
Institution. By THE Rigut Hon. LORD AVEBURY,<br />
Macmillan. ls. n.<br />
<br />
POETRY.<br />
<br />
INNocENCcIES. By KATHERINE TYNAN. 7] X 5. TOpp.<br />
Bullen. 3s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
A LADY oF Kricock. With Other Lays and Relays.<br />
By J. M. Lowry. 73 x5. 71 pp. Dublin: Hodges.<br />
<br />
London: Simpkin. 1s. n.<br />
<br />
POLITICAL.<br />
<br />
FiscaL RerorM. Speeches delivered by the Right. Hon.<br />
A. J. Balfour, from June, 1880 to December, 1905. With<br />
a Preface. 8} x 53. 280 pp. Longmans. 2s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
REPRINTS.<br />
<br />
VERSES AND TRANSLATIONS, By CHARLES STUART<br />
CALVERLEY. With an Introduction by Owen Seaman.<br />
184 pp. Blackie. Is. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
THE Last Essays or ELIA.<br />
With an Introduction by Augustine Birrell.<br />
Blackie. 2s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
SELECTED POEMS OF ROBERT BURNS.<br />
duction (40 pp.). By ANDREW LANG.<br />
Kegan Paul. ls. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
LYRISTS OF THE RESTORATION. From Sir Edward<br />
Sherburne to William Congreve. Selected and Edited<br />
by JOHN and CONSTANCE MASEFIELD. 5 X 3}. 282 pp.<br />
Grant Richards. 3s. 6d. n.<br />
<br />
By CHARLES LAMB.<br />
296 pp.<br />
<br />
With an Intro-<br />
64 x 4. 223 pp.<br />
<br />
THEOLOGY.<br />
<br />
THE SACRED TENTH, or<br />
ANCIENT AND MODERN.<br />
Two Vols. 82 x 53.<br />
<br />
STUDIES IN TITHE-GIVING,<br />
By H. Lanspeun, D.D.<br />
752 pp. S.P.C.K. 16s.<br />
<br />
TRAVEL.<br />
<br />
InDIA. By MORTIMER MENPES. Text by FLORA ANNIE<br />
STEEL. 9 x 6}. 216 pp. Black. 20s. n.<br />
<br />
THE WoRLD oF To-Day. A Survey of the Lands and<br />
Peoples of the Globe as seen in Travel and Commerce.<br />
By A. R. Hope Moncrierr. Vol. IV. 103 x 73.<br />
266 pp. The Gresham Publishing Co.<br />
<br />
THE AFRICANDER LAND. By A. R. COLQUHOUN.<br />
<br />
93 x<br />
6. 438 pp. Murray. 16s. n.<br />
<br />
ri<br />
<br />
LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL<br />
NOTES.<br />
<br />
— 1<br />
<br />
E regret that in the magazine contents for<br />
January, we missed chronicling an article<br />
that appeared in the December number of<br />
<br />
The Monthly Review, by Mr. Eden Phillpotts,<br />
<br />
entitled “'To the Lamp-Bearers.” We take this<br />
opportunity of repairing the omission by recom-<br />
mending this. interesting essay to our members.<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
Mr. Phillpotts uses De Quincy’s “ Life of Goethe ”<br />
as the germ for some thoughts on other great<br />
writers, such as Ruskin, Rabelais, Aristotle.<br />
<br />
The Seatonian prize of the University of Cam-<br />
bridge, 1905, has been obtained by the Rev. A. C.<br />
Deane, for a poem on St. Columba. St. Columba<br />
died on June 9th, 597, and the incidents described<br />
in the poem are derived from the chronicle of<br />
Adamnan, ninth abbot of Iona.<br />
<br />
“The Sacred Tenth, or Studies in Tithe-giving,<br />
Ancient and Modern,” is the title of a work<br />
written by the Rev. Henry Lansdell, and pub-<br />
lished by the Society for Promoting Christian<br />
Knowledge. The author traces the history of the<br />
practice of tithe-paying, and argues the need and<br />
possibility of reform in charitable giving and<br />
of a general resumption of the practice of tithe-<br />
paying.<br />
<br />
Messrs. Harper Bros. have recently published<br />
Vol. iv. of Mr. Poultney Bigelow’s “‘ History of the<br />
German Struggle for Liberty,” which closes with<br />
the popular upheaval of 1848. Mr. Bigelow is at<br />
present in Boston, where he is delivering a course<br />
of twenty-five lectures before the department of<br />
jurisprudence, Boston university. The subject of<br />
the lectures is “Colonial History and Adminis-<br />
tration.”<br />
<br />
Mr. Desmond F. T. Coke, author of “Sandford<br />
and Merton,” “ The Dog from Clarkson’s,” etc., has<br />
written a story which attempts to paint life as it is<br />
at one of our great public schools, and to satirise<br />
false sentiment and melodrama. The book is<br />
called the “Bending of a Twig,” and is pub-<br />
lished by Messrs. Chapman and Hall, at 6s, It<br />
will be illustrated with many photographs of<br />
scenes at Shrewsbury, where the action of the<br />
story passes.<br />
<br />
“The Beauty Shop” is the title of a novel<br />
which Mr. Werner Laurie published last month.<br />
It is from the pen of Daniel Woodroffe, author of<br />
‘Tangled Trinities.” The story concerns a Bond<br />
Street beauty shop, and the art of the beauty<br />
doctor is exhibited as a grave social peril. The<br />
schemes by which this establishment gathers<br />
within its meshes of deception and blackmail both<br />
rich and poor, form the purport of the story.<br />
<br />
Mr. Werner Laurie has also published Victoria<br />
Cross’s new book “Six Women,” which in the<br />
main is oriental in character.<br />
<br />
Messrs. Joseph Williams, Limited, have recently<br />
published, at the price of 1s. net., a work entitled<br />
“Songs for Children,” set to music by L. Budgen.<br />
The songs include “ Simple Simon,” ‘Good King<br />
Arthur,” “Mr. Do’s the Man for Me,” “ Dame Get<br />
Up and Bake Your Pies,” ‘We Willie Winkie,”<br />
“Try Again.”<br />
<br />
“The Rosebud Wall and Other Poems” is the<br />
title given to a collection of verses from the pen of<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Agnes H. Begbie, published in Edinburgh by Wm.<br />
J. Hay, and in London by 8. Bagster & Sons,<br />
Limited. Most of the pieces deal with nature<br />
and the deity, and all of them are reverent in<br />
conception.<br />
<br />
* Sir Theodore Martin will publish shortly, through<br />
Mr. John Murray, a volume of “ Monographs,”<br />
containing biographical sketches of Garrick, Mac-<br />
ready, Rachel and Baron Stockmar. The volume<br />
is based on articles published in the Quarterly<br />
Review and elsewhere many years ago.<br />
<br />
Mrs. Mona Caird is publishing a series of travel<br />
sketches under the title of “ Wanderings in Pro-<br />
vence.” In this work, which Mr. Joseph Pennell<br />
and Mr. Edward Synge will illustrate, consider-<br />
able attention is given to the associations of<br />
the region with French history and with the<br />
troubadours.<br />
<br />
Miss Alice C. C. Gaussen has written a memoir<br />
of Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, the friend of Dr.<br />
Johnson and the translator of Epictetus. Mrs.<br />
Carter was a prominent member of the Bas Bleu<br />
— and enjoyed not a little notoriety in her<br />
<br />
ay.<br />
<br />
Messrs. Longmans & Co. announce the publica-<br />
tion of “The Elements of Geometry in Theory<br />
and Practice,” by A. E. Pierpoint. The work,<br />
which is published at the price of 2s., is based on<br />
the report of the committee appointed by the<br />
Mathematical Association, 1902, and comprises<br />
the subject matter of Euclid, with an experi-<br />
mental section and additional theorems and<br />
problems.<br />
<br />
The latest additions to Messrs. Geo. Newnes’<br />
series of sixpenny copyright novels are, Mr. Rider<br />
Haggard’s “ Nada, the Lily,” and Mr. Douglas<br />
Sladen’s story of old Heidelberg, “ Trincolax.”<br />
<br />
Mr. and Mrs. C. N. Williamson have written a<br />
story which they have entitled “ Lady Betty across<br />
the Water.” It tells of the experiences and adven-<br />
tures of a young English girl who goes to America<br />
for the first time. It also compares English and<br />
American manners.<br />
<br />
Messrs. Chatto & Windus will publish shortly a<br />
new vovel by Mrs. Campbell Praed, the title of<br />
which is “The Lost Earl of Ellan.” he story<br />
deals with the wreck of the Quetta, which took place<br />
off Thursday Island in 1889. The hero of the<br />
book is a lost earl—hence the title.<br />
<br />
“In the Sixties and Seventies,” by Laura Hain<br />
Friswell, which Messrs. Hutchinson & Co. pub-<br />
lished recently, has gone into a second edition.<br />
The book has been extensively reviewed in England,<br />
and an edition for the United States is also in<br />
preparation.<br />
<br />
“A Chaplet from Florence” is the title of a<br />
collection of sonnets by M. G. J. Kinloch, author<br />
of “A History of Scotland, Chiefly in its Hccle-<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR. 133<br />
<br />
siastical Aspect,” and ‘A Song-Book of the<br />
Soul.” The volume, which contains twenty<br />
photogravure plates illustrating views in Florence<br />
and famous paintings in Florence, is published<br />
at the price of 10s. 6d. net. Copies can be<br />
obtained at Giennini, Piazza Pitti, 20, Florence, or<br />
from Messrs. Sands & Co., 23, Bedford Street,<br />
Strand, London, and 13, Bank Street, Edinburgh.<br />
<br />
At a meeting of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge,<br />
No. 2076, held at Freemasons’ Hall, London, early<br />
in January, the following resolution was unani-<br />
mously passed: “That official recognition and<br />
sanction be given by this lodge to, and permission<br />
to use the lodge emblems in, the medal about to be<br />
issued by Brother Carl C. Wiebe, Past Grand<br />
Master of Hamburg, in commemoration of the<br />
jubilee anniversary of Brother Robert Freke<br />
Gould’s initiation into Masonry.”<br />
<br />
The first of Mr. St. John Lacy’s series of concerts<br />
for 1906 took place on Wednesday, January 17th,<br />
at the Clarence Hall, Imperial Hotel, Cork. The<br />
next two concerts will be held on February 21st<br />
and March 17th, respectively. Among others it is<br />
hoped that the following works will be performed<br />
during the season :—<br />
<br />
Bach Concerto in D major (piano and strings) ;<br />
Bazzini, quartet in D minor (strings) ;_ Beethoven,<br />
the kreutzer sonata (piano and violin); Bossi,<br />
sonata in E minor (violin and piano) ; Gade, trio<br />
in F (piano, violin, and ’cello).<br />
<br />
Miss Florence Warden will produce, at the<br />
Great Queen Street Theatre, in February, a comedy<br />
written by herself, entitled ‘“‘Parlez-vous Frangais ?”<br />
Members of the Press and managers of theatres<br />
are specially invited, and members of the dramatic<br />
profession will be welcome.<br />
<br />
“The Harlequin King,” adapted from the<br />
German of Rudolf Lothar, by Louis N. Parker<br />
and Selwyn Brinton, was produced at the Imperial<br />
Theatre on January 38rd. The Harlequin (Mr.<br />
Lewis Waller) is the living image of the King,<br />
and, after quarrelling with the latter, in a fit of<br />
fury kills him and assumes his position. The<br />
natural results of this impersonation form the<br />
main theme of the play. In addition to Mr,<br />
Lewis Waller, the caste includes Miss Evelyn<br />
Millard, Miss Mary Rorke, Mr. Norman McKinnel,<br />
and Miss Brooke.<br />
<br />
Mr. Henry Arthur Jones’ new comedy, “'The<br />
Heroic Stubbs,” was produced at Terry’s Theatre<br />
on January 24th. “The Heroic Stubbs” is<br />
a bootmaker, whose admiration for one of his<br />
fair customers is the spur behind all his endeavour ;<br />
although he recognises that the object of his<br />
worship belongs to an entirely different social<br />
sphere. When, therefore, he hears the details of a<br />
scheme which he considers likely to wreck her<br />
domestic happiness, he feels morally bound to go to<br />
134<br />
<br />
ler assistance. His adventures whilst engaged in<br />
this labour of love, and the success which he finally<br />
achieves, form the purport of the play. The caste<br />
included Mr. James Welch in the title part, Miss<br />
Gertrude Kingston and Mr. Dennie Eadie.<br />
<br />
—_—_—_———_+—>_o—_<br />
<br />
PARIS NOTES.<br />
<br />
— 1<br />
<br />
HE book, “ Jean Christophe,” by M. Romain<br />
Rolland, which has won the prize of 5,000<br />
francs awarded by the review, La Vie<br />
<br />
Heureuse, for the best novel of the year, is the story of<br />
the life of a musician. The novel is in three volumes,<br />
“T’Aube,” “Le Matin,’ and “ L’Adolescent.”<br />
Tt commences with the birth of the child in a little<br />
Bhenish town, where his father is violinist at the<br />
theatre and his grandfather had been conductor of<br />
the orchestra for the Grand Duke’s concerts. We<br />
follow day by day the progress of the baby-child,<br />
and are initiated into all his secret thoughts and<br />
feelings. The old grandfather, a sturdy, upright,<br />
<br />
rugged man, with a kindly heart, is introduced to<br />
us; the father a contemptibly weak nature and an<br />
<br />
inveterate drunkard. Jean Christophe’s mother, a<br />
typical German wife of the household drudge<br />
order, devoted to her husband, family and home.<br />
Of course, it is obvious that the author has been<br />
inspired by the life of Beethoven for very much in<br />
this novel. The child’s home and surroundings,<br />
the reprobate father, through whom the boy’s early<br />
days were clouded and his nature warped, the<br />
young musician’s first compositions which, in the<br />
novel, date from his eighth year, his independent<br />
character and hatred of patronage, his keen<br />
sensitiveness and difficult character, together with<br />
all his family troubles and pecuniary difficulties,<br />
are minutely described, and remind one strongly<br />
of Beethoven’s biography. As a matter of fact, it<br />
is somewhat confusing, for one is inclined to wonder<br />
all the time which is history and which fiction.<br />
As a psychological study, it would be more<br />
interesting without this dual personality.<br />
<br />
‘‘ T Etat et la Liberté,” by M. Waldeck-Roussean,<br />
is a collection of speeches and articles by the late<br />
eminent statesman, several of which are of special<br />
interest at the present moment. “ L’Eglise ouverte<br />
a la foi et non A la politique” is the subject of a<br />
speech made at Montreuil-le-Gust in 1879. In<br />
another speech, “Les Congrégations contre la<br />
Republique,” pronounced in 1880, he says: ‘Le<br />
Gouvernement n’ a aucune animosité contre cette<br />
Eglise francaise, qui, il y a deux siecles, par la<br />
voix de ses évéques, condamnait si hautement ces<br />
doctrines ultramontaines et anti-nationales sous<br />
lesquelles on veut aujourd’ hui la courber... . Il<br />
<br />
THER AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
y a quelques semaines, nous avons fondé une<br />
Société d’agriculture. ... . Nous en avons arrété<br />
les statuts, puis nous les avons soumis a M. le<br />
Préfet, et comme ils ne contenaient rien que de<br />
licite, nous avons immédiatement été autorisés, . : .<br />
Eb bien! ce que nous venons de faire, c’est ce que<br />
le Gouvernement veut que les congrégations<br />
fassent. C’est le dernier mot de sa tyrannie et de<br />
sa persécution.” Other interesting chapters are on<br />
“Te ‘Travail, levier des Destinées humaines,”<br />
“Te Clergé et les Elections,” “De PAutorité,”<br />
“Défense de la Politique du ministere ‘ Gam-<br />
betta,” “La Loi Municipale,” “ La Loi sur les<br />
Récidivistes,” &c.<br />
<br />
Among the new novels are: “ Le Mauvais Pas,”<br />
by Jacques des Gachons; “Cousine Laura,” by M.<br />
Marcel Prévost ; ‘‘Sous le Fardeau,” by J. H.<br />
Rosny ; “ Les Etourderies de la Chanvinesse,” by<br />
Léon de Tinseau.<br />
<br />
M. Paul Doumer has written a book ‘entitled<br />
“Livre de mes fils,” which is attracting a certain<br />
amount of attention just now. The volume is<br />
divided into four parts : the man, the family, the<br />
citizen, country.<br />
<br />
Another book by a politician is entitled “ Idées<br />
contemporaines.” It is by M. Poincaré and treats<br />
of widely diverse subjects.<br />
<br />
Some recent historical and biographical works<br />
are the following : “* Le Comte Paul Stroganof,” by<br />
the Grand Duke Nicolas Mikhailovitch ; ‘‘ Six Mois<br />
en Mandchourie,” by M. Ivan de Schneck. The<br />
author started from St. Petersburg, February 24th,<br />
1904, with Veretschaguine, and went to Siberia,<br />
Moukden, Port Arthur, Dalny. He describes the<br />
catastrophe of Petropavlosk, the death of Verets-<br />
chaguine, the siege of Port Arthur, &c.<br />
<br />
Another book of interest is “ La Carriére d’un<br />
navigateur,” by Prince Albert of Monaco ; and<br />
“La Fin de notre ére,” by Tolstoi; ‘ Michel<br />
Ange,” by M. R, Rolland; “ La Russie, au dix-<br />
huitiéme siécle,” by M. Emile Haumant; “ La<br />
France ¢t I’Italie,” by M. A. Billot, ex-ambassador ;<br />
‘Histoire des relations du Japon avec i’Europe,<br />
aux seizieme et dix-huitiéme siécles,” by M. H.<br />
Nagoake, attaché to the Japanese legation of Paris ;<br />
“Te Maroc pittoresque,” by M. Jean du Taillis ;<br />
“J, Empire du travail” (Life in the United States),<br />
by M. Anadoli.<br />
<br />
Among translations from the English : “ Les<br />
Exploits du Colonel Gérard,” by Conan Doyle ;<br />
“THistoire des Gadsby,” by Rudyard Kipling ;<br />
“Une jeune Anglaise & Paris,” by C. Maud;<br />
“Hypocrite sanctifié,” by Max Beerbohm.<br />
<br />
Money prizes varying in amount from £120 to<br />
£5 have been awarded by the Société des Gens de<br />
Lettres for literary work, to the following authors :<br />
Mmes. Pommerol, Gevin Cassal, Jeanne Leroy<br />
Brada, Dalvy, Jean Barancy, and to M. M.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Reibrach, Vergniol, Lepelletier, Labitte, Rosay,<br />
du Bled, Saint Maurice, Grison, de Grave, Jho<br />
Pale, des Granges, Boyer d’Agen, Guiraud, Pourot,<br />
Poulailler, Andre.<br />
<br />
The death of Paul Meurice, at the age of eighty-<br />
seven, has taken away one of the most sincere and<br />
devoted admirers of Victor Hugo. He was the poet's<br />
executor, and for many years had devoted nearly all<br />
his time to the publication of the last and complete<br />
edition of Victor Hugo’s works. M. Paul Meurice<br />
wrote novels, translated several of Shakespeare’s<br />
plays, and adapted many other plays for the<br />
French stage. ;<br />
<br />
A voyage in Greece is being organised for the<br />
month of March by the Revue génerale des Sciences<br />
pures et appliquées. M. Gaston Deschamps will<br />
have the scientific management of the cruise, and<br />
will give lectures on board on the art and civiliza-<br />
tion of ancient Greece. When visiting the various<br />
sites and monuments, he will act as_ historical<br />
guide.<br />
<br />
The Cercle de la Librairie has now opened a fresh<br />
bureau for the protection of French literary and<br />
artistic rights abroad.<br />
<br />
In the Revue des Deux Mondes, Maurice Barres<br />
continues his “ Voyage 4 Sparte,” M. Goyau writes<br />
on “Le Péril primaire,” and M. Bruneticre on<br />
“Les époques de la Comédie de Moliére.” In<br />
La Revue there is an admirable article by Jean<br />
Finot, entitled “ La Volonté, comme moyen de pro-<br />
longer la vie” ; and in the second number of the<br />
month an article by M. Georges Pellissier on “ Les<br />
Femmes écrivains en France,” the conclusion of an<br />
anonymous article commenced in the preceding<br />
number, entitled “Tues Dessous de la Révolution<br />
russe”; and an exquisite poem, “ Solitaire,” by<br />
Sully Prudhomme.<br />
<br />
Maurice Donnay’s play, “ Paraitre,” is soon to<br />
be given at the Théatre Francais, and M. Claretie<br />
has just received a comedy, in two acts, by Daniel<br />
Riche, entitled ‘‘ Prétexte.”<br />
<br />
The success of “ La Rafale” continues, but it is<br />
announced that the next play to be given at the<br />
Gymnase is “ Benjamine,” by Jean Aicard.<br />
<br />
Sardou has recently read a new piece to the<br />
actors of the Variétés.<br />
<br />
“Vers l’Amour,” a comedy in five acts, by M. Léon<br />
Gandillot, has had great success at the Théatre<br />
Antoine. It is an episode taken from the Mont-<br />
martre life of Paris. ‘The characters are all well<br />
drawn, and the whole play is convincing.<br />
<br />
Anys HALLARD.<br />
<br />
—____+—>—+- —____<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
135<br />
<br />
COPYRIGHT CASES IN THE UNITED<br />
STATES.<br />
<br />
—_+—@ +<br />
<br />
[Reprinted from the United States Publishers’ Weekly, of<br />
December 23rd, 1905. ]<br />
<br />
i.<br />
<br />
NOTICE IN BOOKS PRINTED<br />
INVALIDATES COPYRIGHT.<br />
<br />
HE following is the decision rendered by<br />
Judge Kohlsaat in the suit brought by<br />
the G. & C. Merriam Company in the<br />
<br />
Circuit Court of the United States for the<br />
Northern District of Illinois (Eastern Division)<br />
to restrain the United Dictionary Company, of<br />
Chicago, from publishing and offering for sale<br />
copies of “ Webster’s High School Dictionary ”<br />
and “ Webster’s International Dictionary,” which<br />
the Merriam Company published in England<br />
jointly with George Bell & Sons, with the<br />
omission of the American copyright notice :—<br />
<br />
“The question in this case is whether one who<br />
publishes in this country a copyrighted book,<br />
containing due notice of copyright, and who sub-<br />
sequently takes the plates which are made from<br />
type set within the United States, and were used<br />
in printing said copyrighted book, to England,<br />
and there in conjunction with another publisher<br />
publishes another edition of the book from said<br />
plates, intentionally omitting therefrom the notice<br />
of the American copyright, can maintain a suit for<br />
infringement against another who imports a copy of<br />
the English book and proceeds toreproduce the same.<br />
<br />
“The only limit for the purposes of this hearing<br />
placed upon the right of the English publisher is<br />
contained in a written contract with him, to the<br />
effect that he should not import the book or sell it<br />
for the purpose of importation into the United<br />
States. No breach of this condition is asserted.<br />
Defendant imported a copy of the English publi-<br />
cation ‘for use,’ as he states, and ‘not for sale,’<br />
for the purpose of reproducing it in the United<br />
States. So far as the record shows, this and<br />
another subsequently imported by defendant were<br />
the only volumes of the English edition in the<br />
country. Defendant thereupon proceeded to<br />
photograph the book and make plates therefrom<br />
in this country, and to reproduce said imported<br />
book. The bill herein was filed to restrain defen-<br />
dant from such act. The case is now oefore the<br />
Court on final hearing.<br />
<br />
“The Copyright Act prohibits the importation of<br />
a book not made from plates from type set in the<br />
United States, during the life of the copyright,<br />
but contains no prohibition as to a book made<br />
from type set in this country as was the case here,<br />
In the latter case there is no restriction placed<br />
upon importation, except that imposed by the<br />
<br />
OMISSION OF ABROAD<br />
<br />
<br />
1386<br />
<br />
Revenue Act, which it is not necessary here to<br />
consider. So far as disclosed in the agreed state-<br />
ment of facts, the two books in question were<br />
rightfully in the possession of defendant—as much<br />
so as though complainant had in person delivered<br />
the same to it without condition. If such an act<br />
constituted a publication within the terms of<br />
Section 4962 of the statute, which provides that<br />
no person shall maintain an action for the in-<br />
fringement of his copyright unless he shall give<br />
notice of his copyright by inserting in the several<br />
copies of every edition published the words pre-<br />
scribed by the section, then complainant falls<br />
within the prohibition, and cannot maintain this<br />
suit. I can see no distinction in legal effect<br />
between the status of the imported book under<br />
the above circumstances and that of a book pub-<br />
lished in this country from plates made here which<br />
omits the requirements of notice prescribed in said<br />
Section 4962.<br />
<br />
“‘ Any person desiring to take advantage of the<br />
copyright law must follow its provisions strictly :<br />
Wheaton v. Peters, 6 Peters, 593; Thompson v.<br />
Hubbard, 131 U.S. 123; Osgood v. Aloe Instru-<br />
ment Co., 88 Fed. 470.<br />
<br />
“Tt was held in Gottsberger v. Aldine Pub. Co.,<br />
33 Fed. Rep. 381, that a sale of one volume<br />
constituted a publication and came within the<br />
prohibition of the copyright statute. In the case<br />
of Larrows-Loisette v. O'Loughlin et al., 88 Fed.<br />
Rep. 896, the Court decided that one claiming<br />
copyright could not free himself from the strict<br />
terms of the statute by disposing of or printing<br />
books in which copyright is claimed, to be used<br />
by others under a contract which bound them not<br />
to disclose the contents.<br />
<br />
“The volumes in question amounted in my<br />
opinion to such a publication as will bar the<br />
complainant from maintaining this suit. What<br />
might have been the effect if the English edition<br />
had retained the notice of copyright appearing in<br />
the American edition need not be discussed. Such<br />
a notice was of no moment in England, and might,<br />
conceivably, have been deemed detrimental to the<br />
sale of the book. The equities of the situation<br />
are with complainant, and it is with regret that I<br />
find myself driven to a legal conclusion which<br />
ignores them. The remedy rests with Congress<br />
and not with the Courts. The bill is dismissed<br />
for want of equity.”<br />
<br />
II.<br />
COPYRIGHT IN PAINTING UPHELD.<br />
<br />
For the second time a decision was handed<br />
down on December 18th in the Federal Courts,<br />
concerning the copyright of the painting “The<br />
Chorus,’ owned by the artist, W. Dendy Sadler,<br />
and exhibited in the ].ondon Royal Academy in<br />
1894. Judge Holt, of the U.S. District Court,<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
in New York, reiterating the opinion of Judge<br />
Townsend, of the United States Circuit Court of<br />
Appeals, rendered in November, 1904 (a substan-<br />
tial part of which was given in The Publishers’<br />
Weekly, May 13th, 1905), sustains the contention<br />
of the plaintiff, that, under the circumstances of<br />
the case, a painting or sculpture need not be<br />
marked “‘ copyright” to protect them from piracy,<br />
and granted an injunction. Emil Werckmeister<br />
brought the action against the American Litho-<br />
graph Company and the American Tobacco Com-<br />
pany, charging them with having violated his<br />
copyright in the painting of which he had obtained<br />
the rights from the artist for a photographic repro-<br />
duction.<br />
eg<br />
<br />
EGYPT AND THE BERNE CONVENTION.<br />
<br />
—<br />
<br />
T the meeting of the Committee of the Society<br />
of Authors, held in October, it was decided,<br />
owing to the increased sales of authors’<br />
<br />
works in Egypt, to make enquiries of the Foreign<br />
Office with a view to ascertain whether it were<br />
possible for English copyright to be protected in<br />
the mixed tribunals, or by Egypt’s adhesion to the<br />
Berne Convention. The following letter was<br />
accordingly written to Lord Lansdowne, who was<br />
then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs :-—<br />
[ Copy. |<br />
October 12th, 1905.<br />
<br />
The Most Noble The MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE, K.G.<br />
<br />
My Lorp,—I am desired by the Committee of the<br />
Society of Authors for whom, from time to time, your<br />
Lordship has obtained information concerning International<br />
Copyright relations, to enquire if a report could be obtained<br />
from Lord Cromer as to whether it would be desirable or<br />
possible for Egypt to join the Berne Convention, and the<br />
Additional Act of Paris.<br />
<br />
Since the occupation of Egypt the circulation of English<br />
books has increased enormously in that country, and as<br />
Egypt is not a party to the Berne Convention there<br />
appears to be no effective means to prevent pirated copies<br />
of English works from being sold there to the detriment of<br />
English authors.<br />
<br />
If there is no reason to the contrary, the adhesion of<br />
Egypt to the Berne Convention and the Additional Act of<br />
Paris would appear to be the best mode of meeting the<br />
difficulty, but before definitely proposing such a course,<br />
the Society of Authors would be very grateful if Lord<br />
Cromer’s opinion upon the subject could be ascertained.<br />
<br />
I beg to remain,<br />
Your Lordship’s obedient humble servant,<br />
(Signed) G. HERBERT THRING.<br />
<br />
And on November 10th, the Foreign Office, after<br />
kindly taking the matter in hand and making full<br />
enquiries from Egypt, wrote to the Secretary of the<br />
Society as follows :—<br />
FOREIGN OFFICE,<br />
November 10th, 1905.<br />
<br />
Srtr,—I am directed by the Marquess of Lansdowne to<br />
state that he referred to the Earl of Cromer, his Majesty's<br />
Agent and Consul General in Cairo, your letter of the<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
12th of October last, respecting the question whether it<br />
would be desirable or possible for Egypt to join the Berne<br />
Copyright Convention and the Additional Act of Paris.<br />
<br />
A despatch has now been received from his Lordship<br />
reporting that as long as the Egyptian Government is,<br />
owing to the Capitulations, unable to make a copyright law<br />
giving them the power to punish criminally any infringe-<br />
ments committed by Europeans, the adhesion of the<br />
Egyptian Government to the Berne Convention would<br />
give to foreigners no advantages over those now conferred<br />
on them by the practice of the Mixed Tribunals.<br />
<br />
The Mixed Tribunals have, however, done what they<br />
could to supply the omission by dealing with such matters<br />
under the terms of Article 34 of the Statute of Judicial<br />
Organisation, and Article 11 of the Civil Code: ‘‘En cas<br />
de silence, d’insuffisance ou d’obscurité de la loi le juge se<br />
conformera aux principes du droit naturel et aux régles de<br />
Véquité,”<br />
<br />
Tam, Sir,<br />
Your most obedient humble servant,<br />
E. GoORST.<br />
<br />
The Secretary to the Society of Authors.<br />
<br />
This letter was placed before the committee at their<br />
meeting on November 27th, and very carefully<br />
considered. As it was apparent that under the<br />
Berne Convention and under the British Copyright<br />
Law, criminal proceedings were not necessary, the<br />
committee decided to write again to the Foreign<br />
Office and enquire whether it were possible to obtain<br />
adequate remedy for infringement of copyright.<br />
<br />
[ Copy. ]<br />
November 30th, 1905.<br />
<br />
The Most Noble The MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE, K.G.<br />
<br />
My Lorp,—The letter from your Lordship’s office, dated<br />
November 10th, 1905, was placed before the Committee<br />
of the Society of Authors at their meeting on Monday,<br />
November 27th.<br />
<br />
While thanking your Lordship for the trouble you have<br />
taken in the matter, the Committee would be glad to be<br />
clearly informed whether a British subject can sue for<br />
a civil remedy in the mixed tribunals of Egypt in regard<br />
to the piracy in Egypt of works which are copyright in the<br />
British Dominions.<br />
<br />
fam to point out that neither under the Berne Conven-<br />
tion, nor under the Copyright Law of Great Britain—with<br />
the exception of that dealing with musical publications—<br />
is there any reference to criminal proceedings.<br />
<br />
May I, at the same time, enquire whether your Lordship<br />
would have any objection to the correspondence in this<br />
matter, or a summary thereof, being printed in The Author<br />
—the organ of the Society—for the information of members.<br />
<br />
I beg to remain,<br />
Your Lordship’s obedient humble servant,<br />
(Signed) G. HERBERT THRING.<br />
<br />
Again the Foreign Office gave the matter their<br />
kind attention, and obtained the further report<br />
contained in their letter of January 4th, printed<br />
below.<br />
<br />
FOREIGN OFFICE,<br />
January 4th, 1906.<br />
<br />
Siz,—With reference to your letter of the 30th of<br />
November last, respecting copyright in Egypt, I am<br />
directed by Secretary Sir E. Grey to state, for your<br />
information, that it would appear to be sufliciently es-<br />
tablished, by decisions of the Courts of Justice in Egypt,<br />
that a British subject can sue for a civil remedy in the<br />
<br />
137<br />
<br />
Mixed Tribunals of Egypt, in regard to the piracy in Egypt<br />
of works which are copyright in the British Dominions.<br />
<br />
I am to transmit herewith copies of head-notes of cases<br />
decided in the Mixed Tribunals as to copyright,<br />
<br />
I am, Sir,<br />
Your most obedient humble servant,<br />
E. Gorst.<br />
The Secretary to the Society of Authors.<br />
<br />
We must thank His Majesty’s Government for<br />
the trouble it has taken in obtaining for the Society<br />
this necessary information, which, with the consent<br />
of the Foreign Office we have much pleasure in<br />
printing.<br />
<br />
[| COPIE. |<br />
HEAD-NOTES OF CASES DECIDED IN THE MIXED<br />
TRIBUNALS AS TO COPYRIGHT,<br />
Puthod v. Ricordi, B.J.L. (1889), L. 77,<br />
<br />
A défaut de toute convention ou loi spéciale, la propriété<br />
littéraire et artistique est protégée en Egypte par les régles<br />
ordinaires du droit commun.<br />
<br />
En conséquence le préjudice qui résulte d’une atteinte<br />
portée 4 cette propriété donne lieu contre celui qui en est<br />
Vauteur 4 une action en réparation du dommage qu’il a<br />
causé. '<br />
<br />
L’achat de la partition d’un opéra n’en confére que la<br />
jouissance personnelle, et non pas le droit de jouer Vopéra<br />
sur une scéne publique et dans un but de lucre,<br />
<br />
Société des gens de lettres vy, Philip, B.L.J. (1899) Z. 110,<br />
<br />
Le droit de l’auteur sur son oeuvre est un véritable droit<br />
de propriété.<br />
<br />
A défaut de loi spéciale en Egypte, le droit de propricté<br />
littéraire est protégé et garanti par l'article 34 du Régle-<br />
ment d’Organisation Judiciaire.<br />
<br />
La réproduction dans un journal, sans autorisation et<br />
sans compensation, d'oeuvres littéraires pour lesquelles<br />
l’auteur a conseryé, d’aprés la loi de son pays, son droit de<br />
propriété, est une atteinte portce 4 droit et constitue un<br />
préjudice donnant lieu 4 une action en réparation.<br />
<br />
oer<br />
<br />
MACMILLAN v.<br />
<br />
—<br />
<br />
DENT.*<br />
<br />
JUDGMENT.<br />
<br />
R. JUSTICE KEKEWICH: “This isan<br />
extremely difficult question, and perhaps<br />
a satisfactory solution of it can only<br />
be obtained by a decision of the ultimate Court<br />
of Appeal, but having pondered over it since the<br />
Court rose, and looked at the cases to which Mr.<br />
Danckwerts referred me, I see no reason for<br />
thinking that my opinion would be any better<br />
for being postponed. I, therefore, propose to<br />
say what conclusion I have arrived at, in the<br />
hope that my remarks may assist the parties in<br />
obtaining somewhere a complete solution of the<br />
question which is raised.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
* Transcript from the shorthand notes, Printed by the<br />
kind permission of Messrs. Macmillan & Co,, who inform<br />
us that the defendants have appealed from the decision.—<br />
<br />
ED.<br />
<br />
<br />
138<br />
<br />
“The plaintiffs claim the right of publication of<br />
certain letters of Charles Lamb which are many<br />
years old, and they say that they have purchased<br />
that right from a gentleman and lady named<br />
Steed, who were in possession of the letters up<br />
to some ten years ago. It seems to me that, as<br />
there is no suggestion that those persons obtained<br />
the letters by theft or otherwise improperly, I<br />
must assume at this distance of time from the date<br />
of the writing of the letters that they were in<br />
rightful possession of the letters. What that<br />
implies is really the question to be decided, but<br />
I begin with tracing the letters to rightful<br />
possession.<br />
<br />
“There is no doubt that they assigned their<br />
rights, whatever those rights were, as regards the<br />
publication to the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs have<br />
vested in them any right of publication which Mr.<br />
and Mrs. Steed could pass. If they are entitled to<br />
publication—if they have a right of publication—<br />
then, of course, they are entitled to restrain every<br />
person who is not entitled to publish, and that<br />
raises the question whether the defendants are<br />
entitled to publish. The defendants claim also<br />
through the Steeds, and in addition through the<br />
administrator of Charles Lamb.<br />
<br />
« Now as regards their title through the Steeds,<br />
it, is obviously a defective one, because the Steeds<br />
had already assigned everything that they could<br />
assign to the plaintiffs, and nothing was left for<br />
them to assign to the defendants, and they were<br />
perfectly conscious of that ; they only purported to<br />
confer on the defendants such rights, if any, as<br />
remained in them.<br />
<br />
“ As regards the defendants’ other title, I confess<br />
I do not understand it. I do not understand how<br />
the administrator of Charles Lamb at the present<br />
day can have any property whatsoever in these<br />
letters of any kind .or description, even on the<br />
assumption that a right of property did vest in<br />
Charles Lamb at the date of his death, and could<br />
pass by his will. It is not competent for me to<br />
decide on the present occasion what the meaning<br />
of Charles Lamb’s will is, or whether such property<br />
as he had passed by that will. But whatever<br />
property passed, it cannot, it seems to me, Dow be<br />
vested, as it could not have vested in the adminis-<br />
trator of Charles Lamb when these letters of<br />
administration were granted only the other day.<br />
But I thought it right to say that, because it may<br />
be that a question of that kind will arise.<br />
<br />
“The defendants decline to prove their title.<br />
They say: ‘All we have to do is to show that<br />
the plaintiffs have no title, and if we satisfy the<br />
Court that the plaintiffs have no title, then, of<br />
course, they cannot restrain us. It matters not<br />
to us or the Court whether we have a title or not.’<br />
That is a perfectly proper view, if they are so<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THER AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
advised to take it, for the defendants to take. It<br />
is the view they take, and, therefore, I will not<br />
pursue that subject any further. All I have to<br />
consider is the bare question, not whether the<br />
right of publication is vested in the plaintiffs as<br />
between them and the defendants, but whether it<br />
is vested in the plaintiffs abstractedly, so that they<br />
have a good title. That question depends entirely<br />
on the proper construction to be placed on a few<br />
lines, indeed of a few words, in the third section<br />
of the Copyright Act, 5 & 6 of Queen Victoria,<br />
It is not easy to understand, but in order to under-<br />
stand it one must, of course, have in one’s mind<br />
and present before one’s eye the common law as it<br />
stood at the date of the Act of Parliament.<br />
<br />
“Now, about the common law up to a certain<br />
point there is no doubt whatever on that. I have<br />
been referred to a large number of cases, beginning<br />
with, I believe, the first—it is always quoted as<br />
the first—-Pope v. Curle, decided by Lord Hard-<br />
wicke. Probably one or two would have sufficed,<br />
and, indeed, I venture to say, as the observation<br />
which I made to Mr. Scrutton in opening the case<br />
indicated, that no reference to any case at all was<br />
really necessary. But I certainly should not refer<br />
to many of them.<br />
<br />
“‘T have said that the common law is perfectly<br />
clear up to a certain point, and I use that expres-<br />
sion advisedly, because I think the point is a<br />
limited one, and there is a great deal of doubt<br />
about the common law beyond that. Mr. Danck-<br />
werts referred me, among other cases, to Caird v.<br />
Sime, which is an important case in the House of<br />
Lords, arising out of the publication—touching<br />
the right of publication—-of lectures on Moral<br />
Philosophy delivered by Dr. Caird. The case is<br />
very much concerned with the peculiar circum-<br />
stances connected with the delivery of lectures,<br />
and all the judges who took part in the decision<br />
go into those circumstances, and the dissenting<br />
judgment of Lord Fitzgerald is extremely instruc-<br />
tive as regards lectures delivered as those were, as<br />
distinct from letters or books, or other manuscripts.<br />
Mr. Danckwerts quoted largely from the judgment<br />
of the present Lord Chancellor, but to my mind,<br />
without saying what the Lord Chancellor said—<br />
really the same thing in other language — the<br />
precise position is more accurately stated as<br />
regards language by Lord Watson on page 343."<br />
He says: ‘The author of a lecture on Moral<br />
Philosophy or of any other original composition<br />
retains the right of property in his work which<br />
entitles him to prevent its publication by others.<br />
until it has by consent been communicated to the<br />
public.’ -He calls it ‘a right of property in his.<br />
work. The Lord Chancellor in his judgment<br />
calls it a proprietary right in his unpublished<br />
literary productions. In many of the other cases<br />
<br />
*<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR. 139<br />
<br />
the presiding judge has used the expression ‘the<br />
right of property.’ I think the phrase ‘pro-<br />
prietary right’ is peculiar to the judgment of the<br />
Lord Chancellor in Caird v. Sime. But some<br />
other judges have used a different expression,<br />
and called it a joint property, that is, a right in<br />
the author of the letter—I am talking of a letter-—<br />
jointly with the sender. Vice-Chancellor Bacon,<br />
so late as 1884, in a case of Earle v. Maudelay,<br />
said ‘the property in the letters remains in the<br />
person to whom they are sent.’ But it is obvious<br />
from his judgment that he perfectly understood<br />
there wasa right of property in the sender, and he<br />
no doubt was speaking there of the property in the<br />
letters as the property in the paper with the writing<br />
upon it—the actual physical thing and nothing<br />
more—and that no doubt is in the person to whom<br />
the letter is sent. It has been decided that he can<br />
maintain an action of detinue for it by reason of<br />
the right of property in the physical thing. To<br />
that point it seems to me that the law is perfectly<br />
clear. Beyond it I will not say it is obscure, but<br />
I think there is very little light. What the right<br />
of property is, and how it ought to be defined,<br />
none of the judges seem to me to tellus. To read<br />
again Lord Watson’s words, it is a right of pro-<br />
perty in his work, which entitles him to prevent<br />
its publication by others. That is the right of<br />
property. What other privileges it gives him,<br />
how otherwise you can spell out the right of<br />
property, I am unaware. I do not think there is<br />
any judgment anywhere which helps at all. Even<br />
the numerous judgments—numerous according to<br />
the manner of the particular judge—in (ee v.<br />
Pritchard, which is extremely instructive, do not,<br />
as far as I have studied them, really give us any<br />
guide to determine what the right of property is<br />
beyond this, that it entitles the author, the com-<br />
poser, to prevent its publication by others, I<br />
need not go beyond that on the present case. I<br />
think it is well deserving of disquisition or dis-<br />
cussion on these very interesting questions, but<br />
these questions would be purely academic on the<br />
present occasion, because it is sufficient for me<br />
to say that according to the law the writer of the<br />
letter, notwithstanding that he sent it to some-<br />
body else, who has a right to the physical thing,<br />
retains that peculiar right of property which<br />
entitles him to prevent publication by others.<br />
Now that being the common law, what does this<br />
statute mean? The section is divided into two<br />
parts, and the division into two parts is to my<br />
mind the origin of the puzzle. The first part of<br />
the section deals with a book which is published in<br />
the lifetime of its author, and a book includes a<br />
letter. I need not go back to the authority on<br />
the point, because it is assumed all through this<br />
argument, and it is common ground that ‘ book’<br />
<br />
does include a letter. It was contested in one<br />
case, but held at once without hesitation, that a<br />
book must include a letter. ‘The copyright in<br />
every book or letter which after the passing of<br />
this Act is published in the lifetime of its author<br />
shall endure for a certain time, and shall be the<br />
property of such author or his assigns.’ ‘Then,<br />
having enacted that, the Legislature goes on to<br />
deal with the case of a copyright in a book<br />
which has been published after the death of its<br />
author, and it does not say, what it would have<br />
been extremely easy to say, in plain language, that<br />
the copyright in that book shall remain in the<br />
author or his assigns, or his legal personal repre-<br />
sentatives. JI am not professing to frame the<br />
words in which it could have been enacted, but no<br />
difficulty would have been entertained by a reason-<br />
ably experienced draughtsman in saying in plain<br />
and unmistakable language that the copyright<br />
belongs to those who claim through the author,<br />
whether by assignment—which would include, of<br />
course, a bequest—or as legal personal representa-<br />
tive, if that had been the intention of the Legisla-<br />
ture. I think it is fair to conclude that the<br />
Legislature did not intend that. But what does<br />
it intend ? That it shall be the property of the<br />
proprietor of the author’s manuscript ? I will not<br />
go further for the moment. I do not think it<br />
necessary to consult dictionaries to understand<br />
what the meaning of the word ‘manuscript’ is.<br />
Manuscript, of course, means that which is written<br />
by the hand. That in the case of a letter would be<br />
the actual letter written by the writer with his own<br />
pen or pencil. Ihave no doubt that in these days the<br />
Court would haye no difficulty in extending that<br />
to a typewritten letter. It might even, I think,<br />
without difficulty extend to a printed letter if the<br />
writer would not be the writer’s printer, but used<br />
a private printing press. I have no doubt also<br />
that if the writer of the letter, instead of using his<br />
own hand, used that of an amanuensis to whom he<br />
dictated the letter, that would be a manuscript<br />
within the meaning of this Act. I go further<br />
<br />
and say that if the writer wrote out the letter with<br />
<br />
his own hand, and then had a copy made of it in<br />
order to send it away, and made that really the<br />
<br />
original letter, though in truth it was more a copy<br />
<br />
than an original, that that might be a manuscript.<br />
<br />
“ But it seems to me that it must be that which<br />
<br />
proceeds from the writer as his own work in the<br />
first instance, and that must be, I think, the<br />
author’s manuscript. It is not the manuscript<br />
made by somebody else for the author for the pur-<br />
<br />
pose of really constructing an original letter.<br />
<br />
Also ‘manuscript’ must mean, I think, that<br />
<br />
which filled the place of the manuscript in<br />
<br />
the ordinary sense; that is to say, the letter<br />
<br />
written by the author’s own hand, If it was the<br />
<br />
<br />
140<br />
<br />
one original letter which he intended to be the<br />
original, then that is the author’s manuscript.<br />
Take the case of a man sending a letter, and<br />
keeping a copy of it. I do not know that it is<br />
necessary to decide it, but I should think the<br />
letter sent, and not the copy kept would be the<br />
author’s manuscript. So far there seems to be<br />
little difficulty in understanding what the Legisla-<br />
ture meant.<br />
<br />
“¢ But then comes the question of who is the pro-<br />
prietor of the author’s manuscript. If we can<br />
ascertain who the proprietor of the author’s manu-<br />
script is, then there is no difficulty in determining<br />
what the statute means, because it says it shall be<br />
the property of the proprietor, not that the pro-<br />
prietor shall have a proprietary right—not qualified<br />
in any way ; not that he shall have the property<br />
jointly with anyone else—but it shall be the pro-<br />
perty, and the Legislature being, of course,<br />
cognisant with all the decisions of the common<br />
law must be taken to have meant the property<br />
being the exclusive property of the proprietor.<br />
<br />
“Now who is the proprietor of the author’s<br />
manuscript ? According to the common law, as I<br />
have already said, there are two proprietors of<br />
the letter who can bring detinue for it. That is,<br />
he who is entitled to the physical thing, and the<br />
writer of the letter, who has that peculiar right of<br />
property which entitles him to prevent publication<br />
by others. Did the Legislature here intend to<br />
perpetuate any notion of that kind in the pro-<br />
prietor of the author’s manuscript ? It seems to<br />
me, having regard to the division into two parts<br />
which I have already called attention to, and to the<br />
care of the Legislature not to repeat in the second<br />
part, as it might have done in slightly different<br />
language, the first part, it must be that the pro-<br />
prietor of the author’s manuscript means the pro-<br />
prietor of the physical thing ; that the manuscript<br />
here is the thing written—the actual paper on<br />
which the writing is and the writing on it. That<br />
seems to me to be the only legitimate construction<br />
which I can place upon the words ‘ the proprietor<br />
of the manuscript.” I will leave out ‘author's<br />
manuscript’ now, because I have said enough<br />
about that.<br />
<br />
«That seems to me to be what the Legislature<br />
said, and the result then is that that belongs to<br />
the person to whom it is sent, and as I have said<br />
already, I have no reason to doubt in this case, and<br />
I think I ought to assume, that Mr. Steed and his<br />
wife were the proprietors of those letters ; that is, of<br />
the manuscript. There can be no question of the<br />
fact that it was from the manuscript the book was<br />
first published. They were sent to Mr. Mac-<br />
millan, or to Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co., in order<br />
that they might be published, and the publication<br />
was from these original letters, and through the<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
assigns of Mr. and Mrs. Steed. I put to. Mr.<br />
Scrutton, when replying, a question about the<br />
meaning of ‘assigns’ there, and he endeavoured<br />
to convince me that the right interpretation of the<br />
section was, that the assigns had the right of<br />
publication. I do not think that is the strict<br />
construction of the sentence ‘The proprietor of<br />
the author’s manuscript from which such book<br />
shall be first published,’ which is put paren-<br />
thetically, ‘and his assigns’ must, I think, mean<br />
the assigns of the author’s manuscript ; but the<br />
point is not essential to my decision, Messrs.<br />
Smith, Elder & Co. were the assigns of the author’s<br />
manuscript and in my view they fill that position.<br />
The result is, it seems to me, that I must come to the<br />
conclusion that the Legislature intended that the<br />
persons in that position, Mr. and Mrs. Steed,<br />
having these letters rightfully in their possession,<br />
were entitled to publish them themselves, or to<br />
hand them over, or otherwise, to Messrs. Smith,<br />
Elder & Co., and to give them the right of pub-<br />
lication, and that that having been done, nothing<br />
remained in Mr. and Mrs. Steed which they could<br />
have passed to anyone, except, of course, the right<br />
to the letters themselves. Those they retained,<br />
and those they can part with. The right of publica-<br />
tion, it seems to me, was gone.”<br />
<br />
Judgment was given for the plaintiff, with the<br />
declaration of Mr. Justice Kekewich that the right<br />
of publication in these particular letters was vested<br />
in the plaintiffs, Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co.<br />
Accounts with profits and costs were also given<br />
with the judgment, and a stay of execution for<br />
fourteen days in case of appeal.<br />
<br />
——$—$— <_<<br />
<br />
ANNUAL RESUME OF THE NUMBER OF<br />
BOOKS PUBLISHED IN THE PAST YEAR.<br />
<br />
1<br />
<br />
(Reprinted by the kind permissiom of the editor of the<br />
Publishers’ Circular.)<br />
<br />
HE total number of books reported during<br />
1905 is almost the same as in 1904—<br />
only four score fewer. The number of<br />
<br />
Theological books, in spite of a fall of thirty in<br />
November, shows an increase on the year, due<br />
more to Francis of Assisi, Thomas i Kempis, and<br />
other devotional authors, than to Torrey and<br />
Alexander or Church and Education. The number<br />
of Educational works is a hundred down, so is<br />
that of Political and Commercial books and of<br />
reprinted novels. The issue of new novels 1s<br />
almost to a unit the same as last year (1731—<br />
1733). The number of Law books reported is<br />
practically unchanged, so is that of books on the<br />
Arts and Sciences, and that of Biographical and<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
141<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 />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
|<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
460 | 626 | 786<br />
|<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
ANALYTICAL TABLE or Books PUBLISHED IN 1905.<br />
bo : ;<br />
ae | 3 : 5<br />
Subjects. Pp os : 3 2 H 2<br />
Ss = Fast ; < . = 2 = a<br />
ea ee ee<br />
ete < = 5 5 < R } %<br />
| | | a |<br />
aS sae: {ji @ 34) 31 69 | 73} 63 7 21 50 62 68 | 81 66 | 665<br />
1. Theology, Sermons, Biblical ... ba 4} 10 1 3 3 2 3/ 1 bis) Be<br />
| | et 745<br />
2. Educational, Classical, and (| a 54| 63 62) 62) 44 Ai Sd 68- (09 || 66 6 | 35 | 642<br />
Philological ... se ae 7 4) 11 S110 5 1 9} 15 7 BU 92<br />
| 734<br />
3. Novels, Tales, Juvenile Works, || @ 78 73 | 141 | 144 | 151 | 133 88 | 140 | 235 | 139 | 247 | 164 1733<br />
ce ae (i hos) o2 wey 69 | 84 62) 88) 63) 58 | 74) 74] 398 | 680<br />
| | 2363<br />
: a8 FT| 22) 3 5 3 4 5 5) 6) 4) 5 56<br />
4, Law, Jurisprudence, &c. AB Al oe 6 4 5 2 8 ee ele a | Bl<br />
\—— 107<br />
5 s aac<br />
5. Political and Social Economy, )| @ 45 | 33) 22) 58) 44 34} 29) 47 29 70 | 50] 41 | 502<br />
Trade, and Commerce... J| b 3 a) isp od At 6| 10) 13] 30} 12] 17 | 135<br />
| | 687<br />
@ Aris, Science, and Illustrated )| a 40| 29| 45| 51| 42| 45) 11) 49/ 51) 46 | 60) 58 | 522<br />
Works one ie Sto =) 5 4 7 4 3405 4 3 | 3 2} 49<br />
| 57)<br />
7. Voyages, Travels, Geographical )| @ 7| 12] 8 S113 | 1s Fa | 2h le | 30 | 28 |) 30 | 234<br />
Research... os 48 5 EE 7) 10 6 7 6 7 8 Bee 4| 73<br />
| 307<br />
- : : a 40 37 | 35 65 48 38 14 41 32 73 |. 01 63 | 557<br />
8. History, Biography, &c. _— i hoo Gi 5 7 | 7 7 4 8 6 9 8 | 79<br />
| |_— 636<br />
| ‘ ‘ ‘ ro | ae<br />
s : (| @ 25 Ve 15 31 34 32 14 16 39 31 |. 49 58 | 361<br />
9. Poetry and the Drama “1b 5 5 | 16 13 5 8 i 2 9} 19| 112<br />
| | 473<br />
“10, Year-Books and Serials in||@63| 20| 24| 31| 30) 37/ 9| 33 39) 56 | 37 | 79 | 458<br />
Volumes... ee je —f— |S Pe | fe ee<br />
Bol il 1 01 is} ib] | 2 ere<br />
. as ~ {| a@ 17 19 6421 lk 0 ‘ O42) 26 15 | 180<br />
11. Medicine, Surgery, &c. ib 2 2 5 8 2 10 L 6 a1 15 9 Ci<br />
| | 251<br />
12. Belles-Lettres, TP . Mono- a moO) 90 1-28) 20) 24) 22) 11) 384) 28) a2) 4 46 | 320<br />
graphs, Xe. a | Ji) 12) 107 261<br />
| —— 381<br />
13. Miscellaneous, including || @ 25] 27) 54) 49) 44 651 4185 | 67 | 8t 45 | 68 | 587<br />
Pamphlets, not Sermons | be Se ee 2<br />
| — —— 589<br />
509 | 694 | 664 | 361 | 700 | 805 | 849 | 954 | 844 | 8252<br />
| | Ce<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
a New Books; b New Editions.<br />
<br />
The Analytical Table is divided into 13 Classes; also New Books and New Editions.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Divisions.<br />
<br />
190<br />
New Books.<br />
<br />
4.<br />
New Editions. |<br />
<br />
New Books.<br />
<br />
1905.<br />
<br />
New Editions.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Theology, Sermons, Biblical, &c.<br />
<br />
Educational, Classical, and Philological<br />
<br />
Novels, Tales, Juvenile Works, &c.<br />
Law, J ‘urisprudence, &e.<br />
<br />
Political and Social Economy, Trade and Commerce<br />
Arts, Sciences, and Illustrated Works ae<br />
<br />
Voyages, Travels, Geographical Research<br />
<br />
History, Biography, &c.<br />
Poetry and the Drama .<br />
Year-Books and Serials in n Volumes<br />
Medicine, Surgery, Xe. .<br />
<br />
Belles- Lettres, Essays, Monographs, &e.<br />
<br />
Miscellaneous, including Pamphlets, not Sermons ... : “<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
|<br />
568 98 665<br />
694 142 | 642<br />
1,731 817 1,733<br />
55 48 | 56<br />
594 181 502<br />
458 74 522<br />
229 60 234<br />
540 113 557<br />
309 98 361<br />
421 = | 458<br />
148 71 180<br />
173 47 | 320<br />
536. | 103 587<br />
6,456 1,878 | 6,817<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
80<br />
92<br />
630<br />
51<br />
136<br />
49<br />
73<br />
ig<br />
<br />
112<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
142<br />
<br />
Historical works. In Belles-Lettres the previous<br />
table showed a falling off of nearly a hundred, but<br />
this table shows an increase of one hundred and<br />
sixty-one. A slight increase is shown in books on<br />
Journeyings and Geography, Poetry books and<br />
dramatic works, Year Books and Serials, Medical<br />
and Surgical works. But for Africa and for the<br />
Tariff question Political books would be few<br />
<br />
indeed.<br />
————__+—~—_+—____—_-<br />
<br />
COPYRIGHT AT THE CAPE.<br />
<br />
— 1<br />
<br />
Copyrigut Act In CERTAIN WoRKS OF ART<br />
ASSENTED TO JUNE 6TH, PROMULGATED<br />
OcToBER 81st, 1905.<br />
<br />
E it enacted by the Governor of the Cape of<br />
Good Hope with the advice and consent of<br />
the Legislative Council and House of<br />
<br />
Assembly thereof, as follows :—<br />
<br />
1. Inthis Act, unless the context shall otherwise<br />
indicate or require, the following terms shall have<br />
the meanings hereby attached to them :—<br />
<br />
“Work of Art” and ‘ Work” shall mean a<br />
<br />
painting or drawing and the design thereof,<br />
a photograph and the negative thereof, and<br />
any positives or copies made therefrom, an<br />
engraving or a piece of sculpture.<br />
Copyright ” shall mean the sole and exclusive<br />
right of copying, reproducing, repeating, or<br />
otherwise multiplying copies of any work of<br />
art and of the design thereof, of any size, in<br />
the same or any other material, or by the same<br />
or any other kind of art.<br />
<br />
“Author” shall mean the inventor, designer,<br />
engraver, sculptor or maker of any work of<br />
art: provided that the author of a work of art<br />
made by the employé of any person or firm in<br />
virtue of his employment shall mean the<br />
person or firm under whose orders, or in<br />
the course of whose business, the work of art<br />
was made by such employe.<br />
<br />
‘¢ Assions”’ shall include every person in whom<br />
the interest of an author is vested, whether<br />
derived from such author before or after<br />
publication or registration, and whether<br />
acquired by sale, donation, legacy or by<br />
operation of law or otherwise.<br />
<br />
“Court” shall mean the Supreme Court, the<br />
Eastern Districts Court, the High Court of<br />
Griqualand West, and any Circuit Court.<br />
<br />
“ Registrar’? shail mean such official, in the<br />
Civil Service, as the Governor may appoint to<br />
oe the duties of Registrar under this<br />
<br />
ct.<br />
<br />
2. The author of every original work of art pro-<br />
duced in the Colony shall have the copyright<br />
<br />
‘<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
therein, provided that when any work of art shall,<br />
for the first time after the passing of this Act, be<br />
sold or disposed of or shall be made or executed<br />
for or on behalf of any other person, for a good or<br />
valuable consideration, the person so selling or dis-<br />
posing of or making or executing the same shall not<br />
retain the copyright thereof, unless it be expressly<br />
reserved to him by an Agreement in writing,<br />
signed, at or before the time of such sale or dis-<br />
position, by the purchaser or assignee, or by the<br />
person for, or on whose behalf, the same shall have<br />
been so made or executed, but the copyright shall<br />
belong to the vendee or assignee, or to the person<br />
for or on whose behalf the work of art shall have<br />
been made or executed.<br />
<br />
(1) The copyright hereinbefore given shall, in<br />
the case of paintings and sculpture endure<br />
for the life of the person to whom the<br />
same is given, and thirty years next after<br />
his death; and in the case of engravings<br />
not published in, or forming part of, a book,<br />
and photographs, for the term of thirty years<br />
next after the end of the year in which they<br />
or any copies may have been first offered for<br />
sale, delivered to a purchaser or advertised<br />
or exposed as ready for sale to the public<br />
or for delivery to a purchaser, or delivered<br />
for registration.<br />
<br />
3. Nothing in this Act contained shall prejudice<br />
<br />
the right of any person to copy or represent any -<br />
<br />
work in which there shall be no copyright, or to<br />
represent any scene or object, notwithstanding that<br />
there may be copyright in some representation of<br />
such scene or object.<br />
<br />
4. A Registry Book entitled “The Register of<br />
Proprietors of Copyright in Works. of Art” shall<br />
be kept at the office of the Registrar, wherein shall<br />
be registered the proprietorship of every copyright<br />
in works of art and assignments thereof; and<br />
there shall be entered in such Register the follow-<br />
ing particulars in reference to every copyright<br />
entered therein :—the name and abode of the pro-<br />
prietor of the copyright, the title, if any, of the<br />
work, a short description of the nature and subject<br />
thereof, and, if the person registering so desire, a<br />
sketch or outline or photograph of such work, and<br />
all such further particulars as may be prescribed by<br />
the Registrar in that behalf; and for every entry<br />
of proprietorship or assignment of copyright in<br />
the Register, there shall be paid to the Registrar<br />
such sum as the Governor may prescribe : provided<br />
that in the case of a photograph the fee shall not<br />
exceed one shilling, and in the case of a series of<br />
photographs commonly known as living pictures,<br />
cinematographs, or bioscopes, the said fee shall<br />
only be payable on the first and every succeeding<br />
hundredth negative or photograph constituting<br />
any one continuous film or series of photographs.<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 />
<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 />
<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 />
(1) The Register shall at all convenient times be<br />
open to the inspection of any person on<br />
payment of one shilling sterling for every<br />
entry which shall be _ searched for or<br />
inspected in the said Register ; and the<br />
Registrar shall, whenever thereunto reason-<br />
ably required, give a copy of any entry in<br />
such Register, certified under his hand, to<br />
any person requiring the same, upon pay-<br />
ment to him of the sum of five shillings<br />
sterling ; and such copy so certified shall be<br />
received in evidence in all Courts, and shall<br />
be prima facie proof of the proprietorship<br />
or assignment of the copyright as therein<br />
stated, but subject to be rebutted by other<br />
evidence.<br />
<br />
(2) If any person shall deem himself aggrieved<br />
by any entry made in the Register under<br />
cover of this Act, it shall be lawful for such<br />
person to apply by motion to the Court, or<br />
in vacation to a Judge thereof in chambers,<br />
for an Order that such entry may be<br />
expunged or varied; and tiereupon such<br />
Court or Judge shall make such Order for<br />
expunging, varying or confirming such<br />
entry, either with or without costs, as to<br />
such Court or Judge shall seem just ; and<br />
the Registrar shall, on the production to<br />
him of any such Order for expunging or<br />
varying auy such entry, expunge or vary<br />
the same accordingly.<br />
<br />
5. It shall be lawful for the registered proprietor<br />
of copyright to assign his interest or any part<br />
thereof in writing, under his hand, duly witnessed<br />
by two witnesses ; and on production of such<br />
assignment by or on behalf of the assignee, the<br />
Registrar shall make an entry in the Register of<br />
such assignment, and of the name and place of<br />
abode of the assignee thereof ; and such assignment<br />
so entered shall be effectual in law to all intents<br />
and purposes whatsoever, without being subject to<br />
any stamp or duty.<br />
<br />
6. If any person, not being the proprietor for<br />
the time being of the copyright in any work of art,<br />
shall without the consent of such proprietor make<br />
or cause to be made any copy, reproduction, repeti-<br />
tion or colourable imitation of the work in which<br />
such copyright exists, for sale, hire, exhibition or<br />
distribution, or shall knowingly sell, let to hire,<br />
exhibit or distribute or cause to be sold, let to hire,<br />
exhibited or distributed any copy, reproduction,<br />
repetition or colourable imitation, made without<br />
such consent, or if made abroad, imported without<br />
such consent, or shall import, or cause to be im-<br />
ported, any copy, reproduction, repetition or colour-<br />
able imitation, such person shall be liable to an action<br />
for damages for infringement of the copyright, and<br />
all such copies shall be forfeited to such proprietor.<br />
<br />
THER AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
143<br />
<br />
7. No person shall do or cause to be done any of<br />
the following acts, that is to say :—<br />
<br />
(1) No person shall fraudulently sign or affix, or<br />
fraudulently cause to be signed or affixed<br />
to or upon any work of art any name,<br />
initial or monogram.<br />
<br />
(2) No person shall fraudulently sell, publish,<br />
exhibit or dispose of, or offer for sale,<br />
exhibition or distribution any work of art<br />
having thereon the name, initials, or mono-<br />
gram of a person who did not execute or<br />
make such work.<br />
<br />
(3) No person shall fraudulently utter, dispose of<br />
or put off, or cause to be uttered, or disposed<br />
of, any copy, colourable imitation, engraving<br />
or print of any work of art, whether there<br />
shall be subsisting copyright therein or not,<br />
as having been made or executed by the<br />
author or maker of the original work from<br />
which such copy or imitation shall have<br />
been taken.<br />
<br />
(4) Where the author or maker of any work of<br />
art, whether made before or after the pass-<br />
ing of this Act, shall have sold or otherwise<br />
parted with the possession of such work, if<br />
any alteration be afterwards made therein<br />
by any other person, by addition or other-<br />
wise, no person shall be at liberty during<br />
the life of the author or maker of such<br />
work, without his consent, to make or<br />
knowingly to sell or publish or offer for<br />
sale such work, or any copies of such work<br />
so altered as aforesaid, as or for the<br />
unaltered work of such author or maker.<br />
<br />
Every offender under this section shall on con-<br />
viction be liable to a fine not exceeding ten pounds,<br />
or in default of payment to imprisonment for a<br />
period not exceeding one month; and all such<br />
copies, engravings, imitations or altered works<br />
shall be forfeited to the person aggrieved, or his<br />
assigns : Provided always that the provision of<br />
this section shall not apply unless the person whose<br />
name, initials or monogram shall be so fraudulently<br />
signed or affixed, or to whom such spurious or<br />
altered work shall be so fraudulently or falsely<br />
ascribed as aforesaid, shall have been living at, or<br />
within seven years next before, the time when the<br />
act complained of may have been committed.<br />
<br />
8. Whenever after the commencement of this<br />
Act any portrait or photographic likeness of any<br />
person is painted or taken on commission, neither<br />
the photographer, nor any other person, whether he<br />
owns the copyright therein or not, shall sell, or<br />
give, or exhibit in public in any shop window or<br />
otherwise, any copy of such likeness, if the person<br />
whose portrait or likeness was painted or taken, or<br />
for whom such was painted or taken, shall object to<br />
such sale, gift, or exhibition ; and any photographer<br />
<br />
<br />
144<br />
<br />
or other person selling, giving or exhibiting any<br />
likeness or portrait after being called upon to<br />
desist from so doing shall be liable to a penalty not<br />
exceeding ten pounds, and every copy of such<br />
portrait. or likeness in his possession shall be for-<br />
feited and delivered up to the person for whom the<br />
work was executed. :<br />
<br />
9. All penalties and forfeitures under this Act<br />
may be summarily imposed and awarded by the<br />
Resident Magistrate provided that any person<br />
summarily proceeded against shall be entitled, on<br />
lodging security to the satisfaction of the Magis-<br />
trate, to stay of execution pending appeal to the<br />
Court, and all the provisions of the Resident<br />
Magistrate’s Court Act No. 20 of 1856 in regard to<br />
appeals in criminal cases shall apply.<br />
<br />
10. In any action for the infringement of any<br />
copyright vested under this Act it shall be lawful<br />
for the Court in which such action is pending, or<br />
if the Court be not sitting, then for a Judge, on<br />
the application of the plaintiff or defendant<br />
respectively, to make such Order for an interdict,<br />
inspection or account and to give such directions<br />
respecting such interdict, inspection or account,<br />
and the proceedings therein, respectively, as to<br />
such Court or Judge may seem fit : Provided that<br />
the work of art or work shall bear on it a mark or<br />
notification showing that it has been copyrighted.<br />
<br />
11. No proprietor of copyright in a work of art,<br />
<br />
first produced in the Colony, shall be entitled to<br />
the benefit of this Act until he shall have registered<br />
his copyright, nor shall any prosecution or action<br />
be competent for anything done before registration.<br />
<br />
12. The Governor may make such rules and<br />
reculations as may be necessary or expedient in<br />
order to detect and prevent infringements of pro-<br />
<br />
prietors’ rights under this Act, and impose<br />
reasonable penalties for the breach thereof.<br />
<br />
13. This Act may be cited for all purposes as<br />
the “ Copyright in Works of Art Act, 1905.”<br />
<br />
—_____—__+ 2 —__<_.<br />
<br />
MAGAZINE CONTENTS,<br />
<br />
—+-—~<—1+<br />
<br />
BLACKWOOD’'S.<br />
<br />
Cleopatra’s Needle. By St. John Lucas.<br />
<br />
BOOKMAN.<br />
<br />
_ Shelley. By H. Buxton Forman, C.B.<br />
Samuel Richardson. By ‘“ Ranger.”<br />
Liberal Leaders in Literature. By Thomas Seccombe.<br />
Art, By Alfred Noyes.<br />
“Fiona Macleod.” By Alfred Noyes.<br />
Book MONTHLY.<br />
<br />
Stories on the Stage: The Art of the Novelist Dramatist.<br />
3y Hall Caine.<br />
Our Literary Gods and the Going of Them to America,<br />
To American Millionaires. By James Milne.<br />
Dickens as Artist or Genius and The Cry of “Art for<br />
Art’s Sake.” By Brimley Johnson,<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
CHAMBERS’ JOURNAL.<br />
<br />
Unpublished Letters to Wm. Hunter. Edited by Victor<br />
G. Plan.<br />
<br />
Literary Elbow-Grease.<br />
<br />
Notes and News from a Diary.<br />
<br />
CONTEMPORARY REVIEW.<br />
<br />
An Agnostic’s Progress. By Wm. Scott Palmer.<br />
<br />
The Bankruptey of Higher Criticism. By Dr, Emil<br />
Reich.<br />
<br />
Chopin. By A. E, Keeton.<br />
<br />
CORNHILL.<br />
<br />
Mayfair and Thackeray. By The Right Hon, Sir<br />
Algernon West, G.C.B.<br />
<br />
An Early Victorian Tale. By A. H.S.<br />
<br />
“ Judge’s Writ.” By Viscount St. Cyres.<br />
<br />
From a College Window.<br />
<br />
FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW.<br />
<br />
Of Our Anxious Morality. By Maurice Maeterlinck.<br />
<br />
Nero in Modern Drama. By J. Slingsby Roberts.<br />
<br />
Pepys and Shakespeare. By Sidney Lee.<br />
<br />
Notes on the History and Character of the Jews. By<br />
Laurie Magnus.<br />
<br />
The Sportsman’s Library : Some Sporting Books of 1905,<br />
<br />
Fiona Macleod : A Sonnet. By Alfred Noyes,<br />
<br />
INDEPENDENT REVIEW.<br />
<br />
Mr. Swinburne and the Sea. By C. C. Michaelides.<br />
A Note on Mr. Bernard Shaw. By G. K. Chesterton.<br />
The Author of “Ionica.” By Herbert Paul.<br />
<br />
The Teaching of Reynolds. By Laurence Binyon.<br />
Walt Whitman. By F. Melian Stawell.<br />
<br />
MACMILLAN’S MAGAZINE,<br />
<br />
An American Rhode’s Scholar at Oxford By Stanley<br />
Royal Ashby,<br />
Monru.<br />
By The Rev. C. Lattey,<br />
<br />
A Philosophy of Religion.<br />
By The Rev. Herbert<br />
<br />
The Marriage of Mrs. Fitzherbert.<br />
Thurston.<br />
MONTHLY REVIEW.<br />
Relics. By Eveline B. Mitford.<br />
Among the Felibres in Provence.<br />
Maude.<br />
<br />
By Constance E.<br />
<br />
NATIONAL REVIEW.<br />
<br />
Sparks from the Anvil or Thoughts of a Queen. By<br />
H.M. The Queen of Roumania (Carmen Sylva).<br />
The Uses of History. By St. Loe Strachey.<br />
<br />
NINETEENTH CENTURY.<br />
<br />
The Antagonism of the Prophet and the Priest, By G.<br />
Monroe Royce.<br />
<br />
Stafford as a Letter Writer. By Lady Burghclere.<br />
<br />
The Tragedy of Kesa Gozen. By Yei Theodora Ozaki,<br />
<br />
Lafcadio Hearn. By Nina K, Kennard.<br />
<br />
PALL MALL MAGAZINE.<br />
A Painter of French and American Society: An Hour<br />
with M. Théobald Chartran. By Frederic Lees.<br />
TEMPLE BAR,<br />
<br />
Vladimir Korolenko. By G.H. Perris.<br />
Sea Songs. By John Masefield.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
WARNINGS TO THE PRODUCERS<br />
OF BOOKS.<br />
<br />
———_— +<br />
<br />
agreement. There are four methods of dealing<br />
<br />
cy Hx are a few standing rules to be observed in an<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
with literary property :—<br />
<br />
I. Selling it Outright.<br />
<br />
This is sometimes satisfactory, if a proper price can be<br />
pbiained. But the transaction should be managed by a<br />
competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of<br />
the Society.<br />
<br />
Il. 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 is now<br />
possible for an author to ascertain approximately the<br />
truth. From time to time very important figures connected<br />
with royalties are published in 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 />
Never sign any agreement without competent advice from<br />
the Secretary of the Society.<br />
<br />
Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp.<br />
<br />
Avoid agreements by letter if possible.<br />
<br />
The main points which the Society has always demanded<br />
from the outset are :—<br />
<br />
C1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement<br />
means.<br />
<br />
(2.) The inspection of those account books which belong<br />
lothe 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 />
——_+——_+—____<br />
<br />
WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS.<br />
<br />
—<br />
EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the<br />
c Secretary of the Society of Authors or some com-<br />
petent legal authority.<br />
2. {t 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 />
145<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 inadvance 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 (‘.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 (}.) 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 referred to the Secretary of the Society.<br />
<br />
———+—__——_<br />
<br />
WARNINGS TO MUSICAL COMPOSERS.<br />
<br />
—-——9——<br />
<br />
assistance of producers of books and dramatic<br />
<br />
authors. It must, however, be pointed out that, as<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 />
I ITTLE can be added to the warnings given for the<br />
<br />
<br />
146<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 />
——<br />
<br />
HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br />
<br />
—<br />
<br />
VIEERY member has a right toask for and to receive<br />
<br />
4) advice u pon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br />
<br />
lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br />
<br />
business or the administration of his property. The<br />
<br />
Secretary of the Society is a solicitor, but if there is any<br />
<br />
special reason the Secretary will refer the case to the<br />
<br />
Solicitors of tlie Society. Further, the Committee, if they<br />
<br />
deem it desirable, will obtain counsel’s opinion, All this<br />
without any cost to the member.<br />
<br />
2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br />
and publishers’ agreements do not fall within the experi-<br />
ence of ordinary solicitors. ‘Therefore, do not scruple to use<br />
the Society.<br />
<br />
3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past<br />
accounts, with a copy of the book represented. The<br />
Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new<br />
or old, for inspection and note. The information thus<br />
obtained may prove invaluable.<br />
<br />
4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send<br />
the document to the Society for examination.<br />
<br />
5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society<br />
you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you<br />
are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are<br />
advancing the best interests of your calling in promoting<br />
the independence of the writer, the dramatist, the composer.<br />
<br />
6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception<br />
of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fire-<br />
proof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as<br />
confidential documents to be read only by the Secretary,<br />
who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers:<br />
—(1) To read and advise upon agreements and to give<br />
advice concerning publishers, (2) To stamp agreements<br />
in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep<br />
agreements. (4) I'o 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 />
This<br />
The<br />
<br />
8. Many agents neglect to stamp agreements.<br />
must be done within fourteen days of first execution.<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 is. per<br />
annum, or £10 10s. for life membership.<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
TO MUSICAL COMPOSERS.<br />
cn!<br />
<br />
HE Society undertakes to stamp copies of music on<br />
behalf of its members for the fee of 6d. per 100 or<br />
part of 100. The members’ stamips are kept in the<br />
<br />
Society’s safe. The musical publishers communicate direct<br />
with the Secretary, and the voucher is then forwarded to<br />
the members, who are thus saved much unnecessary trouble,<br />
<br />
<><br />
<br />
THE READING BRANCH.<br />
<br />
—><br />
<br />
EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this<br />
branch of its work by informing young writers<br />
of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and<br />
<br />
treated as a composition is treated by a coach. ‘ihe 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 />
———<br />
<br />
NOTICES.<br />
<br />
+<br />
<br />
HE Editor of Zhe Author begs to remind members of<br />
<br />
I the Society that, although the paper is sent to them<br />
<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 “The Author” should be addressed<br />
to the Ottices of the Society, 39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s<br />
Gate, S.W., and should reach the Editor not later than the<br />
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 />
Communications and letters are invited by the<br />
Editor on all subjects connected with literature, but on<br />
no other subjects whatever. very effort will be made to<br />
return articles which cannot be accepted.<br />
<br />
1<br />
<br />
The Secretary of the Society begs to give notice<br />
that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post,<br />
and he requests members who do not receive an<br />
answer to important communications within two days to<br />
write to him without delay. All remittances should be<br />
crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery Lane, or be sent<br />
by registered letter only.<br />
<br />
Ss<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 />
<br />
be obtained from this society.<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 />
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<br />
AUTHORITIES.<br />
<br />
—<br />
<br />
In the last number of Zhe Author we printed<br />
some comments on the haif-profit agreement.<br />
Another disadvantage that may arise from a<br />
half-profit agreement occurs in the following cir-<br />
cumstancesi:—The publisher goes bankrupt when<br />
there is a deficit against the book of, say, £100.<br />
All the publisher’s rights in the contract and the<br />
remaining stock are purchased by another publisher<br />
for a paltry sum of, say, £15. The new publisher<br />
proceeds to put the remaining stock on the market,<br />
and, perhaps, realises from the sales £50 to £60.<br />
On the author demanding a statement of account<br />
he is met with the deficit of the £100 against his<br />
book, which the new publisher is legally entitled<br />
to charge, so that although there is no profit to<br />
the author—in fact, the accounts still show a<br />
deficit against the book of £50 or £60—yet the<br />
new publisher has, in reality, made a profit of £45<br />
or £35, and in consequence a good bargain. Such<br />
a position could not possibly occur in the case of<br />
a royalty agreement.<br />
<br />
THERE is another form of agreement equally<br />
unsatisfactory, which must be mentioned. Certain<br />
letters pass between author and publisher, then<br />
the author asks for a formal agreement. The<br />
publisher, in the pride of his position, refuses to<br />
forward a formal agreement, as he states it is the<br />
custom of his house not to do so; their letters<br />
make a binding contract. This statement, no<br />
doubt, is absolutely true. The letters are excellent<br />
examples of caligraphy, but not of legal documents.<br />
If the publisher has been exceedingly exact in the<br />
form which his letters take, and has set out all the<br />
points of which an author is usually ignorant, and<br />
if the series of letters is not too long, then, well<br />
and good; but these conditions are never fulfilled.<br />
In the letters which have come before the secretary<br />
—they are not infrequently placed before him—<br />
the omission of so many items which should have<br />
been inserted in the difficult contract of publica-<br />
tion make the letters, although, no doubt, binding,<br />
altogether unsatisfactory from the point of view of<br />
a definite contract, As we have pointed out<br />
again and again, what is wanted in a contract is<br />
finality. The author may get the better of the<br />
publisher, or the publisher, as sometimes happens,<br />
may get the better of the author; but if the con-<br />
tract is clear and binding, both parties will be held<br />
to abide by the legal position. There may be<br />
grumbling, but there will be no necessity for the<br />
intervention of the Society of Authors.<br />
<br />
A CERTAIN publisher who, by his methods of<br />
dealing with literary property, and by his form<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
147<br />
<br />
of agreement, has, on many occasions, given<br />
trouble to members of the society, is in the habit<br />
of placing before those members who enter into<br />
negotiations with him, a fixed form of agreement.<br />
On the member desiring an alteration in some<br />
of the clauses which it contains, he has openly<br />
stated in writing that this is the form of agree-<br />
ment signed by all his authors. This, however,<br />
is not the case, although the statement has, on<br />
some occasions, had the result of inducing young<br />
authors to sign very unsatisfactory clauses. ‘To<br />
this method of dealing he has now added a further<br />
statement to the effect that this fixed form of<br />
agreement is not only signed by all his authors,<br />
and therefore as unalterable as the laws of the<br />
Medes and the Persians, but that it is the same<br />
agreement as is signed by Mr. He mentions<br />
an author of world-wide reputation who, we<br />
regret to state, is dead, and therefore unable to<br />
answer for himself. From this it is clear either<br />
that Mr. was very ill-advised in signing the<br />
agreement, or that the publisher has seen fit to<br />
deviate from the truth. It cannot be possible,<br />
surely, that this latter deduction is correct ?<br />
<br />
We put the following statement before members<br />
of the society, and ask them to consider the<br />
position from their own point of view.<br />
<br />
This author of world-wide reputation is asked to<br />
sign an agreement by which he is forbidden to<br />
translate or dramatise his work without the con-<br />
sent of the publisher; by which serial and<br />
Colonial rights are left to the publisher to negotiate,<br />
and, under the special agreement we refer to, yield<br />
half the returns to the publisher. These two<br />
points alone will give those members who care to<br />
investigate the circumstances food for consideration.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THERE is a similar case which this method of<br />
quoting well-known authors as signatories to<br />
agreements calls to mind.._A publisher contem-<br />
plates the production of a series of books, and<br />
in order to start the series, finds a gentleman of<br />
great distinction in his special line of thought,<br />
but ignorant of the commercial value of literary<br />
property. The publisher enters into an agreement<br />
with him to open the series, and pays him a<br />
ridiculously low figure. ‘The publisher then goes<br />
round to others, from whom he desires volumes for<br />
the series, and on their specifying to the publisher<br />
the terms they are willing to accept, they are met<br />
by the dead weight ahead of the publisher's reply,<br />
that Mr, So-and-so is going to open the series ; that<br />
these are the terms he has accepted; and that it<br />
is impossible to give other writers higher terms<br />
than these. The unfortunate writer has, accord-<br />
<br />
ingly, to consider whether he will accept totally<br />
inadequate, terms or miss the opportunity of<br />
148<br />
<br />
appearing in the series. We do not in any way<br />
desire to cast a slur on those specialists who accept<br />
inadequate terms, as first, no doubt they are<br />
ionorant of the value of their work on the literary<br />
inarket, and secondly, their knowledge of the<br />
subject makes the work exceedingly easy to them,<br />
and they forget for the moment the years of<br />
experience and hard work which has given them<br />
the power to carry out such a contract without<br />
much effort. These two instances are no imaginary<br />
instances, but have come not infrequently to the<br />
society’s office for explanation.<br />
<br />
We should like to mention one further point<br />
dealing with the question of agreements. In the<br />
March (1904) issue of Zhe Author we printed<br />
a certain agreement with full comments. The<br />
heading of the article was “ Mr. Absolute’s Agree-<br />
ment.” It is with considerable regret that we<br />
find that “ Mrs. Absolute ” is now placing the same<br />
form of agreement before those authors for whom<br />
she desires to publish.<br />
<br />
Mr. W. H. Witkins, whose last book ‘“ Mrs.<br />
FitzHerbert and George IV.,”’ published by Messrs.<br />
Longmans & Co., is having such a large sale, died<br />
at the end of last year. Mr. Wilkins had been a<br />
member of the society for many years and had<br />
taken active interest in its work.<br />
<br />
He has been kind enough, by his will, to leave<br />
£50 to the pension fund of the Society of Authors.<br />
This is the first legacy the pension fund has<br />
received, though, no doubt, after the fund shall<br />
have endured for some years, such donations will<br />
come to increase the amount standing to its credit.<br />
<br />
ei 9<br />
<br />
SOME CANADIAN WRITERS.<br />
<br />
—<br />
Part IJ],—Prosz WRITERS.<br />
<br />
PYFNUE first novel written in Canada was “ The<br />
History of Emily Montague.” It was the<br />
work of Mrs, Frances Brooke, the wife of<br />
<br />
an army chaplain who was stationed at the<br />
<br />
garrison of Quebec, soon after the great battle<br />
of the Plains of Abraham in 1759, when the<br />
sovereignty of Canada passed from France to<br />
<br />
England. Mrs. Brooke appears to have written<br />
<br />
. her novel in 1766, or thereabout. She was the<br />
<br />
daughter of a clergyman named Moore, and the<br />
<br />
title-page informs us that she had written a previous<br />
story entitled, “ Lady Julia Mandeville.” ‘ Emily<br />
<br />
Montague” was written in the style of a flighty<br />
<br />
girl, a worshipper of wealth and fashion, and is in<br />
<br />
the form of a great number of letters written<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
by the different characters to one another,<br />
Although, after the fashion of the time, the<br />
agonies and trials of Emily are spread out over<br />
four volumes, it is worth while for the student<br />
of Canadian history to wade through them on<br />
account of the lively impression they give of<br />
contemporary manners, customs, and amusements.<br />
<br />
Mrs. Brooke’s story was a lonely star in the<br />
firmament of Canadian literature, and in the first<br />
half of the nineteenth century, with a few bright<br />
exceptions, little was done in the way of writing.<br />
In 1840 Mrs. Ethelind Sawtell came before the<br />
Canadian world of letters with “The Mourner's<br />
Tribute: or Effusions of Melancholy Hours,”<br />
two hundred and seventy-two pages of them;<br />
while evidence of the attention paid to the<br />
youthful mind is found in the title of that juvenile<br />
work, “Every Boy’s Book: or, a Digest of the<br />
British Constitution,” which was published at<br />
Ottawa in 1842, “The Adopted Daughter : or,<br />
The Trials of Sabra,” published twenty years after-<br />
wards, seems to have struck a responsive chord,<br />
since it ran into two editions. That the aboriginal<br />
inhabitants of the country were not neglected is<br />
proved by two books printed in Toronto respec-<br />
tively in 1846 and 1850. The first of these was<br />
entitled : ‘ Shahguhnahshe ahnuh - meahwene<br />
muzzeneegun ojibwag anwawand azheuhnekeno-<br />
otahbeegahdag,”’ and it shows that the Toronto<br />
printers of that day were not behind their brethren<br />
of the same city of to-day in all-round capability,<br />
particularly as the volume (it was a prayer book),<br />
ran into four hundred and seventy pages.<br />
<br />
Major John Richardson, of Upper Canada (now<br />
Ontario), a soldier and, as he says on the title page<br />
of one of his stories, “ Knight of the Military<br />
Order of St, Ferdinand,” has been called by some<br />
the Fenimore Cooper of Canada. The same<br />
people say that his best work was ‘‘ Wacousta.”<br />
This was an historical novel of the time of Pontiac,<br />
and the scene of it is laid chiefly in Detroit. It<br />
was followed by a sequel called “The Canadian<br />
Brothers.” Richardson also wrote a poem on<br />
Tecumseh, the great Indian ally of the British in<br />
the war of 1812.<br />
<br />
Down in the Maritime Provinces, however,<br />
which have the reputation of having always pro-<br />
duced more intellectual people in proportion to<br />
population than any other part of Canada, a<br />
“bright occidental star” had arisen in the person<br />
of Judge Haliburton—the subsequent creator of the<br />
renowned “Sam Slick’”—whose “ Historical and<br />
Statistical Account of Nova Scotia,” in two con-<br />
siderable volumes, was published at Halifax in 1829.<br />
On the title page of these interesting volumes,<br />
which in their day did much to make Nova Scotia<br />
and its great resources known to the world, the<br />
author is deseribed .as ‘Thomas ©, Haliburton,<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
Esq., Barrister-at-Law, and Member of the House<br />
of Assembly of Nova Scotia.” The first series<br />
of “The Clockmaker,” in which are recorded<br />
the adventures and opinions of Samuel Slick,<br />
of Slickville, appeared in The Nova Scotian in<br />
1835 and 1836. It was published in book form in<br />
Halifax and Londonin 1837. Afterwards followed<br />
—with the same theme—“ The Attache,” “ Wise<br />
Saws,” and “ Nature and Human Nature.” There<br />
are two other works, “The Letter-Bag of the<br />
Great Western,” and ‘‘The Bubbles of Canada,”<br />
which purport to be written by the redoubtable<br />
Sam. Haliburton’s last historical work was “ Rule<br />
and Misrule of the English in America,” which was<br />
published in 1851. In 1858 and 1859 he contri-<br />
buted a series of acute articles, entitled “The<br />
Season Ticket,” to the Dublin University Magazine.<br />
They are, ostensibly, a collection of remarks and<br />
narrations by a Mr. Shegog, who has a season<br />
ticket on an English railway.<br />
<br />
No writer has at present arisen in Canada who for<br />
calibre, breadth of view, keen insight, observation,<br />
and humour can begin to supplant Haliburton in his<br />
premier position among native writers. in his<br />
day he did more to make eastern Canada known—<br />
and intimately known—than any score of his con-<br />
temporaries. He was one of the first of our<br />
imperialists, and British readers were naturally<br />
attracted not only by his genius and humour as a<br />
writer, but by his unmistakable attachment to<br />
England.<br />
<br />
Mrs. Catherine Parr Trail, a writer of much<br />
merit and a relative of Agnes Strickland’s, author<br />
of “The Queen’s of England,” made the best of<br />
her experiences as a settler in Canada. She was<br />
an ardent naturalist, and possessed abundant<br />
kindliness and common sense. Her ‘ Female<br />
Emigrant’s Guide,” which was published in 1854,<br />
was very popular, and her “Canadian Settlers<br />
Guide,” ran into half-a-dozen editions. Her last<br />
book was published in 1894, and was entitled<br />
“Pearls and Pebbles: or, Notes of an old Natura-<br />
list.”<br />
<br />
Professor James De Mille, who was born in<br />
New Brunswick in 1836, and died in Halifax in<br />
1880, besides being a writer of occasional verse,<br />
was a prose author in several kinds.<br />
<br />
He wrote a religious novel called ‘ Helena’s<br />
Household: a Tale of the First Century,” which<br />
was very popular in “the sixties” both in the<br />
United States and in England. It is a very good<br />
example of that kind of work, and abounds in<br />
glowing ideas and thoughtful passages. It is<br />
possible that in his next book, ‘‘ The Dodge Club<br />
Papers,” he was influenced both by Dickens and<br />
by Haliburton, but he cannot therein be regarded<br />
as an imitator. In a succeeding book, “Cord and<br />
Crease,” he describes a typical Yankee journeying<br />
<br />
x<br />
<br />
149<br />
<br />
abroad, and in it he evidently grows the flower<br />
for which Haliburton had provided the seed.<br />
Mr. De Mille took high rank in his day as a<br />
writer of essays, and produced, in all, about forty<br />
books. At about the same time Miss Louisa<br />
Murray, of Ontario, wrote a capital serial story<br />
entitled “The Settlers of Long Arrow,” which<br />
appeared in 1861, in Once a Week, and on which<br />
the British press bestowed high praise. She also<br />
contributed stories both to United States and<br />
Canadian periodicals.<br />
<br />
William Kirby, the author of the most cele-<br />
brated of Canadian novels, “ Le Chien D’Or,” was<br />
born in England in 1817. He is consequently a<br />
veteran verging towards ninety, but by the last<br />
accounts he is still able to take an interest in<br />
life at his quiet home in Niagara where he has<br />
resided for many years, and where for thirty-four<br />
years he was Collector of Customs, retiring from<br />
that post in 1895. He appeared before the public<br />
in the first instance as a poet, with an epic poem,<br />
entitled “The U.E.” (United Empire) consisting<br />
chiefly of a series of historical tableaux, studded<br />
with portraits of loyalist personages. His master-<br />
piece, “ The Golden Dog,” was first published in<br />
1877, at Montreal. But although the reviews of<br />
<br />
the work were exceedingly flattering, the sales<br />
So inadequate were they<br />
<br />
were far from being so.<br />
indeed that the author reaped next to nothing in<br />
the way of financial return from the book which is:<br />
destined to live as one of the most noteworthy in<br />
Canadian literature. A second edition was published<br />
in Boston in 1896, and there has been something<br />
like a renaissance of this admirable work.<br />
<br />
It has been complained by some critics that<br />
Kirby’s style, in some parts of this great novel,<br />
is diffuse, and lacking in movement. But it<br />
will be confessed by all, that there is in it a<br />
dignity, a marvellous drawing of character, and a<br />
mastery of all the strings of its artistic plot that<br />
give it a high place among important works of<br />
fiction. It has already proved its inherent vitality<br />
by the failure of time permanently to bury it; by<br />
a resurrection in new and eagerly called-for<br />
editions after twenty years of comparative neglect;<br />
and by its new and successful appeal to a second<br />
generation of judges.<br />
<br />
As a rule, at the present time, Canadian authors<br />
who desire a more extended market, have to<br />
make arrangements with United States or British<br />
publishing houses. Canadian publishers then<br />
borrow the electrotype plates, on a royalty basis,<br />
and print from these a “Oanadian copyright<br />
edition,” or they import the work in ready-printed<br />
sheets, bind them up, and put them into circula-<br />
tion. Among the earlier Canadians who took<br />
advantage of the more recent mode, was Miss Lily<br />
A. Dougall, of Montreal, who in her novel, ‘‘ What-<br />
<br />
<br />
150<br />
<br />
Necessity Knows,” and in others of equal note,<br />
has shown conspicuous literary ability and grasp<br />
of character. Her literary training was Canadian,<br />
and it is from her native soil that she derives her<br />
original literary impulse.<br />
<br />
Tn his fine novel, “The False Chevalier,” and in<br />
other stories, Mr. W. B. Lighthull has shown an<br />
intimate acquaintance with French-Canadian _his-<br />
tory, and has vividly delineated the period of which<br />
he writes. He has also rendered good service to<br />
the cause of natural literature.<br />
<br />
In his self-reliance, his great industry, and his<br />
determination to make the best of the mental outfit<br />
with which Providence has provided him, and in a<br />
certain adventurous courage, Sir Gilbert Parker is<br />
very typical of the Canadian young man, and<br />
Canadians are proud of the position which his<br />
special genius, added to the qualities which his<br />
country breeds, has enabled him to attain. He<br />
was one of the first to take advantage of the condi-<br />
tions of the field occupied by the modern novel,<br />
and nothing better illustrates the contrast between<br />
those conditions and the previously existing ones<br />
than a comparison between the reception accorded<br />
to the 1877 Montreal edition of Kirby’s “ Golden<br />
Dog” and that which was received, for instance,<br />
by “ When Valmond came to Pontiac,” or “The<br />
Seats of the Mighty,” eighteen or twenty years<br />
afterwards, when they were started on their career<br />
by London and New York publishing houses. Sir<br />
Gilbert’s work is so well known in England that I<br />
shall not carry coals to Newcastle by attempting<br />
any extended review of it here. His most success-<br />
ful books have, in my opinion, been those with<br />
Canadian themes, and he has done much to awaken<br />
interest in the history of what was so well called<br />
New France, while his portrayal of French-Canadian<br />
character is firm and accurate.<br />
<br />
Among the story-writers who have so success-<br />
fully exploited the field of what may be called<br />
psychologic zoology there are few who will not<br />
acknowledge that the first who ever burst into that<br />
well-explored region of jungle, forest and prairie<br />
was a Canadian. ‘The first of these stories, with<br />
animals instead of human beings for heroes and<br />
heroines, so numerous now, appeared in a New<br />
York magazine. It was written by Ernest<br />
Thompson-Seton, a Canadian from his childhood,<br />
and a man in every way fitted to write the interest-<br />
ing series of books that have appeared from his<br />
pen. In “ Wild Animals I Have Known,” and in<br />
his other stories, Thompson-Seton had only to<br />
accentuate with an inventive touch his experiences<br />
as field naturalist for the Government of Manitoba,<br />
and his adventures in the wilds of North-western<br />
Canada. It was asa painter that he first displayed<br />
his abilities, and his vigorous illustrations add<br />
much to the charm of his popular books, . In the<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
stories of the animal kind that C. G. D. Roberts<br />
has given us, and to which allusion has already<br />
been made, there is perhaps a superior literary<br />
flavour, and scarcely less of poignant interest.<br />
W. A. Fraser is another well-known and successful<br />
Canadian writer who has turned aside from hig<br />
chosen path of stirring stories of action and<br />
breathless adventure to humanize the buffalo and<br />
to make us weep at the intellect and sentiment of<br />
the dog ; while Miss Marshall Saunders, although<br />
the writer of many bright and clever books, is best<br />
known by her “ Beautiful Joe,” a humane work<br />
which has been translated into a number of foreign<br />
languages, and has been in itself a whole Society<br />
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. If our<br />
Canadian poets have celebrated our flora, our<br />
writers of fiction have lifted our fauna to a position<br />
of eminence such as has never been occupied by<br />
members of the brute creation since their ancestors<br />
left Noah’s Ark.<br />
<br />
There have been other Canadian writers besides<br />
Kirby, Gilbert Parker and W. H. Drummond who<br />
have turned to the French-speaking province of the<br />
Dominion for their material. William McLennan<br />
obtained a perfect knowledge both of French-<br />
Canadian dialect and character. H.W. Thompson,<br />
in his “ Old Man Savarin and Other Stories,” dis-<br />
plays much skill in depicting character and much<br />
synipathetic insight ; Henry Cecil Walsh, in a<br />
volume of stories entitled “ Bonhomme,” is not 80<br />
pronounced in dialect, but is equally true in<br />
character-sketching. Mrs. 8. Frances Harrison,<br />
both in her book of poems entitled “‘ Rose and<br />
Fleurs de Lis” and in her “ Forest of Bourg-<br />
Marie,” has given evidences of very accurate<br />
observation of the people of Quebec and the<br />
scenery that surrounds them, and also of the<br />
possession of great literary skill and story-telling<br />
capacity.<br />
<br />
We have already seen how, sixty years ago, the<br />
British Constitution was supposed to be suitable<br />
literary pabulum for every boy. Many readers of<br />
these lines will have a grateful memory of a<br />
voluminous writer for boys who thought differently<br />
—J. Macdonald Oxley. He belongs by birth to<br />
<br />
our maritime provinces, and in his time was dux<br />
<br />
of the Halifax Grammar School. He has done<br />
much good literary work besides that in the<br />
juvenile department, his pen having borne prolific<br />
fruit in all the principal magazines ; but it is as a<br />
provider of sound, manly, wholesome fiction for<br />
boys, most of it with Canadian themes, that I<br />
introduce him here. :<br />
<br />
Sara Jeanette Duncan (Mrs. Cotes), author of —<br />
“A Social Departure,” “An American Girl in ~<br />
London,” ‘The Path of a Star,’ and other —<br />
stories, is Canadian born, and is well remembered<br />
as a- brilliant member of the staff of a: Toronto<br />
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newspaper. Her freshness of conception, her buoyant<br />
humour, and her excellent literary craftsmanship,<br />
have been very widely appreciated. Agnes C. Laut<br />
is another Canadian woman-journalist who has<br />
achieved fame in the particular section of the book<br />
world of which I am writing. Her ‘‘ Lords of the<br />
North” gives a vivid picture of the region of<br />
Canada which was the field of the operations of the<br />
Hudson’s Bay Company and its great rival, the<br />
North-West Company, while her “ Pathfinders of<br />
the North-West” attacks existing allotments of<br />
fame with a vigorous and unflinching hand.<br />
Among those who have commemorated the far<br />
west of Canada in books are Clive Phillips-Wolley,<br />
Lily A. Lefevre, Julia Henshaw, D. W. Higgins<br />
(late Speaker of the British Columbia Legislature),<br />
and “ Ralph Connor ” (Rev. C. W. Gordon). The<br />
last-mentioned of these is well known through very<br />
large editions of “ Black Rock,” “ The Sky Pilot,”<br />
“The Man from Glengarry,” and others, both<br />
throughout this Continent and on the other side of<br />
the Atlantic. His powerful descriptions of the<br />
lumber-camp, the mine, and the prairie, and his<br />
great moral force, appeal to larger audiences than<br />
it has been the lot of any other Canadian author to<br />
address.<br />
<br />
I have come to the end of the space at my dis-<br />
posal. I have endeavoured to give some idea of<br />
the work of Canadian authors in poetry and fiction,<br />
but I have no intention of attempting to construct<br />
a Canadian Academy-Pantheon out of the forty<br />
names I have mentioned. I would rather imitate<br />
the Japanese commander and say that if this army<br />
be demolished I can bring up another forty to take<br />
its place immediately. For I am conscious that<br />
there are many valiant and skilful writers that J<br />
have not been able to parade. Heavy guns of<br />
history we have, too, and a theological phalanx,<br />
besides a small but very admirable corps of skir-<br />
mishing essayists, not to mention our more than a<br />
corporal’s guard of able and veracious biographers.<br />
<br />
Bernarp McEvoy.<br />
<br />
——___+—>_+—___—_<br />
<br />
ANTHONY TROLLOPE.<br />
<br />
— ++<br />
IJ. Toe Novetistz.<br />
<br />
HAT action there is in the trilogy, “The<br />
<br />
V Warden,” “ Barchester Towers,” and<br />
“The Last Chronicle of Barset ’—and it<br />
<br />
is but little—takes place in the quiet ancient close<br />
of Barchester Cathedral. But, as compensation,<br />
there is a great gallery of portraits. The gentle<br />
Bishop Grantly is reverently portrayed, and is<br />
admirably contrasted with his son, the Archdeacon,<br />
energetic and overbearing. In “Ihe Warden ”’ the<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
151<br />
<br />
latter is unsympathetic; but further acquaintance in<br />
the next book renders him more acceptable, and when<br />
<br />
he is opposed to the crafty Slope his faults become<br />
<br />
virtues: eyen at his worst, the Archdeacon is a<br />
<br />
gentleman. The hen-pecked Bishop Proudie is a<br />
<br />
poor creature, under the thumb of his wife, who<br />
<br />
recalls inevitably the Mrs. Caudle of the “ Curtain<br />
<br />
Lectures.” Trollope loved to introduce the charac-<br />
<br />
ters of one book into the others, and the reader<br />
<br />
may meet in many a volume with the Duke of<br />
Omnium, the De Courcys, Doctor Thorne, Miss<br />
<br />
Dunstable, and the Proudies among others. The<br />
<br />
author only killed Mrs. Proudie after overhearing<br />
<br />
a conversation between two clergyman at the<br />
<br />
Atheneum Club, who, discussing the books, and<br />
<br />
especially this character, remarked that they would<br />
<br />
not write novels at all unless they could invent new<br />
<br />
figures. ‘Then Trollope went home and killed the<br />
<br />
bishop’s wife; but he regretted her to the end of<br />
his days.<br />
<br />
Trollope rarely indulged in the luxury of any<br />
but the very slightest plot. ‘The Warden” and<br />
“ Barchester Towers” have but the merest thread<br />
of story, and digressions are frequent. In the<br />
former is dragged in a somewhat ill-natured<br />
parody of Carlyle, who is re-christened Anticant ;<br />
and a reference to Dickens, who figures as Mr.<br />
Popular Sentiment ; while many pages are devoted<br />
to a disquisition upon the influence of the press,<br />
which would be more in place in an essay. In the<br />
latter the description of the sports at Ullathorne,<br />
and the desires of the Lookalofts to take precedence<br />
of the Grenacres are amusing enough, but they<br />
irritate because they needlessly stop the action<br />
of the tale. In ‘Doctor Thorne” he overcame<br />
this fault. He had a more concise tale to unfold—<br />
it was suggested by his brother Adolphus—and with<br />
the exception of the Duke of Omnium’s dinner-<br />
party there is no ground for such a complaint;<br />
which may account for the fact that, in his lifetime<br />
at least, this was the most popular of his stories.<br />
With ‘Doctor Thorne” Trollope also took a<br />
broader canvas, and added to the scenes of clerical<br />
life the humours of county society.<br />
<br />
But if he rarely had a plot, he often had a<br />
purpose, “I have ever thought of myself as a<br />
preacher of sermons, and my pulpit as one which<br />
I could make both salutary and agreeable to my<br />
audience.” He realised that it was the first duty of<br />
the novelist to be readable, and he never allowed<br />
his sermon to interfere with the story. The<br />
strongest theme he ever introduced is in “The<br />
Vicar of Bullington,” where he introduced a girl<br />
to whom he refers—to save ears polite—as a<br />
castaway. How is the woman to return to decency<br />
to whom no decent door is opened, is the problem<br />
he put before his readers? He held that what was<br />
<br />
sauce for the gander should be sauce for the goose,<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
152<br />
<br />
in so far at least, that while the fatted calf is killed<br />
for the prodigal son, pardon should not be withheld<br />
for the erring daughter. In ‘‘ The Way We Live”<br />
he tilted against commercial profligacy ; and having<br />
taken: in hand the satirist’s whip, he turned it<br />
against girls who sunk their self-respect in their<br />
eagerness to secure husbands, young men who<br />
were too selfish to abate a single luxury for the<br />
sake of matrimony, and against the puffing pro-<br />
pensities of authors. Elsewhere he had a word to<br />
say of mothers who would not nurse their children,<br />
and he indulged in quiet raillery when he raised<br />
the question of doctors’ etiquette. But he was no<br />
satirist. His method lacked delicacy; he used<br />
the bludgeon instead of the scalpel. He was at<br />
his best when exposing the shams of society, and<br />
castigating arrogance, undue pride of race, and<br />
snobbishness generally, which he did as fervently,<br />
though not so humourously, as Thackeray. He<br />
endeavoured to make vice repellent and virtue<br />
attractive, and to secure the reader’s affection for<br />
the good, the beautiful, and the true.<br />
<br />
Trollope never troubled about novel situations<br />
or dramatic effects. As often as not there is no<br />
denouement ; and he was quite indifferent to the<br />
advantage that might accrue from the preservation<br />
of some ignorance as to the ending of the tale. If<br />
a book was not good enough to be independent of<br />
mystery, which could always be solved by a glance<br />
at the last chapter, why then, in his opinion, it was<br />
worthless. The result of this feeling caused him<br />
often to interrupt the narrative to assure the<br />
reader that all would be well in the end, and that<br />
the heroine would not marry A., the fortune-hunter,<br />
or B., the unworthy, but C., who was her affinity.<br />
This naturally weakened the interest that otherwise<br />
might be felt for the lady. But Trollope was<br />
perhaps never entirely at his ease with his lovers.<br />
In “The Warden,’ where the love interest is<br />
between Bold the reformer and Eleanor Harding,<br />
the figures are not very real ; and in “ Barchester<br />
Towers,” where Eleanor reappears as a widow, it<br />
is not easy to be very anxious about her admirers.<br />
The affairs of sweet Lucy Mary Thorne and Frank<br />
Gresham, and Lord Lufton and Lucy Robarts, are,<br />
however, a marked improvement.<br />
<br />
Trollope did not take for his province the<br />
matters of life and death. He was pre-eminently<br />
a chronicler of small-beer ; and he was at his best<br />
when dealing with such trifles as the appointment<br />
to a deanery or a wardenship and the consequent<br />
intrigues. His humour found its most pleasing<br />
field when describing such scenes as those which<br />
constitute the duel between Mrs. Proudie and the<br />
crafty Slope for the control of the bishop. His<br />
favourite devices were the pursuit of an heiress by<br />
impecunious admirers, and the courtship of a maid<br />
of comparatively low degree by the squire or the<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
lord of the manor. These he introduced. into more<br />
than one story.<br />
<br />
For the most part his characters are of flesh and_<br />
blood. He presented neither devils nor saints;<br />
and, if he had a weakness for heroines, his heroes<br />
were rather poor creatures. His bad men were<br />
Slope, Henry Thorne, Sir Roger Scatcherd and his<br />
son, Louis Philippe. It cannot be said that he<br />
was as successful with his good young men. They<br />
were as unstable as water; and their hearts were<br />
so little under control that they flitted from girl to<br />
girl, even after they had to all intents and purposes<br />
plighted their troth. His girls were better drawn:<br />
Lucy Robarts, Kate Woodward, and Mary Thorne,<br />
charming: creatures all; and excellent, too, is<br />
Griselda Grantly, who when she hears from her<br />
mother that, at the eleventh hour, her marriage<br />
may be broken off, remarks placidly, ‘Then,<br />
mamma, I had better give them orders not to go<br />
on with the marking.” He was happier still with<br />
his elder men. Archdeacon Grantly has already<br />
been mentioned ; and Harding, whom Trollope pre-<br />
sented confidently to the reader, “not as a hero,<br />
not as a man to be admired and talked of, not as<br />
a man who should be toasted at public dinners<br />
and spoken of with conventional absurdity as a<br />
perfect divine, but as a good man without guile,<br />
believing humbly in the religion which he had<br />
striven to teach, and guided by the precepts which<br />
he had striven to learn.” A fine fellow, Harding,<br />
and a credit to his cloth. Admirable, too, was<br />
Doctor Thorne, with his loving, trusty heart, and<br />
almost womanly tenderness ; but somehow it seems<br />
wrong to have married him to Miss Dunstable.<br />
But then Trollope wanted everybody to be happy<br />
at the end of the last chapter of the last volume.<br />
The author’s favourite was Plantagenet Palliser :<br />
“Tf he be not a perfect gentleman, then am I<br />
unable to describe a gentleman.” Plantagenet is<br />
all that is claimed for him; but the greatest<br />
character in all the books is the Rev. Mr. Crawley,<br />
who ranks with the best creations of modern<br />
fiction. This unhappy gentleman, whose pride<br />
prevents him, owing to his poverty, from associat-<br />
ing with his equals, and who is anxious only to<br />
hide from the world the barrenness of his house-<br />
hold. At last, when his wife falls ill, he is com-<br />
pelled to allow the aid of his friends ; and at the<br />
end, when his pride is conquered, he thanks Lucy<br />
Robarts for all she has done, he seems to reach<br />
the level of some great patriarchal figure of old.<br />
“May God Almighty bless you, Miss Robarts.<br />
You have brought sunshine into this house, even<br />
in the time of sickness, when there was no sun-<br />
shine ; and He will bless you. You have been the<br />
Good Samaritan, binding up the wounds of the<br />
afflicted, pouring in oil and balm. To the mother<br />
of my children you have given life, and to me you<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
have brought light, and comfort, and good words<br />
—making my spirit glad within me as it has not<br />
peen gladdened before. All this hath come of<br />
charity, which vaunteth not itself, and is not puffed<br />
up. Faith and hope are beautiful, but charity<br />
exceedeth them all.” And, having so spoken,<br />
instead of leading her to the carriage, he went<br />
away and hid himself. There is nothing finer in<br />
Trollope, and perhaps nothing better in English<br />
fiction.<br />
<br />
‘Also he excelled in the presentation of what, in<br />
theatrical parlance, are styled “ character parts,”<br />
such as the Countess de Fourcy, Lady Arabella<br />
Gresham, Lady Lufton, Miss Thorne of Ullathorne,<br />
Martha Dunstable, the Oil of Lebanon heiress,<br />
and Lady Glencora. The latter ranked among the<br />
author’s favourites. “She is by no means a per-<br />
fect lady ; but if she be not all over a woman, then<br />
am I not able to describe a woman.” In this<br />
category comes Mrs. Proudie and Mademoiselle<br />
Neroni ; but the portrait of the latter, an unscru-<br />
pulous coquette, was by no means a success.<br />
<br />
What ‘Trollope said of “Barchester Towers a<br />
may be said of most of his books. “ The story<br />
was thoroughly English. There was a little fox-<br />
hunting and a little tuft-hunting, some Christian<br />
virtue and some cant. There was no heroism and<br />
no villainy. There was much Church, but more<br />
love-making. And it was honest, downright<br />
love.” To this need only be added that some-<br />
times there was a little electioneering.<br />
<br />
Trollope had some pathos and a quiet humour<br />
that vented itself not so much in the dialogue as<br />
in the delineation of the characters. Nor did he<br />
lack tenderness, as all are aware who have read of<br />
Arabin’s courting of Eleanor Bold : “ And now it<br />
remained to them each to enjoy the assurance of<br />
each other’s love. And how great that luxury is!<br />
How far it surpasses any other pleasure which God<br />
has allowed to His creatures! And to a woman’s<br />
heart how doubly delightful! When the ivy has<br />
found its tower, when the delicate creeper has found<br />
its strong wall, we know how the parasite plants<br />
grow and prosper. They were not created to<br />
stretch forth their branches alone and endure<br />
without protection the summer’s sun and the<br />
winter’s storm. Alone they but spread themselves<br />
on the ground, and cower unseen in the dingy<br />
shade. But when they have found their firm sup-<br />
porters, how wonderful is their beauty ; how all-<br />
pervading and victorious! What is the turret<br />
without its ivy, or the high garden-wall without its<br />
jasmine, which gives it beauty and fragrance ?<br />
The hedge without the honeysuckle is but a<br />
hedge. There is a feeling still half existing, but<br />
now half conquered by the force of human nature,<br />
that a woman should be ashamed of her love till the<br />
husband’s right to her compels her to acknowledge<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
153<br />
<br />
it. We would fain preach a different doctrine. A<br />
woman should glory in her love; but on that<br />
account let her take the more care that it be such<br />
as to justify her glory.”<br />
<br />
As the preceding passage shows clearly enough,<br />
Trollope wrote easily and without strain. But his<br />
style generally was undistinguished. There are<br />
no purple patches, no fine passages of description,<br />
nor are there many scenes which the reader feels<br />
impelled to re-read again and again. He was no<br />
phrase-maker, and epigrams are few and far<br />
between ; but occasionally a page is lit up with a<br />
flash of Disraelian wit. We read of the Duke of<br />
Omnium, who “was very willing that the Queen<br />
should be Queen so long as he was allowed to be<br />
the Duke of Omnium” ; and of the Hon. George<br />
De Courcy, who “ for his part liked to see the people<br />
go quiet on Sundays. The parsons had only one<br />
one day in seven, and he thought they were fully<br />
entitled to that.”<br />
<br />
Trollope’s best books are veritable human docu-<br />
ments, and his scenes are as true to life as his<br />
characters ; while his peers, his county families,<br />
squires, political folk, clergymen, doctors, attor-<br />
neys, civil servants, are so many accurate portraits<br />
of the men and women of the time. Within his<br />
limits he did excellent work ; and the fact that he<br />
was for many years prior to his death the most<br />
popular of English writers of fiction is a tribute<br />
alike to his powers and to the public which had the<br />
discernment to recognise them. He must for ever<br />
rank high among the exponents of English county<br />
life in mid-Victorian times; and the day cannot be<br />
far distant when he will take his place, not perhaps<br />
with the greatest English novelists, but certainly<br />
not far below them.<br />
<br />
Lewis MELVILLE.<br />
——————_1 > _____<br />
<br />
COMMERCIALISATION OF LITERATURE.<br />
es<br />
R. HENRY HOLT, of the firm of Messrs.<br />
Henry Holt & Co., of New York, has<br />
written a very interesting article in the<br />
Atlantic Monthly on “The Commercialisation of<br />
Literature.”<br />
<br />
The article is prompted by “The Confessions of<br />
a Publisher,” a book which was reviewed some<br />
months ago by Mr. Bernard Shaw in these columns,<br />
but though it deals incidentally with the book and<br />
the review referred to, this is not the main object<br />
of the paper. Its title is its own explanation.<br />
<br />
At first it appeared desirable, with the permission<br />
of the Editor, to republish the paper in Zhe Author,<br />
but, as it extends to twenty-three pages of the<br />
review, it would be much too long for the pages of<br />
this magazine. In these circumstances a few<br />
remarks on the contents will serve the purpose.<br />
154<br />
<br />
The article is divided into three parts. Part 1,<br />
<br />
“ Author and Publisher.” Part 2, ‘‘ Publisher and<br />
<br />
Publisher.” Part 3, “ Publisher and the Public,”<br />
<br />
The first part is interesting as containing the<br />
opinions of an American publisher; but its subject,<br />
frequently dealt with in 7'he Author, presents little<br />
that is really fresh, but it may be mentioned that<br />
Mr. Holt takes a very pronounced attitude against<br />
the position of the agent. He says in one place,<br />
“The agent can be very useful in arranging the<br />
business of a few authors popular enough to be<br />
published in both serial and book form in England,<br />
the United States, Canada, and Australia, and<br />
sometimes—occasionally through translations—in<br />
other places, although such business could be as<br />
well, and perhaps better, arranged by a competent<br />
publisher.” ‘This is the publisher’s opinion. The<br />
real facts of the case, as far as English authors<br />
are concerned, have frequently been set forth in<br />
these columns. The publisher is the worst person<br />
to whom to entrust these rights. When he is<br />
entrusted to obtain the United States copyright<br />
he makes an effort—a small effort—through his<br />
United States agent and drops the matter, as it is<br />
very often a better financial business for him to<br />
sell sheets or stereos to the United States market<br />
than to secure the copyright for the author. Over<br />
<br />
and over again this position has been laid before the<br />
<br />
Secretary of the Society, with the same result and<br />
the same dissatisfaction on the part of the author.<br />
Where, as in some cases, the publisher has given<br />
the author sufficient notice of his inability to<br />
obtain the United States copyright, the author has<br />
with business promptitude carried the matter<br />
through himself. The result has generally been<br />
satisfactory. Again, publishers often delay the<br />
publication of a book quite unwarrantably in<br />
order to obtain a serial market for the work, and<br />
their whole method of procedure proves that the<br />
machinery at their offices is unsatisfactory to<br />
obtain this end ; and lastly, publishers charge from<br />
25 per cent. to 50 per cent. for doing this small<br />
agency business, and unblushingly take the sums<br />
which result while they are crying out about the<br />
extravagant charges of agents. The writer<br />
continues : “ Among the first things the literary<br />
agent set himself to do, in London at least, was<br />
to break down the old relations between authors<br />
and publishers, and to make their connection<br />
mainly a question of which publisher would bid<br />
highest.”” We do not know what this “old rela-<br />
tion” may have been—an “old relation” may<br />
sometimes be a nuisance—but here again the<br />
publisher, looking at the matter from his own point<br />
of view, has overlooked the patent fact that if<br />
“the old relations” between publisher and author<br />
had been satisfactory the agent would never have<br />
existed, but the publishers so frequently and on<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
so many occasions took advantage of the author's<br />
ignorance that it became necessary to have some<br />
business head intervening who could put the<br />
literary wares on the market satisfactorily. The<br />
publishers alone are to blame for the creation<br />
of the agent, and although they may not find hig<br />
methods entirely satisfactory, they must remember<br />
that the position of this middleman is due to<br />
their own fault. The agent may—as in this<br />
imperfect world nothing is perfect—bring his<br />
disadvantages with him—and the publisher may<br />
perhaps suffer more than ghe author; but, as in<br />
all cases of natural evolution, if a part is unneces-<br />
sary it atrophies, if an agent is unnecessary between<br />
the creation of the book and the public demand<br />
for it, he will gradually decay and die out ; but his<br />
continued existence tends to show that he is a<br />
necessity.<br />
<br />
“A literary agent told me that among authors<br />
the feeling is quite frequent that the publisher ig<br />
to be squeezed to the last possible cent. The<br />
agents have not been slow to please their clients<br />
by falling in with this feeling. Between them,<br />
the publisher has lately been treated merely as a<br />
corpus vilum to be exploited for money.”<br />
<br />
Though we can but guess at the meaning of<br />
corpus vilum, it is pleasing to see that at any rate<br />
the publisher has fathomed the lack of gender of<br />
the corpus, although his classical education does<br />
not seem to have carried him further, but if the<br />
agents have experimented on the publisher’s body<br />
again it must appear that the publishers are respon-<br />
sible for the situation. He goes on to talk about<br />
the publisher as “ golden goose,” and ‘‘ who are to<br />
look after the agents?” It is impossible to think<br />
that the old fallacy that the publisher is the “ golden<br />
goose” can still exist, though, of course, here again,<br />
it is not the goose but the egg that is golden—in<br />
this distinction lies the very point of the story.<br />
The ovum of the publisher’s fortune—golden or<br />
not—must come from the author, who is, if the<br />
evidence of many hundreds of contracts goes for<br />
anything, very often the goose, as far as the busi-<br />
ness incidents are concerned. As to the question<br />
of who will protect the author from the agent, in<br />
Great Britain, at any rate, the author has some<br />
kind of safeguard owing to the position of the<br />
Society of Authors, though we regret to say in the<br />
United States no such substantial body exists, able,<br />
to act promptly as legal defenders of the author<br />
and guardian of his property. It is whispered that<br />
this position arises owing to the fact that a great<br />
many of the best-known authors in the United —<br />
States are “in the pockets of the publishers.”<br />
<br />
Finally, the feelings of the publisher are poured —<br />
forth in the following quotation, in which he seems —<br />
to have burst through all restraint and to have<br />
laid bare his heart : me<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
“J unhesitatingly say that in carrying his<br />
functions farther”—(this refers to the agent’s<br />
capacity as a lawyer to look over contracts and an<br />
auditor to check the accounts)—“ the agent has<br />
been the parent of most serious abuse, has become<br />
a very serious detriment to literature and a leech<br />
on the author, sucking blood entirely out of pro-<br />
portion to his later services, and has already begun<br />
to defeat himself. These are hard truths, and [<br />
shall probably find it expensive to tell them, but<br />
they need telling, and I am trying to do justice to<br />
the better side of the agent’s activities as well.”<br />
Generous publisher !<br />
<br />
So far the first portion of the article has come<br />
under consideration. :<br />
<br />
The second portion, “ Publisher and Publisher,”<br />
does not carry with it very much of interest, but<br />
the third part, ‘Publisher and the Public,” is<br />
fall of fresh statements on the advertising of<br />
hooks. Referring to the author of “ Confessions,”<br />
Mr. Holt observes: “He states about the adver-<br />
tising of books nobody knows anything,” bat<br />
proceeds to point out that the writer appears to<br />
know a great deal, and that finally he shows how<br />
there are three kinds of books from the advertiser's<br />
point of view. ‘‘ The first class do not need adver-<br />
tising, the second class cannot be helped by it, and<br />
the third class can. Much money spent on Class 1<br />
is wasted. All money spent on Class 2 is wasted.<br />
Money can be profitably spent, then, only on<br />
Class 3.”<br />
<br />
Mr. Holt then proceeds to make the following<br />
statement : “The sales of books that do not need<br />
much advertising constitute the bulk of the mis-<br />
cellaneous publishing business, and nearly all of<br />
the business done at a profit, while books, which<br />
will not return dollar for dollar spent in advertising,<br />
make up the bulk of the remainder. If this is<br />
trae, my class three, that will return a profit on<br />
advertising, cannot be a very large class.’ He goes<br />
on to quote an instance where a book was put on the<br />
market by a publisher and hardly went at all.<br />
One of the firm happened to read it ; considered it<br />
would be likely to respond to advertising, and began<br />
to advertise. The book responded ; he continued<br />
to advertise ; and the book still responded, but as<br />
soon as he abandoned the advertising the book<br />
ceased to sell, and it was found that the amount of<br />
money spent in advertising had taken away all the<br />
profits on the book from its increased sales.<br />
According to Mr. Holt’s judgment, therefore, a<br />
book of this kind ought to have died at birth<br />
because it does not pay the publisher to push it.<br />
‘This trade point of view is exceedingly interesting<br />
and important, and demonstrates the fact which<br />
must often be brought to the minds of authors and<br />
is constantly in evidence in the work of the<br />
Society, namely, that publishing is a business ; that<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR. 155<br />
<br />
the author’s reputation is, in the majority of cases,<br />
of little account to the publisher ; and that the old<br />
worn-out statement of the ‘old relations” between<br />
author and publisher, as a general rule, cannot be<br />
substantiated.<br />
<br />
To quote another instance which often comes<br />
before us. A publisher will take a book of an<br />
author; will print about 1,500 copies ; will sell<br />
in the first three or four months about 800<br />
or 900 on the English market and 400 or 500<br />
to the United States or the Colonies; will<br />
thus turn over his money with little advertising<br />
and little effort, and secure to himself a sound per-<br />
centage on it. He will then refuse, having broken<br />
up the type, to publish another edition, finding<br />
that the further circulation is not worth the trouble<br />
that may have to be expended upon it either in<br />
money or application. The author, therefore, finds<br />
that in three or four months his book is dead, and<br />
the publishers complain of the short life of the<br />
modern novel, while, in a great many cases, their<br />
own business methods are responsible for this<br />
result.<br />
<br />
The next point which Mr. Holt makes is the rage<br />
for advertising which has seized some of the pub-<br />
lishers in the United States, and his deduction is<br />
that many publishers have been badly bitten ;<br />
have found that the excess of advertising does<br />
not pay and that a reaction is now setting in. He<br />
is inclined to think, and, no doubt, his deduction is<br />
correct, that good reviews, with a small amount of<br />
advertising, are the best things for a book. A<br />
liberal advertiser in the United States market men-<br />
tions 800 dollars for the advertisement of a book he<br />
desires to boom, but this Mr. Holt considers<br />
excessive, and thinks that very few books would<br />
stand 800 dollars. He continues:: “Let us be<br />
bold and enterprising: for that’s the present<br />
fashion, and risk 300 dollars on each book. Where<br />
do we come out? ‘Take as an example a house<br />
that advertises thirty new booksa year. As we have<br />
figured 9,000 dollars would be a very liberal amount<br />
to spend in initial advertising before books show to<br />
which class they belong.” He thinks the statement<br />
about spending 30,000 or 50,000 dollars a year<br />
must either be incorrect or a great waste of money.<br />
While stating that all figuring on the question<br />
must be based on assumption and guess-work and<br />
the results be conjectural, he figures out as<br />
follows :—<br />
<br />
«A house advertising thirty books a year may,<br />
with fair success, reach a year’s sale of about 200,000<br />
copies, of which 80,000 would be fairly apt to come<br />
in class three. Half of these, say 40,000, could<br />
reasonably be expected to pay for their advertising.<br />
A net profit on them, exclusive of advertising,<br />
would reasonably be about 15,000 dollars ; then the<br />
small publishing house would, according to the<br />
156<br />
<br />
author of ‘A Publisher’s Confession,’ have to pay<br />
out of this 15,000, from 20,000 to 40,000 dollars<br />
in advertising. Now I have proved too much, or<br />
our author has asserted an error, or our publishing<br />
house has failed. Each is probably the case.”<br />
These figures are of great importance, and Mr.<br />
Holt goes on to state that of the dozen publishers<br />
who meet at monthly lunches in New York, who<br />
are leaders of the trade, one of them never spent<br />
over 25,000 dollars in any one year, a second never<br />
spent so much, and a third, he has reason to believe,<br />
never spent half of it. It is probable, therefore,<br />
if Mr. Holt’s figures are correct, that the reaction<br />
in United States advertising must set in pretty<br />
severely or all the United States publishing houses<br />
will be ruined. He is afraid that some of the<br />
<br />
English publishing houses have been bitten by the<br />
One or two, perhaps, but<br />
<br />
same advertising mania.<br />
not more.<br />
<br />
In dealing with this subject, he quotes an amus-<br />
ing remark by Prof. Cooley, who says that com-<br />
petition varies inversely as the intelligence and<br />
character of the customers appealed to, and that<br />
competition in advertising is the same as any other<br />
competition. ‘Is it too much to say that the<br />
vulgarest things are the most widely advertised,<br />
and that wide advertising, while it has its justifica-<br />
tions, inevitably has, unless it conveys knowledge<br />
that people actually want, a note of vulgarity ?”<br />
If, therefore, his reasoning is correct, wide advertis-<br />
ing, successful as regards other utilities, is false as<br />
regards books ; and that it is so, is proved, not only<br />
by previous experience, but by the fact that reckless<br />
advertising is on the decline, but surely it is not<br />
the case, as he seems to think that this state of<br />
affairs is prompted by the passage of the International<br />
Copyright Law.<br />
<br />
From a full consideration of the arguments put<br />
forward, the following deductions may be drawn :<br />
That publishing is a business ; that if advertise-<br />
ments do not pay the publisher, books will not be<br />
advertised, although such advertising might help<br />
the author; that, as in other businesses, so in<br />
publishing, there is no sentiment ; that the “old<br />
relations” between author and publisher, except in<br />
a few cases, never really had any existence unless<br />
the author was blind to his own interests ; that<br />
good reviews are the best means of selling books ;<br />
that these are no good or very little good unless<br />
coupled with judicious advertising ; that judicious<br />
advertising does not necessarily mean a large<br />
expenditure. :<br />
<br />
There is another point which Mr. Holt has not<br />
touched upon and which may not, perhaps, be a<br />
feature in United States publishing, and that is,<br />
the advantage of a good traveller. There are some<br />
houses in England obtaining very large sales<br />
for their books owing to the fact that they have<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
travellers whose knowledge of the booksellers in<br />
various cities and of the clientéle of these book-<br />
sellers is “ peculiar and extensive,” and who have a<br />
correct knowledge of the contents of the book or<br />
books which they are travelling. Such a person is<br />
of more value to a publisher than many advertise-<br />
ments, for gradually the booksellers begin to trust<br />
his knowledge, and in their turn, if they are good<br />
business men, begin to push his wares among their<br />
book-buyers. It is, however, to be regretted that<br />
many of the travellers employed fail conspicuously<br />
in the knowledge of the wares in which they are<br />
dealing. Here again it is clear that the marketing<br />
of books is entirely different from the marketing of<br />
other wares. A sample in the case of merchandise<br />
is sufficient, and the retailer has his remedy if the<br />
merchandise does not come up to the sample ; but<br />
in the case of books each book has an identity of<br />
its own, and cannot, therefore, be travelled in the<br />
same way. This point of view may not occur in<br />
the United States, where distances are so large and<br />
travelling so expensive, but there is no doubt that<br />
careful attention should be paid to it in the<br />
English market—much more attention than is at<br />
present customary.<br />
<br />
Thanks must be rendered to Mr. Holt for his<br />
enlightened and elucidating article, and, no doubt<br />
those—publishers and booksellers—whose business<br />
is the sale of books, will profit by his remarks.<br />
<br />
G. H. T.<br />
<br />
—-——+——<br />
<br />
WRITERS’ YEAR BOOK.*<br />
<br />
—1—— + —_<br />
<br />
HE credit for the inception of this little book<br />
was due to Miss Irene Bastow, who, we<br />
believe, drifted into journalism from typing,<br />
<br />
instead of, as is more often the case, taking up<br />
typing after seeking in vain a market wherein to<br />
sell, and not throw away, carefully penned MSS.<br />
Miss Bastow’s scheme was a practical one. She<br />
set about obtaining information from every English<br />
periodical of standing, first, regarding the style<br />
and length of copy accepted from outside con-<br />
tributors, and secondly, the rates of payment<br />
made, when such promises would be fulfilled, and<br />
whether the contributor should send in an account.<br />
Such knowledge she compressed into a small com-<br />
pass by means of abbreviations from the letters A<br />
to Q. Not only did she economise her time and<br />
energy in a way that experienced free-lances had<br />
done before her, but she desired to let her fellow-<br />
strugglers in journalism benefit by her discoveries.<br />
This intention she carried out in a way as<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
* « The Writers’ and Artists’ Year Book, 1906, a Directory<br />
for Writers, Artists and Photographers.” Adam & Charles<br />
Black. Is. net.<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
altruistic as it was commercial, by offering the<br />
information within two green covers at the price<br />
of a shilling.<br />
<br />
Yet the book was often difficult to procure.<br />
Its date of issue was irregular. Doubtless it<br />
involved too much work for one busy person to<br />
attend to, or the then publishers had not the<br />
necessary machinery to exploit it properly. Thus,<br />
owing to the difficulty of getting the useful little<br />
green manual, in its flimsy paper wrapper, the<br />
impression had of late gone abroad that the<br />
« W. Y. B.” was dead. It is therefore pleasant to<br />
chronicle that, on the 15th ult., this scribblers’<br />
erutch rose like a phcenix from the ashes.<br />
Although it is now clad in blazing Scarlet,<br />
as befits a fiery phoenix, it bears the imprint of<br />
Messrs. Black. Albeit its blushes are vivid, they<br />
are substantial ; for its cover is of cloth, without<br />
an advance being made on the original charge of<br />
1s. Despite the fact that various press guides<br />
have appeared annually for many years with the<br />
object of obtaining advertisements for the periodi-<br />
cals noted, Miss Bastow was the first to bring out<br />
a press guide, the prime motive of which was to<br />
impart practical information to contributors, un-<br />
obtainable elsewhere. It should be gratifying to<br />
her, therefore, that this little book is likely to<br />
become a hardy annual, since it has been taken<br />
over by the old-established firm which published<br />
three editions of the Encyclopedia Britannica and<br />
bought the copyright of the Waverley Novels.<br />
<br />
THE PREFACE.<br />
<br />
Previous issues of the W. Y. B. have appealed<br />
_ to free-lances partly because the standpoint of<br />
the editor was a purely business one and there<br />
was no flummery in the introduction. We<br />
regret, therefore, on opening this reissue of the<br />
book, to read “of all pleasant forms of work<br />
few are more delightful than that (sic) which falls<br />
to the lot of the free-lance, who is fairly confident<br />
of finding a market for his work.” Apart from<br />
slipshod grammar, the sentiment conveyed savours<br />
of cheap-jack auctioneering. Made solemnly in<br />
cold print, it is calculated to augment the already<br />
too numerous army of unemployed scribblers.<br />
After its flaming red cover has fired the imagina-<br />
tion of many half-baked young men and women,<br />
the misleading words in the preface are not un-<br />
likely to cause them to relinquish some regularly<br />
paid employment in order to reduce still further<br />
the paltry remuneration too often offered to out-<br />
siders by editors.<br />
<br />
But this year the familiar W. Y. B., to be<br />
quite in the fashion, has been given a double-<br />
barrelled name. It is now called _ the<br />
“W.A. Y.B.,” or the “ Writers’ and Artists’ Year<br />
Book.” Prominence is imparted, in heavy type,<br />
<br />
157<br />
<br />
to those periodicals which accept illustrations,<br />
because this is a pictorial age. The fact that the<br />
ever-increasing host of illustrators ‘‘ bids fair to<br />
rival in numbers even the mighty army of con-<br />
tributors ” should, of itself, have sufficed to show<br />
what an ample market there is for the new Red<br />
Book, without. the need of hampering the domgs<br />
of the aforesaid mighty army by an unwieldy<br />
gang of camp followers. Good wine needs no<br />
bush. It is surely inexpedient to “puff” the<br />
wine in the W. Y. B. by making any statement<br />
calculated to do a disservice to and alienate former<br />
purchasers, or still further embarrass editors<br />
whose budgets of unsolicited communications<br />
already exceed their powers of fair examination.<br />
If a well educated quart cannot be contained<br />
within a pint measure, is it seemly to invite the<br />
semi-educated gallon to seek a bubble reputation<br />
by toppling over into the mouth of the self-same<br />
pewter, which, as every school-board prodigy<br />
knows, is only capable of admitting an eighth<br />
part of a gallon ?<br />
<br />
The copyright section of last year has been ex-<br />
cluded from the present issue. This is as well. The<br />
attempt of the compiler to give a digest of the<br />
Copyright Acts so that writers might have a hazy<br />
idea of how legally to protect their interests, was<br />
no doubt laudable. But such matters are more<br />
ably dealt with in Chap. V. of Besant’s ‘* Pen and<br />
the Book.”<br />
<br />
ALPHABETICAL List OF PERIODICALS.<br />
<br />
Out of 75 pages 50 are devoted to a list of<br />
journals and magazines issued mostly in London.<br />
This, therefore, forms the bulk of the book, the<br />
reputation of which stands, or falls, by the accuracy<br />
and utility of this section. On the whole, the<br />
periodicals noted seem to have been selected with<br />
careful discrimination. A favourable point is that<br />
the alphabetical list is not loaded unnecessarily by<br />
the enumeration of provincial papers in which local<br />
amateurs make their gratuitous débuts, and con-<br />
cerning which conditions of acceptance are easily<br />
ascertainable on the spot. Omission, however, of<br />
the former abbreviations already alluded to—<br />
regarding times of publication and various informa-<br />
tion about payment—to our mind, militates against<br />
quick identification of the precise enlightenment a<br />
writer may seek, especially if he has become accus-<br />
tomed to the letters in former issues. By their<br />
elimination, it would appear that the publishers<br />
now take the side of the editor who may advertise<br />
in the W.A.Y.B., rather than that of the free-lance<br />
who buys the book. Be that as it may, the para-<br />
graphs do not now reveal at a glance, as was<br />
formerly the case, those periodicals whose editors<br />
responded fully to the circulars and thereby showed<br />
that they welcomed the outsider. Beginning with<br />
<br />
<br />
158<br />
<br />
the letter A, it appears that the editor of the<br />
W.A.Y.B. is not an anti-vivisectionist ; for, while<br />
the “ Animals’ Friend” is given, the “ Animals’<br />
Guardian” is ostracised. ‘The weekly “ Army and<br />
Navy Gazette” is duly noted, but the monthly<br />
« Army and Navy Chronicle” is omitted. While<br />
the “Art Journal,” price 1s. 6d. appears, the<br />
shilling ‘Art Decorator” is conspicuous by its<br />
absence. Although the “ Baptist Times and<br />
Freeman”’ is notified, the older publication of<br />
the same denomination, ‘‘ The Baptist,” is over-<br />
looked. Moreover, in a manual inaugurated by a<br />
lady, it is passing strange that the twopenny<br />
monthly “Beauty and Health”? should be<br />
unrecorded. Surely, for facile and nimble pens,<br />
there is much good copy suggested by such a<br />
pretty subject. ‘To free-lances, the practice of<br />
printing the names of editors is sometimes useful.<br />
It is always interesting. It is scarcely fair, there-<br />
fore, that while the name of the editor of “ Baby,<br />
the Mother’s Magazine” should be given, that of<br />
the “ Author” is omitted.<br />
<br />
PUBLISHERS.<br />
<br />
There are numerous omissions in this list. We<br />
<br />
can well understand an old-established firm looking<br />
<br />
askance at many mushroom houses that grow up<br />
around it. But if the W.A.Y.B., as its preface<br />
implies, is intended for the free-lance, it is often<br />
the small outside publisher who gives the non-<br />
established author his first opportunity of bringing<br />
out a book. Another year, therefore, it would be<br />
well to make this section more complete. It<br />
excludes, for instance, the Art & Book Co., Ltd.,<br />
Thomas Baker, Brown, Langham & Co., Catholic<br />
Truth Society, Caxton Publishing Co., W. H. and<br />
L, Collingridge, the De la More Press, and Bertram<br />
Dobell. Space precludes further detailed investiga-<br />
tion. The fact that the business of Mr. Grant<br />
Richards continues, under the name of E. Grant<br />
Richards, is not noted.<br />
<br />
LITERARY AGENTS.<br />
<br />
Here we have only seven names instead of five<br />
times that number, no mention being made of the<br />
Cambridge Literary Agency, Central News Agency,<br />
London News Agency, National Press Agency, and<br />
so forth.<br />
<br />
In conclusion, whilst welcoming the reappear-<br />
ance of this useful manual, we venture to suggest<br />
that the excellent list of “ Pseudonyms and Pen<br />
Names” given in the ‘“ Who’s Who Year Book,”<br />
published by the same firm, might be transferred<br />
to the W.A.Y.B., as well as particulars of literary<br />
societies and clubs, in the next edition.<br />
<br />
A. R,<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
A NOTE ON THE WORD “ AUTHOR.”<br />
<br />
—t<br />
<br />
: E may suppose that the spelling and<br />
pronunciation of author commend them-<br />
selves to learned men. Nevertheless, both<br />
<br />
are abnormal, if not extraordinary, as may be seen<br />
<br />
by consulting the New English Dictionary.<br />
<br />
The name means “originator,” or “one who<br />
makes a work to grow”; from the Latin ace,<br />
auctorem, one who makes to grow, from augere,<br />
to wax. The old Norman form was, at first, autur,<br />
then autour; but some scribes, who were accus-<br />
tomed to the Greek th in Thomas and thyme, chose<br />
to vary the form to authour, without intending any<br />
difference in the sound ; and this misleading custom<br />
became popular. Soon people began to suppose,<br />
naturally enough, that the th was the English fh,<br />
of native origin, and pronounced the word accord-<br />
ingly; sometimes varying the form to author, with<br />
but one vw. And this is how the sound of th gob<br />
into a word of Latin origin.<br />
<br />
But Thomas and thyme have preserved their<br />
Norman ¢f to the present day, with the Norman<br />
sound of ¢; whilst the Middle English zeaére, teme,<br />
and trone have been turned into theatre, theme, and<br />
throne. All these five words are pronounced as<br />
with ¢in French; and so is the French auteur, |<br />
<br />
Water W. SKEAT.<br />
<br />
a 8<br />
<br />
CORRESPONDENCE.<br />
<br />
—-—~< ><br />
A PRovest.<br />
<br />
Srr,—No one can detest the attitude of the<br />
public-complainer more than I, but there are<br />
occasions when one has no option but to adopt it.<br />
May I have a little space in which to do so now,<br />
and to call attention to a piece of literary imitation<br />
too close to pass unnoticed. I refer to a new book<br />
called “The Footpath Way: An Anthology for<br />
Those who Travel by the Country-Side,” compiled<br />
by Alfred H. Hyatt, and published by Mr. Foulis<br />
of Edinburgh. In every way except the cover<br />
(which had already been borrowed by another firm<br />
for a book called “The Voice of the Mountains),<br />
in its title, sub-title, format, its editorial note and<br />
acknowledgment, its arrangement of headlines, its<br />
use of mottoes, and, to the extent of many pages, —<br />
in its contents, this volume copies my anthology —<br />
“The Open Road,” although neither that work<br />
nor myself is (perhaps not unnaturally) ever men-<br />
tioned ; and to add to the flattery, at the end of<br />
“The Footpath Way” an annoancement that the<br />
same editor and publisher have in preparation —<br />
“The City’s Heart: A Little Anthology of the<br />
<br />
Town ;” which also is to be divided into sections [<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
approximating to those in my recent volume “ The<br />
Friendly Town: A Little Book for the Urbane.<br />
<br />
There is no doubt plenty of room for new antho-<br />
logies both of country and town life, and I should be<br />
one of the last to complain of ordinary competition.<br />
But “The Footpath Way” bears so many traces<br />
(yet not quite enough, I am advised, for the law to<br />
interfere to protect Messrs. Methuen and myself)<br />
of a kind of competition which happily is extra-<br />
ordinary, that 1 feel compelled to draw this<br />
attention to the matter.<br />
<br />
When one man has devised a special form of<br />
book, and brought to its arrangement sufficient<br />
thought and taste to give it several original<br />
characteristics and a personal quality, it Is a<br />
menace to conscientious authors if another is<br />
encouraged in the production of imitations as close<br />
(and apparently safe) as “The Footpath Way.”<br />
<br />
I am, yours faithfully,<br />
E. V. Lucas.<br />
<br />
st<br />
<br />
Tue Literary YEAR Book, 1906.<br />
<br />
Srr,—To review a reviewer is seldom desirable<br />
and sometimes disagreeable, especially if, as in the<br />
present instance, a grateful acknowledgment of<br />
criticism in the past is resented as “very pretty<br />
blandishments.” Accordingly, whatever gratitude<br />
I may feel for your notice (in eight columns) of<br />
the current issue of my “ Year Book,” I shall,<br />
as before, endeavour to express it by improvements<br />
in the next edition. At the same time, I should<br />
like to point out that your deprecation of “ pre-<br />
judice” and “uncharitable” feeling in the final<br />
paragraph of your long review is, perhaps, a little<br />
belated. You state there, very kindly, that you<br />
“have no desire to detract from the unquestioned<br />
value of the major part of the material,” and that<br />
it is not your “intention to overlook the usefulness<br />
of much solid stuff by unduly magnifying the flaws<br />
we have come across.” Now, in regard to the<br />
ethics of reviewing, I think this principle is accepted<br />
as according with the common laws of fairness, that<br />
praise and blame should be proportionate to the<br />
good and bad elements in the book. If “ the major<br />
part of the material’ is of “ unquestioned value,’<br />
the major part of the reviewer's task should be<br />
to point out its merits. If the good and the bad<br />
are related as “inuch solid stuff” to “ flaws,’’ the<br />
preponderance of criticism should be in the scale of<br />
praise. If, as you further state, “there is much<br />
advantage to be derived ” from the book by precisely<br />
that class for whom it is intended (‘those who<br />
live dependent on the pen”), they may reasonably<br />
expect not to find its merits tucked away at the<br />
foot of the eighth column. ‘his is merely a<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR. 159<br />
<br />
question of proportion, and I venture to think that<br />
your really helpful review is, in effect, not fair to<br />
the book, inasmuch as the general impression which<br />
you create does not accord with your favourable<br />
opinion of its “ major part,” and is not removed<br />
by the gui s’excuse s’accuse phrases at the close of<br />
the review.<br />
<br />
With regard to one or two details, 7e Rhymer’s<br />
Lexicon was not selected for review because it is<br />
published by the same firm which publishes “The<br />
Literary Year Book,” and a notice might have<br />
looked like an advertisement. In your section<br />
headed “ Publishers,’”’ you write, “The list of pub-<br />
lishers, we are informed, has been thoroughly<br />
revised at first hand. . . . But it comes as a shock<br />
to find that the section devoted to ‘ Foreign Pub-<br />
lishers’ has not been altered in any way.” The<br />
words “in any way” are incorrect, but I am more<br />
concerned to note that your reviewer overlooks<br />
the statement prefatory to the list of “ Colonial,<br />
American, and Foreign Publishers” (p. 403), which<br />
runs: “ Every effort has been made to bring these<br />
lists up to date, but, owing to the delays of<br />
correspondence and to the difficulty of eliciting<br />
information at first-hand, it has not been possible<br />
toattain to completeness.” Short of making a per-<br />
sonal tour through the Colonies, the United States,<br />
and the Continent, I fear that these lists will always<br />
fall short of absolute accuracy ; but your reviewer's<br />
indifference to the genuine hard work devoted to<br />
the British section (32 pp.), in order to haye a fling<br />
at the Foreign section (12 pp.), without regard to<br />
the editorial note, does seem to me a little—it is<br />
your own word—* uncharitable.”<br />
<br />
{ do not quite follow the fine words employed at<br />
the beginning of your review about “a ‘ Literary<br />
Year Book’ worthy of the land of Shakespeare,”<br />
and about the “saying of Sir Joshua Reynolds that<br />
‘excellence is never granted to a man but as a<br />
reward of labour.’” ‘This sounds a trifle senten-<br />
tious in reference to a literary annual, but I remem-<br />
ber that Shakespeare also says, “I have had my<br />
labour for my travail,” and that Reynolds writes<br />
in another place, ‘“ Among men united in the same<br />
body and engaged in the same pursuit, occasional<br />
differences will arise.” I am cheerfully anxious to<br />
bridge those “differences” with fresh “ labour”<br />
on my part ; is there nothing wanting on yours ?<br />
<br />
I am, very truly yours,<br />
Tue Eniror, ‘THE LITERARY<br />
YeEaR Book.”<br />
Broadway House, E.C.<br />
16th January.<br />
<br />
A REPLY TO THE ABOVE.<br />
A propos of the ethics of reviewing, two interesting<br />
points are advanced by the Editor of the “ Literary Year<br />
Book.”<br />
160<br />
<br />
(1) Praise, he maintains, should be proportionate to the<br />
good and bad elements in a book. ‘Thus, if the major part<br />
is of value, the major part of the reviewer's task should be<br />
to praise. May we be permitted to reply by parable? In<br />
any review of disciplined troops, the inspecting officer, at<br />
the conclusion of a parade when making his report,<br />
emphasises, as is his duty, the shortcomings he may<br />
have observed, in order that they may be corrected on a<br />
future occasion. If his criticisms, conscientiously given,<br />
are then cavilled at,a double exhibition of weakness is<br />
displayed.<br />
<br />
(2) As regards the objection to favourable comments<br />
coming at the end instead of at the beginning, the question<br />
raised is one of peculiar concern. When a reviewer, after<br />
examining a book, draws attention to a number of dis-<br />
crepancies, but is anxious to show the great service which<br />
the volume might render another year after revision, it<br />
may be wiser to bestow praise at the end rather than the<br />
beginning. In days when congregations enjoyed the<br />
“Fourteenthly ” in a sermon, magazine readers thought<br />
it a duty to peruse a long article from beginning to end.<br />
But now, when everyone thinks he is in a hurry, it is the<br />
fashion to turn rather to the last paragraph, and take the<br />
cue from it, before beginning to read the whole.<br />
<br />
The fear that mention of the “Rhymer’s Lexicon” on<br />
p. 857 “might have looked like an advertisement” is<br />
naive, considering that the publisher’s own firm is fittingly<br />
advertised in the body of the book on p. 397.<br />
<br />
As the Editor considers that we have been indifferent to<br />
the “genuine hard work devoted to the British section” of<br />
publishers, we take this opportunity of noting that the<br />
register in question has been padded out in the present<br />
issue by the inclusion of several publishers of music. The<br />
first insertion of a music house appeared in the 1901<br />
edition of the “ Literary Year Book,’’ and that entry<br />
has since been reprinted annually. We now find, in the<br />
1906 edition, that representatives of the music trade—<br />
extraneous to that of bona fide book selling—have been<br />
considerably augmented. These “British” music pub-<br />
lishers include a German firm under the letter A, and a<br />
well-known Italian house under R. Nevertheless, the old-<br />
established British houses of Novello & Co (genuine book<br />
publishers as well as music sellers), Curwen (publishers of<br />
many books on tonic sol-fa as well as sheet music), Ash-<br />
down, Metzler, Williams, Weekes, and so on, are not<br />
mentioned. Surely, if music publishers are inserted,<br />
musical instrument makers should also be added, because<br />
a few of these have published books, e.g., Hill & Sons,<br />
Hart, and Chanot (on the violin), Rudall Carte (on the flute,<br />
besides the ‘ Musical Directory ”), and Brinsmead (on the<br />
piano). By the way, the firm that brings out more books on<br />
music than any other in London to-day, is William Reeves,<br />
Charing Cross Road, whose name is omitted. Music pub-<br />
lishers, however, are primarily concerned with the business<br />
of music selling. It is a trade distinct from that of book<br />
printing or book publishing. To get into touch with<br />
recognised sellers of literature, Messrs. Simpkin Marshall,<br />
or other distributors, are usually employed by the music<br />
firms. There is no need unduly to increase the bulk of<br />
the “Literary Year Book.” Such entries are no more<br />
valued by the music trade than they are by purchasers of<br />
the book itself. Asa proof of this, we refer to the memo-<br />
randum at the beginning of the section. It says that<br />
those publishers “whose names are marked with an<br />
asterisk have not corrected their entries for the present<br />
issue.” Only two music publishers appear without an<br />
asterisk.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Auk.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
<br />
Torems ror AUTHORS.<br />
<br />
Dear Str,—May I beg for a trifle of space in<br />
which to amplify slighily my little paper on totems,<br />
which appeared in last month’s Author.<br />
<br />
It is to the necessity of simplicity in design that<br />
I wish to draw attention.<br />
<br />
The totem, to fulfil perfectly its work of<br />
identification, must have two qualities—simplicity<br />
and recognisability. Now, though, correctly<br />
speaking, a totem is a “natural object . . . one of<br />
a class,” it would be absurd for authors to be<br />
totemically pedantic when their end would be<br />
served equally well by designs representing any<br />
well-known manufactured article; therefore by<br />
the term “totem” it is understood that I mean<br />
any object, natural or manufactured, used as<br />
a means to assist identification of an author with<br />
his work.<br />
<br />
Referring back now to my opening remark on<br />
the need for simplicity, it seems to me that the<br />
ignoring of this by the inexperienced totemist will<br />
lead him into one of two difficulties. Supposing<br />
him to make use of a natural object for his totem,<br />
he will possibly allow his artist to design him quite<br />
a pretty little picture—which as a picture may be<br />
very admirable ; but as an aid to identification of<br />
his name with his work just useless. I can imagine<br />
some member of the public asking a friend if he<br />
has read Brown’s new book. And the friend asking<br />
which Brown. And after that the ineffectual<br />
struggles of the first man to describe the pretty<br />
little picture which Brown has printed always<br />
alongside his name !<br />
<br />
Again, in the case of an author making use of a<br />
manufactured article for his totem, his artist may<br />
feel it in his bones that a teapot or a pair of tongs<br />
look “‘ mighty mean”’ without a little softening of<br />
the lines, and something of a background. Result<br />
—the man in the street is never quite satisfied<br />
whether the teapot is a coffee pot, watering can,<br />
oil can, antique vase or a shaving pot. While as<br />
for the tongs, probably he goes all his days thinking<br />
they’re a pair of nutcrackers. No! if you're<br />
going to call in the assistance of the totem, let<br />
your motto be, “Simplicity and Recognisability.”<br />
Clumsy but useful. Something anyone can name<br />
at aglance. ‘Tongs ” Smith—‘ Kettle” Hyne—<br />
*Camuel” Kipling—“ Whale” Bullen! Who<br />
would forget °em? ‘They’re too readily recog-<br />
nised and too easily described to be confused or<br />
forgotten.<br />
<br />
Now, in the words of the immoral Drinquobier :<br />
“ Who is going to begin an’ make a start?”<br />
<br />
Yours faithfully,<br />
Wiut1am Hore Hopaeson. | https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/513/1906-02-01-The-Author-16-5.pdf | publications, The Author |