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429	https://historysoa.com/items/show/429	The Author, Vol. 22 Issue 04 (January 1912)	<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.+22+Issue+04+%28January+1912%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 22 Issue 04 (January 1912)</a>			<a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015039402600" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015039402600</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>	1912-01-01-The-Author-22-4					85–116																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=22">22</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1912-01-01">1912-01-01</a>							4			19120101	The Author.<br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br /> Vol. XXII.--No. 4.<br /> JANUARY 1, 1912.<br /> [PRICE SIXPENCE.<br /> CONTENTS.<br /> PAGE<br /> PAGE<br /> 102<br /> 103<br /> 103<br /> 103<br /> 103<br /> Notices<br /> The Society&#039;s Funds<br /> List of Members ...<br /> The Pension Fund ...<br /> Committee Notes ...<br /> Council Meeting<br /> Books published by Members ..<br /> Literary, Dramatic and Musical Notes<br /> Paris Notes ... ...<br /> United States Notes<br /> Stage Plays and Private Societie<br /> Magazine Contents<br /> How to Use the Society ...<br /> Warnings to the Producers of Books ...<br /> Warnings to Dramatic Authors<br /> Registration of Scenarios and Original Plays<br /> Dramatic Authors and Agents<br /> Warnings to Musical Composers<br /> Stamping Music...<br /> The Reading Branch<br /> Remittances<br /> General Notes<br /> Committee Election<br /> The Pension Fund Committee<br /> The Dinner ...<br /> The Soundest View of History.<br /> Correspondence ...<br /> 03<br /> :::::::::::::<br /> 104<br /> 105<br /> 105<br /> 106<br /> 110<br /> 12<br /> By Florence L. Barclay.<br /> THE FOLLOWING OF THE STAR. 6/=<br /> &quot;A worthy successor to “The Rosary.<br /> and clever.&quot;--Evening Standard.<br /> It has the same charm and grip, whilst the plot is again unusual<br /> 150TH THOUSAND,<br /> THE ROSARY.<br /> 6/=<br /> &quot; Jane Champion is one of the most lovable heroines that have ever stepped into the pages of a novel. ...<br /> * The Rosary&#039; has wit, as well as grace.”-Pall Mall Gazette.<br /> 350TH THOUSAND.<br /> THE MISTRESS OF SHENSTONE. 6/-<br /> &quot; A youthful sentiment, fresh and romantic, flows through Mrs. Barclay&#039;s new book, and gives to the story<br /> some of the delicate odour of lavender and jessamine and old-fashioned flowers.&quot;-- Daily Graphic.<br /> 150TH THOUSAND.<br /> THE WHEELS OF TIME.<br /> 1/= net.<br /> “One of the most charmingly touching and truly pathetic stories we have met with for some time.”-Belfast<br /> Northern Whig.<br /> 10TH IMPRESSION.<br /> * Send for List describing Mrs. Barclay&#039;s Books.<br /> G. P. PUTNAM&#039;S SONS, 24, Bedford St., Strand, London, W.C.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 84 (#500) #############################################<br /> <br /> ADVERTISEMENTS.<br /> The Society of Authors (Incorporated).<br /> Tolograpbic Address : &quot;AUTORIDAD, LONDON.&quot;<br /> Telephone No. : 374 Victoria.<br /> P.C.<br /> PRESIDENT.<br /> THOMAS HARDY, O. M.<br /> COUNCIL<br /> 818 ROBERT ANDERSON, K.C.B.<br /> The Right Hon. THE EARL CURZON, JOSTIN MCCARTHY.<br /> BIB WM.REYNELL ANSON, Bart.,D.C.L.<br /> THE REV. C. H. MIDDLETON-WAKE.<br /> THE RIGHT HON. THE LORD AUSTIN DOBSON.<br /> SIR HENRY NORMAN, M.P.<br /> AVEBURY, P.C.<br /> SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.<br /> SIR GILBERT PARKER, M.P.<br /> J. M. BABRIE<br /> DOUGLAS FRESHFIELD.<br /> SIR ARTHUR PINERO.<br /> BIR ALFRED BATEMAN, K.C.M.G. EDMUND GOSSE, LL.D.<br /> THE RIGHT HON, SIB HORACE<br /> ROBERT BATEMAN.<br /> SYDNEY GRUNDY.<br /> PLUNKETT, K.P.<br /> F. E. BEDDARD, F.R.S.<br /> H. 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FORBES DAWSON<br /> AUTHORS, ATTENTION!<br /> ACCURACY,<br /> (Member of the Incorporated Society of Authors),<br /> ABSOLUTE SECRECY,<br /> PUNCTUALITY<br /> guaranteed by me in Typewritten<br /> copies of Manuscripts, eto.<br /> Terms : Is. per 1,000 words ; Carbon<br /> Duplicates, 3d. per 1,000.<br /> An Actor of over 25 years&#039; experience in every<br /> class of character, play, and theatre.<br /> Master of Stage Craft &amp; Play Construction.<br /> Author of plays produced in Great Britain<br /> and America. &quot;Adapter of several novels to the<br /> stage.<br /> GIVES PRACTICAL ADVICE UPON PLAYS.<br /> ADAPTS STORIES TO THE STAGE.<br /> - NO THEORIES. —<br /> No charge for reading and giving a practical<br /> opinion on a play.<br /> Knows the best people in the dramatic world,<br /> and has gained the necessary experience for this<br /> class of work on the stage itself, in association<br /> with the best dramatists, producers, actors, and<br /> stage managers of his time.<br /> Read what a satisfied Client says, and then send a<br /> trial order.<br /> Dear Sir,<br /> December 4th, 1911.<br /> I have to thank you for your prompt and most<br /> satisfactory work; the typing is excellent, and I am<br /> extremely pleased with it.<br /> (Signed) MRS. 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International Copyright Convention<br /> as Revised at Berlin, 1909.<br /> Price 1s. net.<br /> [All prices not.<br /> Apply to the Secretary, 39, OW Queen Street, Storey&#039;s Gate, S. W.]<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 84 (#503) #############################################<br /> <br /> ADVERTISEMENTS.<br /> <br /> E<br /> “ Always Complete.<br /> Never Finished.”<br /> il<br /> JP)<br /> lof<br /> lo<br /> lo<br /> 8<br /> The ideal bookcase is one that can be extended vertically<br /> or horizontally as desired, with Units that can be<br /> locked together to form one complete piece of furniture.<br /> People nowadays add as many books to their collec.<br /> tion in a year as their grandfathers did in a lifetime,<br /> consequently, a type of Bookcase that did very well<br /> fifty years ago proves totally inadequate for present-<br /> day needs. 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BELMONT &amp; CO., 29, Paternoster Square, LONDON, E.C.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 85 (#505) #############################################<br /> <br /> The Author.<br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br /> FOUNDED BY SIR WALTER BESANT.<br /> VOL. XXII.–No. 4.<br /> JANUARY 1st, 1912.<br /> [PRICE SIXPENCE.<br /> TELEPHONE NUMBER :<br /> 374 VICTORIA.<br /> TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS :<br /> AUTORIDAD, LONDON.<br /> ADVERTISEMENTS.<br /> As there seems to be an impression among<br /> readers of The Author that the Committee are<br /> personally responsible for the bona fides of the<br /> advertisers, the Committee desire it to be stated<br /> that this is not, and could not possibly be, the case.<br /> Although care is exercised that no undesirable<br /> advertisements be inserted, they do not accept, and<br /> never have accepted, any liability.<br /> Members should apply to the Secretary for advice<br /> if special information is desired.<br /> NOTICES.<br /> JOR the opinions expressed in papers that are<br /> I signed or initialled the authors alone are<br /> responsible. 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This fund is slowly<br /> increasing, and it is hoped will, in time, cover the<br /> needs of all the members of the Society.<br /> ARTICLES AND CONTRIBUTIONS.<br /> THE Editor of The Author begs to remind<br /> members of the Society that, although the paper<br /> is sent to them free of cost, its production would<br /> be a very heavy charge on the resources of the<br /> Society if a great many members did not forward<br /> to the Secretary the modest 58. 6d. subscription for<br /> the year.<br /> Communications for The Author should be<br /> addressed to the Offices of the Society, 39, Old<br /> Queen Street, Storey&#039;s Gate, S.W., and should<br /> reach the Editor not later than the 21st of each<br /> month.<br /> Communications and letters are invited by the<br /> Editor on all literary matters treated from the<br /> standpoint of art or business, but on no other<br /> subjects whatever. Every effort will be made to<br /> return articles which cannot be accepted.<br /> VOL. XXII.<br /> LIST OF MEMBERS.<br /> M HE List of Members of the Society of Authors,<br /> - published October, 1907, can now be obtained<br /> at the offices of the Society at the price of<br /> 6d., post free 71d. It includes elections to July,<br /> 1907, and will be sold to members and associates<br /> of the Society only.<br /> A dozen blank pages have been added at the<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 86 (#506) #############################################<br /> <br /> 86<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> end of the list for the convenience of those who<br /> desire to add future elections as they are chronicled<br /> from month to month in these pages.<br /> THE PENSION FUND.<br /> It does not include either donations given prior<br /> to October 1st, nor does it include subscriptions<br /> paid in compliance with promises made before it.<br /> The full list of annual subscribers to the fund<br /> appeared in the November issue of The Author.<br /> The secretary would like to state that he has<br /> received four bankers&#039; orders in answer to the<br /> recent appeal, unsigned, without any covering letter.<br /> He would be glad, therefore, if those members who<br /> may have sent in these orders, recognising them<br /> from their description, would write to the secretary<br /> on the matter.<br /> Bankers&#039; Order for 108. drawn on the London,<br /> County and Westminster Bank, Maidstone.<br /> Bankers&#039; Order for 10s. drawn on the National<br /> Provincial Bank of England, Baker Street, W.<br /> Bankers&#039; Order for 58. drawn on the Union of<br /> London and Smiths&#039; Bank, Clifton, Bristol.<br /> Bankers&#039; Order for 5s. drawn on the London,<br /> County and Westminster Bank, Kensington, W.<br /> Subscriptions.<br /> £ $. d.<br /> 0 100<br /> 0 5 0<br /> 0 5 0<br /> N February 1, the trustees of the Pension<br /> Fund of the society-after the secretary<br /> had placed before them the financial<br /> position of the fund—decided to invest £250 in<br /> the purchase of Consols.<br /> The amount purchased at the present price is<br /> £312 13s. 4d.<br /> This brings the invested funds to £4,377 198. 4d.<br /> The trustees, however, have been unable to recom-<br /> mend the payment of any further pensions, as the<br /> income at their disposal is at present exhausted.<br /> They desire to draw the attention of the members<br /> of the society to this fact, in the hope that by<br /> additional subscriptions and donations there will<br /> be sufficient funds in hand in the course of the<br /> year to declare another pension in case any im-<br /> portant claim is forthcoming.<br /> Consols 21%.......... ............ £1,312 13 4<br /> Local Loans .............<br /> 500 0 0<br /> Victorian Government 3% Consoli.<br /> dated Inscribed Stock ...............<br /> 291 19 11<br /> London and North-Western 3% Deben-<br /> ture Stock ....................<br /> 250 0 0<br /> Egyptian Government Irrigation<br /> Trust 4% Certificates ........... 200 0 0<br /> Cape of Good Hope 32% Inscribed<br /> Stock .............................<br /> 200 0 0<br /> Glasgow and South-Western Railway<br /> 4% Preference Stock..........<br /> New Zealand 32% Stock............... 247 9 6<br /> Irish Land Act 23% Guaranteed Stock 258 0 0<br /> Corporation of London 21% Stock,<br /> 1927-57 ........<br /> ................<br /> 438 2 4<br /> Jamaica 31% Stock, 1919-49 ......... 132 18 6<br /> Mauritius 4% 1937 Stock......... 120 121<br /> Dcminion of Canada C.P.R. 31% Land<br /> Grant Stock, 1938........... ...... 198 3 8<br /> 5 00<br /> 0 5 0<br /> ( 10 0<br /> 0 5 0<br /> 0 5 0<br /> 0 5 0<br /> 2 2 0<br /> 1 1 0<br /> 0 5 0<br /> ·<br /> .<br /> ·<br /> · ·<br /> .<br /> errerererer<br /> ·<br /> 0<br /> 1<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> Oct. 5, Bungey, E. Newton<br /> Oct. 6, Beale, Mrs. W. Phipson . .<br /> Oct. 12, Hannay, J. 0.<br /> Oct. 12, Mrs. Humphry Ward, an addi-<br /> tional subscription for 1912<br /> -13 .<br /> Nov. 9, Dailey, R. H. .<br /> Nov. 10, McCormick, E. B.<br /> Nov. 10, Salter, Miss E. K.<br /> Nov. 14, Kenny, Mrs. L. M. Stacpool<br /> Nov. 20, Snell, Miss Olive . .<br /> Nov. 24, Locke, W.J. .<br /> Nov. 24, Gosse, Edmund . .<br /> Nov. 25, Larken, E. P. .<br /> Nov. 25, Underdown, Miss E. .<br /> Nov. 25, Walkley, S. . . . .<br /> Nov. 25, Masefield, John .<br /> Nov. 25, Thurston, E. Temple<br /> Nov. 25, Rittenberg, Max,<br /> Nov. 25, Paull, H. M. .<br /> Nov. 25, Turner, Reginald.<br /> Nov. 25, Balme, Mrs. Nettleton.<br /> Nov. 25, Barne, Miss M. C.<br /> Nov. 25, Sedgwick, Anne Douglas .<br /> (Mrs. Basil de Selincourt)<br /> Nov. 25, Larden, Walter . . .<br /> Nor. 25, Channon, Mrs. Frances ..<br /> Nov. 25, Toynbee, Paget, ..<br /> Nov. 25, Hood, Miss Agnes Jacomb.<br /> Nov. 25, Gilliat, The Rev. E. . .<br /> Nov. 25, Macdonald, Greville , .<br /> Nov. 25, Allen, Rev. The G. W.(2y ars)<br /> Nov. 25, Russell, G. H. . .<br /> Nov. 25, Osgood, Mrs. Irene<br /> uspood, Nrs. Trene . .<br /> Nov. 25, Trench, Herbert , ,<br /> .<br /> .<br /> ·<br /> •<br /> 0 5<br /> 0 10<br /> 1 1<br /> 1 1<br /> 0 5<br /> 0 5<br /> 0<br /> 6<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> Total .......... .... £4,377 19 4<br /> 0<br /> 10<br /> 0<br /> 0 10<br /> 0<br /> PENSION FUND.<br /> The list printed below includes all fresh dona-<br /> tions and subscriptions (i.e., donations and<br /> subscriptions not hitherto acknowledged) received<br /> by, or promised to, the fund from October 1st to<br /> December 22nd.<br /> 0 10 0<br /> 0 10 0<br /> 1 1 0<br /> 1 1 0<br /> 0 5 0<br /> 0 5 0<br /> 10 10 0<br /> 0 10 0<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 87 (#507) #############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> £<br /> 1<br /> 5<br /> 0<br /> . d.<br /> 1 0<br /> 0 0<br /> 5 0<br /> 0 10<br /> 0 5<br /> 0 5<br /> 1 1<br /> 6<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> 1<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> 1<br /> 10<br /> 5<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> 85<br /> 7<br /> 0<br /> 2<br /> 3<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> 6<br /> ong-<br /> 10<br /> 0<br /> 2<br /> 1<br /> 3<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> 6<br /> £ s. d.<br /> Nov. 25, Murdoch, W. G. Burn . 0 15 0 Dec. 11, Orczy, The Baroness . .<br /> Nov. 25, Knowles, Miss Margaret<br /> 1 1 0 Dec. 12, Bennett, Arnold .<br /> Nov. 25, Bond, R. Warwick . . 1 1 0 Dec. 12, von Holst, Gustav . :<br /> Nov. 25, Stockley, Mrs. .<br /> : 0 10 6 Dec. 16, Cromartie, The Right Hon.<br /> Nov. 27, Tyrrell, Miss Eleanor.<br /> 0 10 0<br /> the Countess of (additional<br /> Nov. 27, Prideaux, Miss S. T. . 1 0 0<br /> subscription) . .<br /> Nov. 27, Sedgwick, Prof. A. (5 years 1 1 0 Dec. 16, Laurance, Lionel . .<br /> .<br /> Nov. 27, Arnold, Mrs. J. 0. . . 0 10 0 Dec. 16, Allen, Mrs. Grant. .<br /> Nov. 27, Weaver, Mrs. Baillie<br /> 0 10 0 Dec. 18, Haultain, Arnold .<br /> .<br /> Nov. 27, Drake, F. Maurice<br /> 0 5 0 Dec. 18, Pollock, The Right Honble.<br /> Nov. 27, Stewart, J. C. MacDougall: 0 5 0<br /> Sir Frederick, P.C. ,<br /> Nov. 27, Baldwin, Mrs. Alfred . . 1 1 0 Dec. 20, Carr, Miss Mildred E. , .<br /> Nov. 27, Lucas, E. V. ..<br /> 1 0 0 Dec. 20, Lewis, The Rev. Arthur<br /> Nov. 27, Hollins, Miss Dorothea , 010 0<br /> Nov. 27, Bagnall, Miss L. T. .<br /> 5 0<br /> Nov. 27, Young, Ernest . . . 0 5 0<br /> Donations.<br /> Nov. 27, de Mattos, Alexander Teixeira 0 6<br /> Nov. 27, Collier, The Hon. John<br /> 10 Oct. 10, Guthrie, Anstey. .<br /> Noy. 27, Hughes-Gibb, Mrs. .<br /> 0 5 0 Oct, 11, Baldwin, Mrs. Alfred . .<br /> Nov. 27, Orde Ward, The Rev. F. W. 0 5 0 Oct. 19, Romanne-James, Mrs. C.<br /> Nov. 28, Harraden, Beatrice . . 2 2 0 Oct. 27, “ Olivia Ramsey&quot;<br /> . :<br /> Nov. 28, Carlyle, The Rev. A. J. 0 5 0 Nov. 3, Sprigge, Dr. S. S. (3rd<br /> Nov. 28, Montrésor, Miss F. F. . 1 1 0<br /> tion) . .<br /> : :<br /> Nov. 28, Jones, Henry Arthur . . 1 1 0 Nov. 3, Tanner, James T. (5th I<br /> Nov. 28, Pryor, Francis<br /> 4 4 0<br /> tion)<br /> ; : .<br /> Nov. 28, Whiteing, Richard . . 0 10 0 Nov. 3, Balme, Mrs. Nettleton . .<br /> Nov. 28, Caine, William<br /> . 1 1 0 Nov. 4, Cayzer, Charles (3rd Donation)<br /> Nov. 28, Tuttiett, Miss M. G. . . 1 1 0 Nov. 6, LeRiche, P. J.<br /> Nov. 28, Caulfeild, Mrs. Kathleen 0 5 0 Nov. 6, Daniell, Mrs. E. H.<br /> Nov. 28, Breaknell, Miss Mary. 0 5 0 Nov. 13, Anon. . .<br /> .<br /> Nov. 28, James, Miss S. Boucher<br /> 1 10 Nov. 18, Hichens, Robert (in addition<br /> Nov. 28, Martin, Miss Violet<br /> 1 0 0<br /> to subscription of £1)<br /> 0 £1) .<br /> Nov. 29, Pakington, The Hon. Mary. 0 5 0 Nov. 20, Grant, John G. .<br /> Nov. 29, Chase, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis<br /> Nov. 24, Jacobs, W. W. . . .<br /> Nathaniel . . . 0 5 0 Nov. 24, Roberts, Morley , . .<br /> Nov. 29, Skrine, The Rer. John H.. i 0 0 Nov. 24, Eckersley, The Rev. J. :<br /> Nov. 29, Travers, Miss Rosalind.<br /> 5 0 Nov. 25, Besant, W. H. .<br /> Nov. 29, Graves, Alfred P.. .<br /> 5 0 Nov. 25, Hill, J. Arthur<br /> Nov. 29, Shaw, Fred. G. . . 0 5 0 Nov. 25, Tansley, A. G. .<br /> Nov. 29, Narramore, William<br /> 0 5 0 Nov. 25, Gysi, Max,<br /> Nov, 29, Waldstein, Charles<br /> 1 1 0 Nov. 25, Lyttelton, Hon. Mrs<br /> Nov. 29, Rutter, Frank ..<br /> 0 5 0 Nov, 25, Savile, Frank .<br /> . .<br /> Dec. 1, Lee, The Rev. Albert<br /> 0 5 0 Nov. 25, Skeat, Prof. W. W.<br /> Dec. 1, Romanes, Mrs. Ethel<br /> 0 10 0 Nov. 27, Hood, Francis .<br /> Dec. 1, Wilton, Margaret W. .<br /> 50 Nov. 27, “ Olivia Ramsey&quot;<br /> Dec. 2, Holme, Miss. .<br /> 0 10 0 Nov. 27, Moffatt, Graham ,<br /> .<br /> Dec. 4, Thomson, Lieut.-Col. S. J. 0 5 0 Nov. 27, Mainwaring, Mrs. . .<br /> Dec. 4, Begbie, Harold .<br /> 10 Nov. 27, Maunder, J. H..<br /> Dec. 4, Giles, Miss Edith J. F.<br /> 50 Nov. 27, Kennedy, E. B..<br /> Dec. 4, Coulton, G. G. .<br /> 5 0 Nov. 27, Galsworthy, John (in addition<br /> Dec. 4, Heath, Sidney<br /> to subscription) . .<br /> Dec. 5, Macnamara, Miss Mar<br /> Nov. 27, Oppenheim, E. P.<br /> Dec. 5, Clodd, Edward<br /> O Nov. 27, Harding, Commander Claud,<br /> Dec. 5, Little, Mrs. Archibald . 2<br /> R.N. .<br /> Dec. 5, Morton, Michael . . . 1 i 0 Nov. 27, Moore, Miss E. Hamilton :<br /> Dec. 6, Meredith, Mark · ·<br /> .<br /> ·<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> 5 0 Nov. 27, Pilley, John. .<br /> ·<br /> Dec. 8, Broster, Miss D. K. . 0 5 0 Nov. 28, Martin, Mrs. Clara T. .<br /> 0<br /> 6<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> -0-0--NOTONOco ooo<br /> o NorerrorOONO er er on Ecococo no Erco<br /> ·<br /> ·<br /> ·<br /> ·<br /> ·<br /> ·<br /> ..............<br /> 0<br /> ·<br /> ·<br /> ·<br /> ·<br /> 0<br /> ·<br /> ·<br /> ·<br /> 0<br /> ·<br /> ·<br /> ,<br /> ·<br /> ·<br /> 1<br /> 1<br /> 5<br /> ·<br /> ·<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> ·<br /> ·<br /> ·<br /> ·<br /> ·<br /> ooer er er er<br /> 2<br /> ·<br /> 0<br /> ·<br /> ·<br /> 1 0 0<br /> 0 10 6<br /> 0 10 0<br /> 0 10 6<br /> er<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 88 (#508) #############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> ::::::..........<br /> novoro<br /> ven<br /> Nov. 28, McKellar, Campbell D. .<br /> Nov. 28, Wroughton, Miss Cicely .<br /> Nov. 28, Rankin, Miss F. M. . .<br /> Nov. 28, Harraden, Beatrice<br /> Nov. 28, Gould, Gerald ,<br /> .<br /> Nov. 28, Hardy, Thomas 0. M.<br /> Nov. 29, Maarten Maartens<br /> Nov. 29, Bolton, Clement .<br /> Nov. 29, Stutfield, H. E. M.<br /> Nov. 29, Gibbs, F. L. A. .<br /> Nov. 29, Spurrier, Steven<br /> Nov. 29, Kinloch, Alexander<br /> Nov. 29, Webling, Peggy.<br /> Nov. 29, Barclay, Mrs. Hubert. :<br /> Nov. 29, Gibbs, Miss C. E. .<br /> Nov. 29, Batty, Mrs. Braithwaite<br /> Nov. 29, Spielmann, Mr. and Mrs. M.H.<br /> Nov. 29, Begbie, Harold .<br /> Nov. 29, Spiers, Victor<br /> Nov. 29, Wentworth, Gerald<br /> Nov. 29, Pryce, Richard .<br /> Nov. 29, Watson, Mrs. Herbert .<br /> Dec. 6, Toplis, Grace . .<br /> Dec. 6, Percival, Helen A. .<br /> Dec. 7, Graham, Kenneth.<br /> Dec. 8, Falmouth, The Right Honble.<br /> the Viscountess . .<br /> Dec. 8, Ord, H. W. . .<br /> Dec. 10, Hawkins, A. Hope<br /> Dec. 10, Pennell, Mrs. E. R.<br /> Dec. 11, Bland, Mrs. E. Nesbit .<br /> Dec. 11, De Morgan, Wm.<br /> Dec. 12, D&#039;Arcy, Ella Miss<br /> Dec. 16, Glenconner, Lady.<br /> Dec. 16, Royds, The Rev. T. F. .<br /> Dec. 18, Moore, Mrs. Stuart<br /> Dec. 18, J. P. P. .<br /> •<br /> Dec. 18, Bremner, Robert L. .<br /> Dec. 18, Dawson, Frank .<br /> Dec. 20. Tench, Miss Mary F. A. :<br /> Dec. 21, Clifford, Mrs. W. K. . .<br /> Dec. 22, Francis Beard ,<br /> Dec. 22, Horridge, Frank.<br /> Nero<br /> £ s. d.<br /> 10 0 0<br /> 0 5 0<br /> 0 5 0<br /> 0 0<br /> 1 0 0<br /> 200 0<br /> 5 0 0<br /> 0 2 6<br /> 100.<br /> 0 10 6<br /> 0 7 6<br /> 1 1 0<br /> 0 5 0<br /> 0 100<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> 2 2 0<br /> 3 3 0<br /> 5 0<br /> 0<br /> 3 0 0<br /> 0 5 0<br /> 5 0<br /> 5 0<br /> 0 0<br /> នននននននននននននននន នន<br /> 2<br /> 0<br /> 6<br /> .<br /> tions for the current year up to 288, the largest<br /> total in any one year, save 1909, since the founda-<br /> tion of the society. In 1909, 298 elections were<br /> recorded, in 1910, 276, and in 1911, as has been<br /> stated, 288. The committee have, however, to<br /> chronicle, with regret, 10 resignations.<br /> The solicitor of the society then reported on the<br /> cases in his hands.<br /> It may be remembered that in the last issue of<br /> The Author, a case was mentioned which it had<br /> been necessary to re-open owing to a mis-statement<br /> of the defendant revealed in his affidavit. This<br /> case has now been settled, the defendants paying<br /> 500 guineas as damages and costs for infringement,<br /> in place of £400 and costs as preriously arranged.<br /> The next question referred to the bankruptcy of<br /> a literary agent, and the solicitor was instructed<br /> in the course which the committee wished to have<br /> taken. The solicitor reported the satisfactory<br /> settlement of a small county court case where the<br /> amount and costs had been paid. He also reported<br /> the successful termination of cases undertaken by<br /> the society against pirates of dramatic property.<br /> An injunction had been obtained against the<br /> defendant, who had been selling scripts of plays<br /> without the sanction of the owners. Forty-three<br /> scripts had been delivered to the solicitors and sent<br /> on to the members of the society, whose work<br /> had been damaged by their circulation, and the<br /> defendant had given an undertaking not to continue<br /> to circulate any further scripts of the works in<br /> question. The solicitor also obtained the names<br /> of some of the people to whom the scripts were<br /> sold, and if they are found producing these plays<br /> the society will proceed to take action against<br /> them.<br /> In another case of infringement of dramatic<br /> property an interlocutory injunction has been<br /> obtained. The society will now proceed to obtain<br /> the final injunction and an order for costs. The<br /> case was one of barefaced infringement.<br /> Two other small cases were reported as settled.<br /> In an action for account against a music publisher,<br /> as it had been impossible to obtain proper state-<br /> ments, a writ had been issued. The accounts<br /> have since been delivered. Another case for<br /> accounts and royalties had been settled without<br /> going into court, the accounts having been delivered<br /> with cheques for the sums shown due. The same<br /> report applies to a third case where an author had<br /> a running account with a publisher. A very<br /> difficult case, referring to a breach of agreement by<br /> a publisher, was next discussed, but the committee<br /> regretted they could not then come to a final<br /> decision, owing to the absence of an undertaking<br /> by the author to go into court, but they decided<br /> that on receipt of such an undertaking they would<br /> re-consider the matter.<br /> .<br /> O<br /> .<br /> everomoru Bororoor oerer<br /> 6<br /> .<br /> 0<br /> .<br /> 6<br /> .<br /> .<br /> 0<br /> .<br /> 1<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> O<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> 6<br /> .<br /> 0<br /> 5<br /> 0<br /> 5<br /> 5<br /> 2<br /> .<br /> .<br /> £164 19 6<br /> COMMITTEE NOTES...<br /> MEETING of the Committee was held at<br /> the rooms of the Society of Arts, 18 John<br /> Street, Adelphi, W.C., on Monday, Decem-<br /> ber 4th, at 3 o&#039;clock.<br /> The minutes of the previous meeting having been<br /> read and signed, the committee proceeded to the<br /> elections. They were pleased to elect 25 members<br /> and associates, bringing the total number of elec-<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 89 (#509) #############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 89<br /> The question of the clerks&#039; salaries and Christ-<br /> mas boxes was also considered, and the committee<br /> sanctioned certain expenditure for these items.<br /> In regard to advertisements in The Author it<br /> was decided to keep to the arrangement at present<br /> in force.<br /> The secretary mentioned to the committee the<br /> difficult position in which some writers of novels<br /> had been placed owing to recent legal decisions<br /> respecting the law of libel. The committee con-<br /> sidered that it would be inadvisable to take action<br /> at the present time, as they did not see any chance<br /> of getting a hearing, and the question was accord-<br /> ingly adjourned.<br /> A sub-committee was appointed to deal with the<br /> Agency Agreement. That sub-committee consists<br /> of Mrs. Belloc Lowndes, Mr. Charles Garvice, and<br /> the secretary of the society. It may be recalled<br /> that not long ago the Dramatic Sub-Committee<br /> settled an agreement between dramatist and agent.<br /> The Literary Agency Agreement will probably be<br /> based on the dramatic agency agreement already<br /> settled.<br /> The committee have to thank Miss E. M. Symonds<br /> for a donation of £2 28. to the Capital Fund of<br /> the society.<br /> In a case of delayed delivery of a MS. by the<br /> post office, the committee regretted their inability<br /> to help the author, as cases dealing with this subject<br /> had clearly established that no redress was pro.<br /> curable in the circumstances.<br /> The secretary brought to the notice of the<br /> committee a number of agreements issued by a<br /> certain publishing house. He pointed out how<br /> objectionable these contracts, binding down authors<br /> to give a series of works to the publisher, were<br /> from the anthor&#039;s point of view; and how frequently<br /> similar agreements from the same house had been<br /> brought to him by members.<br /> The last case arose out of a dispute on an agree<br /> ment between a member and his publisher. The<br /> committee regretted their inability to proceed on<br /> behalf of the member, as they did not feel that the<br /> member&#039;s contention could be supported.<br /> Following the discussion of the cases, matters<br /> dealing with the Copyright Bill were considered.<br /> A letter from Sir Gilbert Parker, which had been<br /> sent to all the members of the committee, was<br /> laid on the table. The secretary reported the<br /> receipt of letters from Sir Frederick Macmillan, and<br /> from a Canadian correspondent, dealing with<br /> Colonial and Canadian copyright, and also the steps<br /> taken by Lord Tennyson to put forward the<br /> society&#039;s amendments to the Copyright Bill in the<br /> House of Lords.<br /> The committee settled their nominees for the<br /> Committee Election for 1912 to fill the vacancies<br /> caused by the retirements necessary under the<br /> constitution of the society. A notice of the pro-<br /> cedure appears in another part of this issue.<br /> The election to the Pension Fund Committee<br /> was also discussed. Members of the society may<br /> recall that the Pension Fund Committee is com-<br /> posed of three members nominated by the Committee<br /> of Management, and three elected by the society at<br /> the general meeting, with the chairman of the<br /> Committee of Management for the time being ex<br /> officio. One member of those elected by the<br /> Committee of Management, and one of those<br /> elected at the general meeting hare to retire<br /> annually. Mrs. Humphry Ward retired in rotation,<br /> and submitting her name to the Committee of<br /> Management for re-election, was re-elected. Mr.<br /> Morley Roberts, one of the members elected at the<br /> general meeting, retired, but did not seek re-election.<br /> Accordingly, the committee decided to ask Mr.<br /> Owen Seaman to allow his name to go forward for<br /> election at the general meeting to fill the vacancy.<br /> The committee are pleased to state that Mr. Owen<br /> Seaman will accept nomination. It is, however, in<br /> the power of any member of the society to nominate<br /> some other member to fill the position. Full par-<br /> ticulars as to procedure in this matter also appear<br /> in another part of The Author.<br /> COUNCIL MEETING.<br /> THE second statutory meeting of the council of<br /> the society during 1911 was held at 18, John Street,<br /> Adelphi, W.C., on Monday, December 4th, at 4.30.<br /> The first matter before the meeting was to<br /> receive and adopt the report of the Committee of<br /> Management to the council, setting out in detail<br /> the action they had taken in the matter of copy-<br /> right legislation. The report was unanimously<br /> approved and adopted. It is intended to print this<br /> for the benefit of members in the Annual Report of<br /> the society.<br /> The next matter was the question of the re-<br /> publication of the list of members. After carefully<br /> considering the few letters received from members,<br /> and discussing the pros and cons, the council came<br /> to the conclusion that no great desire for the<br /> list existed, and that in view of that fact, and of<br /> the expense entailed in keeping it up to date, it<br /> would be inadvisable to republish it. Moreover,<br /> the council considered that there were other and<br /> more pressing claims on the society&#039;s funds which<br /> should be met first.<br /> DRAMATIC SUB-COMMITTEE.<br /> The last meeting for 1911 of the Dramatic Sub-<br /> Committee was held at the offices of the society on<br /> Friday, December 15, at 3 o&#039;clock.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 90 (#510) #############################################<br /> <br /> 90<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> After the signing of the minutes the first ques- been elected with the full approval of the Swedish<br /> tion before the sub-committee was the Managerial Academy to collect the votes in this country of<br /> Treaty. The Chairman reported that the treaty persons entitled to vote for the Prize for Litera.<br /> had been discussed at the meeting of the Dramatists&#039; ture, the Swedish Acadeiny, without consulting<br /> Club, and that a sub-committee of that club had them, had instituted a new system, and they<br /> been appointed to consider its various clauses. It considered, therefore, that the time had come to<br /> was understood that this sub-committee would in lay down their functions.<br /> turn report to the Dramatists&#039; Club, and that that<br /> report would subsequently be laid before the<br /> Dramatic Sub-Committee. In these circumstances<br /> it was decided to adjourn further discussion until<br /> Cases.<br /> the report from the Dramatists&#039; Club. had come TEN cases have been in the secretary&#039;s hands<br /> to hand. The Chairman, however, read certain since the last issue of The Author. Six have been<br /> letters he had received, which he laid on the table, claims for money, and of these it is pleasing to<br /> and a letter drafted by Mr. Bernard Shaw was also report that four have been satisfactorily settled,<br /> suggested as a preface to the Managerial Treaty. and the sums paid. The other two bare so<br /> The next matter before the committee was the recently come into the office that there has not<br /> correspondence with the Lord Chamberlain, and been time before going to press to complete the<br /> arising out of the correspondence, a resolution was negotiations.<br /> passed, which the secretary was authorised to send In the one claim for accounts and money, the<br /> to the Lord Chamberlain at the earliest opportunity. accounts and money have been delivered. There<br /> The committee decided it would be inexpedient to have been two claims for accounts. The anthor<br /> publish the resolution until the reply from the has received the accounts in one case, and in the<br /> Lord Chamberlain had been received.<br /> other the defaulter has answered the secretary&#039;s<br /> Some letters from Mr. Laurence Cowen were letter, although the accounts have not, as yet, been<br /> also read to the sub-committee, and the secretary rendered. In a claim for the return of a MS. the<br /> was authorised to reply.<br /> MS. has been recovered. Therefore, seven cases<br /> The conduct of the election of the Dramatic Sub- out of ten have been satisfactorily concluded, and<br /> Committee for 1912 was next considered. Notice there is every probability that the remaining three<br /> as to this will be sent to the dramatic section of the will be closed shortly.<br /> society in due course.<br /> It is satisfactory to report that of the foriner<br /> A letter received from Mr. Ligon Johnson, cases not one remains open, but two have had to<br /> counsel of the Theatrical Producing Managers of be transferred to the solicitors of the society.<br /> America, in regard to the Canadian Copyright Bill,<br /> the sub-committee referred to the Committee of<br /> Management, for their serious consideration.<br /> December Elections.<br /> The secretary then reported the cases that had<br /> been carried through for dramatists since the last Armitage, Mrs. E.<br /> meeting.<br /> Brown, M. F. . . . 5, Palmeira Avenue<br /> Hove.<br /> Caico, Signora Louise . Montedore (Caltanis-<br /> NOBEL PRIZE COMMITTEE.<br /> setta), Sicily.<br /> The meeting of the Nobel Prize Committee Cole, Sanford D. . . 68, Queen&#039;s Square,<br /> for 1911 was held at the offices of the society<br /> Bristol.<br /> on Thursday, December 14. After the minutes<br /> Conway-Gordon, Miss V. Longley House,<br /> of the former meeting had been read and signed, (Conway Vere)<br /> Rochester.<br /> Mr. Edmund Gosse put forward, at some length, Cunningham, J ph 60, Milton Park,<br /> the work of the Committee since its appoint-<br /> Thomas .<br /> Highgate, N.<br /> ment, with the approval of the Swedish Academy, Francis Beard .<br /> “R,&quot; 27, Langham<br /> in 1902. After some discussion, the following<br /> Street, W.<br /> resolution was proposed, seconded, and passed Heale, E. Newton . . 3, Barton Terrace,<br /> unanimously :-<br /> Alphington Road,<br /> “That the Committee of Management of the<br /> Exeter.<br /> Incorporated Society of Authors be requested to Higginbottom, W. Hugh. 74, Cathcart Studios,<br /> disband the Nobel Prize Committee elected by<br /> Redcliffe Road,<br /> them in 1902.&quot;<br /> Kensington, S.W.<br /> The Nobel Prize Committee gare the following Low, Sidney . . . 24, Marlborough Hill,<br /> reasons for this request. That although they had<br /> N.W.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 91 (#511) #############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 91<br /> Morgan, The Rev. J.<br /> Vyrnwy, D.D.<br /> Price, Frederick W. 133, Harley Street,<br /> W.<br /> Prior, Mrs. G. C. Melton , 12A, Carlyle Mansions,<br /> Cheyne Walk, Chel-<br /> sea.<br /> St. Quinton, Col. . . 34, Dover Street,<br /> Piccadilly, W.<br /> Rannie, David Watson . West Hayes, Win-<br /> chester.<br /> Stainforth, Miss Edith<br /> Steer, Miss Janette . . 53, Sloane Gardens,<br /> S.W.<br /> Stephenson, H. H., Worcester Park,<br /> Surrey.<br /> Symons, M. Travers . . 10, Cliffords Inn, E.C.<br /> Tippett, Mrs. Isabel C. . Rosemary Cottage,<br /> Wetherden, Suffolk.<br /> Watson, Malcolm<br /> 44, Ridgmount Gar-<br /> dens, W.C.<br /> Williams, Harold . . Cobbaton House,<br /> Umbersleigh R.S.O.<br /> North Devon.<br /> JOHN OPIE AND HIS CIRCLE. By ADA EARLAND.<br /> 93 x 61. 376 pp. Hutchinson. 218. n.<br /> ARCHBISHOP MACLAGAN. By F. D How. 94 x 6.<br /> 430 pp. Wells Gardner. 168.<br /> TENNYSON AND HIS FRIENDS. Edited by HALLAM, LORD<br /> TENNYSON. 9 x 54. 503 pp. Macmillan 108. n.<br /> DRAMA.<br /> THE SOUL OF THE WORLD: A Mystery Play of the<br /> Nativity and the Passion. By Mrs. PERCY DEARMER.<br /> 8 X 54. 65 pp. Mowbray.<br /> PLAYS FOR AN IRISH THEATRE. By W. B. YEATS. With<br /> Designs by GORDON CRAIG. 91 X 6. 224 pp. A. H.<br /> Bullen. 88. 6d. n.<br /> EMBLEMS OF LOVE. Designed in several Discourses. By<br /> LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE. 74 X 5. 213 pp. Lane. 58. n.<br /> ON THE ART OF THE THEATRE. By E. GORDON CRAIG.<br /> 8.4 X 64. 295 pp. Heinemann. 68. n.<br /> THE WAR GOD. By ISRAEL ZAYGWILL. A Tragedy in<br /> Five Acts. 83 x 54. 164 pp. 28. 6d. n.<br /> HINTS TO SPEAKERS AND PLAYERS. By ROSINI FILIPPI.<br /> 7} * 5. 280 pp. Arnold. 38. 6d. n.<br /> A PLUME OF FEATHERS : A Comedy in One Act. By<br /> GULIELMA Penn and R. FITZJOHN. Samuel French. 60.<br /> PAGEANT AND PLAYS. By GRACE TOPLIS. 71 X 5. 20.<br /> pp. George Gill and Sons.<br /> A SICILIAN IDYLL and JUDITH. By T. Sturge Moore.<br /> 84 X 54. Duckworth. 28. n.<br /> EDUCATIONAL.<br /> SCHOOL AND COUNTRY. By R. K. CRAWFORD. 86 pp.<br /> Dublin : Hodges, Figgis. 38. 6d. n.<br /> BOOKS PUBLISHED BY MEMBERS.<br /> WHILE every effort is made by the compilers to keep<br /> this list as accurate and exbaustive as possible, they have<br /> some difficulty in attaining this object owing to the fact<br /> that many of the books mentioned are not sent to the office<br /> by the members. In consequence, it is necessary to rely<br /> largely upon lists of books which appear in literary and<br /> other papers. It is hoped, however, that members will<br /> co-operate in the compiling of this list and, by sending<br /> particulars of their works, help to make it substantially<br /> accurate.<br /> ART.<br /> CHURCH EMBROIDERY. By ALICE DRYDEN. 6 x 41<br /> 180 pp. (The Arts of the Church Series.) Mowbray.<br /> 18. 6d. n.<br /> John LAVERY AND HIS WORK. By WALTER SHAW.<br /> SPARROW. With a Preface by R. B. CUNNINGHAME<br /> GRAHAM. 11 X 87. 209 pp. Kegan Paul. 103. 6d. n.<br /> LEONARDO AT MILAN. Being Part VII. of &quot; The Renais-<br /> sance in Italian Art.” By SELWYN BRINTON. George<br /> Bell &amp; Sons. 23. 60. n.<br /> SANDRO BOTTICELLI. By ADOLF P. OPPÉ. With 25<br /> Plates in Colour, Selected and Executed under the Super-<br /> vision of the Medici Society. 105 X 8. 72 pp. (The<br /> Arundel Library of Great Masters.) Hodder &amp; Stoughton,<br /> 158. n.<br /> BIOGRAPHY.<br /> IRISH RECOLLECTIONS. By JUSTIN MCCARTHY. 9 x 6.<br /> 279 pp. Hodder &amp; Stoughton. 108. 6d.n.<br /> THE STORY OF EMMA LADY HAMILTON. By JULIA<br /> FRANKAU. Two vols. 161 x 114. 107 and 114 pp.<br /> Macmillan. £31 108. n.<br /> J. S. BACH. By A. SCHWEITZER, D.Ph. English Trans-<br /> lation by E. NEWMAN. Two vols. 91 x 6. 428 +<br /> 500 pp. Breitkopf &amp; Hartel. 218. n.<br /> FICTION.<br /> THE COUNTRY HEART AND OTHER STORIES. By MAUD<br /> EGERTON KING. 7} X 5. 328 pp. Fifield. 68.<br /> OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW BETTER. By WILLIAM CAINE.<br /> 74 x 5. 320 pp. Greening. 68.<br /> MRS. HORROCKS PURSER. By C. J. CUTCLIFFE HYNE.<br /> 67 x 4. 292 pp. (Cheap reprint.) Nelson. 78. n.<br /> THE ARCHDEACON&#039;S FAMILY. *74 5. 467 pp. 38. 6d. n.<br /> ROUND ABOUT A BRIGHTON COACH OFFICE. 74 x 5.<br /> 209 pp. 38. 6d. n. CHRISTIAN&#039;S WIFE: A Story of<br /> Granabünder. 64 X 4. 160 pp. 28. n. All by MAUD<br /> EGERTON KING. Fifield.<br /> EBB AND FLOW. By Mrs. IRWIN SMART. 7* X 54. 379 pp.<br /> Routledge. 68.<br /> THE LONG NIGHT. 379 pp. THE ABBESS OF VLAYE.<br /> 391 pp. STARVECROW FARM. 345 pp. CHIPPINGE.<br /> 375 pp. LAID UP IN LAVENDER. 344 pp. THE WILD<br /> GEESE. 384 pp. By STANLEY J. WEYMAN. 63 X 4.<br /> Smith Elder ; Longmans. 28. n. each.<br /> THE STORY OF CLARICE. By KATHARINE TYNAN. 75 X 5.<br /> 320 pp. James Clarke. 6s.<br /> THE GOAL OF FORTUNE. By EDITH ETHEL TOWGOOD.<br /> 74 x 5. 320 pp. Sidgwick &amp; Jackson. 68.<br /> LETTERS TO LOUISE : On Life, Love and Immortality.<br /> By JEAN DELAIRE. 74 x 5. 183 pp. Rider, 28. 6d. n.<br /> A BORDER SCOURGE. By BERTRAM MITFORD. 318 pp.<br /> (Popular Edition). John Long. 6d. n.<br /> INDIAN DETECTIVE STORIES. By S. B. BANERJEA.<br /> 74 X 4f. 275 pp. Guy &amp; Hancock. 18. n.<br /> GARDENING.<br /> ROSES AND ROSE GARDENS. By W. P. WRIGHT. 94 x 61.<br /> 294 pp. Headley. 12s.6d, n.<br /> HISTORY.<br /> BRITISH BATTLES : BLENHEIM. By HILAIRE BELLOC.<br /> 61 X 41. 144 pp. S. Swift. 18. n<br /> English Trang<br /> BRITIS<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 92 (#512) #############################################<br /> <br /> 92<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> TOURING IN 1600. A Study in the Development of<br /> Travel as a Means of Education. By E. S. BATES.<br /> 9 x 5%. 418 pp. Constable. 128. 60. n.<br /> PILGRIM LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. BY SIDNEY<br /> HEATH. 9 x 58. Fisher Unwin. 108. 6d, n.<br /> JUVENILE.<br /> THE MOON LADY. By A. Eva RICHARDSON. 127 pp.<br /> S.P.C.K. 18. n.<br /> FLOOR GAMES. By H. G. WELLS. 8} x 64. 71 pp.<br /> H G WELLS 81 63 71 nn<br /> F. Palmer. 28. 68. n.<br /> OSCAR. The Story of a Skye Terrier&#039;s Adventures. By<br /> LACHLAN MACLEAN WATT. 74 X 51. 267 pp.<br /> Chambers. 38. 60.<br /> IN SEARCH OF Smith. By J. MACKIE. Illustrated by<br /> R. CATON WOODVILLE. 78 X 54. 294 pp. Grant<br /> Richards. 3s. 6d, n.<br /> FINN, THE WOLFHOUND. By A. J. Dawson. 84 x 51.<br /> 487 pp. Grant Richards. 38.5d. n.<br /> THE BABY Scouts : THE TEDDY BEAR SCOUTS : THE<br /> DOLLY Scouts. Drawings by CHARLES ROBINSON.<br /> RAYMES, by JESSIE POPE. 21 x 54. Blackie. 4d. n.<br /> each.<br /> THE CALL OF HONOUR. A Tale of Adventure in the<br /> Canadian Prairies. By ARGYLL SAXBY. 71 x 5.<br /> 318 pp. Partridge. 28.<br /> THE DOINGS OF DICK AND Dan. By SIR JAMES YOXALL,<br /> M.P. 74 X 51. 331 pp. Partridge. 38.6d. n.<br /> LITERARY.<br /> SOME ASPECTS OF THACKERAY. By LEWIS MELVILLE.<br /> 8 X 54. 281 pp. S. Swift. 128. 6d. n.<br /> MEDICAL.<br /> AUTO-INOCULATION IN PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS.<br /> By MARCUS PATERSON. Medical Superintendent at<br /> Brompton Hospital Sanatorium, Frimley. 111 X 81.<br /> 236 pp. Nisbet. 215. n.<br /> NAVAL.<br /> NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS. By WALTER<br /> WOOD. 9 X 64. 366 pp. Kegan Paul. 12x. 6d. n.<br /> SOME PRINCIPLES OF MARITIME STRATEGY. By<br /> JULIAN CORBETT, LL.M. 9 x 6. 317 pp. Long.<br /> mans. 98. n.<br /> PHILOSOPHY.<br /> RELIGION AND MODERN PSYCHOLOGY. By J. A. HILL.<br /> 73 x 5. 208 pp. Rider. 2x, 6d. n.<br /> POETRY.<br /> BALLADS AND VERSES OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. BY<br /> E. NESBIT, 75 X 5. 105 pp. Elkin Mathews. 48. 6d. n.<br /> MILESTONES. Songs from an Old House. By MARCIA<br /> KNIGHT. 7 X 54. 55 pp. Constable. 38. 6d. n.<br /> Six LYRICS FROM THE RUTHENIAN OF SCHEVCHENKO.<br /> By E. L. VOYNICH. 61 X 5. 64 pp. (Vigo Cabinet<br /> Series). Elkin Matthews 18. n.<br /> POEMS. By GERALD GOULD. 78 X 5. 86 pp. Sidgwick<br /> &amp; Jackson. 13. 60, n.<br /> MAGYAR POEMS. Selected and Translated, with<br /> Biographical and Historical Notes, by DOROTHY M.<br /> STUART and NORA DE VÁLLYI. Foreword by PRO-<br /> FESSOR ARMINIUS VAMBERY, C.V.O., of Budapest<br /> University. 108 pp. E. Marlborough &amp; Co. 28. n.<br /> POLITICAL.<br /> THE CASE AGAINST WELSH DISENDOWMENT. By A<br /> NONCONFORMIST MINISTER (J. FOVARGUE BRADLEY).<br /> 8 X 51. 85 pp. Sir Isaac Pitman. 1$. n.<br /> SEEMS So! A WORKING CLASS VIEW OF POLITICS. By<br /> STEPHEN REYNOLDS and BOB and Tom WOOLLEY.<br /> 8 X 5. 321 pp. Macmillan. 58. n.<br /> REPRINTS.<br /> THE ARAN ISLANDS. By J. M. SYNGE. With Drawing,<br /> by JACK B. YEATS (Library Edition). 81 X 54. 256 pp.<br /> Maunsell. 6s.<br /> THEOLOGY.<br /> &quot;FALLING UPWARDS&quot; (Leibniz). Christ, the Key to the<br /> Riddles of the Cosmos. By the REV. F.W.ORDE WARD.<br /> 78 X 54. 296 pp. Simpkin Marshall. 58. n.<br /> TOPOGRAPHY.<br /> MEMORIALS OF OLD GLOUCESTERSHIRE. Edited by<br /> P. H. DITCHFIELD. 9 x 58. 304 pp. Allen. 158. n.<br /> FLOREAT ETONA. Anecdotes and Memories of Eton<br /> College. By R. NEVILL. 9 x 58. .336 pp. Macmillan.<br /> 158.n.<br /> THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY FROM THE EARLIEST<br /> TIMES TO THE PRESENT DAY. By S. HEATH. 10 x 73.<br /> 78 pp. F. Griffiths. 108. 6d. n.<br /> THE PILGRIM&#039;S WAY FROM WINCHESTER TO CANTER-<br /> BURY. By JULIA CARTWRIGHT. Illustrated by A. H.<br /> HALLAM MURRAY. New Edition. 84 x 61. 225 pp.<br /> Murray. 158. n.<br /> TRAVEL.<br /> IN THE MAORILAND Bush. By W. H. KOEBEL. 9 X 51.<br /> 316 pp. Stanley Paul. 128. 6d. n.<br /> THE SURGEON&#039;s Log. Being Impressions of the Far<br /> East. By J. JOHNSTON ABRAHAM. With Forty-four<br /> Illustrations from Photographs by the Author. Chapman<br /> &amp; Hall. 78. 6d. n.<br /> BENARES, THE SACRED CITY: Sketches of Hindoo Life<br /> and Religion. By E. B. HAVELL. 9 x 6. 226 pp.<br /> With many Illustrations. Second edition. W. Thacker<br /> &amp; Co. 58. n.<br /> How to SEE ITALY BY RAIL. By DOUGLAS SLADEX,<br /> 63 X 41. 566 pp. Kegan Paul. 78. 6d. n.<br /> MISCELLANEOUS.<br /> THE EIGHT PILLARS OF PROSPERITY. By JAMES ALLEN.<br /> 171 pp. L. N. Fowler. 38.6d. n.<br /> SCOTTISH GHOST STORIES. BY ELLIOTT O&#039;DONNELL.<br /> 7} x 5. 293 pp. Kegan Paul. 38. 60. n.<br /> SHADOWS CAST BEFORE : An Anthology of Prophecies<br /> and Presentiments. By CLAUD FIELD. 7} x 5. 223 pp.<br /> Rider. 28, 6d. n.<br /> DAY BY DAY WITH THE POETS. A Calendar and<br /> Treasury of English Verse, for any Year. By MARY A.<br /> WOODS. Floral Decorations by ELLEN M. WOODS,<br /> Eastbourne. E. S. Fowler. 7s. 6d. n.<br /> MUSIC.<br /> STYLE IN MUSICAL ART. By Sir C. HUBERT PARRY,<br /> Mus. Doc. 9 x 58. 438 pp. Macmillan. 108. n.<br /> Post VICTORIAN MUSIC. With other Studies and<br /> Sketches. By C. L. GRAVES. 87 X 54. 369 pp.<br /> Macmillan. 68. n.<br /> RUB-A-DUB DUB, AND FIVE OTHER ACTION SONGS FOR<br /> CHILDREN. By L. BUDGEN. Wickins &amp; Co. 18. n.<br /> ENGLISH FOLK CAROLS: With Pianoforte Accompani.<br /> ment and an Introduction and Notes. Collected by<br /> CECIL J. SHARP. 11 X 81. 68 pp. Novello ; and<br /> Simpkin Marshall. 58. n.<br /> NATURAL HISTORY.<br /> A HISTORY OF BRITISH MAMMALS. Part 9. By G. E. H.<br /> BARRETT-HAMILTON. Illustrated by E. A. WILSON.<br /> 10 X 67. Pp. 121–168. Gurney &amp; Jackson. 28. 6d. n.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 93 (#513) #############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 93<br /> S<br /> SPAIN RE-VISITED: A Summer in Galicia. By C.<br /> based upon a series of lectures planned while the<br /> GASQUOINE HARTLEY (MRS. WALTER M. GALLICHAN).<br /> 9 x 54. 330 pp. Stanley Paul. 128. 6. n.<br /> author held the chair of music in the University of<br /> ITALIAN CASTLES AND COUNTRY SEATS. By TRYPHOSA<br /> Oxford. The lectures were not all delivered<br /> BATES BATCHELLER. 10 X 61. 512 pp. Longmans. because the pressure of other duties obliged Sir<br /> • 258. n.<br /> Hubert to resign the chair, but the present volume<br /> &quot;Twixt LAND AND SEA. Sketches and Studies in North<br /> is intended to represent the entire scheme devised<br /> Africa. By CYRIL FLETCHER GRANT and L. GRANT,<br /> London, Sampson Low &amp; Co.<br /> at the beginning of his tenure of the professorship.<br /> (2) “ Post Victorian Music,&quot; by Mr. C. L.<br /> Graves, arranged in three divisions. The first part,<br /> LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL under the heading of Post Victorian Music, dis-<br /> NOTES.<br /> cusses the Symphonia Domestica, Elektra, Salome,<br /> Pelléas et Mélisande, Elgar&#039;s First Symphony. In<br /> his second part the author gives a series of<br /> A N interesting little book entitled “Das eighteen “ Portraits and Appreciations,&quot; which<br /> Oxforder Buch Deutscher Dichtung&quot; embraces some of the most notable figures in the<br /> covering selections from the twelfth to the world of music. The concluding section consists<br /> twentieth century, edited by H. Fiedler, with a of “ Studies and Sketches,&quot; and here the author<br /> preface by Gerhart Hauptmann, has been issued by deals in sympathetic fashion with many questions<br /> the Oxford Press. A somewhat similar work which must interest all lovers of music.<br /> was published years ago in the Golden Treasury We have been asked to note that the English<br /> Series by Messrs. Macmillan, edited by Professor Review, commencing with the January number,<br /> Buchheim, and up to the present time that was 1912, will be issued at the reduced price of 1s.<br /> undoubtedly the best selection that could possibly (12s. 6d. annual subscription, post free to all parts<br /> have been made from German lyrical poems. The of the world). We are assured that this change<br /> present selection, published by the Oxford Press, is, has been made owing to its continuous success and<br /> however, rather more ambitious, containing a to the repeated demands of the public for a high<br /> wider range of poems and a larger number of class literary review at a popular price.<br /> authors. In a book of this kind it is impossible Mr. George A. Birmingham has just published<br /> to include everything, but the judgment of the “ The Lighter Side of Irish Life,&quot; with sixteen<br /> editor is thoroughly trustworthy and reliable. Mr. colour illustrations by Henry W. Kerr, R.S.A., at<br /> Gerhart Hauptmann&#039;s short preface is also the price of 58. net, from the house of T. N. Foulis.<br /> interesting, and we note with great pleasure his The book is written in Mr. Birmingham&#039;s best<br /> reference to Mr. George Meredith, the late vein, and has many good stories, but there is also<br /> President of the Society.<br /> a great deal of sound information about the people,<br /> Early in December Messrs. Macmillan &amp; Co. their habits and customs. The illustrations are<br /> published “ Tennyson and his friends,&quot; a record quite first class and well reproduced.<br /> of the friendships of Tennyson and his son. It is “Milestones,” by Marcia Knight, is a collection<br /> edited by Hallam Lord Tennyson, and the chapters of poems, some of which have appeared in The<br /> have been planned and arranged by him to follow Gentlewoman, The Pall Mall Gazette, and Vanity<br /> the sequence of the poet&#039;s life. The contributors Fair. Many of them deal with nature and country<br /> include Emily Lady Tennyson, Mr. Willingham life, on which the author writes with sympathy.<br /> Rawnsley, Charles Tennyson, Sir Henry Craik, Dr. Messrs. Constable and Co. are the publishers.<br /> Warren, Edward Fitzgerald, Lady Ritchie, Mrs. Miss M. A. Woods has just published her<br /> Margaret L. Woods, Professor Jowett, Mr. H. G. monthly poetical Calendar in book form, under the<br /> Dakyns, Dr. Montagu Butler, Sir Charles Stanford, title “Day by Day with the Poets : a Calendar and<br /> Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir Norman Lockyer, the Bishop Treasury of English Verse for any Year.” A copy<br /> of Ripon, and other notable people. The editor of the book has been accepted by Queen Alexandra.<br /> has inserted at appropriate points groups of well Mr. Clive Holland, the author of many novels<br /> known poems addressed to or describing friends and topographical works, has just been fêted at<br /> of Tennyson&#039;s early or later life.<br /> Bournemouth by his fellow townsmen, who through<br /> Mr. Ralph Nevill&#039;s new book, “ Floreat Etona,&quot; the medium of the Westbourne Literary Society<br /> while abounding in anecdote, is also an historical gave a dinner in his honour, at which a goodly<br /> record of various quaint customs and usages, so few number of the professional and business men of<br /> of which have lasted into the present age. There Bournemouth were present. Mr. Holland&#039;s health<br /> are eight illustrations in colour. Messrs. Macmillan was proposed, and the wide range of his work<br /> are the publishers.<br /> referred to by Mr. Harold Salt.<br /> Messrs. Macmillan &amp; Co. publish also (1) “Style Messrs. Hutchinson &amp; Co. will publish early in<br /> in Musical Art,&quot; by Sir Hubert Parry, which is the new year, “ The Life and Times of Countess<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 94 (#514) #############################################<br /> <br /> 94<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> Bentinck, 1715—1799,&quot; by Mrs. Aubrey Le Blond, Mr. Harry Tighe&#039;s last novel, * Intellectual<br /> who possesses many of Countess Bentinck&#039;s letters. Marie” (John Long), has gone into a second<br /> The two volumes will contain extracts from letters edition. In the Christmas Pall Mall Magazine he<br /> to Countess Bentinck from Frederick the Great, has an Eastern fairy story, &quot;The Moon-Child-<br /> Voltaire, the Princess of Zerbst (Mother of Mother of the Fireflies,&quot; illustrated by Frank C.<br /> Catherine II. of Russia), who was a cousin of Papé.<br /> Countess Bentinck&#039;s, her intimate friend Count “Tales of Seven Islands,&quot; by Evelyn Adams, is<br /> Mercy d&#039;Argenteau, and many other well-known a collection of stories with the life and incidents in<br /> people. While searching family archives in the Pacific. The scenes are laid variously, and the<br /> England, Holland and Germany, Mrs. Aubrey Le sphere of them embraces such different ways of life<br /> Blond came on the track of an historical mystery as are represented in places as widely apart as the<br /> connected with the Royal Family of France, which isles of the North Pacific and the southern limits<br /> she hopes to deal with in a later work, the time of Australia. Mr. Henry J. Drane is the pub-<br /> being long past when a full disclosure would be lisher.<br /> indiscreet. &quot; The Life of Countess Bentinck” will Mr. J. Arthur Hill has written, and Messrs.<br /> be illustrated by photographs from pictures in William Rider &amp; Son, Limited, have published, &amp;<br /> various private collectiors, including those of book dealing with religion and modern psychology.<br /> Welbeck Abbey (the Duke of Portland), of Count It is a study of present tendencies, particularly the<br /> Bentinck (Holland), and Mr. H. Aldenburg religious implications of the scientific belief in<br /> Bentinck (India), and of Mrs. Aubrey Le Blond, survival, with a discussion on Mysticism.<br /> nearly all, till now, unpublished.<br /> Miss May Crommelin&#039;s new novel, written in<br /> Mrs. L. Allen Harker&#039;s new novel “Mr. collaboration with Mr. Alfred Williams, and entitled<br /> Wycherley&#039;s Wards,&quot; was published last month by “ The Isle of the Dead,” was produced on<br /> Mr. John Murray in England, and Messrs. Charles November 15. The scene is mainly laid in an<br /> Scribners&#039; Sons in the United States of America. island of the Alentian group, known to Mr. Wil-<br /> The Christmas edition of Miss Annie Matheson&#039;s liams, who is an American mining engineer, and<br /> poems having now been out of print for a year, the peopled by Indians differing from those on the<br /> publishers, The Oxford University Press, have mainland. Miss Crommelin has also used her own<br /> reprinted it in a new volume by Miss Matheson experiences in California, which she visited soon<br /> entitled “Roses, Loaves, and Old Rhymes,” in after the great earthquake at San Francisco.<br /> which have been included, also, ten later poems. Messrs. Nelson &amp; Sons have published Miss Emily<br /> Of the latter several are simultaneously included in Underdown&#039;s new book “ The Gateway to Spenser:<br /> “ Leaves of Prose,&quot; and one has already appeared in Tales retold from the Fairy Queen,&quot; with sixteen<br /> “ By Divers Paths,” both volumes being interleaved coloured plates by Frank Papé, and numerous black<br /> with occasional verse, thus attaining among lovers and white ones. This book is issued uniform with the<br /> of prose a rather different audience.<br /> same author&#039;s “Gateway to Romance : Tales retold<br /> “Good Cheer.&quot; The romance of food and from The Earthly Paradise,&quot; published two years<br /> feasting, by F. W. Hackwood, deals with the food- ago.<br /> stuffs of all nations and the culinary practices of Messrs. Hutchinson &amp; Co. announce the publica-<br /> all ages. The subject is approached from the tion of Miss Ada Earland&#039;s story of “ John Opie<br /> historic and picturesque side, reference is made to and his Circle.” Opie was the son of a Cornish<br /> the dietary of the Scriptures, a Roman banquet, and labourer, and received recognition of his extra-<br /> Old English fare: to seasonal festivals : to national ordinary gifts at an early age. He came to London<br /> dishes: to feasting and fasting, and the influence in the company of Dr. John Wolcot, better known<br /> of diet upon health and character. The volume is by his pen-name of “ Peter Pindar.&quot; Opie&#039;s work<br /> profusely illustrated. It is published by Mr. Fisher won the admiration of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and in<br /> Unwin, who will issue in 1912 another work from the present work the author has attempted to tell<br /> the pen of Mr. Hackwood. In this later volume, the story of the artist&#039;s life fully and adequately.<br /> Mr. Hackwood will deal with the life and times of The author has collected much new material, and<br /> William Hone, the writer on popular antiquities, many pictures are reproduced in the book for the<br /> compiler of “The Every Day Book,” “ The Year first time. A list of Opie&#039;s pictures forms a copious<br /> Book,&quot; and “The Table Book,&quot; and friend of appendix to the book.<br /> Charles Lamb, George Cruikshank and other A New Year poem from the pen of Alfred Smythe<br /> notabilities of his time. The biography has been appears in the January number of the Westminster<br /> authoritatively compiled from the family&#039;s private Review.<br /> papers.<br /> Part VII. of “The Renaissance in Italian Art,&quot;<br /> Mr. W. L. George has been appointed literary by Selwyn Brinton, treats of Leonardo at Milan.<br /> editor of Vanity Fair.<br /> This volume ends the series, which gives a com-<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 95 (#515) #############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 95<br /> plete account of the art of the Italian revival, natural specimens taken by Mr. T. Ernest Waltham,<br /> richly illustrated. Each volume—there are nine in by a new process of colour photography. The<br /> all—is published by Messrs. George Bell &amp; Son, most improved methods of colour-printing will be<br /> at 28. 6d. net.<br /> employed in their reproduction.<br /> Mr. Martin Secker is about to publish “White Miss Beatrice Harraden&#039;s new novel, of which<br /> Webs,&quot; a new novel by Theo. Douglas (Mrs. H. D. Messrs. Nelson have also acquired the serial rights,<br /> Everett). The book will appear this month. It is will be published by them in the spring, in book<br /> a romance of Sussex, and deals with the Jacobite form, at 2s. They will also include it in their<br /> plottings which followed the rising of 1745.<br /> Continental Library. Messrs. Frederick Stokes &amp; Co.<br /> A third edition of Mr. J. Johnston Abraham&#039;s are to be the publishers in America.<br /> recent volume “ The Surgeon&#039;s Log : being Impres- The Poetry Society, which was founded first<br /> sions of the Far East,&quot; is in the press.<br /> under the title of “The Poetry Recital Society,&quot;<br /> The Council of the Library Association has in 1909, has published, monthly or quarterly, an<br /> arranged a course of lectures, to be delivered by official journal, under the provisional title, The<br /> Mr. R. A. Peddie, on “Reference Books for Poetical Gazette. Lately a committee has been<br /> Librarians and Readers.&quot; The lectures will be formed for the purpose of co-operating with the<br /> held (by permission of the Trustees) in the Lecture society in the production of a standing monthly<br /> Room of the British Museum, on Saturday after- review of poetic literature, in which the Gazette<br /> noons, at 3 P.M. The dates of the lectures still to will be incorporated. The first issue of the new<br /> be given are January 27, 1912, February 10, periodical will appear in January, 1912, under the<br /> February 24, March 23. Admission is free. No title The Poetry Review. The contents will be<br /> tickets are required.<br /> divided into four sections. The first will consist of<br /> Mrs. Perrin has been elected President of the articles on subjects connected with poetry and<br /> Society of Women Journalists for 1911–12. A poetic criticism and biography. The second will<br /> serial by Mrs. Perrin, called “Colour Blind,” is contain reviews of modern European poetry. Next,<br /> ronning in The Times Weekly Edition, and will be about six pages will be devoted to the publication<br /> published by Messrs. Methuen &amp; Co. in the course of modern poetry, representing in each issue the<br /> of next year.<br /> work of only one individual poet. The fourth<br /> “The Woman Hunter &quot; is the title of Miss section will be the Gazette of the society. The<br /> Arabella Kenealy&#039;s new novel published this month price of the Review will be 6d. All communications<br /> by Messrs. Stanley Paul &amp; Co. The book has for should be addressed to the office of The Poetry<br /> its theme the degradation of love as a result of the Review, 93, Chancery Lane, W.C.<br /> monastic idea, and shows the higher awakening and “School and Country” is a little book by R. K.<br /> evolution of a libertine—the “Woman Hunter” of Crawford, written with the object of inculcating<br /> the title—by the power of a great passion. The a spirit of patriotism in the young. It describes,<br /> John Lane Co. of New York have recently in simple language, the services rendered by the<br /> issued an American edition of Miss Kenealy&#039;s State to its members, and emphasises the obligations<br /> novel “ The Mating of Anthea,” the first eugenics which are due to the State in return. Messrs.<br /> novel to be written.<br /> Hodges, Figgis &amp; Co. are the publishers.<br /> Messrs. Stanley Paul &amp; Co. are publishing this<br /> month “ The Activities of Lavie Jutt,&quot; by Mar-<br /> DRAMATIC NOTES.<br /> guerite and Armiger Barclay. During the same<br /> month John Long &amp; Co. will publish Oliver Sandys Mr. Cecil Raleigh and Mr. Paul Rubens are<br /> (Mrs. Armiger Barclay) new novel, “ Chicane;&quot; writing the next piece for the Gaiety Theatre.<br /> and a second edition of “Letters from Fleet Street,&quot; Mr. Rubens will also be responsible for the music<br /> originally published anonymously by Frank Palmer, of the piece, while the lyrics will be in the hands<br /> will be issued under Mr. and Mrs. Barclay&#039;s joint of Mr. Arthur Wimperis.<br /> names. Twelve stories by Mr. and Mrs. Barclay The next Drury Lane drama will be the joint<br /> have appeared in Christmas numbers during 1911; work of Mr. Raleigh and Mr. Henry Hamilton.<br /> and as many more are due to appear in various What the drama will be about has not yet been<br /> English magazines within the next month or two. finally settled, but the authors have two dramas<br /> In the U.S.A. magazines these writers have recently sketched, one rather more of a domestic drama<br /> placed a variety of short stories and articles.<br /> than they have done at the Lane as yet.<br /> Messrs. E. T. &amp; E. C. Jack announce a new Mr. Raleigh has also arranged with Mr. Arthur<br /> colour series for flower lovers, entitled “ Present- Collins to adapt his new French purchase “ Le<br /> Day Gardening.&quot; It is edited by R. Hooper Petit Café.”<br /> Pearson. Each volume will be illustrated by eight Mr. James Bernard Fagan&#039;s dramatisation of<br /> plates in colour, reproduced from photographs of Mr. Robert Hichens&#039; novel, “ Bella Donna,&quot; was<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 96 (#516) #############################################<br /> <br /> 96<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> produced at the St. James&#039; Theatre on December 9.<br /> Mr. George Alexander, Mrs. Patrick Campbell,<br /> Mr. Athol Stewart, and Miss Mary Grey are in<br /> the cast.<br /> On Sunday, December 3, “ La Chute du<br /> Dieu,” “ La Femme de l&#039;Acteur,” and “Le<br /> Lieutenant Felberg,&quot; three plays by B. Morley<br /> Steynor, were produced at the Theatre Français de<br /> Londres. The French actor from the Grand<br /> Guignol Théâtre, Louis Tunc, appeared in the plays<br /> and was supported by M. Pierre Maugue, M.<br /> Maurice Wick, Mlle. Nulsson Norva, and Mlle.<br /> Yvette Bariel.<br /> PARIS NOTES.<br /> M HE Goncourt Academy has awarded its annual<br /> I prize to M. Alphonse de Chateaubriant for<br /> his novel entitled “M. des Lourdines.”<br /> The second volume of Pierre de Nolhac&#039;s<br /> “ Histoire du Château de Versailles&quot; has just<br /> been published. This volume is Versailles sous<br /> Louis XIV. No author could be better qualified<br /> than M. de Nolhac to treat this subject. As Curator<br /> of the Château of Versailles, he is living in the<br /> palace surrounded by all the pictures and documents<br /> relating to the past history of Versailles. The<br /> volume is illustrated with many hitherto unpublished<br /> sketches, some of which belong to the private collec-<br /> tion of the King of England.<br /> Pierre de Vaissière&#039;s new volume will be of<br /> interest to all who care to study the psychology of<br /> criminals. It is entitled “Récits du Temps des<br /> Troubles (XVI° siècle) De quelques Assassins.”<br /> The subjects treated are those concerning Jean<br /> Poitrot, Seigneur de Maurevert ; Jean Yanowitz,<br /> dit Besme ; Henri III. et les “ Quarante-Cinq”;<br /> and Jacques Clément.<br /> As an exact contrast to this is a book published<br /> by Georges Eliac entitled “Un après-midi chez<br /> Julie de Lespinasse.&quot; A preface has been written<br /> to this by the Marquis de Ségur.<br /> M. Xavier Paoli, ancien commissaire délégué<br /> auprès des souverains en France, publishes a book<br /> on “Leurs Majestés,” in which he gives his impres-<br /> sions of Elisabeth d&#039;Autriche, Alphonse XIII., Le<br /> Shah de Perse, Nicolas II., Victor-Emmanuel III.,<br /> Léopold II., Edouard VII., Wilhelmine de Hollande,<br /> Georges 1er, Sisowath, Victoria d&#039;Angleterre.<br /> Mme. W. Nicati publishes a study of “Elisabeth<br /> Browning, Femme et Poète.&quot;<br /> The “ Souvenirs de Ch. de Freycinet” will be<br /> read with great curiosity and interest. The truth con-<br /> cerning many political questions dating from 1848<br /> will be found in this volume.<br /> “L’Empire allemand et l&#039;Empereur” is a<br /> study by Pierre Baudin, and “Derrière la Façade<br /> allemande,&quot; another study of Germany, which after<br /> the long Franco-German conflict on the Morocco<br /> question is also instructive. “ Allemands et<br /> Polonais,&quot; by Dr. Victor Nicaise, with a prerace<br /> by M. Henri Welschinger, is a study of the struggle<br /> of the Poles. The volume was presented by M.<br /> Welschinger to the Académie des Sciences Morales<br /> et Politiques at its November meeting. It is a<br /> comprehensive study and a dramatic story of the<br /> struggle of the Poles to preserve their language,<br /> and should be read by all who are interested in the<br /> struggle of civilisations and the psychology of<br /> children.<br /> A book which will be read with curiosity and<br /> interest by scientists is a volume recently published<br /> by Martin Kuckuck of St. Petersburg. It is entitled<br /> “L&#039;Univers, être vivant” (La Solution des Pro-<br /> blèmes de la Matière et de la Vie à l&#039;aide de la<br /> Biologie universelle). It is divided into four parts,<br /> (1) Cosmobiologie; la vie de l&#039;univers ; (2) Plasmo-<br /> biologie; la vie de la substance; (3) Cytobiologie;<br /> la vie de la cellule ; (4) Géobiologie ; la vie de la<br /> Terre. Among the subjects treated are La Méthode<br /> du travail, L&#039;essence de la vie, L&#039;âme et l&#039;esprit ;<br /> le sens propre de ces mots, etc.<br /> M. C. Wagner, the author of “The Simple Life”<br /> has just published a new book entitled “ Ce qu&#039;il<br /> faudra toujours.&quot; Among the most striking of the<br /> chapters are the following : Choses abolies et<br /> choses qui demeurent.—De l&#039;initiative-Valeurs<br /> marchandes et valeurs d&#039;âme.<br /> “ La Crise du Français et la Réforme universi-<br /> taire &quot; is the title of a little book by Abel Faure,<br /> in which the author assures us that there is no<br /> crisis, that the language is simply continuing its<br /> evolution. The book has come at the right moment,<br /> and the tone of it is optimistic.<br /> “Sous le Manteau Vénitien” (Silhouettes de la<br /> fin du XVIII° siècle) is the title of a book by<br /> Prince Frédéric de Hohenlohe Waldembourg.<br /> “L&#039;Homme aux Papillons,&quot; by Théodore Cahu, is<br /> a charming book worthy of the author of “Doute<br /> mortel,” “L&#039;Oubli ” and “ Vers la Paix,&quot;<br /> Romain Rolland continues his long series of<br /> volumes. “Le Buisson ardent &quot; is the second of<br /> “ La Fin du Voyage.”<br /> Among the volumes of poetry is one entitled<br /> “Souffles d&#039;Océan,” containing some exquisite<br /> poems by the Duchesse de Rohan. A volume<br /> entitled “Le Temple du Rêve,” by the Baronne<br /> de Baye has also appeared recently.<br /> Another posthumous volume is announced con-<br /> taining the “ Lettres de Jeunesse &quot; of Charles-<br /> Louis Philippe to Henri Vandeputte.<br /> Maurice Bouchor has just published a volume<br /> entitled “ Contes à lire ou à faire lire aux Enfants.&quot;<br /> M. Maurice Muret publishes a volume called<br /> orre<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 97 (#517) #############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 97<br /> &quot; Les Contemporains Etrangers ” in which he &quot; Leurs Majestés” (Ollendorff).<br /> studies the following authors : Giosue Carducci,<br /> &quot; Elisabeth Browning, Femmé et Poète&quot; (Perrin).<br /> &quot; Souvenirs de Ch. de Freycinet” (Delagrave).<br /> Antonio Fogazzaro, Mme. Annie Vivanti, A. Strind-<br /> “L&#039;Empire allemand et l&#039;Empereur&quot; (Flammarion).<br /> berg, Selma Lagerlöf, George Bernard Shaw, G. “ Derrière la Façade allemande&quot; (Chapelot).<br /> Hauptmann, C. Spitteler, Mlle. E. de Handel, “ Allemands et Polonais” (Marches de l&#039;Est).<br /> Mazzetti and K. Schönherre.<br /> “L&#039;Univers, être vivant” (Fischbacher).<br /> “ Ce qu&#039;il faudra toujours à (Armand Colin).<br /> Never have foreign authors been so much read<br /> “La Crise du Français et la Réforme universitaire&quot;<br /> in France as at the present moment. Bernard (Stock).<br /> Shaw and his plays are at present the subject of a &quot; Sous le Manteau Vénitien ” (Bernard Grasset).<br /> series of lectures to be given at the Hôtel des<br /> “L&#039;Homme aux Papillons &quot; (Bernard Grasset).<br /> “Le Buisson ardent” (Ollendorff).<br /> Sociétés savantes and at the Sorbonne by M.<br /> “ Souffles d&#039;Océan &quot; (Calmann Levy).<br /> Augustin Hamon.<br /> “Le Temple du Rêve&quot; (Perrin).<br /> A volume of Bernard Shaw&#039;s plays, translated “Lettres de Jeunesse&quot; įRiviere).<br /> into French by Augustin and Henriette Hamon, is<br /> “ Contes à lire ou à faire lire aux Enfants&quot; (Armand<br /> Colin).<br /> to be published in March.<br /> “Les Contemporains Etrangers ” (Fontemoing).<br /> A most amusing book for children has been “ Drôles de Bètes ” (A. Tolmer).<br /> written and illustrated by André Hellé. Its<br /> title is “Drôles de Bêtes,&quot; and, in the sketches,<br /> the artist has succeeded admirably in giving<br /> UNITED STATES NOTES.<br /> children an idea of the outlines of the various<br /> animals. In an extremely witty way, he gives<br /> his comments on the scenes he depicts. The DCHOES hare reached England of the dis-<br /> whole book is most entertaining, and will be<br /> cussion which has been agitating the<br /> enjoyed by the grown-ups quite as much as by the<br /> literary world—or at least the commercial<br /> children.<br /> side of the literary world—in America during<br /> A curious legal case has just been tried in the past autumn ; the discussion, to wit, on the<br /> Paris. The proprietor of a financial journal took value of “best sellers.&quot; Perhaps it need hardly<br /> for his title La Revue Financière des Deux Mondes. be added that the point at issue was not the<br /> M. Francis Charmes, editor of the Revue des Deux artistic value of a very popular book, but its value<br /> Vondes, who considered that this would be detri- as a “ business proposition.”<br /> mental to his review, has won his case, and the Mr. Robert S. Yard, of Moffatt, Yard &amp; Co..<br /> financial journal is compelled to omit the words set the ball rolling in an article in the Saturday<br /> Deux Mondes from his review and also from all Evening Post. He called this “ The Worst<br /> his bill heads, writing paper and telegraphic Business in the World,” dealing at large with the<br /> address. As the Revue des Deux Mondes dates dangers and drawbacks of the publishing pro-<br /> from 1829, it was considered that this new paper fession. But the most notable part of the article<br /> was about to trade on the fame which the older<br /> de on the fame which the older was the denunciation of best sellers, fortified by<br /> one had won.<br /> the opinion of “one of the most distinguished<br /> In the Revue de Paris, Albert Duchêne writes publishers in America,&quot; who declared that he<br /> on “Le Maroc et le Gouvernement de l&#039;Afrique didn&#039;t want them, as they were too expensive, and<br /> française,&quot; and Auguste Gauvain on “L’Europe he couldn&#039;t afford them. This publisher marshalled<br /> d&#039;aujourd&#039;hui.” M. Houllevigue writes an article figures to prove that if a best seller reached a sale<br /> on &quot;L&#039;Observatoire du Mont Wilson.”<br /> of 100,000 copies in the course of its run, while its<br /> At the Odéon David Copperfield is still on profit to the author would be about £6,000, to the<br /> the bill.<br /> publisher it would only bring about £500. He<br /> “Les Sauterelles&quot; is the title of M. Emile concluded : “Besides yielding no profit, it<br /> Fabre&#039;s piece, in five acts, now being given at the actually hogs the whole attention of the house<br /> Vaudeville.<br /> to the exclusion of the other and really important<br /> At the Porte Saint-Martin, “ La Flambée,” by books—the books that bulked together really<br /> M. Henry Kistemeckers, is being given.<br /> make profit, and the books that carry the dignity<br /> Mme. Sarah Bernhardt is opening the season and the prestige and the power and the influence<br /> with “Lucrèce Borgia.”<br /> of the house. It eclipses them all.”<br /> A direct personal interest in the question of<br /> “M. des Lourdines” (Bernard Grasset).<br /> best sellers is, unfortunately, the lot of very few<br /> &quot; Histoire du Château de Versailles&quot; (Emile Paul). authors, in America or elsewhere. Nor can it be<br /> &quot; Récits du Temps des Troubles (XVI. siècle) De quel.<br /> a great concern of theirs how such works affect<br /> ques Assassins (Emile Paul).<br /> “ Un après-midi chez Julie de Lespinasse&quot; (Emile the publisher&#039;s pocket. But certainly they are<br /> Paul).<br /> entitled to feel uneasy at the thought of the best<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 98 (#518) #############################################<br /> <br /> 98<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> sellers being allowed to “ hog the whole attention “The Ne&#039;er-Do-Well” have already appeared in<br /> of the house.” At a Washington trial not long the best sellers list—though the third of these has<br /> ago the wife of a millionaire submitted in court not pleased the reviewers half as well as the reading<br /> an account of her monthly expenses ; from which public. In the late spring or early summer<br /> it appeared that she spent on an average $2012 per women writers were very active, notable books<br /> month, of which only the odd $2 were devoted to being “ The Colonel&#039;s Story,&quot; by Mrs. Roger<br /> books. Now, if the publisher thrusts on her Pryor; “A Big Horse to Ride,&quot; by (Miss) E. D.<br /> attention only his best sellers, calculate what Dewing; “ The Bramble Bush,&quot; by Caroline<br /> amount of support per annum the millionaire&#039;s Fuller; “ Kilmeny of the Orcbard,&quot; by L. M.<br /> wife contributes to the ordinary run of authors ! Montgomery ; “Dawn O&#039;Hara, the Girl Who<br /> To turn from so painful a thought to the Laughed,” by Edna Ferber ; and “The Iron<br /> actual question of the most successful books in Woman,&quot; by Margaret Delanů. Male authorship<br /> the United States during recent months : In the was represented by Jacques Futrelle&#039;s “ Secretary<br /> spring, the top places in the list of six best sellers of Frivolous Affairs ” ; “The Measure of a Man,&quot;<br /> in fiction were occupied by the since-deceased by Norman Duncan (known previously as the<br /> Vaughan Kester&#039;s “ Prodigal Judge,” and Jeffery writer of “ Doctor Luke of the Labrador &#039;&#039;) ;<br /> Farnol&#039;s “ Broad Highway.&quot; These two novels “Victor Olnee&#039;s Discipline,&quot; by Hamlin Garland ;<br /> remained in “ The Big Six” (as some of the “The Vintage,” by Joseph Sharts ; “ Tales of the<br /> papers sportingly call the list) right down to the Town,” by Charles Belmont Davis ; “ The Carpet<br /> end of August. H. S. Harrison&#039;s “ Queed,&quot; for from Bagdad,” by Harold MacGrath ; and<br /> which the critics all prophesied a great future, “Kennedy Square,” by F. Hopkinson Smith,<br /> fulfilled expectations, and, after running the two author of that masterpiece “ Colonel Carter of<br /> just-mentioned novels close, survived them into Cartersville.”<br /> September. Meanwhile in August “ The Winning More recent novels are &quot;Mother Carey&#039;s<br /> of Barbara Worth&quot; by Harold Bell, and “ The Chickens” by Kate Douglas Wiggin, and<br /> Ne&#039;er-Do-Well ” by Rex Beach, came to the front, “Mother &quot; by Kathleen Norris, both very senti-<br /> and in September they were first and third respec- mental, but none the less likely to succeed for<br /> tively, second place being taken by Robert W. that. Whether one should class Mr. Farnol as an<br /> Chambers with “ The Common Law,” which ran American author is doubtful; but anyhow his<br /> into three editions in its first month of life.<br /> “ Money Moon” bids fair to rival in the States<br /> Outside fiction, the books which have most the popularity of “ The Broad Highway.” In<br /> often appeared among the best sellers are “ The “As the Sparks Fly Upward,” Cyrus Townsend<br /> Doctor&#039;s Dilemma” and “How to Live on Twenty- Brady presents a Pacific island-wreck story ; in<br /> Four Hours a Day”—Messrs. Shaw and Arnold “ Philip Steele,&quot; J.O. Curwood, a romance of the<br /> Bennett thus continuing their wonderful success Canadian mounted police ; in “Rebellion,&quot; J. M.<br /> in the early part of the year and Olive Schreiner&#039;s Patterson (author of “A Little Brother of the<br /> “Woman and Labor”; while Price Collier&#039;s Rich&quot;), a divorce problem novel. William Dubois,<br /> “ The West in the East,&quot; and the other Bennett&#039;s who gives us “The Quest of the Silver Fleece,&quot; is<br /> “ Mental Efficiency” take a high place, and a gentleman of colour, who writes exceedingly<br /> Wagner&#039;s “My Life&quot; has commenced what is well about his own people. Detective novels are<br /> expected to be a long run. Nor must “ Paper represented by A. K. Green&#039;s “ Initials Only,&quot;<br /> Bag Cookery&quot; by M. Soyer, the chef, be forgotten. and by “ Average Jones,” whose creator, Samuel<br /> It will be seen that the native authors hold their Hopkins Adams, collaborated in “ The Mystery.&quot;<br /> own better in fiction than in other literature. George Barr McCutcheon&#039;s new story is “ Mary<br /> The general output of books has been tremen- Midthorne,” and Randall Parrish in “My Lady<br /> dous since the last “United States Notes” of Doubt &quot; goes to the War of Independence for<br /> appeared in The Author, and supplies a curious his setting. The late Myrtle Reed left behind<br /> comment on Mr. Robert Yard&#039;s plaintive con- her“ A Weaver of Dreams,&quot; published after her<br /> tention that publishing is “ the worst business death.<br /> in the world.” It is rather difficult to decide Two translations from the German may be men-<br /> which works deserve special mention here, so many tioned : “ The Indian Lily,&quot; a collection of tales by<br /> are there to choose from, and it being impossible Sudermann, and Hauptmann&#039;s remarkable « The<br /> to read them all. But an attempt must be made Fool in Christ,” which will doubtless be seen in<br /> to give the names of the principal additions to England before long.<br /> American literature, at the risk of omitting some There has been a good crop of biographies in the<br /> which time may show to be better fitted to survive. second half of 1911. These include &quot; Andrew<br /> To begin with fiction, “The Winning of Jackson,” by Professor John Spencer Bassett;<br /> Barbara Worth,&quot; “ The Common Law,&quot; and “Harriet Beecher Stowe,&quot; by Charles Edward and<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 99 (#519) #############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 99<br /> Lyman Beecher Stowe, her son and grandson; Other social difficulties receive attention in<br /> “ The True Daniel Webster,&quot; by Dr. S. G. Fisher; “Half a Man,&quot; by Mary White Ovington, who<br /> « Statesmen of the Old South&quot; (Jefferson, Calhoun, deals with the New York negro ; &quot; The History and<br /> and Davis), by W. E. Dodd ;“ William H. Seward,” Problems of Organized Labor,&quot; by Dr. F. T. Carlton,<br /> by E. E. Hale, junior, and “Stephen A. Douglas,&quot; Professor of Economics and History at Albion<br /> by H. P. Willis, both in the American Crisis series. College ; and “The Passing of the Idle Rich,&quot; by<br /> The Yale University Press has issued Dr. W. S. Frederick Townsend Martin.<br /> Culbertson&#039;s “ Alexander Hamilton : An Essay.&quot; The travel-books of the second half of the past<br /> • The Public Life of Joseph Dudley,&quot; by Professor year hare not been very many. “Across South<br /> Everett Kimball, is a study of the colonial policy America,” by Hiram Bingham, is a diary of a trip<br /> of the Stuarts in New England. “The Diary of from Lima to Buenos Aires. “ Jungle Trails and<br /> Gideon Welles,” to wbich John T. Morse, junior, Jungle People,&quot; from the pen of Caspar Whitney,<br /> supplies an introduction, is said to be the only deals with the Far East. “A Woman&#039;s World<br /> account of the administrations of Lincoln and Tour in a Motor,&quot; by Mrs. Clark-Fisher, records<br /> Johnson from inside the cabinets of both statesmen. the experiences of 23,000 miles in a car. Another<br /> Historical works are “ France in the American motoring book is Lee Meriwether&#039;s “Seeing Europe<br /> Rerolution,” by James Breck Perkins (who, as the by Automobile.” “ The Cabin,&quot; written and illus-<br /> New York Nation points out, is one of the rare trated by Stewart Edward White, describes the<br /> scholars who have figured in Congress, having Sierras. “Through the Heart of Canada,&quot; by<br /> formerly been Congressman for New York); “ The Frank Yeigh, has come in for high praise.<br /> Indian Wars of New England,” by Herbert Milton “Florida Trails,&quot; by Winthrop Packard, perbaps<br /> Sylvester ; “ A Short History of the United States belongs to a class by itself. The author, Winthrop<br /> Navy,&quot; by Captain G. R. Clark and others; “ The Packard, has a big reputation in the United States<br /> Records of the Federal Convention of 1787,&quot; by as a writer about pature. An aspect of nature-<br /> Professor Max Farrand, of Yale; and “ Sectionalism study, under artificial conditions, is considered in<br /> in Virginia from 1776 to 1861,&quot; by Dr. C. H. Mrs. Alfred Ely&#039;s “ The Practical Flower Garden,&quot;<br /> Amber. In this class may be put also Charles A. which attained to the dignity of a best-seller on its<br /> Hanna&#039;s - The Wilderness Trail,” which has the first appearance in the spring.<br /> rather portentous sub-title “ The Ventures and Among philosophical publications the first place<br /> Adventures of the Pennsylvania Traders on the is naturally taken by the late Professor James&#039;s<br /> Allegheny Path, with some new Annals of the Old posthumous work, “Some Problems of Philosophy.&quot;<br /> West, and the Records of Some Strong Men and If we may be allowed to imitate the advertisement<br /> Some Bad Ones&quot;! In “Studies : Military and editor and reserve a space for “unclassified or late,&quot;<br /> Diplomatic,&quot; Charles Francis Adams writes about there are several noteworthy books which may here<br /> the strategy of the War of Independence and the be grouped together. For instance, there is General<br /> military and diplomatic aspects of the Civil War. Hiram Chittenden&#039;s “ War or Peace,” in which an<br /> The scope of “ The President&#039;s Cabinet,&quot; by H. B. American soldier argues very strongly on behalf of<br /> Learned, published by the Yale University Press, is peace. There is “American Addresses,&quot; a new<br /> sufficiently explained by its title—the President, of volume of essays by Joseph H. Choate. Richard<br /> course, being that of the United States.<br /> Le Gallienne is responsible for “ The Loves of the<br /> Books on the Woman Question have been Poets,” which its publishers describe as a “holiday<br /> numerous. Among them are Mrs. Pankhurst&#039;s book” and which handles the love-stories of such<br /> “ The Suffragette” ; “The Woman Movement in divers persons as the Brownings, Mary Stuart and<br /> America,” by Belle Squire, a very prominent Chastelard, Georges Sand and Chopin, Michel<br /> American suffragist ;“ What Eight Million Women Angelo and Vittoria Colonna. “ The Letters of<br /> Want,” by Rheta Childe Dorr ; &quot;A Short History Sarah Orne Jewett” have been edited by Mrs.<br /> of Women&#039;s Rights” (from the Augustan age to James T. Fields. “The Greatest Street in the<br /> the present day), by Eugene A. Hecker; &quot; The World,&quot;—.., Broadway, New York—is written<br /> Women of To-morrow,&quot; by William Hard ; and about by Stephen Jenkins—and also by J. B.<br /> “ Woman&#039;s Part in Government,” by W. H. Allen. Kerfoot, who calls his book simply “Broadway.&quot;<br /> “A Woman Alone,” a true story of a girl&#039;s struggle “ Three Thousand Years of Mental Healing&quot; is the<br /> to maintain herself in New York, is a consideration subject chosen by Dr. G. B. Cutten, President of<br /> of the question from a different point of view. And Acadia University, New York. And finally Paul S.<br /> “ The Girl that Goes Wrong&quot; is different again, as Reinsch has produced “ Intellectual and Political<br /> will be understood when it is said that the author Currents in the Far East,&quot; which attempts to bring<br /> is R. W. Kauffman, who wrote the terrible and the history of the modern Orient right up to date.<br /> truthful novel “ The House of Bondage,&quot; mentioned The obituary of the past few months is unhappily<br /> in the last - United States Notes.&quot;<br /> rather large. On July 4th Vaughan Kester, author<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 100 (#520) ############################################<br /> <br /> 100<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> of “ The Prodigal Judge,” died after a long illness; It appeared from the evidence that subscribers<br /> and on the same day Franklin Fyles, playwright to the Little French Theatre Society received<br /> and former dramatic editor of the New York Sun. tickets and were entitled to attend performances<br /> A month later died Lieutenant-Colonel L. L. Bruff, of plays at the theatre, as well as concerts, recital,<br /> one of the foremost writers on ordnance and explo- and lectures, and it was contended on behalf of the<br /> sives in America. On August 17th Mrs. Myrtle defendant, that the society was carried on in the<br /> Reed (McCullough) committed suicide after a period same way as other similar societies, such as<br /> of insomnia and depression, leaving a finished novel, the Stage Society, which was composed of mem-<br /> whose publication is noticed above. Her “Love bers whose subscriptions entitled them to admission<br /> Letters of a Musician &quot; appeared first in 1899, when to the performances of certain plays, and that they<br /> Myrtle Reed was twenty-five. Before August closed, were private performances for members of the<br /> the death occurred of Edwin Asa Dix, author of society.<br /> several novels and a travel book. Another traveller, The magistrate, however, held that the Little<br /> John Milton Dillon, author of “Motor Days in French Theatre Society was merely a colourable<br /> England,” soon followed him. The September excuse, and that the performance of French plays,<br /> losses to American literature included Joel Benton, which were advertised in the public press, were in<br /> poet, critic, and lecturer ; Mrs. Elizabeth Edson fact public performances. There was no sugges-<br /> Evans, novelist, biographer, etc. ; and Charles tion that the plays were in any way improper, but in<br /> Battell Loomis, whose humour is well known in the interests of the public it was essential that a<br /> England. Mr. Loomis had only recently celebrated theatre, where public performances of plays took<br /> (in hospital) his fiftieth birthday when he succumbed place should be licensed so as to come under the<br /> to cancer. An accidental gunshot wound, self- inspection of the County Council, because that body<br /> inflicted while out after quail on October 6th, put was responsible for the protection of the public in<br /> an end to Philip Verrill Mighels, journalist, novel- case of fire. The charge against the defendant was<br /> writer, poet, and playwright. On October 29th considered to be proved, and he was ordered to pay<br /> died Joseph Pulitzer, proprietor of the New York a fine of £10.<br /> World-leaving, by his will, two million dollars to From the observations of the magistrate, it seems<br /> support a school of journalism at Columbia Univer that the offence, for which the defendant was fined,<br /> sity. And on November 21st Kellogg Durland, was “ keeping a house of public resort for the<br /> whose best-known writings dealt with labour public performance of stage plays without a<br /> questions, committed suicide on a train journey. licence&quot;; because the other offence with which he<br /> PHILIP WALSH.<br /> was charged, namely, “ presenting a stage play for<br /> hire in an unlicensed place,” has nothing to do<br /> with the question as to whether the performance<br /> is public or private.<br /> STAGE PLAYS AND PRIVATE SOCIETIES. What constitutes the “ public performance&quot; of<br /> a play is a question of some difficulty, but it may<br /> be described as a performance to which the general<br /> M H ERE appears to be some uneasiness among public can obtain admission. If certain qualiti-<br /> 1 members of private societies, which give un- cations are required of members of a society,<br /> authorised dramatic entertainments, owing besides the mere payment of a subscription, it is<br /> to the summary proceedings in connection with probable that a performance before the members<br /> the performances of the Little French Theatre of such society would not amount to a public<br /> Society, at the Boudoir Theatre, in Kensington. performance. But in the case of the Little French<br /> Mr. Grey, who leased the theatre from Boudoir Theatre Society there appear to have been no<br /> Companies, Ltd., was prosecuted for keeping a restrictions, the advertisements invited the general<br /> house for the public performance of stage plays, public to subscribe, and the county couucil<br /> and for presenting a stage play without a licence inspector became a member merely on payment of<br /> from the London County Council.<br /> the subscription.<br /> The proceedings were instituted under the pro- The private societies, which give performances<br /> visions of the Theatres Act, 1843, and as the of stage plays, some of which are unlicensed, hare<br /> borough of Kensington is outside the authority of no need to be alarmed at the decision in this case,<br /> the Lord Chamberlain, the licensing of the Boudoir so long as their performances are given, as is<br /> Theatre comes within the jurisdiction of the County usually the practice I believe, in a theatre which<br /> Council. An inspector of the Council paid the has been duly licensed. Still, it is advisable that<br /> subscription of 31s. 6d., and became a member of they should give attention to section 15 of the Act,<br /> the Little French Theatre Society, in order to which makes it an offence to present “for hire”<br /> attend the performances of certain French plays. an unlicensed stage play ; for it has become the<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 101 (#521) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 101<br /> -<br /> -<br /> - -<br /> -<br /> -<br /> no defence, and a conviction is inevitable even<br /> when it is admitted that the prosecution is<br /> influenced by ulterior motives. A few years ago<br /> there was quite an epidemic of such prosecutions ;<br /> when the law was set in motion, sometimes by the<br /> theatrical managers who realised that their<br /> interests were being affected by the developments<br /> of music-halls, sometimes by individuals who had<br /> a personal grievance, and in the recent case,<br /> referred to above, the Actors&#039; Association prosecuted<br /> because their members had been prejudiced by the<br /> repudiation of contracts ; so that the law, instead of<br /> being consistently enforced, as it should be if it<br /> were reasonable, is left to the caprice of indivi-<br /> duals ; and, unless they choose to prosecute, its<br /> daily violation is regarded, so far as the authorities<br /> are concerned, with the indifference of those who<br /> have no veneration for antiquity.<br /> HAROLD HARDY.<br /> MAGAZINE CONTENTS.<br /> habit to give unauthorised performances of stage<br /> plays, as if the payment of a subscription, instead<br /> of payment at the doors, secured the actors and<br /> organizers from liability in respect of the heavy<br /> penalties provided by the Act.<br /> The important words of the section are &quot; for<br /> hire,&quot; and their meaning is very wide. They<br /> include “every case in which any money or reward<br /> shall be taken or charged, directly or indirectly,<br /> or in which the purchase of any article is made a<br /> condition for admission.&quot; If subscriptions, there<br /> fore, are paid merely for the sake of obtaining<br /> admission to the performances of these plays, it<br /> would seem that every actor who takes part in the<br /> entertainment must be deemed to be acting “for<br /> hire.” Fortunately, the Censor, in spite of all the<br /> indiscretions attributed to him, is not over zealous<br /> in instituting proceedings. But it is well to bear<br /> in mind that anybody who pleases may prosecute,<br /> and the Act provides that the expenses of the<br /> prosecutor, who may be the “man in the street,”<br /> shall be paid out of the penalties imposed.<br /> Another recent case under the Theatres Act was<br /> the prosecution of the New Bedford Palace of<br /> Varieties, which was summoned, for keeping a<br /> house for the public performance of the stage play<br /> entitled, “The Money Spider,&quot; without a licence<br /> for such purpose ; and it was urged on behalf of<br /> the company that the piece had been played at<br /> eighteen music halls and only lasted twelve<br /> minutes. The company was fined £30, and it was<br /> ordered that fifteen guineas out of that sum<br /> should be paid to the prosecutor for costs. The<br /> prosecution had been undertaken by the Actors<br /> Association, and it was stated by way of explan-<br /> ation that actors were engaged by music-hall<br /> proprietors, and that when the latter broke their<br /> contracts they adopted the position of challenging<br /> the actors to enforce their rights, because they knew<br /> the agreement being illegal was unenforceable.<br /> The state of the law with regard to stage plays<br /> has for many years been denounced as unsatisfac-<br /> tory, and it is strange that no amendment has yet<br /> been made. The result has been, that the Theatres<br /> Act is openly set at defiance, and there is hardly<br /> a music-hall in London where stage plays are not<br /> performed erery night, and the proprietors are<br /> liable to heavy penalties, if anyone chooses to<br /> institute proceedings. The Theatres Act was<br /> passed long before the modern music-hall came<br /> into existence, and it is obvious that its provisions<br /> require alteration to suit the change of circum-<br /> stances and the requirements of the times. It<br /> appears to be nobody&#039;s duty to prosecute, when<br /> stage plays are notoriously performed at music-balls<br /> all over the metropolis in contravention of the<br /> statute ; yet whenever proceedings are instituted,<br /> heavy fines are inflicted, because there is generally<br /> CORNHILL.<br /> Medicine in Fiction. By Dr. S. Squire Sprigge.<br /> CONTEMPORARY.<br /> Fiction and Romance. By A. C. Benson.<br /> Literary Supplement : Public Libraries and National<br /> Education.<br /> ENGLISH REVIEW,<br /> Among My Books. By Frederic Harrison.<br /> Conrad. By Ford Madox Hueffer.<br /> The Copyright Bill. By Charles Tennyson.<br /> Opera in England. By Francis Toye.<br /> Play of the Month. &quot;The War God.&quot;<br /> FORTNIGHTLY.<br /> The Art of J. M. Synge.<br /> Reality in Poetry. By Laurence Housman.<br /> The American Yellow Press. By Sydney Brooks.<br /> NATIONAL<br /> A Plea for English Song By Paul England.<br /> Pictorial Art in South London. By A. Post-Impres.<br /> sionist Scribbler.<br /> NINETEENTH CENTURY.<br /> Mrs. Humphry Ward&#039;s Novels. By Stephen Gwynn.<br /> SCALE FOR ADVERTISEMENTS.<br /> :<br /> :<br /> (ALLOWANCE TO MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY 20 PER CENT.]<br /> Front Page<br /> ...<br /> Other Pages<br /> ...£4 0 0<br /> Half of a Page.<br /> ... ... 3 0 0<br /> Quarter of a Page<br /> ... ... ... 1 100<br /> Eighth of a Page<br /> ... 0 15 0<br /> ... 0 7 6<br /> Single Column Advertisements<br /> per inch 6 6 0<br /> Reduction of 20 per cent. made for a Series of Six and of 25 per cent. for<br /> Twelve Insertions.<br /> All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed to J, F.<br /> BELMONT &amp; Co., 29, Paternoster Square, London, E.C.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 102 (#522) ############################################<br /> <br /> 102<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> 1. D VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br /> 1 advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br /> lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br /> business or the administration of his property. The<br /> Secretary of the Society is a solicitor; but if there is any<br /> special reason the Secretary will refer the case to the<br /> Solicitors of the Society. Further, the Committee, if they<br /> deem it desirable, will obtain counsel&#039;s opinion without<br /> any cost to the member. Moreover, where counsel&#039;s<br /> opinion is favourable, and the sanction of the Committee<br /> is obtained, action will be taken on behalf of the aggrieved<br /> member, and all costs borne by the Society.<br /> 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br /> and publishers&#039; agreements do not fall within the experi.<br /> ence of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use<br /> the Society.<br /> 3. Before signing any agreement whatever, send<br /> the document to the Society for examination,<br /> 4. Remember always that in belonging to the Society<br /> you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you<br /> the battles of other writers, even if you<br /> are reaping no direct 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 /> 5. The Committee have arranged for the reception of<br /> members&#039; 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 stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action<br /> upon them. (2) To keep agreements. (3) To enforce<br /> payments due according to agreements. Fuller particu-<br /> lars of the Society&#039;s work, can be obtained in the<br /> Prospectus.<br /> 6. 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 /> 7. Many agents neglect to stamp agreements. This<br /> must be done within fourteen days of first execution. The<br /> Secretary will undertake it on behalf of members.<br /> 8. 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 /> 9. The subscription to the Society is £1 1s. per<br /> annum, or £10 10s. for life membership.<br /> obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a<br /> competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of<br /> the Society.<br /> II. A Profit-Sharing Agreement (a bad form of<br /> agreement).<br /> In this case the following rules should be attended to:<br /> (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br /> duction forms a part without the strictest investigation,<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 /> (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “office expenses,&quot;<br /> unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br /> (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br /> rights.<br /> (5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights.<br /> (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher.<br /> As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br /> doctor!<br /> III. The Royalty System.<br /> This is perhaps, with certain limitations, the best form<br /> of agreement. It is above all things necessary to kno#<br /> what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now<br /> possible for an author to ascertain approximately the<br /> truth. From time to time very important figures connected<br /> with royalties are published in The Author.<br /> IY. A Commission Agreement.<br /> The main points are -<br /> (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production.<br /> (2.) Keep control of the advertisements.<br /> (3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book,<br /> General.<br /> All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four<br /> above mentioned.<br /> Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author.<br /> Never sign any agreement without competent advice from<br /> the Secretary of the Society.<br /> Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp.<br /> Avoid agreements by letter if possible.<br /> The main points which the Society has always demanded<br /> from the outset are :-<br /> from the ont<br /> (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement<br /> means.<br /> (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong<br /> to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the<br /> nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or<br /> withheld.<br /> (3.) Always avoid a transfer of copyright.<br /> WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS.<br /> WARNINGS TO THE PRODUCERS<br /> OF BOOKS.<br /> N EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the<br /> N Secretary of the Society of Authors or some com.<br /> petent legal authority.<br /> 2. It is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for<br /> the production of a play with any one except an established<br /> manager.<br /> 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract for plays<br /> in three or more acts:-<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 /> ITERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an<br /> H agreement. There are four methods of dealing<br /> with literary property :-<br /> I. Selling it Outright.<br /> This is sometimes satisfactory, if a proper price can be<br /> -------<br /> -<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 103 (#523) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 103<br /> DRAMATIC AUTHORS AND AGENTS.<br /> (6.) Sale of performing right or of a licence to<br /> perform on the basis of percentages on<br /> gross receipts. Percentages vary between 5<br /> and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a<br /> percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts<br /> in preference to the American system. Should<br /> obtain a sum in advance of percentages. A fixed<br /> date on or before which the play should be<br /> performed.<br /> (0.) Sale of performing right or of a licence to<br /> perform on the basis of royalties (i,e., 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 (6.) apply<br /> also in this case.<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 /> 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 /> 6. Authors should not assign performing rights, but<br /> should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction<br /> is of great importance.<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 /> 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 /> 9, Agreements for collaboration should be carefully<br /> drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced.<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 /> 11. An author must remember that the dramatic market<br /> is exceedingly limited, and that for a novice the first object<br /> ited, and that for a novice the first obiect<br /> is to obtain adequate publication,<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 /> RAMATIC authors should seek the advice of the<br /> Society before putting plays into the hands of<br /> agents. As the law stands at present, an agent<br /> who has once had a play in his hands may acquire a<br /> perpetual claim to a percentage on the author&#039;s fees<br /> from it. As far as the placing of plays is concerned,<br /> it may be taken as a general rule that there are only<br /> very few agents who can do anything for an author<br /> that he cannot, under the guidance of the Society, do<br /> equally well or better for himself. The collection of fees<br /> is also a matter in which in many cases no intermediary is<br /> required. For certain purposes, such as the collection of<br /> fees on amateur performances, and in general the trans-<br /> action of frequent petty authorisations with different<br /> individuals, and also for the collection of fees in foreign<br /> countries, almost all dramatic authors employ agents; and<br /> in these ways the services of agents are real and valuable.<br /> But the Society warns authors against agents who profess<br /> to have influence with managers in the placing of plays, or<br /> who propose to act as principals by offering to purchase<br /> the author&#039;s rights. In any case, in the present state of<br /> the law, an agent should not be employed under any<br /> circumstances without an agreement approved of by the<br /> Society.<br /> WARNINGS TO MUSICAL COMPOSERS.<br /> TITTLE can be added to the warnings given for the<br /> assistance of producers of books and dramatic<br /> authors. It must, however, be pointed out that, as<br /> 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 /> should be especially careful therefore when entering into<br /> an agreement, and should take into particular consideration<br /> the warnings stated above.<br /> STAMPING MUSIC.<br /> The Society undertakes to stamp copies of music on<br /> behalf of its members for the fee of 6d. per 100 or part<br /> of 100. The members&#039; stamps are kept in the Society&#039;s<br /> safe. The musical publishers communicate direct with the<br /> Secretary, and the voucher is then forwarded to the<br /> members, who are thus saved much unnecessary trouble.<br /> THE READING BRANCH.<br /> REGISTRATION OF SCENARIOS AND<br /> ORIGINAL PLAYS.<br /> M EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this<br /> branch of its work by informing young writerg<br /> of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and<br /> treated as a composition is treated by a coach. The term<br /> MSS. includes not only works of fiction, but poetry<br /> and dramatic works, and when it is possible, under<br /> special arrangement, technical and scientific works. The<br /> Readers are writers of competence and experience. The<br /> fee is one guinea.<br /> REMITTANCES.<br /> CENARIOS, typewritten in duplicate on foolscap paper<br /> D forwarded to the offices of the Society, together with<br /> a registration fee of two shillings and sixpence, will<br /> be carefully compared by the Secretary or a qualified assis-<br /> tant. One copy will be stamped and returned to the author<br /> and the other filed in the register of the Society. Copies<br /> of the scenario thus filed may be obtained at any time by<br /> the author only at a small charge to cover cost of typing.<br /> Original Plays may also be filed subject to the same<br /> rules, with the exception that a play will be charged for<br /> at the price of 23. 6d. per act.<br /> The Secretary of the Society begs to give notice<br /> that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post.<br /> All remittances should be crossed Union of London and<br /> Smiths Bank, Chancery Lane, or be sent by registered<br /> letter only.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 104 (#524) ############################################<br /> <br /> 104<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> GENERAL NOTES.<br /> THE COPYRIGHT ACT.<br /> The Copyright Bill has now passed both Houses<br /> of Parliament. It received the Royal Assent on<br /> December 16.<br /> Pension FUND.<br /> THE secretary would like to draw the attention of<br /> the members to the fact that four bankers&#039; orders<br /> have been received in answer to the recent Pension<br /> Fund Appeal without any signature and without<br /> any mark by which the senders could be recognised.<br /> The secretary made mention of this fact under<br /> the list of additional subscriptions and donations to<br /> the society, but desires to do so again, as the matter<br /> is one of considerable importance.<br /> Bankers&#039; Order for 10s. drawn on the London,<br /> County and Westminster Bank, Maidstone.<br /> Bankers&#039; Order for 10s. drawn on the National<br /> Provincial Bank of England, Baker Street, W.<br /> Bankers&#039; Order for 58. drawn on the Union of<br /> London and Smiths&#039; Bank, Clifton, Bristol.<br /> Bankers&#039; Order for 58. drawn on the London<br /> County and Westminster Bank, Kensington, W.<br /> guinea to Romeike &amp; Curtice, Ltd., for 125 cuttings<br /> on a specified subject. By the 21st September<br /> only two cuttings had been sent, although the<br /> member was aware, from other sources, of a con.<br /> siderable number of important notices upon the<br /> subject. The member then interviewed Romeike &amp;<br /> Curtice, Ltd., complained of the bad service, and<br /> ultimately it was agreed that half a guinea should<br /> be repaid and the number of cuttings reduced<br /> to sixty. Romeike &amp; Curtice, Ltd., failed to<br /> repay the half guinea, the secretary got no satis-<br /> faction on applying to them, and finally the<br /> matter had to be placed in the hands of the<br /> society&#039;s solicitors. Upon their sending down a<br /> clerk, a distinct promise was made to forward the<br /> money, but nothing came. As all subsequent<br /> applications were ignored, a plaint was issued in<br /> applications were i<br /> the City of London Court, and judgment was<br /> obtained against the agency on the 23rd November.<br /> This judgment has now been satisfied.<br /> THE PENSION FUND CIRCULAR.<br /> We publish in another column the list of annual<br /> subscriptions and donations received since the<br /> beginning of October. The greater mass of these<br /> are in response to the Circular sent out the<br /> beginning of November. The Society must be<br /> congratulated on the result of that Circalar appeal<br /> On going to press £85 per annum have been<br /> added to the subscriptions and £164 19s. Od. to<br /> the donations. The long list of additional annual<br /> subscribers is most satisfactory, tending to<br /> show, as it does, the unity of the Society. The<br /> Society should be proud of the fact that the Com-<br /> mittee of the Pension Fund and the Committee of<br /> Management have looked upon the Fund, as<br /> indeed have all the members of the Society, as<br /> one raised by the Fellowship of Letters on behalf of<br /> those who are members. The fine result achieved<br /> in the 12 years the Fund has been running speaks<br /> well for the independence of the Society&#039;s action.<br /> A SATISFACTORY PUBLISHER.<br /> We have much pleasure in printing a clause<br /> which has been inserted in an agreement coming<br /> from one of the best and oldest established firms in<br /> England. Indeed we should have liked to have<br /> published the name of the firm.<br /> The clause referred to runs as follows:-<br /> “In the event of the publishers securing copyright for<br /> the work in the United States, or realising profits from the<br /> sale of serial or other rights in the United States, such<br /> profits shall, after deducting all expenses relating thereto,<br /> be placed to the credit of the author.”<br /> The attention of members has often been drawn<br /> to the fact that when agents hand over the serial<br /> rights and other minor rights to the publishers,<br /> whether in the United States or elsewhere, the<br /> publishers think themselves liberal if they pay the<br /> author 50 per cent. Even if the author was<br /> successful in placing the rights himself he would<br /> have to pay the publisher 50 per cent. The agent&#039;s<br /> charges would have to be reckoned in addition to<br /> this. If the agent is energetic enough to place<br /> these rights independently of the publisher he would<br /> charge 10 per cent., however large the figure, whereas<br /> the publisher, whose agreement is quoted, after<br /> deducting all expenses (these, we suppose, would<br /> amount to one or two letters backwards and forwards<br /> and perhaps a cablegram) credits the author with<br /> the full amount. This method of doing business<br /> cannot be sufficiently highly recommended. If it<br /> pays one publisher to do business on this basis it<br /> would pay all publishers, and we trust, therefore, to<br /> see the usual clause, which is so frequently inserted<br /> to the detriment of the author, struck out of future<br /> contracts.<br /> County COURT CASE.<br /> The following case will be of interest to authors<br /> who subscribe for Press cuttings :-On the 7th<br /> September last a member of the Society paid a<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 105 (#525) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 105<br /> THE “ Chicago DIAL.&quot;<br /> included “in his list of New Novels,&quot; clearly<br /> The Chicago Dial is one of the soundest literary<br /> leading the public to suppose that the novels<br /> reviews published the other side of the Atlantic,<br /> produced were new novels. It would be interesting<br /> and a weekly perusal of its contents will enable<br /> if such a case could be decided from the point of<br /> anyone to keep abreast of the American output,<br /> view of literary libel, but we&#039;re afraid there is no<br /> but it has, apparently, like many literary reviews,<br /> immediate prospect of there being a legal remedy.<br /> its own staff which deals with its own books and<br /> its own literary subjects.<br /> We have this placed forcibly before us by the<br /> COMMITTEE ELECTION.<br /> following letter which the editor has asked us to<br /> insert :-<br /> November 17, 1911. TN pursuance of Article 19 of the Articles of<br /> SIR-It might be doing a service to English writers if 1 Association of the society, the committee give<br /> you would allow me to state through your columns that<br /> potice that the election of members of the committee<br /> the Dial does not invite MSS. from England, the character<br /> of the journal being such as to make the sending of such<br /> of management will be proceeded with in the<br /> MSS. quite useless on the part of the sender, and a needless following manner :-<br /> waste and annoyance on all sides. From the large number (1) One third of the members of the present<br /> of unavailable MSS. received from England, I am led to<br /> committee of management retire from office in<br /> think that the Dial has been announced in some English<br /> journal as inviting miscellaneous MSS. from abroad ; hence<br /> accordance with Article 17.<br /> the apparent desirability of this correction.<br /> (2) The names of the retiring members are :-<br /> Yours very truly,<br /> Mrs. Belloc Lowndes,<br /> FRANCIS F. BROWNE, Editor.<br /> Mr. Arthur Rackham,<br /> Dr. S. Squire Sprigge,<br /> Mr. Sidney Webb.<br /> FRENCH LAW CASES.<br /> (3) The date fixed by the committee up to which<br /> nominations by the subscribing members of candi-<br /> THE action brought by Anatole France against dates for election to the new committee may be<br /> the publisher Lemere has been settled. The made is the 10th day of February.<br /> dispute arose owing to the publisher desiring to (4) Mr. Sidney Webb not seeking re-election,<br /> publish now for the first time an MS. written the committee nominate the following candidates,<br /> thirty years ago. The dispute, we understand, being subscribing members of the society, to fill<br /> has been settled by the publisher undertaking to the vacancies caused by the retirement of one third<br /> make a clear statement of the date of the com- of the committee, according to the constitution :-<br /> position, and that it is published now against the<br /> Mrs. Belloc Lowndes,<br /> wishes of the author.<br /> Mr. Hesketh Pritchard,<br /> This case is a most interesting one for authors, Mr. Arthur Rackham,<br /> and it is a pity it has not been decided in the<br /> Dr. S. Squire Sprigge.<br /> French Courts in order that authors all over the The committee remind the members that, under<br /> world might see how the French law dealt with article 19 of the amended Articles of Association<br /> the subject. We must state, with regret, that it “any two subscribing members of the society may<br /> not infrequently happens that publishers take up nominate one or more subscribing members other<br /> the early publications of a famous author, either than themselves, not exceeding the number of<br /> purchasing or holding the copyright themselves, vacancies to be filled up, by notice in writing sent<br /> and produce the work without the author&#039;s sanction to the secretary, accompanied by a letter signed<br /> and, in many cases, opposed to the author&#039;s wishes. by the candidate or candidates expressing willingness<br /> They make no statement that it is a new publica- to accept the duties of the post.<br /> tion by the author, but then, on the other hand, The complete list of candidates will be printed<br /> 10 statement that it is a republication in the March issue of The Author.<br /> of an early immature work. In the cases which<br /> the society has been able to investigate it was<br /> found that the only remedy in the author&#039;s hands<br /> THE PENSION FUND COMMITTEE.<br /> was to make an explanation in letters to the<br /> papers, but this is unsatisfactory, as, after all,<br /> these letters only reach a limited public, and if TN order to give members of the society, should<br /> the author is a popular author, not half of his I they desire to appoint a fresh member to the<br /> circle of readers is made aware of what has taken Pension Fund Committee, full time to act, it has been<br /> place. In one case the publisher went so near the the custom to place in The Author a complete state-<br /> line as to state that the work of Mr. “ — &quot; was ment of the method of election under the scheme for<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 106 (#526) ############################################<br /> <br /> 106<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> administration of the Pension Fund. Under that Askwith, who accompanied the late Sir Henry<br /> scheme the committee is composed of three Bergne to the Berlin Conference, and who after<br /> members elected by the committee of the society, his sad death there took charge of his duties in<br /> three members elected by the society at the general connection with the contemplated reform of the<br /> meeting, and the chairman of the society for the British Law of Copyright, and Sir Hubert Llewellyn<br /> time being, ex officio. The three members elected Smith, Permanent Secretary to the Board of Trade,<br /> at the general meeting when the fund was first were also present, the gathering of members and<br /> started were Mrs. Alec Tweedie, Mr. Morley Roberts, their friends being an exceptionally large one.<br /> and Mr. M. H. Spielmann. These have in turn The following ladies and gentlemen presided at<br /> during the past years resigned, and submitting their the various tables :-Mr. E. Phillips Oppenheim,<br /> names for re-election, have been re-elected. This Mr. Robert Ross, Mrs. Belloc Lowndes, Mr. W. W.<br /> year Mr. Morley Roberts retires under the scheme, Jacobs, Mrs. Humphreys (Rita), and Mr. G. H.<br /> but as he does not submit his name for re-elec- Thring (Secretary). Those not already mentioned,<br /> tion, the committee have nominated as a candi- who had seats allotted to them at the High Table<br /> date for the vacancy Mr. Owen Seaman.<br /> included, Lady Falmouth, Mr. R. J. Godlee (Presi-<br /> The members have, however, power to put dent of the Royal College of Surgeons), Mrs.<br /> forward other names under clause 9, which runs as Humphry Ward, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford,<br /> follows:-<br /> Mr. Theodore Cook, Professor Adam Sedgwick,<br /> &quot;Any candidate for election to the Pension Fund Com-<br /> Sir Alfred Bateman, Mrs. Frank Elliott, Sir<br /> mittee by the members of the society (not being a retiring Frederick Macmillan, Sir James and Lady Yoxall,<br /> member of such committee) shall be nominated in writing Sir Arthur and Lady Conan Doyle, the Reverend<br /> to the secretary at least three weeks prior to the general<br /> E. S. Roberts (Master of Caius College), Mr.<br /> meeting at which such candidate is to be proposed, and the<br /> nomination of each such candidate shall be subscribed by<br /> Anthony Hope Hawkins, Mrs. Squire Sprigge,<br /> at least three members of the society. A list of the names Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Comyns Carr, Sir Frederic<br /> of the candidates so nominated shall be sent to the members Hewitt, Mrs. E. Nesbit Bland, Miss May Sinclair,<br /> of the society, with the annual report of the managing<br /> and Mr. Ezra Pound.<br /> committee, and those candidates obtaining the most votes<br /> at the general meeting shall be elected to serve on the<br /> At the conclusion of dinner, and after the usual<br /> Pension Fund Committee.&quot;<br /> loyal toasts had been proposed by the Chairman<br /> In case any member should desire to refer to the<br /> and received with enthusiasm, Mr. J. W. Comyns<br /> list of members, the list taking the elections up to<br /> Carr rose to propose the toast of “the Copyright<br /> the end of July, 1907, was published in October of<br /> that year. This list was complete at the date of<br /> Mr. Comyns Carr said :Mr. Chairman, Ladies<br /> issue, with the exception of the thirty-eight mem-<br /> and Gentlemen,-I should account it in any cir-<br /> bers referred to in the short preface. All subse-<br /> cumstances an honour to be permitted to address so<br /> quent elections have been duly chronicled in The<br /> distinguished a company. But to-night the honour<br /> Author.<br /> is great indeed, for we are met to give welcome and<br /> It will be as well, therefore, should any member acceptance to the largest instalment of justice that<br /> desire to put forward a candidate, to take the<br /> has ever been conferred on Literature by the Parlia-<br /> matter within their immediate consideration. The ment of England. In the accomplishment of this<br /> general meeting of the society is usually held in<br /> result the Society of Authors has taken its full<br /> March. It is essential that all nominations should<br /> share of labour and responsibility, and I am there-<br /> be in the hands of the secretary before the 31st of<br /> fore justly proud to stand forward as their spokes-<br /> January, 1912.<br /> man in respect of the toast which I shall offer for<br /> your acceptance.<br /> I have spoken of this Bill as an instalment,<br /> THE DINNER.<br /> because I am not here to admit that even the<br /> great concessions we have obtained exhaust the<br /> legitimate demands and aspirations of the authors of<br /> M HE annual dinner of the Society was held this country. It is very possible, I think, that in<br /> I at the Criterion Restaurant on Friday, the future Literature, like Oliver Twist, may be<br /> December 8. Held earlier in the season found asking for more, possible also that, as the<br /> than has usually been the case, the dinner marked public conscience on this subject develops, more will<br /> the passing of the Copyright Bill through Parlia- be granted.<br /> ment, and the President of the Board of Trade Speaking for myself, I may frankly avow my<br /> (The Rt. Honble. Sydney Buxton), who had charge belief in perpetual copyright as the goal at which<br /> of it in the House of Commons, occupied a seat at we should aim, and if this were the time and place, I<br /> the right hand of the Chairman, Dr. S. Squire think it could be argued and could be proved that<br /> Sprigge, as the guest of the evening. Sir George the institution of perpetual copyright under proper<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 107 (#527) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 107<br /> state control would not only prove of advantage to<br /> authors, but also and no less to the vast community<br /> which demands reasonable access to the master-<br /> pieces of literature.<br /> To many, I am well aware, this idea of mine will<br /> seem a vain dream, but let it be remembered that<br /> the dreams of to-day often take shape and substance<br /> among the realities of to-morrow, for as Shelley<br /> truly said, poets who are the great dreamers are the<br /> acknowledged legislators of the world.<br /> But a dream, even as far-reaching as this, is often<br /> no mere forecast of the future, but a remembered<br /> vision of what the past once owned and the present<br /> has allowed to lapse, and this I make bold to say is<br /> emphatically the case in regard to an author&#039;s<br /> property in the fruits of his labours.<br /> For almost from the invention of printing to<br /> the advent of the detestable statute of Queen<br /> Anne—the first and the worst of the enactments<br /> concerning our calling,-an author enjoyed in<br /> principle and in practice that perpetual copyright in<br /> his writing, which at some future day he may<br /> recapture.<br /> But the effect of the statute of Anne, with its<br /> grudging concession of fourteen years from the<br /> date of publication, and a further fourteen years if<br /> the author had the courage to survive the first<br /> period, was to throw back the whole conception of<br /> literary property into a condition of comparative<br /> barbarism.<br /> The root idea that an author has any title to the<br /> rewards to be derived from the creations of his own<br /> brain came to be regarded with more than suspicion,<br /> and so far did this feeling develop that in 1774, in<br /> a judgment which swept away the last remnant of<br /> an author&#039;s rights at Common Law, Lord Camden<br /> declared :-<br /> “That it was not for gain that Bacon, Newton,<br /> Milton, and their like instructed the world. It<br /> would be unworthy of such men to traffic with a<br /> dirty bookseller for so much a sheet of letterpress.<br /> When the bookseller offered Milton £5 for • Paradise<br /> Lost&#039;he did not reject it, nor accept that miserable<br /> pittance as the reward of his labour. He knew<br /> that the real price of his work was immortality, and<br /> that posterity would pay it.&quot;<br /> In this connection he would only recall the<br /> caustic remark of Thomas Hood that “the author,<br /> apparently, is required to provide for everybody&#039;s<br /> posterity but his own.&quot; And further, and with<br /> equal point, he added, “cheap bread is as desirable<br /> as cheap books, but it has not yet been thought<br /> necessary to ordain that after a certain number of<br /> crops all cornfields ought to be public property.”<br /> The spirit which animated Lord Camden&#039;s words<br /> is not obsolete. It has cropped up during the<br /> recent debates in the House of Commons on the<br /> Copyright Bill, but I have often noticed that the<br /> philanthropists are never so eager as when they<br /> are disposing of other people&#039;s property.<br /> But now, continued Mr. Carr, the Copyright Bill<br /> was passed. The provisions of that Bill were an<br /> enormous advance upon anything which Parliament<br /> had hitherto conferred upon literature. In order<br /> to realise what had been gained he would like to<br /> try and illustrate what that advance was by reference<br /> to two names, but two of the mightiest that had<br /> adorned English letters during the last 150 years.<br /> Sir Walter Scott needed no eulogy from him.<br /> Beyond all men of his own or previous generations<br /> Scott won the favour of the world, but everyone<br /> knew how the later years of his life were broken<br /> and embittered by the calamity brought about by<br /> his confiding belief in the stability and integrity of<br /> his friends, and how he thereby incurred a pro-<br /> digious debt which not even his great income was<br /> adequate to meet. Scott set himself the task of<br /> paying off this debt. He did not live to achieve it.<br /> Writing in his diary in the year 1827, he says, “I<br /> see before me a long, tedious and dark path, but it<br /> leads to stainless reputation. If I die in the<br /> harrows, as is very likely, I shall die with honour :<br /> if I achieve my task I shall have the thanks of all<br /> concerned and the approbation of my own conscience.”<br /> What a weight would have been lifted off that<br /> mighty brow if the Bill which they were met to<br /> celebrate had been in force in Scott&#039;s time !<br /> He would have been able to face death with a<br /> full confidence that the debt which he had incurred<br /> would be paid off, because not only his latter works,<br /> but those which had first brought him immortality-<br /> his poems, and “ Waverley,&quot; would still have been<br /> in copyright, and would have brought in a fund<br /> sufficient to have met his stupendous debt.<br /> Continuing, Mr. Comyns Carr said : I will make<br /> only one more reference. Within the last four days<br /> a powerful appeal has been put forward on behalf of<br /> a magician surely not less in rank than Walter Scott<br /> himself. For if Scott threw a mantle of romance<br /> over the hills and ralleys of his native land, a spell of<br /> enchantment has been thrown by Charles Dickens<br /> over the dark alleys and narrow streets of our<br /> great city of London. To such an extent, indeed,<br /> that pilgrims from the other side of the Atlantic<br /> come to visit, not the capital of England, but the<br /> London of Charles Dickens. I can speak with<br /> knowledge that that appeal is urgent, and that that<br /> appeal is just. That it should have to be made<br /> stamps with shame the laws concerning literary<br /> property under which until now we have lived.<br /> For if this Bill which we are asked to celebrate<br /> to-night had been in existence when Dickens lived<br /> there is not one of his works, from the “Pickwick<br /> Papers” of 1837 down to the fragment of “ Edwin<br /> Drood” in 1870, which would not still be in<br /> copyright, and out of which there would already<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 108 (#528) ############################################<br /> <br /> 108<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> have been derived a sum amply sufficient to have the public. Some appeared to believe that all<br /> provided for those grandchildren of his, on whose authors were geniuses, and others, equally errone-<br /> behalf this appeal is made.<br /> ously, believed that the only equipment necessary<br /> Charles Dickens rarely allowed himself to make for authorship consisted of a stylographic pen and<br /> his romances the medium of any personal protest, a few sheets of foolscap.<br /> but there is one exception in the earlier chapters of The committee, having the best intentions,<br /> “ Nicholas Nickleby,&quot; where he vehemently inveighs desired to arrive at a satisfactory solution on the<br /> against those pirates who before the author&#039;s novel basis of give and take, some being willing to do all<br /> was completed in its monthly parts, set a garbled the taking if the others would do all the giving.<br /> version of it upon the stage.<br /> There was generally a well-disposed feeling towards<br /> Let us then count our gains. We gain an added authors, although some thought that they ought to<br /> term of copyright; we count our gains in the be protected against themselves as well as against<br /> protection accorded to the novelist in regard to his publishers, and the feeling towards publishers<br /> dramatic rights; we count our gains in a hundred did not seem to be as tender as towards authors.<br /> different ways. Our gains are enormous, and I Many regarded publishers as hard, stern persons<br /> venture to make this prophecy, that if the Copy- who had the authors in their grip. On more than<br /> right Act of 1842 has come to us labelled as one occasion he himself had pointed out that<br /> “ Macaulay&#039;s Act”—not always to his credit—the publishers were not quite as black as they were<br /> Act which will soon receive the Royal Assent will painted. The committee had been, if not between<br /> go down to posterity as “ Buxton&#039;s Act.&quot;<br /> the devil and the deep sea, at any rate between<br /> I am asked to couple with this toast the name of Scylla and Charybdis, and more than once their<br /> the President of the Board of Trade. I do so barque had rubbed against the rocks and been in<br /> gladly, and with some knowledge of what he under- imminent danger of foundering. Finally, how-<br /> took in conducting this Bill to its successful con- ever, they had passed a measure which he believed<br /> clusion. I, with others, including my friend Sir would give general satisfaction and protect both<br /> Frederick Macmillan, to whom, as well as to the authors and publishers. In the course of a few<br /> Society of Authors, the interests of literature owe days the Bill would become an Act and, they would<br /> much, watched its progress through the House of agree, not before it was wanted. Anyone who bad<br /> Commons, and I know they will not contradict my studied the copyright laws knew how full the<br /> testimony when I say that the zeal, the patience, twenty-two Acts passed since 1735 were of com-<br /> and the courage with which Mr. Sidney Buxtonplexities, anomalies and anachronisms. In such<br /> conducted this Act to its triumph imposes upon us matters they had to seize the psychological moment<br /> a lasting debt of gratitude to him. Nor must I when time, opportunity, and driving force were<br /> forget the splendid help given in Grand Committee theirs. These requisites existed in the Berlin<br /> by Sir John Simon, and to the happy efforts in Convention, the Imperial Conference, and the<br /> other directions of Sir George Askwith and Sir necessity for domestic reforms. He was rather<br /> Hubert Llewellyn Smith. I give you the toast of proud of the fact that this would be an amending<br /> “ The Copyright Bill.”<br /> and consolidating Act which repealed no less than<br /> The toast was accorded full honours.<br /> eighteen other Acts of Parliament, and the greater<br /> Mr. Sidney Buxton, in responding, referred to part of four more, and which itself consisted of<br /> himself as having but steered the boat while others only twenty-seven clauses. They were all agreed<br /> pulled the labouring oar, and associated with the that authors ought to enjoy the legitimate fruits of<br /> task of remodelling the law of copyright the names their brains. Mr. Comyns Carr had said that he<br /> of Sir Henry Bergne, Sir George Askwith, Sir was in favour of perpetual copyright, a view shared<br /> Hubert Llewellyn Smith, Sir John Simon and others. with him as nations by the republics of Nicaragua<br /> They had painted the picture, he had not done very and Guatemala. In this country the desire had<br /> much more than make the frame; he referred his been to get reasonable control, and the period of<br /> hearers to Charles Keene&#039;s drawing in Punch of the fifty years after death was taken in order to bring<br /> frame-maker visiting the Royal Academy with his England into line as far as possible with other great<br /> wife and exclaiming, as they stood before the countries. But no one would support the claim<br /> picture of the year, “On the line again! Maria ! for such a period if he believed it to be injurious to<br /> on the line again!” The task of introducing and the public or likely to put a stumbling-block in the<br /> of passing the Bill had been a difficult one, way of cheap and easily accessible literature. The<br /> requiring delicate handling. Among the seventy or more opportunity he had had of studying the<br /> eighty members who considered the measure in question the more he had come to the conclusion<br /> Grand Committee, it seemed to him, were some that copyright, far from preventing the production<br /> who were over-zealous on behalf of authors and and cheapening of books, gave a stimulus to their<br /> publishers, and some over-strenuous on behalf of production. In his opinion the cheapening and<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 109 (#529) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 109<br /> wide circulation of books in recent years had not might not require its services, still any author&#039;s day<br /> come about in spite of, but in consequence of, of trial might come. Then he would turn to the<br /> copyright. Some people thought the extension of society, and then, regardless of all business princi-<br /> the term of copyright was all that was gained by ples, the society would help him, because it was<br /> the Bill, but there were other advantages. For the society&#039;s business to maintain the rights of<br /> example, in the case of a play the farce of a copy. literary property. But it must be noted that this<br /> right performance was done away with, and action was hopelessly unbusinesslike though forced<br /> summary remedies for the infringement of copy- upon the society by its ideals. The subscription<br /> right were given. Copyright would now date from was a guinea, or a life subscription was ten guineas.<br /> death and not from publication, which would If a large proportion of writers joined only when<br /> enable authors to produce their complete works, in trouble, the society had to spend upon them,<br /> protecting them from piracy of their earlier ones. perhaps, the subscriptions of five years before their<br /> Mr. Comyns Carr had referred to the Bill as an contributions began to help the needs of other<br /> instalment. No doubt they were all as he sug- members. If any such resigned before the five<br /> gested, Oliver Twists looking to the future for years expired, the society would actually lose by<br /> more, but copyright was not an easy subject to deal them. He earnestly begged members to stay by<br /> with. On the contrary it was a very worrying the society for the good of every one for their<br /> subject, and as far as he was concerned he was own good ; for they never could tell when they<br /> content to leave it where it was—he did not propose might want the society&#039;s advice for the good of<br /> to revive the corpse.<br /> their colleagues, who could be more effectively helped,<br /> The Chairman (Dr. Squire Sprigge) referred to if the society were not compelled to spend its in-<br /> the custom of the society, that the chairman of the creasing income upon its increasing needs. Was<br /> committee for the year should, at the dinner, the there any character in novels more popular than the<br /> society&#039;s only social gathering, speak to the collective “strong silent man&quot; or the “strong silent woman&quot;?<br /> aims of its members, their doings and their hopes The society wanted the “strong silent member,&quot; and<br /> for the future. His responsibility in doing this lots of them, those who paid their guineas partly as<br /> was lightened by the fact that the annual report was insurance, and partly recognising that the society<br /> already drafted and would soon be laid before the must, espouse the cause of many who came to it in<br /> society with the authoritative weight of the Com- the first instance in trouble. Let members who<br /> mittee. The story to be told was one of progress knew of any who had strayed from the society&#039;s<br /> all along the line, of increased membership, of fold shepherd them back-let them impress upon<br /> increased income, of accretion to the Pension Fund, such to join again. Small as the losses might be<br /> and of success in legal transactions. The inter- compared with the gains, they were always a source<br /> vention of the society in a legislative matter of the of regret, and if any sort of common reason for<br /> first importance to all writers had been testified to resignations could only be arrived at, it could be<br /> by the President of the Board of Trade. He removed.<br /> (the Chairman) attributed a great share of this He gave the toast of the Society of Authors with<br /> success to the work of Mr. Thring, who had never the sincere hope and veritable belief that its pro-<br /> allowed the increase of his duties involved by the gress would be maintained. Its main object, the<br /> Copyright Bill to interfere with his performance of defence of literary property, had been steadily<br /> his regular work as Secretary of the society.<br /> followed for a quarter of a century, and the value<br /> Tarning, however, to a matter upon which he of its work had been enhanced by full recognition<br /> desired to express himself personally, he called of the justice of its principles. It was no longer<br /> attention to a serious drawback which ought to described by the quidnuncs as a ring to fight<br /> be remedied. The leakage from the ranks of the the publishers—the injustice of such a description<br /> society was too great. Every year a certain was proved by the presence of Sir Frederick<br /> number of resignations fell as cold douches upon Macmillan, chairman of the Publishers&#039; Association,<br /> the ardour of the society&#039;s progress. They did not and by study of the reports of the past twenty<br /> stop progress, but they impeded it, and he called years. The society did not exist to bolster up<br /> upon those present to help to deal with the matter. incompetence, as had been urged against it. It<br /> It was the rarest thing for anyone to give a reason had often to espouse the cause of the weak, but<br /> for leaving the society, and he was driven to think it did so, harsh as it might sound, not because<br /> that resignations must be caused by lack of apprecia. an author was weak, but because the rights of<br /> tion of the nature of corporate spirit, and of the weak and the rights of the strong had the<br /> comprehension of the principles of insurance. It same basis, though not the same chances of<br /> should be remembered that to some extent the busi- establishing themselves.<br /> ness of the society must be on insurance lines, and Mr. Robert Ross, in proposing the health of the<br /> that although from year to year any given author Chairman, said that if he were to try to vivisect<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 110 (#530) ############################################<br /> <br /> 110<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> Dr. Sprigge, the editor of the Lancet, the society - some life to the views that he adopts, and should<br /> another society--would interfere, and moreover it revivify the dead bodies of the past. The historian<br /> would require the art of Mrs. Humphry Ward or who is merely a balancer of opinions and methods<br /> Mr. Henry James to do so. He would not there- and a chronicler of dry facts is, from our point of<br /> fore dwell upon the distinction with which Dr. view, useless ; from a child&#039;s point of view, he is<br /> Sprigge directed the fortunes of the leading scientific worse than useless.&quot;<br /> paper of the world, because those present knew how I shall not attempt to discuss with The Author&#039;s<br /> well he fulfilled the duty of presiding over a society reviewer in what manner children, in particular,<br /> of literary men and women. Metaphor prohibited should be taught history. The Platonic Socrates,<br /> him from saying that the wielder of a lancet it is true, although he admitted that it is the<br /> touched nothing that he did not adorn, and he practice to“ begin by telling children stories which,<br /> would boldly admit that the wielder of a lancet if not wholly destitute of truth, are in the main<br /> touched nothing without taking something away. fictitious,&quot; contended that we ought not to“ permit<br /> The Chairman would take away that evening the children to receive into their minds notions the<br /> good-will and gratitude of the Authors&#039; Society, an very opposite of those which are to be held by them<br /> operation painlessly performed without the aid of when they grow up&quot; (Republic, 377). This postu-<br /> any anæsthetic even in the form of an after-dinner late of Socrates might well be allowed to apply to<br /> speech. Only the committee, perhaps, knew the the teaching of history to children nowadays.<br /> value of Dr. Sprigge&#039;s services to the society over a But I am not intending any criticism of the<br /> period of twenty-one years. He was Mr. Thring&#039;s book which Messrs. Fletcher and Kipling have<br /> predecessor, but his enthusiasm and energy on collaborated to produce. It is with a statement of<br /> behalf of the society did not cease in the interval the reviewer that I am concerned, not with the<br /> between his retirement from the post of secretary subject of his review ; the statement, namely, that<br /> and his election as chairman. The so-called leisure “surely the soundest view is that the historian<br /> moments of an unselfish career he had given to the should be a partisan.&quot; This dictum must not be<br /> society&#039;s service. All did not perhaps realise that suffered to pass without protest. Of course, very<br /> Dr. Sprigge might have trod the path of mere much depends upon the meaning attached to the<br /> literature, that path by which you shift your word “partisan.” If it is to be interpreted as<br /> manuscript on a publisher, your health on a nothing worse than the opposite of “ merely a<br /> physician, and your grievances on the Authors&#039; balancer of opinions and methods and a chronicler<br /> Society. He thought there was a hint of the Chair- of dry facts,&quot; then cadit quæstio. But such an<br /> man&#039;s real tastes in the last number of the Cornhill interpretation is not natural, and I do not imagine<br /> Magazine, in the delightful volumes of stories “Odd that it was in the mind of The Author&#039;s reviewer.<br /> Issues” and the “ Industrious Chevalier” rather “The New English Dictionary,&quot; I see, in its defini.<br /> than in those blood-curdling volumes “Medicine tion of Partisan, suggests “ One who takes part or<br /> and the Public” and “ The Methods of Publish- sides with another ... often in an unfavourable<br /> ing.&quot; Dr. Sprigge suppressed his love of fiction sense : One who supports his party through thick<br /> in literature in order to study the fiction of and thin&#039;; a blind, prejudiced, unreasoning or<br /> publishers&#039; accounts, and to insist upon the rights fanatical adherent.&quot;<br /> of the society&#039;s members. The Chairman was his I will not assume that the reviewer meant that<br /> (Mr. Ross&#039;s) nephew, but immune from the sus- the historian should be “a blind, prejudiced, un-<br /> picion of nepotism, he asked the society to drink reasoning or fanatical adherent ” ; but it will<br /> the health of Dr. Sprigge.<br /> probably be doing him no injustice to suppose that<br /> After the toast had been honoured with cheers, he admires a &quot; thick and thin ” supporter, one who<br /> those present rose and proceeded to the adjoining is for “my country, my cause, or my hero, right or<br /> room, where the usual conversazione took place. (not ridiculously) wrong.&quot; This may be taken as<br /> the ideal attitude of the partisan. Is it the ideal<br /> attitude of the historian ? Doubtless it is a very<br /> THE SOUNDEST VIEW OF HISTORY.<br /> common attitude, adopted by historical writers<br /> whose names are household words; to take two<br /> great modern instances, Mommsen and Macaulay-<br /> TN the November issue of The Author, in the both of them, it may be noted in passing, made to<br /> 1 course of a notice of the new “History of serve as text-books for the English schoolboy.<br /> England,&quot; by Messrs. Fletcher and Kipling, In considering the above-mentioned attitude, we<br /> there occur the following sentences :-<br /> are bound to ask, What are the requisites of a good<br /> “There are many views taken about the writing history ? Certainly we must admit that one is to<br /> of history, but surely the soundest view is that the “ give some life to the views [the historian] adopts,<br /> historian should be a partisan, that he should give and revivify the dead bodies of the past. A dull<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 111 (#531) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 111<br /> history cannot be more than a text-book ; and a I cannot resist quoting the opening paragraph<br /> simple text-book is not literature, which history of the first chapter of “The New · Examen,”<br /> should be. But to accomplish this life-giving which originally appeared in serial form in Black-<br /> work, is it necessary for the author to be a partisan ? wood&#039;s Magazine for June, 1859 :-<br /> Is a fair mind a bar-I will not say to successful, &quot; The peculiar charm of Lord Macaulay&#039;s writings (says<br /> but-to good historical writing ?<br /> Paget] arises from the fact that his vivid imagination<br /> The historian, it will be granted, must be “a enables him to live for the time amongst those whose<br /> balancer of opinions and methods” and “a chronicler<br /> portraits he paints. The persons of his drama are not<br /> cold abstractions summoned up from the past to receive<br /> of facts,” though not &quot;a mere balancer,&quot; etc., or<br /> judgment for deeds done in the flesh; they are living men<br /> “a chronicler of dry facts” only. Well, having and women--beings to be loved or hated, feared or despised,<br /> the opinions, methods, facts of his period before with all the fervency which belongs to Lord Macaulay&#039;s<br /> him, must the historian then proceed to use them<br /> character. The attention of the reader is excited, his<br /> sympathies are awakened, his passions are aroused ; he<br /> in a partisan spirit ? Must he distort, mutilate,<br /> devours page after page and volume after volume with an<br /> select, and suppress ? I take it that if he does appetite similar to that which attends upon a perusal of<br /> not he is a poor partisan. But I hold that if he the most stirring fiction ; he closes the book with regret,<br /> does he is a poor historian Lam well arrare that and then, and not till then, comes the reflection that he<br /> has been listening to the impassioned barangue of the<br /> Macaulay distorts, mutilates, selects, and suppresses,<br /> and suppresses, advocate, not to the calm summing-up of the judge. It<br /> and that he is generally accounted a great historian. would be well if this were the worst. We are reluctantly<br /> The truth is that he is the most dangerous of all convinced that Lord Macaulay sometimes exceeds even the<br /> historical writers, and his - History of England” privileges of the advocate ; that when he arraigns a culprit<br /> before the tribunal of public opinion, and showers down<br /> a most improper text-book, seeing that it is the<br /> upon him that terrible invective of which he is so accom.<br /> scholastic custom to administer the bane without plished a master, evidence occasionally meets with a treat-<br /> the antidote.&quot;<br /> ment at his hands from which the least scrupulous prac-<br /> I do not suppose that many people at the present<br /> titioner at the bar would shrink. Documents are sup-<br /> day look at a work entitled “The New &#039; Examen&#039;:<br /> pressed, dates transposed, witnesses of the most infamous<br /> character are paraded as pure and unimpeachable, and<br /> or an Inquiry into the Evidence relating to certain even forgotten and anonymous slanders, of the foulest<br /> Passages in Lord Macaulay&#039;s History,&quot; by John description, are revived and cast on the unhappy object<br /> Paget, barrister-at-law (Blackwood, 1861). This of the historian&#039;s wrath.<br /> is a pity, for the book is both able and entertaining, Could we ask for a better portrait of the partisan<br /> and I wish that someone could have put it in my historian ?<br /> hands in my Macaulay-ridden schooldays. Mr. Macaulay himself, it may be remarked, recognised<br /> Paget-after having stated in his preface (a dedi- the evil of partisanship in other historians. Of<br /> catory letter to Sir John MNeill) that he was Bishop Burnet, although he maintains that he<br /> originally one of those who had placed an implicit was a far indeed from being the most inexact<br /> reliance in Lord Macaulay&#039;s representations and writer of his time,” he says that he “ viewed every<br /> had permitted himself to be carried away by the act and every character through a medium dis-<br /> eloquent torrent of his declamation, and that it torted and coloured by party spirit.” This was<br /> was not without many a struggle that he found the man of whom the exiled Queen Mary, wife of<br /> himself compelled, by a dry examination of facts, James II., told Baron Lansdowne that “the King<br /> to surrender the illusion by which he had been [Charles) and the Duke, and the whole Court,<br /> enthralled-proceeds to a very satisfactory demoli. looked upon him as the greatest liar on the face<br /> tion of Macaulay&#039;s partisan views on certain of the earth, and there was no believing one word<br /> characters and incidents in our history. A that he said.” The statement is rather strong; but<br /> defender, like Paget, of Marlborough, Claverhouse, Burnet is sipgularly unscrupulous in his treatment<br /> Penn, and of the Scottish nation in the seven- of the men and affairs of his day<br /> teenth century may perhaps himself be called a It will not be denied, even by the most ardent<br /> partisan of sorts. But Macaulay&#039;s castigator is admirer of picturesque historians, that it is a duty<br /> justified in boasting, at the end of his dedication : of history to get down to the facts, whererer dis-<br /> “I can, at any rate, say that I have pursued [my] coverable. Sometimes the process involves a great<br /> inquiry honestly, and that I have furnished every amount of patience, and much labour for small<br /> means of testing my accuracy”—a good hit at results; but the patience, the labour must be forth-<br /> Macaulay, who is notoriously loose in his references. coming. When the facts have been ascertained,<br /> * I am afraid that I do not know whether such a state-<br /> the historian is at liberty to express his views upon<br /> ment will cause more of the doctors to cry “Heresy&quot; and them, to suggest interpretations of his documents,<br /> rend their academic garments, or to demand pityingly to make his period picturesque. But he is not at<br /> what is the good of flogging a dead horse. Of the most liberty to twist his facts to tally with his views.<br /> recent historians of the Stuart period some still follow<br /> Macaulay almost implicitly, others treat him as the sign.<br /> to insert his interpretation into the body of his<br /> post that points to the wrong road..<br /> documents, to substitute his idea of the proper<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 112 (#532) ############################################<br /> <br /> 112<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> II.<br /> picture for the reality of the period. He may, even<br /> must, to a certain extent, combine the functions of<br /> December 8, 1911.<br /> judge and advocate. But he must not be a Judge SIR, -It would be unjust both to Mr. G. B. Shaw<br /> Jeffreys. He must have throughout a perfect and to the members of the Society who provide him<br /> regard for truth. For the historian there are no with his latest platform to allow the remarkable<br /> varying standards of truth. Truth is universal, discoveries which he announced in your last issue<br /> from Lhassa to London, from Birmingham toto pass without comment. ... The opinion of so<br /> Benin-if I may borrow a trope from Macaulay. great an author as Mr. Shaw is worth, to the<br /> And your partisan does not tell the truth.<br /> “ lesser lights,&quot; who are, presumably, the mass of<br /> PHILIP W. SERGEANT. the members of the Society, many more &quot;raps<br /> than he administers to the parasitic agent. ...<br /> True, it proves that Mr. Shaw would make a very<br /> bad agent ; but that is what we should expect of so<br /> CORRESPONDENCE.<br /> very good (and great) an author. Now, perpend<br /> and observe :<br /> “... The root of the whole matter&quot; is that<br /> “ The CRUX OF THE AGENT QUESTION”<br /> “ there are two ways of making profit by selling.<br /> One is to sell a single article every hour . . . at a<br /> profit of 100 per cent. The other is to sell 100 of<br /> the same articles every hour to 100 eager customers<br /> SIR, I am afraid it would be a sign of a<br /> at a profit of 24 per cent. on each. . . .&quot; We<br /> dull and prosaic mind to criticise Mr. Shaw&#039;s<br /> need not point out that there are other ways of<br /> characteristic and delightful demonstration that a<br /> a “making profit by selling.&quot; ...<br /> literary agent&#039;s path to success and wealth lies in<br /> The interest of the theory lies not in Mr. Shaw&#039;s<br /> a complete and deliberate failure to perform the<br /> proof that he is utterly incapable of agenting for<br /> function for which he is mainly engaged—the<br /> anyone but himself, but in his view of the needs<br /> obtaining of good prices. Let us rather agree of the “ lesser lights.” The gravamen of his<br /> that it pays an agent better to make bad bargains<br /> charge is that the agent will not “ spend the day<br /> for twenty clients than good ones for five; that<br /> fighting one or two books up to a 25 per cent.<br /> it pays a lawyer better to lose cases for twenty<br /> wenty royalty,&quot; so long as he can get along with routine<br /> clients than to win cases for five; that it pays a<br /> transactions. The Superman, in fact, is being<br /> doctor better to kill twenty patients without<br /> neglected for the sake of the mere Man. But does<br /> trouble than laboriously to save five. Why not<br /> the Authors&#039; Society exist for the benefit of Men or<br /> agree? It may all be quite true, and demonstrable of Super-men. if such a distinction is to be<br /> by all the arithmetic at Mr. Shaw&#039;s disposal ; and drown&#039;s<br /> it is at any rate quite an entertaining idea. It<br /> The wicked agent falls from depth to depth till,<br /> works, in fact, perfectly, subject to the trifling « finally, he settles down into an agent whose real<br /> assumption that when the agent, or lawyer, or<br /> of business is to procure books for publishers, articles<br /> business<br /> doctor, “ hurries off to get another dozen books &quot;<br /> for editors, and plays for managers,&quot; and who,<br /> or law-suits, or medical cases—he will find them.<br /> horribile dictu, “ being able to push any author<br /> An assumption, because if it is that extra 5 or 10<br /> whom he may have reason to favour, naturally<br /> per cent. that “costs time and trouble,” it is<br /> sells his power.”<br /> the hope of that same extra 5 or 10 per cent.<br /> We are reluctant to remove a foundation-brick<br /> that brings authors to the agent&#039;s door.<br /> from so gorgeous an imaginative structure ; but<br /> A great author&#039;s opinion on agents and publishers<br /> shers when Mr. Shaw cites us in support of this decorative<br /> is not worth a rap to lesser lights, says Mr. Shaw.<br /> detail, a last spasm of truthfulness forces us to<br /> I am sure that most of us consider Mr. Shaw a<br /> confess that neither we nor any other agent<br /> great author, and are far from thinking his<br /> possesses such a magic key, nor in our wildest<br /> opinion on any subject not worth a rap. But<br /> dreams could we hare soared to such an ambition.<br /> here it does seem as if his ingenuity had outrun<br /> The fact is, of course, that throughout his enter-<br /> his commonsense. I think Mr. Gamage would<br /> taining speculation, whether he is calculating<br /> tell him that it pays to give your customer what<br /> prices or weighing influences, Mr. Shaw omits to<br /> your customer pays you to give him.<br /> take account of the chief factor, which is the<br /> Yours etc.,<br /> inherent value of the commodity. . . . If he knows<br /> Ex-MEMBER OF COMMITTEE.<br /> the market and understands the most various<br /> qualities of goods, the agent can usually make<br /> terms sufficiently above those the author would<br /> make to pay his own commission, and leave a<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 113 (#533) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 113<br /> more or less substantial margin of benefit. That placing the work or not, the author must stand by<br /> is all he claims.<br /> his bargain, and if he is such a fool he deserves to<br /> “But now, mark.” There is an old rule for pay the penalty. But in the absence of such special<br /> economists in distress-play the Wage Fund theory agreement, when the agent returns the MS. to the<br /> And, sure enough, here is the Shavian version, author as unsaleable, the contract, at least so far as<br /> “ No agent can push a man into a job without that MS. is concerned, is at an end, and the agent<br /> pushing another man out of it.” He advances has no claim for a commission if the author after-<br /> Mr. Blank, at the expense of Mr. Dash, while wards succeeds himself in placing it. It might be<br /> “poor Mr. Ignotus is never mentioned at all.” otherwise if a publisher to whom the agent had<br /> The sad picture seems to contradict the original submitted the MS. and by whom it had been<br /> theory, which was that the agent will do justice to rejected afterwards came to terms directly with the<br /> a hundred routine cases, but not to the exceptional author. If an agent returns an MS. to the author,<br /> Mr. Blank whom we have called the Super-man. the act is an admission of his inability to place it,<br /> Let that pass. Is there anything in this proposi- and any subsequent claim for commission would be<br /> tion that there are only a limited number of affected by that admission. There are publishers<br /> “jobs”? If so, every author is the enemy of and editors who will not deal with the agent at all,<br /> every other ; every book is the rival of every other and even in ordinary business dealings many persons<br /> book; the Authors&#039; Society has no economic basis, object to conduct their negotiations through an<br /> but is trying to take unlimited rises out of a limited agent. So, according to Mr. Shaw, we may have<br /> fund of publishing capital. ....<br /> an agent successfully claiming a commission on<br /> We are tempted to go further—to invite you to work sold by the author directly to a publisher or<br /> constitute a roll of agents from which proved mis- editor who would not deal with the agent. It is<br /> demeanants could be struck off (but this would more than probable that such a claim would not be<br /> imply a withdrawal of your original advice); to sustained. In agency the value of the introduction<br /> thank Mr. Shaw for his large categories of &quot; cases is an important consideration. If A. wanting to<br /> where agents are useful, and even indispensable”; rent a house goes to B. an agent, and is by him<br /> to emphasise again the merits of that “routine introduced to C., who has a house to sell, and C.<br /> business ” which Mr. Shaw naturally scorns, but refuses to let, the contract is at an end. But if<br /> by which most of your readers must live ; and to subsequently A. consents to purchase the house, B.<br /> vindicate Besant and the other founders who is of course entitled to his commission, although A.<br /> “encouraged agents,” in no exploiting spirit, but and C. conclude the business independently of him.<br /> because they knew the facts of literary business. Much more could be written on this subject, but<br /> Enough said, however ; and we are,<br /> the point is that no author should sign an agree-<br /> Faithfully yours,<br /> ment to pay the agent any commission unless<br /> (Signed) G. H. PERRIS, business results through his agency, nor should he<br /> C. F. CAZENOVE. pay the agent any commission in the case cited by<br /> [The dotted lines represent the fact that on<br /> Mr. Shaw, when the MS. has been returned to the<br /> account of limited space, and with the consent of<br /> author through the inability of the agent to place<br /> the writers, the Editor has had to delete portions<br /> it. It would be interesting if any of your readers<br /> of this letter.]<br /> could mention a case in which such a claim was<br /> successfully maintained.<br /> Faithfully yours,<br /> H. A. Hinkson.<br /> SIR,—Mr. G. B. Shaw, in his otherwise admirable<br /> article on Commission Agency in MSS., makes one<br /> statement which is scarcely accurate, at least with SIR, -As an author who had twenty years&#039;<br /> out qualification. He writes : “But when he (the experience of literary agents before I became an<br /> agent) can force you to do the same ( pay a com- agent myself, perhaps I may be permitted to con-<br /> mission) in the case of a work which he has failed tribute to this interesting discussion. It is chiefly<br /> to place, and which you yourself have succeeded as an author that I would like to speak. I<br /> in placing long after you have abandoned him, even employed three different agents at different periods<br /> the most enthusiastic agent fancier will admit that during those twenty years, and I heard talk about<br /> the law leans a little too much to the agent&#039;s side.” other agents who acted for my friends. Honestly,<br /> I have seen many unconscionable contracts, but I found these three agents helpful, especially<br /> none quite as bad as that suggested by Mr. Shaw, because I rarely came to London in those days.<br /> Of course, if the author has agreed with the agent They saved me time, and the cost of stationery<br /> to pay him his commission whether he succeed in and stamps, and relieved me from the irksome<br /> III.<br /> IV.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 114 (#534) ############################################<br /> <br /> 114<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> business of waiting in publishers&#039; ante-rooms, AGENTS, LITERARY AND DRAMATIC.<br /> while the publishers interviewed authors who were<br /> more popular than myself. What is more to the<br /> 1.<br /> point, these agents placed books, short stories, and<br /> SIR,—You have done good service in admitting<br /> articles for me, and I am quite convinced that in<br /> to your columns the trenchant and telling article<br /> several cases they obtained higher prices than I<br /> on “ Authors&#039; Agents,&quot; which appeared in your<br /> on Authors&#039;<br /> could have obtained unaided. If I ever return to<br /> issue for October. Your contributor is absolutely<br /> the mountains of Wales, or to Dartmoor, to write<br /> justified alike in his strictures, his warnings and<br /> books, I shall entrust all my business to one of<br /> his counsel, What are agents for ?<br /> these useful persons.<br /> They are<br /> supposed, mostly on their own statements, to be<br /> Mr. George Bernard Shaw declares that an<br /> especially useful in obtaining openings for serials<br /> author who cannot conduct his own commercial<br /> and pushing the interests of authors with editors.<br /> affairs is a “nincompoop.” Now, to &quot;run&quot;<br /> But are they really useful ? Let me speak from<br /> oneself successfully as an artist in a very com-<br /> my own experience. Though all my later norels<br /> mercial age and in an inartistic country like our<br /> have appeared in good periodicals at good prices,<br /> own, it is necessary to be equipped with some of<br /> not one of them has been placed by an agent. And<br /> the qualities of the bagman, the instinct for<br /> it was after exasperating experience of agents and<br /> publicity of the press agent kind, a fluent tongue,<br /> their ways that I took matters into my own hands.<br /> and a very close knowledge of the market. If an<br /> Since then satisfactory serial arrangements have<br /> author lacks these essentials—if he is modest about<br /> been made for every one of my novels. In dealing<br /> his work, self-critical, and diffident in conservation<br /> with publishers the agent is not and never was in<br /> with men of business-he may still be free from the<br /> the least necessary. The truth is that if authors<br /> stupidity to which Mr. Bernard Shaw refers. One<br /> as a class were not the least business-like people in<br /> of our most eminent living novelists remarked to<br /> the world, the agent simply would not exist as he<br /> me : “I place all business matters in the hands of<br /> is to-day. Yet we pay him 10 per cent. A solicitor<br /> my agent. I have neither the time nor the in-<br /> or house agent will manage property, buy and sell<br /> clination to contend with the publisher about half-<br /> pennies.” I know several authors who hawk their<br /> houses, collect rents and so forth, for a commission<br /> of 2 per cent. And his work is more arduous,<br /> * copy” up and down Fleet Street, take up the<br /> more onerous, and requires qualifications that are<br /> time of busy editors by discussing unfruitful<br /> conspicuously lacking in the literary agent.<br /> “ ideas” for articles, and spend much energy<br /> Is it<br /> not high time that authors combined to put an<br /> in the wrong direction. An agent would save them<br /> end to the extortion of a 10 per cent. commission ?<br /> from this misdirected energy.<br /> I suggest that the Authors&#039; Society take the matter<br /> As some of your correspondents have thrown<br /> up, and that a conference be held to consider the<br /> down a challenge to literary agents to justify their<br /> whole question of authors and their commission.<br /> calling, and to prove that they are able to help the<br /> Yours truly,<br /> literary novice, perhaps you will allow me to say<br /> NOVELIST.<br /> that the firm which I represent have materially<br /> assisted a number of young authors during the<br /> past three years. These authors are quite willing<br /> II.<br /> to confirm my statement to any inquirers.<br /> When our economic reformers succeed in revolu- DEAR SIR, - Feeling, as I do, that the agent<br /> tionising the methods of commerce, the literary question is one of deep interest and importance<br /> agent will no longer be needed. Until then, the to authors, it has occurred to me that perhaps a<br /> shrewd intermediary between the creator and the few facts and figures may be worth consideration.<br /> seller of literature has a perfectly reasonable I had published one book and was making a little<br /> justification for his existence as a middleman. over £200 a year when I first went to an agent.<br /> Regarding the alleged cases of dishonesty on the I was with that agent over two years. His efforts<br /> part of the agents, the way is plain for authors. on my behalf resulted as follows :-He“ placed ”<br /> Let them demand that the agent shall obtain his one long novel at an advance on royalties of £20<br /> commission from the publisher, and that the pub- in America, but offset this success by an arrange-<br /> lisher shall pay the royalties direct to the author, ment with an English publisher under which the<br /> less the commission.<br /> payment of royalties was to be postponed until<br /> The unscrupulous conduct is not always on the the book obtained a certain sale. He placed the<br /> part of the agent.<br /> serial rights (80,000 words) for £30 in America,<br /> Yours faithfully,<br /> in England he failed to “market &quot; them.<br /> WALTER M. GALLICHAN,<br /> When I went to this agent I had a good-even an<br /> &quot;GALLICHAN &amp; GASQUOINE.” excellent connection with two magazines. During<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 115 (#535) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 115<br /> IRPLAY.<br /> the two years previous to enrolling myself under When an agent is useful use him, but—in order<br /> the agent&#039;s flag I had received from one of these that you may not abuse him-never, without very<br /> magazines £215. The two years that followed serious consideration of your position, sign any<br /> saw but one story sold at £20, and two more to a agreement which places all your work in his<br /> rival magazine (a new market) at £25 each.<br /> hands without a clause allowing for the termina-<br /> From the second magazine of these I soon tion of the contract by three months&#039; notice on<br /> received a formal note couched as follows :- either side. I cannot think that any agent has as<br /> “ Dear Sir, The — comes out only once a much “ pull ” as Mr. Shaw seems to believe, nor<br /> month. Mr. - (the agent) has favoured us do I imagine that any agent&#039;s influence can get<br /> with four of your papers since the first instant. stories accepted by the best magazines to an<br /> I am, Sir, yours faithfully --&quot;<br /> extent which would make it worth the while of a<br /> The result of this was that being rather stung precocious author, however brilliant, to pay a fine<br /> up the agent sent no more of my work for some of 50 or 100 percent, commission, further, I do<br /> weeks—the magazine paid me £64 in the two not believe many agents would accept it.<br /> years. To these figures must be added a sum of<br /> I am, Sir, Yours etc.,<br /> £20 received for the serial rights of my first novel.<br /> This came from America, where that work had not<br /> seen the light. With royalties and various odds<br /> and ends I received from the agent about £85<br /> more, a total of £269, less £26 188. commission,<br /> leaving a balance in my favour of £242 28., or<br /> III.<br /> £121 1s. a year.<br /> At the end of the second year, emerging from DEAR SIR, I cannot quite understand why the<br /> my temporary insanity, I left the agent and all my literary agent is made such a point of. To my<br /> MSS. were returned. Among them was the typed way of thinking he is by no means a necessity.<br /> copy of a serial concerning which the agent notified In letters you have published, writers refer to<br /> me.“ This has been submitted to and rejected the practice of hawking stuff round editorial offices<br /> by the editors of the following magazines and as the alternative to using an agent. What is the<br /> periodicals.&quot; There followed a list which continued matter with the penny post ?<br /> well down the sheet of typing.<br /> I cannot conceive anything more simple than to<br /> In the second year of my regained freedom I enclose MSS. in an en relope and post them to the<br /> sold that serial to the editor of one of the editor of a periodical. I think I am correct in<br /> periodicals which had refused it through the agent saying that in nine cases out of ten the editor<br /> at over two and a half times the sum the agent prefers this method to interviewing authors, unless<br /> had asked for it. And the agent I am writing of there is a particular point needing discussion.<br /> is one who has a good record and a large number Furthermore, the majority of editors I have<br /> of successful authors on bis books.<br /> spoken to on the subject tell me that they prefer<br /> About four months after I left the fostering MSS. straight from the author rather than an<br /> care of an agent I found that my income had agent.<br /> materially increased.<br /> It must be understood that I am referring to<br /> I quite agree that my case may have been an magazine matter, not to novels, or any work of<br /> unusual one, but I put the agent&#039;s failure down to length.<br /> the simple fact that I brought in but £13 a year Soon after I found that I was selling a fair<br /> to him, and it was not worth his while to do more number of stories, I was approached by a gentle-<br /> than send out my work with a note, “ Dear Sir, man who had been chief reader in one of the<br /> I am sending you a touching short story by that largest publishing houses in the world. He had<br /> promising writer — I shall be glad if you left this appointment and opened a literary agency.<br /> will read it as soon as possible. Any proposal He took a fee from me as well as a number of<br /> you may wish to make I shall be pleased to lay MSS. ; in return he gave me glowing pictures of<br /> before my client. Yours faithfully - &quot;.<br /> a Carnegie-like future, and, after the lapse of a<br /> On one occasion I know an MS. of mine was sent year, all the MSS. I had sent him.<br /> to a certain editor with half-a-dozen others and a Some time afterwards I was persuaded to try<br /> letter covering the lot.<br /> another agent, but I resolutely declined to pay a<br /> That is one agent. On the other hand I had fee. However, he took a number of stories on a<br /> dealings with another, who refused a large com- 15 per cent. commission basis, read them through,<br /> mission on sentimental grounds—a commission to went into raptures over them, but did not sell<br /> which he was legally entitled.<br /> one.<br /> The result of my experience comes to this : Now let me state that many of the stories<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 116 (#536) ############################################<br /> <br /> 116<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> immediately perhaps, but steadily and surely, and<br /> can reckon upon an increasing number of followers.<br /> ARTHUR LOVELL.<br /> returned by these agents I have disposed of<br /> myself.<br /> Perhaps when I am making £10,000 a year, and<br /> do not want to be bothered by details, I shall<br /> employ an agent again.<br /> I am sorry for the prospects of the agent waiting<br /> for this post.<br /> Of course, for selling stuff out of England the<br /> agent is desirable. for the average author who<br /> knows the Fleet Street ropes would be at sea<br /> regarding, say, U.S.A. methods. But as regards<br /> disposing of stuff in England, I think the agent<br /> can very easily be dispensed with.<br /> Yours faithfully,<br /> E. NEWTON BUNGEY.<br /> THE AUTHOR&#039;S CRAFT.<br /> SIR.—The article of Mr. Herbert W. Smith on<br /> “ The Hazard of the Pen” in your issue of Decem-<br /> ber has prompted me to utter a few remarks, not<br /> exactly in reply, but rather as a kind of protest,<br /> meant in an entirely friendly spirit, against what<br /> inot what<br /> seems to me a degradation of the craft of author.<br /> Though but a new member of the society, I am<br /> comparatively an old author, and therefore speak<br /> from a very wide experience.<br /> Mr. Smith&#039;s article is not only pessimistic in<br /> tone, but, if I may put it bluntly, entirely without<br /> point. If literature means anything at all, it means<br /> a compendium. or distilled essence of life itself.<br /> with its varied mixtures of good and evil, tragedy<br /> and comedy, etc. The craft of author consists in<br /> extracting the essence or spirit or soul of the<br /> mixture, and presenting it to the mind of another.<br /> The real author is the one who has something to say<br /> which must at all costs come out, whether the<br /> listeners are few or many. The author is the<br /> pioneer who enters strange lands, and writes down<br /> his experiences. From this standpoint, the author<br /> is the teacher and leader of mankind. If he puts<br /> himself the question which Mr. Smith recommends.<br /> “ Is it worth it ? ” he proclaims himself to be<br /> utterly unworthy of the craft of authorship; and<br /> it matters little what becomes of him, for his<br /> work can never stimulate or warm another soul,<br /> for it is the shining of brass instead of the glitter<br /> of gold. Brass there is abundance of, both in life<br /> and in literature. And the worst of it is that<br /> brass has an irresistible, because inherent, tendency<br /> to shine loudly and cry, “ Behold, I am gold !”<br /> The upshot of all is, the craft of author is<br /> the greatest and rarest craft, and therefore any<br /> individual author has great difficulties to contend<br /> with, far more than the craftsman who works by<br /> rule of thumb. But in these days any author who<br /> is worth his salt can get a fair hearing, not<br /> PUBLISHERS&#039; METHODS.<br /> DEAR SIR,—In my letter which you published<br /> in your last number I intended but omitted to deal<br /> with the question of “remainders.”<br /> I think that authors should stipulate that their<br /> books are not to be remaindered until a certain<br /> date after publication, and then only in the event of<br /> the sales falling below a certain namber per year.<br /> I feel, rightly or wrongly, that the remaindering<br /> of a book creates an impression in the mind of the<br /> public that the book is not a good one, and con-<br /> sequently is being sold off cheap. Very often such<br /> is not the case, and the remaindering is due to the<br /> publisher&#039;s impatience. The selling of remainders<br /> is most unsatisfactory from a bookselling point of<br /> view, and should be discouraged as much as<br /> possible. I am convinced that what is stopping<br /> the sale of books more than anything is that the<br /> public waits for them as remainders, and generally<br /> succeeds in getting them !! And if my views are<br /> right this is a serious question for authors.<br /> I should like further to say that I consider<br /> authors should protect themselves against advertise-<br /> ments being inserted in their books without per-<br /> mission, and in advertisements I would include<br /> bookmarks of Insurance Companies. As a book-<br /> buyer I strongly object to being pestered with<br /> these, and I cannot understand why various high<br /> class publishers stoop to let such bookmarks appear.<br /> I admit that publishers, like other people, are<br /> supposed to be working to make money, but surely<br /> gold can be bought too dear ?<br /> There are other matters which I could write<br /> about concerning the dignity of a book, and that<br /> nothing should be done to interfere with it.<br /> Certainly this should receive the serious considera-<br /> tion of the author ?-Yours faithfully,<br /> HERBERT BATSFORD.<br /> [Both points to which Mr. Batsford draws attention<br /> are important. As a publisher of books of more per-<br /> manent value it is probable he does not remainder to<br /> the extent that publishers of novels remainder their<br /> publications. It is quite true that not only the<br /> remaindering of books, but the premature issue<br /> of cheap editions tends, very often, to decrease an<br /> author&#039;s circulation. In the matter of advertise-<br /> ments, in one case before the Society, the publisher<br /> of the cheap 6d. edition inserted advertisements<br /> opposite the letterpress in the last twenty pages of<br /> the book. Such action from the author&#039;s stand-<br /> point is impossible, and authors should guard<br /> against it.—ED.]<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 116 (#537) ############################################<br /> <br /> ADVERTISEMENTS.<br /> TYPEWRITING. Literary &amp; Dramatic Typewriting.<br /> HUBERT WALES, ESQ., of Hindhead, Surrey, writes :-<br /> “I have just completed the revision of my lovel ... which you<br /> typed, and I should like to thank you for the admirable way the<br /> work was done. Cousidering that the manuscript was sent to you<br /> without having been corrected or even read, and that my hand writing,<br /> I am told, is not always particularly legible, it is obvious that it<br /> required perception as well as care, something niore than simple<br /> mechanical accuracy, to produce such a resulta result which, in<br /> conjunction with your moderate charges, seems to me to be the best<br /> of answers to the criticisms which have recently beeu directed upon<br /> the work of typists in the columns of The Author.&quot;<br /> Novels &amp; Story work, 9d. 1,000 words; 2 copies, 1/-<br /> Plays, ruled and covered, 1/- 1,000 words; 2 copies, 1/4.<br /> (French and Spanish typed.)<br /> Opinions selected from letters received during the past twelve years :-<br /> MRS. E. NESBIT BLAND (E. NESBIT): “I am extremely<br /> pleased ... It is beautiful work.&quot;<br /> S. 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LD., and Published by them for THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS (INCORPORATED<br /> at 10, Bouverie Street, London, E.C.	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/429/1912-01-01-The-Author-22-4.pdf	publications, The Author