Omeka ID	Omeka URL	Title	Subject	Description	Creator	Source	Publisher	Date	Contributor	Rights	Relation	Format	Language	Type	Identifier	Coverage	Publisher(s)	Original Format	Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Entry	Pages	Participants	Pen Name	Physical Dimensions	Position End Date	Position Start Date	Position(s)	Publication Frequency	Occupation	Sex	Society Membership End Date	Society Membership Start Date	Start Date	Sub-Committee End Date	Sub-Committee Start Date	Text	To	URL	Volume	Death	Biography	Birth	Committee End Date	Committee of Management End Date	Committee of Management Start Date	Committee Start Date	Committee(s)	Council End Date	Council Start Date	Date	Bibliography	End Date	Event Type	From	Image Source	Interactive Timeline	Issue	Location	Members	Ngram Date	Ngram Text	Files	Tags
284	https://historysoa.com/items/show/284	The Author, Vol. 06 Issue 07 (December 1895)	<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.+06+Issue+07+%28December+1895%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 06 Issue 07 (December 1895)</a>			<a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015013732253" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015013732253</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>	1895-12-02-The-Author-6-7					149–172																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=6">6</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1895-12-02">1895-12-02</a>							7			18951202	C be El u t b or,<br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors.<br /> Monthly.)<br /> C O N DU C T E D BY W.A. L T E R B E S.A. N. T.<br /> VoI. VI.-No. 7.]<br /> DECEMBER. 2, 1895.<br /> [PRICE SIXPENCE.<br /> For the Opinions eaſpressed in papers that are<br /> signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br /> Tesponsible. None of the papers or para-<br /> graphs must be taken as earpressing the<br /> collective opinions of the committee unless<br /> they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br /> Thring, Sec.<br /> *-- * ~ *<br /> º- ºr *-*.<br /> HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br /> remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br /> requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br /> important communications within two days will write to him<br /> without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br /> Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br /> letter only.<br /> Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br /> all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br /> jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br /> returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br /> *~ * ~ *<br /> WARNINGS AND ADWICE,<br /> I. RAWING THE AGREEMENT.-It is not generally<br /> understood that the author, as the vendor, has the<br /> absolute right of drafting the agreement upon<br /> whatever terms the transaction is to be carried out.<br /> Authors are strongly advised to exercise that right. In<br /> every form of business, this among others, the right of<br /> drawing the agreement rests with him who sells, leases, or<br /> has the control of the property.<br /> 2. SERIAL RIGHTS.—In selling Serial Rights remember<br /> that you may be selling the Serial Right for all time; that<br /> is, the Right to continue the production in papers. If you<br /> object to this, insert a clause to that effect.<br /> 3. STAMP. YoUR, AGREEMENTs. – Readers are most<br /> URGENTLY warned not to neglect stamping their agreements<br /> immediately after signature. If this precaution is neglected<br /> for two weeks, a fine of £1 o must be paid before the agree-<br /> ment can be used as a legal document. In almost every<br /> case brought to the secretary the agreement, or the letter<br /> which serves for one, is forwarded without the stamp. The<br /> author may be assured that the other party to the agree-<br /> ment seldom neglects this simple precaution. The Society,<br /> to save trouble, undertakes to get all the agreements of<br /> members stamped for them at no ea pense to themselves<br /> eacept the cost of the stamp. - -<br /> 4. AscERTAIN WHAT A PROPOSED AGREEMENT GIVES TO<br /> BOTH SIDES BEFORE SIGNING IT.-Remember that an<br /> arrangement as to a joint venture in any other kind of busi-<br /> ness whatever would be instantly refused should either party<br /> WOL, WI.<br /> rights.<br /> refuse to show the books or to let it be known what share he<br /> reserved for himself.<br /> 5. LITERARY AGENTS.—Be very careful. You cannot be<br /> too careful as to the person whom you appoint as your<br /> agent. Remember that you place your property almost un-<br /> reservedly in his hands. Your only safety is in consulting<br /> the Society, or some friend who has had personal experience<br /> of the agent. Do not trust advertisements alome.<br /> 6. COST OF PRODUCTION.——Never sign any agreement of<br /> which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part,<br /> until you have proved the figures.<br /> 7. CHOICE OF PUBLISHERS.—Never enter into any cor-<br /> respondence with publishers, especially with those who ad-<br /> vertise for MSS., who are not recommended by experienced<br /> friends or by this Society.<br /> 8. FUTURE WORK.—Never, on any account whatever,<br /> bind yourself down for future work to anyone.<br /> 9. PERSONAL RISK.—Never accept any pecuniary risk or<br /> responsibility whatever without advice.<br /> Io. REJECTED MSS.—Never, when a MS. has been re-<br /> fused by respectable houses, pay others, whatever promises<br /> they may put forward, for the production of the work.<br /> II. AMERICAN RIGHTS.—Never sign away American<br /> Reep them by special clause. Refuse to sign any<br /> agreement containing a clause which reserves them for the<br /> publisher, unless for a substantial consideration.<br /> 12. CESSION OF COPYRIGHT.-Never sign any paper,<br /> either agreement or receipt, which gives away copyright,<br /> without advice.<br /> I3. ADVERTISEMENTS. — Keep some control over the<br /> advertisements, if they affect your returns, by a clause in<br /> the agreement.<br /> I4. NEVER forget that publishing is a business, like any<br /> other business, totally unconnected with philanthropy,<br /> charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do with<br /> business men. Be yourself a business man.<br /> Society’s Offices :—<br /> 4, PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN&#039;s INN FIELDs.<br /> *—- - -*<br /> •- * ~<br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> I. VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br /> advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br /> lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br /> business or the administration of his property. If the advice<br /> Sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member<br /> has a right to an opinion from the Society’s solicitors. If the<br /> case is such that Counsel&#039;s opinion is desirable, the Com-<br /> mittee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion. All this<br /> without any cost to the member.<br /> 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br /> and publisher&#039;s agreements do not generally fall within the<br /> Q 2<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#504) ################################################<br /> <br /> I 50<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br /> to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually<br /> engaged upon such questions for us.<br /> 3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past<br /> accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in<br /> order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree-<br /> ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively<br /> so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any<br /> agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor-<br /> mation thus obtained may prove invaluable.<br /> 4. If the examination of your previous business trans-<br /> actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should<br /> take advice as to a change of publishers.<br /> 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br /> posed document to the Society for examination.<br /> 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in<br /> the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks of every publish-<br /> ing firm in the country.<br /> 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you<br /> are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are<br /> reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing<br /> the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen-<br /> dence of the writer.<br /> 8. Send to the Editor of the Awthor notes of everything<br /> important to literature that you may hear or meet with.<br /> 9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of<br /> members&#039; agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br /> safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br /> ſidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who<br /> will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers:—(1)<br /> To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To<br /> stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon<br /> them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments<br /> due according to agreements.<br /> == * *-sº<br /> THE AUTHORS’ SYNDICATE,<br /> EMBERS are informed :<br /> I. That the Authors&#039; Syndicate takes charge of<br /> the business of members of the Society. That it<br /> submits MSS. to publishers and editors, concludes agree-<br /> ments, examines, passes, and collects accounts, and, gene-<br /> rally, relieves members of the trouble of managing business<br /> details.<br /> 2. That the terms upon which its services can be secured<br /> will be forwarded upon detailed application.<br /> 3. That the Authors&#039; Syndicate works only for those<br /> members of the Society whose work possesses a market<br /> value.<br /> 4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiations<br /> whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia-<br /> tions are placed ea clusively in its hands, and that all<br /> communications relating thereto are referred to it.<br /> 5. That clients can only be seen by the Director by<br /> appointment, and that, when possible, at least two days&#039;<br /> notice should be given.<br /> 6. That overy attempt is made to deal with all communi-<br /> cations promptly. That stamps should, in all cases, be sent<br /> to defray postage.<br /> 7. That the Authors&#039; Syndicate does not invite MSS.<br /> without previous correspondence; does not hold itself<br /> responsible for MSS. forwarded without notice; and that<br /> in all cases MSS. must be accompanied by stamps to defray<br /> postage.<br /> 8. That the Syndicate undertakes arrangements for<br /> lectures by some of the leading members of the Society;<br /> that it has a “Transfer Department&#039; for the sale and<br /> purchase of journals and periodicals; and that a “Register<br /> of Wants and Wanted &#039;&#039; is open. Members are invited to<br /> communicate their requirements to the Manager.<br /> There is an Honorary Advisory Committee, whose services<br /> will be called upon in any case of dispute or difficulty. It<br /> is perhaps necessary to state that the members of the<br /> Advisory Committee have no pecuniary interest whatever in<br /> the Syndicate.<br /> sº- a 2-4°<br /> r-- - --a<br /> NOTICES.<br /> HE Editor of the Awthor begs to remind members of the<br /> Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br /> of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br /> heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br /> many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br /> 6s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br /> The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and<br /> communications on all subjects connected with literature<br /> from members and others. Nothing can do more good to<br /> the Society than to make the Awthor complete, attractive,<br /> and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this<br /> work send their names and the special subjects on which<br /> they are willing to write P<br /> Communications for the Author should reach the Editor<br /> not later than the 21st of each month.<br /> All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether<br /> members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate<br /> to the Editor any points connected with their work which<br /> it would be advisable in the general interest to publish.<br /> Members and others who wish their MSS. read are<br /> requested not to send them to the Office without previously<br /> communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable<br /> despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in<br /> which they are received. It must also be distinctly under-<br /> stood that the Society does not, under any circumstances,<br /> undertake the publication of MSS.<br /> The Authors’ Club is now open in its new premises, at<br /> 3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary<br /> for information, rules of admission, &amp;c.<br /> Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they<br /> have paid their subscriptions for the year P If they will do<br /> this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker&#039;s<br /> order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the<br /> trouble of sending out a reminder.<br /> Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the<br /> warning numbered (8). It is a most foolish and may be a<br /> most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding<br /> for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they<br /> would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five<br /> years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest<br /> or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then<br /> hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them-<br /> selves into literary bondage for three or five years P<br /> Those who possess the “Cost of Production * are<br /> requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15<br /> per cent. This means, for those who do not like the trouble<br /> of “doing sums,” the addition of three shillings in the<br /> pound on this head. In other words, if the cost of binding<br /> is set down in our book at eight pounds, to this must now be<br /> added twenty-four shillings more, so that it now stands<br /> at £948. The figures in our book are as near the exact<br /> truth as can be procured; but a printer&#039;s, or a binder’s,<br /> bill is so elastic a thing that nothing more exact can be<br /> arrived at.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#505) ################################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> I5 I<br /> Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged<br /> in the “Cost of Production” for advertising. Of course, we<br /> have not included any sums which may be charged for<br /> inserting advertisements in the publisher&#039;s own magazines,<br /> or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too<br /> often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from<br /> sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket,<br /> by inserting any number of advertisements in his own<br /> magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are<br /> who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those<br /> who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it.<br /> &gt;<br /> c;<br /> FROM THE COMMITTEE,<br /> HE Secretary has in hand the preparation of clauses to<br /> meet the various points necessary for an agreement in<br /> any of the ordinary methods of publishing. He will be<br /> obliged for any suggestions on the subject from members of<br /> the Society.<br /> Dr. Jurisconsult Ernst Lange, of Zurich, has prepared and<br /> presented to the Committee a paper on the “Contracts of<br /> Publishing ” in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzer-<br /> land. It has been resolved to print this pamphlet uniform<br /> with the “Cost of Production.” The best thanks of the<br /> Committee have been passed to Dr. Lange for this gift.<br /> A somewhat interesting case has been before the Com-<br /> mittee. It would have been more interesting had it been<br /> settled in a court of law by a friendly action. The case is<br /> one in which an author’s MS. was accidentally burned<br /> while in charge of a publishing firm. Of course this<br /> accident entails upon the author a great deal of labour.<br /> How far are the publishers liable in such a case ? Did they<br /> take reasonable precautions in the matter P The case has<br /> been settled, one hopes to the satisfaction of both parties.<br /> Dut still the question of what constitutes reasonable precau-<br /> tions remains open.<br /> G. H. THRING, Secretary.<br /> =&gt; 0 erº<br /> LITERARY PROPERTY.<br /> T.—CANADIAN COPYRIGHT.<br /> Ottawa, Nov. 25.<br /> HE long-pending controversy on the copy-<br /> T right question was brought a long way on<br /> the road to a conclusion to-day by the<br /> adoption of a basis of agreement which was<br /> accepted by Mr. Hall Caine and Mr. Daldy for<br /> the British authors and publishers, by the<br /> Canadian Copyright Association, and by the<br /> Dominion Government. This satisfactory result<br /> is due almost entirely to the efforts of Mr. Hall<br /> Caine, who, in the face of the strongest opposition<br /> on this side, has largely succeeded, since he<br /> arrived in the Dominion, in removing the objec-<br /> tions of the Canadian publishers to any inter-<br /> ference with the Act of 1889, and has more or<br /> less secured their assent to an amended Bill.<br /> Mr. Hall Caine and Mr. Daldy, together with<br /> the representatives of the Canadian publishing<br /> houses, the Copyright Association, and the Press<br /> Association, held a conference to-day with Sir<br /> C. H. Tupper, Mr. Ouimet, and the sub-com-<br /> mittee of the Privy Council appointed to meet<br /> them. Mr. Hall Caine recited the negotiations<br /> which have taken place during the past few weeks<br /> and submitted a draft Bill for the consideration<br /> of the Government. It was, he said, in the<br /> nature of a compromise, and, like most com-<br /> promises, did not covereverything that both parties<br /> might desire, but it was the best that could be<br /> arrived at in the circumstances, and he thought<br /> he could say that they would all be well satisfied<br /> to see its general principles carried into effect.<br /> Speaking for the body which he represented, he<br /> fully believed that an Act framed on the lines of<br /> this measure would be acceptable to British<br /> authors.<br /> Mr. Hall Caine continued:<br /> “By this Bill the time within which a copyright<br /> holder can publish in Canada and so secure an<br /> absolute and untrammelled copyright is extended<br /> from thirty to sixty days, with a possible exten-<br /> sion of thirty days more at the discretion of the<br /> authorities. Also, by this agreement, the licence<br /> to be granted for the production of a book that<br /> has not fulfilled the conditions of Canadian<br /> copyright law is limited to one licence, and this<br /> single licence is only to be issued with the copy-<br /> right holder’s knowledge or sanction. Further,<br /> the copyright holder who has an independent<br /> chance of securing copyright for himself within a<br /> period of sixty days is to be allowed a second<br /> chance of securing it after it has been challenged<br /> and before it can be disposed of by licence ;<br /> and, finally, the royalties of the author are to be<br /> secured to him by a regulation of the revenue to<br /> stamp an edition of a book on the issue of a<br /> licence.<br /> “This is the ground of the draft Bill which the<br /> Canadian Copyright Association has joined with<br /> Mr. Daldy and myself in recommending to your<br /> Ministers, and on its general principle I have to<br /> say, first, about Canadian authors, that a Bill<br /> framed on these lines will not put them into a<br /> position of isolation among the authors of the<br /> world, and next, about the authors of Englan 1<br /> and America and of all the countries having a<br /> copyright treaty with England, that it will secure<br /> to authors the control of their property, and put<br /> them all alike on an equal footing, and therefore<br /> it will not, I think, disturb the operation of the<br /> Berne Convention, so far as Canada is concerned,<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#506) ################################################<br /> <br /> I 52<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> authors.<br /> or the understanding between Great Britain and<br /> the United States. The Bill is recommended to<br /> the Government with all modesty of intention,<br /> and with the certainty that they will use so much<br /> of it as they consider wise and good.”<br /> In conclusion, Mr. Hall Caine bore testimony<br /> to the spirit of conciliation and fair dealing with<br /> which Mr. Daldy and himself had been received<br /> in Canada, both by the Government and by the<br /> classes interested in the law of copyright.<br /> Mr. Ross Robertson, president of the Copy-<br /> right Association, followed. He said he believed<br /> that the conclusions reached dealt fairly and<br /> honourably with all parties interested, whether<br /> British, Canadian, or foreign, whether author or<br /> publisher. There had been concessions on both<br /> sides. He did not claim that the Canadian Copy-<br /> right Association had got all that they wanted,<br /> or that they were entitled to. The body which<br /> he represented could not be accused of being<br /> unreasonable, and in saying that he did not pre-<br /> tend that Mr. Hall Caine had not shown every<br /> inclination to meet their views so far as he could<br /> without endangering the interests of British<br /> The draft Bill would not be satisfac-<br /> tory to the extremists on both sides, but that<br /> might be regarded as a proof of its fairness.<br /> Mr. L. W. Shannon, president of the Canadian<br /> Press Association, spoke in support of the<br /> Illea,SUll’é.<br /> Mr. Daldy expressed himself satisfied with the<br /> general principles of the proposed measures.<br /> Considerable discussion followed regarding the<br /> details of the amended Bill, and the question of<br /> the importation of colonial editions of British<br /> copyright works was raised and was discussed at<br /> length by a number of the booksellers present.<br /> The conference lasted two hours, and at its close<br /> the Ministers announced that they would lay the<br /> representations of the delegates before the Govern-<br /> ment, and that a decision would be reached at an<br /> early date. * .<br /> Mr. Daldy, in the course of conversation with<br /> me to-night, said that the principal objection<br /> which he sees in the copyright measure as at<br /> present arranged is the proposal to prevent the<br /> importation into Canada of copyright books law-<br /> fully printed in British dominions. He thinks,<br /> however, that this can be arranged. — Times,<br /> Nov. 26. -<br /> II.-ADDREss BY MIR. HALL CAINE.<br /> The following verbatim report of Mr. Hall<br /> Caine&#039;s speech at the dinner given to him by the<br /> publishers and booksellers of Toronto has been<br /> forwarded to us by a Canadian friend :<br /> “The thing that has struck me most since I<br /> came to this continent is the loyalty of Canada.<br /> Your loyalty may not be deeper, but it is more<br /> vocal than ours in England. If I had to find a<br /> reason for your devotion to the Crown, I think I<br /> should ask myself if it did not come largely of<br /> your independent position as a self-governing<br /> Dominion. Some light is thrown on this matter<br /> for me by my knowledge of my own little island<br /> home, the Isle of Man. We are a passionately<br /> loyal people there, and we are a little self-<br /> governing nation. If we were to be merged into<br /> a county of England, I should not like to answer<br /> for the life of our loyalty. So, perhaps, with<br /> Canada. The best way to preserve her loyalty is<br /> to preserve her independent rights. Long may<br /> her independence last ! Long may it be before<br /> there can be any serious talk of another con-<br /> dition<br /> I. But though you are independent of the old<br /> country, you have your ties and obligations to<br /> her. You are in the position of the son of a<br /> father who has many sons. There was no room<br /> for them and for their children under the parent<br /> roof. There was neither chance of life nor like-<br /> lihood of peace. So the son goes out and marries<br /> himself, perhaps, to the strange woman. But<br /> because he lives under another roof he does not<br /> cease to be his father&#039;s son. He bears his father&#039;s<br /> name. He carries his father&#039;s blood. If he does<br /> wrong, the shame will be his father&#039;s no less than<br /> his. If right, the glory will be his father&#039;s too.<br /> He cannot dissociate himself from his father.<br /> And though he is fully able to look after his own<br /> affairs, there are things in which he looks to his<br /> father. He allows his father to give pledges for<br /> him, always reserving the power of withdrawing<br /> from them where they seem to him unwise. He<br /> does not withdraw from them if he can avoid<br /> doing so, even when they are not altogether to<br /> his taste. So Canada. She has her relations<br /> with England, and through England with the<br /> rest of the world. England enters into treaties<br /> or arrangements in her name and on her behalf.<br /> She will keep these treaties if she can. They are<br /> intended for the benefit of the whole family, and<br /> if they press a little hard here or there, she will<br /> still try to observe them, because of the bond of<br /> blood and of name, and because of the deep call<br /> of patriotism.<br /> 2. The bonds between Canada and England are<br /> many. There is the bond of the finest navy in<br /> the world, which you share with England; the<br /> finest army in the world, the finest diplomatic<br /> service in the world, the purest and justest<br /> jurisprudence in the world, building up the most<br /> free freedom in the world. But there is another<br /> bond between Canada and England, a less palp-<br /> able but no less less real bond—may, a bond<br /> more real, more constantly present at your<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#507) ################################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> I 53<br /> nearths and homes, the bond of intellectual<br /> brotherhood. Our literature is your literature.<br /> It does not come to you through a veil as the<br /> literature of France does, as the literature of<br /> Germany does. It comes to you in your mother<br /> tongue, in the words you learned from your cradle.<br /> And the great masters of our literature are your<br /> brethren. You are bound to remember that<br /> Shakespeare was an Englishman, tha&#039;, Milton<br /> was an Englishman, and that the lesset masters<br /> of later days, who come even closer than these,<br /> Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot, Charles Reade<br /> —that these were your kith and kin. This is<br /> your inheritance—a great inheritance. You are not<br /> going tobarter it away for any advantage of pounds,<br /> shillings, and pence. And just as you are proud<br /> of the literary giants of the past, so you want to<br /> be proud of the good men of the present. You<br /> want to hold on to them, to help them, to<br /> encourage them to increase in numbers and in<br /> strength, and to build up the conditions of life<br /> that will foster their growth and prosperity.<br /> 3. Now, gentlemen, the first condition of growth<br /> and prosperity to the man of letters is security in<br /> the exercise of his calling, and in the right he<br /> holds to the results of his labours. He must sit<br /> in his own house at ease ; he must be in no fear<br /> of bombardment; he must know that for his own<br /> good and the good of all who set store by his<br /> skill, he can work at his own anvil, with the<br /> assurance that the laws of his country will keep<br /> the peace around him. The man of letters has<br /> not always been able to do this. The history of<br /> legislation on copyright is a miserable story of<br /> the struggle of the man who writes a book, to<br /> hold and protect it after it has been written. It<br /> is not so very long ago that the laws of modern<br /> nations (whatever may have been the case with<br /> ancient nations) recognised no rights of the<br /> author in the book he had produced. And when<br /> those rights were at length recognised, the period<br /> in which the writer of a book could control it<br /> was no more than seven years. It has taken<br /> nearly two hundred years to increase that term in<br /> England, from seven to forty-two, and only one<br /> country in the world (so far as I know) has yet<br /> made the author&#039;s right perpetual. It is only<br /> within recent times that literature has come to be<br /> regarded from the pecuniary view. For many<br /> ages the author was the one labourer in the world<br /> who was not considered worthy of his hire. And,<br /> meanwhile, the progress of legislation from the<br /> first nebulous condition has been clogged at every<br /> step—clogged in Parliaments, clogged even in the<br /> courts of law—by many interests that have had<br /> nothing to do with literature, or were at best, but<br /> accidental to its existence.<br /> - 4. Gentlemen, it is not for me to say too<br /> precisely what those interests have been. Still<br /> less may I in this hospitable presence condemn<br /> them as wholly selfish and of retrogade tendency.<br /> I am willing to believe that they have sometimes<br /> been forced upon the classes who have been<br /> parties to them by a sense of duty to their own,<br /> in relation to other classes, and to their own<br /> nation in relation to other nations. But all the<br /> same they have impeded the rights of authors.<br /> You will allow me to tell you, gentlemen, that<br /> those rights are natural rights, that they are not<br /> primarily created by the State, that however<br /> necessary it may be to call in the help of the law<br /> for the protection of the rights of literary<br /> property, the author&#039;s right in the book he<br /> produces is a right of creation, and that by its<br /> nature it should never cease, and should never be<br /> divided with another. That it is so divided,<br /> divided with the reader, divided with the pub-<br /> lisher, is a concession which the author makes in<br /> order that a greater force than his personal force<br /> shall protect what he has made. I am not<br /> pretending that this is the bearing of copyright<br /> from the point of history or of the law of nations.<br /> But it is the principle of copyright put down on<br /> the bed rock of natural law. Dr. Johnson put it<br /> down on this bed rock, and no man has ever been<br /> Imore sound on the rights of literary property.<br /> 5. Gentlemen, the progress of legislation in<br /> England, and throughout the civilised world, has<br /> been towards the recognition of this natural<br /> right. It has been a hard and long battle.<br /> Many a good man has fought for it. Since<br /> Johnson there have been Scott, Carlyle, Thack-<br /> eray, Dickens, Charles Reade, Lytton, and<br /> Wilkie Collins. And among living men, who<br /> are doing their best to establish the principle<br /> that the author has a right to control his<br /> writings, there are Mr. Lecky, Mr. Herbert<br /> Spencer, Sir Walter Besant, and your renowned<br /> fellow-townsman, whom all Canadians agree to<br /> honour, Mr. Goldwin Smith. The crowning<br /> glory of that struggle has been the international<br /> agreement which we call the Berne Convention.<br /> This agreement recognises that the book is the<br /> absolute property of the author, and that this<br /> property is to be respected in every country that<br /> is party to the union. Briefly expressed, Copy-<br /> right under the Berne Convention is like marriage<br /> in all civilised states, and just as the marriage<br /> that is good in the country where it is contracted<br /> is good in the rest of the world, so the copyright<br /> that is secured in the country of origin is secured<br /> over all the countries of the Convention. We<br /> consider this agreement a great triumph for.<br /> literature, and many of the nations of Europe<br /> have entered in it. We should deplore anything<br /> that would imperil it or limit its operation. Now,<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#508) ################################################<br /> <br /> I 54<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> I will venture to say that no Canadian desires to<br /> endanger the Berne Convention if he can see his<br /> way to preserve it without injury to the<br /> industries of his country.<br /> 6. And here, gentlemen, we come to the ques-<br /> tion at issue between us. There is one great<br /> country which has not yet entered into the<br /> Berne Convention, and that country is your neigh-<br /> bour, the United States. In the United States<br /> the recognition of the rights of literary property<br /> was for a long time limited to the recognition of<br /> their own rights. The universal rights of lite-<br /> rary property were unrecognised in the States<br /> down to four years ago. The result was the<br /> practice of a form of piracy which demoralised<br /> trade, degraded literature, and nearly extermi-<br /> nated the profession of letters. When the good<br /> and true men in the United States at length<br /> prevailed over the dishonest traders the legis-<br /> lation they made had to be of the nature of a<br /> compromise. They desired to go down to the<br /> bed rock of natural right, but class interests were<br /> too strong for them. They were not fools, and<br /> did not attempt to run their heads against stone<br /> walls. They wisely remembered that half a loaf<br /> was better than no bread, and they accepted a<br /> limited copyright which allowed the United<br /> States printer to deny copyright to anybody who<br /> did not print on American soil. This limited<br /> legislation was only to be granted to foreign<br /> countries in exchange for reciprocal rights.<br /> England was asked for herself and her colonies<br /> could she grant those reciprocal rights. She<br /> answered that she could. On that understanding<br /> the President issued a proclamation asserting<br /> the rights of British subjects to copyright in the<br /> United States subject to the conditions of the<br /> laws of the States.<br /> 7. Gentlemen, here lay the crux of your own<br /> difficulty. This great country is by the accident<br /> of its geographical position, the rival, the peace-<br /> ful but dangerous rival of Canada. It was a<br /> large and powerful rival. It had sixty-five<br /> millions of readers against your five millions.<br /> It could afford to outbid you in the market for<br /> books. Your territory was soon flooded with<br /> literature which was no longer pirated as before,<br /> but authorised. Also it was still flooded with other<br /> books, which, not being copyright in the States,<br /> continued to be stolen. You could not compete<br /> and you could not steal—let us say you would<br /> not if you could. So you demanded the right to<br /> legislate for yourselves, and you based your<br /> claim to do so on a clause in the British North<br /> America Act of 1867. By this Act you wished<br /> to control every book that came into your<br /> dominion, just as you control every piece of<br /> merchandise that comes here. And your legis-<br /> lation was intended to say that before a book<br /> should have copyright in Canada it should be<br /> manufactured here. The manufacturing should<br /> be for a short period under the author&#039;s control,<br /> but after that period it should be under the<br /> control of the officers of the Dominion Parlia-<br /> ment. Obviously this was legislation that did<br /> not agree with the spirit of the Berne Conven-<br /> tion. Your own statesman, Sir John Thompson,<br /> found the Berne Convention opposed to the legis-<br /> lation you desired, and so he asked for an order in<br /> council giving Canada relief from the Union.<br /> Canada had a right to ask for such relief after an<br /> interval of twelve months.<br /> 8. Now, I am not here, sir, to discuss the con-<br /> stitutional aspects of the question. We have<br /> been doing that with more or less temper since<br /> 1889, and we might go on to the end of the<br /> century and “get no forrader.” Whether the<br /> Act of 1867 gives you the right to legislate for<br /> yourselves on One aspect of international copy-<br /> right, and whether the British Government are<br /> bound to grant you, at your request, exemption<br /> from the advantages and obligations of the Berne<br /> convention, can very well be left to the decision<br /> of the law officers in London and in Ottawa. My<br /> presence here in Toronto as your guest, tacitly<br /> implies that we recognise that, rightly or wrongly,<br /> Canada has certain powers in this matter, and is<br /> likely to be allowed to exercise them. Don’t let<br /> us drift away from copyright into a question of<br /> constitutional right. Don’t let us obscure our<br /> true problem in the clouds of party politics.<br /> Don&#039;t let us encourage any able, vigorous, and<br /> patriotic young Minister to say that Canada has<br /> a right to misgovern herself if she likes. Let us<br /> keep this dispute down to the question of whether<br /> an author has a right to control his books abso-<br /> lutely, and if he has not, what measure of his<br /> control must he hand over to the State.<br /> 9. Gentlemen, the attitude of authors towards<br /> your Act of 1889 is very easily stated—we object<br /> to your claim to manufacture our books, whether<br /> We will or not, because the right of the author<br /> which ought to be shared with the reader only<br /> would be divided with the printer also, who ought<br /> to be no party to the copyright contract. On<br /> grounds of natural law there is only one party to<br /> copyright, the author. The laws of nations have<br /> agreed to allow a second party to come in, the<br /> reader, who is granted limited rights on stringent<br /> terms. You are now claiming, as the United<br /> States claimed, the admission of a third party,<br /> and if the first party does not like three to the<br /> contract, you are asking that there shall be only<br /> two, with the discontented party, the first party,<br /> the party of the author, left out. That is our<br /> objection to your Act of 1889 on abstract prin-<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#509) ################################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> I 55<br /> ciples. On grounds of material fact we object to<br /> it because (I) it multiplies the places of manu-<br /> facture, and so prevents the production of all<br /> but very popular books, and that will be a<br /> grievous injury to works of scholarship and<br /> research; (2) it puts a book into the position of<br /> merchandise coming to your shores, whereas no<br /> book will ever come here and ask you to manu-<br /> facture it unless you first go deliberately over the<br /> water and fetch it across; (3) it allows of a period<br /> when a book is no longer under its author&#039;s<br /> control, and that strikes a blow at the absolute<br /> spirit of copyright and demands a freer name,<br /> and finally (4) it requires that you should with-<br /> draw from the Berne Convention, which is the<br /> sheet-anchor of the hope of all who have fought<br /> for the security and dignity of literature.<br /> Io. Gentlemen, I have tried to state the case<br /> fairly, and without questioning your right to legis-<br /> late for yourselves, I want to ask you a single ques-<br /> tion—What&#039;s the good? What&#039;s the good of the<br /> Act of 1889 to any party among the people for<br /> whom you legislate? What&#039;s the good to your<br /> author P What&#039;s the good to your reader?<br /> What&#039;s the good to your printer? What&#039;s the<br /> good to your publisher and bookseller P I say<br /> the Act of 1889, as it stands, is no good to any of<br /> these. It is no good to your author because it<br /> deprives him of copyright in all the countries of<br /> the copyright union, and reduces him to the<br /> isolation of his right of copyright in Canada. It is<br /> no good to your reader, because he gets his popular<br /> books at fifty cents, seventy-five cents and a<br /> dollar at present, and if he expects them any<br /> cheaper he expects what our readers in England<br /> never get and what he has no right to ask if he<br /> has any desire to leave bread and butter to the<br /> men who make his literature. It is no good to<br /> your printer (by that, I mean not the owner of<br /> your steam machines but your compositor) because<br /> your Act does not require that you should find<br /> labour for your poor operatives in composing<br /> your books (a claim that would have had our<br /> sympathy) but only that your publishers should<br /> import the plates that have been made by the<br /> labour of English operatives, and this, which has<br /> been claimed as a concession to England is really<br /> an injury to English authors because it will help<br /> you to produce books at less than the natural<br /> price, and that is an unsound commercial basis.<br /> And finally it is no good, and much less than no<br /> good, to your publishers and booksellers, because<br /> the unlimited licenses which it allows will cut the<br /> throat of the book trade, by reducing the prices<br /> of popular books from fifty cents to twenty-five<br /> and to fifteen and ten, until at length from the<br /> plates of a newspaper serial a novel will as<br /> formerly in the United States be produced by the<br /> WOL. VI.<br /> soap merchant to wrap round bars of kitchen<br /> soap, and bookselling as a separate industry will<br /> in ten years&#039; time be gone from the face of<br /> Canada altogether. In short, sir, to use the<br /> idiomatic language of one of your own rude but<br /> wise and far-seeing legislators of the past,<br /> “There ain&#039;t nothing to it no-how.”<br /> II. But, gentlemen, do not suppose that I am<br /> blind to the difficulties of your position. While<br /> I have been in Canada. I have learned a good deal.<br /> I have met some of your publishers in person; I<br /> no longer believe that their first and only purpose<br /> is any form of shameful confiscation, any invasion<br /> of the market of the United States, and however<br /> much I may think they are pursuing a mistaken<br /> and dangerous policy, I am entirely willing to<br /> believe that they wish to remain upright, honest,<br /> and high - principled men. Since I came to<br /> Canada. I have seen some things which, while they<br /> do not excuse your Act of 1889 to an author, go<br /> far to explain its existence. On your bookstalls,<br /> for instance, I have found three different copy-<br /> right editions of “Trilby,” the English copyright<br /> edition, the Colonial copyright edition, and the<br /> Canadian copyright edition. The anomaly and<br /> absurdity of the position of this book needs no<br /> comment, and neither does that of my own copy-<br /> right book, the “Manxman,” which comes to<br /> Canada from England on payment of its six cents<br /> duty and from the United States subject (until<br /> lately), to the author&#039;s royalty of I2; per cent.<br /> thus paying me (nominally if not really) twice for<br /> the piece of work. Since I came to Canada. I<br /> have seen the necessity for the reform or the<br /> rescinding of Acts (like the Foreign Reprints<br /> Acts) made to meet a condition that is gone—<br /> the condition of general piracy in the United<br /> States down to 1891. And though I do not<br /> think tho anomalies of your present copyright<br /> arrangements call for legislation of so radical a<br /> nature as you propose, I recognise the fact that<br /> your geographical position in relation to the<br /> United States, the absence there of an agreement<br /> with the Berne Convention, and the presence<br /> there of a manufacturing clause in favour of<br /> American printers, gives you a certain justifica-<br /> tion which no other English colony (such as<br /> Australia), could possibly have for a measure of<br /> self-control and for a limited right to make the<br /> books intended for your own market. I say this<br /> guardedly and after reflection, and always with<br /> the reservation that all your manufacturing<br /> clauses are objectionable to authors and a limita-<br /> tion of the principle of copyright, only to be<br /> allowed under peculiar and trying conditions.<br /> But as long as the United States keeps out of the<br /> Berne Convention, and as long as they insist on<br /> manufacturing their own books, just so long,<br /> R.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#510) ################################################<br /> <br /> 156<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> but not one hour longer, I would (speaking<br /> for myself alone), be willing to grant to<br /> Canada (divided as it is from the States<br /> only by an imaginary border which is easily<br /> passed), the right to make her own books<br /> under some measure of authors’ control. Given<br /> this authors’ control, I do not think your Cana-<br /> dian copyright should be any cause of offence to<br /> America or disturb the understanding on which<br /> the President made his proclamation. And I do<br /> not think it ought to be in opposition to the<br /> spirit of the Berne Convention, whose second<br /> article seems to provide for just such cases as<br /> your own. But everything depends on the<br /> measure of control which you leave to the author,<br /> and I must tell you at once that unlimited licens-<br /> ing under the direction of your Government<br /> would be entirely inconsistent with the idea of<br /> authors’ rights entertained by the signatories to<br /> the Berne Convention. Some form of licensing I<br /> should personally advocate for Canada under the<br /> peculiar difficulties of her present relation to the<br /> United States with its right to manufacture, but<br /> it must be single licensing, and it must take<br /> cognizance of authors’ control, and that will not<br /> only be best for us, but also best for you—best<br /> for you as authors, best for you as readers, and<br /> as printers and as publishers. It is not for me<br /> now to say more precisely what system of licens-<br /> ing under the author&#039;s control I should urge my<br /> brother authors to accept. I have formulated a<br /> scheme which, as you know, I am submitting to<br /> your Government, and shall propose to my fellow<br /> authors without prejudice. I believe they will<br /> consider it fully and fairly, and I have every con-<br /> fidence that your Government will use as much<br /> of it as seems sound and wise.<br /> 12. Gentlemen, only one word more. What-<br /> ever law you make in Canada. I personally mean<br /> to obey it, and the best of the authors in Eng-<br /> land, as far as they are able, will obey it also.<br /> Though it bear heavily on us we will submit.<br /> But I beg of you not to put us to too hard a test.<br /> Do not let us feel that foreign countries—France<br /> and Germany—can be more fair to us than our<br /> own colony. We are very proud of Canada. It is<br /> the youngest of the nations, and we think there<br /> is room enough for two great nations on this<br /> great continent. Canada has all the future<br /> before her. It would have been a joy and a source<br /> of pride if she could have led the way in this<br /> matter. We want to see her lead the way. We<br /> realise that in the time to come the greater Eng-<br /> land must be here beyond the sea—here among<br /> your great forests, your mighty waters, your now<br /> trackless wastes, that are waiting to spring up<br /> into yellow harvests. And we want to remember<br /> always that the men who are building up this<br /> newer England are our own kith and kin, our<br /> brothers who are far from home, our fathers’<br /> sons.”<br /> * ---,<br /> NEW YORK LETTER,<br /> - New York, Nov. 15.<br /> EVERAL months ago the editor of the<br /> S Author took occasion to praise the brisk<br /> and lively literary weekly called the<br /> Critic; and this paragraph suggested to me<br /> that some account of the various literary journals<br /> of America might be of interest to the readers of<br /> the Author.<br /> The best and the best known weekly review in<br /> America is the Nation, which was founded some<br /> thirty years ago by Mr. E. L. Godkin, under whose<br /> control it still continues. The Nation is not a<br /> literary paper pure and simple; it was modelled<br /> probably upon the Spectator, and its first interest<br /> is, and has always been, in politics. But its book-<br /> reviewing has always been extraordinarily well<br /> done, better done on the whole than in any other<br /> journal in the English language, I think. From<br /> the beginning the literary portion of the Nation<br /> has been in charge of Mr. W. P. Garrison, a son<br /> of the anti-slavery leader. Mr. Garrison and Mr.<br /> Godkin were able to enlist as occasional reviewers<br /> the leading American authorities in science and<br /> in art, and in literature. Very little of the<br /> reviewing is done in the office, as nearly every<br /> book is sent at once to the special expert who is<br /> in the habit of reviewing every volume on the<br /> same topic. Twenty or thirty of the leading<br /> professors at Harvard, at Columbia, at Johns<br /> Hopkins, and at Yale, are on the list of the<br /> Nation’s contributors, and can be called upon<br /> each for his special knowledge. This gives great<br /> weight to the Nation&#039;s opinion on all subjects<br /> where knowledge is of primeimportance; in history,<br /> for example, and in every department of science.<br /> In its criticism of pure literature, of fiction, and<br /> of poetry in particular, the Nation is neces-<br /> sarily less authoritative ; and, despite its best<br /> endeavour, it has not always been able to find<br /> reviewers able to do justice to contemporary<br /> fiction. But the AVation is not alone in this, for<br /> in no department of literature are their fewer<br /> open-minded experts than in fiction; and the<br /> average review of a modern novel in the Nation<br /> is likely to be as intelligent and careful as in any<br /> other journal,<br /> From the beginning the Nation was fortunate<br /> in its friends. Lowell was for years an abundant<br /> contributor; and so was Mr. Henry James. Mr.<br /> Howells has recently told us in Harper’s<br /> Magazine how he served on its staff, until he<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#511) ################################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> I57<br /> was tempted away to the Atlantic Monthly.<br /> Among Mr. Howells&#039; successors were Mr. W. C.<br /> Brownell and Professor George E. Woodberry.<br /> For a long while Mr. James Bryce was the London<br /> correspondent of the Nation, and its Paris<br /> correspondent is still M. Auguste Laugel. Some<br /> ten or fifteen years ago the owners of the Nation<br /> bought the chief afternoon paper of New York, the<br /> Evening Post, edited for half a century by the<br /> poet Bryant ; and since then the most of the<br /> literary notes and of the book reviews of the<br /> Nation appear also in the Evening Post. Some-<br /> times the Nation contains a scientific or a<br /> philosophical review so solid that it is felt to be<br /> Out of place in the evening paper; and sometimes,<br /> especially in the holiday season, the pressure of<br /> the advertisements in the columns of the Evening<br /> Post is so great that room cannot be found for<br /> all the Nation’s book notices.<br /> The Critic is now about fifteen years old, half<br /> the age of the Nation. As the nearest British<br /> analogue to the Nation is the Spectator, so the<br /> nearest British analogue to the Critic is the<br /> Academy, although the Critic has always given<br /> far more space to news than the Academy ever<br /> did. The Critic was founded by Miss J. L.<br /> Gilder, who had long been the New York corre-<br /> spondent of the Academy. She was aided by a<br /> younger brother, Mr. J. B. Gilder. The Critic<br /> has always paid special attention to the topics of<br /> the time, to the book of the hour, to the author<br /> of the day. It celebrated the centenary of<br /> Washington Irving&#039;s birth with a special number<br /> containing contributions from many of the leaders<br /> of American literature. Its London correspondent<br /> was for a while Mr. W. E. Henley, who could not<br /> keep his political prejudices out of his letters, and<br /> who was succeeded by Mrs. L. B. Walford. The<br /> London correspondent is now Mr. Arthur Waugh,<br /> who has been very happy in taking the tone of<br /> the paper and in supplying it with the latest news<br /> of literary London. Although the literary centre<br /> of the United States is now in New York, it was<br /> once in Boston, and it may be some day in<br /> Chicago; so the Critic has correspondents in<br /> both cities, thus retaining a hold on the past and<br /> keeping in touch with the future. Mr. Charles<br /> Wingate writes the weekly letter from Boston,<br /> and Miss Lucy Monroe supplies that from<br /> Chicago, not finding it easy sometimes to make<br /> bricks without straw. The Critic has always<br /> opened its columns freely to discussion of music<br /> and drama and the fine arts. I believe that Mr.<br /> Charlesde Kay was once the writer on the fine arts;<br /> and that Mr. W. J. Henderson is now responsible<br /> for the musical criticism. Mr. Paul M. Potter,<br /> the dramatiser of “Trilby,” was the first dramatic<br /> critic of Miss Gilder&#039;s paper, Of late this<br /> important department has been in less expert<br /> and in less intelligent hands.<br /> It is pleasant to be able to record the fact that<br /> the columns of the Critic and of the Nation are<br /> absolutely free from the sickening self-puffery of<br /> their own contributors which disgraces certain<br /> of the Tondon reviews. The Nation never<br /> criticises the books written by members of its office<br /> staff, and it is noted for the freedom with which<br /> it handles the writings of its occasional con-<br /> tributors. An American man of letters told me<br /> the other day that for twenty years he had written<br /> almost every review in the Nation on a certain<br /> important topic, besides contributing occasional<br /> articles on other subjects, and that he had seen<br /> more than once, in parallel columns to a con-<br /> tribution of his own, an adverse criticism of some<br /> book of his or of one of his magazine articles.<br /> No review has ever appeared in the Critic of any<br /> books of Mr. Richard Watson Gilder—solely<br /> because he is the brother of the editors of the<br /> Critic.<br /> The Critic was at first a fortnightly, although<br /> it became a weekly more than ten years ago. A<br /> fortnightly still is the Literary World of Boston,<br /> a journal modelled on its namesake in London.<br /> Until recently it was edited by the Rev. N. P.<br /> Gilman, who was an authority on profit-sharing,<br /> and who was more interested in ethics than in<br /> aesthetics. Its New York correspondent was Mr.<br /> John D. Barry, for a while assistant editor of<br /> the Forum. The London correspondent of the<br /> Literary World is now Mrs. Hinkson (Katherine<br /> Tynan).<br /> The Dial of Chicago is not a fortnightly; it is<br /> a semi-monthly, appearing on the Ist and 15th of .<br /> every month. It is now a little more than ten<br /> years old, and it is still conducted by its founder,<br /> Mr. Francis F. Browne, who is assisted by Mr.<br /> William Morton Payne. Its New York correspon-<br /> dent is Mr. Arthur Stedman, the son of Mr.<br /> E. C. Stedman. The Dial is a serious and<br /> a dignified review; it is representative of all that<br /> is best in the intellectual life of Chicago, and its<br /> existence is evidence that there is an increasing<br /> appreciation of literature in that city of strenuous<br /> endeavour. All its more important reviews are<br /> warranted by the signatures of the writers.<br /> Many years ago the importing house of<br /> Scribner and Welford (now merged in Charles<br /> Scribners Sons) started a little trade monthly<br /> modelled on the Quarterly Notes of Longmans,<br /> Greene, and Co. It was called the Book-Buyer,<br /> and at first it served simply to announce the books<br /> of the house which published it. In time it added<br /> illustrations, and invited articles from writers of<br /> repute. It printed, for example, Mr. Laurence<br /> Hutton&#039;s interesting series of articles on American<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#512) ################################################<br /> <br /> I58<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> book-plates. Its Christmas number always con-<br /> tains half a dozen signed and illustrated reviews<br /> of the chief holiday books of the year. Its editor<br /> is now Mr. Moody. Its London correspondent<br /> was Mr. Ashby Sterry, and he was succeeded by<br /> Dr. Robertson Nicoll.<br /> It may be fanciful, but it has always seemed to<br /> me probable, that it was the Book- Buyer which<br /> suggested to Dr. Nicoll the starting of the Book-<br /> man—just as his Woman at Home was obviously<br /> modelled on the American Ladies Home Journal.<br /> Still this did not prevent Dodd, Mead, and Co.<br /> from arranging to publish an American edition of<br /> Dr. Nicoll&#039;s literary monthly. They engaged as<br /> editor Professor Harry Thurston Peck, of Columbia<br /> Cellege, who very soon found that if the American<br /> Bookman was to be a success, it could borrow but<br /> little from its British namesake, since the literary<br /> interests of New York at d London are often<br /> widely different. So it is that Professor Peck’s<br /> Bookman contains a scant portion of the matter<br /> that appears in Dr. Nicoll’s Bookman—little<br /> more than the letter from Paris and a review or<br /> two every month. Dr. Nicoll sends a monthly<br /> letter from London to the New York journal.<br /> Professor Peck has succeeded in making the<br /> American Bookman a brisk and lively review,<br /> abounding in gossip and trenchant in criticism,<br /> and he has altogether too much sense of proportion<br /> and too wide a knowledge of books to give up to<br /> the infusoria of contemporary literature the space<br /> they are allowed to fill in the Bookman’s London<br /> namesake.<br /> Space fails to consider here at length the<br /> Literary News, which issues monthly from the<br /> office of the Publisher&#039;s Weekly or Book News,<br /> which is published by Wanaker, the universal<br /> provider of Philadelphia. Nor can I do more than<br /> note the clever and unconventional little semi-<br /> monthly Chap-Book, issued by the young firm of<br /> Stone and Kimball in Chicago. H. R.<br /> *- a 2-º<br /> r- - -,<br /> NOTES FROM PARIS,<br /> HAVE been consulted on more than one<br /> Occasion, recently, by authors who wish to<br /> produce their works, or rather transla-<br /> tions of their works, in Paris. I may as well<br /> resume here what I have invariably answered<br /> when questioned on these points. The work must<br /> be produced at the author&#039;s entire risk. The cost<br /> of translation may be calculated at about IOS. a<br /> thousand words. This is very fair pay, consider-<br /> ing the prices paid for literary work in Paris. (A<br /> Parisian publisher once offered me 312 for<br /> translating a 150,000 - word story by Paul<br /> Marguerite. But no member of our society would,<br /> I hope, care to sweat a brother-littérateur.) The<br /> cost of production of Say IOOO copies of the<br /> ordinary 3 francs 50 cent. volume would be about<br /> 340. At least that is what a good publisher<br /> would demand. The cost of advertising the book<br /> would be enormous. There is little or no review-<br /> ing done in the French papers, so that the Eng-<br /> lish author would have to make up his mind to<br /> do without this gratuitous publicity. The net<br /> receipt from each copy sold would be about two<br /> francs. (I am supposing the book to be issued at<br /> 3 francs 50 cents.) The sale of the book would<br /> probably be a very small one. I always dissuade<br /> authors from engaging in any speculation of this<br /> kind. The preceding remarks will explain why I<br /> do so.<br /> The Parisian Society of Authors, who publish<br /> their own works, which I described in an article<br /> which was reproduced in last month&#039;s Author, has<br /> sent methe first book issued by theassociation. This<br /> is a collection of short stories, republished from<br /> various periodicals, entitled “La Grande Nuit.”<br /> I cannot speak very enthusiastically about this<br /> first production. I do not refer to the literary or the<br /> commercial value of the tales, but to the book as<br /> a book. Its “get-up &quot; is amateurish, the cover is<br /> a singularly unattractive one, a pale grey in colour,<br /> and the printing is not up to the mark. The<br /> importance of “get-up,” cover-paper, printing,<br /> and general symmetry, never impressed them-<br /> selves more vividly on me than in examining this<br /> book. In these matters experience, such as is<br /> possessed by publishers who know their business,<br /> appears indispensable. Isuppose that the managers<br /> of the Societé Libre will acquire it in time. In<br /> the meanwhile the lack of it seems likely to<br /> jeopardise the success of the undertaking.<br /> What I wrote in recent numbers of the Author<br /> anent certain black sheep in our midst has<br /> brought me a quantity of abuse — all anony-<br /> mous, of course—and what I wrote has been<br /> entirely misrepresented. One editor, who com-<br /> mended me to the attention of the mad doctors,<br /> represented me as having described as blacklegs<br /> “reviewers and people who read for publishers.”<br /> Reference was made to some of the most revered<br /> names in English letters, and I was described as<br /> having levelled my attack against gentlemen for<br /> whom I have as much reverence and loyalty as I<br /> have contempt and loathing for the persons<br /> whom I had in mind. I never attacked the re-<br /> viewers. It would be as basely ungrateful as it<br /> would be foolishly unjust for me to do so. My<br /> remarks were addressed to the prosperous writer<br /> of books who does not scruple to attack anony-<br /> mously, for hire, the books of brother authors.<br /> I know persons of this description, and, as I<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#513) ################################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> I 59<br /> wrote, they would be tolerated in no other country<br /> but England. My remarks were also addressed<br /> to the prosperous writers who retail literary<br /> advice at a guinea, the dollop to publishers,<br /> anonymously. The prosperity and the anony-<br /> mity of the person constitute his claim to the title<br /> of literary blackleg.<br /> It is a painful subject, and one that I am most<br /> loth to pursue, for the further one penetrates into<br /> the bas-fonds of literary society in England the<br /> sadder at heart he must be at the degradation of a<br /> noble profession. Here one finds false brothers of<br /> every variety, and a mass of malice, injustice,<br /> extortion, and oppression, which would surprise<br /> one amongst King Prempeh&#039;s merry men at<br /> Rumassi. The number of literary impostors at<br /> present before the public in England is no in-<br /> considerable one, and a banquet of literary ghosts<br /> holden in London would bring together a large<br /> and unhappy attendance. There is So-and-so—I<br /> am speaking of an actual person—who has not<br /> written a single line of any of the books published<br /> under his name. And there are many like him.<br /> In fact anyone who takes the trouble to investi-<br /> gate the matter will find more people in the lite-<br /> rary profession who are flourishing on absolutely<br /> false pretences than in any other profession in<br /> England. In France these Tartuffes are pointed<br /> out and at ; in England they pass high in the<br /> public esteem.<br /> A writer in The Critic of New York qualified<br /> as “colossal nonsense” a remark of mine in a<br /> recent number of the Author, in which I expressed<br /> disapproval of the conduct of a successful literary<br /> man, who, on behalf of a firm of publishers, was<br /> offering to well-known albeit unprosperous<br /> brother-writers terms very far below what in<br /> literary circles are considered fair rates. Another<br /> instance of the same kind has quite recently been<br /> brought to my notice. In this case a well-known<br /> novelist, whose work is acknowledged to be of the<br /> highest literary value, was asked to write an<br /> essay on a subject, involving great special know-<br /> ledge, at the rate of twelve shillings the page of<br /> six hundred words. This offer was made in the<br /> name of a well-known literary man. I must be<br /> guilty of still more colossal nonsense, and repeat<br /> that I do not think it befits a man of letters to<br /> act as taskmaster in the interests of a commercial<br /> house to the prejudice of his fellow-authors,<br /> It is not often that a novel written on a play<br /> achieves any very great success, and it is therefore<br /> worthy of notice that M. Edmond Lepelletier&#039;s<br /> version of Sardou’s “Madame Sans-Gêne” is now<br /> in its eighty-seventh thousand. The great popu-<br /> larity of the play no doubt largely helped the sale<br /> of M. Lepelletier&#039;s novel.<br /> Paul Deroulède&#039;s patriotic, Anglophobic drama,<br /> WOL. VI. -<br /> “Messire du Guesclin,” which is being performed<br /> at the Porte-Saint-Martin Theatre, is a very great<br /> success. It tickles the French Chauvin in the<br /> right spot. One result of this success has been<br /> to create a demand for M. Deroulède&#039;s volume of<br /> poems, and a collection of his most patriotic<br /> pieces has just been issued under the title “Poesies<br /> Militaires,” illustrated by Jeanniot. It is selling<br /> extremely well. Though one does not altogether<br /> approve of M. Deroulède&#039;s extreme patriotism,<br /> bordering as it does on aggressiveness, one is<br /> very glad that success—and success of a financial<br /> nature—has at last come to him. His is a very<br /> noble character. He sacrificed everything in his<br /> loyal devotion to Boulanger, and was brought by<br /> his fidelity into sore straits. “Messire du Guesclin”<br /> is, I fancy, his first play; though as a nephew of<br /> Emile Augier he had from youth up every<br /> encouragement to try his hand at dramatic<br /> writing.<br /> It is symptomatic of the popularity of the short<br /> story or nouvelle in France that a Society of Short-<br /> Story Writers, formed for convivial purposes, has<br /> drawn together a large number of members. The<br /> society held its first monthly dinner last week at<br /> a fashionable restaurant on the boulevard.<br /> Mr. A. P. Watt was telling me the other day<br /> of an experiment he had tried on behalf of one<br /> of his clients. He sold a right of serializing a<br /> very successful novel to a provincial paper some<br /> months after the book had appeared as a volume.<br /> At the beginning both the author and Mr. Watt<br /> were rather anxious lest this serialization might<br /> Inot diminish the sale of the book as a volume.<br /> FIowever the experiment was quite successful.<br /> That the serialization did not interfere with the<br /> sale of the volume was shown by the fact that<br /> subsequently a new edition of IO,OOO copies was<br /> called for. In France, books are serialized over<br /> and over again, and in no case has this been<br /> found to affect the sale of the book as a book<br /> otherwise than favourably. At the time of writ-<br /> ing, the “Count of Monte Cristo’’ is running as<br /> a serial in more than a dozen papers in France,<br /> and the book still sells as well as ever. It has<br /> been serialized hundreds of times. The same<br /> might be said of scores of other popular French<br /> books.<br /> A translation of a book by a member of the<br /> Authors’ Club, “An Original Wager, by a<br /> Vagabond,” is about to appear in serial form in<br /> &#039;L&#039; Echo du Nord. It is sure to be very popular.<br /> The book describes how, for a wager, the author<br /> supported himself in France for six weeks entirely<br /> by utilising his sporting capacities. He boated,<br /> he swam, he bicycled, he taught billiards and<br /> tennis, he ran, rode, and walked, and won his<br /> bet in the end. The story is most entertainingly<br /> S<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#514) ################################################<br /> <br /> 16o<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> told and the book 1s fresh and novel. It is<br /> dedicated to the “sportsmen of France,” from<br /> whom it is sure to have a warm welcome.<br /> RoBERT H. SHERARD.<br /> ** = --&gt;<br /> * * *<br /> POPE AND GRUB STREET.<br /> T was Pope, and Swift to aid him, who esta-<br /> blished among us the Grub-street tradition.<br /> He revels in base descriptions of poor men&#039;s<br /> wants; he gloats over poor Dennis&#039;s garret, and<br /> flannel nightcap, and red stockings; he gives<br /> instructions how to find Curl’s authors, the<br /> historian at the tallow chandler&#039;s under the blind<br /> arch in Petty France, the two translators in bed<br /> together, the poet in the cock-loft in Budge-row,<br /> whose landlady keeps the ladder. It was Pope, I<br /> fear, who contributed, more than any man who<br /> ever lived, to depreciate the literary calling. It<br /> was not an unprosperous one before that time, as<br /> we have seen; at least, there were great prizes in<br /> the profession which had made Addison a<br /> minister, Prior an ambassador, and Steele a<br /> commissioner; and, Swift almost a bishop. The<br /> profession of letters was ruined by that libel of<br /> “The Dunciad.” If authors were wretched and<br /> oor before, if some of them lived in haylofts of<br /> which their landladies kept the ladders, at least<br /> nobody came to disturb them in their straw; if<br /> three of them had but one coat between them,<br /> the two remained invisible in the garret, the third,<br /> at any rate, appeared decently at the coffee-house,<br /> and paid his two-pence like a gentleman. It was<br /> Pope who dragged into light all this poverty and<br /> meanness, and held up those wretched shifts and<br /> rags to ridicule. It was Pope that has made<br /> generations of the reading world (delighted with<br /> the mischief, as who would not be who reads it P)<br /> believe that author and wretch, author and rags,<br /> author and dirt, author and drink, gin, cow-heel,<br /> tripe, poverty, duns, bailiffs, squalling children<br /> and clamorous landladies, were always associated<br /> together. The condition of authorship began to<br /> fall from the days of “The Dunciad;” and I believe<br /> in my heart that much of that obloquy which has<br /> since pursued our calling was occasioned by<br /> Pope&#039;s libels and wicked wit. THACKERAY.<br /> **<br /> ,-- - -,<br /> WHY NOT GIVE THE NAMES:<br /> T is sometimes asked why the Society does<br /> I not publish the names in the cases detailed<br /> in these columns. It is sometimes even<br /> suggested that the cases are invented. Very early<br /> easy to understand it.<br /> in the existence of the Society the method of<br /> publishing cases without names was adopted,<br /> advisably, in the reports and papers of the<br /> Society. And in the very useful book issued by<br /> the Society, called “Methods of Publishing,” the<br /> agreements, &amp;c., commented on were published.<br /> without names. What are the advantages and<br /> what are the reasons of this line P One has not<br /> the authority of the committee to explain or<br /> defend their action in this place; but it is very<br /> The case is brought to<br /> the secretary ; it is very often an agreement.<br /> carefully drawn up so as to impose upon the<br /> ignorance, not only of the author, but of the<br /> ordinary solicitor—see some of the agreements in.<br /> “Methods of Publishing; ” it is above all things<br /> necessary that the clauses should be explained<br /> to the author first, and to the public next,<br /> with full comment showing where there are<br /> traps laid and where the author is made to give<br /> away rights which he should have kept. But<br /> full comment is impossible when the names of<br /> both parties are given; one cannot call the author<br /> an ass for signing such a contract, nor the<br /> other side a sharp for asking him to do so. But,<br /> one can point out anonymously with fulness.<br /> the credulity of the one, and the sharp practice of<br /> the other; one can explain the meaning of things<br /> quite clearly and plainly without names. In<br /> the “Methods of Publishing,” a book which our<br /> younger members do not seem to study so much<br /> as they should, no one can complain that freedom.<br /> of exposition—and exposure—is wanted. Every<br /> one of the agreements given there is a real<br /> agreement, just as every one of the cases quoted<br /> in the Author is a real case.<br /> Now, the case having been set forth with the<br /> exact facts neither heightened nor suppressed,<br /> and with our comments, it remains for the person<br /> criticised or exposed to put the cap on his own<br /> head if he pleases. When Mr. Sprigge&#039;s book,<br /> the “Methods of Publishing,” appeared, one was<br /> in great hopes that somebody would come forward<br /> and put the cap on his own head. Nobody did.<br /> That was four years ago. The book has been<br /> widely circulated and warmly praised. Nobody<br /> has stepped forward to say, “This is my abomin-<br /> able agreement.” On the contrary, the book has<br /> checked a vast number of abuses, and prevented<br /> many cruel swindles. Surely to check an abuse is<br /> a far more useful thing than to attack one out<br /> of many guilty persons.<br /> But, in order to meet everybody’s views, the<br /> secretary makes through these columns the follow-<br /> ing proposal: Whenever a case is exposed in the<br /> Author, he is quite prepared to communicate to<br /> any member of the Society the name of the pub-<br /> lisher concerned. That member may make any<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#515) ################################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> I6 I<br /> use of his information that he pleases. It is, of<br /> course, understood that no case is published in<br /> this paper unless the secretary has in his hands<br /> all the documents—letters, agreements, accounts,<br /> &amp;c.—connected with it.<br /> It should be explained, in common justice, that<br /> the number of cases is much smaller than it was ;<br /> in other words, those persons who thought they<br /> could go on “besting” the author with impunity<br /> find that it will not do. It should also be recog-<br /> mised that the persons who are still loud in<br /> their abuse of the Society are chiefly those who<br /> still practise the falsification of accounts, and the<br /> charging of advertisements for which they pay<br /> nothing.<br /> r- * ~s<br /> NOTES AND NEWS,<br /> HE telegram published in the Times of Nov.<br /> 26, which is reproduced on p. 15I seems to<br /> show that the Canadian copyright question<br /> is solved by a compromise. It would not be<br /> reasonable to discuss the terms of the compromise<br /> until fuller information has been received. Let<br /> it, however, be noted here that whatever good has<br /> been attempted or achieved in this business is due<br /> solely to the action of Mr. Hall Caine; at great<br /> expense of time and trouble. Mr. Hall Caine has<br /> converted the Canadian people to a reasonable<br /> frame of mind; and he has saved, it is hoped, inter-<br /> national copyright, which was threatened by the<br /> Canadians. For these services he deserves, and<br /> will receive, the best thanks of all who are con-<br /> nected with literature; and he has accomplished<br /> a work which will bring lasting honour to his<br /> name. It remains for us, whom he has repre-<br /> sented, to arrange a becoming welcome for Mr.<br /> Hall Caine on his return.<br /> Another thing of great importance must be<br /> noted. For the first time in history, matters con-<br /> nected with literary property have been intrusted<br /> to a man who creates literary property. When,<br /> until this year, have English authors ever been con-<br /> sulted on questions of copyright, i.e., on questions<br /> connected with literary property P Now Mr. Hall<br /> Caine goes out to Canada, the representative of the<br /> Society of Authors, i.e., of fifteen hundred men and<br /> women of letters, the only English literary associa-<br /> tion of any importance. He is also recognised as<br /> the representative of the Society, and is received as<br /> such, by Mr. Chamberlain, the Secretary of State<br /> for the Colonies; and he is received and recognised<br /> as our representative by the authors of the United<br /> States and by the Copyright Association of<br /> Canada, and by the Government of Canada. Ten<br /> years ago whatever question of literary property<br /> might arise would have been handed over to some<br /> publisher; it would have been assumed that<br /> literary property belonged altogether to pub-<br /> lishers; that literary men were their employés,<br /> their clerks, as necessary for the conduct of<br /> their business as the boys who put up the<br /> parcels.<br /> As regards the conduct of this paper, I have<br /> to announce that “ H. R.,” who has acted as its<br /> New York correspondent for two years, is com-<br /> pelled to retire: a successor will be found. Mr.<br /> Sherard will continue as Paris correspondent: it is<br /> proposed to engage a Canadian and an Australian<br /> correspondent. Arrangements have been made<br /> for as complete an enumeration of new books<br /> and announcements as possible: there will be a<br /> monthly paper on the “literature&quot; of the maga-<br /> zines; there will be an occasional feuilleton ;<br /> and we shall repeat from time to time, for fear<br /> it should be forgotten, the true meaning of<br /> royalties, deferred royalties, and half profits.<br /> It would greatly tend to the usefulness of the<br /> Author if members of the Society would lend it<br /> about, see that it is placed on club tables, and,<br /> should they not care to keep it, if they would give<br /> it to any person engaged in literary pursuits.<br /> Mr. John Morley is reported by Mr. Stead to have<br /> recently estimated the number of readers among the<br /> forty millions of inhabitants of the country at one<br /> million. I cannot understand this estimate. There<br /> are, in these islands, nearly 300 public free libraries:<br /> most of them are lending libraries: at many of<br /> them there are visitors every day by the thousand.<br /> If only IO,OOO readers frequent each library,<br /> there are 3,OOO,OOO readers at once: but in reality<br /> there are many more than 10,000. Probably<br /> 2O,OOO would be nearer the average, which would<br /> give us 6,000,000 for the number of readers taken<br /> from the lower middle class or the upper working<br /> class alone, and not counting the very large class<br /> of wealthier people who use Smith and Mudie and<br /> other libraries, and buy books. I reckon these at<br /> 2,OOO,OOO, or 400,000 families. And my total<br /> of readers is 8,000,ooo, or one-fifth of the whole.<br /> If we allow for children under twelve the propor-<br /> tion is very much higher. I cannot think that<br /> Mr. John Morley has been following the enormous<br /> advance of reading during the last few years: of<br /> reading, I mean, as an habitual recreation: nor<br /> can he have observed the significance of the facts<br /> connected with the development of the cheap<br /> magazine; the turning out every year of readers<br /> from the Board Schools by their hundreds of<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#516) ################################################<br /> <br /> I62<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> thousands; and the opening of new public<br /> libraries.<br /> Professor Saintsbury, on the other hand, is re-<br /> ported to lament that we read too much and too fast;<br /> that we no longer take notes; and that common-<br /> place books have gone out. There is published in a<br /> daily newspaper, he says, the matter of an ordinary<br /> 8vo. volume. There is more ; in a certain number<br /> of the Times I reckoned there was the matter of<br /> three old-fashioned three-volume novels. The<br /> Professor assumes that the ordinary reader goes<br /> through the whole paper. There is his mistake;<br /> ino reader goes through the whole paper. It is<br /> impossible. Different things interest different<br /> readers; some things are to some readers im-<br /> possible. I am, myself, a person of very limited<br /> tastes. Political speeches I seldom read; nor<br /> debates in any of the many Parliaments. In<br /> their stead I read the leading articles upon them.<br /> Sporting news; financial news; the column from<br /> the London Gazette ; ecclesiastical news; meet-<br /> ings of companies; stock and share lists; all<br /> these I pass over. I also pass over all the<br /> advertisements. So that, really, my daily Times<br /> does me very little harm, as I read no more than<br /> a sixth part of it. As for notes and common-<br /> place books, no one except students ever did make<br /> notes or keep common-place books; and these do<br /> still. I have piles of notes on subjects concerning<br /> which I work most ; they are not kept in a com-<br /> mon-place book, but in brown paper envelopes on<br /> loose sheets of paper.<br /> In fact this kind of talk ignores the real truth.<br /> that for ninety-nine out of a hundred, reading is<br /> for recreation, not for study. It is a recreation<br /> that permits and encourages the reading of<br /> serious and grave books as well as works of<br /> imagination. But it is recreation and not study.<br /> How should it be otherwise? Most people are<br /> not ambitious: they do not seek to rise; they are<br /> contented with a humble lot : they ask of life<br /> nothing but work not too hard ; pay, not too<br /> low ; rest, not too short. And books help them<br /> to rest better than any form of recreation ever<br /> invented. Certainly they are not going to make<br /> notes or to keep common-place books any more<br /> than they are going to swallow the whole of their<br /> newspaper every day.<br /> Alexandre Dumas is dead. His last imarticu-<br /> late words, according to the doctor standing at<br /> his bedside, were “like the closing of a book.”<br /> What more fitting conclusion to his life?<br /> An incident of which all literary Paris has been talking<br /> lias again brought prominently to the front a question that<br /> has long been a sore point with French authors. The<br /> question is a quarrel of ancient date between writers and<br /> publishers, and the incident is the rupture that occurred a<br /> few weeks back between one of the most prominent Parisian<br /> publishers and a French author of world-wide renown, who<br /> is an Academician. The nature of the quarrel is the utter<br /> absence of any sort of control over the sale figures of their<br /> works, which the authors assert is the result of the pub-<br /> lishing conditions at present in vogue in Paris. If the<br /> authors’ tales are to be believed, there are publishers who<br /> print editions of which the profits never find their way into<br /> the writers&#039; pockets, and of which the authors, indeed, are<br /> entirely ignorant of the printing. Another practice said to<br /> be common is the misrepresentation of the number of<br /> volumes comprised in an edition. The very celebrated<br /> author already alluded to fancied he had a grievance of<br /> this kind, and separated himself from his publisher. How-<br /> ever, after negotiations that have lasted several weeks, he<br /> has been convinced that he was mistaken, and his books<br /> will continue to appear with the old imprint.<br /> The above paragraph is reproduced from the<br /> Daily Chronicle. So far there has been no<br /> accusation—no suspiciou, even—of such frauds<br /> brought against English publishers. Is it worse,<br /> however, than overcharging the cost of produc-<br /> tion—or than charging for advertisements which<br /> have cost nothing P These practices are all allied:<br /> they are tricks: they degrade the trade. There<br /> is only one course possible for honest men : it is<br /> for one side to demand, and for the other to offer,<br /> an audit when the accounts are sent in : and that<br /> as a regular thing, confessedly adopted on account<br /> of the tricks and cheateries of the dishonest.<br /> An article appeared in last month’s Nineteenth<br /> Century abusing the Society and the Literary<br /> Agent. It was, in fact, over due. Such an article<br /> used to appear once a month : then once in three<br /> months: now once in six months.<br /> This article is written by a person who signs<br /> himself “One of the Trade ’’ at the head of the<br /> paper, and “T. Werner Laurie” at the end.<br /> There is no “T. Werner Laurie ’’ in the list of<br /> the trade. It has been ascertained, however, that<br /> a “T. Werner Laurie” is an employé of Mr.<br /> Fisher Unwin.<br /> Here are some of the things in this paper:<br /> I. “ Unlimited accusations * are now being<br /> hurled at publishers, presumably by the Society.<br /> What are these accusations? Publishers are<br /> going to “take up the matter seriously.” Very<br /> good. Nothing could be better.<br /> 2. The Society, it appears, became a success<br /> because amateurs wanted to put letters after their<br /> name. No one has ever put any initials after his<br /> name that would connect him with the Society.<br /> 3. The promoters formed a Council, some of<br /> whom have “actually had MSS. published.” The<br /> list of our Council is published with every number<br /> of the Author. Look at the names who have<br /> “actually had MSS. published.”<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#517) ################################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> I63<br /> 4. The “Cost of Production” is a “pleasant<br /> romance.” We thought this kind of impudence<br /> was finished. We once offered to take over on our<br /> own figures all the printing of a certain publisher<br /> who ventured to attack them. Then he sat down.<br /> 5. Publishers, it appears, who give royalties of<br /> 20 or 25 per cent, lose on these books. Do they?<br /> A publisher who was interviewed on this subject<br /> in the New Budget complained and wept over the<br /> fact that with such a royalty he could only get 7d.<br /> for himself on each copy—this after deducting all<br /> the office and advertisingexpenses. That is loss, isit?<br /> 6. Writers not so fortunate must suffer by the<br /> publishers&#039; losses on the big royalties. Fudge |<br /> 7. The author is to be especially pitied for this<br /> rise in royalties. Poor author | He will doubtless<br /> go back joyfully to the sweet old terus.<br /> 8. The Society has destroyed the old friendship<br /> between author and publisher. Well: one looks<br /> round: one finds as many friendships between<br /> honourable publishers and their authors as ever.<br /> 9. The Society has not succeeded in “forcing ”<br /> up royalties to this or that height. The Society<br /> does not try to force royalties. It shows what<br /> they mean: it throws light on the actual cost of<br /> producing and on the actual returns of a book.<br /> This, however, is enough to show the stuff of<br /> which the article is composed.<br /> The rest of the article chiefly consists of abuse<br /> of the Literary Agent. The one short answer to<br /> this is-We must either meet the publisher as<br /> One man of business with another, or we must<br /> appoint an attorney to meet him for us. All the<br /> railing with which this person fills his page about<br /> the literary agent&#039;s malpractices is rubbish and<br /> beside the mark. If it were true, it concerns the<br /> author, who has not yet, I believe, invited any<br /> publisher&#039;s clerk to protect him from his own<br /> man of business. Now it simply stands to reason<br /> that any publisher who refuses to treat with an<br /> author&#039;s man of business--agent—i.e., solicitor—<br /> can only do so because he declines to discuss<br /> business affairs with one who knows as much as<br /> he knows himself. And why? Why should he<br /> be unwilling to play an open game P The answer<br /> is quite obvious. One is always rejoiced to welcome<br /> such a production as this article. It gives ourselves<br /> the opportunity of stating once more our raison<br /> d&#039;être and our performances. It shows the world<br /> the foolish misrepresentations by which the Society<br /> can alone be attacked: and it disposes of all the<br /> silly stuff which is invented for the purpose of<br /> attacking the Literary Agent.<br /> An answer to the article appears in the<br /> December number of the Nineteenth Century.<br /> That part of it which concerns the Society is by<br /> our chairman. That which concerns the agent is<br /> by myself. WALTER BESANT,<br /> THE THREE-WOLUME, NOWEL AGAIN.<br /> WHE question of the three-volume novel is not,<br /> it appears, closed. Miss Braddon has pro-<br /> duced her latest novel in the old form, and<br /> Mudie’s Library has refused to take it. Miss<br /> Braddon&#039;s views on the subject have been com-<br /> municated to the Westminster Gazette, and were<br /> published in that paper. She defends the old<br /> form with the following arguments—not always<br /> novel—but, from a novelist of Miss Braddon&#039;s<br /> standing, commanding respectful hearing:<br /> I. The old form was light to hold, of large and<br /> clear type; the one-volume novel is too often thick<br /> and heavy in the hand, with small and closely<br /> printed type, tiring to the eyes.<br /> 2. She would like a plebiscite on the subject<br /> from English novel readers.<br /> 3. Under the old system the new writer had a<br /> better chance.<br /> The last seems at first a strong argument in<br /> favour of the three-volume form. Certain firms<br /> could command a subscription of any novel they<br /> issued—a subscription large enough to cover the<br /> cost of production. This cannot be done with a six-<br /> shilling book. On the other hand, however, is it<br /> necessary that the new writer should find the way<br /> so very plain and smooth for him? Is it not better<br /> that there should be some difficulty in obtaining an<br /> entrance? It must be confessed that many persons<br /> are now unable to produce novels who were<br /> admitted as novelists under the old system. A<br /> new writer will now find greater difficulty about<br /> acceptance. So much the better for literature.<br /> And it is not possible that, with so many<br /> publishers all wanting good work, any new writer<br /> who is good should be passed over.<br /> 4. The danger of encouraging slight and<br /> ephemeral stories. There is always that danger;<br /> but did it not exist before, when it was so easy to<br /> get a three-volume story published? And will<br /> the public buy the slight and flashy stories that<br /> Miss Braddon fears P -<br /> 5. The danger of trying to attract attention by<br /> “ sailing near the wind.” But it has always<br /> existed—this danger. Besides, Mudie&#039;s Library<br /> professes to refuse admission to such books.<br /> 6. The weakening of the power of the libraries<br /> That is, surely, a danger for the libraries them-<br /> selves, not for authors, to consider.<br /> 7. A possible change to book borrowing from<br /> book buying. No. There cannot be any such<br /> change. Book buying depends upon income.<br /> It is entirely a matter of income. A great many<br /> people read at home at least a hundred books a year.<br /> That means, at 4s. 6d. each, 3822 IOS. a year. How<br /> many people are there who can afford to spend<br /> £22 Ios. a year on the purchase of books?<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#518) ################################################<br /> <br /> I64<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 8. The danger that the libraries will refuse to<br /> buy any expensive work. I do not think there is<br /> i. * danger to be apprehended under this<br /> €a,Ol.<br /> 9. The absurdity of the old “Procrustean<br /> length º argument.<br /> Here Miss Braddon speaks common sense.<br /> There never has been any “Procrusteam ” length<br /> for the three-volume form of novel. Its length<br /> varied from IOO,Ooo to 300,000 words. The six-<br /> shilling novel has just about the same limitations<br /> as to length.<br /> On the whole, the one strong argument in<br /> favour of the three-volume form is that it is light<br /> to hold and easy to read. The loss of it may<br /> mean a great deal to invalids and old people.<br /> The strongest argument against it is, in my mind,<br /> the fact that it locked up the work and kept it out<br /> of the hands of the general public for nearly a year.<br /> Was it not a strange anomaly that we used to<br /> publish a book twice—once for those who sub-<br /> scribed to the libraries, and then for the general<br /> public P. For my own part, it has always seemed<br /> to me that the libraries resigned certain advan-<br /> tages in changing the system; but one is nºt<br /> obliged to inquire how the libraries conduct their<br /> business. Our concern is with our own business.<br /> W. B.<br /> *~ * *<br /> THE NEW ZEALAND AUTHOR,<br /> By EDITH SEARLE GROSSMAN.<br /> (From the Canterbury Times, N.Z., Aug. 29, 1895.)<br /> Y subject, I am afraid, is a negative;<br /> authors, indeed, we have in plenty, but<br /> none of them have “prospects,” or, at<br /> least their prospects are chateaux, like the Baron&#039;s<br /> “in Spain, or enjoy the most airy of situations.”<br /> The matter might not be worth pen and ink but<br /> for the extraordinary illusions prevalent. It is<br /> really surprising that no small proportion of<br /> people should still imagine literature an easy path<br /> to wealth and fame. Almost every girl or young<br /> man who takes a high place in English during<br /> her or his school or university years dreams of a<br /> splendid career in authorship. No doubt this is<br /> true of England as well as of her colonies; but<br /> our delusion is fostered much longer, and we find<br /> it much harder to face actual facts. In the first<br /> place, the English novels of the day reach us only<br /> when they have made a great “hit” at home, and<br /> the new novelists we hear of are those favoured<br /> few who have happened to catch the fancy of the<br /> hour. -<br /> When we read of the rapid success of some<br /> colonial writer, like Rolf Boldrewood, our vague<br /> aspirations are fanned to a flame, and we do not<br /> It is not with us as with English people.<br /> reflect on the hundreds who have tried in vain.<br /> We<br /> have no struggling or moderately-successful<br /> literary class; no “new Grub Street’’ in our<br /> sight to warn us. There is no such thing as<br /> a literary class in the colonies. We know little<br /> of the mediocre writers of the day. But university<br /> students have at their fingers&#039; ends the literary<br /> history of the first half of this century. Now this<br /> period was marked by the rise of the novel. If<br /> there were many failures then they are forgotten<br /> now ; what impressed the young ambitious student<br /> was the brilliant success of a few.<br /> The fact is that nowadays nothing is commoner<br /> than literary talent ; nothing more uncommon<br /> than pecuniary success. Perhaps the proportion<br /> of talented people is greater in this colony than<br /> in England, because we have no really illiterate<br /> class; a few remnants there are of the old peasant<br /> immigrants; a few born colonials on whom<br /> education is thrown away ; but every New<br /> Zealander of this second generation has a chance<br /> of cultivating his abilities. We have all the best<br /> books here, even the best of each year as it comes<br /> out; it is only the bad books that stay “at<br /> home; ” most New Zealanders are educated<br /> “beyond their sphere *—as old-fashioned people<br /> would say—and the hard details of our business<br /> world, our restless struggle for our daily bread,<br /> or for pleasure or for show, fail to satisfy those<br /> reared among the abstract passions, the reverence,<br /> the enthusiasm of a university life. It is to<br /> escape from a meaner lot that we return with hope<br /> and courage to a literary career.<br /> What is the end of it all? A return, sooner or<br /> later, to the old struggle to satisfy material wants.<br /> Unless some change takes place, there is no hope<br /> of literary success for a colonial. The sooner this<br /> is stamped upon the minds of all, the better.<br /> Courage, intellect, time, health, and temper are<br /> wasted in struggling against overwhelming odds.<br /> Sooner or later we must return to that practical<br /> life which the colony demands from us. It is in<br /> the world of action, not of thought, that the<br /> prizes lie. Doctor, lawyer, teacher, tradesman, all<br /> and each have prospects of brilliant success, and a<br /> certainty of avoiding absolute failure. Titerature<br /> alone offers no field at all.<br /> I shall not waste time over the efforts of that<br /> rapidly increasing throng who, each year, pay<br /> heavy sums to local publishers and get back<br /> nothing at all. We maturally consider ourselves<br /> superior to the inglorious crowd.<br /> But untried writers do not understand what are<br /> the difficulties in their way. Every difficulty that<br /> an English author encounters is doubled for a<br /> colonial, because the great distance between us<br /> and London, and the impossibility of finding out<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#519) ################################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 165<br /> exactly how our own affairs stand, place us com-<br /> pletely at the mercy of a publisher. But I think<br /> we can only get some glimpse of our troubles by<br /> considering the ordinary circumstances of publica-<br /> tion. Suppose a novel ready after some months<br /> of work; we imagine all we have to do is to sell<br /> it for some price, large or small, to a publisher.<br /> Very likely the merest novice in London has got<br /> beyond this stage of ignorance; but certainly most<br /> colonials suppose, when they have given time,<br /> talent, and toil to a book, they have earned<br /> some return. Not at all; we find we are to pay<br /> a large sum down to the publisher, and may be<br /> very thankful if we ever get any of it back again.<br /> In short, we require an outlay of capital, and<br /> there is only the barest chance of any profit. In<br /> the first place there is the printer to pay, and then<br /> the publisher runs up sundries in a manner which<br /> would put any dressmaker to the blush. It is<br /> almost necessary to have manuscript type-written<br /> nowadays, and this is a preliminary trifle in the<br /> total expense. It will cost, say, between £5 and<br /> 3IO. Then, if we want to do the thing cheaply,<br /> the manuscript is offered to a local publisher.<br /> This is how we nearly all begin. Now, this is<br /> sheer suicide to any chance of success. It may<br /> be of service to repeat here the advice given—of<br /> course, too late—by the head of one of our leading<br /> publishing&#039; firms: “Do not try to publish any<br /> book in the colonies. If you cannot get it<br /> accepted by a well-known firm, do not publish it<br /> at all.” Booksellers pay more attention to the<br /> name of the publisher than to that of the author,<br /> especially when the latter is quite unknown. A<br /> novel published in New Zealand has no chance of<br /> circulation beyond New Zealand. The proportion<br /> of book buyers in each colony is so small that such<br /> a book is certain to be a failure. Book-buying is<br /> almost universally regarded as an extravagance.<br /> Suppose, then, that we have learnt this much<br /> wisdom from the first book; it has probably cost<br /> some £40 or £50 if the venture was a small one,<br /> and the agent tolerably honest.<br /> Next we apply to the best English houses, who,<br /> however, will seldom accept books by unknown<br /> people. After a year of wasted hopes and vain<br /> suspense, we hear of some new or less important<br /> firm, and get our manuscript at last accepted.<br /> |But these small houses compensate themselves for<br /> extra risks by taking extra profits. The author<br /> pays the entire cost of production. The Authors’<br /> Society&#039;s journal estimates this at a little over<br /> £100 for one thousand copies; a fair average sum<br /> paid by colonial writers for the printing would be<br /> 360 for five hundred copies. A common selling<br /> price for the modern novel is 3s. 6d., so that if<br /> every copy sold the profit would be about £27.<br /> But, of course, the author could not expect to get<br /> this; the publisher, besides all manner of extra<br /> charges secures his own profits, say two-thirds, so<br /> that, if the whole edition sold, the author would<br /> not be able to get a single penny (profit) in<br /> return ; indeed, he might not be able to cover the<br /> Original outlay. A sale of five hundred copies<br /> represents, say, ten times the number of readers;<br /> and it is not one colonial author in a hundred who<br /> will get a larger circulation than this, indeed,<br /> very few will get as many as five thousand readers.<br /> Of course, it is a consolation to reflect that one&#039;s<br /> thoughts and ideas have become the property of<br /> so many people; still, from a business point of<br /> view, it is unprofitable. In the case considered,<br /> the author who has paid £60 is not at all likely<br /> to receive back more than £20, so that his book<br /> will be a dead loss of £40. I will take one case<br /> which did occur. The cost of printing a novel<br /> was £60; it was sold at 3s. 6d. a copy, and, when<br /> about three hundred copies were sold, the author&#039;s<br /> cheque amounted to £7 13s. ; the rest was taken<br /> up by mysterious trade discounts and charges for<br /> advertising. The account sent looked desperately<br /> accurate, though the author did not quite under-<br /> stand why trade discount figured twice. Still,<br /> there was clearly nothing to be done.<br /> One reason why so few copies are sold is that<br /> circulating libraries supply the reading public<br /> with all they want. The only book-buyers in the<br /> colonies are country people, a few students, and a<br /> very few personal friends of the author. Most of<br /> the friends are in the habit of asking the author<br /> for the loan of his book, a custom on whose<br /> astonishing meanness no one has yet reflected.<br /> All are free to read or buy as they please, or to<br /> borrow from the library, but to ask woman or man<br /> for their own book is just as much begging for<br /> charity as to ask a doctor, a lawyer, or a teacher<br /> for his services gratuitously. It is plain enough<br /> that literature, if persisted in, is more likely to<br /> lead to ruin than to prosperity. I wonder if the<br /> English authors, to whom we address our despair-<br /> ing appeals, feel anything more than astonishment<br /> at our ignorance of the world. Perhaps after all<br /> they would not pity us if they knew that we are<br /> in no danger of starving. There is some sort of<br /> active career open to all, at least to men, so we<br /> turn at last to manual labour, or to some uncon-<br /> genial profession; it is our minds that are starving<br /> and wasting away.<br /> There are some who will write for their own<br /> pleasure, regardless of others. These have the<br /> true gift; and they will have the best, the purest<br /> joy of creation, but their creation and their joy<br /> will perish with them. If there be among<br /> colonials those who have so deep a passion, and<br /> who have also the leisure to satisfy it, let them<br /> write; and if they really believe they have some-<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#520) ################################################<br /> <br /> I66<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> thing to their fellows, let them pay for a hearing.<br /> But let us cease dreaming of literature as a path<br /> to wealth and honour. It is worth our while to<br /> remember the witty story of a man who gave up<br /> his carriage in order to publish his poems.<br /> z- - -<br /> DINNER TO DR, BRANDES,<br /> WHE Authors’ Club gave a dinner on Monday,<br /> Nov. 18th, to Dr. Brandes. The chair<br /> was taken by Mr. Douglas Sladen. The<br /> following report of the speech made by the illus-<br /> trious guest appeared in the Daily Chronicle of<br /> the 19th.<br /> “Personally I am in debt to England for other<br /> more valuable impressions. I came as a young<br /> man to London. I got an impression of the<br /> strength of the English race. I saw in Hyde<br /> Park old men of seventy years ride on horseback<br /> with as jaunty an air as the youngest, with<br /> cheeks as red and fresh as the cheeks of a child.<br /> I began early in life to study English literature.<br /> I have written a big book in six volumes, on the<br /> European literature of the first fifty years of our<br /> century, and the kernel of this work is the poetry<br /> of England, the hinge on which it turns. Though,<br /> as you perceive, I speak English very badly, still<br /> I assure you I can read it very easily. I know<br /> thoroughly Wordsworth and Coleridge, Walter<br /> Scott and Moore, Keats, Landor, Shelley, and<br /> Byron. Of all the poets of the century nobody<br /> has impressed me more deeply than Shelley. I<br /> read the “Ode to the West Wind&#039; with ecstasy<br /> and delight, I know the shorter poems line for<br /> line. There never was a lyrical poet greater than<br /> Shelley. I do not know his peer. In West-<br /> minster Abbey there is a bust of Southey, but I<br /> miss the images of Keats, of Shelley, of Byron.<br /> It has surprised me to find that this English<br /> people, which can certainly not be called an<br /> essentially military people, has honoured in its<br /> public places many of its generals, a few of its<br /> statesmen, but—except William Shakespeare in<br /> Leicester-square—very few of all those who have<br /> produced the great and glorious English litera-<br /> ture. Yet foreigners return again and again to<br /> the study of this literature, and above all others<br /> Shakespeare commands the attention of every<br /> civilised being. Everyone tries to understand<br /> him better and more fully than his predecessors.<br /> And I must plead guilty to a continuous six<br /> years&#039; course of him. . In old times a critic<br /> was little esteemed of poets and authors.<br /> They believed him full of envy and malice,<br /> they believed he wore an abdominal belt of<br /> serpents. In our time people know that a critic<br /> is simply a man who can read and who<br /> teaches others to read—an art that is rarer<br /> than would be supposed. A critic is a man who<br /> is as pliant and supple when the question is<br /> to understand, as he is inflexible and firm when<br /> it is his task to speak out. He understands men<br /> and people who do not understand one another.<br /> He builds up bridges over the gulf that separates<br /> people from people, he is the true engineer of<br /> spiritual life. As he builds, so he clears away,<br /> and plants hedges and torches on the way. And<br /> as he builds up so he pulls down. &#039;Tis not faith<br /> that moves mountains, it is criticism that moves<br /> them—all the mountains of antiquated faith, of<br /> superstitions, and dead tradition. You do not know<br /> how fortunate you are to own a language that is<br /> understood all over the earth, so that you can<br /> appeal in your own words to your hearer. We,<br /> who have a language that is only understood by<br /> very few millions, are only known in translations.<br /> You are fortunate to have copyright in your work.<br /> Scandinavians have no literary agreement with<br /> other countries. Foreign publishers seldom send<br /> us anything for our copyrights, and often a copy<br /> of their piracies is even denied. And we are little<br /> translated. Of thirty volumes I have written,<br /> not a dozen are translated into German, and most<br /> of them in pirated editions made from texts that<br /> are twenty years old, and have in the meantime<br /> been entirely revised. These books bear my name,<br /> and have even been retranslated in many other<br /> languages, but I never have acknowledged them<br /> as mine. As I am on the threshold of an intro-<br /> duction to the English public, I am glad to be<br /> able to tell you that I have every reason to believe<br /> that it will be in a translation which for once I can<br /> be proud of. But it is not of my good fortune that<br /> I wish to talk. I want to repeat what I have<br /> said of yours. You are, indeed, fortunate in the<br /> possession of a literature such as yours is. I saw<br /> last Saturday in the Natural History Museum an<br /> enormous disk of a giant tree, many hundred<br /> years old. The tree was so old that its centre was<br /> marked as contemporary with the battle of<br /> Agincourt, and the different rings as contemporary<br /> with Shakespeare&#039;s birth, Newton’s death, the acces-<br /> sion of Queen Victoria, and so on. In spite of its age<br /> the stem had remained fresh and living until it<br /> was felled by human hand. Such a venerable<br /> tree is English literature, and it lives and flourishes<br /> to-day as of old. May never its woodman pass,<br /> and may it live and thrive and bear fruits ſ”<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#521) ################################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 167<br /> MR, STANLEY J. W.EYMAN AS DRAMATIC<br /> AUTHOR,<br /> LIFTON has had the honour of producing<br /> Mr. Stanley Weyman’s first dramatic<br /> piece, which was copyrighted on Nov. the<br /> 22nd by a company of amateurs playing under<br /> Mr. Forster Alleyne. The piece is “ For the<br /> Cause,” played very nearly as it appeared in<br /> Chapman’s Magazine in May, but on the stage<br /> the quick terse conversation and epigrammatic<br /> dialogue have their full weight ; and the<br /> intensely dramatic situations prove Mr. Wey-<br /> man&#039;s power as a dramatic author. The piece is<br /> but of one act, but in the short time, about an<br /> hour, required to play it, the audience is moved<br /> by pathos, dread, and horror, and swayed to<br /> laughter. Legitimate situations excite a tension<br /> of feeling for the principal, in fact only, woman<br /> in the little play, Marie, the daughter of an<br /> old Huguenot who loves a Leaguer, who would<br /> have the Pope the only sovereign of Paris. The<br /> Huguenot is hiding the king in his stables, and<br /> Henri Quatre finds his way into the house as the<br /> stables are cold; and nearly surprises the young<br /> lovers. Marie has hidden Phillip, and to her<br /> anguish she learns this intruder is the King; and<br /> his friends join him, and in the room where the<br /> Leaguer who would hang them all is hidden, they<br /> unfold their plans to take Paris. Here the<br /> strength of the play gives grand scope to the<br /> actors, especially to Marie : she would die for her<br /> King Henri of Navarre; but she would save her<br /> lover: but he, if he escapes, will slay the King,<br /> her own father, and even destroy all hope for her<br /> faith. The King&#039;s plan is bared; a dumb stable<br /> boy comes in and points to where he saw Phillip<br /> hide, but is not understood; all are leaving;<br /> Marie in agony will give her heart for the King;<br /> he returns to say a word to her he has trusted,<br /> and she blurts out her secret, but immediately to<br /> passionately deny her words; but her lover is<br /> dragged from his hiding place. The King was<br /> played forcibly by Mr. Alleyne, and Miss Bryant<br /> did well as Marie, and Mr. K. Bryant also played<br /> with force and feeling as Phillip; especially when<br /> confronted with the sounds of the King&#039;s friend.<br /> The King rushes between them, and demands<br /> their sparing him almost in vain, until in passion<br /> he cries, “He does not die. France speaks.”<br /> For the girl who sacrificed her lover, and her life<br /> for the King, as she now lies senseless at their<br /> feet, he shall be spared. In a short, powerful<br /> speech he tells Phillip to go. “The girl you love<br /> has ransomed you; go to leave a name that shall<br /> live for centuries and stand for infamy.” The play<br /> should end where Phillip lifts up his Marie&#039;s body<br /> and bears her off; or he might be kneeling beside<br /> her as she half revives, as the curtain descends.<br /> What follows is de trop, and spoils the “Curtain”;<br /> but it is certain “For the Cause” will not be<br /> played for the last time at Clifton, and it may be<br /> the first, but can hardly be the last, acting piece<br /> by Mr. Stanley Weyman.<br /> JAMES BAKER.<br /> * * *-*.<br /> BOOK TALK,<br /> HIS very day are published the “Family<br /> Letters of Dante Gabriel Rossetti,” edited,<br /> with a memoir, by Mr. William Michael<br /> Rossetti, brother of the poet. Mr. Rossetti was<br /> assisted in the work by suggestions from his<br /> sister, the late Christina Rossetti. Messrs Ellis<br /> and Elvey are the publishers.<br /> Mr. Julian Sturgis has written a story entitled<br /> “The Master of Fortune,” for Messrs. Hutchin-<br /> son and Co.&#039;s Zeit-Geist series. -<br /> Mr. Rider Haggard has written an African tale<br /> for the New Year number of the African Review.<br /> A volume of short stories, by Mrs. Kate<br /> Douglas Wiggin, entitled “The Village Watch-<br /> Tower,” will be issued soon by Messrs. Gay and<br /> Bird.<br /> Miss Edith Sichel is the author of “The Story<br /> of Two Salons,” which is concerned with French<br /> social life in the last century, and will be published<br /> by Mr. Arnold.<br /> A new story from the pen of Mr. W. E. Norris,<br /> called “Clarissa Furiosa,” will begin in the<br /> January number of the Cornhill Magazine.<br /> Sir Edwin Arnold has signed one thousand<br /> portraits for the frontispiece of the autograph<br /> edition of “The Book of Good Counsels,” which<br /> Messrs. W. H. Allen and Co. will publish soon,<br /> with drawings by Mr. Gordon Browne.<br /> Mr. Locker-Lampson&#039;s Memoirs, which Mr.<br /> Augustine Birrell is editing, will be entitled “My<br /> Confidences,” and the work is expected to be<br /> ready at Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co.&#039;s early in<br /> the coming year.<br /> NIr, R. Barry O’Brien, who wrote the notice of<br /> Mr. Parnell in the “Dictionary of National<br /> Biography,” is now preparing a life of the late<br /> Irish leader, and asks those who can to send<br /> recollections or documents pertaining to his<br /> Caréel&quot;.<br /> A world tour recently made by the Rev. H. R.<br /> Haweis is to result in a two-volume book of<br /> “Talk and Travel,” which Messrs. Chatto and<br /> Windus will publish. Previously, also, the writer<br /> journeyed twice in America, and his impressions<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#522) ################################################<br /> <br /> 168 -<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> and experiences then will of course be included<br /> in the record.<br /> Mr. Oswald Crawfurd has a volume in the<br /> press for Chapman&#039;s Story Series entitled “The<br /> White Feather.” An adventure tale by Mr.<br /> Clark Russell will also appear in this series.<br /> Mr. Crawfurd has edited a collection of “Lyrical<br /> Verse from Elizabeth to Victoria,” a volume of<br /> 400 pages, which, like the others, will be pub-<br /> lished by Messrs. Chapman and Hall.<br /> Dr. Riccardo Stephens, of Edinburgh, has<br /> written a novel called “The Cruciform Mark,”<br /> which Messrs. Chatto and Windus will publish<br /> SOOI] .<br /> The Carlyle Centenary, on the 4th inst., will be<br /> marked by the opening, for about a month, of an<br /> exhibition of pictures, MSS., portraits, &amp;c., at<br /> the house, Cheyne-row. Mr. John Morley (whose<br /> leisure for literature will be curtailed should his<br /> candidature for Montrose be successful) is to<br /> preside at a meeting in Chelsea Town Hall on<br /> the same day, when the title-deeds of the Carlyle<br /> House will be handed over to the fund.<br /> A full bibliography of Tennyson was prepared<br /> by the late Mr. Richard Herne Shepherd. It is<br /> now shortly to be issued to subscribers by Mr.<br /> Frank Hollings, 7, Great Turnstile, Holborn,<br /> W.C.<br /> It is likely that another work of travel by Mr.<br /> Henry Norman will be published soon. This will<br /> consist of a reprint, with additions, of the long<br /> series of letters written to the Daily Chronicle<br /> by Mr. Norman during a tour of over two months<br /> through the countries (so deeply interesting at<br /> the moment) of the Balkan Peninsula. The<br /> letters were entitled “Round the Near East,” and<br /> discussed alike the rulers and rule of Turkey,<br /> Bulgaria, Montenegro, and the rest, and the<br /> social characteristics of their peoples and cities.<br /> Mr. Sidney Colvin writes to the Athenaeum<br /> explaining that “The Great North Road,” the<br /> story by Stevenson which appears in the Christ-<br /> mas number of the Illustrated London News, was<br /> not one of the last undertakings of its author,<br /> but belongs rightly to the year 1884. The tale<br /> “Weir of Hermiston,” upon which Stevenson was<br /> engaged at the time of his death, will appear in<br /> the new political review Cosmopolis.<br /> An important collection of letters has been<br /> brought to light, according to the Glasgow<br /> Evening News, in an old Caithness castle. They<br /> number several hundreds, including letters by<br /> Burns, Scott, Byron, Moore, and Dickens, all<br /> addressed to Mr. George Thomson, the distin-<br /> guished musical amateur, in connection with his<br /> “Miscellany of Scottish Song,” which he was<br /> engaged upon at the end of last century. Some<br /> of those more closely relating to Burns will be<br /> published in the Centenary edition of his Life<br /> and Letters, which Mr. Henley and Mr. Henderson<br /> are preparing. The publication of the letters as<br /> a whole has been allowed exclusively to the<br /> Glasgow Evening News.<br /> Mr. Elbert Hubbard’s book on “Little<br /> Journeys,” to the homes of famous people, will<br /> be issued very soon by Messrs. Putnam. The<br /> author disclaims giving biographies of the<br /> characters or guides to the places, and merely<br /> calls the articles outline sketches and impres-<br /> sions. Victor Hugo, Shakespeare, Dickens,<br /> Carlyle, Dean Swift, Mr. Ruskin, and Mr. Glad-<br /> stone are among the subjects of the volume.<br /> For the Jowett Memorial at St. Paul’s School<br /> over £800 has been subscribed, and a committee<br /> is taking tenders for erecting an organ in the<br /> Great Hall.<br /> “Excursions in Libraria : Retrospective Reviews<br /> and Bibliographical Notes,” is the title of a volume<br /> by G. H. Powell, which Messrs. Lawrence and<br /> Bullen will shortly issue. Some of the chapter<br /> headings are: “The Philosophy of Rarity,” “A<br /> Shelf of Old Story Books,” “With Rabelais in<br /> Rome,” and “The Wit of History.”<br /> Mrs. Oliphant&#039;s new work, “The Makers of<br /> Modern Rome,” will be published by Messrs.<br /> Macmillan as a sister volume to her “Makers of<br /> Florence.” It is divided into four books—<br /> “Honourable Women not a Few,” “The Popes<br /> who made the Papacy,” “Lo Popolo and the<br /> Tribune of the People,” and “The Popes who<br /> made the City.” There will be illustrations by<br /> Mr. Joseph Pennell and others.<br /> Mr. F. G. Kenyon, of the Department of<br /> MSS. at the British Museum, has written a<br /> popular textual history of the Bible down to its<br /> latest translation in English, with illustrations<br /> showing in facsimile the characteristics of the<br /> MSS. and the errors of the scribes. Messrs.<br /> Eyre and Spottiswoode are the publishers.<br /> In his book on “The Dover Road,” to be pub-<br /> lished immediately by Messrs. Chapman and Hall,<br /> Mr. Charles Harper says that this stretch of<br /> seventy-six miles is the most ancient and historic<br /> highway in England. This is one of a series of<br /> similar volumes by Mr. Harper.<br /> Several interesting developments in periodicals<br /> fall to be recorded. The Savoy, the new art and<br /> literary quarterly, with Mr. Arthur Symons and<br /> Mr. Aubrey Beardsley as editors, will appear this<br /> month ; and in disclaiming any school its pro-<br /> spectus says: “For us all art is good which is<br /> good art.” M. F. Ortmans is to be editor of the<br /> new monthly international review Cosmopolis.<br /> The Arena reduces its price from five to three<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#523) ################################################<br /> <br /> THE<br /> 169<br /> A UTHOI8.<br /> dollars per annum; and the New Budget becomes<br /> a monthly instead of a weekly. A new political<br /> review, the Progressive, is announced for early in<br /> 1896, whose editor will be Mr. William Clarke,<br /> M.A. Secondary and higher education will be<br /> the field of Cap and Gown, a new weekly journal.<br /> Mr. A. D. McCormick, whose spirited drawings<br /> were a feature of Sir W. M. Conway&#039;s book on<br /> his expedition to the Karakorum Himalayas, has<br /> himself written and illustrated a narrative of the<br /> journey, striking, of course, more a personal than<br /> a geographical note. Mr. Unwin will issue the<br /> book, which is to be called “An Artist in the<br /> Himalayas.”<br /> Many old book - plates, including that of<br /> Henrietta Louisa Jefferys, Countess of Pomfret,<br /> are to be reproduced in “Ladies&#039; Book-Plates,”<br /> by Miss Norna Labouchere, the forthcoming<br /> volume in the Ex-Libris Series of Messrs. Bell<br /> and Sons. Two other works in this series will be<br /> “The Decorative Illustration of Books,” by<br /> Walter Crane, and “Decorative Heraldry,” by<br /> G. W. Eve.<br /> Among art volumes announced is one of draw-<br /> ings by the well-known American artist, Mr.<br /> Charles Dana Gibson, which Mr. Lane will<br /> publish. Mr. Paton will follow the subject of<br /> Mr. Wedmore&#039;s recent book, “Etching in<br /> England,” with a volume to be published by the<br /> De Montfort Press.<br /> Overshadowing all else in the rush of new books<br /> during November were the volumes of Matthew<br /> Arnold’s “Letters, 1848-1888 ° (Macmillan), and<br /> that of Stevenson’s “Wailima Letters” (Methuen).<br /> Much of the domestic kindliness of Arnold’s<br /> character is brought out ; apart, we glean his<br /> opinion of Thackeray as “not a great writer; ” of<br /> Carlyle, that Johnson stood “a great deal better;”<br /> and of Tennyson, that he was “deficient in intel-<br /> lectual power.” Stevenson&#039;s letters to his friend,<br /> Mr. Sidney Colvin, are charming and very self-<br /> revealing. Much of his life may perhaps be<br /> interpreted through these two of his sentences:<br /> “The world must return some day to the word<br /> duty, and be done with the word reward. There<br /> are no rewards, and plenty of duties.”<br /> A series of open-air books is a new departure<br /> which Mr. John Lane is making. It is called the<br /> Arcady Library, and the first volume, “Round<br /> About a Brighton Coach Office,” by Maude<br /> Egerton King, with title-page by Lucy K. Welch,<br /> is already due. “Life in Arcady,” by Mr. J. S.<br /> Fletcher, will be the second ; then “Scholar<br /> Gypsies,” by John Buchan.<br /> A German translation of Mrs. Edmonds&#039;<br /> “History of a Church Mouse” has been pub-<br /> lished in Berlin. The translator is Fräulein<br /> Helene Lobedan.<br /> “The Romance of Rahere, and other Poems,”<br /> by E. Hardingham, and “Drifting through<br /> Dreamland,” by T. E. Ruston, are among the<br /> new volumes of Verse to be published by Mr.<br /> Eliot Stock.<br /> Miss Cholmondeley, whose health has never<br /> recovered from the severe strain put upon it in<br /> writing “Diana Tempest,” will shortly leave<br /> England for Madeira, where she is advised to pass<br /> the winter, and where it is confidently expected<br /> that she will regain complete health.<br /> “Diana Tempest” has reached its fifth edition<br /> in England and its tenth thousand in America.<br /> “A Cluster of Quiet Thoughts,” being a re-<br /> issue of the three series of aphoristic poems,<br /> cont ibuted by the Rev. Frederick Langbridge to<br /> the Sunday at Home, will be published shortly<br /> by the Religious Tract Society.<br /> Three new volumes of stories are announced<br /> for publication by Mr. Elliot Stock. “The Story<br /> of the Old Oak Tree, told by himself,” by Thorpe<br /> Fancourt ; “The Commandment with Promise,”<br /> by Hon. Gertrude Boscawen; and “Tales Told<br /> by the Fireside,” by a well-known living poet.<br /> “Joseph the Dreamer,” by Robert Bird, author<br /> of “Jesus the Carpenter of Nazareth,” has just<br /> been published by Messrs. Longmans, Green, and<br /> Co. It is a plain Bible story of the life of Joseph<br /> paraphrased in such a way that it will appeal<br /> without doubt to the children for whom it is<br /> intended.<br /> “England&#039;s Greatest Problem,” by the author<br /> of “A Colony of Mercy,” will be published by<br /> |Messrs. Bentley and Co., at the price of 58., in<br /> the course of next month.<br /> Mrs. Katharine S. Macquoid&#039;s new novel, “His<br /> Last Card,” will be published in a six-shilling<br /> volume, by Messrs. Ward and Downey, at the<br /> end of this month.<br /> •- = -s.<br /> LITERATURE IN THE PERIODICALS.<br /> AUTHOR, AGENT, AND PUBLISHER. T. Werner Laurie.<br /> Nineteenth Century for November. (See p. 162.)<br /> GUSTAVE FLAUBERT. Ernest Newman. Fortnightly<br /> Review for December.<br /> “EOTHEN &#039;’ AND THE ATHENAEUM CLUB.<br /> Blackwood’s Magazine for December.<br /> OXFORD IN FACT AND FICTION.<br /> zine for December.<br /> OxFORD IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. Macmillan&#039;s<br /> Magazine for December.<br /> THE HOMES OF THOMAS CARLYLE. II.<br /> Young Man for December.<br /> TOLSTOI : THE MAN AND HIS MESSAGE.<br /> Young Man for December.<br /> THOMAS CARLYLE. II. Mrs. J. Fyvie Mayo. Leisu, re<br /> Howr for December. -<br /> Lady Gregory.<br /> Blackwood&#039;s Maga-<br /> Marion Leslie.<br /> W. J. Dawson.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#524) ################################################<br /> <br /> I 7o<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> LIVING CRITICS. II. : THEODORE WATTS. Frances<br /> Hindes Groome. Bookman for November.<br /> A BIT OF GEORGE ELIOT’s Country. John Foster<br /> Fraser. Bookman for November.<br /> HALL CAINE. R. H. Sherard. Windsor Magazine for<br /> November.<br /> |FAMOUs POETS. VII. : PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.<br /> Charlotte A. Price.<br /> CHARLES READE.<br /> December.<br /> NEW FIGURES IN LITERATURE AND ART. III. : HAMLIN<br /> GARLAND. Atlantic Monthty for December.<br /> THE PRACTICAL USEs OF POETRY. R. F. Horton, D.D.<br /> Swnday Magazine for December.<br /> PORTRAITS OF KEATS FROM THE LIFE.<br /> Nov. I6.<br /> THE CIVIL LIST PENSIONs. Saturday Review for Nov. 9.<br /> Belgravia for December.<br /> Elsie Rhodes. London Society for<br /> Athenaewm for<br /> A WORD ON THREE VOLUMEs. Miss Braddon. West-<br /> minster Gazette for Nov. 6.<br /> Do PUBLIC LIBRARIES SPREAD IDISEASE. Scrutator.<br /> Westminster Gazette for Nov. 27.<br /> HALL CAINE’s PLEA : THE CASE FOR THE BRITISH<br /> AUTHORs. Report of Banquet to Mr. Hall Caine by<br /> Toronto Publishers. Toronto Daily Mail and Empire for<br /> Oct. 26. (See p. 152.)<br /> MEMORIES OF STEVENSON : A Talk with Mr. Charles<br /> Baxter. Daily Chronicle for Nov. 20.<br /> “HILL-Top Now ELs” AND THE MORALITY OF ART.<br /> Spectator for Nov. 23.<br /> NOTABLE REVIEWS.<br /> Of Stevenson’s “Wailima. Letters.”<br /> for Nov. 2.<br /> Of Matthew Arnold&#039;s Letters, 1848-1888.<br /> Nov. 19.<br /> Of Mr. William Watson’s “The Father of the Forest<br /> and other Poems.” Spectator for Nov. 16.<br /> Of Mr. Meredith’s “The Amazing Marriage.”<br /> Courtney. Daily Telegraph for Nov. 22.<br /> Of Mr. Hardy’s “Jude the Obscure.”<br /> Nov. 23.<br /> A.T.Q.C. Speaker<br /> Times for<br /> W. L.<br /> Athenoew’m for<br /> $ $3. $ #<br /> The Spectator article adopts Mr. Grant Allen&#039;s<br /> term “Hill-Top” as a name for a class of fiction,<br /> and is surprised that nobody has had the presence<br /> of mind to point out that these books, with their<br /> perverse didacticism, are quite as great sinners<br /> against the non-moral standard of literature as<br /> the old-fashioned goody tale. It sees, however,<br /> that the new school, though it will not admit<br /> itself wrong, is putting itself in the wrong. The<br /> writer discusses pointedly Mr. Hardy and Mr.<br /> Allen. But the really interesting question, he<br /> says, is whether a novel can be a work of art and<br /> not have a sound moral at the heart of it. As to<br /> which our contemporary proceeds:<br /> Because the moral tale done to order has often succeeded<br /> in being dismally inartistic, the idea got abroad—even<br /> among religious people—that there is some deep-seated<br /> and ineradical hostility between the beauty and truth of<br /> art and the beauty and truth of morality; and that to hold<br /> and confess the opposite opinion is to announce oneself a<br /> fubsy Philistine. Whereas the truth of the matter really<br /> is that these inartistic moral tales are inartistic only<br /> because the writers of them lack some or all of the gifts<br /> that make an artist. It is possible to be very zealous for<br /> morality and yet have no imagination, no insight, and no<br /> style. This is a truth that no one is ashamed to utter.<br /> Why, then, should we be ashamed to say also that it is<br /> quite impossible to write a great poem or a great novel<br /> without a clear and true perception of the moral and<br /> spiritual laws of God, as manifested in the life of the world<br /> he has created P<br /> If the article on Tolstoi, by Mr. Dawson in the<br /> Young Man, were also to cross the reader&#039;s eye,<br /> he might wonder vaguely if the Russian novelist<br /> is pleasing in the sight of the Spectator critic. Mr.<br /> Dawson&#039;s definition of the true realist is “an<br /> artist who sees life steadily, and sees it whole,”<br /> whereas most of our so-called realists, he says, do<br /> pick and choose:—<br /> They choose the vile and abominable, and are as men<br /> whose one passion is to pick over a tray of diamonds in<br /> order to discover the one flawed stone. They have<br /> lost the sense of proportion, and see life out of perspective.<br /> But with Tolstoi this rarely or never happens. Being an<br /> absolutely sincere man, bent upon depicting life as it really<br /> is, he sees life in its true proportion. He does not hesitate<br /> to paint evil if it comes in his way, and he paints it with<br /> tragic force; but he is always sensible of the widespread<br /> goodness, sweetness, and sanity of general life.<br /> The Saturday Review on “Civil Pensions” is<br /> a protest against the lack of principle in the<br /> distribution of the fund. In her article on<br /> “Eothen * in Blackwood’s, Lady Gregory recalls<br /> the Athenaeum Club of “the days—or nights—of<br /> the round table, of which Hayward, Kinglake,<br /> Chenery, were the ruling spirits.”<br /> *-<br /> e- - -<br /> CORRESPONDENCE,<br /> I.—HISTORICAL FICTION.<br /> HERE are probably not many authors in<br /> this country who see the Quarterly<br /> Bulletin of the Boston Public Library,<br /> and it is on this account that I venture to<br /> draw the attention of your readers to the<br /> interesting chronological index to historical<br /> fiction which is being published in the columns<br /> of this journal. This index, which includes<br /> prose fiction, plays, and poems, catalogues in<br /> chronological order all fiction relating to different<br /> countries. So far we have been given indexes to<br /> the historical fiction of America, England, Scot-<br /> land, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary,<br /> Bohemia, Switzerland, Netherlands, Scandinavia,<br /> Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.<br /> This index would doubtless prove valuable to<br /> British novelists, and those portions of it which<br /> relate to the British Isles might, if the editor per-<br /> mitted, be printed as a supplement to the Author.<br /> The publication of this index has suggested to<br /> me another which might be of general interest, viz.,<br /> an “Index of Geographical Fiction.” The com-<br /> piler of such a catalogue would take each country<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#525) ################################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. I7 I<br /> separately, and would classify, under, appropriate<br /> divisions, those works of fiction which centre<br /> round some particular district, or which deal with<br /> life in certain countries. I should be glad to hear<br /> opinions as to the worth of such an index.<br /> While upon this subject, perhaps you will allow<br /> me to refer to another bibliographical subject—the<br /> need for some “Encyclopædia of Bibliography ’’<br /> which would give the most important books on all<br /> subjects, including perhaps a few of the longest<br /> magazine articles. I am aware that there have<br /> been published compilations dealing with “the<br /> best books,” &amp;c., but these are but tentative<br /> attempts to deal with a vast subject. In<br /> Chambers’s “Encyclopædia &quot; an attempt has been<br /> made in some cases to give a guide to the litera-<br /> ture of the subject, but this is very far from<br /> supplying the needs of the author, the librarian,<br /> the journalist, the professional man, and that<br /> mythical person—the general reader. With co-<br /> operation an “Encyclopædia of Bibliography ’’<br /> might be compiled, and a publisher found willing to<br /> undertake its publication. HERBERT C. FYFE.<br /> Albemarle-street, W., Nov. 9.<br /> II.-MY INITIALs.<br /> Is it allowable to use the Author as a medium<br /> for growling P. If so, I ask to be allowed to state<br /> my grievance.<br /> It was only a few days ago that I found out I<br /> had any grievance. My eyes were opened by<br /> reading an article in the Nineteenth Century by<br /> Mr. T. Werner Laurie, in which it is stated with<br /> regard to the foundation of the Society of<br /> Authors, that : “The idea of being able for a<br /> Small sum per annum to put a few initials after<br /> their names, and obtain a sort of license to call<br /> themselves authors, tickled many hundreds of<br /> amateurs.”<br /> I ask then, Where are my initials? Of<br /> course everybody likes to have initials and to use<br /> them. Mr. Yawkins, the banker in “Little<br /> Pedlington,” who could write after his name<br /> P.U.K.S., P.Z., and A.L.S.F.O., has always<br /> seemed to me much to be envied. Now Mr.<br /> Laurie would never have made the above state-<br /> ment unless he had certainly known of cases<br /> where letters signifying membership of the<br /> Society of Authors were used. This consideration<br /> makes it but too probable that there is some inner<br /> clique, connected with the management of the<br /> Society, who revel in secret in alphabetical<br /> ornaments.<br /> This ought not to be. What is fair for some is<br /> fair for all. Let obscure members have their<br /> privileges. What are they to put after their<br /> names P Should it be the English full-length<br /> M.I.S.O.A., or more briefly, the initials of the<br /> Latin title, Auctorum Societatis Socius.<br /> Anxiously awaiting a reply.<br /> ILLITERATUS.<br /> III.—AUTHORS AND EDITORs.<br /> An author is in the habit of receiving from<br /> various editors a payment at the rate of, let us<br /> say, 30s. a thousand words. From a second-rate<br /> paper he receives a request to write an article at<br /> a very much lower rate, say about half. Is he<br /> acting fairly by the editors who pay him the<br /> higher scale if he does work for another editor at<br /> a very much lower rate P Is it not very much<br /> like a man who sells brooms, offering one broom<br /> to Jones for 6d. and another broom of the same<br /> character to Brown for 3; d.?<br /> Or may we say that the custom of being paid<br /> various rates so largely prevails in journalism<br /> that the author would be justified in charging<br /> the different fees for his work to different editors?<br /> I should very much like to have your editorial<br /> opinion upon this point, and perhaps some of<br /> the readers of the Author would also favour us<br /> with their views on the subject. X. X. X.<br /> IV.-Co-operaTION.<br /> Might it not be advisable to invite propositions<br /> from your readers with a view to co-operation<br /> and mutual protection. Someone must commence<br /> this, and, however impracticable they may be, I<br /> beg to offer some of my own ideas upon the<br /> subject, leaving you to publish them or not as<br /> you see fit :<br /> I. That a central depôt or storehouse should<br /> be created for the purpose of keeping and dis-<br /> tributing literary work entrusted to it, its<br /> methods and appliances being similar to those<br /> common to all publishers. The manner of<br /> raising the capital necessary is detailed later on.<br /> 2. That the manager of the same should be<br /> appointed by the directors for the time being,<br /> who would exercise a general control, and would<br /> pass the periodical balance-sheets, subject to<br /> proper audit.<br /> 3. That a certain proportion of the directors<br /> should be elected by the subscribers of capital in<br /> the first instance, and, subsequently—that is to<br /> say, after repayment of the capital—that the<br /> whole body should be chosen by the literary<br /> clients of the said depôt.<br /> 4. That the profits of the said depôt should<br /> arise from (a) the sale of publications to the<br /> trade, (b) the rent of space occupied by the<br /> clients storing publications; less (a) expenses of<br /> management, &amp;c., (b) the price paid to authors<br /> for publications sold, (c) the expense of issuing a<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#526) ################################################<br /> <br /> 172<br /> THE<br /> A UTHOR.<br /> proper trade circular, (d) interest on capital until<br /> paid off. g<br /> 5. That the profits on publications sold should<br /> consist of the difference between a fixed propor-<br /> tion of the price of publication payable to the<br /> author, and a higher fixed proportion to be<br /> claimed from the bookseller, the said fixed pro-<br /> portions being common to all the publications<br /> placed in the hands of the depôt.<br /> 6. That as books are sometimes sold singly at<br /> somewhat higher rates than when a quantity are<br /> aken, and as the depôt, when applied to directly,<br /> would be compelled to demand the full price<br /> from private customers, such a profit be called<br /> ea traneous, and after payment of interest on<br /> capital and management expenses, be divided pro<br /> ratd amongst those whose books had been sold<br /> during the period in question. Authors would<br /> thus receive their proper share of an amount<br /> which no publisher now accounts for. In the<br /> first instance this extraneous profit might be<br /> used to pay off the capital.<br /> 7. That if, after repayment of the capital and<br /> division of extraneous profits, as above, a<br /> system of book-keeping be adopted whereby a<br /> further profit is apparent, that this profit be<br /> used for repayment of rent for space occupied.<br /> If the necessary system of book-keeping were<br /> found to be too complicated this rule need not be<br /> insisted on.<br /> 8. That if, after repayment of rents, there is<br /> still a remainder, that this shall be distributed<br /> pro ratá to the authors whose books have been<br /> sold during the term in question, or shall be<br /> carried forward or otherwise used at the discre-<br /> tion of the directors. This would account for<br /> the whole of the proceeds, all of which would go<br /> to the benefit of the authors, but would be sub-<br /> ject to the same proviso as paragraph 7.<br /> 9. That every author be debited for the cost<br /> of advertisements inserted at his request, but not<br /> for notices in circulars issued by the depôt. That<br /> he also be charged for the actual expenses<br /> incurred in the distribution of gratis copies to<br /> the Press, &amp;c., and for shipping expenses to<br /> foreign countries.<br /> Io. That the capital should be raised by<br /> subscription amongst those willing to use the<br /> depôt, and should in no case bear more than 5<br /> per cent. interest.<br /> 11. That the capital should be repaid to the<br /> subscribers as soon as possible. The security<br /> offered to the finders of capital would lie in the<br /> list of names promising work to the company.<br /> 12. That after repayment of the capital, the<br /> whole profit should be divided amongst the<br /> clients.<br /> 13. That if more capital were afterwards<br /> required to work the business, such capital should<br /> be raised by fresh subscriptions, also repayable at<br /> the earliest opportunity. Such capital could<br /> easily be found, as it would constitute a first<br /> charge on a going concern.<br /> 14. That as the business would, if wound up<br /> after the repayment of its capital, still possess the<br /> amount of its original capital intact, the said<br /> amount should, after liquidation, be invested as a<br /> fund for the benefit of destitute authors, or should<br /> be otherwise disposed of as the directors or clients<br /> thought fit, or as might be beforehand determined<br /> upon.<br /> I5. That some of our most successful and best<br /> known authors be urged to encourage the formation<br /> of such a co-operative company by entrusting it<br /> with distribution of some of their work, and,<br /> when possible, by providing a portion of the<br /> capital.<br /> I6. That an experienced manager be secured at<br /> a fair and proper remuneration, who would be<br /> liable to instant dismissal were he shown to<br /> have appropriated printers&#039; discounts to his own<br /> use, or to have acted in any other way than as a<br /> bona fide agent.<br /> By the above scheme it appears to me that all<br /> fhe profits must go to the authors, who are<br /> themselves able to regulate the price to be paid<br /> to them for copies, and the price at which copies<br /> are to be sold to the trade. It would not prevent<br /> private agreements with publishers, but would<br /> give every author a free hand in dictating the<br /> terms of such agreements.<br /> The expenses of the depôt can be approximately<br /> determined beforehand, also the amount of capital<br /> required. Except rent and expenses of manage-<br /> ment no risks are run by the depôt, which would<br /> act merely as an agent. The subscribers of<br /> capital would be prevented from subsequently<br /> turning the company into a mere money-making<br /> machine. If advisable, the depôt might act as<br /> the intermediary between the author and printer,<br /> charging a fixed percentage for its services. If<br /> not thought advisable, the depôt might supply<br /> authors with a printed form giving details as to<br /> cost of production. Information on this subject<br /> might be gleaned from the pages of the Author.<br /> Where authors wished for independent opinion<br /> before undertaking the risk of publication, the<br /> depôt or the Society of Authors might recom-<br /> mend a reader to them for this purpose.<br /> The Society of Authors provides the required<br /> nucleus for some such scheme as the above, and,<br /> should its readers formulate something practical,<br /> could easily constitute a competent committee to<br /> thresh out the preliminary details.<br /> In the event of this being done, I beg to sign<br /> myself A FUTURE SUBSCRIBER.	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/284/1895-12-02-The-Author-6-7.pdf	publications, The Author