| 245 | https://historysoa.com/items/show/245 | The Author, Vol. 01 Issue 07 (November 1890) | <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.+01+Issue+07+%28November+1890%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 01 Issue 07 (November 1890)</a> | | | <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&view=1up&seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</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> | 1890-11-15-The-Author-1-7 | | | | | 163–198 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1">1</a> | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1890-11-15">1890-11-15</a> | | | | | | | 7 | | | 18901115 | Vol. I.-No. 7.].<br />
NOVEMBER 15, 1890.<br />
[Price, Sixpence.<br />
The Author.<br />
THE ORGAN OF THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS<br />
(INCORPORATED).<br />
CONDUCTED BY<br />
WALTER BESANT.<br />
Published for the Society be<br />
ALEXANDER P. WATT, 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE,<br />
LONDON, E.C.<br />
1890.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 162 (#202) ############################################<br />
<br />
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## p. 163 (#203) ############################################<br />
<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly)<br />
CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br />
—No. 7.] 'NOVEMBER 15, 1890. [Price Sixpence.<br />
Vol. I.<br />
C O N T<br />
PAGE<br />
News and Notes 163<br />
Mr. Blaikie's New Poems 170<br />
In Grub Street 170<br />
Canadian Copyright. By \V. Oliver Hodges 175<br />
Fin de Siccle ... 177<br />
Literature as a Trade. By Edmund Gosse 178<br />
"The Farrar-Cassell Case" (from the AWw York Tribune). By<br />
G. W. S 180<br />
Mr. Brander Mathews* "American Authors and British Pirates" 182<br />
The German Association of Authors 183<br />
NEWS AND NOTES.<br />
READERS of The Author are most seriously<br />
warned not to forward MSS. to persons<br />
advertising for them, even though these<br />
advertisements appear in the most respectable<br />
papers. The practice is to advertise for MSS. on<br />
various pretexts—for descriptive articles, fiction,<br />
&c, and to promise payment. The MSS. are<br />
sent and are heard of no more. No respectable<br />
firm ever advertises for MSS. In a recent case a<br />
MS. sent in answer to such an advertisement, has<br />
been retained. No answer can be obtained by the<br />
victim, and the name of the advertiser is not given<br />
up at the office of the paper.<br />
The Syndicate Branch of the Society has been<br />
undertaken by Mr. W. Morris Colles, author of<br />
"Literature and the Civil Pension List," &c, as<br />
Honorary Secretary. All communications on this<br />
subject should be made to him at the address of the<br />
Society's office.<br />
In the Churches a very useful custom obtains of<br />
hanging up the Ten Commandments, so that first<br />
principles in the Conduct of Life should always<br />
be presented to the eyes of the congregation.<br />
Sunday after Sunday they have to read and to<br />
vol. 1.<br />
E N T S.<br />
PACE<br />
The International Literary Congress<br />
... 186<br />
A Curious Case<br />
... 188<br />
The American Tongue<br />
... 190<br />
An English Academy<br />
... 190<br />
An Encouraging Experience<br />
... 192<br />
Queries and Answers<br />
... 193<br />
The Late, Rev. Henry White. By Rev. W. J. Loftie<br />
... 195<br />
At Work<br />
... 195<br />
New Books and New Editions<br />
... .96<br />
Advertisements<br />
... 198<br />
hear these first principles, whether they like it or<br />
not. It is reported, by those who have oppor-<br />
tunities of knowing, to be a custom favourable to<br />
morality. In the same way we must, from time<br />
to time, advance the elements, the rudimentary<br />
laws, on which we rest every cause. Therefore we<br />
may be excused for setting forth, in this number,<br />
two or three truisms. They are as follows.<br />
Literature, in all times, has had two sides—the<br />
artistic and the commercial kind. The singer<br />
expects to be paid, the poet is rejoiced at solid<br />
recognition of his genius. What is more, the<br />
artistic work of the highest genius in no way<br />
suffers from a careful attention to its material<br />
interests. Does anyone in his senses pretend that<br />
the work of Byron, Scott, Dickens, Thackeray,<br />
George Eliot, Wilkie Collins, Charles Reade, lost<br />
anything in Art because these writers were good<br />
and careful men of business?<br />
Let us not confuse these two sides of the literary<br />
profession. They are equally important, because<br />
unless the latter is looked after, the artist perishes.<br />
Both must be guarded jealously, the one because<br />
Literature is Art, and the other because the artist<br />
must be a free man—not the slave of the man who<br />
has the money, nor a hack, nor one who drives his<br />
N<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 164 (#204) ############################################<br />
<br />
164<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
pen all day long for a daily pittance, nor a man<br />
continually fretted by a sense of wrong and<br />
injustice, real or fancied. When, therefore, we<br />
insist continually upon the necessity of safe-<br />
guarding literary property, of understanding what<br />
is meant by an agreement before we sign it, we are<br />
working in the highest and best interests of litera-<br />
ture.<br />
Consider, again. In no other branch of Art is<br />
a voice ever raised against those who fight for its<br />
material interests. The sculptor, the actor, the<br />
singer, the musician, the painter—all alike are<br />
understood to be working honestly at their art,<br />
even though at the same time they are watching<br />
carefully over their material interests. No one<br />
accuses Meissonnier of bad workmanship because<br />
his pictures are worth a pyramid of gold. Yet,<br />
directly a serious attempt is made to put these<br />
interests on a proper basis as regards letters, there<br />
is raised at once an outcry about degrading Art,<br />
taking all the joy out of Art, destroying the nobility<br />
of Art, and the rest of it. To which, in the words<br />
of Mr. Burchell—Fudge! To be sure, these<br />
charges are always preferred by the writers whose<br />
works do not possess any pecuniary value, or by<br />
those who dabble and play with literature, content<br />
to issue, now and then, a critical essay or a volume<br />
of critical essays. To them, but not to the men<br />
and women whom the world loves, it seems a degra-<br />
dation of Art to insist upon the rights of property,<br />
and they pretend to regard a great writer as deprived<br />
of the joy and nobility of his work because he looks<br />
after his own interests. Again, in the words of<br />
Mr. Burchell—Fudge!<br />
We mix up these two sides of literature. It is<br />
absurd to suppose that George Eliot was thinking<br />
of her commercial value when she wrote "Romola."<br />
Yet she thought very much of it afterwards. That<br />
is the way of it. The true artist thinks about<br />
nothing but his work while he is engaged upon it.<br />
The man who is not an artist cannot understand how<br />
he can ever think about the business side of his<br />
work at all. Yet he always can, and does, as soon<br />
as he is satisfied that there is a business side to his<br />
work. And to some minds—to most minds—the<br />
knowledge that there is this commercial value in it<br />
acts as a constant stimulus—a wholesome incen-<br />
tive; it gives the writer confidence and courage<br />
and selfrespect; it makes him watch over his work<br />
with jealousy, lest its artistic standard be lowered.<br />
He takes this recognition, this popularity, this de-<br />
mand, as a proof that his work is good and artistic.<br />
I have printed, in another part of this number, an<br />
article written for an evening paper by Mr. Edmund<br />
Gosse on a cognate subject, by his permission.<br />
Indeed, whatever Mr. Gosse writes on the subject<br />
of the literary life commands attention by itself,<br />
apart from the fact that he is one of ourselves, of<br />
our inner ring, one who has spoken for us, and<br />
will again, one is assured, become, if necessary,<br />
our champion. Therefore I would not willingly<br />
differ from him in any particular, and in this paper<br />
of his, which is mainly a protest against the<br />
wretched gossip about authors' prices which is con-<br />
stantly published in certain journals I wholly and<br />
entirely agree with him. To observe the extrava-<br />
gant curiosity about money realized in literature<br />
and art disgusts one. And it is not only true, but<br />
most opportune, to point out that "such curiosity<br />
about literary prices is unwholesome, and because<br />
it tends to make money the standard in a species<br />
of labour where the rewards are in no degree<br />
analogous to the deserts." Nothing is more true;<br />
some of the finest work produced has wholly<br />
failed from the commercial point of view. Again,<br />
it is most true "that no great work was ever com-<br />
posed primarily for the purpose of making as much<br />
money as possible." Yet, in my judgment, he<br />
overstates a very good case when he arraigns<br />
authors with a want of modesty in the pursuit of<br />
guineas. It is not greed that actuates the author,<br />
it is an instinctive yearning for justice and fair<br />
play. Let us be fair to our own motives: once<br />
secure this justice and all will be secured. We ask<br />
for nothing more. But let us, above all things, keep<br />
separate the two sides of the literary life, the side of<br />
Art and the side of affairs—the soul that animates<br />
and the body in which the soul must live.<br />
There is a certain sorrowful significance about<br />
this incessant and prying curiosity into literary<br />
prices which should not be overlooked. It is a time<br />
when the difficulties of getting on in any calling or<br />
profession are increasing daily. But it is not a<br />
time when simplicity of living is also increasing.<br />
Further, it is a time when women are longing for<br />
their independence, and rushing into every kind of<br />
work by which money may be made. Especially<br />
they long to enter the literary profession. It seems<br />
so easy. Anybody could write like—say Mrs.<br />
Gaskell—the thing is so simple, and there seem to<br />
be such splendid prizes. Think of a book like this<br />
or like that being worth thousands! Or, again, since<br />
journalism is itself a branch of the literary profession,<br />
the young country journalist is always dreaming<br />
of an exchange from his hard work and scanty pay<br />
to the splendour and ease of a successful novelist.<br />
Therefore he collects assiduously all the scraps—<br />
most of them pure inventions—about the prices<br />
obtained by this man and by that man, and dangles<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 165 (#205) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
them before his own eyes, and sticks them in his<br />
paper for all the world to read. In this curiosity<br />
I discern that of yearning after the impossible,<br />
which makes the literary aspirations of ninety and<br />
nine out of every hundred tragic and mournful.<br />
There has been a special utterance on the subject<br />
by Mr. Andrew Lang. It contains one or two ser-<br />
viceable statements. Thus, he says, quite truly, "the<br />
author must conquer his casual disposition." It<br />
is what the Society insists upon in every paper and<br />
every report. Let the author bring to his literary<br />
business the same common sense that he brings to<br />
other business, and half the trouble will vanish.<br />
Again he says, "one has very little sympathy with<br />
authors who grumble at the publishers getting their<br />
share." No sympathy whatever. Let us only<br />
agree upon what should be the publisher's share.<br />
That settled, the whole of the trouble would vanish.<br />
One thing he says which seems to me mis-<br />
chievous, because everything is mischievous which<br />
is not based upon a knowledge of facts. It is<br />
this. "The publisher, I think, in spite of Mr.<br />
Besant, does incur a good deal of risk, not per-<br />
haps on one book or two, but on the general result<br />
of his business." Exactly the reverse is the truth.<br />
The publisher, who very, very seldom knowingly<br />
runs any risk at all, may lose—because in all trades<br />
there are mistakes made—on one or two books,<br />
but as the general result of a large business he<br />
is certain, as his business is now conducted, not<br />
to lose. This is a very delightful result, and<br />
one does not grudge the honourable House its<br />
income however great it may become. May<br />
such a House increase and continue in prosperity<br />
as in honour! Another point to which he takes<br />
exception is the assumption that the Society is<br />
inimical to publishers. This is an unwarranted<br />
assumption, calculated to injure the Society, and<br />
contradicted by every utterance of the Society.<br />
Suppose a novelist draws the character of a<br />
scoundrel attorney, is he therefore hostile to all<br />
lawyers? Is it fair to call his attention to the fact<br />
that some gentlemen have friends among solicitors?<br />
Yet this is what Mr. Andrew Lang does. He says,<br />
"extraordinary as it may appear, there are even<br />
cases of friendship between authors and publishers."<br />
I suppose there is not one upon the Committee of<br />
this Society who is not proud to number a publisher<br />
among his friends.<br />
lastly, I have had many letters from ladies<br />
calling indignant attention to one clause which I<br />
regret to see at the close of the paper. "As far<br />
as I can see, the authors who do suffer are those<br />
who should receive ioj. 6d. and only get<br />
■js. . . . Their work is worth very little,<br />
VOL. I.<br />
and they get even less. . . . Generally, they<br />
are women easily ' put upon' and rather unreason-<br />
able." "Why," ask my correspondents, "should<br />
not even a woman demand and receive justice?<br />
Why should she take "js. $d. when 10s. 6d. is<br />
due to her?" Really, one cannot give any reason.<br />
And considering that the poor wretch who steals<br />
a handkerchief worth twopence is sent to prison as<br />
much as the bold burglar who robs a bank, there<br />
does seem no reply to this question.<br />
We must maintain the sacredness of the contract,<br />
because that underlies every kind of trade, exchange,<br />
or service rendered. Without the keeping of agree-<br />
ments nothing could be done. All that can be done<br />
is to implore authors not to sign away their property,<br />
and to hope that sweating by certain publishers will<br />
speedily become as disgraceful as any other form of<br />
dishonesty. When, however, one reads of certain<br />
cases, it is difficult not to wish that a contract, obtained<br />
by studiously withholding the facts of the case from<br />
one party, should be set aside. For instance, here<br />
is one. A certain specialist, a very popular writer,<br />
was asked by a firm to undertake a book on his<br />
own subject. They named a price. He took it.<br />
Therefore he had no right to complain. The book<br />
proved an immediate and very great success. The<br />
publishers then asked him to produce another.<br />
Remember—they knew that the first had been an<br />
enormous success. They knew that the second<br />
would prove equally successful. It is said that<br />
they began, in fact, with an edition of 100,000 copies<br />
of the second book. This seems incredible, and<br />
perhaps is an exaggerated statement. Edition has<br />
followed edition. It is still, after many years, a<br />
living book. The author received ^30 for the first<br />
book; and in spite of the full knowledge possessed<br />
by the publishers of what they had done with the first,<br />
and would do with the second, they gave him the<br />
same sum, ^30, for the second. What is to be<br />
said of such a contract? That the author was a<br />
fool? Perhaps. But what were the publishers?<br />
—«<br />
Piracy, with mutilation, is even more intolerable<br />
than piracy pure and simple. Indeed, as will be seen<br />
in another page, I think we should give up the use of<br />
the word piracy and write publishing-as-permitted-<br />
by-the-law. It is a long word, but at present there<br />
is no short equivalent. Here is a case of publish-<br />
ing-as-permitted-by-the-law, with mutilation :—<br />
"A few months ago I published a book on<br />
Bronchitis here in London, and made an arrange-<br />
ment with a publisher of Philadelphia for the<br />
production of an American edition. It appeared<br />
and was selling well when Wood and Co., of New<br />
n 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 166 (#206) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
York, reprinted it entirely without a word of com-<br />
munication with me or my real publishers. This<br />
firm has, within the last year or so, published some<br />
fifty medical and surgical works or monographs;<br />
and, as far as I can learn, they have in every case<br />
been taken without permission. I have quite a<br />
collection of letters from men who have suffered<br />
in this way. We have no legal redress, but our<br />
Medical Associations on both sides of the Atlantic<br />
have promised to take up the matter, and will go<br />
to work pretty energetically."<br />
Mr. Louis Stevenson has been interviewed by the<br />
Melbourne Argus. 'Tis the common lot. He is<br />
reported to have said a good many things of which<br />
one, at least, is important, as a contribution to the<br />
vexed question of plagiarism. Everybody knows how<br />
novelists are perpetually charged with plagiarism.<br />
It is, indeed, a difficult thing to refute such a charge.<br />
Given the facts, given the absolute coincidence,<br />
character for character, incident for incident—how<br />
could they occur, one asks, in the later work unless<br />
they had been copied from the earlier? To speak<br />
only of one who can speak no more. I once dis-<br />
covered an extraordinary resemblance between an<br />
incident in one of Charles Reade's books and an<br />
exactly similar incident in a book published some<br />
forty years ago before. The resemblance was so<br />
striking, the events were so exactly the same, that<br />
I at once, in my ignorance, set it down to inten-<br />
tional plagiarism. I am now convinced that I<br />
did Charles Reade a grievous wrong. How then<br />
did he contrive to reproduce so exactly that<br />
part of the earlier work? The following illustra-<br />
tions supplied in the course of this interview pro-<br />
vide an answer. This is what Mr. Stevenson is<br />
reported to have said :—<br />
"I suspect most of our inventions are docu-<br />
mentary enough, and taken out of the note-book<br />
of the memory. I will give you a couple of<br />
examples from my own case. Some five or six<br />
years after I had written 'Treasure Island,' I picked<br />
up Washington Irving's 'Tales of a Traveller,'<br />
and there I find Billy Bones, with his voice, his<br />
manners, his talk, his sabre-cut, his sea-chest, and<br />
all that is Billy Bones's. I had read it long ago,<br />
and, if you will allow me a bull, I had forgotten,<br />
but my memory had remembered. Again, I fondly<br />
supposed I had invented a scene when Alan Breck<br />
quarrels with one of the M'Gregors in a house in<br />
Balquidder. Here, in Sydney, not two days ago,<br />
a gentleman informs me that I had read the out-<br />
lines of that scene, even to the names of the three<br />
principal characters engaged, in Pitcairn's ' Criminal<br />
Trials.' I do not remember. I do not suppose<br />
there is a copy of Pitcairn in the Colonies, so that<br />
I cannot make sure, but I have not the least doubt<br />
that it is so. We all, idealists and realists alike,<br />
rearrange that matter of observed life with which<br />
our memories are charged, and the most we can<br />
mean by the word invention is some happy con-<br />
gruity or surprise in the method of arranging it."<br />
This is a novel but a sufficient explanation to<br />
those who know that the accused is a man of<br />
honour.<br />
The mind forgets but the memory remembers.<br />
In the last number of The Author the arts and<br />
wiles of the gentry who seek to catch the literary flats<br />
were exposed in some detail. I have now before me<br />
the prospectus of an enterprise whose object is to<br />
advance the interests of Rising Authors (with a<br />
capital "r "). Every effort of this kind, particularly<br />
when conducted in a disinterested spirit and with-<br />
out the least consideration of sordid gains, com-<br />
mands our sympathy. Here is the scheme, then.<br />
A new monthly magazine is to be started. It will<br />
be called by a most attractive title, viz., "Literary<br />
Fame." Literary Fame! The words cause the<br />
eyes of the Rising Author to glisten and his lip to<br />
tremble. Literary Fame! Nothing short of this.<br />
The magazine has no other objects in view—the<br />
prospectus, which cannot lie, says so indeed,]in plain<br />
words—than the true interests of English Litera-<br />
ture. It is designed to introduce to the great<br />
British Public that large class of writers who feel<br />
that they have a Message to convey to the world<br />
at large. To these—as the candid prospectus says<br />
—" Literary Fame" offers an unexampled, nay,<br />
an unparalleled opportunity. I should think so<br />
indeed. The Rising Author has only to send in<br />
his contribution. It will be read for nothing—it is<br />
well-known that in all other magazines the editor has<br />
to be bribed before he will read anything. Each<br />
"suitable" contribution—here a note of discord—<br />
are not all contributions from Rising Authors, who<br />
have a Message for the world, suitable ?—will be<br />
accepted and printed, signed with the author's<br />
name. Why, what could be more disinterested?<br />
The only condition—a ridiculous one—is that the<br />
author shall pay beforehand for fifteen copies of<br />
the magazine for every column of his paper. Thus,<br />
suppose he has a paper of twelve pages, or twenty-<br />
four columns, and a Message to the world can<br />
hardly be delivered in less, he will only take 180<br />
copies, which will cost him the sum of j£g. Who<br />
would not gladly pay j£g for the privilege ot<br />
delivering a Message? Should he run a serial<br />
story for a twelvemonth, taking twenty-four pages<br />
each number, he will only pay ^216 for the year!<br />
Of course, thousands will jump at the offer.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 167 (#207) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
167<br />
In other words, how great must be the belief in<br />
the credulity of writers when they are calmly<br />
invited to consider such a proposal? Let us<br />
see how it works out. An ordinary magazine con-<br />
tains about 120 pages or 240 columns. This if<br />
paid for at the rate of 15 copies a column, pro-<br />
duces ^90. To this must be added the advertise-<br />
ments and the sale, if any. And after paying for<br />
printing and paper, there will remain a very com-<br />
fortable little property indeed. But I observe that<br />
in case of novels a higher charge will be made.<br />
Excellent, enterprising, benevolent editor!<br />
When Germans undertake to found and to manage<br />
a society, there are no half measures. The pro-<br />
gramme of their yearly meeting, a somewhat<br />
bulky document, is so thorough that I have had<br />
it translated and published for our own instruction.<br />
When one considers the infinite trouble we have in<br />
inducing our own brethren to unite, it is refreshing<br />
to read of such enthusiasm and belief among the<br />
Germans in the cause. One lives in the hope that<br />
we are really succeeding little by little in bringing<br />
literary men and women to make common cause.<br />
The difficulty is being illustrated at the present<br />
moment by a series of papers in the Daily Graphic<br />
on the proposed National Academy of Letters.<br />
First the scheme was proposed in general terms by<br />
an anonymous correspondent. It has been fol-<br />
lowed by a succession of papers from men of letters<br />
invited by the Editor. My own paper, which<br />
happened to be the first, was taken hold of as a peg<br />
by all who came afterwards, and the scheme has<br />
been everywhere attributed to me. It is not mine<br />
at all. I was only asked what I thought of it Now<br />
observe, I began by a most serious warning, as<br />
follows:—<br />
"The influence of the English Academy would<br />
depend entirely upon the position and reputation<br />
which it might obtain in the estimation of the world<br />
at large, and of litterateurs in particular. If every-<br />
body was agreed that to be a R.A. in Letters was<br />
as great a thing as to be a R.A. in Arts oraF.R.S.<br />
in Science, then the distinction would be an object<br />
of ambition, and the voice of the Academy would<br />
be potent and authoritative. If it failed to command<br />
this respect; if the true leaders refused to enter<br />
its walls; if it was considered to be under Court<br />
favouritism or to be involved in party interests, or<br />
to be the home of the second rate, it never would<br />
acquire any influence at all. Therefore it is<br />
absolutely necessary that it should, from the very<br />
outset, number in its body all the leaders of the<br />
day in every department of literature."<br />
"Supposing," I added, "this extremely difficult<br />
preliminary accomplished, what could the Academy<br />
effect?"<br />
I then proceeded to show what, in my opinion,<br />
such an Academy might accomplish.<br />
Most of the letters, beginning with that of Mr.<br />
Leslie Stephen, have proved that it is utterly impos-<br />
sible in the present condition of things for men of<br />
letters to work together as an Academy—a National<br />
Institution.<br />
They have nearly all written as if union was a thing<br />
impossible, and practical aims were out of the ques-<br />
tion.<br />
Why cannot men of letters act together? First,<br />
I believe, because they have got into the habit of<br />
speaking and writing about each other as men of<br />
no other profession would be allowed to do. A<br />
barrister would be disbarred who should dare to<br />
speak of another barrister in terms that are con-<br />
stantly and without censure used by one man of<br />
letters concerning another. Now were there exist-<br />
ing a great critical body, a controlling power, pos-<br />
sessing the power of leadership, the power of wealth,<br />
jhe power of bestowing distinction, the power of<br />
reprimand—this curse of literature, this license<br />
which fills the history of authorship with con-<br />
temptible quarrels and fish-wife recriminations,<br />
would instantly cease.<br />
An Academy, however, after the manner of the<br />
French would be absurd in this country. It is<br />
obsolete in Paris. It survives, but it has ceased to<br />
be a great power. Such an Academy as I should<br />
like to see founded in this country would deal with<br />
everything connected with literature. Mr. Leslie<br />
Stephen, whose name and work I hold in as much<br />
respect as those of any living writer, says dis-<br />
tinctly that such a body could not deal with prac-<br />
tical things. Why not? One does not expect the<br />
individual academician to become at once a<br />
steward in the House of Literature: not at all.<br />
We engage officers and pay them for such services.<br />
Every day the profession of letters is becoming<br />
larger; every day the dangers which threaten litera-<br />
ture, because its followers are a scattered crowd<br />
with no leaders, no authority over them, no guides,<br />
and no advisers, are growing greater and greater.<br />
Farther on, in this number, will be found a paper<br />
showing the views of another writer on the subject.<br />
Let me therefore only repeat what I advanced in<br />
this paper of mine in the Daily Graphic.<br />
1. Such an Academy must have the support of<br />
all the leaders in literature of every depart-<br />
ment, or it will be ridiculous.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 168 (#208) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
2. It should recognize and honour good work by<br />
public recognition, and by distinction of<br />
some kind.<br />
3. It should regulate and control the production<br />
of literature on principles which would,<br />
once for all, destroy the present friction<br />
between authors and publishers, and would<br />
make the present widespread frauds and<br />
sweatings disgraceful, if not impossible.<br />
4. It should contain the official register of every<br />
book published.<br />
5. It should take over and administrate the<br />
annual grant for Literature.<br />
6. It should concern itself with every question<br />
that may arise in any one of the numerous<br />
interests of Literature.<br />
These were the principles which I laid down in<br />
my paper. The longer I consider them, the more<br />
I am convinced that such a body, so constituted,<br />
with such work before it, might confer the greatest<br />
benefits upon letters. Some of the work has been<br />
attempted, not without success, by this Society.<br />
But it would come with more authority from an<br />
Academy.<br />
The last few weeks have also been enlivened by<br />
a correspondence in the Times. Whenever the<br />
Society has been publicly proving its existence and<br />
its activity in some way which makes certain of its<br />
friends wriggle, there is sure to occur such a corres-<br />
pondence. Then we have the old, old things—the<br />
bogey of risk; the awful losses in publishing; the<br />
misstatements; the trail across the scent; the<br />
misleading suggestions—everything to keep the<br />
public in the dark. Newspapers either in the<br />
interests of dishonourable houses, or in ignorance,<br />
take up the cry, and with paragraphs, letters, and<br />
leading articles repeat the misstatements. Then<br />
we repeat the truth again—and they are silenced<br />
for awhile. Meantime the Society advances.<br />
—♦—<br />
The controversy was conducted on the usual<br />
lines. Hardly any of the writers seemed able to<br />
conceive that there were any principles of justice<br />
underlying the question. There was misrepresen-<br />
tation, there was misstatement, and there was<br />
deliberate falsehood—there was no attempt at<br />
reasoning. The worst letter of all—the most silly<br />
and the most spiteful—was written by an "Author."<br />
It illustrated exactly what was advanced in the last<br />
number of this Journal on the ill-bred malice<br />
which some writers permit themselves to use<br />
towards others. This person, who says that he has<br />
been treated with fairness—very likely—but he does<br />
not understand what is meant by fairness—states that<br />
he received a bigger cheque than he expected, and<br />
was afterwards told by the publisher that his book<br />
had been a loss of so much. "Hit or miss," said<br />
this airy speculator—" Hit or miss." He saw no<br />
accounts, and asked for none. He took the man's<br />
word. In no other business transaction known<br />
would he have taken the man's word There is a<br />
sweet simplicity about this author which seems to<br />
point to the country clergyman. He is often an<br />
excellent person, but it is his foible to believe that<br />
he is a good man of business. This person, so<br />
skilled in matters of business, goes on to call a<br />
scholar, a gentleman, a dignitary of the Church—<br />
the author in fact of the work under discussion—<br />
a publisher's " paid clerk." A clerk copies, casts<br />
up accounts, and writes letters to order. A clerk<br />
does not, as clerk, produce a work of art, genius,<br />
and learning. This is the first time that one has<br />
heard an author called a publisher's paid clerk.<br />
Now that the thing has been started it will not<br />
doubtless be the last we shall hear of it.<br />
The main point of the recent controversy in the<br />
Times was, of course, ignored from the outset. It is<br />
this: A. B. engages C. D. to do a piece of literary<br />
work on a subject in which he is a specialist. He<br />
is certain to do it well, and to produce a popular<br />
book. C. D., not knowing the extent of his own<br />
popularity, which A. B. does, produces this work,<br />
and receives a sum of money. A. B., in order to<br />
secure this popular writer for another work, after-<br />
wards gives him four times what was bargained.<br />
Now what is the profit of A. B.? He will not say<br />
—nor, of course, can he be expected to confess.<br />
But it can be guessed by experts, and it is variously<br />
reckoned at sixtyfold and a hundredfold what he<br />
originally gave C. D. Yet C. D. has no right to<br />
complain, because an agreement must be kept.<br />
But when A. B. asks C. D. to write another book,<br />
knowing that he is certain to make again an enor-<br />
mous sum, how far is he justified in offering the<br />
writer a sum equivalent to about one-fiftieth of<br />
what he himself reasonably expects to make?<br />
That is the question. We shall have no answer<br />
to it from the other side; but the question itself<br />
should be laid to heart by every writer. Sooner or<br />
later it will be laid to heart, and then such an<br />
agreement will become impossible.<br />
The deadly rancour shown towards the Society<br />
in most of the letters showed the mind of the writer.<br />
It is a most healthy sign. The revelations made<br />
in our publications have begun at last to make the<br />
author want to understand his agreements, what it<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 169 (#209) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
is he gives, and what he gets in return. An end<br />
of the good old days, when the author would sign<br />
anything that was put before him, is seen to be<br />
approaching. He now understands, or can easily<br />
learn, what it costs to produce a book, and what is<br />
meant by a royalty of ten, fifteen or twenty per cent.<br />
Therefore the gentry who have been accustomed in<br />
every account they make up, to overcharge on<br />
every item, find that they can no longer do so with<br />
impunity. Also those who have been fattening on<br />
ten per cent, royalties find that their gains are now<br />
discovered. In order to divert public attention from<br />
the real point at issue, of course side issues have<br />
to be found. This has been done chiefly by mis-<br />
stating or wilfully misunderstanding what has been<br />
advanced by the Society. Especially, and as a<br />
matter of course, the old bogey of great risk and<br />
enormous losses is trotted out. Let us again affirm<br />
very seriously that publishers very, very seldom<br />
take any book at all about which there is any risk.<br />
They may make mistakes, of course. This is the<br />
rule, even with the great houses. Indeed, they<br />
would not be men of business if they did not avoid<br />
risks. As to the smaller houses, they never take<br />
any risk at all. Of course they cannot afford to<br />
do so. They have discovered a better plan—to<br />
make the author pay.<br />
*<br />
For instance, this is the busiest time of the year.<br />
The publishers' advertisements are now the longest.<br />
I take up a paper and examine the publishers' lists<br />
in its columns. The following is an analysis :—<br />
a. A firm of the first rank. Eighteen books<br />
advertised. Nine of these are new editions.<br />
Seven are new books. Of the seven five<br />
are absolutely without risk, unless of course,<br />
they were over-printed or under-priced. Two<br />
are novels of which we can only say that<br />
this firm has always been careful to produce<br />
none but good work, and therefore that it<br />
is probably well advised that there is no risk<br />
in producing them.<br />
B. A small firm. Seven books. Six certainly<br />
paid for by the authors. The seventh<br />
presents no risk.<br />
c A small firm. Four books, all by popular<br />
authors. No risk.<br />
D. An old established firm. Six books, of which<br />
three are new editions. The other three<br />
carry no risk whatever.<br />
E. Another great firm. Sixteen books advertised.<br />
Ten are by authors whose names command<br />
a large sale. Five are educational, of the<br />
better kind. Of the whole lot one only<br />
appears doubtful.<br />
f. A new firm. Fourteen books. Four belong<br />
to well established series. One is a standard<br />
book. Three have names which command<br />
success. Of the remaining six, four are cer-<br />
tainly paid for by their authors, and<br />
probably the other two.<br />
G. A firm of high standing. Fifteen books.<br />
Eleven are by popular and well-known<br />
authors. Three are reprints. One is a<br />
work whose subject commands success.<br />
H. Another high class firm. Seven works only<br />
advertised out of their longer list. Three of<br />
these books will command a certain success,<br />
that kind of success which remunerates the<br />
publisher, but does not enrich the author.<br />
Four are by popular authors.<br />
This is the kind of illustration that might be<br />
followed up every week. I have taken eight<br />
houses at random in the order in which they<br />
advertised out of the whole list. I can find but<br />
three books out of eighty-seven which appear to<br />
me doubtful. Of the three I strongly suspect that<br />
two are paid for by the authors.<br />
We shall have in course of time, a good deal<br />
more to say on the general questions of publishers'<br />
contracts, unexpected and enormous profits, alleged<br />
losses and so forth.<br />
Meantime, here is an instance of what we re-<br />
commend to the consideration of Messrs. Cassell<br />
and Co., the Literary Handmaid of the Church,<br />
and other firms like-minded. In the year 1884 a<br />
certain author produced with a certain provincial<br />
publisher a little work which both believed would<br />
prove a modest success. It obtained, however, an<br />
enormous run. The publisher, meantime, had<br />
bought his modest venture for a modest sum.<br />
When the success of the book became known, he<br />
voluntarily, unsolicited, tore up the agreement and<br />
made another, based on the success of the book.<br />
What can be said of such an act? It was spon-<br />
taneous, and it was based upon the honourable<br />
feeling that, agreement or no agreement, the<br />
author should share in this unexpected good<br />
fortune. The publisher was Mr. Arrowsmith, of<br />
Bristol, the author was Mr. Fargus.<br />
The Editor of the Critic (New York) invites his<br />
readers to select twenty American literary women<br />
as Immortelles. In order to assist the reader, he<br />
gives a list of 139 living writers " not unknown to<br />
the reading public." In looking through this list<br />
one is struck with a profound sense of ignorance,<br />
because one knows so few of these names. Sixteen<br />
only are known to me. Can there be a rising liter-<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 170 (#210) ############################################<br />
<br />
170<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
ature in the Slates wholly apart from, and unknown<br />
to, ourselves? Yet it seems as if every good book<br />
which appears in the States is welcomed here.<br />
Are there, again, 139 English women of letters all<br />
known to our own reading public, of whom no<br />
more than sixteen are known across the Atlantic?<br />
Literature has many branches, but these ladies<br />
represent fiction almost entirely, and fiction is the<br />
most popular of all the branches of literature,<br />
and as Mr. Brander Mathews explains later on,<br />
American novelists are here published—by per-<br />
mission of the law—in great numbers.<br />
Walter Besant.<br />
*<br />
MR. BLAIKIE'S NEW POEMS.<br />
IT is now a good many years since a little volume<br />
of verse, the first work of two very young<br />
writers, made its modest appearance. The<br />
book was perceived at the outset to possess far more<br />
promise than is usually shown in first essays at<br />
verse. It is now among the very scarce books, and<br />
is worth its weight in silver. One of these writers<br />
has gone on producing poetry and is now read and<br />
known wherever the English language is spoken.<br />
The other has remained silent until now. He is<br />
about to publish a new volume which will appear<br />
immediately. The name of the former is Edmund<br />
Gosse—of the latter, J. A. Blaikie. The following<br />
are taken, by his permission, from his new volume<br />
(Percival & Co.).<br />
r.<br />
Love, like a bird, with gladsome wings did fly,<br />
In jocund springtide's first delicious hour,<br />
Unto my heart's forlorn and wintry bower,<br />
And rested there, and sang, till suddenly<br />
It opened flowerwise that was like to die;<br />
And all the winds his singing, as a shower,<br />
Took, and outpoured on tree and herb and flower,<br />
And life was light, and warmth, and ecstasy,<br />
Until the first rude breath of winter's power;—<br />
Then Love, a bird of passage, winged the sky.<br />
II.<br />
As when a weary troop doth eastward file<br />
Through many a dreary league of Lybian sand<br />
By wind unwinnow'd, and a listless band<br />
Doth struggle, hopelessly, depress'd the while;<br />
Till keen the cry of one doth them beguile,<br />
Who, catching the first breeze from Nilus fann'd,<br />
Scents the faint odours of that verdurous land,<br />
Syene's height and Philx's palm-set isle;<br />
So I when, mid the city's grinding roar,<br />
Thy presence fills the vacancy of eyes,<br />
Work-wearied, with thy grace beneficent;—<br />
That antique Garden view I where of yore<br />
Tu live and love were one, and paradise;<br />
And the twain trees in Beauty's vine are blent.<br />
IN GRUB STREET.<br />
THE most attractive volume that has lately<br />
been issued is undoubtedly Mr. Frederic<br />
Tennyson's "Isles of Greece" (Macmillan.)<br />
Anything coming from a member of the Laureate's<br />
family will have an interest for Englishmen in all<br />
parts of the world. But Mr. Tennyson's volume<br />
can well rest on its own merits. A writer in the<br />
Saturday Review says, " Whatever poetic fruits the<br />
present season may yet bring forth, be they notable<br />
or the reverse, Mr. Frederic Tennyson's new poem<br />
is alone sufficient to make the season memorable."<br />
Mr. Lecky has completed his monumental<br />
work, "The History of England in the Eighteenth<br />
Century." Those portions of it which deal with<br />
the Irish Question have of course a peculiar interest<br />
in the present time. It is a great tribute to Mr.<br />
Lecky as an historian, that even those who differ<br />
from him are agreed as to the good taste, modera-<br />
tion, and judgment he has shown in dealing with<br />
a very vexed question. Prejudice and bias are said<br />
to be an ornament of history, but restraint is even<br />
a greater gift. The work is worthy of Mr. Lecky's<br />
already considerable reputation. Both political<br />
parties are promising to quote from him in support<br />
of their own views.<br />
»—<br />
Dr. Verrall's edition of the "Ion of Euripides,"<br />
witha translation into English verse, an introduction,<br />
and notes, comes very opportunely at the present<br />
time in view of the forthcoming representation of<br />
the drama at Cambridge. He certainly throws a<br />
great deal of new light on the play, and takes up a<br />
very original position on the plot as it is usually<br />
received. That a general acceptance of his theory<br />
will be adopted cannot, of course, be expected.<br />
Commentaries on the classics are not, as a rule,<br />
exhilarating to the ordinary public, but Dr. Verrall's<br />
introduction should find readers beyond the sphere<br />
of scholarship. From the same centre of learning<br />
comes Professor Jebb's "Philoctetes," welcome to<br />
all lovers of the classics. Such able scholars give<br />
the lie to the old charge, " What could Cambridge<br />
do but quote?"<br />
—♦<br />
Mr. Froude's life of Lord Beaconsfield has been<br />
of course a disappointment to those who relish<br />
back-kitchen biography. One would think that<br />
the public craving for that sort of thing had been<br />
more than satisfied. Someone discovered not<br />
long ago an unpaid washing bill of Shelley's,<br />
which was considered an important contribution to<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 171 (#211) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
171<br />
"Shelley's Biographia." It is, no doubt, the<br />
absence of a similar item in Lord Beaconsfield's<br />
recent biography that is the "felt want." Those,<br />
however, who considered Mr. Froude's "Carlyle " a<br />
little too circumstantial will not regret any omission<br />
of a similar nature.<br />
The death of Simonides, the forger, will awaken<br />
painful memories among those persons who are<br />
wise after the event. Simonides was in many<br />
ways a great genius, and he had also indefatigable<br />
industry wherewith to apply his art. Some years<br />
ago he gave out that he had died of typhoid in<br />
the East, and sceptics may still refuse to believe in<br />
his demise. There is an amusing story of his<br />
which is characteristic of his amazing audacity.<br />
After his MSS. and letters of introduction had been<br />
exposed by Tischendorff and Mr. Aldis Wright,<br />
he revenged himself by admitting the forgery and<br />
volunteering the information that he had also<br />
written the authentic MS. of the Gospel which<br />
Tischendorff himself had unearthed.<br />
In these days of popular series, when English<br />
Men of Letters, English Men of Action, Remarkable<br />
Women, and Talented Journalists have been so<br />
successful, why should we not have a Criminal<br />
Series? It of course must not be a vulgar reprint<br />
of Newgate Calendar heroes, but lives of such<br />
men as Chatterton, Samuel Ireland, Shapira,<br />
and Simonides. Some enterprising publisher has<br />
already, I believe, commissioned the "Buccaneers"<br />
and the "Highwaymen"; and "Forgers" would<br />
make a very entertaining third volume. Neo-<br />
Christians have their Elsmere House and Oxford<br />
culture its Toynbee Hall, but the criminal classes<br />
have been overlooked, that is, from their own<br />
point of view. They have had no vehicle wherein<br />
to express themselves hitherto.<br />
The Times of November 5th has an interesting<br />
reprint from the North China Herald on the subject<br />
of " Celestial" novels. The latest expounders of<br />
Confucian philosophy have condemned the art of<br />
fiction, and one Shih, emulating Savanarola, estab-<br />
lished a pyramid of vanities, where all immoral<br />
novels were burnt. If this condemned literature<br />
was of the "Sweeney Todd " and "Cheeky Charlie"<br />
order which the respectable Quarterly Review has<br />
been denouncing lately, no one will regret the con-<br />
flagration. But pedagogues and philosophers have<br />
not always been the best judges of an art for which<br />
they have had no sympathy. Roger Ascham, who,<br />
if he was the first schoolmaster, was also the first of<br />
prigs, denounced as harmful to youthful morals the<br />
delightful Morte d'Arthur, the gay stories of Cynthio<br />
and Bandello, and Mr. Herbert Spencer has<br />
announced that literature nauseates him.<br />
Apropos of conflagrations it is very satisfactory<br />
to know that the famous library of Siena Cathedral<br />
with its magnificent frescoes and illuminated missals<br />
has been spared in the recent fire. A correspondent<br />
in the Times the other day drew attention to the<br />
very careless way in which the library of St. Mark<br />
in the Ducal Palace at Venice was exposed to<br />
danger. All this does not reflect much credit on<br />
the municipalities of modern Italy, who are always<br />
throwing stones at the religious bodies who have<br />
any works of art in their keeping. The Liberals<br />
are ever looking with envious eyes on the Vatican<br />
Library, but until they can prove themselves better<br />
curators, the longer the collection remains with its<br />
present owners the better.<br />
It is pleasant to see that some of the shorter<br />
stories of Balzac have been issued by Walter Scott,<br />
under the title of " Don Juan,'or the Elixir of Life."<br />
Those who are unable to read French have hitherto<br />
only been acquainted with the longer and more<br />
famous portions of the Com£die Humaine as the<br />
Peau de Chagrin and the Pere Goriot. Mr. Saints-<br />
bury says, "he is happiest when his subject has a<br />
strong touch of the fantastic," and in this collection<br />
the fantastic is remarkably well represented.<br />
With regard to the correspondence on the<br />
English Academy in the Daily Graphic, and which<br />
is discussed elsewhere in these pages, it may<br />
interestpeopleto see again the 40 immortals selected<br />
by a plebiscite in 1887, which by the courtesy of<br />
the Pall Mall Gazette is here reprinted.<br />
W. E. Gladstone. Cardinal Newman.<br />
Tennyson. Walter Besant.<br />
Matthew Arnold. Leslie Stephen.<br />
Professor Huxley. Benjamin Jowett.<br />
Herbert Spencer. John Bright.<br />
John Ruskin. Frederic Harrison.<br />
J. H. Froude. William Black.<br />
Robert Browning. Justin Macarthy.<br />
John Morley. Lord Salisbury.<br />
Professor Tyndall. Sir Theodore Martin.<br />
Professor Freeman. Henry Irving.<br />
A. C. Swinburne. George Meredith<br />
Archdeacon Farrar. Wilkie Collins.<br />
Professor Max Miiller. Canon Liddon.<br />
Sir John Lubbock.' Duke of Argyle.<br />
William Morris. R. D. Blackmore.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 172 (#212) ############################################<br />
<br />
172<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
W. E. H. Lecky. Andrew Lang.<br />
G. A. Sala. Bishop Stubbs.<br />
R. L. Stevenson. Cardinal Manning.<br />
Sir Frederic Leighton. Professor J. R. Seeley.<br />
Six of this forty are now unhappily dead. There<br />
are many names one would have included, as there<br />
are others one would have excluded, not because<br />
they lacked greatness, but because their connection<br />
with literature is remote. The list is a remarkable<br />
one in many ways; for instance, there are only three<br />
Anglican clergymen, the present Bishop of Oxford<br />
and Archdeacon Farrar,and the late Canon Liddon.<br />
Mr. Sala, about the same time, gave an academy of<br />
his own contriving in "Echoes of the Week," then<br />
in the Illustrated London News. Among his im-<br />
mortals not included in the above were Mr. Lewis<br />
Morris, Mr. Alfred Austin, and Sir Edwin Arnold.<br />
I believe it is considered very vulgar now to talk<br />
about the price of a book, and when one speaks of<br />
the value of any particular volume, the aesthetic<br />
value is meant—the value of the binding, the type,<br />
the paper, and the contents. Sordid commercialism<br />
must not enter into the sacred profession of letters.<br />
Booksellers no doubt will soon be giving away first<br />
editions and luxe editions for the pure love of pro-<br />
pagating these new ideas. One advantage of an<br />
academy would be that it could decide on such<br />
niceties of language.<br />
♦—<br />
The interest which was aroused by the publica-<br />
tion of "Lux Mundi" has of course begun to<br />
subside, and Churchmen are turning their attention<br />
to the Lincoln and St. Paul's Reredos and reconci-<br />
liation cases. But its success has been phenomenal;<br />
no book of the kind has had such a sale since<br />
"Tracts for the Times," and "Essaysand Reviews."<br />
The controversy still continues in seme of the<br />
Church papers, and the " Luces Mundi " have been<br />
explaining doubtful points to remove any suspicion<br />
of heterodoxy that has attached to their remarkable<br />
essays.<br />
Someone has taken the trouble to collect all the<br />
grammatical solecisms in the late Cardinal Newman's<br />
works, and confided the result of his labours to<br />
one of the Scotch weeklies, and has refused to ac-<br />
cept the Cardinal as a stylist in consequence.<br />
Such attempts remind one of those theologians who,<br />
having added up all the animals in the Ark and<br />
worked out other mathematical problems from<br />
Genesis, reject Christianity because they cannot<br />
find a satisfactory answer. How many great<br />
authors could one not put to a similar test? and<br />
how many would come out unscathed? Thackeray,<br />
above all 'things a stylist, often made slips in<br />
grammar, but are we to reject him as well? When<br />
Sir John Everett Millais was asked by him to write<br />
something for the Cornhill and the painter ex-<br />
pressed doubts as to his grammatical proficiency,<br />
Thackeray replied, " D n the grammar!"<br />
No one that I know of has as yet criticised the<br />
fifty-copies-on-large-paper-system—of which twenty-<br />
five are sent to America, wherever that is, five are<br />
reserved for the author's friends, and the next ten<br />
are destroyed. We hear of the republic of letters,<br />
but this is surely the plutocracy of letters. There<br />
are a number of books that could only be printed<br />
or published by subscription, and it is but fair to<br />
the subscribers that only a limited number should<br />
be issued. Such are expensive catalogues, Art<br />
books, or works like Burton's "Arabian Nights";<br />
but why should a work, already well printed and<br />
"got up," have a sort of extra special edition for<br />
the benefit of wealthy people who very often never<br />
read it? It only gives a book an artificial value,<br />
except in the cases I have mentioned. Very often<br />
it takes a very selfish form, and ordinary purchasers<br />
are deprived of a good deal of matter, to which they<br />
are fully entitled, because they are unable to pay<br />
two guineas, instead of "\s. 6d.<br />
On the propriety of publishing Sir Walter Scott's<br />
journal a good many people will differ. From the<br />
review in the Times it does not appear that it tends<br />
to shatter an idol, and only confirms the prevalent<br />
belief in the nobility and integrity of his character<br />
It will raise, however, the old questions of how<br />
much a public has a right to know of a writer's<br />
private life, and how much private life a public man<br />
is permitted to have. It depends, one would think,<br />
on the author himself. Mr. Browning, a few years<br />
before his death, destroyed boxes full of letters, so<br />
fearful was he of the biographers, while writers like<br />
St. Augustine, Rousseau, Maria Bashkirtseff, and Sir<br />
Austin Feverel, all gave their " bruised heart to the<br />
world." It is quite impossible to dogmatize on<br />
the subject.<br />
How far has the popularity of Scott waned?<br />
Some people get very angry at the bare idea of it.<br />
Mr. Swinburne, in one of his essays, says, " His pop-<br />
ularity may fluctuate now and then with olderreaders<br />
—so much the worse for them . . . but when<br />
it comes among English boys and girls, a dooms-<br />
day will be dawning of which as yet there are most<br />
assuredly no signs orpresages perceptible." Now it is<br />
reported that among boys his popularity has waned.<br />
Older readers who knew him in their youth, read<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 173 (#213) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
173<br />
him again and again, and like him better each time.<br />
Boys prefer the more flashy novels of the elder<br />
Dumas. Scott's position in literature is as firm as<br />
Shakespeare's, but as a novelist for boys par excel-<br />
lence he has been succeeded.<br />
In the same way Byron is no longer the poet of<br />
young men, or Moore of young ladies. Thackeray,<br />
with very natural dislike of affectation, killed<br />
Byron the man—the hero of society, and the same<br />
able critic quoted before has no doubt influenced<br />
popular feeling as to Byron's rank on Parnassus.<br />
By a curious irony of fate it is Mr. Swinburne<br />
himself, the poet of his early volumes, who has<br />
taken Byron's place. It is " Faustine, Fragolletta,<br />
Dolores," who occupy in youthful minds the place of<br />
the " Bride of Abydos," the " Maid of Athens," and<br />
"Donna Julia." Not very long ago there existed at<br />
Oxford and Cambridge a Dolores Society, and as<br />
a well-known man of letters once said, "Swinburne<br />
set us on fire at Oxford."<br />
To appreciate Byron we must talk to foreigners.<br />
They seem to regard him with unflagging admira-<br />
tion. Wherever he went he left the stamp of his<br />
wonderful personality, and cities which he has<br />
celebrated in "Childe Harold" (now irreverently<br />
called the "Rhyming Baedeker"), remember him<br />
with'gratitude. The Greek colony in London cele-<br />
brated his centenary with great pomp two or three<br />
years ago, and after a memorial service in the<br />
Orthodox Church in Moscow Road, and an address<br />
in modern Greek on the services Byron had<br />
rendered to their country, they marched to his<br />
image in Hyde Park and placed a wreath there.<br />
But the centenary was quite ignored by the English<br />
people. The two English names which are most<br />
familiar in Italy to-day are those of John<br />
Ruskin and Lord Byron. The guides will always<br />
tell you what "Rusconi" has said of a particular<br />
building, and the street Arabs point out the palace<br />
where Byron lived.<br />
The publication of "Major Barttelot's Diaries<br />
and Letters" has been speedily followed by Mr.<br />
Rose Troup's "With Stanley's Rear Column," and<br />
the Jameson Diaries are promised shortly. This<br />
literature of recrimination which has sprung up is<br />
not very edifying, the more so as it seems to be<br />
the only tangible outcome of the ill-considered<br />
Emin Relief Expedition. It would not be surpris-<br />
ing, after the criminal nature of the charge which<br />
Mr. Stanley has preferred against the] unfortunate<br />
commander of the rear column, to hear Mr. Stanley<br />
himself and the advance column accused in turn<br />
of subsisting on pigmy in the wilderness.<br />
The French genius for delineating character was<br />
never more highly displayed than in the "De<br />
Goncourt Journals," of which the third volume has<br />
just been published. Although it professes to be<br />
a memoir of the literary coteries of the period, it<br />
is really little more than a description of the<br />
nightly dinners at Brebants, and it is the figure of<br />
Renan which is the most vividly drawn. Half<br />
philosophic, half mystic, Renan certainly values<br />
himself hugely. "I should have made an indul-<br />
gent paternal charitable priest," he has said of<br />
himself. As a rule humility is also an advantage<br />
in an ecclesiastic. A writer in the current<br />
Quarterly errs when he describes him as a second<br />
Voltaire, who had a keen sense of humour,<br />
while Renan, if he is to be judged by his own<br />
words, apparently has none.<br />
"London City," by Mr. Loftie, bids fair to be<br />
the book of the month. It will be enriched with<br />
vivid illustrations of London city as it is to-day,<br />
engraved from original drawings by Mr. William<br />
Luker, and every possible care has been taken to<br />
make the book a model of artistic and skilled pro-<br />
duction. Mr. Loftie is to the nineteenth century<br />
what Stow was to the sixteenth—he is this and a<br />
great deal more besides.<br />
I believe the fashion of writing confessions in<br />
ladies' albums exists no longer, but if anyone was<br />
asked now who was their favourite writer, after<br />
the favourite novelist and favourite poet had been<br />
decided on, the favourite writer would be Mr.<br />
Andrew Lang. But Mr. Lang is a poet as well,<br />
and this month in collaboration with Mr.'Haggard,<br />
he has become a novelist too, "The World's<br />
Desire" having been just issued in one volume.<br />
His fairy book (red this time) gives a number of<br />
stories which will be new to a great many of us.<br />
There are two from the Russian. Has Mr. Lang<br />
reconsidered his strictures on the Russian novelists?<br />
He has written a preface to a translation of Langisms<br />
which has given occasion for the Scotch to make<br />
a bad joke. Homer sometimes nods, but Mr. Lang<br />
never seems even to wink.<br />
»<br />
Mr. George W. Smalley, the London correspon-<br />
dent of the New York Tribune, has collected his<br />
famous letters to that journal in two volumes, en-<br />
titled "London Letters and Others" (Macmillan).<br />
They are certainly the best things of their kind<br />
that have appeared, and were well worth republish-<br />
ing in book form. The stories or anecdotes are<br />
many and excellent.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 174 (#214) ############################################<br />
<br />
174<br />
THE AUTHOR<br />
A new work is announced by Ralph Iron, the<br />
talented authoress of "The African Farm." And<br />
Messrs. Methuen have just published a second<br />
series of Mr. Baring Gould's fascinating " Historic<br />
Oddities." In his last volume Mr. Baring Gould<br />
certainly succeeded in raising history to the level of<br />
romance, which should be the first duty of a con-<br />
scientious historian.<br />
The new edition of Matthew Arnold's complete<br />
poems, lately issued by Messrs. Macmillan, as a<br />
companion to Lord Tennyson's, will be welcome<br />
to the increasing admirers of the poet. Those<br />
who prefer Arnold the poet, to Arnold the essayist,<br />
will regret his unfortunate excursions into theology.<br />
His keen critical ability no doubt hampered<br />
his poetical achievement—for thorough criticism,<br />
if rightly considered, is a creative faculty. The<br />
greatest poets are not, as a rule, great critics.<br />
Theirs is the magnificent endowment of bias and<br />
enthusiasm, and though their opinions are always<br />
interesting, the critical power is not infrequently<br />
developed at the expense of their poetic gifts.<br />
Matthew Arnold is one of those who are pointed<br />
to as an example of a man who excelled in many<br />
things at once—poetry, criticism, and theology.<br />
Censuring Bishop Colenso he said, "Let us have<br />
all the science there is from men of science; from<br />
the men of religion let us have religion." As a poet,<br />
and as some think as a critic, Mr. Arnold excelled,<br />
but what about his theology? From theologians<br />
let us have theology! Rossetti, on the other hand,<br />
is given in support of the other view, that a man<br />
cannot excel in two different arts. To say this<br />
is like saying that a person must not be able to<br />
talk two languages, or that if you are a good<br />
runner you must not be a good walker, or a good<br />
rider. But if the quantity of Rossetti's produc-<br />
tions is meant, the remark becomes a platitude.<br />
It is entirely a different thing when science and art<br />
get mixed up, as science and religion are sometimes.<br />
It is terribly old-fashioned to say so, but I believe<br />
literature and art are nearer to one another than<br />
we think; at any rate, they are not so distant as<br />
the brand-new critics tell us.<br />
A paper on the " Drift of Religious Thought in<br />
England" will shortly appear in the Forum—where<br />
a good many excellent papers have lately appeared.<br />
It is by the Rev. Prof. Momerie, author of " Church<br />
and Creed." Mr. Moinerie is one of the very few<br />
men in the Church of England to whom the posi-<br />
tive and negative aspects of truth (positive in the<br />
metaphysical foundation, and negative in his con-<br />
tempt for ecclesiasticism) have equal attractions.<br />
In his forthcoming article he will show how, in<br />
spite of its tendency to retrograde, the Church of<br />
England is being forced by circumstances towards<br />
Rationalism, the goal which all Churches must, in<br />
his opinion, reach or perish.<br />
Another novel of Egypt—or partly of Egypt—<br />
not an imitation of " She." It is by Clive Holland,<br />
whose name is becoming better known, and appears<br />
at the end of the year.<br />
I also note "Mademoiselle," by Frances Mary<br />
Peard, to be published immediately by Messrs.<br />
Walter Smith and Innes.<br />
The following is from a publisher. Of course<br />
we all agree with him in his claim that the<br />
purchase outright of a book releases the purchaser<br />
from any further payment unless he chooses. The<br />
other points are also in substantial accord with the<br />
views of the Society.<br />
"I am much obliged by your note. I am myself<br />
most anxious to offer fair terms to authors.<br />
"The one broad principle on which I prefer to<br />
take my stand, is that the author should share in<br />
the success of the book up to the sale of the last<br />
copy; and this can only be attained by the use of<br />
the royalty system in one form or another. The<br />
difficulty is when authors cannot afford to wait and<br />
demand a sum down. This at once increases the<br />
risk and forces the publisher to provide for<br />
emergencies at the cost of the author. The ideal<br />
method is to pay a sum down in advance of<br />
royalties, and to pay the royalties after that sum<br />
has been reached in the sales.<br />
"The recent developments of the quarrel between<br />
authors and publishers are evidently due to those<br />
new and more generous views on social and<br />
economic problems which are forcing their way to<br />
the front. Political economy is rapidly becoming<br />
less a cold science treating solely of the distribu-<br />
tion and nature of wealth, and more an inquiry into<br />
the means available for improving the condition of<br />
the producer, and for discovering an equitable<br />
method of distributing profits. Authors are pro-<br />
ducers, and though there may be something repug-<br />
nant to a sensitive mind in the publicity given to<br />
details of literary commerce, we must allow that<br />
literature, which has now to be reckoned with as<br />
one of the great wealth-producing limbs of com-<br />
merce, has every claim to be paid in accordance<br />
with recognised principles.<br />
"The proportion of divided profit is a delicate<br />
question. Where an author has a sure audience,<br />
he may claim two-thirds to the publisher's one-third.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 175 (#215) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
175<br />
But when the publisher is working out an idea of<br />
his own with trouble and thought, he may justly<br />
claim a higher proportion. I think that the royalty<br />
paid to an author should be increased in case of a<br />
largely increased sale.<br />
"The half profit system is an abomination. If<br />
resorted to, the sums charged against the book<br />
should be those really paid. But of course the<br />
publisher may charge a preliminary fee for his<br />
trouble.<br />
"When a publisher issues a book at the expense<br />
of the author, he should charge a reasonable sum,<br />
but he has a right to say 'I will produce the<br />
book at such a sum; whether you can get the<br />
book produced more cheaply elsewhere is not to<br />
the point—my charge is so and so.'<br />
"When a publisher agrees to give a fixed price<br />
for the copyright of a book, the author's claim<br />
vanishes with the payment of that sum. The<br />
publisher pays for his bargain and has a right to<br />
any profits which may accrue. If I buy a plot of<br />
ground and find coal on it, the seller could hardly<br />
claim an additional share of the profits. Per-<br />
sonally, I would give the author a share of any<br />
such profits if they were large. But this is hardly<br />
a matter of honesty. At the same time such<br />
bargains should not degenerate into sweating.<br />
"These remarks are crude and written hastily,<br />
but I think they are in the main just.<br />
"I fear you will never be able to stop the depre-<br />
dations of those who infest the shady places of<br />
publishing. At the same time your Society has<br />
done a vast amount of good, and has, I should<br />
say, greatly increased the safety and profits of<br />
literary folk."<br />
—♦<br />
It is pleasant to announce that Mr. Sprigge's<br />
"Methods of Publication " has already run through<br />
one edition, and that another is in preparation and<br />
will be out in a few days. Contrary to reasonable<br />
expectation, the greater part of the edition has<br />
been taken by the general public, and not by the<br />
members of the Society. Now the book is written<br />
especially for the benefit of the members, and<br />
could not have been written but for their support<br />
in maintaining the Society. It throws a flood of<br />
light upon the meaning of the various methods<br />
pursued in this chaotic business, and upon the<br />
frauds which are often perpetrated under cover of<br />
these methods by unscrupulous men. The book<br />
ought to be on the shelf of every literary man.<br />
Some, perhaps, will not trouble to "do the sums."<br />
They may take the general conclusions and note<br />
the warnings. With this book should go the<br />
"Cost of Production," published only for mem-<br />
bers. A new edition of this is in preparation.<br />
Messrs. Clowes and Son, of Fleet Street, have in<br />
the press, and will publish very shortly "The Law of<br />
the Press," by Mr. J. R. Fisher, of The Standard,<br />
and Mr. J. A. Strahan, LL.B., Regius Professor of<br />
Law, Queen's College, Belfast. The object of the<br />
authors has been to present in handy form a com-<br />
plete digest of all the laws affecting the Periodical<br />
Press, whether from the point of view of editors,<br />
contributors, or proprietors.<br />
There has of late been growing up a consider-<br />
able body of statute and case law of the utmost<br />
importance to the literary profession, but although<br />
we have excellent works on libel, copyright, and<br />
other branches of the subject, there is no book<br />
covering the whole ground, and written expressly<br />
with a view to the interests of the journalist.<br />
For purposes of comparison a chapter is added<br />
giving a full account of the Press Laws of France<br />
and Germany.<br />
*<br />
CANADIAN COPYRIGHT.<br />
THIS is a subject which has been much dis-<br />
cussed during the year by those interested<br />
in the Copyright question.<br />
Canada, it is well known, occupies a peculiar<br />
position with regard to copyright legislation. On<br />
the one hand, as one of our colonies, literary pro-<br />
perty receives there the same attention and protec-<br />
tion as in any other Imperial Colony. On the other<br />
hand, such legislation is very little use to author<br />
or publisher. A long and easily crossed frontier<br />
between Canada and America renders payment for<br />
and publication of copyrighted works a thankless<br />
task in Canada; the unshackled American can do<br />
the job so much cheaper.<br />
Canada has for many years designed to obtain<br />
leave from Imperial Parliament to regulate copy-<br />
right in the colony by domestic legislation, and the<br />
idea has met with varying and various support from<br />
ministers of all ways of thinking. The position is<br />
now as follows :—<br />
In 1889, the Government of Canada passed an<br />
Act (entitled 52 Vic, cap. 29) relating to the law<br />
of copyright in Canada, and this Act is now awaiting<br />
the Royal Assent—or was awaiting it in the spring<br />
of this year. But since that date the Ministers of<br />
the Ciown, whilst regretting the fact, have been<br />
unable to authorize the Governor-General of<br />
Canada to issue a Proclamation to bring the Act<br />
into force.<br />
The principal provisions of the Canadian Copy-<br />
right Act, 52 Vic, cap. 29, are briefly these :—<br />
i. Sec. 1 enacts that the conditions for obtaining<br />
copyright in a work in Canada, shall be that<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 176 (#216) ############################################<br />
<br />
176<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
the work shall, before publication or pro-<br />
duction elsewhere, or simultaneously with<br />
the first publication or production thereof<br />
elsewhere, be registered in the office of the<br />
Minister of Agriculture, by the author or<br />
his legal representatives, and further that<br />
such work shall be printed, published, or<br />
produced in Canada, or reprinted, repub-<br />
lished, or reproduced in Canada, within<br />
one month after publication or production<br />
elsewhere.<br />
ii. Sec. 3 (i) enables the Minister of Agriculture,<br />
in the event of the person entitled to copy-<br />
right failing to reprint or republish as pro-<br />
vided in Sec. 1, to grant licenses to persons<br />
domiciled in Canada to print and publish<br />
the work, for which copyright, but for such<br />
neglect or failure mi"ht have been obtained;<br />
but no such license shall convey exclusive<br />
rights to print and publish or produce any<br />
work.<br />
Sec. 3 (ii) provides that a license shall be<br />
granted to any applicant agreeing to pay the<br />
author or his legal representative a royalty<br />
of ten per cent, on the retail price of each<br />
copy or reproduction issued of the work;<br />
and he shall also give security for such<br />
payment to the satisfaction of the Minister.<br />
Sec. 4 enacts that the royalty shall be collected<br />
by the officers of the Department of Inland<br />
Revenue, and paid over to the persons en-<br />
titled thereto, but the Government shall not<br />
be liable to account for any such royalty<br />
not actually collected.<br />
Sec. 5 provides that if a license has been granted<br />
for the publication of any work, and evidence<br />
has been adduced to the satisfaction of the<br />
Governor in Council that such work is being<br />
printed and published or produced in such<br />
a manner as to meet the demand therefoi<br />
in Canada, the Governor-General may by<br />
proclamation prohibit the importation, while<br />
the author's copyright or that of his assignors<br />
is in force, of any copies or reproductions<br />
of the work to which such license relates.<br />
Sec. 6 enacts that no such prohibition as last<br />
mentioned shall apply to the importation of<br />
copies of such works from the United<br />
Kingdom.<br />
In June last the above-mentioned Act was<br />
brought under the notice of the Sub-Committee<br />
on Copyright, as was also an announcement in the<br />
press that Sir John Thompson, the Canadian<br />
Minister of Justice, was on his way from Canada<br />
to confer with the Colonial Office authorities<br />
relative to the Canadian Copyright Act.<br />
In consequence of this announcement, Sir<br />
Fredk. Pollock, the Chairman of the Sub-Com-<br />
mittee, communicated with the Colonial Office in<br />
July last, drawing attention to the fact that the<br />
Canadian Copyright Act was ultra vires, as being<br />
inconsistent with and repugnant to the Imperial<br />
Copyright Act of 1842.<br />
The receipt of Sir Fredk. Pollock's letter was<br />
duly acknowledged by the Colonial Office, and<br />
then for a time nothing more was heard of the<br />
matter.<br />
On the 17th September, a letter was written by<br />
the direction of Ixird Knutsford, from the Colonial<br />
Office to the Incorporated Society of Authors,<br />
but owing to a mistake of the Post Office autho-<br />
rities the letter was delivered to a wrong address,<br />
and was not received by the Society until some<br />
weeks afterwards.<br />
The purport of the letter was to the effect that<br />
Lord Knutsford had directed Sir John Thompson's<br />
report on the Canadian Copyright Act, together<br />
with other official documents, to be forwarded to<br />
the Society of Authors, and ended by saying that<br />
his Lordship would be glad to be favoured with<br />
any observations which the Society might desire to<br />
make upon the questions raised in the report and<br />
other documents.<br />
Sir J. Thompson's report really consists of a<br />
very powerful argument as to why either the<br />
Canadian Copyright Act should receive the Royal<br />
Assent; or, if the Crown cannot properly give its<br />
assent to the Bill on account of its being in conflict<br />
with the Imperial Act, that the Government should<br />
promote legislation in the Parliament of Great<br />
Britain to remove any doubt which may exist as to<br />
the power of the Parliament of Canada to deal<br />
with the question fully and effectually.<br />
The main points upon which this demand is<br />
based may be shortly summarized thus :—<br />
1. The Imperial Government has, during the<br />
last 40 years, on several occasions promised<br />
to pass a Bill whereby the Canadian Parlia-<br />
ment might legislate upon the subject of<br />
copyright in Canada, although such legis-<br />
lation might be repugnant to or inconsistent<br />
with the copyright law of this country.<br />
This is proved by reference to various despatches<br />
from the Colonial Office to the Governor-General<br />
of Canada, which are set out at length in Sir J.<br />
Thompson's report.<br />
2. The rights which British authors and pub-<br />
lishers have under the Imperial Copyright<br />
Act have been greatly abused by the sale of<br />
their copyright privileges to American<br />
publishers and by their refusal to sell to<br />
Canadian publishers on like terms.<br />
3. The prices of American prints are so low<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 177 (#217) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
177<br />
that British publications have no chance<br />
of competing with them in Canada—the<br />
price of British publications exceeding by<br />
four to tenfold that for which reprints are<br />
purchased in America; the result being<br />
that the business of publishing British<br />
literature for the Canadian market is done<br />
almost exclusively in the United States.<br />
4. The American publisher is free to reprint<br />
any British work and to supply it to the<br />
Canadian public, while the Canadian pub-<br />
lisher is restrained from publishing such<br />
work on any terms, except with the per-<br />
mission of the copyright holder in Great<br />
Britain.<br />
5. On account of the facts mentioned in para-<br />
graph 4, publishing establishments have<br />
been transferred from Canada to the United<br />
States.<br />
6. The peculiar position in which Canada is<br />
placed on account of her proximity to the<br />
United States, and the copyright policy of<br />
the United States demand peculiar treat-<br />
ment in legislation.<br />
7. The royalty provision of the Act is reason-<br />
able, and affords ample facilities for collec-<br />
tion.<br />
8. The royalty system was recommended by<br />
the Royal Commission on Copyright in<br />
their report of 1876.<br />
Sir J. Thompson also adds that any suggestions<br />
as to details which the Colonial Office may think<br />
proper to make, will receive the earnest and re-<br />
spectful attention of the Governor-General.<br />
On October the 23rd a meeting was held at the<br />
Society's offices, to discuss the answer which the<br />
Society should return to Lord Knutsford's flatter-<br />
ing letter.<br />
The purport of Sir J. Thompson's report having<br />
been explained, the following reply was sent to the<br />
Colonial Office :—<br />
"In answer to the letter from Mr. Robert Herbert<br />
of the 17th September, 1890, I have the honour to<br />
inform your Lordship that a meeting of the General<br />
Committee of the Incorporated Society of Authors,<br />
including the Sub-Committee on Copyright, has<br />
been held to consider the questions raised by Sir<br />
J. Thompson in his report to your Lordship of<br />
July 14th, 1890. I am directed by the Committee<br />
to inform your Lordship as follows:—<br />
1. "They can express no opinion on the question<br />
of the general policy which Her Majesty's<br />
Government may think fit to adopt towards<br />
Canada with regard to the question of<br />
copyright.<br />
2 "They hope, however, that if Her Majesty's<br />
Government think fit to undertake legisla-<br />
tion in order to give effect to the principles<br />
of the Canadian Copyright Act, such legis-<br />
lation will embody due precautions for<br />
making "the collections of royalty charges<br />
really efficient.<br />
3. "They submit that the clauses relating to the<br />
collection of royalty charges as drafted in<br />
the Canadian Copyright Act, 52 Vic, cap.<br />
29, are not sufficient for the proper collec-<br />
tion thereof; and<br />
4. "It appears to the Committee doubtful whether<br />
the Canadian Copyright Act, 52 Vic, cap.<br />
29, does not purport to abolish copyright<br />
altogether, unless the person entitled thereto<br />
reprints or republishes in Canada within<br />
one month after printing or publishing<br />
elsewhere. At best, the language of the<br />
Act is ambiguous on this point."<br />
It must be remembered, though I hope I may<br />
be pardoned for pointing out anything so obvious,<br />
that these views of the copyright question in<br />
Canada have been forced upon us by the enterprise<br />
of America. It is hard on the English author to<br />
lose his problematical rights in the colony, but<br />
the blow is tempered by the remembrance that<br />
America has taken due care that he should lose<br />
his real rights.<br />
W. Oliver Hodges.<br />
Hon. Sec. Copyright Committee.<br />
*<br />
FIN DE SIECLE.<br />
THERE is much talk about the fin de stick<br />
or decadent writers at the present moment.<br />
Most of it, however, springs from an entire<br />
misconception of the true application of the phrase<br />
when literature is in question. As applied to social<br />
manners or morals, it is the merest affectation to use<br />
the term to describe anything but what has<br />
become at least jejune, if not absolutely decayed.<br />
When applied to literature, on the other hand, the<br />
phrase does not necessarily bear any such interpre-<br />
tation. Quite the contrary. An author may be<br />
described at once as the typical decadent and the<br />
greatest living writer with perfect propriety. It<br />
may not be out of place at the same time to<br />
remind some persons that the decadent spirit is not<br />
absolutely dissociated from the vilest writing. The<br />
school, however, is honourably d stinguished by<br />
great technical excellence. It may fairly be asked<br />
then, "What is a decadent}" A complete<br />
definition is at all times difficult to obtain, and we<br />
do not pretend to offer anything of the kind; but<br />
a writer is rightly described as a decadent when his<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 178 (#218) ############################################<br />
<br />
178<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
work reflects decay, or even triviality, in any shape.<br />
The true decadent never really cares to handle any<br />
subject when those elements are wholly absent;<br />
he is always a literary voluptuary and generally<br />
dabbles in psychology.<br />
M. Jules Lemaitre, speaking of the decadence<br />
literature, goes so far as to say that it should perhaps<br />
be regarded rather as the dawn of a new era than<br />
the decay of an old. If this be so the term "Neo-<br />
Romantic" even might not be considered as a<br />
misnomer as applied to the school. Again, M. Jules<br />
Lemaitre in reviewing a piece by M. Catulle Mendes,<br />
hails its author as "the true decadent, the decadent<br />
of the classical period, the Grasco-Latin decadent full<br />
of knowledge and dexterity." M. Catulle Mendes,<br />
he says, is like Callimachus, Claudius, Ausonius, and<br />
then further on, "M. Catulle Mendes loves literature<br />
with the ardour of a voluptuary who is never<br />
glutted . . and this debauchee is an artist with the<br />
most tender conscience, whose style is immaculate.<br />
I am sure that he would rather lose his head than<br />
write an ill-turned sentence." And finally in regard<br />
to his subjects, "I am obliged to recognise that<br />
he has written much on the details of psychology less<br />
with the avowed object of satisfying his own<br />
sensuality and exciting that of his readers. He<br />
has offended in the same way as did his I>atin name-<br />
sake, Ovid, Martial, and nearly all the poets of the<br />
Renaissance, in the same way as Montesquieu,<br />
Crebillon fils, Voltaire, Gentil-Bernard, Parny, &c."<br />
In fact, we may say that the decadent may be<br />
generally recognized by his unsavoury subject and<br />
his superb style. Many excellent persons, believing<br />
themselves to be lovers of literature,condemn decadent<br />
literature on this ground alone, and hold the hetero-<br />
dox view that no literature can be truly great which is<br />
not also truly good. There is a wide margin of taste<br />
in letters as in other things; but those persons<br />
who really hold this veiw do not care about literature<br />
at all—what they like is a popular treatise on moral<br />
philosophy written on the anecdotal method.<br />
With the exception of Mr. Pater and Mr.<br />
Symonds, we have no decadents, though Mr.<br />
Henry James is spoken of as a novelist fin de siecle,<br />
and there is one story about which there has been<br />
a great controversy lately; it is the only work of<br />
fiction a Frenchman would recognise as the work<br />
of a true decadent. But the spirit is here, and in<br />
Mr. Pater's postscript to his delightful Renaissance<br />
will be found a system of ethics that has a large<br />
following in England. Mr. Pater, it may be said, is<br />
among the greatest of our stylists. A writer to the<br />
St. James's Gazette once spoke of an infatuation for<br />
a certain painter, and fin de siecle is an "infatuation"<br />
for all forms of art and all things with form. But<br />
we have as yet no one to correspond to Pierre-<br />
Zoti, Huissmans and Paul Verlain.<br />
LITERATURE AS A TRADE.<br />
{Reprinted from the Sr. James's Gazette by permission<br />
of the author.)<br />
THE day is long past when the Muses lived<br />
in retired and modest seclusion, in a place<br />
that smelt "sweet as the vestry of the<br />
oracles." Those ladies came up to town many<br />
years ago, and are well known to have cultivated<br />
business habits. They are no more afraid of its<br />
being understood that they work for money than<br />
a reduced viscountess blushes to have it said that<br />
she sells bonnets under a pseudonym. But the<br />
importance which they attach to the commercial<br />
aspect of their duties, and their extreme anxiety to<br />
take care of the pence, have never been insisted<br />
upon as they have quite lately. Literature, which<br />
was still looked upon in 1889 as a sort of pro-<br />
fession, is treated in 1890 as a mere trade; and it<br />
seems worth while to note this curious change of<br />
sentiment, and to gauge the effect which it will<br />
produce. The signs of the new position are too<br />
numerous to be overlooked. Mr. John Morley<br />
and Mr. Walter Besant wrangle about the number<br />
of literary persons in Britain who earn a thousand<br />
a year—that very princely sum. A congress of<br />
unfortunate foreigners of dubious distinction, in-<br />
vited by nobody knows whom, meet in the golden<br />
recesses of the Mansion House, and talk in French<br />
for a week, about the way in which more francs<br />
may be secured in this way, and that way, and the<br />
other. And, finally, the columns of the Times<br />
reverberate for many successive days with angry<br />
voices discussing whether or no the chromo-litho-<br />
graphy of a certain " Palestinian" divine (as they<br />
say in America) is properly paid with eight, or<br />
eight thousand, or eight hundred thousand<br />
guineas.<br />
That literary work, like all other work, should<br />
be honestly and sufficiently rewarded, is so obvious<br />
that it seems hardly necessary to go on repeating<br />
it. What appears to a mere child of nature ex-<br />
traordinary is that so great a wrangle and a chatter<br />
should be made about the returns of this one<br />
particular kind of employment. It cannot be on<br />
account of the huge sums involved. A maker of<br />
agricultural machinery or of ordnance, the pro-<br />
prietor of a large mill or of a successful patent<br />
medicine, would scoff at the figures which are<br />
bandied to and fro in the existing discussion. If<br />
money-making is the first object, and if it needs<br />
transcendent gifts to make ,£8,000 in twenty years,<br />
those gifts might surely with advantage be diverted<br />
to the selling of dairy produce. In spite of all<br />
that is said about its profits, literature remains, and<br />
is likely to remain, the only profession in which the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 179 (#219) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
179<br />
most genuinely successful man cannot make a<br />
comfortable living. Not all the optimism of Mr.<br />
Walter Besant is likely to rob it of this unique<br />
distinction. Why, then, are the modest emolu-<br />
ments of such a poor trade the object of keen<br />
public curiosity? This is a conundrum to which<br />
I cannot even suggest an answer.<br />
It may be asked whether I think there are no<br />
abuses in the publishing trade, and whether 1<br />
ignore or depreciate the service of the Society of<br />
Authors. Neither the one nor the other. I am<br />
afraid that there have been, and perhaps even still<br />
are, irregularities and injustices which require to<br />
be remedied. I have been admitted to the debates<br />
of the Society of Authors, and have been proud to<br />
think that I was allowed to share in work so<br />
obviously useful. But I fancy that there are<br />
dangers even in the necessary process of reform;<br />
and I dread that the personal interests of authors<br />
may be given a prominence which will be injurious<br />
to the development of literature. The present<br />
extravagant curiosity about "royalties " and "intel-<br />
lectual property" and the like, goes far beyond the<br />
circle of those who are disinterested trying to<br />
remove certain trading anomalies. It begins to<br />
supersede all other curiosity about literature. This<br />
species of talk pervades what is styled "literary<br />
gossip." Do you know that Orpheus has published<br />
a new volume of his "Argonautics "? Ah 1 that<br />
magnificent passage about the Sirens and the<br />
sunset! And are you aware that he insisted on<br />
being paid five pounds a line for it? You have<br />
seen, of course, the new Nemaean ode that Pindar<br />
has written in honour of young Adrastus, who<br />
won the glove fight at the Cormorant Club?<br />
Oh ! such a splendid stanza about the sunlight<br />
flashing oft* his left elbow; and they say that the<br />
father—the great soap boiler, you know—is so<br />
pleased that he has sent Pindar a cheque for a<br />
thousand pounds! Pindar, very properly, would<br />
not cash it till the old fellow had altered it to<br />
guineas. I venture to ask whether all the columns<br />
of correspondence in last week's Times amounted<br />
to much more than this?<br />
Why such curiosity about literary prices is un-<br />
wholesome is, that it tends to make money the<br />
standard in a species of labour where the rewards<br />
are in no degree analogous to the deserts. It<br />
directly encourages the measurement of intellectual<br />
prestige by the amount which an intellectual pro-<br />
duct fetches in the market. It leads at once to<br />
deadly errors of taste. If gaudy " Lives of Christ"<br />
are valued at ,£4,000 apiece, what is the price of<br />
divinity by a Lightfoot or a Westcott? Four<br />
millions might perhaps be taken as an average<br />
answer, if this is to be a simple sum in the rule of<br />
three. But the retailer of gossip pursues his in-<br />
vol. 1<br />
quiries, and discovers that theology, as it was and<br />
is understood at Durham, is practically not rewarded<br />
at this rate. The concentration of his attention<br />
on price immediately thereupon produces its effect<br />
on his taste. The direct result is that he makes<br />
up his mind to regard the famous Bishops as<br />
persons of very much smaller literary importance<br />
than he had vaguely believed them to be. They<br />
are weighed in the golden balances and found<br />
wanting. They are looked upon as two small<br />
hosiers might be measured by the magnitude of Mr.<br />
Whiteley.<br />
How far we have diverged, in these last days,<br />
from the ambition of Keats, who desired to live<br />
like those primitive Sicilian bards,<br />
who died content on pleasant sward,<br />
Leaving great verse unto a little clan?<br />
O, give me their old vigour, and unheard<br />
Save of the quiet primrose, and the span<br />
Of Heaven and few ears ....<br />
.... my song should die away<br />
Content as theirs,<br />
Rich in the simple worship of a day.<br />
That is the last thing that our modern authors<br />
are expected to be content with. Yet sooner or<br />
later, unless literature is doomed to pass into a<br />
mechanism and disappear, the spirit that actuated<br />
the noble and poor masters of our language must<br />
be revived. It may safely be said that no great<br />
work in prose or verse was ever yet composed<br />
primarily for the purpose of making as much<br />
money as possible. The very spontaneity of the<br />
art would disappear in so gross a fume. Nor will<br />
those men and women who are led by the current<br />
gossip to "take up" literature as a trade, and to<br />
write novels, theology, or criticism, for the sake of<br />
competing successfully with the best-paid favourites<br />
of the hasty public, add anything at all to the<br />
riches of our language. The tendency of the<br />
moment is to reverse the natural order of things.<br />
The principle nowadays is not to write because we<br />
must, and then, if necessary, to sell the product,<br />
but to write for money mainly, and to get praise<br />
and pleasure, if possible, into the bargain.<br />
There should be a little modesty, one feels, in<br />
this pursuit of the guineas. It looks as though<br />
authors were such a hungry set that the mere jingle<br />
of gold intoxicated them. A measure of dignity<br />
must surely be aimed at, even by novelists, or we<br />
shall refuse to be interested in plots that are sold<br />
across the counter like cheese, or love-passages<br />
that are plainly ticketed as "very cheap at 31. i\d."<br />
No one wants to return to the old hypocrisy about<br />
"obliging the town " or " publishing at the earnest<br />
request of friends." There need be no mock<br />
modesty about the processes of literary business.<br />
Manuscripts must be sold, agreements entered into,<br />
0<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 180 (#220) ############################################<br />
<br />
i8o<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
and a proper care taken that the author does not<br />
let himself be defrauded. But these functions<br />
should be performed in private, not flaunted before<br />
the public. I no more desire to know what my<br />
neighbour the poet makes by his verses than I<br />
crave to see the account books of my other<br />
neighbour the lawyer. I am anxious that each of<br />
them should make the best of both worlds—the<br />
world of praise and the world of profit; but I am<br />
not listening at either wall to hear the clink of the<br />
money-bags. It is time that literary people should<br />
be requested to show the same decent reserve<br />
about their money matters which is shown by<br />
doctors and stockbrokers, and shopkeepers.<br />
Edmund Gosse. *<br />
THE FARRAR-CASSELL CASE.<br />
(From the New York Tribune by permission of the<br />
author.)<br />
London, October 13M.<br />
The Farrar-Cassell correspondence has taken, as<br />
such correspondence is apt to, a wide range. The<br />
personal issue between the particular author and par-<br />
ticular publisher gave place, after awhile, to a general<br />
discussion of the relations that exist and of the other<br />
relations that ought to exist between these two in-<br />
teresting classes of the community. Various sorts of<br />
people have taken a hand in it, and their contribu-<br />
tions fillaltogetherrathermore than twelve columns of<br />
The Times. They would make a respectable volume;<br />
very amusing and instructive, too. If any American<br />
publisher likes to act on this hint he may do so<br />
without fear of copyright, or royalty, or any demand<br />
for payment from any author whomsoever; least<br />
of all from the author of the hint. But he should,<br />
I think, have the courage to reprint all, and not<br />
a part merely. Some of the letters, for example,<br />
may not seem to him, or to anybody, intrinsically<br />
valuable, but they are all so connected as to make<br />
one whole.<br />
It might not be easy to say what the impression<br />
of the whole is on the general public. The Times<br />
itself is not a safe guide in such matters. In any<br />
controversy where the interests of trade are con-<br />
cerned, this very commercial journal is prone to<br />
take the trade side. It does so in this case.<br />
There is a plausible case, though not a real case,<br />
for Messrs. Cassell, and the great organ of the<br />
great nation of shopkeepers makes the most of it.<br />
Messrs. Cassell gave Archdeacon Farrar some<br />
thousands of dollars more than they were bound<br />
to give him; therefore they were generous to him;<br />
therefore he ought not to complain. Such is, in<br />
substance, the view of this journal; a view which<br />
ignores nearly everything that has been said from<br />
the other point of view, and takes no account of<br />
the fact that it was Messrs. Cassell, not the Arch-<br />
deacon, who published the figures on one side<br />
only of the transaction, and on the strength of this<br />
one-sided statement appealed to the public to say<br />
whether they had not behaved equitably. The<br />
challenge to set forth the facts on the other side<br />
remains unanswered. We know what Messrs.<br />
Cassell paid Archdeacon Farrar for the "Life of<br />
Christ"; some $10,000 in all. We do not know,<br />
and they stubbornly refuse to tell, what their own<br />
profits were, and their silence leaves us nothing<br />
better than the conjecture of my last letter to go<br />
upon. They are supposed to have made at least<br />
a quarter of a million. Is it, then, an equitable<br />
transaction by which the author of a book makes<br />
$10,000, and the publisher $250,000?<br />
Some of the letters printed during the last week<br />
are written by publishers; not the least interesting,<br />
by any means. It is well when the publisher<br />
unbosoms himself, and states his claim nakedly.<br />
One of them thinks the notion that the division<br />
of profits in this case may have been inequitable<br />
an "impudent" notion. "The creation of the<br />
property was in a very large measure due to the<br />
publishers, and the author was paid all he asked,<br />
and, presumably, all he wanted." Mr. Andrew<br />
W. Tuer, whose view is less extreme than those<br />
of most of his colleagues, says: "If an author is<br />
to share profits with the publisher he must in<br />
equity be made a partner in the business, and then<br />
he shares losses also." This is one of those<br />
arguments which proves too much. Every author<br />
who is paid by a royalty is, in the sense Mr.<br />
Tuer means, a sharer in profits. He is paid in<br />
proportion to the sale of the book. But he does<br />
not share losses on other books. The partner-<br />
ship between him and the publisher, so far as it<br />
exists at all, is confined to the particular book of<br />
which he is the author. If Messrs. Cassell had<br />
agreed to pay Canon Farrar a fair royalty on<br />
every copy sold, his share of the profits might<br />
still have been much less than theirs, but it would<br />
have been a share of the profits.<br />
Among the most cynical of these correspondents<br />
are a firm who sign themselves contentedly<br />
"West End Publishers." "It is believed," say these<br />
gentlemen, "that the 'Life of Christ' was judiciously<br />
advertised, and the work being made well known<br />
by that means in our opinion, made Archdeacon<br />
Farrar as an author." And they ask—the question<br />
is a favourite one with the letter-writing pub-<br />
lisher: "Would the reverend gentleman have re<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 181 (#221) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
181<br />
couped Messrs. Cassell for their large outlay if the<br />
work had been a failure?" Probably not, but<br />
whether he would or not the question frequently<br />
and triumphantly as it is put, has absolutely<br />
nothing to do with the point under discussion.<br />
The point is not whether Messrs. Cassell paid all<br />
they agreed to, and more besides. It is admitted<br />
they did, They point is simply whether upon a<br />
voluntary statement by Messrs. Cassell of what<br />
they paid Archdeacon Farrar, and a continuing<br />
concealment of what they themselves made, they<br />
are in a position to ask the public to say that<br />
the adjustment and distribution of the profits<br />
derived from the " Life of Christ" was or was not<br />
equitable.<br />
A publisher asks a similar question: "If I paid<br />
an author 820,000 and lost 810,000 by the book,<br />
would he repay me the difference? If not, why<br />
should I share profits with him if I make 850,000?"<br />
Such is the question, stripped of circumlo-<br />
cutions, and put, I hope, not less pointedly<br />
and not less strongly for the publisher than he<br />
puts it. Leaving the dispute between Messrs.<br />
Cassell and Farrar on one side, the question is<br />
one which a publisher is entitled to ask, though<br />
I do not imagine he will be satisfied with the<br />
answer. For the true answer can only be given<br />
by referring once more to the relations that have<br />
in times past existed, and to some extent do still<br />
exist, between the publisher and the author. It<br />
is, in fact, a question of circumstances. I can<br />
imagine a case in which I should answer yes to<br />
the first part of the question, and say the author<br />
ought to make good the publisher's loss. But<br />
such cases would be infrequent, for this reason.<br />
Nineteen times out of twenty the publisher is a<br />
man of business, and the author is not. A con-<br />
tract is entered into between two parties, one of<br />
whom knows all about the business side of it and<br />
the other knows nothing. The publisher draws<br />
the contract, fills it full of technical clauses<br />
designed to protect his own interest, each one<br />
of them or many of them covering a "custom of<br />
the trade" of which no warning is given the<br />
author. The publisher not only draws the con-<br />
tract for his own advantage, but interprets it by<br />
a code known to himself only. Nineteen times<br />
out of twenty such a contract, in which every<br />
right is safeguarded on one side and none on the<br />
other, is put before an author to take or to leave.<br />
It is perhaps the only transaction among all the<br />
millions of commercial transactions in which one<br />
party has everything to say, and the other nothing.<br />
If the author refuses to sign and goes elsewhere,<br />
he may or may not get better terms, but he will be<br />
in precisely the same position with reference to the<br />
one publisher as to the other. He must, as a rule,<br />
VOL. I.<br />
publish upon the terms of the trade or not at all<br />
Is it then probable that the publisher will have an<br />
equitable claim on the author outside of and<br />
beyond the terms of the contract which the<br />
publisher himself has framed in his own interest?<br />
Is it not, on the other hand, extremely probable<br />
that the author may have an equitable claim against<br />
the publisher?<br />
That is one answer. There are others, but<br />
this is not a treatise on the general question, and<br />
I pass on. It will be time enough to produce the<br />
other answers when a sufficient reply has been<br />
offered to this first. I add only on this point<br />
that I make no accusation. I state what I believe<br />
to be facts. I assume that the publisher acts<br />
after his kind, and up to the standard of his pro-<br />
fession. "Business men," writes another of these<br />
numerous correspondents, rather forcibly, "are<br />
largely colour-blind when any higher standard than<br />
that of their particular trade is concerned. Every-<br />
thing shady in their respective callings has its<br />
ready defence."<br />
I will, however, instead of going on to another<br />
branch of the subject, as I meant to, and adding<br />
other testimony from other publishers, turn to a<br />
letter which illustrates what I have just been<br />
saying-—a letter which I have read since I wrote<br />
the foregoing. The letter appeared in The Times of<br />
Monday, over or under, the curious signature<br />
"Ellbee and Eebee"; which perhaps might at a<br />
guess be read L. B. and E. B. Some seven years<br />
ago, say these writers, they issued as joint authors<br />
a book on terms which are known as "Agreement<br />
for publishing on commission." They do not name<br />
the publishers. They conveyed to them the right<br />
to act as publishers and wholesale vendors for<br />
Great Britain, the rest of Europe, and the United<br />
States. The authors were to bear all cost and<br />
risk; the publishers receiving a commission of 15<br />
per cent, on net sales, and taking the risk of bad<br />
debts. They add: "This 15 per cent, was subject<br />
to the trade reduction of one-third from the pub-<br />
lished price (thirteen copies being considered as<br />
twelve), with an additional embargo on special sales,<br />
the number of which we had no power to check or<br />
control, at a reduced price. But we were still<br />
further charged the full retail, or, at any rate, the<br />
estimated price on all outlays, of printing, binding,<br />
advertisements, &c.—items on which it is not<br />
unreasonable to suppose the publishers received<br />
discount from the firms they employed."<br />
This book thus published ran into six editions<br />
at $3 75 a copy. A popular edition was then<br />
issued at $1 25, for which the type was not reset,<br />
but two pages condensed into one by taking out<br />
the leads and omitting photographs. Eight editions<br />
were thus disposed of. It was a successful book.<br />
o 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 182 (#222) ############################################<br />
<br />
l82<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
How much do you suppose the share of the<br />
authors came to? They shall say.<br />
"We were debited with a considerable sum,<br />
almost double the amount of the original deposit,<br />
and so sick were we of the whole transaction that<br />
we were glad to compromise it by surrendering all<br />
our rights—save the mark! The book is now in<br />
its twelfth edition—it may be even in a still more<br />
advanced issue."<br />
Will some publisher who is fond of letter-writing<br />
tell us how much he supposes the publishers made<br />
out of this transaction? No comment on it or<br />
explanation of it has yet appeared, and I venture<br />
to predict that none will. Yet the publishers'<br />
story would be extremely interesting. Any paper<br />
would print it with alacrity. Or, if the firm with<br />
whom these unlucky authors dealt do not care for<br />
publicity, another publisher's view of the case would<br />
be welcome.<br />
G. W. S.<br />
"AMERICAN AUTHORS AND<br />
BRITISH PIRATES."<br />
ATU QUOQUE retort is, in popular minds,<br />
considered as an excellent and most<br />
effective argument. And in fact it has its<br />
advantages, because, if it is true, it convicts the<br />
accuser of hypocrisy. With what face, for instance,<br />
can we charge the Americans with wholesale literary<br />
piracy, when they can round upon us with the<br />
statement that we are doing just exactly the same<br />
thing ourselves?<br />
Everybody knows that we do practise literary<br />
piracy. But we have hitherto been under the<br />
comfortable delusion that it was only on a small<br />
scale, and in the case of small and unknown<br />
authors. Mr. Brander Mathews, in a pamphlet<br />
issued by the American Copyright League, for the<br />
first time enables us to realize the extent of the<br />
injury and loss inflicted upon American authors by<br />
British pirates. As the pamphlet will not probably<br />
be published here it will be well for us, before we<br />
bring our own charges of piracy, to illustrate the<br />
American case by the actual cases and figures<br />
ascertained by Mr. Brander Mathews. In Novem-<br />
ber, 1874, Longfellow wrote to a lady in England,<br />
whose works had been republished in America<br />
without permission or compensation, " I have had<br />
twenty-two publishers in England and Scotland,<br />
and only four of them ever took the slightest notice<br />
of my existence, even so far as to send me a copy<br />
of the books."<br />
Hawthorne has long been among the most<br />
popular novelists of the time. It would be diffi-<br />
cult, now, to number all the British editions of<br />
Hawthorne.<br />
Emerson, Lowell, and Holmes are also among<br />
the popular writers of the time. How have they<br />
been treated?<br />
As everybody knows, there are a great many<br />
collection of books called "Series" in libraries.<br />
Mr. Brander Mathews examines some of these with<br />
the following results :—<br />
(1) Series A.<br />
(*)<br />
(3)<br />
(4)<br />
(5)<br />
(6)<br />
(7)<br />
\8}<br />
9<br />
10)<br />
11)<br />
12)<br />
B.<br />
C.<br />
D.<br />
E.<br />
F.<br />
G.<br />
H.<br />
I.<br />
J-<br />
K.<br />
L.<br />
No. of books in the No. of American<br />
collection. books.<br />
91 ... 36<br />
19 ... 17<br />
.. not given ... 4<br />
38 ... 30<br />
.. not given ... 7<br />
20 ... 17<br />
27 ... 7<br />
.. 400 ... 30<br />
100 ... 20<br />
79 ... 60<br />
80 ... 65<br />
52 ... all<br />
This is instructive. It is clear, to begin with,<br />
that we must give up using the word pirate in con-<br />
nection with either New York or London publishers.<br />
Henceforth we shall speak of books thus issued<br />
as published-by-permission-of-the-law.<br />
Let us descend to special cases. The following<br />
are some of the little stories told by Mr. Brander<br />
Mathews concerning these publishers-by-permission-<br />
of-the-law.<br />
First, they alter titles. Mr. Bret Harte's name<br />
is affixed to a work called "Tid Bits "; Mr. John<br />
Habberton is made to call a book of his "Rich<br />
Sells and Horrid Hoaxes"; Mr. J. G. Saxe writes<br />
"Fie, Fie, you Flirt"; and Dr. Oliver Wendell<br />
Holmes is made to produce a book called "Yankee<br />
Ticklers"!<br />
Mr. Noah Brooks's " Boy Emigrants" was pro-<br />
duced in England by the "Religious Publishing<br />
Society," which gave the author a trifling sum for a<br />
preface and nothing for the book. Here we are a<br />
little in doubt. There is no " Religious Publishing<br />
Society " so called, though there are three or four<br />
religious societies which publish books. Which<br />
Society was it? Not the S.P.C.K. They would<br />
not give the author a trifling sum for the preface<br />
and nothing for the book. They would have given<br />
him the trifling sum for the preface and the book.<br />
They are nothing at all if they are not just and<br />
generous.<br />
Of Mr. O B. Bunce's ingenious little manual of<br />
manners "Don't," three editions were issued in<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 183 (#223) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
183<br />
England. One of the publishers sent the author a<br />
five pound note. "Helen's Babies " was reprinted<br />
by nine houses here—the author received something<br />
from three of them.<br />
Dr. Holland thought to protect his "Arthur<br />
Bonnicastle," by causing the number of Scribner's<br />
Monthly which contained the last part, to appear<br />
first in London. It was reprinted, however, with<br />
the last part altered and garb'ed.<br />
On mutilation, indeed, which is even worse than<br />
piracy, Mr. Brander Mathews has a great deal to<br />
say.<br />
Professor William Mathews, for instance, has<br />
written two popular and successful works. Both<br />
of these have been republished in this country,<br />
cut to pieces and garbled.<br />
Mrs. Champney's tale, "The Bubbling Teapot,"<br />
is actually printed here with the word "England"<br />
substituted for "America" all through.<br />
Finally, to make an end, Mr. Brander Mathews<br />
states that his own book, "Common Sense about<br />
Women," published in 1881 at Boston, was re-<br />
printed here with a whole third part bodily cut out!<br />
Now Mr. Brander Mathews frankly and readily<br />
admits that the wrongs of English authors in<br />
America are and have been very great. But it is<br />
clear that Americans have also suffered much.<br />
He acknowledges that far greater protection is<br />
afforded by English than by American law. But<br />
before our hands are quite clean, before we can<br />
raise the cry of pirate with clear conscience, we<br />
must purge ourselves of our own piracy. "What we<br />
desire," says Mr. Mathews, "from Great Britain, is<br />
the enactment of a law which will give full copy-<br />
right to every American book exactly as if its<br />
author were a British subject." Exactly. This is<br />
what we must do as soon as we can. Not retalia-<br />
tion in wrong-doing—but an example in right—<br />
is most likely to bring about the understanding we<br />
all desire.<br />
*<br />
THE GERMAN ASSOCIATION OF<br />
AUTHORS.<br />
MEETING AT BRESLAU, AUGUST, 1890.<br />
Saturday, 16th August.<br />
3 p.m. Meeting of the General Management at<br />
Gebauer's Hotel, 13, Tauenzienplatz.<br />
8 p.m. Reception of the Members and Guests<br />
by the Management of the Second District Society,<br />
and by the representatives of the public authorities<br />
at the Breslau Concert House, 16, Gartenstrasse.<br />
To conclude with an entertainment, at 10.30,<br />
provided by the "Breslauer Dichterschule" Club.<br />
Sunday, \-]th August.<br />
8 a.m. Visit to the Breslau Town Hall, con-<br />
ducted by Mr. Maximilian Schlesinger.<br />
9.30 a.m. Meeting of the Association in the<br />
small saloon of the Concert House.<br />
Programme for the Day.<br />
1. Financial Report of the Executive Com-<br />
mittee.<br />
2. Report of the Treasurer and Statement for<br />
the coming year.<br />
3. Report of the Auditors.<br />
4. Election of two Auditors for the year 1890.<br />
5. Resignation and fresh election of three<br />
members of the General Management.<br />
6. Fresh election of the Syndicate's Committee<br />
of Experts.<br />
7. Motion of Dr. Robert Keil:—<br />
"That the General Meeting be pleased to<br />
resolve: taking into consideration that the regula-<br />
tion of Copyright in the German Empire is always<br />
becoming more necessary; taking into considera-<br />
tion also, that the petition sent to the Chancellor a<br />
year and a half ago, in accordance with the Munich<br />
resolution, has up to the present not proved success-<br />
ful; taking into consideration further, that the<br />
resolution arrived at on the 4th May of this year<br />
upon the proposal of Mr. Robert Voigtlander has<br />
chiefly in view the interest of the book trade, and<br />
does not satisfy the well-grounded wish of the<br />
German Association of Authors, as the authoritative<br />
representative of German literati, to be included in<br />
the Committee in question; taking into considera-<br />
tion finally, that the German Association of Authors,<br />
according to paragraph 1 of their Statutes, has as its<br />
object the protection and furtherance of the<br />
interests of the profession of its members :—<br />
"(a) That a Committee consisting of six mem-<br />
bers be elected from the German Association<br />
of Authors, who, with the assistance of the<br />
Syndic of the Association, as a qualified<br />
voting member, shall prepare a draft of<br />
German copyright.<br />
"(b) That the Committee be allowed to add to<br />
their number, by their own selection, from<br />
among the members of the German Associa-<br />
tion of Authors,<br />
(c) That the travelling expenses and other<br />
disbursements of the members of the Com-<br />
mittee be paid out of the funds of the<br />
Association.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 184 (#224) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
"(d) That the draft when prepared be published<br />
by the Committee in the Deutsche Presse,<br />
nnd be submitted for discussion.<br />
•' (e) That the same be submitted to the General<br />
Meeting of the Association in the year<br />
1891, for possible alterations and final<br />
approval.<br />
"(/) That, after such approval, it be forwarded<br />
by the Committee of Management to the<br />
Office of the Imperial Chancellor, with the<br />
request that, upon the codification of the<br />
German Copyright, the said draft may be<br />
favourably considered."<br />
8. Report of the Committee on the formation of<br />
a Provident Fund for the Aged.<br />
9. Report by Dr. Moritz Brasch as to a general<br />
lottery in aid of the German Association of Authors'<br />
Provident Fund for the Aged.<br />
10. Proposal by Dr. Bienemann and Dr. Hans<br />
Blum.<br />
"That the General Meeting be pleased to<br />
resolve further:—<br />
"I. That a Committee of five members be<br />
elected to examine the Statutes of the Association,<br />
in order to thoroughly and minutely investigate<br />
the following provisions—<br />
"(a) The acquisition and loss of membership.<br />
"(b) The privileges and duties of the Manage-<br />
ment and its members, of the Executive<br />
Committee, and of the General Meeting.<br />
"(c) The privileges and duties of the District<br />
Societies and their respective Committees.<br />
"(d) The sphere of activity and the duties of<br />
the Literary Bureau and that for controlling<br />
pirated editions; as also of the Syndicate,<br />
and of the Court of Arbitration.<br />
"II. That the Chairman of this examining and<br />
editing Committee be not a member of the<br />
Executive Committee. In other respects, the<br />
Committee to be free to elect its Chairman from<br />
among its members, by means of voting papers, by<br />
an absolute majority of votes, which may also<br />
be effected by letter. The preparation and<br />
conduct of the election to be entrusted to the<br />
oldest member or to the one whose name stands<br />
first in alphabetical order at the General Meeting,<br />
or soon after the close of the same.<br />
"That the elected Chairman appoint the time<br />
and place of the deliberations of the Committee.<br />
The members of the Committee not residing at<br />
the locality where the meeting is held, to receive<br />
their travelling and daily expenses out of the<br />
general funds of the Association, in the proportion<br />
mentioned at paragraph 21 of the Statutes.<br />
"III. That the proposals for changes accepted<br />
by this Committee, as well as the views of the<br />
minority, should the proposers consider them of<br />
sufficient importance, be published by the Chair-<br />
man in the organ of the Association, and be soon<br />
afterwards laid for acceptance before an Extra-<br />
ordinary General Meeting, or, in the case of a<br />
protracted termination of the business of the<br />
Committee, before the next Ordinary General<br />
Meeting."<br />
Breakfast and dinner, a la carte, served in the<br />
Concert House during the pause in the proceed-<br />
ings.<br />
6 p.m.—Festival of the Town of Breslau, at<br />
Liebichshohe.<br />
Monday, i&t/i August.<br />
9 a.m.—Meeting of the Association.<br />
Programme for the Day.<br />
1. Notice of the allotment of offices among the<br />
members of the General Management for the<br />
ensuing year.<br />
2. Reports of the District Societies as to their<br />
activity during the past year.<br />
3. Proposal of Dr. Robert Keil.<br />
"That paragraph 7 of the Statutes, so far as it<br />
refers to No. 3, be supplemented as follows:<br />
in the case at 3 on decision of the District<br />
Management. Against this decision, 'which<br />
is only to be taken after hearing the accused,<br />
and, in order to be valid, requires a majority<br />
of two-thirds of the voters and to be com-<br />
municated to the General Management<br />
with a statement of the reasons, the accused<br />
is at liberty within seven days to deposit in<br />
writing with the District Management an<br />
appeal to the General Management, which<br />
is bound to allow the accused, who may be<br />
represented by counsel, a verbal or written<br />
defence. The Chairman of the District<br />
Management is excluded from participation<br />
in this decision of second existence. It is<br />
necessary that there should be a majority<br />
of two-thirds of the voters to confirm the<br />
decision of the District Management. Only<br />
after the lapse of the period allowed for appeal,<br />
and in case of appeal, only after issue of the<br />
confirmation to the District Management<br />
and to the accused, can the latter be ejected.<br />
No appeal to the law against the decisions of<br />
the Association can be entertained. Should<br />
a member of a District Society have offended<br />
against paragraph 7, 3, tlie matter is to be<br />
transferred from the Chairman of the<br />
General Management to the Chairman of<br />
another District Society for treatment and<br />
dec.'fioi in the first instance"<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 185 (#225) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR,<br />
'85<br />
4. Proposal of the Eighth District Society, repre-<br />
sented by Dr. K. von Thaler :—<br />
"(a) That the following resolution be added to<br />
paragraph 5 of the Statutes of the Association,<br />
'The third part of the contributions of<br />
members to be retained for the District<br />
Societies.'<br />
"(b) That paragraph 21 of the Statutes be<br />
altered as follows: 'The members of the<br />
Executive Committee, as also the remainder<br />
of the members of the General Manage-<br />
ment, perform their functions in a honorary<br />
capacity and gratuitously; nevertheless<br />
those members of the Executive Committee<br />
who take part in the General Yearly<br />
Meetings, are indemnified for their travel-<br />
ling expenses, at second class railway fare,<br />
along with a daily allowance of fifteen<br />
marks.'"<br />
5. Proposals of the Second District Society,<br />
represented by Mr. Maximilian Schlesinger:—<br />
"(a) That to paragraph 33, section 1, of the<br />
Statutes the following resolution be added:<br />
'The Aid Fund out of its resources renders<br />
assistance towards the support of members,<br />
who, through no fault of their own, find<br />
themselves in straightened circumstances;<br />
and especially to those who, in consequence<br />
of illness or bodily infirmities, have become<br />
unfitted for their avocations.'<br />
"(b) That the highest amount be fixed which<br />
the District Societies may go in rendering<br />
aid independently. (Paragraph 34, 3)."<br />
6. That the apportionment be fixed which is to<br />
be granted (under paragraph 29, 3) to the District<br />
Societies out of the proceeds from theatrical per-<br />
formances, concerts, lectures, &c, given on behalf<br />
of the Association.<br />
7. Proposals of the First District Society as<br />
regards the organ of the Association, the Deutsche<br />
Presse, represented by Dr. A. von Hanstein.<br />
"(a) That the organ of the Association, the<br />
Deutsche Presse, introduce for the future<br />
amongst its articles only those which have<br />
relation to the social and ethical circum-<br />
stances connected with German literature<br />
and the German literary world; all other<br />
belle lettristic matter, such as novels, &c,<br />
to be excluded. The newspaper to be<br />
viewed as an organ for the furtherance of<br />
the interests of the Association, as an official<br />
medium of correspondence for the authorities<br />
of the Association, and as a journal devoted<br />
specially to the social and ethical efforts at<br />
reform espoused by the German Associa-<br />
tion of Authors.<br />
"(b) That the Association undertake the publi-<br />
cation and sale of the organ of the Associa-<br />
tion.<br />
"(c) That the organ of the Association, the<br />
Deutsche Presse, be forwarded gratuitously<br />
and free of postage to the members, in con-<br />
sideration of an adequate increase in the<br />
amount of the yearly subscription.<br />
Amendment by Dr. J. Riilf:—" That the organ<br />
of the Association be delivered free of charge<br />
to each member by augmenting the amount<br />
of the quarterly subscription by the addi-<br />
tional sum of 50 pfennigs."<br />
8. Proposals by Mr. Ernst Lunge.<br />
"A. I. That the German Association of Authors<br />
may resolve to appoint an Enquete (Commission<br />
of Enquiry) upon the business relations of German<br />
journalism, especially as to the<br />
"(a) Conditions of engagement and of salary of<br />
editors.<br />
"lb) Mode of payment, and tariff for assistants.<br />
"(c) Business usages in the treatment of for-<br />
warded manuscripts.<br />
"II. That the results of the said Enquete be<br />
brought under the notice of the members in a<br />
suitable form.<br />
"III. That proper steps be taken to arrange for<br />
a uniform system in business relations as regards<br />
assistants and editors, or at least to insure this<br />
mode of treatment with members of the German<br />
Association of Authors.<br />
"IV. That the Executive Committee or a Special<br />
Commission be instructed to see that the resolutions<br />
of the Enquete be carried out.<br />
"B. I. That the German Association of Authors<br />
resolve to establish a central station for the distri-<br />
bution of (actual) news, specially for reports on<br />
festivities, noteworthy events, &c, which news<br />
would be afterwards spread by correspondence.<br />
"II. That the German Association of Authors<br />
take into consideration the erection of a telegraphic<br />
central station according to the pattern of the<br />
American 'Press Association.'"<br />
9. Proposals as to the time and place of the<br />
next General Meeting.<br />
5 p.m.—Social Dinner in the Saloon of the Wine<br />
Tavern of Chr. Hansen, 16, 18, Schweidnitzer-<br />
strasse.<br />
7.30 p.m.—Gala performance in the Lobetheatre<br />
(Silesian historical comedy, for this evening.)<br />
After the performance a convivial meeting at the<br />
Lowenbrau, 36, Schweidnitzerstrasse.<br />
Tuesday, 19th August.<br />
Excursion to Fiirstenstein.—Departure at 8 a.m.<br />
from the Freiburger Railway Station (Berlinerplatz)<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 186 (#226) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
by special train to Sorgau. From thence at 9.45<br />
a.m. by carriage drive to Fiirstenstein. Ramble<br />
through the grounds of Fiirstenstein to the old<br />
Castle. At 11 a.m. a social breakfast in the Castle<br />
ruins. At 2 p.m. carriage drive to the Baths of<br />
Salzbounn. Social dinner in the Kursaal. Coffee<br />
in the gardens. At 8.30 p.m. return to Sorgau and<br />
arrival at Breslau at 11 p.m.<br />
For those members who desire to visit the<br />
Riesengeberge, the County of Glatz, Adersbach,<br />
Weckelsdorf, and other parts of the Sudeten, it<br />
may be mentioned that the junction with the<br />
Gebirgsbahn at Sorgau must be made at 8.30 a.m.<br />
Those who participate in the meetings will each<br />
have to pay three marks in order to defray expenses.<br />
The charge for the Gala Dinner on Monday, 18th<br />
August, will be four marks each person. Those<br />
who join in the excursion to Fiirstenstein must<br />
pay eight marks, which includes railway fares and<br />
cost of carriage drives, breakfast, and dinner.<br />
It is requested that all communications be<br />
addressed to Mr. F. G. A. Weiss, Chairman of the<br />
Breslau District Society, 6, Kleine Fiirstenstrasse,<br />
before the 12th August. The Reception Bureau<br />
will after the 15th August be at Gebauer's Hotel,<br />
13, Tauenzienplatz, where members of the Associa-<br />
tion may obtain rooms at reduced prices. In fact,<br />
lodgings are amply provided for by the Reception<br />
Committee.<br />
Considering the exceptional importance of the<br />
matters to be discussed, we earnestly request the<br />
members to participate personally in the General<br />
Meeting of the Association at Breslau. We submit<br />
a form of proxy to be filled up by those who are<br />
unable to attend; as according to paragraph 26 of<br />
the Statutes, the vote may be transferred to other<br />
members; we may mention, however, that no<br />
member is allowed to represent more than ten<br />
votes.<br />
With the compliments of the Executive Com-<br />
mittee.<br />
Robert Schweichel.<br />
Berlin, 12/A July, 1890.<br />
AUTHORIZATION.<br />
I hereby authorize, in accordance with paragraph 26<br />
of the -Statutes of the German Association of Authors<br />
to represent me at the<br />
deliberations and votings of the General Meeting at<br />
Breslau on the 17th and 18th August, 1890.<br />
Place and date.<br />
Signature.<br />
*<br />
INTERNATIONAL LITERARY AND<br />
ARTISTIC CONGRESS.<br />
<br />
HE Congress met on Saturday, October 4th,<br />
at 3 o'clock, being received by the Lord<br />
Mayor and a Reception Committee.<br />
As already stated it was unfortunately impossible<br />
for the Society to be officially represented at the<br />
Congress, and not a single English man of letters<br />
was present at the Congress.<br />
On Monday the 6th, a report by M. Eugene<br />
1'ouillet on the "Convention of Berne" was pre-<br />
sented to the Congress. It stated that, thanks to<br />
the initiative of the association, an international<br />
conference met privately at Berne in 1883, drew<br />
up a scheme for a convention which seemed likely<br />
to serve as a basis for official negotiations, and<br />
asked the Swiss Government to present it at an<br />
opportune moment to other Governments. Switzer-<br />
land gave her consent, and, having been assured<br />
of the favourable inclination of a certain number<br />
of States to the project, convened a conference,<br />
this time official, at Berne in 1884. It was from<br />
that conference and the discussions to which it<br />
gave rise that the convention had sprung. The<br />
object pursued by the "Association Litteraire et<br />
ArtistiqueInternationale,"andalready accomplished<br />
in some measure by the convention, was the<br />
protection of the rights of authors in all civilized<br />
countries, the passing of laws which would assure<br />
to the author the profits of his work and defend<br />
him against those who enriched themselves at his<br />
expense. Such an object could not be effected in<br />
a day, but only step by step. Intellectual needs<br />
were not the same among all nations; the degrees<br />
of literary progress were not everywhere alike.<br />
The convention of Berne did something to fulfil<br />
this aspiration. It created a minimum of unifica-<br />
tion among a few countries. Nevertheless, it was<br />
of its essence to be revised from time to time,<br />
and in order to bring about such a revision the<br />
association organized a new congress every year.<br />
In regard to the question of translation, a point<br />
of some difficulty, the convention had made a<br />
step in advance by fixing at ten years from the<br />
time of the publication the right of the author to<br />
prevent unauthorized translations of his work. In<br />
1884, the Swiss Government went further, since<br />
it proposed that at the end of ten years the author,<br />
if he had himself published a translation of his<br />
work, should be invested with the exclusive right<br />
of translation during the whole period to which<br />
his right over the original extended. This pro-<br />
posal seemed to be logical, but was thought too<br />
sweeping to be adopted. It was to be hoped<br />
that at the next revision of the convention the<br />
idea would be found to have made headway, and<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 187 (#227) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
187<br />
would be taken up by all the countries which had<br />
signed the instrument. Translation was to literary<br />
work what engraving was to painting; it merely<br />
gave sufficient expression to the same thought.<br />
M. Pouillet asked the Congress to pass, as before,<br />
the following resolution :—" Translation is only a<br />
mode of reproduction; the right of reproduction<br />
which constitutes literary property, includes of<br />
necessity the exclusive right of translation."<br />
At the second meeting of the Congress, a<br />
report on copyright in the United States was<br />
read. It stated that the Association heard with<br />
deep regret of the issue of the discussion raised in<br />
the House of Representatives on the Copyright<br />
Bill. 126 members opposed a third reading, 98<br />
were favourable to it, and 103 abstained from<br />
voting. As Mr. Hopkins, of Illinois, proudly<br />
pointed out, 13 Bills of a similar character had<br />
already been introduced with the same result—<br />
namely, the positive rejection of any measure<br />
designed to extend protection to non-American<br />
authors. The views endorsed by the definitive vote<br />
were not of a nature, despite the hopes entertained<br />
in Europe, to indicate any progress, however slight,<br />
in the tendencies of the American Parliament;<br />
indeed, some of the arguments employed tended<br />
rather to make the situation worse. It was not<br />
merely the modus vivendi proposed that had been<br />
the object of violent attack, but the principle of in-<br />
tellectual property itself. To all impartial observers<br />
it was evident that the debate was governed by<br />
considerations quite foreign to that principle. The<br />
opposition was determined by two particular motives<br />
—the first, irreconcilable antagonism towards Eng-<br />
land, a country directly interested in the vote, and<br />
the second an intestine struggle between the east<br />
and west of America. The most rancorous<br />
opponents of the proposed reform belonged to<br />
regions the least given to reading and study,<br />
countries purely industrial, where writers and<br />
publishers were seldom to be found. In the<br />
constituencies of these representatives, Kansas,<br />
Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, and Texas, intellectual<br />
rights were not tangible and real things. The<br />
people disregarded alike the security and dignity<br />
of authors, whom they treated as speculators and<br />
monopolisers. On the other hand, authors might<br />
be proud of having been defended by the repre-<br />
sentatives of States which constituted the intellectual<br />
elect of the country. New York, New Jersey,<br />
Boston, and Philadelphia had contended for right<br />
and justice, and it was to them that the Association<br />
would owe a crowning victory. It would be of<br />
interest to glance briefly at the arguments advanced<br />
by the opponents of the law. The notion that an<br />
idea once put forth belonged to the whole world had<br />
long since been exploded. Mr. Hopkins, however,<br />
had not feared to take up the most untenable<br />
positions. According to him, authors created<br />
nothing, but simply gave form to elements with<br />
which their predecessors had provided them. They<br />
found their ideas in books, and merely put them in<br />
circulation again. This was equivalent to saying<br />
that a man could not create his house, since he<br />
took his material for it from the earth. Mr.<br />
Hopkins added that a writer worthy of the name<br />
would not work for money. He had to be thanked<br />
for that proof of esteem, but at the same time it<br />
must be pointed out that even the best of writers<br />
had a right to live by his work, like every other<br />
human being. Mr. Hopkins did not seem to think<br />
that in refusing to an author the right of remunera-<br />
tion he was closing the door of a literary career to<br />
every one without fortune and without patrimony.<br />
It was the doctrine of silencing the poor in all its<br />
cruelty. Another argument was that the interest<br />
of an author was opposed to the general interest,<br />
as the remuneration which he claimed would tend<br />
to increase the price of books. Mr. Payson, of<br />
Illinois, desired that even American writers should<br />
not be protected. An author, it was said, "ought<br />
to be a devotee, an apostle who sacrificed himself<br />
to the pleasure of the greatest number. The public<br />
owed him nothing. He was free not to write. If<br />
he did write, the delight of expounding his thoughts<br />
to millions of readers should appear to him a suffi-<br />
cient recompense for his labours." Mr. Hopkins<br />
and his friends said that if they admitted a right in<br />
the American writer to protection it did not follow<br />
that they should do the same in regard to the<br />
foreigner. "What is there in common between us<br />
and other countries?" Mr. Parson asked; "they<br />
take interest in us only because we are a source of<br />
profit to them." The antipathy against England<br />
was here shown in the clearest light. It was<br />
England and England alone that would profit by<br />
the law. Why should America favour the pub-<br />
lishers of the land of feudality? As to the<br />
authors, what good was it to speak of them? They<br />
made money at home. America owed them nothing.<br />
The Copyright Bill had no other object than to<br />
open to foreigners the vast market of the American<br />
reading public, and that without exacting any re-<br />
ciprocity on the part of other countries." One<br />
speaker added that in order to ensure protection<br />
to a foreign author in England it was necessary<br />
that he should live there and take an oath of<br />
allegiance to the Queen, and no one had replied<br />
to such fantastic statements. Americans knew<br />
that in most countries of Europe their rights were<br />
protected even now. In France, among other<br />
countries, was not the principle of protection, even<br />
without reciprocity, embodied in the law? To<br />
speak only of England, what connection was there<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 188 (#228) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
between a registration at Stationers' Hall and an<br />
oath of allegiance to the Queen? Had not Eng-<br />
land always offered a treaty to the United States,<br />
and had the Association lost the recollection of a<br />
project submitted for its consideration in 1881 by<br />
the Board of Trade—a project which established<br />
the principle of reciprocity between the two<br />
countries? Let the United States enter the Con-<br />
vention of Berne, and they would at once have a<br />
proof that no condition of a nature to wound their<br />
sentiments of American loyalty would be imposed<br />
upon them. The American people were great<br />
readers, there being scarcely a farm or cabin, even<br />
in the remotest places in the Rocky Mountains,<br />
where a book or magazine was not to be found.<br />
Owing to the present system the works of European<br />
writers had been published at too cheap a rate.<br />
What cost 5of. in England, cost 1 sf. or iof. in the<br />
United States. General Gordon's "Journal,"<br />
worth in London 21s., was sold at Chicago for a<br />
dollar and a half. The protection of the author's<br />
right, it was maintained, would lead to a for-<br />
midable increase in the price of books. It was<br />
singular that in a country which piqued itself upon<br />
being eminently practical, the representatives of the<br />
people in Parliament seemed to be so ill provided<br />
with trustworthy documents bearing on the ques-<br />
tions which they discussed, for a man having any<br />
knowledge of what was going on in Europe might<br />
easily refute that argument. To leave England for<br />
a moment out of the question—the price of books<br />
there, on account of special circumstances, such as<br />
circulating libraries, being high—in France, in<br />
Spain, and in Germany the extreme of cheaphess<br />
had been reached. Where was the right of authors<br />
more respected than in those countries? Could<br />
the Americans cite a single work for which the<br />
author's right had not been paid in some form or<br />
another? And yet, with the exception of some<br />
editions degrand luxe, the average price was 2f. 50c,<br />
two marks, or two pesetas and a half. There had<br />
been published a number of "libraries" at if.<br />
the volume. The masterpieces of contemporary<br />
authors were even republished by Marpon at 60c.<br />
the volume. Was it supposed in America that the<br />
rights of the author were not paid on all these<br />
works? Did not Tauchnitz pay English authors<br />
for permission to bring out cheap editions of their<br />
works? As a matter of fact, were not contracts<br />
daily entered into between the publishers of Lon-<br />
don, Leipsic, and Madrid with European authors?<br />
This was a proof that respect for the author's right<br />
was in no way incompatible with low prices. In<br />
regard to the special relations between the United<br />
States and England, it was to be observed that the<br />
payment to English authors would not be increased<br />
by the cost of translation, inasmuch as the lan-<br />
guages were the same. Belgium arranged with<br />
French authors for the reproduction of their<br />
works on better conditions than Germany and<br />
England. The requirements of the author were<br />
not such that the increase of price would appear so<br />
formidable. The average rate could be fixed at<br />
10 per cent, on the price marked. As a conse-<br />
quence, the book brought out in America for half-<br />
a-dollar—that was, about 2s., or 2f. 50c.—would<br />
go up to 2f. 75c—an insignificant increase when it<br />
was considered that in return for it a great and<br />
admirable country would be in the paths of probity.<br />
Should such a sacrifice be thought impossible?<br />
Let the United States declare themselves ready to<br />
accept these conditions, and they would have the<br />
signature of every man who used a pen.<br />
*<br />
CURIOUS CASE.<br />
VI.<br />
THIS case was only prevented from turning<br />
out a hard one by the agreeable readiness<br />
on the part of the publishers to see with<br />
the author's eyes.<br />
The question at issue was a very curious one,<br />
and one which might often crop up in badly<br />
worded agreements. It was this: if a publisher<br />
has covenanted to pay an author a certain sum on<br />
a certain number of sales of his book, the book<br />
being originally issued at a certain price, can he<br />
raise the price of the book legally, no mention of<br />
the price being made in the agreement and the<br />
copyright being his? In other words, having in<br />
the first instance covenanted to pay a larger<br />
royalty, can he at his discretion pay a smaller<br />
royalty?<br />
This is the case.<br />
An author delivered a course of lectures on a<br />
technical subject, and their favourable reception<br />
prompted him to issue them in book form. He<br />
received a promise of two hundred subscribers for<br />
the book at five shillings each, and armed with<br />
this guarantee against total loss he issued the<br />
book with the best publishers he could have found<br />
for such a subject.<br />
He drew up a contract of which the following is<br />
the abstract:—<br />
a. The publishers shall print and publish the<br />
book at their own risk.<br />
/3. The author shall receive from them five<br />
pounds for every fifty pages of MSS. he supplies;<br />
twenty-five pounds, when the first five hundred<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 189 (#229) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR<br />
copies are sold, twenty-five pounds for the second<br />
five hundred copies sold, and, in each case, money<br />
in the same proportion for any less number; and<br />
thirty-five pounds for each five hundred copies sold<br />
after the first thousand.<br />
7. The publishers shall keep accurate accounts,<br />
accessible to the author or his accredited agent.<br />
S. The publisher shall have the copyright.<br />
We have here an admirable agreement in its<br />
first three clauses. The idea of the sliding scale<br />
royalty—the most equitable method of publishing<br />
if well carried out—and the demand that both<br />
parties should have access to the accounts of their<br />
joint venture, are both most sensible.<br />
But the author forgot to mention the price at<br />
which his work was to be issued, and he assigned<br />
his copyright unreservedly. to the publishers.<br />
Nothing short of an absolute breach of the agree-<br />
ment could ever regain for him any power over or<br />
discretion in the management of the book he had<br />
written.<br />
There was an understanding that the book<br />
should be issued at five shillings. Under this<br />
agreement, therefore, the author proposes to receive<br />
a small sum down proportionate to the length of<br />
his work, and a royalty of 20 per cent, on the first<br />
thousand copies, and of 28 per cent, on subsequent<br />
editions, the royalty being, as usual, calculated on<br />
the nominal or published price. That a nominal<br />
price of five shillings was throughout in the minds<br />
of both parties, when the agreement was made, is<br />
proved practically by the fact that the author<br />
brought with him to the publisher two hundred<br />
subscribers at that sum, after which the agreement<br />
was drawn by the author himself.<br />
In time two thousand copies were sold.<br />
The publishers then applied for a reduction of<br />
the royalties, stating that the book would not bear<br />
such large payments to the author. This state-<br />
ment they demonstrated by submitting the accounts.<br />
Now certainly a very large sale must be effected<br />
before a book will bear a royalty of 28 per cent.,*<br />
when it is issued at the publisher's expense.<br />
If the sale of the book can be calculated by tens<br />
of thousands, such payments can be easily made to<br />
the author, but here we have a book whose sales<br />
attained only to two thousand copies in two years,<br />
although it was an extremely successful book, and<br />
has run into two new editions since. It is easy to<br />
see that the author had much the best of the<br />
bargain, although the publisher was not actually at<br />
a loss.<br />
The author offered to accept a royalty of 20 per<br />
cent, throughout, i.e., he was willing to accept is.<br />
* Compare table in The Author, No. 2—a leaflet entitled<br />
"Royalties "—and " Methods of Publishing," p. 68.<br />
per copy for every copy sold. The publishers<br />
wished to reduce his share to gd. per copy. To<br />
this demand the author refused to accede. When<br />
the third edition appeared, it was issued at a nominal<br />
price of 7s. 6d. It will be seen at once that this<br />
change reduced the author's royalty at a stroke<br />
from the 28 per cent, designed in the agreement,<br />
to under 20 per cent.<br />
Was the publisher's action legal?<br />
The agreement enacted that ^35 should be<br />
paid for every 500 copies sold over the first 1,000.<br />
That is all, and that was done. The agreement<br />
said nothing whatever about the price at which<br />
these copies were to be sold—a most foolish<br />
omission. But there is distinct evidence that the<br />
agreement was drawn upon the mutually understood<br />
basis of a nominal price of 5.?. for each copy.<br />
Did therefore the raising of the price to 7*. 6d.<br />
constitute a breach of agreement, under which<br />
the author could regain possession of his copyright,<br />
and make other arrangements for publication?<br />
We were advised that such a view was tenable.<br />
The publishers, also advised, did not share this<br />
view, but expressed themselves willing to enter into<br />
a new contract, whereby the royalty paid to the<br />
author should be always 20 per cent, of the nominal<br />
price of the work, whatever that price might be,<br />
and an agreement was duly signed upon those<br />
lines.<br />
To us it seems that it is a most instructive case.<br />
We have often been told, and have often read,<br />
(this is when we are being called grasping), that no<br />
case is on record where an author has foregone any<br />
advantages he may have obtained over a publisher,<br />
and are requested to remember that publishers<br />
have done this thing scores of times for authors.<br />
Here is an author, who seeing that his book<br />
would not bear a royalty of 28 per cent., voluntarily<br />
consented to its being lowered.<br />
We have been assured that no publisher who<br />
respected himself would allow his books to be<br />
inspected by an author or an author's agent.<br />
(This is when we are being called meddlesome.)<br />
Here is a publisher—and there are many such—<br />
who inserts a clause giving this right in his agree-<br />
ment.<br />
Once again a badly worded agreement has<br />
brought trouble. Once again an unreserved assign-<br />
ment of the copyright to the publisher has made<br />
the trouble acuter.<br />
It is very gratifying that the case has been<br />
brought to an amicable termination.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 190 (#230) ############################################<br />
<br />
190<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
THE AMERICAN TONGUE.<br />
THE New York Herald has sent, through its<br />
London correspondent, a circular asking<br />
a few questions. He proposes to write<br />
an article on "American English," and desires to<br />
incorporate in it the views of English men of<br />
letters. The questions are as follows :—<br />
1. VVhether you think that the English language<br />
has suffered in its purity and elegance by<br />
transplantation to American soil?<br />
2. Whether you regard the "Yankee twang"<br />
and "Yankee slang" as unfortunate lin-<br />
guistic developments?<br />
3. Whether you think that the best classes of<br />
American men and women speak with less<br />
refinement than corresponding classes in<br />
England?<br />
I lay these questions before the readers of The<br />
Autlwr. They may perhaps be inclined to answer<br />
them. The address of the New York Herald is<br />
no, Strand, W.C.<br />
The development of the - language on the other<br />
side of the Atlantic for nearly three hundred years<br />
for the most part with no influence at all of one<br />
country upon the other, that is to say, upon the<br />
language of the common people, requires a philolo-<br />
gist to investigate and to describe. For a hundred<br />
and fifty years, that is to say, from the beginning<br />
of the last century to the middle of this, there was<br />
hardly any emigration from this country; very few<br />
Americans ever came here, very few Englishmen<br />
ever went to America. After the War of Indepen-<br />
dence, the Americans simply hated England—one<br />
can never understand why—we need only read<br />
Hawthorne, Thoreau, and other writers of fifty years<br />
ago to understand the unreasoning and childish<br />
hatred then nourished towards the mother country, a<br />
feeling never in the least degree felt by ourselves.<br />
By reason of this long separation, this hostility,<br />
this absence of intercourse, and the lack of any<br />
American literature worth bringing over, changes<br />
in the language of the Americans produced no<br />
effect whatever on this country, while the bulk of<br />
their people, being illiterate, were not influencd by<br />
our literature. Now that our people read American<br />
books by the million, our common speech has<br />
become greatly influenced by theirs. It is from<br />
them, for instance, that we learned to use the<br />
substantive for the adjective—as, a monster bal-<br />
loon for a large balloon. We have learned most of<br />
our exaggerations from them: we have received a<br />
great quantity of new words which are certainly no<br />
improvement on the old—as "boss, loafer, boom,<br />
corner," and a thousand others. We have caught<br />
from them that trick of irreverence which runs<br />
through the whole of American literature. I<br />
cannot say, for my own part, that I think the<br />
language has been improved across the Atlantic.<br />
As regards the second question, the "Yankee<br />
twang " is a mere accident, to be explained I know<br />
not how. The Americans remark our English<br />
twang or brogue, or manner of speech. Formerly,<br />
every county had its brogue. The Cockney twang<br />
which says "laidy" for "lady," "whoy" for<br />
"why," is the Essex brogue.<br />
As for the third question, I am convinced that<br />
cultivated people in the States talk better than those<br />
of the same class here. The reason is that they<br />
think more about their manner of speech. This is<br />
natural in a country where manners alone prove<br />
the cultivation and refinement which are here<br />
taken for granted when one stands on a certain<br />
social level. For the same reason their manners<br />
seem to me in one sense better, because they<br />
think more of manners, yet they are self-conscious,<br />
simply because they do think of manners, while<br />
English people who have been well-bred from<br />
infancy, wear their manners unconsciously as they<br />
wear themselves.<br />
W. B.<br />
*<br />
AN ENGLISH ACADEMY.<br />
THE English writer whose letter to the Daily<br />
Graphic provoked the interesting discus-<br />
sion on an English Academy of Letters, has<br />
been so long in Paris admiring French institu-<br />
tions, that he has had no time to read our<br />
contemporary literature, of which he seems, like<br />
Mr. Frederic Harrison, to hold a very poor<br />
opinion. The question was discussed by Matthew<br />
Arnold in his first series of " Essays in Criticism,"<br />
and the Pall Mall Gazette, in February, 1887,<br />
gave a list of forty names elected by the popular<br />
vote, to form an English equivalent to the French<br />
Academy.<br />
The Daily Graphic has already printed the<br />
opinions of several eminent writers on the subject.<br />
Mr. Leslie Stephen, Mr. Lang, and Mr. Swinburne<br />
have objected to the scheme, and other daily<br />
papers have been occupied in misunderstanding<br />
Mr. Besant. They say he has been clamouring for<br />
an academy. If his letter on Friday, October 24th,<br />
be referred to, it will be found that Mr. Besant<br />
only pointed out what the advantages of an<br />
academy might be as compared with the disadvan-<br />
tages. He did not say that he wished for an<br />
academy on the French lines, consisting of forty<br />
immortals, who were to be regarded as the only<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 191 (#231) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
191<br />
representatives of English writers, all entitled to<br />
tombs in the Abbey, and statues in Trafalgar<br />
Square. He sketched out what he considered to<br />
be the functions of an English academy, and<br />
he rather invited the opinions of others than dog-<br />
matised on the subject. Mr. Leslie Stephen was<br />
among the first to respond, and his name carries<br />
weight on any subject connected with English<br />
letters. He dreads the formation of cliques, the<br />
canvassing that would inevitably come about,<br />
nepotism, and the creation of a State convention<br />
inimical to new theories. He only sees in an<br />
academy a society of greybeards, who resent<br />
originality and look with suspicion on a coming<br />
author.<br />
A letter, signed by Mr. Whibley, shows the<br />
absurdity of pointing to the Royal Academy of<br />
Arts as a model. "The English writer" is again<br />
shown to be entirely ignorant of current opinions<br />
in England, when he talks of Burlington House<br />
"as an inducement to do good work, not merely<br />
saleable work, but epoch-making, with the gloriole<br />
of the National Gallery, of which I presume the<br />
Royal Academy is an almost certain ante-chamber."<br />
Imagine our National Gallery, now one of the finest<br />
collections in Europe, choked in future with works<br />
of art now exhibited annually at Burlington<br />
House. The Academy of Arts is a terrible warn-<br />
ing rather than an inducement to found an Academy<br />
of Letters. As Mr. Whibley says, it has resolutely<br />
set its face against new methods and new schools.<br />
Our younger painters of any eminence go to Paris<br />
now to study in the ateliers of the leading French<br />
masters.<br />
Mr. Andrew Lang admits that the technique of<br />
our language might be improved, but at the expense<br />
of its idiosyncrasies, its individuality, its peculiar<br />
genius. Now it is the want of technical excellence,<br />
not only in our art, but in our literature, that the<br />
French are always throwing in our faces, assisted<br />
by a chorus of Philo-Gallic Britons. Mr. Arnold<br />
called this national want a lack of intelligence,<br />
quick and flexible.<br />
Mr. Lang seems to think that professional<br />
jealousies, intrigue, and personal enmity would be<br />
the natural result of an academy, and those<br />
unhappy differences between authors, now, alas!<br />
too common, would only be aggravated.<br />
This is a very pessimistic view. One would<br />
hope that those national virtues of which Mr.<br />
Lang is so sincere an admirer would overbalance<br />
any such evil passions latent, as he would have us<br />
believe, in our philosophers, authors, and historians.<br />
And Mr. Swinburne animadverts rather on the sins<br />
of the French Academy than any possible crimes<br />
or virtues of the unborn English society. He says,<br />
with great truth, "The mere fact that the names of<br />
Honors de Balzac and Dumas do not appear on the<br />
academic register of contemporary distinction, is<br />
enough to dispose of its claims to our notice as a<br />
literary institution," and writing in 1867 he said,<br />
"Does it include one of high and fine genius<br />
besides MeVimle?"<br />
M. Coppe"e does not take his own academy very<br />
seriously, but his remarks are of the greatest<br />
importance. According to his view it has not<br />
influenced a single writer either for good or bad,<br />
but it has supplied writers with the words they may<br />
use without incurring the reproach of using, slang,<br />
and that in England an Academy would dignify the<br />
profession of letters.<br />
M. Coppee has crystalized in a few sentences<br />
most of the arguments that can be said in favour<br />
of an academy.<br />
Slang, whether it be the slang of the Sporting<br />
Times, of the art critic, or the reviewer, always<br />
encourages poverty of language and expression.<br />
All the correspondents have concurred with<br />
Matthew Arnold that the technique of our<br />
language requires a guide ; that genius requires a<br />
rein to direct it; but gentlemen who may be<br />
regarded as literary experts condemn the formation<br />
of an academy on the French principles.<br />
But—and here is another proposition—how if we<br />
were to form an academy, not consisting of our<br />
great creative or imaginative writers such as poets,<br />
novelists, essayists, or historians, but of those<br />
who are universally considered authorities on the<br />
technique of language, criticism, and style, men<br />
like Mr. Leslie Stephen, Professor Max Miiller,<br />
Professor Skeat, Professor Seeley, and Mr. Saints-<br />
bury? It would avoid those jealousies so feared<br />
by Mr. Lang and Mr. Leslie Stephen, and the<br />
exclusion of great names in imaginative literature,<br />
as Mr. Swinburne anticipates. We should not have<br />
people writing and saying "A is a greater novelist<br />
than B; C is a much greater poet than D. Of<br />
course academies always encouraged mediocrity;<br />
there has been some jobbery and chicanery some-<br />
where. B and D to our personal knowledge can-<br />
vassed and squared the Electing Committee." No,<br />
this academy would be an association of scholars<br />
and philologists; its members would be, if I may<br />
use such a term, the "nurses" of the language.<br />
They would encourage the science of letters and<br />
proficiency in expression; they would encourage<br />
that intelligence Mr. Arnold extolled. Scholars<br />
are not made in a day; it would not be in<br />
obedience to a popular opinion that they elected<br />
a new member. They could not aggravate the<br />
populace by rejecting a coming author whose book<br />
had lately taken the town by storm, whom they<br />
believed would remain—promising.<br />
Admission to its ranks would not be a certificate<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 192 (#232) ############################################<br />
<br />
192<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
of immortality, but a certificate of scholarly<br />
proficiency.<br />
We might not agree with its conclusions, but it<br />
would teach us how to arrive at conclusions instead<br />
of jumping at them—the methods of criticism,<br />
construction, and grammar.<br />
If there had been an academy of the precon-<br />
ceived type, would Martin Tupper have died a<br />
member? If he had escaped election how much<br />
abuse would have been heaped "on the old-<br />
fashioned conventional fogies who did not know<br />
what real poetry was." If it had taken him to its<br />
bosom, others more discriminating would have<br />
said, "How very premature! our academy is<br />
truckling to the vox populi." Such are some of the<br />
dangers of an academy founded on the prevailing<br />
notions of such an institution. Mr. Besant suggests<br />
other functions as the duty of an English academy,<br />
but these seem to belong rather to a body like the<br />
Incorporated Society of Authors, as Mr. Whibley<br />
pointed out.<br />
Another point M. Coppee referred to, namely,<br />
the Dignity of the Profession of Letters. In France,<br />
he said, the author is considered in a way he is not<br />
in England. Complaints on this score are often<br />
made. The Bar, the Church, and Medicine are a<br />
kind of passport to a social standing. Why should<br />
not the Arts and Letters be a similar "open sesame."<br />
An English academy, M. Coppee thinks, would<br />
have the requisite effect. No doubt, but it would<br />
create at once an aristocracy in the world of letters<br />
which in England at any rate has up to now been<br />
a Republic. It opens up, however, new paths for<br />
discussion divorced from the immediate question,<br />
"Shall we have an English Academy of Letters?"<br />
R.<br />
*<br />
AN ENCOURAGING EXPERIENCE.<br />
I.<br />
A. B. entered into an agreement with a firm who<br />
proposed to publish his book on the half profit<br />
system " for the first edition." What was meant<br />
by that does not appear. Two years later, no<br />
accounts having been sent in, A. B. found that a<br />
new edition had been issued, without his consent<br />
or advice being asked. The publishers then sent<br />
in their accounts. They stated the cost of pro-<br />
duction, including a sum of ^17 for illustrations<br />
and ^10 for advertising, as j£no. This did not<br />
include stereotyping, and there was a very small<br />
sum for corrections. Of course every item of this<br />
bill, which seems monstrous on the face of it,<br />
should have been examined and audited. They<br />
had sold the whole edition, producing £io. There<br />
was therefore a loss of ^30. They offered to take<br />
over the loss and to buy out the book for £,\o.<br />
This was done, and the book still lives and is in<br />
its twentieth edition.<br />
Moral.—The author should not have accepted<br />
the account without an audit.<br />
II.<br />
The same author was so unfortunate as to fall a<br />
victim to the payment-in-advance dodge. He<br />
paid ^45 down, and was to have two-thirds of the<br />
proceeds. Some time afterwards he received £8.<br />
He then suggested that it would be as well to<br />
spend something in advertising it. The publishers<br />
did so—at the author's expense—and charged him<br />
with .£36 on this account. This, together with a<br />
bill for ^16 for copies taken by the author, made<br />
up a very pretty account. Thus:—<br />
£ s. d.<br />
Paid by the author... ... 45 o o<br />
Do. for advertising ... ... 36 5 o<br />
Do. for copies taken ... 16 2 6<br />
£97 7 6<br />
£ s. d.<br />
Received by the author on<br />
account of sales ... ... 8 o o<br />
Received from private sales,<br />
say ... ... ... 20 o o<br />
£28 o o<br />
Loss of author by the transaction, ^77 is. 6d.<br />
Moral.—The only protection which can be<br />
afforded to writers who fall into such a trap is<br />
the publication of the figures as above. If they<br />
will not deter the unwary nothing will.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 193 (#233) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
QUERIES AND ANSWERS.<br />
By Way of Precaution.<br />
The following is from the Nation (New York),<br />
of October 2nd, 1890 :—<br />
"Two Lost Centuries of Britain," namely, the<br />
period immediately following the departure of the<br />
Romans, is the title of a historical study by William<br />
H. Babcock, which J. B. Lippincott Company will<br />
shortly issue."<br />
I do not know what views and opinions Mr.<br />
Babcock has formed and is about to publish. But<br />
it so happens that I have been myself engaged in<br />
an attempt to restore the lost history of London<br />
during these two centuries. There is only one<br />
set of documents open to those who investigate<br />
this subject, and in case my own opinions should<br />
also be those of Mr. Babcock, I place on record<br />
that my paper was handed to the type-writer on<br />
Monday, October 20th, and has been posted to<br />
the Editor of Harper's Magazine, before I have had<br />
had any opportunity of seeing Mr. Babcock's paper.<br />
Walter Besant.<br />
Hampstead,<br />
October, 1890.<br />
On Accepted Papers.<br />
Will you tell me why writers have to give almost<br />
unlimited time to the editors of magazines for the<br />
publication (and payment) of accepted articles?<br />
To cite from many similar instances. In 1885 a<br />
story of mine was—with warm encomium—<br />
accepted for a magazine "payment on publication."<br />
That story only appeared in 1889—rather long<br />
credit!<br />
In 1889, also with approval, another story was<br />
accepted for the same serial, and I presume I may<br />
look for it in print at some distant period. When<br />
this happens in all quarters, though perhaps not<br />
such aggravated cases of delay as in the case of<br />
the serial I mean, how are writers who are not<br />
millionaires to get on financially? Why are not<br />
short articles met with ready money payments, and<br />
then if the editor chooses to reserve them months<br />
or years, no one is inconvenienced.<br />
This is done in America, but, so far as I have<br />
experienced, not in England, although such short<br />
papers are looked on in the light of " pot-boilers."<br />
S.<br />
An Authors' Club.<br />
October 1.0th, 1890.<br />
In the September number of The Author, and<br />
while referring to the Authors' Dinner, the following<br />
question is proposed :—<br />
"Would it be possible, or would it be better for<br />
us—in our own interests—to meet in any other<br />
way?"<br />
Now, although I infer that the Editor had in his<br />
mind the alternatives of a conference or a con-<br />
versazione when he put this question, I should<br />
like to make a reply on another issue. In fact, I<br />
wish to urge what I have urged before in the pages<br />
of The Author, and that is the speedy formation of<br />
an Authors' Club.<br />
It seems to me almost ridiculous that a city like<br />
New York can have a flourishing Authors' Club,<br />
and that London apparently can find no use for<br />
one. I have no late tidings of the New York Club,<br />
but when I was a sojourner in the States some<br />
three years ago, I know that it was not only an<br />
extremely popular institution, but .hospitable as<br />
well.<br />
A. M.<br />
—*—<br />
The Colonial Custom House.<br />
"I have read the article in the September issue<br />
of the Authors' Society, entitled 'English Authors<br />
and the Colonial Book Market.'<br />
"All the correspondents quoted in the article<br />
assume (with you) that Custom House officers have<br />
both the power and the duty to seize books printed<br />
abroad, in which there exists a copyright. I<br />
believe they have no such right. They are officers<br />
paid a salary exclusively to see that all dutiable<br />
goods pay their duty. There is no duty on books,<br />
and a Custom House officer seizing books would do<br />
so at the risk of an action to which I can see no<br />
defence.<br />
"How many Custom House officers know of what<br />
books a copyright exists?<br />
"I have been referring to the law as in England,<br />
and I assume that Colonial Custom House officers<br />
have the same power only as here.<br />
"C. A. G."<br />
—♦—<br />
The Distribution and Display of Books.<br />
How important this subject is, and how singular<br />
are the ideas of the distributors upon it were forced<br />
on my notice.<br />
Some years ago, on the occasion of the death in<br />
distressed circumstances of Richard Jefferies, the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 194 (#234) ############################################<br />
<br />
194<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
charming, and in common repute, successful writer,<br />
public attention had been widely drawn to his<br />
case by correspondence and articles in the press,<br />
and I concluded that his books would probably,<br />
therefore, be prominently displayed in the book-<br />
sellers' shops. I went to several large shops in<br />
London, but none of his books were exposed either<br />
in the windows or on the stalls outside.<br />
Ultimately I entered one where I had been<br />
accustomed to deal, and made enquiries. After a<br />
little search copies of some of his books were<br />
produced, among them being an illustrated edition<br />
of "The Gamekeeper at Home," the very thing for<br />
a gift to a child. I bought the copy, the only one<br />
in the shop, and expressed my surprise at never<br />
having seen that edition before. "Oh," said the<br />
young man who served me, "very few people have.<br />
It does not seem to have been pushed. The<br />
public won't buy what they don't see, you know."<br />
"Then," said I, "why didn't you put it in your<br />
window?" "Oh, we only put books in the window<br />
for which there is a demand." I pointed out the<br />
contradiction between his preaching and his prac-<br />
tice, but he cut me short with a "Well, sir, it's our<br />
rule, that's all I know. Besides, it's an old book<br />
now."<br />
C. W. Radcliffe Cooke.<br />
—«—<br />
Query.<br />
"In a collection of Sonnets published many<br />
years ago—my copy of which has long been lost—■<br />
was a sonnet 'by A. Tennyson,' of which I re-<br />
member so much :—<br />
"Poland.<br />
"Sound ye the trumpet; summon from afar<br />
The hosts to battle; be not bought and sold;<br />
Arise, brave Poles, the boldest of the bold!<br />
O, for the days of Piast, ere the Czar<br />
Grew to this strength among his mountains cold<br />
When, even to Moscow's battlements, were rolled<br />
The growing murmurs of the Polish war,<br />
Now must your noble anger blaze out more<br />
Than when Zamoyski [Zmole ?] the Tartar clan<br />
• • • • #<br />
* # • * *<br />
Or later, when, upon the Baltic shore,<br />
Boleslas smote the Pomeranian.<br />
"What was the word to which I have affixed a<br />
note of interrogation, and what were the tenth and<br />
eleventh lines?<br />
ib/h October. "H. G. Keene."<br />
Roman Numerals.<br />
"The question as to Roman numerals was one<br />
of the puzzles of my childhood. But did not the<br />
Romans use an abacus to calculate with? The<br />
Japanese do, or did a few years back, and their<br />
numbers do not admit of being added up in<br />
columns.<br />
"L. M. S."<br />
«<br />
The method of multiplication in Roman<br />
numerals will be understood by considering that<br />
the rotation is not decimal, but additive.<br />
Thus—dcviii x ix. may be effected in the<br />
following manner:—<br />
VIII X IX = LXXII.<br />
C X IX = LCCCC.<br />
D X IX = MMMML.<br />
And the total obtained by adding is :—<br />
MMMMLCCCCII.<br />
DOCTORESS?<br />
"If it were advisable to add a feminine termina-<br />
tion to doctor, would it not be better to use 'ess,'<br />
which is generally employed in English, rather than<br />
the German 'inn,' which we only have in a modified<br />
form in words translated from the German, as ' Mar-<br />
gravine ' ?" L. M. S."<br />
Literary Methods.<br />
"I have no intention of entering into the<br />
controversy as to Mr. Bainton's pamphlet, but<br />
should like, if you will allow me, to tell an anecdote<br />
apropos of it, which some who were at Brasenose<br />
at the time when it occurred, will still remember.<br />
"The then Bursar, jealous for the credit of his<br />
cuisine, desired ardently the receipt for a certain<br />
fondu, for which another college was famous. He<br />
therefore, made acquaintance with the rival cook,<br />
and after much amiable conversation, said cordially,<br />
'By the way, I daresay you would tell me how you<br />
make that of fondu yours.' 'Well, sir,' answered<br />
the cook, frankly, 'I've no objection; I take such<br />
and such materials.' 'So do we. You must do<br />
something else?' said the Bursar. 'No, sir, I only<br />
use those I mentioned, and then I puts them into<br />
the fondoo dish and Ifondoos them'<br />
"That was all; he 'fondooed them,' but how,<br />
he could not explain, nor could the Bursar<br />
discover.<br />
"There are things which may be analysed and<br />
told, and yet can only be done by the expert, who<br />
in this case is the author.<br />
"The Author of ' Mademoiselle Mori. '"<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 195 (#235) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
THE LATE REV. HENRY WHITE.<br />
THE first meeting of the Incorporated Society<br />
of Authors was held in November, 1883,<br />
at the offices of the Social Science Society<br />
at the Adelphi. In the assembly there was no<br />
figure more conspicuous than that of the Rev.<br />
Henry White, Chaplain to the Queen, and to the<br />
Speaker of the House of Commons. He had to<br />
move a resolution on the occasion, but with charac-<br />
teristic modesty, was content to do so without<br />
making a speech. Mr. White's connexion with<br />
literature pure and simple was but slender. He<br />
had published a sermon or two, and had edited a<br />
volume written by his Curate; but there was no<br />
preacher in London, with the exception perhaps Of<br />
Canon Liddon, whom literary men were more de-<br />
sirous of " sitting under." He had undergone the<br />
experience of other literary men, although in a<br />
modified way, and was well acquainted with the<br />
necessity which existed among authors for some<br />
such organization as that offered by the establish-<br />
ment of this Society. From the first, then, he<br />
became and remained a sympathetic and indus-<br />
trious member, and often expressed himself as<br />
pleased with the share he had taken in promoting<br />
the movement. Mr. White's literary tastes were<br />
unerring, for without being critical in the strict<br />
sense of the word, his reading traversed an enor-<br />
mous field, and wasentirelydevoted to theillustration<br />
of the subjects on which he touched in his sermons.<br />
He was extremely fond, in the pulpit, of making<br />
quotations from the thoughts of others, whom he<br />
esteemed greater than himself, and whom he always<br />
quoted by name. In this way the newspapers of<br />
the day came under contribution, and The Times,<br />
The Saturday Review, even Punch, were frequently<br />
named in their turn with Fenelon, Hyacinth, Mr.<br />
Spurgeon, and Cardinal Newman; in fact, the<br />
skeleton of the sermon was all his own, but it was<br />
like one of those Egyptian mosaics which so closely<br />
resemble cloisonnee enamel, where the framework<br />
is of gold, and the interstices are filled with precious<br />
stones. He was fastidious, though as we have said,<br />
not critical, and contrived to keep together for a<br />
protracted period—he was thirty years at the<br />
Chapel Royal, Savoy—a congregation composed of<br />
Cabinet Ministers, eminent actors, journalists,<br />
doctors, lawyers, and artists, ladies of every rank,<br />
and the tradespeople of the precinct. The most<br />
striking characteristic, which all now dwell upon<br />
who cherish his memory, was an unfailing sympathy<br />
with any who were in trouble. Those who knew<br />
him best loved him most. He was a man who was<br />
not to be "found out." He was as transparent as<br />
sunshine, except in relation to the secrets of others<br />
intrusted to him.<br />
vol. I,<br />
There is little to say with regard to Mr. White's<br />
life, except in connexion with the Savoy, to which<br />
he was appointed soon after taking orders. He<br />
lived and died at the top storey of 4, Lancaster<br />
Place, in the precinct. From this modest centre he<br />
wove a web which seemed to embrace, and we may<br />
confidently say, largely influenced, London Society.<br />
This influence did not come from money or ex-<br />
ceptional talent, or even position. It was the<br />
result of that charity that hopeth all things, believeth<br />
all things. By this he forged a chain of love which<br />
even death has not been able to break—for, being<br />
dead, he yet speaketh.<br />
W. J. I.OFT1E.<br />
*<br />
AT WORK.<br />
This column is reserved entirely for Members of the Society^<br />
who are invited to keep the Editor acquainted with their<br />
work and engagements.<br />
THE Christmas Numlier of Tinsley's Magazine con-<br />
tains contributions from Miss Mary C. Rowsell,<br />
Austin Dobson, James Stanley Little, and John<br />
Coleman.<br />
Mr. T. Bailey Saunders will bring out immediately a fourth<br />
volume of his selections from the Essays of Schopenhauer.<br />
Mrs. Price's last story, "Hamilton of King's," which<br />
appeared as a serial in one of Messrs. Partridge's Magazines,<br />
has just been reissued by that firm in one vol., 2s. 6d.<br />
The concluding volume of the "Henry Irving Shake-<br />
speare" has made its appearance, with an introduction from<br />
Mr. Edward Dowden and a preface from Mr. Henry<br />
Irving.<br />
Mrs. A. Phillips, author of " Benedicta," &c., is writing a<br />
series of articles on Social Bath in the last Century, for<br />
Murray's Magazine.<br />
Miss Mary C. Rowsell publishes with Mr. French (89,<br />
Strand), two Fairy Extravaganzas for amateur [icrformance.<br />
Mr. W. M. Rossetti edits the poetical works of William<br />
Blake for the "Aldine Editions" of the British Poets<br />
(G. Bell and Sons). Mr. Rossetti writes the biographical<br />
introduction. ^<br />
Mr. Augustine Birrell is responsible for the lieauliful<br />
edition of the "Essays of Elia" just issued by Messrs.<br />
J. M. Dent and Co. Mr. Andrew Tuer edits "■ Prince<br />
Dorvs," also by Charles Lamb. The edition is in facsimile of<br />
the original form in which the book was published, and is<br />
issued by the Leadenhall Press.<br />
Eleanor Stredder is engaged in writing a series of colonial<br />
and foreign stories for children for Messrs. Nelson and Sons.<br />
The first, "Jack and his Ostrich," appeared last Christmas.<br />
The second, "Archie's Find: A Story of Australian Life,"<br />
is just ready.<br />
Mr. J. A. Blaikie's volume of Poems will lie issued<br />
immediately by Messrs. Percival and Co., Covent Garden.<br />
Mr. Walter Besant is writing a series of papers on London<br />
at various periods, for Harper's Magazine. They will<br />
probably be published in the course of next year.<br />
?<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 196 (#236) ############################################<br />
<br />
196<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Mr. Loftic's "London City" (Tuer and Co.) is very<br />
nearly ready.<br />
William Westall has written, specially for the Manchester<br />
JVeeily Times, a Christmas story, entitled " In Queer Street."<br />
The same author and Stepniak, encouraged by the success<br />
of "The Blind Musician," are translating, in collalx>ration,<br />
another of Korolenko's Russian stories.<br />
NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS.<br />
Armstrong, Frances. The Fortunes of Ruby, Paul and<br />
Diamond. Hogg. Is.<br />
Besant, Wai ter. Armorcl of Lyonnesse. 3 vols.<br />
Chatto and Windus. £1 lis. 6V/.<br />
Birrell, Augustine. Obiter Dicta. Second scries.<br />
Third edition. Elliot Stock. $s. and 6s.<br />
Bramston, M. Dangerous Jewels. National Society.<br />
Buchanan, Robert. The Moment After: A Tale of the<br />
Unseen. Heinemann. 10s. 6d.<br />
Buckton, 0. B., F.R.S. British Cicada:. Illustrated.<br />
Vol. I. Macmillan and Co. £1 13*. 61/.<br />
Cressweli , Henry. Sliding Sands. 3 vols. Hurst and<br />
Blackett. ,£1 nr. 6<l.<br />
Croker, B. M. Two Masters: A Novel. 3 vols. F. V.<br />
White. £1 lis. 6d.<br />
Daudet, Ai.phonse. Kings in Exile. Routledge. 2s-<br />
Haggard, H. Rider. Dawn. New edition. S. Blackett.<br />
3*. 6d.<br />
Hardy, Thomas. A Laodicean; or, The Castle of the<br />
De Stanleys: A Story of To-day. New edition. Low.<br />
2s. and 2.(. 61/.<br />
IIarte. Bret. The Heritage of Dedlow Marsh, and other<br />
Tales. Macmillan. 3*. 6d.<br />
IIoey, Mrs. Cashel. Falsely True: A Novel. New and<br />
revised edition. Ward and Downey. 6s.<br />
Kipling, Rl'DVARD. Departmental Ditties, and other<br />
Verses. Fifth edition. Thacker. 5*.<br />
Soldiers Three; The Story of the Gadsbys; In Black<br />
and White. I vol. Low. 31. 6</.<br />
Wee Willie Winkie, and other Stories. Low. If.<br />
Langbridge, Rev. F. What to Read. Sunday Readings<br />
in Prose, is. 6d. Religious Tract Society.<br />
LYALL, Edna. Derrick Vaughan. I vol. New edition.<br />
Methuen and Co.<br />
Momf.rie, A. Wm. Treadling and Hearing, and other<br />
Sermons: Delivered in the Chapel of the Foundling.<br />
Third edition. Blackwood and Sons. 5*.<br />
Murray, D. Christie. John Vale's Guardian. 1 vol-<br />
Macmillan and Co.<br />
OLiritANT, Mrs. Sons and Daughters: A Novel. Black-<br />
wood and Sons. 3s. 6d.<br />
Peard, Frances M. The Locked Desk. National Society<br />
I'raf.d, Mrs. Campbell. Under the Gum Tree. Trisch-<br />
ler and Co.<br />
St. Aubyn, A., and Wheeler, W. A Fellow of Trinity.<br />
3 vols. Chatto and Windus. £1 iu. 6d.<br />
Stuart, Esmk. The Vicar's Trio. 1 vol. National<br />
Society.<br />
Suter, Julie. Luther and the Cardinal: An Historical<br />
and Biographical Tale of the Reformation in Germany.<br />
New half-crown series. Religious Tract Society.<br />
is. 6d.<br />
Tytt.er. Sarah. A Voung Oxford Maid. Religious<br />
Tract Society.<br />
Nobody's Girls. Sunday School Union.<br />
Footprints: Nature seen on its Human Side. Fourth<br />
edition. Fisher Unwin. 3*. 6d.<br />
Underbill, G. F. The Hand of Vengeance. Trischler<br />
and Co.<br />
Wills, C. J., and Philips, F. C. A Maiden Fair to Sec.<br />
13 illustrations by G. A. Storey, A.R.A. Trischler.<br />
Wills, C. J. In the Sunny South of France. 12 monthly<br />
illustrated articles. Atalanta.<br />
Jardine's Wife. Trischler and Co. 3 vols.<br />
—— John Squire's Secret. 3 vols. Ward and Downey.<br />
New 3 vol. novel. Gardner and Co.<br />
—— Pit Town Coronet. Cheap edition. Trischler and Co.<br />
Vonge, Charlotte M. The Slaves of Sabinus. National<br />
Society.<br />
OBJECTS OF THE SOCIETY.<br />
1. The maintenance, definition, and defence of<br />
literary property.<br />
2. The consolidation and amendment of the laws<br />
of Domestic Copyright.<br />
3. The promotion of International Copyright.<br />
The first of these objects requires explanation. In<br />
order to defend Literary Property, the Society<br />
acts as follows :—<br />
(i. It aims at defining and establishing the<br />
principles which should rule the methods<br />
of publishing.<br />
ft. It examines agreements submitted to<br />
authors, and points out to them the<br />
clauses which are injurious to their in-<br />
terests.<br />
7. It advises authors as to the best publishers<br />
for their purpose, and keeps them out of<br />
the hands of unscrupulous traders.<br />
c. It publishes from time to time, books<br />
papers, &c, on the subjects which fall<br />
within its province.<br />
e. In every other way possible the Society<br />
protects, warns, and informs its members<br />
as to the pecuniary interest of their works.<br />
<br />
<br />
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Zhe Society of Hutbors (Jncotporateb).<br />
PRESIDENT.<br />
The Right Hon. the LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L.<br />
COUNCIL.<br />
Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.S.I.<br />
H. Rider Haggard.<br />
Alfred Austin.<br />
Thomas Hardy.<br />
Robert Bateman.<br />
Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S.<br />
Sir Henry Bergne, K.C.M.G.<br />
J. M. Lely.<br />
Walter Besant.<br />
Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A.<br />
Augustine Birrell, M.P.<br />
F. Max-Muller, LL.D.<br />
R. D. Blackmorr.<br />
George Meredith.<br />
Rev. Prof. Bonney, F.R.S.<br />
Herman C. Merivale.<br />
Lord Brabourne.<br />
J. C. Parkinson.<br />
James Bryce, M.P.<br />
The Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery.<br />
P. W. Clayden.<br />
Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D.<br />
Edward Clodd.<br />
Walter Herries Pollock.<br />
W. Martin Conway.<br />
A. G. Ross.<br />
Marion Crawford.<br />
George Augustus Sala.<br />
Oswald Crawfurd, C.M.G.<br />
W. Baptiste Scoones.<br />
The Earl of Desart.<br />
G. R. Sims.<br />
A. W. Dubourg.<br />
J. J. Stevenson.<br />
John Eric Erichsen, F.R.S.<br />
Jas. Sully.<br />
Trof. Michael Foster, F.R.S.<br />
William Moy Thomas.<br />
Herbert Gardner, M.P.<br />
H. D. Traill, D.C.L.<br />
Richard Garnett, LL.D.<br />
Edmund Yates.<br />
Edmund Gosse.<br />
Bon. Counsel—Y,. M. Underdown, Q.C.<br />
Auditor—Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wake, F.L.S.<br />
COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT.<br />
Chairman—Walter Besant.<br />
Robert Bateman. I Edmund Gosse.<br />
W. Martin Conway. I IL Rider Haggard.<br />
A. G. Ross.<br />
Solicitors.<br />
Messrs. Field, Roscoe & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields.<br />
Secretary—S. Squire Sprigge.<br />
J. M. Lei.y.<br />
Sir Frederick Pollock.<br />
OFFICE&<br />
4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 198 (#238) ############################################<br />
<br />
198<br />
ADVERTISEMENTS.<br />
TYPE-WRITING. I MISS ETHEL DICKENS,<br />
TYPE-WRITING OFFICE,<br />
AUTHORS' MSS. CAREFULLY TRANSCRIBED,<br />
26, WELLINGTON STREET, STRAND<br />
Writings by Post receive prompt attention.<br />
(Over the Office of “ All the Year Round”).<br />
SCIENTIFIC & MEDICAL PAPERS A SPECIALITY.<br />
MSS. copied. Price List on application.<br />
MRS. GILL,<br />
MISSES ERWIN,<br />
TYPE:WRITING OFFICE,<br />
13, DORSET STREET, PORTMAV SQUARE, W. ST. PAUL'S CHAMBERS, 19, LUDGATE HILL, E.C.<br />
Authors' MSS. carefully copied from<br />
I/- per 1,000 words. One additional copy<br />
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References kindly permitted to many<br />
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Further particulars on application.<br />
TYPE - WRITING & SHORTHAND.<br />
MISS GILL,<br />
TYPE-WRITING OFFICES<br />
6, ADAM STREET,<br />
STRAND, W.C.<br />
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EDITED BY<br />
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BRISTOL.<br />
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The advantages of Type-written Manuscript are LEGIBILITY,<br />
NEATNESS, RAPIDITY, and Ease of Manifolding.<br />
DR. ANDREW WILSON, F.R.S.E.<br />
Now is the time to subscribe.<br />
AUTHORS' MANUSCRIPTS, &c., prepared for the<br />
A New Vol. commenced<br />
Publisher.<br />
4th April, 1890.<br />
Companies Reports and patent @gento*<br />
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Newsagents, or direct from the Publisher-<br />
MEMORY LESSONS IN TYPING GIVEN BY<br />
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POST. WRITE FOR TERMS.<br />
ESTABLISHED 1851.<br />
BIRKBE C K B A N K ,<br />
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THREE per CENT. INTEREST allowed on DEPOSITS, repayable on demand.<br />
TWO per CENT. INTEREST on CURRENT ACCOUNTS, calculated on minimum monthly balances, when not drawn<br />
below £100.<br />
STOCKS, SHARES, and ANNUITIES purchased and sold.<br />
SAVINGS DEPARTMENT.<br />
For the encouragement of Thrift the Bank receives small sums on deposit, and allows Interest, at the rate of THREE<br />
per CENT. per Annum, on each completed £1. Accounts are balanced and Interest added on the zist March annually.<br />
FRANCIS RAVENSCROFT, Manager.<br />
OW TO PURCHASE A HOUSE FOR TWO GUINEAS PER MONTH, OR<br />
A PLOT OF LAND FOR FIVE SHILLINGS PER MONTH, with immediate<br />
possession. Apply at Office of the BIRKBECK FREEHOLD LAND SOciety.<br />
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A WEEKLY JOURNAL OF SANITARY AND DOMESTIC SCIENCE.<br />
How<br />
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## p. 198 (#239) ############################################<br />
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PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY.<br />
1. The Annual Report. That for January, 1890, can be had on application to the Secretary.<br />
2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of<br />
Literary Property. Issued to all members.<br />
3. The Grievances of Authors. (Field & Tuer.^ 2s. The Report of three Meetings on the<br />
general subject of Literature and its defence, held at Willis's Rooms, March, 1887.<br />
4. Literature and the Pension List. By W.. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry<br />
Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) 3-r.<br />
5. The History of the Socidte" des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigge, Secretary to the<br />
Society, is.<br />
6. The Cost of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms ot<br />
type, size of page, &c, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds<br />
of books. The work is printed for members of the Society only. 2s. 6d. (A new Edition<br />
preparing.)<br />
7. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprigge. In this work, compiled<br />
from the papers in the Society's offices, the various kinds of agreements proposed by Publishers<br />
to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various<br />
kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements.<br />
Price 3-r. (A new Edition in the Press.)<br />
<br />
Other works bearing on the Literary Profession will follow.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 198 (#240) ############################################<br />
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Printed for the Society, by HARRISON & SONS, 45, 46, and 47, St. Martin's Lane, in the Parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, in the City<br />
of Westminster. | https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/245/1890-11-15-The-Author-1-7.pdf | publications, The Author |