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288	https://historysoa.com/items/show/288	The Author, Vol. 06 Issue 11 (April 1896)	<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=%3Cem%3EThe+Author%3C%2Fem%3E%2C+Vol.+06+Issue+11+%28April+1896%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 06 Issue 11 (April 1896)</a>			<a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015013732253" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015013732253</a>								<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Publication">Publication</a>	1896-04-01-The-Author-6-11					245–268																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=6">6</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1896-04-01">1896-04-01</a>							11			18960401	C be El u t b or,<br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br /> CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESAN. T.<br /> Wol. VI.-No. 11.]<br /> APRIL 1, 1896.<br /> [PRICE SIXPENCE.<br /> For the Opinions earpressed in papers that are<br /> signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br /> responsible. None of the papers or para-<br /> graphs must be taken as eaſpressing the<br /> collective opinions of the committee unless<br /> they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br /> Thring, Sec.<br /> *— a 2-2<br /> z--- - -<br /> HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br /> remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br /> requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br /> important communications within two days will write to him<br /> without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br /> Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br /> letter only.<br /> Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br /> all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br /> jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br /> returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br /> *- a 2-2<br /> WARNINGS AND ADWICE,<br /> { . RAWING THE AGREEMENT.-It is not generally<br /> understood that the author, as the vendor, has the<br /> absolute right of drafting the agreement upon<br /> whatever terms the transaction is to be carried out.<br /> Authors are strongly advised to exercise that right. In<br /> every form of business, this among others, the right of<br /> drawing the agreement rests with him who sells, leases, or<br /> has the control of the property.<br /> 2. SERIAL RIGHTS.—In selling Serial Rights remember<br /> that you may be selling the Serial Right for all time ; that<br /> is, the Right to continue the production in papers. If you<br /> object to this, insert a clause to that effect.<br /> 3. STAMP YOUR AGREEMENTs. – Readers are most<br /> URGENTLY warned not to neglect stamping their agreements<br /> immediately after signature. If this precaution is neglected<br /> for two weeks, a fine of £Io must be paid before the agree-<br /> ment can be used as a legal document. In almost every<br /> case brought to the secretary the agreement, or the letter<br /> which serves for one, is forwarded without the stamp. The<br /> author may be assured that the other party to the agree-<br /> ment seldom neglects this simple precaution. The Society,<br /> to save trouble, undertakes to get all the agreements of<br /> members stamped for them at no ea pense to themselves<br /> eaccept the cost of the stamp.<br /> 4. AsCERTAIN WHAT A PROPOSED AGREEMENT GIVES To<br /> BOTH SIDES BEFORE SIGNING IT.-Remember that an<br /> WOL. W.I.<br /> arrangement as to a joint venture in any other kind of busi-<br /> ness whatever would be instantly refused should either party<br /> refuse to show the books or to let it be known what share he<br /> reserved for himself.<br /> 5. LITERARY AGENTs.-Be very careful. You cannot be<br /> too careful as to the person whom you appoint as your<br /> agent. Remember that you place your property almost un-<br /> reservedly in his hands. Your only safety is in consulting<br /> the Society, or some friend who has had personal experience<br /> of the agent. Do not trust advertisements alone.<br /> 6. CosT OF PRODUCTION.--Never sign any agreement of<br /> which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part,<br /> until you have proved the figures.<br /> 7. CHOICE OF PUBLISHERS.-Never enter into any cor-<br /> respondence with publishers, especially with those who ad-<br /> vertise for MSS., who are not recommended by experienced<br /> friends or by this Society.<br /> 8. FUTURE WORK.—Never, on any account whatever,<br /> bind yourself down for future work to anyone.<br /> 9. PERSONAL RISK.—Never accept any pecuniary risk o<br /> responsibility whatever without advice. -<br /> Io. REJECTED MSS.—Never, when a MS. has been re-<br /> fused by respectable houses, pay others, whatever promises<br /> they may put forward, for the production of the work.<br /> II. AMERICAN RIGHTS.—Never sign away American<br /> rights. Keep them by special clause. Refuse to sign any<br /> agreement containing a clause which reserves them for the<br /> publisher, unless for a substantial consideration.<br /> 12. CESSION OF COPYRIGHT.-Never sign any paper,<br /> either agreement or receipt, which gives away copyright,<br /> without advice. -<br /> I3. ADVERTISEMENTS. — Reep some control over the<br /> advertisements, if they affect your returns, by a clause in<br /> the agreement.<br /> 14. NEvKR forget that publishing is a business, like any<br /> other business, totally unconnected with philanthropy,<br /> charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do wit<br /> business men. Be yourself a business man. -<br /> Society’s Offices :-<br /> 4, PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN&#039;s INN FIELDs.<br /> *-*.<br /> e-<br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> I . VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br /> advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub.<br /> lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br /> business or the administration of his property. If the advice<br /> sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member<br /> has a right to an opinion from the Society’s solicitors. If the<br /> case is such that Counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Com-<br /> E E 2<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#600) ################################################<br /> <br /> 246<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> mittee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion. All this<br /> without any cost to the member.<br /> 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br /> and publisher&#039;s agreements do not generally fall within the<br /> experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br /> to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually<br /> engaged upon such questions for us.<br /> 3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past<br /> accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in<br /> order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree-<br /> ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively<br /> so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any<br /> agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor-<br /> mation thus obtained may prove invaluable.<br /> 4. If the examination of your previous business trans-<br /> actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should<br /> take advice as to a change of publishers.<br /> 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br /> posed document to the Society for examination.<br /> 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in<br /> the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks of every publish-<br /> ing firm in the country.<br /> 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you<br /> are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are<br /> reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing<br /> the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen-<br /> dence of the writer.<br /> 8. Send to the Editor of the Author notes of everything<br /> important to literature that you may hear or meet with.<br /> 9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of<br /> members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br /> safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br /> fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who<br /> will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers —(1)<br /> To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To<br /> stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon<br /> them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments<br /> due according to agreements.<br /> THE AUTHORS’ SYNDICATE,<br /> EMPERS are informed :<br /> 1. That the Authors&#039; Syndicate takes charge of<br /> the business of members of the Society. That it<br /> submits MSS. to publishers and editors, concludes agree-<br /> ments, examines, passes, and collects accounts, and, gene-<br /> rally, relieves members of the trouble of managing business<br /> details.<br /> 2. That the terms upon which its services can be secured<br /> will be forwarded upon detailed application.<br /> 3. That the Authors&#039; Syndicate works only for those<br /> members of the Society whose work possesses a market<br /> value. -<br /> 4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiations<br /> whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia-<br /> tions are placed ea:clusively in its hands, and that all<br /> communications relating thereto are referred to it.<br /> 5. That clients can only be seen by the Director by<br /> appointment, and that, when possible, at least two days&#039;<br /> notice should be given.<br /> 6. That every attempt is made to deal with all communi-<br /> cations promptly. That stamps should, in all cases, be sent<br /> to defray postage.<br /> 7. That the Authors&#039; Syndicate does not invite MSS.<br /> without previous correspondence ; does not hold itself<br /> responsible for MSS. forwarded without notice; and that<br /> in all cases MSS. must be accompanied by stamps to defray<br /> postage.<br /> 8. That the Syndicate undertakes arrangements for<br /> lectures by some of the leading members of the Society;<br /> that it has a “Transfer Department&#039; for the sale and<br /> purchase of journals and periodicals; and that a “Register<br /> of Wants and Wanted” is open. Members are invited to<br /> communicate their requirements to the Manager.<br /> There is an Honorary Advisory Committee, whose services<br /> will be called upon in any case of dispute or difficulty. It<br /> is perhaps necessary to state that the members of the<br /> Advisory Committee have no pecuniary interest whatever in<br /> the Syndicate.<br /> * As-º<br /> NOTICES.<br /> HE Editor of the Author begs to remind members of the<br /> Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br /> of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br /> heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br /> many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br /> 6s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br /> The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and<br /> communications on all subjects connected with literature<br /> from members and others. Nothing can do more good to<br /> the Society than to make the Author complete, attractive,<br /> and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this<br /> work send their names and the special subjects on which<br /> they are willing to write P<br /> Communications for the Author should reach the Editor<br /> not later than the 21st of each month.<br /> All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether<br /> members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate<br /> to the Editor any points connected with their work which<br /> it would be advisable in the general interest to publish.<br /> Members and others who wish their MSS. read are<br /> requested not to send them to the Office without previously<br /> communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable<br /> despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in<br /> which they are received. It must also be distinctly under-<br /> stood that the Society does not, under any circumstances,<br /> undertake the publication of MSS.<br /> The Authors’ Club is now open in its new premises, at<br /> 3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary<br /> for information, rules of admission, &amp;c.<br /> Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they<br /> have paid their subscriptions for the year P If they will do<br /> this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker&#039;s<br /> order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the<br /> trouble of sending out a reminder.<br /> Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the<br /> warning numbered (8). It is a most foolish and may be a<br /> most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding<br /> for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they<br /> would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five<br /> years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest<br /> or dishonest ? Of course they would not. Why then<br /> hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them-<br /> selves into literary bondage for three or five years P<br /> Those who possess the “Cost of Production ” are<br /> requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15<br /> per cent. This means, for those who do not like the trouble<br /> of “doing sums,” the addition of three shillings in the<br /> pound on this head. In other words, if the cost of binding<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#601) ################################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 247<br /> is set down in our book at eight pounds, to this must now be<br /> added twenty-four shillings more, so that it now stands<br /> at £948. The figures in our book are as near the exact<br /> truth as can be procured; but a printer&#039;s, or a binder&#039;s,<br /> bill is so elastic a thing that nothing more exact can be<br /> arrived at.<br /> Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged<br /> in the “Cost of Production” for advertising. Of course, we<br /> have not included any sums which may be charged for<br /> inserting advertisements in the publisher&#039;s own magazines,<br /> or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too<br /> often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from<br /> sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket,<br /> by inserting any number of advertisements in his own<br /> magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are<br /> who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those<br /> who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it.<br /> *-<br /> FROM THE COMMITTEE,<br /> HE Committee beg to remind members that<br /> the Subscription for the year is due on<br /> January the First.<br /> The most convenient form of payment is by<br /> order on a Bank. This method saves the trouble<br /> of remembering.<br /> The Secretary will in future send reminders to<br /> members who are in arrear in February.<br /> The Author will not be sent to members in<br /> arrear after the month of March.<br /> The members of the Society were invited by<br /> the General Meeting of Feb. 17 to nominate<br /> certain men and women of letters willing and<br /> able to serve on the sub-committee for the con-<br /> sideration of changes—if any—that might be<br /> thought desirable in the constitution and manage-<br /> ment of the Society, and especially with the view<br /> of making the Committee more representative of<br /> the whole body of members.<br /> It was also ordered by the second resolution—<br /> see the Author for March, pp. 223, 22.4—that the<br /> names thus proposed and seconded should be<br /> published in the April number of the Society&#039;s<br /> paper, and that this list should be accompanied<br /> by a balloting paper.<br /> The second Resolution cannot be carried out<br /> for the reason that no names at all have been<br /> sent in. The subject will be laid before the Com-<br /> mittee at the next meeting.<br /> G. HERBERT THRING, Secretary.<br /> March 30, 1896.<br /> LITERARY PROPERTY.<br /> Mºº of the Society are invited to<br /> observe that when a case is quoted in<br /> these pages, they can learn the name of<br /> the publisher, if they desire to do so, by calling<br /> upon the Secretary. The name of the author<br /> concerned in the case is however confidential, and<br /> will not be divulged without his direct sanction.<br /> It is found necessary to make this known, as it<br /> has been suggested that the cases quoted in the<br /> Author have no real existence, but are inventions<br /> of some persons connected with the Society.<br /> ſ.—AN EXAMINATION OF Accounts.<br /> In this case an author receiving the accounts<br /> of his book was not satisfied with certain figures,<br /> and demanded an audit. The account, as ren-<br /> dered, showed a balance of so much against the<br /> author. The auditor examined the books and<br /> found the exact contrary—a balance due to the<br /> author. Such a case by no means necesssarily<br /> implies dishonesty, but a certain amount of care-<br /> lessness; it shows very strongly the necessity for<br /> auditing the accounts. The balance due to the<br /> author, on the amended account, was paid.<br /> II. THE CASE OF ABERNETHY v. HuTCHINson :<br /> A MUCH QUOTED CASE OF COPYRIGHT LAw.<br /> This was a very extraordinary suit, and as one<br /> of the three decisions upon its merits now forms<br /> the legal precedent upon which most disputes as<br /> to copyright in lectures are decided, we think<br /> that the account of the case, as published recently<br /> in the Lancet, will have interest for many of our<br /> readers—for all, indeed, who have made a study<br /> of questions of copyright.<br /> The Lancet, upon its appearance in 1823,<br /> started the practice of reporting certain medical<br /> lectures delivered to the classes of students at the<br /> Borough Hospital, St. Bartholomew&#039;s Hospital,<br /> and in other public or semi-public places.<br /> The first victim—for so the reported men con-<br /> sidered themselves—was Sir Astley Cooper, who<br /> tacitly acquiesced in a publicity that served him<br /> well. The second was Abernethy, who brought<br /> an action against Hutchinson, the publisher of<br /> the Lancet, for infringement of copyright.<br /> “On the hearing of the motion,” says the<br /> Zancet, “an affidavit was put in by Abernethy<br /> which at great length cited the circumstances of<br /> the delivery of the lectures and gave an account<br /> of his calling forth ‘the hireling of the<br /> Lancet’ from the ranks of his students without<br /> response. He bitterly inveighed against the<br /> appropriation of his copyright, but at the same<br /> time protested that he would never withhold<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#602) ################################################<br /> <br /> 248<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> from mankind any words of his the publication<br /> of which was for the true good of the public.<br /> The affidavit of the defendant Hutchinson con-<br /> tended that the publication was made exactly for<br /> the good of the public, and, such being the case,<br /> free publication ought to be permitted without<br /> legal restriction. He further tried to show that<br /> there was no precedent for the recognition of<br /> copyright vested in verbal utterances. The Lord<br /> Chancellor (Lord Eldon) on the third day refused<br /> to grant an application, but several times in the<br /> course of his judgment said that he would hear<br /> an argument upon the point whether there had<br /> been a breach of trust or of implied contract.<br /> Thus it was temporarily decided that words<br /> used in lectures for the public benefit had<br /> no copyright vested in them, and were liable<br /> to be published without reserve for the good of<br /> humanity.”<br /> Four months were allowed by Abernethy to<br /> elapse before he made his second application to<br /> the Lord Chancellor for an injunction on the<br /> ground suggested to him by his lordship, viz.,<br /> that his lectures were delivered to persons under<br /> an implied contract not to publish them ; but<br /> at the end of May the application was made<br /> and the hearing was commenced on June I.O.<br /> Abernethy renewed his application obviously<br /> rather in the interests of other lecturers than his<br /> own, for at the time his lectures were not being<br /> printed in the Lancet, having been discontinued<br /> at the completion of the course some two months<br /> previously. “He may possibly have vamity enough<br /> to suppose that we shall reprint his lectures,” wrote<br /> Thomas Wakley, the editor of the paper. “On<br /> this point his mind may be perfectly at ease;<br /> our pages have been already obscured with<br /> his hypothetical nonsense during six tedious<br /> months, and when we read the proof of the last<br /> paragraph we felt relieved of a most intolerable<br /> incubus.”<br /> The result of the second application was that<br /> Abernethy was successful. The Lord Chancellor<br /> in his judgment to a certain extent went back on<br /> himself. He held that the lectures could not be<br /> published for profit, that if any pupil who had<br /> paid only to hear them afterwards sold them to<br /> the publisher he infringed the law, and that the<br /> publishers in so publishing them enacted “what<br /> this Court would call a fraud in a third party.”<br /> He dwelt upon the practical difficulty that existed<br /> in bringing home this fraud to anyone where no<br /> manuscript was in existence, but did not other-<br /> wise allow that there was any difference as far as<br /> the author&#039;s rights were concerned whether the<br /> lecture was delivered from a manuscript or as an<br /> extemporary effort. This is the judgment which<br /> forms the precedent upon which cases of infringe-<br /> ment of copyright in lectures are always decided,<br /> and in text-books upon the subject it is the case<br /> that is always quoted. Mr. Lely, in his excel-<br /> lent little pamphlet, “Copyright Law Reform,”<br /> published by the Society of Authors, quotes the<br /> case of Caird v. Syme; but the judgment here<br /> was, we believe, founded upon Lord Eldon&#039;s<br /> judgment in Abernethy v. Hutchinson. Mr.<br /> Scrutton, in our edition of “The Law of Copy-<br /> right” (1890), refers only to this judgment in<br /> Abernethy’s second application, and gives the<br /> place of the delivery of the lectures in question<br /> wrongly. He says they were delivered at Guy’s<br /> Hospital. They were delivered at St. Bartholo-<br /> mew’s Hospital, a distinction, as will be seen, with<br /> some difference. The lecturers at Guy’s Hospital<br /> never disputed the right of the Lancet to publish<br /> their lectures.<br /> Six months later Wakley applied to the Lord<br /> Chancellor to dissolve the injunction restraining<br /> him from continuing to publish or sell Abernethy’s<br /> lectures in the Lancet. The motion was un-<br /> opposed, and Lord Eldon dissolved the injunction.<br /> This judgment did not, and does not, affect the<br /> value of his previous judgment with regard to<br /> the legality of the publication of lectures, for the<br /> dissolution was granted upon new facts which<br /> were brought to the knowledge of the Court.<br /> Wakley had all along contended that it was<br /> monstrous that Abernethy should by one Act<br /> confer upon himself as a member of the Court<br /> of Examiners of the Royal College of Surgeons<br /> the exclusive right of lecturing in the character<br /> of a public functionary, and by another Act claim.<br /> the protection due to private lecturers on the<br /> ground of the injury which his reputation or<br /> pecuniary interests might sustain from the issue<br /> of his lectures in cheap form. For it must be<br /> understood that the said Court of Examiners, of<br /> which Abernethy was a member and at one time<br /> Chairman, decided who were to be the official<br /> lecturers to the students, and would take no<br /> other man’s certificates as to the competency<br /> of candidates for diplomas. After the injunction<br /> Abernethy had delivered an address to the students<br /> on the occasion of the opening of the session at<br /> St. Bartholomew&#039;s Hospital, and this address had<br /> appeared in full in the Lanceſ, precisely as if no<br /> injunction existed, on the ground that it had<br /> been delivered by Abernethy in a public capacity.<br /> No retaliatory steps were taken by Abernethy.<br /> Shortly after this, a few days only before Wakley&#039;s<br /> application for a dissolution of the injunction,<br /> Abernethy tendered his resignation as a surgeonto<br /> the governors of St. Bartholomew&#039;s Hospital whilst<br /> desiring to remain a lecturer to the institution.<br /> The governors refused to accept his resignation<br /> as a surgeon unless he also tendered his resig-<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#603) ################################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 249<br /> nation as a lecturer. This recognition of an<br /> inseparable tie between the two posts of surgeon<br /> and lecturer reached Wakley&#039;s ears, and supplied<br /> him with the very point in his argument for a<br /> dissolution of the injunction that he required.<br /> “Of course Abernethy’s lectures were public<br /> property,” he said: “they are delivered in his<br /> public capacity as surgeon to a public charity,<br /> and the students of the metropolis must attend<br /> them, or lectures from some five or six other<br /> functionaries similarly situated, whether they<br /> like or no.” The five or six others being the<br /> other lecturers licensed by the Court of Ex-<br /> aminers. The facts of Abernethy’s offer of resig-<br /> nation to the governors of St. Bartholomew&#039;s<br /> Hospital were set out in the form of an affidavit,<br /> and, no one appearing to represent Abernethy in<br /> opposition to a motion for dissolution of the<br /> injunction, Lord Eldon removed the restriction.<br /> The practical termination of this case, therefore,<br /> was, curiously enough, in exact opposition to the<br /> temporary termination which forms a precedent<br /> that is so widely quoted, and the Lancet, in<br /> publishing the whole story, has furnished us<br /> with an interesting piece of old-world literary<br /> history.<br /> III.--THE AMERICAN AUTHORs&#039; GUILD.<br /> Some account appears in the Author for March<br /> of the Associated Authors&#039; Publishing Company in<br /> New York, an enterprise destined, I trust, for good<br /> service to European as well as American authors.<br /> A remark in the Author, that the (English) Society<br /> of Authors could hardly enter upon the business<br /> of publishing, may lead to the inference that the<br /> American Guild has entered upon such business.<br /> But the Guild takes no responsibility for the new<br /> publishing company. On the other hand, it is<br /> important to add that the incorporators of the<br /> company include the president (General Grant<br /> Wilson) and other active members of the Guild,<br /> and that a majority of our Board of Manage-<br /> ment have recorded their “cordial approval and<br /> endorsement of the objects of the proposed<br /> corporation.”<br /> The American Guild, founded in May, 1892,<br /> incorporated in January, 1895, grows rapidly, and<br /> by latest accounts numbers more than 400<br /> members. Its aims, as stated in the act of<br /> incorporation, are “to promote a professional<br /> spirit among authors; to foster a more friendly<br /> feeling, and create greater confidence, between<br /> authors and publishers, and to devise some<br /> practical means of securing accurate returns of<br /> sales by publishers; to advise authors as to the<br /> value of literary property and the different<br /> methods of publishing books, and to see that<br /> their contracts are so drawn as to secure to them<br /> their lawful rights; to determine disputes between<br /> authors and publishers by arbitration, or, if<br /> necessary, by an appeal to the courts; to maintain<br /> and defend literary property, and to advance the<br /> interests of American authors and literature; the<br /> furtherance of library, literary, benevolent, and<br /> social purposes.”<br /> There are twenty-one officers of the Guild.<br /> The monthly meetings have been well attended<br /> by these, and by unofficial members. The con-<br /> ferences have been quick with interest, and there<br /> has been a steady development of practical<br /> purposes. The Guild is about to establish a sort<br /> of club, or “Guild Home,” in New York, a relief<br /> insurance fund, a library, and the monthly<br /> Bulletin will be enlarged into a magazine. Thus<br /> far the only action towards national reform has<br /> been a petition to Congress for a manuscript<br /> post ; for it is one symptom of the long neglect<br /> under which our authors have suffered, that they<br /> must pay letter postage on manuscripts, though<br /> the very same manuscripts, when accompanied by<br /> the publisher&#039;s proof, pass as printed matter.<br /> When the presidential election is over this<br /> petition will probably be granted, but the reform-<br /> ing tendencies of the Guild constitute its raison<br /> d&#039;être, and will ultimately deal with more serious<br /> evils than the postal anomaly. This organisation<br /> represents, as I believe, the awakening of literary<br /> men in America to the fact that in the republic<br /> of letters their nation is placed in the rear of<br /> civilised States by injurious external conditions,<br /> while possessing ample intellectual ability to keep<br /> abreast of other States. For the present the<br /> Guild is gathering its forces, and organising<br /> them; it is also studying seriously the causes of<br /> the injurious conditions, and steadily reaching a<br /> consensus thereon ; and on several occasions I<br /> have beard in its meetings the rights and wrongs<br /> of foreign authors, as affected by American legis-<br /> lation, considered with deep concern. The leaders<br /> of the Guild are men of experience and practical<br /> wisdom, and any Quixotic efforts at reform are as<br /> little to be apprehended as passive acquiescence<br /> in the oppressions under which American<br /> literature is suffering, and by which foreign<br /> authors are largely burdened. From letters just<br /> received from the president of the Guild and<br /> others I learn that international questions were<br /> to be discussed at an ensuing monthly meeting,<br /> and it is probable that I may ask space in a<br /> future number of the Author for a further state-<br /> ment. Mon CURE D. ConwAY.<br /> IV.--THE TRELOAR BILL.<br /> At a meeting of the Executive Committee of<br /> the American Publishers’ Copyright League, held<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#604) ################################################<br /> <br /> 25O<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> on the 2nd of February, the following resolutions<br /> were presented and adopted:—<br /> Resolved : That the American Publishers&#039; Copyright<br /> League disapprove, on the following grounds, of the pro-<br /> visions of the bill introduced into the House of Represen-<br /> tatives by Mr. Treloar (H. R. 5976) for the revision of the<br /> copyright law :<br /> I. The bill provides for the restriction to “citizens of the<br /> United States” of the privilege of securing copyright under<br /> the statute. The Act of 1891 extended the privilege of<br /> securing copyright within the United States to the citizens of<br /> foreign states which conceded to American citizens the<br /> benefit of copyright. The Act of 1870 had limited the<br /> privilege of securing copyright to persons who were<br /> “residents * of the United States. The restriction now<br /> proposed, limiting the copyright privilege to citizens, would<br /> bring about a revocation or cancellation of the copyright<br /> relations which have been entered into by the United States,<br /> under the Act of 1891, with Great Britain, France, Germany,<br /> Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, and Denmark,<br /> and would constitute a distinct step back of the policy of<br /> even our most primitive copyright laws in the recognition<br /> of literary and artistic property.<br /> 2. The bill provides for the addition to the list of articles<br /> which, in order to secure the privilege of copyright in the<br /> United States, must be wholly manufactured within the<br /> limits of the United States, of musical compositions and of<br /> reproductions of works of art in the form of engravings,<br /> cuts, or prints. In the discussion of the provisions of the<br /> Act of 1891 it was held by those having expert knowledge<br /> of the subject that the application of the manufacturing<br /> requirement to the production of foreign musical composers<br /> would in practice prevent such composers, in the majority of<br /> cases, from securing the benefit of American copyright, and<br /> would simply perpetuate the practice previously existing of<br /> the appropriation by American reprinters of the property in<br /> such productions. It was further established, during this<br /> discussion, that a condition requiring the manufacture or<br /> production in the United States of an engraving of a work<br /> of art by a foreign designer must, in the majority of in-<br /> stances (and particularly in the cases of the more important<br /> works of art which could not be brought across the Atlantic<br /> for the purpose of being engraved) render impracticable the<br /> securing of American copyright, and would leave open, as<br /> heretofore, the property in such reproductions to be appro-<br /> priated by unauthorised publishers.<br /> In connection with the difficulties in the way of securing<br /> simultaneous publication in the United States for editions of<br /> Continental books printed in the language of the country of<br /> their origin, the authors of France, Germany, and Spain<br /> have thus far secured but inconsiderable advantage from<br /> the American Copyright Act ; although the several nations<br /> which have entered into copyright relations with the United<br /> States have extended to our citizens, without any restric-<br /> tions of local manufacture, the full copyright privileges<br /> enjoyed by their own citizens. This result has naturally<br /> brought about, on the part of the nations referred to, a large<br /> measure of dissatisfaction with their copyright relations<br /> with the United States, and these relations would before now<br /> have been terminated (greatly to the disadvantage of<br /> American authors and artists) if it had not been for certain<br /> advantages secured under the Act of 1891 to the foreign<br /> producers of works of art. If the protection of American<br /> copyright is to be withdrawn also from the productions of<br /> foreign artists (as would be the result under the Treloar<br /> Hill), international copyright relations between the United<br /> States and the nations above specified will inevitably be<br /> brought to a close.<br /> 3. The provision in the bill under which the total amount<br /> to be collected for the infringement of the copyright<br /> of a literary production is limited to 5000 dollars is<br /> inequitable in itself, and constitutes a distinct departure<br /> from the principles heretofore controlling the law of copy-<br /> right throughout the world. An authorised reprinter might<br /> easily secure, through the appropriation of copyrighted work,<br /> proceeds which would enable him to pay such a penalty as<br /> that provided for, and still secure a satisfactory return from<br /> his undertaking. The penalty should be left, as under the<br /> present law, proportioned to the extent of the injury caused<br /> to the owner of the copyright, and proportioned also to the<br /> proceeds secured to the person appropriating the copyrighted<br /> property, which proceeds have been diverted from the right-<br /> ful owner. -<br /> 4. The plan for instituting the office of commissioner<br /> of copyrights can, in our judgment, be dealt with more<br /> effectively in a separate bill, such as has already been<br /> introduced in the House by Mr. Bankhead and in the<br /> Senate by Mr. Morrill. It is also our opinion that the<br /> staff provided under the Treloar bill for the Copyright<br /> Bureau would be unnecessarily large and expensive, and<br /> that the services of so many employes would probably not<br /> be required, at least during the earlier years of the opera-<br /> tion of the office.<br /> 5. The purpose expressed in clause XXVIII. of the bill<br /> for securing adequate protection for the property rights of<br /> dramatic authors can also, in our judgment, be better<br /> brought about under the provisions of the Cummings bill<br /> now pending the House of Representatives. -<br /> For these several considerations it is our judgment that<br /> the enactment of the Treloar bill would constitute a serious<br /> injury to the rights of producers of copyright property and<br /> to the interests of the community for the use of which<br /> such copyright property is brought into existence. It would<br /> further constitute, on the part of the United States, a<br /> breach of international good faith with the several nations<br /> of Europe that have extended copyright privileges to<br /> American citizens. We, therefore, ask that the bill may<br /> receive the unfavourable action of Congress and of the<br /> Executive.<br /> On motion it was also resolved “that this com-<br /> mittee cordially approves the purpose of the bills<br /> introduced in the House by Mr. Bankhead, and<br /> in the Senate by Senator Morrill, for instituting<br /> a separate bureau for the registry of copyrights.<br /> It is, however, the judgment of the committee<br /> that a larger staff of assistants than that specified<br /> in these bills will be required for the effective<br /> conduct of the work that is to be confided to this<br /> bureau; and it is further our opinion that more<br /> effective service will be secured if the responsibility<br /> for the selection of all the members of his working<br /> staff be placed in the hands of the proposed<br /> register of copyrights.”<br /> W.—A GREAT CHANCE.<br /> The following are certain novel conditions<br /> under which any writer may make a certainty of<br /> being heard in a Paper especially provided for<br /> him. It affords one the greatest pleasure to give<br /> publicity to this noble offer.<br /> “THIS offer is made to provide a means whereby Authors,<br /> Writers, and others of a literary bent or ability, may obtain<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#605) ################################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 251<br /> publication for their work, and receive adequate remumera-<br /> tion from the owtset, besides bringing them into public<br /> notice, without ea pense to themselves.<br /> The Paper, which will be of a high class, will be issued at<br /> a popular price, and its circulation will ensure to its con-<br /> tributors a position unobtainable by other means.<br /> CoNDITIONs.<br /> (1) The Editor will receive, accept, and pay for on<br /> publication, at a liberal rate, any Article or Work, either in<br /> prose or verse, sent in by a Contributor, provided it be<br /> original.<br /> (2) The Editor shall have power to delete, alter, cut out,<br /> shorten, or expand any Article or Work as he may think<br /> fit, and any alteration so made shall be accepted by the<br /> Contributor.<br /> (3) The rate of remuneration shall be fixed on a basis<br /> according to the literary merit, ability, and length of the<br /> Work, but in no case shall it be less than at a rate of £5 58.<br /> for an Article of 5000 words, and at proportionate rates for<br /> other quantities.<br /> (4) The decision of the Editor as to the remuneration for<br /> any Work shall be accepted as final and binding upon all<br /> parties concerned.<br /> (5) A copy of each issue of the Paper will be sent post<br /> free to every Contributor.<br /> (6) Every Contributor is required to agree to subscribe<br /> to the Paper for a period of seven years, and to pay each<br /> year the Annual Subscription of £3 3s., in advance, failing<br /> which their contributions will not be accepted, published, or<br /> paid for.<br /> (7) The work of the Paper, such as reviews, reports,<br /> criticisms, notices, &amp;c., will be distributed (and paid for at<br /> liberal rates) amongst Contributors only. This will give<br /> further opportunities of remuneration to them apart from<br /> their own original contributions. r<br /> (8) Every Contributor has the right under these Con-<br /> ditions of sending in work to the Paper, which will be<br /> accepted and paid for on publication in accordance with<br /> Conditions 1, 2, and 3. .<br /> (9) Every Contributor, on signing these Conditions and<br /> sending the Subscription, will be duly registered, and<br /> obtain the privileges contained herein.<br /> I agree to become a Contributor in accordance with the<br /> foregoing condidions, which I accept and agree to, and I<br /> inclose here with the sum of £3 38. as my first year&#039;s<br /> subscription.<br /> Signatwre............ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .<br /> Address in full<br /> * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *<br /> I think that a few questions should be sent to<br /> the editor before we make haste to pay our annual<br /> subscription of £33s.<br /> 1. Does the first condition really mean that<br /> every contribution sent in by any subscriber or<br /> contributor must be accepted and published by<br /> the editor? In that case the Tower of Babel<br /> itself would be intelligible and interesting in com-<br /> parison with a paper which published everything<br /> sent in. -<br /> 2. Does the second condition contradict the<br /> first P In the first the editor seems to bind<br /> himself to publish whatever is offered him. In<br /> the second he reserves the power to delete, i.e., to<br /> cut out, whatever is offered him.<br /> WC) L, WI.<br /> 3. The third condition appears to contradict<br /> itself. The pay is to depend on the literary<br /> merit and length of the work offered. But it is<br /> never to be less than a guinea for a thousand<br /> words. How, then, in the case of articles of no<br /> literary merit whatever, which the editor, by the<br /> first condition, is bound to publish P<br /> 5. A copy to be sent post free to each contri-<br /> butor. This is unheard of generosity.<br /> 6. This is the most startling condition. We<br /> are to engage to pay an annual subscription of<br /> 33 3s. a year for seven years | That is to say,<br /> we are to promise £3 3s. a year—we can get<br /> Longman&#039;s for 6s.-for a magazine of which we<br /> know nothing—for seven years to come ! This<br /> betrays an amount of confidence in the artlessness<br /> of literary aspirants which with all our experience<br /> we could never reach. For seven years l Blind<br /> confidence in the unseen for seven years!<br /> Wonderful -<br /> 8. The eighth condition clears up the doubt<br /> expressed above. The contributor by this con-<br /> dition seems to receive the absolute right of<br /> having his work, whatever it is, however impos-<br /> sible, however miserable, accepted, published, and<br /> paid for<br /> Another question or two:<br /> I. How many contributors will be accepted for<br /> each number P A thousand P Ten thousand P<br /> 2. What is to be the form, size, price, of the<br /> organ in question ?<br /> 3. What guarantee does the editor offer (I<br /> that the paper will continue; (2) that it will<br /> appear; (3) that he can carry out his promises P<br /> 4. Is it to be a political, a literary, or scientific<br /> organ P A weekly, monthly, or a daily organ P<br /> A London or a provincial organ P<br /> 5. Suppose it to be a monthly organ : suppose<br /> it to have acquired a thousand “contributors: ”<br /> has every contributor the power of contributing<br /> a contribution every month P If so, the maga-<br /> zine would contain something like 500 pages at<br /> least every month. Will not this bulk somewhat<br /> tax the resources of the enterprising editor P<br /> If the projector will enlighten us upon these<br /> points he may perhaps attract a large number of<br /> contributors. He will observe that I have given<br /> him for nothing an excellent advertisement.<br /> W. B.<br /> F. F.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#606) ################################################<br /> <br /> 252<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> NEW YORK LETTER,<br /> NEVERAL bills affecting copyright have been<br /> introduced into the present Congress. There<br /> T are first two short bills, providing for a<br /> separate bureau of copyright registry, differing<br /> chiefly in matters of salary and of sources from<br /> which the assistants in the proposed bureau are to<br /> be appointed. A third bill, by Mr. Cummings<br /> of New York, embodies the views of the owners of<br /> dramatic copyrights as to an adequate provision<br /> for enforcing the law against pirates of their<br /> works. A fourth bill, introduced by Mr. Treloar<br /> of Missouri, includes Mr. Cummings&#039; bill ver-<br /> batim, and provides also for the much needed<br /> copyright bureau. It also extends the terms of<br /> copyright from twenty-eight and fourteen to forty<br /> and twenty years respectively, a provision suffi-<br /> ciently acceptable to the owners of copyright, but<br /> one for which there is no organised demand, and<br /> one which is deemed by the Authors&#039; League im-<br /> practicable at the present time. It also makes<br /> some minor changes looking to the greater<br /> efficiency of the law as respects copyright in<br /> photographs. The rest of the bill is irredeemably<br /> bad, and would operate as a virtual repeal of the<br /> copyright law. It provides, first, that copyrights<br /> shall be given only to citizens of the United<br /> States, a provision repealed by the present<br /> Act. The exceptions to the non-importation<br /> clause in the case of copyright material are all<br /> omitted, with the exception of books in foreign<br /> languages. The present importation of two copies<br /> of a foreign edition of a copyrighted book for<br /> use and not for sale is stricken out. Newspapers<br /> could lio longer be imported if they contained<br /> copyright material, nor could books over twenty<br /> years of age, or books for libraries, governments,<br /> &amp;c. This section is perhaps the most clumsy and<br /> unintelligent of the whole measure. Third, the<br /> manufacturing clause is extended to pe iodicals,<br /> maps, charts, musical compositions, engravings,<br /> cuts, and prints, in addition to the four articles<br /> from which that condition is now exacted, namely,<br /> books, chromos, lithographs, and photographs.<br /> The other details show that the bill is constructed<br /> in the most provincial spirit; but the changes<br /> provided for are so radical that the bill has<br /> already, awakened a storm of indignation among<br /> the friends of international copyright. The<br /> American Authors’ Copyright League and the<br /> American Publishers&#039; Copyright League have<br /> already plotested in vigorous terms against the<br /> measure, which was opposed at a meeting of a<br /> committee on patents of the House of Represen-<br /> tatives on March 4, by Mr. Richard Underwood<br /> Johnson, secretary of the American Copyright<br /> League. Moreover, the American publishers<br /> themselves are by no means in favour of the<br /> measure, although it evidently had its origin in<br /> the desire to extend the manufacturing clause to<br /> music, as Mr. Treloar, who introduced it, is a<br /> music publisher. Mr. Treloar, to do him justice,<br /> is somewhat aghast at the destructive work of<br /> his measure, and has shown signs of desisting.<br /> There seems to be small chance of the bills pass-<br /> ing with these objectionable features, and as the<br /> removal of them would remove what was the<br /> motive of the introduction of the bill, it is im-<br /> probable that the bill will pass in any form.<br /> Meantime it is probable that the Authors&#039; League<br /> will follow the Publishers&#039; League in indorsing<br /> Mr. Bankhead’s bill for a bureau of copyright<br /> registry, but as that bill carries an appropria-<br /> tion with it, it is likely to meet with consider-<br /> able opposition at this time, when the leaders<br /> of the majority in the House of Represen-<br /> tatives are endeavouring to make a record for<br /> economy.<br /> English friends of international copyright<br /> need have little anxiety about public opinion<br /> in the United States on this question. Both<br /> the Authors’ and the Publishers&#039; League look<br /> upon it as part of their duty to resist<br /> constantly any invasion of the present copy-<br /> right law tending to a less liberal policy.<br /> During the five years of its operation the recipro-<br /> cal operation of the American law has been<br /> extended steadily, so that now the United States<br /> is in copyright relations with Great Britain and<br /> her colonies, France, Germany, Belgium, Switzer-<br /> land, Portugal, and Denmark, and efforts are<br /> being made to strengthen the law still further<br /> by similar arrangements with other countries.<br /> This policy in its results has already shown its<br /> value, for now the authors are able to show<br /> Congress that an invasion of the present law<br /> would imperil the privileges of American citizens<br /> in foreign countries. Of course any change in the<br /> direction of liberality would not be met with this<br /> objection. It is to be borne in mind, also, that all<br /> the attacks upon the law at the present time have<br /> started from provincial sources and from men<br /> who had little conception of what would be the<br /> result of their proposed legislation. Should the<br /> bill by any chance succeed in passing the com-<br /> mittee there will be a vigorous agitation against<br /> it from all sides similar to that which succeeded<br /> in defeating the less radical Hicks bill of last<br /> year.<br /> A second edition of “The Question of Copy-<br /> right,” by George Haven Putnam, will be issued<br /> immediately by C. P. Putnam&#039;s Sons, This work is<br /> sound and complete in its history of copyright<br /> legislation and discussions of the underlying laws<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#607) ################################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 253.<br /> of property, and this edition will bring the story<br /> of the subject in America down to the present<br /> month. Another book by Mr. Putnam about to<br /> appear is the first volume of “Books and their<br /> Makers during the Middle Ages,” a study of the<br /> conditions of the production and distribution of<br /> literature from the fall of the Roman Empire to<br /> the end of the seventeenth century.<br /> Chicago is rapidly taking its place as an<br /> important publishing centre as well as a literary<br /> centre. Still, rapid as has been the progress in<br /> the last five years, there is now a magnifying of<br /> everything coming from there which shows a<br /> great deal of the provincial spirit remaining.<br /> Charles Scribner&#039;s Sons have just issued “The<br /> Love Affairs of a Biblomaniac,” by Eugene Field,<br /> in a costly edition, and are about to issue “The<br /> House,” by the same author. Mr. Field, who is<br /> probably almost unknown to English readers, was<br /> a Chicago journalist who has just died. He<br /> wrote light poems and essays entirely without<br /> permanent value, and the announcement of these<br /> volumes, with the great amount of talk that has<br /> been made about the author since his death, is<br /> one of many indications that America in general<br /> and Chicago and the new West in particular have<br /> a local literary vanity which shows itself markedly<br /> in the output of the leading publishers. Henry<br /> B. Fuller, of Chicago, author of “The Chevalier<br /> of Pensieri Vani ’’ and of “The Cliff Dwellers,” is<br /> to have a volume of one act plays published this<br /> spring by the Century Company. He is a man<br /> who has shown literary powers of several different<br /> kinds, and he is one of the writers watched with<br /> real interest in his future by observers of<br /> American literature. The principal Chicago<br /> publishers, Stone and Kimball, who publish more<br /> books of Western life than any other house, have<br /> within the half dozen years of their existence<br /> come to play a leading part in the literary world<br /> here. Their last move was to establish, two weeks<br /> ago, a branch house in New York. As John Lane<br /> is to publish their Chap-Book in England,<br /> readers on the other side will get a very fair idea<br /> of the nature of present American taste in light<br /> semi-artistic literature. One of the most promis-<br /> ing of young Western writers is Hamlin Garland.<br /> His last book, “Rose of Dutcher&#039;s Coolly,”<br /> recently published by Stone and Kimball, has<br /> been much discussed. In its strength and its<br /> crudity it represents the best of our new work<br /> from the Western States. One of the publishers<br /> of the book remarked in conversation last week<br /> that what Mr. Garland needed for a real advance<br /> in power was a wider horizon, an experience in<br /> the old countries of Europe. This subject is<br /> being discussed vigorously just now ; the general<br /> subject of the value of European influence on our<br /> the stage.<br /> writers. Mr. Brander Matthews has just aroused<br /> controversy by the introduction and the conclu-<br /> sion of his “Introduction to American Literature,”<br /> published by the American Book Company. The<br /> author lays great emphasis on the distinction<br /> between British and English literature, including<br /> under the latter term the literature of all English<br /> speaking countries, and he emphasises the wisdom<br /> of taking our keellest interest in our own writers.<br /> This has been attacked on the one hand as literary<br /> jingoism, and defended on the other as an intelli-<br /> gent emancipation from secondhand ideas and<br /> interests. Whatever the merits of the case, the<br /> book is an excellent one for the clearness with<br /> which it points out, mainly for use in schools, the<br /> broad and simple traits which have thus far<br /> marked American literature. -<br /> In New York no writer of the last two or three<br /> years has attracted more attention than Edward<br /> Townsend. His “Chimmie Fadden º’ had an<br /> enormous sale, and is now having a success on<br /> It deals with a Bowery hero, or the<br /> typical Irish-American boy of the poorer district<br /> of the city. His “Daughter of the Tenements”<br /> if about to be published in England. It gives a<br /> fair idea of the quality of a kind of literature<br /> much in Vogue here, stories of local colour<br /> written by ready, versatile newspaper men, who<br /> are quick to seize upon the aspects of our life<br /> obviously available for literary purposes. The<br /> newspaper reporter is the material from which<br /> many of our most prominent young writers are<br /> now made. Stephen Crane, the author of<br /> “The Red Badge of Courage,” was a reporter<br /> here. Richard Harding Davis, Julian Ralph,<br /> and Earnest Riis are also reporters. So much<br /> “special work,” or articles of general local<br /> interest, of a half literary quality, are required by<br /> our newspapers now, especially for their great<br /> Sunday editions, that the more successful reporters<br /> become almost inevitably magazine writers, as the<br /> magazines, especially the illustrated ones, want<br /> the same sort of matter. The Scribner’s will<br /> publish this spring “Cinderella and other<br /> Stories,” by Mr. Davis.<br /> One of our best writers of stories of western<br /> life, Owen Wister, is a grandson of Fanny<br /> Kemble. He was a class-mate of Henry Norman<br /> at Harvard University, and acted with him in the<br /> famous Greek play given there, the GEdipus.<br /> Nſr. Norman’s “The Near East” will be published<br /> this spring by the Scribner&#039;s.<br /> The May number of the Bookman will contain<br /> an article on Samuel L. Clemens called “Mark<br /> Twain as an Historical Novelist,” and about the<br /> same time the Harper&#039;s will announce officially<br /> that Mr. Clemens is the author of “The Personal<br /> Recollections of Joan of Arc,” the series which<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#608) ################################################<br /> <br /> 254<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> has been running in Harper&#039;s Monthly signed<br /> Louis Leconte, announced by the Harper&#039;s as by<br /> the most popular magazine writer in the world.<br /> This article will take the position that Mark<br /> Twain is one of the writers of permanent impor-<br /> tance, especially for his pictures of south-western<br /> American life. “The Adventures of Huckle-<br /> berry Finn’’ is the book in which Mark Twain<br /> has made the solidest pictures of the characteris-<br /> tics of the people of that region, especially of the<br /> attitude toward slavery and of the conditions<br /> which still cause the violent bloody feuds.<br /> Cosmopolis is being watched with interest<br /> here. The critics have treated it kindly, but its<br /> sale has not been great. Any periodical published<br /> at a high price must have a hard time at present<br /> to compete with the mass of cheap ones. It is<br /> pointed out, by the way, with significance varying<br /> according to the point of view of the critic, that<br /> of the four Americans who have been asked to<br /> contribute to Cosmopolis but one lives in this<br /> country, Albert Shaw ; Joseph Pennell, Henry<br /> James, and Harold Frederick all live abroad.<br /> It is generally believed here that Thomas<br /> Hardy tried to withdraw “Jude the Obscure &quot;<br /> from the Harpers’ on account of the omissions<br /> upon which they insisted. The present attitude<br /> towards realistic studies of what we call un-<br /> pleasant subjects is shown by a decision just<br /> reached, and not yet made public, by the faculty<br /> of Yale University. A course on modern novels,<br /> including George Moore’s “Esther Waters,” and<br /> several others of a similar unconventionality, is<br /> to be suppressed next year on account of the<br /> amount of unfavourable comment aroused by it.<br /> *- 2. ~~<br /> NOTES AND NEWS.<br /> \O the members of the Society desire a more<br /> direct representation—viz., by some form<br /> of election by themselves—in the manage-<br /> ment P They have been invited to forward names<br /> of persons willing to consider the subject; they<br /> have been promised, further, the selection of three<br /> such persons from the list. The totally un-<br /> expected result has been that not one single name<br /> has been sent in. This result may be interpreted<br /> in two ways: either as a proof that the members<br /> are satisfied with the management, or that the<br /> members are apathetic on the subject. Satisfac-<br /> tion is, T venture to think, the principal cause ; for<br /> if we guard the essentials, no change would make<br /> much difference. The essentials are that the<br /> managing body shall keep steadily to the original<br /> principles of the Society, that is, that light should<br /> be constantly thrown upon the meaning of pub-<br /> new departure.<br /> lishing; the cost of production ; the meaning of<br /> agreements; the meaning of royalties; the tricks<br /> of tricky or dishonest publishers; and, in fact,<br /> on all actual facts connected with the business<br /> side of literature. Those who are not concerned<br /> with literary property have nothing to do with the<br /> Society. For those who are, the Society will, I<br /> hope, however it is governed, continue to carry on<br /> the work of ascertaining and making public the<br /> facts as connected with the production and the<br /> distribution of literature.<br /> Given the preservation of the essentials I<br /> think it matters very little indeed how the Society<br /> is governed—whether by a dictator or a Parlia-<br /> ment. At the same time there must be changes<br /> in the constitution of every society from time to<br /> time. One change that I have myself desired very<br /> strongly is the election of women on the Council.<br /> I believe that a great many other members<br /> hold this view. Considering how many women<br /> writers are members of the Society: considering,<br /> further, the place held in modern literature by<br /> wom, n: it does seem absurd that a Society of<br /> Authors should have no women on its Council.<br /> At the next meeting of Council, if no more per-<br /> suasive person takes up the matter, I propose to<br /> bring it forward and to propose members. By<br /> the Articles of Association the number of<br /> the Council is limited to sixty—I have never<br /> understood why. We limit the number when we<br /> wish to confer a distinction. In this case the<br /> distinction is conferred not upon the members,<br /> but upon the Society. However, there is the<br /> limit laid down. Now, we desire to have on our<br /> Council (I) the persons most largely interested<br /> in literary property of various kinds; and (2)<br /> those persons able to bring special knowledge on<br /> the subject of literary property and its manage-<br /> ment. A deliberative body, it may be urged,<br /> must not be too large : there should be some limit :<br /> the Council, however, is seldom called upon to<br /> exercise deliberative functions: its chief purpose is<br /> to show the world, by the guarantee of well-known<br /> names, that we are in earnest, and to supply, from<br /> its body, new members for the committee of<br /> management.<br /> --&gt;ecº-<br /> A correspondent speaks of the Committee of<br /> inquiry into educational books as if it were a<br /> Not at all. Educational books :<br /> have hitherto been taken just as they come, with<br /> other books. It appears that it has seemed to<br /> some as if the Society was principally occupied<br /> with fiction. That is partly because fiction is a<br /> very important branch of literary property: partly<br /> because writers of fiction have now become<br /> awakened to this fact : partly because the kind<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#609) ################################################<br /> <br /> THE<br /> 255<br /> A UTHOR.<br /> and other books as the example is the very con-<br /> venient unit — the six-shilling book—in which<br /> most works of fiction now appear : but mainly<br /> because writers of educational works do not, as yet,<br /> half understand the value of their own works.<br /> Hence they have been led to sign agreements of<br /> the most monstrous kind—taking small royalties,<br /> deferred till thousands—literally thousands—of<br /> copies have been sold. There are many other<br /> points connected with the publishing of educa-<br /> tional books which require separate and careful<br /> investigation. The sub-committee hope to receive<br /> assistance during this investigation from those<br /> members who have published educational works.<br /> My correspondent asks that a wider range of<br /> subjects should be explicitly classified and repre-<br /> sented. If the writer will turn to the prospectus,<br /> to the annual reports, to everything published<br /> by the Society, he will find that the widest<br /> possible range is already claimed. We look upon<br /> literary property of every kind as our field : there<br /> is no limit as to fiction or anything else: literary<br /> property of every kind belongs to the range of<br /> the Society’s work. The reason why my corre-<br /> spondent feels himself in the wrong corner is,<br /> to repeat, simply that educational writers as a<br /> rule do not understand their own rights or the<br /> value of their own property: therefore their cases<br /> are not often sent to the Secretary, and therefore<br /> the columns of the Author have contained, so far,<br /> very little reference to educational subjects.<br /> We approach the conclusion of another volume<br /> of this journal, and I take the opportunity of<br /> speaking about arrangements for the future.<br /> Our correspondents at Paris and New York will<br /> continue their monthly letters: Mr. Thring will<br /> communicate a series of papers from his own<br /> experience on agreements and their meaning :<br /> the members will, it is hoped, contribute notes<br /> as to their forthcoming books, with letters and<br /> papers on points of personal experience: cases<br /> and legal actions bearing on literary property<br /> will be reported : we shall repeat certain things<br /> already published in these pages: such as the<br /> meaning of royalties: and we shall continue to<br /> present certain unanswered questions: as, for<br /> instance, to the equitable remuneration due for the<br /> administration of an author&#039;s work : i.e., in those<br /> cases where a royalty or profit-sharing agreement<br /> is accepted. The warnings and notices which<br /> have hitherto been presented with every number of<br /> the journal will be recast, with certain additions<br /> and alterations. And it is hoped to present<br /> instructions of a practical and simple, kind to the<br /> WOL. W.I.<br /> of book adopted in the “Cost of Production ”<br /> candidate for literary success. As the presenteditor,<br /> I wish to point out that one cannot hope to provide<br /> a paper every word of which will be approved<br /> |by all the readers : I beg them, however, to<br /> remember that the only raison d’être of the<br /> Author is the definition and the defence of literary<br /> property: so far as it does that it is the organ and<br /> mouthpiece of the Society : as for the rest, we<br /> cannot all think alike. Further, signed articles<br /> must be taken to represent only the views of the<br /> writer: and the editor cannot, clearly, be held<br /> responsible for the opinions of his correspondents.<br /> Finally, I hope to continue for 1896-97 the feuille-<br /> tons that used to please some of our members: they<br /> were stopped because the supply was stopped: and<br /> that stoppage was caused by the pressure of other<br /> work. . t<br /> A note will be found in “Book Talk,” extracted<br /> from the Athenaeum, on the belief that a publisher,<br /> or, indeed, even an author, can command a good<br /> review. This note deserves a little attention. Ihave<br /> on several occasions “struck” this singular belief,<br /> which I think is wide spread. People write to<br /> me—“Your well-known friendship with editors:<br /> your immense influence with publishers”—it is,<br /> indeed, immense: “Your knowledge of journal-<br /> ists, your &amp;c., &amp;c., will enable you to procure a<br /> good review for my new work.” It is of no use<br /> to get angry with people who write in this way;<br /> it is generally a proof of ignorance to believe the<br /> worst. On one occasion a certain person—an old<br /> acquaintance—sent me a book with the usual<br /> request for assistance. I replied that the only<br /> possible way was to send round press copies: to<br /> hope for good reviews: and to advertise. He<br /> showed my letter around. “I have known this<br /> man,” he said bitterly, “for forty years—and this<br /> is all he will do for me!” What else could one<br /> do for the man? His fixed belief—it is the fixed<br /> belief of many—was that a good review is just a<br /> matter of private interest—that and nothing more.<br /> On Saturday, March 28, died, at her resi-<br /> dence at Hampstead, a gentlewoman whose<br /> writings have endeared her name wherever the<br /> English language is spoken. I do not pretend<br /> that she was a great writer, but I do pretend<br /> that what she produced always possessed the true<br /> ring; was always charming; was always delicate<br /> and pure and elevating. Mrs. Charles, the<br /> widow of the late Mr. Andrew Paton Charles, whose<br /> brother is the present Mr. Justice Charles, was a<br /> woman of wide reading, of many friends, of deep<br /> sympathies. In religion she was a strong<br /> Anglican without a touch of narrowness: among<br /> her closest friends were Dean Stanley and Lady<br /> G. G.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#610) ################################################<br /> <br /> 256<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> Augusta, of whom she wrote a memoir: and the<br /> only enemies she had in the world were those<br /> whose writings “made ’’ for what she considered<br /> evil. It is a great happiness for the Church of<br /> England that it can, and does, produce women<br /> such as Mrs. Charles; souls so pure, so high-<br /> minded, so sincere. Others will no doubt follow<br /> her, but to those who knew Mrs. Charles no one<br /> can take her place. WALTER BESANT.<br /> *~ * →<br /> THE SONNET.<br /> The sonnet is a dainty gem of rhyme,<br /> Where ten sweet syllables may smoothly flow<br /> &quot; Through fourteen lines, all neatly set a-row,<br /> And linked together with harmonious chime ;<br /> Where some grave poet, with a thought sublime,<br /> May teach a thousand listening hearts to glow ;<br /> Or, word by word, as fancies come and go,<br /> A lighter muse may charm the flight of time.<br /> Will Shakespere wrought it, all in purest gold;<br /> Austerer beauty grew &#039;neath Milton’s hand;<br /> &#039;Mid Wordsworth’s bays it glittered like a star:<br /> And thou, presumptuous pen, dar&#039;st thou ? Withhold !<br /> . . Nor dream to mingle with that deathless band,<br /> But humbly follow, thou, afar—afar !<br /> ‘. CRESANDIA.<br /> *-- ~ *-*<br /> g- &gt; -º<br /> FEUILLETONS.<br /> I.—THE SUBLIME AND BEAUTIFUL.<br /> ** * * HEN his friends heard that Walter<br /> - . Hawkins was engaged, most of them<br /> wondered how that industrious journalist<br /> had found time to fall in love. However, they<br /> agreed, his life would be the better for a flavour<br /> of romance in it, for his daily work was more<br /> than sufficiently prosaic. He reviewed novels—<br /> which he really did read—for one paper, put<br /> together pot-boiling descriptive articles for others,<br /> was “Our London Correspondent’’ to more than<br /> one provincial journal, and, by dint of great<br /> facility and astonishing powers of work, derived<br /> from these various sources an income of about six<br /> hundred pounds a year. Once only had he been<br /> known to take a holiday, and this he had employed<br /> in falling in love with all the ardour of a beginner<br /> at that pastime.<br /> holiday was run he had found himself an engaged<br /> Iſlän.<br /> The benevolent friends who, as their kindly<br /> custom is, wondered what on earth he’d seen “in<br /> that girl” to attract him spoke in this instance<br /> with more show of reason than usual. The only<br /> daughter of a well-to-do solicitor, Margaret<br /> Wycherley had passed most of her life in her<br /> parents’ home at Wimbledon, where, despite her<br /> Before the brief course of that<br /> environment, she developed theories about life of<br /> a delightfully visionary kind. She dabbled a<br /> little in painting, and spent much of her time in<br /> an aesthetically-furnished studio, wherein she read<br /> Ruskin and Rossetti, and dreamed about Ideal<br /> Art. Is it necessary to add that she was barely<br /> twenty P<br /> Walter&#039;s daily work in town prevented him<br /> from seeing very much of his fiancée during the<br /> week, but he so far relaxed his industry as to<br /> permit himself an occasional Saturday-to-Monday<br /> visit to Wimbledon. Occasionally Margaret.<br /> questioned him about his work, but he had fenced<br /> with the subject so far, feeling uncomfortably<br /> conscious that her canons of literary taste could<br /> scarcely be satisfied by a young journalist of the<br /> modern time. He himself, he remembered, had<br /> suffered from youthful delusions like hers; but,<br /> judging from his own experience, he felt certain<br /> that her views would become more practical and<br /> less idealistic after a year or two.<br /> One Sunday evening in July, as he and<br /> Margaret were slowly pacing up and down the<br /> garden after dinner, she began to talk on her<br /> favourite theme—the dignity and responsibility<br /> of the literary life. Walter made haste, for the<br /> sake of peace and quietness, to agree with every-<br /> thing she said, and even—after several ineffectual<br /> attempts to change the subject—to quote poetry<br /> in support of her views, feeling all the time<br /> that he was an outrageous hypocrite. Unfortu-<br /> nately, his apparent sympathy only encouraged<br /> Margaret to pass from the discussion of literary<br /> work in general to that of her lover in par-<br /> ticular.<br /> “You never send me any of your things to<br /> read,” she said, reproachfully. “But I’m sure<br /> they must be noble, like yourself.”<br /> Walter laughed, rather uneasily. “Well,<br /> dearest, I didn’t think they would be much in<br /> your line. They’re not noble, by any means.<br /> I’m not a poet, you see; in fact, I gave up.<br /> writing verses years ago.” -<br /> “But noble thoughts can be expressed in<br /> prose,” replied Margaret; “and it isn’t kind of<br /> ou to laugh at me. Do you think I’m not<br /> intellectual enough to appreciate your writing P”<br /> Walter protested that this wasn’t at all his<br /> view. On the contrary, he didn’t think his work<br /> was worth showing to her.<br /> “Still,” he added, “ of course, you shall see it,<br /> if you really care to. Let me see, there’s a paper<br /> of mine on Lady Bicyclists in Wednesday&#039;s<br /> Mirror, and an illustrated article on “How Pins<br /> are Made ’’ in this month’s Fleet Street. Then<br /> there’s that 2 3 -<br /> Margaret suddenly came to a halt, and turned<br /> towards him. “Walter!” she cried piteously,<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#611) ################################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 257<br /> “don’t-don&#039;t tell me that you write things like<br /> that ” - -<br /> “Such is the appalling fact, I assure you. It&#039;s<br /> not very high-class literature, but it’s good, sound<br /> journalism, and pleases my editors.”<br /> “But—oh, that you should write trash of that<br /> kind | **<br /> Now, not even a penny-a-liner likes his<br /> paragraphs to be called “trash.” So it was<br /> much to Walter&#039;s credit that he replied<br /> tenderly :<br /> “At any rate, Madge, it fills my pocket, and<br /> we couldn’t be married without its help. But<br /> don’t trouble about my work, darling. Let&#039;s talk<br /> about something else.”<br /> “But I must talk about your work,” exclaimed<br /> Margaret. “You have the power of writing, the<br /> most precious gift that man can possess, and you<br /> have—I am sure of it—the feelings and nature<br /> of a poet—how else could I have come to care for<br /> you ?—and yet you are content to stifle your<br /> better self, and to do the work of a literary hack.<br /> Walter, it is unworthy of you!”<br /> It may be conceded in extenuation of Hawkins&#039;s<br /> subsequent folly that the girl really did look very<br /> beautiful as she stood there with sparkling eyes<br /> and lips quivering with the earnestness of her<br /> appeal.<br /> “I’m afraid it&#039;s too late to change now,” he<br /> answered. “I did think once upon a time—but<br /> that&#039;s long ago. Besides, there&#039;s the money to<br /> be considered. You wouldn’t like to be the wife<br /> of a poor man.”<br /> “Of course I shouldn’t, but there’s no reason<br /> why your higher work shouldn&#039;t bring you mone<br /> as well as fame.” Walter shook his head doubt-<br /> fully. “Oh, but I’m a better judge than you<br /> suppose P And you did feel, you say, at one<br /> time the desire to write poetry P. How could you<br /> ever be false to that purpose ! But I’m sure it&#039;s<br /> not too late to return to it. Have you kept any<br /> of your poems ?” 4”<br /> “No,” replied the other; “none of the editors<br /> would have them, and so one day I burnt the lot.<br /> They seemed to me, then, precious poor stuff,<br /> though, of course, I thought them magnificent<br /> when I wrote them.”<br /> “Your second thoughts were worst, then. If<br /> only you had persevered, what splendid things<br /> you would have done by this time!”<br /> Walter reflected in silence for a few moments.<br /> Like almost every literary neophyte, he had<br /> written quantities of verse in his youth. In the<br /> light of a later wisdom they had seemed only the<br /> feeble and imitative efforts of a beginner. But<br /> supposing Margaret were right after all, and a<br /> higher path than that of journalism lay open to<br /> him P -<br /> “Well, Madge,” he replied at length, “perhaps<br /> there&#039;s something in what you say. Anyhow,<br /> I’ll have a try at verse again, if I can find time.”<br /> “You’re certain to fail if you make the attempt<br /> in that spirit,” said Margaret with much scorn.<br /> “Poetry demands a greater sacrifice than that.<br /> You must give up your present degrading work,<br /> and follow Art with all your power. I never<br /> realised before to-night, Walter, how far you had<br /> forsaken your ideal. I loved you chiefly because I<br /> thought that you were an artist, but I can never,<br /> never give myself to one who has deliberately<br /> abandoned his proper aim in life for the miserable<br /> sake of making money. Let me help to recall<br /> you to the better way. You cannot really like<br /> your present employment—will it be so hard to<br /> leave it for Art’s sake and mine P’’<br /> Walter listened to all this eloquence in some<br /> bewilderment. It had not occurred to him that<br /> anyone could reproach him for earning by honest<br /> hard work a sufficient income wherewith to sup-<br /> port himself and his future wife. She, indeed,<br /> would have some money of her own, but<br /> still He turned desperately to Margaret.<br /> “Tell me exactly what you want me to do,” he<br /> said humbly.<br /> “Do you need to ask P You must give up<br /> this cheap and nasty newspaper work. You<br /> must write, not for the sake of filling so many<br /> columns, but as inspiration moves you. You<br /> must look deep into your own soul, and enrich<br /> humanity with noble thoughts. Consecrate your-<br /> self to Art — thus will you lead the Ideal<br /> Tlife ”<br /> As she spoke, the last faint tints of sunset<br /> were dying out of the western sky, the stars were<br /> beginning to show overhead. A gentle evening<br /> breeze had sprung up, and all the air was fragrant<br /> with the scent of flowers. And there stood<br /> Margaret beside him in the twilight, her fair<br /> face raised pleadingly toward his own. What<br /> wonder that the sober journalist was thrown off<br /> his mental balance, that the girl’s earnestness<br /> raised an answering glow in his heart, that he<br /> saw an impossible vision of his own career as<br /> a poet, enabled to do splendid things by his<br /> own dormant powers, stimulated by his wife&#039;s<br /> divine sympathy P<br /> Everyone is a fool now and then, and many<br /> of us with far less justification for our folly than<br /> Walter. He stooped over Margaret and kissed<br /> her tenderly. -<br /> “You have indeed inspired me, darling,” he<br /> said. “I will do as you wish me. Only, I’m<br /> afraid 2 3<br /> “No l’’ cried Margaret, “say nothing more.<br /> You will—you must succeed. Oh, Walter, how<br /> happy we shall be ” -<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#612) ################################################<br /> <br /> 258<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> It is one thing to make an heroic promise to a<br /> charming young lady in the summer twilight; it<br /> is quite another to keep it in the stress and hurry<br /> of everyday life. As Walter journeyed up to<br /> London next morning, he reflected with some<br /> dismay on the course to which he had committed<br /> himself. What would his editors think of him;<br /> how would his friends regard this new departure ?<br /> He put aside these uncomfortable reflections, and<br /> began to read his daily paper. In it he chanced<br /> on a paragraph which suggested a capital subject<br /> for an article. He had already drawn his note.<br /> book from his pocket with the intention of jotting<br /> down the idea, when he suddenly replaced it with<br /> a guilty start. For the moment he had forgotten<br /> his compact of the previous night, but hence-<br /> forth he was to write no more newspaper articles.<br /> He reached Waterloo in an extremely despondent<br /> frame of mind, walked quickly to his chambers<br /> in the Temple, and sat down to his writing-<br /> table to produce the soulful poetry which<br /> alone would satisfy Margaret&#039;s ambition for<br /> him.<br /> Some days later a number of men were gathered<br /> in the smoking-room of the “Pen and Ink” club,<br /> of which Walter was a member. There you may<br /> find any day at luncheon-time a miscellaneous<br /> assemblage of literary men, a sprinkling of well-<br /> known novelists, a stray editor or two, a wander-<br /> ing “Paris correspondent,” and certain humble<br /> journalists whose ambitions scarcely go further<br /> than the writing of paragraphs at three halfpence<br /> a line.<br /> “Has anyone seen Hawkins lately P” asked<br /> Johnson, the well-known critic, from his arm-<br /> chair by the fireplace. “He’s not been here for<br /> some time.”<br /> “No,” said another man; “and have you heard<br /> the extraordinary stories about him P. He must<br /> be mad, if they’re at all true. I hear he&#039;s been<br /> throwing up his commissions right and left—<br /> refused an article for Fleet Street which he had<br /> promised ages ago—declined a first-class offer<br /> for a series from the Trifler, and so on. What<br /> on earth’s come to the chap P”<br /> Johnson whistled softly. “Ah, I thought<br /> that might happen. Do any of you men know the<br /> girl he&#039;s engaged to ? No! Well, if you did,<br /> you’d understand.” -<br /> He broke off suddenly, for the door opened,<br /> and Walter himself appeared, looking very ill and<br /> worried. -<br /> “ Hullo, Hawkins,” said a novelist called<br /> Manby, breaking the rather awkward silence<br /> that followed Walter&#039;s entrance; “we were just<br /> wondering what had become of you. Have you<br /> seen my new book P. Give it a good notice in the<br /> Mirror, there’s a good chap.”<br /> Walter smiled faintly. “Delighted to do so,<br /> I’m sure, only, you see, I’ve left the Mirror.”<br /> “What ?” chorused the rest in astonishment.<br /> “Yes, it’s quite true—no, Manby, no one&#039;s left<br /> me a fortune—wish they had. The fact is, that I<br /> have come to see how degrading a profession is<br /> journalism, and I’m going to have nothing more<br /> to do with it.”<br /> Johnson shook his head sadly, while the others<br /> stared at Walter in blank amazement.<br /> “But, great heavens, man l’’ cried one of them,<br /> “you must be making near a thousand a year out<br /> Of it.”<br /> “I am going to devote myself to true literature<br /> —to essays, to poetry.”<br /> There was a roar of laughter at this announce-<br /> ment. But Johnson sat up in his chair and<br /> turned round impatiently.<br /> “This is no laughing matter,” he said shortly.<br /> “Look here, Hawkins, let me entreat you not to<br /> be an infatuated ass. I can guess pretty well<br /> where you got this mad idea &quot;–Walter reddened<br /> —“Yes, I thought so. Well, how much do you<br /> intagine your—your adviser really knows? All<br /> that high-flown talk about Art is sheer rot for a man<br /> like you. Some of us are made to be poets, and<br /> others to be journalists. The mistaken editors<br /> seem to think you&#039;re a good journalist—no one<br /> could ever suspect you of being even a tolerable<br /> poet. Take your inoney, and be precious thank-<br /> ful you can get it. And, for heaven&#039;s sake, don’t<br /> throw up your chance in life and behave like a<br /> raving lunatic.”<br /> Walter looked at him indignantly. “You don’t<br /> know what what you&#039;re talking about,” he<br /> exclaimed. “Of course, you don’t understand—<br /> how should you?—the pure joy of pursuing Ideal<br /> Art. Anyhow, I’ve done with journalism for<br /> ever,” and with these words he left the room,<br /> It would be too painful to dwell minutely on<br /> the next two months of Walter Hawkins’ life.<br /> Hardly any of his friends saw him during that<br /> period; he spent his days in miserable solitude,<br /> racking his brains for poetical thoughts, looking<br /> for the inspiration which never came. He did,<br /> indeed, manage to compose a few short poems of<br /> a kind, which he offered to the magazines under a<br /> pseudonym. But their prompt rejection was not<br /> necessary to convince him of their exceeding<br /> badness; he knew already in his own heart that<br /> they were worthless.<br /> As almost his entire income had been derived<br /> from journalism, his lot was speedily changed<br /> from that of a well-to-do bachelor to that of a<br /> very poor man. During these two months he did<br /> not once visit Wimbledon, for it would have been<br /> impossible for him to do so without confessing<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#613) ################################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 259<br /> his failure to Margaret, and that might greatly<br /> change her feelings towards him. He wrote to<br /> her, however, from time to time, and at last was<br /> driven to explain that their marriage could not<br /> take place until he had managed in some way or<br /> other to secure an income. But he still hoped to<br /> succeed ultimately. -<br /> Margaret&#039;s reply to this letter did not greatly<br /> comfort him ; in fact, it seemed a little cold and<br /> heartless. She was sorry to hear that he was not<br /> making money, but she fully agreed that it would<br /> never do to marry unless they had plenty to live<br /> upon. Still, she was glad that he was striving<br /> patiently after true Art. Had he, by the<br /> way, read a little book of poems entitled<br /> “Heart - Throbs,” by Eustace Vanborough P<br /> If so, he would do well to take them for his<br /> model, they were so full of noble and beautiful<br /> thoughts.<br /> When “Heart-Throbs,” an elegant volume,<br /> beautifully printed and bound, arrived a few days<br /> later, Walter glanced at a few lines of it, and then<br /> flung it into the waste-paper basket. It was the<br /> most feeble, affected nonsense imaginable. Then<br /> he rose from his chair, and walked restlessly up<br /> and down his room.<br /> “Can Johnson have been right?” he thought.<br /> “Have I made a hideous mistake? Margaret’s<br /> view seemed far nobler than my own, and yet she<br /> admires that balderdash.” He took the volume<br /> out of the waste-paper basket again. “‘By<br /> Eustace Wanborough.” What an idiot the man<br /> must be l’’ Then he came back to his own<br /> position.<br /> “After all,” he reflected, “I have made this<br /> sacrifice for Madge’s sake, and so long as I have<br /> her love, nothing else can matter very much.<br /> And who knows whether she is not right—<br /> whether I shall not succeed—— ”<br /> There was a knock at the door, and his friend<br /> Johnson entered.<br /> “Came to see how you were getting on. How<br /> is—er, the Ideal Art prospering P Are you<br /> coming back to journalism P. &quot;<br /> Walter groaned. “It’s no use your coming<br /> here,” he said. “I know you mean well, but it’s<br /> not a bit of good. You know—you said so that<br /> day at the club—who has made me change my<br /> work P”<br /> Johnson<br /> here.”<br /> “Well, I don’t mind confessing to you that<br /> I’m not sure whether her theories are right, at<br /> any rate for me. But if you loved that girl as I<br /> do, you would be content to follow her wishes<br /> blindly. Nothing you can say will make me alter<br /> my intention. I’ve resigned my income and my<br /> position as a journalist for her sake, and as long<br /> nodded. “Yes — that&#039;s why I&#039;m<br /> as Miss Wycherley exists, I ask nothing better<br /> than to please her in every way I can.”<br /> “Quite so,” replied Johnson drily; “your senti-<br /> ments do you much credit, I’m sure. But as<br /> Miss Wycherley exists no longer —— ”<br /> “What 2&quot; gasped Walter, growing deadly<br /> bale.<br /> pal Don’t excite yourself—she isn’t dead—far<br /> from it. Surely you must have heard P Why,<br /> she married the fellow who calls himself Eustace<br /> Wanborough this morning !”<br /> II.-IN THE NAME OF THE PROPHET-DESKs.<br /> There were once two shops on opposite sides<br /> of the street. They were both devoted to the<br /> sale of writing-desks – rosewood or mahogany,<br /> brass bound. One of these shops was avowedly<br /> run in order to make money, if possible; the<br /> other was run on the highest religious princi-<br /> ples possible, with prayers when the directors met,<br /> solely for thesake of spreading abroad true religion.<br /> Nothing could be more noble than the objects of<br /> this shop. Its friends called it the House<br /> Venerable; the manager they called the Hammer<br /> of Injquity; of him it was reported that at the<br /> mere sight of him Dissent curled and Infidelity.<br /> lay down and died. Now, at the first shop—the<br /> secular, worldly shop, whose interests were earthly<br /> and grovelling—the desks in the window were<br /> greatly superior to those in the window of the<br /> other shop. They were so much better that<br /> nobody would step across the street to look at the<br /> Christian writing-desks. Perhaps the reason was<br /> that, at the earthly, worldly shop the man who<br /> made the desk was paid for his desk a sum of<br /> money which was uniformly calculated on a certain<br /> proportion to the price for which the desk was<br /> sold. Thus, if a desk was to be priced at 50s.,<br /> that irreligious proprietor gave the workman 25s.<br /> As he always took off large discounts and some-<br /> times sold his desks wholesale to the trade, the<br /> proprietor made a profit of no more than 158. to<br /> the workman’s 25s., so that the latter was quite<br /> satisfied, and put in his best work, and brought all<br /> his desks to this shop.<br /> At the other shop the workman was beaten down<br /> —of course, in the Cause of Pure Religion.<br /> If he was in necessity, he was offered a third, a<br /> quarter, an eighth of the price of 50s. In any<br /> case he was beaten down: he was offered a far<br /> lower price than he could get across the road.<br /> These two shops are still going on. But the<br /> desks in the House Venerable, which is managed<br /> by the Hammer of Iniquity, are reported to be<br /> growing daily worse and worse.<br /> *-* -º<br /> - - -n<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#614) ################################################<br /> <br /> 26o<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> BOOK TALK.<br /> M* WILLIAM LE QUEUX has almost<br /> finished “A Romance of the Land of No<br /> Return,” as the sub-title has it, called<br /> “The Eye of Istár.” He has also on hand a<br /> new novel for serial pu lication entitled “Devil&#039;s<br /> Dice.”<br /> The author of “Charles Dickens by Pen and<br /> Pencil,” Mr. F. G. Kitton, is engaged upon a new<br /> work dealing with the illustrations in the various<br /> editions of the novelist&#039;s writings.<br /> A third series of “Eighteen-Century Wignettes,”<br /> by Mr. Austin Dobson, is shortly to be published<br /> by Messrs. Chatto and Windus.<br /> Mrs. Marshall is writing a story of the period<br /> of the Jacobite rising in 1715, which Messrs.<br /> Seeley will issue.<br /> A new volume of stories by Mr. W. B. Yeates<br /> will be published immediately by , Messrs.<br /> Lawrence and Bullen.<br /> “George Egerton’’ is at work on a study<br /> called “The Hazard of the Ill,” which will<br /> appear this summer.<br /> a volume of short stories before leaving in the<br /> early autumn to join her husband in South<br /> Africa.<br /> A romance of African adventure called “The<br /> Oracle of Baal,” by J. Provand Webster, who<br /> herein makes his début, is announced by Messrs.<br /> Hutchinson for speedy publication.<br /> Mr. Robert Hichens has a new volume of<br /> stories in the press, entitled “The Folly of<br /> Eustace.” (Heinemann.)<br /> The popular thirst for information about the<br /> British Navy is at length to be gratified, as the<br /> publication of an exhaustive history is announced<br /> by Messrs. Sampson Low. Mr. W. Laird Clowes<br /> is the editor of the work, and the contributors<br /> include the foremost writers on naval matters.<br /> In the first volume the story of the Navy will be<br /> told from the beginning down to the Elizabethan<br /> period.<br /> An uncommon form of literary censorship is<br /> reported to have taken place at the Kingston<br /> Workhouse. A parcel of books for the inmates<br /> had been presented, consisting, it would appear,<br /> mostly of works which gave anything but enter-<br /> taining leading. Two of the guardians — a<br /> clergyman of the Church and a Nonconformist<br /> minister — after examining them, cast aside<br /> about one hundred and fifty as unsuitable.<br /> “Why?” asked the Chairman. “Because,” was<br /> the reply, “they are extremely dry theological<br /> works,”<br /> She will also have ready<br /> The following, from “A Publisher,” appeared<br /> in the Athenæum of the 14th ult.:—<br /> I lately had occasion to inform an author that his book, so<br /> far from having produced any profit, as he expected, had<br /> not paid expenses. In reply (I quote textually) he says,<br /> “Perhaps if you get somebody even now to give the book<br /> a good review, the remaining copies might be sold.” May<br /> authors, I have often suspected, have a Sneaking belief that a<br /> publisher keeps a stock of “good reviewers” as part of his<br /> regular staff, but I never met with such a naïve expression<br /> of the belief before.<br /> Mr. John O&#039;Leary’s “Recollections of Fenian-<br /> ism,” will be published in two volumes by Messrs.<br /> Downey, probably this month, and also a volume<br /> of reminiscences by Mr. W. P. O&#039;Brien, entitled<br /> “&#039;The Great Famine.”<br /> “The Queen&#039;s Prime Ministers,” by the Hon.<br /> Reginald Brett, will be published immediately by<br /> Messrs. Macmillan. Other books from this firm<br /> will include a series of anecdotal sketches by<br /> Baron Ferdinand Rothschild, entitled “Personal<br /> Characteristics from French History ‘’’; and “A<br /> System of Medicine,” written by various autho-<br /> rities and edited by Dr. Allbutt, Regius Pro-<br /> fessor of Physics in the University of Cambridge.<br /> The discovery of a parcel of valuable old books<br /> is reported from the Cams Hall Estate, Hamp-<br /> shire. Among them are some of Caxton&#039;s, dating<br /> from 1474 to 1494, including “Justinian’s Law,”<br /> a later copy of which recently changed hands in<br /> London for over £IOOO. The books were found<br /> in a cupboard by Mr. M. H. Foster, the new<br /> proprietor, and are all in good condition.<br /> In a recent book sale at Sotheby’s, Goldsmith&#039;s<br /> “Deserted Village,” 1770, first edition, uncut,<br /> brought 345; “Paradise Tost,” 1667, first edition,<br /> presentation copy from Milton to his “loving<br /> friend” Mr. Francis Rea, 3885; and St. Jerome&#039;s<br /> “Epistles,” printed by Schiffer, 1470, on fine<br /> vellum, 38o.<br /> Mr. Clement Shorter is editing for Messrs.<br /> Ward, Lock, and Co. a series of Nineteenth<br /> Century Classics. The first volume will be<br /> “Sartor Resartus,” for which Professor T)owden<br /> writes an introduction ; the next two will also be<br /> Carlyle&#039;s, namely, “Heroes and Hero-Worship ’’<br /> and “Past and Present,” with introductions by Mr.<br /> Gosse and Mr. Frederic Harrison respectively.<br /> These will be followed by Matthew Arnold’s<br /> poems, Mrs. Browning’s “Prometheus Bound,”<br /> and Mrs. Gaskell’s “Cranford.”<br /> A new year-book of London, “The London<br /> Manual,” in which the functions of all public<br /> bodies in the metropolis will be explained for the<br /> benefit of the ratepayers, is about to appear from<br /> the offices of London. It will have maps and<br /> diagrams, and will cost one shilling,<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#615) ################################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 261<br /> Mr. Edward Carpenter&#039;s new volume of essays,<br /> which is to be published shortly by Mr. Dobell,<br /> will be entitled “Love&#039;s Coming of Age.” Mrs.<br /> Meynell is publishing in book form, through Mr.<br /> Lane, a number of her essays which have ap-<br /> peared in “The Wares of Autolycus’ column of<br /> the Pall Mall Gazette. The title is “The<br /> Colour of Life.”<br /> An account of the life and times of Alexander<br /> Russel, of the Scotsman, ought to be a con-<br /> siderable contribution to the political and social<br /> history of Scotland, and particularly of Edin-<br /> burgh. Such a work has been undertaken by<br /> Sheriff Campbell Smith, of Dundee, who knew<br /> Russel and wrote articles in his columns.<br /> There will be in May a volume of short stories<br /> by Marie Corelli, under the title of “Cameos&#039;<br /> (Hutchinson).<br /> An illustrated book on “Notable Welsh<br /> Musicians,” by Mr. Frederic Griffith, will shortly<br /> be published by Mr. Francis Goodwen, 47,<br /> Leadenhall-street, E.C. The work will be rather<br /> of a descriptive than a critical character, and will<br /> notice alike the composers, the instrumentalists,<br /> and the vocalists in the musical community of<br /> Wales.<br /> Rarely a month passes without a Stevenson item<br /> or two. This time the record includes a volume<br /> of “Wailima Table-Talk,” which Mrs. Strong and<br /> Mr. Lloyd Osbourne have edited. Stevenson, it<br /> appears, consented to be “taken down&quot; in his<br /> everyday utterances, and inclined to make a<br /> joke of it. Secondly, a new essay, which has<br /> been found among his papers, is to appear<br /> in the summer issue of the Illustrated London<br /> News.<br /> A history of architecture, written by Professor<br /> Banister Fletcher and Mr. Banister F. Fletcher,<br /> will be published shortly by Mr. B. T. Bats-<br /> ford. It will be illustrated chiefly by collotype<br /> plates.<br /> Lady Lindsay is about to bring out, through<br /> Messrs. Longmans, a new volume of verse<br /> entitled “The Flower Sellers.” Mr. Bliss Car-<br /> men&#039;s new volume and Mr. Percy Hemingway&#039;s<br /> “The Happy Wanderer” are to be published<br /> soon by Mr. Mathews, in whose “Shilling Gar-<br /> land ” Series will appear “Christ in Hades,” by<br /> Mr. Stephen Phillips. Mr. A. Barnard Miall is<br /> the author of a book of “Nocturnes and Pastorals,”<br /> which will be published by Mr. Smithers. The<br /> verse of the near future will also include Mr.<br /> Kipling&#039;s new volume.<br /> At the annual meeting of the Royal Literary<br /> Fund it was reported that forty-three grants,<br /> representing £1905, had been awarded during<br /> 1895, males receiving £1 185 and females 3720.<br /> Thirteen were to novelists, eight to authors of<br /> historical and biographical works, and eight to<br /> classical literature and educational authors. The<br /> fund has now £51,912 invested, yielding an income<br /> of £1676.<br /> The past month had a fairly large and un-<br /> usually interesting output of new books. Mr.<br /> Lecky&#039;s large work “Democracy and Liberty”<br /> was published by Messrs. Longmans, and Dr.<br /> Traill’s “Life of Sir John Franklin” by Mr.<br /> Murray. In travel there was Captain Young-<br /> husband’s “The Heart of a Continent” (Murray);<br /> while the social and dramatic world welcomed<br /> “A Few Memories” (Osgood), by the famous<br /> actress who was Mary Anderson. Mr. Crockett&#039;s<br /> “Cleg Kelly” appeared, and Mrs. Hodgson<br /> Burnett’s “A Lady of Quality.”<br /> Mr. James St. Loe Strachey, the well-known<br /> Spectator writer, has been appointed editor of<br /> the Cornhill Magazine in succession to Mr.<br /> James Payn, who has had to relinquish the<br /> position because of continued ill-health. This<br /> old-established sixpenny monthly will now be<br /> raised to Is.<br /> Mr. H. S. Salt, who is already known for works<br /> on Shelley, is about to issue a biographical study,<br /> “Percy Bysshe Shelley, Poet and Pioneer,” in<br /> which he will claim that the verdict of time has<br /> not only pronounced Shelley to be a great poet,<br /> but has also corroborated his social and religious<br /> views. The work will be published in London by<br /> Mr. W. Reeves.<br /> An American paper recently asked why did not<br /> some British journal get Olive Schreiner to tell<br /> its readers all about life in the Transvaal. The<br /> hint has been taken or anticipated, for the<br /> authoress begins in the April number of the<br /> Fortnightly Review a series of articles on “The<br /> Boers of the Transvaal.” Miss Beatrice Harraden<br /> contributes to the new number of Blackwood’s<br /> Magazine the opening chapters of a story of<br /> California entitled “Hilda Strafford,” while<br /> Chapman&#039;s will have the first instalment of “The<br /> Herb Moon,” by John Oliver Hobbes.<br /> ‘H pumópova (stepmother) of Gregorios Xeno-<br /> poulos will be issued from the “Bodley Head”<br /> during this season, done into English by Mrs.<br /> Edmonds; also a one-volume novel by Mrs.<br /> Edmonds, entitled “Links in a Chain,” will be<br /> published by Messrs. Jarrold and Sons.<br /> Hilton Hill&#039;s novel, “His Egyptian Wife,”<br /> which has enjoyed a large sale for a first book,<br /> has just been issued in a 2s. railway edition.<br /> Mr. Hill has ready a new novel, which will be<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#616) ################################################<br /> <br /> 262<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> published in the autumn, like his first book,<br /> simultaneously in London and New York.<br /> We are glad to learn that Annabel Gray&#039;s<br /> book “Comrades,” recently published by Messrs.<br /> Drane and Chant, has met with so much success<br /> that the publishers will shortly issue a second<br /> edition.<br /> In “Phinlay Glenelg&#039;s&#039; Maxims in last number<br /> of the Author, amend one line as follows:<br /> War is more a manner of emotion than a matter of reason.<br /> Mrs. E. Rentoul Ester&#039;s novel “The Way of<br /> Transgressors” has just appeared in a new edi-<br /> tion (Sampson Low and Co.). Mrs. Ester&#039;s new<br /> book “The Wardlaws” (which Messrs. Smith,<br /> Elder, and Co. will publish immediately) treats<br /> of an Irish family of long descent. It will pro-<br /> bably be found to occupy comparatively new<br /> ground on topics Hibernian.<br /> “The Saint of Poverty,” a drama founded<br /> on the life of Frances of Assisi, by Henry N.<br /> Maughan, will be issued very shortly by Mr.<br /> Elliot Stock.<br /> The Roxburghe Press will issue, almost imme-<br /> diately, a volume entitled “Carina Songs ’’ and<br /> others, by Miss Amy C. Morant; a lady who is<br /> identified with most of the labour and social<br /> movements of the time.<br /> Mr. John Milne, late of Wilsons and Milne,<br /> Paternoster Row, has resumed publishing at<br /> Amberley House, Norfolk-street, Strand. It is<br /> his intention to issue works of a popular kind,<br /> and he is now making up a list of entirely<br /> original books of sport, travel, biography, adven-<br /> ture, fiction, and other light forms of literature.<br /> Mrs. Alec Tweedie’s article on “Danish versus<br /> English Butter-making,” which appeared in the<br /> Fortnightly, last May, has gone through several<br /> developments. It was afterwards enlarged and<br /> brought out as a pamphlet (Horace Cox) the<br /> result of which being that Mrs. Tweedie spoke<br /> on Agriculture—or more properly speaking dairy-<br /> ing—at the meeting of the Grand Council of<br /> Women at St. Martin’s Town Hall lately, when<br /> she advocated the formation of a Women&#039;s<br /> British Produce League for the encouragement of<br /> home trades generally, and more particulary to<br /> keep the £14,000,000 a year in this country<br /> which is paid out annually for dairy produce<br /> alone. She suggested women taking up dairying<br /> as a profession.<br /> A correspondent of the Bookseller suggests<br /> that as it is doubtful whether this year a dinner<br /> will be held in connection with the Booksellers&#039;<br /> Provident Institution, a dinner representative of<br /> the three branches – author, publisher, and book-<br /> seller—should be held instead. If representative,<br /> he says, its permanent success should be as much<br /> assured as the annual dinner of the Royal<br /> Academy.<br /> Mrs. Elizabeth Rundle Charles, author of<br /> “The Chronicles of the Schönberg-Cotta Family”<br /> and other well-known works, died at her residence,<br /> Combe Edge, Hampstead, on Saturday afternoon.<br /> She came of an old Devonshire family, and<br /> was brought up in an ancient manor house<br /> near Tavistock, which town her father, Mr. John<br /> Rundle, represented for nine years in Parliament.<br /> She was born in Jan. 1828, at Tavistock, and<br /> began writing when she was twenty-two. Her<br /> first book was a translation from Neander, “Ilight<br /> in Dark Places: Memorials of Christian Life in<br /> the Middle Ages.” In 1851 she married Mr.<br /> Andrew Paton Charles, a brother of the present<br /> Mr. Justice Charles, who died in 1868. Mrs.<br /> Charles was a woman of considerable learning as<br /> well as of deep religious feeling, and she united<br /> marked literary ability with a strong, but sym-<br /> pathetic, Anglicanism. Encouraged by a certain<br /> modest success, Mrs. Charles went on writing.<br /> She published “Tales and Sketches of Christian<br /> Life in Different Lands and Ages,” 1851; “The<br /> Two Vocations,” 1853; “The Cripple of Antioch,”<br /> 1855; “The Song without Words,” 1856; “The<br /> Voice of Christian Life in Song” and “Sketches<br /> of Hymns and Hymn-Writers,” 1858; “The<br /> Three Wakings,” 1859; “Wanderings over Bible<br /> Lands and Seas” and “The Martyrs of Spain,”<br /> 1862; and “Sketches of Christian Life in England<br /> in the Olden Time,” in 1864. In 1864, also,<br /> she published “Chronicles of the Schönberg-<br /> Cotta Family.” This book was reviewed in the<br /> Times with warm eulogium, and it achieved at<br /> Once great popular success, which has continued<br /> to the present day. In America, the book was<br /> extensively pirated. Her “Diary of Mrs. Kitty<br /> Trevelyan,” 1865, was also widely read. Her.<br /> other works include : “Winifred Bertram and<br /> the World She Lived In,” 1866; “The Draytons<br /> and the Davenants’’ and “On Both Sides of<br /> the Sea : a Story of the Commonwealth and<br /> Restoration,” 1867; “The Women of the<br /> Gospels,” 1868; “Watchwords for the Warfare<br /> of Life,” 1869; “Diary of Brother Bartholo-<br /> mew,” 1870; “The Victory of the Wanquished,”<br /> 1871; “The Cottage by the Cathedral,” 1872;<br /> “Against the Stream,” 1873; “The Bertram<br /> Family ’’ and “Conquering and to Conquer,”<br /> 1876; “Lapsed, but not Lost,” 1877; “Joan<br /> the Maid,” 1879; “Sketches of the Women of<br /> Christendom,” 1880. Mrs. Rundle Charles knew<br /> many distinguished Churchmen, including Dr.<br /> Pusey, Archbishop Tait, Dr. Liddon, Professor<br /> Jowett, and Charles Kingsley. She was particu-<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#617) ################################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 263<br /> larly intimate with Dean Stanley and his wife, and<br /> she wrote a slight, but admirable, sketch of Lady<br /> Augusta Stanley&#039;s life. She was also the author<br /> of several popular hymns. Many of her books<br /> have been translated into German and Swedish.<br /> Of late years she did not write much, but recently<br /> she published a work on the black-letter saints,<br /> and last year appeared “Ecce Homo, Ecce Rex,”<br /> from her pen.—Times, March 30.<br /> e &lt;3<br /> LITERATURE IN THE PERIODICALS,<br /> MR. Low ELL IN ENGLAND. George W. Smalley. Harper’s<br /> for April.<br /> CANDOUR IN BIOGRAPHY. Wilfrid Ward. New Review<br /> for April.<br /> NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY. Leslie Stephen. National<br /> Review for March.<br /> MATTHEW ARNOLD. Frederic Harrison. Nineteenth<br /> Century for March.<br /> HERR SUDERMANN’s NOVELS.<br /> Fortnightly Review for April.<br /> THE PLAYS OF HROSWITHA.<br /> Review for March.<br /> ROBERT BURNS.<br /> for April.<br /> PEPYS AND EVELYN.<br /> April.<br /> THOMAS GENT, PRINTER. Austin Dobson.<br /> Magazine for April.<br /> MATTHEW ARNOLD’s POETRY.<br /> March 14.<br /> DEAF AND DUMB HEROES IN FICTION. Correspondence<br /> of Cuming Walters and the author of “In a Silent World.”<br /> Athenæum for Feb. 22 and March 21.<br /> M. ZoDA’s FROG. Speaker for March 7.<br /> THE ELDER. DUMAs. Emily Crawford. Century Maga-<br /> zine for March.<br /> ON AN AUTHOR’s CHOICE OF COMPANY.<br /> Wilson. Century Magazine for March.<br /> MR. HALL CAINE ON CANADIAN COPYRIGHT. Goldwin<br /> Smith. Letter to the Times of Feb. 29.<br /> LIVING CRITICS.–VI. Mr. Coventry Patmore. R.<br /> Garnett. Bookman for March.<br /> THE ETHICS OF MODERN JOURNALISM. Aline Gorren.<br /> Scribner’s for April.<br /> NOTABLE REVIEWS.<br /> Of Saintsbury’s “History of Nineteenth Century Litera-<br /> ture.” C. M. Hereford. Bookman for March.<br /> Of Crawfurd’s “Lyrical Verse from Elizabeth to Wic-<br /> toria.” Athemaewm for March 7.<br /> Of Frederick Tennyson’s “Poems of the Day and Year.”<br /> Athenaewm for March 21.<br /> Of “Brother and Sister” (The Renans). Daily Chronicle<br /> for March 25.<br /> Of Professor Bury’s “Gibbon.”<br /> Daily Chronicle for March 19.<br /> Of Lecky’s “Democracy and Liberty.”<br /> March 24.<br /> Mr. Goldwin Smith writes to the Times con-<br /> tradicting Mr. Hall Caine by saying that there<br /> was no “five years&#039; outcry&quot; in Canada, and no<br /> more excitement about the liberty of “self-mis-<br /> Janet E. Hogarth.<br /> G. de Dubor. Fortnightly<br /> D. F. Hannigan. Westminster Review<br /> E. E. Kitton. Atalanta for<br /> Longman&#039;s<br /> Saturday Review for<br /> Woodrow<br /> Frederic Harrison.<br /> Daily News for<br /> government” than about the question of copyright<br /> itself. Further, that the “marvellous unanimity”<br /> of the Canadian Parliament on the Act of 1889<br /> was the unanimity of ignorance and indifference.<br /> “The Canadian Copyright Act, even supposing it<br /> to be intra vires, might with perfect safety have<br /> been disallowed as contrary to imperial policy,<br /> and subversive of the rights of subjects of the<br /> empire. It is really provoking to think of the<br /> smallness of the force which has given rise to all<br /> this trouble.”<br /> The company which an author should keep is<br /> the theme of Mr. Woodrow Wilson. While he<br /> lives a man can keep the company of the masters<br /> whose words contain the mystery of the entrance<br /> to the community of letters—and open it to those<br /> who can see almost with every accent, and in<br /> such company it may at last be revealed to him.<br /> Two tests admit to that company, namely, Are<br /> you individual? Are you conversable? He must<br /> speak with an individual note; and he must<br /> speak in such speech and spirit as can be under-<br /> stood from age to age, and not in the pet terms<br /> and separate spirit of a single day and generation.<br /> “Frequent the company in which you may learn.<br /> the speech and the manner which are fit to last.<br /> Take to heart the admirable example you shall<br /> See set you there of using speech and manner to<br /> speak your real thought and be genuinely and<br /> simply yourself.”<br /> Mr. Smalley thinks that Lowell&#039;s life in London<br /> is a much misunderstood part of his career.<br /> TI erefore the present article. In an introduction<br /> to a collection of some of the poet&#039;s letters, to<br /> be issued shortly, he will go into the subject more<br /> fully. Meanwhile he points out the important<br /> change which London made upon the character of<br /> Lowell. The recluse ceased to be a recluse; he<br /> perceived that a knowledge of men and of what<br /> is best in men was to be had otherwise than from<br /> books; he became a diner-out ; he was ripened,<br /> he got courage. The Lowell that came from<br /> Madrid “never would have written or never have<br /> delivered that essay on Democracy which probably<br /> reached the whole English mind as no other ever<br /> did.” Mr. Smalley, who was an intimate and<br /> long-standing friend, has much to say of Lowell&#039;s<br /> charity: “anybody could extract a letter from<br /> him as they could a five pound note;” “yet, if a<br /> man presumed upon his kindliness so far as to<br /> talk nonsense in bad English, or to be slovenly in<br /> his facts, woe unto him l’’ This disposition Mr.<br /> Smalley attributes to Lowell&#039;s inexhaustible faith<br /> in human nature, though surely the literary<br /> agent of to-day, if asked to explain his raison<br /> d’étre, might point to Lowell&#039;s case as sufficient<br /> answer (if “inexhaustible faith in human nature”<br /> be ruled out as not, primá facie, practicable):—<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#618) ################################################<br /> <br /> 264<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> He had no notion of accounts and no capacity for private<br /> business. From the beginning, like Renan, he took what<br /> his publishers offered him for his books or other writings,<br /> and thanked God it was no less. Long after they ought to<br /> have brought him a handsome income he was content with<br /> a fixed moderate sum. When the Century and other<br /> magazines in later days sent him large cheques for verses<br /> and essays which he thought too slight for such ample pay, he<br /> seemed astonished at this wise liberality, and more than<br /> once protested. The early letters show him writing for<br /> almost nothing.<br /> As for Lowell’s ideas on style, the following<br /> single sentence, says Mr. Smalley, is more expres-<br /> sive than many an essay on the subject. Mr.<br /> Smalley had asked him to admit that Pepys,<br /> unscholarly and slovenly as he is, had often a<br /> power of expressing himself with effect and<br /> point:—<br /> Says Lowell: “I admit that Pepys was capable of<br /> writing good sentences when he tried. But Gray, for<br /> example, couldn’t write a clumsy one without trying, and<br /> this is what I mean by style.” [Again :] “Pepy&#039;s language,<br /> you must remember, has the freshness of being nowadays<br /> unfamiliar. There is a good deal of originality in having<br /> learned one’s English two hundred and fifty years ago, as<br /> Lamb discovered.”<br /> Mr. Frederic Harrison examines Matthew<br /> Arnold as poet, as critic, and as philosopher. As<br /> a poet, he says, Arnold is saturated with the<br /> clasical genius more than any in the roll of litera-<br /> ture (unless it be Milton), although his poetry<br /> is essentially modern in thought, and has all that<br /> fetishistic worship of natural objects which is<br /> the true note of the Wordsworthian school. It is<br /> perplexing that no sooner does Arnold pass into<br /> philosophy, into politics, into theology, than he<br /> disclaims any system, principles, or doctrines of<br /> any kind. His exquisite taste, his serene sense<br /> of equity, and his genial magnanimity made him<br /> a consummate critic of style, though “neither<br /> as theologian, philosopher, and publicist was he<br /> at all adequately equipped by genius or by edu-<br /> cation for the office of supreme arbiter which he<br /> so airily and perhaps so humorously assumed to<br /> fill. On the matter of criticism we extract the<br /> following from Mr. Harrison&#039;s paper:—<br /> The function of criticism—though not so high and mighty<br /> as Arnold proclaimed it with superb assurance—is not so<br /> futile an art as the sixty-two minor poets and the eleven<br /> thousand minor novelists are now wont to think it. Arnold<br /> committed one of the few extravagances of his whole life<br /> when he told us that poetry was the criticism of life, that<br /> the function of criticism was to see all things as they really<br /> are in themselves—the very thing Kant told us we could<br /> never do. On the other hand, too much of what is now<br /> called criticism is the improvised chatter of a raw lad<br /> portentously ignorant of the matter in hand. It is not the<br /> “indolent” reviewer that we now suffer under, but the<br /> lightning reviewer, the young man in a hurry with a Kodak,<br /> who finally disposes of a new work on the day of its publica-<br /> tion. One of them naïvely complained the other morning of<br /> having to cut the pages, as if we ever suspected that he cut<br /> the pages of more than the preface and table of contents.<br /> The Saturday Review article agrees with Mr.<br /> Harrison that Arnold&#039;s poetry will be longest<br /> remembered, and says incidentally that as one<br /> reflects on Mr. Swinburne&#039;s remarkable prescience<br /> as shown by his estimates (to give three) of<br /> Arnold, Dante Rossetti, and Christina Rossetti<br /> published many years ago, one regrets the more<br /> that Mr. Swinburne does not speak his mind as to<br /> the prospects of English poetry in the immediate<br /> future.<br /> The German novel, like the German nation, is<br /> still im werden, says the writer of the estimate of<br /> Sudermann in the Fortnightly. She points out,<br /> however, that Herr Sudermann has made a great.<br /> advance within the last ten years, and predicts<br /> for him a wider audience than the German. “It<br /> is a remarkable coincidence,” she continues, “that<br /> his best literary work should date from the period<br /> when he made his first appearance as a dramatic<br /> author. From that time, too, dates seemingly<br /> his popular recognition as a novelist.” His<br /> salvation in literature may have been, therefore,<br /> in learning, as a dramatist, to make his effect and<br /> make it directly. One important lesson, the writer<br /> explains in the following passage, Sudermann has<br /> been taught in his advance:—<br /> The affinity is clear between “Der Katzensteg” and that<br /> most singularly ugly play “Sodom’s Ende,” but since then<br /> Herr Sudermann has repented. He has learned to<br /> subordinate external nature to that interplay of character<br /> which might perhaps be not inaptly called morality. tº º<br /> “Man must begin, know this, where nature ends.” That.<br /> is the true answer to the naturalism of “Der Katzensteg,”<br /> and that is the lesson which the proper study of mankind<br /> had not failed to teach Herr Sudermann.<br /> Mr. Wilfrid Ward (who, by the way, is<br /> engaged on the Life of Cardinal Wiseman) sup-<br /> ports the view that there should be discreet.<br /> selection on the part of the biographer in pub-<br /> lishing documents, and considers it fortunate<br /> that the class of biography which leaves nothing<br /> unsaid which would tell in a man’s favour is more<br /> common than that which omits nothing which<br /> tells against him. Mr. Leslie Stephen indicates<br /> the value of the national dictionary of biography<br /> as preserving the commemorative instinct, and<br /> also shows how it is an amusing work. The<br /> writer on Journalism in Scribner&#039;s is concerned<br /> particularly with that of America, the personal<br /> and unliterary element of which is regarded as a<br /> result of the social system ; and European<br /> journalism is to be Americanised shortly.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#619) ################################################<br /> <br /> THE<br /> 265<br /> A UTHOR.<br /> TESTIMONIAL TO MR, GEORGE KNOTTES-<br /> FORD FORTESCUE.<br /> COMMITTEE has been formed of the<br /> following gentlemen:—Dr. Samuel Raw-<br /> son Gardiner (chairman and treasurer);<br /> the Rev. Dr. Samuel Kinns (hon. secretary); the<br /> Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Ripon; the Right<br /> Hon. Lord Ribblesdale, P.C.; Sir Henry H.<br /> Howorth, K.C.I.E., M.P.; Sir George Sitwell,<br /> Bart.; Prof. W. J. Courthope, C.B.; the Rev.<br /> Sabine Baring-Gould, M.A.; Mr. T. B. Browning,<br /> M.A., of the Canadian Bar; Mr. Samuel Butler,<br /> B.A.; Mr. Alexander H. Grant, M.A.; Mr. Sidney<br /> Lee; and Mr. Alexander Macdonald, C.S.; to<br /> present Mr. George Knottesford Fortescue, the<br /> late superintendent of the reading room of the<br /> British Museum, with an illuminated address<br /> expressive of the readers&#039; hearty appreciation of<br /> the ability and courtesy which he manifested in<br /> the performance of the duties of his office during<br /> the past eleven years, and also of the important<br /> service he has rendered to students by the com-<br /> pilation of the “Subject Catalogue,” a work of<br /> no little magnitude, involving considerable labour<br /> and care.<br /> The late Dr. George Bullen, when keeper of the<br /> printed books, tells us, in an introductory note<br /> to this catalogue, that it was compiled under his<br /> sanction, and adds:—“This useful work forms a<br /> nearer approximation to a general index of current<br /> literature than has yet been attempted. It<br /> remains for me to add that it has been compiled<br /> by Mr. Fortescue solely, and for the most part<br /> when away from the museum during non-official<br /> hours.”<br /> The committee would be very glad if any of<br /> the readers who are disposed to contribute a small<br /> sum towards this purpose, not exceeding 2s. 6d.,<br /> would kindly give it to the treasurer or any<br /> member of the committee; or send it to the Hon.<br /> Secretary, at his private address, 182, Haverstock-<br /> hill, Hampstead.<br /> *~ - 2–’<br /> z- * ~<br /> BOOKS PUBLISHED IN 1895.<br /> HE number of publications issued in the<br /> course of last year almost exactly coincides<br /> with the output of its predecessor. We<br /> have to record an increase of thirty-one only.<br /> Theology shows a slight increase. In education<br /> the total is a little more than before. Works of<br /> fiction show a slight decline from the prodigious<br /> record for 1894, which, including new editions,<br /> furnished the reader of imaginative literature<br /> with about six fresh books for every week-day in<br /> the year. In political economy, trade, &amp;c., the<br /> figures are somewhat higher than before Arts<br /> and sciences show a small decrease in their figures.<br /> Works of travel and adventure are also less in<br /> number than previously. History and biography<br /> in 1895 are largely in excess of the production of<br /> 1894. Of poetry we have nearly 50 per cent.<br /> more books. Serials somewhat decreased. Medi-<br /> cine and surgery show a rather remarkable in-<br /> crease in number. In general literature the<br /> figures do not call for remark, and miscellaneous<br /> publications are nearly the same in 1895 as they<br /> were in 1894.<br /> As our readers will observe, we have this year<br /> made one category of novels and juvenile works,<br /> both of these kinds being works of imagination,<br /> and very difficult at times to discriminate from the<br /> mere titles of the books.<br /> The analytical table is divided into thirteen<br /> classes; also new books and new editions:<br /> <br /> 1894. 1895.<br /> Divisions. a-— —A- -—, 2-———<br /> New New New New<br /> Books. Editions. Books. |Editions.<br /> Theology, Sermons,<br /> Biblical, &amp;c. - 476 80 501 69<br /> Educational, Clas-<br /> sical, and Philo-<br /> logical - - - 615 127 660 111<br /> Novels, Tales, and<br /> Juvenile Works... 1,584 366 1,544 347<br /> Law, Jurisprudence,<br /> &amp;c. * * * . . . . 126 23 57 33. ,<br /> Political and Social<br /> Economy, Trade<br /> and Commerce ... 141 21 163 23.<br /> Arts, Sciences, and<br /> Illustrated Works 98 30 96 16.<br /> Voyages, Travels,<br /> Geographical Re-<br /> search ... - - - 282 68 263 75<br /> History, Biography,<br /> &amp;c. * * * . . . . 256 58 353 68.<br /> Poetry and the<br /> Drama ... - - - 160 21 231 16<br /> Year - Books and<br /> Serials in Volumes 328 2 311 -<br /> Medicine, Surgery, - -<br /> &amp;c. a º e - - - 97 59 153 53<br /> Belles-Lettres, Es-<br /> says, Monographs,<br /> &amp;c. 370 115 400 42<br /> Miscellaneous, in-<br /> cluding Pamph-<br /> lets, not Sermons 767 215 749 182<br /> 5,300 1,185 5,581 935<br /> 5,300 5,581<br /> 6,485 6,516<br /> <br /> — Publishers’ Circular.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#620) ################################################<br /> <br /> 266<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> CORRESPONDENCE,<br /> I.—ConstructION AND CHARACTER.<br /> WRITER of largely circulated fiction once<br /> A told me bluntly that his calling was a<br /> trade. I have heard the same avowal<br /> from an author whose work is taken more<br /> seriously. -<br /> Certainly the trade-test is not generally accepted<br /> by novelists or by critics. Yet at the present<br /> time, to the question whether fiction should be<br /> regarded as an art or a trade, the corpus of<br /> current criticism seems to answer—“A little of<br /> both.”<br /> But the two standards are inconsistent.<br /> trade-author writes to gain the largest number of<br /> readers that his qualifications will enable him to<br /> secure. He has to shape his utterances, guided<br /> by the formation of a whole world of tradition,<br /> prejudice, superstition, transient fashion, transient<br /> philosophy. He must suit himself to the tone of<br /> a particular decade. The larger percentage of<br /> his readers will be avid of sensation, unthinking<br /> as concerns literature, hasty in judgment, im-<br /> patient of subtle effects. He must depict<br /> “characters” that they will heartily like or<br /> utterly dislike. He must study construction ;<br /> that is to say, he must first work out his plot (to<br /> himself) and then make his puppets move along<br /> the lines of it, and hit out the situations in it,<br /> whether such folk would do so in nature or not.<br /> He must ignore the laws of character whenever<br /> needful, and make his marionettes get to and<br /> through the complications. The laws of character<br /> being to him of optional acceptance, he usually<br /> follows the course of ignoring them altogether,<br /> and works entirely by the lights of construction.<br /> A writer who writes by construction rejects the<br /> standard of characterisation ; one who writes by<br /> characterisation, ipso facto rejects the standard of<br /> construction. Yet how often do we see an author<br /> blamed because he has not combined his correct<br /> characterisation with that excellence in construc-<br /> tion which would, in fact, falsify his work, or his<br /> good construction with that true characterisation<br /> which would inevitably falsify his plot He is<br /> told, in other words, that he should have shaped<br /> up his book more with a view to the all-round<br /> requirements of the market—that he should try<br /> to get at readers by both methods, and be thorough<br /> in neither.<br /> . If we accept the dictum of Balzac.—-and Scho-<br /> penhauer was in accord with him as concerns<br /> literature—that the mission of art is to express<br /> nature, we perceive a reason for saying that<br /> “construction” work is inartistic. One does not<br /> express nature by presenting as actual events<br /> The<br /> series after series of ingeniously interwoven<br /> circumstances carrying certain lives to certain<br /> situations useful to the novelist, and happening<br /> ad hoc ; nor does one express nature by depicting<br /> as human lives trade characters bowdlerised or<br /> broadened to the taste of the fifties or the sixties,<br /> or the eighties or the nineties, of this or any<br /> other century. One expresses mature to the<br /> human soul by showing the envoi of what does<br /> subsist and consist in nature to this psyche.<br /> Certainly the laws of reality are deep and diffi-<br /> cult; as Balzac said of the fantastic beings evoked<br /> by Hoffmann, “they nevertheless have life.”<br /> But Hoffmann wrote on the plane of the avowedly<br /> fanciful, and the art-faculty can, perhaps, create<br /> phantasms showing the essence of reality on any<br /> plane. But each plane has its own truth. The<br /> ordinary trade-novel is nominally written on the<br /> plane of daily-human life actuality, and written<br /> falsely on this plane.<br /> If the recent development of fiction, the<br /> increased number of novels wrought with art-<br /> striving, be a sign that art-fiction has a consider-<br /> able audience, he surely would do both writers<br /> and readers a great service who would bring them<br /> to closer, clearer acquaintance, and find a certain,<br /> short means of communication between them, not<br /> perilous with draughts and blasts of inconsistent<br /> criticism.<br /> GODFREY BURCHETT.<br /> Farthingstone Rectory, Jan. 23.<br /> II.-AT HIS OWN ExPENSE.<br /> There ought to be no longer any confusion of<br /> thought as to the relative positions of authors<br /> and the publishers who produce their works. An<br /> author invents a book, just as an inventor invents<br /> a machine. The author employs a publisher to<br /> do the mechanical work of producing his book,<br /> sending out review copies to the Press, and selling<br /> It to the public—just as an inventor, who is not a<br /> machinist, employs a man who is, to make his<br /> machine, and perhaps advertise and sell it. The<br /> inventor is the employer, the machinist is the<br /> employed—who does the mechanical work of<br /> putting his ideas into brass and iron ready for the<br /> market. If the inventor is poor, he sells his<br /> invention to a capitalist—just as an author some-<br /> times sells his book to a publisher. An inventor,<br /> who had capital and business capacity, would<br /> not, as a rule, sell his invention; and an author,<br /> having capital and business capacity, ought not<br /> to sell his book. He ought to keep the copyright<br /> under his own control. The inventor who had<br /> capital and business capacity would start en-<br /> gineering works, and would manufacture his own<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#621) ################################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 267<br /> machine and sell it to the public himself. By<br /> keeping the profits of the manufacturer in his<br /> own hands, he could increase his sales, by giving<br /> better terms to the distributing shopkeepers.<br /> This is what authors, having capital and business<br /> capacity, ought to do. By keeping the profits of<br /> the book manufacturer in their own hands, they<br /> could benefit the reading public, and increase<br /> their own sales, by offering better terms to the<br /> booksellers.<br /> It is not necessary for authors to start book<br /> manufacturing works to do what I suggest.<br /> Publishers do not necessarily print and bind the<br /> books they publish. Given the capital required,<br /> the work of placing orders for printing and bind-<br /> ing, sending out review copies, &amp;c., could be done<br /> through a central office, worked on the co-opera-<br /> tive principle. The Society of Authors might<br /> organise such a central office; and the expense of<br /> working it would not be heavy. I know there is<br /> an absurd stigma attached to an author who<br /> publishes his book at his own expense. Who<br /> attached this stigma P Probably publishers did<br /> it from interested motives. In my opinion no<br /> author, having capital to stand the risk of pub-<br /> lishing his own book, ought to part with the<br /> control over the copyright to a publisher. How<br /> is it possible that the acceptance of a book by a<br /> publisher can be any recommendation of it in the<br /> eyes of a man of sense and reflection ? What<br /> does it mean? Merely that a tradesman thinks<br /> the book is likely to take—“ catch on ”—with an<br /> uncritical and uncultured public; that it is likely<br /> to be a good business speculation. A publisher<br /> is not necessarily a man of culture or critical<br /> acumen. The probability is that, if he ever had<br /> the critical faculty, it has been so blunted by his<br /> tradesman’s way of judging of books that it has<br /> become worthless. It is not his business to judge<br /> of the literary and intrinsic value of a book; his<br /> test of merit is whether it will sell or not. His<br /> judgment has been so warped by the exigencies<br /> of his business, that he is one of the last men<br /> whose judgment, as to the literary excellence of a<br /> book, ought to be taken.<br /> 5 * JOHN LASCELLEs.<br /> III.-A SIDE LIGHT.<br /> Here is a side light on the royalty system. I<br /> have patented several small inventions, and have<br /> placed them with good firms to manufacture.<br /> The invariable terms have been these : The<br /> manufacturers have first calculated the actual<br /> cost of making : they have then added IO per<br /> cent. for working expenses and IO per cent. for<br /> their own profit; finally, they have asked me to<br /> add my royalty, with the warning that it should<br /> not exceed a certain sum, otherwise the sale<br /> would be too keenly handicapped. The total has<br /> made the selling price to the trade about one-<br /> half the selling price to the public. My royalty<br /> has varied from 12% to 33 per cent. of the selling<br /> price to the public.<br /> Why should not the same principle be applied<br /> to books? Surely it is ridiculous that (say) a<br /> novel of IOO,OOO words by a well-known author<br /> should be sold at the same price as a novel of<br /> the same length by a beginner. If the selling<br /> price were regulated by the royalty (other things<br /> being equal), the beginner, content with a small<br /> royalty, would have a better chance than he has<br /> now, while the receipts of the well-known author<br /> would not be affected, in spite of his larger<br /> royalty. I very much doubt whether his sales<br /> would suffer either.<br /> It will be observed that the manufacturer, .<br /> although his share in the production of a patented<br /> article is, as a rule, far greater than the in-<br /> ventor&#039;s, is satisfied with a profit of Io per cent.<br /> Is the publisher, small as is his share in the pro-<br /> duction of a book compared with the author&#039;s P<br /> Some time ago the editor of a London daily<br /> asked me to investigate certain financial matters,<br /> and with that object in view I inserted an adver-<br /> tisement stating that I had money to invest. Of<br /> course my name was not given. For days after-<br /> wards the postman staggered to the door with<br /> piles of letters. They came from all countries<br /> and from all sorts of people, cranks, swindlers,<br /> and a few honest men with genuine businesses.<br /> Among the last—at least I hope so — was a<br /> certain publisher, who offered me a partnership<br /> and invited me to inspect his books, which, he<br /> said, would prove his statement that he made<br /> “30 per cent. nett profit without risk.” He<br /> little thought he had hooked an author. As I<br /> did not inspect his books, I have no right to<br /> accept his statement. But unquestionably, if<br /> publishers make “30 per cent. nett profit without<br /> risk” while other business firms are content with<br /> IO, there is something radically wrong. X.<br /> IV.-EDUCATIONAL.<br /> I, and probably others, have always been in<br /> some doubt as to what was intended to be<br /> included in the term “author” as applied to our<br /> Society and Club. I joined both, as an author<br /> of educational works, and as financially interested<br /> in a Union or Mutual Protection Society of<br /> Authors in the widest sense. The first two or<br /> three pages of the Author usually reassure me;<br /> but the remaining pages always, now, raise<br /> serious misgivings as to whether I have not mis-<br /> taken the number of the house and got into the<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. (#622) ################################################<br /> <br /> 268<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> wrong evening party. The last number of the<br /> Author suggests a kind of ea post facto invitation,<br /> for it reports that the chairman of the Society<br /> announced that it “proposed to go into the<br /> question of watching the interests of educational<br /> writers and musical composers, which was a<br /> branch quite by itself.” On the strength of that<br /> incidental remark, I venture to suggest that it<br /> would be well to define now more clearly what<br /> ground the Society really means to cover. At<br /> present I fear that the casual and thoughtless<br /> reader or observer would think it was mainly<br /> limited to fiction and light literature. If a wider<br /> range of subjects were explicitly claimed and<br /> represented, wider interests would be aroused,<br /> and wider support secured for the Club and the<br /> Society; if, on the other hand, it were felt that<br /> certain departments, e.g., educational and musical,<br /> were too large to be embraced by the Society,<br /> and explicitly disclaimed, the field would be left<br /> open for founding a Society for the protection of<br /> those interests, which are even larger and more<br /> in need of protection than those of fiction. The<br /> work already done has been so valuable that it<br /> seems a pity that it should not be made the basis<br /> for larger and wider efforts. Perhaps the new<br /> Committee might provide for the representation<br /> of such interests.<br /> [See p. 254.—ED.] J. E. N.<br /> =&gt;e-<br /> W.—PUBLISHERS ONLY.<br /> Is it not worth recording in your columns that<br /> in the current year, 1896, for the first time<br /> “Publishers” find themselves under a separate<br /> heading in the Trades&#039; section of the London<br /> Post Office Directory; a work which is, I believe,<br /> “official,” though emanating from the office of<br /> Messrs. Kelly and Co.?<br /> Hitherto anyone wishing to find the address of<br /> a publisher, or possibly to look through the list<br /> of publishers for an attractive name to which to<br /> consign the first fruits of his brain, found under<br /> the title “Publishers” no names at all, but only<br /> a note recommending him to see Booksellers,<br /> Diary Publishers, Engravers, Fashions (publishers<br /> of), Music, etc. Sellers, Photographic Publishers,<br /> Printers, also Printsellers, each and all of which<br /> trades had separate headings assigned under<br /> which their members’ names appeared.<br /> Now all this is changed, and publishers find a<br /> place allotted all to themselves, between a<br /> “publican’s stocktaker” and “publishers&#039; central<br /> show rooms,” whatever these last may be.<br /> It is curious to note that each of these two<br /> trades has a heading to itself, though each is<br /> represented by a single address only.<br /> E. A. A.<br /> WI.-ON SELLING Books.<br /> Are we not in danger, while we talk so much<br /> about royalties and agreements, of forgetting the<br /> many conveniences of selling the copyright for a<br /> lump sum ? The advantages of doing this are the<br /> freedom from subsequent worry : relief from the<br /> worry of getting a proper agreement: from the<br /> suspicion of subsequent fraud. The dangers or<br /> disadvantages are — (1) that the price offered<br /> will be too low : an experienced agent would<br /> meet that difficulty; (2) the chance that the<br /> book might prove a great and unexpected success.<br /> This is most unlikely; and (3) the temptation<br /> to regard the lump sum as income, and to expect<br /> it to come in regularly for the rest of the natural<br /> span. Suppose that a book by one of the mode-<br /> rately successful would, on a 20 per cent. royalty,<br /> produce £300 the first year, and then 325 the<br /> next, getting gradually less for the next five<br /> years. Surely it would be in some cases better<br /> to capitalise this source of revenue, and to take,<br /> say, 3360 down, leaving the book in the pub-<br /> lisher&#039;s hands.<br /> A MODERATE SUCCEss.<br /> <br /> *-- ~ *-*<br /> *— - -<br /> At present, the few poets of England no longer<br /> depend on the great for subsistence; they have<br /> now no other patrons but the public; and the<br /> public, collectively considered, is a good and a<br /> generous master. It is, indeed, too frequently<br /> mistaken as to the merits of every candidate for<br /> favour; but, to make amends, it is never mistaken<br /> long. A performance indeed may be forced for a<br /> time into reputation, but destitute of real merit<br /> it soon sinks; time, the touchstone of what is<br /> truly valuable, will soon discover the fraud, and<br /> an author should never arrogate to himself any<br /> share of success till his works have been read at<br /> least ten years with satisfaction.<br /> A man of letters at present whose works are<br /> valuable is perfectly sensible of their value.<br /> Every polite member of the community, by buy-<br /> ing what he writes, contributes to reward him.<br /> The ridicule, therefore, of living in a garret<br /> might have been wit in the last age, but continues<br /> such no longer, because no longer true. A writer<br /> of real merit may now easily be rich if his heart<br /> be set only on fortune; and for those who have<br /> no merit it is but fit that such remain in merited<br /> obscurity.<br /> GoLDSMITH,<br /> “Citizen of the World,” Let. 84.	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/288/1896-04-01-The-Author-6-11.pdf	publications, The Author