310 | https://historysoa.com/items/show/310 | The Author, Vol. 08 Issue 07 (December 1897) | <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.+08+Issue+07+%28December+1897%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 08 Issue 07 (December 1897)</a> | | | <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049239455" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049239455</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> | 1897-12-01-The-Author-8-7 | | | | | 173–200 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=8">8</a> | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1897-12-01">1897-12-01</a> | | | | | | | 7 | | | 18971201 | Uhc Butbot\<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br />
CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br />
Vol. VIII.—No. 7.] DECEMBER i, 1897. [Price Sixpence.<br />
General Memoranda<br />
The Society of Authors and the Discount Question .<br />
Literary Property—<br />
I. Report on Copyright<br />
J. The Cost of Production<br />
3. Serial Rights<br />
4. A Case<br />
5. A Fancy Offer<br />
New York Letter. By Norman Hapgood<br />
CONTENTS.<br />
PASS PA8B<br />
..ITS j Note* and News. By the Editor. 187<br />
.. 175 Two Poems—1. Ishmael. 2. Light and Night 190<br />
Correspondence—1. "Literature." 2. The Published Price. 8.<br />
.. 182 Current Criticism. 4. The Publisher's Header as School-<br />
..182 master. 5. "The Scotsman's Library." 6. A Book Wanted 190<br />
.. 182 Book Talk 192<br />
..184 ! Literature in the Periodicals 198<br />
.. 185 1 Story Competition 198<br />
.. 185 The Books of the Month 198<br />
PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY.<br />
1. The Annual Report. That for January 1897 can be had on application to the Secretary.<br />
2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary<br />
Property. Issued to all Members, 6*. 6d. per annum. Back numbers are offered at the<br />
following prices: Vol. I., io«. 6d. (Bound); Vols. II., III., and IV., 8s. 6d. each (Bound);<br />
Vol. V., 6s. 6d< (Unbound).<br />
3. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher,<br />
95, Strand, W.C.) 3*.<br />
4. The History of the Societe des (Jens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigqe, late Secretary to<br />
the Society, i*.<br />
5. The Cost of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type,<br />
size of page, Ac, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of<br />
books. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 2s. 6d.<br />
6. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprigqe. In this work, compiled from the<br />
papers in the Society's offices, the various forms of agreements proposed by Publishers to<br />
Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various<br />
kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements.<br />
Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 3s.<br />
7. Copyright Law Reform, An Exposition of Lord Monks well's Copyright Bill now before Parlia-<br />
ment. With Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix<br />
containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely. Eyre<br />
and Spottiswoode. i*. 6d.<br />
8. The Society Of Authors. A Record of its Action from its Foundation. By Walter Besant<br />
(Chairman of Committee, 1888—1892). is.<br />
9. The Contract of Publication in Sermany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland. By Ebnst<br />
Lunoe, J.TJ.D. 2s. 6d.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 172 (#602) ############################################<br />
<br />
AD VER TISEMENTS.<br />
lft)e $ociefg of Jluffrors (gncotporqfe&).<br />
PRESIDENT.<br />
C3-EOieC3:E MEEEDITH.<br />
COUNCIL.<br />
S.I. | Austin Dobson.<br />
A. Conan Doyle, M.D.<br />
A. W. Duboueg.<br />
Pbof. Michael Fosteb, F.E.S.<br />
D. W. Freshfibld.<br />
Richard Garnett, C.B., LL.D.<br />
Edmund flossn.<br />
H. Rider Haooabd.<br />
Thomas Habdt.<br />
Anthony Hope Hawkins.<br />
P.C. | Jerome K. Jerome.<br />
Rudtard Kipling.<br />
Prof. E. Rat Lankester, F.R.S.<br />
W. E. H. Leckt, P.C.<br />
J. M. Lelt.<br />
Mrs. E. Lynn Linton.<br />
Rev. W. J. LoFTiE, F.S.A.<br />
Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mas.Doc.<br />
Prof. J. M. D. Meiklejohn.<br />
Herman C. Merivale.<br />
Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E., C.I<br />
J. M. Barbie.<br />
A. W. X Beckett.<br />
Robert Batsman.<br />
F. E. Beddard, F.R.S.<br />
Sib Henrt Bebone, K.C.M.G.<br />
Sir Walter Besant.<br />
auqustine blrkell, m.p.<br />
Rev. Prof. Bonnet, F.R.S.<br />
Right Hon. James Bryce, M.P.<br />
Right Hon. Lord Burohclere,<br />
Hall Caine.<br />
Egerton Castle, F.S.A.<br />
P. W. Clatden.<br />
Edward Clodd.<br />
W. Morris Colleb.<br />
Hon. John Collier.<br />
Sir W. Martin Conwat.<br />
F. Marion Crawford.<br />
The Earl of Dbsart.<br />
Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wakk.<br />
Sir Lewis Morris.<br />
Henry Norman.<br />
Miss E. A. Ormerod.<br />
J. C. Parkinson.<br />
Right Hon. Lord Pirbrioht, P.C,<br />
F.R.S.<br />
Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D.<br />
Walter Herries Pollock.<br />
w. bapti8te scoones.<br />
Miss Flora L. Shaw.<br />
O. R. Sims.<br />
S. Squire Sprigge.<br />
J. J. Stevenson.<br />
Francis Storr.<br />
William Moy Thomas.<br />
H. D. Traill, D.C.L.<br />
Mrs. Humphry Ward.<br />
Miss Charlotte M. Yonge.<br />
Hon. Counsel — E. M. Underdown, Q.C.<br />
A.. W. X Beckett.<br />
Sir Walter Besant.<br />
Eoerton Castle, F.S.A.<br />
W. Morris Colles.<br />
COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT.<br />
Chairman—H. Rider Haooabd.<br />
Sir W. Martin Conway.<br />
D. W. Frbshfield.<br />
Anthony Hope Hawkins.<br />
J. M. Lely.<br />
Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mas.Doo.<br />
Henby Norman.<br />
Francib Storr.<br />
COMMITTEES.<br />
MUSIC.<br />
C. Villiers Stanford, Mus.D. (Chairman).<br />
Jacques Blumenthal.<br />
J. L. Molloy.<br />
SUB<br />
ART.<br />
Hon. John Collier (Chairman)<br />
Sir W. Martin Conway.<br />
M. H. Spislmann.<br />
8oUeitors f *"IBLD> Roscob, and Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields<br />
\ G. Herbert Thring, B.A., 4, Portugal-street. Secretary—G. Herbert Thbino, B.A OFFICES: 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C.<br />
DRAMA.<br />
Henry Abthub Jones (Chairman).<br />
A. W. X Beckett.<br />
Edward Rose.<br />
j±. :p. watt & sonsr,<br />
LITERARY AGENTS,<br />
Formerly of 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE,<br />
Have now removed to<br />
HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND,<br />
LONDON. W.C.<br />
THE TEMPLE TYPEWRITING OFFICE. *<br />
TYPEWRITING EXCEPTIONALLY ACCURATE. Moderate prioes. Dnplioates of Circulars by the latest<br />
-*- process.<br />
OPINIONS OP CLIENTS.—Dibtihbuishrd Abthor:—"The most beautiful typing I have ever Been." Lady or Title:—"The<br />
work waa very well and clearly done." Provincial Editor :—" Many thanlra for the spotless neatness and beautiful accuracy."<br />
MISS GENTRY, KLDON CHAMBERS, 30, FLEET STREET, E.C.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 173 (#603) ############################################<br />
<br />
XL he Hutbor*<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br />
CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br />
Vol. VIII.—No. 7.] DECEMBER 1, 1897. [Price Sixpence.<br />
For the Opinions expressed 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 expressing the<br />
collective opinions of the Committee unless<br />
they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br />
Thring, Sec.<br />
THE 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 />
GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br />
EOR some years it has been the practice to insert, in<br />
every number of The Author, certain " General Con-<br />
siderations," Warnings, Notices, Ac, for the guidance<br />
of the reader. It has been objected as regards these<br />
warnings that the tricks or frauds against which they are<br />
directed cannot all be guarded against, for obvious reasons.<br />
It is, however, well that they should be borne in mind, and<br />
if any publisher refuses a clause of precaution he simply<br />
reveals his true character, and should be left to carry on<br />
his business in his own way.<br />
Let us, however, draw up a few of the rules to be<br />
observed in an agreement. There are three methods of<br />
dealing with literary property :—<br />
I. That of selling it outright.<br />
This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br />
price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br />
managed by a competent agent.<br />
II. A profit-sharing agreement.<br />
In this case the following rules should be attended to:<br />
(1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br />
duction forms a part.<br />
(2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br />
profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements<br />
TOIi. VIII.<br />
in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise-<br />
ments.<br />
(3.) Not to allow a special charge for " office expenses,"<br />
unleBS the same allowance is made to the author.<br />
(4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br />
rights.<br />
(5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights.<br />
(6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher.<br />
As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br />
doctor!<br />
(7.) To stamp the agreement.<br />
HI. The royalty system.<br />
In this system, which has opened the door to a most<br />
amazing amount of overreaching and trading on the<br />
author's ignorance, it is above all things neoessary to know<br />
what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now<br />
possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very<br />
nearly the truth. From time to time the very important<br />
figures connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br />
Headers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br />
"Cost of Production." Let no one, not even the youngest<br />
writer, sign a royalty agreement without finding out what<br />
it gives the publisher as well as himself.<br />
It has been objected that these precautions presuppose a<br />
great success for the book, and that very few books indeed<br />
attain to this great success. That is quite true : but there is<br />
always this uncertainty of literary property that, although<br />
the works of a great many authors carry with them no risk<br />
at all, and although of a great many it is known within a few<br />
copies what will be their minimum circulation, it is not<br />
known what will be their maximum. Therefore every<br />
author, for every book, should arrange on the chanoe of a<br />
success which will not, probably, come at all; but which<br />
may come.<br />
The four points which the Society has always demanded<br />
from the outset are:—<br />
(1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement<br />
means.<br />
(2.) The inspection of those account books which belong<br />
to the author. We are advised that thiB is a right, in the<br />
nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied o<br />
withheld.<br />
(3.) That there shall be no secret profits.<br />
(4.) That nothing shall be charged which has not been<br />
actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for<br />
advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for<br />
exohanged advertisements and that all discounts shall be<br />
duly entered.<br />
If these points are carefully looked after, the author may<br />
rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the<br />
same time he will do well to send his agreement to the<br />
secretary before he signs it.<br />
Q 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 174 (#604) ############################################<br />
<br />
i74 THE AUTHOR.<br />
HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br />
i. ill 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 snch that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com-<br />
mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this<br />
without any cost to the member.<br />
2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br />
and publisher'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 houBes—the tricks of every publish-<br />
ing firm in the oountry.<br />
7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society yo<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 Seoretary, 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 />
"V/T EMBERS are informed:<br />
J3_L 1. That the Authors' Syndicate takes charge of<br />
the business of members of the Society. That it<br />
Bubmits 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 whioh its services can be secured<br />
will be forwarded upon detailed application.<br />
3. That the Authors' 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 exclusively 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'<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' 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" 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 />
NOTICES.<br />
f 11HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br />
I 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 Seoretary 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 oomplete, attractive,<br />
and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this<br />
work send thoir names and the special subjects on which<br />
they are willing to write?<br />
Communications for Tlie Author should reach the Editor<br />
not later than the 21 st 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, Ac.<br />
Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they<br />
have paid their subscriptions for the year? If they will do<br />
this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker'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 />
following warning. 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 />
<br />
<br />
## p. 175 (#605) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
i75<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 t<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 />
•f "doing sums," the addition of three shillings in the<br />
pound on this head. In other words, if the cost of binding<br />
is set down in our book at eight pounds, to this must now be<br />
added twenty-four shillings more, so that it now stands<br />
at £g 48. The figures in our book are as near the exact<br />
truth as can be procured; but a printer's, or a binder'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's own magazines,<br />
or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too<br />
•ften 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 />
THE SOCIETY OP AUTHOKS AND THE<br />
DISCOUNT QUESTION.<br />
THE Report printed below has been forwarded<br />
to Mr. C. J. Longman, president of the<br />
Publishers' Association, with the following<br />
letter from the chairman of the Committee of<br />
Management of the Society of Authors:—<br />
"Nov. 30, 1897.<br />
"My dear Longman,—In reply to your letter of<br />
July 6 re the publishers' and booksellers' pro-<br />
posals on the discount question, I now beg to<br />
forward to your Association a Report which has<br />
been presented to us by a sub-committee of our<br />
society appointed to consider and take evidence<br />
upon these proposals. The Committee of Manage-<br />
ment of this Society endorse and adopt the con-<br />
clusions arrived at by its sub-committee. I may<br />
add, however, that, independently of these detailed<br />
conclusions, we feel it impossible to give support<br />
to the joint proposals of the publishers and book-<br />
sellers as presented in the papers forwarded by<br />
you, on the broad ground that, even were it<br />
possible to carry them into effect—which remains<br />
an open question—they would, as we understand<br />
them, be in restraint of free trade and a fetter on<br />
individual liberty.<br />
It is with the greatest regret that we have<br />
come to a decision adverse to the wishes of your<br />
Association and to those of a large proportion<br />
of the bookselling trade, since the result of our<br />
inquiries and our own observations amply convince<br />
us that the distress among the country book-<br />
sellers is genuine and widespread.<br />
Thanking you for so kindly submitting the<br />
matter to the consideration of our Society,<br />
Believe me to remain, my dear Longman,<br />
Very sincerely yours,<br />
(Signed) H. Rider Haggard,<br />
Chairman of Committee of Management.<br />
P.S.—I shall be much obliged if you will con-<br />
sider the enclosed Report as confidential to your<br />
association until its appearance in The Author on<br />
Thursday next.<br />
To C. J. Longman, Esq.,<br />
President of the Publishers' Association<br />
of Great Britain and Ireland."<br />
REPORT OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE.<br />
Report of the Sub-Committee ■ appointed by the<br />
Committee of Management of the Society of<br />
Authors to consider the Publishers'' and Book-<br />
sellers'1 proposals with regard to Raising<br />
Discounts.<br />
YOUR Committee have been constituted to<br />
inquire into and report upon a letter<br />
addressed to the Society on July 6th by<br />
Mr. C. J. Longman, President of the Publishers'<br />
Association, which is to the following effect:—<br />
"Stationers' Hall, E.C.,<br />
July 6th, 1897.<br />
My dear Haggard,<br />
In accordance with a resolution passed<br />
item. con. at a special general meeting of the<br />
Publishers' Association, held on July 1st, I am<br />
writing to ask the attention of the Society of<br />
Authors to a matter which has for some time<br />
been the subject of anxious consideration in the<br />
bookselling trade. I need not go into the matter<br />
in detail, as the papers I inclose herewith, which<br />
I hope you will lay before your Society, contain<br />
full information on the matter in which we ask<br />
your co-operation. Briefly, we are anxious to<br />
assist the retail trade in the very serious<br />
difficulties which beset their business owing to<br />
the excessive discounts which are now given to<br />
the public in London and many other towns,<br />
though not in all. Although it is the retail<br />
trade only which are directly interested in the<br />
movement which we ask you to support, yet it is<br />
a matter of great importance, both to authors and<br />
publishers, that a numerous and flourishing body<br />
of retailers should exist throughout the Kingdom.<br />
I inclose six copies of a Report of the Sub-<br />
committee on Trade Terms to our Council,<br />
which contains the details of the proposal, and<br />
also six copies of the Publisher«' Circular for<br />
July 3rd, containing a report of the meeting on<br />
July 1st, which I have already mentioned. Great<br />
hopes are entertained among the retail booksellers<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 176 (#606) ############################################<br />
<br />
176<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
throughout the country that this movement will<br />
be carried to a successful issue, as has been done<br />
satisfactorily in France and in Germany.<br />
We trust, therefore, that we shall receive the<br />
hearty support of the Society of Authors.<br />
Should this be the case we have little doubt of<br />
the success of the movement, while in the<br />
contrary event the proposal must necessarily<br />
drop, to the deep disappointment of the retail<br />
trade.<br />
Should you desire it our Sub-Committee would<br />
be happy to meet you to give any further<br />
information you may desire.<br />
I am, yours faithfully,<br />
(Signed) C. J. Longman,<br />
President Publishers' Association of Great<br />
Britain and Ireland.<br />
H. Rider Haosaed, Esq.,<br />
Incorporated Society of Authors."<br />
Your Committee having read the various<br />
documents and pamphlets placed before them, and<br />
having examined a numb, r of booksellers and<br />
representatives of trade societies, have now the<br />
honour to report:<br />
At the general meeting of the publishers on<br />
July 1st, the chairman, Mr. Longman, began<br />
by stating that "It is alleged by retail book-<br />
sellers, in town and country, that it is impossible<br />
for them to make a living profit by the sale of<br />
copyright books at the discount now given of 3d.<br />
in the shilling. . . . It is not stated that<br />
booksellers as a whole do not make a profit, but<br />
that the profit is derived from the sale of non-<br />
copyright literature, stationery, and fancy goods."<br />
(Publisher's Circular, July 3, 1897, p. 7). The<br />
proposals of the publishers to remedy the<br />
grievance were set forth by Mr. F. Macmillan at<br />
the same meeting as "Briefly, that the present<br />
trade terms should be given only to booksellers<br />
who agree to allow no more than 2d. in the<br />
shilling on ordinary books, and sell net l>ooks at<br />
full prices : and that those dealers who refuse to<br />
come into the arrangement, or who break their<br />
agreement, should be supplied at no better terms<br />
than scrip without odd books, or discount at settle-<br />
ment" (16. p. 8); or, speaking in plain terms, if<br />
a bookseller chose to sell the books at 25 per cent,<br />
discount, he would be selling them at cost price.<br />
Mr. Macmillan concluded by observing, "It is<br />
imperative that before entering into any arrange-<br />
ment with the Associated Booksellers as to this<br />
important question, we should approach the<br />
Society of Authors, should explain to them what<br />
it is that we and the booksellers propose, and<br />
should get them to agr^e with us in saying that<br />
the suggested action is taken in the interest of<br />
all connected with the commercial side of<br />
literature—of the authors who write books, of<br />
the publishers who bring them out, and of the<br />
booksellers who sell them to the public. I do not<br />
anticipate that there will be any difficulty in<br />
putting the matter before the Society of Authors<br />
in such a way as to induce them to coincide with<br />
our views and those of the booksellers" (ib.<br />
p. 8).*<br />
Your Committee desire at the outset to<br />
endorse the statements as to the present<br />
depressed state of the retail book trade. Injury<br />
to the bookseller must partly fall upon the<br />
author, since much of his own welfare is bound<br />
up with the prosperity of the bookseller. Many<br />
books, indeed, cannot be said to be effectively<br />
published until the booksellers are interested in<br />
them; and no bookseller can be said to be<br />
interested in a book unless he gains a fair profit<br />
from selling it. In the general interest of<br />
literature, moreover, it is important that the<br />
race of trained and intelligent booksellers in<br />
this country should not be crowded out of<br />
existence.<br />
While fully recognising and deploring the<br />
existing conditions of the bookselling trade, your<br />
Committee cannot recommend you to give the<br />
"hearty support" asked for in Mr. Longman's<br />
letter, and still more difficult do they find it<br />
to agree with Mr. Macmillan's much more<br />
decided assertion that "the suggested action is<br />
taken in the interest of all connected with the<br />
commercial side of literature."<br />
The discount question is not one of senti-<br />
ment. It is purely an economic question, and<br />
must be considered from a commercial point<br />
of view. It is produced by modern com-<br />
petition, and it is to be paralleled by examples<br />
in many other trades. Chemists and druggists<br />
make the same complaint of excessive reductions<br />
in the retail price of patent medicines and well-<br />
known drugs.<br />
Retrospect.<br />
So far in general terms. Before proceeding<br />
to consider the question in detail, and as<br />
it is affected by the conditions of the day, it if<br />
necessary to recall previous attempts made in the<br />
same direction.<br />
The first and most serious attempt to regulate<br />
the rate of discount was made in the years'<br />
1848-52. On July 12, 1850, the following de-<br />
claration was signed by every bookseller re-<br />
* The exact words of the resolution referred to by Mr.<br />
F. Macmillan were:<br />
"That the present trade terms should be given only to<br />
those booksellers who pledge themselves not to exceed 2d.<br />
in the Is. discount, and to maintain the published price of<br />
Net Books.<br />
"Those who are unwilling so to pledge themselves to b»<br />
supplied at scrip, net, and no odd copy."<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 177 (#607) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
•77<br />
siding within twelve miles of the Post Office.<br />
Their number was 1200.<br />
"1. That we will not supply books at trade price,<br />
except to those who are in possession of a<br />
ticket. Special trades dealing occasionally<br />
in books connected with their trade, may<br />
be supplied with such books at trade price,<br />
at the discretion of each bookseller.<br />
"2. That, as a general rule, no greater allow-<br />
ance than 10 per cent, for cash be made to<br />
private customers unconnected with the<br />
trade or with publishing.<br />
"3. That, as a general rule, no greater allowance<br />
than 15 per cent, be made to book societies.<br />
"4. That we will not advertise, or ticket, at less<br />
than the publication price, copyright books,<br />
unless bond fide second-hand or unless<br />
depreciated by the publisher, or such as<br />
are notoriously unsuccessful.<br />
"We mutually agree that any one systematically<br />
acting contrary to these regulations, after remon-<br />
strance, shall be no longer considered entitled to<br />
the privileges of the trade."<br />
This engagement was broken as soon as made.<br />
The chairman himself (Mr. J. M. Richardson<br />
at that time) admitted that he supplied books to<br />
the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge,<br />
and that the latter re-sold them to its members<br />
at cost price. Another prominent member<br />
supplied books to a college at 25 per<br />
cent, discount. A third supplied the books to<br />
form the Bank of England library at a similar<br />
discount; and so on. Certain country book-<br />
sellers would on no account be guilty of selling a<br />
book under its published price, but to be equal<br />
with their neighbours who had no such scruples,<br />
they fell upon the following expedient: "If a<br />
person asked one of them for a book, published<br />
at 2s. 6d. for example, it was offered to him at<br />
that price, but if he objected that he could get it<br />
at 2s. elsewhere, the vendor at once overcame the<br />
difficulty by cutting open a few leaves of the<br />
volume, or if it chanced to be cut when published,<br />
by allowing a drop of ink to deface it—the<br />
conscientious bibliopole being able to regard it<br />
in that condition as ' second-hand,' and therefore<br />
holding himself entitled, according to orthodox<br />
principles, to sell it at a reduced price!"<br />
In April, 1852, an important paper on "The<br />
Commerce of Literature " appeared in the West-<br />
minster Review. It was written by Mr. John<br />
Chapman. This article vigorously opposed the<br />
restrictive action of the publishers. The Times<br />
followed up the article; that great paper could<br />
not discover any valid reason for " this anomalous<br />
interference with the free course of competition<br />
and the natural operation of trade," and did not<br />
hesitate to call the methods of the publishers "an<br />
organised system of coercion."<br />
On May 6th, 1852, a meeting of authors was<br />
held at Mr. Chapman's, 142, Strand, Charles<br />
Dickens taking the chair. It was a very<br />
remarkable gathering.<br />
Amongst the men distinguished in literature<br />
and science who were present were Professors<br />
Owen, Newman, and Ansted, Mr. Babbage, Mr.<br />
Tom Taylor, Dr. Lankester, Dr. Arnott, and<br />
Mr. Crabbe Robinson. Letters concurring in<br />
the views of the meeting were read from Mr.<br />
Carlyle, Mr. John Stuart Mill, Mr. Gladstone,<br />
Professor de Morgan, Mr. James Wilson, M.P.,<br />
Mr. Cobden, M.P., and others. From this meet-<br />
ing there arose the definite steps taken which<br />
ended in the abolition of the trade restrictions.<br />
Five resolutions were adopted, declaring that<br />
free trade ought to be applied to books as to all<br />
other articles of commerce; that the principles<br />
of the Booksellers' Association were not only<br />
opposed to free trade, but were tyrannical and<br />
vexatious in their operations, and had the effect<br />
of keeping the prices of books much higher than<br />
they would otherwise be; and that the retailer,<br />
not the publisher, should determine the retail<br />
prices.<br />
This was not enough. On April 30, 1852, a<br />
circular was issued by Messrs. J. W. Parker and<br />
Son, addrossed to leading authors, inviting them<br />
to send a reply to the following question:<br />
"If a retail bookseller, of ascertained credit and<br />
respectability, applies to your publisher for copies<br />
of any book in which you are directly or indirectly<br />
interested, which he is ready to purchase on the<br />
terms at which the publisher has offered them to<br />
the trade at large, but with the avowed intention<br />
of retailing his purchases at a smaller profit than<br />
that provided for between the wholesale rate and<br />
the retail price fixed for single copies, do you<br />
consider the intention to sell at a low rate of<br />
profit a good and sufficient reason why the pub-<br />
lisher should refuse to supply him with books<br />
which he is ready to purchase and to keep in<br />
stock at his own risk?<br />
All, with the exception of three, who were<br />
dubious, answered in the negative.<br />
Among those who then replied were J. S. Mill,<br />
Tennyson, Dickens, Carlyle, Qoldwin Smith,<br />
Herbert Spencer, Darwin, Charles Kingsley,<br />
Francis Newman, Babbage, Forbes Winslow,<br />
Cornewall Lewis, and Leigh Hunt.<br />
Finally the question was referred to a commis-<br />
sion, consisting of Lord Campbell, Dean Mil-<br />
man, and George Grote. The commission decided<br />
that the regulations were unreasonable and in-<br />
expedient, and contrary to the freedom which<br />
ought to prevail in commercial transactions.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 178 (#608) ############################################<br />
<br />
178<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
This, then, was the opinion of the most distin-<br />
guished men in Literature, Law, and Science in<br />
1852.<br />
In 1869 another attempt was made to impose<br />
restrictions upon the retail booksellers. This<br />
proposal was speedily dropped.<br />
Witnesses and Documents.<br />
Your Committee, in order to ascertain the facts<br />
and figures necessary for th«ir guidance, have<br />
received evidence from:<br />
1. Mr. Thomas Burleigh (secretary of the<br />
Booksellers' Association), 370, Oxford - street,<br />
W.<br />
2. Mr. E. Gowing-Scopes (secretary of the<br />
Retail Newsagents' and Booksellers' Union, 185,<br />
Fleet-street, E.C.)<br />
3. Certain representatives of booksellers, viz.:<br />
Mr. Frederick H. Evans, of Queen-street,<br />
Cheapside, E C.<br />
Mr. Henry Glaisher, of 95, Strand, W.C.<br />
Mr. Henry W. Keay, of Eastbourne.<br />
Mr. Robert Maclehose, of Glasgow.<br />
Mr. N. V. Collier (Mr. Edward Stanford's), of<br />
Cockspur-street, S.W.<br />
Mr. Arthur L.Humphreys (Messrs. Hatchard's),<br />
of Piccadilly, W.<br />
Mr. John Stone ham, of Cheapside, E.C.<br />
4. The Committee have also before them a<br />
pamphlet issued by Mr. William Heinemann,<br />
of 21, Bedford-street, W.C, who kindly forwarded<br />
it to them.<br />
5. The evidence contained in various issues of<br />
the Publishers' Circular, together with a full<br />
account of the speeches of Mr. Frederick Mac-<br />
millan and others, setting forth the publishers'<br />
views on the subject.<br />
6. An article that appeared in the Westminster<br />
Review of 1852, entitled "The Commerce of<br />
Literature."<br />
7. A pamphlet by Mr. Thomas Bosworth, of 215,<br />
Regent-street, W., dated 1868.<br />
8. The evidence from the Booksellers' Review<br />
and correspondence in the Times and the other<br />
papers on the subject, together wifh a ' mass<br />
of private and confidential letters written to the<br />
Committee.<br />
9. They have also had before them the answers<br />
of members of the Council of the Society to the<br />
same question as that put in 1852 by Messrs.<br />
Parker.<br />
Evidence.<br />
The following facts and opinions have been<br />
elicited:<br />
1. It has been stated that the larger book-<br />
sellers get better terms than the smaller.<br />
2. "Office expenses" are by some booksellers<br />
'estimated as high as 15 or 16 percent, on receipts.<br />
This item must obviously vary enormously.<br />
3. It is stated that country booksellers obtain<br />
10 per cent, discount, instead of the London<br />
allowance of 5 per cent., as a set-off against<br />
carriage.<br />
4. Books that are non-copyright are sold to the<br />
trade at various prices. The most common terms<br />
are a little over half the published price.<br />
5. It is stated that the increasing practice of<br />
the drapers in selling non-copyright books very<br />
cheaply—even under cost price—greatly injures<br />
booksellers.<br />
6. Several of the most experienced witnesses<br />
stated as their conviction that the proposed<br />
coercion could not be carried out; although they<br />
were aware that in the case of magazines some-<br />
thing has been done in certain provincial towns<br />
by the Newsagents' Association.<br />
7. The probable effect of raising the price<br />
was variously estimated. The public, according<br />
to many booksellers, will not mind the addition of<br />
sixpence or so: the public, according to others,<br />
will not pay an additional sixpence: the public,<br />
according to some, will readily pay a net price:<br />
according to others, will insist on getting dis-<br />
count. The truth appears to be that the public<br />
will have discount if they can get it. As for<br />
reducing the retail price, it is generally considered<br />
by the trade that the increased sale would not<br />
compensate the loss.<br />
8. Several witnesses were of opinion that some<br />
form of "sale or return" would be very helpful.<br />
One practical proposal before your Committee was<br />
to treat books as magazines are treated, viz., to<br />
allow so many per doz. to be returned; the book-<br />
sellers, of course, to have the choice of books to<br />
be sent to them. In the case of highly priced<br />
books it is absolutely necessary that they should<br />
be sent on sale or return if they are to be shown<br />
to the public by the smaller country booksellers.<br />
9. There seems to be a universal consent in the<br />
trade that it would be of no use to rearrange<br />
terms with publishers unless some way could be<br />
found to prevent further increase of discount.<br />
10. The publishers fix the price of books. One<br />
witness suggested that the publishers should fix<br />
only the trade price, leaving the booksellers free<br />
to sell the books at any price they please. This<br />
is the custom with prayerbooks.<br />
11. As regards the proposed regulation of the<br />
trade, it is urged, on the oue hand, that there is no<br />
fear of further coercion, and that booksellers cannot<br />
be worse off than they are. On the other hand, it<br />
is pointed out that booksellers desire immediate<br />
relief by the reduction of the discount, and that<br />
they do not realise the state of dependence in which<br />
the attainment of their desires would place them.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 179 (#609) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
'79<br />
Causb8 of Depression.<br />
So far for the evidence. We have next to<br />
consider the causes of the present depression of<br />
trade.<br />
1. The 3d. in the shilling discount is generally<br />
advanced as the sole cause. This, however, is not<br />
the case; there are other causes, and this<br />
discount is not universal. Where the practice<br />
prevails, it is quite clear that the small bookseller<br />
cannot live by the sale of copyright works alone.<br />
Booksellers, however, have brought this discount<br />
system upon themselves. Publishers do not appear<br />
to have recognised it in their trade prices. Book-<br />
sellers introduced the system, and there is no<br />
possible guarantee that they would not be com-<br />
pelled, in the future, by the necessities of com-<br />
petition, to render inoperative any improved<br />
terms of sale that might be introduced with a<br />
view to their benefit.<br />
2. A second cause of the position of the book-<br />
seller is the depression of agriculture, which has<br />
inflicted such enormous losses on country gentle-<br />
men, cathedral and county clergy, and fellows of<br />
colleges, all of whom were formerly buyers of<br />
books.<br />
8. The competition of other traders who have<br />
added books to their other wares.<br />
4. The partial loss of the educational book<br />
trade, whether of elementary or of higher schools,<br />
which is now often carried on direct between<br />
schools and publishers.<br />
5. The practice of many Free Libraries, which<br />
deal with the publisher or the wholesale agent<br />
direct instead of with the local bookseller.<br />
(i. The failure of the bookseller to meet the new<br />
demands for reading from the many millions<br />
added to the number of readers by the spread of<br />
education. The drapers, for instance, seem to<br />
have discovered a new stratum of purchasers.<br />
7. A want of energy and "push" among book-<br />
sellers as a whole. It is quite evident that if<br />
the mass of people are to buy books they must<br />
have lK>oks attractively offered to them.<br />
Conclusions.<br />
In considering the condition of the trade, and<br />
the proposals of the booksellers and publishers,<br />
your Committee have come to the conclusion<br />
that the coercive measures proposed could not<br />
be carried out.<br />
This was proved in 1852. Evasion in every<br />
form was then, and would be now, practised by<br />
the discontented, and successfully practised now<br />
as then.<br />
In connection with the vital question of the<br />
possibility of enforcing upon unwilling booksellers<br />
a uniform and reduced discount, your Com-<br />
mittee think it necessary to draw attention to an<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
aspect of the matter which frequently escapes<br />
notice.<br />
Let us suppose that the publishers decide to<br />
raise their terms or to refuse books to any<br />
bookseller who gives a discount of more<br />
than 2d. in the shilling. Many booksellers<br />
would gladly welcome the announcement, but<br />
others—amongst these the great London shops,<br />
who often sell in an hour as many copies<br />
of a popular work as a small country book-<br />
seller sells in a year—certainly would not. On<br />
the contrary, they would frankly endeavour to<br />
find some method of evasion. "But," reply<br />
the publishers, " since ex hypothesi we should all<br />
be united in action, evasion would be impossible.<br />
The would-be 25 per cent, discount man simply<br />
could not get his books to sell, cither from us, or<br />
from a wholesale distributor himself dependent<br />
upon us."<br />
It is in comment upon this assertion that your<br />
Committee feel it necessary to speak. The<br />
publishers' contention may be perfectly true con-<br />
cerning the publishers who now exist, though all<br />
publishers do not belong to "the Association ":<br />
it is completely shattered by the fact that nothing<br />
prevents other publishers from coming into<br />
existence—indeed, from coming into existence<br />
ad hoc.<br />
For example, the success of the publishers<br />
would be at the mercy of a single author whose<br />
new book was certain beforehand of a very large<br />
sale. Such an author is in no way dependent<br />
upon a publisher. He might publish his new<br />
book hiinself, publish it through a bookseller,<br />
through a printer, through a literary agent, or<br />
through a draper. Having done so, he would<br />
supply it to booksellers at cheaper rates than<br />
those previously charged for his books, and<br />
leave the booksellers to give what discount they<br />
chose. Thus, instead of retail discount being<br />
reduced by the combinaton of publishers, it might<br />
well be increased.<br />
Lest it be thought that your Committee is<br />
imagining an impossible state of things, we may<br />
call attention to two statements in the evidence<br />
before us. First, a retail bookseller, doing,<br />
perhaps, the largest business in the United<br />
Kingdom, seriously asked your Committee, " Why<br />
not start a branch of the Authors' Society as<br />
the Authors' Publishing Association?" Secondly,<br />
a witness of great experience, being asked<br />
whether booksellers would be prepared to deal<br />
with the author direct, replied: "The trade<br />
would be quite willing to deal with a popular<br />
author direct, providing he gave suitable terms.<br />
In my opinion, such a move would have astound-<br />
ing results."<br />
We know of no reason why the retailer of<br />
R<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 180 (#610) ############################################<br />
<br />
i8o<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
books should be fettered as to the prices he<br />
charges, more than the retailer of any other<br />
commodity.<br />
If it were found possible to enforce the<br />
present proposals, other and more stringent<br />
restrictions would, doubtless, follow, such as<br />
refusal to supply books to booksellers who bought<br />
of firms outside the Publishers' Association. The<br />
independence of the author would be seriously<br />
compromised by the existence of a close ring of<br />
publishers and booksellers, who might as easily<br />
dictate to him a royalty of 5 per cent, as to the<br />
bookseller a 2d. discount.<br />
If experience showed that the public, would<br />
pay without complaint the enhanced price of<br />
books caused by the lowering of the discount, the<br />
next step would be that publishers would be<br />
strongly tempted to use the monopoly thus created<br />
to go on augmenting the price of their wares.<br />
Thus a result of the present proposals would<br />
probably be that the individual book - buyer<br />
would have to pay more and more for his<br />
literature.<br />
It should be observed that, according to the<br />
figures given to us, a 6s. book, now sold to the<br />
public at 48. 6d., yields to the bookseller a profit<br />
of from lOd. to Is.; if sold at 5s., it would yield<br />
him a profit of from Is. 4d. to Is. 6d.; on the<br />
other hand, a book sold to the public at a net<br />
price of 5s., yields to the bookseller, by the present<br />
arrangements of the trade, a profit of Is. 0|d.<br />
Thepubbsher receives for a 5s.net book from 3|d.<br />
to 5|d. more than for a 6s. book subject to the<br />
discount system, whether the discount be 3d. in<br />
the Is., or whether it be lowered (as by the<br />
proposal under consideration) to 2d. The net<br />
system, therefore, being so much more profit-<br />
able to publishers, would tend to supplant the<br />
revised discount system, and the author must<br />
be prepared to rearrange terms with the publisher<br />
on this new basis.<br />
If proposals limiting the freedom of the<br />
retail bookseller are to be considered at all —<br />
a course of action which your Committee<br />
earnestly deprecate — they must be taken up<br />
by representatives of authors, publishers, and<br />
booksellers. In every such consideration or dis-<br />
cussion the whole question of book production<br />
will have to be freely and openly laid on the<br />
table, including actual cost of production, money<br />
actually spent on advertisements, &c, before<br />
anything definite can be arrived at as regards<br />
the proper proportion of profit to be assigned<br />
to the author, the bookseller, and the publisher.<br />
With regard to the pamphlet issued by Mr.<br />
Heinemann, and sent by him to your Committee:<br />
The German system there explained is a system<br />
of which it can only be said that no tiador<br />
in these islands could possibly adopt or endure it.<br />
While all other dealers and traders around<br />
him were free to do as they pleased with<br />
their own property, he alone would be a ser-<br />
vant and a clerk, ordered to sell as he was<br />
told or to be ruined. The pamphlet invites<br />
the closest attention, as showing the actual<br />
desire of some among the promoters of these<br />
measures. Your Committee believe that the<br />
Germanisation of the British Book Trade in-<br />
volved in these proposals would not be to the<br />
advantage either of the "commercial," or any<br />
other side of literature.<br />
Remedial Measures.<br />
Tour Committee venture to suggest the<br />
following as remedial measures:<br />
1. An endeavour by local booksellers to get the<br />
whole of the local trade—school books, prize<br />
books, books for free libraries—and to reach the<br />
lower strata of readers by stocking and pushing<br />
the sale of cheap editions of sound literature.<br />
Greater energy and enterprise, as displayed in<br />
other retail trades, if the country book trade is to<br />
be saved from extinction.*<br />
2. The development of a system of sending<br />
out on sale or return books protected in suitable<br />
wrappers or cases.<br />
3. The publication of non-copyright books by<br />
booksellers for themselves. The printing and<br />
issue in an attractive form of such books would<br />
require little preliminary capital, provided there<br />
were an undertaking of the trade generally to<br />
further the sale of the series.<br />
4. It is obvious that unless the retail book-<br />
seller himself knows the difference between<br />
good and bad style and workmanship in paper,<br />
print, binding, and illustration, he cannot direct<br />
the taste of his customers to purchases which,<br />
while securing for him a remunerative business,<br />
provide them with a collection of books of<br />
permanent and even increasing value.<br />
5. It is suggested that country booksellers<br />
should add to their business that of selling<br />
second-hand books.<br />
6. A great feature of modern trade in printed<br />
publications is the sale of magazines, and the<br />
consequent notable increase in the number of<br />
newsagents. It is suggested that the news-<br />
agent, who must (at present, at any rate) be<br />
a local tradesman, is destined to supplant<br />
the country bookseller, unless the latter, on his<br />
* Ono of our most capable witnesses—himself a book-<br />
seller—declared that the country bookseller who fails to<br />
make a living deserves to fail, and that the profits upon<br />
bookselling are sufficient to-day in the hands of a man of<br />
real intelligence, ingenuity, and industry to enable him to<br />
thrive.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 181 (#611) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
181<br />
side, takes over the business of the newsagent,<br />
and adopts his methods, as, indeed, the more<br />
enterprising are already beginning to do. Pub-<br />
lishers, we think, will do well to bear this<br />
development in mind, and extend accordingly the<br />
system of issuing expensive books in cheap weekly<br />
or monthly parts.<br />
7. The fusion of the Booksellers' Association<br />
with the Booksellers' Union and the sinking of<br />
minor differences, are desirable in the interests of<br />
the trade.<br />
your Committee venture to suggest that the<br />
Committee of Management of the Society of<br />
Authors should signify to the Booksellers' Trade<br />
Organisations aud other similar bodies their<br />
willingness to advise and assist in the discussion<br />
of trade questions if so desired.<br />
Tour Committee make the above suggestions<br />
as the best that have come to their notice, with-<br />
out, however, attaching undue importance to<br />
them. We cannot hope that the country book<br />
trade will be restored to prosperity by com-<br />
paratively superficial methods. Owing to the<br />
operation of economic forces, destined in the<br />
future to increase and not to diminish in<br />
energy, the old - fashioned methods of book-<br />
selling cannot possibly survive. Rapid- and<br />
cheap means of communication tend to place all<br />
small local dealers at a disadvantage, and no<br />
formation of trading rings, or limited monopolies<br />
of sale, can invert the normal development of the<br />
processes of trade. It is only by following and<br />
taking advantage of new opportunities afforded<br />
by that normal development that injuries suffered<br />
can be repaired.<br />
(Signed) A. VV. a'Beckett.<br />
P. E. Beddard.<br />
Walter Besant.<br />
Martin Conway.<br />
Henry Arthur Jones.<br />
Henry Norman.<br />
P. Storr.<br />
Henry R, Tedder.<br />
The Bookselling Question,<br />
As one who has had nearly forty years practical<br />
experience of the book trade, perhaps you would<br />
allow me to venture a suggestion that, if given<br />
effect to, might help very considerably to relievo<br />
the present unsatisfactory condition of the retail<br />
book business.<br />
The main pressure upon the town and, particu-<br />
larly, the country bookseller is felt in the risk he<br />
is made to run in stocking his shop with new<br />
copyright books. These, when asked for, he is<br />
expected to dispose of at so bare a margin ($d. in<br />
the is.) above the invoice price that insufficient<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
profit remains to allow of a certain proportion of<br />
his stock failing to find purchase, but which<br />
he has to pay for all the same. Here it is<br />
the publishers might come to the help of the<br />
retailer by adopting the practice which so largely<br />
prevails in Germany of permitting the bookseller<br />
to obtain new books " on sale or return" for a<br />
limited time after publication. By this means<br />
the retailer is freed from loss on unsuccessful<br />
books, while the volumes are exposed to the public<br />
on his counter, and the author can count upon his<br />
work being brought within the purview of the<br />
book-buyer for a month or two after it has been<br />
published. This arrangement may not be an alto-<br />
gether agreeable one to the publishers, who have<br />
naturally a strong preference for the " buying out<br />
and out" system. They don't take kindly to<br />
"returns." Nevertheless, the proposed relaxation<br />
of the purchase terms would radically improve the<br />
pecuniary conditions of retail bookselling, and at<br />
the same time be a gain to the public and. to the<br />
author as well. _____ Ex-Publisher.<br />
Additional.<br />
[The following additional considerations are submitted<br />
by a member of the Committee.]<br />
The bookselling trade has been subject to two<br />
contrary, though not contradictory, tendencies of<br />
the age, the tendency to combination, and the<br />
tendency to differentiation, and by both these<br />
movements the present race of booksellers have<br />
been disastrously affected. The former move-<br />
ment, of which the Co-operative Stores are the<br />
concrete embodiment, will be considered in a later<br />
portion of this report. Of the tendency to<br />
specialisation, one result is such an integral<br />
feature of our inquiry that it must be clearly<br />
pointed out at starting. To the general public,<br />
booksellers form a single class, distinguished only<br />
by the extent of their business. Those behind<br />
the scenes know that they may be roughly<br />
divided into two distinct classes—those who deal<br />
in copyright books, and those who deal in non-<br />
copyright books. There is, of course, the hard-<br />
and-fast line between the two; the seller of new<br />
books will keep among his ware a popular reprint<br />
of a standard work, and the seller of reprints will<br />
speculate in a new novel bearing some well-known<br />
name on its title-page—there are not at the<br />
present moment more than half a dozen such<br />
names at most—and he will procure for his cus-<br />
tomers any new book they may demand, but he<br />
will not keep it in stock. But though the two<br />
classes may overlap, the distinction between them is<br />
essential. Thus among the hundreds of book-<br />
shops and bookstalls east of St. Paul's, we<br />
believe there is not a single boo_aeller, in the<br />
older and stricter sense of the word. And the<br />
b 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 182 (#612) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
reason is not far to seek. In rough figures, the<br />
seller of copyright books makes 15 per cent,<br />
gross profits on his sales, the seller of non-<br />
copyright books makes anything from 2 5 to 50<br />
per cent., or even more.<br />
This is a no less serious matter for authors<br />
than for booksellers. A book that is not dis-<br />
played can hardly be said to be published, and<br />
the vast majority of the population, all—in fact,<br />
except the inhabitants of great centres like<br />
London, Manchester, and Oxford—have uo oppor-<br />
tunity of seeing a new book, unless it happens to<br />
be in the Free Library, or they order it through<br />
the Circulating Library, and the class which<br />
makes use of these two agencies is not to any great<br />
extent a book-purchasing class.<br />
LITERARY PROPERTY.<br />
I.—Report on Copyright.<br />
THE Report of the Royal Commission on the<br />
Law of Copyright, which has been out of<br />
print for some ten years, has been reprinted,<br />
in consequence, we presume, of a fresh demand<br />
being caused by the proceedings in the House of<br />
Lords in connection with the amending Bill pro-<br />
moted by the Society of Authors last session, which<br />
passed the House after investigation by a Select<br />
Committee with the assistance of skilled witnesses.<br />
Since the first issue of the Report in 1878, con-<br />
solidation and amendment of the law have been<br />
three times attempted: first, in 1879, by the<br />
present Duke of Rutland, then Lord John<br />
Manners, on behalf of the Conservative Govern-<br />
ment; secondly, in 1886, by the Society of<br />
Authors in a Bill which was not brought before<br />
Parliament; and thirdly, in 1891, by Lord<br />
Monkswell's Bill, promoted by the same society<br />
after consultation of all parties interested, and<br />
read a second time in the House of Lords subject<br />
to the singular condition imposed by Lord Hals-<br />
bury, as representing the Government, that it<br />
should not be further proceeded with. Various<br />
amending Bills have also been introduced, notably<br />
that of last session by Lord Monkswell, which<br />
will be re-introduced in Parliament as soon as<br />
possible. All the Bills, whether consolidating or<br />
amending, have, as might be expected, been<br />
framed on the lines marked out by the Report<br />
of the Commission of 1878. The Bill of 1891 is<br />
prefixed by an elaborate memorandum summaris-<br />
ing its contents, and giving reasons for almost<br />
every alteration proposed; and the same course<br />
was pursued on a smaller scale in connection with<br />
the Bill of last session. Perhaps the best mode<br />
of procedure in the matter would be for Parlia-<br />
ment to pass the Bill with such amendments, if<br />
any, as may seem desirable, but to postpone its<br />
operation for a few months, before the expiration<br />
of which period a consolidating Bill repealing<br />
and precisely re-enacting it may also be passed.<br />
This procedure, which has the advantage of dis-<br />
tinguishing amendment from re-enactment, and<br />
of enabling the opinion of Parliament to be taken<br />
separately on amendments, was successfully fol-<br />
lowed in connection with the amendments of the<br />
law of lunacy which were placed on the Statute-<br />
book in 1889 and 1890.—Law Times, Nov. 13,<br />
1897.<br />
II.—The Cost of Production.<br />
I have before me estimates from four printers<br />
of a certain piece of work. I tabulated these<br />
estimates, and compared them with the corre-<br />
sponding figures in the Society's "Cost of<br />
Production." Whenever I get accounts or esti-<br />
mates I always make this comparison, and always<br />
with the same result. And yet we find certain<br />
publishers gravely and impudently asserting that<br />
the figures in the "Cost of Production" are far<br />
too low:<br />
Composing Printing Paper for the<br />
Per sheet. Per sheet. whole work.<br />
£ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d.<br />
Society's figures 1 16 6 ... o 16 2 ... 28 7 o<br />
PrinterA i is 6 ... 1 4 6 ... 18 2 3<br />
» B 1 16 o ... 1 40 ... 30 2 o<br />
„ C 2 5 o ... o 17 6 ... 18 o o<br />
( (Lumped these items }<br />
1, U > . , i IS II O<br />
(. togother) ) 3<br />
The very low estimate of printing—16s. zd.<br />
a sheet—(see "Cost of Production," p. 28) is<br />
perhaps due to its being the charge for printing<br />
after stereotyping.<br />
Observe the wonderful unanimity of the charge<br />
for composing. As for the cost of paper, we<br />
must, it is evident, lower this item by 36 per<br />
cent., an immense saving.<br />
The Secretary showed me recently three<br />
accounts. They all came from the same house:<br />
they were all, under every head, lower than those<br />
of the Society's book.<br />
I think, with these facts before us, we need not<br />
distress ourselves with the complaints about our<br />
impossible figures. W. B.<br />
III.—Serial Rights.<br />
As serial rights have been steadily growing in<br />
importance, it has been found necessary from<br />
time to time to repeat in The Author the difficul-<br />
ties of dealing with this kind of property and the<br />
pitfalls that should be avoided.<br />
By serial publication is meant not publication<br />
in a series of books, but publication in the form<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 183 (#613) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
»83<br />
of periodical issue. Serial rights may be divided<br />
as follows.<br />
These are the common formB:<br />
:. Rights in Some important London maga-<br />
zine or paper.<br />
2. Rights in some important American maga-<br />
zine or paper.<br />
3. Secondary rights in England.<br />
4. Secondary rights in America.<br />
5. Rights in the Colonies and Dependencies<br />
of Great Britain.<br />
In selling any of these rights the author<br />
should be very careful of what he is selling, and<br />
of the date of publication.<br />
If the author is careless, he may find that he<br />
has sold all serial rights, that his story is being<br />
syndicated in the provinces and in America and is<br />
bringing in moneys that he could have put into<br />
his own pocket, or that his work is being con-<br />
stantly reproduced in serial versions in the same<br />
paper.<br />
Another result of this carelessness may be that<br />
he finds his work in serial form advertised at<br />
absurdly cheap prices, which may tend to depre-<br />
ciate the value of any fresh work from his pen.<br />
He may find again, that he has brought him-<br />
self within the toils of the 18th section of the<br />
Copyright Act. The 18th section runs as follows:<br />
"XVIII. And be it enacted, that when any pub-<br />
lisher or other person shall, before or at the time<br />
of the passing of this Act, have projected, con-<br />
ducted, and carried on, or shall hereafter project,<br />
conduct, and carry on, or be the proprietor of<br />
any encyclopaedia, review, magazine, periodical<br />
work, or work published in a series of books or<br />
parts, or any book whatsoever, and shall have<br />
employed or shall employ any persons to compose<br />
the same, or any volume, parts, essays, articles,<br />
or portions thereof for publication in or as part<br />
of the same, and such work, volumes, parts,<br />
essays, articles, or portions shall have been or<br />
shall hereafter be composed under such employ-<br />
ment, on the terms that the copyright therein<br />
shall belong to such proprietor, projector, pub-<br />
lisher, or conductor, and paid for by such pro-<br />
prietor, publisher, projector, or conductor, the<br />
copyright in every such encyclopaedia, review,<br />
magazine, periodical work, and work published in<br />
a series of books or parts, and in every volume,<br />
part, essay, article, and portion so composed and<br />
paid for, shall be the property of such proprietor,<br />
projector, publisher, or other conductor, who<br />
shall enjoy the same rights as if he were the<br />
actual author thereof, and shall have such term<br />
of copyright therein as is given to the authors of<br />
books by this Act; except only that in the case<br />
of essays, articles, or portions forming part of<br />
and first published in reviews, magazines, or<br />
other periodical works of a like nature after the<br />
term of twenty-eight years from the first pub-<br />
lication thereof respectively, the right of publishing<br />
the same in a separate form shall revert to the<br />
author for the remainder of the term given by<br />
this Act: Provided always, that during the term<br />
of twenty-eight years the said proprietor, pro-<br />
jector, publisher, or conductor, shall not publish<br />
any such essay, article, or portion separately or<br />
singly, without the consent previously obtained<br />
of the author thereof, or hiB assigns: Provided<br />
also that nothing herein contained shall alter or<br />
affect the right of any person who shall have been<br />
or who shall be so employed as aforesaid to<br />
publish any such his composition in a separate<br />
form who by any contract, express or implied,<br />
may have reserved or may hereafter reserve to<br />
himself such right; but every author reserving,<br />
retaining, or having such right shall be entitled<br />
to the copyright in such composition when<br />
published in a separate form, according to this<br />
Act, without prejudice to the right of such<br />
proprietor, projector, publisher, or conductor, as<br />
aforesaid."<br />
It will be seen from this that when the pro-<br />
prietor employs and pays (a most important<br />
feature) a writer on the terms that the copyright<br />
in the work done shall belong to such proprietor,<br />
then the proprietor can for twenty-eight years<br />
republish the work, but only with the consent<br />
of the author; but that the author may on the<br />
other hand expressly or impliedly retain his copy-<br />
right.<br />
The question of what would happen if nothing<br />
was said about copyright is left open. Does the<br />
author impliedly reserve it?<br />
One case decided in the courts seems to point<br />
to this view, but the question is still by good<br />
authorities considered doubtful.<br />
The author should always endeavour to have a<br />
special contract with regard to the sale of serial<br />
rights, and should under all circumstances try to<br />
avoid coming under the ban of the 18th section.<br />
The Society of Authors in their Copyright Bill<br />
which passed through the House of Lords last<br />
session, having been settled by a very strong<br />
committee of that House, have remedied this<br />
difficulty, and in that Bill have repealed the 18th<br />
section.<br />
The committee of the Society intend to use their<br />
utmost endeavours to push the Bill through, as<br />
they have the support of the Publishers' aud<br />
Copyright Associations and hope to succeed, but<br />
as the 18th section is still law it must still In-<br />
dealt with.<br />
If the author can sell both the American and<br />
English serial rights he must arrange for simul-<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 184 (#614) ############################################<br />
<br />
184<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
taueous publication so as not to lose t he American<br />
copyright.<br />
There are certain periodicals that publish long<br />
stories in single numbers. This is often the case<br />
with annuals.<br />
The author when selling to such periodicals<br />
should keep this point before him, as it is possible<br />
that such circulation may damage the book rights,<br />
and if this is likely he should secure an enhanced<br />
price.<br />
The author should never sign a receipt for<br />
moneys in payment for serial use which is so<br />
expressed as to convey the copyright to the<br />
proprietor.<br />
If an author does not understand what he is<br />
signing he had better take the advice of someone<br />
who does.<br />
He should be careful of the date of publication,<br />
for the very simple reason that the tale will be<br />
published in book form, and it cannot appear in<br />
this form until it has ran at any rate for some<br />
months as a serial.<br />
It is important for an author to arrange that<br />
the publication of one story does not conflict with<br />
the publication of another.<br />
There is the further question that many<br />
periodicals do not pay until publication takes<br />
place. This, of course, could not be delayed<br />
indefinitely, but the expense and difficulty of<br />
bringing the machinery of the law to work ought,<br />
if possible, to be avoided. Let the contract<br />
be quite clear by taking a little care in the<br />
beginning.<br />
Authors should be careful also that their MS.<br />
is sent type-written. If type-writing is too<br />
expensive, then the writing should be very<br />
distinct.<br />
There is no doubt, however, that a type-written<br />
MS. increases an author's chance of being read,<br />
and he should not neglect this chance.<br />
The author should always retain a copy in case<br />
of accidents, and should be very careful of the<br />
position and repute of the periodical he intends<br />
to deal with.<br />
An author when writing to an editor should<br />
clearly state what he is offering for sale. Thus:<br />
"Dear Sir,—I beg to offer you the enclosed<br />
for serial publication in number of ,<br />
or any number that may be subsequently agreed<br />
upon."<br />
The author should also mention the price that<br />
he is willing to take, that is if he is particular on<br />
this point.<br />
If the tale is accepted without any further<br />
special stipulations, then it is accepted on the<br />
terms of the letter.<br />
It is important therefore to keep copies of<br />
letters.<br />
Lastly, and this is most important, do not<br />
assign to publishers when contracting with them<br />
for the publication of a book, "serial, &c, &c.,<br />
rights," either on half profits or any other<br />
terms.<br />
The much-abused agent charges in nearly all<br />
cases between 5 and 15 per cent., whereas the<br />
publisher when undertaking this agency work for<br />
sale of serial rights charges anything from 2 5 to<br />
50 per cent.<br />
He is, in addition, not nearly so competent as an<br />
agent to carry through this work, and in many<br />
cases does not even attempt to do so.<br />
As this work is really outside his publishing<br />
business he does not strive to make a good<br />
bargain in order to maintain the author's interests,<br />
but is willing to sell for whatever he can get, as<br />
he is reaping a large benefit from that for which<br />
he has not toiled.<br />
It would be possible to quote many clauses<br />
taken from various agreements in the Society's<br />
hands, but the following, as perhaps most<br />
typical, is chosen as an example:<br />
"That the publisher shall have the sole right<br />
to sell or assign the serial, American, Colonial,<br />
Continental translation and dramatic rights in<br />
the above work, and the publisher shall pay to<br />
the author one half of the profits from the sale<br />
of the same, such amounts to be payable as and<br />
when provided in Clause 5 hereof. In the case of<br />
stereo-plates, electro-plates, or shells with rights<br />
being sold, the net profits of their sale, after<br />
deducting the invoiced cost of their production,<br />
shall be received, divided, and paid over in the<br />
same way. Quires or bound copies sold to<br />
America shall come under Clause 5 hereof."<br />
IV.—A Case.<br />
The following case will no doubt be a very<br />
interesting one to members of the Society :—<br />
An article was sent to one of the best known<br />
evening papers on a certain subject, and shortly<br />
afterwards the writer obtained the following<br />
letter:<br />
Aug. 24, 1897.<br />
Dear Sir,—Your article on" "has been accepted<br />
by this paper, and will be nsed in due course,—Tours<br />
faithfully, (Signed) ,<br />
Acting editor of the paper<br />
Two months later, without hearing anything in<br />
the meantime, the writer received the subjoined<br />
letter. He had naturally taken for granted that<br />
his article would either appear in due course, or in<br />
case of non-publication that the editor would at<br />
any rate pay him for it as it had been definitely<br />
accepted. It never entered his head that the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 185 (#615) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
•85<br />
editor would not carry out the contract that he<br />
had entered into: ^ a ^<br />
The editor of the" "regrets that he is unable to<br />
make use of the enclosed MS., whioh he accordingly returns<br />
with many thanks.<br />
The article has been returned to the paper, but<br />
nothing further has been heard from the editor up<br />
to the present date.<br />
The secretary of the Society will be pleased to<br />
give the name of the paper to any member of the<br />
Society who cares to verify this statement.<br />
V.—A Fancy Offee.<br />
Here is a publisher's offer of a fancy or sport-<br />
ing kind. A young writer has a MS. which he<br />
thinks likely to attract attention. He offers it to<br />
a certain firm; he receives the following pro-<br />
posal:<br />
1. He is to pay down in advance «£uo.<br />
2. The publishers will produce an edition of<br />
1500 copies free of cost to the author.<br />
3. After 100 copies have been sold, they will<br />
pay the author is. 6d. a copy royalty.<br />
Let us see how this works out.<br />
(1) On the sale of 500:<br />
£ s. £ s.<br />
Cost of production, say 100 o<br />
Royaltyon400at2*.6rf. 50 o<br />
Profit to publisher ... 47 10<br />
197 10<br />
(2) On the sale of 1000:<br />
Cost of production ...<br />
Royalty on 900 at2s. 6d.<br />
Profit to publisher ...<br />
I 10<br />
0<br />
87<br />
10<br />
100<br />
0<br />
112<br />
10<br />
72<br />
10<br />
IIO<br />
0<br />
175<br />
0<br />
197 10<br />
285<br />
(3) On the sale of 1500 copies:<br />
Cost of production ... 100 o<br />
Royalty to author on<br />
1400 copies 175 10<br />
Profit to publisher ... 97 o<br />
285<br />
372 10<br />
By author no o<br />
Sale of 1500 at 3*. 6d. 262 10<br />
372 10<br />
£ *.<br />
So that, the author, by 500 copies, loses 60 o<br />
„ 1000 „ gains 2 10<br />
„ 1500 „ „ 65 io<br />
The publisher by 500 „ „ 47 10<br />
1000 „ „ 72 10<br />
1500 „ » 97 °<br />
Very likely the new writer accepted the pro-<br />
posal because he wanted his work to appear.<br />
Yet, you see, the publisher, who is completely<br />
covered from risk, gains =£72 io*. on a thousand<br />
copies, and the author £2 10s. I<br />
The fault of the agreement is that the royalty<br />
is paid by the publisher to the author instead of<br />
by the author to the publisher.<br />
NEW YORK LETTER.<br />
New York, Nov. 16.<br />
THE questions of ethics and of business<br />
between authors and publishers are being<br />
discussed with as much liveliness now in<br />
the United States as they are in England. The<br />
latest contribution to the subject is an article by<br />
Professor C. G. D. Roberts, a minor poet of some<br />
reputation, in the Illustrated American. He<br />
makes some pleasant concessions to the human<br />
nature of publishers, but says that before the<br />
days of international copyright they acted like<br />
brain cannibals. One of his exceptions, the<br />
Harpers, who tried to pay Mr. Gilbert some-<br />
thing on account of one of his operas, had the<br />
cheque returned by him with a sarcastic letter!<br />
Rather entertaining light is thrown on the busi-<br />
ness of providing the public with what it wants<br />
by the prospectus for 1898, just published by<br />
Scribner's Magazine. A series of articles on<br />
great businesses is to be continued another year.<br />
The central idea of each article is to show what a<br />
tremendous lot of brains the men who run the<br />
business possess. Anything critical, anything<br />
which takes away from the magnificence of<br />
the impressions, is frowned upon. The idea is<br />
not unlike that which animates our so-called<br />
yellow journals, to get the reader excited, enthu-<br />
siastic, to give him what we call a sensation. Of<br />
course, that is only one part of a great magazine,<br />
though it is coming to be the principal part.<br />
Another of the Scribner's announcements is a con-<br />
tinuation of a series of articles which tell how a<br />
college graduate occupied himself with various<br />
humble employments and learned to know the<br />
people. This series has been very popular, and<br />
shows that there is rather wide taste for this<br />
condescending interest in all sorts and con-<br />
ditions of men. One of the more cheerful signs<br />
of the times as given by the fodder promised<br />
by the magazine is that, if a man is famous<br />
enough, he may write as well as he pleases. A<br />
poem is promised on Stevenson by James Whit-<br />
comb Riley, which will undoubtedly have life in<br />
it, and Kipling is to be a contributor. Henry<br />
Cabot Lodge will write a history of the American<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 186 (#616) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Revolution in instalments, and it is interesting<br />
to notice that the principal emphasis is put on<br />
the pictures. The picture is becoming the central<br />
point, not only of magazines, but of a large part<br />
of the book-publishing business. The other day<br />
a writer was talking to a publisher about a forth-<br />
coming yolume. "I wish we could have that<br />
book," said the publisher, " it would go well; but<br />
the difficulty would be to make the pictures."<br />
Now, the book was a series of essays, requiring<br />
absolutely no illustration in the real sense, for<br />
pictures would do nothing to bring out the mean-<br />
ing of the text. The publisher's comment simply<br />
represented a judgment which is becoming an<br />
instinct.<br />
Another commercial feature of the treatment of<br />
literature is brought out by the Chap Book in its<br />
last number in connection with a matter of which<br />
I have already spoken, the great library of the<br />
World's Best Literature. The periodical calls<br />
attention to the fact that Abigail Adams has 25<br />
pages and Addison 23 ; iEschylus 17 and T. B.<br />
Aldrich 37; Alfieri 12 and George W. Cable 20.<br />
The moral is very obvious, and besides, it has been<br />
clearly enough stated before.<br />
Clearly as we may see these unhappy elements<br />
of literary life, however, it is only decent to<br />
realise the strength of the temptation. Most of<br />
our publishers are exceptionally moral and high-<br />
minded men. They almost always succeed in<br />
deceiving themselves before they deceive the<br />
public. When a strong temptation to make a<br />
popular move comes up they reason about how<br />
much more good you can do by working with the<br />
prejudices of the populace than by working<br />
against them, and what bad taste and unkind-<br />
ness it is to speak evil of anybody. After a little<br />
course in this sort of thought, the habit of cater-<br />
ing to a large circulation becomes an easy one,<br />
quite in line with their convictions.<br />
While some men seem to lose their equilibrium<br />
in the business desire to stretch the maxim Vox<br />
Populi Vox Dei beyond its legitimate meaning,<br />
others lose it by too thorough distrust of the<br />
popular verdict. George Bernard Shaw, whose<br />
clever play "The Devil's Disciple" is running<br />
with unexpected success here, has taken the<br />
trouble to write an open letter, in which he shows<br />
how he is always right and the public always<br />
wrong whenever there is any difference of opinion<br />
about the success of one of his manwuvres. Now<br />
the particular thing which aroused bis wrath was<br />
not a moral or intellectual difference at all, but<br />
a very bad piece of execution, where human<br />
beings were made to act ridiculously in order to<br />
keep the outcome of the plot from being seen at<br />
a particular time. Mr. Shaw accuses the public<br />
of Philistinism, which whether true or not,<br />
is beside the mark. The audience in America,<br />
at least, and presumably elsewhere, is an un-<br />
critical mass of persons which responds to<br />
certain dramatic effects and fails to respond<br />
to others. It may put its judgment in intellec-<br />
tual terms, but what really causes the success or<br />
failure of the play is usually a matter of con-<br />
structive workmanship. Mr. Barrie's "Little<br />
Minister," now running in New York to remark-<br />
able houses, is an instance of practically perfect<br />
dramatic construction. The play is so well<br />
balanced and so neatly written, so without any<br />
superfluous touches, that even Mr. Charles<br />
Frohman's characteristic move of making one of<br />
the principal characters unimportant in order to<br />
pay only one prominent actor, fails to ruin the<br />
play. An instance, however, of how a bad play<br />
can be made to score some sort of a success is<br />
being given at the same time. "A Lady of<br />
Quality " is constructed in such a childish way,<br />
so full of idiotic speeches, long pauses, and<br />
affected explanations, that almost everybody is<br />
surprised that even Julia Arthur's acting carries<br />
the venture to success, but it does with the aid of<br />
a liberal allowance of scenery.<br />
One of our most intelligent actors, Minnie<br />
Madden Pisk, has just made a strong protest<br />
against what is known as the Theatrical Trust,<br />
an institution which does more to stifle original<br />
dramatic production than anything else in the<br />
country. It is under the control of two or three<br />
small-natured but successful business men, who<br />
control the largest theatres in all of the cities,<br />
and all of the theatres in some of the cities, and<br />
refuse to allow any play or actor there until con-<br />
cessions are made to them. Not one of these<br />
two or three men has any idea of art, or any<br />
ideal beyond money and large type for his<br />
own name in the playbill, and the result is<br />
disastrous.<br />
One trifling incident which happened a few<br />
weeks ago has been a good deal misjudged.<br />
"Les Miserables " was excluded from a course of<br />
reading in a Philadelphia school on account of<br />
supposed impropriety. The Journal des Debats<br />
say that commercial motives were uppermost in<br />
this move. A good deal has been done to favour<br />
American books, but nothing quite so ridiculous<br />
as that. The motive was honest, however foolish.<br />
It was a case of ignorant goodness.<br />
Norman Hafoood.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 187 (#617) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
NOTES AND NEWS.<br />
THE Keport of the Sub-Coruuiittee appointed<br />
to consider the publishers' proposals with<br />
regard to the discount question will be<br />
found in another page. The Committee was<br />
intended to be a representative one. In Mr.<br />
a'Beckett and Mr. Henry Norman, Literature and<br />
Journalism are combined. Sir Martin Conway is<br />
not only a distinguished traveller but he is also a<br />
distinguished writer on Art. Mr. Beddard, F.R.S.,<br />
is a leader in science. Mr. Storr, editor of the<br />
Journal of Education, is an authority on all<br />
subjects connected with educational literature.<br />
Mr. Henry Arthur Jones very fitly represents the<br />
Drama. Mr. Tedder probably knows more about<br />
books and the history of books and their circu-<br />
lation than any other living man. Of the last<br />
member, myself, it would be false modesty to<br />
pretend, after five years' chairmanship of the<br />
Society, and six years' editing of The Author, that<br />
I do not know something of the subject.<br />
I hope that every member of the Society will<br />
read this Report very carefully, and will agree<br />
with it. The Sub-Committee, briefly, cannot adopt<br />
the proposals. There is every conceivable reason<br />
why they should not, and not one why they<br />
should, for—<br />
(i.) The 3(7. in the shilling discoimt is only<br />
one of many reasons, as is shown in the Report,<br />
for the alleged depression in the book trade.<br />
(2.) There is no depression in the book trade,<br />
which was never more flourishing, but a grave<br />
depression in the trade of the country bookseller.<br />
(3.) It would be impossible to carry out the<br />
proposed coercion.<br />
(4.) If it were possible, the reduction of a large<br />
body of men to practical slavery is a thing against<br />
which all Englishmen must protest.<br />
(5.) The system is in vogue in Germany, where<br />
it is a grinding tyranny.<br />
(6.) These reasons are enough, but the Report<br />
shows more. Should we, for instance, regard the<br />
proposal as the first step in an organised plan for<br />
placing the whole of the business of literature in<br />
the hands of the publishers H<br />
(7.) The next step would then be to prohibit<br />
booksellers from buying and selling any other<br />
than the books of the Publishers' Asssociation.<br />
(8.) That step would prevent the author from<br />
publishing at all, except through the Association.<br />
(9.) The Association would then be able to make<br />
any terms they pleased with authors.<br />
(10.) The slavery of the author following on<br />
that of the bookseller, would naturallv lead to the<br />
decline of literature.<br />
This anticipation is not by any means imagi-<br />
nary. There is every reason to believe that some<br />
such action is contemplated with the view of<br />
bringing royalties down to 10 per cent.<br />
What does a 10 per cent, royalty mean? It<br />
means several things. (1.) That the publisher<br />
on a 6s. book gives the author jd. and takes for<br />
himself is. nd. (2.) That no one except the<br />
few very successful men could live by writing.<br />
(3.) That a writer who now makes ,£2000 a year<br />
would be reduced to £800 a year. (4.) That a<br />
writer who now makes £600 a year would be<br />
reduced to £250. Of course similar reductions<br />
would be made in the magazines.<br />
If any other reason were wanted, we might find<br />
it in the consideration that the reduction of the<br />
discount by one penny in the shilling would<br />
increase the price of books in a corresponding<br />
degree, and therefore prohibit the sale. In a<br />
word, people will not pay 5*. when they have been<br />
accustomed to pay sixpence less.<br />
But the whole business is a question for book-<br />
sellers. If they agree among themselves in any<br />
town it is open and legitimate for them to do so.<br />
It is also to be observed, very carefully, that the<br />
proposals of the publishers do not cost themselves<br />
a single penny. On the other hand, as they<br />
contemplate the substitution of net prices for the<br />
present system, they actually mean to put a<br />
substantial addition of money into their own<br />
pockets.<br />
Thus, the 6«. book will become 5*. net.<br />
At present the publisher gets 3s. 6d. on an<br />
average for a 6s. book. At the net price he will<br />
get 3«. n^d.<br />
He therefore pockets 5|rf. by the change so<br />
benevolently advanced for the good of the book-<br />
seller, who takes for his share about $d. It is<br />
indeed disinterested.<br />
The question of the Publishing " Trust" must<br />
be kept over for a time. Action of some sort may<br />
be forced upon us sooner than was anticipated.<br />
Meantime many encouraging notes have been<br />
received, and I shall be glad to hear more if<br />
members, especially members whose works have<br />
been successful, will consider the scheme, or any<br />
scheme of a similar nature. It may, for instance,<br />
be found more easy to develop the trade outside<br />
the regular channels: to make drapers and others<br />
booksellers in reality of new and copyright<br />
works. _<br />
I have received the following private letter<br />
from a member. It seems to me to concern all of<br />
us, not the editor of this paper alone; therefore,<br />
I have asked leave to publish it:—<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 188 (#618) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
"I am always concerned when I read the<br />
annual report of the Committee to mark how slow<br />
the progress of the Society is. Do you agitate<br />
enough? Do you make the world of letters<br />
really understand that the Society does not exist<br />
for novelists only, as our enemies are fond of<br />
declaring: that it is not a fad or a sham distinc-<br />
tion or an affectation of this, that, or the other:<br />
t hat it is not a body which arrogates to itself the<br />
function of 'encouraging' literature, or " advanc-<br />
ing " literature: but that it is, on the other hand,<br />
a perfectly serious society, whose work is wholly<br />
devoted to the business aspect of the literary<br />
profession? If writers once understood and<br />
realised this they would all flock in. If they<br />
would be taught, at the same time, what the<br />
Society has already effected: how royalties have<br />
been doubled, trebled, quadrupled; how lying<br />
accounts have been checked; how the cost of<br />
production has been, for the first time, revealed<br />
to the world, having always before been studiously<br />
concealed—the intention being to trade on the<br />
ignorance of the author: how, for the first time,<br />
the author has found himself protected: then<br />
there would be no hesitation: every man of letters<br />
whose work was a property, however small, would<br />
become a member. And it would be the duty,<br />
even of those who did not want the services of<br />
the Society, to join for the sake of others.<br />
"General literature and fiction, I take it, are<br />
well represented on your list. I believe that<br />
education is very poorly represented. Why is<br />
this? Educational books are, commercially, the<br />
most important branch of letters. Your late<br />
report shows how widespread are the iniquities<br />
endured by educational writers. Why do they<br />
not become members in larger numbers? They<br />
have great interests, increasing every day, to<br />
defend. They seem to have received your educa-<br />
tional report with a kind of apathy. In business<br />
matters they are for the most part entirely at the<br />
mercy of their publishers. Yet they seem<br />
incapable of making an effort for themselves even<br />
by joining a society which would look after their<br />
affairs for them. It may be that some of them<br />
are afraid of publishers. If they themselves are<br />
of repute and in demand, they have no occasion<br />
to be afraid, because where there is money there<br />
are always business men to snatch at it. Some,<br />
perhaps, look on their books as a means of extend-<br />
ing their own connection: still, if their books sell,<br />
there are men of business always ready to take<br />
them over. My point is this: Why do not educa-<br />
tional writers give the Society a larger support P<br />
"Men of science, I am informed, do belong,<br />
but not all men of science. My own desire is to<br />
see the Society a catholic body, including men<br />
and women in all branches of literature—that is<br />
to say, in every line of intellectual endeavour,<br />
because every line has its own literature. Will<br />
not the members themselves take this view, and<br />
bring the claims of the Society before those who<br />
have not yet thought it worthy of support from<br />
themselves?" _____<br />
I make no apology for criticising the critic, first<br />
because he ought to be criticised as well as the<br />
author; second, because in this case it is the<br />
Spectator, a paper which, more than any other,<br />
endeavours to present the whole truth to its<br />
readers. The paper to which I refer is a review<br />
of Putnam's "Authors and Publishers," a book<br />
which has been already noticed in these columns.<br />
The writer, after pointing out that the Messrs.<br />
Putnam do not like the literary agent, and quite<br />
failing to see the humourous nature of their<br />
objection, goes on to speak of the literary agent.<br />
He says, "After all, it is the author who, though<br />
he may not know it, pays the literary agent." Is<br />
it?<br />
Let us examine. The author hitherto has been<br />
made to sign agreements in complete ignorance<br />
of what they mean. It therefore follows, as a<br />
matter of course, that his ignorance has been<br />
made the means of getting a one-sided agree-<br />
ment. Much stronger language might be used,<br />
suitable for the great majority of cases. But this<br />
will suffice. The literary agent knows. That is<br />
the first thing. He knows. He therefore pre-<br />
vents his client from suffering through his<br />
ignorance. The publisher has to substitute a<br />
proper agreement.<br />
Who pays for that transaction? The author,<br />
whose property is perhaps doubled in value?<br />
Or the publisher, whose gains have shrunk by a<br />
half?<br />
Here are two cases, both of which are abso-<br />
lutely true:<br />
I. A. B. is a novelist of repute. He took a<br />
MS. to a certain firm, who offered him a<br />
certain sum of money. Fortunately he<br />
became suspicious. He went to a literary<br />
agent, who, the very same day, obtained<br />
from the very same firm four times their<br />
original offer!<br />
II. C. D. received a call from a publisher, who<br />
invited him to write a paper for a certain<br />
magazine. C. D. expressed his willing-<br />
ness to consider the proposal. The pub-<br />
lisher drew out his cheque book. "Let<br />
me say," he spread it on the table and<br />
took a pen. "Let me say—so much."<br />
He relied on the temptation of an out-<br />
ward and visible cheque. "My work,"<br />
said C. D.," is in the hands of Mr. .<br />
He will call upon you." The literary<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 189 (#619) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
agent called: the amount he arranged<br />
for was exactly five times the amount<br />
offered.<br />
Who paid the literary agent in these two trans-<br />
actions? Was it the author or was it the pub-<br />
lisher F<br />
And now, I hope, if the writer of that review<br />
sees this note he will alter his views as to the side<br />
which pays the agent. |<br />
If one thinks of the situation for a moment it<br />
becomes .self evident that so long as the literary<br />
agent exists, it is the publisher who pays him and<br />
not the author at all. For the literary agent<br />
exists for the purpose of obtaining fair terms for<br />
the author. The moment that the publisher of<br />
his own accord proposes those fair terms, the<br />
literary agent is not wanted: he has no locus<br />
standi: if the author knows that he has only to<br />
present himself to the publishers to receive equi-<br />
table proposals, there is no reason at all for the<br />
existence of the agent. That existence, in fact, is<br />
a standing proof that publishers as a body do seek<br />
to trade on the ignorance of the author, to get<br />
him to accept the very lowest terms they can<br />
venture to offer. Ten years ago nothing was more<br />
common than a royalty of 10 per cent, or even of<br />
5 per cent. Where is now the publisher who dares<br />
to offer a royalty of 5 per cent.? Out of the<br />
difference between the old prices and the new the<br />
literary agent is paid—by the publisher.<br />
The Americans take a sensible view of the<br />
literary agent. I have before me a long slip from<br />
the New York Sun, describing the work .and the<br />
great success of the literary agent in this country.<br />
The writer, who is not accurate in all the details,<br />
begins with a statement which will be received<br />
with a smile :—<br />
The literary agent is one form of the middleman against<br />
whom little complaint has been heard. Maybe this oomes<br />
from the fact that he deals with writers who are apt to<br />
know little abont business matters. However that may be,<br />
it is certain that the writers accepted the middleman with<br />
enthusiasm. With his advent the traditional antagonism<br />
between publishers and writers lost its sharpest edge. Nor<br />
does the old spirit vent itself on the agent who serves as<br />
buffer between the opposing interests. The writers swear<br />
by him. The publishers are not unfriendly to him.<br />
He has never heard of the publisher's clerk who<br />
was put on to abuse the literary agent in a maga-<br />
zine; or of the publisher who called the literary<br />
agent a "canker," because he protects authors;<br />
or of the publisher who refused to deal with the<br />
literary agent—till he found he was obliged to do<br />
so; or of the publishers who go behind the back<br />
of the agent and try to trap the author into con-<br />
ducting the business himself. Whatever the<br />
American publisher may do, the English pufj<br />
lisher as a rule resents the appearance of the<br />
agent and would refuse to deal with him if he<br />
dared. In America, according to the Sun, the<br />
publisher is pleased to deal with an agent simply<br />
because he is a business man. As regards his<br />
work and functions, they are thus summed up:—<br />
The snocess of the literary agent here is easy enough tc<br />
understand, for he relieves the writer of the work whioh<br />
the latter was least capable of doing. The agent has time<br />
to make himself acquainted with facts whioh the writers<br />
wonld never have the opportunity of finding out. He knows,<br />
for instance, where books or stories of a eertain kind are<br />
needed and how badly they are wanted. He knows which<br />
magazine is buying material and spending its money and<br />
which is using only stuff that was bought long before.<br />
Among the publishers, he knows whioh firm is in search of a<br />
book on any particular subject, or, if a novel is wanted,<br />
what kind it should be. These are things which no writer<br />
has the time to find out, even if he oonld learn them.<br />
Knowing the situation as well as he does, the literary agent<br />
can demand better terms. It happens sometimes that a<br />
magazine may have enongh stories of adventure or travel to<br />
last for two or three years and yet be entirely withont<br />
stories of social life. In another office exactly the opposite<br />
condition may exist. The writer does not know this<br />
usually, and it is a waste of time to send to these places the<br />
sort of material which is not needed. But writers do this,<br />
and it of course moans a loss of time. The agent knows<br />
just where to place material so that it will have a show.<br />
One magazine has for the past two years paid out<br />
absolutely nothing for fiction and has used the large supply<br />
on hand. But writers are not supposed to know that, and<br />
the magazine had no idea of allowing it to become known.<br />
So writers continued to send stories right along, and the<br />
manuscripts were always returned. By placing work<br />
where it is most wanted and by attending to the business of<br />
writers, with a care which the writers themselves are not<br />
likely to show, the agents can get better rates and insure<br />
the sale of more matter. Since I have had an agent to take<br />
charge of my work I have as many orders as I can fill and<br />
get a cent more a word than I ever did before.<br />
The agent simply means the introduction of<br />
business principles into the business of publishing.<br />
One cannot understand why a publisher should<br />
resent his intervention save on the ground that<br />
he decides to go on the old system of trading in<br />
ignorance. If there is any other reason one would<br />
like to know what it is.<br />
I cut the following paragraph from the West-<br />
minster Gazette of Nov. 23 :—<br />
The old literary gibe, " Now Barabbas was a publisher"<br />
has been steadily losing point since the new generation of<br />
publishers arose. The London correspondent of the<br />
Western Daily Mercury hears of a case of confidence placed<br />
in one of the newest of our publishers by a novelist whose<br />
books sell by thousands and tens of thousands. This<br />
writer was so well satisfied with the fairness and even<br />
generosity displayed by the publisher in regard to his last<br />
book, that he has now given him his next work unreservedly,<br />
without contract or promise, saying that he will be per-<br />
fectly content with whatever cheque the publisher may<br />
ultimately send to him.<br />
This is a very pretty paragraph. First, we are<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 190 (#620) ############################################<br />
<br />
i go<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
informed that "since the new generation of pub-<br />
lishers arose" the old gibe has lost point. Does<br />
that mean that the older publishers were all<br />
robbers? I suppose that it is useless to ask<br />
whether the author of the remark has ever read a<br />
book issued by the Society of Authors, called<br />
"Methods of Publishing" The old gibe has cer-<br />
tainly not lost its point, Barabbas is among the<br />
new publishers as well as the old. Yet not even'<br />
new publisher—any more than every old publisher<br />
—is a Barabbas. There are new publishers who,<br />
if they can, will fleece and rob every author who is<br />
so unfortunate as to go to them. This is not a<br />
surmise or a suspicion. It is a grave, serious<br />
fact: and it is the reason why the Society must be<br />
carried on, and why literary agents exist. Next,<br />
for the story of the confidence case. A novelist<br />
whose novels "sell by tons of thousands "—■<br />
there are not a dozen of them, so that it would be<br />
easy to "spot" the writer—is pleased with the<br />
fairness and "even the generosity" of his publisher.<br />
Generosity? I really had thought that we had<br />
done with the degradation of the word<br />
"generosity." Is the steward " generous " with his<br />
employer's money? Has this novelist no sense of<br />
self-respect at all? He has now given his next<br />
work unreservedly to his publisher, and will be<br />
content with whatever the latter is good enough<br />
o give him. Well, he can do what he likes with<br />
his own. If he chooses—1>eing the master—<br />
to become the servant: bein< the employer, to<br />
become the employe1: being the owner of a great<br />
estate, to give it to a steward: he can. At the<br />
same time, as I know the names of all the novelists<br />
whose works command a sale of " tens of thou-<br />
sands," and as I know, besides, how most of them<br />
manage their own affairs, I venture to express my<br />
profound disbelief in the whole story.<br />
Walter Besant.<br />
TWO POEMS.<br />
I.—ISHMAEL.<br />
Some men have souls like gardens:<br />
Fair plots of fruitful ground;<br />
Smooth lawns, and ways well orderM,<br />
With choicest blossoms border'd,<br />
And walls to fence them round.<br />
Oh, still and safe and fragrant!<br />
Fair homes of peace and lore!<br />
All things unoouth excluding.<br />
Free only to the brooding<br />
Of the great sky above.<br />
Tis said, by angel footsteps<br />
Those garden paths are trod—<br />
Angels, the sky forsaking,<br />
Tend every blossom, making<br />
A pleasure-place for God.<br />
I have walk'd in some such garden.<br />
How well it was, how meet'.<br />
Yet, down eaoh alley shining,<br />
With tears I wander'd, pining<br />
For wild things round my feet.<br />
Sweeter than thrush or robin,<br />
To me, the seagull's scream.<br />
Fairer the blacken'd heather<br />
That fronts the bleak moor-weather,<br />
Than that soft garden-dream!<br />
Ob, peace is not bo precious,<br />
Perchance, as is distress'.<br />
Forbid Thine angels, Father,<br />
To tend me! Keep Thou rather<br />
One unwall'd wilderness!<br />
II.— LlOHT AND NlOHT.<br />
Ligh t.! Light! Light!<br />
Mother of the wide-ey'd flowers,<br />
Mother of glad lips, and bright<br />
Dancing feet of the noon-day hours,<br />
Dancing with delight!<br />
Oh, the joy, the rapture (strong<br />
Thrilling thro'- the adoring air,<br />
When thy glory rides along<br />
Heaven's high ramparts Dare!<br />
Mother of ecstasy, mother of might,<br />
Come, sweet Light:<br />
Light, fierce Light!<br />
O intolerable gaze!<br />
0 unslaked, relentless blight,<br />
Battening thine insatiate blaze<br />
On hidden roots of sight!<br />
Mercy! mercy! Mind and heart<br />
Writhe beneath the answering 6re.<br />
Mercy, mercy, Light' Depart,<br />
O thou first-born of Ire!<br />
O for darkness, dulness, Night!<br />
Hence, dread Light!<br />
B. K. B.<br />
CORRESPONDENCE.<br />
I.—" Literature."<br />
IAM delighted to see that the new publica-<br />
tion, Literature, print* the prices of the<br />
books reviewed in the review itself, and is<br />
issued with machine-cut pages, but regret that<br />
the publishers have not seen their way to placing<br />
the table of contents on the front page, as in The<br />
Author, the Spectator, and one or two other<br />
weeklies, but, alas! no dailies as yet.<br />
The important new departure in treatment of<br />
books sent for review and not intended by the<br />
editor to be reviewed (on which I commented in<br />
your last issue) is carried out as follows in the<br />
issue of Nov. 6:<br />
A considerable number of volumes, which will not be<br />
noticed in Literature, are at the disposal of publishers,<br />
and will be handed to anyone they may authorise to receive<br />
them. They will be otherwise disposed of if not called for<br />
by the 20th inst.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 191 (#621) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
191<br />
The period during which the books are to be at<br />
the disposal of the publishers is, I think, shorter<br />
than that stated in the prospectus, but this altera-<br />
tion would be a small matter when the importance<br />
of the new departure—which cannot be too widely<br />
made known—is considered.<br />
As for the contents of the new publication,<br />
their praise (or blame) "is hymned by loftier<br />
harps than mine," but I will ask you to allow<br />
me to suggest, hpropos of the fourth volume of<br />
Dr. Pusey's life and its review (unhappily omitted<br />
from the table of contents) that four octavo<br />
volumes are too much for the biography of any<br />
man whatever, and the index to the fourth volume<br />
might well have been at least four times longer<br />
than it is. J. M. Lely.<br />
Nov. 7.<br />
II.—The Published Price.<br />
In the current number of The Author Mr.<br />
J. M. Lely writes as if the only periodicals that<br />
announce the prices of books in reviews were<br />
Literature, the Literary World, and the Book-<br />
man. Permit me to state that for many years<br />
past the Dundee Advertiser has regularly given<br />
the prices of all books reviewed, where these prices<br />
had been furnished by the publishers. I have<br />
forwarded the two most recent copies of the<br />
Advertiser in which reviews appear, and from<br />
these you will see how this announcement is<br />
made. A. H. Millar.<br />
Dundee, Nov. 11.<br />
III.—Current Criticism.<br />
Have you not admired Mr. Stephen's bold and<br />
original estimate of Tennyson in the National<br />
Review? Surely, in the din of indiscriminate<br />
eulogy, it is something to find the voice of a critic<br />
who can keep his head. One is reminded of<br />
Landor's comment on the " Ode on the Exhibition<br />
of 1862," where the grand old Pagan writes: "I<br />
wish our present roets would pay more attention<br />
to solid models, and less to hollow and light<br />
plaster. The Laureate could well afford to<br />
throw away the last verse, which, in fact, is two<br />
verses—an Alexandrine in an overall. Do not<br />
think I undervalue this excellent man o' poetry."<br />
Mr. Stephen is one of the few sincere and<br />
thoughtful critics who have seen that the real<br />
merit of the late Laureate is his technique and not<br />
his philosophy. If only he could have had<br />
Browning's mind, or Browning his incomparable<br />
art!<br />
You are perhaps acquainted with an anecdote<br />
which shows how much truer was Tennyson's own<br />
appreciation. Dining with John Sterling at<br />
Ventnor, about the time when his lovely little<br />
volume of lyrics appeared, he suddenly observed:<br />
"I don't think that since Shakspere there has<br />
been such a master of the English language as<br />
I," and when those at table looked round as if<br />
astonished, added calmly, "To be sure I've got<br />
nothing to say."<br />
I had this from one who was present; and it<br />
may be new, and not uninteresting, to some of<br />
your readers. Senex.<br />
IV.—The Publisher's Beader as School-<br />
master.<br />
Another terror for the unfortunate author!<br />
The manuscript of a novel which I submitted a<br />
few weeks ago to a well-known publishing firm<br />
has just been returned to me "declined with<br />
thanks." So far, so bad! But what is my<br />
amazement and horror, on turning over the pages<br />
of my work, to discover that the obliging<br />
"reader" has been amusing himself by giving<br />
gratuitous advice and making gratuitous correc-<br />
tions, and that page after page of the manuscript<br />
will have to be re-typed at considerable expense.<br />
On and off I have been scribbling for the press<br />
for a good many years, but this is the first time<br />
in my experience that a "reader" has assumed<br />
the post of schoolmaster as well. A broad state-<br />
ment against the work as a whole might have<br />
been wholesome, and perhaps tolerable; but the<br />
finicking manner in which this gentleman has<br />
played the critic is, to a sensitive author, simply<br />
unbearable. I cull one or two instances from<br />
many of this "reader's" method.<br />
I wrote colloquially, "A 'varsity man"; the<br />
correction is "university man." "Rubbish and<br />
commonplace" is the comment in another place.<br />
I am not even allowed the use of certain words,<br />
and for "pallid" my censor insists on " pale."<br />
As for punctuation, I am nowhere; and the self-<br />
appointed critic waxes diffuse on this subject.<br />
"Clauses in opposition," he says, "must not be<br />
divided by a full stop." Heavens alive! why<br />
not? He is rigid, too, on capital letters. I<br />
ventured to personify wind and rain, honouring<br />
them with a capital W and a capital B respec-<br />
tively. The "reader's" well-pointed pencil<br />
stabbed them through, and neat "l.c.'s dis-<br />
figured the margin for yards.<br />
Somehow I cannot escape the conviction that<br />
this gentleman has gained the critic's chair from<br />
the compositor's desk at a single leap.<br />
Bichard Free.<br />
V.—"The Scotsman's Library."<br />
Will you allow me to inquire among your<br />
correspondents and readers whether anyone<br />
knows a small book called "The Scotsman's<br />
Library"? I bought a copy of it in Edinburgh<br />
some years ago; it has lost its title-page; the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 192 (#622) ############################################<br />
<br />
192<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
printer's name is D. Sidney and Co., Northuniber-<br />
iand-street, Strand. The only information I<br />
could obtain respecting its authorship is that it<br />
was compiled by "Mitchell of Aberdeen." I should<br />
be very glad to know who Mitchell was, who<br />
Sidney and Co. were, and whether they are non-<br />
represented by any publishing firm.<br />
F. Bayford Harbison.<br />
f ^Suffolk House, Weybridge,<br />
Nov. 14.<br />
VI.—A Book Wanted.<br />
May I suggest to authors through The Author<br />
that a book is much wanted describing and illus-<br />
trating the mansions of Great Britain, something<br />
after the style of "Baronial Halls," published in<br />
1858, and "The Stately Homes of England,"<br />
1 inly that it should be very much more compre-<br />
hensive and complete than either?<br />
Owners would probably give a competent<br />
author considerable assistance. The work would<br />
probably comprise several volumes. It would be<br />
in great demand by owners, the various branches<br />
of their families, by local residents, solicitors<br />
and agents, as well as by the general public.<br />
C. P. Dowsett.<br />
3, Lincoln's-inn-fields. London.<br />
BOOK TALK.<br />
MR. MORLEY is writing a work on<br />
modern political history, in which, we<br />
understand, much of the inner history<br />
of the Irish Home Rule movement will be<br />
revealed. It is probable that his monograph on<br />
Lord Chatham, for the "Twelve English States-<br />
men" series, will also, at length, be completed<br />
before long.<br />
The first volume of the important revised<br />
edition of Byron—prose and verse—will probably<br />
be ready about the beginning of February. It<br />
is being issued with the authority of the family<br />
and representatives of Byron, whose grandson,<br />
Lord Lovelace, and Mr. E. H. Coleridge are<br />
responsible for the laborious revision. There will<br />
be twelve volumes in all, and new material from<br />
the MSS. in the possession of Mr. Murray will<br />
be incorporated. Thus the first volume will con-<br />
tain several unpublished poems of Byron's early<br />
days, and some new portraits of him. The pub-<br />
lisher of the work is, of course, Mr. Murray.<br />
A series of College Histories of Oxford, and<br />
another of Cambridge, will be published by Mr.<br />
F. E. Robinson during the next two years, begin-<br />
ning early in 1898. Each book will be written<br />
by one connected with the College; the Oxford<br />
series will consist of twenty-one volumes, and the<br />
Cambridge of eighteen, price 54-. net each. Among<br />
the writers in the Oxford series are: University<br />
College, A. C. Hamilton, M.A.; Balliol, H. W.<br />
Carless Davis, B.A.; Queen's, Rev. J. R. Magrath.<br />
D.D., Vice-Chancellor of the University; New,<br />
Rev. Hastings Rashdall, M.A.; All Souls, C.<br />
Grant Robertson, M.A; Magdalen, Rev. H. A.<br />
Wilson, M.A.; Brasenose, J. Buchan; Corpus<br />
Christi. Rev. T. Fowler, D.D.; Trinity, Rev<br />
H. E. D. Blakiston, M.A.; Jesus, E. G. Hardv.<br />
M.A.; Wadham, J. Wells, M.A.; Pembroke,<br />
Rev. Douglas Macleane, M.A. The writers iu<br />
the Cambridge series include: Peterhouse<br />
College, Rev. T. A. Walker, LL.D.; Clare, J. R.<br />
Wardale, M.A.; Pembroke, W. S. Hadley, M.A.;<br />
Caius, J. Venn, Sc.D., F.R.S.; Corpus" Christi.<br />
Rev. H. P. Stokes, LL.D.; King's, Rev. A. Austen<br />
Leigh, M.A.; Queen's, Rev. J. H. Gray, M.A.;<br />
St. Catherine's, the Lord Bishop of Bristol;<br />
Christ's, John Peile, Litt.D., the Master; St.<br />
John's, J. Bass Mullinger, M.A.; Magdalene,<br />
W. A. Gill, M.A.; Trinity, Rev. A. H. F. Boughey,<br />
M.A., Fellow and late Tutor of Trinity, and<br />
J. Willis Clark, M.A.<br />
After a month, the late William Morris's<br />
Kelmscott Press will be no more. The type will<br />
be retained by the trustees; the special orna-<br />
ment will be discontinued; and in the British<br />
Museum the charming wood blocks will find a<br />
resting place. There are still some works to<br />
appear from the Press, however. Among them<br />
"Sigurd the Volsung," "Love is Enough,"<br />
"The Sundering Flood," and "Some German<br />
Woodcuts of the Fifteenth Century." The last-<br />
named consists of thirty-five reproductions from<br />
books that were in the library at Kelmscott<br />
House. Last of all will come "A Note by<br />
William Morris on his Aims in Starting the<br />
Kelmscott Press," to which Mr. Coekerell adds<br />
a list of the books there printed.<br />
Mr. Wells's "War of the Worlds" will In-<br />
considerably revised, and several chapters added,<br />
for book publication, which will take place iu<br />
January (Heinemann). The author is writing a<br />
long novel of city life in the next century, to be<br />
entitled " When the Sleeper Wakes."<br />
Mr. Kipling will contribute " Just-So Stories"<br />
—about animals— to St. Nicholas during 1898.<br />
Mrs. Croker's new novel, to be published<br />
by Messrs. Chatto, is called "Miss Balmain's<br />
Past."<br />
Mr. Zangwill's "Dreamers of the Ghetto," is<br />
not expected lefore January. It will contain<br />
a character-sketch of Heine.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 193 (#623) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
i93<br />
Mr. Robert Chambers is writing " The Haunts<br />
of Men," which will appear early in 1898.<br />
Mr. William Le Queux's novel of Monte Carlo<br />
life, "If Sinners Entice Thee," is running in the<br />
Golden Penny and New York Truth.<br />
"Edna Lyall" is writing a romance of the<br />
period of William and Mary's reign. The action<br />
is in the North Country, and the title will be<br />
"Hope the Hermit," but the book will not appear<br />
for a year yet.<br />
Lady Gregory will publish shortly (Smith and<br />
Elder) the correspondence of her late husband's<br />
grandfather, the Bight Hon. William Gregory,<br />
Under-Secretary for Ireland from 1813 to 1830.<br />
New light on the government of Ireland during<br />
that period is promised in the work.<br />
A Life of the Prince of Wales is being prepared.<br />
Dr. Traill, the editor of Literature, is reported to<br />
be the author, but the ascription is not confirmed.<br />
The publisher is Mr. Grant Richards.<br />
The Life of Cardinal Wiseman, by Mr. Wilfrid<br />
Ward, will appear on Dec. 7 (Longmans).<br />
Mr. P. H. Emerson has edited a genealogical<br />
history of the family from the earliest times,<br />
which Mr. David Nutt will publish shortly under<br />
the title of " The English Emersons."<br />
The first volume (of four) of the Life of<br />
Spurgeon, edited by Mrs. Spurgeon and Mr.<br />
Harrald, who was the preacher's private secre-<br />
tary, will be ready about the middle of this<br />
month.<br />
A book on the Indian frontier warfare, from<br />
the pen of Major Younghusband, will be issued<br />
shortly by Messrs. Kegan Paul, in their<br />
"Wolseley " series.<br />
Commenting on the analysis of the books of<br />
the season, which appeared in The Author last<br />
month, the Globe says:—<br />
It is a little sad to find only 20 books of essays on this<br />
list. The essay is so exquisite a vehicle for the presentation<br />
of thought and fancy and pleasant personality, that one can-<br />
not bnt regret that its vogue is for the time over. Perhaps<br />
a better day will dawn soon. When the 20 volumes of essays<br />
are placed beside the 54 mathematical works our loss is<br />
made the more clear. Nor is it right for 221 theological<br />
books to assail ns in one Beason. The number of children's<br />
books is again vastly greater than it should be. Children<br />
are not to-day one whit happier, with all this reading<br />
afforded them, than they were a hundred years ago, with a<br />
nursery library of some poor half-dozen volumes. A poor<br />
half-dozen—but better thumbed than is the case with any-<br />
thing now published.<br />
Mr. Warington Smyth was superintendent of<br />
mines under the Siamese Government for five<br />
years, and he is about to publish, through Mr.<br />
Murray, a work on "Siam and the Siamese,"<br />
with reproductions of his own sketehes<br />
Captain Count Gleichen, of the Grenadier<br />
Guards, who acted as Intelligence Officer to Mr.<br />
Rennell Rodd's mission to Abyssinia, has written<br />
an account of the expedition, entitled "With the<br />
British Mission to Menelik, 1897," which Mr<br />
Edward Arnold will publish immediately.<br />
"The great historic county of Bucks," as<br />
Beaconsfield, who knew the district well, called<br />
it, is the principal subject of Mr. J. K. Fowler's<br />
"Records of Old Times," which Messrs. Chatto<br />
and Windus are about to publish. Its character<br />
is variously social, historical, sporting, and<br />
agricultural.<br />
A series of volumes on modern schools of<br />
painting, under the editorship of Mr. Gleeson<br />
White, is announced by Messrs. Bell. The first,<br />
"The Glasgow School," will be by Mr. David<br />
Martin, with an introduction by Mr. Frank<br />
Newbery and sixty reproductions of paintings.<br />
Count Tolstoy's new book, translated by Mr.<br />
A. Maude, and to be published by the Brother-<br />
hood Company, Croydon, will be called "On<br />
Art."<br />
Mr. Arthur H. Neumann tells of his elephant-<br />
hunting experiences in East Equatorial Africa,<br />
in a volume which Messrs. Rowland Ward will<br />
shortly publish, with illustrations and a map.<br />
Captain Mahan, of the United States Navy, is<br />
publishing through Messrs. Sampson Low a work<br />
on "The Interest of the United States in Sea-<br />
Power, Present and Future." He will also con-<br />
tribute a paper to the third volume of Mr. Laird<br />
Clowes's History of the Royal Navy.<br />
Mr. Sidney Low has resigned the editorship of<br />
the -S'f. James's Gazette, and is succeeded by his<br />
assistant, Mr. Hugh Chisholm.<br />
Mr. Barry Pain has succeeded Mr. Jerome as<br />
editor of To-Day.<br />
"The Antipodean," a Christmas annual written<br />
by Australians, will be published shortly by Messrs.<br />
Chatto and Windus.<br />
Mr. E. S. Prior is dealing, in a book on English<br />
Gothic which Messrs. Bell will publish, with the<br />
evolution of an original and characteristic style<br />
from the style which, introduced by the Normans,<br />
was for a time common to England and Northern<br />
France. Mr. Gerald Horsley will illustrate Mr.<br />
Prior's work.<br />
The story of England's growth from Elizabeth<br />
to Victoria has been told by Mr. Alfred Thomas<br />
Story, in two volumes which Messrs Chapman<br />
and Hall will publish shortly, entitled "The<br />
Building of the Empire." There will he portraits<br />
of these two Sovereigns in photogravure, and<br />
upwards of 100 portraits and illustrations.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 194 (#624) ############################################<br />
<br />
i94<br />
THE AUTHOli.<br />
From the Pall Mall Gazette :—<br />
BALLADE OF THE PUBLISHING SEASON.<br />
Year by year, at the sommer's close,<br />
I watoh the Season of Books draw nigh,<br />
Troops of poetry, hordes of prose,<br />
Books, books, books for the world to buy.<br />
Can you wonder reviewers sigh i<br />
Think of the parcels strewn about,<br />
Cases for critics to test and try—<br />
MoBt of them books we could do without.<br />
• • * •<br />
But fiction—there is the stuff that goes:<br />
Novels and stories, piled on high,<br />
What becomes of them? Goodness knows<br />
Critics are hard to satisfy.<br />
Many are smitten hip and thigh<br />
(They sell the better for that, no doubt).<br />
Some are published only to die—<br />
Those are the books we conld do without.<br />
Envoy.<br />
Prinoe! Who writes this rubbish, and why '<<br />
All the lot should be put to rout,<br />
Save two or three; and you can't deny<br />
Most of their books we could do without.<br />
Mr. Frank Preston Stearns, an American, is the<br />
author of "Modern English Prose Writers,"<br />
which Messrs Putnam will publish.<br />
Mr. T. B. Harbottle has during many years<br />
been preparing a dictionary of classical quotations.<br />
The work is nearly ready to be published by<br />
Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein.<br />
"The Gleaming Dawn," by James Baker,<br />
which has just gone into its third thousand,<br />
has elicited some remarkable letters from well-<br />
known Churchmen. The Bishop of London, in<br />
writing upon it, says: "It deals with a period<br />
of English history which is often overlooked.<br />
The connection of England with Bohemia is of<br />
great interest, and Peter Payne is a forgotten<br />
Englishman who deserves notice. I think your<br />
story is very true to the time of which it treats."<br />
The Bishop of Manchester also writes: "I have<br />
read ' The Gleaming Dawn' with great interest,<br />
and believe it may be profitable at the pi'esent<br />
time. It is written with great spirit and power."<br />
The Bishop of Hereford, Dean Farrar, and<br />
Archdeacon Sinclair also write of it in terms of<br />
appreciation and praise.<br />
Mr. Lawrence Gomme's lectures on " Principles<br />
of Local Government," delivered last year at the<br />
London School of Economies, have been revised<br />
and will be published by Messrs. Constable.<br />
The letter Z will be reached in the " Dictionary<br />
of National Biography" in the course of 1899.<br />
Another year will be occupied with getting out<br />
a supplement containing memoirs of persons who<br />
have died during the progress of the "Dictionary,"<br />
and a general index.<br />
The relations of Scot', and the Ballantynes are<br />
discussed from a special point of view by the Rev.<br />
James Hay. of Kirn, in a work on Sir Walter<br />
Scott which he is writing. Scott, he contends,<br />
was ambitious of reaching the position of head of<br />
a great publishing house which should outrival<br />
that of Constable.<br />
An essay on bimetallism, by Major Darwin, is<br />
among Mr. Murray's forthcoming publications.<br />
Lord Charles Beresford and Mr. H. W. Wilson<br />
are writing the " Life of Nelson," and giving new<br />
letters, &c. Messrs. Harmsworth are publishing<br />
the work in parts.<br />
A new edition of Mr. Ferrar Fenton's "New<br />
Testament in Current English " is called for, and<br />
will be shortly issued. This will make the fifth<br />
edition of his "St. Paul's Epistles" and the<br />
second of the Gospels.<br />
A one-act play by Mrs. Clifford, the author of<br />
"Mrs. Keith's Crime," &c., will be produced at the<br />
Comedy Theatre in a few days. It is called " A<br />
Supreme Moment." The chief part is to be<br />
taken by Mrs. Bernard Beere. It has been<br />
translated into French by Mr. Walter Pollock<br />
with a view to its production on the French staj;e.<br />
An adaptation of one of Mrs. Clifford's stories<br />
was lately played in Paris. The author is herself<br />
dramatising the same story for home consump-<br />
tion.<br />
"A Woman Tempted Him," a story written by<br />
William Westall and syndicated by Messrs.<br />
Tillotson and Son, will be published by Chatto<br />
and Windus early in 1898. The same author is<br />
writing a story for Pearson's Weekly, and in the<br />
course of next year he hopes to complete a<br />
historical romance, begun some time ago, dealing<br />
with the same period as " With the Red Eagle,"<br />
which is now in a third edition.<br />
Several illustrated poems by Miss Helen<br />
Marion Burnside are published as Christmas and<br />
New Year gift-books by the Artistic Lithographic<br />
Company, 13, Buuhill-row. Of these one entitled<br />
"A Cycle of Song" is also suitable for a gift-book<br />
for any season. The same firm also issues daily<br />
text-books, edited by Miss Burnside.<br />
Mrs. George Corbett has been one of the first<br />
to make copy out of the new goldfields, and her latest<br />
novel, " The Star of Yukon," is now running in<br />
serial form. It is being syndicated by Messrs.<br />
Tillotson and Son, and will be published in book<br />
form twelve months after the commencement of<br />
the serial run. Mrs. Corbett has also written a<br />
musical farce entitled "Back from Klondyke,"<br />
which was enthusiastically approved by the<br />
West-end audience before whom it was produced<br />
on Oct. 21.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 195 (#625) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
i95<br />
Jean Carlyle Graham hopes to finish a seven<br />
years' labour of love early in 1898. She wishes<br />
to present "The Words of Oliver Cromwell" on<br />
good paper, printed at the Edinburgh University<br />
Press, bound in comfortable volumes, with por-<br />
traits of Cromwell, his family, and correspon-<br />
dents. Only 100 copies will be printed, and she<br />
trusts that each free library in the British<br />
Empire will possess a copy, in order that the<br />
veriest man in the street may have, at last, a<br />
chance of knowing the mighty Englishman who<br />
strove to win for him hie individual liberty.<br />
"Many Memories of Many People," by Mrs.<br />
Simpson, daughter of the late Mr. Nassau Senior,<br />
is to be published by Mr. Arnold. The daughter<br />
was companion to the father, and with him dwelt<br />
among various distinguished people.<br />
A privately-circulated volume of the reminis-<br />
cences of Miss Grant of Rothiemurchus, after-<br />
wards the wife of General Smith, of Baltiboys,<br />
co. Wicklow, is now to be published by Mr.<br />
Murray, and is being edited by Lady Strachey, a<br />
niece of the author. A chief note of the book,<br />
which is to be called "The Memoirs of a High-<br />
land Lady," will be its light upon Scottish social<br />
life in the early part of this century. The author,<br />
however, also introduces the names of Mr. Perce-<br />
val, Mr. Canning, Lord Lauderdale, Shelley, Sir<br />
Walter Scott, and other notabilities.<br />
Dr. Max Nordau is very displeased with the<br />
Maupassant monument which Paris has just<br />
erected in the Pare Monceau. The monument is<br />
a bust on a pedestal, below which is represented<br />
a French woman reclining on a couch with one of<br />
Maupassant's novels in her hand. "The likeness,"<br />
says the author of "Degeneration," "is almost<br />
terrifying. It has the low forehead, the short<br />
fleshy nose, the bristling moustache, the vulgar,<br />
coarsely sensual mouth, and the general expres-<br />
sion of a soldier on his Sunday out bent on gay<br />
adventures."<br />
Travel and adventure are to be the interests of<br />
a new magazine—the "Passport "—which Mr.<br />
Pearson will begin to publish, probably in the<br />
spring.—Mr. Newnes, at a much earlier date,<br />
gives to the world a monthly paper called the<br />
"Ladies' Field."<br />
Antiquarian Gossip is a new sixpenny monthly<br />
which will aim at making the study of antiquities<br />
popular.<br />
Mr. H. C. Cust contributes an introduction to<br />
the ninth of the reproductions of Tudor trans-<br />
lations, Philemon Holland's " Historie of Twelve<br />
Ceesars, Emperors of Rome," translated from<br />
Suetonius. The work will be issued (600 copies)<br />
early next year by Mr. Nutt.<br />
LITERATURE IN THE PERIODICALS.<br />
Authors, Publishers, and Booksellers. The Times<br />
on the following dates: Article, "From a Correspondent,"<br />
Nov. 9; E. Marston and K. MaoLehose, Nov. 10; the editor<br />
of the Bookseller and Messrs. Skeffington, Nov. 11 ; Secre-<br />
tary of the Society of Author?, Eev. Harry Jones, and<br />
W. Day, Nov. 12 ; The Writer of the Article, A Member of<br />
the Publishers' Association, M. J. B. Baddelcy, A Country<br />
Hook seller, Publisher's Reader, Alfred Wilson, Nov. 15;<br />
Leading Artiole, Nov. 15; The Writer of the Article, F.R.S.,<br />
Andrew W. Tuer, Nov. 19.<br />
Thc Bookselling Question. Andrew Lang. Chap-<br />
man's Magazine for November.<br />
An Academy -of Letters. The Academy for Not. 6,<br />
13, 20.<br />
Is it Literary Suicidei Daily Chronicle for Oct. 28.<br />
Tennyson. Hamilton Wright Mabie. Atlantic Monthly<br />
for November.—Blackwood's Magazine for November.—<br />
Tennyson in Ireland : A Reminiscence. Alfred Peroival<br />
Graves. Cornhill Magazine for November.<br />
Modern Education. Professor Mahaffy. Nineteenth<br />
Century for November.<br />
The Coming Literary Revival —I. J. S. Tunison.<br />
Atlantic Monthly for November.<br />
The analogy between the bookselling question<br />
of the early fifties and that of the late nineties<br />
is borne out in still another respect by the appear-<br />
ance of this controversy in the columns of the<br />
Times. If such a mild judgment may be allowed<br />
to one who has studied both series of letters,<br />
there is now a spirit of reticence and guardedness<br />
in expressing opinion in favour or against the<br />
proposed system of uniform discounts, which<br />
was not a pronounced feature of the letters of the<br />
earlier period. This may be, and probably is,<br />
clue, however, to the fact that the Society of<br />
Authors has the matter under consideration.<br />
One correspondent, Mr. Robert MacLehose, of<br />
Glasgow, does, indeed, attest anxiety and zeal, if<br />
these qualities be judged by the fact that, writing<br />
from the important bookselling centre of the West<br />
of Scotland, he is able to publish a reply to the<br />
Times article in the very next issue of that journal.<br />
The article "From a Correspondent" which<br />
opened the discussion, did not favour the new<br />
proposal of compulsorily making the discount 2d.<br />
in the shilling instead of $d. In the first place,<br />
he argued, a strong minority of the booksellers<br />
themselves is opposed to it. Let such be boy-<br />
cotted 'i But that was done in 1850, and yet the<br />
recalcitrant firms succeeded in obtaining the<br />
books they wanted; and it has been done now in<br />
the case of certain firms who persisted "in doing<br />
what they liked with their own," with the same<br />
result. Next, the proposal is one involving " thc<br />
well-being, nay, the very existence of the author."<br />
Were the rate of discount reduced, sales would<br />
drop; because the public cries aloud for cheap<br />
books. In this connection the writer places<br />
books outside the economic pale as being neither<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 196 (#626) ############################################<br />
<br />
196<br />
lllh AUTHOR.<br />
necessity nor luxury. Willy, nilly, the average<br />
book-buyer thinks that in this age of mechanical<br />
ingenuity books might be produced both in better<br />
taste and at less cost; and the writer goes so far<br />
as to say that, as a rule, sixpence more or less<br />
will decide whether a book shall be bought or<br />
remain unsold. Nor has salvation been found in<br />
the net system, which, he says has been "prac-<br />
tically abandoned owing to the rooted aversion of<br />
buyers." The writer plumps, therefore, for a<br />
cheaper book:—<br />
Matthew Arnold was generally accounted a visionary, bat<br />
he was eminently practical when he pleaded for cheap books.<br />
That way lies the true remedy for existing evils. Were a<br />
popular writer and powerful publisher to make the experi-<br />
ment of bringing out, let ub say, the six-shilling novel at<br />
3s., the result would probably be gratifying beyond expecta-<br />
tion—provided, of course, the booksellers did not repeat<br />
their old folly. Tne history of popular literature proves<br />
that fortunes lie, not in high prices, but in big sales. The<br />
cost of production need not frighten anyone. The book of<br />
to-day is produced at a figure which even five years ago<br />
would have been thought impossible ; and the cheaper book<br />
could be produced at a yet lower rate without sacrifice of<br />
quality. What has been done in France with Buoh signal<br />
success can be done in England. With the three-shilling or<br />
the half-crown volume "every genuine reader," to quote<br />
Arnold again, " will feel that the book be cares to read he<br />
will care to possess." Would not that awakened desire of<br />
possession be the best of all auguries? Would it not, in<br />
fact, mean a final solution of all the difficulties whioh now<br />
hamper and oppress the book-trade?<br />
"A Member of the Publishers' Association"<br />
came forward with a case for the 6*. novel. He<br />
takes a recent popular book; he estimates the cost<br />
of production and advertising at is. 6d. per copy;<br />
he knows very well that it is under a shilling:<br />
this fact vitiates all the figures that follow.<br />
"A Country Bookseller " asks, what is the use of<br />
books being both "good" and "cheap" if the<br />
public is not to have a chance of examining them<br />
in booksellers' shops? The public ought to pay<br />
adequately for this service, and every town, large<br />
or small, support its bookseller. The Rev. Harry<br />
Jones, on his part, attributes the non-purchasing<br />
of books to the fewness of the booksellers, whom<br />
also he would have show their menu as attractively<br />
as the newspaper shop at the corner of a dirty<br />
street.<br />
The editor of the Bookseller credited the<br />
Society of Authors with having, in taking up<br />
with the matter, recognised the advantage that<br />
less-known writers would reap if booksellers<br />
were enabled to display their books; stated<br />
that, as a matter of fact, the author was a<br />
"wholly unimportant factor in the arrangement of<br />
trade terms" ; and was corrected on the following<br />
day by Mr. Thring for having assumed that the<br />
Society had assented to the new proposal—the<br />
fact being, of course, that the sub-committee had<br />
not yet issued its report. He supported the idea<br />
of coercion, pointing to the leading case of<br />
Germany as a shining example of "completest<br />
success " in this policy. Even at home, in places<br />
where the reduced discount had been now<br />
enforced, the public readily acquiesced in the<br />
arrangement, and the booksellers' turnover had in<br />
no way suffered. As for the cry for cheap litera-<br />
ture, to obtain this a wide circulation must be<br />
assured, and, except in the case of a well-known<br />
and popular writer, such wide circulation was<br />
usually impossible. Let the coercion be rigid, and<br />
recalcitrant booksellers would soon find resistance<br />
to be unprofitable. Apropos," Publisher's Reader"<br />
suggested that someone learned in the law should<br />
first say "whether it will be a sufficient protection<br />
for the Publishers' Association, should they<br />
resolve to follow the editor's advice, to declare<br />
themselves a 'trade union,' and register their<br />
association under the Trades Union Act of 1871."<br />
Mr. MacLehose intervened in defence of the<br />
net system, which, he said, so far from having<br />
been "practically abandoned," had grown quite<br />
remarkably within the last few years. Mr.<br />
M. J. B. Baddeley testified that his "Thorough<br />
Guide " series, notwithstanding the facts that the<br />
net price was printed on the binding and that big<br />
firms in London who advertised 25 per cent, dis-<br />
count on all books had boycotted these volumes,<br />
had been eminently successful all round. In<br />
answer to Mr. E. Marston, publisher, who said<br />
that whatever the published price might be the<br />
public expected their full 2 5 per cent, therefrom,<br />
Mr. Alfred Wilson, bookseller, said that the<br />
public certainly wanted to buy at the lowest<br />
price, but if they could get no discount they<br />
would be quite content to pay the published price<br />
if they thought the book worth it.<br />
Mr. Andrew W. Tuer contributed to the dis-<br />
cussion the interesting speculation that " books,<br />
like tea and tallow, may oue day perhaps be<br />
bought and sold by the pound," but, for a league<br />
of publishers to charge all booksellers alike would<br />
mean simply that another and more complacent<br />
race of publishers would arise. "Too many<br />
books and ' cutting' are ruining the book trade.<br />
Among the other letters was one of Mr. W.<br />
Day, a business man, who suggested a fresh way<br />
out of the difficulty, namely:—<br />
for the publisher to work out the exact net amount per<br />
book he gets from the large buyer, including odd books and<br />
extra discounts, and then, having arrived at the figure, for<br />
ever after charge this price, thus getting rid of odd copies<br />
and extra discounts, charging the bookseller who buys one<br />
book the same price as the man who buys 1000. The little<br />
man would thus have the same rate of profit as the big man,<br />
and would have a margin of profit to work upon. The<br />
country bookseller would be at a disadvantage still as com-<br />
pared with the London bookseller, as he would have to bear<br />
carriage in addition to the cost of the books.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 197 (#627) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
197<br />
Everything turns, said the Times itself officially,<br />
on the point of whether the frugal and often<br />
impecunious book-buyer will be persuaded to<br />
forego the discount of 3d. Upon this it will not<br />
commit itself at the present stage. If the bulk of<br />
the leading publishers legally decline to supply<br />
books except on the basis of the 2d. discount, "it<br />
is not very easy to see how eveu the largest retail<br />
booksellers can continue to make a profit by selling<br />
at the larger discount." And if the case were<br />
properly put to him the aforesaid frugal book-<br />
buyer would probably recognise that his interests<br />
and requirements are best served by supporting<br />
the booksellers. After a reflection upon the general<br />
superiority of the provincial bookseller "whom<br />
many of us recollect," compared with his successor<br />
who to-day "ekes out a precarious existence by<br />
catering for the taste in trifles of customers whose<br />
taste in literature is nothing if not trifling," the<br />
Times concluded as follows:<br />
Meanwhile the " hungry sheep," who onee were wont to<br />
browse on the pastures of good literature, "look up and are<br />
not fed "—we will not continue the quotation, though it is<br />
not a little to the purpose. In any case we are satisfied<br />
that if the retail bookseller could be restored to his former<br />
ttatus and dignity in the world of letters neither authors<br />
nor publishers, neither booksellers nor book-buyers, would<br />
in the long run have any reason to complain of the result.<br />
It may be, as our correspondent has suggested, that the loss<br />
incurred by book-buyers through the proposed reduction of<br />
discount will have to be compensated in some measure by a<br />
general reduction in the price of books. But ... it<br />
is not perhaps amiss to observe that publishers probably<br />
understand their own business best, and that not many of<br />
them have been known to make their fortunes.<br />
Mr. Lang does not pretend, in his discussion<br />
of the question in eight pages of Chapman's<br />
Magazine, to give an opinion about the discount<br />
question, which, he says, " I am sensible is beyond<br />
my limited faculties." He is willing that his own<br />
royalties should be cut down, if that will make even<br />
one bookseller happy. But before "the few rich<br />
authors" will be equally charitable, publishers<br />
must have a trade union, and persecute the pub-<br />
lisher who pays the author more than a certain<br />
rate. Mr. Lang confesses, indeed, that he knows<br />
no remedy for devotion to discount but increased<br />
enerosity, and no specific against the circulating<br />
brary but the production of books which<br />
readers will desire to own—though verily the<br />
public "does not greatly want any book." But<br />
in the last case he appeals to "our great dealers<br />
in fiction." "Peddling science and history of<br />
belles lettres are ndgligeables. We therefore<br />
await the voice of the novelist on Discount."<br />
The custom of using bad paper in books—a<br />
subject which contains the possibility of " literary<br />
suicide "—has not offered any practical evidence<br />
up to the present at the British Museum. Dr.<br />
Garnett has not seen any consumptive books<br />
there, but probably the particular kinds of paper<br />
which hold the germs of decay have not been in<br />
use sufficiently long to permit of the disease show-<br />
ing itself. Mr. John Murray wonders whether<br />
poor land in England might not be employed to<br />
grow some fibrous plant which would make good<br />
paper at a cheap rate. Much of the paper now iu<br />
use he stigmatises as abominably cheap and<br />
nasty. The interviewer who has thus questioned<br />
several authorities on the matter supposes the<br />
case of a historian, three generations hence,<br />
going to the British Museum to consult Blue<br />
Books, which, as he takes them up, fall to dust in<br />
his hand; for Blue Books, on the authority of<br />
Mr. MacAlister, are the worst offenders. Such a<br />
prospect Mr. John Murray's father used to laugh<br />
over. "It will be the grand time for publishers,"<br />
he would say, "when a book on falling from a<br />
table goes to pieces like a piece of china."<br />
Finally, the views of Mr. Frank Lloyd, of the<br />
great paper-manufacturing firm of Edward Lloyd<br />
(Limited), on this question of bad paper (which a<br />
committee of the Society of Arts is now consider-<br />
ing) possess a special interest:—<br />
There were one or two facts whioh might be taken for<br />
granted. A considerable proportion of the paper printed<br />
upon at present must be expected to prove wanting in the<br />
qualities of very lengthened endurance. He instanced<br />
paper made from wood pulp from which the resin had not<br />
been extracted. Technically this ingredient was called<br />
"mechanical wood," as distinct from wood pulp which had<br />
been purified by ehemioal process. Needless to say, paper<br />
made from the latter oost muoh more than paper manu-<br />
factured from the former. Now, paper in which there<br />
remained " mechanical wood " had for years been used in<br />
the printing of books. The Germans had done a good deal<br />
towards the introduction of this, but the great factor was<br />
the rise and development of popular literature. That meant<br />
the production of paper at less and less cost; otherwise<br />
there could not be the wonderfully cheap books. It was<br />
one thing or the other. Similarly it was only the cheap-<br />
ness of paper that made possible the size of the modern<br />
journal. "I am afraid," Mr. Lloyd summed up, " that after<br />
a hundred years a book would not bear handling if its paper<br />
had been of the nature to whioh I have alluded."<br />
The "coming literary revival" is coming on<br />
the other side of the Atlantic. There, the present<br />
is the age of the short story and the minor poet,<br />
two classes of literary art that " lack seriousness,<br />
if considered as an end in themselves," and "are<br />
characteristic of a tentative, a waiting age." Who<br />
is to write the great American novel, or the great<br />
American drama, or the great American epic?<br />
If the outline here given of the opportunities of<br />
genius be approximately correct, this much-<br />
desiderated American may never emerge. "The<br />
only lesson which America is now teaching the<br />
world in the ideal realm is precisely the lesson<br />
which von Hartmann has already put in words—<br />
namely, that the literature of the future is to be<br />
as the tarce which the Berlin business man goes<br />
g<br />
li<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 198 (#628) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
to see of an evening by way of recreation." The<br />
writer would welcome a profoundly one-sided<br />
thinker who should arise and "shake to pieces<br />
the eminently respectable but fatally monotonous<br />
philosophy of the American schools." For him a<br />
search will be made over a wide area in another<br />
article.<br />
Professor Mahaffy discovers, in spite of national<br />
reforms in education, a decline in the quality of<br />
our reading: the great masters—poets, philo-<br />
sophers, historians, even novelists—set aside for<br />
the trivial, the sensational, the affected, the<br />
ephemeral.<br />
STORY COMPETITION.<br />
Jw<br />
APRIZE of .£100 is offered by the People's<br />
Journal, Dundee, for the best short serial<br />
story, in fifteen or twenty instalments of<br />
about 4200 words each. Stories must be located in<br />
Scotland, in some place or district the correct<br />
name of which is given, while its features are<br />
described and its local peculiarities introduced.<br />
The story should be told as largely as possible<br />
in dialogue, and the subject be either historical<br />
or modern—modern factory life, railway life,<br />
mining life, or school teachers' life, &c. Com-<br />
petitors must send in the first three chapters of<br />
their stories, along with a short summary of the<br />
remainder, not later than Jan. 14, 1898.<br />
THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH.<br />
[Oct. 25 to Nov. 23.-379 Books.]<br />
Abbott, T. K. Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the EpiB<br />
to the Ephosiana and to the Colossians. 10/6. Clark.<br />
Addcrley. James. Paul Mercer. 8/6. Arnold.<br />
Adie, B. H., and Woods, T. If. Agricultural Chemistry. 11- net.<br />
Regan Paul.<br />
Aflalu, F. Q. Sea Fish. (Angler's Library) 6 - Lawrence.<br />
Alexander, Rupert. The Vicar of St. Nicholas. 6/- Dlgby.<br />
Allen, Grant. Evolution of the Idea of God. 20/- net. Richards.<br />
Andre1, R. Colonel Bogey's Sketch-Book. 2/6. Longmans.<br />
Anonymous (M. W. L.). Reveries of a Paragrapher. 6/- Unwin.<br />
Anonymous. Handley Cross. 2/- Lawrence.<br />
Anonymous. German Lyrical and other Poems, with Isometrical<br />
Translations. Williams.<br />
Anonymous. Groote Schuur. Residence of Right Hon. C. J. Rhodes.<br />
2/6. Simpkin.<br />
Anonymous. Catesby, A Tragedy of the Gunpowder Plot.<br />
Guildford: Billing.<br />
Anonymous. Lessons from Life, Animal and Human. 7/6. Stock.<br />
Anonymous. Poems by a New Zealander. 5/- Kegan Paul.<br />
Anonymous. The English Tulip and Its History. 1/6. Barr.<br />
Anonymous. The Reform of Currency. 2/6. E. Wilson.<br />
Anonymous (author of "How to be Happy though Married"). The<br />
Love Affairs of Some Famous Men. 6/- Unwln.<br />
Anonymous. Memorials, Journal, and Botanical Correspondence of<br />
Charles Cardale Babington. 10/6 net. Cambridge: Macmillan<br />
and Bowes.<br />
Anonymous (" M. S.") Romance of a Rose. 6/- net. Digby.<br />
Anonymous. English Masques. 3/6. Blsckie.<br />
Anonymous (author of "Mademoiselle Mori "). Niccolina Niccollni.<br />
6/- Gardner, Darton.<br />
Anonymous. The Canon. 12/- net. Mathews.<br />
Armour. Margaret (ed.). The Eerie Book. 6/- Shiells.<br />
Asbfomsen, P. C. (tr. by H. L.Brrckstad). Fairy Tales from the Far<br />
North. 6/- Xutt.<br />
Atkinson. T. D. Cambridge Described and Illustrated. SI/- net.<br />
Macmillan.<br />
AUeridge. Holen. Butterfly Ballads. 3/6. MBne<br />
Averv. Harold. Soldiers of the Queen. 2/- Nelson.<br />
Bacon. R. H. Benin, the City of Blood. 7/6. Arnold.<br />
Bain. Charlotte. Ace o' HeartB. 6/- Hurst.<br />
Barneti. Canon. The Service of God. 6/-<br />
Barr. Amelia E. A Knight of the Nets. 6/- Hnt<<br />
Battenberg, Prince Louis of. Men-of-War Names. 5/- Stanford-<br />
Bedford, H. L, Prue the Poetess. 8/6. Skefllngton<br />
Belcher. H. A. (ed.). All About Klondike. 1/- Simpkin<br />
Bell, Mrs. Arthur. Thomas Gainsborough. 25/- net. Bell.<br />
Bell, G L. dr.). Poems from the Divan of Haflz. I/- Heinemann.<br />
Bennett. John. Master Skylark. 6/- Macmillan<br />
Black, L. M. P. For His Country's Sake. Cox.<br />
Blackmore. R. D. Dariel, A Romance of Surrey. 6/- Blackwood.<br />
Blake, M. M. The Blues and the Brigands. 6/- Jarrold.<br />
Bloundelle-Burton, John. The Clash 6f Arms. 6/- Methuen<br />
Boothby, Guy. Bushigrams. »/- Ward, Lock.<br />
Bowie. A. G. Romance of British Post Office. 1/6. Partridge.<br />
Brinton, D. G. Religions of Primitive People, Second Series. 6 -<br />
Putnam.<br />
Broekbank, W. E. Poems and Songs. 5/- Cnwin.<br />
Brown. Alice. Meadow Grass: Tales of Naw England. 8/6. Dent.<br />
Brown, Nlcol. The Organisation itt Gold Mining Business.<br />
• Glasgow: D Campbell.<br />
Bryce, James. ImpresaionB of South Africa. 14/- net. Macmlllsn.<br />
Burnett, Mrs. Hodgson. His Grace of Osmonde. 6/- Warn*'.<br />
Burnslde, Helen M. Drift Weed: Verses and Lyrics. 8/6. Hutchinson.<br />
Burrage, E. H. The Vanished Yacht. 2/6. Nelson.<br />
Bute, Marquis of, and others. The Arms of the Royal and Parlia-<br />
mentary Boroughs of Scotland. Blackwood.<br />
Butler, Samuel The Authoress of the Odyssey. 10/6. Longmans.<br />
Cambridge, Ada. At Midnight, and Other Stories. 3/6. Ward.<br />
Camm, Dom Bede. A Benedictine Martyr in England. 7/6. Bliss.<br />
Carmichae.l, H. The Caratairs of Caatlc Craig. Low.<br />
Cartwright. MrB. Edward. Jenny. 2/- Gardner. Darton.<br />
Cartwright, Julia (Mrs. Ady). Christ and HiB Mother in Italian Art.<br />
•210 ■ Bliss.<br />
Chamberlain, RL Hon. Joseph. Patriotism. 1/- net. Constable.<br />
Cheetham. Archdeacon. The Mysteries, Pagan and Christian, 5,-<br />
Macmillan.<br />
Church. S. Harden. John Marmaduke. 6/- Putnam.<br />
"Clos." Life in Afrikandcrland. 3/6. Digby.<br />
Clare, Austin. By the Rise of the River. 6/- Chatto.<br />
Clerke, A. M , and others. The "Concise Knowledge" Astronomy.<br />
6/- Hutchinson.<br />
Olough. B. A. A Memoir of Anne Jemima Clough. 12/6' Arnold.<br />
Clouston, J. S. Vandrad the Viking. 2/- Nelson.<br />
Cochran-Patrick, C. H. Maudo-Chatterton. 8/6. J. S. Virtue.<br />
Cockayne, G. E. Some Account of the Lord Mayors and Sheriffs of<br />
the City of London during First Quarter of Seventeenth Century.<br />
126. Philllmore.<br />
Coleman. F. M. Typical Pictures of Indian Natives. 6/6.<br />
Times oflnJia Office.<br />
Collingwood. Harry. For Treasure Bound. 61- Griffith,Farran.<br />
Colvllle. H. E. My Grandmother's Album. 2/- Religious Tract Soc.<br />
Cooke, JS. The Foundation of Scientific Agriculture. 4/6. Longmans.<br />
Cornford, J. (ed.). Book of Common Prayer, with Historical Notes.<br />
3,6. Eyre and Spottiswoode.<br />
Comwell, \V. C. Sound Money Monographs. 4/- Putnam.<br />
Cotton, J. S. The Practical Statutes of the Session 1897. Cox.<br />
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IV<br />
AD VElt TISEMENTIS.<br />
'A New Economist."— The Academy.<br />
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