| 318 | https://historysoa.com/items/show/318 | The Author, Vol. 09 Issue 02 (July 1898) | <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.+09+Issue+02+%28July+1898%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 09 Issue 02 (July 1898)</a> | | | <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101063829988" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101063829988</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> | 1898-07-01-The-Author-9-2 | | | | | 29–56 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=9">9</a> | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1898-07-01">1898-07-01</a> | | | | | | | 2 | | | 18980701 | TTbe Hutbot\<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br />
CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br />
Vol. IX.—No. 2.] JULY i, 1898. [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 />
Ij^OE some years it has been the practioe to insert, in<br />
! every number of The Author, certain " General Con-<br />
siderations," Warnings, Notices, &o., for the guidance<br />
of the reader. It has been objected as regards these<br />
warnings that the trioks 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 />
VOL. IX.<br />
in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise-<br />
ments.<br />
(3.) Not to allow a special charge for " office expenses,"<br />
unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br />
(4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br />
rights.<br />
(5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights.<br />
(6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher.<br />
As well bind yourself for the futnre to any one eolioitor or<br />
dootor!<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 />
anthor's ignorance, it is above all things necessary 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 />
Readers 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 objeoted 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 chance 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 this is a right, in the<br />
nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or<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 />
exchanged 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 />
Ii 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 30 (#42) ##############################################<br />
<br />
3o THE AUTHOR.<br />
HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br />
I. "T7WERY 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 />
Bought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member<br />
has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the<br />
case is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com-<br />
mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this<br />
without any oost to the member.<br />
2. Bemember 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 />
bo far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any<br />
agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor-<br />
mation thus obtained may prove invaluable.<br />
4. If the examination of your previous business trans-<br />
actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should<br />
take advice as to a change of publishers.<br />
5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br />
posed document to the Society for examination.<br />
6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in<br />
the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks of every publish-<br />
ing firm in the country.<br />
7. Bemember always that in belonging to the Society you<br />
are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are<br />
reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advanoing<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 every-<br />
thing important to literature that yon may hear or meet<br />
with.<br />
9. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of<br />
members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br />
safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br />
fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who<br />
will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers:—(1)<br />
To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To<br />
stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon<br />
them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments<br />
due according to agreements.<br />
Communications for The Author should reach the Editor<br />
not later than the 21st of each month.<br />
All persons engaged in literary work of any kind,<br />
whether members of the Society or not, are invited to<br />
communioate to the Editor any points connected with their<br />
work which it would be advisable in the general interest to<br />
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 present location of the Authors' Club is at 3, White-<br />
hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for<br />
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<br />
five years to oome, whatever his conduct, whether he<br />
was honest or dishonest? Of course they would not.<br />
Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to<br />
sign themselves into literary bondage for three or five<br />
years?<br />
"Those who possess the 'Cost of Production'<br />
requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 1<br />
per cent." This clause was inserted three or four years ago.<br />
Estimates have, however, recently been obtained which show<br />
that the figures in the book may be relied on as nearly<br />
correct: as near as is passible.<br />
Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged<br />
in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of oourse, 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 />
often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from<br />
sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket,<br />
by inserting any number of advertisements in his own<br />
magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are<br />
who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those<br />
who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it.<br />
NOTICES.<br />
THE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br />
Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br />
of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br />
heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br />
many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br />
6*. 6d. subscription for the year.<br />
The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and<br />
communications on all subjects connected with literature<br />
from members and others. Nothing can do more good to<br />
the Society than to make The Author complete, attractive,<br />
and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this<br />
work send thoir names and the special subjects on which<br />
they are willing to write?<br />
;»•<:<br />
LITERARY PROPERTY.<br />
1.—Report of the Sub-Committee on the<br />
Proposals of the Booksellers' Associa-<br />
tion, Approved by the Committee.<br />
THE Sub-Committee for the consideration of<br />
the discount and other methods connected<br />
with the bookselling trade have had under<br />
their consideration a scheme which has been pre-<br />
pared by two or three booksellers, considered by<br />
the Booksellers' Association, and by one meeting<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 31 (#43) ##############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
3»<br />
(at least) of local booksellers, by whom it has been<br />
approved.<br />
The objects of the scheme are as follows :—<br />
(1) To give booksellers the same profit off all<br />
books (except educational books at 6*.<br />
and under) that they at present receive<br />
off 6*. novels; while the publishers are<br />
not asked to give better terms than they<br />
do at present.<br />
(2) To enable booksellers to charge more for<br />
credit than for cash.<br />
Scheme.<br />
I. Odd books to be abolished, and all looks to<br />
lie supplied at the average present terms.<br />
II. The invoiced price of each book to be the<br />
lowest cash price to the public. (This rule not<br />
necessarily to apply to books supplied in bulk to<br />
schools and School Boards.)<br />
Thus—<br />
(a) Net books would be invoiced at full pub-<br />
lished prices.<br />
(ft) Novels and similar non-net books at 6s.<br />
and under would be invoiced at 2 5 per<br />
cent. off published prices.<br />
(r) Non-net books above 6s. (on which the<br />
price to the public does not need to be<br />
"cut so fine ") would be invoiced at not<br />
more than 2d. in the i*. off published<br />
prices.<br />
III. A. minimum trade discount of 20 per cent.<br />
to be allowed at settlement to those booksellers<br />
icho agree not to sell books to the public below the<br />
invoiced price, and to them only. (In the case of<br />
educational books published at 6s. and under, the<br />
discount at settlement might be 15 per cent.<br />
instead of 20 per cent.).<br />
The settlement discount for prompt payment<br />
might be arranged by publishers and booksellers<br />
individually.<br />
A Specimen Invoice submitted with the "Scheme.''<br />
Thus. To A. B. (Bookseller).<br />
"Tom Jones," a novel, 6s. 4*. 6d.<br />
Terms.—A trade discount of 20 per cent. will be<br />
allowed off this amount conditionally that the<br />
books are not sold beloio the invoiced price of<br />
4s. 6d. Acceptance of goods to be deemed<br />
agreement. In addition, a settlement discount<br />
of 5 per cent. for prompt payment after the<br />
monthly statement is received.*<br />
The objects of this Scheme must commend<br />
themselves to all who are interested in the welfare<br />
• By the words "the books" is meant "this book " or<br />
"those books" included in the invoice. By "prompt pay-<br />
ment " is meant within a fortnight.<br />
of booksellers—i.e., to the author, the publisher,<br />
the printer, the paper-maker, the bookbinder, and<br />
the Press which receives the advertisements. All<br />
alike must be united in desiring to promote the<br />
welfare of the bookseller, on whom mainly depend<br />
the material interests of literature.<br />
Jn any scheme with the praiseworthy object of<br />
improving the position of the bookseller two<br />
points must be steadily borne in mind:<br />
(1) Freedom of contract; and (2) freedom of<br />
trade.<br />
Thus, it is necessary that the author, the<br />
publisher, and the bookseller must be free to<br />
contract with one another to produce and sell on<br />
whatever terms may be agreed upon.<br />
It is not rijrht, nor can it be tolerated,<br />
that any one of the three contracting parties<br />
shall seek to control the other two and make<br />
them bound in the general administration of their<br />
business.<br />
Thus, the plan recently proposed by the Pub-<br />
lishers' Association was objected to by the Sub-<br />
Committee on grounds which we need not here<br />
repeat at length. The two principal re 1 sons were<br />
the state of dependence to which the bookseller<br />
would be reduced—i.e., he would be forbidden<br />
the least freedom of dealing with his own while<br />
he would be condemned to bear on his own<br />
shoulders, as he does now, a greater share of risk<br />
than is borne by the publisher; and, secondly,<br />
the impossibility of carrying out the proposed<br />
coercion. It was also pointed out that the pro-<br />
posed relief to the bookseller meant at least an<br />
equal, if not a greater, increase of profit to the<br />
publisher, while nothing whatever was said as to<br />
any corresponding advantage that was to be<br />
offered to the author.<br />
I. The plan before us does not involve any<br />
coercion.<br />
(1) The author nead not adopt it. It is an<br />
individual offer controlled by the ordi-<br />
nary rules of trade. This fact is in its<br />
favour.<br />
(2) The publisher is free to offer his wares,<br />
subject to price and conditions.<br />
(3) The bookseller is free to accept or decline.<br />
II. The next point is that it recognises the<br />
3<7. discount in the case of books in general<br />
literature published at 6s. and under. It<br />
should thus conciliate those discount book-<br />
sellers -who have so long and so earnestly pro-<br />
tested against any interference with their freedom<br />
of action.<br />
III. In the case of a book published at a<br />
higher price, it is proposed to let it be sold at a<br />
discount of 2d. in the shilling only. Many book-<br />
sellers contend that people who can afford to buy<br />
a book published at 24*. will not mind much<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 32 (#44) ##############################################<br />
<br />
32 THE AUTHOR.<br />
whether they get a discount of 2d. or yl.; i.e.,<br />
whether they pay 18*. or 20*. for the book.<br />
IV. The proposal to abolish the " odd copy ":<br />
The reasons for this step commend themselves<br />
strongly to us. The present system gives a great<br />
advantage to booksellers who can afford to order<br />
25 copies, which they get as 24; or 13, which they<br />
get as 12; or in some cases 7 copies, which they<br />
get a.« 6^. But it is only in the case of books in<br />
large demand that the bookseller can afford to<br />
order thirteen copies. In the case of highly<br />
priced books he cannot think of taking them<br />
except by ones and twos. Taking figures that<br />
have been supplied to us, the result is that the<br />
profit which he gets on, say, a 12s. book taken in<br />
single copies is no more than what he gets on a<br />
6s. book. Again, we are assured that with the<br />
odd copy the profit on a 5s. book is not equal<br />
to that made on two books at 2s. 6d. And the<br />
profit on a "js. 6rf. book without the odd copy is no<br />
more than that on a 5*. book with the odd copy,<br />
and that on a 15*. book without the odd copy is<br />
less than on two books at ys. 6d.<br />
Now, with a uniform price, and without any<br />
odd copy at all, the profit would advance with<br />
the price and the bookseller would have a<br />
greater inducement to push the higher priced<br />
books.<br />
There is another argument against the odd copy.<br />
It is from the author's point of view. Although<br />
the odd copy is by no means a universal privilege<br />
to the bookseller—because, as we have said, he<br />
cannot afford to order thirteen at a time—some<br />
publishers are endeavouring to introduce in their<br />
royalty agreements the words "thirteen as<br />
twelve "—as if it was a sort of custom of the<br />
trade. This practice deprives the author, without<br />
the least right, of no less than 8 per cent. of<br />
his dues. The author is no party to an arrange-<br />
ment which, as booksellers contend, does more<br />
harm than good; and if the practice is continued<br />
he must refuse agreements when this fine is<br />
inflicted.<br />
With these considerations before us the Com-<br />
mittee are strongly in favour of the abolition of<br />
the "odd copy " altogether.<br />
V. In the opinion of your Committee the<br />
Scheme requires to be strengthened or altered by<br />
the addition of two important clauses.<br />
These are—<br />
(a) A time limit. It is only reasonable that a<br />
bookseller who has bought books under<br />
the conditions set forth above should be<br />
free after a certain time to sell at any<br />
price he pleases. The time limit will<br />
vary with different kinds of books. When<br />
a book appears in the clearance catalogues<br />
of Mudie or Smith, it might be necessary<br />
for a bookseller to reduce his price if h<br />
would sell the book at all. Your Com-<br />
mittee are not prepared to define a time<br />
limit for any classes of books, but they<br />
must call attention to the point as one on<br />
which the success of the method proposed<br />
must eventually depend. <<br />
(6) A method of letting booksellers have books<br />
on " sale or return."<br />
This was recommended by your Sub-Committee<br />
in their previous report. Kecent events have<br />
only made them stronger in the belief that such<br />
a plan must be brought into general operation.<br />
The number of books now published is so<br />
enormous, that no bookseller, however wealthy,<br />
can afford to buy and to offer for sale all the books<br />
which he would like to have in stock. The high-<br />
priced books he supplies as a rule only when they<br />
are ordered. Thus there are hundreds of books<br />
which are produced but not published. That is<br />
to say they are not offered to the public. Unless<br />
a book is offered to the public it cannot be said<br />
to be published. Or, to put it differently, we may<br />
define publication as "production, exhibition, and<br />
attempt to sell." The first is done by the printer;<br />
the second and third by the bookseller. If the<br />
bookseller cannot do his share, the book might<br />
as well not be produced at all.<br />
It is said that books on " sale or return" come<br />
home soiled and spoiled. Perhaps so; but not<br />
many. The proportion would be comparatively<br />
small. And, in any case, these books would have<br />
become remainder stock. If a book is a good<br />
book there would be but little risk. If it is a<br />
poor book the risk is not increased, because the<br />
remainder stock would in any case swallow the<br />
whole that was lost. And the great advantage<br />
remains that the local bookseller would be enabled<br />
to make a good show of all the books worth<br />
showing.<br />
It is for the publishers with the booksellers to<br />
devise the details of this system.<br />
But in a general adoption of the "sale or<br />
return" system the bookseller must have the<br />
freedom of choice. That is to say, he must not<br />
be bound to accept any quantity of rubbish that<br />
may be shovelled on to his shelves.<br />
It is the opinion of this Committee that the<br />
introduction of some general system of " sale or<br />
return" and the abolition of the " odd copy," are<br />
essential to the prosperity of the retail book-<br />
trade, and that if these general reforms are intro-<br />
duced, the terms of sale for each book should<br />
be matter of voluntary contract between publisher<br />
and booksellers, as suggested in the Scheme herein<br />
considered.<br />
By order of the Committee,<br />
G. Herbert Thring, Secretary.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 33 (#45) ##############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
33<br />
II.—1)eaft Form of suggested .Royalty<br />
Agreement between Author and Pub-<br />
lisher, DRAWN UP BY THE COUNCIL OF THE<br />
Publishers' Association and submitted to<br />
and approved by Mr. Joseph Walton,<br />
Q.C., and Mr. Arthur R. Ingpen.<br />
Royalty Agreement.<br />
Memorandum of Agreement made this<br />
day of between<br />
(hereinafter termed the Author) of the one part,<br />
and<br />
(hereinafter termed the Publisher) of the other<br />
part, whereby it is mutually agreed between the<br />
parties hereto for themselves and their respective<br />
executors, administrators, and assigns (or succes-<br />
sors, as the case may be), as follows:—<br />
1. The Publisher shall at- his own risk and<br />
expense, and with due diligence, produce and<br />
publish the work at present intituled<br />
by<br />
and use his best endeavours to sell the name.<br />
2. The Author guarantees to the Publisher that<br />
the said work is in no way whatever a violation<br />
of any existing copyright, and that it contains<br />
nothing of a libellous or scandalous character, and<br />
that he will indemnify the Publisher from all<br />
suits, claims and proceedings, damages, and costs<br />
which may be made, taken, or incurred by or<br />
against him on the ground that the work is an<br />
infringement of copyright, or contains anything<br />
libellous or scandalous.<br />
3. The Publisher shall during thevlegal term<br />
of copyiight have the exclusive right of producing<br />
and publishing the work in the Inglish language<br />
throughout the world. The Publisher shall have<br />
the entire control of the publication and sale<br />
and terms of sale of the book, and the Author<br />
shall not during the continuance of this agree-<br />
ment (without the consent of the Publisher)<br />
publish any abridgment, translation, or dramatised<br />
version of the work. i-<br />
Comments by the Secretary of the Sociirra.<br />
Firstly, then, the parties to the agreement.<br />
"It is agreed for themselves, their respective<br />
administrators, executors, and assigns, or suc-<br />
cessors, as the case may be."<br />
It is the greatest mistake for an author Ui<br />
contract with the executors, administrators, and<br />
assigns, or successors of a publisher. The con-<br />
tract is between principal and agent, and is a<br />
personal contract, and should be maintained as a<br />
personal contract. Supposing an author were<br />
dealing with one of the best publishing houses in<br />
England, and the partners of that publishing<br />
house, lor some reason or other, desired to retire<br />
from the business; to clear up matters they<br />
might put up the contracts for sale by auction or<br />
otherwise. Under these circumstances an author<br />
might find the right to publish his work pur-<br />
chased by some enterprising tradesman, wh*i<br />
would bring it out in a manner and form which<br />
would be utterly repulsive to the author, and he<br />
would have no means of stopping him; and the<br />
6ame thing might occur should a firm go bank-<br />
rupt. It is, therefore, a most dangerous thing W<br />
allow the agent who is dealing with the property<br />
to have a right to assign his agency.<br />
In Clause i the publisher undertakes to pro-<br />
duce the work with due diligence. These words,<br />
as far as they go, are satisfactory, but the clause<br />
is not nearly comprehensive enough. The follow-<br />
ing points are suggested for consideration: that<br />
a date ought to be fixed on or before which the<br />
book should be produced; that the form in which<br />
the edition is to appear should also be stated,<br />
and the price at which it is to be sold to the<br />
public.<br />
Clause 2 may, on the whole, be passed, with<br />
the single exception of the words "incurred<br />
by." It is fair as between the parties that the<br />
publisher should be protected from all suite<br />
against him, but there is no reason why the<br />
author should indemnify him from all expenses<br />
incurred by him, as he might incur unnecessary<br />
expenses without the sanction of the author.<br />
There ought, therefore, to be some words of<br />
limitation by which the author has a voice in any<br />
action taken by the publisher.<br />
Clause 3.—It is difficult to deal with Clause 3<br />
without, in fact, re-drafting the whole of the<br />
agreement, but it should be pointed out that the<br />
rights which the author is expected to transfer by<br />
this agreement include the rights of production in.<br />
Tauchnitz form and in America. Such rights are<br />
generally left in the hands of an agent, and much<br />
better so than in the hands of publishers, for this<br />
reason—that a publisher does not,as a general rule,<br />
undertake the work of the literary agent; that lu*<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 34 (#46) ##############################################<br />
<br />
34<br />
J HE AUTHOR.<br />
office is not to place literary work in other hands,<br />
but to produce literary work for the author; that<br />
work of this kind left in the hands of publishers is<br />
not likely to receive anything like the same atten-<br />
tion as it is if left in the hands of a literary agent;<br />
that the publisher is the only person who gains<br />
by having control of this work, and that the<br />
author loses by leaving it in his hands. It should<br />
be further pointed out that the publisher does not<br />
anywhere in the agreement undertake to secure<br />
the American copyright for the author, nor even<br />
to do his best to obtain it. It may pay an English<br />
publisher better to sell sheets or stereos to<br />
America, and pay the author a royalty, as per<br />
Clause 4 (d), " of per cent. of the net amount<br />
of the profits remaining after deducting all ex-<br />
penses relating thereto."<br />
It should be added, although no prices are<br />
stated in this agreement, that for this agency work,<br />
while the literary agent charges 10 per cent.,<br />
the publisher actually asks from 30 to 50 per cent.;<br />
out of a large series of agreements in my hands<br />
from all sorts and conditions of publishers the<br />
lowest charge for this literary agency business<br />
has been 25 per cent., and this only in one case.<br />
The last part of the clause is extraordinary.<br />
It seems astounding that the author should not be<br />
allowed to deal with the translation and dramati-<br />
sation of his own work without the consent of the<br />
publisher. An author must be mad to part with<br />
his dramatic rights, perhaps more important than<br />
all the rest put together. With regard to the<br />
question of abridgment even, it is not fair that<br />
the author should be bound not to abridge the<br />
work unless the publisher is reciprocally bound<br />
not to obtain an abridgment or to run any other<br />
technical work which is likely to conflict with the<br />
author's. So far, this clause has been considered<br />
from the general point of view, but from the<br />
point of view of the writ-r of technical works,<br />
educational, medical, theological, &c., &c., the<br />
clause is still more disastrous.<br />
Under no circumstances should a writer of<br />
technical books hand over to his publisher so large<br />
a right of publication. It should be limited,<br />
especially as to the number of the edition, giving,<br />
if the author thinks fit, an equitable right to<br />
produce further editions.<br />
A technical writer must keep the command of<br />
his work, must be able, if necessary, to alter,<br />
amend, amplify. He cannot do this with a free<br />
hand if he does not keep undivided control.<br />
The publishers' answer will be: "But this is<br />
provided for by Clauses 5 and 7."<br />
But it is submitted that it is one thing for the<br />
author to have unfettered judgment, and another<br />
thing to be forced to revise at request of his<br />
publisher or sop his work arbitrarily revised by<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 35 (#47) ##############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
35<br />
4. The Publisher agrees to pay the Author<br />
the following royalties, that is to say :—<br />
(a) A royalty of on the published<br />
price of all copies (13 being reckoned as<br />
12 or 25 as 24, as the case may be) of<br />
the British edition sold beyond<br />
copies.<br />
(6) In the event of a cheaper edition being<br />
issued, a royalty of per cent. on the<br />
published price.<br />
(r) In the event of the Publisher disposing<br />
of copies or editions at a reduced rate for<br />
sale in the United States, or elsewhere,<br />
or as remainders, a royalty of<br />
per cent. of the amount realised by such<br />
sale.<br />
(d) In the event of the Publisher realising<br />
profits from the sale, with consent of the<br />
Author, of early sheets, serial or other<br />
rights, or plates for production of the<br />
work in the United States or elsewhere,<br />
or from claims for infringement of copy-<br />
right, a royalty of per cent. of the<br />
net amount of such profits remaining<br />
after deducting all expenses relating<br />
thereto.<br />
No royalties shall be paid on any copies given<br />
away for review or other purposes.<br />
VOL. IX.<br />
another. Whilst considering this question, it<br />
should be mentioned that one of the peculiarities<br />
of publishers' contracts is that in the case of<br />
technical works a clause is nearly always intro-<br />
duced conveying the copyright to the publisher.<br />
An agreement containing such a clause should<br />
never be signed by an author.<br />
Clause 4.—In Section (a) the royalty is to be<br />
paid thirteen copies as twelve or twenty-five as<br />
twenty-four. The alternative appears to be left<br />
wholly to the discretion of the publisher, who<br />
naturally will prefer to pay on thirteen as twelve.<br />
Royalties should never be calculated on this basis.<br />
All the royalty accounts put forward by the<br />
Authors' Society have been (wrongly) reckoned on<br />
the basis that the royalty is paid on every copy<br />
sold, it having been previously taken into account<br />
in the Cost of Production that the publisher had<br />
to sell thirteen for twelve to the booksellers. This<br />
they do not really do, except they sell in quantities,<br />
and a great many booksellers are unable to afford<br />
to buy in quantities; therefore, in taking the<br />
royalty to be paid as in Section (a), the publisher<br />
is not only profiting by the liberal estimates of<br />
the Society with regard to royalties, but is also<br />
endeavouring to take in an extra 8 per cent., and<br />
the extra amount on those copies, of which there<br />
are miny, sold in less numbers than twelve.<br />
This fact should also be made clear, that some<br />
of the older and more reliable firms have never<br />
put forward in their agreements a clause on this<br />
basis, but have always paid on every copy.<br />
The clause is also drafted that the royalty<br />
should be paid on all copies seld beyond a certain<br />
number. This seems to imply that no book can<br />
afford to have a royalty paid on it from the<br />
beginning. Of course this is not the case, but<br />
when such an agreement is placed before an<br />
author as an equitable agreement, these points of<br />
equity should be clearly explained.<br />
If the royalty is to be paid after the sale of a<br />
certain number (generally such a number whose<br />
sale will cover the cost of production), then the<br />
author must take care (1) that a number beyond<br />
the number specified is printed (2) that he gets a<br />
proportionately higher royalty for foregoing it so<br />
long—e.g., he must then get 50 per cent. of the<br />
trade price.<br />
All royalty agreements should further have the<br />
royalty increasing with the sale if they cannot<br />
bear a high royalty from the beginning. A<br />
royalty increasing with the sale is certainly a fair<br />
arrangement as between author and publisher.<br />
Section (b.)—The issue of a cheap edition<br />
appears under this section, as, indeed, under the<br />
drafting of the whole agreement, to lie entirely<br />
with the publisher. This is by no means a<br />
satisfactory arrangement. Here, again, there is<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 36 (#48) ##############################################<br />
<br />
36<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
5. The Author agrees to revise the first, and,<br />
if necessary, to edit and revise every subsequent<br />
edition of the work, and from time to time to<br />
supply any new matter that may be needful to<br />
keep the work up to date.<br />
6. The Author agrees that all costs of correc-<br />
tions and alterations in the proof sheets exceeding<br />
no proposed increasing royalty according to the<br />
number of the cheap edition sold.<br />
Section (c).—It is a common thing for the<br />
author to receive a share of the nett amount<br />
realised by the sale of remainders, but royalties<br />
as a general rule are paid on the published price<br />
of the sale of the book in the United States.<br />
An author should not allow such a loose clause<br />
to be in any agreement with the words "copies or<br />
editions sold at a reduced rate should be subject<br />
to — per cent. of the amount realised on such<br />
sale." Who is to decide what is a reduced rate?<br />
There are many different methods of selling<br />
books to the trade; many of these might be called<br />
books sold at a reduced rate. Under these cir-<br />
cumstances it is unfair to the author to obtain a<br />
share merely of the amount realised. Royalties<br />
must be paid always on the published price,<br />
except in the case of a remainder.<br />
Section (c) therefore should allow a share of<br />
the amount realised on bond fide remainder sales.<br />
The rest should be altered. The case of re-<br />
mainder sales should be distinguished with great<br />
care from the sale of books at reduced prices;<br />
this clause cannot but tend to confuse the two<br />
issues.<br />
Section (d).—If the publisher is successful in<br />
doing the agency work stated in that section, it<br />
is fair that he should have 10 per cent. commis-<br />
sion on the returns, in accordance with the charges<br />
of all ordinary agents. He might also perhaps<br />
be fairly entitled to a 10 per cent. commission if<br />
he was mainly instrumental in recovering money<br />
for infringement of copyright. The balance would<br />
be paid to the author.<br />
The final section of Clause 4 is a little vague.<br />
Of course, no royalty ought to be paid to the<br />
author on copies given away by him or sent for<br />
review, but the words "other purposes" might<br />
cover a good deal more than this, and are insuffi-<br />
ciently precise.<br />
Clause 5.—The wording of the fifth clause is<br />
not very satisfactory. In the case of technical<br />
works, to which a clause like this specially refers,<br />
the publishers should in the first instance be only<br />
given a right to publish a limited number of<br />
copies, and the author might in equity give him<br />
the option of producing further editions, subject<br />
to certain limitations. Under those circumstances<br />
the right to revise would lie within the author's<br />
hands, as it should do with the creator of any<br />
work, who ought alone to have power to add or<br />
subtract from what he has already put before the<br />
world. This has all been explained when com-<br />
menting on Clause 3, but the principle is of such<br />
importance that it is worth while to repeat it.<br />
Clause 6.—The author is not safeguarded hero.<br />
Could it not be provided that periodically (say<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 37 (#49) ##############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
37<br />
25 per cent. of the cost of composition shall be<br />
deducted from the royalties payable to him.<br />
7. In the event of the Author neglecting to<br />
revise an edition after due notice shall have been<br />
given to him, or in the event of the Author being<br />
unable to do so by reason of death or otherwise,<br />
the expense of revising and preparing each such<br />
future edition for press shall be borne by the<br />
Author, and shall be deducted from the royalties<br />
payable to him.<br />
8. During the continuance of this agreement,<br />
the copyright of the work shall be vested in the<br />
who may be registered as the proprietor<br />
thereof accordingly.<br />
9. The Publisher shall make up the account<br />
annually to<br />
and deliver the same to the Author within<br />
months thereafter, an 1 pay the balance due to the<br />
Author on<br />
10. If the Publisher shall at the end of three<br />
years from the date of publication, or at any<br />
time thereafter, give notice to the Author that in<br />
his opinion the demand for the work has ceased,<br />
or if the Publisher shall for sis months after the<br />
work is out of print decline or, after due notice,<br />
neglect to publish a new edition, then and in<br />
either of such cases this agreement shall termi-<br />
nate, and, on the determination of this agreement<br />
in the above or any other manner, the right to<br />
print and publish the work shall revert to the<br />
Author, and the Author, if not then registered,<br />
shall be entitled to be registered as the proprietor<br />
thereof, and to purchase from the Publisher forth-<br />
with the plates or moulds and engravings (if any)<br />
produced specially for the work, at half-cost of<br />
production, and whatever copies the Publisher<br />
may have on hand at cost of production, and if<br />
the Author does not within three months pur-<br />
chase and pay for the said plates or moulds,<br />
engravings, and copies, the Publisher may at any<br />
time thereafter dispose of such plates or moulds,<br />
engravings, and copies, or melt the plates, paying<br />
VOL. IX.<br />
weekly) during the printing the' author be<br />
informed of the cost of corrections? He must in<br />
any case be informed what is the cost of com-<br />
position, and what is the connection between<br />
corrections and shillings.<br />
Clause 7 might, under certain circumstances—<br />
that is if the publisher has purchased the copy-<br />
right—be inserted in an agreement, but in the<br />
present form of royalty agreement it should be<br />
struck out. There is no need for it. Its imprac-<br />
ticability with regard to technical writers during<br />
their lifetime has been explained.<br />
Clause 8.—There is no neud either for the<br />
insertion of Clause 8. The copyright is the<br />
author's, and must remain so. The clause is<br />
inserted evidently with the idea of the copyright<br />
being vested in the name of the publisher. This<br />
would be a mistake.<br />
Clause 9, the account clause, is so beautifully<br />
vague that it is hardly worth while to comment<br />
upon it, except to point out that it is a mistake<br />
to have accounts made up annually delivered<br />
three months after they are made up, with the<br />
amounts due payable three months after that,,<br />
making it possible for the publisher to retain the<br />
author's money for nearly eighteen months. This<br />
is a common account clause amongst publishers*<br />
and no doubt they find it exceedingly useful to<br />
have the control of the author's money for so long<br />
a period. The mere interest on such money would<br />
go a long way to pay the office expenses in a big<br />
office. But the inconvenience to the author, not<br />
to mention the danger of bankruptcy or similar<br />
contingencies to the firm, is very considerable.<br />
Clause 10.—The first part of Clause 10 is<br />
certainly necessary for the protection of the<br />
author, as it would be very awkward supposing<br />
the publisher refused to produce the book when<br />
the author had a certain market for it. If, how-<br />
ever, as in the case of some educational works,,<br />
the publisher desired still to maintain the control<br />
of the market, so as not to allow the author to<br />
republish a book in competition with one which<br />
the publisher had already before the public, it<br />
would be easy to evade the clause by having a<br />
few copies ready on hand. The latter part of the<br />
clause, however, could not possibly be equitable<br />
as between author and publisher. It is quite<br />
possible that the moulds and engravings might<br />
be so worn that they would not be worth half the<br />
cost of production, and the copies of the book that<br />
the publisher had on hand might not be worth<br />
the whole cost of production, as it is quite possible<br />
that they might have been damaged or otherwise<br />
defaced. If, therefore, the author refused to pur-<br />
chase the books at the cost of production on<br />
account of some damage that they had received, it<br />
e 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 38 (#50) ##############################################<br />
<br />
3S<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
to the Author in lieu of royalties per cent.<br />
of the net proceeds of such sale.<br />
11. If any difference shall arise between the<br />
Author and the Publisher touching the meaning<br />
of this agreement, or the rights or liabilities of<br />
the parties thereunder, the same shall be referred<br />
to the arbitration of two persons (one to be named<br />
by each party) or their umpire, in accordance<br />
with the provisions of the Arbitration Act,<br />
1889.<br />
12. The term "Publisher" throughout this<br />
agreement shall be deemed to include the person<br />
or persons or company for the time being carrying<br />
on the business of the said<br />
under as well its present as any future style, and<br />
the benefit of this agreement shall betrausmissible<br />
accordingly.<br />
As witness the hands of the parties.<br />
would be possible for the author in reproducing<br />
the work with some other publisher to be under-<br />
sold. The author should have the option of<br />
taking over the stock aud plates at a valuation.<br />
The danger, however, is not a very large one, as<br />
if the book was in such a cond tion that the<br />
author dt sired to bring out a new edition and the<br />
publisher did not, it would most probably argue<br />
that the book had very nearly reached the end of<br />
its sale, in which case there would most probably<br />
be only a few copies on hand. The danger, how-<br />
ever, is one that should be guarded against.<br />
Clause 11 ought to be struck out, as, until a<br />
dispute arises, it is impossible to say whether it is<br />
a fit subject for arbitration; besides, arbitration<br />
is more expensive than an action at law.<br />
Clause 12 should on no account stand. It is<br />
most important, as explained when discussing the<br />
parties to this agreement, that the contract should<br />
be a personal contract, and this point should<br />
always bo before authors when signing agree-<br />
ments. They should under no circumstances<br />
allow such a cliuse to pass.<br />
This is a fair comment on the royalty agree-<br />
ment as it stands. Many suggestions might be<br />
made as to the insertion of various clauses, and<br />
the protection of the author on other points.<br />
But, as stated in the opening sentences, these are<br />
faults of omission, and the agreement has only<br />
been dealt with as regards the drafted clauses.<br />
It might be well to mention that some definite<br />
time should be fixed on, before which a publisher<br />
should not be allowed to make remainder sales.<br />
Draft Form of suggested Sharing Profits<br />
Agreement between Author and Pub-<br />
lisher, DRAWN UP BY THE COUNCIL OF THE<br />
Publishers' Association, and submitted<br />
to and approved by Mr. Joseph Walton,<br />
Q.C., and Mr. Arthur R. Ingpen.<br />
Sharing Profits Agreement.<br />
Memorandum of Agreement made the<br />
day of between<br />
(hereinafter termed the Author) of the one part<br />
and<br />
(hereinafter termed the Publisher) of the other<br />
part, whereby it is mutually agreed between the<br />
parties hereto for themselves and their respective<br />
executors, administrators, and assigns (or suc-<br />
cessors, as the case may be), as follows:—<br />
The second agreement is one which has to do<br />
with the division of profits. This system is<br />
always a bad one between author and publisher,<br />
as likely to lead to disputes on accounts, and as<br />
giving scope for a great many minor difficulties.<br />
An author should not, except under very extra-<br />
ordinary circumstances, enter into any agreement<br />
with a publisher for the sharing of profits. Under<br />
no condition ought he to enter into an agreement<br />
such as this, although the Publishers' Associa-<br />
tion has put it forward as equitable between<br />
the parties.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 39 (#51) ##############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
39<br />
1. The Publisher shall, at his own risk and<br />
expense, and with due diligence, produce and<br />
publish the work at present intituled<br />
by<br />
and use his best endeavours to sell the same.<br />
2. The Author guarantees to the Publisher that<br />
the said work is in no way whatever a violation<br />
of any existing copyright, and that it contains<br />
nothing of a iibellous or scandalous character,<br />
and that he will indemnify the Publisher from all<br />
suits, claims, proceedings, damages, and costs<br />
which may be made, taken, or incurred by or<br />
against him on the ground that the work is an<br />
infringement of copyright, or contains anything<br />
libellous or scandalous.<br />
3. The Publisher sLall, during the legal term<br />
of copyright, have the exclusive right of pro-<br />
ducing and publishing the work in the English<br />
language throughout the world. The Publisher<br />
shall have the entire control of the publication and<br />
sale and terms of sale of the book, and the Author<br />
shall not during the continuance of this Agree-<br />
ment (without the consent of the Publisher) pub-<br />
lish any abridgment, translation, or dramatised<br />
version of the work.<br />
4. The net profits arising from the sale of the<br />
work and remaining after deduction of the<br />
expenses of production and publication, shall be<br />
divided into parts, of which part<br />
shall be paid to the Author and the remaining<br />
part shall belong to and be retained by<br />
the Publisher.<br />
5. The expenses of production shall betaken to<br />
mean the actual cost of printing, paper, binding,<br />
illustrating, and advertising, and all incidental<br />
expenditure, and, where the Publisher produces<br />
the work wholly or in part on his own premises,<br />
such cost shall be calculated at current fair and<br />
reasonable trade charges.<br />
With regard to the parties to the agreement,<br />
and with regard to Clauses 1,2, and 3, the same<br />
remarks that have been made on the royalty agree-<br />
ment will hold good. The fact that the^ same<br />
clauses are inserted in the 'share profit agreement<br />
does not in any way alter the position.<br />
Clause 4.—With regard to Clause 4, which is<br />
the first clause which refers especially to this<br />
agreement, little can be said. How the profits<br />
should be divided is a matter of arrangement<br />
between the parties, and it is only possible there-<br />
fore to draft a general clause.<br />
Clause 5.—With regard to Clause 5, the author<br />
should make it essential that he should know<br />
approximately the cost of production of the book<br />
beforehand, so that it would be impossible for the<br />
publisher to charge what he has not paid. This<br />
is provided against where the publisher produces<br />
the work wholly or in part on his own premises;<br />
but supposing it is not produced wholly or in<br />
part on his own premises, the same danger of an<br />
excessive cost of production would have to be met.<br />
It is a curious point that amongst those pub-<br />
lishers who do produce printed work on their own<br />
premises the cost of production is generally<br />
higher than that of printers in the open market.<br />
When the author has obtained the cost of produc-<br />
tion, and knows, as he ought to know definitely<br />
in the agreement, at what price the book is to<br />
sell, he can, on a rough calculation, reason out<br />
what the profits are likely to accrue. He must<br />
also reckon in an amount to be spent on adver-<br />
tisements.<br />
It is important that he should have some<br />
control over the advertising, that he should have<br />
a veto on the amount spent and on<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 40 (#52) ##############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
6. The expenses of publication—viz., rent, rates,<br />
and taxes of offices, clerks, travellers, warehouse-<br />
men, porters, insurance, and bad debts—shall be<br />
fixed at per cent. on the gross receipts from<br />
the sale of the work.<br />
7. In ascertaining the net profits of the work,<br />
all discounts and allowances received and allowed<br />
by the Publisher for cash payments or otherwise<br />
shall be brought into account and be credited or<br />
debited to the work.<br />
8. The Publisher shall account at the customary<br />
trade terms for all copies sold, but, in cases<br />
where copies have been sold for export, or at<br />
rates below the customary trade terms, as remain-<br />
ders or otherwise, such copies shall lie accounted<br />
for at the price realised.<br />
which the advertisements are allowed to appear,<br />
so that he can, if necessary, prevent the publisher<br />
charging for advertisements in his own produc-<br />
tions ox for exchanges with other papers, which<br />
cost him nothing. One publisher in a profit-<br />
sharing agreement inserts a clause allowing half<br />
the cost for advertisements inserted in his own<br />
papers, but this ought not to be allowed, as the<br />
cost of mere print and paper is a mere trifle, and<br />
the publisher is therefore tempted to advertise<br />
largely in his own papers, when such expense will<br />
probably swallow up all the profits of the book<br />
which should go into the author's pocket.<br />
Clause 6 should be removed. It is right that<br />
all the expenses that can be shown to apply to a<br />
particular book should be charged against that<br />
book, but no other expenses, and it is absurd to<br />
take other expenses at per cent. of the gross<br />
receipts from the sale of the work, especially when<br />
the work has a large sale or is a high-priced book.<br />
Why, again, should the publisher alone among<br />
tradesmen charge for his office expenses? Why<br />
does he not allow the booksellers a percentage for<br />
their office expenses? Why does not the author<br />
receive a percentage for his?<br />
Clause 7 will of course stand.<br />
Clause 8 is a very disastrous clause. Even in<br />
the hands of an honourable publisher it could not<br />
be satisfactory. Books should, as a matter of<br />
fact, be accounted for at the prices sold and not<br />
at some arbitrary price as "the customary trade<br />
terms." Customary trade terms unfortunately vary<br />
immensely, and as the definition of " customary"<br />
is a thing without variation, it is impossible<br />
to apply the adjective to "trade terms." If<br />
books are sold in numbers they are sold<br />
thirteen as twelve. If they are not sold in<br />
numbers, they are sold at the full discount price<br />
less 10 per cent., or even sometimes 12^ per<br />
cent. When books are sold thirteen as twelve<br />
they are sometimes sold less 5 per cent., and at<br />
other times less 10 per cent. off the discount price.<br />
Again, they are not always sold on the discount<br />
price. I have examples before me of a 3*. 6d.<br />
book. Some of the sales were made at 2s. 4<f.,<br />
thirteen as twelve, less 10 per cent.; others were<br />
sold at 2s. 6d., thirteen as twelve, less 12^ per<br />
cent. I have another example of a book at 16*.,<br />
which sold at 10s., thirteen as twelve, less 5 per<br />
cent.; and again 10s., thirteen as twelve, less<br />
10 per cent.<br />
The words "customary trade terms" are not<br />
the only difficulty in the clause. Who is to<br />
decide what are to be called "rates below the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 41 (#53) ##############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
9. The Author agrees to revise the first, and, if<br />
necessary, to edit and revise every subsequent<br />
edition of the work, and from time to time to<br />
supply any new matter that may be needful to<br />
keep the work up to date.<br />
10. The Author agrees to bear all costs of<br />
corrections and alterations in proof sheets exceed-<br />
ing 25 per cent. of the cost of composition, and<br />
such excess shall be deducted from his share of<br />
the net profits.<br />
11. In the event of the Author neglecting to<br />
revise an edition after due notice shall have been<br />
given to him, or in the event of the Author being<br />
unable to do so by reason of death or otherwise,<br />
the expense of revising and preparing each such<br />
future edition for press shall be borne by the<br />
Author, and shall be deducted from his share of<br />
the net profits of the work.<br />
12. Ihiring the continuance of this Agreement,<br />
the copyright of the work shall be vested in the<br />
who may be registered as the proprietor<br />
thereof accordingly.<br />
13. The Publisher shall make up the account<br />
of profit and loss annually to and deliver<br />
the same to the Author within months<br />
thereafter, and the balance appearing in such<br />
account to be due to the Author shall be settled<br />
on.<br />
14. If the Publisher shall, at the end of three<br />
years from the date of publication, or at any time<br />
thereafter, give notice to the Author that in his<br />
opinion the demand for the work has ceased, or<br />
if the Publisher shall for six months after the<br />
work is out of print decline or, after due notice,<br />
neglect to publish a new edition, then and in<br />
either of such cases this Agreement shall termi-<br />
nate, and, on the determination of this Agree-<br />
ment in the above or any other manner, the right<br />
to print and publish the work shall revert to the<br />
Author, who shall, if not then registered, be<br />
entitled to be registered as the proprietor thereof,<br />
and to purchase from the Publisher forthwith the<br />
plates or moulds, and engravings (if any) pro-<br />
duced specially for the work, at half-cost of pro-<br />
duction, and whatever copies the Publisher may<br />
have on hand at cost, and if the Author does not<br />
customary trade terms," seeing that trade terms<br />
vary so enormously? The clause is exceedingly<br />
unsatisfactory, and the only cure is for the pub-<br />
lisher to account for every copy of the book at<br />
the price at which his books must show that it<br />
was actually sold, and that he should not be<br />
allowed to sell it below a fixed price without an<br />
arrangement with the author. With regard,<br />
also, to this clause, the option of the sale at a<br />
reduced price is left entirely in the hands of the<br />
publisher. This should be with the consent of<br />
the author.<br />
Clauses 9 to 16 have all been dealt with in the<br />
article on the royalty agreement. Their situation<br />
in the half-profit agreement does not make it<br />
necessary to add anything to the remarks already<br />
made. The difficulty of allowing them to stand<br />
in the agreement has been fully set forth.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 42 (#54) ##############################################<br />
<br />
42<br />
THE AUTHOR<br />
within three months purchase and pay for the<br />
aid plates or moulds, engravings and copies, the<br />
Publisher may at any time thereafter dispose of<br />
such plates or moulds, engravings, and copies,<br />
or melt the plates, and the net proceeds of<br />
such sale shall be brought into the Publisher's<br />
account as part of the proceeds of sale of the<br />
work.<br />
15. If any difference shall arise between the<br />
Author and the Publisher touching the meaning<br />
of this Agreement, or the rights or liabilities of<br />
the parties thereunder, the same shall be referred<br />
to the arbitration of two persons (one to be<br />
named by each party) or their umpire, in accord-<br />
ance with the provisions of the Arbitration Act<br />
1889.<br />
16. The term "Publisher" throughout this<br />
Agreement shall be deemed to include the person<br />
or persons or Company for the time being carry-<br />
ing on the business of the said under as<br />
well its present as any future style, and the<br />
benefit of this Agreement shall be transmissible<br />
accordingly.<br />
As witness the hands of the parties.<br />
Suggested Terms for Producing and Pub-<br />
lishing Books on Commission where the<br />
Production and Publication are placed<br />
in the Publisher's hands, drawn up and<br />
approved by the Council of the Pub-<br />
lishers' Association.<br />
Terms for Producing and Publishing Books on<br />
Commission where the Production and Publi-<br />
cation are placed in the Publisher's Hands.<br />
1. A fee of shall be paid to the pub-<br />
lisher previous to opening an account for its<br />
production and publication.<br />
1. The Publisher will supply the Author with<br />
estimates for the printing, and will charge a com-<br />
mission of per cent. on the trade prices<br />
for printing, paper, binding, advertising, and<br />
other disbursements, and reserve to himself the<br />
right to take the usual credit or the equivalent<br />
cash discount for cash payments, but no such<br />
discount shall exceed 75 per cent.<br />
The next agreement that comes under discus-<br />
sion is a commission agreement. It does not<br />
appear from the statement which is endorsed<br />
upon it to have been settled by counsel on behalf<br />
of the Association, although it appears to have<br />
been approved by the Council of the Association.<br />
The agreement is headed "Terms for produc-<br />
ing and publishing books on commission where<br />
the production and publication are placed in the<br />
publisher's hands."<br />
It would be impossible to approve the terms of<br />
this agreement on behalf of an author.<br />
In Clause 1 a fee is to be paid to the publisher<br />
previous to opening an account. A great deal, of<br />
course, would depend upon the amount of the fee<br />
asked for. If the fee was a reasonable one the<br />
clause might be passed. A fee of this kind, how-<br />
ever, has generally in publishers' agreements been<br />
subsequently deducted from the commission due<br />
to the publisher, but in this agreement no such<br />
course is put forward.<br />
In Clause 2 the publisher is going to hand in<br />
estimates to the author, and on these estimates<br />
he is to charge a percentage. This course makes<br />
the publisher's and author's interests in direct<br />
variance, for the higher the estimates the greater<br />
the publisher's percentage. From this point of<br />
view the clause is a bad one, quite apart from<br />
the right of the publisher to have a percentage<br />
on the cost of production at all in addition to all<br />
the other profits that he is going to make out of<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 43 (#55) ##############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
43<br />
3. The Author or Proprietor shall, before the<br />
work is sent to press, pay the publisher a suffi-<br />
cient sum to meet the estimated charges for<br />
production and publication, including such a sum<br />
for advertising as the Author or Proprietor may<br />
deem desirable.<br />
The Publisher will charge a commission of<br />
per cent on the sales.<br />
5. The Publisher shall account at the customary<br />
trade terms for all copies sold, but in cases where<br />
copies have been sold for export or at rates below<br />
the customary trade terms, as remainders or<br />
otherwise, such copies shall be accounted for at<br />
such lower prices.<br />
6. The entire management of the production,<br />
publication, and sale of the work shall be in the<br />
hands of the Publisher.<br />
the book. Again, he is to be allowed to take<br />
7! per cent-, discount for cash payments. This<br />
discount he will be able to obtain at once, as<br />
under Clause 3 the author is to pay the publisher<br />
a sum to cover the estimated cost of production<br />
before the work is sent to press. More than this,<br />
he is to pay for the advertisements at, the same<br />
time, when it is hardly possible that the cash will<br />
be needod for advertising until three or four<br />
months later at the ear lie it. To the end of<br />
Clause 2, therefore, the publisher makes in the<br />
way of profits a fee to begin with, a percentage<br />
on the cost of production, binding, and advertis-<br />
ing, it being to the publisher's interest to make<br />
these charges as high as possible, and a discount<br />
of i\ per cent. on the same items. This is a<br />
good beginning when the publisher is to have no<br />
risk whatever as regards the book, all expenses<br />
being covered by the author.<br />
In Clause 3 the author has to pay the sum as<br />
stated above before the work is sent to press.<br />
This clause could not be reasonable as between<br />
author and publisher. That the publisher should<br />
have some part of the payment down is quite<br />
fair if he was bound to produce the work by a<br />
certaiu date, but under the terms as put forward<br />
he might put off publication for a very long time,<br />
and, in the meautime, would have the use of the<br />
author's money. That the author should have<br />
to pay the whole sum is absurd. An equitable<br />
arrangement suggested would be one-third when<br />
the agreement is made, such agreement stating<br />
definitely the date on or before which the book<br />
should be published, the second third on the<br />
final delivery of the proofs, and the final amount<br />
on the publication of the book.<br />
By Clause 4 t he publisher charges a commission<br />
on the sales of the book. This is the general<br />
form by which a publisher obtains his profits on<br />
a commission book, and is the fairest form, the<br />
interests of the publisher and author being com-<br />
mensurate.<br />
The objections to Clause 5, with regard to<br />
customary trade terms, have been put forward in<br />
commenting on Clause 8 of the half-profit agree-<br />
ment. There is no need to repeat them.<br />
Clause 6 should not, on any account, stand in<br />
an agreement of this kind. The book is the<br />
author's. He pays for it entirely. He is, how-<br />
ever, not to have any voice with regard to the<br />
papers in which the book is to be advertised,<br />
with regard to the price of the book, and other<br />
important matters. All these are to be entirely<br />
in the hands of the publisher, who possibly might<br />
sell the book at such a published price that the<br />
author could not possibly be remunerated on his<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 44 (#56) ##############################################<br />
<br />
44<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
7. Accounts will be made up annually to<br />
and rendered within months<br />
after the date of making up, and the balance due<br />
paid on<br />
8. The Publisher does not undertake to send<br />
out copies of the work on sale or return.<br />
9. The Publisher will not be responsible for<br />
loss or damage by fire or in transit.<br />
10. The Publisher will deliver the five copies<br />
required by Act of Parliament for the British<br />
Museum and Public Libraries.<br />
11. The Author shall guarantee to the Pub-<br />
lisher that the said work is in no way whatever<br />
a violation of any existing copyright, and that it<br />
â– contains nothing of a libellous or scandalous<br />
character, and that he will indemnify the Pub-<br />
lisher from all suits, claims, procedings, damages,<br />
and costs which may be made, taken, or in-<br />
curred by or against him on the ground that the<br />
work is an infringement of copyright, or contains<br />
anything libellous or scandalous.<br />
12. When the Publisher considers that the<br />
demand for the work has ceased, the unsold stock<br />
may be returned to the Author or Proprietor, or<br />
disposed of at the Publisher's discretion, after<br />
,due notice of such intention has been given to the<br />
Author or his representatives.<br />
outlay. Further, if the published price was<br />
reasonable, the publisher might sell it at such a<br />
reduced rate that the author could not be remu-<br />
nerated, and the author would have no voice<br />
whatever in stopping such a proceeding.<br />
The objections to Clause 7 have been put<br />
forward with regard to Clause 9 of the royalty<br />
agreement.<br />
It is a pity that Clause 8 should be inserted,<br />
as the booksellers confess that with expensive<br />
books the chance of 6ale is considerably increased<br />
by an arrangement for books being forwarded<br />
"on sale or return," for the reason that they are<br />
unable to stock expensive books.<br />
Clauses 9 and 10 may stand, with the excep-<br />
tion of wilful neglect in the case of fire, &c.<br />
Clause 11 has been already commented on as<br />
Clause 2 in the royalty agreement.<br />
Clause 12 should not be drawn in the alterna-<br />
tive. Here the stock in hand belongs to the<br />
author, and is put in the hands of the publisher<br />
as his agent. The publisher, however, may either<br />
return the unsold stock to the author or dispose<br />
of it at his discretion, which is by no means fair<br />
to the author. If the author refused to receive<br />
the unsold stock when the demand for the work<br />
had ceased, then the publisher might have the<br />
right of disposing of it at his discretion, but the<br />
publisher should not have the right in the alter-<br />
native as the clause is at present drawn.<br />
Suggested Terms for Publishing Books on<br />
Commission where the Publication only<br />
is placed in the hands of the Publisher,<br />
deawn up and approved by the council<br />
of the Publishers' Association.<br />
Terms for Publishing Books on Commission<br />
where the Publication only is placed in the<br />
hands of the Publisher.<br />
1. A fee of shall be paid to the Pub-<br />
lisher previous to opening an account for the<br />
publication of the work.<br />
The last agreement that the publishers put<br />
forward is the commission agreement, where the<br />
publication only is placed in the hands of the<br />
publisher. Like the last one, it does not appear<br />
to have been settled by counsel, but is only put<br />
forward as approved by the Council of the Pub-<br />
lishers' Association.<br />
There is very little further to be said on the<br />
agreement beyond what has already been said on<br />
the prior agreements, especially the last one.<br />
Clauses 1, 2, and 3 have already been dealt<br />
with.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 45 (#57) ##############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
45<br />
2. The Publisher will charge a commission of<br />
per cent. on the sales.<br />
3. The Publisher shall account at the customary<br />
trade terms for all copies sold, but in cases where<br />
copies have been sold for export, or at rates below<br />
the customary trade terms, as remainders or<br />
otherwise, such copies shall be accounted for at<br />
such lower prices.<br />
4. No other name but that of shall<br />
appear on the title-page as publisher of the work,<br />
which is to be sold only through his agency. A<br />
proof of the title-page shall be submitted to and<br />
approved by the Publisher before printing off.<br />
5. The Publisher will, if desired, act as adver-<br />
tising agent for the Author, charging a commis-<br />
sion of per cent. on the actual amount<br />
expended.<br />
6. The entire management of the publication<br />
and sale of the work shall be in the hands of the<br />
Publisher.<br />
7. Accounts will be made up annually to<br />
and rendered within months after the<br />
date of making up, and the balance due paid on<br />
8. The Publisher does not undertake to send<br />
out books on sale or return.<br />
9. The Publisher will not be responsible for loss<br />
or damage by fire or in transit.<br />
10. The Publisher will deliver the five copies<br />
required by Act of Parliament for the British<br />
Museum and Public Libraries.<br />
11. The Author shall guarantee to the Pub-<br />
lisher that the said work is in no way whatever a<br />
violation of any existing copyright, and that it<br />
contains nothing of a libellous or scandalous<br />
character, and that he will indemnify the Pub-<br />
lisher from all suits, claims, proceedings, damages,<br />
and costs, which may be made, taken, or incurred<br />
by or against him on the ground that the work is<br />
an infringement of copyright, or contains any-<br />
thing libellous or scandalous.<br />
12. When the Publisher considers that the<br />
demand for the work has ceased, the unsold stock<br />
may be returned to the author or disposed of at<br />
the Publisher's discretion, after due notice of<br />
such intention has been given to the Author or<br />
his representatives.<br />
Clause 4 is a reasonable clause as far as both<br />
publisher and author are concerned.<br />
Clause 5 is a difficult clause to deal with. It<br />
is certainly necessary that, if an author is publish-<br />
ing on commission, his books should be advertised<br />
in the list of the publisher who is acting for him.<br />
It is certain also that the publishers, owing to the<br />
large advertisements that they can send round to<br />
the papers, get a discount from the papers for<br />
advertisements. All discounts thus obtained by<br />
the publisher acting as an agent would be credited<br />
to the author, and the publisher's percentage<br />
reckoned against the lower amount.<br />
Clause 6 has been commented on, and the<br />
reasons have been put forward very strongly, why<br />
the whole management of the publication and<br />
sale of the work should not be in the hands of<br />
the publisher.<br />
The account Clause 7 has also been dealt with.<br />
It is only necessary to repeat that it is a bad one.<br />
It has been already demonstrated that Clause 8<br />
is unsatisfactory.<br />
Clauses 9 and 10 are reasonable clauses, and<br />
might well be left, with the exception stated in<br />
the former agreement.<br />
Clause 11 has been commented on in the former<br />
agreement.<br />
Clause 12 has also been commented on in t<br />
last agreement.<br />
It appears that the publishers have not put forward any agreement between an author and<br />
themselves with regard to the purchase outright of the copyright, thinking, I suppose, that when<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 46 (#58) ##############################################<br />
<br />
46<br />
THE AUTHOR<br />
the book is purchased outright they are sufficiently protected and the author also. This is a view<br />
that I find it impossible to hold. The publisher, for instance, should be protected against an<br />
abridgment. The author should be protected against the non-publication of his work, publication<br />
in an altered form, and publication without his name attached.<br />
The forms of agreement, therefore, as existing between author and publisher are in reality<br />
four:—<br />
1. —Royalty Agreement.<br />
2. —Profit Sharing Agreement.<br />
3. —Agreement for Purchase Outright.<br />
4. —Commission Agreement.<br />
(a) Where the publisher produces the book.<br />
(6) Where the book is placed in the publisher's hands already printed.<br />
It is to be hoped that before circularising thase agreements amongst the various publishing<br />
offices, the publishers will seriously consider them again from a fair and moderate point of view.<br />
From some points of view the agreements are much worse than those issuing from some of the better<br />
and more reliable publishing houses; but it must be stated that, from many points of view, they are<br />
better than the agreements which, we regret to say, publishers are now placing before authors<br />
which embody every advantage which it is possible for a publisher to acquire without taking into<br />
consideration at all the author's rights of dealing with his own property.<br />
G. Herbeet Thring, Secretary.<br />
The comments on the publishers' agreements drawn by the Secretary of the Society have been<br />
carefully considered by the Committee and indorsed by them, and are published in The Author by<br />
order of the Committee. G. H. T.<br />
FURTHER COMMENTS.<br />
SOME time ago, when it was mentioned at a<br />
meeting of the Committee that a Publishers'<br />
Association was in formation, the Chairman<br />
remarked that no more desirable thing could<br />
happen. He meant, I supposed, that the better<br />
kind among publishers would take the lead: that<br />
the practices of the other kinds would be strongly<br />
condemned and discountenanced: and that an<br />
honest endeavour would be made to put the rela-<br />
tions between themselves and the authors on a<br />
footing of principle and reason. It was also hoped<br />
by some that the practices—which some call fraud<br />
— of charging moneys which have not been paid<br />
away, and advertisements which have cost nothing:<br />
and of overstating—which in every case is a de-<br />
liberate LIE—the costs of printing, paper, bind-<br />
ing, &c., would be denounced with the plainness<br />
of speech which the subject and the good name<br />
of the trade demand. Some went so far as to<br />
suppose that, in cases where the publishers did<br />
not agree with the authors, some reason would<br />
be forthcoming; and all supposed, further, that<br />
the original demands of authors, put forward at<br />
the outset, and again and again repeated in these<br />
pages, would be at once recognised by any body<br />
of men who wish to be ranked as men of honour.<br />
They are these:<br />
(1.) We ask for common honesty in dealings.<br />
(2.) We ask for agreements that shall plainly<br />
set forth what the publisher proposes to take for<br />
his own trouble—say, his own trouble and risk, in<br />
the few cases where he incurs risk.<br />
(3.) We ask for books open to inspection.<br />
The last claim is one to which everyone having<br />
a share in any enterprise is entitled by common<br />
law. Perhaps, therefore, it should be withdrawn.<br />
Or, if it stands, it is only to remind both sides<br />
that it is a right.<br />
The Publishers' Association has not yet fulfilled<br />
these expectations. It has now, however, issued<br />
a set of " draft agreements," some of which have<br />
been approved by Counsel. They have been sent to<br />
Mr. Turing, whose comments upon them precede<br />
these remarks. The documents, in fact, with<br />
these comments, are of the highest importance to<br />
everybody concerned with the material well-being<br />
of literature: they concern the independence of<br />
literature: they concern its dignity and self-<br />
respect. If authors can be brought to consent to<br />
the degrading terms on which publishers in their<br />
collective wisdom, not as individual grabbers,<br />
propose in future to manage their affairs, they<br />
will rapidly sink back to the position as pub-<br />
lishers' hacks which, with a few exceptions, they<br />
formerly occupied. For it will be seen that the<br />
publishers propose to put the clock back and now<br />
lay claim to the whole of literary property—its<br />
entire management and nearly all the emolu-<br />
ments.<br />
A profession to be respected must be indepen-<br />
dent. Literature ought to be, and must be,<br />
independent. In order to attract the best.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 47 (#59) ##############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
47<br />
intellects there mu^t be material prospscts and<br />
prizes: there must be se'f-respect: there must be<br />
independence. Otherwise literature will become<br />
once more, as it was fifty years ago, a profession<br />
of contempt, honoured only in the persons of half<br />
a dozen leaders. And, as it was forty years ago,<br />
those who followed the profession of letters<br />
because the call was too strong to be neglected,<br />
will do so with increased bitterness and resent-<br />
ment in their hearts against the intolerable<br />
tyranny of the people who live by seizing on the<br />
brain work of ihe world and selling it, to their<br />
own sole profit and advantage.<br />
It has been shown over and over again in these<br />
pages, that in the matter of general literature,<br />
and setting aside great works, such as encyclo-<br />
paedias and dictionaries and so forth, the risk<br />
run by the publisher is in most cases either very<br />
small, viz., the difference between the first sub-<br />
scription and the cost of production: or it is<br />
nothing at al'. Thnt is to say, it cannot be too<br />
often repeated, that there are hundreds of writers<br />
in the various branches of literature whose works<br />
carry no risk whatever. In every branch, whether<br />
of science, art, belles lettres, history, educational<br />
books, poetry, fiction, theology, there are authors<br />
—they write nearly all the important books pro-<br />
duced—the proceeds of whose works are quite<br />
certain to exceed the cost of production. Of<br />
those writers whose works do carry risk, by far<br />
the greater number are made to pay for the pro-<br />
duction, and to pay, in most cases, largely in<br />
excess of their cost. In arguing, therefore, about<br />
the share due to the publisher we may consider<br />
the question of risk separately.<br />
What, then, do publishers actually do for the<br />
majority of books? They put them through<br />
a mechanical process. I have done it myself for<br />
something like forty books. My process involved<br />
spending a few minutes with a printer and a few<br />
minutes with a binder: arranging that they<br />
should be paid a certain time after the book was<br />
produced, in <rder to avoid paying any money<br />
except from the proceeds of the book. In most<br />
,cases there was no money paid except from the<br />
proceeds. Yet some of these were books carrying<br />
risk, as most publishers would plead. And they<br />
cost nothing, because the proceeds covered the<br />
risks.<br />
Observe that I do not say that a publisher<br />
never runs risks. I say that as a matter of fact<br />
his risks are few and of very small amount—<br />
of even trivial amount—as a rule: and that he<br />
need not run risks unless he likes.<br />
But a great house—it will be objected—gives<br />
the author the benefit of his name. Is that a<br />
benefit? How is it, then, that so many successes<br />
are made with the name of new and quite small<br />
firms? The name of a firm on a title-page is<br />
worth exactly nothing to the general public: it<br />
carries no weight with the mass of readers: or, if<br />
any, then there are fifty houses which carry equal<br />
weight.<br />
The public cares nothing who publishes a book:<br />
of all tradesmen the publisher is the least<br />
regarded by the world. There is no single name on<br />
a title page, I repeat, which will commend a book<br />
to the general public more than any other name.<br />
With these considerations let us turn to the<br />
"Draft Agreements," and apply the test of a few<br />
figures.<br />
I. The Royalty Agreement.<br />
The agreement demands that the royalty should<br />
be paid on thirteen as twelve or on twenty-five as<br />
twenty-four, " as the case may be." What case F<br />
The publisher's interest, of course. Now, the<br />
book is not sold at either thirteen as twelve or<br />
twenty-five as twenty-four, except where the<br />
bookseller orders a dozen—a very rare occurrence.<br />
However, this claim means 8 per cent. in the<br />
publishers' pockets.<br />
When a deferred royalty has allowed the cost of<br />
production to be paid for, the author must have<br />
50 per cent. of the price to the trade, that is to<br />
say, at least the half. That is evidently not<br />
intended by the agreement, or it would have<br />
been so stated.<br />
In case of sales to America, the publisher<br />
proposes to give the author a royalty. In other<br />
words, he claims what he calls publishers' rights<br />
for agents' work. Very well. Now let us see what<br />
the publisher may get on this agreement, and<br />
what he may give to the author.<br />
We assume a book which costs 150 to produce<br />
an edition of 3000 copies, including advertise-<br />
ments. It sells to the trade at an average of<br />
3*. 6d. a copy. Under existing arrangements,<br />
what may the author make out of his work? The<br />
royalties are estimated at what is called a<br />
moderate figure, which gives more than half<br />
profits to the publisher.<br />
He may get a good price for his English serial<br />
right—say, .£400: a lower price for his American<br />
serial right—say .£200. Royalties on 3000 copies<br />
at 20 per cent., .£180: American royalties at 15<br />
per cent. on 2000, say £90: continental rights,<br />
say .£50: translation rights, say £2 5 (these<br />
rights are generally nominal): dramatic rights if<br />
the book is successfully dramatised, some thou-<br />
sands—an unknown quantity. Without reckon-<br />
ing the last, which no publisher to my knowledge<br />
has ever before ventured to claim, the author,<br />
who you will observe is not put forward as one<br />
of the most successful, stands to make .£925 for<br />
his book, or .£525 in addition to the English<br />
serial rights.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 48 (#60) ##############################################<br />
<br />
48<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
The publisher, under these conditions, makes<br />
his profit of .£225 on the volume form—quite<br />
enough for the work he has done for it.<br />
What does the publisher propose to make<br />
under the new proposals? He has not, it must<br />
be owned, dared as yet to claim the English serial<br />
right. This omission has, I doubt not, made<br />
many honourable persons very sad. It is, indeed,<br />
truly wonderful that they did forget it. However,<br />
he gives the author a royalty, say, of a shilling a<br />
copy, which leaves himself .£225: he takes the<br />
American serial right and gives the author 10 per<br />
cent. royalty on it, leaving himself .£180: he<br />
takes the American royalties and gives the author<br />
a royalty on them, say of 10 per cent., leaving<br />
himself .£81 : in the same way he keeps .£45 out<br />
of the continental rights and .£22 out of the<br />
translation rights. In all the publisher apparently<br />
proposes to take .£553 for himself, and to give<br />
the author .£i86 instead of the .£525 which he<br />
now takes.<br />
Is it possible that any body of men can be<br />
brought to believe that any other body of men<br />
and women will consent to such wholesale<br />
plunder of their property?<br />
But this is not enough. They further demand<br />
the right of keeping all the money in their own<br />
hands for eighteen months before they pay the<br />
author! Will any other business man in any<br />
other line of business, give us his opinion on this<br />
and the other clauses of this brazen claim upon<br />
the property of others in return for a service of<br />
machinery?<br />
II. Let us nest take a Profit-sharing Agree-<br />
ment.<br />
The author ignorantly supposes that it means<br />
a share of profits. It does nothing of the kind.<br />
It means a share of the poor remnant when the<br />
publisher has laid his hand on everything to<br />
which he can make out a claim with or without<br />
the least regard to reason or principle.<br />
What is it he claims, however?<br />
1. A percentage on the gross receipts for office<br />
expenses. Where are the author's office<br />
expenses? Where are the booksellers'?<br />
Now, the gross receipts may mean a large sum.<br />
Mr. Hall Caine's " Christian" is believed<br />
to have circulated 160,000 copies. The<br />
receipts were probably £2 8,000. Ten<br />
per cent. on this means .£2800. This<br />
seems a very large sum for the office<br />
expenses connected with one book only,<br />
and for a very limited period—say four<br />
months. One envies the immense salaries<br />
of the packers, all, probably, university<br />
men and members of West-end clubs.<br />
And one pictures the huge warehouses<br />
which were built at enormous cost to<br />
contain books of a circulation so enormous.<br />
But the circulation of this book is excep-<br />
tional. Very true. We must, however,<br />
always try a proposition by an extreme<br />
case. Thus, by this way of reckonining,<br />
if a book has no sale at all, it has cost<br />
nothing for office expenses: if it has<br />
a very small sale, say, of a 100 copies,<br />
bringing in .£20, the office expenses<br />
have been only £2. Now, it is a fact<br />
that a great many publishers do not keep<br />
their wares in their own houses, but at<br />
the binders', and I have never heard that<br />
they have offered to hand over the sums<br />
they claim for office expenses to the<br />
binders who really defray them.<br />
As in every other trade, his "office expenses"<br />
are part of the publisher's machinery.<br />
He places it at the service of the author:<br />
it is all, in most cases, that he does for<br />
the book: if he is to be paid for office<br />
expenses, so is the author: so, more than<br />
than either, is the bookseller.<br />
Now, if a be the cost of product;on and<br />
b the proceeds the publisher gets for him-<br />
self, he first gets 1 0 per cent. on b, that is<br />
—. Next he has the power of saying that<br />
the books were sold at " customary trade<br />
prices," that is at anything he pleases—<br />
he may quite safely pocket another 10<br />
per cent on this item. For instance, if<br />
he gets 3*. l0d. as the general price for<br />
the trade, and 3*. 5*?. for special terms, he<br />
may call the "customary trade price,"<br />
3*. <-,d, and no one can prevent him. This<br />
would give him over 13 percent. He can<br />
overcharge the cost of production by<br />
what he pleases—say 10 per cent. if he is<br />
moderate—and he can make this 10 per<br />
cent. even 30 per cent. by charging adver-<br />
tisements which he has not paid for.<br />
Finally he can keep the money due to<br />
the author for eighteen months. How<br />
do we stand now? The publisher has<br />
taken<br />
^- + A + —a = 2b + ?,a} from tljg returns of<br />
10 10 10 10<br />
the book.<br />
There remains b—a— 2^_*_ to be divided.<br />
10<br />
The author, therefore, would get ——<br />
20<br />
for his share of the property.<br />
If the book cost £100 and realised .£200, the<br />
author would net .£15 ; the publisher would get<br />
.£85.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 49 (#61) ##############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
49<br />
There is a half-profit system! And we have<br />
not counted the eighteen months' interest!<br />
III. A commission book. Here the victim<br />
thinks he has only to pay a commission on the<br />
sales. He will learn when the bills come in what<br />
the agreement means.<br />
The publisher takes (i) a fee—say, ,£i0: (2)<br />
a commission on the cost of production—why ?—<br />
say 15 per cent.—no amount is proposed. (3) dis-<br />
count up to 7§ per cent.—why? (4) the payment<br />
of the cost in full, and at once, though it will be<br />
three or four months before the book is ready,<br />
and six months before he has to pay the printer,<br />
so that he gets the use of the money for six<br />
months; (5) a commission on sales—say 15 per<br />
cent.; (6) permission to set down the sales at<br />
anything he pleases, since "customary trade<br />
prices " means nothing. This gives him perhaps<br />
another 10 per cent., perhaps more. Lastly, he<br />
keeps the author's money for eighteen months.<br />
You see this is not exactly taking a commission<br />
and so to be done with it.<br />
If we work it out taking a for the cost of pro-<br />
duction, b for the proceeds, and c for the fee:<br />
We find that the publisher takes, reckoning<br />
the interest at 5 per cent.:<br />
c + —5- a H 2- a + - — a + —i b + —<br />
100 200 2 100 100 100<br />
i.e.<br />
c + -1 a+ -5- a+ — 0+ JL b+ —<br />
20 40 40 20 10<br />
or , a + b<br />
c 4<br />
4<br />
The author will have for his share:<br />
b—a—c—a-±* = 3&—5« _c<br />
4 4<br />
Without reckoning the interest for the eighteen<br />
months, during which he is kept out of his<br />
money. At 5 per cent. this reduces his share and<br />
leaves him<br />
37 36—5« _c<br />
40 4<br />
while it increases the publisher's, whose gains<br />
now stand at<br />
496 + 250+1600<br />
160<br />
a wonderful fraction—one which raises the Pub-<br />
lisher's Association to the level of a Scientific<br />
Body.<br />
If we omit consideration of this interest, we<br />
shall find that, if a book cost £100 and realised<br />
£200, the fee being ,£i0, the author, on a com-<br />
mission of 15 per cent., which he fondly thought<br />
would give the publisher .£30, actually gives him<br />
.£85 and himself £15. This is a delightful<br />
outcome of commission publishing!<br />
There remains one more method, that of giving<br />
the publisher the books printed and bound. My<br />
advice in such a method, which ought to be a very<br />
good one, is not on any account to give it to any<br />
publisher who proposes to deal with it in the terms<br />
of this agreement. It is to be remarked that there<br />
is only one opening here for anything above the<br />
commission and that it is eagerly pounced upon.<br />
The publisher hopes to become an advertising<br />
agent, and to earn an honest penny in addition.<br />
It is very kind of him, but all that is required of<br />
him is to publish, which includes advertising, and<br />
since he will not even consider that this small<br />
service is paid for by his commission, the author<br />
had better take his work elsewhere.<br />
These figures show what is demanded, together<br />
with what the author at present receives. And<br />
I ask again whether any body of men can think<br />
it possible that any other body of men will<br />
consent to this wholesale seizure of their property,<br />
or will surrender the advantages they have<br />
already obtained? Will publishers refuse to<br />
grant any other terms? For my own part I<br />
should desire nothing better, because we could<br />
then proceed at once to create the new machinery<br />
which these agreements would force upon us.<br />
W. B.<br />
NOTES AND NEWS.<br />
WE are reminded from time to time of the<br />
opinions still held of an author in official<br />
circles as well as others. He is regarded<br />
as a person who has no property and no interest in<br />
any property. He is considered to be a ragged<br />
wretch who sits in a garret and produces property<br />
for his employer. It is not his property, and if<br />
there is any inquiry into it, he is not to be con-<br />
sulted. A striking example is before us. A<br />
committee of the House of Lords is sitting on<br />
the Law of Copyright. The sole creators of<br />
literary property are the authors. They are not<br />
necessarily the slaves of publishers: some of<br />
them retain their rights over their own property.<br />
They are not an ignorant and illiterate set of men;<br />
some of them are scholars, lawyers, students,<br />
historians. They are not all starvelings: some of<br />
them live in quite decent houses: some of them<br />
are members of the best clubs. What happens,<br />
however? The committee meet. The first<br />
person they call is a publisher: the second<br />
person they call is a publisher: the third person<br />
they call is a publisher. Up to the time of writing<br />
these remarks no author has been called at all.<br />
Perhaps none will ever be called. Could any-<br />
thing show more clearly the contempt for the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 50 (#62) ##############################################<br />
<br />
5°<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
calling of letters that is still prevalent in certain<br />
quarters? _:_<br />
The present number of The Author is of<br />
very great importance. It contains the report<br />
of the committee appointed to examine into<br />
the scheme of the Booksellers' Association<br />
and the draft agreements which the com-<br />
mittee of the Publishers' Association advance<br />
as representing their views of the situation as<br />
regards the author. With regard to the first<br />
scheme, it is put forward as a compromise. The<br />
booksellers are not called upon to enter into<br />
slavery; the discount system is practically allowed<br />
to remain where it was: the accursed "odd<br />
book" pretence is to be abolished: and there is to<br />
be a time limit, beyond which the price of a book<br />
will remain in the power of the bookseller:<br />
books are to be sent out on sale or return: and<br />
there is to be an extended system of "net" price<br />
to books over 6s. in price. These reforms are so<br />
simple, and so much to the advantage of all con-<br />
cerned, that they will probably be adopted without<br />
delay.<br />
If something is not done, and that quickly,<br />
the bookselling trade in this country will be<br />
practically killed. What will take its place?<br />
The railway stall'r But the railway stall can-<br />
not take the place of the bookseller's shop.<br />
It cannot contain any but the newest books:<br />
of serious and costly literature it can hardly<br />
show any. Without the shop, bookselling,<br />
properly so called, cannot live. Already the<br />
country booksellers are falling right and left.<br />
The condition of things concerns us all—readers<br />
as well as writers—we are all interested in keep-<br />
ing up the bookseller. Now, by the scheme pro-<br />
posed he will have the power of exhibiting all the<br />
best books: they will be sent to him on "sale or<br />
return." The author will be certain also of having<br />
his books exhibited. How will it affect the pub-<br />
lisher? At present he subscribes a book.<br />
Perhaps he subscribes 500 out of an edition of<br />
1500. The rest do not, perhaps, get taken up at all.<br />
The book is subscribed by one or two at a time:<br />
a copy is sold, and the book is then forgotten.<br />
The copies which are left over are remainder<br />
stock: they are sold at a few pence each. By the<br />
new system the publisher would send out, say, 800<br />
on " sale or return." A book which is exhibited<br />
would have a far better chance than a book which<br />
is not. When it was sold another copy would be<br />
sent; finally, perhaps, a1! would be gone except<br />
300 or so, which would be returned—whether<br />
soiled or not would matter nothing, as they would<br />
be only remainder stock. There will be no odd<br />
copy, tut the publisher would still sell his took at<br />
the average price: his accounts would be greatly<br />
simplified: and he would be spared the tempta-<br />
tion of lying to the author, and pretending, as<br />
many do now, that all their books are sold at.<br />
"thirteen as twelve." Anything which removes the<br />
temptation of lying, and at the same time<br />
involves no loss of money, should be, and no<br />
doubt will be, gratefully welcomed.<br />
A notable article on "Literary Life in<br />
London" appeal's in the last number of the<br />
North American Review. The author is Mr.<br />
W. H. Rideing. To begin with, he knows<br />
something of his subject. Probably very few<br />
English writers could have written a better or<br />
a truer paper about it. There is very little<br />
esprit de corps, he says. He should have said,<br />
"as yet." Esprit de corps grows from the<br />
outside, not from the inside. When the profes-<br />
sion of let ers can show that its followers are<br />
entirely emancipated from the yoke of the pub-<br />
lishers, and can administer their own estates so<br />
that the world can understand that their's is not<br />
a dependent's work, nor a beggarly work: when<br />
the world sees that the national honours are as<br />
freely bestowed upon the men of letters as upon<br />
many other professions: then the modified con-<br />
tempt which still prevails will be changed into<br />
unmodified respect, and the men of letters them-<br />
selves will respect each other and their calling.<br />
It is pleasing to acknowledge that Mr. Rideing<br />
recognises that the improved position of the<br />
English author is due, not only to international<br />
copyright, but also to the "enlightenment which<br />
the Incorporated Society of Authors has afforded<br />
him as to the proper method of dealing with<br />
publishers." He is not right, however, in sup-<br />
posing that the improved position is confined to<br />
the novelist. Historians—essayists—all—stand<br />
in a better position than they did. The improve-<br />
ment is not only due to the two causes already<br />
mentioned, but also to the great increase in<br />
readers, tho increase in libraries, and the<br />
increased income of the classes which never used<br />
to buy. And this in the face of a decaying book-<br />
trade and a decreasing number of booksellers.<br />
He falls foul of the Literary Agent, whose<br />
business he thinks is simply to relieve the author<br />
of the conduct of his own affairs. This, however,<br />
involves a great deal. The agent prevents the<br />
author from being "bested" by superior know-<br />
ledge used for the purpose of deceiving him: and<br />
next, in the case of those writers who supply<br />
serials, the agent learns where there arc openings,<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 51 (#63) ##############################################<br />
<br />
1HE AUTHOR.<br />
5«<br />
and the price which ought to be given for the work.<br />
But according to Mr. Kideing, his chief business is<br />
to create discord batween author and publisher,<br />
"and frequently he succeeds in doing it." "Create<br />
discord"! Why—when was there concord? When<br />
has there been anything but suspicion and jealousy<br />
and blind resentment ?" More than one strong<br />
house," he goes on, "rather than submit to his<br />
extortions and his impudence, has ceased to con-<br />
sider the work of the authors who are only acces-<br />
sible through him." I wonder what houses these<br />
are. I can quite understand a house to which,<br />
for very good reasons, a trustworthy and con-<br />
scientious agent will not take his author, pre-<br />
tending that the refusal comes from their side;<br />
but I have never yet discovered any publishing<br />
house which will refuse an author on terms which<br />
mean money. And, further, I have never learned<br />
that any agent has ever offered an author except<br />
on terms which do mean money.<br />
There is one more charge against the Agent:—<br />
The more manuscript he sells and the higher the price<br />
he obtains the larger are his own commissions. The young<br />
author in his hands who has made a success at the start is<br />
not allowed to choose his own time for further work and to<br />
prepare for it, but is urged and tempted to add book to<br />
book until he beoomes a diffuse and tedious hack, undesired<br />
by anybody, undesired even by the literary agent himself.<br />
An instance occurs to me. The young anthor was " boomed"<br />
so persistently that in order to fulfill his orders he had to<br />
lise at four in the morning, and then, sitting down with a<br />
typewriter before him and a phonograph at his elbow, he<br />
would carry along two stories at onoe. His first book was<br />
an instant success when it appeared a few years ago, but<br />
his last manusoiipt, delivered as "per invoice" in the<br />
words of the agent, his been rejected by thirteen different<br />
periodicals, and is at ill in the market. "As per invoice"<br />
expresses the agent's view of literature precisely.<br />
Now, really one is grateful to Mr. Eideing for<br />
an article which is in the main accurate in its<br />
details. But this instance—surely, surely, it was<br />
narrated in a publisher's back office—I know two<br />
back offices, at least, where such pretty stories<br />
are daily confected. In them the literary agent<br />
is regarded with a holy horror born of baffled<br />
intentions. Who is this author? What is his<br />
name? I know all the novelists, I believe, who<br />
can be described as having made a great success<br />
"a few years ago." Not one of them can be the<br />
hero of the phonograph and the typewriter.<br />
One thing more. "As per invoice" is a com-<br />
mercial expression. But the agent cannot be too<br />
commercial; he is like the publisher—he can-<br />
not lie too commercial.<br />
And, again, about this driving of the novelist.<br />
He need not be driven unless he pleases. It is<br />
his own fault if he his driven. A man who<br />
consents to ruin his powers and to destroy his<br />
reputation for the sake of a little immediate gain<br />
deserves no pity. He need not be driven.<br />
The weak point about the article is that it says<br />
nothing about the larger Literary Life outside<br />
that of the novelist. With a few exceptions the<br />
general standard of prosperity has immensely<br />
improved all along the line. The demand for,<br />
and the prizes for, the dramatist have increased a<br />
hundredfold—literally, a hundredfold. The<br />
historian: the essayist: the popular poet: the<br />
writer on science or on education: all have<br />
advanced in demand enormously during the last<br />
twenty years. The profession of the journalist<br />
has been almost cieated within the last fifty<br />
years: it is now a profession with many solid<br />
and valuable prizes—especially the prize of being<br />
editor to a great daily paper. Two kinds of<br />
books have either suffered loss in demand, or<br />
have not advanced in proportion to the increase<br />
of readers. One is the book of devotions —<br />
fifty years ago there were several books of<br />
Family Prayers which were comfortable pro-<br />
perties—the happy publisher who held one always<br />
used it himself morning and evening in order to<br />
lend reality to his sense of gratefulness. The<br />
other kind which has not advanced is the book of<br />
Critical Essays. On all other forms of literature<br />
a man may live—and live well. But he can no<br />
longer live by writing Family Prayers, and he has<br />
never been able to live by writing Critical Essays.<br />
Most of the readers of The Author are<br />
interested i a the history and preservation of the<br />
English language. If they are not, who should<br />
be? They will therefore make a note that the<br />
English Dialect Dictionary, Parts I.—VI. will be<br />
ready in December next. This most important<br />
is one which ought to be in every library. I<br />
would suggest that my readers should send to<br />
Professor J. Wright, Langdale House, Park Town,<br />
Oxford, for the papers and form of subscription,<br />
and that, if they cannot subscribe themselves,<br />
they will do their best to get the work placed in<br />
the nearest public library.<br />
The Authors' Club has added to its accommo-<br />
dation by two or three more rooms. It wanted<br />
wider space. It also wants more members, and I<br />
venture to recommend the claims of the Club upon<br />
our Society. It is a cheerful and sociable club:<br />
the members are mostly known to each other, and<br />
if not, are accessible and affable: the weekly<br />
dinners are an institution: the future of the Club<br />
is believed in: and it is an excellent thing that<br />
there should be one club, at least, in London<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 52 (#64) ##############################################<br />
<br />
5a<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
which should really belong to men of letters and<br />
no others. It is also, on the whole, a club of<br />
young men of letters. It is useful for such a<br />
man to belong to it: he will meet others of his<br />
own calling who can tell him all kinds of things<br />
which he would not find out for himself. It leads<br />
young men of letters to stand by each other and<br />
to rely on each other. Add to all this that the<br />
Club is carefully administered, and that everything<br />
is cheap as well as good. It has now been in<br />
existence for three or four years, and on the next<br />
year or two depends its future: whether it is to<br />
become a great fact in literature, or whether the<br />
attempt to combine our young men of the calling<br />
into a club of their own is to be set down as a<br />
failure. Since the Society goes on increasing the<br />
Club ought not to fail. Mr. Thring will be glad<br />
to give anybody further information.<br />
Walter Besant.<br />
BOOK TALE.<br />
SIR RICHARD TEMPLE is writing a chatty<br />
book on India, for publication in the<br />
autumn by Messrs. Chatto and Windus.<br />
It will contain illustrations from his own draw-<br />
ings, and will be ca led "A Bird's-Eye View of<br />
Picturesque India." Sir Richard began service in<br />
India in 1S48, and continued till 1880, his last<br />
appointment being Governor of Bombay.<br />
Miss Rose Kingsley, the daughter of Charles<br />
Kingsley, is preparing a handbook on French art,<br />
for publication through Messrs. Longmans.<br />
Mr. Richard Kerr has written a short popular<br />
account of Wireless Telegraphy for immediate<br />
issue by Messrs. Seeley.<br />
Professor Samuel Rawson Gardiner is writing a<br />
new monograph on Cromwell, which will be<br />
published, in view of the tercentenary of the<br />
birth of the Protector, in the spring of next year.<br />
It will be published by Messrs. Goupil and Co.<br />
in the same artistic series which already in-<br />
cludes "Mary Stuart," "Queen Elizabeth," and<br />
"Charles I." For this series also Mr. Andrew<br />
Lang is to write " The Young Pretender."<br />
Lord Ronald Gower is writing on Sir Thomas<br />
Lawrence for a new series of books dealing with<br />
famous British artists and their work, which will<br />
be published by Messrs. Goupil.<br />
Mr. G. W. Perris has written a short bio-<br />
graphical and critical account of Count Tolstoy<br />
and his work. It will be published by Mr.<br />
Unwin under the title, "Leo Tolstov, the Grand<br />
Mujik."<br />
Mr. Grant Allen is about to add " Venice" to<br />
his list of guide-books. It will be published, like<br />
the others, by Mr. Grant Richards, whose business,<br />
by the way, has been formed into a limited com-<br />
pany.<br />
Miss Dorothy Leighton is dramatising one of<br />
Mr. Allen's earlier novels.<br />
The Rev. C. Dudley Lampen's story of adven-<br />
ture, " The Queen of the Extinct Volcano," will be<br />
published in October by the S.P.C.K. The story<br />
deals with an extraordinary incident in the<br />
colonisation of the Marquesas Islands by the<br />
French, and relates the marvellous adventures of<br />
a medical man and an Oxford undergraduate<br />
amongst the cannibals who inhabit an extinct<br />
crater.<br />
Miss Eleanor Holmes is correcting the proofs<br />
of a new novel entitled "Life's Fitful Fever," to<br />
be issued almost immediately by Messrs. Hurst<br />
and Blackett.<br />
Mr. John Warden Page is now correcting the<br />
proofs of a book entitled "In Russia without<br />
Russian." It is an account of a journey made<br />
by him in Russia alone, and with no knowledge<br />
of the language. He travelled from St. Peters-<br />
burg to Moscow, to Nijoi Novgovod in order to<br />
see the Great Fair, and about 400 versts up the<br />
Volga. The book is illustrated by sketches taken<br />
by the author, and is published by Bowering, of<br />
Plymouth, and by Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.<br />
The price will be 3*. 6d.<br />
Mr. W. H. Dutton is writing a history of the<br />
collection of old-time boots and shoes which was<br />
exhibited some time ago by the Cordwainers'<br />
Company, of which he was warden. Among the<br />
foot-wear were sandals worn by Kean when he<br />
played in "Brutus" in 1818, and Wellington<br />
boots worn by Kemhle some years earlier, both<br />
of which trophies belong to Sir Henry Irving.<br />
The volume will contain thirty plates, and will<br />
be issued by Messrs. Chapman and Hall.<br />
Mr. Reeves, the Agent-General for New<br />
Zealand, who wrote on that colony for the " Story<br />
of the Empire" series, is engaged upon a larger<br />
work of the same character. While it will be in<br />
the form of historical narrative, Mr. Reeves will<br />
bring together the experiences of a long period of<br />
active life in New Zealand. The book will be<br />
published in the autumn by Messrs. Horace<br />
Marshall and Son, under the title, " The Fortu-<br />
nate Isles: The Story of a Colony."<br />
Professor Foxwell has written an introduction<br />
for the translation of Dr. Anton Menger's work,<br />
"The Right to the Produce of Labour," which<br />
Messrs. Macmillan are about to publish in two<br />
volumes.<br />
Professor Lewis Campbell's Gifford Lectures,<br />
on " Religion in Greek Literature," delivered at<br />
St. Andrews a few years ago, are to be pub-<br />
lished shortly in a volume by Messrs. Macmillan.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 53 (#65) ##############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
53<br />
Mr. Pitt-Lewis, Q.C, is preparing for publica-<br />
tion a collection of curiosities connected with the<br />
law and legal literature. His book will be called<br />
"The Law's Museum," and Mr. John Long will<br />
publish it.<br />
Mr. Charles Williams, the well-known war<br />
correspondent, has edited a book of Soldiers'<br />
Songs for the March, the Camp, and the Barracks,<br />
which will be published immediately by Messrs.<br />
Routledge.<br />
Mr. W. G. Stillman has written the Italy<br />
yolume for the Cambridge Historical Series. He<br />
begins with Waterloo year.<br />
Dr. Brandes is writing a volume on modern<br />
Scandinavian literature for Mr. Heinemann's<br />
"Literatures of the World" Series.<br />
Canon Stanbridge, of York, has compiled a<br />
Book of Devotions for Messrs. Methuen's Library<br />
series.<br />
Mr. James Mortimer, who founded the London<br />
Figaro thirty years ago, has returned to the<br />
editorial chair of that journal, after an absence of<br />
fifteen years.<br />
Two volumes of a new and handsome edition—<br />
called the Winchester—of Jane Austen's works<br />
have been issued by Mr. Grant Richards during<br />
the past month. The printing is by Constable,<br />
of Edinburgh, and the same type is used as the<br />
"Edinburgh" Stevenson is printed with. The<br />
edition will consist of ten volumes.<br />
Novels by Mrs. W. K. Clifford and Mr. Edward<br />
H. Cooper will be issued soon by Messrs. Duck-<br />
worth.<br />
Mr. Fred. Whishaw has written'" A Russian<br />
Vagabond" for Messrs. Pearson's series of<br />
"Latter-day Stories."<br />
Mr. Walter Wood has finished a romance of<br />
love and war, called "Through Battle to Pro-<br />
motion," which will be published by Mr. James<br />
Bowden.<br />
"The Ambassador," the play by "John Oliver<br />
Hobbes," which was produced at the St. James's<br />
Theatre a month ago, is being published in a<br />
volume.<br />
A novel by Mrs. Croker, entitled "Pegey of<br />
the Bartons," will be published shortly from the<br />
house of Methuen.<br />
Two stories by Mrs. C. N. Williamson, entitled<br />
"Lady Mary of the Dark House" and "The<br />
House by the Lock," will be published by Mr.<br />
James Bowden.<br />
"John Strange Winter's" new long novel,<br />
which will be published immediately by Messrs.<br />
White, is called " The Price of a Wife."<br />
Mr. James M. Graham's romance " The Son of<br />
the Czar," formerly interdicted by the Russian<br />
censor, has now been permitted to circulate in<br />
that empire.<br />
Mrs. Sarah Graud will publish in the autumn,<br />
through Messrs. Horace Marshall and Son, a<br />
volume entitled "The Modern Man and Maid."<br />
Two of the essays which it will contain, namely,<br />
"On the Choice of a Wife " and "On the Choice<br />
of a Husband," appear in the July numbers of<br />
the Young Man and the Young Woman respec-<br />
tively.<br />
Miss Ella d'Arcy is issuing through Mr. Lane<br />
a new volume of short stories, entitled " Modern<br />
Instances."<br />
Mr. Hardy is engaged upon a new novel, but<br />
long before it comes out the public will get a<br />
volume of his short stories which have appeared<br />
in various periodicals.<br />
Dr. Richard Garnett, C.B., is about to retire,<br />
on a pension, from his post of Keeper of Printed<br />
Books at the British Museum. Dr. Garnett<br />
entered the British Museum Library as an<br />
assistant in 1851, was appointed Superintendent<br />
of the Reading-room in 1875, and in 1890<br />
succeeded to the position he is now relinquish-<br />
ing.<br />
A Civil List pension of .£200 per annum has<br />
been granted to Mr. William Ernest Henley. Dr.<br />
Beattie Crozier's pension under the same fund<br />
has been increased from .£50 to .£100 to assist<br />
him in his "History of Intellectual Development."<br />
Unfortunately, Dr. Crozier's sight is so seriously<br />
impaired that he has been compelled for the pre-<br />
sent to give up all reading and writing. Mr.<br />
Henley, too, fyas lately undergone an operation,<br />
which has been very successful.<br />
The sale of the Stansfield Library was con-<br />
cluded on June 15 at Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson,<br />
and Hodge's auction rooms, and the total realised<br />
during the three days was .£2313. Among the<br />
lots were an important collection of MSS. of a<br />
genealogical, antiquarian, and historical character<br />
relating to the City of York, compiled by Mr.<br />
E. J. Walker, of Halifax, and known as the<br />
"Walker Collection," which brought .£105, and<br />
Thoresby's and Whitaker's Ducatus Leodiensis,<br />
or the Topography of the Ancient Towne and<br />
Parishe of Leeds, large paper, extra illustrated,<br />
and original water colour drawings, coats of<br />
arms emblazoned, 1816, which sold for .£170.<br />
"The Addenda to the Methods of Publishing"<br />
by G. Herbert Thring (secretary to the Society of<br />
Authors) is now completed and can be obtained<br />
at the Society's offices (price 2s.). This book, the<br />
tenth publication of the Authors' Society, con-<br />
tains a quantity of additional facts concerning<br />
publishing and publishers' agreements collected<br />
since the production of the " Methods" in 1891,<br />
with comments and advice. It does not in any<br />
way pretend to supplant " The Methods of Pub-<br />
lishing," but is merely supplementary to them.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 54 (#66) ##############################################<br />
<br />
54<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Under the title of "Forgotten Truths," the<br />
Liberty Review Publishing Company is ipsuing,<br />
in a cheap form, a selection from the speeches and<br />
writings of Edmund Burke, with a biographical<br />
sketch by Mr. T. Dundas Pillans.<br />
Derek Vane, author of "The Three Daughters<br />
of Night," recently published by Messrs. Hutchin-<br />
son, is now writing a series of short dramatic<br />
stories for Table Talk, entitled " The Adventures<br />
of an Adventuress."<br />
Novels at sixpence. Rolf Boldrewood's Austra-<br />
lian romance, "Robbery under Arms," is the first<br />
volume of a series at this price to appear from<br />
Messrs. Macmillan, and will be followed, at<br />
monthly intervals, by Mr. A. E. W. Mason's<br />
"Morrice Buckler," Mr. Marion Crawford's<br />
"Mr. Isaacs," Mrs. Oliphant's "Kirsteen," Miss<br />
Charlotte Yonge's " Dove in the Eagle's Nest,"<br />
and Mr. Marion Crawford's "A Roman Singer."<br />
The St. James's Gazette have re-published in<br />
the form of a shilling volume a collection of short<br />
f,tories by Mr. Archie Armstrong, under the title<br />
"Tales of the Temple and Elsewhere."<br />
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.<br />
"Quern deua vult pordere domentat piins."<br />
ITHINK the saying must have been current<br />
in non-Greek reading circles earlier than<br />
your correspondents have traced it, for it is<br />
again and again repeated in Italian as a current<br />
saying by Gior. Villani in the early fourteenth<br />
century. I regret that I have not at the moment<br />
leisure to find one of the many passages in the<br />
"Cronica," but any of your correspondents who<br />
take sufficient interest in the question to devote<br />
a little time to the investigation will soon find<br />
one of them. P. H. W.<br />
CORRESPONDENCE.<br />
A<br />
GREAT quantity of correspondence is<br />
unavoidably held over till next month<br />
owing to the pressure on our space.<br />
THE BOOES OP THE MONTH.<br />
[May 24 to June 23.—324 Bookp.]<br />
Abbott, L. The Soul's Quest. 1/6. Bowden.<br />
Agnus, Orme. Countess Petrovskl. 1/- Ward and L.<br />
Alibutt, T. C. (ed.). A System of Medicine. By many writer*.<br />
Vol. 5. 25/- net. Macmillan.<br />
Andrews, William (ed). Bygone Hertfordshire 7/6. Andrews.<br />
Anonymous ("One Who ties Kept a Diary "j. Collections and<br />
Recollections. 16/- Smith and E.<br />
Anonymous. Memorials of a Young Soldkr, Lieutenant Glffard,<br />
Northamptonshire Regiment. 5/- Clowes.<br />
Anonymous. Some Philosophy of the Hermetics. 3/6. Paul.<br />
Argyll, Luke of. Whit is Science? 6rf. S.P.C.K.<br />
Arundtl, W. B. Ackworth Birds. 4,6. Gurnev and Jackson.<br />
Ashby, M. E. The Silver City and other Allegorl-s. J - Headlcy.<br />
Ashurst, F. Memoirs of a Young Surgeon. 1/6. Digby.<br />
Atlee, H. F. The Seatone of a Life. A novel. 6/- White.<br />
Badeau, A. Conspiracy: A Cuban Romance. 3/6. Warne.<br />
Bailey. L. H. The Pruning Book, 5/- net. Macmillan,<br />
Ball, C. R. The Faith in Out'lne. 1/6. S.P.C.K.<br />
Bangs, J. K. Ghosts I Have Met, and Some Others 2/. Harper.<br />
Barnes, A. S. Eton in the Olden Days. 1/- Robert Browning.<br />
Baiton, F. T. The Horse-Owner's companion. 2 - Houlston.<br />
Barton, F. T. Our Friend the Horse. Dean.<br />
Baugban. B. E. Verses. 5/- Constable.<br />
Baylies, Sir W. Rex Begum: a Painter's Study of Likeness of<br />
Ihrist. 6/-net. Bell.<br />
Beoke. L., and Jeffery, W. The Mutineer. 6/- Unwin.<br />
Bell, Mrs. H. Miss Tod and the Prophets. 2/6. Bentley.<br />
Bell, Herbert. Uncut Stones. Poems. 2/6. Red way.<br />
Bell, R. F. (ed.). Memorials of John Murray of Broughton, some-<br />
time secretary to Prince Charles Edward, 1740-47 Scottish<br />
History Society.<br />
Beyle. M. (De Stendhal) (tr. by E. P. Roblns). Red and Black.<br />
7/6 net. Smitheis.<br />
Biddle. A. J. D. Word for Word and Letter for Letter. 3/6. Gay.<br />
Birrell, Olive. Tbe Ambltion of Judi-h. 6/- Smith and E.<br />
Bloomfleld, R. Tbe Farmer's Boy (ed. by j. Darlington). 1/6<br />
Simpkio.<br />
Bramley-Moore, W. Marturla; or. the Testimony of Ancient Records<br />
and Monuments in the British Museum to the Historical Accuracy<br />
of the Scriptures. G. J. W. Pitman.<br />
Breton, Frederic. True Heart C/- Richards.<br />
Bright, N. Gladly, moat Gladly, Xc. 3/6. Burns and O.<br />
Brough, W. Open Mints and Free Banking. 5/- Putnam.<br />
Brown, Anna R. What Is Worth While? 1/6. Bowden.<br />
Brown, F. R. Ave Victoria! Poem. 2/6. Colchester: Wright.<br />
Brown, A. 8., and Ramsay, M. M. The Island of Cuba. 6/- net. Gay.<br />
Bruce. J. R. B., and Broomfleld, R. i'. Handbook on tbe Law of<br />
Shipping and Marine Insurance. 10/6. Sweet and M.<br />
Bruce, Robert. Food Supply. 4/6. Griffin.<br />
Brunetiure, F. (tr. by D. N. Smith). Essays in French Literature.<br />
7/8. Unwin.<br />
Buchan, J. The Pilgrim Fathers. Ncwdfgtte Prize Poem. 1/- net.<br />
Sim plan.<br />
Buchan, J. John Burnet of Barns. A Romance. 6/- Lane.<br />
Bucknmster, M. A. Elementary Architecture. 4/6 Frowde.<br />
Buckton, Catherine M. Comfort and Cleanliness. 2 - Longmans.<br />
Burchell. S. B, In the Dajs of King James. 6/- Gay.<br />
Burridge. J. 11. God's Prophetic Plan. 3/6. Marshall Brothers.<br />
Butler, N. M. The Meaning of Education and other Essays. 4 <i.<br />
Macmillan.<br />
Cambridge. Ada. Materf&mllias. 3/6. Ward and L.<br />
Campbell, D. Hymns and Hymn Makers 1,6 net. BIa,k.<br />
Campbell, John. Yggdrassil, and Other Poems, .v-net. Macqueen.<br />
Capes, Bernard. Adventures of the Comte de la Muette during the<br />
Rewn of Terror. 6'- Plackwood.<br />
Carruthers. Annie. Only a Circus Girl. J/- Gale.<br />
Chappell, Jennie. More Precious than Gold. 2/- Partridge.<br />
Chrvstal, G. Introduction to Algebra. 5/- Black.<br />
Clark, C. E. The Mistakes We Make. 1/6. Pearson.<br />
Coleridge, E. P. Res Grrceai. 5/- Bell.<br />
Collis, E. T. Murder by Warrant. 5/- Kelvin. Glen, and Co.<br />
Compton, A. G. Some Common Errors of Speech. 2 6. Putnam.<br />
Constable, F. C. Aunt Judith's ialand. 6/- Richards.<br />
Cooke, C. W. R. A Book about Cider and Perry. 2/6. Cox.<br />
Corbt tt, J. (ed ) Papers relating to the Navy during the Spanish War<br />
1585-1587. Issued to subeciibers. Navy Records Society.<br />
Comtncy, Etta. River Mists. I/- Marshall, llussell, and Co,<br />
Coutts, F. B. M. The Revelation of St. Lovo tbe Divine 3/6 net.<br />
Lane.<br />
Crawford, n. South American Sketches. 6/- Longman.<br />
Ciltchley, G. Tho Legend of the Silver Cup, Ac. 1/6. Partridge.<br />
Daily 3Vtr.*, Reprinted from. The Passing of W. E. Gladstone. 1/-<br />
Simpkin.<br />
Dale, Mrs. Alice M. The Peril of a Lie. A Novel. 6/- Routledge.<br />
Daudet, A. (adapted by L. Carnac). The Hope of the Family. 6/-<br />
Pearson.<br />
Davison, W. T. The Christian Interpretation of Life, Ac. 4 6.<br />
Kelly.<br />
Day, G. The Way about Essex. 1/- net. Iliffe.<br />
Do la Gourneric. E. (trans, by the Hon. Lady Mac don aid) Christian<br />
Romo. P. Rolandi<br />
Dc la Sizeranne (trans, by H. M. Pojnter). English Contemporary<br />
Art. 12/- Constable.<br />
Do Thierry, C. Imperialism. 2/- Duckworth.<br />
Detmer, W. (trans. byS. A. Moor). Practical Plant Physiology. 12/-<br />
Sonnenschein.<br />
Dewar, G. A. B. In Pursuit of the Trout. 2/6 net. Dent.<br />
Dote. Charles. The Coming People. 5/- H. B, Allenson.<br />
Donkin, B. Tbe Heat Efficiency of Steam BoiUre. 25/- Griffin.<br />
Donne, J. M. Collcqoy and Song; or, Sport in the Leash of tbe<br />
Muses. 5/- Paul.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 55 (#67) ##############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
55<br />
Douglas, Theo. Behind a Mask. A Novel. 6/- Harper.<br />
Douglas. Theo. Windygap. 1/ Arrowsmith.<br />
Dovle, A. Conan. Songs of Action, $/- SniihandE.<br />
Driver, S. R. The Parallel Psalter. 6/- Frowde.<br />
Dudeney, Mrs. Henry E. Hagar of Homer to a. 6/- Pearson.<br />
Edmonds,Mrs. Jshsz Nutyard, Workman and Dreamer, 6,- Jarrold.<br />
Edwards, P. J. History of London Street improvements, lfi.W-1897.<br />
17/6. P. S. King (for London County Council).<br />
Kgerton. George. The Wheel of God. 6/- Richard*.<br />
Ellas, N. (ed.) Moghuls of Central Asia: a History. English<br />
version. 10/6. Low.<br />
Farrow, F. R. Specifications, and How to Write Them. 3/6.<br />
Builder Office.<br />
FMler, T. C. Calculations in Hydraulic Engineering. Parti. 6/6<br />
net. Longman.<br />
Field, Michael. The World at Auction. 13/- net Hacon and<br />
IE icketts<br />
Fielding, II. The Soul of a People. 14/- Ben Hoy".<br />
Firth, George. The Adventures of a Martyr's Bible. 6/- Lane.<br />
Flowerdew. Herbert. A Celibate's Wife. 6/- Lane.<br />
Freeman, R. A. Travels and Life in Ashanti and Jaman. 21/-<br />
Constablo.<br />
Friodberger and Frohner'a "Veterinary Pathology.'< Vol. I —<br />
Infective Diseases of An mals (tr. and ed. by M. H. Hayes. 12/6<br />
net Thacker.<br />
Furbringer. P. (tr. by W. H. Gilbert). Text-Book of Diseases of the<br />
Kidneys and Genito-Urinary Organs. Vol. 2. 10/6. Lewis.<br />
Furneaux, H. (ed.) Cornelii Taciti Viti Agricolae. 6/6 Frowde.<br />
Gannett, U. The United States (In Stanford's Compendium). I V-<br />
Stanford.<br />
Garland. H. Jason Edwards and a Little Norsk. 6/- Thacker.<br />
Seikie, Sir A. Types of Scenery and their Influence on Literature.<br />
2/- net. Macmillan.<br />
Gerard. E. (E. de Laszowska) The Tragedy of a Nose. 3/6. Digby.<br />
Gerard, The Very Rev. J. Thomas Winter's Confession and the<br />
Gunpowder Plot. 2/6. Harper.<br />
Gladden, Washington. The Christian Pastor and the Working<br />
Church. 10/6. Clark.<br />
Glasgow Ballad Club. Ballads and Poems. Second Scries. 7/6 net.<br />
Blackwood.<br />
Gleig. C. The Edge of Honesty. 6/- Lane.<br />
Godkin, E. L. Unforeseen Tendencies of Democracy. 6/- net<br />
Constable.<br />
Gordon. Lord Granville. Warned Off. 6/- White.<br />
Gordon, Samuel. A Tale of Two Eiogs. 1/- Tuck.<br />
Gore, Charles Prayer and the Lord's Prayer. l/6. Wells Gardner.<br />
Green, Anna Katharine. Lost Man's Lane. 6/- Putnam.<br />
Griffith, G. The Gold-Finder. 3/6. White.<br />
Guthrie, C. J. John Knox and John Knox's House. 2/- Oliphant.<br />
Gwynn, S. Memorials of an 18th Century Painter (James Nortbeote)<br />
12/- Unwin.<br />
Haddon, A. C. The Study of Man. 6/- Bliss.<br />
Haggard, Col. A. Hannibal's Daughter. 6/- Hutchinson.<br />
Halcombe, C. 3. H. The Love of a Former Life. 1/- Long.<br />
Harte, Bret. Some Later Verses. 5/- Chatto.<br />
Hathaway, J. W. G. An Analysis of Mendelssohn's Organ Works.<br />
4/6. W. Reeve?.<br />
Hauthmann, G. (tr. by W. Archer). Hannele: a Dream Poem. 2/6.<br />
Heinemann.<br />
Hauthmann, G. (tr. by M. Morison). Lonely Lives: a Drama. 2/6.<br />
Heinemann.<br />
Haycroft, M. S. Mias Elizabeth's Niece. 2/- Partridge.<br />
Henry. Mrs. S. M. L Confidential Talks on Home and Child Life.<br />
3/6. Oliphant.<br />
Heraud, E. Memoirs of John A. Heraud. 7/6 net. Red way.<br />
Herrick, R. ' The Gospel of Freedom. 6/- Macmillan.<br />
Hewlett, R. T. A Manual of Bacteriology. 10/6. Churchill.<br />
Higginson, T. W. Cheerful Yesterdays. 7/6. Gay.<br />
Himes, John A. Milton's Paradise Lost: lta Structure and Meaning.<br />
Harper.<br />
Hintoii, A. H. Practical Pictorial Photography. 1/- Hazelt.<br />
Hobhouse, Violet. An Unknown Quantity. 6/- Downey.<br />
Hohler, Mrs. E. The Green Toby Jug and the Princess who Lived<br />
Opposite. 2/6. Nelson.<br />
Holding, T. H. Cyclo and Camp. 2/- Ward and L.<br />
Holm an. H. English National Education. 2/6. Blackie.<br />
Houston, E. J., and Kennedy, A. E. Algebra made Easy. 3/- net.<br />
Sonnenschein.<br />
Hoaiton, E. J., and Kennedy, A. E. Electricity made Easy. 6/- net.<br />
Sonnenschein.<br />
Houston, E. J., and Kennedy, A. E. The Interpretation of Mathe-<br />
matical Formula!. !,j- net. Sonnenschein.<br />
Houston, E. J., and Kennedy, A. E. Recent Types of Dynamo Electric<br />
Machinery. 21/-net. Sonnenschein.<br />
Howells, W. D. The Story of a Play. 6/- Harper.<br />
Hughes-Gibb, E. The Making of a Daisy, Ac. Introduction to<br />
Botany. 2 6. Griffin.<br />
Humphrey, Frank Pope. Phoebe Tilson. 3/6. Ward and L.<br />
Hunter, G. Yeatea. Can it be True? A Psychological Study 6/-<br />
Dlgby.<br />
Hutchinson, T. (ed., with notes, Ac.). The Lyrical Ballads (1798) of<br />
Wordsworth and Coleridge). 3,6 net. Duckworth.<br />
Button, W. H. St. John Baptist College, Oxford. History. 5/ net.<br />
Rohinson.<br />
Jackson, Ida. Marjory Maxwell, the Major's Daughter.<br />
Slmpkin.<br />
Jackson, R. D. In the Wake of Spring. 3/6 net. Bowyer Press,<br />
Jeffery, J. Straw Hat"). Lawn Tennis. 1/- Dean.<br />
J ohnson, W. K. Terra Tcnebrarum. 4/6 net. Paul.<br />
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