Omeka ID	Omeka URL	Title	Subject	Description	Creator	Source	Publisher	Date	Contributor	Rights	Relation	Format	Language	Type	Identifier	Coverage	Publisher(s)	Original Format	Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Entry	Pages	Participants	Pen Name	Physical Dimensions	Position End Date	Position Start Date	Position(s)	Publication Frequency	Occupation	Sex	Society Membership End Date	Society Membership Start Date	Start Date	Sub-Committee End Date	Sub-Committee Start Date	Text	To	URL	Volume	Death	Biography	Birth	Committee End Date	Committee of Management End Date	Committee of Management Start Date	Committee Start Date	Committee(s)	Council End Date	Council Start Date	Date	Bibliography	End Date	Event Type	From	Image Source	Interactive Timeline	Issue	Location	Members	Ngram Date	Ngram Text	Files	Tags
516	https://historysoa.com/items/show/516	The Author, Vol. 16 Issue 08 (May 1906)	<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.+16+Issue+08+%28May+1906%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 16 Issue 08 (May 1906)</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>	1906-05-01-The-Author-16-8					221–248																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=16">16</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1906-05-01">1906-05-01</a>							8			19060501	Che Huthor.<br /> <br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors.<br /> <br /> Monthly.)<br /> <br /> FOUNDED BY SIR WALTER BESANT.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Vou. XVI.—No. 8.<br /> <br /> May ist, 1906.<br /> <br /> [Prick SIXPENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> TELEPHONE NUMBER :<br /> 374 VICTORIA.<br /> <br /> TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS :<br /> AUTORIDAD, LONDON.<br /> <br /> ee ee<br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> <br /> +<br /> <br /> OR the opinions expressed in papers that are<br /> signed or initialled the authors alone are<br /> responsible. None of the papers or para-<br /> <br /> graphs must be taken as expressing the opinion<br /> of the Committee unless such is especially stated<br /> to be the case.<br /> <br /> Tue Editor begs to inform members of the<br /> Authors’ Society and other readers of 7he Author<br /> that the cases which are from time to time quoted<br /> in The Author are cases that have come before the<br /> notice or to the knowledge of the Secretary of the<br /> Society, and that those members of the Society<br /> who desire to have the names of the publishers<br /> concerned can obtain them on application.<br /> <br /> a<br /> <br /> List of Members.<br /> <br /> Tue List of Members of the Society of Authors<br /> published October, 1902, at the price of 6d., and<br /> the elections from October, 1902, to July, 1903, as<br /> a supplemental list, at the price of 2d., can now be<br /> obtained at the offices of the Society. They will<br /> be sold to members or associates of the Society only.<br /> <br /> All further elections have been chronicled from<br /> month to month in these pages.<br /> <br /> — a<br /> <br /> The Pension Fund of the Society.<br /> <br /> Tue Trustees of the Pension Fund met at the<br /> Society’s Offices, March 5th, 1906, and having gone<br /> carefully into the accounts of the fund, decided<br /> to invest a further sum. They have now pur-<br /> chased £200 Cape of Good Hope 34 per cent.<br /> Inscribed Stock, bringing the investments of the<br /> fund to the figures set out below.<br /> <br /> Vou, XVI.<br /> <br /> This is a statement of the actual stock; the<br /> money value can be easily worked out at the current<br /> price of the market :—<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> WOnSOIS Oe 86 ee een eet sees: £1000 0 0<br /> Total Loans: 220.65.00.. ieee. 500 0 O<br /> Victorian Government 3 % Consoli-<br /> dated Inscribed Stock ............... 291 19 11<br /> Wan Noam. ce 201° 9 38<br /> London and North Western 3 % Deben-<br /> Cire LOCK |Site ccs 250 0 0<br /> Egyptian Government Irrigation<br /> Trust 4 % Certificates ............... 200 0 0<br /> Cape of Good Hope 34% Inscribed<br /> HOCK iso ic 200 0 0<br /> Total oc. £2,643 9 2<br /> Subscriptions, 1905. £8. a.<br /> July 13, Dunsany, the Right Hon. the<br /> Lord : ; : ; : 50 50<br /> Oct. 12, Halford, F. M. 0 5 0<br /> Oct. 12, Thorburn, W. M. 010 O<br /> Noy. 9, ‘Francis Daveen’’. 0 5 0<br /> Noy. 9, Adair, Joseph Lb 1. 0<br /> Nov. 21, Thurston, Mrs. bob 0<br /> Dec. 18, Browne, F. M. 0 5 0<br /> 1906.<br /> March 7, Sinclair, Miss May 1 0<br /> March 7, Forrest, G. W. 2 20<br /> March 8, Simpson, W. J. 0 5 0<br /> March 8, Browne, F. M. OQ 5 0<br /> Donations, 1905.<br /> Noy. 6, Reynolds, Mrs. Fred. 1 0<br /> Nov. 9, Wingfield, H. 010 6<br /> Nov.17, Nash, T. A. . Li 0<br /> Dec. 1, Gibbs, F. L. A. 010 6<br /> Dec. 6, Finch, Madame 1, 13-6<br /> Dec. 15, Egbert, Henry 0 5 0<br /> Dec. 15, Muir, Ward . : 1 i 0<br /> Dec. 15, Sherwood, Mrs. A. . 010 0<br /> Dec. 18, Sheppard, A. T. 010 6<br /> Dec. 18, S. F. G. : 010 0<br /> 222<br /> <br /> th<br /> e<br /> &amp;<br /> <br /> 1906.<br /> Jan. 2, Jacobs, W. W. . :<br /> Jan. 6, Wilkins, W. H. (Legacy)<br /> Jan. 10, Middlemas, Commander A. C.<br /> Feb. 5, Roe, Mrs. Harcourt :<br /> Feb. 5, Yeats, Jack B.<br /> <br /> .<br /> on<br /> on<br /> on<br /> <br /> HBErEHHOMmCOoOOoOoOSoSo<br /> oe<br /> noe<br /> <br /> Feb. 12, White, Mrs. Caroline.<br /> Feb. 13, Bolton, Miss Anna<br /> <br /> Feb. 28, Weyman, Stanley<br /> <br /> March 7, Hardy, Harold<br /> <br /> March 12, Harvey, Mrs.<br /> <br /> March 27, Williams, Mrs. E. L.<br /> April 15, Caine, William<br /> <br /> cocooooooooo:<br /> <br /> ———__+—&gt;_+—_——-<br /> <br /> COMMITTEE NOTES.<br /> <br /> ane<br /> <br /> ae April meeting of the committee of the<br /> society was held on Monday, April 2nd,<br /> at the offices, 39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s<br /> Gate, S.W.<br /> <br /> There was a very heavy list on the agenda, and<br /> the committee sat for over two hours before all the<br /> matters for consideration were settled. The first<br /> question, after the reading of the minutes, was the<br /> election of members, and twenty members and<br /> associates were elected, bringing the total of the<br /> current year up to seventy-six.<br /> <br /> The first case that came forward raised the title<br /> of one of the members to publish a series of letters.<br /> The legal technicalities which surrounded the<br /> matter were exceedingly complicated, and, after<br /> perusing the report which was submitted to them<br /> by the society’s solicitor, the committee decided to<br /> take counsel’s opinion on the members’ behalf.<br /> <br /> The second question referred to the insertion of<br /> certain communications addressed to the editor of<br /> The Author, and upon these points the committee<br /> passed their judgment after careful consideration.<br /> <br /> Some weeks ago the committee authorised the<br /> secretary to send in an accountant to check the<br /> various accounts placed before the society by one<br /> of its members. The accountant attended the<br /> meeting, and reported the result of his investiga-<br /> tion. It was decided, after hearing the account-<br /> ant’s report, to take the matter up on behalf of the<br /> member concerned.<br /> <br /> There were three cases of infringement of copy-<br /> right, one, perhaps, ought rather to be called in-<br /> fringement of the right of publication. In two of<br /> these cases, as it appeared from the opinion of the<br /> society’s solicitors that the infringement was clear,<br /> the committee undertook to carry through the<br /> negotiations, and instructed the solicitors, if<br /> necessary, to take action on behalf of the members<br /> involved. The last case was against a German<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> magazine, and the author whose rights had been<br /> infringed desired the matter to be taken in hand<br /> by the officers of the society, although he was<br /> quite willing to guarantee all the costs of the<br /> action. The committee readily sanctioned this<br /> course, for even when members are willing to pay<br /> the costs it is often desirable that the case should<br /> be conducted by the society.<br /> <br /> Doubt having arisen as to the precise effect of<br /> recent judgments in the United States Courts<br /> relative to the statutory notice, as mentioned in<br /> the last two numbers of Z&#039;he Author, the Chair-<br /> man reported that, as the matter seemed urgent, he<br /> had authorised the secretary to obtain an opinion<br /> from counsel in the United States on the position,<br /> and also to place the details of the case before the<br /> Registrar of Copyrights at Washington, who has<br /> undertaken the drafting of the Consolidating Act<br /> on United States Copyright. The committee<br /> heartily approved the action of the chairman in<br /> this matter.<br /> <br /> During the month of March the dramatic sab-<br /> committee met and considered a letter which had<br /> been referred to them by the committee. Their<br /> report was laid before the committee, and after<br /> careful consideration it was decided to refer one or<br /> two points back to the sub-committee. Mr,<br /> Bernard Shaw and Mr. A. Hope Hawkins have<br /> consented to join the sub-committee.<br /> <br /> The committee regret that action on the in-<br /> fringement of a member&#039;s rights by a paper in<br /> Canada had to be abandoned owing to a question<br /> of law relating to the ownership of the copyright<br /> in England. After careful investigation it ap-<br /> peared that the member had transferred his copy-<br /> right to the magazine in which the article first<br /> appeared in England, and the proprietors refused.<br /> leave to the committee of the society to use their<br /> name, although the committee were willing to<br /> guarantee the expenses of the action.<br /> <br /> The last case dealt with a question of artistic<br /> copyright on which the committee had already<br /> obtained counsel’s opinion. ‘he member con-<br /> cerned submitted a report to the committee, and<br /> this report they fully considered, It was decided<br /> to ask counsel to give a further opinion, as the<br /> legal questions were exceedingly involved ; the<br /> committee did not see their way at present to<br /> undertake action on behalf of the member unless<br /> his title should appear quite clear.<br /> <br /> oe<br /> <br /> Cases.<br /> <br /> The month’s list of cases taken up since the<br /> last issue amounts to seven. The first referred to<br /> the settlement of an author’s business with his<br /> agent. This is still in the course of negotiation,<br /> <br /> and will, no doubt, be settled satisfactorily, as the<br /> <br /> <br /> t<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> yet, been unsuccessful.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> on<br /> a<br /> <br /> ke<br /> <br /> 7 Hewlett, Maurice . ‘<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> agent has expressed his willingness to help the<br /> Society in every way. One referred to the return<br /> of an MS., but in this case the secretary has, as<br /> One claim for accounts<br /> and money has been duly settled. ‘There were<br /> three cases for money only. One has been partly<br /> settled—that is, part of the amount has been paid<br /> and the balance promised. In the two others<br /> letters have been received, and there is every<br /> probability that the matters will be at an end<br /> before the next issue. One case in which the<br /> secretary demanded accounts has heen settled by<br /> the delivery of the accounts.<br /> <br /> Of the past cases there are very few still open,<br /> and these in a fair way of settlement, as the<br /> secretary is in communication with the defaulting<br /> parties. If no arrangement is come to finally<br /> through the office, the matters will, no doubt, be<br /> placed by the committee in the hands of the<br /> Society’s solicitors.<br /> <br /> —— &gt; —<br /> April Elections.<br /> Aldington, A. E. . . Warwick Court, Wal-<br /> mer.<br /> Aldington, Mrs. . . Warwick Court, Wal-<br /> mer<br /> <br /> Melcombe, St. Andrew’s<br /> <br /> Bingham, Rev. Fanshawe<br /> Road, Southsea.<br /> <br /> Bland, Hubert . . Well Hall, Eltham,<br /> Kent.<br /> <br /> Blyth, P. G. . ‘ . 1, Forest View, Forest<br /> Road, Woodford<br /> <br /> Green, Essex.<br /> <br /> Burnett, James, M.A., 6, Glengyle Terrace,<br /> <br /> M.D., M.R.C.P.E. Edinburgh.<br /> Caine, William . . 42, Grosvenor Road,<br /> Westminster.<br /> Foster, R. F. , . 522, Monroe Street,<br /> Brooklyn, New York.<br /> Hall, Gwynne ; . 8, Tanfield Court,<br /> <br /> Temple, E.C.<br /> <br /> c/o Indo-China Steam-<br /> ship Co. Hong<br /> Kong.<br /> <br /> Morrison, R. D. . :<br /> <br /> “Mayne N. Thorpe” .<br /> 7, Northwick Terrace,<br /> <br /> N.W.<br /> Meredith, Margaret (D. 13, Pembroke Gardens,<br /> Elliot) . : : Kensington, &amp; Wood-<br /> <br /> side, Fleet, Hants.<br /> <br /> Nicholson, Joseph Shield 3, Bedford Park, Edin-<br /> <br /> burgh.<br /> Pearson, E. A. ©. Nel- 190, The Grove, Ham-<br /> son (Violet Glade) mersmith.<br /> Pope, Miss Jessie . Kimboltons, Regent’s<br /> : Park Road, Finchley,<br /> N.<br /> <br /> 223<br /> <br /> Pryor, Francis Robert<br /> <br /> Rastall, Mrs. Tunerdale Hall, Whitby,<br /> Yorkshire.<br /> <br /> Dorchester,<br /> ford.<br /> <br /> 165, West 58th Street,<br /> New York, U.S.A.<br /> <br /> Roberts, R. Ellis Walling-<br /> <br /> Wiggin, Kate Douglas<br /> <br /> a<br /> <br /> BOOKS PUBLISHED BY MEMBERS OF<br /> THE SOCIETY,<br /> <br /> ———o—1 —<br /> <br /> (in the following list we do not propose to give more<br /> than the titles, prices, publishers, etc., of the books<br /> enumerated, with, in special cases, such particulars as may<br /> serve to explain the scope and purpose of the work.<br /> Members are requested to forward information which will<br /> enable the Editor to supply particulars. )<br /> <br /> ARCHITECTURE,<br /> <br /> THe MopERN Home. A Book of British Domestic Archi-<br /> tecture for Moderate Incomes. The text by W. H.<br /> BIDLAKE, M.A., HALSEY RICCARDO, and JOHN CASH.<br /> Edited by WALTER SHAW-SPARROW. 113 x 84. 176 pp.<br /> (The “Art and Life” Library, Vol. V.) Hodder and<br /> Stoughton. 5s, n.<br /> <br /> ART,<br /> <br /> WILLIAM STRANG. Catalogue of his etched work. Illus-<br /> trated with 471 Reproductions. With an Introductory<br /> Essay. By L. BINyoN. 10} x 6}. 210 pp. Glasgow :<br /> Maclehose. 42s. n.<br /> <br /> BIOGRAPHY,<br /> Toe LoG oF A SEA WAIF, By FRANK T, BULLEN,<br /> <br /> 7ix 5. 349pp. Smith Elder, 3s. 6d.<br /> DRAMA.<br /> NicepHorus. A Tragedy of New Rome. By FREDERIC<br /> <br /> HARRISON, LiTT.D. 8% x 53. 93 pp. Chapman &amp; Hall.<br /> 58. n.<br /> <br /> THe Marp or ARTEMIS. By ARTHUR DILLON, 6% x 5<br /> 67 pp. Mathews. 2s, 6d.<br /> FICTION.<br /> THE ANGEL OF PAIN. By E. F. BENSON. 73 X 5.<br /> <br /> 346 pp. Heinemann, 6s.<br /> Mr. WINGROVE, MILLIONAIRE. By E, P, OPPENHEIM,<br /> 72 x 54. 320 pp. Ward Lock. 68,<br /> Out of DUETIME. By Mrs. W. WARD.<br /> Longmans. 6s.<br /> <br /> Ir YourH Bur Knerw!<br /> CASTLE. 73x 5. 348 pp. Smith Elder. 6s.<br /> <br /> An AMERICAN DucHESs. By ARABELLA KENEALY,<br /> 7k x 43, 343 pp. Chapman &amp; Hall. 6s.<br /> <br /> A MILLIONAIRE’S CourTsHIP. By Mrs. ARCHIBALD<br /> Litre. 74 x 4%. 309 pp. Unwin. 6s.<br /> <br /> LADY MARION AND TnB PLutTocRAT. By LADY HELEN<br /> ForBes. 7% x 5. 317 pp. J. Long. 6s.<br /> <br /> Kip McGuis, A Nuagcet or Dim Gop. By 8. R.<br /> CrooxerT. 81x 5. 400 pp. J.Clarke. 6s.<br /> <br /> A Venperep Scamp. By JuAN MIDDLEMASS. 7] x 5.<br /> 318 pp. J. Long. 6s.<br /> <br /> 72x 5. 379 pp.<br /> <br /> By AGNES AND EGERTON<br />  <br /> <br /> 224<br /> <br /> me<br /> <br /> LovE AND LorDSHIP. By FLORENCE WARDEN. 7} X 4<br /> <br /> 397 pp. Chatto &amp; Windus. 6s.<br /> <br /> A Human Facer. By Sinas K. HocKine. 7} x 43<br /> 296 pp. Cassell. 3s. 6d.<br /> <br /> THe FACE oF CLuAy. By H. A. VACHELL, 7} X 54.<br /> <br /> 6s.<br /> <br /> 363 pp. Murray.<br /> By F. ANSTEY.<br /> <br /> SALTED ALMONDS.<br /> Smith Elder. 6s.<br /> <br /> 73 x 5. 312 pp.<br /> <br /> Mr. JoHN Stroop. By Percy WHITE. 7} x 5. 333 pp.<br /> Constable. 6s.<br /> <br /> Tue SPANISH Dowry. By L, DouGALL. 7} x 5.<br /> 312 pp. Hutchinson. 6s.<br /> <br /> THE SPHINX’s LAWYER. By FRANK DANBY. 7} X 5.<br /> 387 pp. Heinemann, 6s.<br /> <br /> THe GREAT GREEN GoD. By FreD WISHAW. 7} x 5.<br /> <br /> 311 pp. White. 6s.<br /> <br /> Toe FLOWER OF FRANCE. By JusTIN HUNTLY<br /> McCartuy. 8 X% 53. 323 pp. Hurst &amp; Blackett. 6s.<br /> A Frouic. By WALTER EMANUEL. 64 pp. (Sisley’s<br /> Library of Humour). 73 x 4. Sisley’s Ltd. 1s. n.<br /> SIMPLE ANNALS. By M. F. FRANCIS. 7% x 53. 311 pp.<br /> Longmans. 6s,<br /> <br /> Tue Squrre’s DAUGHTER. By SiLas K. Hockine.<br /> 73 x 54. 397 pp. Warne. 3s. 6d.<br /> <br /> Rouges. By HALDANE MacFaLL AND DION CLAYTON<br /> <br /> CauTHROP. 7} x 5. 8llpp. Brown Langham. 6s.<br /> TH VINEYARD. By JOHN OLIVER HoBBeEs. 128 pp.<br /> Cheap Edition. 83 x 53. Unwin. 6d.<br /> A Jiut’s JouRNAL. By Riva. Cheap Edition. 9 x 6.<br /> 126 pp. J.Long. 6d.<br /> FOLK LORE.<br /> HinpU MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND CEREMONIES. By<br /> <br /> ABBE J. A. DuBois. Translated by H. W. BEAUCHAMP,<br /> C.D.E. Third Edition..7} x 5. 741. pp. Oxford:<br /> Clarendon Press. London: Frowde. 6s.n.and 7s. 6d. n.<br /> <br /> LAW.<br /> <br /> A TREATISE ON THE LAW OF SALE OF PERSONAL<br /> PROPERTY, WITH REFERENCES TO THE AMERICAN<br /> DECISIONS AND TO THE FRENCH CODE AND CIVIL<br /> Law. By J. P.BENJAMIN. Fifth Edition. By W.C. A.<br /> KER AND A. R. BUTTERWORTH. 10 x 6. 1,160 pp.<br /> Sweet &amp; Maxwell. £2 2s.<br /> <br /> MILITARY.<br /> <br /> THE OFFICER&#039;S FIELD NOTE AND SKETCH-BOOK AND<br /> RECONNAISSANCE AIDE-MémoirE. Eleventh Edition.<br /> By Lrevr.-Cou. E. GunrEr, 1st.S.C. With New Tables,<br /> Diagrams, and Additions. 7} x 44. 100 pp. and Sketch-<br /> Block, Field-Messages, etc. Clowes. 6s. 6d, n.<br /> <br /> MISCELLANEOUS.<br /> <br /> To MopERN Marpens. By A MopEeRN Matron. With<br /> a Frontispiece by F. Watts. Edinburgh: Geo. A.<br /> Morton. London: Simpkin Marshall. Cloth, 3s. 6d. n. ;<br /> <br /> leather, 5s. n.<br /> POETRY.<br /> <br /> Cyrus, THE GREAT Kina. An Historical Romance. By<br /> ‘Str Epwarp DURAND, BarT., O.B. 8% x 7. 392 pp.<br /> Appleton. 10s, 6d. n.<br /> REPRINTS.<br /> <br /> Pivrce THE PLOUGHMAN’S CREDE (about 1394 A.D.).<br /> ‘Edited by THE Rev. WALTER W. SKEAT. 6} X 4}.<br /> 73 pp. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 2s. :<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> SOCIOLOGY.<br /> <br /> THE MYSTERIES OF MODERN LONDON. By GEo. R. Sims)<br /> 8x5. 192pp. Pearson. 2s. 6d. *<br /> SPORT.<br /> <br /> THE Fox. By T. F. Dats, (“Fur, Feather, and Fin”<br /> <br /> Series.) 7$x5}. 238 pp. Longmans. 5s,<br /> THEOLOGY.<br /> THE REVELATION OF THE TRINITY. By 8. B. G,<br /> McKinney, L.R.C.P. 7% x 5, 270 pp. Oliphant,<br /> <br /> Anderson &amp; Ferrier. 3s. 6d.<br /> THE EXISTENCE OF Gop. By THE RiaHT Rev, Mar,<br /> CANON Moyes. Sands. 6d. n. each.<br /> <br /> TOPOGRAPHY.<br /> <br /> THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND. Painted<br /> W.SmitTH, JuNR. Described by A. R. HOPE MONCRIEFF, —<br /> 9 xX 63. 232 pp. Black. 10s, n. :<br /> <br /> ——_—_——_+——__o-—_____<br /> <br /> LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL<br /> NOTES.<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> as IRABEAU and Gambetta, Friends of Old<br /> England. With some account of Jacques<br /> Bonhomme,” by Arthur Pavitt and<br /> <br /> Baron Albert Yvelin de Béville has been published<br /> in its complete form by Mr. Effingham Wilson.<br /> The work contains Talleyrand’s “ Entente Cordiale<br /> of 1792.”<br /> Mrs. Humphry Ward’s new novel, “ Fenwock’s<br /> Career,” which is now running as a serial through<br /> an American magazine, will be published this month<br /> in book form. Its scenes.and subjects are found<br /> in Westmoreland, London, and Paris, in the art<br /> world of thirty years ago, and in the rise and<br /> decline of a great painter who is modelled on<br /> George Romney. :<br /> Mr. Frederic Harrison has just finished a tragedy<br /> dealing with the same period of Byzantine history<br /> as his romance “Theophano.” A limited edition<br /> of the work, which may eventually be produced at<br /> a London theatre, has recently been produced by”<br /> Messrs. Chapman and Hall.<br /> The Poet Laureate’s new poem, entitled “ The<br /> Door of Humility,” contains a love story of the<br /> more spiritual kind, in addition to revealing the<br /> author’s mind on questions of faith and doubt.<br /> Messrs. Macmillan &amp; Co. are the publishers.<br /> Miss Helen Zimmern has completed a book,<br /> which will be published in the course of the spring”<br /> by Sir Isaac Pitman. The title is “ The Italy of<br /> the Italians;” and its purpose is to show the<br /> intelligent traveller that there is a modern Ital<br /> <br /> *<br />  <br /> <br /> oo<br /> ane<br /> 0g<br /> Ay<br /> bai<br /> f 8<br /> fp<br /> <br /> To<br /> Hordw<br /> Fe sont<br /> uit<br /> <br /> ald<br /> bA<br /> dail<br /> vial<br /> i ae<br /> a6:<br /> olf<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> i ae<br /> ele<br /> isH<br /> 1OWF<br /> vodalk<br /> dodere<br /> Pontos<br /> if tes<br /> ied<br /> ISP<br /> Fa<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ing<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> no less interesting in its own way than the ancient<br /> ‘one we go to seek, and that Italy&#039;s contribntion to<br /> contemporary culture and thought is no mean one.<br /> The chapters deal with modern art, literature,<br /> industry, commerce, agriculture, pastimes, science,<br /> and inventions.<br /> <br /> Mr. Arthur Dillon’s new volume gives his comedy<br /> <br /> of “The Maid of Artemis,” several songs from<br /> <br /> which, set by Mr. Charles E. Baughan, have been<br /> heard in London concert halls, particularly ‘‘ The<br /> Young Year,” sung by Miss Esther Pallisar and<br /> Mme. Blauvelt, and “ Endymion,” sung by Miss<br /> Ada Crossley. Mr. Elkin Mathews is the pub-<br /> lisher.<br /> <br /> The Rey. Albert Lee, of Windsor, has just com-<br /> pleted the manuscript of his new work, entitled<br /> “The World’s Exploration Story,” which will<br /> be published in the autumn by Mr. Andrew<br /> Melrose.<br /> <br /> “Rouge,” a sensational novel of adventure in<br /> <br /> » in the very heart of London town, published last<br /> <br /> month by Messrs. Brown, Langham &amp; Co., Limited,<br /> is the combined literary work of Mr. Haldane<br /> Macfall and Mr. Dion Clayton Calthrop. Mr.<br /> Haldane Macfall is known already to the literary<br /> world as the author of “The Masterfolk,” pub-<br /> lished a couple of years ago. The story, which<br /> rushes through a series of swift adventures, circles<br /> round the heroic act of self-sacrifice of a beautiful<br /> girl, which, however, does not end in the death<br /> that she courted in order to save the hero and his<br /> friend.<br /> <br /> Mr. and Mrs. Egerton Castle’s new book, “If<br /> ‘Youth But Knew,” published last month by Messrs.<br /> <br /> | Smith, Elder &amp; Co., is astory of aman who, having<br /> <br /> experienced in his youth one of those overpowering<br /> sorrows which irredeemably change the course of<br /> <br /> | life, has become a wanderer on the face of the<br /> ‘earth.<br /> <br /> Miss H. Rosa Nouchette Carey is engaged on a<br /> ‘new novel, which Messrs. Macmillan &amp; Co. will<br /> publish in September of this year.<br /> <br /> - Mrs. Croker has just completed a novel upon<br /> which she has been engaged for two years. The<br /> title of the story, which will be published serially<br /> <br /> &quot;in The Queen from July till November, is “ The<br /> <br /> Spanish Necklace.” Messrs. Hurst and Blackett<br /> will also publish in September a novel by the same<br /> ‘writer, entitled “The Youngest Miss Mowbray,”<br /> which has been running through a syndicate of<br /> mewspapers.<br /> <br /> Mrs. Croker has also disposed of the dramatic<br /> rights of two books in America, one of which,<br /> « Beyond the Pale,” will be produced next season in<br /> New York. Her next book will be an Indian<br /> <br /> Novel, the scene of which is laid in the Madras<br /> Presidency.<br /> Messrs. Archibald Constable &amp; (Co.’s spring<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 225<br /> <br /> announcements include new novels by J. C. Snaith<br /> and Percy White. This firm will also publish a<br /> new novel, in the summer, by Miss Marie Corelli.<br /> Messrs. Constable are also publishing a new and<br /> enlarged edition of Mr. Bertram Blount’s work on<br /> “ Practical Electro-Chemistry.” The object of this<br /> book was, in the first instance, to give an account<br /> of those electro-chemical processes which have been<br /> already, and are likely to be turned to industrial<br /> use. In the new edition, the subject-matter of<br /> the first edition is brought up to date, and con-<br /> siderable new material, describing new processes,<br /> is incorporated. The volume, which is fully<br /> illustrated, is published at the price of 15s.<br /> nett.<br /> <br /> In “ Bonnie Scotland” Mr, A. R. Hope Moncrieff<br /> promised a further volume to be devoted to the<br /> sterner and wilder aspects of Caledonia. This<br /> volume is now included in Messrs. A. and C.<br /> Black’s series of “colour books,” under the title<br /> of “ The Highlands and Islands of Scotland.” It<br /> deals with the less visited districts that are still<br /> Highlands, both in ruder natural features and in a<br /> life holding out longer against the trimming and<br /> taming of Sassenach intromissions. The illustra-<br /> tions are by Mr. William Smith, jun.<br /> <br /> Mr. Geo. R. Sim’s next book will be published<br /> by Messrs. Greening &amp; Co. during the present<br /> season. The title is “Two London Fairies,”<br /> and the stories deal with the adventures of two<br /> fairies who assume mortal shape and come to<br /> London.<br /> <br /> “Sir Edward Elgar,” by Mr. Ernest Newman,<br /> is expected to be the fourth volume of a new series,<br /> «The Music of the Masters,’ which Mr. John<br /> Lane is publishing.<br /> <br /> Mr. Harold Spender has written, and Messrs.<br /> Constable &amp; Co. have recently published, a novel<br /> entitled “The Arena,” dealing with the inner life<br /> of modern British politics, crossed with a strong<br /> romantic interest.<br /> <br /> Messrs. Hutchinson &amp; Co.’s list of Spring publi-<br /> cations contains the following announcements of<br /> forthcoming books by members of the Society.<br /> <br /> Under the head of Travel they are publishing a<br /> new work in two volumes, by Mr. Douglas Sladen,<br /> entitled “Carthage and Tunis.” The gates of the<br /> Orient in this book are Tunis the new gate and<br /> Carthage the old.<br /> <br /> Added to the work—which is published at the<br /> price of 24s. net—is a lengthy chapter on “ Sport<br /> in Tunisia,” by Mr. J. I. S. ‘Whitaker, who has<br /> been camping and shooting in Tunis for ten years<br /> <br /> ast.<br /> : In their list of popular classics the same pub-<br /> lishers include “The Odes of Horace,” in Latin<br /> and English, edited by Mr. W. H. D. Rouse, who<br /> has added an index of names.<br />  <br /> <br /> 226<br /> <br /> Turning to fiction, we notice new novels by<br /> “Tucas Malet,” H. Rider Haggard, J. A. Hamil-<br /> ton, Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler, Richard Whiteing,<br /> Mrs. Thurston, Miss L. Dougall, Dorothea Gerard,<br /> Allen Raine, Mrs. Baillie Reynolds, Mr. Charles<br /> Garvice, and Miss Mary Cholmondeley.<br /> <br /> Some of these works have been mentioned in<br /> previous issues of The Author.<br /> <br /> “Tucas Malet’s” novel, “The Far Horizon,”<br /> deals with the acts and opinions of a man of<br /> foreign birth, who, after many years of office work,<br /> finds himself suddenly possessed of leisure, and a<br /> moderate fortune. The scene is laid exclusively<br /> in London and the western suburbs, and the book<br /> covers a period of about three years, from 1899 to<br /> 1902, and touches on matters of modern finance,<br /> manners, and morals; on matters theatrical and<br /> matters religious.<br /> <br /> In Mr. Richard Whiteing’s new work “ Ring in<br /> the New,” the story is told of a girl of education<br /> and gentle nurture who finds herself penniless at<br /> eighteen with her way to make in the world. Her<br /> struggle, and the struggles of other women similarly<br /> situated, is one of its main themes. The setting<br /> of the story is mainly in London, where the heroine<br /> is brought into contact with men and women<br /> fighting for a new and nobler Bohemia, its brighter<br /> aspects, its refined enjoyments in art, music, and<br /> literature.<br /> <br /> Miss L. Dougall’s new novel, “The Spanish<br /> Dowry,” does not discuss any problem but gives<br /> an original, if a somewhat fanciful, story. The<br /> scene is laid in Devonshire.<br /> <br /> Miss Dorothea Gerard is represented by two<br /> novels, entitled respectively ‘The Pride of Life,”<br /> and “The House of Riddles.” The former deals<br /> with the marriage of a man of idealistic tendencies<br /> with a pretty, but common, girl, and indicates the<br /> ill effects of the union in his relations with his<br /> children. The early scenes of the latter story<br /> are laid in Klondyke, but the action of the<br /> later chapters takes place in a Scottish golfing<br /> town.<br /> <br /> “Queen of the Rushes,” by Allen Raine, is a<br /> modern novel based on the great wave of revivalism<br /> in Wales.<br /> <br /> Mrs. Baillie Reynolds’ work, “ Thalassa,” depicts<br /> the life of a girl taken from a cultured and<br /> Bohemian atmosphere abroad, and placed with<br /> her guardian, the owner of some mills, and a<br /> north countryman, to whom, after passing<br /> through various vicissitudes, she is eventually<br /> married.<br /> <br /> Miss Mary Cholmondeley’s novel “ Prisoners”<br /> will be published by Messrs. Hutchinson &amp; Co. in<br /> the early autumn. The scenes are laid first in<br /> Italy and afterwards in England, and the story is<br /> concerned with the consequences of an early love<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> affair being revived by the heroine after her<br /> marriage, and of her relation with two half-<br /> brothers.<br /> <br /> Messrs. Cassell &amp; Co. have recently published a<br /> book by Mr. Bart Kennedy, containing a series of ©<br /> personal experiences from his life in the United<br /> States. Its title is “The Adventures of a Born |<br /> Tramp.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Morley Roberts’ latest story “The Prey —<br /> of the Strongest,” dealing with life in British —<br /> Columbia, has just been published by Messrs.<br /> Hurst and Blackett at 6s.<br /> <br /> “The Face of Clay,” Mr. H. A. Vachell’s new<br /> story, which has been running as a serial through<br /> the Monthly Review, has just been published in<br /> book form by Mr. John Murray. The scene of the<br /> story is Brittany.<br /> <br /> A new story, by Mr. Silas Hocking, the title of<br /> which is “The Squire’s Daughter,” has been<br /> published by Messrs. Warne &amp; Co. Incidentally,<br /> it raises the question of the equity of some of the<br /> leasehold laws current in Cornwall.<br /> <br /> A theatrical novel, by Mr. Horace Wyndham,<br /> written from ‘inside’? knowledge, and dealing<br /> in an intimate way with stage life as it really is<br /> (and not as most people imagine it) is to be<br /> published early in May by the firm of E. Grant<br /> Richards, entitled “Audrey, the Actress.” The<br /> book describes in narrative form the lights and<br /> shades of life behind the scenes, both in London<br /> and on tour, and goes into the whole subject very<br /> thoroughly. There is abundance of incident in<br /> the adventures of Mr. Wyndham’s heroine, and<br /> the various types introduced are sharply drawn.<br /> To those who only know the stage from the stalls,<br /> “Audrey, the Actress,” is likely to prove of<br /> interest.<br /> <br /> Mr. John Masefield has written a book about<br /> the Spanish Main, which Messrs. Methuen &amp; Co.<br /> will publish. The volume contains many details<br /> of the life of the Elizabethan seaman, and traces.<br /> carefully the gradual rise of that romantic caste<br /> among the lawless islands on the Spanish Main.<br /> A description is. also given of the laws, customs,<br /> and haunts of the pirates, and reference is made<br /> also to their most famous ships—as, for instance,<br /> the Royal Fortune, and their chief captains, such<br /> as Roberts and Teach.<br /> <br /> Mr. Percy White’s new novel, “Mr. John ~<br /> Strood,” which Messrs. Constable &amp; Oo. have<br /> published recently, is a study of the character<br /> and relations of two men, totally opposed in<br /> temperament, and yet long and intimately inter-<br /> dependent. It is not merely a portraiture and.<br /> analysis of character, but shows the development —<br /> of their temperaments and friendship under the —<br /> stress of mutual influences. :<br /> <br /> Mr, Bernard Capes’ new novel, to be published.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> Rash See:<br /> <br /> ee<br /> <br /> ee.<br /> <br /> PR a: Wy Na Een 8<br /> <br /> SRE P&lt; a ee Ss<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THER AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> by Messrs. Methuen in the early autumn, has for<br /> its locale Savoy and Piedmont towards the end of<br /> the eighteenth century, when Victor Amadeus III.,<br /> a vain, feeble prince, was on the throne of<br /> Sardinia. The pre-revolution setting is historical ;<br /> the characters, with the single exception of the<br /> king, imaginary, The story relates the devoted<br /> self-sacrifice of a woman for an adored husband—<br /> an invertebrate saint in character—who has com-<br /> mitted a crime for her sake; and of the holocaust<br /> she makes of a stronger lover in order to secure the<br /> safety of the weaker.<br /> <br /> The same firm are publishing this month a six-<br /> penny edition of the same writer’s novel, “ The<br /> “ake of Wine.”<br /> <br /> A new volume of short stories by Mr. Rudyard<br /> Kipling will be published in the autumn. The<br /> contents of the volume, the title of which will be<br /> “Puck of Pook’s Hill,” will have something of the<br /> fanciful vein of “They.”<br /> <br /> A descriptive book on the rich historic district<br /> around Harrogate, by the author of “John<br /> Westacott,” etc., Mr. James Baker, will shortly<br /> appear, illustrated by numerous photographs by<br /> S$. Ambler. The work describes not only the<br /> numerous abbeys that cluster so thickly here, but<br /> Laurence Sterne’s village, Coxwold, and the wild<br /> natural beauties of Malham Cove and Brimham<br /> Rocks, and the historic sights of Marston Moor,<br /> Knaresborough, etc.<br /> <br /> Dr. Skeat’s edition of “ Pierce the Ploughman’s<br /> Crede,” which the Oxford University Press have<br /> published, is mainly reproduced, with additions<br /> and corrections, from his edition for the Early<br /> English Text Society, which first appeared in<br /> 1867.<br /> <br /> Sir Robert Anderson is publishing, through Mr.<br /> John Murray, a volume of personal reminiscences<br /> under the title “Some Sidelights on the Home<br /> Rule Movement.”<br /> <br /> Madame Albanesi’s new novel, published by<br /> Messrs. Hurst and Blackett, is a story of incident,<br /> observation, and character study. It is entitled<br /> «* A Young Man from the Country.”<br /> <br /> An abridged edition of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s<br /> “White Company” is being issued by Messrs.<br /> Longmans as a reading book for advanced classes.<br /> It will be produced in much the same form as<br /> “Micah Clarke,” which has already appeared as a<br /> school book.<br /> <br /> Messrs. Cassell &amp; Co. have just issued a book of<br /> Mr. Bart Kennedy’s experiences as a casual worker<br /> in the United States. The title of the work is “A<br /> Tramp Camp,” and its published price is 6s.<br /> <br /> The same publishers are about to issue in the<br /> comprehensive “Treatise on Zoology,’ which<br /> Professor E. Ray Lankester is editing, a volume<br /> dealing with ‘‘ Moliusca,” by Dr. Paul Pelseneer.<br /> <br /> “207<br /> <br /> Mr. Justin Huntly McCarthy’s new story, upon<br /> which he is now working, will be published in the<br /> autumn of the present year. “The Illustrious<br /> O’Hagan,” which is the title of the work, is a<br /> romantic narrative of the seventeenth century.<br /> Mr. McCarthy’s play, based on this story, upon<br /> which he is also engaged, will be produced under<br /> the same title.<br /> <br /> Dr. Emile Reich has recently published, through<br /> Messrs. Chapman &amp; Hall, under the title of<br /> “The Criticism of Life,” a book based upon the<br /> series of addresses on Plato and kindred subjects<br /> which he has been delivering during the past few<br /> months.<br /> <br /> Mr. F. G. Aflalo will publish, through Messrs.<br /> Black, a volume containing the opinions of different<br /> anglers on the question of “ What is the right sort<br /> of weather for angling ?”<br /> <br /> Mr. Baring Gouldis publishing, through Messrs.<br /> Methuen &amp; Co., a book of topography, the subject<br /> of which is the Rhine from Cleve, where it passes<br /> into Holland, to Mainz. Contained in the work is<br /> a record of the part which the Rhine has played in<br /> history, of the three great electorates on its banks,<br /> and of the noble families that built their castles<br /> overlooking it.<br /> <br /> Messrs. Constable &amp; Co. are publishing a book<br /> dealing with the Victorian novelists, by Mr. Lewis<br /> Melville. Among the writers dealt with are<br /> Disraeli, Lytton, Lever, Thackeray, Kingsley, Mrs.<br /> Gaskell, Wilkie Collins, Anthony Trollope and<br /> Charles Reade.<br /> <br /> Messrs. Methuen &amp; Co. published in the<br /> middle of last month a volume of short stories by<br /> Mr. Bernard Capes, entitled ‘ Loaves and Fishes,”<br /> in which an appeal is made to the order of reader<br /> whose palate is not yet aged to the attractions of<br /> the adventurous.<br /> <br /> “In My Garden: a little Summer Book for<br /> Nature Lovers,” is the title of a small memorandum<br /> book lately published by the Lavender Press. It<br /> has an artistic cover, and a jewelled pencil, while<br /> its contents aim at being literary as well as<br /> practical, for it contains a large number of quota-<br /> tions from poetic and prose writers, as well as<br /> hints on gardening and table decoration. Its<br /> price is 1s. nett, and the first thousand copies is°<br /> nearly exhausted.<br /> <br /> Messrs. Blackwood and Sons are publishing a<br /> new book by A. C. Inchbold. It is an Eastern<br /> romance called “ Phantasma,” the subject being<br /> based on Napoleon Buonaparte’s campaign in<br /> Egypt and Syria.<br /> <br /> “No Man’s Land” is the title of a history of<br /> Spitzbergen, by Sir Martin Conway, which the<br /> Cambridge University Press will publish. Since<br /> early in the seventeenth century Spitzbergen has<br /> been the scene of industries which have drawn to<br /> 228<br /> <br /> its shores innumerable visitors, whose purposes<br /> and adventures are recorded by Sir Martin<br /> Conway.<br /> <br /> Mr. A. ©. Addison has published through<br /> Messrs. Hutchinson &amp; Co. a new edition of a<br /> work which he originally produced a few years<br /> ago, telling the story of the Birkenhead. Since its<br /> first publication much fresh information and<br /> fuller detail from persons acquainted with the<br /> shipwreck, and new pictures referring to it, have<br /> come to light, and have been incorporated in the<br /> work.<br /> <br /> Mr. J. ©. Snaith’s new work, “ Henry North-<br /> cote,” published by Messrs. Constable &amp; Co., has<br /> for its hero a poor but rising young barrister, who,<br /> after long waiting for briets, at last dramatically<br /> seizes his opportunity, and secures a verdict for<br /> his client in a very sensational trial.<br /> <br /> The third of Mr. St. John Lacy’s Chamber-<br /> Music Concerts for the season (1906) was held at<br /> the Clarence Hall, Cork, on the last day of March.<br /> We make the following extracts from the pro-<br /> gramme :—Quintet in A (a) Allegro; (0) Lar-<br /> ehetto; (c) Menuetto ; (d) Allegretto con variazione,<br /> (Mozart) ; clarinet, two violins, viola and violon-<br /> cello. Songs—(a) “ Les femmes de Magdala,”<br /> (Massenet) ; (2) “Tom the Rhymer ” (ballad)<br /> Op. 135, (Loewe). Songs—(a) “Ave Maria,”<br /> <br /> (Schubert) ; (0) “A Declaration” (“The Heart’s<br /> <br /> Desire”), (St. John Lacy), Miss Harrington.<br /> Duet—‘ Sous les Etoiles,’ (Goring Thomas),<br /> Miss Harrington and Mr. St. John Lacy.<br /> Songs—‘ What need have we” (“ Chastelar’’) ;<br /> “The Brightest Gems,” (St. John Lacy).<br /> Finale—(Moderato) from Trio in G min. (Op. 15,<br /> No. 2), (Rubinstein) ; pianoforte, violin and violon-<br /> cello.<br /> <br /> ‘Mr. Gilbert Murray’s metrical version of<br /> “ Buripides the Hippolytus ” was produced at the<br /> Court Theatre on March 26th, with Miss Edyth<br /> Olive and Mr. Granville Barker included in the<br /> caste.<br /> <br /> Mr. J. M. Barrie’s new play, “Josephine,”<br /> described as “a revue in three scenes,” was pro-<br /> duced at the Comedy Theatre on April 4th. The<br /> dramatist obtains the material for his play from<br /> the political events of the past few years, upon<br /> which he constructs a fanciful story indicating the<br /> lines along which recent political history would<br /> have developed if acted by children in the nursery.<br /> ‘he caste includes Miss Eva Moore, Mr. Dion<br /> Boucicault, and Mr. A. E. Matthews.<br /> <br /> “Punch: A One-Act Toy Tragedy,” by Mr.<br /> Barrie, was also produced at this theatre on the<br /> same night.<br /> <br /> “Qastles in Spain,” by Cosmo Hamilton, with<br /> music by Harry Fragson, was produced at the<br /> Royalty Theatre on the 18th of last month.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> “Prunella, or Love in a Dutch Garden,” by H<br /> Granville Barker and Laurence Housman, was<br /> revived at the Court Theatre on April 24th. The<br /> caste includes Miss Dorothy Minto as Prunella,<br /> and Mr. Graham Browne as Pierrot. 5<br /> <br /> Mr. Alfred Sutro’s new play, produced at the<br /> Garrick Theatre on April 26th, indicates the<br /> attempt of “The Fascinating Mr. Vanderveldt ”<br /> to compromise a widow whom he is anxious to<br /> marry. He succeeds to the extent of involving<br /> her in a motor accident, but the fruits of his work<br /> are spoilt owing to the intervention of the local<br /> vicar. The play terminates by the widow marry-<br /> ing a dull and prosaic colonel. ‘The caste includes<br /> Miss Violet Vanbrugh and Mr. Arthur Bourchier.<br /> <br /> 2<br /> <br /> PARIS NOTES.<br /> <br /> a<br /> <br /> Y the death of Eugéne Carriére and M. Curie,<br /> France loses one of her greatest artists,<br /> and one of her greatest savants.<br /> <br /> Of Carriére, Rodin says : “ He was perhaps the<br /> only contemporary painter who did not do paimt-<br /> ing, but who created life! The works of the others<br /> are canvases covered with colours ; his are reality<br /> revealed and his soul expressing itself!” At the<br /> Salon, which opened a few days after his death, a<br /> whole room is devoted to his pictures.<br /> <br /> M. Curie’s loss is irreparable. It is believed<br /> that the work on which he had been engaged since<br /> his discovery of radium was almost completed, and<br /> that he was about to disclose to the world<br /> another of the great secrets of Nature.<br /> <br /> Corneille’s third centenary was commemorated<br /> on the 17th of April, by the inauguration of the<br /> exhibition of souvenirs of the great French poet,<br /> at the Bibliotheque Nationale. There are about<br /> forty portraits of him, the original editions of his.<br /> works, various medals of the eighteenth and nine-<br /> teenth centuries, and other interesting souvenirs.<br /> <br /> M. Ferrero has just published the third volume<br /> of his “ Grandeur et Décadence de Rome.”* The<br /> present volume, entitled “ La Fin @une Aristo-<br /> cratie,” is more fascinating than a novel, as the:<br /> author reconstitutes with great skill the years of<br /> Roman decadence.<br /> <br /> M. Reinach has recently published his fifth<br /> volume on the Dreyfus affair, “ Histoire del’ Affaire<br /> Dreyfus.”+ It is entitled “ Rennes,” and takes us.<br /> on to the decree of September, 1899, the pro-<br /> visional end of the * affair.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> * «© Grandeur et Décadence de Rome,” Plon.<br /> + “ Histoire de l Affaire Dreyfus,” Fasquelle.<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Among the latest publications are the following<br /> volumes : “ Mes illusions et nos souffrances pen-<br /> dant le siége de Paris,’** by Mme. Juliette Adam ;<br /> “ Art et psychologie individuelle,’? by M. Lucien<br /> Arréat ; “ Questions esthétiques et religieuses,”’t by<br /> M. Pau! Stapfer ; ‘‘L’Argentine au XX° siécle,” §<br /> by MM. Martinez and Lewandowski; “La Lutte<br /> universelle,”|| by M. Le Dantec; ‘ La famille<br /> dans Tantiquité israélite,’€@ by M. Lévy;<br /> *« Le Canada, les deux races,’ ** by M. Siegfried ;<br /> “Les Vues d’Amérique,” by Paul Adam.<br /> “Histoire de Gervaise,” [[ by M. Alexis Noel,<br /> is a novel founded on an episode of the war of<br /> 1870.<br /> <br /> The remarkable book by M. Jean Finot, ‘La<br /> Philosophie de la Longévité,” tf is now in its<br /> eleventh edition, and contains some valuable<br /> additions, as the author has made considerable<br /> alterations since publishing his first edition.<br /> <br /> Among recent translations from the English are<br /> the following: “ L’entr’aide,” by Pierre Kro-<br /> potkine, translated by M. L. Bréal. “ Le Portrait<br /> de M. W. H.,” §§ by Oscar Wilde, translated by<br /> M. Albert Savine.<br /> <br /> At the last general meeting of the Société des<br /> Gens de Lettres, M. Victor Margueritte was elected<br /> president in the place of M. Marcel Prévost.<br /> <br /> In the Grande Revue of last month, Sir Thomas<br /> Barclay writes on the progress realised by modern<br /> democracy. He says that the time has come<br /> when the people have learnt to take possession<br /> of their destiny without troubling much about<br /> men but about ideas, and that men of genius will<br /> soon no longer be needed in politics, as national<br /> affairs are becoming more and more great com-<br /> mercial and industrial enterprises, which require<br /> the help of practical men.<br /> <br /> M. Octave Uzanne writes in the same review<br /> on the decadence of books, on the mercantile<br /> charlatanism now in vogue, and the publicity<br /> which certain authors organise for their works.<br /> <br /> In the Revue des Deux Mondes, Pierre Loti has<br /> been publishing his new book, * Les Désen-<br /> chantées,”” on modern feminine life in Con-<br /> stantinople.<br /> <br /> M. Brunetiére’s work on Balzac is now pub-<br /> lished in volume form, after appearing in this<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> * “ Mes illusions et nos suffrances pendant le sitge de<br /> <br /> Paris,” Lemerre.<br /> t “ Art et psychologie individuelle,” Alcan.<br /> i “ Questions esthétiques et religieuses,” Alcan,<br /> “ L’ Argentine au X XI. siéele,” A. Colin.<br /> || “ La Lutte universelle,” Flanmarion.<br /> ‘| “La famille dans l’antiquité israélite,’ Alcan.<br /> ** “Te Canada, les deux races,” A. Colin.<br /> +7 “ Histoire de Gervaise,” Plon.<br /> ‘La Philosophie de la Longévité,” Alcan.<br /> ‘$9 ‘‘Le Portrait de M. W. H.,” Stock.<br /> <br /> 229<br /> <br /> review. M.A. Bellessort gives some interesting<br /> details in his article on the Japanese.<br /> <br /> In the Revue de Paris M. Mathieu writes on<br /> “ Pascal et son experience du Puy-de-Déme.”<br /> <br /> The two April numbers of La Revue con-<br /> tained some excellent articles, the most curious<br /> and interesting of which are the two chapters<br /> taken from the “Cahiers de jeunesse” of Renan,<br /> an unpublished work which is to appear shortly<br /> in volume form. Among the other articles are<br /> ‘La Vie de mon pére,” by Paola Lombroso ;<br /> “ Eugene Carriére raconté par ses amis,” by<br /> Paul Gesell ; “‘ Sur Taine considéré comme historien<br /> des littératures,” by E. Faguet, and “Le poete<br /> des mineurs du Nord,” by E. Blanguernon. La<br /> Poétique, « new review, which we announced in a<br /> former number of Zhe Author, has discovered<br /> under the most romantic circumstances a poet of<br /> exceptional merit. It appears that the Comte de<br /> Larmandie, delegate of the Société des Gens de<br /> Lettres, happened many years ago upon a most<br /> eccentric individual with a marvellous gift of<br /> poetry. He wrote on any and every subject, but<br /> at a certain epoch in his life he became devout,<br /> and tore up all his profane manuscripts. M. de<br /> Larmandie begged his new acquaintance to pub-<br /> lish his works, but the new convert declared that<br /> it would be an act of vanity and that he was<br /> content to write his poems for “ Heaven and the<br /> angels.” He lent his new friend his manuscripts<br /> to read, but, fearing lest they should be published<br /> in spite of his wishes, insisted on having them<br /> back. M. de Larmandie had, however, learnt<br /> them all by heart, and afterwards was able to<br /> write them down from memory. Later on, “the<br /> poet” was confined for some time in a lunatic<br /> asylum, where, in his lucid moments, he wrote some<br /> admirable verses on his companions. On recover-<br /> ing his reason, he went on a religious pilgrimage,<br /> and at present, in his extreme humility, is living<br /> a wandering life, and is entirely dependent on the<br /> money he receives at the doors of the churches.<br /> The poems which M. de Larmandie remembered<br /> of his are being published in La Poétique, under<br /> the signature of of “ Humilis.” “ La Cathédrale,”<br /> and “Mors et Vita,’ are master-pieces. M. de<br /> Larmandie, who is himself a poet and has pub-<br /> lished more than a hundred volumes of poems and<br /> novels, declares that he has more pride and<br /> pleasure in having discovered and preserved the<br /> works of “ Humilis ” for the world at large than in<br /> all his own writings.<br /> <br /> “ Paraitre,’ by M. Donnay, is the new play now<br /> being given at the Francais.<br /> <br /> Among the new plays are “TL ’Attentat,” by<br /> MM. Alfred Capus and Lucien Descaves at the<br /> Gaité ; “ Pécheresse,”’ by M. Jean Carol, at the<br /> Renaissance.<br /> 230<br /> <br /> At the same theatre we now have “La Griffe,”<br /> a piece in four acts by M. Henry Bernstein. The<br /> subject is an extremely modern one, showing us<br /> the gradual moral deterioration of an upright man<br /> under the influence of an unscrupulous woman,<br /> whom he marries, and the ignoble intrigues of<br /> certain members of the financial and political<br /> world to which he belongs.<br /> <br /> On the 3rd of May the Russian company from<br /> Moscow is to give a series of performances here at<br /> the Théatre Sarah Bernhardt.<br /> <br /> Atys HaLuarD,<br /> <br /> SPANISH NOTES.<br /> <br /> —_—<br /> <br /> HE increasing internationalism in Spanish<br /> literary circles is seen in the growing<br /> demand for translations of foreign books in Spuin.<br /> The Baroness Siittner’s ““ Wappen unter” (“ Arms<br /> Down”) is foremost on the list of German works<br /> thus translated, and when one recollects that the<br /> book won the Nobel prize in the competition last<br /> ear of works in favour of peace, its popularity is<br /> well understood. ‘La ilustre casa de Ramirez,”<br /> <br /> “La reliquia,” by the Portuguese author Eca de<br /> Queiroz, ure also now translated into Spanish ; Sefior<br /> Ruiz de Contresas is producing Anatole France<br /> in Spanish ; end Mufioz Escamez is bringing out a<br /> Spanish version of “ La Psicologie de la Educa-<br /> <br /> tion,” by Le Bon. The well-known Castilian<br /> writer, Blasco Ibafiez, is editing translations of<br /> Renan and Strauss; and Sefior Calleja, a pub-<br /> lisher in Madrid, is anxious to publish a collec-<br /> tion of standard English books in Spanish. As a<br /> translator of three of the novels of Palacio Valde’s,<br /> I was glad to hear last week that the author has<br /> just been made a member of the Academy of Spain,<br /> and that he has now taken his place among “the<br /> immortals,” as his plea for the bestowal of the<br /> distinction upon one whom he modestly considered<br /> more worthy than himself was not granted by those<br /> who knew the value of his work. Perhaps this<br /> mark of fame may give rise to a demand for the<br /> English translation of Valdés’ recent novel, ‘La<br /> Aldea Perdida” (“The Lost Hamlet’), which is<br /> now ready for the press.<br /> <br /> The chief literary results of the ter-centenary of<br /> Don Quixote, held last spring in Spain, seem to<br /> be a “ Life of Cervantes,” by the eminent writer,<br /> Fraficisco Navarro Ledesma, whose series of<br /> eloquent lectures on the subject last spring, at<br /> the Atheneum in Madrid first showed me the<br /> power of Spanish oratory; and the book on<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> “ Seville in the Days of Cervantes,” by Francisco.<br /> Rodriguez Morin, The research of the latter<br /> author is seen in such events of the middle ages as.<br /> that “of 8th May, 1595, when, it is said, no less.<br /> than 103 cartloads of gold, silver, and precious<br /> stones were brought into the city by ships returned<br /> from the new world.” Some of this wealth, still<br /> possessed by the Church, is exhibited in Seville in<br /> such a procession of the effigies of the saints,<br /> decked with jewels, and the priceless relics which<br /> were paraded before King Alfonso and the Infanta<br /> Maria Theresa and her husband at the religious<br /> ceremonies last Holy Week. ‘El Marqués de<br /> Bradomin” is a play which has recently been<br /> staged with great success at the Princesa Theatre<br /> at Madrid. The author, Don Ramon del Valle<br /> Tnclan, had already familiarised the public with the<br /> hero, who is a typical Spaniard of a particular class<br /> in his book called ‘‘ Memorias del marqués de<br /> Bradomin,” so that readers are familiar with the<br /> inert, effete character whose single faith in the love<br /> of his cousin was wrecked because not founded on<br /> a proper basis. The dawning interest in Spain<br /> in the woman’s agricultural movement is not only<br /> seen by the twenty poems and short articles con-<br /> tributed by Spanish women in their native language<br /> to the forthcoming May number of The Woman&#039;s<br /> Agricultural Times, but by a play which has been<br /> written by Colonel Figuerola Ferretti, called “ The<br /> Spanish Woman’s Agricultural Times.” This play<br /> is founded on the hoped-for establishment of an<br /> agricultural college in Spain. The pupils are to be<br /> of both sexes, as at the school at Basing, and the<br /> Spanish local colouring and the Castilian characters<br /> in this novel environment are both amusing and<br /> interesting—amusing in the comic incidents of<br /> such a fresh departure in the country, and interest-<br /> ing inasmuch as it shows that the writer voices the<br /> hopes of his countrymen that such institutions,<br /> which he has personally inspected in England, may<br /> be introduced into Spain.<br /> <br /> The playwright, Benavente, has also written @<br /> new play called “La Princesa Bebé,” which was<br /> introduced at the Benefit of the well-known actress,<br /> Maria Guerrero, who took the leading part. The<br /> Atheneum has been recently the scene of a great<br /> ovation to this dramatist.<br /> <br /> Senor Burguete the other day gave a powerful<br /> lecture on the laws of life and the Jaws of war.<br /> Whilst advocating the activity which is necessary<br /> for the welfare of a nation, the lecturer spoke more<br /> of moral energy than physical, for although main-<br /> taining that warfare is better learnt in practice<br /> than in a thousand treatises, he struck the note of<br /> warning against the slackness in the laws of life<br /> which unfits a nation for the laws of war.<br /> <br /> The Geographical Society recently gave a fitting<br /> tribute to General Gomez de Arteche, whose recent<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 231<br /> <br /> death is so much deplored, and whose works, “La<br /> Guerra de la Independencia,” “Tia Geografia<br /> historio militar de Espafia y Portugal,” and<br /> “A Spanish Soldier of the Twentieth Century,”<br /> have rendered such service to the society. Among<br /> those present were the Prince Don Carlos, General<br /> Azcarraga, the late Prime Minister, General<br /> Alameda, etc. Senor Don Luis Tur gave a fine<br /> discourse on the late officer’s life, and the President<br /> of the society also spoke eloquently on the services<br /> he had rendered his country. Spain will presumably<br /> welcome the Spanish translation, by Don Manuel<br /> de Figuerola, of the Foreign Office at Madrid, of<br /> the “ Life of Porfirio Diaz,” by Mrs. Alec Tweedie,<br /> as the Minister who has been seven times President<br /> of Mexico is deservedly admired by Spaniards.<br /> The appreciative account of Martin Hume’s<br /> address to the Spanish “Circle” of the Lyceum<br /> Club, which the well-known Spanish writer, Senor<br /> Ramiro de Maeztu, sent to the leading paper of<br /> Madrid, has done much to promote the entente<br /> cordiale between English and Spanish women.<br /> <br /> RACHEL CHALLICE.<br /> <br /> a ———<br /> <br /> AMERICAN COST OF PRODUCTION.<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> HE following figures referring to American<br /> publication may draw aside, to some extent,<br /> the veil which covers the American cost.<br /> <br /> A certain American author desired to bring out<br /> a book of the ordinary octavo size at $1.50, say 6s.,<br /> and found that he could print and bind in cloth<br /> 5,000 copies for the sum of $820, according to the<br /> following estimate which may be looked upon by<br /> our members as thoroughly reliable and authentic.<br /> <br /> The book was made up of 350 pp. crown 8vo.,<br /> set in long primer, averaging 35 to 36 lines toa<br /> page, each line was 33 inches long and each page<br /> contained about 1,000 ems. ‘These are the prices<br /> at ordinary printers’ rates.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Type-setting .......-..-eeseceeeeees $140.00<br /> liked oo see 105.00<br /> Paper for edition of 5,000 ...... 92°00<br /> PUGHE WOK 5. y o.oo ce cesses ces 132.00<br /> Binding (liberal estimate) ...... 350.00<br /> $319.00<br /> <br /> (say $820)<br /> <br /> It should be noted that plates are charged for in<br /> this cost. Jt is customary in the United States to<br /> make plates at once and print from them, whereas<br /> in England unless the demand is likely to be large,<br /> the printers usually print from type, This item,<br /> <br /> therefore, has a tendency to increase the cost of<br /> production.<br /> <br /> Ifa sum of $1,150 was taken to cover advertising<br /> office and incidental expenses making the total<br /> cost of production $1,970, the extent of the pub-<br /> lisher’s outlay would have been ascertained. $1,150<br /> is a very high figure for advertising, even under<br /> American ideas. According to some American<br /> publishers, $500 would be much nearer the mark.<br /> If the book sold at the ordinary rates of a discount<br /> book on the United States market it would sell at<br /> 40 per cent. off the published price, less 10 per cent.<br /> off the result, and in some special cases 2 per cent.<br /> more. But to give the publisher a fair average<br /> let the price be reckoned at 80 cents. Should the<br /> publisher sell 4,500 copies at that price, leaving<br /> 500 copies for review and other purposes—again a<br /> large figure—he would make $3,600 leaving<br /> $1,630 profit. Supposing the author took half of<br /> this he would make $815 which would be a trifle<br /> over 123 per cent. royalty on the published price—<br /> all royalties being paid both in the United States<br /> and in Great Britain on the published price. From<br /> this it is clear that if the author obtains no very<br /> extraordinary sale and the publisher advertises to<br /> a very extraordinary extent, the author can easily<br /> obtain 123 per cent on the published price, that is<br /> by sharing profits with the publisher. Now let us<br /> consider what the publisher will make on his<br /> invested capital,<br /> <br /> 1970: 100:: 815: the percentage required<br /> 815x100 + 1970 = 8150+197 = 41°3 per cent.<br /> <br /> If, however, this circulation does not take place<br /> in one year, but in two years, he would make just<br /> over 20 per cent. on his capital. This is apercentage<br /> that the ordinary trader would not despise.<br /> <br /> Now let us take a figure which we have been<br /> assured by an American publisher is a more com-<br /> mon and more reasonable figure for advertising,<br /> that is $500. We then obtain the following<br /> results.<br /> <br /> The total cost of the book including advertising<br /> is $1,320.<br /> <br /> The total returns from the sales of 4,500 copies<br /> —giving the same ample margin as to numbers<br /> and price is $3,600.<br /> <br /> If $1,320 is deducted from $3,600 we obtain<br /> $2,280 as the amount of profit to be divided<br /> between the author and the publisher.<br /> <br /> Again if the author takes half of this he will get<br /> $1,140 or just under 17 per cent. on the published<br /> price. As, however, the publisher will have made<br /> $1,140 on an expenditure of $1,320 supposing the<br /> amount is made within the year, he will have made<br /> more than 86 per cent. on his outlay, or 43 percent.<br /> if the amount is made in two years. There is no<br /> reason, therefore, why the author should not have<br /> 232<br /> <br /> a larger percentage of the profits and still leave<br /> the publisher ample return on his capital.<br /> <br /> If the author should take 20 per cent. royalty<br /> $1,360—it must not be forgotten that the royalty<br /> is paid on the published price, not on the gross<br /> zeceipts—he leaves the publisher $920 profit, and<br /> if these sales occur in one year—tor the life of a<br /> novel is short—the publisher makes just about<br /> 70°2 per cent on the capital he has invested.<br /> <br /> Taking the sales of a book up to 4,500 copies of<br /> an edition of 5,000-—not an uncommon circulation<br /> —the author ought to be able to get between<br /> 16 and 20 per cent. from an American publisher<br /> and leave him an ample profit.<br /> <br /> Tt must be remembered that the book is adiscount<br /> book ; therefore, if it had been published nett it<br /> would have stood a still larger percentage. Lastly,<br /> the figures are taken on the whole in favour of the<br /> publisher.<br /> <br /> Let us compare these figures with the English<br /> cost of a similar book.<br /> <br /> £ Ss dh<br /> <br /> Composition of 22 sheets .........<br /> <br /> Printing: osc te<br /> <br /> Paper<br /> <br /> Moulding and Plates ...............<br /> <br /> BINS oie 100<br /> <br /> £200 8 0<br /> <br /> These are all liberal figures, so that if we reckon<br /> £200 for the whole this would show the price at<br /> which the regular printer would be willing to<br /> undertake the work.<br /> <br /> This fact then becomes evident that the Ameri-<br /> can cost of production is £36 cheaper than the<br /> English, so that all the talk which the publishers<br /> have for some time been cramming down the<br /> throats of English authors about the expenses of<br /> the American cost of production, is incorrect. As<br /> a matter of fact the authority who has been kind<br /> enough to supply the figures, states that the<br /> American cost could be reduced by another $50<br /> or £10. It is true that some years ago prices in<br /> the United States were higher than at present, and<br /> it is true also that the expenses incidental to<br /> American houses, of travelling and advertising, are<br /> still higher than the English.<br /> <br /> Let the illustration be taken further. We have<br /> reckoned $1,150 for the advertising and inci-<br /> dental expenses in the United States, taking a<br /> liberal scale. ‘Taking a liberal scale for the same<br /> on the English market, we should put the figure at<br /> about £130, so that we might reckon the total cost<br /> of production of the book at £330 against the total<br /> cost of production of the American book—taking<br /> the same proportion for advertising—at $1,970.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Let us now proceed to take the sales of the book<br /> in England.<br /> <br /> 3s. 6d. is a good average price for each copy,<br /> after making all deductions; but as this figure,<br /> although proved correct on many occasions, has<br /> been disputed by some publishers, 3s. 4d. will<br /> satisfy all demands.<br /> <br /> The sale of 4,500 copies at 3s. 4d. would produce<br /> £750, and the English publisher would make<br /> £420 profit, and supposing the author took half<br /> this as in the former example, he would make<br /> £210. Now £210 on the published price of 4,500<br /> at 6s. would be £210 on,£1,350, or over 154 per<br /> cent. royalty, and the publisher would make over<br /> 63 per cent. on his outlay.<br /> <br /> Let us now take, as in the United States<br /> example, the advertising at a more reasonable<br /> figure. Where the United States publisher would<br /> advertise to the extent of $500 the English pub-<br /> lisher would expend £60. The total cost of the<br /> book, including advertising, is now £260. The<br /> total returns from the sales of 4,500 (giving the<br /> same ample margin in numbers and price) is £750,<br /> and the total profits for division, £490. Now, if<br /> the author takes his half share he will get £245,<br /> or over 18 per-cent. The publisher, supposing the<br /> amount has been made within the year, will get<br /> over 94 per cent. on his outlay, or 47 per cent. if<br /> the amount is made in two years.<br /> <br /> Following again the last example in the United<br /> States cost, if the author is so grasping as to get<br /> 20 per cent. royalty, £270, he leaves the publisher<br /> £220. If, then, the sales occur within one year<br /> the publisher makes on his outlay 84 per cent. ; if<br /> in two years, 42 per cent.<br /> <br /> To sum up, therefore, we find the following<br /> instructive results :<br /> <br /> If 5,000 copies of an ordinary 6s. or $1°50 are<br /> pliated, and 4,500-copies sold at ordinary rates,<br /> and a reasonable sum is spent on advertising.<br /> <br /> In the United States, on a half profit division<br /> <br /> the author makes just under 17 per cent. on<br /> the published price ; and the publisher, 86<br /> per cent. on his outlay, if the sales occur<br /> within one year; a 43 per cent. if the sales<br /> occur in two years.<br /> <br /> In England, on a half profit division,<br /> <br /> the author makes over 18 per cent. on the<br /> published price, and the publisher 94 per cent.<br /> on his outlay, if the sales occur within one<br /> year ; 47 per cent. if the sales occur in two<br /> years.<br /> <br /> If the author in the United States takes 20 per<br /> cent. on the published price under the same<br /> circumstances,<br /> <br /> the publisher makes 70 per cent. if the sales<br /> occur in one year; the publisher makes 35<br /> per cent,, if the sales occur in two years.<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> If the author in England takes 20 per cent. on<br /> the published price,<br /> the publisher makes 84 per cent. if the sales<br /> occur in one year ; 42 per cent. if the sales<br /> occur in two years. Authors are requested to<br /> make their own deduction.<br /> <br /> Gon. T.<br /> <br /> SN SEP SE eee<br /> <br /> WHEN IS A PUBLISHER’S LOSS A<br /> PUBLISHER&#039;S GAIN ?<br /> <br /> —+ &gt; 5<br /> <br /> HE title of this article may appear paradoxical,<br /> but the article will explain itself.<br /> The clause printed below, or the same<br /> with slight variations, is frequently to be found in<br /> publishers’ agreements :—<br /> <br /> “ That the Publisher shall at the time of the delivery of<br /> the said statement pay to the Author (subject as mentioned<br /> below, and except any copies specially excepted) on all<br /> such copies sold at above half their published price, a<br /> royalty of 15 per cent. on their published price, and on all<br /> such copies sold at or below half their published price a<br /> royalty of 15 per cent. on the net receipts of such sales,<br /> and on all such copies sold at below one quarter of the<br /> published price, the royalties shall be 5 per cent. of the<br /> net receipts of such sales. In calculating royalties on such<br /> copies sold at above half their published price, thirteen<br /> copies shall be reckoned as twelve. No royalties shall be<br /> paid upon any copies presented to the author or others, or<br /> to the Press, or upon copies destroyed by fire or in transit.<br /> Provided always that the royalties provided for in this<br /> Clause shall not be payable in respect of special editions<br /> to which Clause 6 hereof shall be applicable, or to any sales<br /> under Clause 7 hereof.”<br /> <br /> The royalty of 15 per cent. on the published price<br /> has been inserted, and also the royalty of 15 per<br /> cent. when the book is sold at or below half the pub-<br /> lished price. Asa matter of fact when the royalty<br /> on the published price exceeds 10 per cent, rising to<br /> 15 per cent. to 20 per cent. or 25 per cent., the<br /> royalty, in nearly every case when the book is sold<br /> at or below half the published price, remains at<br /> 10 per cent. only. The publisher argues that he<br /> cannot afford to pay the same royalty on the lower<br /> figure as the higher. It will be necessary to show<br /> that even when the publisher quotes the same royalty<br /> on the lower price, he gains an advantage by<br /> selling the book to the bookseller at or below half<br /> the published price rather than at the full trade<br /> price. The following figures should be carefully<br /> studied, for although writers in The Author have,<br /> from time to time, criticised the Clause severely,<br /> the mathematical results of this method of dealing<br /> have never been actually set out.<br /> <br /> For convenience sake let the example of the six<br /> shilling book stand.<br /> <br /> If this book is sold to the bookseller at<br /> <br /> above half the published price then the author<br /> <br /> THB AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 233<br /> <br /> will obtain the following amount on. each copy<br /> sold.<br /> Op xX 1D) 4<br /> <br /> WO<br /> <br /> Now the full price, taking a fair average at which<br /> the publisher sells the 6s. book to the bookseller is,<br /> 3s.6d., sometimes a little less: but as it has often<br /> been asserted by the publisher that this statement<br /> is incorrect, though it has, as often, been proved to<br /> be accurate, it will be fair to the publisher to give<br /> him a further advantage and take the published<br /> price which the publisher receives from the book-<br /> seller right through, reckoning all deductions 13<br /> as 12, &amp;c., as 3s. 4d.<br /> <br /> It is clear, therefore, that when the publisher<br /> gets 3s. 4d. a copy, he obtains, after deducting<br /> 15 per cent. the royalty due to the author,<br /> 3s. 4d. — 104d. = 40d.—104d. = 291d.= 2s. 52d.<br /> But it is possible, if the book is very successful,<br /> that an agent from one of the large bookselling<br /> houses, may come forward and say, “I am going<br /> to buy a very large number of copies, but I will<br /> only purchase them if you will sell them to me at<br /> 8s. 2d. a copy.” The publisher, in answer to this,<br /> to the bookseller’s astonishment may reply : “ No,<br /> if you are going to buy large quantities I can let<br /> you have them at as low a figure as 3s.” The<br /> bookseller is surprised at the publisher&#039;s generosity<br /> but willingly accepts the lower figure.<br /> <br /> The result to the author and publisher will then<br /> work out as follows :—<br /> <br /> The publisher sells at 3s., and has to pay the<br /> author 15 per cent. on this price. Therefore, he<br /> pays the author<br /> <br /> 3s. X 15<br /> pee eras A ae<br /> <br /> and gets himself for the book<br /> 3s. — 52d. = 36d. — 52d. = 303d.<br /> <br /> In consequence, selling to the bookseller at the<br /> lower figure, and not insisting on the usual trade<br /> terms, he gains the difference between 308d. and<br /> 292d. or 12d. per copy.. This difference is con-<br /> siderable if he makes a large sale at this figure,<br /> and it is generally the fact that the price is<br /> reduced if the sale is a large one, but the result is<br /> still more startling if a 20 per cent. royalty<br /> is taken. We then get the following figures :-—<br /> <br /> Author’s royalty on a 6s. book at 20 per cent. is<br /> <br /> xX WF = 104d.<br /> <br /> ee = Lis.x32 =$x 49 =142d, = 1s. 224.<br /> <br /> If the publisher, therefore, insists on sticking to<br /> the trade price he would get per copy<br /> 8s. 4d. — 1s. 22d. = 2s. 12d. per copy.<br /> Again the bookseller comes along with the same<br /> bargain as before. ‘The publisher sells at 3s.<br /> <br /> <br /> 234<br /> <br /> The author&#039;s royalty on the lower price is<br /> <br /> 38. x 20<br /> or = Sof 12d, = 73d.<br /> <br /> Therefore, the publisher will receive<br /> 36— 71d. = 284d. = 2s, 44d.,<br /> <br /> instead of 2s. 14d., thus he gains by the sale at<br /> half price 33d., whereas when the article was at<br /> 15 per cent. he gained 12d. The result is still<br /> more startling when the author gets only 10 per<br /> cent. on the lower price. It is hardly necessary to<br /> work out so self evident a fact.<br /> <br /> It is, therefore, quite clear that such a clause in<br /> an agreement is financially unsound as far as the<br /> author’s returns are concerned, as it acts on the<br /> publisher as a temptation to sell the book at half<br /> price (thus decreasing the author’s royalties<br /> and his fair return), rather than to endeavour to<br /> maintain the full trade price and allow the author<br /> the full royalty. In the hands of a fair-minded<br /> publisher there might be no dispute, and this is no<br /> doubt the argument of the unbusinesslike author.<br /> But the answer is plain, if a fairminded publisher<br /> would not take advantage of the clause, then the<br /> clause is unnecessary. Whenever, therefore,<br /> <br /> authors meet it in their agreements they should,<br /> at once, strike out the portion that refers to sales<br /> at or below half the published price.<br /> <br /> But they must not confuse this portion of the<br /> <br /> clause with bona fide remainder sales. With a bona<br /> fide remainder sale—a sale where the book fetches<br /> little more than the value of the paper, the publisher<br /> cannot, of course, afford to pay a royalty on the<br /> published price ; and it often happens that pub-<br /> lishers, when the sale of a book has really ceased,<br /> and they desire to clear their shelves, sell as a<br /> remainder, but in this case it should be understood<br /> that the whole stock is cleared off and the agree-<br /> ment cancelled.<br /> G. i. if,<br /> <br /> Oe ——_____—<br /> <br /> MAGAZINE CONTENTS.<br /> <br /> 1<br /> <br /> BLACKWOOD’S.<br /> <br /> Charles Lever.<br /> <br /> Drake: An English Epic. By Alfred Noyes.<br /> <br /> Salamanca. By Edward Hutton.<br /> <br /> A History of Human Error.<br /> <br /> Musings Without Method : Mr. Carnegie as an Arbiter<br /> of Letters : Authors and Publishers : Literature and<br /> Advertisement,<br /> <br /> BOOKMAN.<br /> <br /> Oliver Goldsmith. By J. H. Lohban.<br /> <br /> The Romance of English Folk Speech,<br /> Hamilton.<br /> <br /> Laurence Sterne.<br /> <br /> By Bevis<br /> <br /> By Ranger.<br /> <br /> ‘Book MONTHLY.<br /> If I Were a Publisher. By Clement K. Shorter.<br /> Southward Ho! To Eversley, the Home of Charles<br /> Kingsley. By W. J. Roberts.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> A Derelict Novel Which a Lord Chancellor Wrote and<br /> Then Suppressed. By Charles M. Clarke, LL.D.<br /> <br /> The Pen and the Book, or Wisdom for Author and Pub-<br /> lisher While They Wait.<br /> <br /> CONTEMPORARY.<br /> Religious Events in France. By F, Testus.<br /> The New Aristocracy of Mr. Wells. By J. A. Hobson.<br /> Direction for Popular Readers. By Ernest A. Baker.<br /> Archeology and Criticism. By W.H. Bennett, Litt.D.<br /> The Truth About The Monasteries. By G. G. Coulton.<br /> Nikolai Andréyevitch Rimski-Korssakov. By A, E.<br /> <br /> Weeton.<br /> Dramatic Form and Substance, By Philip Littell.<br /> FORTNIGHTLY.<br /> <br /> Letters and the Ito. By Israel Zangwill.<br /> A Saint in Fiction. By Mrs. Crawford,<br /> A French Archbishop. By Constance Elizabeth Maud.<br /> Philadelphia. By Henry James.<br /> uo Survival Value of Religion, By C, W. Saleeby,<br /> INDEPENDENT REVIEW.<br /> Flaws in Elementary Education, By W. J. Fisher.<br /> The Florentine Movement. By Aelfrida C, W, Tillyard,<br /> Religion and Metaphysics. By B. Russell,<br /> <br /> Mont.<br /> <br /> Science and Religion, By. J. G.<br /> <br /> A Child Queen of Spain, By the Comtesse de Courson.<br /> <br /> A Pilgrim of Eternity. By M.N.<br /> <br /> A Paris Centre of Social Activity,<br /> Crawford,<br /> <br /> The English Pope and His Irish Bull, By The Rey.<br /> Herbert Thurston,<br /> <br /> MONTHLY REVIEW.<br /> <br /> Dream andIdeal. By Norman Gale,<br /> <br /> Mr. Morley. By Algernon Cecil.<br /> <br /> The Moral Crisis. By F, Carrel.<br /> <br /> The Essential Factor of Progress, By C. W. Saleeby.<br /> <br /> Roman Catholics and Journalism. By Basil Tozer,<br /> <br /> Coventry Patmore : Supplementary Notes: With Some<br /> Unpublished Letters.<br /> <br /> Do Our Girls Take an Interest in Literature? By Mar-<br /> garita Yates,<br /> <br /> By Virginia M.<br /> <br /> NATIONAL REVIEW.<br /> Our “Insolvent” Stage, By Austin Harrison,<br /> <br /> NINETEENTH CENTURY.<br /> Eton Reminiscences. By The Right Hon. The Lord<br /> Monson.<br /> The Papal Attack on France.<br /> Education for Country Children.<br /> force.<br /> <br /> By Robert Dell,<br /> By R, G. Wilber-<br /> <br /> PALL MALL MAGAZINE.<br /> A Shakespeare Birthday : A Reminiscence of Charles<br /> Dickens : Written and Illustrated. By Harry Furniss,<br /> Epitah. By Eden Phillpotts.<br /> Musical Pictures. By C. Lewes Hind,<br /> <br /> TEMPLE Bar.<br /> Thomas de Quincey. By Edward Thomas. :<br /> Filippo Brunelleschi : A Study From Vasari’s “ Lives.”<br /> By Marie-Louise Egerton Castle.<br /> An Experiment in Fairy Tale, By Wm. J. Batchelder.<br /> Recognition. By Evangeline Ryves.<br /> <br /> TWENTIETH CENTURY QUARTERLY.<br /> A New Poet. By Professor Dowden.<br /> James Anthony Frowde. By A. W. Evans.<br /> Some Historians and The Reformation,<br /> A, E. N. Simms, B.D.<br /> <br /> By the Rev.<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO THE PRODUCERS<br /> OF BOOKS.<br /> <br /> 1<br /> ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an<br /> agreement. There are four methods of dealing<br /> with literary property :—<br /> I. Selling it Outright.<br /> <br /> This is sometimes satisfactory, if a proper price can be<br /> obtained, But the transaction should be managed by a<br /> <br /> - competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of<br /> <br /> the Society.<br /> <br /> Il. A Profit-Sharing Agreement (a bad form of<br /> 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 without the strictest investigation.<br /> <br /> (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br /> profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements<br /> in his own organs, or by charging exchange advertise-<br /> ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements.<br /> <br /> (3.) Not to allow a special charge for ‘office expenses,”<br /> unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br /> <br /> (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br /> rights.<br /> <br /> “G.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. :<br /> <br /> (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher.<br /> As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br /> ‘doctor !<br /> <br /> III. The Royalty System.<br /> <br /> This is perhaps, with certain limitations, the best form<br /> of agreement. It is above all things necessary to know<br /> what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It isnow<br /> possible for an author to ascertain approximately the<br /> ¢ruth, From time to time very important figures connected<br /> qith royalties are published in Zhe Author,<br /> <br /> IV. A Commission Agreement.<br /> <br /> The main points are :— :<br /> (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production.<br /> (2.) Keep control of the advertisements.<br /> <br /> 43.) Keep control of the sale price of the book.<br /> <br /> ‘General.<br /> <br /> All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four<br /> above mentioned.<br /> <br /> Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author.<br /> <br /> Never sign any agreement without competent advice from<br /> the Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp.<br /> <br /> Avoid agreements by letter if possible.<br /> <br /> The main points which the Society has always demanded<br /> from the outset are :—<br /> <br /> (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement<br /> means.<br /> <br /> (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong<br /> tothe 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 /> <br /> (3.) Always avoid a transfer of copyright.<br /> <br /> —___—_+—&gt;—_+—___—_<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> a<br /> EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the<br /> Secretary of the Society of Authors or some com-<br /> petent legal authority. :<br /> 2. [t is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for<br /> the production_of a play with anyone except an established<br /> manager,<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 235<br /> <br /> 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract for plays<br /> in three or more acts :—<br /> <br /> (a.) Sale outright of the performing right. This<br /> is unsatisfactory. An author who enters into<br /> such a contract should stipulate in the contract<br /> for production of the piece by a certain date<br /> and for proper publication of his name on the<br /> play-bills.<br /> <br /> \0.) Sale of performing right or of a licence to<br /> perform on the basis of percentages on<br /> gross receipts. Percentages vary between 5<br /> and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a<br /> percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts<br /> in preference to the American system. Should<br /> obtain a sum inadvance of percentages. A fixed<br /> date on or before which the play should be<br /> performed.<br /> <br /> (c.) Sale of performing right or of a licence to<br /> perform on the basis of royalties (‘.¢., fixed<br /> nightly fees). This method should be always<br /> avoided except in cases where the fees are<br /> likely to be small or difficult to collect. The<br /> other safeguards set out under heading (0.) apply<br /> also in this case.<br /> <br /> 4, Plays in one act are often sold outright, but it is<br /> better to obtain a small nightly fee if possible, and a sum<br /> paid in advance of such fees in any event, It is extremely<br /> important that the amateur rights of one-act plays should<br /> be reserved.<br /> <br /> 5. Authors should remember that performing rights can<br /> be limited, and are usually limited, by town, country, and<br /> time. This is most important.<br /> <br /> 6. Authors should not assign performing rights, but<br /> should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is<br /> of great importance.<br /> <br /> 7, Authors should remember that performing rights in a<br /> play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager<br /> holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot<br /> print the book of the words.<br /> <br /> 8. Never forget that United States rights may be exceed-<br /> ingly valuable. ‘hey should never be included in English<br /> agreements without the author, obtaining a substantial<br /> consideration.<br /> <br /> 9. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully<br /> drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced.<br /> <br /> 10. An author should remember that production of a play<br /> is highly speculative: that he runs a very@great risk of<br /> delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract.<br /> He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in<br /> the beginning.<br /> <br /> 11. An author must remember that the dramatic market<br /> is exceedingly limited, and that for a novice the first object<br /> is to obtain adequate publication.<br /> <br /> As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete, on<br /> account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con-<br /> tracts, those authors desirous of further information<br /> are referred to the Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> —_——_+—&lt;_-+_____-<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO MUSICAL COMPOSERS.<br /> ee<br /> <br /> ITTLE can be added to the warnings given for the<br /> ], assistance of producers of books and dramatic<br /> authors. It must, however, be pointed out that, as<br /> <br /> a rule, the musical publisher demands from the musical<br /> composer a transfer of fuller rights and less liberal finan-<br /> cial terms than those obtained for literary and dramatic<br /> property. The musical composer has very often the two<br /> rights to deal with—performing right and copyright. He<br /> 236<br /> <br /> should be especially careful therefore when entering into<br /> an agreement, and should take into particular consideration<br /> the warnings stated above.<br /> <br /> a<br /> <br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> ———+ —<br /> <br /> 1, VERY member has a right toask 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 /> <br /> business or the administration of his property. The<br /> <br /> Secretary of the Society is a solicitor, but if there is any<br /> <br /> special reason the Secretary will refer the case to the<br /> <br /> Solicitors of the Society. Further, the Committee, if they<br /> <br /> deem it desirable, will obtain counsel’s opinion, All this<br /> <br /> without any cost to the member,<br /> <br /> 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br /> and publishers’ agreements do not fall within the experi-<br /> ence of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use<br /> the Society.<br /> <br /> 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past.<br /> accounts, with a copy of the book represented. The<br /> Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new<br /> or old, for inspection and note. The information thus<br /> obtained may prove invaluable.<br /> <br /> 4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send<br /> the document to the Society for examination.<br /> <br /> 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society<br /> you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you<br /> are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are<br /> advancing the best interests of your calling in promoting<br /> the independence of the writer, the dramatist, the composer.<br /> <br /> 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception<br /> of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fire-<br /> proof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as<br /> confidential documents to be read only by the Secretary,<br /> who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers:<br /> —(1) To readgand advise upon agreements and to give<br /> advice concerning publishers, (2) To stamp agreements<br /> in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep<br /> agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to<br /> agreements. Fuller particulars of the Society’s work<br /> can be obtained in the Prospectus.<br /> <br /> 7. No contract should be entered into with a literary<br /> agent without the advice of the Secretary of the Society.<br /> Members are strongly advised not to accept without careful<br /> consideration the contracts with publishers submitted to<br /> them by literary agents, and are recommended to submit<br /> them for interpretation and explanation.to the Secretary<br /> of the Society.<br /> <br /> 8. Many agents neglect. to stamp agreements, This<br /> must be done within fourteen days of first execution. The<br /> Secretary will undertake it-on behalf of members.<br /> <br /> 9. Some agents endeayour to prevent authors from<br /> referring matters to the Secretary of the Society ; so<br /> do some publishers. Members can make their own<br /> deductions and act accordingly.<br /> <br /> 10, The subscription to the Society is £1 4s. per<br /> annum, or £10 10s. for life membership.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> TO MUSICAL COMPOSERS.<br /> <br /> —+— +<br /> <br /> HE Society undertakes to stamp copies of music on<br /> behalf of its members for the fee of 6d. per 100 or<br /> part of 100. The members’ stamps are kept in the<br /> <br /> Society’s safe. The musical publishers communicate direct<br /> with the Secretary, and the voucher is then forwarded to<br /> the members, who are thus saved much unnecessary trouble,<br /> <br /> —_—_1—9—4—_____.<br /> THE READING BRANCH.<br /> <br /> EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this<br /> VI branch of its work by informing young writers<br /> of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and<br /> treated as a composition is treated by a coach. ‘The term<br /> MSS. includes not only works of fiction, but poetry<br /> and dramatic works, and when it is possible, under<br /> special arrangement, technical and scientific works. The<br /> Readers are writers of competence and experience. The<br /> fee is one guinea.<br /> ———_-—&gt;—e _______<br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> —_-~ +<br /> <br /> HE Editor of Zhe Author begs to remind members of<br /> <br /> I the Society that, although the paper is sent to them<br /> <br /> free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a<br /> very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br /> many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br /> 5s, 6d. subscription for the year.<br /> <br /> Communications for “ The Author” should be addressed<br /> to the Offices of the Society, 39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s<br /> Gate, S.W., and should reach the Editor not later than the<br /> 21st of each month.<br /> <br /> All persons engaged in literary work of any kind,<br /> whether members of the Society or not, are invited to<br /> communicate to the Editor any points connected with their<br /> work which it would be advisable in the general interest to<br /> publish.<br /> <br /> Communications and letters are invited by the<br /> Editor on all subjects connegted with literature, but on<br /> no other subjects whatever. Fray effort will be made to<br /> return articles which cannot be accepted.<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> The Secretary of the Society begs to give notice<br /> that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post,<br /> and he requests members who do not receive an<br /> answer to important communications within two days to<br /> write to him without delay. All remittances should be<br /> crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery Lane, or be sent<br /> by registered letter only.<br /> <br /> ————_+—&gt;—e__<br /> <br /> LEGAL AND GENERAL LIFE ASSURANCE<br /> SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> —-——1—.<br /> <br /> ENSIONS to commence at any selected age,<br /> P either with or without Life Assurance, can<br /> be obtained from. this society.<br /> Full particulars can be obtained from the City<br /> Branch Manager, Legal and General Life Assurance<br /> Society, 158, Leadenhall Street, London, H.C,<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> AUTHORITIES.<br /> <br /> —t 1<br /> <br /> | h N important judgment has been delivered in<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> the Superior Court of Montreal. The<br /> Province of Quebec, as everyone knows, is<br /> | the centre of the French Canadian community, and<br /> | im consequence there is a considerable demand for<br /> ¢ books in the French language. The case dealt<br /> with the reproduction in French Canada of the<br /> work of Jules Mary, a popular French novelist.<br /> Mr. Justice Fortin decided that under the<br /> Imperial Acts and the Berne Convention, no right<br /> - of reproduction of the work in Canada could exist<br /> ‘i withoot the consent of the author, in other words<br /> wf that there was no right of piracy. This decision<br /> ty 4 is, of course, merely corroborative of many deci-<br /> “oi sions that have been given previously in Canada,<br /> ‘oad but it is of importance as dealing with the rights<br /> to of foreigners in British possessions.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> © &amp; we<br /> i<br /> <br /> THE interest of members will, no doubt, be<br /> occupied by an article printed in another part of<br /> The Author, entitled “Why isan Agent?” The<br /> ‘ 4@ article is from the pen of a rising American writer,<br /> ‘ofa and the opinion of a literary man and a business<br /> esai man from the other side of*the water upon the<br /> <br /> « method of marketing literary works in England<br /> Fas and the United States cannot fail to cause the<br /> 4st members of the Society to think seriously on the<br /> p@ subject.<br /> <br /> i From time to time The Author has contained<br /> articles dealing with agents. We refer especially<br /> to an article printed in the April (1904) issue.<br /> ‘These articles point out clearly the difficulties and<br /> dangers, as well as the advantages, of an agent’s<br /> &#039; work, but it is of considerable value to have an<br /> independent opinion from one in the habit of<br /> ; marketing his own work He makes a suggestion<br /> at the end of the article and asks whether the<br /> Society could not undertake certain duties. If<br /> this meets with the approval of authors the<br /> Committee would no doubt willingly take the<br /> matter under their attention. At any rate the<br /> members should inwardly digest his ideas.<br /> <br /> There are many authors who will not fall in<br /> with the views expressed. If so, we should be<br /> glad to hear from them.<br /> <br /> DO<br /> <br /> t<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> In the last two numbers of The Author articles<br /> have appeared referring to the “Date of Publi-<br /> cation.”” The importance of this point cannot be<br /> over-estimated. It has been raised again in the<br /> report on thenew American Copyright Consolidating<br /> Bill printed this month, where the following<br /> statement is made :—*“&#039;l&#039;he fundamental position<br /> reached was that publication itself should be<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 237<br /> <br /> recognised as the dividing point between the<br /> common law right in an unpublished work and<br /> the statutory protection of a copyright work, we.,<br /> that copyright should date from publication.” It<br /> is hoped that this new Bill will define more clearly<br /> than some of the Acts of other countries what<br /> really constitutes publication,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> We have received some further information<br /> from the Kegistrar of Copyrights at the Library of<br /> Congress, Washington, and understand that the<br /> draft of the proposed new Copyright Law will,<br /> by the time this paragraph appears, have been<br /> introduced into Congress.<br /> <br /> The questions raised in the last two numbers of<br /> The Author have not been overlooked by those<br /> who have the Bill in hand. The American Pub-<br /> lishers’ Copyright League and their advisers<br /> believe they have succeeded in overcoming the<br /> difficulty.<br /> <br /> 9<br /> <br /> THE ANNUAL DINNER.<br /> <br /> —_-——-+—_<br /> <br /> EMBERS of the society are reminded that<br /> the annual dinner will take place on the<br /> 9th of this month at the Criterion Res-<br /> <br /> taurant at 7 for 7.30.<br /> <br /> The Right Honble. the Lord Curzon, P.C., &amp;e.,<br /> and Lady Curzon, of Kedleston, have consented to<br /> be the chief guests of the evening on that occa-<br /> sion. In accordance with the usual custom, the<br /> chairman of the committee for the year, Sir Henry<br /> Bergne, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., will take the chair.<br /> <br /> i<br /> <br /> RICHARD GARNETT.<br /> <br /> +4<br /> <br /> HE bright Easter weather is darkened for<br /> innumerable friends by the unexpected death<br /> of Dr. Richard Garnett. The news reaches<br /> <br /> me—and with it the request that I would say a<br /> few words in his honour—in a remote part of Ire-<br /> land, where i am out of reach of books, and there<br /> is something incongruous in speaking of Dr. Garnett<br /> elsewhere but in a library. He was a man of books,<br /> in a sense more exclusive than could be used of<br /> any other man I ever met. Bibliographers there<br /> are in plenty, but none who are so familiar as he<br /> with the inside of the treasures in their charge ;<br /> librarians, too, but none to whom their shelves<br /> was so full of living, wrangling, loving, palpitating<br /> beings; collectors, but none in whom a sense of<br /> hospitality towards the objects he collected is<br /> so curiously developed.<br /> <br /> With no books, no letters, to refer to, I am<br /> 238<br /> <br /> thrown sadly on my memories. They go back far,<br /> since it was in 1867 that I knew Dr. Garnett first<br /> —nearly forty years of man’s brief life. In those<br /> days he stood in front of a table in an underground<br /> passage of the British Museum, with endless shelves,<br /> still mostly empty, before him, and a network of com-<br /> plicated steel, like a cosmos of bird-cages, stretch-<br /> ing around him in every direction. He was still<br /> young, slightly timorous, but sedate, polite and<br /> responsive, pausing, with a heap of books in his<br /> arms, as he carried them to their unknown home in<br /> the steel construction, so that he might answer the<br /> question of some official. Those were days when<br /> his activities were subterranean and before he<br /> emerged to public sight in the conning-tower of<br /> the Reading Room. He wasstill unknown, still pre-<br /> paring to be recognised a few years later as the only<br /> living person acquainted with something at least<br /> about practically every book of importance in that<br /> vast collection. His life, in those days, was spent<br /> on his legs, moving from shelf to shelf, gliding<br /> along the steel floors under the steel ceilings,<br /> always with a book held up to his face, always,<br /> with a rapid gesture, weighing, placing, fitting in<br /> another ¢essera of the enormous intellectual mosaic<br /> of his memory.<br /> <br /> As a critic, or rather as an appraiser of books,<br /> Dr. Garnett was the most democratic man whom<br /> we have seen. His taste was gratified by excellence<br /> <br /> of every kind, and all he asked was that a writer<br /> should have shown skill in his own class and<br /> <br /> generation. He was not overawed by the great<br /> authors to such an extent as to despise the little<br /> ones. It might be thought that this love of equal-<br /> ity would decrease his power of being interested<br /> in what was best. But that was hardly true. He<br /> would worship with perfect decorum in the temple<br /> of Dante, and yet be presently found in a cottage<br /> with his toes to the fire, enjoying the company of<br /> Filicaja or of Trissino<br /> <br /> His uniformity of sympathy was one of his most<br /> extraordinary qualities, and so long as the language<br /> did not bar the way—and his knowledge of the<br /> European languages was very extensive—it never<br /> betrayed him. He would discourse with propriety<br /> of the sonnets of Shakespeare, and then, with no<br /> alteration in his voice, of those of some Portuguese<br /> of the sixteenth century, or of some Pole of the<br /> nineteenth. He was among the earliest of those<br /> who admired Walt Whitman with moderation,<br /> Baudelaire with discretion, Heine with enthusiasm.<br /> Nothing put him out of countenance ; of every<br /> genuine product of imaginative energy, in everyage<br /> and country, Garnett found something favourable<br /> to say. He was not bored by Beowulf, nor made<br /> angry by Diderot, nor scandalised by Nietzsche.<br /> I think it probable that there never was born,<br /> anywhere, another man who contemplated literature<br /> <br /> THER AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> from every side, with such an absence of prejudi<br /> as did Richard Garnett. In this respect alone the<br /> work that he did for English letters, in the peace-<br /> able cause of a sweet reasonableness, and in a quiet<br /> resistance to Podsnappery, was beyond all price,<br /> <br /> He wrote verse for more than fifty years with<br /> great persistency, but without any self-deception.<br /> It was his best recreation, but he pursued it with<br /> no illusion that he was a poet of genius. I did<br /> not enjoy his poetry very much, and on one<br /> occasion, through the inexcusable blunder of a<br /> third person, and to my deep chagrin, he was<br /> informed of this. The incident would not be<br /> worthy of a thought, if it were not that I recall<br /> how it emphasised his unassailable courtesy and<br /> resolute good temper. His very numerous little<br /> volumes of verse contained several things which<br /> may be of permanent value. In particular, in the<br /> volume called ‘Io in Egypt,” will be found a<br /> “Ballad of the Boat,” which is of an original<br /> and haunting beauty. It was greatly admired,<br /> I remember, by Coventry Patmore. But, of<br /> Garnett’s contributions to creative literature, there<br /> were two which were of far higher value than any<br /> of his poems. I mean the volume of stories called<br /> “The Twilight of the Gods,” and the curious little<br /> drama about the youth of Shakespeare. The<br /> former of these, which preceded, not merely the<br /> amazingly clever pastiches of such recent writers as<br /> Hughes Rebell and Pierre Louys, but even, I think,<br /> the “Thais” of Anatole France, remains unsur-<br /> passed for witty and ironic reconstruction of<br /> antique life. The latter seemed to me to reveal<br /> the odd genius of its author for a kind of humorous<br /> travesty of life and literature more brilliantly than<br /> anything else which he produced. ach of these<br /> books—they appear to have mystified the reviewers,<br /> and to have been severely neglected by the public<br /> — suggested that Garnett possessed gifts of<br /> ironic imagination, which, if he had been born<br /> a Frenchman, would have lifted him to a high<br /> popularity.<br /> <br /> I am desired to mention that he was a member<br /> of the Society of Authors since 1887, a member of<br /> the Council, and a member of the Nobel Prize<br /> Committee.<br /> <br /> EDMUND GOSSE,<br /> <br /> i ee<br /> WHY IS AN AGENT?<br /> <br /> 1<br /> <br /> N our dignified and decorative capacity of ~<br /> Deputy-Assistant Floor-Manager in the<br /> Literary Shop, we are frequently called<br /> <br /> upon to cope with problems of pressing moment<br /> to our co-labourers in that famous emporium.<br /> As we stroll with negligent air but lynx-like:<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> i<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> vigilance up and down the aisles of that depart-<br /> ment which a discriminating Management has<br /> consigned to our devoted care, we are constantly<br /> being beckoned hither and yon by perplexed but<br /> attractive sales-ladies and mystified counter-<br /> gentlemen, who submit to our austere but sym-<br /> pathetic consideration the countless questions that<br /> arise in the course of the day’s business. And so<br /> just have been our decisions in vexing cases, so<br /> penetrating our insight into the most (seemingly)<br /> inscrutable of enigmas, that our fame has spread<br /> beyond the limits of the Fiction Department ; and<br /> hardly a day passes without our being requested<br /> to step over to the Art Counter, or up to the<br /> Biography Bureau, or even (at times) down to the<br /> Shilling Shocker Cellars, to settle and pass judg-<br /> ment upon difficult points.<br /> <br /> We have but to quote from two of our most<br /> recent rulings to establish the reader’s confidence<br /> in our infallibility and to justify ourselves of what<br /> may have seemed slightly self-complacent asser-<br /> tions on our part in the foregoing paragraph.<br /> <br /> Not long since there was laid before us the<br /> query: “Why is an Author?” To which we<br /> replied instantly but in the accents of omniscience :<br /> “Because a Man must Live.” And a little later<br /> a more tremendous, a veritably staggering riddle<br /> was read us: ‘“‘ Why is a Publisher?” Yet we<br /> were not slow in reading the answer, ‘‘ Because<br /> Man was born to Trouble as the Sparks fly<br /> upward.”<br /> <br /> Comment is superfluous. We have made our<br /> point. We now proceed ruthlessly to rend apart<br /> the garment of infallibility with which we have<br /> been clothed in the eyes of the world ; and shall<br /> presently stand revealed as mere mortal clay.<br /> <br /> “Why is an Agent?” has been asked us. And,<br /> humiliating as the confession is to our proud<br /> spirit, we must manfully own that for once we are<br /> stumped; we do not know. We do not believe<br /> that anybody knows. It is inconceivable to us<br /> that the mind of man can construct an apology,<br /> however evasive and sophistical, for the existence<br /> of the literary agent. ‘To the contrary so many<br /> arguments occur to us as conclusive proof that an<br /> agent should not be permitted to exist, that we<br /> are unable to resist the temptation to put our<br /> conclusions on paper, for the instruction and (we<br /> trust) the edification of our confréres.<br /> <br /> But first we must dispose of the assertion that<br /> the agent himself has put forward excuses for his<br /> existence—an assertion calculated to cast doubt<br /> upon our claim that the mind of man is incapable<br /> of apologising for the agent. To this we reply<br /> briefly and crushingly that, as is well known, a<br /> literary agent is not human ; he is an unnatural<br /> growth, a parasite (and a voracious one) upon the<br /> body literary. Blinded by his self-imposed con-<br /> <br /> 239<br /> <br /> viction that he has a living to make, and that the<br /> literary fields are more easy to till and more<br /> lucrative to the conscientious husbandman than<br /> those afforded by the gold-brick, green goods and<br /> confidence game acres (as cultivated by his cousins.<br /> across the Atlantic), the literary agent mistakenly<br /> believes himself a human being and all the others,.<br /> authors, authoresses and authoreens, merely easy<br /> marks. Sadly enough, the attitude of the body<br /> literary towards the agent is consistently such as<br /> tends to confirm him in this hallucination.<br /> <br /> ~We authors continue to surrender ourselves to-<br /> the literary agent; hypnotised by his suave<br /> assurance, disarmed by his bland and _ benign<br /> smile, bewitched by his assertive concern for our<br /> material welfare, infatuated we walk into his<br /> parlour and—escaping, it is true, with our lives—<br /> leave behind us our MSS. and a tenth part of our<br /> income. The custom savours of fetish worship—<br /> to change the metaphor: the literary agent has<br /> with his own fair hands beaten out his own halo<br /> (of brass), and so, self-sanctified, has placed himself”<br /> upon a pedestal, high, inaccessible, aloof; and<br /> into his presence we authors crawl in fear and<br /> trembling, giving him reverence without question,<br /> because, forsooth, he asks it. With publishers we<br /> have learned to walk erect, as men among their<br /> fellows ; sometimes we even presume to treat them<br /> with a trace of hauteur. But we all kow-tow to<br /> the agent ; and he waxeth rich and offensive on:<br /> our tithes. ~~<br /> <br /> Now, why ?<br /> <br /> “‘ Because,” says the agent, “I am a necessity..<br /> Remove me and the wheels of the publishing<br /> world will cease to go round. I enjoy alike the<br /> familiar confidence of the publishers, the published<br /> and (though I’m sure I don’t know why I should<br /> bother with them ; besides I only pretend to) the<br /> great unpublished.<br /> <br /> “Bring me your MSS., all ye that are weary and<br /> heavy-laden, and I will dispose of them at high<br /> prices. Publishers believe so thoroughly in my<br /> judgment that an author whom I condescend to<br /> take up is a made man ; and frequently they pay<br /> <br /> -me more than a MS. is worth, just because I have:<br /> <br /> recommended it. They could buy from the<br /> author at a cheaper rate, but they like my winning<br /> ways so well that they prefer to pay me the higher<br /> price. Isn’t it wonderful ?<br /> <br /> “T save you all trouble and worry. All you<br /> have to do is to sit at home and write and send<br /> me the result. And wait. In my own good time<br /> I will advise you of the fate of your offspring.<br /> But you mustn’t vex me in the interim: it annoys<br /> me to be questioned, Once give me your MSS.<br /> and you will never be disheartened by having<br /> them returned to you. Never! If I can’t sell,<br /> I will considerately mislay ’em ; and it will take:<br /> 240<br /> <br /> a communication from the Secretary of the Society<br /> of Authors to make me forget that authors suffer<br /> from heartache when their MSS. are returned.”<br /> <br /> Let us seriously consider these claims.<br /> <br /> Why, to begin with, is an agent (middleman)<br /> necessary as a buffer between author and pub-<br /> lisher ? No matter what the agent claims, with<br /> few exceptions (which will be dwelt upon herein-<br /> after) the publisher prefers to trust to his own<br /> judgment, or to that of ‘his salaried readers, as to<br /> the merits of MSS. submitted. Quite naturally :<br /> he has to pay out his own money in exchange for<br /> his purchases. He takes the risk—not the agent.<br /> In the majority of publishing houses a MSS. sub-<br /> mitted with an agent’s stamp on its title-page goes<br /> through precisely the same routine as those<br /> received from authors direct; the publisher pays<br /> for accepted MSS. precisely what he thinks they<br /> are worth to him—which, from his point of view<br /> as aman of business, is the lowest price he can<br /> induce the author to accept. The author who<br /> sells his stories or articles through an agent, then,<br /> gets just what any other author of his standing<br /> would receive—less 10 per cent. The middleman<br /> pockets this percentage for having, in a haphazard<br /> way, hit upon a publishing house that the author<br /> himself would have found in due course of time.<br /> <br /> In all other lines business-men are learning<br /> that it pays to dispense with middlemen. The<br /> middleman is out of date ; his appearance to-day<br /> is hailed as a recrudescence of the dodo would be.<br /> But in the writing trade still he obtains, a curious<br /> ‘survival of a darker age—a prehistoric (and<br /> -devouring) monster.<br /> <br /> It is a curious phenomenon of the agency<br /> ‘ousiness that the agent in one breath blatantly<br /> proclaims himself the conserver and promoter of<br /> the author’s interests, and in the next tells you<br /> (in a confidential whisper) that he is hand-in-<br /> glove with this-or-that editor or publisher. ‘‘So-<br /> -and-so’s magazine (or publishing house),” he will<br /> say, ‘‘ buys everything I offer it.” Now you can’t<br /> serve God and Mammon. In the three cases out<br /> of five where the agent is not lying to impress the<br /> prospective client, he enjoys unusual privileges<br /> with the publisher for—for what? For booming<br /> authors’ prices ? We wot not!<br /> <br /> Unfortunately for the authors who become their<br /> dupes, a majority of agents are publishers’ repre-<br /> sentatives, the most lucrative part of whose busi-<br /> ness is to place the foreign rights of such MSS. as<br /> the publisher has bought outright. It is only<br /> matural that such publishers should afford their<br /> agents special courtesies in the matter of rapid<br /> readings on submitted matter and early payments ;<br /> and to them, as a guid pro quo, the agents are glad<br /> to sell MSS. entrusted to them at a lower rate<br /> than they could obtain in other quarters. The<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> system, however gratifying to the author in the<br /> point of quick returns, can hardly be held to<br /> further anybody’s interests beyond the agent’s and<br /> the publisher’s.<br /> <br /> Agents will assure that by their efforts your<br /> existing market will be broadened, new markets<br /> created for the products of your pen. Aside from the<br /> light shed upon this by the preceding paragraph :<br /> the manager for a prominent agency once told us<br /> in a burst of (it appears) misplaced candour :<br /> <br /> “To tell you the truth, you had far better<br /> submit your stories direct than through us.<br /> When I hand an editor a story by an American<br /> writer not of the highest standing, he at once<br /> begins to wonder why the author was so keen to<br /> pay me a tenth of his price, and to suspect that<br /> if the MS. had been saleable through the author’s<br /> efforts it would never have come into my hands.”<br /> <br /> The quotation, of course, is made from memory<br /> and pretends to give only the essence of the<br /> speaker’s words.<br /> <br /> When so many circumstances weigh against the<br /> acceptance of a story, including the state of the<br /> weather, how late the editor was up last night and<br /> what his wife said to him at breakfast, it would<br /> appear obviously the course of wisdom to dispense<br /> with anything howsoever calculated to prejudice<br /> editorial judgment. A professional reader cannot<br /> help thinking that if a story has been repeatedly<br /> refused by other publications, there must exist<br /> some good reason for such a state of affairs. He<br /> feels it a point of honour to discover the damning<br /> flaw. The deduction is patent that a writer should<br /> sell his stories direct to home magazines, and only<br /> employ an agent to dispose of his foreign rights ;<br /> and in the case of a book-writer, he is a fool to do<br /> that unless he simply cannot spare the time for a<br /> two months’ vacation every year ; the expenses of<br /> the trip abroad would be fully covered by the<br /> agent’s yearly commissions.<br /> <br /> “T can get you higher prices than you could<br /> obtain by your unaided efforts.” This claim like-<br /> wise has been touched upon herein-above. We<br /> hark back merely to illustrate our point by the<br /> statement made us by the editor of a prominent<br /> New York monthly, who pointed out to us the<br /> price-mark placed upon a MSS by the agent who<br /> had submitted it, and commented: “ is<br /> bluffing. He says he wants 300 dollars for this<br /> story. If I should call him up now on the<br /> telephone, and offer him 50 dollars for the American<br /> rights, he would leave a smoking streak on the<br /> sidewalk in his haste to get here and pocket the<br /> check. A 5 dollar commission in the hand is<br /> worth a 30 dollar commission in the bush, to<br /> <br /> *s way of thinking.”<br /> <br /> Now as to the agents’ claim that by patronising<br /> <br /> them the author saves himself the wear and tear<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> 5 ee et<br /> <br /> pled er Seog<br /> <br /> we<br /> <br /> a ae tan!<br /> <br /> sto<br /> <br /> Serie ED LARS AIS eb ee: BR le.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> oe SS<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> on his nervous system and the mental worry caused<br /> by first-hand rejections of his offerings. (In this<br /> connection it should be parenthetically remarked<br /> that the author who cannot inure himself against<br /> such disappointments, learn to receive them with<br /> an unsaddened heart and faith unabated, is not<br /> made of lasting stuff). The plain truth is that by<br /> entrusting his material to an agent’s tender mercies<br /> he but exchanges one form of worry for another.<br /> What can be more wearing than to have month<br /> after month go by, without word of your fate?<br /> What more exasperating than to possess your soul<br /> in impatience for weary weeks, and finally to yield<br /> (doubting your discretion) to the temptation to<br /> prod your agent ; and to receive the reply (perhaps) :<br /> “Oh yes; I sold your story to three months<br /> ago”? And then you remember how sorely<br /> you needed money, or the encouragement of an<br /> acceptance, just three months ago... .<br /> <br /> Moreover, if an author thinks at all, he is bound<br /> to wonder how much of the publisher’s cheque the<br /> agent really retains as his proportion. For the<br /> author is invariably kept in the dark, or almost<br /> invariably. The publisher sends his cheque to<br /> the agent, who returns the receipt over his own<br /> signature, and deposits the cheque to his own<br /> account ; some six months later the importunate<br /> author gets the agent’s personal cheque—if he has<br /> been importunate enough.<br /> <br /> This is perhaps the greatest evil of the Literary<br /> Agent business. That an author is rarely a good<br /> business man has passed into an axiom—which the<br /> agent mouthes persistently to his own advantage.<br /> The author is, furthermore, generally a gentleman,<br /> in almost every case content that his agreement<br /> with the agent shall be merely verbal; as evidence<br /> of the understanding between himself and the<br /> agent he rarely can produce more than a formal<br /> receipt for his MSS—sometimes not even that—<br /> and a non-committal letter ortwo. And the agent<br /> keeps his books in his own weird way; expert<br /> accountants become hopelessly befogged when they<br /> try to extract information from them. But an<br /> examination of them is seldom demanded. The<br /> author is loth to question the agent’s good faith ;<br /> whatever he may believe, he would be distinctly<br /> humiliated if his suspicions were, perchance, proven<br /> groundless.<br /> <br /> If, then, upon mature deliberation, the young<br /> author is convinced that it is to his interests to<br /> dispose of his stories and articles through a middle-<br /> man, he should insist upon a written and stamped<br /> agreement with that middleman, even as he would<br /> insist upon it with a publishing house of the<br /> highest standing. The Society of Authors should<br /> be requested to pass upon the proposed agreement<br /> before it receives the author’s signature. And—<br /> let us be emphatic—the one essential clause of such<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 241<br /> <br /> an agreement should be that the publisher&#039;s cheques<br /> must be drawn to the order of a responsible third<br /> party, by him to be received, cashed, and proportioned<br /> between agent and author.<br /> <br /> It is quite safe to assume that no honest agent<br /> would object to such a clause, which would but<br /> benefit his profession by weeding out, or reforming,<br /> the black sheep.<br /> <br /> As to the selection of the third party, we venture:<br /> to suggest that the Society of Authors should<br /> undertake the responsibility when so requested.<br /> Otherwise any reputable firm of solicitors should<br /> prove acceptable to both parties. In the former<br /> event the Society should make a slight charge—<br /> say, one shilling per cheque; less if possible—to<br /> cover the increased clerical expense incurred in<br /> rendering such service.<br /> <br /> One final query: Why in the name of common<br /> sense is it, that when the struggling young<br /> scribbler has demonstrated that he can sell his<br /> MSS by his own efforts (and he has got to do just<br /> that before the agent will condescend to “handle”<br /> his stories) ; why, when he has proven his worth<br /> and title to an independent literary existence, does<br /> he forthwith rush madly off and place all his<br /> output in the hands of an agent, thereby voluntarily<br /> relinquishing what he seldom can afford to do.<br /> without—one-tenth, if not more of his income ?<br /> <br /> Why<br /> <br /> But to what end these queries? We are<br /> saddened. We have winnowed the _ subject<br /> thoroughly, to our way of thinking, threshed it<br /> out with a flail of many, many words, and there is.<br /> no good grain in all the chaff. We find ourselves<br /> no nearer the solution of this eternal riddle. We<br /> must bow our head, confess ourself dumbfoundered<br /> for once, humble our erstwhile haughty self in the<br /> eyes of the stylish young saleswoman in the Poet’s<br /> Corner and the supercilious sales-gentlemen in the<br /> Fiction Department of the building. Even the<br /> mannequins in the “ Historical Romance” Booth<br /> will give us the glassy eye hereafter.<br /> <br /> For Omniscience is punctured. Infallibility has<br /> the blind staggers. We cannot say Why is an<br /> <br /> Agent.<br /> iL. XY<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> $&lt; —_—_——_<br /> <br /> UNITED STATES COPYRIGHT.<br /> <br /> ‘ _ Se<br /> (Printed from the United States Publishers’ Weekly.)<br /> <br /> THE CopyriGHT CONFERENCE.<br /> <br /> HE third series of sessions of the Copyright<br /> Conference held at the Library of Congress,<br /> Washington, resulted in the settling of most<br /> <br /> oftheimportant principles in the new copyright code,<br /> although it was not practicable, as someone said,<br /> ‘242<br /> <br /> to “solve quadratic equations in a town meeting,”<br /> and deal with the details, and, especially, the<br /> phraseology of the bill. This will be done by the<br /> Librarian of Congress and the Register of Copy-<br /> rights with the assistance of experts, especially the<br /> representatives of the American Bar Association<br /> and the Bar Association of New York, Arthur<br /> Steuart and Paul Fuller, with the purpose of putting<br /> into legal form, for submission to Congress, the<br /> principles agreed upon by the Conference.<br /> <br /> The gathering included representatives from<br /> over thirty associations, representing the producing<br /> interests—authors, dramatists, musical composers<br /> and artists; the reproducing callings—book and<br /> music publishers, printers, lithographers, etc., both<br /> on the employing and labour sides ; and, thirdly,<br /> the outside interests—as the American Library<br /> Association and the Bar Associations. It was<br /> most gratifying that the seventy representatives<br /> present came to learn that all the organisations<br /> had a common purpose of making the law and the<br /> rights of authors specific and definite rather than<br /> -of denying or limiting rights. There were differ-<br /> ences of opinion as to principles and as to details,<br /> but on the whole the Conference was most remark-<br /> able for the spirit of comity and for the willing-<br /> ness to compromise on questions where there was<br /> difference rather than agreement.<br /> <br /> The fundamental position reached was that<br /> publication itself should be recognised as the<br /> dividing point between common law right in an<br /> unpublished work and statutory protection of a<br /> copyrighted work, z.e., that copyright should date<br /> <br /> from publication. It was agreed between the<br /> representatives of the artists and of certain repro-<br /> -ductive interests, however, that on works of art<br /> exhibited before publication some simple kind of<br /> copyright notice should be shown, that there<br /> might be no question as between works in the<br /> public domain and works protected or to be pro-<br /> tected by copyright. It was also agreed that<br /> copyright protection should cover all component<br /> copyrighted or copyrightable parts of a work, so<br /> that there should be no need of repeating each<br /> copyright notice under each illustration or with<br /> each contribution, and that no material should be<br /> brought incidentally into the public domain because<br /> an illustration, for instance, had not been copy-<br /> righted previous to the copyrighting of the book<br /> -of which it might be a part. The term of life and<br /> fifty years was favoured for original works, and<br /> fifty years for reproductive works, with a shorter<br /> term of twenty-eight years for labels and prints,<br /> which the Patent Office insists on transferring to<br /> the Copyright Office. As to importations, an<br /> agreement was reached between representatives<br /> of publishers and of librarians by which public<br /> libraries and like corporate institutions were to be<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> allowed the privilege of importation, without con-<br /> sent of the copyright proprietor, of books from the<br /> country of origin, or out-of-print books, or books<br /> forming parts of libraries purchased abroad. It<br /> was agreed that the copyright formalities should<br /> be reduced to the simplest terms, the deposit of<br /> copies within thirty days after publication and the<br /> inscribing of a simple copyright notice on all<br /> copies made for sale or use within the United<br /> States—the extra-territorial notice being carefully<br /> provided against ; and that copyrights should not<br /> lapse, as now, for non-compliance with some for-<br /> mality, but that infringement suits could not be<br /> initiated or maintained unless the formalities had<br /> been complied with. Many other questions of<br /> principle or detail were brought before the Con-<br /> ference for discussion and, in most cases, tentative<br /> settlement—only Congress can make the final<br /> decision—but the most important are those above<br /> mentioned.<br /> <br /> It was decided that no further conference should<br /> be had unless on receipt of the final draft a majority<br /> of the associations represented should desire such a<br /> meeting. Too much cannot be said of the tact,<br /> fairness and effectiveness with which the Librarian<br /> of Congress presided over the sessions, or of the<br /> service done by the Register of Copyrights in<br /> preparing the material for the Conference, and,<br /> particularly, the draft on which discussion and<br /> action were based. It is hoped that the final draft<br /> will be ready early in April, so that the measure<br /> may go before the committees of Senate and House<br /> within that month for the necessary consideration<br /> and hearing.<br /> <br /> THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS ON THE<br /> CoPYRIGHT CONFERENCE.<br /> <br /> A statement has been issued by the Librarian<br /> of Congress, Herbert Putnam, as to the work of<br /> the copyright conference which has been in session<br /> in Washington during the past week. It quotes<br /> from the President’s message on the subject, refers<br /> to former meetings and to the work of this con-<br /> ference, but does not present its results in any<br /> formulated bill to be presented to Congress. Such<br /> a measure is to be prepared and submitted to the<br /> various organizations which participated in the<br /> conference, and when approved by them will be<br /> introduced in Congress.<br /> <br /> The reference to the need for a general revision<br /> of the copyright laws, in the President’s message<br /> to Congress, December 5, 1905, was as follows :<br /> <br /> “Our copyright laws urgently need revision. They<br /> are imperfect in definition, confused and inconsistent in<br /> expression ; they omit provision for many articles which,<br /> under modern reproductive processes, are entitled to<br /> protection ; they impose hardships upon the copyright<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> we<br /> <br /> Safty ae Aen. cerry Set.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> proprietor which are not essential to the fair protection of<br /> the public; they are difficult for the courts to interpret<br /> and impossible for the Copyright Office to administer<br /> with satisfaction to the public. Attempts to improve<br /> them by amendment have been frequent, no less than<br /> twelve acts for the purpose having been passed since the<br /> Revised Statutes. To perfect them by further amendment<br /> seems impracticable. A complete revision of them is<br /> essential. Such a revision, to meet modern conditions,<br /> <br /> - has been found necessary in Germany, Austria, Sweden,<br /> <br /> and other foreign countries, and bills embodying it are<br /> pending in England and the Australian colonies. It has<br /> been urged here, and proposals for a commission to under-<br /> take it have, from time to time, been pressed upon the<br /> Congress. The inconveniences of the present conditions<br /> being so great, an attempt to frame appropriate legislation<br /> has been made by the Copyright Office, which has called<br /> conferences of the various interests especially and prac-<br /> tically concerned with the operation of the copyright laws.<br /> It has secured from them suggestions as to the changes<br /> necessary ; it has added from its own experience and<br /> investigations, and it has drafted a bill which embodies<br /> such of these changes and additions as, after full discussion<br /> and expert criticism, appeared to be sound and safe. In<br /> form this bill would replace the existing insufficient and<br /> inconsistent laws by one general copyright statute. It<br /> will be presented to the Congress at the coming session.<br /> It deserves prompt consideration.”<br /> <br /> Speaking of the three conferences, Mr. Herbert<br /> Putnam says: “They have been notable in many<br /> respects, but particularly in these: In the number<br /> of organizations participating. There were thirty-<br /> three in all, represented in the aggregate by<br /> nearly seventy delegates. In their representative<br /> character : They included not merely authors of<br /> all sorts, including dramatists, artists, painters,<br /> sculptors, architects and composers, but the pub-<br /> lishers, including publishers not merely of books,<br /> but of periodicals and newspapers and music ; and<br /> of artistic productions and reproductions, such as<br /> lithographs, photographs and others ; printers,<br /> typographers, lithographers and others. These<br /> were represented by officers, but also in many cases<br /> by their legal counsel. In addition the confer-<br /> ences had the benefit of general legal counsel in<br /> specially appointed committees of the American<br /> Bar Association and of the Bar Association of<br /> New York.<br /> <br /> “Tt is to be noted also that the conference<br /> included not merely the creator of the thing to be<br /> protected, and the copyright proprietor in general,<br /> but representation of the interests which are con-<br /> cerned with the use of material that may be in the<br /> public domain—that is, the reproducers. So that<br /> consideration was assured of the welfare of this<br /> part of the general public and its right to be<br /> safeguarded against trespassing innocently to its<br /> own cost.<br /> <br /> “The June conference lasted three days, the<br /> November four, the March four—and each day<br /> included a double session lasting from five to<br /> seven hours ; a total of eleven full days, or nearly<br /> <br /> 243,<br /> <br /> seventy hours. This was merely the conferences<br /> themselves. It takes no account of incessant<br /> correspondence and discussion in the interim since:<br /> last June.<br /> <br /> “The temper of the conferences: There was.<br /> not a perfunctory hour or quarter hour. Ordi-<br /> narily in such affairs, or in committee meetings,<br /> delegates are apt to pull out and read newspapers.<br /> or give other evidences of lack of interest in the<br /> matter under discussion. In the entire eleven<br /> days I recall but one instance, and that but for ten<br /> minutes, in which even a newspaper was in evi-<br /> dence. The consequence was that every subject<br /> brought up, although seemingly special and perhaps.<br /> of peculiar interest to one group, was considered<br /> by all.<br /> <br /> “The desire to be candid, and the disposition to<br /> be fair—this was particularly evident in the dis-<br /> position to find some reasonable mean in questions.<br /> that necessarily involved extremes of opinion ;.<br /> and a reasonable compromise in questions where<br /> interests were diverse.<br /> <br /> “The results : The conferences could not them-<br /> selves frame a bill. This had not been expected’<br /> of them. The most that had been hoped of<br /> them was :<br /> <br /> “That they should establish some general<br /> principles.<br /> <br /> “That they should bring forward into proper<br /> recognition particular hardships suffered under the<br /> existing law and appropriate measures of relief.<br /> <br /> “That by frank expression, in a body so disposed<br /> to be conciliatory, they should furnish a prac-<br /> ticable working basis between interests naturally<br /> diverse, or even adverse.<br /> <br /> “Now they have accomplished all these things.<br /> and accomplished them in a degree quite extra-<br /> ordinary and never predicted. They have estab-<br /> lished as the judgment of the groups represented<br /> certain general principles, for instance :<br /> <br /> “That where there is publication, the protection<br /> of copyright should initiate from publication. This.<br /> seems simple as stated, but the establishment of<br /> it affects in diverse ways the determination of<br /> innumerable provisions and clears away innumer-<br /> able perplexities. It does not prevent special<br /> provisions for dramas and for works of art<br /> before publication or of which publication is not<br /> intended.<br /> <br /> “That the copyright in a work should cover all<br /> the copyrightable matter therein. Equally simple<br /> as stated, but whose enunciation cleared away<br /> many embarrassments.<br /> <br /> «That in the simplification of the copyright<br /> notice, some notice must be retained sufficiently<br /> identifying the object with the record.<br /> <br /> “hat the omission of mere formalities should<br /> not of itself invalidate the copyright, even though<br /> 244<br /> <br /> it should prevent recourse against innocent in-<br /> fringement. Under the present law, the deposit<br /> cf copies is not merely a requirement, but an<br /> immediate requirement, the omission of which<br /> will invalidate the copyright, since the copies must<br /> ibe deposited on or before the date of publication.<br /> <br /> The substitution of penalties for invalidation of<br /> ‘copyright, through omissions of formalities not<br /> indispensable to the protection of the public.<br /> <br /> “A continuous term instead of renewals. The<br /> results: Varying terms for different classes of<br /> articles, instead of the present uniform term for<br /> all. Probably three groups, with three terms<br /> corresponding. For certain articles a term shorter<br /> than the present. The longest term, however, to<br /> insure that no author shall, within his lifetime, be<br /> ‘deprived of the benefit of his copyrights, nor shall<br /> his immediate family be so deprived.<br /> <br /> “The public is much interested in these prin-<br /> ‘ciples, as it will be in the particular provisions of<br /> ‘any bill that may be introduced, but they are not,<br /> as a whole, in a condition yet to be promulgated<br /> nor were they formulated for promulgation. They<br /> were simply for the guidance of those who are to<br /> ‘draft the bill. Besides them, the framers of the<br /> bill will have for their guidance particular pro-<br /> visions, and even particular phraseology, proposed.<br /> And among matters to be dealt with were many<br /> ‘concerning the direct administration of the copy-<br /> right office, and, of course, penalties and legal<br /> procedure. Simplification of the latter with im-<br /> munity from the production in evidence of matter<br /> that cannot be produced.” :<br /> <br /> ——- —_—____<br /> <br /> THREADBARE SIMILES.<br /> <br /> — 1<br /> ADDRESSED, IN ALL Huminiry, To AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> CRUEL fate compels me to Yead an<br /> <br /> enormous number of books which I have<br /> <br /> no desire to read. Of these books, a<br /> big proportion consists of novels of the class<br /> that, as a charming hostess said to me once,<br /> “one gives to one’s servants to read.” It is<br /> ‘chiefly while perusing books of the latter class<br /> that I have again and again longed to raise a<br /> ‘small cry of protest against the practice of using<br /> metaphors and similes so threadbare that one<br /> wonders how in the world they manage still to<br /> hang together.<br /> <br /> Thus in five novels that I have glanced through<br /> ‘quite recently I have found five different ladies each<br /> with,‘ the speculative blue eye of the Saxon”; in five<br /> more five different heroes or principal characters<br /> each with “the passionate high nose of the<br /> Norman”; and in three others three male<br /> “characters each afflicted—for I consider that it<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> is an infliction — with “the prominent high —<br /> cheek-bone that is said to indicate Caledonian —<br /> descent.”<br /> I turn to a pile of novels of the same stamp<br /> <br /> that I had occasion to read some weeks ago, and<br /> find four young men, who ought to know better,<br /> “boasting the features of an Antinous”; six<br /> young ladies, engaged in a corps de ballet, “ whose<br /> faces rivalled in sweetness the faces of Guido<br /> virgins ’—fancy !—and whose tresses resembled<br /> respectively<br /> <br /> 1. a raven’s wing,<br /> <br /> 2. burnished copper,<br /> <br /> 3. burnished gold,<br /> quite an advertisement for a Bond Street beauty<br /> specialist. Not satisfied with this, one of them<br /> has—here we have originality run riot—é lips<br /> curving like a cupid’s bow,” while the fairest of all<br /> these fair girls, she upon whom a sheepish young<br /> lord, who is the principal boy of the story, has<br /> fixed his affections, goes, if the vulgarism may be<br /> allowed, one better than all her colleagues. For<br /> she possessed, we are told, “a dainty shell” which<br /> ‘she chose to call her ear.”<br /> <br /> So that clearly, in spite of her physical allure-<br /> <br /> ments, she must have been a ballet-dancer of weak<br /> intellect, if one can imagine such a thing, who by<br /> <br /> this time is probably babbling of green fields and<br /> green chartreuse.<br /> <br /> But if the heroine of low-grade intellect is<br /> coming into vogue in fiction, in some instances<br /> the hero, in the phraseology of the Turf, runs her<br /> <br /> very close. In a book by a deservedly-popular<br /> novelist, a writer who is very far removed from the<br /> producers of “ servant-class stories,” we find the<br /> young gentleman in love lashing himself into such<br /> a paroxysm of affection that for the time he must<br /> assuredly have been to all intents and purposes<br /> non compos. This is how he “spreads” himself,<br /> to use an expressive word from America :<br /> <br /> ‘Oh, I am jealous of him,” he burst out passion-<br /> ately. “I am jealous of the wind that caresses<br /> your cheek ; of the carpet that feels your tread ;<br /> of the star that peeps in at your window. Iam<br /> jealous of all who come near you, or think of you,<br /> or speak to you... .”<br /> <br /> Another subject for strait waistcoats and padded<br /> cells.<br /> <br /> A dozen times—I do not exaggerate—in some<br /> of these novels, the dear old similes are trotted<br /> out that date back to one’s cradle days, and<br /> probably “so long that the memory of man<br /> runneth not to the contrary.” Creatures of a<br /> species long extinct are still “as extinct as the<br /> dodo.” Men, women, little children even, find<br /> themselves compelled to accomplish, sometimes<br /> they set themselves to accomplish, “tasks of a<br /> Sisyphus.” Twenty different men, in twenty<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> po<br /> <br /> (Oo .<br /> aw<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> qs<br /> 101<br /> <br /> te<br /> 3<br /> to”<br /> hoa<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> different books, are “ waiting, like Mr. Micawber,<br /> for ‘something to turn up.” If only they would<br /> sometimes wait like somebody else, they would<br /> afford their readers such a_ pleasant interlude.<br /> Perhaps the simile that constitutes the worst<br /> offender of all, however, is the one that runs:<br /> ‘*As Mr. Punch said to those about to marry—<br /> ‘Don’t !’” Glance through any batch of library<br /> books, skim your newspapers, even, and you will<br /> come across it sooner or later. And, after all,<br /> was it such a very brilliant observation? Person-<br /> ally I have always thought it rather foolish ; but<br /> then, as the Gaiety super said, “ You know, dear,<br /> I am only a cyphon,” in this community of Giants<br /> of the Pen, and, I repeat, I speak in all humility.<br /> <br /> If we must have metaphors and similes, how-<br /> ever, and ebullitions of affection, and occasionally<br /> platitudes ; and if the attributes of our heroes and<br /> heroines in fiction must necessarily be contrasted<br /> with the attributes of characters in real life, why<br /> not strike out a new line and contrast the personal<br /> characteristics, qualities and charms of the imagi-<br /> nary characters with those of distinguished<br /> persons who are alive now? I believe the first<br /> batch of novelists, no matter to what grade they<br /> may belong, to make this innovation, would<br /> increase their royalties on sales enormously.<br /> <br /> Those four young men, for instance, who<br /> boasted the features of an Antinous ; why not<br /> have given them the chiselled countenance of one<br /> of our leading actors, or the classic profile of a<br /> distinguished barrister? In like manner, the<br /> heroes with the Norman nose said to indicate an<br /> energetic temperament; why not have endowed<br /> them with the firm mouth of a Labour Member, or<br /> the broad brow of our Napoleon of the Press ?<br /> High cheek-bones may denote Caledonian descent,<br /> but, when all is said and done, they are not<br /> physically attractive. The cheery smile of a<br /> jovial baronet, or the strongly-marked eye-brows<br /> of a certain popular lecturer, would look far<br /> better, and for the rather harsh Caledonian accent<br /> there are several Irish leaders of enterprise whose<br /> rich brogue could be substituted.<br /> <br /> Think, too, of the additional interest in the<br /> form of what I believe is called “the personal<br /> equation” all this would impart to the story, and<br /> of the fresh form of excitement it would stir up<br /> when the gloriously beautiful visions of the<br /> novelist’s dreams came to be compared with their<br /> living prototypes. Thus:<br /> <br /> “Tiady Gwendoline Belthaven was indeed a<br /> most remarkable woman. ‘Tall above the average,<br /> gowned to perfection in an admirably-cut costume<br /> of some soft, clinging material (I find that this is<br /> still a very popular style of confection when the<br /> writer is a man), she stood there before them all a<br /> veritable ... ”’ then, instead of saying Minerva,<br /> <br /> 245.<br /> <br /> or Cleopatra, or Juno, or some equally well-<br /> favoured and no doubt eminently desirable dame,<br /> in her time, our author would adopt the plan [<br /> have suggested, and insert the name of the statu-<br /> esque favourite of our burlesque stage, or of the<br /> handsome lady now nightly drawing crowded<br /> houses to witness more serious drama, or the:<br /> naine even of the tall and world-famed contralto:<br /> of the concert platform.<br /> <br /> Teeth like pearls, and the smile of an angel,<br /> would become back numbers. We should have<br /> instead the smile and the teeth of one or other of<br /> the beautiful ladies of the picture postcards. In<br /> lien of that commonplace, eyes like stars, or the<br /> eyes of a gazelle, and the form of a Venus or some<br /> other goddess of a remote epoch, the heroine of one<br /> of our front-rank novelist’s next masterpiece would<br /> possess ‘‘the great orbs of my Jiady So-and-So,<br /> and the admirably moulded figure of Mademoiselle.<br /> ...? This, or That—a combination sufficiently<br /> irresistible to set any heroine upon a pinnacle at<br /> one bound.<br /> <br /> The proposal opens up a vista of possibilities,<br /> and is worthy of serious consideration.<br /> <br /> Basti Tozer..<br /> <br /> —_—__—_—_.- 9 —___—<br /> <br /> MUSICAL COPYRIGHT.*<br /> oe<br /> <br /> HE three properties—literary, dramatic and<br /> <br /> musical—are so closely allied, and matters<br /> <br /> which refer to one, bear in so many instances<br /> <br /> upon the others, that a book dealing with either<br /> <br /> literary, dramatic or musical law, separately must, if<br /> <br /> it is to be complete and satisfactory, exhaust nearly<br /> <br /> all those points of view which bear on the other pro-<br /> <br /> perties as well. In the case ofa law that deals with<br /> <br /> two or three subjects at the same time, it is exceed-<br /> <br /> ingly difficult to take one of the subjects as apart<br /> <br /> from the rest and write a satisfactory treatise<br /> upon it.<br /> <br /> Perhaps it is because of this difficulty that a.<br /> perusal of Mr. Cutler’s book gives one the idea<br /> of confusion. The arrangement does not seem to:<br /> be clear, and although there seem to be no points:<br /> which have been missed out, yet an unsatisfactory<br /> impression is left as to the rights and limitations<br /> of this particular property.<br /> <br /> Mr. Cutler makes a considerable point in his<br /> preface of the fact that the book is written by one<br /> who is a musician as well as a lawyer, “there are<br /> cases where the cultured musician would scent out an<br /> origin, common both to a supposed piratical copy<br /> of a given theme and to the theme itself, and the<br /> family likeness may be sufficiently definite to take<br /> <br /> KC.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> * “Musical Copyright,’’ E. Cutler, Simpkin,<br /> <br /> Marshall, &amp; Co. 1905.<br /> 246<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> away the right to complain of an infringement,<br /> but the mere lawyer in such cases might be misled<br /> into advising an action by the close similarity<br /> between the original phrase and the copy.” ‘This<br /> knowledge may make the author an invaluable<br /> witness or even advocate in an infringement of<br /> musical copyright, but does not necessarily aid him<br /> in writing a treatise on the subject. He constantly<br /> refers in no measured terms to the present position<br /> of musical copyright under the existing acts and<br /> to the urgent need of amendment, but seems to con-<br /> ‘sider the matter rather from the point of view of the<br /> publisher than of the author of the property. _<br /> <br /> In the course of his disquisition on international<br /> rights he mentions the different decisions referring<br /> to mechanieal reproductions. Though such repro-<br /> -ductions have been held under British Courts not to<br /> be infringements of copyright he rightly concludes<br /> that there is no reason why they should not be<br /> infringements of performing right.<br /> <br /> But it is not likely that a case bearing on this<br /> performing right will ever come forward before the<br /> English Courts, for first, the law makes the reten-<br /> tion of the performing right difficult and compli-<br /> cated, and secondly, the English composers in most<br /> cases throw this right wantonly away, transferring it<br /> to the publishers for little or no consideration, and<br /> the publishers do not trouble to market the right<br /> successfully. They only care to hold the control<br /> as distinct from the composers.<br /> <br /> Matters are managed differently in France, and<br /> composers should make a combined effort to<br /> maintain this property.<br /> <br /> After International Rights come Colonial Copy<br /> and Performing Rights and here, although the<br /> statutes are set out, there appears to be no mention<br /> of the Canadian Act of 1900, the passing of which<br /> filled a gap in the protection of Canadian Rights.<br /> <br /> The last chapter deals with the United States<br /> Rights, and then follow the appendices.<br /> <br /> But the first of these dealing with the Retro-<br /> ‘spective effect of the International Copyright Act,<br /> 1886, ought really to have been incorporated into<br /> the body of the book, as the point is one of great<br /> importance and considerable difficulty. This is a<br /> distinct fault of arrangement and we venture to<br /> suggest, at the same time, that instead of naming<br /> the cases in the marginal notes it would have been<br /> much better to name the point of law especially<br /> interpreted. To the ordinary reader the name of<br /> a case carries no information.<br /> <br /> : The book after careful study is accurate in detail,<br /> in fact on some points the detail is too laboured.<br /> <br /> ‘The arrangement, however, is unsatisfactory and<br /> the respective values (to use a term borrowed from<br /> artistic criticism) of the different headings of his<br /> subject have not been fully grasped, and the<br /> Perspective has not been fairly handled.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> OPERATIC FICTION.*<br /> —<br /> <br /> Y the well-intentioned series of volumes he<br /> is bringing out, called “The Music Lover’s<br /> Library,” Mr. T. Werner Laurie is helping<br /> <br /> in a praiseworthy manner, the cause of art in this<br /> country. This literary concert scheme having<br /> made its début with the book entitled “Chats on<br /> Violins,” the second item of the programme which<br /> now follows consists of ‘“ Stories from the Operas :<br /> With Short Biographies of the Composers.”<br /> Signor Lobskini, the singing master with the<br /> splendid tenor voice, would have ‘‘ pooh-pood”<br /> this book. Uneducated musicians sadly under-<br /> value the words they sing. All they care about<br /> is to display the musical, or unmusical, sounds<br /> which issue from a pair of stentorian lungs through<br /> an instrument called the larynx. Words, to such<br /> minds, have no business to represent ideas. They<br /> may be the wings of action, the soul’s ambassadors,<br /> and all that sort of thing, but they have nothing<br /> whatever to do with the audience. Especially is<br /> this the case in grand opera, where the language<br /> sung is probably unfamiliar to the listener. So<br /> the public, having paid its money, does not at all<br /> agree with the roaring Lobskinis, who strut behind<br /> the footlights. The listeners naturally desire to<br /> know the story of the opera. It is an awful thing<br /> to sit an entire evening in a stuffy atmosphere<br /> witnessing a number of energetic creatures simu-<br /> lating all the emotions of love, hate, joy, or grief,<br /> without daring to ask one’s neighbour the meaning<br /> of it all, for fear of being regarded as an ignorant<br /> worm. So here the reader is presented with twenty<br /> fluently-told narratives, summarising the legend,<br /> history, or plot portrayed by the performance of as<br /> many operas. The author is Miss Gladys David-<br /> son. She confines herself to explaining what the<br /> literary voice of some of the best-known operas is<br /> designed to utter, but usually completely fails to<br /> do. To attempt tosketch the historical development<br /> of opera, its beginnings, reforms, classical period,<br /> its romantic school, or distinctive treatment in<br /> various countries, is not her mission. Neither<br /> does she waste space in deploring, that, from a<br /> literary standpoint, the opera libretto has too<br /> often been a disgrace to its author. Save in the<br /> case of Gluck, Wagner, Boito, and a very few<br /> other composers, the musician has shown small<br /> appreciation of the sister art of poetry, or sym-<br /> pathy with the poet. In consequence, stilted and<br /> atrocious verbiage has in many cases been wedded<br /> to sublime music. In ancient times the man who<br /> conceived the words composed also the melody,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> * “Stories from the Operas: with short Biographies of<br /> the Composers,” by Gladys Davidson. T. Werner Laurie,’<br /> Clifford’s Iun, London. 3s. 6d. net.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> and until musicians are again trained in early<br /> youth to fathom the beauties of painting in words,<br /> as well as in sound, the lop-sided alliance of two<br /> minds to produce a magnum opus, which should be<br /> equally meritorious in all departments, must result<br /> -either in the music being superior to the libretto,<br /> or the words surpassing the value of the music.<br /> <br /> It is well, therefore, that books dealing with the<br /> stories told by librettists in the great operas should<br /> stimulate literary interest in that department of<br /> art. Asa writer, Miss Davidson merits applause.<br /> She unfolds simply, and without affectation, plots<br /> of certain melodramas, the music of which gives<br /> pleasure to thousands. Perhaps that enjoyment<br /> will be increased in the future, after the reader, by<br /> perusal of this book, has been enabled to divine<br /> what all the beautiful singing is about. Unfor-<br /> tunately, only twenty stories are told. When we<br /> remember that hundreds of operas are included in<br /> the repertoire alone of Covent Garden, it will be per-<br /> ceived that Miss Davidson’s scope is very limited.<br /> <br /> But this is by no means the first book of its kind.<br /> In 1889, Messrs. Ward and Downey published<br /> twenty-three “ Operatic Tales,” by F. R. Chesney.<br /> Is is interesting to observe the manner in which<br /> the selection of stories varies in the two volumes.<br /> Both writers treat of Lohengrin,” “ Figaro,”<br /> “ Faust,” “Carmen,” and ‘ Mignon.” Apart from<br /> these works, the two story-tellors take different paths.<br /> While Miss Davidson omits Beethoven’s ‘“ Fidelio,”<br /> Gluck’s ‘‘ Orfeo,” Weber’s ‘“ Freischiitz,” Rossini’s<br /> “William Tell,” and Wagner’s ‘“ Meistersiinger,”<br /> Mr. Chesney turns his back on Mozart’s “ Don<br /> Juan,” Meyerbeer’s ‘ Robert the Devil,” Wagner’s<br /> “Tristan,” and the “ Nibelungen Ring.” The four<br /> sections of that great cycle, by the way, were dealt<br /> with, in a delightful manner, by Mr.. Philip Leslie<br /> Agnew in his “ Run through the Nibelung’s Ring,”<br /> published in 1898, and the way in which the entan-<br /> glements of the “ Ring” are differently unravelled<br /> in that and the present book, is entertaining to ob-<br /> serve. As already noted, Miss Davidson makes no<br /> attempt to display her knowledge of opera libret-<br /> tists. The student should, therefore, refer to that<br /> able work “The Opera,” by Mr. Streatfeild, which<br /> was published by Mr. Nimmo in 1897. On the<br /> <br /> _ contrary, these short stories furnish mental nourish-<br /> ment of a lighter kind. They are the sort of<br /> pabulum the rest-seeker, who is dog-wearied by<br /> overwork, may put into his portmanteau when<br /> taking an holiday, and peruse as he reclines on a<br /> mossy bank with a cigar between his teeth, and a<br /> straw hat tilted over his nose. Literary balm of<br /> this kind should bring repose to a tired mind, and<br /> Solace a weary heart. In proof of our rash asser-<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> tion, may we quote, at random, from the opening<br /> of the story intituled “ Martha” ?—“The Lady<br /> Henrietta was dull.<br /> <br /> She sat one summer morning<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 247<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> in the gilded boudoir of her fine house at Rich-<br /> mond and heaved sigh upon sigh. For although<br /> maid-of-honour to Queen Anne, and the loveliest<br /> and most fascinating of all the Court beauties, she<br /> found no satisfaction in life. She was wearied to<br /> death of balls and routs, of the ceaseless flatteries<br /> of her many admirers, of the tiresome monotony<br /> of court life. And, satiated with pleasure, she had<br /> retired to her own home for a few days’ respite, to<br /> <br /> indulge in vapours to her heart’s content.’’ Could<br /> anything be more rhythmical or lovely? And<br /> mark, there is a pretty virtue in “vapours.” For,<br /> <br /> about this book, there is none of that swaggering<br /> vapour which was so terrifyingly characteristic of<br /> Van Tromp’s Dutchmen. In this volume, the<br /> story of “ I] Trovatore ” is, likewise, ben trovato.<br /> As regards Miss Davidson’s literary style, it<br /> may be defined as aeritorm and of fairylike timbre’<br /> flowing, as it does, through nearly three hundred<br /> pages with the merry tinkle of a silvery brook<br /> without wearying the reader. Ladies might call<br /> the style “dainty.” But that, to our captious<br /> self, suggests squeamishness and affectation. The<br /> distinctive manner of Miss Davidson’s dictum, is,<br /> we prefer to say, befittingly feminine. It is deli-<br /> cately womanish. For that reason, doth it not<br /> possess a refinement and charm too often sadly lack-<br /> ing in the masculine and brutal pen of mere man ?<br /> <br /> A. R,<br /> ee<br /> <br /> “THE MOTORIST’S A.B.C.”<br /> <br /> ————.<br /> <br /> AUTOMOBILE PROPRIETARY LIMITED v. T. FISHER<br /> UNWIN, BEFORE Mr. Justice KEKEWICH.<br /> HIS was an application by the proprietors of<br /> <br /> the ‘Automobile Handbook” which is issued<br /> under the auspices and by the authority of the<br /> <br /> Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland, foran<br /> <br /> interim injunction to restrain the defendant from<br /> <br /> publishing a book which he had announced by<br /> preliminary advertisements under the title of “ The<br /> <br /> Motorist’s A.B.C. —a practical handbook for the use<br /> <br /> of Owners, Operators, and Automoble Mechanics,”<br /> <br /> by Elliott Brooks. The plaintiffs became aware of<br /> the defendant’s publication in consequence of the<br /> defendant having sent a copy of his book for<br /> review in advance of publication to The Automo-<br /> bile Club Journal which is published by the<br /> plaintiffs. ‘The plaintiffs discovered on examining<br /> the volume that ‘“‘ The Motorist’s A.B.C.” had, as<br /> a headline to the pages throughout the book, the<br /> words “The Automobile Hand-book,” and this<br /> they held constituted infringement. The defendant<br /> in his affidavit pointed out that his book was<br /> entitled “The Motorist’s A.B.C.” which name<br /> appeared on the back of the volume, on the side of<br /> the volume, and also on the title page, and that in<br /> <br /> <br /> 248<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> his published descriptions of the book the volume<br /> was described as “The Motorist’s A.B.C.” and<br /> never as “ The Automobile Handbook.” Further,<br /> that his volume was of a different size, a different<br /> price, that the literary contents were altogether<br /> different ; that his work contained 100 illustrations<br /> whereas the plaintiffs’ book contained no illustra-<br /> tions, and that the binding was different both as<br /> to material and colour, that the volume was<br /> different in its general style and get up, and that<br /> it was not a tourist’s book for automobilists such<br /> as was the plaintiff’s book. Further, the defendant<br /> pointed out that his book “The Motorist’s A.B.C.”<br /> was an American production which he had pur-<br /> chased for publication in this country and that the<br /> title page had been specially printed and that the<br /> title was his own invention. Defendant further<br /> alleged that. plaintiffs’ book was practically un-<br /> known in the trade, and was not mentioned in the<br /> various trade catalogues he had consulted, and he<br /> had never seen or heard of the book prior to these<br /> proceedings being taken.<br /> <br /> The plaintiffs were represented by Mr. Ogden<br /> Lawrence, K.C. and Mr. Sebastian, and the de-<br /> fendants by Mr. H. A. Colefax. After adjourn-<br /> ment the matter was settled by arrangement, the<br /> plaintiffs agreeing to the issue of the present<br /> edition of the book as it stands, and the defendants<br /> agreeing in any future editions the words the<br /> Automobile Handbook shall not appear at the head<br /> of each of the pages of his book. The plaintiffs<br /> further agreed to pay costs of both sides, the<br /> defendant’s costs being fixed at 20 guineas.<br /> <br /> a<br /> <br /> CORRESPONDENCE.<br /> <br /> ——<br /> Totrems FoR AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> Srr,—If a totem would really be of any use to<br /> any author, why not adopt the simplest one, which<br /> even the man in the street could not fail to under-<br /> stand and to interpret correctly ?<br /> <br /> In other words, the best means of identification<br /> seems to me to be one which requires no system of<br /> registration, which is patent to everyone, and<br /> which cannot be copied without the legal troubles<br /> attendant on forgery—I mean a copy of the<br /> author’s own signature.<br /> <br /> The present writer’s “totem” would then be<br /> simply :—<br /> <br /> 7 Plrman¥ (olin<br /> <br /> Nees<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> DicTionaRY OF Music.<br /> <br /> Sir,—In your contributor’s rightly appreciative<br /> article, in this month’s Author, on the new edition<br /> of Groye’s “ Dictionary of Music,” he erroneously<br /> comments upon the omission of any reference to<br /> the well-known library of my friend, Dr. W. H.<br /> Cummings, F&#039;.S.A., in the article upon “ Musical<br /> Libraries.”<br /> <br /> He has probably been mislead byJnot finding<br /> this celebrated collection mentioned under the<br /> sub-title, London; but if he will refer to the other<br /> sub-title, Dulwich, in the same article, he will find<br /> it is treated of there.<br /> <br /> I quite agree with your contributor that such an<br /> omission, if it occurred, would have been a blemish,<br /> indeed, upon such a careful reswmé as the article<br /> in question.<br /> <br /> Faithfully yours,<br /> F. St. Jonn Lacy, A.R.A.M.<br /> <br /> Note.—In reply to the above charitable comment<br /> on our criticism, we may be forgiven for having con-<br /> nected the Principal of the largest Music School in<br /> the metropolis with “ London.” Considering that<br /> Dulwich is as much within the County of London<br /> as is Stoke Newington, it was only reasonable<br /> to conclude—as most people who refer to the<br /> dictionary will do—that if Mr. Bumpus’s library<br /> is given under the heading of London, and Dr.<br /> Cumnniings’s is not, the latter has been overlooked.<br /> Why it should have been sandwiched in between<br /> Dublin and Dundee puzzles us. But, as it comes<br /> immediately after Dublin, we venture to add that<br /> the excellent musical library of Dr. Culwick, which<br /> contains many precious and rare volumes belonging<br /> to the organist of the Dublin Chapel Royal, is<br /> omitted, and we fail to see this excellent collection<br /> specified under Drumcondra or even Donnybrook.<br /> <br /> A. R.<br /> <br /> AGENTS.<br /> <br /> S1r,—I should like to call the attention of<br /> <br /> members of the society to the question of agents,<br /> <br /> who are not agents.<br /> The matter has been discussed once or twice<br /> in these columns, but it does occur sometimes to<br /> my knowledge that gentlemen purporting to act<br /> as agents have really acted as principals. Even<br /> without any fraudulent intent such a position is<br /> untenable.<br /> Constant READZR,	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/516/1906-05-01-The-Author-16-8.pdf	publications, The Author