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527	https://historysoa.com/items/show/527	The Author, Vol. 23 Issue 07 (April 1913)	<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.+23+Issue+07+%28April+1913%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 23 Issue 07 (April 1913)</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>	1913-04-01-The-Author-23-7					187–218																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=23">23</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1913-04-01">1913-04-01</a>							7			19130401	Che HMuthbor.<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 /> j Vor. XXIII.—No. 7.<br /> <br /> APRIL 1, 1913.<br /> <br /> [Price SIXPENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> TELEPHONE NUMBER:<br /> 374 VICTORIA.<br /> <br /> TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS:<br /> AUTORIDAD, LONDON.<br /> <br /> —__—__—_.——e____—__<br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> <br /> ——_—+—~+——<br /> <br /> | | aoe the opinions expressed in papers that<br /> <br /> are signed or initialled the authors alone<br /> <br /> are responsible. None of the papers or<br /> <br /> eq paragraphs must be taken as expressing the<br /> <br /> ige opinion of the Committee unless such is<br /> 28 especially stated to be the case.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Tue Editor begs to inform members of the<br /> Authors’ Society and other readers of The<br /> Author that the cases which are quoted in The<br /> Author are cases that have come before the<br /> notice or to the knowledge of the Secretary of<br /> the Society, and that those members of the<br /> Society who desire to have the names of the<br /> publishers concerned can obtain them on<br /> application.<br /> <br /> y=<br /> <br /> eeanterre<br /> <br /> ARTICLES AND CONTRIBUTIONS.<br /> <br /> Tue Editor of The Author begs to remind<br /> <br /> 4 members of the Society that, although the<br /> | paper is sent to them free of cost, its production<br /> “7 would be a very heavy charge on the resources<br /> ‘9 of the Society if a great many members did not<br /> <br /> 1 forward to the Secretary the modest 5s. 6d.<br /> ‘@ subscription for the year.<br /> ; Communications for The Author should be<br /> <br /> _ addressed to the offices of the Society, 1, Cen-<br /> “) tral Buildings, Tothill Street, Westminster,<br /> “2 §.W., and should reach the Editor not later<br /> ‘than the 21st of each month.<br /> <br /> Communications and letters are invited by<br /> the Editor on all literary matters treated from<br /> <br /> Vou. XXIII.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> the standpoint of art or business, but on no<br /> other subjects whatever. Every effort will be<br /> made to return articles which cannot be<br /> accepted.<br /> <br /> ADVERTISEMENTS.<br /> <br /> As there seems to be an impression among<br /> readers of The Author that the Committee are<br /> personally responsible for the bona fides of the<br /> advertisers, the Committee desire it to be stated<br /> that this is not, and could not possibly be, the<br /> case. Although care is exercised that no<br /> undesirable advertisements be inserted, they<br /> do not accept, and never have accepted, any<br /> liability.<br /> <br /> Members should apply to the Secretary for<br /> advice if special information is desired.<br /> <br /> og Oe re<br /> <br /> THE SOCIETY’S FUNDS.<br /> <br /> —_+—&lt;— +<br /> <br /> ROM time to time members of the Society<br /> desire to make donations to its funds in<br /> recognition of work that has been done<br /> <br /> for them. The Committee, acting on the<br /> suggestion of one of these members, have<br /> decided to place this permanent paragraph in<br /> The Author in order that members may be<br /> cognisant of those funds to which these con-<br /> tributions may be paid.<br /> <br /> The funds suitable for this purpose are:<br /> (1) The Capital Fund. This fund is kept in<br /> reserve in case it is necessary for the Society to<br /> incur heavy expenditure, either in fighting a<br /> question of principle, or in assisting to obtain<br /> copyright reform, or in dealing with any other<br /> matter closely connected with the work of the<br /> Society.<br /> <br /> (2) The Pension Fund, This fund is slowly<br /> increasing, and it is hoped will, in time, cover<br /> the needs of all the members of the Society.<br /> <br /> &quot;2<br /> <br /> <br /> 188<br /> THE PENSION FUND.<br /> <br /> So -<br /> <br /> NFJanuary, the secretary of the Society<br /> laid before the trustees of the Pension<br /> Fund the accounts for the year 1912, as<br /> <br /> settled by the accountants. After giving the<br /> matter full consideration, the trustees in-<br /> structed the secretary to invest a sum of £800<br /> in the purchase of Buenos Ayres Great<br /> Southern Railway 4% Extension Shares, 1914,<br /> £10 fully paid. The number of shares pur-<br /> chased at the current price was twenty-five<br /> and the amount invested £296 1s. 1ld. The<br /> trustees are also purchasing three more Central<br /> Argentine Railway New Shares at par, on which<br /> as holders of the Ordinary Stock they have an<br /> option.<br /> <br /> The trustees desire to thank the members<br /> of the Society for the continued support which<br /> they have given to the Pension Fund.<br /> <br /> The nominal value of the investments held<br /> on behalf of the Pension Fund now amounts<br /> to £4,764 6s., details of which are fully set out<br /> in the following schedule :-—<br /> <br /> Nominal Value.<br /> <br /> £8: a.<br /> Local Loans .......----eeeeees 500 0 0<br /> Victoria Government 3% Consoli-<br /> <br /> dated Inscribed Stock ........ 291 19 11<br /> London and North-Western 3%<br /> <br /> Debenture Stock ..........-- 250 0 0<br /> Egyptian Government Irrigation<br /> <br /> Trust 4% Certificates ........ 200 0 0<br /> Cape of Good Hope 84% Inscribed<br /> <br /> Stock 220.5255 + 2.35.5 ee 200 0 90<br /> Glasgow and South-Western Rail-<br /> <br /> way 4% Preference Stock .... 228 0 0<br /> New Zealand 34% Stock........ 247 9 6<br /> Irish Land 23% Guaranteed Stock 258 0 0<br /> Corporation of London 23%<br /> <br /> Stock, 1997—57....:.-..-.5... 488 2 4<br /> Jamaica 84% Stock, 1919-49 1382 18 6<br /> Mauritius 4% 1987 Stock ...... 120 12 1<br /> Dominion of Canada, C.P.R. 33%<br /> <br /> Land Grant Stock, 1988 ...... 198 3 8<br /> Antofagasta and Bolivian Railway<br /> <br /> 5% Preferred Stock .......... 237 0 0<br /> Central Argentine Railway Or-<br /> <br /> dinary Stock ........ fue sk oe 232 0 0<br /> $2,000 Consolidated Gas and<br /> <br /> Electric Company of Baltimore<br /> <br /> 44%, Gold Bonds ............ 400 0 6<br /> 250 Edward Lloyd, Ltd., £1 5%<br /> <br /> Preference Shares .......... 250 0 0<br /> 55 Buenos Ayres Great Southern<br /> <br /> Railway 4% Extension Shares,<br /> <br /> 1914 (fully paid) ............ 550 0 0<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Nominal V alue.<br /> <br /> £ 3.24<br /> <br /> 8 Central Argentine Railway £10<br /> Preference Shares, New Issue.. 380 0 QO<br /> Total. vince. £4,764 6 0<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> i<br /> <br /> PENSION FUND.<br /> <br /> a a ae<br /> <br /> Tue list printed below includes all fresh dona-<br /> tions and subscriptions (i.e., donations and<br /> subscriptions not hitherto acknowledged)<br /> received by, or promised to, the fund from<br /> October 1, 1912.<br /> <br /> It does not include either donations given<br /> prior to October, nor does it include sub-<br /> scriptions paid in compliance with promises<br /> made before it.<br /> <br /> Subscriptions.<br /> <br /> 3<br /> <br /> mooooooooooascececoco:<br /> <br /> 1912.<br /> <br /> Oct. 2, Todhunter, Dr. John. .<br /> <br /> Oct. 10, Escott, T. H. S. : :<br /> <br /> Oct. 10, Henderson, R. W. Wright<br /> <br /> Oct. 10, Knowles, Miss M. W. :<br /> <br /> Oct. 11, Buckley, Reginald .<br /> <br /> Oct. 12, Walshe, Douglas<br /> <br /> Oct. 12, “‘ Penmark”’ . c<br /> <br /> Oct. 15, Sinclair Miss Edith .<br /> <br /> Oct. 16, Markino, Yoshio<br /> <br /> Oct. 20, Fiamingo, Carlo<br /> <br /> Oct. 29, Henley, Mrs. .<br /> <br /> Nov. 8, Jane, L. Cecil .<br /> <br /> Nov. 14, Gibb, W.<br /> <br /> Dec. 4, De Brath, S. . :<br /> <br /> Dec. 4, Sephton, The Rev. J.<br /> <br /> Dec. 4, Cooper, Miss Marjorie<br /> <br /> Dec. 7, MacRitchie, David<br /> <br /> Dec. 11, Fagan, James B.<br /> <br /> Dec. 27, Dawson Forbes<br /> <br /> 1913.<br /> <br /> Jan. 3, Toynbee, William (in addi-<br /> tion to his present sub-<br /> scription). .- ; :<br /> <br /> Jan. 9, Gibson, Frank . ‘<br /> <br /> Jan. 29, Blackley, Miss E. L.<br /> <br /> Jan. 31, Annesley, Miss Maude<br /> <br /> Feb. 6, Rothenstein, Albert .<br /> <br /> Feb. 10, Bradshaw, Percy V. ‘<br /> <br /> tt et<br /> HKOooomuanno?<br /> <br /> Cr oocooooororoooOooCooorFnh<br /> ~~<br /> <br /> _<br /> SONS Or Or OU Ot et Or<br /> <br /> coooo?<br /> <br /> Donations.<br /> 1912.<br /> Oct. 2, Stuart, James . :<br /> Oct. 14, Dibblee, G. Binney . .<br /> Oct. 14, Michell, The Right Hon.<br /> Sir Lewis, C.V.O. ;<br /> <br /> a of<br /> _<br /> o-<br /> ao<br /> <br /> Or<br /> AHRHASSS<br /> <br /> Bes pti!<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> TH.<br /> <br /> -t9@ Oct. 17, Ord, H.W. . ‘ ‘<br /> »Jo0 Oct. 20, Yorke-Smith, Mrs. .<br /> <br /> vow Nov.<br /> io Nov.<br /> 9G Dec.<br /> vo Dec.<br /> 4 Dec.<br /> o@ Dee.<br /> 9 Dec.<br /> 90 Dec.<br /> wo Dec.<br /> Dec.<br /> Dec.<br /> Dec.<br /> 1913.<br /> Jan.<br /> Jan.<br /> Jan.<br /> Jan.<br /> ia) Jan. 2,<br /> <br /> d3 3<br /> re: |<br /> tap<br /> <br /> is<br /> rf 8G<br /> aL<br /> <br /> . Jan.<br /> , Jan.<br /> <br /> Feb.<br /> Feb.<br /> Feb.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Feb.<br /> ‘Feb.<br /> <br /> 10, Hood, Francis<br /> <br /> 20, Kennard, Mrs. N. H. 5<br /> 4, McEwan, Miss M. S. . ‘<br /> 4, Kennedy, E. B. ‘<br /> <br /> 11, Begarnie, George . :<br /> 11, Tanner, James T.<br /> <br /> 11, Toplis, Miss Grace . :<br /> 14, Watson, Mrs. Herbert A..<br /> 14, French, Mrs. Warner :<br /> 17, Smith, Miss Sheila Kaye .<br /> 17, Marras, Mowbray<br /> <br /> 27, Edwards, Percy J.<br /> <br /> 1, Risque, W. H.<br /> <br /> 1, Rankin, Mrs. F. M.<br /> <br /> 2, Short, Miss L. M.<br /> <br /> 2, Mackenzie, Miss J.<br /> <br /> Webling, Miss Peggy<br /> <br /> 8, Harris, Mrs. E. H. .<br /> <br /> 8, Church, Sir Arthur,<br /> K.C.V.O., ete.<br /> <br /> . 4, Douglas, James A.<br /> <br /> . 4, Grant, Lady Sybil<br /> <br /> . 6, Haultain, Arnold<br /> <br /> . 6, Beveridge, Mrs. :<br /> <br /> . 6, Clark, The Rev. Henry<br /> <br /> . 6, Ralli, C. Searamanja .<br /> <br /> . 6, Lathbury, Miss Eva .<br /> <br /> . 6, Pryce, Richard<br /> <br /> . 7, Gibson Miss L. S.<br /> <br /> : 10, Use .<br /> <br /> . 10, Ford, Miss May<br /> <br /> : 12, Greenstreet, W. J.<br /> <br /> .14, Anon .<br /> <br /> . 15, Maude Aylmer<br /> <br /> . 16, Price, Miss Eleanor .<br /> <br /> : 17, Blouet, Madame<br /> <br /> 220, PH. and MLK...<br /> <br /> . 22, Smith, Herbert W.<br /> <br /> . 25, Anon. . :<br /> <br /> . 27, Vernede, R. E. ‘<br /> <br /> . 29, Plowman, Miss Mary .<br /> . 29, Todd, Miss Margaret, M.D.<br /> . Bl, Jacobs, W. W. ;<br /> Feb.<br /> Feb.<br /> Feb.<br /> Feb.<br /> Feb.<br /> <br /> 1, Davy, Mrs.E.M. .<br /> <br /> 3, Abraham, J. J. ;<br /> <br /> 4, Gibbs, F. L. A.<br /> <br /> A, Buckrose, J. i.<br /> <br /> 4, Balme, Mrs. Nettleton .<br /> <br /> 6, Coleridge, The Hon. Gilbert<br /> <br /> 6, Machen, Arthur :<br /> <br /> 6, Romane-James, Mrs. ‘<br /> <br /> 6, Weston, Miss Lydia ‘ ‘<br /> <br /> 14, Saies, Mrs. F. H. (in addi-<br /> tion to her subscription)<br /> <br /> o CORP H OH OH ONHFOOCOCOOBH OH OCOOCOOCOROWOORNWH eooooco Cr oooOoOMoOoOoUNCO Oh Bb<br /> <br /> p=<br /> <br /> |<br /> Om ok Ow ono Oo Wk ©<br /> <br /> pat<br /> <br /> pont<br /> Or Or Or Or Or ©<br /> <br /> _<br /> <br /> bt<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> _<br /> <br /> =<br /> &gt; Anke KOH OH ONE NBROOBEK OFM OOS Oe Or<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> =<br /> <br /> wo; db oe<br /> <br /> ec sescooonaseacooaoanaccooocoocoocosoosoocoooeoecsese ecooooco ecoocooooo eo ooaone<br /> <br /> 189<br /> <br /> iv}<br /> <br /> BOF OANOSO:<br /> <br /> Feb.<br /> Feb.<br /> Feb.<br /> Feb.<br /> Feb.<br /> Feb.<br /> Feb.<br /> Feb.<br /> Mar,<br /> <br /> 14, O’Higgins, H. J. . :<br /> <br /> 15, Stephens, Dr. Ricardo<br /> <br /> 15, Jones, Miss KE. H.<br /> <br /> 17, Whibley, Charles<br /> <br /> 22, Probert, W. S.<br /> <br /> 24, S. F. G. :<br /> <br /> 27, XX. Pen Club<br /> <br /> 7, Keating, The<br /> Lloyd .<br /> <br /> 7, Tharp, Robert C.<br /> <br /> 10, Hall, H. Fielding<br /> <br /> 18, Moffatt, Miss Beatrice<br /> <br /> 14, Bennett, Arnold.<br /> <br /> 17, Michell, The Right Hon.<br /> Sir Lewis, K. C.V.0: .<br /> <br /> 17, Travers, Miss Rosalind<br /> <br /> i<br /> <br /> COrroooOoO®<br /> <br /> Rev. 5 :<br /> Mar. :<br /> Mar.<br /> Mar.<br /> <br /> Mar.<br /> Mar.<br /> <br /> aoc oo<br /> SO Or Or Or<br /> SS0C0OSD SCOOKAOMAAOe<br /> <br /> oe<br /> or ee<br /> oo<br /> <br /> Mar.<br /> ah a<br /> <br /> COMMITTEE NOTES.<br /> <br /> — +e<br /> <br /> HE Committee of Management held their<br /> third meeting of the year at 13, Queen<br /> Anne’s Gate, S.W., on March 3. The<br /> <br /> business was carried through in the usual<br /> order. Following the signing of the minutes<br /> of the previous meeting, the elections were<br /> proceeded with. A full list appears on another<br /> page. Twenty members in all were added to<br /> the list, making the total for the current year<br /> up to eighty-seven. The Committee accepted,<br /> with regret, sixteen resignations, but they are<br /> glad to report that the number is considerably<br /> smaller than during the corresponding period<br /> last year.<br /> <br /> * The solicitor then reported the cases during<br /> the past month.<br /> <br /> The first was an action for accounts and<br /> money against a publisher. The accounts<br /> had been delivered, an arrangement for<br /> settlement by two instalments had been made.<br /> One of the instalments had been paid, and<br /> the solicitor had no doubt that the second<br /> instalment on May 1 would be met in due<br /> course.<br /> <br /> Against another publisher the Society has<br /> four cases. It has been necessary to issue<br /> summonses in two of these, and in the other<br /> two, if the sums due under the accounts<br /> obtained are not paid, action will also be<br /> taken. The Society has three claims against<br /> a travelling actor, and in all three writs have<br /> been issued. In one of these, part of the<br /> sum due in royalties has been paid, but in<br /> none has a proper account been rendered.<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> 190<br /> <br /> The solicitors received instructions to carry<br /> the matter through. There were two small<br /> cases against a paper for unpaid contributions.<br /> The proprietor has declared himself unable to<br /> pay. In one case the summons has been<br /> issued, and the. solicitor was instructed to<br /> proceed to judgment and then determine<br /> what action should be. taken in the second<br /> case. The solicitor reported, with regret, the<br /> loss of a County Court action during the past<br /> month. There was a direct conflict of evidence<br /> between the plaintiff and the defendant, but<br /> as the onus rested on the plaintiff to make<br /> out the contract, the Judge considered this<br /> onus had not been discharged. There was no<br /> written agreement to produce in evidence.<br /> In two other small claims the debts have<br /> been paid after the writs had been issued. The<br /> solicitor next reported that one of the members<br /> of the Society having entrusted the original<br /> MS. of one of his published works to an<br /> agent for sale for a fixed sum, the agent had<br /> sold the MS. for a quarter of the amount.<br /> However, under pressure brought to bear by<br /> the Society, the MS. had been restored to the<br /> author, and the money to the purchaser.<br /> Another case was quoted by the solicitor<br /> where it was impossible to obtain the return<br /> of a MS. from the editor of a magazine. After<br /> a writ had been issued, the MS. was promptly<br /> returned. Then followed two dramatic cases.<br /> The first referred to the infringement of the<br /> work of a member of the Society by the<br /> roduction in the music halls of a sketch.<br /> The defendant put forward in defence that<br /> the play produced is a condensed version of<br /> a play written by himself prior to the publica-<br /> tion of the member’s book, but it does not<br /> appear that the original MS. is forthcoming.<br /> The second case was brought to the Society<br /> by a member, with the recommendation of<br /> the Dramatic Sub-Committee. The alleged<br /> infringer is also a member of the Society.<br /> After consideration of the evidence, the<br /> solicitor came to the conclusion that if any<br /> action was taken it should be rather for breach<br /> of confidence than for infringement of copyright.<br /> In both these cases the committee decided to<br /> carry forward the matter on behalf of the<br /> complainants. The next case related to an<br /> infringement of a member’s copyright, by the<br /> publication of a story in a penny weekly. It<br /> was decided to take the matter up. The next<br /> case related to an infringement of copyright<br /> in Canada, and here, also, the committee<br /> decided to support the author, but subject to<br /> the latter being responsible for a portion of<br /> the costs. A case of a demand made by a<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> publisher against an author under a contract<br /> between them, was also reported by the<br /> solicitor, and the committee decided to a<br /> defend any action brought against the<br /> author by the publisher.<br /> <br /> The secretary. then reported a complaint<br /> made against him by a member of the Society,<br /> in a case where he had acted as arbitrator.<br /> The secretary read the correspondence, and it<br /> was decided to write to the member on the<br /> subject. The secretary mentioned, also, to<br /> the committee a dispute arising between a<br /> member and his publisher on various points<br /> of accounts and the interpretation of clauses<br /> in the agreement. The committee authorised<br /> that counsel’s opinion should be taken, and<br /> if this opinion was favourable stated that<br /> they would support the member by legal<br /> action if necessary.<br /> <br /> After the cases had been disposed of, the —<br /> secretary laid before the committee the letters .<br /> he had received from editors, dealing with —<br /> the question of payment to contributors of —<br /> accepted contributions. It was decided, in —<br /> accordance with suggestions from important<br /> editors, to invite a formal conference at an .<br /> early date. The committee hope that a large :<br /> number of editors may agree to some definite —<br /> and uniform arrangement being established. —<br /> <br /> The next matter discussed was the practice<br /> of the proprietors of certain magazines who<br /> send receipts to contributors for their :<br /> signature, and, in some cases, cheques with e<br /> a receipt printed at the back, purporting to<br /> convey copyright to the magazine, although —<br /> no contract for such a transfer had previously —<br /> been made. The secretary was instructed —<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> to deal with the whole subject in The<br /> Author. :<br /> The committee discussed at length the<br /> <br /> question to be placed before the General<br /> Meeting and the Council in regard to the —<br /> commission to be charged by the Society om<br /> all sums collected by members through the<br /> intervention of the solicitors in whatever<br /> country action were taken. The committee<br /> decided to support a proposal that in all<br /> eases where the member did not employ the<br /> Collection Bureau the commission should be<br /> 10%, as against 5% which the Bureau charges —<br /> its members for carrying through the same<br /> matter.<br /> <br /> At the suggestion of the Composers’ Sub-<br /> Committee, an article had been written dealing<br /> with an agreement from a music publisher.<br /> This article was laid before the committee and<br /> <br /> assed, and appears elsewhere in this number<br /> of The Author.<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> ComposERS’ SuB-COMMITTEE.<br /> <br /> ‘T . Tuts sub-committee held their March mect-<br /> ging at the new offices of the Society, No. 1,<br /> ‘a9 Central Buildings, Tothill Street, Westminster,<br /> ¥7.S.W., on Saturday, March 8. After the<br /> aiiminutes of the previous meeting had been<br /> seeread and signed, the secretary reported that<br /> , an article referring to Messrs. Curwen &amp; Sons’<br /> “mg agreement, had been passed by the Committee<br /> / tof Management for publication in The Author.<br /> o/ The secretary then placed before the sub-com-<br /> jipmittee the papers of The Genossenschaft Deut-<br /> oscher Tonkunstler, and received instructions<br /> 26 to send out a copy of their contract to all the<br /> “emembers of the sub-committee, and to place<br /> o) the matter on the agenda for the next meeting.<br /> 11The secretary reported, also, that the circular<br /> ‘to. settled at the previous meeting of the sub-<br /> ‘i: committee had been sent out to the members<br /> | 1 of the Society of British Composers, and that<br /> _s he had obtained a further list of composers, to<br /> ts whom it would be sent in due course. The<br /> ‘fs answers would be laid before the sub-committee<br /> 4: at their next meeting.<br /> L The question cf mechanical rights was<br /> i) discussed, and a suggestion made that com-<br /> ‘oc posers should deal with these separately, and<br /> ‘0; not in conjunction with the sale of their sheet<br /> j@ music. The secretary was instructed to take<br /> i steps to get into touch with the mechanical<br /> reproducers with a view to coming to some<br /> “1 arrangement.<br /> F, A question relating to the manufacture of<br /> ‘ai stamps for the mechanical reproductions of<br /> “o compositions was discussed, and it was decided,<br /> ’ a in those cases where it would not pay individual<br /> “9 composers to purchase large quantities of<br /> »} stamps, that the Society should manufacture<br /> J stamps which could be endorsed with the<br /> “© initials of the composer.<br /> <br /> os<br /> <br /> Cases.<br /> <br /> Durine the past month there have been<br /> “44 twenty cases in the hands of the secretary.<br /> ‘1 The list is rather a curious list. Usually the<br /> claims for money exceed other cases, but in<br /> the past month claims for MSS. head the<br /> list. There have been seven claims under<br /> + this heading and three have been successful,<br /> the MSS. have been returned and forwarded<br /> to the authors. One failed owing to the fact<br /> that although the agent to whom the MSS,<br /> had been sent had tried to find them, the<br /> author had no evidence that they had actually<br /> reached the agent’s office. Itis possible, there-<br /> fore, that they may have been lost in transit.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 191<br /> <br /> Two are still in the course of negotiation.<br /> In one case the claim is in Hungary and<br /> the other in the United States. Sufficient<br /> time has not elapsed for a reply to be forth-<br /> coming to the secretary’s demand. The last<br /> case has only recently come into the office.<br /> <br /> There have been six claims for accounts<br /> from publishers, and all these have been<br /> settled. The accounts have been delivered,<br /> and where money was due, the money has<br /> been paid.<br /> <br /> Three questions have arisen out of author’s<br /> agreements. Here again two are in foreign<br /> countries, both being in the United States of<br /> America ; in one case the author is an American<br /> citizen, and in the other case the publisher.<br /> Sufficient time has not as yet expired in order<br /> to obtain a reply, but no doubt before the<br /> May issue these cases will have been closed.<br /> The third case is one of a dispute between the<br /> author and a publisher as to the charge for<br /> corrections. These cases are always very<br /> difficult to deal with, but if the publisher can<br /> show the proper vouchers, the author will<br /> have to meet the claim; at present the<br /> vouchers have not been produced.<br /> <br /> There were four cases of claims for money,<br /> two of which have been settled and the money<br /> has been paid. The third is in the course of<br /> favourable negotiation, and the fourth has<br /> only recently come to the office.<br /> <br /> There are still three cases open from last<br /> month, and two cases which have had to be<br /> placed in the hands of the Society’s solicitors.<br /> The work of the Society’s solicitors and the<br /> law work of the Society is fully detailed in<br /> the Committee Notes.<br /> <br /> ++<br /> <br /> Elections.<br /> <br /> 50, Hans Place, S.W.<br /> <br /> “The Knoll,” Kid-<br /> more Road, Caver-<br /> sham, Reading.<br /> <br /> ** Gleneairn,’? Cam-<br /> bridge Road,<br /> Bournemouth.<br /> <br /> ‘** Homesfield,” near<br /> Sheffield.<br /> <br /> Broadbent, D. R.<br /> Campbell, Mrs. Perugini<br /> <br /> ‘anning, Ethel<br /> <br /> , Carpenter, Edward<br /> <br /> Fish, W. Wilfred Blair<br /> (‘‘ Wilfred Blair ’’)<br /> Grantham, Mrs.<br /> Frederick (‘ Alexan-<br /> <br /> dra von Herden”’’).<br /> <br /> , Ireland, John. :<br /> <br /> Beelcigh Abbey,<br /> Maldon, Essex.<br /> <br /> 4, Elm Park<br /> Mansions, Chelsea,<br /> S.W.<br /> <br /> 5<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> 192<br /> Keating, The Rev. John ‘“ Ariston,” New<br /> Lloyd, M.A. Church Road,<br /> Hove.<br /> Kindersley, Mrs. D. Y... 15, Gwydyr Man-<br /> sions, Hove,<br /> Sussex.<br /> <br /> ** Derrymore,”’ Park-<br /> stone, Dorset.<br /> <br /> 4, Bertram Road,<br /> Hendon, N.W.<br /> <br /> Savage Club, W.C.<br /> <br /> Southborough Com-<br /> mon, Kent.<br /> King’s House,<br /> Tower of London,<br /> <br /> Law, Hamilton<br /> Martin, Geoffrey :<br /> <br /> Merrick, Leonard ;<br /> Oyler, Leslie Mary<br /> <br /> Pipon, Miss Geraldine M.<br /> <br /> E.C.<br /> — St. John, Christopher 31, Bedford Street,<br /> Marie. Strand, W.C.<br /> Sawrey, Miss Fannie H. 22, Earl’s Court<br /> <br /> Square, S.W.<br /> <br /> Sholl, Margaret, V.<br /> (‘‘ Margaret Heriot<br /> Hallam ’’).<br /> <br /> Tharp, Robert C. . 86, Ladbroke Grove,<br /> WwW<br /> <br /> Turquet, Madame 59, Loxley Road,<br /> André (“ G. Turquet- Wandsworth Com-<br /> Milnes ’’). mon, S.W.<br /> <br /> Wigley, H. (‘“ Lincoln<br /> Green ’’).<br /> <br /> ee ele<br /> <br /> BOOKS PUBLISHED BY MEMBERS.<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> While every effort is made by the compilers to keep<br /> this list as accurate and exhaustive as poumble, they have<br /> some difficulty in attaining this object owing to the fact<br /> that many of the books mentioned are not sent to the office<br /> by the members. In consequence, it is necessary to rely<br /> largely upon lists of books which appear in literary and<br /> other papers. It is hoped, however, that members will<br /> co-operate in the compiling of this list, and, by sending<br /> particulars of their works, help to make it substantially<br /> accurate.<br /> BIOGRAPHY.<br /> <br /> Lirtte JENNINGS AND Ficutine Dick Tatsot: A Lire<br /> oF THE Duxr anp DvucuEess or TyRconNEL. By<br /> Parr W.Sererant. 2vols. 674pp. 17 illustrations.<br /> Hutchinson. 24s. n.<br /> <br /> BOOKS OF REFERENCE.<br /> <br /> CassELL’s Dictionary oF Practica, GARDENING.<br /> Edited by W. P. Wricut. PartI. 103 x 74. 48 pp.<br /> Cassell. 7d. n.<br /> <br /> InpDEXES TO THE ANCIENT TESTAMENTARY RECORDS OF<br /> Westminster. By A. M. Burks, F.S.A, 11} x 7}.<br /> 104 pp. Eyre &amp; Spottiswoode. 12s. 6d. n.<br /> <br /> DRAMA [AND ELOCUTION.<br /> <br /> Quen Tana. By Darrent Fiaais. 6% x 5. 92 pp.<br /> Dent. Ils. n,<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 /> Towarps 4 New Tuxarre. Forty Designs for Stage<br /> Scenes, with critical notes by the Inventor, Epwarp<br /> Gorpon Craig. 13 X 114. 90 pp. 40 Plates. Dent,<br /> 21s. n.<br /> <br /> Four Prays. By Gmpert Cannan. 74 X 5. 84 Pp.<br /> Sidgwick &amp; Jackson. 2s. 6d. n.<br /> <br /> FICTION.<br /> <br /> Tue Souttor A Man. By Durex Vanz. Holding<br /> Hardingham. 6s.<br /> Tue Matine or Lypia. By Mrs. Humpury Warp,<br /> 72 x 5. 462 pp. Smith, Elder. 6s.<br /> Srupizs In Love anp IN TEeRRoR. By Mrs. BEL1o<br /> Lownpzes. 74 x 5. 299 pp. Methuen. 6s.<br /> THe Riaut HONOURABLE GENTLEMAN,<br /> Norris. 74 x 5. 315 pp. Constable. 6s.<br /> SieEpine Waters. By Joun TREVENA.<br /> pp. Constable. 6s.<br /> THE Two CaRNATIONS.<br /> 280 pp. Cassell. 6s.<br /> Mrs. Pratt or Parapise Farm. By KatTHarine Tynan,<br /> 7% x 5. 310 pp. Smith, Elder. 6s.<br /> Aunt OLIVE IN Bonemisa. OR THE INTRUSIONS OF A<br /> Farry GopmotHEer. By Les~rz Moorn. 74 x 4h<br /> Alston Rivers. 6s.<br /> Natuatia. By Frep WnuisHaw. 7} xX 5. 320 pp.<br /> <br /> By Mansoriz BowEn. 72 X<br /> <br /> J. Long. 6s.<br /> <br /> A“ Youne Lavy.” A Study in Selectness. By H. W.C,<br /> Newrtr. 74 x 5. 393 pp. Chatto &amp; Windus,<br /> 6s.<br /> <br /> Ir rr Pieasz You. By Ricwarp Marsu. 7 X<br /> 316 pp. Methuen. 6s.<br /> <br /> Lovz’s Sotprer. By Oxive Curistran Macxrrpy (Mrs.<br /> Archibald Mackirdy). 7x 5. 336pp. Cassell. 62.<br /> <br /> Porson. By Aice and CLaupE ASKEW. 74 X<br /> 290 pp. Nash. 3s. 6d. n.<br /> <br /> Tue SicN or Four. By A. Conan Doyir. 6} X<br /> 286 pp. (The Nelson Library.) Nelson. 7d. n.<br /> <br /> Tue CatrisH. By Cuar“es Marriorr. 8 x 5. 352 p<br /> Hurst &amp; Blackett. 6s.<br /> <br /> THE ComBrneD Mazz. By May Sincuar. 7} X<br /> 336 pp. Hutchinson. 6s.<br /> <br /> Tue Strotiine Sart. By Rarant SABATINI. 7} X<br /> <br /> By Una L. SmperraD. 74 X<br /> <br /> 328 pp. Stanley Paul. 6s,<br /> 383 pp. Constable. 6s.<br /> 7% x 5. 298 pi<br /> <br /> Karen or LowsBore.<br /> <br /> Lirrep Curtains. By E. Nosie.<br /> <br /> Constable. 6s.<br /> <br /> Tue Beacon WatcHEers. By Viotet A.Smreson 7}<br /> 43. 366 pp. Chapman &amp; Hall. 6s.<br /> <br /> Requirat. By Mrs. J. 0. Annotp. 72 xX 5. 301 p<br /> Methuen. 6s.<br /> <br /> Everyman’s Desire. By Mary Gaunt. 73 X 4%<br /> 341 pp. Werner Laurie. 6s.<br /> <br /> Wars Mottry. By Max Pumperton. 72 x 5. 3!<br /> pp. Cassell. 6s.<br /> <br /> Guioomy Fanny AnD OTHER [FouR] Stories. By Morte:<br /> Rozserts. 74 x 5. 259pp. Nash. 6s.<br /> Tur RETURN OF THE Perticoat. By WARwick DEEPIN<br /> <br /> 811 pp. (Revised Edition.) Cassell. 1s. n.<br /> <br /> HISTORY.<br /> <br /> Tue Passinc of THE TURKISH Empire IN EUROPE.<br /> Captain B. GRANVILLE Baker. 9 X 5}. 335 pi<br /> Seeley Service. 16s. n.<br /> <br /> LITERARY.<br /> <br /> Tous or THE Spratt. A Book of Thoughts. By Aue<br /> SrrmnpBerG. With an Introduction by A. BaBILLoT!<br /> Translated by CuauD Fienp. 7$ x 65. 286<br /> Allen. 5s. n.<br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> ©; Atone THE Roap. By ArTuuR CHRISTOPHER BENSON.<br /> Le 8} x 5). x. xX 383 pp. Nesbit. 7s. 6d. n.<br /> <br /> = Dr. JoHNson anp His Crrctz. By JouNn Batney.<br /> : 256 pp. Tue Victortan AcE IN Literature. By<br /> G. K. Cuesterton. 256 pp. THe Nrewsparer. By<br /> G. Bryyzy Drpster. 256 pp. 63 x 44. (Home<br /> ee Library.) Williams &amp;,; Norgate. ls.j n.<br /> each.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> MEDICAL.<br /> <br /> 1 1A Hosprran mw THe Maxine. A history of the National<br /> H Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic (Albany<br /> Memorial), 1859—1901. By B. Burrorp RawLines.<br /> 74x 5. 271 pp. SirIsaac Pitman. 5s.n.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> MISCELLANEOUS.<br /> <br /> d= PERSONALITY AND TELEPATHY. By F. C. CoNnsTaBLe.<br /> a Kegan Paul. 7s. 6d. n.<br /> <br /> i Tue Mystic Way: A PsycHonocican Stupy IN Caris-<br /> T gran Ortcins. By Evetyn Unperuiy. J. M. Dent<br /> <br /> % &amp; Sons. 12s. 6d. n.<br /> MUSIC.<br /> <br /> i ‘THe Sun’ Worsnrpper. Words by PETRONELLA<br /> ) O’DonnELL. Music by the Rev. M. T. Coatzs. Bristol:<br /> i Ernest Crichton. 1s. 6d.<br /> <br /> oM Moon anp Sua. Words by PrrronetntaA O&#039;DONNELL.<br /> £ Music by the Rev. M. F. Coarzs. Bristol: Ernest<br /> ) Crichton. Is. 6d.<br /> <br /> NATURAL HISTORY.<br /> <br /> 2 British Brrps’ Nests. How, Where, and When to Find<br /> and Identify Them. By R. Kearton, F.Z.S8. 9} x 6.<br /> 520 pp. Cassell. 14s. n.<br /> mE Tue Crectine Year. By W.P. WesTett, D.Sc. Part I,<br /> { Rambles in Spring. Part Il., Rambles in Summer.<br /> i Part ITI., Rambles in Autumn. 9% x 74. Nelson.<br /> <br /> PHILOSOPHY.<br /> <br /> “£ AnIntropuction To Metapnysics. By Henri Bercson.<br /> Authorized translation. By T. E. Hutmg. 8 x 5.<br /> 79 pp. Macmillan. 2s. n.<br /> <br /> POLITICAL,<br /> <br /> From THE Near East, 1909—1912. By<br /> 74 x 5. 187 pp. Smith, Elder<br /> <br /> a2 Lurrers<br /> Maurice Barine.<br /> 3s. 6d. n.<br /> <br /> 27 Panama AND WHatit Means. By Joun Foster Fraser.<br /> 7k &lt; 5.291 pp. Cassell. 6s.<br /> <br /> SOCIOLOGY.<br /> <br /> “W WaySrtations. By Eximaseru Rosrs.<br /> Hodder &amp; Stoughton. 6s. n.<br /> <br /> THEOLOGY.<br /> ©) Conressions of A ConvERT. By Roperr Huan Benson.<br /> : 8 x 54. 164pp. Longmans. 3s. 6d. n.<br /> 4 RELIGION AND THE Crisis. By Harotp Brecair. 7} Xx<br /> 4%. 126 pp. Cassell. Is. n.<br /> Oo On THE INFLUENCE oF RELIGION anp Upon TrUTH-<br /> FruuNess. By F. H. Prrrycosrn, B.Sc. 73? x 5.<br /> 324 pp. Watts. 45s n<br /> <br /> 8x 5. 352 pp.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> TRAVEL.<br /> <br /> 9 ‘Qursec: THe LAvRENTIAN PRovINcE.<br /> f Wittson. 9 x 5h. xii.<br /> 10s. 6d. n.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> By Brcxizs<br /> x 271 pp. Constable.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 193<br /> <br /> LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL<br /> NOTES.<br /> <br /> ee<br /> T the annual meeting of the Royal<br /> Literary Fund, on March 12, Mr.<br /> Rowland E. Protheroe, who presided,<br /> said the amount raised by the dinner was the<br /> largest with two exceptions in the history of<br /> the fund. He wished, however, that they<br /> could secure a more permanent and _ less<br /> fluctuating source of income to rely upon, and<br /> an increase in membership. They had at<br /> present some 700 members, and it would be a<br /> very good thing if they could raise their mem-<br /> bership to 1,000. The annual dinner was fixed<br /> for May 27; Lord Curzon would preside, and<br /> the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord<br /> Morley would be among the speakers. The<br /> annual report, which showed that the income<br /> of the fund (including a balance from the<br /> previous year) was £5,487, and that during<br /> the year £3,020 was voted in grants to forty<br /> applicants, as compared with £2,125 to<br /> thirty-eight applicants in the previous year,<br /> was adopted. The president, vice-presidents,<br /> and members of the council were re-elected,<br /> with the addition of Viscount Haldane of<br /> Cloan as vice-president, and Mr. Reginald J.<br /> Smith, K.C., as a member of the council.<br /> <br /> Mr. Eden Phillpotts’s new novel, “‘ Wide-<br /> combe Fair,’”’ has been published by Mr. John<br /> Murray. It is a study of the varied life and<br /> interests of a sequestered West Country<br /> village. ‘‘ The Joy of Youth,” Mr. Phillpotts’s<br /> story which is running serially in the Fortnightly<br /> Review, reached its twelfth chapter in the<br /> March issue.<br /> <br /> “The Mating of Lydia” is the title of<br /> Mrs. Humphry Ward’s new novel, published<br /> last month by Messrs. Smith, Elder &amp; Co.<br /> <br /> Mr. Henry Arthur Jones has issued, through<br /> Messrs. Chapman &amp; Hall, ‘‘ The Foundations<br /> of a National Drama,”’ a collection of lectures,<br /> essays, and speeches of the years 1896—1912,<br /> revised and added to. Mr. Jones dedicates<br /> his work to “ Brander Matthews, Professor<br /> of Dramatic Literature in Columbia Univer-<br /> sity,’’ whom (he says) he has so often quoted,<br /> that he is “ urged by duty, no less than by<br /> friendship and sympathy,” to make the<br /> dedication. The book is embellished by a<br /> photogravure of Mr. Robert J. Aitken’s bust<br /> of the author. The price is 7s. 6d. net.<br /> <br /> Mr. Frankfort Moore’s new book, ‘‘ Fanny’s<br /> First Novel,” published by Messrs. Hutchinson,<br /> has reached its second edition. In it Mr.<br /> Moore returns to his favourite period. The<br /> “Fanny ” is, of course, Fanny Burney.<br /> <br /> <br /> 194<br /> <br /> Mr. Jeffery Farnol’s ‘‘ The Amateur Gentle-<br /> man’? was published by Messrs. Sampson<br /> Low, Marston &amp; Co. on March 8.<br /> <br /> Sir Isaac Pitman &amp; Sons announce a new<br /> and cheaper (5s.) edition of Mrs. Ellis H.<br /> Chadwick’s ‘‘ Mrs. Gaskell: Haunts, Homes<br /> and Stories,” of which the original 16s. edition<br /> appeared in September, 1910. The new<br /> matter includes what is stated to be a strikingly<br /> beautiful portrait of Mrs. Gaskell before her<br /> matriage.<br /> <br /> The same publishers have brought out<br /> Mr. B. Burford Rawlings’s ‘“‘ A Hospital in<br /> the Making,” which is a history of the National<br /> Hospital for the paralysed and_ epileptic<br /> (Albany Memorial) between the years 1859<br /> and 1901. The price is 5s. net.<br /> <br /> In ‘The Romance of an Elderly Poet”<br /> (Messrs. Stanley Paul &amp; Co., 10s. 6d. net),<br /> Messrs. A. M. Broadley and Walter Jerrold<br /> collaborate on “‘A hitherto unknown chapter<br /> in the life of George Crabbe,” based upon a<br /> series of letters written by Crabbe in 1815—25<br /> to Miss Elizabeth Charter. Much information<br /> is given in them concerning life in Bath and<br /> its neighbourhood at the period.<br /> <br /> Messrs. Stanley Paul announce two new<br /> Napoleon books, ** Napoleon in Exile at Elba,<br /> 1814—1815,” and “Napoleon in Exile at<br /> St. Helena, 1815—1821,”’ both by Mr. Norwood<br /> Young, and both containing a chapter on the<br /> iconography of Napoleon at the time, by<br /> Mr. A. M. Broadley. The first-named work<br /> is priced at 21s., the second at 82s. net.<br /> <br /> Messrs. Stanley Paul are also the publishers<br /> of ‘‘The Life of James Hinton,” by Mrs.<br /> Havelock Ellis, a biography drawn largely<br /> from private papers and the assistance of<br /> intimate friends; of ‘‘ The White Slave<br /> Market ” by Mrs. Archibald Mackirdy (Olive<br /> Christian Malvery) ; of “‘ Samphire,”’ a volume<br /> of essays by Lady Sybil Grant, daughter of<br /> Lord Rosebery; of ‘‘ Torquemada and the<br /> Spanish Inquisition,” by Rafael Sabatini ;<br /> and of a new edition (the sixth, 5s. net.) of<br /> Mr. J. F. Nisbet’s ‘“‘ The Insanity of Genius.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Albany F. Major has written, and the<br /> Rev. C. W. Whistler has edited, a book entitled<br /> ““The Early Wars of Wessex: Studies from<br /> England’s First School of Arms in the West<br /> Country.”’ This deals with the warfare of the<br /> pre-Norman period in Western England and<br /> particularly with the Danish invasions. There<br /> are to be maps, plans, and diagrams, and the<br /> volume is to be published by the Cambridge<br /> University Press, at 10s. 6d. net, but sub-<br /> scribers before April 80 will be entitled to<br /> purchase at 7s. 6d.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> In “‘ The Lawyer, Our Old Man of the Sea ”<br /> (Messrs. Kegan Paul, 7s. 6d. net), Mr. William<br /> Durran criticises the legal systems of England,<br /> India, and America, and gives a warning of<br /> the dangers threatening this country if legal .<br /> reforms are not soon introduced. A foreword<br /> is contributed by Sir Robert Fulton, M.A., ©<br /> LL.D.<br /> <br /> Messrs. Longmans, Green &amp; Co. are the<br /> publishers of ‘‘ English Local Government :<br /> The Story of the King’s Highway,” by Sidney ~<br /> and Beatrice Webb; of ‘‘ Confessions of a Con- —<br /> vert’’ and ‘‘ The Paradoxes of Catholicism,’<br /> both by Monsignor R. H. Benson; and —<br /> of “ Levia-Pondera: an Essay Book,” by<br /> Mr. John Ayscough. They have added to<br /> their Silver Library a new edition of Sir. H<br /> Rider Haggard’s ** Rural Denmark and it<br /> Lessons.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Cecil Headlam is the author of the<br /> volume on France in Messrs. A. &amp; C. Black’s<br /> ‘* Making of the Nations ”’ series. Thirty-two<br /> full-page and sixteen smaller illustrations —<br /> decorate the book, of which the price is 7s. 6d.<br /> net.<br /> <br /> Three new medical works from the same |<br /> firm are ‘“‘ The Handbook of Medical Treat<br /> ment ”’ (8s. 6d.), ‘* The Pocket Clinical Guide ” ©<br /> (1s. 6d.), and ‘‘The Pocket Prescriber ”’<br /> (1s.), all by Mr. James Burnet, M.A., M.D.<br /> M.R.C.P.E.<br /> <br /> Mr. John Foster Fraser’s “‘ Panama and<br /> What It Means ’’ was published at the begin- |<br /> ning of last month by Messrs. Cassell, at 6s.<br /> It is the fruit of a special visit to the Canal<br /> zone.<br /> <br /> Messrs. John Long last month published a —<br /> novel entitled ‘“‘ A Girl of No Importance ”<br /> by Olivia Ramsey, author of “The Other<br /> Wife,” ‘‘ Two Men and a Governess,”’ etc. ©<br /> The story depicts some love episodes in the<br /> life story of a young peer, the scenes being —<br /> laid alternately in London and in the heart of ©<br /> the country.<br /> <br /> Messrs. John Long are also the publishers.<br /> of a new novel, ‘‘ Nathalia,”’ by Fred Whishaw, |<br /> author of ‘‘ The Revolt of Beatrix,” ete. The<br /> scene is laid at Moscow in the period which —<br /> just preceded the birth of Peter the Great,<br /> whose parentage was from the first a matter”<br /> of mystery and controversy in Court circles. —<br /> Mr. Whishaw extracts his romance out of the:<br /> life of the beautiful Nathalia Narystkin, —<br /> mother of Peter.<br /> <br /> Messrs. Watts &amp; Co. have published, on<br /> behalf of the Rationalist Press Association, a —<br /> volume by Mr. F. H. Perrycoste entitled ‘‘ The:<br /> Influence of Religion upon Truthfulness.”<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 /> otk<br /> <br /> jem<br /> <br /> ork<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR,<br /> <br /> ‘1) This volume comprises two more chapters of<br /> <br /> the author’s magnum opus, of which a first<br /> instalment appeared three years ago under<br /> the title of ‘‘ Religion, Faith, and Morals.”<br /> <br /> «| In a prefatory note to the new volume the<br /> <br /> JHE<br /> 200<br /> LE<br /> ic<br /> ey<br /> Fob<br /> <br /> aid<br /> <br /> ish<br /> the<br /> rig<br /> EG<br /> AT<br /> od<br /> to<br /> :<br /> off<br /> soe<br /> 10f<br /> He<br /> iREE<br /> fio<br /> ve<br /> Be<br /> <br /> HE<br /> Mt<br /> <br /> A<br /> A<br /> ME<br /> if<br /> <br /> ee<br /> <br /> Lie<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> author expresses the hope that it may be<br /> possible anon for him to do justice to himself<br /> and his critics alike by publishing the chapters<br /> of his Prolegomena, in which the scope and<br /> method of the whole work are explained in<br /> detail, and the philosophical foundations for<br /> his historical enquiry are laid.<br /> <br /> “Celestial Fire,” a Seventeenth Century<br /> devotional book, re-edited by E. M. Green,<br /> with a preface by the Rev. George Congreve,<br /> gives in its introduction the story of what is<br /> probably a unique experience in publishing.<br /> The editor acknowledges the most acceptable<br /> help, in unravelling the tangle, of the Society<br /> of Authors.<br /> <br /> The Rev. James Eckersley edits ‘‘ The<br /> Responsive Psalter,’ which, as the sub-title<br /> states, contains “‘the psalms set to chant-<br /> forms in accordance with the parallelisms of<br /> Hebrew poetry, and designed to conduce to a<br /> natural and expressive rendering of the words<br /> on the part of both choir and congregation.”<br /> The publishers are Messrs. Simpkin, Marshall<br /> &amp; Co.<br /> <br /> “The Celibacy of Maurice Kane” is a<br /> novel by V. Conway-Gordon, published by<br /> Messrs. Holden &amp; Hardingham.<br /> <br /> In “Where Education Fails” (Messrs.<br /> Ralph, Holland &amp; Co., 1s. net) Mr. Preston<br /> Weir attempts to find the explanation of the<br /> non-success of the modern educational system<br /> in England compared with the hopes of its<br /> promoters. Lord Sheffield contributes an<br /> introduction.<br /> <br /> Miss Jeannette Marks publishes her “* Gallant<br /> Little Wales’ through the Houghton Mifflin<br /> Co., of New York and Boston. The book is<br /> illustrated from old prints, and is sold at a<br /> <br /> _ dollar and a quarter.<br /> <br /> Mr. F. Cullen Gouldsbury’s ‘“‘ Songs out of<br /> Exile (Rhodesian Rhymes) ”’ is published by<br /> Mr. T. Fisher Unwin at 3s. 6d. net.<br /> <br /> The same publisher is bringing out a play<br /> entitled “‘ This Generation ” by Mr. S. M. Fox.<br /> This play (which has not yet been acted),<br /> though not professing to give a picture of<br /> contemporary Socialism, has for its hero a<br /> <br /> _ socialist who is in conflict with his environ-<br /> <br /> ment.<br /> <br /> Some months ago a prize of 5,000 francs was<br /> offered for the best French novel published<br /> in 1911, in the judgment of a number of<br /> Parisian society celebrities. The prize was<br /> <br /> 195<br /> <br /> carried off by a story by M. Louis de Robert,<br /> which is now to make its appearance in English<br /> under the title “‘ Life’s Last Gift.’ It deals<br /> with a young man stricken down with ill-<br /> health and seeking to requite a passion which<br /> comes to him in his last months of life. The<br /> English publishers are Messrs. Stanley Paul &amp;<br /> Co., who will also add the book to their Colonial<br /> Library.<br /> <br /> ** Shepherds of Britain,” by Miss Adelaide<br /> L. J. Gosset (Messrs. Constable &amp; Co., 7s. 6d.<br /> net), is a prose anthology of literature dealing<br /> with shepherds and sheep, including contribu-<br /> tions from the pen of the editor herself. A<br /> companion volume is her ‘Shepherd Songs<br /> of Elizabethan England” (same _ publishers,<br /> 5s. net).<br /> <br /> EK. Newton Bungey’s ‘‘ The Fordington<br /> Twins”? (Lynwood &amp; Co.) deals with twin<br /> children brought up in poor circumstances,<br /> who unexpectedly inherit large property and<br /> have to own it jointly, as no one knows which<br /> is the elder. The book, which is mainly on<br /> humorous lines, will be out at the end of April<br /> or the beginning of May. About the same<br /> time a 2s. edition of the same author’s previous<br /> novel, “‘ Corn in Egypt,”’ will be issued.<br /> <br /> Mr. Stephen Knott’s new novel “ Once<br /> Round,” a story of Military life, will be pub-<br /> lished on April 2, by Messrs. Murray &amp;<br /> Evenden.<br /> <br /> A short story by John Hasleth Vahey will<br /> appear shortly in the Pall Mall Magazine,<br /> and a new novel by the same writer, to be<br /> called ‘‘The Shadow of Salvador,’ with<br /> Messrs. Heath, Cranton and Ouseley, is also<br /> expected this spring. Mr. Vahey’s last novel,<br /> “&lt;The Mesh,” appeared through Messrs.<br /> Sampson Low &amp; Co.<br /> <br /> Mr. J. Stanley Little’s address delivered at<br /> Farnham on “ Thomas Hardy: Our Greatest<br /> Prose Poet,” is to be published shortly.<br /> <br /> ‘““The Green Powder,’ a new novel by<br /> Miss Lillias Campbell Davidson, has just been<br /> published serially in the pages of the Daily<br /> News. Messrs. Partridge &amp; Co. announce an<br /> immediate issue of a third edition of the same<br /> writer’s, ‘‘ A Girl’s Battle.”<br /> <br /> A booklet which has just been issued, under<br /> the suggestive title of ‘“‘ More Light on the<br /> Woman Question,” contains a record of the<br /> proceedings of the first Congress of the Men’s<br /> International Alliance for Woman Suffrage,<br /> held in London in October last, and gives<br /> the salient points from the numerous speeches<br /> made on the occasion by the English repre-<br /> sentatives and foreign delegates. There are<br /> two illustrations—a portrait of Sir John<br /> <br /> <br /> 196<br /> <br /> Cockburn, K.C.M.G., the President of the<br /> International Alliance, and a photographic<br /> group of the delegates and associates of the<br /> Congress. Mr. Jaakoff Prelooker, editor of<br /> The Anglo-Russian, is responsible for the<br /> literary part of the record, which is issued from<br /> the headquarters of the Men’s League for<br /> Women’s Suffrage, price 2d. :<br /> <br /> Mr. Philip W. Sergeant’s new two-volume<br /> biography, ‘‘ Little Jennings and Fighting<br /> Dick Talbot,’ was published by Messrs.<br /> Hutchinson &amp; Co. at the beginning of March.<br /> <br /> Mr. Perriton Maxwell announces his retire-<br /> ment as manager and editor of Nash’s<br /> Magazine, and is returning to the United<br /> States to take charge of Hearst’s Magazine.<br /> <br /> Mr. Stanley Paul, of 31, Essex Street,<br /> Strand, has acquired the business of Messrs.<br /> Greening &amp; Co., Ltd. The firm of Greening &amp;<br /> Co. will be continued under its own name ;<br /> and as there are some 800 titles on its list,<br /> Mr. Stanley Paul, who will conduct both<br /> businesses from his office in Essex Street, will<br /> by this arrangement control the management<br /> of upwards of 1,300 current books.<br /> <br /> The firm of Greening &amp; Co. was founded<br /> sixteen years ago by Mr. Arthur Greening.<br /> The Lotus Library of foreign classics in trans-<br /> lations is one of the firm’s most valuable<br /> properties, containing stories by Anatole<br /> France, Daudet, Zola, Flaubert, Dumas, de<br /> Maupassant, Gaborian, Gautier, and de<br /> Musset. Mr. Paul intends to add a large<br /> number of more serious volumes to balance<br /> the fiction library in the list, and among the<br /> first books are announced a series of ‘“‘ Memoirs<br /> of Secret History,” concerning the French<br /> Revolution, the ‘‘ Recollections of an Officer<br /> in Napoleon’s Army,” and a volume on<br /> Madame de Pompadour in the Court Series<br /> of ‘‘ French Memoirs.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Arthur Beckett’s book, ‘“‘ The Wonderful<br /> Weald, and the Quest of the Crock of Gold,”<br /> is shortly to be republished in a 6s. edition<br /> by Messrs. Mills and Boon. In addition to<br /> the twenty illustrations in colour by Mr. E. F.<br /> Marillier, the new edition will contain a novel<br /> map in which the most romantic places in<br /> the Weald of Sussex will be shown in symbolic<br /> form.<br /> <br /> DRAMATIC.<br /> <br /> The notable run of “ Little Miss Llewellyn,”<br /> at the Vaudeville Theatre, has been followed<br /> by a revival of Sir Arthur Pinero’s farce<br /> ““The Schoolmistress,’’ which was first seen<br /> at the Court twenty-seven years ago, and<br /> attained its 292nd performance there. The<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> cast at the Vaudeville includes Miss Hilda<br /> Trevelyan as Peggy Hesslerigge, Mr. Edmund<br /> Gwenn as Admiral Rankling, and Mr. Dion<br /> Boucicault as Vere Queckett.<br /> <br /> A new one-act play—or domestic episode,<br /> as we understand it is called—by Sir Arthur<br /> Pinero is in rehearsal at the St. James’s<br /> Theatre. Its title is ‘‘ Playgoers,” and it is<br /> to be played in conjunction with Mr. A. E. W.<br /> Mason’s *“‘ Open Windows,”’ of which the first<br /> performance took place on March 11, with<br /> Mr. George Alexander and Miss Irene Vanbrugh<br /> in the leading parts.<br /> <br /> Miss Cicely Hamilton’s dramatic version of<br /> Mr. Edgar Jepson’s ‘“‘ Lady Noggs, Peeress,”<br /> is to be transferred from the evening bill at<br /> the Comedy Theatre to the afternoon, during<br /> Mr. Kenneth Douglas’s season, which com-<br /> mences at the Comedy early this month.<br /> <br /> March 4 saw the production at the Aldwych<br /> Theatre of ‘‘ Her Side of the House,” a three-<br /> act comedy by Mr. Lechmere Worrall and<br /> Miss Atté Hall.<br /> <br /> On March 20 ‘‘ The Greatest Wish,’’ Mr. E.<br /> Temple Thurston’s dramatisation of his own<br /> novel, was produced by Mr. Arthur Bourchier<br /> at the Garrick Theatre, succeeding Mr. Stanley<br /> Houghton’s “‘ Trust the People.”<br /> <br /> ‘The Morning Post,” a one-act play by<br /> Mr. Morley Roberts and ‘“‘ Henry Seton,” was.<br /> seen at Miss Esmé Beringer’s matinée at the<br /> Court Theatre on March 11, and subsequently<br /> was put into the evening bill at the Strand, as<br /> a curtain-raiser to ‘‘ The Woman in the Case.”<br /> <br /> On Easter Monday “ The Happy Island,”<br /> Mr. J. B. Fagan’s adaptation of the Hungarian<br /> dramatist, Melchior Longyel’s “* The Prophet,”<br /> was the play chosen by Sir Herbert Tree for<br /> his reappearance at His Majesty’s Theatre.<br /> The title first announced was “A White<br /> Man’s Burden,” but ‘‘ The Happy Island”<br /> was what was finally decided upon.<br /> <br /> At the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, on<br /> February 25, there was seen a new poetic<br /> tragedy in three acts—** Queen Tara,” by<br /> Mr. Darrell Figgis. The play has been pub-<br /> lished in book form by Messrs. Dent, at 2s.<br /> cloth, and 1s. paper.<br /> <br /> The Stockport Garrick Society recently<br /> performed a play in three acts and a prologue,<br /> <br /> entitled ‘‘Jephthah’s Daughter,” by the<br /> author, whose pseudonym is X.Y.Z.<br /> At the Théitre Mboliére, Paris, on<br /> <br /> February 28, “‘ Une Adventure du Capitaine<br /> Lebrun ” was played for the first time. The<br /> author of this was Mrs. Irene Osgood, who has<br /> since the production been elected a member of<br /> the Society of Dramatic Authors in Paris.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> Nel RS<br /> <br /> + et. Pipe See ge<br /> <br /> tos<br /> <br /> 3M<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> An organisation has been established for the<br /> representation of French plays in London, with<br /> Mr. J. T. Grein as chairman of the Executive<br /> Committee. The name of “‘ The Little French<br /> Theatre’? has been selected, and a West End<br /> house is to be secured, for Sunday performances<br /> in the winter, and week-day performances in the<br /> summer. The prospectus points out that, as<br /> the productions will be private, all the recently<br /> successful plays in Paris will be open to inclu-<br /> sion in the repertory. The regular company<br /> will be recruited from the considerable body<br /> of French actors in London. The annual<br /> subscription to the society will be 10s. 6d.,<br /> which will entitle members to a certain number<br /> of seats. Further particulars can be obtained<br /> from Mr. Philip Carr, who is the ‘ adminis-<br /> trator ”’ of the Executive Committee.<br /> <br /> The Masque, “‘ Love and the Dryad,” com-<br /> posed by Agnes H. Lambert (Mrs. Heygate<br /> Lambert), will be given, under the direction<br /> of the composer, at the King’s Hall Theatre,<br /> Covent Garden, on April 29, at 3 p.m. There<br /> will be a full orchestra, conducted by<br /> Mr. Eugene Goussens. The dances have been<br /> arranged for the stage by Miss Ruby Gernier,<br /> who will play the part of the Dryad. The<br /> caste includes Miss Evangeline Florence,<br /> Mr. Herbert Bromilow, Mr. Ernest Groom and<br /> others. The Masque will be followed by a<br /> dramatic scene ‘‘ Pan and the Woodnymph,”<br /> written and composed by Mr. Harrison<br /> Frewen, in which Miss Evangeline Florence<br /> will take the principal part. Tickets may<br /> be obtained from Messrs. Chappell &amp; Co., and<br /> Messrs Keith, Prowse &amp; Co., Bond Street.<br /> <br /> At the production of prize plays in the<br /> Lyceum Club competition at the special<br /> matinée, King’s Hall, Covent Garden, on<br /> March 12, one of the plays acted was Mrs.<br /> Steuart Erskine’s ‘‘ John Anderson’s Chance,”<br /> the scene of which is laid in “‘ the dining-room<br /> of a small house at Hampstead” at the<br /> present day.<br /> <br /> Mr. James A. Douglas, the author of ‘“‘ The<br /> Outcome of Agitation,” produced at the<br /> Kingsway Theatre, and another four-act play,<br /> just secured by a prominent London manager,<br /> has a story of the North West Territory,<br /> entitled ‘‘ The Lovers of the West,” in the<br /> Canadian News.<br /> <br /> MUSICAL.<br /> <br /> Mr. William Wallace, on January 1, delivered<br /> an address on ‘“‘ The Musician and Personal<br /> Responsibility,” to the Incorporated Society of<br /> Musicians, then in annual conference at Bir-<br /> mingham. This address has now been printed.<br /> <br /> 197<br /> <br /> PARIS NOTES.<br /> — &gt;<br /> A Colline inspirée,” by Maurice Barres,<br /> h after appearing as a serial in the<br /> Revue hebdomadaire, is<br /> lished in volume form.<br /> <br /> ‘** La Comédie de celui qui épousa une femme<br /> muette,”’ a two-act play, by Anatole France,<br /> has also appeared, and is in great demand.<br /> <br /> “Vers les Humbles,” by Madame René<br /> Waltz, is an extremely delicate psycho-<br /> logical study, written in the form of a diary.<br /> It is the history of a girl’s disillusions and of<br /> her moral evolution, told in the same simple,<br /> natural way as this author’s previous book,<br /> ‘‘La Vie intérieure,” which won for her an<br /> Academy prize.<br /> <br /> ‘** Les Contes de Minnie ”’ (Histoire de bétes,<br /> d’enfants, de fées et de bonnes gens), is another<br /> of the charming series of books by M. André<br /> Lichtenberger, stories of children for grown-up<br /> people.<br /> <br /> Madame Marguerite Poradowska gives us a<br /> strong novel, under the title of “Hors du<br /> Foyer.”<br /> <br /> “La Poursuite du Bonheur,” by B. Van<br /> Vorst, is interesting and instructive, coming,<br /> as it does, from the pen of an American woman.<br /> <br /> ‘La Famille Impériale 4 Saint-Cloud et a<br /> Biarritz,” by Dr. Barthez, is a volume con-<br /> sisting of a series of letters written by the<br /> doctor to his family. He gives an account of<br /> the everyday life of the Imperial family from<br /> the year 1856, when he was appointed medical<br /> adviser for the little prince, then only three<br /> months old. The letters continue until the<br /> year 1863.<br /> <br /> The last two volumes of the important work<br /> by Georges Goyau, entitled “‘ Bismarck et<br /> VEglise: Le Culturkampf,” have now been<br /> published. The first two volumes comprised<br /> the years 1870 to 1887, and the two which have<br /> just appeared continue up to the year 1890.<br /> The subject is treated very thoroughly and,<br /> thanks to the various anecdotes which the<br /> author gives, it is by no means a dull book.<br /> The account of the journey to Berlin, under-<br /> taken by the future Cardinal, Galimberti, is<br /> most interesting. Louis XIII. wished to<br /> sound Bismarck as to his attitude with regard<br /> to Italy and his ideas about the European<br /> situation. His messenger was to find out<br /> whether the intervention of the Pope was<br /> likely to be required on the Alsace-Lorraine<br /> question. After the lapse of so many years, it<br /> is most curious to return to that period of<br /> European history and to read details which<br /> have probably never been known by the<br /> <br /> now pub-<br /> <br /> <br /> 198<br /> <br /> majority of people. It is a work which must<br /> have required a very great amount of docu-<br /> mentation, and only an extremely conscientious<br /> historian could have given us the valuable<br /> work which M. Goyau has just terminated.<br /> <br /> The Marquis de Ségur has now published<br /> the second volume of his work entitled, “ Au<br /> Couchant de la Monarchie.”” The first volume<br /> was on “Louis XVI. et Turgot,’’ and the<br /> second is on “ Louis XVI. and Necker ”’ (1776—<br /> 1781).<br /> <br /> Among the memoirs and studies of historical<br /> characters, a book which will be read with<br /> great interest is the volume on Mirabeau, by<br /> M. Louis Barthou. It is curious to read an<br /> appreciation of a politician like Mirabeau by<br /> so well known a statesman as M. Barthou.<br /> <br /> The last volume of articles and lectures by<br /> Henri Poincaré is entitled ‘‘ Derniéres Pensées.”<br /> He was preparing it himself, up to the time of<br /> his death, as the fourth volume of his works<br /> for the ‘‘ Bibliotheque de Philosophie scienti-<br /> fique.’ Among the subjects treated in it<br /> are the following: ‘‘L’Evolution des Lois,”<br /> “‘ L’Espace et le Temps,”‘ “ Pourquoi l’Espace a<br /> trois dimensions,” ‘La Logique de l’Infini,”<br /> ‘‘Les Rapports de la Matiére et de l’Ether,”<br /> “‘La Morale et la Science.” M. Henri Poin-<br /> caré was considered to be the most remarkable<br /> mathematician in France, and he was also one<br /> of the most eminent philosophers.<br /> <br /> ““La Science moderne et |’Anarchie,”’ by<br /> Pierre Kropotkine, comes at a very opportune<br /> moment. The chapters which the author<br /> devotes to modern warfare, its financial<br /> origin and its atrocity are most instructive.<br /> <br /> A little weekly publication, in the form of a<br /> small review, commenced in the month of<br /> March, entitled Le Fait de la Semaine. The<br /> idea of the founders of this little publication is<br /> to take up the chief subject of public interest<br /> every week and study it from different aspects.<br /> The first number was devoted to the question<br /> of the military service of three years, the<br /> second number was entitled “Le Renouveau<br /> de la Presidence,’’ and the third is on the<br /> subject of ‘Les Drogues qui grisent.” The idea<br /> is an excellent one, as, thanks to this little<br /> weekly messenger, we shall be able to hear<br /> more than one side to a question. In the<br /> Revue de Paris (Nos. 4 and 5), M. Emile<br /> Boutroux has written an excellent article on<br /> Henri Poincaré, and in No. 5 there is also an<br /> instructive article entitled ‘* La Crise de notre<br /> Organisation militaire,”’ by Baiberti.<br /> <br /> The Revue hebdomadaire continues to publish<br /> the excellent series of lectures organised by<br /> the Société des Conférences. Among the<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> lectures published in recent numbers are those<br /> of Emile Faguet on ‘‘ La Fontaine,” and a<br /> series entitled ‘Mes Souvenirs,” by Jean<br /> Richepin, Gaston Deschamps, Maurice Donnay<br /> and Maurice Sabatier.<br /> <br /> Pierre de Quirielle also writes, in the same<br /> review, an article on Paul Thureau-Dangin,<br /> the late Sécretaire perpetuel of the French<br /> Academy, whose death is a great loss to the<br /> French literary world.<br /> <br /> The theatres have been more than usually<br /> active this year. The number of new plays<br /> and the quantity of small theatres must tend<br /> to make the task of the dramatic critic for the<br /> daily papers no easy one. At the Comédie-<br /> Marigny, M. Maurice Donnay’s four-act play<br /> ‘‘ Les Kclaireuses,’”’ has been, and still is, a<br /> great success. The feminist question is very<br /> much discussed in France, and M. Donnay has<br /> made it the theme of his play. i<br /> <br /> At the Thédtre Sarah Bernhardt, Henri<br /> Lavedan’s two-act play, ‘‘Servir,” is<br /> excellently played by Guitry, M. Capellani and<br /> Mme. Gilda Darthy.<br /> <br /> At the Vaudeville, M. Alfred Capus is having<br /> his usual success with his five-act play,<br /> ““Héléne Ardouin,’ and at the Bouffes-<br /> Parisiens, M. Henry Bernstein, with his new<br /> piece, ‘‘ Le Secret.”<br /> <br /> Atys HAuarp.<br /> <br /> ‘La Colline inspirée.”” (Emile Paul.)<br /> <br /> “La Comédie de celui qui épousa une femme muette.”<br /> (Calmann-Lévy.)<br /> <br /> ‘Vers les Humbles.”” (Calmann-Lévy.)<br /> <br /> “Les Contes de Minnie.” (Plon.)<br /> <br /> ** Hors du Foyer.’ (Editions du Temps present.)<br /> <br /> “La Poursuite du Bonheur.’ (Hachette.)<br /> <br /> “La Famille Impériale &amp; Saint-Cloud et 4 Biarritz.”<br /> (Calmann-Lévy.)<br /> <br /> “ Bismarck et ?Eglise: Le Culturkampf.” (Perrin.)<br /> <br /> * Au Couchant de la Monarchie.’’ (Calmann-Levy.)<br /> <br /> **Mirabeau.” (Hachette.)<br /> <br /> “&lt; Derniéres Pensées.”” (Hachette.)<br /> <br /> “La Science moderne et l’Anarchie.”’ (Stock.)<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> a<br /> <br /> THE CANADIAN BOOK MARKET.<br /> <br /> —+—~&gt;— + —<br /> <br /> HE article in the January issue of The<br /> Author, entitled ‘‘ The Book Market in<br /> Canada,” contains some _ interesting<br /> <br /> generalisations on the conditions existing there,<br /> especially those relating to the close proximity<br /> of the United States. There is no doubt that<br /> the representatives of United States publishers<br /> find the Dominion a favourable selling ground<br /> and an agreeable addition to their own exten-<br /> sive market. So do the representatives of<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> ae)<br /> <br /> Pet Reet te ES ee<br /> arian, Nas Sehr Naga? SGD<br /> <br /> )<br /> <br /> a<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ‘THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> British publishers, while at the same time the<br /> publishing houses of strictly Canadian origin,<br /> which are chiefly located in Toronto and Mon-<br /> treal, are doing a satisfactory and increasing<br /> business. The latter are probably making<br /> more extensive sales in Canada to retail book-<br /> sellers than either their American or their<br /> British rivals. As book-buyers, Canadians are,<br /> as a rule, better customers than Americans.<br /> An instance corroborating this statement is<br /> found in a recent declaration by a publisher’s<br /> salesman familiar with both markets. He<br /> said that Canadian cities—he instanced Lon-<br /> don, Ontario and Vancouver, 3B.C.—were<br /> worth for business purposes more than Ameri-<br /> can cities of double their population. The<br /> Canadians are free book-buyers, and while<br /> their purchases in this line run chiefly to fiction,<br /> they will compare favourably with the book-<br /> buyers of the United States in respect to the<br /> more serious departments of literature.<br /> <br /> The writer of the article referred to sketches<br /> very fairly the influence of the United States<br /> on Canada in reference to clothes and food.<br /> He might also have mentioned boots and shoes,<br /> since Canadians are not slow to take advantage<br /> of the fact that the Americans are the best<br /> makers of footgear in the world. He is also<br /> right in saying that a flood of ephemeral<br /> American literature is poured into Canada.<br /> The magazines of the United States are legion,<br /> and there is a great market for them in Canada,<br /> not only in the cities, but in all places where<br /> men are subduing the earth, either as agricul-<br /> turists, miners or prospectors. It may be<br /> suggested, however, that the large sale of<br /> these publications is rather in spite of their<br /> specially American characteristics than be-<br /> cause of them. McClure’s Magazine sells in<br /> Canada, not because it exploits the Standard<br /> Oil or other scandals, not because it deals in a<br /> trenchant way with other purely American sub-<br /> jects, but because it. prints stirring stories and<br /> articles of general interest.<br /> <br /> In like manner it will be found that the<br /> alleged strong influence of the United States<br /> will not sell a book in Canada which is, to use<br /> a phrase in common use in publishing circles,<br /> “too distinctly American.” The sale of a<br /> book depends on a complexity of causes, but<br /> so far as fiction is concerned, these are its<br /> human interest—apart from locality—and the<br /> possession of those characteristics which go to<br /> make up what is called the “ story element.”<br /> “David Harum” was turned down by one<br /> Canadian publisher because he thought it was<br /> “too American.’ But its subsequent large<br /> sale in Canada proved that its humour and its<br /> <br /> 199<br /> <br /> story, though redolent of the United States,<br /> were of universal appeal. In like manner the<br /> novels of ‘‘ Ralph Connor,’ whatever may be<br /> thought of their literary quality, have sold as<br /> well in the United States as in Canada, the<br /> land of their production, or in England. On<br /> the other hand, American topographical and<br /> Civil War novels do not have a large sale in<br /> Canada, and it is not likely that they ever will.<br /> <br /> While, therefore, the author of the excellent<br /> article on ‘“‘ The Book Market in Canada ”’ is<br /> right in most of his conclusions, it may be<br /> submitted that he pushes too far the notion<br /> that the readers of Canada are controlled by<br /> American influences. A very large proportion<br /> of the books in the public libraries of Canada<br /> are of British origin, and in the reading rooms<br /> of those institutions the copies of the English<br /> reviews and magazines are always eagerly read.<br /> Canada welcomes good literature from every<br /> source, but the note of Canadian life is dis-<br /> tinctly British. The ideals of Imperial unity<br /> have an increasing hold on the people. Those<br /> ideals are fostered by Canada’s educational<br /> system, by her churches, by the boy scout and<br /> cadet movement, and by the provisions of the<br /> Canadian Militia Act. They are also stimu-<br /> lated by the annual migration of Canadian<br /> visitors to England.<br /> <br /> BernarpD McEvoy.<br /> <br /> —_____+—&gt;—+___—_<br /> <br /> THE AGREEMENT OF MESSRS. JOHN<br /> CURWEN &amp; SONS WITH MUSICAL<br /> COMPOSERS.<br /> <br /> —_ ++ —<br /> <br /> ‘&#039;N the July number of The Author last<br /> year an article was published under<br /> the heading ‘‘ Composers’ Agreements.”<br /> <br /> In that article, an agreement issuing from the<br /> offices of Messrs. John Curwen &amp; Sons was<br /> printed, with the approval of the Committee<br /> of Management, and with sundry favourable<br /> comments. Since that date, owing to the<br /> change in the Law of Copyright, Messrs.<br /> Curwen &amp; Sons have issued another agreement,<br /> which was brought to the notice of the Com-<br /> posers’ Sub-Committee of the Society. The<br /> fresh agreement has some important clauses<br /> inserted in it, and, owing to the insertion of<br /> these clauses, the sub-committee and the<br /> Committee of Management find it impossible<br /> to approve the agreement in its present form.<br /> Members are referred to the agreement as<br /> printed in The Author of July, 1912. In the<br /> first clause an important alteration has been<br /> <br /> <br /> 200<br /> <br /> made. The original agreement was limited to<br /> publication in ‘‘ Great Britain and Ireland,<br /> its Colonies and Dependencies’; in the new<br /> agreement the publishers have added, “ and<br /> in foreign countries.” They have also added<br /> a clause dealing with performing rights, which<br /> runs as follows :—<br /> <br /> “That in consideration of an undertaking hereby<br /> given by the publishers that no charge shall be made for<br /> permission for performances of the work, and subject<br /> to the clauses hereinafter mentioned, the composer hereby<br /> agrees to sell and assign to the publishers the exclusive<br /> rights of performance during the whole period of the copy-<br /> right of the work.”<br /> <br /> and a clause dealing with the licence for<br /> mechanical reproduction, which runs as<br /> follows :—<br /> <br /> “That in consideration of the payments and subject<br /> to the clauses hereinafter mentioned, the composer hereby<br /> agrees to sell and assign to the publishers the exclusive<br /> licence for the mechanical reproduction of the work.”<br /> <br /> The Composers’ Sub-Committee wrote to<br /> Messrs. Curwen &amp; Sons in the following<br /> terms :—<br /> <br /> “The Composers’ Sub-Committee of this Society con-<br /> sidered your letter of the 18th ult. at their meeting on the<br /> 8th inst. They regret you do not see your way to accept<br /> the suggestion put forward by them. They desire to point<br /> out that under the Act of 1911 copyright includes the<br /> performing right and the right of mechanical reproduction,<br /> and they have always made it a point in these agreements<br /> that the composer should not give away either the right<br /> of performance or the right of mechanical reproduction,<br /> and that no agreement demanding such control as<br /> suggested by yourselves on behalf of the publisher could<br /> be approved by them as acting for the composer. The<br /> sub-committee see no necessity, even granting that the<br /> publisher shares in these rights, for the sole control to<br /> remain in his hands. In making this statement, the<br /> sub-committee do not allow that the publisher has any<br /> claim to either of these rights, or to a share of these rights<br /> which they do not make any attempt to market.<br /> <br /> “As your agreement was printed in The Author as<br /> receiving the approval of the Composers’ Sub-Committee,<br /> I am asked to say that it will be necessary to give in that<br /> magazine the same publicity to the view of our sub-<br /> committee on the present agreement you have put<br /> forward.”<br /> <br /> In answer to that letter the publishers have<br /> replied as follows :—<br /> <br /> “In reply to your letter of ... we shall have no<br /> objection to your printing our agreement in The Author<br /> with your comments, provided you make it clear that the<br /> agreement is one that is used in cases where it is agreed<br /> that no charge is to be made for the performing right,<br /> and that the rights of mechanical reproduction are to be<br /> shared. Where this is not the case our agreement would<br /> not, of course, contain these clauses.”<br /> <br /> While the meaning of the publishers’ letter<br /> is clear, we do not understand the reason of<br /> the statement, ‘‘ the agreement is. one that is<br /> used in cases where it is agreed that no charge<br /> is to be made for the performing right.” If<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. *<br /> <br /> no charge is to be made, and the composer is<br /> willing to endorse this statement—no doubt<br /> there are certain forms of music on which it<br /> would be very inadvisable for a composer to<br /> make any charge for the performing right—<br /> there seems to be no reason whatever why, in<br /> order to accomplish this, the composer should<br /> sell and assign the exclusive right of perform-<br /> ance to the publisher. It is just as easy to<br /> agree to make no charge on the performing<br /> right if that right is still held by the composer,<br /> as if it was held by the publisher, with this<br /> additional security to the composer that he<br /> would still have the control of his own property,<br /> and would know how to act in case of any<br /> infringements of his right. It cannot be too<br /> often repeated that it is most important in the<br /> question of performing rights that the com-<br /> poser should retain the control and should have<br /> the power to act on his own judgment.<br /> <br /> The latter part of the letter refers to another<br /> alteration in the agreement which we have not<br /> as yet quoted. Clause 10 runs :—<br /> <br /> ‘The publishers shall pay the composer, his heirs,<br /> executors or assigns the sum of... of all moneys<br /> received by them in consideration of permission for the<br /> mechanical reproduction of the work, and shall make<br /> such payment within one calendar month from the time<br /> such moneys are received.”<br /> <br /> This says that some portion-—not men-<br /> tioned—of the mechanical reproduction rights<br /> is to be handed over to the publisher. If<br /> the composer is unbusinesslike enough to allow<br /> the publisher to take a certain portion of the<br /> rights of reproduction on mechanical instru-<br /> ments (several articles have been written in<br /> The Author dealing with this point), there is<br /> no reason why these reproduction rights<br /> should be transferred to the music publisher.<br /> It is just as easy for the composer to retain<br /> control of these rights, and allow the publisher<br /> to have a certain portion of them, as it is to<br /> convey them all to the publisher, who would<br /> then have the absolute control. Indeed, it<br /> is much more important that the composer<br /> should have this control, for it may be that<br /> he does not desire his work to be reproduced<br /> on. mechanical instruments at all; or it may<br /> be that he wants to sell them for a sum of<br /> money out and out; or it may be—which is<br /> much more probable—that he does not want<br /> the publisher to have any share in that pro-<br /> perty which does not belong to him.<br /> <br /> It is on account of these very serious and<br /> important alterations that the Committee of<br /> Management have been forced to withdraw<br /> their approval of the agreement in its modified<br /> form.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> THE COMMON-SENSE OF FREE-LANCING.<br /> <br /> 1<br /> By an Eprror.<br /> <br /> (A Repty To “THE Sorrows OF A FREE-<br /> Lance” in “ Tae Autuor,”’ Marcu 1).<br /> <br /> OME time ago I read in one of the<br /> morning papers the account of a<br /> bank clerk who gave up his situation<br /> <br /> (he was earning £3 a week, and living at home),<br /> and came to London to try free-lance<br /> journalism. He began idiotically by taking<br /> a room in Holborn at a rental of a sovereign<br /> a week, and finished by writing advertisements<br /> for whatever stray shillings he could obtain.<br /> I have been wondering, since reading the<br /> article by ‘A Free-Lance’’ in the March<br /> Author, whether the writer of that lugubrious<br /> and misleading story is any better equipped in<br /> the item of common-sense than the poor clerk.<br /> To begin with, the very best way to gain an<br /> editor’s attention is to post articles to him;<br /> when ‘‘ Free-Lance’”’? mentions the “ fearful<br /> postage expense to the author,” he simply<br /> shows that he was never intended by nature<br /> for any situation save one, where the plums<br /> drop straight into his mouth. If he cares to<br /> read my personal experience it may be of<br /> interest to him. I came from the West<br /> country, having for twelve months made a<br /> few extra guineas by verse and short story<br /> work. On the day of my arrival I took a<br /> room within a twopenny &quot;bus ride of the City,<br /> at a rent of 10s. per week, including fires—<br /> for it was winter. And then I wrote. What<br /> hours of effort, of grim despondency, of glorious<br /> exhilaration, that little ‘‘ bed-sitter’? knew!<br /> And what teas, when the young artist, who<br /> lived in the room below, came upstairs to<br /> exchange chatter and to tussle with me at<br /> chess; what chaff, when a chance friend, a<br /> reporter (now a well-known sub-editor) called<br /> to tell me of his escapades, and to charm me<br /> back to good cheer ‘with his irresistible stories ;<br /> what conversations with the kindred spirits<br /> who loved Keats, Meredith, Francis Thompson,<br /> who held opinions on Shaw, Chesterton, Henry<br /> James, and everything under the sun, and ex-<br /> pressed them pithily and sometimes profanely !<br /> Soon, pace ‘“‘ A Free Lance,” without once<br /> interviewing a single editor, or sending any<br /> preliminary letters, and with not one intro-<br /> duction, I began to have a fair number of<br /> items accepted. The grave and_ benign<br /> Spectator honoured me several times by taking<br /> an article, and once by commissioning an essay :<br /> the Academy, the Outlook, Punch, the World,<br /> the Pall Mail and Westminster, opened their<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 201<br /> <br /> f<br /> <br /> columns tome. Two or three papers wrote<br /> asking me tocall. On one occasion the editor<br /> of an old-established weekly telegraphed to<br /> know if I could let him have a sonnet ona<br /> national event by three o’clock the same<br /> afternoon. It was in the printers’ hands by<br /> the hour mentioned ; but I sincerely trust that<br /> never again shall I have to write a sonnet, a<br /> really respectable sonnet, against time. For<br /> three years this true friend—a dear, courtly<br /> old man, who died not long ago—took topical<br /> humorous verse from me almost every week,<br /> beside very many stories. Then came review-<br /> ing, plenty of it, without asking.<br /> <br /> In journalism, perhaps more than in any<br /> other profession, one thing leads to another ;<br /> the unfamiliar name, seen with a strong<br /> article or story, becomes talked about in the<br /> offices. Let a free-lance once give way to<br /> depression, and he might as well finish with<br /> his work. Let him worry over “ fearful<br /> postal expense,’’ and he may resign; one of<br /> my articles was refused by nineteen papers<br /> and accepted by the twentieth—the Spectator ;<br /> of course, it had been retyped several times.<br /> <br /> This brings me to the purchase of my type-<br /> writer, which saved me at once five or six<br /> shillings a week—for I never sent a hand-<br /> written article out on any consideration ;<br /> excepting, naturally, an urgent immediate<br /> commissioned one. That machine paid for<br /> itself several times over; it “did” a couple<br /> of novels without a pennyworth of repairs ;<br /> and both the novels were published at the<br /> publisher’s expense.<br /> <br /> Now, by a turn of the wheel, I read other<br /> people’s contributions instead of writing my<br /> own—though to all editors comes the task of<br /> an occasional article or review. And I read<br /> these piles of essays and poems, typed or<br /> scribbled, all the more sympathetically<br /> because I know exactly what some of their<br /> writers are going through in the way of hope<br /> deferred. Hundreds of them had better be<br /> tinkers, tailors, soldiers, sailors—especially the<br /> “poets ’?; but everything is read. It has<br /> been said a thousand times (yet no free-lance<br /> believes it!) that editors are on the look-out<br /> for good, original stuff; and it is perfectly<br /> true; at the same time, let the free-lance<br /> remember that there are a dozen reasons<br /> why his article may come back to him. Many<br /> papers, for example, have verse enough<br /> accepted for ten or twelve weeks ahead, or<br /> readable ‘“‘ middles”” have reached a goodly<br /> pile; then the editor, however, sympathetic<br /> he be, must relentlessly send back everything<br /> since his paper is not elastic.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 202<br /> <br /> The one charmingly sane remark of “A<br /> Free Lance’? concerns the interviewing of<br /> editors. The visiting contributor is nearly<br /> always a bore; sometimes he—or she—is a<br /> lunatic, apparently. Only a few weeks ago<br /> a lady passed, by guile, into my office, and<br /> began unpacking a small portmanteau; its<br /> sole contents were poems, neatly confined<br /> in scores or dozens, by elastic bands. Another<br /> time a soiled gentleman penetrated to the<br /> sanctum with a brown paper parcel under his<br /> arm that suggested the week’s washing; it<br /> also contained innumerable sheets of poetry.<br /> According to him it was poetry; according<br /> to the critical standard it was not. People<br /> who bring articles, generally omit to leave a<br /> stamped envelope, and write pathetically a<br /> few weeks after, wondering why they have not<br /> received a cheque. No editor cares to read a<br /> contribution while the writer waits. Person-<br /> ally, if an essay seems near the mark, but<br /> uncertain, I set it aside and read it again after<br /> the lapse of a day or two; I know many<br /> editors, and they are all, without exception,<br /> conscientious in reading everything that<br /> reaches them.<br /> <br /> With regard to the observations of ‘‘ A Free<br /> Lance’ on the difficulty of obtaining pay-<br /> ment, and the period that may elapse before<br /> publication, does he expect his editors to<br /> enquire solicitously when he would like his<br /> contribution to appear? They have some-<br /> thing better to do. Certain papers are risky ;<br /> they are well known, and contributions are in<br /> any case sent ‘“‘at owner’s risk.” With the<br /> good papers publication is a sufficient<br /> guarantee of payment. Let ‘“‘ A Free Lance ”<br /> amend his ways, and his sorrows, dear man,<br /> will dwindle to vanishing-point.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> +&gt; —_____<br /> <br /> BRITISH COPYRIGHT IN CANADA.<br /> —_—+—&gt; + —<br /> [Reprinted from the “* Musical Times” by kind<br /> permission of the Editor. |<br /> <br /> AN INJUNCTION GRANTED TO RESTRAIN THE<br /> ImporTATION INTO CANADA OF BRITISH<br /> CopyricnHt Music REPRINTED IN THE<br /> UNITED STATES.<br /> <br /> A judgment of far-reaching consequences was<br /> delivered on February 14 ult. by the Honour-<br /> able Mr. Justice Middleton in the High Court<br /> Division of the Supreme Court of Ontario.<br /> <br /> The plaintiff was Mr. Oliver Hawkes, of the<br /> well-known London firm of Hawkes &amp; Son,<br /> and the defendants were a prominent Toronto<br /> firm of music dealers and publishers. The<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> complaint was that the defendants had in-<br /> fringed the plaintiff&#039;s copyright by importing<br /> into Canada an American reprint of one of<br /> the plaintiff&#039;s publications, which—although<br /> it enjoyed no copyright in the United States<br /> of America—was nevertheless protected in<br /> Canada by virtue of the provisions of the<br /> British Copyright Acts.<br /> <br /> Under the British Copyright Law everything<br /> that is copyright in Great Britain is ipso facto<br /> copyright in Canada. It was therefore origin-<br /> ally unlawful for anyone to import into Canada<br /> a foreign reprint of a work first published in<br /> Great Britain. But by a British Act passed<br /> in the year 1847, the British Colonies were<br /> enabled to import such foreign reprints on<br /> condition that they passed a local law designed,<br /> to compensate the British proprietor of the<br /> copyright. Canada in 1850 duly passed such<br /> a law, fixing the duty to be levied on the<br /> imported copies at 124 per cent. ad valorem<br /> for the benefit of the British owner, and by<br /> Orders in Council of December 12, 1847, and<br /> of July 7, 1868, the clauses in the British<br /> Acts against importation of foreign reprints<br /> were suspended as regards Canada.<br /> <br /> In consequence of a clause in the British<br /> North America Act (1867), which conferred<br /> upon Canada the right to legislate in Canada<br /> on the subject of copyright, serious disputes<br /> arose between the Mother Country and the<br /> Colony as to the nature and extent of that<br /> right. The Canadian Government maintained<br /> that Canada was entitled to legislate for<br /> its own territory, even to the exclusion of<br /> the British Copyright Acts. Consequently<br /> Canada, having in 1875 passed a local Act<br /> which conferred Canadian copyright only on<br /> condition that the work was printed and<br /> published in Canada, claimed that unless<br /> British works were so printed and published,<br /> they lost all their rights in Canada, and that<br /> foreign reprints might be imported from the<br /> United States without restriction. The British<br /> contention had always been that the British<br /> North America Act had only enabled Canada<br /> to legislate for the copyright of works of<br /> Canadian origin, and that Canadian copyright<br /> legislation could have no effect on any British<br /> work first published outside Canada. The<br /> point was finally settled against Canada in<br /> the Canadian case of Smiles v. Belford.<br /> <br /> More recently another attempt was made<br /> to get round the decision in Smiles v. Belford.<br /> There is a provision in the British Customs.<br /> Consolidation Act of 1876 that the importa-<br /> tion of foreign reprints into British Colonies:<br /> can only be restrained when the Colonial<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THER AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 9 (Customs have been duly notified that a copy-<br /> <br /> of right, in any given case, exists. There is,<br /> <br /> 4 however, an exception in the Act which renders<br /> <br /> such notification unnecessary in cases where a<br /> <br /> » Colony has made entire provision for the<br /> <br /> : management and regulation of its own Customs.<br /> <br /> i In the important case of Adam &amp; Charles<br /> <br /> } Black v. The Imperial Book Company it was<br /> <br /> , decided that Canada had made such a pro-<br /> <br /> 211 vision, and that consequently importations of<br /> <br /> rch British copyright works from the United<br /> <br /> -~* States into Canada could be restrained without<br /> <br /> “any previous notification to the Canadian<br /> <br /> a) Customs that a copyright existed. Eventually<br /> <br /> + im 1894, Canada passed a Customs Act under<br /> <br /> ‘+ which she formally declined to collect the<br /> <br /> ef 123 per cent. duty, which in 1850 she had<br /> <br /> FAs aindertaken to collect for the benefit of the<br /> <br /> sce British owner, but which in fact she had never<br /> ») troubled to collect.<br /> <br /> The question then became a simple one.<br /> 4° The British owner was no longer fettered by<br /> ied the British Act of 1847 and the Orders in<br /> ‘oD Council thereunder; for Canada had repu-<br /> =&gt; diated her obligation to collect the duty.<br /> <br /> ‘ ‘And the case of Adam &amp; Charles Black v. The<br /> eet L Imperial Book Company had decided that<br /> ©: importation of reprints of British copyrights<br /> . could be restrained without any notice to the<br /> s) Canadian Customs. The field was therefore<br /> <br /> j thrown open for a test action such as that of<br /> if ‘Hawkes v. Whaley, Royce &amp; Company. In<br /> sald that case the contention of the British copy-<br /> ») right holder has been completely vindicated,<br /> <br /> and the decision is of such importance to all<br /> it who are interested in the protection of British<br /> <br /> » copyright property, that we print the Order of<br /> /) ithe Court in full, with the object of giving it<br /> ‘48 additional publicity.<br /> <br /> In THE SUPREME CouRT OF ONTARIO.<br /> Hicu Court Division.<br /> <br /> Tur HoNouURABLE Friday, the Four-<br /> <br /> “Mr. JusticE MIDDLETON teenth day of<br /> February, 1913.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> “BETWEEN :<br /> Oliver Hawkes, Plaintiff.<br /> and<br /> Whaley, Royce &amp; Company, Limited,<br /> Defendants.<br /> Upon motion made unto this Court this day<br /> ‘by counsel for the plaintiff in the presence of<br /> counsel for the defendants, and upon hearing<br /> read the Writ of Summons herein and the<br /> ‘notice of motion served, and the affidavit of<br /> ‘Frederick Harris filed in support of the motion,<br /> and the affidavit of Eri Whaley in answer, and<br /> vupon hearing what was alleged and counsel<br /> <br /> 208<br /> <br /> f<br /> <br /> for both parties consenting that this motion<br /> be turned into a motion for judgment and<br /> that judgment be entered as_ hereinafter<br /> provided,<br /> <br /> 1. Tus Court poTH ORDER AND ADJUDGE<br /> that the defendants, their officers, servants<br /> and agents, be and they are hereby perpetually<br /> restrained until after the expiry of the plain-<br /> tiff’s copyright in and for the British Do-<br /> minions now existing in the musical book or<br /> publication known as ‘Otto Langley’s Tutor<br /> for the Violin,’ from printing or causing to be<br /> printed, or importing for sale or selling,<br /> publishing or exposing for sale or hire or<br /> causing to be sold, published or exposed for<br /> sale or hire, or from having in their possession<br /> for sale or hire without the consent of the<br /> plaintiff any copy or copies of reprints of the<br /> plaintiff&#039;s said publication published by one<br /> Carl Fischer of the City of New York in<br /> infringement of the plaintiff&#039;s said copyright,<br /> under the title of ‘Otto Langley’s New and<br /> Revised Edition of Celebrated Tutor to Violin,’<br /> or any other reprints or copies of plaintiff&#039;s<br /> said copyright.<br /> <br /> 2, ANpD TuIS COURT DOTH FURTHER ORDER<br /> AND ApJuDGE that the defendants do pay to<br /> the plaintiff his costs of this action, including<br /> costs of this motion, forthwith after taxation<br /> thereof.<br /> <br /> Judgment signed this<br /> <br /> 14th day of February, 1913.<br /> <br /> ——___—_—&gt;—e_&lt;_<br /> <br /> MAGAZINE CONTENTS.<br /> eg<br /> British REVIEW.<br /> Munchausen: The German Comic Giant.<br /> <br /> George.<br /> The Poetry of Alice Meynell. By Albert A. Cock.<br /> <br /> ENGLISH.<br /> Poem: Aphrodite at Leatherhead. By John Helston,<br /> Synge. By Lady Gregory.<br /> The Brain Thief. By Haldane McFall.<br /> The Commercial Side of Music. By G. Herbert Thring.<br /> Ragtime: The New Tarantism. By Francis Toye.<br /> NATIONAL,<br /> The Post Impressionist.<br /> <br /> By W. L.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> SCALE FOR ADVERTISEMENTS.<br /> <br /> ema<br /> [ALLOWANCE TO MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY 20 PER CENT.]<br /> <br /> Frout Page £4 0 0<br /> Other Pages a ee 0.<br /> Half of a Page ... a hes tee ive as es vee ke a8<br /> Quarter of a Page ies ese ver ie ca in ac 0 15-6<br /> Highth of a Page is soi re sie 0°70<br /> Single Column Advertisements 6 0<br /> <br /> Reduction of 20 per cent. made for a Series of Six and of 25 per cent. for<br /> Twelve Insertions.<br /> <br /> All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed to J. F.<br /> BeLMont &amp; Co., 29, Paternoster Square, London, E.c.<br /> <br /> per inch 0<br /> <br /> <br /> 204<br /> <br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> — 1 —&lt;—4$-——<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 /> Secretary of the Society is a solicitor; but if there is any<br /> special reason the Secretary will refer the case to the<br /> Solicitors of the Society. Further, the Committee, if they<br /> deem it desirable, will obtain counsel’s opinion without<br /> any cost to the member. Moreover, where counsel’s<br /> opinion is favourable, and the sanction of the Committee<br /> is obtained, action will be taken on behalf of the aggrieved<br /> member, and all costs borne by the Society.<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 /> 8. Before signing any agreement whatever, send<br /> the document to the Society for examination.<br /> <br /> 4. Remember always that in belonging to the Society<br /> you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you<br /> are reaping no direct 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 /> 5. The Committee have arranged for the reception of<br /> 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 stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action<br /> upon them. (2) To keep agreements. (3) To enforce<br /> payments due according to agreements. Fuller particu-<br /> lars of the Society’s work can be obtained in the<br /> Prospectus.<br /> <br /> 6. 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 /> 7, Many agents neglect to stamp agreements,<br /> must be done within fourteen days of first execution.<br /> Secretary will undertake it on behalf of members.<br /> <br /> This<br /> The<br /> <br /> 8. Some agents endeavour 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 /> 9. The subscription to the Society is £1 1s. per<br /> annum, or £10 10s. for life membership.<br /> <br /> a Se coh SaeeeeEemmneee!<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO THE PRODUCERS<br /> OF BOOKS.<br /> <br /> &lt;1<br /> <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 /> <br /> I. Selling it Outright.<br /> This is sometimes satisfactory, if a proper price can be<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> . doctor !<br /> <br /> obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a<br /> competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of<br /> the Society.<br /> <br /> II. A Profit-Sharing Agreement (a bad form of<br /> agreement),<br /> <br /> In this case the following rules should be attended to:<br /> <br /> C1.) 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 /> (5.) 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 /> <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 is now<br /> possible for an author to ascertain approximately the<br /> truth. From time to time very important figures connected<br /> with royalties are published in Zhe Author.<br /> <br /> IY. A Commission Agreement.<br /> <br /> The main points are :— :<br /> <br /> (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production.<br /> <br /> (2.) Keep control of the advertisements.<br /> <br /> (3.) 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 /> to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the<br /> nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or<br /> withheld,<br /> <br /> (3.) Always avoid a transfer of copyright.<br /> <br /> ——_——__+———__- —_____—_<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> —+— +<br /> <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 /> <br /> 2. It is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for<br /> the production of a play with any one except an established<br /> manager.<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 inte<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 /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> (b.) 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 /> <br /> percentage on the sliding seale 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 (‘.c., 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 (3.) 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<br /> is 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 /> 2 gg<br /> <br /> REGISTRATION OF SCENARIOS AND<br /> ORIGINAL PLAYS.<br /> <br /> —— $&lt;<br /> <br /> CENARIOS, typewritten in duplicate on foolscap paper<br /> forwarded to the offices of the Society, together with<br /> <br /> a registration fee of two shillings and sixpence, will<br /> <br /> be carefully compared by the Secretary or a qualified assis-<br /> tant. One copy will be stamped and returned to theauthor<br /> and the other filed in the register of the Society. Copies<br /> of the scenario thus filed may be obtained at any time by<br /> the author only at a small charge to cover cost of typing.<br /> <br /> Original Plays may also be filed subject to the same<br /> rules, with the exception that a play will be charged for<br /> at the price of 2s. 6d. per act.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 205<br /> <br /> DRAMATIC AUTHORS AND~ AGENTS.<br /> —_+-—~&lt;9—+<br /> RAMATIC authors should seek the advice of the<br /> Society before putting plays into the hands of<br /> agents. As the law stands at present, an agent<br /> who has once had a play in his hands may acquire a<br /> perpetual elaim to a percentage on the author’s fees<br /> from it. As far as the placing of plays is concerned,<br /> it may be taken as a general rule that there are only<br /> very few agents who can do anything for an author<br /> that he cannot, under the guidance of the Society, do<br /> equally well or better for himself. The collection of fees<br /> is also a matter in which in many cases no intermediary is<br /> required. For certain purposes, such as the collection of<br /> fees on amateur performances, and in general the trans-<br /> action of frequent petty authorisations with different<br /> individuals, and also for the collection of fees in foreign<br /> countries, almost all dramatic authors employ agents; and<br /> in these ways the services of agents are real and valuable.<br /> But the Society warns authors against agents who profess<br /> to have influence with managers in the placing of plays, or<br /> who propose to act as principals by offering to purchase<br /> the author&#039;s rights. In any case, in the present state of<br /> the law, an agent should not be employed under any<br /> circumstances without an agreement approved of by the<br /> Society.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> =<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO MUSICAL COMPOSERS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ITTLE can be added to the warnings given for the<br /> T. assistance of producers of books and dramatic<br /> authors. It must, however, be pointed out that, as<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 /> should be especially careful therefore when entering into<br /> an agreement, and should take into particular consideration<br /> the warnings stated above.<br /> <br /> ———————<br /> <br /> STAMPING MUSIC.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The Society undertakes to stamp copies of music on<br /> behalf of its members for the fee of 6d. per 100 or part<br /> of 100. The members’ stamps are kept in the Society&#039;s<br /> safe, The musical publishers communicate direct with the<br /> Secretary, and the voucher is then forwarded to the<br /> members, who are thus saved much unnecessary trouble.<br /> <br /> —_—___+——+-—____—<br /> <br /> THE READING BRANCH.<br /> <br /> a gc<br /> EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this,<br /> \ 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 /> i<br /> <br /> REMITTANCES.<br /> <br /> So<br /> <br /> The Secretary of the Society begs to give notice<br /> that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post,<br /> All remittances should be crossed Union of London and<br /> Smiths Bank, Chancery Lane, or be sent by registered |<br /> letter only.<br /> <br /> <br /> 206<br /> COLLECTION BUREAU.<br /> <br /> —t+~&lt; +<br /> <br /> HE Society undertakes to collect accounts and moneys<br /> <br /> j due to authors, composers and dramatists.<br /> <br /> 1. Under contracts for the publication of their<br /> works.<br /> <br /> 2. Under contracts for the performance of their works<br /> and amateur fees.<br /> <br /> 3. Under the Compulsory Licence Clauses of the Copy-<br /> right Act, i.e., Clause 3, governing compulsory licences for<br /> books, and Clause 19, referring to mechanical instrument<br /> records.<br /> <br /> The Bureau is divided into three departments :—<br /> <br /> 1. Literary.<br /> 2. Dramatic.<br /> 3. Musical.<br /> <br /> The Society does not desire to make a profit from the<br /> collection of fees, but will charge a commission to cover<br /> expenses. If, owing to the amount passing through the<br /> office, the expenses are more than covered, the Committee<br /> of Management will discuss the possibility of reducing the<br /> commission.<br /> <br /> For full particulars of the terms of collection, application<br /> must be made to the Collection Bureau of the Society.<br /> <br /> The Bureau is in no sense a literary or dramatic<br /> agency for the placing of books or plays.<br /> <br /> CHANGE OF ADDRESS.<br /> ere<br /> From March 1, the Society’s Offices will be<br /> <br /> at No. 1, Central Buildings, Tothill Street,<br /> ‘Westminster, S.W.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> GENERAL NOTES,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Tue AUSTRALIAN CopyricHT Act.<br /> <br /> WE have to thank the Colonial Office for its<br /> courtesy in supplying the Society with a copy<br /> of the Australian Copyright Act. We endea-<br /> voured to obtain it in other directions, but this<br /> is the first copy that has come to hand. We<br /> have pleasure in laying it before members in<br /> the form of a supplement.<br /> <br /> The careful perusal of the Act will show that<br /> on the whole it is satisfactory. The schedule<br /> referred to has been omitted, as the British<br /> Copyright Act was printed as a supplement to<br /> the July number (1912) of The Author. The<br /> Clauses referring to summary proceedings need<br /> the careful attention of all members of the<br /> Society. It will be seen on comparison with<br /> the Clauses in the English Act that they give<br /> a much wider protection. This is satisfactory,<br /> for the Clauses referring to summary pro-<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> ceedings in the British Act were ruthlessly, and<br /> in many cases quite unwarrantably, cut down,<br /> leaving a very poor chance of recovery for<br /> infringement ; but members must also note<br /> that these Clauses in the Australian Act<br /> cannot be enforced unless the literary work or<br /> dramatic piece has been duly registered in<br /> Australia. This has its disadvantages, but<br /> also its advantages. Its disadvantages arise<br /> owing to the trouble necessary to carry<br /> through the registration, though the matter is<br /> not very complicated. Its advantages are<br /> that such registration affords prima facie<br /> evidence in the Australian Courts that the<br /> author is the owner of the copyright, and it<br /> will not, therefore, be necessary for him to<br /> prove his title in the Australian Courts. It<br /> might be a matter of considerable difficulty to<br /> prove a titleif it was necessary, as it is necessary<br /> when summary proceedings are taken, to carry<br /> the matter through rapidly.<br /> <br /> Tue AMERICAN PRINTING TRADE.<br /> <br /> From the March number of Chicago Dial,<br /> we quote a very interesting passage referring<br /> to the increase of papers in the United States<br /> and Canada. We wonder how these statistics<br /> compare with the statistics in Great Britain.<br /> It seems extraordinary that in a great in-<br /> dustrial nation like the United States the<br /> printing and publishing industry is exceeded<br /> in number of employees and value of product<br /> by only four other industries.<br /> <br /> “The growth of the periodical press seems to keep pace<br /> with the growth of the world’s population. In the United<br /> States and Canada, for example, there was in 1912 a birth-<br /> rate of newspapers and periodicals amounting to more than<br /> five each week day ; that is, 1686 new publications started<br /> into being. But the death-rate was so nearly equal to the<br /> birth-rate that the net increase for the year was only<br /> thirty-six, about equally divided between this country and<br /> our northern neighbour, and chiefly confined to the field of<br /> daily journalism. So largely are we Americans a nation of<br /> readers that the printing and publishing industry is<br /> exceeded, in number of employees and value of product, by<br /> only four other industries—or so the statisticians assure us.<br /> In the last ten years the value of the annual output of<br /> printed matter in America has increased by more than<br /> eighty-six per cent. Nearly every trade and industry has<br /> its one or more periodicals, and the whole mass of<br /> periodical publications is divided into 208 classes, with the<br /> weekly issues of all sorts in a large majority. A study of<br /> the ‘American Newspaper Annual and Directory’<br /> impresses one with the magnitude of the industry that<br /> supplies to thousands of energetic Americans practically<br /> all the reading matter they ever avail themselves of.”<br /> <br /> ————<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> UNITED STATES NOTES.<br /> <br /> ——<br /> <br /> T the joint session last December of the<br /> American Academy of Arts and Letters<br /> and the National Institute of Arts and<br /> <br /> Letters (the body from which the Academi-<br /> cians are chosen) the president, Dr. Henry<br /> Van Dyke, deprecated the idea that the<br /> company present was one of “ self-appointed<br /> inheritors of mortal celebrity ’”’—all members<br /> of either society being chosen by the votes of<br /> their competitors and rivals. It was natural<br /> and proper that such a disclaimer should be<br /> made in an assembly of this kind, for no one<br /> knows better than literary men how divergent<br /> are the judgments of the day and of posterity<br /> respectively upon books and their writers.<br /> How many of to-day’s geniuses—or, to put the<br /> matter on a lower plane, to-day’s best-sellers—<br /> will be found hereafter in the list of the real,<br /> not the academic, immortals ? Only a publisher<br /> or a second-rate critic can, with any appearance<br /> of confidence, hail a work as “‘ the greatest<br /> novel ” (or whatever it may be) since this or<br /> that masterpiece, as “a book that is destined<br /> to live,” and so on. Perhaps posterity will<br /> preserve some of those volumes to which<br /> allusion has now to be made, but here it only<br /> falls to my lot to record their names and their<br /> authors.<br /> <br /> Fiction, as usual, comprises by far the<br /> largest section. Two dead writers are repre-<br /> sented in David Graham Phillips’s ‘‘ George<br /> Helm” and Myrtle Read’s ‘“‘The White<br /> Shield ’—the latter a collection of short tales.<br /> Robert W. Chambers has two works to his<br /> name, “‘ Blue Bird Weather” and “ The Gay<br /> Rebellion,” a skit on the suffragettes. L. J.<br /> Vance’s new book is “‘ The Day of Days” ;<br /> Booth Tarkington’s, “The Flirt” ; Edith<br /> Wharton’s, “The Reef’; Charles Egbert<br /> Craddock’s, ‘* The Ordeal”’; Margaret Deland’s,<br /> “The Voice’; Payne Erskine’s, “ Joyful<br /> Heatherby’”’?; Gouverneur Morris’s, ‘‘ The<br /> Penalty’’; Randall Parrish’s, ‘‘ Gordon Craig,<br /> Soldier of Fortune.” Hallie Erminie Rives<br /> had brought out ‘“‘ The Valiants of Virginia,”<br /> Ridgwell Cullum ‘‘ The Night Riders,” Mary<br /> Thompson Daviess ‘‘ Andrew the Glad,”<br /> H. S. Harrison (author of Queed) ‘“ V. V.’s<br /> Eyes,” John Fox, jun., ‘‘ The Heart of the<br /> Hills,’ Montagu Glass ‘‘ Elkan Lubliner,<br /> American,” and Will Irwin ‘‘ Where the Heart<br /> is.<br /> <br /> With ‘“‘ The Lady and Sada San,” Frances<br /> Little jumped into the envied list of best<br /> sellers before the end of 1912, though too late<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 207<br /> <br /> to be mentioned in the last issue of these Notes.<br /> Theodore Dreiser’s “*The Financier” and<br /> H. L. Wilson’s ‘“ Bunker Bean,” are two<br /> novels, very different in kind, that have<br /> attracted a lot of attention. Nor must notice.<br /> be omitted of the following :—‘** Paul Rundel,”’<br /> by W.N. Harben, ‘‘ A Jewel of the Seas,” by<br /> Jessie Kaufman, ‘‘ The Olympian,” by James.<br /> Oppenheim, “ The Harbor of Love,” by R. H.<br /> Barbour, *“* A Living Legacy,.”” by Ruth Under-<br /> wood, ‘** Concerning Sally,”’ by W. J. Hopkins,<br /> “Madison Hood,” by Hamilton Drane, ‘*‘ Which<br /> One?” by R. A. Bennet, “The Locusts’<br /> Years,” by Mary H. Fee, “ Jack Lorimer,<br /> Freshman,” by W. L. Sawyer, ‘‘ Miss Jimmy,”<br /> by Laura Richards, “Sally Castleton,<br /> Southerner,” by Crittenden Mariott, ‘‘ The<br /> Shadow,” by A. Stringer, and ‘‘ Everbreeze,”’<br /> by Mrs. S. P. McLean. “The Lost Million ” is<br /> a sensational tale by Winthrop Alder—which<br /> is stated to be the pseudonym of a well-known<br /> author. Two collections of short stories are<br /> J. R. Scott’s ‘‘ The First Hurdle and Others,”<br /> and Mrs. L. B. Van Slyke’s ‘“ Eve’s Other<br /> Children.’ Lastly, if it is to be classed under<br /> Fiction, George Ade’s latest is “‘ Knocking the<br /> Neighbours.”<br /> <br /> As this goes to the printers I have time to<br /> include in my list three more novels, published<br /> early in March :—‘ Pollyanna,” by Eleanor<br /> H. Porter; ‘‘ The Case of Jennie Brice,” by<br /> Mary Roberts Rinehart ; and ‘‘ The Poisoned<br /> Pen,” by Arthur B. Reeve.<br /> <br /> In comparison with the swarm of novels, the<br /> list of biographical works is very small, even.<br /> if it be made to cover personal reminiscences.<br /> John Van de Zee Sears has published ‘‘ My<br /> Friends at Brook Farm.” J. K. Hosmer’s<br /> “The Last Leaf,” and Hubert Howe Bancroft’s<br /> ‘“‘ Retrospection ” are both the results of the<br /> life-long observation of two old and respected<br /> Americans. The title of George Iles’s<br /> ‘‘ Leading American Inventors ”’ sufficiently<br /> explains the book. Of the ‘“ Writings of<br /> John Quincy Adams,” edited by W. C. Ford,<br /> the first volume has just appeared. In<br /> “Lincoln’s Own Stories”? Anthony Goss<br /> illustrates Abraham Lincoln’s life by means of<br /> authentic stories told by and of him.<br /> <br /> Under History we find ‘The History of<br /> Plymouth Plantations, 1620—1647,” by<br /> Governor William Bradford ; ‘‘ The Sunset of<br /> the Confederacy,” by Morris Scaff; ‘* The<br /> Elmira Prison Camp,” by C. W. Holmes ;<br /> and “The Unseen Empire,” by Dr. D. S.<br /> Jordan, who characterises his work in his<br /> sub-title as “a study of the plight of nations<br /> that do not pay their debts.”<br /> <br /> <br /> 208<br /> <br /> Description and Travel have a longer list,<br /> among which may be noted the following :<br /> “The Beginnings of San Francisco,” by<br /> Z. S. Eldridge, and ‘‘ San Francisco as it was,<br /> as it is, and how to see it,” by Helen Purdy ;<br /> “The Colonial Homes of Philadelphia and its<br /> Neighbourhood,” by H. D. Eberlein and<br /> H. M. Lippincott ; “* Boston, New and Old,”<br /> by T. R. Sullivan; ‘‘ Panama,” by C. W.<br /> Burris, and “Panama Canal: What it is,<br /> What it Means,” by John Barrett; ‘“* The<br /> Awakening of the Desert,” by J. C. Birge ;_ and<br /> “Seeing Europe on Sixty Dollars,” by W. F.<br /> Fauley. ‘‘ Old Chinatown ”’ is a collection of<br /> ninety-two pictures by Arnold Genthe, with<br /> an accompanying letterpress by Will Irwin.<br /> In ‘“‘ Myths of the Modoes,” Jeremiah Curtin<br /> deals with an Indian tribe in California and<br /> Oregon. The former state is treated more<br /> generally in the late Bradford Torrey’s<br /> “Field Days in California.” ‘A Mexican<br /> Journey,” by E. H. Blichfeldt, is decidedly<br /> topical just now.<br /> <br /> Of books on social subjects first place may<br /> be given to President Woodrow Wilson’s “ The<br /> New Freedom.” Bishop C. B. Brewster writes<br /> of “ The Kingdom of God in American Life.”<br /> In “ The End of Strife : Nature’s Laws applied<br /> to Incomes,” J. W. Batdorf proposes a federal<br /> income tax to meet the problem of the con-<br /> comitant rise of prices and decrease of income.<br /> “‘ Industrial Combinations and Trusts” is by<br /> Dr. W. S. Stevens, of Columbia University.<br /> ‘‘The Temper of the American People” is<br /> the title of a work by G. T. Smart; and in<br /> “« American Social and Religious Conditions ”<br /> the Rev. Charles Stelzle attacks a similar<br /> subject.<br /> <br /> ‘* Americans and Others ” (Agnes Repplier)<br /> and “‘The American Mind” (Bliss Perry)<br /> resemble the last two books in their titles, but<br /> are cast in the form of Essays. Under this<br /> head may be placed John Burroughs’s “ Time<br /> and Change”; Irving Babbitt’s “ Masters<br /> of Modern French Criticism’’; Brander<br /> Matthews’s ‘‘ Gateways to Literature’’; and<br /> Mrs. L. C. Pickett’s ‘* Literary Hearth-Stones<br /> of Dixie,’ though this is semi-biographical.<br /> <br /> Two learned works are “ Tiglath Pileser<br /> III.,” by Professor A. S. Anspacher (Columbia<br /> University), and ‘‘ The Inner Life and the<br /> Tao-Teh-King,’ by C. H. A. Bjerregoard,<br /> Librarian of the New York Public Library.<br /> Learned in a different way from either of<br /> these is ‘‘The Birds of Eastern North<br /> America,” by C. A. Reed, with illustrations in<br /> colour of every bird common to the United<br /> States and Canada.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> There are always some new books by women<br /> on the feminist movement in every season’s<br /> list in the States nowadays. Two may be<br /> singled out here among recent publications,<br /> “* Why Women are So,”’ by Mrs. M. E. Coolidge,<br /> and ‘‘ The Business of being a Woman,” by<br /> Ida M. Tarbell. A male writer who handles<br /> the subject is Professor E. T. Devine, occupant<br /> of the chair of social economy at Columbia<br /> University. ‘‘ The Family and Social Work ”<br /> is the style of his volume.<br /> <br /> At the above-mentioned joint session of the<br /> Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters,<br /> Dr. Van Dyke lamented the literary and<br /> artistic losses of the past year, including<br /> numerous members of the two societies.<br /> Death continues to make inroads upon the<br /> ranks of American writers. Too late to<br /> include in the obituary section of these notes<br /> last January were the losses of Whitelaw<br /> Reid (of whom it is superfluous for me to say<br /> anything now); of Will Carleton, the poet, who<br /> had attained to the age of sixty-seven years<br /> when he succumbed to illness last December ;<br /> and of Mrs. Laura Case Collins, who was<br /> eighty-six and had become but a name to<br /> modern readers. Right at the end of the<br /> year died General Theophilus Francis Roden-<br /> bough, who wrote a number of books and<br /> edited an American military journal. In<br /> January Mrs. Julia Ripley Dorr, a poetess<br /> and a friend of Emerson, Longfellow, Holmes<br /> and Lowell, died at the age of eighty-eight.<br /> The February obituary includes Anne Warner<br /> French, in England, on the 1st of the month ;<br /> Mrs. Irene Benson, a writer of juvenile books,<br /> on the 6th; Charles Major, author of ** When<br /> Knighthood was in Flower,” on the 18th;<br /> Cincinnatus Heine (‘“‘ Joaquin ’’) Miller, univer-<br /> sally known as the ‘“ Poet of the Sierras,”” on<br /> the 17th; and about the same time William<br /> de Lancey Ellwanger, another poet. It is<br /> a curious fact with regard to many of those<br /> whose decease is recorded here that they<br /> lived so long. Two octogenarians have been<br /> mentioned, and Joaquin Miller was seventy-<br /> one. In comparison Major and Ellwanger<br /> were young at fifty-six and fifty-seven.<br /> <br /> Pirie WALSH.<br /> <br /> $&lt; ——__<br /> <br /> THE AGENT LITERARY AND DRAMATIC.<br /> —— +<br /> <br /> 5 ua literary agent must enjoy towards<br /> <br /> the author a position of great confi-<br /> <br /> dence and great responsibility. He<br /> <br /> is responsible not merely for protecting the<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> author adequately from the publisher, the<br /> editor or the manager, should such protection<br /> be necessary, but he has also to see that in all<br /> his own dealings the author is kept fully<br /> informed ; it is necessary that the position of<br /> great confidence is not betrayed—it is not<br /> merely a negative honesty, but a positive<br /> virtue that is looked for.<br /> <br /> The value of the agent is much discussed,<br /> but in many cases his services are useful,<br /> and in some quite valuable; but from<br /> information received by the Society of Authors<br /> it would seem that he should be sometimes<br /> protected against himself.<br /> <br /> First he should, before commencing to<br /> work for an author, make a fair and reasonable<br /> agreement. The question immediately arises,<br /> ‘What is a fair and reasonable agreement ? ”<br /> If a solicitor is employed to draft a contract,<br /> he is paid a fixed fee for the work done. Ifa<br /> land-agent or house-agent is employed to<br /> let a property, he also is paid a fixed percentage<br /> on the first year’s rent obtained for his client.<br /> To a certain extent the literary agent combines<br /> the two positions, that of the man who finds a<br /> market, and that of the man who draws up<br /> the contract. If he is a good literary agent,<br /> he ought to have the necessary knowledge<br /> to a greater extent than the ordinary solicitor.<br /> The legal principles are not so much in question<br /> as the practical details.<br /> <br /> The literary agent, however, does not claim<br /> a fixed fee, and he does not claim a commission<br /> over a fixed term of years. In marketing and<br /> drafting a licence for the publication of 4<br /> work, or for the production of a drama, he<br /> claims a percentage on the returns, during the<br /> legal term of copyright, that is the life of the<br /> author and for fifty years afterwards. The<br /> | question naturally arises, “ Is this a fair and<br /> reasonable contract?” It may be in some<br /> cases, in others it is distinctly unreasonable.<br /> The Dramatic Sub-Committee of the Society<br /> of Authors and a specially selected Sub-Com-<br /> mittee each drafted a contract with agents.<br /> The first was a contract for the placing of a<br /> drama, and the second a contract for the<br /> placing of a book. Both of these sub-<br /> committees came to the conclusion that a<br /> fixed percentage, until the amount reached a<br /> settled sum, was the only fair and reasonable<br /> agreement with the literary agent for the<br /> double work of finding a market and drawing<br /> up a contract. The members of the Society<br /> are strongly advised to keep this opinion before<br /> them.<br /> <br /> The question is one of great importance,<br /> because in some cases an author, ignorant of<br /> <br /> 209<br /> <br /> literary agents’ fees and methods, is advised<br /> to go to an agent and is disappointed when he<br /> finds that, contrary to the usual arrangement in<br /> other businesses, he would have, most probably,<br /> to pay the agent 10% during the whole term of<br /> copyright, in the absence of a special agree-<br /> ment. It is, therefore, clearly a matter of no<br /> little moment that the agent should make a<br /> fair and reasonable agreement before he begins<br /> negotiations, and should place the whole facts<br /> of the position candidly before the author.<br /> If he does this and a contract is signed, there<br /> can be no dispute subsequently. If the author<br /> finds the agent is thoroughly trustworthy, he<br /> no doubt will allow him, when the total fee<br /> decided upon has been collected, to continue<br /> to collect the royalties, subject to a reasonable<br /> and reduced percentage. The sub-committees<br /> referred to considered that 5° was reasonable<br /> for the mere collection of monies and checking<br /> of accounts. Of course, where a work is sold<br /> for a sum down—for instance, the first serial<br /> use or the magazine rights in stories, or the<br /> licence to produce a play for a year—then the<br /> agent would naturally be paid a commission<br /> at a fixed rate for the one transaction, as would<br /> a house-agent or lawyer for letting a property<br /> or settling a contract.<br /> <br /> The preliminaries then, having been fixed,<br /> the agent proceeds to market the work, and<br /> from the moment the agreement is signed, the<br /> position of the closest confidence ought to exist<br /> between the agent and the author. As soon as<br /> an offer is made, and, subject to the willingness<br /> of the author or the dramatist to accept the<br /> financial side, the agent, acting in his capacity<br /> of expert adviser—in which sometimes he is by<br /> no means an expert—drafts a contract for the<br /> signature of the author. If he is a satisfactory<br /> agent, he will explain at every turn in the<br /> negotiations the disadvantages that may<br /> acrue to the author if he accepts some of the<br /> terms put forward by the publisher, or if he<br /> fails to insist upon some of the terms suggested<br /> for his own protection. In many cases the<br /> agent is quite clear on these points, and the<br /> author goes away with a full knowledge of<br /> what he may get and of what he must part with.<br /> In some cases that have come to the ken of<br /> the Society of Authors, the agent has advised<br /> the author to give away rights—thus weakening<br /> the contract—not necessarily with a view to<br /> the author’s benefit, but because the agent<br /> desires, in the rush of business, to get rid of<br /> one transaction in order to make way for<br /> others that are waiting. In so advising, the<br /> agent does not merely damage the individual<br /> author, but the whole profession of authorship.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 210<br /> <br /> He allows abuses to pass into currency until<br /> they can almost be defended as trade customs.<br /> This point might be dealt with much more fully,<br /> but I do not propose to enter into greater<br /> detail in the present article. There are many<br /> difficult positions in the present marketing of<br /> books, dramas, and all sorts of literary produc-<br /> tion, which have apparently been brought<br /> about by the agent’s neglect of the importance<br /> of standing firm on behalf of authors and<br /> dramatists.<br /> <br /> Having made all the points in the publisher’s<br /> agreement quite clear to the author (or not,<br /> as the case may be, and usually is), the agent<br /> then proceeds to insert a clause in the agree-<br /> ment, two examples of which are printed<br /> herewith :—<br /> <br /> (1) That the author hereby authorises and empowers his<br /> agent to collect and receive all sums of money payable to<br /> the author under the terms of this agreement, and declares<br /> that the agent’s receipt shall be a good and valid dis-<br /> charge to the publishers. The author hereby also<br /> authorises and empowers the publishers to treat with the<br /> agent on his behalf and in all matters concerning this<br /> agreement in any way whatsoever.<br /> <br /> Or (2) All sums due under this agreement shall be paid<br /> to the author’s representatives, whose receipt alone shall<br /> be a full and sufficient discharge of the obligation, and the<br /> said representatives are hereby authorised by the author<br /> <br /> to conduct all negotiations with the publishers in respect<br /> of the said work.<br /> <br /> From all the evidence that it has been<br /> possible to collect in the office of the Society<br /> it does not appear that the agent ever<br /> explains to the author the difficulties and<br /> dangers which may result when this clause<br /> in either form is inserted. That is to say,<br /> that on the first point, where the agent’s<br /> action touches his own position as confidential<br /> adviser, he very generally allows the author<br /> blindfold to sign an agreement with a clause<br /> inserted that may work mischief for his client.<br /> Attention has already been drawn to the<br /> difficulties that arise owing to the agent<br /> allowing the author to give way to certain<br /> of the publisher’s demands, but these can<br /> hardly be classed in the same list as the<br /> neglect to inform the author of the dangers<br /> of the clause referred to. If an author suffers,<br /> by the operation of this clause, he is the<br /> victim of what I consider to be indistinguish-<br /> able from a breach of trust. The first serious<br /> fault of which the author should be made<br /> aware, is that this clause is technically called<br /> “‘an authority coupled with an interest to a<br /> third party,” and is irrevocable as between<br /> the two parties who sign the agreement. No<br /> doubt the agent desires to protect his own<br /> interests. He is right to do so, but he must<br /> protect them in some other way—in any case<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> he must not abuse his confidential position.<br /> It is very easy, should the author desire the<br /> agent to collect his monies, to give the agent<br /> a separate and formal authority which could<br /> be handed to the publisher, and which could<br /> be cancelled at any time the author might<br /> desire; but even then, it is doubtful if the<br /> authority the author should give should be<br /> as wide as the irrevocable authority given<br /> in the clauses quoted. In clause 1 -and in<br /> clause 2 the agent’s receipt shall be a valid<br /> discharge to the publishers. In clause 2,<br /> indeed, the agent’s receipt “‘ alone’ shall be<br /> a valid discharge. Now a further legal point<br /> arises. A Court will not allow a statement of<br /> accounts to be re-opened when the accounts<br /> have once been closed by a formal receipt<br /> being given for the money paid, unless it can<br /> be shown at a subsequent date that the<br /> accounts are not being paid in accordance<br /> with the contract, and that there are clearly<br /> mistakes in them. If the agent carefully<br /> checked the accounts to see they were rendered<br /> in accordance with the terms of the agreement,<br /> and were correct as compared with the accounts<br /> that had already been rendered, even then the<br /> power of giving a valid receipt might put<br /> great temptation in his way; but on many<br /> occasions, from the study of publishers’<br /> accounts that have passed through agents’<br /> hands, it is quite clear that the agents have<br /> received accounts and cheques, have forwarded<br /> the receipt, and without going into the details<br /> have passed them on to the author unchecked.<br /> This brings about a very serious position for<br /> the author, and there is nothing in_ the<br /> clause to make the agent liable for such<br /> omission. He does not undertake to check<br /> the accounts, although he is permitted to<br /> give the valid receipt. These powers, then,<br /> in the agent’s hands, might make it difficult<br /> for the author to move actively and success-<br /> fully in the matter.<br /> <br /> Another point arises when the author<br /> empowers the publishers to negotiate with<br /> the agent on his behalf ‘‘in all matters con-<br /> cerning his agreement,’ and, as the first<br /> clause adds, ‘‘in any way whatsoever.” The<br /> author, then, has first irrevocably, during the<br /> continuance of the agreement, appointed the<br /> agent to collect his monies; . secondly, he<br /> has irrevocably appointed him to give a valid<br /> receipt; and, thirdly, he has irrevocably<br /> appointed him to deal with the publishers in<br /> all questions concerning the agreement. If<br /> the agent got into any financial difficulties<br /> (agents have been known to pass_ through<br /> financial crises) the publisher would still be<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> OUR DILATORY METHODS.<br /> <br /> bound to hand over the author’s money to<br /> the agent, and it is possible that when the<br /> final crash of bankruptcy came, the agent<br /> might have collected considerable sums on<br /> behalf of his authors, and the authors would<br /> only be entitled to a dividend as creditors in<br /> the bankruptcy. If, however, the author<br /> gives authority to the agent to collect his<br /> monies, that is revocable, a power to give a<br /> valid receipt that is revocable, and a power<br /> to deal with the publishers concerning the<br /> agreement that is revocable, then, if he sees<br /> that it is probable that his agentis in difficulties,<br /> he can revoke the authority, collect his own<br /> royalties, and pay to the agent in due course<br /> the commission due to him for placing the<br /> book or the drama with which the agreement<br /> is concerned; he can give his own valid<br /> receipt to the publishers ; and, finally, in any<br /> case where a dispute arises under the agree-<br /> ment and he prefers to conduct it himself, he<br /> can do so, and could most probably settle the<br /> matter in a more satisfactory way than the<br /> agent, or failing settlement could, if necessary,<br /> employ a lawyer to settle on his behalf.<br /> There are two points, then, to which<br /> attention should be specially drawn, first, the<br /> amount of remuneration an agent is receiving<br /> for the work he does, and, secondly, the limited<br /> power alone which should be entrusted to the<br /> agent for carrying out the work which he is<br /> able to undertake. It must be repeated that<br /> as the position between the agent and author<br /> is one of a specially confidential nature, it is<br /> all the more incumbent upon the agent to<br /> keep that position undefiled! He should<br /> explain all the difficulties of the publisher’s<br /> agreement, and while advising the author, he<br /> must let him settle for himself what he will<br /> give up, what he will reserve, and what risks he<br /> will take. He should explain the difficulties<br /> and dangers inherent in the clauses quoted,<br /> and allow the author to act, after appreciating<br /> them. For the same reason that the author<br /> employs an agent to negotiate his business and<br /> market his works, he would most probably<br /> desire the agent to collect the monies and to<br /> discuss all the difficulties that arise; but in<br /> no circumstances should the authority be<br /> irrevocable and unlimited, and it is certain<br /> that these vast discretions would never be<br /> given to agents if the authors understood<br /> rightly the various positions which might arise<br /> under their agreements. ‘These positions it is<br /> the agent’s positive duty to explain to his<br /> principal, clearly, correctly and frankly.<br /> <br /> G. H. T.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 211<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> OME years ago an American organisation<br /> in London wrote, asking me to call.<br /> I called.<br /> <br /> At once I was shown in. A great literary<br /> work in many volumes was to be produced.<br /> Would I like to take part in its production ?<br /> <br /> I replied “‘ Yes.”<br /> <br /> Then would I quote my terms ?<br /> <br /> I suggested that the director I was address-<br /> ing should quote a price. He did so. I<br /> refused it and quoted as much again. He<br /> offered me half as much again as the additional<br /> sum I had named, and I closed with the offer.<br /> <br /> ““ When could I start work ? ” was his next<br /> question.<br /> <br /> I suggested the following Monday.<br /> <br /> “ Could I start to-morrow ? ”’<br /> <br /> I said, ‘‘ Yes—to-morrow.”’<br /> <br /> “Then why not start right now ?” he said.<br /> “There is a table there that you can use. I<br /> will tell you what to do.”<br /> <br /> Within ten minutes of the time I had entered<br /> the room I was engaged and actually at<br /> work.<br /> <br /> Forty other men were engaged in the same<br /> way. Sixty shorthand-typists were engaged<br /> inside an hour.<br /> <br /> Recently an English firm wrote tome. They<br /> made a tentative proposal. They didn’t<br /> want—this was clear—to “ give themselves<br /> away.” Would I be prepared to assist in the<br /> production of a literary work .. . supposing<br /> that my qualifications . . . supposing they<br /> could see their way . . . supposing my terms<br /> : Would I “ write in’? and say what I<br /> thought about it ?<br /> <br /> I “ wrote in.”<br /> <br /> Three days passed. Then came a printed<br /> form acknowledging my letter.<br /> <br /> I waited.<br /> <br /> I waited a week.<br /> <br /> Then I ‘‘ wrote in ”’ again.<br /> <br /> Two days passed. Then a typed letter—<br /> “My communication was under consideration<br /> . . . I should hear in due course.”<br /> <br /> A fortnight passed. Thinking the “ due<br /> course”? must have elapsed, I “wrote in”<br /> again.<br /> <br /> Two days passed. Then a letter:<br /> <br /> ‘My communication would be brought up<br /> at the General Mecting on the following<br /> Thursday.”<br /> <br /> Four days passed. Then a letter—* Would<br /> T call at three on Tuesday ? ”<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 212<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I called at three on Tuesday. Mr. was<br /> extremely busy. Would I send in my card ?<br /> And what was the nature of my business ?<br /> <br /> Half-an-hour’s wait.<br /> <br /> Ushered into the presence of the Grand<br /> Llama.<br /> <br /> The Grand Llama most solemn. “ My<br /> proposal had been placed before his Board.<br /> The Board were favourably disposed, but<br /> <br /> . . they could not decide at once . . . there<br /> were points to be considered . . . my terms<br /> seemed rather high... they must take<br /> inquiries as to qualifications... had I<br /> <br /> ‘eredentials’’ I could show . . . what would<br /> be my very lowest terms... had I ever<br /> done work of this kind before... .?”<br /> <br /> I named my bedrock terms. The Grand<br /> <br /> Llama raised his eyebrows. ‘He really<br /> didn’t know... he didn’t think . . . con-<br /> sidering the enormous expenses the Company<br /> would be put to in the mechanical production<br /> of so vast a work... it was, of course,<br /> extremely speculative . There would be<br /> a Board Meeting in a fortnight’s time. He<br /> would try then to let me know : . .”<br /> <br /> Sixteen days passed. Then a letter—‘‘ The<br /> Board favourably disposed. Would I call at<br /> three on Friday ? ”<br /> <br /> I rang up.<br /> <br /> ‘“* The Grand Llama too busy to answer the<br /> telephone. What did I want to say to him ?<br /> Could the clerk give him a message? No?<br /> Then would I please ‘ write in’ making an<br /> appointment ? ”’<br /> <br /> Appointment made—and kept. Fifteen<br /> minutes’ wait. The Grand Llama quite<br /> cordial. ‘* Yes, they would want me to do<br /> this work. A letter of confirmation would be<br /> sent in due course.”<br /> <br /> Three days. Letter of confirmation re-<br /> ceived. “ Would I start work on the following<br /> Monday ? ”<br /> <br /> Total period of delay—two months and two<br /> days. And this is not fiction. It is truth.<br /> Basiu Tozer.<br /> <br /> oie ea a ee<br /> <br /> BRITISH WRITERS AND JOURNALISTS<br /> IN PORTUGAL.<br /> <br /> +<br /> <br /> By James Baker, F.R.G.S.<br /> <br /> OR some years past a wish had been<br /> expressed by members of the Sociedade<br /> <br /> _._ Propaganda de Portugal that the<br /> British International Association of Journalists<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> should pay a visit to the little country on the<br /> Western Ocean, but political events had<br /> delayed matters. This year, however, a<br /> cordial invitation was accepted by the Presi-<br /> dent of the Journalists’ Association, Sir James<br /> Yoxall, M.P., and in February a score of<br /> men and women journalists sailed by the<br /> R.M.S. Hilary of the Booth Line for Oporto.<br /> Mr. J. R. Fisher, of the Belfast Northern<br /> Whig, was elected chairman of the expedi-<br /> tion, as the President was prevented from<br /> travelling by Parliamentary pressure. Before<br /> reaching Portugal the party received a hearty<br /> greeting at Vigo from the representatives of<br /> the old friends of Galicia, Senors Oya and<br /> Barreras.<br /> <br /> At Oporto we saw at once an example of<br /> the warmth and cordiality of the reception<br /> that all Portugal was to give to us.<br /> <br /> A crowded programme had been prepared<br /> by the Sociedade de Propaganda, and Senors<br /> Wissmann and Roldan, the chief organisers,<br /> both of whom spoke excellent English, with<br /> Senor Vasconceles, accompanied us through-<br /> out the tour. This programme was added to<br /> by every town in their anxiety to give us a<br /> hearty welcome.<br /> <br /> The party included many specialists; and<br /> arrangements were made that they should<br /> have opportunities for seeing those matters of<br /> special interest such as schools, hospitals,<br /> prisons, factories with special machinery, and<br /> historical and archeological subjects.<br /> <br /> At Oporto the representatives of the town<br /> and of the port of Leixdes, with the chief of<br /> the Press, Senor Bernardo Lucas, met us;<br /> and a journey by special electric cars was made<br /> to the Exchange, where the Maire of Oporto<br /> gave us welcome. The birthhouse of Henry<br /> the Navigator and his statute told us of<br /> Portugal’s early maritime adventures; and a<br /> visit to the atelier and artistic home of Senor<br /> Antonio Teixeira Lopes, the great sculptor,<br /> gave us a delightful introduction to the<br /> modern art of Portugal.<br /> <br /> By kindly forethought, Senor Benoliel, a<br /> most expert photographer, was attached to<br /> our expedition; with orders to take pictures<br /> of any special scene or object for which our<br /> members wished. Senor Almeida, M.V.O.,<br /> who for four years had been second secretary<br /> of the Portuguese Legation in London, gave us<br /> also great assistance. A reception in the<br /> Moorish Salon of the Town Hall brought the<br /> day in Oporto to a close.<br /> <br /> At 6 a.m. on the following morning we were<br /> astir for the journey to Braga and Bom Jesus.<br /> The architectural glories of these spots are<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> world famous, but added to these we had the<br /> walks through the groves: bright with the<br /> blooms of camelias, and of the varied mimosa<br /> trees. Then we clambered up to Mount<br /> Sameiro for the view over a gigantic “ Dart-<br /> moor,” then on to the village of Briteiros to<br /> visit the Gallo-Celtic ruins of Citania—a vast<br /> prehistoric settlement on a high mountain ;<br /> with huts and houses and towers and graves<br /> and roads.<br /> <br /> After leaving Citania we journeyed on to<br /> Coimbra, where excited crowds received us.<br /> The students in long cloaks in true .student<br /> turbulency followed us up to the University ;<br /> there we had the help and guidance of Dr.<br /> Simoes de Castro, the veteran historian.<br /> <br /> The sequestered retreat of the Quinta das<br /> Lacrimas was visited, and the old and new<br /> cathedrals. Late at night, in motor cars, we<br /> ascended through the silent cedar forest of<br /> Bussaco, and by the light of the full moon<br /> arrived at the fairy-like Moorish Palace hotel,<br /> being greeted by showers of camelias and other<br /> flowers. None of the party will ever forget<br /> the glorious day spent at Bussaco, in the wild<br /> forests, and by the quaint little shrines beneath<br /> the cedars, towering to a 100 feet, the glorious<br /> views, and the climb up to the grim ridge<br /> where Wellington gave the first fieree check to<br /> Napoleon’s victorious army. The curious<br /> church and cloisters are all that is left of<br /> the monastery, and near by is the olive tree,<br /> whereto, tradition says, Wellington tied up<br /> his charger.<br /> <br /> But we had to quit this sylvan retreat for<br /> an arduous day’s motoring to Batalha, whose<br /> cathedral stands out as an _ architectural<br /> wonder, with its lofty nave and delicate<br /> light pillars. Then from Batalha_ through<br /> Leiria, with its finely situated castle, on to<br /> Thomar; all this day, Dr. Vierra Guimaraes,<br /> who is steeped in the lore of the district, gave<br /> us the advantage of his presence and _ his<br /> learning. The reception at Thomar was over-<br /> whelming. Cavalry escort, many bands,<br /> enormous crowds, rockets and showers of<br /> flowers; and in the great church of the<br /> Knights of Christ, famous for its wonderful<br /> “Sea”? window, the school children sang<br /> ** God save the King.” After a most interest-<br /> ing dinner, we motored to the railway, and at<br /> 10 p.m. travelled to Lisbon, arriving at<br /> midnight.<br /> <br /> In the capital our reception was as cordial<br /> as in the country districts. Here we went<br /> over the latest schools, and the great “‘ Peni-<br /> tenciary”” the principal prison; hospitals,<br /> -markets and public dining halls, parks and<br /> <br /> 213<br /> <br /> golf links{were visited, as well as Lisbon’s<br /> historic buildings, the famous Artillery<br /> Museum with the Hall of Henry the Navigator ;<br /> and the church of St. Vincent, where lie the<br /> Braganzas.<br /> <br /> A wish had been expressed that our members<br /> should meet the President of the Republic,<br /> and while in the Museum below the Palace<br /> at Belem, where now the President lives, a<br /> message was brought that he would receive<br /> us. Ushered into his rooms, we had an<br /> interesting conversation. He had been in<br /> London twice, and found that many English<br /> knew the history of Portugal better than the<br /> Portuguese themselves. In the evening a<br /> banquet by the city of Lisbon was given,<br /> presided over by the President of the Council.<br /> The Minister for Foreign Affairs, our own<br /> Ambassador, Sir Arthur Hardinge, K.C.B.,<br /> G.C.M.G.; our Consul, P. A. Somers Cocks,<br /> C.M.G., and a brilliant company were present.<br /> Sir Arthur Hardinge and the Portuguese<br /> Minister gave important speeches in French.<br /> The present writer replied to the toast of the<br /> Journalists, and Mr. Fisher proposed the<br /> prosperity of the Sociedade de Propaganda.<br /> <br /> On the morrow, in motors, we visited Cintra<br /> and Monserrat, where General Sartorius<br /> received the visitors; Pena and Estorial,<br /> where Sir Clement Markham was called upon ;<br /> and finally Cascaes. In the evening a special<br /> reception was given by the Portuguese Geo-<br /> graphical Society. The next day was given<br /> up to special work, and the new agricultural<br /> school at Queluz was inspected. At 10 p.m.<br /> we crossed the Tagus in the only rainstorm<br /> we had, and in a special wagon-lit train ran<br /> all night down to the famous southern pro-<br /> vince of the Algarve. At Villa Nova, at<br /> 6.30 a.m., the sun broke through, and we<br /> motored to Portima&amp;o and Praia da Rocha, a<br /> glorious spot on the Pheenician sea, with<br /> sands and worn rocks of lovely hues and<br /> strange shapes.<br /> <br /> We could well have lingered here for days,<br /> but our relentless guides, Senors Roldan and<br /> Wissmann motored us off to the mountains of<br /> Monchique, and then to Lagos, where the<br /> whole town was en féte, and a luncheon was<br /> served in a flower-bedecked balcony over-<br /> looking the glorious bay ; then to the great<br /> headland of Piedade, whence a good view<br /> was had of Sagres point, where Henry the<br /> Navigator thought out his schemes of ex-<br /> ploration. :<br /> <br /> Space forbids description of mule rides upon<br /> precipitous heights, receptions in quaint towns<br /> <br /> -and in peasants’ homes, and the scenes in this<br /> <br /> <br /> prosperous, highly cultivated province, where<br /> fig vine and almond and corn _ thrive<br /> amazingly.<br /> <br /> Our last day here was packed with interest,<br /> a run through Portimao, with a visit to its<br /> great Sardine Factory, and on to Faro, where<br /> people and students in their hot hospitality,<br /> headed by the Governor of the Province and<br /> notables, tried hard to hold us all day, but we<br /> ran away to the wonderful Roman ruins of<br /> Stoy; Tower and Forum and pavements all<br /> untouched; then on in the evening to the<br /> strange old Moorish town of Olhao, a veritable<br /> Tangiers in Portugal, with quaint arched<br /> bazaar-like streets, and Mosque; and here, not<br /> far from the Spanish frontier, we ended our<br /> tour in Portugal, our special train taking us<br /> back to Lisbon in the night, and the next day,<br /> after many adieux to our hospitable friends,<br /> we embarked on the R.M.S. Lanfrane for<br /> England, having proved how wonderful and<br /> delightful a country is Portugal in the early<br /> spring. The two things most needed in<br /> Portugal are roads (including additional<br /> railroads) and schools. It is a marvellously<br /> rich country, full of immense possibilities.<br /> Surely it has a great future before it.<br /> <br /> ++ ____<br /> <br /> THE LETTERS OF AN ORDINARY<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> —<br /> Collected and edited by JouN HASLETTE.<br /> III.<br /> Mains CoTraGE,<br /> SANTOLLER,<br /> Bucks.<br /> To Messrs. Back and Bleak. Publishers.<br /> <br /> Dear Sirs,—I have to acknowledge your<br /> letter of the 9th inst., and note with pleasure<br /> that your reader reports favourably on my<br /> novel entitled ‘‘ The Topmost Bough.”<br /> <br /> It is always agreeable to find one’s work<br /> approved by a critic ; still more to have that<br /> verdict emphasised by a firm who combine<br /> literary taste with business acumen. Person-<br /> ally, of course, I think that the book will “ go.”<br /> If I had not thought so I should not have<br /> troubled to write it, or asked you to savour it<br /> with a view to its ultimate appearance in six<br /> shilling form.<br /> <br /> You will forgive me now if I leave the<br /> question of literature aside, and deal with that<br /> portion of your letter referring to the terms<br /> upon which you will agree to publish my novel.<br /> <br /> You say, and I agree with you, that a first.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> novel is a difficult proposition ; that the public<br /> has an eye for old favourites, and does not<br /> always care to wade through many first<br /> attempts in an endeavour to provide itself with<br /> recreative reading. But, even with that in<br /> mind, you will admit that no author has<br /> tempted fortune in the first place with a second<br /> novel, only an Irishman with the cleverness<br /> of Sir Boyle Roche’s famous bird could<br /> accomplish the feat. Every novelist has been<br /> guilty of a first novel, and many of them have<br /> been published by firms like H—— and M——,<br /> and even by D—— and M n.<br /> <br /> You hint (very delicately) that the printing,<br /> publishing and pushing of a novel, for a small<br /> edition of one thousand copies, costs £100. I<br /> have heard this before. I have also heard that<br /> it costs £120 or £150, and occasionally £160.<br /> Of course, the printers are old-fashioned people,<br /> and do not quote close prices. That must be<br /> the reason why some estimate the cost of<br /> production at 1s. per copy, some at 1s. 3d., and<br /> some at 1s. 9d., while the old-established firms<br /> of publishers can get a large edition done at<br /> about 8d. It occurs to me that your firm<br /> might employ the printer favoured by M——<br /> or H , and save money by having your<br /> books printed at the cheaper rates.<br /> <br /> I notice that I am to pay you the sum of £70,<br /> and to receive in return the sum of Is. 6d. a<br /> copy royalty. Other editions, if any, are to<br /> be published by you, free of further cost to me.<br /> I am grateful for this generous provision.<br /> <br /> Your method of reasoning, if I follow it<br /> correctly, is something like this : One thousand<br /> copies of the novel are brought forth, and of<br /> this number you send out one hundred for<br /> review, etc. This leaves 900 copies on hand.<br /> These 900 copies will bring me, in royalties,<br /> some sixty-seven pounds. But, you say, if<br /> 900 copies are sold, it will be a sign that there<br /> is a good demand, and that a second edition ©<br /> will be called for, while I shall only be £3 to the<br /> bad. This is cheering news. I follow up the<br /> idea, and suppose that a second thousand are<br /> printed at your expense. Take it that 500<br /> copies are sold. Then my loss of £8 is wiped<br /> out, and I am in pocket to the tune of £34 10s.<br /> This, as you justly remark, is a profit to me of<br /> more than 50 per cent. on my original invest-<br /> ment !<br /> <br /> When I came to this passage in your letter,<br /> I must confess that I was puzzled. It pea<br /> to me that I was doing very well indeed. But<br /> my horridly logical mind cried out that there<br /> was a flaw in the reasoning. After all, I am<br /> not an investor, but an author. I did not set<br /> out to invest £70 in a publishing house’;, I<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> wrote a novel, and expected to get a return on<br /> the capital represented by my brains. When<br /> the investor buys stock in a railway company<br /> he does not give six months of his time to that<br /> company in addition to the solid cash he pays<br /> for the stock.<br /> <br /> Again, there was another point (presented<br /> by my wretched mercenary sense) ; so long as<br /> you have to sell your goods to make a profit it<br /> is certain that you will work hard to effect<br /> sales. But, if you are paid for the stuff before-<br /> hand, your zeal will languish, you will say to<br /> yourself, * Does it really matter if this novel<br /> Sells or not? Has not the author already paid<br /> for it 1”<br /> <br /> No, gentlemen—if you will send me a pro-<br /> spectus of your company, I may think of invest-<br /> ing money in it, but a novel will not be thrown<br /> in, like a coupon prize with pounds of tea.<br /> <br /> I fear much that “ The Topmost Bough ”<br /> must venture again upon its lonely pilgrimage.<br /> Glad would have been the day that saw your<br /> imprint upon the novel—free of charge. But<br /> I am not in the literary line for my health. I<br /> have none of the vanity of the man who must<br /> see himself in print or die. If I could draw a<br /> cheque off-hand for £70, it is a question if novel-<br /> writing would interest me so much as it does.<br /> I regret that your reader and your good selves<br /> should have laboured in vain, but so must it be.<br /> <br /> The novel may fail of other takers ; it may<br /> return like the cat of fable, until I am moved<br /> to make of it a burnt offering; but you may<br /> rest assured that, while I am unable to accept<br /> your offer, your words of praise and cheer will<br /> brighten many lonely moments of my life. I<br /> will keep your letter, and refer to it in moments<br /> of depression.<br /> <br /> I remain, Dear Sirs,<br /> Yours truly,<br /> “Plenry WYVERN.<br /> <br /> P.S.—Please return MS. and oblige.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> IV.<br /> <br /> Marys CotTraGE,<br /> SANTOLLER,<br /> Bucks.<br /> <br /> To Miss Henrietta Briggs.<br /> <br /> My Dear Aunt,—Very many thanks for<br /> your letter sympathising with me on my ap-<br /> <br /> arent lack of success in the “ life literary.”<br /> <br /> t is pleasant to hear that I am not forgotten,<br /> and to feel that, at least, one of my relatives<br /> encourages me in what you so rightly express<br /> as ‘‘ an uphill task.”<br /> <br /> I have carefully read your hints, and have<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 215<br /> <br /> put them away for future reference. They<br /> may assist me to a success like that of Mrs<br /> when I make use of them. You say that what<br /> is wanted nowadays is a story of “ sweetness<br /> and light,” a story which shall wring tears from<br /> the reluctant eye ; preferably, a story dealing<br /> with a dear child which, by its tender example<br /> and loving counsel, reclaims its erring father<br /> and mother. Failing this, you suggest that I<br /> should abandon my present style of writing,<br /> and imitate that of our great master of mystery,<br /> Mr. Your first idea strikes me as being<br /> very novel, and likely to appeal to a wide circle<br /> of readers, but I think it may have been done<br /> before—in America. Did not Mr. Dooley once<br /> speak of ‘ putting parents in the custody of<br /> their own childer.” Only one difficulty pre-<br /> sents itself to me in this connection. I have<br /> very little experience of children; the only<br /> little ones with whom I have lately come in<br /> contact being Uncle Tom’s boys. You will<br /> remember that I found it impossible to work<br /> when staying with Uncle and nearly quarrelled<br /> with the dear man in consequence.<br /> <br /> Sensation is another matter. My friend<br /> Maitland has a large selection of the works of<br /> the Master; and, no doubt, he will lend some<br /> to me, if I ask him. My own style of writing,<br /> however, is like an Old Man of the Sea. It<br /> clings to me persistently, and I find it extremely<br /> hard to imitate the style of other authors.<br /> Don’t you think this may be due to the fact<br /> that our minds differ ?<br /> <br /> Yes, it is quite true that a year has passed<br /> since I turned to the writing of fiction. It does<br /> seem a long time, and I must admit that I have<br /> not made a fortune during the twelve months.<br /> Talking of making money, I am glad to hear<br /> that Cousin Harry enters upon a four-year<br /> pupilship to architecture. In the circum-<br /> stances, the premium of £400 does not seem<br /> extortionate. In four years’ time he may be<br /> made an assistant.<br /> <br /> It is quite true that I am engaged to be<br /> married. To you, I know, it seems unwise.<br /> But even authors were created in two sexes,<br /> and I have hopes of making a decent income<br /> within a few years.<br /> <br /> Thanks for your offer of some excellent plots<br /> which I could work into stories. If you will<br /> take the trouble to write them out, I shall read<br /> them with much pleasure, and treasure them<br /> for all time. So many kind friends tell me<br /> stories, but they are mostly pointless. Yours,<br /> however, will be different. You understand<br /> that the fact that a man goes to India, and<br /> afterwards returns to marry a lady, with whom<br /> he was formerly in love, does not make a story.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 216<br /> <br /> Editors demand something more original.<br /> They cannot be brought to see that the simple<br /> recital of everyday events interests millions.<br /> I must close now, with love to all at the<br /> ** Mount,”’<br /> Your affectionate nephew,<br /> <br /> Harry.<br /> ———+ &gt; —_______<br /> A HISTORY OF ENGLISH PROSE’<br /> RHYTHM.*<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ee praise the work of a master so excep-<br /> tional and so universally regarded as<br /> Professor Saintsbury savours of im-<br /> pertinence ; to epitomise it effectively would<br /> be impossible for any one but its author; and<br /> to overlook it is impossible. In such circum-<br /> stances a reviewer might becomingly plead for<br /> permission to say only, ‘‘ Obtain this book,<br /> and make a serious study of its contents ”’ ;<br /> adding no more; and having said that would<br /> indeed have said what was most pertinent.<br /> The scope of the work is exactly described<br /> in its title. Building upon a foundation, at<br /> first essentially analytical, and always his-<br /> torical, and beginning from the earliest extant<br /> specimens of the language, Professor Saints-<br /> bury advances, through memorable observa-<br /> tions, on the effect of the Latin influences, until<br /> he is in a position to offer definite evidence of<br /> what constitutes agreeable or majestic rhythm<br /> in English prose. Thereafter he is in a position<br /> to test the rhythmic qualities of the prose<br /> of selected authors of high reputation, with<br /> results that are among the most noteworthy<br /> things contained in the book. When mar-<br /> shalled according to their ability to command<br /> numbers and to balance sentences, the cele-<br /> brated authors change in a very remarkable<br /> manner their familiar positions. Milton is found<br /> by no means always impeccable. Dryden<br /> holds his own as a master without fault.<br /> For the author a pertinent question will be<br /> whether the results of Professor Saintsbury’s<br /> investigations have direct value for profes-<br /> sional literary men. It must be answered that<br /> they are of the supremest value, and such as<br /> not to be overlooked by any one who attempts<br /> to write English prose. In these days, when<br /> poets (of a kind) have easily persuaded them-<br /> selves to disregard quantity, there will be<br /> enough of those who will declare, ‘‘ We care<br /> nothing about these things!”’—a quite un-<br /> necessary protest, seeing how abundant in<br /> their works is the evidence of that painful<br /> truth. But then there is also a story about a<br /> <br /> *“ A History of English Prose Rhythm.” By George<br /> Saintsbury London: Macmillan &amp; Co. 1912.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> fox and some grapes. To the authors who, on<br /> the other hand, do care how their sentences<br /> sound, the book may be recommended in the<br /> warmest terms. In it Professor Saintsbury<br /> has done for the English language what has<br /> never before been done for any language<br /> ancient or modern. The originality of the work<br /> is at the same time not more epoch-making<br /> than its doctrines are of supreme cogency.<br /> <br /> By way of caution, it may not be out of<br /> place to add that any one who does not possess<br /> an ear, and has also nothing to say, might by a<br /> consistently unintelligent use of the informa-<br /> tion contained in the volume, and particularly<br /> by “minding” the axioms and suggestions<br /> contained in the third appendix, succeed in<br /> writing English as pedantic and ridiculous as<br /> any that has ever been written. .<br /> <br /> Those who are familiar with the author’s<br /> writings will find inwoven with his teaching<br /> no lack of the delicious things that give it<br /> piquancy; such, for instance, as a reference<br /> to ‘“‘ the specious and half-informed ignorance<br /> which has now, for nearly half a century, been<br /> diffused among the lower classes by board-<br /> schools, and, through the contamination of<br /> grammar and public schools, among the middle<br /> and upper classes.”<br /> <br /> It must on no account be supposed that the<br /> work is of value to the student of English<br /> prose alone. Incidentally it throws startling<br /> sidelights upon the nature of prose even most<br /> remote from English, suggesting solutions of<br /> the puzzling phenomena that it in certain cases<br /> presents. But the essential thing to be noted<br /> here is that every author should procure the<br /> book and acquaint himself with its disclosures.<br /> <br /> CORRESPONDENCE.<br /> —~—<br /> UNREVIEWED Books.<br /> <br /> Str,—Perhaps you will allow me to add<br /> something to Mr. Isidore Ascher’s article on<br /> unreviewed books in The Author of February.<br /> This problem was discussed in the Preface of<br /> my “ Britannia Poems,’ 1910, the first time<br /> it was discussed seriously anywhere, I think.<br /> <br /> My Preface contains a complete list of the<br /> reviews and newspapers that received a copy<br /> of my first book, ‘‘ Home once More,” with a<br /> starring of them that noticed the book. I<br /> believe this to be the first time again that<br /> such a summary was published by any author.<br /> In my Preface I wrote :—<br /> <br /> ** , . . So twenty-one copies were thrown<br /> in the proverbial gutter! I want to be<br /> quite sensible over this old trouble, and to<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> ne<br /> <br /> as<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> be fair to editors and reviewers, . . . yet<br /> I have complaints to make in the interests<br /> of authors generally. I sent my book out<br /> carefully : to good literary papers, promptly<br /> on publication, postage paid. ... Why<br /> could not these papers return my book<br /> when they could not notice it? Why need<br /> they keep books, sent in good faith because<br /> they review books, and because by _re-<br /> viewing books they ask for others? They<br /> may say: ‘We did not ask ior your silly<br /> book.’ ...I1 reply: ‘Don’t be absurd!<br /> You exist as literary organs because you<br /> review books.... You cannot review<br /> unless books are sent. ... You get hun-<br /> dreds of books and notice dozens... .’<br /> These loose habits are wrong, and the<br /> Society of Authors ought to do something.<br /> A book is sent out on trust, and should be<br /> regarded as the property of the sender until<br /> a notice has appeared, or it has been re-<br /> turned, like a manuscript. Or how would<br /> this do: for editors to be asked beforehand<br /> whether they are likely to notice a book if<br /> sent? I have tried this several times.<br /> . . . There I will leave the problem, en-<br /> larging it a little by this that the balance<br /> of unnoticed copies is a heavy tax on young<br /> authors. And this: that the relations<br /> among Authors, Publishers, and Critics,<br /> are still as unsatisfactory as ever: if any<br /> man can solve this problem he will deserve<br /> all he gets!”<br /> <br /> This part of the Preface was discussed in<br /> many papers and received all sorts of treat-<br /> ment, from low ridicule to high commenda-<br /> tion; but Mr. James Milne, of the Daily<br /> Chronicle, went beyond all others. The book<br /> had been criticised twice in papers under his<br /> literary control, and when he found it was not<br /> possible to give it a full-dress review in the<br /> Daily Chronicle, he wrote me a letter in which,<br /> after telling what had been done already, he<br /> ended thus: ‘‘ Now I am returning you the<br /> book which, I hope you will agree, completes the<br /> matter.” His letter is dated February 3, 1911.<br /> <br /> Is it too much to declare that Mr. Milne<br /> has done a new thing and set a precedent<br /> that may be of some historic value in the<br /> record of relations between authors and<br /> reviews? To me, at least, this returning of<br /> my book is a matter of considerable interest,<br /> and I am keeping the copy so returned as a<br /> literary souvenir. But will the Society of<br /> Authors consider the problem ?<br /> <br /> Yours faithfully,<br /> HEDLEY V. STOREY.<br /> 21, St James’ Avenue, Brighton.<br /> <br /> 217<br /> <br /> ~<br /> <br /> Tae UNEXPECTED.<br /> <br /> Str,—After about twenty years of—not<br /> only my own tribulations in connection with<br /> publishers (and agents), but of tribulations<br /> undertaken on behalf of others, the unexpected<br /> has happened : I have been requested, jointly<br /> by agent and publisher, to draw up my own<br /> contract ! This, after the one drawn up by<br /> themselves, had been submitted to your own<br /> valuable and judicious criticism.<br /> <br /> Not only so, but my amended contract has<br /> been accepted and signed. The result is,<br /> naturally, amicable relationships all round.<br /> <br /> I ought, perhaps, in fairness, to say that I<br /> made no demur to the pecuniary arrangements ;<br /> but in fairness, also, I ought to say that I did<br /> demur to several clauses, and that many of<br /> my objections were, without hesitation, sus-<br /> tained.<br /> <br /> I have myself so often given vent to objur-<br /> gatory remarks on the manners and methods<br /> of those pene-omnipotent gentlemen whose<br /> calling in life it is to transmute manuscripts<br /> into books, that I venture to send you this<br /> brief palinode.<br /> <br /> This letter is not a ‘“‘ free ad.’”’ But, with<br /> your permission, I would not mind giving the<br /> names of the agent and publisher I speak of<br /> to any who, for quite legitimate purposes,<br /> would like to know them.<br /> <br /> Yours faithfully,<br /> ARNOLD HAULTAIN.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Dear Sir,—The Fortnightly Review of<br /> March 1 contains an article entitled, “Is<br /> Austria really the Disturber? by Count<br /> Liitzow.” It is, of course, always disagreeable<br /> to a writer that the authorship of anything<br /> that is not from his pen should be attributed<br /> to him. May I, therefore, as a member of<br /> the Society of Authors, beg you in the next<br /> number of The Author to state that I am not<br /> the author of the article in the Fortnightly<br /> Review, and to publish this letter. As I have<br /> frequently written in American and English<br /> reviews—ineluding the Fortnightly—this mis-<br /> take is all the more unpleasant to me.<br /> <br /> Believe me,<br /> Yours faithfully,<br /> (Count) Litzow.<br /> <br /> [Ep.—We print the above letter with<br /> pleasure, but understand that the article was<br /> signed in the body of the magazine “Henry<br /> Lutzow,” and the author was further identified<br /> <br /> <br /> 218<br /> <br /> by the designation, “late Austria-Hungarian<br /> Ambassador in Rome.” It is a pity that there<br /> should have been an error on the cover.]<br /> <br /> ConceRNING ‘“ Cat ATHLETICS.”<br /> <br /> Dear Autuor,—Herewith I respond heartily<br /> to the views expressed by “ Progress,”’ in the<br /> February Author, in the matters of establishing<br /> a publishing union for the protection of writers<br /> on a professional basis, and an extra fortnightly<br /> supplement to The Author to facilitate inter-<br /> change of correspondence on matters of vital<br /> importance to Society members. An author<br /> can exist without publishers. But show me<br /> the publisher who exists without authors ?<br /> I should like best to know how much, to a<br /> ha’penny, writers like H. G. Wells, Arnold<br /> Bennett, or G. Bernard Shaw have put out<br /> advertising to arrive at their present stage of<br /> success ? Wouldn’t it be a good plan to have<br /> them, for the benefit of the many, divulge the<br /> lump sums they have earned minus their<br /> advertising bills ?—and their agents’ charges ?<br /> <br /> Assuredly it is high time the “ cat ” should<br /> be taught the wisdom of “jumping” the<br /> author’s way.<br /> <br /> JUSTICE.<br /> ——e<br /> Tue Suort Story WRITER.<br /> <br /> Dear Srr,—I cannot help expressing my<br /> appreciation of the article entitled “ The<br /> ‘Short Story’ Writer,’? which appeared in<br /> the March issue of The Author. Its strong<br /> common sense is very refreshing.<br /> <br /> In regard to the latter part of the article,<br /> may I be allowed to quote a few words from<br /> Rudyard Kipling’s speech at the 118th<br /> Anniversary Banquet of The Royal Literary<br /> Fund? They are these: “We might dis-<br /> cover cases where the blessed canons of art<br /> would seem to have recoiled upon them-<br /> selves—puzzling cases where the apparently<br /> flagrant pot-boiler had turned a man from<br /> destruction, quite as effectually as an angel<br /> -with a flaming sword; cases where a piece<br /> of unthinking buffoonery had steadied a man<br /> through the ten vital minutes of a life’s crisis,<br /> where cheap sentiment and rank melodrama<br /> had helped to lift some poor soul to humility,<br /> or sacrifice, or strength, that he knew not he<br /> possessed.”’<br /> <br /> I have no doubt that if the hidden springs<br /> of all actions could be revealed, thousands of<br /> such cases would be recognised. But, in<br /> addition, I think an unbiassed judge would<br /> admit that hundreds of cheap stories are well<br /> written, true to life, and likely to have a far<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> better influence: over the minds of their<br /> readers than a considerable percentage of the<br /> ordinary 6s. novel.<br /> I am proud to admit that, in addition to<br /> being a magazine contributor, I am<br /> A WRITER OF PENNY STORIES.<br /> <br /> ae<br /> <br /> Sir,—The monthly record of elections to<br /> the Society, which appears in your columns,<br /> shows that its work is becoming increasingly<br /> appreciated by writers, dramatists and com-<br /> posers. But the progress made by the Society<br /> in this direction during recent years, satis-<br /> factory as far as it goes, is far short of what<br /> it might be. New authors, new dramatists<br /> and new composers are constantly appearing.<br /> But how to reach them? The various<br /> literary, dramatic and musical annuals are, no<br /> doubt, of some help; but, in the nature of<br /> things, they can be of little use in tracing, as<br /> he appears, the new writer, dramatist or<br /> composer. And it is the new members of our<br /> <br /> profession, inexperienced in the methods of<br /> publishers, managers and agents, who stand<br /> most in need of the Society’s assistance.<br /> <br /> To appeal to them, care of their publishers,<br /> even assuming appeals are forwarded, is to<br /> <br /> run the risk of your appeals reaching the<br /> waste paper basket more often than not.<br /> Re-addressed letters are handicapped from the<br /> start, and when they obviously contain, as<br /> they must if the Society’s aims and objects<br /> are to be placed before the potential member,<br /> printed matter, the result is almost necessarily<br /> a waste of time, postage and labour.<br /> <br /> What then can be done ?<br /> <br /> Surely, the solution of the problem lies with<br /> the existing members. Donations to the<br /> Society’s funds in return for work done for<br /> members are constantly being acknowledged<br /> by the committee in your columns. That<br /> they are so often received affords ample<br /> testimony to the members’ appreciation of<br /> the Socicty’s efforts. But we are not all able<br /> to make this return, however anxious we may<br /> be to show our gratitude for the Society&#039;s<br /> assistance. What, however, we can do, and,<br /> I suggest, we should do, is to take every,<br /> opportunity which comes to us of recom-<br /> mending the Society’s work to our friends.<br /> There is scarcely any need to specify the<br /> occasions for the ‘word in season.” “ At-<br /> Homes,’”’ lunches, dinners, club theatrical<br /> performances, creditors’ meetings of bankrupt<br /> publishers—to name only a few. Others will<br /> readily occur to the enthusiastic recruiter.<br /> <br /> Yours, etc., Z. A. B.	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/527/1913-04-01-The-Author-23-7.pdf	publications, The Author