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463	https://historysoa.com/items/show/463	The Author, Vol. 10 Issue 01 (June 1899)	<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.+10+Issue+01+%28June+1899%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 01 (June 1899)</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>	1899-06-01-The-Author-10-1					3–28																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=10">10</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1899-06-01">1899-06-01</a>							1			18990601	The Huthor.<br /> <br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors.<br /> <br /> Monthly.)<br /> <br /> PamauUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br /> <br /> Vou. X.—No. 1.]<br /> <br /> JUNE 1, 1899.<br /> <br /> [PRICE SIXPENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> For the Opinions expressed in papers that are<br /> signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br /> responsible. None of the papers or para-<br /> graphs must be taken as expressing the<br /> collective opinions of the Committee unless<br /> they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br /> Thring, Sec.<br /> <br /> es<br /> <br /> HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br /> remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br /> requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br /> <br /> important communications within two days will write to him<br /> without delay. All remittances showld be crossed Union<br /> Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br /> letter only.<br /> <br /> Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br /> all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br /> jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br /> returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br /> <br /> Oe<br /> <br /> GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br /> <br /> y ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an<br /> agreement. There are three methods of dealing<br /> with literary property :—<br /> <br /> I. That of selling it outright.<br /> <br /> This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br /> price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br /> managed by a competent agent.<br /> <br /> II. A profit-sharing agreement.<br /> <br /> In this case the following rules should be attended to :<br /> <br /> (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br /> duction forms a part.<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.<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 /> <br /> VOL. X.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br /> doctor !<br /> <br /> (7.) To stamp the agreement.<br /> <br /> Ill. The royalty system.<br /> <br /> It is above all things necessary to know what the<br /> proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible<br /> for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly<br /> the truth. From time to time the very important figures<br /> connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br /> Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br /> Cost of Production.”<br /> <br /> The four main points which the Society has always<br /> demanded 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.) That there shall be no secret profits.<br /> <br /> (4.) That there shall be no charge for advertisements<br /> in the publisher’s own organs and none for exchanged<br /> advertisements.<br /> <br /> Pee<br /> <br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> le VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br /> <br /> advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br /> <br /> lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br /> business or the administration of his property. If the<br /> advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor,<br /> the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s<br /> solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is<br /> desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s<br /> opinion. All this without any cost to the member.<br /> <br /> 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br /> and publisher’s agreements do not generally fall within the<br /> experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br /> to use the Society.<br /> <br /> 3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past<br /> accounts with the loan of the books represented. The<br /> Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new<br /> or old, for inspection and note. The information thus<br /> obtained may prove invaluable.<br /> <br /> 4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br /> posed document to the Society for examination.<br /> <br /> 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you<br /> are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are<br /> <br /> BQ<br /> <br /> <br /> 4 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> VI. Your committee would also repeat the<br /> recommendations made in their former report.<br /> These recommendations were adopted by the<br /> Committee of Management. They were also<br /> adopted by the Booksellers’ Association of Scot-<br /> land (see The Author, Aug. 1898, pp. 61 and 63).<br /> They were designed in order to give the net<br /> system a fair trial without coercion. It was there<br /> proposed. :—<br /> <br /> (1.) That books at 6s. and under shall remain<br /> as before.<br /> <br /> (2.) That, as at present, every net book shall<br /> be made the subject of a special contract, and<br /> that a bookseller shall be at liberty to take it on<br /> net terms or not, without interference with his<br /> liberty to do what he pleases with other books,<br /> his own property.<br /> <br /> (3.) That the system of sale or return shall be<br /> more extensively adopted. This method, indeed,<br /> is absolutely necessary if books are to be really<br /> published for the world and not, as now happens<br /> with a great many, which are not taken by the<br /> booksellers, only printed.<br /> <br /> Your committee desire to see in every book-<br /> seller’s shop in the country a collection of all the<br /> new books worth buying offered for sale.<br /> <br /> (4.) That the “odd” copy shall be abolished<br /> as practically useless and even mischievous.<br /> <br /> (Date) April . . . 1899.<br /> <br /> EO<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> II.—Lorp Rvusseiy’s Bint anp Mr. Joun<br /> Murray’s Lerrer.<br /> <br /> The purport of Lord Russell’s Bill in the<br /> memorandum attached to the same is stated to<br /> be as follows :—<br /> <br /> “ An effort to check, by making them criminal,<br /> a large number of inequitable and illegal secret<br /> payments, all of which are dishonest and tend to<br /> shake confidence between man and man and to<br /> discourage honest trade and enterprise.”<br /> <br /> That such a Bill is very necessary in the present<br /> state of commercial morality there can be no doubt,<br /> and the object of the Bill is stated in very strong<br /> and clear language; but unfortunately a great<br /> many of the practices put forward in the Bill<br /> have come to be so common and a matter of such<br /> every-day occurrence that they are no longer<br /> looked upon as either dishonest or as likely to<br /> discourage honest trade and enterprise.<br /> <br /> To those gentlemen who, while dealing in com-<br /> merce, have still got shreds of a conscience left,<br /> it will be a satisfactory matter to have the<br /> methods put forward in this Bill clearly de-<br /> scribed as coming within the criminal law.<br /> <br /> Clause 9g is, perhaps, the most important<br /> clause as far as authors are concerned, as it<br /> distinctly prevents publishers who are acting<br /> <br /> as agents for authors, or literary agents who are<br /> acting as agents, from receiving—the former<br /> secret discounts from printers, bookbinders, &amp;c.,<br /> and from charging for advertisements which are<br /> not paid for, or from receiving secret discounts<br /> on large advertising accounts that are paid for ;<br /> the latter from receiving secret commissions from<br /> publishers, editors, and others for giving them<br /> the option of purchase of the works of those<br /> well-known and popular authors for whom they<br /> may happen to be acting. The very strong sus-<br /> picion of the Society has been aroused to the<br /> fact that both these faults do exist, in spite of<br /> the letter from Mr. John Murray in the Times<br /> of May 8, which we have taken the lhberty of<br /> quoting in full :—-<br /> <br /> Sir,—The Lord Chief Justice, in introducing the Illicit<br /> Commissions Bill in the House of Lords, on April 20, is<br /> reported to have said: ‘“ Again, in the publishing trade and<br /> also the printing trade I am sorry to say the evil is<br /> growing worst of all.” As this charge came upon my<br /> colleagues and myself as a complete surprise, and caused<br /> some consternation among us, I ventured to write to the<br /> Lord Chief Justice and ask for such further particulars as<br /> would enable the council of our association to investigate<br /> the case. In reply I have just received a very courteous<br /> intimation from his Lordship that his ‘‘ remarks were about<br /> the printing, not the publishing trade,” accompanied by the<br /> permission to make that intimation public. I shall esteem<br /> it a favour if you will allow me to do so by means of your<br /> columns.—I am, Sir, your obedient servant,<br /> <br /> JoHN MuRRAY.<br /> <br /> Mr. Murray’s disclaimer is very pleasing, but it<br /> is rather perplexing to find that Lord Russell’s<br /> words came upon him and his colleagues as a<br /> matter of “ complete surprise, and caused some<br /> consternation.’”’ It is, of course, possible that he<br /> and his colleagues never read the weekly review<br /> which is published from the same office as the<br /> paper in whose columns the letter appears, but if<br /> he would refer to the issue of Jvterature of<br /> Jan. 21, he will find a letter from a publisher<br /> who, in criticising Sir Walter Besant’s “ Pen and<br /> the Book,” openly stated that these discounts are<br /> made, and that ‘whatever extra terms I obtain<br /> are legally and morally mine.’ Again I have<br /> taken the liberty of quoting part of that letter :—<br /> <br /> The only implication that can be intended by furnishing<br /> such statements as the above is that the author should, on<br /> these accounts, receive the full benefits of all the advantages<br /> thus obtained. Now, because I, as a publisher of good<br /> standing and capital, can obtain certain allowances on the<br /> material I buy or on the labour I employ, should it follow<br /> that I should make the author a present of them? By no<br /> means. The author is not my partmer. I buy his literature<br /> as I buy the paper, and printing, and binding. If he desires<br /> that I should publish his book on commission, I furnish him<br /> with an estimate, which he can accept or refuse as he<br /> pleases, and the details of this estimate are made up irre-<br /> spective of what I may make in commission on the sales of<br /> the book. In ninety-nine cases out of every hundred I do<br /> not believe that I shall make a crown piece in commission<br /> on sales. I tell the author that, and try to dissuade him<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 5<br /> <br /> from throwing his money away. If he will have it this<br /> way, why, then, my charges are such as make it worth my<br /> while undertaking the business, and giving him the benefit<br /> of my advice, experience, and staff. Whatever “extra”<br /> terms I obtain are legally and morally mine, since these<br /> constitute the only profit [ can hope to make by doing for<br /> the author what he cannot do for himself. If I make any<br /> commission on the sales I have earned them by selling the<br /> book.<br /> <br /> The publisher in this tries to vindicate his<br /> position by stating “ the author is not my partner.”<br /> Certainly not. When the publisher is publish-<br /> ing a book on commission—that is, when the<br /> author is paying entirely for the cost of produc-<br /> {ion and the publisher is getting a commission<br /> on the sales—the publisher is not the author&#039;s<br /> partner. He is more than this: he is the author&#039;s<br /> agent, and as his agent will come under clause 9<br /> of Lord Russell’s Bill, and is not only morally,<br /> as he always was, but now legally, bound to give<br /> the author any benefit of discounts that he may<br /> obtain on the cost of production. If Lord<br /> Russell’s Bill becomes law he will be criminally<br /> responsible for not doing so. Is it possible that<br /> Mr. Murray has never heard of this practice—a<br /> practice which the writer of the quoted letter<br /> looks upon as not only legal but moral—or that<br /> he has never heard of a publisher obtaining dis-<br /> counts on other accounts ?<br /> <br /> Again, it is possible that Mr. Murray and his<br /> colleagues have not read the publisher’s letter in<br /> the Outlvok of Jan. 14 of this year. (It should<br /> be mentioned en passant that both the letter in<br /> Literature and the letter in the Outlook are<br /> written anonymously. Are the publishers who<br /> write them ashamed of the declarations they are<br /> making?) If Mr. Murray has not read this<br /> letter I beg to refer him to it, as it is of such con-<br /> siderable length that it is impossible to quote<br /> more than one or two sentences. Here, again, the<br /> publisher is talking about a commission book, a<br /> book in which he is absolutely acting as agent of<br /> the author, in which capacity he will, of course,<br /> come under Lord Russell’s Bill. It is impossible<br /> for publishers to get out of this position. In<br /> publishing commission work, or except where the<br /> publisher has purchased for a lump sum the<br /> copyright outright, the publisher is acting as the<br /> author&#039;s agent, and as such will be criminally<br /> responsible for secret discounts accepted or given in<br /> the first case from the tradesmen he employs,<br /> advertising agents, and others ; and in the second<br /> case, given to the author&#039;s agents, who are also<br /> acting in the position of agents. THe states in this<br /> letter : “My commission will barely recompense<br /> me, but I shall realise on the cost of production.”<br /> Further—<br /> <br /> Why should I give the author, an amateur, a gentleman,<br /> the advantage of the rebatement which, in my capacity as<br /> <br /> an ungenteel professed tradesman and whotesale buyer, I<br /> receive on my purchases ?<br /> <br /> The-e is no objection to him taking discounts or<br /> rebatements, or whatever he chooses to call the<br /> same; Lut he must, as agent of the author,<br /> candidly state that as he does not get sufficient on<br /> his commission he looks to be recouped from the<br /> discounts obtained on the cost of production, and<br /> he must state the amount of discounts he receives.<br /> Again—<br /> <br /> The whole alleged scandal of the cost of production of<br /> commission books lies in this: in fallaciously regarding a<br /> publisher’s “ estimate’ as a statement of the cost to him of<br /> making a certain book. It is, and pretends to be, nothing<br /> of the kind. It is an itemised statement of what it will<br /> cost the author to engage the publisher’s services.<br /> <br /> In this sentence he wantonly misstates the<br /> case. Never has an author been told, when a<br /> publisher’s estimate is forwarded to him, that<br /> this is the cost to the author for engaging the<br /> publisher’s services. The cost to the author for<br /> engaging the publisher’s services is, and always<br /> has been, embodied in the commission. The com-<br /> plaint made by the Society, and justified by these<br /> letters from publishers themselves, is not that the<br /> publisher receives discounts, a fact of which Mr.<br /> Murray and his colleagues seem to be unaware,<br /> but that when acting as an agent for an author<br /> they do not declare openly, like honourable men,<br /> the discounts that they are going to receive, but<br /> keep them secret and put them in their own<br /> pockets. In future the secret discount trans-<br /> action will be brought under Lord Russell’s Bill,<br /> and commission and profit-sharing publishing<br /> will not be such a remunerative arrangement to<br /> publishers as it has been previously.<br /> <br /> Mr. Murray, as he is so desirous of bringing<br /> the matter before the council of his association,<br /> had better ask the editor for the names of their<br /> correspondents ; or, better still, at a general<br /> meeting of the association, call upon the pub-<br /> lishers to declare themselves. These publishers<br /> can then be censured before the meeting—a most<br /> salutary course. G. H. 7.<br /> <br /> [Since this paper was written another letter<br /> has appeared in Literature, which tries to defend<br /> the secret profit system. His defence is to com-<br /> pare a publisher with some other kind of trades-<br /> man selling a patent article for the owner of the<br /> patent, and charging for the cost of production<br /> more than he paid. And he seems unable to<br /> perceive that the agent, if he tells the owner that<br /> the cost of production was so much, while it was<br /> less, is simply a liar, and, according to Lord<br /> Russell’s Bill, he is now liable to a criminal<br /> prosecution. The secrecy constitutes the fraud.<br /> Tf discounts and commission are to be allowed<br /> they must be entered in the agreement! What-<br /> <br /> <br /> 6 THT:<br /> <br /> ever sophistries may be invented to defend the<br /> practice, the defendant will find them swept<br /> away bodily and contemptuously by the Court.<br /> It is greatly to be hoped that an example will<br /> shortly be made.—Eb. |<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> III.—A Bint anp an Estimare.<br /> <br /> The book was a crown 8vo., 289 pp. What was<br /> charged for the 1000 copies was £100 for pro-<br /> duction, £30 for advertisements, and £5 for<br /> corrections. The Secretary’s estimate was as<br /> follows:<br /> <br /> I consider that 1000 copies of the book of which you sent<br /> me a specimen could have been produced, all bound, and<br /> advertised to some £15, for the sum of £65 to £70.<br /> Certaiuly, if only 250 copies were bound at a time, you<br /> should not have paid more than £65. If anything, printing<br /> <br /> is cheaper now than ten years ago, and composition dearer.<br /> Here are my rough figures:<br /> <br /> Composition... occ ik £20 to £22<br /> RUN ee csc eens ee toe 740 6<br /> PRPOE oi eee ee ee 14 to 16<br /> PAVETUIBWIE. a ee eas 15and 15<br /> Binding (250). 2... 22.6 a 4h 3to 4<br /> <br /> £59 £66<br /> <br /> Sa<br /> <br /> IV.—An Acreement: wirH Nores.<br /> <br /> |Nortce.—In all cases in which publishers’<br /> agreements are printed and commented on in The<br /> Author a copy of the paper will henceforth be sent<br /> to the firm concerned, accompanied by a letter<br /> drawing their attention to the comments and offer-<br /> mg them the opportunity of making any reply in<br /> The Author in case they should desire to do so. |<br /> <br /> (copy.)<br /> Memorandum of agreement made this<br /> day of ,18 , between (hereinafter<br /> <br /> called the publishers), on behalf of themselves<br /> and their successors of the one part, and<br /> (hereinafter called the author), of the other part,<br /> whereby it is agreed by and between the parties<br /> hereto and as follows :<br /> <br /> 1. The author shall write and prepare for<br /> <br /> publication a work to be entitled which,<br /> if printed similarly to , would occupy not<br /> less than nor more than pages.<br /> <br /> 2. The author shall deliver to the publishers the<br /> whole matter forming the printers’ copy of the<br /> work not later than , and shall duly<br /> and punctually correct all the proof-sheets<br /> thereof as supplied to him by the printers: and,<br /> in case of the author’s failure in the above<br /> respects, the publishers may annul this agree-<br /> ment by giving notice in writing to the author at<br /> any time, and thereupon the same shall cease to<br /> be binding on the publishers, but any portion of<br /> the copy delivered, whether in MS. or in print,<br /> <br /> . and the copyright therein, shall be the property of<br /> <br /> AUTTIOR.<br /> <br /> the publishers, who may arrange as they think fit<br /> for the completion and publication of the work.<br /> <br /> 3. The publishers, at any time before the<br /> publication of the work, may submit the same to .<br /> the supervision of or any other person<br /> hereafter appointed by them in his place, and, if<br /> he shall so advise, may decline to publish the<br /> same or otherwise to perform this agreement,<br /> and thereupon the copy of the work shall be<br /> returned to the author. :<br /> <br /> 4. Subject to the provisions herein contained, the<br /> publishers shall, at their own expense, print and<br /> publish the work as soon as reasonably may be<br /> after the entire copy shall have been delivered,<br /> all details whatsoever respecting the printing,<br /> embellishing, binding, publication, and sale of the<br /> same being at their discretion, and the publishers<br /> may from time to time reduce the price of the<br /> copies remaining in hand of any edition, or waste<br /> the remaining copies without being liable to<br /> account to the author for the copies so wasted.<br /> <br /> 5. If the expense caused by the author’s correc-<br /> tions of the press alterations or addition made on<br /> the proof-sheets (other than such as may be made<br /> at the request of the publishers), shall exceed on<br /> an average 10s. per sheet of sixteen pages, such<br /> excess shall be born by the author, and may be<br /> deducted by the publishers from any. moneys<br /> which may become payable to him under this<br /> agreement.<br /> <br /> 6. The author shall not prepare or edit for any<br /> publishers other than the publishers any other<br /> work which shall be an expansion or abridgment<br /> of the work or part of it, unless he shall first have<br /> offered to the publishers in writing the option of<br /> publishing such other work upon such terms aa<br /> shall, mutatis mutandis, correspond with the<br /> terms herein contained, and the publishers shall<br /> not have accepted such offer within four weeks.<br /> <br /> 7. Upon the expiration of four calendar months<br /> from each thirtieth day of June after the publica-<br /> tion of the work, so long as may be necessary, an<br /> account shall be taken of the number of copies of<br /> the work sold during the year ending with that<br /> thirtieth day of June. And so soon as the<br /> account shows a net profit on the edition, 60 per<br /> cent, of that profit shall on or before the first day<br /> of January following be paid by the publishers to<br /> the author.<br /> <br /> 8. For the purpose of ascertaining the actual<br /> net profits of an edition, the proceeds of such<br /> number of copies as shall have been sold shall be<br /> credited to such edition at the price actually<br /> obtained therefor, with any moneys received for<br /> the benefit of the work for foreign rights of<br /> translation or otherwise, less all trade allowances<br /> and the publishers’ commission; and against<br /> such editions the following items shall be debited,<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> viz., all expenses of every description incurred<br /> in the printing, embellishing, binding, publica-<br /> tion, advertising, warehousing, and insurance<br /> of such edition, or incurred otherwise in con-<br /> nection therewith, and also interest at the<br /> rate of 4 per cent. per annum upon any balance<br /> of such expenditure not yet recouped by the<br /> sales.<br /> <br /> g. The publishers shall be entitled at their<br /> discretion to present copies of every edition of<br /> the work to editors of periodicals, teachers, and<br /> other persons through whom in their judgment<br /> publicity will be gained, and to reserve nineteen<br /> copies for themselves, and copies so presented<br /> and reserved shall not be taken into account as<br /> copies sold.<br /> <br /> 10. At any time after the delivery of the copy<br /> of the work, or of any part thereof, the author<br /> will, at the request and cost of the publishers,<br /> assign the entire copyright of the work, and all<br /> benefits and advantages thereof, to the publishers,<br /> or toa trustee for them, or to their successors<br /> and assigns, or otherwise, and in such form as<br /> the publishers may reasonably require, but such<br /> assignment shall not prejudice the rights of the<br /> author to share in the profits of the work as<br /> herein provided.<br /> <br /> 11. The author shall indemnify the publishers<br /> from and against all proceedings and expenses<br /> whatsoever, in consequence of the publication in<br /> the work of any pirated, libellous, seditious, or<br /> other unlawful matter furnished by himself.<br /> <br /> 12. If the publishers shall think fit to publish<br /> a new edition either in full or by way of enlarge-<br /> ment, abridgment, or otherwise, the author, if<br /> living and not disqualified by mental or bodily<br /> infirmity, shall, whilst entitled to the benefit of<br /> this agreement, have the option of preparing such<br /> new edition. But if he shall be then dead or<br /> disqualified as aforesaid, or shall not in writing<br /> undertake to prepare such edition within four<br /> weeks after being requested so to do by the pub-<br /> lishers or their agent; or if having undertaken<br /> it he shall not carefully and completely revise,<br /> correct, and prepare such new edition as far as in<br /> him lies within six months from the same date<br /> (or within some other time as may be agreed<br /> upon between himself and the publishers), the<br /> publishers shall thenceforth be at full liberty<br /> either themselves to buy up the interest of the<br /> author therein (the value of such interest in case<br /> of difference to be ascertained by arbitration as<br /> hereinafter provided) or to dispose of the copy-<br /> right for the joint benefit of themselves and the<br /> author, or to publish new editions, either abridged<br /> or otherwise, from time to time, and for that<br /> purpose to employ such editors or editor, and at<br /> <br /> such remunerations as they may think proper,<br /> <br /> VOL. X.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 7<br /> <br /> which shall be charged to the work as part of the<br /> expenses of its publication.<br /> <br /> 13. Upon any edition being out of print, the<br /> author, whilst he continues entitled to the benefit<br /> of this agreement, may call upon the publishers to<br /> prepare a new edition ; and if the publishers shall<br /> not, within four weeks after they shall have re-<br /> ceived a written request to that effect, agree thereto,<br /> the author may require the publishers to assign<br /> to him the whole remainder of the copyright in<br /> the work, and they shall thereupon, at his reqv est<br /> and expense, assign the same to him absolutely.<br /> <br /> 14. Any notice or request under this agreement<br /> shall be sufficiently given or made by posting the<br /> same in a registered letter addressed in one case<br /> to the publishers, or in the other to the author,<br /> at the above-named, or at such other, address<br /> within the United Kingdom as may from time to<br /> time be notified by the author to and received by<br /> the publishers. Every such notice or request<br /> shall be deemed to have been given or made on<br /> the day on which the same would in the ordinary<br /> course of post be received by the person to whom<br /> it shall be addressed.<br /> <br /> 15. In the construction of this agreement, and<br /> so far as may be consistent with the context, the<br /> term “the publishers ’’ shall be held to mean the<br /> publishers or their assigns; “the author” shall<br /> (save as regards literary or editorial work) be held<br /> to include his executors, administrators, and<br /> assigns ; “the work” shall be held to mean the<br /> book with regard to which this or present agree-<br /> ment is entered into, and any future edition<br /> thereof ; “copyright” shall be held to include all<br /> rights in regard to the printing or sale of the<br /> work, or of any translation or abridgment thereof<br /> in the United Kingdom, or in any British colony<br /> or dependency, or in any foreign country.<br /> <br /> 16. The present publishers and their suc-<br /> cessors for the time being shall be bound by and<br /> entitled to claim the benefit of this agreement as<br /> if they had signed the same.<br /> <br /> 17. None of the provisions herein contained<br /> shall be in any wise affected by the circumstance<br /> of the publishers, or any of them, whether in<br /> their official or private capacities, being inte-<br /> rested in the profits of the printing, binding, or<br /> publishing firm by whom any edition or editions<br /> of the work may be printed and bound or pub-<br /> lished, or of the papermakers by whom the<br /> paper for the work may be supplied, or of any<br /> other business or employment, the products or<br /> results of which may be used for the work or any<br /> purpose connected therewith.<br /> <br /> 18. If any dispute, question, or difference<br /> shall arise between the publishers and the author.<br /> touching these presents or any clause or thing<br /> herein contained, or the construction hereof or<br /> <br /> c<br /> 8 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> any matter in any way connected with these<br /> presents or the operations hereof, or the<br /> rights, duties, or liabilities of either party in<br /> connection with the premises, then and in every<br /> or any such case the matter in difference shall<br /> be referred to two arbitrators or their umpire,<br /> pursuant to and in all respects conformably to<br /> the provisions in that behalf contained in the<br /> Common Law Procedure Act, 1854, or any then<br /> subsisting statutory modification or re-enactment<br /> thereof. And the cost of the reference and award<br /> shall be in the discretion of the arbitrators or<br /> umpire, who may direct to and by whom and in<br /> what manner the same or any part thereof shall<br /> be paid, and with power to tax or settle the<br /> amount of costs to be so paid or any part thereof,<br /> and to award costs to be paid as between soli-<br /> citor and client; and that submission to refer-<br /> ence, and any award made in pursuance thereof,<br /> may, at the instance of either of the parties to<br /> the reference and without any notice to the other<br /> of them, be made a rule of order of any division<br /> of the High Court of Justice.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The agreement printed above refers to the<br /> publication of an educational book. It is im-<br /> possible to repeat in detail the general warnings<br /> which apply to the publication of educational<br /> works, which have been already printed in The<br /> Author at different times, but im the comments<br /> on the agreement the point of view of the educa-<br /> tional writer will be borne in mind. With regard<br /> to the parties to the agreement the old remark<br /> must be again repeated, that it is a mistake in<br /> an agreement for an author to bind himself to<br /> the successors of a publisher, as the contract for<br /> publication should always be a personal contract,<br /> and the author, therefore, should not be bound<br /> for an indefinite period to his agent. As this<br /> contract purports to convey the copyright to the<br /> publishers, it was no doubt on this account the<br /> words were inserted, but the author should never<br /> assign his copyright.<br /> <br /> With regard to clause 1 little need be said,<br /> except, perhaps, that it is a little dictatorial, and<br /> leads one to draw the conclusion that the pub-<br /> lishers intend to be master of the situation.<br /> <br /> Clause 2 is an exceedingly bad clause from the<br /> author’s point of view. It is fair that the author<br /> should bind himself to correct the proof sheets<br /> punctually as supplied by the printers, but it is<br /> not fair to the author that the publishers should<br /> be able to annul the agreement arbitrarily by a<br /> mere notice in writing, and it is worse still from<br /> the author’s point of view that the publishers<br /> should have the right to make any arrangement<br /> for the completion of the book, holding the copy-<br /> <br /> right of whatever portion of the book in MS. or<br /> in print the author happens to have delivered.<br /> Such a clause should not stand in any agreement<br /> that has any right to be called equitable between<br /> the parties. For the publishers to have the right<br /> to obtain arbitrarily other hands to finish the<br /> book is indeed putting the author in a serious<br /> bondage.<br /> <br /> Clause 3 is again a very serious one for the<br /> author. Having gone to the great labour of<br /> writing an important educational work he may<br /> have it submitted to anyone the publishers may<br /> think fit to appoint. In dishonest hands it would<br /> give the publishers very great power of deter-<br /> mining the agreement if, after they had entered<br /> into it, for some reason or other they did not care<br /> to carry it out. This clause should, therefore,<br /> not stand. It would be so easy to make an<br /> arrangement for the MS. to be reviewed, if, indeed,<br /> such arrangement were necessary, by some person<br /> whose nomination would be agreeable to both<br /> parties.<br /> <br /> The beginning of clause 4 is reasonable, but the<br /> remainder of the clause is again entirely opposed<br /> to the author’s interest. Ina case of division of<br /> profits it is very important that the author should<br /> know beforehand how the book is going to be<br /> brought out, in what shape and form, and at<br /> what price. To allow the publishers arbitrarily to<br /> reduce that price in the imdefinite words of this<br /> clause, or to waste the remainder copies, may not<br /> only be detrimenta! to the author’s reputation,<br /> but to his pocket. Does this valuation of price<br /> mean reduction of the published price or the<br /> wholesale price? In a profit-sharing agreement<br /> the author ought to contract that the book is not<br /> sold wholesale below a certain price and not<br /> remaindered within at least two years from<br /> publication, and then the option of purchase<br /> should be given to him.<br /> <br /> That the publishers should be protected from<br /> the excessive corrections of an author is quite fair,<br /> but that clause 5 should take its present form is<br /> not at all satisfactory. Certainly the words<br /> “other than printers’ errors” should be inserted.<br /> <br /> In clause 6 if the author is forbidden “ from<br /> expanding or abridging the work,” and thereby to<br /> some extent from damaging the sale of the book,<br /> it is only fair that the publishers should under-<br /> take not to publish a book of a’similar character.<br /> For full details of the explanation of this clause<br /> the reader must be referred to the former articles<br /> in The Author on the publication of educational<br /> works, and the control of the educational market.<br /> <br /> Clause 7, the account clause, isa bad one. If.<br /> the book was published in the autumn the pub-<br /> lishers would retain the profits of the book for a<br /> year and three months at least. It has often<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 9<br /> <br /> been pointed out before in these columns, and<br /> must again be repeated, that this retention of the<br /> author’s money for so long a period is very useful<br /> in covering the expenses of the publishers’ office.<br /> <br /> Clause 8 is again an extraordinary clause. It<br /> is impossible to know what the words, “ pub-<br /> lishers’ commission,” refers to in a half-profit agree-<br /> ment. The author has no control whatever over<br /> the advertising of the book, and no control what-<br /> ever over the binding, printing, embellishing, &amp;c.<br /> As is often the case where a publisher is his own<br /> printer, the author cannot, on investigation of the<br /> accounts, even have the satisfaction of seeing the<br /> printers’ vouchers, and thus have some check that<br /> the items charged are correct. It is therefore of<br /> the more importance that an author should know<br /> what is going to be charged for the cost of pro-<br /> duction before he enters into an agreement of this<br /> kind, so as to be able to calculate whether there<br /> may be some prospect of a financial success. Why<br /> should the publisher net 4 per cent. on the<br /> expenditure? Under this arrangement if the<br /> publisher were his own printer the higher he<br /> could raise the cost of production the more satis-<br /> factory it would be for himself.<br /> <br /> In clause g, again, the publishers have an abso-<br /> lutely free hand as to whom they shall circularise<br /> with copies of the book. It is not a good thing<br /> for an author to hamper a publisher’s action, but,<br /> on the other hand, he should be able to check<br /> wasteful circularisation.<br /> <br /> It is hardly necessary to discuss clause 10 from<br /> an author’s point of view, except to repeat that an<br /> author should never assign the copyright, and that<br /> in an educational or technical work this point is<br /> of the greatest importance, much more so than in<br /> the publication of a work of fiction. Again the<br /> reader must refer to the articles on the publica-<br /> tion of educational books. For an educational<br /> and technical work, a contract giving the pub-<br /> lishers a licence to publish a limited edition with<br /> the option of renewal, is the only satisfactory<br /> form of contract. It should be pointed out also<br /> that if the author does transfer the copyright, he<br /> ought to bind the publisher to keep the book on<br /> the market, to have his name attached, and not<br /> to publish in any altered form without his<br /> consent.<br /> <br /> In clause 12 it will be seen that the publishers<br /> practically are taking the whole control of the<br /> author’s work, and that he is allowed practically<br /> no voice in the matter. The publishers, of course,<br /> should not have the right to publish the book in<br /> an abridged or enlarged form under any circum-<br /> stances without the sanction of the author. It<br /> is the author of a technical work of this kind<br /> who should decide, after periodical editions, if it<br /> <br /> is necessary to enlarge, or abridge, or alter, to<br /> VOL. X.<br /> <br /> bring the book up to date. On no account should<br /> the author allow a publisher to have the power of<br /> making alterations in his book by other hands.<br /> <br /> Clause 13 may stand.<br /> <br /> To clause 14 there seems to be no particulary<br /> objection.<br /> <br /> Clause 15 has the same objection to it that<br /> applies to the parties to the agreement, and the<br /> same excuse for its being inserted is also valid.<br /> <br /> Clause 17 is a difficult clause from the author’s<br /> point of view, and reminds one of Lord Russell’s<br /> Bill which is just now before Parliament. Is the<br /> clause inserted to cover the members of the firm,<br /> in case of being interested in the printers’ or<br /> binders’ business, &amp;c., they should take profits to<br /> the detriment of the author which are not<br /> included in the account ? Anauthor should look<br /> very carefully into a case of this kind before<br /> signing the agreement which contains it.<br /> <br /> With regard to clause 18 it is only necessary<br /> to state that arbitration is a3 a rule a very expen-<br /> sive method of settling disputes. That from the<br /> publishers’ point it is satisfactory as this legal<br /> method very seldom comes into the papers. From<br /> an author’s point of view it is unsatisfactory, as<br /> the publisher thereby shirks publicity. With all<br /> the drawbacks of legal action, it is on the whole<br /> perhaps the best way of settling disputes, and is<br /> generally considerably the cheapest.<br /> <br /> An author of a learned technical or scientific<br /> work should seriously consider before signing this<br /> form of agreement, as it is possible that the work<br /> of his brain may be tampered with by other<br /> hands, and the right of being an arbiter of his<br /> own property pass from his control.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> V.—tTue Sixpenny Book.<br /> <br /> Let us return to the sixpenny book. It<br /> seems to be assumed that a new and a very<br /> advantageous departure has been discovered.<br /> That is to say, it is assumed that where<br /> one person would give 4s. 6d. for a book, a<br /> number sufficient to make as good a return, or<br /> even a better return, to author, publisher, and<br /> bookseller, would be found to buy the same book<br /> at sixpence. What should be that number?<br /> With a book pretending any popularity, the cost of<br /> production and advertising would not be more, in<br /> general, thana shilling : in large editions after the<br /> first, much less than a shilling. The author has,<br /> say, a 20 per cent. royalty, or 14s. per volume.<br /> On the sixpenny book the general royalty<br /> appears to be 2d., or 3d., or #d., in most cases the<br /> first. How many copies at sixpence will make<br /> up the royalty paid on 6s.? The answer to this<br /> difficult sum is twenty-four. In other words, if<br /> 5000 copies would he circulated at6s., it would<br /> <br /> ce 2<br /> <br /> <br /> 10 THE, AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> require 120,000 copies to put the author in as<br /> good a position as he was before. It remains to<br /> be seen whether the new move will multiply<br /> buyers by twenty-four.<br /> <br /> Another point. The buyers are the booksellers.<br /> It remains to be seen whether they will be able<br /> to get through the piles which now. cumber their<br /> counters.<br /> <br /> Another point still. It remains to be seen<br /> whether they will be able to get rid of any higher<br /> priced books at all when people have once begun<br /> to think that sixpence is the proper price.<br /> <br /> Now, the bookseller pays for his sixpenny book<br /> very nearly 33d. a copy. How many copies must<br /> he get rid of before he can get £100 for himself ¥<br /> Putting his expenses at only £100 a year, how<br /> long before he can lay aside £200 for himself and<br /> his expenses? In many places he has to sell his<br /> sixpenny book at 43d.<br /> <br /> Now, if he sells it at 43d., he must get rid of<br /> 64,000 copies a year, or 213 copies a day! Is<br /> this sale likely to be realised by a country book-<br /> seller ?<br /> <br /> If, then, the system succeeds to a certain extent<br /> for the publisher and the author, should it end in<br /> landing the bookseller either with a mass of<br /> unsaleable ‘books or in depriving him of the<br /> people who were accustomed to pay a higher<br /> -price, the result will be disastrous to literature.<br /> <br /> It is an axiom that must never be forgotten,<br /> especially by ourselves, that what affects the<br /> bookseller injuriously affects literature inju-<br /> riously. It is to the best interests of author and<br /> bookseller that books should have every chance of<br /> being offered to the public: a selfish policy, in<br /> the supposed interests of the middleman, of<br /> squeezing the lean author with one hand aud the<br /> leaner bookseller with the other must be combated.<br /> Authors are only beginning to look into the man-<br /> -agement of their own affairs for themselves. It<br /> is high time that booksellers, who have nothing<br /> -whatever to fear and everything to gain by so<br /> doing, should also unite, sink their differences, and<br /> declare for a voice in the administration of the<br /> literary property of which they are the sole buyers<br /> and exhibitors.<br /> <br /> Let us therefore agree in regarding this move-<br /> ment as an experiment only. Itis one made on<br /> a large scale: there are 120 sixpenny books in<br /> Simpkin and Marshall’s list, viz., seventy copy-<br /> right and the remainder non-copyright. The<br /> result of the experiment will in a few weeks<br /> answer the question: of the prudence or the<br /> mistake of the experiment. One can only hope<br /> ‘that, if it should prove to be the latter, it will not<br /> ‘be another nail in the coffin of the long-suffering<br /> bookseller.<br /> <br /> —oOoOToOS-<br /> <br /> VI.—TELLING THE SToRY.<br /> <br /> The following letter explains itself. It was<br /> addressed to the Glasgow Herald, where it<br /> appeared on May 20 :—<br /> <br /> Elmlea, South Stoke, Reading, May 18, 1899.<br /> <br /> Sir,—I greatly regretted to gather from your “ Literary<br /> Notes and Gossip” of a recent issue that the writer<br /> apparently took umbrage at some remarks of mine in The<br /> Author relative to those reviews or notices of novels in<br /> which the whole of the plot is disclosed. The writer com-<br /> menced with a paragraph which appeared to be a thinly-<br /> veiled attack on the Society of Authors. It has been more<br /> than once observed that attacks of this kind are very com-<br /> mon among the contributors of literary notes to provincial<br /> papers. Why any journalist should attack the Society of<br /> Authors is beyond my poor comprehension, for the dividing<br /> line between writers of books and writers in newspapers is<br /> so fine as to be imperceptible. Authors never attack the<br /> Institute of Journalists. Indeed, it has been more than<br /> once suggested that the two societies should join forces.<br /> Journalists write books; authors write for newspapers.<br /> The interests of authors and journalists are almost<br /> identical. I have been a member of the Society of Authors<br /> almost since its foundation, and can assure you and your<br /> readers that it has done excellent work for those who gain<br /> their living by writing. The Society deserves the most<br /> loyal support of all literary men.<br /> <br /> To come now to the story-telling reviewer. Tho writer<br /> of your literary notes described me as not being a “ power-<br /> ful advocate,” and even ‘‘ weak” enough to believe that the<br /> kind of review of which complaint was made was often written<br /> in kindness to the author. My reply to this is that I had no<br /> reason nor wish to make a slashing attack on anybody, and<br /> that in my opinion a temperately worded statement of facts<br /> is as a rule far more powerful and effective than a vigorous<br /> onslaught. I tried to state fairly both sides of the question,<br /> and to avoid so far as possible saying anything which would<br /> be in the slightest degree offensive to editors, reviewers, or<br /> others interested.<br /> <br /> I entirely agree with the writer of “ Literary Notes”<br /> that it is “no part of a reviewer’s business to assist, either<br /> overtly or tacitly, in the circulation of a work which, in<br /> his trained judgment, is not meritorious.” I also agree<br /> with him that a reviewer who offers an estimate of a work<br /> should also indicate some of the reasons upon which his<br /> opinion is founded. But these opinions do not touch the<br /> chief point in my article, which was, and still is, that in a<br /> number of reviews practically the whole of the story con-<br /> tained in the book is told, often without any attempt at<br /> criticism. Having no reason to suppose that any critic<br /> would knowingly injure the sale of a book (unless it was a<br /> bad one), I wrote the article in question at the request of<br /> the Committee of the Society of Authors. I hoped that<br /> the matter would have been considered and discussed in<br /> academic fashion, and without acrimony. The writer of<br /> “Literary Notes” appears to think that the matter is not<br /> worth talking about; that the “cause of complaint is<br /> reduced to practical insignificance.” His remark has led<br /> me to examine my review book. Out of the fourteen<br /> reviews of my last novel, which have appeared up to the<br /> time of writing, seven tell practically the entire story. It<br /> is, of course, impossible for me to say to what extent novel<br /> readers would be prevented from reading a book by knowing<br /> in advance how it ends. “But I have questioned many<br /> <br /> novel readers on the subject, and they one and all say that<br /> <br /> they do not like to know how.a book-is going to end, and<br /> rarely read a novel if they have previously read the whole<br /> <br /> of the plot in a review.—I am, &amp;c., Joux Bicerptes<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> PARIS NOTES.<br /> Ae event of the moment is the opening of<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> the new Salon. M. Falguitre’s much<br /> <br /> talked of statue of Balzac, which promised<br /> beforehand to prove one of the central attractions<br /> of this genuinely jin-de-siécle exhibition, has<br /> fallen short of popular expectation. The refusal<br /> of the Société des Gens de Lettres to accept M.<br /> Rodin’s design for the aforesaid statue had<br /> greatly whetted public curiosity ; if the clever<br /> sculptor of the characteristic busts of Mirabeau,<br /> -Puvis de Chavannes, Castagnary, César Franck,<br /> Rochefort, and many other well-merited successes<br /> failed to satisfy the critical admirers of Balzac,<br /> surely something reaching an extraordinarily high<br /> artistic level was required. Such, at least, was<br /> the general conviction; and when M. Falguiére<br /> accepted the honour denied his friend, public<br /> interest was stimulated to its highest pitch. Under<br /> these circumstances, the only alternative was a<br /> brilliant success or a signal failure. M. Fal-<br /> guiére bravely undertook the ordeal, and failed<br /> —since he did not produce a masterpiece. M.<br /> Rodin’s idea of a typical Balzac was an<br /> exaggerated and intensified representation of the<br /> prominent characteristics of the outer man; and<br /> his work was refused. M. Falguiére, therefore,<br /> conscientiously set to work with the idea of<br /> avoiding all exaggeration, and fell into the<br /> opposite extreme ; the Balzac who sits with<br /> crossed legs, the lines of his Herculean frame<br /> dissimulated beneath the famous robe de bure it<br /> pleased him to assume, the effect of whose deep-<br /> set eyes, leonine scalp, and characteristic pro-<br /> truding under-lip, have also been deftly lessened<br /> and rendered null by being smoothed down to<br /> the trite inanition of the ordinary human coun-<br /> tenance, is no worthy monument of the great<br /> author of the “ Comédie Humaine,” whose fiery,<br /> passionate individuality Paul Bourget has etched<br /> with such delicate psychological tact. ‘“ C’est<br /> un Balzac, mais ce n’est pas Balzac,’ wrote Léon<br /> -Plée, on the morrow of the opening of the Salon;<br /> and public opinion has indorsed and verified his<br /> ‘judgment. The petition, recently filed, demand-<br /> ig the intervention of the nation “to<br /> open the gates of the Panthéon to the ashes<br /> of Honoré de Balzac” on the occasion of<br /> the celebration of his hundredth anniversary,<br /> sufficiently proves the strong posthumous influ-<br /> -ence that the great French writer still exercises<br /> over the minds of the present generation.<br /> <br /> Toe recent death of the dramatic author<br /> ‘Edouard Pailleron, member of the French<br /> Academy, occasioned a profound sensation here.<br /> For upwards of thirty years his house has<br /> formed one of the fashionable rendezrous of the<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Tl<br /> <br /> literary celebrities of Paris, and an invitation: to<br /> his famous Monday receptions formed quite an<br /> event in the career of many a rising author. In<br /> 1863. Pailleron married the daughter of the cele-<br /> brated Charles Buloz (founder and director of<br /> the Revue des Deux Mondes, one of the leading<br /> French periodicals of the present day) ; and the<br /> various dwelling-places inhabited by the pair<br /> were rendered famous by the multitude of<br /> artistic and literary treasures with which they<br /> were surrounded. Yet, despite his brilliant<br /> literary and social renown, Edouard Pailleron’s<br /> career was nota happy one. He suffered acutely<br /> from a too susceptible amour propre. The<br /> sparkling success of ‘‘ Le Monde ott on s’ennuie,”<br /> which marked the apogee of his literary career,<br /> could not blind him to the fact that his<br /> methode and fame were essentially ephemeral<br /> and contemporary. The fear of falling short of<br /> the public expectation his masterpiece had<br /> aroused rendered him sterile; and for ten years<br /> he remained idle, enviously watching the triumphs<br /> achieved by the rising generation of dramatic<br /> authors. When he finally decided to produce the<br /> “ Cabotins,’ the younger /iterati unfortunately<br /> remembered too vividly the biting satires with<br /> which Pailleron had frequently annihilated their<br /> pretensions to be over-merciful. They fell upon<br /> the “ Cabotins”’ tooth and nail; and, though the<br /> public applauded and the play occupied the play-<br /> bills for five hundred nights, the hostility of the-<br /> Press increased fourfold the misanthropical<br /> bitterness of the unfortunate author. His later<br /> efforts were still less successful, and augmentedi<br /> his natural melancholy. ‘I await death with-<br /> out fear, but without impatience,” he once re-<br /> marked to a friend. A presentiment of his<br /> approaching end haunted him. On visiting<br /> the spacious vestibule of the magnificent hotel<br /> in which he died eighteen months later, he<br /> said, with a sad smile: “Quelle belle chapelle-<br /> ardente on ferait ici, pour un auteur drama-<br /> tique!” His funeral was quite a fashionable-<br /> function.<br /> <br /> Apropos of politics, the following criticism one<br /> Zola’s works is reported to have been found<br /> among the two hundred and forty pages of mis-<br /> cellaneous jottings written by Captain Dreyfus<br /> during his detention. It shows us the hero and<br /> victim of the affaire in a new light, viz., that of<br /> a thoughtful literary critic. We append a trans-<br /> lation of the paragraph, as we believe it will<br /> <br /> yrove interesting to the majorit of our<br /> } 8 J<br /> readers :—<br /> <br /> “The ecole naturaliste was founded under<br /> <br /> the influence of the literary doctrines of Taine.<br /> Zola is its most brilliant representative, and he<br /> asserts having been inspired not only by Taine<br /> <br /> <br /> 12 LAE<br /> <br /> but.also by the works of the physiologists of the<br /> Claude Bernard school!<br /> <br /> _ The theory of the experimental novel is the<br /> most colossal error possible to be conceived. M.<br /> Zola has never perceived the difference existing<br /> between experiments actually conducted in a<br /> laboratory and the pretended experiments of a<br /> novel, where everything passes in the author’s<br /> brain. On this ground we are forced to condemn<br /> the scientific pretensions of M. Zola.<br /> <br /> “The psychology of his novels is very limited.<br /> In his desire to furnish scientific data, Zola has<br /> completely overlooked the influence of the soul—<br /> the psychological side of the question. All that<br /> can in general be said of his bonshommes is that<br /> they are either brutes or fools. But one thing<br /> that no one can deny to Zola is imagination. His<br /> movels are sometimes heavy and coarse poems,<br /> ‘but they are, nevertheless, poems; his descrip-<br /> tions are graphic, living. In short, Zola is incap-<br /> able of making his creations live, since he is<br /> totally lacking in a sense of the psychological ;<br /> but he has imagination, the gift of stirring the<br /> masses, of giving visions sometimes dispropor-<br /> tionate to the nature of the thing seen, and of<br /> representing grand ideas.”<br /> <br /> The publication of M. Zola’s new work, entitled<br /> ‘ Mécondit¢, in the Awrore, lends an additional<br /> interest to the above criticism.<br /> <br /> And still further apropos of literature and<br /> polities may be mentioned the legal disbanding of<br /> the celebrated Ligue de la Patrie Francaise, that<br /> patriotic nursling of the literati of France, on<br /> the ground of its being an association unautho-<br /> rised by law. The members went merrily to<br /> their doom—a fine of sixteen francs apiece, with<br /> the application of the law Berenger; and one of<br /> the dailies termed the hearing of the case an<br /> “‘agreeable”’ séance, an adjective well applied as<br /> regarded M. Jules Lemaitre’s elegant and witty<br /> speech in defence of the League, which was re-<br /> ceived with the applause it merited. M. Francois<br /> Coppée, honorary president of the condemned<br /> association, was likewise in evidence, gaily occu-<br /> pying the seat of the clerk of the court; though<br /> wu relapse of his chronic malady prevented his<br /> presiding a little later at the annual banquet of<br /> the Révue idéaliste. This contretemps inspired<br /> his representative, M. Stéphen Li¢geard, author<br /> of the “Grands Ceeurs,” with a happy improvisa-<br /> tion in honour of the absentee which was warmly<br /> applauded.<br /> <br /> The preface of M. Maurice Loir’s late publi-<br /> cation, entitled “Au Drapeau,” is written by M.<br /> George Duruy, whose course of lectures on<br /> History and Literature at the Ecole Polytechnic<br /> has been abruptly suspended on the plea of his<br /> having irritated his pupils’ susceptibilities by<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> his anti-patriotie tendencies. In speaking of<br /> the French flag in the preface above mentioned,<br /> M. Duruy declares it to a bright symbol of the<br /> noblest pages in the history of France, recalling<br /> the grandeur of the réle she has played in the<br /> world, her triumphs and reverses, her glories and<br /> disasters—alike impossible to be forgotten—and<br /> the services she has generously rendered in the<br /> cause of the emancipation of nations. Still<br /> speaking of the French flag, he continues: “ It<br /> speaks to us of honour, courage, abnegation, and<br /> disdain of death—in short, of all the masculine<br /> virtues which have imbued the souls of the in-<br /> numerable Frenchmen fallen in its defence. And<br /> this is why, when the regiment passes, we should<br /> piously uncover our heads before the flag,<br /> ‘comme devant le Saint Sacrement de la Patrie!’”<br /> All we have ourselves seen and heard of<br /> M. Duruy is in keeping with the elevated tone of<br /> patriotism here displayed; yet this eminent<br /> Frenchman is now debarred from exercising his<br /> usual functions because he is not sufficiently<br /> patriotic —or rather, sufficiently prejudiced—to<br /> suit the exigencies of party politics.<br /> <br /> During the past month the chroniclers of the<br /> Société des Gens de Lettres at the various literary<br /> functions, have had no reason to complain of<br /> lack of copy. The occasion of the two-hundredth<br /> anniversary of Racine was brilliantly commemo-<br /> rated at his birthplace, La Ferté Milon, where a<br /> pious pilgrimage was made to Port Royal by the<br /> Raciniens, while the Parisian dramatic, literary,<br /> and ecclesiastical world each celebrated the anni-<br /> versary of the great tragic poet after its own<br /> fashion. The celebration of the forty-ninth<br /> anniversary of Balzac at Tours was a much quieter<br /> and le:s fashionable function; the weather was<br /> still more unpropitious than it had been on the<br /> occasion of the Racine celebration, and the<br /> “‘Couronnement de Balzac” (by M. Henri Chollet)<br /> was read in the rain to a dripping audience by<br /> M. Desmonts. The inauguration féte of the<br /> Pierre Dupont monument at Lyons was more<br /> favoured, botb as regards weather and audience,<br /> and M. Roujon’s comparison of the work of<br /> the Lyonnais poet to “an early dewdrop<br /> sparkling among the foliage of an ancient<br /> Druidical oak in the sun of France,” was much<br /> applauded.<br /> <br /> The unveiling of the Louis Veuillot monument<br /> in the basilica of the Sacré Cceur has also taken<br /> place during the past month. The celebrated<br /> polemist had composed his own epitaph in verse<br /> some time before his death, which occurred in<br /> 1883; and it is in accordance with the desire<br /> therein expressed that the motto—‘* J’ai cru, je<br /> vois ’’—is engraven on the marble haut-relief now<br /> raised to his memory. DarracorTe DENE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 13<br /> <br /> NOTES AND NEWS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> &quot; ET me very seriously invite all members of<br /> <br /> L the Society to the paper (see p. 4) entitled<br /> “Tord Russell and Mr. John Murray.”<br /> <br /> It is there shown that after the passing of<br /> Lord Russell’s Bill every publisher who furnishes<br /> a false account; who takes secret commissions<br /> or discounts: will be liable to a criminal prose-<br /> ~ cution.<br /> <br /> In other words, we shall then be legally entitled<br /> not only to put him in a crimimal court if he<br /> is detected, but to call him what some of us have<br /> been rebuked for calling him, a thief. He will<br /> be at last a thief in the eyes of the law, all<br /> sophistries swept out of the way.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Mr. Thring speaks of “ very strong suspicion.”<br /> Teall it “certainty” for the following reasons :—<br /> (1) We have publishers’ accounts showing<br /> prices of printing, paper, &amp;c., far higher than<br /> any estimates in the Society’s hands.<br /> <br /> (2) It is certain that publishers do not pay<br /> more than they are obliged to pay to printers,<br /> paper makers, binders, &amp;e.<br /> <br /> (3) We have the avowals made by publishers<br /> themselves as quoted by Mr. Thring.<br /> <br /> (4) We have the draft agreements put forward<br /> by the Publishers’ Association in which they claim<br /> as aright to put in their own pockets whatever<br /> they please or may like for discount. The amount<br /> of the percentage is purposely left open.<br /> <br /> (5) We observe the careful omission in these<br /> agreements of any protest against secrecy. Con-<br /> sidering the protests of the Society against secret<br /> profits, what can be inferred from this omission<br /> except the determination to continue a secret<br /> practice actually carried on ? Are we to believe<br /> that these claims are suddenly put forward as a<br /> new thing ?<br /> <br /> (6) We also observe the omission of any protest<br /> against charging for advertisements in their own<br /> organs or by exchange, a practice which enables<br /> the publisher to put into his own pocket what-<br /> ever he pleases.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> One would only add to these considerations<br /> the fact that though the charge of making secret<br /> profits has been brought forward over and over<br /> again, the committee of the Publishers’ Associa-<br /> tion have never by a single word shown their<br /> disapproval of the practice. That they received<br /> Lord Russell’s words with “ consternation,’ one<br /> can understand ; that painful “ surprise” was also<br /> an emotion called up by these words one can<br /> understand as well.<br /> <br /> I have been asked about the “Method of the<br /> Future.’ I am happy to say that, so far, it<br /> promises well. I have only heard of one exception<br /> to the complete satisfaction of those who are<br /> trying it. It will take time for writers to realise<br /> how small, if any, is the risk run by anyone who<br /> has acquired any kind of a name; and for those<br /> who can achieve a popular success, the immense<br /> difference which this method makes to the author.<br /> But there can be no doubt that a commission<br /> publisher, who is nothing else, and has no books<br /> of his own to run in opposition to the author&#039;s<br /> own book, offers the only way out of the many<br /> difficulties which afflict the “author, publisher,<br /> and bookseller ’’ question—a question in which the<br /> publisher’s object is apparently, so far as we can<br /> judge by his proposals to the bookseller, and his<br /> “equitable agreement ” with the author, resolved,<br /> if he can, to keep the bookseller in the gutter, and<br /> to push the author in with him.<br /> <br /> ——<br /> <br /> I think that the present situation, which means<br /> the practical cessation of any demand for other<br /> than six-shilling books, ought to be seriously taken<br /> into consideration by those who are bringing out<br /> books for the autumn season. It should lead<br /> them, at least, not to be too sanguine. There<br /> will certainly be some measure of decline in the<br /> demand—even for popular writers : how great the<br /> malign influence of the sixpenny book will prove,<br /> it is impossible to say : booksellers themselves are<br /> unable to make any forecast except as regards<br /> their own subscription. This there is every<br /> reason to expect will be small. The circulating<br /> libraries will continue, one supposes, and will take<br /> their usual number: but if 6d. a week will pur-<br /> chase fifty-two of the best books every year, who<br /> will go on paying two or three guineas for a sub-<br /> scription? Let us, therefore, be prepared for the<br /> worst. Perhaps the general forebodings will<br /> prove to be of exaggerated gloom.<br /> <br /> ——<br /> <br /> It has been often observed that a dropping fire<br /> of abuse directed against the Society of Authors<br /> is kept up in the columns of certain country<br /> papers by the contributors of “ Literary Gossip.”<br /> Cuttings are sent to the office of the Society con-<br /> taining these misrepresentations. Is it not almost<br /> time that the Committee should take up the matter,<br /> and take action of some kind? When an editor<br /> <br /> allows the appearance of libellous expressions deny-<br /> ing the truth of statements made by the Committee<br /> in their reports and papers, it really becomes<br /> necessary to consider what action should be taken.<br /> Meanwhile a little examination may be profitably<br /> conducted into the source and origin of these mis-<br /> “John Bickerdyke” in<br /> <br /> representations, As<br /> <br /> <br /> iy THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> another column points out, the Society of Authors<br /> does not attack the Institute of Journalists;<br /> “indeed, many are members of both. Nor does<br /> the Institute in its organ attack this Society.<br /> Who are, then, the journalists who go out of<br /> their way, week by week, to calumniate the work<br /> of this Society, or to misrepresent its methods<br /> and to deny its importance? And why do editors<br /> admit these attacks ? Surely they might first ask<br /> themselves what is the reason why the Society is<br /> continually attracting writers more and more,<br /> enlisting new members, and keeping its old<br /> members. It is not for nothing that fifteen<br /> ‘ hundred men and women first combine, and then<br /> maintain a combination. There must be some<br /> reason. It is not honour and glory, for it is not<br /> a distinction to belong to a society whose numbers<br /> are unlimited, and whose qualification is simply<br /> the authorship of one book at least, gcod or bad.<br /> Any man of the world must understand that such<br /> a combination means the attempted advance of<br /> material interests, and that the maintained com-<br /> bination means a successful attempt. Perhaps a<br /> simple remonstrance addressed to the editors of<br /> the papers concerned would open their eyes to<br /> the unworthy use that is made of their columns.<br /> <br /> So<br /> <br /> ‘Lhe Professor or Instructor in the Art of making<br /> Literature turns up from time in unexpected<br /> places. He is now heard of as practising ina<br /> certain industrial centre. I do not name him nor<br /> do I give his address; in confidence that his ways<br /> . and works will before long be proclaimed aloud<br /> by the trumpet of Fame. Meantime it is, of<br /> course, disgraceful ignorance not to know any-<br /> &#039; thing about the immortal works by which he has<br /> - achieved the right of instructing aspirants. He<br /> reads and reviews short stories and “ novelettes :”<br /> he advises alterations and amendments for 2s. a<br /> thousand words. He gives lessons by corres-<br /> pondence in “ belles lettres, poetry, essay writing<br /> and general literature ”—this accomplished man !<br /> —the “entire course” of the weekly lessons for<br /> one guinea. These lessons “‘ comprise a thorough<br /> grounding in the rudiments of authorship ; such as<br /> style, plot, description, characters, incidents, &amp;c.,<br /> with revision of exercises and general advice.”<br /> He also offers single lessons on special points,<br /> e.g., “How to write a Short Story: a Novelette:<br /> a Romance: an Essay: a Play:<br /> “ Humorous Writing and how to go about it,”<br /> and other important branches. The learned<br /> professor modestly withholds information as to<br /> his own qualifications and previous history. Now,<br /> opinions are divided as to the possible advantages<br /> of instruction and assistance in writing, but one<br /> thing is quite certain—-that he who would teach<br /> <br /> Verse ;”-<br /> <br /> must first show that he is himself a competent:<br /> master,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> It is now some years since attention was called<br /> to a magazine conducted entirely in the interests<br /> of aspirants to literary fame, called in the pro-<br /> spectus authors. The magazine is called Lloyd’s<br /> Magazine. It appears quarterly: its price is<br /> ninepence: and it may be obtained—one knows<br /> not where. But it does exist, because the pro-<br /> spectus quotes opinions from more than thirty<br /> papers, all of which speak in laudatory terms of<br /> the magazine. However, the point with which<br /> we are concerned is that of the relations between<br /> the editor and the author. ‘The editor, then, is<br /> also an adviser; he offers a ‘professional<br /> opinion” for nothing. A _ “ professional ”<br /> opinion is that of a professional man. He is<br /> therefore either an author — in which: case it<br /> would be well to know what books he has written,<br /> and on what subjects: or he is a critic—in<br /> which case one would like to be referred to his<br /> critical works, and to know semething of his<br /> literary record. He is also ready to read and<br /> give practical advice in the placing of MSS. for a<br /> sniall fee—z.e., he is-an agent. He undertakes<br /> the printing and is also a publisher. As such he<br /> should tell us what-works he has published. As<br /> adviser, as agent, publisher, critic, friend, this<br /> incomparable person should be invited to reveal<br /> himself. His name is Mr. Leonard Lloyd. He<br /> has an office at 60, Queen Victoria-street: and he<br /> modestly declines interviews, “except by special<br /> arrangement.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> If, however, an aspirant sends a MS. which<br /> arrives at the honour of being accepted, he must<br /> not expect the customary honorarium which<br /> other editors offer with lavish hand, or the con-<br /> trary. Not at all: he must sign an agreement<br /> by which he promises to buy so many “dozen<br /> copies of the magazine.” The number of copies<br /> is not named. As the price of the magazine is<br /> gd., a dozen copies will cost 9s., and twenty<br /> dozen copies will cost £9. How much is the<br /> aspirant prepared to pay for the honour and<br /> glory of appearing in Lloyd’s Magazine? It is<br /> a perfectly simple transaction. The gratification<br /> of vanity by this appearance—this spectral and<br /> illusory semblance—of literary success: the<br /> skeleton in the closet in the shape of so many<br /> dozen copies of the magazine hidden away: the<br /> dread that this short cut to glory, this easy climb<br /> of the rocky Parnassus, may be discovered by<br /> envious friends—what are these considerations<br /> worth ? Let the aspirant work out this sum<br /> carefully before he sends his MS. and signs this<br /> agreement. Meantime, let him send his work<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> round to those editors who -reverse the traus-<br /> <br /> ‘action and actually pay for an accepted MS.<br /> <br /> It must be added that Mr. Leonard Lloyd<br /> offers a choice. The aspirant may, if he prefers,<br /> contribute to the London and New York Swumer<br /> Annual on the same terms, viz., of buying<br /> dozen copies of this production.<br /> <br /> WaLterR BESAN?.<br /> <br /> ees<br /> <br /> LITERATURE AS A PROFESSION.<br /> <br /> N another column will be found a somewhat<br /> | bitter attack upon myself as a person<br /> guilty of persuading people that literature<br /> isa profession which anyone may undertake with<br /> the hope, or reasonable expectation, of gaininz<br /> by its means a large and substantial income. I<br /> cannot find that I have in any place written or<br /> said anything that can justify this charge. Yet<br /> it seems to be extensively believed. I was told<br /> the other day by a publisher who had not seen<br /> the letter of “ X.,” that by my optimistic words<br /> about the literary profession I was drawing<br /> hundreds who had no natural aptitude into dis-<br /> appointment and failure. There are also, we<br /> may remark, many hundreds who attempt other<br /> professions with a similar result. Let me, there-<br /> fore, restate my case.<br /> <br /> (1) It was until recently believed by most<br /> that Literature is a starving and a beggarly<br /> profession.<br /> <br /> (2) This belief was fostered carefully by<br /> persons interested in concealing the facts con-<br /> nected with the commercial side of Literature.<br /> <br /> (3) It isencouraged by the yearly presentation<br /> of Literature as the one profession which has<br /> humbly to beg for alms.<br /> <br /> (4) When, some years ago, I said in public<br /> that there were then fifty persons at least<br /> engaged in literary work whose income went into<br /> the four figures, there was hardly a paper in the<br /> country that did not question the statement with<br /> contempt. Yet it was true.<br /> <br /> These things represent, and explain, the common<br /> belief. What are the facts?<br /> <br /> (1) There are now many hundreds of suc-<br /> cessful writers in all branches. Thes2 are<br /> dramatists, novelists, writers on art and music,<br /> essayists and leader writers, scientific writers,<br /> specialists, religious writers, writers of educi-<br /> tional books, writers of children’s books, and<br /> others.<br /> <br /> Out of these I could name at this moment<br /> many more than fifty whose works bring incomes<br /> which run into four figures.<br /> <br /> (2) Besides these there is a whole army of<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> AUTHOR,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> =<br /> <br /> VS<br /> <br /> men and women who live by the pen, including<br /> those engaged upon the better kinds of journal-<br /> ism.<br /> <br /> (3) Out of this army the Royal Literary Fund<br /> <br /> -only relieved and assisted twenty-two persons<br /> <br /> last year in want of temporary assistance ! Only<br /> twenty-two! The Fund cannot now spend half<br /> its income. It will therefore, we hope, discontinue<br /> the yearly dinner and the yearly appeal.<br /> <br /> (4) Every year sees the appearance of one or<br /> more new. successes in the drama or in fiction.<br /> Every year one witnesses the continued success<br /> of old favourites.<br /> <br /> (5) Every year two or three new publishers<br /> enter the trade. And, what is more to the point,<br /> they all seem to get on. The bankruptcy of a<br /> publisher isa rare thing. It has happened, so<br /> tar as I can remember, only four or five times m<br /> the last twenty years.<br /> <br /> (6) In every club where men of letters are<br /> found at all there appear every year more who<br /> attempt the profession. And with one exception<br /> here and there they all seem to get on. Not to<br /> make fortunes, but to get on, as in other walks in<br /> life.<br /> <br /> (7) The great prizes of the profession—fame,<br /> honour, and income —are becoming every day<br /> greater and more numerous.<br /> <br /> (8) From these and other considerations, I<br /> maintain that literature, as a profession, is no<br /> more precarious than any other. I do not say<br /> that large incomes are within the reach of all,<br /> but that they are there for those who can<br /> arrive at them. If we state the success of cer-<br /> tain lawyers, do we therefore “encourage”? too<br /> many? The fact, no doubt, does encourage too<br /> many in every profession ; yet the facts must be<br /> stated.<br /> <br /> Now, there is this great difference between a<br /> profession and a trade—that the latter need not<br /> cease with the death of the practitioner. The pro-<br /> fessional man stands alone. His success does not<br /> depend upon goodwill, connection, old-standing,<br /> or family reputation: it is his own. Therefore,<br /> in order to succeed in a profession, a man must<br /> possess, first, the natural aptitude or genius for<br /> bis work: and, next, such qualities as are<br /> required to win popularity. A man, in order<br /> to become a successful lawyer, must have the<br /> kind of intellect that is above all things<br /> essential for success in the law. Thus, if he<br /> desires to become a successful pleader, he must<br /> not be a shy or nervous man: he must be of<br /> ready wit, of good manner, an able speaker, a<br /> lucid expounder. Apply the same conditions to<br /> literature. The aspirant must have the first<br /> essential qualification, what is called the eift of<br /> the pen. Next, if he is to become popular, he<br /> <br /> <br /> 16 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> must possess in addition certain other gifts which<br /> “{ need not specify.<br /> <br /> Now, as it is quite possible to be a good lawyer<br /> yet to have no clients, or a good physician yet to<br /> ‘have no patients: so it is quite possible to pro-<br /> duce fine literary work which will appeal to few<br /> readers. The early history of Browning furnishes<br /> an illustration if any were wanted. A man may<br /> not command, even by very good writing, a wide<br /> <br /> “audience: by good writing, however, he will<br /> ‘certainly acquire a limited audience: the writer<br /> who fails to get a hearing at all must be a bad<br /> writer. It is a&#039;so true that there are writers who<br /> ‘ command a wide audience, yet fail in many of the<br /> “most important points which go to make fine<br /> ‘ literature.<br /> <br /> To say all this, which I have been saying over<br /> and over again for years, is to state, and to<br /> restate, the simplest axioms, to my mind. Yet I<br /> <br /> ‘am constantly told that I encourage people in<br /> the belief that large incomes can be readily<br /> made by writing. Nothing has ever been said<br /> in The. Author about anybody’s income: we do<br /> not here touch on personal matters, otherwise<br /> the proof or illustration of my position would<br /> be easy. Moreover, what is advanced con-<br /> cerns, not novels only, but literature of all<br /> kinds. I have been accused of thinking and<br /> speaking of novels only: that is not so. I<br /> include all branches of literature: novels are<br /> not the most lucrative branch: they fall, for<br /> instance, very far short of educational books,<br /> and still farther short of plays. The compila-<br /> tion of a popular hymn-book is reported to be<br /> worthy the attention even of a company pro-<br /> moter. Thirty or forty years ago a popular book<br /> of Family Prayers was a gold mine. That mine<br /> is now said to be worked out. And at this day<br /> a book adopted by the Board schools for the<br /> earlier standards would be an endowment for<br /> the daughter of a millionaire.<br /> <br /> “X.” thinks that it is a bad thing for litera-<br /> ture to be many sided. I cannot agree with him.<br /> I think it is a very good thing that a novelist, a<br /> poet, a dramatist, should also write essays, articles,<br /> reviews, biographies —- everything. There are<br /> instances, living and dead, of the best literary<br /> men and women doing this without injury to their<br /> special work.<br /> <br /> To sum up. My critic must not contend,<br /> because he himself has been so far unsuc-<br /> cessful with the general public, that litera-<br /> ture is worse than any other profession: nor<br /> that it is worse paid. On the other hand, he<br /> need not feel humiliated by want of success. His<br /> work may be very good—the work of this writer,<br /> if I may so far betray confidence, 7s very good—<br /> so good that his disclosures astonish me. But in<br /> <br /> every profession it is more than natural aptitude<br /> —or genius—that is wanted to gain the popular<br /> ear, and to, take the place of a popular favourite.<br /> <br /> ee<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ANNUAL DINNER. .<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> was held at the Trocadero Restaurant on<br /> <br /> fe Annual Dinner of the Society of Authors<br /> <br /> _ Thursday the 4th May.<br /> members and guests were present :—<br /> <br /> i Beckett, A. W.,and Guest.<br /> <br /> Aberdeen, The Right Hon.<br /> the Earl of, P.C., G.C.M.G.<br /> <br /> Adamson, J. R.<br /> <br /> Ameer Ali, The Hon. Mr.<br /> Justice.<br /> <br /> Appleton, W. W.<br /> <br /> Armstrong, E. A.<br /> <br /> Ball, Sir Robert, F.R.S.<br /> <br /> Beddard, F. E., F B.S.<br /> <br /> Bell, Mackenzie.<br /> <br /> Benson, E. F.<br /> <br /> Besant, W. H., D.Se., F.R.S.<br /> <br /> Besant, Sir Walter<br /> <br /> Besant, Lady.<br /> <br /> Beville, Mrs. Charles.<br /> <br /> Birrell, Augustine, Q.C.,<br /> M P. (Chairman).<br /> <br /> Bonney, The Rev. T. G,<br /> E.B.S.<br /> <br /> Bourchier, J. D.<br /> <br /> Bourdillon, F. W.<br /> <br /> Brown, Hadyn.<br /> <br /> ‘Bryden, H. A.<br /> <br /> Bury, Prof. J. B., Litt. Doc.<br /> <br /> Campbell, Lady Colin.<br /> <br /> Campbell, Miss Montgomery.<br /> <br /> Carr, Mrs. Carlisle.<br /> <br /> Carter, Mrs.<br /> <br /> Castle, Egerton.<br /> <br /> Caulfield, Miss.<br /> <br /> Charley, Sir William, Q C.,<br /> D.C.L.<br /> <br /> Clodd, E.<br /> <br /> Colles, W. M.<br /> <br /> Colles, Mrs.<br /> <br /> Conway, Sir Martin.<br /> <br /> Cordeux, Miss.<br /> <br /> Curtis, Miss Ella.<br /> <br /> Daily Chronicle.<br /> <br /> Daily Graphic.<br /> <br /> Daily Mail.<br /> <br /> Daily News.<br /> <br /> Daily Telegraph.<br /> <br /> De Soissons, S. C<br /> <br /> Dobson, Austin.<br /> <br /> Dodd, Frank H.<br /> <br /> Dowsett, C. F.<br /> <br /> Dubonurg, A. W.<br /> <br /> Danlop, Mrs.<br /> <br /> Durand, Colonel, C-B., C.I.E.<br /> <br /> Dyer, Sir W. Thiselton.<br /> <br /> Earl, A.<br /> <br /> Earl, Mrs.<br /> <br /> Edmonds, A. R.<br /> <br /> The following<br /> <br /> Edmonds, Mrs. A. R.<br /> <br /> Ellis, Mullett.<br /> <br /> Free, Rev. R.<br /> <br /> Garland, Hamlin.<br /> <br /> Garrison, Mrs.<br /> <br /> Gill, Upcott.<br /> <br /> Gowing, Mrs. Aylmer.<br /> <br /> Grohman, W. A. Baillie.<br /> <br /> Guimarzens, M. L.<br /> <br /> Gunter, Lieut.-Col.<br /> <br /> Haggard, Captain E. A.<br /> <br /> Hawkin, R. C.<br /> <br /> Hawkins, A. Hope.<br /> <br /> Henslowe, Miss.<br /> <br /> Herman, G. E.<br /> <br /> Holman, H. Martin.<br /> <br /> Hornung, E. W.<br /> <br /> Hornung, Mrs.<br /> <br /> Humphrey- Desmond, Mrs.8.<br /> <br /> Jacobs, W. W.<br /> <br /> James, Miss W. M.<br /> <br /> Johnson, Henry.<br /> <br /> Jones, The Rev. Prebendary<br /> Harry.<br /> <br /> Kelly, C. A.<br /> <br /> Keltie, J. Scott, LL.D.<br /> <br /> Kenealy, Miss A.<br /> <br /> Kenealy, Edward.<br /> <br /> Kinns, Rev. Dr. 8., D.D.<br /> <br /> Larner, Miss A.<br /> <br /> Lefroy, Mrs., and Guest.<br /> <br /> Legge, Francis.<br /> <br /> Little, J. Stanley.<br /> <br /> Little, Mrs. Archibald.<br /> <br /> London, The Archdeacon of.<br /> <br /> Lowndes, Mrs. Belloc, and<br /> Guest.<br /> <br /> Louis, J.<br /> <br /> Marsh, Richard.<br /> <br /> Marsh, Mrs. R.<br /> <br /> Massingham, H. W.<br /> <br /> Mathews, C. E.<br /> <br /> Maxwell, The Right Hon.<br /> Sir Herbert, Bart.<br /> <br /> McKinney, B. G.<br /> <br /> Metcalfe, H. C.<br /> <br /> Moberly, Miss, and Guest.<br /> <br /> Morning Post.<br /> <br /> Moscheles, Felix.<br /> <br /> Murray, Oscar.<br /> <br /> Newbolt, Henry.<br /> <br /> Norman, H.<br /> <br /> Oppenheim, E. P.<br /> <br /> Pall Mall Gazette.<br /> <br /> Parker, Gilbert.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> eat?<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> “President of<br /> <br /> Parker, Mrs. Gilbert.<br /> <br /> Parker, Mrs.<br /> <br /> Paterson, Arthur<br /> <br /> Pemberton, Max.<br /> <br /> Pengelley, Miss Hester.<br /> <br /> Phipson, Miss Emma.<br /> <br /> Pollock, Sir Frederick, Bart.,<br /> LL.D.<br /> <br /> -Pollock, Lady.<br /> <br /> Pollock, Miss Edith.<br /> Prelooker, Jaakoff.<br /> <br /> “President of the Royal Col-<br /> <br /> lege of Physicians.<br /> Institute of<br /> <br /> Painters in Water Colours.<br /> Reeves, The Hon. W. P.<br /> ‘Rhodes, H. D.<br /> <br /> ‘Rhodes, Miss.<br /> <br /> Rogers, A.<br /> <br /> “Russell, Rollo.<br /> <br /> St. James’s Gazette.<br /> Sargant, Miss A..<br /> Seaman, Owen.<br /> Shepard, H.<br /> <br /> Shorter, Clement.<br /> Skeat, The Rev. W. W.<br /> Smith, Dr. Barnett.<br /> Smith, Mrs. Burnett.<br /> Spanton, John.<br /> Spender, Harold.<br /> Spielmann, M. H.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 17<br /> <br /> The Standard.<br /> <br /> Stanley, H. M.<br /> <br /> Sterry, Ashby.<br /> <br /> Stillman, W. J.<br /> <br /> Swan, Miss Myra.<br /> <br /> Tayler, H. Stanley.<br /> <br /> Temple, Lieut.-Col. R. C.,<br /> C.LE.<br /> <br /> Temple, Sir Richard,K.C.S.I.<br /> <br /> The Editor The Daily Tele-<br /> graph.<br /> <br /> The Times.<br /> <br /> Thorpe, W. G.<br /> <br /> Thring, G. H.<br /> <br /> Thring, Mrs.<br /> <br /> Townend, T. 8.<br /> <br /> Tuer, Andrew.<br /> <br /> Tuer, Mrs.<br /> <br /> Tweedie,<br /> Guest.<br /> <br /> Warner, F.<br /> <br /> Waterfield, M.<br /> <br /> Watt, A. S.<br /> <br /> Watt, Mrs. A. S.<br /> <br /> Westminster Gazette.<br /> <br /> White, Arnold.<br /> <br /> White, A. Silva.<br /> <br /> Wilkins, W. H., and Guest.<br /> <br /> Wright, C. T. Hagberg.<br /> <br /> Young, Gerald.<br /> <br /> Zangwill, I.<br /> <br /> Mrs. Alec., and<br /> <br /> Sprigge, S. 8.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Dear Srr,—Reports of functions, of whatsoever<br /> kind, are generally written by experts, presumably<br /> for the instruction, elevation, or amusement of the<br /> ‘man in the street; but there is something to be<br /> said in favour of a reversal of the usual process.<br /> _Why should not the man in the street sometimes<br /> express his opinion of a function which he may<br /> have attended as a guest, not as a professional<br /> member of the celebrating caste? As I am alone<br /> at the moment, and there is no one to allege any<br /> just cause or impediment why I should not express<br /> any opinion I please, I propose to write you this<br /> short note and tender it in lieu of the prosaic<br /> conventional report of the annual dinner of the<br /> Society of Authors.<br /> <br /> First of all, let me say a few words about<br /> myself. Iam not an author, though I occasion-<br /> ally write cheques. I attended the banquct with<br /> pleasure, for I like meeting people whose names<br /> are well known, and having the opportunity of<br /> picking the brains of those who are intellectually<br /> my superiors. I was not selected to respond to<br /> the toast of “The Guests,’ although being,<br /> figuratively speaking, a babe and suckling, I<br /> might doubtless have uttered many words of<br /> wisdom. I was probably the only unknown man<br /> in the room, but I have one great claim upon<br /> your kind consideration. I buy books. Were<br /> <br /> it not for me, and men like me, there could<br /> ke no Society of Authors to dine, or, rather,<br /> <br /> there could be no dinner for the Society of<br /> Authors.<br /> <br /> The dinner was good; the soup in particular<br /> was excellent, as I am-sure le Nain de Sang<br /> would have said had he been present—I refer<br /> to the contributor to Lord Rosebery’s ideal paper.<br /> Sorbet before beef I regard as a weak concession<br /> to a foolish fashion ; but we will let that pass, as,<br /> indeed, I did at the dinner itself. I do not know<br /> who was deputed to arrange the menu, but I<br /> hereby take off my hat to him; and [ agree with<br /> him, too, in his selection of champagne. Mrs.<br /> Alec Tweedie has lately recorded her father’s<br /> decided opinion that sweet champagne is better<br /> than dry. Iam on the side of Dr. George Harley,<br /> and am glad to hail as a sympathiser the man<br /> who ordered your dinner.<br /> <br /> With regard to the speeches—well, I confess<br /> that when I entered the Oak Room of the<br /> Trocadero and surveyed the assembled celebrities,<br /> my first wish was that it might be possible to<br /> compute the total amount of grey matter there<br /> gathered together; it must have. represented<br /> many pounds avoirdupois, and I looked forward<br /> with some apprehension to the after-dinner<br /> I had never dined with the Authors<br /> before, and I know that although a man may<br /> have the pen of a ready writer, it by no means<br /> follows that he has the gift of tongues. I went<br /> to see the lions feed, as the Archdeacon of London<br /> subsequently said for me, but I was rather<br /> nervous as to what might happen when they<br /> began to roar. I give you my word, Sir, I was<br /> very agreeably surprised. There was not one<br /> speech which did not contain at least one happy<br /> thought happily touched off. Augustine Birrell<br /> struck the keynote when proposing the health of<br /> the Queen, advancing Her Majesty as a conclu-<br /> sive argument in favour of the royalty system.<br /> <br /> In proposing the toast of the evening, too,<br /> his remarks were made to a rippling accompani-<br /> ment of laughter in which it was infinitely<br /> pleasant to participate. I liked the quotation<br /> trom Lord Halifax with which he began, that “it<br /> must be more than an ordinary provocation that<br /> can tempt a man to write in an age overrun with<br /> scribblers as Egypt was overrun with flies and<br /> locusts. That worst vermin of small authors has<br /> given the world such a surfeit that instead of desir- .<br /> ing to write a man would be more inclined to wish<br /> for his own ease that.he could not read.” It was an<br /> admirable peg on which to hang an admirable<br /> speech. Happily phrased, too, were many of<br /> his points: that incorporation by law is no<br /> detriment to a useful and honourable society ;<br /> that your general meetings are analogous to the<br /> Council of Nicea; that you exist, not to earn<br /> dividends for yourselves, but to look after the<br /> <br /> speaking.<br /> 18 THE. AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> interests of your brothers; that you are nota<br /> mutual admiration society, but an educational<br /> one, wisely confining your attentions to your own<br /> fraternity ; and that you stand boldly upon your<br /> right to instruct your members in the conduct of<br /> their own affairs. There was delicate relief in<br /> his reference to Tennyson who could not read<br /> Browning, to Browning who did not read Tenny-<br /> son—mark the difference—and to Matthew<br /> Arnold, who thought very little of either. Is<br /> this last a fact? And in the best possible taste<br /> was his elegiac tribute to Lord Herschell, a<br /> member of your old Copyright Committee, and<br /> one of the few who really understood the question<br /> of copyright.<br /> <br /> Gilbert Parker’s reply was dignified and apt.<br /> I have a weakness for crystallisations, and the<br /> great novelist gave me one which I carry in my<br /> memory. It is his summary of the reasons<br /> which compel people to write. These are:<br /> (1) to satisfy their own instincts; (2) to earn<br /> their daily bread; and (3) to serve the general<br /> intelligence. Three very good reasons too,<br /> say I.<br /> <br /> Sir Frederick Pollock kindly proposed the<br /> health of myself and some others. Inadvertently<br /> he did me an injustice. He said that it was<br /> difficult in that assembly to find any guest to<br /> respond who was not an author, and he did not<br /> callon me. I notice, by the way, that the editor<br /> of the Daily Chronicle has not yet used the story<br /> given him by Sir Frederick Pollock as a test of<br /> humour, and as it isa good story I commend it<br /> to Mr. Massingham’s recollection, and leave it<br /> there for the present.<br /> <br /> Sir William Thiselton Dyer spoke in excellent<br /> taste, and the Archdeacon of London also replied<br /> with a courtly courtesy that made me reflect that<br /> in spite of its crises and dissensions our Church<br /> still possesses most princely gentlemen.<br /> <br /> The Hon. W. P. Reeves declared himself to be<br /> on the horns of a dilemma. An after-dinner<br /> -speech he asserted should not occupy more than<br /> from five to ten minutes. 4itro’ If he<br /> adhered to the rule, his toast — Imperial<br /> interests—must suffer. If he broke the rule<br /> his audience must suffer. He broke the rule,<br /> but nobody repined, and so we reached the<br /> -oration of the evening, Lord Aberdeen’s reply.<br /> He spoke with dignity, and to the point. Upon<br /> his speech Ido not even propose to comment,<br /> ‘seeing that it was reported at length in every<br /> daily paper. His comments on the Pacific Cable<br /> scheme, and on the action of your Society with<br /> regard to Canadian Copyright were exactly such<br /> as he might have been relied upon to make.<br /> -Here I will only quote his tribute to your Society<br /> as “the unquestioned repository of the theughts<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> and feelings of the leading’ authors of the<br /> day.”<br /> <br /> I tender my thanks, not only to my host, but<br /> to all the members of your Society, for an intelli-<br /> gently pleasant evening, and I should like to say<br /> that one erroneous impression, shared by others<br /> besides myself, has been removed from my mind.<br /> Thad an idea that the Society of Authors was<br /> composed of novelists who assumed that in<br /> fiction was comprised the whole of literature.<br /> That idea IT have now abandoned, and I am<br /> genuinely glad that I can do so. Anthony Hope,<br /> E. F. Benson, Gilbert Parker, and Hamlin<br /> Garland sat at the high table; but so, too, did<br /> Austin Dobson, Sir W. Thiselton Dyer, Sir<br /> Herbert Maxwell, Sir Richard Temple, Sir<br /> Frederick Pollock, Sir Robert Ball, Sir Martin<br /> Conway, and Mr. H. M. Stanley.. And that is<br /> fairly representative of the authors whom I am<br /> glad to have met. A list of the distinguished<br /> people present should form very interesting<br /> reading, and I shall always like to remember<br /> that among them was—Yours faithfully,<br /> <br /> V. E. M.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ec<br /> <br /> THE INTERNATIONAL PRESS CON-<br /> GRESS AT ROME.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ‘T AST year this interesting annual congress<br /> I jj Was held at Lisbon, and climatic reasons<br /> <br /> and the Queen of Holland’s coronation<br /> delayed the gathering until late autumn. This<br /> year being at Rome, climatic reasons pressed the<br /> meeting time into early spring, and so it came<br /> about that the Rome congress so swiftly followed<br /> that of Lisbon ; but, if the congress met in April,<br /> the journeyings of the congressists, after their<br /> “works ”’ were completed, ran on well into May,<br /> and so this account appears apparently a month<br /> overdue.<br /> <br /> The number of delegates amounted to 398,<br /> representing eighteen nationalities, the English<br /> delegation consisting of seventeen members. The<br /> French as usual outnumbered even the Italian<br /> delegation.<br /> <br /> The list of “works and festivities,” to quote<br /> the English translation of the official programme,<br /> was interesting. Let the “works” come first.<br /> The English delegation held a_ preliminary<br /> meeting under the presidency of Mr. P. W.<br /> Clayden, and it was arranged that Mr. Atkinson,<br /> of the Manchester Guardian, should speak on the<br /> Relations of Journalist and Proprietor; Sir Hugh<br /> Gilzean-Reid on Legislation, and the writer on<br /> Artistic Copyright; and, owing to the much-<br /> regretted absence of Miss G. B. Stuart through<br /> illness, I was elected as hon. secretary to the<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> delegation for the Congress. Sir Hugh Gilzean-<br /> Reid was elected hon. president for the Congress,<br /> thus presiding over its first session. The recep-<br /> tion of the polyglottic delegates by Signor Bon-<br /> fadini and his Italian confreres in what he called<br /> their modeste demeure (really a most palatial<br /> Press club) was intensely cordial, he referring<br /> the English to the fact that here (in Rome) was<br /> the house where Sir Walter Scott had lived, and<br /> here Shelley had written some of his most glorious<br /> work. On the following morning their Majesties<br /> the King and Queen of Italy opened the Congress<br /> in the Historic Halls in the ancient Capitol.<br /> <br /> A little doubt was filling the minds of all, as to<br /> how this royal opening would pass off. There was<br /> the awkward fact that four of the delegates for<br /> Lombardy were still in prison, and fears of a<br /> demonstration against the King were prevalent,<br /> but, thanks to the assuaging diplomacy of the<br /> president, Herr Singer, of Vienna, the opening<br /> ceremony passed off quietly, and Herr Simger’s<br /> address was warmly applauded, especially when<br /> he said the International journalists had taken<br /> the world for their empire. The King and<br /> Queen gave no formal reply, but descended<br /> from the dais and chatted freely with the<br /> chief delegates, thanking Herr Singer for his<br /> address, and conversing for some time—the King<br /> in French, the Queen in English—with the<br /> English president and secretary, Her Majesty<br /> especially dwelling upon the ubiquity of our<br /> correspondents.<br /> <br /> The real work of the Congress began at the<br /> next meeting, but this was arrested for a moment<br /> by the president referring in sympathetic words<br /> to the death of M. Albert Bataille of the Figaro,<br /> who hid done so much for international journa-<br /> lism; and yet again by M. Monetar calling<br /> attention to the fact that four delegates were<br /> absent through force, an incident that aroused<br /> warm applause. Herr Singer, with ready tact,<br /> stated the statutes of the association forbade their<br /> discussing such a circumstance. But he hoped,<br /> with all respect to the laws of the country of<br /> which they were the guests, by the grace of the<br /> Royal prerogative these members would now be<br /> at liberty—a tactful statement that evoked much<br /> enthusiasm. M. Victor Taunay then read his<br /> report on the adoption of a card of identity for<br /> journalists travelling abroad, and with careful<br /> restrictions it was agreed t» prepare such a card.<br /> Owing to the sudden death of M. Albert Bataille<br /> his joint rapporteur, M. Beraza, asked leave to<br /> postpone his report on Legislation for the Press<br /> in various countries, and after some discussion<br /> this was agreed to, thus ¢utting out one of the<br /> most important subjects for debate of the<br /> Congress.<br /> <br /> AUTHOR. 19<br /> <br /> Artistic CopyRicHt.<br /> <br /> M. Morel Retz, better known as ‘‘Stop,”<br /> the caricaturist, brought on the question of<br /> Artistic Copyright, quoting instances of work<br /> being altered, of being used for other subjects<br /> than that intended by the artist, of being used<br /> again and again, clichés being sold and resold,<br /> discrediting the artist by the uses to which his<br /> work was put. M. Morel Retz proposed that the<br /> artist, even when he had sold his work, still<br /> retained the right that it should not be altered or<br /> modified ; that such an article should be inserted<br /> in the next revision of the Berne Convention,<br /> and, finally, that those interested should form<br /> professional syndicates to safeguard this moral<br /> right, and to defend it before the tribunals.<br /> Often in this International Congress English<br /> justice and legislation is proved to be in advance<br /> of the continental laws, and I had the pleasure of<br /> pointing out that the English artists and photo-<br /> graphers had already societies that ably defended<br /> them from such infringements as M. “Stop” so<br /> bitterly bewailed; but the English section was<br /> entirely in accord with him, although it could<br /> scircely be possible for any paper in England to<br /> print an illustration of the battle of Trafalgar and<br /> call it ‘“‘ An Engagement before Cuba,” an instance<br /> suggested by “Stop,” whose proposals were<br /> accepted by the Congress.<br /> <br /> Postat TARIFF FOR JOURNALS.<br /> <br /> M. Torelli Violier then read his report on the<br /> Postal Union tariff for journals, which, he said,<br /> seemed framed to prevent papers going out of<br /> their country of origin, in spite of the fact that<br /> journals were the best means of advertising a<br /> country and the products of that country. He<br /> pointed out that in France a paper circulated for<br /> two centimes, but it cost five to send it out of the<br /> country ; the same thing obtains in England, and,<br /> after an able speech, he proposed that it was to<br /> the advantage of all countries to increase the<br /> circulation of their journals abroad, and the<br /> present postal rates paralysing that circulation,<br /> the Committee of the Central Bureau should take<br /> up pourparlers with the different Governments<br /> with the aim of reducing this foreign postal rate<br /> for journals, to which the Congress heartily agreed.<br /> At the next sitting it was agreed to place a<br /> plaque on M. Bataille’s tomb as “the friend of<br /> journalists of all countries,” and the secretary, M.<br /> Taunay, read the report on Telegraphic Abbre-<br /> viations, and the suggestion that a General Code<br /> should be established. Mr. Clayden pointed out<br /> that the English papers would hardly be likely<br /> to adopt a code that all would know, as many<br /> journals had a code of their own, and a general<br /> code would probably be “milked.” After some<br /> <br /> <br /> a THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> discussion it was agreed to offer a reward of<br /> 1000 francs for the best code, the number of 4000<br /> to 5000 words being suggested. A subject which<br /> caused the hottest discussion—the excited all-<br /> shouting-at-once incidents of Bordeaux seemed<br /> about to be reproduced—was that of the issuing of<br /> the Official Bulletin. The division was upon whether<br /> this should be issucd direct from the Bureau<br /> or by the medium of La Presse Internationale,<br /> a journal which has so well served the Inter-<br /> national journalists. The French section were<br /> very excited upon this; and all nations agreed<br /> M. Max Serpeille, the editor of La Presse Inter-<br /> nationale, had done good service. At last it was<br /> agreed to issue a bulletin for a year under the<br /> control of the Bureau, but by the medium of La<br /> Presse Internationale.<br /> <br /> Leeat Posrrion or JourNALISTS.<br /> <br /> The final subject debated was the Legal Posi-<br /> tion of Journalists. One French member insisted<br /> journalists were partners, not employées. Mr.<br /> Atkinson gave instances of recent legal decisions<br /> in England, and stated that written contracts<br /> were increasing. M. Maillard suggested that<br /> artists should be included in any proposed legis-<br /> lation, and it was decided the Bureau should<br /> elaborate a rule from the present general usages,<br /> especially with regard to the indemnities due to<br /> journalists dismissed summarily.<br /> <br /> This ending the business of the Congress, it<br /> was decided to hold the next Congress in Paris<br /> in 1900. The sittings had been full of interest,<br /> but there is still that lack of order of debate that<br /> so deteriorates the effect of both speeches and<br /> subjects. Two rules should, at least, be adopted :<br /> (1) No speaker, save proposer, to speak more<br /> than once on one subject ; (2) No conversation<br /> or promenading be allowed in the congress hall.<br /> These two rules would immensely raise the tone of<br /> the debates; and the rule of translating a résumé<br /> of all important matter should be adhered to.<br /> <br /> Tue Socran Events.<br /> <br /> But if the debates were interesting, what can I<br /> say of the social events, the journeyings through<br /> Italy and seductive Sicily? The Rome Press<br /> Association had a herculean task to arrange for<br /> their 400 guests; and the entertainments offered<br /> in Rome were thoroughly artistic, as the concert in<br /> the delightful salons of the Arts Club, and the<br /> gala performance of “ Puccini’s Boheme” at the<br /> Costanzi Theatre. But what more deeply interested<br /> their guests were the excellent opportunities to<br /> visit the late excavations in the Forum and on the<br /> Palatine hill. The English section had as guide<br /> to the Forum the director of the excavations,<br /> Signor Bomi, R.I.B.A., whose warm and deeply<br /> <br /> learned enthusiasm made a tour of the Forum<br /> with him a memorable pleasure. Excursions to<br /> Tivoli, Terni, &amp;c., were arranged ; but the weather,<br /> that had been excessively cold and wet, and even<br /> foggy, marred these journeys, and this weather<br /> followed the congressists even to Naples, where<br /> the Press Association had arranged a warm-<br /> hearted reception, banquets and theatres, a<br /> special excavation at Pompei, and an interesting<br /> run to Baie. The same weather conditions<br /> attended those journalists who were fortunate and<br /> bold enough to venture on joining the Sicilian<br /> expedition. Tickets for this had been allotted by<br /> nation and ballot. Three fell to England, but I<br /> started as the only English journalist, on board<br /> the Gallileo Gallilei, with Jules Claretie and his<br /> son as cabin chums. Torrents of rain greeted us<br /> on entering Palermo, and marred a right royal<br /> reception, and at the banquet in the evening I,<br /> the sole Englishman, had to disown bringing<br /> Thames weather to Sicily; but the next day the<br /> weather was brilliant, and for a fortnight Sicily<br /> and her people gave of their best with fervid<br /> hospitality to the foreign journalists. Prince<br /> Scalea with his son Prince Pietro Lanza at the<br /> head of the journalists, professors, and notables<br /> of the island, and the whole population outdid<br /> even Sicilian hospitality, and everything was<br /> arranged with really marvellous exactitude.<br /> Signor Mauceri had arranged a saloon train that<br /> took us to all points of interest, and the enthu-<br /> siasm was so great this had to creep through<br /> the packed masses of peasants and people bring-<br /> ing presents of fruitand flowers to the “strangers.”<br /> All the mighty ruins of Greek, Roman, Norman,<br /> and Saracen, were visited, under learned and<br /> most hospitable guidance. In the Greek theatre<br /> of Syracuse 12,000 awaited our arrival, and<br /> some of the choruses of Aischylos were sung by<br /> maidens on the old Greek stage. The learned<br /> Professor Salinas of the Palmero Museum gave<br /> himself up to us, and I had much talk with him<br /> about Professor Freeman, and with him visited<br /> Segesta and Selinunte and Solunto, whose ruins<br /> outdo Athens herself for greatness and beauty.<br /> I was pleased to find on speaking of Mr. Free-<br /> man’s work at one of the dinners, that he is well<br /> remembered. The journey up Etna’s slopes,<br /> amidst the warm-hearted villagers, will never be<br /> forgotten, nor our reception at Messina and<br /> Catania.<br /> <br /> With M. Taunay, the indefatigable general<br /> secretary, and one or two others, I was the guest<br /> of the Prince and Princess Scalea (the princess is<br /> one of the characters in Mrs, Lynn Linton’s novel,<br /> “Tone”), and with their son we made excursions;<br /> wild rides over a very stiff “Lorna Doone” country,<br /> down sulphur mines, and to the Villa Eleanora,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOL. 21<br /> <br /> that is packed with art treasures collected in the<br /> island; and I also went on—the sole congressist<br /> —to Tunis, striving to land on Pentelleria<br /> (Shakespeare’s “‘ Tempest ” island). The tempest<br /> was too great for even the mails to go ashore,<br /> but we reached Tunis safely, and I had the<br /> pleasure of a most interesting chat with Sir<br /> Harry Johnston, of African fame ; and that<br /> night sat alone on the topmost ruins of Carthage,<br /> and watched the sun set in the Western<br /> mountains—so vividly described in Flaubert’s<br /> “Salambo.” Surely a fitting ending to a Jiterary<br /> expedition, in which, on the Palatine hill, we had<br /> been told that Julius Czesar was the first journalist.<br /> Perhaps the readers of The Author will forgive<br /> this space given to Sicily. If it induces any to<br /> visit that intensely lovely and marvellous island,<br /> they will, I know, thank me when amidst its<br /> wondrous beauties. James Baker.<br /> <br /> ect<br /> <br /> CORRESPONDENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> T.—Is LireRATURE A PrEcARIOUS PROFESSION?<br /> <br /> T cannot be helped, I imagine, but it is rather<br /> | a pity that the successful author should end<br /> in believing that success, especially from a<br /> financial point of view, is easy, provided only that<br /> the writer has the desirable qualities of knowing<br /> his business and working hard. Sir Walter Besant<br /> is always saying that the man of letters can do as<br /> well as the doctor or barrister, and seems to think<br /> this means something. Sooth to say, it means<br /> nothing, for the poor barrister and poor doctor<br /> are miserably poor indeed. There is too much<br /> of this encouragement to enter the profession—<br /> far too much; and I maintain it is not good for<br /> those in it or those still out of it that this suc-<br /> cessful optimism should be preached in a trade<br /> journal. But I would prefer to put down some<br /> facts rather than theories, and I will take the<br /> facts from my personal experience. I have<br /> written twenty-six books, and, while none have<br /> been literary failures, only one can be called a<br /> financial success. My best year in fourteen years<br /> of literary life gave me £380, and a good lump<br /> of that was for revision work. My last two<br /> years gave me £180 and £151. Yet most men<br /> imagine I make £600 or £700 year, and I think<br /> the Editor of this paper (who will know my<br /> name) must acknowledge that I stand among the<br /> first fifty of fiction writers, if not higher than that.<br /> £711 pounds for three years’ work is not good<br /> pay, and none of the trade will call it good. I<br /> object very strongly to The Author being made a<br /> journal for the undue encouragement of the lite-<br /> <br /> rary aspirant. We have: still our Grub-street,<br /> even if it is less tinged with the old Bohemianism,<br /> and the conductors of. The Author might take a<br /> tip from the trades unions, and refuse to enlist<br /> more apprentices than the business will carry.<br /> The normal increase of writers is more than<br /> enough without this encouragement, and, as the<br /> standard of average writing tends to rise, those<br /> who are in the second-class of fairly good men<br /> are ousted by many who can do a little work that<br /> is just passable, and can be bought at the lowest<br /> price. This is where competition touches us. Our.<br /> prices may still tend to increase, but we sell less.<br /> Sir Walter Besant is encouraging the already over-<br /> large class of those who can write marketable<br /> stuff. It is this which forces novelists into<br /> journalism, and makes them general hacks. The<br /> many-sidedness of the literary life is not a normal<br /> development, but the result of pressure which<br /> daily grows more tremendous. c<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> Tl.—Tue Srxpenny Boox.<br /> <br /> I have read with interest your remarks on the<br /> use—i.e., profit—of the sixpenny edition to pub-<br /> lisher, author, and reader. To the publisher the<br /> sixpenny edition must be “a thorn in the flesh,”<br /> as the profit accruing from it will not amount to<br /> much in any case, and if the author has a<br /> royalty on it, the publisher’s profit will be so<br /> much smaller. In comparison with the large<br /> profit made by the publisher on the three-<br /> and-sixpenny and six shilling editions, the six-<br /> penny popular—even if it zs popular—cannot<br /> count for much. Of course more copies of the<br /> cheaper edition are sold, but not in the propor-<br /> tion of seven and nine to one, which would be<br /> necessary to make an equal profit. At the same<br /> time, the people who can afford to pay 3s. 6d. or<br /> 6s. for their books do not often buy. They<br /> subscribe to libraries instead, and skim through<br /> the latest “strong”? novel, and perhaps also<br /> some of the magazines. Most of the people who<br /> can afford to buy books very seldom care either<br /> to buy or read them. It is true of books as of<br /> everything—<br /> <br /> “For easie things, that may be got at will,<br /> Most sorts of men doe set but little store.”<br /> <br /> Most of the lower middle-class read. They are<br /> workers, and reading is well-nigh their sole re-<br /> creation. They can keep up their intellectual<br /> vigour by thoughtful reading. In country places,<br /> more particularly in purely rural and agricul-<br /> tural districts, ideas do not run riot, to say the<br /> least of it. They cannot afford to pay 3s. 6d.,<br /> much less 6s., for books more than twice or three<br /> times during a year. The sixpenny book they<br /> might indulge in oncea month. Think! Once<br /> <br /> <br /> 22 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> a month for a new set of thoughts and a new<br /> topic of conversation. You speak of libraries.<br /> In the country there are few libraries, except,<br /> perhaps, in connection with the Sunday-school of<br /> the place. In the provincial towns, of course,<br /> there are free libraries; but, as a rule, the book<br /> you want is “not known,” or is “ out,” or “ has<br /> been mislaid.”<br /> <br /> The 6d. edition is the greatest boon to country<br /> people. My own stock of books contains<br /> quite 30 per cent. of sixpenny books—Lubbock’s<br /> “ Pleasures of Life,” ‘“‘ Extracts from Tennyson,”<br /> “Lorna Doone,” “Robert Elsmere.” These, I,<br /> for one, could not have afforded in a more elabo-<br /> rate edition. Very few workers or country<br /> people could. Do many people, except those with<br /> reputed literary tendencies, buy the more expensive<br /> editions? Ido not see many beoks in the houses<br /> round, except those which have descended from<br /> father to son. As a worker, with not too much<br /> surplus cash for luxury, it seems to me that<br /> even if the 6d. edition does not increase the<br /> number of readers, it enables those who care for<br /> reading to buy books oftener than they would<br /> otherwise be able to do.<br /> <br /> Sidney Smith gives voice to the sentiment of<br /> many when he says, “ We wish the Row would<br /> put books more within the power of those who<br /> want them most and use them best” ; and I think<br /> the 6d. edition is a step in the right direction.<br /> <br /> M. C. A.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> U1.—‘ Tue Exrravacant Dinner.”<br /> <br /> I.<br /> <br /> I have been asked by my friend, Mr. John<br /> Bickerdyke, to support “ Diane’s”’ contention,<br /> and I do so with pleasure, as it seems to me<br /> particularly desirable that a body such as our-<br /> selves should set.an example in this respect. In<br /> future let the price of the dinner be 33. 6d. or 5s.,<br /> and let all those who wish wine pay for it as an<br /> extra. On grounds of policy our annual trades-<br /> union dinner ought not to have the appearance<br /> of a gorgeous “ society ” function in which none<br /> but the wealthy can participate.<br /> <br /> Mackenzir BELt.<br /> II.<br /> <br /> May I be allowed to indorse the opinions of<br /> “ Diane” ? Would not two dinners annually at<br /> 5s. each be more conducive to the enjoyment and<br /> general good fellowship of a greater number of<br /> authors? Or, if some of the members prefer the<br /> guinea dinner, could not others be arranged at a<br /> ‘lower price ? ANNABEL GRAY.<br /> <br /> ‘ III. .<br /> <br /> I am quite on all fours with “Diane ” as to the<br /> desirability of reducing the charge for tickets at<br /> the annual dinner of our Society. To the big<br /> <br /> stars of the literary firmament no doub: the<br /> present price is immaterial. But how about the _<br /> minor constcllations to whom guineas are elusive<br /> and precious? Iam bold enough to suggest an<br /> innovation. Why not try a picnic next time—for<br /> choice a water one? (I write as an abstainer.)<br /> It should promote an all-round harmony and<br /> freedom from conventionality delightful to con-.<br /> template. Speeches delivered from the stern of<br /> the chairman’s boat would possess elements of<br /> novelty not to be despised. I venture to com-<br /> mend this idea to the earnest consideration of the<br /> Committee. Oxp Birp.<br /> Authors’ Club.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> “GOD IS LOVE’—A NOVEL.”<br /> <br /> T the request of Mr. Mullett Ellis, and by<br /> A permission of Messrs. W. H. Smith and<br /> Son, the following correspondence in a<br /> <br /> case much commented upon is published here.<br /> <br /> In Oct. 1898, Mr. Burleigh published “ ‘God<br /> is Love’—a Novel,’ by Mr. T. Mullett Ellis.<br /> Messrs. W. H. Smith and Son refused to sub-<br /> scribe for any copies of this book.<br /> <br /> Mr. Ellis then had an interview with Mr.<br /> Kingdon, the Departmental Manager of Messrs.<br /> Smith and Son, and was informed by that<br /> gentleman that he objected to the title of the<br /> book, and that he would not allow it to be<br /> exposed upon the railway bookstalls for that<br /> reason.<br /> <br /> Whereupon Mr. Ellis addressed the following<br /> letter to Messrs. W. H. Smith and Son :—<br /> <br /> To Messrs. W. H. Smith and Son.<br /> <br /> Dear Sirs,—Referring to the conversation I had with<br /> your Departmental Manager, Mr. Kingdon, on Saturday, the<br /> 15th inst., I am constrained to write you a letter of remon-<br /> strance against your intention of putting my book, ‘“‘ God<br /> is Love’—a Novel,” under the ban of your firm.<br /> <br /> The great house of W. H. Smith and Son occupies an<br /> unique position in relation to English literature. Not in<br /> the metropolis only, but throughout the country, your, firm<br /> enjoys a monopoly in the supply of books and newspapers<br /> through its contracts with the railway companies. You have<br /> hundreds of bookstalls, occupying more favoured positions<br /> than the shops which other booksellers can obtain, con-<br /> venient to millions of railway travellers, who form, in fact,<br /> the bulk of the reading public, and the advantages which<br /> your enterprise and energy have conferred upon the people<br /> we are all prepared to fully recognise.<br /> <br /> If you were an ordinary firm of booksellers you would<br /> have the right to deal in those books only which you choose,<br /> or even to devote yourselves to the special encouragement<br /> or disconragement of books of some particular creed or<br /> opinion, but holding-your anomalous position (thongh you<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> shave undoubtedly a strictly-legal right to buy and sell as<br /> <br /> you deem proper, and, therefore, to exclude any book you<br /> like), I submit that thers are circumstances which render it<br /> incumbent upon you not to so exercise your right as to act,<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 /> THE AUTHOR. 23<br /> <br /> virtua ly, as the Censors of English Literature. You have<br /> done this before, eg., in the case of ‘‘ Esther Waters,” and<br /> you have provoked in consequence the indignation and the<br /> protest of a great number of “men of light and learn-<br /> ing,” including such authors as A. Conan Doyle, Sarah<br /> Grand, Hugh Chisholm, William Archer, W. J. Daw-<br /> son, Mary Jeune, and many others, whose letters, pub-<br /> lished in the Daily Chronicle, were echoed by the entire<br /> Press.<br /> <br /> Mr. Kingdon was kind enough to sta‘e his objection to<br /> stock my book. His objection is to the title: to the use of<br /> the words, “‘ God is Love’—a Novel,” upon the cover of<br /> my book. Yet a considerable number of booksellers have<br /> taken it into stock without deeming the title an objection. I<br /> can realise Mr. Kingdon’s individual feeling, and can even<br /> honour him for his stern views; but I refer you to the<br /> general argument of this letter as a reason why you: firm<br /> should not exercise such an extreme of private judgment,<br /> either in my own or any other case.<br /> <br /> The position which your monopoly has conferred upon<br /> you has largely contributed to the general gradual exter-<br /> mination of the small bookseller. He cannot compete with<br /> the superior positions you occupy on the platforms of rail-<br /> ways, at the very doors of the modern reading room—i.e.,<br /> the railway carriage. Your bookstalls are upon lands<br /> peculiarly held and obtained. It was never intended that<br /> lands acquired by force by railway companies under special<br /> Acts of Parliament should be in part let to private firms<br /> for the purposes of trade, and your tenancy is another<br /> reason why your business should be conducted with a<br /> large and open mind, and why, if you abuse your extra-<br /> ordinary privileges, Parliament must ke called upon to<br /> interfere.<br /> <br /> It has not b2en suggested that your firm, bearing, as it<br /> does, the name of one of the most distinguished politicians<br /> of recent years, a strong party man, universally respected,<br /> has ever endeavoured to utilise its power to discourage the<br /> sale of journals of political opponents; but, obviously, if<br /> you boycott books, you have an equal right to boycott<br /> newspapers, and your right of veto may be exercised<br /> not in literature only, but in politics—monstrous cor-<br /> sequence !<br /> <br /> If the intellectual life of England as presented in our<br /> Literature is to have a Censor at all, I submit with defe-<br /> rence that he should not be one of the business staff of a<br /> trading firm, however high its standing. Even amongst<br /> scholars opinion as to the merits of various works of fiction<br /> singularly differs. Instance occurs in the last and the<br /> current issue of The Nineteenth Century magazine, where<br /> “Helbeck of Bannisdale” is under review by two learned<br /> gentlemen, both Roman Catholics. Father Clarke, S8.J..<br /> characterises this novel as ‘‘a libel,” ‘‘ a gross burlesque,”<br /> *acalamny.” Father Bernard Vaughan “has risen from<br /> its perusal with a feeling of deep gratitude to Mrs<br /> Humphry Ward”; and St. George Mivart concludes his<br /> eulogistic review of the same book with “thanks for the<br /> great treat she has afforded mein her profoundly inte-<br /> resting and fascinating work.”<br /> <br /> If such men holding the same religious faith differ thus,<br /> how difficult must your position be when you act as judge<br /> for the whole world of English readers !<br /> <br /> I am not anxious at the present moment to defend the<br /> moral or religious tone of my own book, although, should<br /> necessity arise, I am prepared to do so. A matter of much<br /> greater consequence devolves upon me, viz., to protest, as a<br /> humble member of the great body of British authors,<br /> against your exercise of the power of boycott atall. It is<br /> intolerable. It was hoped that the “‘ Esther Waters’’ con-<br /> troversy had settled this question four years ago, and the<br /> literary world generally believed that you would not again<br /> <br /> put yourselves in opposition t&gt; the idea of Free Trade in<br /> Literature or attempt to dictate to the public what they<br /> should or should not be allowed to read.<br /> <br /> But we counted too early upon having won this right of<br /> the Liberty of the Pen—a freedom we dreamt we had<br /> attained centuries ago. Let me quote the words of Mr.<br /> Conan Doyle upon the subject :<br /> <br /> « Through the huge monopoly which they (Messrs W. H.<br /> Smith and Son) hold, the firm is practically a public institu-<br /> tion, and is far too great a thing to be managed on tie lines<br /> of individual caprice or intolerance.” And again in a sub<br /> sequent letter he writes: “The question is not one o<br /> this novel or that. Itis whether our literature is to conform<br /> to the standard of the Glasgow Baillie or whether it is to<br /> claim the same privileges as every great literature of which<br /> we have any record. Ifa book err in morality let the law<br /> of England be called in. But we object to an unauthorised<br /> judge who condemns without trial and punishes the author<br /> more heavily than any court could do.” (Conan Doyle,<br /> May 3rd, 1894.)<br /> <br /> Let me remind you, too, of a memorial of ‘“ indignant<br /> protest’ sent you by a number of your own subscribers,<br /> which concluded thus :<br /> <br /> “ By taking the action you have we are of opinion that<br /> you have added to your work as distributors of books the<br /> office of Censor of morals, and have in part frustrated the<br /> objects for which we joined your circulating library—the<br /> largest in the country.”<br /> <br /> When I remember that besides putting the novels of<br /> George Moore under your ban, you once boycotted also<br /> the work of Rudyard Kipling, I have demonstrated my<br /> point.<br /> <br /> I accordingly appeal to you, with every expression of<br /> consideration and courtesy, notwithstanding these plain<br /> words of protest, to reverse your decision and to remove my<br /> book from your ban.<br /> <br /> Reserving the right of publication of this letter,—I<br /> remain, dear sirs, yours faithfally,<br /> <br /> T. MutuetT Ev.is.<br /> Hogarth Club, Oct. 17th, 1898. :<br /> <br /> To this letter Messrs W. H. Smith and Son<br /> forwarded the following reply, here published by<br /> their permission.<br /> <br /> [Should have been dated Oct. 21, 1898.)<br /> <br /> Please address all communications to the Firm.<br /> 186, Strand, London, W.C.<br /> 189<br /> <br /> Private.<br /> <br /> Dear Sir,<br /> <br /> We beg to acknowledge your letter of Oct.17. You are<br /> mistaken in thinking that Mr. Kingdon refused your work<br /> “God is Love” because of the title. He did, it is true,<br /> express personal objection to the title; but he declined to<br /> take the book into stock purely as a matter of business. It<br /> is quite impossible for us to take on sale at the bookstalls<br /> all the novels that are published, and we are compelled to<br /> select those which we think most likely to have a ready<br /> sale. We can hardly think that you would suggest that<br /> we are bound to place on the bookstalls everything that is<br /> tendered to us.<br /> <br /> This is no case of censorship, and no disrespect was<br /> intended towards your book. Mr. Kingdon, we believe,<br /> informed you that we should supply to purchasers who<br /> might order it, and such of our library subscribers as wish<br /> for it can have it in due course.<br /> <br /> Yours truly,<br /> W. H. Surry anv Son.<br /> <br /> T. Mullett Ellis, Kaq.,<br /> <br /> Hogarth Club, 175, Bond-street, W.<br /> a4 THE AUTUOR.<br /> <br /> Messrs. Smith’s letter was directly challenged<br /> by Mr. Ellis as follows :<br /> <br /> To Messrs. W. H. Smith and Son.<br /> <br /> Dear Sirs,<br /> <br /> I thank you for your kind reply to my letter. Mr.<br /> Kingdon not only expressed personal objection to the title,<br /> but he gave that as his reason for not taking the book into<br /> stock. If you make inquiry, I think Mr. Kingdon will not<br /> fail to confirm this, and that he said, “he could not permit<br /> a novel with such a title to appear amongst other books on<br /> your stalls.”<br /> <br /> Tn response to your other remark which calls for reply,<br /> I would not presume to say that you should place on the<br /> bookstalls everything that is tendered you. That opens<br /> too great a question to be dealt with briefly, but having<br /> regard to the unique and dominant position your firm<br /> occupies, the exclusion of books on the ground of the<br /> personal objection of one of your departmental managers<br /> is unfair generally to authors, and it is for this reason<br /> I addressed myself upon the subject to the Society of<br /> Authors.<br /> <br /> Thanking you for the expressions with which you con-<br /> elude—I am, gentlemen, yours truly,<br /> <br /> T. MuuuettT ELtis.<br /> <br /> Messrs. Smith did not continue the correspon-<br /> dence, but Mr. Kingdon does not deny the accu-<br /> racy of Mr. Ellis’s statement, and the book was<br /> not exposed for sale. This exclusion from the<br /> stalls was regarded by the Press generally as in<br /> effect a boycott of the book.<br /> <br /> Oct. 24, 1898.<br /> <br /> speck<br /> <br /> BOOK TALK.<br /> <br /> “VW Nthe Dawn of Empire” is the title of Mr.<br /> Joseph WHatton’s new historical novel,<br /> which is to be published by Hutchinsons<br /> <br /> early this month. It is a work upon which the<br /> <br /> author is said to have been engaged for some<br /> years, and deals with one of the most romantic<br /> periods of English life and enterprise, when Sir<br /> <br /> Walter Raleigh was the most interesting figure at<br /> <br /> the Court of Elizabeth. Sir Walter’s chief<br /> <br /> ambition was the conquest of Guiana and the<br /> discovery of its supposed capital, ‘“‘ the golden<br /> city of Manoa.” Mr. Hatton finds much of the<br /> romance of his story in the history of Sir Walter’s<br /> two disastrous expeditions to Guiana; but to the<br /> ordinary novel reader the secret courtship and<br /> marriage of Sir Walter, and the love story<br /> of his protégé, David Yarcombe, will, no doubt,<br /> be the most attractive. The love story of Sir<br /> <br /> Walter Raleigh, with anything like “ chapter<br /> <br /> and verse,’ will be new as well in fiction as in<br /> <br /> historic records.<br /> <br /> It is over two years since Joseph Hatton pub-<br /> lished his last novel; so he makes up for this by<br /> producing two in 1899. ‘When Rogues Fall<br /> Out” is running in the syndicate of Tillotson’s<br /> newspapers, and will be published in volume form<br /> <br /> during the first or second week of September,<br /> from the press of Messrs. Pearson in London,<br /> and Lippincotts in America. Meanwhile “ By<br /> Order of the Czar,” at 6d., is repeating its<br /> original success in volume form.<br /> <br /> The forthcoming issue of Mr. Ruskin’s “ Pree-<br /> terita,’ will contain a new fragment, namely,<br /> another part of “ Dilecta.” This was set up in<br /> type long ago, but fur some reason Mr. Ruskin<br /> kept it from the press. Mr. George Allen, who<br /> will publish it, will also publish in the autumn an<br /> illustrated work on Turner, including many of<br /> Mr. Ruskin’s criticisms hitherto printed for<br /> private circulation only.<br /> <br /> The delegates of the Oxford University Press,<br /> following a popular fashion, are about to publish<br /> a new issue of the “ Oxford English Dictionary”<br /> in monthly parts of eighty-eight pages each, the<br /> first to appear on July 1. About half of the<br /> dictionary has now been finished, and the work<br /> will be completed probably by 1909. The pro-<br /> prietors of the Times, also, are issuing the<br /> “ Century Dictionary ” on special terms.<br /> <br /> For the forthcoming “ Irish Anthology,” edited<br /> by Mr. T. W. Rolleston, Dr. Stopford Brooke has<br /> written an introduction, and also a notice of<br /> Thomas Moore; Mr. Lionel Johnson deals with<br /> Mangan, and Mr. A. P. Graves with Sir Samuel<br /> Ferguson, while other contributors are Professor<br /> W. McNeile Dixon, Dr. George Sigerson, Dr.<br /> Douglas Hyde, D. J. O&#039;Donoghue, W. B. Yeats,<br /> and George Russell (A. E.”). The anthology<br /> is on the plan of Mr. Humphry Ward’s “Selec-<br /> tions from the English Poets,” and will be pub-<br /> lished in the autumn by Messrs. Smith, Hider<br /> and Co.<br /> <br /> The toast of “ Literature” was omitted at the<br /> Royal Academy Banquet this year.<br /> <br /> Sir William Crookes’s reply to the criticisms<br /> evoked by his address to the British Association<br /> last year, predicting a scarcity in the world’s<br /> supply of wheat, will be published shortly by Mr.<br /> John Murray.<br /> <br /> “ Fiona Macleod” has declared, through<br /> Messrs. Constable, apropos of statements regard-<br /> ing her identity, that she is not any of those<br /> with whom she has been “ identified”’; that she<br /> wishes to preserve absolutely her privacy, upon<br /> which her very writing depends, that she writes<br /> only under the name of “Fiona Macleod,” and<br /> that her name is her own.<br /> <br /> A practical book on embroidery by Mr. Lewis<br /> F, Day and Miss Mary Buckle, who is accom-<br /> plished in the art, will be published shortly by<br /> Mr. B. T. Batsford, illustrated by reproductions<br /> of needlework.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 25<br /> <br /> May 20 was the centenary of the birth of<br /> Balzac ; May 23 that of the birth of Thomas<br /> Hood.<br /> <br /> Upwards of £300 has already been contributed<br /> to the William Black Memorial Fund, in sums<br /> ranging from 1s. to £25. Generous offers of<br /> help have been received from America, where an<br /> influential committee has been formed. Dona-<br /> tions should be sent to the honorary treasurer of<br /> the fund (Lord Archibald Campbell), care of<br /> Messrs. Coutts, 59, Strand, London. As we have<br /> previously announced, a proposal that the memo-<br /> rial should take the form of a lifeboat for the<br /> West Coast of Scotland has been received with<br /> much favour. Oban, however, is desirous that it<br /> should take the form of a recreation hall for that<br /> town.<br /> <br /> Mr. Sutherland Edwards is writing the life of<br /> Sir William White, and wiil be glad if those who<br /> possess letters will forward them to him, care of<br /> Messrs. Cassell and Co.<br /> <br /> -A life of Dante, by the Rev. J. F. Hogan, of<br /> St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, will be pub-<br /> lished by Messrs. Methuen. From the Oxford<br /> University Press will shortly come the second<br /> series of Dr. Edward Moore’s “‘ Studies in Dante,”<br /> dealing, among other subjects, with Dante asa<br /> religious teacher, Beatrice, and the genuineness<br /> of the “Questio de Aqua et Terra.” Mr. John<br /> Burnet, Professor of Greek in the University of<br /> St. Andrews, has edited &lt;Aristotle’s ‘ Ethics,”<br /> a feature of the edition being that parallel<br /> passages from the Eudemian Ethics are printed<br /> under the text to which they refer. This will be<br /> published by Messrs. Methuen, who also announce<br /> an elaborate edition of the “ Captivi” of Plautus,<br /> by Mr. W. M. Lindsay, Fellow of Jesus College,<br /> Oxford.<br /> <br /> Memorial tablets to Keats and Charles Lamb<br /> were unveiled in the new public library at<br /> Edmonton (where they both resided), on April 29,<br /> by Mr. Frederic Harrison.<br /> <br /> Forthcoming novels include “ Ione March,” by<br /> Mr. Crockett, which has run serially as “A<br /> Woman of Fortune” (Hodder and Stoughton) ;<br /> “The White Woman,” by Mr. Edwards Tirebuck,<br /> a story of the adventures of a popular contralto<br /> (Harper); “Rupert, by the Grace of God,” a<br /> historical novel, by Miss Dora McChesney (Mac-<br /> millan) ; “The House by the Lock,” a Thames-<br /> side story, by Mrs. C. N. Williamson (Bowden) ;<br /> “Peter Binney, Undergraduate,” a humorous<br /> story of Cambridge University life, by Mr.<br /> Archibald Marshall (Bowden).<br /> <br /> Canon Knox Little has written a volume of<br /> « Sketches and Studies in South Africa,” a country<br /> <br /> which he visited recently. Messrs. Isbister will<br /> publish the book, which discusses federation and<br /> other political topics, and is dedicated to Mr.<br /> Rhodes, of whose work the author is an ardent<br /> admirer.<br /> <br /> “The Tendency of Religion,” by Colonel R.<br /> Elias has lately been published by Messrs. Chap-<br /> man and Hall Limited.<br /> <br /> Mr. Edward Jenks, Reader in English Law at<br /> the University of Oxford, has written a work on<br /> Modern Land Law, which the Clarendon Press<br /> will issue shortly.<br /> <br /> Professor Saintsbury’s volume on Matthew<br /> Arnold, for Messrs. Blackwood’s new series on<br /> English Men of Letters, will shortly be published.<br /> <br /> es<br /> <br /> BOOKS AND REVIEWS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> NDER this heading it is proposed to make<br /> a little experiment, viz., to select every<br /> month those books which seem to have<br /> attracted the greatest notice, and to extract in<br /> brief the most distinctive points of the reviewer.<br /> It is intended to offer a guide, to a certain extent,<br /> for the reader and the buyer—perhaps, also, for<br /> the bookseller. It will at once be conceded that<br /> the experiment is one liable to many dangers and<br /> to some suspicion. The work is, therefore,<br /> confided to a journalist who has no log to roll,<br /> no school to defend, and no fads and hobbies of<br /> his own. His instructions are to take his extracts<br /> only from papers which are known to influence<br /> readers: to avoid any review which his knowledge<br /> of the Press leads him to believe written by a<br /> personal friend or a personal enemy. It is<br /> hoped that a strict impartiality will become the<br /> characteristic of these columns. Those who are<br /> behind the scenes generally know who are the<br /> authors of important notices. One must not be<br /> too severe with a reviewer who praises a friend ;<br /> but care will be taken not to quote him.<br /> <br /> Lord Charles Beresford’s Tue BrHAK UP OF CHINA<br /> (Harper’s, 12s.) is on all hands regarded as of great<br /> value and importance, not so much because of the policy<br /> he recommends, as, in the words of the Times, for the<br /> information he has so diligently collected, and the vivid<br /> picture its mere representation affords of the existing<br /> situation in China.<br /> <br /> Tur Lire or Winitam Morris, by J. W. Mackail<br /> (Longmans, 32s.), although much dissected by critics, has<br /> been welcomed as, on the whole, to quote the Times again,<br /> “a, good biography, which may take a permanent place<br /> among the books that posterity will select out of the<br /> enormous literary production of our time.”<br /> <br /> Tun AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND LeTTERS oF Mrs. M. oO. Ww.<br /> OLIPHANT, edited by Mrs. Coghill (Blackwood, 21s.), 18<br /> <br /> <br /> 26 THE<br /> <br /> described by the Chronicle as “one of the most pathetic u<br /> of all biographies, as “a history of sacrifice,” by the<br /> Spectator.<br /> <br /> Mr. Justin McCarthy’s Remrniscances (Chatto and<br /> Windus, 24s.), a work which brings before us, says the Daily<br /> Telegraph, ‘most of the leading men in politics and lite-<br /> rature who have occupied commanding positions in this<br /> country duriog the last forty years,” is in every quarter<br /> described as delightful and spirited.<br /> <br /> With many of Mr. Percy Dearmer’s regulations in THE<br /> Parson’s Hanpspooxk (Richards, 3s. 6d.), the Times<br /> “should expect most clergy to differ, of course with all<br /> due respect, but quite as many of them show a common-<br /> sense which is agreeably surprising.”<br /> <br /> Tur REFORMATION SETTLEMENT, EXAMINED IN THE<br /> Licur or History Aanp Law, by the Rev. Malcolm<br /> MacColl (Longmans, 7s. 6d.), is described by the Guardian<br /> as “a subs‘antial volame of between six and seven hundred<br /> pages, full of egent reasons and telling fast, spiced (it<br /> need not be said) with excellent anecdote.” Canon MacColl’s<br /> point of view on the Church crisis will be indicated when<br /> we say that in the “introductory letter” to Sir William<br /> Harcourt, with which this volume opens, he urges that<br /> great possibilities of statesmanship are thrown away for<br /> the sake of what is, after all, a very small matter,<br /> ‘the alarm caused by the doings and sayings of a com-<br /> paratively small number of clergy,” being ‘‘ out of all pro-<br /> portion to the bare facta.” Literature says itis ‘‘a clever<br /> and penetrating criticism of many modern fallacies, political,<br /> historical, religious,’ but ‘rot by any means a final pro-<br /> nouncement on difficult points of historical controversy ”;<br /> and the Spectator, after pointing out defects, and remarking<br /> that he proves the accuracy of Bishop Thirlwall’s statement<br /> as to the liberty of belief and of teaching on the question of<br /> the Presence of Christin the Eucharist, congratulates Canon<br /> MacColl on having produced a book which is calculated to<br /> promote sound thinking on the relations between Church<br /> and State, and to dissuade the candid reader from partici-<br /> pation in efforts towards the reduction of the ancient and<br /> clearly established liberties of the Anglican clergy.”<br /> <br /> Essays In PsycurcAL ResEarcu, by A. Goodrich<br /> Freer (Redway, 7s. 6d), is recommended by Literature as<br /> baing worth reading by all who interest themselves in<br /> “ occult ” phenomena.<br /> <br /> Hector C. Maspherson’s ADAM SmitTH (Oliphant, 1s. 6d.),<br /> according to Literature, is ‘the best volume in the Famous<br /> Scots series that we have seen.”<br /> <br /> Letters oF THoMAS CARLYLE TO HIS YOUNGEST<br /> Sister (Chapman, 6s.) the Telegraph calls “ exceedingly<br /> pleasant reading,” while the Daily News says they show us<br /> the philosopher of Chelsea by his best side.<br /> <br /> Henry Georce Lippery, D.D., by the Rev. H. L.<br /> Thompson (Murray, 16s.) is described by the Daily News<br /> as a “‘very readable and interesting memoir” of the Dean,<br /> containing recollections of Thackeray, Earl Granville,<br /> Gladstone, and others, and the Telegraph casts a reflection<br /> upon the length of other biographies by saying of this one<br /> that “for once in a way the reader turns the last page<br /> wishing for more.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Ashton Rollins Willard’s History or MopEry<br /> IraLuiAN Art (Longmans, 18s. net), “if it contains here<br /> and there a hasty judgment,” strikes Literature “ as on<br /> the whole spirited, accurate, and just.”<br /> <br /> Arpor V1T&amp;, by Godfrey Blount (Dent, 12s, 6d. net.), is<br /> important, says Literature, “not only for the craftsman,<br /> who will find in its pages an intelligible basis of con-<br /> ventionalised art, but also for all who realise the direct<br /> connection between art and life.”<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> AN INTRODUCTION TO THESTUDY OF 1HE RENAISSANCE,<br /> by Mra. Field (Smith, Elder, and Co., 6s ), ‘‘ although,” says<br /> Literature, essentially elementary, on the whole Mrs.<br /> Field is a ‘‘safe guide, and any disagreement with her<br /> cpinion regarding a detail here and there ia soon forgotten<br /> in contemplation of the extent of her labours.”<br /> <br /> VANDYCK&#039;’s PicTurRES AT WINDSOR CASTLE (Bell,<br /> £6 6s.) is a work in which Mr. Ernest Law writes “ with vivid<br /> appreciation throughout,” says Literature, “ of the originals<br /> of the thirty admirable reproductions which have been pre-<br /> pared in photogravure by Mr. Franz Hanfstaengl.” ‘As<br /> many of the pictures have seldom been reproduced before,’<br /> remarks the Daily News, ‘‘the volume should be an indis-<br /> pensable addendum to every private or public art library,’<br /> an opinion which is also expressed by the Times.<br /> <br /> A PALADIN OF PHJLANTHROPY, AND OTHER PAPERS,<br /> by Austin Dobson (Chatto, 6s.), range over a variety of<br /> subjects, says Literature—from Goldsmith, and Gay, and<br /> Luttrell, to memories of Old Whitehall and changes in the<br /> neighbourhood of Charing Cross—‘and they make as<br /> interesting reading as can be desired for anyone blessed<br /> with a touch of the antiquarian spirit and with a love of<br /> eighteenth century books.’ Mr. Dobson, says the Times,<br /> has treated these old heroes and their London haunts “in a<br /> manner which will maintain his reputation, and enhance<br /> theirs.”<br /> <br /> Tue ErcuinGHam Letrmrs (Smith, Elder and Co., 6s.),<br /> by Mrs Faller Maitland and Sir Frederick Pollock, is “ an<br /> entirely original and new kind of book,” says the Guardian,<br /> “itis more than a novel, inasmuch as it gives us, by the<br /> way, all sorts of charming little scraps of poetry and fancy,<br /> subtle criticiam of books, and flying commentary upon<br /> men and manners.” ‘‘ Read in the right fashion,” says the<br /> Times, ‘it will serve to amuse for many a day,” and the<br /> “yight fashion,” appears to be as “studious recreation ”<br /> (Daily Chronicle). The Spectator notes that “ epistolary<br /> formula in fiction had already been worn pretty thread-<br /> bare when Wilkie Collins apparently gave it its coup de<br /> grace,” buat “it has been reserved for Mrs. Faller Maitland<br /> and Sir Frederick Pollock to lend the convention fresh life<br /> and charm by a division of labour which imparts to this<br /> volume a great deal of the character of a bond fide corre-<br /> spondence.”<br /> <br /> Of Max Beerbohm’s More (Lane, 4s. 6d.) the Telegraph<br /> says “it would be well if every ‘earnest worker’ would<br /> read one of these essays before getting up in the morning ;<br /> thera would perhaps be less philanthropy, but it would be<br /> far sounder”; while Literature observes that in Mr. Beer-<br /> bohm’s hands “the knack of graceful impertinence is<br /> ra‘sed by dint of sheer mastery to the dignity of a serious<br /> art.”<br /> <br /> THE GREEN Winpow, by Vincent O&#039;Sullivan (Smithers,<br /> 3s. 6d. net), provides, says Literature, “the exhilarating<br /> spectacle of a decadent essayist dashing his angry heart<br /> against the desolations of the world,” but the essays are<br /> “ sufficiently well written to entertain those whose mental<br /> balatce they do not disturb.”<br /> <br /> Mr. W. B. Yeats always seems to the Guardian “to<br /> have more of the gifts which make a poet than any of his<br /> fellows,” and his collected Pomms (Unwin, 7s. 6d.) are<br /> also welcomed by the Chronicle, which says that while Mr.<br /> Yeats is Irish of the Irish, ‘he uses our language as the<br /> great English poets use it,’ so that “apart altogether<br /> from the thought and temperament, anyone might think<br /> that the language was the work of one of our own great<br /> poets.” The Chronicle even goes so far as to say that<br /> “up to now Ireland has produced hardly a single post<br /> who could use English with poetic power.’ Mr. Yeats’s<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 /> t<br /> &amp;<br /> iz<br /> <br /> a<br /> <br /> Coe Bae<br /> <br /> &gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Bo PI tea ee fe<br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> THE Winp AmonG THE Rexps (Mathews, 3s. 6d.), says<br /> Literature, ‘“‘has the remoteness, the melancholy of all<br /> postry, inspired by spiritual passion.”<br /> <br /> Maxwell Gray’s poems, THE Forest CHare. (Heine-<br /> mann, 5s.), are described by Literature as “ healthy,<br /> cheerful, and sometimes old-fashioned in their subjects,”<br /> and ‘“‘ well worth perusal by all who are seeking among<br /> our modern bards a singer who has a true ear for melody<br /> and is wholly free from affectations.”<br /> <br /> Tus PuHinirprines AND Rotunp Asout, by Major<br /> G. J. Younghusband, who visited the islands during the<br /> war (Macmillan, 8s. 6d. net), contains ‘‘a deal of valuable<br /> facts and sound reflections,’ says the Spectator; “ a very<br /> amusing book,” says the Times; presenting, according to<br /> the Datly Chronicle, the chain of events in the Philippine<br /> drama “ skilfully, interestingly, and usefully.”<br /> <br /> HoLLAND AND THE HOLLANDERS, by D. S. Meldrum,<br /> (Blackwood, 6s.), “is just the kind of book that every<br /> visitor should read before he goes,” says the Daily New: ;<br /> will prove to the intelligent tourist, according to Literature,<br /> an invaluable supplement to Motley and Baedeker,<br /> * giving a clear and vivid picture of the Holland of to-day,<br /> a detailed account of the fight against the invading<br /> waters, and of the life of the people in every class of<br /> society.”<br /> <br /> Mrs. Archibald Little’s IntTImMAtTz CuinaA (Hutchinson,<br /> 21s.) is described by the Chronicle as ‘‘a graphic word-<br /> picture of the doomed race.”<br /> <br /> “The very perfection of a guide book” is how the Daily<br /> Telegraph describes Highways AND Byways IN DONEGAL<br /> AND ANTRIM, by Stephen Gwynn (Macmillan, 6s.), which<br /> Literature cannot recommend as a guide book per se. “ But<br /> we do recommend the tourist to read it before he starts; it<br /> will provide him with plenty of information and enjoyment,<br /> especially if he reads it at a table.”<br /> <br /> Tue Baru Roap, by Charles G. Harper (Chapman, 12s.),<br /> “is full of interesting material, and bubbles over with good<br /> spirits,” says the Telegraph; “an eminently readable book<br /> and handsomely illustrated,’ says the Spectator.<br /> <br /> Tue TEMPERANCE PROBLEM AND SociaL REFORM, by<br /> Joseph Rowntree and Arthur Sherwell (Hodder and Stough-<br /> ton, 6s.). Literature does not remember seeing any state-<br /> ment so intelligently put of the bearing of the drink<br /> question on general social conditions asin this book. “ The<br /> elimination of private profit is, broadly speaking, the object<br /> which the authors have in view, and their facts and sugges-<br /> tions should certainly be in the hands not only of social<br /> reformers but of all electors who wish to form a judgment<br /> on the subject.”<br /> <br /> Fiy Fisuina, by Sir Edward Grey (Dent, 7s. 6d. net), is<br /> a modern book on trout fishing which gives the Daily<br /> Chronicle “ unqualified delight.” It is described by Litera-<br /> ture as “a collection of notes, disciplined under various<br /> headings, and of autobiographical reminiscences, told with<br /> unaffected and wholly inoffensive egoism by one whose eyes<br /> and ears are quick to observe rural sights and sounds.”<br /> The Spectator finds the charm of the book “ in the skill the<br /> author shows in recalling the detail of pleasent sensations.”<br /> <br /> In Mr. G. A. B. Dewar’s SourH Country Trour<br /> Srreams (Lawrence and Bullen, 5s.) Literature says that<br /> the information about expenses may be found a little<br /> meagre,-but otherwise the author provides the angler with<br /> ‘all he needs to know as to the rivers of the southern<br /> counties.” :<br /> <br /> GoLF AND GOLFERS; by Horace Hutchinson (Longmans,<br /> 18s. net.), is “ a very fine book,” says the Chronicle, and the<br /> <br /> AUTHOR. 24<br /> <br /> Times says itis of the kind of book about golf that is ‘‘ made<br /> to be read with pleasure and studied with profit.”<br /> <br /> Our GARDENS, by Dean Hole (Dent, 7s. 6d. net.).—‘‘When<br /> Dean Hole speaks of gardens, all who love them pause to<br /> hear,” observes the Daily Chronicle, while the Duily<br /> Telegraph calls it a “ most pleasant” book of essays.<br /> <br /> Sir John Lubbock’s book “ On Bups AND STIPULES”<br /> (Kegan Paul, 5s.) discusses the question: Why have some<br /> of the Rock Roses (Helianthemum) stipules while others<br /> have not? This leads him on, says Literature, “to<br /> interesting matter about the construction of buds and the<br /> other functions of stipules.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Grant Allen’s novel Miss CAyugeYy’s ADVENTURES<br /> (Richards, 6s.) is praised by the Spectator, which wonders<br /> ‘“‘ what terrible literary penance Mr. Grant Allen will enjoin<br /> on himself for this uncompromising concession to conven-<br /> tional sentiment and orthodox morality.” The Telegraph<br /> thinks that ‘“‘in the charming, clever and original’ Miss<br /> Lois Cayley, Mr. Grant Allen has done much to reconcile us<br /> to the New Woman, and adds that through all the adven-<br /> tures runs “ a very pretty love story of devotion, endurance<br /> and trast which is good in a prosaic and sceptical age”’;<br /> while the Daily Chronicle describes this story of a Girton<br /> girl as “‘a very amusing book, written with much bright-<br /> ness.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Crockett’s novel, THz Buack Douauas (Smith,<br /> Elder, and Co., 63.), is said by Literature to be picturesque,<br /> and there is “‘no reason why it should not be as popular at<br /> the libraries as any of its predecessors” from the same<br /> hand.<br /> <br /> Criticisinz ON THE EpGEr oF THE Empire, by Edgar<br /> Jepson and Captain D. Beames (Heinemann, 6s.), the<br /> Telegraph says that to the average Englishman the Pathan<br /> and the Sikh are still unknown quantities, peculiar baings<br /> surrounded with mystery and misconception, and that this<br /> fact will lead many people to real these tales, which are<br /> “of extreme interest, vivid, descriptive, and unique in<br /> originality and attractiveness.”’<br /> <br /> A Mopgern Mercenary, by K. and Hesketh Prichard<br /> (Smith, Elder, and Co., 6s.), contains, says the Chronicle,<br /> some excellent character drawing, and is on the whole “a<br /> bright and credible story.”<br /> <br /> Raaeep Lapy, by W. D. Howells (Harper, 6s.), is “ the<br /> portrayal of a group of normal, or at any rate ordinary<br /> New Englanders, mostly middle class in station, simple in<br /> their pleasures, and ingenuous in their speech’’; it has in<br /> full measure, says the Spectator, ‘‘ the sovereign qualities of<br /> fascination and distinction,” and is a delightfully wholesome<br /> and engaging romance. The Chronicle notes that “the<br /> habit of elaborately analysing the trivial is growing upon<br /> Mr. Howells,” but he is a master of the trick, and the work<br /> of a man who isa master of anything must always be worth<br /> reading.”<br /> <br /> THe Awkwarp AGE, by Henry James (Heinemann,<br /> 6:.). The Spectator regrets to see Mr. James “ carrying into<br /> practice that misguided opinion, by which somany modern<br /> writers of fiction are obviously actuated, that normal and<br /> wholesome themes being exhausted, a novelist can only<br /> disp&#039;ay originality or achieve artistic results inthe delinea-<br /> tio. ui the detestable.” The Telegraph describes it as a<br /> story of the modern life of modern people who seem<br /> to have no gooi instincts at all. They are smart and<br /> selfish and scheming. “Bat it has a great charm” ;<br /> “ the people are real and have personalities, though they are<br /> so unpleasant.” The Daily News says “it requires a@<br /> <br /> severe mental wrestle to follow the story”; the Chronicle<br /> says that Mr, Henry James “gets cleverer and still more<br /> him “at his most subtly<br /> <br /> clever”; while Literature sees<br /> 28<br /> <br /> psychological, at his most overwhelmingly copious, at his<br /> most exasperatingly deliberate.”<br /> <br /> Tur Passtnc oF Prince Rozan, by John Bickerdyke<br /> (Burleigh, 6s.), the romance of a swindler on the Stock<br /> Exchange, the Spectator says, has “at least the qualities<br /> of animation and excitement.”’<br /> <br /> In Anne MAULEVERER (Methuen, 6s.) “ Iota” (Mrs.<br /> Mannington Caffyn), has contrived, says the Chronicle,<br /> “to leave with us a most delectable addition to the heroines<br /> in modern fiction—no one will want to miss a word of the<br /> book—and she has established herself, in our view, as one of<br /> the leading women novelists of the day,” while the Spec-<br /> tator says that if it is impossible to commend the novel<br /> “ag an elevating or entertaining study of humanity, as a<br /> storehouse of eccentric, affected, spasmodic and extra-<br /> yvagant modes of expression it should prove invaluable to<br /> the student of literary degeneracy.”<br /> <br /> On THE EncE oF A Precrpicn, by Mary Angela Dickens<br /> (Hutchinson, 6s.), is a story of suspended memory ina<br /> beautiful girl, who while in this state exactly reproduces<br /> the fine tragic acting taught her by an evil and ugly friend.<br /> The hero, having been in love with the former all through,<br /> on her recovering her memory and identity marries the<br /> female villain. ‘‘ Miss Dickens writes with ease and<br /> fluency,” says the Spectator, “ but the novel will not add<br /> to her reputation.” The Telegraph considers ita ‘clever<br /> romance,” and the Chronicle says there is in it “a sound<br /> exciting bit of drama for those who like a book ‘with a<br /> spine to it.’ ”<br /> <br /> Racueu, by Jane H. Findlater (Methuen, 6s.), a story<br /> “ full of pathos and real human feeling” (Telegraph) is “a<br /> clever and interesting piece of work,” says Literature,<br /> by one possessing “a faculty of creating out of simple<br /> materials a powerful and abiding impression.”<br /> <br /> pect<br /> <br /> OBITUARY.<br /> <br /> R. JOSEPH ARTHUR GIBBS, author of<br /> “A Cotswold Village,” died suddenly on<br /> May 13 from failure of the heart after an<br /> operation. Mr. Gibbs was only thirty-one. He<br /> was educated at Eton and Christchurch, Oxford,<br /> and began in literature with some notable articles<br /> on the laying down of cricket grounds, which<br /> appeared in the Field and afterwards in book<br /> form. “A Cotswold Village,” which will be<br /> remembered as one of last season’s successful<br /> books, is a delightful picture of English country<br /> life.<br /> <br /> Mrs. Emma Marshall, the well-known writer of<br /> historical novels for girls, died at her residence at<br /> Clifton, aged seventy. Mrs. Marshall used to<br /> say, “At least I have never written a line that<br /> could do anyone any harm.” Her novels were<br /> usually written around the character of a historical<br /> personage, “ Penshurst Castle,’ for instance,<br /> being associated with Sir Philip Sidney, and<br /> “Under the Dome of St. Paul’s” with Sir<br /> Christopher Wren. Among others of her many<br /> works may be mentioned ‘ Winchester Meads,’<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> “In Edward Colston’s Days,’ “ Bristol Dia-<br /> monds,” and “Under Salisbury Spire.” Mrs.<br /> Marshall had been ill for seven weeks; an attack<br /> of influenza developed, as so often happens, into<br /> pneumonia, which proved fatal on May 4.<br /> <br /> Mr. Benjamin Vincent, who died at the age of<br /> eighty-seven, was for forty years librarian of the<br /> Royal Institution, and for many years edited<br /> Haydn’s Dictionaries of Dates and Biographies.<br /> He was a friend and a relative of Faraday.<br /> <br /> Mr. Charles Henry Coote, of the British<br /> Museum, who died on April 30, was a first autho-<br /> rity on old maps, and among other literary work,<br /> in 1886, with Mr. E. Delinar Morgan, he prepared<br /> for the Hakluyt Society “Harly Voyages and<br /> Travels to Russia and Persia.” He contributed<br /> many articles to the ninth edition of the<br /> “ Encyclopedia Britannica,’ and to the “ Dic-<br /> tionary of National Biography.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> “THE AUTHOR.”<br /> <br /> SCALE FOR ADVERTISEMENTS.<br /> <br /> Front Page<br /> <br /> Other Pages<br /> <br /> Half of a Page ...<br /> <br /> Quarter of a Page<br /> <br /> Eighth of a Page Ray<br /> Single Column Advertisements<br /> Bills for Insertion<br /> <br /> se £&amp; 0<br /> <br /> we 8 0<br /> <br /> we 110<br /> <br /> see we 0 15<br /> <br /> “ Dig<br /> <br /> perinch 0 6<br /> <br /> wae ene eS per 2000 3 0<br /> <br /> Reductions made for a Series of Six or Twelve Insertions.<br /> All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed to the<br /> <br /> ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER, The Author Office, 4, Portugal-street,<br /> London, W.C.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Mr. Jj. Eveleigh Nash,<br /> <br /> LITERARY AGENT,<br /> AMBERLEY HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET,<br /> <br /> STRAND, W.C.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> TlYPEHwRITING.<br /> <br /> (NEW MACHINE.)<br /> AUTHORS’ MSS., &amp;., TYPED WITH PROMPTNESS AND CARE.<br /> From is. per 1000 words inclusive,<br /> <br /> Circulars, Commercial, Medical, or Clerical, duplicated. References,<br /> Strictest secrecy. MSS. kept in Fire-proof Safe.<br /> <br /> Address C. HENRY, care of A. MOORE &amp; CO.,,<br /> 34, CHARLES STREET, LEICESTER.	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/463/1899-06-01-The-Author-10-1.pdf	publications, The Author
464	https://historysoa.com/items/show/464	The Author, Vol. 10 Issue 02 (July 1899)	<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.+10+Issue+02+%28July+1899%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 02 (July 1899)</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>	1899-07-01-The-Author-10-2					29–56																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=10">10</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1899-07-01">1899-07-01</a>							2			18990701	The Author.<br /> <br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br /> <br /> CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Vou. X.—No. 2.]<br /> <br /> JULY 1, 1899.<br /> <br /> [Prick SIXPENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> For the Opinions expressed in papers that are<br /> signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br /> responsible. None of the papers or para-<br /> graphs must be taken as expressing the<br /> collective opinions of the Committee unless<br /> they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br /> Thring, Sec.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> =o<br /> <br /> a Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br /> remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br /> requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br /> <br /> important communications within two days will write to him<br /> <br /> without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br /> <br /> Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br /> <br /> letter only.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br /> all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br /> jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br /> returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Dos<br /> <br /> GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br /> <br /> ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an<br /> agreement. There are three methods of dealing<br /> with literary property :—<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> J. THAT OF SELLING IT OUTRIGHT.<br /> <br /> This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br /> price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br /> managed by a competent agent.<br /> <br /> Il. A PROFIT-SHARING AGREEMENT.<br /> <br /> In this case the following rules should be attended to :<br /> <br /> (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br /> duction forms a part.<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.<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 /> (§.) Not to give up serial or translation rights.<br /> <br /> (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher.<br /> <br /> VOL. X.<br /> <br /> As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br /> doctor !<br /> (7.) To stamp the agreement.<br /> <br /> Ill. THE ROYALTY SYSTEM.<br /> <br /> It is above all things necessary to know what the<br /> proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible<br /> for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly<br /> the truth. From time to time the very important figures<br /> connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br /> Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br /> ‘Cost of Production.”<br /> <br /> The four main points which the Society has always<br /> demanded 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.) That there shall be no secret profits.<br /> <br /> (4.) That there shall be no charge for advertisements<br /> in the publisher&#039;s own organs and none for exchanged<br /> advertisements.<br /> <br /> pecs<br /> <br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Le VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br /> advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br /> lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br /> <br /> business or the administration of his property. If the<br /> advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor,<br /> the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s<br /> solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is<br /> desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s<br /> opinion. All this without any cost to the member.<br /> <br /> 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br /> and publisher’s agreements do not generally fall within the<br /> experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br /> to use the Society.<br /> <br /> 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past<br /> accounts with the loan of the books represented. The<br /> Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new<br /> or old, for inspection and note. The information thus<br /> obtained may prove invaluable.<br /> <br /> 4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br /> posed document to the Society for examination.<br /> <br /> 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you<br /> are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are<br /> <br /> p 2<br /> <br /> <br /> 30<br /> <br /> reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing<br /> the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen-<br /> dence of the writer.<br /> <br /> 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of<br /> members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br /> safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br /> fidential documents to’ be read only by the Secretary, who<br /> will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :—(1)<br /> To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To<br /> stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon<br /> them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments<br /> due according to agreements.<br /> <br /> ES<br /> <br /> THE READING BRANCH.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this<br /> <br /> f branch of their work by informing young writers of<br /> <br /> its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated<br /> <br /> as a composition is treated by a coach. The Readers are<br /> <br /> writers of competence and experience. The fee is one<br /> guinea.<br /> <br /> OO iio<br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> <br /> 1; Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br /> Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br /> of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br /> <br /> heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br /> <br /> many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br /> 6s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br /> <br /> Communications for The Author should be addressed to<br /> the Offices of the Society, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn<br /> Fields, W.C., and should reach the Editor not later than the<br /> 2ist of each month.<br /> <br /> All persons engaged in literary work of any kind,<br /> whether members of the Society or not, are invited to<br /> communicate to the Editor any points connected with their<br /> work which it would be advisable in the general interest to<br /> publish.<br /> <br /> The present location of the Authors’ Club is at 3, White-<br /> hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for<br /> information, rules of admission, &amp;c.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> FROM THE COMMITTEE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> NE hundred and eight new members have<br /> been elected to the Society during the<br /> current year, thirty-one being elected at<br /> <br /> the meeting of the Committee held in June. This<br /> number is very satisfactory, showing no decrease<br /> on the amount of the elections at this time last<br /> year.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Some notice has been given in the papers that<br /> an arrangement has been attempted by the Pub-<br /> lishers’ Association, and adopted by some book-<br /> sellers, for the placing of high-priced books on the<br /> market at net prices. Authors signing agree-<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> ments in the future should therefore carefully<br /> look to this point, and should have it clearly<br /> stated in their arrangements as to whether the<br /> book is to be published net or with the usual<br /> discounts, for if the book is published net the<br /> publisher receives a larger price from the book-<br /> sellers, and the author must therefore receive a<br /> proportionately larger royalty. G. H. T.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> a ee<br /> <br /> LITERARY PROPERTY.<br /> <br /> T.—Kiperuine v. Putnam.<br /> M RUDYARD KIPLING has raised an<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> action in the United States Circuit<br /> <br /> Court which involves a question of deep<br /> interest to authors. He suesG. P. Putnam’s Sons,<br /> D. Appleton and Co., Doubleday and McClure Co.,<br /> Charles Scribner’s Sons, and the Century Com-<br /> pany, to recover damages sustained by alleged<br /> infringements of copyrights. All but GP.<br /> Putnam’s Sons have been notified that they are<br /> only technical defendants.<br /> <br /> I, MR. RUDYARD KIPLING’S STATEMENT.<br /> <br /> Srr,—Would you spare me a little space<br /> to set out the details of a difference which<br /> has arisen between myself and Messrs. G. P.<br /> Putnam’s Sons, of New York? My excuse for<br /> troubling you is that the case may be of<br /> interest alike to English and American authors<br /> as directly affecting their control of their own<br /> works.<br /> <br /> By arrangement with Messrs. D. Appleton and<br /> Co., The Century Company, The Doubleday and<br /> McClure Company, and until lately also with The<br /> Macmillan Company (all of New York), each of<br /> these houses has published certain of my books.<br /> In 1896 Messrs. Charles Scribner’s Sons under-<br /> took the publication of an edition of my works,<br /> which was necessarily carried out with the con-<br /> currence of the other authorised publishers. It<br /> is known as the “ Outward Bound Edition,” and<br /> by agreement with my other publishers may be<br /> sold only by subscription. I have written a<br /> special introduction for it and re-arranged the<br /> stories; Mr. John Lockwood Kipling designed<br /> for it a number of illustrations; and he also ~<br /> designed for the cover, as a sign of my personal<br /> authentication or trade mark, the representation<br /> of an elephant’s head. a<br /> <br /> The “Outward Bound” Edition had this<br /> spring progressed to twelve volumes, and part of<br /> my work in America was to carry it-forward. On<br /> Saturday, March 11, there ‘appeared in an<br /> evening paper in New York City a conspicuous<br /> advertisement as follows :—<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 31<br /> <br /> ! Rudyard<br /> Kipling’s<br /> Works.<br /> <br /> BRUSHWOOD EDITION.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 15 Volumes Including General Index.<br /> <br /> {The Brushwood Edition is by far the<br /> most Complete Collected Edition of Kipling’s<br /> Works, and contains<br /> <br /> 17 Notable Stories and 51 Poems<br /> <br /> not in any other collected edition.<br /> It also includes A KEN OF KIPLING<br /> <br /> By Will M. Clemens. Containing an account of Kipling’s career,<br /> an appreciation of his work, some good anecdotes, a new portrait in<br /> photogravure, and two other illustrations.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 15 vols., large 12°, Cloth xtra ..........csssscsesereeseeceeeneosenees<br /> Full buckram, leather labels, bevelled boari .<br /> Walt Galt extra, RilCtOps &lt;i... ..sccssscccousorsveress<br /> Three-quarters calf extra........... ue<br /> Three-quarters crushed levant .........:cscccscssercensessenseeess nett $60.00<br /> <br /> For sale only in the Retail Departments of<br /> <br /> G. P. Putnam’s Sons,<br /> 27 West 23d Street, N.Y.,<br /> <br /> and<br /> <br /> E. P. Dutton &amp; Co.,<br /> <br /> 31, West 23d St., N.Y.<br /> <br /> On Monday morning, March 13, this advertise-<br /> ment came to the attention of Mr. Charles<br /> Scribner, who at once called upon Mr. George<br /> Haven Putnam, and protested against the enter-<br /> prise.<br /> <br /> On March 13 and 14, Mr. George H. Putnam<br /> wrote two long letters to Mr. Scribner in defence of<br /> the so-called Brushwood Edition.<br /> <br /> In the course of these letters Mr. George<br /> Haven Putnam wrote: “The question that has<br /> arisen between your house and the management<br /> of our retail department, for the action of which,<br /> of course, our firm assumes the full measure of<br /> responsibility, impresses me as by no means as<br /> simple as it seems to you. There are various<br /> complexities in it which it may be easier to see<br /> through clearly when there are more precedents.<br /> After receiving your note this afternoon I put<br /> the question before Mr. who took<br /> precisely that ground. It seemed to him that<br /> there were a good many matters to be considered<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> in the question, and it was one of business ethics<br /> for which a simple and final answer was by no<br /> means easy.”<br /> <br /> In reply to this letter Mr. Charles Scribner<br /> wrote on March 15: “Dear Putnam,—l note<br /> your statement that you have placed the Kipling<br /> question before Mr. — , and that you report<br /> ‘he took precisely the same ground that you did.’<br /> I have never claimed the question was free from<br /> complexities, most questions have them. Nor do<br /> I object to your securing sheets from the various .<br /> authorised publishers of Mr. Kipling’s books<br /> and binding them up for sale in your retail<br /> department, but I think you should confer with<br /> the author before you announce an edition of his<br /> works under a new title with a new index speci-<br /> ally prepared, and witha biographical or critical<br /> addition. And Lthink, too, that the manner of<br /> announcing your edition was particularly objec-<br /> tionable.”<br /> <br /> On investigating the “edition,” which was<br /> named from a story of mine—The Brushwood<br /> Boy—we found that it was made up in part of<br /> sheets obtained from some of my authorised<br /> publishers; that it included also some verses<br /> which I had not authorised to be published in<br /> any of my books; it included also sheets of a<br /> volume entitled “ Departmental Ditties, Barrack<br /> Room Ballads, and other Verses,” with the im-<br /> print of a firm which I had not authorised to<br /> publish this or any other book of mine ; also<br /> sheets of a book which I had not written or even<br /> seen. To these had been added some forty<br /> pages of titles and lines copied out of my books<br /> and arranged under the designation “Index to<br /> the Works of Rudyard Kipling: Brushwood<br /> Edition.” These sheets had been bound up into<br /> volumes. On the back of each volume was the<br /> name “Rudyard Kipling”; an elephant’s head<br /> in a circular design of the exact size of the<br /> elephant’s head on the cover of the “ Outward<br /> Bound” Edition, and a volume number. Upon<br /> the front of the covers there was again the<br /> elephant’s head, and a facsimile of my autograph.<br /> They were put up in a box labelled “Rudyard<br /> Kipling—Brushwood Edition.”<br /> <br /> In this connection it is interesting to remember<br /> that Mr. George Haven Putnam, in an interview<br /> with the Daily Chronicle, stated explicitly that<br /> it was not an edition, but “merely you had an<br /> harmonious binding.”<br /> <br /> I could see nothing about the books, or the<br /> box, or the advertisement to suggest that this<br /> enterprise was without my consent, or was not<br /> fully authorised by me.<br /> <br /> It seemed to me that this “edition” directly<br /> traversed my right to select my own publisher ;<br /> and that by placing a facsimile of my autograph<br /> 32 THE<br /> <br /> and an imitation of my elephant’s head on books<br /> not authorised or even seen by me, Messrs. G. P.<br /> Putnam’s Sons had given a false air of authen-<br /> ticity to their enterprise.<br /> <br /> ‘Also, there were the questions relating to the<br /> many purchasers of the “ Outward Bound”<br /> Edition and of the other authorised books. It<br /> would appear, on the one hand, that my “ Outward<br /> Bound ” Edition had been superseded, and on the<br /> other, that I was party to a scheme for issuing my<br /> well-known trade books with other matter which<br /> had never been authorised, under different covers<br /> as a new edition, and a more complete edition<br /> than that of Messrs. Scribners’.<br /> <br /> To give a few illustrations in this regard.<br /> Thirteen of the ‘ seventeen notable stories not in<br /> any other collected edition,” as the advertisement<br /> is so careful to point out, are secured by the<br /> inclusion of a book called “The Day’s Work,”<br /> published last autumn by Messrs. Doubleday and<br /> McClure, which in the ordinary course of events<br /> could not appear in my “ Outward Bound ” edition<br /> till June. Indeed, Mr. G. H. Putnam, in a letter<br /> of March 13 to Mr. Charles Scribner, admits that<br /> hisset “has the temporary advantage over your own<br /> handsome edition of containing the stories com-<br /> prised in the new Doubleday volume which are<br /> later, we understand, to be included in your own<br /> set.” The advantage is somewhat pronounced,<br /> when you consider that, under the terms of agree-<br /> ment with my various publishers, I could not pass<br /> a book into my “Outward Bound” edition until<br /> after the lapse of a year or thereabouts. Messrs.<br /> G. P. Putnam’s Sons, however, purchase unbound<br /> sheets of the ordinary edition of “ The Day’s<br /> Work” and make them a special feature of their<br /> Brushwood “edition.” As that volume appears<br /> with my autograph in facsimile outside, and with<br /> the elephant’s head, subscribers to the “ Outward<br /> Bound” edition, who would have to wait till June<br /> or later for their “Day’s Work,” might justly<br /> think that I was not dealing fairly with them. It<br /> seems to me that this matter touches publishers<br /> as well as authors.<br /> <br /> So far as I can make out from the “ Index to<br /> the Works of Rudyard Kipling, Brushwood<br /> Edition,” compiled and prepared by Messrs.<br /> G. P. Putnam’s Sons on their own responsibility,<br /> forty-nine of the fifty-one poems “not in any<br /> other collected edition,” are secured by the<br /> inclusion of a volume of verse called ‘“‘ Depart-<br /> mental Ditties, Barrack Room Ballads, and<br /> Other Verses,” purchased by Messrs. Putnam from<br /> a firm which is not authorised to publish any of<br /> my books. This volume includes about a dozen<br /> “ Barrack Room Ballads,” all of which are duly<br /> bound up under my facsimile autograph and<br /> elephant’s head asa volume of the Brushwood<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> “edition.” But Messrs. Macmillan’s authorised<br /> edition of my ballads and “Barrack Room<br /> Ballads” (another of Messrs. Putnam’s pur-<br /> chases and another volume of their “ edition”)<br /> naturally includes the same “Barrack Room<br /> Ballads.’ In the “Index to the Works of<br /> Rudyard Kipling, Brushwood Edition ” they are<br /> duly indexed twice over, with the explanatory<br /> note, “A few of the poems appear in two<br /> different volumes.”<br /> <br /> We come now to the two poems that make up<br /> the tale of fifty-one ; and here we are rewarded by<br /> one little touch of humour. In 1896 I published<br /> with Messrs. Appleton in New York a volume of<br /> verse called “The Seven Seas.” It was there-<br /> fore something of a surprise to me to dis-<br /> cover in 1899, at the end of “The Seven Seas,”<br /> two poems called “The Vampire” and “ Reces-<br /> sional.” “The Vampire” was adorned with a<br /> sort of blood-red title-page, and the reproduction<br /> of a picture, together with an equally blood-red<br /> autograph in facsimile. ‘“ Recessional” was not<br /> illustrated. Now, the one poem was written in<br /> 1898 and the other in 1897. They were both<br /> uncopyrighted; and there was nothing in the<br /> world to prevent Messrs. G. P. Putnam’s Sons<br /> from publishing and selling them, with or with-<br /> out illustrations, as many American publishers<br /> have done. But this firm preferred to smuggle<br /> them between the pages of a brother-publisher’s<br /> copyrighted book !<br /> <br /> This would seem to establish the precedent<br /> that any retail bookseller may add to any volume<br /> of any author, after any lapse of time, such stray<br /> matter as in that bookseller’s opimion may<br /> temporarily increase the interest of the book to<br /> the vendor’s immediate pecuniary advantage and<br /> to the discredit of the author and his legitimate<br /> publisher. This, again, seems a point of interest<br /> both to authors and publishers.<br /> <br /> To continue the story. A few days after we<br /> had seen the “edition,” Mr. W. W. Appleton<br /> called, and it was intimated to him that we wished<br /> to stop the publication. He asked as a personal<br /> favour to be permitted to write to Mr. G. H.<br /> Putnam, which was agreed to. Mr. Appleton<br /> wrote on March 23, calling his attention to my<br /> special objections. On March 25 Mr. G. H. Putnam<br /> wrote a long letter of argument to Mr. Appleton,<br /> discussing the questions in detail.<br /> <br /> On March 25 Mr. G. H. Putnam wrote a long<br /> letter of argument defending the “ Brushwood<br /> Edition ” item by item to Mrs. Kipling.<br /> <br /> These letters to Mr. Scribner, Mr. Appleton,<br /> and Mrs. Kipling would fill about two columns of<br /> an ordinary newspaper. It appeared from them<br /> that the so-called “ Brushwood Edition” was not<br /> completed on Monday, March 13, when Mr.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 33<br /> <br /> Scribner protested against the enterprise, and<br /> also that Mr. Putnam knew that we were carry-<br /> ing forward the “ Outward Bound ” Edition.<br /> <br /> The objections that had been made to Mr.<br /> Putnam were that without the consent of the<br /> author he had practically published a new edition<br /> of his works under a new title, with a new index<br /> specially prepared and with additions; and specifi-<br /> cally we objected to the method of advertising, to<br /> the inclusion in an’ edition of my works of<br /> the volume of ‘Departmental Ditties, Barrack<br /> Room Ballads, and Other Verses,’ and of the<br /> matter which I had not written, and to the use<br /> of the elephant’s head and the facsimile of my<br /> autograph.<br /> <br /> Seeing that I could make no progress, I<br /> instructed my counsel, Mr. Gurlitz, who had been<br /> looking into the matter, to request that the<br /> “edition” be withdrawn. This was demanded by<br /> him substantially upon the ground of Mr.<br /> Scribner’s protest, and he referred Messrs. G. P.<br /> Putnam’s Sons to the letters written by Mr. G. H.<br /> Putnam to Mr. Appleton and Mrs. Kipling.<br /> <br /> In response to this letter Messrs. Putnam’s<br /> counsel called upon Mr. Gurlitz and the whole<br /> matter was discussed from its legal side, the<br /> books were produced, and each volume was<br /> examined, each item of objection discussed. We<br /> had learned of the unauthorised inclusion of two<br /> of my poems in “The Seven Seas” and in the<br /> index of that book which G. P. Putnam’s Sons<br /> admit having prepared. After some discussion<br /> Messrs. G. P. Putnam’s Sons insisted in sub-<br /> stance that they were acting within their rights,<br /> and on April 4 suggested a reference with an<br /> implication that was unsatisfactory. However,<br /> if the suggestion had been made on March 13,<br /> when Mr. Scribner first protested, and if the<br /> publication had been suspended until a decision<br /> had been come to, it might have been considered.<br /> But instead of heeding Mr. Scribner’s protest,<br /> which, it will be remembered, included a direct<br /> objection to the manner in which the “ edition x<br /> was advertised, the Brushwood “edition” was<br /> advertised again and again in the papers, and<br /> also in the Putnam show-window, where a large<br /> sign was displayed with the words:<br /> <br /> RUDYARD KIPLING’S COMPLETE WORKS.<br /> BRUSHWOOD EDITION.<br /> <br /> It was not in any sense “complete.” It did<br /> not contain “‘ Pharoah and the Sergeant,” ‘‘ The<br /> Truce of the Bear,” “The White Man’s Burden,”<br /> and a number of other writings which had then<br /> been published.<br /> <br /> We had nearly concluded to bring action when<br /> an intimation was received through Mr. Appleton<br /> that Messrs. G. P. Putnam desired to see Mr.<br /> <br /> Watt, my business agent, who had come over<br /> to New York specially to aid me in suppress-<br /> ing unauthorised publications. Heping there<br /> had been a change of purpose, proceedings were<br /> suspended, and Mr. Watt called and saw Mr.<br /> Irving Putnam. Mr. Watt was familiar with<br /> the questions involved, and after his interview<br /> reported that he had listened to substantially the<br /> same matter which had already been discussed in<br /> the Putnam letters. Under date of April 21 he<br /> received a letter from Mr. Irving Putnam to<br /> the effect that Mr. Putnam had noted briefly<br /> the various points which he had gone over at<br /> the interview. This was accompanied by a long<br /> memorandum of twelve numbered paragraphs.<br /> It added nothing new to the situation except<br /> the facts that the index had been prepared by<br /> Messrs. Putnams, and that the matter in<br /> Volume XV.—a collection of newspaper para-<br /> graphs about myself—had been “ added in order<br /> to make, with the Index, bulk enough for a<br /> volume.”<br /> <br /> I understand that Messrs. Putnam’s object was<br /> to get bulk enough for a fifteen-volume edition.<br /> <br /> Our efforts, extending over some six weeks, to<br /> get the “ Brushwood Edition” withdrawn with-<br /> out legal proceedings having failed, action was<br /> commenced on April 22.<br /> <br /> On April 23, statements purporting to come<br /> from the Messrs. Putnam were published broad-<br /> cast in the New York Press. These were to the<br /> effect that they were in the dark as to the suit ;<br /> that Mr. Kipling’s attorney would make no<br /> explanation. ‘We tried for three weeks to get<br /> specifications from Mr. Kipling, but they were<br /> refused,” &amp;¢. Since then other statements of a<br /> similar character have appeared. It has also<br /> been said that I demanded the payment of heavy<br /> damages.<br /> <br /> Nothing of the kind occurred. No one ever<br /> applied to me for any specifications whatever, but<br /> on the contrary, commencing with the morning of<br /> March 13, which was the first business day after<br /> the announcement of the ‘ Brushwood Edition,”<br /> Mr. Scribner stated our objections to Mr. G. H.<br /> Putnam. On March 23, Mr. Appleton went into<br /> the details of our objections; on March 25 Mr.<br /> G. H. Putnam defended the “Brushwood<br /> Edition” to Mrs. Kipling item by item; on<br /> March 30, the counsel of the respective parties<br /> went over the matter again, item by item, from<br /> the legal aspect; the whole subject was fully dis-<br /> cussed for six weeks in voluminous writings and<br /> by word of mouth.<br /> <br /> At any time between March 13 and April 22 a<br /> settlement could have been made if a settlement<br /> had been desired by Messrs. Putnam. The ques-<br /> tion of damages did not become a practical one,<br />  <br /> <br /> 34<br /> <br /> because Messrs. Putnam refused to withdraw the<br /> so-called “Brushwood Edition,’ and refused to<br /> inform us of the number which they had pub-<br /> lished and sold.<br /> <br /> Here, then, my case against Messrs. Putnam<br /> rests :<br /> <br /> They have, under cover of following the routine<br /> of their trade, produced an incomplete set of books,<br /> which they wish the public to accept as a complete<br /> edition of my books.<br /> <br /> They have attempted—both by the title that<br /> they selected for their “edition,” and by placing<br /> on every volume my autograph in facsimile, and<br /> an imitation of the elephant’s head which is the<br /> distinguishing mark of my “ Outward Bound ”<br /> edition—to make the public believe that their<br /> venture had my sanction.<br /> <br /> They have used in part matter written and<br /> authorised by me; in part matter written but not<br /> authorised ; in part matter neither written nor<br /> authorised nor ever seen by me.<br /> <br /> They have appropriated copyright material for<br /> their own uses in their specially prepared index.<br /> <br /> They have tampered with a copyrighted book<br /> three years after publication.<br /> <br /> They have made me responsible before a public,<br /> to whom I do peculiarly owe my best and most<br /> honest work, for an egregious, padded fake.<br /> <br /> And all these things they did—taking advantage<br /> of that public’s interest in my illness—when I lay<br /> at the point of death.<br /> <br /> I do not see how I can permit their action to<br /> pass without challenge. It establishes too many<br /> precedents which will do evil to the honour and<br /> integrity of the profession that, so far, has given<br /> me countenance and profit.<br /> <br /> Rupyarp Kipxine.<br /> <br /> II. MR. IRVING PUTNAM’S STATEMENT.<br /> <br /> The Putnams say they are not conscious that<br /> they have infringed in any manner Mr. Kipling’s<br /> rights; their retail department simply purchased<br /> sheets of his copyright books published by all the<br /> defendants named, except Messrs. Scribner, and<br /> bound them in various styles of leather binding.<br /> These works, while uniform in exterior, preserved<br /> inside the material just as issued by Mr. Kipling’s<br /> authorised publishers, with the original title-pages<br /> and imprints. To make a set of a certain number<br /> of volumes Will M. Clemens’s “ Ken of Kipling,”<br /> and other Kiplingiana, and an index were added.<br /> The whole was advertised as the ‘“ Brushwood<br /> Edition,” and was marketed jointly by the retail<br /> departments of G. P. Putnam’s Sons and E. P.<br /> Dutton and Co. Mr. Irving Putnam, the head of<br /> <br /> the retail department of G. P. Putnam’s Sons,<br /> has given an account of the matter to a repre-<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> sentative of the New York Tribune.<br /> some of his statements :—<br /> <br /> The trouble probably lies—although I do not see that<br /> we have done any wrong there—in our custom of buying<br /> unbound from Mr. Kipling’s publishers the printed sheets<br /> of his works and then binding them ourselves and selling<br /> them. Our retail shop, in conjunction with our neighbour<br /> E. P. Dutton and Co., bought from the several publishers of<br /> his works a number of copies of each of his different books<br /> as follows: Copies of seven different works from the<br /> Macmillan Company, three from the Century Company, two<br /> from D. Appleton and Co., and one from the Doubleday and<br /> McClure Company. We bought these printed sheets in<br /> unbound form and put our own covers on them—an ordi-<br /> nary custom in the book business from time immemorial.<br /> These books are in each case the authorised copyright<br /> edition, and Mr. Kipling presumably gets royalty on each<br /> copy sold. There is one book of his called ‘‘ Departmental<br /> Ditties,” consisting of his earlier Indian poems, which for<br /> some reason he does not seem to wish to perpetuate. We<br /> knew nothing of this feeling when we bought the books.<br /> Of this work there is no authorised copyright edition, but<br /> it happens to be material that the public thinks most<br /> highly of. This is not included in the Outward Bound<br /> edition published by Charles Scribner’s Sons, and especially<br /> selected and compiled by himself, and we thought it a good<br /> stroke of business to include in our complete collected<br /> edition. If we had known of the author’s reluctance to<br /> have these’ poems perpetuated we would perhaps not have<br /> included them, out of principles of comity and courtesy, but<br /> we have never received such an intimation from the author.<br /> These poems happen to constitute one of the most popular<br /> of his books, and in form of various editions have been im<br /> the market for eight years. As there is no author’s copy-<br /> righted edition we bought the best available edition<br /> possible—that published by Henry T. Coates and Co.,<br /> Philadelphia. These several sheets we bound up in various<br /> styles of cloth and leather binding, making a collection that<br /> was uniform in exterior, but preserving the material just as<br /> published, together with the title-pages and imprints of the<br /> several publishers. We learned only incidentally that Mr.<br /> Kipling objected to this collection, and we have been vainly<br /> trying ever since to find out in what particular he con-<br /> sidered himself wronged. . . .<br /> <br /> Our lawyer wrote to Mr. Kipling’s counsel, and received<br /> a letter from Mr. Gurlitz stating that his client was<br /> “righteously indignant” over our ‘appropriation of his<br /> property,” and that the only possible settlement was on the<br /> basis of a withdrawal of the books for sale, an accounting<br /> to Mr. Kipling, and substantial damages week e<br /> <br /> ‘‘We have published nothing,” Mr. Irving<br /> Putnam repeats, “but have simply, as retail<br /> booksellers, bound editions published by other<br /> houses. Mr. Kipling is therefore, through his<br /> agents, the Macmillan Company and others,<br /> selling us material and taking our money on the<br /> one hand, while at the same time saying, on the<br /> other hand, ‘Don’t you sell it.’ In our<br /> binding, printing, and insignia and titles of<br /> different sorts we have infringed no rights of<br /> trade marks or copyright, so that I don’t yet<br /> see where the action lies either legally or<br /> reasonably.”<br /> <br /> We quote<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 3<br /> <br /> Il.—Tue PusLisHER AND THE AGENT.<br /> <br /> Owing to the constantly renewed endeavour of<br /> publishers to obtain control of outside markets<br /> on a profit-sharing arrangement it is necessary<br /> once more to call the attention of authors to the<br /> dangers of the position. In the first place pub-<br /> lishers are not literary agents. This work is not<br /> primarily their business. They are the authors’<br /> agents for the publication of their books only.<br /> Two points follow from this, one that a great<br /> majority of publishers have not the same facili-<br /> ties either as authors themselves or authors’<br /> agents; and two, those publishers that have<br /> these facilities use them for the purpose of their<br /> own pecuniary advantage to the detriment of the<br /> authors. The words “ outside rights” have been<br /> used in the sentence above. It is necessary to<br /> explain them as this article deals practically with<br /> “outside rights ” only.<br /> <br /> The author can divide his property up into<br /> many rights. The chief of these are as follows:<br /> <br /> Serial rights in England.<br /> <br /> Serial rights in America.<br /> <br /> Serial rights in the Colonies.<br /> <br /> Book production in England.<br /> <br /> Book production in America.<br /> <br /> Book production in the Colonies.<br /> <br /> Continental rights in English.<br /> <br /> Translation rights in the different countries<br /> under the Berne Convention, and in some cases<br /> <br /> Dramatic rights.<br /> <br /> Now, the English publisher ought to deal only<br /> with the publication of the book in England, and<br /> perhaps its colonies and dependencies.<br /> <br /> Under many forms of agreement put forward<br /> by the best houses in London the publisher asks<br /> for all the other rights enumerated beyond the<br /> publication of the book as above referred to.<br /> These other rights are termed here, for the sake<br /> of convenience, ‘ outside rights.”<br /> <br /> It has been stated that the majority of pub-<br /> lishers have not the same facilities for placing<br /> these outside rights. It isa fact that they are<br /> not in touch with the editors of magazines like<br /> an author’s agent. ‘They cannot diagnose what<br /> stories certain magazines may desire at certain<br /> times like authors’ agents, or even like the authors<br /> themselves. They have not the possibilities of<br /> placing these rights that frequently come to an<br /> agent of recognised position. _<br /> <br /> But it should be pointed out in the second<br /> place, that in many cases the publisher’s interest<br /> is antagonistic to the author’s interest in securing<br /> a financial return for these rights, and this is<br /> especially the case with regard to the American<br /> market. It very frequently does not pay the<br /> publisher to go to the trouble of securing<br /> American copyright for an author when he has<br /> <br /> VOL. &amp;.<br /> <br /> car<br /> <br /> control of the American market, but pays him<br /> much better to sell sheets that have been<br /> printed in England, or stereos that have been<br /> manufactured here, on terms which are not<br /> invariably fully disclosed. In consequence he<br /> will rather take this latter step and obtain 50<br /> per cent. of the net profits from the author than<br /> move on the author’s behalf to obtain the<br /> American copyright.<br /> <br /> In the third place, this great difficulty should<br /> be pointed out, that when an author is receiving<br /> a royalty on the publication in England, it is a<br /> mistake to mix up with such royalty agreement a<br /> share profit arrangement for the sale of rights to<br /> either the Colonies or America, for it has not in-<br /> frequently happened that the publishers holding<br /> an agreement on this basis have failed to obtain<br /> the American copyright, and have then sold a<br /> large set of sheets to America, charging against<br /> such sheets (if the number happened to be half<br /> the amount printed) a half also of the cost of<br /> composition. As the author’s royalty is being<br /> paid on the understanding that the cost of<br /> composition is charged against the English<br /> edition, it is not fair that half the cost of compo-<br /> sition should then be charged against the<br /> American or Colonial edition. The cost of<br /> machining and paper alone should be charged<br /> against these editions. Not long ago a case came<br /> before the Society worked out on the basis<br /> pointed out above, in which the sale showed no<br /> profits whatever—that is, of course, as far as the<br /> author was concerned.<br /> <br /> The fourth point, and by far the most impor-<br /> tant point, is the following: that the publisher<br /> generally asks for half profits on American rights,<br /> that is, 50 per cent. of the profits, whereas an<br /> author’s agent for doing the same work asks<br /> 10, and, at the outside, 20 per cent. This<br /> point has been put forward in The Author<br /> already on two or three different occasions, and<br /> it was shown that over a large series of agree-<br /> ments the lowest a publisher asked was 25 per<br /> cent.; so that it cannot possibly be to the advan-<br /> tage of an author to place these rights in the<br /> hands of a publisher on the terms they generally<br /> quote. It may be the case, however, that<br /> American publishers refuse to take matter from an<br /> author direct or through an author’s agent, when<br /> they will accept an offer from a publisher in<br /> England which may be arranged to the mutual<br /> benefit of the American and English publisher.<br /> Tf this is the case, and if it should happen that<br /> the publishers are endeavouring to make a close<br /> ring, the point for the Authors’ Society to aim at<br /> is to erect publishers in America who will stand<br /> outside such a ring. This will not be a difficult<br /> thing to manage, as the control of the market<br /> <br /> E<br /> 56 THE<br /> <br /> o<br /> <br /> can never lie with the publisher, but must finally<br /> lie in the author’s own hands. t+. H<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> TI] —A New Yorx AcEncy.<br /> <br /> A prospectus has come to the offices of the<br /> Society from the International Press Association<br /> Literary Syndicate and Agency of New York and<br /> London, 114, Fifth-avenue, New York. The<br /> name of one of the directors is Mr. Charles F,<br /> Rideal, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature<br /> of Great Britain, author of “ Wellerisms,”<br /> “People we Meet,” “Charles Dickens’ Heroines<br /> and Women Folk,” editor of “ American Men of<br /> the. Time,” “American Women of the Time,”<br /> formerly editor of Life, The Magazine and Book<br /> Review (England), &amp;c., and he is assisted by an<br /> &lt; experienced staff.” This Mr. Charles F. Rideal<br /> is apparently the gentleman who was for some<br /> years manager of the Roxburghe Press, that held<br /> its offices at 15, Victoria-street, S.W.<br /> <br /> To members of the Society and other persons<br /> interested, therefore, this notification will be amply<br /> sufficient.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> IV.—A Sone AGREEMENT: witH NoTEs.<br /> <br /> [Norrce.—In all cases in which publishers’<br /> agreements are printed and commented on in The<br /> Author a copy of the paper will henceforth be sent<br /> to the firm concerned, accompanied by a letter<br /> drawing their attention to the comments and offer-<br /> ing them the opportunity of making any reply in<br /> The Author in case they should desire to do so.]<br /> <br /> (coPY.)<br /> <br /> This indenture made the day of<br /> <br /> one thousand eight hundred and between<br /> of (hereinafter called the vendor),<br /> of the one part, and in the county of<br /> music publishers for themselves, and<br /> ¢o-partners in the firm of (hereinafter<br /> <br /> called the purchasers) of the other part.<br /> Witnesseth that, in consideration of the sum of<br /> pence for every copy to be published and<br /> sold by the purchasers (except one copy im seven,<br /> according to the usual trade custom, and except<br /> to copies sent to the United States of America<br /> and Canada, for which only half the above sum is<br /> to be paid per copy), to be paid by the purchasers<br /> to the vendor so long as the copyright shall last<br /> for the absolute purchase of the copyright and<br /> rights of publication, representation and perform-<br /> ance, and all other the rights, property, and<br /> interests intended to be hereby assigned, he, the<br /> vendor, as beneficial owner, doth hereby assign<br /> unto the purchasers all the copyright and right<br /> of publication, representation, performance of<br /> him, the vendor, of and in the musical com-<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> positions or works specified in the schedule here-<br /> under written, including the title and words<br /> thereof for the United Kingdom of Great Britain<br /> and Ireland, including the Channel Islands and<br /> its colonies and dependencies, and for all foreign<br /> countries. And all other property, rights, and<br /> interests, whether at law or in equity of him the<br /> yendor, therein or thereto, to hold the same unto<br /> the purchasers for their absolute property.<br /> <br /> And the purchasers hereby covenant with the<br /> vendor that the purchasers will cause to be<br /> entered into proper books to be kept by them a<br /> true account of all copies of the said compositions<br /> sold by them, and allow such account to be<br /> inspected at all reasonable times by the vendor,<br /> and will pay, or cause to be paid, to the vendor<br /> the aforesaid sum of pence for each copy<br /> (except as and subject to reduction above men-<br /> tioned) on or about the first day of January in<br /> each year so long as the copyright shall last.<br /> <br /> In witness whereof the said parties to these<br /> presents have hereunto set their hands and seals<br /> the day and year first above written.<br /> <br /> The schedule above referred to.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The agreement printed above is an agreement<br /> for the publication of a song. Music, like the<br /> Drama, has two distinct rights,—the right. of<br /> production in printed form and the performing<br /> right.<br /> <br /> Tn the drama the performing right as a rule<br /> is the most remunerative. With regard to music<br /> certain songs, like music hall songs, theatre<br /> songs, &amp;c., are more remunerative on account of<br /> their performing right, though sometimes both<br /> rights bring in considérable sums, and other<br /> songs (ballads, and other pieces of “this kind) are<br /> more remunerative on account of the reproduc-<br /> tion in printed form. In any case and in any<br /> agreement that deals with property that has<br /> these two rights, the composer should consider<br /> carefully how he deals with these rights, and<br /> under no consideration should he assign his pro-<br /> perty absolutely to the publisher unless he binds<br /> the publisher by some stringent clauses to<br /> protect himself as composer.<br /> <br /> The agreement put forward above refers to a<br /> song in which the copyright (meaning the right<br /> of reproduction in printed form) was of more<br /> value than the performing right, and will be<br /> considered from this point of view. It is hardly<br /> necessary to state that the form of agreement<br /> from the author&#039;s point of view is almost as bad<br /> as it can possibly be in a case where he still<br /> retains a future benefit from the sale of his work<br /> on the royalty system, but unfortunately it not<br /> infrequently occurs that the agreements put<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 37<br /> <br /> before composers by musical publishers are the<br /> worst possible for the composer and the best<br /> possible for the publisher. The time is come<br /> when the musical author should stand up against<br /> signing an agreement such as the one quoted.<br /> <br /> Leaving out the parties to the agreement, we<br /> see the words “every copy to be published.”<br /> There is no undertaking by the publisher that<br /> the work shall be produced, and there is no state-<br /> ment with regard to the form of its production or<br /> the price at which it is to be sold. The composer<br /> is to be paid pence on every copy sold.<br /> This might be a fair royalty if the song was<br /> produced at one price and an absolutely unfair<br /> royalty if the song was produced at another<br /> price. No doubt the publisher’s} response to a<br /> statement of this kind would be ‘“ Everyone<br /> knows the form in which a song is produced.”<br /> If this were the case there would be no harm what-<br /> ever in inserting it in the agreement.<br /> <br /> With regard to the question of royalties—it<br /> may be remembered that the cost of production<br /> of a song, in proportion to its sale price, is<br /> exceedingly small in comparison with the cost of<br /> production of a book with regard to its sale price ;<br /> in fact, the ratio is almost one to two; therefore,<br /> if an author received a royalty of 10 per cent. on<br /> a book he ought to receive a royalty of 20 per<br /> cent. on a song taking the author’s capacity as<br /> an equal factor in both cases. This point is of<br /> the greatest importance to musical authors, and<br /> cannot be too often stated. There is a further<br /> point to be considered. The royalty is not paid<br /> on every copy sold, but seven copies are reckoned<br /> as six, “ according to the usual trade custom.”<br /> This may be the usual trade custom, when seven<br /> copies are sold at a time, but the distributing<br /> agencies in the music tradeare not like the distribu-<br /> ting agencies in the book trade, and many more<br /> copies are sold at full price from the publisher’s<br /> office than there are ever sold of a book at full<br /> price from the same source. Another point: In<br /> book publication where this so-called trade custom<br /> comes in, thirteen copies are sold as twelve.<br /> Here we see a trade custom claimed of seven as<br /> six. This is a large gain to the publisher.<br /> <br /> Another point: the royalties paid in most<br /> agreements rise in proportion to the sales for the<br /> good reason that the cost of production of a<br /> second thousand is not as expensive as that of<br /> the first thousand, and if the work is produced<br /> in thousands at a time it becomes cheaper still.<br /> Here, however, there is no mention of a rising<br /> royalty. This is another substantial gain to the<br /> publisher.<br /> <br /> With regard to royalties on copies sold in the<br /> United States and Canada the amount is reduced<br /> to half, but the method of obtaining protection<br /> <br /> von. x.<br /> <br /> for musical pieces across the Atlantic is simple, as<br /> music has not by the American law to be manu-<br /> factured in America, and whereas on account of<br /> the double cost of production of books and other<br /> particulars with regard to the circulation of<br /> American literature the royalty in America varies<br /> three to five pomts per cent. below the royalties<br /> in England, on musical publication under this<br /> agreement it is to be 50 per cent. Thisfrom the<br /> composer&#039;s point of view, again, is a very bad<br /> feature.<br /> <br /> Then follows, perhaps, the most serious blot in<br /> the whole agreement from the composer’s point<br /> of view. The composer sells and transfers the<br /> copyright and performing right and all other<br /> rights in all the other countries that the pub-<br /> lisher can possibly ask for. This transfer is very<br /> dangerous, for there is nothing to prevent the<br /> publisher producing the song in other forms with<br /> alterations and adaptations as dancing music or<br /> as popular pianoforte music with variations. If<br /> he did so, and obtained a large sale for such<br /> variations or adaptations, the author might very<br /> strongly object, but would have very great difti-<br /> culty in proving a case against the publisher,<br /> his only remedy being one for damage to his<br /> reputation, about which there might be a strong<br /> diversity of opinion, the publisher holding that<br /> the increased advertisement is beneficial, the<br /> author objecting from personal grounds. It is<br /> most important, therefore, that the composer<br /> should not transfer the copyright, but should<br /> transfer only the right to publish in a specified<br /> form—that is, song form—under specified condi-<br /> tions.<br /> <br /> It is possible, for some reason or other, that<br /> the publisher might withdraw the song from the<br /> market. There is nothing to prevent him doing<br /> so, and the composer might thereby lose a certain<br /> source of income, and be unable to take any<br /> steps to compel the publisher. If the publisher<br /> holds the copyright and performing right, in case<br /> of bankruptcy those rights would be liable to go<br /> as assets of the estate, and in alien hands might<br /> be used in many ways to the disadvantage of the<br /> composer. Again, there is nothing to compel the<br /> publisher to affix the composer’s name to the pro-<br /> duction. It is improbable that the publisher<br /> would produce it without the composer’s name<br /> attached, but, when the question of copyright<br /> comes in, it is important that the composer should<br /> be guarded on all these points.<br /> <br /> Next as to the performing right. It was<br /> stated at the beginning of this article that this<br /> agreement referred to a song the chief value in<br /> which to the composer lay in the right of repro-<br /> duction. Under these circumstances, it might be<br /> argued that the performing right was of not<br /> <br /> E 2<br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 38<br /> <br /> much value; but in answer to this it should be<br /> stated that it is most important for the composer<br /> to retain control of this right, for if he sells the<br /> copyright, as pointed out, the publisher might<br /> produce the air in the form of dance music.<br /> Consequent on that, there might be the value of<br /> the thing as a performing right. Again, if the<br /> song became popular, the performing right (to<br /> take the ludicrous side of the question) might be<br /> of value to the organ-grinder, and the publisher<br /> might sell the right or deal with it contrary to<br /> the desire of the composer. The composer, there-<br /> fore, should certainly have control of this side of<br /> his property.<br /> <br /> There is nothing specified in the agreement by<br /> which the composer should obtain any return in<br /> case the performing right should at any time and<br /> under any circumstance become valuable. If the<br /> composer gives away a control of this right he<br /> should certainly do so for a substantial considera-<br /> tion.<br /> <br /> The annual account clause is bad. This point<br /> has repeatedly been pointed out in The A uthor.<br /> <br /> To sum up from the musical author&#039;s point of<br /> view, it is unfortunately the case that nearly all<br /> the agreements for the sale of musical compasi-<br /> tions transfer to the publisher copyright and<br /> performing right unless such compositions are<br /> specially written for the stage. “It is time that<br /> musical authors made a firm stand against<br /> selling their property in this haphazard way to<br /> publishers. If some of the better known musical<br /> authors began in the first instance to take this<br /> step they would gradually build up for them-<br /> <br /> ‘selves and their fellow composers a tower. of<br /> strength which would enable them successfully<br /> to resist these encroachments, and it is with this<br /> object in view that some of the difficulties of the<br /> agreement set forth above have been explained in<br /> detail. G. H. T.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> V.— INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT.<br /> <br /> The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge<br /> secured on June 13 an injunction against Messrs.<br /> Gill and Sons, publishers of educational manuals,<br /> who exhibited the results of the Revised Version<br /> of the Bible as compared with the earlier version,<br /> without any licence to-do so. It was alleged that<br /> such publication was an infringement of a copy-<br /> right for which they had paid the Revisers not<br /> less than £20,000. After hearing Mr. Birrell,<br /> Q.C., M.P.,.for the Universities’ Press, and Mr.<br /> Etve for the defence, and two witnesses, ;<br /> <br /> The judge (Mr. Cozens-Hardy) said the title of<br /> the plaintiffs to the copyright had been formally<br /> proved, and had not been challenged. The only<br /> question he had to ecnsider was whether or not<br /> there had keen an infringement of the copyright<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOL.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> in the sense that the court required an infringe-<br /> ment to be proved. He held that this was not a<br /> mere matter of quantity, but rather of quality—<br /> the editor of the manuals haying taken all that<br /> was most peculiar, most material, and most<br /> important in the Revised Version. It seemed to<br /> him impossible to doubt that the defendants had<br /> deliberately and of set purpose—without, he was<br /> willing to assume, any consciousness that they<br /> were doing wrong—extracted from the Revised<br /> Version and put in their own books every single<br /> passage in the Revised Version which they<br /> thought and conceived could be of any import-<br /> ance for the comparative study of the old and<br /> new versions. If that was not an infringement<br /> of copyright, he did not know what was. There<br /> was a plain infringement of the copyright, and<br /> he must grant the injunction claimed with costs<br /> against the defendants.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> VI.—A Case To BE Reap.<br /> <br /> An author wrote a book which he laid before a<br /> publisher with a view of getting published. The<br /> publisher after full consideration of the matter<br /> undertook to publish the book on the usual half<br /> profit basis, by which the publisher was to take<br /> all the risk and expense of the cost of production<br /> and the author was to share with him, in equal<br /> portions, the net profits of the sale. It is need-<br /> less to repeat that from the author&#039;s point of<br /> view a half-profit agreement is a thoroughly<br /> undesirable arrangement, but the author foolishly<br /> considered, under the special circumstances of the<br /> case, it was worth his while to close with the bar-<br /> gain. The publisher, however, said that he could<br /> not do the book justice by way of advertising (in<br /> other words he could not do his duty by the book)<br /> unless the author bound himself to him for the<br /> production of his next two books on the same<br /> terms. This, of course, was a worse arrangement<br /> still for the author, who did not consider with<br /> proper care the difficulties of his position before<br /> entering into the contract. He signed the con-<br /> tract without proper advice.<br /> <br /> Tt seems a curious fact that a publisher cannot<br /> deal fairly with the author in the matter of one<br /> book unless the author binds himself for the<br /> production of two others, but this was suggested<br /> by the publisher as a reason in this particular<br /> instance. It is much more likely that an author<br /> would stick to a publisher for good and all if<br /> he received fair treatment and fair considera-<br /> tion in the first instance, instead of an agreement<br /> which in any event could be nothing but dis-<br /> astrous. In this case, as in many others of a<br /> similar: nature, the author, finding he has teen<br /> treated badly, acts up to the letter of the agree-<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. a<br /> <br /> ment, and then leaves the publisher for good and<br /> all with a bad word to every other author who<br /> thinks of going to that house. But itis not with<br /> this point of view that the case is put forward.<br /> What happened was as follows: The first book<br /> was produced, and in the course of the year did<br /> exceedingly well for a first book, the sale running<br /> to some 4000 copies. Before the accounts were<br /> rendered to the author, and the money which<br /> should have been due to him on the first book<br /> was paid, the publisher produced the second<br /> book, and when the author in due course asked<br /> for a cheque from the sale of the first book, he<br /> was met with the reply that the returns had been<br /> swallowed up in the cost of production of book<br /> number two. This was distinctly contrary to the<br /> agreement, as the author was not sharing in the<br /> risk of cost of production, but was sharing in the<br /> net profits. Again, however, the author took no<br /> advice, believing that the position was as stated.<br /> The second book went on the market and did<br /> well; not quite so well as the first book, but sold<br /> sufficient to pay expenses and show a reasonable<br /> profit. The third book was produced, and again<br /> the author was met with the same answer, namely,<br /> that the expense of the cost of production of the<br /> third book had swamped the profits of the other<br /> two, and again the author accepted the position.<br /> Finally when the third book had been produced,<br /> and had circulated in the usual way and the<br /> author was free, he received a small amount from<br /> the returns of the three books jointly, and not<br /> from the profits of the three books singly. This<br /> delay to the author was serious.<br /> <br /> It is needless to say that the author had no<br /> voice in the cost of production, in the amount to<br /> be spent on advertising, and other little details<br /> which would readily swamp the profits for the<br /> author, though not necessarily for the publisher.<br /> Tf the result was unsatisfactory for the author, it<br /> will in the end be also unsatisfactory for the pub-<br /> lisher, because the tale of the author’s treatment<br /> will not only prevent the author from going there<br /> again, but will keep all his friends from the same<br /> house. Why are publishers so short-sighted ?<br /> <br /> GH. OU.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Vil.—ImprriaL Press, Limirep, v. JOHNSON.<br /> <br /> This case was heard in the Queen’s Bench on<br /> May 4. The plaintiffs were a publishing com-<br /> pany carrying on business in London, and the<br /> defendant the Rev. Theodore Johnson, of Bodiam<br /> Rectory, Hawkhurst, Sussex. ‘the claim was for<br /> £400 damages for alleged breach of contract and<br /> warranty on the part of the defendant relating to<br /> his work, “Imperial Britain,” published by the<br /> plaintiffs. The defendant denied that he had<br /> made any special contract with the plaintiffs, and<br /> <br /> said that the manuscript of the book was sub-<br /> mitted to the plaintiffs in the usual way, they<br /> having full opportunity of judging of the character<br /> of the book, and they accepted the same with full<br /> approval in the usual manner of publishers. The<br /> defendant counter-claimed that the plaintiffs<br /> undertook to pay £25 on the publication of the<br /> first book, which they refused to do.<br /> <br /> The Rev. Mr. Johnson, the defendant, in exami-<br /> nation, said he was the rector of Bodiam, being<br /> appointed in 1895. Prior to that he had for<br /> fourteen years been a chief inspector of schools<br /> in the Diocese of Rochester. Before he wrote<br /> this work he had written some ten or twelve<br /> other books for various publishers.- One of them<br /> was written in conjunction with Sir Henry Bem-<br /> rose, and was published with the permission of<br /> the Universities. Another of his works was on<br /> history, another on geography, and others were<br /> religious. In September, 1896, the witness<br /> arranged with the plaintiff company to write the<br /> book in question, and before that he had partly pre-<br /> pared the matter. For the purpose of the work he<br /> had purchased a largenumber of works of reference.<br /> He did his best to write a reliable and useful<br /> work. The book dealt with a large number of<br /> matters, and it would have been little short of a<br /> miracle if it did not contain some mistakes. A<br /> first edition of such a work could not be entirely<br /> without inaccuracies, and the author could not<br /> avoid proof errors. A large portion of the work<br /> had not been challenged, and he had received<br /> many letters of approval from high and distin-<br /> euished authorities.<br /> <br /> Questioned by counsel as to the various state-<br /> ments, the witness quoted authorities for them.<br /> He did not defend the statement that Pretoria was<br /> the capital of British Zambesia. He did not<br /> mean to say that arsenic and’ Epsom salts were<br /> building stones. They came under a wrong<br /> heading through a mistake in the numbering.<br /> They should have come under the heading<br /> of “Mineral Products,’ and the matter in<br /> regard to them had got out of place. As to the<br /> statement that London has seven Parliamentary<br /> boroughs, he supposed that he had taken the old<br /> Parliamentary boroughs. “Earth worms” under<br /> reptiles, was a slip.<br /> <br /> The witness in cross-examination denied he had<br /> had the assistance of half a dozen persons in com-<br /> pleting this work. A number of other witnesses<br /> were examined in support of the defendant&#039;s case.<br /> <br /> The Lord Chief Justice, in addressing the jury,<br /> commented in severe terms upon defendant’s<br /> work, and then went on to speak of the pre-<br /> tensions of Mr. Heath, the plaintiff, and the<br /> Imperial Press. So far as he had been able to<br /> ascertain, said his Lordship, ‘Imperial Press,<br /> 40<br /> <br /> Limited,” was Mr. Heath, and Mr. Heath only.<br /> A more audacious document than that put<br /> forward by him under this high-sounding and<br /> pretentious title, to the effect that fifty or sixty<br /> honourable names were behind him in an effort<br /> to extend and strengthen the British Empire,<br /> his Lordship had never seen. He hoped that if<br /> Mr. Heath again found it necessary to supple-<br /> ment his duties as a public servant by the publi-<br /> cation of books, he would not issue a second<br /> edition of such a document as that. His Lord-<br /> ship added that he did not want to exaggerate<br /> this matter, but when persons and companies<br /> asked the Court for damages it was necessary to<br /> bear facts of this kind in mind.<br /> <br /> The jury found that the contract of July 21,<br /> 1898 did not contain the whole of the agree-<br /> ment; that there was an implied cbligation on<br /> behalf of the defendant to use reasonable care;<br /> that the defendant did not use reasonable care;<br /> that the want of such care did not contribute to<br /> the plaintiff&#039;s loss, and that the plaintiffs were<br /> not entitled to any sum in damages. His Lord-<br /> ship at first said that was a verdict for the defen-<br /> dant, but that as the action was on a contract,<br /> the plaintiffs were entitled to nominal damages,<br /> which he fixedat 1s. The defendant was entitled<br /> on the counter-claim for £25, and he would con-<br /> sider whether he should not deprive him of<br /> costs.<br /> <br /> Dec<br /> <br /> NOTES ON THE PUBLISHERS’ CONGRESS.<br /> <br /> HE International Meeting of Publishers is<br /> over. The report of the proceedings has<br /> been given to the world. There was an<br /> <br /> opening meeting : there was a dinner: there were<br /> papers read on National Bibliographies: on the<br /> ‘‘ Protection of new Ideas in Form and Get up”’<br /> —a very remarkable and mysterious title; on<br /> Right in Titles: on the Reproduction of Works<br /> of Art: on Overs in Printing; on Cheap Books:<br /> on International Protection of Publishing Rights :<br /> on Agreements between Authors and Publishers:<br /> on Canadian Copyright: on Copyright in Educa-<br /> tional works: on Quotations in Reviews: on the<br /> Convention of Berne: on Booksellers: on the<br /> right of National Libraries: on the coercion of<br /> Booksellers: and one or two other subjects.<br /> <br /> Very much of what was discussed might have<br /> been considered by a congress of authors.<br /> Throughout the meeting, however, it was calmly<br /> assumed that literary property belongs wholly to<br /> the publisher: there was not one word which<br /> would imply to the outside world the recogni-<br /> tion of the fact that literary property belongs<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> to the author, and is administered by the pub-<br /> lisher as a man or a company may administer<br /> a mine.<br /> <br /> The Society of Authors was alluded to by the<br /> President, Mr. John Murray, in his opening<br /> speech. He said that one of the reasons of their<br /> meeting was “that we may assert to the world at<br /> large the true position which we hold in the<br /> world of letters. This position is recognised by<br /> all the best and most distinguished writers. We<br /> are proud of it, and we claim that our traditions are<br /> as precious to us and that our sense of honour-<br /> able dealing is as keen and as true as that of any<br /> other class. We here undergo periodical<br /> attacks, which certainly display no inconsiderable<br /> vigour from a certain small class of guasi-authors,<br /> but they have done but little harm. They suffer<br /> from three radical defects. In the first place,<br /> they are too sweeping. They condemn a whole<br /> class, and rarely, if ever, bring to light a definite<br /> misdemeanour. Secondly, they are, intentionally<br /> or unintentionally, based on the assumption that<br /> the whole race of publishers are dishonest men.<br /> And lastly, they display a curious ignorance of<br /> what the work of a publisher really is.” We<br /> can have no possible objection to Mr. Murray<br /> being proud of the view with which the world<br /> regards his trade. He is probably thinking of the<br /> recognition bestowed by Thackeray on Bacon and<br /> Bungay, those virtuous philanthropists; or he is<br /> thinking of the present position, which is such<br /> that few authors will have anything to do with<br /> publishers except through an agent—the honour-<br /> able houses being mixed up with the others. A<br /> noble position, indeed! The position which he<br /> claims was not explained unless by talk about the<br /> debt of gratitude to publishers—for what? For<br /> the binding and the gilt? Notatall. Forthe<br /> “intrinsic worth” of books, mark you, owing “ to<br /> the advice and the experience of men of our<br /> craft”! This is indeed wonderful. It is the first<br /> time in the history of literature that publishers<br /> have set up a claim to be the advisers in the<br /> creation of literature. I dare say it will not be<br /> the last. Who wrote Tennyson’s Poems? Did<br /> you not know? Messrs. Macmillan, of course.<br /> And Swinburne’s? His publishers.<br /> <br /> The allusion to this Society as a “small class<br /> of quasi-authors” is also a new departure—for<br /> Albemarle-street. One did not expect it from<br /> that quarter. The list of our Council which<br /> adorns the frontispiece of The Author gives a<br /> longish list of the “ guast-authors.”<br /> <br /> As for the “sweeping charges” and the<br /> assumption that all publishers are dishonest—<br /> where are they ? What does the following passage<br /> mean? It is taken out of certain notes published<br /> every month for some years—in fact, until May,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 4)<br /> <br /> inclusive, of the present year, when it was taken<br /> out, having done its work :<br /> <br /> “The Society is acquainted with the methods<br /> and—in the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks<br /> of every publishing firm in the country.”<br /> <br /> Will Mr. Murray be good enough to say how<br /> the Committee could more clearly and distinctly<br /> distinguish between the sheep and the goats?<br /> Or is he prepared to maintain that there is no<br /> such thing as a dishonest publisher? And is he<br /> prepared to assert that all the cases adduced in<br /> the Society’s publication, cases furnished by<br /> the Secretary, cases which have gone before<br /> the Committee, are inventions? If so, he will<br /> take even a bolder line, if not one so original, as<br /> the proposition that literature owes its “ intrinsic<br /> worth to the advice and the experience’”’ of the<br /> publisher. Tn turning over the pages of The<br /> Author, I have come across passages by the<br /> dogen in which the distinction is expressly drawn<br /> between honourable houses and the reverse. But<br /> the “reverse’’ are not always the smaller houses.<br /> <br /> As for the display of a “ curious ignorance ” of<br /> a publisher’s work, since the Society has ascer-<br /> tained and published for the information of those<br /> concerned all the details of the publisher’s trade,<br /> including most of the tricks of those who play<br /> tricks, the only ignorance left is that curious<br /> ignorance about the origin of the “ intrinsic<br /> worth” of literature. On that point the Society<br /> is still most curiously ignorant.<br /> <br /> After the dinner, when tongues may be allowed<br /> a little more licence, Mr. Murray became waggish.<br /> “He knew that there was a small society which<br /> vowed vengeance against all publishers.’ And<br /> he humorously suggested the danger of their<br /> being blown up by a new Gunpowder Plot<br /> hatched by the small society.<br /> <br /> Now, let us ask seriously why does Mr. Murray<br /> object to the protection of literary property in the<br /> interests of those who create it and to whom it<br /> belongs until they part with it? Why does he<br /> object to the exposure of tricks when tricks are<br /> discovered Why does he allege ‘“ sweeping<br /> charges” ? What, in a word, is the secret of his<br /> hostility ?<br /> <br /> Is it not, one may a!so ask, a very remarkable<br /> thing, and a thing not known in any other pro-<br /> fession or in any other trade, that an association<br /> for the protection of one of two parties to a busi-<br /> ness transaction should be continually attacked<br /> by the other party concerned ?<br /> <br /> _As regards the papers read, Mr. Bell’s paper on<br /> Titles was practical. He proposed the creation of<br /> copyright in titles by a system of registration.<br /> <br /> The subject of “ overs” was interesting in one<br /> way. Two years ago I stated that the “overs”<br /> probably provided a good many of the books<br /> <br /> wanted for review: this was flatly and vehe-<br /> mently denied. Only ignorance, it was said, cou&#039;d<br /> have prompted such a suggestion. Well, but I<br /> knew what I was saying. And it is now admitted<br /> that in every 500 sheets there are sixteen “ overs,”<br /> but that, by imperfections in the other copies,<br /> these may dwindle down to what makes just 2 per<br /> cent. It follows, therefore, that with an edition<br /> of 3000 copies there would be sixty “overs.”<br /> This provides amply for review copies. I was<br /> therefore right, after all. It was also asserted<br /> that the ‘overs’ are regarded by the author as a<br /> margin for soiled books: also asa margin for bad<br /> debts. I beg to state that not one author in a<br /> thousand knows that there are such things as<br /> “overs,” and that this story about the margin is<br /> rubbish. Now consider the case of a book which<br /> has a great run, say, of 10,000 copies. There are<br /> 200 “overs.” If it is a six-shilling book at a<br /> royalty of 20 per cent., this represents a trifle of<br /> £12. I would advise authors to look after their<br /> “ overs.”<br /> <br /> On cheap literature the Congress declined to<br /> commit themselves to any resolution whatever.<br /> <br /> On the agreements between author and pub-<br /> lisher a list of clauses was submitted. On<br /> this list one need only add that the Secretary<br /> of our Society would have a great deal to say.<br /> Mr. Murray, however, added a few remarks of his<br /> own:<br /> <br /> “They started to work more than two years<br /> ago to draw up a form of agreement between<br /> authors and publishers which should cover the<br /> difficulties. They drew up drafts to cover every<br /> case, and they took the opinion of a very eminent<br /> lawyer, who said it was a perfectly fair and just<br /> form of agreement. It was their desire that the<br /> Authors’ Society—not a society representing all<br /> the authors in England by any means, but a<br /> society which occupied itself in the author&#039;s<br /> interest—should have the draft submitted to them<br /> and that there should be a conference to talk it<br /> over so that they could come to some common<br /> agreement, but the Authors’ Society took a<br /> different view of the matter. They had, he<br /> believed, attacked these forms of agreement in<br /> very severe language, and there lay a difficulty.<br /> If they were to be faced with that sort of treat-<br /> ment it would be very difficult for lawyers alone<br /> to draw up anything very satisfactory. There<br /> must be a bargain before the agreement, for the<br /> agreement was not the bargain. They had toa<br /> certain extent come to a deadlock there because<br /> they treated the agreement as a bargain made in<br /> favour of the publisher. The whole thing was a<br /> complete misunderstanding, and they all regretted.<br /> that, because their great desire was to come to<br /> favourable terms with the authors.”<br /> 42 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> He did not explain that nothing was said about<br /> previous “bargains”; that the draft agreements<br /> claimed for the publisher the right—the absolute<br /> right—to charge blank percentages on gross<br /> receipts. for his own office expenses, allowing no<br /> office expenses at all for author or bookseller ; that<br /> no kind of safeguard was proposed against over-<br /> charging: that on commission books the agree-<br /> ments demanded a blank percentage on every<br /> single item, in addition to a commission on sales<br /> and discounts: that not a word was said against<br /> charging for advertisements which have cost<br /> nothing : not a word on the right of audit: nota<br /> word on the possibility of dishonesty—the pub-<br /> lisher alone among mankind being assumed incap-<br /> able of dishonesty : and that they actually claimed<br /> rights dramatic, American, colonial, and those of<br /> translation. It was a great pity that he did not<br /> explain these little facts, because, had he done so,<br /> his audience would have understood the action of<br /> the Society—this small Society of guasi-authors<br /> —which will never allow those draft agreements<br /> to become the rule, and which has so far effectively<br /> prevented their adoption even by the committee<br /> which proposed them.<br /> <br /> He did not explain, either, why if these draft<br /> agreements referred to previous “ bargains” he<br /> had not withdrawn his name from them and<br /> disavowed them.<br /> <br /> There was a long discussion about Canadian<br /> copyright, in which Mr. Daldy appears to have<br /> ignored absolutely the action of the Society of<br /> Authors, both in Canada and in Lord Monks-<br /> well&#039;s Bill, and with the Government at home.<br /> <br /> Mr. Edward Marston deplored the grievance of<br /> giving five copies to the National Libraries: he<br /> found this mare’s nest some time ago, and wrote<br /> a letter to one of the papers in which he estimated<br /> the loss by this tax to amount from the year<br /> 1837 to the present day to £375,000. This<br /> seems terrible indeed. Divided by sixty it, means<br /> £6250 a year. There are about 400 publishers<br /> in the Directory: or about 100 who may be<br /> seriously considered. It means, therefore,<br /> £62 10s. a year for every one. This must be<br /> acknowledged to be a very heavy tax. But let<br /> us look into the conditions. The theory supposes<br /> that these books would all have been sold.<br /> Would they ? Very few books sell out the whole<br /> edition and are then finished: the demand ceases<br /> before, or continues after, the first edition: it ceases<br /> before the exhaustion of the second or other<br /> future edition and after the appearance of the first<br /> edition. There is therefore no loss at all, with<br /> the exception of those very, very few books where<br /> the demand proves exactly equal to the first edition,<br /> or is so small when that is done that itis not worth<br /> while to bring out a new edition. We may also<br /> <br /> except a very few limited editions of illustrated<br /> books. On the whole, therefore, the tax is no<br /> tax at all. In every case where there are<br /> remainders after the demand ceases, whether in<br /> the first or the fiftieth edition, there is no loss<br /> except of the few pence which the five copies<br /> would fetch as remainders.<br /> <br /> There is one great lesson which the congress of<br /> publishers ought to teach us, namely :—<br /> <br /> It is useless to expect that any heed will be<br /> paid to the true evils of the publishing trade.<br /> These are (1) the absence of any safeguard<br /> against dishonesty: (2) the determination to<br /> regard literary property as their own to<br /> administer as they please: (3) their resentment<br /> of any action on the part of the creators of literary<br /> property to defend their own interests: (4) their<br /> manifest intention not to take one single step<br /> towards the abolition of secret profits.<br /> <br /> This lesson was proclaimed aloud in every<br /> speech and in every paper: not one publisher<br /> rose to demand safeguards against dishonesty :<br /> not one spoke against secret profits. The lesson<br /> should be answered by those authors who are<br /> independent, by taking more and more the<br /> management of their affairs into their own hands,<br /> especially in the matter of advertising: and, if<br /> they are wise, by changing a partner or a fellow<br /> venturer who wants to be considered both an<br /> agent and a partner into a commission agent<br /> (see p. 49).<br /> <br /> &gt; —<br /> <br /> THE SIXPENNY BOOK.<br /> <br /> Er<br /> N | R. HALL CAINE, in an address delivered<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> before the Newsagents’ and Booksellers’<br /> <br /> Union, spoke at length on the sixpenny<br /> book and in favour of it. I should be sorry to<br /> misrepresent any of Mr. Caine’s arguments, Lut<br /> the address was too long for reproduction.<br /> <br /> The line he seems to take is this:<br /> <br /> (1) There has been a radical change in the<br /> methods of distribution. For the cheaper books<br /> are sold chiefly by the newsvendors. If this is<br /> the case it is a change of the greatest importance.<br /> <br /> (2) The sixpenny book need not displace the<br /> dearer book any more than a cheap restaurant<br /> ruins the dearer restaurant. No— but—but—<br /> reading is not dining. However he offered as a<br /> proof the fact that with a cheap edition of his<br /> last novel his American publisher sold another<br /> at a dollar and a half: of the former 100,000<br /> copies: of the latter, 14,000.<br /> <br /> (3) He does not believe that the cheap book<br /> will ruin the country bookseller, but if it does<br /> there is the newsvendor to fall back upon. Alas!<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Giie. AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> The newsvendor will not replace the bookseller.<br /> Under any changes of condition, we must still<br /> have the bookseller if our books are to be exhibited<br /> for sale.<br /> <br /> (4) He says that figures have been put forth<br /> which show that the author, with the sixpenny<br /> book, will see very little. He puts forward figures<br /> of his own. I hear that there has been sneering<br /> about these figures. Yet upon them depends the<br /> whole future of Literary Property. Thus :—<br /> <br /> Cost of production in quantities, twopence:<br /> price paid by bookseller he calls “nearly four-<br /> pence.” My own information sets it at 3{d.:<br /> book sold by bookseller at 43d. or at 6d.: at the<br /> lower price by the London booksellers. He goes<br /> on to say that there is twopence to divide between<br /> author and bookseller. I make it 1jd. Now, I<br /> am informed on the best authority that the royalty<br /> offered to the author is either 3d. or {d. That is,<br /> Tam told, the general rule. Mr. Caine, when he is<br /> offered 14d., is an exception. Now, ona royalty<br /> of 2d., the sale of 100,000 copies will bring: the<br /> author the sum of £250: of $d., £312 10s.: on<br /> a royalty of 14d., the sum of £625. Will a first-<br /> rate novelist think it worth his while to write a<br /> long novel for £250, or even for £625? Perhaps,<br /> however, Mr. Caine would bring it out in two<br /> forms simultaneously. It would be an interesting<br /> experiment. :<br /> <br /> (5) Mr. Hall Caine’s remarks on the fact that<br /> the best books, not the most trumpery books,<br /> are eagerly bought at 6d. are convincing. I<br /> have myself always maintained that the taste of<br /> the public is on the whole good and true: they<br /> may run after an unworthy book for a time, but<br /> they go back to their favourite authors.<br /> <br /> I have tried to present in brief the considera-<br /> tions which Mr. Hall Caine urged in favour of<br /> the sixpenny book.<br /> <br /> I am not prepared to dispute that if the news-<br /> vendors are to become vendors of the sixpenny<br /> book, the case is materially altered.<br /> <br /> I will endeavour to get information on this<br /> point.<br /> <br /> Meantime, I would ask, if the bookseller is to<br /> disappear, what will take his place? That his<br /> existence is threatened is quite clear, An<br /> attempt has been made to deprive him of the<br /> Englishman’s right of selling his own property as<br /> he pleases. The publishers offer him no advan-<br /> tages except a little larger margin in very high-<br /> priced books. He himself complains that every-<br /> ‘body wants to get books at 6d.<br /> <br /> Let us return to what was said last month. It<br /> is an experiment. How will it succeed? We<br /> shall learn before the end of the year. W. B.<br /> <br /> 43<br /> <br /> TI.—Nores on THE ABOVE.<br /> <br /> 1. On my way home from the meeting a news-<br /> vendor told me he had sold 600 copies of one of<br /> the sixpenny novels, and anotner newsvendor said<br /> he had sold 6000 sixpenny volumes during the<br /> autumn of last year.<br /> <br /> 2. My statement that the cheap book does not<br /> injure the dear one will be supported by Chatto<br /> and Windus in England, and by Appleton and<br /> Son and Dodd, Mead, and Co. in America. I<br /> am told by Mr. Heinemann that Macmillan and<br /> Co. take the same view.<br /> <br /> 3. If the sixpenny novel is sold chiefly by the<br /> newsagents, the bookseller, so far as the cheap<br /> book goes, is already replaced.<br /> <br /> 4. I say that the sixpenny book in- editions<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> of 100 does not cost so much as 2d., and<br /> that in larger editions it could be produced at<br /> tid. Also that 13d. is a practical author&#039;s<br /> <br /> royalty, and calculations should therefore be<br /> based on that figure. Further, that the most<br /> popular sixpenny novel has sold 250,000, and<br /> the next most popular nearly 2 . Finally,<br /> that these were sales of books from fifteen to<br /> thirty years old, and that a popular novelist<br /> publishing at 6d. from the outset might achieve<br /> a sale of half-a-million, and still leave 10,00¢<br /> readers who would rather buy his book at 6s.<br /> But I uphold the cheap book, not necessarily<br /> the sivpenny book. That price is, as you say, an<br /> experiment, and the practical price for a new<br /> novel will reveal itself by-and-bye. Meantime,<br /> for reasons you do not quote, I claim for the<br /> sixpenny book, first, that it is enlarging the<br /> number of readers; second, that it is elevating<br /> the taste in fiction; third, that it is purifying<br /> the morality of literature ; fourth, that it is<br /> making for the peace and general good ot the<br /> world. Therefore, if the sixpenny book should<br /> die the shilling, two-shilling, or half-crown book<br /> which may follow will have a better chance to<br /> <br /> live. H.-C.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> es<br /> <br /> PARIS NOTES.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 5, Rue Chomel, Paris.<br /> <br /> ge N grand homme vient de nous quitter.”<br /> <br /> Thus wrote one of his contemporaries<br /> <br /> in announcing the death of M. Fran-<br /> cisque Sarcey. The news created a profound<br /> sensation, for though Sarcey aimed at nothing<br /> higher than honestly meriting the titles of<br /> “critique national” and “ prince du bons sens”’<br /> that the Parisians had long since bestowed on<br /> him—in the paternal attitude he adopted towards<br /> the public; in his shrewd appreciation of the<br /> varying minds of men; in his sturdy champion-<br /> 44<br /> <br /> ship of the oppressed ; in his unwearied effort<br /> and immense success in making the loyalty and<br /> purity of his endeavour manifest to the world at<br /> large ; in his generous outstretching of the right<br /> hand of fellowship to his less gifted or less fortu-<br /> nate comrades; in his magnanimous acceptance<br /> of the burden imposed on him by the recognition<br /> of the universal brotherhood of humanity—he<br /> offered an example to all literary leaders. His<br /> sterling qualities were fully appreciated by<br /> his most eminent contemporaries. ‘The day was<br /> long; the task was hard; the work is good,”<br /> was M. le Senne’s emphatic verdict. ‘He<br /> had only one anibition, and it was satisfied—to<br /> bear high aloft, so that it might burn the more<br /> brightly, the lamp spoken of by Lucretius which<br /> the runners in life’s race pass from hand to hand<br /> in order that, regardless of time and space, it may<br /> guide mankind towards humanity and towards<br /> the beautiful,” said M. de Leygues, in concluding<br /> his funeral oration. “If you wish to judge a<br /> man justly in these days of implacable party<br /> polemics, pay no attention to newspapers, but walk<br /> behind his coffin and listen to what the crowd,<br /> the immense crowd, says of him,” said M. Jules<br /> Claretie, representative of the Republican journa-<br /> lists at Sarcey’s funeral. “To-day it says,<br /> ‘This was a good man, a man of talent, an<br /> honest man, a man with no false pride or rancour,<br /> a charitable man, a helpful comrade, a popular<br /> writer, a master, a glory, a great figure which has<br /> disappeared !’”<br /> <br /> Francisque Sarcey was born at Dourdan on<br /> Oct. 8, 1828. He early showed an immense<br /> aptitude for study, obtaining several of the<br /> “Concours général” prizes at the lycée Charle-<br /> magne, and being received with Taine and About<br /> in 1848 at the Ecole normale. From 1851 to<br /> 1858 he was successively master of the fourth<br /> and third classes of rhetoric and philosophy in<br /> the colleges of Chaumont, Rodez, Lesneven, and<br /> Grenoble. Several anonymous articles censured<br /> by the authorities were traced to his pen, and he<br /> was forced to throw up his post; whereupon he<br /> came to Paris and published a series of critical<br /> contemporary studies in the /garo under the<br /> pseudonym of Satané Binet. In 1859 he under-<br /> took the theatrical column in the Opinion<br /> Nationale, and in 1867 began his well-<br /> known connection with the Temps, which only<br /> ended with his death. In 1871 he became a<br /> contributor to the X/Xe. Siécle—edited by his<br /> friend Edmond About—where he made himself<br /> notorious by the ardour of his convictions and<br /> soundness of his views. His fame as a lecturer<br /> is too well known to require comment. M.<br /> Lintilliac, in his recently published “ Conférences<br /> dramatiques,” has drawn a graphic portrait of<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> “Le bon Oncle,’ with his Socratic face and<br /> satyr-like form on the lecturer’s platform —a<br /> rude, awkward figure, forsooth, but one eagerly<br /> awaited and welcomed by the most fastidious<br /> audience in the world. His industry was pro-<br /> digious, and itis calculated that, in addition to<br /> his famous dramatic criticisms and productions<br /> in book form, he has written enough matter on<br /> heterogeneous subjects to fill two or three hundred<br /> volumes. Of his imperturbable good nature the<br /> following anecdote may, perhaps, convey some<br /> slight idea :—<br /> <br /> The “bon Oncle” having temporarily incurred<br /> the displeasure of the students of the Latin<br /> Quarter, it was decided in conclave to caricature<br /> him at the coming Carnival. In order to make<br /> the likeness more apparent, an emissary was<br /> employed to steal surreptitiously an old coat<br /> which, having been long worn by the critic,<br /> would naturally fall into the inimitably awkward<br /> folds characteristic of Sarcey’s most favoured<br /> garments. Despairing of otherwise accomplish-<br /> ing her mission, the emissary forthwith took<br /> Sarcey into her confidence, avowing that —know-<br /> ing his character—she considered this the best<br /> and surest way of succeeding in her mission.<br /> “You are quite right,” responded Sarcey, “ Here<br /> is the wardrobe where all my coats are kept;<br /> choose. Will you have a hat into the bargain ?”<br /> “T do not think a hat is required,” was the reply,<br /> “for they intend to represent you with an<br /> enormous head ; but I will take one on chance.”<br /> It is the critic himself who tells the story, relating<br /> with infinite humour how wne forte grippe had<br /> prevented him from personally judging of the<br /> success of the caricature.<br /> <br /> Space will not permit us to give a detailed<br /> appreciation of Sarcey’s work. He was, un-<br /> doubtedly, one of the representative men of the<br /> realistic epoch, and he has left a name which will<br /> never be forgotten in the annals of dramatic<br /> criticisms. He died a comparatively poor man<br /> in his small hotel, 59, rue Douai, surrounded by<br /> his family. _ His coffin was provisionally deposited<br /> at Montmartre, his body being shortly afterwards<br /> disinterred and cremated at the Ptre-la-Chaise<br /> crematory, in accordance with a wish he had<br /> formerly expressed. Only the family were pre-<br /> sent at the latter ceremony ; but an immense<br /> crowd followed the funeral procession to Mont-<br /> martre, the cordons of the funeral canopy being<br /> respectively held by MM. Georges Leygues,<br /> Gréard, Jules Claretie, Roujon, Camille Le Senne,<br /> Jules Lemaitre, Larroumet, and Adrien Hébrard.<br /> <br /> The death of the famous Henry Becque made<br /> but a passing impression in literary and dramatic<br /> circles. In the course of his long life, the unfor-<br /> tunate dramatist had produced but a single<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> masterpiece, viz.,a play entitled “La Parisienne,”<br /> whose extraordinarily brilliant and well-merited<br /> success placed his name in the front rank of<br /> dramatic authors. ‘Les Corbeaux” (acted at<br /> the Comédie Francaise in 1882) is the only other<br /> work bearing his signature which merits notice.<br /> Becque died in extreme poverty, leaving still<br /> unfinished a play entitled ‘‘ Les Polichinelles,”’ on<br /> which he had been occupied for the last ten<br /> years. Impecuniosity was his chronic malady,<br /> dating from the student days in which he fought<br /> his famous duel with Poupart Davyl, where —<br /> owing to the poverty of the combatants—only one<br /> pistol could be hired, of which each duellist made<br /> use in turn, the order being decided by lot! How<br /> a man who had acquired such brilliant notoriety,<br /> and who at every “ first night” expended enough<br /> anecdotal wit in theatrical corridors and<br /> green-rooms to have filled several columns, could<br /> have remained so long in such a destitute con-<br /> dition was an enigma to his friends, among whom<br /> may be mentioned MM. Octave Mirabeau, Edmond<br /> Rostand, and Lucien Muhlfeld. The two latter<br /> carefully gathered together the unfinished manu-<br /> script of “Les Polichinelles,’ and deposited it<br /> with the Society of Authors, who, likewise, under-<br /> took the charge of all arrangements connected<br /> with poor Becque’s funeral, He was interred at<br /> Pére-la-Chaise.<br /> <br /> M. Quentin Bauchart, municipal councillor of<br /> the Champs-Elysées, better known under his<br /> literary pseudonym of Jean Berleux, is at present<br /> reported to be engaged in writing a historical<br /> novel in dialogue, entitled “ Fils d’Empereur,” in<br /> which the ill-fated Prince Imperial plays the<br /> hero’s réle. He has also begun a history of the<br /> Champs-Elysées. M. Berleux is a member of<br /> the Société des Gens de Lettres and also of the<br /> Cercle de la Critique, in addition to having con-<br /> tributed the “ Vie Théatrale”’ to the Revue de la<br /> France Moderne for upwards of ten years.<br /> <br /> To M. Jules Huret belongs the honour of<br /> having written the first complete biography ever<br /> given the public of the illustrious queen of trage-<br /> diennes, Mme. Sarah Bernhardt (chez Juven).<br /> It opens with a preface in letter form by M.<br /> Edmond Rostand, in which the celebrated author<br /> of “Cyrano de Bergerac” thus concludes a<br /> graphic sketch of his own acquaintance with the<br /> divine reine de Vattitude: ‘‘And this, my<br /> friend, is what appears to me more extraordinary<br /> than all—this is the Sarah that I have known!<br /> Ihave not known the other, the lady with the<br /> coffins and alligators. I have known no other<br /> Sarah than this one—the Sarah who works; and<br /> she is the greatest.” [An English translation of<br /> this book has just been published by Messrs.<br /> Chapman and Hall—LBp. |<br /> <br /> 45<br /> <br /> The two young Russian writers, MM. Alfons.<br /> Dyktor and Jack Iskowich, can certainly boast<br /> energy and perseverance if they can boast nothing<br /> else. They have just arrived at Paris, after<br /> having made the tour of the world, sans un sou<br /> pendant trois ans, in order to study for them-<br /> selves the miseries of life, and thus render more inte-<br /> resting the new work on which they are engaged.<br /> It will be published here next September under<br /> the appropriate title of “Les Deux Vagabonds.”<br /> If all young men bitten by the literary tarantula<br /> were submitted to the same test, we wonder how<br /> many per cent. would voluntarily undergo such<br /> an ordeal ?<br /> <br /> “ Hildesheim” (chez Lesnerre), four little<br /> pastiches written in French by the Honourable<br /> Maurice Baring, secretary to the English Embassy<br /> at Paris, has received the approval of the French<br /> critics, who predict a brilliant literary career to its<br /> author. We regret not to have yet seen a copy<br /> of this little volume, which is reported to be<br /> sparkling with wit and finesse.<br /> <br /> M. Georges Ohnet is now occupied in writing<br /> a play which will shortly be staged. His new<br /> novel “ Au fond du gouffre”’ (chez Ollendorf) is<br /> already on the highway to score the same remark-<br /> able numerical success enjoyed by most of its.<br /> predecessors. The epithet ‘“‘litérature de con-<br /> cierge,” so perseveringly applied to all this<br /> writer&#039;s productions by the disciples of the<br /> “école psychologique,” does not in the least affect<br /> his popularity with the crowd, for he knows how<br /> to interest the multitude. Although he spends<br /> so much of his time shut up in his study at<br /> Abymes, all Paris knows the active, energetic<br /> little man with the keen, bright eyes, and inex-<br /> haustible fund of humour and repartee.<br /> <br /> M. Emile Zola is a member of the committee<br /> of the Société des Gens de Lettres. This society<br /> possesses a capital of three millions, and intrusts.<br /> to its committee the disposal of an income of<br /> 300,000 francs. The first Monday after his<br /> return from bis eleven months’ exile in England,<br /> M. Emile Zola took his seat, as usual, in the<br /> delegates’ bureau, and —among other trans-<br /> actions—voted that the aid requested by M.<br /> Edouard Drumont (the celebrated anti-semite) in<br /> a literary law suit should be granted. A salutary<br /> example of tolerance, and ove that M. Drumont<br /> would do well to imitate.<br /> <br /> M. Emile Pouvillon is now installed at Mont-<br /> auban, busily engaged on a new novel which is<br /> expected to occasion some stir in ecclesiastical<br /> circles. His idea is to give a faithful portrait of<br /> the contemporary French clergy, not of the naif<br /> old country priest of byegone days, but of the<br /> complex, modern ecclesiastic, whose mind is<br /> perhaps deformed—but, in any case, transformed.<br /> 40<br /> <br /> —by the influence of modern fiction and the<br /> social milieu in which he lives. M. Pouvillon’s<br /> prose style is elegant, impressive, and convincing ;<br /> two of his novels, ‘‘ Les Antibel” and the “ Roi de<br /> Rome,”. have recently been successfully drama-<br /> tised, and the discussions of the critics on that<br /> ‘occasion brought his name prominently before<br /> the lettered Parisian public, who are eagerly<br /> awaiting his next publication.<br /> <br /> M. Paul Burani is a writer of quite a different<br /> genre, and his circle of readers is as diverse as<br /> his talent—yesterday the popular songster and<br /> vaudevillist of the boulevards, he is to-day<br /> known as the author of a sensational novel<br /> entitled “Mon Oncle la Vertu,” whizh is vastly<br /> popular among a certain class of readers. As<br /> regards appearance, this prolific producer of<br /> illiterate literature has the air of a bon garcon<br /> gras et rond, with frank countenance and placid<br /> aspect; indeed, few of those who to-day<br /> curiously regard the popular rhymester would<br /> ceive him credit for the immense application and<br /> capacity for hard work which are among his<br /> most prominent characteristics.<br /> <br /> “Versailles et les deux Trianons” is the title<br /> of M. Philippe Gille’s new work which the<br /> Maison Marne is publishing in numbers, and it<br /> forms a worthy monument of the historical<br /> science, research, and erudition of its author.<br /> The latter is well known in the Parisian world<br /> of letters, and enjoys the reputation of being one<br /> of the most conscientious and impartial critics of<br /> the day, in addition to being the author of a<br /> discreet volume of poems, and of having<br /> signed “Les Trente Millions de Gladiator ” with<br /> Labiche, “Manon” with Meilhac, and ‘“ Lakmé ”<br /> with Gondinet. He likewise boasts the honour<br /> of being the intimate friend of M. Victorien<br /> Sardou, with whom he collaborated in “Les<br /> Prés-Saint-Gervais.” The two friends are equally<br /> consummate authorities on French art under<br /> Louis XIV., XV., and XVI., and they may<br /> frequently be seen pacing together the stately<br /> avenues and grounds of the park of Versailles,<br /> engaged in discussing their favourite topic. M.<br /> Philippé Gille’s present publication forms a<br /> pendant to the two works on the palace and park<br /> of Versailles which he has already given the<br /> public.<br /> <br /> Among notable publications of the month, to<br /> which space will not permit us to give a detailed<br /> notice, may be mentioned: “ Louis XVIII. et le<br /> Duc Decazes,’”’ a most interesting work by M.<br /> Ernest Daudet, largely drawn from the private<br /> documents existing in the archives of the<br /> Chiteau de la Grave ; “ Diderot et Catherine II.”<br /> (chez Calmann Levy), by M. Maurice Tourneux,<br /> a work containing the precious manuscript notes<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> left in the Russian Empress’s keeping by the great<br /> French philosopher previous to his quitting that<br /> country; ‘“ La Vie 4 Paris,” by M. Jules Claretie<br /> (chez Charpentier), a spirited account of the<br /> principal events and personages of the year<br /> 1898; “La Campagne de Minorque,” by M.<br /> Raoul de Cisternes (chez Calmann Levy), m<br /> which, among numerous other letters, may be<br /> found one containing a graphic narrative of the<br /> death of the unfortunate Admiral Byng;<br /> “ Nouvelles études d’Histoire et de Critiques<br /> dramatiques,” by M. Gustave Larroumet (chez<br /> Hachette) ; ‘Lettres 4 ’Etrangére,” containing<br /> the correspondence of Balzac and Madame<br /> Hanska from 1833 to 1842; ‘‘ Lettres inédites de<br /> Michelet 4 Mlle. Mialaret,’”’ containing the letters<br /> written by the great historian to the young gul<br /> whom he afterwards married; and “ Abrégé de<br /> Chiromancie et de Chirognomonie appliqu¢e,” by<br /> Marthe Desbarolles, pupil and adopted daughter<br /> of the Cagliostro of the present century.<br /> <br /> The activity in the fiction department obliges<br /> us merely to cite the titles of the recent novels<br /> produced by well-known authors: “Les Demi-<br /> Solde,” by Georges d’Esparbes (chez E. Flam-<br /> marion); “Reflets sur la sombre route” (chez<br /> Calmann Levy), by Pierre Loti; “Jardin des<br /> Supplices,” by Octave Mirbeau; “Villa Tran-<br /> quille,” by André Theurick ; “ Leur égale,” by M.<br /> Camille Pert (chez Simonis Empis) ; ‘La Mon-<br /> tagne @’or,” by Jean Rameau (chez Ollendorf) ;<br /> “T/Aiguille dor,’ by J. H. Rosny (chez A.<br /> Colin); “L’Otage,” by Charles Foley; ‘‘ Mar-<br /> cheurs et Marcheuses,” by Richard O’ Monroy ;<br /> and last—but by no means least—the long-<br /> expected “Femmes Nouvelles” of Paul and<br /> Victor Margueritte. Darracorre Scort.<br /> <br /> ec<br /> <br /> NOTES AND NEWS.<br /> <br /> HE following illustration of the way in<br /> <br /> 7 which secret profits are provided for may<br /> <br /> be useful. A. B., for the author, applied<br /> <br /> to C. D., the publisher, for an estimate concern-<br /> <br /> ing the publication of a book on commission.<br /> The terms were these :<br /> <br /> 1. The author to bear the charges for the pro-<br /> duction of the book and the incidental expenses.<br /> <br /> 2. The publisher to take 15 per cent., appa-<br /> rently, of all moneys received.<br /> <br /> The words “ bear the charges ’’ would be under-<br /> stood by anyone not versed in the httle ways and<br /> manners of some publishers to mean the actual<br /> cost incurred.<br /> <br /> They might be defended, whatever charges were<br /> made, as covering, and intended to cover, any<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> charge the publishers might choose to inake,<br /> They would thus cover any secret profits that<br /> they chose to make. This point will probably be<br /> raised before long in acriminal court.<br /> <br /> They then sent in an estimate.<br /> <br /> Observe, however, the wording of the letter.<br /> It was to the effect that there was delay in<br /> getting “an” estimate from the printer, which<br /> caused delay in getting ready “our” (the<br /> publisher’s estimate). The use of the pronoun<br /> and the article is significant. It seems to point<br /> to secret profits.<br /> <br /> The estimate forwarded, when compared with<br /> those in the hands of the Society, showed as<br /> follows :<br /> <br /> The Publisher : the Society ::<br /> or<br /> <br /> The Society : the Publisher :: 100 : 155.<br /> <br /> This, then, is the true meaning of the profits<br /> and percentages which, according to the pub-<br /> lishers’ draft agreements, they have the “ equit-<br /> able” right to claim, the amount left blank to<br /> suit the taste and fancy of each individual.<br /> <br /> What, then, would be the meaning of a 15<br /> per cent. royalty with this book? Without<br /> giving all the figures, it means that on a sale of<br /> 1000 copies the author would lose about £25<br /> and the publisher would gain about eo5.<br /> the author had simply paid the true cost of pro-<br /> duction, the author by the same figures would<br /> have cleared about £40.<br /> <br /> TOO ; 03.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> At the conference of publishers the chairman,<br /> on whose utterances we have spoken in another<br /> column, complained of “ over production.” He<br /> spoke of it as if it were an outside thing, an act<br /> of hostility to the trade committed by persons<br /> who have nothing to do with it. I am only sur-<br /> prised that he did not charge the writers them-<br /> selves with this wickedness. Now if there is any-<br /> thing in the world more certain than another it is<br /> the fact that the over-producers are publishers<br /> themselves. The next certain thing is, that so<br /> long as there are great prizes to he obtained by<br /> bringing out books: so long as the public taste<br /> is an uncertain quality which may “ boom” this<br /> or that book: so long as there are large literary<br /> properties to be created by those who success-<br /> fully appeal to the public, so long will the over<br /> production of books continue.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> In fact, the whole trade of publishing is under-<br /> going revolution, and this Mr. Murray and his<br /> friends do not understand. It is no longer a<br /> little hole-and-corner business, in which the pub-<br /> lisher treats the author as a patron treats his<br /> client: gives him what he pleases and keeps the<br /> <br /> AUTHOR. 47<br /> <br /> profits dark ; it is a trade which is rapidly<br /> becoming, like everything else, open to competi-<br /> tion, in which the creator of a property puts him-<br /> self into the hands of business men who deal<br /> with publishers in the way of business men: in<br /> which the methods have been exposed and are<br /> now well known. It is forthe old-fashioned pub-<br /> lisher to recognise these facts or not, as he<br /> pleases: if he refuses to do so he will get ‘left.’<br /> He may have, if he likes, the support of all the<br /> writers whose name spells loss: he will not,<br /> unless he recognises existing facts, have the sup-<br /> port of those whose name means money.<br /> <br /> In the Anglo Savon of June 16, I find an<br /> accusation against the literary profession of a<br /> kind which is to me at least perfectly new, to the<br /> effect that there are certain persons of standing<br /> in journalism and literature who do not scruple<br /> to maintain hacks to do their own work. Do<br /> they really exist—these persons of eminence?<br /> Ave there really men of letters who have to find<br /> an ignoble livelihood by writing articles which<br /> they know will be signed by other men? Tonce<br /> introduced into a novel a man who exhibited<br /> pictures as his own which were done for him;<br /> but I thought that I had invented and imagined<br /> the case—made it up out of my own head. I<br /> have never come across a journalist, or even heard.<br /> of one, who sent in articles as his own which<br /> were written for him. As for books, I have<br /> certainly known cases in which a name appeared<br /> on the title page of a work written by another<br /> hand. One such case was brought before me the<br /> other day. Perhaps I may get permission to publish<br /> the names. The real author of the book—which<br /> was successful—was a lady: the supposed author<br /> was—a man: the publisher was the creator and<br /> deviser of the—call it what you please: he paid<br /> the author, whose necessities obliged her to accept<br /> whatever was offered. It is a curious story, and<br /> one which is perhaps not uncommon. But that a<br /> well-known writer of articles, essays, and reviews,<br /> a man with a reputation to defend, should keep in<br /> his employment other men who do the work for<br /> which he is paid is to me a new thing in litera-<br /> ture, and one that ought to be exposed, First<br /> however, we have to be convinced that the charge<br /> is based on trustworthy evidence. ‘Till that is<br /> done, let us regard it as a mere rumour. And<br /> let us remember that the perils of the situatzon—<br /> for a hack may turn aswell as a worm—are many<br /> and obvious.<br /> <br /> There are men living and working at this moment on the<br /> Press who undertake the execution of quantities of worle<br /> not ona half of which they could accomplish in the allotted<br /> time. How, then, is it managed? In the simplest way<br /> possible. The master minds employ “understudies,”’ who<br /> 48<br /> <br /> have acquired their style and method—not generally a very<br /> superhuman task. There are lots of young men who make<br /> a decent living by writing articles which owners and editors<br /> believe to be the essays of the eminent persons whom they<br /> engage and pay. As a matter of fact, these lucnbrations<br /> are very often the work of underpaid hacks. Regarded<br /> calmly, the system must be described as fraudulent. You<br /> are an editor. You are anxious to engage the services of<br /> the celebrated Mr. Smith. You pay him five guineas for an<br /> article. It is a gross swindle, I insist, if he supplies you,<br /> instead of his own work, with an article for which he pays<br /> twenty shillings to young Mr. Jones. The injustice affects<br /> three persons. It affects the owner of the paper, who pays<br /> for an article which he does not obtain. It affects the<br /> reader, who is not obtaining the matter which has been<br /> intended for him. And it affects the hack, who receives an<br /> utterly inadequate honorarium for his services. Shall Iadd<br /> that it affects a fourth person, and that it must lower, even<br /> in his own esteem, the eminent person whose sorry traffic<br /> &lt;annot be otherwise described than as that of obtaining<br /> money under false pretences. The handwriting test does<br /> not avail the editor in the detection of this fraud, for the<br /> eminent person and his subordinates are expert in the use<br /> of the typewriter.<br /> <br /> There has been a continuation in the pages of<br /> the Glasgow Herald to the calumnies of the<br /> provider of literary gossip. This person has<br /> replied that he did not intend to charge the<br /> Society, or myself personally, with a deliberate<br /> falsehood. What did he do it for, then? He<br /> now says that “authors have paraded their<br /> troubles with the publishers in such a way<br /> as to produce the impression that all publishers<br /> devote themselves to over-reaching authors.”<br /> ~« Produce the impression’’? I do not believe it.<br /> Moreover, I should like to know in what papers<br /> or magazines any member of this Society has<br /> “paraded his troubles,” except in self-defence. I<br /> can honestly say that I have myself answered<br /> hundreds of attacks: that I have never ‘“‘ paraded ”<br /> anything or appealed to the public except in<br /> answer to charges deliberately advanced and<br /> deliberately false. I would say more. I am quite<br /> sure that there has never been any association of<br /> men and women for any purpose which has been<br /> so frequently and so violently abused and mis-<br /> represented: and certainly none which has so<br /> flourished and advanced in the face of this oppo-<br /> sition.<br /> <br /> Once more I welcome our old friend, Mr. Alfred<br /> Nutt, again. It will be remembered how Mr. Nutt<br /> was asked last year a very simple question, merely<br /> for the reference to a passage which he “quoted”<br /> from The Author, and for further reference to the<br /> repetition of that passage, which, he stated, had<br /> been made without alteration in The Author. It<br /> will be remembered also how he tried to evade<br /> the plain question: how he wrote rigmarole: how<br /> he put off answering: how the Committee called<br /> upon him to produce that simple reference: and<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> how he finally refused to answer. Nobody has<br /> ever been able to find that passage. This is<br /> ancient history: it was exposed in these columns<br /> last year, It 1s, however, well to remind ourselves<br /> of this story, especially when he begins again—now<br /> in the Chicago Dial. Again he speaks of “ vague<br /> and reckless’ statements. This time, however, he<br /> takes very good care not to quote one of them.<br /> Instead of this, he takes a passage from an article<br /> in the Dial, which says, guardedly, that “if” a<br /> sale of a thousand copies of a book is certain<br /> there will be no risk—a statement perfectly<br /> simple and true. He actually pretends to<br /> assume this to mean that such a sale is certain<br /> for every book. He then proceeds, with tears in<br /> his typewriter, to point out the injustice of this<br /> statement. Such and such books, he says, “ have<br /> been published solely at my risk, without any help<br /> or subsidy whatever.’ Poor man! He should,<br /> however, remember that he is not obliged to do<br /> so. We can hardly sympathise with anyone who<br /> deliberately incurs certain loss: or ask, on the<br /> other hand, why he does it and what he expects<br /> to get by it. Perhaps it was done out of sheer<br /> love for literature. Perhaps from other motives.<br /> He is good enough to refer to me often, and with<br /> the appearance of temper. He complains that I<br /> consider only one kind of book—which is not<br /> true. The six-shilling book is a convenient unit,<br /> and it includes many kinds of book. Moreover,<br /> I would submit for Mr. Nutt’s consideration the<br /> plain fact that printers do not really charge more<br /> for printing scholarly books than for printing<br /> novels. They really do not. If Mr. Nutt’s<br /> printers have tried to do so, let me recommend<br /> him to find some other firm which does not.<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> He seems also horribly afraid that the ‘ Method<br /> of the Future” should be generally adopted: he<br /> is apparently ignorant that it has already been<br /> taken up : he says that it is impossible for ency-<br /> clopedias, which nobody denies. Yet the argu-<br /> ment that because it is impossible, at present,<br /> for collective books, it is also impossible for indi-<br /> vidual books, is hardly logical. He says that<br /> publishing requires “‘ more capital than any other<br /> business.” Really? Is that so? More capital<br /> than any other business? How much capital<br /> did A. have, that eminent practitioner, when he<br /> set up in business? How much has that young<br /> gentleman whose name we saw for the first’ time<br /> six months ago, and now see with a list a column<br /> inlength? To put it mildly, I find Mr. Nutt’s<br /> views on necessary capital hardly credible when I<br /> consider some other kinds of business. I know of a<br /> printer, for instance, who pays £2000 a week in<br /> wages. How much capital would his machinery<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> alone require ? However, I should like to meet Mr.<br /> Nutt half-way. I can assure him that, s&gt; far, he<br /> has not done the Society the least harm, even<br /> with the kindest intentions of doing it as much<br /> harm as he can. I will willingly make a com-<br /> promise with him. When he has given me the<br /> reference to those “ quotations” which he made a<br /> year and a half ago, I will propose that he shall<br /> go on publishing, for the admiration of the whole<br /> world, all the books which are certain to lose,<br /> while the authors whose productions do not mean<br /> loss, the creators of literary property, shall publish<br /> for themselves and take care of their own pro-<br /> perty, without troubling Mr. Nutt at all. In this<br /> way he will go on losing as much as he pleases.<br /> This will make him completely happy. And the<br /> author will have his property to himself. So<br /> everybody will be happy.<br /> <br /> One more word with Mr. Nutt. He talks<br /> about “the glib statement that there is no risk<br /> in publishing.” Where is that statement made ?<br /> Who made it? Is it in The Author? I quote<br /> below the passage on “ Risk” from “The Pen<br /> and The Book.”<br /> <br /> Water BESANT.<br /> <br /> Does<br /> <br /> THE MEANING OF RISK.<br /> <br /> (From ‘“ The Pen and the Book.’’)<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> . HE question of ‘risk’ is one which requires<br /> careful consideration, because so much<br /> ignorant nonsense is talked about it, and<br /> <br /> so many misleading statements are constantly<br /> <br /> advanced on the subject. What, therefore, does<br /> risk mean practically ?<br /> <br /> “(.) The production of great works, such as<br /> encyclopedias, dictionaries, maps. illustrated art<br /> books, may undoubtedly entail the investment of<br /> large sums; waiting for the repayment perhaps<br /> for many years; and perhaps losing in the long<br /> run. Let us, however, separate these works,<br /> which are only undertaken by two or three pub-<br /> lishers: and let us confine our inquiry to general<br /> literature.<br /> <br /> Gi.) The production of general literature<br /> stands on quite a different footing, as the follow-<br /> ing considerations will show—<br /> <br /> ““(a) There are many hundreds of writers,<br /> engaged upon every branch of intellectual work,<br /> whose works entail no risk whatever. In other<br /> words, the experienced publisher knows with these<br /> writers how large an edition he can safely order<br /> without any loss to himself. This kind of experi-<br /> ence was happily illustrated by an account shown<br /> to me recently. The author was a well-known<br /> writer. The publisher knew beforehand so well<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 49<br /> <br /> what he would sell that he printed one edition<br /> which sold out all but twenty copies or so. Once<br /> more, remember that there are hundreds of writers<br /> of whom this may be said, and that they are all<br /> known by publishers in their respective branches.<br /> <br /> ‘““(b) There is another large class of writers of<br /> whom it is safe to conclude that their books will<br /> at least pay expenses with some margin.<br /> <br /> ““(c) There is a practice of ‘subscribing’ a<br /> book; that is, offering it to the booksellers of<br /> London before it is even printed. The publisher<br /> thus gains some idea of the number on which he<br /> may venture. Thus, if he arrives at a subscrip-<br /> tion of 200 copies of such a book among the<br /> London booksellers, he may expect as many from<br /> the country trade, and so he goes to press with a<br /> risk either greatly diminished or wiped out.<br /> <br /> “(d) But publishers reduce the risk a great<br /> deal more in various ways.<br /> <br /> “They bind no more than are wanted.<br /> <br /> ‘They do not advertise more than is absolutely<br /> necessary; they feel their way. Thus, with a<br /> great many books, whose sale is certain to be<br /> small, £5 or so covers the advertising bill. They<br /> do not mould a book which is not likely to want<br /> a second edition. Thus they save £10 or so.<br /> <br /> ““(e) But the real way of regarding the actual<br /> risk incurred is this. Publishers do not pay the<br /> printer and others for a certain time, three to six<br /> months. Before that time they have received<br /> their returns of the first subscription of the book.<br /> The risk therefore is not, as is generally believed,<br /> the cost of production ; it is the difference, if any,<br /> between the first subscription and the cost of pro-<br /> duction.<br /> <br /> “For instance, the cost of production being<br /> £100, and the returns of the first subscription<br /> £95, the risk isjust £5. Andas I have said, pub-<br /> lishers know pretty well at the outset what the<br /> first subscription will be. These considerations<br /> are sufficient to show what risk really means in<br /> the production of current general literature, not<br /> in great undertakings: it is the difference<br /> between the cost of production and the first<br /> returns.”<br /> <br /> ae<br /> <br /> THE METHOD OF THE FUTURE.<br /> <br /> HIS method is explained in ‘“‘ The Pen and<br /> Ty the Book.” I always advocate as the best<br /> method of those in practice, the sale of a<br /> book outright—provided the proper value can be<br /> arrived at and obtained.<br /> A still better method is the following:<br /> “The author will dissever himself altogether<br /> from the publisher, and will connect himself<br /> directly with the bookse&#039;ler and the libraries.<br /> <br /> <br /> 50<br /> <br /> He will appoint an agent or distributor, to whom<br /> he will pay a commission. He will take upon<br /> himself the printing and production and adver-<br /> tising. He will himself incur the risk, if any, of<br /> a loss on the first run of the book.” :<br /> <br /> “One thing only is necessary, an agent who will<br /> work the books honestly and with zeal, and will<br /> not publish in any other manner than for the<br /> author.”<br /> <br /> I will illustrate the method by giving results.<br /> The figures are quite simple. I assume a six-<br /> shilling book, type small pica, 320pp., quite<br /> plainly bound, paper good but not, of course,<br /> expensive. I assume a fairly good sale of an<br /> edition of 3000 copies, the “overs” giving the<br /> review copies. (See p. 41.)<br /> <br /> The cost of production may be set down at<br /> £150. The sales, less an allowance for bad debts,<br /> soiled copies, and other causes, amount to £500.<br /> <br /> By this method the author pays £150 for the<br /> production, £50 to his agent, and realises £300<br /> for himself.<br /> <br /> Now, how would he fare by other methods ?<br /> <br /> (1) Haur Prorirs. :<br /> <br /> Bos do &amp; Ss. a.<br /> <br /> Cost of production £150, :<br /> swollen by advertise-<br /> <br /> ments not paid for, and<br /> <br /> by secret percentages ... 200 0 0O<br /> Author’s share of profits .. 112 10 0<br /> Publisher’s ditto, nominal 112 10 oO<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 425. 0 36<br /> By sales £500, less 10 per cent. for<br /> office expenses and 5 per cent. for<br /> bad debts... ea ees: £425 0 O<br /> (2) Royalty OF 10, 15, 20, 25 PER CENT.<br /> | By this<br /> 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 | Method.<br /> _——— | $$ | ———} —___ | —___ —___<br /> Author’s share...... | 90 | 135 | 180 | B25 300<br /> Publisher&#039;s share ...| 260) 215|170|}125| 50<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> These figures speak for themselves.<br /> <br /> Now, it must not be supposed that this method<br /> will give the unsuccessful writer a better chance<br /> than he has already. The public is the final<br /> judge from whom there is no appeal. It is,<br /> however, submitted that the whole problem is<br /> solved by this simple method: that a writer of<br /> reputation incurs norisk: that he will approach<br /> the public quite as well in this way as in any<br /> other: and that he will thus have the pleasure of<br /> administering his own affairs in his own interest.<br /> <br /> Dee<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE CASUAL CONTRIBUTOR.<br /> <br /> e ROM time to time a number of letters have<br /> K appeared in the correspondence columns of<br /> The Author, the writers of which complain<br /> <br /> bitterly of their treatment at editorial hands, and<br /> suggest some ingenious, if not very practicable,<br /> schemes by which the editors are to be coerced into<br /> amending their ways. Individual cases of hard-<br /> ship and of discourteous treatment doubtless there<br /> are, but, generally speaking, one’s sympathy<br /> with the writers of these letters would be greater<br /> did they not betray a most deplorable want of<br /> common-sense in their literary affairs and a<br /> quite pathetic ignorance of the rules by which,<br /> whether he likes them or not, the ordinary editor<br /> is bound.» When we find a contributor so<br /> incapable bf writing a business letter as gravely:<br /> to suggest, ina recent number of this journal, that<br /> the Society should provide “ printed forms for<br /> sale to its members which shall express in polite<br /> and businesslike terms all that is necessary for<br /> an unknown writer to say when offering his<br /> work”?; when we find another explaining at<br /> length that he himself is “one of the most<br /> courteous of men,” but, none the less, has had<br /> misunderstandings with ‘one of our best-known<br /> critics,” ‘another well-known literary man,” “a<br /> west-country editor,” and “a literary friend,’’—<br /> while yet another makes the brilliant suggestion<br /> that all contributors are to combine in a boycott<br /> of those editors who prefer to manage their<br /> business in their own way—then one does feel<br /> that it is just this kind of thing that brings the<br /> Society into contempt, and that“possibly a few<br /> elementary rules for the guidance of the casual<br /> contributor, obvious as they must be to many, to<br /> some, at least, may prove of practical assistance.<br /> And I who write am myself a casual con-<br /> tributor, so that at least I shall speak of the<br /> things that Iknow. Although literature is not<br /> the main business of my life, I have worked<br /> fairly hard at it during the past eight or nine<br /> years. During all that time I have lived in the<br /> country; personally, I know one only of the<br /> many editors for whom I have worked, and his<br /> acquaintance I made when I had been a con-<br /> tributor to his paper for a year. As I do not<br /> propose to sign this article, I shall not be<br /> accused of a desire to advertise myself if I state<br /> that within the last eight years work of mine—<br /> articles, stories, or verses—have appeared in the<br /> Nineteenth Century, the National Review,<br /> Longman’s, Temple Bar, the Badminton, Punch,<br /> the World, the St. James’s Gazette, the<br /> Academy, and a number of other periodicals.<br /> My only reason for giving this list is to show my<br /> readers, so to speak, my credentials for dealing<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> with this subject. And, lest the fact that I have<br /> often succeeded be thought to have deadened my<br /> sympathies for the beginner, I may add that I<br /> have also seen scores of my MSS. return to me in<br /> dishonour, and that at the present time I cannot<br /> count with certainty upon any work of mine<br /> finding acceptance—except in the case of two<br /> journals, as regards which [ am more or less<br /> upon the regular “outside” staff. But at least<br /> my experience has taught me something, the<br /> lessons, namely, which I propose to summarise<br /> here, because I believe it to be the simple duty<br /> of any writer to do all that he can to assist his<br /> literary brethren. So, to put the matter as<br /> plainly as possible, F would say—<br /> <br /> #7 Rule 1. Offer your work to first-class maga-<br /> zines and papers only y—The neophyte frequently<br /> remarks: ‘ Oh, it would be absurd of me to send<br /> my first productions to” —let us say “the<br /> Highflier Review. 1 can only hope to work my<br /> way up to first-class periodicals by degrees. So<br /> for the present I’ll try the Rushlight”—a new,<br /> obscure, and impecunious magazine. Now this,<br /> my friend, is, from every point of view, a mistake.<br /> Supposing the Rushlight accepts your contribu-<br /> tion, at best you will be ill-paid, at worst you will<br /> not be paid at all. It is quite likely that the<br /> Rushlight may finally flicker out of existence<br /> between the time when your paper was accepted<br /> and the date when youexpected it to appear. In<br /> any case there probably will be some difficulty in<br /> obtaining your honorarium, so that you will feel<br /> compelled to send off another of those letters to<br /> The Author, abusing editors wholesale. You<br /> will not be an inch further along the road to<br /> success, for no one reads the Rushlight, whereas<br /> the first thing you must aim at is to make your<br /> name familiar to the reading public. And, asa<br /> matter of fact, it is quite a fallacy to suppose<br /> that your contribution will not stand every bit as<br /> good a chance of acceptance with the Highflier.<br /> If ‘that periodical won’t have it, offer it to<br /> another of the same standing.“ If no first-class<br /> magazine will give your MS. a home, burn<br /> it or put it aside. But remember, once for<br /> all, that if no first-class periodical will print<br /> your contribution, it is better—far better—that<br /> it should not be printed at all. To traffic<br /> with struggling, inferior journals is to sow for<br /> yourself a certain crop of disputes, delays, and<br /> disappointments.<br /> <br /> 7 Rule 2. Wher offering your MS., study the<br /> rules of the game, as set forth in the editorial<br /> notices. Send the stamps, or stamped envelope<br /> as you are requested. Have your MS. typed, and<br /> send it flat, not rolled into a tight cylinder, which<br /> will exhaust the editorial patience in the shortest<br /> possible ey Then, as to the accompanying<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 51<br /> <br /> letter, which, as I have mentioned, so perplexes.<br /> one member of the Society that he wishes to<br /> replace it by a printed form, simply say that<br /> you enclose an MS., mention its nature (humorous<br /> story, dialogue, or whatever it is) and length (so<br /> many words). If you have appeared in the<br /> magazine before, remind the editor of the fact.<br /> Add that you enclose stamps for the return of the<br /> MS., if unsuitable, but that, should it be accepted,<br /> you would be glad to have a line to say so. And<br /> that is all. In fact, the shorter your note the<br /> better will it please the editor. Never seek to<br /> explain the merits of your work, still less use the<br /> argument ad misericordiam.<br /> <br /> / Rule 3. Then wait patiently, even if you hear<br /> <br /> eo<br /> <br /> nething of your MS. for some time. Note the<br /> date upon which it was despatched, but do not<br /> follow it up with numerous letters./If you have<br /> heard nothing of it by the end, let us say, of two<br /> months, it may be well to inquire about it, but<br /> again let your note be brief and courteous. “Even<br /> if you think your editor has treated you badly,<br /> it is the worst possible policy to tell him so. _<br /> The same rule, mutatis mutandis, holds good for<br /> the interval between acceptance and publication.<br /> Certainly it is most annoying to look for your<br /> article in vain, month after month, and some of<br /> the leading magazines, especially those of the<br /> old-fashioned type, are notorious offenders in this<br /> respect, while the fact that they do not pay until<br /> the contribution is published aggravates the evil,<br /> from the author&#039;s standpoint. But to write<br /> ferocious letters to the editor is worse than useless ;<br /> possibly you may goad him into returning your<br /> work, even when it is in type; probably you will<br /> effectually deter him from accepting the next<br /> contribution you send.<br /> <br /> As regards payment, I need say nothing. By<br /> observing the first rule here suggested, that of<br /> sending your work to first-class periodicals only,<br /> you will be free from any difficulty about getting<br /> your money, while the amounts of your cheques<br /> will be at least adequate to the time and trouble:<br /> devoted to earning them.<br /> <br /> There are some further rules and suggestions<br /> which I should like to add; perhaps, with the<br /> editor’s permission, I may resume the subject in<br /> a future number.<br /> <br /> peace<br /> <br /> The correspondence of the month must be<br /> held over until August.—Eb.<br /> 52 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> BOOK TALK.<br /> HE Belfast News Letter says that the Newry<br /> a Telegraph, one of the oldest papers im<br /> Ulster, has purchased the exclusive serial<br /> rights for Ireland of Mr. W. B. Lappin’s novel<br /> “Mad Mag.” Later on the novel will be brought<br /> out in book form, when something reliably Irish<br /> may be looked for.<br /> <br /> “The Tendency of Religion,” by Colonel R.<br /> Elias, late 59th Regiment, is a collection of facts,<br /> reflections, and forecasts based upon the great<br /> and increasing mixing of the nations, and conse-<br /> quent gradual development of mutual under-<br /> standing and impartiality among men all the<br /> world over, bringing with it the mevitable recog-<br /> nition that all the great religious systems are<br /> essentially alike, differing only in details. The<br /> book has been very widely reviewed and favour-<br /> ably received.<br /> <br /> Miss Ellen T. Masters, the authoress of several<br /> practical hand-books on embroidery, and of ‘The<br /> Gentlewoman’s Book of Art Needlework” in the<br /> Victoria Library, is putting the finishing touches<br /> to another small volume on the same subject.<br /> This is “The Book of Stitches,’ which is to<br /> be uniform with Mrs. Humphry’s well-known<br /> ‘“Mamnners” series, and is to be illustrated with<br /> between sixty and seventy diagrams prepared by<br /> the authoress, showing clearly how some of the<br /> fancy stitches that she describes are executed.<br /> The publisher is Mr. James Bowden.<br /> <br /> H.R.H. the Princess of Wales has graciously<br /> accepted and acknowledged a copy of “ Rita’s”’<br /> last novel, “ An Old Rogue’s Tragedy.”<br /> <br /> “Peace, the Angel’s Song,” from the poem of<br /> “The Light of the World,” by Sir Edwin Arnold,<br /> has been set to music by Blanche Eryl, the nom<br /> de plume adopted by Mrs. Alfred Phillips, whose<br /> songs have been sung by Mr. Santley and other<br /> singers of note, and whose books are before the<br /> public. Mrs. Phillips also wrote the first<br /> African National Anthem, for the Sultan Seyyid<br /> Burgarsh, of Zanzibar. She has taken a nom de<br /> plume to avoid confusion with others of her<br /> name who are writing since she first published.<br /> Messrs. Novello and Co. are bringing out her<br /> new song.<br /> <br /> At the annual conference of the Retail News-<br /> agents’ and Booksellers’ Union, held in Liver-<br /> pool, Mr. Charles Olley, of Belfast, president,<br /> referred to the sixpenny copyright novels, with<br /> which, he said, a host of publishers had over-<br /> flooded the market. Already, however, he<br /> observed in the fickle public taste a turn in<br /> * favour of larger print and better paper; and<br /> <br /> he expressed his belief that shilling editions<br /> would be a greater success and much more<br /> remunerative.<br /> <br /> The committee of the William Black Memorial<br /> Fund have decided that the memorial shall take<br /> the form of a beacon light to be erected, at a cost<br /> of about £800, at Duart Point, near the Lady<br /> Rock, on the coast of Mull. The Commissioners<br /> of Northern Lights have agreed to maintain the<br /> light after the beacon is erected.<br /> <br /> Lady Dilke has written a book entitled “ French<br /> Painters in the Highteenth Century,’ which will<br /> be published in the autumn by Messrs. Bell. It<br /> will be illustrated with upwards of seventy repro-<br /> ductions of selected pictures, many of which from<br /> private collections have never been reproduced or<br /> exhibited in public.<br /> <br /> Dean Farrar has completed a work called<br /> “True Religion,” which will be published shortly<br /> by Mr. 8. T. Freemantle.<br /> <br /> A new edition of the prose writings of Mr.<br /> Kipling has been projected by Messrs. Macmillan,<br /> to consist of ten volumes at the uniform price of<br /> 6s., which will appear one at a time at short<br /> intervals, beginning at once with ‘“ Plain Tales<br /> from the Hills.” Mr. Kipling has purchased<br /> from Messrs. Newnes the copyright of ‘“ Depart-<br /> mental Ditties,’ which was originally published<br /> in 1885 by Messrs. Thacker.<br /> <br /> Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice has undertaken to<br /> write the authoritative biography of the late Earl<br /> Granville.<br /> <br /> Mr. Andrew Lang is translating “The Homeric<br /> Hymns,” for publication by Mr. George Allen.<br /> The book will contain plates, which have been<br /> taken chiefly from Greek sculptures.<br /> <br /> The humorous “Interviews with Mr. Miggs,”<br /> which have appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette,<br /> will be published in book form by Messrs. Samp-<br /> son Low. ‘The author of the papers is Mr. Alex-<br /> ander Stuart.<br /> <br /> Mr. F. P. Dunne, the creator of ‘‘ Mr. Dooley,”<br /> is to writea series of articles on English life for<br /> publication both here and in America.<br /> <br /> Mark Twain and the Hon. Sir Spencer Walpole<br /> were together the guests of the Authors’ Club at<br /> dinner on June 12. The famous humourist pro-<br /> poses to bequeath to posterity a book containing<br /> absolutely frank and truthful portraits of<br /> “persons of importance” of his day, which shall<br /> be published a hundred years after his death.<br /> <br /> Mr. R. Andom has written a sequel to his story<br /> “We Three and Troddles,” which will be pub-<br /> lished in the autumn under the title of “ Troddles<br /> and Us—and Others.”<br /> <br /> a a NE I<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 33<br /> <br /> Miss Frances Gerard has a book on Ludwig II.<br /> of Bavaria almost ready for publication by<br /> Messrs. Hutchinson.<br /> <br /> Mrs. Hodgson Burnett is at work on a new<br /> novel for publication in the autumn.<br /> <br /> Mr. Guy Boothby’s new story, “The Woman<br /> of Death,” will be published by Messrs. Pearson<br /> in the summer. Other works of fiction which<br /> are announced include “In Full Cry,” by Mr.<br /> Richard Marsh (White); “Bonnie Maggie<br /> Lauder,” by Alan St. Aubyn (White) ; “A<br /> Woman’s Witchery,” by Mr. H. E. Curran<br /> (Lawrence and Bullen); ‘The Magic of the<br /> Desert,’ by Mr. W. Smith-Williams, a new<br /> writer (Blackwood).<br /> <br /> Two months hence the biography of Sir John<br /> Millais will be ready. Among the correspond-<br /> ence in the work are letters from the Queen.<br /> New details about the Pre-Raphaelite Brother-<br /> hood will be given. Reminiscences will be con-<br /> tributed by Sir George Reid, Sir William Rich-<br /> mond, Sir Noel Paton, and Mr. Val Prinsep ; and<br /> a feature will be made of the illustrations to the<br /> book.<br /> <br /> A life of the Emperor Nero, which will be<br /> fully illustrated from authentic sources, is being<br /> written for Messrs. Methuen by Mr. B. W.<br /> Henderson, Fellow of Merton College, Oxford.<br /> Mr. W. R. Sorley, Professor of Moral Philo-<br /> sophy at the University of Aberdeen, is writing<br /> for publication by the same firm an “ Introduc-<br /> tion to Political Philosophy,” which will treat of<br /> leading principles and their connection with par-<br /> ticular questions.<br /> <br /> A Stevenson manuscript, believed to be the<br /> original shape which “ Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”<br /> assumed in the novelist’s mind, will be sold on<br /> July 5 at Sotheby’s auction rooms. It is entitled<br /> “ Markheim,” and consists of thirty small quarto<br /> pages, all in the novelist’s handwriting.<br /> <br /> The “ Perverse Widow,” by A. W. Crawley-<br /> Boevey, is a book which may appear intended only<br /> for those who are interested in the Boevey and<br /> allied families of Flaxley Abbey, Gloucestershire.<br /> The lady, however, who plays the principal part<br /> in the work has a wider claim to interest,<br /> imasmuch as she is the reputed widow who was<br /> courted by Sir Roger de Coverley: the reasons<br /> for believing that she was the lady in Addison’s<br /> mind are pointed out by the author. The book<br /> is published by Longmans at the price of<br /> 42s. net.<br /> <br /> ‘telling effect.<br /> <br /> FROM THE AMERICAN PAPERS.<br /> <br /> OND-STREET, the Paternoster-row of New<br /> B York, is gradually being forsaken by pub-<br /> <br /> ?<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> lishers, who are moving “up town” to<br /> the Fifth Avenue district. Dodd, Mead, and<br /> Co., who are one of the latest to move, give as<br /> their reason the fact that their speciality is fine<br /> and rare editions, and the new location is near<br /> the centre of wealth and culture, amid the abodes<br /> of those who appreciate the luxe in literature and<br /> are able to pay for it. M. F. Mansfield and A.<br /> Wessels are also taking their businesses into this<br /> region, where in a few years the public lbrary<br /> will be erected; and the fact that the Grand<br /> Central Station is near at hand makes the site a<br /> valuable and appropriate centre for booksellers<br /> and publishers, but particularly to those who<br /> have a retail department.<br /> <br /> Mr. Henry Baldwin, of New Haven, Conn.,<br /> has for the past seven years been engaged on a<br /> stupendous undertaking—the “Library Ameri-<br /> cana.” Some account of this project was pub-<br /> lished lately in the New York Tumes. It is the<br /> outcome of a convention of the patriotic societies<br /> of America, held in Chicago in 1891, which<br /> appointed Mr. Baldwin Custodian of American<br /> History, with his duty to collect all additional<br /> facts and verify, so far as possible, all present<br /> facts which in any way affect the history of<br /> America. While the “ Library Americana ” will<br /> remain the property of the patriotic organisations<br /> of America, it may become the nucleus of the<br /> much agitated University of the United States in<br /> its department of American history. It begins<br /> with events in prehistoric America, going back to<br /> the supposed Chinese landing. Every tact from<br /> that time to the present day will be verified if<br /> possible. Every sort of question is treated—law,<br /> genealogy, biography, wars, calamities, celebra-<br /> tions, everything which has a bearing, direct or<br /> indirect, upon America, as well as topics wherein<br /> America is found to have a bearing upon the history<br /> of other countries. Not only accounts of events,<br /> but illustrations, cartoons, editorial comments<br /> from many pens have been preserved and placed in<br /> logical order. The Spanish-American War is dealt<br /> with in every detail. Letters from famous men<br /> to famous men, of noted personages to the beloved<br /> members of their family, love letters of long ago,<br /> form other volumes, and it is through this corres-<br /> pondence that much information is gained, and<br /> new sidelights are thrown upon the characters of<br /> some of the greatest men and women in history.<br /> That all possible additions may be made to the<br /> library and information unearthed, the chain-<br /> letter system has recently been made use of with<br /> The letters are usually sent to<br />  <br /> <br /> 54<br /> <br /> members of patriotic societies or people specially<br /> interested in historical and literary matters, with<br /> the request that they in turn write another to<br /> friends. The letters ask for old newspapers,<br /> books, autograph letters, manuscripts, or any like<br /> contribution, Another interesting detail is that<br /> the great “Library Americana” is to be cata-<br /> logued in different colours, each colour to desig-<br /> nate some special topic.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> OBITUARY.<br /> HE Rev. Dr. W. Garden Blaikie, Pro-<br /> <br /> fessor of Theology in the Free Church of<br /> <br /> Scotland from 1868 to 1897, who died in<br /> Edinburgh on June 10, in his eightieth year, was<br /> editor for successive periods of the Mree Church<br /> Magazine, the North British Review, the Sunday<br /> Magazine, and the Catholic Presbyterian. The<br /> book by which he will be remembered.is probably<br /> his biography of David Livingstone, but his<br /> optimistic “ Better Days for Working People”<br /> was exceedingly popular, and he wrote also a<br /> biography of the Free Church founder, Chalmers,<br /> and many expository volumes, and contributed<br /> many notices to the “Dictionary of National<br /> Biography.”<br /> <br /> Dr. Norman Kerr, the great authority on<br /> inebriety, and the author of over a score of books<br /> on the subject of alcoholism, died at Hastings on<br /> May 30.<br /> <br /> Pe<br /> <br /> BOOKS AND REVIEWS.<br /> <br /> (In these columns notes on books are given from reviews<br /> which carry weight, and are not, so far as can be learned,<br /> logrollers.)<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> PPRECIATIONS anp ApprxEssrs DELIVERED BY<br /> Lorp Rosepery, edited by Charles Geake (Lane,<br /> 5s. net), “a valuableand permanent addition to the library<br /> of British oratory” (Daily Chronicle), will be welcomed,<br /> says the Daily News, ‘‘by all who care for the study of<br /> calture and politics.’”’ There is in the volume “ statesman-<br /> ship, lofty, nobly patriotic, unselfish, and inspiring states-<br /> manship of a kind more imperatively needful to-day than<br /> in any period of the century.”<br /> <br /> MatTtTHEwW ARNOLD, by George Saintsbury (Blackwood,<br /> 23. 6d.), the first volume in a new series designed to<br /> supplement the well-known ‘‘ English Men of Letters,” is<br /> not for the general reader, says the Daily News, being “ not<br /> sufficiently expository,” and ‘&#039; sometimes too recondite.<br /> It is rather written by a critic for critics,” and “ on the<br /> ira Professor Saintsbury’s judgments seem to us to be<br /> sound.”<br /> <br /> Letters or Bensgamin Jowsrt, M.A., Master of<br /> Balliol College, Oxford, arranged and edited by Evelyn<br /> Abbott, M.A., LL.D., and, Lewis Campbell, M.A., LL.D.<br /> (Murray, 16s.) will delight readers of Jowett’s ‘&#039; Life,” says<br /> the Daily News, the letters, which range over a great<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> variety of topics, being as “‘ characteristic of Mr. Jowett, as<br /> instinct with his shrewd, kindly wisdom,” as any similar<br /> compositions of his. One of the valuable elements in this<br /> collection, observes the Daily Telegrarh, is ‘the record of<br /> Jowett’s friendships, so keenly felt, so resolutely main-<br /> tained throughout all his life.’ ‘‘ We are grateful to the<br /> editors of these interesting letters,’ remarks the Spectator,<br /> “though we feel that they would scarcely reveal much of<br /> Jowett’s personality to those who did not already know<br /> him,” “The collection is rather for those who wish to<br /> ascertain owatt’s viavs on ec:rtvin large public ques-<br /> tions,” says the Daily Chronicle. Literature says the<br /> letters on European politics ‘disclose a side of Jowett’s<br /> character and a range of his intellectual interests which will<br /> for most readers possess the charm of complete novelty.”<br /> <br /> Francesco Crispi, by W. J. Stillman (Richards, 7s. 6d.),<br /> is described by the Daily Telegraph as “‘a most important<br /> contribution towards the proper understanding of the<br /> present state of Italy.” “It is true,” says the Daily<br /> Chronicle, ‘‘that Mr. Stillman frankly criticises Crispi’s<br /> methods and temper, but, in so far as his policy is con-<br /> cerned, Crispi stands forth in this volume as perhaps the<br /> wisest and most upright statesman of the century.” Litera-<br /> ture describes it as ‘‘ devoid of those personal touches which<br /> make biographies live,” but as being “ impartial, judicious,”<br /> and containing valuable information as to Italian politics.<br /> <br /> James RusseLL Loweut AnD His Frienps, by Edward<br /> Everett Hale (Constable, 16s.), ‘“‘ forms a welcome postscript<br /> to Mr. Lawrence Lovell’s biography,” says the Daily News,<br /> the aim of the book being to furnish a review of the last<br /> sixty years among literary and scientific people in Boston<br /> and its neighbourhood, though among these Mr. Lowell of<br /> course takes a prominent place. ‘‘ Those who knew Lowell<br /> best and admired him most will have good reason to be<br /> satisfied with the sympathetic, but not indiscriminating<br /> portrait which is presented of him in these pages.” While<br /> it will hardly supply the place of the biography of Mr.<br /> Lowell, says Literature, we can from this work “ construct<br /> a fairly complete picture of the author of ‘A Fable for<br /> Critics’ at the beginning of his career, and of the singer of<br /> the great Commemoration Ode in middle life.” It is beauti-<br /> fully illustrated, and a good index, says the Daily Telegraph,<br /> “adds to its value as a picture of an important period in<br /> New England history and of the famous men who made it.”<br /> <br /> Tur Human Macuine, by J. F. Nisbet (Richards, 6s.),<br /> is permeated by a philosophy very much the same as that<br /> of Lamettrie, says Literature, and while the author ‘‘ does<br /> not advert to arguments which have convinced some of the<br /> scientific authorities whom he reverently cites that the<br /> materialistic theory is a faulty explanation of the world,”<br /> the essays are bracing reading, and ‘‘an excellent antidote<br /> to much unpleasant twaddle.”<br /> <br /> Henrik Issen; BJORNSTJERNDE BJORNSON (Heinemann,<br /> 10s. net) critical studies, by George Brandes, whom Litera-<br /> ture calls “the most authoritative critic of North-Hastern<br /> Europe,’ contains a study of Ibsen which that journal<br /> recommends “to all those who have preserved an open<br /> mind in presence of the great Norwegian dramatist,” and<br /> an essay on Bjérnson published by Dr. Brandes in 1882.<br /> Dr. Brandes, says the Daily News, “ devotes a great deal of<br /> space to the attempt to make clear the social theories of<br /> Ibsen, though we fear that his efforts will not always be<br /> attended with complete success,” but “no appreciation of<br /> Tbsen’s genius that has yet made its appearance in the<br /> English language can-compare for fulness and insight with<br /> this volume,” the translation of which by Jessie Muir has<br /> been revised by Mr. William Archer, who contributes a<br /> preface. Lovers of literature, says the Daily Telegraph,<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> CELE<br /> <br /> ook<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Te<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Ee fy<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> and of tbe modern dramatic movement in particular, will<br /> <br /> be amply repaid by a perusal of this book.<br /> <br /> Huneer, by Knut Hamsun, the Norwegian writer<br /> (Smithers, 4s. net.), “ simply as a study of hunger will not<br /> be surpassed,” and the spirit and individuality of the writer<br /> could not have been more “completely preserved than in<br /> George Egerton’s admirable translation,” says the Daily<br /> Telegraph.<br /> <br /> Tus RoMANCE or A Pro-ConsuL, by James Milne<br /> (Chatto, 6s.), consists of a “ personal life and memoirs of<br /> Sir George Grey.” Literature says Mr. Milne gives his<br /> readers “‘a very fair idea of Sir George Grey himself,<br /> though a very inadequate idea of the events in which he<br /> played his part,” and the Daily News says the charm of<br /> the book ‘‘is to be found in the graphic glimpses of his<br /> own life, given in Sir George Grey’s own striking phrases.”<br /> <br /> From Comte to Kipp, by Robert Mackintosh (Mac-<br /> millan, 8s. 6d. net.), a critical study of the various thinkers<br /> who have tried to build a sociology on a biological basis, is<br /> yaluable, says Literature, in “ that it contains a good many<br /> clever reflections on the details of the method of evolution,<br /> and on the nature and limitations of it when applied to<br /> human society.”<br /> <br /> Tur SoLrTary SUMMER (Macmillan, 6s.), by the author<br /> of “Elizabeth and Her German Garden,” “readable and<br /> delicately humourous ” as the first (Daily Chronicle) is even<br /> more charming than that book, says the Spectator. “ After<br /> reading it we are as ignorant of the nature and growth of<br /> plants as, we suspect, she is,’ but “she teaches us the<br /> positive value of intercourse with Nature, and the untold<br /> mischief of coming to love the fuss and turmoil of which<br /> our lives are perhaps inevitably full.” The “ autobiography<br /> of a cultured and cbservant woman” (Literature), “‘it is,<br /> says the Guardian, “ an admirable example of the desultory<br /> yet literary style of which some Jadies seem to possess the<br /> secret.”<br /> <br /> Lire AND NATURE IN THE ENGuLIsH Laxgs, by the Rev.<br /> H. D. Rawnsley (Maclehose, 5s.) is described by the<br /> Spectator as ‘“‘a very pleasant volume by one who knows<br /> and loves what he is writing about.” ‘ We could imagine<br /> no more charming companion to any meditative Lake<br /> visitor,” says the Daily Chronicle, than this collection of<br /> sketches by a true and close observer of thecountry. ‘‘ His<br /> descriptions of the shepherds’ meetings are full of humour<br /> and skilful description.”<br /> <br /> Avuraority anp ARcHmOoLOGY, Sacred and Profane,<br /> edited by David G. Hogarth (Murray, 16s.) is a volume of<br /> more or less popular essays by writers of obvious com-<br /> petence, containing the results of recent archeological<br /> research in relation to biblical and classical literature. The<br /> Daily News describes it as “an excellent wor Pe<br /> <br /> Tue POLITICAL STRUWWELPETER, by Harold Begbie,<br /> illustrated by F. Carruthers Gould (Richards, 3s. 6d.) is<br /> good-tempered satire and harmless mirth, says the Daily<br /> News; ita personages “belong to the world of English<br /> politics, and both Mr. Gould’s drawings and Mr. Begbie’s<br /> bright and facile rhymes are devoted to fables in which<br /> these celebrities play conspicuous parts.’ The Chronicle<br /> speaks of the ‘‘extraordinary cleverness of Mr. Gould’s<br /> disciplinary pencil.” ‘The most serious politician,” says<br /> Literature, “ will hardly maintain his gravity wherever he<br /> may open the book.”<br /> <br /> Aurrep THE GREAT, edited by Alfred Bowker (Black,<br /> 58s. net) gives a noble “idea of this emancipator of his<br /> country and true founder of the English nation,” says the<br /> Daily News. In this “series of contributions by the nine<br /> <br /> 55<br /> <br /> distinguished writers whose names are set forth on the title<br /> page,” there is, says the Daily Chronicle, something to suit<br /> every taste, “for though not all its readers will be able to<br /> appreciate the occasional bits of Anglo-Saxon and Latin,<br /> the greater portion is written in a thoroughly lucid and<br /> attractive form.”<br /> <br /> Lapy Lovisa Stuart (Douglas, 7s. 6d.) is a volume of<br /> selections from the manuscripts of this friend of Sir Walter<br /> Scott’s, which has been edited by the Hon. James A. Home.<br /> A memoir of John, Duke of Argyll and his family occupies<br /> about half the book; there are four letters of Scott’s and<br /> eight or ten of Lady Louisa’s, the former being described by<br /> Literature as delightful, with ‘‘ here and there a touchingly<br /> beautiful allusion to the sorrows of his old age.”<br /> <br /> Tye Ciry oF THE Sout (Richards, 5s. net), poems, is not,<br /> says the Daily Telegraph, ‘“‘ an essay in the art of writing<br /> verse; it is work of a remarkably high order, and reveals<br /> the temperament of a poet who writes because it is in him<br /> to do so.” ‘All through the book one comes upon lines<br /> which are astonishing in their beauty and their distinction.”<br /> <br /> Tur Open Roan, by E. V. Lucas (Richards, 5s.) a little<br /> book of selections to provide ‘‘ companionship on the road<br /> for city dwellers to make holiday,” is above the average of<br /> its kind, says the Guardian; and “ strikes a note of<br /> modernity,” says Literature “ which will not fail to please<br /> readers who complain that the compilers of anthologies<br /> are too fond of following a beaten track.”<br /> <br /> A Hisrory oF AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY, by Leonard<br /> Woolsey Bacon (Clarke, 10s. 6d.), is welcomed by the<br /> Spectator as a work “aiming at, and for the most part<br /> attaining, an appreciation of the best in diverse schools of<br /> religious thought, in their growth and their present con-<br /> dition, and as thus calculated to aid the better under-<br /> standing of America by the English people.” Literature<br /> says itis “excellently arranged and written.”<br /> <br /> Rorert Rarkes: THe MAn anp His Worx,’ edited<br /> by J. Henry Harris (Arrowsmith, 7s. 6d.), has auch<br /> biographical value, says Literature, including much<br /> evidence drawn from the recollections of Gloucester<br /> residents who knew Raikes.<br /> <br /> A Srupy or WAGNER, by Ernest Newman (B. Dobell,<br /> 12s.) is criticised by Literature, which says that the<br /> Wagnerian theory of the complete domination of the poet<br /> (in the relation between music and poetry), ‘‘ has had such<br /> an influence upon his successors and upon the musical<br /> thoughi of our day that we are glad to welcome a fearless<br /> exponent of the opposite theory.”<br /> <br /> Tur CoLuMN AND THE ARCH: Essays on Architectural<br /> History, by William P. P. Longfellow (Sampson Low,<br /> 108. 6d.), cannot fail to be extremely interesting to any<br /> reader cf artistic taste, says the Daily Chronicle. “ The<br /> subject is treated in a suggestive and unhackneyed<br /> manner.” Literatwre describes it as ‘“‘a work of real<br /> technical value.”<br /> <br /> Tus GAME AND THE CANDLE, by Rhoda Broughton<br /> (Macmillan, 6s.), is described by the Guardian as “ mainly<br /> a study in her usual style of human passion; in this case<br /> one in which the salient points are intense egotism and<br /> folly’; and ‘‘there is scarcely a character who does not<br /> seem to have been put as it were ina pillory for the reader’s<br /> edification and amusement.”<br /> <br /> I, THov, AnD THE OTHER Onn, by Mrs. Amelia E. Barr<br /> (Unwin, 6s.), is ‘a sweet and tender love story,” says the<br /> Daily Telegraph; ‘‘no more charming romance of the kind<br /> has been told in recent years,” the book carrying with it<br /> “ something of the fragrance cf an old-world garden.” The<br />  <br /> <br /> 56 THE<br /> <br /> excitement of the days of the Reform Act of 1832 is<br /> effectively used, remarks the Daily Chronicle, “and the<br /> book as a whole is pleasant and refreshing.”<br /> <br /> Tp DOMINION OF DREAMS, by Fiona Macleod (Constable,<br /> 6s.), consists of tales whose essential quality, says the<br /> Spectator, which “gratefully welcomes” them, is “ that<br /> they are of no time, neither conscientiously up to date nor<br /> elaborately out of date. The scene is laid for the most part<br /> in the Western Highlands, but, beyond a stray minister, the<br /> characters are all of the humblest class.” Literature speaks<br /> of “the extreme beauty and subtlety of Fiona Macleod’s<br /> writing,’ and says she sees the Gael through a mist of old<br /> tradition, and the volume ‘deals exclusively with the folk<br /> who hover on the indeterminate strip of space that separates<br /> sanity from madness.” ‘‘ There is poetry in all descriptions<br /> of scenes and periods, however strange and fantastic,’’ says<br /> the Daily Telegraph.<br /> <br /> GERALD FrtzGBRALD, by Charles Lever (Downey, 6s.),<br /> which appeared originally as a serial in the Dublin Univer-<br /> sity Magazine, but never saw the light in book form in<br /> Lever’s lifetime, is a plausible, romantic superstructure<br /> reared on a basis of fact, says the Spectator. The picture<br /> which he gives us of the sottish Pretender (Charles Edward)<br /> ‘redeemed from insignificance by his romantic past, and of<br /> his train of needy hangers-on, is true enough in spirit,<br /> while Lever’s familiarity with Italian society of all grades<br /> lends verisimilitude to the setting of thestory. The canvas<br /> is crowded with historic personages, including Alfieri,<br /> Madame Roland, and Mirabeau, and even where the portraits<br /> deviate most widely from authentic records, they are invari-<br /> ably endowed with energy and vivacity of expression.” As<br /> a story it will “add little to Lever’s fame,” says Literature,<br /> “but there are in it some excellent pieces of writing.”<br /> <br /> THE SATELLITE’s Stowaway, by Harry Lander (Chap-<br /> man, 3s. 6d.), is a “high-spirited and readable book.”<br /> (Spectator) which will captivate ‘all novel readers who love<br /> the sea, and do not object to a certain amount of coarse-<br /> ness in language and brutality in treatment—a coarseness,<br /> be it understood, which is never really base or of evil<br /> repute.”<br /> <br /> WHEN THE SLEEPER Wakgs, by H. G. Wells (Harpers,<br /> 6s.), is the story “of a man who falls into a cataleptic<br /> trance of over 200 years’ duration, and awakes to find<br /> himeelf, not only a kind of museum curiosity, guarded like<br /> a treasure, but also the heir to untold wealth, in a new and<br /> strange world.” The Daily News says that ‘‘Mr. Wells<br /> beats Jules Verne on his own ground,” while the Guardian<br /> describes it as “‘an enthralling effort of imagination,”<br /> “vivid and bizarre as a powerful nightmare.”<br /> <br /> Aw IpugR IN OLD FRANCE, by Tighe Hopkins (Hurst,<br /> 6s.), is a series of essays, “graphic pictures of old French<br /> life, which will be equally interesting to the ignorant and<br /> the well-informed,” says Literature. ‘‘We have seldom<br /> read a more charming book of its kind.”<br /> <br /> SILENCE Farm, by William Sharp (Richards, 6s.) paints<br /> for us “ with no little success,” says the Daily Telegraph,<br /> country scenes in the Lowlands with strong, characteristic<br /> figures of farmers and farm labourers amid changing<br /> aspects of sky and lands.” ‘The story, painful as it is, is<br /> exceedingly well told,” and “leaves a clear and artistic<br /> impression on the mind.” The chief character is a rank<br /> egoist and sensualist. “The story is powerful and tragic,’<br /> says the Daily News.<br /> <br /> Tue Arm oF THE Lorp, by Mrs. Comyns Carr (Duck-<br /> worth), is a “‘ powerful and lurid story,” says the Daily News,<br /> and, apart from its tragic intercst, ‘“‘ a careful study of<br /> certain phases of religious belief.”<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Lesser Destinizs, by Samuel Gordon (Murray, 6s8.), is<br /> described by the Daily Chronicle as “ a most careful study<br /> of the language, tone, and manners of the lower strata of<br /> London’s working folk.” The book is “reasonably read-<br /> able,” says Literature, “and might even be popular if the<br /> atmosphere were somewhat lees sordid.” No recent author<br /> that the Spectator has come across ‘has reproduced with<br /> greater skill and spirit the rough chaff and badinage in<br /> which the London street-arab notoriously excels.” ‘“ There<br /> is far more knowledge of human nature in Mr. Gordon’s book<br /> than in the works of those who excel him in the vigour of<br /> their realism.”<br /> <br /> Tue Inpivipua.ist, by W. H. Mallock (Chapman, 6s.),<br /> as a work of art, says Literature, suffers by the preposses-<br /> sions of a writer with a social purpose.’ The Daily News<br /> describes the novel as “of course a very clever book”—<br /> an acidulated, but not on that account less amusing,<br /> satire,” in which the author “is very sarcastic about<br /> ‘ settlements’ in general, and he is specially unkind to poor<br /> Bloomsbury.” The Daily Chronicle says that the book<br /> smacks of the eighties, but that “here and there are some:<br /> clever touches and some acute observations,” while the<br /> Daily Telegraph finds it ‘a merely brilliant social satire.’””<br /> The Spectator says the book exhibits a polished style, an<br /> eres observation, a sense of beauty, and a vein of genuine<br /> satire.”<br /> <br /> Onz Poor Scrupuez, by Mrs. Wilfred Ward (Longmans,<br /> 6s.), is a “thoroughly interesting, well-written novel”<br /> (Daily Chronicle), the characters of which are a house-party<br /> of a cousin or two, a man and a girl, and a literary man.<br /> ‘* The picture she draws of an old Catholic home and family<br /> is excellent,” says the Daily Telegraph, the Spectator finds<br /> it “singularly interesting and stimulating,” while the<br /> Guardian, besides praising the work as wholesome, and<br /> “ far above the average in cleverness and interest,” remarks<br /> that ‘‘in a day when all the serious novels are of agnostic<br /> tendency, it is delightful to have to speak of one in which<br /> religious faith and principle are made to triumph over the<br /> snares of the world and the flesh.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> “THE AUTHOR<br /> <br /> SCALE FOR ADVERTISEMENTS.<br /> <br /> Front Page aes £4 0 0<br /> Other Pages - 8 0<br /> Half of a Page ... +. 110 0<br /> Quarter of a Page ee x » OL oO<br /> Eighth of a Page oe nee wae eee ee<br /> Single Column Advertisements perioch 0 6 0<br /> Bills for Insertion per 2000 3 0 0<br /> <br /> Reductions made for a Series of Six or Twelve Insertions.<br /> <br /> All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed to the<br /> ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER, The Author Office, 4, Portugal-street,<br /> London, W.C. 3<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Mr. j. Eveleigh Nask,<br /> LITERARY AGENT,<br /> AMBERLEY HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, —<br /> <br /> STRAND, W.C. SS	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/464/1899-07-01-The-Author-10-2.pdf	publications, The Author
465	https://historysoa.com/items/show/465	The Author, Vol. 10 Issue 03 (August 1899)	<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.+10+Issue+03+%28August+1899%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 03 (August 1899)</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>	1899-08-01-The-Author-10-3					57–76																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=10">10</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1899-08-01">1899-08-01</a>							3			18990801	The Hutbor.<br /> <br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors.<br /> <br /> Monthly.)<br /> <br /> COMOCUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Vou. X.—No. 3.]<br /> <br /> AUGUST 1, 1899.<br /> <br /> [Prick SIXPENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> For the Opinions expressed in papers that are<br /> signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br /> responsible. None of the papers or para-<br /> graphs must be taken as expressing the<br /> collective opinions of the Committee unless<br /> they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br /> Thring, Sec.<br /> <br /> Sos<br /> <br /> hee Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br /> <br /> remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br /> <br /> requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br /> important communications within two days will write to him<br /> without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br /> Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br /> letter only.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br /> all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br /> jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br /> returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br /> <br /> Po<br /> <br /> GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an<br /> agreement. There are three methods of dealing<br /> with literary property :—<br /> <br /> I. THAT OF SELLING IT OUTRIGHT.<br /> This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br /> <br /> price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br /> managed by a competent agent.<br /> <br /> Il. A PROFIT-SHARING AGREEMENT.<br /> <br /> In this case the following rules should be attended to :<br /> <br /> (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br /> duction forms a part.<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.<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 /> <br /> VOL. X.<br /> <br /> As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br /> doctor !<br /> (7.) To stamp the agreement.<br /> <br /> Ill. THE ROYALTY SYSTEM.<br /> <br /> It is above all things necessary to know what the<br /> proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible<br /> for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly<br /> the truth. From time to time the very important figures<br /> connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br /> Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br /> “Cost of Production.”<br /> <br /> The four main points which the Society has always<br /> demanded 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.) That there shall be no secret profits.<br /> <br /> (4.) That there shall be no charge for advertisements<br /> in the publisher’s own organs and none for exchanged<br /> advertisements.<br /> <br /> eK<br /> <br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ie By wa member has a right to ask for and to receive<br /> <br /> advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br /> <br /> lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br /> business or the administration of his property. If the<br /> advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor,<br /> the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s<br /> solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is<br /> desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s<br /> opinion. All this without any cost to the member.<br /> <br /> 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br /> and publisher’s agreements do not generally fall within the<br /> experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br /> to use the Society.<br /> <br /> 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past<br /> accounts with the loan of the books represented. The<br /> Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new<br /> or old, for inspection and note. The information thus<br /> obtained may prove invaluable.<br /> <br /> 4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br /> posed document to the Society for examination.<br /> <br /> 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you<br /> are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are<br /> <br /> F 2<br /> 58 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing<br /> the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen-<br /> dence of the writer. 2<br /> <br /> 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of<br /> members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br /> safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br /> fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who<br /> will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :—(1)<br /> To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To<br /> stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon<br /> them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments<br /> due according to agreements.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE READING BRANCH.<br /> <br /> A EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> branch of their work by informing young writers of<br /> Their MSS. can be read and treated<br /> The Readers are<br /> The fee is one<br /> <br /> its existence.<br /> as a composition is treated by a coach.<br /> writers of competence and experience.<br /> <br /> guinea.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> <br /> HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br /> Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br /> of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br /> <br /> heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br /> many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br /> 6s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br /> <br /> Communications for The Author should be addressed to<br /> the Offices of the Society, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn<br /> Fields, W.C., and should reach the Editor not later than the<br /> 21st of each month.<br /> <br /> All persons engaged in literary work of any kind,<br /> whether members of the Society or not, are invited to<br /> communicate to the Editor any points connected with their<br /> work which it would be advisable in the general interest to<br /> publish.<br /> <br /> The present location of the Authors’ Club is at 3, White-<br /> hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for<br /> information, rules of admission, &amp;c.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> LITERARY PROPERTY.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I.—In TERNATIONAL LITERARY AND ARTISTIC<br /> ConGREss.<br /> <br /> “ E DROIT D’AUTEUR” publishes the<br /> folowing programme for the twenty-<br /> first congress of the “ Association Litté-<br /> <br /> raire et Artistique,’ which is to take place at<br /> <br /> Heidelburg in September next, commencing on<br /> <br /> the 23rd, and concluding on the 30th.<br /> <br /> 1. The author’s moral right in his production :<br /> <br /> MM. Lermina, Mack, Maillard, Vaunois.<br /> <br /> (a) The right of any author of an intellectual<br /> work to establish his prerogative of author, and<br /> <br /> to take legal proceedings against any persons<br /> appropriating the credit of the work.<br /> <br /> (6) His right to interdict reproduction of his<br /> work in any form except by his consent. Can an<br /> author’s creditors offer the right of reproduction<br /> for sale P<br /> <br /> (c) Right of the author who has assigned his<br /> work to compel regard for his right as author to<br /> oppose the assignee’s reproducing or exhibiting<br /> the work in any modified or altered form, or his<br /> making any use of the work not stipulated in the<br /> contract.<br /> <br /> (d) Right of the executors or heirs of the<br /> author to compel regard for the author’s moral<br /> rights. Power of the tribunal to compel respect<br /> for the work, even against the heirs, and after the<br /> work has become public property.<br /> <br /> 2. Protection of inlaid work: M. Soleau.<br /> <br /> 3. Reports on jurisprudence, state of public<br /> opinion, and legislative proceedings in different<br /> countries.<br /> <br /> (a) Report on the new German law. Examina-<br /> tion of the principal reforms to be desired: M-<br /> Osterrieth.<br /> <br /> (6) Condition of the preparatory labours of the<br /> English law: M. Iselin.<br /> <br /> (c) Proposed reform of Italian law: M.<br /> Armar.<br /> <br /> (d) Projected Russian law: M. Halpérine-<br /> Karminsky.<br /> <br /> (e) Literary property in Roumania: M.<br /> Djuvara.<br /> <br /> (f) Literary property in the United States:<br /> M. Paul Ocker.<br /> <br /> Persons desiring to join in the conference<br /> should forward their names to M. Jules Lermina,<br /> perpetual secretary of the Association, Hétel des<br /> Sociétés Savantes, 28, Rue Serpents, a Paris.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Il.—TxHE Burne ConveENTION.<br /> <br /> The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Princi-<br /> pality of Montenegro has, by a memorandum of<br /> April 1, 1899, informed the Swiss Federal<br /> Council, in the name of his Government, that the<br /> Principality, for reasons of economy, withdraws<br /> from the International Union for the Protection<br /> of Literary and Artistic Works created by the<br /> Convention of Sept. 9, 1886.<br /> <br /> According to the terms of the 2oth article of<br /> the Convention, the Convention will remain in<br /> force in the Principality of Montenegro until the<br /> expiration of one year from the date of the<br /> denunciation, that is to say, until April 1, 1900.<br /> <br /> The Swiss Federal Council has communicated<br /> this denunciation to the contracting countries by<br /> a circular dated May 15, 1899.—From Le Droit.<br /> d@ Auteur.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> TII.—Copyrieut 1n Russta.<br /> <br /> Our Italian contemporary in J Diritti D’ Autore<br /> mentions that the Russian Imperial Commission<br /> for the revision of the copyright law is thinking<br /> of giving foreign authors a ten years’ copyright<br /> in translations of their works on condition that<br /> the translation into Russian is made within three<br /> years of the publication of the original work.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> TV.—Tue Srxpenny Nove.<br /> <br /> With reference to the able note on the six-<br /> penny novel in the May number of The Author,<br /> will you allow me, as cne who has seen something<br /> of the matter from the trade side, to suggest<br /> that the price at which new novels shall be<br /> issued could be promptly settled by united action<br /> on the part of the heads of the literary profes-<br /> sion? A publisher who makes fiction a feature<br /> of his lists cannot make o/d standard works his<br /> staple. By old standard works, I mean novels<br /> which still have life in them, as non-copyright<br /> works, after an existence of forty years or more<br /> as copyright works. If he wants to issue new<br /> copyright novels at sixpence, he can only do so<br /> (1) by purchasing the copyright outright, or (2)<br /> by getting the author to accept a royalty on<br /> the sixpenny form. As to purchasing the copy-<br /> right outright, it is notorious that, except in very<br /> rare instances, a novel, the copyright of which<br /> can be purchased for £20 or so, has not a poten-<br /> tial sale behind it of sufficient copies to make a<br /> sixpenny edition pay; and if a publisher pur-<br /> chases outright the copyright of new novels by<br /> prominent writers for payments of £750 to £2000,<br /> say, he will have made the sixpenny edition so<br /> expensive to himself that only fabulous sales will<br /> secure him a profit. No advertisement revenue<br /> that is likely to accrue on the large majority of<br /> new novels would set the balance right.<br /> <br /> But a publisher who makes fiction a staple<br /> must come to the prominent writers, the writers<br /> whose books he can sell for certain, whose novels<br /> the public wants to read, As he cannot afford<br /> to purchase the copyright, he must try to get the<br /> author to take a royalty, if the sixpenny form is<br /> to be floated. This must mean a heavy loss<br /> to the author, as compared with the six-shilling<br /> system. To take a rough diagram of the situa-<br /> tion—Suppose that an author can sell 50,000<br /> copies of a novel in six-shilling form, and that he<br /> gets only a shilling a copy on the published<br /> price (practically, of course, he gets much more) ;<br /> he will receive on sales £2500. If the novel<br /> were issued at sixpence, and the author got a<br /> penny a copy royalty, then—supposing that the<br /> cheaper price doubled his sales—he would on the<br /> sale of 100,000 copies receive £416 odd, and be a<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 59<br /> <br /> loser of over £2000 as compared with the six-<br /> shilling edition. Even if the lowered price<br /> trebled his sales—a big supposition—he would<br /> be a loser of well over £1500. Let us suppose<br /> an author commands a sale of 10,000 copies ;<br /> under the six-shilling arrangement (same figures<br /> as above) he gets £500—on a corresponding<br /> sixpenny arrangement (as above) he would only<br /> get £410dd. As for the author who sells 10,000<br /> copies, not being so widely known or so widely<br /> popular as the author who sells 50,000 copies, the<br /> lowered price would not quicken or increase his<br /> sales so much. ‘Then there is a considerable<br /> number of writers, holding an excellent place in<br /> literature, whose novels sell 5000 to 6000. They<br /> would probably find their incomes gone and their<br /> MSS. unsaleable under the sixpenny régime.<br /> This will mean a real and severe loss to English<br /> art and letters if it is allowed to take place.<br /> <br /> If prominent authors, after carefully consider-<br /> ing their interests, determine that they do not<br /> intend to have their novels issued at 6d. (first<br /> edition), and so instruct their agents, the matter<br /> will soon settle itself.<br /> <br /> But one may safely take it for granted that<br /> the heads of the literary profession would not<br /> only consider their own financial interests in such<br /> a case but the interests of literature. Who is to<br /> publish the Walter Paters and Emily Brontés of<br /> the future? Unless such writers are able and<br /> willing to publish at their own expense, and<br /> go without remuneration, they will have silence<br /> enforced on them under the sixpenny régime.<br /> Their MSS. will be met with the fatal objec-<br /> tion that there is not probable sale enough<br /> in them to make a sixpenny edition profitable to<br /> any publisher, and thus a chain of writers of<br /> whom English people are justly proud will be<br /> broken, and one may reasonably fear that the<br /> man of the sixpenny shocker will arise in their<br /> stead.<br /> <br /> Of course, there are many educated men and.<br /> women who would like to buy new novels but<br /> cannot afford the six-shilling form. But these<br /> readers would buy the book because of its<br /> intrinsic worth, not because it was the newest<br /> thing published. Would not publication in<br /> sixpenny form two years after first publication<br /> meet their requirements in a satisfactory way ?<br /> Only a few novels continue to bear fruit in the<br /> shape of royalty on the six-shilling edition<br /> twenty-four months after first publication. If<br /> the cost of composition, &amp;c., had. been met by a<br /> more expensive edition at first, perhaps a<br /> sixpenny edition might be issued after that lapse<br /> of time with satisfaction to everybody. Those<br /> who can and do afford to keep up a library<br /> subscription or to buy books in six-shilling form<br /> 60<br /> <br /> would not wait two years in order to get them in<br /> sixpenny form; so the first and more expensive<br /> edition would not be interfered with by the<br /> later and cheaper edition. The book would get a<br /> revival, the intelligent reader with a small purse<br /> would have a chance of acquiring it, and the<br /> publisher would be able to work the potential<br /> profit of the book out in each form.<br /> <br /> Mo.LeEcvtLe.<br /> 2 ee<br /> PUBLISHERS’ DRAFT AGREEMENT.<br /> <br /> HE following draft form of royalty agree-<br /> ment is one of the forms issued by the<br /> Council of the Publishers’ Association,<br /> <br /> and submitted to and approved by Mr. Joseph<br /> Walton, Q.C., and Mr. Arthur Ingpen.<br /> <br /> It was published in The Author of July, 1898,<br /> but it has been thought necessary to re-issue it,<br /> together with the comments of the Secretary<br /> of the Society of Authors, as agreements con-<br /> taining some of the clauses have been placed<br /> on one or two occasions recently before the<br /> Secretary.<br /> <br /> There is Very little to add to the comments which<br /> then accompanied the agreement except to state<br /> that where the blanks have been left im the dratt<br /> form they have been generally filled up to the<br /> advantage of the publisher and to the disadvantage<br /> of the author. It is needless to state the amount<br /> of royalty inserted in sections a, b, c, of clause 4.<br /> Tn one case, however, where the royalty was only<br /> to be paid after a certain number of copies were<br /> sold, 10 per cent. was offered on all copies after<br /> the sale of 1500 copies. The sales never reached<br /> 1500. The author never received a royalty.<br /> If they reached 1400 the publisher made<br /> £100 to £120. If they went over 1500 he<br /> made only about £60. An agreement should<br /> always be drawn so that both parties should<br /> be equally interested in promotion of the sales.<br /> In section d the blank has been filled up by<br /> the word “ fifty per cent.,” thus showing, as often<br /> repeated, that for ordinary agency transactions<br /> the publisher takes 50 per cent. where the agent<br /> would take ten or fifteen! In clause 8 the<br /> copyright has generally been vested in the<br /> name of the publisher. A warning against this<br /> is given in the comments. In clause g the<br /> blanks have been filled up to the great dis-<br /> advantage of the author, giving the publisher,<br /> as put forward in the comments, a chance of<br /> retaining the author’s money for nearly eighteen<br /> months.<br /> <br /> There is no need to make other new comment<br /> onthe agreement. It is put forward again for the<br /> sake of a warning to authors.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Drarr Form or suacEsteD Royatty AGREE-<br /> MENT BETWEEN AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER,<br /> DRAWN UP BY THE COUNCIL oF THE PuB-<br /> LISHERS’ ASSOCIATION AND SUBMITTED TO AND<br /> APPROVED BY Mr. JosepH Watton, Q.C.,<br /> anp Mr. Artuur R. Ineren.<br /> <br /> Royalty Agreement.<br /> Memoranpum or AGREEMENT made this<br /> day of between<br /> (hereinafter termed the Author) of the one part,<br /> and<br /> (hereinafter termed the Publisher) of the other<br /> part, whereby it is mutually agreed between the<br /> parties hereto for themselves and their respective<br /> executors, administrators, and assigns (or succes-<br /> sors, as the case may be), as follows :—<br /> <br /> 1. The Publisher shall at his own risk and<br /> expense, and with due diligence, produce and<br /> publish the work at present intituled<br /> b<br /> and use his best endeavours to sell the same.<br /> <br /> 2. The Author guarantees to the Publisher that<br /> the said work is in no way whatever a violation<br /> of any existing copyright, and that it contains<br /> nothing of a libellous or scandalous character, and<br /> that he will indemnify the Publisher from all<br /> suits, claims and proceedings, damages, and costs<br /> which may be made, taken, or incurred by or<br /> against him on the ground that the work is an<br /> infringement of copyright, or contains anything<br /> libellous or scandalous.<br /> <br /> 3. The Publisher shall during the legal term<br /> of copyright have the exclusive right of producing<br /> and publishing the work in the English language<br /> throughout the world. The Publisher shall have<br /> the entire control of the publication and sale<br /> and terms of sale of the book, and the Author<br /> shall not during the continuance of this agree-<br /> ment (without the consent of the Publisher)<br /> publish any abridgment, translation, or dramatised<br /> version of the work.<br /> <br /> 4. The Publisher agrees to pay the Author the<br /> following royalties, that is to say :—<br /> <br /> (a) A royalty of on the published<br /> <br /> price of all copies (13 being reckoned as<br /> 12 or 25 as 24, as the case may be) of<br /> the British edition sold beyond<br /> <br /> copies.<br /> <br /> (6) In the event of a cheaper edition bemg<br /> issued, a royalty of per cent. on the<br /> published price.<br /> <br /> (c) In the event of the Publisher disposing of<br /> copies or editions at a reduced rate for<br /> sale in the United States, or elsewhere,<br /> <br /> (d) In the event of the Publisher realising<br /> profits from the sale, with consent of the<br /> Author, of early sheets, serial or other<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 61<br /> <br /> rights, or plates for production of the<br /> work in the United States, or elsewhere,<br /> or as remainders, a royalty of<br /> <br /> per cent. of the amount realised by such<br /> sale.<br /> <br /> or from claims for infringement of copy-<br /> right, a royalty of per cent. of the<br /> net amount of such protits remaining<br /> after deducting all expenses relating<br /> thereto.<br /> <br /> No royalties shall be paid on any copies given<br /> away for review or other purposes.<br /> <br /> 5. The Author agrees to revise the first, and.<br /> if necessary, to edit and revise every subsequent<br /> edition of the work, and from time to time to<br /> supply any new matter that may be needful to<br /> keep the work up to date.<br /> <br /> 6. The Author agrees that all costs of correc-<br /> tions and alterations in the proof sheets exceeding<br /> 25 per cent. of the cost of composition shall be<br /> deducted from the royalties payable to him.<br /> <br /> 7, In the event of the Author neglecting to<br /> revise an edition after due notice shall have been<br /> given to him, or in the event of the Author being<br /> unable to do so by reason of death or otherwise,<br /> the expense of revising and preparing each such<br /> future edition for press shall be borne by the<br /> Author, and shall be deducted from the royalties<br /> payable to him.<br /> <br /> 8. During the continuance of this agreement,<br /> the copyright of the work shall be vested in the<br /> <br /> who may be registered as the proprietor<br /> thereof accordingly.<br /> <br /> 9. The publisher shall make up the account<br /> annually to<br /> and deliver the same to the Author within<br /> months thereafter, and pay the balance due to the<br /> author on<br /> <br /> 10. If the publisher shall at the end of three<br /> years from the date of publication, or at any<br /> time thereafter, give notice to the author taat in<br /> his opinion the demand for the work has eased,<br /> or if the Publisher shall for six months after the<br /> work is out of print decline, or, after due notice,<br /> neglect to publish a new edition, then and in<br /> either of such cases, this agreement shall termi-<br /> nate, and, on the determination of this agreement<br /> in the above or any other manner, the right to<br /> print and publish the work shall revert to the<br /> Author, and the Author, if not then registered,<br /> shall be entitled to be registered as the proprietor<br /> thereof, and to purchase from the Publisher forth-<br /> with the plates or moulds and engravings (if any)<br /> produced specially for the work, at half-cost of<br /> production, and whatever copies the Publisher<br /> may have on hand at cost of production, and if<br /> the Author does not within three months pur-<br /> chase and pay for the said plates or moulds,<br /> <br /> engravings, and copies, the Publisher may at any<br /> time thereafter dispose of such plates or moulds,<br /> engravings, and copies, or melt the plates, paying<br /> to the author in lieu of royalties per cent.<br /> of the net proceeds of such sale.<br /> <br /> 11. If any difference shall arise between the<br /> Author and the Publisher touching the meaning<br /> of this agreement, or the rights or liabilities of<br /> the parties thereunder, the same shall be referred<br /> to the arbitration of two persons (one to be named<br /> by each party) or their umpire, in accordance<br /> with the provisions of the Arbitration Act,<br /> 1889.<br /> <br /> 12. The term “Publisher” throughout this<br /> agreement shall be deemed to include the person<br /> or persons or company for the time being carrying<br /> on the business of the said<br /> under as well its present as any future style, and<br /> the benefit of this agreement shall be transmissible<br /> accordingly.<br /> <br /> As witness the hands of the parties.<br /> <br /> CoMMENTS BY THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> Firstly, then, the parties to the agreement.<br /> “It is agreed for themselves, their respective<br /> administrators, executors, and assigns, or suc-<br /> cessors, as the case may be.”<br /> <br /> It is the greatest mistake for an author to<br /> contract with the executors, administrators, and<br /> assigns, or successors of a publisher. The con-<br /> tract is between principal and agent, and is a<br /> personal contract, and should be maintained as a<br /> personal contract. Supposing an author were<br /> dealing with one of the best publishing houses in<br /> England, and the partners of that publishing<br /> house, for some reason or other, desired to retire<br /> from the business; to clear up matters they<br /> might put up the contracts for sale by auction or<br /> otherwise. Under these circumstances an author<br /> might find the right to publish his work pur-<br /> chased by some enterprising tradesman, who<br /> would bring it out in a manner and form which<br /> would be utterly repulsive to the author, and he<br /> would have no means of stopping him; and the<br /> same thing might occur should a firm go bank-<br /> rupt. It is, therefore, a most dangerous thing to<br /> allow the agent who is dealing with the property<br /> to have a right to assign his agency.<br /> <br /> In Clause 1 the publisher undertakes to pro-<br /> duce the work with due diligence. These words,<br /> as far as they go, are satisfactory, but the clause<br /> is not nearly comprehensive enough. The follow-<br /> ing points are suggested for consideration: that<br /> a date ought to be fixed on or before which the<br /> book should be produced ; that the form in which<br /> the edition is to appear should also be stated,<br /> and the price at which it is to be sold to the<br /> public.<br /> 62 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Clause 2 may, on the whole, be passed, with<br /> the single exception of the words “incurred<br /> by.” Itis fair as between the parties that the<br /> publisher should be protected from all suits<br /> against him, but there is no reason why the<br /> author should indemnify him from all expenses<br /> incurred by him, as he might incur unnecessary<br /> expenses without the sanction of the author.<br /> There ought, therefore, to be some words of<br /> limitation by which the author has a voice in any<br /> action taken by the publisher.<br /> <br /> Clause 3.—It is difficult to deal with Clause 3<br /> without, in fact, re-drafting the whole of the<br /> agreement, but it should be pointed out that the<br /> rights which the author is expected to transfer by<br /> this agreement include the rights of production in<br /> Tauchnitz formand in America. Such rights are<br /> generally left in the hands of an agent, and much<br /> better so than in the hands of publishers, for this<br /> reason—that a publisher does not,as a general rule,<br /> undertake the work of the literary agent; that his<br /> office is not to place literary work in other hands,<br /> but to produce literary work for the author; that<br /> work of this kind left in the hands of publishers is<br /> not likely to receive anything like the same atten-<br /> tion as it is if left in the hands of a literary agent ;<br /> that the publisher is the only person who gains<br /> by having control of this work, and that the<br /> author loses by leaving it in his hands. It should<br /> be further pointed out that the publisher does not<br /> anywhere in the agreement undertake to secure<br /> the American copyright for the author, nor even<br /> to do his best to obtain it. It may pay an English<br /> publisher better to sell sheets or stereos to<br /> America, and pay the author a royalty, as per<br /> Clause 4 (d), ‘of per cent. of the net amount<br /> of the profits remaining after deducting all ex-<br /> penses relating thereto.”<br /> <br /> It should be added, although no prices are<br /> stated in this agreement, that for this agency work,<br /> while the literary agent charges 10 per cent.,<br /> the publisher actually asks from 30 to 50 per cent. ;<br /> out of a large series of agreements in my hands<br /> from all sorts and conditions of publishers the<br /> lowest charge for this literary agency business<br /> has been 25 per cent., and this only in one case.<br /> <br /> The last part of the clause is extraordinary.<br /> It seems astounding that the author should not be<br /> allowed to deal with the translation and dramati-<br /> sation of his own work without the consent of the<br /> publisher. An author must be mad to part with<br /> his dramatic rights, perhaps more important than<br /> all the rest put together. With regard to the<br /> question of abridgment even, it is not fair that<br /> the author should be bound not to abridge the<br /> work unless the publisher is reciprocally bound<br /> not to obtain an abridgment or to run any other<br /> technical work which is likely to conflict with the<br /> <br /> author’s. So far, this clause has been considered<br /> from the general point of view, but from the<br /> point of view of the writer of technical works,<br /> educational, medical, theological, &amp;¢., &amp;c., the<br /> clause is still more disastrous.<br /> <br /> Under no circumstances should a writer of<br /> technical books hand over to his publisher so large<br /> a right of publication. It should be limited,<br /> especially as to the number of the edition, giving,<br /> if the author thinks fit, an equitable right to<br /> produce further editions.<br /> <br /> A technical writer must keep the command of<br /> his work, must be able, if necessary, to alter,<br /> amend, amplify. He cannot do this with a free<br /> hand if he does not keep undivided control.<br /> <br /> The publishers’ answer will be: “ But this is<br /> provided for by Clauses 5 and 7.”<br /> <br /> But it is submitted that it is one thing for the<br /> author to have unfettered judgment, and another<br /> thing to be forced to revise at request of his<br /> publisher or see his work arbitrarily revised by<br /> another. Whilst considering this question, it<br /> should be mentioned that one of the peculiarities<br /> of publishers’ contracts is that in the case of<br /> technical works a clause is nearly always intro-<br /> duced conveying the copyright to the publisher.<br /> <br /> An agreement containing such a clause should<br /> never be signed by an author.<br /> <br /> Clause 4.—In Section (a) the royalty is to be<br /> paid thirteen copies as twelve or twenty-five as<br /> twenty-four. The alternative appears to be left<br /> wholly to the discretion of the publisher, who<br /> naturally will prefer to pay on thirteen as twelve.<br /> Royalties should never be calculated on this basis.<br /> All the royalty accounts put forward by the<br /> Authors’ Society have been (wrongly) reckoned<br /> on the basis that the royalty is paid on every copy<br /> sold, it having been previously taken into account<br /> in the Cost of Production that the publisher had<br /> to sell thirteen for twelve to the booksellers. This<br /> they do not really do, except they sell in quantities<br /> and a great many booksellers are unable to afford<br /> to buy in quantities; therefore, in taking the<br /> royalty to be paid as in Section (a), the publisher<br /> is not only profiting by the liberal estimates of<br /> the Society with regard to royalties, but is also<br /> endeavouring to take in an extra 8 per cent., and<br /> the extra amount on those copies, of which there<br /> are many, sold in less numbers than twelve.<br /> <br /> This fact should also be made clear, that some<br /> of the older and more reliable firms have never<br /> put forward in their agreement a clause on this<br /> basis, but have always paid on every copy.<br /> <br /> The clause is also drafted that the royalty<br /> should be paid on all copies sold beyond a certain<br /> number. This seems to imply that no book can<br /> afford to have a royalty paid on it from the<br /> beginning. Of course, this is not the case, but<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> when such an agreement is placed before an<br /> author as an equitable agreement, these points of<br /> equity should be clearly explained.<br /> <br /> If the royalty is to be paid after the sale of a<br /> certain number (generally such a number whose<br /> sale will cover the cost of production), then the<br /> author must take care (1) that a number beyond<br /> the number specified is printed ; (2) that he gets a<br /> proportionately higher royalty for foregoing it so<br /> long—e.g., he must then get 50 per cent. of the<br /> trade price.<br /> <br /> All royalty agreements should further have the<br /> royalty increasing with the sale if they cannot<br /> bear a high royalty from the beginning. A<br /> royalty increasing with the sale is certainly a fair<br /> arrangement as between author and publisher.<br /> <br /> Section (6.)—The issue of a cheap edition<br /> appears under this section, as, indeed, under the<br /> drafting of the whole agreement, to lie entirely<br /> with the publisher. This is by no means a<br /> satisfactory arrangement. Here, again, there is<br /> no proposed increasing royalty according to the<br /> number of the cheap edition sold.<br /> <br /> Section (c).—It is a common thing for the<br /> author to receive a share of the nett amount<br /> realised by the sale of remainders, but royalties<br /> as a general rule are paid on the published price<br /> of the sale of the book in the United States.<br /> An author should not allow such a loose clause<br /> to be in any agreement with the words “ copies or<br /> editions sold at a reduced rate should be subject<br /> to — per cent. of the amount realised on such<br /> sale.” Who is to decide what is a reduced rate?<br /> There are many different methods of selling<br /> books to the trade; many of these might be called<br /> books sold at a reduced rate. Under these cir-<br /> cumstances it is unfair to the author to obtain a<br /> share merely of the amount realised. Royalties<br /> must be paid always on the published price,<br /> except in the case of a remainder.<br /> <br /> Section (c) therefore should allow a share of<br /> the amount realised on bond fide remainder sales.<br /> The rest should be altered. The case of re-<br /> mainder sales should be distinguished with great<br /> care from the sale of books at reduced prices ;<br /> this clause cannot but tend to confuse the two<br /> issues.<br /> <br /> Section (d).—If the publisher is successful in<br /> doing the agency work stated in that section, it<br /> is fair that he should have 10 per cent. commis-<br /> sion on the returns, in accordance with the charges<br /> of all ordinary agents. He might also perhaps<br /> be fairly entitled to a 10 per cent. commission if<br /> he was mainly instrumental in recovering money<br /> for infringement of copyright. The balance would<br /> be paid to the author.<br /> <br /> The final section of clause 4 is a little vague.<br /> Of course, no royalty ought to be paid to the<br /> <br /> VOL. x,<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 63<br /> <br /> author on copies given away by him or sent for<br /> review, but the words “other purposes” might<br /> cover a good deal more than this, and are insuffi-<br /> ciently precise.<br /> <br /> Clause 5.—The wording of the fifth clause is<br /> not very satisfactory. In the case of technical<br /> works, to which a clause like this specially refers,<br /> the publishers should in the first instance be only<br /> given a right to publish a limited number of<br /> copies, and the author might in equity give him<br /> the option of producing further editions, subject<br /> to certain limitations. Under those circumstances<br /> the right to revise would lie within the author’s<br /> hands, as it should do with the creator of any<br /> work, who ought alone to have power to add or<br /> subtract from what he has already put before the<br /> world. This has all been explained when com-<br /> menting on Clause 3, but the principle is of such<br /> importance that it is worth while to repeat it.<br /> <br /> Clause 6.—The author is not safeguarded here.<br /> Could it not be provided that periodically (say<br /> weekly) during the printing the author be<br /> informed of the cost of corrections. He must in<br /> any case be informed what is the cost of com-<br /> position, and what is the connection between<br /> corrections and shillings.<br /> <br /> Clause 7 might, under certain circumstances—<br /> that is if the publisher has purchased the copy-<br /> right—be inserted in an agreement, but in the<br /> present form of royalty agreement it should be<br /> struck out. There is no need for it. Its imprac-<br /> ticability with regard to technical writers during<br /> their lifetime has been explained.<br /> <br /> Clause 8.—There is no need either for the<br /> insertion of clause 8. The copyright is the<br /> author’s, and must remain so. The clause is<br /> inserted evidently with the idea of the copyright<br /> being vested in the name of the publisher. This<br /> would be a mistake. :<br /> <br /> Clause 9, the account clause, is so beautifnlly<br /> vague that it is hardly worth while to comment<br /> upon it, except to point out that it is a mistake<br /> to have accounts made up annually delivered<br /> three months after they are made up, with the<br /> amounts due payable three months after this,<br /> making it possible for the publisher to retain the<br /> author’s money for nearly eighteen months. That<br /> is a common account clause amongst publishers,<br /> and no doubt they find it exceedingly useful to<br /> have the control of the author’s money for so long<br /> a period. The mere interest on such money would<br /> go a long way to pay the office expenses in a big<br /> office. But the inconvenience to the author, not<br /> to mention the danger of bankruptcy or similar<br /> contingencies to the firm, is very considerable.<br /> <br /> Clause 10. — The first part of clause 10 is<br /> certainly necessary for the protection of the<br /> author, as it would be very awkward supposing<br /> <br /> @<br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 64<br /> <br /> the publisher refused to produce the book when<br /> the author had a certain market for it. If, how-<br /> ever, as in the case of some educational works,<br /> the publisher desired still to maintain the control<br /> of the market, so as not to allow the author to<br /> republish a book in competition with one which<br /> the publisher had already before the public, it<br /> would be easy to evade the clause by having a<br /> few copies ready on hand. The latter part of the<br /> clause, however, could not possibly be equitable<br /> as between author and publisher. It is quite<br /> possible that the moulds and engravings might<br /> be so worn that they would not be worth half the<br /> cost of production, and the copies of the book that<br /> the publisher had on hand might not be worth<br /> the whole cost of production, as itis quite possible<br /> that they might have been damaged or otherwise<br /> defaced. If, therefore, the author refused to pur-<br /> chase the books at the cost of production on<br /> account of some damage that they had received, it<br /> would be possible for the author in reproducing<br /> the work with some other publisher to be under-<br /> sold. The author saould have the o.tion of<br /> taking over the stock and plates at a valuation.<br /> The danger, however, is not a very large one, as<br /> if the book was in such a condition that the<br /> author desired to bring out a new edition and<br /> the publisher did not, it would most probably<br /> argue that the book had very nearly reached the<br /> end of its sale, in which case there would most<br /> probably be only a few copies on hand. The<br /> danger, however, is one that should be guarded<br /> against.<br /> <br /> Clause 11 ought to be struck out, as, until<br /> a dispute arises, it is impossible to say whether<br /> it is a fit subject for arbitration ; besides,<br /> arbitration is more expensive than an action at<br /> law.<br /> <br /> Clause 12 should on no account stand. It is<br /> most important, as explained when discussing the<br /> parties to this agreement, that the contract should<br /> be a personal contract, and this point should<br /> always be before authors when signing agree-<br /> ments. They should under no circumstances<br /> allow such a clause to pass.<br /> <br /> This is a fair comment on the royalty agree-<br /> ment as it stands. Many suggestions might be<br /> made as to the insertion of various clauses, and<br /> the protection of the author on other points.<br /> But these are faults of omission, and the agree-<br /> ment has only been dealt with as regards the<br /> drafted clauses. It might be well to mention<br /> that some definite time should be fixed on, before<br /> which a publisher should not be allowed to make<br /> remainder sales.<br /> <br /> i i<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> PARIS NOTES.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 5, Rue Chomel, Paris.<br /> <br /> NHE matinée Alfred de Musset, recently given<br /> 7 by the Bodiniére, was a great success.<br /> The poet par excellence of “l’amour, les<br /> femmes, et les fleurs” is still a living voice to the<br /> present generation. For over forty years the<br /> annual pilgrimage of his disciples to his tomb at<br /> Pére-Lachaise in the beginning of “le joli mois<br /> de mai” has been piously continued, and this<br /> year the tomb of the great Hugo is reported to<br /> have been honoured with less than half the<br /> number of the floral tributes deposited on that of<br /> Alfred de Musset. But Hugo died more than a<br /> quarter of a century later, so his admirers are<br /> content to read his works and temporarily forget<br /> his anniversary until Time’s mellow aureole has<br /> gilded his fame. Though Alfred de Musset’s last<br /> days were troubled by pecuniary cares (including<br /> the expenses of his own interment), the only<br /> thing he asked of his friends was “ a light shade”<br /> over his grave; and the willow which now casts<br /> over his last resting-place the “light shade” so<br /> pathetically requested was brought from Parana<br /> by a South American poet—Hilarip Escasubi by<br /> name—who cheerfully undertook the long voyage<br /> in order personally to fulfil the desire of the poet<br /> whose works he revered. Apropos of this fact<br /> may be mentioned the assertion that the poems<br /> of de Musset and the memoirs recently published<br /> by his old housekeeper, Adéle Colin, are reported<br /> to have had almost as wide a circulation among<br /> foreigners as among the poet’s own compatriots.<br /> M. Paul Deschanel, President of the Chamber<br /> of Deputies, has been elected to fill the vacant<br /> fautewl of M. Edouard Hervé. This is not<br /> the first time that the newly fledged Academi-<br /> cian has obtained the suffrages of the august<br /> body of which he is now a member. Eleven<br /> years ago a clever volume from his pen, entitled<br /> “Orateurs et Hommes d’Etat” (containing a<br /> series of studies on Frédéric II. and Bismarck, Fox<br /> and Pitt, Lord Grey, Talleyrand, Berryer and Glad-<br /> stone), was recompensed by the French Academy ;<br /> and the following year his interesting ‘“‘ Figures<br /> de Femmes,” containing appreciations of Mmes.<br /> d’Epinay, Necker, Récamier, &amp;c., obtained the<br /> same honour. Despite the exigencies of his<br /> political career, M. Deschanel has found time<br /> since then to sign other valuable social and<br /> political works, including numerous _ historical,<br /> literary, and political articles which have prin-<br /> cipally appeared in the Journal des Deébats<br /> andthe Temps. Only two literary members of<br /> the Academy were absent on the occasion of his<br /> election, viz—M. Anatole France, who sent his<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> g<br /> .<br /> i<br /> f<br /> <br /> ae<br /> Sa<br /> 1f<br /> r<br /> re<br /> ti?<br /> 1<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> excuses, and M. Henri Lavedan, who was elected<br /> a short time ago, but has not yet been officially<br /> received. The latter is reported to be writing a new<br /> play on irreproachably moral lines, as a sort of<br /> amende honorable for that exceedingly un-<br /> academical and successful comedy ‘Le Vieux<br /> Marcheur,” which was M. Lavedan’s first produc-<br /> tion after his accession to the dignity of an<br /> Immortal. Worst of all, the offending play was<br /> advertised on the theatrical posters with his new<br /> title of Academician appended to the author’s<br /> name. Whereupon it was decided in conclave<br /> that though any Immortal who desired was free<br /> to produce plays ad libitum, he was strictly for-<br /> bidden to parade his Olympian connection on the<br /> public hoardings.<br /> <br /> The death of M. Victor Cherbuliez places<br /> another fauteuil at the disposal of the Academy.<br /> The deceased writer was of the same creed as M.<br /> Pierre Loti, being one of the few Protestants who<br /> are members of the above assembly. The titles of<br /> his works are too numerous and well-known to<br /> require recapitulation here; and the numerous<br /> tributes paid to his memory by his most eminent<br /> contemporaries bear evidence of the high esteem<br /> in which he was held and which he so worthily<br /> merited. ‘‘ He was the originator of what is<br /> called the cosmopolitan novel,’ wrote de Meur-<br /> ville on the morrow of his death. ‘He was<br /> also an art critic in his esthetical studies, which<br /> revealed something more than a _ philosophy<br /> —a religion of the Beautiful after Ruskin’s<br /> pattern.” At the funeral ceremony M. Brunetieére<br /> declared that the name of Victor Cherbuliez<br /> would undoubtedly survive, since his place was<br /> already marked in the history of French litera-<br /> ture; while M. Marcel Prévost depicted Cher-<br /> buliez as the representative of the imaginative<br /> novel, and M. Emile Ollivier rendered eloquent<br /> testimony to the merits of the dead man, both in<br /> his private and public capacity.<br /> <br /> But though Cherbuliez was a writer of the first<br /> water, he was entirely lacking in the art of<br /> producing scenic effects. His theatrical début<br /> was most unfortunate, though his collaborator<br /> was no less a personage than the celebrated Henri<br /> Meilhac. His first play—‘ Samuel Brohl” by<br /> name—dramatised from one of his most successful<br /> novels, was unlucky from commencement to finish.<br /> Accepted by the manager of the Odéon towards<br /> the close of the year 1877, it was twice delayed on<br /> account of unpropitious outside events, only to be<br /> produced finally on the historical thirtieth of<br /> January which witnessed the election of M.<br /> Jules Grévy to the Presidency. A worse<br /> moment could scarcely have been chosen. The<br /> public, more interested in actual than fictitious<br /> events, passed the latest evening papers from<br /> <br /> 65<br /> <br /> hand to hand, jeering at the tragic and remaining<br /> obstinately mute during the ludicrous incidents in<br /> the performance. Meanwhile the attitude of the<br /> two unhappy collaborators was characteristic.<br /> Henri Meilhac sat in a corner of the managerial<br /> sanctum, fixedly regarding an evening paper<br /> which he held upside down. At the conclusion<br /> of the first act he uttered a hollow moan; at the<br /> conclusion of the second he gave vent to despair-<br /> ing groans and extended himself full length on<br /> the ground, like a patient in an ambulance<br /> waggon; at the conclusion of the third—which<br /> was greeted by the public with the cries of a<br /> menagerie of wild animals—Meilhac was com-<br /> pletely overwhelmed, closed his eyes, clenched his<br /> hands, while drops of agonised perspiration<br /> beaded his brow; and at the conclusion of the<br /> fifth and last act he was picked up—inert, motion-<br /> less—and despatched home in a cab. Cherbuliez,<br /> on the contrary, supported the disaster with<br /> equanimity. Ensconced in a corner box, he had<br /> followed every movement of the recalcitrant<br /> public with a curious, almost an indifferent, eye.<br /> He bravely waited until the stormy finale, utter-<br /> ing no complaint, giving vent to no bitter word ;<br /> only, when the moment of withdrawal arrived,<br /> he politely accosted the disconsolate manager,<br /> requesting a renseignement. ‘“ Faites,” said<br /> Duquesnel, briefly. “ Dites-moi,” responded Cher-<br /> buliez, with imperturbable naiveté ; “est bien<br /> cela qu’on appelle une chute, n’est-ce pas ?”<br /> <br /> The editors of the Revue Blanche have under-<br /> taken a herculean task, being no less a work<br /> than the re-edition—as far as possible literally—<br /> of the world famous ‘“ Arabian Nights’ Tales,”<br /> the French “ Mille et une Nuits.” This publica-<br /> tion will extend over a period of five years,<br /> three volumes per year being given the public.<br /> Seven editions exist at the present time in the<br /> Arabic, of which the best and most correct is<br /> reported to be the Egyptian version of Boulak,<br /> which is the one adopted by Dr. Mardrus, the<br /> translator chosen by the Revue Blanche. The<br /> latter is an intelligent and highly educated young<br /> man, who is now following the profession of a<br /> doctor at Marseilles. His training for the task<br /> he has voluntarily undertaken commenced with<br /> his earliest years. “Iam no Syrian,” he recently<br /> wrote, in rectification of a journalistic error, “I<br /> am a true son of the city of Cairo, where my<br /> father and grandfather were born. And even for<br /> nourrice (beginning of the ‘Arabian Nights’<br /> Tales’ in my childish eye!) I had a pure-blooded<br /> amber-hued Egyptian, whose finger tips were<br /> darkened with henna, and who wore a collar of<br /> turquoises round her neck to avert the evil eye,<br /> and silver bracelets on her ankles to conjure the<br /> witcherafts of the terrible Zar.” This auspicious<br /> 66<br /> <br /> commencement of the future translator’s vocation<br /> was augmented by a liberal French education<br /> intermingled with prolonged sojournings in<br /> Arabia, and these two influences combined have<br /> rendered Dr. Mardrus the fittest man in Europe<br /> for satisfactorily concluding the arduous task he<br /> has already commenced. The first volume of the<br /> “ Mille et Une Nuits” has just been issued, and<br /> is (as all the succeeding volumes are intended to<br /> be) complete in itself, containing the narrative of<br /> the first twenty-four nights.<br /> <br /> “ Paris Intime ” (chez Flammarion) is the title<br /> of M. Adolphe Brisson’s new book. It deals<br /> with the ‘“dessous”’ of the political, dramatic,<br /> artistic, and literary life of Paris, and is<br /> written in the easy “causerie” style with<br /> which all who know M. Brisson’s works are<br /> familiar. The headings of the seven parts into<br /> which the book in question is divided give a<br /> fair idea of its contents; they are as follows,<br /> viz.: (1) Vieux Murs, Vielles Maisons; (2)<br /> Plein Air (Le Bois 4 cing heures du matin, Une<br /> Journée aux Courses) ; (3) Quelques Originaux ;<br /> (4) L’Académie et l’Ecole (Les Habits Verts,<br /> Bacheliers d’hier et d’aujourd’ hui, Souvenirs de<br /> Polytechnique) ; (5) Les Bienfaiteurs (Charité<br /> mondaine, Pour les inondés) ; (6) Paris en joie<br /> (Une nuit 4]Opéra, Soupeurs et soupeuses, Les<br /> Confetti) ; (7) L’Art et le Bibelot (Les Mystéres<br /> du Louvre, Les Petits Secrets du Salon, Les<br /> Coulisses de l’Hétel des Ventes). Each of the<br /> seven divisions are subdivided into chapters,<br /> several of whose titles are given in the above<br /> parenthesis. In short, this is a clever, entertain-<br /> ing book, well worthy the perusal of all interested<br /> in the varied phases of Parisian life.<br /> <br /> The Trades and the Muses have evidently<br /> renewed their medieval pact. The legend of<br /> Hans Sachs, the cobbler-bard of Nuremberg, has<br /> found its counterpart in our own days in the<br /> person of Jacques Lorrain, the cobbler-poet of<br /> Paris, who recently bade adieu to his humble<br /> booth in the Rue Du Sommerard to enter the<br /> College of Sainte Barbe as a substitute, in order<br /> to continue his literary studies unimpeded. Nor<br /> is this a solitary instance. Only a week or two<br /> ago the editorial sanctum of M. Brisson was<br /> invaded by a young man of resolute mien<br /> who brusquely announced himself as “ Hugéne<br /> Granger, déménageur.” The editor of the Annales<br /> was about to disavow any intention of changing<br /> his residence, when the young man promptly<br /> <br /> interposed : “I am not only a déménageur,” said.<br /> <br /> he; “I am also a poet,” and drawing a small,<br /> yellow volume from his pocket, he placed it in the<br /> editor’s hands and fled precipitately. The little<br /> volume was entitled “ Les Mis¢éreux,’” and several<br /> of the verses it contained were so rhythmically and<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> magisterially ¢roussés that M. Brisson gave it the<br /> foremost place in his weekly review, even while<br /> expressing his misgivings lest M. Hugene Granger<br /> had deceived him respecting his habitual occupa-<br /> tion. Meanwhile the publication of the “ Jeu de<br /> Massacre ” of M. André Barde, the talented young<br /> poet of the Tréteau de Tabarin, is attracting a<br /> good deal of attention. The critics emphatically<br /> declare him to be a poet with a future. For the<br /> benefit of the uninitiated we may mention that<br /> the Tréteau de Tabarin is scarcely a suitable place<br /> of recreation for a newly-married couple or the<br /> ubiquitous young person; and for the benefit of<br /> the curious we would further state that the young<br /> poet is a tall youth with a finely-cut mouth, pene-<br /> trating eyes, moustache “en pétarade,” beard “ en<br /> broussaille,” and hair in revolt. Serenely con-<br /> scious of his brilliant endowments, M. Barde<br /> disdains the idea of pleasing his readers; on the<br /> contrary, he flatly assures them that his is no<br /> book to flatter the fossil, or “le bourgeois<br /> solennel, le mufle, ou Jlimbécile,’’—which is<br /> certainly rather hard on the majority.<br /> <br /> In addition to the above noteworthy publica-<br /> tions of the month, we have a translation of the<br /> new novel of Mathilde Serao, the George Sand of<br /> Italy, entitled “ Sentinels, prenez garde a vous!”’<br /> (chez Calmann Levy) ; ‘‘ Passage de Bédouins,”’<br /> a stirring romance by Myriam Harry; “ Le<br /> Journal de Marguerite Plantin,”’ by Jean Berthe-<br /> roy (chez Armand Colin et Cie., Bibliothéque des<br /> romans pour les jeunes filles), of which we hope<br /> to say more anon; “La Bombarde,’ by Jean<br /> Richepin (chez Fasquelle, Bibliotheque Charpen-<br /> tier), containing over sixty exquisite tales in<br /> apparently impromptu verse; “Les Fleurs<br /> Amoureuses,” by Armand Silvestre (chez Ollen-<br /> dorf); ‘Notre Masque,’ by Michel Corday,<br /> which novel recently appeared as a serial in the<br /> columns of the Figaro; the seventh volume of<br /> the “Contemporains” series by Jules Lemaitre<br /> (chez Lecéne et Oudin) ‘“ L’Affaire Blaireau,”<br /> by Alphonse Allais; ‘Mensonges,” by Paul<br /> Bourget; ‘Les Sans-Galette,’” by Henry de-<br /> Fleurigny; “George Sand,’ by W. Karénine ;<br /> “ Bétes roses,” by Catulle Mendés; ‘“ La Renais-<br /> sance Catholique en Angleterre,’ by Thureau-<br /> Dangin ; “ Thomas Carlyle,” by E. Barthélemy;<br /> “Paysages et Paysans,” by M. Charlot; and a<br /> score of fictional efforts by minor authors.<br /> <br /> Darracorre Scorv.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> me Re ae.<br /> <br /> sy<br /> ft<br /> &amp;<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> MR. MURRAY AND THE SOCIETY OF<br /> AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> CALLED attention in the last number of<br /> The Author to certain remarks and state-<br /> ments made by Mr. John Murray, Presi-<br /> <br /> dent of the Congress of Publishers.<br /> <br /> It will be remembered that he alleged that the<br /> Society had treated publishers as if they were one<br /> and all dishonest.<br /> <br /> I referred last month to a very simple refuta-<br /> tion of that assertion, viz., that contaimed in one<br /> of the warnings issued month by month for a<br /> long time in this paper. It seems, however,<br /> necessary to return to this unpleasant subject, in<br /> order to show more clearly what has been the<br /> position of the Society from the beginning in this<br /> respect.<br /> <br /> There are, in fact, a great many express and<br /> open denials of this charge to be found in all<br /> the publications of the Society.<br /> <br /> I would refer, first, to my own History of the<br /> Society from 1888-1892. I there say (p. 20) :<br /> <br /> “This being so, we were not at all surprised to<br /> find that frauds were being carried on very<br /> extensively. Not universally. We have always<br /> most carefully made that necessary reservation.<br /> We have been constantly accused—I shall be<br /> accused to-morrow most probably—of charging<br /> all publishers as a body with dishonesty. I say<br /> again, that five or six years ago, when we had<br /> acquired some knowledge of what was going on,<br /> we found—with this reservation carefully insisted<br /> upon —a wide-spread practice of fraudulent<br /> accounts.”<br /> <br /> This is surely clear enough. Can anyone want<br /> amore explicit statement that the Society does<br /> not lump all publishers up together in one<br /> charge of dishonesty ?<br /> <br /> T find, also, on looking back into the pages<br /> of The Author, that over and over again, aad<br /> year after year, either a protest has been recorded<br /> against the charge, or that a simple assertion of<br /> reservation or a separation of the dishonest pub-<br /> lisher from others has been openly and plainly<br /> stated. Most of these protests or disclaimers<br /> were made in reply to such allegations as that of<br /> Mr. Murray — allegations repeated again and<br /> again in the face of these protests.<br /> <br /> Thus in vol. I. I find no fewer than twelve such<br /> passages. In vol. II. thereare seven; in vol. III.,<br /> eight; in yol. IV., two; in vol. V., four; in vol.<br /> VL, three; in vol. VIL, two; and in vol. VIII,<br /> two. Of all these reservations or disclaimers, I<br /> have in my hands a list which can be quoted in<br /> case of necessity, i.e., in case of having to take<br /> action in a court of law. There has not been<br /> <br /> AUTHOR. 6<br /> <br /> a single year, therefore, since 1891 inclusive,<br /> when we have not been called upon to protest,<br /> over and over again, against this sweeping<br /> charge.<br /> <br /> What does it mean?<br /> so persistently repeated ?<br /> <br /> It may mean several thinzs: the reckless repe-<br /> tition of a mere rumour: the snatching up of the<br /> first stone to throw at a Society which exposes<br /> the facts of the case: the excuse to cover the fact<br /> that the speaker or writer has not offered the<br /> slightest assistance to the Society in bringing the<br /> truth to light.<br /> <br /> There may be other reasons. I do not ask for<br /> Mr. Murray’s motives. I merely state that he<br /> repeats a charge which has been over and over<br /> again met and denied in the publications of the<br /> Society.<br /> <br /> Now, the three main charges that we have mad<br /> against certain publishers are briefly these :—<br /> <br /> 1. The practice of taking secret profits.<br /> <br /> 2. The practice of charging advertisements not<br /> paid for.<br /> <br /> 3. The absence of any guarantee against dis-<br /> honesty, such as the right of audit.<br /> <br /> These charges are not made against the whole<br /> body of publishers, but always, as stated over and<br /> over again, with reservations of what we called<br /> “ honourable” houses.<br /> <br /> The Publishers’ Association have produced<br /> “model”? agreements, and they have held a<br /> congress with discussions on many points.<br /> <br /> We find in those “ models,’ which have been<br /> dissected by our Secretary, and in the discussions<br /> at their Congress, silence absolute upon these<br /> three points :<br /> <br /> (1) There is no word against secret profits<br /> On the other hand, the publishers claim the right<br /> in their agreements to make profit, in certain<br /> forms of agreement, on every single item. The per-<br /> centage is actually left blank, and not one word<br /> is said against secrecy or to denounce secret<br /> profits.<br /> <br /> (2) Not one word has been said against the<br /> charging of advertisements not paidfor. Yet the<br /> right of doing so simply confers upon the pub-<br /> lishers the power of putting everything in their<br /> own pockets! This cannot be denied. Yet, not<br /> one word !<br /> <br /> (3) Not one word has been said about any<br /> guarantee against dishonesty: such as the right<br /> of audit.<br /> <br /> All these things, therefore, are passed over in<br /> silence by the committee of the Association, whose<br /> President is Mr. John Murray.<br /> <br /> Why is this statement<br /> <br /> reas<br /> 68<br /> NOTES AND NEWS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Y correspondent ‘“X.,’’ whose letter may<br /> M be read on p. 70, speaks of one thing<br /> while I speak of another. By “ litera-<br /> ture” he means good work, work of literary<br /> worth. Now, in these columns we are not critics :<br /> we take the low line—it may be very low, but it<br /> is useful—of considering literary property alone,<br /> apart from literary worth. Now, literary pro-<br /> perty may exist quite independently of literary<br /> worth. The two things, as I have insisted upon<br /> over and over again, are not commensurable.<br /> You cannot estimate a poem by money: nor can<br /> you estimate the literary worth of a work by its<br /> commercial value. What I say is, that so many<br /> people—so many thousands, if you please—live<br /> by the Pen: and for the most part manage to<br /> live in comfort. My correspondent “ X.” speaks<br /> of “journalistic hack-work’’ with contempt. I<br /> do not despise journalism: no one despises<br /> journalism: I see nothing degrading in a man<br /> writing in newspapers.<br /> <br /> It is, on the other hand, a pride and a privilege<br /> to instruct the world on any subject on which one<br /> is qualified to speak by means of the daily, or<br /> weekly, or monthly Press. This is by no means<br /> always “the multiplying of flimsies ” ; or this and<br /> that in a “rag-bag”’ journal.<br /> <br /> I do not thik that any good is gained by con-<br /> cealing facts: Let the truth be known—al) the<br /> truth—about the Profession of the Pen. Part of<br /> the truth, at least, is the fact that a great many<br /> people do actually live by it. “X.” says that a<br /> great many do not. Well, that is another fact<br /> which must be taken into account. But in<br /> every profession there are a great many who<br /> fail. Great prizes will always attract competi-<br /> tion, and will always make success more difficult.<br /> But there are great prizes in the Profession of<br /> the Pen.<br /> <br /> Those who would live by the Pen must adapt<br /> themselves to circumstances, and take such work<br /> as offers. If they do this, as others do, they will<br /> probably find time enough to bring out the best<br /> that isin them. It may not prove to be popular<br /> work, yet it may be very good indeed. To be<br /> very good and yet not to be popular seems a hard<br /> fate. Perhaps, however, it may be but a passing<br /> phase. How long did George Meredith have to<br /> wait before he was fully recognised? Nay, we<br /> may well ask—how wide—how deep—is the<br /> recognition of this great writer to-day? Again,<br /> Walter Pater produced very fine work indeed,<br /> but he could not live by it. On the other hand<br /> there is the case of Louis Stevenson. It will not<br /> be denied that his work is good—very good. Yet<br /> he did succeed in gaining popularity: he did live<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> by his work: he did achieve the proof of popu-<br /> larity in a large and substantial income.<br /> <br /> &lt;=<br /> <br /> The concluding remarks of “X.” about the<br /> failures of certain publishers do not concern the<br /> question, because if all publishers failed the<br /> great commerce of Literature would go on in<br /> other hands.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> But is Literature a profession? It is always<br /> said that anyone may come in without previous<br /> training or apprenticeship. Every year a new<br /> novelist arises: sometimes he stays: sometimes<br /> he goes up like a rocket, and so down again in<br /> obscurity. But who knows by what preliminary<br /> studies, reading, practice, he has qualified for the<br /> work? Poetry requires an enormous amount<br /> of practice and of study. No man suddenly<br /> becomes a poet, or a dramatist, or an essayist,<br /> or anything that is good. Literature, proper,<br /> is the work of industry and patience working<br /> with natural aptitude. It is true that a new<br /> writer does sometimes appear unexpectedly in<br /> special branches of experience and study. A<br /> man who has travelled widely and observed much:<br /> a man who knows Courts: a man who is a<br /> scholar in out-of-the-way subjects: a man who<br /> explains science in a popular manner, may come<br /> in at any time, and become at one step a literary<br /> man of good standing. But, you see, there has been<br /> preparation with experience. The average man of<br /> the street, with his average knowledge and his<br /> views of the world taken from the morning<br /> leaders, has no more chance of being received<br /> into the ranks of Literature than of being received<br /> into an orchestra at the opera. For which<br /> reasons, and others, [I call Literature a Pro-<br /> fession: I say that the Profession of the Pen<br /> maintains many thousands: that it may be pre-<br /> carious, but is no more precarious than other pro-<br /> fessions, that a young man would be wise not to<br /> try living by his Pen while he is feeling his way<br /> to such perfection as he is capable of attaining:<br /> and that with these broad facts before one it is no<br /> answer to say, “ Literature is precarious, because<br /> —look at mz!” I have had two or three other<br /> letters on the same subject, but none so impor-<br /> tant or so strong as that of “ X.,’”’ with whom I<br /> am most sorry not to be able to agree.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I should like to call attention to a common<br /> practice, becoming daily more common, of<br /> inviting a company of literary men and women<br /> to give their opinion on certain subjects. These<br /> opinions, published all together, are supposed to<br /> carry weight. But they have to be put very<br /> briefly: the reasons and arguments cannot be<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> f<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 69<br /> <br /> marshalled: the opinion of an expert may be<br /> placed between those of two persons who know<br /> nothing about the subject: their opinions follow<br /> each other, sandwich fashion—Aye—no—Aye—<br /> no—the Ayes have it. Last week I received two<br /> such invitations. One was a request that ina<br /> brief paragraph I would give my opinion on the<br /> Christian religion. The second, that I would give<br /> my opinion on the Transvaal question. These<br /> invitations, of course, reduce the method to an<br /> absurdity. Should not men and women of letters<br /> hesitate before they plunge needlessly into any<br /> such controversy ? There are many things that<br /> even a poet may be supposed incapable of con-<br /> sidering—e.g., the Boer Question, on which we<br /> hear so many contradictory statements. Then,<br /> even if he does seem entitled to an opinion, what<br /> is it worth among a dozen others ?<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> About once a quarter or so a suggestion is<br /> made by a correspondent that the Society might<br /> help contributors to magazines by publishing a<br /> table of the tariff or prices current paid for<br /> articles by the various magazines. The sugges-<br /> tion is based on the assumption that there is<br /> such a tariff for every magazine. If so, it is<br /> never allowed to appear. And there are the<br /> widest differences in payment for articles. Some<br /> time ago the contributor of a most important<br /> paper to what is supposed to be a leading<br /> monthly received for his paper, which was fifteen<br /> very full pages in length, the magnificent sum of<br /> £7 10s. He asked the Secretary’s advice. ‘“ You<br /> have no contract,” he said. “You might sue<br /> them for such a sum as you consider adequate.<br /> You would at least expose their meanness. But<br /> it would give you a great deal of trouble. Why<br /> not send back the cheque with the intimation<br /> that a mistake has been made?” He did so.<br /> By return of post there arrived a cheque for<br /> double the amount and an apology. I have<br /> known an article in a monthly rewarded with a<br /> single guinea. I have heard of articles in weekly<br /> penny papers paid for by shillings. But I have<br /> never known of any fixed tariff, or rate, or<br /> custom, or practice of a magazine or weekly.<br /> The best way—the only safe way—would be to<br /> state plainly that the MS. is offered for so much<br /> and can be left with the editor so long only, with<br /> stamps for return. Of course, if the editor does<br /> not like this method of transacting business, he<br /> will return the MS. I think that most editors<br /> would prefer conducting business in a practical<br /> and straightforward manner. He can make a<br /> proposal: if that is accepted the author cannot<br /> grumble: he can send back the MS.: the author<br /> cannot complain. Water Besant.<br /> <br /> A FABLE FOR AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> GOOSE owed money to the Fox, and at his<br /> solicitation insured her life in his favour<br /> with the Secretary Bird. Now, it chanced<br /> <br /> that besides doing her duty in the ordinary<br /> way, about once a year the Goose laid a<br /> golden egg. The Fox knew this, and so<br /> agreed that if she would give him the golden<br /> eggs one after another until his debt was<br /> satisfied he would not annoy her in any manner.<br /> All the other eggs the goose laid she ate, for only<br /> by so doing could she lay the precious golden<br /> eges once a year.<br /> <br /> But no sooner was the Fox secure in his assign-<br /> ment of the golden eggs than he laid claim to all<br /> the Goose’s other eggs, and threatened her direly<br /> with ferrets and weasels and vermin if she did<br /> not release them to him. For the Fox said to<br /> himself: ‘It will be a long time before the<br /> golden eggs amount to the sum of my claim, but<br /> whenever the silly goose dies—by starvation or<br /> otherwise—the Secretary Bird must discharge it<br /> in full.” Now, when the Goose saw the design of<br /> the Fox to do her to death, notwithstanding she<br /> was weak and exhausted through trying to lay for<br /> him golden eggs as large and as often as possible,<br /> she said to herself: “Bird, you deserve your<br /> name. Do you not see that you have insured<br /> your creditor so well that your death is more<br /> profitable to him than your life?” And taking<br /> advice of her misfortune, she flew up into the<br /> air and sailed away across the Tropic of Capri-<br /> corn.<br /> <br /> The Secretary Bird watched her flight, and,<br /> when she had disappeared, informed the Fox,<br /> saying, “My agreement with you is void, for<br /> behold your Goose has gone to parts unknown<br /> beyond the equator. I can take no more risks on<br /> her life.”<br /> <br /> “Oh, well,” said the Fox with a wry face,<br /> “if you won’t, you won’t. But no doubt I shall<br /> come out about even, after all, for the Goose<br /> comes of a long-lived breed, and is just such<br /> a poor, simple, honest creature that she will<br /> continue to lay me golden eggs, even in the sweet<br /> Hesperides.”<br /> <br /> But time passed, and one day the Fox confessed<br /> in vexation to the Secretary Bird: “I am indeed<br /> a victim of my own folly. Had I not been so<br /> pressing, the silly Goose would have striven to<br /> pay me, and, likely, died of the effort. Then you<br /> would have discharged my debt in full. But<br /> now, I have nothing, and cannot even sue my<br /> Goose.”<br /> <br /> And the Secretary Bird nodded.<br /> <br /> ALBION WineGAR TOURGEE.<br /> THE<br /> <br /> MR. BRYCE ON AUTHORSHIP.<br /> <br /> N | R. BRYCE, M.P., was the principal guest<br /> at a dinner given on July ro at the<br /> Authors’ Club.<br /> <br /> Lord Monkswell presided, and in proposing his<br /> health, said that of all men Mr. Bryce would be<br /> one of the best to send to South Africa at the<br /> present moment, on account of his well-known<br /> calmness. As an historian, Mr. Bryce’s peculiar<br /> excellence lay in his thoroughness and impar-<br /> tiality.<br /> <br /> Mr. Bryce, in reply, said he considered that<br /> literature was divided into three branches—<br /> journalism, poetry, and fiction. He could not<br /> claim to be a journalist, although he was once<br /> offered the editorship of a morning paper, and<br /> in the same way he could not pose as a poet,<br /> though he had a connection with it. No doubt<br /> the best thing was to write really good poetry,<br /> but the next best thing was not to publish it—<br /> (laughter)—and that distinction he was able to<br /> claim. As regarded fiction, he would own to<br /> having begun to write a novel, but he was waiting<br /> until the particular phase of public taste suited<br /> his particular novel, and then he would publish it<br /> —anonymously. No doubt he was expected to<br /> say something on the preseut state of English<br /> literature, but he thought that question was not<br /> worth discussing, because if people considered<br /> their own literature was in a bad way they<br /> certainly ought not to say so. At the present<br /> moment there was an immense demand for good<br /> and brilliant literature, but this did not have the<br /> slightest effect on the supply. He considered<br /> that it would be far better for publishers to issue<br /> cheaper books. Critics had completely changed.<br /> They were all authors themselves, and nearly all<br /> authors were critics, and their morality had risen<br /> considerably, for there was probably nut one who<br /> did not cut the leaves of a book before reviewing<br /> it. If there was a real danger in the future it<br /> was from the publishers and the public, and that<br /> was owing to the enormous public to be addressed.<br /> It was quite conceivable that the time would<br /> come when the public would be so impatient to<br /> have new works from an author who was appre-<br /> ciated that it would encourage him to produce<br /> hasty work and so lose his reputation. It would<br /> be a great pity if the blandishments of publishers<br /> should draw authors to come down from the high<br /> standard they had set themselves. Those who<br /> used the English tongue addressed a public twice<br /> or three times as large as those who wrote in any<br /> other language, and that public was always grow-<br /> ing.— Daily Chronicle.<br /> <br /> 7O<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> pecs<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> LITERATURE AS A PROFESSION.<br /> <br /> YIR WALTER BESANT may be certain that<br /> no man of letters will ever attack him, least<br /> of all myself, and what I said about his<br /> <br /> optimism leading amateur authors astray as to the<br /> golden sands of the literary Pactolus had no tinge<br /> of bitterness in it. But I cannot help thinking he<br /> is wrong-in many points. And, first of all, Litera-<br /> ture (with a big L) ¢s a beggarly profession. Who<br /> with any tinge of the real stuff in him can make<br /> a living out of writing which is literature? It is<br /> idle to give as examples such an one as Tennyson,<br /> the bourgeois Chrysostom, who succeeded in<br /> touching the public by spoiling Sir Thomas<br /> Malory and not by his best work. What of our<br /> greatest, indeed our only real literary, novelist F<br /> Did he not have to eke out a living by reading<br /> for a publisher? No, very few can make a living<br /> out of good work. Even according to Sir Walter<br /> Besant, the best must scrape odd guineas by<br /> journalistic hack-work. The few who make four<br /> figures (mostly out of inferior novels) only<br /> accent the poverty of the rest. There is no pro-<br /> fession of literature. It is an abuse of the term<br /> to call it a profession. Hvery waiting barrister,<br /> every idle doctor, every half-pay captain, can<br /> come in and make a little out of writing. It<br /> would be rather rough on the barrister if every<br /> outsider with a tongue could cut into his work.<br /> Even if fifty writers make over a thousand a<br /> year, how mapy are writing for a living? I<br /> should like an estimate. The Royal Literary<br /> Fund may not have assisted many this year or<br /> last, but that is no gauge of the number who<br /> needed help. I remember a man whose name<br /> is known very well indeed having a column to<br /> himself in the Times the very morning he bought<br /> a red herring and cooked it over a scanty fire in<br /> his bedroom. One of our best writers half-<br /> starved himself for twelve years. I know this,<br /> as I was a great friend of his. Even now his<br /> income is a very precarious four hundred a year.<br /> All that Sir Walter Besant says about the<br /> number who live by the pen is beside the point.<br /> No one denies that many live by it. So do many<br /> live by the pick and shovel, and by the jemmy,<br /> for that matter. But is the writing of para-<br /> graphs, the multiplying of flimsies, the odd job<br /> in reviewing, the turnover in a weekly, the loathly<br /> interview in a rag-bag journal, Literature ?<br /> Why, then, Mr. Harmsworth is a Jupiter of<br /> Literature, and round the Sunday Sun are many<br /> awful planets. Publishers enter the trade, even<br /> more of them! That is not a proof that litera-<br /> ture is a paying profession surely. It proves<br /> nothing more than that out of the struggles<br /> of innumerable writers a living can be obtained by —<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> fag<br /> <br /> esl<br /> <br /> y q<br /> | Ot<br /> rit<br /> <br /> aw<br /> <br /> a8<br /> OF<br /> 3<br /> ‘ihe<br /> CHE<br /> <br /> ie<br /> <br /> ag<br /> 1<br /> <br /> ot<br /> <br /> oh<br /> 9a<br /> rise<br /> | OE<br /> i: 48<br /> i Ga<br /> Soe<br /> a Of<br /> age<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> = good writer can make a fairly good income.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> yet another publisher. It suggests that other<br /> publishers once did very well. But we know that<br /> the new publishers have cut terribly into the<br /> profits of the older firms. And if few go bank-<br /> rupt many get absorbed. How many publishing<br /> firms have disappeared lately? How many are<br /> known to be making nothing ?<br /> <br /> But all this is beside the point. In every club,<br /> says Sir Walter Besant, there are more yearly<br /> who attempt the-profession. Exactly so, and they<br /> attempt it mostly on the basis of an income of<br /> their own. Again, the gentleman with a little<br /> money, the captain on half pay, the out-o’-work<br /> barrister cut in to make their tailor’s bill. They<br /> do it, perhaps, but the professional writer suffers.<br /> In saying all this I do not mean to infer that<br /> these men should not write. But their doing so<br /> does not make writing a better business, but a<br /> worse one, for those who rely on it; and any-<br /> thing that encourages men and women to go into<br /> the literary ‘‘ scrimmage ” (for it is nothing but a<br /> fight) is harmful to them and us. It is idle for<br /> Sir Walter Besant to say he does not encourage<br /> the outsider. This paper of his in the June<br /> number of The Author is nothing but an<br /> encouragement through and through to any poor<br /> fool who fancies he has the gift of the pen.<br /> Certainly, as Sir Walter says, nothing has been<br /> said in The Author about any one person’s<br /> income, but that is nothing when the whole argu-<br /> ment has been again and again that any fairly<br /> For<br /> that is not true, and never has been true, and it<br /> looks as if it never would be true. In saying this<br /> I by no means rely only on my own experience.<br /> We all probably think we are better writers than<br /> we are, but even if I were the feeblest failure in<br /> English letters, I know where to put my hand on<br /> men of real literary eminence, some of whom do<br /> very little better and some very much worse. I<br /> did not say, nor did I mean, that Sir Walter<br /> Besant helped to draw those who had no literary<br /> aptitude into the “ Profession.” What I ventured<br /> to criticise him for was his encouragement to that<br /> really large body of clever people who can learn<br /> to write well, and after learning must only sap dis-<br /> appointment in a literary workhouse.<br /> <br /> ec<br /> <br /> AGE-END IDEAS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> N misfortune Man is his own providence.<br /> Misfortune is the unlovely daughter of mis-<br /> understanding.<br /> <br /> : The highest fortune is founded on the deepest<br /> <br /> and widest understanding.<br /> <br /> ) One great enemy of understanding lies in vanity.<br /> <br /> 72<br /> <br /> Vanity dies in shame of its own self-under<br /> standing.<br /> <br /> The very vainest fancy they have no vanity.<br /> <br /> Genius, love, or religion never made men mad ;<br /> but shams sometimes will.<br /> <br /> Genius is the saner element in any mind: love,<br /> the sanest essence of every soul.<br /> <br /> Religion and science may be reconciled by poetry.<br /> <br /> Sentiment without science has no body.<br /> <br /> Science without sentiment lias no soul.<br /> <br /> To satisfy most people is less a personal duty<br /> than a social expediency.<br /> <br /> The ideal sect consists of only one member—<br /> oneself.<br /> <br /> None ever reached the haven of Truth by making<br /> a head-pilot of Wish.<br /> <br /> Divine justice can have no victims, but human<br /> law must have many.<br /> <br /> Some Untruth may be of temporary use to dilute<br /> the oxygen of Truth.<br /> <br /> To The Perfect Being, Untruth and Wrong do<br /> not exist.<br /> <br /> Inner Nature may echo God: outer Nature must<br /> mirror Man.<br /> <br /> Man may favour uniformity: Nature must foster<br /> variety.<br /> <br /> Without variety, no vitality: without vitality, no<br /> Universe.<br /> <br /> There need be no more mystery in sex than in<br /> variety.<br /> <br /> The full interests of both sexes are indissolvably<br /> wedded.<br /> <br /> All human interests<br /> question.<br /> <br /> Lawyers cannot justify, nor priests sanctify, what<br /> Love has not made divine.<br /> <br /> here is no sex in slavery or in tyranny.<br /> <br /> The slave is the passive tyrant: the tyrant, the<br /> active slave.<br /> <br /> Whoso loves best ministers most.<br /> <br /> There is no inferior sex, and there are no equal<br /> souls.<br /> <br /> Marriage is the focus of all social reform—for<br /> good or for ill.<br /> <br /> Anarchism generally wants too<br /> Socialism usually wishes too much.<br /> <br /> Art helps mankind to feel, Science to think,<br /> Religion to will—wisely.<br /> <br /> The coming science is the Science of the Soul.<br /> <br /> Blessed are the practical, for they may regenerate<br /> the Earth.<br /> <br /> Thrice blessed are the poetical, for they must<br /> recreate the Universe.<br /> <br /> centre in the marriage<br /> <br /> little law:<br /> <br /> Finuay GLENELG.<br />  <br /> <br /> 72 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> CORRESPONDENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I.—A Recanrarion.<br /> <br /> N “Be One and Nothing Else” I advised a<br /> I young author to stick to literature in spite<br /> of failure if he felt inspired thereto, and I<br /> added, of course in a vein of boastful anticipation,<br /> “it remains to be seen whether I shall turn the<br /> corner this time myself.” Well, see how the<br /> circumstance alters the case! I have very<br /> decidedly not turned the corner ; in fact, I have<br /> received stronger evidence than ever before that<br /> I am no author in the publisher’s estimation ; and<br /> now the whole duty of the man who failed<br /> appears in my disillusioned eyes to be, earnestly<br /> to warn young authors not to stick to literature,<br /> but, after a few failures, to jump out of its decep-<br /> tive quagmire as quickly as possible and turn<br /> their hand to something more lucrative, such as<br /> bricklaying. I, for instance, have hugged myself<br /> in my blind hopes once more up to the brink of<br /> ruin, and am now working eleven hours a day<br /> carrying planks in a sawmill for £3 10s. a month<br /> and feeling myself, with my hands cut to pieces<br /> and my limbs as stiff as wood, to be for the first<br /> time in many years almost a man. It appears to<br /> me that a highly educated man who has spent<br /> his youth in vain dreams of literary fame is men-<br /> tally competent for nothing but the lowest<br /> form of manual labour, for which also he is<br /> manually least competent. It is therefore a<br /> dangerous flame to play with, this authorship ;<br /> nevertheless, by all means give it three years<br /> <br /> during the twenties, if unmarried.<br /> <br /> JULIAN CROSKEY.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Ii.—Tue PusiisHers’ CONFERENCE.<br /> <br /> [ The third International Congress of Publishers<br /> was held at Stationers’ Hall on June 7, 8,<br /> and 9.|<br /> It has been amusing to hear these gentlemen<br /> <br /> talk! How one would delight to hear what they<br /> think. And if one could get the corporate con-<br /> science of some old firm to speak out, what rules<br /> of conduct should we hear! Iam reminded (by<br /> the fine upstanding virtue and nobility of some of<br /> these*publishers) that I had dealings with one of<br /> the best of them years ago, and I have some<br /> bitterness in me yet at the firm’s methods. Was<br /> it his method, or his firm’s corporate conscience-<br /> less method? You shall judge, you who sit in<br /> the judgment seat!<br /> <br /> But first, who that knows business does not<br /> know how the man and his body of servants may<br /> differ? Tradition rules the office; the careful<br /> manager and the cashier combine ; they are faith-<br /> ful to the name outside, and to the little god<br /> <br /> above, or in the big room at the back. They<br /> know (as many suspect) that most businesses —<br /> <br /> succeed in paying by the little bit they cheat or ..<br /> This means<br /> money in the aggregate; it means a fine success. _<br /> <br /> overreach in every little transaction.<br /> <br /> ful business, and perhaps a yearly increment in<br /> salaries, a better holiday, an easier master. And —<br /> so to an example.<br /> the way the financial trading corporate conscience<br /> blows.<br /> , belonging to this firm, for so much copy at<br /> so mucha page. The copy was satisfactory, and<br /> was printed, and each month I got a cheque less<br /> by a guinea, or half a guinea, or ten shillings, —<br /> than my agreement called for. Had this<br /> happened once or twice only I might have<br /> thought it an error. But it happened over a<br /> series of eight articles, and I perceived a method<br /> init. “ Give him just a little less than his due<br /> and the poor devil won’t dare grumble, and on<br /> eight transactions we (our firm with its noble<br /> traditions) shall make about five pounds. And<br /> just imagine, brother, that we have five hundred<br /> other lots of cheques to draw out and pass and<br /> get signed! We (our noble firm of impeccable,<br /> unimpeachable honesty) shall net about £2500in<br /> the year. We have, indeed, done well, and are<br /> faithful servants.”<br /> <br /> Noble Publisher de te Fabula! But this is no<br /> mere fable.% x<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> TII.—Contremporary HstTIMarEs.<br /> <br /> The last edition of “ Who’s Who” contains<br /> an enormous mass of information in a handy<br /> form, and at a most moderate price; but it may<br /> be questioned whether the selection of subjects<br /> has been altogether well inspired. The inclusion<br /> of the most obscure peers and baronets occupies<br /> valuable space and to no useful purpose. Some<br /> of these gentlemen are, of course, distinguished<br /> on other grounds than those of inherited title;<br /> but the great majority have no special claim to<br /> mention, and all that needs to be known of them<br /> can be found in easily accessible books of refer-<br /> ence—Whitaker’s “ Titled Persons” or Walford’s<br /> “Shilling Peerage.” But not only is this the<br /> case; the remaining space is most capriciously<br /> filled, writers of real importance and distinction<br /> being omitted, while Grub-street swarms as in &amp;<br /> modern “ Dunciad.’”’ Some, at least, of our modern<br /> Concanens and Oldmixons have contributed their<br /> own records. K. H.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> IV.—“ Tue Exrravacant Dinner.”<br /> <br /> I quite agree with your other correspondents<br /> that the charge for a ticket at the Society’s dinner<br /> is far too high; at least, it effectually keeps away<br /> young writers who, like myself, are anxious to see<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> It is nothing, only it shows a ie<br /> <br /> I made an agreement with the editor of<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 73<br /> <br /> . «heir fellow members in the flesh, and to feel<br /> _»s:aemselves distantly akin to them in craft. Why<br /> «i a guinea charged? Is it that the Society<br /> ~sjaakes a profit on the dinner? Or is it to suit<br /> _ ol ae lordly tastes of the few “big men” who can<br /> f= fford the sum? The cost per head could not<br /> | vlourely be more than 3s. 6d. or 5s., if the dinner<br /> vere given at cost price. H. A. S.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> V.—Tue CasuaL ConrRIBUTOR.<br /> <br /> -. | I am glad that my letter has been noticed, as<br /> + he matter may, after all, be taken up seriously.<br /> -..9 For the information of those readers who do<br /> “= jot remember my words, I will explain that the<br /> <br /> » »art of my letter not quoted contained the gist of<br /> “. iy suggestion, ¢e., that an isolated unknown<br /> 4-,ontributor using business-like terms when ad-<br /> “ecressing an editor might give offence. By<br /> “seusiness-like terms I, of course, meant plain<br /> 1s peaking concerning pounds, shillings, and pence.<br /> »bul Judging from the courteous letters I receive<br /> 6 sorom editors, they possess a good deal of deli-<br /> ~/s&#039;atesse, and I repeat that printed forms would<br /> Jnake things more satisfactory all round. Editors<br /> fould not object to anything so general, and<br /> ‘a¢ontributors would avoid the risk of future<br /> +“ mpleasantness. Jack IN-THE-Box.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> po<br /> BOOK TALK.<br /> Ly R. J. M. BARRIE has finished his new<br /> ( story, which is a sequel to “Sentimental<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> x Tommy.” It will be called “ Tommy<br /> <br /> ) Ond Grizel.”<br /> <br /> if Mr. George Macaulay Trevelyan and Mr.<br /> . &quot;glidgar Powell have almost completed a history<br /> ourolume, which will form an appendix to the<br /> _emryormer’s recent work entitled ‘England in the<br /> to Sige of Wycliffe.” This will consist of a collec-<br /> ‘© sion of unpublished documents, and will be called<br /> <br /> “1 The Peasants’ Rising and the Lollards.”<br /> te lessrs. Longmans, who will publish the work in<br /> elo} detober, have also in preparation “The History<br /> ‘J £ Lord Lytton’s Indian Administration, 1876-<br /> &quot;28 880,” compiled by Lady Betty Balfour from<br /> &#039; @@yetters and official papers.<br /> » A development in providing cheap novels is<br /> | beaade by Mr. Grant Richards. This publisher is<br /> e-issuing at reduced prices a number of the<br /> 0oks published by him during the last two<br /> ears. Among these are “True Heart.” by Mr.<br /> ‘rederic Breton; “ The Cattleman,” by Mr. G. B.<br /> Surgin ; “The Actor-Manager,” by Mr. Leonard<br /> lerrick; “Wives in Exile,’ by Mr. William<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Sharp; and “An African Millionaire,” by Mr.<br /> Grant Allen.<br /> <br /> Mr. H. Rider Haggard’s commonplace book for<br /> 1898, entitled “The Farmer&#039;s Year,” will be pub-<br /> lished in October by Messrs. Longmans.<br /> <br /> Mr. Egerton Castle’s Temple Bar serial,<br /> “Young April,” will be published in October by<br /> Messrs. Macmillan.<br /> <br /> Mr. Guy Boothby’s new novel, “ Love Made<br /> Manifest,” will be published immediately by<br /> Messrs. Ward, Lock and Co. This firm also<br /> will publish in the autumn a volume of short<br /> stories by Mrs. Clement Shorter.<br /> <br /> Mr. Edward A. FitzGerald has finished the<br /> record of his climbing and exploring expedition<br /> to South America, and the book will be published<br /> next month by Messrs. Methuen under the title<br /> “The Highest Andes.”<br /> <br /> Sir Edward Russell’s volume of Reminiscences<br /> will be published in the autumn by Mr. T. Fisher<br /> Unwin entitled “That Reminds Me.” Sir Edward<br /> Russell’s literary career began about 1860, and he<br /> has been the editor of the Liverpool Daily Post<br /> since 1869.<br /> <br /> Mr. Bolton King has completed the political<br /> history of Modern Italy which has been his<br /> principal occupation for ten years. In his pre-<br /> face he remarks that the eagerness of the Italians<br /> to publish everything, however trivial, that bears<br /> on the Revolution, reaches almost to a literary<br /> mania, but that Italian historians have not been<br /> successful in weaving the material into any very<br /> well-proportioned or readable whole. One of Mr.<br /> King’s aims is to make the re-birth of a noble<br /> and friendly nation better understood to English-<br /> men. His work, in two volumes, called “ A<br /> History of Italian Unity, 1814-1871,” will be<br /> published in September by Messrs. James Nisbet<br /> and Co.<br /> <br /> “The Tragedy of Parnell” is the title of Mr.<br /> T. P. O’Gonnor’s forthcoming volume which<br /> Messrs. Pearson will publish. It will be remem-<br /> bered that Mr. O’Connor strongly dissented from<br /> certain statements about himself which appeared<br /> in Mr. Barry O’Brien’s biography of the late Trish<br /> leader.<br /> <br /> A series of letters written from Spain by<br /> Lowell, while he was Minister there, to friends in<br /> America, has been edited by Mr. Joseph B.<br /> Gilder for publication shortly by Messrs. Putnam<br /> in a volume called “ Impressions of Spain.”<br /> <br /> A volume of letters to the Right Hon. John<br /> Hookham Frere, translator of Aristophanes, and<br /> one of the best known society men in London in<br /> the early years of the century, will be published<br />  <br /> <br /> &quot;4 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> by Messrs. Nisbet. Canning, Pitt, Nelson, Cole-<br /> ridge, Southey, and Rossetti are some of the<br /> writers or subjects. Most of the letters were<br /> found in an old chest in a library. They are now<br /> edited by G. Festing.<br /> <br /> Mr. Henry James has been making a long stay<br /> in Italy this spring, but he will, according to<br /> present arrangements, leave Rome early this<br /> month for his house at Rye, from which the<br /> traces of the fire are being obliterated in his<br /> absence.<br /> <br /> Mr. Stephen Crane has just finished the novel<br /> on which he has been engaged since his return<br /> from Cuba. The book will probably not appear<br /> until next year, as the novel isto be published<br /> serially in the first instance.<br /> <br /> Messrs. George Bell and Sons are offering a<br /> set of fifty or of 100 volumes from Bohn’s<br /> Library at a reduced price, with a copy of<br /> ““Webster’s Dictionary ” to the bargain. Pur-<br /> chasers are allowed to make their own selection<br /> from among 800 volumes, and the books are<br /> delivered as soon as the first instalment of the<br /> price is paid.<br /> <br /> Mr. James Bowden is about to dispose of his<br /> publishing business, having aecepted the post of<br /> general manager of the Religious Tract Society.<br /> <br /> Mrs. Gertrude Atherton’s book of adventure<br /> for boys entitled ‘‘ The Valiant Runaways,” will<br /> be published in the autumn by Messrs. James<br /> Nisbet and Co., who also will publish Mrs.<br /> Meade’s new novel, ‘‘ All Sorts.”<br /> <br /> Mr. A. L. Baldry has written a book called<br /> “Sir John Everett Millais: His Art and Influ-<br /> ence,” in which he aims at supplying an account<br /> of the artist’s varied life as it may be read from<br /> his pictures. Some of these will be reproduced<br /> for the first time in the volume, which is to be in<br /> a style uniform with Mr. Malcolm Bell’s “ Sir HE.<br /> Burne-Jones.”<br /> <br /> Messrs. Greening and Co. will shortly publish<br /> a volume of humorous verse called ‘“ Bachelor<br /> Ballads,” by Harry A. Spurr, the author of “A<br /> Cockney in Arcadia.” Mr. Hassall, whose draw-<br /> ings were such a feature of the latter book, will<br /> supply fifty illustrations to the new one.<br /> <br /> Mr. H. G. Wells’s new book ‘ When the<br /> Sleeper Wakes,’ has three of the remarkable<br /> illustrations which accompanied its production in<br /> the Graphic. These are by M. Lanos, for whose<br /> benefit the work was translated into French.<br /> <br /> We are glad to hear that the first edition of Mr.<br /> W. B. Yeats’ new book, “The Wind in the<br /> Reeds,” is nearly exhausted, and a second edition<br /> is in active preparation.<br /> <br /> . only a few months ago retired from the positio<br /> <br /> OBITUARY.<br /> <br /> IR WILLIAM HENRY FLOWER, K.C.<br /> the Director of the Natural History Depart.<br /> ment of the British Museum, died<br /> <br /> London on July 1, aged sixty-seven years. Aft<br /> serving as assistant-surgeon to the 63rd<br /> ment in the Crimean War, he was appoin’<br /> Demonstrator of Anatomy to Middlesex Hospit<br /> and in 1861 accepted the post of Curator of #<br /> Hunterian Museum of the Royal College<br /> Surgeons. In 1869 he became Hunterian Pi<br /> fessor of Comparative Anatomy, and in 1884<br /> was appointed to the position he held at dea<br /> An authority on the horse, upon which<br /> wrote a book, he wrote several articles for ¢<br /> “Encyclopedia Britannica,’ and among oth<br /> literary labours were his notable introductions<br /> “The Osteology of Mammalia” and ‘“ The St<br /> of Mammals, Living and Extinct.’ For twen<br /> years he was president of the Zoological Sociei<br /> and he presided at the 1889 meeting of the Briti<br /> Association.<br /> <br /> Dr. Richard Congreve, the well-known Pos<br /> vist, died at Hampstead, on July 5, at the age<br /> 80. Educated at Rugby under Dr. Arnold, a<br /> at Wadham College, Oxford, he afterwa<br /> embraced the tenets of Comte, and founded t<br /> first “Church of Humanity” in England.<br /> edited, in 1866, the work called ‘“ Internatio:<br /> Policy: Essays on the Foreign Relations<br /> England,” by himself, Messrs. Beesly, Bridg<br /> Harrison, and others; and in 1874 published<br /> volume of ‘Essays: Political, Social, and<br /> gious.” His literary works also included<br /> edition of “ Aristotle’s Politics,” ‘“‘ Human Ca’<br /> licism,” and “The Worship of Humanity.”<br /> <br /> The deaths have also to be recorded of I<br /> Arthur Tennyson (born in 1814), a youn<br /> brother of the late Poet Laureate; Mr.<br /> Thackray Bunce, who edited the Birmingh<br /> Daily Post for over thirty-five years, and h<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 /> the Bishop of Limerick (Dr. Charles Graves)<br /> well-known writer on antiquarian subjects; La<br /> Shelley ; Sir Alexander Armstrong, the explo<br /> Director-General of the Medical Department<br /> the Navy from 1869 to 1880, author of °<br /> Personal Narrative of the Discovery of the Nor<br /> West Passage” and “ Observations on Na<br /> Hygiene”; and Professor Banister Fletch<br /> author of several works on architecture, ¢<br /> struction, and sanitation.<br />  <br /> <br /> THE<br /> BOOKS AND REVIEWS.<br /> <br /> .\: In these columns notes on books are given from reviews<br /> sich carry weight, and are not, so far as can be learned,<br /> s\irollers.)<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> « 4) «He History or YippIsH LITERATURE IN THE NINE-<br /> - santo CunturRY, by Leo Wiener (Nimmo, gs. net), is ‘a<br /> sfs/aplete account of the whole curious literary movement<br /> “) cong the Russian Jews during the present century”<br /> fm teterature), with “a sufficient number of examples to<br /> sy ac? = ble the reader to judge the character and merits of this<br /> = [esnarkable phenomenon.” “Probably a majority of Mr.<br /> _ »seener’s readers,” says the Daily Chronicle, “ will find in<br /> » loo book an unexpected gratification, such as in these days<br /> te-seslose-gleaning literary industry one has little reason to<br /> Jeqiicipate from any author —nothing less than a new litera-<br /> ) ‘s) 9, full of life and beauty, and glowing with the fire of<br /> ‘latenistakable genius.”<br /> @.1FE AND LETTERS OF SIR JosEPH PRESTWICH, written<br /> | Gatibl edited by his wife (Blackwood, 21s.), is a work that will,<br /> Lod} s the Literary World, “at once command and long<br /> ‘a(sq@ Sain public attention and interest.” The chapters deal-<br /> o&gt; dif with the antiquity of man, especially the visits to<br /> lie beville, and the famous ‘human jaw’ of the p&#039;ace, the<br /> ‘ley .0t value of which as evidence has never been deter-<br /> usr Saed, will be read with keen interest by all who are<br /> efe-dents of science.” “This volume,’ says Literature,<br /> ‘efjontains an immense amount of matter interesting to<br /> sreologists, and is amiong the best biographies of a scientific<br /> ® 9yn we have seen for some time.”<br /> 191, JLIVER CROMWELL, by Samuel Rawson Gardiner (Goupil,<br /> &gt; ot :.), from an artistic point of view “leaves nothing to<br /> &#039; soils desired,” says Literature. It makes accessible to the<br /> 4 lic a number of most interesting portraits, the majority<br /> ®* deinwhich are rarely seen. ‘“ From a literary point of view,<br /> “ibvet). Gardiner has never done anything so good,’ and “it<br /> id sthe highest merit of his enthusiastic eulogy that it has<br /> ‘2 Belvbled us to realise more clearly than ever” that Cromwell<br /> ov) 8 great in spite of his inconsistency. ‘‘ Except that it<br /> ¥6)&quot;7 ora no index and no analysis of the ckapters, this book,”<br /> i (l sdi+a the Daily Chronicle, “is a model of what sucha man’s<br /> . ({deography ought to be.”<br /> \J074 SKETCHES AND Srupius in SourH Arrica, by W. J.<br /> = 111 sox Little (Isbister, 10s. 6d.) is “a bright and picturesque<br /> “i qiseription of a brief tour,” says the Guardian, adding<br /> ai os” vt “so far as Canon Knox Little describes his own experi-<br /> + 948 se and impressions he is pleasant, useful, and readable.”<br /> «#9 Times describes the author’s view as being “ that all<br /> si od in South Africa flows from Mr. Rhodes and all evil<br /> “| em President Kruger.”<br /> 00% eas Encuish Soutn Arrican’s Vinw oF THE SITUA-<br /> &quot; . won, by Olive Schreiner (Hodder, 1s.), is described by the<br /> -2 mes as containing the view “that Kruger and all things<br /> Seeanating from Kruger are good, and that Rhodes and all<br /> ‘&quot;) Sengs emanating from Rhodes are bad.’ Considering the<br /> ook as an appeal for peace between Great Britain and the<br /> f8veansvaal, the Daily Chronicle says: “never has a writer<br /> euime genius spoken a more timely word, or with a better<br /> ©? @ase to serve.”<br /> “MGREMINISCENCES OF THE Kina or Rovmanta, edited<br /> _ 288 Sidney Whitman (Harpers, tos. 6d.), “apart from the<br /> a &amp; that it puts before us an authentic account of a<br /> e rae, furesque and noble personality, with which we, in Eng-<br /> t +d at any rate, are all too unfamiliar,” forms, says the<br /> i itly Telegraph, ‘“‘ a most instructive record of the fortunes<br /> 96 the Balkan States in general, and of Roumania in parti-<br /> ‘iar, during a very critical period of their history.”<br /> ‘esterature describes the work as “excellently rendered<br /> 1) om the original German,” and adds that it ‘will prove a<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> is<br /> <br /> is<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 13<br /> <br /> valuable contribution to the literature of European politics<br /> during the past generation.”<br /> <br /> Tur Heart or Astra, by F. H. Skrine and E. D. Ross,<br /> (Methuen, ros. 6d.) “ may be strongly recommended,” says<br /> the Daily News, “ to every student of Central Asian history<br /> and politics.” Beginning with a rapid sketch of the Greek<br /> period, it carries the reader through the successive eras of<br /> Abbasides, Samanides, Ghaznavides, Seljuks, Mongols, and<br /> the rest, to Russia’s first invasion, and her steady expansion<br /> to the year 1895.<br /> <br /> INDUSTRIAL CUBA, by Robert P. Porter (Putnam, 15s.),<br /> Mr. Porter was sent as Special Commissioner of the<br /> United States to report upon the commercial and indus-<br /> trial conditions of Cuba, and his book, says the Daily News,<br /> ‘“‘ will be a most valuable book of reference to all who study<br /> the Cuban question.” ‘‘ Mr. Porter takes a hopeful view of<br /> the prospects of the island,’ says the Spectator, and the<br /> volume is “ full of interesting descriptions and narratives.”<br /> <br /> JAPAN IN TRANSITION, by J. Stafford Ransome (Harpers,<br /> 16s.) summarises the impressions received by the author<br /> during his residence in Japan, and is, says the Daily News,<br /> “a readable, instructive, and thoroughly impartial study of<br /> the policy and progress of the Japanese since the war.” The<br /> Spectator commends the book for the many useful hints it<br /> gives to the traveller in Japan.<br /> <br /> THE Quest oF FaitH, by Thomas Bailey Saunders<br /> (Black, 7s. 6d.) consists of essays dealing in the main with<br /> the question of religious belief—with such aspects of it as<br /> have lately attracted notice. While they bring us to no<br /> positive result, says the Guardian, all the essays are<br /> vigorous and lucid, and “ they clear the ground and leave<br /> us in a better position for a healthy, unprejudiced study of<br /> the Christian religion.” ‘It is full of thought on every<br /> page,” says the Daily Telegraph, ‘and ought to be of the<br /> greatest service to those who wish to make a fresh start<br /> for themselves from the points of view reached by some of<br /> the latest workers in the fields of speculative thought.”<br /> <br /> Tae MeEssaAGE AND PosITION OF THE CHURCH OF ENG-<br /> LAND, by Arthur Galton (Paul, 3s. 6d.) “argues the case of<br /> the Anglican Church against Rome and Puritanism with<br /> considerable force,’ says the Spectator, and the author’s<br /> “ indictment of Roman practice is formidably vigorous.”<br /> <br /> WoRDSWORTH AND THE COLERIDGES, by Ellis Yarnall<br /> (Macmillan, 10s.) consists of the author’s reminiscences—<br /> covering seventy years—of Wordsworth, Macaulay, Charles<br /> Kingsley, Matthew Arnold, John Stuart Mill, and others,<br /> and is cordially recommended by Literature “to every<br /> reader who is interested in what alone is worthy to interest<br /> him in famous men of the past.”<br /> <br /> Napo.ron’s INVASION oF Russta, by Hereford B.<br /> George (Unwin, 12s. 6d.), is ‘a very clear and interesting<br /> narrative of the great campaign of 1812,” which, says<br /> Literature, “should be useful to all students of history,<br /> and not merely to the military specialist.’ ‘‘ With the<br /> minutest possible detail gathered laboriously from all<br /> possible sources at home, in France, in Russia, and in<br /> Germany,” says the Daily Telegraph, Mr. George “follows<br /> every movement of the army to Moscow.” The Daily<br /> Chronicle describes Mr. George as a writer “with a true<br /> historical method and a sense of proportion, as well as a<br /> knack of interesting the reader, and a style sufficiently<br /> picturesque.” ‘ He blows to atoms the last shred of the<br /> absurdity Napoleon so assiduously propagated, that the<br /> failure of the Russian campaign was due to the cold.”<br /> <br /> Tus Earty Mountvarnesrs, by Francis Gribble (Unwin,<br /> 21s.), is “ executed in a scholarly fashion,” says Literature,<br /> the survey beginning, in effect, with the date of the Deluge,<br /> and ending about 1834. ‘The book is, from its nature, to<br /> <br /> some extent addressed mainly to specialists, but Mr.<br /> Gribble has managed to flavour his mediwval stories with a<br />  <br /> <br /> a6<br /> <br /> sufficient spice of modern epigram to make it palatable to a<br /> wider public.” The Daily Telegraph says Mr. Gribble<br /> “ has limited himself in this excellent volume to recording<br /> explorations of the Alps, Pyrenees, and Apennines,” “ and<br /> the result is a volume which every one can read with<br /> pleasure and profit.”<br /> <br /> Wiup Lirr 1n THE HAmpsHIRE HiaHLANDs, by George<br /> B. Dewar (Dent, 7s. 6d. net). ‘Although the author,”<br /> says the Daily News, “not seldom calls upon us to<br /> admire with him some far-reaching view, he has less<br /> to say of broad effects than of the too often unconsidered<br /> details—the birds, the flowers, the insects—that, to every<br /> follower of old Gilbert White, add so very much to the<br /> pleasure of a country walk.” ‘The book is a very good<br /> specimen of its class,” says Literature, “as Mr. Dewar is<br /> not only a sportsman but loves Nature for its own sake, and<br /> is a scholar to boot.”<br /> <br /> HigHLAND Dress, ARMS, AND ORNAMENT, by Lord<br /> Archibald Campbell (Constable, 21s.), ‘contains much<br /> useful information for amateurs of Highland antiquities,”<br /> says the Times. “The author is thoroughly versed in his<br /> subjects, and notably he is a connoisseur in sword blades.”’<br /> <br /> TwrELVvE Montus 1n KionprKe, by Robert C. Kirk<br /> (Heinemann, 6s.) is described by the Daily Chronicle as a<br /> plain matter-of-fact narrative by a most careful observer,<br /> whose “residence in the Yukon during the most eventful<br /> year of its history has supplied him with excellent material<br /> for a really useful and interesting volume.” Literature<br /> says it is “ written in an entertaining style, and interspersed<br /> with lively anecdotes concerning the vicissitudes of the<br /> miners’ fortunes.”<br /> <br /> Wits Zoua In ENGLAND, by Ernest Alfred Vizetelly<br /> (Chatto, 3s. 6d) isan “ amusing book” (Daily Chronicle)<br /> giving a rapid sketch of M. Zola’s adventures in England,<br /> and some hints of his observations on our manners and<br /> customs. It reads “like a very much up-to-date detective<br /> story,” says the Daily Telegraph.<br /> <br /> ’PosTLE Farm, by George Ford (Blackwood, 6s.) is “a<br /> clever, entertaining, and in some ways a beautiful story,”<br /> says the Daily Chronicle. ‘The characters, for the most<br /> part humble Devonshire peasants, are all individualised and<br /> all interesting.”<br /> <br /> Tan Hoonigan Nieuts, by Clarence Rook (Richards,<br /> 6s.) is the life and opinions of an impenitent London boy-<br /> criminal, whose character, says the Daily News, ‘as shown<br /> by his biographer, has, with all its drawbacks, a certain<br /> brutal frankness that is almost engaging. Mr. Rook has<br /> done his task skilfully and sympathetically —and his<br /> cockneyisms have a charming air of truth.” ‘“ The accounts<br /> of Young Alf’s crimes and exploits must, of course,’’ says the<br /> Daily Telegraph, “ bear a certain resemblance to each other,<br /> but the uniqueness of the point of view and the position of<br /> the raconteur render them unfailingly entertaining.”<br /> <br /> Tue ARCADIANS, by H. C. Minchin (Oxford: Blackwell,<br /> 3s. 6d.), “is not a novel,” says the Guardian, ‘nor an<br /> essay, nor is it a biography; yet it is something of all<br /> three, and leaves a peculiar and pleasant flavour on the<br /> mind.” Humour is kept in the same low key as the<br /> melancholy, and ‘there is in the book a suggestion of<br /> deeper thought than appears on the surface.” “The book<br /> is extremely slight,” observes the Daily Chronicle; “it is<br /> even ‘ frothy,’ if you will—but it is amusing.”<br /> <br /> Gintzs IncruBy, by W.E. Norris (Methuen, 6s.), says<br /> the Spectator, introduces readers to the usual polished<br /> circle in which Mr. Norris’s characters live and move. His<br /> hero is for a short time a City clerk. who in a few chapters<br /> is turned “into a poet and man of letters, whose future<br /> income is prophesied by a competent editor to be about<br /> to exceed £6000 a year.” “It is a pleasant, wholesome<br /> tale,” says the Daily Telegraph, with much sound sense,<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> -and in the same volume is a story which also gives “<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> and there is ‘a complete absence of those impossible people<br /> and incidents which some authors delight in creating.” :<br /> Tue Magic or THE Dxsert, by W. Smith-Williams<br /> (Blackwood, 6s.) has “charm and readability,” says the<br /> Spectator. The first half isa society novel of England, and<br /> afterwards of South-West Australia. This is “very well<br /> done,” but the second half, which is purely a novel of -<br /> adventure, is perhaps the more amusing; the fights,<br /> escapes and the adventures of every sort during the revola.<br /> tion in a little republic are what a schoolboy would<br /> “ripping.”’<br /> At A WINTER’s FrRE, by Bernard Capes (Pearson, 6s,),<br /> is a volume of stories by “a conscious craftsman” (D.<br /> Chronicle), nearly every one of which “deals with<br /> portentous side of nature, with strange sights and so<br /> and physical cataclysms, and the culmination of many ig<br /> ghastly spectacle.” ‘To those who like ‘a grue’ in theip<br /> fiction, and who can appreciate felicity of phrase and disti<br /> tion of style,” the Daily News can recommend Mr. Capes’s<br /> new volame. i<br /> AN OBsTINATE ParisH, by M. L. Lord (Sidney Christian)<br /> (Unwin, 6s.), as a timely “novel with a purpose” will 4<br /> thoroughly enjoyed, says the Spectator, by readers who —<br /> happen to be of Mr. Kensit’s way of thinking. “The book<br /> gives an account of the devastation created in a q<br /> country parish by a handsome young High Church vicar.’<br /> Tur GREATER INCLINATION, by Edith Wharton<br /> (Lane, 6s.) is “a collection of stories,’ says Interature.<br /> “each one of which has to do with a crisis, a turning point,<br /> the entering of a door or the turning away from it.” “The<br /> book abounds in meditation upon the problems of life; :<br /> humour ; in dialogue which has the effect of spoken words;<br /> in knowledge both of the world and of books; in a knows<br /> ledge of women which, from a woman, might be expected<br /> and a knowledge of men to which a woman does not always<br /> attain.”<br /> RosaLBa, THE Story oF Hur DEVELOPMENT, by Oliv<br /> Pratt Rayner (Pearson, 6s.), “is a really clever and spirite<br /> bit of pseudo-autobiography, and one as daring and original<br /> as it is clever,” says the Literary World. “Certainly —<br /> Rosalba is the most genuine flesh and blood heroine we ha:<br /> encountered for a long while.”<br /> RicHaRD CaRvEL, by Winston Churchill (Macmillan, 68.), —<br /> a romance of the War of Independence, set partly in the ©<br /> province of Maryland, partly in the London of the latter<br /> half of the eighteenth century, “is to be recommended,’<br /> says the Daily News, “as an animated if not exciting<br /> record of a time pregnant with momentous issues. It is<br /> savoured with quiet humour, and it has the interest o<br /> character.” ‘ Worthiness and solidity,” says the Spectator,<br /> are the epithets by which it would be best described. :<br /> Mrs. Jim Barxer, by V. Fetherstonhaugh (Chap<br /> 6s.), is ‘ a pleasant little story of Canadian life ” (Spectator,<br /> <br /> amusing and vivid account of ranch life in Canada.” 1<br /> author is congratulated on possessing “a decided gift<br /> interesting and lifelike character-drawing.” The Dai<br /> News says that the author’s knowledge of his subject, al<br /> his freshness and vigour of narrative, render the<br /> eminently readable.<br /> <br /> Mr. J. Eveleigh Nash,<br /> <br /> LITERARY AGENT,<br /> AMBERLEY HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET,<br /> <br /> STRAND, W.C.	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/465/1899-08-01-The-Author-10-3.pdf	publications, The Author
466	https://historysoa.com/items/show/466	The Author, Vol. 10 Issue 04 (September 1899)	<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.+10+Issue+04+%28September+1899%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 04 (September 1899)</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>	1899-09-01-The-Author-10-4					77–96																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=10">10</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1899-09-01">1899-09-01</a>							4			18990901	Che &amp;#utbor.<br /> <br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors.<br /> <br /> CONDUCTED<br /> <br /> Monthly.)<br /> <br /> BY WALTER BESANT.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 2% ~=36-: Voz. X.— No. 4.]<br /> <br /> SEPTEMBER 1, 18g9.<br /> <br /> [PRICE SIXPENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> For the Opinions expressed in papers that are<br /> stgned or initialled the Authors alone are<br /> responsible. None of the papers or para-<br /> <br /> . graphs must be taken as expressing the<br /> <br /> * collective opinions of the Committee unless<br /> <br /> iS they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br /> <br /> . Thring, Sec.<br /> <br /> HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br /> <br /> remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br /> ‘ requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br /> ~ geri important communications within two days will write to him<br /> ~ Jie without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br /> Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br /> tis’ letter only.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br /> all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br /> jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br /> » returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> a<br /> <br /> GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br /> <br /> <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. THAT OF SELLING IT OUTRIGHT.<br /> #2 This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br /> 2° price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br /> ‘wee, managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the<br /> 81508 Secretary of the Society.<br /> 1. A PROFIT-SHARING AGREEMENT (a bad form of<br /> u°otes agreement).<br /> tol ‘Tn this case the following rules should be attended to :<br /> . (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br /> » duction forms a part without the strictest investigation.<br /> : (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br /> &#039; 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 /> (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “ office expenses,”<br /> unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br /> VOL. X.<br /> <br /> <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 /> doctor !<br /> <br /> II. THE ROYALTY SYSTEM.<br /> <br /> It is above all things necessary to know what the<br /> proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible<br /> for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly<br /> the truth. From time to time the very important figures<br /> connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br /> Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br /> “Cost of Production.”<br /> <br /> IV. A COMMISSION AGREEMENT.<br /> <br /> The main points are :—<br /> <br /> (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production.<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 /> <br /> <br /> &gt; exe<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> 70<br /> <br /> 2. Never negotiate for the production of a play with<br /> anyone except an established manager.<br /> H 2<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to<br /> the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some<br /> competent legal authority.<br /> 78<br /> <br /> 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract :—<br /> <br /> (1) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT.<br /> This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters<br /> into such a contract should stipulate in the con-<br /> tract for production of the piece by a certain date<br /> and for proper publication of his name on the<br /> play-bills.<br /> <br /> (2) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE<br /> TO PERFORM ON THE HALF-PROFIT SYSTEM.<br /> This method can only be entered into when a<br /> fixed sum is agreed per week for cost of produc-<br /> tion. It is not a common method.<br /> <br /> (3) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE<br /> TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES<br /> (4.e., royalties) on gross receipts. Royalties vary<br /> between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should<br /> obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross<br /> receipts. Should obtain a sum in advance of<br /> royalties. A fixed date on or before which the<br /> play should be performed.<br /> <br /> 4. 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 /> 5. Authors should not assign performing rights, but<br /> should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is<br /> of great importance.<br /> <br /> 6. 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 /> 7. Never send a copy of the play to America unless it is<br /> protected by a preliminary performance in the United<br /> Kingdom.<br /> <br /> 8. A satisfactory agreement for collaboration is difficult.<br /> Such agreements should be avoided.<br /> <br /> 9. 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 /> to. An author must remember that the dramatic market<br /> is exceedingly limited.<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 are<br /> referred to the Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Ss<br /> *<br /> <br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I. is member has a right to ask for and to receive<br /> advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br /> lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br /> <br /> business or the administration of his property. If the<br /> <br /> advice sought is such as can be given best by a solici-<br /> tor, the member has a right to an opinion from the<br /> <br /> Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s<br /> <br /> opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for<br /> <br /> him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the<br /> member.<br /> <br /> 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br /> and publisher’s agreements do not generally fall within the<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br /> to use the Society.<br /> <br /> 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past<br /> accounts with the loan of the books represented. The<br /> Seoretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new<br /> or old, for inspection and note. The information thus<br /> obtained may prove invaluable.<br /> <br /> 4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br /> posed document to the Society for examination.<br /> <br /> 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you<br /> are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are<br /> reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing<br /> the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen-<br /> dence of the writer.<br /> <br /> 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of<br /> members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br /> safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br /> fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who<br /> will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :—(1)<br /> To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To<br /> stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon<br /> them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments<br /> due according to agreements.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE READING BRANCH.<br /> <br /> EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this<br /> branch of their work by informing young writers of<br /> its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated<br /> <br /> asa composition is treated by a coach. The Readers are<br /> writers of competence and experience. |The fee is one<br /> guinea.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> <br /> rs Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br /> Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br /> of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br /> heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br /> many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br /> 6s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br /> <br /> Communications for The Author should be addressed to<br /> the Offices of the Society, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn<br /> Fields, W.C., and should reach the Editor not later than the<br /> 21st of each month.<br /> <br /> All persons engaged in literary work of any kind,<br /> whether members of the Society or not, are invited to<br /> communicate to the Hditor any points connected with their<br /> work which it would be advisable in the general interest to<br /> publish.<br /> <br /> The present location of the Authors’ Club is at 3, White-<br /> hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for<br /> information, rules of admission, &amp;c.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 79<br /> <br /> LITERARY PROPERTY.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I.—On Commissron—A WARNING.<br /> Pr tinite on commission might be—may be, with proper care—the best method of publica-<br /> <br /> tion—the Method of the Future.<br /> <br /> As it is at present practised, and as it is proposed to practise it by the Draft Agreements of<br /> <br /> the Publishers’ Association, it is the very worst.<br /> <br /> At the present moment many publishers are making every effort to produ:e books on commission.<br /> The following extracts from the “ Draft Agreements,” showing what it means according to their<br /> <br /> avowed claims, should prove useful as a warning :<br /> <br /> 1. A fee of shall be paid to the pub-<br /> lisher previous to opening an account for its<br /> production and publication.<br /> <br /> 2. The Publisher will supply the author with<br /> estimates for the printing, and will charge a com-<br /> mission of per cent. on the trade prices<br /> for printing, paper, binding, advertising, and<br /> other disbursements, and reserve to himself the<br /> right to take the usual credit or the equivalent<br /> cash discount for cash payments, but no such<br /> discount shall exceed 7} per cent.<br /> <br /> 3. The Author or Proprietor shall, before the<br /> work is sent to press, pay the publisher a suffi-<br /> cient sum to meet the estimated charges for<br /> production and publication, including such a sum<br /> for advertising as the Author or Proprietor may<br /> deem desirable.<br /> <br /> 4. The Publisher will charge a commission of<br /> <br /> per cent. on the sales.<br /> <br /> 5. The Publisher shall account at the customary<br /> trade terms for all copies sold, but in cases where<br /> copies have been sold for export or at rates below<br /> the customary trade terms, as remainders or<br /> otherwise, such copies shall be accounted for at<br /> such lower prices.<br /> <br /> 6. The entire management of the production,<br /> publication and sale of the work shall be in the<br /> hands of the Publisher.<br /> <br /> 7. Accounts will be made up annually to<br /> <br /> and rendered within months<br /> <br /> after the date of making up, and the balance due<br /> paid on :<br /> <br /> This means that the publisher must get some-<br /> thing, even if the book does not sell. It will be<br /> seen immediately that he means to get a great<br /> deal, whether the book sells or not.<br /> <br /> Observe the wording, the “Publisher will<br /> supply, &amp;c.” Now the “ Printer will supply.”<br /> Therefore, the Publisher may send in his own<br /> estimate, charging what he pleases.<br /> <br /> On this he takes a percentage of what he<br /> pleases.<br /> <br /> It is his interest that everything should be<br /> charged as highly as possible. For instance, it<br /> does not matter to him whether the author loses<br /> or how much he loses. It is his interest that the<br /> book should be advertised as largely as possible,<br /> but under clause 3 the author can control the<br /> advertising.<br /> <br /> As to binding, it is not usual to bind more than<br /> is wanted. His estimate will include binding for<br /> the whole. There is nothing to prevent this.<br /> <br /> In addition he is to take 7} per cent. discount.<br /> <br /> Why in advance? Printers, &amp;c., are not paid in<br /> advance. This gives the publisher the use of the<br /> money for six months or so.<br /> <br /> How much should his commission be ?<br /> <br /> What are “customary trade terms ae<br /> <br /> The “entire management”? But by clause 3<br /> the author is to decide what sum should be spent<br /> on advertisements. In. other words, in every<br /> case except the one in which skilled advice is<br /> wanted, the Publisher is to have the manage-<br /> ment. In that case, in which the Author is pre-<br /> sumably quite ignorant, and the Publisher has<br /> some skill, the Author must decide.<br /> <br /> Accounts are to be made up “ annually.” Why<br /> not semi-annually ?<br /> <br /> Payments to be<br /> <br /> made so many months<br /> afterwards.<br /> <br /> Why not immediately? Because<br /> 80 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 8. The Publisher does not undertake to send the publisher wants to have the use of the<br /> <br /> out copies of the work on sale or return. _ money.<br /> g. The Publisher will not be responsible for Why should not books be sent out on sale or<br /> loss or damage by fire or in transit. return? It is the only way of offering certain<br /> <br /> 10. The Publisher will deliver the five copies books to the public.<br /> required by Act of Parliament for the British<br /> Museum and Public Libraries.<br /> <br /> 11. The Author shall guarantee to the Pub-<br /> lisher that the said work is in no way whatever<br /> a violation of any existing copyright, and that it<br /> contains nothing of a libellous or scandalous<br /> character, and that he will indemnify the Publisher<br /> from all suits, claims, proceedings, damages, and<br /> costs which may be made, taken, or incurred by or<br /> against him on the ground that the work is an<br /> infringement of copyright, or contains anything<br /> libellous or scandalous.<br /> <br /> 12. When the Publisher considers that the Why should the Publisher have the right of<br /> demand for the work has ceased, the unsold stock disposal of remainder copies? They belong to<br /> may be returned to the Author or Proprietor, or the Author. G.HT<br /> disposed of at the Publisher’s discretion, after<br /> due notice of such intention has been given to the<br /> Author or his representatives.<br /> <br /> A simple example will show the nature of a commission agreement, such as that proposed by the<br /> above “ draft.” : :<br /> <br /> We will take our favourite unit, the six-shillmg book, and an edition of 3000 copies, costing £150.<br /> Any other kind of book will do, but we may assume for our purpose any book we please. That most<br /> familiar is adopted. :<br /> <br /> ‘The author agrees to pay a commission of 10 per cent. with a fee of £5 in advance. He there-<br /> fore naturally supposes that he is to get the trade price less 10 per cent.—or as 3s. 6d. is the average<br /> trade price, that-he will get, for each copy, the sum of 3s. 1¢¢. He makes calculations. He reads<br /> in the “ Cost of Production” that his book can be produced for about £150, so that the sale of 1000<br /> copies will clear him. By the sale of 2000 copies he will realise £160. By that of 3000 he will realise<br /> £300—everybody knows the dreams of the penniless. When the accounts come in, he learns the true<br /> meaning of publishing on commission according to the “equitable” arrangements—pronounced<br /> “equitable”’ by a learned Q.C. :<br /> <br /> In the figures published in The Author of last July, it was assumed that the publisher would make<br /> fuller use of the licence granted him. The percentage on the sales was taken to be 15 per cent. The<br /> fee was taken as £10. It is suggested that if the full amount charged for binding was not spent, the<br /> publisher would have to return it when the stock came in. But the stock does not “come in,” as a<br /> rule: it is sold as remainder copies in sheets for a very small sum. The case is now, however,<br /> presented with more moderate, if not more probable, figures.<br /> <br /> The publisher sends, not the printer’s, but Ais own estimate, called in the draft agreement the<br /> “trade prices.” He sends an estimate charging 10 per cent. additional, on which, again, he is to<br /> charge a commission. He charges 10 per cent.<br /> <br /> On the discount he is to take 74 per cent.<br /> <br /> He sets down sales, not at the actual price, but at the “customary” trade price. This enables him<br /> to take off another percentage on the plea of bad debts or anything else. :<br /> <br /> The author pays in advance, and is repaid in a year or a year and a half.<br /> <br /> Now, then, for the account:<br /> <br /> Cost of production : £ i<br /> s.<br /> Printer’s estate 2.00.60 ka 80 0 oO ia,<br /> Publishers estimate 0... ce mes 88 0 Oo<br /> With the addition of 10 per cent. on these trade prices ......... 96 16 0<br /> <br /> &#039;<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 6<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 81<br /> <br /> Binding :<br /> Binder’s estimate (say 33d.)<br /> <br /> Publisher’s estimate .............6.-.605. Oe<br /> Ditto with ro per cent. on trade price, say, at 43d. .........-0+<br /> <br /> Advertising :<br /> <br /> Money paid, say........ceeesseeeeseecee ens<br /> Money charged with percentage .............1..:.---seeereer tte tree<br /> <br /> In publisher’s own organs<br /> <br /> The sale of 2000 copies at “ customary trade prices”<br /> what he pleases. Perhaps he will be content with 73 per cent. under this heading.<br /> <br /> 10 per cent. for commission.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The account now stands thus: 2 og<br /> Cost of printing and paper ...... G0 16 ©<br /> Pett 56 2G CO<br /> Adverse cc AG TO OO<br /> @orrections (Gay) ........s......-- 2.0 0<br /> Rublishers tee. &gt;. 4. 5 OO<br /> Extra expenses ......... 7 5 oO 8<br /> gs<br /> <br /> 292 10 O<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> o 0 33<br /> <br /> OO 4<br /> <br /> 50° 5 9<br /> Os 25 OO<br /> <br /> 27 10 0<br /> <br /> 20 0 C€<br /> <br /> 47 10 0<br /> <br /> gives the publishers the right of setting down<br /> He then deducts<br /> <br /> ss. 8, a.<br /> Sale of 2000 copies at ‘ custo-<br /> mary trade price,” say 3s. 3d... 325 9 O<br /> <br /> Tness ro percent, .................. 32 10 0<br /> Z92 10 oO<br /> 202 10 ©<br /> <br /> _ The author, therefore, who has had to pay £209 118. in advance, loses on the sale of 2000 copies<br /> £130 12s. But the publisher must return the sum not spent in binding. He must, legally. Let the<br /> author, therefore, recover the sum of £18 15s. in a court of law.<br /> <br /> What has the publisher made ?<br /> On the cost of printing<br /> <br /> On the cost of binding ...... 2<br /> <br /> On the cost of advertising<br /> <br /> py Ghetee .. ss... - st<br /> By the “ customary trade price’<br /> By the commission on the sales .........<br /> <br /> &gt;<br /> <br /> By the use of £200 for six months at 5 per cent. FL<br /> By the use of £78 for a year and a half at 5 per cent.<br /> <br /> Beye ea ENON Cece Cetra sere rs SEO ses £2 10.<br /> <br /> Clase a ee<br /> <br /> oS:<br /> 16 16<br /> <br /> 22 10<br /> Oo<br /> Oo<br /> IO<br /> oO<br /> <br /> 17<br /> <br /> 000000008<br /> <br /> Ww bv<br /> uu nuit<br /> <br /> 125. 3 0<br /> <br /> This is a very profitable little piece of business, all to be got out of a 10 per cent. commission.<br /> Now, had the author received a royalty of 15 per cent. only he would have made £90 instead of<br /> <br /> losing £130.<br /> <br /> commission.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I].—Tue Manacement or MSS.<br /> The question of the retention of MSS. by<br /> editors has been agitating the minds of a great<br /> number of members of our Society. It might<br /> be as well, therefore, to say a few words about<br /> the position of editors, legally and otherwise,<br /> with regard to MSS., and about the action of<br /> authors generally in the matter. In “The Pen<br /> and the Book,’ by Sir Walter Besant, a good<br /> deal has been written on this subject. Some of<br /> the main points, however, might be repeated in<br /> The Author.<br /> <br /> It is therefore intelligible why so many publishers are now trying to get books on<br /> <br /> like to hear the arguments by which this agreement and these results are called equitable.<br /> <br /> WB:<br /> <br /> Manuscripts should, when sent to magazines,<br /> be typewritten, and the author should invariably<br /> keep a copy. These two principles are funda-<br /> mental, and if authors adhered to them the<br /> complaint of the retention of MSS. would not be<br /> so frequently heard. Next, authors should be<br /> careful about the magazines they send their MSS.<br /> to—in the first instance, that the magazines are<br /> periodicals of substance and reputation ; secondly,<br /> that the MSS. are suitable to the particular<br /> magazines to which they are sent. In forwarding<br /> MSS. stamps and a directed envelope should be<br /> <br /> <br /> 82 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> enclosed, and the author’s name and address<br /> should be written on the MSS. In some maga-<br /> zines editors invite MSS. to be sent to them, but<br /> the author must remember that when demanding<br /> the return of a MS. he must be able to show<br /> that it has reached the office, and not only has<br /> reached the office, but has come to the hands of a<br /> responsible party. In other magazines the editor<br /> makes no request for MSS., and, therefore, his<br /> position with regard to the possession of MSS. is<br /> slightly different from that of the editor men-<br /> tioned above.. In the first place, if the MS. has<br /> reached his hands, he will be bound to take rather<br /> more care of it than in the latter case, but in<br /> neither case may the editor be wilfully neglectful<br /> of the property in his charge. If, however, the<br /> MS. has not been acknowledged, and letters have<br /> been left unanswered, it is exceedingly difficult<br /> for the author to show that the MS. has reached<br /> the office, that it has come to the hands of a respon-<br /> sible party, and that it has been lost through the<br /> wilful neglect of theeditor. It isa simple matter, if<br /> the author has a copy of his MS., to write to the<br /> editor and state that he withdraws the offer of his<br /> MS. unless he hears definitely before a certain<br /> date, and that he will try and place it elsewhere.<br /> It is almost a universal rule that editors are<br /> courteous, obliging, and business-like, and will<br /> do their best to assist authors in the recovery of<br /> their MSS., but authors at the same time must<br /> remember that editors are overwhelmed with<br /> MSS. of all sorts and kinds, and that after all<br /> they are but human. It is very seldom that such<br /> a case occurs as once occurred at the office of the<br /> Society, when an editor stated that he would<br /> burn the MS. if the Society wrote again to him<br /> on the matter. This was in the early days of the<br /> Society. After a little mature consideration, the<br /> editor thought it advisable to adopt a different<br /> plan, and the MS. was returned in due course.<br /> It is quite certain that some of the so-called<br /> rudeness and unbusinesslike conduct of editors<br /> is due to corresponding characteristics in the<br /> authors who forward their MSS. It is exceed-<br /> ingly difficult for the Society to act in ca-es<br /> of this kind where the editor has been<br /> roundly abused by an author without any<br /> apparent cause or reason. Amongst the pile<br /> of MSS. and correspondence the editor cannot<br /> by any means reply by return of post, and it<br /> is often the case that through press of business<br /> he may not be able to answer for three or four<br /> weeks. In that case if the author is in a hurry<br /> to place his work he could withdraw the offer<br /> from the editor and ask for the return of his MS.,<br /> but he must not grumble if the editor should<br /> finally repudiate his work and be unable to accept<br /> it for the magazine. It has, however, frequently<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> occurred that the Society has been able to obtain<br /> a satisfactory answer from an editor and a satis-<br /> factory explanation when the author has been —<br /> unable to do so. In many cases this is due to the<br /> position which the Society now holds, and in<br /> other cases it is due to the fact of the author&#039;s<br /> unbusinesslike correspondence.<br /> <br /> Finally, it should be made clear to all authors<br /> that it is very doubtful, now that it is so easy to<br /> obtain typewritten copies of MSS., whether it<br /> might not be considered in an action brought<br /> against an editor a case of contributory negli-<br /> gence where the author failed to keep a copy of<br /> his own composition, and that though the ©<br /> Society would be very willing to assist those who<br /> are unable to recover their MSS. when the case is —<br /> clear and the editor has been guilty of wilful<br /> neglect, yet in the ordinary course of business<br /> touching the circulation of MSS. it should be<br /> remembered that a great deal depends upon the<br /> machinery being carefully oiled, in other words,<br /> upon the courtesy and tact of the authors them-<br /> <br /> selves in the matter.<br /> G. FT.<br /> <br /> III.—Tuer BooxsELLERS AND THE PUBLISHERS,<br /> <br /> The following letter has been recently sent to<br /> the committee of the Publishers’ Association by<br /> a bookseller of high standing. He gives permis-<br /> sion for its publication. The name of the writer —<br /> is suppressed :—<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> June 27, 1899.<br /> <br /> The Secretary of the Publishers’ Association.<br /> <br /> Dear Sir,<br /> <br /> I have pleasure in signing agreement re sale of<br /> net books, and return herewith.<br /> <br /> I cannot but observe, however, that it is a very<br /> one-sided affair, as it is in no way binding on the<br /> publishers themselves, who, so far as the agree-<br /> ment is concerned, are at liberty to supply<br /> “schools, libraries, and institutions,” below the<br /> net prices enforced on the retail trade.<br /> <br /> It is well known that these sources of business<br /> (though wrongfully ) are toa great extent supplied<br /> direct by the publishers themselves.<br /> <br /> I do not suppose that the publishers who sign —<br /> the ‘agreement ”’ claim a higher morality in trade<br /> matters than that which they assume governs the ~<br /> retail members of the trade ; consequently there is<br /> the same danger of net prices being depreciated by<br /> the publishers themselves, as is apprehended by —<br /> them from retail booksellers.<br /> <br /> It is only fair, therefore, that a joint agreement —<br /> expressing equal obligations against under- —<br /> selling should be signed by both publishers and —<br /> retailers.<br /> <br /> I shall be glad to hear your views, as the<br />  <br /> <br /> {ot<br /> iad<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> representative of the Publishers’ Association, on<br /> this subject.<br /> Tam, dear Sir, faithfully yours,<br /> A. B.<br /> <br /> To this letter, which is quite clear and straight-<br /> forward, a reply has been sent.<br /> <br /> The secretary of the Publishers’ Association<br /> informs the writer that his letter has been laid<br /> before his committee: and that he is directed to<br /> to state that “a clause embodying your sugges-<br /> tion was drafted by the publishers when the Form<br /> of Agreement was under consideration.” This is<br /> so far satisfactory. There was, therefore, some<br /> discussion as to the rights of the bookseller—the<br /> other party to the agreement.<br /> <br /> Why, then, has the “drafted” clause dis-<br /> appeared<br /> <br /> For the most amazing reason: the most unex-<br /> pected : the most inexplicable.<br /> <br /> Because they were advised that “it would have<br /> been illegal, and would invalidate the agreement.”<br /> <br /> Read the explanation carefully: read it again.<br /> Does it raean that it is beyond the power of the<br /> Law to bind both parties to certain terms and<br /> conditions ? What else can it mean? Let us<br /> learn what it means. It is not for us to suggest<br /> an explanation: there is a simple statement: the<br /> clause by which it was proposed that publishers<br /> should not undersell booksellers, and should not<br /> furnish libraries, schools, and institutions was<br /> actually framed and proved to be “illegal.” This<br /> is the only possible deduction.<br /> <br /> Booksellers are earnestly invited to consider<br /> this statement.<br /> <br /> It was pointed out in the June Author that<br /> the agreement bound the publishers to nothing<br /> and the booksellers to everything. They were<br /> called upon to promise to sell all books, if neces-<br /> sary, nothing being said to the contrary in the<br /> agreement, at a price fixed by the publishers.<br /> They were made to surrender the liberty of the<br /> subject, the personal right of dealing as they<br /> pleased with their own property.<br /> <br /> In return for this enormous concession they<br /> get—what? The advantage of a shilling or two<br /> on a high-priced book of which they might sell<br /> twenty, thirty, or fifty in the year.<br /> <br /> Is this good enough ? Is it not worth con-<br /> sidering whether the agreement should not be<br /> torn up until real and new concessions are made ?<br /> Meantime the Society of Authors, which was not<br /> <br /> consulted in this second agreement, has yet to be<br /> considered.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 1V.—Copyrieut 1n RePpoRTED SPEECHES.<br /> An injunction was granted by Mr. Justice<br /> North in the Court of Chancery on Aug. 10 on<br /> behalf of Messrs. Walter, the proprietors of the<br /> VOU. X<br /> <br /> 83<br /> <br /> Times, who sought to restrain Mr. John Lane<br /> from publishing, under the title of “ Apprecia-<br /> tions and Addresses delivered by Lord Rosebery,”<br /> reports of Lord Rosebery’s speeches copied from<br /> the Times. Mr. H. Terrell, Q.C. and Mr.<br /> McSwinney argued the case for the plaintitts,<br /> and Mr. Serutton for the defendant. In giving<br /> judgment,<br /> <br /> Mr. Justice North said (Daily Chronicle,<br /> Aug. 11): The question was not as between<br /> the author of the speech and the defendant, but<br /> as between the defendant and the person who<br /> reported the speech. If the person who made<br /> the report had any copyright in his report it was<br /> admitted that that copyright was now vested in<br /> the Times. The only question, therefore, was<br /> whether the reporter had copyright in the<br /> reports he had made. The reporter was not the<br /> author of the speeches, but he was the author<br /> of his report of the speech, and there was no<br /> doubt that it required a certain amount of<br /> experience to make these reports. He did not<br /> see why such a person should not have copyright,<br /> not in the speech itself, but in his version of the<br /> speech which he had made. Several reporters might<br /> make reports of a speech made in public, and each<br /> might have the copyright in his own publication<br /> if he had got the materials for himself. If Lord<br /> Rosebery wanted himself to publish these<br /> speeches, and could not write them from memory,<br /> he did not see the hardship of his being deprived<br /> of the right to publish speeches thrown to the<br /> winds without being regarded as of sufficient<br /> importance for copies to be kept of them. No<br /> doubt, if Lord Rosebery could remember these<br /> speeches, or had kept a record of them, or he<br /> might even refresh his memory from reports of<br /> them, he might be entitled to publish them, but<br /> he (the learned judge) did not think Lord Rose-<br /> bery would be entitled to publish the Tvmes<br /> reports of his speeches. The plaintiffs had<br /> satisfied all legal requirements for protecting the<br /> copyright that Mr. Brain (the reporter) might<br /> have in these reports, and that copyright was<br /> now vested in them. That being so, the plaintiffs<br /> were entitled to the injunction they asked for,<br /> and the defendant must be restrained until the<br /> trial of the action from copying the reports of<br /> <br /> _ these speeches or material parts thereof.<br /> <br /> It was intimated that the defendant would<br /> appeal.<br /> <br /> oo<br /> <br /> V.—Copyricut In JAPAN AND MONTENEGRO.<br /> A recent number of the London Gazette<br /> announced that by Order in Council the provisions<br /> of the International Copyright Convention will<br /> extend to Japan from July 15 last, and to Monte-<br /> negro from April 1 next.<br /> I<br /> 84 THE<br /> PARIS NOTES.<br /> <br /> , Rue Chomel, Paris.<br /> NHE majority of the lettered Parisian public<br /> is now en villégiature, and the capital is<br /> invaded by the usual summer swarm of<br /> “personally conducted parties,” private tourists,<br /> and globe-trotters. The heat is overpowering,<br /> making one’s thoughts turn yearningly in the<br /> direction of the cool moors and fresh sea breezes<br /> of the North, while the diurnal rise in the ther-<br /> mometer registers a corresponding depression in<br /> intellectual activity. The pulse beats langour-<br /> ously in this tropical atmosphere ; the fibres of<br /> the brain are submerged by a species of mental<br /> inertia which is oppressive as a living nightmare ;<br /> but enough! revenons a nos moutons.<br /> <br /> The election of M. Philippe Gille to the<br /> Académie des Beaux Arts has met with universal<br /> approval. It fitly coincided with the appearance<br /> of his monumental work on Versailles, in which<br /> he devotes several particularly fine chapters to<br /> discussing French art in the seventeenth and<br /> eighteenth centuries. M. Gille is competent to<br /> speak with authority on this matter, since he is<br /> himself a sculptor of no mean talent. Indeed, he<br /> appears to possess the happy faculty of assimilat-<br /> ing and making himself master of whatever<br /> subject he chances to undertake. In this respect<br /> he resembles our own Bulwer Lytton, though his<br /> work is, perhaps, more conscientious and less<br /> brilliant than that of the versatile Englishman.<br /> He is no believer in the old axiom respecting the<br /> fallacy of having too many irons in the fire at<br /> once, as his varied literary, dramatic, historical,<br /> critical, and journalistic achievements amply<br /> testify. By his election the Académie des Beaux<br /> Arts numbers four journalists among its forty<br /> members.<br /> <br /> According to the /égaro, the French Academy<br /> possesses six journalists in the same number of<br /> members, viz., MM. Legouvd, Mézitres, Claretie,<br /> Sorel, Lemaitre, and Paul Deschanel—though we<br /> should hardly consider four out of the six<br /> gentlemen above cited as journalists proper.<br /> Whether their number will be increased remains<br /> to be seen, since there are at present two empty fau-<br /> teutls vacated by the recent deaths of MM. Pail-<br /> leron and Cherbuliez. The latter was one of the<br /> famous Commission du Dictionnaire de la Langue<br /> Frangaise which, according to regulations, must<br /> always embrace six members. His death has<br /> reduced the number to five; hence the necessity<br /> of electing his successor as speedily as possible.<br /> As the Academy desires its tale of members to be<br /> complete at the opening of the year 1900, the<br /> election of the two new members and M. Lave-<br /> dan’s official reception will take place at the end<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> of the present year; while the following year’s<br /> proceedings will be opened with the official recep-<br /> tion of M. Paul Deschanel. A recent decree has<br /> authorised the Académie des Sciences to extend<br /> the number of its national and foreign correspon-<br /> dents to 116 contributors in lieu of 100. Among<br /> the foreign correspondents the Académie des<br /> Sciences already numbers, we find, no less than<br /> eighteen Englishmen and five Americans (United<br /> States) as opposed to eleven Germans, four<br /> Russians, and four Italians, the remaining nation-<br /> alities boasting no more than one—or, at most, two<br /> representatives. England likewise claims the<br /> pre-eminence on the list of foreigners admitted to<br /> the Institut de France as members and enjoying<br /> the same privileges as their French confreéres,<br /> seven Englishmen having been received against<br /> five Germans, five Italians, three Belgians, and<br /> one American, Austrian, Swede, Russian,<br /> Spaniard, Swiss, Dutchman, Hungarian, &amp;c.,<br /> comprising altogether thirty-two foreign members.<br /> And still further apropos of French academies<br /> may be mentioned the legacy of 420,000<br /> francs lately bequeathed by M. Nobel to the<br /> Institut de France (which institute comprises<br /> the Académie Francaise, Académie des Sciences<br /> Morales et Politiques, Académie des Inscriptions<br /> et Belles-Lettres, Académie des Beaux Arts, and<br /> Académie des Sciences), for the foundation of<br /> five annual international prizes, the said prizes<br /> being intended to recompense the following<br /> achievements: The three first, a discovery in<br /> physics, in chemistry, and in physiology; the<br /> fourth, a literary work of ideal tendency; while<br /> the fifth is to be bestowed on the person who<br /> shall have done the most. to establish the fraternity<br /> of nations in regard to the suppression or reduc-<br /> tion of standing armies and extension of peace<br /> congresses. The fourth prize is not likely to lack<br /> entries, since it offers a European reputation, in<br /> addition to the neat little sum of 300,000 franes.<br /> “La Faute des Roses” is the title of M.<br /> Felicien Champsaur’s new novel. This author is<br /> a well known literary celebrity, having contributed<br /> for upwards of twenty years to all the leading<br /> literary periodicals. The Italians call him the<br /> French D’Annunzio. “ Grand, brun, l’allure d’un<br /> mousquetaire—n’a pas encore quarante ans,” 1s<br /> the pithy description of his personality given by<br /> one of his acquaintances. But though M. Champ-<br /> saur&#039;s latest work is undoubtedly well written,<br /> and contains some interesting pages on Italy,<br /> Florence, and Venice,. the charm of the book is<br /> marred hy the licentious scenes therein portrayed.<br /> The Vicomte Brenier de Montmorand has been<br /> awarded a thousand francs by the French Aca-<br /> demy for a work entitled “ La Société Francaise<br /> Contemporaine”; and now M. Victor du Bled<br /> <br /> ?<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 85<br /> <br /> proposes to give the public a “ Histoire de la<br /> Société Francaise,” beimg the publication of a<br /> series of lectures delivered by the author in the<br /> aristocratic salons of Mmes. la Comtesse d’Eu, la<br /> Duchesse de Vendéme, les Princesses de Mon-<br /> tholon-Sémonville and d’Arenberg, &amp;c. The<br /> volume in question will deal with the society and<br /> women of the sixteenth century; the Court of<br /> Henry IV. and Marguerite of Navarre; the<br /> society surrounding Cardinal Richelieu ; Mazarin’s<br /> Nieces; Port Royal Society ; Alfred de Musset ;<br /> the ancient Diplomatists; Wits and Women of<br /> the eighteenth century, and French Society during<br /> the emigration period. M. du Bled is extremely<br /> popular in the circles he frequents, and it is not<br /> probable that his present literary venture will<br /> diminish the social prestige he now enjoys.<br /> <br /> The Correctional Chamber has deferred the<br /> hearing of M. Emile Zola’s suit against MM.<br /> Judet, Lasseur, and Marinoni of the Petit<br /> Journal until Oct. 8 next. In the meantime<br /> Mile. Adrienne Neyrat, editress of [Ami des<br /> bétes, has published an interesting letter from<br /> M. Zola, in which the eminent novelist assures<br /> her of his entire sympathy with her in the good<br /> work she has undertaken on behalf of “ our little<br /> brethren, the animals.” He further affirms that<br /> one of the cruellest out of the many bitter hours<br /> he has passed was that in which he abruptly<br /> learned in exile the death, ‘loin de moi,” of the<br /> little four-footed friend who had been his<br /> faithful companion during nine years. He con-<br /> tinues: “My wife wrote that he sought me<br /> everywhere, that he had lost his gaiety; that he<br /> followed her step by step with an air of infinite<br /> distress. I wept for him like a child,<br /> . . and even now it is impossible for me to<br /> think of him without being moved to tears,<br /> <br /> Of all my sacrifices the death of my dog<br /> in my absence has been one of the hardest.”<br /> Only those who have known by experience the<br /> unswerving fidelity, attachment, and abnegation<br /> of which a dog is capable, can fully appreciate or<br /> comprehend M. Zola’s grief on learning the death<br /> of his small canine comrade.<br /> <br /> Theatrical managers must undoubtedly con-<br /> sider “Cyrano de Bergerac” as the modern<br /> synonym of the bird that lays golden eggs for<br /> their benefit. MM. Moncharmont and Luguet’s<br /> travelling company which left Paris with this<br /> play on April 1, 1898, has returned, after touring<br /> for fifteen months in the principal towns of<br /> France, Belgium, Holland, Alsace - Lorraine,<br /> Switzerland, Algeria, Tunis, and Italy. This is<br /> the largest enterprise of the kind which has ever<br /> been undertaken, and it has been eminently<br /> successful. The outlay has not been small,<br /> including 225,000 francs paid to fifteen com-<br /> <br /> panies and states for conveyance of personnel and<br /> baggage by land only ; 270,000 franes disbursed<br /> to the artistes of the troupe; upwards of 30,000<br /> francs paid to various gas and electric light com-<br /> panies; upwards of 75,000 francs given to the<br /> Public Assistance Caisse; 250,000 francs ex-<br /> pended in hiring theatres; and 60,000 francs in<br /> accessories, scenic decorations, arms, costumes,<br /> &amp;e. Nevertheless, the receipts from “Cyrano”<br /> have been so satisfactory that MM. Moncharmont<br /> and Luguet have obtained a new licence from the<br /> author for a second tour which will commence<br /> with a series of representations at Brussels.<br /> <br /> The dissensions aroused by the will of Adolphe<br /> d’Ennery are now happily ended, the First<br /> Chamber having recognised the legality of the<br /> testament made by the wealthy dramaturgist in<br /> favour of his natural daughter, Mme. Leroux.<br /> The coquettish demurs of the State as to the<br /> advisability of accepting M. and Mme. d’Ennery’s<br /> donation of their private hotel and Oriental collec-<br /> tion (supplemented by an annual bequest of<br /> 16,000 francs for its conservation) have termi-<br /> nated in an affirmative ; and it is formally settled<br /> that, in accordance with the testator’s desire, the<br /> hotel in the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne shall be<br /> forthwith transformed into a Musée d’Ennery for<br /> the benefit of the public. The legal complications<br /> hampering the endowment of the long-expected<br /> Académie des Goncourt show small chance of<br /> being as speedily regulated. Kdmond de Goncourt<br /> founded a literary academy of ten members, of<br /> whom he only named eight, leaving the other two<br /> to be elected by the eight members already chosen<br /> immediately his new institution commenced to<br /> exercise its functions. In the interim the founder<br /> and his friend, Alphonse Daudet—one of the prin-<br /> cipal members—died ; and it is not altogether im-<br /> probable that the remaining members will follow<br /> their example before the affair is finally settled.<br /> Possibly they do not regard this contingency with<br /> a very lively regret, since at the recent anniversary<br /> of Edmond de Goncourt’s death the only flowers<br /> deposited on the brothers’ tomb were those<br /> plucked in the Grenier d’Auteuil by their faithful<br /> servant, Pélagie.<br /> <br /> Tt has been announced that the monument of<br /> Victor Hugo, by Barrias, destined to adorn the<br /> square which bears the great poet’s name, will<br /> not be erected for three years. No reason is<br /> given for this prolonged delay. The sub-<br /> scriptions, amounting to upwards of 64,000<br /> franes, received by the Comité du monument<br /> d’Alexandre Dumas ji/s have enabled the com-<br /> mittee to request the State to nominate the<br /> sculptor it considered most competent to execute<br /> this commission satisfactorily. In accordance<br /> with the wishes of the Alexandre Dumas family,<br /> 86 THE<br /> <br /> and the preference expressed by the committee,<br /> M. de Saint-Marceaux, the clever artist of the<br /> Daudet monument, was the sculptor chosen. The<br /> rough cast of the proposed Dumas //s monument<br /> is already finished, and is composed of a group<br /> of three persons, viz., of Alexandre Dumas /ils<br /> and two symbolical figures representing the<br /> Theatre and Feminism, of which latter the great<br /> writer was one of the most eloquent apostles.<br /> This design is to be carried out in stone, and<br /> when finished it will be erected on the Place des<br /> Trois-Dumas.<br /> <br /> Armand Colin has recently published a rather<br /> notable book by M. Gaston Deschamps, entitled<br /> ‘La Malaise de la Démocratie.” The volume is<br /> dedicated : ‘‘T’o the good citizens who are afflicted<br /> by the Present and disquieted for the Future ; to<br /> the great Minister whom we lack, and the States-<br /> man whom we await.’ It is reported to be written<br /> in an agreeable style, and contains much solid<br /> information, including the author’s views on “ Les<br /> Débuts du régime démocratique, les Politiciens,<br /> le Césarisme et la Médiocratie, Pornographie et<br /> Scandales, les Aumoniers de la démocratie, la<br /> Pédagogie allemande, la Manie Anglo-Saxonne,<br /> la Malaise de l&#039;Université, la Malaise de la<br /> jeunesse, Armée et la démocratie,’ and the im-<br /> perative need of reform. From the above<br /> category we should esteem M. Deschamps’ work<br /> an interesting and valuable publication ; yet it is<br /> scarcely sufficiently frivole to be recommended<br /> for holiday reading during the dog-days of<br /> August.<br /> <br /> M. Camille Flammarion, the renowned astro-<br /> nomer whose falsely reputed defection from the<br /> ranks of spiritualism lately caused such a com-<br /> motion among his numerous disciples of all<br /> nationalities, is at present engaged on a new<br /> volume entitled “L’Inconnu et les problémes<br /> psychiques,” which specially treats of the appari-<br /> tions and manifestations seen by the dying. His<br /> investigations on this subject are aided by the<br /> revelations of the famous medium Eusapia<br /> Paladino. M. Flammarion is an extraordinary<br /> man. He began life as an infant prodigy,<br /> and at the age of thirteen he quitted his family<br /> to establish himself in the Quartier Latin of<br /> Paris. At sixteen he was twice bachelor of arts ;<br /> at sixteen and a half he was admitted as a pupil<br /> to the Observatory; and at nineteen years he<br /> published “La Pluralité des mondes habités,”<br /> which work obtained the approval of Henri<br /> Martin and Sainte Beuve. Twelve years ago he<br /> founded the Astronomical Society of France;<br /> and in claiming for him a rosette from the<br /> Government M. Faye, doyen of the Académie des<br /> Sciences, wrote: “The study of astronomy re-<br /> sponds to a need of the human mind, This need<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> may be said to have been created and sustained<br /> in France solely by M. Flammarion.” His<br /> admirers are legion; in North America he is<br /> revered as a supernatural genius, while South<br /> America has founded a Société Flammarion at<br /> Bogota (Colombia). Under these circumstances<br /> a new work from his pen is quite a literary event.<br /> Darracotre Scort.<br /> <br /> Secs<br /> <br /> IS LITERATURE A PRECARIOUS<br /> PROFESSION ?<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> N the question whether Literature is a<br /> precarious profession, I have received<br /> several letters from writers who have<br /> <br /> failed, to all of which the same answer may<br /> be given, viz., the answer that was given in<br /> the last number of The Author. Here, however,<br /> are one or two further considerations. Litera-<br /> ture, considered as a profession, offers many<br /> and great prizes. The pecuniary prizes of popular<br /> success, if not so great asthe Bar and Medicine,<br /> are yet very substantial, and are increasing by<br /> leaps and bounds. The other and the greater<br /> prizes of respect and fame are also increasing as<br /> the taste for good literature increases.<br /> <br /> As in every other profession there are many<br /> failures for one success. How many barristers,<br /> solicitors, physicians, surgeons, architects, and<br /> men of all other professions are there who find<br /> their calling precarious? But Literature has<br /> one great advantage over all other professions.<br /> It is impossible that fine work, great work,<br /> should be passed over with neglect. -It may be<br /> that the circle of recognition is at first small:<br /> it may be that a large commercial success-is not<br /> obtained: but there is always some audience<br /> ready to recognise and to applaud the writer<br /> who has a thing to say, a story to tell, a song<br /> to sing, and can do these things with credit.<br /> And this cannot be said of any other profes-<br /> sion. Critics, editors, scholars, are always look-<br /> ing for good work and for good writers. There<br /> may be log-rolling of private friends, but there is<br /> never, so far as my experience goes, a hostile<br /> reception offered by critics or readers to the new<br /> comer who offers a fine or great work.<br /> <br /> The case of Walter Pater is one in point. His<br /> readers are comparatively small in number: but<br /> they are of the best kind, the most scholarly, the<br /> best cultured. He himself would not have desired<br /> a better audience. He occupies a place which<br /> will rise continually higher year by year: his<br /> name will grow more and more: his works are,<br /> to English prose, something akin to those of<br /> Matthew Arnold in verse. Who can deny that the<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> prize which Literature has bestowed upon Walter<br /> Pater is as great and as desirable as any that the<br /> Law or Medicine has to offer ?<br /> <br /> On the commercial side, however, the place of<br /> this fine writer was probably very low down.<br /> <br /> Literature, again, has many branches: 1t can<br /> be, and often is, carried on with other professions.<br /> Every science which has its professor has also its<br /> literature. A scientific man becomes known, not<br /> only by his researches, but by his writings. A<br /> schoolmaster magnifies his influence and his<br /> name, and sometimes his income, by his educa-<br /> tional works. Specialists find the columns of<br /> reviews, magazines, and daily papers, open to<br /> them. A lawyer’s reputation may be made by<br /> his works on law. For every study, every pursuit,<br /> as well as every science, there is its own literature<br /> —and for those who contribute to that literature<br /> there is the possible prize of literary reputation<br /> or popular success.<br /> <br /> Among the letters received upon this subject<br /> there are four to which I would especially refer,<br /> though I have not published them, The first is<br /> from a man who has been writing for fourteen<br /> years. He has written novels, short stories,<br /> children’s stories, and papers on many subjects.<br /> He can quote favourable reviews. He has worked<br /> hard and honestly. Yet he cannot command<br /> even a bare living. He asks, “Would a<br /> doctor or a solicitor of equal ability in their<br /> own respective professions find themselves in<br /> my position at the end of fourteen years’<br /> practice?” I should say that, even taking for<br /> granted the ability, there are hundreds of solicitors<br /> and doctors no better off.<br /> <br /> Another writer is a novelist, and only a novelist.<br /> His first novel proved a loss—‘ owing to the<br /> author’s ignorance of publishing.” His second<br /> proved a success. He cannot get his following<br /> works published at all.“ Mere literary ability,”<br /> he says, “‘ being largely dependent upon the happy<br /> combination of circumstances for success, often<br /> fails. Would it not be kinder to warn the literary<br /> aspirant of this?”<br /> <br /> The third writer argues that it is impossible<br /> for editors to read all the MSS. offered to them.<br /> He advises, as the result of his own experience,<br /> never to try living by the pen. This is excellent<br /> advice—I have always advised young writers not<br /> at first to try living by the pen. In the case of<br /> success there may come a time when a writer of<br /> fiction, verse, belles lettres, will find himself<br /> justified in living by his pen. My correspondent<br /> also advises writers not to send MSS. to e Litors<br /> on the chance of being accepted. It will be<br /> observed that the failure of each of these writers<br /> is alleged as an example and proof that Literature<br /> is precarious, without the least reference to the<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 87<br /> <br /> facts that it has given to others great prizes and<br /> very numerous prizes.<br /> <br /> The proper treatment of a single case is to<br /> examine (1) why success has not been achieved<br /> —and (2) if the case is one in which the literary<br /> worth cannot, for reasons to be ascertained, be<br /> accompanied by commercial success. One cannot<br /> repeat too often that the two kinds of success are<br /> absolutely incommensurable and have not of<br /> necessity any connection with each other. Again,<br /> one refers to the case of Pater.<br /> <br /> It is not true that the failures of a thousand<br /> aspirants every year —at least that number<br /> do fail every year—make Literature a precarious<br /> profession. If persons without the natural apti-<br /> tude—one is not allowed to use the word genius,<br /> which I should prefer—without serious prepara-<br /> tion: without knowledge of life or views of life:<br /> without dramatic powers: without imagination:<br /> without strength of conception: without practice<br /> in literary expression—try every year by the<br /> thousand to write novels, poetry, plays, essays—<br /> and fail, this fact does not touch the question at<br /> all. It shows only that itis not given to everyone<br /> to enter upon the profession of Literature:<br /> and that these incompetent persons are only<br /> making feeble attempts to enter upon it. It<br /> is well that they should understand beforehand<br /> that Literature must not be taken up in this<br /> random fashion.<br /> <br /> Fifty years ago, when a man had no other<br /> opening, or when he had broken down in any<br /> other line, he started a private school. When a<br /> woman had to earn her livelihood, there was the<br /> same attempt, generally a feeble and helpless<br /> attempt, to start a school. Sometimes, by way<br /> of a variant, a “ Berlin and Fancy” shop was<br /> opened. In these days Literature is the line first<br /> attempted by the impecunious: and with similar<br /> results. But these people must not be con-<br /> sidered as belonging to the profession of Litera-<br /> ture.<br /> <br /> In the fourth letter mentioned above the writer<br /> also complains that Literature is precarious.<br /> Why? His history is this: He wrote for twenty<br /> years with a fair means of success. He then went<br /> abroad and wrote nothing for seven years. When<br /> he returned he found himself forgotten, and has<br /> not yet been able to recover his old position.<br /> Now let us consider this case. What would<br /> happen if a solicitor or a doctor, after getting a<br /> successful practice, were to retire for seven years<br /> and go out of the country? When he returned<br /> could he expect to recover his past clients and<br /> patients? Would he therefore blame the profes-<br /> sion or would he blame himself ?<br /> <br /> It is always better to have things said than<br /> whispered. For this reason the three communica-<br /> <br /> <br /> 88 THE<br /> <br /> tions on pp. 93, 94 are published in the present<br /> number.<br /> <br /> In one, the successful author, meaning novelist,<br /> is accused of paying for paragraphs, that is, puffs :<br /> or for illustrated interviews. “ Press booms and<br /> advertising are indispensable to success.” Or the<br /> novelist, to be successful, must be the friend of<br /> some proprietor of a journal. And all reviews,<br /> it seems, are written by rival novelists.<br /> <br /> The second writer attacks editors generally for<br /> what they accept and for what they reject. He<br /> also accuses successful literary men of that kind<br /> of petty jealousy which prevents them from<br /> giving useful advice to beginners.<br /> <br /> The third letter supposes that because a man<br /> spends months on a piece of work, and cannot<br /> sell it, that the craft of producing this kind of<br /> work is not one to be followed. The three<br /> papers contain what, I fear, are wide-spread<br /> illusions. Now the proprietor or editor who would<br /> sacrifice ‘the interests of his paper to oblige an<br /> incompetent writer because he was a friend either<br /> does not exist or is on the high road to bank-<br /> ruptcy. The thing is absurd. Yet it is widely<br /> believed. Every literary man is constantly<br /> entreated to “use his influence’ for the accept-<br /> ance of articles.<br /> <br /> The belief that literary men pay for paragraphs<br /> in papers is absolutely unfounded. Ido not know<br /> any paper which could be even suspected of such<br /> dealings. Nor have I ever heard of a writer<br /> paying for an interview. On the other hand,<br /> private friends of an author or of his publisher<br /> do certainly sometimes succeed in getting the<br /> puff indirect into a paper. But to accuse all<br /> successful writers of countenancing such methods<br /> is monstrous.<br /> <br /> As for “petty jealousy,” I am quite certain<br /> that leading men of letters are always willing to<br /> give such advice as is asked for. They are not,<br /> however, willing to give such assistance as they<br /> are too often asked for, viz., ‘“ their great<br /> influence ’’ with editors; because the “ great<br /> influence ”’ does not exist, and because the recom-<br /> mendation of bad work would be a betrayal of<br /> friendship.<br /> <br /> When one reads such statements as these, one<br /> asks what becomes eventually of the great rejected.<br /> Do they ever reach acceptance and recognition ?<br /> One reads of books refused by readers which<br /> have turned out great successes: there may also<br /> be MSS. refused by editors. I should like to<br /> know, among the more noteworthy of the articles<br /> in the magazines, how many have been previously<br /> refused.<br /> <br /> It seems a hard thing to say to writers suffering<br /> from disappointment and rejection that editors<br /> are paid for sifting good work from bad: that if<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> they accept bad work on account of private friend-<br /> ships, they not only betray their trust, but they<br /> ruin their paper. Is not this simple fact a reply<br /> to these three correspondents ?<br /> <br /> W. B.<br /> <br /> De<br /> <br /> THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING.<br /> <br /> ROFESSOR CRAYE was standing near the<br /> window of his sitting room. It was on the<br /> second floor of a house in Canonbury; for<br /> <br /> the professor was not rich. But the view from<br /> the window was pleasant; the house overlooked<br /> a square which was bright with well-filled par-<br /> terres and old smooth turf; children were<br /> running and shouting merrily under the tall<br /> limes and sycamores, and the summer sunshine<br /> glorified the scene. Charles Craye held a pro-<br /> fessor’s chair in a big London college, where<br /> much learning was expected and a small stipend<br /> was paid. He lectured to women as well as to<br /> men, and the former fact was the origin of the<br /> reverie in which he indulged as he gazed into the<br /> sunny square. He wished to marry one of his<br /> pupils, and he felt sure that she would accept<br /> him, though he was a man of forty and she was<br /> eighteen years younger. But he had been<br /> waiting because he was poor, and he believed that<br /> fame and a moderate fortune in consequence of it<br /> were not far off.<br /> <br /> Charles Craye had been for twenty years pre<br /> paring a treatise on the philosophy and life of an<br /> eminent German. He meant that his treatise<br /> should be a standard work, and he had spared<br /> neither his time nor his means in collecting and<br /> reviewing material at first hand. The German<br /> was so eminent that a treatise—a full and<br /> scholarly treatise, containing striking conclusions<br /> which were soundly supported—could not be<br /> ignored; and Professor Craye had just finished<br /> the treatise. The bulky manuscript lay on the<br /> table behind him.<br /> <br /> When he left the window he turned to the<br /> table and fingered one or two of the sheets of the<br /> manuscript with an air of abstraction.<br /> <br /> “JT wonder who would be the best publishers<br /> for it?” he mused. ‘Singleton is a good man,<br /> and Stubbin and Howe are suitable people. But<br /> then Guddle and Simm are more likely to be<br /> interested in the subject than anybody else. They<br /> published all Trasker’s books on the theme—the<br /> whole six of them—and Trasker is considered to<br /> be the first authority in England on the subject.<br /> However,” the professor thought, smiling to him-<br /> self, “I don’t fancy Trasker will be an authority<br /> much longer; for if I have demonstrated one<br /> thing more clearly than another, it is that Trasker<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 89<br /> <br /> was a charlatan, and incredibly careless in com-<br /> piling his books.”<br /> <br /> So the professor packed up his manuscript and<br /> dispatched it to Guddle and Simm, together<br /> with a letter in which he modestly set forth his<br /> qualifications for the work which he had under-<br /> taken.<br /> <br /> A month later Mr. Guddle walked into Mr.<br /> Simm’s private room at No. 115, Benedicite-<br /> avenue, where the firm had offices.<br /> <br /> “T say, Simm,’ he remarked, thoughtfully,<br /> “T’ve been reading the report on Craye’s book.<br /> It seems to bea first-class bit of work. But it’s<br /> right up against Trasker.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Simm had been writing a letter. He<br /> looked up with a preoccupied air and answered<br /> “ Well, that can’t be helped. &#039;Trasker was a bit<br /> ofa humbug. We only put him on to do the<br /> stuff because he could write it up in a popular<br /> kind of way. There’s room for a real standard<br /> <br /> © work.”<br /> <br /> “Yes, my boy,” resumed Mr. Guddle, “ but<br /> we&#039;ve got six of Trasker’s books, and we bought<br /> the copyright of all of them at a fairly stiff<br /> figure: for old Trasker knew his way about.<br /> Well, they’re properties, those books are, and<br /> they’ll go on being properties so long as Trasker<br /> is considered to be the standard authority on the<br /> subject. But if Trasker is shown up, we shall<br /> stand to lose. And, damn it, philosophy’s all<br /> very well; but that isn’t business.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Simm began to manifest more interest in<br /> the conversation.<br /> <br /> “ How much money should you think there is<br /> in this man Craye’s book?” he asked.<br /> <br /> “Oh,” said Mr. Guddle, “it’s a big volume;<br /> it would be expensive to produce. The sale<br /> wouldn’t be big, and it would be slow though it<br /> would be certain. The stuff is right above the<br /> head of the average reader, and it’s too abstruse<br /> to be made popular even with alterations. I<br /> should think there’s a safe hundred and fifty or<br /> perhaps two hundred in the book for the first<br /> six months, and driblets afterwards.”<br /> <br /> “ Well, it isn’t worth while to knock the bottom<br /> out of Trasker’s copyrights for that,” observed<br /> Mr. Simm, and he resumed writing his letter.<br /> <br /> “Shall I fire the man’s manuscript back to<br /> him?” Mr. Guddle asked, after a pause.<br /> <br /> “Tf you like,” said Mr. Simm, “I shouldn&#039;t,<br /> though.”<br /> <br /> “Publish it ? ” inquired Mr. Guddle.<br /> <br /> Mr. Simm turned round and faced his partner.<br /> <br /> “Yes, publish it,” said Mr. Simm, and a queer<br /> smile played round his mouth after he had<br /> uttered the words.<br /> <br /> “T think so too,’ Mr. Guddle remarked<br /> stolidly. é<br /> <br /> “Let’s have him up here, and see what he’s<br /> like, and how much he knows,” said Mr. Simm<br /> after another pause. “ Will you write to him,<br /> Guddle ? ”’<br /> <br /> “Yes, Dll write to him,” said the senior<br /> partner. And then he lighted a cigar, and strolled<br /> from the room.<br /> <br /> On the following day Professor Craye received<br /> a kind and flattering letter from Messrs. Guddle<br /> and Simm. He learned from this communi-<br /> cation that the firm was extremely interested in<br /> his work, and that they hoped to publish it. At<br /> the same time, Mr. Guddle felt that it was<br /> right to express the view that the book could not<br /> command anything in the nature of a popular<br /> sale. He hoped that he might have the pleasure<br /> of an interviev with Professor Craye. Perhaps<br /> the Professor would be able to lunch with him at<br /> half-past one on the following Thursday at the<br /> Locrian Club?<br /> <br /> Charles Craye lunched with Mr. Guddle, and<br /> found him a very agreeable and well-informed<br /> man, who took an enlightened interest in litera-<br /> ture quite apart from his commercial under-<br /> takings. After lunch they drove to Mr. Guddle’s<br /> office, and the Professor smoked one of Mr.<br /> Guddle’s cigars in Mr. Guddle’s private room.<br /> <br /> « And now let’s come to business, Mr. Craye,”<br /> said Mr. Guddle, when the cigars were lighted.<br /> “We publishers are always having to come to<br /> business, you know. What would you expect by<br /> way of terms for your book ? ”<br /> <br /> “T really know so very little about the terms<br /> which are usual for such books,’ said the<br /> Professor, after a moment’s hesitation. ‘I have<br /> not any clear idea on the subject.”<br /> <br /> “Well, Mr. Craye,” resumed the publisher,<br /> “there are a great many forms which the transac-<br /> tion between author and publisher may take.<br /> There is the royalty agreement, and there are<br /> agreements providing for a deferred royalty, and<br /> there is purchase outright. But I think this is<br /> eminently a case for a half-profits agreement. If<br /> the book does well, so much the better for us all;<br /> if not, we bear the burden between us. How do<br /> you think that would suit you? ”<br /> <br /> * What sort of arrangement was made with<br /> Mr. Trasker ’” asked Professor Craye.<br /> <br /> “Oh, that was a case of purchase,” replied Mr.<br /> Guddle, airily. ‘ But, then, we ourselves indi-<br /> cated the work to Mr. Trasker, and supplied him<br /> with material, and defrayed his expenses while he<br /> wasabroad engaged upon the necessary researches.<br /> And he was—habitually, we may say—in our<br /> employment to a certain extent. And, of course,<br /> it was only fair that all that should be taken<br /> into consideration in determining the scale of<br /> remuneration. No, I don’t think you would like<br /> go<br /> <br /> to sell the rights in the book on similar terms.<br /> Your work will probably become a classic, Mr.<br /> Craye, and I take it that you would wish to have<br /> a permanent hold upon its earnings.”<br /> <br /> “Why, yes. I should much prefer to have an<br /> abiding interest in the sales of the work,”’ said the<br /> professor.<br /> <br /> “J thought so,” remarked Mr. Guddle, and<br /> he nodded cordially. ‘“ Well, then, it’s just a<br /> case for balf-profits. All that we shall ask from<br /> you is the exclusive license to publish throughout<br /> the term of copyright. We shall spare no<br /> expense in the get-up of the book. We shall be<br /> proud of it, and shall issue it in first-class style.<br /> As I say, it is an expensive book to handle, and<br /> it will only appeal to a limited class. That,”<br /> continued Mr. Guddle, with a sad but pleasant<br /> smile, “is a drawback which in the nature of<br /> things attaches to much of the very best work.<br /> But merit does sometimes make its mark in this<br /> country of England.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Guddle, feeling that his last sentence<br /> seemed a mere platitude, took his cigar from his<br /> lips and blew his nose to cover the weak ending<br /> of his remarks.<br /> <br /> Professor Craye had received so many com-<br /> pliments from Mr. Guddle that he desired to<br /> make a suitable response. ‘I leave myself in<br /> your hands,” he said to Mr. Guddle. ‘The<br /> reputation of your firm is an ample guarantee<br /> forme. And now I am afraid I am occupying a<br /> great deal of your valuable time, Mr. Guddle.<br /> I know you business men have very little<br /> leisure.”<br /> <br /> The professor rose to take his leave, and Mr.<br /> Guddle bade him farewell in the most cordial<br /> manner and expressed the hope that he might<br /> before long be able to renew the pleasure of<br /> conversing with the professor. Two days later a<br /> long form of agreement reached Charles Craye by<br /> post, and he signed it without understanding<br /> what the clauses of it really meant.<br /> <br /> There was a great deal of delay before the book<br /> was printed, and when it appeared the publica-<br /> tion took place at a time when a war scare was<br /> occupying all minds, and literary topics were<br /> neglected. Craye’s work was very favourably<br /> received in a few quarters; but most of the great<br /> daily papers and many of the weekly reviews<br /> passed it over in silence, which was, perhaps, not<br /> astounding, inasmuch as these periodicals did not<br /> receive review copies from Messrs. Guddle and<br /> Simm. The explanation offered by Mr. Guddle<br /> to Charles Craye was different—the abstruseness<br /> of the subject, the popular pre-occupation about<br /> foreign politics, &amp;c. ‘The daily papers, and<br /> many of the weekly papers too,” Mr. Guddle<br /> <br /> wrote, “are no doubt only anxious to print.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> matter which will catch the eye of the average<br /> reader, and at such a time as the present they<br /> are exceptionally prone to neglect work of per-<br /> manent rather than immediate interest.” Mr.<br /> Guddle’s tone about the prospects of the book<br /> was pessimistic in the extreme. “It is not a<br /> work,” he said in conclusion, “ which would be<br /> helped by catchpenny advertisements. It will<br /> advertise itself among those who are able to<br /> understand it.” This, of course, fully explained<br /> why Professor Craye’s book was not advertised<br /> with the other publications in Messrs. Guddle<br /> and Simm’s list.<br /> <br /> Charles Craye was bitterly disappointed ; Mr.<br /> Guddle was not. People who were interested<br /> in the subject tried to get the book at the<br /> libraries, but there was always a difficulty about<br /> it, and delay as well, and before long inquirers<br /> were told that the volume was out of print;<br /> another edition would probably appear—but the<br /> other edition never saw the light. So Charles<br /> Craye’s magnum opus, of which only _ three<br /> hundred and fifty copies had been printed, and<br /> which had been issued at a prohibitive price,<br /> soon passed into oblivion. And Trasker’s books<br /> held the field and continued to bring handsome<br /> profits to the firm of Guddle and Simm.<br /> <br /> “Tt’s the continued vogue of Trasker’s works<br /> that annoys me most,” the professor said at a<br /> later date, ‘and it annoys Guddle too, for the<br /> matter of that. He’s a very well informed man,<br /> you know. His firm is a first-class firm, and I<br /> put myself in their hands, and they did every-<br /> thing they possibly could for me ; 80, it’s not<br /> their fault. In fact, they’re grievously disap-<br /> pointed, and heavily out of pocket, I’m sorry to<br /> say. Well, it all comes of writing above the<br /> heads of the people. One gets so absorbed in a<br /> subject that becomes one’s hobby, and then the<br /> theme could not be properly treated in a popular<br /> vein. It was very good of Guddle and Simm<br /> to publish itat all, And as for me,” he added<br /> with a sad smile, “I wasn’t meant to be anything<br /> but an old bachelor professor, who just gives<br /> lectures to young people—and, after all, that’s .<br /> work which ought to be its own reward.”<br /> <br /> MOoLEcuLe.<br /> OO OS<br /> <br /> MORE FRIENDLY CRITICISMS,<br /> <br /> ET me hark back to the March Author ; I<br /> have never seen the columns so vigorous,<br /> our Secretary so decisive, or the general<br /> <br /> matter and correspondence so full of interest,<br /> <br /> suggestiveness, and optimism. Its resentment of<br /> the Atheneum’s comments does the heart good to<br /> read. It is just possible that candid friends may<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> be terrified at the suggestion that the Society<br /> should boycott the advertising columns of a paper<br /> which does not stand up for authors, but the touch<br /> of nature, in its allusion to the brute force of<br /> our trade union, does more to make us kin than<br /> years of cautious jargon. Posterity, but no<br /> remote one, will do full justice to the work of the<br /> Society ; but we will not wait for posterity; we<br /> will not gape and smile, and stand by while the<br /> forwards do the rushing; I, an insignificant voice<br /> in the crowd, call on all members to lock arms,<br /> lower butts, and follow up the ball and its carrier<br /> until it is touched-down by sheer force behind<br /> the gouls of free trade between author and public,<br /> let the scrummages be as brutal as they may.<br /> Our opponents are too practised in the game for<br /> deft dodging to defeat them. What we have got<br /> to do, is to keep on rushing until the secret profits<br /> and unaudited accounts are driven by sheer<br /> weariness to succumb. As I remarked in these<br /> columns some years ago, when I first presump-<br /> tuously questioned the prudence of the club I had<br /> joined, this is not rashness, this is not the uproar<br /> of personal resentment; it is the one and only<br /> policy suited to the case, and if the exponents of<br /> it are occasionally stung into strong language, so<br /> much the better for the policy.<br /> <br /> Saute or Seconp-Ciass NoveEL.s.<br /> <br /> The feuilleton, “‘ A Second-Class Novel,’ besides<br /> being a really excellent plot fora story, is I think,<br /> more suggestive and enlightening than anything<br /> I have read in The Author for a longtime. I<br /> hope that it is actual experience, for it is impor-<br /> tant enough to be made the docus classicus of the<br /> young author’s difficulties. The only point about<br /> it that makes me doubtful is the 1000 copies.<br /> Mr. Guddle, the publisher, says, “A yarn of this<br /> quality will get an easy sale of 750 copies in<br /> England ”—without pushing, with only £10<br /> spent on advertisement, with only 250 copies first<br /> bound, and therefore presumably subscribed.<br /> The book was a novel, written by a young man<br /> of twenty, “rather a slab,” that is to say, a long<br /> one, refused by four good firms, and published at<br /> 6s. for a total cost of £85. ‘‘ Molecule” would<br /> do aservice to young authors, and no harm to<br /> his credibility, by stating if a publisher has<br /> actually told him that he can count on a sale of<br /> 750, even of a good book, by a young writer.<br /> <br /> My own experience has been that you may<br /> indeed just manage to subscribe 250 copies of a<br /> 6s. novel by a well-known author, but that you<br /> cannot count on a sale of more than 400, which<br /> means a loss or £10 or £20 to the publisher ;<br /> and that, instead of looking on “ second-class<br /> novels” as a “safety” which will go towards<br /> office expenses, they regard it as a necessary<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> AUTHOR. gl<br /> <br /> outlay for the maintenance of their “ list,” and<br /> for the capture of an occasional success. On the<br /> whole, I like Mr. Guddle. I consider him an<br /> excellent business man, who understands his<br /> trade very well. From his point of view, which<br /> is precisely the same as that of “ A Publisher ”’<br /> in Literature of Jan. 21, he has got to make his<br /> charges, or base his offer of deferred royalty, so<br /> that “it shall make it worth his while to under-<br /> take the business.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Guddle’s offer is a 10 per cent. royalty<br /> after 500 copies, by which he expects to pay the<br /> author £7 Ios., and pocket about £32 himself.<br /> He makes the offer without pressing it unduly,<br /> and “ Molecule”? makes the author refuse it as a<br /> matter of course. The question which arises in<br /> my mind is, was the author wise to refuse?<br /> Would it be wise to refuse, even if the probable<br /> sale were only 500, by which he would get<br /> nothing at all? For my part, if I had had the<br /> book refused by, say, half a dozen houses, and<br /> still believed it would be a creditable advertise-<br /> ment to my name, I think I should have been<br /> glad to get a capitalist to invest £80 in me for that<br /> purpose. I shall always believe, even when the<br /> Method of the Future is in full swing, that litera-<br /> ture, like other businesses, requires an initial<br /> outlay in advertisement ; and if { can make that<br /> outlay by giving away a work which has been a<br /> pleasure to write, I should be content to expect<br /> my remuneration in the future. I think there is a<br /> possible error in a root idea current in The<br /> Author—the idea that it is the single book which<br /> alone is in question.<br /> <br /> RoyvaLty Paip In ADVANCE.<br /> <br /> For my part, I look on the single books as<br /> mere items of a whole; and that whole, a<br /> life’s work, which shall show a profit on the<br /> net result. What is a lasting source of sur-<br /> prise with me is that out of five publishers I<br /> have dealt with, four have acceded to my request<br /> for a royalty on the first 500 in advance. In the<br /> case of my first book, in the ‘‘ Pseudonym library,”<br /> a certain sale was safe, because the “ library”<br /> had a fixed minimum circulation, like a magazine ;<br /> but in the case of a later one, which was published<br /> by Mr. John Lane, and my last, which is in the<br /> hands of another firm, there was really no guaran-<br /> tee that the books would cover the cost of pub-<br /> lication. The reason that I have obtained advance<br /> payments is that I have made a rule for myself<br /> to exact this condition as long as I have cash<br /> enough in my pocket to feed me for a month ;<br /> this is because (1) I esteem apublisher’s calcu-<br /> lations as a good working criterion of mert,<br /> and I do not believe a book would do me<br /> any good in which a publisher had not sufficient<br /> 92 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> confidence to risk at least. £15 over and above the<br /> cost of production ; and (2) because I have suffi-<br /> cient confidence in my ultimate success, that is<br /> to say, in my capability for improvement, to be<br /> able to withdraw and lay by a manuscript which<br /> has not been accepted on these terms. I will own<br /> it is an expensive extravagance; I have with-<br /> drawn, and therefore to a certain extent wasted,<br /> four such books for which my best offer has been<br /> “ commission.”<br /> <br /> An OPINION FOR BEGINNERS.<br /> <br /> This brings me to a very interesting suggestion<br /> raised by “ Molecule’s” feuilleton, that of an<br /> author finding himself the publisher of his own<br /> first book. The time is coming, I understand,<br /> when the French system is to prevail of an<br /> author having to pay costs of production himself<br /> instead of finding a capitalist to start him. Now<br /> (I address beginners only), have you ever seriously<br /> considered your MS. from the business point of<br /> view of profit and loss? Have you, after failing<br /> to find a publisher, brought yourself face to face<br /> with the alternative, so sarcastically put by “A<br /> Publisher” in Literature, of risking your last<br /> £100 on your maiden effort? 1 have: only<br /> recently, and for the first time. I assure you it<br /> put quite another aspect on affairs. In the first<br /> place, I have found it simply impossible to<br /> eliminate the creator’s vanity and insubordinate<br /> sanguineness from my judgment; I have had to<br /> snatch at my unprejudiced “ reader’s opinion”<br /> betwixt sleep and waking, leaving off the moment<br /> I begin to picture the printed page in rosiness.<br /> I came to the conclusion that I should not be<br /> wise in risking that £1oo unless I had a capital<br /> of £1000 to draw it from; and I believe that no<br /> young author would be justified in spending<br /> more than one-tenth of his available funds on<br /> such an enterprise. If he is prepared to push<br /> the buok personally, he might do very well to<br /> spend from £30 to £50 on a paper-covered<br /> edition of a story of from 30,000 to 50,000 words,<br /> if such a length happened to be “in the market ”’ ;<br /> but he would be running a great risk in spending<br /> £100 on a book of 80,000 to 100,000 words, unless<br /> he were rich. I should gather from the pages of<br /> The Author and the multiplicity of commission<br /> books that there are many authors now who<br /> possess an income, or vice versd; but it is my<br /> prejudice not to take such aristocrats into<br /> account.<br /> <br /> Of course, it is quite a different thing when an<br /> author has made his name. He is then one of<br /> the “no-risks,” to adopt an Americanism ; on the<br /> other hand, as clearly shown in the feuilleton<br /> discussed, he can generally get as much profit as<br /> the. book will bear out of the ordinary publisher.<br /> <br /> Messrs. AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER.<br /> <br /> Now, over and over again an author, suc-<br /> cessful or not, does not get even the fair value<br /> of his book; and, even if he is willing to give<br /> away his first work for advertisement, that is no<br /> reason why he should not hold the patent and<br /> receive the royalties, if any, thereof. In saying<br /> that he might be wise to accept a deferred royalty<br /> in a doubtful case, I by no means suggest that he<br /> should let Mr. Guddle swindle him out of his<br /> copyright ; and we see by the feuilleton that this<br /> was just Mr. Guddle’s intention, and that, if the<br /> Society of Authors did not exist, the novice would<br /> be in a fair way of being “ guddled.” In the case<br /> of a deferred royalty, the author has got to exact<br /> a full royalty, or at least 25 per cent., on all<br /> copies after 500; and he has got to word his<br /> agreement so that lie shall be sure of knowing<br /> just how many copies are being sold, and just<br /> how much is due to him. And after the first<br /> edition of 1000, which has paid expenses and<br /> given the publisher a sop, he ought to have<br /> greatly improved terms. Only the Society of<br /> Authors can enable him to do this, because we<br /> know that the publisher will never of his own<br /> accord consider the author his partner. “Shall<br /> the author receive the full benefits of all the<br /> advantages I obtain?” says “A Publisher” in<br /> Literature. “Should it follow that, because I<br /> can obtain certain allowances on the material I<br /> buy, I should make the author a present of them ?<br /> By no means. The author is not my partner.”<br /> That is clear enough, I think, is it not? Well,<br /> we want a publisher who says that the author ts<br /> at least a fellow venturer. That is what the<br /> Society is aiming at. But if our fellow venturer<br /> is prepared to lend us our half of the capital, we<br /> <br /> must be prepared to pay interest on it over and .<br /> <br /> above the half shares.<br /> <br /> PoputaR AMERICAN MaAGazINEs.<br /> <br /> Speaking of American magazines, I inclose the<br /> printed refusal forms employed by the leading<br /> monthlies here, as you have made a point of pub-<br /> lishing such particulars. As you will see, they<br /> are excellent models, and I may add that MSS.<br /> are read and returned generally within a fort-<br /> night.<br /> <br /> It is no news to mention the enormous circula-<br /> tions enjoyed by the American ten-centers ;<br /> Munsey’s, for instance, is aiming at the half-<br /> million. Their excellence and enterprise is in-<br /> credible. You would be astonished to see the<br /> display even in a little town of 50,000 inhabi-<br /> tants like Canada’s capital. There are five or six<br /> book shops here, but, horrendum dictu, no public<br /> library. The 6d. American paper-covers have a.<br /> great sale. But perhaps the most popular literature<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 58<br /> <br /> are the New York, Chicago, and Buffalo Sunday<br /> editions of the dailies, which cost in Canada 33d.<br /> While speaking of Canada, I cannot refrain from<br /> mentioning an instance of the precariousness of<br /> fame. I had an introduction to Archibald Lamp-<br /> man, whose recent death here is a serious loss to<br /> Canada; and knowing that he was in the Postal<br /> Service, I inquired for him at the General<br /> Delivery wicket. Will you believe it that the<br /> gentleman on duty there, one of the oldest clerks<br /> of the department, did not know his name?<br /> Why? Red-tape. After much brain-cudgelling<br /> my amiable informant believed, now he came to<br /> think of it, that there was a man of that name<br /> in another department in the Parliamentary<br /> block.<br /> <br /> Your correspondent’s suggestion to mutilate<br /> review copies, coupled with your own remarks<br /> about the Athenzeum, will have caused a flutter in<br /> the dovecotes. Review copies are an important<br /> asset to the reviewer. If the £5 or £10 (cost<br /> price of 100 copies of a new novel) were spent in<br /> advertisement, it would probably be just as<br /> effective. The Reviews would have to buy copies<br /> or cease to exist. And there would be less useless<br /> and pernicious log-rolling.<br /> <br /> Your long Paris letter is interesting to the<br /> few, but do you observe that in your foreign<br /> letters you are virtually playing the Review<br /> If so, why not a London letter? Until you<br /> go in for the responsibilities of criticism one<br /> only expects business notes from Paris and New<br /> York.<br /> <br /> Your American correspondent animadverts on<br /> the Paper Trust. He might have added the Type<br /> Foundry Trust, which controls the other indis-<br /> pensable of printing. Type is some (?) 20 per<br /> cent. dearer in the States than in Canada.<br /> Printing presses, on the other hand, are of<br /> course far cheaper there, there being a heavy<br /> duty on machinery imported into the Dominion.<br /> If Canada could import machinery free it<br /> might well become a great printing country,<br /> for it has unlimited supplies of pulp spruce<br /> and water power, and Canadians are greedy of<br /> books.<br /> <br /> One other point. Your correspondents speak<br /> as if the Wide World and the Strand were under<br /> different editorship. It is a pity Messrs. Newnes,<br /> Pearson, &amp;c., cannot haveacentral editorial depart-<br /> ment, like Harpers. I have had tales refused by<br /> Wide World which, I understand, would have<br /> been accepted say by Zvt-Bits, under the same<br /> roof.<br /> <br /> Ottawa, Canada. M——.<br /> <br /> Sp 0 «:<br /> <br /> CORRESPONDENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> On THE Srpe oF FAILURE.<br /> 1<br /> <br /> LL authors must have read Mr. Julian<br /> Croskey’s “A Recantation” with keen<br /> interest. Is he aware that it is necessary<br /> to create a literary sensation in order to succeed ?<br /> Are there not appalling difficulties in the path of<br /> others? The secret of a successful author, taking,<br /> of course, his talents or the reverse into account,<br /> is his power of forcing his personality on his<br /> public in either paid paragraphs or illustrated<br /> interviews. In other words, he must beat the<br /> drum. Press booms and advertising are indis-<br /> <br /> pensable in winning recognition.<br /> <br /> The next best thing in gaining a living by the<br /> pen is to be well in favour with or else the<br /> friend of proprietors running some strictly com-<br /> mercial “ ring” of rag-bag and domestic journals,<br /> where anything approaching literature is severely<br /> boycotted in the interests of religion and morality.<br /> Woe betide the author who here soars above<br /> commonplace. A fairly clever and amusing<br /> novel will sell, if treated with the generous aiiver-<br /> tising of a Mother Siegel’s Syrup, or a well-<br /> pushed soap or cocoa, far better than a much<br /> finer one that takes its chance amid a batch of<br /> others less prominently brought forward. The<br /> public care nothing about art or style in a book,<br /> but must be amused, interested and startled.<br /> They will buy what pleases them if their notice is<br /> constantly drawn to it.<br /> <br /> Huge picture posters with ghastly incidents<br /> from a novel, sketched in lurid colours and<br /> greeting one at every turn, are expensive, perhaps,<br /> but fine media for effecting sales and hence<br /> winning fame. :<br /> <br /> Then, again, the merest trifles, the veriest non-<br /> sense properly utilised will often make a book go.<br /> Society holds the key to the success of a certain<br /> class of fiction. For an author to “ paragraph” in<br /> newspapers and journals a sentence, or even a<br /> whisper, favourable to his novel that has been<br /> breathed in his ear by the Prince of Wales, for<br /> instance, is to secure a safe income for life. As<br /> for reviews, they are nearly all written by authors<br /> and, hence, rivals. Can a rival ever be quite<br /> unbiassed or dispassionate? Friends here may<br /> fare better than strangers. It is the same thing<br /> in submitting novels to publishers’ readers. Yet<br /> the glut of fiction and the deadly battle still con-<br /> tinue. ANNABEL GRAY.<br /> <br /> Il.<br /> <br /> In last month’s Author “ X.”’ treats the subject<br /> of Literature with a firm hand and atrue. What<br /> 94 THE<br /> <br /> he states appeals to one’s reason. No doubt the<br /> <br /> -greater part of writers struggling for standing<br /> room are weak on some point most essential<br /> for their success, but the odds on the chance<br /> of any success for an unknown beginner are<br /> fearful.<br /> <br /> It does not hurt one to see better work than<br /> one’s own published, but to discover that one’s<br /> self gets a slap in the face while another is<br /> respectfully received because a high-sounding<br /> title is Zacked on to a contributor’s name, or a<br /> writer is accepted because his or her nonsense<br /> is highly spiced with objectionably-flavoured<br /> suggestions distasteful to God and man, that is<br /> galling.<br /> <br /> It you are poor, to commence with, you are<br /> likely to be poorer still before the door at which<br /> you knock shall be opened the slightest bit. It<br /> is a costly business, the constant carriage to and<br /> fro of MSS. A literary lady gave me the advice<br /> on one occasion—Keep on sending. All very well<br /> if one has ample means. Unfortunately, some of<br /> us have not the strength to carry planks in a saw<br /> mill or even sweep a crossing when we have spent<br /> all.<br /> <br /> Spero meliora we whisper to ourselves morning<br /> after morning, but no omnipotent editor speaks<br /> comfortably to us, and hope to which we cling<br /> becomes so frail a thread we tremble lest it give<br /> way altogether.<br /> <br /> Another question. Are successful writers<br /> capable of petty jealousy? I know one, whose<br /> name is not altogether strange to this Society,<br /> but not upon the council, I may say, who will<br /> answer questions in a beautifully frank and<br /> Christian tone upon various personal and social<br /> topics, but approach that one upon literary<br /> ground and beg for lines how to proceed, or refer<br /> to one’s self as daring to aspire to literary<br /> heights, the audacious questioner is snubbed<br /> immediately, and told to “ quench such ambition,”<br /> and in some cases no reply to such is vouch-<br /> safed! And for years that author has made<br /> large sums of money out of the public, and still<br /> speculates on drawing more, although not forced<br /> by the compelling necessity of poverty or narrow<br /> means.<br /> <br /> “Self! self! all for self!” seems the axiom im-<br /> printed upon the grasping natures of the children<br /> of this generation, “and let estimable virtue go<br /> hang.” L. 8.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> III.<br /> <br /> I must confess that Mr. Croskey’s experiences<br /> are very interesting. My own literary experience<br /> is so whimsical that I cannot think it is without<br /> interest entirely. The only species of literary<br /> employment which I have found productive at all<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> is that of contributing to a professional journal,<br /> for which, at all events after an interval, I can<br /> always acquire a certain honorarium. Like<br /> many other of your contributors, in oblivion of<br /> the lexicographer’s maxim that “no man but<br /> a blockhead ever wrote except for money,” I<br /> have written in non-paying magazines. There are<br /> many arguments against such a proceeding, and<br /> babbling Bozzy’s officious and gratuitous com-<br /> ment on Johnson’s observation is an example of<br /> his worst glossing powers, on a footing with his<br /> idiomatic solecisms, as when he writes esprit du<br /> corps. Junius never required any fee, and if he<br /> was not a blockhead, he was a rascal. There lies<br /> an uneasy feeling in the region of my sub-<br /> consciousness that in writing for non-paying<br /> magazines I may have implicitly written myself<br /> down as an ass, like Dogberry, and should<br /> have cheated the editor if I had received a fee.<br /> Not only do I not get paid, but I remark that the<br /> briefest and most cursory notices are generally<br /> given to the longest articles and those which<br /> require the most research. A London editor of<br /> eminence has delivered the somewhat contradictory<br /> judgment that, though some of my work may be<br /> scholarly, I am unfitted for journalism. I also<br /> find that when I have specialised on a literary<br /> question, my articles are “ only not accepted,” as<br /> was said of a bribe offered to an_ historical<br /> character. But much more superficial views on<br /> the same subject written by myself previously<br /> were not only accepted, but actually gamed me a<br /> few guineas. My friends need not blush for me;<br /> Tam a hack wriler who has never received black-<br /> mail, as Lord Campbell said Francis did. All<br /> that I have ever gained from literature does not<br /> total to a hundred pounds, though I have written<br /> thousands of pages. Like Mr. Croskey, I have<br /> fallen among the thorns in attempting the rdle of<br /> novelist. When I receive carefully typed notes<br /> from publishers on unexceptionable paper, quite<br /> wafer-like enough to have another Dreyfus<br /> bordereau written on them, with a few words of<br /> perfunctory and unchallenged criticism, I begin<br /> to think that there is something more unpleasant<br /> than Canning’s candid friend, and that is a<br /> publisher who, though a total stranger to you<br /> <br /> personally, familiarly informs you that you are ~<br /> <br /> “ didactic and uninteresting,’ or that, even if<br /> you were to pay the cost of publication, he would<br /> not bring out your book. I feel inclined, under<br /> such circumstances, to quote from Junius : “ This<br /> may be a very good answer for aught I know at<br /> cross-purposes, but it is a very whimsical one to<br /> a man in my circumstances.” I cannot, in short,<br /> echo the pronouncement of authority that litera-<br /> ture offers a serious calling in view of my own<br /> experience that a novel by an unknown hand, and<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. e<br /> <br /> apparently any number of them, cannot secure<br /> any price, even a nominal one, though it may<br /> represent several months’ work. N. W.S.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> BOOK TALK.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> American critic, author of ‘“ Southern<br /> <br /> Statesmen of the Old Regime,” is writing<br /> the volume on American Literature for the series<br /> of Literature Histories, edited by Mr. Gosse.<br /> <br /> Mr. W. Clark Russell, whose new book ‘‘ The<br /> Ship: Her Story,” will be published by Messrs.<br /> Chatto and Windus on the 14th inst., is writing<br /> another sea story to be called ‘‘ he Ship’s Adven-<br /> ture,’ which will describe the salving of ship and<br /> cargo in the North Atlantic by a man, a girl, and<br /> a dog. This will be published in the spring by<br /> Mr. James Bowden.<br /> <br /> Se acs W. P. TRENT, the well-known<br /> <br /> The Rev. Frederick Langbridge’s new volume<br /> of poems, “Little Tapers,” will be published<br /> immediately by the R.T.S. Its predecessor, “ A<br /> Cluster of Quiet Thoughts,” has reached a third<br /> edition. Mr. Langbridge has also completed a<br /> short novel, “ Love has no Pity,” which will begin<br /> its serial course in January, 1900.<br /> <br /> An illustrated memorial of the art and life of<br /> Dante Gabriel Rossetti, on an elaborate scale, 1s<br /> being prepared by Mr. H. C. Marillier for publi-<br /> cation by Messrs. Bell. Among the contents will<br /> be reproductions from the valuable collection of<br /> Rossetti’s works owned by Mr. Rae, of Birken-<br /> head.<br /> <br /> Mr. Rider Haggard has written a new romance<br /> which will be called “The Secret of Sword<br /> Silence ; a Tale of the Old Dutch.” It is laid in<br /> the time of William the Silent. The story will<br /> appear serially in the Graphic next year.<br /> <br /> Mr. H. W. Auden, assistant master at Fettes<br /> College, Edinburgh, is to edit for Messrs. Black-<br /> wood a new series of classical texts. The volumes<br /> are to be cheap, attractive, and practical, and<br /> they will contain maps and other illustrations<br /> from the best German and other sources. Another<br /> series of illustrated classics is being edited by Mr.<br /> EB. GC. Marchant, classical master at St. Paul’s<br /> School, for Messrs. Bell. These will be issued<br /> with or without vocabularies, to suit the require-<br /> ments of the different schools.<br /> <br /> Mr. Hew Morrison, librarian of Edinburgh<br /> Public Library, is writing a biography of Mr.<br /> Andrew Carnegie which Messrs. Nelson will<br /> publish.<br /> <br /> Mr. Stanley Weyman, whose new eighteenth:<br /> century romance, ‘ Sophia,” now appearing in<br /> the Queen, will be published by Messrs. Long-<br /> mans about the end of the year, will contribute a<br /> serial story to Cornhill. in 1900, as will Mr. isk<br /> Seton Merriman.<br /> <br /> Mr. Robert Barr’s volume on his travels in the<br /> near East some time ago will be published shortly<br /> by Messrs. Chatto and Windus. One incident of<br /> the journey was his arrest by the Turkish<br /> authorities. The book is called “The East While<br /> you Wait.”<br /> <br /> Mr. H. G. Wells’s new book consists of five<br /> stories grouped under the title of “ Tales of Space<br /> and Time.” The two longest are laid in London<br /> and the valley of the Wye, and in all the author<br /> blends imagination with scientific theories.<br /> <br /> Mrs. Marcus Clarke has arrived in London<br /> from Australia, and is arranging for the publica-<br /> tion of her late husband’s unfinished novel,<br /> «Felix and Felicitas.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Swinburne’s new drama, ‘‘ Rosamund,” will<br /> be published this month by Messrs. Chatto and<br /> Windus. A new volume of poems by the same<br /> author will appear later in the autumn.<br /> <br /> Mr. W. L. Courtney is writing a monograph<br /> on Mr. Hardy for the “English Writers of<br /> To-day” series, published by Messrs. Greening<br /> and Co.<br /> <br /> Self-revealing as all Stevenson’s letters are, the<br /> reader does not find many passages more striking<br /> than the following, which appears in the August<br /> instalment in Scribner’s. It occurs in a letter<br /> written by the novelist to Mr. William Archer in<br /> 1885:<br /> <br /> Not only dol believe that literature should give joy, but I<br /> see a universe I suppose eternally different from yours; a<br /> solemn, aterrible, but a very joyous and noble universe,<br /> where suffering is not at least wantonly inflicted, though<br /> it falls with dispassionate partiality, but where it may be,<br /> and generally is, nobly borne ; where, above all ‘<br /> any brave man may make out a life which shall be happy<br /> for himself, and, by so being, beneficent to those about him.<br /> And if it fails, why should I hear him weeping? I mean, if<br /> T fail, why should weep? why should you hear me ? Then<br /> to me morals, the conscience, the affections are, I will own<br /> frankly and sweepingly, so infinitely more important than the<br /> other parts of life, that I conceive men rather triflers who<br /> become immersed in the latter ; and I will always think the<br /> man who keeps his lip stiff, and makes “a happy fireside<br /> clime,” and carries a pleasant face about to friends and<br /> neighbours, infinitely greater in the abstract than an<br /> atrabilious Shakespeare or a backbiting Kant or Darwin.<br /> No offence to any of these gentlemen, two of whom probably<br /> (one for certain) came up to my standard.<br /> <br /> Among forthcoming works of fiction are the<br /> following : “ Kit Kennedy,” by 8. R. Crockett<br /> (James Clarke and Co.) ; «Terence, an Irish<br /> story, by Mrs. Croker; “A Crimson Crime,” by’<br /> 96<br /> <br /> G. Manville Fenn (Chatto); “A Gentleman<br /> Player,” by R. N. Stephens, whose hero is a<br /> young actor of Shakespeare’s time (Methuen) ;<br /> “ Jocelyn Errol,” by Curtis Yorke (Jarrold).<br /> <br /> Mr. Horace Round is bringing out, through<br /> Messrs. Constable, a volume treating of the early<br /> history of the City of London, and entitled “ The<br /> Commune of London.” Sir Walter Besant has<br /> written a prefatory letter for the book.<br /> <br /> The full title of Sir Herbert Maxwell’s forth-<br /> coming work (Sampson Low) is “The Life of<br /> Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington, and the<br /> Restoration of the Land Forces of Great<br /> Britain.”<br /> <br /> “The white man, yes, and the white woman, will save<br /> both the soul and the soil of Africa for the good of the<br /> world. The white man will purify the black, the black will<br /> fortify the white. The white will give brain and the black<br /> will give physique, each working together in one more phase<br /> of human development for good.”<br /> <br /> The above passage is taken from W. Edwards<br /> Tirebuck’s new romance, “ The White Woman.”<br /> Commenting upon this a reviewer remarks: “If<br /> Mr. Tirebuck had written that after, instead of<br /> before, Sir G. Taubman-Goldie (at the Colonial<br /> Nurses’ Association) had said that ‘the civilisa-<br /> tion of tropical Africa was part of the white<br /> woman’s burden,’ he would have been charged<br /> with plagiarism.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Joseph Hatton’s new novel ‘The White<br /> King of Manoa” went into a second edition<br /> within about two weeks, showing that “the off<br /> season” may not be so detrimental to publishing<br /> as is generally thought. The author had been<br /> engaged on the book for some years. A labour<br /> of love, he relinquished the profit of serial rights<br /> that he might write it in comparative leisure and<br /> publish it immediately on completion. In this<br /> way it seems to clash somewhat with the date of<br /> publication of “When Rogues Fall Out,” which<br /> was really written before the completion of “The<br /> White King of Manoa,” and has been appearing<br /> serially under the syndicate arrangements of<br /> Messrs. Tillotson. The original chapters, how-<br /> ever, for book publication, have been revised and<br /> extended It is to be published shortly by<br /> Messrs. Pearson. Having sold an edition of fifty<br /> thousand of the 6d. edition of Mr. Hatton’s “ By<br /> Order of the Czar,” Messrs. Hutchinson have<br /> withdrawn it in favour of the 2s. issue of which,<br /> with the more expensive editions, over 100,000<br /> have been sold in England; while the sales in<br /> the United States have outnumbered the English<br /> issue very considerably.<br /> <br /> A volume on prehistoric Scotland, by Dr.<br /> Robert Munro, will be published shortly by<br /> Messrs. Blackwood. In this firm’s series of<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> “Periods of European Literature,” the next<br /> volume will be by Mr. Oliver Elton, who deals<br /> with “ The Augustan Ages.”<br /> <br /> Messrs. Hurst and Blackett are about to bring<br /> out a one volume novel by Miss Christabel Cole-<br /> ridge, author of “The Main Chance,” “An<br /> English Squire,” &amp;c.<br /> <br /> Derek Vane, author of “The Three Daughters<br /> of Night,” a novel published by Messrs. Hutchin-<br /> son, which excited considerable interest, is now<br /> writing a series of short stories for the Weekly<br /> Telegraph. Messrs. Pearson will also shortly<br /> <br /> ublish a series by the same author, entitled<br /> “The Adventures of a Spy.”<br /> <br /> Messrs. Cassell and Co. will publish on the 13th<br /> a new novel, by Mr. John Bloundelle-Burton,<br /> which, in so far that it deals with modern days,<br /> is a departure from his more recent stories. It<br /> is, however, a book of adventure, the scene being<br /> laid in British Honduras, and the hero a naval<br /> officer. This novel ran as a serial in Cassell’s<br /> Saturday Journal, and under the auspices of the<br /> McClure Syndicate in the U.S. (where Messrs.<br /> Appleton will also publish it in volume form on<br /> the 13th), and will be the first romance dealing<br /> with the present day which the author has pro-<br /> duced for ten years. It will be entitled “ A Bitter<br /> Heritage.”<br /> <br /> =&gt; oe.<br /> <br /> OBITUARY.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> HE death-roll of the month contains the<br /> names of Mr. William Simpson, R.L., the<br /> veteran artist and war correspondent (76),<br /> <br /> a devoted student of shrines and outward signs<br /> of belief, and author of “The Buddhist Praying<br /> Wheel”; the Rev. William Wright, D.D. (62),<br /> editorial superintendent of the British and<br /> Foreign Bible Society since 1876, author of<br /> “Palmyra and Zenobia,’ “The Brontés in<br /> Treland,” and other works; Rev. Alexander<br /> Balmain Bruce (68), Professor of Theology in<br /> the Free Church College, Glasgow; and Sir<br /> Edward Frankland, K.C.B., &amp;c. (74), for long<br /> the Government analyst of the Metropolitan<br /> water supply, and author of books bearing on that<br /> subject.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Mr. J. Eveleigh Nash,<br /> <br /> LITERARY AGENT,<br /> AMBERLEY HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET<br /> <br /> STRAND, W.C.	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/466/1899-09-01-The-Author-10-4.pdf	publications, The Author
467	https://historysoa.com/items/show/467	The Author, Vol. 10 Issue 05 (October 1899)	<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.+10+Issue+05+%28October+1899%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 05 (October 1899)</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>	1899-10-02-The-Author-10-5					97–116																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=10">10</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1899-10-02">1899-10-02</a>							5			18991002	Che #utbor.<br /> <br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br /> <br /> EONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Vou. X.—No. 5.]<br /> <br /> OCTOBER 2, 1899.<br /> <br /> [Prick SIXPENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> For the Opinions expressed in papers that are<br /> signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br /> responsible. None of the papers or para-<br /> graphs must be taken as expressing the<br /> collective opinions of the Committee unless<br /> they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br /> Thring, Sec.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Pons<br /> <br /> HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br /> remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br /> requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br /> <br /> important communications within two days will write to him<br /> without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br /> Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br /> letter only.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br /> all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br /> jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br /> returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> os<br /> <br /> GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br /> <br /> <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 /> J. THAT OF SELLING IT OUTRIGHT.<br /> <br /> This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br /> price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br /> managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the<br /> Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> TI. A PROFIT-SHARING AGREEMENT (a bad form of<br /> agreement).<br /> <br /> In this case the following rules should be attended to :<br /> <br /> (1.) Not to sign any agreemeat 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 /> doctor !<br /> <br /> VOL. X.<br /> <br /> Ill. THE ROYALTY SYSTEM.<br /> <br /> It is above all things necessary to know what the<br /> proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible<br /> for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly<br /> the truth. From time to time the very important figures<br /> connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br /> Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br /> “Cost of Production.”<br /> <br /> IV. A COMMISSION AGREEMENT.<br /> <br /> The main points are :—<br /> <br /> (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production.<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 /> <br /> <br /> ec<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS.<br /> : 2c the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some<br /> competent legal authority.<br /> <br /> 2. Never negotiate for the production of a play with<br /> anyone except an established manager.<br /> 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract :—<br /> <br /> (1) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT.<br /> This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters<br /> into such a contract should stipulate in the con-<br /> tract for production of the piece by a certain date<br /> and for proper publication of his name on the<br /> play-bills.<br /> <br /> (2) SAL OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE<br /> TO PERFORM ON THE PROFIT-SHARING SYSTEM.<br /> This method can only be entered into when a<br /> fixed sum is agreed per week for cost of produc-<br /> tion. It is not a common method.<br /> <br /> K 2<br /> 98 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> (3) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE<br /> TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES<br /> (i.e., royalties) on gross receipts. Royalties vary<br /> between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should<br /> obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross<br /> receipts. Should obtain a sum in advance of<br /> royalties. A fixed date on or before which the<br /> play should be performed.<br /> <br /> 4. 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 /> 5. Authors should not assign performing rights, but<br /> should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is<br /> of great importance.<br /> <br /> 6. Authors should remember that performing rights ina<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 /> 7. Never send a copy of the play to America unless it is<br /> protected by a preliminary performance in the United<br /> Kingdom.<br /> <br /> 8. Never forget that American rights may be exceedingly<br /> valuable. They should never be included in English<br /> agreements without the author obtaining a substantial<br /> consideration.<br /> <br /> g. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully<br /> drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced.<br /> Never admit a collaborator when once the actual work of<br /> writing the play has begun or after it is finished.<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.<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 are<br /> referred to the Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> L VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br /> advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br /> lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br /> <br /> business or the administration of his property. If the<br /> <br /> advice sought is such as can be given best by a solici-<br /> tor, the member has a right to an opinion from the<br /> <br /> Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s<br /> <br /> opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for<br /> <br /> him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the<br /> member.<br /> <br /> 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br /> and publisher’s agreements do not generally fall within the<br /> experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br /> to use the Society.<br /> <br /> 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past<br /> accounts with the loan of the books represented. The<br /> Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new<br /> or old, for inspection and note. The information thus<br /> obtained may prove invaluable.<br /> <br /> 4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br /> posed document to the Society for examination.<br /> <br /> 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you<br /> are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are<br /> <br /> reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing<br /> the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen-<br /> dence of the writer.<br /> <br /> 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of<br /> members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br /> safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br /> fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who<br /> will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :—(1)<br /> To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To<br /> stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon<br /> them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments<br /> due according to agreements.<br /> <br /> pos<br /> <br /> THE READING BRANCH.<br /> <br /> %MBERS will greatly assist the Society in this<br /> branch of their work by informing young writers of<br /> its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated<br /> <br /> as a composition is treated by a coach. The Readers are<br /> writers of competence and experience. The fee is one<br /> <br /> guinea.<br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> <br /> HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br /> Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br /> of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br /> <br /> heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br /> many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br /> 6s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br /> <br /> Communications for The Author should be addressed to<br /> the Offices of the Society, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn<br /> Fields, W.C., and should reach the Editor not later than the<br /> 21st of each month.<br /> <br /> All persons engaged in literary work of any kind,<br /> whether members of the Society or not, are invited to<br /> communicate to the Editor any points connected with their<br /> work which it would be advisable in the general interest to<br /> publish.<br /> <br /> The present location of the Authors’ Club is at 3, White-<br /> hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for<br /> information, rules of admission, &amp;c.<br /> <br /> LITERARY PROPERTY.<br /> <br /> T.—Is Lirerature Precarious?<br /> <br /> HE correspondence still continues as to the<br /> precarious nature of the profession of Litera-<br /> ture. It will be observed, however, that all<br /> <br /> those who argue that it is precarious do so from<br /> their own experience alone and without the least<br /> reference to the well-known and notorious examples<br /> of success. One writer says that if he had taken<br /> to the Law the same ability which he brought to<br /> Literature he would have succeeded. Perhaps:<br /> but this assumes, first, that his belief in his own<br /> ability is well founded : next, that the same kind<br /> of ability is wanted for Literature and for Law :<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> EY<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> mene<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> thirdly, that his abilities are such as command<br /> success in the Law; and, lastly, that ability<br /> always does command success in the Law. And<br /> so with other professions. Now those who can-<br /> not command a tolerable income by the pen may<br /> be divided into several classes. There are those<br /> who fail at the outset, because they have not even<br /> the elementary qualifications necessary for the<br /> literary life. They have no right to call Litera-<br /> ture precarious because they have never belonged<br /> to it. As well might a man call the Bar pre-<br /> carious who could not pass the preliminary<br /> examinations. There are some, however, who<br /> hang on to the fringe, so to speak, getting a paper<br /> accepted now and then, while a dozen are rejected.<br /> These may be thought entitled to speak of Litera-<br /> ture as precarious. There are many, a great many,<br /> in this position. Unfortunately, they are unable to<br /> understand that a single piece of good work would<br /> lift them out of that position, and they cannot<br /> understand that their own work is not as good<br /> as that of the more popular writers. Indeed, it<br /> is this class which is the most severe on the<br /> “cheap success”: on the tenth-rate poet : on the<br /> taste of the people. If a writer has nothing to<br /> say : if he has no song to sing: no story to tell:<br /> no doctrine to teach; or if he cannot deliver his<br /> message pleasantly and attractively, the fault<br /> of failure is with him, not with the profession.<br /> There is a third class of writers to whom<br /> Literature offers but small rewards of the pecu-<br /> niary kind: it is the class which provides books<br /> and papers for a very small audience. Those who<br /> write on the higher mathematics; or in certain<br /> branches of science and philosophy; cannot expect<br /> to address a large audience. A fine writer such<br /> as Walter Pater commands admiration and<br /> respect from the readers whom he addresses: but<br /> it is a small class. For him Literature would<br /> hardly offer a bare livelihood. Yet he would<br /> not be right in complaining that it is pre-<br /> carious, and he would certainly not be embittered<br /> by comparing his own modest returns with<br /> those of the successful dramatist. Nothing is<br /> gained by keeping. up the old sham about the<br /> precarious nature of Literature as a profession. It<br /> is no more precarious than art of any kind: or<br /> than the Bar; or than Medicine or anything<br /> which depends solely on a personal and individual<br /> ability. Now,as I have said over and over again,<br /> a thousand failures do not make it precarious, for<br /> the simple reason that they take place for the<br /> most part at the outset, and mean nothing more<br /> than incompetence and unfitness for any branch<br /> of literary work. For those who possess the<br /> natural aptitude, with other requisites, such as<br /> power of work, the profession is on a level with<br /> other professions as regards the average run of<br /> <br /> 99<br /> <br /> successes, and possesses very large prizes for<br /> those who succeed greatly. J refer to my corre-<br /> spondent “ Yachtsman” (see p. 110) as an_illus-<br /> tration and confirmation of this point. W. B.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Il.—PuBLisHING ON COMMISSION.<br /> <br /> In the September number of The Author, p. 81,<br /> it is stated that on the figures given the author<br /> would lose £130. This is incorrect. He would<br /> gain £78. If, however, he had taken a royalty of<br /> 15 per cent., he would have received £90.<br /> <br /> What, in that case, would have been the pub-<br /> lisher’s profit ?<br /> <br /> On the commission book it has been shown that<br /> he might make about £125.<br /> <br /> There would have been no percentages on the<br /> cost of production. He would have paid the<br /> exact cost, say, £150. He would have received<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> £350. The account therefore, would stand :<br /> Cost of production £150 Sale of 2,000 £350<br /> Author = ...62.2.5:. go<br /> Publishers .2...-c 110<br /> £350 £350<br /> <br /> It is therefore clear that the publisher would<br /> do better with a commission book than with one<br /> on this royalty.<br /> <br /> Suppose, however, that the sales, which is much<br /> more likely, do not rise beyond 400. The accounts<br /> might now stand:<br /> <br /> &amp; s. d. Ss. a<br /> Sale of 400<br /> copies at<br /> <br /> Cost of print-<br /> ingandpaper 96 16 o<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Binding ...... 56 50 °&amp; ‘customary<br /> Advertising... 47 100 __ trade price”<br /> Corrections... 3 OO Say 35. 3d. 65 0.0<br /> Publisher’sfee 5 00 Less 10 per<br /> Extraexpenses 5 OO cent....... 6 10 ©<br /> 58 10 O<br /> Loss to<br /> author... 15S: 1 0<br /> 213 II O zis it Oo<br /> <br /> The publisher, ‘on the other hand, would make<br /> as before, mutatis mutandis :<br /> <br /> 0S, a.<br /> On printne ........, oe 16 16 6<br /> On binding |. es 12102 0<br /> On advertising...,....5... 025.5. 22 10. ©<br /> On fs 555.60... 5.9 ©<br /> By “customary trade clause” 5 © O<br /> On commission .........+606... G16 6<br /> By use of £200forsixmonths 5 9 O<br /> <br /> 73.6 ©<br /> <br /> Which seems a handsome profit.<br /> 100<br /> <br /> TIl.—Reapers’ REMARKS.<br /> <br /> A correspondent makes the following complaint:<br /> —A short time ago he placed a MS. in the hands<br /> of a literary agent, who offered it to various<br /> publishers, and finally returned it as refused by<br /> these firms. He then resolved’ upon revising the<br /> MS. with the view of finding, if possible, the weak<br /> points in the work. “ On doing so I found, to<br /> my astonishment and annoyance, that some pub-<br /> lisher’s reader—possibly the first who read the<br /> MS.—had scribbled freely on its margin his own<br /> comments, freely using such words as ‘ rubbish,’<br /> ‘nonsense,’ &amp;c. Not content with this, he had in<br /> many places interpolated sentences into the body<br /> of the text, which transformed clearly written<br /> paragraphs into arrant silliness, which must have<br /> caused subsequent readers—who, no doubt, took<br /> these pencillings for my work—to think the writer<br /> an ignorant fool.” This is a very serious thing.<br /> Are readers to be allowed to annotate MSS. to<br /> the prejudice of the author with other readers ?<br /> Surely the remedy, if our correspondent can<br /> learn the firm by whose reader it was done, is to<br /> have the MS. newly typewritten, and to send in<br /> the bill to the firm in question.<br /> <br /> One does not suppose that any publishers would<br /> countenance such treatment if their attention was<br /> drawn to the fact; nor, on the other hand, can<br /> one suppose that the reader would wilfully dis-<br /> figure a MS. if he understood the injury and<br /> annoyance he was causing the author. The pre-<br /> sentation of the bill for typewriting, however,<br /> with publicity, seems the only practical remedy.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ITV.—Dr. BRANDES AND A GERMAN PUBLISHER.<br /> <br /> We quote from Literature of Sept. 2 the<br /> following account by Dr. Georg Brandes, the<br /> distinguished Norwegian critic, of how for half a<br /> generation a certain Herr Barsdorff, of Leipzig,<br /> “has persecuted me with his editions, not-<br /> withstanding my many continually reiterated<br /> protests” :—<br /> <br /> He has printed my books in mutilated editions for years ;<br /> he has added to them, he has cut them into separate pieces,<br /> which he has provided with sensational titles and has sold<br /> as complete books and separate editions. He has, in<br /> general, not respected the contents of the book, but has<br /> arbitrarily undertaken to supply his own self-excogitated<br /> alterations. The gentlemen who allow themselves<br /> to be commissioned by Herr Barsdorff, contrary to the<br /> express wish of the author to prepare his own works in<br /> German, take every liberty that pleases them. My protests<br /> have hitherto remained without effect. When I protest,<br /> Herr Barsdorff usually answers that I have to thank him<br /> for being known in Germany. In reply to this assertion, I<br /> wrote in the Allgemeine Zeitung, some months ago, as<br /> follows: “May 14, 1899. I do not consider any answer<br /> necessary, but I cannot withhold the remark that nothing<br /> is more nauseous to me than to read the eulogies which are<br /> trumpeted forth everywhere from the mouth of this man,<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> while his life passes in doing me material and mental<br /> injury.”<br /> <br /> Attention is seriously called to the above extract.<br /> There can be no greater crime against an author<br /> than that of mangling or altering his words and<br /> works. Some years ago an action was commenced in<br /> the High Court of Justice on this very point, but<br /> was not carried through. It is very much to be<br /> desired that such a case should be tried, and, if<br /> necessary, carried up to the Lords, in order to<br /> make it clear that in any kind of agreement the<br /> publisher either buys or is intrusted with the<br /> administration of a property which depends on<br /> the preservation of the actual words of the<br /> author. Can we imagine a publisher, under any<br /> circumstances, daring to change the words of<br /> Swinburne? It is said that some editors claim<br /> the right of changing an author’s words, even<br /> when his paper is signed. This right ought to be<br /> resisted with the greatest vigour. It means that<br /> an editor may, if he pleases, make a writer say<br /> exactly the opposite of what he intended. With<br /> an unsigned article, of course, an editor has the:<br /> right to deal as he pleases. It is his own: it<br /> represents his policy, the policy of his paper.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> PARIS NOTES.<br /> <br /> 5, Rue Chomel.<br /> . N | ADAME AUBERNON DE NERVILLE<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> is dead,” a chance acquaintance re-’<br /> marked in my hearing last week.<br /> <br /> “And who was Madame Aubernon de Ner-<br /> ville?” I immediately inquired.<br /> <br /> “Why, don’t you know?” was the reply.<br /> “She was the only woman in Paris who under-<br /> stood the art of presiding over a literary salon<br /> in the style of the old régime; made it the busi-<br /> ness of her life to cultivate literary celebrities,<br /> and was quite an autocrat among them;<br /> encouraged general conversation, and used to ring<br /> a bell, like the Speaker, whenever her lions<br /> mounted their hobby-horses or roared -too loudly ;<br /> extraordinary temperament, but highly apprecia-<br /> tive ; patronised Ibsen, and his subsequent vogue<br /> among the Parisians was largely owing to her good.<br /> offices in the beginning; sat down to dinner every<br /> day for the last twenty-five years with twelve guests<br /> —mostly well-known writers—and kept them all<br /> in order. No small undertaking for a woman.”<br /> <br /> So much I learned on the spot. Later I<br /> gleaned the following particulars. Mme. Aubernon<br /> de Nerville was a celebrity among celebrities.<br /> Rich and well-born, she enjoyed the prestige of<br /> presiding over “le dernier salon ot l’on cause,”<br /> and greeted all comers with the penetrative<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOK.<br /> <br /> bonhomie of a specialist receiving his patients.<br /> Ernest Renan, Taine, Eugene Labiche, Dumas<br /> fils, Agénor Bardoux, Henry Becque, and a<br /> score of other celebrities were among her<br /> intimate associates. But though she delighted<br /> in the society of great men, she permitted no<br /> infringement of what she considered the neces-<br /> sary courtesies of society. Once when Edouard<br /> Pailleron, the brilliant author of “Le Monde ou<br /> Yon s’ennuie,” ventured to interrupt by a subdued<br /> murmur one of Caro’s lengthy perorations at the<br /> dinner-table he was promptly quenched by their<br /> hostess.<br /> <br /> «By and by, Pailleron; you shall speak in<br /> your turn.”<br /> <br /> Caro’s discourse only finished when the dessert<br /> was on the table. At its conclusion, Mme.<br /> Aubernon turned encouragingly towards the<br /> interrupter.<br /> <br /> ‘Now it’s your turn, Pailleron.<br /> you wished to say ?”’<br /> <br /> « T merely wished to ask for a second helping<br /> of peas,” was the unexpected rejoinder.<br /> <br /> Alexandre Dumas fils long held the envied<br /> position of first lion in the Aubernon salon. One<br /> day, however, being unjustly incensed against one<br /> of his confréres, he brutally assumed on bis privi-<br /> leges to pre-adopt the attitude recently assumed<br /> by General Mercier in addressing the Conseil de<br /> Guerre at Rennes. “Lui ou moi?” he said<br /> magisterially. Mme. Aubernon, to her honour be<br /> it said, stood firm; she refused to sacrifice the<br /> injured to the injurer, and Dumas accordingly<br /> quitted her house for ever. Ona similar occa-<br /> sion Agénor Bardoux, the historian, showed him-<br /> self more generous than the great novelist.<br /> When Henry Becque wrested from him the<br /> sceptre of priority in the Aubernon salon, he<br /> quietly withdrew; and later on, when Mme.<br /> Aubernon acknowledged her fault in tacitly per-<br /> mitting the aggression, the gallant historian<br /> accepted the apology and resumed the fauteuil he<br /> had vacated. But then Bardoux was in the right,<br /> and could afford to be generous.<br /> <br /> M. Guillaumet is heading the new movement in<br /> favour of a general co-operation of dramatic and<br /> lyric artistes in protection of their joint interests,<br /> which co-operation will be definitely consolidated.<br /> into an “ Association générale des artistes drama-<br /> tiques et lyriques” on the occasion of the great<br /> dramatic and lyrical union to take place at the<br /> Cirque Fernando on Sept. 20. The project has<br /> been warmly applauded and seconded, Govern-<br /> ment having promised an annual subsidy of<br /> 10,000 francs in its support. No less than two<br /> hundred artistes of both sexes were present at<br /> the second preparatory meeting, at which a pro-<br /> visory committee was elected and entrusted<br /> <br /> What was it<br /> <br /> 101<br /> <br /> with the task of drawing up the statutes of the<br /> proposed association and submitting them to the<br /> approval of the general assemblage. The exorbi-<br /> tant charges of the existing theatrical bureaux<br /> de placement have induced M. Guillaumet to take<br /> active steps to circumvent this legalised form of<br /> blackmailing the artist, proverbially imprudent.<br /> One of the first reforms anticipated by the pro-<br /> posed association is the opening of a registry<br /> bureau on behalf of unemployed artistes, who will<br /> be put in communication with managers on pay-<br /> ment of a minimum fee. Nothing further, how-<br /> ever, can be definitely stated respecting the pro-<br /> posed association’s programme until after the<br /> decisive meeting on Sept. 20 has taken place.<br /> <br /> Literary celebrities seem at present to be<br /> enjoying the fickle favour of Parisian managers.<br /> The dramatised novel is extremely popular.<br /> Thus M. William Busnach is engaged in drama-<br /> tising for the Ambigu stage the graphic ‘ Béte<br /> humaine,” of M. Emile Zola ; while a play taken<br /> from M. Georges Ohnet’s latest novel, ‘ Au fond<br /> du Gouffre” will shortly be given at the Porte St.<br /> Martin theatre. A recaste of the “ Frou-frou S<br /> of MM. Meilhac and Halévy is about to be<br /> rehearsed at the Coméddie Francaise, whose august<br /> comité de lecture lately declined MM. Armand<br /> Silvestre and G. Bois’ translation of Shakespeare’s<br /> “Richard IIL.” The naughty “ Vieux Marcheur”<br /> of M. Henri Lavedan bids fair to compete in popu-<br /> larity with the far-famed “ Cyrano de Bergerac”<br /> of Edmond Rostand; while the “Plus que<br /> Reine” of M. Emile Bergerat has likewise scored<br /> a brilliant success both at home and abroad.<br /> But in the latter case (though the work of a<br /> literary man) the play has, I believe, preceded the<br /> novel.<br /> <br /> M. Paul Bourget is now travelling with his<br /> wife in the vorth of Italy, in order personally to<br /> gather material to enrich the pages of his new<br /> work on “ Italie Septentrionale.” This volume is<br /> intended to form a continuation to his “Sensa-<br /> tions d’Italie.” Its delicately psychological author<br /> belongs to the beau monde of social butterflies,<br /> whom no stern necessity compels either to toil or<br /> spin yarns in exchange for filthy lucre. Hence<br /> his whereabouts when travelling may usually be<br /> ascertainei! by referring to the social chronicle of<br /> any of the leading papers. The latest news of<br /> him obtained through this channel announces the<br /> arrival of M. and Mme. Paul Bourget at the<br /> Hotel d’Italie at Bergamo. We are further<br /> informed that M. Bourget professes himself<br /> astonished by the private collections of rare<br /> works of art he has been privileged to examine at<br /> Bergamo in company with M. Geanforte Sicardi.<br /> It is not improbable that his readers may find the<br /> souvenir of these hoarded treasures and heirlooms<br /> 102<br /> <br /> embalmed in one of those subtle chapters which<br /> M. Bourget limns with such inimitable finesse and<br /> skill.<br /> <br /> The premature death of Christian Garnier, son<br /> of the celebrated architect of the Opéra, has been<br /> widely deplored. The unfortunate youth was<br /> extremely gifted, and would undoubtedly have<br /> reached, if not surpassed, his father’s high level,<br /> had not death arrested his career on the threshold<br /> of manhood. On learning that his disease was<br /> mortal, the youth summoned up all his energies<br /> to complete the work he had in hand. The title<br /> of this work, which has just been published by<br /> Ernest Leroux, fully reveals its purport, viz.:<br /> “Méthode de transcription rationnelle des noms<br /> géographiques s’appliquant a toutes les écritures<br /> usitées dans le monde.” Competent authorities<br /> have declared M. Garnier’s new method of tran-<br /> scription to be an exceedingly valuable one, well<br /> worthy consideration. This voluminous work is<br /> written throughout in a clear, masterly style, and<br /> abounds in evidence of profound scientific research<br /> on the part of its author. It has been honoured<br /> with the Volney prize, in addition to being<br /> crowned by the Institute of France; and the<br /> pathetic circumstances under which it was con-<br /> cluded have not lessened the interest its appear-<br /> ance has excited.<br /> <br /> The fashionable poet of the moment is no less<br /> a personage than Paul Musurus-Bey, member of<br /> the Sultan’s State Council, brother of the<br /> Princesse Bassaraba de Brancovan, son of<br /> Musurus-Bey, ex-Turkish ambassador in France,<br /> and grandson of Stephanaki-Bey, prince of Samas.<br /> The representative of all these dignities is a<br /> highly accomplished gentleman, thoroughly<br /> acquainted not only with the ancient and modern<br /> Greek, but also with the English and French<br /> literature. His personality is well-known in the<br /> best Parisian literary society, which he greatly<br /> affects, being the intimate friend of MM. Sully<br /> Prudhomme and José-Maria de Heredia. Several<br /> of his poems have recently appeared in the Revue<br /> des deux Mondes, and have created quite a<br /> fanfaronade of enthusiasm in the highest circles.<br /> He possesses the ready ear of the Oriental, and<br /> his versification is perfect.<br /> <br /> M. Ernest Daudet is publishing an interesting<br /> serial, entitled “La Princesse de Lerne,” in the<br /> Monde Mondain ; while the Mois Litteraire gives<br /> us a graphic account of the murder of the<br /> Russian Emperor, Paul I., from the pen of the<br /> same author. M. Jules Verne, who shows no<br /> sign of deterioration in his green old age, has<br /> added a new volume, entitled “Le Testament<br /> @un Excentrique” to his ‘“ Voyages Extraordi-<br /> naires” series, which latter was formerly crowned<br /> by the French Academy. It was on this occasion<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> that Dumas /i/s opined that the august Immortals<br /> would have done better to have admitted Verne<br /> into their body in lieu of crowning his works,<br /> M. Robert Flers—who at twenty-six years of age<br /> boasted the honour of a work crowned by the<br /> Academy —has just issued his third volume<br /> “ Entre Coeur et Chair”’ (a series of short tales)<br /> chez Flammarion, who is also the publisher of<br /> the continuation of the sensational reminiscences<br /> of M. Goron, ancien chef de Sireté. Referring<br /> to the last-named work, a well-known critic<br /> writes: ‘In it will be found more terrible things<br /> than our most fertile novelists in atrocity could<br /> invent.” After the “Jardin des Supplices” of<br /> M. Octave Mirbeau, this is rather a strong state-<br /> ment.<br /> <br /> In mentioning the prospective programme of<br /> the twenty-first congress of the International<br /> Literary and Artistic Association, to be held at<br /> Heidelberg, the /vgaro alludes to the indifference<br /> hitherto manifested by France on the subject of<br /> protecting her authors’ rights. After calling<br /> attention to the fact that, while almost all the<br /> other European States had registered a special<br /> law in their code to guarantee their authors’<br /> rights against the possible frauds of publishers,<br /> France had remained stationary at the incidental<br /> law of 1865, it concludes: “Il faut espérer que<br /> la question sera de nouveau soulevée, et que la<br /> France comprendra enfin qu&#039;il est de l’intérét de<br /> sa production littéraire, qui tient encore le premier<br /> rang, de se mettre au niveau des autres nations.”<br /> So much for the force of good example.<br /> <br /> The death of M. Gaston Tissandier, founder<br /> and editor of that popular little scientific<br /> periodical entitled Nature, robs science of one of<br /> its most devoted adherents. M. Tissandier was<br /> especially interested in solving the problem of<br /> aerial navigation; and though he did not succeed<br /> in attaining his end, he pushed his investigations<br /> farther than any of his predecessors had dared to<br /> do. He made over forty ascensions into space,<br /> and on April 15, 1875, he attained an altitude of<br /> 28,215 feet. His two companions were asphyxi-<br /> ated by the rarefaction of the air, but Gaston<br /> Tissandier returned—with his ear-drums broken<br /> and a sort of physical oppression from which he<br /> never completely recovered. He finally succumbed<br /> —almost a quarter of a century later —to the<br /> effects of a painful malady from which he had<br /> long suffered.<br /> <br /> It is well known that M. Jean Dupuy, Minister<br /> of Agriculture, has chosen the poet M. Henri<br /> Barbusse as his chef de cabinet; and, since the<br /> latter’s induction into office, the Minister of Agri-<br /> culture is credited with receiving all official |<br /> reports relating to his department served up in<br /> ingenious verse. Poetry in such a quarter<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> appears, at first sight, as if the days of bucolic<br /> peace were returning; but a glance at current<br /> events speedily destroys such a supposition.<br /> Half-a-dozen papers are already officially notified<br /> as pursued for incendiary articles, while duels<br /> between polemists and members of the Press are<br /> of too frequent occurrence to be worthy detailed<br /> notice. Their opponents justly reproach the<br /> literati of France with having brought about the<br /> Revision—a noble work of which its authors may<br /> well be proud, for it will probably rank among<br /> their highest titles to the gratitude of posterity.<br /> <br /> A propos of interesting publications of the<br /> month may be mentioned “Les Morts qui<br /> Parlent,” by M. E. M. de Vogue; “ L’Enfer,”<br /> by M. Edouard Conte (Société Libre d’ Edition<br /> des gens de lettres); “Le Petit fils de dAr-<br /> tagnan”’ and “Le Drame du Palois Bouge,” by<br /> MM. A. Sirven and A. Siegel (chez Calmann<br /> Lévy); and “Le Corps et ’Ame de Enfant,”<br /> by M. Maurice de Fleury.<br /> <br /> Darracotre Scort.<br /> <br /> eas<br /> <br /> NOTES AND NEWS.<br /> <br /> TYNHE Atheneum has begun its Publishers’<br /> Announcements. In the numbers for<br /> Sept. 9, 16, and 23 there are the lists of<br /> fourteen publishers. Taking out of consideration<br /> books of scholarship, philosophy, science and<br /> education, and taking only those which fall under<br /> the head of General Literature, the fourteen<br /> between them promise to produce as follows :<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> EOC = 43 works.<br /> History and Biography 24 _,,<br /> Wravel 66 TAG<br /> Belles Lettres ............ 200.<br /> Fiction ......... 105.<br /> AQ 20 7<br /> <br /> We shall be able to complete this rough analysis<br /> next month. Meantime, the first heading includes<br /> volumes by Owen Seaman and Stephen Phillips,<br /> with reprints from Tennyson and Matthew Arnold.<br /> Mr. Theodore Watts Dunton makes the welcome<br /> announcement of a new work, ‘‘ The Old Familiar<br /> Faces,” which is presumably a novel. Among<br /> other novels we meet with many old friends and<br /> many new names. The various “Series” are<br /> well to the front—the “ Cathedral Series”: the<br /> “Public School Series”: the ‘Social England<br /> Series”: the “Geographical Series”: the<br /> “Literatures of the World Series” among others.<br /> The large number of books on Art—some of<br /> them most important—is a remarkable feature in<br /> the year’s announcements. Memoirs, Letters,<br /> and Reminiscences include books on Coventry<br /> <br /> VOL. x.<br /> <br /> 103<br /> <br /> Patmore: the third Farl of Shaftesbury: Mrs.<br /> Lynn Linton: Thackeray: Dickens: Sir Philip<br /> Francis: J. H. Frere: and others. So far there<br /> seems to be no announcement of more sixpenny<br /> books, but it will take time to repair the mischief<br /> of this experiment disastrous to booksellers. The<br /> completion of the list will show whether the<br /> experience of the last season will lessen the<br /> number of six-shilling novels. One hundred and<br /> five novels among fourteen publishers, of whom<br /> three at least are producing none this year! If<br /> this average is maintained, it will termfy book-<br /> sellers and circulating libraries, and will drive to<br /> despair the furnishers of railway bookstalls.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Professor Brander Matthews considers the<br /> novelist as a great living force. He is not the<br /> greatest living force, because the actual facts of<br /> current events are the true leaders of men, and we<br /> must look for the facts to the Press. For<br /> instance, the ‘“ Affaire,’ as presented day by day<br /> in all its horror, has been the greatest possible<br /> force in influencing men’s minds as regards the<br /> country where it happened—perhaps the only<br /> country where it could have happened. The<br /> social force of the novelist is exercised by the<br /> expression which he gives to the current ideas of<br /> his time. A thousand little facts accumulate and<br /> are registered by the Press: they produce the<br /> effect upon the mind of the continual dropping<br /> of water. Then the novelist appears to give<br /> expression to the thought, and to present it in<br /> action with a group of living characters. If the<br /> novelist advocates reforms or ideas for which the<br /> popular mind is not ready, or to which it is<br /> opposed, he fails. The “ novel with a purpose”<br /> always fails when that purpose is a new pro-<br /> position or a view contrary to the general way<br /> of looking at the world. That novelist moves<br /> the world who is first moved by the world,<br /> and can tell them what they think.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Is it necessary to remind readers that the famous<br /> “Draft Agreements” of the Publishers’ Associa-<br /> tion are neither disavowed nor withdrawn<br /> It is necessary to look at agreements with greater<br /> care than ever. Above all things let everyone be<br /> careful not to allow his publisher to become his<br /> agent at 50 per cent., while his own agent is con-<br /> tented with 10 or 15 percent. And next, let the<br /> author most carefully retain in his own hands the<br /> dramatic rights. Let him remember as well that<br /> where a valuable MS. is concerned the publisher,<br /> whatever be his imaginary station in the world of<br /> publishers, will give way on these points because<br /> he must. If he refuses others will consent. At<br /> present the committee of the Publishers’ Associa-<br /> <br /> i<br /> 104<br /> <br /> tion are in the enviable and dignified position of<br /> having put forth agreements as equitable which<br /> they dare not even propose to authors of repute.<br /> So perverse is the authors’ sense of equity that<br /> they will not even consider those agreements.<br /> <br /> Is it not time to speak about the “ Private<br /> Prospectus” nuisance? A new “ Private Pros-<br /> pectus” is sent out once a month. I suppose it<br /> is sent out broadcast. It is the prospectus of a<br /> publication for “students only ” or for “‘ collectors<br /> and students.” It is “privately printed.” It is<br /> for subscribers only: there is a limited edition:<br /> and the work is costly. The address at which it<br /> is to be procured is in a respectable street. Of<br /> the work itself thus offered one can only say<br /> generally that it is of a kind which cannot be<br /> exposed for sale so long as Lord Campbell’s Act is<br /> in force. One would like to know how far a<br /> publisher is protected by calling his book “ priv-<br /> ately printed, for subscribers only, in a private<br /> press.” What does a “ private press”? mean ?<br /> <br /> I have read in several papers—indeed, it seems<br /> one of the many accepted truisms which are not<br /> truths—that I have encouraged, and do continu-<br /> ally encourage, young people to crowd into the<br /> ranks of those who would succeed by writing.<br /> In the same way the Society has been, and is<br /> still, continually misrepresented by two assertions<br /> —that it treats all publishers as dishonest (this<br /> stale old charge was last advanced publicly by<br /> Mr. John Murray), and that it says that pub-<br /> lishers incur no risk. As for the personal charge<br /> of encouraging the incompetent, the only founda-<br /> tion for the charge is the broad fact that I have<br /> done my best to set forth the exact truth con-<br /> nected with the commercial side of literature. If<br /> these facts do attract a large number of young<br /> persons who have none of the gifts necessary for<br /> success, it is because they present this side of<br /> the literary profession as it is, and as it may be,<br /> in a light never before attempted, namely, in the<br /> true light. Hitherto, persons interested in con-<br /> cealment have done their best to keep the<br /> truth as much hidden as possible.<br /> <br /> Let me also quote my own words, which, I<br /> think, are not unduly optimistic or encouraging :<br /> <br /> “To those few, however, who think they possess<br /> the necessary qualifications; to those who feel<br /> really impelled to join the ranks of literature, I<br /> would say, ‘Come. Venture if you will where<br /> so many have failed. There is always room<br /> for good work—come. I have shown how the<br /> followers of literature fare: some fare better and<br /> some fare worse than I have described.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> ‘Come if you can; come if you dare. Don’t<br /> think of making money; there are a thousand<br /> chances to one against it. But if you gain that<br /> reasonable measure of success of which I have<br /> spoken you may confidently look forward to<br /> leading a happy and well-filled life; you may<br /> influence your generation for good: your mind<br /> will always be pleasantly occupied: you will find<br /> the company good: the talk extremely cheerful :<br /> and the work always iuteresting.’ ”<br /> <br /> Here is a short and easy road to notoriety<br /> which in journalistic enterprise often means<br /> success. It is not a new method, but it has been<br /> greatly developed of late years, and it. is high<br /> time that it was understood. A literary man<br /> whose name is known receives a type-written<br /> letter from a person of whom he knows nothing,<br /> with a heading to the letter of some organ or some<br /> bureau of which he knows nothing, asking him<br /> for his opinion on this or that subject —any<br /> subject will do—for publication. Sometimes he<br /> is informed that a “symposium”’ is organised for<br /> the purpose of obtaining opinions on this or<br /> that subject. Now, when a well-known paper of<br /> position asks for the opinions of various persons<br /> qualified to have an opinion on the subject, the<br /> collection of opinions and reasons may be useful<br /> and helpful to the public: in such a case the<br /> person invited should perhaps accede. But it is<br /> far different when the invitation comes from some<br /> wretched struggling journal or some obscure<br /> person who hopes by means of a dozen or twenty<br /> good names to pass off as a ; erson of importance.<br /> It would be well, at least, to wait before answering<br /> the invitation until something can be learned of<br /> the person who sent it. Water Besant.<br /> <br /> Specs<br /> <br /> ON CRITICISM.<br /> <br /> HE following observations, quotations, and<br /> <br /> 7 rules are taken from an excellent little<br /> <br /> book of essays called ‘‘ Americanisms and<br /> Briticisms,”’ by Professor Brander Matthews:<br /> <br /> ““¢ Doubtless criticism was originally benig-<br /> nant, pointing out the beauties of a work rather<br /> than its defects. The passions of man have made<br /> it malignant, as the bad heart of Procrustes<br /> turned the bed, the symbol of repose, into au<br /> instrument of torture.’—(Longfellow).”<br /> <br /> “ La critique sans bonté trouble le gout et<br /> empoisonne les saveurs, said Joubert ; unkindly<br /> criticism disturbs the taste and poisons the<br /> savour. No one of the great critics was un-<br /> kindly.”<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> “They chose their subjects, for the most part,<br /> because they loved these, and were eager to praise<br /> them and to make plain to the world the reasons<br /> for their ardent affection. Whenever they might<br /> chance to see incompetence and pretension push-<br /> ing to the front, they shrugged their shoulders<br /> more often than not, and passed by on the other<br /> side silently :—and so best. Very rarely did they<br /> cross over to expose an impostor.”<br /> <br /> “Tn nine cases out of ten, or rather in<br /> ninety-nine out of a hundred, the attitude of<br /> the critic towards contemporary trash had best<br /> be one of absolute indifference, sure that Time<br /> will sift out what is good, and that Time winnows<br /> with unerring taste.<br /> <br /> «The first duty of the critic, therefore, is to help<br /> the reader to ‘ get the best ’—in the old phrase of<br /> the dictionary vendors—to choose it, to under-<br /> stand it, to enjoy it. Neglect is the<br /> proper portion of the worthless books of the<br /> hour, whatever may be their vogue for the week<br /> or the month.”<br /> <br /> “The second duty of the critic is like unto the<br /> first. It is to help the reader to understand the<br /> best. There is many a book which needs to be<br /> made plain to him who runs as he reads, and it<br /> is the running r. ader of these hurried years that<br /> the critic must needs address.”<br /> <br /> “The third duty of the critic, after aiding the<br /> reader to choose the best and to understand it, is<br /> to help him to enjoy it. This is possible only<br /> when the critic’s own enjoyment is acute enough<br /> to be contagious. However well informed a<br /> critic may be, and however keen he may be, if he<br /> be not capable of the cordial admiration which<br /> warms the heart, his criticism is wanting.<br /> <br /> “ Having done his duty to the reader, the critic<br /> has done his full duty to the author also. It is<br /> to the people at large that the critic is under<br /> obligations, not to any individual. As he cannot<br /> take cognisance of a work of art, literary or<br /> dramatic, plastic or pictorial, until after it is<br /> wholly complete, his opinion can be of little<br /> benefit to the author.”<br /> <br /> “Tf I were to attempt to draw up Twelve Good<br /> Rules for Reviewer-, I should begin with:<br /> <br /> “T. Form an honest opinion.<br /> <br /> “TI. Express it honestly.<br /> <br /> “TIT. Don’t review a book which you cannot<br /> take seriously.<br /> <br /> “TV. Don’t review a book with which you are<br /> out of sympathy, that is to say, put yourself in<br /> the author’s place, and try to see his work from<br /> his point of view, which is sure to be a coign of<br /> vantage.<br /> <br /> “V, Stick to the text. Review the book before<br /> you, and not the book some other author might<br /> <br /> have written ; obiter dicta me as valueless from<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 105<br /> <br /> the critic as from the judge. Don’t go off ona<br /> tangent. And also don’t go round in a circle.<br /> Say what you have to say, and stop. Don’t go<br /> on writing about and about the subject, and<br /> merely weaving garlands of flowers of rhetoric.<br /> <br /> “VI. Beware of the Sham Sample, as Charles<br /> Reade called it. Make sure that the specimen<br /> bricks you select for quotation do not give a false<br /> impression of the farade, and not only of the<br /> elevation merely, but of the perspective also, and<br /> of the ground-plan.<br /> <br /> “VII. In reviewing a biography or a history,<br /> criticise the book before you, and don&#039;t write a<br /> parallel essay, for which the volume you have in<br /> hand serves only as a peg.<br /> <br /> “VIII. In reviewing a work of fiction, don’t<br /> give away the plot. In the eyes of the novelist<br /> this is the unpardonable sin. And, as it discounts<br /> the pleasure of the reader also, it is almost equally<br /> unkind to hin.<br /> <br /> “TX. Don’t try to prove every successful<br /> author a plagiarist. It may be that many a<br /> successful author has been a plagiarist, but no<br /> author ever succeeded because of his plagiary.<br /> <br /> “X, Don’t break a butterfly on a wheel. Ifa<br /> book is not worth much, it is not worth<br /> reviewing.<br /> <br /> “XT. Don’t review a book as an east wind<br /> would review an apple-tree—so it was once said<br /> Douglas Jerrold was wont to do, Of what profit<br /> to anyone is mere bitterness and vexation of<br /> spirit ?<br /> <br /> “XTI. Remember that the critic’s duty is to<br /> the reader mainly, and that it is to guide him not<br /> only to whatis good, but to what is best. Three-<br /> parts of what is contemporary must be temporary<br /> only.”<br /> <br /> Peas<br /> <br /> COUNTERFEIT ENGLISH.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> N the regrettable absence of an English<br /> Académie, we look to the Author as a<br /> guardian of our long-suffering language. So<br /> <br /> many neologisms are now creeping in that unless<br /> you can do something for us the good old tongue<br /> of Shakespeare and Macaulay will soon be no more.<br /> Some changes there must necessarily be. Apart<br /> from the demands of new arts and crafts, ideas and<br /> habits must alter, so as to demand new combina-<br /> tions and an enlarged vocabulary. We may never<br /> hope to cure our young people of saying “I<br /> biked over,” and the apotheosis of the piston-rod<br /> has reached its climax in certain of our most<br /> popular writings.<br /> <br /> But the changes here contemplated are of<br /> another sort, being capable of division into two<br /> 106<br /> <br /> classes: (a) phrases that slip into use from<br /> mere indolence and want of knowledge; and<br /> (6) words misused out of affectation; both classes<br /> having this common evil, that they are quite<br /> unnecessary.<br /> <br /> In the (a) class must be placed prominently<br /> cases in which a noun substantive is gratuitously<br /> used as a verb. The labour-saving ingenuity of<br /> our transatlantic kinsfolk is primarily responsible<br /> for this; but we have often been ready to follow<br /> their quicker-witted lead. Such a verb as ‘to<br /> advocate,” if you think of it, can only be defended<br /> on the score of success. It has been generally<br /> adopted, but none the less is it a glaring instance<br /> of the barbarism under notice; in fact, it is<br /> worse, for it sweeps into one locution such varying<br /> shades of meaning as would otherwise be conveyed<br /> by “recommend ”’ or “ defend,” as the case might<br /> be. A word less misleading, but quite as uncalled<br /> for, is “to loan” in place of “to lend”; and<br /> many others will be readily called to mind. Then<br /> there are such solecisms as “to trouble” as a<br /> neuter verb: in good English always a transitive.<br /> I may trouble you, or myself; but to use the<br /> word absolutely is far more absurd than it would<br /> be to say, “ do not exert” or “behave.”<br /> <br /> By the (0) class are intended outrages on the<br /> good old vocabulary, such as inventing new words<br /> when all possible purpose can be served by those<br /> which exist already, but which are not considered<br /> elegant or sonorous. One of the worst of these<br /> is the bastard adjective of time, “erstwhile,”<br /> used where all that is intended could be clearly<br /> expressed by such a simple word as former. Erst,<br /> by itself, is doubtless an English word, though<br /> not often met with in the work of good authors,<br /> being a superlative arising out of the old Saxon<br /> word observable in the first syllable of early ;<br /> but for “erstwhile” there is no conceivable ety-<br /> mology or excuse that is not as foolish as the<br /> word itself. Another instance is the substitution<br /> of “monetary” for pecuniary. Here the word<br /> has undoubtedly both a pedigree and an office<br /> (from Moneta) meaning that which regards the<br /> Mint or coinage; but someone seems to have<br /> been caught by the similitude to money and to<br /> have thought its employment was a step towards<br /> the exclusion of Latin; whereas it is, of course,<br /> just_as much derived from tha’ tongue as the<br /> word pecuniary, which is otherwise correct.<br /> <br /> The use of “whom” where the sense requires<br /> the nominative is so bad that one would hardly<br /> care to mention it were it not becoming too<br /> common to be ignored, You shall hardly open a<br /> novel or a newspaper without meeting some such<br /> sentence as ‘‘ A man whom I knew wanted to see<br /> me,” the relative being really the subject of the<br /> verb see not the object of the verb knevw.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> We have all experience and authority for the<br /> doctrine that use governs these things :<br /> <br /> Quem penes arbitrium est et jus et norma loquendi.<br /> <br /> ‘When once a usage has been thoroughly fixed<br /> and established, reason argues in vain. As we<br /> may see, indeed, from so familiar a case as that<br /> of the verb ‘“ to advocate,’ noticed above. An<br /> advocate is advocatus, one called to the Bar; to<br /> turn him into a verb and use him not for himself<br /> but for the sort of work that he might do, is<br /> about as intelligent as if we talked of “ soldier-<br /> ing” a man when we only meant killing him.<br /> To be sure, we say to “ doctor,” but only when we<br /> are feeling very sarcastic. An advocate may<br /> plead a cause, as a soldier may take life; but the<br /> proportion of bloodless warriors is probably no<br /> greater than that of briefless counsel.<br /> <br /> CLAMANS.<br /> Pec<br /> <br /> AMERICAN RULES FOR WRITERS.<br /> <br /> HE New York Press has recently offered a<br /> few rules and warnings for American<br /> writers. Some of these may be recom-<br /> <br /> mended for consideration by our own countrymen.<br /> The following are taken from the longer list there<br /> published :-—<br /> Don’t.<br /> <br /> Dou’t begin a story with “‘ Yesterday,” ‘‘ Last night,” and<br /> the like.<br /> <br /> Don’t begin a story with ‘‘ The,” “An,” or “A” oftener<br /> than once a week.<br /> <br /> Don’t “ put in an appearance ” or “ make an appearance ” ;<br /> just appear.<br /> <br /> Don’t say ‘a dinner occurred,” and “an explosion took<br /> place.” Things occur by chance or accident; they take<br /> place by arrangement.<br /> <br /> Don’t MisusE<br /> <br /> “ Ability” for “ capacity.”<br /> <br /> ‘“ Allude ” for “ refer.”<br /> <br /> “ Amateur ” for “ novice.”<br /> <br /> “ Anticipate” for “ expect.”<br /> <br /> “ Apt” for “ likely.”<br /> <br /> “ Andience ” for ‘‘ spectators.”<br /> <br /> ‘“‘ Balance ” for ‘‘ remainder ”’ or “ rest.”<br /> <br /> “ Bountiful ” for “ plentiful.”<br /> <br /> “Bat” for “only.” When in doubt, use “only” for<br /> but.”<br /> <br /> “ Caption ” for “ heading.”<br /> <br /> “ Captivate ” for ‘ charm.”<br /> <br /> “ Conclude” for ‘ close.”<br /> process.<br /> <br /> “ Convened.”’<br /> vened.<br /> <br /> “Crime,” a statutory wrong; “sin,” a violation of<br /> creed; ‘‘ vice,’ a moral wrong. (One may murder one’s<br /> father and not be vicious; also, one may cast one’s wife<br /> away and take two wives and not be sinful, according to<br /> some creeds.)<br /> <br /> “Depot” for “prssenger station,” or “station” for<br /> “freight depot.”<br /> <br /> “ Dock ” for “ pier” or “ wharf.”<br /> <br /> To conclude is a mental<br /> <br /> The delegates, not the convention, con-<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> “ During the night’ means<br /> <br /> “ During” for “ in.”<br /> thronghout the night.<br /> <br /> “ very” for ‘‘ all.”<br /> <br /> Don’t separate the parts of infinitives, or needlessly<br /> separate the parts of verbs; say “to begin again,” not<br /> “to again begin”; say “ probably will be,” not ‘ will<br /> probably be.”<br /> <br /> Don’t say “he was given a dinner ” when the dinner<br /> was given for him or in his honour.<br /> <br /> Don’t make titles; use “Smith, a car conductor ” ; not<br /> “Car Conductor Smith.”<br /> <br /> Don’t give ‘“ ovations ” to anybody.<br /> <br /> Don’t stab anyone “ in the fracas.”<br /> <br /> Don’t “ administer” blows or punishment.<br /> <br /> Don’t use “ he graduated”; say “he was graduated.”<br /> <br /> ‘ Eyent” for “incident,” “affair,” “ occurrence,” or<br /> “ happening.”<br /> <br /> “ Exemplary ” for “ excellent.”<br /> <br /> “* Exposition ” for “ exhibit.”<br /> <br /> “Tnangurate ” for “ begin.”<br /> <br /> “ Tpitial ” for “ first.”<br /> <br /> “ Jewellery ” for ‘‘ jewels.”<br /> <br /> “ Learn ” for “ teach.”<br /> <br /> “ Lurid” for “ brilliant.”<br /> or ghastly.<br /> <br /> “ Marry.”<br /> married to the man, and the clergyman or<br /> marries both.<br /> <br /> ‘* Murderous” for “ deadly ” or “ dangerous.”<br /> <br /> “ Notable ” for “ noteworthy,”<br /> <br /> “Observe ” (to heed) for “ say.”<br /> <br /> -—‘ People ” for ‘‘ persons.”<br /> <br /> “Posted ” for “ well informed.’<br /> <br /> * Retire” for “ go to bed.”<br /> <br /> “ Remains ” for “ corpse” or “ body.”<br /> <br /> “ Reliable ” for “ trustworthy.”<br /> <br /> “ Spell” for “ period.”<br /> <br /> “Tender ” for “ give.”<br /> reception.<br /> <br /> “ Transpire” for “ occur.”<br /> <br /> “ Unwell’? for “‘ill.”<br /> <br /> “ Ventilate” for “ expose” or “ explain.”<br /> <br /> Don’t UsE<br /> <br /> “ Approve of” for “ approve.”<br /> <br /> “ Cablegram ” for “‘ cable message ” or *« dispatch.”<br /> <br /> “Claim” as an intransitive verb. You can claim your<br /> hat, but you cannot “claim” that your hat was stolen.<br /> <br /> “ Commence ” for “‘ begin.”<br /> <br /> “ Considerable.”<br /> <br /> “ Locate,” unless you locate a railroad, a canal, a claim,<br /> and the like.<br /> <br /> “ Matter ” oftener than once a week.<br /> <br /> “ Mrs. General” or “Mrs. Doctor,” unless the woman is<br /> a general or a doctor.<br /> <br /> “Notified.” Use “informed,” “ sent word,” or “ told.”<br /> <br /> Slang, stock expressions, or cheap phrases. This covers<br /> a multitude of sins.<br /> <br /> “The deceased,” “the unfortunate,” the “ accused,” and<br /> the like.<br /> <br /> “ Very” oftener than once a week.<br /> <br /> “Via,” “per diem,” and the like; say “By way of,”<br /> “a day,” and “a week.”<br /> <br /> “ Vicinity ” without “its” :<br /> <br /> HELP THE COMPOSITORS.<br /> <br /> Always leave a margin of at least an inch on the top of<br /> each sheet of copy.<br /> <br /> If youhave a particularly illegible piece of copy, don’t<br /> pass it over and send it downstairs in the hope that perhaps<br /> the “ intelligent compositor’ may be able to read it.<br /> <br /> “ Lurid ” means pale, gloomy,<br /> <br /> Don’t “ marr 7 @ wen 5 the woman is<br /> y. &gt; zs<br /> magistrate<br /> <br /> “Tender” apayment; “give” a<br /> <br /> “Tts vicinity.”<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 107<br /> <br /> BOOK AND PLAY TALK.<br /> <br /> YHE Editor of the Literary Vear-Book will<br /> be glad to receive communications from<br /> authors for the next issue of that annual,<br /> <br /> which will be published by Mr. George Allen late<br /> in January next. All letters should be addressed<br /> to the Editor of the Literary Vear-Book, Ruskin<br /> House, 156, Charing Cross-road, W..C.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The first welcome accorded to Dr. Gardiner’s<br /> life of Cromwell has hardly passed when the<br /> announcement comes of the same subject being<br /> treated by Mr. John Morley. The new work will<br /> appear in the pages of the Century Magazine, a<br /> fact that affords another example of the fondness<br /> of American readers for biography in monthly<br /> instalments.<br /> <br /> The literature of natural history is about to<br /> receive an addition from Mr. Richard Kearton,<br /> on the subject of “Our Rarer British Breeding<br /> Birds: Their Nests, Eggs, and Breeding Haunts.”<br /> The book, profusely illustrated by photographs<br /> taken direct from nature by Mr. Cherry Kearton,<br /> will be published by Messrs. Cassell, who state<br /> that in preparing it the brothers Kearton have<br /> travelled over ten thousand miles.<br /> <br /> Mr. Kipling’s new story, “ Stalky and Co.,”<br /> will be published by Messrs. Macmillan in a few<br /> days.<br /> <br /> Mr. Walter Pollock has written a volume on<br /> “Jane Austen: her Contemporaries and Herself,”<br /> which Messrs. Longman will publish shortly.<br /> <br /> A volume by Mr. Thomas Hardy, of short<br /> stories, which have appeared serially at various<br /> times, is to be published soon.<br /> <br /> Yorkshire and Normandy are the subjects of<br /> two new volumes about to appear in the “ High-<br /> ways and Byways” series published by Messrs.<br /> Macmillan. ©The former will be written by Mr.<br /> Arthur Norway, and illustrated by Mr. Joseph<br /> Pennell and Mr. Hugh Thomson. The author of<br /> the Normandy is the Rev. Perey Dearmer, and<br /> the illustrator Mr. Pennell.<br /> <br /> “The Daughter of Peter the Great,” Mr. R.<br /> Nisbet Bain’s new book which Messrs. Constable<br /> are to publish shortly, deals with the period<br /> 1741-1762, and treats the Seven Years’ War<br /> from the Russian standpoint. One of the<br /> features of the book will be the description of<br /> the splendid court of the Empress Elizabeth<br /> Petrovna.<br /> <br /> Mr. Stanley Lane Poole has written a mono-<br /> graph on Babar. the first Moghul Emperor of<br /> Hindustan, for the Indian series published by<br /> Oxford University Press. This house will alse<br /> 108<br /> <br /> publish shortly the final volume of Dr. Thomas<br /> Hodgkin’s “ Italy and Her Invaders.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Frederick Wedmore will be represented<br /> this autumn by a volume entitled “On Books and<br /> Art,” which Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton will<br /> publish.<br /> <br /> Mr. Clement Shorter has written a book on his<br /> own library, called “An Editor’s Bookshelves,”<br /> which Messrs. Ward, Lock, and Co. will publish<br /> shortly.<br /> <br /> Mr. Grant Allen is adding to his series of guide<br /> books a volume describing “The European<br /> Tour ” for the benefit of American and Colonial<br /> visitors.<br /> <br /> The William Black Memorial Fund now exceeds<br /> £500. Mr. Colin Hunter, A.R.A., an old friend<br /> of the novelist, has undertaken to design the<br /> memorial beacon light to be erected at Duart<br /> Point, Isle of Mull.<br /> <br /> Miss C. A. Hutton is the author of a mono-<br /> graph on Greek terra-cottas, which will be pub-<br /> lished this month by Messrs. Seeley and Co., with<br /> a preface by Dr. A. 8. Murray.<br /> <br /> Dr. Conan Doyle has written a new novel<br /> which is just beginning to appear in the Strand<br /> Magazine.<br /> <br /> A new edition of Mr. James Milne’s work on<br /> the late Sir George Grey, “The Romance of a<br /> Pro-Consul,” will be published shortly by Messrs.<br /> Chatto and Windus.<br /> <br /> Forthcoming works of fiction include a volume<br /> of short stories by Mr. Zanegwill, entitled « They<br /> that Walk in Darkness” | (Heinemann); Mr.<br /> Robert Hichens’s new novel, “The Slave”<br /> (Heinemann) ; “ The Bread of Tears,” by Mr.<br /> G. B. Burgin (Long); “An African Treasure,”<br /> by Mr. Maclaren Cobban (Long) ; “Twice<br /> Derelict, and Other Stories,” by Maxwell Gray<br /> (Heinemann).<br /> <br /> “Coventry Patmore: His Family and Corre-<br /> spondence,” by Mr. Basil Champneys, a friend<br /> of the family, will be published shortly by<br /> Messrs. George Bell and Sons.<br /> <br /> The principal book of scientific interest<br /> announced for this season is Mr. Leonard Huxley’s<br /> biography of his father, entitled “Life and<br /> Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley,” which will be<br /> published by Messrs. Macmillan,<br /> <br /> In France, too, it seems, bookselling is in a<br /> bad way. ‘The Booksellers’ Union of France<br /> have discovered,” says the Westminster Gazette,<br /> “that their net profits are absurdly small—about<br /> one halfpenny in the shilling, and from a penny<br /> to fourpence on a three-shilling hook (3fr. 50c.)<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> —and, failing to get better terms from the pub-<br /> lishers, have arranged, with the consent of the<br /> latter, to raise prices to the buyer. Sales should<br /> therefcre be brisk for the remainder of the month.<br /> On the whole, the ; ublisher seems most likely to<br /> benefit by the change. Buyers will certainly not<br /> care about paying 3fr. instead of 2fr. 75¢. for a<br /> 3fr. 50c. book, and booksellers will probably<br /> have to content themselves—for a time, at least—<br /> with a smaller turnover,” ./<br /> <br /> An illustrated shilling series of “ Forgotten<br /> Children’s Books” is to be issued at once by the<br /> Leadenhall Press. The old type and quaint<br /> woodcuts, the grayish paper with its innumerable<br /> specks of embedded dirt, and the gaudily<br /> coloured Dutch papers used in the binding, are to<br /> follow faithfully the originals of a century ago.<br /> The publishers’ own title page and remarks are<br /> to be relegated to the end of the volumes. The<br /> three promised are Mrs. Turner&#039;s amusing<br /> cautionary stories entitled “The Daisy ” (1807) ;<br /> the second series of cautionary stories entitled<br /> “The Cowslip” (1811) and “A New Riddle Book<br /> by John the Giant Killer, Esquire ” (1778).<br /> Others are to follow.<br /> <br /> The Leadenhall Press will almost immediately<br /> issue Mr. Andrew Tuer’s new volume of “ Stories<br /> from Old-fashioned Children’s Books.” The<br /> woodcuts in the originals, of which there are<br /> several hundred, are closely followed, and no<br /> photographic half-tone blocks are used. Instead<br /> of being in the fragmentary manner of Mr.<br /> Tuer’s preceding volume “Forgotten Children’s<br /> Books,” whivh had a large sale, the stories will be<br /> complete in themselves. The two volumes are<br /> quite independent of each other.<br /> <br /> Mr. W. Edwards Tirebuck’s “ Miss Grace of<br /> All Souls” has been added to Mr. W. Heine-<br /> mann’s Eighteenpenny Red Series of Popular<br /> Novels.<br /> <br /> The author of the well-known Bohemian<br /> novels ‘The Gleaming Dawn,” “The Cardinal’s<br /> Page,” and the “ Pictures of Bohemia” that was<br /> illustrated by Mr. Walter Crane, has just received<br /> from the Countess of Wallenstein a most charm-<br /> ing and artistic recognition of his work on<br /> Bohemia in the shape of a water-colour sketch of<br /> the old Castle of Bosig, mounted as a note-book<br /> block and set round with Bohemian garnets that<br /> are famous for their rich ruby tint. In addition<br /> to these books, Mr. James Baker has written upon<br /> Bohemia in almost all the principal journals and<br /> magazines.<br /> <br /> Messrs. Kegan Paul, and Co. have in the<br /> press a volume of poems by Mrs. Aylmer Gowing,<br /> including a play on the subject of Boadicea<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> treated under a new aspect in connection with<br /> early Christianity in Britain.<br /> <br /> Sir Richard Temple has placed with Mr. John<br /> Long for publication a new book entitled “ The<br /> House of Commons,” in which he describes life<br /> in Parliament, the House of Commons as a club,<br /> manners and customs of the House, and other<br /> features.<br /> <br /> With the announcement that the Royal Maga-<br /> zine is to be raised in price to 4d., the threepenny<br /> popular magazine disappears in this country, for<br /> the Harmsworth Magazine, it will be remem-<br /> bered, although originally 3d., was made 33d.<br /> _ before it had been long in the market. .<br /> <br /> Mr. Cosmo Hamilton, who, with Mr. Robert<br /> Barr, has just finished the dramatization of the<br /> latter gentleman’s successful romance, “The<br /> Countess Tekla,”’ has sold the acting rights of his<br /> play “Jerry and a Sunbeam,” produced at the<br /> Strand Theatre, to Mr. H. HE. Pizey. The<br /> management of the Court Theatre have secured<br /> the refusal of Mr. Hamilton’s new three-act<br /> comedy, “The Wisdom of Folly,” which, in book<br /> form, will be published in the autumn. Mr.<br /> Hamilton is now completing two new books,<br /> ** Love, amongst other Things,” and ‘‘ The Danger<br /> of Curiosity,” and is also engaged upon a three-<br /> act play for Mr. Herbert Sleath, entitled<br /> * Kiddie,” which is founded on his one-act play of<br /> the same name, in which Mr. Sleath appeared.<br /> <br /> On the goth Sept. a performance for copyright<br /> purposes was given at the Victoria Theatre,<br /> Walthamstow, of a new play entitled “The<br /> Greatest Puritan, or Cromwell’s Own,” a drama<br /> founded upon Mr. Arthur Paterson’s novel<br /> ““Cromwell’s Own.” Mr. Charles Cartwright’s<br /> company performed the piece, and it is said “that<br /> Mr. Cartwright contemplates producing it at an<br /> early date. The drama follows the story pretty<br /> closely, and three incidents—the taking of the<br /> Royal Standard at Edgehill, the collision between<br /> a troop of Ironsides and of Presbyterians, when<br /> the former save unarmed Royalists from massacre ;<br /> and lastly, the court-martial scene, when Crom-<br /> well reverses in characteristic manner the sentence<br /> of the court—will probably be reproduced as they<br /> stand. It will be the first time that Cromwell<br /> has ever been the chief personage in a drama.<br /> Heretofore he has appeared as a “villain,” more<br /> or less comic.<br /> <br /> “The Christian,” founded, of course, on Mr.<br /> Hall Caine’s novel of that name, will be produced<br /> under Mr. Charles Frohman’s management at<br /> the Duke of York’s on the 17th inst., but will<br /> previously be seen at the Shakespeare Theatre,<br /> Liverpool, on the gth.<br /> <br /> 109<br /> <br /> In laying the commemoration stone to mark |<br /> the completion of the Royal Duchess Theatre,<br /> Balham, Mr. Charles Wyndham referred to the<br /> growth of the number of theatres as a significant<br /> sign of the times—the modern spirit of decentrali-<br /> sation. “ Hach new theatre in a new district,”<br /> he said, “ brings a new body of men under the<br /> imperial sway of Art, enrols one more regiment<br /> of volunteers under the banner of the Humanities,<br /> constructs one more entrenched camp against<br /> prejudice and bigotry, builds one more road for<br /> invigorating thought to travel on.” The managers<br /> of central theatres in London were by this decen-<br /> tralisation losing the exclusive right to purvey<br /> dramatic nourishment which they had enjoyed<br /> from the days of Elizabeth to those of Queen<br /> Victoria, and it was difficult to believe they would<br /> ultimately gain far more than they could ever<br /> lose by the competition. The denizens of Greater<br /> London had achieved this result without appeal-<br /> ing to “that craze of the idealist—Government<br /> support.”<br /> <br /> Richmond also has added a theatre to its many<br /> other attractions during the past month. This<br /> is the Theatre Royal and Opera House, which has<br /> been constructed to hold over 1200 persons.<br /> Meanwhile, in the West-end there is some talk<br /> of a new theatre being erected near Oxford-circus,<br /> a site which will be more accessible when the<br /> Central Railway is finished.<br /> <br /> The new play by Mr. Wilson Barrett and Mr.<br /> Louis N. Parker, which is to succeed the present<br /> popular revival of ‘The Silver King” at the<br /> Lyceum, is called “ Man and His Makers.”<br /> <br /> Sir Henry Irving and Miss Ellen Terry are<br /> fulfillimg a provincial tour before leaving for their<br /> visit to America. Mr. and Mrs. Kendal have just<br /> arrive 1 in New York.<br /> <br /> At the Court Theatre, rehearsals are in progress<br /> of “A Royal Family,” a comedy by Captain<br /> Robert Marshall. The part of the heroine in<br /> the new piece will be taken by Miss Gertrude<br /> Elliott.<br /> <br /> A dramatic version of ‘Lorna Doone” has<br /> been secured by Mr. Frank Curzon, lessee of the<br /> Avenue Theatre. The hand to adapt Mr. Black-<br /> more’s famous story is that of an American, Mr.<br /> Algernon Tassin. Mr. Horace Newte, however,<br /> has secured all rights for his version of the story,<br /> with Mr. Blackmore’s consent.<br /> <br /> “Vanity Fair’? has been dramatised by Mr.<br /> Langdon Mitchell for New York, which received<br /> it with marks of favour. The title given to the<br /> play is “The Adventures of Becky Sharp,” and<br /> the leading part is in the hands of Mrs. Maddern<br /> Fiske. Bec ‘ky, however, marries Jos. Sedley.<br /> 110 THE<br /> Another recent successful reception in America<br /> was that accorded to Mr. Jerome K. Jerome’s<br /> new comedy “ Miss Hobbs,” which was pro-<br /> duced at the Lyceum, New York, by Mr.<br /> Charles Frohman, with Miss Annie Russell in<br /> the title part. Mr. Frohman has secured for<br /> America the latest Drury-lane success, “ Hearts<br /> are Trumps.”<br /> <br /> A new opera is being prepared for the Savoy<br /> by Sir Arthur Sullivan and Captain Basil Hood.<br /> At the Lyric a musical comedy entitled “ Flora-<br /> dora,” by Mr. James Davis and Mr. Stuart Leslie,<br /> will be presented on Nov. 8.<br /> <br /> “The Drama of Yesterday and T&#039;o-Day”’ is the<br /> title of Mr. Clement Scott’s book of reminis-<br /> cences, which will be published shortly by Messrs.<br /> Macmillan. These memories go back to the<br /> “forties,” when the old Haymarket was still<br /> lighted by oil and candles, and when Mathews,<br /> Vestris, Mrs. Glover, the Keeleys, Buckstone,<br /> Macready, and Phelps were flourishing.<br /> <br /> Mr. Stephen Phillips’s “ Paolo and Francesca”<br /> will be published in book form by Mr. Lane<br /> before Mr. George Alexander presents it on the<br /> stage of the St. James’s Theatre.<br /> <br /> Mr. Harry Lindsay’s new volume, “ An Up-to-<br /> Date Parson,” is to be published immediately by<br /> Mr. James Bowden. Mr. Lindsay is at present<br /> engaged upon a long novel of Methodist life for<br /> Messrs. Horace Marshall and Son. It is expected<br /> that this latter work will be published in the<br /> spring of next year.<br /> <br /> Mr. Neil Wynn Williams, author of ‘The<br /> Bayonet that Came Home,” “ The Green Field,”<br /> &amp;c., will publish shortly a 6s. volume of original<br /> “Greek Peasant Stories” (Digby and Long).<br /> <br /> Miss Francis Harriet Wood will produce early<br /> this month two new stories called respectively,<br /> * Tabitha’s Ward Vision” and “ Swallow Castle.”<br /> Her publishers are the S.P.C.K.<br /> <br /> Lieut.-Colonel E. Gunter will publish (W.<br /> Clowes and Sons) in October the new edition of<br /> his “ Outlines of Modern Tactics,”’ which has been<br /> brought up to date; he has added Hints on Hill<br /> Fighting and Savage Warfare from recent expe-<br /> rience, Outline Orders, &amp;c.<br /> <br /> “A Bitter Heritage,’ Mr. John Bloundelle-<br /> Burton’s new novel, is the first modern story he<br /> has written for ten years, his last of this nature<br /> having been “ His Own Enemy ” ; but, with other<br /> romances, it is his twelfth story up to now. This<br /> novel, which is one containing a strong plot diffi-<br /> cult of unravelment until the end, is laid in<br /> British Honduras, the hero being a young naval<br /> officer who proceeds to that colony with a view to<br /> discovering what is the true secret. of his birth.<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> The following is the list of Prof. Victor Spiers’<br /> works now in the hands of Messrs. Simpkin and<br /> Marshall: “Short French Historical Grammar<br /> and Etymological Lexicon,” pp. 250, crown 8vo.,<br /> half bound, price 5s.; “ Practical French Primer<br /> for Schools and Colleges,” pp. 194, crown 8vo.,<br /> half bound, price 2s.; “French Vocabularies for<br /> Repetition,” pp. 180, crown 8vo., half bound, price<br /> Is. 6d.<br /> <br /> The “Orange Girl,” by Walter Besant, went<br /> through the first large edition in less than a<br /> fortnight. The second edition is now ready. A<br /> sketch of life in a settlement, by the same author,<br /> will appear in the Leiswre Hour.<br /> <br /> Under the general title of “The New Century<br /> Library,” Messrs. Thomas Nelson and Sons are<br /> about to issue pocket editions of standard novels,<br /> printed on their “ Royal” India paper. The issue<br /> will begin with monthly volumes of Charles<br /> Dickens’ novels, and the works of Thackeray,<br /> Scott, &amp;c., will foHow in due course. The books<br /> will be printed in long primer type, but will<br /> measure only 4} inches by 63 inches and will<br /> be only half an inch thick.<br /> <br /> A new story by Raymond Jacberus, author of<br /> “Common Chords,” “The Wrong Man,” &amp;c.,<br /> entitled “The Hobbledehoys” will be published<br /> shortly by Messrs Jarrold and Son. Raymond<br /> Jacberus will also contribute the serial story to<br /> Sunshine magazine in 1900.<br /> <br /> Mme. Elodie L. Mijatovich, wife of the Servian<br /> Minister, is the author of a series of Servian Folk-<br /> lore stories, which will be published in one volume<br /> this month by the Columbus Company.<br /> <br /> E. Livingston Prescott’s new military novel is<br /> to be produced on Oct. 3 by Simpkin, Marshall,<br /> <br /> and Co. Its title is ‘Illusion: A Romance of<br /> Modern Egypt.”<br /> — ec<br /> CORRESPONDENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I.—FictTion-wRITINnG As A BUSINEsS.<br /> <br /> OES it occur to some of the failures who<br /> write to you that some men make a<br /> tolerable income out of fiction alone?<br /> <br /> Personally, I started as a journalist and proved<br /> myself eminently incompetent. At the present<br /> moment if I do write an article, I do it<br /> badly, and at the cost of prodigious labour.<br /> But fiction comes more easily to me, and<br /> in financial return has already brought me<br /> £4000 during this current year. I do not live<br /> in London, neither do I log-roll. I am not<br /> conscious of knowing a single human being who<br /> writes reviews. But I take note of what the<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> public wants, and I supply it to the best of my<br /> ability. In one point I quite agree with your<br /> former correspondents. I never consider that I<br /> am adequately remunerated. I should much<br /> prefer £8000 or £16,000. In fact, I could<br /> enjoy £32,000. But in the meanwhile £4000<br /> does not seem bad earning (for three-quarters of<br /> a year) for a man who much prefers (and<br /> employs) enjoyment to labour.<br /> YACHTSMAN.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> IL—EncouraGEMENT FoR Youne AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> One who has suffered many things in the<br /> up-hill struggle to earn bread by her pen must<br /> feel deep sympathy with Mr. Julian Croskey in his<br /> “blind hopes” of succeeding as an author. But<br /> is he not rather forgetting that blind hopes and<br /> vain dreams belong to all struggles of the sort,<br /> and that there is no open door or easy road into<br /> any remunerative labour field unless influence or<br /> the Lucky Spoon belongs to the aspirant F<br /> <br /> I venture to give a little of my own experience<br /> as encouragement for young authors.<br /> <br /> I began literary work without experience and<br /> vyithout influence. I had MS. rejected again and<br /> again; and but for “ bairns’ bread ” depending<br /> on my efforts I must have given up the unequal<br /> fight.<br /> <br /> My work I know was crude, and I am not<br /> blaming the editors for rejecting it—though I<br /> often proved they had not turned a leaf of the<br /> MS. submitted !<br /> <br /> A secret conviction that I could originate<br /> “copy” equal to the usual magazine material<br /> kept my courage going, and eventually I have<br /> disposed of work at a very good rate. Had my<br /> health and other duties allowed continuous work<br /> I could have realised from £400 to £500 a year<br /> by what I call “ hack-work.”<br /> <br /> I have seldom been able to revise my work as I<br /> could wish, or give the best that was “in me,”<br /> for the simple reason that my stories had to be<br /> potboilers, written and sent off in dire haste. Yet<br /> T have not found it difficult to earn money by<br /> journalistic writing.<br /> <br /> Where I have met difficulty has been with<br /> publishers of books, not editors of magazines and<br /> newspapers, who, as a rule, [ find most courteous<br /> and obliging.<br /> <br /> I have never published a volume at my own<br /> risk. I hold that an author is not wise to “ risk”<br /> when a publisher refuses tv do so.<br /> <br /> I have had some thirty volumes issued by<br /> various publishers. The contents of these books<br /> were almost altogether reprints, and for copy-<br /> right of these I have never received over £40; m<br /> most cases about £20; in some cases £0! Some<br /> of these books are in the third edition, which<br /> <br /> II!<br /> <br /> perhaps proves that I would not have erred if I<br /> had “ risked” oa my own account.<br /> <br /> For serial tales I have received as much as<br /> £150 for first issue (copyright mine).<br /> <br /> I advise young authors without means to<br /> content themselves with hack-work till their<br /> genius disovers itself m some magnum opus<br /> which will bring the publishers to the author’s<br /> feet.<br /> <br /> I believe there is always a modest income in<br /> journalistic work for an intelligent and cultured<br /> person to whom the “ gift of the pen,” if not the<br /> ‘‘ divine afflatus,” belongs.<br /> <br /> What I say does not of course apply anyhow<br /> to the host of persons afilicted with a common<br /> disease known as “see-myself-in-print.” To<br /> those individuals must come at last the know-<br /> ledge that they are (as Mr. Julian Croskey puts it)<br /> “mentally competent for nothing but the lowest<br /> form of manual labour.” The despairing wails<br /> of such must not be mistaken for the “ agonising”<br /> of struggling genius.<br /> <br /> Is not three years a very short period to allow<br /> for experimenting in the trade of an author ?<br /> All skilled workmen have to pass through a long<br /> apprenticeship and do not always find employment<br /> at their command before they become adepts at<br /> their trade, secure of a good income. Please, Mr.<br /> Julian Croskey, like “ Oliver,” I “ ask for more’<br /> time before giving up authorship in despair.<br /> <br /> JMS<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Ill.—* On Tue Srpe or Farivre.”<br /> <br /> “Self! Self! All for self, and let estimable<br /> virtue go hang,” says “ L. 8.” in the September<br /> number of The Author. Surely the pen that<br /> wrote those words must have been dipped in the<br /> gall of an unhappy personal experience.<br /> <br /> The present writer’s goosequill could tell a<br /> different story. Three, at least, of those whose<br /> names have become household words among chil-<br /> dren of the pen have bestowed upon it helpful<br /> advice, besides kindly encouraging words.<br /> <br /> For the scribblers in earnest the only road to<br /> success lies through drudgery and pertinacity,<br /> hardening the heart meanwhile against dis-<br /> appointment. For the mere dabblers who are<br /> spurred to write from vanity or desire for filthy<br /> lucre, advice is and must be useless.<br /> <br /> One thing is certain, namely, that estimable<br /> virtue need never go hang if it makes up its mind<br /> <br /> to live. SM. C.B.<br /> <br /> —o<br /> <br /> TV.—Tue Proression oF LETTERS.<br /> When a successful novelist—and we presume<br /> that Annabel Gray, the author of “Forbidden<br /> Banns,” &amp;c., does not wish to be classed as a<br /> failure—asserts as a fact that the only way to<br /> I12<br /> <br /> succeed is to pay for paragraphs, 7.e., puffs in<br /> papers, the inference seems obvious, but good<br /> feeling and fellowship prevent us from comment-<br /> ing too much on it, as she no doubt meant well,<br /> and wrote in the interests of those who are<br /> failures that they might not be too much out of<br /> conceit of themselves.<br /> <br /> For the encouragement of those who have not<br /> even perhaps obtained a footing on the first rung<br /> of the ladder, I will say that all the MSS. of<br /> mine that have been accepted have been so with-<br /> out either influence or interest by editors who are<br /> unknown to me. I do not say it to boast, for<br /> alas! the rejected outnumber the accepted to<br /> an appalling extent. Ihave heard many an un-<br /> welcome and disheartening thud in the letter-box,<br /> and expect to hear many more, but I do not let<br /> that discourage me, for I mean to keep on till I do<br /> succeed, and if life and health are granted me I<br /> know I shall in the end. I will say this, that all<br /> the work of mine that has been published has been<br /> paid for, for I have never allowed any of my MSS.<br /> to appear on other terms. Those who think to<br /> make headway by permitting their early writings<br /> to appear without remuneration, are, I consider,<br /> taking an unfair advantage of the ones who are<br /> dependent on their literary earnings, and I ques-<br /> tion whether they themselves benefit much by it.<br /> <br /> Marearita.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> V.—Is LireratuRE A PRecARIoUS PROFESSION ?<br /> <br /> In the majority of cases I should certainly<br /> reply, Yes—and I give my own experience as an<br /> example. Forty-one years ago I sold my first<br /> book, obtainmg £150 for it. The book was a<br /> success, and went through three editions. I was<br /> then written to by the editors of two magazines,<br /> asking me to write articles for them, and during<br /> several years I was a frequent contributor to such<br /> periodicals as Chambers’s Journal, the St. James’s<br /> Magazine, the Cornhill Magazine, Temple Bar,<br /> Beeton’s Boy’s Own Magazine, Routledge’s Every<br /> Boy’s Magazine, and others. During twenty<br /> years upwards of 250 of my articles were pub-<br /> lished and paid for.<br /> <br /> During the same period I wrote ten books, all<br /> of which I sold. My best year realised £250<br /> and my worst £80.<br /> <br /> Then I was compelled to go to India, where<br /> writing was impossible, and was absent seven<br /> years. On my return to England, I found that<br /> some magazines to which I used to contribute<br /> had new editors, others had ceased to exist. I<br /> sent articles to various magazines, the editors of<br /> which had formerly asked me to contribute. After<br /> six or eight months these articles (on my inquiry)<br /> were returned, “with thanks”; when another<br /> article was sent the same results followed.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Two MS. books were sent to various publishers,<br /> but were returned with the remark that they had<br /> so many MS. on hand that they could not pay<br /> for mine. The climax was reached, however,<br /> when a literary agent informed me by a circular<br /> that he had exceptional means of disposing of<br /> authors’ MS.; his charge was one guinea, to<br /> accompany the MS., and a percentage on the sale<br /> <br /> price. I forwarded to him my MS. and one<br /> guinea. On the title page I gave the titles of<br /> <br /> four of my published works. After three months<br /> the agent returned my MS. with the remark that<br /> he regretted he could not get publishers to look<br /> at the first work of an author.<br /> <br /> It may be argued that my seven years’ absence<br /> from England had lost me my literary connection,<br /> but illness, and consequently inability to write,<br /> during even one-third of the time, might produce<br /> the same results, and we have here a lesson for<br /> would-be authors, who should not remain too<br /> long hidden from the public, and should keep in<br /> touch with editors and publishers.<br /> <br /> Had I been dependent on my pen, I should<br /> now be in the workhouse.<br /> <br /> The great drawback at present is over-produc-<br /> tion. There are hundreds of amateurs who,<br /> desirous of calling themselves authors, will pay<br /> publishers for publishing their books, hence a<br /> mass of rubbish floods the circulating libraries.<br /> <br /> The monthly magazine, too, is a formidable rival<br /> to the book, and few writers can command such<br /> high prices for magazine articles as to make<br /> literature a paying profession.<br /> <br /> To make money by one’s pen is certainly fasci-<br /> nating, but, except in a few successful cases, the<br /> disappointments are great: hence it is, in my<br /> opinion, that the life of the average author is not<br /> a happy one. C.<br /> <br /> [Illness or seven years’ absence would effectually<br /> destroy a clrentile in any other profession. The<br /> writer does not recognise the two main facts ;<br /> (1) that there are great prizes in literature; (2)<br /> that many hundreds or thousands live and thrive<br /> by the pen.—Ep. |<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> VI.— Sate or Seconp-ciass Novets.<br /> <br /> In reply to M ’s criticism in the September<br /> number of The Author I would point out that<br /> obviously publishers do not take up work on<br /> which they anticipate a loss; it would not be<br /> necessary to pay a literary adviser to help them<br /> to do that. If ‘well-known authors” only com-<br /> manded a sale of 400 copies, their agents would<br /> never get them a substantial advance on account<br /> of royalties. But their agents do. There is no<br /> dead level of sales of “first books.” It is incon-<br /> venient to mention works in this connection, but:<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> anyone who calls to mind a list of such books will<br /> see how the movement of them varies from sales<br /> that are practically null to brilliant success.<br /> Expenditure on advertisements will not make a<br /> public for a book; the question is, to what class<br /> or classes of readers will the work thoroughly<br /> appeal. This is a matter for a publisher’s judg-<br /> ment, and his reader’s report ought to help him.<br /> “Mr. Guddle” would trust to his judgment in cal-<br /> culating sales. I repeat that if he had anticipated<br /> a loss he would have declined the book for that<br /> reason.<br /> <br /> It is a matter of common experience that the<br /> rejection of a manuscript by four firms has<br /> nothing to do with the opinion which the fifth<br /> may form of it, or with the success of the book<br /> when published.<br /> <br /> Your correspondent wishes to know in effect<br /> how I came by the materials of the story. I can<br /> assure him that it is entirely founded on hard<br /> facts, but I think he will appreciate the reasons<br /> why I refrain from communicating details.<br /> <br /> I did not read the letter of “A Publisher” in<br /> Literature of Jan. 21, to which your correspon-<br /> dent refers. Mo.Lecvte.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> VIL.—LitERATURE AS A PROFESSION.<br /> <br /> The contribution under this heading signed<br /> “X.” in the last number of The Author, strongly<br /> supported as it was by Mr. Julian Croskey’s<br /> gloomy personal experience of Literature as a<br /> trade or profession, is certainly calculated to<br /> make young literary aspirants pause before<br /> embarking on this perilous sea.<br /> <br /> None but the few popular novelists, able always<br /> to secure “ serial rights,” will deny that Literature<br /> at the best is still, as in the days of Sir Walter<br /> Scott, a crutch rather than a support, and there<br /> are a vast horde of trained and educated men and<br /> women able and willing to write on any and every<br /> subject if only publishers will publish and the<br /> public will buy. And the tendency of things—<br /> mainly caused by free and compulsory education<br /> —is to increase what is undoubtedly a crying<br /> evil from the standpomt of the professional<br /> author.<br /> <br /> At the same time I cannot but think that “ X.”<br /> weakens his case by over-stating it. There is<br /> little sense in abusing Tennyson because he<br /> happens to be the one poet of our time who was<br /> fortunate enough to turn his rhymes into golden<br /> guineas. It does not detract from the genius of<br /> Dickens or Thackeray that they are popular and<br /> successful. It seems to me that the case of<br /> authorship as a profession may be stated thus:<br /> The vast majority of literary men and women<br /> barely make an existence by the pen, and certainly<br /> not by writing books ; a large and perhaps, as Sir<br /> <br /> 143<br /> <br /> Walter Besant maintains, steadily increasing class<br /> of writers can earn fairly good wages; while now<br /> and again (outside of serial fictionists) a singu-<br /> larly fortunate man or woman, either with dis-<br /> tinct originality and literary genius, or with that<br /> peculiar and felicitous commonplaceness which<br /> exactly answers to the needs of vast half-educated<br /> crowds, may achieve both fame (or notoriety) and<br /> fortune.<br /> <br /> What I think “X” quite overlooks is the<br /> increasing evanescence of all literary works, so<br /> that a modern writer, like an actor, must in<br /> future make a “ hit”’ on his appearance, or stand<br /> a good chance of being utterly ignored. A book<br /> is now, as a rule, merely a bound uewspaper<br /> which is thrown aside and forgotten when it has<br /> been hastily read. A. Parcuerr Marru.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> VIII.—Usetess Reviews.<br /> <br /> I am anew writer, and have just published my<br /> second book, and I have read with great interest<br /> what the Society of Authors has published<br /> regarding the methods of publishing. There is,<br /> however, one point that seems to me obscure.<br /> With my first book, an expensive one, there was<br /> a debit of over fifty copies sent for review. With<br /> my later book, a six-shilling one, there will pro-<br /> bably be far more. What I do not understand<br /> is why so many copies are wasted. There are a<br /> certain number of weeklies whose reviews are<br /> carefully written, and whose notice, whether<br /> praise or blame, is worth noting. There are a<br /> smaller number of dailies, of which the same may<br /> be said, some in London,and some in the provinces.<br /> But with a great number of papers, especially<br /> country papers, it is clearly the fact that the<br /> reviews are written either by the daughter of the<br /> editor as a holiday task or by the office boy in<br /> intervals of boot blacking. It is quite impossible<br /> to believe that any readers of books can be<br /> influenced by notices in these papers, whether<br /> favourable or the reverse. It is indeed even less.<br /> flattering to be praised by them than to be<br /> blamed. Then why are the review copies sent ?<br /> A soap or a bicycle if good gets a sale without<br /> touting for gratuitous advertisements of such a<br /> nature. Why should authors or publishers<br /> so degrade themselves by touting, i.e., by sending<br /> free copies, when the gratuitous “ad.” is worth-<br /> less? To those papers which deal in literature,<br /> and whose word is worth having, it may be useful<br /> to send a copy, useful both for the writer and the<br /> paper. But the others? No one cares for what<br /> they say, then why send review copies? I<br /> suppose the publishers have some sort of an idea<br /> that it helps the sale of the book to get the<br /> suffrage of the Slocum Gazette. But does it?<br /> 1I4<br /> <br /> It used to be said that an appreciative review in<br /> the Times would sell an edition; how many<br /> copies will the North Thule Advertiser sell,<br /> even if it declares the book “a superb revelation<br /> of innate soulfulness ” ?<br /> <br /> W.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> IX.—A Correction.<br /> <br /> As the writer of the second letter in last<br /> month’s correspondence, I must amiably protest<br /> against one’s experiences being dubbed “ illu-<br /> sions.” (By-the-bye, on p. 94, for lines read<br /> hints.) The writer is proud to be referred to as<br /> he, but that is an illusion, if you please, as also<br /> the supposition that the unresponsive popular<br /> author spoken of is a leading man of letters.<br /> <br /> No, no! Men and editors are the queerest<br /> things out, but I dare not lay to their charge the<br /> accusation of “petty jealousy.” Neither can I<br /> gracefully and humbly retire to a back seat fully<br /> convinced that my work must perforce be bad,<br /> because — well, because it occasionally gets<br /> returned by mistake !<br /> <br /> L. 8.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> X.—An Experience or Epirors.<br /> <br /> Some years ago I published a number of short<br /> poems, under a nom de plume, in a high-class<br /> continental monthly magazine, now, owing to the<br /> death of the lady who owned and edited it, unfor-<br /> tunately defunct. A selection of these I sub-<br /> mitted to the editor of Hearth and Home, hoping<br /> he would present them to English readers.<br /> <br /> In due course I received from him three memo-<br /> randa of acceptation.<br /> <br /> Time, however, passed without bringing about<br /> the publication of the matter in question; so<br /> that, eventually, I decided to wait no longer, but<br /> to recover the verses with a view to their appear-<br /> ance under an editor less procrastinating.<br /> <br /> I despatched my reclaimed “copy” to the<br /> editor of the Young Man, Young Woman, &amp;c.,<br /> together with, as evidence of bona fides, the<br /> memoranda of acceptance from the editor of<br /> Hearth and Home. These I naturally asked<br /> him to return. Verses and memoranda were sent<br /> to the editor mentioned on Oct. 19, 1898.<br /> <br /> On Nov. 29, 1898, on Jan. 5 and 24, on Feb. 6<br /> and 20, 1899, and lastly, early in July this year,<br /> I have requested to learn the fate of the verses,<br /> their return if unsuitable, and, in particular, the<br /> return of the memoranda from the editor of<br /> Hearth and Home. Each and all of my com-<br /> munications have been completely ignored.<br /> <br /> Herezert W. Smite.<br /> <br /> Derbyshire-road, Sale.<br /> <br /> [This letter has been submitted to the Secre-<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> tary. He points out that the writer has no proof<br /> that his MSS. ever reached the editor’s hand. It<br /> is not likely that he would remember receiving<br /> one out of many hundreds of MSS. coming daily<br /> to his office. A reply, however, would be<br /> courteous. Meanwhile, writers in general should<br /> understand that rejected verses are commonly<br /> consigned to the basket.—Eb.]<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> XI.—Dopers 1n JoURNALISM.<br /> <br /> I addressed a letter to a well-known organ of<br /> the halfpenny Press upon what I considered an<br /> interesting topic. A day or so after, the identical<br /> words employed were served up as news. I con-<br /> tend that this is not fair treatment or a practice<br /> to be commended if the journalistic nest is to be<br /> kept clean, as all would desire. Such methods<br /> tend to disgust and alienate the friendly corre-<br /> spondent who is, after all, no mean factor when<br /> a newspaper’s circulation is considered.<br /> <br /> Oup Birp.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> XII.—Simvxttaneous PUBLICATION.<br /> <br /> Jf you think that the information I am about<br /> to ask of you with reference to U.S. copyright<br /> will be useful to many of your readers—as I<br /> fancy it will be—will you kindly answer this<br /> letter in the columns of The Author.<br /> <br /> I have published a few novels and short stories<br /> in London, and have, with mixed feelings, received<br /> the congratulations of friends upon the other<br /> side of the Atlantic, who have seen some of the<br /> short stories reproduced, without any profit to<br /> me, in American papers.<br /> <br /> Finding this compliment unsatisfactory, I have<br /> lately sent typed copies simultaneously to the<br /> U.S. (for a painstaking and enthusiastic relative<br /> to offer) and to Lon«ton editors.<br /> <br /> Result.—Two stories accepted in the U.S., one<br /> of which is already published in a London evening<br /> paper, the other (longer) not yet accepted by the<br /> London magazine to which I sent it, but, so far<br /> as I can judge by previous experiences, likely to<br /> be acceptable there or elsewhere.<br /> <br /> Also.—T wo other short stories accepted on this<br /> side, which have scarcely yet reached the other.<br /> <br /> It seems reasonable to suppose that one of<br /> these four stories may be accepted on both sides.<br /> Indeed (you see how confused I am getting), as<br /> I have already stated, one very short sketch is<br /> accepted in the United States and already pub-<br /> lished here. But in that case the United States<br /> people were told of the circumstance. One or all<br /> of the other three stories accepted by one side<br /> may be taken also on the other.<br /> <br /> If, on one side, story A. is taken by a monthly<br /> magazine, and on the other by a weekly paper, is<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> it necessary that both issue the story on the same<br /> date, week or month, to secure copyright ?<br /> <br /> If a weekly paper issue story A. in October,<br /> while an English magazine expresses an intention<br /> to use it in the Christmas number coming out<br /> about the end of November, what should I do?<br /> <br /> Would the rights of the English magazine be<br /> in any way infringed, practically if not legally ?<br /> Would its editor be morally or legally justified in<br /> considering his offer nullified ?<br /> <br /> In fact, in the case of any average or below-the-<br /> average author, will an interval of a few weeks<br /> between the two publications interest or hurt any-<br /> one ?<br /> <br /> Tf these questions prove of such general interest<br /> as to be worth publication and reply, perhaps you<br /> can add, in the most general terms, some sugges-<br /> tion as to the relative rates of payment on both<br /> sides.<br /> <br /> For example,<br /> rights of a short story here.<br /> on the other side ?<br /> <br /> I get fifteen guineas for serial<br /> What should I ask<br /> <br /> IGNORAMUS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> BOOKS AND REVIEWS.<br /> <br /> (In these columns notes on books are given from reviews<br /> which carry weight, and are not, so far as can be learned,<br /> logrollers.)<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Letters of RicHARD WAGNER TO EMIL HECKEL<br /> and Letters oF RicHARD WAGNER TO WESENDOCK<br /> et. al., translated by William A. Ellis (5s. net each),<br /> ‘present to us,” says Literature, “little more than an<br /> external view of the great musician, of the man harassed by<br /> pecuniary troubles, by rehearsals and productions, by<br /> singers and by constant disappointments” ; yet the details<br /> enhance one’s admiration of Wagner. The letters range<br /> from 1852 to 1883, and “ deserve to be read,” says the<br /> Times, “by every lover of Wagner’s music.” “To English<br /> readers the most interesting part of the book will be the<br /> long letters dated from London in 1855, when Wagner was<br /> engaged as conductor of the Philharmonic concerts.” ‘ No<br /> one desirous of having a sympathetic understanding of<br /> Wagner as a man can afford to pass by these two small<br /> volumes,” says the Daily Chronicle.<br /> <br /> Tue Lire AND CAMPAIGNS OF ALEXANDER LESLIE,<br /> first Earl of Leven, by Charles Sanford Terry (Longmans,<br /> 16s.), is his story of a scion of an Aberdeenshire family who<br /> when scarcely out of his teens went to the Continent to<br /> make his fortune by the sword. Leaving Scotland in 1582,<br /> he came back in 1638 a rich man. “Mr. Terry’s careful<br /> and accurate narrative,” says the Daily News, “ will do<br /> much to rescue Leslie from the charges of greed, and even<br /> of cowardice which have been brought against him.”<br /> <br /> Tue ORANGE Gir, by Walter Besant (Chatto, 63.), is<br /> described by the Spectator as “an interesting romance of<br /> the King’s Bench Prison in the middle of the eighteenth<br /> century. The hero and narrator is the son of a wealthy<br /> merchant, Alderman, and ex-Lord Mayor, turned out of his<br /> father’s house for preferring music to commerce.” “ The<br /> story from first to last does not flag in picturesque spirit<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 115<br /> <br /> and interest,” says the Daily Chronicle. “ Since ‘ Dorothy<br /> Forster’ Sir Walter Besant has not written any novel<br /> surpassing this in the restoration of place, manners, and<br /> tone, nor has he drawn character more convincingly. The<br /> story is very clever and quite uncommon. In all<br /> the author’s writings there is no scene more powerful<br /> than the terrible one of the pillory; or picture more<br /> beautiful than Jenny Wilmot’s dealing with her fellow-<br /> prisoner, the woman who swore away her life.”— World.<br /> “Tike all Sir Walter’s books, this is delightful read-<br /> ing. . We are carried away by admiration for the<br /> vivid insight into this corner of English history here<br /> afforded us, and must congratulate the author on adding to<br /> our library one more success in a field peculiarly his own.”<br /> St. James’s Gazette.<br /> <br /> Tue Actor AND His ART, by Stanley Jones (Downey,<br /> gs. 6d.), is a book of essays which ‘are not likely to<br /> prove pleasant reading to actor-managers, or indeed to<br /> actors generally.” The author prophesies the downfall of<br /> the actor-manager, and believes that the drama will not<br /> advance until the actor again becomes the servant instead<br /> of the master. It is the opinion of the Daily Chronicle<br /> that the book “‘is worthy the attention of professional<br /> performers.”<br /> <br /> Tos Lire oF WintraAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY, by<br /> Lewis Melville (Hutchinson, 32s.), isan “ extremely valuable<br /> work” (Daily Telegraph) which, says the Daily Chronicle,<br /> “ taken in conjunction with Mrs. Ritchie’s reminiscences of<br /> her father, may be said to exhaust the biographical matter<br /> about Thackeray.” The Daily News remarks that of course<br /> Mr. Melville has not had any assistance from Thackeray’s<br /> family, but itis, nevertheless, “ the fullest and most interest-<br /> ing account of Tr ackeray’s career, both public and private,<br /> that has yet been given to the world.”<br /> <br /> TRoopR 3809; A Private Soldier of the Third Republic,<br /> by Lionel Decle (Heinemann, 6s.), deals with the military<br /> system of France, as administered by its officers. ‘‘ Taken<br /> as a whole,” writes Mr. Horace Wyndham in Literature,<br /> “these pages form a grim and terrible picture, and present<br /> a record of things seen and suffered that, to one who is<br /> able to contrast these experiences with those that could<br /> possibly accrue to a private soldier of the English army<br /> during the same period, seems almost impossible to realise.”<br /> “Tt is a clear and careful work, moderate in tone,” says the<br /> Spectator.<br /> <br /> Tue RoMANCE or Lupwic Il. or Bavaria, by Frances<br /> Gerard (Hutchinson, 16s.), is pronounced by the Spectator<br /> to be “readable from end to end,” and by the Daily Tele-<br /> graph to be “ sympathetic, and for that reason interesting.’<br /> “ This most interesting volume,” says the Daily Chronicle,<br /> “may be regarded as a sort of complement to the tragic life<br /> story of the late Empress of Austria,” published a month or<br /> two ago.<br /> <br /> Tue GOVERNMENT oF Municrpauities, by Dorman B,<br /> Baton (Macmillan, 17s. net) has for its object, says Litera-<br /> ture, “to stimulate and guide public opinion throughout the<br /> country in its growing demand for sound, stable, and<br /> reasonably uniform municipal institutions.” It is well-<br /> reasoned and temperate; and “it vividly describes the<br /> chaotic condition of American municipal life, and of<br /> American ideas on municipal matters, which has every where<br /> thrown the gates of the city wide open to the party spoils-<br /> man, and exposes the methods and policy by which he has<br /> hitherto maintained his post of advantage.”<br /> <br /> Wuern Roaurs Faun Ovr, by Joseph Hatton (Pearson,<br /> 6s.), has for hero the notorious Jack Sheppard. ‘The<br /> romance is spirited and dramatic,” says the Daily News,<br /> « with occasional incursions into a Victor Hugo-ish vein of<br /> 116<br /> <br /> philosophy. It is a painstaking and picturesque present-<br /> ment of a most picturesque and lawless age—the early part<br /> of the 18th century.”<br /> <br /> Mammon AnD Co., by E. F. Benson (Heinemann, 6s.), is<br /> .on the whole, says Literature, a novel of mark. In it the<br /> author of “Dodo” “invites us to follow the fortunes of a<br /> little coterie of ‘smart’ people whose time is divided<br /> between intrigue and Stock Exchange speculation.” The<br /> Spectator calls the book “ clever and interesting,’ and says<br /> that Mr. Benson here “ranges himself unmistakably on the<br /> side of the angels.” ‘It is cleverish, it is smart, it has a<br /> background of morality,” says the Daily Chronicle, which<br /> predicts for it popularity.<br /> <br /> Tux Kine’s Mrrror, by Anthony Hope (Methuen, 6s.),<br /> says the Spectator, “in elegance, delicacy, and tact ranks<br /> with the best of the author’s previous novels, while there in<br /> the wide range of its portraiture and the subtlety of its<br /> analysis it surpasses all his earlier ventures.” ‘‘ One is<br /> compelled to admire the manner in which Mr. Hope has<br /> handled his subject,” says the Times. “ The autobiography<br /> is in its way a convincing tour de force, especially in the<br /> earlier chapters.” ‘‘A strong book, charged with close<br /> analysis and exquisite irony,’ is the Daily Chronicle<br /> verdict, while Literature, describing the work as “ a quiet<br /> and careful study of the private life of a king,” adds that<br /> Mr. Hope “has never spoken to us so directly from<br /> the point of view of the cynic and the philosopher” as<br /> in this book. “It is subtly done,” says the Daily News,<br /> “with a delicate inciseness of touch, felicity of dialogue, and<br /> distinction of treatment.”<br /> <br /> To Lonpon Town, by Arthur Morrison (Methuen, 6s.),<br /> the story of a widow and her two children who come to<br /> East London that the boy may learn a trade, is reviewed by<br /> Mr. W. L. Courtney in the Daily Telegraph under the<br /> heading ‘‘ Mr Morrison—the Idealist.” The writer says the<br /> book shows that the author has “the eye to observe how<br /> nature is justified of her children, and provides the com-<br /> pensating joys to all their heartrending hardships.” The<br /> Daily News also notes “a charm, a sunny optimism” in the<br /> book, and has “nothing but praise to give to Mr. Morrison<br /> for the literary excellence of his workmanship and his<br /> clearness of presentation.” The Daily Chronicle describes<br /> it as a work of interest, while the Spectator says “ itis not<br /> only a work of great intrinsic merit, but it effectually<br /> relieves the author from the imputation ” “ of conscious and<br /> incorrigible pessimism.”<br /> <br /> SrrEN City, by Benjamin Swift (Methuen, 6s.), is the<br /> story of the infatuation of the romantic daughter of a rich<br /> Puritanical English banker for a shady, impoverished scion<br /> of Neapolitan nobility, fast bound in the hands of usurers<br /> and Camarristas. Literature says that “not only in<br /> purity and simplicity of style, but in verisimilitude of plot<br /> and soundness of psychology” this book shows a remarkable<br /> advance on the author’s ‘‘Tormentor.” ‘On the whole,”<br /> says the Daily Telegraph, “the dénowement of this<br /> briliantly-written story is satisfactory, for it rewards<br /> virtue and punishes vice in the good old fictional fashion.”<br /> “There is in it so much beauty of description, chapters of<br /> so much tragic pathos,” says the Daily News, “that it<br /> stands out high above the run of ordinary novels.”<br /> <br /> Tur PATH or A Star, by Mrs. Everard Cotes (Sarah<br /> Jeannette Duncan) (Methuen, 6s.) is cheerful reading, says<br /> the Times. ‘“ The characters all talk brightly, and the<br /> pictures of ordinary Indian society are good.” The<br /> Chronicle welcomes a novel by this author as “a real joy<br /> and refreshment to the spirit,’ and very cordially recom-<br /> mends it. The scene is laid in Calcutta; the heroines<br /> are a Salvation Army lass and an actress, and the heroes a<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> rich business man and an austere clergyman. Mrs. Coteg<br /> has availed herself to the full of the picturesque oppor-<br /> tunities thus provided, says Literature. ‘“ Her sketches of<br /> Indian life are admirable, and in her description of a touring<br /> company in Calcutta and the Salvation Army and its<br /> methods there is no little humour.”<br /> <br /> CHRONICLES OF TEDDY’s VILLAGE, by Mrs. Murray<br /> Hickson (Ward and Lock, 3s. 6d.), provides the many<br /> sympathetic readers of “ Concerning Teddy” with a com-<br /> panion or complementary volume. ‘‘ We are glad to meet<br /> Teddy again,’ adds the Spectator. ‘“ Teddy and his<br /> brothers are always good companions,” says the Times.<br /> <br /> Tue Human Boy, by Eden Phillpotts (Methuen, 6s.),<br /> ‘is a wonderfully good collection of schoolboys’ stories<br /> (Guardian) told by themselves ; as full of humour as it can<br /> hold.” It is difficult to realise that the book was not<br /> really written by boys, says the Spectator, “so completely<br /> has the author entered into their spirit.” ‘‘ His boys are<br /> individuals as well as types,’ says the Daily Chronicle ;<br /> “there is no sloppy sentimentality about them, and they<br /> never appear to be straining desperately to say anything<br /> funny or pathetic.”<br /> <br /> THE VINE-DRESSER, and other Poems, by J. Sturge<br /> Moore (Unicorn Press, 6d.), ‘“‘ is something more than minor<br /> poetry,” in the opinion of Literature. ‘The verse has<br /> power and distinction, and the poet has something to say.”<br /> The reviewer quotes “ Judith,” and “ The Panther” as<br /> pieces which compel attention by their imaginative force.<br /> The Times says that ‘‘ Mr. Moore’s is an austere and rather<br /> a stiff-jointed muse, but she is of the true lineage.’ The<br /> Daily Chronicle says ‘‘ Mr. Moore has a small stiff gift, but<br /> it will support exaggerated praise.”<br /> <br /> PUNCHINELLO (Bowden, 6s.) ‘is a well-written romance<br /> of a tragical complexion,” says the Spectator. The narrator<br /> is a musical genius and a hunchback; the period, the<br /> eighteenth century. It is an interesting and clever study<br /> of a morbidly sensitive temperament, in presenting which<br /> the anonymous writer displays a gift of genuine eloquence,<br /> and at times real subtlety of imagination.” The Guardian<br /> remarks that “ the tragedy of the inner consciousness of the<br /> hunchback is dramatised with remarkable force, sincerity,<br /> and subtlety.”<br /> <br /> Tue Moprern Jew, by Arnold White (Heinemann,<br /> 7s. Od.), “goes over most of the perils raised by that<br /> enigmatic figure, the modern Jew, and gives many facts<br /> and suggestions” says Literature, “of some value in<br /> enabling the reader to come to a judgment.” The Daily<br /> Chronicle describes it as “a most interesting and sugges-<br /> tive book,” which is neither pleasant reading all through to<br /> Jew nor anti-Semite.<br /> <br /> CroquEtT, by Leonard B. Williams (Innes, §s.), is<br /> “valuable, very clear, and moderately—often uncon-<br /> sciously—humorous,” says the Guardian. “ It is agreeably<br /> written,” says the Spectator, “ and furnished with diagrams<br /> both of ground and tactics, and of the mechanical laws<br /> involved in the different strokes.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Mr. J. Eveleigh Nash,<br /> <br /> LITERARY AGENT,<br /> AMBERLEY HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET<br /> <br /> STRAND, W.C.	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/467/1899-11-01-The-Author-10-6.pdf	publications, The Author
468	https://historysoa.com/items/show/468	The Author, Vol. 10 Issue 06 (November 1899)	<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.+10+Issue+06+%28November+1899%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 06 (November 1899)</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>	1899-11-01-The-Author-10-6					117–136																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=10">10</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1899-11-01">1899-11-01</a>							6			18991101	Che Hutbor,<br /> <br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors.<br /> <br /> Monthly.)<br /> <br /> CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br /> <br /> Vou. X.—No. 6.]<br /> <br /> NOVEMBER 1, 189.<br /> <br /> [PRIcE SIXPENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> For the Opinions expressed in papers that are<br /> signed or tnitialled the Authors alone are<br /> responsible. None of the papers or para-<br /> graphs must be taken as expressing the<br /> collective opinions of the Committee unless<br /> they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br /> Thring, Sec.<br /> <br /> Pes<br /> <br /> HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br /> remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br /> requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br /> <br /> important communications within two days will write to him<br /> without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br /> Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br /> letter only.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br /> all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br /> jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br /> returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br /> <br /> eo<br /> GENERAL MEMORANDA.<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. THAT OF SELLING IT OUTRIGHT.<br /> <br /> This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br /> price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br /> managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the<br /> Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> Il. A PROFIT-SHARING AGREEMENT (a bad form of<br /> agreement).<br /> <br /> In this case the following rules should be attended to:<br /> <br /> _ (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br /> duction forms a part without the strictest investigation.<br /> <br /> (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br /> profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements<br /> in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise-<br /> ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements.<br /> <br /> (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “ office expenses,”<br /> unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br /> <br /> : G) 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 /> <br /> As — bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> VOL, X.<br /> <br /> Ill, THE ROYALTY SYSTEM.<br /> <br /> It is above all things necessary to know what the<br /> proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible<br /> for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly<br /> the truth. From time to time the very important figures<br /> connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br /> Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br /> “Cost of Production.”<br /> <br /> IV. A COMMISSION AGREEMENT.<br /> <br /> The main points are :—<br /> <br /> (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production.<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 /> <br /> nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or<br /> withheld.<br /> <br /> ees<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I. EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to<br /> the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some<br /> competent legal authority.<br /> <br /> 2. Never negotiate for the production of a play with<br /> anyone except an established manager.<br /> 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract :—<br /> <br /> (1) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT.<br /> This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters<br /> into such a contract should stipulate in the con-<br /> tract for production of the piece by a certain date<br /> and for proper publication of his name on the<br /> play-bills.<br /> <br /> (2) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE<br /> TO PERFORM ON THE PROFIT-SHARING SYSTEM.<br /> This method can only be entered into when a<br /> fixed sum is agreed per week for cost of produc-<br /> tion. It is not a common method.<br /> <br /> mM 2<br /> 118<br /> <br /> (3) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE<br /> TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES<br /> (4.e., royalties) on gross receipts. Royalties vary<br /> between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should<br /> obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross<br /> receipts. Should obtain a sum in advance of<br /> royalties. A fixed date on or before which the<br /> play should be performed.<br /> <br /> 4. 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 /> 5. Authors should not assign performing rights, but<br /> should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is<br /> of great importance.<br /> <br /> 6. 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 /> 7. Never send a copy of the play to America unless it is<br /> protected by a preliminary performance in the United<br /> Kingdom.<br /> <br /> 8. Never forget that American rights may be exceedingly<br /> valuable. They should never be included in English<br /> agreements without the author obtaining a substantial<br /> consideration.<br /> <br /> g. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully<br /> drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced.<br /> Never admit a collaborator when once the actual work of<br /> writing the play has begun or after it is finished.<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.<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 are<br /> referred to the Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> ————<br /> <br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> 1. VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br /> advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br /> lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br /> <br /> business or the administration of his property. If the<br /> <br /> advice sought is such as can be given best by a solici-<br /> tor, the member has a right to an opinion from the<br /> <br /> Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s<br /> <br /> opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for<br /> <br /> him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the<br /> member.<br /> <br /> 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br /> and publisher’s agreements do not generally fall within the<br /> experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br /> to use the Society.<br /> <br /> 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past<br /> accounts with the loan of the books represented. The<br /> Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new<br /> or old, for inspection and note. The information thus<br /> obtained may prove invaluable.<br /> <br /> 4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br /> posed document to the Society for examination.<br /> <br /> 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you<br /> are fighting the battles cf other writers, even if you are<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing<br /> the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen.<br /> dence of the writer.<br /> <br /> 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of<br /> members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br /> safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br /> fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who<br /> will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :—(1)<br /> To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To<br /> stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon<br /> them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments<br /> due according to agreements.<br /> <br /> _—_— or<br /> <br /> THE READING BRANCH.<br /> <br /> %%MBERS will greatly assist the Society in this<br /> branch of their work by informing young writers of<br /> its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated<br /> <br /> as a composition is treated by a coach. The Readers are<br /> writers of competence and experience. The fee is one<br /> guinea,<br /> <br /> ee<br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> <br /> HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br /> Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br /> of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br /> <br /> heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br /> many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br /> 6s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br /> <br /> Communications for The Author should be addressed to<br /> the Offices of the Society, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn<br /> Fields, W.C., and should reach the Editor not later than the<br /> 21st of each month.<br /> <br /> All persons engaged in literary work of any kind,<br /> whether members of the Society or not, are invited to<br /> communicate to the Editor any points connected with their<br /> work which it would be advisable in the gen interest to<br /> publish.<br /> <br /> The present soon Authors’ Club is at 3, White-<br /> hall-court, Chari ossay Ad, he Secretary for<br /> information, rules of admission<br /> <br /> ERARY PROPERTY.<br /> <br /> I.—Tur Present Siruation.<br /> <br /> HE present situation is full of promise—for<br /> those who desire the emancipation of the<br /> author. It was necessary that he should<br /> <br /> be able to meet the publisher, in business matters,<br /> on equal terms. Since he cannot do so, as a rule,<br /> we have encouraged him to use the literary agent.<br /> For the first time in literary history literary<br /> property of all kinds has begun to be negotiated<br /> on the same footing, subject to the same compe-<br /> tition, as every other kind of property. The<br /> exposure by the Society of the true meaning of<br /> <br /> Cost of Production, of Risk, of Trade Prices, —<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> of Royalties; the exposure of the many tricks<br /> by which authors have been ensnared to their<br /> undoing ; the union of so many men and women<br /> of letters for the defence of their own interests ;<br /> the newborn recognition of the fact that it is the<br /> absolute duty of every writer to join an associa-<br /> tion which has no other object than the defence<br /> of the common interests; the slow—very slow—<br /> recognition of the truth that commercial value is a<br /> thing quite apart from literary value, so that a<br /> man may be a very fine writer yet may never achieve<br /> popularity, and the converse; the corollary that<br /> there is nothing sordid or mean in looking after<br /> property of one kind more than any other kind ;<br /> that what is done blamelessly and laudably by<br /> artists, lawyers, physicians, architects, engineers,<br /> and every branch of intellectual endeavour, may<br /> be done as blamelessly and as laudably by writers<br /> —all these things working together have effected<br /> —say, perhaps, have commenced —a complete<br /> revolution in the prospects and position of litera-<br /> ture. It is not yet acknowledged. Some of the<br /> old forms are still kept up. But the revolution<br /> is upon us, and the question now before us is<br /> what we should do for the consolidation and the<br /> security of what has been already gained.<br /> <br /> Among many causes which have assisted in<br /> advancing this Revolution, I do not think that<br /> any one has been more potent than the production<br /> of the “equitable” Draft Agreements by the<br /> Publishers’ Association. It is very much to be<br /> desired that every literary man or woman should<br /> possess, and should study, this most important<br /> document, with its exposure by Mr. Thring. In<br /> its columns the Publishers stand self-confessed<br /> and self-condemned. They have never been<br /> accused by their enemies of anything quite so<br /> amazing as they here claim as their nght. For<br /> they simply claim the power of taking everything.<br /> They want to be publishers, and to be paid as<br /> such: to be also agents, and to be paid as such:<br /> to act on commission, and to be paid as<br /> printers: to agree for half profits, and to charge<br /> blank percentages on the printing, paper, and<br /> everything.<br /> <br /> In one word, no one is entitled to speak at all<br /> upon the relation of Publisher and Author unless<br /> he has first read this document, with the com-<br /> ments issued by our Committee.<br /> <br /> But their silence is even more damaging than<br /> their utterances. Thus :—<br /> <br /> 1. Their committee have steadily ignored<br /> every grievance, every claim, and every protest of<br /> the Society of Authors.<br /> <br /> 2. They have taken no steps to prevent the con-<br /> tinuation of secret profits.<br /> <br /> 3. They have not denounced the system of secret<br /> profits, even at a time when Lord Russell’s Bill<br /> <br /> 11g<br /> <br /> promises to make the practice as criminal in the<br /> eyes of the law as it has always been in the eyes<br /> of honest men.<br /> <br /> 4. They have not denounced the practice of<br /> charging advertisements that have not been paid<br /> for. This practice, which actually gives the<br /> publisher the power of sweeping into his own<br /> pocket the whole proceeds of a book, has not even<br /> been mentioned by the Association, so that they<br /> tacitly reserve this power.<br /> <br /> 5. They have observed a significant silence on<br /> the right of audit.<br /> <br /> 6. Although the most shameless attacks have<br /> been made on the Society’s figures concerning its<br /> published “cost of production ”’—which are real<br /> figures taken from estimates and printers’ accounts<br /> —and the meaning of royalties, the Publishers’<br /> Association has preserved absolute silence on the<br /> subject.<br /> <br /> 7. Although similar shameless statements have<br /> been made on the meaning of “risk” as exposed<br /> in the Society’s papers, the Publishers’ Associa-<br /> tion has maintained absolute silence on the<br /> subject.<br /> <br /> These silences are studied and deliberate. The<br /> only conclusion that can be drawn is obvious. It<br /> is like a conclusion in Euclid.<br /> <br /> Against these silences place their claims—<br /> <br /> 1. Thus, they claim the exclusive right of<br /> publishing a work all over the world, with the<br /> rights of abridgement, translation, and dramatic<br /> version of the work. What they get at present<br /> from any important author is the English volume<br /> right alone; an agent manages the rest for a<br /> percentage.<br /> <br /> 2. They make no proviso whatever against<br /> dishonesty.<br /> <br /> 3. They demand a blank percentage on office<br /> expenses, allowing no office expenses for book-<br /> seller, and none for author.<br /> <br /> 4. In the case of commission books, a blank<br /> fee is to be paid in advance; they are to send in<br /> their own estimate of cost—not the printer’s<br /> estimate—their own ; a blank percentage is to be<br /> charged on every item, besides a blank commis-<br /> sion; they are also to take a discount on every<br /> item; the books are to be accounted for, not at<br /> the price they actually realised, but at ‘“ customary<br /> trade prices ”—7.e., at any price that the publisher<br /> chooses to call “customary.” For other claims<br /> see the “ Forms of Agreement” published by the<br /> Society.<br /> <br /> 5. At the Publishers’ Congress recently held,<br /> there was an opportunity for protesting against<br /> inflated estimates and secret profits; there was<br /> also an opportunity for acknowledging that if the<br /> claims of our Society were not recognised in other<br /> 120<br /> <br /> forms of business, the whole of the commercial<br /> structure would fall to the ground.<br /> <br /> That opportunity was not taken.<br /> <br /> 6. The publisher, therefore, stands before the<br /> world, and says: ‘I, the middleman, mean to take<br /> all that I choose. That is equitable. So that<br /> there may be no mistake, read this paper. Here<br /> ure my intentions revealed in agreements which<br /> eminent counsel have approved. You see, I claim<br /> blank percentages. I offer no guarantee against<br /> dishonesty. I claim to charge just whatever I<br /> like. Iclaim that according to equity ; it is my<br /> right to take whatever I choose.”’<br /> <br /> 7. A circular was last year sent round among<br /> | publishers calling attention to the admirable<br /> | system which prevails in Germany, where the<br /> | bookseller is the mere slave of the publisher, and<br /> | the author is not allowed to be concerned with the<br /> | matter of property at all.<br /> <br /> 8. At the Congress every speaker was allowed<br /> the tacit assumption that literary property<br /> belongs as of right to the publisher. If the<br /> author was spoken of, it was as to the ‘‘ remunera-<br /> tion”? offered to him; he was thus openly con-<br /> sidered and spoken of as the clerk or employé of<br /> the publisher.<br /> <br /> These were brave words. Could they be<br /> followed by action there would be swift and<br /> sudden ruin to the literary profession. The old<br /> dependence was mitigated by competition of the<br /> trade. Without competition there would be mere<br /> slavery.<br /> <br /> But they have not been followed by action.<br /> <br /> It is really a most remarkable situation. The<br /> committee which issues these forms contains repre-<br /> sentatives of the three largest publishing houses<br /> in the country. At least one would expect them<br /> to set an example to the rest of the fraternity and<br /> to stand by their guns.<br /> <br /> Not a single publisher, great or small, ventures<br /> to submit these terms to an author of the least<br /> zmportance.<br /> <br /> Here is a proof, which cannot be denied, that<br /> the whole situation lies in the hands of the<br /> authors themselves.<br /> <br /> Ihave seen agreements embodying these claims ;<br /> but they were tried on the less important writers.<br /> There is not a single writer, I repeat, of any<br /> importance, unless he is in the employment and<br /> pay of a publisher, who does not retain, when he<br /> enters upon a profit-sharing or a royalty agree-<br /> ment, his American rights, his continental rights,<br /> his dramatic rights, and his translation rights.<br /> <br /> What, then, becomes of the “equitable” forms<br /> of agreement ?<br /> <br /> They stand simply to show what our friends<br /> will do if we allow them. If we do not allow them<br /> they can do nothing.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Another point. We all remember when the<br /> publisher was not going to deal with the literary<br /> agent: the literary agent was called by one<br /> indignant innocent a “canker”: all sorts of<br /> things were threatened. The literary agent is<br /> now eagerly run after by publishers and entreated<br /> to give them something good.<br /> <br /> In other words, free competition has set in:<br /> the value of Literary Property is understood on<br /> both sides. Nothing could be better for our side.<br /> <br /> Meantime, the Society acts as a watch-dog and<br /> as a policeman. It constantly examines and<br /> revises agreements: it advises authors on all<br /> points: it makes the low-class editors—the word<br /> “low-class” is used advisedly, because the com-<br /> plaints are very few indeed concerning reputable<br /> journals and magazines—pay for the work they<br /> have taken: and it finds out traps, and dangers,<br /> and tricks, and exposes them continually and<br /> repeatedly.<br /> <br /> Another most useful service is rendered by the<br /> Society. The Secretary is asked by hundreds of<br /> members every year concerning publishers. There<br /> are certain houses to which he never directs an<br /> inquirer, for excellent reasons, which have unfor-<br /> tunately to remain secret because the other side<br /> does not wish publicity.<br /> <br /> Let the reader ask himself what the effect of<br /> <br /> this steady omission, year after year, of any given<br /> <br /> house is likely to be. In the Society we know<br /> what it is, and we know, besides, that every year<br /> brings us wider power and greater knowledge.<br /> <br /> It is said that we are now threatened with a Ring.<br /> We need not be greatly afraid that a Ring would<br /> succeed, but it might, and it must be guarded<br /> against. It could only succeed (1) by a combina-<br /> tion of all publishers—this has been attempted ;<br /> (2) by the complete reduction of booksellers to<br /> slavery—this also has been attempted; (3) by<br /> the acquisition of complete control of literary pro-<br /> perty—we have seen that this also has been<br /> attempted ; (4) by the continued ignoring of<br /> authors’ protests—which is maintained by the<br /> Association and by their congress; (5) by the<br /> abolition of the literary agent—this is ardently<br /> desired.<br /> ~ All the conditions necessary for the formation<br /> of a Ring have therefore been attempted and are<br /> still being attempted. Against these attempts<br /> we have the Society of Authors — that and<br /> nothing else—to protect us. W. B.<br /> <br /> II.— Pus isHine oN COMMISSION, AND THE<br /> Commission PUBLISHER.<br /> We have repeated over and over again the ©<br /> advice never under any circumstances to pay for —<br /> the production of what the ordinary publisher<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> a<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 121<br /> <br /> refuses to take. It is a most sound rule. It is<br /> one which needs to be enforced in the strongest<br /> terms, at the present moment, when many pub-<br /> lishers are tempting authors to bear the whole or<br /> a part share in the cost of production. They are<br /> general publishers, and the reasons why this<br /> method is to be shunned are as follows:<br /> <br /> 1. If the book had in it the promise of com-<br /> mercial success the publisher would jump at it,<br /> and the only question would be as to his proposed<br /> terms.<br /> <br /> 2. Although he proposes to take a commission<br /> on the sales he means secretly to make a profit on<br /> every item connected with the book. (See the<br /> Publishers’ Draft Agreements in which this is<br /> claimed asa right.)<br /> <br /> Now consider the position of the commission<br /> publisher. He neither claims nor exercises any<br /> right to make any secret profit at all or any profit<br /> on the production. He says plainly, “T will sell<br /> your book for you if I can: and I will take<br /> 10 per cent. on the sales, and you shall have all<br /> the rest.”<br /> <br /> This, you observe, is a very great difference.<br /> <br /> In the first case the author pays the publisher<br /> not only the cost of production, but anything else<br /> he may choose to set down. He also pays what<br /> he is charge’l for advertisements costing nothing.<br /> <br /> He also has to pay percentages for office<br /> expenses before he gets the commission itself.<br /> <br /> Thus, if the true cost of production is £150,<br /> and the sales amount, say, to £350—by the first<br /> method the author’s returns would probably<br /> appear as about £70. By the second method<br /> they would appear as £165.<br /> <br /> The worthy geitlemen who make the liberal<br /> offers exposed below are those who desire to<br /> publish on commission. They are not commission<br /> publishers.<br /> <br /> The commission publisher is, as will be seen in<br /> a few years, the publisher of the future for those<br /> writers whose works command success. The com-<br /> mission publisher produces no books as his own<br /> yenture, but only on commission.<br /> <br /> TII.—Tuer Orp Trick.<br /> <br /> Once more there has been brought to the Society<br /> the old, old agreement by which the unfortunate<br /> author is first made to pay the whole cost of<br /> production “to cover his whole liability,” and is<br /> then dunned for more money, and finally finds<br /> that there has been no sales.<br /> <br /> In this case the agreement was briefly as<br /> follows :<br /> <br /> 1, Author to pay £69—viz., £39 in signing<br /> the agreement, and £30 on delivery of the final<br /> proofs. The edition to be 750 copies.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 2. The author to be charged for corrections<br /> “in excess of the usual correction of printers’<br /> errors.” The “usual correction” means nothing.<br /> <br /> 3. Half-yearly accounts. Two-thirds of the<br /> money received by the publisher to be paid to<br /> the author. The book to be issued at 6s.<br /> <br /> 4. If new editions should be called for the<br /> publisher would produce them at his own ex-<br /> pense, and give the author a royalty of 2s. a copy,<br /> or 332 per cent. Think of that!!<br /> <br /> 5. The publisher was to advertise the work to<br /> the amount of £15, but should the expenses of<br /> advertising exceed that sum, such additional<br /> advertising were to be a first charge on the sales.<br /> <br /> Now let us consider what the unfortunate<br /> author could make by the transaction, in the<br /> extreme case of the whole edition being sold,<br /> allowing eighty copies for Press and presentation.<br /> <br /> But there are the corrections. In this case a<br /> little bill for £6 or so was sent in. Also the<br /> publishers demanded £7 for “additional adver-<br /> <br /> tising.” By the agreement they can take that<br /> off the sales. So that we now stand thus:<br /> £ &amp; 4d,<br /> Author pays ......ee 69 Sales .........05 117 45.0<br /> Corrections ......-..+++++ 6 &lt;Author’s share 78 3 4<br /> Additional advertising 7 Author’s loss... 3°10 5<br /> £82<br /> <br /> How does the publisher stand by the trans-<br /> action ?<br /> <br /> Tf we take certain figures given in “ The Pen<br /> and the Book,” it will be easy to prove that, even<br /> without the sale of a single copy, the publisher<br /> is certain to make a fair profit.<br /> <br /> How is it that silly people can be caught by<br /> such simple and transparent dodges ?<br /> <br /> 1. To begin with, they are wholly ignorant of<br /> the meaning of publishing.<br /> <br /> 2. If you place in their hands the figures they<br /> are too stupid to understand them.<br /> <br /> 3. They are caught by two phrases contained<br /> in all their agreements. ‘The amount paid to<br /> constitute the whole of their liability.” And<br /> “Future editions to be brought out at the<br /> expense of the publisher giving the author a<br /> royalty of 2s. a copy.”<br /> <br /> 4. They do not understand that under the<br /> heading of corrections the publisher can send ina<br /> bill for anything that he pleases.<br /> <br /> 5. They do not see through the transparent<br /> trick which in the same clause limits the adver-<br /> tising to £15, yet gives the publisher the night<br /> of further charges to any extent he pleases “‘ out<br /> of sales.”<br /> <br /> 6. Lastly, there comes in the vanity of the<br /> author, which seems to vary in the inverse pro-<br /> portion to his own ability, so that the more feeble<br /> 122<br /> <br /> is his performance the more swollen are his<br /> expectations. :<br /> <br /> And so they are caught. The Society publishes<br /> these exposures time after time, over and over<br /> again. Yet the angler baits his hook—* reader’s<br /> opinion most favourable”: “offer most excep-<br /> tional’’: ‘no further liability’: “ two-thirds of<br /> the sales returned”: for new editions, as if the<br /> “new editions with following editions” was<br /> certain, a royalty far above that offered by other<br /> houses. The fish bites: is played with: and<br /> is landed. When it is too late comes the<br /> appeal to the Society, neglected when it would<br /> have been useful, for help when no help is<br /> possible.<br /> <br /> So these fishers of men get on: they even issue<br /> alist. Itis another kind of bait: the list con-<br /> tains hundreds of names. Is there one—a single<br /> name — of an author distinguished or even<br /> known ?<br /> <br /> Can anything be done? Can we ever protect<br /> ignorance and vanity ? Will the readers of these<br /> columns do their best to make known the folly of<br /> producing books which responsible publishers<br /> refuse, with the certainty of a large initial invest-<br /> ment and the equal certainty that under the most<br /> favourable circumstances it is bound to result in<br /> a loss ?<br /> <br /> rec<br /> <br /> PARIS NOTES.<br /> <br /> 5, rue Chomel, Paris.<br /> HE wisdom of the twopence-halfpenny<br /> augmentation on the price of the 3fr. 50¢.<br /> volume has been widely discussed, both in<br /> book-buying and _ bookselling circles. The<br /> aforesaid work, invariably marked 3fr. 5oc., and<br /> as invariably sold for 2fr. 75c., is henceforward<br /> only obtainable at 3 francs net. The cause of<br /> this augmentation is the falling-off of book-buyers<br /> and the consequent loss to the bookseller, who is<br /> no longer content to accept from the publisher a<br /> new work which will only yield him a profit of<br /> two sous per volume. The French publishers, as<br /> a body, have held aloof from the movement,<br /> declaring it to be a matter out of their province,<br /> and one which must necessarily be settled by the<br /> parties principally concerned, viz., the booksellers<br /> and the public. The Maison Flammarion, one of<br /> the largest publishing and bookselling establish-<br /> ments here (and formerly one of the warmest<br /> advocates of a reduction in the existing prices)<br /> at first opposed the additional twopence half-<br /> penny per copy; but, after due reflection, with-<br /> drew its opposition, and registered its vote in<br /> support of the augmentation proposed by the<br /> Booksellers’ Syndicate.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Frencu BooxsELLeRS &#039;N DIFFICULTIES.<br /> <br /> M. Fasquelle, head of the well-known publish-<br /> ing firm of Charpentier, likewise avers that he<br /> regrets the increase on the price of the so-called<br /> 3fr. 50c. volume—though he has not been person-<br /> ally consulted on the matter, having only been<br /> informed of the booksellers’ decision through the<br /> agency of the newspapers. This is the more<br /> surprising since the Maison Charpentier heads, by<br /> a long way, the annual list of sales of the 3fr. 500.<br /> volume, having produced three of the great<br /> pecuniary successes of the year, viz., the “ Paris”<br /> of Zola, the “Cyrano de Bergerac” of Edmond<br /> Rostand, and the ‘Soutien de Famille” of<br /> Alphonse Daudet. Personally M. Fasquelle<br /> would have preferred another method of meeting<br /> the deficit in the bookseller’s account than that<br /> resorted to by the syndicate. Having recently<br /> become concessionnaire of the railway libraries of<br /> the stations “du réseau de l’Ouest,” where the<br /> 3fr. 50c. volume has always previously been sold<br /> at published price, he has announced his intention<br /> of adopting the new price fixed by the Book-<br /> sellers’ Syndicate all along the line, and of hence-<br /> forth selling the volume in question in the Seine<br /> and Seine-et-Oise departments at the reduced<br /> rate of 3 francs per copy. He humorously adds<br /> that this time the public is not likely to complain<br /> of the difference.<br /> <br /> BuaMine THE Bicycle.<br /> <br /> The remainder of the publishers have accepted<br /> the booksellers’ innovation with an tnsoucrance<br /> the publie is far from copying. The reason of<br /> the apathy displayed in publishing circles is<br /> obvious. The outlook in the bookselling trade,<br /> especially in the provinces, is undoubtedly<br /> gloomy. Publishers and booksellers are agreed<br /> that the bicycle is at the bottom of the<br /> mischief, since the development of a taste for<br /> outdoor physical exercise is not conducive to the<br /> development of the nervous, imaginative faculties<br /> fostered by fiction. But to discover the root of<br /> the evil is not to remedy it; and the fact that<br /> the booksellers could not continue to sell at the<br /> existing prices unless the publishers allowed<br /> them a larger commission was evident even to<br /> outsiders. The publishers themselves were ready<br /> to adopt any expedient which would preserve<br /> them from further outlay at the present moment.<br /> Nor can they be blamed on this account zf the<br /> figures furnished by them, and currently accepted<br /> by the public, are correct. The French literary<br /> market is absolutely glutted. The principal<br /> firms are reported to publish, on an average,<br /> fifteen volumes per day, of which a goodly pro-<br /> portion are destined to find a permanent resting-<br /> place in one of the huge warehouses in which the<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. hag<br /> <br /> various publishing firms store up the unsold<br /> editions of the majority of their clients, in the<br /> rarely-realised hope that a future success by the<br /> same author will obtain a tardy market for his<br /> earlier productions. The Maison Flammarion<br /> alone has at present more than a million such<br /> yolumes stored up in its enormous warehouse at<br /> Montrouge. In the seventh century B.c., Omar,<br /> destroyer of the Alexandrine library, was held in<br /> execration by all civilised nations ; but we doubt<br /> if the publishers of the nineteenth century would<br /> regard him in the same light.<br /> <br /> THe Acrors’ ASSOCIATION.<br /> <br /> The committee of the Association générale<br /> des Artistes Dramatiques et Lyriques de Frauce<br /> has now definitely established its bureau at 17,<br /> rue de la Grange-Batelitre (Faubourg Mont-<br /> martre), under the presidency of M. Silvain, of<br /> the Comédie-Francaise, aided by two vice-presi-<br /> dents, viz., M. Armand Silvestre (inspecteur des<br /> beaux-arts) and M. Adolphe Milliaud (directeur<br /> de la Renaissance). M. Edouard Guillaumet,<br /> founder of the Association, has undertaken the<br /> office of General Administrator. The bureau of<br /> the Association is daily open from 9 a.m. to<br /> 5 p-m., and its official organ is the Bulletin des<br /> Artistes, which appears every Sunday morning,<br /> and keeps all members informed of the proceed-<br /> ings of the Association, in addition to supplying<br /> them with much interesting and valuable matter<br /> relative to their profession. The utility of this<br /> institution may be recognised from the fact that<br /> its list of members is daily increasing, and that a<br /> large number of engagements have already been<br /> ratified through its agency. In short, the thanks<br /> and congratulations of the whole artistic fraternity<br /> are due to M. Guillaumet for his praiseworthy<br /> and disinterested initiative on behalf of the<br /> French artiste.<br /> <br /> A Story or DuMaAs PERE.<br /> <br /> Speaking of theatrical matters reminds me of<br /> a charming anecdot2 recently narrated by M.<br /> Jules Claretie anent the revival of the superb<br /> “Dame de Montsoreau”’ of Alexandre Dumas<br /> pere and Auguste Maquet at the Porte-Saint-<br /> Martin Theatre. This “bon Dumas,” this intel-<br /> lectual giant who is credited with having taught<br /> French history to three-quarters of the French<br /> nation, and who boasted of having ‘toute<br /> Pantiquité &amp; faire—ou plutot a refaire, car,<br /> jusqu’ 4 présent, on ne l’a guére que défaite ”—<br /> <br /> was, nevertheless, extremely tenacious of his.<br /> <br /> glory, and insisted on having a contract drawn<br /> <br /> up in which it was expressly stipulated that in all<br /> <br /> the mutual productions of Alexandre Dumas and<br /> <br /> Auguste Maquet, the illustrious name of<br /> VOL. x.<br /> <br /> Alexandre Dumas should alone be given the<br /> public. On the evening of the first representa-<br /> tion of “ Les Trois Mousquetaires ’ Dumas pére<br /> proudly walked the planks of the Ambigu<br /> Theatre in high glee at the tremendous success<br /> his work was achieving, while Auguste’ Maquet<br /> stood aloof in one of the side scenes, pensively<br /> enawing the ends of his moustache. Presently<br /> Dumas approached his anonymous collaborator<br /> and inquired if the latter’s mother chanced to be<br /> present that night. Maquet sadly replied that<br /> she was in one of the second row of boxes.<br /> <br /> “Eh bien!” responded Dumas, “ tout 4 Pheure,<br /> ne perdez pas de vue cette seconde loge. Regardez-<br /> la, je vous prie!”<br /> <br /> On the conclusion of the play the spectators<br /> tumultuously demanded the name of the author.<br /> Mélingue, previously instructed by Dumas in a<br /> rapid aside, forthwith announced that the drama<br /> just represented was the work of M. Alexandre<br /> Dumas and—(a prolonged pause)—M. Auguste<br /> Maquet !<br /> <br /> A double cry grested the latter name, out-<br /> stripping the rapturous applause of the crowd—<br /> the joyous cry of Mme. Maquet and the grateful<br /> ery of her son Auguste The latter threw him-<br /> self into the arms of his generous colleague, who,<br /> clapping him fraternally on the back, gaily<br /> responded :—<br /> <br /> “Eh bien! Etes-vous content? Ce sera comme<br /> ca pour les autres pi¢ces! Allons travailler!”<br /> <br /> The great man probably remembered the far-<br /> off days when he himself worked so assiduously<br /> and untiringly as a poor copying clerk in order<br /> to send a portion of his meagre pittance to his<br /> widowed mother.<br /> <br /> Tur New ACADEMICIANS.<br /> <br /> Passing rapidly along the Grands Boulevards<br /> yesterday, I encountered the keen cursory glance<br /> of “les beaux yeux bridés qui pétillent de malice<br /> et desprit” of M. Henri Lavedan, who recently<br /> quitted his charming retreat at Veules-les-Roses<br /> to assist at the hundred and tenth representation<br /> of “Le Vieux Marcheur” at Paris. According<br /> to the Figaro, this play has been given no less<br /> than 225 times in the brief space of six months.<br /> Of course, this estimate includes the representa-<br /> tions given by the touring company beyond the<br /> French frontier. M. Lavedan has employed his<br /> summer holiday in writing the necessary oration<br /> to celebrate his official reception to the French<br /> Academy. The manuscript is now in the hands<br /> of the Seerétaire Perpctuel of the Immortals, and<br /> is reported to contain a graphic sketch of French<br /> society under the Second Empire.<br /> <br /> M. Paul Deschanel has followed the example<br /> of his illustrious comrade. Headroitly contrived<br /> <br /> N<br /> 124<br /> <br /> to throw the reporters off his track, and then<br /> slipped quietly away to a secluded retreat on the<br /> borders of a Swiss lake in order to compose his<br /> Academical oration undisturbed. Although his<br /> official reception does not take place until<br /> February, 1900, his arducus political duties leave<br /> him small leisure for literary undertakings.<br /> Hence the necessity of composing his Academical<br /> speech so long beforehand.<br /> <br /> A Untversat LANGUAGE.<br /> <br /> M. Léon Bollack is a remarkable man. He<br /> has endeavoured to re-establish the unanimity of<br /> language which prevailed on the earth previous<br /> to the erection of the Tower of Babel in 2233 B.c.<br /> by inventing a “Langue bleue,” which professes<br /> to teach all languages in one—and that one,<br /> needless to add, is the “ Langue bleue” invented<br /> by M. Léon Bollack. Yet, even though the new<br /> grammar and language composed by M. Bollack<br /> never become as universally adopted as their<br /> author confidently predicts, his method is<br /> sufficiently plausible and ingenious to awaken<br /> some interest in the quarter most nearly affected,<br /> viz., in the vast army of teachers and professors<br /> whom the success of his theory would inevitably<br /> deprive of the posts they at present occupy.<br /> <br /> A New Bioeraruy or GrorGEe SAND.<br /> <br /> But to my mind, the most vividly interesting<br /> publication of the month that has come under<br /> my notice is the two-volume Liography of<br /> “George Sand, sa vie et ses ceuvres,” (1804-<br /> 1876), by Madame Vladimir Karénine, a Russian<br /> lady. In no country, not even in her native<br /> land, have the works of the gifted French<br /> authoress been more highly appreciated than<br /> in Russian literary circles. “ Belicve me,”<br /> wrote Tourgueneff to Souvorine, ‘George Sand<br /> is one of your saints!” Fedor Dostoiewski<br /> speaks of her still more enthusiastically. “She<br /> was,’ he says, “one of the most sublime an‘<br /> beautiful representatives of womanhood, a woman<br /> almost unique by the vigour of her mind and<br /> talent—a name henceforward become historical,<br /> destined never to fall into oblivion or disappear<br /> from the history of European humanity.” A<br /> little later he adds: ‘Sans s’en douter elle-<br /> méme, elle fut un des adeptes les plus complets<br /> du Christ” ; which judgment is difficult to recon-<br /> cile with the verdict of Henri Heine, who, in<br /> speaking of George Sand’s literary productions,<br /> opined that, even though they illuminated many<br /> dungeons where no other consolation could pene-<br /> trate, their pernicious flames would, at the same<br /> time, destroy the peaceful shrines of innocence.”<br /> Madame Karénine has compiled the most com-<br /> plete biography of this extraordinary and gifted<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> woman that has yet been produced. It is the<br /> outcome of ten years’ patient study and diligent<br /> research.<br /> <br /> We would also mention: “ L’Histoire de la<br /> Langue ct de la littérature frangajses” (1830-<br /> 1900), by M. Henri Chantavoine (chez Armand<br /> Colin) ; “Lettres Répondues,”’ by M. Ludaux<br /> (chez Lemerre); “Le Petre Milon,’ by Guy de<br /> Maupassant (uvres inédites series, chez Ollen-<br /> dorf) ; “ Prométhée, by M. Iwan Gilkin (Poétes<br /> francaise de I’étranger, chez Fischbacher) ;<br /> *“Drames baroques et mélancoliques,” by M.<br /> Frédéric Boutet (chez Chamuel) ; “ Les Soirdées<br /> de la Duchesse,” by Comte Camille de Renesse ;<br /> “Tes Mémoires de Mme. de la Ferronnays”; and<br /> “Le peintre Gabriel,” by M. de Poiseux.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> oa<br /> <br /> NOTES AND NEWS.<br /> <br /> HE following extract from the Canadian<br /> Bookseller, I have cut out of a New York<br /> paper :<br /> <br /> Does the recent combination of the Harper and Double-<br /> day-McClure houses foreshadow a new trust—a vast and<br /> universal consolidation of all the publishing interests of the<br /> country in one great publishing trust? The idea is cer-<br /> tainly a fascinating one, and it is so heartily in accord with<br /> the spirit of the age that any objection to it must be<br /> branded at once as old-fogeyism, as a mere repetition of<br /> arguments already answered a bundred times. If the pub-<br /> lishers should feebly pleai their right to live, the flat<br /> answer is that they have no more right to live than oil<br /> men, or sugar refiners, or steel makers, or other conductors<br /> of obsolete industries. If their employes protest against<br /> starvation, they may be reminded that they are a painful<br /> but necessary sacrifice to the march of improvement. As<br /> for the poor author, why should he object to taking his<br /> place with the other producers, and allowing his compensa-<br /> tion to be adjusted by the exigencies of the dividends ‘on<br /> the common and preferred stock of the combination? Why<br /> should the rights of the literary producer be any more<br /> sacred than those of any other industry * What reason hag<br /> the author for oxistance except to produce his literary<br /> wares ?<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ee<br /> <br /> In another column the Present Situation is dis-<br /> cussed. There seems to be little fear of a single<br /> Publishing Trust. Thereis, however, no doubt<br /> that the American publishers will come over here<br /> —some of them are over here alreagly—and that<br /> they will introduce new methods which will finish<br /> off the old-fashioned publisher. At first, the<br /> serious competition of the Americans will be<br /> beneficial to the literary profession, becausenothing<br /> is of more importance to the maker or creator of<br /> things which have a commercial value than the<br /> open competition of the market. It is difficult,<br /> moreover, to understand how open competition,<br /> which will certainly place the best work in the<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> hands of the richest houses, can become a single<br /> {rust, But the reader is referred to the note on<br /> the Present Situation.<br /> <br /> ——&lt;— +<br /> <br /> Is a writer justified in sending copies of his<br /> MSS. to more than one editor at the same time?<br /> <br /> The question is raised by a correspondent (see<br /> p- 133). The answer is surely quitesimple. The<br /> editor runs his paper on business lines : he<br /> endeavours to make his journal financially<br /> successful: the contributors have only to follow<br /> his example, and, on their side, conduct the com-<br /> mercial side of their work also on business<br /> principles. There can, therefore, be no reason<br /> why the contributor should not offer his work to<br /> two or more editors at the same time. It may be<br /> objected that. editors would refuse to consider<br /> work so offered. They might: they would be, of<br /> course, within their right if they did. As, how-<br /> ever, a good magazine must have good work, they<br /> would certainly have to give in when good and<br /> desirable work was offered. Those writers only<br /> would be injured whose work was doubtful.<br /> <br /> As to the other question, whether articles for<br /> monthlies are accepted by sending proofs without<br /> other notice, it needs no answer, because, if there<br /> were any doubt in the editor’s mind, he would<br /> not send the paper to the press without a note<br /> beforehand to the author.<br /> <br /> ——$&gt; &gt;<br /> <br /> Mr. Andrew Lang, in Longman’s, speaks about<br /> the hardship and injustice caused to authors by<br /> the running out of copyright. Itis a great hard-<br /> ship and a great injusuce. But it will prove<br /> most difficult to persuade people cf its injustice.<br /> I believe that in the new Copyright Bill some<br /> extension of the term is all that can be asked<br /> for. People have got firmly fixed in their heads<br /> the notion that if the term copyright is indefi-<br /> nitely extended certain books, now, as they are<br /> pleased to call it, the property of the nation—<br /> really the property of competing publishers—will<br /> be suppressed. “Suppose,” they say, «&lt;The<br /> Pilgrim’s Progress’ were to fall into the hands of<br /> a Catholic 2”? The true answer would be, that the<br /> fact of this work being always in demand and that<br /> it was a property like a coal mine, would effec-<br /> tually prevent that property being ruined or<br /> destroyed. Another objection to the extension<br /> of copyright is the fact that publishers are<br /> always trying to get copyright in their own hands.<br /> The agreements submitted to authors always<br /> demand copyright or the exclusive right of publi-<br /> cation during the time of copyright; or if they<br /> buy a book outright of course copyright goes<br /> with it. Therefore an extension of copyright<br /> _ would only mean the continuance during such<br /> <br /> 125<br /> <br /> extension of the agreement made with the author.<br /> And this, as the “ Draft Agreemen&#039;s ” (Equitable)<br /> show, would leave the author, as a rule, very little<br /> cause for congratulation as to the benefits of the<br /> extension. Now, people very rightly think that<br /> they would rather have the competing publisher<br /> than the publisher who is sole owner.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> It is not only property that has to be pro-<br /> tected, it is the author. Until recently literary<br /> property was wholly misunderstood. ‘The execu-<br /> tors of this kind of property throw it away.<br /> “The present law does not injuremany novelists,”<br /> Mr. Lang says. It injured Scott, Dickens,<br /> and Thackeray: it is about to injure the<br /> heirs of Charles Reade and George Eliot and<br /> Charles |Kingsley. It will certainly injure the<br /> heirs of Louis Stevenson. But there are writers<br /> like Keats and Coleridge who, Mr. Lang thinks,<br /> would have left their successors a competence.<br /> Perhaps; but how many editions of Keats and<br /> Coleridge have there been during the last forty or<br /> fifty years? How many thousand copies of<br /> either have been taken by the public? Ten<br /> thousand? There is not much of a competence<br /> to be got out of the author&#039;s share in 10,000 copies<br /> of a little volume of verse.<br /> <br /> I think that Literary Property being what it is<br /> —viz., uncertain as regards the future, though it<br /> is absurd to use the word “risk,” except for<br /> dishonest purposes, about the works of many<br /> hundreds of living writers—it is quite impossible<br /> to predict of any book by a living writer that it<br /> will be a living force in twenty years’ time. This<br /> uncertainty is the real “risk” as applied to<br /> writers of name. Such an uncertainty attaches<br /> to no other kind of property. The future possi-<br /> bilities of books are, in fact, so very uncertain<br /> that they are practically neglected. In dealings<br /> between author and publisher the future, after<br /> the first year or two, is not considered at all.<br /> Most writers would get as good terms for a five<br /> years’ agreement as for the whole of copyright. 1<br /> think, therefore, that this kind of property should<br /> be treated as requiring special legislation. The<br /> term of copyright should be certainly extended—<br /> perhaps there should be no term at all —the<br /> State does not take away a man’s coal mine after<br /> forty years. And purchase of copyright should<br /> be limited to periods of five or six years. Most<br /> books suffer painless extinction after the first year ;<br /> a few last for three or four years ; very few, indeed,<br /> are in demand more than five years. For those<br /> books which have the good fortune of extended<br /> life, it is surely fair to the creator of the property<br /> that there should be a fresh deal.<br /> 126 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> The death of Grant Allen removes a familiar<br /> figure from our midst. For twenty-five years<br /> this writer has been following the profession<br /> of literature, with what success we all know.<br /> As a popular exponent of science he wrote<br /> many books which gave him a name if not a<br /> fortune. And when he turned to fiction grudg-<br /> ingly and with some professed contempt for the<br /> work, he succeeded more rapidly and more<br /> surely than as a writer on science. I think that<br /> the world likes to have its science presented by<br /> the discoverers and the workers in the laboratory.<br /> Tt must be owned that Grant Allen was outside<br /> the laboratory: he loved science, and he followed<br /> the results of research, but I think that he<br /> pursued no research of his own. At the same<br /> time, his knowledge was considerable, and his love<br /> for Nature in every branch of observation was<br /> true and deep<br /> <br /> His early struggles, which were severe,<br /> embittered him against the profession of letters.<br /> He advised a young man rather to sweep a cross-<br /> ing than to live by literature. He resented the<br /> small returns of his scientific books. In fact, he<br /> made the common mistake of confusing com-<br /> mercial with literary worth, and, because he knew<br /> that he had written well, he was angry because<br /> people did not buy his books. Yet these early<br /> books made the calling of letters possible for him<br /> and introduced him to the men whom, above all,<br /> he most desired to know.<br /> <br /> His history, in consequence of this advice of<br /> his, has been often instance to show the pre-<br /> carious nature of the literary profession. On<br /> the contrary, it shows most clearly that he who<br /> can write what people want to read will get on in<br /> the sense of getting an income; while he who<br /> writes what the people do not want to buy will<br /> also, if his work is good, get on in reputation and<br /> distinction. Grant Allen’s later years were spent<br /> in such comfort as his commercial success<br /> bestowed upon him, and in such consideration as<br /> his learning and his reputation bestowed upon<br /> him.<br /> <br /> How many lawyers, medical men, clergymen,<br /> schoolmasters, architects, pass through years of<br /> ill-paid drudgery ? How many never win recogni-<br /> tion at all? How many at the age of fifty-three<br /> can look back, as Grant Allen could, to fifteen<br /> years at least of success and substantial comfort ?<br /> <br /> As a man of letters among others, he was<br /> large minded : he was entirely free from envy or<br /> jealousy: he was always ready to acknowledge<br /> good work in others: he neither gibed nor scoffed<br /> at other writers. So far he was what the Ameri-<br /> cans call whole-souled.<br /> <br /> There was, however, a strange tendency in him<br /> to take “the other side” in everything. It was<br /> <br /> not a kicking against convention: it was an<br /> inborn spirit of revolt against everything estab-<br /> lished. In religion, in politics, in social matter :,<br /> he was a kind of rebel.<br /> <br /> But a rebel with whom it was pleasing at all<br /> times to talk: a man swift to understand, to<br /> receive, to return with interest; a man full of<br /> ideas and brimming over with cleverness ; a man,<br /> in some points, as simple as a child.<br /> <br /> Water Besant,<br /> <br /> Saeas<br /> <br /> SLEIGHT OF HAND.<br /> M* SENNETT, the agent, looked up<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> sharply from the letter which he had<br /> <br /> been reading, gazed towards the door of<br /> his private office, and said “Come in.” Mr.<br /> Palinode, his right-hand man, entered, carrying<br /> a manuscript. “ Wasn’t sure whether anybody<br /> knocked or not,” said Mr. Sennett. “You have<br /> the suaviter in modo in perfection, Palinode, even<br /> in the matter of tapping on a door. Well, what<br /> have you come up about ?”<br /> <br /> “This,” replied Mr. Palinode, as he seated<br /> himself opposite his principal. He put the manu-<br /> script on the writing-table, and pointed to it with<br /> his forefinger.<br /> <br /> “Well, you’ve had a look at it?” Mr. Sennett<br /> inquired.<br /> <br /> “Yes,” said Mr. Palinode, ‘and though I’ve<br /> got a sort of nausea of manuscript from con-<br /> stantly seeing it and handling it, and can’t<br /> usually relish any sort of fiction, I must say this<br /> strikes me as being positively great. It’s more<br /> than talent, you know-— there’s a touch of genius<br /> in it.”<br /> <br /> “So I thought,” said Mr. Sennett, meditatively,<br /> “though I only read scraps of it; and that was<br /> why I asked you to run through it. It ?s fine<br /> stuff. I should like to get it published.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Palinode shrugged his shoulders and leaned<br /> back in his chair. :<br /> <br /> “JT don’t know who would take it,” he observed.<br /> “Tt’s splendid stuff, but it’s too short and<br /> it’s gloomy. And, then, the author’s utterly<br /> unknown. They’d kick at it; it’s too much of a<br /> risk. I don’t believe you&#039;d get anybody to take<br /> it.”<br /> <br /> “I must make somebody take it,” said Mr.<br /> Sennett.<br /> <br /> Mr. Palinode smiled.<br /> <br /> Half an hour later Mr. Guddle, the senior<br /> partner in the publishing firm of Guddle and<br /> Honey, was ushered into Mr. Sennett’s private<br /> room. He greeted the agent in a very friendly<br /> manner, and talked affably for some time about<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> eS es<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> the weather and the news, and about minor<br /> matters of business which were pending between<br /> his firm and Mr. Sennett. Mr. Sennett waited<br /> patiently, and, when Mr. Guddle considered that<br /> he had successfully avoided any appearance of<br /> eagerness, he came to the reason of his visit.<br /> <br /> “Now, there’s Brumber’s book,” he began with<br /> a smile,<br /> <br /> “Yes,” Mr. Sennett replied, in a serious tone<br /> ‘what do you think of it ?”<br /> <br /> “We like it,” said Mr. Guddle.<br /> here to talk about it.”<br /> <br /> “T thought, perhaps, that was so,’<br /> Mr. Sennett, and he smiled quietly.<br /> <br /> “Well, about terms, you know, Sennett,”<br /> resumed the publisher.<br /> <br /> Mr. Sennett frowned as if he were confronted<br /> with a puzzle. “It’s rather early to talk about<br /> terms,” he said, slowly. “I haven’t got a free<br /> hand. Brumber’s a queer chap. My instructions<br /> are to refer all offers. And there’s competition<br /> about this book; more than half-a-dozen firms<br /> have been putting pressure on me to let them see<br /> it.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Guddle’s face fell.<br /> <br /> “fs Brumber in England now ?” he asked.<br /> <br /> “No; he’s away yachting; coast of France<br /> somewhere. He&#039;ll be back in a fortnight.”<br /> <br /> “You know, he’s likely to follow your recom-<br /> mendation, Sennett,” said the publisher. He<br /> looked inquiringly at Mr. Sennett.<br /> <br /> “ Well,” said the agent, vaguely—‘ Oh, by the<br /> way, Guddle, I’ve something with a touch of most<br /> unusual talent in it. Palinode’s read it, and<br /> I’ve had a look at it, and we both enthuse.”<br /> <br /> “Fiction ? ”<br /> <br /> “T came up<br /> <br /> ’<br /> <br /> remarked<br /> <br /> « Yos.”’<br /> <br /> ““ Who’s the author ?”’<br /> <br /> “Oh, a new writer. Calls herself Jacob<br /> Linden. There’s the copy.” He pointed to the<br /> <br /> manuscript, which Mr. Palinode had left upon the<br /> writing table.<br /> <br /> The publisher took up the manuscript and<br /> fingered it carelessly. “It’s very short,” he<br /> observed, in a tone of disapproval. Then he read<br /> the last three pages with an air of frowning<br /> abstraction. ‘The ending’s fearfully gloomy,”<br /> he said, when he had finished the perusal. “No,<br /> I don’t think we want it. When can you let us<br /> hear about Brumber’s book?”<br /> <br /> “Oh, I&#039;ll let you know as soon as T can,” Mr.<br /> Sennett replied coldly.<br /> <br /> The publisher looked uncomfortable.<br /> do the best you can for us, Sennett, won&#039;t your<br /> he asked. “ Weshouldn’t like Brumber to go to<br /> someone else.”<br /> <br /> “T haven’t a free hand,” Mr. Sennett repeated.<br /> “Tm sorry you don’t like that story you&#039;ve just<br /> <br /> “ Youll<br /> <br /> ”<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 127<br /> <br /> looked at. I’m keen about getting it published;<br /> I think it’s well upto theright standard. But<br /> the difficulty there is about getting any of you<br /> men to oblige us! You want us to oblige you, you<br /> know.” :<br /> <br /> Mr, Guddle glanced up sharply at Mr. Sennett ;<br /> but the agent’s face was impassive. Mr. Guddle’s<br /> demeanour betrayed annoyance and hesitation.<br /> <br /> “Oh, the story’s very short,” he said after a<br /> pause, “and it seems dismal. Still it may be<br /> all right. Of course we&#039;ll have it read if you<br /> send it in to us.”<br /> <br /> “Thanks very much,” said Mr. Sennett, and he<br /> smiled amiably. ‘‘ Somehow one does like to be<br /> humoured.”<br /> <br /> Some more small matters of business were<br /> mentioned, and then Mr. Guddle took his leave.<br /> <br /> A fortnight later he called upon Mr. Sennett<br /> again.<br /> <br /> “Well; is Brumber back nowr ” he asked, as<br /> he seated himself in the chair which Mr. Sennett<br /> offered him.<br /> <br /> “Yes, he’s back,’ Mr. Sennett replied, indiffe-<br /> rently. ‘“ He’s comivg up to town to-night, and<br /> he’ll call here to-morrow.”<br /> <br /> “ Ah,” cried Mr. Guddle in gleeful expectation.<br /> <br /> “ There’s a lot of competition for that book,”<br /> said Mr. Sennett, severely. ‘“ Five more people<br /> have been up here about it.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Guddle looked serious.<br /> <br /> “ Ah, and about that yarn of J: acob Linden’s,”’<br /> Mr. Sennett resumed, carelessly. ‘‘ Have you had<br /> a report about that yet? I hope you&#039;re going to<br /> fall in love with it.”’<br /> <br /> Mr. Guddle fidgeted in his chair. “Oh, but<br /> we&#039;re not,” he observed. ‘ We&#039;ve had a report.<br /> There’s some good stuff in it from the purely<br /> literary point of view, no doubt. But I don’t<br /> believe it would have a sale. It’s morbid; it’s<br /> horribly gloomy.”<br /> <br /> “ Gloomy as King Lear?” Mr. Sennett asked,<br /> siniling.<br /> <br /> “Oh, that’s different,’ Mr. Guddle answered.<br /> “You&#039;ve got to consider the fiction public of<br /> the present day. It’s altogether different. I<br /> don’t say that a whole lot of gloomy novels<br /> haven’t done well; but still one has a feeling<br /> against them. And then there’s the length. Its<br /> too short. Readers want bulk for their money.”<br /> <br /> “You disappoint me,” said Mr. Sennett.<br /> “You really do. I thought you were going to<br /> oblige me about the book. However, I’ve no<br /> night to ask it. Yes, Brumber will be here<br /> to-morrow, and of course I shall report your<br /> offer with the others.”<br /> <br /> There was a pause in the conversation.<br /> <br /> “Oh, hang it all,” Mr. Guddle cried at length,<br /> “if your mind is really set on getting this woman<br /> 128<br /> <br /> who writes as Jacob Linden a hearing, I suppose<br /> we may as well do it. It isn’t such bad stuff<br /> altogether. It may do—though it’s a risk. But<br /> we want to be obliging. I’1l write a letter to you<br /> and make an offer for the story. And now—<br /> you won&#039;t forget us, eh? What time will<br /> Brumber be here ?”’<br /> <br /> “ Half-past eleven.”<br /> <br /> “Tl call round—oh, wait. Can you have<br /> lunch with me to-morrow? No? You&#039;re<br /> lunching Brumber? I see. Well, I&#039;ll call round<br /> at three. Ta-ta!”’<br /> <br /> Mr. Sennett shook<br /> cordially.<br /> <br /> So Messrs. Guddle and Honey secured Mr.<br /> Brumber’s book on terms satisfactory to Mr.<br /> Brumber, and Jacob Linden secured the publi-<br /> cation of her novel on terms satisfactory to<br /> herself. The event falsified Mr. Guddle’s pre-<br /> diction ; for the story attracted much attention,<br /> and the sales were very encouraging. “Jacob<br /> Linden” thanked Mr. Sennett enthusiastically.<br /> Then she wrote another novel. And she thought<br /> that it would be an act of courtesy to call on<br /> Messrs. Guddle and Honey when she had com-<br /> pleted it.<br /> <br /> She was a nervous woman, whose health was<br /> delicate ; she knew nothing of commerce, and the<br /> <br /> the publisher’s hand<br /> <br /> prospect of a visit to a man of business frightened<br /> <br /> her. But she went.<br /> <br /> Mr. Guddle was affability incarnate.<br /> even solicitous.<br /> <br /> “Of course we shall be pleased to see your next<br /> book,” he said, with a beaming smile. “ We<br /> should be very disappointed if you took it to<br /> anybody else. We hope both to gain and keep<br /> your confidence, Mrs. Linden. There’s a great<br /> deal of talk about hostility between author and<br /> publisher, but we believe that the old pleasant<br /> relations are still possible, and I assure you<br /> we don’t always spare ourselves in the effort to<br /> maintain them.”<br /> <br /> “IT suppose I had better send the manuscript<br /> through Mr. Sennett?” the author inquired,<br /> confidingly.<br /> <br /> Mr. Guddle spread out his hands, and made as<br /> if he were about to whistle softly.<br /> <br /> “Oh! if you’re in any way tied to Mr. Sennett,”’<br /> he began.<br /> <br /> “No, not at all,” said the author. “But I<br /> thought—I wouldn’t do anything at all which<br /> would appear like slighting Mr. Sennett. Of<br /> course, I am very grateful to him,”<br /> <br /> The publisher laughed as if in frank merri-<br /> ment,<br /> <br /> “ Sennett won’t mind,” he cried. “ He’s over-<br /> <br /> worked as it is. He’ll be only too glad to be<br /> saved the trouble,”<br /> <br /> He was<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> “Oh, I wouldn’t give him needless trouble for<br /> the world,” said the author, and her face flushed.<br /> <br /> “Well now, really, do you know,” Mr. Guddle<br /> resumed, ‘I think you had better deal with us<br /> direct. Mr. Sennett wouldn’t have sent your<br /> story to us if he thought that you couldn’t trust<br /> us.”<br /> <br /> “ OF course not.”<br /> <br /> “And the ro per cent. commission that he gets<br /> is nothing to him. Unless it’s a very big deal,<br /> he won’t thank anyone for troubling him. Well,<br /> of course it has to be deducted from your profits,<br /> if it’s to be paid at all.”<br /> <br /> The author nodded her head, but hastened to<br /> remark, “I shouldn’t mind that in the least.’<br /> <br /> “T know, I know,” said Mr. Guddle. “But<br /> it’s merely a question of not bothering Sennett,<br /> and doing the business in a simpler and more<br /> direct way. I must say I think it’s pleasanter all<br /> round,”<br /> <br /> When Mr. Sennett and Mr. Palinode heard that<br /> “ Jacob Linden ” was dealing direct with Messrs.<br /> Guddle and Honey they sighed and shrugged<br /> their shoulders.<br /> <br /> “The way of the world,’ observed Mr. Pali-<br /> node. ‘She wants to save her 10 per cent. like<br /> everybody else.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Sennett said nothing.<br /> <br /> Jacob Linden’s second novel was very favour-<br /> ably reviewed. Some people told her that it was<br /> having a brisk sale. But it proved rather less<br /> lucrative than ber first book, when she received<br /> her accounts from Messrs. Guddle and Honey.<br /> <br /> Four years later a friend who was in Mr.<br /> Guddle’s confidence asked the publisher what he<br /> thought of Jacob Linden’s work.<br /> <br /> “My boy, she lays the most charming little<br /> golden eggs at regular intervals,” said Mr.<br /> Guddle. ‘“ We gei all her stuff, and we have all<br /> the American rights, and if we serialise one of<br /> the yarns we get all the money. She costs us<br /> about two hundred a year, and she’s quite<br /> happy. Doesn’t know the A B C of business.<br /> We explain it all to her at intervals.” Mr. Guddle<br /> winked. ‘ We tell her what terrible expenses we<br /> have about her stuff, and that she’s found ‘fit<br /> audience though few.’ We took her away from<br /> Sennett, you know. We had to. Just ask your-<br /> self, my boy, if she’d stayed with Sennett, what<br /> prices she’d be getting now? Why, she&#039;d be<br /> taking three-quarters of the profits, if not more.<br /> That’s not publishing as I see it. I like the old<br /> pleasant, direct, personal relations between author<br /> and publisher.” Mr. Guddle winked again.<br /> <br /> MoLEcULE.<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> “LITERATURE” AND THE AUTUMN LIST.<br /> <br /> E are indebted to Literature for a complete<br /> list of the autumn books as furnished<br /> by the publishers. The paper, to which<br /> <br /> we refer the reader, has rendered signal service<br /> by the publication of this list, which ought to<br /> be in the hands of every literary man or woman.<br /> Tt is a document which enables the reader to<br /> ascertain by a little analysis and study the<br /> character of every publishing house of any<br /> standing: the kind of book which it publishes :<br /> the standing which it possesses: and the class of<br /> writers most attracted by each house. It does<br /> more. To one who understands anything about<br /> the present situation it indicates as clearly as if it<br /> were written down whether a publisher is going<br /> up or is coming down. It is not numbers alone<br /> which are useful in this respect: numbers go for<br /> something, but names go for more. If, for<br /> instance, we find that a publisher has ouly early<br /> works of well-known writers who with later works<br /> have gone elsewhere, the inference is obvious.<br /> There must be reasons for this desertion. If this<br /> oceurs with several names of mark, the inference<br /> to be drawn is like the conclusion of a proposition<br /> in Euclid—the man is to be avoided. Now, both<br /> in quantity and in quality some of ths older houses<br /> show this year, if not an actual then a relative<br /> falling off as compared with previous lists: on<br /> the other hand, certain of the younger houses<br /> which promised great things some years ago are<br /> evidently already in a state of decay, while others<br /> are flourishing mightily with lists both long and<br /> important and valuable.<br /> <br /> As regards these younger houses, there are two or<br /> three questions to be asked: (1.) Are they energetic<br /> and quick in seeing opportunities and in pushing<br /> books? (2.) If so, how do they stand as regards their<br /> agreements? (3.) Do they retain their good men ?<br /> <br /> There are seventy publishers on this list.<br /> <br /> The divisions adopted by Literature are as<br /> follows :—<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> No. of Works. No. of Works,<br /> Archmology......... as Medical &lt;........... 6<br /> RE ce 34 Miscellaneous ......... 5!<br /> Biography .........-.: 103 Masia. 2.52 fcc: 4<br /> Juvenile Books ...... 181 Natural History ...... 12<br /> Claasical ............... 34 Naval and military... 24<br /> Drama......... ocak 17 Oriental ..... 00.0666 12<br /> Economics and Philosophy ............ 17<br /> <br /> Soociology......... -- 20 Poetry 65.620 kas 35<br /> Educational............ 49 Political ............... 15<br /> Engineering ......... 11 Reprints ............++- 87<br /> Figtion..........0.:6606 353 Science ......... ei 22<br /> Folk-lore..............+ 12 Sport: oss eccc vie eteee 22<br /> Geography ...........: q Theology ...........-++ 181<br /> History ......ececceoes 78 Topography......... 1 20<br /> BAM og ehcess 15 MraVel occ eiscc ee 42<br /> Literary ...........5-+ qt —<br /> Mathematics ....... 2 Wotel nc. 1551<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 129<br /> <br /> An analysis has also been made ot the number<br /> of books published by each house, but it would be<br /> misleading to quote this, because many of the<br /> lists are swollen by quite unimportant things,<br /> such as children’s books and the ventures of<br /> young poets. Other lists consist almost entirely<br /> of books which have been refused by responsible<br /> houses, and are published at the author&#039;s expense<br /> to gratify the author&#039;s vanity, and presently to<br /> change that vanity into disappointment.<br /> <br /> Setting aside these books, it is curious to<br /> observe how certain of the younger houses already<br /> spoken of surpass many of the older ones both<br /> in importance and in numbers: it is, indeed,<br /> astonishing to see the miserable promis? made by<br /> some of these older firms. One observes with<br /> great satisfaction that the Cambridge Univer-<br /> sity Press and the Clarendon are attracting<br /> scholars more and more. This is as it should<br /> be, These two houses ought to produce b.tween<br /> them all the best books in scholarship and<br /> learning.<br /> <br /> The departments of Education and Science<br /> seem imperfect, probably because they do not<br /> observe times and seasons.<br /> <br /> If we turn to Fiction we find 353 entries.<br /> From these may be deducted forty-eight as either<br /> translations or books known to be those spoken<br /> of above, the rejected by responsible publishers<br /> and printed—one cannot say published—on terms<br /> often exposed in these columns (see p. 121). There<br /> remain 305. Going carefully through the list<br /> and noting every name that is at all known, one<br /> finds a little over 100 novels which are safe to<br /> cover expenses—books, namely, which carry no<br /> risk, though in many cises there may be a very<br /> small profit. They may be looked upon as certain<br /> to reach 600 or 700 copies. As regards the<br /> remaining 200, a great many, but no one can tell<br /> how many, are paid for by the authors : the vast<br /> majority will not reach 500 copies : many of them<br /> will not sell 100: some of them are produced at<br /> the publisher’s risk on the recommendation of a<br /> reader and in the hope of a “ boom.” The amount<br /> risked is the difference between the first sul-<br /> scription and the actual cost of production. Asit<br /> is no use sending good money after bad, very<br /> little is wasted in advertising these productions :<br /> and as only those copies are bound which are<br /> taken by the libraries, the cost of production is<br /> really very small.<br /> <br /> There is another point suggested by this list.<br /> <br /> How are all these books to be presented to the<br /> public ¢<br /> <br /> There are only three ways.<br /> <br /> (1) By the circulating libraries.<br /> (2) By the reviews.<br /> (3) By the booksellers.<br /> 130<br /> <br /> There are over 1500 books on the list. The<br /> larger number do not belong to the circulating<br /> library at all. They will be all out before the end<br /> of November. How are the reviews to notice<br /> 1500 books by the end of the year, after which<br /> most of them will be dead and past recovery?<br /> Of course they cannot. They must make a<br /> selection—a double selection.<br /> <br /> First, selection of subjects. The general<br /> columns of review do not notice archeology,<br /> children’s books, classical, educatioval, scientific,<br /> geographical, topographical, legal, medical, or<br /> musical books: nor reprints nor theology nor<br /> philosophy nor Oriental subjects. That reduces<br /> the possible choice to about 850. The second<br /> choice has, therefore, to be made out of 850.<br /> <br /> There are two courses open to the reviewer.<br /> The one is to take the more important Looks, to<br /> recognise their importance, and to give them the<br /> space which they deserve. The other is to lump<br /> up all together, and to crama dozen “ reviews”’ (!)<br /> into one page. The former method, now out of<br /> fashion, preserves the dignity of literature and<br /> the reputation of the journal: the other destroys<br /> the dignity of literature, lowers standards, and<br /> deprives the journal of any weight. It further<br /> aceustoms readers to neglect altogether the<br /> review column and to be guided in the choice of<br /> books entirely by the opinion of their friends.<br /> <br /> There remain the booksellers. Of these it<br /> can only be said that not even the richest could<br /> afford to subscribe to a quarter of the books they<br /> may note as “possible,” while, as regards the<br /> “ doubtful” books, no one would be so foolish as<br /> to subscribe to any.<br /> <br /> Now, a book is not published unless it is offered<br /> to the reader. It is only printed. Therefore it<br /> is a melancholy conclusion that a very large<br /> number of the long autumn list will not be<br /> published at all.<br /> <br /> There is only one way out of it. The book-<br /> sellers must have the choice of books on sale or<br /> return. If it is alleged that those which are not<br /> sold come back soiled, the auswer is that at least<br /> they have had their chance of being sold. The<br /> public has been invited to look at them.<br /> <br /> These observations should be read in connec:<br /> tion with the paper (p. 118) on the Present<br /> Situation.<br /> <br /> Se<br /> <br /> ‘THE LITERARY YEAR-BOOK.”<br /> <br /> I. (comMUNICATED. )<br /> <br /> HE “Literary Year-Book” for tgoo will be<br /> an entirely new compilation, appearing<br /> under the editorship of Mr. Herbert<br /> <br /> Morrah. The greater part of the book will be<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> devoted to facts, the only criticisms included being<br /> of a special character, and written by critics of<br /> eminence in their various departments. No<br /> “portraits and appreciations” of individual<br /> writers will appear in the new issue, which will<br /> contain a vast amount of information useful to all<br /> engaged in literature, and arranged in a most<br /> convenient form for purposes of reference. The<br /> editor desires to take this last opportunity of<br /> reminding authors who have not yet received a<br /> form for the direc‘ory that communications and<br /> suggestions will be welcomed by him. These<br /> should be addressed to the Editor of the<br /> “Literary Year-Book,” Ruskin House, Charing<br /> Cross-road, London, W.C., before the 1st of<br /> December next.<br /> IL.<br /> <br /> The prospectus of “ The Literary Year-Book ”<br /> has now been sent out. It will be, perhaps,<br /> remembered that the first issue of this annual<br /> was in some respects unfortunate, especially in<br /> its attempt to become an organ of criticism.<br /> Opinions may, of course, differ as to what a<br /> Literary Year-Book ought to be : perhaps criticism<br /> should be a part of it. For myself, I consider that<br /> what is wanted in such an annual is that it<br /> should be a handy book of reference to the<br /> numerous company of those who write and those<br /> who have to do with writers: that it should<br /> disregard altogether the outside public: and that<br /> it should include everything that a literary man<br /> now has to find out for himself. Now what the<br /> literary world does not want, what it will not go<br /> out of its way to read, is a collection of critical<br /> articles on its own works by those of the same<br /> craft. There are already plenty of critical organs<br /> —as many as there are daily or weekly papers:<br /> monthly magazines or quarterly reviews. When<br /> your literary man or woman has been “slated”<br /> by some and lauded by others: when the<br /> praise or blame at the year’s end can do neither<br /> his book nor his own reputation any good<br /> or harm, is it conceivable that he desires<br /> to read any more “reviews”? Other people<br /> may like to go on reading “critical reviews ”’<br /> about books of the last year, for the most<br /> part dead and gone and forgotten already.<br /> But the literary man certainly does not. He<br /> neither desires to read criticisms of his own books<br /> nor of his friends’ books, nor even of his enemies’<br /> books. Therefore, for my own part, I am sorry<br /> to observe that criticism of any kind is to take a<br /> part in the Year-Book, whose success I greatly<br /> desire, if that success makes it useful and neces-<br /> sary for the Literary Life. Otherwise, I do not<br /> see that we want it at all.<br /> <br /> If, however, it is thought that the prospects<br /> and present condition of Literature should be<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> treated, at any time, with reference to the general<br /> character and average of the last few years, that<br /> is another question altogether. I am reminded<br /> of an excellent essay by Professor Saintsbury,<br /> in which, without naming a single author, he dis-<br /> cussed contemporary fiction dispassionately and<br /> judicially, so that everyone might, if he chose,<br /> take unto himself the critic’s lessons and warn-<br /> ings, and yet no one could be hurt or offended. Of<br /> course the same thing might be done with poetry,<br /> the drama, or any other branch. In fact, it<br /> should be done from time to time. But the pro-<br /> auctions of asingle year cannot allow of any such<br /> general treatment.<br /> <br /> I would, again, submit that the great and<br /> important branch of _ literary work which<br /> includes educational books should not be passed<br /> over. It is far too much the custom to assume<br /> that authorship means work of imagination only.<br /> <br /> A Year-Book which provides a dictionary of<br /> living writers in all branches: which abstains<br /> from individual criticism as outside its own pro-<br /> vince : which contains all such information as is<br /> likely to be useful to an aspirant or to an old hand,<br /> ought to command success. But criticism of last<br /> year’s books certainly is not wanted, and, in my<br /> opinion, if attempted can only be carried out<br /> very incompletely, and must interfere seriously<br /> with the usefulness and the circulation of the<br /> work. The following is the table of contents of<br /> Part II. Surely there is enough here to fill the<br /> 400 pp. promised ?<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Agents.<br /> Articles, i.e, a Literary<br /> Index for the Year 1899.<br /> Artists. With full particu-<br /> lars of Books Illustrated<br /> during the past year.<br /> <br /> Authors. A practically com-<br /> plete List of Writers of<br /> Books, with full Addresses,<br /> Names, Publishers, and<br /> prices, of<br /> <br /> Books published in 1899.<br /> <br /> Bookbinders.<br /> <br /> Book Printers.<br /> <br /> Booksellers.<br /> <br /> Clubs.<br /> <br /> Contributor’s Guide.<br /> <br /> Editors.<br /> <br /> Events of the Year 1899.<br /> <br /> Foreign Magazines, Reviews,<br /> Publishers, and Societies.<br /> <br /> Indexes.<br /> <br /> Lecturers<br /> Societies.<br /> <br /> Literary Searchers.<br /> <br /> Periodical Publications.<br /> <br /> Plays produced in 1899.<br /> <br /> Printers.<br /> <br /> Process-Block Makers.<br /> <br /> Pseudonyms.<br /> <br /> Poblishers : a new and much<br /> Extended Directory.<br /> <br /> Series.<br /> <br /> Societies: and their work in<br /> 1899.<br /> <br /> Typewriters.<br /> <br /> Trade and Technical Infor-<br /> mation.<br /> <br /> and Lecture<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> For instance, under the head of “ Booksellers ”<br /> will there be any information as to the attempt<br /> made to bind this unfortunate class in chains and<br /> slavery? Will there be any reference to the<br /> reports of the Committee of the Society of<br /> Authors on this important subject? And will<br /> there be any advice offered as to improving the<br /> condition of the trade?<br /> <br /> Under the head of “Publishers,” will the<br /> famous “ Draft Agreements,” warranted “ equi-<br /> <br /> 131<br /> <br /> table,” with the exposure of their meaning by<br /> the Society of Authors, receive any attention ?<br /> <br /> And under the head of “Trade and Technical”<br /> information, will the Year-Book keep its readers<br /> supplied with what they most desire—the average<br /> cost of production in all its branches, the trade<br /> price, &amp;e.?<br /> <br /> In other words, the Literary Year-Book should<br /> be compiled for the furtherance of the interests of<br /> literary folk, and of none others. If informa-<br /> tion wanted by them is withheld because this<br /> class or that Class wishes to keep it secret and<br /> concealed, it cannot be accepted as a true and<br /> trustworthy guide.<br /> <br /> For my own part I can see no reason why<br /> the Society should not itself provide such a<br /> book, or at least furnish such information<br /> as is wanted for any publisher who would<br /> produce a book for literary workers only,<br /> without reference to any other interests what-<br /> ever. W. B.<br /> <br /> ——&lt;res<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> BOOK AND PLAY TALK.<br /> M~ GEORGE GISSING enters the field<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> of romance with his forthcoming novel,<br /> <br /> “The Crown of Life.” It is a modern<br /> story, touching on many modern problems, and<br /> tells the love-story of a man who, battling with<br /> adverse circumstances, seeks and wins the love of<br /> his ideal woman.<br /> <br /> Mr. Churton Collins is engaged upon an edition<br /> of the works of Robert Greene, the sixteenth<br /> century poet and playwright.<br /> <br /> “ Passages in a Wandering Life” is the title<br /> under which Mr. Thomas Arnold, second son of<br /> Arnold of Rugby, is giving his reminiscences to<br /> the world.<br /> <br /> One of the books of this month will be Mr.<br /> Edward A. FitzGerald’s record of the moun-<br /> taineering expedition he conducted two years ago<br /> in the Andes of South America. The direct<br /> results of this expedition, which was one of the<br /> most completely equipped that ever left England,<br /> included the ascent for the first time of the very<br /> high peak of Aconcagua, 23,800ft. above the sea,<br /> and of its fellow Tupungato. Chief among Mr.<br /> FitzGerald’s companions in the hardships and<br /> achievements of the party was Mr. Stuart M.<br /> Vines, who contributes chapters to the book.<br /> Professor Bonney and other authorities determine<br /> the scientific results of the expedition, and the<br /> work contains many beautiful and interesting<br /> photographs of this unique performance in<br /> mountaineering, besides special maps. Messrs.<br /> 132<br /> <br /> Methuen will publish the book in a week or two<br /> from now.<br /> <br /> The Standard newspaper is issuing a “ Library<br /> of Famous Literature,’ consisting of twenty<br /> volumes, and we quote from the extensive adver-<br /> tisements the following statistics of the new books<br /> produced yearly in this and other countries :—<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Germany...........6-.6-ee 24,000<br /> France........ 13,000<br /> Italy ........ 9500<br /> Great Britain. 7300<br /> United States .:......5..cc:0 cecepenecnereecs ees 5300<br /> Netherlands &lt;...0.6&lt;c. . cegeser gs ers pent rere ec es 2500<br /> <br /> In special departments of literature the coun-<br /> tries at the head in each case are as follows. In—<br /> Biotin oc eitesedtes oe Great Britain (2438)<br /> Education Germany (5442)<br /> Arts and Sciences ............ Germany (2938)<br /> Belles Lettres..........s00e0e0s Germany (2453)<br /> <br /> PE YOVOL cys ves ccepeswi sires se eces Germany (1139)<br /> Political Economy ............ Italy (2994)<br /> PEIBUORY ©.c2 3 sc0 ss cet pee sets France (1164).<br /> <br /> Atasale of Kelmscott Press books the other<br /> day, among others sold, the Chaucer realised as<br /> much as £58, “ The Story of Sigurd,” £20 1os.;<br /> Keats’s Poems, £23 10s.; “The Earthly Para-<br /> dise,” £21.<br /> <br /> The Dean of Winchester is editing and con-<br /> tributing to “A New History of the English<br /> Church,” which Messrs. Macmillan are to publish.<br /> Among other contributors to it will be Canon<br /> Capes, Canon Overton, and Mr. James Gairdner.<br /> <br /> Mr. Selwyn Brinton is preparing a volume on<br /> Correggio for Messrs. Bell’s series called ‘“ Great<br /> Masters in Painting and Sculpture.’ Earlier<br /> works in this series willbe by Mr. H. H. Strachey<br /> on Raphael and by Miss H. Guiness on Andrea<br /> del Sarto.<br /> <br /> Two new dailies are being prepared for produc-<br /> tion in London, one at $d. and the other a penny<br /> illustrated journal.<br /> <br /> Mr. Edgar Sanderson’s next essay in the realm<br /> of history consists of a book entitled “ Historic<br /> Parallels to Affaire Dreyfus.” Modern history<br /> supplies some trials in which, through the<br /> influence of religious bigotry or political hostility,<br /> or both, Mr. Sanderson seeks to show that gross<br /> injustice was done to innocent persons. The<br /> book will be published by Messrs. Hutchinson.<br /> <br /> A series of handbooks on Egypt and Chaldea<br /> are being edited by Dr. Wallis Budge and Mr.<br /> L. W. King. The volumes will be published by<br /> Messrs. Kegan Paul and Co.<br /> <br /> Miss May Crommelin has written a short story<br /> on Dutch country life for the Leisure Hour, and<br /> several short stories of hers. are now running in<br /> country papers.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Miss Jean Ingelow is about to publish a new<br /> novel, called “The Yellow Badge,” through<br /> Messrs. Digby and Long.<br /> <br /> Professor E. B. Tylor’s two series of Gifford<br /> Lectures on “ The Natural History of Religion,”<br /> have been revised for publication by Mr. Murray<br /> this autumn.<br /> <br /> Mr. M. H. Spielmann has compiled a book of<br /> and about the hitherto unidentified contributions<br /> of Thackeray to Punch. This will be published<br /> soon by Messrs. Harper.<br /> <br /> The Stage Society is a new combination whose<br /> managing committee consists of Mr. Charles<br /> Charrington, Mr. Laurence Irving, Mr. William<br /> Sharp, Mr. James Welch, and Mr. Frederick<br /> Wheeler. The membership is limited to 300, the<br /> subscription is two guineas, and the society is to<br /> meet on one Sunday in each month for nine<br /> monthsin the year. Most interesting of all, it is<br /> laid down in the rules of the society that at least<br /> six performances shall be given during the year.<br /> Three plays have already been selected, namely,<br /> “ You Never Can Tell,” by George Bernard Shaw,<br /> which will be presented on Sunday, the rgth inst. ;<br /> “The League of Youth,” by Henrik Ibsen, Sun-<br /> day, Dec. 17; and “ Mrs. Maxwell’s Marriage,”<br /> by Sydney Olivier, which will be given on Sunday<br /> Jan. 21. Plays by M. Maeterlinck, Herr Suder-<br /> mann, and M. Hauptmann will be produced later.<br /> The proceedings will only be open to members,<br /> and the Grosvenor Galleries is the probable place<br /> of meeting. :<br /> <br /> “San Toy,” the new Chinese musical comedy<br /> by Mr. Edward Morton, was successfully pro-<br /> duced at Daly’s with Miss Marie Tempest and<br /> Mr. Hayden Coffin in the principal parts. The<br /> lyrics are by Mr. Adrian Ross and the late Mr.<br /> Harry Greenbank.<br /> <br /> The Haymarket is well provided for the future,<br /> three plays being practically ready for presenta-<br /> tion at any time they may be wanted. These are<br /> by Mrs. Craigie, Mr. J. M. Barrie, and Miss C. W<br /> Graves. That by Miss Graves is a comedy in<br /> verse founded on “ The Rape of the Lock.”<br /> <br /> The next new piece at the Adelphi will pro-<br /> bably be Mr. Zangwill’s version of his novel,<br /> “The Children of the Ghetto.”<br /> <br /> Before these lines are read two new plays will<br /> be in course in centra] London—Mr. Grundy’s<br /> adaptation of “ La Tulipe Noire,” produced at the<br /> Haymarket (Oct. 28) by a company which<br /> includes Miss Winifred Emery as Rosa and Mr.<br /> Frederick Harrison as William of Orange; and<br /> Mr. L. N. Parker’s new modern play “ Captain<br /> Birchell’s Luck,” which Mr. Scott Buist is putting<br /> at at Terry’s Theatre (Oct. 30).<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Although Mr. Wyndham will soon open his<br /> new theatre with “ David Garrick,” and follow on<br /> with the “Tyranny of Tears,” “Dandy Dick,”<br /> and ‘Cyrano de Bergerac,” it is no secret that Mr.<br /> Henry Arthur Jones is already well advanced<br /> with a new play for him. This will be a four-act<br /> comedy of modern life.<br /> <br /> Mr. Kinsey Peile, author of “ An Interrupted<br /> Honeymoon,” is writing a four-act comedy for<br /> Mr. Arthur Bourchier and Miss Violet Vanbrugh.<br /> <br /> Mr. Herman Merivale has written a drama in<br /> three acts for Mr. Charles Cartwright. It is laid<br /> at Dartmoor, about the middle of the century.<br /> <br /> The farewell benefit in honour of Mrs. John<br /> Billington will take place at the Lyceum Theatre<br /> on Tuesday afternoon, the 21st inst., and the<br /> benefit performance for Mr. John Hollingshead<br /> at the Empire Theatre on the afternoon of<br /> Jan. 30.<br /> <br /> The new play by Miss Constance Fletcher<br /> (George Fleming), entitled “The Canary,” is<br /> being rehearsed at the Prince of Wales’s, and<br /> will be presented on Nov. 11 by Mr. Forbes<br /> Robertson and Mrs. Patrick Campbell.<br /> <br /> OBITUARY.<br /> Mi R. GRANT ALLEN died at his resi-<br /> <br /> dence at Hindhead, Surrey, on Oct. 25,<br /> illness that<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> after an involved much<br /> suffering.<br /> <br /> As we go to press news comes of the death of<br /> Florence Marryat (Mrs. Francis Lean), the well-<br /> known novelist. She was the author of about<br /> seventy books, chiefly in fiction and travel, the<br /> first of which was “Love’s Conflict,” which<br /> appeared in 1865. Many of these were very<br /> popular alike in the home country, America, and<br /> the colonies: and many of them were translated.<br /> In 1872 she published “Life and Letters of<br /> Captain Marryat ”—the famous author of “ Mid-<br /> shipman Easy ’—whose sixth daughter she was,<br /> and about the same time she became editor of<br /> London Society. Florence Marryat was also<br /> dramatist, actress, lecturer, and operatic singer.<br /> She was twice married, and the fact will not<br /> escape the curious that so much literary work<br /> was done amidst the domestic duties involved in<br /> bringing up eight children. Some of the best<br /> known of her books are “Tom Tiddler’s Ground,”<br /> “The Crown of Shame,” “A Fatal Silence,”<br /> “The Nobler Sex,” and “ Parson Jones.”<br /> <br /> FRE<br /> <br /> 133<br /> CORRESPONDENCE.<br /> <br /> &lt;&lt; &gt;<br /> <br /> T—Own Tryinc More roan One Epitor.<br /> AS one the right to send work to two<br /> H or more editors simultaneously? “An<br /> Editor,” in his little book “How to<br /> Write for the Press” (Horace Cox), main-<br /> tains that one has. He says “In the case<br /> of monthlies I have found ‘duplicating’ very<br /> successful, and there is little or no danger of<br /> clashing. Send out two copies of your article<br /> at the same time, and immediately one is<br /> accepted write to the editor holding the other<br /> and ask him to return it or destroy it, as another<br /> magazine has accepted it. This suggests to the<br /> editor a certain amount of independence on the<br /> part of the contributor, and if the more dilatory<br /> editor is sorry that a more alert brother has<br /> snapped up, before his very nose, as it were, an<br /> interesting article, he will be more ready to give<br /> early attention to the next MS. submitted by the<br /> same writer.<br /> <br /> “By thus duplicating MSS. it is possible to<br /> place a magazine article in much less time than<br /> by relying on or submitting a single copy to one<br /> editor; and I must say that, speaking both as<br /> an editor and a contributor, I fail to see wherein<br /> the practice is to be condemned, so far as monthly<br /> publications are concerned; or in the case of<br /> weeklies, when a contributor meets with an editor<br /> who isin no hurry either to use or return his<br /> MSS.”<br /> <br /> Now I myself have some things out which have<br /> been out from six weeks to three months—and no<br /> indication of acceptance or rejection. And this with<br /> very well-known monthly magazines..-WhatI want<br /> to know is: Do any monthlies publish without<br /> first submitting a proof or sending a notification<br /> of acceptance? For, if not, then I should be<br /> perfectly safe in sending out at once three or four<br /> copies of the same piece of work; seeing that,<br /> immediately a notice of acceptance by one editor<br /> reached me, I could write withdrawing all the<br /> others. It seems to me that the question is of<br /> much importance, for if contributors can safely<br /> do this, then the retention-of-manuscripts diffi-<br /> culty will be practically solved. All that we<br /> require to be sure about is that editors of<br /> monthlies never publish without a preliminary<br /> notice of some sort to the contributor. Is this<br /> the case? Perhaps an editor and some contri-<br /> putors of wide experience will shed some light on<br /> the point. Perry Barr.<br /> <br /> =—<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> IL.—No ANSWER.<br /> Having been connected with Cornwall for<br /> many years, I sent to the Cornish Magazine in<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> 134<br /> <br /> November last a paper on a subject which I<br /> thought could not fail to interest Cornish<br /> readers. :<br /> <br /> I sent also a polite note to the editor, and<br /> inclosed a stamped directed envelope for the<br /> return of the article if he could not use it. I<br /> waited a month or two, and, hearing nothing,<br /> wrote again, saying I should be much obliged by<br /> the return of the article if not suitable. To<br /> neither of these communications did I receive any<br /> reply. I waited a month or two longer, and then<br /> wrote again, inclosing another stamped envelope,<br /> and requesting the return of the article. This<br /> letter has also failed to elicit any reply. The<br /> editor appropriates my stamps and retains my<br /> paper, which seems to me neither courteous nor<br /> business-like. Have I no remedy?<br /> <br /> I should mention that I am not a novice. I<br /> have published several books, and have had<br /> articles in many leading magazines, including the<br /> Nineteenth Century, Temple Bar, and Mac-<br /> millan’s, but this is the first time I have met with<br /> editorial discourtesy.<br /> <br /> A Memser or tux Society or AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> III.—Userress Reviews.<br /> <br /> Incidentally “ W.” raises two issues—Should<br /> review copies be sent? Are reviews useful as an<br /> aid to the sale of a book ?<br /> <br /> The first, question can only be answered by the<br /> Publishers’ Association or the Society of Authors.<br /> If either of these bodies decides that its members<br /> ought not to send books for review, then those<br /> daily, weekly, and monthly journals, dependent for<br /> a considerable fraction of their circulation on their<br /> literary columns, must needs buy copies. Such<br /> a resolution would be an advantage for the pub-<br /> lishers and authors of the comparatively few<br /> important works that must be noticed, and a dis-<br /> advantage for the producers of the vast majority<br /> of books that can safely be ignored.<br /> <br /> With regard to the second question, when all<br /> is said, a review is an advertisement, and as<br /> such, even if it be purchased at the net cost of a<br /> copy of the book, it surely is as useful as a bare<br /> announcement, at so-and-so much per inch, on<br /> the pages that are passed over by at least go per<br /> cent. of readers.<br /> <br /> “W.,” however, is chiefly interested in a third<br /> question—the distribution of copies for review.<br /> He has stated his case; his publisher sends<br /> copies to the Slocum Gazette, the North Thule<br /> Advertiser, and to similar papers of no import-<br /> ance, for the columns of which the reviews are<br /> written by utterly incompetent critics.<br /> <br /> He is avowedly a young (or perhaps I should<br /> say a new) writer. But he has published two<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> books, and can speak with more authority than I,<br /> who have only just published one, can aspire to.<br /> But let me tell him the result of my venture,<br /> My publisher distributed some forty-odd copies<br /> for review, and in the list they sent me I do<br /> not see the name of any unimportant paper. I<br /> observe that copies were sent to eight important<br /> London morning papers and to four (penny)<br /> evening papers, to twelve weeklies (those which<br /> devote their pages entirely or in part to litera.<br /> ture), to two monthly journals, and to fourteen<br /> country papers (ten English, three Scotch, and<br /> one Irish publication). I have read all the<br /> reviews, and I cannot say—though in some cases<br /> it would be a sop to my vanity if I could—I<br /> believe any of them to have been written by the<br /> office-boy in intervals of boot-blacking ; but some<br /> may have been written by the daughters of<br /> editors, yet certainly not as a holiday task.<br /> <br /> If “W.” has not overstated his case for the<br /> sake of effect, I should advise him to change his<br /> publisher, and then, before finally selecting any<br /> firm, he might inquire if they send copies for<br /> review to the Slocum Gazette, &amp;c. L. M.<br /> <br /> De<br /> <br /> BOOKS AND REVIEWS.<br /> <br /> (In these columns notes on books are given from reviews<br /> which carry weight, and are not, so far as can be learned,<br /> logrollers.)<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE Mar or Lirz, by W. E. H. Lecky (Longmans,<br /> 10s. 6d.) might perhaps be called, says the Times, “a sort<br /> of impersonal and objective autobiography, a record of<br /> experience, reflection, and opinion, tinged with the mitis<br /> sapientia of advancing years, and inspired by the harmless<br /> belief that the writer has something of importance to com-<br /> municate to his generation.” The Daily Chronicle remarks<br /> that ‘‘Mr. Lecky’s style is always admirable, and is so<br /> wedded to his thought as to make it a perfect vehicle for<br /> expression.” The volume has “ much social and political<br /> interest,” says the Daily News, while Mr. W. L. Courtney<br /> in the Daily Telegraph interprets its real objectas “ to show<br /> how far compromise in ethics, politics and religion is neces-<br /> sary and advisable at the present stage of human evolu-<br /> tion.”<br /> <br /> A History or Iranian Unity, by Bolton King (Nisbet,<br /> 24s. net) is ‘not only of great value for English people,<br /> who have hitherto had no complete and impartial history of<br /> modern Italy, but-it is interesting throughout,’ says the<br /> Daily Chronicle. ‘Mr. Bolton King has many of the<br /> qualities of a great historian,” and ‘we think that his<br /> judgments will on the whole stand.” He has given us, says<br /> the Spectator, “what was long needed—a comprehensive,<br /> impartial, and thoroughly readable history of the Italian<br /> movement for unity and independence.” ‘The entire work<br /> is founded on original documents.”<br /> <br /> A PRISONER OF THE KHALERFA: Twelve Years’ Cap-<br /> tivity at Omdurman, by Charles Neufeld (Chapman, 128.), is<br /> described by Literature as a straightforward story, which<br /> throws a vivid light upon the history of the Soudan before<br /> its latest chapter was closed by Atbara and Omdurman. It<br /> includes a narrative of Gordon’s end taken down from the<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 /> THE<br /> <br /> lips of Gordon’s own orderly. “ On the whole,” says the<br /> Spectator, “we may say that this volume is more prolific<br /> and picturesque than Slatin’s book; but we do not feel so<br /> confident as to its historic value.” The Times remarks<br /> that ‘If there are people who still honestly believe that the<br /> Khaleefa deserves any sympathy, such a book as this should<br /> effectively undeceive them.”<br /> <br /> Tye TRANSVAAL FROM WITHIN: a Private Record of<br /> Public Affairs, by J. P. Fitzpatrick (Heinemann, 10s. net) is,<br /> says the Times, simply and unpretentiously what it professes<br /> to be—a sketch of the Transvaal as seen from within, Mr.<br /> Fitzpatrick writing frankly as an Uitlander putting forward<br /> the case of the Uitlanders. “ Few readers will lay down the<br /> volume without feeling that they know more than they<br /> have ever known before of the real issues on trial in South<br /> Africa.” The Spectator remarks that the anthor “ does not<br /> merely censure the Boers, but shows how and why the Out-<br /> landers have found it impossible to live under their rule.”<br /> Literature says it will be generally admitted that Mr. Fitz-<br /> patrick “ has marshalled his arguments logically, powerfully<br /> and picturesquely.” The Daily Telegraph describes the<br /> book as “ lucid and dispassionate.”<br /> <br /> Tur CoMMUNE oF LONDON, and Other Studies (Constable,<br /> 12s. net), prompts Literature to say that so long as the<br /> author, Mr. J. H. Round, “ continues to write on historical<br /> subjects there is no danger of history becoming as dry as<br /> an old almanac. Whenever he has appeared he has accus-<br /> tomed us to expect ‘wigs on the green’; and his latest<br /> volume does not disappoint our expectations.” The Guardian<br /> says that ‘‘ the book certainly contains many valuable essays,<br /> and cannot be overlooked by students of English history.”<br /> <br /> Sr. PAut tHe Masrer-BurtpER, by Walter Lock<br /> (Methuen, 3. 6d.), is commended by the Times as a sugges-<br /> tive little book. It is the outcome of an experiment on the<br /> part of the Bishop of St. Asaph to provide for the clergy of<br /> his diocese a brief course of instruction year by year. The<br /> book contains four lectures by the Warden of Keble College.<br /> The Daily Chronicle defines Dr. Lock’s object as being<br /> practically to present “a kind of report upon the conclu-<br /> sions that have been arrived at and adopted with a fairly<br /> general consensus of opinion by modern scholars engaged<br /> upon the study of the Epistles of St. Paul.”<br /> <br /> Tur Story oF THE AUSTRALIAN BUSHRANGERS, by<br /> G. E. Boxall (Sonnenschein, 6s.) “‘ enables us to study one of<br /> the strangest episodes in the history of crime,” remarks the<br /> Spectator ; and the Daily Chronicle does not “ know of a<br /> more comprehensive record of bushranging and its chief<br /> personalities than this work.”<br /> <br /> A Farmer’s Yzar, by H. Rider Haggard (Longman’s,<br /> 7s. 6d. net) “is no technical discourse,” says Literature,<br /> “and no wearisome reiteration of trivialities about the<br /> weather and the crops, but agreeable small talk, not only<br /> about the price of wheat and the rate of wages, but also<br /> about the thousand and one other topics which invite the<br /> attention of the intelligent agriculturist.” The book is<br /> described by the Daily Telegraph as “an exceedingly<br /> practical and somewhat sombre-toned account of twelve<br /> months’ farming in an eastern county.” The author is<br /> “cheerful and discursive,” despite bad luck, but ‘“ he<br /> proves conclusively that the farmer’s balance sheet is apt<br /> to be melancholy reading, no matter how much care and<br /> forethought it represents.<br /> <br /> A Boox or THE WEST, being an Introduction to Devon<br /> and Cornwall, by S. Baring-Gould (Methuen, 12s), supplies,<br /> says the Daily Chronicle, “exactly the sort of information<br /> which Murray and Black and the rest of them can never<br /> be expected to afford.” ‘It makes no claim to be exhaus-<br /> tive,” says the Times, “but it does describe with good<br /> taste and ample knowledge the principal objects and sub-<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 135<br /> <br /> jects that are likely to interest an educated traveller.’’<br /> “The tourist, as a rule,” says the Guardian, “ wants some-<br /> thing that is readable, and something that is definite in its<br /> teaching, and certainly he gets both in these two charming<br /> volumes.” :<br /> <br /> ALASKA AND THE KLoNDIKE, by Angelo Heilprin<br /> (Pearson, 7s. 6d.), is the best of the Klondike books that<br /> Literature has seen. ‘It is a narrative of a three months’<br /> tour by a professor of geology, written in a pleasant, easy,<br /> cultivated style,” and is recommended “ both to those who<br /> want instruction and to those who only desire entertain-<br /> ment.” ‘ Here,” says the Daily Chronicle, ‘we have the<br /> testimony of a past president of the Geographical Society<br /> and Professor of Geology at the Academy of Natural<br /> Science in Philadelphia—of one who went to the Yukon<br /> with a full mental equipment and a complete absence of<br /> bias. Herein lies the special value of this volume, and<br /> happily Professor Heilprin is as entertaining as he ia<br /> reliable.”<br /> <br /> Tue Lire of FRANCIS WILLIAM CrossLEY, edited by<br /> J. Rendel Harris (Nisbet, 6s.), is described by the Spectator<br /> as a “concise but intensely interesting memoir of one of the<br /> noblest and most saintly men of the century.” The Daily<br /> Chronicle says it is a “ cheerful memoir,” and that it will be<br /> “helpful and attractive to those who wish to know what a<br /> good man can be among men.”<br /> <br /> SraLKy AND Co., by Rudyard Kipling (Macmillan, 6s.),<br /> is “wonderfully clever” (Daily News) and deemed by the<br /> Spectator to be “ entirely worthy of Mr. Kipling’s genius.”<br /> Though all boys will like it, it is by no means exclusively a<br /> boy’s book. ‘Not only the three boys,” says Interature,<br /> “but their schoolfellows, the masters, the Devonshire<br /> country people, and the different stray intruders are painted<br /> with the bold and vital touch which Mr. Kipling possesses.”<br /> The theme running through the book “ is the use and glory<br /> of the spirit of individual adventure.” “The most virile<br /> writer of his age, who has mastered the heart both of man<br /> and beast, has not failed to understand the heart of boy,”<br /> says the Daily Telegraph ; while the Daily Chronicle says<br /> that “none reading ‘Stalky and Co.’ may for a moment<br /> doubt that it is largely autobiographical.”<br /> <br /> MIRANDA OF THE Baxcony, by A. E. W. Mason<br /> (Macmillan, 6s.), is ‘a bright, engrossing book (Daily<br /> Telegraph), which derives its title from the scene in which<br /> hero and heroine first make acquaintance with each other.”<br /> Tt has, says the Spectator, “a complicated, ingenious, and<br /> highly original plot.” As a story of exciting incident it “ is<br /> excellent company, the effect being heightened by the<br /> author’s swift, straightforward, and nervous narrative<br /> style.” It is the “strongest” book Mr. Mason has given<br /> us, says Literature. “The plot is ingenious almost to<br /> excess, though its main outline is a simple one. Charnock,<br /> the hero, risks his life and his position on behalf of Miranda,<br /> the woman whom he loves, in discovering and rescuing her<br /> worthless husband. But the outline is elaborately filled<br /> in,” and the book “brings to extraordinary perfection the<br /> art of story-telling on its technical side.” “ From every<br /> point of view,” says the Daily Chronicle, “it is an excellent<br /> novel.” The verdict of the Daily News is that “the story<br /> holds the reader’s interest no less from the novelty of its<br /> plot than from the vividness and spirited manner of its<br /> telling.”<br /> <br /> Lirtie Novets or Irauy, by Maurice Hewlett (Chap-<br /> man, 6s.), “is a book to give warm thanks for,” says the<br /> Guardian, which adds that “short stories seem to suit<br /> Mr. Hewlett’s genius better than long ones.” He “ boldly<br /> takes his plots and situations from the rich but corrupt life<br /> of Renaissance Italy, without, however, allowing any strain<br /> after local and historic colour either to interfere with the<br /> <br /> <br /> 136 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> spontaneity of his scenes and the universality of his charac-<br /> ters, or to obscure the honest English homeliness of his<br /> motives and ideals.” ‘The book strikes a new note and<br /> reveals a new world,” says Literature. “It pulls back the<br /> curtain of four long, sad, hundred years, and you step out<br /> into the gay, bright-coloured, noisy, turbulent, quite<br /> immoral, but very devout, life of the Lombard cities of the<br /> Quattuorcento.” “ These stories,” says the Daily Chronicle,<br /> “are all ablaze and a-glitter with the rich and varied hues<br /> of renascent Italy.”<br /> <br /> GiLIAN THE DREAMER, by Neil Munro (Isbister, 6s.), is<br /> “a Highland story set back into the early part of the<br /> century, when good wives are yet wearing their ‘ Waterloo<br /> blue silks’ and ‘ Waterloo tabinet gowns’ to remind them<br /> of the rejoicings for that great day of victory.” Itis the<br /> book of a mystic and a dreamer, continues the Daily News;<br /> “he who opens it will not readily put it down, and he will<br /> be right; for indeed it is one of the best books that have<br /> appeared this season.” ‘In point of style,’ the Spectator<br /> has-“‘ no hesitation in pronouncing Mr. Munro to have more<br /> individuality and distinction than any Scottish novelist now<br /> living, and to approach nearer than any of his compeers to<br /> the grace and audacity of Stevenson.” Literature says that<br /> “with the exception of the masterpieces (and the master-<br /> pieces only) of Mr. Stevenson and Mr. Barrie, it is the best<br /> Scottish novel that has been produced in the last quarter of<br /> a century.”<br /> <br /> On Triat, by Zack (Blackwood, 6s.), is a short novel,<br /> the scene of which is laid in Devonshire. The motive, says<br /> the Spectator, is unusual: Zack has chosen for her central<br /> figure a young soldier impelled at every crisis in his life by<br /> cowardice, physical as well as moral. ‘The quality of<br /> poignancy, which we noted in Zack’s earlier work, is present<br /> with redoubled force in this engrossing tragedy.” The<br /> Daily Telegraph compliments the author on falling into<br /> “that simple dignity of phrase which often characterises<br /> unlearned and ignorant folk under the stress of great<br /> emotion.” The Daily Chronicle says that ‘ On Trial” is<br /> the sort of book that many readers will call “ painful.”<br /> “The critic will not call it painful, because he knows that<br /> pain is not the right word for the emotion that such fine art<br /> as this evokes.” In the opinion of the Daily News the book<br /> shows that its author’s “sense of humour and power of<br /> character-study are no whit inferior to his—or her—<br /> dramatic ability.”<br /> <br /> Our Lapy or Darkness, by Bernard Capes (Black-<br /> wood, 6s.), is a “very clever novel,” says the Spectator.<br /> The Daily News states that the book opens on the eve of<br /> the French Revolution, and “ from the first we breathe the<br /> atmosphere of a time charged with volcanic forces.” The<br /> scene is largely set in rural France and in Paris. Itisa<br /> tragic tale, and “it holds us to the end by the sheer force<br /> of its presentation of a nation in the throes of hysteria or<br /> of evil possessions.”<br /> <br /> Tux Coxossus, by Morley Roberts (Arnold, 6s.), has the<br /> counterpart of Mr. Rhodes for hero, and the Spectator,<br /> after saying that the book “inaugurates a new school of<br /> portrait fiction,’ remarks that the author’s dexterous dove-<br /> tailing of fact and fiction, of photography and imagination,<br /> is undeniably clever.’ “ Mr. Roberts’s book,” says the Daily<br /> Telegraph, “is a piece of good careful work, and his<br /> delineation of his subject’s personality is masterly.” Mr.<br /> Rhodes is represented as Mr. Eustace Loder, * the biggest<br /> Real Estate Agent on Harth,” engaged in prosecuting a<br /> future railroad from Cairo to Capetown. The scene is laid<br /> at a Cairene hotel. The book is described by the Daily<br /> News as “a careful and transparent character study,” and<br /> by the Daily Chronicle as an “intensely interesting piece<br /> of portraiture.”<br /> <br /> Rep Porracs, by Mary Cholmondeley (Arnold, 6s.), is<br /> “full of dramatic incidents and picturesque situations,”<br /> says the Daily Telegraph, but “these are lost sight of in<br /> our contemplation of the characters which Miss Chol-<br /> mondeley puts before us, characters of real life, re-drawn<br /> for us with no slight knowledge and mastery. For com-<br /> pleteness and finish, for quiet excellence, her book must go<br /> right to the front of contemporary literature.” The Daily<br /> News says that “the book will doubtless make its mark, and<br /> interest the public in general.” ‘Though Miss Chol-<br /> mondeley’s dramatis persone are many, yet she entwines the<br /> threads of narrative so deftly that none appear superfiuous,<br /> and all blend naturally with the development of the plot.”<br /> <br /> A Name To ConsurE Witu, by John Strange Winter<br /> (White, 2s. 6d.), is described by Literature as “ a serious<br /> and even impressive study of the growth of the drink habit<br /> on a nature the reverse of weak or self-indulgent.”<br /> <br /> WINE ON THE Lexs, by J. A. Steuart (Hutchinson, 6s.),<br /> “might be described as dealing with the drink question,”<br /> says the Daily Telegraph, “ but Mr. Steuart preaches no<br /> sermon ; he does not even deduce a moral—he allows his<br /> characters to demonstrate their points of view, leaving<br /> something to the credit of both the reformer and the<br /> publican.” It is “a very good piece of work,” and “ con-<br /> tains much that can only be the result of serious thought<br /> on a question of vital import.” Itis ‘“ not a book to be<br /> neglected,” says the Daily Chronicle. ‘It has its own<br /> meaning and power, and on every open mind it will pro-<br /> duce its own effect.” Literature says Mr. Steuart “ pre-<br /> sents his realistic pictures of East-end life with truth and<br /> humour.”<br /> <br /> Tue Human InrErsEst, by Violet Hunt (Methuen, 6s.) is<br /> “a clever, capable sketch,” says the Daily Telegraph,<br /> “with a strong vein of cynicism and even a little bitterness<br /> brought to the making of it.’ ‘‘ Most people will read the<br /> book with zest.” The Spectator says that “Miss Hunt’s<br /> mordant humour enables her to carry off scenes and situa-<br /> tions which in other hands would be unpleasant or absurd.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> po<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> “THE AUTHOR.”<br /> <br /> SCALE FOR ADVERTISEMENTS.<br /> <br /> Front Page one ase eee eee ase . oss £4 0:0<br /> Other Pages... aes se ace eae = ove w 3 00<br /> Half of a Page ... pen tee sa ane see ose «w. 110 0<br /> Quarter of a Page ae uae ee oes oon ave «w. 015 0<br /> Eighth of a Page a wee ae aa UT 8<br /> Single Column Advertisements ‘ perinch 0 6 0<br /> Bills for Insertion ... ts sue per 2000 3 0 0<br /> <br /> Reductions made for a Series of Six or Twelve Insertions.<br /> All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed to the<br /> ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER, The Author Office, 4, Portugal-street,<br /> London, W.0,<br /> <br /> Mr. J. Eveleigh Nash,<br /> <br /> LITERARY AGENT, ~<br /> AMBERLEY HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET<br /> <br /> STRAND, W.C. S	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/468/1899-11-01-The-Author-10-6.pdf	publications, The Author
469	https://historysoa.com/items/show/469	The Author, Vol. 10 Issue 07 (December 1899)	<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.+10+Issue+07+%28December+1899%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 07 (December 1899)</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>	1899-12-01-The-Author-10-7					137–164																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=10">10</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1899-12-01">1899-12-01</a>							7			18991201	Che Huthbor.<br /> <br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br /> <br /> CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br /> <br /> Vou. X.—No. 7.]<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> [Prick SIXPENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> For the Opinions expressed in papers that are<br /> signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br /> responsible. None of the papers or para-<br /> graphs must be taken as expressing the<br /> collective opinions of the Committee unless<br /> they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br /> Thring, Sec.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> eo<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> | ae Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br /> <br /> remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br /> <br /> requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br /> important communications within two days will write to him<br /> without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br /> Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br /> letter only.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br /> all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br /> jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br /> returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Po<br /> <br /> GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br /> <br /> <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. THAT OF SELLING IT OUTRIGHT.<br /> <br /> This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br /> price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br /> managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the<br /> Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> Il. A PROFIT-SHARING AGREEMENT (a bad form of<br /> agreement). :<br /> <br /> In this case the following rules should be attended to:<br /> <br /> (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br /> duction forms a part without the strictest investigation.<br /> <br /> (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br /> profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements<br /> in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise-<br /> ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements.<br /> <br /> (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “ office expenses,”<br /> unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br /> <br /> (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br /> rights.<br /> <br /> (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 /> doctor !<br /> <br /> VOL. X.<br /> <br /> Ill. THE ROYALTY SYSTEM.<br /> <br /> It is above all things necessary to know what the<br /> proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible<br /> for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly<br /> the truth. From time to time the very important figures<br /> connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br /> Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br /> “© Cost of Production.”<br /> <br /> IV. A COMMISSION AGREEMENT.<br /> <br /> The main points are :—<br /> <br /> (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production.<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 /> WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 1. N sign an agreement without submitting it to<br /> . the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some<br /> competent legal authority.<br /> 2. Never negotiate for the production of a play with<br /> anyone except an established manager.<br /> 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract :—<br /> <br /> (1) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT,<br /> This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters<br /> into such a contract should stipulate in the con-<br /> tract for production of the piece by a certain date<br /> and for proper publication of his name on the<br /> play-bills.<br /> <br /> (2) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE<br /> TO PERFORM ON THE PROFIT-SHARING SYSTEM.<br /> This method can only be entered into when a<br /> fixed sum is agreed per week for cost of produc-<br /> tion, It is not a common method.<br /> <br /> o 2<br /> <br /> <br /> 138<br /> <br /> (3) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE<br /> TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES<br /> (i.e., royalties) on gross receipts. Royalties vary<br /> between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should<br /> obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross<br /> receipts. Should obtain a sum in advance of<br /> royalties. A fixed date on or before which the<br /> play should be performed.<br /> <br /> 4. 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 /> 5. Authors should not assign performing rights, but<br /> should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is<br /> of great importance.<br /> <br /> 6. 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 /> 7. Never send a copy of the play to America unless it is<br /> protected by a preliminary performance in the United<br /> Kingdom.<br /> <br /> 8. Never forget that American rights may be exceedingly<br /> valuable. They should never be included in English<br /> agreements without the author obtaining a substantial<br /> consideration.<br /> <br /> g. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully<br /> drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced.<br /> Never admit a collaborator when once the actual work of<br /> writing the play has begun or after it is finished.<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.<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 are<br /> referred to the Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> i<br /> <br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> I. VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br /> advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br /> lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br /> <br /> business or the administration of his property. If the<br /> <br /> advice sought is such as can be given best by a solici-<br /> tor, the member has a right to an opinion from the<br /> <br /> Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s<br /> <br /> opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for<br /> <br /> him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the<br /> member.<br /> <br /> 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br /> and publisher’s agreements do not generally fall within the<br /> experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br /> to use the Society.<br /> <br /> 3. Send to the Office copies of [past agreements and past<br /> accounts with the loan of the books represented. The<br /> Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new<br /> or old, for inspection and note. The information thus<br /> obtained may prove invaluable.<br /> <br /> -4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br /> posed document to the Society for examination.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you<br /> are fighting the battles cf other writers, even if you are<br /> reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing<br /> the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen-<br /> dence of the writer.<br /> <br /> 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of<br /> members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br /> safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br /> fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who<br /> will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :—(1)<br /> To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To<br /> stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon<br /> them. (3) To keep agreements. /4) To enforce payments<br /> due according to agreements.<br /> <br /> eae<br /> <br /> THE READING BRANCH.<br /> <br /> Ve will greatly assist the Society in this<br /> i branch of their work by informing young writers of<br /> <br /> its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated<br /> as a composition is treated by a coach. The Readers are<br /> writers of competence and experience. The fee is one<br /> <br /> guinea.<br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> <br /> HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br /> Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br /> of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br /> <br /> heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br /> many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br /> 6s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br /> <br /> Communications for The Author should be addressed to<br /> the Offices of the Society, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn<br /> Fields, W.C., and should reach the Editor not later than the<br /> 21st of each month.<br /> <br /> All persons engaged in literary work of any kind,<br /> whether members of the Society or not, are invited to<br /> communicate to the Editor any points connected with their<br /> work which it would be advisable in the general interest to<br /> publish.<br /> <br /> The present location of the Authors’ Club is at 3, White-<br /> hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for<br /> information, rules of admission, £c.<br /> <br /> =&gt;<br /> <br /> FROM THE COMMITTEE.<br /> <br /> URING the year (Jan, 1—Nov. 20) 200 new<br /> D members have been elected to the Society.<br /> The number in 1897 was 180 for the<br /> whole year, and in 1898 was 175. Every year there<br /> are some members who resign chiefly because<br /> they do not se2 that the Society does much for<br /> them personally. Every year, however, the feel-<br /> ing seems to grow that a society which does so<br /> much for those who do want assistance, especially<br /> in the way of advice upon azre2ments and the<br /> collection of money due, deserves support from alk<br /> <br /> who follow the life of letters.<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> At the meeting of the Committee of Manage-<br /> ment on the 20th Nov. the following resolution,<br /> proposed by the Art Sub-Committee, was formaliy<br /> confirmed by the committee :<br /> <br /> Resolution :<br /> <br /> “That the Art Sub-Committee of the Socicty of<br /> Authors views with regret the action of the<br /> council of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society<br /> in withdrawing the privilege of taking photo-<br /> graphs in their Exhibition Gallery as heretofore<br /> enjoyed by authorised persons to whom the artists<br /> concerned had duly accorded their consent—in<br /> consequence of which freshly imposed impediment<br /> authors and editors are hampered in their pro-<br /> fessional duties, and artists who are desirous of<br /> bringing their works before the public are denied<br /> the benefit of and the advantage accruing from<br /> such publicity.<br /> <br /> “ And in the interests of its members the Sub-<br /> Committee expresses the hope that the Arts and<br /> Crafts Exhibition Society may see its way to<br /> reconsider the regulation in question.”<br /> <br /> G. HT.<br /> <br /> ect<br /> <br /> LITERARY PROPERTY.<br /> <br /> I—CopyricHt 1n Reports.<br /> YEVERAL letters have been addressed to The<br /> Author on the subject of the important<br /> case of Walter vy. Lane. The question is<br /> as yet undecided, therefore it is best to reserve<br /> comment until the judgment of the Lords has<br /> been pronounced. Meantime it would be<br /> only courteous, where the proprietors of a<br /> paper have clearly expressed their opinion as to<br /> the copyright of reports, to respect that opinion,<br /> and not to reproduce any report without first<br /> seeking the permission of the paper in question.<br /> We have hitherto reproduced law reports from<br /> the Times with acknowledgment, but, as has been<br /> the custom, without leave sought or obtained. In<br /> future, whatcver the decision may be, such<br /> reports will only appear in these columns, whether<br /> from the Times or any other paper, by permis-<br /> sion or arrangement with the editor or proprietor.<br /> We have, for instance, to thank the editor of the<br /> Daily Chronicle for permission to reproduce the<br /> report of the appeal in Walter v. Lane, aud the<br /> editor of the Scotsman for permission to reproduce<br /> his report of Mr. Augustine Birrell’s lecture. For<br /> the note on Mr. Ticebuck’s lecture on Art we have<br /> to thank the author himself.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Il.—Watter v. LAne.<br /> (From the Daily Chronicle, Nov. 10, 1899, by permission.)<br /> The Court of Appeal yesterday, composed of<br /> the Master of the Rolls, the President of the<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 139<br /> <br /> Probate Division, and Lord Justice Romer,<br /> delivered judgment in the appeal by the Times<br /> newspaper against the decision of Mr. Justice<br /> North on Aug. 10, in the action of Walter v.<br /> Lane, granting an injunction against Mr. John<br /> Lane restraining him from publishing a book of<br /> speeches by the Earl of Rosebery, delivered by<br /> his Lordship on various subjects, and copied by<br /> the defendant from reports of those speeches<br /> appearing in the Times. A great deal of interest<br /> has been taken in the subject, more because the<br /> court had really to decide what was meant by the<br /> word “author” inthe Copyright Act of 1842.<br /> The effect of Mr. Justice North’s decision was<br /> that the reporter of a speech was the author if<br /> the person who Celivered the speech had not pre-<br /> viously to the delivery taken the steps necessary<br /> to copyright the speech. Considering the import-<br /> ance of the issue there was very little public<br /> interest shown in the court itself. The rows<br /> reserved “for counsel only ” merely contained the<br /> “juniors ” engaged in Valter v. Lane and those<br /> in the cases which followed, together with the<br /> barristers who are the official reporters of the autho-<br /> rised Law Reports. The Queen’s Counsel, of<br /> course, took their seats within the bar. They<br /> were Mr. H. Terrell, Q.C. and Mr. A. Birrell,<br /> Q.C., M.P. The juniors of these two gentlemen<br /> were Mr. McSwinney and Mr. Scrutton, Mr. H.<br /> Terrell and Mr. McSwinney representing the<br /> Times, and Mr. Birrell and Mr. Serutton the<br /> defendant, Mr. Lane.<br /> <br /> Mr. Lane, who appealed, had been restrained<br /> by Mr. Justice North from further publishing<br /> until the trial of the action a book which he<br /> entitled “ Appreciations and Addresses Delivered<br /> by Lord Rosebery,” the plaintiff in the action,<br /> Mr. Walter, alleging that tive of the addresses in<br /> the book were copies of the Times reports of<br /> those speeches. The plaintitts claimed copyright<br /> in the reports, which copyright was assigned to<br /> them by the reporter. The appeal was argued on<br /> Oct. 30 and 31, and on the latter day the Master<br /> of the Rolls said at the conclusion of the argu-<br /> ments that, having regard to the great import-<br /> ance of the case, their Lordships would take time<br /> to consider their judgment.<br /> <br /> THE POINTS OF THE CASE.<br /> <br /> The Master of the Rolls, who delivered the<br /> judgment of the court, pointed out that Mr.<br /> Justice North had granted an injunction to<br /> restrain the defendant from publishing certain<br /> adéresses bound up in a book, and which he<br /> copied from the Z&#039;mes newspaper. The action<br /> was brought on behalf of the Zvmes, and the<br /> articles copied were reports of speeches made by<br /> Lord Rosebery on various occasions, the reporter<br /> 140<br /> <br /> being Mr. Brain, who said that he had been<br /> employed to make reports of these speeches, and<br /> that in the course of their duties the reporters<br /> had to exercise their judgment and skill so as<br /> to represent in a form fit for publication the<br /> features of a meeting and the material parts and<br /> substance of the speeches, a work which involved<br /> skill and labour. The case, said his Lordship,<br /> turned on the true construction of the Copyright<br /> Act of 1842, 5 and 6 Vict. c. 45. That Act<br /> defined “copyright” and “book,” and conferred<br /> copyright on every author of a book and his<br /> assigns. The Act contained no definition of<br /> “author,” but it conferred copyright on the authors<br /> of books first published in this country. There<br /> could be no copyright in what was not published<br /> in a book; but it did not follow that the first<br /> person who published a book acquired a copyright<br /> init. The meaning of the word “author” as<br /> used in the Copyright Act must be gathered from<br /> its own language and the decisions upon it. The<br /> word occurs constantly throughout the Act. It<br /> was plain that a person who was not the author<br /> of a work might nevertheless be the proprietor of<br /> the copyright in it.<br /> <br /> The wording of the Act, said the Master of the<br /> Rolls, justified the view that the owner of an un-<br /> published manuscript, although not the author of<br /> it, acquired copyright in it by first publishing it.<br /> The author of an unpublished manuscript had no<br /> copyright in it, but he had the right to acquire<br /> copyright in it, and this right he might implicitly<br /> transfer to anyone to whom he sold or gave the<br /> manuscript. Further, an author who sold or gave<br /> away an unpublished manuscript composition of<br /> his own might be fairly inferred to transfer his<br /> own right to publish it unless he expressly or im-<br /> plicitly prohibited the publication of the manu-<br /> script which he sold or gave. But this would not<br /> carry the plaintiffs far enough. The plaintiffs<br /> did not derive their title to the publication from<br /> Lord Rosebery. The word “compose” obviously<br /> meant composition in the sense of being the<br /> author of the matter published. This was made<br /> perfectly clear by the language of the provisoes,<br /> which prevented the publisher or proprietor of<br /> the newspaper, &amp;c., from publishing the article in<br /> a separate form without the consent of the author,<br /> and which entitled the author to publish it himself<br /> in a separate form.<br /> <br /> WHAT I§ AN AUTHOR?<br /> <br /> The “author” (continued his Lordship) here<br /> was the person employed to compose the article.<br /> It was contended, and Mr. Justice North took the<br /> view, that although the reporter had no copyright<br /> in the speech he was entitled to copyright in his<br /> report of it. But the Court of Appeal could not<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> follow this. The report and the speech reported<br /> were no doubt different things; but the printer<br /> or publisher of the report was not the author of<br /> the speech reported, which was the only thing<br /> which gave any value or interest to the report.<br /> The printer or reporter of a speech was not the<br /> author of the reported speech in any intelligible<br /> sense of the word “author.” To hold that every<br /> reporter of a speech has copyright in his own<br /> report would be to stretch the Copyright Act to<br /> an extent which its language would not bear, and<br /> which the Legislature obviously never contem-<br /> plated. The Act was passed to protect authors,<br /> not reporters. Moreover, although it might be<br /> that reporters and their employers ought to be<br /> protected from the unauthorised appropriation of<br /> their labours by others, it by no means followed<br /> that Parliament would place reporters and their<br /> employers on the same footing as authors. It<br /> was only by treating reporters as authors of what<br /> they reported—which they clearly were not—that<br /> they could be brought within the existing Copy-<br /> right Act. Although the court had no sympathy<br /> with the defendant, they were unable to decide in<br /> favour of the plaintiffs. The arguments addressed<br /> to the court on their behalf were based on the<br /> untenable doctrine that for purposes of copyright<br /> reporters ‘were authors. The analogy of direc-<br /> tories, road-books, naps, &amp;c., was wholly mislead-<br /> ing. There each man who himself made a direc-<br /> tory, &amp;c., and published it was the author of what<br /> he published. The reporter of a speech was not.<br /> The distinction was all-important, but it was only<br /> by wholly ignoring it that the decisions on direc-<br /> tories, &amp;c., could be invoked by the plaintiffs. If<br /> the reporter of a speech gave the substance of it<br /> in his own language; if, although the ideas were<br /> not his, his expression of them was his own and<br /> not the speaker’s with immaterial differences, the<br /> reported speech would be an original composition<br /> of which the reporter would be the author, and<br /> he would be entitled to copyright in his own pro-<br /> duction. This was the ground on which copy-<br /> right in law reports was based. They are by no<br /> means mere transcripts of judgments delivered in<br /> court; but the reporter had reproduced to the<br /> best of his ability not only the ideas expressed by<br /> the speaker, but the language in which the speaker<br /> expressed those ideas. An accurate report was<br /> not an original composition, nor was the reporter<br /> of a speech the author of what he reported. The<br /> appeal must be allowed, with costs here and<br /> below.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> IIT.—A Royvatty AgREEMENT.<br /> Memorandum of agreement entered into the<br /> day of , 18 , between , as<br /> agent for and on behalf of - , of ,» pub-<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> lishers, hereinafter called “ the publishers,” which<br /> term when requisite is to include their successors<br /> and assigns, of the one part, and , here-<br /> inafter called “the author,’ which term when<br /> requisite is to include his executors, adminis-<br /> trators, or assigns, of the other part.<br /> <br /> The publishers agree to manufacture and<br /> publish at their own risk and expense, and in<br /> such style as they deem best suited to its sale, the<br /> work entitled , of which the said<br /> is the author, on the following conditions :—<br /> <br /> 1. The author guarantees that the said work is<br /> original, and in no way whatever an infringement<br /> of any copyright belonging to any other person,<br /> and that it contains nothing of a libellous or<br /> scandalous character, and the author shall and<br /> will hold harmless the publishers from all manner<br /> of claims and proceedings which may be made<br /> and taken against them on the ground that the<br /> work is such an infringement or contains any-<br /> thing scandalous or libellous, and the publishers<br /> shall be entitled to retain and reimburse them-<br /> selves out of the author’s royalty all costs and<br /> expenses incurred by the publishers in con-<br /> sequence of such claims and proceedings, or in<br /> protecting the copyright of the work.<br /> <br /> 2. The author agrees that the publishers shall<br /> have the exclusive right during the legal term of<br /> copyright to publish the work in any part of the<br /> world, and will not during such term employ any<br /> other publisher or publishers for the purpose,<br /> and hereby empowers the publishers to arrange<br /> for any translation or reprint of it in such manner<br /> as and wheresoever they shall from time to time<br /> think fit. The publishers shall pay to the<br /> Author of net proceeds of their sale of<br /> the rights of such foreign reprints or trans-<br /> lations.<br /> <br /> 3. The publishers agree to pay the author<br /> or his legal representatives a royalty of<br /> <br /> per cent. on retail price for all copies<br /> of said work sold by them in the usual course<br /> of trade. Provided, nevertheless, that no royalty<br /> whatever shall be paid on any copies given<br /> away for review. and other purposes. Pro-<br /> vided also that such royalty shall not become<br /> payable unless and until copies of the<br /> said work shall have been sold. In the event of<br /> an edition being sold to America or to the<br /> colonies at a reduced price the author is to be<br /> paid ro per cent. of the net proceeds of such sale<br /> received by them in lieu of the aforesaid royalty.<br /> If an English edition is called for at half-a-crown<br /> or less, the royalty to be paid on the usual] trade<br /> sales thereof, will be 10 per cent. on the pub-<br /> lished price.<br /> <br /> 4. If at the end of years from the date<br /> of publication the publishers shall give notice in<br /> <br /> 141<br /> <br /> writing to the author that in their opinion the<br /> demand for the said work has ceased, the author<br /> shall have the right (to be exercised within three<br /> months from the date of such notice) to buy from<br /> the publishers the stereotype plates and engrav-<br /> ings (if any) of the said work at half cost, and<br /> whatever copies they may have on hand at cost ;<br /> and if the author does not within three months<br /> of the date of such notice elect to buy the plates,<br /> engravings, and copies of the said work, the pub-<br /> lishers shall have the right to dispose of the said<br /> plates, engravings, and copies in any way that<br /> they may think fit, and to melt up the said plates,<br /> paying to the author in lieu of the said royalty<br /> 10 per cent. of the net proceeds of such sale ;<br /> provided also that the author shall not be entitled<br /> to receive any of the proceeds of such sale unless<br /> <br /> copies of the work shall have been sold at<br /> the ordinary trade price. In either of these events<br /> this agreement shall terminate.<br /> <br /> 5. Accounts shall be made up to the close of<br /> each half year, and rendered in August and<br /> February, and the proceeds to which the author<br /> is entitled shall be payable on application at the<br /> end of six months after such rendering of the<br /> account.<br /> <br /> 6. The author agrees to pay personally all cost<br /> of corrections and alterations in the proof sheets<br /> exceeding 20 per cent. of cost of composition.<br /> <br /> As witness the hands of the parties :—<br /> <br /> Witness<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The agreement printed above is an excellent<br /> example of the kind of agreement that an author<br /> should never sign. Referring to the parties to<br /> the agreement, it must again be pointed out, as<br /> often before, that an author should never bind<br /> himself by agreement to the successors and<br /> assigns of the publisher. The publishing con-<br /> tract is a personal contract, and should always be<br /> kept as such. It is most dangerous for an author<br /> to make a contract as drafted above owing to the<br /> fact that should anything happen to the firm,<br /> should the partners desire to give up business,<br /> the author might find his work being published<br /> by a firm and in a method wholly distasteful to<br /> him.<br /> <br /> In the preliminary statement before clause 1<br /> the agreement of the publishers is much too wide<br /> in its terms, and these terms are not sufficiently<br /> curtailed in the clauses of the agreement that<br /> follow.<br /> <br /> With regard to clause 1, the clause is reason-<br /> able except as far as the closing lines are con-<br /> cerned. The publishers should not be allowed to<br /> <br /> <br /> 142<br /> <br /> reimburse themselves all expenses there referred<br /> to unless such expenses can be shown to have<br /> been reasonably incurred. It is easy for the<br /> author to insert words in the clause which will be<br /> fair to both parties.<br /> <br /> Clause 2 has been frequently commented on in<br /> these pages, but, as a clause of this kind seems to<br /> be constantly recurring it is necessary to repeat<br /> the warnings: Firstly, the author should not<br /> give such wide powers to the publisher, as the<br /> book might be published in a form and at a<br /> price distasteful to him. It is quite sufficient if<br /> the author assigns the right to publish in a par-<br /> ticular form at a particular price, and limited to<br /> a particular country. If necessary, the last limita-<br /> tion could be for Great Britain, its colonies, and<br /> dependencies. The final part of clause 2 refers<br /> practically to rights, which are much _ better<br /> placed in the hands of an agent than in the hands<br /> of a publisher. The blank in this clause was<br /> filled up in this particular case by 50 per cent.,<br /> thus showing that the work for which an agent<br /> would charge generally 10 per cent. is in the<br /> hands of a publisher charged at the rate of<br /> 50 per cent. There is this additional disadvan-<br /> tage in assigning these rights to the pub-<br /> lisher, that a publisher&#039;s duty is not to act as<br /> a literary agent, ard that, therefore, he has<br /> less facilities for assigning these rights than<br /> those who undertake this work and nothing<br /> else. Clause 3 is the most extraordinary clause<br /> in the agreement. The percentage to be paid<br /> to the author was 10 per cent. and the<br /> royalty was not to become payable until 1500<br /> copies of the book had been sold. Even, there-<br /> fore, if the book had been exceedingly successful,<br /> the author could only reap a ridiculously small<br /> return compared with the amount received by the<br /> publisher. If the book had sold to the extent of<br /> 10,000 copies the publisher would have received<br /> quite three times as much as the author. This,<br /> however, is not the worst feature in the clause,<br /> as it is possible for a publisher to only print 1500<br /> copies and then break up the type. On the sale<br /> of, say, 1450 copies the author would receive<br /> nothing and the publisher would net about £100.<br /> It would not pay a publisher to allow the sales of the<br /> book to reach 2000 copies, as under those circum-<br /> stances he would only make a small amount com-<br /> pared with what he would have made had he sold<br /> only 1450, as the author’s royalty of 10 per cent.<br /> is payable from the beginning if the sales go<br /> beyond the agreed number. It is absolutely<br /> essential in all agreements which are likely to<br /> work satisfactorily that the interests of both<br /> parties should run together. Here, however,<br /> under this clause the interest of the publisher is<br /> opposed to that of the author. There are one or<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> two minor points in this clause which should be<br /> avoided, but they are of such small importance<br /> compared with the main issue that comment will<br /> be omitted.<br /> <br /> In clause 4 the author should have a right to<br /> purchase at a valuation. It has been often<br /> pointed out that many of the copies may not be<br /> in a fit state and the stereo plates may be worn<br /> out. It is a fair thing to both the publisher and<br /> the author that a valuer should be appointed.<br /> In the latter part of the clause the author is<br /> practically not entitled to any moneys on the sale<br /> of the remainder, as, firstly, the blank is filled up<br /> with the number 1500, as in clause 3; and,<br /> secondly, the additional words have been added<br /> “at the ordinary trade sale price.” The words,<br /> “the ordinary trade sale price ” have been inserted<br /> as if the trade sale price was well known and easily<br /> ascertainable. Here again it has frequently been<br /> pointed out that trade price varies enormously,<br /> and there are as many as ten to fifteen different<br /> ways of selling to retailers. It would be very<br /> easy to show, therefore, that the number of copies<br /> required had not been sold at the ordinary trade<br /> price. The result of this clause, with the rest<br /> of the financial part of the agreement, is<br /> that the author will receive nothing and the<br /> publisher will have the power of making £120<br /> or £130 over and above the cost of production<br /> and advertisement without having to account to<br /> the author for any of the amounts received.<br /> The account clause (clause 5) is also an extra-<br /> ordinary clause, as it enables the publisher to<br /> retain the author’s money, if the author is lucky<br /> enough to get any, for at least nine months. If<br /> the book was published in March accounts will be<br /> rendered in August, and the publisher will only<br /> be bound to pay on a personal application by the<br /> author in the February following. This form of<br /> account clause is another way by which the pub-<br /> lisher is able to obtain a further profit from the<br /> sales of the book. In clause 6 the author is<br /> responsible for all corrections. Of course, the<br /> words “other than printers’ errors” should be<br /> inserted. Otherwise there might be no end to the<br /> claim of the printer.<br /> <br /> It is needless to state, after the above com-<br /> ments, that both from the financial and other<br /> points of view this agreement affords a startling<br /> example of what is unfair as between author and<br /> publisher.<br /> <br /> It is also needless to add that the author entered<br /> into it without proper advice.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> IV.—Tue Resurrection Man.<br /> <br /> The following letter was sent to the Hditor of<br /> this paper. He communicated it to Sir Martin<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> jg<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> a ew OS<br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOL.<br /> <br /> Conway. It was by him sent to the Z&#039;imes, where<br /> it was published with comments :<br /> <br /> Cable Address Correspondents will please Pablishers’<br /> ‘“ Writewell”’ give their full Post Office Editors’<br /> New York. Address in each letter and<br /> Correspondents Authors’<br /> in The Agency<br /> Canada, Paris Associated International Press and<br /> Vienna, Cair &gt; and Exchange<br /> <br /> Capetown Literary Syndicate<br /> Calcutta New York and London<br /> Melbourne<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 114, Pifth-avenue, New York, Sept. 15, 1899.<br /> The Editor, the ——, Nassau-street, New York City.<br /> Attractive Kipling Material.<br /> <br /> Dear Sir,—We offer for use in your paper 81 articles by<br /> Rudyard Kipling, as enclcsed list. If you ran one of the<br /> pieces each day you would possess @ feature which would<br /> prove enormously popular, and in addition have 81 days’<br /> service, with their exclusive use in New York State.<br /> <br /> By doing this you would secure the privileges of what,<br /> for newspaper purposes, would be of equal benefit of copy-<br /> right to you, as no one else possesses a complete set, and,<br /> owing to the fact that Kipling has not reproduced the pieces,<br /> they are (having been written before he was known) practi-<br /> cally new to the public. We question very much whether<br /> it is possible for any person to procure a complete collection<br /> under 15,000 to 20,000 dollars.<br /> <br /> The 81 pieces cover a period of 14 years, 1881-94. A<br /> special interest is attached to many of the earlier poems<br /> and articles, on account of the publication this autumn of<br /> “Stalky and Co.’ A large number were written during<br /> Kipling’s attendance (1879-82) at the United Services<br /> College in Devonshire, the ecene of the “ Stalky ”’ stories.<br /> <br /> All of the pieces are in English, notwithstanding the<br /> occasional Latin titles in the list.<br /> <br /> The pieces are from several sources, all of which have<br /> been authenticated. We may mention that one privately<br /> printed pamphlet (Lyrics 1881), the whole contents of<br /> which are included here, recently sold at auction in London<br /> for $675.00. Another, a magazine (United Services College<br /> Journal) containing contributions by Kipling (all of which<br /> are here included), sold for $505.00 at auction. Some of<br /> the other poems represent Kipling’s share in another<br /> privately printed booklet, issued in 1884 (Echoes), a copy<br /> of which recently changed hands at $500.00. We have to<br /> ask your immediate decision.<br /> <br /> Yours very truly,<br /> THe DIRECTORS.<br /> <br /> pe<br /> <br /> TABLES OF ROYALTIES.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ABLES showing the meaning of royalties<br /> <br /> have been presented from time to time in<br /> <br /> The Author. They must be repeated<br /> <br /> from time to time because they are easily mislaid<br /> and always forgotten.<br /> <br /> An average 6s. book is taken, the cost of which,<br /> including advertising, is about £150 for an<br /> edition of 3000 copies. It may be a little less or<br /> a little more, but the figures rey resent an average<br /> cost. Now the following tables give the amounts<br /> <br /> VOL. X.<br /> <br /> 143<br /> <br /> per volume due to author and publisher respec-<br /> tively—not taking thirteen as twelve :—<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Per cent. ...... | |<br /> <br /> | 5 | te | 15 | 20 a5 | 90 | 35<br /> <br /> . d.\s. d.|s. d.|s. d.|s. d. . a. oa<br /> Author........| 38] 74| rogir 281 6 h gz2 1f<br /> <br /> je ee<br /> Pablisher ...... 2 agi 103) 731 381 0 82 48<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> But should the book run through the second<br /> edition, the cost is reduced to about 8d. So<br /> far, the author has only begun to understand this<br /> difference, and the bookseller not at all. Now,<br /> we have the following table for the second<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> edition :<br /> <br /> Per eee 1 to. | 15 | 20 | 25 | 30 | 35<br /> Author ...&lt;:\.; 38| 7 103) 2%1 6 iI gfi2 1%<br /> Publisher ...... 2 682 Ae 4 |r og) 8%<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> But some publishers try on the “ deferred. ”<br /> royalty, which is to begin a royalty after a certain<br /> number of copies have been sold. In this case<br /> the sale of 500 copies would about pay for the<br /> cost, supposing only so many were bound. Suppose,<br /> however, the whole were bound in the prospect of<br /> a large sale. And suppose the publisher asked<br /> for goo copies before beginning @ royalty. He<br /> begins, therefore, the royalty with 2100 copies<br /> which cost him nothing. He has, therefore,<br /> 3s. 6d. clear on every copy, out of which has to<br /> come the royalty.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Per cent. ...... (= | to | 1S | 20.) 26 | 30 | 35<br /> god: e d.|s. d.\s. d. is. d.|s. d. is. d.<br /> <br /> Author ......... | a 7s 103) 261 6 |r 82 1k<br /> oe —— =|—<br /> <br /> Publisher ...... |g 28/2 108/2 73\2 382 0 |r 8alr 48<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> So that if there is to be any equality, the<br /> royalty must begin with 30 per cent. on the pub-<br /> lished price of 6s.<br /> <br /> In such a deferred royalty the comparative<br /> shares of the author and the publisher are as<br /> follows, on a sale of 3000 copies:—<br /> <br /> The publisher takes—<br /> <br /> 1. The value of 900 copies, out of which he has<br /> <br /> to pay the cost of production.<br /> <br /> 2. The value of 2100 copies, less the royalty to<br /> the author, which is at 10, 15, 20, 25, 30<br /> per cent. respectively, £63: £94 I0s.:<br /> £126: £157 ros.: and £189.<br /> <br /> And the publisher would receive on a royalty<br /> <br /> of 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 per cent. respectively, the<br /> sums of £304 10s.: £273: £241 148.: £214 108.:<br /> <br /> and £178 10s.<br /> P<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> 144<br /> <br /> These figures should be very carefully con-<br /> sidered.<br /> <br /> Of course, it may be said that the whole edition<br /> may not be sold. Thatis true. Take, for example,<br /> a case where only 600 copies were sold, with a<br /> royalty of 15 per cent. There would be no more<br /> copies bound than were wanted. The cost of an<br /> edition of 1000 copies, of which 600 only were<br /> bound, with a small sum of £10 spent on adver-<br /> tising, would be about £65. The author would<br /> receive £27: the publisher about £13.<br /> <br /> In these calculations the Press copies are not<br /> counted, because it was estimated at the Pub-<br /> lishers’ Congress, where a good many things<br /> “came out” that some would have wished con-<br /> cealed and that others had denied publicly, that<br /> the “ overs ” average 2 per cent., or on an edition of<br /> 3000, sixty—quite enough for Press and presenta-<br /> tion copies.<br /> <br /> In applying these figures authors must be<br /> careful to remember that the assumed edition is<br /> 3000: that the number of sheets is ten at thirty-<br /> two pages each, and that, roughly, each sheet,<br /> without counting, binding or advertising, costs<br /> about £7 10s. 6d.: that the binding may be done<br /> at 33d. a copy: and that advertising does not<br /> include advertising in the publisher’s own organs<br /> or “ exchanges,”’ which cost him nothing.<br /> <br /> Secs<br /> <br /> PARIS NOTES.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 5, rue Chomel, Paris.<br /> <br /> READER of Zhe Author recently wrote<br /> <br /> me a propos of M. Adolphe Brisson and<br /> <br /> “Portraits Intimes.” Having unfortu-<br /> nately mislaid the letter containing my corre-<br /> spondent’s name and address, I take this oppor-<br /> tunity of supplying the information he desires,<br /> with apologies for the delay.<br /> <br /> M. Adolphe Brisson occupies a prominent posi-<br /> tion among the leading French critics and writers<br /> of the present day. He is the brother of M. Jules<br /> Brisson, editor of the Annales, and son-in-law of<br /> the late regretted Francisque Sarcey, at whose<br /> death it was truly said that “it was not merely a<br /> man but an epoch that had disappeared.” As<br /> a man, he can scarcely, perhaps, lay claim to the<br /> sterling moral worth which distinguished his<br /> father-in-law, but his writings are undoubtedly<br /> superior in elegance of finish and polish. Rapidly<br /> to seize and individualise detail is the pre-<br /> rogative of the French writer; and “ Portraits<br /> Intimes” appear to me to give the strongest evi-<br /> dence of M. Brisson’s superlative talent in this<br /> respect. In them he has elevated the profession of<br /> <br /> interviewing toa fineart, and the moral and physical<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> traits of the innumerable personages he interviews<br /> are conscientiously reproduced with masterly skill<br /> and inexorable fidelity to nature. This prince of<br /> literary “ kodaks” gives us no flat commonplaces,<br /> no meagre banalities; but a graphic delineation<br /> of the original. From which it will be seen that<br /> I have a genuine admiration for M. Adolphe<br /> Brisson—in print.<br /> <br /> The work in question was issued in a series of<br /> four separate volumes, of which the last appeared<br /> in the beginning of the present year. Its three<br /> predecessors are unfortunately out of print; but<br /> the fourth volume is still in circulation,and may be<br /> obtained from Messrs. Armand Colin et Cie, 5, rue<br /> de Méziéres. It deals with a score of contempo-<br /> rary celebrities, including MM. Henri Lavedan,<br /> Georges Courteline, Paul Deschanel, Ernest<br /> Legouvé, Yann Nibor, de Bargy, &amp;e. My own<br /> impression is that a translation would prove<br /> interesting to the literary English public; but<br /> the Reading Branch of the Authors’ Society<br /> would be the best authorities on this subject.<br /> The fourth volume, which —like each of the<br /> series—is complete in itself, contains 372 pages,<br /> in eighteen jésus, and is divided into thirty-eight<br /> chapters. Its published price is 3 frs. 50.<br /> <br /> A Popuuar UNIVERSITY.<br /> <br /> It is always pleasant to record the successful<br /> inauguration of a good work, the realisation of<br /> the dream of a humble philanthropist. The<br /> “Université populaire,” newly established in the<br /> Faubourg Saint-Antoine, owes its existence to a<br /> humble typographer, George Deherme by name<br /> —whose absorbing desire was to obtain for those<br /> of his own class the benefits of the higher educa-<br /> tion monopolised by the wealthy. Deherme<br /> possessed no means beyond his daily wage, no<br /> influence beyond that which a superior mind<br /> invariably exercises over its fellows. But,<br /> remembering, possibly, one of his own com-<br /> patriots’ adaptation of the famous phrase: “The<br /> written word is merely the breath of thought, yet,<br /> nevertheless, it is the thought made universal<br /> which stirs the universe,” he commenced opera-<br /> tions by founding a small monthly review<br /> (February, 1896) entitled La Coopération des<br /> Idées, which he composed, printed, and edited<br /> himself. His idea, thus made in some sort<br /> universal, was warmly supported by the poorer<br /> literary public and the people itself. In 1898<br /> modest premises were hired in the rue Paul-Bert,<br /> and a series of evening lectures on literature, art,<br /> science, medicine, sociology, poetry, philosophy,<br /> &amp;c., were inaugurated. Students, teachers,<br /> doctors, pastors and workmen flocked round the<br /> poor printer, and generously gave their services<br /> gratuitously whenever aid was required. Nor<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> were these the only volunteers—for among the<br /> names of the first lecturers we find those of Jules<br /> Lernina, Max Nordau, and Paul Desjardins.<br /> <br /> The lack of space and suitable accommodation<br /> greatly impeded the progress of the new work,<br /> Finally, 12,000 francs were subscribed, by means<br /> of which the “ Société des Universités populaires ”<br /> founded its first university a few weeks ago in the<br /> back of an old house in the Faubourg Sainte-<br /> Antoine. Its premises consist of a small theatre<br /> adjoining a lecturing hall, a “ salle de jeux ” anda<br /> “musée du soir.”” Those who wish to participate<br /> in the benefits offered by the ‘‘ University popu-<br /> laire” must sign a “ bulletin d’adhésion ” and pay<br /> the small sum of fivepence monthly. This tiny<br /> fee, in addition to a free entrance to the nightly<br /> lectures, also entitles the member to admission to<br /> the “salle de jenx,’ and all dramatic entertain-<br /> ments. The programme of lecturers for the<br /> present month includes the names of several well-<br /> known literary men; and the “sujets de con-<br /> férence” are duly advertised in the morning<br /> papers.<br /> <br /> Dumas anp M. Bovurecer.<br /> <br /> The librairie Plon has just issued the first<br /> volume entitled “Essais de Psychologie Con-<br /> temporaine,” of its promised complete edition of<br /> the work of M. Paul Bourget. It comprises ten<br /> studies, respectively dealing with Baudelaire,<br /> Renan, Flaubert, Taine, Stendhal, Dumas Jils,<br /> Leconte de Lisle, les Goncourt, Tourgueneff, and<br /> Amiel. In the present edition the author<br /> has added an appendix to each essay. His<br /> “souvenirs personnels” of Alexandre Dumas /i/s<br /> are especially interesting. The latter steadily<br /> discouraged M. Bourget’s tendency to unduly<br /> develop his analytic talent—the “ manie d’analyse”<br /> as the offender himself phrases it. On one<br /> oceasion Dumas remarked: ‘“ You have the same<br /> effect upon me as a man of whom I ask the time,<br /> and who draws out his watch and breaks it<br /> before me in order to show me how the spring<br /> worked!” Plain speaking, assuredly, but a com-<br /> parison not lacking in salutary truth.<br /> <br /> On another occasion, alluding to the extraordi-<br /> narily conscientious and arduous method of com-<br /> position adopted by Flaubert, he observed:<br /> “Cdtait un géant. qui abattait une fortt pour<br /> fabriquer une boite” —then gravely added—<br /> “The box is perfect, but it has truly cost too<br /> dear.”<br /> <br /> The weary hopelessness which oppressed his<br /> later years is painfully evident in the following<br /> extract from a letter, written shortly before his<br /> death: “Je me suis remis a la ‘ Route de Thébes,’<br /> mais je n’en vois pas la fin et je crains bien de ne<br /> li voir jamais. L/enthousiasme et l’emballement<br /> <br /> von. X.<br /> <br /> 145<br /> <br /> n’y sont plus. Je sais bien ce que je veux dire,<br /> mais je me répete sans cesse: a quot bon dire<br /> quelque chose? La vérité est que j’en sais trop<br /> long sur la nature humaine !”<br /> <br /> “Tf,” says M. Paul Bourget, “ Dumas had<br /> been only an artiste, the definite triumph of his<br /> esthétique and works would have filled him with<br /> all the joys of a satisfied pride.” He was aware<br /> of the impression he had made on the literature<br /> of his native land; but unhappily ‘son ambition<br /> avait ¢t¢ plus haute.” Nature had framed him to<br /> be an actor “au premier plan” in the drama of<br /> life, but Fate intervened and made him merely a<br /> reporter in the side scenes.<br /> <br /> M. Zoua.<br /> <br /> The second volume of ‘‘Choses Vues,” by<br /> Victor Hugo, edited by M. Paul Meurice, and the<br /> “ Bécondité” of M. Emile Zola, rank high among<br /> the noteworthy publications of the month. The<br /> former was published simultaneously in Paris,<br /> London, and New York; and the latter has, I<br /> understand, been already fully noticed in the<br /> English papers. It is the first of a four-volume<br /> series entitled “Les Quatre Evangiles,” and is a<br /> kind of prose epithalamium in honour of the<br /> Divine command, “Be fruitful and multiply,”<br /> given to man at the creation of the world. Its<br /> raison détre is the steady depopulation of<br /> France, and the growing repugnance of the<br /> modern generation—the feminine portion, at<br /> least—to incur the cares and expense involved<br /> by the upbringing of a large family. Some of<br /> the scenes depicted are repulsive and harrowing :<br /> nevertheless, the book contains much fine writing.<br /> In short, it possesses the family traits, the chronic<br /> faults and virtues, which characterise almost all<br /> the works of that modern Quixote, Emile Zola—<br /> “ amant passioné et brutal de la vérité.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Current Frencn LITERATURE.<br /> <br /> M. Jules Soury has just published two enormous<br /> volumes, entitled “Le Systtme nerveux central.”<br /> According to the Figaro, this monumental achieve-<br /> is one of vast importance, since it is the most com-<br /> plete treatise on the functions of the human brain<br /> that has ever yet been produced. The twentieth<br /> volume of the Voyage en France series, by<br /> M. Ardouin Dumazet, has likewise appeared this<br /> month (chez Beger-Levrault), and has been<br /> warmly welcomed in geographical circles. It deals<br /> with the most curious and least known portion<br /> of ancient France—viz., the Noyonnais, Soisson-<br /> nais, Thi¢rachie, Porcien, Champagne de Reims et<br /> de Chalons, and Ardennes districts ; and is written<br /> throughout in an interesting and lucid style, being<br /> a successful attempt to popularise a knowledge<br /> of the topography and resources of their native<br /> <br /> 29 i&quot;<br /> <br /> <br /> 146 THE<br /> <br /> country among the rising generation of French-<br /> men.<br /> <br /> Nor must we omit to mention the amusing<br /> “Humour et Humoristes,’ of M. Paul Acker<br /> (chez Simonis Empis), which deals with upwards<br /> of two dozen boulevard celebrities, to wit—MM.<br /> Georges Courteline, Jules Renard, Alphonse<br /> Allais, Alfred Capus, Georges Auriol, Pierre<br /> Veber, Tristan Bernard, &amp;c.—the first-named of<br /> whom recently returned from Brussels to assist<br /> personally at the benefit given at the Odéon, in<br /> aid of the causes de secours of the Associations<br /> des journalistes républicains et des journalistes<br /> Parisiens—being an honoured member of both<br /> these societies.<br /> <br /> A BovnevarD CELEBRITY.<br /> <br /> Indeed, M. Courteline has no reason to complain<br /> of a lack of appreciation on the part of his con-<br /> temporaries. He is the enfant gdte of the Parisian<br /> Press, and the reports of his vagaries forin an<br /> inexhaustible theme of amusement to the general<br /> public. He has taken M. Brisson into his con-<br /> fidence respecting the difficulties he experienced<br /> in evading the “ palmes académiques ” that a too<br /> grateful director desired to impose on him. Not-<br /> withstanding this—and the remarkable adroitness<br /> with which he has succeeded during the last<br /> fifteen or twenty years in evading the official duties<br /> that interfered with his literary aspirations—<br /> a benevolent Ministry insisted on decorating this<br /> small, nineteenth-century Molicre, author of such<br /> inimitably comic masterpieces as “ Boubouroche,”<br /> “Ronds de Cuir,” “ Peur des Coups,” “ Gaietés<br /> de Vl’Escadron,”’ ‘“ Client Sérieux,’” ‘“ Théodore<br /> cherche des Allumettes,” &amp;c. His physiognomy<br /> is droll; and, when mounted on the bicycle he<br /> adores, one of his colleagues has assured us that<br /> M. Georges Courteline presents ‘“ une silhouette<br /> qui vaut de lor!”<br /> <br /> Busy DRAMATISTS.<br /> <br /> The remainder of the fraternity of dramatic<br /> authors are all under arms. M. Bergerat is<br /> writing a new play entitled “Madame,” which<br /> will be placed, when finished, at Mme. Sarah<br /> Bernhardt’s disposal. M. de Porto-Riche is hard<br /> at work on a five-act play entitled ‘“ Manon’”’ ;<br /> MM. Feydeau and Bilhaud are putting the finish-<br /> ing touches to “ La Galerie,” written to inaugurate<br /> 1900 at the Vaudeville; M. Marcel Prévost gives<br /> us a four-act play entitled “ Unis”; M. Brieux,<br /> “Nos Juges”; M. Abel Hermant, “Le Fau-<br /> bourg’’: Mme. Berthe Menotes, ‘“‘ Les Rayons X”’ ;<br /> while MM. Donnay, de Curel, and Edmond<br /> “Rostand are each reported to have a new play on<br /> hand. M. Paul Meurice is busily engaged at the<br /> Porte-Sainte-Martin theatre in superintending<br /> the rehearsals of his adaptation of ‘‘ Les Misér-<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> ables” of Victor Hugo; while M. Porel, director<br /> of the Vaudeville, is about to perform a some-<br /> what similar office for the “Chandelier” of<br /> Musset.<br /> <br /> InterEstTine Hovsszs.<br /> <br /> Two dwellings, dear to all lovers of literature,<br /> are now advertised as awaiting tenants. The one<br /> is the small hotel in the rue de Douai, occupied<br /> by Francisque Sarcey for almost thirty years ; and<br /> the other is the suite of apartments, at 76 rue<br /> d’Assas, so long inhabited by the Michelets. The<br /> furniture left by the widow of the great historian<br /> will likewise shortly be sold, minus a few relics<br /> distributed by the family as souvenirs. The<br /> brother of Mme. Michelet has entrusted M. Gabriel<br /> Monod of the Institute with the task of arranging<br /> and classifying the Michelet papers ; hence the<br /> publication in the Grande Revue of the private<br /> journal of M. and Mme. Michelet. In accordance<br /> with the instructions of his deceased sister, M.<br /> Mialaret has presented the town of Montauban<br /> with about a hundred documents, pictures,<br /> objets dart, &amp;c. The Musée Carnavalet has<br /> received the “ grand bureau de travail” of the<br /> historian in addition to two portraits—the one<br /> representing Michelet enfant, the other Mme.<br /> Michelet.<br /> <br /> “Figures Contemporaines,” is the title of M.<br /> Jules Delafosse’s latest work, a remarkably<br /> brilliant and able analysis of five modern<br /> historical personages, viz., Comte de Chambord,<br /> Napoleon IIL., Gambetta, Bismarck, and Léon<br /> XIII. Of the second he says: ‘“ Napoleon III.<br /> fut un idéaliste égaré sur le trone. so<br /> C’est du méme cceur qu&#039;il s’intéressait a l’émanci-<br /> pation des peuples, futurs rivaux de la France, et<br /> i l’émancipation des travailleurs qui allaient<br /> <br /> bientOt renverser son tréne et bruler les<br /> Tuileries.’ This work has justly attracted<br /> attention.<br /> <br /> The much talked of Chanson de Jehanne Dare,<br /> of M. Clovis Hugues, has been received by the<br /> crities with a chorus of panegyric. Space will<br /> not allow us to give any quotations from this<br /> lengthy poem, or do more than cite the titles of<br /> the following works: ‘(La Dame du lac,” by M.<br /> Pierre Gauthiez (chez Ollendorf) ; “Les Roses de<br /> Kerné,” by M. A. Paban (librairie Maisonneuve) ;<br /> “Joachim Pecci,’ by Henry des Houx; “ La<br /> Graine Humaine,” by Emile Goudeau; “ Clio,”<br /> by Anatole France; and “Le Baiser,” by Nonce<br /> Casanova. Darracotte £corr.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Oe<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE<br /> NOTES AND NEWS.<br /> <br /> BEG to call attention to the letter of Mr.<br /> Robert MacLehose in another part of this<br /> paper. The subject is of the greatest im-<br /> portance to everybody concerned. It is not to be<br /> supposed that in so vital a part of the administra-<br /> tion of their property authors are going to have<br /> no voice. But in the interests of the booksellers,<br /> most of whom do think that they see a way of salva-<br /> tion by coercion, the decision ot the Committee<br /> to let them make a fair trial of the plan seems<br /> the best thing to do. It also appears that some<br /> of the booksellers look forward to a considerable<br /> extension of the net system. To me it certainly<br /> seems as if certain things had better be left alone.<br /> To meddle with that extremely doubtful form of<br /> property, the 6s. book, now sold at 4s. 6d., would<br /> be a very unwise policy. It is the most profit-<br /> able book that publsihers have, whatever agree-<br /> ment is accepted by the author. For most of the<br /> books published at 6s. the price is too high.<br /> With a very little mismanagement and meddling<br /> the 6s. book will tumble headlong to the ground<br /> like its predecessor who went forth at a nominal<br /> 31s. 6d.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The net system will have one result : the revision<br /> of all royalties. A table is given in this number<br /> showing the meaning of royalties. Another will<br /> be given in the next number showing how the<br /> net system affects the figures. LT wish that writers<br /> would study these figures and apply them more to<br /> their own case. One man cannot understand figures:<br /> another is in the hands of an agent: a third—<br /> this is very common—has “no fault to find with<br /> his publisher ”—and this without the least attempt<br /> to understand the nature of the agreement. I<br /> never hear these complaints about auy other kind<br /> of figures. No one acknowledges that he is too<br /> foolish to understand what rent he can afford to<br /> pay: what rent or dividend he receives from other<br /> property : what he can afford in this or that<br /> direction. Why, then, does he affect not to<br /> understand the very simple figures which apply<br /> to the management of his literary property ?<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Why do we not issue draft agreements—<br /> “Equitable,” of course —as a counterblast to<br /> those of our friends the publishers, to whom we<br /> are indebted for a new interpretation of the word<br /> “ Equitable,” an enrichment of the language?<br /> Henceforth let the word Equitable be illustrated<br /> in dictionaries by extracts from the “ Draft<br /> Agreements.” The chief reason for not being in<br /> <br /> any hurry about advancing our own draft agree-<br /> ments is the fact that there is always some new<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 147<br /> <br /> danger discovered: something previously unsus-<br /> pected to guard against. For instance, a corre-<br /> spondent (p. 157) calls attention to the fact that<br /> while an agreement generally assigns to a pub-<br /> lisher the right to publish during the legal term<br /> of copyright, it does not bind him to do what he<br /> ean to advance the book during that term, or any<br /> part of it, so that in most cases the publisher’s<br /> work for the book is over after a year or 80, and<br /> the book is taken off his list. Now, when this is<br /> done, it is certainly a confession that the pub-<br /> lisher does not consider that the book has any<br /> further chance. Therefore, the author ought to<br /> ‘nsert a clause allowing him to get back the<br /> plates at some part of their value whenever the<br /> annual sale of the book has fallen below a certain<br /> number.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Another point is, that an agreement must be&gt;<br /> considered a personal matter between author and’<br /> publisher, in which the latter has no right of<br /> <br /> transfer. This should be made clear in the<br /> agreement. Some time ago I hoped to raise this<br /> <br /> question and to bring it before the courts. I<br /> learned that two books of my own were being<br /> transferred from one publisher to another with-<br /> out any permission asked or obtained from myself,<br /> I therefore wrote to the first publisher asking by:<br /> what right he proposed to execute this transfer :<br /> and I instructed my solicitors to write to the.<br /> second publisher stating that if they attempted.<br /> to sell my books an injunction would be asked<br /> for. There was no fight, however. The first<br /> publisher had no defence, and the second pub-<br /> lisher offered no resistance. I recovered my two<br /> books, one of which has now gone into another,.<br /> fourth, edition, while the other will be reprinted<br /> when I have time to revise it. I mention this.<br /> little episode because it shows the necessity of<br /> watchfulness, and affords a proof that an agree-~<br /> ment that does not give the book to publishers<br /> assigns is a personal contract only.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The lady who writes under the name of “ Ouida”’<br /> is allowed, from time to time, to have a fling all<br /> round in things literary. In_ the November<br /> number of the Fortnightly she had such a fling.<br /> First she reviled the Society of Authors—“ an<br /> association for the multiplication and publication<br /> of inferior works” !! This poor Society—and it<br /> has never had anything whatever to do with pub-<br /> lication! Then she reviles the Literary Agent, to<br /> whom is “due, probably, in part the enormous<br /> increase in the issue of rubbish of all kinds.”<br /> Poor Literary Agent! Alas! He cannot get<br /> any rubbish published at all: his hands are tied:<br /> he can only succeed in placing MSS. by writers<br /> in demand.<br /> <br /> <br /> 148<br /> <br /> Then “ Ouida” grows eloquent over the “ appal-<br /> ling” increase of the output. Of course she has<br /> no conception whatever—none of those who write<br /> so glibly of the enormous output have any con-<br /> ception—of the enormous literary market. They<br /> still think that the publishing of books means<br /> purveying to a little body of critical readers such<br /> as existed when the Edinburgh Review was first<br /> started. Now who is “appalled” by the thou-<br /> sands of volumes annually printed? Not the<br /> general reader, who is not in the least concerned,<br /> and goes on reading what he likes. Not the<br /> writer of reputation, who is not moved to change<br /> his style, nor does he lose his clientele, though the<br /> output is increased by thousands. Not the book-<br /> seller, who does not attempt to “stock” these<br /> thousands. Not the publisher, who, if the books<br /> did not pay, would not issue them. It seems to<br /> me that the only person who is likely to be<br /> appalled is the reviewer, and that only because by<br /> a bad tradition he tries to notice in half inches<br /> all the books that come out. The literary value<br /> of good books, the reputation of English litera-<br /> ture, is not in the slightest degree affected by the<br /> appearance of many thousands of books that are<br /> rubbish. The rubbish dies: the good books<br /> survive.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> “ Ouida” touches on many other subjects. One<br /> will suffice. She says that there is no protection<br /> against swindling in literature — she means<br /> plagiarising—or against libels. There are the<br /> courts of law. But, she says, there is the<br /> “odious publicity.” Precisely—justice must be<br /> public—it is essential that a court of justice must<br /> be public. If people are afraid to stand up in open<br /> ccurt and give evidence they must, of course,<br /> suffer from libels and all kinds of things. As<br /> regards an accusation of plagiarism which she<br /> brings against an unnamed writer there is this to<br /> be said. If “Ouida” had been a member of the<br /> Society of Authors she might have laid the<br /> case before the Committee: if the case was what<br /> she describes it, the committee would certainly<br /> have fought it as a test case at no expense or loss<br /> to her. But, unhappily, “Ouida” calls the<br /> Society “chiefly an association for the multiplica-<br /> tion and publication of inferior works.”<br /> <br /> WALTER Besant.<br /> <br /> ee<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> GOOD BOOK OR BAD?<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> R. AUGUSTINE BIRRELL, Q.C., de-<br /> livered the inaugural lecture at the<br /> Edinburgh Philosophical Institution on<br /> <br /> Nov. 7, on the question “ Is it possible to tell a<br /> good book from a bad one?” The following<br /> report of the address is reproduced here by per-<br /> mission, first of the lecturer himself and next of<br /> the editor of the Scotsman :<br /> <br /> A good book, he said, could be known from a<br /> bad one by the exercise of a discriminating faculty<br /> called Taste. If they asked the man in the street<br /> what Taste was, the only answer they were likely<br /> to get was that “tastes differ,” or “what is one<br /> man’s meat is another man’s poison,” or “all is<br /> grist that comes to my mill”—all most discourag-<br /> ing replies. Nor would it be wise to minimise<br /> the differences of taste ; they were most real. The<br /> truth was obvious. They all hated fustian and<br /> affectation, but were he to have such bad taste as<br /> to inquire whether that popular novelist Mr. A. B.<br /> ever wrote anything but fustian, and whether the<br /> style of Mr. C. D. had any savour of affectation,<br /> he should excite angry passions. In the realm of<br /> morals they might believe with the great Bishop<br /> Butler that there was in every man a superior<br /> principle of reflection or conscience which passed<br /> judgment upon himself, which, without being<br /> consulted, without being advised with, magis-<br /> terially exerted itself and approved or condemned<br /> accordingly. In the region of the exact sciences<br /> among a thousand different opinions which diffe-<br /> rent men might entertain of the same subject<br /> there was one, and but one, that was just and<br /> true. But who would dare to lay down the law<br /> about the life of a book, and 3 et who could doubt<br /> that in the realm of beauty there was a reign of<br /> law, a superior principle of reflection, magisterially<br /> asserting itself on every fit occasion, Speaking<br /> for himself, he cculd wish for nothing better<br /> apart from moral worth than to be the owner of<br /> a taste which should enable him to appreciate<br /> real excellence in literature and art, and to depre-<br /> ciate bad intentions and feeble execution wherever<br /> he saw them. To be for ever alive to merit in<br /> poem or in picture, in statue or in bust; to be<br /> able to distinguish between the grand, the gran-<br /> diose, and the merely bumptious ; to perceive the<br /> boundary between the simplicity which was divine<br /> and that which was ridiculous, between gorgeous<br /> rhetoric and vulgar ornamentation, between pure<br /> and manly English, meant to be spoken or read, and<br /> sugared phrases which seemed intended like<br /> lollipops for suction; to feel himself going out<br /> in joyful admiration for what was noble and perma-<br /> nent, and freezing inwardly against whatever was<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 150<br /> <br /> These figures, which may be taken as fairly<br /> correct, are very striking, both as to the place<br /> which the high-class magazine occupies as a<br /> source of income; next, as to the general manage-<br /> ment of the magazines; and thirdly, as_ to<br /> certain conditions in the literature of special<br /> subjects.<br /> <br /> It is evident that under the most favourable<br /> circumstances, that of having contributed five<br /> papers in one year, nothing approaching an<br /> income can be derived from these magazines.<br /> Five-sixths of the whole number of contributors<br /> sent in one article each. The magazines, there-<br /> fore, are not supported by their contributors with<br /> a view to their personal profit and gain.<br /> <br /> If we ask who the contributors are, one can<br /> only reply with an analysis very incomplete,<br /> because most of the writers are personally<br /> unknown to me. The incomplete classification,<br /> however, in which there is some overlapping, is as<br /> follows :—<br /> <br /> I. Well-known men and women of letters<br /> <br /> II. Medical men and lawyers (but there<br /> <br /> are many lawyers in other sections) 8<br /> <br /> HE Protessors..7,.0.0000.. 12<br /> <br /> Ly. Journalists 28<br /> <br /> Vo Poliigans. on<br /> <br /> Wie Divinés) ee, 26<br /> <br /> Wil Peers 10<br /> VIII. Writers on matters of Social Economics,<br /> <br /> Hinance, &amp;. 0 a<br /> <br /> soe. The Berrios,<br /> <br /> XM Whe Colonies... 7<br /> XT. Art, Archeology, and History (but<br /> <br /> many included in the first section)... 6<br /> <br /> This accounts for 219 out of the 648. Without<br /> consulting books and people I am not able to<br /> classify the remaining 429.<br /> <br /> Probably the proportions would be about the<br /> same when all were accounted for.<br /> <br /> We have, therefore, an army of between six<br /> and seven hundred writers contributing every<br /> year to these magazines. They are paid for their<br /> work: but if they are literary people by profes-<br /> sion, the amount thus made is extremely small.<br /> Their real source of income is another question.<br /> Enough in this place to show that it is not the<br /> magazine.<br /> <br /> The next point is the light which this list and<br /> its analysis throw upon the management of the<br /> magazine. It is evident that the conductors are<br /> determined that their pages shall not become the<br /> happy hunting grounds of any writers : they will<br /> have variety, not only of subject but of writers.<br /> There are, indeed, plenty of warnings in the past<br /> —even in the present—of the fatal effects of<br /> allowing any one writer, or set of writers, to<br /> <br /> 47<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> appear over and over again. That magazine which<br /> falls into this error speedily shows signs of decay.<br /> There is never any lack of subjects in these days<br /> of invention, research, discovery, and theory. The<br /> object of the editor is to find for every subject the<br /> one man most capable of writing upon it: to give<br /> him a free hand: and to put his name to the<br /> paper. The editor born to the work gets, somehow,<br /> to know all the men who have authority to speak<br /> on any subject. You may recognise the true<br /> editor by the selection of his men as well as his<br /> subjects. You may also recognise the true<br /> editor by the practical nature of his subjects.<br /> It is the practical subject which attracts<br /> the reader. If you want to kill your maga-<br /> zine, fill it with literary papers—‘ apprecia-<br /> tions” of dead writers, critical papers on bygone<br /> work—there are hundreds of pens ready to write<br /> as many of these papers as they can get accepted.<br /> That way lies destruction. At the same time such<br /> an occasional paper, by one of the very few<br /> masters in criticism, is acceptable and useful.<br /> <br /> To sum up, the conduct of two or three, at least;”<br /> <br /> of these magazines is remarkable for the practical<br /> ability displayed and the success which has<br /> attended the editor’s policy. And there are two<br /> or three whose decay is due to the absence of any<br /> policy except that of picking the best out of a<br /> bagful of casual articles. :<br /> <br /> One more point comes out with great clearness.<br /> The useful “ general” hand, the man-of-all-work<br /> in literature, is disappearing.<br /> knowledge and research there are men who can<br /> write while they work. To these men the papers<br /> on their own special work are confided.<br /> the literary man turned his hand to anything,<br /> and wrote on all subjects. This change may not<br /> only be observed in the magazines: it is also<br /> remarkable in the nzwspapers. Every great<br /> newspaper, like every great magazine, has already<br /> its specialists, men or women, who do not belong<br /> to the daily staff, but write when they are invited<br /> to do so, when the occasion seems to require their<br /> services.<br /> <br /> In every way this is great gain: even the man<br /> of letters, though he loses all this work, gains in<br /> being forced to become himself a specialist; and<br /> as regards the magazines, he no longer lives as he<br /> lived in the last century, by writing for them on<br /> all subjects, but when a subject on which he is<br /> an authority comes to the front he can write upon<br /> it for one of these magazines, which give him a<br /> not unwelcome cheque, and what is worth many<br /> <br /> In every branch of .<br /> <br /> Formerly _<br /> <br /> cheques—the reputation of being an authority on :<br /> <br /> the subject.<br /> <br /> Writing for the magazines, therefore, which<br /> has been discussed by some of our correspondents,<br /> cannot be considered as a source of income as<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> pretentious, wiredrawn, and temporary — this<br /> indeed was to taste of the fruit of the tree, once<br /> forbidden, of the knowledge of good and evil.<br /> But this was simply to extol what had not<br /> yet been proved to be attainable. He thought<br /> the best definition of good taste was Burke’s,<br /> given by him in the treatise on the “ Sublime<br /> and Beautiful.” He wrote: “I mean by the<br /> word taste no more than that faculty or those<br /> faculties of the mind which are affected with,<br /> or form a judgment of, the works of imagi-<br /> nation and the elegant arts. The cause of a<br /> wrong taste is a defect of judgment, and this<br /> may arise from a natural weakness of the under-<br /> standing, or, which is much more commonly the<br /> case, it may arise from a want of proper and well-<br /> directed exercise, which alone can make it strong<br /> and ready. It is known that the taste is improved<br /> exactly as we improve our judgment, by extending<br /> our knowledge, by a steady attention to our<br /> object, and by frequent exercise; they who have<br /> not taken these methods, if their taste decides<br /> quickly, it is always uncertainly, and their quick-<br /> ness is owing to their presumption and rashness,<br /> and not to any hidden irradiation that in a<br /> moment dispels all darkness from their minds.”<br /> To Burke’s statement that the cause of a wrong<br /> taste was defect of judgment he must add that<br /> nobody came into this world with a ripe judg-<br /> ment. They were as likely to be born with<br /> silk hats on their heads as with good taste<br /> implanted in their breasts. To go wrong was<br /> natural; to go right was discipline. If they<br /> would possess good taste they must take<br /> pains about it. They must study models,<br /> they must follow examples, they must com-<br /> pare methods, they must crucify the natural<br /> man. The best way of telling a good book<br /> from a bad one was to make themselves as well<br /> acquainted as they could with some of the great<br /> literary models. They must be possessed, too, of<br /> a7sound understanding if they were even to know<br /> a good book from a bad one. Without under-<br /> standing, without the happy mixture of strong<br /> sense and delicacy of sentiment, they would fail<br /> to discover amid the crowd and crush of authors<br /> the difference between the good and the bad.<br /> They would belong to the class who preferred<br /> Cleveland to Milton, Montgomery to Keats,<br /> Moore to Wordsworth, and Tupper to Tennyson.<br /> Understanding might be got. By taking thought<br /> they could add to their intellectual stature.<br /> Delicacy might be acquired. Good taste was<br /> worth striving after. To tell a good book from a<br /> bad one, then, was a troublesome job, demanding<br /> first a strong understanding, second, some know-<br /> ledge, the result of study and comparison, and<br /> third, a delicate sentiment. If they had some<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 149<br /> <br /> measure of these gifts, which, though in part the<br /> gift of the gods, might also be acquired and could<br /> always be improved, and could avoid prejudice<br /> —political prejudice, social prejudice, religious<br /> prejudice, irreligious prejudice, the prejudices of<br /> the place where they could not help being born,<br /> the prejudices of the university whither chance sent<br /> them, all the prejudices that came to them by way<br /> of inheritance, and all the prejudices picked up on<br /> their own account—if they could give all these<br /> the slip and manage to live just a little above the<br /> clouds and mists of their own generation, why then,<br /> with luck, they might be right nine times out of ten<br /> in their judgment of a dead author, and ought<br /> not to be wrong more frequently than perhaps<br /> three times out of seven in the case of a living<br /> author, for it was indeed a very difficult thing<br /> to tell a good book from a bad one.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Dec<br /> <br /> ON WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES.<br /> <br /> HERE has been some talk in these columns<br /> | on the subject of writing to the magazines,<br /> as a branch of the literary life and a source<br /> <br /> of income.<br /> <br /> Ihave felt some doubts as to how far the<br /> magazines of the better class offer any sub-<br /> stantial increase of income to their writers, and I<br /> have now caused an inquiry to be made into the __<br /> subject.7 The result will be found, I think,<br /> interesting. I directed my inquiry to be made<br /> into the following magazines: the Contemporary,<br /> the Nineteenth Century, the Fortnightly, the<br /> National, the Westminster, the Cornhill, the<br /> Temple Bar, Longman’s, and Macmillan’s. By<br /> an oversight, which I regret, I did not include<br /> the Pall Mall Magazine. I deliberately excluded.<br /> the American magazines because most of their<br /> contributors are Americans. Nor did I include<br /> the lighter magazines, of which three in the list<br /> above may be taken as specimens. Blackwood 1<br /> excluded because its articles are, I believe, mostly<br /> unsigned. Perhaps it would have been as well<br /> had I kept to the first five magazines only.<br /> <br /> However, I directed the preparation of a list<br /> giving the names of all the contributors to the<br /> above magazines for the twelve months—Dec.<br /> 1898 to Nov. 1899, both inclusive. Without<br /> counting the anonymous papers, there were 648<br /> different contributors during that period. Out<br /> of this number, excluding the serials, four con-<br /> tributed five articles each to the various maga-<br /> zines; eight contributed four articles each ;<br /> twenty-four contributed three articles ;. ninety-<br /> eight contributed two articles—the rest, 514 im<br /> number, contributed one article each.<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 /> the vast unity of art.<br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> regards the high-class magazines. Those which<br /> appeal to a wider and a lower body of readers<br /> <br /> may be considered on another occasion.<br /> W. B.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ec —<br /> <br /> MR. W. E. TIREBUCK ON BOOK CRITICISM.<br /> <br /> “ () the question of literary art serious need<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> exists for caution, as the most conflicting<br /> confusion prevails amongst authors and<br /> <br /> critics,’ said Mr. W. E. Tirebuck, in a lecture<br /> <br /> before the Teachers’ Guild in Liverpool.<br /> <br /> In support of his contention Mr. Tirebuck<br /> quoted from a few of the classic writers, and<br /> also the views of many critics. Such consummate<br /> literary artists as Hazlitt, Russell Lowell, Fielding,<br /> Thackeray, George Sand, and Ruskin had _ ex-<br /> pressed conflicting opinions upon the two definite<br /> qualities in art—the subject and the treatment of<br /> that subject ; the thought, and the character of<br /> the expression that particular thought received.<br /> He was convinced that no single definition of any<br /> man, however great, could fully define art ; for<br /> all achievements iu art soared from the individual<br /> to the universal, from the finite to the infinite,<br /> from the material to the spiritual. All art<br /> seemed to have been viewed too much in segments<br /> instead of as a whole; as if one judged all forests<br /> by a single tree; all seas by one particular wave ;<br /> or the universe by their own planet, the earth.<br /> Viewed as a whole must art be, and as impartially<br /> as they would view a scientific fact of life. As it<br /> had its gradations as a whole, so each branch of<br /> art—poetry, music, painting—had also its grada-<br /> tions of growth; and every phase of art, however<br /> simple, had its own justification for existence in<br /> <br /> They had no more right<br /> to regard one particular phase of one particular<br /> section of art as the only legitimate expres-<br /> sion of the mind of man, than they had the<br /> right to regard one particular section of science<br /> as the only section of scientific truth ; or to<br /> regard one sectarian form of universal religion as<br /> the only legitimate expression of man’s belief in<br /> God. In regard to a book, he suggested that<br /> they should first judge themselves as to what<br /> particular grade of literature they had a right to<br /> speak of. Some had a preference for history, and<br /> therefore they could perhaps better judge that<br /> than the quality of some new phase of poetry<br /> or of fiction. Granting that they could judge a<br /> given book, how out of all the vagueness of<br /> impression could anything definite be derived ?<br /> <br /> Art anp LIFE.<br /> <br /> He would suggest keeping the judgment clear<br /> upon the simple line that art was nothing more<br /> <br /> AUTHOR. 131<br /> <br /> than expression. But an expression of what?<br /> Was it an expression of itself or of something<br /> else? He thought that originally it was an<br /> expression of something within a man or of<br /> something outside of him, and that though art as<br /> art had since then been elaborated into special<br /> importance by the self-consciousness of the painter,<br /> the composer, and the writer, it had never really<br /> had an existence absolutely its own, wholly sepa-<br /> rated from the utility of life. One conclusion<br /> always seemed to him to be that art was an expres-<br /> sion—a language—of man. Another complicated<br /> question was the quality of the expression, One<br /> depended on dramatic situation, and another on<br /> the analysis of character and the psychology of<br /> life, and it could not be questioned which of the<br /> phases was more legitimate in art as a whole. An<br /> author’s conception of a given fact in life was one<br /> thing, a reader’s perception of the author&#039;s render-<br /> ing of that fact might be something different.<br /> Each organism saw phenomena through the modi-<br /> fying medium of its own conditions. ‘There were<br /> no two individual expressions precisely alike,<br /> <br /> although there was one broad basis of art. The<br /> same complexity occurred in other arts. There<br /> <br /> was no finality in art or in the expression of<br /> faith or belief, such being subject even to the<br /> momentary revelation of truth. Was there, then,<br /> no standard of excellence, no ideal of perfection F<br /> Shakespeare, for instance, was a standard of<br /> excellence, but not necessarily a final ideal of<br /> perfection. Nor were Wordsworth, Shelley,<br /> Keats, Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot, Macau-<br /> lay, Emerson, and Ruskin. But he was of<br /> opinion that some broad basis could be estab-<br /> lished upon which even the liberty of opinion<br /> could work with a consciousness of logic, upon<br /> definite points well in view, rather than with that<br /> semi-conscious confusion which confounded itself<br /> <br /> the more it spoke.<br /> <br /> Tur Conrusion oF CRITICS.<br /> <br /> When one critic condemned a book because of<br /> its themes, apart from the treatment, another<br /> condemned the same book for its treatment<br /> apart from its themes, while a third condemned<br /> both themes and treatment, together with<br /> another who pronounced the book a masterpiece,<br /> he was certain that it was a time that some<br /> clear basis should be formed to work upon, even<br /> though the basis be a good old-fashioned one.<br /> Any mind incapable of making this simple sepa-<br /> ration of subject and treatment, in painting,<br /> music, and literature, should frankly own that it<br /> had no right to sit in glib judgment upon subjects<br /> which made even the wisest modest, and the pro-<br /> foundest to hesitate and think. Moral purpose<br /> justified a very strong degree of realism. ‘The<br /> <br /> <br /> 52 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> opinion of some was that art must not deal with<br /> questions of morals. That upward aspiration in<br /> the soul of man which more than anything had<br /> evolved art must not, forsooth, be expressed by<br /> art! This surely was the narrowest of versions<br /> of both life and art. Rather let them work upon<br /> the historical fact that as all life had affected all<br /> art, so all phases of art must in turn affect all<br /> phases of life for the continuous development of<br /> mankind.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;<br /> <br /> THE BOOKSELLERS’ QUESTION.<br /> I.—Tue Brcinnine oF CoERCION.<br /> <br /> At a special general meeting of the Publishers’ Associa-<br /> tion, held at Stationers’ Hall on Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 14,<br /> Mr. John Murray, the president, in the chair, it was decided<br /> that the new scheme for dealing with net books should come<br /> into force on Jan. 1, 1900. The president informed the<br /> meeting that out of 1270 booksellers in the United Kingdom<br /> who had been askei1 to tiga an undertaking not to sell net<br /> books to the public at a discount, no less than 1106 had<br /> signed, and that among those who for various reasons had<br /> not signed were many who have never undersold net books,<br /> and who have no intention of doing so.<br /> <br /> This paragraph is taken from the Publishers’<br /> Circular of Nov. 18. In accordance with the<br /> veport of the sub-committee (see The Author,<br /> June 1899), the Committee of this Society will<br /> not in any way interfere with this arrangement<br /> so long as the booksellers think it will be for<br /> their advantage. But the Committee will watch<br /> it with interest. The working of the scheme<br /> seems to be as follows :—<br /> <br /> The 1106 booksellers pledge themselves to sell<br /> at net prices, without discount, whatever books<br /> they are ordered to do. If they do not agree, or<br /> if they break their agreement, the Publishers’<br /> Association will one and all refuse to let them<br /> have any other net books.<br /> <br /> It will be observed (1) that all the publishers<br /> have not joined the association: nor all the book-<br /> sellers: (2) that to the booksellers is left the<br /> detective work: (3) books which are not pub-<br /> lished at net prices are still open to all book-<br /> sellers: (4) that net books are at present chiefly<br /> high priced books: (5) that evasion of the agree-<br /> ment has been proved by experience to be possible<br /> in twenty different ways: (6) that the public are<br /> used to discount, and will certainly do their best<br /> to get it, and will give their sympathies to the<br /> discount booksellers.<br /> <br /> “Let the plan, however, since so many book-<br /> sellers want it, have a trial. In six months or so<br /> let us ask the 1106 booksellers what they have<br /> gained by the arrangement, and those who have<br /> stood out what they have lost. It will then,<br /> perbaps, become possible for the authors and the<br /> booksellers to take counsel.<br /> <br /> II.<br /> [By Mr. Ropert MacLenosz. |<br /> <br /> I have read with much interest the letters and<br /> notes written by yourself in The Author and else-<br /> where in reference to the ‘“ Discount Question,”<br /> and I gather from them and from the report of<br /> the sub-committee of the Authors’ Society, printed<br /> in the June number of The Author, that you and<br /> your committee are anxious to support the book-<br /> sellers in their efforts to improve their position,<br /> Your repeated insistence that a book is not pro-<br /> perly published until it is shown on booksellers’<br /> counters has, I know, had a great effect; and I<br /> should very much like to see the weight of your<br /> influence thrown on the side of the recent agree-<br /> ment arrived at between publishers and book-<br /> sellers.<br /> <br /> From certain statements made in the report<br /> above referred to, and from notes of yours in the<br /> September number of The Author and your<br /> letters to the Daily Chronicle, I can see that some<br /> points bearing on the present position of affairs<br /> have not been brought before your notice. I<br /> venture, therefore, to place before you the follow-<br /> ing facts which may, perhaps, throw a little<br /> additional light on the matter.<br /> <br /> About two years ago a proposal was made that<br /> all booksellers should be compelled to agree not<br /> to give any discount on net books and to limit the<br /> discount on non-net books to 2d. in the shilling.<br /> This proposal was approved of by many of the<br /> leading publishers and was warmly welcomed by<br /> the great mass of booksellers in the country. It<br /> was, however, objected to by the Committee of the<br /> Authors’ Society and was ultimately abandoned.<br /> One of the chief objections made to the scheme<br /> by your committee was that it was too hard and<br /> fast, and allowed no option to the author to<br /> have his book placed on the market without any<br /> conditions.<br /> <br /> The Publishers’ Association, when they in-<br /> timated to the Booksellers’ Association that the<br /> scheme was abandoned, stated at the same time<br /> that they were prepared to consider any alterna-<br /> tive scheme submitted to them. Thereupon a<br /> new scheme, which was a modification of the<br /> original proposal, was prepared and, before being<br /> sent to the Publishers’ Association, was submitted<br /> to the various branches of the Booksellers’ Asso-<br /> ciation and to the Authors’ Society. This was<br /> approved of by these branches and by your<br /> Society and was ultimately sent to the Publishers’<br /> Association. After careful consideration of it, the<br /> Publishers’ Association reported that they found<br /> it too complicated, and submitted to the Book-<br /> sellers’ Association the present agreement as an<br /> alternative and simpler scheme. The agreement<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ee ee ee<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> was then sent in draft to the various branches of<br /> the Booksellers’ Association to be brought before<br /> their members. In all cases it was heartily<br /> approved of by the branches asa step in the right<br /> direction, and in the case of the Scottish branch,<br /> which I know more intimately than the others,<br /> the meeting of booksellers convened to consider<br /> the matter was the largest ever held in Scotland<br /> and was most cordial and enthusiastic. The draft<br /> agreement, after having thus been accepted by the<br /> Booksellers’ Association, was returned to the<br /> Publishers’ Association.<br /> But before finally adjusting the agreement,<br /> delegates from all the branches of the Booksellers’<br /> Association were invited to meet the publishers<br /> in conference in London. ‘That the representa-<br /> tives of the various branches were hearty in their<br /> support of the scheme is shown by the fact that<br /> every delegate invited was present, and that<br /> members came specially to London from all parts<br /> of England, and from Edinburgh and Glasgow.<br /> On the day of the conference there were three<br /> meetings of booksellers: (1) Of the delegates<br /> alone; (2) of the delegates with the publishers ;<br /> (3) of the members of the Booksellers’ Associa-<br /> tion, at which the delegates were present. At all<br /> these meetings the agreement was cordially<br /> approved of; and it was left to the Publishers’<br /> Association to have it submitted to counsel.<br /> Before the end of June the agreement was<br /> printed and signed by most of the firms belong-<br /> ing to the Publishers’ Association, and was sent<br /> to the individual booksellers for their signatures<br /> by the local secretaries of the various branches,<br /> along with two printed letters: (1) that signed by<br /> the presidents of the Publishers’ and the Book-<br /> sellers’ Associations, and (2) that signed by the<br /> local secretary. I enclose you a copy of the first<br /> of these letters, and of the local letter issued to<br /> the Scottish branch, which may serve as a speci-<br /> men. The agreement has now been signed by<br /> over 1100 booksellers, and Mr. Murray and Mr.<br /> Keay, the presidents of the two associations, are<br /> trying by friendly representations to induce the<br /> very small number of booksellers who have not<br /> yet signed, to do so.<br /> My reason for going over this “history ” in<br /> such detail is to show you that the agreement,<br /> while nominally emanating from the publishers,<br /> is in reality a concession to the wishes of the<br /> booksellers by the publishers, who recognise that<br /> with the welfare of the booksellers the own<br /> welfare is bound up. - In no sense is it the case<br /> that it is an agreement forced by the publishers<br /> on an unwilling body of booksellers. It is most<br /> important that this should be recognised, as it<br /> would be a fatal objection to the agreement or,<br /> <br /> deed, to any arrangement if it could be shown<br /> <br /> ’<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 153<br /> <br /> that it was in the interest of any individual class.<br /> The interests of the three classes—authors, pub-<br /> lishers, and booksellers, are one, and if the<br /> Authors’ Society were to support the scheme<br /> which has been approved of by the Publishers’<br /> and the Booksellers’ Associations, it would, I am<br /> convinced, have a great influence on the public.<br /> <br /> In paragraphs 4 and 5 of your sub-committee’s<br /> report, printed in the June number of The Author,<br /> it is said (paragraph 5) :<br /> <br /> «There ought to be preserved a margin of 25<br /> per cent., that is to say, the profit to the book-<br /> sellers on the sale of a book should be at least<br /> 20 per cent. on the trade price of it.”<br /> <br /> With this the great majority of booksellers<br /> will, I have no doubt, heartily agree. But how<br /> is this to be reached? In paragraph 4 it is said:<br /> <br /> “They (the booksellers) can make terms for<br /> themselves, if they only agree among them-<br /> selves.”<br /> <br /> For years every effort has been made to bring<br /> about ‘such desirable mutual agreement. The<br /> Booksellers’ Association has established branches<br /> throughout the country, and by this means has<br /> aroused among the individual booksellers a<br /> fellow-feeling to an extent that never existed<br /> before. By the combined efforts of the Beok-<br /> sellers’ and the Publishers’ Associations the great<br /> majority of the booksellers of this country have<br /> signed the present agreement, and it is hoped<br /> that by friendly means the very small minority<br /> of objectors may be further reduced. But if<br /> these friendly means fail, there is no alternative<br /> left except some form of control. Strange as it<br /> may seem, it is a fact, that as things now stand,<br /> even if 99 per cent. of booksellers agree as to<br /> terms, such an agreement can be made of no<br /> avail jf one bookseller insists on under-selling his<br /> neighbours, and the question is, are we to allow<br /> the minority of one to control the majority of<br /> ninety-nine, or should the ninety-nine control the<br /> one? The Publishers’ and the Booksellers’<br /> Associations believe in the latter alternative, and<br /> I hope you will agree that their decision is a wise<br /> one.<br /> <br /> By common consent it has been agreed that if<br /> the ‘principle of control be admitted, then the<br /> particular form of its application is a matter of<br /> minor concern. The present agreement, in which<br /> the principle of control is embodied, has been<br /> very carefully thought out, and the objections<br /> which have been suggested by different parties<br /> have been considered. The objection to the first<br /> scheme offered by the Authors’ Society, viz.<br /> that it gave to the author no option of having his<br /> book published without conditions, has been met.<br /> The present agreement only refers to net books,<br /> and if an author wished to have his book pub-<br /> 154 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> lished without conditions, he can still have it so<br /> published as a non-net book. It will, thus, I<br /> think, be seen that the clause in the report of the<br /> Authors’ Society which says that “the committee<br /> of the Publishers’ Association have proclaimed<br /> that they will not allow, if they can prevent<br /> it, the creators and owners of literary property to<br /> have any voice in the administration of their<br /> affairs,” is scarcely accurate. Technically, it is<br /> true that the Authors’ Society have not been con-<br /> sulted about this agreement ; but practically they<br /> have been consulted in so far as their publicly<br /> expressed views have moulded the form of the<br /> agreement. Indeed, one of the recommendations<br /> made in the former report of your committee—<br /> viz., that a bookseller should be at liberty to take<br /> or not to take net books on net terms “ without<br /> interference with his liberty to do what he pleases<br /> with other books” (see report in June Author,<br /> par. 6) amounts to very much the same as the<br /> present agreement, which does not compel a book-<br /> seller to take net books at all, if he prefers to be<br /> without them, but only compels him, if he does<br /> take them, to sell them at net prices.<br /> <br /> The other chief objection to the present agree-<br /> ment is that it forbids the booksellers, but not the<br /> publishers, to sell net books at reduced rates to<br /> retail customers. This objection was considered<br /> by the delegates of the booksellers at their<br /> meeting in London prior to the conference<br /> with the publishers. It was then felt to be a<br /> delicate a question to bring up, as it seemed to<br /> imply a doubt of the honour of the members of<br /> the Publishers’ Association, which no one there<br /> present wished to impugn. It was, however,<br /> brought up at the conference, and it was left to<br /> the publishers to have the opinion of counsel<br /> taken on the matter. That opinion, as you know,<br /> was given in favour of leaving the agreement in<br /> its present form. Apart from any question as to<br /> the wisdom of this opinion, it is obvious that the<br /> signatures appended to the agreement bind those<br /> signing it to carry out the agreement, even though<br /> they might claim technical legal rights to break<br /> it in this respect; and at the conference the<br /> delegates were assured that the Publishers’ Asso-<br /> ciation would not tolerate that any of its members<br /> should underbid the bookseller in the sale of net<br /> books.<br /> <br /> There are other minor objections which have<br /> been brought against the scheme, with which I<br /> shall not take up your time. But if your Society<br /> can see its way to support the scheme in its main<br /> contentions, it will do much to remove any doubt<br /> as to the value of the agreement that may remain in<br /> the mind of the public.<br /> <br /> The scheme is only an experiment. If it proves<br /> a success, it will doubtless be carried further ; if<br /> <br /> it does not succeed, then at least we may feel<br /> that an earnest attempt has been made to arrest<br /> the decay of bookselling—a decay which you have<br /> often lamented as injurious to the spread of<br /> literature.<br /> <br /> Ihave thought it right to show this letter to<br /> Mr. Murray and Mr. Keay, the presidents of the<br /> Publishers’ and the Booksellers’ Associations. It<br /> has met with the approval of these gentlemen,<br /> and if you can see your way to insert it in The<br /> Author J shall feel greatly obliged.<br /> <br /> Glasgow, Oct., 1899.<br /> <br /> ———<br /> <br /> II.<br /> <br /> It will be well to reprint the Report of the<br /> Sub-Committee on the Discount System adopted<br /> by the Committee of Management and published<br /> in the Author of June 1899 :—<br /> <br /> “ The circular dated March 1899, issued by the<br /> Publishers’ Association, contains a scheme for the<br /> “extension and the enforcement” of the net<br /> system.<br /> <br /> “The difference between the present scheme and<br /> that for 1897 is difficult to understand. By the<br /> former all books were to be sold at a net price;<br /> by the latter a more ‘general trial of the net<br /> system is advisable, especially in the case of<br /> books above 6s.’ It is not, however, stated that<br /> the trial is to be confined only to books above 6s.<br /> in price. Nothing is said in reply to the objec-<br /> tion to binding booksellers by restrictions un-<br /> recognised by law.<br /> <br /> The new scheme has been prepared by the com-<br /> mittee of the Publishers’ Association submitted<br /> to a general meeting of that body, adopted by<br /> that meeting, and referred to a meeting of pub-<br /> lishers and booksellers, without the least refer-<br /> ence to the creators and part owners of the property<br /> concerned. In other words, the committee of<br /> the Publishers’ Association have proclaimed that<br /> they will not allow, if they can prevent it, the<br /> creators and owners of literary property to have<br /> any voice in the administration of their own<br /> affairs.<br /> <br /> “TI. Your committee have been informed on<br /> good authority that the condition of many book-<br /> sellers at the present moment is so deplorable<br /> that they are ready to catch at any concession on<br /> any terms which may seem to offer relief. Under<br /> these circumstances your committee are not pre-<br /> pared to advise opposition to any scheme which<br /> the booksellers may think promising, even though<br /> the way proposed is beset with obvious objec-<br /> tions and dangers.<br /> <br /> “TIT. Your committee, therefore, while con-<br /> tinuing to protest against methods of coercion<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> Pele outa<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> TILE<br /> <br /> which deprive a man of the right of doing what<br /> he pleases with his own, think it desirable to<br /> point out the true nature of the scheme and what<br /> its adoption will entail.<br /> <br /> “1. The booksellers will sign an obligation not<br /> to sell ‘books published by us ”’—certain pub-<br /> lishers—‘at net prices below the published<br /> price. Nothing is said here as to any limita-<br /> tion of net prices to high-priced books. The<br /> door is carefully left open for the inclusion of<br /> all books as net. Something was said in the<br /> publishers’ report, but this is not binding.<br /> Nothing binds except the exact words of the<br /> signed agreement.<br /> <br /> “ Nothing is said which forbids the publisher to<br /> sell at a reduced rate. He is thus free to under-<br /> bid the bookseller if he pleases, and to deprive<br /> him of the whole trade with local libraries, schools,<br /> and institutions. The bookseller, therefore, fetters<br /> himself while the publisher goes free. Is it to be<br /> believed that the publisher will not take alvan-<br /> tage of this liberty of action ?<br /> <br /> “ Nothing is said as to any time limitation.<br /> Does the bookseller bind himself for life ?<br /> <br /> “No improvement in the booksellers’ position is<br /> offered on books published at six shillings and<br /> under, i.e. on the bulk of his business ; that part<br /> on which he has to depend.<br /> <br /> “rt. If, however, high-priced books are only to<br /> be made net, what advantage will the bookseller<br /> gain in return for entering into this one-sided<br /> arrangement? Surely the advantages ought to be<br /> substantial.<br /> <br /> «Tet a book now published at 12s. be taken as<br /> an example :<br /> <br /> “By the present system the bookseller gets it<br /> at 8s. 1d. and sells it at 9s.<br /> <br /> “ By the new system he will get it at 7s. 11d.<br /> and sell it at 10s.<br /> <br /> «The advantage is therefore 1s. 2d.—a substan-<br /> tial gain on every copy.<br /> <br /> “On a 24s. book his advantage would be<br /> 2s. 4d.<br /> <br /> “Tf, therefore, a country bookseller should sell<br /> in the course of the year forty-eight copies of a<br /> 12s. book, he would gain £2 16s. ; twenty-four<br /> copies of a 248. book, he would gain £2 45.;<br /> twelve copies of a 36s. book, he would gain £2 2s.<br /> Yo that his increased profit on the year, after<br /> resigning the power of selling his own property in<br /> his own way, would only amount to £7 38. a year.<br /> Perhaps the demand for high-priced books ia the<br /> country is greater than these figures would show.<br /> They are submitted as tentative only. In any<br /> case it is certain that the sale of books at a high<br /> price is never very large, except in very excep-<br /> tional cases. It will be easy for any beokseller<br /> to go through his books and calculate for himself<br /> <br /> AUTHOR. 155<br /> <br /> how much advantage he would gain in the year<br /> by this proposed change.<br /> <br /> “s11. The Publishers’ Association very wisely<br /> refuse to undertake the detective part of the<br /> scheme. That is left to brother booksellers. It<br /> will be an ungracious task. Let them ask<br /> themselves seriously how they will undertake<br /> it, and let them remember that without some<br /> method of supervision — same method which<br /> will create bitter animosities—the scheme cannot<br /> last.<br /> <br /> “yy, Evasion again is perfectly certain whenever<br /> the interests of the trade require it. Former<br /> experience shows that there area dozen ways of<br /> evasion, and that they will be practised. Restric-<br /> tions which ought not to be imposed, which are<br /> contrary to the liberty of the citizen, have always<br /> been evaded and always will—and that without<br /> reluctance so long as they are felt to be con-<br /> trary to the spirit of freedom.<br /> <br /> “«y, If, however, booksellers decide, in the face<br /> of these considerations, that the scheme can be<br /> worked, and that it will turn out to their advan-<br /> tage, your committee would not recommend that<br /> the Society should stand in their way. But they<br /> should agree to adopt the scheme fora limited<br /> period only ; they should boldly face the difficulty<br /> of providing the necessary supervision ; above all<br /> things they should insist on the publishers being<br /> bound not to undersell them; and they should<br /> make it clear that they sign only for books pub-<br /> lished at about 6s.<br /> <br /> “ At the end of the limited time the booksellers<br /> should be invited to confer with the authors as to<br /> the continuance, further development, or abolition<br /> of the scheme.<br /> <br /> “TV. Your committee would point out to the<br /> booksellers that, so far from being obliged to<br /> accept any terms that may be imposed upon them,<br /> they are in a perfectly independent position.<br /> They can make terms for themselves if they only<br /> agree among themselves.<br /> <br /> “VY. Your committee would point out, for the<br /> consideration of booksellers, that whatever<br /> arrangement be adopted, whether an extended<br /> net system for a term on the present arrange-<br /> ment, or any other, there ought to be preserved<br /> a margin of 25 per cent., that is to say, the<br /> profit to the booksellers on the sale of a book<br /> should be at least 20 per cent. on the trade price<br /> of it.<br /> <br /> “VI, Your committee would also repeat the<br /> recommendations made in their former report.<br /> These recommendations were adopted by the<br /> Committee of Management. They were also<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> adopted by the Booksellers’ Association of Scot-<br /> land (see The Author, Aug. 1898, pp. 61 and 63).<br /> They were designed in order to give the net<br /> <br /> <br /> 156<br /> <br /> system a fair trial without coercion. It was there<br /> proposed :—<br /> <br /> “(1.) That books at 6s. and under shall remain<br /> as before.<br /> <br /> “(2.) That, as at present, every net book shall<br /> be made the subject of a special contract, and<br /> that a bookseller shall be at liberty to take it on<br /> net terms or not, without interference with his<br /> liberty to do what he pleases with other books,<br /> his own property.<br /> <br /> “ (3.) That the system of. sale or return shalljbe<br /> more extensively adopted. This method, indeed,<br /> is absolutely necessary if books are to be really<br /> published for the world and not, as now happens<br /> with a great many, which are not taken by the<br /> booksellers, only printed.<br /> <br /> “ Your committee desire to see in every book-<br /> seller’s shop in the country a collection of all the<br /> new books worth buying offered for sale.<br /> <br /> ‘“©(4.) That the ‘odd’ copy shall be abolished<br /> as practically useless and even mischievous.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 1V.—Wuat 1s WANTED.<br /> <br /> We are informed by the Publishers’ Circular<br /> that at length something is to be attempted<br /> towards the mending of the retail bookseller’s<br /> financial position. Whatever may be our opinion<br /> as to the adequacy of the proposed course, there<br /> can be no doubt that it is imperative there shall<br /> not be a moment’s delay in the alteration of trade<br /> terms in such a manner that men of intelligence<br /> shall be attracted to what should rank as a<br /> profession.<br /> <br /> What the public wishes is guidance and help<br /> from an educated, interested man. No guidance<br /> is found. There can be but one reason in these<br /> days of over-crowding and competition. There is<br /> no money in it.<br /> <br /> But why do I trouble you about this?<br /> <br /> Because it is clear that authors must suffer<br /> from the present defective method of reaching<br /> the public, as recently stated in your columns, by<br /> advertisements, by review, or by the bookseller.<br /> I venture to say that if you improve the quality,<br /> not the quantity, of the latter’s collection of books,<br /> the advertisements and review (aptly joined) may<br /> be done without. Ifthe author or the publisher<br /> pay him well, the bookseller, not the assistant<br /> bookseller, will be with his customer, and he<br /> will most effectively review and advertise not only<br /> the latest, but the best of the books upon his<br /> shelves.<br /> <br /> The little known writer may suffer most from<br /> the present system, but not he alone. All suffer,<br /> for surely the cost of advertisement comes from<br /> the popular author’s pocket in the form of a<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> lower rate of royalty than he would otherwise<br /> receive. The trader who supplies only the book<br /> he is asked for does light porter’s work and<br /> receives light wages.<br /> <br /> It would seem that the sale or return system<br /> advocated in your columns should bring into the<br /> trade some who dare not risk much capital in<br /> the purchase of books. But these, having selected<br /> their stock, must go one step further, they must<br /> be in a position to help book-buyers—who will be<br /> found much more ready to rely upon the judg-<br /> ment of the booksellers than to be guided by<br /> unsigned reviews.<br /> <br /> The author, too, will be liberated from his<br /> bogey. He will no longer fear that his book being<br /> ignored, or dismissed with a sneer by an anony-<br /> mous reviewer, has no other chance of a hearing.<br /> <br /> One INTERESTED.<br /> <br /> ec<br /> <br /> MR. ENDEAN AND MESSRS. SAMPSON<br /> LOW, MARSTON, AND CO.<br /> <br /> LETTER appeared in the Times of Nov. 18<br /> from Mr. J. Russell Endean telling an<br /> interesting story. It was to the effect<br /> <br /> that he arranged with a publisher for the expendi-<br /> ture of £15 im advertising a new edition of a<br /> certain work : that when the account was rendered,<br /> £15 was charged: that he asked for details and<br /> was informed that only £6 gs. 8d. had been spent<br /> —of this £1 6s. was disallowed as contrary<br /> to the agreement, so that only £5 3s. 8d. had<br /> been actually spent instead of £15; that the<br /> explanation offered by the publishers was that<br /> the charge was “ provisional”: that another<br /> account would have been rendered at the end of<br /> the next half-year when any part of the £15 not<br /> spent would be credited.<br /> <br /> A reply to this letter was sent to the Times two<br /> days afterwards in which Messrs. Sampson Low,<br /> Marston and Company admitted that they are<br /> the publishers referred to and offered the follow-<br /> ing explanation :<br /> <br /> Oor advertising clerk, when sending the account which<br /> Mr. Endean copied into your columns, admitted that by his<br /> oversight some advertisements which ought to have been<br /> inserted in certain papers had not been inserted. He<br /> admitted the error, said it should be put right, and it was<br /> put right as far as possible.<br /> <br /> The rectification, one supposes, was either the<br /> withdrawal of the first account and the substitu-<br /> tion of another: or else the immediate laying out ~<br /> of the overcharged £9 16s. 4d. in advertising the<br /> book. It seems a pity that the firm did not<br /> think it necessary to state the nature of the<br /> rectification. The story is, in consequence, at<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 157<br /> <br /> present only half complete. It seems also a pity<br /> that the letter was headed “ Authors and Pub-<br /> lishers,” because only one publisher was concerned<br /> and only one charge was brought.<br /> <br /> Meantime, with the view of making their staff<br /> more careful, and for the sake of the house, it<br /> would be well if every author receiving an account<br /> from Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston and Co.<br /> (Limited), would refer it back for details. The<br /> firm, one is quite sure, would gladly welcome this<br /> co-operation of the authors with themselves in<br /> ensuring the accuracy of their clerical staff.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Do<br /> <br /> CORRESPONDENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> {.—Orr THE List.<br /> <br /> HE more experience I have of publishing<br /> agreements the more difficult I find it to<br /> contrive one which shall entirely safeguard<br /> <br /> the interests of the author and properly protect<br /> his interests. So much so is the case that I<br /> would venture to suggest that the time has come<br /> when the Council of the Society should among<br /> them draft, not agreements, but special clauses<br /> which should be found in every agreement.<br /> <br /> Quite recently I heard of a somewhat difficult<br /> case in which the author suffered for want of a<br /> clause which, I believe, is never found in any<br /> agreement. The book was published on the half-<br /> profit system. The publishers bore the entire<br /> expense of publication, the author bore the entire<br /> expense of writing the book. The publisher<br /> undertook to publish the book, and the profits<br /> arising from the sales—or, I should say, what<br /> the publisher called profits—were to be equally<br /> divided between the parties “during the legal<br /> term of copyright.” The general management of<br /> the production, publication, and sale of the book<br /> was to be left to the “judgment and discretion Z<br /> of the publisher.<br /> <br /> The book had a sale of 700 or 800 copies,<br /> but there were, according to the accounts rendered,<br /> no profits to be divided. The author now ex-<br /> presses himself surprised to find the book omitted<br /> from the publisher’s catalogue. It is, in fact,<br /> not being offered to the public, though the “legal<br /> term of copyright” is far from having expired.<br /> Can the author do anything? It is a doubtful<br /> point. Clearly the publishers, as partners in the<br /> transaction, are bound to exercise that “ judg-<br /> ment and discretion” in a bond fide and proper<br /> manner. Are they doing so in cutting the book<br /> out of their lists. Their case, no doubt, would<br /> be that the book no longer sells, and that<br /> it is unwise to go to the expense of, say, 58., for<br /> <br /> printing the title of it in their catalogue. To<br /> <br /> make good this contention they would have to<br /> show that they omitted from their lists all other<br /> books which no longer sell, and this it is doubtful<br /> if they could do. Should not the Society take<br /> counsel’s opinion on the point, for the form of<br /> agreement is a very common one ?<br /> <br /> There is, however, a moral in all this, and it is,<br /> that in every publishing agreement the publisher<br /> shall be bound to keep the book in all his lists<br /> for a specified period, which in most cases should<br /> be the period of copyright.<br /> <br /> Another useful clause is that in any year in<br /> which less than a specified number of copies<br /> have been sold, the author shall have the right to<br /> rescind the agreement, taking over unsold stock,<br /> blocks, moulds, or plates at a valuation.<br /> <br /> Lastly, I would strongly support your frequent<br /> recommendation to authors never to sign an<br /> agreement by which the copyright of a book is<br /> passed to the publisher, except when the book is<br /> sold outright for a specified sum. There are, I<br /> may almost say, hundreds of reasons why authors<br /> should keep their copyright. If they do not, the<br /> publisher may cut out paris of their work, alter<br /> them, put objectionable inset advertisements<br /> in every other page, publish the book in some<br /> form which might discredit the author, even sell<br /> it to some soap firm for the purposes of adver-<br /> tisement. Where the copyright of the book is<br /> sold for a specified sum, there should be a clause<br /> in the agreement prohibiting abridgment or<br /> alteration of the text without the author’s<br /> consent. Nemo al. I. L.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> II.—RasuH CRriTIcIsM.<br /> <br /> In The Author of October last you have an<br /> article on Criticism in which (IX.) it is said:<br /> “Don’t try to prove every successful author a<br /> plagiarist.” As illustrating how easily a story<br /> may look like a plagiary, the following experience<br /> may interest.<br /> <br /> Some months ago I finished a story of the<br /> Pre-historie or Antediluvian age. While it was<br /> yet in the typing stage a similar story by a well-<br /> known novelist appeared in a popular magazine.<br /> T read the first five chapters and found it sub-<br /> stantially my own story, the difference beimg<br /> chiefly in localisation and style. I followed the<br /> events of my own story, and found even the<br /> details reproduced with slight variations, ey. :<br /> My antediluvians are ruled by a fiendish man,<br /> his by a fiendish woman; my king orders his<br /> guards to arrest a virtuous priest who interrupts<br /> a banquet, denouncing the wrath of Jehovah, and<br /> the guard who obeys is struck by lightning ; his<br /> queen does the same, but the priest denounces<br /> the wrath of the gods and the guard is struck<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> 158<br /> <br /> with leprosy! And so on, through five consecu-<br /> tive chapters—as far as I have read !<br /> <br /> My MS. has never left me but once, and<br /> then it was in typists’ hands; moreover a well-<br /> known writer would certainly not plagiarise from<br /> one so unknown and inexperienced as myself.<br /> The events reproduced are fictiticus; hence one<br /> can only suppose that, by a pure coincidence, the<br /> same ideas occurred to us both. Had our posi-<br /> tions been reversed, I should certainly have<br /> considered the unknown writer a barefaced<br /> plagiarist. 1 think, therefore, your contributor<br /> does well to caution the critic. M. Sr. J.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> III.— Literary Yrar-Boox.<br /> <br /> The suggestion made in the last issue of 7’he<br /> Author that a Literary Year-book should be<br /> issued by the Society is, I think, well worth the<br /> consideration of the Society’s Committee. The<br /> book should be, above all else, for the information<br /> of writers. I have a copy before me of the last<br /> edition of “The Literary Ycar-Book,” which is<br /> by no means the useful guide one would expect.<br /> It is to be hoped, however, that the forthcoming<br /> edition will be more satisfactory ; otherwise the<br /> Committee should take the matter into considera-<br /> tion. GLENFRUIN.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> IV.—Tue Reaping Brancu.<br /> <br /> May I callattention to a very serious want in this<br /> connection? A young writer submits, we will<br /> say, ten short stories (about 50,000 words) to the<br /> Society’s reader, and pays the fee. In due course<br /> he gets the opinion and advice of the expert.<br /> Profiting thereby he writes another 5000 words<br /> story. Would it not now be a vast help to him if he<br /> could submit this one to be read for a small fee<br /> —say 2s. 6d.? Of course, he might wait until he<br /> had ten stories to submit; but if has not gone on<br /> the right tack after the first reading, look at the<br /> waste of labour and time! What he wants is to<br /> be able to submit each piece of work separately,<br /> as itis completed. Is it possible for the Society<br /> to arrange for this ?<br /> <br /> Half-a-crown is admittedly a very small fee.<br /> Yet when I was connected with a well-known<br /> daily, many a time have I reviewed in thirty or<br /> forty lines (at three halfpence per line) a<br /> 400-page Look dealing with some branch of<br /> economics with which I am tolerably familiar.<br /> <br /> Buppine Fictionist.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> V.—Tue Preriop oF Copyricut.<br /> Iam exceedingly glad to see that The Author<br /> is now on the track of “leases” by the author to’<br /> the publisher.<br /> <br /> Allow me, after thirty years’<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOK.<br /> <br /> dealings with musical composers, to say that<br /> merely to extend the period of co; yright would<br /> benefit not a small proportion, and would simply<br /> enrich the capitalist publisher. I have seen it<br /> stated that the United States plan of twenty-<br /> eight plus fourteen years was the old English<br /> plan, which has been retained from colonial days.<br /> If so, we have a precedent, and the period of<br /> lease could be extended. I have in several cases<br /> seen the beneficent effect of the United States<br /> law in bringing sums to widows and children after<br /> the composer’s death. The lawyers would, how-<br /> ever, have to make some provision to prevent the<br /> pawning of “ futures’’ by improvident authors.<br /> <br /> It is an unpleasant thing for a music publisher<br /> to have composers bring in really good stuff and<br /> offer it, even press it, for sale out and out ata<br /> price below its value in order that the composer<br /> may “meet a bill,” ‘save his furniture,” “pay<br /> his life insurance,’ &amp;c. This kind of thing<br /> gives an opportunity to hard and grasping pub-<br /> lishers. It will, I suppose, always go on, but<br /> under the system of lease there would, if the<br /> work met with success, be a revaluation and<br /> re-sale after a certain number of years, which<br /> would do something to right matters.<br /> <br /> Let me say that out of all the thousands of<br /> things which I have recommended to my company<br /> not one is published on commission or on the half-<br /> profits system. The plans of lump payment or<br /> royalty are exclusively used, and the composer is<br /> always offered the option of a royalty as against<br /> alump sum. I mention these facts to show that<br /> I belong to the better class of publisher with<br /> which, as I know, the readers of The Aushor are<br /> in sympathy.<br /> <br /> A Music PusLisHER.<br /> <br /> =<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Vi.—LiveratvreE AS A PROFESSION.<br /> <br /> I will not, if you please, sign this letter, as I<br /> am sick of the sight of my own name; but I may<br /> say it has been mentioned once or twice by your<br /> correspondents, although I have not the honour<br /> to be acquainted with a single author in England.<br /> I should like to allude to some letters of your<br /> members who have made certain statements of<br /> mine pegs whereon to hang complaints against the<br /> literary profession, which, while I deeply sympa-<br /> thise with them, I do not entirely endorse.<br /> <br /> In your issue for September Annabel Gray<br /> very trenchantly declares that Press booms,<br /> advertising, beaiing the dium, favour with “rag-<br /> bag” proprietors, huge posters, or commendatory<br /> letters from high personages, are indispensable to<br /> “success.” “UL. 8.’ declaims against chance,<br /> <br /> poverty, and the “ jealousy ” of successful authors |<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOL.<br /> <br /> who refuse to advise a struggler. “ NW. S<br /> complains that a novel by an unknown hand<br /> cannot secure even a nominal price.<br /> <br /> Now, I wish to say that I personally have<br /> never complained of any of the obstacles of Litera-<br /> ture, but simply of my failure to do good work ;<br /> it is true that I have attributed that in part to<br /> poverty ; but I do not blame Literature that I am<br /> poor. I am forced to agree that Annabel Gray<br /> has much reason.<br /> <br /> We must never complain of the successful ; if<br /> we emulate their particular form of success, we<br /> must imitate their methods, and if we despise<br /> their methods, we need not envy their success.<br /> The author with whom I am in sympathy is one<br /> who aspires to a solid reputation, with or without<br /> profit, rather than a noisy and short-lived<br /> notoriety, and the unseemly making of hay.<br /> His ambition must be such that he will not<br /> permit himself to hope for more than even post-<br /> humous fame or, at least, a quiet and retired<br /> reputation which earns a humble living but high<br /> honour from the highest men. If an author can<br /> do the work of George Eliot or Thackeray or<br /> Meredith it is probable that he will achieve suffi-<br /> cient for comfort for his latter years, and the<br /> chances are that he is bound to be “ discovered ”’<br /> before his death. But he need not regret the<br /> lack of worldly push; real genius is almost invari-<br /> ably accompanied, by the most sensitive pride. The<br /> man who makes Literature a mere profession must<br /> undoubtedly obtain some of those aids recom-<br /> mended by Annabel Gray; but I regretfully confess<br /> that I have quite retired from that sort of competi-<br /> tion myself and therefore cannot advise. I depre-<br /> cate the abasement of touting for paragraphs and<br /> puffs; nor do I think it a sign of dignity to seek<br /> for commendatory letters from successful authors.<br /> Self-respect is really more valuable than a<br /> “boom.’? Do good work—do good work !—and<br /> then, if your own judgment is really satisfied and<br /> you cannot place it, get a few copies printed very<br /> cheaply to send to the Press, or set your teeth,<br /> lay it aside, and let your soul die and revive<br /> again. It is painful to reflect on failure and the<br /> vulgarity of life. ‘Personally, I support myself<br /> by this thought: Is there any known case of a<br /> poet or novelist of genius who has perished<br /> unheard ? And can you point to any high reputa-<br /> tion of ten years’ standing that is not amply<br /> justified by its work? Do not worry about those<br /> whose vein is different to yours: but in your own<br /> vein ?<br /> <br /> May I encroach a little further on your space ?<br /> In your issue for May 1899 appeared a letter<br /> from “ Waiting,” headed “ Against Difficulties.”<br /> It is rather unusual, but will you permit me to<br /> address “ Waiting” through you? I should<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 159<br /> <br /> like to tell this gentleman that I wrote to him;<br /> responded to a sympathy which he appeared to<br /> extend to me, and which surprised and pleased<br /> me; but owing to an accident—I was far away<br /> from post offices at the time—the letter was lost<br /> I hope this will meet his eyes.<br /> <br /> « Waiting” said: “ Meanwhile Tam miserable.<br /> I have had sufficient success to warrant me in<br /> believing that in two years I could, by constant<br /> work and hard writing, earn a ‘ comfortable<br /> ‘neome. But I am chained to office work, and<br /> my evenings are as miserable as my mornings<br /> and afternoons, for what literary work can a man<br /> do who comes home tired out?”<br /> <br /> Tf I were a publisher or @ patron, I should<br /> take “ Waiting’s” brief statement to represent a<br /> character of grit. I can only say—work on<br /> Sundays and holidays. One of the most suc-<br /> cessful recent novels was written by a clerk who<br /> could only begin at 10 p.m. When I was a clerk,<br /> with the luxurious hours of 10 to 4, I thought it<br /> spoilt my writing, though I wrote from 6 to<br /> 7.30, and from g to 12. I threw up my job to<br /> get more time. I regret it now. I see that I<br /> did my best work then; the chafing of the day’s<br /> slavery stimulated concentration ; the annoyances<br /> of bondage made me determined to achieve my<br /> liberty. “ Waiting ” must not wait, but burn<br /> two ends of the candle. He is not compelled to<br /> fire off his work in haste to get a dinner, but he<br /> should be accumulating and polishing it. Give a<br /> year, instead of three months, to a novel or to<br /> half-a-dozen tales; then send out —they may<br /> bring you in £25, which is half way to liberty, or<br /> they may make your market. If you have had<br /> “sufficient success” to warrant anything, why<br /> not have more? You can do it, my dear fellow ;<br /> lock your door and say, I will!<br /> <br /> And, mem.—I£ you get home by six, take half-<br /> an-hour’s nap, then tea. Sleep is the most vital<br /> help to good work. Have you tried going to bed<br /> early, and putting in an hour in the morning ?<br /> Let no domestic annoyances disturb you; a man<br /> must sacrifice the lesser to the great, and be<br /> ruthless with the women-folk.<br /> <br /> Here is agood refutation to Annabel Gray’s<br /> remarks on log-rolling and influence, and a useful<br /> word of encouragement. During three years,<br /> virtually a stranger to London and without a<br /> single literary acquaintance, I placed work with<br /> four good publishers and three good magazines,<br /> although the work was exceptionally bad. Owing<br /> to the badness of the work, and nothing else, L<br /> failed; I achieved no sort of reputation. Since<br /> then, owing to some rather contemptible “ con-<br /> fessions”’ in a review, I have seen my name para-<br /> graphed, and to quite a flattering extent, in<br /> many of the best literary papers and dailies ;<br /> 160<br /> <br /> almost sufficient to make Annabel’s “literary<br /> sensation,” if I wished, or knew how, to take<br /> advantage of puffs. And yet Lassure you I don’t<br /> know a single editor or critic, nor doany of them<br /> know me. What astonishes me, is the unwar-<br /> ranted luck authors have, to have so many<br /> generous journalists ready to advertise them for<br /> nothing. An inventor, a far more useful per-<br /> sonage, has no such luck, and he needs it.<br /> Ottawa, Oct. ’99.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> VIL—EnNcouRAGEMENT FOR Youna AvtrHors.<br /> <br /> “J. M. E.S.’s” letter in the October issue is<br /> undoubtedly very encouraging reading for strug-<br /> gling beginners. She says: “Had my health<br /> and other duties allowed continuous work, I<br /> could have realised from £400 to £500 a year by<br /> what I call ‘hack-work.’”<br /> <br /> Yet from others we have widely different<br /> testimony. In “The Pen and the Book” Sir<br /> Walter Besant seems to be almost feverishly<br /> anxious to dissuade any beginner from trying to<br /> make a living by writing for magazines and<br /> journals. ‘“ Above all things,” he says, “ do not<br /> at first try to live by writing for the magazines<br /> and journals if you value your reputa-<br /> tion, your independence, and your self-respect.”<br /> This is backed up by what an anonymous lady<br /> writer says in a National Review article on<br /> “The Sorrows of Scribblers” (March, 1898) :-—<br /> “There may be, perhaps, some twenty or thirty<br /> people in England who make £200 a year by<br /> magazine writing. Their names are well known<br /> to the public and area safe ‘draw’; while outside<br /> these is the large army of magazine contributors<br /> whose earnings average, say, from £20 to £50 a<br /> <br /> ear.”<br /> <br /> On the other hand, we have a widely-expe-<br /> rienced editor and contributor telling us in “ How<br /> to Write for the Press” (Horace Cox) that his<br /> experience by no means bears out what the<br /> National Review says. He declares that “ there<br /> must be some scores of men making much more<br /> than £200 a year by magazine writing.”<br /> <br /> What is a poor beginner to do amidst this<br /> bewildering disagreement of doctors? I think<br /> that a good deal of the disagreement arises from<br /> not properly distinguishing between earnings<br /> from daily papers, weekly papers, and monthly<br /> magazines. Will “J. M. E. 8.” be kind enough<br /> to say in what class of periodicals the £400 or<br /> £500 a year would have been earned—dailies,<br /> weeklies, monthlies, or all three combined, and<br /> would the work have been entirely fiction ?<br /> <br /> Tf “An Editor” (the author of “How “to<br /> Write for the Press”) should happen to see this,<br /> perhaps he may be good enough to tell us what<br /> a fairly suecessful writer who would have to<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> accept usual magazine pay (not a popular “star ”?<br /> like the late Mr. Grant Allen, Dr. Conan Doyle,<br /> Anthony Hope, or Mr. Rudyard Kipling) may<br /> hope to make from monthly magazines alone.<br /> I fancy “An Editor” has written very largely<br /> for the weekly popular Press; but, as he says,<br /> “ success therein brings you nothing but lucre,<br /> and. that, after all, is not everything.” Most<br /> beginners look to the monthly magazines which<br /> publish signatures,<br /> Macazine STRUGGLER.<br /> <br /> sect<br /> <br /> BOOK AND PLAY TALK.<br /> <br /> HE Editor of the “Literary Year Book”<br /> wishes it to be known that it is not the<br /> intention of the new Year Book to “slate”<br /> <br /> any writer in its critical articles, and that he<br /> hopes there will be found no suppressions of fact.<br /> We reserve, therefore, further observations until<br /> the appearance of the volume.<br /> <br /> In the November number the name of Jean<br /> Ingelow was printed instead of Jean Middlemass.<br /> An apology is due to the friends of the late Jean<br /> Ingelow, and to Miss Middlemass, and an expres-<br /> sion of regret that the very singular slip of the<br /> pen escaped the notice both of the contributor<br /> and the Editor.<br /> <br /> The Irish author, Mr. W. B. Lappin, whose<br /> novel “ Mad Mag” had recently such a successful<br /> serial run in an Ulster paper, is just now engaged<br /> on another one, the scenes of which are all princi-<br /> pally laid around a well-known castle amidst the<br /> hills of Iveagh. One of the characters is a fool<br /> named Nickey Saoi Glic or Nickey, the Cunning<br /> Sage, who gives a tone to the novel, both m<br /> humour and eccentricity. The dialect speech of<br /> the “ Black North,” too, may be looked for.<br /> <br /> “Forbidden Banns,’ by Annabel Gray, has<br /> been accepted by a well-known Italian editor. It<br /> will appear the end of this month as a feuilleton<br /> translated into Italian in a daily paper.<br /> <br /> All of Mr. Mackenzie Bell’s works that are<br /> now before the public will in future be published<br /> by Mr. Thomas Burleigh.<br /> <br /> The Shakespeare Press of New York city<br /> whose place of business is in Westfield, N.J.,<br /> announce that they expect to publish during the<br /> coming winter a volume on the Shakespeare<br /> sonnets, being the first of two volumes of a work<br /> upon the “ Allusive Poesy of William Shake-<br /> speare,’ and which will take new ground as to<br /> Francis Bacon’s “authorship” therein. The text<br /> to be employed will be that of the original quarto:<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> The author of the work will be Mr.<br /> The<br /> <br /> of 1609.<br /> Frederick C. Hunt, of the Oklahoma Bar.<br /> volume will be about 500 pages uniform with the<br /> <br /> publications of the New York<br /> <br /> Society.<br /> <br /> Mr. Robert Freke Gould’s new book entitled<br /> “Military Lodges,” published by Gale and<br /> Polden, has just appeared. It contains an<br /> account of the Freemason lodges in regiments and<br /> ships of war, and also a statement of famous<br /> soldiers and sailors who have belonged to the<br /> body of Freemasons.<br /> <br /> The following books by Miss L. E. Tiddeman<br /> have just been published by Messrs. Blackie and<br /> Sons: “What Mother Said” (1s.), ‘“ Sahib’s<br /> Birthday” (6d.). Two juvenile books by the<br /> same author have been published by Messrs.<br /> Chambers entitled, “ Daddy’s Darling” and<br /> “ Molley’s Mother,” and another “ The Sea-Bird x<br /> by Messrs. Nister and Co.<br /> <br /> Lord Rosebery’s monograph on Chatham is in<br /> the hands of the printers. It will be a companion<br /> volume to his “ Life of Pitt.”<br /> <br /> Shakespeare<br /> <br /> During the past month Stevenson’s Letters to<br /> his family and friends have been published in<br /> two large volumes, which are edited by Mr.<br /> Sidney Colvin. Mr. Colvin, however, has<br /> resigned the task of writing the life of his<br /> friend in favour of Stevenson’s cousin, Mr.<br /> Graham Balfour.<br /> <br /> Mrs. Hodgson Burnett has completed the new<br /> novel which has engaged her for some time past,<br /> and it will be issued by Messrs. Warne under the<br /> title, “In Connection with the De Willoughby<br /> Claim.’ The “claim” referred to is for damages<br /> inflicted during the American Civil War, but that<br /> of itself is only a secondary matter in comparison<br /> with the love-interest of the story.<br /> <br /> Mr. Edward Carpenter has writtten a story of<br /> Indian life entitled “ Narayan,’ which is to<br /> appear first of all in the New Age.<br /> <br /> A volume for the tourist in Egypt, entitled<br /> “Pyramids and Progress,” has been prepared<br /> by Mr. John Ward, and will be published<br /> shortly by Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswoode. It<br /> will contain an introduction from the pen of<br /> Professor Sayce.<br /> <br /> The volume of Sir Arthur Sullivan’s remi-<br /> niscences, by Mr. Arthur Lawrence, will be<br /> published soon by Mr. Bowden. Mr. F. W.<br /> Findon writes an appreciation of Sir Arthur<br /> Sullivan as composer, and a complete biblio-<br /> graphy has been compiled by Mr. Wilfrid<br /> Bendall. Sir Arthur Sullivan, by the way, con-<br /> <br /> ducted at the Alhambra the other day, in the<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 160i<br /> <br /> cause of the charity of the moment, the first<br /> performance of his setting of Mr. Kipling’s poem,<br /> “The Absent-minded Beggar,” a work which has<br /> in every conceivable way been turned to account<br /> —by the author, the proprietors of the Daily<br /> Mail, and others—on behalf of the soldiers’<br /> families.<br /> <br /> Professor Bury has written a popular “ History<br /> of Greece from the Earliest Times to the Death of<br /> Alexander the Great,” which Messrs. Macmillan<br /> will publish.<br /> <br /> Mr. Frederic Harrison has collected a number<br /> of his essays for early publication by Messrs.<br /> Macmillan in a volume. The principal one, that<br /> on Tennyson, has not been published before. The<br /> volume will be called “ Tennyson, Ruskin, Mill;<br /> and other Literary Estimates.”<br /> <br /> Mrs. Roy Devereux has written “ Side-Lights<br /> on South Africa,” a book of travel, which Messrs.<br /> Sampson Low will publish immediately.<br /> <br /> The Duchess of Sutherland is engaged upon a<br /> new novel.<br /> <br /> John Oliver Hobbes’s new novel, “ Robert<br /> Orange,” is first to appear serially in the Ladies”<br /> Field.<br /> <br /> After several years spent in the Pacific, particu-<br /> larly in studying the Caroline Archipelago, Mr.<br /> F. W. Christian has written a book about the<br /> history, physical aspects, archeological remains,<br /> language, and religion of that part of the world.<br /> It will be published, entitled “The Caroline<br /> Islands,” by Messrs. Methuen.<br /> <br /> The second volume of Mr. Herbert Spencer’s<br /> revised and enlarged edition of ‘“ Principles of<br /> Biology ” has just been published by Messrs.<br /> Williams and Norgate. The December number<br /> of the Fortnightly Review contains an article by<br /> Mr. Spencer on Professor Ward’s “ Naturalism<br /> and Agnosticism.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Frank Mathew has written a historical<br /> romance, called “Our Queen Triumphant,” which<br /> Mr. Lane will publish.<br /> <br /> As a result of the territorial changes in Samoa,<br /> Stevenson’s grave is now on German soil. Some<br /> enthusiasts have already suggested that the coffin<br /> should be brought to Scotland and re-interred ;<br /> as to which the Globe remarks that ‘it will<br /> be time enough to move Stevenson’s dust<br /> when the Germans claim him for a German<br /> author.”<br /> <br /> As surely as Burns’s birthday anniversary<br /> comes round, some new point of discussion arises<br /> in connection with the rustic poet. Now it is the<br /> turn of a writer in the Library World, Mr. J. C.<br /> Ewing, who avers that among the 93° editions of<br /> 162<br /> <br /> the poet which have been issued since 1786, not<br /> one is perfect. Besides protesting against edito-<br /> rial interference with Burns’s text, and the inclu-<br /> sion of pieces which Burns himself wished<br /> destroyed, Mr. Ewing states that many picc2s<br /> which Burns never wrote at all are printed in<br /> every edition of his works.<br /> <br /> Mr. Jerome’s comedy, ‘“ Miss Hobbs,” will be<br /> produced this month at the Duke of York’s by<br /> Mr. Charles Frohman, with Miss Evelyn Millard<br /> in the part which was filled in America by Miss<br /> Annie Russell.<br /> <br /> The opening performance at Mr. Wyndham’s<br /> rew theatre on Nov. 16 being for the benefit of<br /> the sufferers by the war, was the occasion of an<br /> extraordinary craze. Such was the eagerness<br /> manifested, and such the prices paid for seats<br /> (and standing room, too, for this alone in some<br /> parts easily fetched a guinea a time), that £4000<br /> was realised in a house whose takings will range<br /> ordinarily from £260 to £300 when filled. The<br /> play was ‘“ David Garrick,” in which the audience<br /> had the gratification of witnessing once again<br /> both Mr. Wyndham and Miss Mary Moore.<br /> Altogether it was a brilliant scene. In the course<br /> of his speech at the close, Mr. Wyndham happily<br /> remarked that the play of “David Garrick”<br /> revolves round two ideas—duty and home. “The<br /> soldier nobly responds to the call of duty, and<br /> you, just as nobly, respond to the call of home—<br /> the homes of those gallant men who are fighting<br /> now for ours.’’ In many other ways and at many<br /> different places during the month the services of<br /> the theatrical, musical and literary professions<br /> have been exercised on behalf of the sufferers by<br /> the South African War. But the annual per-<br /> formance for the Royal General Theatrical Fund,<br /> which took place at Drury-lane, was rather<br /> poorly attended.<br /> <br /> Mr. Benson has arranged for a series of Shake-<br /> speare plays at the Lyceum, beginning on Feb. 15.<br /> “Hamlet” (March 1) will be produced for the<br /> second time in its entirety (the first occasion<br /> having been at Stratford-upon-Avon), the per-<br /> formance beginning at 3.30 and lasting till 10.45,<br /> except for an interval of an hour and a half for<br /> dinner. The other Shakespeare plays which Mr.<br /> Benson will produce are “ Henry the Fifth,” “A<br /> <br /> Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ “Richard the<br /> Second,’ “ Twelfth Night,” “ Antony and<br /> <br /> Cleopatra,” and “The Tempest.” During his<br /> eight weeks at the Lyceum he will elso revive<br /> Sheridan’s comedy, “The Rivals.” Nearly six<br /> hundred ladies and gentlemen lave formed<br /> themselves into a committce in order to pro-<br /> mote the success of Mr. Benson’s Shakespearian<br /> revivals.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Meanwhile, Mr. Tree has begun the rehearsals<br /> of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” which is<br /> intended for production at Her Majesty’s early in<br /> January. Himself will play Bottom the Weaver;<br /> Mrs. Tree will play Titania; the part of Oberon<br /> will be taken by Miss Julia Neilson, and that of<br /> Hermia by Miss Sarah Brooke, who joins Mr.<br /> Tree’s company for the first time.<br /> <br /> “The Children of the Ghetto ” will be produzed<br /> at the Adelphi on Dec. 11, with Miss Rosabel<br /> Morrison in the part of Hannah Jacobs.<br /> <br /> Mr. George Alexander gave a copyright per-<br /> formance at Liverpool on Nov. 17 of Mr. Stephen<br /> Phillips’s poetic drama, ‘“‘ Paolo and Francesca.”<br /> <br /> A comedy of modern manners by Mr. Charles<br /> Brookfield, entitled “One Law for the Man,”<br /> founded on M. Paul Hervieu’s “Le Loi de<br /> ?Homme,” will be presented at the Criterion on<br /> the 7th inst. ty Mrs. Kettlewell (Miss Edith<br /> Woodworth), who takes the principal part. Among<br /> the company will be Miss Lottie Venne, Miss<br /> Keith Wakemann, Mr. Hermann Vezin, and Mr.<br /> Norman McKinnell.<br /> <br /> “The Little Library,” is the title of a new series<br /> promoted by Messrs. Methuen, which is to con-<br /> sist of many of the famous books in English and<br /> other literatures. Each volume is tu have a<br /> photogravure frontispiece, and will be supplied<br /> with critical introduction and notes, the first to<br /> appear being Lord Tennyson’s “ Princess,” edited<br /> by Miss Elizabeth Wordsworth.<br /> <br /> Her Majesty has graciously accepted from<br /> Blanche Eryl a copy of her song “ Peace,” the<br /> Angel’s Song, from the poem of “The Light of<br /> the World,” by Sir Edwin Arnold.<br /> <br /> The old Tottenham-street Theatre, which at<br /> one period of its existence was known as the<br /> Prince of Wales’s, is about to be re-opened.<br /> <br /> The third and concluding volume of the<br /> “Handbook to Christian and _ Keclesiastical<br /> Rome,” by M. A. R. Tuker and Hope Malleson,<br /> embracing part 3 (“ Monasticism in Rome”) and<br /> part 4 (‘ Ecclesiastical Rome’’) will be published<br /> shortly by Messrs. A. and C. Black, and by the<br /> Macmillan Company in New York. The book<br /> will be illustrated with coloured pictures.<br /> <br /> Lieutenant-Colonel E. Gunter’s “ Outlines of<br /> Modern Tactics,” has just gone into a thnd<br /> edition, which is published (7s. 6d.) by Messrs.<br /> William Clowes and Sons.<br /> <br /> The Literary Agency of London (manager, Mr.<br /> G. Radford) has removed from 2, Whitehall-<br /> gardens to 5, Henrietta-street, Covent-garden,<br /> W.C.<br /> <br /> ee<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> BOOKS AND REVIEWS.<br /> <br /> (In these columns notes on books are given from reviews<br /> which carry weight, and are not, so far as can be learned,<br /> logrollers.)<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ——<br /> <br /> REcoLLECTIONS, 1832 to 1886, by Sir Algernon West,<br /> K.C.B. (Smith, Elder, and Co., 21s.)—one whose career has<br /> been crowded with interesting associations and who was for<br /> many years Mr. Gladstone’s right-hand man—is © both<br /> entertaining and interesting,” says the Daily News, “but<br /> the public must not expect any ‘ revelations,” civil servants<br /> in general being nothing if not discreet. The Daily<br /> Chronicle says that though the many cupboards in Downing-<br /> street and Somerset House, full of fascinating skeletons are<br /> not laid bare, the volumes “are full of good things, well<br /> worth preserving and well worth reading”; while the Daily<br /> Telegraph predicts that these two volumes “ will be widely<br /> read and highly appreciated.”<br /> <br /> Lorp Lytrron’s Inp1an ADMINISTRATION, 1876-1880,<br /> compiled from lettars and official papers, by Lady Betty<br /> Balfour (Longmans, 18s.), is avolume wherein, says the<br /> Times, the author has done a noble service to her father’s<br /> memory; and “no honest judgment can hereafter be formed<br /> on our relations with Central Asia without a careful study of<br /> the facts and documents presented in this book.” ‘It will<br /> be exceedingly useful,” says the Daily News, “to all those<br /> who desire to possess in convenient form the complete record<br /> of an eventfal viceregal reign.”<br /> <br /> Memoirs of A REVOLUTIONIST, by Prince Kropotkin<br /> (Smith, Elder, and Co., 21s.), is an intensely dramatic<br /> narrative, says the Daily Chronicle, which reviews the<br /> work of the Russian exile under the title of ‘ Prince and<br /> Anarchist.” ‘‘A more sincere, we might almost say naive,<br /> self-revelation was never given to the world.” ‘‘ There<br /> is no lack of adventures in these memoirs,” says the Daily<br /> Telegraph.<br /> <br /> Tue Hiauest ANDES, by E. A. FitzGerald (Methuen,<br /> 30s. net.), is “a book which is not only popular in the best<br /> sense of the word,’ says the Times, “but is a permanent<br /> and solid contribution to the literature of mountaineering,<br /> and to our knowledge of one of the most marvellous regions<br /> on the surface of the earth.” It isa record of the first<br /> ascent of Aconcagua and Tupungato in Argentina, and the<br /> exploration of the surrounding valleys. The Daily Chronicle<br /> remarks that “the story is simply told, and there is no<br /> straining after effect’; “‘ the photographs are admirably<br /> reproduced, and the book is got up with a care and finish<br /> worthy of so great @ subject”; while with regard to the<br /> part taken in Mr. FitzGerald’s expedition by Mr. S‘uart<br /> Vines, “there are few finer records in the history of climb-<br /> ing.”<br /> <br /> Toe Hirnerto UNIDENTIFIED CONTRIBUTIONS OF<br /> THACKERAY TO Punch, by M. H. Spielmann (Harpers,<br /> 78. 6d.), is based upon authentic and exclusive information.<br /> The Daily News describes it as “a great literary fund,” and<br /> adds that the book must be taken for what it is, namely,<br /> rather a descriptive bibliography than a collection of<br /> Thackeray’s pieces. “ Thackeray’s contributions to Punch<br /> were in reality much more extensive than has been commonly<br /> supposed,” says the Daily Chronicle. ‘The new items, great<br /> and small, which this volame contains number about 150,”<br /> and they are “not unworthy of Thackeray’s reputation.”<br /> “Naturally they reflect in many ways the home and foreizn<br /> politics of the time.”<br /> <br /> Tor Letters or Rosert Lovis STEVENSON TO HIS<br /> Faminy AND FRIENDS, edited by Sidney Colvin (Methuen,<br /> 25s, net) is praised by all the critics for ita interest and<br /> <br /> fascination. The Daily Telegraph, for example, says itis “‘ one<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 163<br /> <br /> of the two living and memorable books o% the year ’—the<br /> other being the Browning Love-Letters.<br /> <br /> Tur Lire AND Lerrers oF Sir JoHN EvERETT<br /> Mruxats, by John Guille Millais (Methuen, 32s.), has like-<br /> wise been received with general approval. The Daily<br /> Chronicle says ‘it is of unusual interest and charm,” and<br /> the Daily News that “ it is a gold mine of good things.”’<br /> <br /> Some SourH AFRICAN REcoLLECTIONS, by Mrs. Lionel<br /> Phillips (Longmans, 7s. 6d.) is a connected summary of<br /> the chapter of South African history in which the writer’s<br /> husband (one of the five principal reformers of Johannes-<br /> burg who were sentensed to death) took so prominent a<br /> part. Mrs. Phillips, adds the Times, “ shows how, far from<br /> stirring up the movement, the so-called ‘ capitalists’ were<br /> for a long time strongly averse to it.” “ Many of the book’s<br /> details,” says the Daily Chronicle, “are new, the frankness<br /> of the writer is distinctly charming, and, not least important,<br /> the pictures add considerably to our knowledge of the<br /> Transvaal.”<br /> <br /> Some Account oF THE MILITARY, POLITICAL, AND<br /> SoctaL Lire oF THE RiaHT Hon. JosEerH MANNERS,<br /> Marquis of Granby, by Walter Evelyn Manners (Macmillan,<br /> 18s.), would haye been more acceptable to the Spectator<br /> “had it been less controversial.” ‘‘ However, Mr. Manners<br /> has been indefatigable in the collection of material, and at<br /> any rate he has given us all the facts upon which to form a<br /> judgment.” The Daily Ch ronicle verdict is very similar:<br /> “The work enables us to realise what fine qualities must<br /> have been possessed by the nobleman who became a popular<br /> idol and was glorified on so many sign-posts.”<br /> <br /> Tue River War, by Winston Spencer Churchill (Long-<br /> mans, 36s.), is said by the Daily Chronicle to be “ likely to<br /> take its place, among many competitors, as the standard<br /> history of the successful advance from Wady Halfa to<br /> Khartoum.” Mr. Winston Churchill was present at the<br /> Battle of Omdurman. ‘He has compiled two admirable<br /> volumes,” says the Daily Telegraph; ‘‘he is the master of a<br /> most fascinating style.” Interature, coupling its review of<br /> this book and Supan Camparan, 1896-1899, by An<br /> Officer (Chapman, tos. 6d.), says that ‘these volumes.<br /> cannot be neglected in any statement of Egyptian events<br /> for the last thirty years of this century.”<br /> <br /> A Hisrory oF THE British Army, by the Hon. J. W-<br /> Fortescue (Macmillan, 36s. net), consists of two volames—<br /> the first part of the work—which come down to the close of<br /> the Seven Years’ War. “It is sound, admirable workman-<br /> ship,” says the Daily News, “a book for which every reade<br /> of the nation’s history will heartily thank its author.” The<br /> Daily Chronicle (which makes special mention of the maps)<br /> says that the work “ fills a gap in our historical literature,”<br /> and “ judging by this first instalment it promises to fill it in<br /> a very satisfactory way.”<br /> <br /> First PRINCIPLES IN Potrrics, by W. S. Lilly (Murray,<br /> 14s.), considers the twin questions—are there any basic<br /> principles in politics, and is democracy at present satisfac-<br /> tory to those who desire to see polities governed by morality.<br /> The Spectator says that, ‘ike not a few physicians, Mr.<br /> Lilly is better at diagnosis than at therapeutics.” It is,<br /> however, “a very able and interesting work, and “the<br /> suggestive and usefal chapter on crime and punish-<br /> ment seems to us altogether admirable, especially in its<br /> exposure of the gushing sentimentalism which some well--<br /> meaning but foolish persons reserve for some of the worst<br /> criminals.”<br /> <br /> Tue LAND oF Contrasts, by James Fallarton Muirhead<br /> (Lane, 6s. net.), described in the sub-title as ‘‘ a Briton’s view<br /> of his American kin,’’ “is one of the best of the lighter books<br /> on the United States that we have had for a long time,”<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 164 THE<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> says the Daily News. ‘‘ No shrewder, no more sympathetic<br /> wielder of the pen has come our way for a long time,”<br /> says the Daily Chronicle. “Every page is a page<br /> full of interesting observations or reflections interestingly<br /> put.”<br /> <br /> Bouemian Paris or To-Day, by W. C. Morrow, with<br /> 106 illustrations by Edouard Cucuel (Chatto, 6s ) is described<br /> by the Daily Telegraph as ‘‘a fascinating combination of<br /> brightly written letterpress and admirably executed drawings,<br /> avowedly intended to instruct as well as entertain.” “Mr.<br /> Morrow would have us think,’ says Mr. Tighe Hopkins in<br /> the Daily Chronicle, and we are in no way fain to believe<br /> him, that the very dissipations of these students are an<br /> essential part of the training.” Literature says “ it is mainly<br /> devoted to a description of the recreations of the great mass<br /> of dissolute Parisians,” and though on the whole “suffi-<br /> ciently amusing, it leaves us with a very unpleasant impres-<br /> sion of French student life.”<br /> <br /> Lyra Frivona, by A. D. Godley (Methuen, 2s. 6d.), is<br /> praised by the Spectator, which says that “Mr. Godley<br /> has earned the gratitude of all university men and all<br /> lovers of belles lettres by collecting in this slim volume<br /> some thirty of the entertaining pieces that he has con-<br /> tributed in the last ten years to the Oxford Magazine and<br /> other journals.”<br /> <br /> Tue Log or A Sea Warr, by Frank T. Bullen (Smith,<br /> Elder, and Co., 8s. 6d. net), “is full of thrilling adventure<br /> admirably told,” says the Times, “but it also tells many a<br /> sad and sickening tale of the hardships that British seamen<br /> are quite unnecessarily made to endure in many cases.”<br /> The author says he has written nothing but the truth—<br /> recollections of the first four years of his sea life—as<br /> to which the Times says that “no one who reads his<br /> volume will hesitate to acknowledge that truth is<br /> oftentimes stranger than fiction.” Mr. Bullen “is a highly<br /> eitertaining shipmate,” says the Daily Chronicle, “ who<br /> spins his yarns of vivid colours and of good honest English<br /> staff.”<br /> <br /> Tusy THat Wak IN Darkness, by I. Zangwill<br /> (Heinemann, 6s.), is a republication, in a greatly enlarged<br /> form, of Mr. Zangwill’s “‘ Ghetto Tragedies,” which origi-<br /> nally saw the light in 1893. The Spectator observes that<br /> “no reader, who is not blinded by prejudice, will rise from<br /> the perusal of this engrossing volume without an enhanced<br /> sense of compassion for and admiration of” the Jewish race.<br /> The Daily Telegraph says these stories “bave dramatic<br /> power, unsparing realism, exquisite pity.” The Daily<br /> Chronicle is struck by Mr. Zangwill’s sincerity and<br /> simplicity.<br /> <br /> An ENGLIsHMAN, by Mary L. Pendered (Methuen, 6s.),<br /> is ‘a story of how a girl of the upper classes of London<br /> society marries a grocer, and will be ‘ happy ever after.’”<br /> The Guardian says it is “ decidedly noticeable,’ and the<br /> Daily Telegraph describes it as “an excellent novel, by no<br /> means lacking in sensational incident, and closely in touch<br /> with the more salient political and social questions of the<br /> age we live in.” Miss Pendered writes of the lower middle-<br /> class existence with great intelligence and understanding,”<br /> says the Daily Chronicle; “the result of her observations<br /> constitutes almost a document.” —<br /> <br /> THE Crown or Lirn, by George Gissing (Methuen, 6s.),<br /> is quite optimistic, the Daily News says, and “is rich<br /> in the interest so conspicuous in Mr. Gissing’s work,<br /> which springs from the impression it gives us that we<br /> are looking upon life itself, and that the representa-<br /> tion of it is unheightened by adventitious touches.’’<br /> “The ‘Crown of Life’ is love, and the book may be<br /> described as a study of the various sorts of love that make<br /> for marriage.”<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> No Soun Apovn Monny, by Walter Raymond (Long-<br /> man, 63.), is “powerful and poignant in its well-nigh<br /> unrelieved tragedy,” says the Daily News. The story ig<br /> set in Somersetshire, and “deals with simple villagers, with<br /> the primitive and inexorable forces of human life.” The<br /> Spectator says the author has not belied the confidence<br /> which was inspired by the high level of excellence he<br /> reached in his last novel. The Literary World admits that<br /> in its intensity the book “may shock the feelings of some,<br /> but there is no doubt that in its way the story is perfect,<br /> <br /> that is to say, once begun, the consequent events and the<br /> ending were inevitable.”<br /> <br /> THE Surp or Srars, by A. T. Quiller-Couch (Cassell,<br /> 6s.), is “an admirably written and interesting story,” says<br /> the Spectator. The tale is that of the growth from boy-<br /> hood to early manhood of the son of a poor and studious<br /> clergyman in the West Country. The Literary World finds<br /> it “both an exhilarating and a depressing book, its cha-<br /> racters are thoroughly studied and well-drawn, and its<br /> pictures of West Country life vivid.”<br /> <br /> TALES OF SpAcE AND TIME, by H. G. Wells (Harpers,<br /> 6s.), is described by the Spectator as an “ extremely<br /> interesting, suggestive, but occasionally disquieting volume,”<br /> partaking to a great extent of the nature of a supplement to<br /> his last two volumes, “The War of the Worlds” and<br /> “When the Sleeper Wakes.” The Daily Chronicle says<br /> the tales ‘‘ are worth reading.”<br /> <br /> TRicKs AND TRIALS, by Christabel R. Coleridge (Hurst<br /> and Blackett, 6s.), is “an original and decidedly clever<br /> novel,” saysthe Guardian. “ Miss Coleridge has got hold<br /> - a new situation, and treats it with spirit and distinc.<br /> ion.”<br /> <br /> THe Eve or THE Rerormation, by F. A. Gasquet,<br /> D.D. (Nimmo, 12s. 6d. net), does good service, says the<br /> Guardian, “to the cause of historical truth by insisting<br /> that the Church in England on the eve of the Reformation<br /> <br /> was not so hopelessly corrupt as the fancy of the popular<br /> Protestant has painted it.”<br /> <br /> “THE AUTHOR.”<br /> <br /> SCALE FOR ADVERTISEMENTS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Front Page we . w= £4 0 0<br /> Other Pages om 8 0 8<br /> Half of a Page ... : ow L100<br /> Quarter of a Page «. 015 0<br /> Eighth of a Page ake aS we Oe<br /> Single Column Advertisements ... perinch 0 6 0<br /> Bills for Insertion per 2000 3 0 0<br /> <br /> Reductions made for a Series of Siz or Twelve Insertions.<br /> All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed to the<br /> ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER, The Author Office, 4, Portugal-street,<br /> London, W.C.<br /> <br /> Mr. J. Eveleigh Nash,<br /> <br /> LITERARY AGENT,<br /> AMBERLEY HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET,<br /> <br /> STRAND, W.C.	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/469/1899-12-01-The-Author-10-7.pdf	publications, The Author
470	https://historysoa.com/items/show/470	The Author, Vol. 10 Issue 08 (January 1900)	<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.+10+Issue+08+%28January+1900%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 08 (January 1900)</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>	1900-01-01-The-Author-10-8					165–184																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=10">10</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1900-01-01">1900-01-01</a>							8			19000101	Che<br /> <br /> Fluthor.<br /> <br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br /> <br /> CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Vou. X.—No. 8.]<br /> <br /> JANUARY 1, Tgoo.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> For the Opinions expressed in papers that are<br /> signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br /> responsible. None of the papers or para-<br /> graphs must be taken as expressing the<br /> collective opinions of the Committee unless<br /> they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br /> Thring, Sec.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Pees<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br /> remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br /> requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br /> <br /> important communications within two days will write to him<br /> without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br /> Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br /> letter only.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br /> all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br /> jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br /> returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> eae<br /> <br /> GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br /> <br /> <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. THAT OF SELLING IT OUTRIGHT.<br /> <br /> This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br /> price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br /> managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the<br /> Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> Il. A PROFIT-SHARING AGREEMENT (a bad form of<br /> agreement). ;<br /> <br /> In this case the following rules should be attended to :<br /> <br /> (1.) Not to sign any agreemeat 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 /> doctor !<br /> <br /> VOL. X.<br /> <br /> *<br /> <br /> Til. THE ROYALTY SYSTEM.<br /> <br /> It is above all things necessary to know what the<br /> proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible<br /> for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly<br /> the truth. From time to time the very important figures<br /> connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br /> Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br /> “Cost of Production.”<br /> <br /> IV. A COMMISSION AGREEMENT.<br /> <br /> The main points are :—<br /> <br /> (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production.<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 /> <br /> <br /> oc<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> i. No sign an agreement without submitting it tc<br /> the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some<br /> competent legal authority.<br /> <br /> 2. Never negotiate for the production of a play with<br /> anyone except an established manager.<br /> 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract :—<br /> <br /> (1) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT.<br /> This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters<br /> into such a contract should stipulate in the con-<br /> tract for production of the piece by a certain date<br /> and for proper publication of bis name on the<br /> play-bills.<br /> <br /> (2) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE<br /> TO PERFORM ON THE PROFIT-SHARING SYSTEM.<br /> This method can only be entered into when a<br /> fixed sum is agreed per week for cost of produc-<br /> tion. It is not a common method.<br /> <br /> Q2<br /> <br /> <br /> 156<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> (3) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE<br /> TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES<br /> (i.e., royalties) on gross receipts. Royalties vary<br /> between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should<br /> obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross<br /> receipts. Sbonld obtain a sum in advance of<br /> royalties. A fixed date on or before which the<br /> play should be performed.<br /> <br /> 4. 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 /> 5. Authors should not assign performing rights, but<br /> should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is<br /> of great importance.<br /> <br /> 6. 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 /> 7. Never send a copy of the play to America unless it is<br /> protected by a preliminary performance in the United<br /> Kingdom.<br /> <br /> 8. Never forget that American rights may be exceedingly<br /> valuable. They should never be included in English<br /> agreements without the author obtaining a substantial<br /> consideration.<br /> <br /> g. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully<br /> drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced.<br /> Never admit a collaborator when once the actual work of<br /> writing the play has begun or after it is finished.<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.<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 are<br /> referred to the Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> t. VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br /> advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br /> lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br /> <br /> business or the administration of his property. If the<br /> <br /> advice sought is such as can be given best by a solici-<br /> tor, the member has a right to an opinion from the<br /> <br /> Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s<br /> <br /> opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for<br /> him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the<br /> member.<br /> <br /> 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br /> and publisher’s agreements do not generally fall within the<br /> experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br /> to use the Society.<br /> <br /> 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past<br /> accounts with the loan of the books represented. The<br /> Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new<br /> or old, for inspection and note. The information thus<br /> obtained may prove invaluable.<br /> <br /> 4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br /> posed document to the Society for examination.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you<br /> are fighting the battles cf other writers, even if you are<br /> reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing<br /> the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen-<br /> dence of the writer.<br /> <br /> 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of<br /> members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br /> safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br /> fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who<br /> will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :—(1)<br /> To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To<br /> stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon<br /> them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments<br /> due according to agreements.<br /> <br /> =<br /> <br /> THE READING BRANCH.<br /> <br /> N “EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this<br /> 26, branch of their work by informing young writers of<br /> Their MSS. can be read and treated<br /> The Readers are<br /> The fee is one<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> its existence.<br /> az a composition is treated by a coach.<br /> writers of competence and experience.<br /> guinea.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> <br /> HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br /> Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br /> of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br /> <br /> heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br /> many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br /> 6s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br /> <br /> Communications for The Author should be addressed to<br /> the Offices of the Society, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn<br /> Fields, W.C., and should reach the Editor not later than the<br /> 21st of each month. :<br /> <br /> All persons engaged in literary work of any kind,<br /> whether members of the Society or not, are invited to<br /> communicate to the Editor any points connected with their<br /> work which it would be advisable in the general interest to<br /> publish.<br /> <br /> The present location of the Authors’ Club is at 3, White-<br /> hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for<br /> information, rules of admission, &amp;c.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> FROM THE COMMITTEE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Tue IncorporateD Socrery or AUTHORS.—<br /> Pension Funp ScHEME.<br /> <br /> N view of the fact that the Royal Literary<br /> Fund is not in the habit of granting<br /> pensions, and that its donations are of a<br /> <br /> purely eleemosynary description, and that the<br /> amount available from the Civil List for literary<br /> pensions does not as a rule exceed £400 a year, it<br /> appears to the Committee that it would be in<br /> the interest of literature and of this Society to<br /> establish a pension fund for authors to be sup-<br /> ported by authors themselves, and not by appeals<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 167<br /> <br /> to the public at large, and to be administered by<br /> a Committee chosen from the Society of Authors<br /> as hereinafter appointed.<br /> <br /> The Committee, therefore, put forward the<br /> following points as the basis on which the fund<br /> should be worked, and consider that the minor<br /> details of its constitution should be settled by<br /> Counsel when a sufficient sum of money is placed<br /> in the bank to show that the scheme will be<br /> fairly supported :<br /> <br /> 1. That the fund collested shall be utilised for<br /> the payment of pensions only, and not of dona-<br /> tions.<br /> <br /> 2. That the fund shall be held in the names of<br /> three trustees, any two of whom shall sign cheques<br /> for the payment of the pensions and of incidental<br /> expenses, such cheques being countersigned by<br /> the Secretary, or, in his absence, by a member of<br /> the pension Committee.<br /> <br /> 3. That a Committee consisting of six members<br /> and the Chairman of the Managing Committee<br /> of the Society for the time being shall be the<br /> sole arbiters as to the recipients of the pensions,<br /> and the trustees shall sign cheques on the autho-<br /> rity of the Committee only. That the Secretary<br /> of the Incorporated Society of Authors do act as<br /> the secretary of the Committee.<br /> <br /> 4. That the Committee of six members shall<br /> consist of three members of the Society elected by<br /> the Committee of the Society, and three members<br /> of the Society elected at the general meeting of the<br /> Society by the members of the Society. That the<br /> candidates elected by the members of the Society<br /> shall be nominated in writing to the Secretary at<br /> least three weeks prior to the General Meeting,<br /> and each candidate shall be supported by the<br /> names of at least five members. A list of the<br /> names of the candidates so nominated shall be<br /> sent to each member of the Society with the<br /> report of the Society, and those candidates<br /> obtaining the most votes at the General Meeting<br /> shall he elected to serve on the Committee, which<br /> shall be called the “ Committee of the Pension<br /> Fund of the Incorporated Society of Authors.”<br /> <br /> 5. That one member of those elected by the<br /> Managing Committee of the Society of Authors,<br /> and one member of those elected by the members<br /> of the Society at the General Meeting shall retire<br /> annually, but may be re-elected.<br /> <br /> 6. In default of the election of sufficient candi-<br /> dates by the members of the Society the Manag-<br /> ing Committee of the Society shall fill the vacan-<br /> cies by the election of members of the Society not<br /> being members of the Committee.<br /> <br /> 7. That the pensions given shall not be less<br /> than £30 nor more than £100 per annum.<br /> <br /> 8. That pensions shall not be given to anyone<br /> who has not attained the age of sixty years, pro-<br /> <br /> vided that in the absence of satisfactory candi-<br /> dates over sixty years of age, or in the case of<br /> total inability to work and during the continuance<br /> of such inability, the Committee of the Pension<br /> Fund may assign pensions to members of the<br /> Society of a less age.<br /> <br /> g. That no pensions shall be given to anyone<br /> who has not been a member of the Society of<br /> Authors for ten years at least, or a life member,<br /> but that membership to the Society gives no right<br /> to a pension.<br /> <br /> 10. Save as excepted in clause 8, That such<br /> pensions shall be tenable for life, but that the<br /> Committee of the Pension Fund may in their<br /> absolute discretion discontinue any pension for<br /> any one or more of the following reasons :—<br /> <br /> i. In the case of bankruptcy.<br /> <br /> ii. In the case of a pensioner’s conduct<br /> being such as would disqualify him<br /> from membership of the Society of<br /> Authors.<br /> <br /> iii. In the case of a pensioner subsequently<br /> receiving an independent income<br /> sufficient to provide for his support.<br /> <br /> 11. That the Committee of the Pension Fund<br /> in giving pensions to applicants shall consider not<br /> only the necessity of each case but also the merits<br /> of the writings of the applicant.<br /> <br /> 12. That ail applications laid before the Com-<br /> mittee of the Pension Fund shall be confidential,<br /> but the names of the recipients of the pensions<br /> and the amount given shall be stated in The<br /> Author.<br /> <br /> 13. That contributions may be made either by<br /> a single donation or by a donation spread over<br /> three, four, or five years, or by annual subscrip-<br /> tions.<br /> <br /> 14. Subject to the paym-nt of working<br /> expenses, not less than two-thirds of all such<br /> annual subscriptions shall be added to the capital<br /> of the Pension Fund; the other third may, in<br /> the discretion of the Committee of the Pension<br /> Fund, be devoted to the payments of pensions or<br /> in the purchase of anuuities to satisfy pensions<br /> granted.<br /> <br /> 15. That all selections of securities in which<br /> the capital may from time to time be invested be<br /> subject to the unanimous decision of the trustees,<br /> and, after the establishment of the Fund, to the<br /> agreement therewith of a majority of at least<br /> two-thirds of the Committee of the Pension<br /> Fund.<br /> <br /> 16. That with the consent of two-thirds of the<br /> trustees and the Pension Committee sitting<br /> together, this scheme may be varied from time<br /> to time as need arises, provided always that the<br /> Fund shall be administered by a Committee con-<br /> sisting of members of the Society of Authors, and<br />  <br /> <br /> 168<br /> <br /> for the benefit of the members of such Society for<br /> the time being.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The Committee hope to start the scheme early<br /> in 1900, and now invite sub-criptions from the<br /> members of the Society. Immediate contributions<br /> are desired to form a nucleus for the fund and to<br /> enable the Committee to meet working expenses.<br /> A form for subscribers is appended.<br /> <br /> Opinions, suggestions, and criticism will be<br /> cordially welcomed by th+ Committee, and care-<br /> fully considered previously to the scheme being<br /> submitted to Counsel for final settlement.<br /> <br /> The following subscriptions have been already<br /> promised :—<br /> <br /> Mr. George Meredith (President of the Society)... £100<br /> Mr. J. M. Barrie (if nine others subscribe the<br /> <br /> SAMO BMOUDG) coo... 2 eco enters et vere ayeesew anes taerses 100<br /> Mr. A. W. a Beckett (per annum) ..................... 5<br /> Sir Walter Besant ........0..0..0...cccc eee 100<br /> The Rev. T. G. Bonney (for present year, and con-<br /> <br /> tinue same a3 long as existing circumstances also<br /> <br /> GONGINUG) sce, ieee eae ce wate gen as 5<br /> Mr. Austin Dobson (as much as possible per<br /> <br /> BNNUNT) oc a es a nave eee tenes ye namen =<br /> Dr. Conan Doyle (per annum, when the scheme<br /> <br /> assumes a practicai basis)................06..) cesses 10<br /> Mr. Douglas Freshfield (if nine others subscribe<br /> <br /> the Same AMOUUE) 665.0 ioes sche een sees Gi uesennenes 100<br /> Mr. Anthony Hope Hawkins ........................ 200<br /> Mr. Jerome K. Jerome (per annum, and perhaps<br /> <br /> MORO) 86 ie i ees 5<br /> Mr. J. Scott Keltie (per an: um for five years)...... 5<br /> Mr. Rudyard Kipling...................:::ceeeeeee tees 100<br /> Mr: Gilbert Parker....... 2.6.0 100<br /> Mrs. Humphry Ward (per annum) ................... 10<br /> <br /> G. H. T<br /> <br /> ee<br /> <br /> LITERARY PROPERTY.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> J.—ExcHaNncEe AND THE Contra ACcouUNT.<br /> TTENTION has been frequently called in<br /> A these pages to the charging, in an account<br /> rendered to the author, of advertisements<br /> not paidfor. In our last number the case of Mr.<br /> Endean and Messrs. Sampson Low and Co. was<br /> reported. In this case the sum of £15 was<br /> charged, the greater part of which had not been<br /> spent. This case, however, was explained on the<br /> ground of an error on the part of a clerk.<br /> We have to do here with facts that are not<br /> errors.<br /> There are three ways of charging for advertise-<br /> ments which have cost nothing. (We need not<br /> <br /> consider a clerk’s error in setting down advertise-<br /> ments that have not even been inserted.) The<br /> first method is tu charge for advertisements which<br /> have appeared in the publisher&#039;s own organs. It<br /> is obvious that any publisher who claims this<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> right claims as well the right to take as much as<br /> he pleases of the proceeds, because he can adver-<br /> tise a book as often as he pleases, and in any way<br /> he pleases, and he can always pretend that the<br /> advertisement was for the good of the book. It<br /> is also obvious that in a profit-sharmg agreement<br /> he is legally bound to charge only money that is<br /> actually spent.<br /> <br /> Another way is to exchange advertisements<br /> with other publishers who have magazines, and to<br /> charge the author’s account with every such<br /> advertisement.<br /> <br /> A third way is to insert advertisements in other<br /> publishers’ magazines; to pay for them, perhaps<br /> getting discount; to receive other publishers’<br /> advertisements, aud to send in a“ contra account,”<br /> having the receipt for the first payment to prove<br /> that payment has been actually made, if ques-<br /> tions are asked.<br /> <br /> In order to ascertain the extent to which<br /> publishers advertise in each other’s organs an<br /> examina&#039;ion has been made of the principal<br /> magazines for the month of December.<br /> <br /> It will be remembered that in the “ Draft<br /> Agreements (Equitable) ” the publishers preserved<br /> a profound silence on this subject. Is it too<br /> much to infer that their silence, after all that has<br /> been urged and pointed out, and after the opinions<br /> of counsel had been taken twice, may be con-<br /> strued into a determination not to condemn the<br /> practice P<br /> <br /> The magazines have been divided into two<br /> groups. ‘The first consists of the older maga-<br /> zines and their publishers.<br /> <br /> Macmillan’s )<br /> <br /> Temple Bar \- published by Macmillan and Co.<br /> <br /> The Century ¢<br /> <br /> The Edinburgh<br /> <br /> Review<br /> <br /> Longman’s<br /> <br /> The Quarterly, published by Murrey.<br /> <br /> The Cornhill, published by Smith, Elder and<br /> Co.<br /> <br /> The Nineteenth Century, published by Samp-<br /> son Low and Co.<br /> <br /> The Contemporary, published by Isbister<br /> and Co.<br /> <br /> The Fortnightly, published by Chapman and<br /> Hall.<br /> <br /> Harper’s, published by Harper and Brothers.<br /> <br /> Blackwood’s, published by Blackwood.<br /> <br /> The Gentleman&#039;s, published by Chatto and<br /> Windus.<br /> <br /> The Pall Mall Magazine is omitted because it<br /> does not belong to a publisher.<br /> <br /> The table appended gives the names of the<br /> following firms and the magazines in which they<br /> advertised in the month of December :—<br /> <br /> ) published by Longman and<br /> Co.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <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 /> | | &gt; | | |<br /> } &gt; } | |<br /> } | e = | | | |<br /> (ei ais | &gt;| 3 Sit S| |<br /> i ae &gt; &lt;= : y = eg tee | KS S Ae ‘<br /> si eae QS<br /> a. &amp; ee Se<br /> e . &amp; eS ee ae:<br /> 4 Oo US | = | Ss 1s Ses | a! § s 3<br /> Z, g Poo = 2 Ss SS) Ses | StS S| eS<br /> | Pos = 3 s Ss 3 : s<br /> S oS SN .<br /> Ree | ro 2 | 1 - |<br /> | ~ =<br /> | | | | is |<br /> ee i<br /> oo eee Poe<br /> a oe | | |<br /> r tela ee<br /> [es | is<br /> : (eee eo eal ae =<br /> Leo 10.1 E Spies as Ss S ) ee<br /> 3 = SISIElsisieielais 2|s eS<br /> toe S +~ | zg aS = ort os | oot bss Tw;<br /> Ss &amp; 2 Pe sl oe ae eS Bel Se | Se | Ble<br /> a2 &gt; |4 14 a See eS ls | Se ls<br /> Z, a [eia Simlieicibiciaelsi s 4<br /> 5 le lel e Si8i8isiSisisi#is2<br /> | as Pet 5<br /> e \ |e l8 Ce | 5<br /> liso is n<br /> | | | | | | |<br /> Bice itis oe eee ae<br /> ee | | |<br /> Name oF ADVERTISER. | | | | |<br /> BeigckwOOd | 26.6 kiss eee . | a [S | .<br /> | | jee ees<br /> Chapman and Hall .................... | | &amp; . » |<br /> | | eae | | |<br /> Chatto and Wimdus....................-| oe. | : | |<br /> | | | | | |<br /> | | | | |<br /> Harper he eee kasi ee ee 33] | x - o | | 95 | | a +<br /> | | | | | | peau<br /> | sone |<br /> - | | | |<br /> Sut aud Bier yr ed on 1 |» |» be a a ls Ls :<br /> | Posen: Rees fees eau<br /> A | | | | | |<br /> S Low and Co...........cennsese- 1+ o&gt; ee ee | Pee ee | 8 |<br /> —_—— —— ——|—|—_ |||<br /> | | | |<br /> VON GMAE 6 cers esc ; wes aa Pa le a a ee<br /> | | | | | Ke | Petar ea<br /> oe | Pa<br /> Ne ee | Da eee eee<br /> Ta cacoceceaaneeol Be eee ee ene 1 | ae<br /> M Pe | 8<br /> MITA, ....-,-15- | ade | cae | os | a<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> It will be observed by an examination of the<br /> <br /> table that there are thirteen magazines :<br /> <br /> advertise in five.<br /> , four.<br /> <br /> Murray<br /> Chapman and Hall<br /> <br /> 9<br /> Macmillan and Co. advertise in twelve. Chatto and Windus &gt; », three.<br /> Longmans. y ,, eleven. It will also be observed if we take one of<br /> Smith and Elder A ,, eleven. these publishers, the one which seems to adver-<br /> Sampson Low and Co. ,, » ten, tise the most in magazines — Macmillan and<br /> Harper Brothers n » seven. Co,—that<br /> <br /> Macmillan advertises in—<br /> Longman’s Edinburgh Review ....<br /> <br /> Harper’s Harper’s ..........<br /> <br /> Murray’s Quarterly ..... eas ; oe ee<br /> Chapman and Hall’s Mortnightly ............... ks<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> And receives a page in an organ of his own from—<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Longman<br /> <br /> Murray<br /> <br /> Chapman and Hall<br /> Harper<br /> <br /> Sampson Low<br /> <br /> Sampson Low’s Nineteenth Century ieee<br /> Smith and Wlder&#039;s CormmAill, .. 0... .cce cesses civ cecsewsecues<br /> Chatto and Windus’s Gentleman’s ....cc ccc cesnen ccc cen erence ean eeeees<br /> <br /> Smith and Elder<br /> Chatto and Windus.<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> 170<br /> <br /> A second group of magazines was then taken.<br /> Jt included those published by Newnes, Pearson,<br /> Harmsworth, the Religious Tract Society, and<br /> many others. The circulation of these magazines<br /> ig enormous—ten and twenty times that of some<br /> of the older periodicals. Yet there are hardly<br /> any publishers’ advertisements in them. Why is<br /> this? Is it due to the absence of any arrange-<br /> ment about exchanges or “contra accounts ” ?<br /> <br /> Let us now see how a firm of publishers might<br /> work the “contra account” to the ruin of the<br /> author.<br /> <br /> A. B. sends a full-page advertisement of a<br /> certain book among others to a dozen maga-<br /> zines, paying for each and charging the author<br /> his share of the page according to the tariff. He<br /> may do this as often as he pleases and whenever<br /> he pleases. If the author’s share in each page is<br /> 10s., he has £6 charged against him for one month’s<br /> advertising in the magazines. If the publisher<br /> continues this mode of advertising for six months<br /> —all for the good of the book—the account of<br /> the book is loaded with £36 for advertising in the<br /> magazines.<br /> <br /> But the other twelve publishers send each a<br /> full page advertisement to A. B. and pay for<br /> every page. Therefore the “contra account”<br /> becomes the mere acknowledgment of an ex-<br /> change. The honest A. B. has spent not one<br /> farthing of the £36 charged, all of which goes<br /> into his own pocket. One would like to see any<br /> defence of this practice if it exists.<br /> <br /> Understand that it is not a question whether<br /> certain magazines offer a good medium for adver-<br /> tisers: perhaps they do. It is a question whether<br /> the author is to be charged where nothing has<br /> been paid. It is obviously necessary to guard<br /> against a practice in which the opinion of a<br /> judge and the verdict of a jury seem to be very<br /> much wanted.<br /> <br /> The methods of safeguarding are (1) to pro-<br /> hibit by the agreement any advertising in maga-<br /> zines except by the “ contra account” arrange-<br /> ment, which costs nothing; (2) to insist on<br /> all the details of the charge for advertise-<br /> ments; (3) to disallow all such charges, whether<br /> provided against by the agreement or not, and<br /> to bring the case before the Committee of the<br /> Society.<br /> <br /> These are plain facts: the publishers have a<br /> perfect right to make exchanges ; or, if they prefer,<br /> to pay for each advertisement, and to send in<br /> a “contra account.’ Nor is it suggested that<br /> any of these firms do charge their authors for<br /> such advertisements. We again refer to the<br /> recent case in which Messrs. Sampson Low and<br /> Co. explained that such a charge was the error of<br /> a clerk — an explanation which involves their<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> denial of the practice. These are facts which, if<br /> one month is taken as representing all, go far to<br /> prove the custom of exchanges between publishers<br /> who own magazines. To prove the custom beyond<br /> doubt would involve the analysis of the adver-<br /> tisements for a whole year. They do not prove,<br /> of course, that authors are charged for these<br /> exchanges, but a statement or expression of<br /> opinion on the subject from the Publishers’<br /> Association would be welcome.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> IIl.—Somez Points FoR CONSIDERATION.<br /> IL—A PUBLISHING LICENCE.<br /> <br /> There are one or two points lately brought<br /> before the Secretary of the Society which have<br /> been commented on in previous numbers of The<br /> Author.<br /> <br /> As, however, the difficulties have arisen again<br /> and the dangers have not disappeared, itis worth<br /> while bringing them once more to the notice of<br /> the members of the Society.<br /> <br /> The case is as follows: An author goes to one<br /> of the most influential houses in England and,<br /> after the perusal of his manuscript, is told that<br /> the house will publish his book on a fixed royalty<br /> basis. The amount paid in royalties does not<br /> affect the matter.<br /> <br /> The publisher further states that he will<br /> forward to the author the agreement embodying<br /> these terms.<br /> <br /> In due course the author receives the printed<br /> form of agreement, in which the publisher under-<br /> takes to publish the work on the terms suggested<br /> and settled between them, but with this addition,<br /> that the copyright of the work, the translation<br /> rights, the dramatic rights, and all other rights<br /> that the author can at any future time possess<br /> shall be the publisher&#039;s.<br /> <br /> On one or two occasions the author, trusting to<br /> the assumed probity of the firm, has signed the<br /> agreement, thinking it in accordance with his<br /> previous verbal arrangement.<br /> <br /> On other occasions he has brought the agree-<br /> ment to the Society.<br /> <br /> If the publisher in the first instance had<br /> desired to purchase all the rights from the<br /> author, he should have then candidly stated to<br /> the author that he would produce the book on<br /> the royalty basis on the understanding that all<br /> these further rights were transferred to him.<br /> This he did not do. His arrangement with the<br /> author was practically as stated above, a pub-<br /> lishing licence subject to a payment of royalties<br /> to the author.<br /> <br /> On one occasion when it was pointed out that<br /> the printed agreement was not in accordance<br /> with the original arrangement made, the pub-<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> lisher put forward the excuse that the agreement<br /> represented his usual printed form.<br /> <br /> The real difficulty of the case is apparent. The<br /> author, ignorant of his own rights, too often<br /> trusts to the publisher.<br /> <br /> The publisher, on the other hand, ought not to<br /> omit the most important items of the contract and<br /> afterwards to embody them without comment in<br /> his agreement. The agreement should differ<br /> from the verbal contract in its minor clauses<br /> only.<br /> <br /> The golden rule is never to part with the copy-<br /> right.<br /> <br /> II.—THE DEFERRED ROYALTY.<br /> <br /> Another point has come to the notice of the<br /> Secretary, to which it is necessary to draw the<br /> attention of authors.<br /> <br /> A large publishing firm whose half - profit<br /> agreements have become famous, has, it is<br /> believed, decided to issue agreements on the basis<br /> of the deferred royalty.<br /> <br /> The agreement on the basis of deferred royalty<br /> is only one point better than the half-profit agree-<br /> ment, but it is not even this point better when<br /> the royalty is deferred till the cost of production<br /> has been covered, as you not only get all the<br /> difficulties of accounts in which the cost of pro-<br /> duction, the advertising, and other items are<br /> included and tend to complicate matters, but the<br /> author gets a considerably less sum in payment<br /> of deferred royalty than he would have done by<br /> half profits.<br /> <br /> The deferred royalty agreement is one point<br /> better when the royalty is paid after a certain<br /> number of copies have been sold. It is better for<br /> this reason only, that the accounts are simpler<br /> and are more easily checked. The author will<br /> not, however, obtain a greater return from the<br /> royalty.<br /> <br /> In case any members of the Society receive<br /> offers of agreements on the deferred royalty basis<br /> it may be as well to point out the serious diffi-<br /> culties that have been known in the past to arise<br /> from this form of agreement. It is likely that an<br /> author will be offered the same amount of royalty<br /> after a certain number of copies are sold as he<br /> would have been offered if the royalty had been<br /> paid at the beginning.<br /> <br /> If the publisher has practically repaid the cost<br /> of the production owing to the deferred royalty<br /> (and this he generally takes care to do), then the<br /> author should receive at least 30 per cent. royalty<br /> on the published price.<br /> <br /> Another danger is that it is not to the interests<br /> of the publisher in many cases to push the sale of<br /> the book beyond the number on which no royalty<br /> is paid.<br /> <br /> VOL, x.<br /> <br /> 171<br /> <br /> The publisher is not really looking to the<br /> benefit likely to accrue to the author, but only<br /> looking to obtaining a reasonable return on the<br /> money expended by himself.<br /> <br /> This difficulty should be guarded against by a<br /> clause inserted in the agreement, stating that the<br /> publisher undertakes, in the first instance, to<br /> print considerably more copies than the number<br /> on which he does not intend to pay royalty.<br /> <br /> There are other points in this form of<br /> agreement; for these the author is referred<br /> to the “Methods of Publishing,’ and “The<br /> Addenda.”<br /> <br /> Tt is an agreement full of pitfalls, and must<br /> not be entered into without careful advice.<br /> <br /> One of the worst points is the fact that the<br /> publisher’s and the author’s interests are opposed<br /> and not at one. G. Hy 7.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> TII.—Lirerary AGENTS.<br /> <br /> I have been hitherto under the impression that<br /> the literary agent made for the author all possible<br /> arrangements for publication, serial and im book<br /> form, in the British Empire and abroad, and<br /> secured the author better terms than he could<br /> get for himself. Last week, however, I was<br /> shown an agreement for a work which had been<br /> placed in an agent’s hands, containing the<br /> following clause: “The publishers shall arrange<br /> for the issue of an edition in America, and they<br /> shall pay the said [author&#039;s name| an amount<br /> that shall be equal to ro per cent. of the actual<br /> sum received by them for the said edition.” I<br /> wish to know—(1) Why, if the work is placed<br /> in an agent’s hands, the arrangements for the<br /> American edition are to be made by the pub-<br /> lisher? (2) Whether it is usual for agents to<br /> leave American editions to be arranged by the<br /> publisher? (3) Why the publisher is to take<br /> go per cent. and the author only to, seeing that<br /> an opposite arrangement would have been a<br /> fairer division, the publisher having done but<br /> very little? And finally (4) whether this is<br /> evidence that an author should be as careful in<br /> the choice of his agent as in the choice of his<br /> publisher ? Se mK<br /> <br /> IV.—Tur New German Copyrient Bri.<br /> <br /> The sketch of a new copyright law for the<br /> German Empire, officially published in the spring<br /> of 1899, continues to occupy much attention, and<br /> to evoke not a little criticism on the Continent in<br /> all circles devoted to the study of copyright.<br /> <br /> Our German contemporary, Das Recht der<br /> Feder, is by no means satisfied with many of the<br /> new provisions, and we may add that we entirely<br /> agree with the criticisms of the law which have<br /> appeared in its pages, and earnestly hope that<br /> <br /> R<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> 172 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> they may assist to bring about some important<br /> modifications of the suggested enactment.<br /> <br /> In its present shape the new law will be little<br /> better than a half-measure, by which all the<br /> interests of authors will be by no means properly<br /> safeguarded.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> V.—Mvsic ComposERS AND PUBLISHERS.<br /> <br /> The letter signed ‘“ Musical Publisher” in tha<br /> December issue of The Author surprises me and<br /> interests me as the Secretary of the Society of<br /> Authors.<br /> <br /> Ihave pointed out in The Author on several<br /> occasions that the position of musical composers<br /> when contracting with the largest and most<br /> responsible musical publishers in London is a very<br /> unfortunate one.<br /> <br /> The general form of contract issued by the big<br /> musical publishing houses takes, as a rule, every-<br /> thing, leaving the composers nothing, and the<br /> composers generally sign these contracts in igno-<br /> rance of the value and nature of the property<br /> they are handing over on the faith of the name<br /> of the house with which they are dealing.<br /> <br /> A typical contract was published in The<br /> Author for July, 1899, with explanations.<br /> <br /> I should like “‘ Musical Publisher” to refer to<br /> that number. If musical publishers, as a rule,<br /> accepted leases of the composer’s work for a<br /> limited time composers would have a_ better<br /> chance of reaping the rewards of their own work<br /> and labour.<br /> <br /> If “Musical Publisher” sees this letter I<br /> should be very glad if he would enter into com-<br /> munication with me.<br /> <br /> G. Herserr THrRina,<br /> Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> os<br /> <br /> THE METHOD OF THE FUTURE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> NOTE will be found in the correspondence<br /> of the month on “The Method of the<br /> Future.” This method, which is simply<br /> <br /> the publishing on commission by means of a<br /> commission agent or commission publisher, who<br /> publishes in no other way and who takes his<br /> commission and nothing more, is a_ widely<br /> different thing from publishing by commission,<br /> as it is generally understood.<br /> <br /> A simple comparison between the two methods<br /> is shown by a reference to the publishers’ Draft<br /> Agreements (Kqutable). Thus the latter claim<br /> (1) a preliminary fee: (2) a blank commission<br /> on printing, paper, binding, advertising, and<br /> other disbursements, wiru the right to take dis-<br /> count on every item: (3) to be paid in advance,<br /> <br /> although the printer, &amp;c., will not be paid for<br /> three months or more after publication : (4) to<br /> <br /> take a blank commission on sales: (5) to account |<br /> <br /> for the sales not at the actual price realised, but at<br /> “customary” trade prices, whatever he may<br /> choose to name: and (6) to render accounts<br /> annually, but not to pay for a period of blank<br /> months afterwards.<br /> <br /> The commission agent of the future charges a<br /> commission and nothing else—no discounts: no<br /> percentages : nothing<br /> <br /> For instance, a book may cost, say, £150 for<br /> production and may realise, say, £300. The<br /> commission agent will take 10 per cent.—say<br /> £30—and send the author, as the money comes<br /> in, the remainder, £270, out of which he pays<br /> £150 for production. ‘<br /> <br /> Tf, on the other hand, the book is sent on<br /> commission to a general publisher, it will be<br /> obvious, by applying the claims set up as detailed<br /> above, that the Cost of Production may be very<br /> easily swollen to about £220, while the returns,<br /> by making a liberal use of the ‘‘ customary trade<br /> price ” clause and of the commission, may easily<br /> be reduced to about the same sum; so that the<br /> unhappy author would not only pay £70 more<br /> than the book cost, but would actually get<br /> nothing back of his outlay. This is no fanciful<br /> portion. It is actually made possible by the<br /> clauses in the Publishers’ Draft Agreements<br /> (Equitable).<br /> <br /> This method is strongly advocated (1)’in the<br /> case of successful authors of every kind. It may<br /> be that at the outset there might be a little<br /> friction with the machinery, but that would soon<br /> be eased because it would be entirely and com-<br /> pletely the interest of the commission publisher<br /> to act for the best advantage of the authors.<br /> Perhaps in a few cases, but very few, this general<br /> publisher would offer so large a royalty that it<br /> would seem to be the advantage of the author to<br /> remain with him. What assurance, however,<br /> would there be that a true return of the sales<br /> would be returned? A very high royalty might,<br /> in unscrupulous hands, be reduced by a reduction<br /> in the returns.<br /> <br /> In the second place, the method is strongly<br /> advocated in the case.of that large class of books<br /> —not novels—written by specialists and designed<br /> for a special purpose, addressed to a special<br /> audience, where publication would advance the<br /> author’s interests apart from any possibility of<br /> wide circulation. Surely in such cases this<br /> method offers the greatest possible advantages.<br /> It must never be forgotten that the committee of<br /> the Publishers’ Association have insisted on their<br /> right to every one of the additions to the cost and<br /> the deductions from the sales which are set forth<br /> <br /> iets<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> above : every one, except that of charging adver-<br /> tisements not paid, and this is passed over<br /> with silence deliberate, which, after all that has<br /> been said and written on the subject, can only<br /> mean that they approve or allow of the practice.<br /> And it must be remembered that these monstrous<br /> claims have never been disavowed or withdrawn.<br /> The Method of the Future then is a Method of<br /> pure Self Defence. Nor must this method be<br /> confused with that of paying what is humorously<br /> called part of the Cost of Production.<br /> <br /> The old advice given by the Society over and<br /> over again still remains ‘Never pay for what<br /> publishers refuse to produce at their own<br /> expense.’ The reasons are illustrated by what<br /> precedes. The commission agent or publisher<br /> may also, on his side, refuse to produce, even<br /> upon commission, He simply says: “I publish<br /> on commission only, and in no other way. I do<br /> not want bad and unsaleable books. Good and<br /> saleable books I produce on terms which are better<br /> than any profit sharing agreement or royalty or<br /> ordinary commission by a general publisher can<br /> possibly offer. The business of distribution and<br /> collection is done by me, and for that I take a<br /> moderate commission and nothing else. All is<br /> above board—estimates—vouchers— discounts —<br /> everything.”<br /> <br /> exe<br /> <br /> PARIS NOTES.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 5, rue Chomel, Paris.<br /> <br /> FYNHE scurrilous tone adopted by several low-<br /> <br /> class French publications in dealing with<br /> <br /> the Transvaal War has justly excited the<br /> indignation of the Anglo-American colony in<br /> Paris. But it is a mistake to imagine that the<br /> majority of the better - class French public<br /> approve the virulent, personal attacks directed<br /> against the noble Woman and aged Empress-<br /> Queen, who stands foremost—in virtue, as in age<br /> —among the contemporary European sovereigns<br /> of the twentieth century. As regards the pre-<br /> vailing sentiment respecting these attacks, I<br /> venture to quote the following phrases taken<br /> from a recent leading article in the Jvgaro, than<br /> which no French paper is conducted on higher<br /> lines, or offers a better mirror of the general<br /> feeling of the cultured upper classes: ‘ Nos<br /> facons de polémique,” writes Le Passant, ‘“ n’ont<br /> pas ¢té inventées 4 lusage des Anglais. Nous<br /> faisons pour eux comme pour nous, et ce ne sont<br /> méme que des obus perdus qui passent les<br /> frontiéres. Le gros de la canonnade est pour<br /> notre propre usage. Cela n’empéche pas que ces<br /> attaques inconsidérées ne soient tres regrettables.<br /> La reine d’Angleterre, 4 défaut de toute autre<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 173<br /> <br /> considération, aurait du en étre préservée par son<br /> erand ige.” Nevertheless, a few lines later we<br /> are informed that, if Her Majesty reigned in<br /> France, ‘“‘ Les journaux -francais lui en diraient<br /> bien d’autres!” Under such circumstances, the<br /> lot of a French sovereign is scarcely more to be<br /> envied than that of its actual President.<br /> <br /> THe Osiris PRIZE.<br /> <br /> The commandant Marchand has received the<br /> “Prix Audiffred ” of 15,000 francs. This was a<br /> foreseen occurrence, and occasioned much satis-<br /> faction but little surprise, since the Audiffred<br /> Prize was expressly founded to recompense “ les<br /> plus beaux, les plus grands dévouements, de<br /> quelque genre quwils soient.” But the ‘“ Prix<br /> Audiffred”’ sinks into comparative insignificance<br /> beside the magnificent triennial prize of 100,000<br /> francs, founded by M. Daniel Osiris to recom-<br /> pense the most remarkable discovery, or work,<br /> produced during a period of three years’ dura-<br /> tion, whether the said discovery, or work, come<br /> under the heading of science, art, letters, or the<br /> medical and industrial professions. In making<br /> the Institute of France the trustees of the Prix<br /> Osiris, the donor takes the opportunity to<br /> intimate his preference for surgical and patho-<br /> logical discoveries, on the ground that they are,<br /> generally speaking, the most efficacious in<br /> alleviating the suffering of humanity at large.<br /> On all ordinary occasions only Frenchmen will<br /> be allowed to compete for this prize; but when-<br /> ever an international exhibition coincides with<br /> the date of the adjudgment of the Prix Osiris,<br /> all nationalities are invited to enter the lists.<br /> Even if the exhibition takes place one or two<br /> years later, the awarding of the prize (which, in<br /> the latter instance, would amount to 166,000<br /> francs) may be retarded during this period.<br /> Should the successful effort prove the combined<br /> outcome of several minds, the prize will be<br /> divided among the fortunate collaborators. If<br /> any would-be competitor desire further details on<br /> the subject, M. Georges Picot, Secrétaire Perpétuel<br /> de Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques,<br /> will undoubtedly be glad to furnish any infor-<br /> mation that may be required.<br /> <br /> A SeLect CoLuecs.<br /> <br /> In 1881, M. Jules Claretie called attention to<br /> the fact that the Paris “de la rive gauche”<br /> enjoyed a monopoly of intellectual instruction to<br /> the detriment of the wealthy aristocrats of the<br /> Faubourg St. Germain, whose means permitted<br /> them to dwell in the more luxurious Paris “ de la<br /> rive droite.” He suggested the establishment of<br /> a national College on the right bank, in order<br /> that the élite of society might be kept in touch<br /> 174<br /> <br /> with the march of modern intellect, without being<br /> forced to cross the bridges which separated them<br /> from the poorer inhabitants of the Latin Quarter.<br /> In 1899 M. Claretie may rejoice in seeing his<br /> suggestion become a realised fact. A little<br /> Sorbonne was opened on Dee. 5 at the Bodinitre ;<br /> it is rendered select by the fact that only paying<br /> members are admitted. This small “ Université<br /> mondaine” proposes to deal with the masterpieces<br /> of the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and French litera-<br /> ture; and among the names on its programme we<br /> find those of MM. Leo Claretie, Hugene Len-<br /> tilhac, Aug. Dorchain, René Doumic, Emile<br /> Faguet, and Mme. Jane Dieulafoy. Since the<br /> death of Mme. Rosa Bonheur, the latter is the<br /> only woman in France who is legally entitled to<br /> walk the streets of Paris in man’s attire—a per-<br /> mission of which she avails herself to the full, for<br /> she is never seen in feminine garb. As a lecturer<br /> she possesses a remarkable facility of language,<br /> devoid of the picturesque exaggeration so common<br /> to her sex. Mme. Dieulafoy is a great traveller.<br /> She and her husband have lived many years in<br /> Persia, enjoying the precarious favour of the<br /> tyrannical Nassr ed Din; and many of the wild<br /> scenes she has witnessed, and in which she has<br /> played a part, rival in interest the sensational<br /> “Mille et une Nuits” of Dr. C. Mardrus, of<br /> which the second volume has lately been given<br /> to the public.<br /> Arounp M. Bourcer.<br /> <br /> Despite his reputation for dandyism, M. Paul<br /> Bourget is one of the most fertile authors of his<br /> school. He has just returned to Paris, and is<br /> already publishing a new serial—an interesting<br /> study of a fin-de-siecle Parisian ménage—entitled<br /> “Te Luxe des Autres.’ He has recently averred<br /> that his mental attitude towards our race has<br /> undergone a complete transformation. The more<br /> he appreciates our good qualities, the more<br /> keenly is he aware of the invisible barrier, the<br /> “ divergences irréductibles” which alienate his<br /> sympathies from us. In brief, he no longer feels<br /> his former warm admiration for the English race.<br /> This change is not to be attributed to any petty<br /> “trimming” for popular favour. The ardent<br /> disciple of Hippolyte Taine; the enthusiastic<br /> hero-worshipper who revered Balzac before<br /> Balzac was a fashionable idol, and who carried<br /> his imitation of his hero to such an extreme that,<br /> for several years, he went to bed at eight o’clock<br /> every night and rose at three o&#039;clock every<br /> morning, breakfasting on a bowl of black coffee<br /> prepared over-night—because, forsooth, Balzac<br /> had recorded that such was his own usual<br /> méthode; the successful writer and honoured<br /> member of the French Academy, who boldly<br /> defied current opinion by perseveringly register-<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> ing his vote (the solitary one) in favour of M.<br /> Emile Zola’s admission to the charmed circle—<br /> is not the man to be influenced by any baser<br /> considerations. Once, in speaking of the leader<br /> of the realistic school, M. Bourget remarked :<br /> <br /> “No one here suspects the reputation which<br /> Zola enjoys abroad. His books are read every-<br /> where—in the smallest American towns. He is<br /> considered the chief, the father, of the modern<br /> French novel. Nowhere has he met with such<br /> severe censors as those of his own country ; and,”<br /> added M. Bourget, emphatically,<br /> <br /> “Vraiment la jeune critique n’a pas assez de<br /> respect pour cette gloire!”<br /> <br /> Ture Brainnines or M. Mevrice.<br /> <br /> M. Paul Meurice is still busily engaged in<br /> superintending the rehearsals of his adaptation<br /> of “Les Miscrables” of Victor Hugo, at the<br /> Porte-Sainte-Martin Theatre. This play has<br /> been much talked of, and is expected to prove<br /> one of the greatest hits of the season. M.<br /> Meurice is no novice among dramatists, being<br /> the author of “ Struensée” and many other suc-<br /> cessful plays. He is almost an octogenarian, and<br /> to talk with him is to be transported into a bye-<br /> gone era. He made his dramatic début by the<br /> aid and with the collaboration of Dumas pére.<br /> It happened in this wise :—<br /> <br /> On one occasion the latter deigned to confide to<br /> the shy slender student his project of founding a<br /> theatre which should alternately mount his own<br /> works and those of foreign classics, Calderon,<br /> Lope de Vega, Shakespeare. . . .<br /> <br /> “ Ah!” sighed Dumas, reflectively, “if I had<br /> only the time to translate ‘Hamlet’! What a fine<br /> spectacle that would be for the opening night!”<br /> <br /> “T have a translation of ‘Hamlet’ all ready,”<br /> murmured the student, blushing at his own<br /> temerity.<br /> <br /> «A translation in verse ?”’<br /> <br /> “ Certainly.”<br /> <br /> Meurice Was dispatched to fetch his work.<br /> Dumas read it and was satisfied.<br /> <br /> ‘Ma foi, mon enfant,” he said complacently,<br /> “je deviendrai ton collaborateur, si, du moins, cela<br /> te plait?”<br /> <br /> The offer was eagerly accepted; but Dumas<br /> was procrastinating, and a wearisome period inter-<br /> vened before “ Hamlet” was finally produced at<br /> the Saint-Germain-en-Laye Theatre. At this<br /> epoch the great man was living in princely state<br /> at Monte Cristo, submerged in debt, conde-<br /> scendingly offering champagne to the bailiffs<br /> who came to mouut guard over his furniture.<br /> All the critics were invited to be present at the<br /> first representation of ‘‘Hamlet.” Meurice<br /> shamefacedly hid himself in the side-scenes, while<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> Dumas sat enthroned in a “fauteuil de balcon,”<br /> his broad breast literally covered with glittering<br /> stars, decorations, and orders. He appeared<br /> totally to forget that the piece was his, or rather<br /> that he had read and signed it, since it was he<br /> who led the applause. But modesty was never<br /> the prominent characteristic of this great genius<br /> and wholesale plagiarist.<br /> <br /> ‘- Passions Silencieuses ” is the pathetic title of<br /> the novel which M. Henri Gaillard, editor of the<br /> Journal des Sourds Muets and secretary-general<br /> of the Fédération des Sociétés Frangaises de<br /> Sourds Muets, is about to publish. M. Gaillard<br /> is physically more highly gifted than the afflicted<br /> community over which he presides; for though<br /> he totally lost the sense of hearing at the early<br /> age of eight years, he has preserved almost intact<br /> the faculty of speech, and he will occupy a promi-<br /> nent position in the three-day international<br /> “Congres du Silence des Sourds Muets,” which<br /> will be held in Aug. 1900, in the stately white<br /> palace now being erected in the vicinity of the<br /> Pont de l Alma.<br /> <br /> And still further @ propos of the Great Exhibi-<br /> tion may be mentioned the exquisite bzbelot<br /> which M. Christian, director of the Imprimerie<br /> Nationale, is preparing to delight the virtuosos<br /> and lettrés of the year 1900. The volume in<br /> question bears the date MCM, and is a perfect<br /> “chef d’ceuvre’’ of the dual arts of engraving<br /> and typography, in addition to containing the<br /> history of printing in France during the 15th<br /> and 16th centuries. M. Christian has already<br /> been engaged two years in its compilation. In<br /> the preface he states that “en imprimant cet<br /> ouvrage notre ¢tablissement national a surtout<br /> pour but d’offrir aux bibliophiles les spécimens<br /> les plus curieux et les moins connus de Vart<br /> typographique essentiellement francais et @’établir<br /> la prééminence de nos artistes par influence<br /> qwils exerctrent sur les émules des nations<br /> vyoisines 4 |’époque de la Renaissance.” He has<br /> certainly succeeded admirably in his aim.<br /> <br /> Mapame Apam’s Successor.<br /> <br /> M. P. B. Gheusi, who claims kinship with<br /> Gambetta, in addition to being one of the most<br /> elegant writers of the present day, has succeeded<br /> Mme. Juliette Adam in the editorship of the<br /> Nouvelle Revue. Indeed, M. Gheusi is the<br /> modern French Crichton who has ‘“ touché a tout<br /> sans se spécialiser, méme a la diplomatie ’—since<br /> he has recently returned from a diplomatic<br /> mission in Asia Minor. Although only thirty<br /> years of age, he has already made his mark as<br /> an archeologist, poet, lecturer, administrator,<br /> novelist, and dramatic author. He isa Toulou-<br /> sian by birth, but offers the curious anomaly of<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> we<br /> <br /> an undemonstrative Toulousian who prefers reflec-<br /> tion to exuberance. He possesses a striking per-<br /> sonality, being tall, with intensely black hair,<br /> eyes, and beard, finely-cut features, and olive<br /> complexion. He has embraced the tenets of M.<br /> Constans, and it is reported that he intends to<br /> metamorphose the Nouvelle Revue. The latter<br /> magazine was founded by Mme. J uliette Adam,<br /> who is universally acknowledged to be one of the<br /> most brilliant and talented French authoresses of<br /> the nineteenth century.<br /> <br /> Tue Enp or PresipENT Favre.<br /> <br /> “Ta Fin d’une Présidence ” is the title of M.<br /> Witness’ new novel, a “roman a clef” reviving<br /> one of the popular legends current at the death<br /> of M. Felix Faure. The latter is easily recog-<br /> nisable under the pseudonym of “ Prosper Puis-<br /> sant,” as is also the case in regard to the fair<br /> actress denominated Mlle. Agnes, who was<br /> reported to be present at the President’s death,<br /> but who was, in reality, engaged elsewhere in the<br /> exercise of her profession at the moment when<br /> this sad event took place. Nevertheless, ‘ La<br /> Fin @’une Présidence” is being widely read, and<br /> many persons are firmly convinced of the truth<br /> of the fictitious narrative therein contained. In<br /> case any of our readers should desire to judge its<br /> contents for themselves, we would mention that it<br /> is published chez Chamuel.<br /> <br /> Among books of the month we find ‘le<br /> Rappel des Ombres,” by M. B. M. de Vogiié<br /> (chez Armand Colin et Cie.) ; ‘‘ L’Ennemie des<br /> Réves,” by M. Camille Mauclair (chez Ollen-<br /> dort); “4 lAube,” by M. Jean Reibrach ; “‘ Les<br /> Boers,” by M. Eugene Morel; “En Mémoire<br /> dun Enfant,’ by M. Emile Blémont; ‘ Shake-<br /> speare,’ by M. E. Legouis ; and “ Emancipées,”<br /> by M. Albert Cim.<br /> <br /> : DarRAcorre Scott.<br /> <br /> —___—_ecz<br /> <br /> NOTES AND NEWS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> HAVE to invite very earnest attention to the<br /> <br /> I scheme for establishing a Pension Fund in<br /> connection with the Society. There is no<br /> pension for literary folk except their share cf the<br /> Civil List. This should give literature another<br /> £400 every year. Of late years the administra-<br /> tion of the fund has greatly improved, although<br /> it still leaves something to.be desired. Yet the<br /> grants of pensions are capricious and arbitrary :<br /> the pension offered is sometimes ridiculously<br /> small, at other times it is absurdly large, consider-<br /> ing the small sum at the donor’s disposal. Some-<br /> times a case, which would seem especially designed<br /> <br /> <br /> 176<br /> <br /> when the annual grant was first proposed, is<br /> refused without rhyme or reason: sometimes a<br /> person receives a pension while in the full enjoy-<br /> ment of his working powers. The pension fund<br /> of the Society proposes to grant pensions 1o<br /> followers of literature being members of the<br /> Society when they grow old or are broken down.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The method of raising the necessary income is<br /> explained in the paper furnished by the com-<br /> mittee. Certain members have led off with<br /> promises which, as will be seen,provide a nucleus :<br /> others offer a yearly subscription. In publishing<br /> the names of the donors it is believed that a<br /> great many of our members will follow their<br /> example. Besides the donations and the annual<br /> subscriptions given for this special purpose it will<br /> perhaps be possible, after the number of members<br /> has reached a certain figure, to devote a propor-<br /> tion of the annual subscriptions to the Pension<br /> Fund.<br /> <br /> Thus, if we begin with a capital sum of £1500<br /> from donations and a promised annual subscrip-<br /> tion of £500 for this object: and if we are able<br /> to set aside every year, say, another £250 from<br /> the annual subscriptions, we should in five years,<br /> if we waited for that period before granting any<br /> pensions, have a sum of about £5600, producing<br /> an annual income of about £150 a year, increasing,<br /> if we add £750 a year to our principal, by £20 a<br /> year; so that in ten years there would be a sum<br /> of £250 a year available in pensions. If, on the<br /> other hand, we begin at once by using the interest<br /> of our capital for pension purposes, we ought to<br /> be able to give for the first year £40: for the<br /> second, £60: for the third, £80 a year: and so<br /> on. It is quite obvious that even a small pension<br /> of £30 a year would be in some cases regarded as<br /> avery great help. These figures, however, depend<br /> entirely upon the way in which the scheme is<br /> taken up.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Members will observe that it is not intended to<br /> appeal for help—after the manner of the Royal<br /> Literary Fund—to the benevolent. The Literary<br /> Profession ought to be quite able—it is quite<br /> able, if its followers will only think so—to look<br /> after those who break down or can work no longer.<br /> At the same time I do not suppose that the Com-<br /> mittee would refuse to accept gifts from friends<br /> and well-wishers.<br /> <br /> There is another reason for creating a Pension<br /> Fund: that of adding stability to the Society. At<br /> present, if we admit 200 new members every year,<br /> there is sure to be a withdrawal of a certain<br /> number, perhaps a hundred or more. ‘These<br /> members withdraw because they think that the<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Society is of no use to themselves personally, for-<br /> getting that if it is to be of use to any one there<br /> must be a great preponderance of guinea subserip-<br /> tions over the number of cases which are taken<br /> up, nearly all of which cost the Society a certain<br /> amount of law expenses. Now, with a Pension<br /> Fund growing every year, it is quite clear that a<br /> very strong inducement will be held out to<br /> members who might otherwise withdraw to<br /> continue. It is not a noble motive: one would<br /> far rather find them continuing in the hope of<br /> helping those who want help: but we must be<br /> thankful that we have our steady supporters—<br /> nearly 1500 strong—who do believe in standing<br /> by the weaker brethren.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> In the last number appeared a letter from Mr.<br /> Robert Maclehose,of Glasgow. It was prefaced<br /> by a few words on the general situation, and<br /> followed by a reprint of the report of our sub-<br /> committee on the subject. All three documents<br /> made quite clear the fact that the majority of<br /> booksellers are willing to try the experiment of<br /> coercion: we had already recognised that fact,<br /> and we proposed that booksellers should have<br /> their own way without opposition from our-<br /> selves for such a term as would make it possible<br /> to decide on the value of the scheme. At present<br /> it certainly looks as if the booksellers would get<br /> nothing out of it. But we shall see. Mr. Maclehose<br /> does not meet two very important points.<br /> <br /> (1) That the Authors’ Society was not con-<br /> sulted on the final adoption of the measure: and<br /> the Authors’ Society, representing the original<br /> creators and proprietors of the property, is not<br /> likely to allow their own interests to be used as<br /> a means of increasing the power and importance<br /> of the middle man.<br /> <br /> (2) It does not meet the awkward fact that<br /> the agreement binds the bookseller, but does not<br /> bind the publisher. Mr. Maclehose says that book-<br /> sellers were unwilling to “imply a doubt of the<br /> honour of the members of the Publishers’ Asso-<br /> ciation.” This is truly wonderful. Not to doubt<br /> the honour of the association? Has Mr. Macle-<br /> hose read a certain book called ‘“ Methods of<br /> Publishing” ? Or, to put it generally, are all<br /> men of business to be bound by contracts and<br /> conditions except publishers, who alone among<br /> mortals are to be held divine and above the<br /> reach of temptation? The simplicity of the<br /> statement is almost incredible were it not that<br /> it is obviously advanced in perfect good faith.<br /> We do not, as Mr. Murray was good enough to*<br /> say that we did, accuse all publishers of dis-<br /> honesty, but one thing may be stated as a law of<br /> humanity that, where any body of men have it in<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> their power to rob, cheat, thieve, and le with<br /> ‘impunity, then there will be among them a<br /> certain proportion of those who will take advan-<br /> tage of this impunity.<br /> <br /> So that we end as we began: that the book-<br /> sellers will have no kind of interference from the<br /> Authors’ Society: after a certain time they will<br /> probably be asked what advantage they have<br /> gained. And meantime the depression of the<br /> book trade is growing steadily worse, and the<br /> impoverishment of the bookseller is increasing.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The extension of the term of copyright con-<br /> tinues to be advocated. It is, of course, always<br /> advanced as a measure in the interests of the<br /> author and his heirs. Nothing could be more<br /> absurd. The extension of copyright, if the pre-<br /> sent methods are preserved, would be entirely in<br /> the interests of the publisher. Those who so<br /> confidently talk of the author’s interests are<br /> probably unaware that nearly every agreement<br /> between author and publisher assigns to the<br /> latter the exclusive right of publishing the book<br /> in this country, or the copyright, during the<br /> legal term. It is, of course, evident that any<br /> agreement which might be fair for a limited term<br /> might be very much the contrary in the case of a<br /> book so fortunate as to be still in demand for an<br /> extended term. The extension of the term of<br /> copyright would, in fact, affect very few books<br /> indeed ; but in the case of those which it did<br /> affect the ordinary royalty, or the price given<br /> for a sale outright, would be quite inadequate<br /> for a book so exceptional,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The only way to meet the case is for the author<br /> to assign the right of publication, in this country<br /> at least, for a short term of years. Thus, if a five<br /> years’ term were adopted, the book at the end of<br /> that time would be dead and forgotten, or it<br /> would be still a property. In the former case, no<br /> publisher would want to produce it again ; in the<br /> latter case, the author would be able to make new<br /> terms for another short period. If sucha plan<br /> were adopted, the legal terms of copyright cannot<br /> be too much extended. Another advantage would<br /> be that it would keep the publisher in check. He<br /> would know very well in the case of a valuable<br /> book that if he failed in his duty towards the<br /> author he would lose that book at the end of the<br /> period agreed upon. Also it would make quite<br /> clear to his mind that the present view of some<br /> publishers, that literary property is theirs by<br /> right, to do what they like with, is based upon a<br /> strange confusion.<br /> <br /> ee<br /> <br /> The Manchester Guardian proposes that after<br /> an author’s death his books shall all be thrown<br /> <br /> 177<br /> <br /> open to any publisher who pleases to produce<br /> them, subject to some royalty to the author’s<br /> heirs—it says the “same” royalty, meaning<br /> apparently the same which was paid in the<br /> author’s lifetime. But that might be a most<br /> unjust and unfair royalty. Moreover, in the case<br /> of very popular books, publishers would have the<br /> power of underselling each other—we have seen<br /> the cut-throat folly of the sixpenny edition—to<br /> the loss and detriment of the author&#039;s heirs.<br /> <br /> It is difficult to legislate for the protection of<br /> those wao own property or for those who ought<br /> to own it. I should rather suggest that the<br /> author’s heirs should have the power t) grant the<br /> right of publishing to any they please on any<br /> terms they please—but for a limited period only.<br /> In other words, they would not be allowed to<br /> part with the property out of the family. It<br /> would be like a landed estate which is not divided<br /> among all the heirs but goes as a solid possession<br /> <br /> to one. How many authors in one century would<br /> create a solid possession? In the nineteenth<br /> century Scott, Dickens, Marryatt, Thackeray,<br /> <br /> among novelists, and a few scattered novels besides ;<br /> among poets there would be a property large or<br /> small in the work of Wordsworth, Scott, Byron,<br /> Keats, Tennyson, Browning, Swinburne. Legisla-<br /> tion would not be for a class, but for one or two<br /> here and there.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Will my correspondent who signed a letter in<br /> the last number of this paper “ M. St. J.” kindly<br /> send me his name and address? I have mislaid<br /> both.<br /> <br /> Water Besant.<br /> <br /> =<br /> <br /> THE AUTUMN OUTPUT.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ~N the November number of The Author were<br /> offered certain comments on the list of publi-<br /> cations announced for the autumn and<br /> classified by Literature. One would like the<br /> phrase “ promised by ” the publisher to be dropped.<br /> A pound of tea is not “ promised” by the grocer :<br /> and the publisher conducts his business strictly<br /> on the same principles. He “offers” the public,<br /> through a bookseller, a book which he has reason<br /> to believe will be acceptable to a certain circle of<br /> readers who will buy it. A “high class jam” is<br /> offered in the same spirit. Always we must<br /> distinguish between the commercial and the<br /> literary side of literature.<br /> <br /> Among the books—1500 in number—classified<br /> and enumerated were 353 novels. Naturally the<br /> world regarded this threatened cataract of novels<br /> with terror. Some there were, however, who<br /> <br /> <br /> 178<br /> <br /> were doubtful. A list has now been made of all<br /> the novels actually published between the rst Oct.<br /> and the 15th Dec. As was expected by the<br /> doubter, the announcements were in a great many<br /> cases merely made for the purpose of swelling a<br /> list. Out of the whole number of 353 in the first<br /> list only 242 have appeared. Perhaps the depressed<br /> condition of the book market has had something<br /> to do with the Slaughter of the Innocents.<br /> This depression was severely felt early in the<br /> year—it has become steadily worse. It is now<br /> by some attributed to the war, which stimulates<br /> rather than depresses the reading public, though<br /> at first chiefly in the direction of subjects con-<br /> nected with South Africa. Chiefly it 1s due to<br /> the same causes which have been pointed out by<br /> the sub-committee of this Society—causes which<br /> continually aggravate the impoverishment of<br /> booksellers. No bookseller, however, if he had<br /> the wealth of Lombard-street at his back, could<br /> afford to risk his money in subscribing to the<br /> great mass of books now produced and offered to<br /> him.<br /> <br /> The fact, however, remains that a third of<br /> the novels announced have not appeared. The<br /> prudence of this withdrawal is to be commended.<br /> <br /> Tt is next necessary to consider by whom the<br /> new novels are written, and what is their chance<br /> of success.<br /> <br /> A closer examination of the list shows about<br /> sixty names which may be presumed to carry<br /> weight. That is to say, there are sixty out of all<br /> these novels which are tolerably certain to enjoy a<br /> remunerative circulation. In many cases the<br /> remuneration may be very small. Still, prac-<br /> tically there is no risk in producing them.<br /> <br /> There remain 182. Does this large nuimber<br /> represent the speculative spirit of the publishers<br /> —the sporting or gambling side? Not quite.<br /> We may divide them into three classes :<br /> <br /> (1.) Books written by new writers which have<br /> been strongly recommended by the reader, and<br /> are taken on their merits on the strength of<br /> that opinion. This class is very small.<br /> <br /> (2.) Books in which the authors pay part of<br /> the cost of production. This is a very consider-<br /> able class. Judging from the number of offers<br /> to publish on these terms it is a much larger<br /> class than would be generally believed.<br /> <br /> (3.) Books which the better publishers have<br /> unanimously refused, and which are published by<br /> the miserable shops where the author is misled, by<br /> promises of large profits and no “further risk,”<br /> to undertake the whole cost himself.<br /> <br /> As regards the first: class, all that is to be said<br /> is that there is hope for them. The opinions of<br /> an experienced reader are generally cautious. He<br /> does not recommend a risk unless he clearly per-<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> ceives that the chances of success are greater<br /> than the chances of failure. We may confidently<br /> expect that out of the autumn list one or two<br /> new names will emerge, to be added to the list of<br /> those which command a certain clientéle. It is,<br /> of course, impossible to say how many of the 182<br /> belong to this class.<br /> It is, however, quite possible to point to a good<br /> many books which have no chance at all of success.<br /> Among these are the books issued—one cannot<br /> say published—by the worthy gentlemen whose<br /> reader is always so favourably impressed,—and<br /> so quickly—that by return post after the MS.<br /> has been received, they offer the “ following most<br /> advantageous terms,” viz., three-fourths, or two-<br /> thirds, or nine-tenths of the profits: an edition of<br /> 750 copies: no risk to the author beyond a little<br /> preliminary cheque of £75—or anything else—<br /> all future editions to be the care of the firm, and<br /> cheques every half-year. It is amazing to note<br /> how this bait catches the unwary and the credu-<br /> lous. There are never any profits; no bookseller<br /> will subscribe a copy; the Stoke Pogis Gazette<br /> is the only paper which notices the production.<br /> Another class of unfortunates is that of those<br /> who agree to guarantee a certain number of<br /> copies and omit to notice that nothing is said<br /> about advertising, and nothing about any share<br /> of profits if the book succeeds. It never does<br /> succeed. The profits are less than those made by<br /> Bob Sawyer in his general practice at Bristol.<br /> There is the class, again, of those who pay part<br /> of the vost, and are humorously informed that<br /> they are to share the profits. A perusal of the<br /> publishers’ “Draft Agreements” (Equitable)<br /> should enlighten these unhappy ones as to the<br /> nature of the share. “Half the risk and half<br /> the profits.” Admirable! Equitable indeed!<br /> Lastly, there is a small class of those who<br /> boldly undertake the publishing of their books<br /> by means of a commission publisher who charges<br /> no unpaid advertisements, no “ office expenses,”<br /> and takes his commission only. Let us encourage<br /> this class by any means in our power.<br /> <br /> =P OKs<br /> <br /> CORRESPONDENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> L—&lt;Tur Mernop or THE FUTURE.”<br /> <br /> ° HE method of the future” is with us—<br /> |&quot; has been for, at least, mouths. Time<br /> will soon arrive to inquire if it is<br /> <br /> to justify its description. To the editor of<br /> this paper literature is largely indebted for its<br /> genesis ; to him all those who write owe it to see<br /> that the description he has given it shall be<br /> justified. It is of tremendous importance to<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> letters that it should be adequately supported.<br /> Yet it would not appear that any work of first-<br /> rate importance, appealing to the general public,<br /> and commanding a large sale, has been thus pub-<br /> lished. Is it not permissible to call the attention<br /> of the lords of the literary world to the position,<br /> and to ask if even one is willing to demonstrate<br /> his confidence in the system, and give it the<br /> powerful impetus which a work of assured success<br /> would command for it? Will Mr. Hall Caine,<br /> Mr. Anthony Hope, Mr. Zangwill, Mr. Gilbert<br /> Parker, Mrs. Humphry Ward, or another of the<br /> Upper Ten bring up one of their 4.7in. guns?<br /> Now is the time to strike for freedom.<br /> OBSERVER.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Il.—On Weritine ror THE MAGAZINES.<br /> <br /> Your note about magazine writing seems to<br /> me a little misleading. You say that only four<br /> writers contribute as many as five articles in the<br /> course of a year to any single magazine or review.<br /> That must surely be only true with a reservation.<br /> Besides Mr. Lang in Longman’s there is the<br /> “Tooker On” in Blackwood, and the writer of<br /> “ Conferences ” in the Cornhill. Also you do<br /> not allow for the fact that the regular magazine<br /> writer sometimes, for one reason or another, does<br /> not sign. I have myself published unsigned<br /> articles in magazines three or four times in the<br /> last two years.<br /> <br /> Also your purview omits the quarterlies.<br /> <br /> But the essential point is that a writer in any<br /> demand can easily dispose of a dozen articles in<br /> the year among the different periodicals, 1.€., can<br /> add from £150 to £200 or more to his income.<br /> That is sufficiently proved by the fact that I,<br /> with no particular reputation to assist me, have<br /> had well over a score of articles published in<br /> what I should call the best periodicals between<br /> the years 1898 and 1899.<br /> <br /> The Author, I think, might very properly recog-<br /> nise the service done to literature, or at least<br /> to the literary men and women who wish to write<br /> other things than fiction, by those publishers<br /> who issue quarterlies and monthlies which either<br /> make a loss at the year’s end or a very small<br /> profit, but pay handsomely a large number of<br /> people for writing about subjects on which they<br /> speak with special knowledge or special compe-<br /> tence. It is in fact the magazines which enable<br /> the critic to exist and to write without hurry and<br /> with a reasonable space at his command. Ss.<br /> <br /> (‘The “ serials,’’ which include running “ Confer-<br /> ences,” were expressly excluded. As regards the<br /> service done to literature by the existence of<br /> magazines, that is undoubted—but it is not the<br /> point.<br /> <br /> As for the “loss or the very small<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 179<br /> <br /> profit,” if the magazines did not pay they would<br /> be soon dropped. But they pay in many ways,<br /> even though they may show some loss at the<br /> year’s end: they pay m getting the publishers’<br /> name known and advertised ; in attracting good<br /> writers to a firm; and (see p. 168) perhaps by<br /> exchange and the contra account.—ED. |<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I1].—Tue Same Otp Srory—Ever New.<br /> <br /> The story is the same, ’tis only the case that<br /> is new. The invalid daughter of a literary man<br /> tries to support herself by literature and fails.<br /> Not because she has not the essential qualifica-<br /> tions for success, but because the editors who<br /> accept her MSS. defer payment for two years. Kt<br /> she ventures to remind them of the guineas over-<br /> due, back comes the MS. We know that this is<br /> no new thing in literary life, but Zhe Author,<br /> by creating a reasonable public opinion on the<br /> subject, will make such unbusiness-like ways an<br /> old evil memory. E. L. WriLiraMs.<br /> <br /> TV.—TuHe UnproressionaL JOURNALIST.<br /> <br /> I wish to indorse what has been repeatedly<br /> stated in The Author, that journalism, magazine<br /> and review writing, does not as a rule provide an<br /> income. I am one of the writers qaoted in your<br /> November number, who had one article in a big<br /> review in the course of one year. In lesser<br /> magazines I had two or three within the same<br /> period, besides weekly articles in sixpenny papers.<br /> L otten receive as little as half-a-guinea for a<br /> short article, and sums of a guinea or less for<br /> paragraphs, notes, and short reviews of books.<br /> However, I get the books and keep them, and<br /> these are to me valuable assets.<br /> <br /> I can’t say that I am very disappointed if IL<br /> find at the end of the year that I have only<br /> earned £100. This year I fancy that I shall<br /> exceed that sum by a good margin. I have now<br /> launched a novel at no risk to myself, and I am<br /> to have a royalty when it passes out of serial<br /> into book form.<br /> <br /> You will, of course, be shocked to learn that I<br /> have condescended to aceept as little as one<br /> guinea for each of my short stories. But my idea<br /> is that if my stories over a pseudonym win a<br /> little favour from the public, i shall thus have<br /> advertised my wares and shall be able perhaps to<br /> ask higher terms.<br /> <br /> But I have wasted space in your columns if in<br /> the end Ido not disclose my object in writing.<br /> This is to ask your readers if introductions to<br /> other writers could not be effected by means of<br /> the Society. For instance, if only I knew who<br /> are the authors who live in my locality and are<br /> 180<br /> <br /> members of the Society, I could in the usual<br /> manner procure personal introductions through<br /> neighbours, without breach of etiquette or of the<br /> «“ convenances” of society. This at least would<br /> assist the interchange of experience, and authors<br /> of my calibre not too overburdened with work<br /> would find a pleasant and perhaps profitable<br /> connection with others able to advise and assist<br /> <br /> in literary matters. Di ett<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> V.—Epiror1AL PROMPTNESS.<br /> <br /> Would you allow me to call attention to a<br /> general grievance amongst “ scientific’? writers,<br /> and at the same time as an example to refer to an<br /> error that has probably disappointed some of the<br /> public, and which appeared in an article in a<br /> certain magazine for October, entitled “ The Great<br /> Meteor Shower of 1899.” In thisitis stated “ that<br /> the culmination of the shower is expected in the<br /> early morning hours of Tuesday, Nov. 14. 3<br /> There will be a thin crescent moon.” This descrip-<br /> tion of the age of the moon, however, must have<br /> been written for last year, as it did not correspond<br /> to its condition on that date for 1899. More-<br /> over, the very date was wrong; for reliable calcu-<br /> lations for this year made it the 15th-16th. The<br /> error is interesting, particularly to specialist<br /> writers on any subject whatever, as exhibiting<br /> what is probably due to a magazine editor’s<br /> usual want of promptness and his frequent in-<br /> difference to appropriateness. The probability in<br /> this case was that the article was written in 1898<br /> and held over till 1899. This fault is common<br /> to most European magazines, and is frequently<br /> occasioned by changes in the editorial staff. The<br /> fact, however, remains that the moon this year on<br /> Nov. 14 was three days from being full moon,<br /> and that the Leonid shower, or what remained of<br /> it, ought to have been at its grandest about<br /> 6 a.m. on the 16th, twenty-eight hours only before<br /> full moon.<br /> <br /> I recall several provoking yet amusing instances<br /> of editorial (magazine) indifference to fact. A<br /> few years ago an article of mine appeared with<br /> a plan of an ancient house that I had carefully<br /> drawn to a scale of 1-200th; the plan, however,<br /> without my being consulted, was reduced in size<br /> without any alteration of the scale index, which<br /> must have been between 1-400th and 1-52oth, thus<br /> implying that the original house was less than<br /> half the size I indicated. A German friend of<br /> mine, a Government architect, sent an important<br /> archeological paper to an editor in his own<br /> country, who held it over for a year before pub-<br /> lishing it, thus giving someone else the chance to<br /> pose as the first exponent of the subject. This<br /> indifference does not affect the daily Press to such<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> a degree, but in Italy an amusing case occurred<br /> which was told me, as far as I remember, by<br /> my friend Signor G. Grahlovitz, the learned<br /> director of the two seismic observatories in<br /> Ischia. It seems that Professor Palmieri of the<br /> Vesuvian Observatory had been misquoted in a<br /> Neapolitan daily paper about some seismic matter,<br /> and that he wrote to the editor to protest; the<br /> only consolation which he received was a com-<br /> munication from the editor to the effect that<br /> “We have made you say it, and you must now<br /> stick to it!”<br /> <br /> As for the advantages to be gained by publish.<br /> ing an article in time, I suppose that the average<br /> busy office-bound magazine editor, unless a man |<br /> of the world, cannot see across the Channel so<br /> easily as the more free public and also those<br /> specialists who watch their subjects from a wider,<br /> European, or even more extended, area of view.<br /> <br /> Dec., 1899. H. P. FitzGreratp Marriorr,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ViI.—Tue Question oF REVIEWS.<br /> <br /> Undoubtedly reviews advertise a book, and it is<br /> equally without doubt that there is not sufficient<br /> space in our papers for the adequate reviewing of<br /> all the books that appear. But can anyone tell<br /> me why so much space is always devoted to those<br /> authors who, having “arrived,” need no adver-<br /> tising save the announcement that a new work<br /> of theirs has come out; while the new-comers,<br /> the “ unarrived,”’ are hastily dismissed with a few<br /> lines, half a column at the most, of careless,<br /> indiscriminate, useless praise or blame ?<br /> <br /> Now I submit that if a practically unknown<br /> writer produce a work of any merit at all, there<br /> is no reason why he should be docked of a fairly<br /> exhaustive review in order that the refined gold<br /> of the popular author may have an extra gilding.<br /> For to the beginner, advertisement, encourage-<br /> ment, and criticism are of the utmost value: he<br /> may be able by their aid to take his proper place<br /> <br /> in the field of literature, to learn his strength —<br /> <br /> and his weakness; while the celebrity, who has<br /> probably half-a-dozen more books sketched out,<br /> or perhaps appearing in magazines, requires no<br /> such assistance. Of course critics and editors are<br /> naturally more interested in their tried favourites<br /> than in new men, but the question is—have they<br /> any right to consult personal taste at all? Is<br /> criticism to be a mere matter of what I like or<br /> you like ?<br /> <br /> [ feel sure most persons will agree with me<br /> that the columns, and even pages, of flattery 80<br /> lavishly bestowed upon the successful—together —<br /> with the lengthy abuse often directed against bad<br /> work—take up at least two-thirds of the space<br /> allotted to the reviewing of books in our papers,<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 /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> and that there might well be reform in this direc-<br /> tion. If an author be already famous, why<br /> “boom” him? If a book be undeniably feeble,<br /> why not let it die in peace’ QUERIST.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> VII.—On Tryinc More tHan One Epiror.<br /> i<br /> <br /> T’m rather afraid that I could not have made<br /> my meaning very clear, for the editor misunder-<br /> stands me.<br /> <br /> It is quite certain that weeklies sometimes<br /> publish without sending the author a proof or an<br /> acceptance notice. For the editor himself tells<br /> us, in “ My First Book,” that this occurred with<br /> an article which he sent to Once a Week. “ The<br /> first notice that I received,” he says, “ that the<br /> paper was accepted was when I saw it in the<br /> magazine, bristling with printer&#039;s errors.” And<br /> the same thing has occurred within my own<br /> experience. Manifestly, therefore, the sending of<br /> copies of the same article to more than one<br /> weekly is a somewhat dangerous device; and I,<br /> for one, should never employ it with weeklies.<br /> But with monthlies there ought, one would think,<br /> to be no danger at all. Has any contributor ever<br /> had an article published in a monthly magazine<br /> without first receiving either a proof or a simple<br /> notification that the “copy”? had been sent to<br /> press ? Perry Barr.<br /> <br /> [Note.—The incident is true, but the cause of<br /> it was an accident. The paper had just changed<br /> hands; the new editor found my article in proof,<br /> but could not find the name of the author. He<br /> published it, and on my calling to expostulate<br /> explained the matter with apologies. Such a<br /> thing has never again happened to me in more<br /> than thirty years of writing for magazines.—<br /> Eprror. |<br /> <br /> II.<br /> <br /> The question revived by Perry Barr as to the<br /> expediency (for it is only one of expediency)<br /> of sending the same work to several editors is<br /> one on which I should say that the wiser course<br /> was not to do it. If I were the editor, and a<br /> writer asked me to send back an article sub-<br /> mitted to me, as it had been already accepted by<br /> another editor, I should certainly send back every<br /> article sent me by that writer without examina-<br /> tion. Asa writer of magazine articles of many<br /> years’ experience (I have contributed to the<br /> Atlantic from the month in which it was founded<br /> by James Russell Lowell, and to most of the<br /> older magazines, English and American), I have<br /> made it my rule never to send an article without<br /> first asking the editor if he would read it, and if<br /> I broke the rule, it would be with the expectation<br /> of having it sent back to me. I have rarely had<br /> <br /> 181<br /> <br /> an article rejected, and I think that of those<br /> which on second reading I thought it worth while<br /> to keep in MS. there are not in my drawer more<br /> than two or three serious essays and two stories.<br /> Tf Mr. Barr had had a little editorial experience<br /> of the enormous quantity of articles some editors<br /> have to look at, for of reading all of them there<br /> can be no question, he would hardly expect a<br /> prompt answer except in the case of the rejection<br /> of the article from sheer want of literary interest.<br /> In such cases as that of the magazine instanced<br /> in the communication of “A member of the<br /> Society of Authors,” I think the publication of<br /> the name of the magazine in the pages of The<br /> Author would be a proper service to be rendered<br /> the body of writers, of whom only the weak<br /> members would be likely to trouble that editor<br /> thereafter. Personally I have always found the<br /> editors of those magazines to which I have had<br /> the privilege of contributing of unexceptionable<br /> politeness, and have in only one case met with<br /> discourtesy, even in the form of the refusal, from<br /> the editor of a magazine to which I had never<br /> before contributed, and to which I never offered<br /> another article. But if I offered my articles to<br /> two or three editors simultaneously, I should<br /> expect after a short experience to be treated very<br /> curtly.<br /> <br /> My experience with both English and American<br /> magazines is that the articles which, after the<br /> preliminary demand as to the desire for an article<br /> on the subject proposed, are accepted, are sent to<br /> me in proof as the sole intimation of acceptance.<br /> A writer who sends an article to an editor, not<br /> knowing if the subject is one on which the maga-<br /> zine is not already loaded with one or more on the<br /> same theme, risks very uselessly a rejection with-<br /> out any reference to the quality of his article.<br /> If my memory serves me rightly the Century has<br /> had 3000 essays sent in in the course of a year.<br /> T have had articles accepted by it and not pub-<br /> lished for years, which is easily understood when<br /> we know that it has had on hand in the form of<br /> articles accepted (and generally paid for on<br /> acceptance), with illustrations appertaining, to<br /> the value of £200,000. Of these many, accepted<br /> and paid for, have to go overboard. Inexperienced<br /> magazine writers have no conception of the<br /> amount of matter the leading magazine editors<br /> have to do with, and the least they can do is to<br /> ascertain if there is a market for the article they<br /> have to dispose of.<br /> <br /> W. J. STILLMAN.<br /> Ill.<br /> <br /> Tf one has sent copies of the same article<br /> to more than one magazine, two editors might<br /> publish it simultaneously, neither of them having<br /> communicated with the author, who in that case<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> 182<br /> <br /> will probably never approach either of them<br /> with success again. I may say that I have<br /> had an article published in a monthly (a new and<br /> struggling one, without having received any<br /> proofs, though not without previous communica-<br /> tion from the editor.<br /> <br /> Another point has occurred to me. Suppose an<br /> author has sent duplicates of an article to two<br /> monthlies, one of which pays better than the<br /> other, and that the editor of the one which<br /> pays at the lower rate accepts his article<br /> before the other editor has read it. He will<br /> then have to write and withdraw his article<br /> from the better paying magazine, and that, pos-<br /> sibly, just as the editor was about to send him a<br /> proof. This would be disastrous ; though, on the<br /> other hand, in the case of an article dealing with<br /> some topic of the moment, which must be pub-<br /> lished at once or not at all, it might be a less risk<br /> than the likelihood that the contribution will be<br /> kept until valueless by the first magazine to which<br /> it is sent, and then rejected<br /> <br /> M. C. A.<br /> <br /> &gt; 0&lt;——_____—_<br /> <br /> BOOK AND PLAY TALK.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> \ | R. EDWARD CLODD is writing a<br /> memoir of the late Mr. Grant Allen,<br /> but according to present intentions it<br /> <br /> will not be a book by itself. It will, that is to<br /> <br /> say, be incorporated with some one of Grant<br /> <br /> Allen’s volumes of scientific essays. This is<br /> <br /> following the precedent Mr. Clodd set im the case<br /> <br /> of another personal friend, Henry Walter Bates,<br /> to whose “ Naturalist on the Amazons” he pre-<br /> <br /> fixed a memoir in 1892.<br /> <br /> Mr. Leslie Stephen is busily occupied upon his<br /> new work, “The English Utilitarians,” and it will<br /> probably appear in the spring. It is in three<br /> volumes, and deals especially with Bentham, and<br /> James and John Stuart Mill.<br /> <br /> Mr. Barrie’s story, “Tommy and Grizel,”<br /> begins in Scribner’s Magazine this month. It is<br /> a sequel to “ Sentimental Tommy,” who, of course,<br /> is said to have been sketched from R. L.<br /> Stevenson.<br /> <br /> Among other notable contributions to Seribner’s<br /> during the year will be a series of articles on<br /> present-day Russia by Mr. Henry Norman, who<br /> has recently made an extensive journey through<br /> that country.<br /> <br /> A new racing story by Mr. Edward H. Cooper,<br /> entitled ‘The Monk Wins,” will be published<br /> this month by Messrs. Duckworth.<br /> <br /> Stories by Mr. G. R. Sims (“In London’s<br /> Heart ”) and Mr. Algernon Gissing (“A Secret<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> of the North Sea”) will be published shortly<br /> by Messrs. Chatto and Windus.<br /> <br /> “Folly Corner” is the title of a new story by<br /> Mrs. Henry Dudeney, which Mr. Hememann will<br /> publish in a week or two.<br /> <br /> Among the books of the spring season will be<br /> a volume of stories by Mr. Robert Barr, entitled<br /> «The Strong Arm,” and a volume of war stories<br /> by Mr. Stephen Crane.<br /> <br /> New volumes to appear in Messrs. Blackie’s<br /> “Victorian Era Series” include a monograph on<br /> Beaconsfield, by Mr. Harold Gorst ; an account<br /> of Ireland in the Queen’s reign, by Mr. J. A. BR.<br /> Marriott; and a volume on India since the<br /> Mutiny, by Mr. R. P. Karkaria.<br /> <br /> The Argosy will henceforth be published by<br /> Mr. George Allen instead of Messrs. Macmillan.<br /> Tts new editor is Mr. Herbert Morrah, who<br /> iutends to develop the magazine and mtroduce<br /> new features. Another change of the kind is that<br /> the Badminton Magazine, hitherto published by<br /> Messrs. Longmans, will now be published by<br /> Mr. Heinemann.<br /> <br /> Mr. Charles Lowe is the author of “ Our<br /> Greatest Living Soldiers,” which Messrs. Chatto<br /> and Windus are about tc publish. It consists of<br /> biographical sketches of Lord Wolseley, Lord<br /> Roberts, Sir Evelyn Wood, Lord Kitchener, Sir<br /> Donald Stewart, and other famous soldiers.<br /> <br /> Professor Skeat has just been made the re-<br /> cipient of his portrait, subscribed for by many<br /> friends and admirers. The presentation took<br /> place at the annual meeting of the Modern Lan-<br /> guages Association, of which the Professor was<br /> president this year. Another distinguished<br /> scholar who has been honoured is Professor<br /> Pasquale Villari. ‘To mark Professor Villari’s.<br /> completion of forty years as a teacher, his friends<br /> have established a ‘Fondazione Villari,’ for<br /> historical studies, in connection with the Instituto<br /> Superiore of Florence.<br /> <br /> “The Semitic Series ” is the latest collection of<br /> books to be announced. Its object is to present<br /> in popular scientific form an account of the<br /> Babylonians, Assyrians, and other ancient<br /> Semitic races. Professor Sayce is to edit the<br /> handbooks, each of which will be written by a<br /> specialist. The first is by himself — “ Baby-<br /> lonians and Assyrians.” Mr. John Nimmo is<br /> the publisher.<br /> <br /> Mr. T. F&#039;. Dale is writing the life of the late<br /> Duke of Beaufort, which Messrs. Constable will<br /> publish.<br /> <br /> The recent vicissitudes in the affairs of Messrs.<br /> Harper and Brothers have culminated, says the<br /> Chicago Dial, in the formal transfer of the busi-<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> ness to a trustee, under the conditions of a mort-<br /> gage for a large sum held by Messrs. J. Pierpoint<br /> Morganand Co., bankers. The trustee has appointed<br /> as agent Mr. G. B. M. Harvey, proprietor of the<br /> North American Review, who has thus become<br /> the legal and actual manager of the Harper estab-<br /> lishment. It is stated that this step was taken<br /> by mutual agreement, and with the full approval<br /> of the Messrs. Harper, as being the best method<br /> of effecting a permauent readjustment of their<br /> affairs. Although the amount of their indebted-<br /> ness is given as over a million sterling, the assets<br /> are believed to exceed that sum considerably, and<br /> with the fresh assistance, financial and adminis-<br /> trative, which the house will receive, there will,<br /> adds the Dial, be no impairment of its credit or<br /> efficiency. The house of Harper and Brothers<br /> was founded nearly a century age.<br /> <br /> New stories by Mrs. Humphry Ward and Mr.<br /> Zangwill will appear in Harper&#039;s Magazine this<br /> year.<br /> <br /> “Managers are literally at their wits’ end to<br /> know where to get plays,” says a recent article in<br /> Literature.<br /> <br /> A performance of John Oliver Hobbes’s new<br /> play, ‘“‘Osbern and Ursyne,” has been given in<br /> New York by Mr. Charles Frohman. The author<br /> has two other plays in hand, one on behalf of<br /> Mr. George Alexander and the other with parts<br /> for Mr. and Mrs. Cyril Maude.<br /> <br /> Mr. Kinsey Peile is dramatising “ Red Pottage x<br /> in collaboration with the author of the novel, Miss<br /> Cholmondeley.<br /> <br /> Mr. Kyrle Bellew has secured a new play on<br /> the subject of modern life in London, by Mr.<br /> Louis Parker and Mr. Addison Bright, as well as<br /> the rights of Mr Henry Hamilton’s adaptation of<br /> Dumas’ “ Count of Monte Cristo.’’ The former<br /> will be produced first when Mr. Bellew fixes upon<br /> a theatre.<br /> <br /> Mr. Wyndham intends to revive “ Dandy<br /> Dick” about the end of January. After that,<br /> “ Cyrano.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Tree will produce “ A Midsummer Night&#039;s<br /> Dream” at Her Majesty’s on the roth inst. In<br /> the event of its not running until the end of the<br /> season, he will revive “ Rip Van Winkle,” but in<br /> a new version.<br /> <br /> A copyright performance of General Wallace’s<br /> “Ben Hur” has been given by Mr. Frohman’s<br /> company at the Duke of York’s. The play will<br /> shortly be produced in London.<br /> <br /> The Actors’ Association discussed on Dec. 15,<br /> under Mr. Tree’s presidency, and in his theatre, a<br /> scheme brought forward by the committee with a<br /> view to providing for the election, training, and<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 183<br /> <br /> registration of actors. The scheme proposed that<br /> teachers of acting and elocution with ten years’<br /> experience of the stage should be entitled to apply<br /> for a diploma enabling them to select and train<br /> recruits for presentation to a Central Board for<br /> examination. Another clause provided that three<br /> years’ work and a diploma from the Central<br /> Board should entitle members to write F.A.A.<br /> (Fellow of the Actors’ Association) after their<br /> names. Mr. Tree said there was a widespread<br /> feeling that those who set out to be actors should<br /> be capable of acquiring a rudimentary knowledge<br /> of the practice of the art in its initial stages. Mr.<br /> Forbes Robertson and Mr. J. D. Beveridge moved,<br /> and Mr. Wilson Barrett and Mr. Acton Bond<br /> supported, the adoption of the scheme. Mr.<br /> Hare, Mr. Edward Terry, Mr. Henry Neville, and<br /> Mr. Cecil Raleigh were amongst the majority who<br /> opposed it, however, and on a show of hands<br /> being taken it was decided to refer the scheme<br /> back to the committee for further consideration.<br /> Mr. Hare spoke of the attempt of a few years ago<br /> to form an Academy of Acting, and said that he<br /> himself threw up the sponge in the face of evidence<br /> that the right men to do the teaching would not<br /> become teachers.<br /> <br /> Mr. John Hollingshead’s benefit performance<br /> will take place at the Empire on Tuesday after-<br /> noon, Jan. 30. Among those who will take part<br /> in the entertainment is Miss Nellie Farren, who<br /> will be seen with Kate Vaughan, Edward Royce,<br /> and Edward Terry in a “ Gaiety Quartette.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> BOOKS AND REVIEWS.<br /> <br /> (In these colwmns notes on books are given from reviews<br /> which carry weight, and are not, so far as can be learned,<br /> logrollers.)<br /> <br /> PAoLo AND FRANCESCA, by Stephen Phillips (Lane, 4s. 6d.<br /> net), a poetic drama, presents ** the story of the tragedy of<br /> Malatesta in its simplest form, without the accessories<br /> which various commentators of the sixteenth century have<br /> added to the story as told by Dante.” The Times adds that it<br /> is “a very beautifnl and original rendering.” The Daily<br /> Telegraph says that no one who reads the book ‘“ can have<br /> any doubt that we possess in Mr. Stephen Phillips one who<br /> redeems our age from its comparative barrenness in the<br /> higher realms of poetry.” The Daily News says that Mr.<br /> Phillips “is indeed a capable and conscientious workman ” ;<br /> and the Spectator says that Mr. Phillips ‘‘ has touched the<br /> story with a master’s hand, and in the noblest spirit of<br /> tragedy.”<br /> <br /> TeNNYSON, RusKIN, MrILx, and Other Literary Estimates,<br /> by Frederic Harrison (Macmillan, 8s. 6d.), are studies, says<br /> the Daily Chronicle, “ for all to read who desire in historical<br /> literature some golden mean between partisan romance and<br /> minute erudition.” Besides the writers named above, the<br /> volume deals with Arnold, Symonds, Froude, Freeman, and<br /> also with Gibbon, Lamb, and Keats. In the opinion of the<br /> Chronicle, the most valuable portion of the book is that<br /> <br /> <br /> 184<br /> <br /> devoted to Mr. Ruskin as “ Master of Prose” and as<br /> “ Prophet.”<br /> <br /> Srupy AND STaGcz, by William Archer (Richards, 5s.),<br /> and Framers oF Minp, by A. B. Walkley (Richards, 53.),<br /> are reviewed together in Literature and the Daily Chronicle.<br /> The books contain the views of the writers “on literature,<br /> the stage, and, implicitly, on life. Their methods entirely<br /> differ.’ Mr. Archer, says Literature, “ gives us the skirl<br /> of Highland music, the note of war. His criticism kills<br /> with cut and thrust,” and his book “‘is valuable both asa<br /> record and on account of its intrinsic interest.” Mr.<br /> Walkley’s taste is for the French manner of wounding; he<br /> does his business with equal effect to “the lascivious<br /> pleasing of a lute,” and his book is “ extremely welcome.”<br /> The Daily Chronicle also discusses the “two tempera-<br /> ments,” and describes both books as containing “ brilliant<br /> work.”<br /> <br /> On Books anv Arts, by Frederick Wedmore (Hodder and<br /> Stoughton, 6s.), “ is a little book of short and lively essays,”<br /> says Literature, ‘pleasant to look at and to look into.”<br /> The greater number deal with questions of art, “ but to see<br /> the writer at his best one should turn to his dramatic<br /> notes, such as that in which he compares Joe Jeffer-<br /> gon’s pathos with that of Elia, or to his discourse on<br /> the short story, or to where he runs on engagingly about<br /> his curios, deprecatingly labelled as ‘My Few Things.’<br /> In all these we find examples of a well-cultivated taste in<br /> irony.”<br /> <br /> Tue Decay oF SENSIBILITY, by Stephen Gwynn<br /> (Lane, 6s.), consists of literary essays. The first, from<br /> which the book takes its name, “is a clever piece of criti-<br /> cism on Miss Austen,” and the Spectator adds of the book<br /> <br /> -as a whole that it ‘“ will be read with great pleasure, but<br /> the reader will lay it down with the slightly ruffled sense<br /> of having been a good deal contradicted.”<br /> <br /> Tur BACKWATER OF LiFE; or, Essays of a Literary<br /> Veteran, by James Payn (Smith, Elder and Co., 6s.), “is<br /> probably destined,” says the Daily News, “to close the long<br /> list of the productions of that prolific and delightful<br /> writer. ‘The twelve papers which are comprised within its<br /> covers are eminently characteristic of the author, above all<br /> in the subtle blend of humour and pathos—the vein of wise<br /> reflection, the cheerful views of life which have so often<br /> given pleasure to his readers.” Literature, in welcoming<br /> the volume, describes Mr. Leslie Stephen’s introduction to<br /> it as “warmly sympathetic, but, at the same time, finely<br /> critical.” The Daily Telegraph remarks that the book is<br /> “written with conspicuous charm and grace.”<br /> <br /> Pre-RAPHAELITE DraRizgs AND LuetTrTers, edited by<br /> William Michael Rossetti (Hurst and Blackett, 6s.) ‘‘is a<br /> book of odds and ends about Rossetti and his circle, very<br /> trivial and pointless sometimes, but containing many<br /> interesting things by the way; and full of humour.” That<br /> is the Daily News verdict.<br /> <br /> How Souprers Fiaut, by F. Norreys Connell (Bowden,<br /> 3s. 6d.), ‘‘ will do something,” says the Daily Chronicle,<br /> “to give the non-military reader an idea of what modern war<br /> is like.” The illustrations are ‘‘largely the work of well-<br /> known military artists, and they help the reader to realise<br /> what fighting looks like.”<br /> <br /> TEMPERATE CHILE; A PROGRESSIVE SPAIN, by W.<br /> Anderson Smith (Black, 10s. 6d.) is a book “‘ not only charm-<br /> ing and amusing to read,” says the Daily Chronicle, ‘* but<br /> of sterling value to the naturalist.” Mr. Smith is a member<br /> of the Scottish Fisheries Board, who was deputed by the<br /> Government to report upon the fish and sea-birds of “ this<br /> land of myriads of islands and creeks, with its marvellous<br /> vegetation, with its incredible wealth of fin and feather, and<br /> its rainfall of 160in. per annum.”<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> THe CHRISTOLOGY oF JESUS, by the Rev. James Stalker<br /> (Hodder and Stoughton, 6s.), consists of six lectures, treating<br /> of the various titles of our Lord. “ Dr. Stalker has handled<br /> the subject,” says the Spectator, “not only with learning,<br /> but (what is rarer) with judgment; steering his way with<br /> a fine critical and religious tact among the numberless<br /> ingenious theories that are so freely produced in Germany.”<br /> <br /> In CoNNECTION WITH THE Dr WILLOUGHBY CLAIM,<br /> by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Warne, 6s.), is a story of<br /> rural life in the Southern States, before and after the war,<br /> and, says the Spectator, “is excellent both in matter and<br /> manner. The plot may best be described as a variant on :<br /> the story of the Ugly Duckling.” Tom de Willoughby, — —<br /> although belonging to a “ first family,’ was a “ sport,” for :<br /> his figure was ungainly, his address awkward, and his<br /> intellectual outfit sadly to lack. It is with the expansion of<br /> his nature that the book deals. The Daily Chronicle says<br /> that the author’s pathos has never been truer, her humour :<br /> never more engaging, than in this new work. The Daily Teles ae<br /> graph calls it “one of the most moving novels of the :<br /> year.”<br /> <br /> Tus STtoRY OF THE TREASURE SEEKERS, by E. Nesbit<br /> (Unwin, 6s.), sets forth the adventures of a family of six<br /> motherless children living in a London suburb, and is “‘ one<br /> of those rare books,” says the Spectator, ‘‘ which enable a<br /> reviewer to earn the gratitude of the public by the simple f<br /> act of cordial recommendation.” “It will entertain and T<br /> touch any adult reader who is not destitute of natural affec-<br /> tions.”<br /> <br /> Some ExpERIENCES oF AN Ir1sH R.M., by E. Gi. Somer-<br /> ville and Martin Ross (Longmans, 6s.) leads the Spectator<br /> to remark that “if there were many women writers like iste<br /> Miss Martin and Miss Somerville, the discussion whether<br /> their sex is deficient in the sense of humour would be not<br /> merely otiose but impertinent.” “ But it must not be thought<br /> that these stories are mere pieces of caricature”: the<br /> various typical personages introduced are all drawn from<br /> the life of modern Galway and Cork.<br /> <br /> “THE AUTHOR.”<br /> <br /> SCALE FOR ADVERTISEMENTS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Front Page ave oe £4 0 0<br /> Other Pages 8 ee<br /> Half of a Page ... - 110 0<br /> Quarter of a Page . 015 0<br /> Eighth of a Page eA oye aay wee OE<br /> Single Column Advertisements perinch 0 6 0<br /> Bills for Insertion... aay per 2000 3 0 0<br /> <br /> Reductions made for a Series of Six or Twelve Insertions. &amp;<br /> <br /> All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed to the fb<br /> <br /> ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER, The Author Office, 4, Portugal-street, :<br /> London, W.O,<br /> <br /> Mr. J Eveleigh Nash,<br /> <br /> LITERARY AGENT,<br /> AMBERLEY HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET,<br /> <br /> STRAND, W.C.	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/470/1900-01-01-The-Author-10-8.pdf	publications, The Author
471	https://historysoa.com/items/show/471	The Author, Vol. 10 Issue 09 (February 1900)	<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.+10+Issue+09+%28February+1900%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 09 (February 1900)</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>	1900-02-01-The-Author-10-9					185–208																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=10">10</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1900-02-01">1900-02-01</a>							9			19000201	The Huthbor.<br /> <br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br /> <br /> CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br /> <br /> Vou. X.—No. 9.]<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> For the Opinions expressed in papers that are<br /> signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br /> responsible. None of the papers or pard-<br /> graphs must be taken as expressing the<br /> collective opinions of the Committee unless<br /> they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br /> Thring, Sec.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> eS<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br /> remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br /> requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br /> <br /> important communications within two days will write to him<br /> without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br /> Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br /> letter only.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br /> all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br /> jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br /> returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> pe<br /> <br /> GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br /> <br /> <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. THAT OF SELLING IT OUTRIGHT.<br /> <br /> This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br /> price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br /> managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the<br /> Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> Il. A PROFIT-SHARING AGREEMENT (a bad form of<br /> agreement). :<br /> In this case the following rules should be attended to :<br /> (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br /> duction forms a part without the strictest investigation.<br /> .(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 /> (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “ office expenses,”<br /> unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br /> (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br /> rights.<br /> (5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. ;<br /> (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher.<br /> a Seg bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br /> octor !<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ARY 1, 1900.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> [Prick SIXPENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Til. THE ROYALTY SYSTEM.<br /> <br /> It is above all things necessary to know what the<br /> proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible<br /> for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly<br /> the truth. From time to time the very important figures<br /> connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br /> Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br /> “ Cost of Production.”<br /> <br /> IV. A COMMISSION AGREEMENT.<br /> <br /> The main points are :—<br /> <br /> (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production.<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 /> ect<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Lt EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to<br /> the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some<br /> competent legal authority.<br /> <br /> 2. Never negotiate for the production of a play with<br /> anyone except an established manager.<br /> 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract :—<br /> <br /> (1) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT.<br /> This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters<br /> into such a contract should stipulate in the con-<br /> tract for production of the piece bya certain date<br /> and for proper publication of his name on the<br /> play-bills.<br /> <br /> (2) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE<br /> TO PERFORM ON THE PROFIT-SHARING SYSTEM.<br /> This method can only be entered into when a<br /> fixed sum is agreed per week for cost of produc-<br /> tion. It is not a common method.<br /> 186<br /> <br /> (3) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE<br /> TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES<br /> (i.e., royalties) on gross receipts. Royalties vary<br /> between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should<br /> obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross<br /> receipts. Should obtain a sum in advance of<br /> royalties. A fixed date on or before which the<br /> play should be performed.<br /> <br /> 4. 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 /> 5. Authors should not assign performing rights, but<br /> should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is<br /> of great importance.<br /> <br /> 6. 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 /> 7. Never send a copy of the play to America unless it is<br /> protected by a preliminary performance in the United<br /> Kingdom.<br /> <br /> 8. Never forget that American rights may be exceedingly<br /> valuable. They should never be included in English<br /> agreements without the author obtaining a substantial<br /> consideration.<br /> <br /> g. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully<br /> drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced.<br /> Never admit a collaborator when once the actual work of<br /> writing the play has begun or after it is finished.<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.<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 are<br /> referred to the Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> I. VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br /> advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br /> lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br /> <br /> business or the administration of his property. If the<br /> <br /> advice sought is such as can be given best by a solici-<br /> tor, the member has a right to an opinion from the<br /> <br /> Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s<br /> <br /> opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for<br /> <br /> him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the<br /> member.<br /> <br /> 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br /> and publisher’s agreements do not generally fall within the<br /> experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br /> to use the Society.<br /> <br /> 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past<br /> accounts with the loan of the books represented. The<br /> Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new<br /> or old, for inspection and note, The information thus<br /> obtained may prove invaluable.<br /> <br /> 4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br /> posed document to the Society for examination.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> s. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you<br /> are fighting the battles cf other writers, even if you are<br /> reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing<br /> the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen-<br /> dence of the writer.<br /> <br /> 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of<br /> members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br /> safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br /> fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who<br /> will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :—(1)<br /> To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To<br /> stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon<br /> them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments<br /> due according to agreements.<br /> <br /> 2 et<br /> <br /> THE READING BRANCH.<br /> <br /> EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this<br /> <br /> i branch of their work by informing young writers of<br /> <br /> its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated<br /> <br /> as a composition is treated by a coach. The Readers are<br /> <br /> writers of competence and experience. The fee is one<br /> guinea, :<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> <br /> HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br /> Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br /> of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br /> <br /> heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br /> many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br /> 6s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br /> <br /> Communications for The Author should be addressed to<br /> the Offices of the Society, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn<br /> Fields, W.C., and should reach the Editor not later than the<br /> 2ist of each month.<br /> <br /> All persons engaged in literary work of any kind,<br /> whether members of the Society or not, are invited to<br /> communicate to the Editor any points connected with their<br /> work which it would be advisable in the general interest to<br /> publish.<br /> <br /> The present location of the Authors’ Club is at 3, White-<br /> hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for<br /> information, rules of admission, &amp;c.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> FROM THE COMMITTEE.<br /> <br /> R. A. HOPE HAWKINS has been elected<br /> Chairman of the Society for the year<br /> <br /> 1900.<br /> Mr. Edward Rose has been elected on to the<br /> Committee, and it is hoped that Mr. Conan<br /> Doyle will join on his return from South Africa,<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> Mr. Mullett Ellis has informed the Secretary<br /> that the following resolutions will be proposed by<br /> him at the general meeting of the Society.<br /> Notice of such general meeting will be circulated<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> in due course. The proposer requests that all<br /> members desirous of supporting the resolutions<br /> will communicate with him direct, at the follow-<br /> ing address: T. Munuerr Exuis, Esq., Creek<br /> House, Shepperton.<br /> <br /> (1.) That the exercise of a literary censorship<br /> of books by the large trading monopoly, whose<br /> main business is that of mere distributors and<br /> newsyendors, is not advantageous to letters.<br /> <br /> (2.) That the system of monopoly which<br /> dominates the railway bookstalls throughout the<br /> kingdom gives to one firm the power over the<br /> output and distribution of popular literature and<br /> of political journals, which is damaging to the<br /> interests of authors and of the public,<br /> <br /> (3-) That a copy of the foregoing resolution<br /> be sent to the chairman and directors of the<br /> various railway companies with a respectful<br /> request that on the next available occasion the<br /> licences of the railway bookstalls be granted to<br /> more than one firm of booksellers, and that the<br /> principle of competition in the supply of litera-<br /> ture be thus substituted for the existing mono-<br /> poly.<br /> <br /> (a) Because it would be of financial advantage<br /> <br /> o the shareholders of the railway companies.<br /> <br /> (6) Because the dominance of one firm over<br /> the sale of newspapers and popular literature is a<br /> political danger which may even threaten the<br /> national liberties, and is damaging to literature.<br /> <br /> (c) Because the existing system of the monopoly<br /> of one trading firm has during many years past<br /> been exercised in censorship of authors.<br /> <br /> (d) Because the sale of books at railway book-<br /> stalls has become so enormous that an alteration<br /> in the existing system has become a necessity,<br /> many valuable works not being now obtainable<br /> at the bookstalls, so that if the abuse be not dealt<br /> with by the railway companies it will be necessary<br /> to seek the intervention of Parliament.<br /> <br /> G, HT.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> LITERARY PROPERTY.<br /> <br /> I.—CounsEL’s OPINION.<br /> <br /> HE Managing Committee of the Society of<br /> Authors have experienced great difficulty<br /> in gaining a clear idea of the legal position<br /> <br /> of members whose books are involved in cases<br /> where a receiver for debenture-holders has entered<br /> into possession, where a company has gone into<br /> liquidation, and where private firms have gone<br /> into bankruptcy.<br /> <br /> As the trouble and annoyance to members is<br /> very great, the Society, through its Secretary,<br /> usually instructs its solicitor to take the matter<br /> up on behalf of its members.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 187<br /> <br /> In carrying through a matter of this kind the<br /> process of the courts necessarily takes many<br /> months, and to the authors involved the progress<br /> no doubt seems exceedingly slow, and the waiting<br /> exceedingly wearisome.<br /> <br /> To the ordinary creditor, who is not bound by<br /> contract, this is not of so much consequence, as he<br /> simply brings in his claim and awaits the result.<br /> The result is often disappointing—but beyond<br /> this he has no further bother.<br /> <br /> The case of the author, however, who is bound<br /> to a company or firm which has come to grief in<br /> any of the three ways described above, is totally<br /> ditferent.<br /> <br /> In one case his book may have been produced<br /> and royalties have become due to him under his<br /> agreement.<br /> <br /> In another case his book may be in the height<br /> of its sale, but owing to the failure of the pub-<br /> lishers may be suddenly withdrawn from the<br /> market. This, in a great many cases, means the<br /> absolute loss of property to the author.<br /> <br /> Many books are short-lived, and if in the early<br /> stages there is a check in the supply, the public<br /> will take some other book instead.<br /> <br /> Experience shows that under such circum-<br /> stances it is almost impossible to give renewed<br /> life to the work.<br /> <br /> It is a mistake to think that this applies only<br /> to works of fiction; it is equally true of other<br /> current literature, like works of travel, biographies,<br /> memoirs, &amp;e.<br /> <br /> Even if the life of a book is not destroyed, as<br /> it has been shown may occur, the profits accruing<br /> to the author may be stopped for some time.<br /> <br /> Another case may arise of an author, who is<br /> under contract for publication of his book, and<br /> his book has not yet been put on the market.<br /> <br /> Again, there may be the case of an author who<br /> has contracted to write a book but has not yet<br /> completed the MS.<br /> <br /> These are some of the difficulties in which<br /> authors are placed which are beyond the difficulties<br /> of ordinary creditors.<br /> <br /> The cases of bankruptcy, liquidation, or the<br /> appointment of a. receiver for the debenture-<br /> ho&#039;ders are, unfortunately for authors, of not<br /> infrequent occurrence. As, therefore, the same<br /> difficulties are likely to arise in the future, and<br /> as the expense of fighting each point in the courts<br /> would be more than the Society could afford with-<br /> out considerable assistance, the Committee decided<br /> to take the best opinion that could be obtained<br /> from Counsel on the various questions involved.<br /> <br /> In answer to two of the questions asked from<br /> Counsel, which were as follows :—<br /> <br /> 1. “ What are the rights of authors in respect<br /> of royalties (a4) due or (6) to become due as<br />  <br /> <br /> 188 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> against (i.) a receiver for debenture-holders ; (ii.)<br /> a liquidator or trustee in bankruptcy ; and (iii.)<br /> an assign for value?” and<br /> <br /> 2. “ Whether authors under royalty agreements<br /> —who have not assigned their copyrights—can<br /> claim that the contracts are determined by a<br /> receivership or liquidation, or a cesser of the pub-<br /> lisher’s business, so that they can contract with a<br /> new publisher,”<br /> <br /> Counsel makes the following statement :—<br /> <br /> “The appointment of a receiver for the deben-<br /> ture-holders has not in my opinion affected the<br /> obligations in any way. The company or its<br /> assignees (whether the assignee by way of secu-<br /> rity has taken possession by way of receiver or<br /> not) stand in no different position as regards<br /> performance of the contract.<br /> <br /> “Tt remains to be considered what would be<br /> the result if the company went into liquidation.<br /> Tn that case the liquidator would be entitled to a<br /> contract of which, if he performs it, he can have<br /> the benefit, and which he may if he pleases assign<br /> with consent. To perform it means to pay the<br /> royalties, not to pay a dividend on the royalties.<br /> Tf the author is not minded to come in in the<br /> winding-up and prove for future royalties he is<br /> not bound to do so, and the liquidator can only<br /> have the benefit of the contract if he performs<br /> the obligations of the contract. If the liquidator<br /> does not pay the royalties at their due dates, the<br /> author is, I think, entitled to give him notice that<br /> unless he pays within a reasonable time he will<br /> treat that as a refusal to perform the contract,<br /> and, if the liquidator does not pay, the author may,<br /> I think, determine the contract and agree with<br /> another publisher. One may test this in this way :<br /> Suppose under such circumstances the liquidator<br /> brought an action for an injunction to restrain<br /> the author from publishing elsewhere, he could<br /> not have such an order except upon the terms of<br /> complying with the conditions of the contract,<br /> that is, paying the royalties in full.<br /> <br /> “Tf” the publishers mentioned in the case for<br /> Counsel’s opinion —“ were a firm and not a cor-<br /> poration, the position would be the same, except<br /> that in bankruptcy the trustee would have power<br /> to disclaim the contract—a power which a liqui-<br /> dator does not possess.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> From this statement it would appear that<br /> Counsel considers that royalty agreements as<br /> above are not put an end to by a receivership or<br /> liquidation of the publishers, but that a receiver,<br /> liquidator, or trustee is bound to pay the royalties<br /> in full as well as those due at the date of the<br /> failure as any becoming due subsequently if he<br /> intends to have the benefit of the contract with<br /> the author.<br /> <br /> Members of the Society must, however,<br /> remember that these positions may be varied by<br /> express agreement, and they must not too readil<br /> deduce that their case comes in line with the<br /> opinion.<br /> <br /> The above remarks refer to those books which<br /> have been published, and on which royalties are<br /> due.<br /> <br /> With regard to the question of a contract<br /> existing for publication when the book has not<br /> yet been published, Counsel states that the fact<br /> that the receiver for the debenture-holders<br /> has been appointed does not affect the right of<br /> the publisher to publish in accordance with the<br /> terms of the agreement, and again, in the case<br /> where the author is under contract, but has not<br /> completed his manuscript, although the publisher<br /> cannot compel the author to complete, Counsel<br /> thinks that the author would be liable in damages<br /> if he refuses to complete.<br /> <br /> The above points are printed for the serious<br /> consideration of the members of the Society;<br /> they must, however, always keep in mind the<br /> advisability of consulting the Secretary on their<br /> agreements (especially with limited companies)<br /> before they sign them, and of laying before him<br /> a full statement of their cases before they take<br /> any action as regards insolvent publishers.<br /> <br /> G. H. T.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> II.—Tuer Riext to Correct.<br /> <br /> Here is a case in which the right to correct and<br /> alter a signed article has not only been claimed<br /> but exercised; not, it is true, by the editor of a<br /> magazine published in London. It is noticed in<br /> this place because the editor’s exercise of his<br /> so-called right was that test of a theory which in<br /> mathematics is called an extreme case. What he<br /> did was this :—<br /> <br /> The article was invited by the editor: it was<br /> written to order; it was also written to the length<br /> required ; it was signed ; it was accepted ; and it<br /> was paid for.<br /> editor found himself cramped for room. He<br /> therefore boldly cut off the first half of the article<br /> <br /> and began it in the middle, retaining the writer&#039;s — 4<br /> <br /> name at the end, in this way making ridiculous<br /> <br /> nonsense of the whole paper; damaging his own —<br /> <br /> magazine by inserting nonsense; and inflicting<br /> <br /> the most cruel injury to the reputation of the —<br /> <br /> writer. On a mild expostulation, the editor<br /> <br /> replied that he held the right to make any correc- :<br /> tions he pleased and to give or withhold the name —<br /> <br /> of the contributor.<br /> <br /> In such a case there is only one thing to be<br /> done: viz., to bring an action and to procure an”<br /> injunction restraining the sale of the magazine —<br /> ‘with the mutilated article.<br /> <br /> When it was to be inserted the<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> It cannot be too strongly maintained that when<br /> ‘papers are signed the editor has no power to<br /> alter a word. He may invite alterations: he may<br /> refuse insertion unless alterations are made: he<br /> ‘must not make the author say, over his own name,<br /> ‘one werd that he does not choose to say.<br /> <br /> As regards unsigned articles, of course the<br /> editor is himself responsible, and will alter and<br /> ut them up just as he pleases. The author<br /> cannot question that right or complain when it is<br /> exercised.<br /> <br /> There are editors, even in London, who claim<br /> the right of correcting and altering signed articles.<br /> It is greatly to be desired that a single case<br /> should be tried in court, when the alleged right<br /> to make an author say what he does not think,<br /> and, over his own name, utter opinions which he<br /> does not hold, would be finally disallowed, and its<br /> <br /> monstrous nature exposed. 4<br /> &amp;<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> III—A New AreumMent ¥F<br /> Copyright<br /> <br /> Our valuable German conte<br /> vler Feder, in commentin<br /> Hungarian Pesti Hirlap, Gag<br /> Hungarian critic which put @He 4<br /> national copyright in an entre@ new light.<br /> <br /> The modern national movement in Hungary has<br /> been from -its commencement closely connected<br /> with the resuscitation of Magyar asa literary lan-<br /> g guage, and one of the results of this cultivation<br /> tio of the language is that contemporary Hungarian<br /> <br /> INTERNATIONAL<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ‘ excellence. This literature has a distinctively<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> _ Meanwhile, as Austria-Hungary lies outside the<br /> 198 Berne Union, the country is flooded with German<br /> God books, and pirated translations of German books<br /> <br /> ; —naturally exercising a definite Germanising<br /> ai influence, that fatal denationalising influence<br /> ¥ which evoked the revolution of 1848, and has<br /> een ever since combated with relentless deter-<br /> mination. ‘“ But we have,” says Mr. Téth Bela<br /> in the Pesti Hirlap, “this great evil, that<br /> German books are much sought after. I am<br /> called a ‘Germanophobe.’ I am so respecting<br /> certain authors. Not respecting Goethe, Kleist,<br /> and Heine. . But there are thousands of<br /> people of deplorable taste who admit miserably<br /> useless and inferior b-oks into their houses.<br /> Why? Because their brains are not Magyar<br /> enough to be critical and to say, If these books<br /> please the Germans, let them have them, so long<br /> as they are kept out of our way,’ and<br /> because there are in Germany numerous paper-<br /> mills and printing presses for which employment<br /> must be found. The juvenile literature<br /> <br /> VOL. x.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ET Oat<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ASE<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> - literature has rapidly risen to a high standard of .<br /> <br /> + Hungarian tone, and is splendidly patriotic. |<br /> <br /> 189<br /> <br /> of Germany is weak. And even its best produc-<br /> tions are injurious tf they train our young people<br /> into foreign ways of feeling and thinking. In<br /> how many Hungarian houses have I seen German<br /> patriotic works!”<br /> <br /> To all this our contemporary, Das Recht der<br /> Feder, replies with excellent reason: “If Mr.<br /> Téth Bela desires to sce the national literature<br /> better supported, let him do what he can to per-<br /> suade Hungary to cease to be one of the pirate<br /> States and to come into the Berne Union.”<br /> <br /> But the point raised appears to us to be one of<br /> even wider and more profound significance. We<br /> have here a new argument for international pro-<br /> tection. The community which steals its litera-<br /> ture from abroad is surrendering its national<br /> character to foreign influences.<br /> <br /> H. C.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> IV.—Hoitianp anp THE BERNE CONVENTION.<br /> <br /> The Dutch “League in favour of the Berne<br /> Convention ” has presented a petition to the<br /> Queen of Holland, urging:<br /> <br /> “That for a long period the rights of foreigners<br /> have been, among all civilised nations, placed on<br /> an equality with those of citizens, whilst among<br /> ourselves the rights of foreigners can be violated<br /> with impunity—with the consequence that Dutch<br /> authors have no rights outside their own country ;<br /> 4 that the intellectual development of the<br /> inhabitants of the Netherlands is prejudiced by<br /> the quantity of foreign literature of inferior<br /> value with which the country is flooded; and<br /> that a legal sanction of International copyright<br /> would be advantageous to the national works of<br /> an artistic and scientific character, and assist the<br /> development of a higher national taste.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> V.—PuorocrapH CopyrigHt IN AMERICA.<br /> <br /> A circuit court judge has decided that photo-<br /> graphs of actresses and actors, not being fine art,<br /> cannot be copyrighted. The decision, which<br /> establishes a precedent that pleases the news-<br /> papers and publishers, threatens to damage many<br /> flourishing photographic businesses. The Copy-<br /> right League bitterly fought the point. The<br /> actresses are now preparing a memorial to Wash-<br /> ington denouncing Judge Wallace’s assertion that<br /> their photographs are too inartistic to copyright,<br /> —New York telegram in the Morning Leader,<br /> Jan. 15,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> VI—AgeEnts.<br /> <br /> With reference to the letter signed “R. K.”<br /> which appeared in the January number of The<br /> Author, I think that it may be beneficial to the<br /> members of the Society to point out some of the<br /> <br /> T<br /> 190<br /> <br /> difficulties that arise by employing an agent, and<br /> putting absolute and unquestioned trust in his<br /> settlement of literary matters, both on the legal<br /> and financial sides.<br /> <br /> In the March number of The Author, 1899, a<br /> long and somewhat exhaustive article appeared<br /> on this subject. Members of the Society are par-<br /> ticularly referred to this article as bearing on the<br /> question.<br /> <br /> It may be as well to point out further that<br /> an author’s interest and an agent’s are not, as<br /> they should be, always identical. An author will<br /> naturally say this cannot be the case, as the<br /> larger the price an agent gets for an author’s<br /> work, the larger amount will he be paid. Take,<br /> however, the following instance as a probable<br /> example :<br /> <br /> An agent has an overwhelming number of<br /> MSS. in his hands that he wants to place with<br /> certain publishers. This is not unfrequently the<br /> case, and from an agent’s business point of view<br /> five contracts of £20 each may be better and<br /> less difficult transactions than one of £100.<br /> Again, he knows that he can place one book in<br /> one week and one in the next week which will<br /> each bring, say £100 return to the authors—<br /> £200 in all; the other terms of the contract<br /> being decidedly disadvantageous to the authors<br /> concerned. Supposing he took the two weeks to<br /> obtain better terms for one author to the neglect<br /> of the other, he might only increase that<br /> author’s financial returns by £30 or £40. He<br /> would thus lose his agency charges on about<br /> £60 or £70, as he has spent two weeks in placing<br /> the book of one author in a thoroughly satis-<br /> factory manner for the author, whereas he might<br /> have placed two books in that time unsatis-<br /> factorily to the two authors, but satisfactorily as<br /> regards himself.<br /> <br /> This example is put forward, as certain agree-<br /> ments have been before the Society of Authors<br /> recently—agreements which have been recom-<br /> mended by the agent, who had only tried one<br /> publisher with the book—agreements which were<br /> wholly disadvantageous to the author in that they<br /> assigned to the publisher, as stated in the letter<br /> of the January issue referred to, a great many of<br /> those rights which it is the agent’s duty to place,<br /> <br /> ‘and in that they also offered to the author a<br /> wretched 10 per cent. after the sale of 500 copies,<br /> with no increase however large the sales prove<br /> to be.<br /> <br /> It is, further, an open question how far an<br /> ordinary agent is capable of drafting an agree-<br /> ment full of legal difficulties and technicalities.<br /> <br /> .[The writer of the above neglects a very im-<br /> portant factor in the conduct of an agent’s busi-<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ness. Itis this. There are many writers whose<br /> works hang about on the border line. That is to<br /> say, their chance of success, even of so moderate<br /> a success as the repayment of the cost, is doubtful,<br /> Their chance of proving a decided commercial<br /> successis more than doubtful. Every publisher&#039;s _,<br /> reader knows of such cases: it is his constantly<br /> recurring difficulty to form an opinion as to the \<br /> chances of a MS. on this border line.<br /> <br /> An agent offers such a MS. to several pub- j<br /> lishers in succession. It is refused. He then 4<br /> finds a publisher who says: “I doubt whether<br /> this book will prove a paying venture. If I do<br /> take it, I must have it on my own conditions,<br /> not those which you can impose in the case of a<br /> popular author.”<br /> <br /> A case has been brought before me in which<br /> such a MS., offered to, and refused by, three or<br /> four publishers in succession, was accepted by a<br /> publisher exactly on these terms. The agent<br /> communicated the offer to the author. He said:<br /> “These are the only terms on which your book<br /> can be produced. It is for you to accept or to<br /> decline.” Observe that had the author refused j<br /> these terms his book would not have been pub-<br /> lished at all. Now, publication is almost always —<br /> the first thing desired. If on fair terms, so much ~<br /> the better: if not, then on any terms. This<br /> author at once closed with the terms.<br /> <br /> The cases quoted above seem to me suspiciously<br /> like the one which I have described. Is the<br /> writer quite sure that in these cases only one<br /> publisher was offered the MS.? If not, then, his 3<br /> argument breaks down. If he is right on this<br /> point, his argument depends upon the assumption<br /> that an agent’s time is so fully engaged that he<br /> cannot spare more than a certain amount foreach<br /> book. I do not think that any agent has to :<br /> divide his time and to calculate the amount he ~<br /> can afford for each book. For the work of a<br /> successful author an agreement is generally<br /> arrived at very quickly: the discussions and the<br /> disputes rather belong to the work of the less<br /> popular writer. But two business men who under- —<br /> stand their business do not waste time in trying<br /> to “best”? each other. On the other hand, a<br /> great part of the agent’s time is required for the<br /> acquisition and the maintenance of the condi-<br /> tions, varying from day to day, of the publishing<br /> trade. He must know, as well as any publishers,<br /> the details, such as the cost of production, illus-<br /> trations, and the rest; he must know the finan-<br /> cial position of every house ; he must know what<br /> houses are full and what are open for the pro-<br /> duction of more books; in the case of magazines<br /> and weeklies he must know when serials are<br /> wanted, when the paper is engaged and for<br /> how long. The agent, in fact, must acquire and<br /> <br /> Mga ae<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 191<br /> <br /> maintain a knowledge of the whole trade such<br /> as no single publisher and no single writer can<br /> acquire.— ED. |<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> VIl—“Tse Mernop or tHe Future.”<br /> <br /> I cannot help thinking that, if only one<br /> thoroughly successful book was produced on this<br /> method, it would soon be very generally adopted.<br /> As it is, the writers whose works sell at sight,<br /> and whose pockets are always comfortably lined,<br /> are indisposed to disturb existing arrangements<br /> which they have tested in favour of another to<br /> them as yet untried; whilst those who have yet<br /> to make their name have often not the means,<br /> however mederate the cost, for printing the work<br /> themselves, and so will sell their productions for<br /> any trifle that may be offered, or accept almost<br /> any terms that may be proposed, which do not<br /> involve outlay, in preference.<br /> <br /> Authors, generally, have a wholly illusory idea<br /> as to the influence a publisher has on the sale of<br /> a’ book. As Sir Walter Besant says, a book<br /> would sell just as well published on this system<br /> as on any other; and if a few writers of estab-<br /> lished position were only to make one experiment,<br /> “they would be amazed at the result.”<br /> <br /> Some time ago, I and two or three friends<br /> formed a small limited company on this basis, to<br /> work more especially for composers. We after-<br /> wards offered the same benefit to a considerable<br /> number of authors; yet although we are all, I<br /> think, good men and true, without any personal<br /> axes to grind, we had no response.<br /> <br /> It seems cnrious that, though men will subscribe<br /> readily to all sorts of wild-cat schemes which<br /> promise the most absurd and improbable returns,<br /> they will calmly ignore an honest attempt to<br /> promote a scheme which may materially benefit<br /> them at practically no risk at all.<br /> <br /> A Memper oF THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> VIII.—Possisixirigs.<br /> <br /> Here is a book published on the _half-profit<br /> system.<br /> <br /> The accounts, when rendered, were found to<br /> agree with some of the figures given in The<br /> Author and in “The Pen and the Book.” That is<br /> to say, the charges for composition, printing, and<br /> paper were those which certain anonymous<br /> publishers have declared to be impossible. The<br /> returns of sales were given under four distinct<br /> prices, averaging exactly what has been ascer-<br /> tained to be the average and has been quoted as<br /> such in the Society’s papers.<br /> <br /> The charge for advertising seemed to show<br /> that a reasonable amount of discretion had been<br /> bestowed upon this branch of expenditure.<br /> <br /> vou. X. oe<br /> <br /> The question is, what opening for fraud does<br /> such an account leave? Observe that none of<br /> the rapacious “ grabs” advocated by the committee<br /> of the Publishers’ Association were found in this<br /> account. It was a simple statement—“ so much<br /> money spent: so much money received: here is<br /> your share.”<br /> <br /> The general principle, universally recognised in<br /> all affairs of business, is that, if a body of men<br /> are left free to cheat with impunity, they will<br /> cheat. How bas this man cheated ?<br /> <br /> Very possibly not at all. Yet he could cheat in<br /> several ways. He might have taken discounts—<br /> any discount he could get—and omitted to credit<br /> the account of the book with them. He might<br /> have advertised in his own organ, and charged<br /> against the book advertisements which cost him<br /> nothing. Or he might have charged exchange<br /> advertisements which cost him nothing. And he<br /> might have made a false return of the number<br /> sold and of the price obtained.<br /> <br /> Again, he might overstate the numbers sent to<br /> the colonies, and understate thosé sold to the<br /> English trade.<br /> <br /> Or he might have had the book printed in<br /> Holland at a reduction of some 20 per cent. in<br /> English prices, and then charged what looked like<br /> a fair English price.<br /> <br /> The real point is that he might have done any<br /> or all of these things with impunity, relying on<br /> the fact that so very, very few authors have the<br /> moral courage to treat this kind of property as<br /> they treat all other kinds, viz., to have the account<br /> audited.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> IX.—Tue Question oF REvIEwS.<br /> <br /> The question of reviews is one of the most<br /> important connected with the healthy condition of<br /> contemporary literature which the student of it<br /> has to deal with, but one with regard to which<br /> the reviewer (I use the word as a collective) has,<br /> I fear, little conscience. I am an old author and<br /> have published a little of everything, stories,<br /> studies, political essays, history, and technical<br /> books, their production running over a period of<br /> nearly thirty years, and my connection with<br /> journalism and reviewing more than forty, my<br /> first appearance in print having occurred fifty odd<br /> years ago. Needless to say, I have attained to<br /> little of that distinction which is the lot of the<br /> successful specialist, but I am content with my<br /> harvest, and am independent of the publisher and<br /> the public, having attained in a tranquil old age<br /> to a modest competence, a tolerable callousness<br /> to public opinion, and an absolute serenity before<br /> the critic. And yet he has always dealt with<br /> me kindly, so kindly, indeed, that itis ungrateful<br /> for me to carp at his doings. Some of my books<br /> <br /> rT 2<br />  <br /> <br /> 192 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> have been very widely noticed, and rarely ill-<br /> naturedly, but of fifty notices one has called out,<br /> I am disposed to say that by far the largest<br /> number showed that the critic had only skimmed<br /> the book, or had not read it at all, but taken the<br /> notice of one of the leading journals for the basis<br /> of his own opinion, and very few indeed showed<br /> that the writers were read up in the subject of the<br /> book. I have also done a good deal of reviewing<br /> and in two or three subjects have qualified myself<br /> <br /> to criticise a book, so that I am able to judge .<br /> <br /> whether a given notice is competent or not. It<br /> has, therefore been within my experience to have<br /> read in leading literary organs criticisms which<br /> proved that the critic was absolutely disqualified<br /> to say whether the book was accurate in its state-<br /> ments or not. Imagine a critic reviewing a<br /> history of the reign of Queen Elizabeth of<br /> England, and not knowing whether certain<br /> battles in the Netherlands had been victories<br /> or defeats, or who commanded in them! Yet<br /> I have seen in an authoritative journal a<br /> review of a book the subject of which I<br /> was thoroughly versed in, which review passed<br /> unnoticed errors as important as would be the<br /> ascribing victory where the event in a certain<br /> conflict had been defeat. It was evident that the<br /> critic had never read a standard work on the<br /> subject treated in the book and had criticised it<br /> as he would have criticised a novel, as agreeable<br /> reading. French criticism rarely makes such<br /> a blunder, while it is very common in England.<br /> I know only two journals published in London<br /> which seem to me to make a regular practice of<br /> assigning their criticism to writers who are<br /> specialists in the subject treated by the book.<br /> And with a few brilliant exceptions, how superior<br /> to the body of English criticism is either the<br /> French or the German! Superior too in precisely<br /> this respect, that the critic is competent to detect<br /> the errors of statement which the book falls into.<br /> <br /> The subject that “Querist” raises in the<br /> January Author is another in which English<br /> criticism errs frankly, and it may be confidently<br /> anticipated what will be said by certain journals<br /> (and the majority of them) of books by certain<br /> authors, their “ tried favourites,” and often their<br /> personal friends. If our judges were to dismiss<br /> their cases as carelessly (to say the least) as our<br /> critics do, there would be a large disbenching in<br /> England.<br /> <br /> All this involves not merely the highest interests<br /> of our current literature but the exercise of<br /> common honesty.<br /> <br /> Retrrep.<br /> <br /> THE PENSION FUND.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> MONG other communications concerning<br /> the Pension Fund is one from an associate<br /> who seems in difficulties about his own<br /> <br /> position. It is very simple. Membership has<br /> but one condition, that of having written a<br /> book. The pensions will be granted to members<br /> only, and, I suppose, chiefly to members who have<br /> led the life of letters professionally.<br /> <br /> This correspondent asks whether a certain<br /> production of a volume containing stories written<br /> by himself, with the addition of a chapter or<br /> short story written by another hand, makes him<br /> eligible for membership. I should be of opinion<br /> that it does.<br /> <br /> His concluding words are eminently satisfactory.<br /> <br /> “T hope that the enclosed cheque for a guinea<br /> will be an annual donation to the fund, and whether<br /> I am right or wrong in my surmise that associates<br /> are not eligible, I cannot but sympathise with<br /> this splendid scheme.” W. B.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> A suggestion has been made by Mrs. Tweedie —<br /> <br /> in forwarding a donation to the Fund, that “ the<br /> offer of a pension to any author should be con-<br /> sidered an honour, a valued recognition from<br /> other writers, and in no wise a charity. The<br /> <br /> bread of charity is bitter, while that of success is ’ i<br /> <br /> sweet.”<br /> <br /> Iam very glad to see the Pension Scheme has —<br /> made a good start in securing the support ofa<br /> dozen prominent and representative names, for<br /> ‘the ‘most part drawn from those whom happy<br /> -fate has put beyond need of help. Judging from<br /> what one knows of big incomes enjoyed by other —<br /> prominent writers, there should, if these have —<br /> <br /> any feeling of esprit de corps, be substantial<br /> additions to the donations which are essential as<br /> solid bases of the fund.<br /> <br /> For the fundamental thing is to create a Capital<br /> Account (aided by such proportion of subserip-<br /> tions as can be spared from time to time) since<br /> subscribers are often fickle, and, in all cases,<br /> mortal.<br /> <br /> The scheme seems well drawn, but perhaps<br /> clauses 8 and 10 might be made more stringent<br /> in excluding cases where an author already has a<br /> Civil List pension, or has by reckless living made<br /> “ducks and drakes” of large earnings through<br /> many years.<br /> <br /> Savile Club, Jan. 19. Epwarp CLopD.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> We have to thank Literature for giving to the<br /> public a fair and a truthful presentation of the<br /> case for a Pension Fund as an auxiliary to this<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 /> THE AUTHOR. 193<br /> <br /> Society. Other papers have mentioned the<br /> scheme, some in the careless and casual manner<br /> of the modern writer of paragraphs who has no<br /> time to read what he criticises, some with the<br /> downright and deliberate misrepresentation of facts<br /> which certain writers for the press always practice<br /> with regard to this Society. So long as they can<br /> be answered these misrepresentations have proved<br /> of the greatest advantage to the Society, which<br /> has never asked for more than a dispassionate<br /> statement of its aims and work. Sometimes,<br /> however, the papers in which these attacks appear<br /> escape notice. The Pension Scheme in one paper<br /> was represented as intended for the whole of the<br /> literary craft, of whom more than half certainly<br /> do not, as yet, belong to the Society. They stand<br /> apart while they reap the substantial benefits of<br /> <br /> its work. The Fund will be used for members<br /> <br /> only. This is an example of the journalist too<br /> hurried to read. In another paper the scheme<br /> is represented as the work of certain literary men<br /> whose whole desire is to advertise themselves!<br /> And yet we ask why the Profession of Letters is<br /> still, by many, held in contempt. To advertise<br /> themselves! It is a costly advertisement. But<br /> what a courteous and well-bred criticism! and<br /> how profoundly true!<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Literature calls attention to the “Guild of<br /> Literature and of Art,” started by Charles<br /> Dickens and Lord Lytton in 1851, and quotes<br /> from a letter written by the former to the<br /> latter :—<br /> <br /> I do devontly believe that this plan carried will entirely<br /> change the status of the literary man in England, and make<br /> a revolution in his position, which no Government, no<br /> power on earth but his own, could effect. I have implicit<br /> confidence in the scheme—so splendidly begun—if we carry<br /> it out with a steadfast energy. I have a strong conviction<br /> that we hold in our hands the peace and honour of men of<br /> letters for centuries to come, and that you are destined to<br /> be their best and most enduring benefactor.<br /> <br /> The Guild proved a complete failure. The<br /> sum of about £1500 was raised, in addition to a<br /> similar amount spent in building two or three<br /> houses at Stevenage. Now, nobody wanted to<br /> live at Stevenage. The new scheme differs<br /> entirely from the old. It does not include the<br /> whole of literature; it is simply a scheme for the<br /> benefit of our own members; it will not offer<br /> almshouses, or anything of the kind; it will be<br /> supported by members of the Society, all of whom<br /> are actual members of the literary craft; and it<br /> will not appeal to the public for assistance.<br /> <br /> ee<br /> <br /> PARIS NOTES.<br /> <br /> 5, rue Chomel.<br /> HE happy initiative given by the successful<br /> inauguration of the “Université popu-<br /> laire’”’ (mentioned in “ Paris Notes” for<br /> December) has already borne fruit. On the<br /> heights of the nineteenth arrondissement, a some-<br /> what similar institution termed ‘“ Fondation<br /> universitaire de Belleville” has recently been<br /> established. Its premises are a long, low<br /> bungalow situated at the end of a wide court-yard<br /> bordered with trees, and its aim is to educate and<br /> elevate the working man, and to organise a<br /> systematic contact and union between workman<br /> and student. At the present moment upwards<br /> of eighty-five workmen, 101 students, and sixty<br /> honorary members are inscribed on the “ Fonda-<br /> ’s” registers; but though the last-named<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> tion’s<br /> adherents include several opulent and well-known<br /> Parisians, honorary members are rigorously<br /> excluded from the working committee, which is<br /> entirely composed of young men. Sub-com-<br /> mittees, in which the workmen are earnestly<br /> invited to participate, have also been formed. to<br /> aid the head administration in expending or<br /> economising the revenues of the new foundation<br /> —to wit, 3500 francs per year. The students who<br /> are members of the association voluntarily offer<br /> themselves in turn as residents on the foundation.<br /> This devotion to “le devoir social” is admirable,<br /> since it practically amounts to a gratuitous exile<br /> of one, two, or three months from all accustomed<br /> haunts and recreations. The appeal issued to the<br /> workmen of Belleville by these generally-reputed<br /> fiery young Hotspurs is worthy of being quoted.<br /> Roughly translated, it runs as follows :—<br /> <br /> «- ° | here are in our association neither<br /> masters, chiefs, nor patrons. We do not come<br /> to justify a hierarchy, inculcate ideas, impose<br /> dogmas. Our property is collective; we are<br /> voluntarily equals.<br /> <br /> “ We are not sectarians. We admit all sincere<br /> and thoughtful opinions. We only exclude those<br /> who pretend to have the monopoly of truth and<br /> admit no contradiction.<br /> <br /> “We come to propose to you to work recipro-<br /> cally at our common education At the<br /> same time that we mutually develop our intelli-<br /> gence we shall learn to know and love each other.<br /> <br /> « . , Let us establish a new and fertile<br /> alliance. In uniting our efforts thus, in working<br /> to develop our minds and enlarge our hearts, we<br /> shall efface little by little the artificial separation<br /> of classes; we shall diminish their passing<br /> hostility ; we shall prepare a more peaceful, a<br /> more fraternal, a better epoch--whose dawn we<br /> shall soon see illuminating the horizon!”<br /> 194<br /> <br /> We regret that space will not permit the inser-<br /> tion of the entire article. Suffice it to state that<br /> this loyal appeal has been warmly responded to ;<br /> and that, not only at Belleville, but also in several<br /> other thickly-populated districts of Paris—notably<br /> at Grenelle, the Ternes, and in the Latin Quarter<br /> —similar institutions are now in process of forma-<br /> tion—a good omen for the commencement of the<br /> new century and the inauguration of the Great<br /> Exhibition !<br /> <br /> Tur CHaucHarp Prize.<br /> <br /> M. Marcel Prévost, president of the Socicté des<br /> Gens de Lettres, has presented to M. Chauchard,<br /> on behalf of the committee of the society he<br /> represents, a golden ‘plaquette” exquisitely<br /> wrought by Daniel Dupuis, bearing the inscrip-<br /> tion: “A.M. Chauchard, du Comité de la Sucicté<br /> <br /> -des Gens de Lettres, 1900.’ By this gift the<br /> committee endeavoured to express their gratitude<br /> for the munificent literary prizes and donations<br /> placed at their disposal by the well-known philan-<br /> thropist. This year M. Paul Alexis has won the<br /> signal distinction of being unanimously elected<br /> by the judges as the recipient of the Grand Prix<br /> Chauchard of 3000 frances. M. Alexis has been<br /> described as an excellent type of ‘une bonne<br /> téte grisonnante de bicheur myope.” His name<br /> was first brought before the public in 1879 by a<br /> curious little one-act play, entitled “Celles qu’on<br /> n’épouse pas,” which was personally recommended<br /> by Dumas ji/s to the manager of the Gymnase<br /> Theatre. ‘La Fin de Lucie Pellegrin,” followed<br /> by “Le Besoin d’Aimer,” “ L’Education amour-<br /> euse,” ‘Ta Comtesse,” &amp;c., established his<br /> talent as a novelist; while “Monsieur Betsy,”<br /> “‘La Provinciale,’ and two plays taken from the<br /> Goncourts’ works, respectively entitled ‘“ Les<br /> Fréres Zemganno” and “Charles Demailly,”<br /> consolidated his reputation as a dramatist. He<br /> will shortly read ‘“‘Chantenac””—a new play in<br /> four acts — to the committee of the Comédie<br /> Frangaise; while a five-act study of political<br /> ambition, entitled ‘‘ Vallobra,” has already been<br /> accepted and placed on the programme of the<br /> Antoine theatre. While awaiting its representa-<br /> tion, the author is engaged in writing a novel<br /> drawn from the last-named drama, thus reversing<br /> the usual precedent. That he entertains no mis-<br /> givings respecting the success of the proceeding<br /> may be seen by the fact that he has announced<br /> his intention of dedicating this novel to M.<br /> Victorien Sardou, master of the dramatic craft.<br /> Its title is not yet known.<br /> <br /> M. Lavepan’s Reception.<br /> <br /> The brilliant oration in memory-of-his prede-<br /> cessor pronounced by M. Henri Lavedan on the<br /> occasion of his public reception at the Académie<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Francaise, was hardly appreciated by the old<br /> friends and comrades of Henri Meilhac. In par-<br /> ticular, the allusion to the talented author of “ Frou-<br /> frou”’ as a personage who would have been the<br /> “sous-Dumas des petites sous-baronnes d’ Ange” —<br /> contained that grain of truth which rendered such<br /> a parallel exceedingly wounding. ‘I wish that<br /> Lavedan may have (as late as possible) a suc-<br /> cessor as witty as himself, but more just towards<br /> the work of his life, and more respectful towards<br /> the dead,’ wrote M. Louis Ganderax, after<br /> hearing this so-called eulogy. The response of<br /> the Marquis Costa de Beauregard threw oil on<br /> the troubled waters; though it would be difficult<br /> to assert that its recipient was more content with<br /> the finely satirical appreciation given by the<br /> Marquis of his own work than had been the case<br /> with the friends of Henri Meilhac during the<br /> previous oration. ‘‘Give us a little human life,<br /> instead of manufacturing for us so much Parisian<br /> life,” said M. Costa de Beauregard, at one period<br /> of his discourse. “Since wit and intelligence have<br /> been given you without stint, you should have<br /> other things to recount of life than the amuse-<br /> ments of little, vicious creatures, or the rancid<br /> amours of dotards whose souls are rotten.”<br /> <br /> MM. Francois Coppée and Victorien Sardou were<br /> the official godfathers of M. Henri Lavedan, who<br /> has also been invested with the digrity of chan-<br /> cellor, owing to his having been the last Acade-<br /> mician received before the nomination of the new<br /> office-bearers for the first trimestre of the year<br /> 1900. The reception of M. Paul Deschanel by<br /> M. Sully Prudhomme, and the double election of<br /> the successors to the two vacant fauteuils<br /> (formerly occupied by Edouard Pailleron and<br /> Victor Cherbuliez) are expected to take place—<br /> the first, during the first week in February, and<br /> the second, towards the end of March.<br /> <br /> OFFICE-BEARERS FOR 1900.<br /> <br /> The five Academies which compose the Institut<br /> de France have appointed the following members<br /> as office-bearers during the year 1900: M. Alfred<br /> Normand, delegate of the Academy des beaux-<br /> arts, has been nominated President ; MM. Gaston<br /> Boissier, delegate of the Académie Frangaise ; de<br /> Barthélemy, delegate of the Académie des inscrip-<br /> tions et belles-lettres ; Maurice Lévy, delegate of<br /> the Académie des science; and Germain, delegate<br /> of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques,<br /> have accepted the office of vice-presidents. M.<br /> Gustave Larroumet, permanent secretary of the<br /> Académie des beaux-arts, has added to his<br /> numerous duties by undertaking the office of<br /> secretary-general to the Institut; while MM.<br /> Rousse, Halévy, Gaston Boissier, Ravaisson-<br /> Mollien, Delisle, Wallon, Darboux, Bornet,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> Bertrand, Berthelot, Jules Thomas, Daumet,<br /> Tarroumet, Levasseur, Aucoc, and Georges Picot,<br /> form the Central Administrative Committee<br /> charged with the administration of the common<br /> funds and properties of the five Academies com-<br /> posing the above-mentioned institution. The<br /> duc de La Trémiille has recently been elected a<br /> free member of the Académie des inscriptions et<br /> belles-lettres, which ranks second to the Académie<br /> francaise. This nobleman is not only the heir<br /> of one of the most ancient and famous names in<br /> France, but is also the author of a series of<br /> learned tomes on the La Trémiille during five<br /> centuries. He has likewise edited the interesting<br /> “ Souvenirs de la Princesse de Tarente,” which is,<br /> perhaps, his most popular work.<br /> <br /> THREE MonvUMENTS.<br /> <br /> MM. Barrias, Saint Marceaux, and Bartholomé<br /> are to be congratulated on the success of their<br /> latest efforts, and on the highly artistic and appre-<br /> ciative manner in which they have respectively<br /> acquitted themselves of the task confided them.<br /> M. Barrias’ magnificent monument of Victor<br /> Hugo has been placed in the Galérie des Machines,<br /> previous to occupying a central position in the<br /> Great Exhibition. It represents the famous<br /> writer pensively reflecting on a wave-beaten rock,<br /> surrounded by four emblematical figures repre-<br /> senting the Muses of Epic, Dramatic, Lyric, and<br /> Satirical poetry. The statue of the central figure<br /> is in “bronze mat,” the rock is in granite, and<br /> the four emblematical figures are in “ bronze<br /> doré.” It is completely finished, minus the in-<br /> laying process, which will commence next week.<br /> M. Saint Marceaux’s work is not so far advanced,<br /> though its final effect can be easily judged from<br /> the completed cast, wrought by the great sculptor<br /> with conscientious care. It portrays Dumas ils<br /> as the confidant of Woman, surrounded by a<br /> group of feminine admirers, to whom he is repre-<br /> sented as in the act of listening. A shower of<br /> camellia blossoms—in remembrance of his cele-<br /> brated work—surrounds the name of the writer,<br /> engraven on the marble plinth. This monument<br /> —whose height is three and a half metres, and<br /> whose cube is not less than twelve metres—is<br /> being cut from a single block of marble. M.<br /> Bartholomé’s smaller and more unpretentious<br /> funeral monument has already been placed on<br /> the tomb of Henri Meilhac. It depicts a partially-<br /> veiled feminine figure, whose hand half conceals<br /> her mournful features, in the act of laying a<br /> wreath on the dead man’s tomb. On this wreath<br /> is engraven a single word—Amitié : the offering<br /> of the loyal friends and comrades who had known<br /> and loved the gifted, melancholy, warm-hearted<br /> Henri Meilhac.<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 195<br /> <br /> Unconscious PLAGIARISM.<br /> <br /> Unconscious plagiarism, like influenza, seems<br /> in the air just now. Five well-known dramatic<br /> authors, namely, MM. René Maizeroy, Romain<br /> Rolland, Georges Feydeau, Pierre Decourcelle,<br /> and M. Bisson, have made public their grievances<br /> on this score during the last two months. In a<br /> most courteously-worded open letter, M. Maizeroy<br /> declares himself heartbroken at discovering that<br /> M. Francis de Croisset has superseded his design<br /> of drawing a three-act play from a novel written<br /> by himself; to which M. de Croisset politely<br /> responds that he shall have much pleasure in<br /> applauding the projected play, since only a Breton<br /> cousinship exists between his own play and the<br /> personages introduced in M. Maizeroy’s novel.<br /> M. Rolland contents himself with acquainting<br /> the public of the analogy existing between his<br /> latest play (accepted two months ago by the<br /> Gymnase Theatre) and_ the historical drama<br /> entitled “‘L’Affaire des Poisons,’ on which M.<br /> Victorien Sardou is now engaged. M. Feydeau<br /> announces the fact that MM. Cottens and Char-<br /> vay’s recently-performed operetta is an almost<br /> exact reproduction of the plot and several inci-<br /> dents in the play he has had on hand for several<br /> months, as may be seen by referring to the<br /> columns of a back number of the Figaro ; while<br /> M. Decourcelle has solved a somewhat similar<br /> problem on his own account in a highly satisfac-<br /> tory and private manner. M. Bisson, the witty<br /> author of “Le Contréleur des Wagons-Lits,”<br /> responded to the charge of plagiarism by suing<br /> his accuser; which proceeding furnished much<br /> amusing copy, but led to no appreciable results<br /> save the judicial rehabilitation of the plaintiff.<br /> <br /> An INTERESTING CASE.<br /> <br /> The action for 3000 francs damages brought by<br /> M. Brunetitre (Revue des deux Mondes) against M.<br /> Yves Guyot (Le Siécle) was extremely interesting.<br /> The point at issue was the right of M. Guyot to<br /> publish the private letters addressed him by M.<br /> Brunetiére without the writer’s permission. In<br /> its previous judgment on the publication of the<br /> correspondence of Georges Sand, the First Civil<br /> Chamber had declared “the right of publishing<br /> letters manifestly rests in the hands of the writer<br /> himself.’ According to M. Brunetiére, the true<br /> question that the present tribunal was called on<br /> to decide was this: “Author of prose or verse,<br /> have I over my property as writer the absolute<br /> and imprescriptible right that the peasant<br /> possesses over the fruit of his labour, or the<br /> workman over his salary?” We are glad to<br /> state that judgment was given in M. Brunetiére’s<br /> favour; or at least. the defendant was ordered.<br /> to pay 500 francs damages to the plaintiff, in<br /> 196<br /> <br /> addition to inserting the judgment in five news-<br /> papers, the choice of which was left to the plaintiff.<br /> The judges, however, declared themselves incom-<br /> petent to decide regarding the destruction of the<br /> confiscated pamphlets demanded by M. Brune-<br /> tigre.<br /> <br /> Among interesting publications of the month<br /> will be found the following: “La Demeure<br /> enchantée,” by M. Eugene Vernon; “ Union<br /> d’imes,” by M. Jean d’Hstray; ‘‘Une Tache<br /> d’encre,” by M. René Bazin; “Nos Peintres du<br /> siécle,” by M. Jules Breton ; ‘‘ Basile et Sophia,”’<br /> by M. Paul Adam; “De Lesseps intime,’ by M.<br /> Th. Batbedat ; “Trois ans 4 la Cour de Perse,”<br /> by docteur Feuvruer, ancient physician to the<br /> Shah of Persia; ‘‘ Les Eléments d’une Renais-<br /> sance Francaise,” by M. Saint Georges de Bouhe-<br /> lier; “L’Image de la Femme,” by M. Armand<br /> Dayot, inspecteur des beaux-arts ; and ‘‘ Versailles<br /> et les deux Trianons,” by M. Marcel Lambert.<br /> <br /> DarracorTe Scort.<br /> <br /> P.S.—M. Armand Colin has written to inform<br /> me that the complete series of ‘‘ Portraits intimes ”<br /> can now be obtained at his publishing house, 5,<br /> rue de Mezieres, Paris. —D. S.<br /> <br /> LT<br /> <br /> AUSTRALIAN LITERATURE.<br /> <br /> OSSIBLY it was not until picked troops<br /> were sent from each of the Austral pro-<br /> vinces to South Africa that the European<br /> <br /> mind thoroughly realised what a substantial body<br /> of troops—some 100,000 in number—can be<br /> raised locally for the defence of Australia; and<br /> it is certain that until Australian writers send the<br /> best of their work to London their brothers over<br /> the water will fail to realise the development<br /> which is taking place in Australian literature.<br /> <br /> That literature, I take it, does not comprise<br /> merely such books as are written by native-born<br /> writers, but may be defined as the entire litera-<br /> ture for which Australia is in some way or other<br /> responsible. And in Australia I include Maori-<br /> land, that wonderland of the southern hemi-<br /> sphere, which may or may not become subse-<br /> quently a part of federated Australia.<br /> <br /> Upon the foundation laid by Lindsay Gordon,<br /> Marcus Clarke, and Henry Kendall—are not<br /> their acts, and all that they did, written in every<br /> encyclopedia of names ?—upon a foundation laid<br /> in penury and suicide there is arising a striking<br /> edifice. :<br /> <br /> From the time of these great prodromt, whose<br /> crying in the wilderness brought them for reward<br /> but Dead Sea apples, Francis Adams, with his<br /> “Songs of the Army of the Night”; Judge<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Maning, with his “Old New Zealand”; and<br /> Brunton Stephens, Parkes, and Grey, tide us over<br /> to the present decade. It is with the writers of<br /> the last ten years that I wish to deal.<br /> <br /> SuccressruLt Poets.<br /> <br /> The nineties have been rich in Austral poets.<br /> Victor Daley and Roderick Quinn—and the<br /> greater of these is Daley—may be taken to repre-<br /> sent the subjective school, which stretches out<br /> after the infinite, and deals with the joys and<br /> sorrows of the universe. Let those who doubt<br /> Daley’s right to universality read his book, “ At<br /> Dawn and Dusk” (Sydney: Angus and Robert-<br /> son). They will be charmed, if I mistake not,<br /> with the land he wafts them to—the land of<br /> lovely dreams.<br /> <br /> Will H. Ogilvie, in “Fair Girls and Grey<br /> Horses”; Henry Lawson, in “ When the World<br /> was Wide”; “Banjo” Paterson, m “The Man<br /> from Snowy River”; Barcroft Boake, in “ Where<br /> the Dead Men Lie”—that’s where he lies, poor<br /> fellow; and Arthur Adams, in a book of Maori-<br /> land verses just published, are all objective in<br /> their intention—“ bush-bards,” every one of them,<br /> who have sung of the back-blocks and the Never-<br /> never country, and have crystallised the poetic<br /> atmosphere of our life. There is still one notable<br /> name to mention—that of E. J. Brady, who, in<br /> “The Ways of Many Waters,” has sung of the<br /> lovable, if sacrilegious, sailor-man, and has struck<br /> a universal note.<br /> <br /> Perhaps the strangest thing about this Austra-<br /> lian poetry is that it sells phenomenally. ‘ The<br /> Man from Snowy River” went through four<br /> editions before it was published in London, and<br /> upwards of 15,000 copies of the book have been<br /> sold; ‘When the World was Wide” has gone<br /> through at least seven editions; and Ogilvie’s<br /> “Fair Girls and Grey Horses,” which was pub-<br /> lished a few months ago, immediately went into a<br /> second edition.<br /> <br /> Novetists—Known and UNKNOWN.<br /> <br /> We now come to the novelists, who are many;<br /> and we will present the ladies first. Mary Gaunt<br /> has written “ Dave’s Sweetheart,” and thereby<br /> established a reputation; Louise Mack has pub-<br /> lished “Teens,” a book which was popular from<br /> the start; Ethel Turner’s ‘“ Seven Little Austra-<br /> lians,” like the celebrated baking-powder, should<br /> find a place in every English home. These novels,<br /> and others by the same writers, have sold by<br /> thousands. But, apparently, we entirely lack<br /> women poets; there are no sweet Sapphos of the<br /> Austral shore. a :<br /> <br /> English people know Louis Becke and his<br /> delightful book, “By Reef and Palm.” He<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOL.<br /> <br /> writes of the Pacific, but it was in Sydney that<br /> his work first appeared, in the pages of the<br /> Bulletin. We claim him for our own. Guy<br /> Boothby and Fergus Hume are also well known<br /> in England, as, too, are Marriott Watson, Rolf<br /> Boldrewood, and Farjeon — Australians all, I<br /> do most solemnly asseverate. Hornung and<br /> Warung you likewise know, but which of you<br /> has heard of Albert Dorrington, Ernest Favenc,<br /> Alexander Montgomery, or A. H. Davis? And<br /> yet I am wrong in my “prospect,” if this last<br /> batch of writers do not ‘pan out”—to use<br /> Australian phraseology at the risk of shocking<br /> you—more literary gold than have any four of<br /> those who have “ gone to London.” The only way<br /> to test this assertion is by reading Dorrington’s<br /> “Bush Tanquery,” and “Castro’s Last Sacra-<br /> ment ” collections; Favene’s “ Last of Six, and<br /> Other Stories”; Montgomery’s “Five Skull<br /> Island,” and “Sword of Sin”; and Davis’s<br /> remarkable book, “ On our Selection,’—if they<br /> are to be had in London.<br /> <br /> In drama we have not been conspicuous, but<br /> the work of Haddon Chambers is admittedly of a<br /> high order, whilst Fergus Hume has been known<br /> to produce two plays in one year. Resident in<br /> Australia is Bernard Espinasse, who has recently<br /> dramatised “The Three Musketeers” for Mr.<br /> George Rignold.<br /> <br /> The great authority on the Queensland blacks<br /> is Walter Roth, whose work is of the highest<br /> value, and Spence and Gillen have fairly exhausted<br /> the subject of the natives of Central Australia.<br /> White’s magnum opus on the Maori race will<br /> remain the standard authority for all time, and<br /> it isto be regretted that a prudish Government<br /> suppressed some volumes of the work.<br /> <br /> Henry Lawson’s ADVICE TO WRITERS.<br /> <br /> If an Australian of average intelligence were<br /> asked to name his country’s greatest writer, the<br /> chances are a hundred to one that he would<br /> promptly answer “Henry Lawson.” And yet<br /> the work of this persona grata is not big or pre-<br /> tentious—a book of tales, ‘‘ When the Billy Boils,”<br /> and a book of poems, ‘When the World was<br /> Wide,” comprise his output. But he has drawn<br /> so faithfully and so sympathetically the main<br /> features of our life; he possesses such a whim-<br /> sical humour, as well as the rare gift of touching<br /> the heart; he has voiced so exactly the poetic<br /> feeling which the back-blocks have created in the<br /> national mind, that every Australian is ready to<br /> do him homage. And yet mark what he says in<br /> telling his experiences of the last ten years whilst<br /> “pursuing literature in Australia.” “ My advice<br /> to any young Australian writer whose talents<br /> <br /> - have been admitted would be to go steerage, stow<br /> <br /> 197<br /> <br /> away, swim, and seek London, Yankeeland, or<br /> Timbuctoo, rather than stay in Australia till his<br /> genius has turned to gall, or beer. Or failing<br /> this—and still in the interests of human nature<br /> and literature—let him study elementary anatomy,<br /> especially such as applies to the cranium, and then<br /> shoot himself carefully with the aid of a looking-<br /> glass.”<br /> <br /> Lindsay Gordon shot himself and Barcroft<br /> Boake took his own life. Therefore there would<br /> indeed seem to be something disastrous in the<br /> pursuit of literature in Australia ; that words such<br /> as I have quoted should come from our most<br /> notable author is a fact which substantiates this<br /> fear.<br /> <br /> Two Great DIFFICULTIES.<br /> <br /> Our difficulties are two-fold. First, there is no<br /> prospect of the aspiring writer being able to tide<br /> over the first lean years of apprenticeship by con-<br /> tributing as a free-lance journalist to the vast,<br /> but apparently impecunious, Austral Press. Not<br /> more than six or eight of our journals pay for<br /> contributions, the Austral proprietor feeling that<br /> he has done his duty if he has paid the members<br /> of his permanent staff. The second difficulty is in<br /> finding good publishers. To publish locally<br /> means application to one of three or four firms,<br /> none of which can do the best that is possible for<br /> the book. Toapply to London publishers, unless<br /> the fame of the writer has gone before him, is<br /> like casting bread upon the waters—it is sure to<br /> return after many, very many, days. And even<br /> if a writer has been heard of in London, to find<br /> there the publisher who wants his particular kind<br /> of work is like looking for the proverbial needle<br /> in a hayrick.<br /> <br /> The Sydney Bulletin, that unique journal<br /> which draws its contributions from the writers of<br /> a continent and the isles beyond —and_ pays<br /> for every line it prints — has done much for<br /> Australian literature by introducing to the world<br /> such men as Becke, Boake, Dorrington, Daley,<br /> Dyson, Favenc, Lawson, Montgomery, Ogilvie,<br /> Paterson, Quinn, Arthur Adams, Davis, and<br /> other writers too many to mention, and now<br /> it has entered upon a publishing scheme, whereby<br /> writers who have made their mark in its pages<br /> may gain a permanent footing in the Austral<br /> book-world. But the Bulletin Publishing Com-<br /> pany, though the books it publishes meet with a<br /> warm welcome, moves of necessity too slowly to<br /> keep pace with the output, and whilst it is<br /> considering MSS., authors are in jeopardy of<br /> dying through starvation and despair, or else are<br /> tempted to study anatomy in the way which<br /> Lawson directs.<br /> <br /> But there should be help in the Authors’<br /> Society, though, so far as I am aware, none<br /> <br /> <br /> 198<br /> <br /> of the writers I have referred to as living in<br /> Australia belong to the Society. If after making<br /> their mark here they were to use the advice of the<br /> Society’s Secretary and Committee, and were to<br /> employ agents recommended by the Society, there<br /> should be no necessity for them to dream of a<br /> Timbuctoo, or to contemplate suicide by means<br /> of a cheap Belgian pistol.<br /> <br /> Nelson, Maoriland. ALFRED GRACE.<br /> <br /> Specs<br /> <br /> NOVELISTS AND THE WAR FUND.<br /> <br /> \ {| AY I suggest that fiction writers as a body<br /> might do something towards the War<br /> Fund, in having some of their wares<br /> <br /> collected into a book and offered to the public for<br /> <br /> sale? Itake it that short stories would be most<br /> available, and of course all writers, however<br /> willing they might be, could not be represented.<br /> <br /> The contents of such a book would have to be<br /> <br /> arranged by an editor. But certainly it would<br /> <br /> have a large sale; and I make no doubt that<br /> any one of the three best publishers would bring<br /> it out free of charge, and so a considerable sum<br /> would be raised for a very desirable object.<br /> <br /> C. J. Curciirre Hyne.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> NOTES AND NEWS.<br /> <br /> INVITE our members to consider Mr.<br /> <br /> Cutcliffe Hyne’s suggestion published above,<br /> <br /> If the suggestion is carried out it will be<br /> necessary to appoint an editor, to arrange the<br /> length of the volume, its illustrations if it is to<br /> be illustrated : its price, the time of publication,<br /> and the selection of the writers. There are many<br /> other points for consideration. If the book is to<br /> consist of short stories what length is to be<br /> adopted? ‘Perhaps not more than twelve pages,<br /> say, of the Cornhill Magazine type and size, v.e.,<br /> about 5000 or 6000 words. TI agree with Mr.<br /> Cutcliffe Hyne that it might command a very<br /> large sale. If it is to appear in June, which would<br /> seem the most promising to me, it should be<br /> undertaken at once. Who are “the three best”<br /> publishers? The distinction is delicate. I<br /> should, myself, begin in making such a selection<br /> by taking out as a preliminary all those names<br /> which were appended to the “ Draft Agreements.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Some time ago I received a letter from one who<br /> stated that he had been in the employ of a certain<br /> publisher for four years. He gave me a few<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> details as to the management of that firm’s<br /> business. I did not publish the letter because I<br /> could not vouch for the truth of his statements.<br /> It is enough to say that they were well nigh<br /> incredible. I give an extract, together with the<br /> advice which he offers. The latter, at any rate, is<br /> sound.<br /> <br /> He says: “ Lhad to make out authors’ accounts.<br /> Say that 2000 were printed. I accounted to the<br /> author for them just as I liked, to make the<br /> numbers fit, without a single. voucher, and no<br /> record whatever kept of the sales. Certainly I<br /> had the subscription sheet, but even this is, and<br /> can be, cooked. My accounts deducted 10 per<br /> cent. for the retail bookseller. No one, except the<br /> shipping houses, got more than 5 per cent. As<br /> for discounts allowed by paper-makers, binders,<br /> block-makers, printers, they ranged from 5 per<br /> cent. to 15 per cent. The author was not told of<br /> these discounts at all. As for advertisements,<br /> the less said the better. What authors must do<br /> is to examine and audit all these accounts: not<br /> for the past half year only, but where they have<br /> been running some time, especially those of books<br /> which have had a good sale. I should like to<br /> assist in the examination, and it would be an eye-<br /> opener.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I repeat that I cannot vouch for the truth of the<br /> statements. The thing, however, is quite possible<br /> in the absence of anaudit. It may be thought that<br /> the writer is vindictive: but his advice remains.<br /> There should be an audit of every account. Ina<br /> royalty account how do we know that a true<br /> return has been made? What is to prevent the<br /> suppression of hundreds—in the case of a very<br /> large circulation, thousands? Now, it is invi-<br /> dious for any one writer to take the lead in a new<br /> departure that will be welcomed with the fiercest<br /> resentment. Also, it would be expensive to go<br /> to a firm of accountants for every special case.<br /> Combined action is necessary. The only way is for<br /> a certain number of the more important writers to<br /> agree that their accounts shall always be audited<br /> without consideration of any firm or any private<br /> friendships or any amount of confidence, and to<br /> retain for the purpose some young accountant<br /> whose fees will be much iower than those of the<br /> established firms. A method to be followed in<br /> every case must be decided.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Here is one point which shows the necessity of<br /> an audit. I have once, and only once, seen an<br /> account which set forth the number of “ overs.”<br /> The matter has been more than once mentioned<br /> in these columns, and there have been indignant<br /> letters in other papers—anonymous, of course<br /> —from publishers declaring that there never were<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> any “overs” to speak of: or, if there were, that<br /> they were wanted to make up deficiencies. Very<br /> well. At the Publishers’ Congress, where a good<br /> many interesting things came out, it was publicly<br /> stated and not denied that “overs” added 2 per<br /> cent. to the number. So that in an edition of 3000<br /> there would be sixty “overs.” By what right<br /> —by what law of common honesty—does a pub-<br /> lisher take over to himself those sixty “ overs” ?<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The main points to be secured in framing such<br /> a league for the audit of accounts are these :—<br /> <br /> t. The audit must be managed without giving<br /> any trouble to the author.<br /> <br /> 2. If the publisher remonstrates with the<br /> author or threatens a withdrawal of his counten-<br /> ance, the author must send the letter to the<br /> Secretary and decline personal correspondence in<br /> the matter.<br /> <br /> 3. If the publisher refuses to show his accounts<br /> the Society must take the matter into court with-<br /> out expense totheauthor. One case will be quite<br /> enough.<br /> <br /> 4. The expense of audit must be moderate.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> [have always assumed as a thing absolutely<br /> necessary to the trade of publishing that pub-<br /> lishers were always ready to read MSS. If they<br /> refuse even toread MSS. how can they conduct their<br /> business? Therefore the experience of a corre-<br /> spondent is amazing. He says that he offered to<br /> submit the MS. of a work since published to<br /> many firms reputed to be of good standing.<br /> Some of them would not even allow him to send<br /> it. They were “full up”: they were “too full<br /> now”: they could not look at it “at present” :<br /> “No, thanks.” That the work had already<br /> appeared in a serial form was a bar: “no use after<br /> serial form.” (This is, of course, rubbish: most<br /> of the successful novels appear first in serial<br /> form, and it has long been demonstrated that<br /> the first appearance, which is read by scraps and<br /> generally only in part, stimulates the demand for<br /> volume form). They could “take up nothing new<br /> just yet”: they did not “see their way to avail<br /> themselves of the offer’: they were not “ san-<br /> guine of being able to undertake”: “the supply<br /> of fiction was in excess of the demand.” Others,<br /> again, accepted the offer of the MS. and sent back<br /> a typewritten form of regret that “after careful<br /> consideration they were compelled to decline<br /> the work.” In some cases there was proof that<br /> the parcel had never been opened! One firm,<br /> a big firm, crowned all by stating that their<br /> “‘yeader’s report was not encouraging enough<br /> for them to, &amp;c.” And this, although the MS.<br /> <br /> 199<br /> <br /> had never been sent to them at all, but was only<br /> offered if the firm would consent to read it!<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> One can understand the rejection of a MS. on<br /> the ground that it might not prove a commercial<br /> success: but the refusal even to read MSS. where<br /> out of a hundred offered one may prove a gold<br /> mine is unintelligible except on the ground that<br /> recent losses or partial failures put a stop to<br /> further enterprise. This in fact has now happened.<br /> Writers will do well to consider the situation.<br /> It is not a time for the mediocre artist: he must<br /> for the moment sit quiet and wait for a more<br /> favourable opportunity. Nor is it a favourable<br /> moment for those who write “ appreciations” or<br /> “ studies”’ or literary essays. Above all it is not<br /> a time when anyone should give up work that<br /> affords him a livelihood in order to live by his<br /> pen. For the leaders in the literary craft there<br /> will be little, if any, loss. But the demand for<br /> inferior work of all kinds will be for a long time<br /> very far below the supply.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The death of the Rev. Dr. James Martineau<br /> removes one of the oldest friends of the Society.<br /> He became a member very soon after the Society<br /> was formed, and remained a member until a few<br /> years ago when his literary work was done. It<br /> was the countenance and the support of a few<br /> such men as Martineau, to whom must be added<br /> certain names which the reader will find for<br /> himself on our Council, which strengthened and<br /> encouraged our Committee in the early days when<br /> derision and contempt were attempted as lethal<br /> weapons. It was because the Society began and<br /> has ever since carried on a struggle for the<br /> independence of the author, and has set up safe-<br /> guards, especially in the shape of exposure,<br /> against rapacity and secret profits, that such<br /> men were found to support us. The “ Draft<br /> Agreements” issued by the committee of the<br /> Publishers’ Association first revealed to an<br /> astonished world the need of such a Society as<br /> our own, and the solid reasons for the many<br /> warnings, which had previously been found so<br /> hard to believe, against claims and practices<br /> which we knew to be so common. Great should<br /> be the gratitude of all our members for the<br /> support of such men as James Martineau.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Another late member, R. D. Blackmore, has<br /> been taken from us in this most gloomy month.<br /> He withdrew from membership when he ceased<br /> to write about three years ago. It is greatly to<br /> be hoped that, in the interests of the literary-<br /> calling, the history of his novels ; the extent of<br /> 200<br /> <br /> their circulation; the management of his pro-<br /> perty, which partly belongs to the days before the<br /> work of the Society—may be revealed to the<br /> world. There have been few novels indeed during<br /> the latter half of this century which have had so<br /> wide a popularity as “Lorna Doone.” He wrote<br /> in all sixteen novels and two or three volumes of<br /> verse. Water Besant.<br /> <br /> ee<br /> <br /> THE MORAL RIGHTS OF AUTHORS.*<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> IGNOR FOA, the editor of our Italian con-<br /> temporary, J Diritti d’Autore, has<br /> republished in a convenient form his<br /> <br /> contributions to that periodical on the new and<br /> interesting question of the author&#039;s “ Moral<br /> Rights.” Attention was first directed to these<br /> rights by Jules Lermina, whose name is so<br /> familiar to all students of copyright law, at<br /> the Berne Congress in 1896. The nature and<br /> extent of these rights have been subsequently<br /> discussed, more or less fully, at the con-<br /> gresses of the “ Association Litteraire et<br /> Artistique Internationale” at Monaco (1897),<br /> Turin (1898), and lastly, this autumn at Heidel-<br /> burg, where a special commission, appointed in<br /> 1898 to examine the subject, presented a report<br /> of their investigations.<br /> <br /> An exact and entirely satisfactory definition of<br /> these rights has hardly yet been propounded ;<br /> and in consequence of this it is at present<br /> impossible to formulate the conclusions that may<br /> be legitimately drawn from these rights. Signor<br /> Foa freely admits all this, and modestly offers his<br /> contribution to the discussion only as a step in<br /> the direction of a desideratum, with the just<br /> remark that, “if the path of knowledge is always<br /> a difficult one to pursue, it is at least an impor-<br /> tant point to have made a start in the right<br /> direction.”<br /> <br /> Unfortunately, it is impossible to agree with<br /> Signor Foa’s opinion that “in all civilised States<br /> the material-rights of an author are sufficienty<br /> protected.” These rights will not be sufficiently<br /> protected until they are protected universally and<br /> in perpetuity. At present by far the larger part—<br /> though not the more intellectual part—of Europe<br /> remains still outside the Berne Convention, whilst<br /> perpetual copyright seems to be regarded as a<br /> purely Utopian notion. Under these circum-<br /> stances the suggestion of legal recognition of the<br /> far less tangible moral rights (at which Signor<br /> Foa hints) is surely premature.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> * Ferruccio Foa. Il Diritto Morale dell’ Autore sulle<br /> Opere dell’ ingegno. Milano: Tipografia del Riformatorio<br /> Patronato. 1899. 4to.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> On the other hand, striking evidence of the<br /> real existence of moral rights and of a general<br /> sense of their importance is produced. It is<br /> pointed out that they have been used, and are<br /> still used, as an argument for robbing authors of<br /> all other rights. The author is said (mostly by<br /> people who cannot sell their copy) to debase his<br /> literary productions by demanding a material price<br /> for them, because, forsooth, if they have any value<br /> at all, they have a value of a kind not to be<br /> expressed in pounds, shillings, and pence. This<br /> clearly implies that the author has a right to<br /> something beyond material advantages. His right<br /> to material advantages—to some material advan-<br /> tages—is now in many countries a legally estab-<br /> lished fact. And that is in accordance with<br /> natural right. “Literary and artistic work,”<br /> says Signor Foa, “is a manifestation of human<br /> industry, and as such merits the protection of the<br /> law.” ‘But the admission of this first right does<br /> not destroy the other right to something beyond<br /> material advantages. And this further right<br /> is, in effect, the moral right of the author which<br /> has been recently the subject of so much discus-<br /> sion.<br /> <br /> In what does this moral right consist? The<br /> author gives the public something that emanates<br /> “from his brain, from his own soul, from his<br /> own personality; and he, at the same time,<br /> assumes responsibility to the public for it.” The<br /> pubhe has a right to look critically upon what<br /> is offered, and to accept it or not, to accept it as<br /> a part of spiritual patrimony of the nation.<br /> But the author also has a right to demand that<br /> the work for which he makes himself responsible<br /> shall be examined by the public “as he produced<br /> it in its integrity.”<br /> <br /> Hence Signor Foa cdneludes that the founda-<br /> tion of the author&#039;s moral rights is the intangi-<br /> bility of intellectual productions.<br /> <br /> That is pretty generally admitted by all who<br /> have studied the question; though the logical<br /> consequences of the principle (a far-reaching one,<br /> it must be confessed) have proved a Itttle alarming<br /> to some of its supporters. Attempts to give the<br /> idea legal expression, or to penetrate much<br /> more deeply into the subject, have not hitherto<br /> led to much result. Two consequences may,<br /> however, be mentioned. The author is supreme<br /> judge of what works of his shall be published<br /> (here it is impossible to forget that Virgil<br /> desired that the Alneid should not be published) ;<br /> and the unpublished works of an author cannot<br /> be seized by his creditors: “Le droit morale<br /> doit rester dans la domaine morale, et n’étre<br /> point sujet aux spéculations financitres.”<br /> <br /> In reply to the question which has been<br /> asked whether the author’s moral right is @<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> “personal right” in the legal sense, Signor<br /> Foa points out that “personal right” has in<br /> law really more than one meaning. He is<br /> disposed to think that it is not a personal right.<br /> <br /> Indeed, intangibility appears to be all that can<br /> be said to be at present completely agreed upon.<br /> Evidently this intangibility should be also per-<br /> petual. But here ideals and realities prove<br /> incompatible. The intangibility of a scientific<br /> work, which is to continue to be of value, is<br /> inconceivable. And in consequence of differ-<br /> ences of taste and manner, the same rule applies,<br /> in a different way, to drama. Here considera-<br /> tions of mala fides and of “alteration merely for<br /> the sake of gain” will demand scrutiny. ‘“ Who<br /> is to be the guardian of the rights,’ and “ Who<br /> is to be guarantee for permissible alterations,”<br /> are further inevitable questions, which do not<br /> exhaust all the problems presented by intangi-<br /> bility. But Signor Foa insists with reason upon<br /> the injury done to public taste, and the insult<br /> offered public intelligence, in addition to the<br /> wrong done the author by such hideous travesties<br /> of great works as are only too common. He<br /> quotes as an examplea horrible and ear-torturing<br /> performance of “ Don Giovanni” in a theatre of<br /> marionettes; but similar abuses of artistic pro-<br /> ductions of all kinds are, unhappily, familiar to<br /> everyone. They prove also that the author&#039;s<br /> moral rights represent something that is, at least<br /> intellectually, very real. Only a few of the bear-<br /> ings of those rights have been hitherto explored ;<br /> but as a lucid summary of all that has been<br /> hitherto done, and a just appreciation of the<br /> ‘results, Signor Foa’s work may be recommended<br /> to all interested in the question.<br /> <br /> ee<br /> <br /> CORRESPONDENCE.<br /> <br /> I.—A DuiseraceruL TRICK.<br /> <br /> SENT the opening chapters of a novel to a<br /> publishing house which acts as agents for<br /> simultaneous publication of tales.<br /> <br /> I received a polite note with the returned MS.<br /> saying the novel was too local for their require-<br /> ments, but they would be glad to see short stories<br /> from my pen. I sent two, which were accepted at<br /> once.<br /> <br /> Some time later I had a note from them<br /> requesting me to submit others. I sent three,<br /> and had two returned as “ unsuitable.”<br /> <br /> The following year I again got a note asking<br /> for MS. I sent one tale and had it returned as<br /> unsuitable very soon.<br /> <br /> Again I got a request for MS., but did not<br /> send any. Six months later came another note to<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 20!<br /> <br /> the same effect, and I sent off four short tales. In<br /> a fortnight the four were returned as unsuitable.<br /> <br /> I then wrote expressing surprise, as the rejected<br /> tales were quite ‘on the lines” of those which<br /> had been approved, &amp;c. I received no answer.<br /> <br /> I chanced to show one of these rejected tales<br /> to a friend, and she said, before reading two<br /> pages: ‘ You have published this.”<br /> <br /> “No,” I answered. But she affirmed she had<br /> read it, and to my surprise told me all the story.<br /> It was evolved in a somewhat uncommon way,<br /> and founded upon a personal experience, and I felt<br /> sure there could be no accidental resemblance.<br /> <br /> I find that other writers have had a like experi-<br /> ence. They have seen their tales in print,<br /> slightly altered and with different titles, yet<br /> these tales had come back to them as unsuitable.<br /> <br /> The run of chances is against the author ever<br /> finding this out; but when he does, what help<br /> is there for him ?<br /> <br /> And how is it done? Does the agent keep a<br /> staff of nimble typewriters who cook and copy MS.<br /> before it is returned to the author as “ unsuit-<br /> able” ? ALGOUS.<br /> <br /> [It is quite obvious that an editor who would<br /> stoop to a trick of this kind should be exposed.<br /> The thing cannot be common, Can the charge<br /> be proved? If so, will our correspondent be so<br /> good as to furnish the Secretary with the name<br /> of the paper referred to, and will he further<br /> persuade those “other writers”? who have had a<br /> similar experience to forward their names and<br /> the history of their experiences ?—Ep,]<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> TI—Tue Haur-Crown Critic.<br /> <br /> The suggestion of “Budding Fictionist”<br /> that the readers of the Society of Authors shall,<br /> in certain cases, supply criticisms of stories of<br /> 5000 words for 2s. 6d., seems hard upon the<br /> Society’s readers.<br /> <br /> Whatsoever the length of the story may be the<br /> reader has to form a definite opinion concerning it,<br /> and to embody his opinion in a report. If the<br /> report is to be of any use to the author the<br /> reader will certainly have to expend upon it an<br /> amount of time and labour worth considerably<br /> more than 2s. 6d. The report at ‘“ Budding<br /> Fictionist’s” own price of “three halfpence a<br /> line” would be limited to twenty lines. But is<br /> the reader, whilst the new story is being written,<br /> to remember all the essential facts regarding<br /> the ten others previously sent him? If he does<br /> not do this, he may find some difficulty in justly<br /> estimating the relative values of the earlier and<br /> later productions. And if he does, well, such an<br /> effort of memory would be cheap at 2s. 6d.<br /> <br /> An Otp Member.<br /> 202<br /> <br /> TIL—On Tryina Moret THan ONE EpIror.<br /> <br /> A recent correspondent says that if I “ had had<br /> a little editorial experience of the enormous<br /> quantity of articles some editors have to look at<br /> . . .. [I] would hardly expect a prompt answer,<br /> except in the case of the rejection of the article<br /> from sheer want of literary interest.” But the<br /> prodigious number of MSS. submitted, though it<br /> precludes the possibility of prompt answers to<br /> contributors, does not justify editors in retaining<br /> MSS. for two, three, or six months. My work<br /> consists of short stories, and it has been quite a<br /> usual thing for editors to retain my MSS. for the<br /> periods I have named before rejecting them. At<br /> the present moment I have a story out which has<br /> been in the hands of a magazine editor since July<br /> last. No answer has been vouchsafed to a letter<br /> of mine asking whether the MS. had any chance<br /> of acceptance, and that letter was written about<br /> three months ago. That is the only letter I have<br /> written to this editor, for I make it a rule never<br /> to write a letter when sending a MS. No one<br /> could possibly accuse me of exasperating editors<br /> by giving them unnecessary trouble. As I have<br /> very little hope that this particular piece of work<br /> will meet with acceptance in that quarter, I have<br /> sent out copies elsewhere. Surely no one would<br /> say that I have acted discourteously ?<br /> <br /> That there is no necessity for keeping MSS. so<br /> long is proved by the usage of the best magazines<br /> and the most courteous editors. In my case the<br /> decision of the Cornhill has been generally given<br /> inside of a month, and only once has been delayed<br /> so long as a month and four days. With<br /> Chambers’s Journal the outside limit I have found<br /> to be twenty days; with Zongman’s, ten days ;<br /> Cassell’s, twenty days; the Royal usually inside<br /> a month, once (only) a month and five days.<br /> And, be it noted, I’ve reason to believe that every-<br /> thing I’ve sent to these journals has been not<br /> merely “looked at,” but really read.<br /> <br /> The fact seems to be that some editors keep<br /> the work of unknown authors beside them as a<br /> stop-gap in case of the failure of contributors<br /> they usually depend upon. This is proved by<br /> what “An Editor” says in the National Review<br /> for Aug. 1896. ‘There are, he says, three reasons<br /> for the retention of MSS., and “the third is that<br /> articles are sometimes retained because, in holiday<br /> time, when good write1s are lazy, it may be neces-<br /> sary to use matter of slightly inferior quality.”<br /> T’ve no especial objection to my work being held<br /> over for six months in this way, provided it is<br /> recognised that I am at liberty to try and find<br /> another market for it in the meantime.<br /> <br /> I have recognised the possibility indicated by<br /> “M,C. A.” that a story sent to two magazines<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> may be accepted by the one which pays least.<br /> But then, ‘a bird in the hand’s worth two in the<br /> bush.” Moreover, many of the _ best-paying<br /> magazines are among those which deal most<br /> promptly with contributions. Perry Barr.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 3 IV.—No Proor Sent.<br /> <br /> In Feb., 1893, an article of mine appeared in<br /> a certain magazine, the MS. having been sent<br /> some months previously, but no notice was taken of<br /> two letters of inquiry sent, nor was any intima-<br /> tion given that the article would appear at all.<br /> My first knowledge of the publication was from<br /> the railway bookstall, and the article was un-<br /> signed, which was opposed to my wishes had I<br /> been consulted at all. In this case there was no<br /> notification of any kind whatever, and so far as<br /> T was concerned, the MS. might have been in the<br /> waste-paper basket, but I was paid five guineas<br /> later on, at the rate of about half-a-guinea a<br /> page. G. R. V.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> V.—WRITING FOR THE MaGaziInus.<br /> <br /> My attention has been called to the letter in<br /> your December issue signed “ Magazine Struggler.”<br /> The writer asks what I think a “ fairly successful ”<br /> contributor to magazines alone could make in the<br /> course of a year. Well, no definite, or even<br /> approximate, estimate can be given; but I do<br /> not hesitate to say that from magazines alone a<br /> “fairly successful” writer might hope to make,<br /> say, from £150 to £200 ina year. But when I<br /> talk of magazines, I never include such heavy<br /> things as the Contemporary, the Nineteenth<br /> Century, the Fortnightly, the National, or the<br /> Westminster. These are reviews, and between a<br /> review and a magazine there is a great gulf fixed.<br /> No sane man would hope to make an income, or<br /> any appreciable portion of an income out of work<br /> for these publications, so that I think the elabo-<br /> rate analysis of their contents which appeared in<br /> last month’s Author was wasted time.<br /> <br /> Nor do I advise anyone to hope for much from<br /> the popular magazines ; it would be folly for a<br /> beginner to rely on magazines alone as a field of<br /> action. My advice, based on personal experience,<br /> is: Write for the general and scrappy Press to<br /> keep the pot boiling, and peg away with signed<br /> magazine articles for your credit’s sake. Yet I<br /> do not advise anyone to attempt the task of<br /> making a reputation through the magazines ; the<br /> speediest means to that end is a good book.<br /> Make a supreme effort with a book, and, even if<br /> that is only moderately successful, you will find<br /> the doors of the magazines and popular weeklies<br /> swing open to your touch. After all is said that<br /> may be on this subject, it must be admitted that<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> no two men’s experiences coincide; each must<br /> begin at the beginning, though the knowledge of<br /> another struggler’s experience may serve one to<br /> avert pitfalls.<br /> An Eprror (Author of “ How to Write<br /> for the Press”’).<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> VL.—A New Move or FLEEctrne.<br /> <br /> I write to inform you of an apparently new<br /> way of mulcting authors for advertisements. In<br /> my last account from an eminent publishing firm<br /> there was a charge of two guineas for advertise-<br /> ments. I wrote asking for particulars and the<br /> names of the papers advertised in. The answer<br /> was that the advertisements were not in news-<br /> papers, but in “ our Catalogues and Lists,” and two<br /> catalogues, for June and Sept. 1899, were sent me<br /> with my work mentioned. I then asked if their<br /> charge was an annual or quarterly one, and also if<br /> this charge was customary in the trade and if<br /> they charged all the authors in their list similarly.<br /> To this I got no reply.<br /> <br /> If they do make such a charge they make a<br /> handsome income out of their catalogues. If<br /> these are issued quarterly as appears, and if a<br /> guinea a notice is charged for each quarter’s<br /> insertion, this realises from the 178 names on the<br /> list a very large sum for producing the publisher&#039;s<br /> own catalogue. In other words, the authors are<br /> asked to pay for the firm’s own advertisements.<br /> <br /> Is this practice at all customary? For, if not,<br /> and they have singled me out as a solitary victim,<br /> thinking I would quietly acquiesce in it, it seems<br /> an excessively mean thing for such an eminent<br /> firm to do.<br /> <br /> T inclose the name of the firm, as I should like<br /> to know if other authors dealing with the firm<br /> <br /> have been fleeced in the same way.<br /> GoLpEN FLEECE.<br /> <br /> [If other readers have been served with similar<br /> accounts, will they kindly forward their cases,<br /> with copies of the accounts and the names of the<br /> publishers? It is evident (1) that the publisher<br /> has no right to charge for advertisements in hisown<br /> organ any more than he has a right to charge for<br /> the use of his bookshelves ; and (2) that, if such<br /> a right was to exist, it would include the right to<br /> charge what he pleased : to advertise a book as<br /> often as he pleased and in the most expensive<br /> manner possible, without the least regard to the<br /> interests of the book—in other words, to make of<br /> the practice a means of sweeping everything into<br /> his own pocket. Observe that the “ Draft Agree-<br /> ments ”—Equitable—preserve a suggestive silence<br /> on the subject.—Eb. |<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> AUTHOR. 203<br /> <br /> VIL—A Memper’s Exprriences.<br /> <br /> An account of my experiences as a writer may<br /> be useful to other writers aud to the Society of<br /> Authors. I think that even the Society does not<br /> always see the difficulties of authors. The advice<br /> which the Society gives is exellent, as a general<br /> rule; but it cannot, of course, meet all cases. In<br /> my case, before I became a member, I signed a<br /> publisher’s agreement which I now find is con-<br /> demned by the Society. And yet it was the best<br /> thing I could do.<br /> <br /> When I was a boy, I had to get my living at a<br /> rather early age. I gave most of my spare time<br /> to study, and taught myself Latin and Greek<br /> enough for matriculation. I have striven all my<br /> life to get the best English books I could.<br /> Need forced me into journalism, and here I found<br /> no difficulty. I began at the top. I found at<br /> once that, without introduction, the best London<br /> newspapers would print and pay for descrip-<br /> tive articles if only they were supplied with<br /> what they wanted. But journalism is cramping<br /> and bad, because the journals have their various<br /> political and other biases, whilst reporterism<br /> is no better than book-keeping, for the most<br /> part. I entered upon literature, and here my<br /> enormous difficulties began. ‘The fact is, I tried<br /> in all my writing as well as 1 could to tell the<br /> truth.<br /> <br /> My first book may be described as an attempt<br /> in a story to tell the truth absolutely about a<br /> certain aspect of social and political affairs.<br /> Nobody would publish it at first, but I deter-<br /> mined to get it out somehow. I then knew<br /> nothing of the Society’s advice. I got the story<br /> printed by a friend, who undertook to share<br /> risks and profits and te publish. Small diffi-<br /> culties kept arising while the book was printing,<br /> and I had to overcome all these, and indeed<br /> throughout I was always urging matters forward,<br /> so that although the book was carefully written,<br /> the trouble of writing it was as nothing to my<br /> trouble in getting it out. Business changes pre-<br /> vented a proper publication and reviewing. Three<br /> reviews indeed appeared, all highly favourable.<br /> One was lengthy, and in a leading London news-<br /> <br /> &#039; paper. But there was no proper publication or<br /> <br /> advertisement. By my own exertions I at last<br /> placed the printed book with a commission pub-<br /> lisher of standing, but by this time it had ceased<br /> to be topical. It happened that I lost no money<br /> over it, but much time and labour. All that if<br /> gained was encouragement—if I wanted that—<br /> from the critics.<br /> <br /> My next manuscripts went the regular round.<br /> I corresponded with many publishers and inter-<br /> viewed some. Often my work was on the verge<br /> of publication. Sometimes two or even three<br /> 204 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> readers were consulted by the publishers over a<br /> single book of mine. I found an unbusinesslike<br /> tone prevailing in the trade—or perhaps it was<br /> only too businesslike. I fear this tone is fostered<br /> by the manner of other authors. The publishers<br /> seemed to assume that they were conferring a<br /> favour on a new author by “giving him a<br /> chance” if they should publish his book. In<br /> some cases I told them to regard the matter<br /> purely as one of business, and in one instance I<br /> felt bound to resent the prevalent tone by con-<br /> descension of manner on my own part. If MSS.<br /> were delayed I wrote shortly for their return. (It<br /> is curious that in journalism there is never this<br /> tone. If an editor of a newspaper wants a con-<br /> tribution he will take it promptly enough, and if<br /> not he will send it back, usually with equal<br /> promptness.)<br /> <br /> After infinite trouble I got my second book<br /> published on a royalty agreement, with a clause<br /> by which I allowed the publisher the refusal of<br /> my next two books. This also was before I<br /> joined the Society. But I had my eyes open. I<br /> never expected really to get any royalty, and as<br /> for the clause, it could be satisfied with much<br /> less trouble than it takes to get a book published.<br /> My object was merely to storm the kopjes of<br /> Literature at all costs. There was no other way.<br /> If Ihad had money to buy types I would have<br /> printed the book myself, and placed it with a<br /> commission publisher. As it was, I lost no<br /> money over it, and gained some reviews in the<br /> best journals. Some of the notices are brief and<br /> <br /> - contemptuous. Most of. them are fairly long,<br /> <br /> - and more favourable than I expected. If the<br /> <br /> . majority of the critics are right, then I have<br /> produced a good book. But I have no money by<br /> it, nor am I disappointed at not getting what I<br /> did not expect under present conditions.<br /> <br /> Well, now that I am in the Society I feel<br /> bound to take their advice in future. The point<br /> is that I felt obliged to storm the kopjes in the<br /> way I have described rather than accomplish<br /> nothing. I have earned hundreds of pounds by<br /> journalism, but not a penny by literature; and<br /> one cause of this seems to be (if it is not<br /> immodest to say so) the false atmosphere of the<br /> whole publishing business. The critics, gene-<br /> rally, are all right; and there is always a public<br /> for a man who has anything to say. The com-<br /> mission system ought to be the system of the<br /> future.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> VIIIL.—A Cry From THE DEPTHS,<br /> <br /> In reply to Mr. Julian Croskey’s remarks in<br /> The Author of December, addressed from Ottawa,<br /> I think it will be admitted that in order to sell a<br /> book or anything else in this world you must first<br /> <br /> create a demand for it, and this demand, as faras<br /> novels are concerned, is only secured with money,<br /> social interest, and influential friends on the<br /> Press. How is a demand to be created without<br /> advertisement of some kind ?<br /> <br /> With regard to young and talented authors<br /> who are poor, and consequently without these<br /> social advantages, or who are not in touch with<br /> powerful monopolists running commercial fiction<br /> in endless journals, it is evident that the struggle<br /> for fame, the desire for recognition, will ever<br /> befool them, even as they will ever pursue it.<br /> Behind all their efforts will be heard the laugh of<br /> Mephistopheles.<br /> <br /> Who can dispute the brutal logic of facts and<br /> figures? The dark powers that thwart and<br /> destroy are always merciless to the poor and<br /> <br /> gifted, especially if they add honesty to their<br /> <br /> other misfortunes. Mr. Croskey’s own experiences<br /> and confession are a case in point.<br /> <br /> Whether a book is good or bad, it must be<br /> “worked up” in some way in order to succeed.<br /> Everything lies in management and—paragraphs.<br /> Wealthy plagiarists who employ “ghosts” and<br /> translate freely from foreign sources can always<br /> command a certain market. England is the<br /> paradise of the charlatan.<br /> <br /> Then, what are the efforts worth of the young<br /> and talented struggler for bread and fame, pitted<br /> against obstructive trickery of all kinds and a<br /> glut of fiction exceeding the demand? What<br /> are his chances with an amiable, if indifferent,<br /> public nourished on cleverly conducted magazines,<br /> <br /> . each with its own staffi—a public ready to enjoy<br /> . the crude and characterless fiction—the hackneyed,<br /> <br /> if illustrated, commonplace offered for their<br /> mental pabulum, provided its purveyors thrust<br /> it carefully before them and are esteemed<br /> persons of wealth and respectability, actuated by<br /> the saintliest motives, the purest Christian aims.<br /> <br /> Is it not kind to warn the literary aspirant,<br /> should he be needy, of the often useless and cruel<br /> conflicts—the pathetic disillusion attending a<br /> career so often ending in broken health and<br /> even suicide, For the more imagination and<br /> insight, the keener the suffering. To starve in<br /> a garret on £50 a year—to elevate the soul and<br /> destroy the body to produce a masterpiece which<br /> few may read and still fewer understand, may be<br /> heroic, but hardly wise, considering the shortness<br /> of life and that time is our worst enemy. Are<br /> there not nobler and healthier outlets for a man’s<br /> energy? Mr. Croskey has proved that there are.<br /> <br /> ANNABEL GRAY.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> BOOK AND PLAY TALK.<br /> <br /> HE new book by Sir William Charley,<br /> J3 Q.C., D.C.L., on the House of Lords was<br /> published on Jan. 27. It is called “‘Mend-<br /> ing’ and ‘ Ending’” (Simpkin, Marshall and Co.,<br /> price 2s. 6d.), and is a “Reply to Mr. Andrew<br /> Reid’s ‘House of Lords Question.’” It deals<br /> with every possible suggestion for “ ending” or<br /> “mending” the Upper House. It is now nearly<br /> five years since Sir William published his “ His-<br /> torical Vindication of the House of Lords,” a<br /> book which has been much studied.<br /> <br /> Among the books in preparation at the Claren-<br /> don Press may be mentioned the following :—<br /> “Celtic Folklore; Welsh and Manx,” by John<br /> Rhys, M.A.; “A Translation into Modern<br /> English of King Alfred’s O. E. Version of<br /> Boethius,” by W. J. Ledgefield, M.A. ; «The<br /> Complete Works of John Gower,” edited from<br /> the MSS., with introductions, notes, and glos-<br /> saries, by G. C. Macaulay, M.A., vols. 2 and 3<br /> (English works) ; “‘ The Canon of Chaucer,” by<br /> W. W. Skeat, Litt. D.; ‘“Dryden’s Critical<br /> Essays,” edited by W. P. Ker, M.A.; “ Plays<br /> and Poems of Robert Greene,’ edited by<br /> J. Churton Collins, M.A.; “The Works of<br /> Thomas Kyd,” edited by F. S. Boas, M.A.;<br /> “‘Milton’s Poetical Works,” edited by H. C.<br /> Beeching, M.A. (demy 8vo., with facsimiles ; and<br /> in miniature) ; “ Asser’s Life of Alfred,” edited<br /> by W. H. Stevenson, M.A.; “Voyages of the<br /> Elizabethan Seamen,” edited by EH. J. Payne,<br /> M.A., series 2; “The Alfred Jewel,’ by John<br /> Earle, M.A. (small quarto, with illustrations).<br /> <br /> Messrs. Everitt and Co. have published a new<br /> book by Captain M. Horace Hayes, R.F.C.V.S.,<br /> entitled “Among Horses in Russia,” price 10s. 6d.<br /> The book is beautifully illustrated with many<br /> striking photographs.<br /> <br /> A new novel, by “ Perrington Priman,”’ “The<br /> Girl at Riverfield Manor,” is being published<br /> this month by Messrs. F. V. White and Co.<br /> <br /> Messrs. Hutchinson and Co. have published a<br /> book entitled “She Stands Alone, the Story of<br /> Pilate’s Wife,” by Mark Ashton. The story is<br /> realistically written.<br /> <br /> Messrs. Mitchell and Hughes are about to<br /> issue, in demy quarto, “The Records of the<br /> Corrie Family,” in two parts, by Jessie E. Corrie,<br /> author of “ The Genealogical Table of the Houses<br /> of Gordon, Corrie, and Goldie” (published last<br /> year).<br /> <br /> Mr. M. H. Spielmann has prepared, from<br /> special knowledge and with the consent of Mr.<br /> Ruskin’s family, a work entitled “John Ruskin :<br /> a Sketch of his Life, his Work, and his Opinions,<br /> with Personal Reminiscences.” It will contain a<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 205<br /> <br /> paper by Mr. Ruskin called “The Black Arts,”<br /> which is not to be found in his collected works.<br /> The book will be published shortly by Messrs.<br /> Cassell.<br /> <br /> Mr. W. W. Skeat has written a minute study<br /> of the folk-lore, ceremonial observances, and magic<br /> of the Malay Peninsula, a country where Moham-<br /> medanism only superficially overlays a mass of<br /> aboriginal beliefs and customs. This will be<br /> published shortly by Messrs. Macmillan, under<br /> the title “Malay Religion.”<br /> <br /> A biography of Lord Monboddo, the famous<br /> Scotch judge, has been written by Professor<br /> Knight, of St. Andrews, in whose hands have<br /> been placed family manuscripts and letters which<br /> have never been published. The book will appear<br /> shortly from Mr. Murray.<br /> <br /> Mr. Archibald Colquhoun’s new volume of<br /> travel, “Overland to China,” will be published<br /> this month by Messrs. Harper. It describes<br /> Siberia, Mongolia, Manchuria, the Upper Yangtse,<br /> and southern and south-western China.<br /> <br /> Mr. Stanley Weyman’s novel, “ Sophia,” will<br /> be published shortly by Messrs. Longmans.<br /> <br /> A novel by Dr. St. George Mivart, F.R.S.,<br /> entitled “Castle and Manor,” will be published<br /> shortly by Messrs. Sands and Co.<br /> <br /> Mrs. Meynell’s volume on Ruskin in the<br /> Modern English Writers series, published by<br /> Messrs. Blackwood, will be ready shortly.<br /> <br /> Mr. F. G. Kitton has written a book on “ The<br /> Minor Writings of Charles Dickens,” which will<br /> be published shortly by Mr. Elliot Stock as a<br /> volume in the Book Lover’s Library.<br /> <br /> “The Morals of Suicide,’’ is the title of a book<br /> by the Rev. J. Gurnhill, which Messrs. Long-<br /> mans will publish. The author writes from the<br /> point of view of a Christian Socialist.<br /> <br /> Tf the war has been bad for books, the season<br /> is evidently deemed sufficiently propitious for<br /> periodicals. The demand for the illustrated<br /> weeklies containing pictures of the war operations<br /> has been enormous. And now three new Ssix-<br /> penny weeklies have appeared—the King, the<br /> Sphere, and the Spear, Another new journal<br /> which may be expected soon is the TZribune,<br /> whose editor will be Mr. Lathbury, who resigned<br /> the editorship of the Guardian a short time ago.<br /> <br /> “The Story of the Life of Dr. Pusey,” which<br /> is to appear shortly from Messrs. Longmans, is<br /> an independent work, written by the author of<br /> “ Gharles Lowder” at the request of Dr. Pusey’s<br /> daughter, in order to provide for readers who<br /> cannot possess the four-volume life.<br /> <br /> - Dr. Birkbeck Hill is engaged upon an edition<br /> of Gibbon’s “ Autobiography.”<br /> <br /> The biography of the late Coventry Patmore<br /> will be published, it is hoped, next month.<br /> <br /> <br /> 206<br /> <br /> “ Commerce and Christianity,” by Mr. G. F.<br /> Millin, is a book in which the author analyses<br /> methods and principles and draws lessons from the<br /> result. It will be published shortly by Messrs.<br /> Swan Sonnenschein and Co.<br /> <br /> Six books of last year have been “ crowned” by<br /> the Academy in recognition of their promise,<br /> sincerity, and thoroughness in literary art. Each<br /> author accordingly receives a present of twenty-<br /> five guineas. The following is the list :—<br /> <br /> Poetry: Mr. W. B. Years, for “The Wind Among the<br /> Reeds.”<br /> Fiction: “Zack” (Miss Gwendoline Keats), for “On<br /> Trial.”<br /> Biography: Mr. Hinarrz Bexxoc, for “Danton: a<br /> Study.”<br /> History: Mr. G. M. TREVELYAN, for “‘ England in the Age<br /> of Wycliffe.”<br /> Translation: Mrs. GARNETT for her translation of the<br /> novels of Turgenieff.<br /> Miscellaneous: Rev. H. G. Granam, for “The Social Life<br /> of Scotland in the Highteenth Century.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Bloundelle-Burton is bringing out through<br /> Messrs. Pearson a new novel called “The Sea-<br /> farers.”<br /> <br /> Dr. Nansen is issuing through Messrs. Long-<br /> mans, in five or six volumes, a full account of the<br /> scientific results of his Polar expedition of 1893-<br /> 1896. The work is to be published only in<br /> English, The first volume will appear shortly ;<br /> the second, which will contain the charts, soon<br /> afterwards ; and the whole work is expected to be<br /> complete in about two years.<br /> <br /> Admiral Sir Wilham Kennedy has written a<br /> new work entitled “A Life on the Ocean Wave,”<br /> which will be published shortly by Messrs.<br /> Blackwood.<br /> <br /> Mr. W. H.D. Rouse is issuing through Messrs.<br /> Dent a small volume of translations of Greek<br /> <br /> oems.<br /> <br /> The Irish Literary Society offers prizes of fifty<br /> and twenty guineas for essays on the Sieges of<br /> Derry and Limerick. A committee of the society<br /> will first select what they consider the best<br /> twenty essays sent in, and these will then be<br /> submitted to Mr. Lecky and Lord Russell of<br /> Killowen for final decision.<br /> <br /> Novels by Mr. Allen Upward (“The Accused<br /> Princess’’) and Mr. Clive Holland (‘ Marcelle<br /> of the Latin Quarter”) will be published by<br /> Messrs. Pearson.<br /> <br /> Miss Edna Lyall’s first play, ‘In Spite of All,”<br /> will be produced on Monday afternoon, Feb. 5,<br /> by Mr. Ben Greet, who has just begun a short<br /> season at the Comedy. It is a romantic piece,<br /> laid in the stirring times of the Royalists and<br /> Roundheads.<br /> <br /> The re-constructed St. James’s has been opened<br /> with Mr. Anthony Hope’s “ Rupert of Hentzau.”<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> _ Mr. Wyndham (who is to produce “ Cyrano de<br /> Bergerac” in a provincial theatre in a few days)<br /> will revive “ Dandy Dick” at the Criterion on the<br /> 8th inst.<br /> <br /> Mr. Martin Harvey has acquired the rights in<br /> the one-act play, “The White Lily,” by Alphonse<br /> Daudet, which, on its production in France, was<br /> called ‘“‘ The White Carnation.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Arthur Shirley and Mr. Sutton Vane have<br /> founded a play on the widely-circulated American<br /> book by Mr. Charles Sheldon, called “In His<br /> Steps; or, What Would Jesus Do?” The<br /> piece has been produced in the provinces, and it<br /> will be presented to a London audience at the<br /> Adelphi, on the 5th inst., under the title “ The<br /> Better Life.”<br /> <br /> The Adelphi will afterwards pass into the man-<br /> agement of Mr. Robert Taber, who will open it<br /> on March 10 with a new romantic play, entitled<br /> “Bonnie Dundee,” by Mr. Lawrence Irving and<br /> Mr. Tom Heslewood. Miss Lena Ashwell will be<br /> the leading lady.<br /> <br /> Mr. Barry Pain has finished a play.<br /> <br /> Sir Henry Irving is prolonging his tour in the<br /> United States by a few weeks, owing to the<br /> success he is meeting with.<br /> <br /> Mr. Hare leaves the Globe on Feb. 3 with<br /> “The Gay Lord Quex,” which he is taking to<br /> the provinces. He will then begin a tour in<br /> America with this play, and may not be in<br /> London again before June next year.<br /> <br /> Mr. Wilson Barrett will be seen in “ The<br /> Swashbuckler,” by Mr. Louis Parker, which is<br /> now being rehearsed for production.<br /> <br /> Miss Kate Rorke tak-s Mr. Pinero’s early play,<br /> “The Squire,” on tour, beginning at Kennington<br /> on the 26th inst. Mr. Ben Webster will play the<br /> character of the lover.<br /> <br /> “The Kendals,” an account of the career of the<br /> two well-known personalities, by Mr. Edgar<br /> Pemberton, is one of the forthcoming books on<br /> Messrs. Pearson’s list.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> OBITUARY.<br /> <br /> R. RUSKIN “faded away in a peaceful<br /> sleep” at Coniston on Jan. 20, and was<br /> buried there five days later. Dr. JAMES<br /> <br /> Marrrnzau died on Jan. 11 at the great age of<br /> ninety-five. Mr. R D. Buackmorg, the novelist,<br /> died on Jan. 20, aged 75. On Jan. 1 the death<br /> occurred of the Rev. WurrweLt Exwin (eighty-<br /> four), rector of Booton, Norfolk, who succeeded<br /> Lockhart as editor of the Quarterly Review, and<br /> held the post for sixteen years. We much regret<br /> also to have to record the death of Mz. WiL1aM<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> c<br /> Gq<br /> <br /> Ry See ety<br /> ce eee ee<br /> <br /> aa<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Epwarps Trresuck, the well-known novelist,<br /> who died from pneumonia in his native city of<br /> Liverpool on the 22nd ult. In addition to this<br /> roll, the obituary of the past month includes<br /> Canon R. W. Drxon, who was a distinguished<br /> Oxford man, and wrote a history of the Church<br /> of England, which 1s a recognised authority ;<br /> the Rev. Henry Furneavx, sometime Fellow of<br /> Corpus Christi, Oxford, and editor of “ Tacitus ”<br /> and other classics; and Mr. G. W. SrEEVENS,<br /> the distinguished special correspondent of the<br /> Daily Mail, who died of enteric fever on the<br /> 15th ult. in Ladysmith, where he was represent-<br /> ing his journal with the beleaguered troops.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> BOOKS AND REVIEWS.<br /> <br /> (In these columns notes on books are given from reviews<br /> which carry weight, and are not, so far as can be learned,<br /> logrollers.)<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Tar Untrep Krnepom, by Goldwin Smith (Macmillan,<br /> 15s. net), is in two volumes, which, says Literature, with all<br /> their defects, “‘ are a trae history of England, no jumble of<br /> miscellaneous facts, but an edifice reared with skilful<br /> hand.” The Daily Chronicle says Mr. Goldwin Smith “ has<br /> not lost the pictureequeness of his style,” and that he is in<br /> these volumes historical and expository rather than contro-<br /> versial or speculative. The Daily News calls it “a work<br /> which Englishmen all the world over will read with enthu-<br /> siastic delight, with fresh admiration for the achievements<br /> of their ancestors, and with a confidence in the future never<br /> more essential than at this solemn time.”<br /> <br /> FINLAND AND THE Tsars, by Joseph R. Fisher (Arnold,<br /> 128. 6d.), is, says Literature, ‘ a clear and succinct historical<br /> sketch of the relations between Russia and her dependency<br /> during the last ninety years.” Mr. Fisher, says the Daily<br /> Chronicle, “has prepared what may be called the case of<br /> Finland with most scrupulous thoroughness; and whatever<br /> holes the Russian Pre:s may attempt to pick in his argu-<br /> ments, it is difficult for an Englishman to discover any<br /> flaw.”<br /> <br /> Henry Irvine, by Charles Hiatt (Bell, 5s. net), is a<br /> study of the famous actor, and contains between seventy<br /> and eighty illustrations. ‘‘ All who have been Sir Henry<br /> Irving’s admirers in the past,” says Literature, and “ all<br /> who look forward to his future successes, will wish to<br /> possess Mr. Hiatt?s excellent little work.” The book will<br /> be read, says the Daily Telegraph, “with universal<br /> interest.” :<br /> <br /> In Cap AnD Bexus, by Owen Seaman (Lane, 3s. 6d.) is<br /> “a sheaf of topical and satirical verse that can hardly fail<br /> to please,” says the Spectator. The verses were con-<br /> tributed particularly to Punch, to whose “table” Mr.<br /> Seaman “ has conferred fresh lustre and distinction.” The<br /> Daily News describes the book as “ uniformly entertaining,”<br /> the Daily Telegraph says it is as “ excellent and delight-<br /> ful in every respect as‘ The Battle of the Bays’”; and<br /> the Daily Chronicle calls Mr. Seaman “‘ more than a mere<br /> parodist or writer of comic jingles, however ingenious.”<br /> “He is what we may call a critic of mannerism, and a very<br /> keen critic to boot.”<br /> <br /> Sport anp Lire In WESTERN AMERICA AND BRITISH<br /> Conumsra, by W. A. Baillie-Grohman (Cox, 158.), contains,<br /> says the Daily Chronicle, “so complete a denunciation of<br /> <br /> 207<br /> <br /> the reckless waste of big game, so scathing a criticism<br /> of the game laws of both the Union and Dominion,” “ that<br /> everyone interested and without bias must follow the author<br /> with sympathy, at any rate.” “Itis the work of a mau<br /> who knows what he is writing about,” says Literature.<br /> “Though the portion of the book which deals with the<br /> scientific aspect of sport is without doubt the most valuable,<br /> the general reader, who cares little about the measurement<br /> of antlers, will probably find the intimate and personal<br /> recollections of the writer more to his taste.” Mrs. Baillie-<br /> Grohman adds a chapter on the problems of Chinese and<br /> other domestic service in Western America.<br /> <br /> Nores oN Sport AND TRAVEL, by George Henry<br /> Kingsley, with a memoir by his daughter Mary H. Kingsley<br /> (Macmillan, Ss. 6d.), is described by the Daily Chronicle<br /> as containing “ genial papers of ‘The Doctor’s’” which it<br /> is “good to read,’ and which are “roaming in their<br /> subjects as the man himself”: sharks and chamois, gun-<br /> practice and flying-fish, Lisbon snipe and American oysters.<br /> &amp;e. “In short, the book is delightful, sparkling with<br /> humour without a thought of malice.” “It can be said<br /> without flattery,” says the Daily News, “that a book of<br /> reminiscences by one of the Kingsley brothers, with a<br /> memoir of the author by his daughter of West African<br /> renown, cannot be otherwise than delightful.”<br /> <br /> From Kinc Orry To QueEN VicroriA, by Edward<br /> Callow (Elliot Stock), is a short history of the Isle of Man,<br /> the annals of which “are so full of battle, murder, and<br /> sudden death that,” says Literature, ‘it is marvellous they<br /> should have been used in fiction to so comparatively small<br /> an extent. It certainly is a highly exciting story which<br /> Mr. Callow has to tell,” and “the whole volume is so full<br /> of curiosities that it makes excellent reading, despite its<br /> defects of literary form.”<br /> <br /> How ENGLAND SAVED Evrop#, by W. H. Fitchett, is to<br /> be in six volumes, of which two have appeared (Smith,<br /> Elder, and Co., 6s. per volume), and is the story of the Great<br /> War (1793-1815.) The Daily Chronicle says, that while<br /> “Mr. Fitchett’s pages are not burdened with research and<br /> fresh results,” he “tells his stirring story in such a very<br /> picturesque manner as to impress his readers with a sense<br /> of the pleasure that is derived from absolute novelty.”<br /> “ Disearding absolutely the point of view of the analytical<br /> historian, Mr. Fitchett,” says the Daily Telegraph, “ pre-<br /> sents us witha series of vigorous and moving pictures of the<br /> Homeric conflicts which have made of those days, perhaps,<br /> the most exciting period in all history.”<br /> <br /> James Hacx Tuxs, by Sir Edward Fry (Macmillan,<br /> 7s. 6d.), is an “admirable biography” of one whose sole<br /> object in Ireland was toimprove the material and industrial<br /> condition of the country; and, “if the recent history of<br /> Ireland is of importance,” says Literature, “this is just one<br /> of the books that should be read in connection with it.”<br /> “We may say,’ says the Spectator, ‘ that the new social<br /> politics of Ireland, if it can be said to have had any distinct<br /> author, is due in a pre-eminent degree to the Quaker banker<br /> of Hitchin,” of whom this book, done “ with judgment and<br /> zkill,” gives a “very simple, quiet story.”<br /> <br /> Curonictes or Aunt Mrnervy ANN, by Joel Chandler<br /> Harris (Dent, 4s. 6d.), is laid in Georgia in the early days<br /> of emancipation jast after the war, and gives us, says<br /> Literature, ‘a gallery of character sketches, in black and<br /> white, that will bear comparison with the author’s best<br /> work.”<br /> <br /> Tue DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGuIsH Novet, by<br /> Wilbur L. Cross (Macmillan, 6s), is both a history anda<br /> criticism of English fiction. The Guardian concludes its<br /> notice by saying :—‘‘ As the whole of this very useful little<br /> book shows, novelists great and small are always feeling<br /> their way, and he who finds it is the one who has some-<br /> THE<br /> <br /> thing so important to say that (in his hands) the way<br /> becomes insignificant, and, being no longer much attended<br /> to, falls into decay, while new forgers of imitative fiction<br /> occupy themselves in devising new forms to mask their<br /> defect either of substance or originality.”<br /> <br /> SUNNINGWELL, by F. Warre Cornish (Constable, 6s.), is<br /> “ gordially recommended,” by the Daily Telegraph as an<br /> “extremely clever book.” It ‘‘isby no means astory, being<br /> quite inorganic and totally devoid of plot.” The whole<br /> interest centres in the Rev. Philip More, Canon of Sunning-<br /> well, who “may be aptly defined as a benevolent oppor-<br /> tunist, intensely introspective, but thoroughly open-minded.”<br /> “‘Itis a book for the ‘ mugwump,’” says the Spectator, “ to<br /> ase the term in its best sense.” Among the characters isa<br /> pretty young woman who has one unprosperous and one<br /> prosperous love affair.” The Daily News refers to the<br /> “ charming Canon,” and says this “is the kind of volume<br /> that—almost unconsciously—impresses the reader with a<br /> comfortable and soothing sense of leisure.”<br /> <br /> EXxpPLoraTIo EvaNGELica, by Percy Gardner (Black,<br /> 158.), is a “powerful book,” says Literature, whose real<br /> importance is “that it raises for Christian theology the<br /> question, What is the ‘sufficient foundation’ of Christian<br /> faith?” In some respects it is “the most noteworthy<br /> theological work that has appeared since the publication of<br /> ‘Lux Mundi.’”<br /> <br /> Parson Kur, by A. E. W. Mason and Andrew Lang<br /> (Longmans, 6s.),&#039;a novel about the Jacobites, is, says the<br /> Daily Telegraph, “ a perfectly homogeneous work, throughout<br /> which the literary touch of either writer is indistinguishable<br /> from that of the other.” The period is 1719 and onwards<br /> for a few years; the central figure and evil genius of the<br /> plot is the unhistorical Lady Oxford. ‘‘ Mr. Andrew Lang<br /> knows all that is to be known about the Jacobites,” says<br /> the Daily Chronicle. “Mr. Mason tells a story delight-<br /> fully.” ‘Distinctly the book is a success.” “The two<br /> joint heroes, both Jacobite Irish outlaws hailing from the<br /> County Kildare, are excellent company,” says the Spectator,<br /> which pronounces “ Parson Kelly” to be “a book of more<br /> than common merit.”<br /> <br /> OnE QuEEN TRIUMPHANT, by Frank Mathew (Lane, 6s.),<br /> is “‘a very spirited and ingenious novel,” says the Spectator.<br /> It is a historical romance of Queen Elizabeth’s time, and<br /> ‘whether Mr. Mathew’s estimate of his characters be<br /> historically sound or not, the great point is that they are<br /> real to him, and his enthusiasm and interest in them can<br /> hardly fail to infect his readers.” The Guardian says<br /> the book will add to Mr. Mathew’s reputation. ‘‘The<br /> merit of his work is that his imagination permits him<br /> to see, and his skill makes his readers see with him, the<br /> great Queen and those around her as if with the eyes of<br /> the flesh.”<br /> <br /> Siz Parrick tHe Puppock, by L. B. Walford<br /> (Pearson, 6s.), ‘is another of the long list of pleasant and<br /> wholesome stories,” says the Daily Telegraph, “that we<br /> owe to Mrs. Walford’s pen. The scene is laid in Scotland.<br /> Sir Patrick is a simple-souled, plain-featured, middle-aged<br /> man with a heart of gold.” ‘Everybody of whom Mrs.<br /> Walford tells one,” says the Daily Chronicle, “is racy,<br /> outspoken, fearless; not afraid of being thought a little<br /> too racy, too outspoken, or too fearless either.”’<br /> <br /> Tue Wuite Dove, by William J. Locke (Lane, 6s.), is<br /> a “clever and interesting novel,” says the Spectator, in<br /> which the réle of hero is entrusted to a distinguished<br /> bacteriologist. The plot is “exceedingly painful”; the<br /> heroine is “admirably drawn” ; the blameless bacteriologist<br /> “is rather an aggravating person”; “ but the charlatan is<br /> drawn from the quick—a brilliant, exuberant, histrionic<br /> rascal, just lacking the resolution and ruthlessness to be a<br /> successful knave.”<br /> <br /> 208<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> HeERonFORD, by S. R. Keightley (Pearson, 6s.), ie, in the<br /> words of the Daily Telegraph, “ a plain-sailing, old-fashioned<br /> story of the type that was so current in novel-reading<br /> circles from seventy to eighty years ago.” By his power<br /> of creating a romantic atmosphere,” saysthe Daily Chronicle,<br /> “Mr. Keightley compels our interest in his very first<br /> pater ; his other literary qualities enable him to hold it to<br /> the end.”<br /> <br /> OvursipE THE Rapius, by W. Pett Ridge (Hodder and<br /> Stoughton, 6s.), contains short stories of the metropolitan<br /> suburbs, and is “singularly entertaining,” says the Daily<br /> Telegraph; “from its first page to its last it is delightful<br /> reading.”<br /> <br /> My Lapy Frivot, by Rosa N. Carey (Hutchinson, 6s.) is<br /> described by Literature as “a simple romance told without<br /> affectation,” and belonging “ to the class of romance which<br /> will always find grateful readers.”<br /> <br /> Tu PROFESSIONAL AND OTHER Psycuic STORIES, edited<br /> by A. Goodrich Freer (Hurst and Blackett, 6s.) contains tales<br /> which, says Literature, “are strange rather than horrible.<br /> They deal with second sight, telepathy, crystal gazing, and<br /> the projection of thoughts into visible appearances.” ‘‘ No<br /> one interested in psychical research should overlook this<br /> book; and it has a distinct general interest as a foretaste<br /> of the ghost story of the future.” The Daily News says the<br /> seven stories possess both “point” and style, “and are<br /> decidedly to be recommended.”<br /> <br /> Sue WaLKs In Buauty, by Katherine Tynan (Smith,<br /> Elder, and Co., 6s.), will be hailed with enthusiasm by the<br /> sentimental reader, says the Spectator, as “an artistic<br /> revival of the formula” used by the late authoress of<br /> ‘Molly Bawn.” “The clever reader will say, ‘ What a silly<br /> book!’ but will not lay it down until it is finished.” The<br /> Daily News calls it “ very charming and very picturesque,”<br /> and ‘‘a pretty, wholesome, and genial study of the best kind<br /> of Irish country life.”<br /> <br /> A Kiss For A Kinapom, by Bernard Hamilton (Hurst<br /> and Blackett, 6s.), is “throughout readable and often<br /> exciting,” says the Spectator. The author “introduces an<br /> innovation into the fashionable realm of mock royalty. An<br /> American millionaire, by name Julius Ceesar Jones, has a<br /> fancy for presenting his ‘best girl’ with a real, genuine<br /> crown, and this is the story of how, with the aid of a British<br /> baronet, he sets about seizing the government of a small<br /> republic in Italy.” There is bloodshed and “plenty of<br /> ingenuity,” says the Guardian; “the situations are good<br /> and exciting, and the book thoroughly entertaining.”<br /> <br /> Bearrick v’Estx, by Julia Cartwright (Dent, 15s),<br /> ‘* might perhaps,” says the Daily Chronicle, “ be styled with<br /> more aptness, ‘The Story of the Rise and Fall of Lodovico<br /> Sforza’ ” Miss Cartwright deals adequately “ with the art<br /> of Milan, with its literature and learning, as well as with<br /> its politics and social life.” This story of the Life of<br /> Beatrice d’Este and of her husband Lodovico Sforza’s rule<br /> over Milan, says the Daily Telegraph, “is distinguished by<br /> its charm and the vividness of its presentment.”<br /> <br /> “THE AUTHOR.”<br /> <br /> SCALE FOR ADVERTISEMENTS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Front Page eon eee wee an cae nea ga &lt;n oe<br /> Other Pages... see ove ee eae ane one ae 8<br /> Half of a Page ... aes ive axe aie aun i ere<br /> Quarter ofa Page .. ae aes aes eee ane ww OL<br /> Eighth of a Page ae ON 0<br /> Single Column Advertisements ... ago 0<br /> Bills for Insertion ... as ats ae one ;<br /> _ Reductions made for a Series of Six or Twelve Insertions.<br /> All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed to the<br /> ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER, The Author Office, 4, Portugal-street,<br /> London, W.0O,	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/471/1900-02-01-The-Author-10-9.pdf	publications, The Author
472	https://historysoa.com/items/show/472	The Author, Vol. 10 Issue 10 (March 1900)	<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.+10+Issue+10+%28March+1900%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 10 (March 1900)</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>	1900-03-01-The-Author-10-10					209–228																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=10">10</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1900-03-01">1900-03-01</a>							10			19000301	Che #uthor,<br /> <br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors.<br /> <br /> Monthly.)<br /> <br /> CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br /> <br /> Vou. X.—No. ro.]<br /> <br /> MARCH 1, 1900.<br /> <br /> [PRIcE SIXPENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> for the Opinions expressed in papers that are<br /> signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br /> responsible. None of the papers or para-<br /> graphs must be taken as expressing the<br /> collective opinions of the Committee unless<br /> they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br /> Thring, Sec.<br /> <br /> eos<br /> <br /> HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br /> remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br /> requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br /> <br /> important communications within two days will write to him<br /> without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br /> Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br /> letter only.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br /> all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br /> jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br /> returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br /> <br /> eae<br /> <br /> GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br /> <br /> <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. THAT OF SELLING IT OUTRIGHT.<br /> <br /> This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br /> price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br /> managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the<br /> Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> Il. A PROFIT-SHARING AGREEMENT (a bad form of<br /> agreement). :<br /> <br /> In this case the following rules should be attended to :<br /> <br /> (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br /> duction forms a part without the strictest investigation.<br /> <br /> (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br /> profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements<br /> in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise-<br /> ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements.<br /> <br /> (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “ office expenses,”<br /> unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br /> <br /> (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br /> rights.<br /> <br /> (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 /> doctor !<br /> <br /> Ill. THE ROYALTY SYSTEM.<br /> <br /> It is above all things necessary to know what the<br /> proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible<br /> for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly<br /> the truth. From time to time the very important figures<br /> connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br /> Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br /> “Cost of Production.”<br /> <br /> IV. A COMMISSION AGREEMENT.<br /> <br /> The main points are :—<br /> <br /> (1.) Be eareful to obtain a fair cost of production.<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 /> Sea<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 1: EVER sign an agreement without submitting it tc<br /> £ the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some<br /> competent legal authority.<br /> 2. Never negotiate for the production of a play with<br /> anyone except an established manager.<br /> 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract :—<br /> <br /> (1) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT.<br /> This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters<br /> into such a contract should stipulate in the con-<br /> tract for production of the piece by a certain date<br /> and for proper publication of his name on the<br /> play-bills.<br /> <br /> (2) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE<br /> TO PERFORM ON THE PROFIT-SHARING SYSTEM.<br /> This method can only be entered into when a<br /> fixed sum is agreed per week for cost of produc-<br /> tion. It is not a common method.<br />  <br /> <br /> 210<br /> <br /> (3) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE<br /> TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES<br /> (i.e., royalties) on gross receipts. Royalties vary<br /> between 5 and rs per cent. An author should<br /> obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross<br /> receipts. Should obtain a sum in advance of<br /> rofalties. A fixed date on or before which the<br /> play should be performed.<br /> <br /> 4. 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 /> 5. Authors should not assign performing rights, but<br /> should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is<br /> of great importance.<br /> <br /> 6. 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 /> 7. Never send a copy of the play to America unless it is<br /> protected by a preliminary performance in the United<br /> Kingdom.<br /> <br /> 8. Never forget that American rights may be exceedingly<br /> valuable. They should never be included in English<br /> agreements without the author obtaining a substantial<br /> consideration.<br /> <br /> g. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully<br /> drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced.<br /> Never admit a collaborator when once the actual work of<br /> writing the play has begun or after it is finished.<br /> <br /> ro. 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.<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 are<br /> referred to the Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 1. VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br /> advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br /> lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br /> <br /> business or the administration of his property. If the<br /> <br /> advice sought is such as can be given best by a solici-<br /> tor, the member has a right to an opinion from the<br /> <br /> Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s<br /> <br /> opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for<br /> him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the<br /> member.<br /> <br /> 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br /> and publisher’s agreements do not generally fall within the<br /> experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br /> to use the Society.<br /> <br /> 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past<br /> accounts with the loan of the books represented. The<br /> <br /> Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new<br /> or old, for inspection and note.<br /> obtained may prove invaluable.<br /> <br /> 4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br /> posed document to the Society for examination.<br /> <br /> The information thus<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you<br /> are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are<br /> reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing<br /> the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen-<br /> dence of the writer.<br /> <br /> 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of<br /> members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br /> safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br /> fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who<br /> will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :—(1)<br /> To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To<br /> stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon<br /> them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments<br /> due according to agreements.<br /> <br /> THE READING BRANCH.<br /> <br /> EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this<br /> <br /> i branch of their work by informing young writers of<br /> <br /> its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated<br /> <br /> as a composition is treated by a coach. The Readers are<br /> <br /> writers of competence and experience. The fee is one<br /> guinea.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> <br /> Ts Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br /> Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br /> of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br /> <br /> heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br /> <br /> many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br /> 6s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br /> <br /> Communications for The Author should be addressed to<br /> the Offices of the Society, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn<br /> Fields, W.C., and should reach the Editor not later than the<br /> 2ist of each month.<br /> <br /> All persons engaged in literary work of any kind,<br /> whether members of the Society or not, are invited to<br /> communicate to the Editor any points connected with their<br /> work which it would be advisable in the general interest to<br /> publish.<br /> <br /> The present location of the Authors’ Club is at 3, White-<br /> hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for<br /> information, rules of admission, &amp;c,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> FROM THE COMMITTEE. ~<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I—*Tue AvuTHoR.” :<br /> <br /> T is desired to invite the attention of members<br /> | to the items in the revenue account pub-<br /> lished in the Annual Report on the expenses<br /> <br /> and proceeds of publications. These amount to<br /> a charge of £355. The largest part of this<br /> expense is, of course, due to The Author. It is<br /> not expected that this paper will pay expenses +<br /> the editing and the contributions are not paid<br /> for: there is a small charge for sub-editing: it<br /> is submitted that the paper is of the greatest use<br /> to our members. The Committee invite their<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> assistance by suggestions, and by contributions<br /> bearing on the main raison d’étre of the paper.<br /> The Committee also wish to point out that, if all<br /> would bear in mind the annual subscription<br /> (which is left voluntary), the paper, with its<br /> small external circulation and its advertisements,<br /> would be a source of profit to the Society. And<br /> the Society wants money in order to be able to<br /> take up and to fight for the author, at no expense<br /> to himself, every case that should be taken up.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Il.—* Tse Lirzrary Year Book” aNnD THE<br /> AutHors’ SYNDICATE.<br /> <br /> The following letter has been sent to the daily<br /> <br /> papers by the Secretary of the Society :—<br /> 23/2/1900.<br /> <br /> S1r,—In “The Literary Year Book,” which has<br /> just been published, I see the following statement<br /> is made :-—<br /> <br /> “ Authors’ Syndicate (Director, Mr. W. Morris<br /> Colles), 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn Fields,<br /> W.C. This syndicate is managed by the Society<br /> of Authors, and full particulars of its operations<br /> may be gained by applying to the address given<br /> above.”<br /> <br /> As Secretary of the Society of Authors, I beg<br /> to inform the public through your columns that<br /> the Authors’ Syndicate is entirely apart from,<br /> and independent of, the Society, and that the<br /> Society, while ready to advise its members as to<br /> the standing of any agent, maintains a position<br /> of impartiality, and does not favour any one<br /> competent and trustworthy agent above another.<br /> <br /> I trust, as the matter is one of importance to<br /> the Society of Authors, that you will see your<br /> way to publish this letter in your columns.<br /> <br /> Yours truly,<br /> G. Herpert THRING.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> _ LITERARY PROPERTY.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I.—Tue Avruor anp THE Epiror.<br /> <br /> EXT in importance to the relations between<br /> author and publisher stand those between<br /> author and editor, especially the editor<br /> <br /> of the magazine.<br /> <br /> It is from every point of view to be desired by<br /> the author that the magazine, especially that of<br /> the higher kind, should be supported: that it<br /> should continue to attract writers of the first<br /> rank in every subject: that it should offer an<br /> opening to those who have as yet their literary<br /> name to make: and that its columns should<br /> continue to be regarded as the best means of<br /> communication between the specialist and the<br /> <br /> 211<br /> <br /> public. Above all things, it is essential that<br /> if any magazine is to be regarded with respect it<br /> must attract the best writers. These conditions,<br /> it is believed, do obtain in some of our better<br /> magazines, while in the more popular magazines,<br /> those which depend on fiction rather than more<br /> solid fare, the relations between the editor and his<br /> contributors appear all that can be desired.<br /> <br /> At the same time, the publication, month after<br /> month, of letters complaining of editorial dis-<br /> courtesy, delay, refusal to answer letters, refusal<br /> to forward cheques, sending mean and miserable<br /> cheques, losing MSS., defacing MSS., altering<br /> MSS., and other points, show that there are<br /> editors and magazines whose treatment of contri-<br /> butors deserves to be exposed.<br /> <br /> It is strongly felt that enough has been written<br /> and published, in the form of anonymous letters<br /> concerning anonymous editors, to show that a<br /> case can be made out to be drawn up by the<br /> Secretary and formally laid before the Committee<br /> with a view to their consideration. To go on,<br /> month after month, with no attempt made at<br /> action is simply beating the air.<br /> <br /> Mr. Thring, therefore, requests members who<br /> have already written to The Author on this<br /> subject, those who intend to do so, and those<br /> whose experience would be useful, to send him<br /> confidentially the full particulars of each case.<br /> <br /> These should include :-—<br /> <br /> 1. The name of the writer.<br /> <br /> 2. The name of the magazine, and, if it is<br /> known, that of the editor.<br /> <br /> 3. The date of the occurrence.<br /> <br /> 4. The history of the occurrence concisely.<br /> <br /> 5. Letters, agreements, &amp;c., or copies, in proof<br /> of the case.<br /> <br /> 6. The exact nature of the complaint.<br /> <br /> He will then be in a position to draw up a<br /> memorandum on the whole subject, showing the<br /> reality of the grievances and the extent of the<br /> practices complained of. This memorandum will<br /> be laid before the Committee.<br /> <br /> It must be understood that the communica-<br /> tions will be of the most confidential kind, and<br /> that no names will be published without permis-<br /> sion of the writer.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> II.—Corrrieut rn Mvsic,<br /> <br /> A meeting of music publishers was held at<br /> Hanover-square on Jan. 16 “to confer with<br /> representative composers (who were specially<br /> invited to attend) as to the position of copyright<br /> owners in view of the decision of the Court of<br /> Appeal in the case of Boosey v. Whight, and as<br /> to what combined action should be taken<br /> thereon.” Communications regretting inability<br /> to attend were read from Sir Hubert Parry, Mr.<br />  <br /> <br /> 212<br /> <br /> Stephen Adams, Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Professor<br /> C. V. Stanford, Mr. Edward German, and Mr.<br /> Edward Elgar. The writers were mostly in<br /> favour of combined action being taken by pub-<br /> lishers and composers in view of the decision, the<br /> effect of which it was pointed out was to allow<br /> the reproduction on the solian and other<br /> mechanical instruments of copyright musical<br /> works without the permission of or payment to<br /> the lawful owners of the same.<br /> <br /> After a discussion it was decided to address a<br /> letter to the House of Lords Committee on copy-<br /> right, with the object of giving effect to the<br /> views of copyright owners in respect of unautho-<br /> rised reproductions of their works on mechanical<br /> instruments. Further, it was decided that the<br /> composers and publishers generally should be<br /> invited to sign the letter in question.<br /> <br /> The meeting considered certain important<br /> points in Lord Monkswell’s Copyright Bill, as<br /> amended by the committee of the House of<br /> Lords in the session of 1899, affecting copyright<br /> in musical compositions, and appointed a sub-<br /> committee consisting of Mr. William Boosey, Mr.<br /> H. R. Clayton, Mr. A. Boosey, Mr. D. Day, and<br /> Mr. Ashdown, jun., who were to draw up a report<br /> to the section with a view to action in the next<br /> session of Parliament.— The Piano, Organ, and<br /> Music Trades Journal for February.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> IiIl.—Tur Report ror 1899.<br /> <br /> The Report of the Committee for the year<br /> ending on Dec. 31, 1899, is now in the hands of<br /> the members. It cannot but be regarded as<br /> satisfactory. We have lost 110 members by non-<br /> payment, death, or resignation, and we have<br /> elected 216; our income from subscriptions was<br /> £1290, which means 1230 paying members. To<br /> these must be added the life members, who run<br /> up the list to something over 1400. And of the<br /> 110 losses a good percentage will certainly come<br /> back. It is, however, one of the dangers of the<br /> position that there are some members who think<br /> that, after their cases have been settled for them,<br /> the Society has done or will do nothing more for<br /> them, and that they may as well go—forgetting<br /> that if they have in any way benefitted by the<br /> Society’s action it is their duty to continue, in<br /> order that others may also be helped in the same<br /> way.<br /> <br /> It seems also unreasonable that some of those<br /> very people who derive benefit with every trans-<br /> action from the Society’s action, keep aloof from<br /> it, and even misrepresent and abuse its work.<br /> Their improved royalties, their improved accounts,<br /> the hesitation with which the hitherto unscru-<br /> pulous publisher advances the old iniquities in his<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> agreements and his letters: these things are<br /> entirely due to the Society, and should be recog-<br /> nised by all authors of whatever standing. It<br /> need not be a question of personal profit—there<br /> are certain writers who need not consider that<br /> side of the question. It is one of right against<br /> wrong: of light against darkness: of independence<br /> <br /> against dependence: of relf respect against<br /> humiliation.<br /> The scheme of the Pension Fund is now<br /> <br /> well before the members. It is a most im-<br /> portant departure. The Press has generally<br /> mistaken its aims. It is not to give a pension<br /> to every member as a right: it is to secure<br /> the power of giving a pension to any case in<br /> which age or sickness falls upon cne who has<br /> given good work to the world and found<br /> himself unable to make provision for the future.<br /> <br /> The report calls attention to the fact — the<br /> very important fact—that the Publishers’ Asso-<br /> ciation has not thought proper to withdraw or<br /> to disavow the monstrous “Forms of Agree-<br /> ment.” More than this, some publishers have<br /> begun to introduce the worst clauses into their<br /> agreements.<br /> <br /> It is to be hoped that the Committee may see<br /> their way to meet this attempt by warnings in the<br /> public papers.<br /> <br /> The Copyright Bill has been the subject of<br /> much consideration by the sub-committee<br /> appointed for that purpose. Mr. Thring went<br /> to Canada in the autumn as delegate to repre-<br /> sent the views of the Society. It is hoped that<br /> his mission may prove useful.<br /> <br /> The cases taken up by the Society during the<br /> year were 110 in number. Over 800 members<br /> took counsel with the Secretary during the year.<br /> <br /> One case of great importance was fought in<br /> the courts, and carried up to the Court of Appeal<br /> with success. The case establishes a very valuable<br /> precedent.<br /> <br /> Out of the rro cases, sixty-three have been<br /> successful; twenty-eight are still incomplete;<br /> nineteen were unsuccessful, generally because the<br /> author would not consent to do his part in<br /> carrying through the case.<br /> <br /> A successful year. It is hoped that the report<br /> for 1900 will show a still larger accession of<br /> members and a more general recognition of the<br /> valuable work already done by the Society.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> IV.—Tue “Acapemy” ComPETITION.<br /> The Academy offers prizes, six in number, of<br /> five guineas each, for the following:<br /> 1. A poem not to exceed twenty-four lines.<br /> 2. A short story of 1500 to 2000 words.<br /> 3. An essay not to exceed 2000 words.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 4. “ Things seen,” not to exceed 350 words.<br /> <br /> 5. A paper on some city, town, or village, not<br /> to exceed 2000 words.<br /> <br /> 6. An original set of epigrammatic criticisms.<br /> <br /> The conditions of the competition are set forth<br /> in the Academy of Feb. 17 last. The prize pro-<br /> ductions will be printed in the Academy.<br /> <br /> Such a competition is interesting and should be<br /> stimulating.<br /> <br /> There is, however, some anxiety felt about the<br /> wording of one clause: “ The editor reserves the<br /> right of printing any of the other MSS. sent in.”<br /> As it stands, which of course cannot be meant,<br /> this clause gives the editor all the MSS. sent<br /> in: he may do what he pleases with them:<br /> i.e., he may, if he pleases, sell them to other<br /> papers without giving the authors anything.<br /> <br /> Tn order to make the situation clearer, as the<br /> clause stands, the editor might find himself the<br /> possessor of a large number of valuable MSS.,<br /> all of which, by this clause, are his own, to do<br /> with them what he pleases. Suppose among<br /> them were 100 short stories and as many e says,<br /> all worthy of production in other journals and<br /> magazines, and representing a considerable pro-<br /> perty. The right, it will be observed, might then<br /> become very seriously a wrong. The attention of<br /> the editor has been called to the subject by Mr.<br /> Thring, and it will, no doubt, be set right without<br /> delay by a simple clause to the effect that MSS.<br /> which do not gain a prize will be destroyed<br /> unless accompanied by an addressed and stamped<br /> envelope or cover, for their return.<br /> <br /> Deas<br /> <br /> THE PENSION FUND.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I.<br /> <br /> : R. W. L. ALDEN, in his “ London Literary<br /> Letter’ for the New York Times Satur-<br /> day Review, mentions the Society’s<br /> <br /> pension fund without much belief in it. Perhaps<br /> <br /> this is because he has not quite grasped the posi-<br /> tion. Why, heasks, should a man receive a pension<br /> because he has written stories? The question<br /> why a pension should, or should not, be due to<br /> avy man is a very wide one. If we all had our<br /> deserts, perhaps we should all have pensions: or<br /> perhaps no one would. What is it, however, that<br /> the Society is undertaking? Not by any means<br /> the grant of a pension to every man and every<br /> woman who has followed the literary life, but—<br /> <br /> Mr. Alden will admit that this is a very important<br /> <br /> distinction—the grant of a pension in such cases<br /> <br /> where a laborious life of conscientious work in<br /> literature has left the worker stranded in old age.<br /> <br /> There is work of many kinds which is most useful<br /> <br /> VOL. x<br /> <br /> 213<br /> <br /> and yet cannot be made profitable: there are<br /> authors on philosophy and on science who write<br /> for a very few who buy and can understand. The<br /> popular author, it is true, ought to be able to<br /> provide for old age: he is far better off than ever<br /> he was before ; the publisher has not yet succeeded<br /> in going back to the old conditions. But there are<br /> many cases in which it has been impossible to<br /> make provision. Out of gratitude for those who<br /> have worked for our de&#039;ight—in respect for the<br /> literary craft—let us do our best to provide such<br /> cases with an alleviation of their poverty.<br /> <br /> Mr. Alden proposes that we should insure our<br /> members as the Foresters do. This would be<br /> perhaps possible, but it is not what we intended.<br /> Nor could we offer our members better conditions<br /> than they would get outside. Then he thinks<br /> that the sum to be provided will have to be a<br /> very large one, and asks where it is to come<br /> from. First, we do not ask assistance from the<br /> public, though if assistance were offered the com-<br /> mittee would probably take it. We begin with<br /> donations amounting to about £1200 and with<br /> annual subscriptions amounting to some £60 more.<br /> Itis proposed to transfer two-thirds of the annual<br /> subscriptions to the capital fund. For £60 a<br /> year we shall read before long, I hope, 300. it<br /> we transfer £200 to the capital sum we have<br /> £100 a year for pensions added to the interest of<br /> the capital. Now—how much will be wanted ?<br /> Last year out of the whole field of literature the<br /> Royal Literary Fund found only twenty-two cases<br /> worthy of relief: and its council is by no means a<br /> “ difficult’? body to satisfy. How many cases<br /> among our members will present themselves to<br /> our committee as worthy of a pension? I believe,<br /> very few. The fund will always be growing:<br /> every year will add to the capital. Under such<br /> circumstances, and with the addition of occasional<br /> donations and bequests, such a fund speedily<br /> assumes considerable proportions. A fund, say,<br /> of £10,000 ought to go far to satisfy every<br /> deserving case.<br /> <br /> What constitutes a deserving case? A recog-<br /> nised writer on subjects which are useful but not<br /> popular: a poet or imaginative writer of distinc-<br /> tion who has not found it possible to provide for<br /> old age: a laborious and useful writer who has<br /> done good but not great-work—these are some of<br /> the cases. For instance, there died, two years ago,<br /> at the age of eighty-two, one John Saunders. He<br /> worked at literature for fifty years: he wrote<br /> novels, one or two of which are still in publishers’<br /> lists, and contributed to literature a great deal<br /> that was sound, good work and most useful. In<br /> 1843, for example, Charles Knight produced a<br /> work containing 150 papers on “ London.” Of<br /> these papers no fewer than seventy-five were<br /> <br /> x<br />  <br /> <br /> 214<br /> <br /> written by John Saunders. It was nearly fifty<br /> years ago, yet it isnot too much to say that after so<br /> much has been transcribed from the City records,<br /> and so many discoveries have beep made in City<br /> history, no one who takes up the subject of<br /> London can afford to neglect the work of John<br /> Saunders. His case, to my mind, is pre-eminently<br /> one which illustrates the necessity for this action<br /> on the part of the pension fund of the Society of<br /> Authors. W. B.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> II.<br /> <br /> It may seem premature to indicate how the<br /> pepsions accruing from the Socicty’s fund shall<br /> be awarded, nevertheless it is advisable that the<br /> point which Mrs. Alec Tweedie indicated last<br /> month be recognised. Such grants or pensions<br /> as are now available involve an application some-<br /> what in formd pauperis, and the feeling against<br /> the inevitable publicity thus entailed is so strong<br /> that I have heard a distinguished writer who,<br /> unfortunately, is not in affluent circumstances,<br /> say she would much prefer to accept the bounty<br /> which the poor law accords to the destitute. If<br /> the new pension, when available, was bestowed<br /> unsolicited on writers over sixty years of age<br /> whose work evinces certain literary qualities that<br /> the Society could recognise as such, the grant<br /> could be made to assume the aspe t of honour to<br /> a veteran which would remain such even if the<br /> pecunia accompanying it were a matter of primary<br /> or of secondary importance. It is inevitable that<br /> artists are sensitive, probably the finer the art the<br /> keener the susceptibilities of its producer. Whoso<br /> gives acceptably gives tenfold.<br /> <br /> A Wiiiine ConTRIBUTOR,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> PARIS NOTES.<br /> <br /> 5, Rue Chomel, Paris.<br /> <br /> « C\ALAIRES et mistres de femmes” is the<br /> S title of the latest social study published<br /> by the Comte d’Haussonville (chez<br /> Calmann Levy). It contains much interesting<br /> and valuable information concerning the work-<br /> women of France; and its title conveys an<br /> adequate idea of the subjects treated in this<br /> woik. Other authors have written at length on<br /> the same topic, picturesquely detailing the<br /> terrible temptations and dangers which daily<br /> be-et the “ petite ouvritére””’ hastening to and fro<br /> from her comfortless attic to the dreary prison-<br /> house where her youth and beauty are pitilessly<br /> consumed in the fierce effort to gratify the<br /> fantastic caprices of her richer, idler sisters—<br /> ‘the mondaines of Paris; but M. d’Haussonville<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> appears the only writer of eminence who views<br /> the situation froin a practical point of view, and<br /> endeavours to ameliorate the existing evil by the<br /> introduction of several beneficial and necessary<br /> amendments in the present Civil Code. ‘“ There<br /> is, on one point,’ he writes, “a contradiction<br /> between the Civil and Penal Code. The Civil<br /> Code does not permit a young girl to marry<br /> before she is fifteen years of age; whereas the<br /> Penal Code permits her to prostitute herself on<br /> attaining her eleventh year”; and even while<br /> bearing high testimony to the merits of the<br /> Parisian work-girl as a class, he ably pleads her<br /> cause, and points out the necessity of aiding and<br /> protecting her by the powerful intervention of the<br /> law.<br /> Srx New Cuauses.<br /> <br /> To attain this end, M. d’Haussonville proposes<br /> the addition of six new clauses to the existing<br /> Code in order to ensure :—(1) The legal protec-<br /> tion of every work-girl until she reaches her<br /> fifteenth year; (2) The punishment of all those<br /> persons who illegally favour her prostitution ;<br /> (3) The seeking out (under sundry restrictions)<br /> the paternity of the infant, in order to render the<br /> father pecuniarily liable in a certain degree;<br /> (4) The facilitation of marriage by the suppression<br /> of sundry useless formalities, &amp;c. The fifth and<br /> sixth amendments proposed by the eminent<br /> Academician are conceived in a still more sur-<br /> prisingly liberal spirit, and read as follows, viz. :<br /> <br /> (5) De modifier les articles 1399 4 1496 du<br /> Code civil en créant, comme droit commun de la<br /> France, un régime plus respectueux des droits et<br /> des intéréts de la femme que celui de la com-<br /> munauté pure et simple, tel que l’a constitué le<br /> Code.<br /> <br /> (6.) De constituer au profit de la femme un<br /> droit sérieux sur les produits de son travail, en<br /> obtenant du Sénat le vote de la loi du 18 février,<br /> 1897, modifi¢e par la suppression du paragraphe<br /> final de l’article premier.”<br /> <br /> In spite of his disinterested advocacy of the<br /> workwoman’s rights, M. d’Haussonville is no<br /> favourer of the fashionable Feminist movement,<br /> and the reasons he gives for his non-adhesion<br /> certainly appear to justify his attitude in the<br /> matter. It remains to be seen whether his latest<br /> work will have any greater effect on the rich,<br /> laughter-loving Parisians than had of yore the<br /> plaintive murmur of Lazarus at the gate of Dives.<br /> The fact that a large number of the “ petites<br /> ouvriéres,” deftly threading their way each<br /> successive night and morning through the<br /> luxurious boulevards of the most brilliant capital<br /> in the world, actually exist on a scanty pittance of<br /> 375 francs per annum (less than a shilling a<br /> day), barbs the pathetic revelation unconsciously<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> given by a young work-girl of eighteen in<br /> response to a question addressed her on the<br /> subject :—<br /> <br /> “ Dame! monsieur, bien stir qwon ne mange pas<br /> &amp; son apaisement.”<br /> <br /> Nos Prerinrres pu SIfcLe.<br /> <br /> Highly interesting also, though in a totally<br /> different fashion, is “ Nos Peintres du Sitcle,” by<br /> M. Jules Breton. In graphic portraiture—either<br /> with pen or brush—M. Breton has few equals:<br /> witness his vivid word-limning of Delacroix,<br /> Ingrés, Rousseau, Corot, and Francais. He is<br /> especially excellent in his appreciations of those<br /> landscape masters of whom he was, at once, the<br /> devoted friend and rival. Of Corot he speaks<br /> in the following terms: “He gives to every-<br /> thing its exact significance, he puts everything<br /> in its right place — aye, he is an Athenian,<br /> softened by a touch of modern nerrosité. He<br /> was a happy creator. He himself once said,<br /> when unrolling his sketches, on his return to his<br /> studio :—<br /> <br /> “Tn front of Nature, I am a little boy ; but<br /> here I am—le bon Dieu!”<br /> <br /> “He was infallible and happy,” adds M.<br /> Breton.<br /> <br /> After a minute description of Rousseau’s per-<br /> sonality, we find this characteristic anecdote :—<br /> <br /> Théodore Rousseau was, during one period of<br /> his career, in extremely straitened circumstances.<br /> It was probably at this epoch that he was<br /> surprised by Troyon, “that other great painter,”<br /> in putting the finishing touches to one of his<br /> most exquisite productions, Le Givre.<br /> <br /> “You have painted a marvel there, my little<br /> Théodore,” exclaimed the visitor.<br /> <br /> “ Ah, well!” returned the other, “if you know<br /> any amateur who will pay down eight hundred<br /> francs for it, I wi!l pass him off this canvas.”<br /> <br /> “ You are jesting!”’<br /> <br /> “T require that sum, you see,” explained the<br /> painter, quietly.<br /> <br /> Troyon said nothing; but, on his return home,<br /> he took from a drawer eight hundred franc notes,<br /> put them in an envelope, and despatched a<br /> messenger with the packet to his comrade.<br /> Rousseau’s response was to place the famous<br /> Givre on the messenger’s back, charging him to<br /> take it to M. Troyon. The latter vainly endea-<br /> voured to excuse himself ; he was forced to keep<br /> the canvas. “Grands artistes, grands ccurs!<br /> O belle époque toute frémissante d’enthousiasme<br /> et de générosité!” writes M. Breton, in concluding<br /> this narrative. In short, the whole book teems<br /> with similar characteristic anecdotes, souvenirs,<br /> and appreciations, sufficient to furnish ample stock-<br /> in-trade for half a dozen articles on the subject.<br /> <br /> 215<br /> <br /> M. Kistemacckers v. Mme. BERNHARDT.<br /> <br /> That the French author will not permit his<br /> literary rights to be seriously compromised by<br /> the injudicious conduct of a contracting party is<br /> seen by the spirited action of M. Henry Kiste-<br /> maeckers (a rising young dramatist, member of<br /> the Société des auteurs et compositeurs drama-<br /> tiques) &amp; propos of no less a personage than<br /> Madame Sarah Bernhardt. The cause of dispute<br /> was as follows: In November 1898, the celebrated<br /> actress accepted a play by M. Kistemaeckers,<br /> entitled “ Marthe,” and the rehearsals commenced<br /> on the fifteenth of the same month. For sundry<br /> valid reasons the representation of the play<br /> was twice or thrice deferred; whereupon M.<br /> Kistemaeckers—in virtue of the third article<br /> registered in the contract existing between the<br /> Société des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques<br /> and the directors of the théitre des Nations,<br /> which gives every author the right of withdraw-<br /> ing a play whose rehearsals have been suspended<br /> during a period of two months — repossessed<br /> himself of his play in favour of the Nouveau-<br /> ThéAtre, and boldly sued Madame Beruhardt for<br /> damages, being upheld in his action by the special<br /> committee appointed by the Société des auteurs et<br /> compositeurs dramatiques to judge the affair.<br /> After hearing both sides of the question, the<br /> First Civil Chamber confirmed the decision of the<br /> committee, condemning Wadame Sarah Bernhardt<br /> to pay an indemnity of 6000 francs, with costs.<br /> <br /> The verdict was undoubtedly just ; nevertheless,<br /> when the length of time that has elapsed between<br /> the first lodging of the complaint and the finding<br /> of the final judgment is taken into consideration,<br /> it must be admitted that the French are, occa-<br /> sionally, a patient nation.<br /> <br /> Reception or M. Paut DEscHANEL.<br /> <br /> The official reception of M. Paul Deschanel at<br /> the French Academy took place in due form.<br /> That the oration he delivered on this occasion<br /> was a monument of elegant language, elevated<br /> ideas, and flowing periods goes without saying;<br /> yet, when the first feeling of involuntary admi-<br /> ration had subsided, his irreproachable precision<br /> and faultily-faultless diction became almost<br /> oppressive. The general impression made on the<br /> hearers seemed somewhat analogous to the effect<br /> that Macaulay confessed the consecutive reading<br /> of Gibbons’ famous History invariably produced<br /> on his own mind. M. Deschanel began his<br /> speech by associating his father’s name with the<br /> thanks he addressed to the illustrious assembly<br /> who had admitted him to their body. “It seems<br /> to me,” he continued, “that it is my father, in<br /> good justice, who should be here now”; and<br /> after paying fervent tribute to the high moral<br />  <br /> <br /> 216<br /> <br /> qualities and laborious public career of M. Emile<br /> Deschanel, he acknowleged himself a little con-<br /> soled for the neglect shown the latter by the<br /> thought that “if I would have been more happy<br /> to see him in this place, he is more happy at<br /> seeing his son there ; fur, together, we form only<br /> a single soul and a single heart!”<br /> <br /> M. Sully Prudhomme flattered the filial senti-<br /> ment thus expressed by including both father<br /> and son in his respoase. He adroitly supple-<br /> mented the eulogistic, though rather vague,<br /> portraiture given of Edouard Hervé by his<br /> successor, prefacing his remarks on the subject<br /> by the declaration that M. Deschanel had already<br /> “fully honoured the memory of this noble<br /> adversary.” He also recalled Hervé’s dignified<br /> response to Napoleon the Third’s overtures: ‘On<br /> entering the Emperor’s presence, I should be<br /> someone; on leaving it, I should no longer be<br /> anything.” “To be someone,” M. Prudhomme<br /> explained, “meant with him to conform his life<br /> to his faith, to walk uprightly ; to be no longer<br /> anything was to deviate from the straight path,<br /> were it only by a step.”<br /> <br /> M. Sarnt-Sains as AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> “Ts Saul among the prophets?” queried<br /> the bewildered Ancients; and “Is Saint-Saéns<br /> among the authors?” ask the perplexed Moderns<br /> on seeing the name of the well-known musician<br /> figuring beneath the advertisement of musical<br /> “Portraits et Souvenirs.” The book itself has<br /> not yet been offered the public; but if the whole<br /> work is on a par with the samples given of its<br /> contents, M. Saint-Saéns has produced a volume<br /> of high merit and one which justifies the addition<br /> of littérateur to his other titles. The pages<br /> devoted to discussing Antoine Rubenstein are<br /> remarkably well written, the contrast between<br /> the author and his friend being admirably defined.<br /> The first—pale, frail, and inclined to consump-<br /> tion; the second—athletic, indefatigable, colossal<br /> in stature as in talent; the pair forming together<br /> a renewal of the Liszt and Chopin legend.<br /> M. Saint-Saéns asserts that he himself merely<br /> resembles Chopin in his bodily weakness and<br /> precarious health, disclaiming any pretension of<br /> being the successor of that marvellous genius<br /> who revolutionised art and opened the way to all<br /> modern music. He humorously adds that, even<br /> in consumption, he still remains the inferior,<br /> since Chopin died of phthisis, while he has<br /> foolishly got the better of that malady. But in<br /> this compressed réswné of his ideas the charm<br /> and personality of the writer are necessarily<br /> effaced. Hence, we give the analogy existing<br /> between Liszt and Rubenstein in his own<br /> words ;<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> “Fin revanche, Rubenstein pouvait hardiment<br /> affronter le souvenir de Liszt, avec sa charme<br /> irrésistible et son exécution surhumaine; tres<br /> différent de lui, d’ailleurs: Liszt tenait de Vaigle<br /> et Rubenstein du lion; ceux qui ont vu cette<br /> patte de velours du fauve abbattant sur le clavier<br /> sa puissante caresse n’en perdront jamais le<br /> souvenir! Les deux grands artistes n’avaient<br /> de commun que la supériorité. Ni l’un ni lautre<br /> nétaient jamais, 4 aucun moment, le pianiste ;<br /> méme en exécutant trés simplement les plus petites<br /> pieces, ils restaient g-ands, sans le faire expres,<br /> par grandeur de nature incoercible : incarna ‘ions<br /> vivantes de l&#039;art, ils imposaient une sorte de<br /> terreur sacrée en dehors de |’admiration ordi-<br /> naire; aussi faisaient ils des miracles.”<br /> <br /> Dramatic CENSORS.<br /> <br /> Judging from an article in the Figaro, the<br /> office of these gentlemen is no sinecure. They<br /> are expected to read in manuscript all the plays,<br /> pantomimes, and songs presented by theatrical<br /> directors or café-concert managers, in addition to<br /> daily examining and reading the programmes of<br /> the café concert-halls of Paris and its suburbs.<br /> They are also expected to be present at all<br /> general rehearsals, in order to judge of the<br /> scenic effect of the works represented, from a<br /> moral and political point of view. Even when a<br /> play is duly authorised their task is not ended.<br /> They have to be present at its first public per-<br /> formance, to ascertain that the modifications or<br /> alterations suggested by them have been carried<br /> into effect. In the year 1898, 883 dramatic<br /> plays and performances were thus examined and<br /> licensed, this number being surpassed during the<br /> first ten months of 1899. The same year the<br /> “inspecteurs des théitres ”” were likewise reported<br /> to have been present at 538 general rehearsals,<br /> or first nights; while the number of new songs<br /> examined by them is estimated at a minimum<br /> of 8000 per annum. The signing of the café-<br /> concert programmes alone represents no incon-<br /> siderable amount of work, for Paris boasts no<br /> fewer than 761 concert halls (of which 120 give<br /> daily performances), in addition to seventy-six<br /> suburban establishments of the same class; and<br /> this quite apart from the thirty-seven theatres<br /> proper over which these gentlemen exercise a<br /> vigilant supervision. Their recompense is by no<br /> means proportionate to such Herculean achieve-<br /> ments, the first and second censor receiving a<br /> salary of 6000 francs apiece, the third 3500 francs,<br /> and the fourth 2400 francs—making, in all, a<br /> total of 17,900 frai.cs.<br /> <br /> Torics or THE MontTH. :<br /> Among events of the month connected with<br /> literary and dramatic personages may be men-<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> tioned :—The presentation of a golden medal to<br /> M. Emile Zola on the second anniversary of his<br /> famous letter, “J’accuse/”’ and the rehabilita-<br /> tion of the memory of M. Francois Zola by the<br /> same courageous writer ; the election of the well-<br /> known actor,4M. Constant Coquelin, to the pre-<br /> sidency of the Association de secowrs mutuels des<br /> artistes dramatiques; the conversion and<br /> admission into the outer order of Benedictines<br /> of the celebrated writer Joris-Karl Huysmans ;<br /> and the judicial disbanding and suppression of<br /> the Order of Assomptionnists in France, the<br /> said Order having printed and distributed over<br /> 630,000,000 publications per annum, mainly or<br /> political ends. DarRacorte Scort,<br /> <br /> &gt; exe<br /> <br /> NOTES AND NEWS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> HE unfortunate death of Mr. H. D. Traill<br /> not only robs the Society of one of its<br /> Council, but of a member who, occupying<br /> <br /> a very important and influential position in<br /> the literary world—that of editor of Literature<br /> — always gave the Society the one kind of<br /> help which could have been asked of him,-viz.,<br /> a fair hearing. It is now more than a year<br /> since the publication of my book, “The Pen and<br /> the Book,” in which appeared certain figures and<br /> facts connected with the business of publishing<br /> which had previously been scattered about in the<br /> pages of The Author. Of course, this was the<br /> signal for a fierce outcry. The assailants came<br /> on gallantly, but anonymously. Their language<br /> was kept in some restraint by the editor, who<br /> invited me to reply, and accorded me the whole<br /> of the space I asked for. In this reply, assisted<br /> and supported by Mr. Thring, I was enabled to<br /> point out that the whole attack rested on wilful<br /> and deliberate misrepresentations: many of them<br /> too gross to be answered were it not for the<br /> general ignorance on the subject, and the in-<br /> capacity of people to believe that the trade of<br /> publishing can tolerate such practices as have<br /> been exposed by the Society. The result, as is<br /> always the case after such attack and reply, was<br /> an increase in our membership.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> For my own part I have never been able to<br /> understand why there is not more jealousy on the<br /> part of publishers in association for the honour of<br /> their trade. We expose certain facts: we have<br /> declared over and over again that these practices<br /> have nothing to do with honourable houses. Yet,<br /> when publishers meet in congress, the first thing<br /> that the president does is to state ublicly that<br /> <br /> VoL. X.<br /> <br /> 217<br /> <br /> the Society treats all publishers as dishonest.<br /> And when their committee put out draft agree-<br /> ments in which they try on their little game of<br /> Grab in a manner both guileless and childlike,<br /> they make no reference whatever to the possi-<br /> bilities and the practice of fraud. The adver-<br /> tisement that costs nothing : the secret percentage:<br /> the cooked account: the agreement that gives<br /> everything to the publisher—of these, if you<br /> please, not one word. Nor has the committee of<br /> the Publishers’ Association ever stepped forward<br /> to repudiate the falsities by which their trade<br /> is defended and the Society is attacked. Con-<br /> sidering these things, it is perhaps as well to<br /> keep silence for a while as to “honourable”<br /> houses. As soon as a reasonable jealousy for<br /> the honour of the trade is exhibited—that kind of<br /> jealousy which would express reprobation of un-<br /> worthy tricks—even if it allowed the Universal<br /> Grab, we may return to the respect due 10<br /> “honourable” houses.<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Two months ago I ventured to point out<br /> certain views of my own on the subject of<br /> criticism, for which I have been rewarded by<br /> learning (1) that I advocate the abolition of<br /> criticism: (2) that I desire criticism to b<br /> “all praise”: (3) that I desire criticism to be<br /> placed in the hands of “ illiterates”: (4) that I<br /> refuse the right of expressing an opinion: (5)<br /> that my own novels have been sometimes praised<br /> —so that because a man’s book is spoken of<br /> well it is a shame for him to point out the<br /> glaring vices of general criticism! My position<br /> is this: The true critic must be a scho ar, other-<br /> wise there will be always something lacking ; the<br /> critical faculty is apart from the imaginative<br /> faculty : the former may, or it may not, co-exist<br /> with the latter—this has been twisted into the<br /> assertion that I would not receive Goethe’s<br /> critical work. The critic neither calls names, nor is<br /> abusive in other ways, nor gibes, nor sneers, nor<br /> misrepresents, nor again, which is very impor-<br /> <br /> ‘tant, does he simulate indignation : he is a judge,<br /> <br /> and his judgment, I said, should be “ without<br /> mercy and without bias.” Above all, a critic<br /> reveals himself by his praise. Any incompetent<br /> person can pick holes and find fault without<br /> reading a book: but, if he attempts to praise, his<br /> incompetence betrayeth him at once. Finally, I<br /> ask for the same courtesy in criticism as is<br /> expected in other professions. We do_ not<br /> find one lawyer calling another a Hooligan: Lam<br /> quite sure that no editor would permit it. But<br /> we do find the editor of the Contemporary not<br /> only permitting this abuse, but allowing the<br /> writer who stooped to this abuse to repeat him-<br /> self, and even to improve upon hiniself—in a<br /> Y<br />  <br /> <br /> 218<br /> <br /> second article. It is now twelve months since the<br /> writer whom Mr. Buchanan calls a Hooligan, lay<br /> apparently at the point of death. From all parts<br /> of the world there flashed telegrams of inquiry—<br /> thousands of telegrams: they were proofs of the<br /> affection and the anxiety of the English-speaking<br /> race. How is Mr. Buchanan allowed, in the<br /> Contemporary, to speak of that time? Listen.<br /> It is in the February number of that most<br /> influential organ : “Sir Walter Besant avers that<br /> I have no right to speak of these things ”—I<br /> averred nothing of the kind: I said, in so many<br /> words, “Mr. Buchanan has his views and has<br /> stated them; I have mine, and I propose to state<br /> them.” My objection is not as to his statement<br /> of opinion, but as to the manner of statement,<br /> which is quite another thing. To repeat: “he avers<br /> that I have no right to speak of these things<br /> because they concern the prestige and the pocket<br /> of one who, with a publisher on each side of him,<br /> cried aloud for, and obtained, the sympathy of<br /> two continents.” So the anxiety of Kipling’s<br /> millions of friends was “ cried aloud for” by the<br /> man on the bed of sickness, through the assist-<br /> ance of two publishers!<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> A letter has been sent to me cut out of the<br /> Speaker, a paper which used to be associated<br /> with periodical ferocity against the Society of<br /> Authors. I really think that we ought to have<br /> been more grateful than we were to the Speaker<br /> under the old management for giving us so<br /> repeatedly the opportunity of stating our case.<br /> However, this letter is written by one who has<br /> suffered many things at the hands of reviewers,<br /> and is at length goaded into speech. He com-<br /> plains of praise and he complains of abuse: he<br /> has penned certain admirable parodies of the<br /> reviewer who abuses him and the reviewer who<br /> praises him—both, of course, without any pre-<br /> liminary reading of the book. This is the remedy<br /> proposed by the writer:<br /> <br /> When you find a reviewer who evidently knows some-<br /> thing about you and has a grudge against you, do not be<br /> goaded into writing to his newspaper or mentioning him in<br /> the preface of your next work, but rather buy up such paper<br /> of his as may be floating around London, and telephone to<br /> him to the effect that you hold it. I have known this<br /> rhethod to produce in one of our most important and most<br /> venal journals a column and a half of weighty, learned, and<br /> favourable criticism.<br /> <br /> Your publisher will, if necessary, advance you the<br /> money.<br /> <br /> Very good: but suppose one does not know,<br /> beforehand, who is going to review the book:<br /> and suppose the reviewer has no “ paper floating<br /> around London ”—what then? Besides, “paper”<br /> demands cyedit and confidence. I doubt whether<br /> the young: gentlemen who do the reviews—by<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> inches—have any credit or can<br /> confidence or can float any paper.<br /> <br /> command any<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The writer, if he sees these remarks, is invited<br /> to consider one point which, to my mind, lies at<br /> the root of the whole bad business. It is the kind<br /> of pay given by some papers. The poor man, in<br /> order to pay his way, must make so much a week,<br /> His review work goes, probably, a long way<br /> towards finding this mimimum. Now, if he is<br /> allowed three inches or even six for each book,<br /> and if he receives, say, three half-crowns for his<br /> notice of each book, it is evident that in order to<br /> make £3 a week, below which life can offer few<br /> luxuries, he must notice eight books a week. But<br /> he will probably get a longer article in addition.<br /> This more important paper will take a certain<br /> amount of work: perhaps he will give two days<br /> to it: there remain five. How many books can he<br /> read and review, even only at three or four inches<br /> each, in five days? On the other hand, by the<br /> simple process of not reading the books he can<br /> review as many as are senttohim. I knewa man<br /> once who added a guinea to his weekly income by<br /> writing a column of “reviews” of novels: there<br /> were from eight to twelve on his list and his<br /> editor liked something “smart.” We must not<br /> be too hard on the unfortunate reviewer : his<br /> paper can only pay by the l ngth of the contribu-<br /> tion; if it wants to notice all the books that are<br /> published it can only do so by giving to each the<br /> briefest possible space. The reviewer, in fact—<br /> and this is, as I said above, the keynote of the<br /> whole situation—cannot afford to read the books.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> A note on the Society from the Manchester<br /> Guardian (see p. 219) is pleasant reading. The<br /> writer alludes to the common charge of “ commer-<br /> cialism” brought against the Society. I would<br /> remind our members that the answer is simply<br /> this. Literary property is a very real kind of<br /> property. It belongs to those who create it.<br /> They may give it to publishers for nothing if they<br /> like—no one will object except perhaps their wives<br /> and children. They may also sit down contentedly<br /> to be “bested” by agreements which they do<br /> not understand. They may even consent to sign<br /> the Forms of Agreement which the Publishers’<br /> Committee have prepared with so much thought-<br /> fulness and with such admirable jealousy as to<br /> the equity of the case—nothing so truly beautiful<br /> as pure equity. No one can possibly object to<br /> an author behaving in the grand style. As for<br /> <br /> those authors who have no private income and<br /> cannot afford to surrender, or to be “ bested” out<br /> of, their own property which, valuable or not,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> represents their life work, we do our best for<br /> them. It has been pointed out over and over<br /> again that this defence of property is no more<br /> commercial in Literature than in Art, in Medi-<br /> cine, in Law, in mines, in houses—in anything.<br /> It is simply an act of common prudence. Further,<br /> it cannot be too often repeated that the literary<br /> value of a work, whatever it may be, has no<br /> necessary connection with its commercial value.<br /> The greatest book ever written, the most far-<br /> reaching in its influences, the most epoch-making,<br /> may be worth less, commercially, than a girl’s<br /> story or a Sunday-school prize. A book of the<br /> higher mathematics appeals to an audience of a<br /> few score; a book of the highest scientific<br /> importance, which may revolutionise the life of a<br /> whole people, may appeal only to a few hundreds.<br /> It seems necessary to state this simple fact over<br /> and over again. Perhaps some time or other it<br /> will be accepted for the commonplace truism that<br /> it is. We shall then hear the last about the<br /> “commercialism ” of the Society.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I refer the reader to a communication on p. 224<br /> concerning the “Method of the Future.” It is<br /> quite true that an estimate for a single book by<br /> an individual author might be much higher than<br /> that which would be furnished for a publisher<br /> who could send a large amount of work. The<br /> printer would probably try it on. But our<br /> correspondent forgets the fact that we have<br /> collected and -published a whole body of<br /> information on the subject of the Cost of Pro-<br /> duction—which was intended as a guide to the<br /> author and a protection against fraud rather by<br /> the publisher than the printer. I embodied all<br /> the latest information on the subject in “The<br /> Pen and the Book,” and anyone who wants to<br /> know what an estimate should be may go to<br /> the nearest free library and refer to the book.<br /> This book was not designed as a work bringing<br /> a money profit, and I have already, with the<br /> hope of rendering it more generally useful, pre-<br /> sented some hundreds of copies to free libraries.<br /> I am still ready to give more copies to these<br /> libraries; and if any of the members will kindly<br /> inform me of libraries in which it is not already<br /> placed, I shall be very willing to send them<br /> copies. With some such guide and a little<br /> ordinary care I do not think there is much<br /> danger of the author getting into mischief. He<br /> might refer his estimate to the Secretary, for<br /> instance. He must, of course, be very careful<br /> over his corrections, and the length of his MS. :<br /> and he must not bind more than are wanted at<br /> the outset: and he must be extremely careful<br /> over the advertisements,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> AUTHOR. 219<br /> <br /> An evening paper informs us that a certain<br /> author, whose name need not be reproduced, on<br /> finding himself for the moment without resources,<br /> boldly faced the situation and asked to be<br /> admitted to the workhouse and to go on working<br /> there on the completion of a book which already<br /> approaches completion. It was perhaps as good<br /> a thing as he could do, provided he did not mind<br /> the companionship and was prepared to face the<br /> memory of it, and wanted a quiet place for work.<br /> Meantime, as he is a writer of some repute and<br /> has held appointments of various kinds, all<br /> requiring special ability, was it not possible to<br /> send in an application to the Royal Literary<br /> Fund? Watter BESANT.<br /> <br /> Pec<br /> <br /> ON THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> HE Manchester Guardian of Feb. 17<br /> speaks of the Society in the following<br /> terms :<br /> <br /> “The annual report of the Society of Authors<br /> for the past year, which has just been issued to<br /> its members, shows a flourishing state of affairs<br /> on which the Society may justly congratulate<br /> itself, Its success is, for that matter, a boon—<br /> although often an ignored one—to all who write<br /> for their livelihood. The Society is an eminently<br /> practical institution, and the reproach of being<br /> solely concerned with the commercial side of<br /> literature, which one hears at times brought<br /> against it, simply shows that those who bring it<br /> have never troubled to inquire what the position<br /> and aims of the Society really are. The numerous<br /> cases of injustice to authors which the Society<br /> has taken up during the past year—in one case<br /> going as far as the House of Lords in order to<br /> get a definite ruling on a point of importance in<br /> the relation of authors and publishers—show how<br /> useful a work it is doing, in spite of all the<br /> attacks that are made upon it by people who<br /> ought to know better. The razson détre of the<br /> Society of Authors is to be a kind of trade union<br /> for writers, through whose existence they may<br /> assert their rights in the case of dishonest or<br /> sweating publishers. It is clear that it has met<br /> a want. ee<br /> <br /> “Tt ig not surprising that a body which thus<br /> acts as a safeguard to the author should have<br /> over 1200 members. The wonder is that so many<br /> authors should still stay out of it and lose no<br /> opportunity of jeering at it because its motives<br /> are frankly businesslike and its canons of litera<br /> ture incline to commercialism. Sometimes the<br /> temptation, we confess, is hard to resist; but we<br /> are ashamed of having yielded to it when we<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> 220<br /> <br /> consider how excellent the work of the Society,<br /> as set forth in this report, really is. The Com-<br /> mittee are quite right in pointing out ‘to those<br /> members of the profession who are not members<br /> of the Society that they are reaping indirectly<br /> the benefits resulting from the work and labours<br /> of the Society, and to the more successful writers<br /> who are not members that they are gaining<br /> substantial benefits from the moneys expended.<br /> by other and sometimes poorer members of their<br /> craft The pension scheme, on which we have<br /> already commented, is the chief novelty in the<br /> report. We have little doubt that it also will<br /> have a stimulating effect on the membership.”<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> ON TYPEWRITERS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> T is now some months since a letter was sent<br /> to The Author about the position of Type-<br /> writers. For various reasons this letter has<br /> <br /> been held over. The writer advocated the employ-<br /> ment of the individual typist who works at home,<br /> instead of sending the work to an office. She<br /> claimed for this plan the very decided advantage<br /> of cheapness. She asserted that 9d. a thousand<br /> words was good and sufficient pay, provided<br /> there was no middleman and no office. She<br /> further pointed out that the chief reason why<br /> girls do not get on at such work is want of<br /> education. That is the preliminary equipment<br /> which is absolutely necessary, and cannot be<br /> crammed. Shorthand may be learned very<br /> cheaply. ‘Of three typists, one taught herself<br /> shorthand, and had five shillings’ worth of teach-<br /> ing on the typewriter when she bought it; one<br /> paid £5 for instruction in shorthand ; and one<br /> was taught at very small cost by aclerk employed<br /> during the day.” She gives the evidence of one<br /> who works at home.<br /> <br /> “A friend of mine, well educated, finding<br /> teaching in schools decidedly paid at ‘ starvation<br /> wages,’ though she spoke French and German<br /> fluently, took a course of shorthand and type-<br /> writing lessons at Pitman’s, paying, I think, £10,<br /> till proficient. In less than five months she<br /> obtained a good appointment—3os. a week, hours<br /> g till 6, and on Saturdays till 2.<br /> <br /> “As to private work, I know of the case of<br /> a well-educated gentlewoman who eighteen months<br /> ago found herself suddenly under the necessity of<br /> earning money. She paid a small sum for twelve<br /> lessons from a private typist, was proficient at the<br /> end of ten, bought a typewriter, spent £5 in<br /> advertising, and has never lacked for work.<br /> She bas a thorough knowledge of Latin, French,<br /> and some German, and earns enough by copying<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> authors’ MSS. at od. a thousand to live com-<br /> fortably. Iam quite sure, from the experience<br /> of others as well as my own, that 9d. a<br /> thousand need never mean ‘starvation wages,”<br /> <br /> _whatever the proprietors of expensive offices<br /> <br /> may say. I myself have to refuse nearly as<br /> much as I take, though I constantly employ an<br /> assistant.”<br /> <br /> And the letter concludes as follows, omitting<br /> those parts which refer to previous discussions :<br /> <br /> “ Tf, for any reason of her own, a woman<br /> chooses to do her work at home instead of being<br /> an employee in an office, for many an obvious<br /> advantage, and finds it profitable to copy our<br /> MSS. at 9d. a 1000, it certainly seems to make<br /> for the greatest good of the greatest number that<br /> she should have the od. rather than that we<br /> should pay ts. or 1s. 3d. to a smart office that<br /> (as I know to be the case) she should receive at<br /> the most 7d. and pay travelling expenses, and lose<br /> her freedom and privacy while the office scores<br /> the margin, for what profits neither the worker<br /> nor ourselves.<br /> <br /> “Moreover, she has a personal pride and stake<br /> in her work, and, so far as my experience gors,<br /> does it infinitely better than the experimenting<br /> beginner or the indifferent employee.<br /> <br /> « Typewriting and stenography are likely to be<br /> always with us. It may bring happiness and<br /> relief from anxiety into many a harrassed life, if<br /> authors will combine to send work into the<br /> workers’ homes, instead of (to save themselves a<br /> little trouble) despatching it to the much<br /> advertised office. It is work that can be done<br /> by the elderly, the delicate, the cripple, those<br /> incapable of going out in all weathers or at<br /> all hours; and those whose conscience obliges<br /> them to pay more than the ‘starvation 9d.’<br /> will probably be allowed to indulge the<br /> desire. I can confidently recommend two of<br /> the typists who advertise (at 9d. a 1000) in<br /> The Author.”<br /> <br /> rec<br /> <br /> A NOTE ON RUSKIN.<br /> <br /> (From the Chicago Dial, Feb. 1, 1900.<br /> I [ IS work done in the field of art. criticism<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> has called forth an enormous amount of<br /> discussion, in the form of both approval<br /> and dissent. At first, his opinions exci ed&#039;violent<br /> <br /> antagonism ; then, for a period, the force of his -<br /> <br /> eloquence seemed to carry everything before it;<br /> then, again, a marked reaction set in, and a<br /> deliberate effort was made to belittle his achieve-<br /> ments and minimise his influence. We do not<br /> think that the two parties to this controversy<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> have ever joined issue fairly and squarely. We<br /> may allow the justice of much that has been said<br /> by his hostile critics—by Mr. Stillman, for<br /> example, and Dr. Waldstein—yet admit almost<br /> to the full what has been claimed for him by the<br /> most earnest of his champions. Both parties are<br /> right, in some sense. For the attack, we may<br /> say that his specific judgments were often wrong,<br /> that his bestowal of praise was exaggerated<br /> beyond all reason, that his advice to painters<br /> was frequently impracticable, and that his<br /> influence upon contemporary artists was slight.<br /> But for the defence we must also say something.<br /> We must say, for example, that he made the<br /> general English public think more seriously<br /> about art than it had ever done before. We<br /> must say that his writings opened eyes by the<br /> thousands that had hitherto been blind, and, if<br /> those eyes did not see just what he would have<br /> had them see, they were at least opened to some<br /> kind of truth that would not have been revealed<br /> to them at all except for his influence. We must<br /> say, also, that he gave to the pursuit and study<br /> of art a dignity that it had never known before,<br /> by virtue of his constant insistence upon the<br /> relation of art to morality, his unalterable deter-<br /> mination to judge of artistic work from other<br /> standpoints than the narrow one of technique,<br /> and the prophetic fervour with which he pro-<br /> claimed the gospel, not of art for art’s sake, but of<br /> art for the sake of man’s temporal delight and<br /> eternal salvation. . . . :<br /> <br /> In a word, the balance of Mr. Ruskin’s teach-<br /> ings, whatever specific vagaries they may embody,<br /> will rest upon the side of progress, of ethical<br /> inspiration, of worthy human activity, of all that<br /> is desirable for the uplifting of the race. In this<br /> belief, we would earnestly recommend the most<br /> extreme of his books, even “ Unto this Last” and<br /> the many volumes of the “ Fors Clavigera,” not<br /> indeed as the best food for untrained minds, but<br /> as a helpful influence to the cultivated intelli-<br /> gence, as a needed corrective for all that is<br /> unspiritual and materialistic in the thought of<br /> the age. Their essential teaching is at one with<br /> that of the great leaders of men’s ethical and<br /> religious thought, and their perversity of utterance<br /> no more than an accident powerless to work last-<br /> ing injury. The gift of communion with such a<br /> spirit is one of the most precious that literature<br /> can offer, and a deep sense of gratitude, of<br /> reverent affection, is what remains to us unshaken,<br /> after all possible exceptions have been taken,<br /> after all needful allowances have been made,<br /> when we think of the great work and the noble<br /> life that have ended in the closing yeir of the<br /> century to which they have lent so imperishable a<br /> lustie.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 221<br /> <br /> SOME THOUGHTS UTTERED.<br /> Coe is not always a vice, for itis often<br /> <br /> only a weakness.<br /> Hate of others: often poses as love of<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> truth.<br /> <br /> The best kind of truth and the rarest is the<br /> kindest.<br /> <br /> Oritics are of two main kinds—helpers or<br /> hinderers.<br /> <br /> The only perfect critic is Tue CrEaTor.<br /> <br /> New truths fare ill in old temples.<br /> <br /> Religion, even when not quite on the right side,<br /> is yet on the heart side.<br /> <br /> Duty is only another name for Divinity.<br /> <br /> Oveurt is more God-like than Must.<br /> <br /> Truth can no more be justly measured by proof<br /> than by taste or by wish.<br /> <br /> Taste changes less than temptation—the father<br /> of fashion.<br /> <br /> Truth is almost as invisible to vanity as to vice.<br /> <br /> Art is a common cross between Man and<br /> Nature.<br /> <br /> What science labe!s, art often only libels.<br /> <br /> Art expresses far more than it ever explains.<br /> <br /> To appeal best to our race, scence must marry<br /> sentiment.<br /> <br /> Some women, in trying to outdo all men, only<br /> undo themselves.<br /> <br /> Human law is a common mean between justice<br /> and nonsense.<br /> <br /> It is generally easier to end laws than to mend<br /> men.<br /> <br /> Were progress nursed only by popular vote, it<br /> would never be reared.<br /> <br /> The sanest will give and take only the best<br /> advice, but they are not yet born.<br /> <br /> While wondering why wisdom wanes, most of<br /> us forget ourselves.<br /> <br /> When the best seems past, we have begun to<br /> die.<br /> <br /> Chivalry is no more peculiar to males than to<br /> Mankind.<br /> <br /> Mothers form a sex by themselves —lik2 the<br /> angels.<br /> <br /> Courage, an essential of all life,<br /> in love.<br /> <br /> In ideal love there is no imperfect tense.<br /> <br /> Life is a positive, growth a comparative, and<br /> love a superlative revelation.<br /> <br /> Marriag+ may die with bodies, but love must<br /> live with souls.<br /> <br /> Justice is the true husband of love.<br /> <br /> Finuay GLENELG.<br /> <br /> is best found<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Pees<br />  <br /> <br /> 222<br /> <br /> THE AMERICAN AMBASSADOR AT THE<br /> AUTHORS’ CLUB.<br /> <br /> N | R. CHOATE, the American Ambassador,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> was last evening the guest at a dinner<br /> of the Authors’ Club, held at the Club,<br /> Whitehall-court, London. Mr. Gilbert Parker<br /> presided over a very large gathering, which<br /> included in addition to the American Ambassador,<br /> Mr. James Bryce, MP., Mr. Anthony Hope<br /> <br /> Hawkins, Mr. Frankfort Moore, Mr. W. UL.<br /> Courtney, Mr. E. T. Cook, and Sir Martin<br /> Conway.<br /> <br /> Mr. Choate, in reply to the toast of his health,<br /> said he came there partly as a reader and partly<br /> as a representative of one of the greatest reading<br /> communities that had ever existed. He knew of<br /> no relation of any other body of people so<br /> important to authors as that of readers, and it<br /> was the fact that they on the other side of the<br /> Atlantic were entitled to rank very high in this<br /> relation of readers to authors.<br /> <br /> In the first place the people of the United<br /> States constituted the vast majority of the<br /> English-speaking peoples of the globe, and they<br /> all knew very well, they asserted it every day,<br /> that the majority must rule, at least they must<br /> be assigned a paramountcy as between authors<br /> and readers and as to everything else that related<br /> to the English tongue.<br /> <br /> There were 351 towns in the State of Massa-<br /> chusetts. In those, with the exception of seven,<br /> the public had the use of public libraries pro-<br /> vided at the public expense. In those libraries<br /> there were three and three-quarter millions of<br /> volumes—about a volume and a-half for each<br /> inhabitant of the State—and the circulation in<br /> twelve months amounted to seven and two-<br /> third millions, or three volumes for each inhabi-<br /> tant—men, women and children, and babies in<br /> arms.<br /> <br /> Could they point to any other country under<br /> the sun in which that state of things could be<br /> said to exist? And was there not a reflex action<br /> of the readers upon authors as well as of the<br /> authors upon the readers? Might it not be<br /> owing to some such relation as that that in these<br /> last sixty years there had been authors of such<br /> eminence in America? Massachusetts, to which<br /> he had been referring in connection with this<br /> free libraries’ movement, had, however, only led<br /> the way, for the last report of the National<br /> Bureau of Hducation to which he had had access<br /> showed that there were 4000 free libraries in<br /> America, containing more than 33,000,000 of<br /> volumes.<br /> <br /> He alluded to the “teachableness” of the<br /> people who spoke the Hnglish tongue, as was<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> shown by the work of Captain Mahan, an<br /> American, and Mr. Bryce in England. Captain<br /> Mahan told Great Britain of her wonderful sea<br /> power and discovered some of its elements of<br /> weakness. Mr. Bryce went to America and<br /> studied their institutions, and produced a work<br /> descriptive of them which was without an equal<br /> in our whole history on the other side of the<br /> water. He gave them praise where they were<br /> entitled to praise and blamed them where they<br /> were subject to blame, and they were very ready to<br /> follow his suggestions and to go to work to supply<br /> a remedy.<br /> <br /> It was this “teachableness” of all people who<br /> spoke the English tongue that constituted their<br /> great power in the present and their great<br /> prospect for the future. This English tongue<br /> had done an immense thing for them on both<br /> sides of the water. It had welded them into one<br /> homogeneous and united people, speaking with<br /> one voice and acting with one will to work out<br /> their destiny, and it had done the same thing for<br /> the widely-spreading members of the British<br /> Empire—as they had an example in this very<br /> year—(cheers)—making them one people, united<br /> for the common liberties of all. (Renewed<br /> cheers.) And what had it not done—this same<br /> English language—for all who spoke it? It had<br /> given them their highest aims and their highest<br /> ideals. It had taught them to love liberty and to<br /> be devoted to law.—Daily Chronicle, Feb. 20.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> CORRESPONDENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> IL—Tuer STanparp oF ENGLISH ORITICISM.<br /> <br /> AY I be allowed to endorse “ Retired’s ”<br /> statements regarding English reviews<br /> in your last number. I have not been<br /> <br /> writing for many years, but have been fortunate<br /> enough to win for myself a certain position as<br /> specialist on some important literary questions.<br /> When I publish a book I am secure of a fair<br /> number of notices, both English and conti-<br /> nental. But, as a rule, the English notices<br /> are not worth the paper they are printed on.<br /> With very few exceptions they are written by<br /> critics who do not possess even an elementary<br /> knowledge of the subjects concerned. I could<br /> name without difficulty half-a-dozen men, not<br /> unknown to literature, who would be perfectly<br /> competent to review my work, and whose<br /> criticism would be of real value to me, but I only<br /> know two journals (one with a restricted circula-<br /> tion) which will send my books to such expert<br /> critics. On the other hand, in France and<br /> Germany alike I am certain of receiving such<br /> <br /> ’<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> criticism: I have had a book, dismissed in a few<br /> absolutely foolish lines in a leading London<br /> literary paper, reviewed at pages’ length in<br /> competent foreign reviews, and that not once<br /> alone. “ Retired” is perfectly correct in saying<br /> that the standard of foreign criticism is far<br /> higher and more conscientious than English.<br /> There are many of us who would infinitely rather<br /> receive competent, even if unfavourable, criticism<br /> than ignorant praise.<br /> ScHOLAR.<br /> <br /> Il.—Tue Proression or LireERATURE.<br /> <br /> For my part, although one of the most unfor-<br /> tunate of writers, I find it very hard to under-<br /> stand the strange a&#039;titude of Annabel Gray and<br /> some others (“‘ X.,” for instance, on page 70 of the<br /> August issue) towards their profession. Whilst<br /> making a living out of it (a thing which many<br /> hundreds of doctors and lawyers have great<br /> difficulty in getting out of their professions),<br /> they never cease to rail bitterly at the profession<br /> as beggarly and contemptible. ‘“ X.,” indeed,<br /> even goes the length of denying that it is a<br /> profession at all. Note the reasoning! Because<br /> any outsider with the requisite ability can come<br /> into the profession of literature, therefore it is<br /> no profession! Well, “every waiting barrister,<br /> every idle doctor, every half-pay captain ’—in<br /> short, “every outsider with a” brush and palette<br /> can “cut into the work” ofa painter: ergo, there<br /> is no profession of painting! Also, “ every<br /> outsider with ” eight fingers and two thumbs can<br /> “cut into the work’’ of the pianist and organist,<br /> the violinist, &amp;c.: ergo, there is no profession of<br /> music, and Paderewski is only a mountebank, not<br /> a member of a reputable profession! Once more:<br /> “every outsider with” legs and arms can “cut<br /> into the work” of the actor: ergo, there is no<br /> profession of acting!<br /> <br /> Might I be permitted t» point out that early<br /> in his controversy with the Editor of The Author<br /> “X.” gave his own case away completely? The<br /> gist of the Editor’s contention is given in this<br /> sentence from page 15 of the June issue: “I<br /> maintain that Literature, as a profession, is no<br /> more precarious than any other.” And what did<br /> “X.” say in reply? Why, on page 21 of the<br /> same issue, he declared: “The editor is always<br /> saying that the man of letters can do as well<br /> as the doctor or barrister, and seems to think<br /> this means something.” I should imagine it did<br /> mean something—viz., the point at issue. ‘‘ Sooth<br /> to say,” he proceeds, “it means nothing, for<br /> the poor barrister and poor doctor are miserably<br /> poor indeed.” Here “ X.” clearly admits that<br /> the man of letters can do as well as the barrister<br /> <br /> 223<br /> <br /> or doctor.<br /> away.<br /> <br /> Annabel Gray tragically asserts that “the dark<br /> powers that thwart and destroy are always merci-<br /> less to the poor and gifted . . . Mr.Croskey’s<br /> own experiences and confession area case in point.”<br /> Now, Mr. Croskey has himself told us that he is<br /> not rich, and there is no doubt whatever that he<br /> is gifted: yet the ‘dark powers,’ yea! those<br /> self-same hideous “dark powers” have not been<br /> “merciless” to him, for they have permitted him<br /> to “place work with four good publishers and<br /> three good magazines.”<br /> <br /> I have myself seen excellent work of his in the<br /> English Illustrated Magazine and in Chambers’s<br /> Journal. And JI have not a shadow of a doubt<br /> that so soon as Mr. Croskey can produce enough<br /> work equally good, he will succeed as an author.<br /> If he does not eventually succeed I for one shall<br /> be very much surprised.<br /> <br /> And in so doing he gives his case<br /> <br /> Perry Barr.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> IIl.—Wrirtine ror THE MAGAZINES.<br /> <br /> I have to tender my sincere thanks to “An<br /> Editor” for his kindness in answering my query.<br /> Is he not, however, just a little bit ruthless in<br /> saying that the article “On Writing for the<br /> Magazines’? in the December issue represents<br /> wasted time? To methatarticle was interesting<br /> and eminently useful. And I earnestly hope that<br /> we shall have the promised article dealing in a<br /> similar manner with the lighter magazines.<br /> <br /> It is perhaps almost needless to say that after<br /> this I shall not continue to be purely a<br /> <br /> MaGazinE STRUGGLER.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 1V.—EnveLorpes WANTED.<br /> <br /> I have no grievance to bring forward, but only<br /> a suggestion to make. I send off (and receive<br /> back again) a fair lot of MSS. in a year, and my<br /> soul is grieved because of envelopes. What I<br /> desire to do is to keep my MS. flat. Now, like<br /> most people, as I imagine, who write, I use<br /> common foolscap, 13in. by 8in. To send this off<br /> quite comfortably what [ need is a bag-shaped<br /> envelope of smooth paper, reasonably strong, with<br /> lots of gum, and half an inch or even an inch of<br /> room to spare all round, say 133in. by 8{in. or<br /> gin. {should not mind paying 5s. a hundred for<br /> them, if I could only get them right, but I don’t<br /> see them in the Stores’ list, and the nearest thing<br /> Ican find in Oxford is 12in. by ropin., te., at<br /> once too short and too wide. Will not some<br /> int lligent stationer get out an article to supply<br /> the want and call it “Author&#039;s size”? Tl<br /> warrant him it would sell. R. B. T,<br /> <br /> —<br />  <br /> <br /> 854<br /> <br /> V.—Tur Mernhop or THE Furure.<br /> <br /> As one who has had some experience of print-<br /> ing his own books—I mean of getting them<br /> printed at his own expense—I feel most strongly<br /> that an author has almost as much painful experi-<br /> ence to acquire in this matter as in connection<br /> with what must be considered ordinary publish-<br /> ing.<br /> <br /> Tt is an unfortunate fact that the ethics of<br /> trade are not at all those generally recognised by<br /> honourable men who are not engaged in com-<br /> mercial transactions. Speaking to a pripter<br /> recently I remarked that it appeared to be con-<br /> sidered quite honest to charge exorbitantly where<br /> the person paying had no knowledge of trade<br /> prices or where the work done was not easily<br /> controlled, and he, with perfect frankness,<br /> admitted this was the case, adding ‘“ Some<br /> things we have to take in competition at very low<br /> prices, and we make it up on others.”<br /> <br /> At my own actual cost I have learnt that com-<br /> posing, corrections, machining (including the<br /> question of sheets of sixteen, thirty-two, and<br /> sixty-four pages), paper and binding, each and all<br /> furnish opportunities for fraud upon the unsus-<br /> pecting author who ventures to embark upon the<br /> production of his own work. In some cases<br /> where the name of the firm would apparently<br /> ensure honourable treatment I have come to the<br /> conclusion that there is no greater security than<br /> with an unknown house, and this because the real<br /> control of the business, including the levying of<br /> charges, rests not with those whose well-known<br /> and perhaps highly respected names attract, but<br /> with managers whose first object it must be to<br /> show profits.<br /> <br /> I will add nothing on the “small difficulties<br /> that keep arising whilst the book is printing,”<br /> referred to by “X.” in The Author of Feb. 1,<br /> beyond a reminder that such difficulties are to<br /> be expected.<br /> <br /> But to what end do these remarks lead? To<br /> this, viz.: That if ever the “Method of the<br /> Future” is to realise its full advantages it will<br /> be necessary that authors should not merely pay<br /> directly for their own printing, but the printing<br /> should be done at their own works. With any<br /> considerable adoption of the “Method of the<br /> Future ” by members of the Society, it would be<br /> perfectly easy to form a small limited liability com-<br /> pany and set up a printing establishment under<br /> a capable manager, to which members of the<br /> Society might with perfect safety commit their<br /> work without fear of being victimised and<br /> without that waste of valuable time which has<br /> now to be expended by anyone of business habits<br /> who would protect himself, however feebly, from,<br /> I will say, the danger of fraud,<br /> <br /> Vik AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Perhaps we may sdhie day reach this end! {<br /> am in a position to bring a respectable amount of<br /> regular annual printing !<br /> <br /> The Society of Authors has been wrongly accused<br /> of saying that all publishers are rogues. Lest to<br /> this there should be added that I now initiate<br /> a statement that all printers are also rogues, I<br /> hasten to disclaim anything of the kind. There<br /> are probably as many honest printers as there are<br /> honest members of other trades—honest, I mean,<br /> not merely in the eyes of the law, but in reality,<br /> Tf, however, the ethics of trade are really as I<br /> have suggested, then, quite apart from personal<br /> experiences, it cannot be expected that authors<br /> will, exceptionally and invariably, find them-<br /> selves associated with printers of unusual virtue.<br /> <br /> A. B.<br /> <br /> [But see p. 219.—Ep. |<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> VI.—A ScriBBLER’s SUGGESTION.<br /> <br /> Think not, dear sir, that I desire our all-wise<br /> Parliament to pass a measure imposing a heavy<br /> import-duty on all Australian and American<br /> stories. Perish the thought! I am no protec-<br /> tionist, but an honest freetrader ; and if the home<br /> product cannot hold its own, let it (say I) go to<br /> the wall. But why, oh why, will not editors send<br /> it to the wall more promptly ? Why should they<br /> perform the unhappy despatch with such long-<br /> drawn enjoyment of the agony inflicted ?<br /> <br /> As I have said, I desire no protectionist legisla-<br /> tion. But what say you, sir, to an Authors’<br /> Compensation Bill (to be brought in by the<br /> present Government) compelling editors to pay<br /> for all contributions kept over one calendar<br /> month? Do you not think that this would be<br /> but a reasonable and modest compensation for<br /> injuries inflicted &gt;—that the Act would, in fact,<br /> be merely complementary to the Workmen’s Com-<br /> pensation Act?<br /> <br /> In the event of editors objecting to such an<br /> Act, what have they to say to the proposition that<br /> we authors should send out at the same time<br /> about half-a-dozen typed copies of a MS.? By<br /> thus dealing with tardy editors by the half-dozen,<br /> we might succeed in testing the majority of likely<br /> markets inside of twelve months. True, there’s<br /> the possibility of two editors accepting the same<br /> contribution; but that would only be a very<br /> slight inconvenience to set against the inconveni--<br /> ence at present endured. .<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> BOOK AND PLAY TALK.<br /> <br /> R. STANLEY LANE-POOLE has finished<br /> <br /> his “ History of Egypt in the Middle<br /> <br /> &quot;~ Ages under Mohammedan Rule,” which<br /> <br /> will be published by Messrs. Methuen as the<br /> <br /> sixth volume in the series edited by Professor<br /> Flinders Petrie.<br /> <br /> “The Devil’s Kitchen,” a new novel by A. B.<br /> Louis will shortly appear through Messrs. Sands<br /> and Co. The scene of part of the story is laidin<br /> Wales, and one of the leading charaters is a pub-<br /> lisher.<br /> <br /> Miss Montgomery Campbell’s new story<br /> entitled “ Uncle Ben’s Where’s, or Friends all<br /> round the Wrekin,” published by the Society for<br /> Promoting Christian Knowledge, has attracted<br /> much attention and been warmly welcomed by<br /> those seeking for books suitable for parochial<br /> libraries and girls’ and women’s clubs. It isa<br /> story dealing with rural life, the scene, as the<br /> sub-title denotes, being laid in the picturesque<br /> county of Salop.<br /> <br /> Mr. D.C. Lathbury’s new paper, hitherto known<br /> as the Tribune, has had to change its name, and<br /> will now be called the Pilot, a weekly review of<br /> ecclesiastical and general politics, literature, and<br /> learning. The first number will be published on<br /> Saturday, March 3, price 6d.<br /> <br /> Mr. Richard Pryce’s new novel “J ezebel,”’ now<br /> running through the pages of the Gentlewoman,<br /> will be published by Messrs. Hutchinson and Co.<br /> <br /> A new novel by Annabel Gray, entitled “ The<br /> Mystic Number 7,” is now in the press and will<br /> shortly appear. The title depends upon the<br /> occult nature of the plot, and the tragic end por-<br /> trays the wages of sin.<br /> <br /> “ Boadicea, and Other Poems,” by Mrs. Aylmer<br /> Gowing, has recently been published by Messrs.<br /> Kegan Paul and Co. The volume contains an<br /> heroic drama constructed on classical lines of one<br /> motive and action, simplicity and directness; a<br /> series of poems for recitation, and several sonnets.<br /> <br /> A series of little encyclopedic primers is about<br /> to be published by Messrs. Dent, beginning with<br /> a volume entitled “ Introduction to Science,” by<br /> Dr. Alexander Hill, Master of Downing College,<br /> Cambridge. Dr. Sweet will write a volume on<br /> “The History of Language,’ Dean Spence one<br /> on “The History of the Church of England,”<br /> Professor Jenks “The History of Politics,’ Mr.<br /> E. G. Gardner “ A Dante Primer,’ and Mr. Basil<br /> Worsfold “ A History of South Africa.”<br /> <br /> “A Divine Venture, and Other Stories,” by<br /> Fiona Macleod, is about to be published by<br /> Messrs. Chapman and Hall.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 225<br /> <br /> A new book of stories by Dr. Conan Doyle<br /> (who is leaving England for ambulance duty<br /> with the troops in South Africa) will be published<br /> shortly under the title of “ The Green Flag.”<br /> <br /> A Milton Library is being formed in Milton<br /> Cottage, Chalfont St. Giles.<br /> <br /> Mr. Charles Gerring, secretary of the Notting-<br /> ham Sette of Odde Volumes, has now completed<br /> the work on noted booksellers and printers which<br /> he has been engaged upon for some time.<br /> <br /> Students of modern English history will be inte-<br /> rested to hear that the selections from the private<br /> journal of the Right Hon. John Evelyn Denison,<br /> Speaker of the House of Commons for twenty-five<br /> years, and afterwards Lord Ossington, has now<br /> been published by Mr. Murray. The volume was<br /> issued for private circulation last September.<br /> <br /> It is improbable that the biography of Professor<br /> Huxley will appear before the autumn.<br /> <br /> “Hurrah for the Life of a Sailor!” is the<br /> title of the forthcoming work by Admiral Sir<br /> William Kennedy (Blackwood), who has served<br /> in the Navy for fifty years.<br /> <br /> “Allen Raine” is issuing, through Messrs.<br /> Hutchinson, a new Welsh story called “ Garth-<br /> owen.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Stanley Weyman’s “ Sophia’<br /> this month.<br /> <br /> A Yorkshire story by Miss Emma Brooke,<br /> entitled “The Engrafted Rose,’ has just been<br /> published by Messrs. Hutchinson.<br /> <br /> An interesting plagiarism is reported from New<br /> York, Messrs. G. P. Putnam’s Sons having been<br /> deceived by a young man who represented himself<br /> to be an unpublished author in sore straits.<br /> The following notice issued by the firm speaks for<br /> itself :<br /> <br /> G. P. Putnam’s Sons regret to have occasion to announce<br /> to the reading public that the story recently published by<br /> them under the title of ‘‘ Aboard the American Duchess,”<br /> a story purporting to be the work of an American author<br /> who writes under the name of George L. Myers, is a<br /> plagiarism of a story published some years back by Mr.<br /> Headon Hill, of London, entitled, ‘The Queen of Night.”<br /> Mr. Hill’s material has been appropriated by the American<br /> writer, such appropriation constituting a wrong against the<br /> English author and his publishers, and also, of course, the<br /> American publishers, who accepted as an original work the<br /> story ‘The American Duchess.” The publishers are<br /> making this announcement in order to cantion American<br /> readers against the purchase under a wrong impression of<br /> the story issued under the title of “ Aboard the American<br /> Duchess.”<br /> <br /> “Mr. Myers” had, of course, changed the<br /> scene of action of the story from London to New<br /> York. Messrs. Putnam, in view of the blunder,<br /> have sent an honorarium to Mr. Hill, notwith-<br /> standing that his novel was not copyrighted in<br /> the United States.<br /> <br /> ’<br /> <br /> will be out<br />  <br /> <br /> 226<br /> <br /> Histories of South Africa are, of course, the<br /> order of the day just now. Another one will be<br /> published immediately by Messrs. Methuen. It<br /> deals with “The Boer States,’ and the author is<br /> Mr, A. H. Keane, whose point of view in the<br /> work is stated to be that of an onlooker.<br /> <br /> The very important housing question in London<br /> is the subject of a book by Mr. Alfred Smith, of<br /> the County Council. It will be published by<br /> Messrs. Sonnenschein.<br /> <br /> Miss Nora Hopper’s new volume of verse,<br /> “Songs of the Morning,’ and Mr. Thomas<br /> Cobb’s new novel, “ Scruples,” will both be<br /> published on March 6 by Mr. Grant Richards.<br /> <br /> A volume of sketches of theatrical life by Mr.<br /> George R. Sims will be published shortly by<br /> Messrs. Chatto and Windus, under the title,<br /> “ Without the Limelight.”<br /> <br /> Mrs. Patrick Campbell has revived ‘‘ Magda”<br /> at the Royalty. She will afterwards produce a<br /> version of M. Edmond Rostand’s “ Les Romanes-<br /> ques,” by George Fleming. It will be called “The<br /> Fantasticks.” There is only one female character<br /> in the play.<br /> <br /> Mrs. Lewis Waller opened her spring tour at<br /> the Coronet, Notting Hill, on Feb. 19, with a new<br /> play in four acts adapted by Mr. H. A. Kennedy<br /> from Mr. Hardy’s romance, “Tess of the<br /> D’Urbevilles.’ Mr. Hardy has written to the<br /> Times stating that he has authorised no such<br /> <br /> , dramatisation.<br /> <br /> “Bonnie Dundee,” Mr. Laurence Irving&#039;s five-<br /> act drama, will be produced by Mr. Robert<br /> Taber at the Adelphi on the 1oth inst., with Mr.<br /> Mackintosh as King James.<br /> <br /> A copyright performance was given at the<br /> Court a few weeks ago of “The Queen of tie<br /> Roses,” by Mr. Alfred C. Calmour. This is the<br /> three-act comedy which Mr. Daniel Frohman is<br /> about to produce in New York.<br /> <br /> Mr. Martin Harvey is preparing to give at the<br /> Prince of Wales’s Theatre M. Maeterlinck’s one-<br /> act play “ Aglavaine and Selysette.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Wyndham will produce the English<br /> version of “Cyrano de Bergerac” at Blackpool on<br /> March 5, with Miss Mary Moore and Mr. Alfred<br /> Kendrick as chief supporters. After visiting<br /> other provincial cities, the play will be presented<br /> at Mr. Wyndham’s new theatre about the middle<br /> of April.<br /> <br /> “The Likeness of the Night,” a four-act play<br /> by Mrs. W. K. Clifford, has been performed for<br /> purposes of copyright at the Avenue, Mr. Charles<br /> Hawtrey and Miss Lily Hanbury taking the prin-<br /> cipal parts.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Mr. W. L. Courtney and Mr. Joseph Comyns<br /> Carr are writing for Sir Henry Irving a drama on<br /> the massacre of St. Bartholomew. The produe-<br /> tion of the play is expected about May.<br /> <br /> Mr. F. R. Benson opened his Shakespearian<br /> season at the Lyceum before a numerous audience<br /> on Feb. 15 with “Henry V.” At the close of the<br /> play Mr. Benson spoke of the kindness shown to<br /> Mrs. Benson and himself since they both acted<br /> under Sir Henry Irving on these boards long ago.<br /> <br /> The new comedy by Mr. Haddon Chambers,<br /> which will be produced at the Criterion, is called<br /> “The Faithless.”<br /> <br /> The Globe will be re-opened on the 17th by<br /> Mr. Richard Lambart, when “ A Broken Halo,”<br /> by Mr. Charles Thursby, and ‘‘ Nurse,” a comedy<br /> by Miss Clo Graves, will be produced. At the<br /> Shaftesbury an American company under Mr.<br /> George Lederer will open on April 2.<br /> <br /> = e&lt;e<br /> <br /> OBITUARY.<br /> <br /> R. H. D. TRAILL died suddenly in<br /> Mi London on Feb. 21, only a week after<br /> the revised and enlarged edition of his<br /> dialogues of the dead, “The New Lucian,” had<br /> been published. Mr. Traill’s career in journalism<br /> and authorship was a very full one. He con-<br /> tributed to the Pall Mall Gazette and to the S¢.<br /> James’s Gazette when Mr. Greenwood edited<br /> these journals; and subsequently wrote for the<br /> Saturday Review, the Daily Telegraph (of whose<br /> staff he became a member), and the Observer,<br /> which he edited for a time. When Literature<br /> was founded in Oct. 1897, Mr. Traill was.<br /> appointed editor, and the best of his energies<br /> have since been devoted to establishing that<br /> journal in the high position it now enjoys. Both<br /> to the English Citizen and the English Men of<br /> Letters series Mr. Traill was a contributor, his:<br /> monograph on Sterne being especially noteworthy..<br /> Among other works, he wrote “ Re-captured<br /> Rhymes,” “ Saturday Songs,” biographies of Sir<br /> John Franklin and Lord Cromer, and edited the<br /> important “ Social England” series published by<br /> Messrs. Cassell. Mr. Traill was in his fifty-<br /> eighth year.<br /> <br /> Sir Wittram Hounrer, the distinguished autho-<br /> rity and writer on India, died on Feb. 7, in his:<br /> sixtieth year. Before he was thirty Sir William<br /> Hunter became Director-General of Statistics, and<br /> was entrusted with the task of directing @<br /> statistical survey of the whole Indian Empire. In<br /> the production of the “Imperial Gazetteer of<br /> India” and of the detailed accounts of the sepa-<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> rate provinces he spent twelve years. His “ Brief<br /> History of the Indian Peoples” has been trans-<br /> lated into five vernacular languages. Only last<br /> year was published the first volume of his<br /> “History of British India,” which he intended to<br /> complete in several volumes.<br /> <br /> The obituary of the past month also includes<br /> Mr. JoserpH Cowen, the famous proprietor-<br /> journalist of the Newcastle Chronicle and ex-<br /> M.P.; Sir William Duguid Geddes, author of<br /> “The Problem of the Homeric Poems,” and<br /> other works, Professor of Greek in the Uni-<br /> versity of Aberdeen from 1855 to 1885, and<br /> afterwards Principal; Miss Harriet Parr (“ Holme<br /> Lee’) a writer of stories chiefly for the young,<br /> who died at the age of seventy-two; Mr. Ernest<br /> Dowson, the poet, whose new volume of verses<br /> had been announced for early publication ; Mr.<br /> Andrew White Tuer, F.S.A., of the Leadenhall<br /> Press, author of “ Bartolozzi and His Works,”<br /> “Old London Street Cries and Cries of To-Day,”<br /> &amp;c., who died on Feb. 24, at the age of sixty-<br /> one; and Mr. Francis Harvey, the well-known<br /> bookseller of St. James’s-street.<br /> <br /> eS<br /> <br /> BOOKS AND REVIEWS.<br /> <br /> (In these columns notes on books are given from reviews<br /> which carry weight, and are not, so far as can be learned,<br /> logrollers.)<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Ture War in Soutu Arrica, by J. A. Hobson (Nisbet,<br /> 7s. 6d. net), deals with the origin and consequences of the<br /> war, and its chief value, says the Daily Chronicle, “is to be<br /> found in the fact that the writer was an eye-witness to<br /> much that happened at a critical moment, and at the very<br /> centre of political disturbance.” Certain parts of the<br /> yolume “ savour strongly of the political pamphlet. Others<br /> <br /> _are so fair in statement and record that they seem almost<br /> to undermine some of Mr. Hobson’s own conclusions.”<br /> Other journals discuss the controversial aspects of the<br /> question dealt with in the volume.<br /> <br /> EIGHTEEN YEARS IN THE KuHysBuR, 1879-1898, by<br /> Colonel Sir Robert Warburton, K.C.I.E., &amp;c. (Murray, 16s.).<br /> “The very virtues of the man,” says the Times, “ will<br /> probably militate to some extent against the popular success<br /> of his biography,’ but “ what these pages lack in literary<br /> form they gain in evident sincerity of purpose.” ‘ All<br /> through this interesting volume,” remarks the Daily Tele-<br /> graph, “ we have a spectacle of constant devotion to duty,<br /> not always, perhaps, rewarded to the measure of its<br /> deserts.”<br /> <br /> Tue ImpmRIaAL RusstsNn Navy, by Fred T. Jane<br /> (Thacker, 30s.), is an analysis of the Russian policy by sea.<br /> The first half of the book, says the Spectator, is “an<br /> interesting history of the growth of the Russian Navy from<br /> the time when Queen Elizabeth lent a boat to Ivan the<br /> Terrible.’ Inthe second part the author deals with more<br /> general questions. ‘“ On the Chinese question, and, indeed,<br /> on the whole matter of our relations to Russia, he talks<br /> much admirable common-sense.” The volume “fills a<br /> distinct. gap in our naval literature,’ says the Daily<br /> <br /> AUTHOR. 227<br /> <br /> Chronicle. ‘Mr. Jane’s views, based on personal inquiry<br /> in Russia, are those of one competent to judge,” and “ they<br /> are worthy of close and earnest attention.”<br /> <br /> Tur FrRANco-GerMAN WAR, 1870-71, by officers who<br /> took part in the campaign, translated and edited by Major-<br /> General Maurice and others (Sonnenschein, 21s.), presents,<br /> says Literature, “a consecutive history of the war, intelli-<br /> gently and graphically described.” It ‘is well worth<br /> reading, and the lessons which it teaches are still of value,<br /> chief amongst them the lesson that no bravery can avert<br /> defeat if the officers are careless in times of peace, or if the<br /> bonds of discipline are relaxed in deference to popular<br /> clamour.”<br /> <br /> America To-pay, by William Archer (Heinemann, 6s),<br /> is accorded “the highest praise” by the Daily Chronicle<br /> as being “the best plea for the true Anglo-American under-<br /> standing that has been given us by any English man of<br /> <br /> letters.” Mr. Archer’s travellers’ gossip ‘“‘ has the<br /> merit of being thoroughly sane and wholesome,” and<br /> “his sympathy is always active and his criticism<br /> <br /> is always temperate.’ ‘The work is the result of the<br /> author’s recent visit to the United States, and consists of<br /> ten “observations” and four “reflections.” Mr. Archer&#039;s<br /> impressions of America, says Literatwre, “are chiefly<br /> notable for their determined optimism.” ‘The literary<br /> reader will be chiefly interested in the essays on American<br /> literature and the American language with which the<br /> pleasant little volume concludes.”<br /> <br /> Nigerra, by Charles Henry Robinson, M.A. (Horace<br /> Marshall and Son, 5s.), is ‘‘ an attractive little book,” says<br /> the Daily News, ‘‘ by a traveller and a scholar,” containing a<br /> general sketch of the events that have led to the founda-<br /> tion of Nigeria, of some results of the company’s rule, the<br /> existing situation and the problems of the future. The<br /> Spectator refers to it as ‘‘a very informing and a very<br /> entertaining book,” and adds that Canon Robinson’s account<br /> of the Hausas is the most important part of the volume.<br /> <br /> Ix vue VALLEY oF THE RHONE, by Charles Wood<br /> (Macmillan, 10s.) is a “ delightfully illustrated antiquarian<br /> and archeological book of travel.” “‘ Mr. Wood is also an<br /> artist in manners and customs,” and one is uncertain, says<br /> the Spectator, * whether to admire the descriptions of archi-<br /> tecture and scenery, or the iuimitable dialogues, more; on<br /> the whole, the latter being the rarer gift, we must value it<br /> more.” &#039;<br /> <br /> Apvancep AvusrraLia, by William Johnson Galloway,<br /> M.P. (Methuen, 33. 6d.), treats, says the Guardian, ‘‘ only<br /> of the most modern and least romantic aspects of tke<br /> southern colonies. Perhaps its most interesting chapters<br /> are those which describe the scheme of old-age pensions<br /> now actually in force in New Zealand”; while the author’s<br /> account of the federation movement is “ lucid and instruc-<br /> tive.’ The Daily Chronicle calls it a “well-balanced and<br /> informing review ” of political questions.<br /> <br /> TeNNYSON AS A RELIGIOUS THACHER, by C. F. G<br /> Masterman (Methuen, 6s.) “‘ may be added to the rapidly<br /> filling shelf of Tennysonian literature,” says the Daily<br /> Chronicle, “ with the certainty that it will be consulted<br /> again.’ ‘“ Packed with thought,” it represents only one side<br /> of Tennyson’s genius, “but it represents that side<br /> thoroughly,” Mr. Masterman’s treatment of the Tennysonian<br /> philosophy being “not only intelligent, it is even searching<br /> and illuminating.” Literature speaks of the book as con-<br /> taining ‘‘ much food for thought on those great subjects the<br /> echoes of which so often mingle and harmonise with the<br /> name of Tennyson.”<br /> <br /> Lawextn’s Rematns, by H. B. (Vincent, Oxford, 2s. 6d.),<br /> induces Literature to say that ‘‘ perhaps, since the days of<br /> 228<br /> <br /> the Ozford Spectator, nothing more amusing has come from<br /> “Oxford, at any rate in prose,” than this book, It “is more<br /> -easily read than described, but it may be said to be a<br /> satirical biography of an imaginary Fellow of an imaginary<br /> College.” The Times says it is ‘a delightful effort of sus-<br /> tained irony. Its object is to make fun both of the folly,<br /> which is so rampant, of writing unnecessary lives of<br /> unimportant people, and also of the less engaging qualities<br /> -of the latter-day don.”<br /> <br /> Tur UNPUBLISHED LEGENDS OF VIRGIL, collected by<br /> Charles Godfrey Leland (Stock, 3s. 6d.),‘‘ embodies much<br /> -ancient Italian tradition,” says the Literary World, although<br /> “¢ we never know what is tradition, and what is Leland.”<br /> “The work is consistently entertaining’”—‘‘ an excellent<br /> volume, full of interest and full of fun.” The Daily<br /> Chronicle says “ these popular traditions may be regarded<br /> .as a pleasant sequel” to Comparetti’s volume on “ Virgil in<br /> the Middle Ages.”<br /> <br /> Tur Hesrew TRAGEDY, by Colonel C. R. Conder (Bla :k-<br /> “wood, 38.), begins with Abraham crossing the Euphrates and<br /> ends with the Christianity of the early ages. The history<br /> of the Hebrews assumes in Colonel Conder’s hand, says the<br /> Spectator, ‘a reality which it often lacks. At the same<br /> time we never lose the sense of the separation between it<br /> and all other national histories.”<br /> <br /> Lucran, THE SyRIAN Satirist, by Lieutenant-Colonel<br /> H. W. L. Hime (Longmans, 5s.), is spoken of by the Daily<br /> ‘Chronicle as a “ most scholarly and interesting mono-<br /> -graph.”<br /> <br /> SavroLa, by Winston Spencer Churchill (Longmans,<br /> 6s.) is described by the Spectator as a “clever and<br /> interesting book, which is, above all else, the revela-<br /> tion of a masterful and audacious personality.” It<br /> gives a picture of Court life in an imaginary European<br /> State of to-day. The scene is laid in the capital of Laurania<br /> an imaginary republic with a seaboard on the Mediterranean,<br /> where the autocratic government of the President ‘‘ has only<br /> ‘Jed toa recrudescence of the discontent stamped out at the<br /> close of the Civil War five years previously.” Mr. Churchill<br /> “‘ wields a vigorous pen, he displays a genuine rhetorical<br /> gift of expression, his characters are boldly outlined and his<br /> incidents well planned.” ‘Its abundant cleverness is<br /> manifest throughout,” says the Daily Telegraph ; the Daily<br /> Chronicle regards the book as a very promising work ; and<br /> Literature says the story is “ well and briskly told, and not<br /> without some clever touches of character.”<br /> <br /> Foituy’s Corner, by Mrs. H. E. Dadeney (Heinemann,<br /> 6s.) is—up to Feb. 5—the best novel the Daily Chronicle<br /> has read since Christmas. ‘And we shall be pleasantly<br /> surprised if we read a better this side of Haster.’ The<br /> main motive is “the first passion of a woman for an<br /> ‘anworthy man outlasting, and not depleted by, the proof of<br /> unworthiness ; and always showing itself stronger than the<br /> most obvious self-interest.” Literature describes it as “a<br /> delightful novel; a comedy in fiction, with the tragic note,<br /> certainly, but with the proper comedy ‘curtain’ on the<br /> ‘happiness of the hero and the heroine.”<br /> <br /> SHAMELESS WAYNE, by Halliwell Sutcliffe (Unwin, 6s.),<br /> ‘is described by the Spectator as “ a very fascinating book.”<br /> A blood feud is the principal theme ; and “ as for the super-<br /> matural element, the phantom dog hardly strikes the reader<br /> as supernatural at all, so well does it blend with the wild<br /> narrative.’ The Daily Telegraph recommends the book to<br /> “‘all lovers of an exciting and well-told story,” adding<br /> that it will “undoubtedly be one of the books of the<br /> year.” This “vivid and luring romance of the York-<br /> -shire moors” is written, says the Daily News, “ with a<br /> vigour that never flags, and that carries the reader along<br /> ewith it.”<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> A Secret or THE NortH Sx, by Algernon Gissing<br /> (Chatto and Windas, 6s.), finds its principal note, says the<br /> Daily News, in “the wild rough life of the Northumbrian<br /> sea-coast, combined with a family feud of Corsican intensity.”<br /> “The book, powerful as it is, is one that everyone will not<br /> appreciate, but, per contra, the appreciation of those who<br /> do like it will be very marked.” ‘‘The very winds of the<br /> North Sea coast,” says Literature, “seem to blow over the<br /> rival farms,” in these pages; and the spirttuelle Kittiwake<br /> is recommended to the reader “as a first-rate little<br /> heroine.”<br /> <br /> Tue Lost ConTINENT, by Cutcliffe Hyne (Hutchinson,<br /> 6s.), “is fertile of thrilling situations,” says the Daily<br /> Chronicle. “The events that happened in this story<br /> happened a very long time ago, as long ago, in fact, as the<br /> days when Atlantis was a flourishing continent and its<br /> cultured inhabitants talked airily about the European<br /> savage.” Phorenice (as Empress of Atlantis) is “ very well<br /> done. She is a real woman beneath her trappings, and we<br /> are not at all sorry to have made her acquaintance.”<br /> <br /> QuzER-SrpE Srorius, by James F. Sullivan (Downey,<br /> 6s.), is a volume in the humorous vein, than which, the<br /> Spectator says, “no more effectual antidote to the prevalent<br /> depression has been given to the world in a literary form<br /> this winter.” The sketches are “extremely amusing,’ and<br /> “ presuppose no familiarity with the course of recent thistory<br /> or the technicalities of public life.”<br /> <br /> In Lonpon’s Hart, by George R. Sims (Chatto and<br /> Windus, 3s. 6d.), has been “read right through” by the<br /> Spectator, ‘and most of those who take it up will do the<br /> same.” ‘Asa substitute for witnessing one of Mr. Sims’s<br /> melodramas on the Adelphi boards, we can cordially<br /> recommend the perusal of ‘ In London’s Heart.”<br /> <br /> Tre Heart or THE Dancer, by Percy White (Hutchin-<br /> son, 6s.), a tale of “new men and old acres,” in which a<br /> decadent poet and a brilliantly-distinguished soldier are<br /> rival suitors for the hand of a fascinating actress, is, says<br /> the Spectator, “a great deal better written and more inte-<br /> resting than most modern society novels.” “It may be<br /> noted that in attributing to his heroine supreme excellence<br /> alike as sioger and dancer, Mr. White has no precedent in<br /> the annals of modern music. Bat the violation of proba-<br /> bility will be readily overlooked in a clever and entertaining<br /> book.”<br /> <br /> Tue Sky Priot, by Ralph Connor (Hodder and Stoughton,<br /> 6s.) is no way, says the Guardian, belonging to the class<br /> of what are distinctively called “ religious novels,” but it<br /> is “one of that rare order of books which are. not only<br /> very good to read, but which the reader instinctively feels<br /> the better for haviug read.” In the district known as the<br /> Foothills, lying immediately beyond the great prairies and<br /> in the shadow of the Rockies, ‘the author has been fortu-<br /> nate in finding a scene which has the delight of novelty.”<br /> <br /> Donna TERESA, by Frances M. Peard (Macmillan, 6s.),<br /> “has very decided charm,” says Literature, and “is well<br /> worth reading for the characters of the two sisters and its<br /> admirable pictures of life in Italy.” Another figure is<br /> Wilbraham, the lover of both sisters. ‘‘ There is, a8<br /> perhaps there should be,” says the Guardian, “the dagger<br /> of an Italian socialist to end it all tragically, and it is<br /> noticeable that Teresa only forgives, and never loves,<br /> Wilbraham.”<br /> <br /> Fro, by Max Pemberton (Hodder and Stoughton, 6s.), is<br /> a romance turning on a projected mésalliance between<br /> Austrian prince and opera singer, which it is the object of<br /> the princely family and their myrmidons to prevent at all<br /> hazards. “The reader,” says the Daily News, “is kept in<br /> a state of perpetual excitement and suspense from begin-<br /> ning to end”; while the Daily Telegraph calls it “a very<br /> readable story, pleasantly told.”	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/472/1900-03-01-The-Author-10-10.pdf	publications, The Author
473	https://historysoa.com/items/show/473	The Author, Vol. 10 Issue 11 (April 1900)	<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.+10+Issue+11+%28April+1900%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 11 (April 1900)</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>	1900-04-02-The-Author-10-11					229–252																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=10">10</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1900-04-02">1900-04-02</a>							11			19000402	Che Muthbor.<br /> <br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br /> <br /> CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Vou. X.—No. 11.]<br /> <br /> APRIL 2, 1900.<br /> <br /> [Prick SIXPENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> For the Opinions expressed in papers that are<br /> signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br /> responsible. None of the papers or para-<br /> graphs must be taken as expressing the<br /> collective opinions of the Committee unless<br /> they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br /> Thring, Sec.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Pes<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Se Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br /> remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br /> requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br /> <br /> important communications within two days will write to him<br /> <br /> without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br /> <br /> Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br /> <br /> letter only.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br /> all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br /> jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br /> returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> tetas<br /> <br /> GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <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, THAT OF SELLING IT OUTRIGHT.<br /> <br /> This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br /> price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br /> managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the<br /> Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> Il. A PROFIT-SHARING AGREEMENT (a bad form of<br /> agreement).<br /> <br /> In this case the following rules should be attended to :<br /> <br /> (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br /> duction forms a part without the strictest investigation.<br /> <br /> (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br /> profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements<br /> in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise-<br /> ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements.<br /> <br /> (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “ office expenses,”<br /> unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br /> <br /> (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br /> rights.<br /> <br /> (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 /> doctor !<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Ill. THE ROYALTY SYSTEM.<br /> <br /> It is above all things necessary to know what the<br /> proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible<br /> for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly<br /> the truth. From time to time the very important figures<br /> connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br /> Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br /> ‘Cost of Production.”<br /> <br /> IV. A COMMISSION AGREEMENT.<br /> <br /> The main points are :—<br /> <br /> (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production.<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 /> eo<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> i EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to<br /> the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some<br /> competent legal authority.<br /> <br /> 2. It is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for<br /> the production of a play with anyone 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.<br /> This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters<br /> into such a contract should stipulate in the con-<br /> tract for production of the piece by a certain date<br /> and for proper publication of his name on the<br /> play-bills.<br /> <br /> (b.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE<br /> TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES<br /> on gross receipts. Percentages vary between<br /> 5 and 15 yer cent. An author should obtain a<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts<br /> in preference to the American system. Should<br /> obtain a sum in advance 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<br /> TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF ROYALTIES (1.€.,<br /> fixed nightly fees). This method should be<br /> always avoided except in cases where the fees<br /> are likely to be small or difficult to collect. The<br /> other safeguards set out under heading (b.) 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 preserved.<br /> <br /> 5. Authors should remember that performing rights can<br /> be limited, and are usually limited by town, country, and<br /> time. This is most important.<br /> <br /> 6. Authors should not assign performing rights, but<br /> should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is<br /> of great importance.<br /> <br /> 7. Authors should remember that performing rights in a<br /> play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager<br /> holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot<br /> print the book of the words.<br /> <br /> 8. Never forget that American rights may be exceedingly<br /> valuable. They should never be included in * English<br /> agreements without the author obtaining a substantial<br /> consideration.<br /> <br /> g. 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 are<br /> referred to the Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;——&lt;—— —_—_—_<br /> <br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> I. VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br /> advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br /> lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br /> <br /> business or the administration of his property. If the<br /> <br /> advice sought is such as can be given best by a solici-<br /> tor, the member has a right to an opinion from the<br /> <br /> Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for<br /> him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the<br /> member.<br /> <br /> 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br /> and publisher’s agreements do not generally fall within the<br /> experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br /> to use the Society.<br /> <br /> 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past<br /> accounts with the loan of the books represented. The<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new<br /> or old, for inspection and note. The information thng<br /> obtained may prove invaluable.<br /> <br /> 4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br /> posed document to the Society for examination.<br /> <br /> 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you —<br /> <br /> are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are<br /> reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing<br /> the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen.<br /> dence of the writer.<br /> <br /> 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of<br /> members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br /> safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br /> fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who<br /> will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :—(1)<br /> To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To<br /> stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon<br /> them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce paymenta<br /> due according to agreements.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE READING BRANCH.<br /> <br /> EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this<br /> <br /> N branch of their work by informing young writers of<br /> its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated<br /> <br /> as a composition is treated by a coach. ‘The Readers are<br /> writers of competence and experience. The fee is one<br /> <br /> guinea.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> <br /> HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br /> Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br /> of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br /> <br /> heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br /> many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br /> 6s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br /> <br /> Communications for The Author should be addressed to<br /> the Offices of the Society, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn<br /> Fields, W.C., and should reach the Editor not later than the<br /> 2ist of each month.<br /> <br /> All persons engaged in literary work of any kind,<br /> whether members of the Society or not, are invited to<br /> communicate to the Editor any points connected with their<br /> work which it would be advisable in the general interest to<br /> publish.<br /> <br /> The present location of the Authors’ Club is at 3, White-<br /> hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for<br /> information, rules of admission, &amp;c.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHORS’ SYNDICATE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> stated that the announcement in “The<br /> Literary Year Book,” mentioned in Mr.<br /> Thring’s letter in The Author for March, was<br /> wholly unauthorised. A correct announcement<br /> appeared in “ The Literary Year Book ” for —<br /> <br /> 1897.<br /> <br /> r \HE Authors’ Syndicate desires it to be<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> |<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> LITERARY PROPERTY.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I—Tue New Copyricut.<br /> (By G. HerBeRT THRING, Secretary of the Society of<br /> Authors.)<br /> By kind permission of the Editor of the Daily Chronicle.<br /> <br /> N the piping times of peace it is with the<br /> greatest difficulty that the politician is<br /> persuaded to turn his thoughts to legislation<br /> <br /> concerned with literary property. Is it possible<br /> that when the trumpet of war is sounding the<br /> author and copyright owner will receive any<br /> attention? Perhaps not. Yet there will come<br /> shortly before Parliament a Bill which cannot fail<br /> to be full of interest to many of the literary<br /> readers of the Chronicle, namely, Lord Monks-<br /> well’s Copyright Bill, as approved by the Select<br /> Committee of the House of Lords.<br /> <br /> In 1897 that militant body, the Incorporated<br /> Society of Authors, thought, no doubt, that the<br /> question of copyright law reform had been<br /> slumbering too long, and drafted a short amending<br /> Bill, which dealt with the following subjects :—<br /> <br /> 1. Translations; 2. Magazine Copyright; 3.<br /> Copyright in Lectures; 4. Abridgments; 5.<br /> Dramatisation of Novels, &amp;c.; 6. Summary<br /> Remedy for Infringement of Dramatic Copyright.<br /> <br /> All of which points were, under the existing law,<br /> in serious need of amendment.<br /> <br /> This Bill was put under the charge of Lord<br /> Monkswell. The Copyright Association, not to<br /> be outdone by the younger and more active<br /> society, went one better and produced a full con-<br /> solidating and amending Bill, embracing both<br /> artistic and literary copyright. In its first draft<br /> the Bill was impossible, but it finally was knocked<br /> into presentable shape and put under the charge<br /> of Lord Herschell. During 1898 these two bills<br /> yan side by side. A Select Committee of the<br /> House of Lords was appointed to consider them,<br /> anda large amount of evidence was taken. Lord<br /> Hlerschell’s sudden and unexpected decease at this<br /> time was lamentable, and much to be regretted,<br /> as his support of the cause made the copyright<br /> owner’s chance of success exceedingly good. Lord<br /> Thring, however, the well-known Parliamentary<br /> draftsman, who was sitting on the Select Com-<br /> mittee, volunteered to take the matter up and to<br /> draft a Bill to submit to their lordships. This<br /> was about the beginning of 1899. As soon as it<br /> was known that the question was going to receive<br /> the serious attention of so excellent a lawyer and<br /> draftsman, the Incorporated Society of Authors<br /> and the Copyright Association agreed to with-<br /> draw their Bills and allow the matter to proceed<br /> under such trustworthy guidance.<br /> <br /> The first step taken was to separate literary<br /> copyright from artistic copyright, as the property<br /> <br /> 231<br /> <br /> was distinct in character, and must be legislated<br /> for on distinct lines. This was a good sign. It<br /> showed that the question was to be treated<br /> methodically, and gave assurance of some satis-<br /> factory order being evolved out of the chaos of<br /> existing laws. It was decided to deal with a<br /> Bill relating to literary property first. The<br /> alterations made in the existing law were based<br /> mainly on the report of the Copyright Commission<br /> which, appointed in 1875, reported in May, 1878.<br /> It is not proposed to discuss the various drafts,<br /> but that draft only which, approved by the<br /> Select Committee, was ordered to be printed on<br /> July 24, 1899. Literary copyright was divided<br /> into three parts, as stated in the memorandum<br /> accompanying the Bill:<br /> <br /> 1. Copyright properly so-called, or the right of<br /> multiplying copies of books ;<br /> <br /> 2. Performing right, or the right of publicly<br /> performing dramatic works or musical works.<br /> <br /> 3. Lecturing right, or the right of orally deliver-<br /> ing lectures.<br /> <br /> Here, again, it is evident that the method to be<br /> adopted is not only free from confusion, but shows<br /> a sound grasp of the complicated and difficult<br /> questions that surround the subject. Taking<br /> first of all copyright property properly so-called,<br /> the Bill proceeds in clause 3 to show what such<br /> copyright embraces. As these provisions are<br /> exceedingly important to the author, it is worth<br /> while to quote them in full. It embraces the<br /> exclusive right :—<br /> <br /> 1. To make copies by writing or otherwise of a<br /> book ;<br /> <br /> 2. To abridge such book ;<br /> <br /> 3. To translate such book ;<br /> <br /> 4. In the case of a dramatic work, to convert it<br /> into a non-dramatic work ;<br /> <br /> 5. Im the case of a non-dramatic work to con-<br /> vert it into a dramatic work.<br /> <br /> 6. In the case of a musical work to make any<br /> new adaptation, arrangement, or setting of such<br /> work or of the melody thereof in any notation or<br /> system.<br /> <br /> It will be perceived by those who have any, the<br /> smallest, knowledge of the existing law that the<br /> author, dramatist, and composer are allowed a<br /> much larger scope of dealing with their property,<br /> the outcome of their own brain, than at present.<br /> It is needless to discuss the ethics as to whether<br /> they should be allowed the possession of their<br /> own or not; but, taking the principle as a sound<br /> one, every increase of the facilities accorded is<br /> satisfactory, so long as it does not infringe upon<br /> the rights of the public. The existing law allows<br /> certain forms of abridgment, but disallows others.<br /> It does not seem in any way fair that the results<br /> of one man’s brain should be altered by the<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 232<br /> <br /> arbitrary power of another. Section 2, referring<br /> to abridgments, is therefore sound. Translations<br /> appear under the existing law to be considered<br /> infringements. Section 3 is therefore declaratory<br /> of the existing law. Sections 4 and 5 are addi-<br /> tions to the author’s present rights, and are based<br /> on that sound rule that a substantial. appropria-<br /> tion of the ideas or work of another is an in-<br /> fringement of copyright, and ought to be so<br /> treated. In section 6 the same rule is carried<br /> into effect with regard to musical compositions.<br /> Clause 4 deals with the conditions and duration of<br /> copyright. The term under the present law is<br /> the life of the author and seven years afterwards,<br /> or forty-two years, whichever is the longer.<br /> This Bill adopts the recommendation of the Copy-<br /> right Commission—life and thirty years. This<br /> alteration will, no doubt, in most cases give a<br /> considerable extension, although in some it may<br /> cut down the period to less than under the pre-<br /> sent Acts. Two great advantages are, however,<br /> gained. Firstly, the date of termination is fixed<br /> and easily ascertained by the public at large;<br /> and, secondly, the persons who benefit under the<br /> will of the deceased are certain of holding some<br /> property, even though the period during which it<br /> is held is not of exceeding long duration.<br /> <br /> It seems impossible, in the present state of<br /> public opinion, that copyright should be perpetual,<br /> but it is a matter of great doubt whether it would<br /> not have been better to extend the term to life<br /> and fifty years, in order to bring it more in accord<br /> either with the present laws of the great nations<br /> of the Continent, or with the drafts of laws that<br /> will shortly be before them. The nearer the<br /> English law can be brought to agree with that of<br /> foreign Powers, the nearer is the ideal of one<br /> universal copyright law likely to be.<br /> <br /> Clause 5 deals with the property of dramatic<br /> and musical authors. It does away with the exist-<br /> ing confusion, brushes aside all barriers that have<br /> been raised by the succession of isolated Acts that<br /> now govern this property, and brings the whole<br /> into harmony in a simple, straightforward manner.<br /> Yet dramatic authors should raise strong objec-<br /> tions to sections 6 and 7, which seem to have been<br /> inserted with a view to carrying out the regula-<br /> tions of the Musical Compositions Acts, 1882 and<br /> 1888. These Acts may have been exceedingly<br /> necessary to protect the property of musical com-<br /> posers, but would be disastrous to dramatists.<br /> Clause 6 deals with lecturing, and proposes a<br /> simple method of securing these rights, and upsets<br /> the complicated absurdity at present existing. By<br /> clauses 5 and 6, the duration of performing rights<br /> and lecturing rights is made to coincide with that<br /> of copyright—namely, life and thirty years. The<br /> clauses following, 7 to 12, are of special impor-<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOKL.<br /> <br /> tance to authors, and therefore must be carefully<br /> considered by all those for whom this article ig<br /> penned. They deal with :—<br /> <br /> 1. Books published anonymously or pseudo.<br /> nymously, or posthumous works, giving duration<br /> of copyright in such works for thirty years.<br /> <br /> 2. Joint authorship, giving duration of copy-<br /> right until thirty years after the death of the<br /> survivor.<br /> <br /> 3. Plurality of authors, giving separate copy-<br /> right to each individual.<br /> <br /> 4. Magazine or serial copyright, giving dura-<br /> tion of copyright in any article appearing in an<br /> encyclopedia, review, magazine, &amp;c., for life and<br /> thirty years, and in such article as a separate<br /> work after the term of two years from the date<br /> of publication in such review, magazine, &amp;e,<br /> (encyclopedia omitted), to the author for life and<br /> thirty years.<br /> <br /> Thus, two concurrent copyrights in the same<br /> article are created, one owned by the proprietor,<br /> allowing him to reproduce his review, magazine,<br /> &amp;c., containing the article, the other owned by<br /> the author, giving him a right to produce the<br /> article in a separate form after two years from<br /> the date of publication. This arrangement is a<br /> distinct advance, and yet it appears faulty on<br /> two points: (a) The term copyright should not<br /> have been applied to the right held by the pro-<br /> prietor of the review, magazine, &amp;c., who should<br /> only hold a licence to reproduce: (6) the author<br /> should be permitted to reproduce, not at a fixed<br /> date from publication, but at a fixed date—say<br /> two years—from definite acceptance, or two years.<br /> from first publication, whichever event should<br /> first happen. This arrangement would seem<br /> fairer so long as magazine proprietors are human,<br /> otherwise an author’s work once accepted by a<br /> magazine might never be produced, greatly to the<br /> pecuniary loss of the author.<br /> <br /> The newspaper copyright clause, giving pro-<br /> tection under certain circumstances to news for<br /> eighteen hours, is responsible for the most far-<br /> reaching change in the whole Bill, and though it<br /> is a short clause must therefore meet with the<br /> most careful consideration. Is such protection<br /> necessary? Is it justifiable? To both these<br /> questions the answer must be in the affirmative.<br /> <br /> The ruling principle must be that where an<br /> individual has expended large sums to acquire<br /> certain property, that property should be pro-<br /> tected if such protection does not infringe public<br /> rights. Many of the big newspapers expend<br /> enormous sums to obtain reliable information ;<br /> such a clause as the present would enable them<br /> to obtain a fair return for their expenditure im<br /> time, trouble, and money, as it appears that the<br /> result would be that the smaller papers which now —<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 33<br /> <br /> exist by cuttings would have to pay some small<br /> sum for the use of the news. Would not twenty-<br /> four hours be a more desirable limit than<br /> eighteen? The big papers should consider this.<br /> The clause is sure to create much discussion, but<br /> if not obscured by side issues it ought to obtain<br /> the support of all fair-minded people. There is<br /> another reason why the fight will rage round<br /> clause 12. It deals with the rights of newspapers.<br /> Newspapers can influence the voters, and accord-<br /> ingly politicians who also have inclinations and<br /> bias, even in an educated country, must look after<br /> their own interests.<br /> <br /> Clauses 13 and 14 deal with the assignment of<br /> literary rights. It is sincerely to be hoped that<br /> clause 14 will never be allowed to pass, as it<br /> deals with registration—a most unsatisfactory<br /> method of obtaining copyright. From this point<br /> the real interest in the Bill ceases, so far as the<br /> public point of view is concerned. The other<br /> clauses, dealing with infringement of literary<br /> rights, summary remedies, delivery of books to<br /> libraries, British Possessions, international copy-<br /> right, are not only necessary but of vital impor-<br /> tance, and it is possible that the success of the<br /> whole Bill may hang on the clauses dealing with<br /> British Possessions. Yet the interest they arouse<br /> is technical, and, though the student may recog-<br /> nise the almost insuperable difficulties that sur-<br /> round them, they do not influence the main<br /> points, or apparently increase or diminish an<br /> author’s property. The only other clause of real<br /> interest is clause 41 (Definitions). This is in the<br /> main declaratory of the present law, and satis-<br /> factory. The Bill is retrospective.<br /> <br /> Sufficient has now been said to show that this<br /> new effort deserves the support of all interested<br /> directly or indirectly in copyright property. It<br /> increases that property to its owner, it gives<br /> larger powers of dealing with it, and puts into<br /> one comprehensive Bill what is at present con-<br /> tained in disjointed and isolated Acts—Acts that<br /> in many poimts won’t read with one another,<br /> whose drafting is often incomprehensible, whose<br /> language is involved. All the existing difficulties<br /> are here cleared away, and though perhaps the<br /> Bill does not go far enough, yet as far as it<br /> goes it deals with the subject with method, clear-<br /> ness, and regularity. It has the support of the<br /> Incorporated Society of Authors and of the pub-<br /> lishers. It only remains for it to obtain that of<br /> the House of Commons.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> II.—Gerrman anp AUSTRIAN TREATY.<br /> <br /> We recently gave details of a copyright treaty<br /> between Great Britain and Austria-Hungary.<br /> We learn from our contemporary, Das Recht der<br /> <br /> VOL. x.<br /> <br /> 23<br /> <br /> Feder, that a similar treaty is now under con-<br /> sideration between Austria-Hungary and the<br /> German Empire.<br /> <br /> a<br /> <br /> IlI.—Proposep New Copyricut in GERMANY.<br /> We have received from the Association Litté.<br /> raire et Artistique Interaationale a detailed pro-<br /> gramme and report of the recent Congress of<br /> Heidelburg, and an interesting report upon the<br /> projected German Copyright Law, from the pen<br /> of Dr. Albert Osterrieth. We have several times<br /> since this project of the new German law was<br /> published had occasion to point out that the<br /> proposed enactment by no means corresponds<br /> either with the legitimate desires of authors, or<br /> with modern ideas of what a copyright enactment<br /> should be ; and we have much pleasure in quoting<br /> Dr. Osterrieth’s concluding paragraph as an able<br /> summing-up of the case against the new law.<br /> <br /> “Tt must be recognised that the authors of the<br /> project have produced a very conscientious piece<br /> of work, and have exerted themselves to meet the<br /> demands of authors, publishers, and the public.<br /> But the excess of their zeal to take into considera-<br /> tion the interests of these different groups has<br /> led to some neglect of the principles affecting the<br /> rights of authors. I do not ask that the project<br /> should develop a definite theory respecting the<br /> nature of authors’ rights; but the law ought to<br /> be based upon some uniform system, which should<br /> have had the attention of the authors of the<br /> project. They have given themselves little pains<br /> to reduce their labours to a system, and hence<br /> have resulted the contradictions and incoherencies<br /> which I have attempted to indicate in my report.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> LV.—CopyrigHt CONVENTION BETWEEN GREAT<br /> Britain AND AUSTRIA.<br /> <br /> On examining the file of Zhe &lt;Au*hor it has<br /> been found that no mention has been made of<br /> the tact that a Convention exists between Great<br /> Britain and Austria-Hungary for the establish-<br /> ment of international copyright. The ratifications<br /> of the convention were exchanged on April 14,<br /> <br /> 1894. Its most important provisions are the<br /> following: Authors of literary and artistic<br /> <br /> works published in either country have in the<br /> other the same rights as if their works had been<br /> published there, and the same legal remedies<br /> against infringement. Right of translation lapses<br /> if not taken up within ten years. Authorised<br /> translations are protected as original works. The<br /> Convention applies to the whole British Empire,<br /> excepting the Dominion of Canada, the Cape,<br /> New South Wales, and Tasmania. The Con-<br /> vention is to remain in force for ten years.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> AA<br /> <br /> <br /> 234<br /> <br /> V.—Proposep New Copyricnt Law For<br /> Russia.<br /> <br /> Russia has followed the example of Germany<br /> and has published for preliminary criticism a pro-<br /> ject of a new copyright law. &lt;A full French<br /> translation of the Russian text will be found in<br /> our valuable contemporary Le Droit @ Auteur of<br /> Jan. 15, 1900, from which we quote the following<br /> articles, which seem to be those most interesting<br /> to authors.<br /> <br /> Russian authors who publish abroad have the<br /> same rights as if they had published in Russia.<br /> Duration of copyright of original works is<br /> author’s life and fifty years afterwards ; that of<br /> works produced by collaboration extends to fifty<br /> <br /> ears after the death of the last survivor ; that of<br /> collections of folk-lore, &amp;c., life of editor and<br /> thirty years afterwards. Periodical publications,<br /> encyclopedias, &amp;c., composed of the works of<br /> many authors, enjoy copyright for fifty years from<br /> publication ; and academies and learned societies<br /> have the same. The authors retain their inde-<br /> pendent copyright, but cannot, without editors’<br /> consent, republish before expiration of two years.<br /> Anonymous works have thirty years’ copyright,<br /> beginning from date of publication. The copy-<br /> right of a work published in successive parts or<br /> volumes is calculated from the date of the<br /> publication of the last part, if the interval<br /> between the appearance of the successive portions<br /> is less than two years; if the interval is greater,<br /> the duration of the copyright of each part is<br /> calculated separately. Authors of works pub-<br /> lished in Russia and Russian authors whose<br /> works are published abroad have sole right of<br /> translation for ten years, provided that this right<br /> is retained by an announcement on title or in<br /> preface and that the translation appears within<br /> five years after the publication of the original<br /> work. Works published simultaneously in several<br /> languages are considered as original works in all<br /> those languages. A translator&#039;s copyright has a<br /> duration of thirty years. This right does not<br /> prevent the publication of other independent<br /> translations. Copyright exists not alone in works<br /> fixed by writing, but also in speeches, lectures,<br /> conferences, and sermons, with a few limitations<br /> in the case of judicial and political pronounce-<br /> ments. Private letters cannot be published with-<br /> out consent of both writer and receiver ; nor,<br /> after their death, without consent of heirs, for<br /> fifty years. The reproduction in Russia of the<br /> work of a foreign author without his consent is<br /> forbidden, but translations may be published in<br /> Russian or in other languages. A publisher<br /> must produce work within five years of signature<br /> of agreement. Without special agreement a<br /> single edition may not exceed 1200 copies.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Modifications cannot be made without author&#039;s<br /> consent. Right of translation does not accom-<br /> pany right to publish. An unpublished work<br /> cannot be seized by creditors. Piracy is punish-<br /> able with destruction of the whole edition and of<br /> all plates, &amp;c., used to produce it. Action must<br /> be taken within five years.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> VI.—MousicaL CopyRicHr.<br /> ie<br /> (Before Mr. Justice Phillimore.)<br /> <br /> Société des Auteurs, &amp;c., de Musique and<br /> Others v. Chappell and Co. Limited —In this case<br /> the Socicté des Auteurs, Compositeurs, et<br /> Editeurs de Musique de Paris, M. Harry Frogson:<br /> and M. Adolph Stanilas sued Messrs. Chappell<br /> and Co. to obtain a declaration that the plaintiffs<br /> were entitled to the performing rights in the<br /> United Kingdom of the music of a waltz song<br /> entitled “ Les Blondes,” of which MM. Frogson<br /> and Stanilas were the composers or of any adap-<br /> tation or arrangement of it. They also claimed<br /> an injunction restraining the defendants from<br /> representing that they were the owners of the<br /> performing right, and that the music could be<br /> performed without the licence of the plaintiffs.<br /> The plaintiffs based their claim upon the Berne<br /> Convention and the English Copyright Acts.<br /> The words of the song were written by Lucien<br /> Delormel, since deceased, and it was first per-<br /> formed in France. ‘The song was declared in<br /> writing to the Société, who collect the authors and<br /> composers’ fees throughout France, and dis-<br /> tributed the proceeds in March, 1896, and they<br /> claimed under their statutes to be entitled to the<br /> performing rights both in France and in this<br /> country. Their claim was, in the first instance,<br /> the only one made, with a view of testing the<br /> question, and the composers were afterwards<br /> added as parties to the action. The defendants<br /> denied the plaintiffs’ assertions, and claimed to be<br /> entitled to the performing rights under an assign-<br /> ment from Delormel. A number of eminent<br /> French avocats were in attendance to give<br /> evidence as to the law, and they, at the invitation<br /> of the learned judge, seated themselves within the<br /> Bar.<br /> <br /> Mr. Scrutton appeared for the plaintiffs, and<br /> Mr. Dickens, Q.C., and Mr. Bustace Smith for the<br /> defendants.<br /> <br /> While M. Stanilas, who, at the suggestion of the<br /> learned judge, was cross-examined in French, was<br /> giving evidence, it appeared that Delormel had<br /> not the consent of the composers to assign to Mr.<br /> Chappell. -<br /> <br /> Mr. Dickens thereupon said he could not carry<br /> the case or the assignment further, and<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Judgment was entered for the plaintiffs<br /> Frogson and Stanilas, with costs, and the impor-<br /> tant point raised as to the rights of the Société<br /> was not gone into.—The Standard.<br /> <br /> II.<br /> <br /> At Scarborough, Mr, H. E. Jackson, of 2, Sher-<br /> wood-street, appeared in answer to summonses,<br /> one of which alleged that he, not being the pro-<br /> prietor of the copyright of a certain copyright<br /> book first published in France—namely, the<br /> music composed by Charles Gounod, of a certain<br /> opera called “ Faust,” did sell a copy of the book<br /> between Nov. 22 and Dec. 3 last. The other<br /> summonses were for having the book in his pos-<br /> session for sale or hire, and for importing the<br /> book into the United Kingdom for sale. Mr.<br /> Ernest Wilkinson (Messrs. Wilkinson, Howlet,<br /> and Wilkinson, of London) prosecuted, and Mr.<br /> Tasker Hart defended.<br /> <br /> The evidence showed that Mr. A. A. Edwards,<br /> one of Messrs. Chappell’s managers, had his atten-<br /> tion drawn to a circular issued by the defendant<br /> relating to the book in question. He wrote to<br /> Mr. Jackson. (inclosing tos.) for a copy, which<br /> was forwarded in due course. It was then found<br /> that defendant had obtained the copy from<br /> Holland, and that he had advertised the sale of<br /> the book by circular, announcing therein that it<br /> was copyright. It was shown that Messrs. Chap-<br /> pell and Co. were the proprietors of the copy-<br /> right.<br /> <br /> Mr. Hart’s main point in defence was that the<br /> magistrates had no jurisdiction, this being vested<br /> in the magistrates of the district where the book<br /> was delivered—viz., Ealing. He expressed sur-<br /> prise that a respectable firm like Messrs. Chappell<br /> and Co. should lay what he claimed was a trap to<br /> catch the defendant.<br /> <br /> The magistrates convicted on two of the sum-<br /> monses, and imposed a fine of ros. on each, together<br /> with £4 costs, £5 in all.—Daily Chronicle,<br /> March 1.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> VII.—Apvertisements Nor Parp For,<br /> <br /> Readers will please take notice that an author<br /> who recently received in an account a charge for<br /> advertisements in the publisher’s own organ, called<br /> the attention of the firm to the matter, and the<br /> charge was immediately taken out. There is very<br /> little doubt that in every case where such a charge<br /> is attempted it will be withdrawn rather than face<br /> the decision of a court.<br /> <br /> VOL. X.<br /> <br /> 235<br /> THE GENERAL MEETING.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> HE annual general meeting of the Incor-<br /> porated Society of Authors was held at 20,<br /> Hanover-square, on Thursday, Feb. 27. Mr.<br /> <br /> A. Hope Hawkins took the chair at 4.30 and was<br /> supported by about sixty members. He opened<br /> the meeting by commenting on the report in<br /> detail and explaining the aims and objects of the<br /> Society as exemplified by its work. He poimted<br /> out the satisfactory increase in membership, 216<br /> having been elected in the past year, and an<br /> increase of £240 in subscriptions. He made<br /> special reference to the accession of dramatic<br /> authors.<br /> <br /> The intentions of the Committee in establishing<br /> a pension scheme were laid before the members in<br /> considerable detail, and the Chairman stated that<br /> about £1100 had been subscribed in donations<br /> and about £100 in yearly subscriptions. He<br /> hoped next year to start at least one pension.<br /> The subject of the Society’s action in the matter<br /> of the Copyright Bill was reviewed, and the im-<br /> portance of using all possible influence to get it<br /> passed was impressed on the meeting. The<br /> Chairman then turned to what he considered the<br /> really important daily work of the Society, its<br /> legal and advisory work. He stated that on this<br /> work the real strength of the Society rested, and<br /> he was glad to say that it was going forward<br /> satisfactorily. He closed his remarks by saying<br /> that the Committee had decided to issue cheap<br /> tickets for the dinner this year in crder to give all<br /> members a chance of coming, as it was the only<br /> social function of the Society.<br /> <br /> Discussion OF THE PENSION SCHEME.<br /> <br /> Mr. Zangwill then rose to oppose the pension<br /> scheme, both on what he stated to be selfish and<br /> unselfish grounds. He crystallised his opinion<br /> into the following sentence—that great authors<br /> should be supported by the public at large, and<br /> little authors not at all.<br /> <br /> Mr. Bernard Hamilton then made a few<br /> remarks, and Mr. Bernard Shaw made some useful<br /> suggestions, especially that the Committee of the<br /> Society should officially support applicants for<br /> Civil List Pensions.<br /> <br /> Mr. E. Rose, Mr. A. W. a Beckett, and others<br /> also spoke, strongly supporting the pension scheme,<br /> In fact it was really the only point in the report<br /> which was discussed.<br /> <br /> Mr. Hawkins summed up in a few words,<br /> explaining away the difficulties and objec-<br /> tions that had been raised, and thanking the<br /> members for the general support the scheme had<br /> received.<br /> <br /> AA 2<br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 236<br /> <br /> Tar BooxsTaLL GRIEVANCE.<br /> <br /> Mr. Mullett Ellis then proposed the following<br /> resolutions :—<br /> <br /> i. That the exercise of a literary censorship of books by<br /> the large trading monopoly, whose business is that of mere<br /> distributors and newsvendors, is not advantageous to<br /> Letters.<br /> <br /> 2. That the system of monopoly which dominates the<br /> railway bookstalls throughout the Kingdom, gives to<br /> one firm a power over the output and distribution of<br /> popular literature, and of political journals, which is<br /> damaging to the interests of authors, and of the public.<br /> <br /> 3. That a copy of the foregoing resolution be sent to the<br /> chairman and directors of the various railway companies,<br /> with a respectful request that on the next available occasion,<br /> the licenses of the railway bookstalls be given to more<br /> than one firm of booksellers, and that the principle of<br /> competition in the supply of literature be thus substituted<br /> for the existing monopoly.<br /> <br /> (a) Because it would be of financial advantage to the<br /> shareholders of the railway companies.<br /> <br /> (b) Because the dominance of one firm over the sale of<br /> newspapers and popular literature, is a political danger<br /> which may even threaten the national liberties, and is<br /> damaging to literature.<br /> <br /> (c) Because the existing system of the monopoly of one<br /> trading firm has, during many years past, been exercised in<br /> censorship of authors.<br /> <br /> (d) Because the sale of books at railway bookstalls has<br /> become so enormous that an alteration in the existing<br /> system has become a necessity, many valuable works not<br /> being now obtainable at the bookstalls, so that if the abuse<br /> be not dealt with by the railway companies, it will be<br /> necessary to seek the intervention of Parliament.<br /> <br /> Mr. Ellis read a series of letters he had received<br /> from various authors on the subject, expressing<br /> various opinions, and then proceeded to state his<br /> reasons in support of his motion. This he did by<br /> reading lengthy extracts of a letter from Messrs.<br /> Smith and Son, a copy of which had been printed<br /> in The Author.<br /> <br /> As Mme. Sarah Grand was unable to be present<br /> and second the resolutions, they were seconded<br /> by Mr. J. Louis, who explained that Messrs.<br /> Smith and Son had dealt unfairly with a paper<br /> in which he was interested, entitled Our Sisters ;<br /> as, though Messrs. Smith had taken a large<br /> number of the issue, and had promised to put<br /> them on the stalls, he (Mr. Louis) had been<br /> unable to find out that they had m any way<br /> fulfilled their promise.<br /> <br /> Mr. Bernard Shaw moved, as an amendment to<br /> the original resolution, that all the words after<br /> “railway companies” in resolution 3 should be<br /> omitted. He thought it would be a good thing<br /> to make a formal protest, but he also stated that<br /> he considered Messrs. Smith and Son’s institution<br /> a very desirable and advantageous distributing<br /> agency for authors.<br /> <br /> Mr. Zangwill seconded the amendment, on the<br /> grounds that no commercial body had any right<br /> to constitute itself a censor of literature.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Mr. Gribble opposed the whole thing as likely<br /> to make the Society ridiculous. He stated that<br /> if the Society was going to make a stir it ought<br /> to have a better case on which to go to the public<br /> than the present, and apart from this, he<br /> explained that if Messrs. Smith and Son were<br /> done away with authors would lose a great deal ;<br /> that as a general rule their methods were sound<br /> commercially.<br /> <br /> Mr. Bernard Hamilton then made a few<br /> remarks in favour of the resolutions.<br /> <br /> Mr. Hawkins, the Chairman, thereupon rose and<br /> stated at full length the action the Committee had<br /> adopted with regard to Mr. Mullett Ellis’s com-<br /> plaint during the past year, and the opinion that<br /> the Committee had formed, as he thought the<br /> members ought to be cognisant of this. The Com-<br /> mittee, he said, had made private inquiries and<br /> had been informed that Mr. Ellis’s book had been<br /> rejected primarily on financial grounds, but that<br /> Messrs. Smith and Son had not boycotted the<br /> book, as they were willing to order it when asked<br /> for. The Committee had considered the question<br /> carefully from all points of view, and had come<br /> to the conclusion not only that any action on the<br /> lines suggested would be inexpedient, but that if<br /> it had been expedient it would be unsatisfactory.<br /> The Committee did not intend to vote.<br /> <br /> Mr. Henry Norman then moved “ the previous<br /> question.” He stated that newspapers and the<br /> Press had often seriously considered the question<br /> of Messrs. Smith and Son, and that it had been<br /> found impossible, even with the great influence<br /> possessed by the Press, to effect any change,<br /> even if such change were at all likely to be<br /> desirable.<br /> <br /> The motion was put and carried by twenty-five<br /> to five, and the proceedings then terminated.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> PARIS NOTES.<br /> <br /> : 5, Rue Chomel.<br /> &lt; QQ&quot; juss on ne secourt pas les faibles,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> fussent-ils admirables et heroiques, il est<br /> <br /> a la fois pueril et imprudent de harceler<br /> les forts, et surtout de les outrager.” Such was<br /> the advice tendered by M. Paul Deschanel to his<br /> electors, on the occasion of a banquet given in his<br /> honour to celebrate his reception at the Academy<br /> and his re-election to the office of president of the<br /> French Chamber. Never was a similar warning<br /> more timely or necessary. During the last few<br /> months the output of scurrilous publications and<br /> obscene caricatures, ridiculing everything most<br /> dear and sacred to English hearts, has been<br /> simply revolting. Ninety per cent. of the coarse<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> abuse formerly lavished on the long-suffering<br /> Israelite has lately been devoted to vilifying our<br /> race. ‘The degradation of England is the advan-<br /> tage of France” was the lame excuse profferred<br /> by a member of the French Press in support of<br /> the outrageous language adopted by his confréres.<br /> This fallacious phrase caught the popular fancy<br /> and sank deep into the national mind, bearing<br /> down and obliterating the old traditions of French<br /> courtesy and generosity. The effect has been pain-<br /> fully apparent (especially during Carnival week)<br /> to the Anglo-Parisian frequenter of les grands<br /> boulevards. Gaudily-coloured, revolting carica-<br /> tures of the personage most revered among all<br /> European potentates; vulgar, obscene prints<br /> headed “ Prix aux cochons,” with the names of<br /> our bravest generals appended, in order to leave<br /> no doubt as to the personages aimed at; anda<br /> score of equally offensive productions of the same<br /> genre have affronted the beholder’s eyes at every<br /> turn. The authorities can scarcely be held<br /> responsible for a state of affairs which they are,<br /> unfortunately, unable to remedy, the inefficiency<br /> of the police re the populace having been palpably<br /> manifested during the Fort Chabrol affair. Of<br /> the 74,212 candidates who officially presented<br /> themselves for employment at the beginning of<br /> the year, only 1557 were accepted; and when the<br /> opening of the Great Exhibition joins to this<br /> large army of probably already disaffected unem-<br /> ployed the thousands of workmen now occupied<br /> within its walls, lively scenes may be anticipated.<br /> «Aprés moi le déluge,” quoth Louis XV. And<br /> the masses verified his prediction.<br /> <br /> A New Acapemy.<br /> <br /> The First Chamber of the Court of Appeal has<br /> decided in favour of the establishment of the<br /> Académie Goncourt. M. Léon Daudet (who has<br /> succeeded his father as legal executor of Edmond<br /> de Goncourt’s last will and testament) will, in all<br /> probability, be nominated president of the new<br /> association. Edmond de Goncourt was a man of<br /> high, original talent, and he was also “a rebel<br /> by nature.” He detested the existing French<br /> Academy, and frequently fulminated against it<br /> when enjoying the society of his intimate friends.<br /> His idea was to found an institution which should<br /> prove an agreeable haven of refuge to those<br /> writers whom he considered unjustly excluded<br /> from ascending the dais of the immortals. Never-<br /> theless, he expressly stipulates that until the sum<br /> of 65,000 francs per annum be accumulated, the<br /> Académie Goncourt shall only exist as a provi-<br /> ‘sional society. He likewise states that, though<br /> no other prize than the Goncourt prize can be<br /> founded by the young Academy, the latter recom-<br /> pense may be augmented from five to ten thousand<br /> <br /> re<br /> <br /> francs ; but that, when once this figure is attained,<br /> the additional capital shall be employed in<br /> augmenting the salary of the ten members, three<br /> of whom still remain to be elected. A provi-<br /> sional prize of 1200 francs for the best work of<br /> imagination in prose which shall appear during<br /> the year is also provided for, together with 1400<br /> francs per annum to be expended in a weekly<br /> dinner (at twenty francs per head) which the<br /> aforesaid members are required to partake in<br /> company during the months of November,<br /> December, January, February, March, April, and<br /> May. In short, despite the disdainful attitude of<br /> the elder Academy and the “talon rouge” dis-<br /> played by one of its most illustrious associates,<br /> the members of the new Academy are in no wise<br /> to be pitied.<br /> “Prace aux Dames.”<br /> <br /> The present generation of French authoresses<br /> are not disposed to hide their light under a<br /> bushel. They are now meditating another step<br /> in advance, to wit, the nomination of a feminine<br /> candidate to sit on the committee of the Société<br /> des Gens de Lettres. This project was mooted<br /> last year; but so many agitating subjects were<br /> then brought forward that the ladies magnani-<br /> mously permitted their project to be set aside,<br /> being unwilling to add fuel to the flames of dis-<br /> sension already rending the society. M. Marcel<br /> Prévost, whose term of presidency is rapidly<br /> drawing to its close, is in sympathy with the<br /> movement, which can scarcely be considered as an<br /> innovation, since George Sand was formally<br /> invested with this honour, though she never<br /> attended a single meeting. The ladies have deter-<br /> mined to nominate only one candidate, in order<br /> to avoid any splitting of votes, which would<br /> assuredly result in their defeat. Mlle. Maugeret,<br /> editress of the Mminisme Chrétien, will probably<br /> be the candidate chosen.<br /> <br /> The writings of Mme. Jean Bertheroy, “ that<br /> dark-eyed, red-lipped, living incarnation of<br /> Carmen,” enjoy, in most instances, a well-merited<br /> popularity. This is, unfortunately, not the case<br /> as regards her latest novel, entitled ‘“ Lucie<br /> Guérin, marquise de Ponts.” The tale is simply<br /> the apotheosis of adultery, the glorification of<br /> criminal passion ¢o the detriment of honour, duty,<br /> gratitude, and all nobler sentiments. It is to be<br /> hoped that Mme. Bertheroy’s next venture may<br /> have as wide a popularity, and a higher moral<br /> tone than her present contribution to French<br /> literature.<br /> <br /> Press AMENITIES.<br /> <br /> Duels between members of the Press and<br /> susceptible individuals whom their nimble pens<br /> have offended are greatly in vogue. In these<br /> <br /> <br /> 238 THE<br /> discourteous days, the dexterous manipulation of<br /> sword and pistol forms a necessary part of the<br /> education of every self-respecting, life-loving,<br /> political French writer. Few journalists, how-<br /> ever, are called out by antagonists so plucky and<br /> unskilful as the councillor-general of the Charente,<br /> who recently parried his adversary’s attack by<br /> wildly plunging his sword into the thigh of the<br /> unoffending assistant-surgeon who served as one<br /> of the witnesses in the affair. The vexed ques-<br /> tion as to whether a son can, in certain cases,<br /> substitute himself bis father’s champion is still<br /> undecided. An incident in the career of Dumas<br /> fils shows that the notorious pamphleteer, Hugéne<br /> de Mirecourt, was averse to this filial substitution,<br /> which would have considerably augmented the<br /> dangers of his already perilous career.<br /> <br /> De Mirecourt had just issued a terrible pamph-<br /> let, entitled ‘Dumas et Cie,” whose implacable<br /> logic sheared away the greater part of the glory<br /> of the illustrious author of “ Les Trois Mousque-<br /> taires,’ when one fine morning his domestic pre-<br /> sented him with the card of Alexandre Dumas<br /> fils. Immediately after a stalwart young man<br /> entered the editorial sanctum, and brusquely<br /> announced—‘ You have insulted my father, and<br /> Tam come to demand satisfaction for the insult.”<br /> <br /> “Your conduct is dictated by too honourable a<br /> sentiment to allow of my refusing your request,”<br /> blandly responded De Mirecourt. ‘‘ Permit me to<br /> ask you asingle question. Is your father in good<br /> health?”<br /> <br /> Receiving a gruff response in the affirmative,<br /> he politely added,<br /> <br /> “Then everything can be easily arranged.”<br /> <br /> He forthwith rang, and ordered the domestic<br /> in attendance to inform M. Edgar he was wanted.<br /> Two minutes later the domestic reappeared,<br /> leading by the hand a pretty little fellow of<br /> some eight or ten years of age. De Mirecourt<br /> rose and, with an urbanity worthy the great<br /> Turveydrop himself, ceremoniously enunciated :<br /> <br /> “My son—M. Dumas fils. Be kind enough,<br /> sir,” he continued, turning to his visitor, “to<br /> settle with my son the little matter which<br /> brought you here.”<br /> <br /> Dumas fils had too keen a sense of humour<br /> not to be amused by the incident. He smiled at<br /> the child, bowed to De Mirecourt, and withdrew.<br /> Nothing further was heard of the affair.<br /> <br /> Joris Kari HuysMans.<br /> <br /> Among notable books of the month may be<br /> mentioned “Pages Catholiques,” by Joris Karl<br /> Huysmans, in which the author, under the<br /> pseudonym of “ Durtal,” narrates the history of<br /> his own conversion. In the preface, written by<br /> Abbé Mugnier to commend this re-edition of the<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> most eloquent pages of the celebrated “ En<br /> Route” to the perusal of the faithful, we find<br /> the following vigorous refutation of the insinu-<br /> ations of insincerity levelled against the famous<br /> convert: “Que certaines irrévérences et bizar-<br /> reries de langage alent pu surprendre ou égarer<br /> le jugement de plusieurs, il n’y a rien d’étonnant.<br /> oe On ne joue pas 4 ce point le repentir! On<br /> ne fait pas jaillir artificiellement de telles larmes!<br /> Décrire, avec cette précision, les effets de certains.<br /> sacrements, c’est les avoir ressentis, 4 deux genoux,.<br /> comme un croyant. Et il faut étre encore prati-<br /> quant pour se plaire aux mystiques pour<br /> glorifier ’Eglise avec des accents qui n’appar-<br /> tiennent qu’a ses fils . . .” From which it<br /> may be gathered that the Romish Church is<br /> disposed to be lenient to the eccentricities of its<br /> renowned convert. Close to my present abode<br /> runs the pious Rue de Stvres, where the famous<br /> author of “La-Bas” lived for so many years in<br /> reputed familiar association with the Evil One.<br /> It was impossible to see him unless he himself<br /> desired the interview, for he had constructed a<br /> species of observatory — commonly called a<br /> judas” —from which he could observe his<br /> visitors unseen; and unless their physiognomy<br /> chanced to be to his taste, he remained obsti-<br /> nately deaf to all entreaties or demands for admit-<br /> tance. He is reported to have already commenced<br /> an analytical dissection of his present feelings,<br /> which will be published under the title of<br /> “T’Oblat.”<br /> “QO cHeR Roopyar!”<br /> <br /> The above phrase, repeated some months ago<br /> with parrot-like persistency in various literary<br /> salons, completely mystified me for a time. At<br /> first, I laboured under the delusion that ‘‘ce cher<br /> Roodyar” was an amiable member of an ex-<br /> tremely numerous French family; later on, I<br /> presumed him to be either a modern Admirable<br /> Crichton of hig-lif fame, or else an aristo-<br /> cratic young dandy on whom had devolved the<br /> sceptre of fashion formerly swayed by the late<br /> Prince de Sagan; and it was some weeks before<br /> it dawned on my bewildered mind that “ce cher<br /> Roodyar” of Parisian fame was no less a per-<br /> sonage than our own _ illustrious Rudyard<br /> Kipling.<br /> <br /> The attitude he has adopted in regard to the<br /> Transvaal War has caused a temporary eclipse of<br /> his popularity ; but the cloud is already lifting.<br /> Translations of his latest “ Jungle Book”’ series<br /> are again being eagerly read, or, at least, placed<br /> well in evidence in the leading booksellers’ shops,<br /> and on the étagéres of those gilded youths who<br /> are reputed to possess cosmopolitan literary tastes.<br /> The subjoined description of his personality gives<br /> a good example of the extreme fineness of observa-<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> tion and keen eye for detail which characterise<br /> the majority of word portraits limned by French<br /> writers: “ Crane vaste et fuyant de dolicho-céphale,<br /> front dégarni déja (il n’a pas trente-quatre ans)<br /> comme pour mieux montrer l’ossature de silex, la<br /> fine et forte construction de la téte: yeux noy¢s<br /> dombre sous l’arcade séche et creusée, las, dirait-<br /> on, davoir regardé trop, paisibles derriére les<br /> lunettes studieuses ; michoire effilée comme une<br /> lame; mince menton saillant et volontaire; un<br /> profil réduit A l’essential, aigu, obstiné comme une<br /> pince d’acier qui ne lachera jamais sa prise, et<br /> pourtant détendu dans du réve et de la contempla-<br /> tion, &amp;c.” Space forbids our citing the conclusion<br /> of M. André Chevrillon’s graphic description<br /> (vide M. Emile Berr.)<br /> New PusiicaTions.<br /> <br /> Among books of the month will be found—<br /> « Au Pays des nuits blanches,” by M. Emile Berr ;<br /> “Des Histoies,’ by M. Michel Corday (chez<br /> Ollendorf) ; ‘ Draco,” by M. Paul Gaulot (chez<br /> Plon) ; ‘“ La Double Maitresse,” by M. Henri de<br /> Régnier (Société du Mercure de France) ; “ La<br /> Fin du théAtre romantique et Francois Ponsard,”<br /> by M. Latreille (chez Hachette) ; “ Musiciens et<br /> philosophes,” by M. Kufferath (chez Alcan) ; and<br /> «“ Silhouettes contemporaines, les hommes de mon<br /> temps,” by M. Paul Vibert (chez Berger-Lev-<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> rault). Darracorre Scort.<br /> pe<br /> BOOKS FOR THE SOUTH AFRICAN<br /> HOSPITALS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> N consequence of the large number of edu-<br /> cated men who have gone to the front, it<br /> is of great importance to provide high-class<br /> <br /> literature for the hospitals. Miss Edith Rhodes,<br /> 22, South Audley-street, W., who has gone to the<br /> front to a base hospital near De Aar, would<br /> gladly receive contributions of books from the<br /> readers of The Aufhor, which will be forwarded<br /> by her agents to South Africa without expense to<br /> the senders, and carefully distributed to the<br /> hospitals from her depdt at Wynberg. Magazines<br /> are unfortunately too bulky and cost too much<br /> to send up country. Miss Rhodes’s depot will<br /> remain open till Easter.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 239<br /> AMERICAN NOTES.<br /> <br /> N interesting plan has been devised by the<br /> St. Louis Library in dealing with novels<br /> which happen to be in great demand at<br /> theinstitution. Although fiction constitutes only 25<br /> per cent. of the annual book product in the United<br /> States, 75 per cent. of the circulation of public<br /> libraries consists of novels. The librarian finds<br /> himself between two fires—that of the taxpayers<br /> and that of the card-holders, who are wroth<br /> because the books they want are always “ out.”<br /> How the St. Louis people have solved the problem<br /> is told by Mr. Frederick M. Crunden in a recent<br /> number of the English magazine, the Library<br /> (second series, No. 1, Kegan Paul). The library<br /> has established what it calls a “ collection of<br /> duplicates,” which consists of all the temporarily<br /> popular novels that happen to be the fad of the<br /> hour, This collection is paid for by charging five<br /> cents (24d.) a week to each regu&#039;ar card-holder<br /> who draws one of these duplicate volumes. For<br /> example, when the regular library copy happens<br /> to be out, the seeker of “ Ben Hur,” or “ Trilby,”<br /> or “ David Harum” can be satisfied by paying a<br /> trifling fee, while otherwise he might have to wait<br /> many weeks or months without being able to<br /> draw the book. With the money thus received,<br /> the librarian or trustees can keep on buying extra<br /> copies as long as the demand exceeds the supply.<br /> In this way the St. Louis Library ultimately<br /> bought fifty copies of “ Ben Hur” before the<br /> demand slackened, but the whole lot cost the<br /> library nothing. In like manner it bought stx<br /> regular and ninety-four duplicate copies of<br /> “Trilby,” and for eight or ten weeks none of<br /> these copies was ever idle on the shelf. The<br /> ninety-four “ duplicates” paid for the whole<br /> hundred. The same has been done since with<br /> other novels for which there is an abnormal<br /> demand; and popular magazines, books, and<br /> other fiction are supplied at the same rate when<br /> the demand runs beyond the ordinary.<br /> <br /> An important decision has been given by the<br /> Supreme Court of Tllinois, in the case of the<br /> Daily Inter-Ocean of Chicago against the Asso-<br /> ciated Press. The Associated Press covers the<br /> various parts of the United States, where its<br /> agents gather news, which is wired to it, and<br /> through it such news is received by the various<br /> newspapers of the country, one of whom was the<br /> Inter-Ocean. It had deprived the Inter-Ocean<br /> of news on the ground that the latter had disre-<br /> garded a bye-law forbidding any newspaper to<br /> receive news from any person, firm, or corporation<br /> that had been declared “ antagonistic” by the<br /> Associated Press. The Jnter-Ocean violated this<br /> rule by obtaining news from the New York Sun,<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> 240<br /> <br /> and by authority of another bye-law the Asso-<br /> ciated Press suspended the recalcitrant Chicago<br /> newspaper. The Illinois Supreme Court has over-<br /> ruled the judgment of the lower court, and<br /> declared that the Press association cannot<br /> prevent its members from obtaining news from<br /> any sources it may choose. One of the most<br /> interesting passages in the court’s decision is that<br /> in which the obligation of the Press association<br /> to serve the public is insisted upon: “ Its obliga-<br /> tion to serve the public is not one resting on<br /> contract, but grows out of the fact that it is in<br /> the discharge of a public duty, or a private duty<br /> which has been so conducted that a public interest<br /> has attached thereto.”<br /> <br /> A rebuke is administered to American news-<br /> papers by the Chicago Dial on a small but inte-<br /> resting point. No one who has read American<br /> papers attentively can have failed to observe<br /> that in referring to persons by name they dis-<br /> regard the prefix of “Mr.” It is a little sur-<br /> prising, however, to find a correspondent of the<br /> Dial, who writes from the University of Wis-<br /> consin, Madison, protesting against that journal’s<br /> description of the Norwegian dramatist as Dr.<br /> Ibsen, and pleading the superior dignity of<br /> simple “Ibsen.” The editor’s reply is very much<br /> to the point. He says:<br /> <br /> We believe it to be a matter of the merest good manners<br /> to speak of people in print as we should speak to them in<br /> private conversation. If we were addressing Dr. Ibsen<br /> personally, we certainly should not call him “Ibsen,” and<br /> are unwilling to offer him that discourtesy when writing<br /> about him. If we did not call him “Dr.” we should be<br /> obliged to call him “ Herr,” which our critic would probably<br /> think equally pedantic. Thus the cases of Shakespeare and<br /> Byron, who are not among the living, have no bearing<br /> upon the question. Our practice in this matter illustrates<br /> one of those “little touches’”—to use Professor Peck’s<br /> phrase—that means so much to persons of refined taste.<br /> The habit which Germans and Scandinavians have of<br /> denying in print to their living fellow-countrymen the titles<br /> whereby gentlemen designate one another is a thing which<br /> —as far as it goes—indicates an imperfect civilisation, and it<br /> is one of the minor depravities of the American newspaper<br /> that itso encourages this form of. rudeness that we should<br /> now be taken to task for observing the ordinary amenities<br /> of social intercourse.<br /> <br /> Commenting on the proposed Pension Fund of<br /> the Society of Authors, the Chicago Tribune<br /> says the best feature of the scheme is that it is<br /> contributed to by writers, and will be supported<br /> solely by them. ‘The day when the author is<br /> willing to be dependent upon the bounty of a<br /> Mecenas is past, or should be.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> NOTES AND NEWS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> HE Morning Post noticed in a leading<br /> article—it was on Feb. 8th but the cutting<br /> only reached me the other day—the letter<br /> <br /> in The Author concerning Australian literature.<br /> The writer argues that our Australian corres-<br /> pondent wants multiplication of writers rather<br /> than quality of work. I do not find that desire,<br /> but this part may be left for the moment. The<br /> leading article goes on to say:<br /> <br /> “This would be amusing if it were not so hope-<br /> lessly, so pathetically wrong. There lies at the<br /> root of it the base, absurd notion which has in<br /> these latter days been accidentally taught by men<br /> who ought to have known better, that literature<br /> is a profession, like the law and the church, or<br /> what not : . To take to literature as one<br /> might take to the Bar is not the way to produce<br /> anything that is worth calling literary; and the<br /> more the commercial side of literature is<br /> encouraged and maintained the less likely are<br /> the books produced to be literary in quality.”<br /> <br /> I should very much like to know who are the<br /> men referred to. Certainly they are not con-<br /> nected with the Society of Authors. We have<br /> steadfastly and strenuously pointed out the<br /> dangers of taking up literature as a profession: —<br /> the humiliations, the dependence, to which those<br /> who do so and fail are reduced.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Week after week, day after day, the old con-<br /> fusion asserts itself, the confusion between literary<br /> work and commercial value. Over and over<br /> again, a thousand times, it must be repeated<br /> that the one has no necessary connection with the<br /> other. Literary work produced to sell is like<br /> everything else produced to sell—presumably<br /> shoddy and worthless. Our contention is simply<br /> this: The literary workman produces his best.<br /> While he is at work he cannot possibly regard the<br /> commercial side of his work; else, how could it<br /> be his best? The commercial value begins when<br /> it is finished. He can then do what he pleases<br /> with his work: he can give it to his publishers, as<br /> Lord Lyttelton gave his “ Henry the Second” ;<br /> or he can consent to be “ bested,” as will probably<br /> happen to him unless he takes care; or he may<br /> look after his own property. In any case how does<br /> the “ commercial side of literature” spoken of by<br /> our leader-writer come in? And bow is it<br /> encouraged ?<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Meantime, though we do not advocate—but<br /> quite the contrary—the attempt to live by litera-<br /> ture in any form or branch, the fact remains that<br /> there are many hundreds—even thousands—who<br /> <br /> <br /> Pt) a<br /> <br /> £<br /> &amp;<br /> %<br /> i<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> do live by literature. They write leading articles<br /> for the Morning Post and other papers: they<br /> write plays: they write novels: they write essays<br /> for magazines: they do all kinds of literary work :<br /> they write educational, scientific, and technical<br /> books. It is the custom in The Author to speak<br /> of those who live by letters as following the pro-<br /> fession of letters ; also, of those who live by acting<br /> as following the profession of the actor; while<br /> those who live by the law follow the profession of<br /> barrister. If a man cannot act, if a man has<br /> not the legal mind, he cannot live by either pro-<br /> fession. So, ifa man has not the literary gift<br /> he cannot follow the profession of literature.<br /> After all, the name signifies nothing. Let it be<br /> called a trade—or anything else; the leader-writer<br /> may class himself with the retail dealer, or the<br /> novelist with the costermonger if it pleases him.<br /> The fact remains. Here is a calling, or a trade, or<br /> an industry, by which a vast multitude earn a<br /> livelihood, and a few make very considerable<br /> prizes. Are we to encourage them to throw away<br /> their property or to defend it? Certainly not the<br /> former because we are told that this is “ encourag-<br /> ing the commercial view.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Let me quote here a warning of my own which<br /> has been in other forms often presented in The<br /> Author :—<br /> <br /> “T hope that these words and the chapters<br /> which follow will not induce any young man<br /> hastily to abandon his present employment in<br /> order to embark upon the profession of letters.<br /> The old miseries are gone, it is true, but there are<br /> many broken hearts, many cruel disappointments,<br /> many bitter disillusions, even in the present day.<br /> The literary life without a reasonable<br /> measure of success must be a disappointed and a<br /> miserable life. That reasonable measure of<br /> success is an essential. Therefore, I repeat, I<br /> should be very sorry indeed if, by any words of<br /> mine, any young man should be persuaded to<br /> exchange his certain work, whatever it is, for an<br /> uncertain plunge into literature.<br /> <br /> “ To those few, however, who think they possess<br /> the necessary qualifications: to those who feel<br /> really impelled to join the ranks of literature, I<br /> would say, ‘ Come Don’t think of making<br /> money—there are a thousand chances to one<br /> against it. pe<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The discussion on the pension scheme at<br /> the annual meeting showed, to begin with,<br /> that the project is imperfectly understood. One<br /> speaker seemed to object altogether to the grant-<br /> ing of pensions to literary folk. The same objec-<br /> tion would apply to the grants of the Royal<br /> <br /> 241<br /> <br /> Literary Fund and to the pensions of the<br /> Civil List. He also seemed anxious to divide<br /> literary people into great authors and small<br /> authors. But who is to make that division?<br /> How is it to be made? - Are we to call an author<br /> great because his works circulate by the hundred<br /> thousand ? In that case, not to speak of English<br /> writers, Mr. Charles Sheldon is the greatest of<br /> living authors : also, for three-fourths of his life,<br /> Robert Browning was the smallest of his contem-<br /> poraries. Or are we to give this important divi-<br /> sion into the hands of reviewers ? But they will not<br /> agree. Or into the hands of authors themselves ?<br /> Then every poet will place himself in the front<br /> rank. Itis not, in fact, a question as to literary<br /> position, which is a very doubtful thing in most<br /> cases. The question is simply this: Every other<br /> profession has its own fund for the help of those<br /> who break down through age or sickness—why<br /> not the literary profession? We do not propose<br /> to give a pension to anyone simply because he has<br /> been a member of the profession: we only offer<br /> to those of our members who are followers of the<br /> literary craft in any of its branches assistance in<br /> the case of a permanent breakdown. But, it is<br /> ignorantly objected, there is the Royal Literary<br /> <br /> Fund. That society gives grants in aid, not<br /> 5 d Dre 5 z, es<br /> pensions. It cannot give pensions without a<br /> <br /> change in its charter. Or there is the Civil List of<br /> £1200 a year. The share of literature in this list<br /> is £400 a year. The First Lord of the Treasury<br /> can do what he likes with the grant: he may give<br /> the half of it, or three-fourths of it, to one man:<br /> as a rule, he gives nearly the whole of it to<br /> widows and daughters of the literary prefession,<br /> and in so doing probably does the best he can<br /> with the money.<br /> <br /> To return to the Society’s pensions. Nobody<br /> enters the profession of law, medicine, acting, or<br /> any other, because there are associations which<br /> befriend the wrecks. In the same way no one<br /> will enter upon the literary profession because we<br /> have founded a Pension Fund for the unfortunate.<br /> We have only to place ourselves on the same<br /> footing as any other profession, in order to<br /> understand exactly how the Pension Fund will be<br /> administered, and what will be its effect upon the<br /> literary profession generally.<br /> <br /> It was suggested at the meeting that the<br /> Society should bring its influence to bear upon<br /> the Government and its administration of the<br /> Civil List. The Society has already done so. It has<br /> published an exposure of the management of the<br /> grant: it has caused several awkward questions to<br /> be asked in the House: and the result has been a<br /> great deal more care in its administration of late<br /> years. What can the Society do more? Can<br /> it recommend persons wortby of a pension ?<br />  <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> 242<br /> <br /> Gan it make the First Lord more careful so to<br /> divide his pensions as to include as many as<br /> possible ? Can it enlarge the grant? It seems,<br /> on the other hand, a better policy to keep a watch<br /> upon the nominees, and to encourage the better<br /> plan of bestowing the pensions more ,upon the<br /> widows and daughters, than upon the writers<br /> themselves.<br /> <br /> Would it not be well to drop altogether the<br /> word “small” author? We do not find actors<br /> talking of “small” actors, medical men talking<br /> of “small” doctors, barristers talking of<br /> “small” lawyers, or ecclesiastics talking of<br /> “small” clergymen. This reticence does not<br /> exclude respect for the more distinguished in any<br /> of these professions. All we want is the reeogni-<br /> tion of a professional status by members of the<br /> profession. A correspondent in a recent number<br /> of The Author met very cleverly the common<br /> objection that since any one from the outside may<br /> come in and begin to write, literature cannot be<br /> considered as a profession. Why, he said, in<br /> effect, any outsider may go on the stage, anyone<br /> with a box of paints may paint a picture; yet no<br /> one pretends that acting is not a profession, and<br /> no one maintains that painting is not a profession.<br /> As regards the “small” author, George Eliot<br /> once wrote a paper on the subject: the fact does<br /> not justify her or anyone else in contempt for<br /> writers who have not yet stepped to the front.<br /> Let us recognise the possibilities of every follower<br /> of literature.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Another subject of discussion was a resolution<br /> proposed by Mr. Mullett Ellis, on the subject of<br /> Messrs. W. H. Smith and Son’s bookstalls. The<br /> resolution was defeated by twenty-six to five. The<br /> defeat was a foregone conclusion. For, first of<br /> all, it is absurd to pass resolutions which can<br /> produce no possible effect. In this case, we have<br /> a large and most complicated machinery, the<br /> result of many years’ experience, which distributes<br /> all over the kingdom an immense mass of news-<br /> papers, journals, and magazines ; which makes<br /> every railway station the office of a circulating<br /> library, and opens a bookstall at which every<br /> book published can be bought, if it is not offered<br /> for exhibition on the shelves. This organi-<br /> zation, it cannot be denied, works well: the<br /> public are satisfied with it; there would be the<br /> greatest inconvenience if any dislocation were<br /> attempted ; the railway companies are satisfied<br /> with it. What earthly good would it be for any<br /> society, however powerful, to protest against it?<br /> Secondly, the protest, if any were made, should<br /> not come from a person who had a private grie-<br /> Mr. Mullett Ellis, rightly or wrongly,<br /> <br /> vance.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> thinks that his novel was withheld from the<br /> stalls on account of its title. This fact deprives<br /> his protest of importance. Now, as a general<br /> rule, the bookstall is made to hold as many books<br /> as can be crammed into it. In the second place,<br /> every bookseller possesses, and exercises, the right<br /> to buy and offer for sale whatever he chooses.<br /> This right is prevented from becoming an arbi-<br /> trary despotism because the public will have-<br /> their favourites, and they have many favourites.<br /> Should we be better off if, in place of an immense<br /> firm with boundless resources, we were dependent<br /> upon a local bookseller for every railway station ?<br /> Those who complain of the bookstall should<br /> compare it with the local bookseller’s shop. They<br /> should also take a tape, and measure the space<br /> accorded by the railway company to the bookstall,<br /> and calculate for themselves how many books the<br /> stall will hold. They may next fill as much of<br /> that space as is wanted for books which the public<br /> demand. They may then proceed to ascertain how<br /> much is left for those books which the public do<br /> not ask for, but would, perhaps, buy if they were-<br /> offered. And when they have carried out these<br /> simple experiments, they will, perhaps, ask them-<br /> selves how the existing system may be improved,<br /> and if Mr. Mullett Bllis has offered any plan<br /> which would be better for the public convenience,<br /> the railway companies, the authors, and the-<br /> publishers.<br /> <br /> The following note is from the London corre-<br /> spondent of the New York Times Saturday<br /> Review. His opinion is the same as my own,<br /> that a bookseller must possess, and must exercise,<br /> the right to accept or to refuse any books he<br /> pleases, and without assigning any reason. If<br /> Messrs. Smith and Son were dispossessed to-<br /> morrow, and their place taken bya hundred book—<br /> sellers, there would be a hundred exercising this.<br /> right instead of one. How far this would be an<br /> advantage is not easy to understand :<br /> <br /> The Authors’ Society is solemnly to discuss the question<br /> whether it is right that the Smiths should have a monopoly<br /> of the bookstands. The answer seoms obvious. If the<br /> Smiths conduct their business well, their monopoly is on the<br /> whole a benefit to the public. Many complaints have been<br /> made of the way in which the Smiths condact their business.<br /> Especially has their habit of exercising a censorship, and<br /> declaring from time to time that certain books are too:<br /> immoral to be sold, been condemned; but, after all, it is.<br /> difficult to deny to the bookseller the right to refuse to sell<br /> books of which he disapproves.<br /> <br /> ————$<br /> <br /> I invite attention to the letter on p. 248, in<br /> which the writer speaks of a little invention for<br /> the conveyance of MSS. The inventor has sent<br /> me one of her “carriers.” It is not of the right<br /> size for my own paper, but the size can easily<br />  <br /> <br /> e<br /> £<br /> :<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> altered. Meantime, it seems to me a most useful<br /> little invention—a great deal better than any<br /> envelope. Anyone can have a specimen for 6d.<br /> At all events, the “carrier” will convey MSS.<br /> flat and keep them clean, and, which is important<br /> to some, will bring them back again in safety.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I think that it needs no advocacy to call the<br /> attention of readers to the invitation contained in<br /> another column to send books to South Africa for<br /> the use of the wounded. The address to which<br /> books may be sent is Miss Edith Rhodes, 22,<br /> South Audley-street, W. I would suggest that<br /> the gifts should take the form of the more popular<br /> literature of the day, not novels alone, but essays,<br /> travels, biographies, history. Will readers please<br /> note that the boxes will be sent off at Haster ?<br /> <br /> Watrer BEsant.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE ACADEMY’S PRIZES.<br /> <br /> N February the Academy put forward a<br /> series of competitions, the list of which was<br /> as follows :—<br /> <br /> Tue “ AcapEMyY’s”’ SPECIAL COMPETITIONS.<br /> WE offer the sum of Thirty Guineas, to be divided into six<br /> portions of Five Guineas each, which we shall award to the<br /> successful competitors in the following literary exercises.<br /> Anybody is eligible to compete, but competing MSS. must<br /> not have been printed before, either for public or private<br /> circulation.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> List of Competitions.<br /> <br /> L—Five Guryeas for the best original short poem. Not<br /> to exceed twenty-four lines.<br /> <br /> Il.—Five Gurneas for the best original short story.<br /> Not fewer than 1500 words, and not more that 2000 words.<br /> <br /> Ill.— Five Guingas for the best original essay on a non-<br /> literary, light, every-day subject. Not to exceed 2000<br /> words in length.<br /> <br /> IV.—Five Guryzas for the best original ‘“ Things Seen,”<br /> in the manner of those published in the Academy during the<br /> past year. Not to exceed 350 words.<br /> <br /> V.—Five Guineas for the best original paper ona British<br /> or foreign city, town, or village. It should take the form of<br /> a personal, impressionistic description, and must not exceed<br /> 2000 words in length.<br /> <br /> VI.—Five Guinnas for the best original set of epigram-<br /> matic cr.ticiams of six Britich or American living novelists.<br /> No single criticism must exceed 100 words in length.<br /> <br /> Conditions.<br /> <br /> The MSS. must be typewritten. They must reach the<br /> Academy office on or before March 31, 1900.<br /> <br /> The title of the particular class of competition must be<br /> written on the outside of the envelope containing the MS.<br /> Thus :—<br /> <br /> I.—* Poetry Competition.”<br /> II.—* Story Competition.”<br /> Il.—* Essay Competition.”<br /> IV.—“ Things Seen Competition.”<br /> V.— Foreign Town Competition.”<br /> VI.—“ Novelist Competition.”<br /> <br /> 243<br /> <br /> A pseudonym, chosen by the competitor, must be written<br /> on the left-hand top corner of the first page of his or her<br /> MS., and each MS. must be accompanied by a small closed<br /> envelope containing the competitor&#039;s name and address,<br /> with the pseudonym written on the outside of such small<br /> closed envelope.<br /> <br /> Anybody is eligible to compete; but competing MSS.<br /> must not have been printed before, either for public or<br /> private circulation.<br /> <br /> A competitor may compete for as many cf the competi-<br /> tions as he or she chooses.<br /> <br /> As MSS. are received they will be acknowledged under<br /> the competitor&#039;s pseudonym in the next issue of the<br /> Academy.<br /> <br /> The prize MSS. will be printed in the Academy ; and the<br /> editor reserves the right to print any of the other MSS.<br /> sent in.<br /> <br /> Jo MS. will be returned unless it be accompanied by<br /> stamps to cover the postage.<br /> <br /> Competitors who do not comply with the above conditions<br /> will be disqualified.<br /> <br /> In paragraph 2 it appears that the sum of five<br /> guineas has been offered for a story not exceeding<br /> 2000 words. That is a fair price for a story of that<br /> length from the hand of a fairly well-known author.<br /> The same amount has been offered in paragraph 3<br /> for an essay of similar length, and in paragraph 5<br /> for a descriptive paper. Under the conditions of<br /> this competition, it appears that the prize MS.<br /> will be printed in the Academy, and the editor<br /> reserves the right to print any of the MSS.<br /> sent in.<br /> <br /> One of the members of the Society thinking,<br /> naturally enough, that other MSS. so printed<br /> would be paid for at ordinary rates, and that<br /> there had been a small oversight in the condi-<br /> tions, wrote to the editor on the point, but received<br /> no reply. He thereupon wrote to the Secretary<br /> of the Society, who also wrote to the Editor of the<br /> Academy in the following terms :—<br /> <br /> [copy ]<br /> Feb. 27th, 1900.<br /> The Editor of Academy.<br /> <br /> Dear Sir,—I trust you will excuse my writing to you<br /> with regard t&gt; your competition fully set out in the number<br /> dated 17th February. You state the editor reserves the<br /> right to print any of the MSS. sent in. Would it not have<br /> been clearer if jou had stated that the MSS. so printed<br /> would be paid-for at a fixed rate (naming the rate) ? Ishould<br /> be glad to hear from you that this is an oversight on your<br /> part.<br /> <br /> (Sigued) G. Herpert THRING.<br /> <br /> P.S.—I write as I have had inquiries at this office as to<br /> whether the MSS. printed will be paid for.<br /> <br /> To this letter the Editor replied as follows :—<br /> <br /> [copy. ]<br /> <br /> March 2nd, 1900.<br /> Dear Sir,—I beg to acknowledge your letter of the 26th,<br /> referring to our Prize Competition. I would suggest that if<br /> any of your clients wish for information wich is not con-<br /> tained in our announcements, they should take the usual<br /> <br /> course of applying to this office.<br /> Yours truly, Tz Eprror (per W. W.).<br />  <br /> <br /> 244<br /> <br /> And the Secretary again wrote in answer :—<br /> [cory.]<br /> March 3rd, 1900.<br /> The Editor of Academy.<br /> <br /> Dear Sir,—I beg to thank you for your letter. The<br /> course you suggested has been taken by one of the members<br /> of our Society, but he received no answer. I should be ex-<br /> ceedingly glad if you would let me have the information I<br /> asked for, as it would save us both no doubt a considerable<br /> amount of trouble. I am asking for the information in no<br /> carping spirit.<br /> <br /> Yours truly (signed) G. HerBERT THRING.<br /> <br /> The March number of The Author contained a<br /> note on the subject, and in the number of the<br /> Academy the 10th of the same month the editor<br /> placed the following paragraph :—<br /> <br /> The Author is in meddlesome travail over the clause of<br /> our Special Competitions announcement, which says: “ The<br /> editor reserves the right of printing any of the MSS. sent<br /> in.” This simple and usual condition was made in order<br /> that we might be free to print, for the encouragement of the<br /> writers, a few of the unsuccessful attempts. How does The<br /> Author interpret our words. Why, thus :—<br /> <br /> “As it stands, which, of course, cannot be meant, this<br /> clause gives the editor all the MSS. sent in; he may do<br /> what he pleases with them—1.e., he may, if he pleases, sell<br /> them to other papers without giving the authors anything.”<br /> <br /> “Which, of course, cannot be meant.’’? Then why<br /> suggest it, and why elaborate this idea—as The Author does<br /> at considerable length? We do not believe that our inten-<br /> tions are misunderstood, still less suspected, by a single one<br /> cof our readers or competitors—the only people concerned.<br /> The suggestion that our clause might enable us to set up a<br /> MS. shop is surely the wildest ever made by The Author,<br /> and that is saying a good deal.<br /> <br /> The editor does not in the least deny the posi-<br /> tion which The Author has taken up, but he says<br /> that the condition is a simple and usual condition.<br /> Is this remark founded on fact? Sometimes<br /> when a prize is a high one, the condition is<br /> stated, but it is not a simple or a usual condi-<br /> tion of competitions of this class issuing from<br /> the office of a responsible review. The editor<br /> does not now state if he is going to pay for<br /> the MSS., all of which he reserves the right to<br /> print. There are only two courses open: either<br /> he is going to pay for them, or he is not going<br /> to pay for them. If he is going to pay for them,<br /> why not state the matter clearly in his condi-<br /> tions, so that there will be no possibility of con-<br /> fusion? He states: ‘‘ We do not believe that our<br /> intentions are misunderstood, still less suspected,<br /> by a single one of our readers or competitors, the<br /> only people concerned.” It has been shown that<br /> this is not the case, and it would have been<br /> much better, when so many competitions are<br /> being placed before gullable authors, that the<br /> Academy should have left no room for doubt.<br /> If he is not going to pay for them the position<br /> taken by The Author is quite sound, and the<br /> Academy will probably obtain essays, short<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> stories, and descriptive articles worth, perhaps,<br /> hundreds by the expenditure of thirty guineas. If<br /> the Academy desires to adopt this well-known<br /> method of procuring “copy” cheap, then let it<br /> be done in such a way that there is no possibility<br /> of doubt as to the editor’s meaning. The present<br /> method is hardly fair to the author, but the<br /> editor may even now, at the eleventh hour, say :<br /> “T have never stated that I will not pay for the<br /> copy printed.” All we ask, therefore, is that he<br /> should make a direct statement whether he is<br /> trying to obtain “copy” cheap or whether he<br /> intends to pay for contributions printed.<br /> G. H. T.<br /> <br /> 2<br /> <br /> OTHER THOUGHTS.<br /> , ie is the expression of the CREATOR.<br /> <br /> Beauty is an impression of a creature.<br /> Death comes between Origin and Perfec-<br /> tion.<br /> Every religion has part of the truth, but only<br /> art.<br /> : Faith generally lies betwixt fact and figment.<br /> Hope is a better physician than prophet.<br /> Love alone is always right.<br /> Martyrdom is more a sign of faith than a success<br /> of truth.<br /> Mysticism is a mean between genius and mad-<br /> ness.<br /> Obstinacy is a persistency of the opposite party.<br /> Our opponents seem somehow to shun the<br /> truth.<br /> There are at least as many sects as souls.<br /> Without the infection of intelligence, progress<br /> might never be weaned.<br /> Beautiful disease can always command popular<br /> support.<br /> Centuries never die—they merely change their<br /> tense.<br /> Consciences are oftener veracious than wise.<br /> Contempt is less angelic than doubt —a<br /> daughter of modesty.<br /> Disease may mimic genius, justice, love, or other<br /> phase of the truth.<br /> Genius is less an individual gift than a social<br /> growth. ;<br /> Good promotes—what evil retards—the growth<br /> of sanity.<br /> Immaturity is always in a hopeful majority.<br /> Most of us are superior to others—in number.<br /> Real genius, like ideal love, is both humble and<br /> infallible.<br /> The Past always excelsthe Present—in age and<br /> in size. .<br /> Unconventionality, sometimes a true virtue, is<br /> oftener a mere vanity.<br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> * Virtue is not estimable by space or by time, but<br /> by use.<br /> <br /> Weak heads sometimes mistake themselves for<br /> warm hearts.<br /> <br /> Art is never what it seems.<br /> <br /> Bad manners often pose as good morals.<br /> <br /> Criticism, an ancient art, is an infant science.<br /> <br /> Critics are excellent autobiographers—most of<br /> them unconsciously.<br /> <br /> Cynicism is a burlesque of intelligence.<br /> <br /> Humour, when humane, is exceptionally sane—<br /> and proportionally Divine.<br /> <br /> Materialism is a caricature of science.<br /> <br /> Pessimism is a libel on wisdom.<br /> <br /> Poetry isa melody of words.<br /> <br /> Satire is good sauce but bad sustenance.<br /> <br /> Tact is the “ better half ””—the feminine half—<br /> of social tactics.<br /> <br /> The saner the soul, the wiser the will.<br /> <br /> We never see a perfectly sane person—even in<br /> a looking-glass. Finnay GLENELG.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> JOURNALISTS AND THE SOCIETY OF<br /> AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> FYE following letter appeared in the “ Pro-<br /> ceedings” of the Institute of Journalists,<br /> by authority of the Committee of Adminis-<br /> <br /> tration, Jan. 12, 1900 :—<br /> <br /> Srz,—I ask your permission to offer in your<br /> columns a gentle remonstrance with some of our<br /> members concerning their attitude towards a<br /> society whose aims and working they appear to<br /> misunderstand.<br /> <br /> T have been made aware, for several years, of a<br /> marked hostility towards this Society on the part<br /> of certain journalists—a hostility which, coming<br /> from such a quarter, is as surprising as it is<br /> wholly unmerited, and can only be accounted for<br /> —journalists not being usually in_the service of<br /> publishers—on the supposition of ignorance and<br /> misdirection.<br /> <br /> I find that the observations on the Society sent<br /> to me in Press cuttings are based upon one or<br /> other of half a dozen assumptions, all of which are<br /> utterly erroneous.<br /> <br /> Thus, it used to be said that the Society con-<br /> sisted of one man—myself. This was too much<br /> honour. I do not think, however, that our<br /> Council, our Committees, and our Chairman and<br /> Secretary are any longer likely to be ignored. I<br /> enclose the list.<br /> <br /> {t has been stated publicly that the “cases”<br /> published in the papers of the Society were ficti-<br /> tious. One cannot stoop even to answer such a<br /> charge. It is not distantly possible that such a<br /> <br /> 245<br /> <br /> body of gentlemen as compose our Committee<br /> would sanction the invention of “ cases.”<br /> <br /> The third—a very common charge, or assump-<br /> tion—is generally personal—to the effect that I<br /> assert the publishers take no risk. On the other<br /> hand, we have ascertained, and have published, the<br /> true nature of the risk run in the production of<br /> books. As a matter of fact there are hundreds of<br /> writers in the various branches of literature whose<br /> books carry no kind of risk with them. As<br /> regards those which do, it is naturally the practice<br /> of the publishers to make the author, if he can,<br /> take the risk. And this risk itself, so far from<br /> being the whole cost of production, as has been<br /> impudently pretended, is the diffrence between<br /> the first subscription and the cost of production.<br /> <br /> Another charge is also personal. It is that I<br /> wish to abolish criticism. ‘To this charge I have,<br /> on more than one occasion, given the Lie Direct.<br /> I recognise the function of criticism to the full. I<br /> am only concerned that there is so little of it. I<br /> advocate the true place of criticism as a necessary<br /> and invaluable branch of literature. I desire to<br /> see the critic trained for his work by a scientific<br /> study of literature. I do not desire to see the<br /> reviewing of books entrusted to any casual person<br /> who has written a novel, or to the office boy when<br /> no one is looking.<br /> <br /> Another common charge is against the Society.<br /> It is that the figures representing the cost of pro-<br /> duction, and those of the various parts of the<br /> publishers’ trade, are fictitious. They are, on the<br /> contrary, figures obtained from printers, from real<br /> estimates, and from real accounts.<br /> <br /> The sixth charge is that literature is degraded<br /> by attention to the business side.<br /> <br /> So what does not degrade the clergyman, the<br /> painter, the sculptor, the architect, the physician,<br /> the lawyer, the actor, does degrade the author.<br /> In the words of Dr. Johnson, “ What skimble<br /> skamble stuff is this!”<br /> <br /> It rests upon a confusion of ideas between<br /> commercial value and literary value. The two<br /> are distinct—they are separate, they are incom-<br /> mensurable. We cannot estimate the literary<br /> value of a work by any standard of money; we<br /> cannot estimate the commercial value of a work<br /> by any literary standard. We ought to be able<br /> to do both: a perfected humanity will be able to<br /> do both—at present we cannot. Some worthless<br /> books circulate largely; some excellent books<br /> hardly circulate at all.<br /> <br /> What does the Society of Authors undertake ?<br /> Briefly: The defence and maintenance of literary<br /> property in the interests of authors.<br /> <br /> No one knows who has not investigated the<br /> subject how great and how increasing a property<br /> this is. No one knows, who has not investigated<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 246<br /> <br /> the question, the extent to which the creators of<br /> this property have been robbed of their own.<br /> <br /> What has been, briefly, the work of the Society ?<br /> It has made known, for the first time, what the<br /> publication of books really means. It has traced<br /> the book from the MS. to the bookseller’s counter ;<br /> it has shown the meaning of every clause in every<br /> known form of agreement; it has especially<br /> exposed the true meaning of royalties ; it has<br /> dragged to light a hundred tricks previously<br /> practised with impunity, and practised every<br /> day; it has kept, and still keeps, its members<br /> out of houses which exploit authors hitherto<br /> without fear of detection. It enforces payment<br /> of just debts by legal proceedings ; it provides<br /> legal opinions for its members for nothing; it<br /> collects information of all kinds which may be<br /> useful to members; it acts as a police, in a word,<br /> to guard that great mass of literary property,<br /> the very existence of which is unknown to the<br /> general public.<br /> <br /> What has all this to do with journalists?<br /> Everything. By far the greater part of our<br /> writers during the last sixty years have been<br /> journalists. Out of the ranks of young journalists<br /> will come the writers of the future. Let us set<br /> down a few names of the dead and of the living<br /> as they occur—Dickens, Thackeray, Charles<br /> Reade, Wilkie Collins, Douglas Jerrold, Shirley<br /> Brooks, 4 Beckett, Sala, William Black, James<br /> Payn, Edmund Yates, Moy Thomas, Dutton<br /> Cook, John Hollingshead, Joseph Hatton, John<br /> Whiteley, John Morley, Rudyard Kipling, J. M.<br /> Barrie, Louis Stevenson—where are we to stop?<br /> Does not this intimate connection of journalism<br /> with authorship show that in protecting the latter<br /> we are also protecting the former ?<br /> <br /> I would, therefore, Sir, submit to the members<br /> of the Institute that a society with these aims,<br /> which is honestly and fearlessly, against every<br /> kind of misrepresentation, trying to carry out<br /> these aims, whose members include nearly all<br /> the living leaders in literature, is at least worthy<br /> of that kind of attention which consists in read-<br /> ing its reports and papers. Above all things, I<br /> would urge the consideration of the fact that, in<br /> spite of the fierce and continuous attacks made<br /> upon it, the Society has steadily increased and is<br /> ‘steadily increasing in strength and in numbers,<br /> cand in influence. As I said at the outset, I cannot<br /> believe that the things sent to me out of country<br /> papers and others would have been written were<br /> the truth known; and I cannot but hope that the<br /> members of the Institute will understand that we<br /> are fighting for their future as well as for our own<br /> present.<br /> <br /> I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,<br /> Watter BEsant.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> BOOK AND PLAY TALK.<br /> <br /> HE newspapers of March 23 announced the<br /> failure of Messrs. D. Appleton and Co.,<br /> the well-known publishers. The New<br /> <br /> York correspondent of the Standard stated that<br /> the failure of Messrs. Harper Brothers recently<br /> was indirectly a contributing factor in Messrs.<br /> Appleton’s failure, and that, “as in the case of<br /> Harper’s, no reproach attaches to the firm.”<br /> “The assets and liabilities balance at £720,805,<br /> with book surplus of £400,000 locked up in plant<br /> and instalments.”<br /> <br /> The Rev. J. H. Skrine has published a new<br /> volume of verse entitled ‘‘ The Queen’s Highway-<br /> man, and other Lyrics of the War.’ Those who<br /> have read the Warden of Glenalmond’s other<br /> works will find his latest one of equal interest.<br /> <br /> Professor Skeat has nearly completed a small<br /> handbook on “ The Chaucer Canon,” in which it<br /> is shown how to distinguish the poet’s genuine<br /> works from others with which his name has been<br /> connected. Of the cighty-three pieces which are<br /> here discussed, at least fifty are not by Chaucer ;<br /> whilst the number of authors which these pieces<br /> represent is more than twenty.<br /> <br /> Mr. Thomas Burleigh has published a pamphlet<br /> entitled “A Few Short Poems,” written by Mr.<br /> Percy Hall, of Exeter College, Oxford. It con-<br /> tains some sixteen short pieces.<br /> <br /> “Mirry-Ann,” which Methuen and Co. in<br /> London, and Appleton in New York, published<br /> on Feb. 16th, is by Miss Norma Lorimer, author of<br /> “A Sweet Disorder” and “Josiah’s Wife,” the<br /> latter published by Methuen two years ago. The<br /> heroine of “ Mirry-Ann” is a Manx fisher-girl<br /> preacher. Miss Lorimer lived fifteen years in a<br /> fishing village in the Isle of Man, so the book is<br /> the result of personal observation of the Methodist<br /> fishing population of the island.<br /> <br /> “ Among Horses in South Africa,” by Captain<br /> M. H. Hayes, F.R.C.V.S., price 5s., published by<br /> Messrs. R. A. Everett and Co., will be read at the<br /> present time with much interest by all those who<br /> are lovers of horses. The fact of its being an<br /> account of Captain Hayes’s experiences in South<br /> Africa lends a double interest to the book.<br /> <br /> Sir Benjamin Kennedy’s_ book, announced<br /> under the title “ Wheres,” should be “ Whims.”<br /> <br /> Messrs. Methuen have just published a new<br /> story by Miss Esmé Stuart, entitled “ Christalla :<br /> An’ Unknown Quantity,” which describes the<br /> invasion of the quiet home of two old gentle-<br /> men by a young child. The book deals with the<br /> evolution of a child’s character from the point<br /> of view of the child lover.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> ibis eemawane ieee<br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> The Rev. F. R. Smith is engagel upon a new<br /> novel illustrative of modern Methodist life, which<br /> will be published in the autumn by Messrs. Horace<br /> Marshall.<br /> <br /> The patriotic lyric ‘‘ True Sons of Britain,” by<br /> Mr. Mackenzie Bell, inspired by the Colonial aid<br /> in the war, has been set to music by Mr. Charles<br /> Mulls, and will at once be published by Messrs.<br /> Hart, and sung in London and elsewhere by Mr.<br /> Henry Piercy, the well-known tenor. It is<br /> dedicated to Sir F. Young, K.C.M.G., founder<br /> and vice-president of the Colonial Institute. Mr.<br /> J.J. Nesbitt has edited with a preface, for Mr.<br /> Thomas Burleigh, a reciter entitled “The Taking<br /> of the Flag, and other Recitations,’ made up<br /> from the poems of Mr. Mackenzie Bell.<br /> <br /> As one of its contributors of a popular literary<br /> feature Mr. Joseph Hatton has long been<br /> associated with the People. He has now been<br /> appointed to the editorial chair, succeeding, during<br /> the People’s career, Dr. Sebastian Evans, M.A.,<br /> Captain Carlisle, and Mr. Harry B. Vogel, son of<br /> the late Sir Julius Vogel, formerly Premier of New<br /> Zealand. Mr. Hatton has just finished a serial<br /> novel, long since commissioned by the People,<br /> which will be commenced in its columns in the<br /> first week of May. Following up the success of<br /> the sixpenny edition of Mr. Hatton’s “ By Order<br /> of the Czar,” Messrs. Hutchinson are issuing in a<br /> similar edition “The Princess Mazaroff,” which is<br /> an English story with a Russian heroine. It is<br /> mentioned in the gossip of the day that the<br /> Russians recently confiscated in Finland a<br /> Swedish edition of “By Order of the Czar,” a<br /> novel which, the author says, has had the<br /> phenomenal sale of over half a million, the<br /> major portion in America, for which he did<br /> not receive a cent, the book being published<br /> just before the international copyright arrange-<br /> ment.<br /> <br /> Mr. Osmund King is engaged on a work on<br /> Charles II., for the splendid Goupil series of<br /> monographs.<br /> <br /> Mr. Hilaire Belloc is writing a one-volume<br /> history of Paris from the earliest times.<br /> <br /> Mr. Sutherland Edwards is publishing with<br /> Messrs. Cassell a volume of “ Personal Recollec-<br /> tions.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Herbert Spencer is to be the recipient of<br /> an address from readers in Australia on his birth-<br /> day, April 27, when he will complete his eightieth<br /> year.<br /> <br /> Mr. W. L. Courtney has written a monograph<br /> on Mr. Hardy for the series of Great English<br /> Writers published by Messrs. Greening and Co.<br /> The book will appear in the summer.<br /> <br /> AUTHOR. 247<br /> <br /> Dr. J. F. Payne is writing a monograph on<br /> Thomas Sydenham, the seventeenth - century<br /> physician and friend of Locke, for the Masters of<br /> Medicine series, published by Mr. Fisher Unwin.<br /> <br /> The late Mr. Grant Allen left a story entitled<br /> “His Last Chance,” says the Sphere, which is<br /> one of the most striking he ever wrote. It is to<br /> be published later in the year in a small volume.<br /> <br /> Mr. Kipling’s new novel, the scene of which<br /> is laid in India, will be published serially im<br /> MeClure’s Magazine. While speaking of Mr.<br /> Kipling, we place on record here the extraordinary<br /> distinction he received during the past month in<br /> having his poem, “ The Absent-minded Beggar,”<br /> issued to the troops in Ladysmith among the<br /> regim-ntal orders of the day shortly after the<br /> relief of the town. The poem was loudly cheered<br /> by the soldiers.<br /> <br /> Another American periodical has arranged to<br /> publish not only Mr. Hall Caine’s new story, “ The<br /> Roman,” but also a new series of ‘Dolly Dia-<br /> logues,” by Mr. Anthony Hope. The periodical<br /> in question is the New Magazine, a monthly<br /> which is being edited and published by Mr.<br /> Robert H. Russell, the well-known New York<br /> publisher. The first number is expected on<br /> June tI.<br /> <br /> Sir George*Trevelyan, Lord Kelvin, and Mr.<br /> Bentley have been elected to the Council of the<br /> Royal Literary Fund. Three new members of the<br /> Committee are Professor Ray Lankester, Dr.<br /> A. W. Ward, and Mr. Richard Holmes, librarian<br /> at Windsor Castle. The total sum now invested<br /> is £56,269, producing an income of £1724. At<br /> the annual meeting of the Fund the other day it<br /> was announced that grants had been made to<br /> twenty-seven men and sixteen women.<br /> <br /> Madame Sarah Grand’s new novel, which is to<br /> be published by Messrs. Hutchinson, will be called<br /> “Babs the Impossible.” It is nearly finished.<br /> <br /> Mrs. Gertrude Atherton is at present in Cuba,<br /> and gathering material for a new book.<br /> <br /> The forthcoming story by Sir Walter Besant,<br /> entitled “The Alabaster Box,” is a sketch of<br /> settlement life in London, showing the kind of<br /> work and the aims of the workers in a settlement,<br /> and the effect of their work upon the members<br /> themselves,<br /> <br /> Mr. Henry Arthur Jones is writing a comedy<br /> for production in the early autumn at the Duke<br /> of York’s.<br /> <br /> Mr. George Alexander is just producing at the<br /> St. James’s (March 28) Mr. Walter Frith’s play,<br /> «“ A Man of Forty,” which has not been seen in<br /> London before.<br /> 248<br /> <br /> Mrs. Craigie’s new sentimental comedy, “ The<br /> Wisdom of the Wise,” will be produced at the<br /> St. James’s.<br /> <br /> The life of Benvenuto Cellini is supplying Mr.<br /> Beerbohm Tree with the subject for a new play.<br /> The production is expected early next season, and<br /> for the present the author desires that his name<br /> should not be disclosed.<br /> <br /> “Cyrano de Bergerac” was produced by Mr.<br /> Wyndham at Blackpool and at Dublin during the<br /> past month. The latter place was chosen for<br /> what may be called the “ official” representation<br /> of M. Rostand’s play, and the performance was<br /> in aid of the Irish Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Help<br /> Society. After the play a crowd greeted Mr.<br /> Wyndham at the doors, and sang popular<br /> patriotic songs.<br /> <br /> Mr. H. A. Kennedy’s version of “Tess” is<br /> shortly being removed by Mrs. Waller from the<br /> Coronet Theatre to the Comedy. Mr. Fred Terry<br /> will probably play the part of Alec D’Urberville.<br /> <br /> We announced a few months ago that Miss<br /> Cholmondeley’s novel “ Red Pottage ” was being<br /> dramatised. It is now stated that this is being<br /> done by Mr. Kinsey Peile.<br /> <br /> Messrs. Ward, Lock and Co. will in future<br /> publish The Road, and its affiliated publications,<br /> The Road Coaching Album, The Road Coach<br /> Guide, and The Road Coaching Programme.<br /> The monthly periodical, The Road, will shortly<br /> enter upon its tenth year of existence, and<br /> the occasion will be celebrated by still further<br /> adding to its attractiveness and utility. The<br /> number and quality of the illustrations will be<br /> greatly increased, coaching, riding, and driving<br /> subjects, of course, as heretofore, forming the<br /> main feature. “Fortinbras” (Mr. Percy F.<br /> Marks), who projected the journal in 1891,<br /> remains the editor-in-chief, while the majority of<br /> the contributors who have helped to popularise<br /> The Road are retained. The editorial, advertise-<br /> ment, and publishing offices will in future be at<br /> Warwick House, Salisbury-square, London, E.C.<br /> <br /> The song of “ The Gallant Fusileer,” words by<br /> Russell Gray, music by M. A. C. Salmond<br /> (published by Rossini and Co., 281, Regent-<br /> street, London, W.), is presented by author and<br /> composer to the widows of the Royal Dublin<br /> Fusiliers, whatever may be its circulation and<br /> the proceeds.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> CORRESPONDENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I.—“ EnveLoprs WANTED.”<br /> <br /> AVING experienced in common with<br /> <br /> “B. B. T.” the impossibility of getting<br /> envelopes to take ordinary foolscap, I<br /> <br /> have discarded it in favour of “sermon or<br /> essay paper,” 8 inches by 6} inches, a much<br /> more convenient size to write upon, read,<br /> and transport, at least for ordinary magazine<br /> work. Suitable envelopes for this paper are<br /> easily obtainable from a good firm. I am<br /> now using excellent ones from Messrs. Bemrose,<br /> Derby, 10 inches by 7 inches, substantial enough<br /> to carry, in addition to MSS., sketches on thick<br /> cardboard ; and plentifully supplied with “ gum.”<br /> <br /> EK. Hopess.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I notice in the March Author that one of your<br /> correspondents finds a lack of suitable envelopes<br /> for the transmission of MSS. For years I ex-<br /> perienced the same difficulty, as well as the annoy-<br /> ance of having articles returned to me grimy and<br /> ill-folded, involving expense and trouble in re-<br /> typing and general tidying up. Last year I<br /> designed and patented a light cardboard case,<br /> which fastens as easily as an envelope and avoids<br /> all risk of crushing and creasing. To members,<br /> like myself, of the melancholy majority of writers,<br /> whose doves are wont to take various flights<br /> before finding a resting place, my carrier can be<br /> re-posted at will by the aid of a fresh label and<br /> string. So far I have only had my cases made by<br /> hand for my own use, but even so the cost is very<br /> slight, and if produced in quantities this might<br /> be greatly reduced. If any readers of The<br /> Author would care to have a specimen I will<br /> forward one post-free for sixpence, in the hope<br /> that some more business-hke person may make a<br /> practical suggestion as to bringing it before the<br /> public. Hevena Hearts.<br /> <br /> Hucclecote Vicarage, Gloucester.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Will you allow me to tell your correspondent<br /> “RR, B.T.” that envelopes of the size he desires<br /> are sold by Messrs. A. Mansford and Sons,<br /> 95, Finsbury-pavement, E.C., at 35. 6d. a<br /> hundred.<br /> <br /> I wish the Post-office could be persuaded to<br /> sell a registered envelope of the same size.<br /> <br /> CLEMENTINA Buack.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> II.— TYPEWRITERS.<br /> In connection with the above, the following<br /> may be of interest. Some years ago I required to<br /> have many sheets of MSS. typed every week. I<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> tried no less than eight “private typists,’ if I<br /> may so term them, and paid from Iod. to Is. a<br /> thousand words, inclusive of postage. They one<br /> and all proved incompetent. A. would leave out<br /> all punctuation marks and misspell half the words ;<br /> B. would begin fresh paragraphs on her own initia-<br /> tive; C. would alter the meaning of many of the<br /> sentences, and so forth. I then sent all my copy<br /> to a large typewriting association. The work was<br /> well done there, but I was charged 2d. a folio—<br /> 2.€,, about 2s. 4d. a thousand words, exclusive of<br /> postage. One day a friend urged me to send<br /> some MSS. to a private typist whom he said he<br /> employed regularly. I reluctantly consented to do<br /> so, but I have sent my MSS. to her ever since.<br /> Her name—lI have no need to conceal it—is Miss<br /> McGuinness; her address, Jasmine, Hambalt-road,<br /> Clapham Common. She works neatly and rapidly,<br /> never misspells a word, and never omits even a<br /> punctuation mark; and the price she charges is<br /> 1od. a thousand words, inclusive of postage.<br /> There must be hundreds—there are probably<br /> thousands—of girls who typewrite as carefully as<br /> the lady I have named, but the difficulty lies in<br /> discovering them. I have come across typists<br /> who would work for 7d., some of them even for<br /> 6d., a thousand words, but I maintain that the<br /> individual willing to pay such rates wantonly<br /> encourages one of the worst forms of oppression.<br /> Basin Tozer.<br /> Boodle’s Club, March 13.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> May I protest against the theories expressed in<br /> the current number of The Author on type-<br /> writers ?<br /> <br /> Tam a typist of seven and a half years stand-<br /> ing; I acquired a knowledge of my work by five<br /> months spent at Pitman’s school followed by five<br /> months in a typewriting office, and eventually set<br /> up for myself at home. I have had experience<br /> of many kinds of typing and have taught pupils,<br /> and I entirely deny that 9d. per 1000 words is<br /> ‘good and sufficient pay.” The supply of work<br /> is extremely fluctuating, and while for six months<br /> in the year a typist may have more than she can<br /> do, for the other six she probably has difficulty in<br /> finding work. A good typist ought to be able to<br /> make 5s. to 6s. a day at gd. per 1000, even allow-<br /> ing time for reading and correcting the work.<br /> This gives her an income of 27s. 6d. to 33s. per<br /> week, but—and here’s the rub—she may not<br /> obtain perpetual work. Now everyone knows<br /> that home work is usually precarious, and for<br /> this reason the pay must be calculated on a scale<br /> which will allow for the lean months. How is<br /> “an educated gentlewoman” to live comfortably<br /> on 33s. a week or less for only part of the year ?<br /> <br /> 249<br /> <br /> Moreover, the writer of the letter referred to in<br /> your article mentions that a “well educated<br /> gentlewoman ’”’ became “ proficient” at the end of<br /> ten lessons. I fancy her standard of proficiency<br /> must be very low. Was the lady capable, for<br /> instance, of writing legal documents with speed<br /> and accuracy at the dictation of hasty strangers ?<br /> Was she capable of telling a client, after glancing<br /> through the copy, how many pages his work<br /> would run to, and what it would cost him? Your<br /> correspondent affirms the lady “had a thorough<br /> knowledge of Latin and French” and was pro-<br /> ficient in typewriting into the bargain. Would<br /> she therefore have no difficulty in correctly and<br /> swiftly copying a’medical MS. full of quotations<br /> from one of the great French doctors, with an<br /> impatient client calling every half hour to know<br /> if the work were not yet ready ?<br /> <br /> These instances are of every day occurrence to<br /> one who works at home, and it is absurd to say<br /> that ten lessons can possibly make a typist pro-<br /> ficient in her work. It is far more likely that,<br /> being ignorant and unskilful herself, she will<br /> lower the average of good work and pull the<br /> wages scale still further down for her unfortunate<br /> fellow workers.<br /> <br /> If a woman chooses to work at home she has a<br /> perfect right to do so, provided she does not take<br /> advantage of her own position to lower the wages<br /> scale for others less fortunate. Whether compe-<br /> tition be a healthy mainspring or a great Moloch<br /> is an open question, but our social conditions<br /> being what they are, there is no question that a<br /> home worker shows an undisciplined spirit when<br /> she cuts down the wages of others by undersel-<br /> ling them.<br /> <br /> In her last paragraph your correspondent<br /> affirms that the work of typing or stenography<br /> can be done by “the delicate, the cripple.”<br /> Certainly they can work intermittently, but they<br /> cannot possibly keep up, year in, year out, the<br /> perpetual grind at typing necessary to earn a<br /> steady income at gd. per 1000, even if they had<br /> the work. As for shorthand, the smallest experi-<br /> ence is enough to show that it keeps the workers<br /> up late at night, is extremely trying to the eyes,<br /> and is totally unfit for a delicate or crippled<br /> person.<br /> <br /> In this letter I have endeavoured to keep<br /> strictly to your correspondent’s letter, and not to<br /> attack side issues.<br /> <br /> I inclose a prospectus as a guarantee of the<br /> genuineness of my work, and apologising for this<br /> long letter, remain, Yours truly,<br /> <br /> D. M. Ransom.<br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 250 THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> TIl.— Tue Same Oip Srory—Ever New.”<br /> <br /> The letter in your January issue, signed “ EH. L.<br /> Williams,” in which the writer speaks of the long<br /> snterval between acceptance and publication which<br /> is the fate of many manuscripts at the hands of<br /> certain editors, prompts me to relate my own<br /> experience in this respect. In one instance, I<br /> forwarded a MS. to the editor of a certain excel-<br /> lent review. After a very long interval, during<br /> which I wrote one or two letters inquiring its<br /> fate, I learned that it had been accepted for pub-<br /> lication. Three years passed, and the article had<br /> not appeared. On writing to the editor pointing<br /> out the unreasonableness of keeping me so long<br /> without a cheque, he, with some -onsideration,<br /> sent a remittance. Eighteen months after, 1<br /> wrote to him again saying that I should be glad<br /> to see my article in print. After the delay gene-<br /> rally associated with busy editors, he replied that<br /> im all his experience he had never met any author<br /> who was quite so anxious about his MS. as I was!<br /> I had received my cheque, and was not that suffi-<br /> cient? Since the receipt of that communication<br /> I have been mute. I had been vain enough to<br /> look for some small advertisement from the pub-<br /> lication of my article in the columns of so distin-<br /> guished a periodical. Three and a half years<br /> have passed since its acceptance, but still I live<br /> with hope.<br /> <br /> Yet another instance. I wrote a series of five<br /> articles for a high-class sixpenny weekly. All<br /> were taken, and one was printed a few months<br /> after acceptance. Two years later, as the second<br /> of the series had not appeared, I wrote to learn<br /> the reason. The editor answered that he could<br /> not say when he should be able to use the<br /> remainder of my contributions, therefore he was<br /> sending them back! I declined to take them in,<br /> and ventured to remind him of the accepting con-<br /> tract of two years ago. Then he published the<br /> second article; and I am hoping that the last day<br /> of 1905 will see the series completed in print.<br /> But, sir, I should like to know if the editors that<br /> helped our popular authors to success were such<br /> as these ?<br /> <br /> ArrHuR BECKETT.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> IV.—AurTHorRs AND THE War FonpD.<br /> <br /> In reference to the suggestion made in this<br /> month’s Author for the publication of a book the<br /> proceeds of which should go to the War Fund,<br /> may I make another suggestion of a _supple-<br /> mental kind and in no way intended to interfere<br /> with that one? Would it not be a more repre-<br /> sentative gift of the Society if, instead of hold-<br /> ing the annual dinner this year, members who<br /> would otherwise have attended it should forward<br /> <br /> their guinea to the fund? It might be replaced<br /> by a soirée with the lowest amount of expenditure<br /> possible, and ticket for which would be issued to<br /> members and their friends at a correspondingly<br /> low charge. This would enable a number of<br /> authors to contribute who would be debarred<br /> from any part in a volume which from necessity<br /> must be limited to a very few, and those the best<br /> known among us. Norury CHEster.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> V.—In re “ Paris Nores.”<br /> <br /> “Une Tache d’encre,” par René Bazin, may be<br /> amongst the “interesting publications of the<br /> month,” but “A Blot of Ink,” translated from<br /> the French of René Bazin by Q. and Francke<br /> was issued by Cassells as far back as 1892.<br /> <br /> T beg to suggest that a selected list of American<br /> books, like the one that has been dropped by the<br /> Publishers’ Circular, would be of interest to many<br /> readers. English lists we see everywhere, but a<br /> really good foreign list would be as interesting as<br /> the first few copies of the Review of Reviews.<br /> <br /> C. E.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> VI.—JameEs’ AND JAMES’S.<br /> <br /> Pending the settlement of more serious differ-<br /> ences, could we not come to an understanding<br /> with our good friends the printers on the forma-<br /> tion of the possessive case in words ending in “ a<br /> In spite of every prayer and protest, they cling<br /> obstinately to “ James’,” let us say. Authors who<br /> have not yet given up the struggle write<br /> “ James’s.” But all in vain. The printers con-<br /> tinue to teach and exasperate. It seems a little<br /> thing to ask, but it is growing apparent that<br /> nothing less than the whole weight of the Society<br /> will dislodge them from their position. Trusting<br /> that my suggestion will not be regarded as another<br /> piece of wanton aggression, I am, Sir,<br /> <br /> JULIAN CORBETT.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ViII.—Der Prorunpis.<br /> <br /> Permit me to add a word to my previous<br /> letter, and to refer especially to the “Cry from<br /> the Depths,” and to the sad cases of fruitless<br /> literary struggle, sometimes ending in suicide,<br /> which have recently been discussed in your<br /> columns.<br /> <br /> I am one of those who can speak not without<br /> authority on this matter, for in my life I have<br /> fully experienced every sort of privation such as<br /> <br /> often falls to the lot of unemployed mechanics —<br /> <br /> and labourers. Years ago I escaped from all<br /> this by getting common work that gives me<br /> the plain necessaries of life. My spare time I<br /> give to books.<br /> <br /> But by going through perilous<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> and yet useful experiences I have perhaps<br /> established my title to speak a word of help to<br /> others.<br /> <br /> What I say is this: Entering upon the business<br /> of authorship is similar to volunteering for South<br /> Africa. The soldier who is committed to his<br /> task does not despair because his khaki is in<br /> rags, or because he starves under a hot sun and<br /> sleeps in rain. He expects all that. He is pre-<br /> pared even for defeat and death. But he has no<br /> business to commit suicide.<br /> <br /> In most cases the call to authorship is not a<br /> true one, but in the few cases in which it is a<br /> true one, and clearly discernible as such, it must<br /> be accepted, and the whole business fought<br /> through without useless complaint. From the<br /> outset a man (or woman) who chooses to enter<br /> the career must be prepared for all manner of<br /> hardship and failure, and even for total failure<br /> after the production of work that eminently<br /> deserves to succeed. The writers who are the<br /> commercialists of literature, when they are<br /> expert, can always succeed by persistence. As<br /> for those who are something better than com-<br /> mercialists, well they must accept the risks and<br /> the honours of their calling. It is almost certain<br /> that if a standard work were produced to-day,<br /> say something more or less remotely analogous—<br /> though on modern lines—with the Book of Job,<br /> or the Paradise Lost, the publishers would refuse<br /> it. It would be so different from the safe<br /> “lines” to which they are accustomed. Now, if<br /> an author thinks that he has written a classic,<br /> or that he has a message for the world, he must<br /> not forget that he is in a totally different category<br /> from that of the commercialist. It is extremely<br /> likely that his self-estimate is wrong, and hence<br /> the wisdom of the Society in dissuading authors<br /> from publishing their own books. But if he is<br /> committed to the dangerous task, then the mark<br /> of true election will probably be a genial sense<br /> of humour that overrides all discouragement,<br /> laughs at suicide, provides by any humble extra-<br /> neous toil the daily bread, but is absolutely<br /> relentless year after year in producing the<br /> great work, and in seeking to fling it by some<br /> means or other at the devoted heads of the<br /> public.<br /> <br /> The absurdity of committing suicide with a<br /> pistol is manifest, because the pistol would sell<br /> for five shillings, and that would provide food<br /> for a week of improvisation. The shadow of<br /> despair makes a writer spoil his work by a<br /> painful formal accuracy. But the public are<br /> an unsounded receptivity, and what they want,<br /> and what even the publishers want, is free<br /> extempore work.<br /> <br /> x ¥.<br /> <br /> a5!<br /> <br /> {Does not the writer make the common mistake<br /> of supposing that if a literary work has a com-<br /> mercial value, the writer is therefore a ‘‘com-<br /> mercialist’’? We are coustantly insisting on<br /> the great fact that a writer who gives himself—<br /> his best—to the work in hand cannot possibly<br /> think of the commercial value. When his work<br /> is finished it is like a picture, it is for sale:<br /> the commercial value comes in. But the artist is<br /> not a commercialist. Simple as is the position, it<br /> seems as if it is impossible for those writers to<br /> grasp it whose work has no commercial value.—<br /> <br /> Ep. |<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> BOOKS AND REVIEWS.<br /> <br /> (In these columns notes on books are given from reviews<br /> which carry weight, and are not, so far as can be learned,<br /> logrollers.)<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Memories AND Impressions, by the Hon. George C.<br /> Brodrick (Nisbet, 16s.) is a volume that will be taken up<br /> by the reader, says the Daily News, “with an anticipation<br /> of information and entertainment which will not be disap-<br /> pointed.” The Warden of Merton has viewed the world<br /> with open eyes and an open mind, and at the ripe age of<br /> seventy sits down to recall what matters have left<br /> impressions on his memory. He has been brought into<br /> personal relations with not a few distinguished men and<br /> women in his time; and, says Literature, “he has always<br /> something to say worth listening to.” It is ‘‘ most enter-<br /> taining reading,” says the Daily Chronicle, and is written<br /> in an “ easy, finished style.”<br /> <br /> PAssaAGEs IN A WANDESING LirE, by Thomas Arnold<br /> (Arnold, 12s. 6d.), “is a volume which is sure to be widely<br /> read,” says the Daily News. “In the course of a long life<br /> Mr. Arnold has met many people worth remembering.”<br /> Literature speaks of the recollections of Wordsworth,<br /> Newman, Matthew Arnold (the author’s brother) and others,<br /> and adds that “ Mr. Arnold’s reminiscences show us @ man<br /> of fine qualities, both of heart and head.” ‘ Altogether<br /> Mr. Arnold’s book is interesting reading,” says the Daily<br /> Chronicle, which heads its review, “From Rugby to<br /> Rome.” “It is lifted above the commonplace and the<br /> unreasonable,” says the Spectator, ‘‘ by the attitude of the<br /> writer, which is simple, unworldly, and full of a dignified<br /> humility.”<br /> <br /> Sr. Perer iN Romm, AND HIS TOMB ON THE VATICAN<br /> Hitz, by Arthur Stapylton Barnes (Sonnenschein, 21s.).<br /> The Spectator says that “the author is a master of<br /> Roman archeology, and a master with original views<br /> of his own on many points. He has not only set<br /> before his readers the Catholic tradition as to St. Peter’s<br /> connection with Rome, but he kas given us the best<br /> account in English of that wonderful building, or group<br /> of buildings, old St. Peter’s, which stood beneath the site<br /> of the mighty basilica of Bramante and Michael Angelo.”<br /> The Guardian says that ‘the contents may be divided<br /> into two parts, the first of which is an account of<br /> St. Peter’s life and movements after his departure<br /> from Palestine up to his martyrdom, while the second<br /> gives the history of his relics and their tomb, and<br /> incidentally, of the great church which has been erected<br /> above them. The latter part is much more valuable than<br /> the former.”<br />  <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> From Sza To Sua, by Rudyard Kipling (Macmillan, 28),<br /> contains the bulk of the special correspondence and occa-<br /> sional articles written by the author for the Civil and<br /> Military Gazette and the Pioneer between 1887-89. They<br /> were the outcome of a year’s holiday trip and are, says the<br /> Spectator, “‘ of far more than ephemeral interest.” ‘They<br /> are rich,” says the Daily Telegraph, “ in brilliant imagery.”<br /> Everyone, says Literature, “will be glad to read these<br /> earlier journalistic efforts of Mr. Kipling”; “ vivacious<br /> sketches which reveal so masterly an insight into the actual<br /> life of many diverse peoples.”<br /> <br /> Scruries, by Thomas Cobb (Richards, 3s. 6d.), is con-<br /> cerned with the amorous cross purposes of three attractive<br /> young women—a sympathetic widow and two sisters—and<br /> three more or less eligible young men. The Spectator<br /> describes the book as “a lively and gracefully-written<br /> romance, in which sentiment is always rescued from<br /> degenerating into effusion by the antiseptic of persiflage.”<br /> With “plenty of highly-wrought emotion as well as<br /> of elegant satirical humour” (Daily Telegraph) it is<br /> “very amusing comedy,” says the Daily News, and the<br /> <br /> author is congratulated “on his charming lightness of<br /> touch.”<br /> <br /> THER SILVER WEDDING JouRNEY, by W. D. Howells<br /> (Harper, 6s.), is said by the Spectator to be “a delightful<br /> counterpart ” to the author’s earlier work, “ Their Wedding<br /> Journey.” ‘We have been especially struck at the<br /> skill which Mr. Howells has shown in treating of the<br /> minutie of modern travel, as they would affect a culti-<br /> vated but stay-at-home couple, without fatiguing the<br /> <br /> reader or interfering with the progress of the sentimental<br /> interest.”<br /> <br /> 252<br /> <br /> By ORDER OF THE Company, by Mary Johnston (Con-<br /> stable, 6s.), is recommended by the Spectator as being<br /> ‘quite as good reading” as “The Old Dominion.” ‘The<br /> picture of the very earliest days of Virginia is excellently<br /> <br /> painted, and the personages of the story are sympathetic<br /> and interesting.”<br /> <br /> Mr. THomas ArxKins, by E. J. Hardy (Unwin, 6s), who<br /> has spent many years in the position of a military chaplain<br /> and has seen the British soldier from almost every point of<br /> view, is “ominently readable,” says Literature, and “is<br /> brought well up to date by frequent references to events<br /> that have lately occurred in South Africa.” The Daily<br /> <br /> Chronicle refers to it as an interesting book, “full of good<br /> stories.”<br /> <br /> RESURRECTION, by Count Tolstoy (F. R. Henderson, 6s.<br /> net), translated by Mrs. Louise Maude, referred to by the<br /> Daily Chronicle as “a tract of genius,” is described by the<br /> Daily Telegraph as the most harrowing of all this writer’s<br /> novels. ‘The ‘strong meats’ are too coarse in texture and<br /> too ‘high’ in flavour to suit delicate literary taste, or<br /> even to recommend themselves to general consumption.”<br /> “It is primarily,” says the Daily News, ‘‘an exposition<br /> of the evils of the Russian criminal system. This<br /> exposition is written round a cruel, even a heartrending<br /> story.”<br /> <br /> OnoraA, by Rosa Mulholland (Lady Gilbert) (Richards,<br /> 3s. 6d.), is an “interesting and pathetic story dealing with<br /> the life of the Irish peasant.” Opening with the eviction of<br /> Onora and her family on a cold November morning, the<br /> story, says the Daily Chronicle “is an eloquent appeal on<br /> behalf of the down-trodden Irish peasantry,” and is told<br /> with “ pathetic humour, refinement, and charm.”<br /> <br /> Tun TRANSVAAL IN WaR AND Pracz, by Neville<br /> Edwards (H. Virtue, 7s. 6d. net), ‘‘ does not pretend to give<br /> an account of the Transvaal troubles, their causes and their<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> remedies, from the point of view of the philosopher or the<br /> statesman, but it is full of facts, facts about persons and<br /> places, of the past and the present. And there is an abundance<br /> of illustration.” ‘‘ Wherever we are,” adds the Spectator,<br /> “we find something interesting to read, and more that is<br /> interesting to look at.”<br /> <br /> From Carz Town To LapysmitH, by G. W. Steevens<br /> (Blackwood, 3s. 6d.), was written, as Literatwre says,<br /> “hurriedly and under difficulties, and the author had died in<br /> a beleaguered outpost of the Empire before he could revise<br /> it.’ The book shows the lust of slaughter and the glory of<br /> victory; but also its horrors and its pathos. The Daily<br /> Telegraph says “the book is full of those characteristics<br /> which earned for Steevens for the outset of his career as a<br /> correspondent the unique reputation he enjoyed.”<br /> <br /> Tum Maxine oF A Frontier, by Colonel Algernon<br /> Durand, C.B., C.L.E. (Murray, 16s.), is, says Literature, “a<br /> well-told and exciting narrative of military and political<br /> service in a frontier region which has been the scene of an<br /> exciting contest, and which may again attract the attention<br /> of practical politicians when the next move is made in the<br /> long but intermittent struggle for Empire in Asia.” Colonel<br /> Durand was British Agent at Gilgit 1889-1894, and Military<br /> Secretary to the Viceroy 1894-1899; and “to those who<br /> can read between the lines, some, at any rate, of the dubious<br /> points in our policy will be apparent.” The Daily<br /> Chronicle says the book “will appeal to all interested<br /> in the consolidation and stability of our Indian Empire.”<br /> The Spectator finds it “impossible to express in short<br /> compass” its evjoyment of the book, which is “ filled<br /> with admirable illustrations, and is altogether the most<br /> delightful specimen of its class we have met with for<br /> many years.” .<br /> <br /> InnermMost AsrA (Heinemann, 21s.), is by Captain<br /> Cobbold, who passed through a considerable stretch of<br /> country never before visited by an Englishman. The Daily<br /> Chronicle describes it as a “ remarkably well-written<br /> narrative of a plucky and adventurous journey, in which<br /> both natural and artificial difficulties were met in abun-<br /> dance,” and adds that the criticism of Russia is much the<br /> most important part of the work. Captain Cobbold writes,<br /> says Literature, “‘ with a vigour and a humour to which<br /> sportsmen seldom attain, and makes some remarks on sub-<br /> jects connected with trade and politics which are worthy of<br /> consideration in high quarters.”<br /> <br /> “THE AUTHOR.”<br /> <br /> SCALE FOR ADVERTISEMENTS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Front Page oon aa ane see ase sek ey «£4 0<br /> Other Pages ow Ot<br /> Half of a Page ... . 110<br /> <br /> eeacoeooso<br /> <br /> Quarter of a Page uae a . . O16<br /> Eighth of a Page ey 3. ase ks na se Oe<br /> Single Column Advertisements perinch 0 6<br /> Bills for Insertion per 2000 3 0<br /> <br /> Reductions made for a Series of Sia or Twelve Inserteons.<br /> <br /> All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed to the<br /> ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER, The Author Office, 4, Portugal-street,<br /> London, W.C. :	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/473/1900-04-02-The-Author-10-11.pdf	publications, The Author
474	https://historysoa.com/items/show/474	The Author, Vol. 10 Issue 12 (May 1900)	<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.+10+Issue+12+%28May+1900%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 12 (May 1900)</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>	1900-05-01-The-Author-10-12					253–276																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=10">10</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1900-05-01">1900-05-01</a>							12			19000501	She Author.<br /> <br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br /> <br /> CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Vou. X.—No. 12.]<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> MAY tf, 1900.<br /> <br /> [Prick SIXPENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> For the Opinions expressed in papers that are<br /> signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br /> responsible. None of the papers or para-<br /> graphs must be taken as expressing the<br /> collective opinions of the Committee unless<br /> they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br /> Thring, Sec.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br /> remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br /> requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br /> <br /> important communications within two days will write to him<br /> without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br /> Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br /> letter only.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br /> all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br /> jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br /> returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> One<br /> <br /> GENERAL MEMORANDA.<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 /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I. THAT OF SELLING IT OUTRIGHT.<br /> <br /> This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br /> price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br /> managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the<br /> Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> Il. A PROFIT-SHARING AGREEMENT (a bad form of<br /> ‘agreement).<br /> <br /> In this case the following rules should be attended to :<br /> <br /> (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br /> duction forms a part without the strictest investigation.<br /> <br /> (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br /> profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements<br /> in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise-<br /> ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements.<br /> <br /> (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “ office expenses,”<br /> unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br /> <br /> (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br /> rights.<br /> <br /> (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 /> doctor !<br /> <br /> Til. THE ROYALTY SYSTEM.<br /> <br /> It is above all things necessary to know what the<br /> proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible<br /> for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly<br /> the truth. From time to time the very important figures<br /> connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br /> Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br /> “ Cost of Production.”<br /> <br /> IV. A COMMISSION AGREEMENT.<br /> <br /> The main points are :—<br /> <br /> (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production.<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 /> oe<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> Ye Ne sign an agreement without submitting it to<br /> the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some<br /> competent legal authority.<br /> <br /> 2. It is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for<br /> the production of a play with anyone 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.<br /> This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters<br /> into such a contract should stipulate in the con-<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> 254<br /> <br /> tract. for production of the piece by a certain date<br /> and for proper publication of his name on the<br /> play-bills.<br /> <br /> (b.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE<br /> TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES<br /> on gross receipts. Percentages vary between<br /> 5 and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a<br /> percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts<br /> in preference to the American system. Should<br /> obtain a sum in advance 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<br /> TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF ROYALTIES (1.e.,<br /> fixed nightly fees). This method should be<br /> always avoided except in cases where the fees<br /> are likely to be small or difficult to collect. The<br /> other safeguards set out under heading (b.) 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 preserved.<br /> <br /> 5. Authors should remember that performing rights can<br /> be limited, and are usually limited by town, country, and<br /> time. This is most important.<br /> <br /> 6. Authors should not assign performing rights, but<br /> should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is<br /> of great importance.<br /> <br /> 7. Authors should remember that performing rights in a<br /> play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager<br /> holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot<br /> print the book of the words.<br /> <br /> 8. Never forget that American rights may be exceedingly<br /> valuable. They should never be included in English<br /> agreements without the author obtaining a substantial<br /> consideration.<br /> <br /> g. 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 are<br /> referred to the Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 1. VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br /> advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br /> lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br /> <br /> business or the administration of his property. If the<br /> <br /> advice sought is such as can be given best by a solici-<br /> tor, the member has a right to an opinion from the<br /> <br /> Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s<br /> <br /> opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for<br /> <br /> him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the<br /> member.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br /> and publisher’s agreoments do not generally fall within the<br /> experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br /> to use the Society.<br /> <br /> 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past<br /> accounts with the loan of the books represented. The<br /> Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new<br /> or old, for inspection and note. The information thus<br /> obtained may prove invaluable.<br /> <br /> 4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br /> posed document to the Society for examination.<br /> <br /> 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you<br /> are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are<br /> reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing<br /> the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen-<br /> dence of the writer.<br /> <br /> 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of<br /> members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br /> safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br /> fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who<br /> will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :—(1)<br /> To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To<br /> stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upom<br /> them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce paymente<br /> due according to agreements.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE READING BRANCH.<br /> <br /> N “EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this.<br /> <br /> branch of their work by informing young writers of<br /> <br /> its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated<br /> <br /> as a composition is treated by a coach. The Readers are<br /> <br /> writers of competence and experience. The fee is one<br /> guinea.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> <br /> HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br /> Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br /> of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br /> <br /> heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br /> many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br /> 6s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br /> <br /> Communications for The Author should be addressed te<br /> the Offices of the Society, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn<br /> Fields, W.C., and should reach the Hditor not later than the<br /> 21st of each month.<br /> <br /> All persons engaged in literary work of any kind,<br /> whether members of the Society or not, are invited to<br /> communicate to the Editor any points connected with their<br /> work which it would be advisable in the general interest te<br /> publish.<br /> <br /> The present location of the Authors’ Club is at 3, White-<br /> hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for<br /> information, rules of admission, &amp;c.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Shea NAD NRA SS<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 255<br /> <br /> THE PENSION SCHEME.<br /> <br /> HERE seem to be some indications that the<br /> a. Pension Scheme has been misunderstood<br /> by our members. It is well, therefore,<br /> <br /> that the principles should be stated over again.<br /> <br /> 1. It is a scheme for making the followers of<br /> literature provide by their own efforts for<br /> the relief of those who break down<br /> through ill-health or old age.<br /> <br /> 2. It is not designed to furnish a pension for<br /> every member of tbe Society, as has been<br /> misrepresented.<br /> <br /> 3. It is proposed to make it self-supporting and<br /> efficient in the following manner :<br /> <br /> (a) To form a nucleus by donations.<br /> <br /> (6) To supplement this beginning by annual<br /> subscriptions.<br /> <br /> (c) To devote a certain proportion—say one-<br /> third—of the annual subscriptions to<br /> the grant of pensions, and the remainder<br /> —say two-thirds—to the permanent<br /> fund.<br /> <br /> 4. It is thought that when the advantages of<br /> the Pension Fund are clearly understood—<br /> that it will be a fund expressly reserved<br /> for, and devoted to, the life-long assistance<br /> of those who are old or broken—it will<br /> receive the cordial support of every<br /> member of the Society.<br /> <br /> 5. Since many members are not rich, it 1s pro-<br /> vided that either occasional donations or<br /> small annual subscriptions will be received.<br /> Members need be in no way discouraged<br /> from becoming annual subscribers for quite<br /> small amounts.<br /> <br /> The method of working may be thus illustrated.<br /> A nucleus of about £1000 has been formed. 1<br /> over 1500 members between them provide us<br /> with an average of Ios. a year, or a total of<br /> £750, the Committee would be able to use £250<br /> a year for pensions, and to transfer £500 to the<br /> principal. In twenty years the principal would<br /> become the very respectable sum of £11,000,<br /> yielding, say, £300 a year, and the Committee<br /> would have £550 a year to give in pensions. It<br /> is estimated that, considermg the present con-<br /> dition of literature as a profession, this amount<br /> would amply cover all legitimate demands that<br /> could be made upon the fund.<br /> <br /> It may be argued that the membership of the<br /> society will increase, and therefore the demands<br /> upon this fund. It is to be hoped that it will.<br /> But in that case the subscriptions to the Pension<br /> Fund will increase also.<br /> <br /> The Committee, therefore, very earnestly invite<br /> their members to consider how far they can<br /> support a scheme which is based on the inde-<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> pendence of the author and the duty of those in<br /> the same profession to support others who are<br /> stricken down and unable to work.<br /> <br /> It may be urged that the Civil List and the<br /> Royal Literary Fund already provide for those in<br /> need.<br /> <br /> The answer is that the proportion of the Civil<br /> List that should be used for literature is only<br /> £400 a year, and that this slender provision is<br /> very largely, and very properly, used for the<br /> widows and daughters of literary men. As<br /> regards the Royal Literary Fund, it gives no<br /> pensions, but only grants in aid.<br /> <br /> It is also hoped that the pensions of the<br /> Society’s Pension Fund, being provided by the<br /> donations and subscriptions of authors, and being<br /> given in recognition of literary merit no less than<br /> in relief of necessitous cases, may be considered<br /> as an evidence of the appreciation of the literary<br /> profession, and as an honourable testimonial to<br /> the good work done by the recipients.<br /> <br /> Members paying subscriptions through their<br /> bank can pay pension subscriptions also in the<br /> same manner.<br /> <br /> _____——»e«e<br /> <br /> LITERARY PROPERTY.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I.—Tue Copyrient Br.<br /> <br /> PNHE Literary Copyright Bill has gone into<br /> committee in the House of Lords. The<br /> committee appointed to consider it con-<br /> <br /> sists of the Lord Chancellor, the Earl of<br /> <br /> Selborne, Viscount Knutsford, Lord Balfour, Lord<br /> <br /> Hatterton, Lord Monkswell, Lord Thring, Lord<br /> <br /> Farrer, Lord Welby, Lord Davy, Lord Avebury.<br /> <br /> On Tuesday, April ard, Mr. 8. L. Clemens<br /> (“Mark Twain ”) presented his views on the<br /> question, and brought forward strong argu-<br /> ments for copyright in perpetuity. It is hoped<br /> that some day this very desirable object may<br /> be obtained; but the committee did not appear<br /> to be in sympathy with Mr. Clemens on the<br /> point. The Draft Copyright Bill now before<br /> the House of Lords differs in some important<br /> points from the Draft Bill approved by the<br /> House of Lords committee at the end of last<br /> Session, the chief point being the abandonment<br /> of registration. Dramatic authors must make a<br /> strong stand against provisions in sects. 6 and 7,<br /> clause 5. This the Society of Authors, which is<br /> watching the Bill very carefully on their behalf,<br /> will do at the proper time.<br /> <br /> It is understood that the committee will not<br /> take any more evidence: the only opportunity of<br /> raising objections to the Bill will be as it passes<br /> through the House of Lords or the House of<br /> Commons.<br />  <br /> <br /> 256<br /> <br /> Il.—Auvsrria-Hunegary AND THE BERNE<br /> ConvENTION.<br /> <br /> The Droit d’Auteur of March contains an<br /> important document issued by the Minister of<br /> Justice of Austria-Hungary respecting the inter-<br /> national copyright relations of the dual monarchy,<br /> together with detailed comments upon it. The<br /> general drift of the official document is opposed<br /> to the entrance of the dual monarchy into the<br /> Berne Union on the grounds of the differences<br /> existing between the copyright laws of Austria<br /> and Hungary, and the fact that the protection<br /> given to foreign authors by the Berne Convention<br /> would be under certain circumstances wider than<br /> that given to subjects of the Austro-Hungarian<br /> Empire. e<br /> <br /> We, however, entirely agree with our valuable<br /> contemporary the Droit d’Au/feur in thinking<br /> that, notwithstanding certain divergencies, ‘‘ the<br /> Austrian legislation and the Convention of Berne<br /> might work together as satisfactorily as the Con-<br /> vention and the German Legislation have done<br /> for the last fourteen years.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Carl Junker. ‘“ Die Berner Convention zum<br /> Schutze der Werke der Literatur und Kunst und<br /> Oesterreich-Ungarn.” Wien: Holder. 1900.<br /> <br /> Mr. Carl Junker, who was last year com-<br /> missioned by the Austro-Hungarian Booksellers’<br /> Union to make a full report upon the subject of<br /> the empire’s possible adhesion to the Berne Con-<br /> vention, has published in an amplified form, in<br /> a very interesting pamphlet, the results of his<br /> investigations, which originally appeared in the<br /> “ Oesterreichisch-Ungarische Buchhandler Corres-<br /> pondenz”; and his excellent brochure may be<br /> strongly recommended to the attention of all who<br /> are interested either in the wider extension of the<br /> Berne Convention or in questions of inter-<br /> national copyright.<br /> <br /> First of all sketching the history of the Berne<br /> Convention, Mr. Junker gives the text of the<br /> various official documents of the Convention, and<br /> after enumerating the countries which have<br /> already joined the Union, and alluding to the<br /> steps in the direction of adhesion taken by the<br /> Netherlands and Russia, reviews the present<br /> situation in the dual monarchy. Here a good<br /> deal of confusion exists in the copyright enact-<br /> ments, and some essential difference between the<br /> laws of Austria and Hungary. For example, the<br /> duration of copyright in the latter country is for<br /> life and fifty years; in the former for life and<br /> thirty years. On the whole, the Hungarian legis-<br /> <br /> lation is the more enlightened, but neither<br /> Hungary nor Austria protects the foreign author,<br /> except in cayes povided for by particular treaties.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Mr. Junker rightly points out that less trouble<br /> would be given by adhesion to the Berne Conven.<br /> tion than by a further multiplication of these<br /> treaties with individual countries. The question<br /> of translations (an important one in an Empire<br /> comprising so many different languages) is some-<br /> what fully discussed, and the opinion is stated<br /> that these form but an insignificant part of the<br /> whole literary production. It seems, however,<br /> impossible to avoid a suspicion that, though the<br /> number of translated works may be few in com-<br /> parison with the whole output, some of them<br /> must represent cases in which individual authors<br /> are mulcted of a considerable portion of their<br /> rights. This at least is certain, that translations<br /> of a considerable number of English and French<br /> novels appear in the Hungarian and Bohemian<br /> popular libraries; and it is evident that these<br /> libraries have a respectable sale. On the other<br /> hand, it is made clear that, amongst others, the<br /> publishers of the dual monarchy find exclusion<br /> from the Berne Convention detrimental to their<br /> interests ; and this to such an extent that impor-<br /> tant firms have migrated to Leipzig for the sake<br /> of securing the advantages accompanying publica-<br /> tion in a country belonging to the Union. Mr.<br /> Junker, whilst admitting that a reform of the<br /> Austrian and Hungarian copyright laws is desir-<br /> able, thinks that the present enactments in no<br /> way preclude an immediate accession to the<br /> Union, and urges that this step should certainly<br /> be taken on grounds of “ justice, economy, and<br /> morality.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> TIL.—A Canapian CoMPLAINT.<br /> The following cutting has been forwarded to<br /> me from Canada:<br /> <br /> CopyrRicHT UNFAIRNESS.<br /> <br /> Here is an excellent illustration of the injustice of the<br /> present copyright law. A Canadian publisher came across<br /> a story published in a United States weekly paper. After<br /> waiting some time, he wrote to his agent in London to find<br /> if there was an edition of the book published in England.<br /> Answer—‘“ No book of that title published here.” The<br /> Canadian then ran it through his paper, and shortly after-<br /> wards was politely requested to pay a few hundred dollars<br /> and a heavy lawyer’s fee, as the book had been entered at<br /> Stationers’ Hall, London—but not printed in England. That<br /> would be all right, were it not for the fact that the Canadian<br /> publisher might pay five hundred dollars to a Canadian for<br /> a story to run through his paper, and yet if he did not print<br /> it also in the United States, any United States publisher<br /> could reprint the story without penalty. Where is the<br /> reciprocity in this ? Is it not one answer to the question,<br /> why does not the Canadian publisher help along the Canadian<br /> author P<br /> <br /> The arguments put forward are certainly<br /> amusing, but can be put aside with little com-<br /> ment. To begin with, the Canadian publisher’s<br /> agent must have been exceedingly ignorant of<br /> <br /> <br /> 4<br /> |<br /> 2<br /> 4<br /> _<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> the manner of doing business in England if he<br /> did not search in Stationers’ Hall to see whether<br /> the book had been entered.<br /> <br /> Secondly, it should be remarked that the entry<br /> in Stationers’ Hall does not give copyright ; pub-<br /> lication of the book in England does. How far<br /> had this publication been made? There are no<br /> details on this point.<br /> <br /> These statements, however, have nothing to<br /> do with the real inwardness of the paragraph.<br /> The writer argues as follows: Because an<br /> American author is not bound to print in<br /> Canada, therefore the Canadian publisher should<br /> not help along the Canadian author. A wonder-<br /> ful deduction. An American author is not bound<br /> to print in England to secure copyright. To<br /> this extent there is a lack of reciprocity<br /> between England and America, and to the same<br /> extent there is a lack of reciprocity between<br /> Canada and America, but English publishers do<br /> not argue that this is any reason why they<br /> should not help on English authors. Logically,<br /> it seems impossible to deduce the one from the<br /> other. Perhaps the writer can explain his<br /> meaning.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> TV.—Marxk Twain on CopyrRiaut.<br /> <br /> A special meeting of the Select Committee of<br /> the House of Lords on Copyright was held to<br /> take the evidence of Mr. Samuel Clemens (“ Mark<br /> Twain’). Lord Monkswell presided.<br /> <br /> Mr. Clemens, at the request of the chairman,<br /> read a written statement of his views on the law<br /> of copyright in England. He regarded the copy-<br /> right laws of England and America as nearly<br /> what they ought to be. They needed, however,<br /> one commercially trivial, but gigantic, amendment<br /> in order to become perfect. That was the removal<br /> of the forty-two-years limit, and returning to<br /> perpetual copyright. One advantage claimed for<br /> limited copyright was fallacious. It was that<br /> which made a distinction between authors’ pro-<br /> perty and real estate. A book was usually<br /> regarded as a combination of ideas, and that<br /> was just as much a property as any other. There<br /> was no property which was not due to some man’s<br /> mind, as well as his labour. A man who pur-<br /> chased an estate had to improve it by the exercise<br /> of his intellect, the intreduction of railways, and<br /> so on. His land was what the book was—the<br /> result of brain work—the combination and exploi-<br /> tation of ideas.<br /> <br /> Was it sound public policy, he asked, that con-<br /> ferred a benefit on the nation as against the<br /> author? Out of a hundred tons of books ninety-<br /> eight tons were light literature. ‘‘ My works are<br /> light,” said Mr. Clemens, witha sigh. ‘“ Many<br /> unthinking thinkers think they think,” he added.<br /> <br /> vou. x.<br /> <br /> 257<br /> <br /> Cheap editions of deathless books would be<br /> insured by perpetual copyright. Only one book<br /> in the world, he believed, had been fairly<br /> treated since Queen Anne’s time, and that was<br /> the English Bible. It was the only book in<br /> possession of perpetual copyright. Had that<br /> deprived the public of cheap editions? It had<br /> not.<br /> <br /> How many books outlive the forty-two-years<br /> limit ? He placed those forty-two-years immortals<br /> at sixty-five. ‘The amount which would accrue to<br /> authors and their relatives from perpetual copy-<br /> right would not exceed £6500 per annum in all.<br /> There was not a professional man of repute in<br /> London who could not earn that in the year. This<br /> was the sum which was taken out of the pockets<br /> of illustrious men who had taken a share in<br /> building up British power and spreading wide the<br /> glory of Englishmen. Great Britain issued 5000<br /> volumes a year.’ Only sixty-five reached the<br /> forty-two-years limit. Most of them would be<br /> dead and gone inside five years. It was safe to<br /> say that not more than 650 volumes out of<br /> 500,000 would outlive a century. In America,<br /> when the number of slaves subject to the lash<br /> equalled the population of London to-day, a woman<br /> wrote a book which aroused humanity, swept<br /> slavery out of existence, and purged the fair name<br /> of America from reproach. “The author,” con-<br /> cluded Mr. Clemens, “is now dead; the copy-<br /> right is dead; the children live and the book<br /> lives ; but the profits @ go to the publishers.”<br /> <br /> In the course of reply to questions, Mr. Clemens<br /> remarked incidentally that some of his manuscript<br /> was once taxed as “ gas works.”<br /> <br /> The Chairman thanked the witness for his<br /> evidence.— Daily News.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> V.—Vizereviy v. Mupie.<br /> <br /> In Vizetelly v. Mudie’s Select Library<br /> (Limited) the plaintiff obtained a verdict for<br /> £100 damages, on account of a libel contained in<br /> a book circulated and sold by the defendants in<br /> the ordinary course of their trade, though they<br /> had no knowledge of the libel and the book was<br /> published by a high-class British firm of pub-<br /> lishers. The verdict does not appear to us a<br /> satisfactory one. The rule of law applicable to<br /> the case is no doubt the one stated by the Court<br /> of Appeal in ELmmens v. Pottle (55 L. J. Rep.<br /> Q. B. 51). The decision there was that a vendor<br /> of a newspaper, though primd facie responsible<br /> for a libel contained in it, is not answerable if he<br /> can prove that he did not know that it contained<br /> a libel; that his ignorance was not due to negli-<br /> gence; and that he did not know, and had no<br /> ground for supposing, that the newspaper was<br /> <br /> ec<br />  <br /> <br /> 258<br /> <br /> likely to contain libellous matter. If he proves<br /> these facts, he is not the publisher of the libel.<br /> Mr. Justice Grantham’s direction that the ques-<br /> tion for the jury was whether the defendants were<br /> negligent seems, therefore, indisputable. He,<br /> however, expressed the view that the defendants<br /> conducted their business in a negligent way,<br /> because they did not ascertain for themselves that<br /> the contents of all the 4000 new books which they<br /> circulate on an average in each year were not<br /> libellous. We fail to see why the proprietors of<br /> a circulating library should not in general be<br /> entitled to rely on the good reputation of the<br /> publishers from whom they receive books, at any<br /> rate when the publishers carry on their trade in<br /> the United Kingdom and can be reached by the<br /> arm of the law. The charge of negligence was<br /> also supported on the ground that the publishers<br /> of the book had put a notice in the Publishers’<br /> Journal and the Atheneum requesting that all<br /> copies should be returned to them for cancellation<br /> of the libellous passages, and that the defendants<br /> took in both these newspapers and ought to have<br /> read the notice. If it be the general pvactice of<br /> the publishing trade to insert such notices in<br /> these newspapers, the omission to read them may<br /> justify a finding of negligence ; otherwise it is a<br /> strong thing to say that a man is expected to<br /> read the whole of a periodical to which he sub-<br /> scribes, even if it be a trade newspaper.—From<br /> the Law Journal (by permission).<br /> <br /> [On appeal the judgment has been maintained.<br /> The opinion of the Law Journal on the general<br /> principle is, however, instructive. |<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> VI.—Srrcimens oF AGREEMENTS.<br /> <br /> Here are two agreements. The reader will be<br /> pleased to peruse documents which will so greatly<br /> raise the calling of publishers in his estimation.<br /> In what follows A. B. is the publisher.<br /> <br /> 1. A. B. to have exclusive right of publishing<br /> <br /> everywhere.<br /> <br /> 2. Corrections above 25 per cent. of the cost of<br /> type-setting to be borne by the author.<br /> <br /> 3. The first 500 copies to bear no royalty.<br /> <br /> 4. After the first 500 copies the royalty to be<br /> 12} per cent. on the published price ; 13<br /> copies as 12, 7.e., on a 6s. book, 854d.<br /> <br /> 5. If the book is sold at or below half published.<br /> price, the royalty to be 123 per cent. on<br /> the net receipts.<br /> <br /> 6. A royalty of 10 per cent. on the net receipts<br /> to be paid for a colonial edition.<br /> <br /> 7. A. B. to have all rights, serial, dramatic,<br /> translation, and colonial, continental,<br /> American, &amp;. And to pay the author<br /> one-half the profits on each.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 8. The author to revise future editions.<br /> <br /> g. The author shall not publish any abridg-<br /> <br /> ment.<br /> <br /> 10. The author to pay £50 to the publisher on<br /> <br /> going to press.<br /> <br /> Many agreements have been submitted to the<br /> Society, but this seems on the whole the most<br /> admirable, both in the brazen front of the pub-<br /> lisher and in his sublime reliance on the ignorance<br /> of the author.<br /> <br /> First, for the author. It is supposed that an<br /> edition of 1500 copies has been printed and sold.<br /> It is a six-shilling book, not a novel. The average<br /> price is 3s. 6d. to the trade. But after the first<br /> 1000 we suppose that the rest are sold at half-<br /> price, viz., 38. (see clause 5).<br /> <br /> The average cost of an average six-sbilling book<br /> for 1500 copies may be set down, with adver-<br /> tising, at about £110, all being bound.<br /> <br /> The author receives for the first 500... 9 O O<br /> ” : » second 500... 17 6 4<br /> ” ] » bhird 500... 84 9<br /> Tn all the author’s account stands thus :<br /> PD ae<br /> Paid to publisher............ 50 0 6<br /> Received i... cececc cee 25 19 3<br /> Loss 3.6 ed SD<br /> 50 0 6<br /> <br /> On the other hand, consider the publisher. He,<br /> worthy creature, stands as follows:<br /> <br /> &amp; s d. &amp; 3 &amp;<br /> Cost of production ......... 110, 6 0<br /> Author in royalties......... Ze 19 8<br /> Profit’ (0.28.1 Iba 0-6<br /> ——————. 300 0:0<br /> By sales :<br /> 1000 at 3s. Od..... 2. 275 OC. 2<br /> SOO at 38. cece cece eee ane 75 O20<br /> Received from author...... 56 0<br /> — 300 0 0<br /> <br /> Of course, it may be said that so large an<br /> edition might not be sold. The answer is that it<br /> might be, and that this is how it would work<br /> out.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Here is another agreement. It was a little<br /> book of only 60,000 words, impudently offered to<br /> the public at 6s. The royalty was to be 1s. 6d. a<br /> copy unless the book was sold at or under half-<br /> price, when it was to be 25 per cent. on the net<br /> receipts. The author was to pay down £40.<br /> <br /> There was an edition of 1500, of which 500 copies<br /> were bound, and 400 sold, 200 at 3s. 6d. and 200<br /> at 2s. 113d. Ona colonial edition the author was<br /> to have 34d. a copy.<br /> <br /> <br /> ps<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Cost of printing and paper<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> The author’s account, therefore, stood as<br /> <br /> follows : Ss a<br /> Paid to publisher......... i 40 O O<br /> Received :<br /> <br /> Royalty of 1s, 6d. on 200<br /> copies sold at 3s. 6d. .... 15 0 O<br /> Royalty of 25 per cent. on<br /> net receipts of 200 sold<br /> at 2S. £140. 0. ss...<br /> <br /> Colonial edition at 33d. 14 11<br /> <br /> 40.60 0<br /> How does the publisher stand ?<br /> <br /> oe 8. bs. a,<br /> <br /> about : 3 50.0 0<br /> Minding 500 ............ fay 8 10 O<br /> Advertising ............ Say 10 0 0<br /> PROVSNICS 2 ogee 26.19. 7<br /> PerOUt 3 ee ee A 2<br /> . 154 11-3<br /> Paid by author 2... 40° OO<br /> 200 copies at 35. 6d. ...... 25. 0. 0<br /> 200 copies at 1s. 113d. ... 29 11 8<br /> Colonial edition .......... 50-0 OC<br /> ¥54 if 8<br /> <br /> There must be something wrong here, because<br /> the poor man lamented the loss of more than £20<br /> on the transaction, and, as is well known among<br /> his friends, he cannot swerve from the truth.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> VIL.—“ Our FavovurABLE CONSIDERATION.”<br /> <br /> We have often warned our readers against the<br /> publisher who gives a MS. a consideration so pro-<br /> tracted and careful that he answers by return post,<br /> and so favourable that he offers the “following<br /> advantageous” terms. But the game goes on<br /> merrily. It has of late extended its list of players.<br /> There were, until recently, two sportsmen only who<br /> practised in this field: thenathird appeared: and<br /> now there is at least one more. In fact, the game<br /> of deluding the ignorant aspirant by dangling<br /> hopes of “future and following ” editions before<br /> him with promises of two-thirds, three-fifths—<br /> any proportion you please—of the profits, seems<br /> to be attracting and tempting publishers hitherto<br /> considered above such practices. But with pub-<br /> lishers as with the rest of humanity—they can<br /> withstand anything but temptation.<br /> <br /> Here are two cases which have recently been<br /> brought before the Secretary. The first is an<br /> example of the old trickery.<br /> <br /> Dear Srr,—We have given your MS. our consideration<br /> and have decided to make yon the following offer for its pro-<br /> duction and publication in one volume.<br /> <br /> voL. X.<br /> <br /> AUTHOR. 259<br /> <br /> That in consideration of our printing 750 copies in the<br /> best style, publishing at the popular price of 3s. 6d., binding<br /> ‘in handsome cloth, gold lettered) as trade demands warrant,<br /> advertising at our expense to the amount of £10 (full details<br /> of which would be duly sent you), and giving you two-<br /> thirds of the proceeds of sales, you agree to pay to us the<br /> sum of £69, £39 on signing the agreement, and £30 when<br /> you see the last proofs.<br /> <br /> The expenses of all future editions to be borne entirely by<br /> us, you then receiving a royalty of 1s. per copy.<br /> <br /> The above amount to constitute your sole outlay, the<br /> copyright remaining your property.<br /> <br /> We should publish the book during the spring season.—<br /> Faithfully yours, Rook<br /> <br /> What does this mean to the luckless author ?<br /> First, there will be a bill for corrections—there<br /> always is. ‘Then, after a brief interval, there<br /> will be a strong recommendation to spend another<br /> £7—they are always very exact—in advertising.<br /> Then there will follow a statement of sales.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Review Copies ...........5++ 50<br /> GLUOR 3 es 25<br /> GIGS oes eerste a 2<br /> <br /> In stock 672 to be sold as waste paper.<br /> <br /> The author pays £69. He then pays the bill<br /> for corrections—say £6, and sends up the addi-<br /> tional £7 for advertisements. In all he pays £82.<br /> What does he get back? Asa rule, nothing. On<br /> the most favourable terms, the sale of the whole<br /> edition, he can get back about £40. In other<br /> words, he must lose £40, and he stands to lose<br /> £80, and yet he accepts !<br /> <br /> As for the publisher, he prints the book; he<br /> binds only what are wanted ; and as for the<br /> advertisements, only he himself knows where they<br /> go and what they cost. On the usual estimate<br /> he stands to win about £25.<br /> <br /> Here, however, is another case. The terms are<br /> somewhat varied. The publisher says: ‘“ The<br /> book will cost £ for print, paper, and binding.<br /> T shall advertise to the extent of £ I shall<br /> take a commission of 20 per cent. on the proceeds.<br /> You must send me a cheque for £ in advance.<br /> There will also be incidental expenses.” This<br /> looks like a bond fide commission business, only<br /> with a high percentage.<br /> <br /> In the case before us the author was lured on<br /> by the prospect of a safe and very profitable<br /> investment. The result was a dead loss of every-<br /> thing paid in advance, and a demand for more.<br /> The book has proved a failure: the publisher if<br /> he had been straightforward would have foretold<br /> the failure and warned the author. And, as in<br /> the preceding case, the publisher has made a<br /> certain profit in advance. He pledged himself, in<br /> his estimate, to bind the whole: it is not<br /> certain that he has done so. He also pledged<br /> himself to spend a certain sum in advertising: it<br /> remains to be proved how much he has spent.<br /> <br /> ee2<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> 260<br /> <br /> And, as in the preceding case, the author stood<br /> to lose so much certainly, and so much more<br /> possibly. In such cases as this it is always the<br /> “ possible” event which happens.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> VIIl.—Tue Property or AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> The following are extracts from a paper read by<br /> Mr. Charles Dudley Warner before the recently<br /> organised National Institute of Arts and Letters<br /> in New York. The paper is printed in evtenso in<br /> the Writer (Boston, U.S.A.) for February :—<br /> <br /> Consider first the author, and I mean the author, and not<br /> the mere craftsman who manufactures books for a recog-<br /> nised market, His sole capital is his talent. His brain<br /> may be likened to a mine, gold, silver, copper, iron, or tin,<br /> which looks like silver when new. Whatever it is, the vein<br /> of valuable ore is limited, in most cases it is slight. When<br /> it is worked out the man is at the end of his resources.<br /> Has he expended or produced capital? I say he has pro-<br /> duced it, and contributed to the wealth of the world, and<br /> that he is as truly entitled to the usufruct of it as the<br /> miner who takes gold or silver out of the earth. For how<br /> long? I will speak of that later on. The copyright of a<br /> book is not analogous to the patent right of an invention,<br /> which may become of universal necessity to the world. Nor<br /> should the greater share of this usufruct be absorbed by the<br /> manufacturer and publisher of the book. The publisher<br /> has a clear right to guard himself against risks, as he has<br /> the right of refusal to assume them. But there is an<br /> injustice somewhere, when for many a book, valued and<br /> even profitable to somebody, the author does not receive the<br /> price of a labourer’s day wages for the time spent on it—to<br /> say nothing of the long years of its gestation,<br /> <br /> The relation between author and publisher ought to be<br /> neither complicated nor peculiar. The author may sell his<br /> product outright, or he may sell himself by an agreement<br /> similar to that which an employee in a manufacturing<br /> establishment makes with his master to give to the estab-<br /> lishment all his inventions. Either of these methods is fair<br /> and business-like, though it may not be wise. A method<br /> that prevailed in the early years of this century was both<br /> fair and wise. The author agreed that the publisher should<br /> have the exclusive right to publish his book for s certain<br /> term or to make and sell a certain number of copies. When<br /> those conditions were fulfilled, the control of the property<br /> reverted to the author. The continuance of these relations<br /> between the two depended, as it should depend, upon mutual<br /> advantage and mutual goodwill.<br /> <br /> WoRrRKING FoR A MARKET.<br /> <br /> By the present common method the author makes over<br /> - the use of his property to the will of the publisher. It is<br /> true that he parts with the use only of the property, and<br /> not with the property itself, and the publisher in law<br /> acquires no other title, nor does he acquire any sort of<br /> interest in the future products of the author’s brain. But<br /> the author loses all control of his property, and its profit to<br /> him may depend upon his continuing to make over his books<br /> to the same publisher. In this continuance he is liable to the<br /> temptation to work for a market, instead of following the<br /> free impulses of his own genius. As to any special book, the<br /> publisher is the sole judge whether to push it or to let it sink<br /> into the stagnation of unadvertised goods.<br /> <br /> The situation is full of complications. Theoretically it is<br /> <br /> the interest of both parties to sell as many books as<br /> possible; but the author has an interest in one book, the<br /> publisher in a hundred, and it is natural and reasonable<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> that the man who risks his money should be the judge of<br /> the policy best for his own establishment. I cannot but<br /> think that this situation would be on a juster footing all<br /> round if the author returned to the old practice of limiting<br /> the use of his property by the publisher. I say this in<br /> full recognition of the fact that the publishers might be<br /> unwilling to make temporary investments, or to take risks.<br /> What then? Fewer books might be published. Less<br /> vanity might be gratified. Less money might be risked in<br /> experiments upon the public, and more might be made by<br /> distributing good literature. Would the public be injured ?<br /> It is an idea already discredited that the world owes a living.<br /> to everybody who thinks he can write, and it is a supersti-<br /> tion already fading that capital which exploits literature as<br /> a trade acquires any special privileges.<br /> <br /> ‘ ABSURDITY” OF THE CopYRIGHT LAw.<br /> <br /> The property of an author in the product of his mental<br /> labour ought to be as absolute and unlimited as his pro-<br /> perty in the product of his physical labour. It seems to<br /> me idle to say that the two kinds of labour products are so<br /> dissimilar that the ownership cannot be protected by like<br /> laws. In this age of enlightenment such a proposition is<br /> absurd. The history of copyright law seems to show that<br /> the treatment of property in brain product has been based<br /> on this erroneous idea. To steal the paper on which an<br /> author has put his brain work into visible, tangible form<br /> is in all lands a crime, larceny, but to steal the brain work<br /> is not a crime. The utmost extent to which our enlightened<br /> American legislators, at almost the end of the nineteenth<br /> century, have gone in protecting products of the brain has<br /> been to give the author power to sue in civil courts, at<br /> large expense, the offender who has taken and sold his<br /> property.<br /> <br /> And what gross absurdity is the copyright law which<br /> limits even this poor defence of authors’ property to a<br /> brief term of years, after the expiration of which he or his<br /> children and heirs have no defence, no recognised property<br /> whatever in his products. And for some inexplicable reason<br /> this term of years in which he may be said to own his<br /> property is divided into two terms, so that at the end of<br /> the first he is compelled to reassert his ownership by<br /> renewing his copyright, or he must lose all ownership at<br /> the end of the short term.<br /> <br /> Duty oF THE GOVERNMENT.<br /> <br /> Tt is manifest to all honest minds that if an author is<br /> entitled to own his work for a term of years, it is equally<br /> the duty of his Government to make that ownership per-<br /> petual. He can own and protect and leave to his children<br /> and his children’s children by will the manuscript paper on<br /> which he has written, and he should have equal right to<br /> leave to them that mental product which constitutes the<br /> true money value of his labour. It is unnecessary to say<br /> that the mental product is always as easy to be identified as<br /> the physical product. Its identification is absolutely certain<br /> to the intelligence of judges and juries. And it is apparent<br /> that the interests of assignees, who are commonly pub-<br /> lishers, are equal with those of authors, in making absolute<br /> and perpetual this property in which both are dealers.<br /> <br /> Another consideration follows here. Why should<br /> the ownership of a bushel of wheat, a piece of silk<br /> goods, a watch or a handkerchief in the possession of an<br /> ‘American carried or sent to England or brought thence to<br /> this country be absolute and unlimited, while the ownership<br /> of his own products as an author or as &amp; purchaser from an<br /> author is made dependent on his nationality ? Why should<br /> the property of the manufacturer of cloths, carpets, satins,<br /> and any and every description of goods be able to send his<br /> products all over the world, subject only to the tariff laws<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> eof various countries, while the author (alone of all known<br /> producers) is forbidden to do so? The existing law of our<br /> country says to the foreign author : “ You can have property<br /> in your book only if you manufacture it into saleable form<br /> in this country.” What would be said of the wisdom or<br /> ‘wild folly of a law which sought to protect other American<br /> industries by forbidding the importation of all foreign<br /> manufactures ?<br /> <br /> Wart tae Carrranist Has Dons.<br /> <br /> One aspect of the publishing business which has become<br /> increasingly prominent during the last fifteen years cannot<br /> be overlooked, for it is certain to affect seriously the pro-<br /> duction of literature as to quality and its distribution.<br /> Capital has discovered that literature is a product out of<br /> which money can be made, in the same way that itcan be<br /> made in cotton, wheat, oriron. Never before in history has<br /> so much money been invested in publishing, with the single<br /> purpose of creating and supplying the market with manu-<br /> factured goods. Never before has there been such an<br /> appeal to the reading public, or such a study of its tastes, or<br /> supposed tastes, wants, likes, and dislikes, coupled also with<br /> the same shrewd anxiety to ascertain a future demand that<br /> governs the purveyors of spring and fall styles in millinery<br /> and dressmaking. Not only the contents of the books and<br /> periodicals, but the covers must be made to catch the<br /> fleeting fancy. Will the public next season wear its hose<br /> dotted or striped ?<br /> <br /> The consolidation of capital in great publishing establish-<br /> ments has its advantages and its disadvantages. It increases<br /> vastly the yearly output of books. The presses must be<br /> kept running; printers, paper-makers, and machinists are<br /> interested in this. The maw of the press must be fed. The<br /> capital must earn its money. One advantage of this is that<br /> when new and usable material is not forthcoming, the<br /> “ standards” and the best literature must be reproduced in<br /> countless editions, and the best literature is broadcast over<br /> the world at prices to suit all purses,even the leanest. The<br /> disadvantage is that products, in the eagerness of competi-<br /> <br /> “tion for a market, are accepted which are of a character to<br /> harm and not help the development of the contemporary<br /> mind in moral and intellectual strength. The public<br /> expresses its fear of this in the phrase it has invented—<br /> “the spawn of the press.” The author who writes simply<br /> to supply this press and in constant view of a market, is<br /> certain to deteriorate in his quality; may, more, as a<br /> beginner he is satisfied if he can produce something that will<br /> sell without regard to its quality.<br /> <br /> It would not be easy to fix the limit in this vast country<br /> to the circulation of a good book if it were properly kept<br /> before the public. Day by day, year by year, new readers<br /> are coming forward with curiosity and intellectual wants.<br /> The generation that now is should not be deprived of the<br /> best in the last generation. Nay, more, one publication in<br /> any form reaches only a comparatively small portion of the<br /> public that would be interested init. A novel, for instance,<br /> may have a large circuJation in a magazine, it may then<br /> appear in a book, it may reach other readers serially again<br /> in the columns of a newspaper, it may be offered again in<br /> call the by-ways by subscription, and yet not nearly<br /> exhaust its legitimate running power. This is not a sup-<br /> _position, but a fact proved by trial. Nor is it to be<br /> wondered at when we consider that we have an unequalled<br /> “homogeneous population with a similar common school<br /> ‘education. In looking over publishers’ lists I am constantly<br /> -eoming across good books out of print, which are practi-<br /> cally unknown to this generation, and yet are more profit-<br /> -able, truer to life and character, more entertaining and<br /> “amusing, than most of those fresh from the press month by<br /> month.<br /> <br /> 261<br /> PARIS NOTES.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 5, rue Chomel, Paris.<br /> <br /> FY XHE stupendous event has come off! The<br /> <br /> Great Exhibition has been formally<br /> <br /> declared open to the public, despite its<br /> unfinished condition. Royalty was conspicuous<br /> by its absence on this occasion, and so was the<br /> upper-class Britisher. This is hardly surprising ;<br /> though the malevolent, anti-English attitude of<br /> the journalists has been greatly modified during<br /> the past month. Two new foreign papers have<br /> just been established here. Both are edited by<br /> warm friends of France. The first, entitled ZZ<br /> Risveglo Italiano, appears once a week, and is<br /> the official organ of the Italian colony in Paris.<br /> The second is a Russian daily, entitled Paryskaia<br /> Gazeta, which is reported to have secured the<br /> collaboration of the best-known Russian writers,<br /> in addition to having correspondents all over the<br /> world. Our American cousins are likewise pre-<br /> paring an innovation in the newspaper depart-<br /> ment. The New York Times announces its<br /> intention of initiating the public into some of the<br /> mysteries of publication by daily issuing during<br /> the Exhibition a special edition, printed under<br /> the public eye, in one of the American off-shoots<br /> in the Champ-de-Mars. Mentioning the exhibi-<br /> tion reminds me that a new propaganda to obtain<br /> daily subscriptions for the Boers has just been<br /> started. Its first and very successful public<br /> appeal was issued the week previous to the<br /> opening of the big French show. This appeal,<br /> which was the work of a group of young French-<br /> men, was reproduced in most of the leading dailies.<br /> It began as follows :<br /> <br /> “We are not inveterate enemies of the British<br /> nation. We detest no one; but we hate injustice<br /> and hold in horror the covetous financiers, the<br /> men of prey, who have coldly plotted this criminal<br /> war. They have committed with premeditation<br /> the greatest of crimes—the crime of ‘lése-<br /> humanité,’ &amp;e.”<br /> <br /> But what about the crime of “ lése-patrie”<br /> perpetrated by the Britisher in visiting an exhibi-<br /> tion a portion of whose profits will be devoted to<br /> prolonging a murderous warfare which imperils<br /> the safety of his own countrymen? It will be a<br /> bad thing for all pecuniarily interested in the<br /> Exhibition if the French persist in thrusting this<br /> reflection home to the conscience of the British<br /> nation.<br /> <br /> Tue Lapres’ Drernat.<br /> <br /> The attempt to introduce a feminine member in<br /> the committee of the Société des Gens de Lettres<br /> has failed. The masculine element was propitious,<br /> upwards of 248 votes having been registered by<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> 262<br /> <br /> the small group of feminine candidates who pre-<br /> sented themselves to the suffrages of the electors.<br /> The wise resolve of preventing all splitting of<br /> votes by nominating a single candidate not having<br /> been adhered to, the ladies have only themselves<br /> to blame for their non-success. Mme. Daniel<br /> Lesueur headed the poll of the vanquished party<br /> with ninety-six votes, followed by Mme. Henry<br /> Gréville, who boasted sixty-two adherents. Despite<br /> their defeat, it is evident that feminism has made<br /> enormous progress since Mme. Anais Ségalas<br /> presented herself, ten years ago, as a candidate<br /> for a seat on the committee, and registered four<br /> votes! Mesdames “Gyp” and Séverine are<br /> reported to have both declined the honour of<br /> becoming candidates in the present election. A<br /> few months ago the Simple Revue instituted a<br /> plebiscite to decide the awarding of the title of<br /> Princess of French Literature. Mme. Séverime<br /> came off victor in the contest, closely followed<br /> by “Gyp” (Comtesse de Martel). These two<br /> ladies have warmly supported the candidature of<br /> Mme. Daniel Lesueur, grand-niece of O’Connel,<br /> and author of twenty volumes of verse and<br /> fiction dealing with the prominent social and<br /> philosophical questions of the day. In Mme.<br /> Séverine’s writings we find this high-flown descrip-<br /> tion of the defeated candidate :—<br /> <br /> “ Perspicacity, and a prompt and just concep-<br /> tion of life, are in her limpid blue eyes :<br /> The Lyonnais origin of her father is shown in<br /> her low, obstinate forehead, in her firm chin;<br /> while her Parisian birth is revealed by her small,<br /> delicate nose, whose nostrils quiver above the<br /> crimson mouth like a butterfly over a balsa-<br /> mine.”<br /> <br /> MM. Victorien Sardou, Sully Prudhomme,<br /> Henri de Bornier, Camille Flammarion, Edmond<br /> Haraucourt, and Georges Ohnet, were among<br /> Mme. Lesueur’s supporters.<br /> <br /> M. Hervisev anp THE ACADEMIES.<br /> <br /> Encouraged by the above result, the lady<br /> students of divers nationalities of the Latin<br /> Quarter are mooting the formation of a feminine<br /> association similar to the existing General Asso-<br /> ciation of Male Students. The authorities are<br /> decidedly favourable to the proposition; while<br /> M. Paul Hervieu, the newly-elected president of<br /> the Société des Gens de Lettres, is rumoured to be<br /> . as warm an advocate of ladies’ rights as was M.<br /> Marcel Prévost, his predecessor. The flattering<br /> <br /> unanimity of his election by acclamation, and his<br /> numerous contributions to literature as essayist,<br /> novelist, and dramatist, render him an important<br /> auxiliary tothe feminine cause. His official recep-<br /> tion at the French Academy is announced to<br /> place towards the end of June. M.<br /> <br /> take<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Brunetitre is the member appointed to receive<br /> him.<br /> <br /> A propos of the Académie des Sciences, the<br /> late Professor Hughes, of London, inventor of the<br /> telegraphic apparatus which bears his name, has<br /> confided to its committee a legacy of 100,000<br /> francs, whose interest is to be devoted annually to-<br /> rewarding the autbor of the most useful inven-<br /> tion in the department of physics, electricity, or -<br /> magnetism.<br /> <br /> Among minor events may be mentioned<br /> the protest entered by a learned member of<br /> the Biological Society against the bicycle on<br /> the ground that this method of locomotion<br /> seriously increases the annual ratio of madness<br /> and crime. Mgr. Maillet, Bishop of St. Claude,<br /> is evidently of the same opinion ; the Semaine<br /> religieuse of the diocese has recently published his<br /> interdiction of its usage to his clergy “ under<br /> penalty of mortal sin.” This is the severest con-<br /> demnation that the bicycle has yet received in<br /> Catholic quarters.<br /> <br /> “T/INCONNU ET LES PROBLEMES PSYCHIQUES.”<br /> <br /> Such is the title of M. Camille Flammarion’s<br /> new book. Its advent has occasioned a profound<br /> sensation. In his present work the learned<br /> author of “ Astronomie populaire ” cites no fewer<br /> than 438 authenticated instances of psychical<br /> phenomena, telepathic communications from @<br /> distance, mental suggestions, futurity revealed by<br /> dreams, apparitions of dying friends, &amp;c. The<br /> question whether these psychological problems can<br /> be resolved within the limits of scientific analysis<br /> is pertinently discussed by the writer. “. .<br /> Is such an attempt rational?” he inquires; “is<br /> it logical ? Can it lead to any definite results ?<br /> Of this I am ignorant. Nevertheless, it is<br /> interesting. And if it leads us to a fuller<br /> knowledge of the nature of the human soul<br /> it will enable humanity to make a progress<br /> superior to that made up to the present<br /> time by the gradual evolution of all the other<br /> sciences united.” M. Flammarion’s final conclu-<br /> sions are that Thought is not a function of the<br /> brain; that the Soul actually exists as a real<br /> being independent of the body; that it is gifted<br /> with faculties still unknown to science; and that<br /> it can act and perceive the future (determined<br /> beforehand by natural causes) without the<br /> intermediate agency of the senses. The numerous<br /> well-known names attached to many of the<br /> examples quoted in support of the above<br /> theories amply guarantee the veracity of the<br /> narrator. M. Ernest Flammarion is the pub-<br /> lisher of this weird and curious work, and also of<br /> a French translation of the “Résurrection” of<br /> Count Tolstoi.<br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 263<br /> <br /> “Borry YEARS OF THE THEATRE.”<br /> <br /> The first volume of the “Quarante Ans de<br /> Théitre” series of M. Francisque Sarcey, edited<br /> by M. Adolphe Brisson (Bibliothéque des Annales),<br /> has just appeared. It contains “ the good Uncle’s”<br /> most important articles on the Comédie Francaise.<br /> “Those who wish to make acquaintance with the<br /> French theatre of the nineteenth century will<br /> find in Sarcey’s writings all that is necessary to<br /> be known of its plays, authors, and actors,” said<br /> M. Mézitres, president of the Parisian Associa-<br /> tion of Journalists, at a recent meeting of the<br /> society. “They will find, above all, an accent<br /> of admirable sincerity. No exterior<br /> influence, no consideration of friendship or expe-<br /> diency, ever biassed his judgment. i.<br /> Never to have sought, never to have wished to<br /> say anything but the truth during forty years of<br /> journalism, is not this the highest praise that<br /> could be given to any of our members ?”<br /> <br /> M. Méziéres spoke truly. Francisque Sarcey<br /> united the rare qualities of a disinterested, com-<br /> petent, and benevolent critic. The curs of the<br /> Press yelped over his grave and endeavoured to<br /> blacken his fair renown. They failed signally.<br /> The proofs of his sterling honesty and the upright-<br /> ness of his long public career formed an impene-<br /> trable egis to protect his memory. The spirit in<br /> which he worked may be seen from the appended<br /> rough translation of a simile taken from the<br /> chapter entitled “ Rights and Duties of a Critic ”<br /> in the newly issued volume of the “ Quarante Ans<br /> de Théatre ” series.<br /> <br /> “A tiler climbs up a steep, sloping roof, ninety<br /> feet above the ground. He tranquilly arranges<br /> his tiles on it, regardless that he risks breaking<br /> his neck a hundred times a day. He perceives no<br /> bravery in that—it is his trade to risk his life ;<br /> he risks it, and sees no reason for being proud of<br /> the act. The trade of the critic has likewise its<br /> drawbacks. In speaking the truth, he risks<br /> making almost as many enemies as there are<br /> persons mentioned in his articles. But that is<br /> our trade. We are paid for doing it; and in<br /> accomplishing it we believe we are only doing the<br /> simple duty of an honest man.”<br /> <br /> A Mortuary PaRraGRaPH.<br /> <br /> The inauguration of Alphonse Daudet’s statue,<br /> at his natal town of Nimes, furnished abundant<br /> copy to the journalist. In order to avoid creating<br /> a precedent and adding to their already weighty<br /> funereal duties, the French Academy decided ,not<br /> to send an official representative to the ceremony.<br /> We may mention in passing that the unfinished<br /> statue was merely lent by the sculptor for the<br /> occasion. He has since repossessed himself of<br /> his work, in order to modify the somewhat heavy<br /> <br /> contour of the features and pose of the unfinished<br /> figure.<br /> <br /> The death of M. Valentin Simond, founder of<br /> the Echo de Paris, the Marseillaise, the Réverl,<br /> and the Mot d’Ordre, was sincerely lamented<br /> by his contributors and staff, owing to the<br /> courteous respect he invariably showed towards<br /> their individual opinions. M. Louis Enault,<br /> a prolific contributor of fiction to the railway<br /> libraries, has likewise joined the ranks of<br /> the great majority ; closely followed by M. Joseph<br /> Bertrand, the celebrated occupant of the chair of<br /> mathematics and physics at the Sorbonne, member<br /> of the French Academy, and permanent secretary<br /> of the Academy of Science, commander of the<br /> Légion d’honneur, &amp;c., and author of “ Traité<br /> Walgtbre,’ “Traité du calcul différential et<br /> intégral,” “ Caleul des probabilities,” “ Thermo-<br /> dynamique,” ‘“L’Histoire de VAcadémie des<br /> Sciences,” &amp;e., and a host of erudite articles on<br /> physics, mathematics, astronomy, acoustics, the<br /> laws of capillary attraction. The Ecole poly-<br /> technique, recognising the extraordinary mathe-<br /> matical aptitude of this modern Pascal, admitted<br /> him as a pupil at the early age of eleven years.<br /> By the death of Count Benedetti France loses<br /> an agreeable writer and well-known diplomatist<br /> to whom she latterly made honourable, though<br /> tacit, amends for the unjust suspicion with which<br /> she had long regarded a certain incident in his<br /> diplomatic career.<br /> <br /> Guy pr Maupassant.<br /> <br /> The second volume of the hitherto unedited<br /> tales of Guy de Maupassant has recently been<br /> published by the Maison Ollendorf under the<br /> title of “Le Colporteur.” Each of these short<br /> compositions 1s a model of elegant, nervous<br /> writing. De Maupassant possessed the advan-<br /> tage of an excellent master in literary style at<br /> the commencement of his career. The renowned<br /> Gustave Flaubert—than whom no greater purist<br /> existed—appointed himself the critic of the<br /> youthful writer’s productions, sternly forbidding<br /> him to publish the immature overflowings of<br /> his fertile imagination.<br /> <br /> “ Wait a little, young fool,” was his vigorous<br /> exhortation on one occasion ; “‘ advance as I order<br /> you, and carry out my prescriptions. ‘To-morrow<br /> morning you will walk along the street until you<br /> see a concitrge sweeping out her doorway. At<br /> this juncture you will stop; you will contemplate<br /> this spectacle until you have absorbed it; and<br /> then you will faithfully narrate the various<br /> impressions it has suggested to you. Quick, to<br /> work!”<br /> <br /> When the prescribed literary exercise was sub-<br /> mitted for approval: “You must prune these<br /> 264<br /> <br /> epithets, my son. And this verb? What is this<br /> verb doing here?” was the only encouragement<br /> vouchsafed.<br /> <br /> For six years this hard discipline continued<br /> unrelaxed; at the end of that period de Maupas-<br /> sant was a finished stylist. To Flaubert’s train-<br /> ing he undoubtedly owes the classical reputation<br /> he to-day enjoys, the unfortunate cloud which<br /> latterly obscured his brilliant intellect being in<br /> no wise apparent in his earlier works.<br /> <br /> New Boos.<br /> <br /> Among recent publications, we find “ La Petite<br /> Bohéme,”’ by M. Armand Charpentier, one of the<br /> most promising writers of the Zola school. His<br /> best known novel is “ L’Initiateur,’’ to which M.<br /> Alphonse Daudet furnished a moral letter-preface<br /> —‘the only moral in the book,” according toa<br /> witty confrére. ‘‘ La Constitution du monde,” a<br /> scientific work by Mme. Clémence Royer, evolves<br /> some remarkable theories; “Le Roman de<br /> Ambition,” by M. Marcel Barriére, is the second<br /> volume of the “Nouveau Don Juan” trilogy,<br /> begun by “L’Education d’un Contemporain” ;<br /> and “Le Caractére et la Main” is an interesting<br /> treatise on chiromancy by M. J. Leclercq, con-<br /> taining reproductions of the hands of Zola,<br /> Coppée, Rodin, Clemenceau, Réjane, “ Gyp,”’ Loie<br /> Fuller, and a score of other celebrities. ‘ Figures<br /> du temps passé,” by M. Lucien Perey; the third<br /> yolume of ‘ Napoléon et sa famille,” by M.<br /> Frédéric Masson; “ Fiancée d’Avril,” by M. Guy<br /> Chantepleure; ‘En flanant,’ by M. André<br /> Hallays; and “ L’Art du Chant,’ by M. Marie<br /> Sasse of the Opéra, are also among the interesting<br /> publications of the month.<br /> <br /> Darracorre Scorr.<br /> <br /> Dec<br /> <br /> NOTES AND NEWS.<br /> <br /> PUBLISHER&#039;S proposal as to the exten-<br /> A sion of copyright is that after the legal<br /> term has expired the heirs of the author<br /> may, by paying a small fine or fee, take out a<br /> renewal. He adds, “ or representatives,” probably<br /> meaning that the trade will do their level best to<br /> make the privilege their own in the initial agree-<br /> ment. This would no doubt be attempted, and as<br /> the chance of a book being worth renewal after the<br /> term of copyright is small, it would in most cases<br /> be granted. This, however, must not be permitted.<br /> A law of copyright which enables a publisher to<br /> keep a monopoly of a book for ever would be<br /> far worse than the existing law. Perhaps the<br /> following amendments are worth considering :<br /> 1. The sale of copyright to be legal for the<br /> existing term only,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 2. At the expiration of the existing term the<br /> author’s heirs to recover possession of the copy-<br /> right.<br /> <br /> 3. The original publisher not to sell a single<br /> copy, even for waste-paper, after the expiration of<br /> the term.<br /> <br /> 4. The author’s heirs to be at liberty to make<br /> arrangements for another term of years,<br /> and again at the expiration of the second and<br /> every following term.<br /> <br /> Consider the position of the heirs of Charles<br /> Dickens or of Scott were such provision legal.<br /> They would have left a huge property enduring<br /> one knows not how long, for it is ve<br /> certain that our own great grandchildren will<br /> read Scott, and, I believe, Dickens as well,<br /> with as much delight as we ourselves of the<br /> present day. I refer to the observations of<br /> Mr. Charles Dudley Warner on the subject<br /> (see p. 260) in another column.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The following proposal advanced by the Man-<br /> chester Guardian is worth considering :—<br /> <br /> “ There is a crusade on foot just now to extend<br /> the term during which an author’s heirs or pub-<br /> lishers may preserve copyright in his books. . . .<br /> But it does not seem to have occurred to anyone<br /> that the book-buyer has an interest in the matter.<br /> By all means let the author’s heirs get as much as<br /> they can from his works; but there seems to be<br /> no reason why one publisher should be able to<br /> keep others, who would perhaps employ better<br /> editors or printers, out of the field. If the term<br /> of copyright is extended, we hope that some pro-<br /> vision will be made for the right of any publisher<br /> who chooses to pay for it to issue an edition of a<br /> popular author. At present, indeed, the<br /> chief objection to the extension of copyright is<br /> that it gives a monopoly toa publisher who may be<br /> neither intelligent nor enterprising. Surely it<br /> would be possible to throw openall popular books<br /> to “the trade” after their author’s death, on the<br /> understanding that the author’s representatives<br /> were to receive the same royalty from any pub-<br /> lisher who chose to issue them. This plan would<br /> combine the interests of the book-buyer, who<br /> deserves some consideration, with those of the<br /> author’s family, and it ought not to prove unwork-<br /> able in practice.”<br /> <br /> The objection to this proposal is precisely the<br /> same as that advanced above, that it leaves an<br /> author, or his heirs, the power of selling all future<br /> interest in a work. Now, if literary property is<br /> to be protected, in the interest of authors it<br /> must be saleable for a term of years only, and<br /> then for another term. In this way only can the<br /> work be protected against forced sales, sales<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 265<br /> <br /> through ignorance or carelessness, and sales for<br /> the exigencies of the moment.<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> What is the objection to the admission of<br /> women into the learned societies? Science is<br /> not in the least concerned with the sex of those<br /> who follow and work in the field of research. It<br /> may be that women will never succged so well as<br /> men in science: it may be that in some fields<br /> they will do better. Surely the broad rule of<br /> good work as the one condition of admittance<br /> is all that is wanted: that—and a strict obedience<br /> to that rule. Membership of a scientific society<br /> ought to be a distinction, or at least a recognition,<br /> To admit women would mean, in most cases, to<br /> raise the standard of membership. It is notorious<br /> that there are many learned societies which<br /> will admit anybody without asking for proof<br /> of qualification. How many geographers are<br /> there in the Geographical Society ? How many<br /> antiquaries in Burlington House? How many<br /> astronomers in the Royal Astronomical Society ?<br /> Once admit women, however, and the rule<br /> of qualification, the condition of good work,<br /> will be applied with rigour. The societies will<br /> become poorer, but poverty will have the com-<br /> pensation of distinction and honour.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The archxologists and antiquaries among our<br /> readers will be interested in hearing that further<br /> examination of the catacombs of Rome is to be<br /> undertaken. The Commission — “ Commissione<br /> di Archeologia Sacra’”’—appeals to all those, of<br /> every nation, interested in the subject for assist-<br /> ance. Information can be had by writing to<br /> Monsignor P. Crostarosa, Secretary to the Com-<br /> mission, 24, Via del Quirinale, Rome. These<br /> catacombs, in which so much has been found, in<br /> which so much more certainly remains to be found,<br /> after being closed from the ninth century, have<br /> only been opened in this, the nineteenth: and as<br /> yet have been most imperfectly examined. Out<br /> of forty-five cemeteries five only are accessible to<br /> the visitor.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> It is interesting to see ina cutting from the<br /> Toronto Globe that the Canadian Society of<br /> Authors is going ahead. It has given a dinner,<br /> presided over by the Hon. G. W. Ross, Premier<br /> of Ontario and chairman of the Society, to the<br /> French-Canadian writer, Dr. Frechette, whose<br /> writings have been so widely read in Canada, and<br /> whose book written in English, bearing on the<br /> characteristics of the French. Canadian of the<br /> province of Quebec, was published last year.<br /> <br /> The dinner appears to have been a great success,<br /> as, indeed, it deserved to be. The Society has<br /> <br /> elected a considerable number of new members,<br /> <br /> amongst whom appear Mr. Gilbert Parker of our<br /> Committee, and Mr. Thring, the Secretary of the<br /> Society.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Some friends of the late Mrs. Lynn Linton are<br /> anxious that her memory should be perpetuated<br /> at Keswick—her native place—and wish to pre-.<br /> sent her portrait (done in oils by the Hon. John<br /> Collier) to the museum there. And as it is felt<br /> that many others may wish to join in such a<br /> memorial, Mr. G. S. Layard, of Lorraine Cottage,<br /> Great Malvern, who is at present engaged in<br /> writing Mrs. Linton’s life, has kindly consented<br /> to receive and acknowledge subscriptions towards<br /> the fund. Subscriptions may also be sent to Mr.<br /> William Toynbee, 1, York-street, Portman-square,<br /> London. Water Besant.<br /> <br /> Pes<br /> <br /> ERNEST DOWSON.<br /> <br /> T is in the cruel irony of things that I should<br /> I be writing of my dead friend, Ernest<br /> Dowson, in this town of St. Germain-en-<br /> Laye. For not very long before he died—<br /> although at a time when he had no foresight of<br /> what was so soon to befall him—he had coun-<br /> selled me, one-night when we were talking of<br /> our future lives, to betake myself, my pens and<br /> paper and wayward fancies here and to work,<br /> where there was an old castle, full of inspira-<br /> tion, to contemplate a church in which an<br /> unhappy English king lies buried (in which to<br /> seek higher things), and a forest, full in spring<br /> of the flowers and birds and butterflies that one<br /> “loved long since,” where one could walk away<br /> all the melancholy of a hard life laid in hard<br /> ways. And so, having bidden an eternal farewell<br /> to Ernest Dowson, as he lies under fifteen feet of<br /> Kentish loam in the cemetery of Brockley, near<br /> Lewisham, I betook myself here, as it were in<br /> execution of a dying request, and here it is that I<br /> write of him. I think that all in all he was the<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> MOST UNHAPPY MAN OF LETTERS<br /> who ever lived. I say it advisedly and after<br /> having thought over in the solitude of long forest<br /> walks what I know of him, what I know of<br /> his life. I say it in spite of the fact that for<br /> two days and two nights I had his face in its<br /> last sleep open to my tearful eyes and that one<br /> never saw peace more reposeful on features more<br /> ravaged. I say it in spite of the echoes that the<br /> winged choristers of the French forest have at all<br /> times been ringing in my ears of that outburst of<br /> twittering song which broke from many English<br /> birds at the very moment when the poet’s soul<br />  <br /> <br /> 266<br /> <br /> passed into eternity. It was such a_ gentle<br /> death, a trespass so peaceful, that thinking of<br /> that alone one might be inclined to say that no<br /> one who so left life—whatever his life might have<br /> been—could be written down as altogether<br /> unhappy, the Miserrimus before whose tombstone<br /> posterity stops and sighs. Here there was not<br /> the devil-haunted garret of Brooke-street, Hol-<br /> born, in which, amidst a litter of destroyed master-<br /> pieces, Chatterton writhed his last in arsenic-<br /> agonies. Here was not the muddy gutter where,<br /> prone on his face in alcoholic apoplexy, Edgar<br /> Allan Poe breathed away in shameful hiccoughs<br /> his lyric soul. Nor here that fateful iron grating<br /> in Old Lanthorn-street from which, one grey<br /> morning, men of police cut down the stark body<br /> of Gerard de Nerval, hapless lover of the Queen<br /> of Sheba.<br /> <br /> For he just turned over on his side and left me.<br /> There was no struggle—there was no agony ; and<br /> the only sign that was given to me that the unex-<br /> pected end had indeed come, and that one more<br /> dear one had left me—still more lonely—for ever,<br /> was the beautiful calm that settled down, like a<br /> brooding dove, upon his tired face.<br /> <br /> I have all these things well before my mind,<br /> and yet, advisedly, I say that I do not know in<br /> the mournful history of unhappy men of letters a<br /> page more sad than that which tells of Ernest<br /> Dowson’s short career. Nor do I here make<br /> reference to certain shameful speculations, of<br /> which he was the victim in his last days, of<br /> tradings on his weakness, rags, and hunger. I<br /> look at his life as a whole, and I do not find any-<br /> where outside of certain lines in Edgar Allan Poe<br /> any description of the unhappiness of his life.<br /> Yet one admits that he was one of those who were<br /> born to be unhappy, for no other reason than that<br /> their natures and temperament are such that they<br /> are not of this world, and, being alien to it, must<br /> perforce succumb from first to weary last. Chat-<br /> terton had some glory and a little love; Poe had<br /> much love and a little glory; de Nerval staggered<br /> through life in a dream of renown with a blazing,<br /> if unrequited, passion at heart. But Ernest<br /> Dowson—who in the opinion of many of critical<br /> faculties had genius as great as any of these—<br /> never received, outside a small circle, any recog-<br /> nition; and though he had a beautiful face and<br /> the largest heart, was not, I think, once called into<br /> that revivifying sunshine which is a woman’s love<br /> to a poet’s soul.<br /> <br /> I procured a copy of Balzac’s ‘La Cousine<br /> Bette” on the first day on which I came here, and<br /> in re-reading that masterpiece I fancied I had<br /> come to one explanation of his want of success.<br /> Do you remember those fine pages in which<br /> Balzac, himself the most conscientious of workers,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> describes the reason of the failure of Wenscelas<br /> Steinbock, the artist whom Cousine Bette had saved<br /> from suicide, setting it forth as the result of his<br /> neglect of constant industry, for, as Balzae<br /> writes: “Le travail constant est la loi de l’Art,<br /> comme celle de la vie, car Vart c&#039;est la création<br /> idéaliste” 2 To see Ernest Dowson ever wander-<br /> ing, unsettled, for long periods inactive, and<br /> <br /> OFTEN IN QUEST OF EXCITEMENT,<br /> <br /> one might have fancied him unconscientious, a<br /> semi-artist, whereas I do not think it would<br /> be possible to find amongst the poets of the<br /> last decade of this century a worker more<br /> devoted, an artist more religious, a conscience<br /> more profound. He never had the care of<br /> money; he had most deeply the cultus of his<br /> art. He wrote in collaboration with Mr. Moore<br /> two novels, “A Comedy of Masks,” which was<br /> published by Heinemann, and “Adrian Rome,”<br /> which was published by Methuen. On both of<br /> these books the two collaborators expended<br /> a sum of industry that would have saved<br /> Dumas pére from occasional visits to Clichy,<br /> and exerted an energy of polishing which<br /> would have worn MHorace’s grindstone down<br /> to its axle. He worked on both books as few<br /> men of letters—and I have Alphonse Daudet<br /> in my mind when I say this, as well as Henryk<br /> Sienkiewicz—have ever worked. He was so<br /> entirely an artist that he could never leave a<br /> phrase alone. He had the preciousness of George<br /> Moore or of Maupassant, without their fortune.<br /> He affords altogether the most discouraging<br /> example of the inutility of conscientiousness in<br /> modern English literature that one can find. He<br /> <br /> WORKED WELL AND WITH GENIUS<br /> <br /> for ten years, and I do not think that during the<br /> whole of that time—even including a quantity of<br /> Grub-street productions to which he was con-<br /> strained—he ever earned a wage equivalent to that<br /> of the husband of the bricklayer’s wife who per-<br /> formed in my cottage on his dead body the last<br /> offices which our poor bodies exact. He wrote<br /> short stories which are masterpieces—you should<br /> read “Dilemmas”; he was an exquisite poet.<br /> Mr. Smithers, his publisher, will tell you that<br /> certain admirers of his—alas, too few—took his<br /> volumes by the half quire, and as a translator<br /> from the French into limpid English he had no<br /> rival. And it was all in vain, in the sense that<br /> honest work should procure some happiness, &amp;<br /> little sunshine, a few of those things which tend<br /> to reconcile one with all the tears and stress of<br /> this life. He knew it; he felt it, and I shall not.<br /> presently forget the grey Kentish evening on<br /> which he said to me: “ Literature has failed for’<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> me. I shall look somewhere else in the future.”<br /> I said nothing, although now I recognise that I<br /> had a presentiment that there were perhaps on<br /> the knees of the gods better things for Hrnest<br /> Dowson, than that eternal straining of eyes<br /> towards a promised land into which there is and<br /> never can be any entering. At the time I did not<br /> know how good was God to be to him.<br /> <br /> He was born at Lee, near Lewisham, thirty-<br /> two years ago, and he now lies in Kent from<br /> which he sprang. Kentish people will be proud<br /> of him now that it is too late, and that all the<br /> appreciation of all the world cannot wipe out one<br /> sad line from his classical mouth or put one little<br /> glint of contentment into his spiritual eyes.<br /> <br /> I do not wish to be critical about his<br /> works. Chacun a son métier. There are many<br /> critics who will be busy about the very sweet<br /> English poet that he was. My métier is here<br /> that of a friend and to some extent of a<br /> moralist, who is very unhappy, and who sees in<br /> this life and in this death another reason to<br /> deplore the fatal impulse which drives those<br /> insufficiently equipped with tenacity, and pru-<br /> dence, and, above all, combative strength, into the<br /> arduous profession of letters. But I will say<br /> this about certain lines in Ernest Dowson’s prose<br /> and about certain verses of the poetry that<br /> Ernest Dowson wrote, that, stiffen I my back<br /> never so bravely, that soliloquise I never so<br /> comfortably “Let the dead bury the dead,” I<br /> have at the loss of this artist—I say nothing<br /> now about the friend—a grief which lies far<br /> deeper than human tears, deeper far than the<br /> tears which I shed at his going away, when the<br /> bricklayer’s wife, to whom I have alluded above,<br /> asked me with English expletives, “What was<br /> the use of that blubbering now that the gentleman<br /> was gone?”<br /> <br /> I do not know where I met Ernest Dowson<br /> first. I know where I met him last—that is to<br /> say, day for day, six weeks before his death. It<br /> was in a place in Bedford-street,<br /> <br /> A PLACE WHERE THEY SELL SPIRITS<br /> <br /> and where the “M’as-tu-vus” of London con-<br /> gregate. I was downstairs, writing some futile<br /> paragraphs on public paper. He touched me<br /> on the shoulder, and I turned round. It was<br /> as if Death had— being in a kindly mood —<br /> beckoned me away from that unrest which the<br /> men in Bedford-street miscall delight. I questioned<br /> him, and he told me that he was in sore stress<br /> and had crawled out to procure from a publisher<br /> a little money. I did not know then that his<br /> landlord—in a vague garret, somewhere on the<br /> outskirts of Somers Town—had that afternoon<br /> delivered to him an ultimatum whereby he would<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 267<br /> <br /> have been homeless on the morrow, failing the<br /> publisher (who had failed him) ; but what I did<br /> know—for I saw it—was that here was a man in<br /> a very great weakness, a man to whom I was<br /> indebted for kindness and artistic sympathy more<br /> than I am to most men; and so I asked him to<br /> come away with me, and to leave his Somers Town<br /> landlord to clamour for the present, and just to<br /> take a rest.<br /> <br /> And so he came home withme. Andif he had<br /> never written a line to exhilarate my heart, I<br /> could never be sufficiently grateful to him for<br /> those six weeks when I sat with him all day, and<br /> lay in his room at night. For I think that in the<br /> last days of an artist’s life all the treasures that<br /> are in an artist’s mind are scattered in largesse<br /> on those nigh to him. This, I know, was not the<br /> case with Baudelaire. It was certainly so with<br /> Ernest Dowson. What a beautiful soul revealed<br /> itself at every moment of the day, and how one<br /> grew to love a man so distressed !—yet so good<br /> and so patient that when I think of those SIX<br /> weeks I can vaguely discriminate the comforts of<br /> Calvary.<br /> <br /> We were very cheerful all the time, and we<br /> talked of literature from morning till night. He<br /> wanted Landor’s “ Imaginary Conversations,”<br /> but, though I ordered it from a local librarian,<br /> the book did not come until it was too late. But<br /> he glutted himself on Dickens, and I had also an<br /> “ Esmond,” by Thackeray, to put into his gaunt<br /> hands. He had “Esmond” in his bed, by the<br /> way, when he died. But as to Dickens, here was<br /> a perfect stylist and most laborious artist who<br /> delighted himself for the last precious days of a<br /> short life in the hasty writings, but perfect<br /> humanity, of our English Balzac.<br /> <br /> And I shall never take up an “ Oliver Twist”<br /> again without remembering these circumstances:<br /> Five hours before Ernest Dowson died I was<br /> lying on a couch in a room adjoining his, keeping<br /> myself awake at six o’clock in the morning with<br /> the adventures of that most smug of prigs, So as<br /> to keep converse with my friend, who could not<br /> get to sleep and who had begged me to talk to<br /> him. I happened to say to him, to show that I<br /> was vigilant: ‘“ How absurdly melodramatic this<br /> is, about the murder of Nancy. Do you think<br /> that, for anything Fagin could tell him, Sikes,<br /> who knew Fagin to be the worst liar on earth,<br /> would have killed his missus? ”<br /> <br /> “ No,” said Dowson ; ‘he would have gone for<br /> Claypole.” And that was the last thing on litera-<br /> ture that he ever said. For when he woke four<br /> hours later it was to ask for a doctor—till then<br /> he had always strenuously refused to see one.<br /> Too late, for the rest. Too late by many months.<br /> For the doctors and the coroner’s people, who did<br />  <br /> <br /> 268 THE<br /> come after the end, said that the death was<br /> caused by tuberculosis. I would add “accele-<br /> rated by privation,” for I afterwards learned at<br /> his lodgings that repeatedly, during the months<br /> which preceded my meeting with him,<br /> <br /> HR HAD PASSED WHOLE DAYS<br /> <br /> and even couples of days without leaving his<br /> room or procuring food. He had the delicacy<br /> and pride of all elect artistic temperaments,<br /> and rather than communicate with his relations<br /> —kindest and most generous of people — he<br /> preferred to suffer. And he held that a man<br /> working at a trade should live by it.<br /> <br /> I think that his example is one on which young<br /> authors should meditate. Not in discouragement<br /> from a fine and noble profession, but to derive<br /> caution and prudence. I think his sad life and<br /> early death should warn all but the strongest<br /> against taking to literature, pure and simple, as a<br /> sole means of livelihood. And I am sorry to<br /> add that I think they teach the lesson that in<br /> literature also some spirit of commerciality is<br /> essential. He suffered so pitiably at the thought<br /> that he had failed, after doiny his best, and I<br /> cannot help thinking that this morbid self-<br /> reproach did much towards breaking him down.<br /> If he had been a little more ‘practical in his<br /> dealings with the publishers, a little more provi-<br /> dent, and especially if he had sacrificed a little of<br /> his artistic prejudice to the public demand, his<br /> life might have been different.<br /> <br /> And yet I don’t know. I cannot conceive<br /> Ernest Dowson otherwise than supremely un-<br /> happy. He was not of this world orforit. A<br /> symbol of his life was given to me in the first days<br /> of my visit here. I was walking in the forest,<br /> and in the bright sunshine saw a yellow butterfly<br /> disporting itself under the leafless trees. It was<br /> trying to be happy and fancied the spring was<br /> come. And that evening there was a terrible<br /> snowstorm, and I could not but think of the icy<br /> shower battering down the fragile and gaudy<br /> wings. I could not but think that such natures<br /> as was Ernest Dowson’s have as much chance of<br /> lasting happiness in this world as had that yellow<br /> papillon in the treacherous sunshine. Above the<br /> leafless trees the crushing storm lies gathering.<br /> There was no power of resistance here. It is cruel,<br /> doubtless, and heartrending, but it is the nature<br /> of things. We can but steel our hearts and, for-<br /> getting the snowstorm, think of the sunshine and<br /> the brave flutter that for a little while the yellow<br /> &#039; wings made—a thing of beauty, a passing joy.<br /> Rozert H. SHERARD.<br /> <br /> pe<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ARTS<br /> AND LETTERS (NEW YORK),<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> HE address of Mr. Charles Dudley, Warner,<br /> , of which a portion will be found in another<br /> column, may be taken as an indication<br /> that the National Institute of Arts and Letters<br /> is to be a serious and permanent association.<br /> Its aim, in general terms, is the advancement of<br /> Art and Literature. Its membership is to be<br /> restricted in numbers, and is to demand as a<br /> condition of admission some notable achievement<br /> in Art and Literature. It will endeavour to<br /> promote “healthful and hopeful criticism” ; it<br /> will keep alive the traditions of good litera-<br /> ture; it will advocate an equitable law of<br /> copyright; it will try to establish the rela-<br /> tion of publisher and author on a basis of<br /> equity. The institute, it will be seen, is to<br /> become, if it succeeds, a national academy of<br /> literature.<br /> <br /> The programme, it will be observed, is much<br /> larger than our own. We are concerned only<br /> with literary property, the law of copyright,<br /> the relation of publisher and author, and the<br /> maintenance of literary property in the interests<br /> of the creator. It is greatly to the credit of the<br /> American good sense that this maintenance of<br /> literary property is perceived to be one of the<br /> principal factors in the advancement of litera-<br /> ture, and one of the objects in a national academy<br /> of literature. In this country there would be<br /> heard still, though more faintly than of old, the<br /> bleating about commercialism and the sordid<br /> connection of literature with money ; as if litera-<br /> ture, alone among the callings in which men work,<br /> is degraded by that connection which does not<br /> degrade art, or science, or law, or medicine, or any<br /> other of the occupations by which the curse of<br /> labour is turned into a blessing. But the creation<br /> of literary property is an accidental consequence<br /> due to the conditions of the time rather than an<br /> essential. For it is quite easy to conceive of<br /> the finest poem, the finest work of art, the most<br /> startling discovery, failing to become a property<br /> at all.<br /> <br /> It may be that we shall ourselves learn from<br /> our American friends how we may enlarge our<br /> own field. It may be that the establishment and<br /> success of a National Academy of Letters in the<br /> States may lead to the creation of a Royal<br /> Academy of Letters in this country. We might<br /> perhaps consent to be amalgamated in a more<br /> comprehensive association—provided that there is<br /> ample security that our special work will be carreed<br /> on. It may be that the interests of literature—<br /> the interests of the author—will be administered<br /> <br /> <br /> a ins al aa a<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE<br /> <br /> more efficiently by a limited number of Acade-<br /> micians than by a society unlimited in number<br /> and demanding no condition of literary distinc-<br /> tion for membership. These things are in the<br /> lap of time. We wait and look on. Certainly in<br /> one respect our own need of watchful jealousy over<br /> criticism is as pressing as that of the States. We<br /> shall perhaps learn, also, how to advance litera-<br /> ture by some new methods, if there are any, other<br /> than ‘by classical education and by confining<br /> criticism to scholars.<br /> <br /> The following notes on the foundation of the<br /> institute are taken from the Writer (Boston,<br /> U.S.A., Feb. 1900).<br /> <br /> The National Institute of Arts and Letters is likely to be<br /> an important factor in the development of American litera-<br /> ture. The original members were selected by an invitation<br /> from the American Social Science Association, which acted<br /> under the power of its charter from the Congress of the<br /> United States. The members thus selected, who joined the<br /> Social Science Association, were given the alternative of<br /> organising as an independent institute or as a branch of<br /> the association. At the annual meeting of the Social<br /> Science Association on Sept. 4, 1899, at Saratoga Springs,<br /> the members of the institute voted to organise indepen-<br /> dently. They formally adopted the revised constitution,<br /> which had been agreed upon at the first meeting in New<br /> York in the preceding January, and duly elected officers<br /> The object is declared to be the advancement of art and<br /> literature, and the qualification shall be notable achieve-<br /> ment in art or letters. The number of active members will<br /> probably be ultimately fixed at 100. The society may<br /> elect honorary and associate members without limit. By<br /> the terms of agreement between the American Social<br /> Science Association and the National Institute, the members<br /> of each are ipso facto associate members of the other. As<br /> Mr. Warner says: “In no other way as well as by associa-<br /> tion of this sort can be created the feeling of solidarity in<br /> our literature and the recognition of its power. It is not<br /> expected to raise any standard of perfection, or in any way<br /> to hamper individual development, but a body of con-<br /> centrated opinion may raise the standard by promoting<br /> healthful and helpful criticism, by discouraging mediocrity<br /> and meretricious smartness, by keeping alive the traditions<br /> of good literature, while it is as hospitable to all discoverers<br /> of new worlds. A safe motto for any such society would be<br /> Tradition and Freedom—Traditio et Libertas.”<br /> <br /> spec<br /> “PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE.”<br /> <br /> N adaptation of “Pericles” by Mr. John<br /> Coleman was produced at the Memorial<br /> Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon, in commemo-<br /> <br /> ration of the 336th anniversary of Shakespeare’s<br /> birthday. In some interesting “forewords” put<br /> into the hands. of the audience, Mr. Coleman<br /> described the genesis of the play, Shakespeare’s<br /> part in it, and its stage history :<br /> <br /> Entirely derived from the “ Apollonius of Tyre”’<br /> Saga, ‘+ Pericles” is the most singular example in<br /> Elizabethan literature of a consistent copying of<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> AUTHOR. 269<br /> <br /> a venerable and far-travelled story. Although<br /> one of the best abused plays of the period, there<br /> is abundant evidence to prove that “ Pericles”<br /> never relaxed its hold upon the public till the<br /> time of the Civil Wars, when all the theatres<br /> were closed. Immediately after the Restoration<br /> (1660) the Poet Laureate, Sir William Davenant<br /> (popularly believed to have been Shakespeare’s<br /> son), revived the play at his own playhouse, on<br /> the site where the 7&#039;%mes office now stands. After<br /> maintaining its attraction unabated for upwards of<br /> sixty-three years, with the death of the great actor<br /> Betterton the play disappeared from the acting<br /> drama. Sixty-five years later (1735) George Lillo<br /> produced at Covent Garden Theatre an adaptation<br /> of the play called ‘“ Marina,” a small and puerile<br /> thing which failed utterly. After an elapse of<br /> more than a hundred years, Phelps revived the<br /> play at Sadler’s Wells with a success which (he<br /> assured Mr. Coleman) was the most memorable<br /> of all the many triumphs of that memorable<br /> Shakespearean management. Since that time<br /> “ Pericles” has never been acted on the English<br /> stage; but on Oct. 20, 1882, a version by Herr<br /> Ernest Possart was acted with the most brilliant<br /> success at the Court Theatre, Munich, where it<br /> continued to attract large and appreciative audi-<br /> ences during a period of upwards of twelve<br /> months. The repeated recommendations of his<br /> friend, the distinguished tragedian, Mr. Phelps,<br /> induced Mr. Coleman to turn his attention to the<br /> subject—the result being the present adaptation,<br /> which upon three occasions has been within<br /> measurable distance of production at Drury-lane,<br /> twice under the régime of his friend the late Sir<br /> Augustus Harris, and once during his own recent<br /> management of the National Theatre, but in<br /> every instance some insuperable obstacle barred<br /> the way. Fortified by the many eminent autho-<br /> rities who subscribe to his opinion as to Shake-<br /> speare’s actual share in the authorship of this<br /> play, Mr. Coleman did not hesitate to expunge<br /> the first act, to eradicate the banality of the<br /> second, to omit the irrelevant Gower chorus, and .<br /> to eliminate the obscenity of the fourth act.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> eee<br /> <br /> A FEW IDEAS.<br /> \ LL mind is above measure and all spirit over<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> proof.<br /> As there is no inert matter, so there is<br /> no inept mind.<br /> Civilisation is an ideal—to be realised in Para-<br /> dise.<br /> Conceit is always honest, but never just.<br /> Democracy as yet exists only in theory.<br /> 270<br /> <br /> Equality differs from equity as monotony from<br /> melody.<br /> <br /> Free speech thrives only in solitude.<br /> <br /> Government by the best has yet to come.<br /> <br /> Humour is a loyal servant of love.<br /> <br /> Like other sovereigns, women never learn the<br /> total truth.<br /> <br /> Most of us still are—what all of us once were<br /> —children.<br /> <br /> Perfectly sane minds would be infallible.<br /> <br /> Salvation means perfect sanity.<br /> <br /> Spring-time gives pessimism the lie—politely.<br /> <br /> Temperance is the twin sister of tolerance.<br /> <br /> The chivalrous will not presume upon their sex<br /> —whichever it is.<br /> <br /> The rights of majorities are those of the un-<br /> wisest—or the youngest.<br /> <br /> There is only one autocrat—the Creator.<br /> <br /> Untruth is wedded to vanity—for life.<br /> <br /> Vanity wishes the whole world to witness its<br /> various weaknesses.<br /> <br /> Virtue means manliness—or womauliness.<br /> <br /> What is not fair is not love—what is not just<br /> is not war.<br /> <br /> With an efficient minority, Society is always<br /> fairly sane.<br /> <br /> Youth is the most curable, or least durable, of<br /> our qualities.<br /> <br /> All buds are new—“ under the sun.”<br /> <br /> All souls are—more or less—lonely.<br /> <br /> An Age of Gold may lie in the Past—the Age<br /> of Love must live in the Perfect.<br /> <br /> Death is only an eclipse of life.<br /> <br /> Even death cannot change the truth.<br /> <br /> Love is always on the right way to perfection.<br /> <br /> Man is not old enough for Truth—nor Time<br /> long enough for Understanding.<br /> <br /> Poetry need never reason, so long as it can<br /> sing.<br /> <br /> Prayer never fails while it inspires.<br /> <br /> The father of wisdom may be reason — the<br /> mother must be love.<br /> <br /> The greatest genius is not yet married—he is<br /> still unborn.<br /> <br /> The most pardonable of weaknesses is youth.<br /> <br /> Fintay GLENELG.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Soe<br /> <br /> CORRESPONDENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I—Lirzerary CoMPETITION.<br /> <br /> E your criticism of the Academy’s methods,<br /> would it not be a useful move if the Society<br /> of Authors took up this matter of literary<br /> <br /> competitions ? A judicious monthly competition,<br /> open to members of the Society only, would, I<br /> think, prove an attraction. In addition to the<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> prize, an honour list might be published in<br /> numerical order of merit. This would let the<br /> young author know where he was. The innova-<br /> tion, I think, would prove useful and attractive.<br /> M. E. C.<br /> [Would the innovation be permitted by the<br /> Society’s Articles of Association ?—Ep. |<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Il.—Tue War.<br /> <br /> I think, whatever our political convictions may<br /> be, we cannot refrain from admiring the magnifi-<br /> cent loyalty and devotion of our brothers of<br /> Greater Britain. As a trifling mark of one<br /> Englishwoman’s appreciation I should like to give,<br /> as far as I am able, a copy of my book, “ The<br /> Guests of Mine Host,” to any colonial home for<br /> wounded or invalided colonial soldiers.<br /> <br /> The gift is nothing in itself, but, as a poor<br /> means of marking the feeling that is sweeping<br /> over the nother country, I venture to ask you to<br /> insert this letter.<br /> <br /> In so doing I hope it may meet the eye of those<br /> concerned in the management of these hospitals<br /> and homes, and if they will let me know I shall<br /> feel honoured by being asked to forward a copy.<br /> <br /> I may say that ‘‘ The Guests of Mine Host” is<br /> being published in a colonial edition, which may<br /> lessen the difficulties. Marian Bower.<br /> <br /> Stradishall Place, near Newmarket.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> IT..—“ Commercianists”—An ExpLaNnaTIoNn,<br /> <br /> In the last number of The Author the editor<br /> asks, with reference to my letter: ‘ Does not the<br /> writer make the common mistake of supposing<br /> that if a literary work has a commercial value<br /> the writer is therefore a commercialist?” I<br /> hasten to reply that I did not think for a moment<br /> of suggesting such a thing. I meant no offence.<br /> There are several kinds of writers, e.g., (1) those<br /> who do bad work for pay and get it; (2) those<br /> who do good work without thinking of the pay, and<br /> yet get paid; (3) those who do good work without<br /> thinking of pay and without receiving it. Market<br /> value may mean much or little. The land at<br /> Kimberley had no market value until some years<br /> ago. x Y,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> IV.—A Few Smart GRuMBLES.<br /> <br /> I have been much disappointed lately in not<br /> being able to find out the true history of the<br /> “Three Tailors in Tooley-street.” It is stated in<br /> Dr. Brewer’s excellent “Reader&#039;s Handbook”<br /> that they were three worthies who petitioned the<br /> House of Commons when Canning was Prime<br /> Minister, the petition beginning, ‘“ We, the<br /> people of England.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 271<br /> <br /> Is this really so? What were their names ?<br /> What was the petition about? Were they the<br /> only signatories? I have often thought that the<br /> whole story may have been an invention of<br /> Canning in some speech ridiculing some real but<br /> much more numerously signed petition of his day.<br /> The phrase is so often quoted that it may be<br /> worth while to get at the bottom of it.<br /> <br /> Another thing that troubles me is the frequency<br /> with which the mark of interrogation is dropped<br /> in modern printing.<br /> <br /> Another, that the issue of books with uncut<br /> edges (as advocated by the late Mr. Darwin) is<br /> not nearly so frequent as it ought to be; and<br /> that even magazines and newspapers are fre-<br /> quently issued with uncut edges. [N.B.—The<br /> Spectator has recently improved in this respect. |<br /> <br /> Another, that a table of contents is not so<br /> frequently placed as it ought to be on the out-<br /> side page of magazines and newspapers.<br /> <br /> Another, that the price of books when reviewed<br /> is in the majority of cases not stated in the<br /> review.<br /> <br /> Another, that such expressions as “joining the<br /> majority,’ “passing away,” “ thereof,” “the<br /> same,” and “ galore” are used far too often.<br /> <br /> Another, that illustrations are too many in<br /> quantity and too often bad in quality.<br /> <br /> J. M. Ley.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> V.—Youne Ficrion Wrirers anp THE WAR<br /> Funp.<br /> <br /> Most of the leading writers of fiction will<br /> doubtless contribute to the volume which Mr.<br /> C. J. Cuteliffe Hyne is arranging, and which is to<br /> be sold in aid of the war fund. Why could not a<br /> similar volume be produced by us young writers ?<br /> By the term “ young” I mean all those who have<br /> issued their first (not necessarily successful)<br /> book ; those who have had one or more stories<br /> published in any magazine. The volume would<br /> no doubt have a large sale, and we, like the<br /> leading novelists, should have done some-<br /> thing for a great object. I feel sure that our<br /> editor—the friend and champion of the young<br /> writer—would be willing to help us with advice,<br /> and perhaps he could be persuaded to write a<br /> preface to the book?<br /> <br /> I should be happy to hear from any “ youag”<br /> writers who would be willing to contribute to<br /> such a volume. Should there be sufficient reasons<br /> to justify the idea being proceeded with, an editor<br /> could be appointed, and the volume brought out<br /> with all possible despatch.<br /> <br /> James BagnaLi-StuBss.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Vi.—tTue Frerionist’s Art.<br /> <br /> Beginners in Fiction, like my humble self, are<br /> oftentimes sadly perplexed by the varying advice<br /> given by leading practitioners of the art. For<br /> instance, in “ The Pen and the Book,” Sir Walter<br /> Besant says that the short story “should turn on<br /> one incident.” With this “Lanoe Falconer”<br /> agrees, for she says (in “The Art of Writing<br /> Fiction”) that “the design of the short story<br /> must itself be short and simple. A single, not<br /> too complicated, incident is best.” Mr. Frederick<br /> Wedmore goes still further and says that “plot<br /> or story proper is no essential part of” a short<br /> story, “though in work like Conan Doyle’s or<br /> Rudyard Kipling’s it may be a very delightful<br /> part.” Then “An Editor” says (in “How to<br /> Write for the Press”) that short tales of about<br /> 2000 words “should have only one striking<br /> incident’; and he affirms that amidst the many<br /> kinds of stories there are “ some in which incident<br /> is of no importance whatever.”<br /> <br /> On the other hand, I have known of cases<br /> where stories (2500 to 5000 words) have been<br /> condemned by experts because the stories each<br /> contained only one dramatic incident.<br /> <br /> It would seem to be really true that<br /> There are nine-and-sixty ways of constructing tribal lays,<br /> And—every—single—one —of—them—is—right.<br /> <br /> Or, as Miss Jane Barlow puts it, “There are<br /> ways of many a sort of constructing stories short,<br /> and every single one of them is wrong, except for<br /> its owner.” Perry Barr.<br /> <br /> ——<br /> <br /> VII. EncovuRAGEMENT FOR YOUNG AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> “Magazine Scribbler” seems sorely exercised<br /> over my statements and that of others, which<br /> she (or he) calls “ bewildering disagreement of<br /> doctors.” (See The Author for December last.)<br /> <br /> T confess I do not see any disagreement between<br /> my assertion that one can make possibly £500 a<br /> year by “ hack-work,” and Sir Walter Besant’s<br /> advice “ Do not at first try to live by writing for<br /> the magazines.”<br /> <br /> T ask ‘ Magazine Scribbler,’ Does an apprentice<br /> expect to live on the unpaid, incomplete work he<br /> has to do while learning his trade ?<br /> <br /> The apprentice, of course, is provided with<br /> board and lodging until he can work well. Just<br /> so with the scribbler, who must work for a long<br /> time before he gains place among paid writers,<br /> and can be assured of an income through his pen.<br /> <br /> “ Magazine Scribbler ” wishes me to say in<br /> what class of periodicals £400 or £500 a year<br /> may be earned. She (or he) also wishes to know<br /> sf the work should be entirely fiction’ One<br /> author’s experience may not be that of others. I<br /> cannot advise on this point. I wrote on all<br /> 272 THE<br /> <br /> ‘lines ’—religious essays, political articles, folk-<br /> lore, poetry, children’s stories, adventures, novels,<br /> short tales. I found that fiction paid best. I<br /> sent my scribblings at a venture to any magazine<br /> or newspaper I fancied they might suit. I often<br /> had “copy” rejected by second-rate magazines,<br /> yet accepted by high-class ones. I took what-<br /> ever money was offered. When asked for “copy ”’<br /> T always said ‘“ Yes,” though often the remunera-<br /> tion was trifling, but I believe in a bird in the<br /> hand being of more value than two in the<br /> bush. I never kept an editor waiting for<br /> what he wanted. I worked eight or ten, aye,<br /> sometimes sixteen, hours a day. When a tale<br /> got a good grip of my imagination I could put<br /> it on paper at the rate of 5000 words a day. It<br /> is not for me to say whether such rapid work is<br /> good work. All I know is that my children<br /> needed the price of my work, and that the editors<br /> took it, asked for it, and paid for it. After<br /> besieging the editorial doors for years some of<br /> those good gentlemen became my friends and<br /> employed me regularly, but if my work was not<br /> quite suitable it came back from those friends<br /> just as it might from strangers.<br /> <br /> “Ottawa” gives some excellent advice in the<br /> letter preceding that of ‘‘ Magazine Scribbler,”<br /> who I hope has read it with benefit.<br /> <br /> It is certainly true that persistent advertising,<br /> log-rolling, a pat on the back from a “ big name,”<br /> shoves a young author on, and sells his work for<br /> atime. Only for a time!<br /> <br /> The reading-thinking public is no fool. If<br /> true literary genius is not in one’s work it must<br /> die eventually.<br /> <br /> If one is writing to make money (and God<br /> knows I have required to consider that point first<br /> and foremost, so that I do not “ lichtlie ” such an<br /> object), one is apt to overlook the guality of<br /> one’s work, and rather ask one’s self, “ Will it<br /> sell” If “it” owns some temporary attraction,<br /> it may sell; but we must not blame the public if<br /> “it” loses the charm of novelty very soon and<br /> ceases to be “in demand.”<br /> <br /> I am afraid a great portion—a very great<br /> portion—of writers have mistaken their vocation.<br /> They have no original talent for literature, or<br /> lack the perseverance which is the necessary<br /> adjunct of all successful talent. The wailings of<br /> this disappointed throng are painful to hear. One<br /> feels sympathetic with them, but it is desirable<br /> that they should not blame a noble profession for<br /> their failure to win first place in it.<br /> <br /> J. M. H.S.<br /> <br /> AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> BOOK AND PLAY TALK,<br /> M* RUDYARD KIPLING is writing a<br /> <br /> new series of animal tales,<br /> <br /> Mr. Winston Churchill’s first book on<br /> the war will be ready shortly, under the title<br /> “London to Ladysmith, wa Pretoria.” After<br /> the war is over he will write a history of the<br /> whole campaign.<br /> <br /> Mr. Alexander Innes Shand has written a<br /> memoir of General John Jacob, of Jacobabad.<br /> Friend of Outram and Bartle Frere, and distin-<br /> guished alike as soldier and administrator, Jacob:<br /> was an indefatigable writer, and a great mass of<br /> his letters and manuscripts has been placed at<br /> Mr, Shand’s disposal. The book will be pub-<br /> lished by Messrs. Seeley and Co.<br /> <br /> Principal Rhys and Mr. Brynmor Jones, Q.C.,.<br /> M.P., have completed “ The History of the Welsh<br /> People,” which will be published shortly by Mr.<br /> Fisher Unwin. The work is founded upon the:<br /> report of the Welsh Land Commission.<br /> <br /> A second series of “ Essays in Liberalism,” by<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> a group of Oxford men who represent “the:<br /> advanced, though not the collectivist, wing of the<br /> <br /> party,” will be published by Mr. Brimley John-<br /> son—a new publisher. One of the subjects<br /> treated is the “ Liberal tradition in Literature ”<br /> and the book as a whole will offer “a statement<br /> of the principles by which Liberals of all times<br /> have been inspired, and will apply them to<br /> the political crises and party transactions of<br /> to-day.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Edward Carpenter is engaged upon a prose:<br /> version of the ‘Eros and Psyche ” of Apuleius,<br /> and a verse translation of the first book of<br /> “ Wiad,”<br /> <br /> Mr. Bloundelle-Burton’s new story, ‘The<br /> <br /> Seafarers,” will be published shortly by Messrs.<br /> Pearson.<br /> <br /> A volume of African sketches and stories by<br /> Mr. A. J. Dawson will be published by Mr.<br /> Heinemann under the title “African Nights’<br /> Entertainments.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Ranald Macdonald, son of Dr. George<br /> Macdonald, has written his first novel, ‘“‘The<br /> Sword of the King,’ a romance of the time of<br /> William, Prince of Orange. It will appear in a<br /> month or two.<br /> <br /> Mr. Herbert Spencer attained his eightieth<br /> birthday on Friday last (April 27). A biogra-<br /> phical and critical study of the distinguished<br /> writer and his works is just being published from<br /> the pen of Mr. Hector Macpherson, editor of the<br /> Edinburgh Evening News.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> a Kt Wk TC<br /> <br /> —~ xe @&amp;* 4 Ww oe et<br /> <br /> Ba pa a ae ada<br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE INCORPORATED SOCIETY OF AUTHORS PENSION FUND.<br /> <br /> &lt;n<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I hereby enclose £<br /> <br /> as (1) A Single Donation towards Tur Pension Funp.<br /> <br /> (2) A Donation of £. per annum, over a period of<br /> <br /> (3) An Annual Subscription to the Fund.<br /> <br /> Name<br /> <br /> Address<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> During the hearing, in New York, im_ the<br /> matter of the application by Messrs. Harper and<br /> Brothers for a voluntary dissolution of their busi-<br /> ness, Mr. Ralph E. Prime, of Yonkers, appeared<br /> for a number of authors and asked what would<br /> become of royalty and other contracts between<br /> authors and the Harper concern. Mr. George L.<br /> Rives, attorney for the Harper Corporation,<br /> assured Mr. Prime that he need not worry about<br /> putting inany claims. ‘As you probably know,”<br /> he said, “ the publishing business is to be carried<br /> on under the supervision of Alexander E. Orr,<br /> Colonel Harvey, and J. Pierpont Morgan. The<br /> re-organisation committee is going to pay all<br /> debts to authors in full.”<br /> <br /> “Some Heresies Dealt With” is the title of a<br /> new volume of essays, chiefly scientific, by Dr.<br /> Alexander Japp. Under a pseudonym the same<br /> author is issuing another work, called “ Offering<br /> and Sacrifice.” This is an essay in comparative<br /> customs and religious development. Both books<br /> will be published by Mr. Thomas Burleigh.<br /> <br /> Mr. Thomas Mackay is to write an authorita-<br /> tive biography of the late Sir John Fowler, the<br /> engineer. It will be published in the autumn by<br /> Mr. Murray.<br /> <br /> A collection of short stories and essays by<br /> Mark Twain will be published in September by<br /> Messrs. Chatto and Windus, under the title<br /> (taken from the opening tale) “The Man that<br /> Corrupted Hadleyburg.”<br /> <br /> Professor Muirhead, of Mason College, Bir-<br /> mingham, has aimed in his forthcoming work,<br /> entitled “‘ Chapters from Aristotle’s ‘ Ethics,’ ” at<br /> applying the principles of the famous treatise to<br /> modern thought. The book will be published by<br /> Mr. Murray.<br /> <br /> The prizes this year under Mrs. Crawshay’s<br /> Memorial Endowment will be:—For Byron’s<br /> “Manfred,” “Heaven and Earth,” “Ode to<br /> Napoleon Buonaparte,’ “ Ode on Waterloo,”<br /> <br /> and ‘“Napoleon’s Farewell’? ; for Shelley’s<br /> “Revolt of Islam” and “ Hellas”; and for<br /> Keats’s “Isabella, or the Pot of Basil.” Essays<br /> <br /> are to be sent before June 1, 1900, to Mrs.<br /> Crawshay, care of 12, Warwick-road, Paddington,<br /> W., London.<br /> <br /> Mr. Frank Murray, of Derby, has in the press an<br /> exhaustive bibliography of Mr. Austin Dobson.<br /> <br /> Dean Farrar’s new book, “The Life of Lives,”<br /> a@ companion and supplementary work to his<br /> “ Life of Christ,’ will be published shortly by<br /> Messrs. Cassell.<br /> <br /> A sixpenny edition is about to appear of Mrs.<br /> Craigie’s “ The School of Saints.”<br /> <br /> a79<br /> <br /> Miss Olive Garnett has a volume of short stories<br /> being published by Mr. Heinemann.<br /> <br /> Mr. Tree’s revival of “ Rip Van Winkle” at<br /> Her Majesty’s will take place early this month.<br /> The parts of Gretchen and Derrick are to be made<br /> more of than has been the case formerly, and the<br /> play will be in three acts instead of four.<br /> <br /> The Royal General Theatrical Fund has now<br /> come into possession of the Lacy bequest (£2600).<br /> The legal proceedings, however, have cost £1700.<br /> At the annual meeting of the fund on the 12th<br /> ult., Mr. Edward Terry, who presided, in con-<br /> gratulating the meeting on the prosperous condi-<br /> tion of “this, which they might call the only,<br /> theatrical provident fund,” said there were<br /> other funds which he thought might well be<br /> amalgamated into two groups, provident and<br /> benevolent, and one of them was _ particularly<br /> anxious to merge its small capital in the Royal<br /> Fund.<br /> <br /> Mr. George Alexander will preside at the fourth<br /> annual general meeting of the Actors’ Orphanage<br /> Fund on May 17, at midday, in the Haymarket<br /> Theatre.<br /> <br /> “David Harum” was successfully produced in<br /> Rochester, N.Y., on April 9, by Mr. William H.<br /> Crane.<br /> <br /> The directors of the Paris Théatre du Gymnase<br /> have invited Mr. F. R. Benson to take his Shakes-<br /> pearean company there for two months, beginning<br /> July 1. Since the destruction of the Théatre<br /> Francais the Gymnase has enjoyed a State sub-<br /> vention.<br /> <br /> Messrs. Greet and Engelbach will take pos-<br /> session of the Globe Theatre on Sept. 1, having<br /> secured a long lease of it from Lord Kilmorey.<br /> <br /> “Quo Vadis” will be produced at the Adelphi<br /> on May 3, with Mr. Robert Taber as Vinicius,<br /> Mr. J. H. Barnesas Petronius, the Roman soldier,<br /> Mr. G. W. Anson as Nero, Miss Wallis (Mrs.<br /> Lancaster-Wallis) as Poppcea, and Miss Lena<br /> Ashwell as Lygia, the Christian hostage. In<br /> New York, by the way, two productions of the<br /> dramatised version of this novel were presented<br /> the other week within eight blocks of each other.<br /> One was by Miss Jeannette Gilder, the other<br /> (announced as ‘‘ the only authorised version ”) by<br /> Mr. Stanislaus Stange.<br /> <br /> The ‘Agamemnon ” of Alschylus will be per-<br /> formed at Bradfield College, Berks, in the open<br /> air, on June 19, 21, 23, 25,and 26. The theatre<br /> is carved out of a chalk pit, and constructed on<br /> the ancient Greek model.<br /> <br /> On the authority of the Chicago Tribune, “ the<br /> decadent drama is a failure from the box-office<br />  <br /> <br /> 274<br /> <br /> standpoint. During the season now closing all of<br /> the great successes have been plays free from the<br /> taint of nastiness, while a large amount of money<br /> has been lost by managers who have attempted to<br /> force into popularity indecent farces, decadent<br /> society comedies, and sensational ‘emotional’<br /> dramas.”<br /> <br /> A matinée in aid of the Officers’ Families<br /> Fund will be given at the St. James’s Theatre<br /> on the roth inst. ‘The programme, in which<br /> many of the best-known actors and actresses<br /> will take part, includes two new plays, one by<br /> Mr. Sydney Grundy and one by Miss Florence<br /> Warden.<br /> <br /> Mr. Bernard Shaw’s “ You Never Can Tell”<br /> will be produced at the Strand Theatre by Mr.<br /> Yorke Stephens and Mr. James Welch at a<br /> matinée on May 2.<br /> <br /> Mr, J. H. Leigh will recite Mr. Arthur Dillon’s<br /> poem, “The Wayfarers,” at a concert to be given<br /> at St. James’s Hall on the evening of the<br /> 26th June. The chief part of the concert will<br /> consist of the lyrics and choruses to Mr. Dillon’s<br /> play, “ The Maid of Artemis,” set by Mr. Charles<br /> E. Baughan. Miss Esther Palliser and Miss Ada<br /> Crossley will be the vocalists.<br /> <br /> Mr. G. F. Savage-Armstrong has a new volume<br /> of poems in the press, which will be entitled<br /> “Ballads of Down,” and will be a companion<br /> volume to “ Stories of Wicklow.”<br /> <br /> “The Mystic Number 7,” by Annabel Gray, is<br /> now published by Messrs. Simpkin, Marshall and<br /> Co., price 3s. 6d.<br /> <br /> In the last number of The Author, Mr. J. H.<br /> Skrine’s new book, “ The Queen’s Highway,” was<br /> by an absurd error called “ The Queen’s Highway-<br /> man.” We owe an apology to Mr. Skrine for<br /> careless reading of proofs.<br /> <br /> Miss Marian Bower, author of “ The Guests of<br /> Mine Host,’ has kindly offered to give 3s. on<br /> every copy sold of her book at the Army and<br /> Navy Stores up to one hundred to the Patriotic<br /> Fund, the amount to be equally divided between<br /> <br /> Lady Lansdowne’s Fund and the Daily Telegraph<br /> Fund.<br /> <br /> “We Three and Troddles,’ a successful<br /> humorous hook by R. Andom, with illustrations<br /> by A. C. Gould, which first appeared some six<br /> years ago, is being published in sixpenny form<br /> next month by Messrs. Jarrold and Sons, who<br /> also have in hand a sequel containing further<br /> adventures and exploits of Troddles and his com-<br /> panions.<br /> <br /> “ Joey and Louie; or, The Fairy Gift,” by Miss<br /> Edith Gibbs, published by S. W. Partridge and<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Co., of 8, Paternoster-row. This is a pretty story<br /> for children. The book also contains a short tale,<br /> entitled ‘“ Pickles.”<br /> <br /> ———<br /> <br /> BOOKS AND REVIEWS.<br /> <br /> (In these columns notes on books are given from reviews<br /> which carry weight, and are not, so far as can be learned,<br /> logrollers.)<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Tue Narat Campaian, by Bennett Burleigh (Chapman,<br /> 6s.), “ will probably arouse interest,” says Literature, “ by<br /> reason of its criticisms.’’ Mr. Burleigh ‘“ knows things and<br /> has standards of comparison; and heis not afraid of speak-<br /> ing out. He had the wit to clear ont of Ladysmith before<br /> the circle of investment was complete, so that he is able to<br /> throw light upon a somewhat neglected period of the war—<br /> the period when Estcourt was isolated, and General Buller<br /> had not yet arrived.” In the volume we first get a sketch<br /> of{the state of affairs before the ultimatum—of the feeling of<br /> the two Republics. ‘Mr. Burleigh’s description of Spion<br /> Kop,” says the Guardian, “is specially interesting.” Ina<br /> review dated March 27, the Daily Chronicle says that this<br /> account of the Natal Campaign “is the most important and,<br /> on its special subject, the most complete of the war histories<br /> that have so far appeared.”<br /> <br /> Towarps PREroriaA, by Julian Ralph (Pearson, 6s.),<br /> succeeds, says Literature, “in giving the impression of a<br /> real man describing a real thing that he has seen.” “ Of<br /> the operations of Lord Methnen’s column, which he accom-<br /> panied, there has appeared no more vivid and acceptable<br /> account.” ‘Mr. Ralph’s is distinctly one of the war books<br /> to be read.”<br /> <br /> On tHe Eve or THE War, by Evelyn Cecil, M.P.<br /> (Murray, 3s. 6d.), bears directly on the questions of the<br /> hour. It is, says the Daily Chronicle, “but a snapshot<br /> view of things as they were in South Africa on the eve of<br /> the war. The author saw the Cape Premier and the<br /> Prezident of the Afrikander Bond, President Kruger at<br /> Pretoria and President Steyn at Bloemfontein. He was in<br /> Ladysmith on the very day when the war broke out, and he<br /> was in Natal for three weeks after the colony had been<br /> invaded. The public will find in the book, says the Daily<br /> Telegraph, “ much to support the view that the struggle we<br /> have engaged in is an essentially just one, and-was forced<br /> upon us by unavoidable circumstances.”<br /> <br /> ‘Tae Borr Srarss, by A. H. Keane (Methuen, 6s.),<br /> “will be welcome to many people,” says the Times, “ who<br /> are less anxious to form political opinions than to have some<br /> information about the general conditions of South Africa.”<br /> Mr. Keane, who was lately vice-president of the Anthro-<br /> pological Institute, approaches his subject from the scientific<br /> point of view. ‘‘ Not overburdened with detail,” says the<br /> Daily Chronicle, “the work is yet informative enough on<br /> the features of the countries and on the issues that have led<br /> up to the war.” ‘“Admirably clear and concise, and<br /> strictly impartial in tone,” says the Daily Telegraph. ‘Mr.<br /> Keane shows, for example, that the great majority of the<br /> earliest settlers at the Cape were drawn from the lower<br /> grades of Dutch society and the riff-raff of Western<br /> Europe.” 2<br /> <br /> A History or SourH Arrica, by W. Basil Worsfold<br /> (Dent, 1s. net), “so far as it goes,” says Literature, ‘is.<br /> admirable.’ “The tone is calm, judicious, and even<br /> little professional.’’ The greatness of the cost of conquer-<br /> ing the Republics is, says Mr. Worsfold, “the penalty we<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> pay for fifty years of official ineptitude, for fifty years of<br /> national neglect.”<br /> <br /> PINK AND SCARLET ; or Hunting as a School for Soldier-<br /> ing, by Lieutenant-Colonel E. A. H. Alderson (Heinemann,<br /> 7s. 6d. net), is recommended by the Guardian as “a book<br /> that should be on every young officer’s table.” “ Any<br /> subaltern who reads it carefully, and acts upon the hints<br /> that are there given to him, will be able to dress himself<br /> properly, to sit in a well-fitting saddle ona horse that is in<br /> good condition, to ride to hounds like a gentleman and<br /> sportsman, and to have a thorough knowledge of the<br /> hunting-field’s etiquette.” The Daily Chronicle praises the<br /> book “ for its light and entertaining style, for its profound<br /> knowledge both of hunting and of war, and for the cunning<br /> skill with which these two subjects are intertwined.”<br /> <br /> Tae Love oF AN UNCROWNED QUEEN, by W. H.<br /> Wilkins (Hutchinson, 36s.),is the story of the Consort of<br /> George I—‘‘ two bulky octavo volumes,’ says the Daily<br /> Chronicle, “out of which at least twenty romances could<br /> be made; volumes that elaborate the tragic love story of<br /> which Thackeray-in his ‘Four Georges’ gives the essential<br /> features.” A large part of the volumes consists of corre-<br /> spondence attributed to the pair—Sophia Dorothea and<br /> Count Koenigsmarck. ‘“ These letters have been rejected,”<br /> says the Daily Telegraph, “by good authorities as spurious.<br /> Mr. Wilkins, we think, advances better reasons why they<br /> should be accepted as authentic.” “On the whole,’ says<br /> the Times, “the volomes are interesting enough, although<br /> they do not belong to a very high order of historical<br /> literature.” Literature refers to the work as being “‘ as<br /> exciting as an historical novel by Dumas, and to the<br /> judicious reader a good deal more interesting.”<br /> <br /> WiTHOoUT THE LimELicHT, by G. R. Sims (Chatto,<br /> 2s. 6d.), consists of ‘‘instructive papers,’ says the Daily<br /> Telegraph, which tell many true stories of the ups and<br /> downs of theatrical life. ‘‘ With respect to the vicissitudes<br /> of life upon the stage Mr. Sims may confidently be accepted<br /> as a skilled expert and trustworthy authority.” ‘Ifa<br /> parent or guardian wishes to disenchant a stage-struck lad<br /> or girl, here,” says the Spectator, ‘is a potent remedy.”<br /> “Mr. Sims tells his stories in a simple and effective fashion,<br /> with no unnecessary horrors or extravagant pathos.” ‘‘ One<br /> cannot lay down the book,” says the Daily Chronicle,<br /> *‘ without concluding that the acting profession is a very<br /> slippery one for the climbers.”<br /> <br /> In THE WAKE oF THE War,” by A. St. John Adcock<br /> (Hodder and Stoughton, 2s. 6d.), is a collection of aptly-<br /> named stories, says the Spectator, ‘in which the homely<br /> tragedies that mark the progress of a campaign like the<br /> present are unfolded with unfailing sympathy and skill.”<br /> <br /> Tun Farrinepons, by Hilen T. Fowler (Hutchinson, 6s.),<br /> appears to Literature to “ mark a real artistic advance in<br /> the writer.” ‘Elizabeth Farringdon is certainly Miss<br /> Fowler’s chef d’euvre. We know few characters in recent<br /> fiction so consistent and so human.” ‘“ At its best,” says<br /> the Spectator, the work “affords ample food for mirth.”<br /> The Daily Telegraph finds its “ great merit” to be the<br /> cleverness of the conversations. The Daily Chronicle says<br /> “it is bright, it is interesting ; it preaches, so far as it can<br /> be said to preach at all, a wide and fashionable theology,”<br /> a the dénowement is just what we all would wish it to<br /> <br /> e.””<br /> <br /> Tue Green Fuaa, by A. Conan Doyle (Smith, Elder,<br /> 63.), is a collection of short stories dealing with war and<br /> sport. ‘There is no subtlety about them,” says Literature,<br /> “but they are generally interesting.’ Among them are<br /> “a striking story of the Franco-Prussian War,’ and “a<br /> most ingenious tale of the Peace of Amiens.” ‘‘ The Striped<br /> <br /> 275<br /> <br /> -Chest,” says the Daily Telegraph, “is as blood-curdling as<br /> the wildest of Poe’s romances,” and “ altogether the volume<br /> is admirable.” On the whole, the Daily Chronicle does<br /> “not think anyone has a right to ask for a more varied,<br /> interesting, or better lot of stories than are to be found in<br /> this volume.” :<br /> <br /> SopuHra, by Stanley Weyman (Longmans, 6s.), proves to<br /> the Spectator “that a sound instinct has led him to the<br /> England of the eighteenth century as the true field for the<br /> exercise of his talents as a narrator and interpreter.” The<br /> Daily News refers to “his unique gifts of thrilling uarrative<br /> and lifelike, yet unobtrusive and entirely unforced, descrip-<br /> tion of the times.’”” Mr. Weyman’s heroine, a young heiress<br /> who at eighteen has lost her heart to a plausible Irish<br /> adventurer, “is own cousin to the charmer of Tom Jones,”<br /> says the Daily Telegraph. “The eighteenth century with<br /> all its delights from the romantic point of view passes<br /> before our vision like a living picture in these fascinating<br /> pages.”<br /> <br /> Tur PLUNDERERS, by Morley Roberts (Methuen, 6s.),<br /> althought it “must surely,” says the Daily News, “be<br /> regarded as an elaborate burlesque and satire, is vivid,<br /> sparkling, and clever ’—“‘a stirring political parable.” “A<br /> story of unscrupulous and unjustifiable adventure,’’ says the<br /> Daily Telegraph, told with “verve and verisimilitude.”<br /> “ The book is the story of a private expedition on the model<br /> of the Jameson Raid, a story,” says the Daily Chronicle,<br /> ‘told with any amount of zest and go.”<br /> <br /> ArpEN MasstTeR, by William Barry (Unwin, 6s.) is the<br /> story of a young man who reminds the Spectator “ not @<br /> little of the Bulwer or Disraelian type of hero.” “ A more<br /> exciting or vivid picture of the inferno of modern Italian<br /> politics and society it would be difficult to imagine.” “ The<br /> canvas is crowded with striking and sinister characters,<br /> amongst whom the saint-like dévote, Donna Costanza,<br /> shines conspicuous by her unearthly purity.” “ Altogether<br /> itis a novel of engrossing interest, in which exceptional<br /> powers of expression are employed with unfailing skill in the<br /> delineation of an intensely dramatic phase of modern life.”<br /> The Daily Telegraph refers to it as “ undoubtedly one of<br /> the books of the year”; and it has filled Literature with<br /> admiration, and become a permanent addition to the books<br /> we cherish.”<br /> <br /> Tur COLLAPSE OF THE PENITENT, by Frederick Wedmore<br /> (Hutchinson, 3s. 6d.), is described by the Daily Telegraph as<br /> “ delicateas well as clever,” and “assuredly a book worth<br /> reading.”<br /> <br /> Hnarts Importunate, by Evelyn Dickinson (Heine-<br /> mann, 6s.), is described by the Daily Telegraph as “ vigo-<br /> rous, forcible, convincing, portraying with some power the<br /> absorbing strife and struggle of two hearts importunate and<br /> noble.” The Spectator speaks of the author’s “ excellent<br /> style,” and says “she is familiar with life in the bush and<br /> in Sydney; she has faithfully studied various types of<br /> Colonials.”<br /> <br /> Tym TRIALS OF THE BANTocKs, by G. S. Street (Lane,<br /> 3s. 6d.), is described by the Spectator as “ an artistic rather<br /> than an agreeable study of snobbishness ” —“a collection of<br /> what might be called tales of mean souls. Mr. Bantock is<br /> a very wealthy and painfully respectable banker, with a<br /> wife and children to match, and the aim of the narrator is<br /> to show how each member of the family has a fly in the<br /> ointment of his or her ‘unctaoas rectitude.” “ Mr. Street<br /> has a light and delicate touch,” and in this small book, says<br /> the Daily Chronicle, “ he lays bare the ambitions and failures<br /> of a family of wealthy snobs from the point of view of a<br /> poor one.”<br /> <br /> Matay Maatc, by Walter William Skeat (Macmillan,<br /> gis. net), “is practically a treatise on the whole life of<br />  <br /> <br /> 276<br /> <br /> the Malays.” They do nothing without magical cere»<br /> monies. ‘Like all books of the kind,” continues the<br /> Times, “it leaves us with a strong sense of the community<br /> ‘of human nature and human beliefs. The work is of high<br /> value.” Literature also says this is ‘a very valuable con-<br /> tribution to the science of folk-lore, the more welcome<br /> because such things are fast perishing off the face of the<br /> -earth.” ‘Mr. Skeat, moreover,” says the Guardian,<br /> “writes in an easy and flowing style, which makes him 2<br /> pleasant guide, and provides very useful and well-executed<br /> illustrations to make his matter more intelligible. He has<br /> an additional merit, not always found in collectors of folk-<br /> lore, in that he has a proper sense of logical division, and<br /> keeps his subjects from jostling one another overmuch.”<br /> <br /> A439; OR, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A Prano, by<br /> ‘Twenty-five Musical Scribes, edited by Algernon Rose<br /> (Sands and Co., 6s.). Daily News says: “The book is a<br /> jeu esprit following out in literature an idea which has<br /> frequently been adopted in composition by many musicians<br /> from Schumann to Sullivan. The result is surprisingly<br /> good.” “All lovers of music,” says the Queen, ‘‘ will be<br /> interested, edified, and even instructed by it.’ The Irish<br /> Times (Dublin): ‘A439’ is an up-to-date and remarkable<br /> production of musical thought, and as such deserves the<br /> attention of a very wide circle of readers.” Truth says:<br /> “&lt;The surprise of the book comes at the end, where Dr.<br /> Ebenezer Prout, Professor of Music at Dublin University,<br /> comes forward as a first-class humourist and the writer of<br /> three pages of doggerel of the most excruciating character.”<br /> The Scotsman: “As a whole, in spite of the variety of<br /> styles—or is it in virtue of them ?—the story of the piano’s<br /> chequered career makes capital reading for anyone who is<br /> musically informed and musically inclined.”<br /> <br /> Peas<br /> <br /> OBITUARY.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> TYNHE late Mr. Andrew Tuer, author as well as<br /> | publisher (whose death was briefly<br /> <br /> announced in our March issue), was a<br /> member of the Society of Authors almost from<br /> its beginning, and at all times a friend of the<br /> Society and a personal friend of many of its<br /> members. The books which bore his name were<br /> such as appealed generally more to’ the anti-<br /> quarian or to the collector than to the general<br /> public. Among them, however, were several<br /> topographical books of great interest and impor-<br /> tance, especially the very beautiful volume by the<br /> Rey. W.J. Loftie called “ Kensington.” His loss<br /> makes a gap in this direction which it will be<br /> difficult to fill.<br /> <br /> The death-roll of the past month began with<br /> Dr. Sr. Grorcr Mrvart, F.R.S,, philosopher and<br /> metaphysician, whe died on April 1 at his resi-<br /> dence near Hyde Park. Bornin 1827, Dr. Mivart<br /> (he was M.D.) was a man of wide attainments.<br /> A barrister-at-law nearly fifty years ago, for a<br /> time he was lecturer on zoology at St. Mary’s<br /> Hospital Medical School, and professor of the<br /> philosophy of biology at the University of Louvain.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Among his many works are<br /> of Species” (non-Darwinian), “Nature and<br /> Thought,” and “On Truth.” During the past<br /> year his name had been prominent in connection<br /> with the controversy between himself, as a<br /> Catholic layman, and Cardinal Vaughan. Dr.<br /> Mivart was to have been entertained at dinner by<br /> the Authors’ Club on April 2, and when com-<br /> piling his speech for that occasion on the morning<br /> of the previous day he had expressed his belief<br /> that he would die at the board of his hosts. His<br /> one essay in fiction, “Castle and Manor,” was<br /> published only last month, but it was a revised<br /> version of a novel he published anonymously<br /> under another title many years ago.<br /> <br /> Mr. Roserr A. M. Stevenson, the art critic of<br /> the Pall Mall Gazette,and author of “The Art<br /> of Velasquez,” the letterpress of “The Devils of<br /> Notre Dame” (illustrations by Mr. Pennell), and<br /> many esssays, died on April 18. Mr. Stevenson<br /> was born in 1847, and was cousin to the late<br /> Robert Louis Stevenson. Mr. Frepericx O.<br /> Crump, Q.C., who died at Hertford suddenly on<br /> April 15 from cardiac syncope, was editor of<br /> the Law Times for the last thirty years. Another<br /> Queen’s Counsel, Mr. CHaruzs Isaac Enron,<br /> author of “Origins of English History,’ and<br /> similar works, besides several manuals on land<br /> tenure, died on the 23rd ult., at the age of sixty.<br /> Mr. Arcuipatp Fores, the Daily News war<br /> correspondent, whose letters from the Franco-<br /> German and Russo-Turkish wars won for him<br /> almost a world-wide distinction, died on<br /> March 30 in his sixty-second year. He was the<br /> author of many books, chiefly on military<br /> campaigning, including “Glimpses through the<br /> Cannon Smoke,” a history of the Black Watch<br /> Regiment, and a life of Napoleon IIT.<br /> <br /> 66 :<br /> THE AUTHOR.”<br /> SCALE FOR ADVERTISEMENTS.<br /> <br /> Front Page ese = wee ses aan Ses uae war ee<br /> Other Pages $<br /> Half of a Page ... ‘ es ote eee Sak kai eck<br /> Quarter of a Page ae see oe son Nes ace tee<br /> 0<br /> 0<br /> <br /> “The Genesis<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Eighth of a Page aay cee<br /> Single Column Advertisements<br /> Bills for Insertion... oon<br /> <br /> SCanase<br /> cseacoococ<br /> <br /> Reductions made for a Series of Six or Twelve Insertions.<br /> <br /> All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed to the<br /> ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER, The Author Office, 4, Portugal-street,<br /> London, W.C.<br />	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/474/1900-05-01-The-Author-10-12.pdf	publications, The Author
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