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| 315 | https://historysoa.com/items/show/315 | The Author, Vol. 08 Issue 12 (May 1898) | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=%3Cem%3EThe+Author%3C%2Fem%3E%2C+Vol.+08+Issue+12+%28May+1898%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 08 Issue 12 (May 1898)</a> | | | <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049239455" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049239455</a> | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Publication">Publication</a> | 1898-05-02-The-Author-8-12 | | | | | 305–332 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=8">8</a> | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1898-05-02">1898-05-02</a> | | | | | | | 12 | | | 18980502 | Uhc Hutbor*<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br />
CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br />
Vol. VIII.—No. 12.]<br />
MA.Y 2, 1898.<br />
General Memoranda and Warnings<br />
Literary Property—<br />
1. Lord Monkswell'a Bill<br />
2. Canadian Copyright Law<br />
3. The Cost or Production<br />
4. Title Pages<br />
Thirteen as Twelve<br />
New York Letter. By Norman Hapgood<br />
Notes and News. By the Editor<br />
Feuilleton—Too Sharp for Once<br />
CONTENTS.<br />
PACE<br />
... 305<br />
... E06<br />
... 307<br />
... 308<br />
... 308<br />
... 308<br />
... 309<br />
... 310<br />
... 318<br />
[Pbich Sixpence.<br />
Notices to Correspondents<br />
Mr. Asqulth on Criticism<br />
Personal<br />
Questions and Answers<br />
Correspondence —1. The Boxburgbe Press Limited. 2<br />
right in Titles 3. A Warning to Writers.<br />
Literary Year-Book 1S9»." 5. Editots and Contributors.<br />
6. The Publisher's Assistant 321<br />
Literature In the Periodicals 325<br />
Book Talk<br />
The Books of the Month 330<br />
FAOI<br />
815<br />
819<br />
320<br />
381<br />
No Copy-<br />
4. "Tho<br />
PUBLICATIONS OP THE SOCIETY.<br />
1. The Annual Report. That for January 1897 can be had on application to the Secretary.<br />
2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary<br />
Property. Issued to all Members, 6*. 6d. per annum. Back numbers are offered at the<br />
following prices: Vol. I., 10*. 6d. (Bound); Vols. II., III., and IV., 8«. 6d. each (Bound) j<br />
Vol. V., 6f. 6d. (Unbound).<br />
3. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Moeeis Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher,<br />
95, Strand, W.C.) 3*.<br />
1 The History of the Societe des Qens de Lettre3. By S. Squire Spriqqe, late Secretary to<br />
the Society, i*.<br />
5. The Cost of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type,<br />
size of page, Ac, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of<br />
books. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 21. 6d.<br />
6. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Spriooe. In this work, compiled from the<br />
papers in the Society's offices, the various forms of agreements proposed by Publishers to<br />
Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various<br />
kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements.<br />
Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 3*.<br />
7. Copyright Law Reform. An Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill of 1890. With<br />
Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the<br />
Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lelt. Eyre and Spottis-<br />
woode. is. 6d.<br />
8. The Society of Authors. A Record of its Action from its Foundation. By Walter Besant<br />
(Chairman of Committee, 1888—1892). 1*.<br />
9. The Contract of Publication in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland. By Ernst<br />
Lukge, J.U.D. 2S. 6d.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 304 (#754) ############################################<br />
<br />
AD VERTISEMENTS.<br />
^f)e g>ociefp of Jlufljors (gncorporafeb)<br />
Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E., C.S.I.<br />
J. M. Barrie.<br />
A. W. X Beckett.<br />
KOBEKT BaTEMAN.<br />
F. E. Bbddard, F.B.S.<br />
Sib Henry Bergne, E.C.M.G.<br />
Sib Walter Besant.<br />
augustine blrrell, m.p.|<br />
Eev. Pbof. Bonnet, F.B.S.<br />
Biqht Hon. James Bbyce, M.P.<br />
Bight Hon. Lord Burqhclere, P.C.<br />
Hall Caine.<br />
Eoebton Castle, F.S.A.<br />
P. W. Clayden.<br />
Edward Clodd.<br />
W. Mobris Colles.<br />
Hon. John Collieb.<br />
Sib W. Mabtin Conway.<br />
F. Marion Cbawfobd.<br />
Eight Hon. G. N. Curzon, P.C, M.P.<br />
Hon.<br />
PRESIDENT.<br />
QEOEGE MEEEDITH<br />
COUNCIL.<br />
The Eabl of Desart.<br />
au8tin dobson.<br />
A. Conan Doyle, M.D.<br />
A. W. Duboubq.<br />
Pbof. Michael Foster, F.E.S.<br />
D. W. Fbeshfibld.<br />
Richard Gabnett, C.B., LL.D.<br />
EDHUND GOS8E.<br />
H. Rider Haggard.<br />
Thomas Hardy.<br />
Anthony Hope Hawkins.<br />
Jerome K. Jerome.<br />
Rudyard Kipling.<br />
Prof. E. Bay Lankester, F.B.S.<br />
W. E. H. Lkcky, P.C.<br />
J. M. Lely.<br />
Mrs. E. Lynn Linton.<br />
Bev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A.<br />
Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mus.Doc.<br />
Prof. J. M. D. Meiklejohn.<br />
Counsel — E. M. Underdown,<br />
Herman C. Merivale.<br />
Bev. C. H. Middleton-Wakb.<br />
Sir Lewis Morris.<br />
Henry Norman.<br />
Miss E. A. Ormbrod.<br />
J. C. Parkinson.<br />
Right Hon. Lord Pirbrioh*, P.C,<br />
F.R.S.<br />
Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D.<br />
Walter Herries Pollock.<br />
W. Baptists Scoones.<br />
Miss Flora L. Shaw.<br />
G. R. Sims.<br />
S. Squire Sprigqe.<br />
J. J. Stevenson.<br />
Francis Storr.<br />
William Moy Thomas.<br />
H. D. Traill, D.C.L.<br />
Mrs. Humphry Ward.<br />
Miss Charlotte M. Yonge.<br />
Q.C<br />
A. W. 1 Beckett.<br />
Sir Walter Besant.<br />
Egerton Castle, F.S.A.<br />
W. Morris Colles.<br />
COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT.<br />
Chairman—Sir W. Martin Conway.<br />
D. W. Freshfield. J. M. Lely.<br />
H. Rider Haggard. Henry Norman.<br />
Anthony Hope Hawkins. Francis Storr.<br />
ART.<br />
Hon. John Collier (Chairman)<br />
Sir W. Martin Conway.<br />
M. H. Spielmann.<br />
Solicitor/—<br />
SUB-COMMITTEES.<br />
MUSIC.<br />
C. Villiers Stanford, Mas.D. (Chairman).<br />
Jacques Blumenthal.<br />
DRAMA.<br />
Henry Arthur Jones {Chairman).<br />
A. W. X Beckett.<br />
Edward Rose.<br />
Field, Roscoe, and Co., Linooln'a Inn Fields.<br />
G. Herbert Thring, B.A., 4, Portugal-street. Secretary—G. Herbert Thring, B.A.<br />
4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C.<br />
OFFICES:<br />
J±. F. W^.TT & SOILST,<br />
LITERARY AGENTS,<br />
Formerly of 2, PATERNOSTER SOUARE,<br />
Have now removed to<br />
HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND,<br />
LONDON, "W.C.<br />
THE TEMPLE TYPEWRITING OFFICE.<br />
TYPEWRITING EXCEPTIONALLY ACCURATE. Moderate prices. Duplicates of Circulars by the latest ^<br />
process. £<br />
OPINIONS OF CLIENTS.—Distinguished Author:—"The moBt beautiful typing I have ever seen." Lady of Title:—"The ^<br />
work was very well and clearly done." Provincial Editor :—" Many thanks for the spotless neatness and beautiful accuracy." ^<br />
MISS GENTRY, ELDON CHAMBERS, 30, FLEET STREET, E.C.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 305 (#755) ############################################<br />
<br />
XT be Butbor,<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br />
CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br />
Vol. VIII.—No. 12.] MAT 2, 1898. [Pbice Sixpence.<br />
For the Opinions expressed in papers that are<br />
signed or initialled the Autliors alone are<br />
responsible. None of the papers or para-<br />
graphs must be taken as expressing the<br />
collective opinions of the Committee unless<br />
they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br />
Thring, Sec.<br />
THE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br />
remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br />
requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br />
important communications within two days will write to him<br />
without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br />
Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br />
letter only.<br />
Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br />
all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br />
jects whatever. Articles which cannot bo accepted are<br />
returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br />
GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br />
EOR some years it has been the praotioe to insert, in<br />
every number of The Author, certain " General Con-<br />
siderations," Warnings, Notices, &c, for the guidance<br />
of the reader. It has been objected as regards these<br />
warnings that the tricks or frauds against whioh they are<br />
directed cannot all be guarded against, for obvious reasons.<br />
It is, however, well that they should be borne in mind, and<br />
if any publisher refuses a clause of precaution he simply<br />
reveals his true character, and should be left to oarry on<br />
his business in his own way.<br />
Let us, however, draw up a few of the rules to be<br />
observed in an agreement. There are three methods of<br />
dealing with literary property:—<br />
I. That of selling it outright.<br />
This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br />
price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br />
managed by a competent agent.<br />
II. A profit-sharing agreement.<br />
In this case the following rules should be attended to:<br />
(1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br />
duction forms a part.<br />
(2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br />
profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements<br />
VOL. Till.<br />
in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise-<br />
ments.<br />
(3.) Not to allow a Bpecial charge for " office expenses,"<br />
nnlesB the same allowance is made to the author.<br />
(4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br />
rights.<br />
(5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights.<br />
(6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher.<br />
As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br />
doctor!<br />
(7.) To stamp the agreement.<br />
III. The royalty system.<br />
In this system, which has opened the door to a most<br />
amazing amount of overreaching and trading on the<br />
author's ignorance, it is above all things necessary to know<br />
what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now<br />
possiblo for an author to ascertain approximately and very<br />
nearly the truth. From time to time the very important<br />
figures connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br />
Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br />
"Cost of Production." Let no one, not even the youngest<br />
writer, sign a royalty agreement without finding out what<br />
it gives the publisher as well as himself.<br />
It has been objected that these precautions presuppose a<br />
great sueeess for the book, and that very few books indeed<br />
attain to this great success. That is quite true: but there is<br />
always this uncertainty of literary property that, although<br />
the works of a great many authors carry with them no risk<br />
at all, and although of a great many it is known within a few<br />
copies what will be their minimum circulation, it is not<br />
known what will be their maximum. Therefore every<br />
author, for every book, should arrange on the chance of a<br />
success which will not, probably, come at all; bnt which<br />
may come.<br />
The four points which the Society has always demanded<br />
from the outset are:—<br />
(1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement<br />
means.<br />
(2.) The inspection of those account books which belong<br />
to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the<br />
nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or<br />
withheld.<br />
(3.) That there Bhall be no secret profits.<br />
(4.) That nothing shall be charged whioh has not been<br />
actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for<br />
advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for<br />
exchanged advertisements and that all disoounts shall be<br />
duly entered.<br />
If these points are carefully looked after, the author may<br />
rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the<br />
lame time he will do well to send his agreement to the<br />
secretary before he Bigns it.<br />
E E 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 306 (#756) ############################################<br />
<br />
3 06<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
HOW TO USE THE'SOCIETY.<br />
I. in VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br />
l^J advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br />
lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br />
business or the administration of his property. If the advice<br />
sought is Buch as can be given best by a solicitor, the member<br />
has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the<br />
cose is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com-<br />
mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this<br />
without any cost to the member.<br />
2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br />
and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the<br />
experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not Bcruple<br />
to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually<br />
engaged upon such questions for us.<br />
3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past<br />
accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in<br />
order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree-<br />
ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively<br />
so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any<br />
agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor-<br />
mation thus obtained may prove invaluable.<br />
4. If the examination of your previous business trans-<br />
actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should<br />
take advice as to a change of publishers.<br />
5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br />
posed document to the Society for examination.<br />
6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in<br />
the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks of every publish-<br />
ing firm in the country.<br />
7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society yon<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 beat interests of literature in promoting the indepen-<br />
dence of the writer.<br />
8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of everything<br />
important to literature that you may hear or meet with.<br />
9. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of<br />
members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br />
safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br />
fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who<br />
will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers:—(1)<br />
To read and advise npon agreements and publishers. (2) To<br />
stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action npon<br />
them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments<br />
due according to agreements.<br />
NOTICES.<br />
THE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br />
Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br />
of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br />
heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br />
many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br />
6s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br />
The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and<br />
communications on all subjects connected with literature<br />
from members and others. Nothing can do more good to<br />
the Society than to make The Author oomplete, attractive,<br />
and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this<br />
work send their names and the special subjects on which<br />
they are willing to write?<br />
Communications for The Author should reaoh the Editor<br />
not later than the 21 Bt of each month.<br />
All persons ongaged in literary work of any kind, whether<br />
members of the Society or not, are invited to oommunieate<br />
to the Editor any points connected with their work which<br />
it would be advisable in the general interest to publish.<br />
Members and others who wish their MSS. read are<br />
requested not to send them to the Oflice without previously<br />
communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable<br />
despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in<br />
which they are received. It must also be distinctly under-<br />
stood that the Society docs not, under any circumstances,<br />
undertako the publication of MSS.<br />
The present location of the Authors' Club is at 3, White-<br />
hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for<br />
information, rules of admission, Ac.<br />
Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they<br />
have paid their subscriptions for the year p If they will do<br />
this, and remit the amount, if BtUl unpaid, or a banker's<br />
order, it will greatly assist the Sacretary, and save him the<br />
trouble of sending out a reminder<br />
Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the<br />
following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a<br />
most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding<br />
for a term of years. Let them ask thomselves if they<br />
would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five<br />
years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest<br />
or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then<br />
hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them-<br />
selves into literary bondage for three or five years?<br />
"ThoBe who possess the 'Cost of Production' are<br />
requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15<br />
per oent." This clause was inserted three or four years ago.<br />
Estimates have, however, recently been obtained which show<br />
that the figures in the book may be relied on as nearly<br />
correct: as near as is possible.<br />
Some remarks have been made npon the amount charged<br />
in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of course, we<br />
have not included any Bums which may be charged for<br />
inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines,<br />
or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too<br />
often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from<br />
sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket,<br />
by inserting any number of advertisements in his own<br />
magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are<br />
who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those<br />
who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it.<br />
LITERARY PROPERTY.<br />
I.—Lord Monkswell's Bill.<br />
OUR French contemporary Le Droit d'Au-<br />
teur, the organ of the Berne Bureau of<br />
International Copyright, to whose valuable<br />
columns we have been not a few times indebted<br />
for intelligence of the highest moment, published<br />
in March an article on recent copyright legisla-<br />
tion in England of a kind most encouraging to<br />
ourselves.<br />
Continental literary circles, where, naturally<br />
enough, the difficulties of British legislation are<br />
not clearly understood, have felt some doubts<br />
concerning the value of Lord Monkswell's Bill at<br />
present before the House of Lords. In States<br />
where codification has become traditional, and<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 307 (#757) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
307<br />
amongst foreign authors, who have sometimes<br />
suffered injustice in consequence of the confused<br />
and inadequate nature of the copyright laws of<br />
Great Britain, it is not singular that opinions<br />
should have been expressed rather in favour of a<br />
thorough revision of our copyright statutes than<br />
of an enactment calculated to remove some of<br />
the present most pressing difficulties. And this<br />
will be the less wondered at when it is remem-<br />
bered that amongst ourselves the fact that the<br />
revision of the whole copyright law could not<br />
be expected to pass the House of Commons<br />
except as a Government measure has been over-<br />
looked. With the various views which have<br />
been expressed the Droit cTAuteur deals in a<br />
short article, beginning with an appropriate<br />
reference to Mr. Herbert Thring's recent contri-<br />
bution in the Fortnightly Review, and then pro-<br />
ceeding to sketch the situation, and to speak of<br />
the difficulties in the way of the improvement of<br />
our legislation. It will be unnecessary to repro-<br />
duce here the r&sumi given of Mr. Herbert<br />
Thring's article. We may pass over the<br />
exposition of the difficulties in the way of<br />
reform with which we are ourselves but too<br />
familiar; only remarking that this subject is<br />
handled with an admirable impartiality. But we<br />
should like to call the attention of our readers<br />
to the two following passages. One expresses<br />
the views of the writer in Le Droit cTAuteur:<br />
Respecting the plan of campaign choaen by the English<br />
Society of Authors, whioh is, if possible to carry through<br />
some well defined and urgently needed reforms, before pro-<br />
ceeding to codification, this is a question of tactics, regarding<br />
which it is not our place to express an opinion. The English-<br />
men interested in these matters are here in a better position<br />
to judge than we.<br />
Tn the other, near the end of the article, we<br />
have the views of a French editor: views expressed<br />
in terms which cannot be other than highly<br />
gratifying to all supporters of Lord Monkswell's<br />
Bill and the Society's action:<br />
The same view is maintained by our contemporary, Le<br />
Progrea AHUtique (March 3, 1898), in whioh the editor,<br />
M. Maurice La Riviere, writes: "Whilst admitting that<br />
partial revisions applied to matters already regulated by<br />
several different legislative measures present serious incon-<br />
veniences, as well as risks of legal inconsistencies and<br />
contradictions, often of a kind to be deeply regretted, we<br />
cannot, at the same time, avoid asking ourselves whether it<br />
does not amount to sacrificing the substance for a shadow<br />
if we decline to take advantage of the limited but definite<br />
ameliorations which would result from Lord Monkswell's<br />
bill, in order to wait—God knows how long—for a codifica-<br />
tion of the English copyright laws. The question is,<br />
perhaps, a disputable one from the point of view of the<br />
English themselves; but respecting the interests of<br />
foreigners, and more particularly those of French dramatists<br />
and men of letters in general, it appears to us that every<br />
one Bhould without hesitation support the immediate and<br />
definite adoption of the project of the English Society of<br />
Authors."<br />
II.—Canadian Copyright Law.<br />
An important meeting of the Canadian Copy-<br />
right Association was held in the Board of Trade<br />
committee room yesterday (March 11). Mr. Dan.<br />
A. Bose, vice-president, called the meeting to<br />
order, and, in opening the proceedings, referred<br />
to what had been done in the past in order to<br />
secure a proper copyright law in Canada, and<br />
place the present unsatisfactory state of things<br />
on a better footing. The subject had been<br />
thoroughly threshed out, and there was no<br />
opposition from either political party. It was<br />
not a political matter at all, but one of ordinary<br />
business and straight justice. There was every<br />
reason to suppose that it could now be satis-<br />
factorily settled. A draft bill had been prepared<br />
as a result of several conferences between the<br />
Canadian Copyright Association and Mr. Hall<br />
Caine, who represented the British authors. The<br />
principles of that measure had been assented to<br />
by both sides of the House of Commons. There<br />
would, therefore, seem to be no reason why it<br />
should not pass into law. It was not a matter<br />
that need take up much of the time of the House,<br />
seeing that the righteousness and expediency of<br />
the measure were conceded. He therefore trusted<br />
that a united effort would be made to secure this<br />
desirable result.<br />
Mr. George N. Morang said that in the present<br />
ripe state of the question it would seem to<br />
be a want of judgment on the part of the<br />
association if vigorous steps were not at once<br />
taken with a view to relieve the publishing trade<br />
from the inconvenience and injustice under which<br />
it suffered from the incidence of the present law,<br />
or rather the want of it. The publishing trade<br />
had made headway under serious difficulties, and<br />
it deserved some attention. He moved "That in<br />
view of the importance of the publishing interest<br />
in Canada, which now gives employment to a<br />
large number of persons, and in view also of the<br />
great injustice and inconvenience occasioned by<br />
the chaotic state of copyright in Canada, imme-<br />
diate steps be taken to urge on the Govern-<br />
ment to settle the question on the basis of<br />
the draft bill agreed upon by this association,<br />
as representing Canadian interests, and by Mr.<br />
Hall Caine, as representing the British interests,<br />
and that the executive of this association take<br />
requisite action in the matter and interview<br />
the Government at once." The resolution was<br />
seconded by Mr. A. S. Irving.<br />
Mr. J. Murray said that, in order that the<br />
enterprise might proceed with success, it was<br />
requisite that the sinews of war should be pro-<br />
vided. The association had shown no hanging<br />
back in this respect in past times, and he did not<br />
anticipate any difficulty on that score now. He<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 308 (#758) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
moved "That the executive committee be autho-<br />
rised to take steps to collect funds to promote the<br />
work of the association." The resolution was<br />
seconded by Mr. R. L. Patterson.— Toronto<br />
I for Id, March 12. __0<-^_<br />
III.—The Cost of Production.<br />
In the note on the Cost of Paper in the last<br />
Author it is stated that a "ream of paper varies<br />
in weight from loclb. to 1301b." This leaves a<br />
wide margin of choice, but it is better to make it<br />
still wider by inserting the words "suitable for a<br />
fa. volume of 10 sheets of 32 pages."<br />
IV.—Title Pages.<br />
At a recent meeting of the Publishers' Associa-<br />
tion the Report of the Committee on Title Pages<br />
was received and discussed. The Report (says<br />
the Publishers' Circular) was in the following<br />
•words :—<br />
The Committee held meetings on Tuesday, Oct.<br />
26; Tuesday, Nov. 2; and Thursday, Nov. 18;<br />
and unanimously agreed on the following recom-<br />
mendations, viz.:—<br />
(1) Date.<br />
(«) That the title page of every book should<br />
bear the date of the year of publication,<br />
i.e., of the year in which the impression or<br />
the re-issue of which it forms a part, was<br />
first put on the market.<br />
(6) That when stock is re-issued in a new<br />
form, the title page should bear the date<br />
of the new issue, and each copy should be<br />
described as a "re-issue," either on the<br />
title page or in a bibliographical note.<br />
(c) That the date at which a book was last<br />
revised should be indicated cither on the<br />
title page or in a bibliographical note.<br />
(2) Bibliographical Note.<br />
That the bibliographical note should, when<br />
possible, be printed on the Lack of the title<br />
page, in order that it may not be separated<br />
therefrom in binding.<br />
(3) Impression, Edition, Re-issce.<br />
That for bibliographical purposes definite<br />
meanings should be attached to these<br />
words when used on a title page, and the<br />
following are recommended:<br />
Impression.—A number of copies printed<br />
at any one time. When a book is re-<br />
printed without change it should be<br />
called anew impression,to distinguish<br />
it from an edition as defined below.<br />
Edition.—An impression in which the<br />
matter has undergone some change,<br />
or for which the type has be en reset.<br />
Re-issue.—A republication at a different<br />
price, or in a different form, of part of<br />
an impression which has already been<br />
placed on the market.<br />
(4) Localisation.<br />
When the circulation of an impression of a<br />
book is limited by agreement to a par-<br />
ticular area, that each copy of that impres-<br />
sion should bear a conspicuous notice to<br />
that effect.<br />
Addendum.<br />
In cases where a book has been reprinted many<br />
times, and revised a less number of times, it<br />
is suggested that the intimation to that effect<br />
should be as follows, e.g.:—<br />
"Fifteenth Impression (Third Edition)."<br />
This would indicate that the book had been<br />
printed fifteen times, and that in the course<br />
of those fifteen impressions it had been revised<br />
or altered twice.<br />
The report was adopted.<br />
THIRTEEN AS TWELVE-<br />
IT is reported that attempts are being made to<br />
pay royalties on the principle of 13 as 12.<br />
In other words, if a royalty of 20 per cent, is<br />
agreed upon it is proposed to pay a royalty on<br />
12 copies out of every 13 copies sold, or on 100<br />
copies to pay for 92. That is to say, the author<br />
is to receive a royalty of only 18 j0s per cent.<br />
What is the justification of this imposition?<br />
The practice, it is said, of giving the trade an<br />
allowance of 13 as 12. But this is only done<br />
when the bookseller orders a dozen of one work<br />
or a dozen volumes of the same publisher. Now<br />
with the declining condition of the bookseller's<br />
trade, such orders are growing fewer and fewer<br />
every day. The distributing firms doubtless<br />
send in such orders, and get these allowances, but<br />
the average bookseller does not. Of that there<br />
can be no doubt. In other words the allowance<br />
of 13 as 12 by no means covers the whole sales.<br />
Therefore, to demand of the author to give up<br />
8 per cent, because such an allowance is made in<br />
certain cases is simply an attempt to trade upon<br />
ignorance.<br />
In the next place, it may be argued fairly that<br />
the author has nothing to do with the publisher's<br />
trade arrangements. His royalty is a fixed charge<br />
on the book like the cost of printing and paper.<br />
But there is another consideration of vital<br />
importance. The royalties are now mainly based<br />
upon certain tables published some time ago in<br />
The Author, which opened the eyes of the literary<br />
world as to the meaning of the royalties they<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 309 (#759) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
309<br />
had been offered and had received. Now these<br />
tables were prepared on the understanding that<br />
the allowance of 13 as 12 was universal.<br />
Thus the price of a 6*. book to the trade was<br />
considered to be 4s. 2d. less 10 per cent, and 13<br />
as 12, bringing the price down to 3s. 6d. very<br />
nearly.<br />
The figures thus appeared as follows:<br />
1. The cost of a 6*. book in large numbers<br />
was set down at i*. In The Author of April,<br />
p. 290, the cost of a certain book of average size<br />
was, not estimated but, actually quoted as<br />
charged and paid for at gi^d. a copy. To make<br />
it up to a shilling ,£35 would have to be spent in<br />
advertising.<br />
2. The price to the trade was set down at<br />
3«. 6d.<br />
A list of prices obtained from a book which<br />
had a circulation of many thousands was fur-<br />
nished a few months ago by a certain firm of<br />
publishers, which showed that while the dis-<br />
tributing firms paid less, the trade paid more.<br />
The average was almost exactly 3*. 6d. Perhaps,<br />
when the distributing firms take a larger propor-<br />
tion the average will be nearer 3s. 5<7.<br />
3. The profit of the book was therefore 2s. 6d.<br />
The tables of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 per cent, royalty<br />
was calculated on those figures. But if after<br />
the royalty was allowed on the 13 as 12, the<br />
publishers claim it again, they actually have it<br />
twice over. And a royalty of 20 per cent, in<br />
the old agreement should be one of 21 f per cent.<br />
For the next number of The Author new tables<br />
will be prepared, first, without reference to the<br />
allowance at all, and next, recognising it and<br />
altering the figures accordingly. But these must<br />
not be altered over again.<br />
NEW YOKE LETTER.<br />
New York, April 14.<br />
THE business of syndicate sale of literary<br />
matter, especially fiction, has had an exten-<br />
sion in the purchase by John Brisben<br />
Walker, editor and owner of the Cosmopolitan,<br />
of the Bacheller Newspaper Syndicate. He will<br />
not only do the business formerly done by the<br />
concern in sending out New York letters,<br />
woman's pages, &c, to provincial papers, but<br />
will also do a business similar to that now done<br />
by the McClure Syndicate, selling the Sunday<br />
papers all the stories which he buys for his<br />
magazine. Mr. McClure frequently allows these<br />
Sunday papers to print instalments of serials<br />
before they appear in the magazine. The general<br />
idea is that a story which has been in the maga-<br />
zine has been seen all over the country, whereas<br />
its appearance in the few newspapers has very<br />
little effect on the readers of the magazine.<br />
Mr. A. F. Jaccaci, the art editor of McClure's<br />
Magazine, is about to make a trip to the Western<br />
States to see half a dozen young writers whom he<br />
thinks promising. He said that he would like to<br />
have McClure's Magazine do for America what<br />
has been done in England by certain editors in<br />
discovering new writers, and he thinks those who<br />
need encouragement are almost all in the West,<br />
as a young m m who gets any kind of a start in<br />
New York receives so much attention, and has so<br />
much demand for his work, that he is likely to<br />
be spoiled. This theory, if it were to be<br />
weighed carefully, would, of course, need con-<br />
siderable mitigation. It is on the whole true,<br />
however, that two influences exist side by<br />
side in the literary as well as in the general<br />
life of this city. A person of any real ability<br />
in letters, or even of a factitious cleverness,<br />
is likely to become the centre of enough<br />
attention for him to dwell on if he wishes to;<br />
but, on the other hand, the city is so big, with so<br />
many diverging groups of life, that almost nobody<br />
has any individual importance, and it is more<br />
frequent to hear the loneliness which this con-<br />
dition produces dwelt upon, than the self-<br />
consciousness which is engendered by our keen<br />
appreciation of literature of any grade.<br />
Among the writers who are just beginning<br />
their careers, the author of " The Imported Bride-<br />
groom, and Other Stories," which is to be pub-<br />
lished by Houghton, Mifflin, and Co. immediately,<br />
gives some genuine promise. Abraham Cahan is<br />
a young Russian Jew of high ideals and of an<br />
intensely serious nature. A large part of his<br />
life has been spent among the people of what we<br />
call our Ghetto. He is now doing regular work<br />
on the Commercial Advertiser, broadening his<br />
experience by knowledge of the varied sides of<br />
city life which newspaper reporting opens up to<br />
one. His attitude towards his surroundings is<br />
interesting, as being typical probably of the<br />
majority of serious Russians in this country. He<br />
feels entirely out of sympathy with the American<br />
temperament. The fundamental indifference and<br />
jocosity with which it takes everything, treating<br />
politics and literature with the same curiosity and<br />
the same carelessness, shock him. I fancy that<br />
he will not do his best work until his point of<br />
view as a foreigner vanishes, and he sees the<br />
American spirit from the inside rather than from<br />
the outside, enjoying it, however much he may<br />
desire to change it in detail.<br />
Mr. Henry James, who published an interesting<br />
article on literary opportunities in America in<br />
Literature a short time ago, has also some-<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 310 (#760) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
â– what of an external point of view, in spite of his<br />
knowledge of America and his cleverness. Pro-<br />
bably nobody, however discriminating, who has<br />
not given himself up essentially to our life<br />
as it is, can speak about it in a tone which shall<br />
seem intimate and convincing to the Americans<br />
themselves. Mr. James picks out two things for<br />
special emphasis, the business man and woman.<br />
Now, those are very obvious elements of life, but<br />
it is almost certainly true that to the most<br />
sensitive and deepest people who are living in the<br />
rush of this life, it would not occur to project the<br />
business man and his special problem into the<br />
foreground in our general feeling of American<br />
life. What there is a vague and strong desire for<br />
in our literature, is not the use of these obviously<br />
literary opportunities, but the expression of some-<br />
thing more deeply characteristic, which shall give<br />
principles and shades of thought and feeling<br />
which exist throughout a whole city, or a whole<br />
social class, or the whole country. The method<br />
of writing a story about a grocer or a stockbroker,<br />
or the member of a trade union, has been tested<br />
for a good while without producing any other<br />
result than a demonstration of the fact that the<br />
hero of the novel ought to be an individual and a<br />
man, rather than a tradesman or a professional.<br />
I do not mean, of course, that his occupation<br />
should not appear in the novel, but that it should<br />
not be the essential element of it.<br />
There was a rather discouraging outcome to<br />
Miss Elizabeth Kobins's attempt to introduce<br />
Ibsen to her native country. Instead of a series<br />
of performances here and in Boston, she gave but<br />
one, "Hedda G abler," at a matinte in New<br />
York. Her supporting company was a fairly<br />
good one, thoroughly rehearsed, and the resulting<br />
performance was the best all-round presentation<br />
of an Ibsen play that I have ever seen, her own<br />
acting being better than that of anybody who has<br />
played in Ibsen here recently, with the single<br />
exception of Mr. E. J. Henley, who is now in<br />
England. In spite of these favourable conditions<br />
the success was only moderate. The audience was<br />
made up of literary people and actors, and con-<br />
tained none of the element which would support a<br />
play for any length of time. The criticisms in<br />
the Press were almost without exception as hostile<br />
as they were shallow. We are on the road to<br />
learn something about technical excellence in the<br />
drama, but we evidently shall refuse to learn it<br />
from the Norwegian.<br />
One way in which we get some instruc-<br />
tion is an absurdly dishonest one. There is a<br />
prejudice against old plays here. If an actor<br />
wished to put on Dumas's "Kean," his manager<br />
would protest vigorously. Charles Coghlan,<br />
therefore, makes an awkward, but almost literal<br />
translation of it, and advertises it as practically<br />
a new play, merely founded on an old drama, and<br />
is drawing crowded houses. Only Monday one<br />
of our most cultivated actresses, Minnie Madden<br />
Fiske, put a play on the stage, a translation from<br />
the German. The translator's name was con-<br />
spicuous, but the original author was thought of<br />
so little importance that he was not mentioned.<br />
Almost the only purely original dramatic work<br />
of any note which has been done here within the<br />
last two or three years is Mr. Gillette's " Secret<br />
Service," with which you have had an opportunity<br />
in England to become well acquainted. There is<br />
a general feeling, although as yet no definite<br />
signs, that the conditions are ripe for the poetic<br />
drama, and the success of " Cyrano de Bergerac"<br />
has encouraged that belief. Mr. Richard Mans-<br />
field, easily the leading actor in America along<br />
certain lines, will take the part.<br />
One of the notable figures in American life and<br />
letters has just retired from his principal courses<br />
at Harvard. Charles Eliot Norton has long<br />
stood pre-eminently for old world culture, and a.<br />
lack of sympathy with the elements of life around<br />
him. His method has been not to pick out what<br />
he could find in America that was vital, or beauti-<br />
ful, or capable of being used to good purpose,<br />
but to talk continually about what was ugly or<br />
crude, and to contrast it with remote opposites,<br />
ranging from Greece to Burne-Jones. He has<br />
doubtless done good as well as harm, but his<br />
influence has been academic and slight, as that of<br />
any man must be who takes the situation before<br />
him in such a narrow closet fashion.<br />
Norman Hapgood.<br />
NOTES AND NEWS.<br />
ANOTE in the Athenseum states that owing<br />
to the war and the continued excitement it<br />
is certain to create, many books planned<br />
for the autumn will be kept back by the pub-<br />
lishers in the United States. My own forecast in<br />
the matter is that the excitement over the war,<br />
which will go on increasing, will not prevent<br />
books from being read, but quite the contrary.<br />
A war wakes up the whole nation: it not only<br />
calls forth anxiety, hope, exultation, resolution,<br />
tenacity, and other emotions and passions, but it<br />
seizes on every faculty and calls it into action.<br />
As to the influence of a long war on literature,<br />
remember that in the long war of Great Britain<br />
with France, from 1793 to 1814, a great part of<br />
which, so far as operations on land were concerned,<br />
was only partially successful, our literature was<br />
enriched by work from Wordsworth, Coleridge,<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 311 (#761) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
3ii<br />
Southey, Lamb, Byron, Scott, Kogers, Landor,<br />
Shelley, Godwin, James Hogg, Leigh Hunt,<br />
Jeremy Bentham, Frances Burney, Mrs. Barbauld,<br />
Thomas Campbell, Edmund Burke, and a great<br />
many more. How far the excitement of war<br />
stimulated these writers I do not know; but I<br />
think that it kept them from going to sleep. It<br />
is in times of peace that people desire nothing:<br />
neither to create literature nor to read it: the<br />
national body is apt to grow fat; the national<br />
mind to grow torpid. I venture to prophesy that<br />
after the first few weeks of the war excitement<br />
the demand for new literature will not only know<br />
no abatement, but will greatly increase.<br />
The most dead, dull, and dejected time in the<br />
whole history of English literature was that of<br />
the early Thirties—a period of profound peace.<br />
At one time, I believe in the autumn of 1832,<br />
there were hardly any books published at all. It<br />
was at that time, I believe, that the world finally<br />
rebelled against the rubbish that was forced upon<br />
the book clubs as fiction and poetry. The society<br />
novel fell never to be revived; the tales in verse<br />
fell; and the book clubs fell, to be revived,<br />
perhaps. They broke up, and their place has never<br />
since been filled up. I remark, again, that this<br />
was, after many years, a time of profound peace.<br />
Many years ago I was talking on this subject<br />
with the late George Bentley. He assured me<br />
that, from his own recollection, during the excite-<br />
ment of the Crimean War, followed by that of the<br />
Indian Mutiny, the demand for books was to a<br />
marked degree greater than during the years<br />
before. When peace returned, he said, a depres-<br />
sion of the book trade set in and lasted for a long<br />
time. .<br />
Mr. Asquith spoke so well the other day on<br />
criticism, that it is a pity he did not take the next<br />
step, and show what criticism ought to do in art<br />
and literature. The opposition of " critical" and<br />
"constructive" he showed to be fallacious. That,<br />
indeed, is easy to show. It is possible to be like<br />
Goethe, critical as well as constructive: it is pos-<br />
sible to be, like Matthew Arnold, a fine poet as<br />
well as a great critic: it is, however, possible and<br />
much more common to be a fine critic, and to<br />
possess no constructive power whatever. The<br />
function of criticism is not, he insisted, at times<br />
of intellectual torpor and stagnation, a form of<br />
intellectual gymnastics. And it is absurd to say<br />
that critics are failures in literature. Quite<br />
so: it is, however, perfectly true that a large<br />
number of professed critics are failures in<br />
literature, inasmuch as they have been proved<br />
VOL. vni.<br />
unable to do anything good. Mr. Asquith quoted<br />
Matthew Arnold: "The critic must know the<br />
best that is known and thought in the world, and<br />
by making this known create a current of true<br />
and fresh ideas." Let us accept this as a starting<br />
point. The next thing is that the critic shall<br />
understand what is best when he sees it. With<br />
this object a good deal of preparation is necessary.<br />
The true critic must be, to begin with, a fine<br />
Greek scholar, a fine French scholar, if not also a<br />
fine German scholar. He must have in his mind<br />
certain canons for his own guidance: he must<br />
know what has been done in the various branches<br />
of imaginative literature, history, belles lettres.<br />
How many critics have we who could pass an<br />
examination in these subjects?<br />
Let me add to these remarks of Mr. Asquith<br />
certain dicta of Professor Saintsbury, who, above<br />
all others, is jealous as to the position and true<br />
functions of the critic in literature. He offers two<br />
or three test questions. Thus : "What idea of the<br />
original would this critic give to a tolerably<br />
instructed person who did not know that<br />
original? How far has this critic seen steadily,<br />
and seen whole, the subject which he has set him-<br />
self to consider? How far has he referred the<br />
main peculiarities of that subject to their proximate<br />
causes and effects? How far has he attempted to<br />
place, and succeeded in placing, the subject in the<br />
general history of Literature, in the collection of<br />
authors of its own department?" These are<br />
questions worth considering. Indeed, the whole<br />
essay is one which young writers—even those who<br />
do not intend to become reviewers—should read<br />
and ponder. "I think," he adds, "that if I were<br />
dictator, one of the first non-political things that<br />
I should do would be to make the order of<br />
reviewers as close a one, at least, as the bench<br />
of judges, or the staff of the Mint, or of any public<br />
establishment of a similar character."<br />
I think that it is time to withdraw the word<br />
criticism from the short notices of books which<br />
fill up our papers. They may be guides, but<br />
they are not criticisms: guides if written after<br />
honestly reading the book; misleading pretences<br />
if not. In such notices we want to know if a<br />
book is worth buying: what it contains: if it<br />
will instruct us: if it will interest us. A critic<br />
is not wanted for this work. A courteous gentle-<br />
man, ready to appreciate, slow to condemn,<br />
and incapable of misrepresentation, is the writer<br />
who should be employed for such work as this.<br />
There are one or two "hands" that might be<br />
indicated as already at work on these lines, and I<br />
hope there will be more.<br />
r r<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 312 (#762) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
In another column 'will be found a ommunica-<br />
tion from Mr. Herbert W. Smith, treating on<br />
the general questions on which we have published<br />
so many communications. He mentions three<br />
great grievances: (i) delay in considering<br />
MSS.; (2) delay in payment; and (3) unequal<br />
remuneration. He would "compel " an editor to<br />
return MSS. within a month. How would he<br />
compel him? If a writer offers an editor a<br />
MS., he may make it a condition that it is to be<br />
returned or accepted within a certain time. It is<br />
for the editor to accept that condition or to<br />
refuse. Most editors would refuse. Surely, too,<br />
allowance must be made for the mass of MSS.<br />
showered upon the editor. With regard to the<br />
second grievance, this is a real one. A writer has<br />
his MS. accepted; he may have to wait for<br />
months. I know a case in which a MS. was<br />
accepted by what used to be called a magazine of<br />
the first class. It appeared two years afterwards.<br />
Accepted MSS. ought to be paid for when they<br />
are accepted. Here, again, the writer can propose<br />
his own conditions; the editor, for his part, cau<br />
accept or refuse. As for the third complaint—<br />
that of unequal remuneration—I would ask our<br />
correspondent to name any occupation at which<br />
remuneration is equal. There is no " legitimate"<br />
rate of pay for magazine or other literary work.<br />
Some journals would shut up at once if they had<br />
to pay at the same rates as the better class organs.<br />
But here, again, writers have the matter in their<br />
own hands. If they know that a journal pays<br />
badly why send their contributions? If they<br />
plead necessity, then, ahis! there is no answer.<br />
In every profession there are necessitous persons,<br />
and there are sweaters to prey upon them. I<br />
hope, however, that those who road this com-<br />
munication will reflect (1) that, unless necessity<br />
compels them, they can propose their own condi-<br />
tions; and (2) that there is no way possible of<br />
"compelling" editors to alter their methods.<br />
Miss Betham-Edwards, in her book of "Remi-<br />
niscences," places on record the condition on which<br />
her first novel, "The White House by the Sea,"<br />
was published. The book was issued in 1857 and<br />
its last edition appeared in 1891. It has thus<br />
had forty years' run:—<br />
I must here for once and for all make it qnite clear that<br />
I do not in the very leaat reflect npon anyone else bnt<br />
myself throughout the history of this transaction. The<br />
important, I may say the only, object I had in view was to<br />
get my book well put before the pnblic—which it was, my<br />
payment being in kind, instead of money, that is to say, I<br />
received twenty-five copies of new one, two, and three<br />
volnme novels. For a young writer the bargain cannot be<br />
called a bad one. My work was well printed, well bound,<br />
well advertised, and presented to the world in excellent com-<br />
pany. The curious part of the business is this: before me<br />
lies the original edition in two handsome volumes dated<br />
1857, beside it the last pDpular edition dated 1891.<br />
Bet veen those two dates, a period of just npon thirty-five<br />
years, the book hid contrived to keep its head above water,<br />
that is to say, had been steadily reprinted from time to<br />
time j yet from its first appearance to the present day, when<br />
it is still selling, not a farthing of profit has accrued to the<br />
author.<br />
That the author should still think that the<br />
bargain "cannot be called a bad one," is truly<br />
wonderful. That there was nobody but herself<br />
to blame is certainly quite true. That any firm<br />
of publishers should offer to buy the whole copy-<br />
right of a work which might prove a well and a<br />
fountain for years to come, for twenty-five books<br />
seems incredible. Yet on another page—in the<br />
Feuilleton—appears a story of a publisher of to-day<br />
trying to get the copyright of a new writer's first<br />
book on terms no better. Miss Edwards's twenty-<br />
five works were worth nominally quite as much<br />
as the fifteen guineas offered by the publisher of<br />
to-day. oii<br />
A writer in the Morning Post has a few<br />
remarks touching Sir Henry Craik's unfortunate<br />
exhibition at a late dinner:<br />
The Secretary of the Scottish Education Department is<br />
reported to have said: "The Society of Authors had told<br />
them that the publisher was a needless invention, and<br />
. . . that the chief duty of the author was to make<br />
himself a sprightly commercial agent, who brought the<br />
most worthless wares to the dearest market." These<br />
utterances may have been rather free generalisations, and<br />
might oertainly mislead those members of the public—by<br />
far the largest class—who do not trouble their heads much<br />
about literary affairs. No one who has taken the least<br />
interest in the controversy over the ethios and practices of<br />
authors and publishers can, however, have failed to under-<br />
stand what Sir Henry Craik intended to convey, though his<br />
language was undoubtedly somewhat exaggerated.<br />
What Sir Henry Craik intended to convey can<br />
only be gathered from what he said. Now, the<br />
Society of Authors has never to my knowledge<br />
told the public that the "publisher is a needless<br />
invention." I have consulted the Secretary, who<br />
knows nothing of such a statement. It is a direct<br />
allegation, and can have no other meaning than<br />
what it says. As for the other allegation, it is<br />
difficult to meet it except by a direct denial. For<br />
what is the work of the Society of Authors? It<br />
is to define and to maintain literary property. In<br />
order to do this, it has set itself to investigate,<br />
and to publish, everything connected with literary<br />
property. It has made, or is making it, impos-<br />
sible for publishers to take advantage of superior<br />
knowledge or to trade upon ignorance. That is<br />
the chief business of the Society, and the fact<br />
that it is doing this business effectively is the<br />
cause of the wrath that springs in the minds of<br />
certain publishers at the mere mention of the<br />
Society.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 313 (#763) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
The same writer calls attention to certain<br />
words of mine, in which I ask who are the<br />
persons stated to try for a reputation by<br />
reclame, by self-advertising. The writer says:<br />
"Yet, possibly, when we reflect that some<br />
tolerably popular novelists of to-day produce<br />
three, four, five, or more books in a year, and how<br />
many writers never seem to lose any opportunity<br />
for an interview or a paragraph about their<br />
domestic affairs, some clue to the riddle may<br />
suggest itself." I am as much at a loss as ever.<br />
Who are the novelists who produce " three, four,<br />
five, or more" novels in a year? I declare that I<br />
do not know any novelist who produces work at<br />
anything like this rate. It seems to me absolutely<br />
impossible. Consider. Although the average<br />
one-volume novel is not more than half the length<br />
of the old three-volume novel, its length varies<br />
from 60,000 to 100,000 words. It would be<br />
difficult to produce more than two such novels in<br />
a year. But we are told of novelists writing<br />
"three, four, five, or more." Then, again, who<br />
are the writers who are always getting an inter-<br />
view or a paragraph about their domestic affairs<br />
into the paper? What papers admit these<br />
details? And why do the editors allow these<br />
personal notes to appear? I really think that we<br />
ought to blame the editors, and not the novelists.<br />
At all events, in The Author there have never<br />
been any personal matters other than the announce-<br />
ments of new boots. Walter Besant.<br />
FEUILLETON.<br />
TOO SHAEP FOE ONCE.<br />
I.<br />
"T HAVE brought you, Sir," said the young<br />
I man, "a MS." He spoke as if it was<br />
the most unusual thing in the world for a<br />
MS. to be brought to that house. And he laid<br />
it on the table with something of a slap.<br />
He was humble in his manner, in spite of that<br />
slap: not humble in his dress nor in his appear-<br />
ance, which were entirely commc il faut. He was<br />
humble because he was now offering for acceptance<br />
or rejection a work which had occupied his whole<br />
thoughts and his whole time for a year and a<br />
half. He believed in his work: but he was<br />
anxious, because as yet he had shown it to no<br />
one. Of course it was a novel : every ambitious<br />
young man now attempts that form of Literature<br />
and Art; although he knew it not, his work<br />
possessed the first quality necessary for success:<br />
it was real: everything in it was drawn from<br />
real life, and the pages vibrated with the reality<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
of truth. This, however, he knew not, and he<br />
brought his MS. in doubt and anxiety.<br />
"I've too many MSS. already," said the pub-<br />
lisher, curtly. "And I've lost too much money<br />
already. I lose by everything that I publish."<br />
"In that case I will take mine elsewhere. I am<br />
sorry to have disturbed you." He took up his<br />
bundle, clapped it under his arm, and turned.<br />
"Since you always lose you're an unlucky<br />
house."<br />
"Stay." The publisher — the Controller of<br />
Destiny—the Compeller of Fame—looked at the<br />
card—it told him nothiug. "Is this your first<br />
work, young gentleman?"<br />
"The use of the phrase 'Young gentleman'<br />
is not warranted by your position or your<br />
acquaintance with me," replied the author. "But<br />
it is my first attempt."<br />
"Ah! Your first work. So. A publisher can<br />
confer no greater service upon a young man than<br />
in producing his first work. No greater service.<br />
Eemember that. I am always doing the most<br />
good-natured things, but there — one gets no<br />
credit. Now, as regards your first production—<br />
your first—crude it is, no doubt, and full of faults.<br />
Still I can—I can—well—I can submit it, if you<br />
please, to my reader. There!" He swelled out<br />
his face, and really looked as if he was conferring<br />
some great and self-denying favour. ,: If he<br />
should happen to recommend it—he recommends<br />
one in a hundred—I might be disposed—I don't<br />
know—the risk is terrible, of course—you would<br />
not mind paying down a hundred pounds or so<br />
towards the first cost?"<br />
"You can produce the whole work for less than<br />
.£80, and a great deal less after subscription."<br />
The young man took up his bundle again.<br />
"What do you mean by asking for <£ioo?<br />
Certainly not."<br />
"Stay, Sir—stay," said the publisher. "You<br />
have no money, perhaps. Dear! Dear! Thit is<br />
a pity, because, to a beginner, no system is more<br />
equitable. I am, myself, all for equity—all."<br />
"I will leave it with you, then, for three weeks.<br />
At the end of that time you must give me an<br />
answer."<br />
He turned and went away brusquely.<br />
"Humph !" said the publisher, tossing the MS.<br />
into a corner. "Mighty independent! An<br />
impudent young Beast! As if it's a favour to<br />
me offering his stuff! But he wants his work<br />
published. I'll be even with him, somehow."<br />
II.<br />
Three weeks later the young man presented<br />
himself again. "I am come," he said "for<br />
your decision as to my MS. left with you three<br />
weeks ago."<br />
F F 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 314 (#764) ############################################<br />
<br />
3'4<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
"Your MS.? Tour MS.? We have so many,<br />
Sir, that I am not able without . Ah! That<br />
was the title, was it? Truly." He rang the bell<br />
and ordered the clerk to bring the reader's opinion<br />
on a work with that title. He received it,<br />
glanced over it, and handed it across the table.<br />
"There, Sir, is my reader's opinion. Tou<br />
will observe that it is favourable—perhaps too<br />
favourable. The optimistic character of my<br />
reader, in fact, loses me many hundreds a year—<br />
many hundreds. I assure you he will like every-<br />
thing."<br />
The young man read the opinion through. He<br />
coloured with pleasure. The reader spoke of it<br />
in very high terms. He believed that there was<br />
a future for the work, and said so.<br />
"Tou must not take his opinion too literally,"<br />
said the publisher. "He admires everything. I<br />
shall have to get a new reader if this indiscri-<br />
minate praise goes on"<br />
"Well, sir, your decision?"<br />
"I return to my original proposal. Pay me<br />
.£100 down, and I will release you of all respon-<br />
sibility, and will bring out your novel."<br />
"And the proceeds?"<br />
"On a first novel this is unnecessary. I cannot<br />
undertake to make any returns of sales."<br />
"Then I take my work elsewhere."<br />
"Oh! Young men are so impetuous. Why<br />
stand in your own light? Well, I will give you,<br />
say, half the profits."<br />
"I take my work elsewhere."<br />
"Sir, this is very hard. I try to meet you<br />
half way, and you answer me in a manner which,<br />
I must say, is unmerited. What would you<br />
have? A royalty? Many authors do very well<br />
with a royalty. Shall we say 10 per cent, after<br />
800 copies are sold?"<br />
"That gives you about five times the profit<br />
that it would give me."<br />
"Dear, dear! How can authors get such<br />
foolish ideas? It is, I suppose, that abominable<br />
Society of Authors which has been corrupting<br />
your mind. What do you know about office<br />
expenses, rent, travellers, clerks?"<br />
"You've got a clerk and a half, two rooms,<br />
and no travellers. Try again."<br />
"Well then, you would like to sell the work<br />
right out. That, after all, is the best plan, is it<br />
not? No anxiety: no trouble: no nasty accounts<br />
to breed bad blood between author and pub-<br />
lisher."<br />
"I might—for a proper price."<br />
"Young man, I am the judge of what is a<br />
proper price."<br />
"Are you? I will give you my opinion on<br />
that subject when you make an offer."<br />
The publisher looked at him curiously. Yes:<br />
he was above all things eager to get his work<br />
published.<br />
"I might make an offer. First book: risk of<br />
total loss: danger of complete neglect: new<br />
novels come out now at the rate of three or<br />
four a day: who can hope to stand up against<br />
such competition? Young gentleman, in that<br />
optimistic account of your MS.—I am sorry I<br />
snowed it to you—one point was passed over.<br />
Believe me, the true way to judge of a work is<br />
to find out what in the reader's written opinion<br />
is left out. I cannot find, Sir, the word<br />
'stimulating.' I always find that success depends<br />
more upon the stimulating power of a work than<br />
upon anything else. When a novelist comes to me,<br />
I say, 'Is it stimulating?' My reader clearly<br />
thinks that your work is not stimulating. That,<br />
of course, materially detracts from the value of<br />
your MS. Still I am ready to make an offer?<br />
Let me see. Oh, I said first book:—have you<br />
some friends who will log-roll it?"<br />
"Thank Heaven—No."<br />
"Dear! Dear! And he blasphemously thanks<br />
Heaven! No literary connections. Heavy out-<br />
lay. Probably no returns at all. JNo influence, I<br />
suppose, at the libraries? None. Tut, tut.<br />
Dear me. Travellers—as I said before—accoun-<br />
tants, clerks—messengers—rent, taxes—well—I<br />
can offer you—" Again he looked at the man<br />
sharply. Yes, he was quivering with anxiety for<br />
the production of the MS. "I can make you the<br />
very handsome offer of Fifteen Pounds for the<br />
entire copyright with all rights—American, Con-<br />
tinental, and dramatic — of the MS. in my<br />
hands—"<br />
"What?"<br />
"Fifteen guineas. Did I say pounds? I<br />
meant guineas. I always give guineas. I am all<br />
for generosity, and—"<br />
"Keep your generosity, Sir. I have not asked<br />
for it. Give me my MS."<br />
The publisher rose solemnly. He laid his<br />
finger upon the bell; but he did not press it.<br />
"Sir," he said "you stand at the parting of<br />
two ways. I press this bell, and you are lost. I<br />
do not press the bell, and Fame and Fortune await<br />
you. Pause!"<br />
"Ring your damned bell," said the author.<br />
"In that case"—he pressed the button. "I<br />
have rung." He sank back into his chair and<br />
joined his fingers. "You have brought it on<br />
yourself, Sir—on your own head. John, bring<br />
the MS. to which this opinion refers."<br />
The young man seized the bundle and strode<br />
out.<br />
"Now," said the good man, " if the Publishers'<br />
Society was what it ought to be, there would be a<br />
Eing. I joined it hoping that there would be »<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 315 (#765) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR,<br />
3'5<br />
Ring. Then no one would give any more. And<br />
then the fellow—Impudent Beast !—would have<br />
to give in—to my price. Ah! It is a badly con-<br />
ducted world!"<br />
m.<br />
Three months later there were seen on every<br />
bookstall, and in every bookshop, piles of a new<br />
novel. It ran through fifty, sixty, seventy<br />
editions of a thousand each. It was a gold<br />
mine.<br />
The reader called to see his publisher.<br />
"Pity," he said, "that you let it go out of the<br />
house. I praised it as highly as I could. I<br />
thought you would have jumped at it."<br />
"I did. I offered him—Ha!—noble terms-<br />
royal terms, and he refused them. Flung out of<br />
the room he did, with insulting words."<br />
"Well, as I said, it's a pity. They advertise<br />
this morning the 146th thousand. And you<br />
might have had it. What's the matter?" For<br />
his esteemed principal fell back in his chair with<br />
a white face.<br />
"Get me a glass of something—brandy—any-<br />
thing. Yet I offered him royal terms—royal—<br />
I believe I've got a chill—it's gone straight to<br />
the liver. A hundred and forty-six—forty-six<br />
—a hundred and forty-six thousand. And I<br />
might have had it. I'm sure it's gone straight<br />
to the liver, and it might have been mine—mine<br />
—mine!!!"<br />
NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.<br />
ABOUT two years ago a list was published in<br />
The Author of Notices to Correspondents,<br />
taken from various papers. Owing to<br />
application being made by many of our members<br />
for a renewal of the list, we have much pleasure<br />
in publishing the list below, which has been<br />
collected during the past two months from the<br />
papers referred to. As the question of MSS.<br />
sent to papers is, of course, of the greatest interest<br />
to our members, we think it worth while, at the<br />
same time, to reprint Counsel's opinion which was<br />
obtained on behalf of the Society about a year<br />
ago.<br />
"Editor and Author.<br />
"1. I am of opinion that if a manuscript be sent<br />
to the editor of a magazine without any previous<br />
request or agreement, the editor is not responsible<br />
for its loss while in his possession unless the loss<br />
be due to some gross negligence on his part.<br />
So long, however, as the manuscript remains in<br />
his possession the editor is bound to return it on<br />
demand, and the publication in his magazine of<br />
a notice that he will not return manuscripts does<br />
not, in my opinion, alter his liability in this respect<br />
towards an author who was not cognizant of such<br />
notice when he sent in the manuscript.<br />
"The editor's responsibility for the manuscript<br />
while in his possession is, in my opinion, that of a<br />
gratuitous or voluntary bailee, who is answerable<br />
for loss through his gross negligence, but not for<br />
any ordinary neglect. (See 1 Smith's Leading<br />
Cases, 10th edition, pp. 189, et seq.) If the<br />
manuscript has been lost, the onus lies upon the<br />
author to show that the loss was caused by the<br />
editor's gross negligence, for which alone the<br />
editor is answerable. (See Story on Bailments,<br />
9th edit. s. 410, and the cases referred to in the<br />
notes there.)<br />
"If the manuscript was in the editor's posses-<br />
sion when its return was demanded, the editor is<br />
liable, in my opinion, to an action of detenue if<br />
he refuse to return it. Evidence that the editor<br />
received the manuscript would raise a presump-<br />
tion that it was still in his possession when the<br />
demand was made. But the editor could rebut<br />
that presumption by proving that the manuscript<br />
was lost prior to the demand. The editor would<br />
not escape liability by proving that he had<br />
improperly destroyed or wrongfully parted with the<br />
manuscript (see Jones t\ Dowle, 9 M. & W. 19),<br />
or had lost it through his gross negligence (see<br />
Reeve v. Palmer, 5 C. B., N.S. 84). But it would<br />
be a good defence for the editor to bhow that<br />
before its return was demanded the manuscript<br />
was lost without default on his part (see 5 C. B.,<br />
N.S. pp. 85-89), or in some manner which could<br />
not be ascertained. In the latter cases the editor<br />
would not be liable unless the author could<br />
adduce affirmative evidence of gross negligence<br />
(see Powell v. Graves, 2 Times L. R. 663; Howard<br />
v. Harris, C. & E. 253).<br />
"2.1 am of opinion that if in the particular<br />
case referred to the author sent his manuscript<br />
to the editor in ignorance of the existence of any<br />
such notice as that which is in the magazine, then<br />
the editor could not successfully rely upon the<br />
notice as a defence to any action brought against<br />
him. In this case the notice would, in my opinion,<br />
be immaterial, but, of course, the editor might<br />
have a complete defence on other grounds, such<br />
as those I have already referred to in my answer<br />
to the first question. H the author saw or tnew<br />
of the notice before he sent his manuscript, I<br />
think he would be held to have sent it on the<br />
terms of such notice: (see Parker t\ South-<br />
Eastern Railway Company, 2 C. P. D. 416;<br />
Richards v. Rjwntree (1894) A. C. 217). The<br />
exact part of the magazine in which the notice is<br />
inserted is immaterial, except in so far as it<br />
renders it more or less likely that the author in<br />
fact saw or did not see the n tice, assuming that<br />
he ever saw the magazine.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 316 (#766) ############################################<br />
<br />
316<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
"3. I am of opinion that the burden of proving<br />
that the author was cognizant of the notice<br />
would lie upon the editor.<br />
"T. Willes Chitty."<br />
The List.<br />
Academy.—No rejected MS. returned under the old man-<br />
agement, bnt the practice now is to return them under the<br />
usual conditions. Address, 27, Chancery-line, W.C.<br />
Anecdote3. —Important.—All Manuscripts and Drivings<br />
submitted to the proprietors of Anecdotes are subjeot to<br />
the following conditions:—!. Articles must be legibly<br />
written or typed on sheets of convenient size, and on<br />
one side only. 2. The name and address of the author<br />
rr artist must be conspicuously written upon the first or<br />
lust page, or upon the front or baok of each drawing. 3.<br />
Exoept for prize competitions, no MSS. below 500 words<br />
will be considered, and no MSS submitted for prize com-<br />
petitions will be, under any cironmstances returned. MSS.<br />
submitted for competition, and not sucoesfnl in gaining a<br />
prize, become the property of the proprietors of Anecdotes<br />
4. An envelope addressed and sufficiently stamped, must<br />
be sent with each instalment of MSS. unless the same has<br />
been definitely ordered in writing by the Proprietors of<br />
Anecdotes or the editor of the publication to which it is<br />
submitted. 5. Every effort will be made to return MSS.<br />
and drawings complying with the above conditions, but in<br />
no case will the proprietors hold themselves responsible<br />
for any MSS. or drawings submitted until the article or<br />
story or drawing has actually appeared in one of the<br />
Anecdotes publications.<br />
Answers.—Anyone sending MS. must enclose stamped<br />
and addressed envelope for return, otherwise it will<br />
neither be read nor returned. The writer must also<br />
vouch for the originality of the contribution, and give his<br />
full name and address. Articles must be short. Address,<br />
"Answers," MSS. Department, Tudor-street, E.C.<br />
Athenaeum.—Will accept artioles of a literary character,<br />
if suitable. MSS. returned if stamped and addressed<br />
envelope be enclosed. Address, Bream's-buildings, Cursi-<br />
tor-street, W.C.<br />
Bazaar, Exchange and Mart.—Artioles accepted on<br />
almost any subject, if of a thoroughly practical kind, cot<br />
otherwise. Addressed and stamped envelopes must be<br />
enolosed for return of rejected communications. Address,<br />
170, Strand.<br />
Belgravia.—All MS3. should be addressed, prepaid, to<br />
the Editor of Belgravia, Strand, W.C. Every MS. should<br />
bear the writer's name and address and be accompanied<br />
by postage stamps for its return if not accepted; but the<br />
Editor cannot hold himself responsible for any accidental<br />
loss. The Editor cannot undertake to return rejected<br />
poems.<br />
Black and White.—The Editor, whi!e open to consider<br />
MSS. and sketches, will not be responsible for their return.<br />
Contributions should be accompanied by stamped and<br />
addressed'envelope. Address, 33, Bouverie-Btreet, E.C.<br />
Cwell'l Family Magazine and CasseU's Saturday<br />
Journal.—Articles on almost any subject, if popular and<br />
interesting. Stamped and addressed envelope must be<br />
enolosed. Address, Cassell and Co., Belle Sauvage Yard,<br />
Ludgate-hill, E C.<br />
Chums.—Important !—The Editor of Chums will not be<br />
responsible for the return of rejected manuscripts. If a<br />
stamped and addressed envelope is sent with the contri-<br />
butions the Editor will alwajs endeavour to return them;<br />
bnt when stamps are not sent, manuscripts can in no-<br />
case be returned.<br />
*„* The Art Editor cannot undertake to return<br />
sketches sent on approval unless they are accompanied by<br />
an addressed envelope sufficiently stamped.<br />
Cornhill.—Any MSS. sent to the Editor are carefully con<br />
sidered, and when not accepted are returned, if stamped<br />
and addressed envelope be enolosed. Address, Messrs.<br />
Smith, Elder, and Co., 15, Waterloo-plaoe, S.W.<br />
Country Gentleman.—The Editor does not hold himself<br />
responsible for the return of any MS. sent so him. Pay-<br />
ment will only be made for those contributions which have<br />
been previously arranged for.<br />
Daily Chronicle.—The Editor cannot guarantee the<br />
return of MSS. or sketches submitted for consideration,<br />
and in no case will rejected matter be returned unless<br />
accompanied by a stamped and addressed envelope.<br />
Daily Graphic.—Will return rejected contributions pro-<br />
vided a sufficiently stamped and directed envelope is<br />
enclosed. Editor will not hold himself responsible for<br />
loss or damage. Address, Milford-lane, Strand, W.C.<br />
Daily News.—Worked by a staff which is generally full.<br />
No rejected communications returned. Address, Fleet-<br />
street, E.C.<br />
Bcho.—Worked by a staff which is generally full; still,<br />
suitable MSS. would no doubt be considered. Address,<br />
22, Catherine-street, Strand, W.C.<br />
English Illustrated.—MSS. sent but not accepted must<br />
be accompanied by a wrapper, when they will if possible<br />
be returned. Address, 198, Strand, W.C.<br />
Evening News and Post.—-Worked by a staff generally<br />
full, but the Editor will return all MSS. if a fully stamped<br />
and addressed envelope be enclosed. Address 12, White-<br />
friars-street, E.C.<br />
Family Reader.—We cannot guarantee the return of<br />
rejected manuscripts.<br />
Figaro.—-The Editor will be pleased to consider articles,<br />
paragraphs, stories, and verses suitable for insertion.<br />
Accepted contributions will be paid for at our usual rates.<br />
The Editor will not accept any responsibility for MSS.<br />
sent in, but when a stamped and addressed wrapper is<br />
enclosed every care will be taken to return rejected con-<br />
tributions. Only writers who have a knowledge of English,<br />
and do not depend upon slang for effeot, will be likely to<br />
obtain advantage from this notice.<br />
Fortnightly Review.—MSS. not returned. Articles<br />
type-written are more likely to be read. Address, II,<br />
Henrietta-street, Covent Garden, W.C.<br />
Gentlewoman.—The Editor is generally too well supplied<br />
to accept more contributions, but no doubt suitable<br />
articles would be considered. A stamped envelope should<br />
be enclosed. Address, Arundel-street, Strand, W.C.<br />
Globe.—Communications may be returned if accompanied<br />
by stamped and addressed envelope; but the Editor will<br />
not be responsible for them. Address, 267, Strand, W.C.<br />
Graphic.—Stamped and addressed envelope must be<br />
enclosed. Address, 190, Strand, W.C.<br />
Guardian.—The Editor is not necessarily responsible for<br />
the opinions expressed in signed articles, or in articles<br />
marked "Communicated" or "From a Correspondent."<br />
The very frequent disregard of our rule about the return<br />
of MSS. compels us to restate it in a slightly different<br />
form:—No MS. oan be returned unless a stamped and<br />
addressed envelope is sent in the same oover as that<br />
which contains the MS. Stamps alone, or a stamped and<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 317 (#767) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
317<br />
addressed envelope Eent afterwards or in another cover,<br />
are not sufficient.<br />
Hospital.—AH MS., letters, books, for review, and other<br />
matters intended for the Editor should be addressed The<br />
Eaitor, The Lodge, Portchester-square, London, W. The<br />
Editor oannot undertake to return rejeoted MS., even when<br />
accompanied by a stamped directed envelope.<br />
Household Words.—The Editor cannot be responsible<br />
for loss or damage, though every care is taken of MSS.<br />
As there is a large number of contributions sent to this<br />
office, some time must elapse before notice is taken of<br />
them. Address, 12, St. Bride-street, E.C.<br />
Idler.—All stories and articles receive immediate consider-<br />
ation; but they must be short (type-written preferred).<br />
Address, Bedford-street, Strand, W.C.<br />
Illustrated Bits.—All letters intended for the Editor<br />
should be addressed "Editor, Illustrated Bits, 158,<br />
Fleet-street, London." No notice will be taken of anony-<br />
mous communications, and no letterB will be answered by<br />
post unless accompanied by a stamped directed envelope<br />
for that purpose.<br />
To Artists.—Drawings whioh refer to humorous sub-<br />
jects may be submitted if accompanied by stamps for<br />
return if not accepted. All sketches are paid for at time<br />
of acceptance. Address, "Art Editor," The Bitteries,<br />
158, Fleet-street, London, E.C.<br />
Illustrated London News.—Stamped and addressed<br />
envelope must be enclosed. Address, 19S, Strand,<br />
London, W.C.<br />
Illustrated Sporting- and Dramatic News.—The<br />
Editor cannot be responsible for any contribution eent<br />
when not solicited by him. Address, 14S, Strand, London,<br />
W.C.<br />
Irish Field.—The Editor will be pleased to receive and<br />
consider, for purposes of publioat:on, any photographs<br />
or sketches of incidents connected with matters of<br />
sporting or general interest. Articles of a similar nature<br />
will also be considered and paid for upon their appearance<br />
in type. Contributions will be returned where stamps<br />
are enclosed, but while due care will be taken, the Editor<br />
declines to make himself responsible in any way for their<br />
Bafety or re-delivery. All such communications should<br />
be accompanied by the name and address of the sender—<br />
not necessarily for publication. Where speoial rates or<br />
conditions are expected these must be stated beforehand.<br />
The Editor begs to state that he deolines to hold himself<br />
in any way responsible for the safety or return of any-<br />
thing to anyone.<br />
Jewish World.—The Editor of The Jewish World will<br />
not in any case be responsible for the return of rejected<br />
. contributions. He will, however, alwayB be prepared to<br />
consider MSS. and sketches that have a distinctly Jewish<br />
interest, and where stamps are inclosed, and name and<br />
address of sender legibly written on the manuscript,<br />
every effort will be made to return rejected contributions<br />
promptly. MS3. must be clearly written on one side of<br />
the paper only.<br />
Lady.—Does not return any contribution. Address, 3j«<br />
Bedford-Btreet, Strand.<br />
Lady's Pictorial.—Appropriate articles might be received<br />
if well written and short; stamped envelope for return.—<br />
Address, 172, Strand, W.C.<br />
Lancet.—It is most important that communications<br />
relating to the Editorial business of the Lancet should be<br />
addressed exclusively "To the Editors," and not in any<br />
oaBe to any gentleman who may be supposed to be con-<br />
nected with the Editorial staff. It is urgently necessary<br />
that attention be given to this notice. It is especially<br />
reqneBted that early intelligence of local events having a<br />
medioal interest, or whioh it is desirable to bring under<br />
the notice of the profession may be sent direct to this<br />
offioe. Lectures, original articles, and reports should be<br />
written on one side only of the paper. Letters, whether<br />
intended for insertion or for private information, must be<br />
authenticated by the names and addresses of their writers,<br />
not necessarily for publication. Local papers containing<br />
reports or news paragraphs should be marked and<br />
addressed " To the Sub-Editor." We cannot undertake<br />
to return MSS. not used.<br />
Land and Water.—No rejectel MSS. returned. Address,<br />
24, Bedford-street, Strand.<br />
Lifa.—C jmmuaicationa as to the literary contents of this<br />
paper should be addressed to the Editor; those referring<br />
to advertisements and other business matters to the-<br />
Manager. We cannot hold ourselves responsible for the<br />
Bafety of any unsolicited contribution, but if a stamped<br />
envelope is inolosed with any manuscript, we will do our<br />
best to ensure that, if not accepted, the mi nuscript shall<br />
be returned to the writer.<br />
London Reader.—We cannot undertake to return rejected<br />
manus .'ripts.<br />
London Society.—MSS. Bent to Editor should bear the<br />
name and addresB of the writer, and must be accompanied<br />
in all cases by a stamped directed envelope for their<br />
return if unsuitable. Copies should be kept of all-<br />
articles. Every care is taken of the papers forwarded by<br />
correspondents, but no responsibility is assumed in oase-<br />
of accident. The Editor cannot undertake to return<br />
rejected poems. All communications Bhould be addressed -<br />
to the Eaitor of London' 8ociety.<br />
Longman's Magazine.—The Editor prefers to have the<br />
eubject of an article submitted to him before MS. is sent.<br />
Stamped and addressed envelope should be enclosed with<br />
MS. in case of rejection, when it will be returned. The<br />
Editor cannot be responsible for loss. Address, Editor,<br />
Longman's Magazine, 39, Paternoster-row, E.C.<br />
Magazine of Short Stories.—The Editor is always<br />
willing to give consideration to short dramatio stories<br />
(not exceeding 2000 words in length) and to smart,,<br />
chatty, anecdotal articles dealing with matters or with'<br />
people of to-day (from 400 to 1400 words). Humorous-<br />
drawings that are submitted to him also reoeive oarefuV<br />
attention. Such stories, articles, and drawings must be<br />
original. Every effort will be made to return rejected<br />
contributions promptly, provided that stamped addressed<br />
envelopes or wrappers are enclosed; bnt the Editor does<br />
not hold himself responsible for any MSS. or drawings<br />
with which he may be favoured, nor will he undertake to.<br />
return them unless this condition has been observed.<br />
Moonshine.—The humble petition of the Editor of Moon-<br />
shine showeth that whereas your Petitioner is in the<br />
habit of receiving large number of manuscripts, yclept<br />
(i' the vulgar) MSS., as hereinafter set forth. That your<br />
petitioner is unable tj use ali MSS. that are so sent him.<br />
That your Petitioner, for lack of time and opportunity,<br />
and the stress of occasional'y retiring, as who should say,<br />
to rest, cannot enter into correspondence with authors of<br />
rejected MSS., even though, by neglecting to send covers,<br />
suitably directed and stamped they may not have had<br />
their efforts returned, and may thereby be moved to.<br />
indignation. That your Petitioner will endeavour to<br />
return manuscripts when thns accompanied, but your<br />
Petitioner prayeth that (as well for their own security<br />
as for the forwarding of certain moneys in case of<br />
acceptance) his friends w.ll kindly write on the MSS.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 318 (#768) ############################################<br />
<br />
3i8<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
ipsissima their reverend, respected, and worshipful names<br />
and fall addresses; and will recollect that the office of<br />
Moonshine is at No. 2, Bouverie-street, over against<br />
Fleet-street, in the City of London.<br />
Morning.—Cannot be responsible for the return of<br />
rejected MSS., bnt stamped and addressed envelope ought<br />
to be enclosed in any case. Address' 19, St. Bride-street,<br />
E.C.<br />
Morning Advertiser.—Does not return rejected MSS.<br />
This, like all the daily papers, has a permanent staff.<br />
Address, 127, Fleet-street, E.C.<br />
Morning Leader.—Any communication must be accom-<br />
panied by name and address of the sender, and stamped<br />
and addressed envelope inclosed for return. Address,<br />
Stoneoutter-Btreet, E.C.<br />
Morning Post.—Cannot return rejected MSS. Address<br />
346, Strand, W.C.<br />
National Review.—Correspondent's name and address<br />
must be written on MS , and stamps inclosed in case of<br />
rejection for return of contribution. Address, 37,<br />
Bed ford-street, Strand, W.C.<br />
Nature.—The Editor does not hold himself responsible for<br />
opinions expressed by his correspondents. Neither can<br />
he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers<br />
of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other<br />
part of Nature. No notioe is taken of anonymous com-<br />
munications.<br />
Nineteenth Century.—Rejected contributions not re-<br />
turned. Address, Messrs. Sampson, Low, and Co., Fetter-<br />
lane, London, E.C.<br />
Novel Review.—All books and magazines intended for<br />
review must reach the office not later than the 15th<br />
hist, addressed to The Editor. MS. will be returned if<br />
stamps are sent. The Editor will not undertake to be<br />
responsible for MS. in case of loss. All communications<br />
should be addressed to the Editorial and Advertising<br />
Offices—18, Tavistock-street, Covent Garden, London.<br />
Our Home. -Contributors are informed that while every<br />
care will be taken of their MSS., and unsuitable matter<br />
will be returned if accompanied by stamped addressed<br />
envelope, the Editor does not hold himself responsible for<br />
the loss or delay of unsolicited contributions, and advises<br />
contributors to keep a copy of the MSS. These should<br />
have address on back, and the number of words should be<br />
stated.<br />
Pall Mall Gazette.—Sketches and all communications<br />
are considered, and when stamps and address are enclosed,<br />
the Editor will endeavour to return rejected MSS. Address,<br />
18, Charing-oross, W.C.<br />
Fall Mall Magazine. — Articles on any interesting<br />
subject aocepted if really good; stamped and addressed<br />
envelope shonld be enclosed. Address, 18, Charing-cross-<br />
road, W.C.<br />
Pearson's Magazine.—Accepts interesting articles on<br />
general subjeots, and short stories, which will be returned<br />
on receipt of stamped and addressed envelope. Address,<br />
Henrietta-street, W.C.<br />
Pearson's Weekly.—Articles on any interesting, curious,<br />
or popnlar subject have a good chance of acceptance if<br />
well written. Address, Henrietta-street, Covent-garden,<br />
W,C.<br />
Piccadilly.—The Editor cannot be responsible for the<br />
safety or return of manuscripts forwarded for approval.<br />
Subscribers are particularly requested to forward all<br />
communications concerning changes of addreBS or addi-<br />
tional oojies to the publisher. All communications<br />
for the Editorial Department of Piccadilly should be<br />
addressed to the Editor, 24B, Craven-street, Strand<br />
(end of Northumberland-avenue, opposite the Hotel<br />
Me'tropole).<br />
Pick-Me-TJp. — The Editor of Pici-Me-Up is willing to<br />
consider MSS. and drawings forwarded to him. While<br />
he cannot accept any responsibility in regard to their<br />
eafe keeping, he will make every effort to return rejected<br />
communications if stamps are inclosed. Short stories<br />
should not exceed 1500 words, and drawings should be<br />
humorous. The Editor will be pleased to Bee artists<br />
personally on Monday and Friday mornings, at the New<br />
Editorial Office, 28, Maiden-lane, Strand.<br />
Punch does not on any consideration whatever return<br />
rejected matter, even though stamps are enolosed. Address,<br />
Fleet-street, E.C.<br />
Road.—Owing to the increasingly large number of MSS.<br />
and drawings sent in to the Road, the Editor wishes it to<br />
be clearly understood that he will not undertake to use<br />
or return any MSS. or sketches sent in to him without his<br />
written instructions. All books, photographs, and<br />
samples of goods for review must be addressed to the<br />
Editor, and to no one by name; and no individual is<br />
authorised to promise " Notices " under any pretext what-<br />
ever. The Road is on sale everywhere, and can be<br />
obtained at all Smith's bookstalls throughout the United<br />
Kingdom. In the United States of America the Road is<br />
on at all the principal news-stands, and it is also ob-<br />
tainable on the Continent, and in India, South Africa, and<br />
the Australian Colonics. The advertisement tariff will be<br />
forwarded on application to the manager. The publish-<br />
ing, advertisement, and subscription offices will be re-<br />
moved to 41 and 42, King-street, Covent Garden, W.C,<br />
after the beginning of the New Year.<br />
Rod and Gun.—The Editor of Bod and Gun does not,<br />
in any case, hold himself responsible for the return of<br />
rejected contributions. He is, however, always glad to<br />
consider MSS. and sketches; and, where stamps are<br />
enclosed, and the name and address are written on the<br />
manuscript, every effort will be made to return rejected<br />
contributions. The Editor desires to state that he cannot<br />
enter into correspondence regarding MS.<br />
To Ouk Colonial Readers.—The Editor is at all<br />
times glad to consider any accounts of colonial sport sub-<br />
mitted to him.<br />
St. James's Gazette.—The Editor cannot undertake to<br />
hold himself responsible for the return of rejected con-<br />
tributions.<br />
Saturday Review.—No contributions returned in any<br />
case. Suitable artioles might be accepted. Address, 38,<br />
Southampton-street, Strand.<br />
Scraps.—Short paragraphs on out-of-way subjects mostly<br />
desired. MS. returned if stamped and addressed en-<br />
velope enclosed. Address, Red Lion-court, Fleet-street,<br />
E.C.<br />
Sketch.—Any Bhort stories, not exceeding 2500 words in<br />
length, will be considered. Rejected MS. returned if<br />
stamped and addressed envelope or wrapper inclosed.<br />
Address, Manuscript Department, 198, Strand, W.C.<br />
Society.—The Editor is compelled to announce that he will<br />
not be responsible for any MSS. sent to him, nor will he<br />
guarantee their return, even if stamps are enclosed for the<br />
purpose. Authors should therefore keep copies of their<br />
contributions if they value them highly.<br />
Speaker.—MSS. not returned, when cent unrequested.<br />
Address, 115, Fleet-street, E.C.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 319 (#769) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
319<br />
Spectator.—No MSS. returned in any case. Address, 1,<br />
Wellington-street, Strand, W.C.<br />
Spinning Wheel.—The Editor will be glad to consider<br />
any MS. likely to be of interest to the readers of this<br />
paper, either short stories of 2000 words in length or short<br />
articles. The Editor wishes to remind contributors that,<br />
if MSS. are to be returned in case of rejection, stamps<br />
must accompany them.<br />
Stories.—The Editor of Stories will be pleased to consider,<br />
with a view to publication, short original stories or<br />
articles. Under no oiroumstances, however, can he hold<br />
himBelf responsible for MSS. submitted for his considera-<br />
tion, but where stamps are inclosed every effort will be<br />
made to ensnre the prompt return of rejected contribu-<br />
tions. Accepted matter, whether Btories or articles, if<br />
original, will be paid for at the rate of One Guinea per<br />
1000 wordB, unless otherwise arranged for. Payments for<br />
contributions are made on the date of publication of each<br />
issue. Every MS. must bear the name and address of the<br />
writer, which should be legibly written on the first page.<br />
Contributors should see that their MSS. are properly<br />
fastened, otherwise the leaves are liable to get mislaid.<br />
It must be distinctly understood that the setting up in<br />
type of any story or article does not necessarily imply<br />
acceptance, and payment will in no case be made, except<br />
on publication. Copied matter is not required, and anyone<br />
sending it in as original will be liable to proseontion. All<br />
matter paid for becomes the absolute property of Stories,<br />
Limited.<br />
Strand.—Stories of strange experiences, &c, might be sent<br />
to this paper, and articles on general subjects. Returned<br />
if not accepted, if stamped and addressed envelope en-<br />
closed. Address, Southampton-street, Strand, W.C.<br />
Sun.—Our Guinea Story.—The stories printed in these<br />
columns are contributed by readers of the Sun. Anyone<br />
may send an original story not exceeding 1200 words, and<br />
for eaoh one we use we shall pay the author £1 is. Un-<br />
suitable MSS. are returned if stamped and addressed<br />
envelopes accompany them, but we oannot enter into any<br />
correspondence regarding contributions sent us.<br />
Sunday Chronicle. — Should any difficulty be expe-<br />
rienced in obtaining the Sunday Chronicle, oomplaints<br />
should be made to the Chief Office, Mark-lane, Man-<br />
chester. On all business matters communications<br />
Bhould be addressed to the firm, and not to any indi-<br />
vidual member thereof. No notice will be taken of<br />
anonymous letters. Every communication should be<br />
authenticated with the name and address of the writer,<br />
not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of<br />
good faith. Articles, stories, sketches, verses, and other<br />
contributions should be addressed to the Editor, who,<br />
however, does not hold himself responsible for the return<br />
of rejected manuscripts. Where stamps are inclosed,<br />
and the name and address written on the manusoript,<br />
every effort will be made to promptly return unaccepted<br />
articles.—E. Hulton and Co.<br />
Times.—Does not return rejected communications. Address,<br />
Printing House-square, E.C.<br />
Tit-Bits.—The Editor of Tit-Bits cannot hold himself<br />
responsible for the return of any manuscript which may<br />
bo submitted to him. He will, however, always be glad<br />
to consider any contributions which are sent; and, when<br />
stamped addressed envelopes are enclosed when the manu-<br />
scripts are submitted, every effort will be made to return<br />
rejected contributions. Contributors are specially re-<br />
quested to put thoir names and addresses on their manu-<br />
scripts.<br />
United Service Gazette.—We would draw the attention<br />
of our correspondents to the importance of writing legibly,<br />
and on one side of the paper only. MSS. cannot be<br />
returned unless aocompanied by stamps.<br />
University Extension Journal.—The Editor cannot<br />
undertake to return rejected communications unlesB<br />
stamps are inclosed for that purpose.<br />
Vegetarian.—The Editor of the Vegetarian cannot hold<br />
himself responsible in any case for the return of MSS. or<br />
eketcheB. He will, however, always be glad to oonsider<br />
any contributions which may be submitted to him; and,<br />
when postage stamps are enclosed, every effort will bo<br />
made to return rejected contributions promptly. Con-<br />
tributors are requested to put their names and addresses<br />
on their manuscripts. Address, 33, Paternoster-row,<br />
London, E.C.<br />
Westminster Gazette.—The Editor of the Westminster<br />
Gazette cannot hold himBelf responsible in any case for<br />
the return of MS. or sketohes. He will, however, always<br />
be glad to consider any contributions, literary or pictorial,<br />
which may be submitted to him, and, when postage-<br />
stamps are enclosed, every effort will be made to return<br />
rejected contributions promptly. Contributors are specially<br />
requested to put their names and addresses on their<br />
manuscripts. Address, Tudor-street, Wbitefriars, E.C.<br />
Wheeling.—Any articles sent in on subjects suitable for<br />
the columns of Wheeling will be considered on their<br />
merits, but we wish it to be distinctly understood that<br />
contributions will not be paid for unless remuneration has<br />
been stipulated for and arranged in advance. Rejected<br />
MS. will be returned when stamped addressed envelope is<br />
forwarded.<br />
Wheels.—The Editor will be pleased to consider snch<br />
literary contributions and sketches as may be sent him,<br />
and to pay for such as are accepted. All MSS. should be<br />
typewritten. While not holding himself responsible for<br />
the safety of anything submitted, every effort will be<br />
made to promptly return rejected matter, provided that<br />
sufficient stamps be enclosed to cover the postage.<br />
Woman's Signal. — All communications intended for<br />
insertion must be written on one side only of the paper,<br />
and the writer's name and address must be given, not<br />
necessarily for publication. The Editor cannot answer<br />
correspondents privately, except on the business of the<br />
paper strictly. H a stamped and addressed wrapper be<br />
attached to a manuscript offered for publication, it will<br />
be returned if declined; but the Editor oannot be respon-<br />
sible for the accidental loss of manuscripts, and any not<br />
accompanied by a wrapper for return will be destroyed if<br />
unaccepted. Space being limited, and many manusoripts<br />
offered, the Editor begs respectfully to intimate that an<br />
article being declined does not necessarily imply that it<br />
i* not considered an excellent composition.<br />
MR. ASQUITH ON CRITICISM.<br />
THE Eight Hon. H. H. Asquith delivered the<br />
annual address to the students of the<br />
London Society for the Extension of Uni-<br />
versity Teaching on the 23rd ult., in the Mansion<br />
House, Lord Mayor Davies presiding. Prefacing<br />
his lecture by remarking that the number of<br />
students assembled there was a refutation of the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 320 (#770) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
fears of those who doubted whether it were pos-<br />
sible to transplant into London soil the methods<br />
of our ancient Universities, Mr. Asquith asked<br />
them, upon the threshold, to disabuse their<br />
minds of one or two misleading or narrow asso-<br />
ciations which had grown around the term " criti-<br />
cism" in popular thought and speech. It was, of<br />
course, true that there had been eminent men in<br />
whom their own want of success in the sphere of<br />
action or production had at once stimulated and<br />
soured the critical faculty. But it was not in<br />
that dwarfed and distorted sense they used the<br />
word. Denigration, whether it sprang from baffled<br />
rivalry, from a morose and cynical temper, or from<br />
honest shortsightedness—often amused, was some-<br />
times useful, might now and then, in the hands of<br />
a writer like Junius, exhibit some of the highest<br />
qualities of literary art; but it was not criticism,<br />
No antithesis was commoner than that between<br />
criticism and construction. A great artist might<br />
be incapable of criticism, and a good critic might<br />
be incapable of creation. But neither in the<br />
individual nor in the generations of men did the<br />
one set of gifts exclude the other. Criticism, in<br />
the true sense, had a positive, as well as a<br />
negative function. By discriminating between<br />
that which is true and false, between good and<br />
bad art, between reality and imposture, by deter-<br />
mining between the ephemeral idols of fashion<br />
and recalling the wandering thought to the<br />
worship of true beauty and greatness, it became<br />
a vitalising and energising principle. It per-<br />
formed the double duty of solvent and stimulant.<br />
There was no emptier fallacy than to suppose<br />
that criticism was merely a form of intellectual<br />
gymnastics, or the business of second-rate minds.<br />
"The business of criticism," as Matthew Arnold<br />
says, "is to know the best that is known and<br />
thought in the world, by, in its turn, making this<br />
known to create a current of fresh ideas." Like<br />
every other form of intellectual activity, it might<br />
be specialised withiu the confines of a definite<br />
subject matter. So it was, for instance, in the<br />
textual criticism of literature, and in the aesthetic<br />
criticism of the arts. Both had at various times<br />
fascinated and absorbed the best intellects of<br />
the race. The Stephenses, the Scaligers, the<br />
Casaubons were but the most conspicuous figures<br />
in a huge army of confessors and martyrs to a<br />
new literary faith, the rank and file of which<br />
had been depicted with incomparable fidelity and<br />
pathos in Browning's "Grammarian's Funeral."<br />
The science of textual criticism was constantly<br />
annexing new territories, and developing wider<br />
and more penetrating methods; and in its appli-<br />
cation to sacred literature, and to the slowly<br />
deciphered records of the great religions and<br />
civilisations of the East, it had achieved in our<br />
own time some of its most memorable results.<br />
The blunders of great critics woiild be a fascinating<br />
subject in the hands of Mr. Leslie Stephen or<br />
Mr. Birrell. Not only Johnson, but Richardson<br />
and Goldsmith failed to see anything in *' Tristram<br />
Shandy "; and Scott, after his "Lady of the<br />
Lake" had been pubbshed, said that Joanna<br />
Baillie was the great poet of the century. Other<br />
examples were frequent. Mr. Asquith concluded<br />
by advising the students to study great models<br />
like Shakespeare, on whose anniversary they had<br />
met, and then to "work at the smithy " them-<br />
selves, and not to form judgments by the modern<br />
and vulgar rule of payment by results,<br />
-»«3<br />
PERSONAL.<br />
ABOUT ,£40 has so far been raised for the<br />
purpose of erecting a memorial in Wooton<br />
Waven Church to William Somerville, the<br />
author of "The Chace." Among the subscribers<br />
are Lord Rosebery, Lord Tarborough, Lord<br />
Leigh, and Sir Walter Gilbey.<br />
The committee in charge of the proposed<br />
memorial in Liverpool to Mrs. Hemans have<br />
decided to keep the subscription list open until<br />
June 30, and they invite half-crown and shilling<br />
subscriptions from admirers of the poet who may<br />
be unable to give more. The honorary treasurer<br />
of the fund is Mr. Theodore Brown, 26, Exchange-<br />
street East, Liverpool. Nearly £100 has been,<br />
subscribed.<br />
Mr. Oswald Crawfurd is to be literary editor,<br />
and Mr. Edwin Obver general editor, of a weekly<br />
review on the lines of the late National Observer,<br />
which is about to be issued, price one penny, and<br />
entitled the London Review.<br />
Replying to the toast of "The Visitors" at<br />
the 17th annual dinner of the Press Club,<br />
presided over by Mr. John Corlett, on the 2nd<br />
ult., Mr. Anthony Hope referred to the law of<br />
libel. It seemed to him that there was much<br />
necessity for amendment of the law directed<br />
towards the prevention of frivolous and black-<br />
mailing actions against newspapers, but at the<br />
same time it was of great importance that they<br />
should take pains to show that they did not wish<br />
for any weakening of the law of libel, for only<br />
where there was a firm administration of that<br />
law was importance attached to what the Press<br />
might say. With regard to the department<br />
called Criticism, speaking for those very hand-<br />
maids of Uterature, writers of stories to amuse<br />
idle hours, he could say that many depended upon<br />
the Press, because it was in their power, in the<br />
beginning at all events, to give to the young<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 321 (#771) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
321<br />
writer a start or to prevent him having a "fair<br />
show." He was not going to say that the reviews<br />
were always absolutely right, but real pains was<br />
given to the work, and he met constantly young<br />
writers who had found in the reviews an incen-<br />
tive and a new power to them to pursue the<br />
career in which they had set out.<br />
In connection witli the National Burns Memo-<br />
rial and Cottage Home, Mauchline, Ayrshire,<br />
a Scottish gentleman resident in England has<br />
offered to give <£ioo to help to complete the<br />
endowment, provided a few more can be got to do<br />
likewise before the Home is opened on May 7.<br />
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.<br />
Quem Dkus Vult Pkbderb, Pbius Dementat.<br />
IEXTRACT the following from the letter of<br />
a learned friend. According to some this<br />
saying is a free paraphrase of a passage in<br />
Sophocles' Antigone, 632-5, which runs:<br />
Thanks to somebody'a wisdom, a famous mot has been<br />
published, viz.: "That bad appears good to him whose wits<br />
God rains."<br />
Joshua Barnes, Professor of Greek at Cam-<br />
bridge, published in 1694 an edition of Euripides,<br />
including the Fragments, among which he gives<br />
one with this literal Latin version:<br />
At quando Numen miserias paret viro<br />
Mens laeaa primnm.<br />
In his first index, Barne3 refers to the frag-<br />
ment under the heading, "Deus quos vult<br />
perdere, dementat prius," its first appearance in<br />
England.<br />
Boissonade, a Frenchman, altered this, so as to<br />
make an iambic, into<br />
Quos vult Jupiter perdere dementat prius.<br />
From the fact of its usually appearing in the<br />
latter form, it probably came to be regarded as<br />
an old Latin iambic, which it is not. For one<br />
thing, it would not contain the word "dementat,"<br />
which is d'une tret petite latinite', and occurs<br />
only in Lactantius, tenth century.<br />
The above seems to be the most likely origin.<br />
Malone, in a note on BoswelPs Johnson, anent<br />
"Quem Deus," says : "Perhaps no scrap of Latin<br />
whatever has been more often quoted than this.<br />
The word ' demento' is of no authority. After a<br />
long search, some gentlemen of Cambridge found<br />
it among the fragments of Euripides, where it is<br />
given as the translation of a Greek iambic:<br />
"ov 0£os 61\a. ajroAccmi irpioTa uiro<f>pcvai."<br />
â– But (1) this is not an iambic; (2) there is no<br />
word diro<f>pcvai in Greek, or anything like it;<br />
(3; nobody has, from that day to this, been able<br />
to discover this particular fragment, which " the<br />
gentlemen of Cambridge" grubbed up.<br />
Faute de mieuu; the Barnes explanation seems<br />
to be the best. S. G.<br />
H I may be allowed from mere memory to<br />
answer your correspondent "Querist," the line<br />
"Quem Deus vult perdere, prius dementat" was<br />
the subject of a rather prolonged correspondence<br />
in the early times of Xotes and Queries, perhaps<br />
in the fifties; and the line was discovered in a<br />
Latin translation from some Greek tragedian,<br />
indeed, I think it was in Barnes's Euripides.<br />
J. Earle.<br />
Oxford, April 6.<br />
CORRESPONDENCE.<br />
I.—The Roxbttkghe Peess, Limited.<br />
IN December last, as the outcome of correspon-<br />
dence with the above-named firm of pub-<br />
lishers, formerly of 15, Victoria-street, West-<br />
minster, I forwarded to this address two MSS., one<br />
of which was returned me in January, whilst the<br />
second was, as stated in a letter from the manager,<br />
retained " for further consideration." Not hearing<br />
anything concerning the fate of the second MS., I<br />
made it my business when I was in town to call<br />
at the ofiices and see the manager, who went under<br />
the name of Mr. Charles F. Rideal. I did not<br />
see the manager, but I interviewed a man in<br />
possession of the furniture, and I think I may<br />
say that I saw about the last of the furniture<br />
before it came under the hammer. The man in<br />
possession could give me no idea as to the where-<br />
abouts of the manager, or as to the possessor of<br />
my MS. As there are doubtless numerous pro-<br />
vincial authors in a bke situation to myself, you<br />
would be doing a number of persons a service if<br />
you could give us some idea as to how to proceed<br />
with a view of recovering what, if not seen again,<br />
would represent heavy losses to many struggling<br />
authors. Provincial.<br />
April 16. __=_=^__<br />
II.—No Copyright in Titles.<br />
I recently had occasion to offer a mild remons-<br />
trance against the employment of a title which<br />
clashed with one already chosen by myself for a<br />
short tale. A record of my efforts and ill-success<br />
to establish a claim to what I fondly imagined to<br />
be my own property may not be without interest<br />
to writers.<br />
The moment the usurping name was advertised<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 322 (#772) ############################################<br />
<br />
322<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
I wrote to the publishers calling their attention to<br />
the fact. Their reply was that, as the work had<br />
been sent out for review, they were sorry to<br />
say nothing could be done. They added that as<br />
my story was not issued in book-form, and was<br />
some years old, I was not likely to be " injuriously<br />
affected" by the coincidence. This was, no<br />
doubt, perfectly true. But it did not appear<br />
to me to weaken my case, and I was bold<br />
enough to repeat the belief that I might, if so<br />
minded, enforce a withdrawal of the name. Sub-<br />
sequently I was told how it was " impossible " to<br />
prevent the use on a book of a title which had<br />
been previously appropriated for a short tale.<br />
The firm also remarked that it "would be glad to<br />
think otherwise," but there really appeared to be<br />
"no copyright in titles." Alas, this seems to be<br />
so, and I must perforce bow my head in uncon-<br />
vinced submission.<br />
It is hard lines, all the same. I cannot but<br />
think some scheme might be devised whereby the<br />
most difficult and important choice of a title<br />
should be secured to its creator, say by registra-<br />
tion or affidavit upon full, or even part, comple-<br />
tion of MSS. Perhaps some fellow-sufferer of<br />
the goosequill can indicate a plan which would<br />
spare novelists much repining?<br />
Cecil Clarke.<br />
Authors' Club, S.W., April 16.<br />
[The plan is quite simple. It is to place the<br />
matter, if any injury has been sustained, in the<br />
hands of a solicitor-—or the Secretary of the<br />
Society.—Ed.]<br />
III.—A Warning to Writers.<br />
May I draw your attention to the following<br />
facts as a warning to English writers? Last<br />
year a letter, typed on paper with the words<br />
"New York Herald, New York," printed on<br />
it, and purporting to come from one "Wallace<br />
Wood," on behalf of the Herald, was received<br />
by a friend of mine. It asked him to do a piece<br />
of literary work for the "Herald's Symposium<br />
on the World's Best Poetry." He did this<br />
piece of work, and sent it to "Wallace Wood,<br />
the New York Herald, New York." No reply<br />
was received, and, of course, no remittance.<br />
He then made inquiries at the Herald office<br />
through a respectable American solicitor, who<br />
writes him: "I saw the editor, who told me<br />
that the Herald had never had such work in<br />
mind, and that Mr. Wallace Wood must be<br />
one of the many swindlers who have used<br />
their (the New York Herald's) name in this<br />
manner."<br />
In justice to the New York Herald, and as a<br />
warning against " Mr. W. Wood" and others of<br />
his kidney, I beg you to print this letter in The<br />
Author. P. York Powell.<br />
Oriel College, Oxford,<br />
April 4, 1898.<br />
The New York Herald, New York,<br />
May 1.<br />
Dear Sib,—Would you kindly join the Herald Sym-<br />
posium on "The World's Beat Poetry" or the "Hundred<br />
Finest Poems" by mentioning the names of from six to<br />
twelve short poems in the Spanish language which you<br />
would consider as of the highest excellence, worthy to be<br />
regarded as classic and standard, or of best value to<br />
humanity, together with such criticism or suggestion (one<br />
to two hundred words) as may occur to you.<br />
Copies of this letter are sent to scholars of universities<br />
throughout the world.<br />
Very sincerely yours,<br />
Wallace Wood.<br />
IV.—' The Literary Year-Book, 1898."<br />
I regret to agree with you as to this work.<br />
It is a pity; for a really good book of the kind<br />
is much needed and would certainly pay. The<br />
Directory of Authors, oddly enough, reminds us<br />
of John Wesley's heaven: we find many welcomed<br />
therein whom we should have expected to see<br />
excluded; while several authors of repute are<br />
conspicuous by reason of their absence.<br />
But, whatever may be the errors of the editor,<br />
Mr. Joseph Jacobs, excess of politeness is not one<br />
of them. My name and address were given in the<br />
"Year-Book" for 1897, but are unaccountably<br />
omitted in that for the present year. I wrote a<br />
courteous note inquiring the reason, but have not<br />
beeu favoured with a reply. Now, I am a bond<br />
fide author, have published a book, and contri-<br />
bute to some dozen magazines, &c. I cannot,<br />
therefore, see why my name should be removed<br />
from the Directory by Mr. Joseph Jacobs.<br />
Scriptor Quidam.<br />
V.—Editors and Contributors.<br />
1.<br />
I notice in your latest issue that you give an<br />
excerpt from and comments upon an article in<br />
last month's National Revieto on this vexed<br />
question. This article I have not read in its<br />
entirety, though I have read about it and extracts<br />
from it, because the National is not taken in the<br />
public library here, and it is too expensive, alas,<br />
for me to buy. I do not know, therefore, whether<br />
the writer has touched on two phases of the<br />
question which to me seem very important, and<br />
the latter of which I do not remember to have<br />
ever seen dealt with. (1) The inordinate time<br />
MSS. are often kept (a) before being returned<br />
rejected, (6) before, if accepted, being inserted,<br />
no notice too generally being given in latter case.<br />
In regard to "a," the great grievance here is<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 323 (#773) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
323<br />
when the article is in any way topical or dep in-<br />
dent for its interest on a subject of passing<br />
moment. But even if otherwise, if not wanted it<br />
should be returned as quickly as possible, and in<br />
as cleanly and respectable a condition as sent;<br />
unfortunately only too necessary a provision this<br />
latter. In the case of "b," I have known an<br />
editor accept an article, hoard it up for months,<br />
and then insert it in a more or less truncated<br />
state, without consulting the author in the matter<br />
at all. Often this latter gentleman is impaled<br />
upon the horns of a dilemma. He may badly<br />
want his article inserted without delay, but if he<br />
writes to an editor who has had it in his pos-<br />
session some time, with a request to that effect,<br />
the possibility is that he will have his work re-<br />
turned upon his hands, and perchance be unable<br />
to sell it elsewhere. It is dangerous for a<br />
struggling outsider in journalism to exchange<br />
any certainty for an uncertainty. The only thing<br />
is to write to the editor a polite note, taking it for<br />
granted that he has accepted the piece, and asking<br />
when he will insert it. This letter though may be<br />
ignored, or simply have the effect of a request<br />
for a return of the MS. Editors could put good<br />
MSS. from outsiders in much quicker if they<br />
liked. The fact is they keep such in reserve<br />
while they try on that patient dog, the British<br />
public, a lot of rotten, stodgy, inept stuff, not worth<br />
the paper it is printed on, much of it "lifted."<br />
That I have had some personal experience of<br />
this matter you may gauge from the following:<br />
I submitted to a certain editor, the editor of a<br />
weekly paper, with stamped addressed envelopes,<br />
in 1896, a story and article, which have never<br />
been returned me and never used. I have been<br />
frequently in communication with this editor<br />
since (a very decent fellow as his tribe goes), and<br />
he has used a certain quantity of my work, more<br />
or less, as I would have desired it; but though I<br />
have constantly referred to this tale and article, I<br />
have never learnt anything about their fate, and<br />
here we are approaching the middle of 1898.<br />
Am I too impatient? I may say other pieces<br />
have been kept from ten months downward in<br />
the same quarter. And I badly want the money<br />
for them—there is, of course, no payment until<br />
insertion; yet I dare not ask for them back, in<br />
case I should not be able to dispose of them else-<br />
where. The most I can do is to hint that I think<br />
it time some at least of them were used.<br />
Now, as to grievance (2), namely, the habit<br />
which most editors have of not sending proofs of<br />
articles where at any rate such articles are short,<br />
their idea being that they can fully supply any<br />
deficiencies in such pieces. But my experience is<br />
that they cannot — that they leave in errors that<br />
the writers themselves would certainly correct in<br />
proof, that they never attempt to bridge over<br />
hiatuses or prune real redundancies or super-<br />
fluities. Perhaps this is because most editors<br />
are careless as to the symmetry and technique of<br />
an article, which is to every decent writer all<br />
important, especially if his name is brought into<br />
connection with it. Would you believe it, that<br />
an editor once allowed me to make a most common<br />
quotation from Moliere and mis-ascribe it, while<br />
he passed my reference to a dean as " the rev."<br />
without any " very "? These poor fellows! Of<br />
course they do not know, but why do not they<br />
send us proofs and allow us to protect our work,<br />
particularly as I have found they regard an<br />
author who sends in suggestions, subsequent to<br />
submitting his article, for emendations and<br />
amplifications of it, as a nuisance. And worse,<br />
do not act on such. Expeeto Ceede.<br />
II.<br />
May I, through the medium of your columns,<br />
call the attention of divers editors to a grievance<br />
that I and other occasional contributors to their<br />
pages have to suffer through the lack of a little<br />
thoughtfulness on their part. I refer to the un-<br />
necessary mutilation of inoffensive MSS. When,<br />
to have MSS. typed costs about is. a thousand<br />
words, or, say, 5 per cent, of the author's receipts,<br />
it is, I consider, somewhat wanton of the powers<br />
that be to tear off the front and end pages, write<br />
in pencil the approximate length as measured by<br />
their own columns on the body of the MS., and<br />
then, after a few weeks have elapsed, return the<br />
remnants—sans clip, saw cover, sans an apology.<br />
Then, with regard to the editors and proprietors<br />
of journals published in the United States, I<br />
would ask if it would not be possible to induce<br />
them to copyright their productions in England,<br />
or otherwise protect them from the scissors of a<br />
certain class of their English brethren. The great<br />
popularity of the article made in the States,<br />
though conducive to large dividends for English<br />
shareholders, is a distinct hardship on the<br />
struggling native author, whose pen remains idle<br />
while that of the editor of the 20 per cent, paying<br />
journal fiercely splutters as he feverishly alters<br />
countless "Chicagos," innumerable "Illinois,"<br />
and multitudinous "Maines" into his beloved<br />
"Cottonopolis," "One of the Midland Counties,"<br />
or " A well-known seaside resort."<br />
An Unofficial Receiver—of<br />
Editorial Regrets.<br />
hi.<br />
"Don't take to literature if you've capital<br />
enough to buy a good broom, and energy enough<br />
to annex a vacant crossing," is the advice of Mr.<br />
Grant Allen.<br />
Pessimistic as it may appear, its truth will not<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 324 (#774) ############################################<br />
<br />
324<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
•be contested by those who, devoid alike of pecu-<br />
niary and social influence, have striven to make<br />
headway in the profession for which their natural<br />
qualifications fit them.<br />
It cannot be denied that the position of an<br />
unknown literary producer with regard to the<br />
man who employs or rejects his services is<br />
humiliating in the extreme.<br />
The dealer to whom he takes his wares may<br />
detain them unconscionably, use them at his own<br />
price, nay, even destroy them, without compunc-<br />
tion.<br />
Until the productions of writers, of what con-<br />
dition whatsoever, are recognised both by law and<br />
public opinion as property that cannot be stolen,<br />
under-valued, or contemptuously handled without<br />
.incurring punishment; until the entire literary<br />
community, and not merely the acknowledged<br />
leaders of it, are accepted as a body of labourers<br />
worthy of their hire, the advice of Mr. Grant<br />
Allen will continue to be sound. The heads of<br />
the literary profession are in positions to enforce<br />
fair play; there are, also, publishers and<br />
editors who value their own credit too highly<br />
to take advantage of a writer's obscurity or<br />
ignorance.<br />
But as one of the rank and file, I am almost<br />
daily brought face to face with abuses that do not<br />
perhaps affect the leaders. There can never be<br />
anything businesslike and satisfactory in literary<br />
pursuits until the following obstacles are finally<br />
surmounted:<br />
1. Delays in considering MSS.—I have had a<br />
manuscript under consideration nine months; and<br />
frequently pass three, in speculating as to the<br />
probabilities of ever beholding it again.<br />
2. Delays in payment.—Here, again, the<br />
bewildered novice has just cause for outcry,<br />
seeing that while one editor pays on publication,<br />
another will postpone settlement until the poor<br />
author has given up hopes of ever receiving his<br />
due.<br />
3. Unequal remuneration.—Why should one<br />
editor offer a guinea a column where another<br />
stops at five shillings for the same article?<br />
With regard to obstacle 1, every editor should<br />
be compelled to return rejected MSS. within the<br />
month, or pay for it at recognised rates. Other-<br />
wise how is the author to know with any degree<br />
of certainty when he is at liberty to offer the work<br />
elsewhere; and how is he to calculate his income<br />
when he has no means of judging what his MSS.<br />
are worth? The editor who keeps a MS. nine<br />
months before publishing it, and only pays after<br />
publication, as compared with the editor who<br />
ju-cepts the MS. and pays for it within the month<br />
though not publishing it for nine months, robs<br />
the author of eight months' interest.<br />
2. With regard to obstacle 2, then, there should<br />
be a fixed regulation dealing with the question of<br />
settling up. Payment on publication means<br />
nothing; since publication may not be till six<br />
seven, eight, nine, or even more months after<br />
acceptation. The only system of treating the<br />
author fairly in this case seems to me that,<br />
should his MS. be kept long enough to imply<br />
acceptation, it should be paid for within a stipu-<br />
lated time dating from its receipt.<br />
3. As regards unequal remuneration. There is<br />
this to be said. If a journtl cannot afford to<br />
remunerate its contributors at a legitimate rate,<br />
it is on a level with the bogus theatrical company<br />
and the absconding manager, and should be<br />
smashed up. Shopkeepers, manufacturers, men<br />
of business, in a large way or a small, making<br />
money or losing it, must pay their staff ordinary<br />
salaries. Their own profit his nothing to do<br />
with the case. Innumerable journalistic specu-<br />
lators, like the bogus theatrical manager, com-<br />
mence operations without capital. Should their<br />
venture succeed, it is probable they will pay<br />
contributors. Should it fail, as it invariably<br />
does, contributors are the last to be considered.<br />
Other ventures linger out a miserable existence,<br />
stealing " copy" where they can, paying ridicu-<br />
lous trifles when obliged to cash out something.<br />
Trade conducted on such principles is fraudulent;<br />
and there are scores of periodicals that, so far as<br />
minor authors a<e concerned, simply live by<br />
fraud. By compelling editors to return or pay<br />
for MSS. within a certain fixed time these<br />
swindlers would be circumvented.<br />
Should it be argued that the literary staff of a<br />
journal is not large enough to cope with the<br />
amount of unsolicited contributions forwarded<br />
within the time specified, I answer simply such<br />
literary staff requires enlarging. Bankers, mer-<br />
chants, shopkeepers, tradesmen, and professional<br />
men generally, are forced to maintain a staff in<br />
accordance with their requirements. It is only<br />
newsj>aper and magazine proprietors who are<br />
allowed to "sweat" their literary employes<br />
without remonstrance. An editor whose time is<br />
insufficient to permit of his conscientiously read-<br />
ing his MSS. and dealing with them promptly, is<br />
no credit to the firm for whom he works.<br />
At the present moment, and in spite of the<br />
efforts of the Society of Authors—which will, I<br />
hope, be the instrument of effecting great and<br />
permanent benefit to the profession of letters—a<br />
class of labourers perhaps the most enlightened,<br />
industrious, and patient, in existence, suffers<br />
indignities, wrongs, and scandalous treatment<br />
such as the most ignorant, idle, and unruly<br />
member of a trades union would resent quickly<br />
and fiercely.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 325 (#775) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
325<br />
I write as an author; but I am not incapable<br />
of entering into the views of the editor. I have<br />
occupied the editorial cbair; but not, I sincerely<br />
trust, with the supercilious self-sufficiency and<br />
blind disregard both of businesslike and courteous<br />
treatment so many editors display in their deal-<br />
ings with contributors. Contributors, even un-<br />
solicited contributors, are not beggars. Is it not<br />
high time editors, simple and wise, just and<br />
unjust, honest and dishonest, were forced to<br />
acknowledge this little fact?<br />
Hebbebt W. Smith.<br />
VI.—The Publishee's Assistant.<br />
A few days ago I received a (written) letter<br />
from the offices of a well-known publisher herald-<br />
ing the return of a manuscript, and I am loth to<br />
allow that letter to perish altogether unnoticed.<br />
It was brief, but it contained sufficient cause of<br />
offence. In it I was addressed as "Dear," plain<br />
and simple, without the distinction of a name,<br />
while that of my book was incorrectly given,<br />
and the whole not considered worthy of signa-<br />
ture.<br />
Now, I am not an absolute beginner, and,<br />
although I had had no previous dealings with the<br />
firm in question, I corresponded with them on<br />
the subject of my story before giving them the<br />
first refusal. They retained it from January until<br />
March, and it occurs to me that if ten weeks were<br />
required for its perusal, ten minutes might have<br />
been allowed for the writing of a civil letter; the<br />
one which I received would have been returned<br />
without comment but for the probability of its<br />
falling into the hands of the writer.<br />
I have no doubt the publisher's assistant is<br />
responsible for such cases, for the heads of the<br />
great firms are invariably courteous in personal<br />
dealings (or such, at least, has been my experi-<br />
ence). But there seems no sufficient reason that<br />
the disheartening experiences of young writers<br />
should be aggravated by insolence of the typo<br />
referred to, and I wish that the numerous pub-<br />
lishers who evidently read The Author would<br />
give the matter their consideration. E. K. S.<br />
LITEEATUEE IN THE PEEIODICALS.<br />
Unmabketableness of Vebse.—An Author's<br />
Confession.—The Eelioious Novel.—The<br />
Teaching of English.<br />
"T1THY is verse not read?" is the ques-<br />
Y V tion propounded by the Daily News<br />
(April 18), and left unanswered. The<br />
journal is reviewing a volume of poems, and<br />
contrasts the popularity of fiction with the un-<br />
marketableness of verse. Mr, Henley is the<br />
author in question, and he has stated, in explana-<br />
tion of this volume being all that he has to show<br />
in the matter of verse for the years between 1873<br />
and 1897, that, "after spending the better part<br />
of my life in the pursuit of poetry, I found myself<br />
(about 1877) so utterly unmarketable that I had<br />
to own myself beaten in art, and to addict myself<br />
to journalism for the next ten years." His case,<br />
says the Daily News, stands for many more, and<br />
"if work of this quality had appeared in prose it<br />
could never have gone begging." True, Mr.<br />
Henley's publisher rejoins tbat sales have been<br />
not so very bad, and two correspondents suggest<br />
that the subjects treated are fitted rather for<br />
prose treatment. But to our contemporary it<br />
appears an inevitable conclusion that editors<br />
know that readers no longer care for poetry. It<br />
suggests that we may be going through some<br />
process of decisive change in literary forms. At<br />
any rate, "there is more verse than ever nowa-<br />
days," and "there is less acceptance for it than<br />
ever."<br />
A disappointed author (though not a poet)<br />
makes a statement of his experiences in the<br />
April pages of the New Century Review, by way<br />
of bidding farewell to literature. "Julian<br />
Croskey," the pseudonym under which this<br />
gentleman has appeared in authorship, adopted<br />
the literary profession deliberately as a means to<br />
an end. He had been in the Chinese Customs<br />
service, and attempted to raise a rebellion, for<br />
which he was sent to prison on being handed over<br />
to the British Government. He next conceived<br />
the idea of raising a party of gentlemen to adven-<br />
ture into China and exploit the country. To<br />
secure the gentlemen confederates he must get<br />
into society. To get into society he determined<br />
upon authorship. In three months he wrote<br />
twenty-six magazine articles and two books;<br />
starvation, fever, and isolation then brought<br />
him to the London Hospital. Coming out of<br />
hospital, he next borrowed .£50, took a small room<br />
near Hampstead Heath, living on tinned meat<br />
and opium, and, although " full of creativeness,"<br />
wasted a year "in what I thought the more<br />
important duty, the composition of my bible and<br />
military scheme of conquest." This over, he<br />
began to send out his slum work, placed three or<br />
four articles, two tales, and a book. His agree-<br />
ment with the publisher specified two or three<br />
other books which he was to supply, " so that if I<br />
had taken to literature then I should at once have<br />
been launched. I, however, neglected my part of<br />
the agreement, and. let my opportunity slide." In<br />
the following year he sent out his military book.<br />
Publishers admired it, and said it would not pay;<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 326 (#776) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
one firm offered to accept it if the author would<br />
bear part of the cost. "I consequently withdrew<br />
it," says the author, "feeling that it would be<br />
time enough to publish it when I had made my<br />
entree into society by fiction. This was on a par<br />
with the rest of my folly, for the book is now<br />
useless, as my heart is no longer in its tenets."<br />
Another book—of "recollections "—was to be<br />
accepted if he would tone down its style. He did<br />
not tone down the style, and therefore let that<br />
opportunity also go by, but he acknowledges now<br />
(being older) that the style was abominable. He<br />
was prepared to make good use of his third year,<br />
when a catastrophe happened. He accepted a<br />
clerkship, at the instigation of his people, who<br />
insisted on his earning a "reasonable living,"<br />
and took pains to secure him a berth. From<br />
Hampstead Heath he migrated to Blooms-<br />
bury, and after office hours he worked at a<br />
piratical novel. He sent the first part to a<br />
publisher, who said it was too realistic for a<br />
"boy's book." "Boy's book" being too much<br />
for the author, he never sent the publisher the<br />
remainder, "and when the book was finished I<br />
had lost confidence, and was afraid it was far too<br />
audacious." Its fate afterwards was, being cut<br />
up into magazine stories, while books on the<br />
same lines had been appearing in the meantime<br />
and meeting with success. He gave up his clerk-<br />
ship, determined to face poverty and work again;<br />
and "from the spring of '95 onward," he says,<br />
"I have drifted from my ambitions and knocked<br />
myself to pieces." Still, he placed another book,<br />
and articles, earning ,£70 during 1896. Among<br />
his misfortunes was writing the first of a series<br />
of detective stories for a new magazine, and the<br />
magazine never appeared; sending illustrations<br />
to a magazine and getting his article back with-<br />
out them. He changed his pseudonym; he<br />
changed his address; he did not read magazines,<br />
and therefore is still ignorant whether some of<br />
his articles have appeared or not. He placed two<br />
tales with a certain magazine, "neglecting again<br />
a lucrative opening for a series. My opportuni-<br />
ties were excellent for a professional scribbler, but<br />
I would not make it my profession." Here is the<br />
catalogue of some results:—"I believe I have<br />
five tales accepted somewhere which are yet to<br />
appear, but I have burnt my records and cannot<br />
recall them. I have asked one editor if he would<br />
pay me in advance, but have had no reply. I<br />
have absolutely wasted six years. I have wasted,<br />
indeed, the first thirty years of my life." And<br />
the moral of it? This: "if you would succeed<br />
as an author, be one and nothing else. If you<br />
can beg, borrow, or steal as much as .£50 a year,<br />
cut yourself off from everything and write."<br />
A member of the Anglican clergy, the Rev.<br />
Anthony Deane, attacks "the whole genus<br />
'Religious Novel' " in the April number of the<br />
National Review. Religion, he contends, should<br />
surely be one of certain subjects which should<br />
still be considered to be outside the novelist's<br />
pale. He cites instances of technical blunders<br />
in description of religious ceremonies, and accuses<br />
"writers of irresponsible fiction " of having cari-<br />
catured the clergy and the ordinances of the<br />
Church, but he appears satisfied that" after alL<br />
no one takes these books very seriously, and they<br />
do not influence, nor are they intended to<br />
influence, the general public's estimation of the<br />
Church in the slightest degree." Mr. Deane<br />
thinks that the legitimate domain of the novel<br />
to-day—that is to say, outside "certain subjects,"<br />
of which religion should be one—is extensive<br />
enough, the limits far wider than those within<br />
which Thackeray and Dickens were content to be<br />
bound:—<br />
If our religion (saya Mr. Deane) is something more than<br />
a vague sentiment, or a hazy aspiration—if it is deep, if it<br />
is real, if it is saored to us—the " religions" novel, in whioh<br />
Biblical narratives are eked out with mawkish sentiment<br />
and glaring vulgarity, in which Divine ordinances are cari-<br />
catured, must needs seem nauseating and disgusting. If,<br />
again, we value the traditions of our literature, if we are<br />
aniiona that its future should be not unworthy of its past,<br />
we cannot but deplore this lowering of the accepted standard<br />
of taste—we cannot but regret that well-known writers, for<br />
the sake of selling gigantic editions, should be ready to<br />
pander to depraved likings, and be prepared, for the sake of<br />
making a sensation, to fling all notions of decency and<br />
reverence to the winds.<br />
The question of teaching historical English<br />
grammar is presented by Mr. Mark H. Liddell in<br />
the Atlantic Monthly as one of paramount neces-<br />
sity if we are to preserve the power of our lan-<br />
guage to formulate our thought aptly, clearly,<br />
and easily. "Our present system of studying<br />
English literature from the standpoint of New<br />
English grammar," he says, "is creating for ua<br />
two languages where but one has existed in the<br />
past—a formal language of literary expression<br />
more or less transcendental, and an informal<br />
language of every-day life, practical, familiar,<br />
simple, direct" :—<br />
In the case of the Bible, the one has already become<br />
a sacerdotal tongue full of anomalies in syntax and idiom,<br />
and set apart as a sacred Bpeech because of its obsolete-<br />
pronouns and outgrown verb forms. The homely speech<br />
of an early Christianity which sought inspiration in the<br />
humblest walks of life has thus beoome artificial, and has<br />
got separated from actual experience. It now stands in<br />
need of a gloss almost as much as the Vulgate did when,<br />
in answer to the homely cry "Givo us the Soriptures,"<br />
Tyndale translated it into the speech of everyday life.<br />
When the historical development of the English<br />
language and literature is once clearly under-<br />
stood, says the writer, this artificial process will<br />
be at an end. It will also lead to a fuller appre-<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 327 (#777) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
ciation of much of our best literature. Mr.<br />
Liddell avers that in a recent imposing book on<br />
the history of English literature which speaks of<br />
the influence of Chaucer's harmonious and scien-<br />
tific versification, there are in the ten lines quoted<br />
five forms of expression that Chaucer could not<br />
have used, two that he did not use, and one that<br />
no writer or speaker of English has ever used.<br />
Says Mr. Liddell: "The critic could not read<br />
inU-lligently the poetry he was criticising—a dis-<br />
qualification which one feels ought to be a serious<br />
one. If the writer had chosen the history of<br />
Greek poetry for his field, he would have been<br />
laughed out of court for such efforts."<br />
BOOK TALE.<br />
MR. HERBERT SPENCER is engaged<br />
revising "Principle* of Biology," and<br />
writing additional chapters for the work.<br />
One of these, entitled "Cell-Life and Cell-<br />
Multiplication," describes the revelations which<br />
late years have witnessed respecting the processes<br />
of cell-division and cell-fertilization. Mr. Spencer<br />
contributes to the May number of Xatural Science<br />
an article on the subject, and prefixes it with a<br />
note in which he says:—" Study of the facts and<br />
hypotheses, as set forth in recent works, have<br />
suggested to me some interpretations which I<br />
have not met with. I have thought it as well to<br />
publish them now: not waiting for completion<br />
of the first volume of the " Principles of Biology ";<br />
as this will be long delayed, even if ill-health<br />
does not prevent completion of it."<br />
Mr. J. Arthur Gibbs has written a volume on<br />
country life in Gloucestershire, which is to be<br />
publishei by Mr. John Murray under the title<br />
•' A Cotswold Village."<br />
Messrs. Duckworth have just ready a volume<br />
of articles by Mr. Norman Hapgood, who con-<br />
tributes the New York Letter to T/ie Author<br />
every month. It is entitled "Literary States-<br />
men and Others," and deals with Lord Rosebery,<br />
Mr. Morley, Mr. Balfour, Mr. Henry James,<br />
Stendhal, Merimce, American art criticism and<br />
American cosmopolitanism.<br />
Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bart., has written a<br />
memoir of the Hon. Sir Charles Murray, K.C.B.,<br />
which will be published by Messrs. Blackwood.<br />
At periods in his long life (1806-1895) Sir<br />
Charles was Master of the Household to the<br />
Queen, Consul-General in Egypt, and Minister at<br />
the Courts of Persia, Saxony, Denmark, and<br />
Portugal. His adherence in 1834-35 to a hunting<br />
"nation" of Pawnee Indian?, in whose lodges he<br />
lived for several months, is another episode in<br />
his interesting career. Many unpublished letters<br />
from Carlyle, Lord Brougham, Samuel Rogers,<br />
Alison, Praser, and others will be given in the<br />
memoir. Sir Charles Murray was at one time a<br />
constant frequenter of the famous breakfasts of<br />
Rogers at 22, St. James's-place.<br />
Mr. H. B. Wheatley, of the Society of Arts, is<br />
the author of a volume on " The Prices of books,"<br />
which will form one of the Library Series pub-<br />
lished by Mr. George Allen.<br />
Sir George Robertson has written a history of<br />
th3 defence of Chitral from the point of view of<br />
those inside the fort. The work, which Messrs.<br />
Methueu will publish, will also give a connected<br />
narrative of all the stirring episodes on the<br />
Chitral frontier in 1895. At the time of the<br />
siege Sir George Robertson was, of course, British<br />
Agent at Gilgit.<br />
The Committee of the Palestine Exploration<br />
Fund will shortly have ready a work by Mr.<br />
Frederick Jones Bliss, Ph.D., explorer to the<br />
fund, entitled " Excavations at Jerusalem, 1894-<br />
1897." Among the ten chapters there will be one<br />
on the chronological bearings of the excavations,<br />
another on the wall from the Protestant cemetery<br />
to the Jewish cemetery, and a third giving a<br />
historical sketch of the Wall of Jerusalem. The<br />
book will contain plans and illustrations by Mr.<br />
Archibald Campbell Dickie, A.R.I.B.A.<br />
Sir Wyke Bayliss will have ready in a few days<br />
his study of the likenesses of Christ. It is to be<br />
called "Rex Regum," and published by Messrs.<br />
Bell.<br />
Mr. Shadworth H. Hodgson, who was formerly<br />
President of the Aristotelian Society, has written<br />
a work, which will run to four volumes, entitled<br />
"The Metaphysic of Experience." It will be<br />
published shortly by Messrs. Longmans, Green,<br />
and Co.<br />
Dr. Robert Munro, F.R.S.E., has written a<br />
volume on Prehistoric Scotland, which will be<br />
published by Messrs. Blackwood in a style<br />
uniform with their County Histories series.<br />
The Diary of Admiral Sir Pulteney Malcolm,<br />
who played chess with Napoleon at St. Helena,<br />
is expected to be published in a few months.<br />
Malcolm, after seeing much service at sea, and<br />
commanding in the North Sea during the<br />
Waterloo campaign, was appointed to the St.<br />
Helena station in 1816 in order to prevent the<br />
prisoner from escaping.<br />
"Interludes" will be the title of a volume of<br />
popular lectures on musical subjects, by the late<br />
Professor Henry Banister, which Messrs. George<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 328 (#778) ############################################<br />
<br />
328<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Bell and Sons will issue shortly. The work has<br />
been edited by Professor Stewart Macpherson,<br />
of the Royal Academy of Music.<br />
The forthcoming volume of the Social England<br />
series, published by Messrs. Sonnenschein, will<br />
be "Life in an Old English Town,'' by Miss M.<br />
Dormer Harris. It deals especially with the<br />
history of Coventry in inediseval times, contains<br />
illustrations taken from old prints and other<br />
sources, and facsimiles of ancient MS8. A short<br />
guide to Coventry will be included.<br />
Mr. Lionel Cust has compiled, and Mr. Sidney<br />
Colvin edited, a history of the Society of Dilettanti,<br />
telling its social life and its antiquarian and<br />
artistic enterprises fr< m 1732 to the present day.<br />
Only 350 copies will be printed, and 100 of these<br />
are reserved fov the members of the society.<br />
Messrs. Macmillan are the publishers.<br />
Dr. Emil Reich's volume on Hungarian litera-<br />
ture is now nearly ready for publication by<br />
Messrs. Jarrold and Sons.<br />
In their series dealing with periods of European<br />
literature, and edited by Professor Saintsbury,<br />
Messrs. Blackwood will shortly issue "The<br />
Augustan Ages," by Oliver Elton; and later,<br />
"The Fourteenth Century," by F. J. Snell.<br />
Other volumes arranged for are "The Dark<br />
Ages," by Professor W. P. Ker; " The Transition<br />
Period," by G. Gregory Smith; "The Mid-<br />
Eighteenth Century," by J. Hepburn Millar;<br />
"The Eomantic Revolt," by Professor C. E.<br />
Vaughan; "The Romantic Triumph," by T. S.<br />
Omond; and " The Later Nineteenth Century,"<br />
by Professor Saintsbury.<br />
A series of essays on Church Reform, edited by<br />
Canon Gore, will be published immediately by<br />
Mr. Murray. Among the contributors are the<br />
Dean of Norwich, whose subject is "Pensions for<br />
the Clergy," Rev. Dr. Fry (" Church Reform and<br />
Social Problems "), Mr. Justice Phillimore<br />
("Legal and Parliamentary Possibilities"), Lord<br />
Balfour of Burleigh ("The Actual Methods of<br />
Self-Government in the Established Church of<br />
Scotland"), Canon Scott-Holland, and Canon<br />
Gore.<br />
An annotated edition of the " Lyrical Ballads"<br />
of Wordsworth and Coleridge, by Mr. Hutchinson,<br />
of Trinity College, Dublin, will be published by<br />
Messrs. Duckworth in this the centenary year of<br />
the original publication of the work.<br />
Mr. Edmund G. Gardner has written a critical<br />
work entitled "Dante's Ten Heavens," which is<br />
intended mainly to serve as an introduction to<br />
the "Paradiso." The author is a Cambridge<br />
man. Messrs. Constable are the publishers.<br />
"The Early Relations between Britain and<br />
Scandinavia" is the title of a work by Dr. Hans<br />
Hildebrand, Royal Antiquary of Sweden, to be<br />
issued by Messrs. Blackwood. It consists of the<br />
Rhind Lectures in Archaeology for 1896.<br />
Mrs. Meynell and Mr. William Hyde are joint-<br />
authors of an artistic work called "London<br />
Impressious," which Messrs. Constable will issue<br />
shortly. Mr. Hyde is also doing twenty illustra-<br />
tions for Mr. Meredith's " Nature Poems," which<br />
is to appear in the collected edition of Mr. Mere-<br />
dith's works published by the same house.<br />
Mr. Horace Hutchinson, the well-known autho-<br />
rity on golf, has written a gossipy volume on the<br />
pastime, which will be publi.-hed by Messrs.<br />
Methum under the title " The Golfing Pilgrim."<br />
A popularly written work on Cricket by the<br />
Hon R. H. Lyttelton will be published by Messrs.<br />
Duckworth on an early date.<br />
Mr. Pitt Lewis, Q.C., delivered recently in<br />
Middle Temple Hall a historical lecture on the<br />
Temple. It is now about to be published in a<br />
revised and expanded form by Mr. John Long.<br />
A fourth and uniform edition of Mr. James<br />
Baker's well-known West Country story, "By<br />
the Western Sea," will shortly be issued by<br />
Messrs. Chapman an 1 Hall. It appears at an<br />
apropos moment, when so many will be visiting<br />
Lynmouth and its lovely neighbourhood.<br />
Mr. Trevor-Battye's new book, "A Northern<br />
Highway of the Tsar," is due from Messrs.<br />
Constable.<br />
Messrs. Smith, Elder and Co. have begun the<br />
issue of an edition of Thackeray's works with<br />
biographical introductions by his daughter, Mrs.<br />
Ritchie. There will be thirteen volumes, which<br />
will appear at the rate of one per month. Every-<br />
body knows, of course, that Thackeray requested<br />
that his life should not be written; therefore,<br />
what Mrs. Ritchie does is merely in each volume<br />
to give the public little glimpses of the author.<br />
The first is " Vanity Fair," which the publisher<br />
issued on April 15. "I cannot help thinking,"<br />
she remarks, "that although 'Vanity Fair' was<br />
written in 1845 and the following years, it was<br />
really begun in 1817, when the little boy, so<br />
lately come from India, found himself shut in<br />
behind those filagree iron gates at Chiswick, of<br />
which he writes when he describes Miss Pinker-<br />
ton's establishment."<br />
During the publication of the work, Thackeray<br />
wrote as follows to his mother:<br />
Towards the end of the month I get so nervous that I<br />
don't speak to anybody scarcely, and once actually got up<br />
in the middle of the night and came down to write in my<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 329 (#779) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR<br />
329<br />
night chimee; but that don't happen often, and I own that<br />
I had a nap after dinner that day.<br />
And he writes on July 2, 1848:—"'Vanity<br />
Fair' is this instant done, and I have worked so<br />
hard, that I can scarcely hold a pen and say God<br />
bless my dearest old mother." Concerning the<br />
original of Becky Sharp, Mrs. Ritchie only says:<br />
One morning a hansom drove np to the door, and out of<br />
it emerged a most charming, dazzling little lady dressed in<br />
black, who greeted my father with great affection and<br />
brilliancy, and who, departing presently, gave him a large<br />
bunch of fresh violets. This was the only time I ever saw<br />
the fascinating little person who was by many supposed to<br />
be the origin il of Becky; my father only laughed when<br />
people asked him, but he never quite owned to it. He<br />
always said that he never conecioualy oopied anyone.<br />
Novels to be published by Messrs. Macmillan<br />
include "A Philosopher's Romance," by Mr. John<br />
Berwick; "The Concert Director," by Mrs.<br />
Blissett; "The Man of the Family," by Miss<br />
Emily Phillips; "The Forest Lovers," by Mr.<br />
Maurice Hewlett.<br />
New novels by Mrs. W. K. Clifford and Mr.<br />
Edward H. Cooper are in the hands of Messrs.<br />
Duckworth for early publication.<br />
The late Mr. James Payn's novel, " By Proxy,"<br />
is about to be published in a sixpenny edition by<br />
Messrs. Chatto and Windus. The same firm have<br />
acquired the copyright of Mr. Payn's " A Modern<br />
Dick Whittington," and will issue a 3*. 6d. edition<br />
of it.<br />
Theatrical life in London, which has been the<br />
subject of numerous works of late, will also be the<br />
theme of Mr. Leonard Merrick's new novel, "The<br />
Actor Manager," which Mr. Grant Richards will<br />
publish.<br />
"Men, Women, and Things," is the title of a<br />
volume of stories by Mr. F. C. Phillips, which<br />
Messrs. Duckworth are to publish.<br />
Mr. Vincent Brown has written a novel entitled<br />
"Ordeal by Compassion," which Mr. Lane will<br />
publish. The author issued, through Messrs.<br />
Ward and Lock eighteen months ago, a novel<br />
called "My Brother." His new work is a study<br />
of a man who does ill, and finds his punishment<br />
lie in being compassioned.<br />
Sir Courtenay Ilbert is issuing, through the<br />
Oxford University Press, a digest of Indian<br />
statute law up to date. In existing works the<br />
subject is only carried down to the year 1873.<br />
Mr. Sydney J. Murray has written a treatise on<br />
money which aims at giving a popular exposition<br />
of the various technicalities which confront the<br />
investor and the speculator from time to time in<br />
the course of actual transactions. It will be<br />
called "A Popular Manual of Finance," and<br />
published by Messrs. Blackwood.<br />
Lord Farrer, who is of course a monometallist,<br />
is about to issue a voluma entitled "Studies in<br />
Currency."<br />
"Blastus, the King's Cliamberlaiu," one of<br />
Mr. Stead's recent Christmas numbers of the<br />
Review of Reviews, is to be reprinted in the form<br />
of a six-shilling volume and published by Mr.<br />
Grant Richards.<br />
The first number has appeared of the Modern<br />
Quarterly of Language and Literature, edited<br />
by Mr. H. Frank Heath, which is a resuscitation<br />
of the Modem Language Quarterly of last year.<br />
It is published by Messrs. J. M. Dent and Co.,<br />
price half-a-crown. Amongst the articles are<br />
"An Elizabethan MS. Colle -tion: Henry Con-<br />
stable," by Professor DowJen; "Alphonse<br />
Daudet," by Mr. Charles Whibley; "Historical<br />
Notes on the Similies of Dante," bv Professor<br />
W. P. Ker; "The Influencj of Goethe's Italian<br />
Journey upon his Style," by Professor Herford;<br />
and " Erne Niederliindische Paraphrase des Veni<br />
Sancte Spiritus," by Mr. Robert Priebsch. In-<br />
cluding a classified list of recent publications,<br />
the magazine contains ninety pages. Mr. Heath<br />
is assisted by Dr. Braunholtz, Dr. Breul, Mr. I.<br />
GoUancz, Mr. A. "W. Pollard, Professor Walter<br />
Rippmann, and Professor V. Spiers. The frontis-<br />
piece to the number is a portrait of Dr. Furnivall,<br />
who attained his seventy-third birthday on<br />
Feb. 4.<br />
Next July (writes the Naples correspondent of<br />
the Daily News) Signor Crispi will consign to<br />
the English publisher, who has acquired the copy-<br />
right, the MSS. of his memoirs. They form nine<br />
volumes of MS. pages, each volume numbering<br />
400 pages. The first part recounts the polemics<br />
between Mazzini and Cavour, which werj sum-<br />
marised by Crispi for the French journals of the<br />
period. The second part treats of the idea of<br />
unity and the autonomy of Sicily. The third<br />
relates to the disembarkment at Marsala and the<br />
provisional government in Sicily. The other five<br />
parts treat of events from i860 upwards. There<br />
will be a special portion dedicated to the part<br />
Crispi had in the Triple Alliance.<br />
In view of his pulpit Jubilee, Messrs. Horace<br />
Marshall and Son are publishing, under the general<br />
title of " Studies in Text," six volumes, by Dr.<br />
Joseph Parker, of the City Temple. The first<br />
volume is now ready.<br />
Another kind of book by the same author is in<br />
the press, and will be published at once by Messrs.<br />
Hurst and Blackett. The title is "Christian<br />
Profiles in a Pagan Mirror." A pagan lady<br />
visits England for the purpose of discovering<br />
what Christians believe, what they do, and<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 330 (#780) ############################################<br />
<br />
33°<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
•wherein they differ from other people. This<br />
book is her report.<br />
Mr. Charles Bright's work on "Submarine<br />
Telegraphs," their history, construction, and<br />
working, will be published on May 2. It will<br />
appear in one volume, super royal 8vo., 780 pages,<br />
with a good number of plates and maps. The<br />
publishers are Crosby Lockwood and Co.<br />
Mr. Bloundelle-Burton's new novel entitled<br />
"Across the Salt Seas " was published by Methuen<br />
and Co. on March 21 last.<br />
In her "Reminiscences," just issued by Mr.<br />
Redway, Miss Betham-Edwards, poet, novelist,<br />
and writer on French rural life, glances back<br />
through sixty years, and gives a racy account of<br />
England in "the good old times," and records<br />
her life in France and Germany. She has been<br />
the confidante of George Eliot and the friend of<br />
Listz, to mention only two of the celebrities.<br />
Mrs. Eentoul Esler's new book has just been<br />
published by Mr. John Long, of 6, Chandos-<br />
street, Strand. It tells how the old Edenic theme,<br />
"It is not good that man should be alone," was<br />
treated in ten modern instances. The book is<br />
entitled "Youth at the Prow."<br />
The biography of the late Bishop of Wake-<br />
field, Dr. Walsham How, is being written by<br />
his son, Mr. F. D. How, and will probably be<br />
ready, at Messrs. Isbister's, early in the autumn.<br />
Dr. C. Harford Battersby is writing a biography<br />
of Mr. Pilkington, of Uganda, which will be pub-<br />
lished immediately by Messrs. Marshall Bros.<br />
One of the most interesting questions to politi-<br />
cians is the relations between the Indian Govern-<br />
ment and the tribes on the North-West and<br />
Western frontiers of India, from Chitral to<br />
Baluchistan. It is the subject of a forthcoming<br />
work entitled "War and Policy on the Indian<br />
Frontier," by Mr. Stephen Wheeler, who wrote<br />
the volume on the Ameer in the "Public Men of<br />
To-day" series. He will sketch the history of the<br />
tribes, and give an account of the military expedi-<br />
tions which have been necessary; geography and<br />
ethnology will also be dealt with.<br />
Religious works to appear shortly include:<br />
"Jewish Life After the Exile," by the Rev.<br />
Professor Cheyne, to be published by Messrs.<br />
Putnam; and "The Hope of Immortality," by<br />
the Rev. J. E. C. Welldon, Head Master of<br />
Harrow School (Seeley).<br />
Dr. Forbes Winslow has written a book on<br />
"Mad Humanity," for Messrs. Pearson.<br />
Mr. Arthur Thomson will write the volume on<br />
"Heredity" for the Progressive Science S ries,<br />
published by Messrs. Bliss, Sands and Co.<br />
A series of memoirs of American politics, by Mr.<br />
Coit Tyler, of Cornell, in the first of which Monroe<br />
and his doctrine are discussed, will be published<br />
by Messrs. Putnam.<br />
Reviewers who have habitually to deal with<br />
books at very short notice, will be grateful to<br />
Messrs. Service and Paton for the introduction of<br />
a useful practice. In sending out a book lately<br />
this firm appended to their printed notice the<br />
following:—" Note.—The leaves of this copy<br />
have been cut for the convenience of the<br />
reviewer."<br />
Professor Max Midler's works are being pub-<br />
lished in a collected edition, at the rate of one<br />
volume per month, by Messrs. Longmans, Green<br />
and Co. In a preface which appears in the first<br />
volume (" Natural Religion ") Professor Muller<br />
says that the chief object of all his literary<br />
labours has been "to show that with the new<br />
materials placed at our disposal during the pre-<br />
sent century by the discoveries of ancient monu-<br />
ments, both architectural and hterary, by the<br />
brilliant decipherment of unknown languages,<br />
and the patient interpretation of ancient litera-<br />
tures, whether in Egypt, Babylonia, India, or<br />
Persia, it has become possible to discover what<br />
may be called historical evolution, in the earliest<br />
history of mankind."<br />
"Phil May's Annual" is to be published in<br />
future by Messrs. Thacker, who will issue the<br />
summer number, enlarged, this month. This<br />
firm has taken over the publications of the late<br />
firm of Neville Beeman, Limited, including<br />
Mr. Laird Clowes's Naval Pocket Book.<br />
THE, BOOKS OF THE MONTH.<br />
[March 24 to April 23.—273 Books.]<br />
Aldous, J. O. P. (en.). Physics. Elemontary. 7/6. Macmillan.<br />
Anderson, Izett. Yellow Fever in the West Indies. 3/6. Lewie.<br />
Anderson, Mary. In tbe Promised Land. 6/- Downey.<br />
Anonymous. The Little Christian Year (Unicorn " Books of Verse,"<br />
II ). S/6 net Unicorn Press.<br />
Anonymous (*4Ono who speaks concerning the Church1'). The<br />
Excellent Lady Kyrius. 2/6. Wells Gardner.<br />
Anonymous (tr. from French). The Beign of Terror (under Marat<br />
and Bobesplerre). 16/- net. Smtthers.<br />
Anonymous. Scenes and Life in the Transvaal. 52/6 net Art<br />
Photograph Co.<br />
Anonymous, rriesthood in the English Church. 1/- S.P.C.K.<br />
Anonymous. The Queen's Empire. Pictoiial and Descriptive.<br />
Vol. I. 8/- Cassell.<br />
Armitage-Smith, G. Tbe Free Trade Movement and its Results.<br />
2/0. Blackie.<br />
Astrup, E. Wiih Peary near the Pole. 10/6. Pearson.<br />
Bell, J., and Wilson, 8. Practical Telephony. 2/6. Electricity Office.<br />
Barlow, W. 8. L. A Manual of General Pathology for Students and<br />
Practitioners. 21/- Churchill.<br />
Barrister, A. Story of the Schoolmaster's Sister, .to. 1/- Cox.<br />
Beresford, Lord 0., and Wilson, W. II. Nelson and His Times. 9/-<br />
Eyre and S.<br />
Besant, Sir Walter. King Alfred the Great Cd. Cox.<br />
Binstead. A. M., aLd Webs, E. A Pink 'Un and A Pelican. 21/- net<br />
Bliss.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 331 (#781) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
331<br />
Binyon, L. Porphyrton. and Other Poems. 8/- net Bichards.<br />
Binyon, L. Catalogue of Drawings by British Artists, Ac, In Depart-<br />
ment of Prints and Drawings in B. M. Vol.I. British Museum.<br />
Blackwell. G. Law of Meetings 2/6 net Butterworth.<br />
Blayney, Owen. The Macmahon. 6/- Constable.<br />
Bodkin, M. McD. A Stolen Life. A Novel. 6/- Ward and Lock.<br />
Bodkin, M. McD. Paul Beck. 8/8. Pearson.<br />
Boothby, Guy. The Lust of Hate. 8/- Ward and Lock.<br />
Bottone, S. B. Badiography and the X Bays in Practice and Theory.<br />
S> Whittaker.<br />
Bourne, G. A Tear's Exile. 3/6. Lane.<br />
Bowack, W. M. Formation of Philosophical Opinion and the Future<br />
Mind. Edinburgh: Thin.<br />
Brazier, M. A Twofold Sin. A NoveL 2/6. Dlgby.<br />
Bright, Wm. The Law of Faith. 6/- Wells Gardner.<br />
Brough, W. Open Mints and Free Banking 8'- Putnam.<br />
Brownlie, Bev. J. (ed ) Hymns from East and West. Nisbet,<br />
Bryant, E. M. Kitty Lonsdale and some Eumsby Folk. 8*<br />
Kelly<br />
Bullock, C. Prebendary Wlghtman and Mrs. Wightman. 1/6.<br />
Borne Words Office.<br />
Burgess, J. J. H. Tang. A Shetland Story. Lerwick: Johnson<br />
and Greig.<br />
Burton, J. Bloundelle. Across the Salt Seas. 6/- Methuen.<br />
Bnrton, the late Sir B. F. The Jew, the Gypsy, and El Islam. 21/-<br />
Hutchlnson.<br />
Buxton, E. N. Short Stalks. Second Series. Stanford.<br />
Byng, M.. and Bell, F. O. Popular Guide to Commercial and Domestic<br />
Telephony. 2/6. Whittaker.<br />
Byron, Lord, The Works of. Poetry. Vol. I. Ed. by E. H. Coleridge.<br />
6/- Murray.<br />
Cadman, H. Harry Druldale. Fisherman. 8/6. Macmillan.<br />
Csldlcott, 0. Tho Way About Warwickshire. 1/-net Iliffe.<br />
Cameron, Mrs. Lovett. A Difficult Matter, c. - Long.<br />
Campbell, H. Bospiratory Exercises in the Treatment of Disease.<br />
7/6. Ballliero.<br />
Capes, B. Tho Lake of Wine. 6/- Heiuemann.<br />
Carr, J. A. Life-Work of Edward White Benson. 6/- Stock.<br />
Chadwick, G. A. Pilate's Gift, and Other 8ermons. 5/- Beliglous<br />
Tract Society.<br />
Chalmers, J. Fighting the Matabele. 8/6. Blackie.<br />
Cheetham, T. A. Elementary Chemistry. 1/6. Blackie.<br />
Choster, Norley. StorleB from Dante. 8/6. Warne.<br />
Churchill.W. Tho Celebrity. An Episode. 6/- Macmillan.<br />
Churton, E. T. The Sanctuary of Missions. 4, 6. Longman.<br />
Clark, Frances E. The Great Secret. 1/- Sunday School Union.<br />
Clarke, H. S., and Wasner, C. Tho Century Beciter. C/6. Warne.<br />
Clarke, H. W. The City Churches. 15/- net. Simpkin.<br />
Clifford, Hugh. Studies in Brown Humanity. 6/. Richards.<br />
Collins, W. E. The English Bcfonnation and Its Consequences. 4/-<br />
S.P.O.BL<br />
Colmoro, G. Points of View, Ac. Poems. 3/6 net. Gay and Bird.<br />
Co-operative Alliance, International. Statistics of Co-operative<br />
Societies in Various Countries. 10/- I.C.A.<br />
Conrad. Joseph. Tales of Unrest. 6/- TJnwln.<br />
Crane, Stephen. The Open Boat, and Other Stories. C/- Ueinomann.<br />
Crane, W., tho Work of, With Notes by tho Artist. 2/6. Virtue.<br />
Cresitick, Paul. Bruising Pag. 3/6. Downey.<br />
Crockett S. B. The Standard Bearer. 6/- Methuen.<br />
Crouch, A. P. Senorita Montenar. 6/- Smith and Elder.<br />
Cust, B. N. Essays on Beligious Conceptions. Luzac.<br />
Dalziel, George Unconsidered Trifles. */- Stock.<br />
D'Arcy, Ella. The Bishop's Dilemma. 3/6. Lane.<br />
Davidson, L. C. Second Lieutenant Uella. A Novel. 3/6. Bliss.<br />
Davidson, T. Chambers's English Dictionary. 12/6. Chambers.<br />
Davis, E. J. His Little Bill of Sale. 8/6. Long.<br />
Dawe, E. J. C. A Bride of Japan. 67- Hutchinson.<br />
Dawson, S. E. The Voyages of the Oabots. Quarlt h.<br />
Deas, Lizzie. Flower Favourites. 3/6 net. G.Allen.<br />
Dixon, W. J. Sir Walter Balelgh. A Tragedy. Hatchard.<br />
Draper, W. H. (tr. from Latin). A Harvest of Myrrh and Spices.<br />
2/- Frowde.<br />
Dunbar, James. The Process of Creation Discovered. 7/6. Watts.<br />
EdwardeB, M. Silkworms. 1/- Dean.<br />
Eggleston, G. C. Southern Soldier Stories. 6'- Macmillan.<br />
Elgood, J, C. A Beply to Cardinal Vaughans Interrogation of the<br />
Bishops and Priests of the Church of England. 1/- Skefflngton.<br />
Eltvas, Knsrf. The Storv of John Ship, Mariner. '<:- Low.<br />
Ellis, W. A. Bichari Wagner's Prose Works. Vol. VI. 12,6 not.<br />
Kegan Paul,<br />
Eslor, E. B. Youth at tho Prow. 3/S. Long.<br />
Eyre-Todd, G. (ei.j. Tho Book of Glasgow Cathedral. 42'- net.<br />
Glatgow: Morison.<br />
Fell, H. Granville (ill.). The Song of Solomon. 7/6. Chapman.<br />
Fenn, G. M. A Woman Worth Winning. 6/- Chatto.<br />
Ferguson, T. Walter Ursine, and Other Poems. 3/- HoulBton.<br />
Fisher, A. Hugh. The Cathedral Church of Hereford. 1/6. Bell.<br />
Fisher, Lsla. A Twilight Teaching, As. Poems. 6/- net. Unwin.<br />
Flower. Sir W H. Essays on Maseums and other Subjects connected<br />
with Natural History. 12/- net. Macmillan.<br />
Flynn, J.S. Studies on the Second Advent 8/6. Stock.<br />
Ford, P. L. The Honourable Poter Stirling. 6,- Hutchinson.<br />
Fotherglll, Caroline. A Point of View. 8/6. Arrowsmith.<br />
Fowler, Harry. With Bought Swords. 8/6. Long.<br />
Fowler, J. K., and Godlee, B. J. Diseases of the Lungs. 25/-<br />
Longman.<br />
Friend, Hllderic. Bygone Devonshire. 7/6. Andrews.<br />
Goches, 1.. Kates and Assessments. 2/6. Eyre and Spottiswoode.<br />
Gandy, Walter. The Bomance of Glass-making. 1/6. Partridge.<br />
Oathorne-Hardy, Hon. A. E. The Salmon, if- Longman.<br />
Gem-nel, J. F. Idiopathic Ulcerative Colitis (Dysentery). 12/6.<br />
Bailllere.<br />
Gordon, S. In Years of Transition. A Novel. 6/- Bliss.<br />
Graham, D. Blxflo: An Historical Tragedy. 5/- net Constable.<br />
Graham, J. A. Missionary Expansion of the Beformed Churches.<br />
1/6 net. Black.<br />
Graves, Arnold. Prince Patrick. 2/6. Downey.<br />
Greens, W. T. Populir Parakeets. 1/- Upcott Gill.<br />
Grenville, B. P., and Hunt, A S. (ed. and tr.). Menander's Play.<br />
1/6. Frowdo.<br />
Hagen, M. S. Talks with Working Men. 8/6. Oassell.<br />
Hall, H. S , and Stevens, F. H. Text-book of Euclid's Elements.<br />
2/6. Macmillan.<br />
Hamilton, Kate, W. The Parson's Proxy. 8/6. Melrose.<br />
Harland, H. Comedies and Errors. 6/- Lane.<br />
Harris, W. T. Psychologic Foundations of Education. 6/- Arnold.<br />
Harrison, Mary. Simple LeBBons in Cookery. 1/6. Macmiilan.<br />
Hatton, Joseph. The Vicar. A Novel. 6/- Hutchinson.<br />
Haron-Allen, E. Some Side Lights upon Edward FitzGerald's Poem,<br />
The Buba'iyat of Omar Khayyam. »/- H. S. Nichols.<br />
Hichens, B. The Londoners. An Absurdity. 6/- Helnemann.<br />
Hildobrandt, A. M. New Heraldic Bookplates, 4/- Grevel,<br />
Hill, W. E. Law and Practice relating to Workmen's Compensation.<br />
Ac. 6/- not. Waterlow.<br />
Hinkson, H. A. Up for the Green. 6/- Lawrence.<br />
Hitchcook, G. S. The King of the Jews. Poem. 2/6 net.<br />
Chatham: Hutchinson.<br />
Holland, dive. An Egyptian Coquette. 2'6. Pearson.<br />
Holland, Mary S , Letteis of (ed. by B. Holland). 7/6 net. Arnold.<br />
Holland, S. Two Lectures to Nurses of London Hospital. 1/-Simpkin.<br />
Hooper, F., and Graham, J. Teacher's Companion to Modern Busi-<br />
ness Methods. 2/6 net. Macmillan.<br />
Hornung, E. W. Young Blood. CJ- Cassell.<br />
Horton, B. F. Brief Sermons for Busy Men. 1/6, Nisbet.<br />
Housmtn. Clemeno. The Unknown Sea 6/- Duckworth.<br />
Bugo, Victor (tr. by J. Mason). Tho Alps and Pyrenees 7/ii Bliss.<br />
Hume, Fergus. Lady Jezebel. 6/- Pearson.<br />
Humphry, Mrs. A Word to Women. 1/- Bowden.<br />
Illingworth, J. Divine Immanence. 7/6.<br />
Macmillan.<br />
Jepson, E. The Keepers of the People. 6/- Pearson.<br />
Josa, F. P. L. S Francis of Assist, and the Third Order in the<br />
Anglo-Oatholic Church. 2/- not. Mowbray.<br />
Jowett, J. H. From Strength to Strength. 1/6. Hodder.<br />
Keith, Leslie. The Mischief Maker. 10/- Bontley.<br />
Kelley, J. D. K. Our Navy. [U.S.]. Its Growth and Achievements.<br />
68/- Low.<br />
Ladd, G. T. Outlines of Descriptive Psychology. 12/- Longman.<br />
Lamb, A. S. The Elector King and Priest. 1/- Nisbet.<br />
Lander, H. Lucky Bargeo. 3/6. Pearson,<br />
Laver, H. The Mammals, Beptiles, and Fishes of Essex. 10/fi net.<br />
Simpkin.<br />
Law, E. Eoyal Gallery of Hampton Court, Illustrate! 30/-net.<br />
BeU.<br />
Lawler, O'D W. England's Dooti, 1/- Ward and Whlteway.<br />
Loaf, W. Versions from Haflz. 8/- net. Blchards.<br />
Lee, Sidney (ed ). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 54 15/-<br />
Smith and Elder.<br />
Le Gofflc, C. (tr. by E. W. Binder). The Dark Way of Love. 3, 6.<br />
Constable.<br />
Le Gallienno, B, Th* Bomance of Zion Ch«pe\ 6/- Lone.<br />
Lemaro, Clara. A Bondage without Fetters. 1/- Stsvens.<br />
Loppe and Bouquet (tr. by F. J. Morten). Alternate Currents in<br />
Practice. 18/- Whittaker.<br />
Leonard, H F. A Handbook of Wrestling. 10,6 net Hirschfleld.<br />
Leys, John K. Under a M isk. 10/- Bentley.<br />
Lias, J. J. Science In Eolation to Miracles. A\ 1/-net. Nisbet.<br />
Low, D. A. A Pocket- Book for Mechanical Engineers. 7/6. Longmun.<br />
Lupton, 8. NoteB and Obiervatlous (Physics and Chemistry). 3/6.<br />
Macmillan.<br />
Macdowall, H. C. Henry of Guise, and Other Portraits. 8/6 ne\<br />
Macmillan.<br />
Macquold, Kathorlne S. The Story of Lola. 6/- Long.<br />
Marksman, A. The Service Blfles. 1/- J.S.Phillip.-.<br />
Marryat, Florence A Soul on Fire. A Novel. 8/6. Bliss.<br />
Masom, W. F., and Woodhouse, W. J. History of Borne, 390-202 n.r.<br />
4/6. CUve.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 332 (#782) ############################################<br />
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332<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Mathews, E. Gtr^and cf Ni w roetrv. Vol.I. «/- net. Mathews.<br />
May,Phil. A Souvenir of the Lit tie Minister. V- Nassau Press.<br />
Metcalfe, R. Life of Vincent Ptitssnitz. 3,6 net.<br />
MHcul'c's London Hydro.<br />
Mltton. O. E. A Bachelor Girl in L< ndon. ( /- Hutchinson.<br />
Montgomery, Alex. The Sword of a Pin. 3/6. Sonnenschcin.<br />
Mooie, Dusald. Nightshade and Poppies. 3 6 net. Long.<br />
Morris, E. P. (etl.)- TheCaptives and Trlnummus of Plautus. 5,6.<br />
Arnold.<br />
Mott, E. S. (â– 'Nathaniel Gubbins'). A Mingled Yarn. (Auto-<br />
biography.) 12/6. Arnold.<br />
Moullin, 1.. M. Inflammation of the Bladder oni Urinary Fever. 5-<br />
Lewis.<br />
Muddock, J. E. The Lost Laird. A Novel. G7- Digby.<br />
Murray, \. S. Greek Bronzes 8,0. Seeloy.<br />
Murray, D. Christie. A Knee for Millions. 3/6. Chatto.<br />
Neumann, B. (tr. by J. B. O. Kershaw). Theory and Practice of<br />
Elcctrolyti • Methods of Analysis. 10/6. Whittaker.<br />
Ntvinson, H. W, Scenes in the Thirty Days' War between Greece<br />
ar.d Turkcv, ISO". 3 0 net. Dent.<br />
Nisbet, Hunie. For Liberty. 8/6. White.<br />
Northbrook. Earl of. North-West Frontier of India. 1/- Stanford.<br />
Noyes, A. D. Thiity Years of American Finance. 0/- Putnam.<br />
O'Brien, William. A Queen of Men. 6/- • Unwin.<br />
O'Gowrie. John SprigB of White Heather. Olarke.<br />
O'Gracly, S. All Ireland. 1/- Unwin.<br />
Onimunney, Commander. Notes on Management of Ships in a Fleet,<br />
1/- Simpkin.<br />
Panteleonl, M. (tr. by T. B. Bruce). Puro Economics. 107- net.<br />
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Paterson, A. J. B. A God Beyond All—after AH. 1/- Bliss.<br />
Patnn, W. A. Picturesque Sicily. 10/6. Harper.<br />
Vaton, W. B. Antbologire Grteca- Erutlca. 3/6 net Nutt.<br />
1'atton, J. B. Bijli the Dancer. C/- Methuen.<br />
Pemberton, Max. Eronstadt. 6 - Cassell.<br />
Penny, Mrs. F. Romance of a Nautch Girl. 6/- Sonnenschein.<br />
Petrie, W. M. Flinders. Syria ar.d Egypt. 2/6. Methuen.<br />
Fiereon, C. D. Among the Meadow People. 2/fi net Dent.<br />
1 iper, E., and Fage, J. L. W. Church Towers of Somerset. II.<br />
Briatol: Frost and Beed.<br />
Fiescott, E. Livingston. Dearer than Honour. 6/- Hutchinson.<br />
Prcscott, E. Livirgaton. Ited-coat Romances. 3/6. Warne.<br />
Pilchard, A Some Incidcntsin General Practice. 2/6. ArrowBmith.<br />
Fugh, E. King Circumstance. 6/- Heincmann.<br />
Pullan, Lcighton. Tte History of Early Christianity. 3/0 Service.<br />
Badclyffc, It. Wealth and Wild Cats. 1/- Downey.<br />
Redwood. I. I. Lubricants, Oils, and Greases. 4,6. Spon.<br />
Reeves, W. P. New Zealand. 1/6. H. Marshall.<br />
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Ridley, W. Intel est or Usury. 1/- Simpkin.<br />
Robeitson. F. E. An Arabic Vocabulary for Egypt. 3/- Low.<br />
Robinson, F. W. All They Went Through. A Novel. 6/- Long.<br />
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Sandeman, Mina, The Infatuation or Amanda. 3/6. Digby.<br />
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Scott Alan. Chiefly Concerning Two. 2/6. Digby.<br />
Scully, W. C. Between Sun and Sand. 6.'- Methuen.<br />
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Spence, H. D. M. The Church of England. A History. Vol. III.<br />
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Spettigue, U H. The Heritage of Eve. 6/- Chatto.<br />
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Statham, F. R. Paul Krtiger and His Times. 7/6, Unwin.<br />
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Stretton, Flesba. The Sonl or Honour. 3/6. Isbister.<br />
Strickland, P. Table of Public General Acts reining to England. 2 6.<br />
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all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br />
jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br />
returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br />
GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br />
FOE some years it has been the praotioe to insert, im<br />
every number of The Author, certain " General Con-<br />
siderations," Warnings, Notioes, &e., for the guidance<br />
of the reader. It has been objected as regards these<br />
warnings that the tricks or frauds against which they are<br />
directed cannot all be guarded against, for obvious reasons.<br />
It is, however, well that they should be borne in mind, and<br />
if any publisher refuses a clause of precaution he simply<br />
reveals his true character, and should be left to carry on<br />
his business in his own way.<br />
Let us, however, draw up a few of the rules to bo<br />
observed in an agreement. There are three methods of<br />
dealing with literary property:—<br />
I. That of selling it outright.<br />
This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br />
price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br />
managed by a competent agent.<br />
II. A profit-sharing agreement.<br />
In this case the following rules should be attended to:<br />
(1.) Not to sign any agreement in whioh the cost of pro-<br />
duction forms a part.<br />
(2.) Not to give the publisher the power of. putting the<br />
profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise-<br />
ments.<br />
(3.) Not to allow a special charge for " office expenses,"<br />
unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br />
(4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br />
rights.<br />
(5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights.<br />
(6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher.<br />
As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br />
doctor!<br />
(7.) To stamp the agreement.<br />
III. The royalty system.<br />
In this system, which has opened the door to a most<br />
amazing amount of overreaching and trading on the<br />
author's ignorance, it is above all things necessary to know<br />
what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now<br />
possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very<br />
nearly the truth. From time to time the very important<br />
figures connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br />
Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br />
"Cost of Production." Let no one, not even the youngest<br />
writer, sign a royalty agreement without finding out what<br />
it gives the publisher as well as himself.<br />
It has been objeoted that these precautions presuppose a<br />
great success for the book, and that very few books indeed<br />
attain to this great success. That is quite true: but there is<br />
always this uncertainty of literary property that, although<br />
the works of a great many authors carry with them no risk<br />
at all, and although of a great many it is known within a few<br />
copies what will be their minimum circulation, it is not<br />
known what will be their maximum. Therefore every<br />
author, for every book, should arrange on the chance of a<br />
success which will not, probably, come at all; but which<br />
may come.<br />
The four points which the Society has always demanded<br />
from the outset are:—<br />
(1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement<br />
means.<br />
(2.) The inspection of those account books whioh belong<br />
to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the<br />
nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or<br />
withheld.<br />
(3.) That there shall be no secret profits.<br />
(4.) That nothing shall be charged which has not been<br />
actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for<br />
advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for<br />
exchanged advertisements and that all discounts shall be<br />
duly entered.<br />
If these points are carefully looked after, the author may<br />
rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the<br />
same time he will do well to send his agreement to the<br />
secretary before he signs it.<br />
C C 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 278 (#724) ############################################<br />
<br />
278 THE AUTHOR.<br />
HOW TO USE TEE SOCIETY.<br />
I. Ill VERT member has a right to ask for and to receive<br />
Pj advice upon his agreements, his choioe of a pub-<br />
lisher, or any dispute arising in the condaat of his<br />
business or the administration of his property. If the advioe<br />
sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member<br />
has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the<br />
oase is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com-<br />
mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this<br />
without any cost to the member.<br />
2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br />
and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the<br />
experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br />
to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually<br />
engaged upon suoh questions for us.<br />
3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past<br />
accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in<br />
order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree-<br />
ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively<br />
so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any<br />
agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor-<br />
mation thus obtained may prove invaluable.<br />
4. If the examination of your previous business trans-<br />
actions by the Secretary proveB unfavourable, you should<br />
take advice as to a ohange of publishers.<br />
5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br />
posed document to the Society for examination.<br />
6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in<br />
the oase of fraudulent houses—the trioks of every publish-<br />
ing firm in the country.<br />
7. 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 advanoing<br />
the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen-<br />
dence of the writer.<br />
8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of everything<br />
important to literature that you may hear or meet with.<br />
9. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of<br />
members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br />
safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br />
fidential documents to be read only by the 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 />
THE AUTHORS' SYNDICATE.<br />
THE services of the Authors' Syndicate may be secured<br />
by members upon terms to be arranged between<br />
themselves and it.<br />
NOTICES.<br />
THE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br />
Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br />
of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br />
heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br />
many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br />
6». 6d. subscription for the year.<br />
The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and<br />
communications on all subjects connected with literature<br />
from members and others. Nothing can do more good to<br />
the Society than to make The Author complete, attractive,<br />
and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this<br />
work send their names and the special subjects on which<br />
they are willing to write?<br />
Communications for The Author should reach the Editor<br />
not later than the 21st of each month.<br />
All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether<br />
members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate<br />
to the Editor any points oonnected with their work which<br />
it would be advisable in the general interest to publish.<br />
Members and others who wish their MSS. read are<br />
requested not to Bend them to the Office without previously<br />
communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable<br />
despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in<br />
which they are received. It must also be distinctly under-<br />
stood that the Society does not, under any circumstances,<br />
undertake the publication of MSS.<br />
The present location of the Authors' Club is at 3, White-<br />
hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for<br />
information, rules of admission, 4c.<br />
Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they<br />
have paid their subscriptions for the year? H they will do<br />
this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's<br />
order, it will greatly asrist the Secretary, and save him the<br />
trouble of Bending out a reminder<br />
Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the<br />
following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a<br />
most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding<br />
for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they<br />
would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five<br />
years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest<br />
or dishoneet? Of oonrse they would not. Why then<br />
hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them-<br />
selves into literary bondage for three or five years?<br />
"Those who possess the 'Cost of Production' are<br />
requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15<br />
per cent." This clause was inserted three or four years ago.<br />
Estimates have, however, recently been obtained which show<br />
that the figures in the book may be relied on as nearly<br />
correct: as near as is possible.<br />
Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged<br />
in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of oourse, we<br />
have not included any sums whioh may be charged for<br />
inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines,<br />
or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too<br />
often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from<br />
sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket,<br />
by inserting any number of advertisements in his own<br />
magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are<br />
who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those<br />
who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it.<br />
FROM THE COMMITTEE.<br />
THE Roxburghe Press Limited, has, we<br />
understand, gone into voluntary liquida-<br />
tion. All claims on behalf of members of<br />
the Society against the company should, therefore,<br />
be sent in to the Society's offices as soon as pos-<br />
sible. Mr. Justice Wright has ordered the con-<br />
tinuation of the voluntary winding-up under the<br />
supervision of the court.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 279 (#725) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
279<br />
It should be further stated that Stories Limited<br />
has also gone into liquidation, and a liquidator<br />
has been appointed under the Companies Acts<br />
for the purpose of winding-up the company. All<br />
claims should at once be sent in to the Secretary's<br />
offices, as the matter is in the hands of the<br />
Society's solicitors. G. H. Thbinq, Sec.<br />
LITERARY PROPERTY.<br />
I.—A New Scheme of Publishing.<br />
ME. T. BURLEIGH, hon. sec. of the Book-<br />
sellers' Association, has communicated<br />
to the Committee the following scheme<br />
of a new system of publishing.<br />
The objects of the following scheme are—<br />
(1) To give booksellers the same profit off all<br />
books (except educational books at 6s. and under)<br />
that they at present receive off 6s. novels; while<br />
the publishers are not asked to give better terms<br />
than they do at present.<br />
(2) To enable booksellers to charge more for<br />
credit than for cash.<br />
Scheme,<br />
I. Odd books to be abolished, and all books to<br />
be supplied at the average present terms.<br />
II. The invoiced price of each book to be the<br />
lowest cash price to the public. [This rule not<br />
necessarily to apply to books supplied in bulk to<br />
schools and school boards.]<br />
Thus—<br />
(a) Nett books would be invoiced at full<br />
published prices.<br />
(6) Novels and similar non-nett books at 6*.<br />
and under, would be invoiced at 25 per<br />
cent, off published prices.<br />
(c) Non-nett books above 6*. (on which the<br />
price to the public does not need to be<br />
"cut so fine") would be invoiced at<br />
not more than 2d. in the is. off pub-<br />
lished prices.<br />
III. A minimum trade discount of 20 per cent,<br />
to be allowed at settlement to those booksellers<br />
who ayree not to sell books to tlie public below tlie<br />
invoiced price, and to them only. (In the case of<br />
educational books published at 6s. and under, the<br />
discount at settlement might be 15 per cent,<br />
instead of 20 per cent.)<br />
The settlement discount for prompt payment<br />
might be arranged by publishers and booksellers<br />
individually; for, from the following figures it<br />
will be seen that a publisher could give, in<br />
addition to the minimum discount of 20 per cent.,<br />
an additional i\ per cent, for prompt payment,<br />
and yet receive as much as he does at present.<br />
Books above 6s.<br />
Present Terms.<br />
£. s. d. £ s.'d.<br />
3 Books at io». 6d., 7s. 6d 1 2 6<br />
13/12^ n io«. 6d., 7«. 6d 4 13 9<br />
13/12 „ 1 o«. 6d., js. 6d 4 10 o<br />
10 6 3<br />
Less s per oent o 10 3<br />
9 16 o<br />
Suggested Terms.<br />
29 Books at 10s. 6d., 8a. gd ^12 13 9<br />
Less 20 per cent 2 10 9<br />
10 3 o<br />
Novels at 6«. and under.<br />
Present Terms.<br />
3 Novels at 6s., 4s. 2d 012 6<br />
7/6J „ 6s., 4s. 2d 1 7 1<br />
7/6i „ 6»., 4s 1 6 o<br />
3 5 7<br />
Less 5 per oent o 3 3<br />
324<br />
Suggested Terms.<br />
17 Novels at 6s., 4s. 6j 3 16 6<br />
Less 20 per cent 015 3<br />
3 « 3<br />
Educational books at 6s. and under.<br />
Present Terms.<br />
3 Books at 6s., 4s. 2d o 12 6<br />
7j6\ „ 6s., 4s. 2d 1 7 1<br />
13/12$ „ 6s., 4s. 2d 2 12 1<br />
4 11 8<br />
Less s per oent 047<br />
4 7 1<br />
Suggested Terms.<br />
23 Books at 6s., 4s. 6d 5 3 6<br />
Less 15 per oent o 15 6<br />
480<br />
Adding these together we get—<br />
Present Terms. Suggested Terms.<br />
£ s. d. £ s. d.<br />
9 16 o 10 3 o<br />
324 3 1 3<br />
471 480<br />
£17 5 5 <*'7 12 3<br />
But nothing is allowed in these estimates for<br />
travellers' terms given on present rates, which<br />
would amount to say 1 per cent, on the whole<br />
account. Deducting this amount off present<br />
terms, and 2 i per cent, off the total of the sug-<br />
gested terms, we find—<br />
Present Terms. Suggested Terms.<br />
£ $. d. £ 1. d.<br />
17 5 S 17 '2 3<br />
Deduct 1 per Deduct z\ per<br />
cent 034 cent o 8 jo<br />
.£17 2 1 .£17 3 S<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 280 (#726) ############################################<br />
<br />
28o THE AUTHOR.<br />
Pro Forma Account.<br />
Messrs. A. B. C, booksellers, Oxford,<br />
in account with Messrs. X. Y. Z., publishers,<br />
London.<br />
A trade discount at settlement will be allowed<br />
only on condition that these boohs are not sold to<br />
the public under the invoiced prices. Acceptance<br />
of these books is to be deemed an agreement to<br />
these conditions.<br />
£ s. d. £ a. d.<br />
3 A.'a Travels in America,<br />
nett I 16 O<br />
4 B.'a Africa, 12». 10s. â– â– 200<br />
12 E.'a Algebra, 6s. 4s. 6d. = 214 o<br />
12 F.'a Novel, 6s. 4s. 6d. = 2 14 o<br />
£2 14 o £6 10 o<br />
15 per cent, off £2 148 080<br />
£260<br />
20 per cent, off £6 10s.<br />
1 6 o<br />
£5 4 o<br />
260<br />
£7 10 o<br />
The total of the above account brings about<br />
21 per cent, more to the publisher than the present<br />
terms.<br />
May I point out:<br />
1. That all booksellers are offered books upon<br />
the same terms, whether they are 2d. or 3d. dis-<br />
counters. It is open to anyone to refuse these<br />
terms.<br />
2. The abolition of the odd copy enables the<br />
smaller bookseller to stock, without ruin, a few of<br />
each. It also makes "sale or return" possible.<br />
As already pointed out, with the odd copy, this is<br />
a delusion.<br />
3. Competition amongst publishers is left open<br />
because the settlement discount may be raised by<br />
bargain between individual publishers and book-<br />
sellers.<br />
A suggestion has been made that the Book-<br />
sellers' Association should be advised by a<br />
professional reader. But I think "sale or<br />
return" covers it. There is no risk taken, the<br />
bookseller can judge for himself whether the book<br />
will suit his trade. For position of shop and<br />
personal connections are considerations that count<br />
a good deal—what would do for me at one place<br />
is useless at another—and many good in one<br />
are useless in another. This applies specially to<br />
poetry, theology, short biographies, and such books<br />
as are not talked about, but not to large ones,<br />
such as " Tennyson's Life," Lord Eoberts'" India,"<br />
Bryce's "Impressions of South Africa." These<br />
are bought if seen by casual visitors (mostly to<br />
give away) upon the strength of the name.<br />
T. BuBLEIGH.<br />
II.—Lord Hersc hell's Bill.<br />
The Copyright Bill of Lord Herschell, "to con-<br />
solidate and amend the law relating to copy-<br />
right," unfortunately appears without any<br />
preliminary memorandum, so that it is difficult,<br />
if not impossible, to distinguish the old law<br />
from the new. Lord Herschell is one of the few<br />
surviving members of the Copyright Commission<br />
of 1878, and while in the House of Commons,<br />
obtained leave, in conjunction with Mr. Edward<br />
Jenkins, to introduce a Bill to codify the tangled<br />
law of this subject, so that he moves in the<br />
matter with an authority second to none in the<br />
country. We see no reason, however, to change<br />
the opinion, which we have more than once<br />
expressed, that amendment should, in the case of<br />
copyright law, precede consolidation, and not be<br />
mixed up with it. Lord Monks well's Bill, which<br />
passed the House of Lords last session after<br />
examination by a Select Committee, and has<br />
lately passed a second reading in that House,<br />
was framed on these lines, and we hope that the<br />
Government will assist its passing as soon as it<br />
reaches the House of Commons. An article by<br />
Mr. Thring in the current number of the<br />
Fortnightly Review summarises this Bill, and<br />
fully gives the reasons for preferring it, at the<br />
present juncture, to a consolidating one. Lord<br />
HerschelFs Bill contains fifty-three clauses and<br />
repeals nineteen Acts, amongst them being what<br />
we take to be Lord MonksweU's Bill when it shall<br />
become an Act, the figures "61" standing by<br />
themselves in a. schedule of Acts proposed for<br />
repeal, of which the last is " 51 & 52 Vict. c. 17,<br />
the Copyright (Musical Compositions) Act,<br />
1888." The principal amendments which Lord<br />
Herschell's Bill will effect are the change of the<br />
term of copyright from forty-two years, or the<br />
life of the author and seven years, to the duration<br />
of the life of the author and thirty years after<br />
his death, the restriction on abridgments, the<br />
reduction of the period after which contributors<br />
to magazines may publish separately from<br />
twenty-eight to three years, the summary pre-<br />
vention of unlawful hawking of copyright works,<br />
and a curious allowance of republication in this<br />
country of any article of political discussion<br />
which has been published in any newspaper in a<br />
foreign country "if the source is acknowledged."<br />
—Law Times.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 281 (#727) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
HI. — Copyright. — Short Notes on Lord<br />
Herschell's Bill (1898) so far as it<br />
Relates to Artistic Works.<br />
Communicated to the Copyright sab-committee of the<br />
Incorporated Society of Authors.<br />
The intention of this Bill is favourable to the<br />
art producer.<br />
It seeks to treat the man who expresses<br />
his thought on canvas with a paint-brush as it<br />
treats the man who expresses his thought on<br />
paper with a pen, and to give him equal rights<br />
over and protection for the property he has<br />
created. This is just, and has been the object<br />
steadily kept in view in the various Bills for<br />
amending the present law introduced by Mr.<br />
Hastings, Mr. Agnew, Lord Monkswell, and<br />
others.<br />
Before examining the mode of carrying this<br />
♦bject into effect, it may, however, be observed<br />
that whereas in literary work registration is a<br />
condition precedent only to enforcing the author's<br />
rights, in artistic work it is a condition precedent<br />
to the rights themselves. In other words that<br />
the author need not register until he has<br />
cause to take legal proceedings; whereas the<br />
artist can get no redress or compensation for<br />
wrongful acts committed before registration.<br />
The commandment "Thou shalt not steal " is<br />
read, "Thou shalt not steal 'registered work.'"<br />
Registration has always been a pitfall to the<br />
artist.<br />
It has been a boon to the pirate, who can by<br />
examining the register ascertain whose brains<br />
he may pick with impunity.<br />
It lias doubtless been of great use to the legiti-<br />
mate art publishing trade in easily and cheaply<br />
supplying prim/1 facie proof of title to copyright<br />
in cases of infringement by photographers of<br />
copyright in works engraved or otherwise repro-<br />
duced by them. But this trade advantage would<br />
still be available were registration optional or<br />
precedent to action only, as in literature, which it<br />
is suggested it should be.<br />
The art publisher is a man of business and<br />
would register if he found it worth his while so<br />
to do.<br />
Thirty-six years' experience has shown that the<br />
artist is not, as a rule, a man of business and does<br />
not register, though he often suffers from his<br />
neglect.<br />
Indeed, as there are many thousand original<br />
works of art exhibited every year, to say nothing<br />
of the unexhibited, and of these, as it is impossible<br />
to predict which will be of value for reproduction,<br />
it is not to be expected he should go to the expense<br />
and trouble of registering bis works.<br />
It would seem more reasonable without recourse<br />
to the register to presume the copyright to be in<br />
the artist until the contrary is shown. An art<br />
publisher who has acquired it by assignment in<br />
writing can have no difficulty in proving his title<br />
—whether registered or not—but he probably<br />
would register for the sake of convenience.<br />
The only difficulty that could arise would be in<br />
the case of "commissioned work," where no<br />
written assignment of copyright is now by law,<br />
or in the present Bill, required to invest the<br />
commissioner with the copyright.<br />
It is submitted that there is no essential or<br />
inherent diffierence between work executed on<br />
commission, and work that is sold. Both are the<br />
offspring of the artist's brain expressed by him<br />
in concrete form in his work, and it seems reason-<br />
able that in the absence of special agreements,<br />
control and command of reproduction should be<br />
equally his in either case. He is the natural<br />
guardian of his own work, and the person to<br />
whom the art publisher would, as a matter of<br />
course, apply if he wished to engrave his work—<br />
while the purchaser or other owner of the paintin/<br />
can, independently of copyright, sit on his picture,<br />
as a mortgagee can on his deeds, and defy both<br />
painter and publisher—though as a matter of fact<br />
most owners like to have their picture engraved,<br />
as it enhances its value.<br />
The distinction between an agreement to buy<br />
an unfinished work and a commission to paint one<br />
—maybe from an existing sketch—is often very<br />
slight, and yet upon this distinction depends the<br />
ownership of the copyright.<br />
This anomalous treatment of commissioned<br />
work owes its origin to a natural desire to protect<br />
the subjects of portraiture (which is chiefly com-<br />
missioned work) from the danger of multiplica-<br />
tion and sale of their likenesses without their<br />
consent; which it was anticipated might result<br />
from the control being left in the hands of the<br />
artist, and as photography was included in the<br />
Fine Art Act of 1862, this fear was not ill-<br />
founded.<br />
It was a clumsy expedient, and does not work<br />
well in practice. For instance, some years ago it<br />
was desired to engrave a subscription portrait of<br />
the popular master of a well-known hunt which<br />
had been presented by the hunt to his wife. It<br />
had been painted on commission. Who owned<br />
the copyright? The body of subscribers or the<br />
hon. secretary, who was their mouthpiece in<br />
arranging with the artist?<br />
Again, there are many commissioned pictures<br />
that are not portraits.<br />
A large collector, who owned many such, got<br />
into money difficulties, and sold his collection to<br />
meet his liabilities.<br />
The copyright in these remained vested in him.<br />
Suppose him to have died, shortly after the sale.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 282 (#728) ############################################<br />
<br />
282<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
so poor that no one cared to administer his estate.<br />
No one could make a title to the copyright of any<br />
of these pictures.<br />
Then came the difficulty about replicas.<br />
Several well known R.A.'s, now deceased, were<br />
notorious for multiplying copies of their most<br />
popular works, generally for America or the<br />
Col lonies. Unless by chance any of their works<br />
were painted on commission, the owner, who may<br />
have paid a long price for a work he considered<br />
unique, was liable at any time to find in the<br />
market other examples of the work, of the same<br />
size and in the same material as his own; nor<br />
was it always certain which was the original in<br />
point of date.<br />
The simplest and most consistent plan of meet-<br />
ing all difficulties seems to be that adopted by<br />
the Royal Academy of Arts in their Bill, and.<br />
followed by the Bill Lord Monkswell introduced<br />
for the Society of Authors, namely, in the absence<br />
of special agreement, to give the copyright in all<br />
cases to the artist, but to safeguard both com-<br />
missioner and purchaser alike against replicas<br />
such as could imperil the identity or value of the<br />
original work; and in the case of portraits, to<br />
forbid, in the absence of special agreement, all<br />
reproductions in any form of art without the<br />
consent of the person by whom or on whose behalf<br />
the portrait was paid for.<br />
This mode of dealing with the subject not only<br />
recommends itself to artists but to purchasers,<br />
dealers, and art publishers, as may be gathered<br />
from the fact that Mr. Agnew (now Sir William)<br />
one of the largest purchasers and dealers in the<br />
kingdom, put his name on the back of the Bill<br />
prepared by the Royal Academy of Arts, and<br />
that it was approved amongst others by some<br />
leading members of the "Printsellers' Asso-<br />
ciation."<br />
With these objections to the scheme and<br />
general form of the Bill, it seems unnecessary<br />
to criticise its provisions in detail.<br />
It is, however, evident on the most cursory<br />
perusal of this Bill that if its general scheme of<br />
treatment were unfortunately adopted, much<br />
alteration of detail would be necessary.<br />
For example. Who can say when an original<br />
work of art first comes into existence? It may<br />
be possible to say approximately wrhen some par-<br />
ticular figure subject has become so far advanced<br />
as to indicate the intention of the painter. But<br />
in the case of a landscape — such as one of Turner's,<br />
for instance—a few touches of high light and a<br />
dark cloud, often painted on varnishing day,<br />
after the work lias actually been hung on the<br />
walls of the exhibition, will totally change its<br />
composition. Again, I have known figure subjects<br />
first come into existence in pen and ink on the fly<br />
leaf of an old letter, and even on the blotting-<br />
pad at the old "Art's Club."<br />
This difficulty arises from the draftsman<br />
having in his mind the particular piece of<br />
painted canvas rather than the design of the<br />
artist expressed on that canvas, which design is-<br />
capable of being expressed in many other forma<br />
of art.<br />
"Design" is, I think, only mentioned once in<br />
the Bill (clause 21), and is not defined or<br />
interpreted.<br />
The old stumbling-block "publication" appears<br />
again in this Bill.<br />
"Publication " is applicable to engravings and<br />
other reproductions; but it has been found to<br />
give rise to much trouble when applied to original<br />
works of creative art, capable of alteration even<br />
after completion.<br />
One more criticism of detail. Under this Bill<br />
the subsequent purchaser of a picture originally<br />
painted on commission could not without sub-<br />
jecting himself to the risk of penalties lend it<br />
for such an exhibition as that lately held at<br />
Burlington House of the works of the late Sir<br />
John Millais. He would have to get the consent<br />
of the person for whom it was originally painted<br />
or his representatives—people probably unknown<br />
to him, and who might even be trustees of a<br />
marriage settlement, committees in lunacy, or<br />
trustees in bankruptcy.<br />
Basil Field.<br />
March 23, 1898.<br />
IV.—" Recent Attempts at Copyright<br />
Legislation."<br />
The Secretary of the Society, Mr. G. H. Thring,<br />
has contributed to the Fortnightly Review for<br />
March a paper in which he briefly traces the<br />
history of Copyright legislation in this country<br />
and describes recent attempts made at mending or<br />
consolidating the various Acts passed from time<br />
to time. It has been found that many of our<br />
readers take a practical interest in the question.<br />
They are referred to the article itself, which they<br />
are recommended to preserve separately as a<br />
useful resume of the whole question.<br />
In the year 1896 a sub-committee was appointed<br />
by the Society of Authors to consider the question<br />
of consolidating and amending the Copyright<br />
Acts. "The question of applying for a full,<br />
consolidating, and amending Bill was very<br />
seriously discussed, and finally, for several reasons,<br />
set aside." Here we are referred to the opinion of<br />
Sir Courtenay Ilbert:<br />
Experience shows that, under existing conditions of<br />
English Parliamentary Government, consolidation should<br />
not be combined with substantial amendment of the law.<br />
Where a Bill aims both at consolidation and at amendment,<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 283 (#729) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
283<br />
it is practically impossible to confine proposals for amend-<br />
ment to the new provisions as distinguished from those<br />
which are merely reproductions of existing law. The whole<br />
Bill becomes open to criticism and amendment in com-<br />
mittee, and if the subject is in the least degree contentions,<br />
the chances of passing it are very small.<br />
Where amendment of substance, as well as of form, is<br />
needed, one of three courses may be adopted. An amending<br />
Bill may be introduced, and, when passed, followed by a con-<br />
solidation Bill. Or, when the provisions of the amending<br />
Bill are past the committee stage, they may be embodied in<br />
a consolidation Bill. This course was adopted with the<br />
Housing of the Working Classes Aot, 1890, and the Public<br />
Health (London) Aot 1891, but is attended by many risks,<br />
and is difficult to combine with the more recent practice of<br />
referring consolidation Bills to a joint committee of both<br />
Houses. Or, lastly, it may be more expedient to make<br />
• onsolidation precede substantial amendment, an assurance<br />
being given that re-enactment of the existing law is notin any<br />
way to prejudice or preolude future amendments. The fact<br />
is that simplification of the form of the law facilitates<br />
amendments of substance.<br />
Mr. Thring points out, further, that a Bill<br />
embodying the question of consolidating Acts of<br />
Parliament is never likely to be brought forward,<br />
except by the Government:<br />
It is no longer a question of obtaining uniformity for<br />
different kinds of literary and artistio property, and for the<br />
methods of dealing with them in Great Britain and Ireland.<br />
There is the wide question further involved of the British<br />
Colonies, which question, a little time back, reached a very<br />
acute stage with regard to the reproduction of oopyright<br />
books in Canada, and there is the still wider question of<br />
International copyright under the Berne Convention. To<br />
have a full knowledge on these points, it is absolutely<br />
necessary to be behind the scenes, and to know the negotia-<br />
tions of the Colonial and Foreign Office that have been or<br />
may be pending. The Society, therefore, wisely settled to<br />
bring forward a small amending Bill which might deal with<br />
the points which were in most pressing need of amend-<br />
ment.<br />
A Bill was accordingly prepared, with the<br />
support of a committee nominated by the Pub-<br />
lishers' Association, and another by the Copy-<br />
right Association It was read in the House of<br />
Lords for thf> third time last year. Unfortu-<br />
nately, the secretary of the Copyright Association<br />
summoned a committee in the autumn to consider<br />
a full Consolidating and Amending Bill. This<br />
Bill has been pushed forward and been brought<br />
into the House of Lords at the beginning of this<br />
Se ssion concurrently with the Bill of the Authors'<br />
Society. It is feared that the Government will<br />
show some support to the Bill of the Copyright<br />
Association, as they know it will be impossible to<br />
push the measure through both Houses, and<br />
that, therefore, the (to them) worrying question<br />
of Copyright Legislation and Imperial Federa-<br />
tion will be postponed indefinitely. Mr. Thring<br />
states that the Society of Authors refused to join<br />
the proposed joint committee for the promotion of<br />
the Bill on the grounds that it was impossible to<br />
pass it â– . that it would injure the Amending Act:<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
that the draftsmanship was doubtful: that it con-<br />
tained clauses materially differing from those<br />
already approved iu the Amending Act: and<br />
that amendment must come before consolidation.<br />
In other words we had a good Bill as far as<br />
it could be: there was a chance of passing it.<br />
As to the Bill itself, it is marked private and<br />
cannot be discussed. Since Mr. Thring wrote<br />
this article the Consolidation Bill has passed the<br />
second reading in the House of Lords, and is,<br />
therefore, in print. The Copyright Committee of<br />
the society are now further considering what<br />
course it should advise the society to adopt in<br />
order, if possible, to save the situation. Mr.<br />
Thring concludes his case with the following<br />
words:<br />
Where suoh serious questions as the position of Great<br />
Britain and Ireland with its Colonies, and with other<br />
countries in the universe, have to be discussed, it is not<br />
only fitting, but absolutely necessary, that the party<br />
representing public opinion at the time should take np a<br />
subject so vast and so important. It cannot possibly be of<br />
any avail that a few gentlemen, honourably known as pub-<br />
lishers, or highly gifted as authors, should solemnly sit<br />
down to discuss a consolidating Bill without any recognised<br />
legal adviser or Parliamentary draftsman, and without any<br />
previous and laboured inquiry into the copyright laws.<br />
V.—Copyright in Germany.<br />
A notification as to provisions for the execution<br />
of the Convention respecting the formation of an<br />
International Union for the protection of works<br />
of literature and art, concluded at Berne on<br />
Sept. 9, 1886, has recently appeared in the official<br />
"Central Blatt," and will be of interest to British<br />
authors, Ac.<br />
The following is a translation :—<br />
The treaties which existed between the German<br />
Empire and several German States on the one<br />
part, and Great Britain on the other part,<br />
relative to the protection of copyright in works of<br />
literature and art, were put out of force on<br />
Djc. 16, 1897. For works of British origin,<br />
which have hitherto been dealt with in accordance<br />
with the provisions of those treaties, the follow-<br />
ing regulations, based npon S. 2 of the Ordinance<br />
of 29th Nov., 1897 (Reichsgesetzblatt, p. 787),<br />
respecting the execution of the Convention for the<br />
formation of an International Union for the pro-<br />
tection of works of literature and art, concluded<br />
at Berne on Sept. 9, 1886, shall apply in regard<br />
to the stamping and registration of the specimens<br />
and apparatus described therein.<br />
S. 1.<br />
Whosoever shall be in possession of copies or<br />
specimens of works of literature and art (writings,<br />
pictures, drawings, musical compositions, works of<br />
sculpture), which on Dec. 16,1897, had already been<br />
D D<br />
<br />
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## p. 284 (#730) ############################################<br />
<br />
284<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
produced, or were 011 that day in course of pro-<br />
duction, shall be under the obligation, should he<br />
desire to sell or distribute the same, to submit<br />
them for stamping to the police authorities of<br />
his place of residence on or before March 31,<br />
1898.<br />
Booksellers, commission agents, &c, who may<br />
be in possession of such copies or specimens, can<br />
submit them for stamping on behalf of the pub-<br />
lishers or of their clients without producing a<br />
special power of attorney.<br />
S. 2.<br />
The police a\ithorities shall keep an exact list<br />
of the copies or specimens submitted to them in<br />
the form indicated by the enclosed model<br />
(marked A), and shall stamp each separate<br />
copy or specimen with their official seal.<br />
S. 3.<br />
Whosoever shall be in the possession of appa-<br />
ratus of the kind described in s. 1, No. 1, of the<br />
Ordinance (such as moulds, engraved plates,<br />
lithographers' stones, stereotypes, &c), and<br />
desires to continue using them for the production<br />
of copies—at most until Dec. 31, 1901—must<br />
submit such apparatus for stamping to the police<br />
authorities of his place of residence on or before<br />
March 31, 1898.<br />
The copies produced by means of the stamped<br />
apparatus need not themselves be stamped. If<br />
desired, however, this also can be done.<br />
Any person who wishes to have such copies<br />
stamped must submit them to the police autho-<br />
rities on or before Dec. 31, 1901.<br />
. S- 4-<br />
The police authorities shall keep an exact list<br />
of the apparatus submitted to them in the form<br />
indicated by the enclosed model (marked B.), and<br />
shall stamp the apparatus with their official seal<br />
in such a manner as to injure them as little as<br />
possible, while guarding against the possibility<br />
of the erasion of the stamp.<br />
They shall also, if copies produced by such<br />
apparatus are submitted to them for stamping,<br />
keep an exact list of such copies, according to<br />
Model A., mentioned in s. 2, and stamp each<br />
separate copy with their official seal.<br />
S. 5.<br />
The police authorities are not called upon to<br />
determine whether the production of the copies<br />
or the use of the apparatus was permissible; on<br />
the other hand, they shall refuse the stamping<br />
in case they ascertain that the copies or specimens<br />
referred to in s. 1 or the apparatus referred to<br />
in s. 3 did not yet exist on Dec. 16, 1897, or that<br />
the printing of copies had not yet commenced on<br />
that day, or that the copies described in s. 3<br />
have been produced by means of unstamped<br />
apparatus.<br />
S. 6.<br />
The list shall be sent in by the police autho-<br />
rities to the competent central authorities within<br />
six weeks after their completion, and shall be pre-<br />
served by the latter. A notice on the part of the<br />
police authorities that no copies or apparatus<br />
have been presented for stamping is not neces-<br />
sary.<br />
S. 7.<br />
No fee shall be charged for the registration<br />
and stamping of copies or apparatus.<br />
For the Imperial Chancellor.<br />
(Signed) Nieberding.<br />
Berlin, Feb. 3, 1898.<br />
A.<br />
List of Copies presented for stamping to the undersigned<br />
police authorities.<br />
No.<br />
Date of Pre-<br />
sentation.<br />
Name or firm<br />
of person<br />
presenting<br />
copies.<br />
Title of tbe writ-<br />
ings, pictures, eom-<br />
positions. <fec.<br />
Number of<br />
List of Apparatus (moulds, plates, stones, stereotypes, &c.)<br />
presented for stamping to the undersigned police autho-<br />
rities.<br />
B.<br />
copies<br />
stamped.<br />
Name or firm<br />
of person<br />
presenting<br />
apparatus.<br />
Title of the writ-<br />
ings, pictures, com-<br />
positions, Ac., to<br />
be produced by the<br />
apparatus.<br />
Description<br />
and size of<br />
No.<br />
Date of pre-<br />
sentation.<br />
the<br />
apparatus.<br />
VI.—A Law Book's Copyright.<br />
Chancery Division.—Before Mr. Justice Romer.<br />
Palmer v. Effingham Wilson and Simonson was<br />
an action by Mr. Francis Beaufort Palmer, the<br />
author of "Company Precedents," a well-known<br />
work on company law and practice, against the<br />
defendants, Effingham Wilson (publisher) and Mr.<br />
Paul Frederick Simonson (barrister), for the<br />
purpose of establishing that a book on " Deben-<br />
tures and Debenture Stock," recently published<br />
by the defendants, was an infringement of the<br />
plaintiff's copyright in "Company Precedents,"<br />
and for an injunction and damages. The case<br />
was heard, and occupied the whole of the sitting<br />
of the court on Tuesday, and it was now con-<br />
cluded.<br />
Mr. Levett, Q.C., Mr. Swinfen Eady, Q.C.,<br />
and Mr. Dickinson were for the plaintiff; and<br />
Mr. Farwell, Q.C., and Mr. Scrutton for the<br />
defendants.<br />
The plaintiff and the defendant Simonson both<br />
gave evidence on affidavit, and were cross-<br />
examined, and at the conclusion of the learned<br />
counsel's speech for the defence, the judge, with-<br />
out calling on the counsel for the plaintiff to<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 285 (#731) ############################################<br />
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THE AUTHOR.<br />
285<br />
reply, asked whether the plaintiff would be dis-<br />
posed to make any concession to the defendant in<br />
respect of the copies already printed. This the<br />
plaintiff's counsel stated that he was quite ready<br />
to do, and after some discussion the following<br />
order was made by consent:<br />
The defendants, their printers, agents, and<br />
workmen to be restrained by the order and in-<br />
junction of the court from printing, publishing,<br />
selling, delivering, or otherwise disposing of, or<br />
advertising or exposing for sale the said book of<br />
the defendant Simonson, or any copy or copies<br />
thereof, and any book containing any passage or<br />
passages copied, taken, or colourably altered from<br />
the plaintiff's said books, and from doing any<br />
other act or thing in invasion or infringement of<br />
the plaintiff's said copyright in his said works.<br />
The defendants to pay the costs of the action,<br />
and also .£50 by way of damages to the plaintiff,<br />
and the plaintiff to allow the defendants to sell<br />
300 copies of the defendant's book, including<br />
those already sold.—Extracted from the Daily<br />
Telegraph, March 3.<br />
VII.—Directions for Securing Copyrights.<br />
Under the Revised Acts of Congress, including the Pro-<br />
visions for Foreign Copyright, by Aot of March 3, 1891.<br />
1. A printed copy of the title of the book, map,<br />
chart, dramatic or musical composition, engraving,<br />
cut, print, photograph, or chromo, or a description<br />
of the painting, drawing, statue, statuary, or model<br />
or design for a work of the fine arts, for which<br />
copyright is desired, must be delivered to the<br />
Librarian of Congress, or deposited in the mail,<br />
within the United States, prepaid, addressed<br />
Librarian of Congress,<br />
Washington, D.C.<br />
This may be done on or before day of publication<br />
in this or any foreign country.<br />
The printed title required may be a copy of the<br />
title page of such publications as have title pages.<br />
In other cases the title must be printed t.vpressly<br />
for copyright entry, with name of claimant of<br />
copyright. The style of type is immaterial, and<br />
the print of a typewriter will be accepted. But<br />
a separate title is required for each entry, and<br />
each title must be printed on paper as large as<br />
commercial note. The title of a periodical must<br />
include the date and number; and each number<br />
of the periodical requires a separate entry of<br />
copyright.<br />
2. The legal fee for recording each copyright<br />
claim is 50 cents, and for a copy of this record<br />
(or certificate of copyright under seal of the<br />
office) an additional fee of 50 cents is required,<br />
making 1 dollar, if certificate is wanted, which<br />
will be mailed as soon as reached in the records.<br />
TOL. Till.<br />
For publications which are the production of<br />
persons not citizens or residents of the United<br />
States, the fee for recording title is 1 dollar, and<br />
50 cents additional for a copy of the record.<br />
Certificates covering more than one entry in one<br />
certificate are not issued.<br />
Money orders, bank cheques, and currency<br />
only taken for fees. No postage stamps received.<br />
3. Not later than the day of publication in this<br />
country or abroad, two complete copies of the<br />
best edition of each book or other article must be<br />
delivered, or deposited in the mail within the<br />
United States, addressed<br />
Librarian of Congress,<br />
Washington, D.C,<br />
to perfect the copyright.<br />
The freight or postage must be prepaid, or<br />
the publications enclosed in parcels covered by<br />
printed Penalty Labels, furnished by the<br />
Librarian, in which case they will come free<br />
by mail (not express), without limit of weight,<br />
according to rulings of the Post-office Depart-<br />
ment. Books must be printed from type set in<br />
the United States, or from plates made there-<br />
from; photographs from negatives made in the<br />
United States; chromos and lithographs from<br />
drawings on stone or transfers therefrom made<br />
in the United States.<br />
Without the deposit of copies above required<br />
the copyright is void, and a penalty of 25 dollars<br />
is incurred. No copy is required to be deposited<br />
elsewhere.<br />
The law requires one copy of each new edition,<br />
wherein any substantial changes are made, to be<br />
deposited with the Librarian of Congress.<br />
4. No copyright is valid unless notice is given<br />
by inserting in every copy published, on the title<br />
page or the page following, if it be a book; or if<br />
a map, chart, musical composition, print, cut,<br />
engraving, photograph, painting, drawing, chromo,<br />
statue, statuary, or model or design, intended to<br />
be perfected as a work of the fine arts, by in-<br />
scribing upon some portion thereof, or on the<br />
substance on which the same is mounted, the<br />
following words, viz.: "Entered according to act<br />
of Congress, in the year , by , in<br />
the office of the Librarian of Congress, at<br />
Washington, or at the option of the person<br />
entering the copyright, the words: Copyright,<br />
18—, by — ."<br />
The law imposes a penalty of 100 dollars upon<br />
any person who has not obtained copyright who<br />
shall insert the notice, " Entered according to act<br />
of Congress," or "Copyright," or words of the<br />
same import, in or upon any book or other<br />
article.<br />
5. The copyright law secures to authors and<br />
d d 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 286 (#732) ############################################<br />
<br />
286<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
their assigns the exclusive right to translate or to<br />
dramatise any of their works; no notice or record<br />
is required to enforce this right.<br />
6. The original term of a copyright runs for<br />
twenty-eight years. Within sir months before<br />
the end of that time, the author or designer, or<br />
his widow or children, may secure a renewal for<br />
the further term of fourteen years, making forty-<br />
two years in all. Applications for renewal must<br />
be accompanied by a printed title and fee;<br />
and by explicit statement of ownership, in the<br />
case of the author, or of relationship, in the<br />
case of his heirs, and must state definitely<br />
the date and place of entry of the original copy-<br />
right. Within two months from date of renewal<br />
the record thereof must be advertised in an<br />
American newspaper for four weeks.<br />
7. The time of publication is not limited by any<br />
law or regulation, but the courts have held that<br />
it should take place " within a reasonable time."<br />
A copyright may be secured for a projected as<br />
well as for a completed work. But the law pro-<br />
vides for no caveatt or notice of interference—<br />
only for actual entry of title.<br />
8. Copyrights are assignable by any instrument<br />
of writing. Such assignment to be valid, is to be<br />
recorded in the office of the Librarian of Congress<br />
within sixty days from execution. The fee for<br />
this record and certificate is 1 dollar, and for a<br />
certified copy of any record of assignment<br />
dollar.<br />
9. A copy of the record (or duplicate certifi-<br />
cate) of any copyright entry will be furnished,<br />
under seal of the office, at the rate of 50 cents,<br />
each.<br />
10. In the case of books published in more<br />
than one volume, or of periodicals published in<br />
numl>ers, or of engravings, photographs, or other<br />
articles published with variations, a copyright<br />
must be entered for each volume or part of a<br />
book, or number of a periodical, or variety, as to<br />
style, title, or inscription, of any other article.<br />
To complete the copyright on a book published<br />
serially in a periodical, two copies of each serial<br />
part as well as of the complete work (if published<br />
separately), should be deposited.<br />
11. To secure copyright for a painting, statue,<br />
or model or design intended to be perfected as a<br />
work of the fine arts, a definite title and descrip-<br />
tion must accompany the application for copy-<br />
right, and a mounted photograph of the same, as<br />
large as "cabinet size," mailed to the Librarian<br />
of Congress not later than the day of publication<br />
of the work or design.<br />
The fine arts, for copyright purposes include<br />
only painting and sculpture, and articles of<br />
merely ornamental and decorative art should be<br />
sent to the Patent Office, as subj ects for design<br />
patents.<br />
12. Copyrights cannot be granted upon trade<br />
marks, nor upon names of companies, libraries,<br />
or articles, nor upon an idea or device, nor upon<br />
prints or labels intended to be used for any<br />
article of manufacture. If protection for such,<br />
names or labels is desired, application must be<br />
made to the Patent Office, where they are regis-<br />
tered, if admitted, at a fee of 6 dollars for labels,<br />
and 2 5 dollars for trade marks.<br />
13. The provisions as to copyright entry in the<br />
United States by foreign authors, &c, by act of<br />
Congress approved March 3, 1891 (which took<br />
effect July 1, 1891), are the same as the fore-<br />
going, except as to productions of persons not<br />
citizens or residents, which must cover return<br />
postage, and are 1 dollar for entry, or 1.50 dollar<br />
for entry and certificate of entry (equiva-<br />
lent to 4*. 5c?. or 6*. 7<1.). All publica-<br />
tions must be delivered to the Librarian at.<br />
Washington free of charge. The free penalty<br />
labels cannot be used outside of the United<br />
States.<br />
The right of citizens or subjects of a foreign<br />
nation to copyright in the United States extends<br />
by Presidential proclamations to Great Britain,<br />
France, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Italy,<br />
Denmark, and Portugal; and Americans can<br />
secure copyright in those countries. For this<br />
direct arrangements must be made abroad. The<br />
Librarian of Congress cannot take charge of any<br />
foreign copyright business.<br />
14. Every applicant for a copyright should state<br />
distinctly the full name and residence of the<br />
claimant, and whether the right is claimed as<br />
author, designer, or proprietor. No affidavit or<br />
witness to the application is required.<br />
Office of the Librarian of Congress.<br />
Washington, 1895.<br />
VIII.—A Question and an Answer.<br />
Feb. 8, 189S.<br />
A man is offered by a publisher a certain per-<br />
centage on the published price of a book. The<br />
author accepts this, believing, as one would<br />
naturally suppose, that the book was to be pub-<br />
lished subject to the usual discounts to the trade.<br />
The publisher produces the book as a nett book,<br />
and pays the author on the published price; but.<br />
of course, receives a much greater amount for<br />
himself than he would have done if it was<br />
subject to the usual discounts. Has the author<br />
any right of "objecting on the grounds that he<br />
signed the agreement believing that the book<br />
was going to be published subject to the usual<br />
discounts"?<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 287 (#733) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
287<br />
Reply by the Society's Solicitor.<br />
I would say—if there is no express or implied<br />
obligation to the contrary in the contract—the<br />
publisher can sell without the usual trade dis-<br />
counts (assuming, of course, he acts in good faith).<br />
When I say implied, I refer to implication from<br />
words used in the contract, not from the ordinary<br />
course of business. If there be any express or<br />
implied obligation to sell subject to usual dis-<br />
counts, and the publisher breaks this, the<br />
author's remedy would be for damages (the most<br />
palpable damages would be if he could show that<br />
the publisher had sold fewer books in con-<br />
sequence); it would not give him a right to<br />
repudiate the contract, or to claim a higher<br />
royalty.<br />
36, Lincoln's-inn-fields, London, W.C.<br />
Feb. 9, 1898.<br />
IX.—Old Friends.<br />
Our readers may make a note that while our<br />
old friends often quoted in these columns still<br />
continue, the principal partner has retired from it,<br />
and is now carrying on business apparently on the<br />
same lines. The flavour or aroma of the old firm<br />
clings to the new. I have seen two of his letters.<br />
The first begins in the old familiar way by stating<br />
that " I have received from my reader the report<br />
on this work, and it is sufficiently favourable to<br />
induce me to make you the following offer," &c.<br />
The offer means that the author has to pay a<br />
certain sum of money—in the case before us .£75.<br />
The publisher proposes to spend ,£30 on advertis-<br />
ing the book; the remaining £45 is to pay the<br />
cost of production. The author is to receive<br />
three-fifths of the "net proceeds" of sales. The<br />
publisher is to print 1500 copies. As the book is<br />
to be published at 3*. 6d., it is presumably a good<br />
deal shorter than the average 6s. novel.<br />
Let us see what the "cost of production" may<br />
mean. We assume, for want of further informa-<br />
tion, a book of small pica of 12 sheets of 16 pp.,<br />
or 6 sheets of 32 pp., and we copy from an esti-<br />
mate before us, somewhat lower than our own—<br />
remember that the figures are only guess work,<br />
but this is an average. If the book is longer<br />
the cost would be greater.<br />
Composition, £2 7*. 6d. per sheet £ s. d<br />
(6 sheets) 14 5 o<br />
Printing, £1 7s. (6 sheets) 8 2 o<br />
Paper, at 2\d. per lb 8 9 9<br />
Binding, say 120 copies to begin,<br />
at 4</ 2 o o<br />
32 16 9<br />
Of course the publisher is not obliged to bind<br />
more than are wanted. We have put the demand<br />
at 80 copies, and the "press " at 40.<br />
The "net proceeds" of sales may mean any-<br />
thing.<br />
In another letter before us the same publisher<br />
has received from his reader "a favourable opinion<br />
on the whole" of the work. He offers therefore to<br />
produce 3000 copies; to bind in attractive cloth<br />
as demands warrant; to publish at is. 6d.; to<br />
spend .£20 in advertising the book; and to pay<br />
the author two-thirds of the "net proceeds" of<br />
sales. In return the author is to pay £65.<br />
It is impossible to speculate as to a book at<br />
this price, which may mean anything. We<br />
remark, however, that the trade price of such a<br />
book would be about iod., so that on the most<br />
favourable terms—if the whole 3000 were sold,<br />
less fifty presentation and author's "copies "—<br />
the lucky author would actually make about ,£17—<br />
all for himself. What the publisher would make,<br />
one knows not from ignorance of the book.<br />
X.—A Copyright Action.<br />
In the Westminster County Court, Hudson and<br />
Others v. Stead was tried by Judge Lumley<br />
Smith, Q.C. The action was for an injunction to<br />
restrain the defendant from selling, in a volume<br />
of " Penny Poets," a poem by Mr. Coulson, which<br />
was the property of the plaintiffs. It was sub-<br />
mitted that care had been taken to include only<br />
those poems for which leave had been obtained<br />
from the authors or proprietors, and that the sale<br />
of the book was stopped on the plaintiff's com-<br />
plaining. In the end an injunction was granted,<br />
the counsel stating that he did not ask for<br />
damages, but for the sale of the poem to be<br />
stopped.<br />
NEW YORK LETTER.<br />
New York, March 18.<br />
PROBABLY there is no way in which the<br />
literary taste of this country, and espe-<br />
cially of this city, has been illustrated<br />
more clearly this year than in the fate of the<br />
various efforts to produce the literary drama.<br />
The total result seems to indicate that our public<br />
is becoming more cultivated, to have more taste<br />
for dramatic literature, at least, than it has had<br />
formerly, although, at the same time, the season's<br />
experience shows how far we have to go before<br />
we shall be anywhere near even, in dramatic<br />
standards, with Paris, Berlin, or even London.<br />
It has to be remembered, in studying the part<br />
which literature plays on our stage, that the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 288 (#734) ############################################<br />
<br />
288<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
accidental presence of great actors counts for<br />
much. A generation ago Shakespeare was much<br />
nore prominent than he is to-day, largely<br />
because Edwin Booth and Lawrence Barrett were<br />
then alive, and to-day what position he has is due<br />
largely to the fact that while Madame Modjeska<br />
remains, among the older actors, to give us<br />
the best plays, a few of the younger ones, of<br />
whom Julia Marlowe is the most successful, have<br />
Shakespeare in their repertories; and Richard<br />
Mansfield and the Daly Company always give us<br />
more or less of the higher drama. The public<br />
taste is, of course, represented to some extent by<br />
the success of these players, but it is also repre-<br />
sented largely by the iron power of the Theatrical<br />
Syndicate, the leading member of which, Charles<br />
Frohman, although he is a popular man, liked by<br />
all his friends, has absolutely no element of art<br />
or culture in him. He is a mere good-natured<br />
speculator, loyal to his friends, willing to star an<br />
actor whom he likes, if it can possibly be<br />
done, willing to fight any actor, however<br />
high, whose business interests are opposed to<br />
his. He measures success by receipts, and it is<br />
a very open question here now whether he really<br />
represents the American public, or simply rules it<br />
as a big grain speculator may control the price of<br />
wheat.<br />
There will have been by the end of this week<br />
three productions of "As You Like It" in New<br />
York this season; one by Modjeska, one by Daly,<br />
and one by Miss Marlowe. Modjeska has not<br />
yet given hers; Miss Marlowe, with a poor com-<br />
pany, played Shakespeare in the true traditions;<br />
Mr. Daly, with a good company, killed the<br />
whole spirit of the play by the over emphasis and<br />
lack of proportion which characterises the acting<br />
of all players who have come under his con-<br />
trol. Richard Mansfield plays "Shylock" and<br />
"Richard III." everv year. Mr. Daly also put on<br />
"Twelfth Night," and did it far better than the<br />
earlier comedy, for the simple reason that the<br />
cast fitted it better, and that Miss Rehan,<br />
feeling a melancholy element in Viola, refrained<br />
from the exaggerated gambol in which so much<br />
of her art consists. More Shakespeare, however,<br />
has been given at a little Italian theatre on the<br />
Bowery than anywhere else in the city, and, indeed,<br />
the repertory at that theatre is the highest we<br />
have, including the German and French, as well as<br />
the English and Italian classics. Next to it comes<br />
our German Theatre, with much the best acting<br />
in town, and the list of plays, which is still better<br />
than any English-speaking theatre here has,<br />
although it has been getting steadily worse for<br />
several years, owing to the growing taste of the<br />
younger Germans for the kind of farce which<br />
forms so large a part of the American diet.<br />
The other classic authors who have had a<br />
showing here this year are Schiller, Sheridan,<br />
Wycherley, and Congreve. The main thing<br />
brought out by these productions was that<br />
Schiller's "Mary Stuart," given as Modjeska<br />
gives it, has, with all its poetry, more real<br />
dramatic theatrical interest than most of the<br />
plays which are built nowadays purely for the<br />
theatre. The Restoration comedies and the<br />
"School for Scandal" were so butchered at<br />
Daly's and by the company of students who<br />
produced "Love for Love," that no conclusions<br />
could be drawn, except that it is mere folly to<br />
subordinate the dialogue in these plays to a kind<br />
of rapid action made by running around the stage<br />
and sticking in extra exclamations.<br />
More significant, perhaps, than any list of the<br />
classics which survive, is the fate of the new<br />
plays. Among those which have literary elements<br />
"The Little Minister" is far the greatest success,<br />
but it is more a success for Miss Maud Adams<br />
than for Mr. Barrie. Indeed, the play is injured<br />
essentially by the subordination of the character<br />
of the minister in order to let Lady Babbie stand<br />
easily in the foreground. Next to that, the " Lady<br />
of Quality " comes; but the play itself has been<br />
a failure, at least to judge from the critics, who<br />
have agreed almost unanimously that it was a<br />
wretched piece of Philistinism, badly constructed,<br />
carried to success by Julia Arthur, excellent stage<br />
management, and a good company. The " Princess<br />
and the Butterfly" was a surprise. When Mr.<br />
Daniel Frohman put it on he believed, so it<br />
is generally understood, that the piece must<br />
lose money because it was of too fine a<br />
humour to be popular. It was so successful,<br />
however, that it was making more money<br />
when it was taken off than it was a month<br />
earlier, it has been necessary to give extra matinees<br />
of it since, and there is a possibility that, when<br />
the company goes on the road next month, the<br />
demand for this play will force the "Tree of<br />
Knowledge "—which is to be in the repertory—<br />
almost off the boards. Mr. Daniel Frohman,<br />
although he is a business man, differs from his<br />
younger brother in having some sincere interest<br />
in the better class of modern drama, and nothing<br />
has pleased him more for a long time than the<br />
unlooked-for popularity of Pinero's comedy.<br />
Richard Mansfield also scored a heavy success<br />
with one modern play, "The Devil's Disciple,"<br />
by George Bernard Shaw, which is the best<br />
find he has made in years. It is the general<br />
opinion that this succeeded, however, less for<br />
its good qualities, which are very high,<br />
than for the melodramatic ones, which dis-<br />
tinguishes it from "Arms and the Man,"<br />
which was anything but a success last year. Mr.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 289 (#735) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
289<br />
Mansfield, however, is such a believer in the<br />
possibility of making a living without cheapen-<br />
ing his art, that he has bought the American<br />
rights to " Cyrano de Bergerac," and will produce<br />
it next year. Only a few weeks ago we had a<br />
really encouraging experience with "El Gran<br />
Galeoto," for although this Spanish play was<br />
given at a little theatre off the beaten track, its<br />
success was much greater than was expected.<br />
Ibsen has had a singular fate. "John Gabriel<br />
Borkman " failed utterly, but the Norwegian always<br />
succeeds at our German theatre. Miss Elizabeth<br />
Robins is probably going to test our taste for him<br />
with a series of revivals later in the season.<br />
Although this, perhaps, is not a showing to be<br />
particularly vain of, there is much of encourage-<br />
ment in it for us, since our stage has been in so<br />
bad a way that its degradation is one of the most<br />
common topics of conversation. The effect of<br />
the long run system, and the cheap flimsy plays<br />
favoured by the syndicate, is no worse for the<br />
public than it is for the actor. Our best young<br />
actors hardly know where to turn to get the<br />
training which alone can give them artistic<br />
futures. With Mr. Daly they can learn only the<br />
Jumping Jack style; and under Mr. Frohman,<br />
who controls most of the country, they have to<br />
train themselves, and can only act shallow parts,<br />
and few of those. A company of American actors<br />
are just about leaving to give " The Heart of Mary-<br />
land" in England. One of the parts is taken by<br />
Mr. E. J. Morgan. He is a young actor who has<br />
never distinguished himself very noticeably, but,<br />
after a year spent in New York theatres, I thought<br />
that he was the most striking example of what<br />
opportunity means in the drama. He has no<br />
gifts that are great, but he has an all-round<br />
sincerity, force, and fineness, which is exactly<br />
what is far more needed than individual bril-<br />
liancy, and what would be immediately appre-<br />
ciated and brought to the front if we had reper-<br />
tory theatres properly conducted. If Sir Henry<br />
Irving or Mr. Alexander, for instance, took him<br />
in hand, much might be done with him.<br />
Norman Hapgood.<br />
THE COST OF PRODUCTION.<br />
I.—Another Set of Estimates.<br />
WE gave in February three actual estimates<br />
showing that the cost of production had,<br />
in some branches at least,and on the whole,<br />
3ne down since the appearance of the Society's<br />
ok on the subject. Yet there are some papers<br />
who continue the same belated cry that the<br />
Society's figures are impossible.<br />
We are able this month, thanks to one of our<br />
members who has placed actual estimates obtained<br />
by himself in our hands, to furnish five more<br />
estimates, of which three are under the Society's<br />
figures, one very little above, and one considerably<br />
above.<br />
The book is one of 20 sheets of 16 pages each:<br />
or 10 sheets of 32 pages: the type small pica:<br />
twenty-nine lines to a page, and " 3jjni by 5im."<br />
The number of copies is to be 3000.<br />
We first place the figures of the Society :—<br />
£. s. d. £. s. d.<br />
Composition, £1 ys. 6d. per sheet of<br />
16 pages, or £2 15s. per sheet of<br />
32 pages 27 10 o<br />
Printing, £1 12s. 4<J. per sheet of<br />
32 pages 16 3 4<br />
43 '3 4<br />
The other estimates were as follows:—<br />
£. *. d. £. g. d.<br />
(1.) Composition per sheet of 32<br />
pages, £2 5«. 3d 22 12 6<br />
Printing, £\ is. per sheet of 32<br />
pages 10 10 o<br />
33 2 6<br />
(2.) Composition, at £2 4*- 22 o o<br />
Printing, at £ I ys. 13 10 o<br />
35 10 o<br />
(3.) Composition, at £2 ys. 6d 23 15 o<br />
Printing, at £1 ys 13 10 o<br />
37 5 0<br />
(4.) Composition, at £2 12« 26 o o<br />
Printing, at i!i iSs 19 o o<br />
45 ° °<br />
(5.) Composition, at £3 3s 31 10 o<br />
Printing, at £1 16* 18 o o<br />
49 10 o<br />
The lowest of these estimates is £10 less than<br />
that of the Society.<br />
Then follows the question of paper. In the<br />
"Cost of Production" the paper is estimated by<br />
the sheet. The more common way of calculating<br />
is by the pound weight.<br />
It is found that for such a book as we are con-<br />
sidering, one ream of paper prints 1000 copies of<br />
32 page sheet with some sixteen overs. Therefore<br />
a book of 10 sheets = 320 pp. requires ten<br />
reams. How is this expressed in pound weight?<br />
A ream of paper varies in weight from ioolbs.<br />
to i3olbs. The lower weight may be accepted as<br />
an average. Therefore ten sheets (— 320 pp.)<br />
will require from 1000 to i3oolbs.<br />
The price of paper is now from 2d. a lb. to 2\d.<br />
a lb. A very good paper can be had for 2\d. a<br />
lb., and that at 2d. is considered by many to be<br />
quite good enough.<br />
£ s. d. £ s. d.<br />
So that at 2d. a lb.<br />
the paper varies<br />
from 8 6 8 to 10 16 8<br />
and at 2Id. a lb. ..10 8 4 to 13 10 10<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 290 (#736) ############################################<br />
<br />
290<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Or, for 3000 copies it varies<br />
£ s. d. M s. d.<br />
(1) at 2d. a lb. from 25 o o to 32 10 o<br />
(2) at 2\d 31 5 o to 40 12 6<br />
The cost given in the Society's book is ,£46<br />
10s.<br />
The binding, set down in the Society's book<br />
at id. a volume, or =£50, is to be done for this<br />
book at 3frf. a volume, or £45.<br />
Now consider the whole.<br />
Society's The new<br />
figures. estimate.<br />
£ 1. (I. £ s. d.<br />
Composition 27 10 o ... 22 12 6<br />
Printing 16 3 4 ... 10 10 o<br />
Paper 46 10 o ... 31 5 o<br />
Binding 50 o o ... 45 o o<br />
£140 3 4 £109 7 6<br />
Therefore, compared with the Society's figures,<br />
the new estimate shows an actual saving of<br />
£30 15*. lod.<br />
And this, not on bulk of work, but on a single<br />
book!<br />
Corrections are left out. The author, if he is<br />
wise, will have very few. Let us say £5 for this<br />
item.<br />
Advertising has been left out. It is well to<br />
advertise some books widely, it is foolish to spend<br />
much money on advertising others. We have<br />
already exposed the meaning of advertising—let<br />
us repeat it. If 3000 copies are printed—•<br />
An expenditure of £10 means *sd. on each copy.<br />
That of £20 means 1 Id. on each copy.<br />
That of £30 means 2±d. on each copy.<br />
But if the first 1000 are to bear the whole<br />
expense of the advertising, then—<br />
An expenditure of £10 means \%d. on each<br />
copy, and of £20 means 3 ></. on each copy.<br />
A book which will not be persuaded to "go"<br />
after £20 has been spent in advertising it, in<br />
addition to the publishers' free exchanges, his<br />
free list, the help of the circulating libraries, and<br />
the reviews, will probably not go at all.<br />
II.—The British Weekly and the Chairman.<br />
1. The following is an extract from "The<br />
Correspondence of Claudius Clear" appearing in<br />
the British Weekly :—<br />
The Authors' Society information published on this<br />
subject is not to be trusted. If anyone doubts this, I<br />
will ask him to find for me a single publisher in London who<br />
will differ from my judgment. Of course, if you say that all<br />
publishers are rogues and thieves, the question is not settled,<br />
but if it be admitted that a single honest man exists<br />
in the whole publishing trade, the question is settled,<br />
for nobody will bring forward any man who has had practi-<br />
cally to do with books who does not know that the figures in<br />
the " Costs of Production " are useless.<br />
2. The following letter from Sir Martin<br />
Conway appeared on March 19th in the British<br />
Weekly:—<br />
Claudius Clear and the Authors' Society.<br />
To the Editor of the British Weekly.<br />
Sir,—I have only just seen a communication in the<br />
British Weekly of March 3, signed "Claudius Clear," in<br />
which I read that the "Authors' Society's information pub-<br />
lished on the subject"—of the " Cost of Production "—" ie<br />
not to be trusted "; and, in another place, is " useless."<br />
The figures given in the " Cost of Production " were not<br />
invented by the Authors' Sooiety. They are actual esti-<br />
mates furnished to the Society by printers; or furnished by<br />
printers to authors. This fact has been 3tated so often<br />
that it is truly surprising to see the old charge reproduced.<br />
If your correspondent will tell me any better way of<br />
arriving at the truth than by getting estimates from printers,<br />
I shall be glad to hear of it. These figures sometimes prove<br />
to be over the mark; seldom under. In the February<br />
number of The Author, three estimates for printing and<br />
binding the same work were quoted, all by first-class houses;<br />
all three much under the total cost given in the " Cost of<br />
Production." The Secretary has at the present moment in<br />
bis hands, for immediate publication, five estimates for<br />
another book, of which three are much under that given in<br />
the "Cost of Production" for a similar MS. with the same<br />
type, size of page, number of words in a page, &c.<br />
When printers, who determine the " Cost of Production,"<br />
begin to send in estimates above those given by the Sooiety<br />
in their book and in The Author, the figures now given by<br />
the Society will be altered. Meantime your readers may<br />
depend upon getting from us the exact figures, neither<br />
invented nor altered, furnished by printers of town and<br />
country, for every kind of book, and all the commonly used<br />
kinds of type.—I am, Sir, your obedient servant,<br />
Martin Conwat,<br />
Chairman of the Committee of Management of the<br />
Incorporated Society of Authors.<br />
4, Portugal-street, W.C., March 18.<br />
3. The Editor of the British Weekly appended<br />
the following comment:—<br />
Our contributor invited the Authors' Society to find any<br />
publisher who would Bupport its statements. If Sir<br />
Martin Conway will find one, we shall be very happy to hear<br />
him. If he cannot, the inference is obvious. There is<br />
either (1) no honest publisher, or (2) no competent publisher<br />
in this country.—Ed. B. W.<br />
(4.) To this comment the only reply is that the<br />
business of the Authors' Society is to find, by<br />
printer's estimates, the cost of producing different<br />
kinds of books. The Society, having ascertained<br />
the facts from printers and others, publishes these<br />
facts in the interests of authors: it has nothing<br />
to do with the opinions of publishers on these<br />
facts. If any publisher says that he cannot get<br />
these figures, then the only reply is that, if he goes<br />
where the Society got them, he can. "Claudius<br />
Clear" means, perhaps, that the Society invents<br />
these figures. Indeed, that seems the only mean-<br />
ing that can be put upon his words. At all<br />
events, if it is to be a question whether publishers<br />
are "rogues and thieves," or the committees and<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 291 (#737) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
291<br />
secretaries of this Society, the side taken in these<br />
pages would probably lean in the former direc-<br />
tion. But the question does not arise, because<br />
ublishers have not denied the accuracy of these<br />
gures.<br />
NOTES AND NEWS.<br />
JAMES PAYN is dead. His death has called<br />
forth a spontaneous and unanimous voice<br />
of regret and praise which makes one think<br />
better of the world. His, indeed, was the ideal<br />
literary life—one of devotion and unwearied<br />
industry, one without envy, malice, or jealousy.<br />
Of him it may be written, that he never uttered<br />
a word of malice: that he never grudged a rival<br />
his success: and that he neither log-rolled nor<br />
depreciated. The following notes I have already<br />
contributed to a little causerie of my own.<br />
I seem to have known him for the greater part<br />
of my life. As a fact, I have only known him<br />
personally for twenty years. In the late fifties,<br />
however, when I was an undergraduate, I often<br />
heard about him. He used to turn up at his<br />
own College (Trinity) from time to time, and his<br />
stories—the delight of the Combination Room—<br />
were sometimes retailed to me by a friend, then<br />
one of the Junior Fellows. He was a companion<br />
of other friends of mine in the Lakes when he was<br />
compiling his Guide Book, which he wrote, I<br />
believe, without climbing a single hill, for<br />
Payn was always singularly averse from bodily<br />
exercise. However, without meeting the man<br />
in the flesh until the seventies, I used to<br />
hear about him constantly. In letters he has<br />
tried almost everything, and succeeded in every-<br />
thing he has tried. He has written excellent<br />
verses; he has told excellent stories; he has<br />
written charming cauteries; but, above all and<br />
before all, he has been a humorist born. That<br />
way his genius lay; no modern writer has been a<br />
greater humourist than Payn. He bubbled over<br />
with good things; he made humour out of every-<br />
thing. As for any of his work surviving, who<br />
knows? If a story of the keenest interest, admi-<br />
rably constructed, filled with excellent characters,<br />
is likely to survive, then there are half a dozen<br />
books by Payn which will eurvive. I should be<br />
sorry, indeed, to institute any odious comparison<br />
between the work of the younger men and the<br />
work of Payn, but at least one may that, for<br />
brightness of dialogue, sunshine of atmosphere,<br />
artistic construction, the former have a great<br />
deal to learn from the elder writer. A delightful<br />
companion, a man full of kindliness, who has<br />
never said an ill word of anyone, who has always<br />
delighted above all tilings, when he was an editor,<br />
in finding out young writers and advancing thein.<br />
What did I say above? The younger writers<br />
have indeed a great deal to learn from James<br />
Payn.<br />
I remember, for instance, about sixteen years<br />
ago, receiving from Payn an advance copy of a<br />
certain new book. He asked my opinion upon it.<br />
I read it all one Saturday evening with enormous<br />
delight. For he had found a new man, and<br />
with characteristic rejoicing he was eager that his<br />
"find" should be shared by other people. The<br />
book was " Vice Versa," the first of many books<br />
by another humorist of the front rank. It is<br />
generally believed that literary men are jealous<br />
of each other. That was not James Payn's case;<br />
he has never been been capable of jealousy or of<br />
venom, or any other of the vices supposed to be<br />
inherent in the profession. In a single word,<br />
Payn has always been a " gentleman of letters"<br />
through and through. I think that he will not<br />
readily be forgotten even by the people who never<br />
met him personally.<br />
In another column will be found more figures<br />
and more correspondence as to the " Cost of Pro-<br />
duction." The case for our figures is this:<br />
1. They are actual estimates obtained from<br />
printers of acknowledged standing. Any attack<br />
upon the figures is therefore a charge of false-<br />
hood directed against the managers of the<br />
Society.<br />
2. The figures given in the "Cost of Produc-<br />
tion" were estimates obtained six or seven years<br />
ago.<br />
3. Since that time prices of machinery and<br />
paper have gone down, the latter enormously.<br />
4. The figures given on p. 289 show that the<br />
estimates in 1898 are lower than those of<br />
1891.<br />
5. The duty of the Society after ascertaining<br />
these figures was to make them public in the<br />
interests of their members. If an author obtains<br />
an estimate or a charge exceeding these figures,<br />
from a publisher, he now knows what to think.<br />
6. At the same time it must be remembered<br />
that there may be reasons for choosing a specially<br />
expensive paper or an expensive binding. Also,<br />
that, as the difference in the estimates proves,<br />
it is impossible to give more than the average<br />
estimate. .<br />
Is it quite impossible for after-dinner speakers<br />
—even persons unconnected with the manage-<br />
ment of literary property—to speak of the Society<br />
of Authors with something like regard for facts<br />
and for decent manners? At the recent dinner of<br />
the Correctors of the Press, there is reportcl a<br />
speech by Sir Henry Craik. Now, to begin with,<br />
P<br />
fi<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 292 (#738) ############################################<br />
<br />
292<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Sir Henry Craik is a responsible person; he is<br />
not one of those persons who are expected to<br />
kick at the publication of the facts. He is a<br />
K.C.B. and an LL.D.; he is Secretary of the Scotch<br />
Education Department. He has written a Life<br />
of Swift; he has also written a work on the<br />
State and Education; and he has copied out<br />
"Selections" from various writers. In a word, he<br />
is a man of apparently solid parts. Now how does<br />
this responsible person allow himself to speak of<br />
the Society of Authors? Tbis is what he is<br />
reported as having said:<br />
(1.) "The Society of Authors had told them that<br />
the publisher was a needless invention."<br />
The Society of Authors has never to my know-<br />
ledge said anything of the kind.<br />
(2.) The Society of Authors had told them that<br />
"the chief duty of the author was to<br />
make himself a sprightly commercial<br />
agent, who brought the most worthless<br />
wares to the dearest market."<br />
This statement seems to me a statement as to<br />
the Society's position, which I should be very glad<br />
to see the Committee take up seriously, if it were<br />
possible. One such case seriously undertaken,<br />
and carried through, would put a stop at once and<br />
for ever to such misrepresentations.<br />
"Marguerite" writes to state that from her<br />
own experience editors are courteous, and pub-<br />
lishers ready to explain the reasons of their deci-<br />
sion as to her MSS. One editor told her that<br />
her MS. was not rejected on account of any want<br />
of literary merit, but solely because he was already<br />
"full up." She has received other letters fr.-m<br />
other editors equally courteous in tone. There-<br />
fore, she says, " all civility is not reserved for the<br />
other side of the water, as E. L. A. seems to<br />
imply." Did E. L. A. imply so sweeping a view<br />
of the matter? One is very glad to print these<br />
testimonials to the courtesy of many editors, the<br />
existence of which has never been disputed, while<br />
the discourtesy of other editors is still insisted<br />
upon. As regards publishers, "Marguerite"<br />
gives the letter in full, which accompanied the<br />
return of her MS. It informs her, with far more<br />
consideration than is generally the case, that,<br />
while the book is "pleasant, it is too slight for<br />
separate publication." "Marguerite " says that<br />
she will send her next MS. to the same firm.<br />
This shows the value of a little politeness, which<br />
costs nothing. At the same time politeness, one<br />
would point out, is not the only quality which<br />
makes a firm desirable for an author.<br />
The new journal, the Ontlook, noticing certain<br />
remarks of mine on the new Literary Year-Booh<br />
made in another paper, says that I would not allow<br />
"any author even to murmur under his breath au<br />
unkind word of another." This is hardly the way<br />
I should like it put. My contention is simply that<br />
one writer ought to observe towards another<br />
writer the same attitude of courtesy and good<br />
breeding that is expected of one barrister towards<br />
another; or of one medical man towards another.<br />
That is a reasonable claim, surely, and not too<br />
much to ask—simple courtesy. As a gloss upon<br />
this proposition I would point out that the fact<br />
that a poet or a novelist, an antiquarian or an<br />
essayist, does not necessarily possess the faculty<br />
of criticism: and does not, therefore, exercise by<br />
right the utterance of judgments upon other<br />
poets, or novelists, or essayists. The critical and<br />
the literary faculty do not, in other words, mean<br />
the same thing. As regards the Year-Book (see<br />
p. 293) before us, there are two questions quite<br />
distinct. (1) Is it decent or desirable to present<br />
in the Literary Year-Book a wholesale attack<br />
upon living literary men and women? And (2),<br />
if it is decent and desirable, is Mr. Joseph Jacobs<br />
likely to be accepted as quite the proper person<br />
for the job? _<br />
Mr. Anthony Hope's experiences in the United<br />
States, otherwise pleagant, have had their seamy<br />
side in the publication of certain paragraphs in<br />
certain papers, quoting words which he did not<br />
use, and opinions which he never held or expressed.<br />
In a letter to the New York Critic Mr. Anthony<br />
Hope indicates in the concluding paragraph, with-<br />
out naming him, the real offender. It is not the<br />
obscure journalist who invents things for the sake<br />
of creating a little excitement who is to blame,<br />
it is the editor who allows their inventor to<br />
continue on his staff. He says—the italics are<br />
mine: "I suppose it is not customary to attempt<br />
to sift paragraphs of this description in any way<br />
before publishing them as facts. Lf some such<br />
process is not altogether impossible in a newspaper<br />
office it xcould seem to be desirable. In the pre-<br />
sent state of affairs a wise man treats all para-<br />
graphs as more or less amusing fiction; probablv<br />
this is only taking them in the spirit in which<br />
they are offered by their ingenious authors."<br />
The portrait of Mr. Herbert Spencer, which<br />
representatives of the literature, philosophy,<br />
and science of the country asked that he should<br />
allow to be painted as a mark of congratula-<br />
tion upon the conclusion of the "Synthetic<br />
Philosophy," is now at length finished. Professor<br />
Hubert Herkomer, R.A. has painted the portrait.<br />
Mr. Collins declares that "all who know Mr.<br />
Spencer will agree in praising it both as au<br />
admirable likeness and as a work of art." It will<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 293 (#739) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
293<br />
The Rev. E. A. Abbott, D.D.<br />
Grant Allen.<br />
William Allingham, F.R.C.S.<br />
William Archer.<br />
Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E.,<br />
&c.<br />
Mrs. Gertrude At her ton<br />
Sir Eobert S. Ball, LL.D.,<br />
F.R.S.<br />
Eobert Bateman.<br />
A. W. a Beokett.<br />
F. E. Beddard, F.R.S.<br />
The Rev. Canon Bell, D.D.<br />
E. F. Benson.<br />
Mrs. Oscar Beringer.<br />
Sir Henry Bergne, K.C.M.G.<br />
Sir Walter Besant.<br />
W. H. Besant, Sc. D., F.B.S.<br />
Miss M. Betham-Edwards.<br />
Ponlteney Bigelow.<br />
Augustine Birrell, Q.C., M.P.<br />
The Rev. Prof. T. G. Bonney,<br />
F.R.S., Ac.<br />
Oscar Browning.<br />
Prof. C. A. Bnchheim, M.A.,<br />
LL.D.<br />
Mrs. Mona Caird.<br />
Lady Colin Campbell.<br />
The Very Kev. the Dean of<br />
Canterbury.<br />
Rosa Nonchette Carey.<br />
Egerton Castle, F.S.A.<br />
Sir William Charley, Q.C.,<br />
D.C.L.<br />
Prof. A. H. Church, F.R.S.<br />
P. W. Clayden.<br />
Mrs. W. K. Clifford.<br />
Edward Clodd.<br />
The Hon. John Collier.<br />
Sir W. Martin Conway.<br />
Mrs. B. M. Croker.<br />
Francis Darwin, F.R.S., &c.<br />
Sir George Douglas, Bart.<br />
Prof. E. Dowden.<br />
The Very Rev. the Dean of<br />
Durham.<br />
The Rev. J. Earle, LL.D.<br />
Basil Field.<br />
Prof. Miohael Foster, F.R.S.<br />
Richard Garnett, C.B., LLD.<br />
"Maxwell Gray."<br />
H. Rider Haggard.<br />
Prof. J. W. Hales.<br />
Anthony Hope Hawkins.<br />
Miss Beatrice Harraden.<br />
Silas K. Hocking.<br />
"John Oliver Hobbes."<br />
Jerome K. Jerome.<br />
Henry Arthur Jones.<br />
J. Scott Keltie, LL.D.<br />
Mrs. Edward Kennard.<br />
Prof. E. Ray Lankester.<br />
W. E. H. Leoky.<br />
J. M. Lely.<br />
Mrs. Lynn Linton.<br />
The Right Hon. Sir John<br />
Lubbock, Bart., P.C.,<br />
D.C.L.<br />
"Edna Lyall."<br />
The Rev. W. J. Loftie,<br />
F.S.A.<br />
Sidney Lee.<br />
J. Norman Lockyer.<br />
The Right Hon. Sir Herbert<br />
Maxwell, Bart., P.C., &o.<br />
Phil May.<br />
Justin McCarthy, M.P.<br />
Prof. J. M. D. Meiklejohn.<br />
The Rev. C. H. Middleton-<br />
Wake.<br />
Miss Jean Middlemass.<br />
F. Frankfort Moore.<br />
Arthur Morrison.<br />
"E. Nesbit."<br />
Henry Norman.<br />
W. E. Norris.<br />
Max Pemberton.<br />
The Right Hon. Lord Pir-<br />
bright, P.C., F.R.S.<br />
Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart.,<br />
LL.D.<br />
William Pole, F.R.S.<br />
Morley Roberts.<br />
Edward Rose.<br />
W. M. Rossetti.<br />
Sir W. H. Russell, LL.D.<br />
Miss Adeline Sergeant.<br />
The Rev. Prof. W. W. Skeat,<br />
Litt. D., &o.<br />
Herbert Spencer.<br />
M. H. Spielmann.<br />
S. S. Sprigge.<br />
Sir John Stainer, Mus. Doc.<br />
Bram Stoker.<br />
Francis Storr.<br />
"Annie S. Swan."<br />
The Right Hon. Sir Richard<br />
Temple, Bart., P.C.,<br />
G.C.S.I., &o.<br />
W. Moy Thomas.<br />
The Right Hon. Lord Tenny-<br />
son.<br />
Sir Henry Thompson,<br />
F.R.C.S.<br />
John Todhunter, M.D.<br />
"Mark Twain."<br />
The Rev. Chas. VoyBey.<br />
Charles Waldstein, Litt. D.,<br />
&o.<br />
Mrs. Humphry Ward.<br />
Theodore Watts Dun ton.<br />
Peroy White.<br />
J. McNeill Whistler.<br />
Major-Gen. Sir Charles<br />
Wilson, K.C.B., &c.<br />
I. Zangwill.<br />
be sent to the next exhibition of the Royal<br />
Academy. It is proposed to offer the picture to<br />
the trustees of the National Portrait Gallery for<br />
hanging upon their walls. It is hoped that this may<br />
be long deferred, as the gallery does not exhibit<br />
portraits of the living. The trustees and directors<br />
of the National Gallery of British Art agree to<br />
exhibit the portrait upon their walls during Mr.<br />
Spencer's life. Walter Besant.<br />
THE ANNUAL DINNER.<br />
E Annual Dinner of the Society of Authors<br />
will be held in the Venetian Room of the<br />
Holborn Restaurant on Monday, May 2, at<br />
7.30 p.m. The chair will be taken by the Right<br />
Rev. the Lord Bishop of London, P.C. . Tickets<br />
for the Dinner will be 1 guinea, inclusive of<br />
everythiug.<br />
The formal notice of the Dinner will be sent out<br />
to each member in the course of a day or so. The<br />
following ladies and gentlemen have kindly con-<br />
sented to act as Stewards of the Dinner:<br />
"THE LITERARY TEAR-BOOK."<br />
THE new volume of the "Literary Tear-<br />
Book " * is before me. The first volume<br />
contained faults of omission which were<br />
inevitable at the outset. The new volume has<br />
filled up some of the omissions, and has given<br />
many additions; but it suffers from a failure<br />
on the part of the editor to understand what<br />
such a book should be.<br />
Its primary function is to supply all kinds<br />
of information that may be of use to those who<br />
follow the Literary Profession. Its clientele is<br />
not the outer world at all: the outer world does<br />
not greatly care about the details and manage-<br />
ment of the Literary Profession; it likes to have<br />
its books, papers, articles, poems, &c, supplied<br />
without asking how they come. The "Literary<br />
Tear-Book " is addressed, in fact, solely to literary<br />
folk, a thing that must be carefully considered by<br />
everybody concerned in its production. This being<br />
so, the editor has, in my judgment, committed a<br />
very grave error in choosing to begin his work by<br />
a misplaced attack upon the Profession at large,<br />
and upon members of the Profession individually.<br />
It is an age, he begins, benevolently, of " machine-<br />
made books and of reclame-made reputations.-'<br />
What are the "machine-made books Y What<br />
life have they Y What success Y Who publishes<br />
them? Who buys them Y What encouragement<br />
is there for the manufacture of machine-made<br />
books? Surely an editor who laments the<br />
* "The Literary Year-Book, 1898." Edited by Joseph<br />
Jacobs. (London: George Allen. 3s. 6d.)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 294 (#740) ############################################<br />
<br />
294<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
machine-made book might at least explain, with<br />
a few illustrations, what he means.<br />
Again, whose are the reputations made by<br />
reclame F There must be a great many of them<br />
according to the editor, because this is an "age"<br />
for them. One knows the names of one or two<br />
persons who have done, or are doing, their very<br />
best to advertise themselves, but they have failed,<br />
as a rule, to achieve the admiration they desire.<br />
Where are they, then, these reputations of reclame<br />
for which this age is so famous?<br />
Let us imagine, if we can, a professional book<br />
intended for lawyers, which should begin by<br />
telling its clientele that they know no law, and<br />
that their reputation is made by reclame; or a<br />
book intended for the medical profession, which<br />
should begin by saying that all doctors are<br />
quacks; or a book intended for the army, which<br />
should begin by lamenting the decay of courage<br />
among our officers! We cannot imagine such an<br />
absurdity. Yet this is exactly what has been done<br />
for the literary profession by the editor of the<br />
"Literary Year-Book." He actually begins by<br />
scattering, broadcast, attacks upon the work of<br />
the very people to whom he looks for support!<br />
And, which is worse, he seems to think it the<br />
function of the "Year-Book" to depreciate the<br />
very profession which it is meant to represent<br />
and to support!<br />
In the course of his Introduction, for instance,<br />
the editor asks how many of the 7000 books of last<br />
year will survive. So put, the question certainly<br />
involves the assumption that they ought all to<br />
survive. But, consider. Out of the 7000 at least<br />
ninety-nine in a hundred are books produced for<br />
the needs of the day; as the educational, technical,<br />
and scientific books: books for children: the<br />
magazines and journals. Of the remainder it will<br />
be time enough in twenty years to ask how many<br />
books of those published for more than the needs<br />
of the time, as poems, plays, essays, fiction, have<br />
survived from 1897.<br />
There are other charges of less importance but,<br />
unfortunately, equally out of place. "Nowadays<br />
a writer sends forth his message into the air with<br />
no definite target to aim at." What does that<br />
mean? If a man has a message to deliver he<br />
wants no target. If he has an arrow to shoot<br />
he does want a target; but not if he has a<br />
message. It means that the editor proposed to<br />
say something disagreeable and has said it.<br />
"There has been no literature in 1897." That<br />
is a comfortable assertion; it is especially calcu-<br />
lated to please the people for whom the " Year-<br />
Book " is published. The editor says that he has<br />
"stated and proved " it. I see the statement, but<br />
not the proof, which has somehow dropped out.<br />
The novelists will be, above all, pleased with the<br />
book, for the writer demonstrates that they are<br />
all in a decaying, or decayed, condition. How-<br />
ever, one need not follow the Introduction any<br />
further. Considered as an introduction to a<br />
"Year-Book" of Literature, compiled entirely for<br />
literary folk, it is certainly lamentable.<br />
This fundamental error of supposing that criti-<br />
cism of any kind—even real criticism—is wanted<br />
in such a work is carried throughout the volume.<br />
There are, for instance, half a dozen photographs of<br />
authors. Each is accompanied, not by a simple<br />
statement of the writer's work, which is all that<br />
is wanted in a Year-book for the Profession, but<br />
by an attempt at smart criticism of the writer,<br />
with a pat on the back or a snub, either of which<br />
is unasked and out of place.<br />
Then follows a list of fiction for 1897, which<br />
is incomplete. Here, again, the editor remains<br />
under the delusion that his judgment has been<br />
invited. Nobody wants his judgment or his<br />
selection. A Year-Book wants neither criticism,<br />
nor selection, nor judgment. It wants facts.<br />
The editor should take his judgment and his<br />
selections to any of the literary and critical<br />
journals, where they might be accepted and where<br />
they would not be out of place.<br />
I hope that in the third volume of the " Year-<br />
Book " the proprietors will recognise the broad and<br />
simple fact that it is not the function of the book<br />
to abuse and insult the very people for whose use<br />
it is produced. Common politeness is due to your<br />
customers. The " Year-Book " should fill a very<br />
important function indeed. That is the reason<br />
why these remarks are offered ; but one is hardly<br />
encouraged to recommend it when one finds what<br />
is offered. I do not like to quote the remarks made<br />
on Mr. Hall Caine, on pp. 24, 25, while on p. 2 5 Mr.<br />
Seton Merriman, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling<br />
—the writer actually speaks of the "moderate<br />
height" of " The Light that Failed"—the "mode-<br />
rate height!"—George Gissing, Anthony Hojie,<br />
S. E. Crockett, Louis Stevenson, Henry James,<br />
Marion Crawford, Richard Le Gallienne, and<br />
Olive Schreiner, all come in for the appreciation<br />
of this genial editor. This is sweeping enough:<br />
but there are other broad and comprehensive<br />
strokes of the broom by which the editor jjroves<br />
to his own satisfaction that there has been no<br />
literature in 1897. But in that case if there is no<br />
literature, what is the use of a "Literary Year-<br />
Book "? Why is it published? And why all this<br />
trouble to compile lists, and arrive at information<br />
as to the management of the Literary Profession?<br />
Surely, a profession which is from beginning to<br />
end an imposture and a quackery, does not<br />
demand a book of its own. The sooner it is dis-<br />
couraged, swept away, and made unprofitable, the<br />
better for the world.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 295 (#741) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
295<br />
Lastly, there is an attempt made to give the<br />
birthdays of literary people. Would it not be<br />
better to confine the attempt to the dead? I find<br />
myself, for instance, honoured with a birthday.<br />
I am stated to have been born on All Saints<br />
Day. I was not born on that day. Nor was I<br />
born in the year mentioned. The editor kindly<br />
gives me eight years of life more than I can<br />
claim.<br />
I have thought it necessary to speak plainly<br />
as to this unfortunate work, partly because it is<br />
most important to the Craft that we should have<br />
a good Year-Book, such as may be useful for<br />
reference and for facts: partly bocause the<br />
laudable attempt to produce such a book by Mr.<br />
George Allen should be recognised, and the need<br />
of such a book, properly prepared, should be<br />
acknowledged: and partly because in the Intro-<br />
duction I am named as one of those who gave<br />
advice. I remember a little correspondence with<br />
the late editor, Mr. Aflalo, but not with Mr.<br />
Jacobs, and I have no recollection at all of<br />
offering him any advice. My memory, however,<br />
on this point may be at fault. In any case I have<br />
to dissociate myself entirely from this ill-advised<br />
and unfortunate attempt to convert the " Literary<br />
Year-Book" into a medium for attacking the<br />
followers of Literature. W. B.<br />
THE "TAX" UPON PUBLISHERS-<br />
(I.) JI iHE following is an extract from the<br />
I Manchester Guardian on the subject<br />
of this alleged tax :—<br />
"Another matter about which a great deal of<br />
nonsense has been talked of late is also handled<br />
very plainly by the editor of The Author. This<br />
is the so-called 'tax' upon publishers of five<br />
copies of • each copyright work which have to be<br />
presented to the chief libraries of London, Edin-<br />
burgh, Dublin, Oxford, and Cambridge. The<br />
editor runs a sharp pin into the bubble of a<br />
grievance, and makes it instantly collapse. 'Most<br />
books,' he says, ' the vast majority of books, do<br />
not sell right out. Many leave "remainders,"<br />
which are sold at a few pence each. Now, in every<br />
case where there is a remainder there has been no<br />
loss by this tax at all. . . . The tax would<br />
appear to be a burden when the demand is<br />
greater than the supply, but even then new<br />
editions came out, to be followed by remainders<br />
in the long run. It is therefore a tax which, if it<br />
is real at all, is very small.' We should be<br />
exceedingly sorry in any case to see the free<br />
supply of books to the four great libraries out-<br />
side London cut off, for they serve a population<br />
to which the British Museum is not available."<br />
(II.) The following paper, which shows<br />
American opinion on the matter, has been com-<br />
municated to the editor by the author, Mr. S. H.<br />
Ranck, Librarian of the Enoch Piatt Free<br />
Library, Baltimore. It is part of a paper read at<br />
a conference of the American Library Associaton,<br />
held at Denver, Colorado, in August, 1895 :—<br />
"The modern idea of the librarian is that of<br />
the distributor, rather than the keeper of books;<br />
but the idea of the ' keeper' is not entirely lost.<br />
Almost every librarian feels that he owes some-<br />
thing to his successor and to the public of the<br />
future. He believes that he ought to preserve<br />
for them as complete a record as possible of every<br />
human activity—the life and the work of the people<br />
of his day. In this view the library is a museum<br />
of civilisation, accumulating and preserving the<br />
results of human progress or degeneration.<br />
Nevertheless, the work of collecting and preserv-<br />
ing is important, and many libraries are doing it<br />
for their communities, as far as it lies in their<br />
power; but the larger the community and the<br />
greater the number of books, the more difficult<br />
such a task becomes.<br />
"Too many librarians, however, impressed with<br />
the importance of the work of collecting and pre-<br />
serving for the future, attempt to do too much.<br />
Libraries in the same community overlap each<br />
other in a way that is often wasteful; and, on the<br />
other hand, they neglect to preserve matters of<br />
importance. Almost everything depends on the<br />
whims or tastes of the persons who, for the time,<br />
may happen to be in charge of the library. It<br />
seems that the time has come when libraries<br />
should have a very clear understanding of the<br />
work each one is to do in the line of collecting<br />
for preservation.<br />
"Many of our public libraries of a popular<br />
character add from five to fifteen thousand<br />
volumes every year, and they must do so to<br />
supply the demand for new books, and to do the<br />
work they ought to do; but how many of these<br />
books will be so much as even remembered by<br />
the most intelligent general reader one hundred<br />
years hence? The library that continues buying<br />
ten thousand volumes a year for a century, and<br />
preserves them, as almost every library is now<br />
doing, will then have over a million books, a<br />
number that is exceeded by only two or three<br />
libraries in the world to-day.<br />
"The expense of administration and the inter-<br />
ference of tens and hundreds of thousands of<br />
unused volumes, will force most of our libraries<br />
to carry only a working stock. These librariet<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 296 (#742) ############################################<br />
<br />
2g6<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
must discriminate, and they should not attempt<br />
to collect and preserve, except in very limited<br />
fields; but there ought to be a few libraries<br />
whose particular work should be that of gathering<br />
and saving for the future. These few should<br />
have every opportunity of getting all the mate-<br />
rial within their field, so that they could be<br />
depended upon, for all time, to have everything<br />
within their intended limits.<br />
"To show the need of systematic collection<br />
for preservation, to point out a method to insure<br />
a more reasonable degree of completeness and<br />
safety, and, at the same time, to make such a<br />
collection more accessible to the students of this<br />
and succeeding generations, is the purpose of<br />
this paper.<br />
"Books of local interest and value are con-<br />
stantly published, but they do not get into the<br />
regular channels of the trade, and so they are<br />
lost to the libraries and to the future. This<br />
state of things must continue so long as present<br />
methods are followed. In how many States is<br />
there a library with anything like a complete<br />
collection of the books, not to mention news-<br />
papers, pamphlets, &c, published within, or<br />
relating to, the State? There is not a library<br />
in the State of Maryland where one-third of the<br />
several thousand books published within her<br />
borders before the Civil War can be found. The<br />
same is true, I know, of other, and no doubt to<br />
some extent of all, the States.<br />
"You may say that most of these books de-<br />
serve to be forgotten. It may be true, but never-<br />
theless they were once a part of the life of the<br />
people. Do we believe that the census should<br />
enumerate only the 'important' men of the<br />
nation? As a record of the life of a people a<br />
complete collection of their books is fully as<br />
important as the enumeration and classification<br />
of every man, woman, and child. As no one can<br />
select the 'important' people for the census<br />
returns, so no one can select the 'important'<br />
books for a collection that must represent the<br />
intellectual life of the people: for we should be<br />
constantly repeating the experience of the critics<br />
who would have denied the earlier works of a<br />
Wordsworth, or a Byron, and many other great<br />
writers, when first their works appeared, a place<br />
on library shelves.<br />
"The Constitution of the United States pro-<br />
vides that the Congress shall have power 'to<br />
promote the progress of science and useful arts,<br />
by securing for limited times to authors and<br />
inventors the exclusive right to their respective<br />
writings and discoveries.' In accordance with<br />
this power our copyright laws have been passed.<br />
Such laws are wise, and they should apply to<br />
citizen and alien alike. These laws give the<br />
owner of the copyright a great monopoly, and<br />
one that increases in value with the growth of<br />
population, of general intelligence, and of<br />
libraries. Even now a publisher can safely count<br />
on disposing to libraries alone of a considerable<br />
edition of a very ordinary book; and there is an<br />
ever growing demand for larger editions. To<br />
obtain this copyright the owner must pay a fee<br />
of one dollar and deposit two copies of the book<br />
in the Library of Congress (national library) at<br />
Washington—all of which is very well as far as<br />
it goes.<br />
"But our copyright law provides only one<br />
depository for the United States, On the other<br />
hand, an Act of Parliament provides five for<br />
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and<br />
Ireland, and before the convenience and<br />
rapidity of travel by railroad there were eleven.<br />
The British law requires that a copy of every<br />
edition of a book must be delivered to the British<br />
Museum, 'bound, stitched or sewed together, and<br />
upon the best paper on which the book is printed.'<br />
Furthermore, 'copies of every edition of every<br />
book published must, if demanded, be delivered<br />
to an officer of the Stationers' Company for each<br />
of the following Ubraries: the Bodleian Library,<br />
the Cambridge University Library, the Advocates'<br />
Library at Edinburgh, and the Library of Trinity<br />
College, Dublin.' From this source, in 1893, as<br />
stated ihthe annual report, the Bodleian Library,<br />
Oxford, received 39,619 items.<br />
"And now be it remembered that the area of<br />
Great Britain and Ireland exceeds the area of the<br />
single State of Colorado by less than 12,000<br />
square miles—Colorado contains 103,925. On<br />
the other hand, the population of the United<br />
States is nearly twice that of the British Isles.<br />
On the basis of population the United States<br />
should have, at the present time, ten depositories<br />
for the five of the British. Of the twenty or more<br />
political divisions of Europe, though only one<br />
exceeds the United States in the number of its<br />
inhabitants, a number of them have more<br />
depositories.<br />
"Again, the area of the United States (includ-<br />
ing Alaska) and the area of Europe are so nearly<br />
equal that the annexation of the single province<br />
of Ontario would make the two areas almost<br />
exactly the same. We are forced to believe that<br />
in the course of a few centuries, at the very most,<br />
the number of people in the United States will<br />
exceed the present number in Europe, about<br />
three hundred and fifty millions, an average of<br />
one hundred per square mile. Pennsylvania, New<br />
York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts,<br />
and Rhode Island already exceed this average—<br />
the average per square mile in Massachusetts and<br />
Rhode Island being 278 and 276 respectively.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 297 (#743) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
297<br />
One depository is not enough for such a vast<br />
number of people, nor for such a large area.<br />
"Whilst there are a dozen or more languages<br />
in Europe, each with its own distinct literature,<br />
in the United States the English language is<br />
common to nearly all the people; and, if present<br />
tendencies continue, the proportion of people in<br />
America, who will express their thoughts in Eng-<br />
lish, will be greater a hundred years hence than<br />
it is now. A great multitude of intelligent and<br />
educated people, speaking a common language,<br />
require more than one depository for the pro-<br />
ducts of their intellectual life.<br />
"Under the present arrangement the student<br />
of the history of California must cross the conti-<br />
nent if he wants to find all the copyrighted books<br />
that are now published in the State, or relating<br />
to it, and a hundred years hence his need to go<br />
to Washington will be even greater; for books<br />
have a curious way of disappearing. Can the<br />
National Library at Washington assure the student<br />
of 1995 that all the books relating to California<br />
of to-day will be there? Is it safe to risk every-<br />
thing in one place? A national library is sub-<br />
ject to all the ordinary risks of any library, with<br />
the additional risk of loss by an act of war. We<br />
need only recall the history of our own National<br />
Library, burned by the British in 1814, and<br />
Washington terrified by hostile armies during<br />
the civil war. The carefulness and foresight of<br />
ordinary business affairs demand that all should<br />
not be risked in one place.<br />
•' All these difficulties and dangers of a single<br />
depository can be overcome by an amendment to<br />
the law of copyright. The law should provide<br />
for more depositories. How many more will be<br />
largely a matter of judgment. It should provide<br />
first of all, that every State may be assured that<br />
it can get, within the State, a copy of every work<br />
that is copyrighted by one of its citizens. Where<br />
it should be deposited would be for each state<br />
legislature to decide—the State Library, the State<br />
Historical Society, or the Library of the State<br />
University, suggest themselves as proper places."<br />
LITERATURE IN THE PERIODICALS.<br />
Local Colour according to Taste — A<br />
Word to Magazine Writers—The Short<br />
Story.<br />
The historic advice "verify your quotations,"<br />
may be varied or supplemented by the warning,<br />
"Confirm your cabled agreements by letter." Mr.<br />
H. G. Wells has suffered at the hands of an<br />
American editor—a Boston editor, no less.<br />
When he agreed with one of the New York daily<br />
journals for the serial publication of his story<br />
"The War of the Worlds," he stipulated that no<br />
alterations should be made in the text of the<br />
story without his consent. The editor of the<br />
Boston Post saw the story running in the New<br />
York paper, and cabled to Mr. Wells an offer for<br />
the reproduction of it " as New York Journal." To<br />
this Mr. Wells replied " Agreed." Nothing fur-<br />
ther transpires until Mr. Wells receives a cutting<br />
from a chipping bureau acquainting him with the<br />
fact that his story " as applied to New England,<br />
showing how the strange voyagers from Mars<br />
visited Boston and vicinity," was appearing in<br />
the Post. He writes a letter in the New York<br />
Critic protesting in the most emphatic way<br />
against this manipulation of his work in order to<br />
fit it to the requirements of the local geography.<br />
An encouraging word for magazine writers is<br />
said by one of themselves—an old hand—in the<br />
National Review. He calls his article "The<br />
Sorrows of Scribblers," and admits, as an evidence<br />
of his own experience in climbing the "hill of<br />
Parnassus," that he has a desk full of super-<br />
annuated and unappreciated talent—fifty manu-<br />
scripts which he fondly turns over in reflective<br />
moments as if they were old love letters. He<br />
preaches patience with editors. They are quite<br />
alive to a good thing when they can get it; t here<br />
is, as a rule, no regular staff on a magazine, but<br />
"a fair field and no favour." Periodicals as a<br />
whole do not pay so well as papers, and journalism<br />
is a better staff than magazine hack writing.<br />
"If literature, as a living, may be compared to<br />
sweeping a crossing, then periodical writing may<br />
be likened to a crossing in a suburb where few<br />
men come and go, and journalism to that of a<br />
busy street in the City." Here is a piece of general<br />
advice that is tendered among this magazine con-<br />
tributor's "confessions " :—<br />
As far as possible, avoid all personal dealings with editors<br />
and publishers. Should you be shabby, they may (for after<br />
all they were once men) think less of you; should yon be in<br />
evident want of money, they will cut your price down:<br />
should you be nervous, they will paralyse you; and, beyond<br />
all else, their one and very reasonable desire will be to get<br />
rid of you as soon aB possible, and on the easiest termB.<br />
No; always send everything by post; it is by far your best<br />
chance. Though manuscripts, like curses, came home often<br />
to roost, so quickly—especially should they happen to be<br />
poetry—as to be a tribute to the postal service, still the post<br />
is your best friend.<br />
Mr. Frederick Wedmore writes in the Nine-<br />
teenth Century upon the Short Story, and disowns<br />
the favourite definition of this as "a novel in a<br />
nutshell." On the contrary, he claims it as a<br />
separate thing, and involving the exercise almost<br />
of a different art. So. that it is quite an absurd<br />
reward to speak of a short story as " a promising<br />
little effort," " an earnest of better things." The<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 298 (#744) ############################################<br />
<br />
298<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
short story, says Mr. Wedmore, "admits of<br />
greater variety of form than does the long novel,<br />
and the number of these forms will be found to<br />
be increasing." Plot, or story proper, is no<br />
essential part of it. But it may be, as a long<br />
story is, in the narrative form, or in the first<br />
person (though this should be used very charily),<br />
or in the rare form of letters. Forms which by<br />
common consent are for the short story only, are<br />
simple dialogue, and the diary form. The latter<br />
must be used charily, and is not suffered gladly.<br />
'' It is for the industrious who read a good thing<br />
twice, and for the enlightened, who read it three<br />
times." The lighter work leans oftenest on the<br />
form of all dialogue; the graver, on the form in<br />
which there is no dialogue at all. Compression<br />
is indispensable; every sentence must tell. As<br />
to the tendencies of the day, Mr. Wedmore<br />
observes that among the better writers more care<br />
is being given to expression, to an unbroken con-<br />
tinuity of excellent and varied style. "The short<br />
story, much more than the long one makes this<br />
possible to men who may not claim to be geniuses,<br />
but who, if we are to respect them at all, must<br />
claim to be artists." The profession of the<br />
literary pessimist is already overcrowded, and<br />
Mr. Wedmore predicts that the short story at<br />
its best will return to a spirit humane and genial,<br />
sane and wide.<br />
OBITUARY.<br />
MR. JAMES PAYN died on March 25,<br />
at his residence in London. Born at<br />
Cheltenham in 1830, and educated at<br />
Eton, Woolwich Academy, and Trinity College,<br />
Cambridge, he made a beginning in authorship in<br />
his undergraduate days with a little volume of<br />
l>oetry called " Stories from Boccacio." Another<br />
lx>ok of verse was published in 1855, and was<br />
favourably received. Household Words and<br />
Chambers's Journal began to take stories and<br />
articles from him, and in 1858 he succeeded Mr.<br />
Leitch Ritchie as editor of the latter magazine.<br />
In its pages appeared, in 1864, the story "Lost<br />
Sir Massingberd," which proved a great success.<br />
He had already published "The Foster Brothers"<br />
(1859), and "The Family Scapegrace" followed<br />
in 1869. These were the first fruits in a literary<br />
career singularly industrious and successful.<br />
Others that may be named of his fifty or so pub-<br />
lications are "Like Father, Like Son" (1870),<br />
"By Proxy" (1878), "Two Hundred Pounds<br />
Reward (1879), "For Cash Only" (1882) and<br />
"The Burnt Million" (1890)." Mr. Payn's<br />
latest work was "Another's Burden," published<br />
last year. In 1882 he became editor of Cornhill<br />
Magazine, succeeding Mr. Leslie Stephen, and<br />
held this position until failing health compelled<br />
his retiral in 1896. He was literary adviser to<br />
Messrs. Smith. Elder, and Co., and well known<br />
to readers of the Illustrated London News by his<br />
weekly " Note-book " in its pages. In "Literary<br />
Recollections," published in 1884, and "Gleams<br />
of Memory," in 1894, he gave to the public-<br />
clearer knowledge of a character which was always<br />
popular with them, and good-natured and cheery<br />
in its outlook. Nevertheless Mr. Payn was<br />
never physically strong. The chief relaxation<br />
of his busy life was found in whist playing, at<br />
which he was an accomplished hand.<br />
The deaths have also to be recorded, during the<br />
past month, of Sir Richard Quain, the eminent<br />
physician, and author of the "Dictionary of<br />
Medicine"; Mr. Aubrey Beardsley, the young<br />
artist and writer, whose work was identified largely<br />
with the Yellow Booh and the Savoy; and<br />
Zacharias Topelius, the most distinguished author<br />
and poet of Finland.<br />
CORRESPONDENCE.<br />
I.—" Americans Cannot Stand Criticism."<br />
IAM always interested when Americans<br />
attempt to "spoke my wheel," although not<br />
always moved to comment. But I think<br />
that Mr. Norman Hapgood should explain why it<br />
is that if the people of the United States do not<br />
"take me as seriously as the English people do,"<br />
I cannot write an article for a newspaper, much<br />
less a novel, without throwing the entire United<br />
States Press into a ferment. Some two years ago<br />
I published a letter in the London Chronicle in<br />
which I rashly instituted comparisons between<br />
Englishmen and American men, to the advan-<br />
tage of the former—solely on account of the<br />
many more generations which had contributed<br />
to their building; and although the most exciting<br />
and important presidential election of recent<br />
years was at its height, I received a sufficient<br />
number of abusive articles from the American<br />
Press to paper a good-sized flat. And when<br />
"Patience Sparhawk and her Times" appeared,<br />
there were only two papers that did not arise and<br />
vociferate at it—the Boston Herald and Town<br />
Topics. In fact, I have had a similar experience<br />
in a greater or less degree with every book I<br />
have published, although the antagonism of the<br />
United States Press has been far more persistent<br />
and loud-voiced since I came to England to live.<br />
The reason is a simple one. The Americans<br />
cannot stand criticism from anyone. But criti-<br />
cism from an American-born who has taken up<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 299 (#745) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
299<br />
his residence in a foreign country, and thus<br />
gained two ears instead of one, irritates and<br />
worries them out of all self-control and perception<br />
of justice. If I romanced about them they would,<br />
beyond doubt, ignore me, but as I have never<br />
in a single particular deviated from the truth nor<br />
been guilty of an exaggeration, they have tried<br />
every possible method to frighten me into the<br />
peaceful realms of obscurity. Of course there<br />
are Americans and Americans. A large and<br />
enlightened class understand that the country<br />
needs an impartial critic more than any country<br />
on earth. I hope I shall never do the United<br />
States an injustice, but I shall certainly not<br />
be deterred from telling the truth about it in<br />
every book I write. Gkrtrude Atherton.<br />
22, Granville-place,<br />
Portman-square, W.<br />
II.—An Experience with a First-class Firm.<br />
I am a beginner in literature, but I have, as in<br />
duty bound, joined the Authors' Society, and take<br />
The Author. I read therein of the ways of pub-<br />
lishers, which seem to be various and occasionally<br />
crooked. In the cases that are given, the name of<br />
the publisher is not printed, and, although there<br />
is a notice that the name and address of the firm<br />
can be obtained at the offices of the Society, I am<br />
too far from London to be able to identify them.<br />
I have, however, formed the impression that, in<br />
most cases, the firms to which unfavourable atten-<br />
tion was drawn must be small ones of little note,<br />
and that with the greater firms the usual methods<br />
of business obtaining in other branches of trade<br />
were observed, and that one was, so to speak, safe<br />
with them. My recent experiences have consider-<br />
ably undeceived me, and they may be of interest<br />
to my fellow members.<br />
Some three or four years ago I wrote two<br />
articles on a certain not very well known episode<br />
in history, which articles were published in a<br />
magazine of old standing and high reputation.<br />
The articles had a great success, though in no<br />
way pertinent to current affairs. Very shortly<br />
after I obtained more material, and I proposed<br />
to the publishers of the magazine to combine<br />
the old articles and the new material into a<br />
book to be illustrated. The suggestion was<br />
accepted, almost effusively, and I wrote the<br />
book. I was at that time very busy with other<br />
affairs, and it was written hastily. It was sent<br />
to the publishers, but I subsequently wired to<br />
my agent in England to withdraw it from them,<br />
and send it back for correction. I may say that<br />
I live three weeks' journey away from England.<br />
The MS. was returned, and the publishers<br />
wrote to say that the book was full of charm,<br />
but was hastily written and wanted balance. If<br />
I would re-write it they would be glad to have it<br />
sent to them for consideration. It was accord-<br />
ingly re-written very carefully, with a due regard<br />
to balance, and sent to the publisher. The revised<br />
MS. must have reached them in the first week of<br />
June, 1897. By October no answer was received,<br />
and I wrote and asked my agent at home to find<br />
out what the publishers were doing. At last in<br />
December the publishers answered. There was<br />
now no complaint about want of balance, no, the<br />
book was a great credit to me, and had fascina-<br />
tion, but they could not publish it because the<br />
subject was not one likely to be popular.<br />
To properly estimate the value of this astonish-<br />
ing remark it must be remembered that the gist of<br />
the book had been published in the magazine and<br />
had attracted great attention; the publishers had<br />
accepted at once the suggestion to make a book<br />
of the articles,and had mentioned their terms; six<br />
months before the final delivery of the MS. they<br />
had seen the book, and the only objection was that<br />
it wanted balance. The subject is not an<br />
ephemeral one, and was no more before the<br />
public in 1893 and 1895 than in 1897.<br />
If the final reason of the firm be correct, it<br />
simply means that they knowingly encouraged me<br />
to waste much valuable time writing a worthless<br />
book.<br />
In any case, their reason for keeping the book<br />
for seven months, although aware of its subject<br />
and its consequent worthlessness, and thereby<br />
preventing me offering it to another firm before<br />
the close of the publishing season, is not<br />
explained.<br />
This is a first-class firm at the very head of the<br />
business of publishing.<br />
It may be that this is the usual treatment that<br />
a young writer may expect, it may be that in the<br />
publishing world there is nothing unusual in<br />
this. I do not—perhaps happily—know the pub-<br />
lishing world and its ethics.<br />
But I may say that if indeed this sort of thing<br />
is common, the ethics of the publishing world are<br />
very different to that of other worlds, with which,<br />
fortunately, I am better acquainted. H.<br />
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.<br />
Qaem Deas vult perdero, prias dementat.<br />
IBEG to thank your three correspondents for<br />
their answers to my question, and to apolo-<br />
gise for my bad German, the blame of which<br />
must fall on me and not on the printers' reader.<br />
As I have been so successful in asking one<br />
question, I will now venture to ask another. The<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 300 (#746) ############################################<br />
<br />
3oo<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Latin words above—where do they come from,<br />
and in connection with what were they written?<br />
I have twice heard a very learned man declare<br />
that to give their authorship is impossible.<br />
I would, however, hazard the suggestion that<br />
the words should run iambically thus:<br />
Qaem Jupiter vnlt perdere, dementat prins,<br />
and that they have survived by citation from some<br />
lost writing of Publilius Syrus, whose "Judex<br />
damnatur cum nocens absolvitur" shows how<br />
much better his matter could be than his metre.<br />
Querist.<br />
PERSONAL.<br />
ON the occasion of his seventieth birthday<br />
(March 20) Dr. Henrik Ibsen was pre-<br />
sented by a group of English friends and<br />
admirers with a handsome set of silver, consisting<br />
of a ladle, a loving cup, and a small cup. The letter<br />
which accompanied the gift was signed by Mr.Wil-<br />
liam Archer and Mr. Edmund Gosse on behalf of<br />
the forty subscribers—"a few from among the<br />
many in England," they wrote," whom your execu-<br />
tive skill has stimulated and your intellectual<br />
intrepidity encouraged."<br />
A propos of the medallion to the late Poet-<br />
Laureate, which is to be erected in Lincoln<br />
Cathedral, Canon Rawnsley asks, in a letter to the<br />
Daily News, if it would not have been feasible to<br />
obtain by national subscription the little old<br />
manor house at Somersby. "Many in America<br />
and England," he observes, "would delight in<br />
years to come to see that old bird-haunted home<br />
of the greatest of Victorian poets still unchanged,<br />
and to find unharmed the Somersby house and<br />
garden that was a very haunt of nightingales."<br />
Sir William Fraser, formerly Deputy Keeper of<br />
the Records of Scotland, who died a fortnight ago,<br />
has bequeathed to the University of Edinburgh<br />
,£25,000 for the foundation of a Chair to be called<br />
the Sir William Eraser Professorship of Ancient<br />
History and Paleography; £ 10,000 for the pur-<br />
pose of the library; and one-half of the residue<br />
of his estate, which is expected to amount to<br />
between .£9000 and £ 10,000, for general require-<br />
ments, bursaries, research, publications, &c.<br />
Mr. Arthur W. a Beckett, who is a member of<br />
the Committee of Management of the Society of<br />
Authors, has just been unanimously elected<br />
chairman of the London district of the Institute<br />
of Journalists.<br />
BOOK TALK.<br />
HER WILD OATS" is the title of a<br />
novel which Mr. Thomas Burleigh,<br />
of 370, Oxford-street, has recently<br />
published for John Bickerdvke, author of<br />
"Daughters of Thespis," "Lady Val's Elope-<br />
ment," &c. The scene of the story varies between<br />
the Upper Thames and London, and the book<br />
contains a slight theatrical interest. Mr. Thomas<br />
Burleigh's name is familiar to authors at the<br />
present time, owing to his post as secretary of<br />
the Booksellers' Union. He has the premises<br />
where for many years a publishing business was<br />
carried on by Mr. David Stott.<br />
On May 2, 1898, it will be fifty years since<br />
Queen's College, London, opened its doors for<br />
women. This was the result of a plan originally<br />
discussed by Charles Kingsley, Alfred Tennyson,<br />
Hullah, Maurice, Mrs. Marcet, Mrs. S. C. Hall,<br />
&c, for the better teaching of girls, and Queen's<br />
College thus became the pioneer of all higher<br />
education for women. How times have changed<br />
in these last fifty years! An educated woman is<br />
no longer the exception, but the rule, the result<br />
being that women are now to a great extent able<br />
to earn their own livings and work honourably at<br />
professions.<br />
In commemoration of the jubilee, Mrs. Alec.<br />
Tweedie originated the idea of a memorial booklet,<br />
comprised of articles by old college students on<br />
their own professions, and undertook its editor-<br />
ship. This little volume will be sold at the<br />
College for the benefit of the building fund, and<br />
in its pages will be found the original lecture by<br />
Rev. Frederick Denison Maurice on the " Objects<br />
and aims of the College," a resume" of the half<br />
century's work by Miss Croudace, the Lady Resi-<br />
dent, besides articles on medicine, music, art,<br />
classics, literature, journalism, cookery, laundry<br />
work, hospital training, mathematics, the stage,<br />
&c., by well known women writers.<br />
A serial novel, called "Whips of Steel," by<br />
Annabel Gray, is now appearing as a feuilleton<br />
in the columns of the Daily Mail.<br />
There will presently be issued from the ofBces<br />
of the European Mail another work from the<br />
pen of "Sundowner," entitled "Tarns from the<br />
Never-Never." The volume will contain some<br />
three dozen "yarns from the Australian back-<br />
blocks."<br />
A volume containing two stories by Mr. Henry<br />
James will be published early in the summer by<br />
Mr. Heinemann.<br />
"Perish the Bauble," a shilling novel of an<br />
exciting nature, will be out in May, published by<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 301 (#747) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
301<br />
Vincent Clare, 71, Wendover-road, Harlesden,<br />
N.W. It is by Frances Hariott Wood.<br />
"Comedies and Errors " is the title chosen by<br />
Mr. Henry Harland for a new volume of short<br />
stories, which Mr. John Lane will publish for him<br />
shortly.<br />
Sir Edward Grey, M.P., is to contribute a<br />
volume on angling; Dean Hole one on gardens;<br />
the Marquis of Granby one on sport and wild<br />
life in a northern county; and Mr. George A. B.<br />
Dewar one on sport and wild life in Hampshire<br />
and the New Forest, to a new series of books on<br />
country life which Messrs. J. M. Dent and Co.<br />
have projected. This is to be called the Haddon<br />
Library. The Marquis of Granby and Mr. Dewar<br />
will edit the series. Mr. Dewar wrote "The Book<br />
of the Dry Fly," which appeared a year ago.<br />
Sir Martin Conway's new book, " With Ski and<br />
Sledge over Arctic Glaciers," will be published<br />
in a few days by Messrs. Dent. It is, of course,<br />
a result of the author's recent explorations in the<br />
interior of Spitzbergen.<br />
Mr. Alfred Bussel Wallace has written "The<br />
Wonderful Century: Its Successes and Failures,"<br />
which Messrs. Sonuenschein will publish on May<br />
15. It will give a short descriptive sketch of the<br />
more important mechanical inventions and scien-<br />
tific discoveries of the century, and discuss the<br />
intellectual and moral failures.<br />
Sir James Ramsay, Bart., is engaged on "The<br />
Foundations of England: a History of England<br />
to the Death of Stephen," which Messrs. Sonnen-<br />
schein will publish.<br />
The child-labour in British industries is the<br />
subject of a book by Mr. Frank Hird, entitled<br />
"The Cry of the Children," which Mr. Bowden<br />
will publish.<br />
"The Progress and Prospects of Political<br />
Economy," by Professor J. K. Ingram, and<br />
"Labour Colonies," by Professor Mavor, are to<br />
be published by Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein and Co.<br />
Captain Shadwell, of the Suffolk Regiment,<br />
who acted as a special correspondent on the<br />
North-West Frontier, has written "Lockhart's<br />
Advance through Tirah." The volume will be<br />
published shortly by Messrs. Thacker. An earlier<br />
chapter in Indian history is dealt with by Mr.<br />
J. W. Sherer, whose volume, entitled " Daily Life<br />
during the Indian Mutiny," Messrs. Swan Son-<br />
nenschein will publish next month. Mr. Sherer<br />
is an old Anglo-Indian civil servant, and the<br />
author of the novel " A Princess of Islam."<br />
Among the works to be published during the<br />
spring by Mr. Henry Frowde (the Clarendon<br />
Press) is "Lectures and Essays," by the late<br />
Professor William Wallace.<br />
Messrs. Chapman and Hall are publishing<br />
"The Song of Solomon," with twelve full-page<br />
collotype plates and numerous head and tail<br />
pieces by H. Granville Fell.<br />
Mrs. Humphry ("Madge" of Truth) has<br />
written "Hints: A Book for Women and<br />
Girls," which Mr. Bowden is to publish shortly.<br />
Besides his new novel called " Robin Hood,"<br />
which Messrs. Harper Brothers are to publish, Mr.<br />
Barry Pain will be represented this season by a<br />
book entitled "Tompkins' Verses," which are<br />
contributions on topical subjects, and have been<br />
appearing in the Saturday Daily Chronicle for<br />
the last year or two.<br />
Professor William J. Knapp's Life of George<br />
Borrow, which has already been announced, will<br />
not be ready until the autumn. Mr. Murray is<br />
the publisher.<br />
Dr. Robert Wallace, M.P., who was at one time<br />
a Presbyterian divine and afterwards editor of the<br />
Scotsman, is writing his reminiscences, and has<br />
entered into an arrangement with Messrs. Bliss,<br />
Sands and Co. for the publication of the book.<br />
Mr. John A. Doyle is responsible for the<br />
"Memoir and Correspondence of Susan Ferrier,"<br />
which Mr. Murray is to publish. Susan Edmon-<br />
stone Ferrier is of course the author of " Marriage,"<br />
"The Inheritance" and other novels. Sir Walter<br />
Scott, whose friendship she enjoyed, used to be<br />
credited with the authorship of her tales. She<br />
died in her native city, Edinburgh, in 1854.<br />
A biography of W. G. Wills, poet, dramatist,<br />
and painter, by his brother, the Rev. Freeman<br />
Wills, will be published by Messrs. Longmans,<br />
Green, and Co.<br />
The correspondence of an aunt of the Queen is<br />
being edited by Mr. Philip C. Yorke, and will be<br />
published by Mr. Fisher Unwin. This aunt was<br />
the Princess Elizabeth, who became by marriage<br />
Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg; and most of the<br />
letters in the forthcoming volume were written to<br />
a lady friend, Miss Louisa Swinburne.<br />
The title of Lieutenant Peary's book on his<br />
Arctic explorations will be "Northward over the<br />
Great Ice." It will be in two volumes, and have<br />
800 illustrations.<br />
Messrs Duckworth, Henrietta-street, who will<br />
publish Mr. Wheeler's book, are a new firm, and<br />
the following are some of the books they have<br />
arranged for:—" Studies iu Biography," by Mr.<br />
Leslie Stephen; "Tom Tit Tot; or Savage Philo-<br />
sophy in "Folk-Tale," by Mr. Edward Clodd;<br />
"Cricket," by the Hon. R. H. Lyttelton; "A<br />
History of Rugby School," by W. H. D. Rouse;<br />
novels by Miss Clemence Housman, Charles<br />
Kennett Burrow, John Sinjohn, Mrs. W. K.<br />
Clifford, and Edward H. Cooper; and a volume<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 302 (#748) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
of verse bv Miss Margaret Armour, entitled " The<br />
Shadow of Love."<br />
Mr. Sidney Pickering has written a story of an<br />
educated gentleman, who seeks refuge from the<br />
conventionalities of English society by becoming<br />
a tramp of the road. The title of the book is<br />
"Wanderers," and Mr. James Bowden will pub-<br />
lish it.<br />
Messrs. Bliss, Sands, and Co. will publish<br />
"Mrs. De La Eue Smyth," by Riccardo Stephens,<br />
M.B., CM.<br />
A novel by Mr. Archer P. Crouch, "For<br />
the Rebel Cause," a tale of the Chilian civil<br />
war, is to be published by Messrs. Ward,<br />
Lock, and Co.<br />
A new story by "Alan St. Aubyn," will be<br />
published by Messrs. Chatto and Windus in a<br />
few days. The title is "Fortune's Gate." This<br />
firm also announce "The Heritage of Eve," by<br />
H. H. Spettigue.<br />
Mrs. Gertrude Atherton's new novel, "The<br />
Calif ornians"; a work by Mr. H. B. Marriott<br />
Watson, entitled " The Heart of Miranda "; and<br />
another from Mr. Le Gallienne, entitled "The<br />
Romance of Zion Chapel," are to be published<br />
by Mr. John Lane.<br />
Among forthcoming novels to be published by<br />
Messrs. Hutchinson are Mr. Douglas Sladen's<br />
"The Admiral," a romance of Nelson, for which,<br />
as a considerable part of it is laid in Naples in<br />
1798-9 at the place of Sir William and Lady<br />
Hamilton, the author has gone to Naples to<br />
verify a point; "The Millionaire," by Mr. F.<br />
Frankfort Moore; "A Bachelor Girl in London,"<br />
by Miss Q. E. Mitton; "The Renunciation of<br />
Helen," by Mr. Leader Scott; "An Angel of<br />
Pity," by Florence Marryat; "Mars," by Mrs.<br />
S. D. Barker; "Adrienne," by Rita; and "In<br />
the Shadow of the Three," by Miss B. L.<br />
Tottenham.<br />
Fiction to come from Messrs. A. D. Innes and<br />
Co. will include the following volumes:—<br />
"Children of the Mist," by Mr. Eden Phillpotts;<br />
"A Woman's Privilege," by Miss Marguerite<br />
Bryant; "The Island of Seven Shadows," by<br />
Roma White; "The Indiscretion of Lady<br />
Asenath," by Mr. Basil Thomson; and "The St.<br />
Cadix Case," by Esther Miller.<br />
"The Keepers of the People," a romance, by<br />
Mr. Edgar Jepson, will be published this month<br />
by Messrs. Pearson.<br />
Professor Hugh Walker, of St. David's College,<br />
is engaged upon a history and criticism of<br />
English literature in relation to national life,<br />
from the end of the Georgian period to the<br />
present day. The work will be published by<br />
Messrs. G. Bell and Sons.<br />
THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH.<br />
[Feb. 24 to March 23.—316 Books.]<br />
Adamson, W. Life or Rev. Jts. Morison, D.D. 7/6. Hodder and Stn.<br />
Adcock, A. St. J. The Consecration of Hetty Fleet 8/6. Skefltngton.<br />
Addison, W. I. A Boll of Graduates of the University of Ulas^.w.<br />
1727-1897. 21/- net. Macmillan.<br />
Aflalo. F. G. A Sketch of the Natural History (Vertebrates) of the<br />
British Islands. 6/- net. Blackwood.<br />
Aldan, W. L. Van. Wagoner's Ways. 2/6. Pearson.<br />
"Alien." Wheat in the Ear. 6/- llutchinson.<br />
Allcroft, A. H., and Mason, W. F. Synopsis of Grecian History to<br />
325 B.C. 2/6. Clive.<br />
Allen, Grant. The Incidental Bishop. 6/-<br />
Allies, T. W. Formation of Christendom. Vol. 4. 5/-<br />
and Oates.<br />
Anonymous ("TheGovernor"). My First Prisoner. 3/6.<br />
Anonymous (the author of "Fraternity"). Some Welsh Children.<br />
8/6. Mathews.<br />
Anonymous ("A Clergyman"). Renascent Christianity. It/ft,<br />
Putnam.<br />
Anonymous. Tom's Sweetheart. ("Family Story-teller" Series).<br />
1/6. W. Stevens.<br />
Anonymous. Season and Faith : A Reverie. 3/6. Macmillan.<br />
Anonymous. Coptic Version of New Testament in the Northern<br />
Dialect called Memphitic and Bohairic. With Introd.. Eng.<br />
translation, Ac. 42/- Frowde.<br />
Anonymous (" W. J.") Hints for Eton Masters. 1 - net. Frowde.<br />
Anonymous (" Old Cheltonian — II. H.) "Spindrift" Poems.<br />
G. Robertson and Co.<br />
Archer, A. The King's Daughter and the King's Son. 4/6. Fowler.<br />
Archer, William. The Theatrical World of 18'J7. 3,6. Scott.<br />
Argyll, Duke of. What is Science? Douglas.<br />
Arnold-Forater, H. O. Army Letters, 1889-98. 3/8. Arnold.<br />
Atberton, G. American Wives and Engli<ih Husbands. 6/- Service.<br />
Atsheler, J. A. A Soldier of Manhattan. 6/- Smith and Elder.<br />
Attenborongh. F. G. (" ChryBtabel.") Cameos, and other Poems.<br />
Reeves.<br />
Audubon, M. E. Audubon and His Journals. 80/- net Nimmo.<br />
Austin, Alfred. Songs of England. 1/- net. Macmillan.<br />
Banbury, G. A. L. On the Verge of Two Worlds. 3/6. Boxburghe.<br />
Baring-Gould, S., Marsh, B., and others. Under One CoTer.<br />
Eleven Stories. 3/6. Skefflngton.<br />
Barrett, F. WaB She Justified? 6/- Chatto.<br />
Battersby, T. P. The Souls of the Stones. 1/- Ward and Lock.<br />
Beeton, M. M. Truth about Foreign Sugar Bounties. 1/- Simpkin.<br />
Beevoir, 0. E. Diseases of the Nervous System. 10 6. Lewis.<br />
Belcher, J., and Macartney, M. E. Later Renaissance Architecture in<br />
England. Part 3. 21/- Batsford.<br />
Bell, A. M. Science of Speech, Volta Bureau, 1897. 8/- net. Wesley.<br />
Bemrose, W. Bow, Chelsea, and Derby Porcelain. 2S/- net<br />
Bemrose.<br />
Bennett, E. A. A Man from the North. 3/6. Lane.<br />
Bennett, E. A. Journalism for Women. 2/6 net. Lane.<br />
Bickerdyke, J. Her Wild Oats. 6/- Burleigh<br />
Bigg, C. (tr. and ed.). Confessions of St. Augustine. 2 - Methuen.<br />
Binns, B. W. Worcester China. A Becord, 1852-1897. Quaritch.<br />
Blackburn, V. The Fringe of an Art. HI- net. Unicorn Press.<br />
Blackwell, G. Law of Meetings. 2/6 net. Butterworth.<br />
Body, G. The Life of Love. Lent Lectures. 2/6. Longman.<br />
Bond, C. Goldilelds and Chrysanthemums. 7/6 net. Simpkin.<br />
Bond, E. W. Another Sheaf. Poem*. 2/6. Mathews.<br />
Boothby, Guy. Billy Binks, Hero, and other stories. 3/6. Chambers.<br />
Bossuet, J. IS. (tr. by C. H. Brooke). Unity of the Church. 2/- net.<br />
Masters.<br />
Bowhill, J. H. Questions and Answers in Theory of Military Topo-<br />
graphy. 4/6 net Blackwood.<br />
Brett,'}. Behold the Man! 1/6. Longman.<br />
Brinton, S. The Itenaissance in Italian Art. Part I. Simpkin.<br />
Brown, H.,jun. Semitic Influence in Hellenic Mythology. 7 6.<br />
Williams.<br />
Buchanan, Eobcrt. The Bcv. Annabel Lee. 6/- Pearson.<br />
Burgess, James (ed.). Hand Gazetteer of India. 10/6. Constable.<br />
Burgin, G. B. The Cattle Man. 6/- Eichards.<br />
Cadet, F., ed. (tr. by A. D. Jones). Port Royal Education. 4/6.<br />
Sonnenechein.<br />
Cameron, D. A. Egypt in Nineteenth Century. 6/- Smith and Elder.<br />
Cameron, Ida. MrB. Cameron's Cookery Book. 1/- Epicure Office.<br />
Campbell, R. (ed.) Buling Cases. Vol. XIV.—Insurance—Interpre-<br />
tation. 28/- not. Stevens.<br />
Camperdown. Euri of. Admiral Duncan. 16/- Longman.<br />
Cayley, the late Arthur. Collected Mathematical Papers of, VoL XIII.<br />
25/- Clay.<br />
Chelro's Guide to the Hand. 2/6. Saxon.<br />
Cheyne, T. K. (tr.). Book of Isaiah. (Polychrome Bible.) 10/6 net.<br />
Clarke.<br />
Churchill, W. L. S. Story of Malakand Field Force. 7/6. Longman.<br />
Clarke, A. (ed.) Aubrey'B "Brief Lives " (1669-1696). 26/-"<br />
Frowde.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 303 (#749) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
3°3<br />
Clarke, A. Lincoln College, Oxford. 5/- net. Robinson.<br />
Cleghom, J. (ed.) Scientific Memoirs by Medical Officers of the Army<br />
of India.—Part 10. 61- Low.<br />
Clowes, W. L. The Naval Pocket Book 1898. 5- net. Thicker.<br />
Clowes, W. L. The Boyal Navy. Vol. II. 25;- net. Low.<br />
Cobb, S. H. The Story of the Palatines. 9/- Pntnam.<br />
Cobb. T. Carpet Courtship. 8/6. Lane.<br />
Commelin, Mrs. Anna O. Not in It. 3/- Fowler.<br />
Constable, T. The Great French Triumvirate. 67- Downey.<br />
Cook, £. H. 1st year's course. Experimental Work in Chemistry.<br />
1/6. Arnold.<br />
Cousins, H. H. The Chemistry of the Garden. 1/- MacmiUan.<br />
Covertaide, Naunton. The Secret of a Hollow Tree. 6/- Digby.<br />
Cox, S. H. Prospecting for Minerals. 6/- Griffin.<br />
Cox, J. C. Becords of Borough of Northampton. Vol. II. 21/-<br />
(2 vols.). Stock.<br />
Crane, Walter. The Bases of Design. 18/- BeB<br />
Crookahank, E. M. A Text-Book of Bacteriology. 21;- net. Lewis.<br />
Cunningham, W. Western Civilisation in Its Economic Aspects<br />
(Ancient Times). 4/6. Clay.<br />
Darbyshire, A. Theatre Exits. 1/- Layton.<br />
Darrah, H. Z. Sport in the Highlands of Kashmir. 21 - net. Ward.<br />
Davenport, D. WroxaU Abbey, and other Poems. 2/6 net. Eegan<br />
Paul.<br />
Davidson, John. The Bargain Theory of Wages. 6/- Putnam.<br />
Decle, Lionel. Three Years in Savage Africa. 21/- Methuen.<br />
De Amici8, E. (tr. by J. B. Brown). On Blue Water. 7/6. Putnam.<br />
De Gomara, Monti. Hearts that are Lightest. 8/6. Digby.<br />
De Hamong, Leigh. A Study of Destiny. 2/6. Saxon.<br />
De Leval, G. Short Treatise on Belgian Law and Legal Procedure.<br />
1 6. Heinemann.<br />
De Winton, Major. Soldiering Fifty Years Ago. 4/- net.<br />
European Mail.<br />
Dllke, Sir O W. Army Reform. 2/6. Service.<br />
Dixon, Charles. Lost and Vanishing Birds. 7/6. Macqueen.<br />
Doane, W. C. The Manifestations of the Bisen Jesus. 1/6. Frowde.<br />
Dowse, T. S. Mcchano-Therapy and Resistance Movements in the<br />
Treatment of Heart Disease. 2/- net. Simpkin.<br />
Duff, Sir M. E. Grant. Notes from a Diary, 1873-1881. 18 - Murray,<br />
Duncan, Sara J. A Voyage of Consolation. 6/- Methuen.<br />
Eagleson, J. G. and Sanderson, W. A. Digest of the Australian<br />
Mining Cases. 40/- net. Sweet and Maxwell.<br />
Eden, C. H. Bunthorne, the Story of a Fool. 3/6. Skeffington.<br />
Edwards, B. F. Professional Papers of the Corps of Boyal Eogiueers.<br />
Occasional Papers. Vol. XXIII. 10/''' net. Chatham: Mackay.<br />
Edwards, B. W. K. The Mermaid of Inish-Uig. a/6. Arnold.<br />
Ellis, T. M. Tales of the Klondike. 2/6. Bliss.<br />
Ellison, G. F. Home Defence. 8/6. Stanford.<br />
Eusebins's Ecclesiastical History in Syriac (ed. from MSS. by the late<br />
W. Wright and N. McLean). 25/- Clay.<br />
Exell, J. 8. The Biblical Illustrator. 7/6. Nisbet.<br />
Eyre-Todd, George. Bohemian Papers. 1.'- Glasgow: Morison.<br />
Fenton.G. (tr.) Certain Tragical Discoveries of Bandello. (Tudor<br />
Translations, ed. by W. E. Henley). 24/- net. Nutt.<br />
Fincastle, Viscount, and Elliott-Lockhart, P. C. A Frontier Cam-<br />
paign. 6/- Methuen.<br />
Fitzgerald, P. Critical Examination of Dr. G. Birkbeck Hill's<br />
"Johnsonian " editions issued by Clarendon Press. .V- net. Bliss.<br />
Fitzgerald, P. Jewels of Prayer and Meditation. 2 6. Burns and Oates.<br />
Fitzgerald, W. W. A. Travels in the Coastionds of British East<br />
Africa and the Islands of Zanzibar and Pemba. 28/- Chapman.<br />
Flaubert, G. (tr. by D. F. Hannigan). Sentimental Education. 12/-<br />
Nichols.<br />
Fletcher, J. S. Pasnuinado. 3/6. Ward and Lock.<br />
Foley, 0. (tr. by A. Hallard). Marquis of Valrose. 8/6. Pearson.<br />
Forbes, J. T. God's Measure, and other Sermons. 2/6. Oliphant.<br />
Forbes-Bobertson, Frances. The Potentate. 6/- Constable.<br />
Forster, B. H. The Hand of the Spoiler. Newcastle: Mawson.<br />
Foster, F. W. A Bibliography of Skating. 5/- B. W. Warhurst.<br />
Foster, J. J. British Miniature Painters. .V2 li net Low.<br />
Fowler, J. K. (" Busticus "). Records of Old Times. 10/6. Chatto.<br />
Frank, A. B. (tr. by J. W. Patcrson). Agricultural Botany. 8/6.<br />
Blackwood.<br />
Frazer, Mrs. J. G. Scenes of Child Life in Colloquial French. 1/6.<br />
Macmillan.<br />
Furniss, Harry. P. and O. Sketches In Pen and Ink. 10;- Studio<br />
of Design.<br />
Garnett, Richard. A History of Italian Literature. 6/- Heinemann.<br />
Gemmel, J. F. Idiopathic Ulcerative Colitis (Dysentery). 12/6.<br />
Lane.<br />
Gersuny, B. (tr. by A. S. Levetus). Doctor and Patient. 2/- net.<br />
Simpkin.<br />
Giffen, George. With Bat and Ball. 8/6. Ward and Lock.<br />
Gildea, Col. Naval and Military Funds and Institutions, 1893.<br />
Eyre and Son.<br />
Glanville, Ernest. The Kloof Bride. 8/6. Methuen.<br />
Goethe's " Clavigo " (tr. by members of Manchester Goethe Society).<br />
3/6. Nutt.<br />
Goodhart, J. F. Man and Medicine. 2/- net. Bale.<br />
Goodwin, M. W., and others. Historic New York. 12/6. Putnam.<br />
Gordon, Sir O. A. Recollections of Thirty-Nino Years in the Army.<br />
12/- Sounonschein.<br />
Gordon-Cumming, C. F. The Inventor of the Numeral Type for<br />
China. 1/- net. Downey.<br />
Gorst, H. E. Sketches of the Future. 11- Macqueen.<br />
Gould, F.J. Chats with Pioneers of Modem Thought. If- Watts.<br />
Gould, F. J. Tales from the New Testament. 5/- Watts.<br />
Graham, Winifred. Meresia. 6/- Hurst.<br />
Graves, C. L., and Lucas, E. V. The War of the Wenuses. 1/-<br />
Arrowsmith.<br />
Gray, A. A Treatise on Magnetism and Electricity. Vol. I. 14/-<br />
net. Macmillan.<br />
Gregory, Lady (ed.). Mr. Gregory's Letter-Box, 1818-30. 12/6.<br />
Smith and Elder.<br />
Greswell, W. P. The Growth and Administration or the British<br />
OolonieB. 2/6. Blackic.<br />
Gribble, Francis. Sunlight and Limelight, 6/- Innes.<br />
Griffith, George. The Virgin of the Sun. 6/- Pearson.<br />
Guyon, Georges. The Dreyfus Cass. 1/- Geddes.<br />
Haddon, A. C. Phella Solasi: A New Species of Actiniarian from<br />
Oceania. 4/6. Williams.<br />
Ualiburton, Sir A. Army Organisation. 1/- Stanford.<br />
Hardy, W. J., and Bacon, E. D. The Stamp Collector. 7/6.<br />
Bod way.<br />
Harland, M. Some Colonial Homesteads and their stories. 12/6.<br />
Putnam.<br />
Harte, Bret. Tales of Trail and Town. 3/6. Chatto.<br />
Hastings, J. (ed.). A Dictionary of the Bible. Vol I. 28/- Clark.<br />
Haydon, T. Sporting Reminiscences. 6/- BUbb.<br />
Ilenhom, E. G. Tenebrae. A Novel. 6/- Skeffington.<br />
Henson. H. H. Discipline and Law. 2/6. Methuen.<br />
Henty, G. A. Colonel Thomdyke's Secret 6/- Chatto.<br />
Hickson, S. J. Story of Life in the Seas. 1/- Newnes.<br />
HlUls, N. D. The Investment of Influence. 5/- Oliphant.<br />
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Authors should note that The Lkadknhall Press Ltd. cannot be<br />
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THE KNIGHTS and KINGS of CHESS. By the Eev.<br />
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Printed and Published by Horace Cox, Windsor House, Bream's-buildings, London, E.C. | https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/314/1898-04-01-The-Author-8-11.pdf | publications, The Author |
| 313 | https://historysoa.com/items/show/313 | The Author, Vol. 08 Issue 10 (March 1898) | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=%3Cem%3EThe+Author%3C%2Fem%3E%2C+Vol.+08+Issue+10+%28March+1898%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 08 Issue 10 (March 1898)</a> | | | <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049239455" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049239455</a> | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Publication">Publication</a> | 1898-03-01-The-Author-8-10 | | | | | 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=8">8</a> | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1898-03-01">1898-03-01</a> | | | | | | | 10 | | | 18980301 | XL he Hutbot\<br />
{The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br />
CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br />
Vol. VIII.—No. 10.] MARCH i, 1898. [Price Sixpence.<br />
CONTENTS.<br />
PAOE<br />
General Memoranda 253<br />
Our President's Birthday 255<br />
Literary Property—<br />
1. General Meeting 255<br />
2. Authors and Debontute-holders 257<br />
3. The night to Destroy 257<br />
V Pirated Music 257<br />
New York Letter. By Norman Hapgood 257<br />
Mr. Nutt Again 289<br />
Notes and News. By the Editor 260<br />
pas â– <br />
Questions and Answers 262<br />
The Criterion of Literary Excellence. By D. F. Hannigan ... 203<br />
Correspondence. — 1. "The Gentle Answer "! 2. A "Bold"<br />
Agreement 3. The '• Bluggy" Element. \. Proposed<br />
Journalists' Union. 5. The Haunch of Venison. 6. An<br />
Appeal to Editors 7. Forego and 1 orgo. 8 Who Bids<br />
Highest? 9. A Young Author's Grievance. 10. Honour<br />
Among Reviewers. 11. Style and Substance 265<br />
Book Talk 26!)<br />
Literature in the Peiiodieals 272<br />
The Books of the Month 275<br />
PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY.<br />
1. The Annual Report. That for January 1897 can be had on application to the Secretary.<br />
2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary<br />
Property. Issued to all Members, 6*. 6d. per annum. Back numbers are offered at the<br />
following prices: Vol. I., ios. 6d. (Bound); Vols. II., III., and IV., 8«. 6d. each (Bound);<br />
Vol. V., 6s. 6d. (Unbound).<br />
3. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry GHaisher,<br />
95, Strand, W.C.) 3*.<br />
4. The History of the Sooiete des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprioge, late Secretary to<br />
the Society, is.<br />
5. The Cost of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type,<br />
size of page, &c, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of<br />
books. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 2*. 6d.<br />
6. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprigge. In this work, compiled from the<br />
papers in the Society's offices, the various forms of agreements proposed by Publishers to<br />
Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various<br />
kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements.<br />
Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 3*.<br />
7. Copyright Law Reform. An Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill of 1890. With<br />
Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the<br />
Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely. Eyre and Spottis-<br />
woode. is. 6d.<br />
8. The Society of Authors. A. Record of its Action from its Foundation. By Walter Besant<br />
(Chairman of Committee, 1888—1892). is.<br />
9. The Contract of Publication in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland. By Ernst<br />
Lunge, J.U.D. 2s. 6d.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 252 (#694) ############################################<br />
<br />
11<br />
AD VER TISEMENTS.<br />
^l)e §>ociefp of Mutyoxs (gncotporateb).<br />
PRESIDENT.<br />
O-EOBGE MEREDITH.<br />
COUNCIL.<br />
The Earl of Drsart.<br />
Austin Dobson.<br />
A. Cohan Doyle, M.D.<br />
A. W. Dubourg.<br />
Prop. Michakl Foster, F.R.S.<br />
D. W. FRE8HFIBLD.<br />
Richard Garnett, C.B., LL.D.<br />
Edmund Qosse.<br />
H. Rider Haggard.<br />
Thomas Hardy.<br />
Anthony Hope Hawkins.<br />
Jerome K. Jerome.<br />
RUDYARD KlPLING.<br />
Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S.<br />
W. E. H. Lecky, P.C., M.P.<br />
J. M. Lely.<br />
Mrs. E. Lynn Linton.<br />
Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A.<br />
Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mub.Doo.<br />
Prof. J. M. D. Meiklejohn.<br />
Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E., C.S.I.<br />
J. M. Barbie.<br />
A. W. 1 Beckett.<br />
Robert Bateman.<br />
F. E. Beddabd, F.R.S.<br />
Sir Henry Bergne, K.C.M.G.<br />
Sib Walter Besant.<br />
Algustinb Bibbell, M.P.<br />
Rev. Prof. Bonney, F.R.S.<br />
Right Hon. James Bryce, M.P.<br />
Right Hon. Lord Burghclere, P.C.<br />
Hall Caine.<br />
Egebton Castle, F.S.A.<br />
P. W. Clayden.<br />
Edwabd Clodd.<br />
w. mobbis colles.<br />
Hon. John Collieb.<br />
Sib W. Mabtin Conway.<br />
F. Mabion Crawford.<br />
Right Hon. G. N. Curzon, P.C, M.P.<br />
Herman C Mekivale.<br />
Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wake.<br />
Sir Lewis Morris.<br />
Henry Norman.<br />
Miss E. A. Ormerod.<br />
J. C. Parkinson.<br />
Right Hon. Lobd Pirbrioht, P.C,<br />
F.R.S.<br />
Sir Feederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D.<br />
Walter Herbies Pollock,<br />
w. bapti8te scoone8.<br />
Miss Flora L. Shaw.<br />
G. R. Sims.<br />
S. Squire Spbigge.<br />
J. J. Stevenson.<br />
Francis Stobr.<br />
William Moy Thomas.<br />
H. D. Traill, D.C.L.<br />
Mrs. Humphry Ward.<br />
A. W. X Beckett.<br />
Sir Walter Besant.<br />
Egerton Castle, F.S.A.<br />
W. MORBIS COLLES.<br />
ART.<br />
Hon. John Collier (Chairman)<br />
Sir W. Martin Conway.<br />
M. H. Spielmann.<br />
Miss Charlotte M. Yonge<br />
Hon. Counsel — E. M. Undeedown, Q.C<br />
COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT.<br />
Chairman—H. Rider Haggabd.<br />
Sir W. Mabtin Conway.<br />
D. W. Freshfield.<br />
Anthony Hope Hawkins.<br />
J. M. Lely.<br />
SUB-COMMITTEES.<br />
MUSIC.<br />
C Villiers Stanford, Mus.D. (Chairman)<br />
Jacques Blumenthal.<br />
Sir A. C Mackenzie, Mus.Doo.<br />
Henry Nobman.<br />
Francis Storr.<br />
Solicitors f ^IELD> Boscoe, and Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields.<br />
o %ct ors | q Herbert Thring, B.A., 4, Portugal-street.<br />
DRAMA.<br />
Henry Arthur Jones (Chairman).<br />
A. W. a Beckett.<br />
Edward Rose.<br />
-street. Secretary—G. Herbert Thbino, B-A.<br />
OFFICES: 4, Pobtugal Stbeet, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C<br />
.A.. IP. W^TT &c SOF,<br />
LITERARY AGENTS,<br />
Formerly of 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE,<br />
Have now removed to<br />
HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND,<br />
LONDON", W.C.<br />
THE TEMPLE TYPEWRITING OFFICE. f<br />
TYPEWRITING EXCEPTIONALLY ACCURATE. Moderate prices. Duplicates of Circulars by the latest ^<br />
process. ^<br />
OPINIONS OP CLIENTS.—Distinguished Author:—"The most beautiful typing I have ever Been." Lady or Title:—"The ,<br />
work waB very well and clearly done." Provincial Editor :—" Many thanks for the spotless neatness and beautiful accuracy."<br />
MISS &ENTKY, ELDON CHAMBKR8, 30, FLEET STREET, E.C.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 253 (#695) ############################################<br />
<br />
XL he Hutbor,<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br />
CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br />
Vol. VIII.—No. io.] MARCH i, 1898. [Price Sixpence.<br />
For the Opinions expressed in papers that are<br />
signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br />
responsible. None of the papers or para-<br />
graphs must be taken as expressing the<br />
collective opinions of the Committee unless<br />
they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br />
Thring, Sec.<br />
THE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br />
remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br />
requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br />
important communications within two days will write to him<br />
without delay. All remittances nhould be crossed Union<br />
Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be Bent by registered<br />
letter only.<br />
Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br />
all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br />
jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br />
returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br />
GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br />
1/^OR some years it has been the practice to insert, in<br />
f* every number of The Author, certain " General Con-<br />
siderations," Warnings, Notices, &e., for the guidance<br />
of the reader. It has been objected as regards these<br />
warnings that the tricks or frauds against which they are<br />
directed cannot all be guarded against, for obvious reasons.<br />
It is, however, well that they should be borne in mind, and<br />
if any publisher refuses a clause of precaution he simply<br />
reveals bis true character, and Bhould be left to carry on<br />
his business in his own way.<br />
Let us, however, draw up a few of the rules to be<br />
observed in an agreement. There are three methods of<br />
dealing with literary property:—<br />
I. That of selling it outright.<br />
This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br />
price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br />
managed by a competent agent.<br />
II. A profit-sharing agreement.<br />
In this case the following rules should be attended to:<br />
(1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the oost of pro-<br />
duction forms a part.<br />
(2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br />
profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise-<br />
ments.<br />
(3.) Not to allow a special charge for " office expenses,"<br />
unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br />
(4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br />
rights.<br />
(5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights.<br />
(6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher.<br />
As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br />
doctor!<br />
(7.) To stamp the agreement.<br />
III. The royalty system.<br />
In this system, which has opened the door to a most<br />
amazing amount of overreaching and trading on the<br />
author's ignorance, it is above all things necessary to know<br />
what the proposed royalty means to both "ides. It is now<br />
possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very<br />
nearly the truth. From time to time the very important<br />
figures connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br />
Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br />
"Cost of Production." Let no one, not even the youngest<br />
writer, sign a royalty agreement without finding out what<br />
it gives the publisher as well as himself.<br />
It has been objected that these precautions presuppose a<br />
great success for the book, and that very few books indeed<br />
attain to this great success. That is quite true : but there is<br />
always this uncertainty of literary property that, although<br />
the works of a great many authors carry with them no risk<br />
at all, and although of a great many it is known within a few<br />
copies what will be their minimum circulation, it is not<br />
known what will be their maximum. Therefore every<br />
author, for every book, should arrange on tbe chance of a<br />
success which will not, probably, come at all; but which<br />
may oome.<br />
The four points which the Society has always demanded<br />
from the outset are:—<br />
(1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement<br />
means.<br />
(2.) The inspection of those account books which belong<br />
to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the<br />
nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or<br />
withheld.<br />
(3.) That there shall be no secret profits.<br />
(4.) That nothing shall be charged which has not been<br />
actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for<br />
advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none tor<br />
exchanged advertisements and that all discounts shall be<br />
duly entered.<br />
If these points are carefully looked after, the author may<br />
rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the<br />
same time he will do well to send his agreement to the<br />
secretary before he signs it.<br />
Z 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 254 (#696) ############################################<br />
<br />
254 THE AUTHOR.<br />
HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br />
I. ~T7> VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br />
JjJ advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br />
lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of hiB<br />
business or the administration of his property. If the advice<br />
sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member<br />
has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the<br />
case is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com-<br />
mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this<br />
without any cost to the member.<br />
2. Remember that questions oonneoted with copyright<br />
and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the<br />
experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br />
to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually<br />
engaged upon such questions for us.<br />
3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past<br />
accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in<br />
order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree-<br />
ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively<br />
so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any<br />
agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor-<br />
mation thus obtained may prove invaluable.<br />
4. If the examination of your previous business trans-<br />
actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should<br />
take advice as to a change of publishers.<br />
5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br />
posed document to the Society for examination.<br />
6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in<br />
the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks of every publish-<br />
ing firm in the country.<br />
7. 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 />
8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of everything<br />
important to literature that you may hear or meet with.<br />
9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of<br />
members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br />
safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br />
fidential documents to be read only by the 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 />
THE AUTHORS' SYNDICATE.<br />
MEMBERS are informed:<br />
1. That the Authors' Syndicate takes charge of<br />
the business of members of the Society. That it<br />
submits MSS. to publishers and editors, concludes agree-<br />
ments, examines, passes, and collects accounts, and, gene-<br />
rally, relieves members of the trouble of managing business<br />
details.<br />
2. That the terms upon which its services can be secured<br />
will be forwarded upon detailod application.<br />
3. That the Authors' Syndicate works only for those<br />
members of the Society whose work possesses a market<br />
value.<br />
4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiations<br />
whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia-<br />
tions are placed exclusively in its hands, and that all<br />
communications relating thereto are referred to it.<br />
5. That clients can only be seen by the Director by<br />
appointment, and that, when possible, at least two days'<br />
notice should be given.<br />
6. That every attempt is made to deal with all communi-<br />
cations promptly. That stamps should, in all cases, be sent<br />
to defray postage.<br />
7. That the Authors' Syndicate does not invite MSS.<br />
without previous correspondence; does not hold itself<br />
responsible for MSS. forwarded without notice; and that<br />
in all cases MSS. must be accompanied by stamps to defray<br />
postage.<br />
8. That the Syndicate undertakes arrangements for<br />
lectures by some of the leading members of the Society;<br />
that it has a "Transfer Department" for the sale and<br />
purchase of journals and periodicals; and that a " Register<br />
of Wants and Wanted" is open. Members are invited to<br />
communicate their requirements to the Manager.<br />
There is an Honorary Advisory Committee, whose services<br />
will be called upon in any case of dispute or difficulty. It<br />
is perhaps necessary to Btate that the members of the<br />
Advisory Committee have no pecuniary interest whatever in<br />
the Syndicate.<br />
NOTICES.<br />
11HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br />
Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br />
of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br />
heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br />
many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br />
6«. 6d. subscription for the year.<br />
The Editor is always glad to receive ehort papers and<br />
communications on all subjects connected with literature<br />
from members and others. Nothing can do more good to<br />
the Society than to make The Author complete, attractive,<br />
and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this<br />
work send thoir names and the special subjects on which<br />
they are willing to write?<br />
Communications for The Author should reach the Editor<br />
not later than the 21st of each month.<br />
All persons engaged in literary work of any khid, whether<br />
members of the Society or not, are invited to communioate<br />
to the Editor any points connected with their work whiob<br />
it would be advisable in the general interest to publish.<br />
Members and others who wish their MSS. read are<br />
requested not to send them to the Office without previously<br />
communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable<br />
despatch iB aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in.<br />
which they are received. It must also be distinctly under-<br />
stood that the Society does not, under any circumstances,<br />
undertake the publication of MSS.<br />
The Authors' Club is now open in its new premises, at<br />
3, Whitehall-oourt, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary<br />
for information, rules of admission, Ac.<br />
Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they<br />
have paid their subscriptions for the year? If they will do<br />
thiB, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's<br />
order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the<br />
trouble of sending out a reminder<br />
Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the<br />
following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a<br />
most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding<br />
for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they<br />
would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five<br />
years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 255 (#697) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then<br />
hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them-<br />
selves into literary bondage for three or five years?<br />
"Those who possess the 1 CoBt of Production' are<br />
requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15<br />
per cent." This clause was inserted three or four years ago.<br />
Estimates have, however, recently been obtained which show<br />
that the figures in the book may be relied on as nearly<br />
correct: as near as is possible.<br />
Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged<br />
in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of course, we<br />
have not included any gums which may be charged for<br />
inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines,<br />
or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too<br />
often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from<br />
sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket,<br />
by inserting any number of advertisements in his own<br />
magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are<br />
who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those<br />
who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it.<br />
FROM THE COMMITTEE.<br />
THE Secretary would be obliged if those<br />
members of the Society and others who<br />
have entered into dramatic contracts would<br />
kindly forward to him copies of the same, together<br />
with any notes showing the difficulties to which<br />
dramatic authors are exposed. The Secretary, at<br />
the desire of the Committee, is undertaking a<br />
work dealing with dramatic and musical contracts<br />
on the same lines as the "Methods of Publish-<br />
ing " already issued by the Society.<br />
Those members of the Society who have state-<br />
ments of account involving the cost of production<br />
would oblige the Secretary by forwarding the<br />
statements to the offices of the Society, together<br />
with a sample of the page of the book if possible.<br />
The Secretary is undertaking on behalf of the<br />
Society a fresh edition of the " Cost of Produc-<br />
tion." All information, therefore, from members<br />
and others will be useful.<br />
At the General Meeting of Feb. 17, Mr. Perry<br />
Coste asked how many members had replied to<br />
the circular letter on the publication of the list<br />
of members. The Secretary was unable at the<br />
moment to give the number, hut promised to look<br />
up the point. He has now done so, and finds<br />
that between eight and nine hundred members<br />
sent in an answer to the circular. From private<br />
inquiries it would appear that those who did not<br />
reply desired no change. It is, indeed, obvious<br />
that those who wanted a change would have<br />
taken this opportunity of expressing their desire.<br />
OUR PRESIDENT'S BIRTHDAY.<br />
ME. MEREDITH received the following<br />
letter on Saturday, Feb. 12. It was a<br />
private letter, was signed by thirty men<br />
and women of letters, but was not sent from the<br />
Society, where the occasion was unfortunately not<br />
remembered :—<br />
"To George Meredith:<br />
"Some comrades in letters who have long<br />
valued your work send you a cordial greeting<br />
upon your seventieth birthday.<br />
"You have attained the first rank in literature,<br />
after many years of inadequate recognition.<br />
From first to last you have been true to yourself,<br />
and have always aimed at the highest mark. We<br />
are rejoiced to know that merits once perceived<br />
by only a few are now appreciated by a wide and<br />
steadily growing circle. We wish you many<br />
years of life, during which you may continue to<br />
do good work, cheered by the consciousness of<br />
good work already achieved, and encouraged by<br />
the certainty of a hearty welcome from many<br />
sympathetic readers.<br />
"(Signed.)<br />
J. M. Barrie, Walter Besant, Augustine<br />
Birrell, James Bryce, Austin Dobson,<br />
Conan Doyle, Edmund Gosse, R. B.<br />
Haldane, Thomas Hardy, Frederic<br />
Harrison, "John Oliver Hobbes,"<br />
Henry James, R. C. Jebb, Andrew<br />
Lang, W. E. H. Lecky, M. Londin,<br />
F. W. Maitland, Alice Meynell, John<br />
Morley, F. W. H. Myers, James Payn,<br />
Frederick Pollock, Anne Thackeray<br />
Ritchie, Henry Sidgwick, Leslie<br />
Stephen, Algernon Charles SwiNr<br />
burne, Mary A. Ward, G. F. Watts,<br />
Theodore Watts-Dunton, Wolseley."<br />
Mr. Meredith, acknowledging it in a letter to<br />
Mr. Leslie Stephen, wrote: "The recognition that<br />
I have always worked honestly to my best,<br />
coming from the men and women of highest<br />
distinction, touches me deeply. Pray let it be<br />
known to them how much they encourage and<br />
support me.''<br />
LITERARY PROPERTY.<br />
I.—General Meeting.<br />
f~|"\HE annual general meeting of the Incorpo-<br />
| rated Society of Authors was held on<br />
Feb. 17, at 4 p.m., in the rooms of the<br />
Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society, 20,<br />
Hanover-square, W Mr. fl. Rider Haggard<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 256 (#698) ############################################<br />
<br />
256<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
took the chair. Amongst those present were<br />
the following:—<br />
Mr. Anthony Hope Hawkins, Mr. A. W.<br />
a Beckett, Mr. "j. M. Lely, Mr. Egerton Castle,<br />
Mr. P. W. Clayden, Mr. Henry Norman, Mrs.<br />
George Corbett, Lady Colin Campbell, Mrs.<br />
Alfred Baldwin, Mr." A. E. W. Mason, Mr.<br />
Silas K. Hocking, Mr. Mowbray Marras, Mr.<br />
Edwin Pugh, Mrs. Pennell, Mr. Edward Rose,<br />
Mr. Mackenzie Bell, the Rev. Dr, S. Kinns, Miss<br />
H. M. Stanton, Mr. Perry Coste, and a great<br />
many other members.<br />
Mr. Hagoard, on rising, apologised for the<br />
absence of Sir Martin Conway, who, as Chairman<br />
of the Society for 1898, ought to have occupied<br />
his position. He then proceeded to comment on<br />
the report of the Society. He stated that the<br />
Society was in a flourishing condition, and had<br />
elected 180 members during the past year. He<br />
went on to explain how the work of the Society<br />
had increased enormously during the past year,<br />
but he was sorry to say that there were still a<br />
good many authors who did not belong to the<br />
body. He hoped that all authors would stand by<br />
their profession, since even, although individually<br />
they might not benefit by the action of the<br />
Society, yet collectively they did so benefit, and<br />
he trusted that all members present would do<br />
their best to establish amongst other authors that<br />
esprit dc corps which was necessary to support<br />
the profession, and to raise it to its proper status.<br />
He submitted that all those members who placed<br />
their cases in the Secretary's hands should be pre-<br />
pared to carry them through the courts, as it was<br />
useless for the Society to take up serious action<br />
on behalf of its members if that action was ulti-<br />
mately liable to fail owing to the member con-<br />
cerned not being desirous of giving evidence.<br />
He then stated that the Society had on behalf of<br />
its members carried through certain claims<br />
against bankrupt papers, but had been unsuccess-<br />
ful in obtaining any satisfaction from such papers.<br />
The committee now proposed to try and pass a<br />
short Bill by which contributors to magazines<br />
should be reckoned as preferential creditors,<br />
together with clerks, servants, and other em-<br />
ployes. He put forward, as an instance, the case<br />
of a magazine which fell into difficulties, then<br />
issued debentures, the debentures being taken up<br />
by people interested in the company. The com-<br />
pany becoming involved, the debenture-holders<br />
foreclosed, and although the goodwill of the<br />
magazine was sold for a large amount the con-<br />
tributors were unable to obtain anything, all the<br />
money being absorbed by the debenture debt.<br />
This was a very unsatisfactory position so far as<br />
the authors were concerned. He suggested that<br />
if members in the first instance referred to the<br />
Secretary with regard to the papers to which they<br />
were contributing it would be very possible that<br />
they would get such information as would prevent<br />
them from further dealings with such papers, and<br />
thus they might be spared a very unpleasant<br />
position. Mr. Haggard further mentioned that<br />
the Society had a short Copyright Bill before<br />
Parliament which they hoped to be able to pass<br />
through the Commons. The Bill had already-<br />
passed the second reading in the House of Lords<br />
this Session on the 14th inst., and the Society<br />
would use their utmost efforts to secure its<br />
passage through the House of Commons. He<br />
quoted Lord Knutsford's speech with reference<br />
to this Bill. The quotation ran as follows:<br />
"Viscount Knutsford thought that there was just<br />
a chance that a Bill like that now before their<br />
Lordships might get through the other House.<br />
On the other hand, a Copyright Consolidation<br />
Bill, such as the noble Earl had referred to, would<br />
have little or no chance of passing." The Chair-<br />
man next referred to the discount question which<br />
had occupied the work of a sub-committee of the<br />
Society during the autumn, and he repeated the<br />
reasons for the Society having been unable to<br />
adopt the publishers' suggestions—viz., that in the<br />
first instance the committee had come to the<br />
decision from the evidence before them that no<br />
preventive measures would prove effectual, but<br />
would always be evaded, and that apart from<br />
this question the proposals of the publishers<br />
were really an interference with the doctrines of<br />
free trade. He also pointed out that the com-<br />
mittee had deemed it unwise from the answers<br />
they had received to publish a list of the members<br />
of the Society. Before sitting down he asked<br />
whether any member had any comment to make<br />
on the report.<br />
Mr. Perry Coste then rose and asked some<br />
questions. It was stated in the report that only<br />
one-third had consented to the ptiblication of<br />
their names. He would like to know how many<br />
had actually answered, as it might be deduced<br />
that those who had not answered had given their<br />
consent by silence.<br />
The Chairman pointed out that he could not<br />
at the moment reply to this question, not having<br />
the figures at hand, but that the numbers would<br />
be printed in The Author. In answer to further<br />
questions, he stated that it was not a fair deduc-<br />
tion to draw that those who had not answered had<br />
desired the publication of their names.<br />
Another question referred to the publication of<br />
some suggestions made by Mr. Perry Coste in<br />
The Author on the occasion of the last annual<br />
meeting. He wanted to know whether any<br />
members of the Society had expressed an opinion<br />
upon them, and the Chairman replied that no one<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 257 (#699) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
257<br />
had written to the Secretary with regard to the<br />
matter.<br />
After this discussion a vote of thanks was<br />
proposed by the Rev. Dr. Samuel Kinns and<br />
seconded by Mr. Silas K. Hocking, to the Chair-<br />
man, and carried unanimously. Subsequently a<br />
vote of thanks was also passed to the Committee<br />
and the Secretary for the work they had done<br />
during the past year, and this was responded to<br />
by Mr. Anthony Hope Hawkins.<br />
II.—Authors and Debenture-Holders.<br />
The following letters have appeared in the<br />
Daily Chronicle, addressed to the editor of that<br />
journal:—<br />
"Sir,—I quote the following from your report<br />
of the meeting of the Society of Authors yester-<br />
day :—<br />
The Chairman dwelt on the hardships of eontribntors to<br />
a certain periodical—cited as an example, and also name-<br />
less—who had been unable to get paid for articles, althongh<br />
the society had taken np the matter. To meet such a con-<br />
dition of things, it was proposed to promote a Bill in<br />
Parliament. The object of it—and here were the typical<br />
details - would be to give contributors to periodicals, np to<br />
a limited amount, a precedence over debenture-holders in<br />
instances where the periodical was conducted by a limited<br />
company.<br />
"Why should authors have precedence over<br />
debenture-holders? Take my own case, for<br />
instance, which is probably connected with the<br />
periodical referred to. I was induced to take over<br />
debentures for a considerable amount, had to pay<br />
up fully all calls, never received the last year's<br />
interest for them, and am required by my fellow-<br />
authors to 'take a back seat.' 'In the name of<br />
all that's inflammable,' as Mr. Pickwick says,<br />
where is the justice or reason of this? Such a<br />
proposal savours of childishness.—I am, &c,<br />
"Geo. B. Burqin.<br />
"Feb. 18."<br />
"Sir,—In reply to Mr. Burgin's letter, pub-<br />
lished in your issue of the 21st inst., it seems<br />
clear that he must have known something of<br />
the inner working of the company to which he<br />
refers, otherwise he would not have taken over<br />
the debentures. He will reap his reward when<br />
the debenture-holders are paid in full out of the<br />
sum realised by the sale of the company's assets.<br />
Other contributors will not be similarly protected.<br />
But if the Bill of the Authors' Society had been<br />
passed into law before this particular case arose,<br />
he would not have needed to protect his own<br />
interests by becoming a debenture holder, and<br />
other contributors would have enjoyed a protection<br />
of which he apparently now possesses a monopoly.<br />
Most magazine writers are not capitalists, but<br />
humble folk working with brain and hands for<br />
their daily bread. They are eminently deserving<br />
of a protection similar to that extended to the<br />
wage-earners attached to any industry.—Yours<br />
faithfully, "Martin Conway,<br />
"Chairman of the Authors' Society.<br />
"Feb. 22." .<br />
III.—The Eight to Destroy.<br />
A member of the Society forwarded a MS. to<br />
a publisher about a year ago. The publisher<br />
stated that he was unable to undertake the<br />
publication of the MS. at his own cost, and<br />
asked the author to send stamps for its return.<br />
This the author neglected to do through inadver-<br />
tence. Nearly a year afterwards he received a<br />
post card from the publisher stating that unless<br />
stamps were sent for the return of the MS. he<br />
would have to destroy it. The position taken up<br />
by the publisher is legally unsound. Even<br />
though the MS. may be forwarded to him<br />
without his expressed desire, he is bound to take<br />
ordinary care of it. If he wittingly burnt or<br />
destroyed the MS. it would be a case of the<br />
grossest negligence, and he would be liable to<br />
the author for the value of the MS. This is<br />
clearly the legal position, and authors are<br />
referred to the number of The Author of Feb.,<br />
1897, where Counsel's opinion on the matter was<br />
fully set forth. _<br />
IV.—Pirated Music.<br />
The Daily Mail for Feb. 8 announces that the<br />
music publishers of London are going to appeal<br />
for Parliamentary protection against the sale of<br />
pirated songs at a very cheap rate in the streets.<br />
There has been a meeting of the publishers, who<br />
have presented a memorial to the Home Secretary<br />
calling attention to the publication of these<br />
pirated editions. The piracy is not only of the<br />
music and the words, but of the words separately.<br />
It is hoped to get an Attorney-General's fiat to<br />
institute criminal proceedings under the Printers'<br />
Act against the offenders.<br />
NEW YORK LETTER.<br />
New York, Feb. 18.<br />
~]^TO publisher does more for American litera-<br />
ls ture than Houghton, Mifflin and Co.<br />
Their Riverside Literature Series has a<br />
particular popular value in putting the best<br />
works of the country within the reach of every-<br />
body, usually with valuable notes. Their last<br />
volume, just published, includes a number of<br />
tales and poems by Edgar Allen Poe, and has<br />
an introduction by Professor W. P. Trent, who<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 258 (#700) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
recently published a book on "Southern States-<br />
men of the Old Regime." Professor Trent<br />
points out what is undoubtedly true, that Poe's<br />
position is unique among our authors for the<br />
exaggerated praise â– which he has received ou the<br />
one hand, and the absurd detraction which he<br />
has received on the other. Professor Trent<br />
thinks Poe's critical work is dead as literature,<br />
but that his poetry stands much higher. These<br />
volumes are published at fifteen cents in paper<br />
and forty cents in linen. Another recent publi-<br />
cation in this series is, the great debate between<br />
Robert Young Hayne and Daniel Webster,<br />
oue of the most dramatic occurrences in American<br />
history.<br />
A book on America, which is soon to be pub-<br />
lished in England, by Mrs. Atherton, is a reminder<br />
that this lady is taken very much more seriously<br />
in England when she writes about American<br />
affairs than she is by Americans. As her book is<br />
on the subject of "American Wives and English<br />
Husbands," it may be recalled that the Scribners<br />
published a novel last fall called "American<br />
Nobility" by a Frenchwoman. It can hardly be<br />
stated too often that almost all the departments<br />
of American life which he touches are discussed<br />
with greater accuracy by Mr. Bryce than by any<br />
other foreign critic.<br />
It is well known by this time that the Mac-<br />
millan Company is extending its field rapidly,<br />
especially along the lines of American literature.<br />
Among their recent books are, "A History of<br />
the United States," by Professor Channing, of<br />
Harvard, and some essays on the "Civil War<br />
and Reconstruction," by Professor Dunning, of<br />
Columbia. At the same time that they go in for<br />
such sterling works, their desire to build up a<br />
very large business is leading them into what it<br />
leads so many publishers into—the issuing of a<br />
lot of inferior work. A volume on "American<br />
Literature," by Professor Katharine Lee Bates,<br />
of Wellesley, for instance, adds nothing to any<br />
subject treated in it; and there are a lot of<br />
novels, books of travel, &c, without the least<br />
value, published purely for immediate sale. I do<br />
not call attention to this in order to disapprove<br />
of it, but merely to mark one of the results of<br />
extending the American business of such a promi-<br />
nent house. The same firm has just published<br />
a work on "The Finances of New York City,"<br />
by Edward Durand.<br />
Among the most interesting books which will<br />
be published within a month or so is a collection<br />
called "Emerson, and other Essays," by John Jay<br />
Chapman, to be put out by the Scribners. Mr.<br />
Chapman is a young lawyer who has recently<br />
gone into politics to a certain extent, and also into<br />
magazine criticism, in both of which fields he is<br />
attracting decided attention. His essays on<br />
Browning, Whitman, Stevenson, Michael Angelo's<br />
last sonnets, and other literary subjects, are some-<br />
times erratic, but always vigorous. The Scribners<br />
are also about to publish a book called " The<br />
Eugene Field I Knew," by Francis Wilson, which<br />
is a story of a long and intimate friendship<br />
between the Chicago poet and the only one of our<br />
younger actors who is especially known for his<br />
interest in literature. Francis Wilson j>lays in<br />
the broadest musical farce, but, outside of the<br />
theatre, his life is spent in a house full of<br />
the best books, and he is a man of real culture.<br />
Another book just out, worth mentioning for<br />
observers of our literature, is "An Introduction<br />
to American Literature," by Henry S. Pancoast,<br />
published by Henry Holt and Co. "The Hon.<br />
Peter Stirling," by Paul Liecester Ford, is in its<br />
sixteenth edition. The success of this book<br />
points to the popularity of a field which has<br />
been much exploited in American fiction. Politics<br />
are now in a formative, interesting, and important<br />
state, giving the best kind of material to the<br />
novelist. Doubtless the only reason that more<br />
use is not made of them is that so little is known<br />
about them practically by the kind of people who<br />
do our writing.<br />
In connection with the talk about Stephen<br />
Phillips, it may be noticed that more poetry is<br />
read in this country than is commonly supposed.<br />
Of course, fiction leads by far, but poetry stands<br />
comparison with any other form of literature. Of<br />
543 manuscripts submitted to a Boston publish-<br />
ing house in 1897, 212 were fiction; next came<br />
verse, 69. There were 44 books for young people;<br />
and the remainder were essays, history, travel,<br />
biography, and religious works. Our young pub-<br />
lishers are showing themselves particularly willing<br />
to put out volumes of verse which have any<br />
merit.<br />
Two subjects connected with the book market<br />
in this country have recently been fully dis-<br />
cussed by correspondents in the New York Times.<br />
One on " The Best Books for Children " resulted<br />
in nothing of any value, only a very long collec-<br />
tion of lists having nothing in common; but an<br />
article by Mrs. Sherwood—a sort of social autho-<br />
rity in the newspaper world—ou "What Society<br />
Reads," was so plausible that it raised an interest-<br />
ing amount of indignant protest. Her opinion<br />
was that the smart set reads mainly the most<br />
lurid, sentimental, and entirely trashy novels of<br />
the day, and that literature of any solidity or<br />
worth, even in fiction, is practically unknown<br />
in the fashionable circles. Taking all this<br />
with a grain of salt, it is yet undoubtedly true<br />
that the people in this country who are most<br />
conspicuous socially, lack altogether the literary<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 259 (#701) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
259<br />
taste and training which society has in some<br />
other lands.<br />
The bound volumes of the principal magazines<br />
of 1897 suggest some of the individual features.<br />
In the Century Magazine the most conspicuous<br />
features are Dr. Mitchell's latest novel and Gen.<br />
Porter's scries of articles on " Campaigning with<br />
Grant," which is the extension of the war paper<br />
idea which sent the circulation of this magazine<br />
so ripidly upward a few years ago. This maga-<br />
zine has, perhaps, more poetry than its rivals,<br />
but almost all the verse now published here is<br />
without value. - Its miscellaneous articles include<br />
many sporting papers and tales of travel. The<br />
Scribner's Magazine runs to serials more than any<br />
of the others. "The Conduct of Great Busi-<br />
nesses," "Undergraduate Life at the Colleges,'<br />
Gibson's articles on London, are among them.<br />
Harper's has a less definable character than either<br />
of the others. It is run more by instinct—by a<br />
general feeling or mood of the hour; but pictu-<br />
r< st|ue descriptive articles and fiction of the safe<br />
and original kind are prominent in it.<br />
In the drama some recent English work has<br />
been successful, and some decidedly the reverse.<br />
Mr. Esmond's "One Summer's Day," which John<br />
Drew has just brought to New York, after giving<br />
it in other cities, has fallen more flat than that<br />
popular actor's productions usually do. "The<br />
Tree of Knowledge," on the other hand, by E. C.<br />
Carton, is having a steady though not an extreme<br />
success. If England is to see " The Conquerors,"<br />
it will find that whatever success it has is largely<br />
a sneers de scandalc, of a rather cheap sort. As<br />
a general rule, where indecent drama pays in New<br />
York, it is because the large mass of floating<br />
population supports it. These 300,000 strangers<br />
who are in the city every day, go out of curiosity<br />
to see what residents of the city have Ion c since<br />
tired of. Norman Hap<*ood.<br />
MR. NUTT AGAIN.<br />
TN writing to the Academy in Deceml>er last,<br />
I Mr. Nutt began by saying, "Nobody heeds<br />
statements made by The Author, which are<br />
as little likely to mislead as those, let ine say, of<br />
La Libre Parole or the New York Sun." In the<br />
n< xt letter he says: "I am not a reader of The<br />
Author. I do not think 1 hare seen more than<br />
two numbers in my life." The italics are ours.<br />
A few lines further on he speaks of the "base-<br />
lessness of many statements made" in The<br />
Author. Yet he never sees it or reads it: he has<br />
only seen two numbers. Further on he says that<br />
those statements "have since been repeated in<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
The Author without one word of qualification."<br />
Yet he never sees The Author.<br />
Now, in the face of these assertions, which one<br />
mint with sorrow describe as unmannerly, Mr.<br />
Nutt sends me a long letter about the case which<br />
I have exposed already. He asks me to print<br />
this letter!!! \ shall not do so, because he cannot<br />
in reason wish to set his case in a better light in<br />
a paper which nobody heeds, and partly because<br />
everything that has to We said upon his last letter<br />
has been said—except one point, on which there<br />
will perhaps be something more to be said next<br />
month.<br />
I would only extract from it two passages, which<br />
would be amusing if they were not somewhat<br />
pitiful. You remember how, in the Academy—see<br />
Last month's Author—he laid it down that a 6s.<br />
book contained 388 pages "at least." I called<br />
attention to the word "at least," because by means<br />
of that limitation he thought he would bowl<br />
over our figures. He now calls it an " average."<br />
No: nothing at all was said of an average.<br />
He also endeavours to call away attention<br />
from the main issue by offering to get up a jury<br />
to decide how many " overs" there are. What<br />
can any jury tell us that we do not know? Of<br />
"overs" there may be many—few—none. That<br />
is all that can be said.<br />
On Kisk.<br />
In consequence of Mr. Nutt's assertion that<br />
The Author has stated on several occasions that<br />
"publishers always recover their outlay and never<br />
make any losses," I have been looking back<br />
through the pages of The Author. I cannot find<br />
that statement made even once, not to speak<br />
of repetitions. I do find, however, several state-<br />
ments on the subject of risk.<br />
Thus I find, Vol. I., p. 165: "The publisher,<br />
who very, very seldom knowingly runs any risk at<br />
all, may lose, because in all trades there are<br />
mistakes made, on one or two books, but as the<br />
general result of a large business he is certain,<br />
as his business is now conducted, not to lose."<br />
This was in answer to an argument that he might<br />
have no risk on one or two books, but that, on the<br />
whole, there is risk. My point was the exact eon-<br />
verse. And it is most certainly true, as the<br />
Hourishing condition of the trade shows, and the<br />
number of new publishers constantly springing<br />
up. If it were not true the trade would collapse.<br />
But that is not what Mr. Nutt says I stated.<br />
Again, Vol. I., p. 209, it is stated: "In no trade<br />
need there be fewer losses than in the publishing<br />
trade. They very seldom—it cannot be repeated<br />
too often, or be too strongly asserted—they very<br />
seldom take any risk whatever." When we see<br />
publisher after publisher expecting the writer to<br />
A A<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 260 (#702) ############################################<br />
<br />
260<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
pay for production: when the young writer<br />
goes from one to the other in vain, the truth of<br />
this statement becomes manifest. Fortunately<br />
there are exceptions.<br />
Again, in Vol. II., p. 108, I pointed out that<br />
the publisher's risk, where there was any, was<br />
the liability, not the outlay, less the first returns.<br />
In other words, if the book costs .£100, and the<br />
first three months' returns were £ 101, there would<br />
be no money paid, and no risk; if .£99, there would<br />
be a risk of £1 to be covered by following sales.<br />
In the same volume, p. 179, I call Mr. Putnam<br />
to account for saying "that the Authors'<br />
Society contend that the publishers never<br />
take any risk." For "never," I say, he must<br />
put "rarely," and then it will be true. And<br />
again, p. 146, I call the attention of Mr. Lang<br />
to a passage in which he accuses me of say-<br />
ing that "there is no risk in publishing."<br />
Plenty of risk, but very few publishers take a bit<br />
more than they can help.<br />
All this, however, is not what Mr. Nutt alleges.<br />
Now, I have been through the first four volumes,<br />
and this is what I find. It is all most perfectly<br />
and absolutely true. But it is not what Mr. Nutt<br />
alleges. I am now, however, waiting for a reply<br />
to my last letter, the fourth he has received on the<br />
subject, inviting him to tell me where he' found<br />
those passar/es tchich he quotes. W. B.<br />
NOTES AND NEWS.<br />
[N another column will be found a note from<br />
the Secretary, inviting readers to send him<br />
(1) copies of dramatic or musical agree-<br />
ments; (2) copies of publishers' accounts where<br />
t he author had consented to an administration of<br />
his property on a profit-sharing agreement. In<br />
the latter case it would be well to lend the Secre-<br />
tary a copy of the book, in order to ascertain the<br />
size of the page, the form of the type, the quality<br />
of the paper, and the true cost of the binding.<br />
If readers will only help in this manner, the new<br />
edition of the "Cost of Production" may be<br />
greatly helped. For my own part, as I was<br />
Chairman when the first edition was produced, I<br />
know what great pains were taken to get at the<br />
facts. I also know that nothing the Society has<br />
ever done has produced such widespread benefits<br />
to writers: that the figures liave been most impu-<br />
dently denied: but no denial has ever been accom-<br />
panied by any proof: that estimates such as<br />
the three published in last month's Author have<br />
proved the general correctness up to the hilt, and<br />
t hai printers have expressed themselves (privately)<br />
as quite willing to execute work in bulk, not by<br />
single volumes, on these figures. At the same<br />
time I have always felt somewhat dissatisfied<br />
with them: they were always put forward as<br />
approximate, I wanted to be nearer the truth,<br />
and now I think we shall get nearer.<br />
The result will be, I believe, to show that pro-<br />
duction costs less than what we advanced. The<br />
composition will be perhaps more: the machining<br />
certainly less: the paper very much less: the<br />
binding less. As for the advertising, that was put<br />
down in the rough at ,£20 and ,£30. Now for an<br />
ordinary book — say of essays, memoirs, minor<br />
travels, biography, &c.— or for the kind of novel<br />
which is certain not to get beyond seven or eight<br />
hundred—of which there are a great numl>er—<br />
the average publisher does not advertise to any-<br />
thing like that extent. He may exchange with<br />
monthly magazines for nothing: but as regards<br />
advertisements for which he has to pay, .£ 10 is<br />
about his limit. And this means $d. a volume on<br />
such a sale. On the other hand, in the few<br />
instances where a book has a wide circulation,<br />
instead of £20 the advertisements mav run up to<br />
£50 and more.<br />
I have seen a note, which I neglected to cut<br />
out, in a certain paper, to the effect that a pub-<br />
lisher, or some publishers, design the establishment<br />
of small book shops about the town. This<br />
seems like a deliberate attempt to extinguish, once<br />
for all, the retail bookseller. Perhaps they propose<br />
to recognise in this way the fact of his extinction.<br />
But he is not dead yet, and perhaps he will<br />
recover. We have suggested certain steps, and<br />
are ready to suggest other steps, by which his<br />
position may be improved. These recommenda-<br />
tions are in the hands of the Booksellers' Associa-<br />
tion. They have tried the publishers, and have<br />
received from them the recommendation to<br />
become their slaves. I venture to think that if<br />
they will turn to the authors in a conciliatory<br />
spirit, things might be arranged which would<br />
really advance their cause—which is the cause of<br />
those who write, but not necessarily the cause of<br />
the middleman. Meantime the book shops might<br />
teach their proprietors the kind of risk which the<br />
booksellers run daily. It should prove a whole-<br />
some lesson.<br />
A member of the Society sends me a collection<br />
of reviews of two books by himself. There are<br />
nine of the first and dozens of the second. They<br />
are all laudatory; some are enthusiastic. They<br />
all appeared in journals of good standing—some<br />
of the highest standing. Why, asks the author,<br />
have my books, in spite of these reviews, proved<br />
financially disastrous? This is a question which<br />
has lx>en put by many writers. The answer seems<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 261 (#703) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
to be, first, that people no longer care much for<br />
the "opinions" of reviewers. Their authority<br />
has very greatly decreased. If further proof<br />
were wanted, cases might be adduced of books<br />
virulently attacked by reviewers which proceeded<br />
immediately and without the least check to a<br />
great circulation. One is not blaming the reviewer,<br />
but stating the position. What is the reason for<br />
the decay in the authority of the review? The<br />
critic of the day is not so savage as his prede-<br />
cessor of the earlier part of the century. He is<br />
more polite, and he does not, as a rule, jump<br />
upon every book as if it was a personal enemy.<br />
He is, I think, a more competent critic and a<br />
safer guide. How, then, has it come to pass<br />
that he is so little regarded? I have talked this<br />
matter over with many journalists. I find that<br />
their opinion is the same as my own. The decay<br />
of authority in the literary columns is mainly due<br />
to the prevalent desire to review everything that<br />
is published. Now, as has been pointed out in<br />
this paper before, it is impossible—perfectly im-<br />
possible—by any conceivable rate of pay, to get a<br />
reviewer to read a book which he has to discuss in<br />
a dozen or twenty lines. The result is often a weak<br />
stream of generalities, with a word of fault-find-<br />
ing, a thing quite easy for any book ever written,<br />
whether it be read or not—and only vague words<br />
of praise, because praise if it is sincere must be<br />
based on actual reading. All journalists seem to<br />
be agreed on one point: there must be a selection<br />
of books for review as there is a selection of news<br />
and letters and communications. There are still<br />
admirable reviews in the daily papers, but even<br />
their authority is lowered by the column of short<br />
notices and paragraphs which do not even tell the<br />
reader the nature, the bare outlines, of the book<br />
reviewed.<br />
A publisher may say that if he sends a paper<br />
all his books he expects something in return.<br />
It has been reported that some of them hint at<br />
the value of advertisements. As regards the<br />
latter argument, it is certain that books must be<br />
advertised, and that they must be advertised by<br />
preference in those journals whose literary autho-<br />
rity stands high. As regards the value of all the<br />
Press copies, it must be remembered that if they<br />
belong to works which do not sell largely, the<br />
value of the Press copy is the value of the<br />
remainder copy—that and no more: that in the<br />
few instances where they belong to successful<br />
works, their value, which is represented by the<br />
trade price of each, not the advertised price,<br />
would be fully repaid, and a hundredfold repaid,<br />
by a single serious review devoted to one out of<br />
twenty. ^<br />
We are constantly told that we are not a book-<br />
buying nation. Yet when figures get into print<br />
they are amazing: there are, for instance, over<br />
400 publishers in London alone: many of them<br />
are quite small publishers: some are companies<br />
which publish religious books: some are pub-<br />
lishers of cheap educational books: taken all<br />
together they produce about 6000 books every<br />
year, which, counting only one edition of one<br />
thousand to each, shows that 6,000,000 copies<br />
are published at least, if not sold. It is not<br />
possible to arrive, even approximately, at the<br />
numbers actually bought by the public, but as<br />
publishers produce books to be sold, it is probable<br />
that we may reckon on the sale of three-fourths<br />
of that number, namely, 4,500,000 copies. In<br />
addition, there is the sale of books of current<br />
literature and that of non-copyright works. It<br />
is quite impossible to estimate the number of<br />
books belonging to the latter class. Sometimes,<br />
however, there are gleams of light. Thus -. a writer<br />
in Chambers's Journal speaks of the enormous sale<br />
of Scott. He says that of their cheap editions,<br />
Messrs. A. and C. Black, between 1851 and 1890,<br />
sold 3,000,000 copies. This statement is very<br />
much below the mark. I am enabled to state<br />
that the sale of their sixpenny edition between<br />
1866 and i8yo amounted to the enormous<br />
number of five millions and a half! Other<br />
publishers have produced editions of Scott which<br />
have also, perhaps, sold by millions. But Scott<br />
is not the only writer who has attained<br />
universal popularity. What about Dickens r<br />
What about Marryat? What about individual<br />
books, such as "The Woman in White":<br />
"The Cloister and the Hearth": "The Mill<br />
on the Floss," &c.? When our free libraries<br />
are every day crowded with readers: when all<br />
the available books are taken out and read at<br />
home: when books are printed ready for circu-<br />
lation, if they are not circulated, by the million,<br />
we cannot be accused of being a people who do<br />
not read: we cannot be accused of being a people<br />
who do not buy books.<br />
The meaning of the " tax" commonly supposed<br />
to be laid upon publishers alone by the rule of<br />
supplying a copy of every book, or every new-<br />
edition, to five libraries has never, I believe,<br />
hitherto been examined or pointed out. A recent<br />
letter in the Times made a series of most amazing<br />
statements which nobody challenged. Indeed,<br />
another writer called attention to the figures as<br />
"fair," which was still more amazing than the<br />
previous statement.<br />
1. The writer first gave as his conclusion that<br />
the average price of a l>ook is 5? As to<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 262 (#704) ############################################<br />
<br />
262<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
that average, inquiry can lie made when<br />
the source of his discovery is accessible.<br />
Let it pass, however, for the present. He<br />
then says that when a publisher sends a<br />
book to the libraries he loses 5*. by every<br />
volume. That makes, for 6000 volumes,<br />
£7 500 a year. He next assumes that there<br />
has been the same output of books every<br />
year for the last sixty years, an assump-<br />
tion which naturally enables him to put<br />
the publishers' "tax" at a very high<br />
figure indeed.<br />
i. "The publisher loses 5*. by every book pub-<br />
lished at that price which he gives away."<br />
Tiet us take the statement.<br />
The trade price of a 5s. book is generally<br />
2*. lod. What the publisher loses, there-<br />
fore, is not 58., but 2s. lod.<br />
But a great number of books are now pub-<br />
lished on a royalty. On such books the<br />
author's royalty would be, say, I*. The<br />
publisher's loss is, therefore, not 5.V., nor<br />
2s. iod., but is. lod.<br />
But, again, most books, the vast majority of<br />
l>ooks, do not sell right out. Many leave<br />
"remainders" which are sold at a few<br />
pence each. Now, in every rase where there<br />
is a remainder there has been no loss by<br />
this ta.v at all.<br />
For instance. If an edition of 1000 has<br />
been printed, and after the sale is over<br />
there are twenty copies remaining, which<br />
with the five given to the libraries make<br />
twenty-five, the demand has not been<br />
equal to the supply by twenty-five copies.<br />
How, then, can there be any loss on these<br />
five copies<br />
3. The tax would appear to be a burden when<br />
the demand is greater than the supply,<br />
but even then new editions come out,<br />
to be followed by remainders in the long<br />
run. It is, therefore, a tax which, if it<br />
is real at all, is very small.<br />
4. It is also real when authors print their own<br />
works for which the demand is equal to<br />
the supply.<br />
5. It appears also to be real in the case of<br />
expensive editions, though even here the<br />
consideration of the remainder may apply.<br />
But the whole of the argument as implying a<br />
hardship on publishers is condemned by the<br />
existence of the remainder stock.<br />
It is rather late in the day to call attention to<br />
Mr. William Archer's Lecture on Living Poets—<br />
rather on the younger living poets. It was remark-<br />
able for the display of a generous spirit of appre-<br />
ciation, and a desire, quite unusual among critics,<br />
to find out in a poet all that is ljest in him.<br />
When a poet is a poet, he would have that man<br />
praised for the strength of his work when it is<br />
strong, not condemned for his work when it<br />
becomes weak: and at the same time he showed<br />
himself ready to receive with extreme intolerance<br />
the rhymester who is not a poet. The passages<br />
he quoted assured a great many living poets of<br />
his regard for them as poets.<br />
Walter Bksant.<br />
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.<br />
Versohmerzen werd' ich diesen Schlag, das weiss ich,<br />
Demi was verschmerzte nicht der Mensob.<br />
T11 HE above lines are by Schiller, and are to lie<br />
I found (in a slightly different form to that<br />
quoted by "Querist" on p. 247 of The<br />
Author) in "Wallenstein's Tod," Act V., Sc. 3.<br />
Coleridge, in a note to his own translation, adds<br />
the literal rendering :—<br />
I shall grieve down this blow, of that I'm conscious:<br />
What does not man grieve down p<br />
A reference is given to the passage in Fliigel'.s<br />
Dictionary (4th edit. i8gi), under "verseh-<br />
merzen." J. E. Sandys.<br />
St. John's College, Cambridge.<br />
I beg to answer the question asked by<br />
"Querist" in The Author for Feb.<br />
The quotation is taken from Schiller's " Wallen-<br />
stein's Tod," Act V., Sc. 3. The words are put<br />
into the mouth of Wallenstein himself, and the<br />
passage in full is as follows :—<br />
Vereohmerzen werd' ich diesen Schlag. das weiss ich,<br />
Denn was verschmerzte nicht der Mensch; Vom H<"<ohsten<br />
Wie vom Gemeinsten lernt er sioh entwihnen,<br />
Denn ihn besiegen die gewalt' gen Stnnden.<br />
Bexley. Stella M. During.<br />
I think I can answer the question put by your<br />
correspondent "Querist." He asks where the<br />
following lines come from :—<br />
Ich will versohmerzen diesen Sohlag, das weiss ich,<br />
Denn was verschmerzte nicht der Mensch.<br />
I believe that they come from Schiller's<br />
"Wallenstein," Act V., Sc. 1, and that they<br />
rightly run as follows :—<br />
Yerschmerzen werd' ich diesen Schlag, das weiss ich;<br />
Denn was verschmerzte nicht der Mensch?<br />
Coleridge in his "Wallenstein " translates them<br />
thus :—<br />
This anguish will be wearied down, I know;<br />
What pang is permanent with man?<br />
And he adds in a note that this is "a very<br />
inadequate translation of the original."<br />
Liverpool. C. B. Roylance-Krnt.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 263 (#705) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
263<br />
MB. BUSKIN AS PUBLISHER<br />
"f I ^HE publication of Mr. Ruskin's books is<br />
I an experiment which, should not be<br />
omitted. It is well known that tbe<br />
author has been his own publisher for many<br />
years; but the details of the concern are not<br />
generally known. There was no special friction<br />
between the Messrs. Smith and Elder and the<br />
author of 'Modern Painters' which led to the<br />
change. It was a matter of principle, far deeper<br />
than could possibly be involved in a passing<br />
dispute. It was simply that the author felt that<br />
the men who produced books did not get their<br />
proper share of the rewards, and that the public<br />
did not get the full value of their outlay. And<br />
the reason, he felt, was that too great a propor-<br />
tion was swallowed up in the transit from author<br />
to public. Therefore, it seemed clear that the<br />
remedy should be found in the establishment of<br />
closer contact between writer and reader. Here<br />
was his problem, and he resolved to experiment.<br />
"Fortunately, Mr. Ruskin had discovered a man<br />
after his own heart on whom he could rely for<br />
help. This man was a working-man student he<br />
had met in his drawing class at Great Ormond-<br />
street, in whom he thought he saw possibilities<br />
of better work. He had at once taken him in<br />
hand, and later business developments have<br />
shown the instinct to have been a right one. It<br />
was in 1854 that the Professor and his future<br />
publisher first met, and during the three suc-<br />
ceeding years their relationship was of the closest<br />
kind. George Allen was taught engraving and<br />
etching by Mr. Le Keux, who had done some<br />
exquisite work for Mr. Ruskin, and then some<br />
mezzotint instruction was given by Thomas<br />
Lupton, who had been engraver to Turner.<br />
"Having obtained his engraver and otherwise<br />
useful man, the next thing was to get his printing<br />
press and make arrangements for binding. These<br />
were all established in the beautiful and quiet<br />
village of Orpington in Kent, and the master<br />
personally presided over the works for several<br />
years. It was a gigantic undertaking, and critics<br />
laughed at the publishing business ' planted in the<br />
middle of a country field'; but it became a pheno-<br />
menal success.<br />
"The first book issued was 'Fors Clavigera,'<br />
and an early number of that work contained the<br />
following explanation:—<br />
It costs me £V> to print 1000, and £5 more to give yon a<br />
pictnre, and a penny off my sevenpence to send yon tbe<br />
book; a thousand sixpences are £2b; when yon have bought<br />
a thousand ' Fors' of me, I shall therefore have £5 for my<br />
trouble, and my Bingle shopman, Mr. Allen, £5 for bis; we<br />
won't work for less, either of us. And I mean to sell all my<br />
large books, henceforward, in tbe same way, well printed,<br />
well bound, and at a fixed price; and the trade may charge<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
a proper and acknowledged profit in retailing the book.<br />
Then the public will know what they are about, and so will<br />
tradesmen. I, the first producer, answer, to tbe best of my<br />
power, for the quality of the book—paper, binding, eloquence,<br />
and all; the retail dealer oharges what he ought to charge<br />
openly; and if the public do not choose to give it, they<br />
can't get the book. That is what I call legitimate<br />
business.<br />
"Since then the business has steadily increased,<br />
and, when such big undertakings as the produc-<br />
tion of a new edition of ' Modern Painters' and<br />
'The Stones of Venice' were proceeded with, the<br />
accommodation of the Kentish village was found<br />
insufficient, and a London house had to be opened.<br />
The main work, however, of the making of the<br />
books of Mr. Ruskin is still done amid the pleasant<br />
surroundings of the village of Orpington."—From<br />
"Character Sketch of John Ruskin," in the<br />
Revieic of Reviews, Jan. 15.<br />
THE CRITERION OP LITERARY<br />
EXCELLENCE.<br />
THE question recently raised by Professor<br />
Courthope, as to the extent to which the<br />
principle of authority may be introduced<br />
into the province of literature, is one of more<br />
than academic interest. Owing to the fact that<br />
in our own time criticism has run riot, and, in<br />
some cases, actually degenerated into the mere<br />
expression of egoistic partiality, it is assumed<br />
that differences of taste are in their nature<br />
irreconcilable and incomprehensible, and that,<br />
therefore, there can be no criterion of literary<br />
excellence. Now, this notion rests on a fallacy of<br />
the worst description.<br />
The ignorance or incompetence of individual<br />
critics should not lead us to the false conclusion<br />
that loose or bad criticism has any intrinsic value.<br />
The appreciation of literary productions requires<br />
not merely education, but a rare faculty for dis-<br />
tinguishing between superior and inferior work.<br />
The tendency to praise or dispraise either a poem<br />
or a novel indiscriminately—or perhaps through<br />
interested motives—of which unfortunately we<br />
find too many examples nowadays, cannot be too<br />
strongly condemned. If criticism had not<br />
become such an " unweeded garden," the irrespon-<br />
sible or dishonest reviewer would be treated as a<br />
species of blackleg, and would be deservedly<br />
banished from the world of letters.<br />
There is such a thing as sound criticism, and<br />
the just appreciation of authors and of their<br />
specific works is entirely within the range of<br />
possibility. The whims or prejudices of indivi-<br />
duals can in no way modify the truth of this pro-<br />
position. Mr. Alfred Austin may regard Byron<br />
B B<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 264 (#706) ############################################<br />
<br />
264<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
as the greatest poet of the nineteenth century,<br />
while Professor Dowden may dogmatically assert<br />
that the author of " Childe Harold " is " dead and<br />
buried." The opinions of these gentlemen do not<br />
determine the question as to Byron's real place<br />
amongst poets. Nor is a collection of such<br />
opinions entitled necessarily to greater weight,<br />
however distinguished may be the persons who<br />
happen to give expression to them, unless they<br />
are found to be based on critical canons which are<br />
logically indisputable. For this reason, nothing<br />
can be more grotesque than the hysterical<br />
violence with which Mr. Swinburne in some of his<br />
attempts at criticism deuounces poets whom he<br />
dislikes and eulogises those whom he admires.<br />
Unreasoning likes and dislikes are as fatal to<br />
right judgment in dealing with literary works as<br />
they are to our true knowledge of human life and<br />
character.<br />
Curiously enough, this subject has hitherto<br />
received no attention from writers on aesthetics.<br />
It must be acknowledged that Mr. Buskin in his<br />
"Modern Painters " did something to enable us<br />
to apply fixed principles to the pictorial art; and<br />
yet his exaggerated estimate of Turner shows<br />
that he himself was not exempt from that<br />
enslavement to blind prejudice which is the worst<br />
vice of a critic.<br />
It may seem a perilous thing to lay down that<br />
every production which comes under the head of<br />
literature may be subjected to an infallible<br />
criterion. Such a statement appears, at first sight,<br />
opposed to the experimental method of reason-<br />
ing, of which Mill was the most noteworthy<br />
representative. But literature is not a matter of<br />
experiment. It is essentially the pursuit of an<br />
ideal, and when it ceases to have any ideal, it<br />
ceases to be literature. This explains the failure<br />
of M. Zola's attempts to establish a school of<br />
fiction on a purely materialistic and experimental<br />
basis. Novels may be transcripts of life; but,<br />
if they are only transcripts of human animality,<br />
they are utterly false, for they ignore the essen-<br />
tial elements in man's being. The Bougon-<br />
Macquart series will be regarded by posterity as<br />
sawdust—the mere skin and bones of humanity.<br />
Even -the late Guy de Maupassant, whom M.<br />
Zola claimed as a disciple, threw off the yoke of<br />
materialism, and in "Pierre et Jean" and<br />
"Mont-Oriol" showed that he recognised will<br />
and conscience as factors in human existence<br />
which could not be overlooked.<br />
What, theu, is this criterion which should be<br />
applied to every literary work, and which, if<br />
properly applied, will unerringly determine its<br />
worth?<br />
We may lay down four canons, or rules, on the<br />
subject:—A literary work should have unity of<br />
idea; it should have cohesion of structure; it<br />
should enlarge or enrich our knowledge of life or<br />
of the universe; and it should be written in a<br />
style possessing either originality or distinction.<br />
No work which fails to comply wirh these canons<br />
can ever be ranked amongst the masterpieces of<br />
literature. If we apply the test to Shakespeare,<br />
we shall find that his greatest plays fulfil the<br />
requirements of the rules above laid down. For<br />
instance, it cannot be denied that " Hamlet" and<br />
"Macbeth" exhibit unity of idea and cohesion of<br />
structure ; that they add to our knowledge of the<br />
human heart, and reveal the workings of the<br />
passions in a new light; and finally, that they<br />
are written in a style at once dignified and<br />
marvellously original. The same observations<br />
may be made with regard to Goethe's "Faust."<br />
Coming down to writers of a later epoch, we find<br />
that the canons we have formulated may be<br />
applied to a book like "Gulliver's Travels,"<br />
though scarcely to a work such as "Bobinson<br />
Crusoe," for Defoe, with all his wonderful gifts<br />
as a story-teller, had a commonplace style, and<br />
certainly "the light that never was on sea or<br />
land" does not cast its radiance over his rather<br />
prosaic narrative. According to our standard,<br />
"Tom Jones " must be considered a masterpiece<br />
of fiction. Of course Balzac's "Comedie<br />
Humaine," viewed in its tout ensemble instead<br />
of being taken in fragments, will harmonise with<br />
our canons of criticism.<br />
The poets of the century will be found nearly<br />
all to fall short of the highest standard of literary<br />
excellence, if the rules we have formulated be<br />
correct. Perhaps the only exceptions are Cole-<br />
ridge's "Ancient Mariner," and two works of<br />
Shelley, "The Ceuci" and "Prometheus Un-<br />
bound." Byron's magnificent " Childe Harold,"<br />
and his astounding serio-comic epic "Don Juan"<br />
(if such a description of it is allowable) are, after"<br />
all, only fragments. Wordsworth, too, has<br />
produced only an immense fragment in "The<br />
Excursion"; and in any event the inequality<br />
of his style causes the work to fall short of per-<br />
fection.<br />
It may be dangerous, having regard to the<br />
tenacity of old-fashioned prejudice in favour of<br />
individual authors, to pursue the subject much<br />
further. Scott will always have his admirers ; but<br />
none of the Waverley novels will stand the test<br />
of our criterion. It might not unjustly perhaps<br />
be claimed for Thackeray that, in " Vanity Fair"<br />
and in "Esmond," he produced works which<br />
satisfy even this high standard of literary<br />
excellence. Ji unity of design and beauty of<br />
style alone could constitute a work of com-<br />
paratively slender dimensions a masterpiece<br />
of fiction, Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter" should<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 265 (#707) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
take rank beside the greatest works in prose<br />
literature.<br />
These remarks are only tentative, for the diffi-<br />
culty of the subject is obviously enormous.<br />
Even if our general propositions be correct, their<br />
application is by no means easy. It is, however,<br />
useful to point out the path along which the critic<br />
â– of the future should travel. Personal predilection<br />
must give place to rational compirison and<br />
conscientious appreciation based on clearly-<br />
defined principles before anything like a science,<br />
•or even an art, of criticism can be said to exist.<br />
It is time that the clamorous " ego" should dis-<br />
appear from the pages of reviews, and that those<br />
who write about books should realise their organic<br />
character and the necessity for dealing with them<br />
as systematic expressions of human intelligence.<br />
D. F. Hannigan.<br />
CORRESPONDENCE.<br />
I. —" The Gentle Answer "!<br />
IRECEIVED, with a returned MS., the<br />
following printed communication from the<br />
Illustrated American Office, New York. It<br />
is in such contrast to the brevity of the English<br />
â– editorial style, and contains so much which<br />
literary beginners would do well to remember,<br />
that you may like to print it. E. L. A.<br />
Dear Sir,—We thank you heartily for the favour you<br />
have shown us in submitting this contribution. We have<br />
carefully examined it, and are sincerely sorry that it<br />
does not seem available for our use. Of course you are<br />
Aware that many considerations besides intrinsic quality<br />
must govern the acceptance of contributions. Among<br />
these considerations are the policy and scope of this<br />
journal, the space at our disposal, the matter already on<br />
hand, the previous treatment of the same theme, and the<br />
length and style of the article. Much admirable fiction<br />
is reluctantly declined because of length or because of<br />
variation from the type desired. Great numbers of pleasing<br />
and interesting photographs are returned because of pecu-<br />
liarities which make good reproduction impossible. All<br />
contributions submitted are appreciated and are thoroughly<br />
considered. On account of the limits of the editors' time,<br />
we beg that the absence of criticism or of specified reasons<br />
for the return of contributions will in all oases be kindly<br />
â– excused.—Respectfully yours,—The Editors.<br />
II. —A "Bold" Agreement.<br />
Last year I sent you a copy of an agreement<br />
from a certain firm. At that time I could not lay<br />
my hands on the enclosed copy. Yesterday I<br />
came across it, and I gladly send it to you, as it<br />
is only by showing up these publishing gentry<br />
that simple aspirants can be put on their guard.<br />
The agreement I send is too glaringly bold to<br />
take in, I should fancy, the greatest ignoramus<br />
breathing. Still, it is as well that you should see<br />
it. If I may do so, let me urge upon beginners<br />
the necessity there is for their seeking good<br />
advice before their first long effort is submitted<br />
to a publisher. Quite recently I had a reader's<br />
opinion, for the comparatively small fee of a<br />
guinea, on a story. That opinion was favourable,<br />
but the reader very candidly pointed out a flaw<br />
in the plot. The opinion was, I say, flattering,<br />
but the flaw marred the technicality of the narra-<br />
tive. Now, had I sent the MS. on its rounds,<br />
and had it been sent back to me again and again,<br />
I would, in all probability, have had some nasty<br />
things to say about stupid publishers who could<br />
not appreciate talent! The reader has put me on<br />
the right track, and I will know, when the pub-<br />
lishers say "No," that they have their hands<br />
too full to be bothered with my first decent<br />
effort.<br />
We never t>ee ourselves as others see us; nor<br />
can we realise how our grand ideas, exciting<br />
scenes, and sprightly dialogues read until an<br />
utter stranger, and one competent to offer an<br />
opinion, gives an estimate of our work.<br />
S. R.<br />
Dear Sir,—We have given the work our careful atten-<br />
tion, and our opinion of it being favourable, we have decided<br />
to offer you the following favourable terms for its pro-<br />
duction and publication, viz.: That, in consideration of a<br />
payment from you of £66 (.£36 on signing the agreement<br />
and ^£30 when you see the last proofs), we agree to produce<br />
your book, publish it at the popular price of 3s. 6d., hand-<br />
somely bound in cloth, gold lettered, good paper and type,<br />
and print a first edition of 1000 copies, to be followed by<br />
further editions as demands warrant.<br />
The expenses of all future editions would be borne<br />
entirely by us, you receiving half the profits. The above<br />
amount would constitute your sole outlay, the copyright<br />
remaining your property. Author to receive two-thirds of<br />
the prooeeda of sales on the first edition.<br />
It may be, perhaps, superfluous to mention that adver-<br />
tising, reviewing, and all the other technicalities of pub-<br />
lishing necessary for placing the book on the market, would<br />
have our especial care. We should advertise the book at<br />
our sole expense to the amount of .£10, thus bringing your<br />
name and the work well before the public —Faithfully<br />
yours, and Co.<br />
[This agreement has been sent to us, word for<br />
word the same, dozens of times. There was<br />
formerly one "firm" practising in this way.<br />
There are now two.—Ed.]<br />
III.—The "Bluggy" Element.<br />
In looking over the magazines of the day, I am<br />
reminded of an old woman who objected to her<br />
new minister's preaching on the ground that she<br />
liked to hear sermons t hat made her spinal marrow<br />
creep, for, judging by the popular taste in litera-<br />
ture, the majority of people appear to be of the<br />
same opinion. Take up almost any magazine, is<br />
there a page which does not harrow the reader's<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 266 (#708) ############################################<br />
<br />
266<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
feelings with tales of horror and crime; and, us<br />
if the pen were not powerful enough to this end,<br />
the pencil is called to its aid, and picture after<br />
picture portrays scenes of murder, bloodshed, and<br />
every conceivable horror, so that no point of<br />
misery shall miss its mark.<br />
To the sensitive reader half an hour with the<br />
magazines is as depressing in its effects as a visit<br />
to the cave of Trophonius to those who of old<br />
consulted the oracle. Instead of being cheered<br />
and calmed to face and endure the trials and<br />
vexations of life, he is led into regions dark with<br />
despair, where<br />
Thousand phantoms joined—<br />
Prompt to deeds accursed the mind.<br />
L S.<br />
IV.—Proposed Journalists' Union.<br />
Your correspondent "Still in Grub Street"<br />
has perhaps not considered that by paying after<br />
production, when dealing with authors not known<br />
to them, editors gain a certain amount of protec-<br />
tion against fraud. Not very long ago I came<br />
across a story of my own that had come out anony-<br />
mously in the St. James's Gazette a year or<br />
two before, elegantly illustrated, and under a<br />
name certainly not mine, in a monthly periodical.<br />
I communicated, of course, with the editor, but it<br />
was too late. It was not his fault, of course, that<br />
he had not read it before, and the person who had<br />
sent it to him had pressed for early payment,<br />
received it, and quitted his address. The fraud<br />
is so simple that payment after an opportunity<br />
has betn given for possible detection is the only<br />
safeguard an editor can have, and what little<br />
experience of editing I have had myself has<br />
increased my belief in the necessity for it as a<br />
general rule. Where the writer is known to the<br />
editor, I firmly believe that by paying cash he<br />
could as a rule oblige the writer with profit to<br />
himself, as most writers would accept a smaller<br />
price if it were a case of " money' down."<br />
E. A. A.<br />
V.—The Haunch of Venison.<br />
If the writer of the " neat little letter" quoted<br />
in this month's Author be correctly reported, it<br />
would seem that even he might know his Gold-<br />
smith better. Six mistakes—" to be precise,"<br />
four wrong words, and two which have been<br />
mulcted of the elisions due to them—are surely<br />
more than a fair allowance for a couple of lines.<br />
There may be other versions, but the one which<br />
I possess is as follows :—â– <br />
Thanks, my Lord, for your ven'son, for finer or fatter,<br />
Ne'er ranged in a forest, or smoked in a platter.<br />
As to the letter "e," I notice that the printer<br />
of the Atheneeum is befogged by the changes now<br />
in progress, and spells " forbears "—substantive-<br />
—without the " e," which is its just due.<br />
S. G.<br />
VI.—An Appeal to Editors.<br />
I believe that The Author is widely read by<br />
editors of the best kind. Some of them are<br />
unable to effect such reforms as I venture to-<br />
suggest here; to others, who have the power,<br />
they may not have occurred.<br />
Reform No. 1 is the acknowledgment by post-<br />
card of the receipt of MS. within a reasonable<br />
time of its coming to hand. Registering MS. is<br />
an unnecessary expense, as no perfectly sane<br />
author sends out a MS. without keeping a copy.<br />
Reform No. i is already followed by one paper to<br />
this writer's knowledge.<br />
Reform No. 2.—The return of MSS. within a<br />
reasonable time. Six months is not a reasonable<br />
time; three months is as long as a decent fellow<br />
who has thought about the matter will keep a<br />
MS., or allow his subordinates to do so. As an<br />
addendum to Reform No. 2, I would respectfully<br />
suggest that an editor who keeps a MS. which<br />
deals with a passing topic, a moment longer than<br />
is necessary, ought to be kicked; and that the<br />
said editor who disregards applications for its<br />
return, whether civilly and reasonably couched or<br />
inspired with righteous indignation, ought to be<br />
kicked again, and harder. May the writer be<br />
allowed to add here that, when he says kicked, he<br />
means kicked.<br />
Reform No. 3.—That an editor who has decided<br />
to retain a MS. for publication should, wherever<br />
it is possible (and how often is it otherwise ?),<br />
intimate his intention to the writer; otherwise the<br />
author must waste time and money over the<br />
wretched paper or magazine till either his MS.<br />
is published or returned. The signatory, for<br />
example, whose output is large and returns in-<br />
considerable, spends shillings weekly, which he<br />
can't afford, and wastes unnumbered hours in<br />
looking through his papers. An objection may<br />
be taken to this reform, that all editors are<br />
careful and all are honest, so that the author<br />
need not trouble to see to the appearance of his<br />
MS., since the cheque's the thing, and that will<br />
come along right enough. The objection may be<br />
dismissed, and the objector as idealist or ass, ac-<br />
cording to taste, which brings me to<br />
Reform No. 4.—That the editor through his<br />
subordinate should always specify in respect of<br />
what article, appearing in what medium, and on<br />
what date the payment is made. That author is<br />
in a parlous state, whom, though the most jaded<br />
of hack writers, the joy of appearing in print has<br />
ceased to stimulate. More, his published work is<br />
an advertisement for him and he has a right to a<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 267 (#709) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
267<br />
copy of it . An alternative Reform No. 4 is that the<br />
editor shall order that a copy of the publication<br />
in which a contribution apjiears shall be sent to<br />
the contributor. I am aware that is sometimes<br />
done, but how often?<br />
Reform No. 5.—That an editor shall not<br />
embezzle postage stamps sent to him in good faith<br />
by his contributors for quite other purposes. Or<br />
that if he does, by right omnipotent, so deal with<br />
the postage stamps, he shall not deduct id. from<br />
a remittance for the cheque. The objection that<br />
the office boy collars the postage stamps may be<br />
dismissed. The contributions are not sent to the<br />
office boy, and the cont ributor has no cognisance of<br />
him: the editor is the responsible person.<br />
Reform No. 6.—That the editor shall wash his<br />
hands before reading MS., since re-typing costs<br />
money and re-writing time.<br />
Reform No. 7.—That the editor shall give the<br />
MS. of the unknown outsider as much considera-<br />
tion as he does to that sent in to him by his friends,<br />
his acquaintances, and the " doosid smart chap"<br />
he vaguely recollects Tomkins of the Weasel<br />
introduced to him about two in the morning at<br />
the club.<br />
Note.- The signatory declines to be fathered<br />
with any ridiculous inferences, as that he believes<br />
all editors have dirty hands, that they all see that<br />
kissing goes by favour, that they all steal postage<br />
stamps, and so forth. He wishes them, however,<br />
to grasp the initial fact that contributors are as<br />
much entitled to fair treatment as bootblacks.<br />
>>m_ Balbus.<br />
VII.—FoKEGO AND FoROO.<br />
Will you allow me to point out to yt»ur corre-<br />
spondent "S. G." that he confuses two separate<br />
words, "forgo," meaning "to go without,'- and<br />
"forego," meaniog " to go before." The place of<br />
the latter has been taken by "precede," and the<br />
word, hardly survives except in the adjectival use<br />
of its past participle, "a foregone conclusion,"<br />
a survival due probably to the circumstance that<br />
the past participle of "precede" is not capable<br />
of being employed in the same sense. No<br />
person surely with any claim to education would<br />
write "a forgone conclusion "; but there are,<br />
perhaps, some who have failed to note the<br />
erroneousness of "a reward foregone."<br />
Clementina Black.<br />
VIII.—Who Bids Highest r<br />
There is a question which perplexes me, and<br />
may perplex other young authors. Perhaps you<br />
may think it worth while to answer it in the<br />
columns of The Jut/tor.<br />
Am I justified in submitting a MS. to two<br />
editors or publishers at once? That is to say, do<br />
I, by the act of sending it to A. B. for inspection,<br />
enter into any understood contract that he shall<br />
have the refusal of it? I cannot see that I do.<br />
but friends with whom I have discussed the<br />
m ttter appear to think otherwise. Suppose that<br />
I do send two copies of a MS. simultaneously to<br />
A. B. and C. D., I do not make either of them a<br />
formal offer of the MS., because I mention 110<br />
terms. They would not, presumably, be justified<br />
in using it without an agreement. I send the<br />
MS. in order that, when they have inspected it,<br />
negotiations may Ihj opened if desirable. It is<br />
clear that I should know much better how to<br />
negotiate with A. B. if I knew what C. D. was<br />
willing to give me. I am at liberty to withdraw<br />
the MS. from either A. B. or C. I), at any time,<br />
and why not withdraw it from on! in conse-<br />
q> ence of an advantageous offer received from the<br />
other Y<br />
An employe of any kind does not, I believe,<br />
hesitate to negotiate for two posts at once, up to<br />
the point of entering into a definite en^a^ement.<br />
Am I mistaken in considering the two cases to<br />
lie parallel? M. C. A.<br />
[As to the above proposal, there seems no<br />
reason why a person who has anything to sell<br />
should not offer it to a dozen people at once and<br />
accept the highest otter. There are, however,<br />
certain considerations which make it undesirable<br />
that this method should be adopted generally by<br />
authors.<br />
First of all, at the outset the first impulse of<br />
the better class of publishers would be to send the<br />
MS. back if they knew that it was offered to other<br />
houses at the same time. But if the practice<br />
became common they would have to adapt them-<br />
selves to it, as they have adapted themselves to<br />
the literary agent, after declaring that they would<br />
have nothing to do with him. In the second<br />
place, we have always strongly recommended<br />
authors to put their business relations in the hands<br />
of business men. The literary agent might very<br />
well inform a publisher that he intended to offer<br />
the work to others and that he should take the<br />
best offer, but such a method of procedure seems<br />
to come better from a man of business than from<br />
the author himself.<br />
There are other reasons why this method should<br />
not be adopted, except by those who know the<br />
position and character of the publishers. One is<br />
that certain publishers are people with whom no one<br />
should be connected in any way; that is to say,<br />
it is quite certain that they will "best" the<br />
author by some trick or other if they can.<br />
Another is that there are publishers who do not<br />
stem able to circulate the books which they have<br />
produced. A third reason is that there are others<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 268 (#710) ############################################<br />
<br />
268<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
whose credit is shaky and who might offer large<br />
terms in order to get a book, and in the long run<br />
be unable to carry them out. These three con-<br />
siderations are extremely important, and the<br />
ordinary author cannot be expected to know any-<br />
thing about them.—Ed.]<br />
IX.—A Youno Author's Grievance.<br />
"C. B. B.'s " experience is not unique. It took<br />
me some years to collect the notes for an article.<br />
When the article was written it was accepted,<br />
but I had to wait nearly another eighteen months<br />
for publication—and for my money. Another<br />
article has been in an editor's hands nearly<br />
twelve months. I know not if it is accepted.<br />
All the time I am precluded from offering that<br />
or any similar article elsewhere.<br />
"C. B. B." speaks of contributions sent in on<br />
chance. And of course many good articles are<br />
sent to just the wrong magazines; because it<br />
tak> s an author a lifetime to find out the special<br />
needs of all the different publications. Cannot<br />
some of this chance be eliminated? Conld not<br />
The Author publish a list of magazines, noting<br />
the particular lines which they affect? And<br />
further, as it is the practice with some, especially<br />
scientific, magazines not to pay anything for<br />
contributions, could not they be listed to prevent<br />
wasted efforts !J Agency between authors and<br />
editors might do much to direct MSS. to the right<br />
channels, but agents will not work for unknown<br />
authors. Even "the Authors' Syndicate works<br />
only for those whose work promises a market<br />
value.'' This s^ems to shut out the young<br />
author, for he scarcely knows if his work does<br />
possess a market value. Even the highest class<br />
of scientific work is shut out, for though it is<br />
piiblished, and sometimes at great cost, the poor<br />
author gets nothing. J. I).<br />
X.—Honour among Reviewers.<br />
"Pay no attention to reviews," wrote Matthew<br />
Arnold to a charming contemporary poet and<br />
essayist; "leave thorn to your publishers." A<br />
very humble member of the authors' craft<br />
ventures to put an interpretation of his own on<br />
Arnold's counsel, and to say with emphasis to his<br />
fellow workmen: Never reply to a reviewer.<br />
Last year Sir Martin Conway gave his opinions<br />
on the ethics of reviewing in a remarkable letter<br />
to The Author. His contention was that a<br />
reviewer had an indubitable right to condemn a<br />
book in one journal and to notice it favourably<br />
in another. To anyone familiar with "Little<br />
Dorrit," it was impossible not to be reminded of<br />
the opinions of Mr. Henry Gowan on his absent<br />
friends. Here would lie a tolerable specimen:<br />
"Jones is an ass; yet he's the dearest, kindest,<br />
brightest, fellow in the world." However, the<br />
significant question raised by Sir Martin Conway<br />
in The Author, and dealt with in a less apprecia-<br />
tive fashion by Mr. William Archer elsewhere,<br />
» as the fact that one man may have the power of<br />
reviewing the same book in a considerable<br />
number of wholly independent newspapers. And<br />
here it is that the author should be on his<br />
guard.<br />
A man may have devoted months, perhaps<br />
years, to a single work: in some instances that<br />
work may have involved him in the necessity of<br />
travel and residence abroad: as a rule he has<br />
common sense enough to know that the result ,<br />
like all mortal results, is far from perfection;<br />
yet he offers his book with a conscience fairly at<br />
ease to the public. It may fall into the hands of<br />
a jaded reviewer, who makes a dozen slips in a*<br />
many lines. The author, full of his own subject,<br />
and armed, as he thinks, at all points, is amused,<br />
and undertakes to set bis critic right. The truth<br />
is made clear, the author triumphs; but he little<br />
knows at what cost to himself.<br />
Those who, either in social life or in the world<br />
of letters, engage with such light hearts in<br />
murdering the reputations of others, are usually<br />
the most thin-skinned of creatures themselves.<br />
There is no man more restlessly vindictive than<br />
a critic whose ignorance has been publicly exposed.<br />
Unhappily, the system of reviewing referred to<br />
gives him all the advantages he requires for<br />
soothing his mortified self-esteem, among these<br />
advantages being the consciousness that while<br />
nobody but the author and his publisher would<br />
ever think of reading a favourable review, every<br />
man and woman acquainted with the author<br />
pores with joy over one which is hostile to him.<br />
So the reviewer, armed at all points in his turn,<br />
goes on his way complacently. In one journal<br />
after another, and with ever increased remorse-<br />
lessness, he pursues his victim. And thus what<br />
seems to the unwary a practical unanimity of<br />
censure is frequently no more than a cloak for<br />
the active malignity of one man.<br />
The advice, then, cannot be too often repeated:<br />
under no imaginable provocation answer a re<br />
viewer. Ne Obliviscari.<br />
XL- -Style and Substance.<br />
Pray do not take amiss what I am going to<br />
say; let me assure you that far from lteing a<br />
fault-finder your persistent adherence to facts in<br />
matters relating to publishers and their ways<br />
affords me quiet mirth, waxing into something<br />
like glee as the gridiron gets hotter and hotter;<br />
and I join in the laughter-provoking discomfiture<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 269 (#711) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
269<br />
of a foe who, from behind a bush, tries to wing a<br />
poisoned arrow into your ranks.<br />
Speaking of the Academy "Crown" you<br />
remark, " That the practice will produce a bene-<br />
ficial effect on literature I do not doubt, for the<br />
simple reason that style and form will be theJirst<br />
things considered, and that young writers wi'l<br />
have the necessity of attending to style and form<br />
kept constantly before their eyes."<br />
The dangling before the eyes of young men<br />
of a £ 100 or a ,£50 prize may be a proper incen-<br />
tive to the cultivation of literature as a profession<br />
—i.e., as a means of living, but surely not for that<br />
higher mental culture which seeks the enlarge-<br />
ment of the understanding, of power to compre-<br />
hend that which lies within the range of man's<br />
ken. Style and form are graceful adornments,<br />
but what of the body they are to adorn? Is the<br />
carver of a graven image to rank higher than<br />
the discoverer of a great truth? Is mental<br />
conception and development to maturity—the<br />
creator—to be veiled in presence of the artist?<br />
Clear eyes and lissom fingers are very good<br />
tools to work with, but how superficial of<br />
themselves.<br />
There can be no room for doubting which of<br />
the two is the better for both old and young to<br />
aim at, and I can well believe that you, sir, would<br />
insist upon a writer having in him some solid<br />
matter upon which to exercise his art. Would it<br />
not then be well to point out to youthful<br />
aspirants—and others—the necessity of paying<br />
some attention to mental achievement l>efore<br />
indulging in artistic display? Then, possibly,<br />
readers might lie spared some enormities which a<br />
tickle fancy, owning no allegiance to reason and<br />
disdaining probability, inflicts upon their too<br />
receptive minds. The vagaries of unbridled<br />
imagination when decked out in the newest<br />
"style" and finest "form" of modern art. are<br />
fascinating, but a trifle misleading. But all that<br />
doesn't matter if there is only—" money in it,"<br />
and it " catches on."<br />
Highbury, N. Ed. Vincent Heward.<br />
BOOK TALE.<br />
ITERANCES MACNAB," the author of a<br />
1 work entitled "On Veldt and Farm: In<br />
Bechuanaland, Cape Colony, the Trans-<br />
vaal, and Natal," published about a ypar ago, has<br />
now written a work on British Columbia, over<br />
the greater part of which she has travelled alone.<br />
The point of view of the book is indicated by its<br />
title—"British Columbia for Settlers." It will<br />
)«; published by Messrs. Chapman anil Hall. The<br />
writer is a Miss Praser, and is of the family which<br />
created Fraser't Magazitie.<br />
Sir William Flower has collected a number of<br />
his essays on natural history and such subjects,<br />
whic'h will form a volume to be published shortly<br />
by Messrs. Macmillan.<br />
Mr. William O'Brien, M.P., is writing a novel<br />
of the Elizabethan age, which Mr. Unwin will<br />
bring out. The scene is laid in western and<br />
north-western Ireland, and the title of the 9tory<br />
is " A Queen of Men." Mr. O'Brien is already<br />
the author of one work of fiction—" When We<br />
Were Boys."<br />
A translation of Ferdinand Gregorovius's work<br />
on the Emperor Hadrian is being done by Miss<br />
Mary Robinson, and will be published in a<br />
volume by Messrs. Macmillan, and entitled " The<br />
Emperor Hadrian: A Picture of the Roman<br />
Hellenic World in His Time." Professor Pelham,<br />
of Oxford, has written a preface for Miss<br />
Robinson.<br />
Mr. Harold Spender is gathering the fruits of<br />
two summers spent in the high mountains of the<br />
Pyrenees, in a volume to be published next month<br />
by Messrs. Innes. An account of the Republic<br />
of Andorra will be given. Mr. Llewelyn Smith<br />
will contribute appendices and illustrate the<br />
book. Mr. Spender is a member of the Alpine<br />
Club.<br />
A three-volume work on West Africa, is being<br />
pushed forward for publication by the Imperial<br />
Press, Limited, in view of the universal interest<br />
in that part of the world at the present<br />
time. The author is Major A. F. Mockler-<br />
Ferryman, who has large experience in these<br />
regions.<br />
British East Africa is the subject of a work by<br />
Mr. W. W. A. Fitzgerald, which the firm of<br />
Chapman and Hall are to issue immediately.<br />
The author travelled during over two years<br />
through the coast lands there on a special mission<br />
from the Imperial British East Africa for tin-<br />
purpose of exploring and reporting upon the<br />
agricultural and other capabilities of these little-<br />
known countries. In the book there will be<br />
twelve maps and sketch maps and numerous<br />
illustrations.<br />
The eminent cricketer, Dr. W. Q. Grace, is<br />
writing his reminiscences. Mr. Bowden will<br />
publish the volume during the summer.<br />
A new novel by Sir Walter Besaut, entitled<br />
"The Changeling," begins in Chapman's Magazine<br />
for March.<br />
Professor John Milne has written a volume on<br />
earthquakes for the International Science Series,<br />
published by Messrs. Kegau Paul.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 270 (#712) ############################################<br />
<br />
270<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Miss Menie Muriel Dowie (Mrs. Norman) has<br />
written a novel, which is about to appear, called<br />
'• The Crook of the Bough." It is to a large<br />
extent a study in the difference of the Eastern<br />
and the Western temperament, the action taking<br />
place in the Balkans and in London. The<br />
conclusion, if the quotation from Mr. Watson<br />
on the title-page be an index to this, is that<br />
the two types are well-nigh irreconcileable.<br />
The author studied the Eastern character from<br />
life during a journey to the Balkans two<br />
years ago.<br />
Mrs. Steele is at present staying at Lucknow.<br />
Her next book will probably deal with the plague<br />
and the famine in India.<br />
Mrs. Humphry Ward's new novel is likely to be<br />
ready in May.<br />
Studies of childhood, by Miss K. Douglas<br />
King, will be published by Mr. Lane in the form<br />
of a volume of stories, entitled "The Child Who<br />
Will Never Grow Old."<br />
Count Tolstoy is not now to issue his expected<br />
novel, as his attitude towards the purpose of the<br />
Btory—which was to be a study in sex morality<br />
—has undergone a change.<br />
A novel entitled "The Philanthropist," by a<br />
new writer, Miss Lucy Maynard, is to be published<br />
by Messrs. Methuen.<br />
"The Consecration of the Hetty Fleet" is a<br />
new novel by Mr. St John Adcock, which Messrs<br />
Skeftington are to publish soon.<br />
Mr. John Buchau is writing a Jacobite storv,<br />
to be called " A Lost Lady of Old Years." He 'is<br />
also preparing for publication a collection of<br />
short stories, which will be entitled "Grey<br />
Weather."<br />
1 Mr. Buchan's Chambers's Journal serial, " John<br />
Burnet of Barns," is to be published by Mr.<br />
Lane.<br />
A travesty of Mr. H. G. Wells's " The War of<br />
the Worlds" has Ix-eu written by Mr. C. L.<br />
Graves and Mr. E. V. Lucas, entitled " The War<br />
of the Wennses."<br />
Mr. Bret Harte's "Tales of Trail and Town"<br />
will be publish? 1 by Messrs. Chut to and Wind us<br />
this week.<br />
Miss Arabella Kenealy has written a new story,<br />
entitled " Woman and the Shadow," which will<br />
he published in a few days by Messrs. Hutchin-<br />
son. The heroine of this story by the author of<br />
"Dr. Janet of Harley-.street," lives for a time<br />
en fami lie with some aristocratic connections who<br />
have a title but no money. For this association<br />
with blue blood she pays liberally.<br />
Mr. Fergus Hume has a new novel in twelve<br />
sections, entitled "Hagar of the Pawnshop,"<br />
about to l>e published by Messrs. Skeftington.<br />
Within the next few days, Mr. Ernest G.<br />
Henham's new novel, "Tenebrae," will be pub-<br />
lished by Messrs. Skeftiugton.<br />
"Under One Cover" is the title of a collection<br />
of stories by Mr. Baring Gould, Mr. Henhain,<br />
Mr. Richard Marsh, Mr. Fergus Hume, and<br />
others, which Messrs. Skeftington are publishing.<br />
The last books to come from the Kelmscott<br />
Press will be " Love is Enough," and " A Note<br />
by William Moiris." They will appear on the<br />
24th inst. The former will have two illustrations<br />
by Sir Edward Burne-Jones.<br />
"Hints for Eton Masters," is a volume by the<br />
late Mr. William Cory, who was connected with<br />
the famous school from 1845 to 1872. The<br />
Oxford University Press is about to issue the<br />
work, which makes rather a wider appeal than its<br />
title suggests.<br />
Mr. Lewis Sergeant, who has finished an his-<br />
torical sketch of "The Franks," for the Story of<br />
the the Nation Series, has entered the ranks of<br />
novelists. His first essay in this field, "The<br />
Caprice of Julia" (Hurst and Blackett ), deals<br />
partly with theatrical life.<br />
Stage life is also dealt with, though not from<br />
what may be willed the strenuous point of view,<br />
in Mr. Francis Gribble's new novel, which Messrs<br />
Innes are to publish, called "Sunlight and<br />
Limelight."<br />
Mr. Meredith is revising his Essays and Poems<br />
for publication in May in the collected edition of<br />
his works (Constable), which will then be com-<br />
pleted. Curiously, Mr. Meredith had lost sight<br />
of a poem which appeared in the Pull Mall<br />
(lazelle ten or twelve years ago, and which was<br />
lately recalled to his recollection by a fellow<br />
guest reciting it to him at Mr. Edward Clodd's<br />
seaside residence.<br />
A second series of "The Law's Lumber Room,"<br />
by Mr. Francis Watt, is to be issued shortly from<br />
the Bodley Head. Among the articles are "Tyburn<br />
Tree," "Some Disused Roads to Matrimony,"<br />
"The Border Laws," and " The Serjeant-at-Law."<br />
Mr. Lewis Day is at work on a volume of<br />
"Alphabets Old and New." It will consist of<br />
illustrations, with short letterpress descriptions.<br />
"Studies on Many Subjects," by the late Rev.<br />
Samuel Harvey Reynolds, vicar of East. Ham from<br />
1871 to 1893, and author of "The Rise of the<br />
Modern European System," is about to be pub-<br />
lished by Mr. Edward Arnold<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 271 (#713) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
271<br />
Mrs. Ritchie, the novelist's daughter, is to<br />
write an introduction to each volume of the<br />
biographical edition of Thackeray's works which<br />
Messrs. Smith and Elder are about to issue. New<br />
examples of the letters and drawings of Thackeray<br />
will be given, and reproductions of a number of<br />
little known portraits, including those by Maclise<br />
which the Garrick Club are lending.<br />
M. Max Rooses, keeper of the Plantin-Moretus<br />
Museum, Antwerp, has undertaken to continue the<br />
publication of Rubens's correspondence, the first<br />
volume of which appeared in 1887 by the care of<br />
his colleague, the late M. Charles Ruelens,<br />
whereas the second,extending from 1609 to 1622, is<br />
now about to be published. He asks, by means<br />
of the Times, that the private possessors, as well<br />
as the custodians of public collections, who<br />
have any autographs of Rubens, should advise<br />
him of their existence.<br />
The Daily News is moved with concern for the<br />
English of the Queen's Speech at the opening<br />
of Parliament. In the first place, a reference<br />
was made to expenditure which is beyond<br />
"former precedent." On reading the following<br />
sentence the term in apposition to " elsewhere"<br />
is naturally inquired for: "A portion of the<br />
Afridi tribes have not accepted the terms offered<br />
to them, but elsewhere the operations have been<br />
brought to a successful close." In the reference<br />
to Crete it was stated that: "The difficulty of<br />
arriving at an unanimous agreement upon some<br />
points has unduly protracted their deliberations<br />
(i.e., the deliberations of the Powers), but I hope<br />
that these obstacles will before long be sur-<br />
mounted." What obstacles? As "the diffi-<br />
culty" is the subject in this sentence, "that<br />
obstacle" would appear to be the appropriate<br />
phrase. Our contemporary observes also "an<br />
unanimous agreement."<br />
Mr. Arthur Waugh is publishing through Mr.<br />
Arrowsinith a volume of verse entitled " Legends<br />
of the Wheel." The "wheel" is of course the<br />
bicycle.<br />
A book on Harrow School, edited by Mr.<br />
E. W. Howson and Mr. Townsend Wamer, and<br />
containing contributions by Harrow masters and<br />
old pupils—among the latter Lord Crewe, Sir<br />
Henry Cunningham, Sir Charles Dalrymple,<br />
M.P., Mr. Walter Long, and Mr. Chandos Leigh,<br />
Q.C.—is to be published by Mr. Edward Arnold.<br />
Earl Spencer, chairman of the governors, writes<br />
a preface to the work.<br />
Mr. MacAlister,the hon. secretary of the Library<br />
Association, has received an intimation from the<br />
Home Office to the effect that Her Majesty and<br />
Council have been graciously pleased to grant a<br />
royal charter of incorporation to the Library<br />
Association.<br />
In October next (says the Illustrated London<br />
News) Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton will publish<br />
the first number of a new religious periodical<br />
under the title of Ian Maclaren's Magazine.<br />
It will bd edited by the Rev. John Watson (Ian<br />
Maclaren) and Dr. Robertson Nicoll, and it is<br />
understood that the former will henceforth confine<br />
his writings to it.<br />
"Mirabeau," by Mr. P. F. Willert, will be the<br />
next volume in Messrs. Macinillan's Foreign<br />
Statesmen Series.<br />
Professor Michael Foster and Professor Ray<br />
Lankester are editing the papers contributed by<br />
Professor Huxley to the journals of the Royal,<br />
Linnean, and other societies. There will be three<br />
volumes, the first of which is due. A number<br />
of the papers appear in the edition of his works<br />
which Professor Huxley arranged shortly before<br />
his death.<br />
Canon Rawlinson's biography—largely made<br />
up, however, of diaries—of Major-General Sir<br />
Henry Rawlinson, will have a preface by Lord<br />
Roberts.<br />
We mentioned some time 6ince that the Glasgow<br />
Weekly Herald offered ten guineas each for short<br />
serial tales in five instalments, and one guinea for<br />
short weekly tales. The offer for short serials<br />
has now been withdrawn, and the editor has been<br />
compelled to warn contributors of weekly tales<br />
that so many excellent examples of these have<br />
been received and accepted that contributors need<br />
have no hope of tales appearing earlier than twelve<br />
months after thev are accepted.<br />
The Brotherhood Publishing Company is now<br />
circulating, under the title "What is Art r" a<br />
translation of a work by Count Tolstoy. This<br />
title was anticipated in 1885 by Mr. J. Stanley<br />
Little, and used by him for a book on art,<br />
published by Swan Sonneuschein. Mr. Little<br />
has had in preparation for some time past a<br />
second edition of his work, and there seems to be<br />
some prospect of a conflict of title. Count<br />
Tolstoy's book was originally announced as " On<br />
Art"; but it issued from the press in this<br />
country under the title to which Mr. Little has<br />
certainly the prior claim.<br />
Messrs. Seeley and Co. have recently published<br />
a new historical romance by Mrs. Marshall, "In<br />
the Choir of Westminster Abbey in the Time of<br />
Henry Purcell." It will be followed shortly by a<br />
story of "The Queen of Hearts " (the Princess<br />
Elizabeth) by the same author. Mrs. Marshall's<br />
works are published in the Tauchnitz edition,<br />
and are translated into German and French.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 272 (#714) ############################################<br />
<br />
272<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
The fifth volume of the " English Catalogue of<br />
Books" will be published very soon. It covers<br />
the years 1890-1897. The editor invites authors<br />
who have published books within these limits to<br />
send him, c/o. Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston,<br />
and Co., Fetter-lane, the full titles, sizes, prices,<br />
year and month of publication, with the author's<br />
and publisher's names, as soon as possible.<br />
Another serial by Jean Middlemass, entitled<br />
"In Storm and Strife," is about to appear in the<br />
newspapers of the National Press Agency. The<br />
author's "Blanche Coningham's Surrender," has<br />
just been published by Messrs. White.<br />
Mr. Alan Oscar, the sea story writer, has<br />
written for the Strand Magazine a true sea<br />
story, recounting one of his own experiences. It<br />
will be illustrated by the author.<br />
In "The Devout Pilgrim's Guide to the Holy<br />
Land in the Way of Prayer," by Elizabeth<br />
Harcourt Mitchell (Church Printing Company,<br />
11, Burleigh-street, Strand. 5*.), Mrs. Mitchell<br />
has tried to turn the thoughts of tourists in<br />
Palestine towards the devotional aspects of their<br />
tour, and hopes to make the work a companion<br />
to Murray and Baedeker's guides. Written at<br />
the request of the English Bishop in Jerusalem,<br />
it gives a very short account of each place, then<br />
the whole of the Scripture narrative concerning<br />
it, so that a hurried horseman need not wait to<br />
look out texts. This is followed by a short<br />
reflection and act of devotion, and sometimes<br />
Dy a few religious verses. A list of English<br />
churches in the Holy Land gives it a practical<br />
value.<br />
The German rights of Mr. Charles Lowe's<br />
historical romance of the Seven Yeais' War—"A<br />
Fallen Star; or, the Scots of Frederick "—kavn<br />
been acquired by the Deutsche Verlagsantalt of<br />
Stuttgart and Leipzig, which will shortly issue a<br />
translation from the pen of a distinguish°d<br />
German litterateur. Mr. Lowe has written for the<br />
Northern Newspaper Syndicate a series of ten<br />
articles on " Our Future King," which are also to<br />
appear in booklet form.<br />
"Heroes of the Reformation" is the title of<br />
the newest of new series. The first volume will<br />
be "Luther," by Professor Eyster Jacobs, of<br />
Philadelphia. In appearance the volumes will<br />
resemble those of the "Heroes of the Nations"<br />
series by the same publishers—Messrs. Putnam;<br />
and they will be issued at the rate of three per<br />
annum.<br />
Mr. Bernard Wentworth, author of "The<br />
Master of Hullingham Manor" and "Allerton<br />
Farm," had a blank verse poem in the Western<br />
Mail of Jan. 15, entitled " Anti-Agnosticism: A<br />
Vision." Another poem by the same author was<br />
published in the Western Mail of Jan. 29, 1897,<br />
entitled "Tintagel, by the Cornish Sea." This<br />
has passed into a second edition in booklet form,<br />
published by Messrs. Weighell and Co., Laun-<br />
ceston.<br />
An inscription to the memory of one Richard<br />
Hill, a contemporary of Shakespeare and an<br />
alderman and mayor of the town, who died in<br />
1593, has been brought to light by the work of<br />
restoring Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-on-Avon.<br />
The first sentence over the rudely carved raised<br />
tomb is a Hebrew text from Job, the next is<br />
Greek, and the latter part of the inscription is as<br />
follows:—<br />
Hore lieth intombed the corps of Richard Hil,<br />
A woollen draper being in his time;<br />
Whose virtves live, whose fame dooth floriah stil,<br />
Thovgh hee deaolvi-d be to dvst and slime,<br />
A mirror he and paterae may be made,<br />
For evch as shall svekcead him in that trade;<br />
He did not vse to sweare, to glose, either faigne,<br />
His brother to defravde in burguninge;<br />
Hee woold not strive to get excessive gaine<br />
In ani cloth or other kinde of thinge:<br />
His servant. S. I., this trveth can testilie.<br />
A witness that beheld it with mi eie.<br />
Two novelties in the book world of the past<br />
month have been a book by Charles Dickens<br />
and one by Mr. Buskin. The Dickens volume,<br />
published by Mr. George Bedway, consists of a<br />
number of scattered papers, most of which<br />
appeared in Household Words, which have been<br />
collected by Mr. F. C. Henvon, who is well known<br />
for his research in everything that re'ates to the<br />
great novelist. Mr. Ruskin's book, published, of<br />
course, by Mr. George Allen, consists of a series<br />
of lectures on landscape, delivered at Oxford in<br />
the Lent term, 1871.<br />
LITERATURE IN THE PERIODICALS-<br />
Public Libraries, Authors, and Pub-<br />
lishers: Views of Mr. Spencer and Mr.<br />
Lecky.—Mr. J. A. Steuart on Bookselling<br />
and Reviews.—Newspapers and the Libel<br />
Law.—Count Tolstoi on Maupassant and<br />
Fiction.<br />
The principal subject of discussion during the<br />
past month has been the relations of authors and<br />
publishers to free libraries, upon which the views<br />
of Mr. Herbert Spencer and Mr. W. E. H. Lecky<br />
have been given. Mr. E. Marston vented the<br />
question in the Times by setting forth certain<br />
figures upon what he called the "enormous tax"<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 273 (#715) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
273<br />
that publishers have to pay in being obliged to<br />
present to the nation five copies of every book<br />
that they publish. He estimated that, during the<br />
eight years, 1890-97, 250,000 volumes have been<br />
thus presented to the British Museum and the<br />
four other public libraries of Oxford, Cambridge,<br />
Edinburgh, and Dublin, which, if taken at the<br />
average published price of 5*. per volume, amounts<br />
to .£62,500; or, extending the period to the whole<br />
of Her Majesty's reign, 1,500,000 books, equal to<br />
•£375,000. As to this estimate, see " Notes and<br />
News," p. 261.<br />
Mr. Herbert Spencer pointed out that (exclud-<br />
ing non-copyright books) the burden is not borne<br />
mainly by the publishers; it is borne in chief<br />
measure, and often wholly, by the authors. Mr.<br />
Spencer goes on to say :—<br />
It is borne indirectly by the antbora in all tboae cases<br />
where there is sold the copyright of an edition, or where<br />
there is an agreement to pay half profits or a royalty; for<br />
in all such cases the publisher, in estimating the expenses<br />
of publication, sets down the gratis copies to be distributed,<br />
including among these the copies for the public libraries.<br />
This is one of the items which together form a total on the<br />
basis of which the amount offered to the author, under either<br />
form of publication, is calculated. And hence, whatever<br />
burden the cost of the five copies may be to the publisher,<br />
that burden is practically transferred to the author when<br />
settling the terms.<br />
But the burden falls directly upon the author in all cases<br />
of publication by commission. In the publisher's accounts<br />
the author is debited with the five copies, as he is with all<br />
gratis copies distributed on his behalf. The tax is levied<br />
by the nation on him whether he makes anything by his<br />
book or not, and no less when it entails on him a loss. During<br />
the firBt twelve years of my literary life every one of my<br />
books failed to pay for its paper, print, and advertisements,<br />
and for many years after failed to pay my small living<br />
expenses—every one of them made me the poorer. Never-<br />
theless, the forty millions of people constituting the nation<br />
demanded of the impoverished brain-worker five gratis<br />
copies of each. There is only one simile occurring to me<br />
which at all represents the faot, and that in but a feeble<br />
way—Dives asking alms of Lazarus!<br />
Mr. Lecky took an opposite side.<br />
I am always reluctant to differ from anything which Mr-<br />
Herbert Spencer writes, but I earnestly trust that the old and<br />
well-established obligation of sending a copy of all books<br />
published in the kingdom to five public libraries may not<br />
cease to be limited to the British Museum. It is scarcely<br />
possible to overrate the importance to those who are engaged<br />
in literary research of having accessible libraries where they<br />
are certain to find all such books easily and gratuitously,<br />
and I should much regret if this privilege were confined to<br />
London students.<br />
The tendency to centralise literary life in the metropolis<br />
is already more than sufficiently strong, and suoh a measure<br />
would certainly increase it. In this, as in most things, we<br />
have to strike a balance between good and evil. In the<br />
case of valuable illustrated books which are printed in<br />
small numbers, the present system is no doubt a hardship;<br />
but as the chief expense of a book is laying down the<br />
type, the cost of the few additional copies is in most caBes<br />
trivial. A little known writer who has sterling merit will<br />
almost certainly find readers in a public library, who will<br />
repay his outlay by helping to accelerate the period of his<br />
popularity; and even when books remain permanently un-<br />
remunerative it is often some satisfaction to their authors<br />
to know that they have found a dignified resting-place.<br />
In my opinion any change that made these great libraries<br />
less complete than at present would be a serious calamity<br />
to literature.<br />
To the above letter Mr. Herbert Spencer makes<br />
the following re[dy :—<br />
Mr. Lecky rightly says of the required gifts to libraries<br />
that11 the cost of the few additional copies is in most cases<br />
trivial." To Mr. Lecky it has always been so, and it is so<br />
to me at present; but it is not so to the struggling author,<br />
*ith whom for long years it is a question whether he will<br />
sink or swim. Moreover, his first loss is the parent of a<br />
second and larger loss. The few copies which the State<br />
takes from him are used by it to intercept the buyers of<br />
many copies. After the year of grace during which his<br />
book is withheld, numbers who would otherwise purchase<br />
it read it at the museum library, and already a loser, he<br />
loses much more.<br />
While agreeing with Mr. Lecky that facilities for literary<br />
research are very desirable, I do not agree that they can be<br />
achieved only through public institutions. Fifty odd years<br />
ago some men of letters and others (Mr. Carlyle being a<br />
chief mover) set up the London Library for the purpose of<br />
facilitating research, the British Museum library failing in<br />
sundry respects to meet their needs. From the London<br />
Library books may be taken home; fifteen may be had out<br />
at a time, and if any book a student wants is of appreciable<br />
value it is bought for him and afterwards put on the shelves.<br />
The library has now 175,000 volumes and grows at an<br />
increasing rate. Of course it is far from all-embracing.<br />
But, had there existed no public libraries: had the<br />
felt need prompted establishment of it a generation<br />
or more earlier; had its claims then become widely<br />
known, as they would; had it received, as it now does, gifts<br />
of books and of private libraries, as well as probably dona-<br />
tions and bequests of money, it would by this time have<br />
gone far to fulfil all the requirements. It is true that we<br />
have not, like the Americans, millionaires who found<br />
universities or build magnificent observatories. Still, there<br />
are instances of the required public spirit; and when<br />
we learn that in 1890 charitable bequests reached over<br />
.£1,000,000, that within the few preceding years bequests<br />
for art galleries and oollectionB had reached over half a<br />
million, and that London and Edinburgh and other places<br />
have recently witnessed kindred gifts, it is not an over-<br />
sanguine calculation that, under pressure of the need, an<br />
institution like the London Library, earlier founded, would<br />
before now have grown to vast proportions, quite meeting<br />
the want, and would have accumulated a fund .(.£200,000)<br />
the interest of which would suffice to purchase copies of all<br />
new works.<br />
But now from this Bide issue let me return to the main<br />
issue. Grant that to facilitate literary research there must<br />
be public libraries. Does it follow that these must be<br />
recruited by oopies of all new works taken from their<br />
authors under penalty r Is it not possible that copies may<br />
be bought? Admit the want, and the first question<br />
arising is : By whom shall the cost of satisfying it be borne?<br />
Shall the public who profit by the books bear it, or the<br />
authors who have laboured to produce the books P Shall<br />
the tax be paid by the many millions benefited, or by the few<br />
hundreds who benefit them P As implied above, I accept<br />
neither alternative. But, assuming that one must be<br />
accepted, then I say that in equity the burden should be<br />
borne by the State with its hundred millions of revenue, and<br />
not imposed on a small class of men, most of them needy,<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 274 (#716) ############################################<br />
<br />
274<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
and many of them passing their lives " in shallows and in<br />
miseries."<br />
Among the variety of opinions current on the<br />
question of the value of reviews, comes Mr. J. A.<br />
Steuart's advice to booksellers to utilise these<br />
more than they do. The editor of the Publishers'<br />
Circular, in a paper in the Fortnightly for<br />
February, estimates the whole present position<br />
of the commercial interests of literature, and he<br />
counsels more push being exhibited in the retail<br />
trade to advertise books. "At present," he<br />
remarks, "the advertising is left wholly to the<br />
publisher, a circumstance which may have sug-<br />
gested to the Authors' Society that hint to the<br />
retail trade about energy and enterprise." The<br />
man in the street does not read reviews, but it<br />
is the business of booksellers to parade these<br />
reviews before him, with practical results. "I<br />
know one bookseller who, when he finds a eulo-<br />
gistic review of a new book, instantly cuts it out<br />
and displays it in a conspicuous manner. He<br />
tells me the system is a gratifying success. Could<br />
other booksellers not follow his example?" Mr.<br />
Steuart views with disfavour the recommendation<br />
of the sub-committee of the Society of Authors<br />
that booksellers should bring out new editions of<br />
non-copyright books on their own account: "It<br />
would merely mean the creation of a publisher<br />
and the spoiling of a bookseller; and of pub-<br />
lishers we have no scarcity, either for old books<br />
or new." Mr. Steuart finally observes that it is<br />
clearly to the interest of all concerned to have a<br />
prosperous retail trade; and he agrees with the<br />
secretary of the Society of Booksellers that the<br />
work of reform is but beginning.<br />
Reference was made in The. Author a few<br />
months ago to the dangerous simplicity of getting<br />
up actions for libel against newspapers, and to<br />
the remarks of the Lord Chief Justice upon the<br />
frivolity which often distinguishes the grounds<br />
for such actions. The Daily News states that<br />
the list for the Hihvy Sittings on the Queen's<br />
Bench Division contains thirty actions for libel,<br />
mostly against newspapers. Anyone who brings<br />
an action against a leading newspaper is sure of<br />
getting his costs and damages if he succeeds; if<br />
he fails he may be, and very often is, unable to<br />
pay the costs either of the journal against which<br />
he has proceeded or of the solicitor who has taken<br />
up his case on speculation. The Daily News is<br />
satisfied that the result of a case tried before Mr.<br />
Justice Hawkins the other day, following as it<br />
does the actions recently laughed out of court by<br />
the Lord Chief Justice, warrant us in believing<br />
that happier days have really at last dawned upon<br />
journalists. A Bill was introduced last Session by<br />
Mr. Boscawen to amend the law, and it is being<br />
brought in again this year. It is supported by<br />
members of all political parties, including Sir<br />
Albert Rollit, a Conservative; Mr. Frederick<br />
Wilson, a Liberal; and Mr. T. P. O'Connor, an<br />
Irish Nationalist. The first clause provides that<br />
particulars of the libel or libels, with dates, must<br />
be endorsed on the writ. This is to give the<br />
defendants an opportunity of at once apologising<br />
or paying money into court without waiting for<br />
the next stage, the statement of claim, and thereby<br />
incurring needless expense, which may l)e very<br />
considerable. The second clause allows of alter-<br />
native pleadings. The law at present, for no<br />
assignable or intelligible reason, forbids alterna-<br />
tive pleading in actions of libel, and in actions of<br />
libel alone.<br />
In an article on " Maupassant and Fiction" in<br />
the February numlier of Chapman's Magazine,<br />
Count Tolstoi represents this writer as having, in<br />
all his novels subsequent to "Bel Ami," bowed<br />
to the theory that in a work of art it is not only<br />
of no moment to have a clear conception of right<br />
and wrong, but that, on the contrary, an artist<br />
must igncre all moral considerations, and that<br />
there is even a peculiar merit in his power to do<br />
so. The theory set forth above is not only supreme<br />
at present in a Parisian circle, but amongst<br />
artists everywhere; it is fashionable. More,<br />
Count Tolstoi thinks French authors are at fault<br />
in the matter of describing their nation. "For<br />
France to exist as we know her, with her truly<br />
great acquirements in science and art, and her<br />
civic, national, and moral improvement of<br />
humanity, the working people which has main-<br />
tained and is supporting this France upon its<br />
shoulders must be composed not of brutes, but of<br />
men with great mental capacity." If we turn,<br />
meantime to M. Bastide's pjaper in the Fortnightly<br />
for February (" Cacoethes Literarum") we get<br />
the suggestion that in France literature is a<br />
disease. There is a ministry of fine arts; theatres<br />
are subsidised ; numerous pensions and still more<br />
numerous honours granted; anyone may dabble<br />
in literature; there is no risk whatever. "The<br />
novel's objective, even exteriorily," says Count<br />
Tolstoi, " is the description of one or many com-<br />
plete human lives, and therefore the writer of a novel<br />
must have a clear and fine conception of what is<br />
right and wrong in life." This De Maupassant<br />
had not; but, fortunately, he wrote short stories,<br />
"in which he did not cramp himself by the false<br />
theory he had accepted."<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 275 (#717) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
275<br />
THE BOOES OF THE MONTH.<br />
[Jan. "24 to Feb. 23.—262 Books.]<br />
Adams, Brooks. Law of Civilisation and Decay. 7/6 net Macmillan.<br />
Allen, A. V. G. Christian Institution!. 12'- T. andT. Clark.<br />
Anderson, J. G. Manual of French Prose Construction. 5/- Klackie.<br />
Anonymous (** Lucus a non Lucendo "). Ray a from the Starry Host.<br />
A/. Roxburgbe.<br />
Anonymous. Novels and Novelists. 7/fi net. W H. Allen.<br />
Armitage. E. Pictures and Drawings selected from the Works of.<br />
Low.<br />
Bliss.<br />
Richards.<br />
O. Allen.<br />
Blackwood.<br />
Burns and Oatea,<br />
Blackwood.<br />
Head ley.<br />
Macmillan.<br />
Oliphant.<br />
Dulau.<br />
Macmillan.<br />
Unicorn Press.<br />
£8 net or £» 8s. net<br />
Atherton, Gertrude. His Fortunate Grace. 2 6.<br />
Atkinson. A. G, B St Botolph. Aldgate. 5 - net.<br />
Attwell, H. Panaies Irom Frencb Gardens. 2 -<br />
Audon, H. W. Higher Latin Unseens. 2/6.<br />
AvK White. A Noble Revenge. 8/6.<br />
Baden-Powell, Sir G. The Saving or Ireland. 7/6.<br />
Baker, W. K. John T. Dorland. 67-<br />
Bates, Katharine Lee. American Literature. 6/-<br />
Bayne, W James Thomson (Famous Scots). I/G.<br />
Baedeker. Karl. Spain and Portugal. 16 -<br />
Bailey, L. H. Lessons with Plants. 7/6.<br />
Barsac, L. Shadow and Fireflies. 3 6 net.<br />
Batiffol, P. (tr. by A. M. Y. Baylaj). History of the Roman Breviary.<br />
7,6. Longman.<br />
Bengougb, Maj.-Gen. H Preparatory Battle Formations. 1 - net.<br />
Gale and Polden.<br />
Benson, E. F. The Vintage. «/- Methuen.<br />
Bet ham-Ed wards, M. (ed ). Autobiography of Arthur Young. 12 G.<br />
Smith, Elder.<br />
Bet bam-Ed wards. M. A Storm-rent Sky. G/- Hurst.<br />
Bickersteth, E. Our Heritage In the Church. C/- Low.<br />
Birtt, W. B. By the Roaring Reuss. 5/- Constable.<br />
BlennerhaaBctt, Sir Rowland. University Education in England,<br />
France, and Germany. 1/- Murray.<br />
Bodley, J. E. C. France 21/-net. Macmillan.<br />
Bogg, E. The Border Country. Leeds: E. Bogg.<br />
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Bold re wood, Rolf. Plain Living. 6 - Macmillan.<br />
Bonwick J. Australia's First Preacher, the Rev. J. Johnson 4/- Low.<br />
Bourne, H. R. Fox The Borhuana Troubles. 1/- King.<br />
BouBtead, Leila. The Blue Diamonds. 1/- White.<br />
Braddon, M. E. Rough Justice. 6/- Simpkin.<br />
Brailsford, H. S. The Broom of the War-God. 6;- Heinemann.<br />
Brandos, George. William Shakespeare. 24/- net. Heinemann.<br />
Brown, A. Tbe Rating of Mines and Quarrios. &/- Butterworth.<br />
Brown. H. Economics, Anesthetics, and Antiseptics in the Practice<br />
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Brown, J. Apostolic Succession in the Light of HiBtory and Fact.<br />
10/6. Con si regalional Union.<br />
Byrne, the late Mrs. W. Pitt. Social Hours with Celebrities. 32/-<br />
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Carpenter, W. Boyd. The Venture or Faith. 6d. Skefflngton.<br />
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Chance. Mrs. W. A Book of Cats. 2 6. Dent.<br />
Chancellor. A. E. Examples or Old Furniture. 26/- Batsfoid.<br />
Channtng, E. Student's History of the United States. 8 6. Macmillan.<br />
Chauvet, P. (tr.). The Nineteenth Century in France (Selections).<br />
Vol. L 8/6. Digby.<br />
Chrlstison, D. Early Fortifications in Scotland. 21/-net. Blackwood.<br />
Clifton. A. B. Lichfield Cathedral. 1/6. Bell.<br />
Cook, A. S. Biblical Quotations in Old English Prose Writers. 17 -<br />
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Coote. Rev. Sir A. Twelve Sermons 2/6. Nisbet.<br />
Corbett, J. S. Drake and the Tudor Navy. 86/- Longman.<br />
Costley, T. Lancashire Poets, and other Literary Sketches. Hey wood.<br />
Coutts, W. The Works of Horace, rendered into English Prose.<br />
•V- net. Longman.<br />
Crofton, M. The Church's Opportunity, and other Essays. 1. 6. Stock.<br />
Danson, J T. Our Commerce in War, and How to Protect It. Blades.<br />
Davies, II. The Miner's Arithmetic and Mensuration. 4/- net.<br />
Chapman.<br />
Davis, R. H. A Yearfrom a Correspondent's Note-Book. 6/- Harper.<br />
Davltt, M. Life and Progress in Australasia. 6 - Methuen.<br />
Dawson, A. J. God's Foundling. 6 - Heinemann.<br />
Dearmer, P. (com.). Religioua Pamphlets. (Pamphlet Library, i f> -<br />
Kegan Paul.<br />
De Linde, G. van. Book-Keeplng, and other Papers. 6/6 net. Blades.<br />
De Windt, Harry. Through the Goldtlelds of Alaska to Behring Straits.<br />
16/- Chatto.<br />
Dickens, Charles. To be Read at Dusk, and other Stories, Sketches,<br />
and Essays. 6/- Red way.<br />
Dickens, Mary Angela. Against tbe Tide. 6 - Hutchinson.<br />
Dodd, C-, and Wilberrorcc, U. W. W. Guide to the Procedure upon<br />
Private Bills. 7/6. Eyre.<br />
Dollar, J. A. W,, and Wheatley, A. A Handbook or Horse-Shoeing<br />
15/- net. Douglas-'<br />
Dowoll, Stephen. Thoughts and Words. 81/6. Longman<br />
Doyle, A. Conan. The Tragedy or the Korosko. 6/- Smith, Elder.<br />
Drey, S. A Theory of Life deduced from the Evolution Philosophy.<br />
1/ Williams.<br />
Druce, G. C. Flora of Berkshire. 16/- net. Frowde.<br />
Drummond, H. For the Religion: Being the Records of Blaise de<br />
Bernauld. 6/- Smith, Elder.<br />
Dudeney, Mrs. H. E. A Man with a Maid. 2/6 net. Heinemann.<br />
Duffy, Sir C. G. My Life in Two Hemispheres. 82/- Unwin.<br />
Duncombe-Jewell, L. C. R (ed ). The Handbook to British Military<br />
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Dunning, W. A. Essays on the Civil War (American) and Recon-<br />
struction and Related Topics. 7/6 net. Macmillan.<br />
Dyer, E. J. Routes and Mineral Resources of N.W. Canada. 6/-<br />
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Earle, J. Simple Grammar of English now in Uae. 6/- Smith, Elder.<br />
Ellis, T. Mullett. Tales or the Klondyke. 2/6. Bliss.<br />
Evans, E. P. Evolutional Ethics and Animal Psychology. 9/-<br />
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Fitzgerald, G.Beresford. The Fatal PlriaL 6/- Digby.<br />
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Frazer, J. G. (tr.). Pausaniaa's Description or Greece. £6 6s. net.<br />
Macmillan.<br />
Frazer, R. W. A Literary History of India. 16/- Unwin.<br />
Gaches, L. Law relating to Markets and Fairs. 2/6. Eyre.<br />
Ganthony, Robert. Random Recollections. 6/- Drane.<br />
Garrison, W. P. Parables for School and Home. 6/- Longman.<br />
Gerard, Dorothea. A Forgotten Sin. 6/- Blackwood.<br />
Gibbs, M. and fi. The Bible References of John Ruskin. 6/- net.<br />
G. Allen.<br />
Gilbert, John. Across Country. 3/6. Digby.<br />
Gissing, George. Charles Dickens. 2/6. Blackie.<br />
Gleichen, Count. With the Mission to Menelik, 1897. 16 - Arnold.<br />
Gordon-Cumming, C. F. The Inventor of the Numeral Type for<br />
China. 1/- net. Downey.<br />
Gould. Nat. Gentleman Rider. 2/- Routledge,<br />
Gray, Maxwell. Ribstone Pippins. 3,6. Harper."<br />
Greonwood, Major. John Armstrong. A Novel. 6/- Digby.<br />
Gregg. J. A. F. The Decian Persecution. 6/- Blackwood.<br />
Grinling, C. H. History of the Great Northern Railway. 10,6.<br />
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Groom, Percy. Elementary Botany. 8/6. Bell.<br />
Hackett, E. A. The Irish Grand Jury System. 1,- King.<br />
Hanna, H. B. The Defence of India's N.-W. Frontier. Petcrstteld:<br />
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Hannay, David. The Later Renaissance. 8/- net. Blackwood.<br />
Hay, Sir J. C. Dalrymple. Linea from My Log-Books. 10,6 net.<br />
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Heinemann. W. Summer Motbs. A Play. 3 6 net. Lane.<br />
Herbat t. J. F. (tr. by B. O. Mulliner). Application of Psychology to<br />
Science of Education. 4/«. Sonncnschein.<br />
Herbert, W. do B. Law of Fixtures and Repairs as between Land-<br />
lord and Tenant. 2/6. C. Wilson.<br />
Hewatt. Klrkwood. In the Olden Times. Gardner.<br />
Hime, H. W. L. Army Reform. 1 - Stanford.<br />
Hobhouse, W. Otlum Didascali. Translations into Greek and Latin'<br />
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Hocken, T. M. Contributions to tbe Early History of New Zealand<br />
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Hodgson, J. C. History of Northumberland. Vol. IV. Newcastle:<br />
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Hogan, J. F. The Gladstone Colony. 7/6. Unwin.<br />
Holm, Adolf (tr. by F. Clarke). History of Greece. Vol IV. 7/6 net.<br />
Macmillan.<br />
holmes, R. Echoes of a Vanished World. Marshall. Russell.<br />
Hope, Anthony. Simon Dale. 6,- Me'huen.<br />
IIousman,L. Spikenard. Devotional Love Poems. 3 fi net. Richards.<br />
Hugo, Victor. Hernani (tr. by R. F. Sharp). 3 6 net. Richards.<br />
Hulme-Bcaman, E. The Prince's Diamond, t; - Hutchinson.<br />
Humberstone, VV. J. Tbe Light of Life, 1 6. Clarke.<br />
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"Iota.'' Poor Max. 6/- Hutchiuson.<br />
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James, D. M. J. Paraphrasing, Analysis, Stc. 1/- Blackwood.<br />
Jane, Fred. T. All the World's Fighting Ships. 10 6 net. Low.<br />
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Johnson, C. A Book or Country Clouds and Sunshine. 7 6.<br />
Kegan Paul.<br />
Johnson, C. The New England Country. 7 6. Kegan Paul.<br />
Junor, Charles. Dead Men's Talcs. Sonncnschein.<br />
Kerr, J. G, Elementary Physics First Year's Courss. 1,- Blackie.<br />
King, C. The General's Double. 6 - Lipplncott<br />
<br />
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## p. 276 (#718) ############################################<br />
<br />
276<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Kingsford, W. The History of Canada. Vol. IX. 15/- Regan Paul.<br />
Kinsky, Count Charles. Diplomatists' Handbook for Africa. 10,6.<br />
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Lang, A. (ed.). The Highlands of Scotland In 1750. B/- Blackwood.<br />
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Lee-Warner, W. The Citizen of India. 2/- Macmillan.<br />
Lockwood, P. H Storm and Sunshine in the Dales. 3/- Stock.<br />
Lorimer, Norma. Josiah's Wife. 6/- Methuen.<br />
Lorne, Marquis of. Adventures in Legend. 6 - Constable.<br />
Louis. A. B. A Branch of Laurel. 3/6. Bum.<br />
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Macdonald. W. (ed ). Select Documents illustrative of the History of<br />
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McDonald, W. Motion: Its Origin and Conservation. 7 6 net<br />
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Mcllroy, A. When Lint was in the Bell. Belfast: MeOaw.<br />
Mackay, Thomas. The State and Charity. 2.6. Macmillan.<br />
Mackenzie, R. J., and Lang. C. G. ErneBt R. Balfour. Nelson.<br />
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Masson, Rosaline. A Departure from Tradition, 6;- Bliss.<br />
Mat hew, Frank. The Spanish Wine. 3/6. Lane.<br />
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jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br />
returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br />
GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br />
FOB some years it has been the praotioe to insert, in<br />
every number of The Author, certain " General Con-<br />
siderations," Warnings, Notices, Ac, for the guidance<br />
of the reader. It has been objected as regards these<br />
warnings that the tricks or frauds against which they are<br />
directed cannot all be guarded against, for obvious reasons.<br />
It is, however, well that they Bhould be borne in mind, and<br />
if any publisher refuges a clause of precaution he simply<br />
reveals his true character, and should be left to carry on<br />
his business in his own way.<br />
Let us, however, draw up a few of the rules to be<br />
observed in an agreement. There are three methods of<br />
dealing with literary property:—<br />
I. That of selling it outright.<br />
This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br />
price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br />
managed by a competent agent.<br />
II. A profit-sharing agreement.<br />
In this case the following rules should be attended to:<br />
(1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br />
duction forms a part.<br />
(2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br />
profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise-<br />
ments.<br />
(3.) Not to allow a special charge for " office expenses,'<br />
unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br />
(4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br />
rights.<br />
(5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights.<br />
(6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher.<br />
As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br />
doctor!<br />
(7.) To stamp the agreement.<br />
III. The royalty system.<br />
In this system, which has opened the door to a most<br />
amazing amount of overreaching and trading on the<br />
author's ignorance, it is above all things necessary to know<br />
what the proposed royalty means to both tides. It is now<br />
possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very<br />
nearly the truth. From time to time the very important<br />
figures connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br />
Readers can also work out the figureB themselves from the<br />
"Cost of Production." Let no one, not even the youngest<br />
writer, sign a royalty agreement without finding out what<br />
it gives the publisher as well as himself.<br />
It has been objected that these precautions presuppose a<br />
great success for the book, and that very few books indeed<br />
attain to this groat success. That is quite true: but there is<br />
always this uncertainty of literary property that, although<br />
the works of a great many authors carry with them no risk<br />
at all, and although of a great many it is known within a few<br />
copies what will be their minimum circulation, it is not<br />
known what will be their maximum. Therefore every<br />
author, for every book, Bhould arrange on the chance of a<br />
success which will not, probably, come at all; but which<br />
may come.<br />
The four points which the Society has always demanded<br />
from the outset are:—<br />
(1.) That both Bides shall know what an agreement<br />
means.<br />
(2.) The inspection of those aooount books which belong<br />
to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the<br />
nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or<br />
withheld.<br />
(3.) That there shall be no secret profits.<br />
(4.) That nothing shall be oharged which has not been<br />
actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for<br />
advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none tor<br />
exchanged advertisements and that all discounts shall be<br />
duly entered.<br />
If these points are carefully looked after, the author may<br />
rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the<br />
same time he will do well to send his agreement to the<br />
secretary before he signs it.<br />
u 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 230 (#668) ############################################<br />
<br />
230 THE AUTHOR.<br />
HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br />
I. Ij^ VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br />
JjJ advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br />
lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br />
business or the administration of his property. If the advice<br />
sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member<br />
has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the<br />
case is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com-<br />
mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this<br />
without any cost to the member.<br />
2. Remember that questions conneoted with copyright<br />
and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the<br />
experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br />
to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually<br />
engaged upon such questions for us.<br />
3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and paBt<br />
accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in<br />
order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree-<br />
ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively<br />
so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any<br />
agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor-<br />
mation thus obtained may prove invaluable.<br />
4. If the examination of your previous business trans-<br />
actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should<br />
take advice as to a change of publishers.<br />
5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br />
posed document to the Society for examination.<br />
6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in<br />
the case of fraudulent nouses—the tricks of every publish-<br />
ing firm in the oountry.<br />
7. 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 />
lence of the writer.<br />
8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of everything<br />
important to literature that you may hear or meet with.<br />
9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of<br />
members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br />
safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br />
fidential documents to be read only by the 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 />
THE AUTHORS' SYNDICATE,<br />
MEMBERS are informed:<br />
1. That the Authors' Syndicate takes charge of<br />
the business of members of the Society. That it<br />
submits MSS. to publishers and editors, concludes agree-<br />
ments, examines, passes, and collects accounts, and, gene-<br />
rally, relieves members of the trouble of managing business<br />
details.<br />
2. That the terms npon which its services can be secured<br />
will be forwarded upon detailed application.<br />
3. That the Authors' Syndicate works only for those<br />
members of the Society whose work possesses a market<br />
value.<br />
4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiations<br />
whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia-<br />
tions are placed exclusively in its hands, and that all<br />
communications relating thereto are referred to it.<br />
5. That clients can only be seen by the Director by<br />
appointment, and that, when possible, at least two days'<br />
notice should be given.<br />
6. That every attempt is made to deal with all communi-<br />
cations promptly. That stamps should, in nil cases, be sent<br />
to defray postage.<br />
7. That the Authors' Syndicate does not invite MSS.<br />
without previous correspondence; does not hold itself<br />
responsible for MSS. forwarded without notice; and that<br />
in all oases MSS. must be accompanied by stamps to defray<br />
postage.<br />
8. That the Syndicate undertakes arrangements for<br />
lectures by some of the leading members of the Society;<br />
that it has a "Transfer Department" for the sale and<br />
purchase of journals and periodicals; and that a " Register<br />
of Wants and Wanted" is open. Members are invited to<br />
communicate their requirements to the Manager.<br />
There is an Honorary Advisory Committee, whose services<br />
will be called upon in any case of dispute or difficulty. It<br />
is perhaps necessary to state that the members of the<br />
Advisory Committee have no pecuniary interest whatever in<br />
the Syndicate.<br />
NOTICES.<br />
THE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br />
Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br />
of charge, the oost of producing it would be a very<br />
heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br />
many members did not forward to the Seoretary the modest<br />
6s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br />
The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and<br />
communications on all subjects connected with literature<br />
from members and others. Nothing can do more good to<br />
the Sooiety than to make The Author complete, attractive,<br />
and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this<br />
work send their names and the special subjects on which<br />
they are willing to write P<br />
Communications for The Author should reach the Editor<br />
not later than the 21st of each mouth.<br />
All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether<br />
members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate<br />
to the Editor any points connected with their work which<br />
it would be advisable in the general interest to publish.<br />
Members and others who wish their MSS. read are<br />
requested not to send them to the Office without previously<br />
communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable<br />
despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in<br />
which they are received. It must also be distinctly under-<br />
stood that the Sooiety does not, under any circumstances,<br />
undertake the publication of MSS.<br />
The Authors' Club is now open in its new premises, at<br />
3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary<br />
for information, rules of admission, Ac.<br />
Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they<br />
have paid their subscriptions for the year P If they will do<br />
this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's<br />
order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the<br />
trouble of sending out a reminder.<br />
Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the<br />
following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a<br />
most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding<br />
for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they<br />
wonld give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five<br />
years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 231 (#669) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
231<br />
or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then<br />
hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them-<br />
selves into literary bondage for three or five years P<br />
"Those who possess the 1 Cost of Production' are<br />
requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15<br />
per cent." This clause was inserted three or four years ago.<br />
Estimates have, however, recently been obtained which show<br />
that the figures in the book may be relied on as nearly<br />
correct: as near as is possible.<br />
Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged<br />
in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of course, we<br />
have not included any Bums which may be charged for<br />
inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines,<br />
or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too<br />
often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from<br />
sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket,<br />
by inserting any number of advertisements in his own<br />
magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are<br />
who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those<br />
who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it.<br />
LITERARY PROPERTY.<br />
I.—The Anglo-German Copyright<br />
Convention.<br />
THE telegram appearing in the Times of<br />
Jan. 29, announcing the withdrawal of<br />
Germany from the Anglo-German Conven-<br />
tion for the protection of authors' copyright,<br />
refers to those treaties existing between Germany,<br />
Prussia, and England prior to the Berne Con-<br />
vention. Questions have arisen from time to<br />
time during the past few years as to how far<br />
these prior treaties had any effect on the articles<br />
existing between the countries under the Berne<br />
Convention. As stated in the telegram they<br />
have lost their legal force in Great Britain, and<br />
have now been declared null and void by the<br />
withdrawal of Germany. There is, however, one<br />
question, how far this withdrawal may have an<br />
effect on books published under these treaties<br />
prior to the Berne Convention, whether the with-<br />
drawal is retrospective, and in what way it may<br />
bear upon past publications. The secretary<br />
has written to the Foreign Office asking whether<br />
they can forward information to the Society on<br />
the effect of the withdrawal.<br />
II.—Gerrare v. Rideal.<br />
In the Westminster County Court on Thursday,<br />
Dec. 16, his Honour Judge Lumley Smith (Q.C.)<br />
and a jury had before them the case of Gerrare v.<br />
Rideal and the Roxburghe Press, in which the<br />
plaintiff Mr. W. Gerrare, an author, sued the<br />
defendant to recover the sum of £27, which<br />
amount, he contended, was due to him under an<br />
agreement with the defendants for the publication<br />
of a book entitled " Phantasms."<br />
The plaintiff was called, and said he entered<br />
into an agreement with the defendants to publish<br />
his book, and place it on the market for three<br />
months, the idea being that during that time it<br />
would be seen what the public demand would be<br />
for it. That arrangement was duly carried out<br />
and the book was withdrawn from sale on Lady-<br />
day, 1895; but in spite of his repeated applica-<br />
cations for a statement of account, he (plaintiff)<br />
had been unable to induce the defendants to<br />
supply him with one; and, although he felt sure<br />
that there was a considerable sum due to him in<br />
respect of sales, he was unable to get from the<br />
defendants any approximate idea as to what was<br />
due to him. It was within his knowledge that<br />
1000 copies of the book were issued, half at half-<br />
a-crown, and the remainder at three-and-sixpence,<br />
and all he now asked for was a statement as to<br />
what had been done with them. He had paid<br />
the defendants £6~ for printing expenses, but<br />
they had failed to register the book, as they<br />
undertook to do by the agreement, and on that<br />
point alone he contended that he had suffered<br />
damage. He further complained that the defen-<br />
dants agreed to pay the artist for the frontispiece,<br />
but he (plaintiff) had been threatened by the<br />
artist with an action.<br />
At tliis point of the case his Honour remarked<br />
that the plaintiff's damages looked rather remote<br />
at the present moment, but it was quite clear that<br />
he was entitled to a proper account, and could, if<br />
he wished, have it taken by the Registrar.<br />
The Plaintiff.—I have applied time after time<br />
to the defendants during the past three years, but<br />
have been unable to get one.<br />
In cross-examination by defendants' counsel,<br />
the plaintiff swore most positively that he had<br />
never received an account of which that now pro-<br />
duced was a copy. He had on several occasions<br />
expressed his willingness to have the figures gone<br />
into by a chartered accountant, but he could get<br />
no satisfaction of any kind.<br />
Counsel for the defence said his clients were<br />
perfectly willing to have the account taken by a<br />
chartered accountant, and were willing to pay the<br />
costs of any gentleman whom plaintiff chose to name.<br />
The Plaintiff.—That is what I have been asking<br />
for for the past three years, and 1 have a letter to<br />
the effect.<br />
His Honour said it was quite clear that the<br />
plaintiff was entitled to a full account as to what<br />
had become of the books which were printed.<br />
The defendants could not expect to have things<br />
all their own way, even although they were pub-<br />
lishers.<br />
Plaintiff.—I have paid the defendants .£67 in<br />
respect of their expenses, and all I have received<br />
back is =£23.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 232 (#670) ############################################<br />
<br />
232<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
In the end his Honour said he thought it was<br />
quite clear that the defendants had broken their<br />
agreement with the plaintiff, but as they had<br />
undertaken to supply him with a proper account,<br />
he would adjourn the case for that purpose.<br />
Defendants' counsel.—We will see that a<br />
proper account is rendered, but we should like the<br />
plaintiffs claim for damages settled.<br />
His Honour.—Well, the jury are here. You<br />
may go further and fare worse. If the jury give<br />
damages they must do so.<br />
In the end it was agreed that the jury should<br />
lie discharged without giving a verdict, on the<br />
understanding that the plaintiff was to be supplied<br />
with a proper account drawn up by a chartered<br />
accountant. .<br />
III.—The Law of Author and Publisher.<br />
Mr. Wicks' s case, of which we extracted a.<br />
report from the Atheweum last month, though it<br />
lays down no new principle, is of great impor-<br />
tance from its recognition by the Lord Chief<br />
Justice of England of the rule that the contract<br />
between author and publisher is of a personal<br />
character, and cannot be assigned by one pub-<br />
lisher to another without the consent of the<br />
author. The rule was first laid down so far back<br />
as 1855 in the case of Stevens v. Benning, and was<br />
acted upon last year in Griffith v. Tower Pub-<br />
lishing Company by Mr. Justice Stirling, who<br />
restrained the receiver of an insolvent company,<br />
in a debenture holder's action against the com-<br />
pany, from assigning the benefit of a publishing<br />
agreement without the consent of the author. In<br />
Hole c. Bradbury, which was heard in 1879, the<br />
same rule was recognised by Mr. Justice Fry, and it<br />
is now settled law, although contracts except those<br />
between author and publisher, and any others in<br />
which a person is employed "with reference to<br />
his individual skill, competency, or other personal<br />
qualification," can be assigned by either party<br />
merely on notice to the other.<br />
IV.—The Cost of Production.<br />
Here are certain estimates received by an<br />
author anxious to learn what his book would cost<br />
to produce. They are placed side by side for com-<br />
parison with the figures in the Society's " Cost of<br />
Production." It must be explained (1) that the<br />
composition includes three lines of small type for<br />
every page, which partly accounts for the difference<br />
betweenthe printers' estimates and that of the<br />
Society; (2) that the estimates are for a single<br />
book, whereas those of the Society are intended, as<br />
approximately as possible, to represent the figures<br />
obtained where a large quantity of printing is<br />
ordered—many books, that is, not one; and (3)<br />
that the estimates include a profit on paper<br />
and binding, which would be avoided by going<br />
direct to paper-makers and binders, and ordering<br />
in large quantities.<br />
Even with these additions to the cost, an edition<br />
of 1000 copies can be produced by a first-class<br />
London house at a cost of ,£21 less than the<br />
estimate of the Society.<br />
Twenty-Bix sheets at 320 words to a page. The edition to<br />
consist of 1000 copies.<br />
Society<br />
(P- 47)-<br />
£.<br />
t.<br />
d.<br />
£.<br />
8. d.<br />
£.<br />
d.<br />
4.<br />
Composing )<br />
(per sheet) ) 1<br />
18<br />
6 .<br />
.. 2<br />
2 0 .<br />
1<br />
«4<br />
0 .<br />
1<br />
Printing 0<br />
9<br />
0 .<br />
.. 0<br />
10 0<br />
. 0<br />
11<br />
6 .<br />
.. 0<br />
Paper ... 0<br />
9<br />
6 .<br />
.. 0<br />
17 0<br />
0<br />
16<br />
6 .<br />
1<br />
Moulding... 0<br />
S<br />
0 .<br />
.. 0<br />
5 4<br />
.. 0<br />
6<br />
0 .<br />
0<br />
Binding ... 0<br />
0<br />
5 â– <br />
.. 0<br />
0 6<br />
.. 0<br />
0<br />
9*<br />
.. 0<br />
IOI<br />
8<br />
8<br />
[21<br />
12 8<br />
125<br />
10<br />
8<br />
136<br />
9 o<br />
* Half open.<br />
V.—Cost of Binding.<br />
It is no longer necessary to continue the note<br />
as to the increased cost of binding. Binding has<br />
not increased; it has gone down. There is before<br />
us an estimate from a first-class bookbinder for a<br />
single book, not for a number of books. The<br />
estimate, with a specimen showing excellent work,<br />
is 30.V. per 100 copies, i.e., 3 a volume. Now, if<br />
a large number of copies could be ordered at once,<br />
the cost would be very much less. Therefore,<br />
the price per copy estimated in the "Cost of Pro-<br />
duction" may stand till further notice.<br />
VI.—Copyright in Photographs.<br />
A case is reported in the Birmingliam Post<br />
which seems to consider the copyright in photo-<br />
graphs to be established as soon as the photo-<br />
graph is taken. If the case is properly reported<br />
the facts were as follows: A. B., the photo-<br />
grapher, took a portrait of C. D., who paid<br />
nothing for the first dozen, but did pay the ordi-<br />
nary price for the next dozen. Certain local<br />
printers then printed some 400 copies, either for<br />
sale or for distribution, whereupon the photo-<br />
grapher took the case before the Petty Sessions.<br />
The defence was that there was no written agree-<br />
ment. The Bench fined the defendants, and<br />
ordered them to give up the block.<br />
VII.—Schopenhauer on Authorship, Copy-<br />
right, and Style—Amendment of Copy-<br />
right Law.<br />
Schopenhauer's essay on authorship and style,<br />
ably translated by Mrs. Rudolph Dircks, and to<br />
be had for I*. 6f/. with a dozen of his other<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 233 (#671) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
233<br />
essays, contains so much that is good as to choice of<br />
a title, and avoidance of diffuseness and obscurity,<br />
that every author who can spare the time would<br />
do well to read it through if he has not already<br />
done so. But in saying that " writing for money<br />
and the preservation of copyright are the ruin of<br />
literature," he not only said what is not true,<br />
but flew in the face of our EDglish Copyright<br />
Act (passed in the fifty-seventh year of his age),<br />
which by its preamble declares its object to have<br />
been "to afford greater encouragement to the<br />
production of literary works of lasting benefit to<br />
the world."<br />
That Act now confessedly requiring amend-<br />
ment in certain particulars, as pointed out in the<br />
Report of the Royal Commission of 1878, a Bill<br />
to promote the more urgent amendments was<br />
prepared by members of the Authors' Society,<br />
acting in concert with representatives of the Pub-<br />
lishers' Association and the Copyright Associa-<br />
tion last year, and intrusted to Lord Monkswell,<br />
who carried it through the House of Lords, after<br />
an investigation (with the aid of witnesses) by a<br />
Select Committee, and has kindly consented to<br />
reintroduce it, as amended by that committee, in<br />
the approaching Session. It may reasonably be<br />
hoped that the House of Lords will again pass<br />
the Bill, but popular enthusiasm for it can hardly<br />
be expected to be warm enough to make success<br />
in the House of Commons a certainty.<br />
The Bill was printed at length, together with a<br />
memorandum of its contents, in an Author of<br />
last year. Shortly put, its effect is to make trans-<br />
lations infringements of copyright, to reduce<br />
from twenty-eight years to three the period at<br />
the end of which contributors to periodicals may<br />
separately publish their contributions, to simplify<br />
copyright in lectures, to prohibit abridgments<br />
without the consent of the owner of the copy-<br />
right in the work abridged, to make the dramati-<br />
sation of novels and the novelisation of dramas<br />
alike infringements of copyright, and to give a<br />
summary remedy for the infringement of dramatic<br />
copyright.<br />
Judging from the declarations of Lord Dudley<br />
in the House of Lords, on the second reading of<br />
Lord Monkswell's Bill, it may, perhaps, be hoped<br />
that the Government will come forward, in the<br />
forthcoming Session, with a measure of their own.<br />
"The Board of Trade," the noble lord is reported<br />
in the Times to have said, "would he quite<br />
ready to introduce a Bill, dealing not only with<br />
the amendment of the copyright law but also<br />
with its consolidation," when certain negotiations<br />
between this country, the colonies, and foreign<br />
countries should be completed.<br />
I would venture to suggest, however, that the<br />
consideration of amendment, apart from and<br />
prior to consolidation, would be for the interest<br />
of all parties concerned.<br />
Such a consideration would, in all probability,<br />
give us something before the end of the Session,<br />
whereas the consideration in one whole of a con-<br />
solidating and amending Bill would be only too<br />
likely to end in nothing. J. M. Lely.<br />
NEW YORK LETTER.<br />
New York, Jan. 18.<br />
ONE of the members of a large publishing<br />
firm, having a house in England as well<br />
as in New York, said the other day that<br />
there was a rapidly growing interest in Great<br />
Britain in historical and literary works about the<br />
United States, especially in those which go into<br />
the causes of its development in various direc-<br />
tions. It is very probable that the scheme which<br />
the Macmillan Company is about to carry out<br />
will find almost as much attention on the other<br />
side of the water as on this. It is the publication<br />
of the sixth volume of Craik's "English Prose,"<br />
dealing with the United States. The preparation<br />
of this volume and the amount of attention given<br />
to the different writers really involves the task of<br />
placing American prose writers in the order of<br />
their importance more carefully than has ever<br />
been done before. The work is in charge of<br />
Professor Geo. R. Carpenter, of Columbia, whose<br />
books on grammar and rhetoric, besides his occa-<br />
sional writings and college teaching, have made<br />
him well known. He is particularly fitted also to<br />
reach a final decision of this kind by tempera-<br />
ment, and to carry it out successfully by wide<br />
acquaintance with living writers. In selecting<br />
the men to criticise the authors he will draw<br />
somewhat on English as well as on the leading<br />
American critics. The task is somewhat simpli-<br />
fied by the fact that only dead writers will be<br />
dealt with.<br />
The longest space will be given to seven<br />
authors, namely, Hawthorne, Holmes, Irving,<br />
Lowell, Cooper, Emerson, and Poe. The selection<br />
of these seven for a little fuller attention than<br />
any of the others means practically that they are,<br />
from a strictly literary point of view, the most<br />
important authors that this country has produced.<br />
Personally, I should be inclined to doubt whether<br />
Irving and Holmes will in the long run find<br />
their places ahead of two men who come in the<br />
second rank. Of course, the authors are not<br />
divided off this way in the book, and the relative<br />
amount of importance attached to them is indi-<br />
cated by space only. That Emerson, Hawthorne,<br />
and Lowell come first would hardly be disputed<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 234 (#672) ############################################<br />
<br />
234<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
by anyone, and the originality of Poe, and espe-<br />
cially the very American originality of Cooper,<br />
probably make it safe to put them next.<br />
In the second class are Whitman, Thoreau,<br />
Franklin, Parkman, Motley, and Webster.<br />
Whitman is just now enjoying a special vogue,<br />
and it is impossible to form any valuable guess<br />
at the verdict of time in his case. New editions<br />
of his works have been issued recently, and<br />
another will be issued at once, and Whitman<br />
societies are forming in various parts of the<br />
country, with the same spirit of worship which<br />
marked the Browning excitement in a few of our<br />
cities some years ago. Thoreau is marked by the<br />
intense admiration of a comparatively small<br />
number of intelligent readers. Parkman and<br />
Motley, of course, owe their main value to their<br />
historical comprehension of the tendencies of<br />
American civilisation. The other two men are<br />
the ones who seem to me to belong in the very<br />
first rank of American literature; especially<br />
Franklin, who has been appreciated time and<br />
again for his common sense, judgment, and inven-<br />
tion, but much less than he deserves to be for his<br />
peculiar and permanent literary charm.<br />
The others who are admitted come in the third<br />
class, and include Cotton Mather, Jonathan<br />
Edwards, Prescott, Lincoln, Washington, Jeffer-<br />
son, Samuel Adams, Mrs. Stowe, George WiUiam<br />
Curtis, Tom Paine, Chauning, Margaret Fuller,<br />
Hamilton, Madison, Phillips, Garrison, Sumner,<br />
and Calhoun. Of these writers it may certainly<br />
be said as a generality, that the earlier ones are<br />
far more interesting. Alexander Hamilton has<br />
an importance not only for what he thought, but<br />
for the way he expressed his ideas, which puts<br />
him very near the top in genuine literary interest.<br />
Edwards is among the most important figures for<br />
students of our life and literature to understand,<br />
for he represented Calvinism at its height as ably<br />
as Franklin represented common sense and<br />
Emerson Transcendentalism. Samuel Adams and<br />
Tom Paine and Margaret Fuller were all jour-<br />
nalists essentially. They all have a profound<br />
interest for that kind of strong, scattered influence<br />
on their times which American journalists have<br />
exerted and still do exert. Washington is in only<br />
by courtesy, I fancy, as his writing is common-<br />
place, and Lincoln is probably included mainly<br />
for one great speech. The importance of George<br />
William Curtis is a very difficult thing for me to<br />
understand. It is practically certain that when<br />
the volume appears it will give rise to more dis-<br />
cussion about the various landmarks of American<br />
literature than any book of recent times.<br />
Other works somewhat allied to this in interest<br />
will also be brought out shortly. Professor<br />
Moses Coit Tyler is preparing a volume on the<br />
literary history of the American Republic during<br />
the first half century of its independence, to be<br />
published by Putnam. The two volumes on the<br />
literature of the Revolution, also published by<br />
the Putnams, were so valuable in bringing these<br />
fertile fields within the reach of the ordinarv<br />
reader, that this new volume will attract especial<br />
attention. The same author will also publish a<br />
series of works, through the Putnams, called "A<br />
Century of American Statesmen," beginning with<br />
Jefferson and coming down to our day. The<br />
first volume will include chapters on Jefferson,<br />
Hamilton, Burr, John Randolph, Josiah Quiney,<br />
Madison, Monroe, Gallatin, Marshall, and John<br />
Quincy Adams.<br />
Senator Perkins has introduced into Congress<br />
a Bill proposing a change in the copyright law.<br />
by which six copies of every book published in<br />
the United States must be deposited with the<br />
Librarian of Congress iu order to secure copy-<br />
right, instead of the present number of two. One<br />
of these copies is to be given to the public librarian<br />
at Chicago, one at Denver, one at San Francisco,<br />
and one at New Orleans. It is said that this<br />
Bill is backed by the Librarian Association of<br />
Central California, which wishes to get books<br />
nearer home than the Congressional Library, and<br />
so proposes to steal them from the authors or<br />
publishers under forms of law. There is cer-<br />
tainly very little probability that the Bill will<br />
pass.<br />
There has been a good deal of agitation lately<br />
about the effect of the immense sale of books by<br />
the department stores on t he publishing business.<br />
A recent investigator finds that, although it is<br />
easy to get standard works very cheap in almost<br />
any one of these mammoth shops, uew books<br />
are much slower in finding their way to them.<br />
His optimistic conclusion is, that there will be<br />
plenty of business for the regular publishers at<br />
the same time that standard literature is brought<br />
at a cheaper price within reach of the large<br />
reading public. Norman Hapgooo.<br />
THE BIRTHDAY OF THE "ATHEN.EUM."<br />
ON Jan. i, 1828, the first number of the<br />
Atheiueum was published, the first editor,<br />
or proprietor, being Mr. James Silk.<br />
Buckingham. Teii years afterwards the paper<br />
passed into the hands of a member of the family<br />
with which it still remains.<br />
It was reasonable, and to be expected, that the<br />
present conductors of the journal should take the<br />
opportunity of congratulating themselves upon<br />
the long life and honourable record of their paper.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 235 (#673) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
235<br />
It will be acknowledged, I think, that, although<br />
there may have been cases of injustice and incom-<br />
petence, even of personal spite—all of which it<br />
is extremely difficult to keep out of a literary<br />
paper—the Athenseum has deserved well of litera-<br />
ture during the whole of this long period. In<br />
some branches, especially that of poetry, there<br />
has been a very high standard of criticism,<br />
maintained to the present day with no falling off<br />
as to canons and standards, and with increased<br />
generosity and readiness of appreciation. It will<br />
also be acknowledged that the reviews of im-<br />
portant works have generally been confided not<br />
only to scholars of the branch of learning con-<br />
cerned, but also to men of fairness and justice.<br />
"But," to quote from the paper, "what the<br />
Athenseum specially claims to have inherited<br />
without change from the t-aditions of its founders<br />
is that deep sense of the enormous responsi-<br />
bility of anonymous criticism which is seen<br />
in every line contributed by the Maurice and<br />
Sterling group who spoke through its columns.<br />
While in a signed article the things said have the<br />
power of the utterer's voice and none other, in an<br />
unsigned article the speaker is clothed with all<br />
the authority of the journal in which he writes.<br />
Even for those who are behind the scenes, and<br />
know that the critique expresses the opinion of<br />
only one writer, it is difficult not to be impressed<br />
by the accent of authority in the editorial' we.'<br />
But with regard to the general public, the reader<br />
of a review article finds it impossible to escape<br />
from the authority of the 'we,' and the power<br />
of a single writer to benefit or to injure an author<br />
is so great that none but the most deeply conscien-<br />
tious men ought to enter the ranks of the anonymous<br />
reviewers. These were the views of Maurice and<br />
Sterling: and that they are shared by all the best<br />
writers of our time there can be no doubt." Some<br />
very illustrious men have given very emphatic<br />
expression to them. "There is one kind of mis-<br />
creant," said Eossetti, " a miscreant who in kind<br />
of meanness and infamy cannot well be beaten,<br />
the man who in an anonymous journal tells the<br />
world that a poem or picture is bad when he<br />
knows it to be good. That is the man who should<br />
never defile my hand by his touch. By God, if I<br />
met such a man at a dinner-table I must not kick<br />
him, I suppose; but I could not, and would not,<br />
taste bread and salt with him. I would quietly<br />
get up and go." Tennyson, on afterwards being<br />
told this story, said: "And who would not do<br />
the same? Such a man has been guilty of sacri-<br />
lege—sacrilege against art."<br />
When the Athenaeum was founded, the literary<br />
papers were regarded as "the mere bellows of the<br />
great publishing forges," used only to puff their<br />
books. The mere suspicion of such a thing is fatal<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
to the authority of a literary paper. "Trade<br />
criticism " was the name of this blowing of the<br />
bellows. The Athenseum announced that it would<br />
be " under the influence of no publisher."<br />
Next to " Trade Criticism," the chief abhorrence<br />
of the early writers for the Athenseum was " the<br />
cheap smartness of Jeffrey and certain of his<br />
coadjutors."<br />
"From its commencement the Athenseum has<br />
striven to avoid slashing and smart writing. A<br />
difficult thing to avoid, no doubt, for nothing is<br />
so easy to achieve as that insolent and vulgar<br />
slashing which the half-educated amateur thinks<br />
so clever. Of all forms of writing, the founders<br />
of the Athenseum held the shallow smart style to<br />
be the cheapest and also the most despicable.<br />
And here again the views of the Athenseum have<br />
remainel unchanged."<br />
The Athenaeum rejoices in its early appreciation<br />
of Coleridge, Southey, Wordsworth, Tennyson,<br />
and others,<br />
There are still modern dragons to fight. "Trade<br />
Criticism " is not dead, although scotched. The<br />
"log-roller " is always with us—let us hope that<br />
he may keep out of the Athenaeum. The spiteful<br />
misiepresenter is also with us: and the " smart<br />
slasher." There are also two new dragons,<br />
neither of them to be despised: the critic who<br />
does not read the books he is paid to review, and<br />
the review that has an eye to the advertisements.<br />
This last is, perhaps, the modern form of " Trade<br />
Criticism." Publishers' advertisements ought<br />
not to be considered, because publishers must of<br />
necessity advertise in a literary organ of authority.<br />
The very honesty and fearlessness which some of<br />
them would fain see corrupted and defiled by<br />
dishonest puffs of their wares, make an advertise-<br />
ment in the columns of such a paper absolutely<br />
necessary to every publisher.<br />
Therefore, let us look to the fat layer of<br />
advertisements in each number of the Athenseum<br />
as a sign that its reputation and its authority are<br />
based upon a seventy years' record of honesty and<br />
competence, and fearlessness.<br />
One may take this opportunity of acknowledg-<br />
ing the position of the Athenaeum with regard to<br />
our Society. It was not to be expecteJ that<br />
attacks would not be made upon us by those<br />
persons whose interest it is to keep from writers<br />
the truth about the administration of their<br />
estates. The publication of such attacks we had<br />
no reason to resent, provided there was a fair field<br />
and no favour. There has been a fair field: our<br />
replies have always been inserted, with the result<br />
that the Society has advanced year after year<br />
always the stronger for every attack made upon<br />
it. Perhaps in another seventy years another<br />
cause for congratulation will be that the Athenseum<br />
x<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 236 (#674) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
at the outset gave a fair field and no favour<br />
to men of letters â– when they were struggling<br />
towards independence. For this reason, if for<br />
no other, one reproduces with all good wishes<br />
for the future the words with which the Athenivum<br />
of Jan. i sums up its retrospect:—" We look<br />
back through our career and recall the writers<br />
whose talents have gone to make the journal<br />
what it is—writers like Charles Lamb, Landor,<br />
Thomas Hood, Maurice, Sterling, Carlyle, Leigh<br />
Hunt, Hazlitt, Douglas Jerrold, Mrs. Browning,<br />
Barry Cornwall, Mary Brotherton, Miss Strick-<br />
land, Sydney Dobell, Archbishop Whately, West-<br />
land Marston, Faraday, Sir William Hamilton,<br />
Sir Charles Lyell, and the rest. We remember<br />
the rise and fall of smart journal after smart<br />
journal, whose audacity or whose insolence or<br />
whose fireworks were to illuminate the course and<br />
eclipse all those old-fashioned drivers with the<br />
dull motto of ' honesty and fair play.' We look<br />
back, and we remember these things, and the<br />
future seems full of hope." W. B.<br />
NOTES AND NEWS.<br />
f 11HE best of the attacks by publishers, one of<br />
I which is dealt with in another part of<br />
this issue, is that they do the Society of<br />
Authors so much good. One would wish for one<br />
every week. They generally, besides, lead to side<br />
lights of an unexpected kind. Who, for instance,<br />
would have suspected that publishers are united<br />
together for the purpose of preserving the<br />
honour of the trade't Yet it must be so, for<br />
Mr. Heinemann says so. "We publishers," he<br />
declares, "are anxious—no class more so—to<br />
purge our ranks of black sheep if they exist."<br />
This is very good reading. We had hitherto<br />
been under the impression that publishers had<br />
neither the desire nor the power of "purging"<br />
their ranks of black sheep. Perhaps they have<br />
not the desire because they have not the power.<br />
However, let us see. If a publisher solemnly<br />
assures an author that the figures given in these<br />
pages and in the "Cost of Production" are<br />
wholly wrong and untrustworthy: that he cannot<br />
print on those terms, and that he cannot sell<br />
his books on the terms there presented; if, at the<br />
same time, he is disputing with another writer<br />
who knows whether a book can be produced on<br />
terms actually lower than those figures; if he is<br />
therefore a liar and a " black sheep," and if he was<br />
presented to the Publishers' Association as such,<br />
what would that body do "to purge their ranks<br />
of this black sheep "? They cannot forbid him<br />
to publish: they cannot forbid booksellers to sell<br />
him: they cannot forbid the public to buy him.<br />
Then what can they do Y What purgative medi-<br />
cine will they apply? However, it is pleasant<br />
to learn that there has arisen this new and unex-<br />
pected development in the direction of virtue.<br />
The Academy has made its selection of the<br />
two best books of the year. The judges have<br />
chosen a poet for the first prize. To Mr.<br />
Stephen Phillips has been awarded the first<br />
"crown " of 100 guineas; to Mr. W. E. Henley,<br />
for his *' Burns," has been awarded the second<br />
"crown" of fifty guineas. If Mr. Henley has<br />
ever derided the custom of "crowning " books, it<br />
is hoped that the arrival of this substantial<br />
coronet will change his views. To the younger<br />
man the prize will bring with it a great increase<br />
of popularity, with a corresponding demand for<br />
his works. It will probably lift him out of the<br />
unregarded class of minor poets into the front<br />
rank. There can be no doubt that, if this<br />
"crowning" of writers is continued, the honour<br />
will be derided by some and questioned by some,<br />
but it will be refused by none and it will be<br />
coveted by all. That the practice will produce a<br />
beneficial effect on literature I do not doubt, for<br />
the simple reasons that style and form will be the<br />
first things considered, and that young writers<br />
will have the necessity of attending to style and<br />
form kept constantly before their eyes.<br />
A lady sends me a letter from a daily paper in<br />
which the writer very humorously calls the atten-<br />
tion of a critic in that paper to the fact that Sir<br />
Walter Scott did not, as he stated, write the<br />
lines:—<br />
Thanks, dear sir, for your venison, for finer or fatter,<br />
Never roamed in a foreBt or smoked on a platter.<br />
He says: "They are the opening lines of a<br />
poem, ' The Haunch of Venison,' by a man named<br />
Goldsmith—to be precise, Oliver Goldsmith.<br />
This Goldsmith was a contemporary of a Dr.<br />
Johnson, an eminent lexicographer of the last<br />
century. If your reviewer takes an interest in<br />
English literature, he might do worse than buy a<br />
collected edition of Goldsmith's works."<br />
My correspondent speaks of "ignorant and<br />
incompetent reviewers." Yes; but this funny<br />
mistake does not prove either ignorance or<br />
incompetence. There is no end to the extraordi-<br />
nary mistakes which a journalist may make. I<br />
do not for a moment believe that this writer<br />
really thought that the lines were Scott's, but<br />
that he got confused for the moment. The<br />
mistake is too elementary to betray ignorance.<br />
Of course, it laid the writer open to the neat<br />
little letter from which I have quoted. My<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 237 (#675) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
237<br />
correspondent goes on to say that she has before<br />
her a " notice" in the same paper, so full of mis-<br />
statements that it must have been written by<br />
someone who had not read the book at all. Just<br />
so: it has been pointed out over and over again<br />
that no scale of pay—not the most lavish ever<br />
offered—will make it possible for the writers of<br />
short "notices" to read the books. The writers<br />
are not to blame: it takes the best part of a day<br />
for a book to be read and reviewed; when the<br />
review has to be compressed into a few lines, who<br />
can afford to spend many minutes upon it?<br />
This consideration seems to me perfectly simple<br />
and harmless: it has, however, been violently<br />
assailed. Would it not be possible to give up the<br />
short " notice" altogether, and to give instead a<br />
column "describing" the books—subject, length,<br />
price, illustrations, outline, and statement of its<br />
intentions and aims, and so forth? In the case of<br />
poetry, would it be impossible to give a specimen<br />
to show the author's powers, all this without a<br />
word of praise or blame? Eeviews, on the other<br />
hand, would be given only of books judged of<br />
sufficient importance to deserve one: they<br />
would be written seriously, they would be of<br />
reasonable length, and they would not be<br />
entrusted to friend or enemy of the author. A<br />
long review in a great daily is a prize for the<br />
author; to be considered important is a "crown-<br />
ing" of the book. Some change in this direction<br />
seems necessary unless the reputation of the<br />
reviewer and the influence of the review are to<br />
decay and die altogether.<br />
Mr. Birrell, Q.C., M.P., the Queen's Professor<br />
of Law, University College, will deliver a series<br />
of lectures on Copyright at the Old Hall,<br />
Lincoln's-inn, on Monday and Friday afternoons,<br />
at 4.30, beginning on Friday, Feb. 4, until the<br />
course is completed. These lectures—open to the<br />
public, without payment or ticket—will be very<br />
interesting to members of the Society, as according<br />
to the syllabus, in addition to other important<br />
matters, the present state of public opinion on<br />
copyright will be treated, the Authors' Society,<br />
the commercial value of copyright, and last but<br />
by no means least, the Society's amending Bill<br />
that passed the House of Lords last Session.<br />
A correspondent sends the following correc-<br />
tion: "With regard to the statement in The Author<br />
of Jan , 1898, that'ten or twelve years ago a ten<br />
per cent, royalty was the utmost ever offered,'<br />
I am informed of instances to the contrary<br />
(royalties of one-sixth and sometimes one-fifth<br />
of the published price) in the practice of one<br />
leading house between fifteen and twenty years<br />
ago. But, with the substitution of 'commonly'<br />
for ' ever' I still believe the original statement<br />
to be correct, and in that form it is sufficient for<br />
its purpose." o-c<br />
In order to strengthen the assertion referred to,<br />
in case it should be disputed, I referred the matter<br />
to one who knows better than myself the former<br />
practice as regards royalties. He assures uie that<br />
the statement is practically quite correct. "The<br />
former custom used to be a ten per cent, royalty<br />
with half the profits from American and Conti-<br />
nental editions. But there were certain excep-<br />
tions." Among them he mentioned one or two<br />
writers who were able to extort larger royalties.<br />
Walter Besant.<br />
THE DISCOUNT SYSTEM.<br />
IT was to be expected that the Report of the<br />
Society on the Discount System would be<br />
received with a certain amount of dissatis-<br />
faction, especially from those publishers who<br />
desire to enslave the bookseller, and those book-<br />
sellers who see no hope except in slavery.<br />
Among the letters and papers issued on the<br />
subject, there is one by Mr. Robert MacLehose, of<br />
Glasgow, which is remarkable for its extreme<br />
virulence. He says, among other things :—<br />
"The main ideas underlying the Report are<br />
three: (1.) That a very low place is to be given<br />
to literature generally. (2.) That the novel<br />
must be taken as the standard on which all<br />
calculations are to be based. (3.) That the pub-<br />
lisher is not to be trusted."<br />
The reason for the first idea is difficult to be<br />
gathered from his words. He quotes Mrs. Oliphant<br />
as saying that "Literature is now weighed by the<br />
thousand words, like a packet of tea," and says<br />
that the Society accepts the "gentle irony" in<br />
serious earnest. I wonder what he means, except<br />
that he is certainly muddling things. If literature<br />
is sold there is but. one way of selling it, by the<br />
book. Or, if we regard the author, by the MS.<br />
Does Mr. MacLehose mean that a poem by Swin-<br />
burne would be bought by an editor by the<br />
thousand words? Or does he pretend that the<br />
Society has ever said so? In the sale of papers<br />
and stories to magazines, undoubtedly length<br />
must be considered; whether length is reckoned<br />
by so many sheets or by so many thousand words<br />
makes no difference. The second point is that<br />
the Society has only considered the novel. The<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 238 (#676) ############################################<br />
<br />
238<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
average book considered is the 6s. book simply<br />
because it is a convenient and a common form.<br />
Afterwards he attacks our figures.<br />
The Report said the bookseller makes a profit of<br />
"lod. to a shilling in the sale of a book for<br />
4«. 6d." It is impossible to state his profit<br />
exactly, because there are so many different prices.<br />
This, however, is acknowledged to be very near<br />
the mark.<br />
Mr. MacLehose says we are wrong because we<br />
have not reckoned the working expenses. But we<br />
do not reckon publishers' working expenses when<br />
we say that their profit on a book of the kind<br />
which pays a shilling royalty is eighteenpence<br />
when the sale is large. Nor do we reckon the<br />
author's working expenses.<br />
The next " idea" is that the publisher is not to<br />
be trusted.<br />
Very well. That is most true. The confidence<br />
that should be reposed in a publisher is neither<br />
more nor less than should be reposed in any other<br />
man of business. When property is administered,<br />
as a book, for its creator, the same precautions<br />
must be observed as in any other form of business.<br />
One does not "trust" the man in the street when<br />
he proposes to take your house and to fix his own<br />
rent—if he pays any. We are quite right in<br />
pointing out all the dangers and all the possibili-<br />
ties of over-reaching, or of trickery, or of fraud;<br />
and no honest publisher has any reason to be<br />
offended at the attitude which we recommend in<br />
business of this kind, an attitude which he himself<br />
assumes in every other kind of transaction.<br />
Therefore, of the three " main ideas" advanced by<br />
this gentleman the first two are silly stuff, and the<br />
third is not only a simple precaution, but a simple<br />
necessity. Of course when a writer sits down<br />
with the intention of finding materials to feed his<br />
wrath upon we expect incoherence.<br />
The Bookseller contains half a dozen letters,<br />
chiefly from country booksellers, on the question.<br />
These letters express strong disappointment for<br />
the most part: indignation with some. One<br />
writer says that it was a "gigantic mistake of<br />
the publishers to consult the authors in any way<br />
whatever." In other words, the administrators<br />
of property are not to consult the owners! One<br />
writer, however, Mr. Simms, of Bath (where the<br />
great number of booksellers seems to show a<br />
healthy condition of trade), takes a more sensible<br />
view:—<br />
As regards the Publishers' Association, I believe their<br />
policy (defeated for the present) to be, if not illegal, at least<br />
unwise and doomed to fail ultimately. Of what other busi-<br />
ness besides the bookseller can it be said that the owner of<br />
goods bought and paid for is liable to dictation as to how<br />
he Bhall dispose of them to his customers P It is rumoured<br />
that other means are to be resorted to to bring about the<br />
desired equalisation of discounts. If bo, they will fail, as other<br />
schemes have done, and deservedly so. I don't admit the con-<br />
dition of the country bookseller to be so very desperate. Only<br />
let him face the difficulty and fight it manfully. Leaving alone<br />
the new book trade, which is not worth his notice, let him take<br />
up the "remainder" and second-hand business (books of<br />
the day), the chief reprints which in these days are made bo<br />
attractive, and copy the tactics of his neighbour the draper,<br />
who with his unjust "Wonderful Bargains," "Alarming<br />
Sacrifice," Ac, arrests the attention of passers-by to<br />
"compel them to oome in "—and inasmuoh as the draper<br />
does not scruple to sell books and stationery, so let the<br />
bookseller add to his stock purses and haberdashery, or<br />
anything else (their name is legion) which oomea under the<br />
title of fancy goods. By these means he may hope to leave<br />
off deploring his sad fate, and find life after all to be worth<br />
living.<br />
The Committee advocated a great extension of<br />
the sale or return system. It already prevails<br />
to a certain extent. A bookseller, however, com-<br />
plains that a certain publisher will send on sale or<br />
return seven copies to count as six: but if, say,<br />
only five of them are taken and he returns two,<br />
he is not allowed the odd copy: i.e., he pays as if<br />
he had ordered five separate copies. The follow-<br />
ing seems a practical suggestion.<br />
"Here is a suggestion. Let publishers send out<br />
broadcast to the trade advance copies bound in<br />
brown paper. If these were stocked, they could<br />
get orders for bound copies. The difficulty of<br />
sale or return is the enormous proportion of soiled<br />
copies. I am just closing an account, and we are<br />
bothered by a number out on sale or return, as<br />
to which we cannot get any certain information,<br />
and I can understand that to publishers this is a<br />
difficulty."<br />
The whole system of thirteen as twelve is intro-<br />
duced for the apparent benefit of booksellers, and<br />
is used by some publishers—pray observe the<br />
word some, because the next thing will be for<br />
some interested person to proclaim that all are<br />
charged with the offence—-as a means of grinding<br />
the author. Thus he enters in his agreement<br />
that royalties are to be paid on thirteen as twelve.<br />
This is equivalent to a reduction of 8 per cent, on<br />
the author's returns, of which, perhaps, half goes<br />
into the publisher's pocket, for he does not sell<br />
all, or anything like all, at thirteen as twelve. I<br />
believe that the two agents whom we recommend<br />
to our members are awake to this little trick.<br />
The following extract was quoted in the Daily<br />
Chronicle from the New York Nation. We copy<br />
it with gratitude to both papers for publishing so<br />
fair and sensible a summary of the case:<br />
The real difficulty, from the point of view of a cIobc<br />
corporation, or ironclad agreement, among publishers, is<br />
that there is no law, human or divine, by which they have<br />
the sole right to print and sell books. This truth was set<br />
forth with much force by the committee of the Authors'<br />
Society. Granting the desirability of keeping up the prices<br />
of books, there was no way of compelling a popular author<br />
to do it. If he knew that he oould sell 20,000 copies at<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 239 (#677) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
239<br />
one dollar as against only 5000 at two dollars, he would<br />
have the publishers at his mercy. He could print his<br />
book himself, or get a draper or a department store to do it.<br />
And if it were said that he would be kept out of the<br />
regular ohannels of the trade, the answer would be that<br />
one of the big shops often sell more books in an hour than<br />
a country book store does in a year. It thus appears that<br />
book publishing is, in the nature of the case, not a business<br />
which can be monopolised or made into a trust, even if the<br />
majority of authors were willing to see it done.<br />
ANOTHER SPORTING OFFER.<br />
IN the December number of The Author was<br />
published a proposal called a "Sporting<br />
Offer." This was the offer which was made<br />
the subject, as may be seen in another column, of<br />
many inventions by our amiable and imaginative<br />
well-wisher Mr. Alfred Nutt. There is before us<br />
another offer of precisely the same kind, The<br />
publisher humorously proposes to produce an<br />
edition of 2000 copies at 3s. 6d.: and to give the<br />
author a royalty of is.6d. a copy after 250 are<br />
sold. He is, however, to advance the sum of<br />
£112. The beauty of this arrangement is that,<br />
under the most favourable conditions, viz., the<br />
sale of the whole 2000 copies, the author realises<br />
on the whole transaction the magnificent sum of<br />
e£i 5 or so, while the publisher gets all the rest.<br />
Are there, really, people bound to accept such<br />
a proposal?<br />
When a writer pays the publishers for the pro-<br />
duction of his own work—a thing no one should<br />
do except under very exceptional circumstances—<br />
he makes the publisher simply an agent for its<br />
sale. What should he do then?<br />
(1) He should get an estimate from the pub-<br />
lisher of the full cost of production.<br />
(2) He should get another estimate from a<br />
good printer. The latter to be some check on the<br />
former.<br />
(3) It is best to deliver the book bound and<br />
ready for sale to the publisher. This avoids dis-<br />
putes and suspicions.<br />
(4) The author should then pay the publisher<br />
a royalty cr percentage—say 12 J per cent.—on<br />
the sales.<br />
Now compare the difference between this method<br />
and the one proposed in the agreement before<br />
us.<br />
On the most favourable terms, the sale of 2000<br />
. copies—say 1950—of a 3$. 6tl. book would pro-<br />
duce the sum of about ,£210. We then have:<br />
• Cost of production, say £112, since that sum<br />
was asked for.<br />
Publishers' com. at i2| per cent., £2(1 54-.<br />
Author, £71 i$s. instead of £15.<br />
At the same time it must be remembered that a<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
MS. which no publisher will accept is very doubt-<br />
ful. Most probably the sales would not amount<br />
to anything like the whole edition of 2000 copies.<br />
PERSONAL.<br />
LADY MURRAY has just purchased (accord-<br />
ing to the Daily Mail) near Autibes, in<br />
the Riviera, a large house which she pro-<br />
poses to convert into a home of rest for authors<br />
and artists, of any nationality, in poor health and<br />
circumstances. The following are the rules :—â– <br />
1. That the health of the applicant is such as to make a<br />
winter in a mild climate necessary, or at least advisable.<br />
2. That he is unable to obtain this without such assis-<br />
tance as he will find here.<br />
3. That his medical advisers are able to give a fair hope<br />
that, with the benefit of a winter abroad, he will be ablo to<br />
return to his work.<br />
4. That those admitted pay their journey out and back<br />
and £ 1 a week for board and lodging. Personal washing,<br />
extra fires and lights, and wine, will be charged extra. No<br />
dogs allowed.<br />
Applicants should address Lady Murray, at the<br />
Villa Victoria, Cannes. This year the Home will<br />
be open from Feb. 1 to May 31, and in future<br />
years from Nov. 1 to May 31.<br />
Mr, William Black wrote the following letter<br />
to the Scotsman in reply to Mr. Balfour'.s recent<br />
speech on novel-writing :—<br />
At this pacific season of the year, would you allow a<br />
perfectly obscure person to endeavour to calm the perturbed<br />
spirit of Mr. A. J. Balfour f He appears to be agitated<br />
about the probable future of the novel. At Edinburgh the<br />
other day be spoke of " the obvious difficulty which novelists<br />
now find in getting hold of appropriate subjects for their<br />
art to deal with": and again he said, with doubtful<br />
grammar, " Where, gentlemen, is the novelist to find a new<br />
vein? Every country has been ransacked to obtain theatres<br />
on which their imaginary characters are to show themselves<br />
off," and so forth. Mr. Balfour may reassure himself. So<br />
long as the world holds two men and a maid, or two maids<br />
and a man, the novelist has abundance of material, and<br />
there is no need to search for a "theatre " while we have<br />
around us the imperishable theatre of the sea and the sky<br />
and the hills. If Mr. Balfour cannot master these simple<br />
and elementary propositions, then it would be well for him<br />
to remain altogether outside the domain of literature, and<br />
to busy himself (when not engaged in party politics) with<br />
somo more recondite subject—say, bimetallism.<br />
The Royal Institution has received £'1000 from<br />
Mrs. Louisa C. Tyndall, the widow of the late<br />
Professor Tyndall, "as an expression of his<br />
attachment to the Institution with which he was<br />
so long connected, and of his sympathy with its<br />
objects." The money will be employed for the<br />
promotion of science.<br />
y<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 240 (#678) ############################################<br />
<br />
240<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
A SPORTING OFFER AGREEMENT.<br />
ri^HE following is a comment upon certain<br />
I remarks of ours on an agreement (see The<br />
Author of December, 1897). Another<br />
agreement on similar lines is considered in the<br />
present number (p. 239). The letter appeared in<br />
the Academy, and was followed by certain obvious<br />
remarks from the editor of this paper.<br />
Nobody heeds statements made by The<br />
Author,Q) which are as little likely to mislead<br />
as those, let me say, of La Libre Parole<br />
or the New York Sun. But copied into your<br />
columns under the title of "A Faulty Agree-<br />
ment" they may do some mischief. It is worth<br />
while, therefore, to examine this characteristic<br />
example of The Author s method of dealing with<br />
figures.<br />
In the agreement criticised the publisher asks<br />
the writer to contribute <£no to the cost of pro-<br />
ducing 1500 copies of his work, and the result<br />
arrived at, according to The Author, is that the<br />
publisher makes close upon M100 profit without<br />
risking a penny, whereas the writer in return<br />
for his risk only nets X'65. Now, in the first<br />
place, the cost of production is set down at, "say,<br />
£100," an assumption based upon nothing but<br />
the conviction that the publisher must inevitably<br />
be trying to swindle the author. (2) Let us see if<br />
we can test its validity. As the book produces<br />
3s. 6f/. to the publisher, it must be published at<br />
6s., and may be assumed to be a crown 8vo. of<br />
12 sheets of 32 pages, or 388 pages at least.(3)<br />
The binding of 1500 copies at 5*7. each (a low<br />
figure) works out at £31, paper for the same<br />
number (36 reams of double crown at 155.) at<br />
£27, so that only £42 are left for composing and<br />
machining 388 pages. I will not say this price<br />
is impossible, but it is very low, and it allows<br />
absolutely no margin for corrections (which may<br />
safely be estimated at from £7 to £10), nor for<br />
the printing of prospectuses, circulars, order<br />
forms, &c, nor for the postage of gratis copies,<br />
nor, most remarkable omission of all (and one<br />
which the Academy should surely have spotted),<br />
for advertising. Unless the author differs greatly<br />
from his kind, and the publisher is less squeez-<br />
able than most of his fellows, this last item<br />
may be put down at £20 at least. In other<br />
words, the cost of production assumed, in<br />
order to create a prejudice against the pub-<br />
lisher, to be £100, is almost certainly from<br />
£130 to £140, and may, if author and publisher<br />
believe in advertising, reach any figure up to<br />
£200. So much for tht basis of The Authors<br />
calculation.<br />
(') Then why pay so much attention to them '{<br />
Hardly a month passes without someone declaring<br />
that no one heeds the statements made in The<br />
Author, and then proving most forcibly that he<br />
does heed them verv much.<br />
(â– ') There is not one word or hint that any<br />
"swindle" was attempted. The agreemeut was<br />
quite open. The author had only to examine<br />
into its meaning, and then to accept or reject. It<br />
is really very unfair on publishers for one of them-<br />
selves to sniff out a swindle with such alacrity.<br />
(3) He lays down a rule, observe. He states<br />
that it is the rule that a certain book must lie at<br />
least 388 pp. in length. There is no such rule.<br />
A great many books of the kind are very much<br />
shorter: the average is very much less, according<br />
to the experience of the Society.<br />
Observe, also, that if this "rule" is proved base-<br />
less, down go the whole of Mr. Nutt's figures.<br />
There is no such rule. There is no such obser-<br />
vance. There is no such custom. The length varies<br />
as in the old-fashioned three-volume novel, whose<br />
length varied from 100,000 words to 300,000 words.<br />
Here are some examples taken from my own<br />
shelves. They are for the most part writers<br />
accepted and popular. I do not buy, as a rule,<br />
novels except by such writers :—<br />
Pages. Sheets.<br />
Rudyard Kipling, "The Light<br />
that Failed". 248 or 15J<br />
Becke, "The First Fleet Family" 271 „ 18A<br />
Barri' A Window in Thrums" 267 „ 14!<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 241 (#679) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Now for some further developments. The sale of<br />
the entire edition is assumed to bring in .£262 10s.<br />
to the publisher (ieoo copies at 3*. 6d.), so that<br />
nothing is deducted for copyright purposes,<br />
nothing for traveller's and office copies, nothing<br />
for gratis copies to the author, nothing (how<br />
came you, Mr. Editor, to pass over this omission'()<br />
for review copies! According to The Author's<br />
calculation the young writer's work has sold<br />
without being circularised, without being adver-<br />
tised, without being reviewed. Lucky young<br />
writer, and yet he and The Author are not<br />
happy. (4)<br />
We are now in a position to substitute for the<br />
misleading figures given by The Author the<br />
following approximately correct ones :—<br />
Pages. Sheets.<br />
Stanley Waterloo, "A Man and a<br />
Woman" 321 „ 20<br />
Mark Twain, "Prince and<br />
Pauper" 332 „ 20}<br />
Couan Doyle," Brigadier Gerard" 334 „ 21<br />
Besant, "Citv of Refuge" 312 „ iyi<br />
J. O. Hobbes", " Some Gods, &e." 296 „ 185<br />
Rider Haggard, " Nada" 295 „ 18i<br />
„ "Allan Quarter-<br />
main" 278 „ i7i<br />
"Montezuma's<br />
Daughter"... 295 „ i8£<br />
The average length, then, of eleven novels, all by<br />
popular writers, so far from being at least 388<br />
pages, is 295 pages; while the average number of<br />
sheets, so far from being as Mr. Nutt says, 24<br />
sheets of 16 pages, i.e., 12 sheets of 32 pages, is<br />
18^ sheets. It would be quite easy, of course, by<br />
looking about, to find many longer: it would<br />
also be quite easy to find many shorter. The<br />
average, in my own opinion, as well as that of the<br />
secretary, is about 17 or 18 sheets.<br />
For further proof here is a list taken from the<br />
books standing on a club table. There were<br />
thirteen novels of one volume, all appearing to be<br />
6*. books. One of them, "Peter Halkett," only<br />
reaches 264 pages by using very large type.<br />
God's Foundling 316<br />
Peter Halkett..'. 264<br />
Count Antonio 337<br />
Christie Murray's "Tales" 271<br />
Pride of Jennico 346<br />
Martha Washington 283<br />
Miss Balmaine's Past 324<br />
Folly of Pen Harrington 248<br />
A Hard Woman 346<br />
The Tormentor 288<br />
Traits and Confidences 372<br />
David L* all 302<br />
Way of Marriage 308<br />
The average here is 30S pages and 18J sheets.<br />
(*) All this is absolutely without foundation.<br />
Allowance was made for such advertising as<br />
would be spent on such a book, and for review<br />
and other copies.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 242 (#680) ############################################<br />
<br />
242<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
On the sale cf 1500 copies ("') —<br />
£ s.<br />
Cost of production, say 140 o<br />
Royalty to author on 1400<br />
copies (allowing 100 for<br />
gratis copies), at 2*. 6d 17; 10<br />
Profit to publisher 39 10<br />
£ 355 o<br />
By author no<br />
By sale of 1400 (allowing<br />
100 for gratis copies),<br />
at 3.V. 6d 245<br />
355 o<br />
Ex hypothesi the author risks A'no and gets<br />
â– £175 10s., or =£65 10s. profit, the publisher risks<br />
^30 and gets ,£39 10*. profit. But if he adver-<br />
tises beyond the figure of ,£20 his risk is increased<br />
pro tauto, and if the advertisement charge rea ches<br />
the figure of ^50, his possible profit is reduced<br />
to a vanishing point. The bargain, assuming<br />
the entire edition to be sold, is a hard one for the<br />
writer, but it is not the iniquitous one denounced<br />
by The Author. Moreover, no mention is made<br />
of the possible failure to sell 100 copies, in which<br />
case tho publisher gets nothing for his risk.<br />
True, the writer is in the same plight, but he has<br />
at the least the satisfaction of seeing his book<br />
published, a satisfaction conceivably worth £\oo<br />
to him, but under no circumstances worth any-<br />
thing to the publisher, unless, indeed, the work<br />
has a scholarly value, and he issue it for the<br />
benefit of science.<br />
I ask you, sir, and readers of the Academy<br />
generally, if it is advisable to give the sanction<br />
of your support to statements which can only be<br />
cleared from the charge of unfair animus by a<br />
plea of gross and ignorant carelessness ? (")<br />
Alfred Nutt.<br />
11.<br />
To my notes, which are the substance of my<br />
reply iu the paper, Mr. Nutt makes a lame<br />
defence. He states :—<br />
'• I do not wish to take up the . tcademy's space<br />
by showing that the other assumptions made by<br />
The Author in order to arrive at its imaginary<br />
balance-sheet are just as reliable as the one I<br />
have examined. One assertion, however, is too<br />
characteristic to be passed over. I pointed out<br />
that The Author made no allowance for review<br />
and presentation copies, and I estimated thern at<br />
100. Sir Walter asserts that only forty would be<br />
used,(r) and that this number would come out of<br />
the ' overs.'(8) I can assure him that the nominal<br />
'overs' do little more than compensate for the<br />
inevitable 'shorts' on a long number. On an<br />
edition of 1500 I should think myself lucky to<br />
(5) All these figures are bowled over by the<br />
simple fact that there is no such " rule " as that<br />
assumed, and that the average is much less than<br />
that advanced for the purpose of destroying the<br />
figures of The Author.<br />
(") There is neither unfair animus nor gross<br />
and ignorant carelessness. The former is cer-<br />
tainly manifest in Mr. Nutt's production. As to<br />
the latter, no—He is not ignorant.<br />
(7) I did not say that " only forty would be used,"<br />
but "I estimate for such a book forty copies."<br />
That is not quite the same thing.<br />
(8) I did not say that "this number would come<br />
out of the ' overs.'" I said that " probably " on<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 243 (#681) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
243<br />
get a clear twelve or fifteen over the nominal<br />
number (on an edition of 500 copies, which I<br />
have just issued, I get one over), and these have<br />
to be reserved against the inevitable chapter of<br />
accidents, returns of damaged copies, &c, the<br />
loss entailed by which would otherwise fall upon<br />
the book."<br />
in.<br />
Again Mr. Nutt comes forward. He now says,<br />
wisely leaving figures alone, "I do not see that I<br />
can say anything fresh. So far from fixing upon<br />
this or that detail, (8) I stated, in the broadest<br />
way, a charge, which Sir Walter Besant makes<br />
absolutely no attempt to meet. Let me restate it<br />
—finally, I hope.(10) A publishing proposal is sub-<br />
mitted to The Author; whether that -proposal be<br />
fair or not obviously depends upon the special<br />
circumstances of the case—extent of the work,<br />
presence or not of illustrations, quality of<br />
paper and binding, amount expended in adver-<br />
tising, &c."<br />
an edition of 1500 there would be enough to<br />
meet the demand. I did so with some knowledge<br />
of " overs."<br />
(") Look back. Why, his letter is all detail.<br />
(10) Very good. This proposition can be met<br />
with the greatest ease. There was no need of<br />
inquiry because it was very well known what<br />
kind of work was offered to the publisher. There<br />
was no need of asking what we knew already.<br />
Mr. Nutt never reads The Author. Just a<br />
copy now and then by accident falls into his<br />
hauds. We congratulate him on having the good<br />
chance of always finding something to make him<br />
fall into an unholy rage. Perhaps, at the same<br />
time, Mr. Thring has been engaged in reading<br />
Mr. Nutt's agreements.<br />
BOOES OP 1897.<br />
rpHE Publishers' Circular has issued its<br />
I usual classified list of books published in<br />
1897. The numbers show an increase of<br />
1010 over those of 1896. We must expect this<br />
increase to go on, because the readers are every<br />
year increasing by leaps and bounds. Every<br />
department shows an increase, except those of<br />
Arts and Sciences, Voyages and Travels, and<br />
Pamphlets. If we consider that a single edition<br />
of 1000 copies represents the average circulation,<br />
then 7,926,000 books have been bought and sold<br />
during the year. If 5.?. be the average price,<br />
this represents a total of £1,981,500 spent on<br />
new books and new editions, without counting<br />
old books, which would, perhaps, come to as<br />
much again. These figures are quite likely to be<br />
wrong, but, some time since, certain publishers<br />
were questioned as to the average book trade, and<br />
some put it down at ,£3,000,000. If, however, a<br />
list were compiled of all the books announced<br />
(not advertised) in the columns of a London<br />
daily, it would not give anything like these<br />
figures. For instance, the novels would include<br />
only those issued by London publishers, which<br />
are, practically, all that need be considered.<br />
These alone would certainly not amount to 1000;<br />
and so with other things.<br />
A more important column is that of the new<br />
editions. They represent not new editions of books<br />
of 1896, but new editions of all the books that<br />
form English literature from the very beginning.<br />
There are probably among them Chaucer, Milton,<br />
Pope, Cowper, Defoe, Scott, Thackeray, Dickens,<br />
Wordsworth, Keats. There are also among<br />
them Barrie, Conan Doyle, Hall Caine, Ian<br />
Maclaren, and many others. The new editions<br />
of the year include probably the whole corpus of<br />
English literature that is thought worth preserv-<br />
ing, except such things as Anglo-Saxon and<br />
Early English Literature, Theology, Philosophy,<br />
History, works of scholarship, and works which<br />
are only wanted and only read by students on<br />
special subjects. Ought " year books and serials<br />
in volumes" to be counted? If so, we ought<br />
surely to include Army Lists and Law Lists, and<br />
the Cambridge Calendar.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 244 (#682) ############################################<br />
<br />
244<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
CORRESPONDENCE.<br />
I.—Paper Covers.<br />
IS there any reason why it pays publishers in<br />
America to issue, at the same time, two<br />
editions of their books—a dollar edition in<br />
cloth, a quarter-dollar one in paper covers—while<br />
English publishers bring out only a single 6s.<br />
edition \ I would put in a plea for paper covers.<br />
There are numbers of persons who do not care to<br />
belong to librarips and cannot afford to lay out<br />
money in expensive books that they may or may<br />
not like; just as there are many who would never<br />
buy one that would not look well on their book-<br />
shelves. It seems a pity all classes should not be<br />
catered for here as in America. X.<br />
II.—The Problem op Publishing.<br />
Ten years ago nothing was more common than<br />
a royalty of 10 per cent., or even 5 per cent.<br />
"Where is now the publisher who dares offer a<br />
royalty of 5 per cent. '<" I quote from the Decem-<br />
ber Author. I believe a 10 per cent, royalty is still<br />
very commonly offered to authors who have made<br />
no particular mark, and many are glad enough to<br />
get it. I refused it for a book I wrote a year and<br />
a half ago, and have since had no offer at all!<br />
My first novel was a success, and several pub-<br />
lishers wrote to me asking to see my second.<br />
This was instantly snapped up It was not a<br />
success, although critical persons declared it<br />
vastly superior to my first. The third has been<br />
going the weary round for eighteen months, and<br />
seems doomed to go on for ever, despite the judg-<br />
ment of several readers (unknown to me person-<br />
ally) who have praised its literary merit!" Not<br />
likely to be popular" is the usual verdict. I<br />
wa3 a year studying my characters and think-<br />
ing over this novel; another year writing it.<br />
Three years and a half have gone by. How<br />
can I stand out for a 15 or 20 per cent, royalty?<br />
Is it not natural that, as I feel convinced this<br />
is the best work I have done—the most care-<br />
ful, thoughtful, and ambitious—I shall be ready<br />
to jump at any chance of getting it published't<br />
Is it surprising that I am inclined to say to<br />
a publisher, "Give me what you can after<br />
expenses are paid; only let my book see the<br />
light"?<br />
What is to be done? I can't make a publisher<br />
share my conviction, and unfortunately it is a fact<br />
that a book may be good and yet not sell. Of<br />
course, I can wait a few more years, but the MS.<br />
is getting very dog-eared, and I paid nearly ,£6<br />
for having it typed.<br />
It has to come out, and I can't afford to<br />
pay for its production. What then p It must<br />
he given awav—if I can find anyone to accept<br />
it1<br />
One of the Unarrived.<br />
III. —The Fate of the "Unknown."<br />
A friend of mine recently proposed to submit a<br />
MS. novel to a London publisher. In the course<br />
of the publisher's reply, he said, " I regret to say<br />
that it would be useless to send it (that is, the<br />
MS.) to me, or, I imagine, to anyone else, to<br />
publish, unless you are prepared to incur the risk<br />
and expense. Novels by 'unknown' writers are<br />
not the sort of books we care to take up as a<br />
commercial speculation."<br />
So the murder is out at last! Hapless authors,<br />
anxious for fame and cash, are deluging the<br />
publishers with manuscripts good and bad, new<br />
and old. The average publisher courteously<br />
permits the anxious author to forward his manu-<br />
script, and, after the lapse of a decent period,<br />
courteously returns it to him again. Here,<br />
however, is one publisher who has the courage of<br />
his convictions, and declnres that if you happeu<br />
to be " unknown " you must remain "unknown"<br />
for .ever, unless your pocket is deep enough to pay<br />
for the production of your own work. O shades<br />
of Dickens and Scott! Other authors, please<br />
copy! ^ Richard Free.<br />
IV. —Proposed Journalists' Union.<br />
Although your organ is primarily intended for<br />
the interests of authors, you have, I believe, before<br />
now generously permitted the bitter cry of the<br />
poor journalist to be heard in its columns. Will<br />
you allow me, then, to appeal to my brothers and<br />
sisters of the trade or profession—or whatever<br />
they like to call it—of journalism, to consider<br />
whether some union may not be formed to compel<br />
(of course, by moral, not legal, pressure) the pro-<br />
prietors of magazines and weekly journals to pay<br />
cash for the literary goods they purchase, or,<br />
failing this, to pay higher terms for credit. If<br />
this became the custom, instead of as now, a favour,<br />
the editor of a magazine would no more keep<br />
a contributor waiting six months or twelve months<br />
for productions he has purchased than he<br />
would his butcher or baker. Of course, I know<br />
very well that objections will be raised: "pro-<br />
prietors naturally want a turnover for their<br />
money;" that "if they cannot purchase goods<br />
upon the present system, they will buy a much<br />
more limited stock, and so indirectly injure the<br />
casual contributor." I do not propose to take up<br />
your space by any reply to such arguments, beyond<br />
saying that if editors, &c, did purchase articles in<br />
smaller quantities, used them within more reason-<br />
able time, and paid for them on acceptance, the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 245 (#683) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
245<br />
mass of genuine literary bread-winners would be<br />
immeasurably happier and better off. All that<br />
is needed is for each contributor in sending in<br />
his article to stipulate for such a price upon im-<br />
mediate payment, and for a higher price for pay-<br />
ment on publication, with the result, as a rule, of<br />
payment on acceptance.<br />
The Strand Magazine—all honour to it—in-<br />
variably pays upon acceptance if requested, yet<br />
such journals as are considered beyond reproach<br />
in their treatment of contributors decline to<br />
make any payment till publication, which may<br />
mean waiting a year, perhaps two years, for one's<br />
money. Still in Grub Street.<br />
V.—Editor and Contributor.<br />
1.<br />
1 have just had an experience with an editor<br />
which might be of use to other beginners, if you<br />
thought it worth mentioning in The Autlwr.<br />
I sent a MS. to him in Jan. 1896. A year<br />
later I wrote inquiring for it, as I had heard<br />
nothing from him. He replied that the MS. was<br />
accepted, and would be published and paid for<br />
in due course. I wrote again this January,<br />
asking when it would be published. The MS.<br />
was then returned, with a letter to say that the<br />
old editor had gone abroad, and the new editor<br />
apologised for the delay in returning it. I had,<br />
in my letter to him, mentioned the date on which<br />
it was accepted. I then wrote to Mr. Thring,<br />
and he replied that the new editor had no right<br />
to return an accepted MS. unpaid, but unless an<br />
Inland Revenue stamp was attached to the form<br />
of acceptance within a fortnight after receiving<br />
it I should be heavily fined.<br />
I have had MSS. accepted by many magazines,<br />
but have never yet had the form of acceptance<br />
stamped, and do not quite understand about it.<br />
Should the form be returned to the editor for its<br />
stamp?<br />
I might add that I am not pursuing this case,<br />
as the sum due to me would probably not cover<br />
the fine. A. I.<br />
11.<br />
A propos of the letters which have recently<br />
appeared in The Author on the subject of<br />
"Young Authors' Grievances," the following<br />
may serve to show to what extent young and<br />
unknown writers are often subjected to incon-<br />
venience and annoyance by the loss and delay of<br />
their MSS., and I regret to say that editors of<br />
prominent and well-known periodicals are invari-<br />
ably the worst offenders.<br />
Exactly sixteen months ago, I sent a MS. to<br />
the editor of a well-known magazine (having pre-<br />
viously obtained his consent to do so, I may<br />
mention), and in a few days I received a letter<br />
informing me that the article had been accepted.<br />
Very patiently I waited, almost daily expecting to<br />
receive the proofs, but when three months went<br />
by, and these had failed to put in an appearance,<br />
I wrote to the editor.<br />
He replied that the article was accepted<br />
and due notice of publication would be given me.<br />
Several weeks went by, and I heard nothing<br />
farther, and wrote again, but received no reply.<br />
At length T wrote again, but, to insure a reply,<br />
I inclosed a stamped addressed envelope. This<br />
had the desired effect. The editor replied:<br />
"If a contributor does not receive his MS. back<br />
within a week he may conclude his article has<br />
been accepted."<br />
Then he went on to state that he could not give<br />
exact date my effusion would appear, but "it<br />
should be put forward."<br />
This was in the early part of '97, and from that<br />
time to this I have heard nothing more concerning<br />
my unfortunate contribution.<br />
In conclusion, I might add that I lost no less<br />
than four MSS. in twelve months.<br />
The first, a story of 3000 words, was sent to a<br />
certain weekly (now defunct) and never returned.<br />
The second, a story of 4000 words, was submitted<br />
(by request) to the editor of a certain Christian<br />
paper, and has never appeared in print or been<br />
returned to me. The third, specially written for<br />
a well-known weekly, met with a similar fate;<br />
and the last, a story of 8000 words, written by<br />
request of the editor for the '96 Christmas<br />
number of a prominent weekly, reached the<br />
editorial offices quite safely, but has not since<br />
been seen or heard of. And I cannot do anything<br />
to recoup myself for the loss I have sustained, for<br />
the simple reason that I am one of a vast multi-<br />
tude of struggling writers who cannot afford to<br />
offend those who sometimes "give us a show."<br />
F. J. M.<br />
VI.—Diseases in Fiction.<br />
With reference to the letter in the July number<br />
on "The Mockery of Realism," has not H. K.,<br />
as well as Dr. Conan Doyle, been more severe on<br />
novelists than they deserve? At least, I would<br />
contend that the convention as to diseases applies<br />
only to heroes and heroines; minor characters, so<br />
fur as I can see, being left perfectly free to have<br />
any ailment, above or below the diaphragm, that<br />
Fate, in the form of a realistic novel-writer,<br />
chooses to send them. Then even for the more<br />
romantic personages, the list is a little longer than<br />
H. K. makes it. Think of cholera, for instance,<br />
a disease which kills off subordinate characters<br />
without mercy and sometimes brings a tragical<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 246 (#684) ############################################<br />
<br />
246<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
end upon the hero. Frank Headley in "Two<br />
Years Ago" describes its first attack: "Can you<br />
conceive a sword put in on one side of the waist,<br />
just above the hip-bone, and drawn through,<br />
handle and all, till it passes out at the opposite<br />
point?" And with cholera you may kill anyone<br />
but the heroine. I don't think it is allowable to<br />
dismiss her in that way, unless in a very short<br />
story, such as Rudyard Kipling's "Without<br />
Benefit of Clergy."<br />
Spinal diseases are frequently useful. Poor<br />
wicked Adelaide in "Ravenshoe" breaks her<br />
back, and the same accident has happened, with<br />
more or less of lingering agony afterwards, to<br />
many of my acquaintances in fiction. The heroic<br />
parson in "It is Never too Late to Mend"<br />
suffers from jaundice; and Maisie, in "The Light<br />
that Failed," according to Dick Heldar's account,<br />
was "a bilious little body." Gastric fevers,<br />
typhoid fevers, and typhus itself, all with the seat<br />
of illness below the belt, are by no means denied<br />
to novelists. Argemone, in another of Charles<br />
Kingsley's novels, died very realistically, of<br />
typhus. Miss Haleombe had typhus fever at a<br />
very critical moment; and Robert Blackmore<br />
gives an interesting account of a typhoid illness<br />
treated successfully by the heroine with yeast.<br />
You will observe generally, however, that it is<br />
only when these are epidemic that they become<br />
dignified illnesses. If introduced in any arbitrary<br />
way, apart from the impressiveness of a wide-<br />
spread pestilence, you must make it very clear<br />
that it was through some self-denying action or<br />
other that your hero or heroine fell a victim.<br />
It would be interesting to know how much<br />
truth there is in Miss Nightingale's dictum, that<br />
persons dying of hurts above the diaphragm are<br />
inclined to be bright, cheerful, and religious,<br />
while those hurt below have a tendency to despon-<br />
dency and gloom. This might suggest a very<br />
reasonable explanation of the novelist's preference.<br />
If one wishes a heroine to be saintly, or a hero<br />
strong-souled, it is manifestly wiser not to handi-<br />
cap them by giving an illness that would operate<br />
in the wrong way. How much better to visit<br />
them only with the lung affections and heart<br />
troubles, keeping gout and liver diseases for<br />
those unimportant elderly folk whose fractious-<br />
ness will not hurt the pathos of the story.<br />
Again, should one not consider, even for<br />
Realism's sake, that diseases of the lumbar<br />
regions do not as a rule attack persons in early<br />
life, that is, until the hero and heroine days are<br />
over?<br />
Imagine any heroic young man or charming<br />
young woman of our acquaintance being un-<br />
fortunate in love matters, and thereupon develop-<br />
ing gout, or cancer, or dropsy! Whereas a young<br />
woman neglecting her health and pining in a love<br />
disappointment, in real life, is extremely likely<br />
to fall more or less into a consumptive state.<br />
And fretting, brooding, overstrain of all the<br />
emotional faculties, has a real tendency to pro-<br />
duce an actual heart trouble.<br />
The romantic school has a very fair founda-<br />
tion of fact to go upon. Speaking as a<br />
constant and warmly grateful friend of novelists<br />
since the age of seven, may I take the side of the<br />
"third class passenger " and the multitude "who<br />
only ask to be amused "? We don't require that<br />
our heroes and heroines should l>e invulnerable;<br />
we can even stand a great deal of blood-shedding<br />
at times. If they get soaked in a boat-upset, or<br />
lose their way in a storm, we are quite prepared to<br />
hear of rheumatic fever. If they visit infectious<br />
fases, from the best of motives, they do it at<br />
their own risk and must take the consequences.<br />
Then, with scarlet fever, brain fever, heart<br />
disease, spinal troubles, bronchitis, pleurisy,<br />
inflammation and congestion of the lungs, besides<br />
every manner of violent accident to choose from,<br />
surely the most medically and siu-gieally-minded<br />
of romancers should be satisfied.<br />
I do not say, like Marianne Dashwood, that a<br />
man is absolutely disqualified for a lover if he<br />
has felt a twinge of rheumatism and wears a<br />
flannel waistcoat, but why should H. K. wish to<br />
see every hero only in the guise in which dear<br />
Alan Breck presented himself to the good wife,<br />
"A fine, canty, friendly, cracky man, that suffered<br />
with the stomach, poor body!" M. C. V.<br />
New Zealand, Aug. 17.<br />
VII.—The Letter "E."<br />
The letter "e" seems to be in a condition of<br />
unrest at he present time. As we have no<br />
Academy to settle our orthography for us, it would<br />
be interesting to know who does settle the fashion<br />
of our spelling; and one would like to suggest to<br />
these unknown powers that it would be only con-<br />
siderate if they would advertise the changes they<br />
introduce in some conspicuous place, the first<br />
column of the Times for instance. As things<br />
are, one may wake up some morning and find<br />
that what was right the day before is now frowned<br />
upon by examiners, and vice vcrsd. Now, this is<br />
hard upon those who still have to face exams.,<br />
unless due notice be given of the changes inaugu-<br />
rated by the powers who arrange these matters.<br />
For example, a few years ago, only a few, it<br />
would have been the worse for the examinee who<br />
ventured to spell "forego'- without the "e ";<br />
though he would have been as much in the right<br />
as he is to-day, when he would be held guilty if<br />
he put it in!<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 247 (#685) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
247<br />
The letter " e" is being gradually eliminated<br />
from words in which it is either superfluous or<br />
incorrect, and, of course, "forgo" has no more<br />
right than "forget" to an "e" in the first<br />
syllable ; Dr. Pusey, we believe, clung to the last<br />
to the middle "e" in "judgment" ; but there is<br />
not much beyond old association to be alleged in<br />
its favour here.<br />
If, however, "e" is being ousted from some<br />
words, it is in turn superseding "a " in others;<br />
though upon what grounds it is hard to see.<br />
Thus fashion, or some other power, appears to<br />
have decided that we shall henceforth write<br />
"ascendent," "dependent," "descendent," &c,<br />
no matter whether employed as substantives or<br />
adjectives.<br />
Is this a change for the better, or does it not<br />
rather savour of literary atavism?<br />
Surely these, and similar words, come to us<br />
immediately from our Norman ancestors, who<br />
had adopted them from the Latin. It was they<br />
who substituted the " a" for the " e," as we have<br />
substituted the "a" in the word "liar," and for<br />
a similar and sufficient reason — to prevent<br />
ambiguity.<br />
The Trench have, of course, both dependent<br />
and dependant—the third person plural, aud the<br />
present participle; and, as we use the latter as an<br />
adjective, it seems a mistake to ignore the source<br />
whence we have taken it.<br />
Can it be that we desire to forget the Norman<br />
Conquest, and remember only the Roman?<br />
And, more important inquiry still, is fashion<br />
presently going to require us to write "be-<br />
havior," "favor," &v.? Absit omen. The very<br />
look of them sets one's teeth on edge. S. G.<br />
VIII.—Questions and Answers.<br />
Ioh will verscbmery.cn diesen schlag, das weiss ich:<br />
Uenn was vemchmerze nicbt der Mensch r<br />
I have long wanted to know where the above<br />
lines come from, and how they came to be<br />
written. Could any correspondent of The Author<br />
kindly tell me through its pages? I have a<br />
faint idea that Goethe wrote them after the<br />
appearance of some unfavourable review of one<br />
of his early poems. Is there anv foundation for<br />
this?<br />
References of some kind or another are so<br />
often J wanted that perhaps The Author might<br />
somejday, with advantage to its readers, start a<br />
column of " Questions and Answers."<br />
Querist.<br />
BOOK TALK.<br />
DR. ALEXANDER B. GROSAKT, the<br />
author of the volume on Robert Fergus-<br />
son in the "Famous Scots" series (Oli-<br />
phant, Anderson, and Ferrier) is engaged, with<br />
the assistance of a staff of contributors, upon a<br />
complete history of Scottish literature from its<br />
earliest period.<br />
The literary partnership between the late<br />
Alphonse Daudet and Mr. R. H. Sherard (says<br />
the Academy) yielded a story which is shortly to<br />
be published in Mr. Sherard's English transla-<br />
tion. The original plan was for Daudet to<br />
dictate, and for Mr. Sherard subsequently to<br />
elaborate. But the dictated matter was so good<br />
and self-sufficient that Mr. Sherard wisely left it<br />
as it stood. The story will be called " My First<br />
Voyage: My First Lie." It is a reminiscence of<br />
the author's boyhood.<br />
A book by Mr. H. Z. Darrah, on " Sport in the<br />
Highlands of Kashmir," is about to be published<br />
by the firm of Rowland Ward, Ltd.<br />
Dr. Sven Hedin, the Swedish explorer, is<br />
writing the narrative of his travels and adventures<br />
in Central Asia. Messrs. Methuen and Co. will<br />
publish the book in October.<br />
Mr. Trevor Battye's new book, " A Northern<br />
Highway," will be out shortly (A. Constable ami<br />
Co.). It is dedicated to the Emperor of Russia.<br />
One of the events of the past month has been<br />
the publication of an English translation of<br />
"II Trionfo della Morte" (" The Triumph of<br />
Death "), by Gabriele d'Annunzio, the Italian<br />
poet and novelist. The author expressed to a<br />
Paris correspondent lately his belief in his<br />
mission for "the propagation of joy" in the<br />
world, but in reviewing the work the Daily<br />
Chronicle remarks that he takes a queer way of<br />
setting about this.<br />
Mr. Henley's now famous essay on Burns, in<br />
the Centenary edition, has been reprinted at 1*.<br />
by Messrs. Jack, of Edinburgh. The book would<br />
have looked better had the pagination for it been<br />
done specially, instead of being merely transferred<br />
from the larger volume.<br />
Dr. Andrew Clark is editing for the delegates<br />
of the Clarendon Press the "Brief Lives, chiefly<br />
of Contemporaries, set down by John Aubrey<br />
between the years 1669 and 1696." There are 400<br />
of these Lives, and they will be published now for<br />
the first time in their entirety.<br />
Mr. William Bayne has written a volume on<br />
James Thomson, the author of " Rule Britannia,"<br />
for the "Famous Scots" series.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 248 (#686) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Mr. Michael Davitt is writing a book about<br />
his recent visit to Australia (Methueu and Co.).<br />
Professor Knapp is bringing to a completion<br />
his minute labour of several years upon a<br />
biography of George Borrow. The book will be<br />
published by Mr. Murray.<br />
Mr. Sidney Jeffrey has written the life of Dr.<br />
J. E. Taylor, the naturalist, who was curator of<br />
Ipswich museum and editor of Science Gossip.<br />
Messrs. Chatto and Windus are the publishers.<br />
Mr. Kinloeh Cooke is writing a memoir of the<br />
late Duchess of Teck.<br />
A full biography of the late Mr. Henry George<br />
is being written by his son, who is also getting<br />
out. "The Science of Political Economy," the<br />
work left by the reformer at his death.<br />
Mr. John Charles Tarver, author of "Some<br />
Observations of a Foster Parent," has written a<br />
series of essays on secondary education, which will<br />
l>e published bv Messrs. Constable under the title<br />
of " The Debatable Land."<br />
The author of the biography of the Prince of<br />
Wales, which appeared anonymously during<br />
the past month, is Miss Marie Belloc (Mrs.<br />
Lowndes).<br />
Mr. Conan Doyle's novel, "The Tragedy of<br />
the Koroski," which has been revised since its<br />
appearance in the Strand Magazine, will lie pub-<br />
lished to-day, and Mr. Stanley Weyman's latest<br />
novel—" Shrewsbury "—on the 4th inst.<br />
Mr. W. S. Maugham, the author of " Liza of<br />
Lambeth," has written a second novel, dealing<br />
with a revolution in an Italian town of the<br />
fifteenth century.<br />
Miss Rosaline Masson, daughter of Professor<br />
Masson, is the author of a volume entitled " A<br />
Departure from Tradition, and other Stories,"<br />
which Messrs. Bliss, Sands, and Co. are about to<br />
publish.<br />
A new story by Miss Mary Angela Dickens<br />
will shortly come from Messrs. Hutchinson, under<br />
the style " Against the Tide."<br />
Mrs. Cou'son Kernahan has written a story of<br />
medical life entitled "Trewinnot of Guy's,"<br />
which will be published by Mr. John Long.<br />
It is reported from Northampton that Sarah<br />
Grand's "The Beth Book" has been refused a<br />
place in the free library there. The chairman of<br />
the committee admitted that he had not read a<br />
line of the book he objected to.<br />
A novel by Miss Norma Lorimer, entitled<br />
"Josiah's Wife," will be published shortly by<br />
Messrs. Methuen.<br />
Messrs. Bliss, Sands, and Co., will publish<br />
immediately Mr. Pereival Pickering's new novel.<br />
"The Spirit is Willing "; a volume of sporting<br />
reminiscences of Arthur M. Binstead and Ernest<br />
Wells, edited by the former; and a book of<br />
"Tales of the Klondyke" by Mr. T. Mullett Ellis.<br />
Mr. Kipling's new volume of short stories will<br />
not appear until the autumn. The author ha<<br />
gone to South Africa for a holiday. He has<br />
written a long novel called "The Burning of the<br />
Sarah Sands."<br />
Mr. David Christie Murray is about to publish<br />
through Messrs. Chatto and Windus a new story<br />
entitled "A Race for Millions."<br />
Mr. Owen Rhoscomyl's new story, to be pub-<br />
lished by Messrs. Pearson, is of the Elizabethan<br />
period, and entitled "The Veiled Man."<br />
Mr. E, W. Hornung has written "Young<br />
Blood," for early publication by Messrs. Cassell.<br />
Another story to apj>ear early from the same<br />
house is Mr. E. S. Ellis's " A Strange Craft and<br />
Its Wonderful Voyage."<br />
Miss Annie Thomas has written a story called<br />
"Dick Rivers," which will be published by<br />
Messrs. P. V. White and Co. This firm also<br />
have nearly ready " For Liberty," by Mr. Hume<br />
Nisbet, and "the Induna's'Wife," by Mr.<br />
Bertram Mitford.<br />
Mrs. Gertrude Atherton's new novel on Anglo-<br />
American marriages is to be published by<br />
Messrs. Service and Patou.<br />
Miss Braddon's new story, " Rough Justice,"<br />
will be issued in a few days by Messrs. Simpkin,<br />
Marshall, and Co.<br />
A volume of devotional verse by Mr. Lawrence<br />
Housman will be published shortly by Mr. Grant<br />
Richards, the title being "Spikenard: a Book<br />
of Devotional Love Poems."<br />
The Poet Laureate (says the Globe) who is<br />
spending the winter near Florence, is working<br />
upon a new book, "a Tuscan sequel" to his<br />
charming " Garden That I Love."<br />
A full-sized volume of verse by Mr. Henry<br />
Newbolt is promised for the autumn, to be pub-<br />
lished here by Mr. Elkin Mathews, and in<br />
America by Mr. John Lane. Mr, Newbolt s<br />
"Admirals All," which will be included in<br />
the forthcoming book, lias gone into an eighth<br />
edition.<br />
The first number of the Outlook, a new three-<br />
penny weekly review of political, social, and<br />
literary life, which is to be edited by Mr. Percy<br />
Hurd and contributed to by many well-known<br />
writers, is due on the 5th inst.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 249 (#687) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
249<br />
An American paper quotes the following un-<br />
published verses by Whittier, from the album of<br />
Mr. C. F. Adams, the author of " Leedle Yawcob<br />
Strauss," and other Anglo-German poems :—<br />
"As on wave-washed sand or the window's frost<br />
I write, and the reoord will soon be lost;<br />
And the Spider, Forgetfulness, weave and wind<br />
The paper parcels I leave behind;<br />
Yet I sometimes think, though spiders spin,<br />
And frost will melt, and the waves wash in.<br />
That the thousand albnms whieh hold my rhyme<br />
Will baffle even the teeth of time;<br />
And that, snngly lodged in some maiden's chamber<br />
Or grandame's trunk like a fly in amber,<br />
Will evermore somewhere be found in city or<br />
Country the name of John G. Whittier.''<br />
Mr. W. P. Ryan deals in a forthcoming work<br />
with nearly all the prominent authors and schools<br />
of the day, and with such subjects in satire as<br />
"The Great Young Man, and the New Style of<br />
Literary History," "The New Doom of Nar-<br />
cissus," and "The Devil and a Modern Knight-<br />
Errant." The book will be published by Mr.<br />
Leonard Smithers, and will be called " Literary<br />
London: Its Lights and Comedies."<br />
Mr. Pinero's recent play, "The Princess and the<br />
Butterfly," will be issued shortly in the series Mr.<br />
Heinemann publishes.<br />
Messrs. W. Thacker and Co. have taken over a<br />
number of publications from Messrs. Neville<br />
Beeman, Limited, who are giving up business as<br />
publishers.<br />
Mr. W. Hall White (otherwise " Mark Ruther-<br />
ford") who edited the recently published<br />
"Description of the Wordsworth and Coleridge<br />
MSS. in the possession of Mr. T. Norton Long-<br />
man," has written "An Examination of the<br />
Charge of Apostacy against Wordsworth," which<br />
will be published immediately by Messrs. Long-<br />
mans, Green, and Co.<br />
Mr. Vernon Blackburn, musical critic of the<br />
Pall Mall Gazette, has written "The Fringe of<br />
an Art: Appreciation in Music," which will be<br />
published by the Unicorn Press on the 15th inst.<br />
There will be portraits of Mozart, Berlioz, Gounod,<br />
and Tschaikovsky.<br />
Lord Archibald Campbell has written " High-<br />
land Dress and Ornament," a volume which<br />
Messrs. Constable will have ready immediately.<br />
The following are among other works to issue<br />
from this house:—" The Kingdom of the Yellow<br />
Robe," by Mr. E. Young; "Book of Travels and<br />
Life in Ashantee," by Mr. R. A. Freeman, illus-<br />
trated by the author's drawings; an account of<br />
"Andre'e's Balloon Expedition," by two members<br />
of the expedition to Spitzbergen in 1896; and<br />
"Two Native Narratives of the Mutiny in Delhi,"<br />
translated from the originals by the late Mr.<br />
Charles T. Metcalfe, C.S.I.<br />
Mr. Hardy has collected a number of his short<br />
stories, which will be published shortly in a<br />
volume. "C. K. S.," in the Illustrated London<br />
News, states that Mr. Hardy is engaged on<br />
another long novel, which will not be on the lines<br />
of "Jude the Obscure" and "The Well-Beloved."<br />
Mr. Edward A. FitzGerald has arranged with<br />
Messrs. Methuen and Co. for the publication of<br />
the record of his explorations in South America.<br />
The author returned to England a few weeks ago,<br />
after an absence of fourteen months. His expedi-<br />
tion succeeded in climbing Mount Aconcagua<br />
(23,000 feet), the highest ascent ever made,<br />
lx'sides lesser peaks. Memliers of the party<br />
suffered a great deal of hardship. The book will<br />
be enriched with many unique photographs, and<br />
â– will contain records of the flora and fauna of<br />
Argentina. The publishers expect to have it<br />
ready early in the autumn.<br />
The Idler has become the property of Messrs.<br />
J. M. Dent and Co., publishers.<br />
The Ruskin Society of Birmingham has begun<br />
the issue of a quarterly magazine, called Saint<br />
Georyc. Mr. Elliot Stock is the London pub-<br />
lisher.<br />
Our contemporary, Nature Notes, goes straight<br />
to Wordsworth and Shelley for a case against the<br />
eating of larks, thus:<br />
Can it be imagined that Wordsworth, after finishing his<br />
ode with<br />
"Type of the wise who soar, but never roam;<br />
True to the kindred points of heaven and home"<br />
could sit down to a dish of larks. Or Shelley? Would the<br />
author of<br />
"Teaoh me half the gladness<br />
That my brain must know,<br />
Such harmonious madness<br />
From my lips would flow.<br />
The world should listen then, as I am<br />
listening now!"<br />
call for lark pudding? There is no more reason for poets<br />
to be squeamish about their victuals than other folk of<br />
refinement. Oysters, beefsteaks, geese, and so on, are quite<br />
fitting as bardic nourishment, at any rate until honoy-dew<br />
and the milk of Paradise be brought to market; but if<br />
Wordsworth or Shelley ate larks, faith receives a Bhock<br />
indeed.<br />
We observe that the Shakespearean (6d.<br />
monthly), which is just beginning a new volume,<br />
is now published by the Roxburghe Press.<br />
Miss M. Dormer Harris has now in the press<br />
a book dealing with municipal history. The<br />
title of the volume, which forms one of the<br />
"Social England" series published by Messrs.<br />
Swan Sonnenscheiu, and Co., is " Life in an Old<br />
English Town: The Story of Mediaeval Coventry."<br />
The city in question is very rich in MS. records,<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 250 (#688) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
particularly in those belonging to the fifteenth<br />
century, and the volume contains much that has<br />
lieen hitherto unpublished.<br />
Messrs Bliss, Sands, and Co. will shortly pub-<br />
lish a new novel by A. B. Louis, entitled " A<br />
Branch of Laurel." The plot is founded on<br />
events occurring in the reign of Louis XIII.<br />
Messrs. W. Blackwood and Sons are to publish<br />
immediately a book on " Millais and his Works,"<br />
by Mr. M. H. Spielmann, the editor of the<br />
Magazine of Art. In addition to a chapter on<br />
Sir J. E. Millais' life and an appreciation of his<br />
art, Mr. Spielmann has written a picture-by-<br />
picture comment of the works of the late<br />
president, now being exhibited at the Royal<br />
Academy, as well as on the numerous pictures<br />
l>y the artist not included in that collection; and<br />
there will be a chronological list of Sir J. E.<br />
Millais' oil pictures of which trace can be found.<br />
Permission has also been granted to include in<br />
this volume the important article, reproducing Sir<br />
John Millais' opinions on art, written hy the late<br />
president for the Magazine of Art, and not<br />
hitherto republished. A list will t>e added of those<br />
pictures which have been engraved. The book<br />
will be fully illustrated from many of the late<br />
j (resident's most interesting and important<br />
pictures.<br />
Her Majesty the Queen has been graciously<br />
pleased to accept a copy of "The Pink Tulip,"<br />
by Caroline Stanley.<br />
Mr. Bernard Wentworth, author of "The<br />
Master of Hullingham Manor," is engaged upon<br />
a new novel, to be published serially next year,<br />
entitled " Anne Pentargen; or, the Spirit of the<br />
Tor," a tale of the Cornish moors. Mr. Went-<br />
worth had a short story, entitled " Allerton Farm,"<br />
in the Christmas number of the Cornish and<br />
Devon Post.<br />
Mr. Bloundelle-Burton's romance " Across the<br />
Salt Seas," which ran last year in the Nary and<br />
Army Illustrated, will appear in volume form in<br />
the spring, Methuen and Co. being the London<br />
publishers, and Stowe and Co., of Chicago, the<br />
American ones. At the same time Mr. Bloun-<br />
delle-Burton will commence a new historical novel<br />
in a London paper, to be followed by another in<br />
the autumn, while he has also engaged to furnish<br />
two modern novels of adventure to other papers<br />
during the year 1899.<br />
Raymond Jacberus, author of "Common<br />
Chords," has written for the Sunday Heading<br />
for the Young Magazine (Wells Gardner, &c),<br />
lieginning with the January number, a story<br />
e ititled " Ups and Downs." Also, for Sunshine<br />
Magazine, beginning with the January number,<br />
a school story entitled "The Odd Number."<br />
"Common Chords" is now in its second<br />
edition.<br />
Messrs. Harper and Bros, are publishing " The<br />
Story of Hawaii " for J. A. Owen—Mrs. Visger.<br />
As Mrs. Owen Visger lived for some years in the<br />
Hawaiian Islands, and has kept up a close<br />
correspondence with relatives living in Honolulu<br />
ever since, she is well informed as to that<br />
little republic and its people. Some years<br />
ago she published a book on child life in<br />
Hawaii called " Our Honolulu Boys," but it has<br />
long been out of print. Her new book will be<br />
illustrated.<br />
Mr. Henry Charles Moore, author of "The<br />
Dacoit's Treasure," is writing a historical novel,<br />
having for its central figure Alompra, the warrior<br />
king of Burma, and founder of the late Burmese<br />
dvnasty. Alompra is frequently mentioned in<br />
""The Dacoit's Treasure."<br />
The fifth edition, revised throughout and<br />
slightly enlarged, of Mr. Rice Holmes's " History<br />
of the Indian Mutiny," the appearance of which<br />
has been delayed by the recent strike in Edin-<br />
burgh, will be issued immediately by Messrs.<br />
Macmillan and Co., who have taken over the<br />
publication of the work. The type has been<br />
re-set, and new maps and plans have been<br />
prepared.<br />
A district fresh to English holiday makers, and<br />
reached as easily as the Ardennes, will be opened<br />
up in "New Walks by the Rhine," by Percy<br />
Lindley, whose "Walks in the Ardennes " and<br />
"Walks in Holland " did so much to popularise<br />
new Belgian and Dutch touring grounds. Starting<br />
from the Rhine mouth at the Hook of Holland,<br />
"New Walks by the Rhine" will cover the<br />
picturesque wooded and rocky side valleys of<br />
Rhineland, from the Ahrthal, near Cologne, to<br />
the Neckarthal and the "Blue Alsatian Moun-<br />
tains" of the Vosges; and will include the<br />
districts of the Tauuus, Eifel, Odenwald, Huns-<br />
ruck, and the Palatinate. Living is said to be<br />
as inexpensive in some of these districts as in the<br />
Ardennes. Mr. J. F. Weedon will sujjply the<br />
illustrations.<br />
The fourth—new and popular—edition of " The<br />
Care of the Sick at Home and in the Hospital: A<br />
Handbook for Families and for Nurses," by the<br />
late celebrated surgeon-physician, Dr. Th. Bill-<br />
roth, is in the press, and will shortly be ready<br />
for issue. The translation by J. Bentall Endean<br />
was specially authorised by Dr. Billroth, and the<br />
new edition has been revised and enlarged. It<br />
will be published by Messrs. Sampson Low,<br />
Marston, and Co.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 251 (#689) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
25i<br />
OBITUARY-<br />
THE Rev. C. L. Dodgson, better known iu<br />
literature as "Lewis Carroll," died at<br />
Guildford 011 the 14th ult., aged sixty-five.<br />
Graduating at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1854,<br />
he was appointed in the following year Mathe-<br />
matical Lecturer to the College, which post he<br />
occupied up to 1881. He held a Senior Student-<br />
ship since 1858 to the end of his life, and took<br />
orders in 1861. Mr. Dodgson was ambitious of a<br />
reputation in mathematical works, of which he<br />
published several in the early sixties, and subse-<br />
quently, "Symbolic Logic" appearing in 1896. In<br />
1865 the most popular work of "Lewis Carroll,"<br />
"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," one of the<br />
best known of books for the young, was published,<br />
with forty illustrations by Tenniel. It has been<br />
translated into German and French. Equally a<br />
favourite was the sequel, "Through the Looking-<br />
Glass, and What Alice Found There" (1871).<br />
Among later works of a similar character were<br />
"The Hunting of the Snark" (1876), which was<br />
republished in the volume, " Rhvme and Reason"<br />
(1883); "Sylvie and Bruno"" (1889), and its<br />
"Conclusion" (1893). "Lewis Carroll" was<br />
very fond of children — poor or rich—and<br />
delighted to entertain them in his rooms at Christ<br />
Church.<br />
A link connecting the present with the days of<br />
Lamb, Hunt, and Keats, is severed by the death<br />
of Mrs. Mary Cowden Clarke, author of the well<br />
known " Concordance to Shakespeare," and many<br />
other works. Mrs. Clarke was taught Latin by<br />
Mary Lamb, and heard Hunt read Dogberry's<br />
charge to the watchmen, and scenes from Sheri-<br />
dan's "Rivals." The daughter of Vincent<br />
Novello, she married Charles Cowden Clarke in<br />
1828. The Clarkes saw a good deal of Coleridge,<br />
Dickens, and Jerrold, among others; and in " My<br />
Long Life," her autobiography, published last<br />
year (Unwin), Mrs. Clarke recalls these associa-<br />
tions. Her husband, with whom she annotated<br />
an edition of Shakespeare and did other work,<br />
died in 1877 at the age of ninety. Mrs. Clarke<br />
died last month at Genoa in her eighty-ninth<br />
year.<br />
The Very Rev. Henry George Liddell, formerly<br />
Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, died at his resi-<br />
dence, Ascot, on the 18th ult., in his eighty-<br />
seventh year. He was Head-Master of West-<br />
minster in 1846, and Vice-Chancellor of his Univer-<br />
sity from 1870 to 1874. In 1892 he resigned the<br />
position of Dean after thirty-seven years' service,<br />
as he felt no longer able for the duties. As an<br />
author his name will be identified with the<br />
Liddell and Scott Greek Lexicon; and he also<br />
wrote a " History of Rome."<br />
THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH,<br />
[Dkc. 24 to J.^N. 22.—191 Books.]<br />
Addleshuw, P. Tho Cath'xii-iil Caurch of Exeter. 16. Bet],<br />
Akerman, W. Eip Van Winkle, and other Poems, 5'- Bell.<br />
Allan, James. Under the Dragon Flag. 3/6. Heinemann.<br />
Allen, F. II. Nature's Diary. 5/- any and Bird,<br />
Amateur Angler, The. "On a Sunshine Holyday."' 1/6. Low.<br />
Amours, F. J. (ed.) Scottish Alliterative Poems. Scottish Text Society.<br />
Andrews, William (ed.) Bygone Norfolk. 7/6. Andrews.<br />
Anonymous ("J. R. C") Leet we Forget. 1/- net. Simpkin.<br />
Anonymous (author of Tho Lando' the Leal"). David Lyalla Love<br />
Story. 6/- Hodder and Stoughton.<br />
Anonymous. H.R.H. the Prince of Wales 19 6. Richards<br />
Anonymous ("S. E. B.C.") Stewart Clark 7,6 BiUliere,<br />
Anonymous. Judicial Decisions affecting Building Societies. Vol. II.<br />
5/- Building Societies Association<br />
Anonymous (author of " Pruo "). A Barren Victory. 16. Steven?<br />
Arch, Joseph. Story of His Life, by Himself. VI - Hutchinson.<br />
Archbishop and Bishops of Westminster. A Vindication of the BulJ<br />
lL ApoBtolica) Curie." 1/- Longmans.<br />
Banner. B. Household Sewing, with Home Dresmaking. 2 6<br />
Longman.<br />
Barrister, A. The Story of the Beautiful Girl, Ac. \ - Cox.<br />
Bell, Mackenzie. Christina Rossetti. 12/- Hurst.<br />
Benham, Charles. The Fourth Napoleon. 6/- Heinemann.<br />
Bennett, W. H., and Adeney, W. F. Tho Bible Story retold for<br />
Young People. 5 - Clarke<br />
Be van, A. A. (re-edited with an Eng. trans, by). Hymn of the Suul><br />
contained in Syriac Acts of St Thomas. 2- net. Clay.<br />
Binks, Theo., Yeoman Some Account of Churchgolng. 6/- Walts.<br />
Bishop, Mrs. (J. L. Bird). Korea and Her Neighbours. 24/- Murray.<br />
Boulenger, G. A. The Tailless Batroehlans of Europe. Part 1.<br />
Ray Society<br />
Brooke, Emma. The Confession of Stephen Whapihare. fi(-<br />
Hntchinson<br />
Brooks, P. Best Methods of Promoting Spiritual Life. 1/6. Service.<br />
Browning, H. Ellen. Beauty Culture. 8/6. Hutchinson,<br />
Browning, Oscar. Peter the Great. 6/- Hutchinson.<br />
Bulkeley-Owen, Hon. Mrs. History of Selattyn Parish. 21/- net<br />
Oswestry: Wooiall, Minthall<br />
Burkitt, F. C. (od.) Frugmeuts of the Books of Kings, according to<br />
the translation of Aquila. 10/6 net. Clay.<br />
Burns, R. The Army, and How to Increase It. Glasgow: Maclehose.<br />
Caird. Mona. The Morality of Marriage. 6 - net. Redway.<br />
Calder, R. M. (The poems of). A Berwickshire Bard. Ed. by W. S.<br />
Crockett. 8,6. Honlston.<br />
Cameron. Mrs. Lovett. Devil's Apples. 6 - White.<br />
Campbell, I. K. A Girl-Bejant, 16. Digby.<br />
Campbell, R., and others. Ruling Cases. Vol. XIII. 25 . Sweet,<br />
Castle, Agnes and Egerton. The Pride of Jennico. 6,'- Bentley!<br />
Catherwood, M. H. The Days of Jeanne d'Arc 6 - Gay and Bird,<br />
Churteris, Professor. A Faithful Churchman (Prof. Robertson;.<br />
1/6. net. Black.<br />
Claye, S. The Gospel of Common Sense. 1 - Simpkin. Marshall.<br />
Coate, H. E. A. Realities of SeaLife. 3,6. UpcottGill,<br />
Cobbett, J. M. Ephemera. Verse. 2 G net, Oxford: Alden.<br />
Colomb, Sir J. Army Organisation in relation to Naval Necessities.<br />
1/- King.<br />
Corbin, John. Schoolboy Life in England. Harper.<br />
Cory. Dr. R. Lectures on Theory and Practice of Vaccination.<br />
12 6. Baillic're.<br />
Co well, R. 0. John Wyclif. 1 - Kelly.<br />
Croker, B. M. Miss Balmaine's Past. 6 - Chatto.<br />
Cunningham, W. Alien Immigrants to England. 4 6. SonnenBchetn.<br />
Daniels, J. H. A History of British Postmarks. 2/6. Upcott Gill.<br />
Darmesteter, Mme. James (tr. by M. Tomlinson). A Mediaeval<br />
Garland. 6/- Lawrence.<br />
Darwin, Leonard. Bimetallism. 7/6. Murray.<br />
Davis. K. J. Osmanli Proverbs and Qu«int Sayings. 12/6. Low,<br />
Davis, E. J. The Invasion of Egypt in k.u. 1249. 6/- Low.<br />
D'Annunzio, G. (tr. by G. Harding). Tho Triumph of Death. 6/-.<br />
Heinemann.<br />
Delf, T. W. H. The Man in the Check Suit. 3/6. Jarrold,<br />
D'Orieuns, Prince Henri (tr. by H. Bent). From Tonkin to India,<br />
25'- Methuen.<br />
De Polen, Narcisse. Night on the-World s Highway. 1/6. Unwin.<br />
Dolan, T. M. Our State Hospitals. 2/6. Leicester: Richardson.<br />
Dorman, M. R. P. Ignorance. 9/- net. Kegan Paut.<br />
Dredge. J. Thames Bridges from Tower to Source. Part VII. 6-<br />
Offlce of EtKjinetYhuj.<br />
Dunn S. H. Sunny Memories of an Indian Winter. 6 - Scott.<br />
Dziewicki, M. H. Entombed in Flesh. 3,6. Blackwood.<br />
Elcum, C C. The Votive Tapestry, 1 - net Liverpool: Young.<br />
Ewens, Editha. The Stars in their Courses. 6 - Ward and Downej .<br />
Farrar, Dean. Allegories. 6/- Longmans.<br />
Finlay, L. L. Philippa's Adventures in Upsidedown Land. Lb.<br />
Digby.<br />
Fletcher, B. F. Influence of Material on Architecture. 3 - net.<br />
Batsford.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 252 (#690) ############################################<br />
<br />
252<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Forbes, Archibald. The Lit' of Napoleon III. 12;- Chatto.<br />
Forbes, H. O. and others. British Birds with their Nests and Eggs.<br />
Vol. IV. Brumby and Clarke.<br />
Forsyth, P. T. The Holy Father and the Living Christ 1/6.<br />
Hodder and Stn.<br />
FoBter, V. (ed.) The Two Duchesses [of Devonshire] Correspondence,<br />
1777-1859. 16/- Blackie.<br />
Fournet. A. A Manuscript Document constituting real Evidence<br />
against Irresponsibility in Intoxication. 3/6. Sonnenschein.<br />
Francis, Ilenry. The Rajah of Putmandri. 4s. Reeves.<br />
Fraser, Mrs. H. A Chapter of Accidents 6 - Macmillan.<br />
Gardner, E. A. A Catalogue of the Greek Vases in the Fitzwilliam<br />
Museum, Cambridge 12/fi net. Clay.<br />
Garrett, Edward. A Nine Days' Wonder. 1 6. Home Wonts Office.<br />
Gent, F. J. The Latest Fruit is the Ripest. 1 ti. Digby.<br />
Gibbons, A. St. H. Exploration and Hunting in Central Africa. 181*5-<br />
96. 15.'- Methuen.<br />
(ioadby, L. The Wrath of Achilles. 8/G. Edwin Vaughan.<br />
Qoldney, MrB. S. (ed.) The Royal Gardens, Kew. 2 -net. Dawbarn.<br />
Gore, Canon. St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians. 3/6. Murray.<br />
Gough, E. The Bible Truo from the Beginning. Vol VI. 16,'-<br />
Kegan Paul.<br />
Green. W. T. Birds of the British Empire. */- Imperial Press.<br />
Greg, T. T. Through a GUsb Lightly. 3/6. Dent.<br />
Gregorovius's History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages (tr. by<br />
Mre. Hamilton). Vol. V. 9/- Bell.<br />
Grosart. A. B, Robert Fergusson. 1 6. Oliphant.<br />
Gross, C Bibliography of British Municipal History. 1*2 - Longmans.<br />
Guerber, H. A. The Story of the Greeks. 3/6. Heineinann.<br />
Uaddon, J. C. George Thomson, the Friend of Burns. 10-6 net.<br />
Nimmo.<br />
Hall, Harriet M. M. Voices in Verso. 2 6 net. Allenson.<br />
Halperine-Kaminsky, E. ed. (tr. by E. M. Arnold). Tourgucneff and<br />
His French Circle. 7/6. L'nwin.<br />
Harman, E. G. Poems from Horace, Catullus, and Sappho, and<br />
other pieces. 3/- net. Dent.<br />
Haverly, C. E. (ed.) Klondyke and Fortune. fid. Southward.<br />
Hendry, H. Burns from Heaven; with other Poems. Glasgow:<br />
Bryce.<br />
Hepworth, C. M. Animated Photography. 1 - Hazell, Watson.<br />
Heron-Allen, E. The Ruba'fyat of Omar Khayyam. IDS ne*.<br />
Nichols.<br />
'Hillier, A. P. Raid and Reform, 6 - net. Macmillan.<br />
Hon. Society of Lincoln's Inn, Records of the. The Black Rooks.<br />
Vol. L, 1422-1586. The Society.<br />
Howard, H. N. Footsteps of Proflperine, and other Verses. 5 - Stock.<br />
Inman, Col. Henry. The Old Santa Fe* Trail. 14 - Macmillan.<br />
Jenks, E. Law and Politics in the Middle Ages. 12/- Murray.<br />
JerviB, W. P. Thomas Best Jervis. 7,6. Stock.<br />
Lanccfield, R. T. Tim and MrB. Tim 1 - International News Co.<br />
Lawless, Hon. Emily. Traits and Confidences. 6/- Methuen.<br />
Llsbman, A. Terje Viken (from the Norsk of Honrik Ibsen) and<br />
other Poems. 2'6n t. Goole: A. Lishman.<br />
Litton, E. A. The Church of Christ. 5'- Nisbet.<br />
LowndeB, A. Vindication of Anglican Orders. 327- Rivingtons.<br />
Lowsley, B. Whist of the Future. 3/6. Sonnenschein.<br />
Lummis, C. F. The King of the Broncos. 5/- Newnes.<br />
May, Evan. Philip Greystoke. 6 - Digby.<br />
McCarthy. J. The Story of Gladstone's Life. 7,6. Black.<br />
Maclean, H. Popular Photographic Printing Processes. 2 t;. U. Gill.<br />
M'Crady. E. History of South Carolina, 16711-1711). 14 - net.<br />
Macmillan.<br />
McMillan. Alec. Portentous Prophetb and Prophetesses 2 0. Digby.<br />
Malcolm. C. H. Poems. 3/6. Roxburghe.<br />
Mann, Mary E. The Cedar Star. 6/ Hutchinson.<br />
Markham, C. A. Proverbs of Northamptonshire. 1,-net<br />
Northampton: Stanton.<br />
Micklethwaite, J. T. The Ornaments of the Rubric. 5 - Longmans.<br />
Miller's (Joaquin) Romantic Life amongst the Red Indians. Auto-<br />
biography. 1- Saxon.<br />
Mitton, H. E. Klondyke: How to Get There, Ac. Deacon.<br />
Monkhouse, C, and Others. Presidents of the Royal Academy. 10 6.<br />
Art Journal Office.<br />
Mozley, J. R. A Vision of England, and other Poems. 8/6. Bentley.<br />
Muir.John. Carlyle on Burns. Glasgow: Hodge.<br />
Mundell, F. Heroines of History. 1/6. Sunday School Union.<br />
Mundell. F. Stories of Balloon Adventures. 1/6. S. School Union.<br />
Murray, D. C. Tales in Prose and Verso. 3/6. Chatto.<br />
Murray, D. C. The Cockney Columbus. 6/- Downey.<br />
Nash, Cella. Queens and Knaves. 8 6. Digby.<br />
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Walteb Hebbies Pollock.<br />
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Miss Flora L. Shaw.<br />
G. E. Sims.<br />
S. Squire Sprigge.<br />
J. J. Stevenson.<br />
Francis Storr.<br />
William Moy Thomas.<br />
H. D. Traill, D.CL.<br />
Mrs. Humphry Wabd.<br />
Miss Chablotte M. Yongi.<br />
Q.C.<br />
<br />
A W. X Beckett.<br />
Sib Walteb Besant.<br />
Egeeton Castle, F.S.A.<br />
W. Mobbis Colles.<br />
COMMITTEE<br />
Chairman-<br />
OF MANAGEMENT.<br />
-H. Eider Haggard.<br />
Sir W. Mabtin Conway.<br />
D. W. Freshfield.<br />
Anthony Hope Hawkins.<br />
J. M. Lely.<br />
Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mus.Doc.<br />
Henby Norman.<br />
Fjiancis Storr.<br />
COMMITTEES.<br />
MUSIC.<br />
C. Villibrs Stanford, Mas.D. (Chairman).<br />
Jacques Blumenthal.<br />
SUB<br />
ART.<br />
Hon. John Collier (Chairman).<br />
Sib W. Martin Conway.<br />
M. H. Spielmann.<br />
f Field, Eoscoe, and Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields.<br />
\, G. Hebbebt Thbino, B.A., 4, Portugal-street. Secretary—G. Herbert Tubing, B.A. OFFICES: 4, Pobtuoal Stbeet, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C<br />
DEAMA.<br />
Henry Arthur Jones (Chairman).<br />
A. W. X Beckett.<br />
Edward Eose.<br />
Solicitors<br />
IP. WATT <Sc SO¥,<br />
LITERARY AGENTS,<br />
Formerly of 2, PATERNOSTER SUUARE,<br />
Have now removed to<br />
HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND,<br />
LONDON, W.C.<br />
THE TEMPLE TYPEWRITING OFFICE.<br />
YPEWEITING EXCEPTIONALLY ACCURATE. Moderate prioes. Duplicates of Circulars by the latest<br />
process.<br />
S OPINIONS OF CLIENTS— Distinguished Author:—"The most beautiful typing I have ever seen." Lady op Titlb:—"The<br />
j work was very well aud clearly done." Provincial Editor:—"Many thanks for the spotless neatnesB and beautiful accuracy."<br />
MISS &KNTEY, KLDON CHAMBERS, 30, FLEET STREET, E.C.<br />
T<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 201 (#635) ############################################<br />
<br />
TLhe Hutbor,<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br />
CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br />
Vol. VIII.—No. 8.] JANUARY i, 1898. [Pbick Sixpence.<br />
For the Opinions expressed in papers that are<br />
signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br />
responsible. None of the papers or para-<br />
graphs must be taken as expressing the<br />
collective opinions of the Committee unless<br />
they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br />
Thring, Sec.<br />
THE Secretary of the Society begs to give notioe that all<br />
remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br />
requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br />
important communications within two days will write to him<br />
without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br />
Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be Bent by registered<br />
letter only.<br />
Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br />
all subjects conneoted with literature, but on no other sub-<br />
jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br />
returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br />
GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br />
IT^OR some years it has been the praotice to insert, in<br />
J every number of The Author, certain " General Con-<br />
siderations," Warnings, Notices, &o., for the guidance<br />
of the reader. It has been objected as regards these<br />
warnings that the tricks or frauds against which they are<br />
directed cannot all be guarded against, for obvious reasons.<br />
It is, however, well that they should be borne in mind, and<br />
if any publisher refuses a clause of precaution he simply<br />
reveals his true character, and should be left to carry on<br />
his business in his own way.<br />
Let us, however, draw up a few of the rules to be<br />
observed in an agreement. There are three methods of<br />
dealing with literary property:—<br />
I. That of selling it outright.<br />
This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br />
price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br />
managed by a competent agent.<br />
II. A profit-sharing agreement.<br />
In this case the following rules should be attended to:<br />
(1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br />
duction forms a part.<br />
(2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br />
profits into his own pooket by charging for advertisements<br />
VOL. Till.<br />
in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise-<br />
ments.<br />
(3.) Not to allow a special charge for " office expenses,"<br />
unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br />
(4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br />
rights.<br />
(5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights.<br />
(6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher.<br />
As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br />
doctor!<br />
(7.) To stamp the agreement,<br />
ni. The royalty system.<br />
In this system, which has opened the door to a most<br />
amazing amount of overreaching and trading on the<br />
author's ignorance, it is above all things neoessary to know<br />
what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now<br />
possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very<br />
nearly the truth. From time to time the very important<br />
figures connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br />
Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br />
"Cost of Production." Let no one, not even the youngest<br />
writer, sign a royalty agreement without finding out what<br />
it gives the publisher as well as himself.<br />
It has been objected that these precautions presuppose a<br />
great success for the book, and that very few books indeed<br />
attain to this great success. That is quite true: but there is<br />
always this uncertainty of literary property that, although<br />
the works of a great many authors carry with them no risk<br />
at all, and although of a great many it is known within a few<br />
oopies what will be their minimum circulation, it is not<br />
known what will be their maximum. Therefore every<br />
author, for every book, should arrange on the ohanoe of a<br />
success which will not, probably, come at all; but which<br />
may come.<br />
The four points whioh the Society has always demanded<br />
from the outset are:—<br />
(1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement<br />
means.<br />
(2.) The inspection of those account books which belong<br />
to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the<br />
nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or<br />
withheld.<br />
(3.) That there shall be no secret profits.<br />
(4.) That nothing shall be charged whioh has not been<br />
actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no oharge for<br />
advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for<br />
exchanged advertisements and that all discounts shall be<br />
duly entered.<br />
If these points are carefully looked after, the author may<br />
rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the<br />
same time he will do well to send his agreement to the<br />
secretary before he signs it.<br />
a 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 202 (#636) ############################################<br />
<br />
202 THE AUTHOR.<br />
HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br />
I. "T7WERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br />
Fj advioe upon his agreements, his ohoioe of a pub-<br />
lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br />
business or the administration of his property. If the advice<br />
sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member<br />
has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the<br />
case ia such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com-<br />
mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this<br />
without any cost to the member.<br />
2. Eemember that questions connected with oopyright<br />
and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the<br />
experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not soruple<br />
to use the Sooiety first—our solicitors are continually<br />
engaged upon suoh questions for us.<br />
3. Send to the office oopies of past agreements and past<br />
accounts with the loan of the bookB represented. This is in<br />
order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree-<br />
ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively<br />
so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any<br />
agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor-<br />
mation thus obtained may prove invaluable.<br />
4. If the examination of your previous business trans-<br />
actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should<br />
take advice as to a ohange of publishers.<br />
5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br />
posed document to the Society for examination.<br />
6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in<br />
the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks of every publish-<br />
ing firm in the country.<br />
7. Remember always that in belonging to the Sooiety 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 />
8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of everything<br />
important to literature that you may hear or meet with.<br />
9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of<br />
members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br />
safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br />
fidential documents to be read only by the 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 />
THE AUTHORS' SYNDICATE.<br />
MEMBERS are informed:<br />
1. That the Authors' Syndicate takes charge of<br />
the business of members of the Society. That it<br />
submits MSS. to publishers and editors, concludes agree-<br />
ments, examines, passes, and collects accounts, and, gene-<br />
rally, relieves members of the trouble of managing business<br />
details.<br />
2. That the terms upon which its services oan be secured<br />
will be forwarded upon detailed application.<br />
3. That the Authors' Syndicate works only for those<br />
members of the Society whose work possesses a market<br />
value.<br />
4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiations<br />
whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia-<br />
tions are placed exclusively in its hands, and that all<br />
communications relating thereto are referred to it.<br />
5. That clients can only be seen by the Director by<br />
appointment, and that, when possible, at least two days'<br />
notice should be given.<br />
6. That every attempt is made to deal with all communi-<br />
cations promptly. That Btamps should, in all cases, be sent<br />
to defray postage.<br />
7. That the Authors' Syndicate does not invite MSS.<br />
without previous correspondence; does not hold itself<br />
responsible for MSS. forwarded without notice; and that<br />
in all cases MSS. must be accompanied by stamps to defray<br />
postage.<br />
8. That the Syndicate undertakes arrangements for<br />
lectures by some of the leading members of the Society;<br />
that it has a "Transfer Department" for the sale and<br />
purchase of journals and periodicals; and that a " Register<br />
of Wants and Wanted" is open. Members are invited to<br />
communicate their requirements to the Manager.<br />
There is an Honorary Advisory Committee, whose services<br />
will be called upon in any case of dispute or difficulty. It<br />
is perhaps necessary to state that the members of the<br />
Advisory Committee have no pecuniary interest whatever in<br />
the Syndicate.<br />
NOTICES.<br />
THE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br />
Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br />
of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br />
heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br />
many members did not forward to the Seoretary the modest<br />
6s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br />
The Editor ia always glad to receive short papers and<br />
communications on all subjects oonnected with literature<br />
from members and others. Nothing can do more good to<br />
the Society than to make The Author complete, attractive,<br />
and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this<br />
work send their names and the special subjects on which<br />
they are willing to write P<br />
Communications for The Author should reach the Editor<br />
not later than the 21st of each month.<br />
All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether<br />
members of the Society or not, are invited to oommunioate<br />
to the Editor any points connected with their work which<br />
it would be advisable in the general interest to publish.<br />
Members and others who wish their MSS. read are<br />
requested not to send them to the Office without previously<br />
communicating with the Seoretary. The utmost practicable<br />
despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in<br />
which they are received. It must also be distinctly under-<br />
stood that the Sooiety does not, under any circumstances,<br />
undertake the publication of MSS.<br />
The Authors' Club is now open in its new premises, at<br />
3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary<br />
for information, rules of admission, &o.<br />
Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they<br />
have paid their subscriptions for the year P If they will do<br />
this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's<br />
order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the<br />
trouble of sending out a reminder.<br />
Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the<br />
following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a<br />
most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding<br />
for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they<br />
would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five<br />
years to oome, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 203 (#637) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
203<br />
or dishonest f Of course they would not. Why then<br />
hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them-<br />
selves into literary bondage for throe or five years P<br />
Those who possess the "Cost of Production" are<br />
requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15<br />
per cent. This means, for those who do not like the trouble<br />
of "doing sums," the addition of three shillings in the<br />
pound on this head. In other words, if the oost of binding<br />
is set down in onr book at eight pounds, to this must now be<br />
added twenty-four shillings more, so that it now stands<br />
at JE9 48. The figures in our book are as near the exact<br />
truth as can be procured; but a printer's, or a binder's,<br />
bill is so elaatio a thing that nothing more exact can be<br />
arrived at.<br />
Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged<br />
in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of course, we<br />
have not included any Hums whioh may be charged for<br />
inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines,<br />
or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too<br />
often go, there iB nothing to prevent the publisher from<br />
sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket,<br />
by inserting any number of advertisements in his own<br />
magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are<br />
who call this a form of frand; it is not known what those<br />
who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it.<br />
LITERARY PROPERTY.<br />
I.—The Discount Question.<br />
1.<br />
THE Publishers' Association having con-<br />
sidered the report of the Sub-Committee of<br />
the Society of Authors, published in The<br />
Author last month, has forwarded the following<br />
letters, which explain themselves :—<br />
"H. Eider Haggard, Esq., Society of Authors.<br />
"Dec. 9, 1897.<br />
"My dear Haggard,—I laid the report of your<br />
Society on the discount question before our<br />
council to-day, and the following resolution was<br />
passed: 'That in view of the report of the<br />
Society of Authors, the council feel that it is not<br />
possible for them to proceed with the proposed<br />
scheme in its present form, but they are not<br />
without hope that some other means of meeting<br />
the difficulty may be suggested.' I was requested<br />
to forward a copy of this resolution to you, and<br />
also to the Associated Booksellers.—I am, yours<br />
faithfully,<br />
"(Signed) Chables James Longman,<br />
"President."<br />
11.<br />
"T. Burleigh, Esq., Hon. Sec. Associated<br />
Booksellers, 370, Oxford-street, W.<br />
"Dec. 9, 1897.<br />
"Dear Mr. Burleigh,—Tou have no doubt seen<br />
the report of the Society of Authors on the<br />
discount question. It was considered by the<br />
council of the Publishers' Association to-day,<br />
and I need hardly inform you that they greatly<br />
regret the authors' decision, for though the<br />
council were conscious of many difficulties in the<br />
way of carrying out the scheme, they were pre-<br />
pared to give it a fair and loyal trial if the co-<br />
operation of the Authors' Society had been<br />
secured. Although the present effort must be<br />
considered to have failed, the council hope that<br />
all who are interested in the circulation of books<br />
will continue to give the matter full and careful<br />
consideration in the endeavour to discover some<br />
practicable scheme. The following resolution was<br />
carried unanimously at to-day's meeting: 'That<br />
in view of the report of the Society of Authors,<br />
the council feel that it is not possible for them to<br />
proceed with the proposed scheme in its present<br />
form, but they are not without hope that some<br />
other means of meeting the difficulty may be<br />
suggested.'—I am, yours faithfully,<br />
"Wm. Poulten, Secretary."<br />
in.<br />
Mr. Burleigh, hon. secretary of the Associated<br />
Booksellers, has addressed the following letter to<br />
the secretary of the Publishers' Association:—<br />
370, Oxford-street, London, W.<br />
Dec. 13,1897.<br />
Dear Mr. Poulten,—I beg to acknowledge the<br />
receipt of your letter of the 9th inst., with the<br />
copy of resolution of the Publishers' Council.<br />
The disappointing condition of affairs will be<br />
considered at our next council meeting early in<br />
January.<br />
I trust the council and booksellers generally<br />
will support me in the determination to continue<br />
the struggle, until literature of a higher class can<br />
be profitably placed upon our shelves, and many<br />
authors, now smothered, obtain a better chance<br />
with the public.—Yours faithfully,<br />
Thomas Burleigh.<br />
Hon. Sec. Associated Booksellers.<br />
W. Poulten, Esq., Secretary,<br />
The Pubhshers' Association.<br />
IV.<br />
The following letters also explain themselves.<br />
The first is addressed to the secretary:—<br />
Dec. 5, 1897.<br />
Deab Sib,—I have belonged to the Society of<br />
Authors for some years, and I am much indebted<br />
to it for valuable advice given me on one occasion<br />
when I was in a position of great difficulty. But<br />
I so entirely disagree with the Report of the Sub-<br />
committee on the Discount Question, and am so<br />
anxious to dissociate myself from it, that I am<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 204 (#638) ############################################<br />
<br />
204<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
forced to resign my membership of the Society, as<br />
I now do.<br />
There is hardly any kind of business in which<br />
the evils of reckless competition have not been<br />
felt during the la>t half century, and remedies of<br />
various kinds have been sought after and adopted<br />
with success in many trades. To take their stand,<br />
as the Committee do, on the formulae which were<br />
current in 1852 about the " freedom which ought<br />
to prevail in commercial transactions," seems to<br />
me an absurd anachronism.<br />
Had it been clear that the Committee had<br />
accepted Mr. Longman's offer, and had met with<br />
the publishers' sub-committee in conference on the<br />
subject, I should attach more importance to their<br />
contention that the proposed organisation could<br />
not be carried out.<br />
I am sending a copy of this letter to the presi-<br />
dent of the Publishers' Association.—I remain,<br />
yours sincerely,<br />
(Signed) Wm. Cunningham.<br />
v.<br />
Dec. 6, 1897.<br />
The Rev. W. Cunningham.—Dear Sir,—I am<br />
in receipt of your letter, and have removed your<br />
name from the books of the Society for the reason<br />
that you disapprove of the Report of the Com-<br />
mittee on the Discount Question. The Committee<br />
did not take their stand "on the formute which<br />
were current in 1852." They have had a great<br />
amount of evidence before them, and it is on this<br />
evidence that they have come to draw their present<br />
conclusions. We did not meet the sub-committee<br />
of the publishers, because we had already the<br />
publishers' views in the fullest manner before us<br />
from the documents we had collected. We did,<br />
however, as you will see by the Report, have the<br />
views of booksellers of all classes, who surely are<br />
more concerned in the affair than the publishers.<br />
I must apologise, however, for going into these<br />
details now.—Tours truly,<br />
G. Herbert Thring.<br />
II.—The Law of Author and Publisher.<br />
An order was made last week by the Lord<br />
Chief Justice of considerable interest to authors<br />
and the publishing trade. It related to the deal-<br />
ing with copies of books remaining unsold upon<br />
the bankruptcy of a publisher. The decision<br />
come to was in the nature of a compromise, and<br />
lacks the authority of a judgment; but it is<br />
probable that the case may become a precedent,<br />
and the facts have therefore a special interest to<br />
those connected with literature. The plaintiff<br />
was Mr. Frederick Wicks, and the defendants<br />
Remington and Co. (Limited), Mr. Sidney Cronk,<br />
the liquidator of the company, and Mr. John<br />
Grant Macqueen, the purchaser of Remington's<br />
business. The company and its predecessors,<br />
Eden, Remington, and Co., had published and<br />
sold three editions of "The Veiled Hand," of<br />
which Mr. Wicks is the author, and had printed<br />
a fourth edition of 5000 copies. Between 2000<br />
and 3000 of these remained unsold when the<br />
company went into liquidation. The company<br />
had also printed 5000 of "The Broadmoor<br />
Patient" and 5000 of " The Infant," by the same<br />
author, and had sold about 2000 of each. The<br />
defendant Macqueen therefore acquired posses-<br />
sion of some 8000 copies of the three works. The<br />
agreements made by Mr. Wicks with Messrs.<br />
Remington were agreements to print and publish<br />
only, and in each case the author retained the<br />
copyright. It is part of the established law that<br />
agreements of this kind are not assignable with-<br />
out the consent of the owner of the copyright,<br />
and that they do not pass to an assignee in bank-<br />
ruptcy nor to a liquidator of a company. Mr.<br />
Cronk, however, assigned the agreements, and<br />
sold the stock to Mr. Macqueen, who gave him an<br />
indemnity for all the consequences of this act. The<br />
correspondence showed that Mr. Wicks en-<br />
deavoured to procure from Mr. Macqueen some<br />
acknowledgment of his rights and some arrange-<br />
ment for the continuance of the sales; but his<br />
title to any participation in the proceeds of the<br />
sale was denied in the first instance by both<br />
parties. Later an endeavour to make an arrange-<br />
ment was promised by Mr. Macqueen, but Mr.<br />
Wicks was requested to wait until full considera-<br />
tion could be given to the matter. A few months<br />
later, nothing having been arranged, Mr. Wicks<br />
found his books on sale at Messrs Smith and<br />
Son's bookstalls at a slightly reduced price. He<br />
ascertained that some 1200 copies had been<br />
bought and paid for three months before without<br />
any consent on his part, and when he applied for<br />
an account it was refused. Some months after<br />
he was offered a third of the royalty stipulated by<br />
the original agreement on a part of the sales only,<br />
and the court was applied to. Pressure being<br />
put upon the parties by the Lord Chief Justice<br />
to make an arrangement, it was ultimately decided<br />
to take an order requiring Mr. Macqueen to bind<br />
the books to the satisfaction of Mr. Wicks, to<br />
sell them at prices agreed to by Mr. Wicks, to<br />
expend a reasonable amount in advertising the<br />
books, which amount would be fixed by a third<br />
person, and to pay to Mr. Wicks the amount<br />
acknowledged in the account rendered, and a<br />
royalty on future sales as stipulated in the origi-<br />
nal agreement respecting "The Veiled Hand."<br />
This agreement fixed the royalties at 1*. lod. per<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 205 (#639) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
205<br />
copy on the 10s. 6d. edition, and 9^. on the<br />
3s. 6d. edition, to be increased to 2*. 3d. and io\d.<br />
respectively after the sale of 5000, which has been<br />
the case with "The Veiled Hand." The liquida-<br />
tor of the company, who, the Lord Chief Justice<br />
said, had assigned agreements that he had no<br />
power to assign, was ordered to leave in the hands<br />
of .the plaintiff five guineas paid into court.—The<br />
Athenmum, Dec. 25.<br />
m.—The Cost of Binding.<br />
Exception has been taken to our estimate of t,d.<br />
as the cost of plain binding. We have called<br />
attention to an increase in the cost of binding.<br />
This increase seems to belong to small orders.<br />
Those who have sufficient business to give large<br />
orders for cloth can still bind very cheaply. The<br />
following taken from a publisher's account shows<br />
what is actually paid for binding. There were<br />
1328 copies bound, viz.:—<br />
262, in paper, at id.<br />
150 at 31*. 6d. a hundred, or $zd. a volume.<br />
916 at 38s. 6d. the hundred, or $\d. a volume.<br />
The average amounts to 3^m«?.—i.e., a little<br />
over 3|rf.<br />
It is pleasant, after hearing frantic declarations<br />
that the work cannot be done at the price, to<br />
receive actual accounts showing that the work has<br />
been done at the price.<br />
IV.—Thk Copyeight Association.<br />
A service of plate was presented to Mr. Daldy<br />
on Dec. 9 by the Copyright Association in recog-<br />
nition of his services in the cause of copyright.<br />
The association, as is well known, has been in<br />
existence a long time. It consists of a few<br />
authors and some publishers: of late it has been<br />
working with the Society. It is now very much<br />
to be desired that the authors who are in the<br />
association should remember that the Society has<br />
done a great deal of solid work in connection with<br />
* copyright, and that a continuance of their<br />
membership might lead to complications with<br />
the Society, which should have the first claim<br />
upon their support.<br />
V.—Muddock v. Blackwood.<br />
(Before Mr. Justice Kekewich.)<br />
This was a copyright case of some importance.<br />
Two copyright actions had been brought, one<br />
having been commenced in the Chancery Division<br />
and the other in the Queen's Bench Division, but<br />
they had since been consolidated by an order in<br />
the Chancery action. The writ in the Chancery<br />
action was issued on Nov. 24, 1896, by the plain-<br />
tiff, Mr. James Edward Muddock, the author or<br />
and the registered proprietor of the copyright in<br />
a work called "A Wingless Angel," against Mr.<br />
James Blackwood, a publisher, and a firm of pub-<br />
lishers called J. Blackwood and Co., claiming an<br />
injunction, an account of profits, and delivery-up<br />
of copies in respect of a work published by the<br />
defendants under the same title, and being, in<br />
fact, a reprint of the plaintiff's work. On Dec. 10<br />
the principal defendant, Mr. James Blackwood,<br />
wrote to the plaintiff offering to submit to an in-<br />
junction, to pay =£10 as damages, to deliver up all<br />
copies in his hands, and to pay the plaintiff's<br />
costs as between party and party. The plaintiff,<br />
however, refused the offer, and on Dec. 18 made a<br />
demand in writing on the defendants under sect.<br />
23 of the Copyright Act, 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c. 45),<br />
for all copies of the book unlawfully printed or<br />
imported; and then, on Dec. 23, 1896, issued the<br />
writ in the Queen's Bench action, claiming<br />
damages for wrongful conversion of copies of the<br />
book unlawfully printed without the consent of<br />
the plaintiff. Then he delivered a statement of<br />
claim in that action, and on Feb. 1,1897, obtained<br />
an order in chambers in that action transferring<br />
it to the Chancery Division, but expressly reserv-<br />
ing the costs of that action to be dealt with by<br />
the Chancery judge at the trial. On Feb. 8 Mr.<br />
Justice Kekewich, on the plaintiff's application,<br />
made an order that the two actions should be<br />
consolidated and proceed as one action, and in the<br />
consolidated action the plaintiff delivered a state-<br />
ment of claim, claiming an injunction, delivery up<br />
of all copies in the defendants' possession, an<br />
account of profits made by the defendants by the<br />
infringement, or, alternatively, damages in respect<br />
of the infringement, with an inquiry as to the<br />
amount thereof, £2 50 damages for conversion as<br />
in an action of trover, and costs. It appeared<br />
that the plaintiff had not published any copies of<br />
his work since 1875; that in 1886 the defendant<br />
Mr. James Blackwood bought the stereotyped<br />
plates of the work at an auction sale at Messrs.<br />
Puttick and Simpson's, of Leicester-square, and<br />
had used them without demur until last year. An<br />
account furnished by the defendant showed that<br />
in 1886 he sold 1010 copies at a total price of<br />
â– £38 199. g^d., and at a profit of £8 lot. 4$<Z.;<br />
also that in 1896 he sold 29 copies at a profit of<br />
£1 4«. 2d., his total profits thus amounting to<br />
=£9 148. 6\d. -. also that, after taking into account<br />
the purchase of the plates and repairs, amounting<br />
altogether to <£io, there had been a net loss on<br />
production and sale of the book of 58. $\d.<br />
Warrington, Q.C., and J. G. Joseph for the<br />
plaintiff, relied on sect. 23 of the Copyright Act,<br />
1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c. 45) (Scrutton on Copyright,<br />
p. 246), which provides that "all copies of any<br />
book wherein there shall be copyright, and of<br />
which entry shall have been made in the said<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 206 (#640) ############################################<br />
<br />
206<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
registry book, and which shall have been unlaw-<br />
fully printed or imported without the consent of<br />
the registered proprietor of such copyright, in<br />
writing under his hand first obtained, shall be<br />
deemed to be the property of the proprietor of<br />
such copyright, and who shall be registered as<br />
such, and such registered proprietor shall, after<br />
demand thereof in writing, be entitled to sue for<br />
and recover the same, or damages for the deten-<br />
tion thereof, in an action of detinue, from any<br />
party who shall detain the same, or to sue for and<br />
recover damages for the conversion thereof in an<br />
action for trover."<br />
Renshaw, Q.C. and J. W. Baines, for the<br />
defendant Blackwood, referred to sect. 15, which<br />
enacts that " if any person shall, in any part of<br />
the British dominions, after the passing of this<br />
Act, print or cause to be printed, either for sale<br />
or exportation, any book in which there shall be<br />
subsisting copyright, without the consent in<br />
writing of the proprietor thereof, or shall import<br />
for sale or hire any such book so having been<br />
unlawfully printed from paits beyond the sea, or,<br />
knowing such book to have been so unlawfully<br />
printed or imported, shall sell, publish, or expose<br />
for sale or hire, or cause to be sold, published,<br />
or exposed for sale or hire, or shall have in his<br />
possession, for sale or hire, any such book so un-<br />
lawfully printed or imported, without such con-<br />
sent as aforesaid, such offender shall be liable to a<br />
special action on the case at the suit of the pro-<br />
prietor of such copyright, to be brought in any<br />
court of record in that part of the British<br />
dominions in which the offence shall be com-<br />
mitted." They submitted that the two sections<br />
were inconsistent, and that the plaintiff was wrong<br />
in claiming, as he had done, both in detinue and<br />
in trover, for, under sect. 23 he must select the<br />
one mode of action or the other, not both. As to<br />
the alleged profits made by the defendant, when<br />
the price of the plates and the usual trade dis-<br />
count were taken into consideration, it was clear<br />
there could be no profits. [Mr. Justice Kbke-<br />
wich.—I should think wingless angels would<br />
require some discount to make them fly. (Laugh-<br />
ter.)] The plaintiff had resorted to a "multi-<br />
plicity" of actions, when he might have sought<br />
relief by one action. The action had been, in<br />
fact, continued without any necessity, the defen-<br />
dant having offered all the plaintiff could justly<br />
claim.<br />
Mr. Justice Kkkkwich said it was somewhat<br />
strange that in the end of the year 1897 he should<br />
be called upon for the first time to say what was<br />
the meaning of sect. 23 of the Act 5 & 6 Vict,<br />
c. 45—whether the remedy given by that section<br />
was inconsistent with that given by sect. 15; but<br />
he supposed he was really called upon to do that<br />
because no counsel had suggested to him that<br />
there was any decision; and, moreover, the book<br />
on copyright which was in the bands of the pro-<br />
fession, and to which reference was usually made<br />
on all questions of copyright, did not give any<br />
case on the subject. Two points had been raised.<br />
First, it was said on behalf of the defendant<br />
that sect. 15 gave the proprietor of copyright a<br />
remedy by special action on the case: that that<br />
meant that this was the remedy which he was<br />
intended to pursue, except so far as his remedies<br />
at common law were not interfered with; that<br />
the offender under sect. 23 was a different person<br />
to the offender under sect. 15; that under sect. 15<br />
he was dealing with a person who had " unlaw-<br />
fully printed or imported " a book in which there<br />
was a subsisting copyright, and that the other<br />
Kect., 23, provided a remedy against the accidental<br />
possessor of the infringing book, so as to give a<br />
right of action against that accidental possessor<br />
independently of his being otherwise a wrong-<br />
doer. That might b-j the right view, but the<br />
language of the sections was not sufficiently clear<br />
to compel his Lordship to adopt it. No doubt<br />
there were words in sect. 15 which were not to be<br />
found in sect. 23, and he was unable to suggest<br />
why the two sections should not have been put<br />
into one, and why they should have been sepa-<br />
rated as they were. But, on the other hand, he<br />
did not see why, because the proprietor of copy-<br />
right had a remedy under sect. 15 against the<br />
wrong-doer, he could not sue that wrong-doer, if<br />
so advised, under sect. 23. Then the next point<br />
was this. The book being vested in the pro-<br />
prietor of the copyright, sect. 23 said he "shall,<br />
after demand in writing, be entitled to sue for<br />
and recover the same or damages for the deten-<br />
tion thereof, in an action of detinue, from any<br />
party who shall detain the same, or to sue for and<br />
recover damages for the conversion thereof in an<br />
action of trover." That provided an alternative<br />
remedy; and the argument on behalf of the<br />
defendant was that the plaintiff claiming to sue •<br />
under that section must elect to sue either in<br />
detinue or in trover, and could not sue in both.<br />
That was an easier point than the other.<br />
There was an alternative remedy. It would,<br />
in his Lordship's opinion, be adopting an<br />
extremely narrow construction of the Act to say<br />
that the proprietor of the copyright in a book,<br />
knowing that a person had a certain number of<br />
copies in his hands and that he had sold other<br />
copies, could not sue that person in respect of<br />
the copies that he had detained, and also in<br />
respect of those that he had converted to his own<br />
jise. It seemed tolerably plain upon the Act<br />
itself, and in accordance with what was the appa-<br />
rent intention of the Legislature, that the two<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 207 (#641) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
207<br />
actions might be reduced to one action distributed<br />
in the way he had suggested—that is to say, the<br />
plaintiff might sue in detinue in respect of the<br />
copies the defendant had detained, and might<br />
sue in trover in respect of the copies he had<br />
sold and converted to his own use. Having got<br />
so far, the plaintiff in the present case, who was<br />
the proprietor of the registered copyright in a<br />
book called "A Wingless Angel," was entitled to<br />
sue under sect. 23, and to sue the defendant not-<br />
withstanding that he might have brought what<br />
was called " a special action on the case " under<br />
sect. 15; and he might have exercised his privi-<br />
lege of bringing an action on the case by pro-<br />
ceeding in the Chancery Division. What, then,<br />
was the plaintiff's remedy? In his Lordship's<br />
opinion he was entitled to the delivery-up on<br />
oath of all books in the possession of the<br />
defendant—that is to say, delivery-up, and also<br />
damages as in an action of trover for the books<br />
the defendant had sold. The defendant had sold<br />
twice. In 1886 he sold 1010 copies and realised<br />
.£38 19*. g^d., or, say, .£39, making a profit of<br />
£8 10s. 4%d.; and then he published the book<br />
again in 1896, and sold twenty-nine copies, and<br />
made a profit of <£i 40. 2d., which on his own<br />
showing was rather more than one-eighth of<br />
what he had made in 1886. His Lordship de-<br />
clined to order an inquiry as to damages. It<br />
would be almost wicked to send the case to the<br />
master or to an official referee to find damages<br />
for conversion; if necessary, he should have the<br />
inquiry before himself. Mr. Warrington had<br />
asked him to fix a sum, and if he added forty<br />
guineas for the whole, he thought he was giving<br />
the plaintiff as much as he was entitled to. The<br />
plaintiff was also entitled to an injunction as<br />
part of the order. Upon the question of costs,<br />
his Lordship said that the plaintiff might have<br />
obtained all the relief he sought by one action in<br />
the Chancery Division. He seemed, however, to<br />
have determined to multiply costs in every<br />
possible way, and his Lordship would do his best<br />
to mark his sense of that proceeding. He should<br />
therefore give him only the costs of the Chancery<br />
action; the costs of the other proceedings he<br />
must be ordered to pay.—The Times, Nov. 17.<br />
SHELLEY'S PUBLISHES.<br />
CHARLES OLLIER began his working life<br />
in Messrs. Coutts's bank, but a classical<br />
education had developed literary tastes, and<br />
these he first indulged by becoming a publisher.<br />
He had not been a year in business when, through<br />
Leigh Hunt—whose "Foliage," "Hero and<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
Leander," and the second edition of " The Story<br />
of Rimini" he published—he was introduced to<br />
Keats, and the acquaintance led to his publishing<br />
the first poems of Keats in 1817. The book was<br />
not a success; Keats blamed the inactivity of the<br />
publisher, and went over to Taylor and Hessey<br />
with his subsequent works. With Shelley the<br />
case was different. It was due to Oilier that<br />
Shelley's "Laon and Cythna" was altered and<br />
converted into "The Revolt of Islam"; and,<br />
although the poet complained of that proceeding,<br />
all his subsequent works published in his life-<br />
time, except "Swellfoot the Tyrant," were<br />
brought out by Oilier. When Shelley sent his<br />
"Defence of Poetry" to Oilier in 1821, indeed, he<br />
wrote that " if any expressions should strike you<br />
as too unpopular, I give you the power of omit-<br />
ting them; but I trust you will, if possible,<br />
refrain from exercising this." Although his<br />
brother James was the man of business, the firm<br />
of Charles and James Oilier, of Vere-street, did not<br />
prosper. Li 1819 he published " The Literary<br />
Pocket Book," in which Shelley's poem of " Mari-<br />
anne's Dream" was first printed; and in 1820<br />
he brought out the first part of " Oilier's Literary<br />
Miscellany, in Prose and Verse, by Several<br />
Hands." This publication, which, as the title-<br />
page said, was "to be continued occasionally,"<br />
contained a remarkable article on the German<br />
drama by Archdeacon Hare, and another by<br />
Peacock on "The Four Ages of Poetry." As<br />
the latter, in which the writer regarded poetry as a<br />
worn-out delusion of barbarous times, provoked<br />
Shelley's "Defence of Pcetry," the following<br />
entertaining passage may be quoted as a taste of<br />
its quality. The year of writing is 1820:—<br />
In the origin and perfection of poetry, all the associa-<br />
tions of life were composed of poetio materials. With us it<br />
is decidedly the reverse. We know, too, that there are nu<br />
Dryads in Hyde Park nor Naiads in the Regent's Canal<br />
Bat barbaric manners and supernatural interventions are<br />
essential to poetry. Either in the scene, or in the time, or<br />
in both, it must be remote from our ordinary perceptions.<br />
While the historian and the philosopher are advanoing in<br />
and accelerating the progress of knowledge, the poet is<br />
wallowing in the rubbish of departed ignoranoe, and raking<br />
up the ashes of dead savages to find geegaws and rattles<br />
for the grown babies of the age. Mr. Scott digs up the<br />
poachers and cattle stealers of the anoient border. Lord<br />
Byron cruises for thieves and pirates on the shores of the<br />
Morea and among the Greek islands. Mr. Southey wades<br />
through ponderous volumes of travel and old chronicles,<br />
from which he carefully selects all that is false, useless,<br />
and absurd, as being essentially poetioal; and when he has a<br />
oommonplace book, full of monstrosities, strings them into<br />
an epic Mr. Wordsworth picks up village legends from old<br />
women and sextons; and Mr. Coleridge, to the valuable<br />
information acquired from similar sources, superadds the<br />
dreams of crazy theologians and the mysticisms of German<br />
metaphysios, and favours the world with visions in verse,<br />
in whioh the quadruple elements of sexton, old woman,<br />
Jeremy Taylor, and Emanuel Kant are harmonised into a<br />
T<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 208 (#642) ############################################<br />
<br />
208<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
delicious poetical compound. Mr. Moore presents as with<br />
a Persian, and Mr. Campbell with a Pennsylvanian tale,<br />
both formed on the same principle as Mr. Southey's epics,<br />
by extracting from a perfunctory and desultory perusal of a<br />
collection of voyages and travels, all that useful investiga-<br />
tion would not seek for and that common sense would<br />
reject.<br />
"Very clever, but false," said Shelley of Pea-<br />
cock's tilt against poetry. Shelley's " Defence"<br />
was originally intended to appear in the second<br />
part of "Ollier's Miscellany," but no second part<br />
ever appeared. Then Ollier's business was wound-<br />
up, and the " Defence" came into the possession<br />
of John Hunt, who prepared it for publication<br />
in the " Liberal," but that periodical also expired<br />
before it could be published.<br />
Meanwhile Oilier had become a literary adviser<br />
to Bentley, and he continued long in this position.<br />
He also contributed to magazines, and occasion-<br />
ally gave lectures on celebrated writers. He<br />
admired Shakespeare to such a degree, and held<br />
himself under such a loyal weight of obligation<br />
to him, that, says Hunt, "I have known him<br />
involuntarily measure persons, whom he other-<br />
wise respected, from head to foot if tbey ventured<br />
to maintain the least objection to the great poet;<br />
as though, in default of some possible intellectual<br />
cause for it, he was trying to discover some cause<br />
physical."<br />
As an author, Oilier possessed two faults in<br />
Leigh Hunt's eyes. First, he should have written<br />
more; and, secondly, he should have taken more<br />
pains to keep what he did write before the public.<br />
His first work was "Altham and His Wife: a<br />
Domestic Tale" (1818). Shelley wrote of this:<br />
"It is a natural story, most unaffectedly told in a<br />
strain of very pure and powerful English." Sir<br />
Walter Scott, in a critique which he wrote in the<br />
Quarterly Review on the novel of " Haggi Baba"<br />
in England, refers to the story of "Altham and<br />
His Wife" as furnishing pleasant authority for<br />
the telling of love-tales under umbrellas during a<br />
shower. Ollier's second book, "Iuesilla; or, the<br />
Tempter: a Romance, with Other Tales" (1824),<br />
Hunt said was "the best bit of diablerie in the<br />
language." So high an opinion was entertained<br />
of it by the authoress of "Frankenstein," that a<br />
publisher having proposed to piece out the requi-<br />
site size of a volume of stories from her pen by<br />
one worthy of its companionship, she said she<br />
should prefer this production of Mr. Oilier. Then<br />
followed "Ferrers" (1842), a romance on the<br />
execution of Earl Ferrers in 1760; "Fallacy of<br />
Ghosts, Dreams, and Omens, with Stories of<br />
Witchcraft, Life-in-Death, and Monomania"<br />
(1848), reprinted from Ainsworth's Magazine,<br />
and published by the author himself. Edmund<br />
Oilier, author, who died in 1886, was a son of<br />
Charles Oilier.<br />
EUSSIAN COPYBIGHT.<br />
AT present, no international copyright exists<br />
in Russia. Not only is the Russian<br />
Empire by far the largest and by far the<br />
most important of the European States outside<br />
the Berne Convention, but it is also without any<br />
private copyright convention with any other<br />
State. The readers of The Author will not<br />
require to be told what that implies. The<br />
results are, of course, as unsatisfactory to Russian<br />
authors as they are to the authors of other<br />
countries, all whose works are at the free disposal<br />
of the subjects of the Tsar. Even editors and<br />
publishers do not find it always convenient to be<br />
unable either to inhibit the unlimited introduction<br />
of translations of foreign works, or to get any<br />
protection for those which they have themselves<br />
brought out. In fact, the situation appears<br />
to be rapidly becoming intolerable. The object,<br />
however, of the present article is not to<br />
explain that the results of unlimited piracy<br />
are as unsatisfactory in Russia as elsewhere.<br />
That is a matter of course. But it is pleasant<br />
to be able to mention, on the other hand,<br />
that the Russians are beginning to realise that<br />
piracy is unsatisfactory, and that, in consequence,<br />
some steps in a more hopeful direction have been<br />
recently taken.<br />
For some time past pleas have been urged in<br />
favour of the renewal of the copyright conven-<br />
tion formerly existing between Russia and France.<br />
This lapsed upon the denunciation, in 1887, of<br />
the treaty of 1861. In 1893 M. Zola published in<br />
the Temps, "An Open Letter to the Russian<br />
Press." In 1894 both the St. Petersburg Society<br />
of Authors and the St. Petersburg Association of<br />
Publishers named commissions to consider pro-<br />
posals for some new legislation. The Musical<br />
Society of St. Petersburg and the Society of<br />
Artists took also similar steps. In the meantime<br />
the Russian Government had instituted under the<br />
presidency of Count Muravieff, then Minister of<br />
Justice, but at present of Foreign Affairs, a com-<br />
mission for the revision of the Russian code.<br />
Upon reaching the section relating to copyright,<br />
certain new regulations, in accordance with<br />
modern views, were proposed and submitted for<br />
consideration to various Russian societies com-<br />
petent to give opinions concerning them. More<br />
recently the text of the proposed legislation was<br />
communicated to the congress at Monaco, accom-<br />
panied by a letter from the Chancellor of the<br />
Russian Imperial Commission. This letter ex-<br />
plained that the projected regulations were<br />
by no means to be regarded as final, and<br />
that the right of translation, at present<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 209 (#643) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
209<br />
treated in a manner altogether inconsistent<br />
with the spirit of the Berne Convention,<br />
would probably be reconsidered and placed<br />
upon an entirely different basis. The Monaco<br />
Congress was naturally much gratified by the<br />
compliment paid it by the Russian Government,<br />
and a special commission of the association was<br />
nominated to study the proposals laid before it.<br />
Those who are specially interested in the subject<br />
will find lengthy and highly instructive articles<br />
upon it in the recent numbers of Le Droit<br />
d'Auteur, to which publication we are indebted<br />
for the facte briefly summarised in the following<br />
paragraphs.<br />
All literary, musical, and artistic works are to<br />
be protected. With some restrictions, copyright<br />
is accorded also to collections of national ballads,<br />
and of other folk-lore, hitherto orally transmitted<br />
(an excellent provision in a country so rich in<br />
folk-lore as Russia), and to editors of ancient<br />
manuscripts—the last without prejudice to editors<br />
of other manuscripts of the same work. Lectures,<br />
sermons, and public discourses are also to be<br />
copyright. Of judicial, municipal, and other<br />
public speeches of the same kind, the authors<br />
are to have a copyright, but the newspapers<br />
to be free to report. Laws and public regula-<br />
tions are not copyright. Both writer and<br />
receiver, or their heirs, have control over private<br />
letters. Amongst artistic works the following<br />
are particularly specified as protected—maps,<br />
plans, and architectural and technical designs.<br />
Photographs are protected, with some restric-<br />
tions.<br />
Unpublished literary and artistic works cannot<br />
be seized. Damages can be claimed for infringe-<br />
ment of copyright, whether wilful or uninten-<br />
tional. In the latter case the culprit is respon-<br />
sible only for a sum representing his actual gain.<br />
Proceedings before either civil or criminal<br />
tribunals will be easily taken. The owner of the<br />
copyright can proceed within a limit of three years<br />
after his discovery of the infringement of his<br />
rights. The penalty for illicit production of<br />
dramatic works will be forfeiture to the author of<br />
the whole of the gross receipts. Cession of a<br />
work does not include cession of the right of<br />
translation. Cession of right to publish a drama<br />
does not include right to perform.<br />
The author's rights are subject to certain<br />
restrictions. The entire reproduction of works<br />
of insignificant extent is permitted if they are<br />
reproduced in voluminous works of an original<br />
character. Reproduction in chrestomathies, or<br />
in similar works of a scientific or educational<br />
character, is also allowed. Periodicals are allowed<br />
to copy matter from the columns of others, pro-<br />
vided that the extracts are of small extent, not<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
of a literary character, and not continuously<br />
drawn from the same source. All such extracts<br />
are to be accompanied by an indication of their<br />
origin. The interests of the author are also<br />
sacrificed to those of the musical composer.<br />
Words for music may be taken freely from any<br />
published work, unless the words have been<br />
written exclusively for setting to music, and the<br />
composer may sell the words with the music<br />
without restriction. For restrictions on the rights<br />
of artiste we must refer the rt ader to Le Droit<br />
d'Auteur. A literary work may be dramatised<br />
without the author's consent after a lapse of ten<br />
years from its publication.<br />
Respecting translation much remains to be<br />
desired. The author of a work published in<br />
Russia enjovs an exclusive right of translation for<br />
ten years, if this right is expressly reserved by a<br />
declaration on the title or in the preface, and if<br />
he publishes a tsanslation within three years after<br />
the appearance of the original work. Works<br />
simultaneously published in different languages<br />
are to be considered as original works in every<br />
one of these languages.<br />
When the right of translation has become<br />
public property, a translator has no power to<br />
inhibit any other translation of the same work.<br />
The duration of copyright will be the same as<br />
at present, the life of the author and fifty years<br />
afterwards. This applies also to music. Fifty<br />
years from the death of the author is the dura-<br />
tion of the copyright of posthumous works.<br />
Fifty years from the date of publication will be<br />
the duration for—<br />
(a) First editions of folk-lore;<br />
(6) First editions of ancient manuscripts;<br />
(c) The publications of universities, academies,<br />
educational institutions, and learned societies.<br />
The copyright of an anonymous or pseudony-<br />
mous publication has a duration of thirty years<br />
from the date of publication, unless the author<br />
declares himself within that period, in which case<br />
he acquires his ordinary rights.<br />
The duration of copyright for a photograph is<br />
five years only; for a translation it is the life of<br />
the translator and thirty years afterwards.<br />
The editors of periodicals, encyclopaedias,<br />
almanacks, and similar works, composed of the<br />
writings of different authors, have a fifty years'<br />
copyright commencing from the date of publi-<br />
cation. The contributors, without prejudice to<br />
their rights in the miscellany, may, unless the<br />
contrary has been expressly stipulated, reprint<br />
their works two years after their appearance in<br />
the miscellany.<br />
The author who has ceded his right for a single<br />
edition may, unless the contrary has been ex-<br />
pressly stipulated, publish a new edition as soon<br />
t 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 210 (#644) ############################################<br />
<br />
2IO<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
as the first is exhausted, or, even if it be not<br />
exhausted, after five years; or at any time, if the<br />
work has undergone such modifications as will<br />
make it really a new book.<br />
These regulations will apply to all works pub-<br />
lished in Russia, whether the author be a Russian<br />
or a foreigner. They apply also to the works of<br />
a Russian subject published in a foreign country.<br />
No protection is given to the works of foreigners<br />
published outside the Russian Empire. Nor is<br />
any hint given of conventions ultimately to be<br />
concluded with other States. This would appear<br />
to indicate that complete non-recognition of the<br />
rights of foreigners is to be the rule. Happily,<br />
the letter of the Chancellor of the Imperial Com-<br />
mission leaves some hopes of an ultimate more<br />
liberal arrangement.<br />
Henby Cbesswell.<br />
NEW YORK LETTER.<br />
New York, Dec. 17, 1897.<br />
ANUMBER of interesting changes in the<br />
tendencies of publishing are visible in the<br />
Christmas books this year, and they are<br />
nearly all encouraging. All of the leading houses<br />
are publishing less of those books which, intended<br />
exclusively for Christmas sale, are of flimsy and<br />
ephemeral character, with slight real interest.<br />
Trifles for children, and gift-books full of cheap<br />
illustrations and decorations, are not published<br />
by any but some of the weaker houses. Instead<br />
of that we see the solid books being advertised as<br />
especially suitable for gift-books. A few of the<br />
smaller houses, however, have just as large a<br />
supply of tinsel as ever. Among the solid books<br />
which seem to be especially popular for this par-<br />
ticular purpose are those on the popular aspects<br />
of science and philosophy, and especially on those<br />
branches of those subjects which can be treated<br />
in a half pictorial way, which explains an un-<br />
common amount of literature about birds and<br />
plants this year, and also explains the big<br />
Christmas demand for books on art and travel.<br />
The decoration is improving in the same way as<br />
the contents. Really rich and luxurious paper<br />
and binding are taking the place of the cheaper<br />
devices, although one wasteful tendency is notice-<br />
able—that of making the books so delicate that<br />
any reasonable amount of handling would ruin<br />
them. Perhaps of all the Christmas books,<br />
properly speaking, the two most conspicuous are<br />
Gibson's book on London (published by tbe<br />
Scribners) and "Joan of Arc," by Boutet de<br />
Mouvel, published by the Century Company.<br />
John Li Farge's "Artist's Letters from Japan"<br />
has attracted a good deal of attention, and<br />
it is a reminder that the growing familiarity<br />
with Japanese and French ideas in regard to<br />
decoration is responsible for much of the im-<br />
provement.<br />
One of the most interesting of all the solid<br />
books is the history of dancing from the earliest<br />
stages to our own times, published by Appleton<br />
and Co. as a translation from the French. The<br />
text itself is complete and intelligent, and the<br />
illustrations reproduce some of the finest works of<br />
art from the earliest times down to Sargent,<br />
Degas and Cheret.<br />
Among the books which will appear before a<br />
great while it must be said, to the credit of the<br />
cheap magazines and the cheap publishing houses,<br />
that the most interesting, to my mind at least, will<br />
be given by Mr. Munsey. It will be made up of<br />
a series of articles now running in the magazine<br />
which give the judgment of various writers of<br />
fiction on their favourite novelists. The date of<br />
the issue cannot be fixed until it is known when<br />
the series will be completed. Anthony Hope's<br />
article on Sterne, in the November number of the<br />
magazine, struck me as being the best piece of<br />
literary criticism of recent publication that I have<br />
seen anywhere. It suggested one rather gloomy<br />
conclusion for the professional critic, which is,<br />
that the man who sits down occasionally to<br />
express ideas which he has thought of for many<br />
years gives something more permanently worth<br />
while than most of the criticism which is written<br />
by men who turn everything they know into<br />
copy.<br />
This observation, by-the-way, has its relations<br />
to an article which Professor H. T. Peck has<br />
recently written, in which he says that the<br />
influence of the magazine on authors has been<br />
generally deteriorating, by inducing them to write<br />
too constantly. Except in the cases of genius,<br />
he thinks it makes no difference to the author,<br />
because he wouldn't do anything anyway; but<br />
where a man has genius he is ruined by the in-<br />
ducement to hasty work. The corresponding<br />
harm to the public is obvious.<br />
Mr. Howells, who has just returned from<br />
Europe, said while abroad that there was no one<br />
in this country whose good opinion was like that<br />
of Mr. Gladstone, able to make a reputation, and<br />
that Lowell's opinion in his closing years would<br />
have done more in that way than any other.<br />
Seeking the reason for this truth, the Nation<br />
thinks that it is because criticism here is too<br />
gentle, and that Mr. Lowell's influence lay largely<br />
in his freedom from the fault of indiscriminate<br />
praise, which is surely an explanation altogether<br />
insufficient to explain the lack of strong criticism<br />
here—-ather the effect than the cause.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 211 (#645) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
211<br />
One queBtion that might with profit be dis-<br />
cussed fully in this country is the ethics of<br />
editing, which has received such thorough treat-<br />
ment from The Author. The degree to which<br />
some of the magazine editors change the words<br />
and ideas in signed articles, not only in those<br />
written by the less known men, but often in<br />
those written by some of the most prominent<br />
authors in the world is very marked. It would<br />
not he safe for me to give the facts too specifically.<br />
A subject about which I have found marked<br />
differences of opinion lately is that of dating<br />
books. One writer of long experience held that<br />
in publishing a book of essays it was decidedly<br />
better to date each essay, in order that the earlier<br />
ones might be recognised as not the latest<br />
product of the author's mind. Another man,<br />
of equal ability and almost equal experience, said<br />
that to date the essays, or in any way, as by an<br />
acknowledgment in the front of the book, to show<br />
that they had been published, would injure the<br />
sale, so strong is the desire for " something new."<br />
The literary success of the last few weeks in<br />
New York belongs to England. The enthusiasm<br />
with which intelligent people have received " The<br />
Princess and the Butterfly" is as much due to<br />
Mr. Pinero'8 literary qualities as to the dramatic<br />
ones. There is no doubt that the play has made<br />
a stronger impression on the minds of the intelli-<br />
gent people of New York than anything else<br />
which has been given here this year.<br />
Norman Hapoood.<br />
NOTES AND NEWS.<br />
THE Speaker once more kindly devotes two or<br />
three columns of abuse to this Society. It<br />
appears that we contain few men of recog-<br />
nised standing: that we are run by a small clique<br />
of busybodies: that we claim to determine the<br />
conditions upon which books shall be sold: that<br />
nine-tenths of the known authors of the country<br />
know nothing about the Society: that it is the<br />
desire of the Society to establish a fixed royalty<br />
for the author: that our Report on the Discount<br />
System is a masterpiece of inconsequential<br />
reasoning: and so on. Of course they put<br />
my name forward as the supposed leader in<br />
all this wickedness: to that I am quite accus-<br />
tomed. It is the old trick of representing the<br />
Society as consisting of one man. I only<br />
wonder that they ever allow any others to be<br />
connected with it at all. There are others, how-<br />
ever: the writer acknowledges so much, though,<br />
as he assures his readers, my friends, like myself,<br />
only " cater for the middle class." This is a very<br />
terrible charge. How is one to get out of it?<br />
Since, however, the middle class of this country<br />
furnishes the great bulk of readers: since from<br />
the middle class come all our men of science,<br />
of art, of literature; all our preachers, most<br />
of our leaders, all our engineers, lawyers,<br />
merchants—in fact, all the people who ever do any-<br />
thing— I really see no disgrace in "catering"<br />
for them. The Speaker, of course, " caters " for<br />
the aristocracy alone. I wonder how it is done.<br />
However, the true meaning of all this wrath<br />
presently appears when the writer wanders from<br />
his subject in order to talk about royalties. It is<br />
the increase of the royalty which inspires this real<br />
and genuine indignation. Now, it is certainly not<br />
true, as the writer says, that we have ever advo-<br />
cated a fixed royalty. We have, however, pub-<br />
lished the meaning of royalties—what they give to<br />
authors and what they give to publishers. These<br />
truths have given a great deal of dissatisfaction.<br />
It is undoubted that, thanks to the action of the<br />
Society, royalties have very greatly advanced; it<br />
is also true that certain publishers who used to<br />
offer a sweating royalty, say, of 5 per cent., have<br />
had to treble, and more than treble, their terms,<br />
or else to see books taken elsewhere. Other little<br />
trifles have also been secured to the author, such<br />
as dramatic rights, American rights, Continental<br />
rights, through the action of the Society in pub-<br />
lishing the facts of the case.<br />
Authors, again, have been kept out of certain<br />
hands to the great loss and detriment of those<br />
hands: light has been poured upon the meaning<br />
of production and its cost. In this way it is<br />
possible that dividends may have fallen in this or<br />
that company. Such a consideration suggests a<br />
very simple explanation if a paper should happen<br />
to be controlled by a publishing house. But, if<br />
the Speaker can reason at all on the subject, one<br />
would ask if any purpose is gained by all this<br />
invective? Is the Society one whit the worse for<br />
these attacks \ I believe not. Never has any associa-<br />
tion been more savagely attacked than the Society of<br />
Authors. Yet it is larger, stronger, and of better<br />
repute to-day than ever before. And the editor<br />
of the Speaker may ask himself if, by any of his<br />
previous attacks upon the paper, he has injured the<br />
Society in the slightest way? And we may ask,<br />
generally, all these persons, publishers or other-<br />
wise, who attack the Society, whether they find<br />
their own position improved by these attacks?<br />
And we may ask the whole world whether authors,<br />
like other people, are prepared to give up an asso-<br />
ciation which has so enormously advanced their<br />
own interests? .<br />
Let us remind our members that ten or twelve<br />
years ago a 10 per cent, royalty was the utmost<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 212 (#646) ############################################<br />
<br />
212<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
ever offered. Generally it was less—a 5 per<br />
cent, with something down. A certain very<br />
popular novel was once given to a publisher for<br />
.£50 in advance and a 5 per cent, royalty. That<br />
author's terms would now be 25 per cent. Look<br />
at the difference on a sale of a thousand.<br />
On a 5 per cent, royalty .£15 per thousand<br />
copies.<br />
On a 25 per cent, royalty ,£75 per thousand<br />
copies.<br />
On a sale of fifty thousand—it was more than<br />
that—there was a difference — clear gain — of<br />
£3000. And this is evidently the work of the<br />
Society which was the first to investigate the<br />
meaning of the figures and the corresponding<br />
meaning of royalties. Take, however, a more<br />
common case, the old royalty of 10 per cent,<br />
compared with that of 25 per cent.<br />
On 10 per cent, the sum of ,£30 for every<br />
thousand copies.<br />
On 25 per cent, the sum of J675 for every<br />
thousand copies.<br />
On a sale of fifty thousand—I repeat that the<br />
book in question was very popular—the author is<br />
a gainer of £1250. As to other services of the<br />
Society, we may speak of them at another time.<br />
Let the reader only consider that if the Society<br />
were to become extinct these figures would very<br />
speedily be lost and forgotten—and the old con-<br />
dition of things would be restored.<br />
I have before me certain remarks upon our<br />
estimates and figures in a new paper of which<br />
this is only the second number. It is called the<br />
Qtiilldriver. The writer speaks well of the<br />
Society, but complains that in The Author young<br />
writers are led to believe that the average circu-<br />
lation of a novel is 3000. Not so: the average<br />
is not spoken of; in preparing these figures we<br />
have nothing to do with the average, we have to<br />
deal with the possibilities. In dealing with, or<br />
speaking of, literary property we must consider<br />
actual, substantial literary property — which<br />
means the achievement of popularity: we must<br />
prepare agreements for possibilities — never,<br />
perhaps, to be realised, yet always possible.<br />
That is the meaning of our figures. When we<br />
assume a circulation of 3000 it is in order to<br />
provide for the possibility of that number. Nor<br />
can I believe that anyone is so foolish as to<br />
think that the majority of novels do actually<br />
attain this figure. When a young barrister enters<br />
upon his profession he considers the prizes:<br />
the great practice possible: the great reputa-<br />
tion; he then lays himself out, so to speak, for<br />
the attainment of this great practice: he does not<br />
consider the many failures which are, of course,<br />
possible for him as for any other. So a young<br />
writer should, and does, consider the great<br />
prizes open to him, though he may never arrive<br />
at them. That is, again, the meaning of the<br />
thousands introduced into our figures.<br />
The writer before me goes on to say that he<br />
has made a list of 150 writers well known to the<br />
public; that he applied to their publishers for<br />
information as to the circulation of their books;<br />
and that this information was actually supplied!<br />
This is a most wonderful thing. Publishers are<br />
confidential agents; they have no more right to<br />
reveal the secrets of their authors than lawyers<br />
those of their clients. It is conceivable that such<br />
a revelation might damage a writer very seriously,<br />
say, when one of deserved name and reputation<br />
was found to enjoy a very limited circulation.<br />
However, for some unknown consideration, all the<br />
publishers of the Hundred and Fifty are said to<br />
have betrayed their trust, and to have given the<br />
information asked for. The average circulation<br />
of the lot, says my writer, was 4535 volumes.<br />
Yes, perhaps. But is this the average of the<br />
whole army of novelists? Can it be considered<br />
as even approximately the average? Let us just<br />
examine the figures. There were 150 novelists<br />
selected; their average was 4535. This represents<br />
no more than 68,025 volumes. Consequently<br />
it cannot include Hall Caine, whose last novel<br />
circulated to the tune of 150,000 copies at least.<br />
Put him in: the average rises to 1444 copies for<br />
every one of the 151. Nor does it include<br />
Rider Haggard, whose most successful story<br />
means at least 120,000. Add Eider Haggard<br />
and the average for 152 goes up to 2224. Add<br />
"Treasure Island" with, I believe, 80,000, and<br />
the average for 153 is 2732. Add Marie Corelli<br />
with 80,000 (say) and the average goes up to<br />
3234 for 154. Putin adozen others with a circula-<br />
tion of only 10,000 each and the average for 166<br />
amounts to 3723. With these figures before us<br />
it becomes evident that the figures quoted cannot<br />
represent an average, which must include the<br />
successful as well as the unsuccessful: and that<br />
if, in The Author, we were to claim 3000 as an<br />
average we might perhaps be justified. We do<br />
not, however, advance any such claim. We are<br />
quite prepared to admit that most novelists fail<br />
to catch the public ear: in all professions it is<br />
only the small minority that succeeds; we are<br />
also prepared to admit that if we take the lower<br />
half of living novelists their average is very small.<br />
But then the lower half includes the unhappy<br />
people who believe that by paying for production<br />
they pay for publication, and that a printed book<br />
is a published book, and that every novel is a<br />
mine of gold.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 213 (#647) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
The report of the Sub-Committee to consider<br />
the proposals made by certain publishers for the<br />
enslaving of the bookseller has been received by<br />
the world with apparent satisfaction. Our own<br />
members, with one exception, have not expressed<br />
any dissatisfaction at the result of the inquiry.<br />
The one exception sent a letter to the secretary,<br />
which he also forwarded to the Publishers' Asso-<br />
ciation. It is printed in another column. One<br />
would not deny to every member the right to his<br />
own opinion; but in cases where, as in that lately<br />
before us, the independence of literature, the<br />
dignity of men and women of letters, and their<br />
material interests, were all together threatened<br />
under cover of coercing booksellers: when, under<br />
the same pretence, it was sought to raise the price<br />
of books upon a public which already pays too<br />
much: in such a case it is above all things neces-<br />
sary that authors should stand together, and that<br />
they should sink their individual opinion and<br />
think only of the general good. That means that<br />
they should accept the decision of the Committee,<br />
which alone, remember, was able to hear the<br />
evidence.<br />
Mr. Cunningham says that the decision was<br />
arrived at by adhering to old arguments. That is not<br />
a correct statement of the case. The whole report<br />
has been published in this paper, so that readers<br />
may judge for themselves. Weight was certainly<br />
given to the opinions of the men of 1852—distin-<br />
guished men—all of whom have a right to be<br />
considered, even fifty years after the event. But<br />
the Committee were chiefly guided by the evidence<br />
before them, rather than by the arguments of 18 5 2;<br />
they learned and recognised the absolute impos-<br />
sibility of coercion: the degradation of the book-<br />
seller, who, if the proposed plan succeeded, would<br />
become a mere clerk and servant of the publisher:<br />
and the absolute certainty that the next step would<br />
be the degradation of the author. Indeed, the<br />
Times, in making a precis of the report, left out<br />
altogether the statement of the case in 1852, so<br />
little importance was attached by their reader to<br />
that part of the report.<br />
Mr. Cunningham disagrees with the report.<br />
That is to be lamented; but everyone must form<br />
his own opinion. He then, after acknowledging<br />
the valuable aid which he has received from the<br />
Society, withdraws from membership. This step<br />
shows that he has not the least esprit de corps,<br />
and that he owes no sense of duty or of brother-<br />
hood to others engaged in literary work. How<br />
could the Society have assisted or advised him but<br />
for the association of a great many who by their<br />
collective subscriptions enable us to provide offices,<br />
collect cases, get legal advice, and maintain a<br />
staff? How can such a Society be kept up if every<br />
member who disagrees with a report or with the<br />
action of the Committee immediately withdraws?<br />
Surely a certain amount of loyalty is required in<br />
the defence and the advancement of every cause—<br />
in our case more than any other, on account of<br />
the fierce resentment which has always met it on<br />
every side, and the unscrupulous falsehoods with<br />
which it is constantly assailed. The first thing<br />
necessary, however, is the feeling that every<br />
writer ought to support the Society not so much<br />
for the assistance which he may receive, or for<br />
gratitude for the assistance which he has received,<br />
so much as for the solid work which the Society<br />
has rendered to the material interests of litera-<br />
ture, and for the assistance which it is constantly<br />
giving to writers in trouble or in doubt. To do<br />
this effectively, we ought to have at least 2000<br />
members—that is, 600 more than our present<br />
number. .<br />
Literary men will do well to take legal advice<br />
before accepting employment under the city of<br />
New York, if the experience of Mr. Charles Burr<br />
Todd, the historian of the city, counts for any-<br />
thing. In 1895 the Common Council was desirous<br />
of printing the early records of Dutch Man-<br />
hattan and English New York which were<br />
stored in ancient safes in the city library, and<br />
were fast going to pieces with age and handling.<br />
The Mayor appointed a committee to superintend<br />
their publication, the members of which previous<br />
to appointment met the Mayor in his office, and<br />
agreed to serve without pay provided they could<br />
have a secretary and editor to do the work, who<br />
should be paid, and they named Mr. Todd as such<br />
editor. The Mayor said he had wished Mr. Todd<br />
on the committee, but it was pointed out that the<br />
latter could not afford to serve without pay; to all<br />
of which the Mayor agreed. Mr. Todd was soon<br />
after appointed on the committee, and, with the<br />
understanding that he should be paid, accepted.<br />
Later the committee appointed him editor, agree-<br />
ing to pay him, though no sum was fixed. He<br />
served eight months and resigned, whereupon the<br />
committee voted him 150 dollars per month. The<br />
city refused to pay on the ground that the com-<br />
mittee were to serve for nothing, whereupon Mr.<br />
Todd sued for the amount. The case was tried<br />
before Judge Russell in the Supreme Court of<br />
New York, on Nov. 18, and the learned judge<br />
held that as Mr. Todd was a member of a com-<br />
mittee which was appointed to serve without pay<br />
he could recover nothing. Mr. Todd says that<br />
while this may be good law it is very poor equity<br />
and justice; that somebody laid a trap for him<br />
in order to get his services as editor for nothing,<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 214 (#648) ############################################<br />
<br />
214<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
and that altogether it is pretty small business for<br />
the second largest city in the world.<br />
He worked five years preparing his history of<br />
the city, for which he has received about one<br />
hundred and fifty dollars, and thinks if he per-<br />
forms other services for the city it should be<br />
willing to remunerate him. Waltee Be8ANT_<br />
A CHAPTER OF THE PAST.<br />
THE following extracts from Babbage's<br />
"Economy of Machinery " are interesting<br />
at present:—<br />
(295.) . . . "A powerful combination, of<br />
another kind, exists at this moment to a great<br />
extent, and operates upon the price of the very<br />
pages which we are now communicating informa-<br />
tion respecting it. A subject so interesting to<br />
every reader, and still more so to every manu-<br />
facturer of the article which the reader consumes,<br />
deserves an attentive examination.<br />
"We have shown in Chapter XX., p. 166, the<br />
component parts of the expense of each copy of<br />
the present work; and we have seen that the<br />
total amount of the cost of production, exclusive<br />
of any payment to the author for his labour, is<br />
28. tfd.<br />
"Another fact, with which the reader is more<br />
practically familiar, is, that he has paid, or is to<br />
pay, his bookseller six shillings for the volume.<br />
Let us now examine into the distribution of these<br />
six shillings, and then, having the facts of the<br />
case before us, we shall be better able to judge<br />
of the merits of the combination and to explain<br />
its effects.<br />
Distribution of the profits on a six-shilling hook.<br />
BayB at.<br />
Sells at.<br />
Profit on<br />
capital<br />
expended<br />
No. 1. The publisher, who<br />
s. d.<br />
s. d.<br />
accounts to the author for<br />
every copy received<br />
3 10<br />
4 2<br />
10 per<br />
No. 2. Bookseller, who retails<br />
cent.<br />
4 2<br />
6 0<br />
44 per<br />
cent.<br />
Or<br />
4 6<br />
6 0<br />
33i Par<br />
cent.<br />
"No. 1, the publisher, is a bookseller, he is in<br />
fact the author's agent. His duties are to receive<br />
and take charge of the stock, for whieh bo sup-<br />
plies warehouse room, to advise the author about<br />
the times and methods of advertising, and to<br />
insert the advertisements. As he publishes other<br />
books, he will advertise lists of those s^ld by him-<br />
self; and thus by combining many in one adver-<br />
tisement, diminish the expense to each of his<br />
principals. He pays the author only for the<br />
books actually sold, consequently, he makes no<br />
outlay of capital, except that which he pays for<br />
advertisements, but he is answerable for any bad<br />
debts he may make in disposing of them. His<br />
charge is usually 10 per cent, on the returns.<br />
"No. 2 is the bookseller, who retails the work<br />
to the public. On the publication of a new book<br />
the publisher sends round to the trade to receive<br />
subscriptions from them for any number of<br />
copies, not less than two. These copies are usually<br />
charged to the subscribers, on an average, at<br />
about 4 or 5 per cent, less than the wholesale<br />
price of the book, in the present case they pay<br />
4«. 2d. for each copy. After the day of publica-<br />
tion, the price charged by the publisher to the<br />
booksellers is 4*. 6d. Different publishers offer<br />
different terms to the subscriber, and it is usual<br />
after intervals of about six months for the pub-<br />
lisher again to open a subscription list, so that if<br />
the work be one for which there is a steady<br />
demand, the trade avail themselves of these oppor-<br />
tunities of purchasing at the reduced rate enough<br />
to supply their probable demand.<br />
(296.) "The volume thus purchased of the<br />
publisher at 4*. 2d. or 4*. 6d. is retailed by the<br />
bookseller at 6s. In the one case he makes a<br />
profit of 44, in the other of 33 per cent Even<br />
the smaller of these two rates of profit on the<br />
capital employed certainly appears too large. It<br />
sometimes happens, when a purchaser inquires<br />
for a book, the retail dealer sends across the<br />
street to the wholesale agent, and receives for<br />
this trifling service one-fourth part of the money<br />
the purchaser pays; and perhaps the retail dealer<br />
also takes six months' credit for the price which<br />
the volume actually costs him. It is stated that<br />
all retail books> Hers allow their customers a dis-<br />
count of 10 per cent, upon orders above .£20;<br />
and that, therefore, the nominal profit of 44 or 33<br />
per cent, is considerably reduced. H this is the<br />
case, it may fairly be inquired why the price of<br />
£2, for example, is printed upon the back of a<br />
book when every bookseller is ready to sell it at<br />
£1 16s.; and why those who are unacquainted<br />
with that circumstance should be made to pay<br />
more than others who are better informed?<br />
Another reason has been assigned for the great<br />
profit charged upon books, namely, that the pur-<br />
chasers take long credit. This is probably a fact,<br />
and, admitting it, no reasonable person can object<br />
to a proportionate increase of price. But certainly,<br />
it is equally clear that gentlemen who do pay<br />
ready money should not be charged the same<br />
price as those who defer their payments to a very<br />
remote period. In the country there is a greater<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 215 (#649) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
215<br />
appearance of reason for a considerable allowance<br />
between the retail dealer and the public, because<br />
the profit of the country bookseller will be<br />
diminished by the expense of the conveyance of<br />
the books from London; but even in this case it<br />
appears to be too large when compared with the<br />
rate of interest which capital produces in other<br />
trades.<br />
(297.) "That the profit in retailing books is<br />
really too large is proved by two circumstances:<br />
First, that the same nominal rate of profit<br />
existed in the bookselling trade for a long series<br />
of years, notwithstanding the great fluctuations<br />
in the rate of profit on capital invested in every<br />
other business; secondly, that until very lately a<br />
multitude of booksellers in all parts of London<br />
were willing to be satisfied with a much smaller<br />
profit, and to sell, for ready money, or at short<br />
credit, to persons of uudoubted character, at a<br />
profit of only 10 per cent., and in some instances<br />
even at a still smaller percentage instead of that<br />
of 25 per cent, on the published prices.<br />
"It cannot be pretended that this high rate of<br />
profit is necessary to cover the risk of the book-<br />
seller having some copies left on his shelves,<br />
because he need not buy of the publisher a single<br />
copy more than he has orders for; and even if<br />
he do purchase more at the subscription price, he<br />
proves, by that very purchase, that he himself<br />
does not estimate that risk at above from 4 to 8<br />
per cent. . It should also be remarked, that the<br />
publisher is generally a retail as well as a whole-<br />
sale bookseller; and that beside the profit which<br />
he realises on every copy sold by him in his<br />
capacity of agent, he is allowed to charge the<br />
author as if every copy had been subscribed for<br />
at 4«. 2d., and of course he receives the same<br />
profit as the rest of the trade for those retailed<br />
in his shop.<br />
(298.) "Now a certain number of the London<br />
booksellers have combined together. One of their<br />
objects is to prevent any bookseller from selling<br />
a book at less than 10 per cent, under the pub-<br />
lished price; and, in order to enforce this prin-<br />
ciple, they refuse to sell books, except at the<br />
publishing price, to any bookseller who declines<br />
signing their agreement. By degrees many were<br />
prevailed upon to join this combination; and the<br />
effect of the exclusion it inflicted left the small<br />
capitalist no option between signing or having his<br />
business destroyed. Ultimately nearly the whole<br />
trade, comprising about two thousand four<br />
hundred persons, have signed the agreement.<br />
"As might be naturally expected from an agree-<br />
ment so injurious to many of the parties to it,<br />
disputes have arisen, several booksellers have<br />
been placed under the ban of the combination,<br />
who allege that they have not violated its rules,<br />
and who accuse the opposite party of using spies,<br />
&c, to entrap them.<br />
(299.) "The origin of this combination has<br />
been explained by Mr. Pickering, of Chancery-<br />
lane, himself a publisher, in a printed statement<br />
entitled, ' Booksellers' Monopoly.'<br />
"The following list of booksellers has been<br />
copied from that printed at the head of each of<br />
the cases published by Mr. Pickering of the<br />
booksellers who form the committee for conduct-<br />
ing this combination: Allen, J., 7, Leaienhall-<br />
street; Arch, J., 61, Cornhill; Baldwin, R., 47,<br />
Paternoster-row; Booth, J.; Duncan, J., 37,<br />
Paternoster - row; Hatchard, J., Piccadilly;<br />
Marshall, R., Stationers'-court; Murray, J.,<br />
Albemarle-street; Rees, O., Paternoster-row;<br />
Richardson, J. M., 23, Cornhill; Rivington, J.,<br />
St. Paul's Churchyard; Wilson, E., Royal<br />
Exchange.<br />
(300.) "In whatever manner the profits are<br />
divided between the publisher and the retail<br />
bookseller, the fact remains, that the reader has<br />
paid for the volume in his hands 6s., and that the<br />
author will receive only 3s. ioe?.; out of which<br />
latter sum the expense of printing the volume<br />
must be paid, so that in passing through two<br />
hands this book has produced a profit of 44 per<br />
cent. This excessive rate of profit has drawn<br />
into the book trade a larger share of capital than<br />
was really advantageous, and the competition<br />
between the different portions of that capital has<br />
naturally led to the system of underselling, to<br />
which the committee above-mentioned are en-<br />
deavouring to put a stop.*<br />
"There are two parties who chiefly suffer from<br />
this combination—the public and authors. The<br />
first party can seldom be induced to take an active<br />
part ag linst any grievance; and, in fact, little is<br />
required from it except a cordial support of the<br />
authors in any attempt to destroy a combination<br />
so injurious to the interests of both.<br />
"Many an industrious bookseller would be glad<br />
to sell for 5«. the volume which the reader holds<br />
in his hand, and for which he has paid 6*.; and,<br />
in doing so for ready money, the tradesman who<br />
paid 4*. 6c?. for the book would realise, without<br />
the least risk, a profit of 11 per cent, on the money<br />
he had advanced. It is one of the objects of the<br />
combination we are discussing, to prevent the<br />
small capitalist from employing his capital at<br />
that rate of profit which he thinks most advan-<br />
* The monopoly cases, Nos. 1,2, and 3 of those published<br />
by Mr. Pickering, should be oonsulted; and as the pnblic<br />
will be better able to form a judgment by hearing the other<br />
side of the question, perhaps the chairman of the 00m-<br />
mittee (Mr. Richardson) would print those regulations<br />
respecting the trade, a copy of which Mr. Piokering states<br />
is refused by the committee even to those who sign thorn.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 216 (#650) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
tageous to himself; and such a proceeding is<br />
decidedly injurious to the public.<br />
(301.) "Having derived little pecuniary advan-<br />
tage from my own literary productions ; and being<br />
aware that from the very nature of their subjects<br />
they can scarcely be expected to reimburse the<br />
expense of preparing tbem, I may be permitted to<br />
offer an opinion which I believe to be as little<br />
influenced by any expectation of advantage from<br />
the future, as it is by any disappointment at the<br />
past.<br />
"Before, however, we proceed to sketch the plan<br />
of a campaign against Paternoster-row, it will be<br />
fit to inform the reader of the nature of the<br />
enemy's forces and his means of attack and defence.<br />
"Several of the great publishers find it con-<br />
venient to be the proprietors of reviews, maga-<br />
zines, journals, and even of newspapers. The<br />
editors are paid in some instances very hand-<br />
somely for their superintendence, and it is<br />
scarcely to be expected that they should always<br />
mete out the severest justice on works by the<br />
sale of which their employers are enriched. The<br />
great and popular works of the day are, of course,<br />
reviewed with some care, and with deference to<br />
public opinion. Without this the journals would<br />
not sell, and it is convenient to be able to quote<br />
such articles as instances of impartiality. Under<br />
shelter of this a host of ephemeral productions<br />
are written into a transitory popularity; and by<br />
the aid of this process the shelves of the book-<br />
seller, as well as the pockets of the public, are<br />
disencumbered. To such an extent are these<br />
means employed, that some of the periodical pub-<br />
lications of the day ought to be regarded merely<br />
as advertising machines. That the reader may<br />
be in some measure on his guard against such<br />
modes of influencing his judgment, he should<br />
examine whether the work reviewed is published<br />
by the bookseller who is the proprietor of the<br />
review, a fact which can sometimes be ascertained<br />
from the title of the book as given at the head of<br />
the article. But this is by no means a certain<br />
criterion, because partnerships in various publica-<br />
tions exist between houses in the book trade,<br />
which are not generally known to the public; so<br />
that, in fact, until reviews are established in<br />
which booksellers have no interest, they can<br />
never be safely trusted.<br />
(302.) "In order to put down the combination<br />
of booksellers, no plan appears so likely to succeed<br />
as a counter-association of authors. If any con-<br />
siderable portion of the literary world were to<br />
unite and form such an association; and if its<br />
affairs were directed by an active committee much<br />
might be accomplished. The object of this union<br />
should be to employ some person well skilled in<br />
the printing and in the bookselling trade, and to<br />
establish him in some central situation as their<br />
agent. Each member of the association to be at<br />
liberty to place any or all of his works in the<br />
hands of this agent for sale; to allow any adver-<br />
tisements or list of books, published by members<br />
of the association, to be stitched up at the end<br />
of each of his own productions, the expense of<br />
preparing them being defrayed by the proprietors<br />
of the books advertised.<br />
"The duties of the agent would be to retail to the<br />
public for ready money, copies of books published<br />
by members of the association. To sell to the<br />
trade, at prices agreed upon, any copies they may<br />
require. To cause to be inserted in the journals,<br />
or at the end of works published by members, any<br />
advertisements which the committee or authors<br />
may direct. To prepare a general catalogue of the<br />
works of members. To be the agent for any<br />
member of the association in treating respecting<br />
the printing of any work.<br />
"Such a union would naturally present other<br />
advantages, and as each author would retain the<br />
liberty of putting any price he might think fit on<br />
his productions, the public would still have the<br />
advantage of reduction in price produced by com-<br />
petition between authors on the same subject, as<br />
well as of that arising from a cheaper mode of<br />
publishing the volumes sold to them.<br />
(303.) "Possibly one of the consequences re-<br />
sulting from such an association would be the<br />
establishment of a good and an impartial Review,<br />
a work whose want has been felt lor several years.<br />
The two long-established and celebrated Reviews,<br />
the unbending champions of the most opposite<br />
political opinions, are, from widely different<br />
causes, exhibiting unequivocal signs of decrepi-<br />
tude and decay. The Quarterly advocate of<br />
despotic principles is fast receding from the<br />
advancing intelligence of the age, and the new<br />
strength and new position which that intelligence<br />
has acquired for itself demands for its expression<br />
new organs, equally the representatives of its<br />
intellectual power and of its moral energies;<br />
whilst, on the other hand, the sceptre of its<br />
Northern rival has passed from the vigorous<br />
grasp of those who established its dominion into<br />
feebler hands.<br />
"A difficulty has been stated that those most<br />
competent to supply periodical criticism are<br />
already engaged. But it is to be observed that<br />
there are many who now supply literary criticisms<br />
to journals whose political principles they disap-<br />
prove, and that, if once a respectable and well-<br />
supported Review* were established, capable of<br />
* At the moment when this opinion aa to the necessity<br />
for a new Review was passing through the press, I was<br />
informed that the elements of snoh an undertaking were<br />
already organised.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 217 (#651) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
217<br />
competing, in payment to its contributors, with<br />
the wealthiest of its rivals, it would very soon be<br />
supplied with the best materials the country can<br />
produce.f"<br />
ME. BALFOUR ON THE NOVEL.<br />
MR. ARTHUR J. BALFOUR, M.P., pro-<br />
posed the toast of "Literature" at the<br />
fourth annual dinner of the Sir Walter<br />
Scott Club, held in Edinburgh on the 20th ult.<br />
He said it was hard to believe there was a time<br />
when the world did without novels, and, in its<br />
own opinion, did well without novels. Like<br />
tobacco and the daily Press, novels had now<br />
become a general necessity. It was an interest-<br />
ing speculation to reflect what the future of the<br />
novel was to be. He took it that there was<br />
hardly any instance in literature of any sub-class<br />
of composition being cultivated with success for<br />
an indefinite period. The cause of decay was<br />
commonly to be found either in the habit of<br />
driving peculiarities to excess so that the whole<br />
species of composition seemed weighed down by<br />
its own exaggerations, or else dying away in a<br />
kind of senile imbecility and perishing slowly<br />
amid general contempt. An example of the first<br />
kind they found in the death of the Elizabethan<br />
drama, and of the second in that particular<br />
kind of literature of which Pope was the<br />
greatest ornament. But as to the novel, if<br />
there were any signs of decadence, peihaps<br />
they should look for it in the obvious difficulty<br />
which novelists now found in getting hold<br />
of appropriate subjects for their art to deal<br />
with. Scott, however, had not only his unique<br />
genius to depend upon; he had the specially<br />
good fortune to open an entirely new vein.<br />
Where was the modern novelist to find a new<br />
vein? Every country had been ransacked to<br />
obtain theatres upon which their imaginary<br />
characters were to show themselves. They had<br />
stories of civilised life, of semi-civilised life, of<br />
barbarous life. They had novels of the natural<br />
and the supernatural; they had scientific novels,<br />
and they had thaumaturgic novels. So hardly<br />
set were they for subjects that even the quint-<br />
essence of dulness was extracted from the dullest<br />
t It baa been suggested to me that the doctrines main-<br />
tained in this chapter may subject the present volume to the<br />
opposition of that combination which it has opposed. I do<br />
not entdrtain that opinion, and for this reason—that the<br />
booksellers are too shrewd a class to supply such an admirable<br />
passport to publicity. But, should my readers take a diffe-<br />
rent view of the question, they can easily assist in remedy-<br />
ing the evil by each mentioning the existence of this little<br />
volume to two of his friends.<br />
localities, and turned into a subject of artistic<br />
treatment. Yet there was one aspect of human<br />
nature, and perhaps the most interesting of all,<br />
which for obvious reasons had been very<br />
sparingly treated by the novelists—the develop-<br />
ment of character extending through the life of<br />
the individual. A novel seldom or never—not in<br />
one case in a thousand—attempted to take an<br />
individual and trace what in natural science<br />
would be called his life history. It would be<br />
very inappropriate and very unnecessary to dwell<br />
upon reasons why this biographical form of<br />
fiction was difficult—he would not say impossible<br />
—and he certainly did not venture to foretell that<br />
any artist would be found who would be able to<br />
overcome them. Whatever be the future of the<br />
novel, they might always console themselves with<br />
the reflection that every great literary revival had<br />
been preceded by a period in which no revival<br />
could by any possibility have been anticipated by<br />
the closest critics of the time. He doubted<br />
whether any contemporary of Sydney could have<br />
foreseen Shakespeare; he doubted whether any-<br />
body living in the Commonwealth was likely to<br />
have foreseen Dry den in his maturity. He felt<br />
sure nobody living in the time of Johnson could<br />
really have foreseen Wordsworth, Coleridge, and<br />
Scott. But though the provinces of literature<br />
were many, the kingdom of literature was one;<br />
however diverse were the fields, they all furthered<br />
one cause. He did not pretend that literature<br />
necessarily softened the manners or carried all<br />
the cardinal virtues in its train. But it was the<br />
greatest engine for the production of cultivated<br />
happiness. It was daily producing more innocent<br />
and refined pleasure in every class in every<br />
country where education was known than any<br />
other source of pleasure.<br />
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF AUTHORS.<br />
IN the recent " Memoir" the evidences given of<br />
good feeling toward America and Americans<br />
on the part of Lord Tennyson have been<br />
noted in the papers. To be sure, one might ask,<br />
"Why not r And yet there were special annoy-<br />
ances from American sources which must have<br />
been particularly trying.<br />
An American man of letters visiting England,<br />
years ago, spent some time not far from Fresh-<br />
water. Knowing many of Tennyson's American<br />
and English friends, it would have been natural,<br />
perhaps, for him to obtain an introduction; yet<br />
he even kept away from Tennyson's end of the<br />
Isle of Wight. Meeting once, in London, the<br />
younger son of the Laureate, he told him he could<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 218 (#652) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
tell his father that at least one American was not<br />
peering over his fences or shying stones at his<br />
Farringford chickens.<br />
The prying English tourist made himself a<br />
nuisance to the Laureate; but the tourist who<br />
came across the seas was, perhaps, a little more<br />
likely to be troublesome, owing to his greater<br />
enthusiasm and enterprise.<br />
But, however a sensitive bard may have resented<br />
intrusion upon his privacy, and whatever com-<br />
plaints of their inconsiderate countrymen some<br />
visiting Americans may at times have had to listen<br />
to, it is evident that good feeling for " kin across<br />
sea " was at the bottom of the poet's large heart.<br />
Some of his American friends are named in the<br />
book, but there were other American acquaint-<br />
ances, some of an earlier date than certain of<br />
those chronicled. There were Americans unknown<br />
to fame who met with warm welcome from the<br />
master of Farringford, and gained there a<br />
genuine, helpful, and lasting friendship.<br />
A pleasant chapter in the curiosities of English<br />
literature could be made of international literary<br />
relations—those between Scott and Irving, Emer-<br />
son and Carlyle, for instance. Such a chapter<br />
might include the friendship of American and<br />
English writers with individuals less distinguished<br />
of the opposite country. Some of the most inti-<br />
mate friends of the Brownings were Americans,<br />
and Lowell had English friends true and stead-<br />
fast.<br />
International relations of this kind do not<br />
depend upon any treaty; they ought to, and do,<br />
favourably affect the public opinion of the two<br />
countries. While writers on both sides have done<br />
much to fan the flames of unreasoned prejudice,<br />
men of letters, being often, fortunately, men of<br />
imagination, insight, and goodwill, have also stood<br />
for brotherhood, and not for the brutal inherited<br />
instinct of fight.— " Topics of the Time," Century<br />
Magazine Christmas number.<br />
PERSONAL.<br />
THE American Ambassador, Colonel John<br />
Hay, was the guest of the Omar Khayyam<br />
Club at its first dinner of the season, held<br />
in Frascati's Restaurant on Dec. 8, Mr. Henry<br />
Norman, the president, in the chair. His Excel-<br />
lency passed an eloquent eulogy upon FitzGerald's<br />
translations of the Quatrains. Omar was a Fitz-<br />
Gerald before the letter, or FitzGerald was a<br />
reincarnation of Omar. Each seemed greater<br />
than his work. Omar sang to a half barbarous<br />
province, FitzGerald to the world. Wherever the<br />
English speech is spoken or read the Rubaiyat had<br />
taken their place as a classic. He heard Omar<br />
quoted once in one of the most lonely and desolate<br />
spots of the high Rockies. Certainly, Omar could<br />
never be numbered among the great popular<br />
writers of all time. The suffrages of the crowd<br />
were not for the cool, collected observer, whose<br />
eye no glitter could dazzle, no mist suffuse.<br />
Mr. Augustine Birrell, Q-O, M.P., delivered an<br />
address at the Commemoration Service of Brown-<br />
ing, held at the Robert Browning Settlement,<br />
Walworth, on the 12th ult. The obscure poet of<br />
the obscure " Sordello," he said, had an influence<br />
on literature which was indescribably majestic.<br />
Like Carlyle and Tennyson, he never bowed the<br />
knee to Baal. Poverty they knew, and depression<br />
of spirit, but no one of them abated a jot or tittle<br />
of his pretensions, or ever asked the people what<br />
they wanted. Browning's religious belief was<br />
not attained through the dark and mystical<br />
passage of the Sacraments, but rather was the<br />
result of a firm belief in a personal God, and his<br />
strong faith in the soul of man. To call him a<br />
cheerful poet would be wrong. He was too well<br />
read in the literature of hell. But he was indeed<br />
a cheering poet.<br />
The Christmas dinner of the New Vagabond<br />
Club took place in Holborn Restaurant on the<br />
10th ult. The company was very numerous, and<br />
included many ladies. Mr. Israel Zangwill pre-<br />
sided, and Lord Charles Beresford was the<br />
particular guest.<br />
Lord Rosebery, speaking at the annual meeting<br />
of the Scottish History Society, suggested that<br />
there should be a book of those dignities which<br />
were conferred by the Stuarts after their depar-<br />
ture from England in 1689.<br />
Owing to the pressure of the Jubilee year, the<br />
committee charged with the project of a memorial<br />
to Robert Louis Stevenson in Edinburgh did not<br />
make an urgent appeal for subscriptions in the<br />
year just closed. They will now shortly do so.<br />
As to the form the memorial shall take, a<br />
monument in St. Giles's Cathedral and another<br />
on Calton Hill are suggested.<br />
Professor Masson, who for thirty years occupied<br />
the chair of English Literature in the University<br />
of Edinburgh, has been presented with his portrait<br />
painted by Sir George Reid.<br />
CORRESPONDENCE.<br />
I.—A Young Author's Gbievancb.<br />
IRECENTLY read some letters in The Author<br />
complaining of the time taken by editors in<br />
returning rejected MSS. Personally I have<br />
always found that rejected MSS. were returned<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 219 (#653) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
within a reasonable time, and it must be remem-<br />
bered that contributions sent in on chance are<br />
not invited. When, however, an editor has<br />
personally interviewed an author, and verbally<br />
arranged with him to accept a certain article for a<br />
certain number of a magazine, the author natu-<br />
rally looks for his article in—let us say, the<br />
number for June.<br />
The proof is sent to the writer some time in<br />
May, but on looking at the magazine in June he<br />
is often doomed to disappointment—at least if he<br />
is a young author feeling his way. None of his<br />
work appears. He calls on the editor, and is told<br />
that his article was "crowded out," but that it<br />
will appear in July. He looks again in the July<br />
number, but to no purpose.<br />
He is put off with the same excuse for three,<br />
four, or even six months.<br />
All this time he is obliged to stand out of his<br />
money. Of course such a thing could not<br />
happen to a well known man, but most of us<br />
must climb the ladder of fame by degrees. This<br />
is essentially a young author's grievance, and is<br />
felt by those who are entirely dependent on their<br />
pens. C. B. B.<br />
II.—The Published Peice.<br />
It is satisfactory to learn from Mr. Millar's<br />
letter in your last issue that the Dundee Adver-<br />
tiser, as well as Literature, the Literary World,<br />
and the Bookman, announces in the reviews<br />
themselves the prices of all b >oks reviewed. It<br />
may, perhaps, be hoped that this at present very<br />
rare practice may gradually become more general,<br />
and that publishers and authors will combine to<br />
encourage it by procuring the price to be marked<br />
on the binding, or a notification of the price to<br />
be sent out with the review copies, and by<br />
selecting as recipients of review copies those<br />
newspapers which adopt the practice.<br />
By the way, of the 379 "books of the month"<br />
catalogued in your last issue at page 198, I<br />
observe that no less than thirty-seven—about<br />
one-tenth of the whole—have no price affixed to<br />
them. How are the prices of the omitted thirty-<br />
seven to be ascertained? J. M. Lely.<br />
Dec. 20.<br />
BOOS TALE.<br />
ME. MACKENZIE BELL'S memoir of<br />
Miss Christina Rossetti will be pub-<br />
lished by Messrs. Hurst and Blackett<br />
early this month. Two offers of marriage, we<br />
are told, were made to Miss Rossetti, but the<br />
charming lady simply chose to be an "old maid."<br />
This volume will give for the first a little Italian<br />
"octave " written by her father, Gabriele Rossetti,<br />
in celebration of his " dear daughters" Christina<br />
a.nd Maria—" fresh violets, opened at dawn."<br />
Mr. Bell also records that Miss Rossetti and her<br />
brothers and sisters were accustomed to address<br />
their father invariably in Italian, his native<br />
language. Several portraits of the poetess will<br />
appear in the memoir, including, as frontispiece,<br />
a reproduction of the chalk drawing of his sister,<br />
which Dante Rossetti executed in 1866.<br />
The scene of Mr. Rider Haggard's new<br />
historical romance is laid in Holland in the days<br />
of William of Orange. He has also engaged to<br />
write for the Graphic a story of the Boers at the<br />
time of their great trek in 1836. It will be called<br />
"Swallow," and will commence in the above<br />
journal in the latter part of this year.<br />
Mr. Gilbert Parker has written a storv called<br />
"Mrs. Falchion."<br />
Mr. Max Pemberton has gone to the Balearic<br />
Isles, which will be the scene of his next<br />
story.<br />
Mr. E. L. Voynich, author of "The Gadfly,"<br />
is about to visit Austria in order to collect<br />
material for a work dealing with contemporary<br />
life there.<br />
Mr. Henry Seton Merriman has written for<br />
Harper's Magazine, beginning with the January<br />
number, a novel entitled " Roden's Corner."<br />
The score or so letters which passed between<br />
Emerson and Sterling, and which were briefly<br />
noticed in The Author a few months ago, are<br />
now to be published by Messrs. Gay and Bird<br />
in book form, edited by Edward Waldo Emerson,<br />
and entitled "A Correspondence between John<br />
Sterling and Ralph Waldo Emerson." The<br />
letters appeared during last year in the Atlantic<br />
Monthly.<br />
Mr. William Black has completed his new<br />
novel, and entitled it "Wild Eelin; otherwise<br />
called Eelin of the Eyes like the Sea Wave."<br />
It will begin its course as a serial this month.<br />
Miss Lilian Goadby is retelling the story of<br />
Homer's Iliad for bovs and girls. The book,<br />
entitled "The Wrath of Achilles," will be pub-<br />
lished shortly by Messrs. Edwin, Vaughan and<br />
Co.<br />
Mr. Anthony Hope has written a sequel to<br />
"The Prisoner' of Zenda," entitled "Rupert of<br />
Hentzau." It is now running serially in the Pall<br />
Mall Magazine.<br />
Miss Emily Lawless is publishing with Messrs.<br />
Methuen a volume of Irish stories, entitled<br />
"Traits and Confidences."<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 220 (#654) ############################################<br />
<br />
2 20<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Mr. Bram Stoker has written the first story—<br />
"Miss Betty," a seventeenth century romance—<br />
for a new fiction series, which Messrs. C. Arthur<br />
Pearson and Co. are projecting. This series<br />
aspires to give in each volume six shillings' worth<br />
of material for half-a-crown. Mr. Stoker's<br />
volume will appear this month. Succeeding<br />
volumes, to be issued at monthly intervals, will be<br />
by Messrs. W. L. Alden, Clive Holland, Joseph<br />
Hatton, Douglas Sladen, George Griffith, Fred.<br />
Whishaw, and others.<br />
Miss Adeline Sergeant has completed a novel<br />
called "The Lady Charlotte " for publication by<br />
Messrs. Hutchinson shortly.<br />
Mr. Grant Allen has written a story entitled<br />
"The Incidental Bishop."<br />
Mr. William Le Queux is staying at Milan, and<br />
writing a novol to be called "Scribes and<br />
Pharisees."<br />
Mr. Robert H. Sherard is writing the story of<br />
the Dreyfus case for an American magazine.<br />
"David Lyall's Love Story" is a volume of<br />
Scotch idylls which Messrs. Hodder and Stough-<br />
ton are publishing immediately. There has been<br />
much speculation as to the identity of "David<br />
Lyall," the author of this work and of " The Land<br />
o' the Leal." We believe she is a sister of Annie<br />
Swan (Mrs. Burnett Smith).<br />
The Christmas number of Good Words con-<br />
sisted of a novel entitled " The Looms of Time,"<br />
by Mrs. Hugh Fraser. It will be published in<br />
book form by Messrs. Isbister during the spring.<br />
Mrs. de Courcy Laffan (" Mrs Leith Adams ") is<br />
writing a novel called " The Prince's Feathers: a<br />
Story of Leafy Warwickshire in the Olden Time,"<br />
and a story of public school life entitled "The<br />
Gift of God."<br />
"A Voyage of Consolation" is the title of a<br />
new story by Mrs. Everard Cotes.<br />
Mrs. Pendler Cudlip (" Annie Thomas ") has a<br />
novel, "Dick Rivers," about to be published by<br />
Messrs. F. V. White and Co. She is engaged<br />
upon another, to be called "Between the Devil<br />
and the Deep Sea," and also upon a group of<br />
stories for Messrs. Tillotson.<br />
Mrs. Lovett Cameron's new novel "Devil's<br />
Apples," will be published this month by Messrs.<br />
White.<br />
Mr. R. Andom has written of cycling incidents<br />
and misadventures in a volume entitled "Side<br />
Slips" which Messrs. Pearson will publish.<br />
"Scenes from the Suburbs " is another humorous<br />
work by the same author, which will be published<br />
by Messrs. Jarrold. The books will appear in<br />
the spring, the former illustrated by Mr. A.<br />
Frederick, the latter by Mr. A. Carruthers<br />
Gould.<br />
A volume of Stories from soldier fife, by Mr.<br />
E. Livingston Prescott, will be published this<br />
month by Messrs. Warne. The author has now<br />
in hand a romance (not military), entitled " Dearer<br />
than Honour."<br />
Mr. Archibald Forbes's "Life of Louis Napo-<br />
leon" will be ready about the middle of the<br />
month. It will contain, among other illustrations,<br />
a drawing of the house which, prior to 1848, the<br />
future head of the Third Empire occupied in<br />
London.<br />
Mr. Richard Kearton, F.Z.S., is writing a series<br />
of sketches and tales of open-air life in the North<br />
of England.<br />
Dr. W. G. Blaikie is writing the life of the late<br />
Principal David Brown, of the Free Church<br />
College, Aberdeen.<br />
Professor Max MUller's recollections of royalty,<br />
and of musical, literary, and social life, which<br />
have appeared in Cosmopolis, will be published<br />
shortly in a volume by Messrs. Longmans, Green,<br />
and Co., under the title " Auld Lang Syne."<br />
The features of Cosmopolis this year will<br />
include, in English, unpublished letters of John<br />
Mill and notes of Coleridge; in French, the<br />
letters of Emile Ollivier to Richard Wagner, the<br />
correspondence of Marshal Magnan, and the<br />
memoirs of the painter Ingres; and in German,<br />
further correspondence of Tourguenieff. Mr.<br />
Meredith has written three " Odes in Contribu-<br />
tion to the Song of French History," entitled<br />
"The Revolution," "Napoleon," "Alsace-<br />
Lorraine," which will appear in the numbers for<br />
March, April, and May.<br />
The manuscript of "In Memoriam," given by<br />
the poet to the late Sir John Simeon, has been<br />
presented by the Hon. Lady Simeon to the library<br />
of Trinity College, Cambridge, Tennyson's own<br />
college, to which he intended it should fall.<br />
A volume of sporting reminiscences by Mr.<br />
Thomas Haydon will shortly be published by<br />
Messrs. Bliss, Sands, and Co.<br />
Mr. R. Farquharson Sharp, of the British<br />
Museum, has compiled " A Dictionary of English<br />
Authors, Biographical and Bibliographical," being<br />
a compendious account of the lives and writings<br />
of 700 British writers from the year 1400 to the<br />
present time. Mr. George Redway will publish<br />
the work.<br />
English translations of two notable French<br />
works will be published shortly, simultaneously<br />
with the appearance of the originals in Paris.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 221 (#655) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
221<br />
These are M. Zola's new novel "Paris," trans-<br />
lated by Mr. Vizetelly; and M. Huysman's " La<br />
Cathedrale," whose translator is Mrs. Clara Bell.<br />
Mr. William Archer and Miss Diana White<br />
have completed their translation, from the<br />
Danish, of Dr. Georg Brandes's critical study<br />
of Shakespeare.<br />
The important work "Industrial Democracy,"<br />
upon which Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Webb have<br />
long been engaged, is to be issued by Messrs.<br />
Longmans on the 4th.<br />
Prince Henry of Orleans's book of travels,<br />
"Tonkin to India," is due this week from Messrs.<br />
Methuen.<br />
Sir Martin Conway's "Climbing and Explora-<br />
tion in the Karakoram Himalayas" (Unwin,<br />
1894) having been translated into French and<br />
published serially in the Tour du Monde, is now<br />
issued, abridged, in book form, by MM. Hachette<br />
et Cie. Several of Mr. A. D. McCormick's<br />
pictures to the work are reproduced in the French<br />
volume.<br />
A propos the teaching of English literature in<br />
schools, the Academy notes that a recent school<br />
edition of Carlyle's essay, " The Hero as Divinity"<br />
(George Bell and Sons) is composed as follows:<br />
Introduction, 90 pages; Carlyle's Essay, 42<br />
pages; Notes, 53 pages; Index, 4 pages. The<br />
essay thus forms about 22 per cent, of the whole,<br />
and our contemporary asks whether it is the<br />
powder or the jam.<br />
America sent over a story the other day, which<br />
had some appearance of actuality, telling of a<br />
popular music-hall artiste having been subjected<br />
to a kissing test. How many kisses could a<br />
woman stand? The limit of endurance was<br />
reached, if we remember the story rightly, at 547<br />
or thereabouts. Our brisk Chicago contemporary,<br />
the Chap-Book, on the other hand, has just been<br />
discovering what it calls "the most thoroughly<br />
kissed young woman in English fiction." This<br />
curiosity, it avers, is the heroine Birdalone in<br />
William Morris's posthumous romance "The<br />
Water of the Wondrous Isles." She is pissed<br />
eighty-six times according to the analysis of the<br />
Chap-Book—fifty-two by men, and thirty-four by<br />
women and children. Here is a summary and<br />
description of the men's kisses :—<br />
1 Merchant<br />
4 Peasants<br />
8 Servants<br />
Hands.<br />
Feet<br />
Face.<br />
Mouth.<br />
4 ...<br />
... 2 ...<br />
... 0 ...<br />
... 1 ..<br />
0 ...<br />
... 1 ...<br />
» ...<br />
... 0 ...<br />
6 ...<br />
13<br />
t<br />
3<br />
33<br />
Mr. A. C. Benson is writing a biographical<br />
history of Eton and leading Etonians.<br />
Mr. Edward Marston will shortly have ready<br />
another book on outdoor life. There will be an<br />
Edition de lujce. The publishers are, of course,<br />
Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston and Co.<br />
Mr. E. F. Benson is preparing for publication<br />
by Messrs. Methuen his story called "The<br />
Vintage," which has been appearing in the<br />
Graphic. It deals with the opening year of the<br />
Greek War of Independence in 1820.<br />
A new publisher. He is John Long, 6, Chandos-<br />
street, Strand. Mr. Long's programme is:<br />
"Fiction by popular authors; fiction by new<br />
writers of undoubted promise; works of travel;<br />
medical works; poetry that may appeal to the<br />
public."<br />
A re-edited and enlarged edition of Dickinson's<br />
"Glossary of Cumberland Words and Phrases"<br />
is to be published, by subscription, by Dr. E. W.<br />
Prevost, of Newnham, Glos. The work was origi-<br />
nally published by the English Dialect Society.<br />
Many words and phrases are being added in the<br />
re-issue.<br />
A special sub-committee of the Publishers'<br />
Association is considering the subject of title-<br />
pages.<br />
The late strike of printers in Edinburgh caused<br />
delay in the appearance of a number of books<br />
during the past month. One that has suffered<br />
postponement from this cause is the biography of<br />
the Prince of Wales, which Mr. Grant Richards<br />
now expects to publish early this month. The<br />
narrative is said to exhibit "a truly loyal and<br />
intelligent appreciation of His Royal Highness's<br />
career and his services to his country."<br />
The first representation of the play " Admiral<br />
Guinea," by Messrs. W. E. Henley and Robert<br />
Louis Stevenson, took place on Nov. 29 at the<br />
Avenue Theatre, London. It was produced by<br />
the New Century Theatre Company, and got a<br />
favourable reception. Immediately before the<br />
rising of the curtain Miss Elizabeth Robins<br />
delivered a prologue written for the oocasion by<br />
Mr. Henley, of which the following is a part:<br />
Once was a pair of Friends, who loved to chance<br />
Their feet In any by-way of Romance.<br />
They, like two vagabond schoolboys, unafraid<br />
Of stark impossibilities, essayed<br />
To make these Penitent and Impenitent ThieveB,<br />
These Pews and Oaunts, each man of them with his sheaves<br />
Of humour, passion, cruelty, tyranny, life,<br />
Fit shadows for the boards: till in the Btiifo<br />
Of dream with dream, their Slaver-Saint came true,<br />
And their Blind Pirate, their resurgent Pew<br />
(A figure of deadly farce In his new birth)<br />
Tap-tapped his way from Hades back to earth;<br />
And so, their Lover and his Lass made one.<br />
In their beat prose this Admiral here was done.<br />
One of this Pair sleeps Ull the crack of doom<br />
Where the great ocean-rollers plunge and boom,<br />
The other waits and wonders what his Friend,<br />
Dead now, and deaf, and silent, were the end<br />
Revealed to his rare spirit would find to say<br />
If you, his lovers, loved him for this Play.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 222 (#656) ############################################<br />
<br />
222<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Mrs. Sara H. Dunn has written "Sunny<br />
Memories of an Indian Winter," which Messrs.<br />
Walter Scott Limited will publish.<br />
Mr. W. E. Henley has resigned the editorship<br />
of the New Review, which hereupon ceases to be<br />
a monthly magazine. Uncertain health and the<br />
necessities of his own literary work have com-<br />
pelled Mr. Henley's retirement. The Review,<br />
completely transformed, will appear shortly as a<br />
weekly journal, price 3c?.<br />
Mr. James Britten retires from the editorship<br />
of Nature Notes, which he has conducted for six<br />
years.<br />
Mr. E. Heron-Allen is translating Omar<br />
Khayyam's " Rubaiyat," from the original Persian,<br />
Many quatrains not hitherto translated will be<br />
included, and the original Persian text will also<br />
be given page for page. Messrs. H. S. Nichols<br />
and Co. are the publishers.<br />
Early in the year an illustrated book of<br />
"Allegories," by Dean Farrar, will be published<br />
by Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co. He has<br />
in hand a more important work which will be<br />
called "Texts Rightly Interpreted."<br />
Gallant little Wales now comes in for its<br />
volume in the series of Stories of the Nations,<br />
published by Mr. Unwin. The writer of the<br />
history is Mr. Owen M. Edwards, Fellow of<br />
Lincoln College, Oxford. The same publisher<br />
will shortly issue a volume entitled " The Welsh<br />
People," consisting of a series of essays, by Pro-<br />
fessor Rhys and Mr. Brynmor Jones, on the<br />
history, antiquities, ancient laws and customs, and<br />
the social characteristics of Wales.<br />
Mr. Oscar Browning is to write a life of Charles<br />
XII. of Sweden, which Messrs. Hurst and<br />
Blackett will publish. The same writer's Life<br />
of Peter the Great is on the point of publication<br />
by Messrs. Hutchinson and Co.<br />
A century and a half is a long life for a news-<br />
paper. The Aberdeen Journal first appeared on<br />
Jan. 5, 1748, so that in a day or two it will have<br />
completed its 150th year. Some time ago it<br />
published a pamphlet recording its life-history.<br />
It was founded by a fellow-apprentice of Benjamin<br />
Franklin; its conductors bore an exciting patt in<br />
the romantic rebellion of '45; it chronicled the<br />
visit of Dr. Johnson and Boswell to Aberdeen<br />
and the north; and its office was visited by<br />
Robert Burns. In the United Kingdom only<br />
four other daily newspapers of to-day can call up<br />
a longer flight of years than the Aberdeen Journal.<br />
They are Leeds Mercury (1718), Bristol Times<br />
and Mirror (1735), Be/fast News Letter (1737),<br />
and Birmingham Gazette (1741). The oldest<br />
existing newspaper in the world is the Gazette de<br />
France (1631), for which Louis XIII. wrote an<br />
article.<br />
Mr. Inderwick W. Foster has published<br />
(Biscoke and Son, Richmond) a Bibliography<br />
of Lawn Tennis (1874-1897). The work contains<br />
titles and particulars of nearly 250 books,<br />
pamphlets, <fec, on the game of lawn tennis.<br />
Professor Buchheim, who has already contri-<br />
buted two popular volumes to Macmillan's " Golden<br />
Treasury Series," viz., "Deutsche Lyrike" and<br />
"Balladen und Romanzen," will shortly add a<br />
third volume, entitled, "Heine's Lieder und<br />
Gedichte," selected, and edited with notes and an<br />
introduction. We also hear that the professor,<br />
who, by-the-bye, has recently received the honorary<br />
degree of M.A. from the University of Oxford, is<br />
engaged on a monograph treating of the attempts<br />
made in this country and America to popularise<br />
Heine as a poet and a prose writer.<br />
Mr. Rider Haggard, at the request of the Com<br />
mittee of Management, has writteu a Christmas<br />
appeal for the Victoria Hospital for Children at<br />
Chelsea. It is called "A Visit to the Victoria<br />
Hospital."<br />
The Daily Chronicle has discovered a new<br />
poet—Mr. Henry Newbolt (London: Elkin<br />
Matthews, ii.) I have sent for a copy of his<br />
poems. Meantime, I venture to extract one poem<br />
from the columns of the Daily Chronicle in the<br />
belief that it will send all our readers straight<br />
to their booksellers to order a copy.<br />
DRAKE'S DRUM.<br />
Drake he was a Devon man, an' ruled the Devon seaa<br />
(Capten, art tha sleepin' there below P),<br />
Rovin' tho' his death fell, he went wi' heart at ease,<br />
An' dreamin' arl the time 0' Plymouth Hoe.<br />
"Take my drum to England, hang et by the shore,<br />
Strike et when your powder's runnin' low;<br />
If the Dons sight Devon, I'll qnit the port o' Heaven,<br />
An' drum them up the Channel as we drummed them long<br />
ago."<br />
Drake he's in his hammock an' a thousand mile away,<br />
(Capten, art tha sleepin' there below ?),<br />
Slung atween the round shot in Nombre Dios Bay,<br />
An' dreamin' arl the time o' Plymouth Hoe.<br />
Yarnder lames the island, yarnder lie the ships,<br />
Wi' sailor lads a-danoin' heel-an'-toe,<br />
An' the shore-lights flashin', an' the night-tide dashin',<br />
He sees et arl so plainly as he saw et long ago.<br />
Drake lies in his hammock till the great Armadas oome,<br />
(Capten, art tha sleepin' there below P),<br />
Slung atween the round shot, listenin' for the drum,<br />
An' dreamin' arl the time o' Plymouth Hoe.<br />
Call him on the deep sea, call him np the Sound,<br />
Call him when ye sail to meet the foe;<br />
Where the old trade's plyin' an' the old flag flyin',<br />
They shall find him ware an' wakin', as they found him<br />
long ago.<br />
Early this year Sir Charles Alexander Gordon's<br />
"Recollections of Thirty-uine Years in the Army"<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 223 (#657) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
223<br />
will be published by Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein.<br />
Sir Charles was in the Mutiny, with Lord Elgin<br />
in China, and in Paris during the siege.<br />
A new edition of Whitman is to be published<br />
by Messrs. Putnam, with thirteen short poems<br />
that did not appear in the edition prepared by<br />
the poet shortly before his death. "Though you<br />
have put the finishing touches on the 'Leaves,'"<br />
said one of his friends to Whitman, " you will go<br />
on living a year or two longer and writing more<br />
poems. The question is, what will you do with<br />
these poems when the time comes to fix them in<br />
the volume?" "I am not unprepared," said<br />
Whitman, and I have a title in reserve—' Old Age<br />
Echoes'—applying not so much to things as to<br />
echoes of things reverberant, an aftermath."<br />
A translation of the Italian masterpiece, the<br />
"Pecorone" of Ser Giovanni Fiorentino, has<br />
just been published by Messrs. Lawrence and<br />
Bullen. Although it was published in 1558, this<br />
novel has never before been done into any tongue.<br />
The translation will be by Mr. W. G. Waters,<br />
and illustrations will be by Mr. E. R. Hughes,<br />
R.W.S.<br />
Here is a tale of literary appropriation from<br />
America. Mr. George Cable has been correcting<br />
an American editor as to the authorship of a<br />
certain poem. The editor had credited it to some<br />
one named George Cooper, but Mr. Cable recog-<br />
nised the poem, and wrote to the editor as<br />
follows:<br />
I have an impression that it was Coopered by quite<br />
another George. My impression is that it was written by<br />
myself twenty-seven years ago, on the occasion of the birth<br />
of my first child. If yon can't take my word for it, I can<br />
show yon the child. I am not a frequent versifier, and<br />
never should have prized this bit if it had not immediately,<br />
upon its first publication (in the New Orleans Picayune),<br />
begun a mad career of getting stolen—like " Helen of Troy"<br />
and others. It is only three days since I wrote to a Chicago<br />
publishing house to say that it was not written by Mortimer<br />
M. Thompson, as accredited in a volume called "The<br />
Humbler Poets." Let me tell you, oven the humblest poet<br />
"will turn." And I wish my consoious or unconscious<br />
trespassers would give this much-stolen trifle a respite.<br />
Zounds, man! have I done nothing else worth stealing?<br />
It's mortifying.<br />
Mr. Walter Wood has completed and delivered<br />
to Messrs. Tillotson and Son, for serial publica-<br />
tion, a military story which deals largely with<br />
Frontier warfare. The story will run for about<br />
three months and publication is to begin at an<br />
early date. This is the second military serial<br />
which has been written of late for Messrs. Tillot-<br />
son by Mr. Wood, who has just published a series<br />
of short stories in To-day.<br />
The issue of the "Literary Year Book" for<br />
1898 will be edited by Mr. Joseph Jacobs. This<br />
annual, published by Mr. George Allen, now<br />
makes its second appearance. The editor this<br />
year has been assisted by two eminent bookmen,<br />
a popular novelist, and a well-known editor. Mr.<br />
Buskin's portrait will be the frontispiece.<br />
At the sale of the second portion of the library<br />
formed by the late Earl of Ashburnham, a remark-<br />
able price was paid for a Caxton. This is " Le<br />
Fevre (R.), a Boke of the Hoole Lvf of Jason,<br />
translated out of the French by William Caxton,"<br />
circa 1477, black letter, small folio, a rare Caxton<br />
book, one of the earliest productions of the press<br />
at Westminster. The whole of the volume is<br />
genuine throughout, sound, and clean. It was<br />
formerly Richard Heber's, and was sold in 1817<br />
for .£162 15s., afterwards for .£95 11*., and at the<br />
Heber sale for £87. The late Earl bought it<br />
from Payne, the bookseller. It now fetched the<br />
record price of .£2100, the purchaser being Mr.<br />
Pickering.<br />
Mr. John LI. Warden Page has written two<br />
papers, which he has also illustrated, for<br />
Travel. One is a description of the Great Fair<br />
of Nijni Novgorod, the other is callled " Up the<br />
Volga."<br />
The same author's new book on the "North<br />
Coast of Cornwall" (Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.)<br />
is now ready, with twenty-one vignettes by the<br />
author, and a map. The price is 6*. net.<br />
Her Majesty the Queen has been graciously<br />
pleased to accept a copy of Miss H. M. Burnside's<br />
volume of verses and ly rics, "Drift Weed"<br />
(Hutchinson and Co).<br />
Messrs. Nelson and Son have just published<br />
two stories for children, written by Miss Burn-<br />
side, entitled "The Little V.C." and "The Lost<br />
Letter."<br />
LITERATURE IN THE PERIODICALS.<br />
Authors, Publishers, and Booksellers. Leading<br />
articles: The Times, Deo. 6; Daily Chronicle, Dec. 4;<br />
Publishers' Circular, Deo. 11 ; The 8peaker (" A Question<br />
of Discount") Dec. 11. Letters: "Z" and "Economist"<br />
in Times, Deo. 4; "Country Bookseller" in Daily<br />
Chronicle, Deo. 27; "Z." in Daily News, Dec. 7; Mr.<br />
Frankfort Moore, Mr. Frederick Evans, and " A Publisher"<br />
in Chapman's Magazine for December.<br />
What the Trade Thinks. Interviews with Mr.<br />
Burleigh, Mr. Frederick Evans, and others, regarding<br />
Society of Authors' Committee Report on Discounts: Daily<br />
Chronicle, Deo. 6.<br />
BOOKBELLINO: A DECAYING INDUSTRY. Neville<br />
Beeman. New Century Review for January.<br />
Literary Grievances. From various standpoints.<br />
And leading article. Morning Post for Deo. 18.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 224 (#658) ############################################<br />
<br />
224<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
The Payment and Fostering) op Poetry. Glasgow<br />
Herald for Nov. 20.<br />
The Comino Litebabt Bevival. II. J. S. Tunison.<br />
Atlantic Monthly for Dooember.<br />
The Importation of German. Leslie Stephen.<br />
National Review for December.<br />
Commenting upon the "carefully-prepared<br />
report" of the Society of Authors' special Com-<br />
mittee on book-discounts, the Titnes agrees that<br />
"no compact can restore the country bookseller<br />
to his old position," and advises him to reshape<br />
his way of doing business and be to his customers<br />
more than a mere transmitter of orders. The<br />
contingency of an author publishing his books<br />
through a bookseller, through a printer, through<br />
a literary agent, or through a draper, the Times<br />
says " is not so very probable," although " there<br />
are authors powerful enough to defeat any<br />
attempt to fix the terms on which their books are<br />
to be sold." But, finally, our great contemporary<br />
states that " both authors and publishers are apt<br />
to overlook the interests and bias of the reader,<br />
who never was less disposed to fall in with<br />
proposals to put things right at his expense. For<br />
good books, which are rare, he does not probably<br />
pay enough, but for indifferent and ephemeral<br />
productions he is satisfied that he pays too much."<br />
The Daily Chronicle, in placing the facts and<br />
issues of the report before its readers, confesses<br />
also that it sees no way to an artificial enhance-<br />
ment of prices, and reads the country bookseller<br />
the lesson that if he would survive " he will be<br />
wise to lay to heart the suggestions made to him<br />
by the Society of Authors." In anticipating the<br />
concurrence of the Publishers' Association with<br />
the finding of the Committee, it observes that the<br />
relations between authors and publishers were<br />
never closer or more sympathetic than at the<br />
present moment; and "never was a mere author<br />
of the least merit so certain of a publisher and<br />
therefore of a chance to win for himself an<br />
audience ":<br />
Therefore neither publishers nor authors stand in need of<br />
any adventitious helps. The; would both oommit a fatal<br />
error if in an attempt to turn back the stream of irresis-<br />
tible economic forces, they tried to help a section of<br />
the retailers at the cost of the multitude of readers.<br />
"Economist," writing in the Times, thinks that<br />
if it is the interest of the author and the publisher<br />
to have their books on show in shops all over the<br />
country, surely the necessary steps ought to be<br />
taken by them and at their expense. As to any<br />
idea of restrictions upon the price at which a<br />
bookseller shall offer books to the public, we quote<br />
"Economist's " own words:<br />
The druggist is more necessary to the well-being of a<br />
country town than the bookseller, and, nowadays at least,<br />
he is usually a man more expensively educated. Yet he has<br />
to go outside his proper sphere, selling tobacco, hair-<br />
brushes, and any " fal-lals " that he can find room for. The<br />
reason is that the turnover even of his indispensable goods<br />
is not great enough to occupy all his time, or to furnish<br />
the inoome that he desires. The country bookseller merely<br />
suffers under a general disadvantage. It there are to be<br />
trade combinations to supply him with an inoome greater<br />
than the market affords, why not go back to pure medievalism<br />
and put on restrictions all round to make every tradesman<br />
happy.<br />
"A Country Bookseller" says that publishers<br />
could stop the anomalies to-morrow if they would<br />
forget the superstitious age and call twelve a dozen,<br />
giving to the poor what they give to the rich; if<br />
copyright publishers would sell five copies at the<br />
same rate each as twenty-five; and the non-copy-<br />
right man would sell twenty at the same rate<br />
as 200.<br />
We are assured by the Publishers' Circular<br />
that although " publishers have done all in their<br />
power to aid the retail trade," booksellers will not<br />
cease to agitate. Mr. Burleigh, the secretary of<br />
the Associated Booksellers, has said as much,<br />
indeed, to an interviewer. The booksellers—who<br />
are, of course, disappointed with the report—<br />
cannot give up the movement, he said, "unless<br />
they are to relinquish all prospects for them-<br />
selves." Mr. Frederick Evans spoke to the same<br />
effect. Mr. F. Stoneham, on the other hand, who<br />
represents the discount side of the trade, thought<br />
the report a very fair statement of the whole case.<br />
"It got together the essential facts governing<br />
bookselling, and, that done, its conclusions were<br />
inevitable." The recommendation of greater<br />
energy and enterprise in the bookselling trade is<br />
not, the Publishers' Circular considers, "to be<br />
taken seriously." The remaining criticisms<br />
which the organ of the publishing trade passes<br />
upon the report are contained in the following<br />
passage:<br />
Publishers are told they would do well to remember the<br />
development of the system of serial publication; in other<br />
words, they are asked to pay attention to a method of pub-<br />
lication whioh they have themselves called into existence<br />
and are carrying on. Collective wisdom could not go beyond<br />
that. Whether the bookseller can be converted into a news-<br />
agent, or the newsagent into a bookseller, readers may<br />
decide for themselves. It is true there are houses which<br />
now handle both books and newspapers in large quantities;<br />
but the results of a general adoption of the principle are, to<br />
say the least, a little doubtful.<br />
The Speaker acknowledges, in the name of the<br />
world, that the report is an "amusing document."<br />
Hasn't seen anything so amusing for a long<br />
time. The writer hurls at the Society of<br />
Authors, after some personalities, the state,<br />
ment that the whole question is one of<br />
money; and concludes with the assertion that the<br />
people of Great Britain begrudge every shilling<br />
which they spend upon literature, and the pro-<br />
phecy that"the middleman will disappear, leaving<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 225 (#659) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
225<br />
as his only memorial a thousand desolated homes,<br />
and the wholesale publishers will become more<br />
and more the masters of the great trade in<br />
books."<br />
Mr. Neville Beeman tells booksellers that they<br />
are chiefly responsible for their impecuniosity.<br />
They are incompetent to buy cautiously, and<br />
unable to sell in an intelligent manner. But in<br />
defence of the bookseller it must be said that<br />
many pitfalls are laid for him by those who<br />
should be his best friends. To take the author:<br />
he writes a good book; he becomes known by it;<br />
he is seized by the wicked literary agent, who<br />
"proceeds to make arrangements with as many<br />
publishers as possible, who are all keen to secure<br />
a rising man, and one fine morning the author<br />
wakes up to find he is bound to write so many<br />
words a day, whether he feels inclined or not, to<br />
fulfil the contracts which his master has concluded<br />
for him." Mr. Beeman uses the word "master"<br />
advisedly, his one objection to the literary agent<br />
("a useful and even necessary adjunct to the<br />
literary man") being that he is "master"<br />
instead of "servant." The author, then, having<br />
scored a success with his first book, proceeds to<br />
turn out hurried and slipshod work; meanwhile<br />
the bookseller, buying on the original reputation,<br />
finds himself saddled with dead stock. Moreover,<br />
"there is no device, however low, that an author<br />
will not stoop to in order to puff and advertise<br />
himself to the notice of the bookseller." Mr. A.<br />
rides on his bicycle in velvet knickerbockers and<br />
lace frills. Mr. B. always drinks toddy while<br />
writing. Mr. De Bow sends a notice to the<br />
papers saying that he is off to Monte Carlo to<br />
study up local colour, but Mrs. De Bow secretly<br />
divulges the fact that poor Mr. De Bow is<br />
really at the British Museum getting h*8<br />
local colour! The bookseller's grievance against<br />
the publisher is even more serious. "The<br />
bookseller has no one to blame so much for his<br />
present position than [sic] the publisher." In<br />
his selection of MSS. the publisher is guided, as a<br />
rule, by his readers, the greater number of<br />
whom — so Mr. Neville informs us — " are<br />
authors who have failed to make a living them-<br />
selves at writing." Readers, then, are full of cranks<br />
and fads in their choice of books. A publisher<br />
is perhaps unable to fill his autumn list with<br />
books of good merit, so he makes up with<br />
second-rate books. And as the publisher's<br />
traveller is persuasive, and the bookseller easily<br />
persuaded, the latter in the end is stocked up<br />
with books that do not suit him, and suffers a<br />
serious loss. A third sinner arraigned alongside<br />
the author and the publisher, is the Press,<br />
against whom Mr. Beeman makes charges in<br />
connection with reviewing. But we pass to the<br />
panacea which the writer suggests to the Book-<br />
sellers' Association:<br />
Instead of trying to mnlct the pnblio of extra pennies,<br />
which do the trade no good, and only drive away business,<br />
they should suggest to the publishers that they should<br />
Bupply a oopy of every new book to the Booksellers' Asso-<br />
ciation one clear fortnight before issue. The Association<br />
should appoint an expert to examine each book and<br />
report on its merits. Then to each member of the Asso-<br />
ciation a report would be sent, and, in the event of the<br />
book proving saleable, a short epitome of the plot should<br />
be printed on a leaflet for the bookseller's guidance. This<br />
would get over to a large measure, the item of bad stock.<br />
Following up Mr. Lang's article of the previous<br />
month, an author — Mr. Frankfort Moore — a<br />
publisher (anonymous), and a bookseller (Mr. F.<br />
Evans) give their views in Chapman's. Neither<br />
Mr. Moore nor Mr. Evans thinks that the reduc-<br />
tion of discounts to the public need necessarily<br />
mean a diminution of sales; and the publisher<br />
remarks that his class has nothing to gain by<br />
proposing to enforce " 2d. in the is.," but they<br />
wish to save the booksellers from ruin. An<br />
author, a publisher, and a critic air their re-<br />
spective grievances, by request, in the columns<br />
of the Morning Post, which devotes a leading<br />
article to their views. The author says the<br />
London publisher is " very much of a sheep; he<br />
lacks initiative." If one publisher gets a " boom"<br />
with a certain kind of novel, then nothing will<br />
serve either him or his publishing brethren but<br />
that kind of novel written by Tom, Dick, and<br />
Harry, till the reader is gorged. Publishers do<br />
not know how to advertise their books, and they<br />
do not offer them to the dying country bookseller<br />
on the principle of sale or return. The critic, too,<br />
is given over to a belief in fashions; and he is<br />
too generous to the established popular favourite,<br />
too grudgini; to the deserving writer who has<br />
not quite arrived. The critic, on his part, implores<br />
authors to lighten his labours by making their<br />
work either very good or very bad. Most of the<br />
books that come under his notice are pretty good,<br />
and he is overwhelmed by the the monotony of<br />
their average excellence. Finally, the publisher<br />
is on the whole well content except that he is<br />
troubled about the retail bookseller's condition.<br />
His remedy for this is suggested by the following<br />
confident conclusions: "To advertise a book at<br />
a fixed price and then to tell buyers privately that<br />
that is not the price is a sham and a delusion<br />
unworthy of our honourable calling. The price<br />
at which a book is published and advertised is<br />
the price the public should pay for it. The true<br />
solution is to fix a net price which the public<br />
must pay, and from which no bookseller can<br />
make any allowance whatever—and live. That is<br />
the conclusion of the whole matter." The Post<br />
finds the most interesting feature of these letters<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 226 (#660) ############################################<br />
<br />
226<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
the fact that the author and the publisher<br />
think poorly of the criticisms of the periodical<br />
Press, while the reviewer's complaint is merely<br />
that great works are rare, and bad work not so<br />
common as is supposed. It suggests that the<br />
general public would welcome "selection," and<br />
the practice of curtailing reviews of most books<br />
to a few words, saying whether they are worth<br />
reading or not. Anyhow, " there is evidently at<br />
present a magnificent opportunity for critics<br />
whose judgments can win the public confidence.<br />
To no man is a greater reward offered in the<br />
literary world than to him who can prove his<br />
judgment is so true and so fair that the public<br />
will be ready to read the books which he recom-<br />
mends."<br />
We noticed in this column some months ago<br />
the proposal of Mr. Le Gallienne that millionaires<br />
should endow the genuine poets of the country.<br />
He had thought, of course, of the State doing<br />
something, but abandoned the idea as hopeless,<br />
and turned persuasively to the millionaires, and<br />
offered them the opportunity of immortality by<br />
providing for the material wants of our singers.<br />
The Glasgow Herald, however, harks back to the<br />
State. The apathy of the public to poetry at the<br />
present day is very plain, and yet, says our<br />
Scottish contemporary, "there is probably no<br />
one among us that is so much of a Philistine or<br />
so pronounced a Platonist as to wish to see poetry<br />
starved out." To place all the proved poets<br />
of the day beyond the reach of want, and thus<br />
enable them to cultivate their poetical gifts with<br />
their whole mind, a not very extravagant annual<br />
sum would be required. The question arises,<br />
how to prove them; and here the Glasgow<br />
Herald writer sees the possible use of some body<br />
like the French Academy, which would raise the<br />
higher criticism from the slough of sheer com-<br />
mercialism into which it has fallen within the<br />
last quarter of a century. "If such a body were<br />
formed, the State would find in it, and ready to its<br />
hand, a committee of selection which would guide<br />
as to who are and who are not proved poets.<br />
Here, at all, events, is a suggestion for adding<br />
to the beneficent powers of the State which has<br />
in it no taint of Socialism."<br />
THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH.<br />
[Nov. 24 to Dec. 23.—299 Books.]<br />
Abcrnethy, J. S. Life and Work of James Abernethy, 0. E. 7/6.<br />
Abbott, Jones.<br />
Abney, Captain. Scientific Requirements of Colour Photography.<br />
1/- net. Frowde.<br />
Adye, General Sir J. Indian Frontier Policy. 3/6. Smith. Elder.<br />
Ainslie, Noel. Among Thorns, 6/'- Lawrence.<br />
Alcock, D. By Far Euphrates. A Tale. 5/- Hodderand Stoughton.<br />
Allen, A. M. Gladys in Grammarland. 8/6. Boxburghe.<br />
Andrews, W. (ed.). Bygone Durham. 7/6. Andrews.<br />
Anonymous. AH About Animals. For Old and Young. 10/6. NewneB.<br />
AnonjmouB. (" H. M." and " M. A. R. T."). Handbook to Chris-<br />
tian and Ecclesiastical Borne. Part 11. 5/- Black.<br />
Anonymous. The Official Guide to the Klondyke Country. 2/-<br />
Bacon.<br />
Anonymous. (" O. B. P."). The Soul in Paradise. Poem. 1/6.<br />
Church Printing Company.<br />
Anonymous. The Print Gallery. Reproductions of Eugravings<br />
from end of XVth to beginning of XlXth Century. Vol. I. 21/-<br />
Grevel.<br />
Anonymous. Victorian Art. Reproduction of Pictures. 91/6 net.<br />
Blades.<br />
Anonymous. MrB. Turner's Cautionary Stories. 1/6. Richards.<br />
Anst«d,A. A Dictionary of Sea Terms. 7/6. Upcott Gill.<br />
Armstrong, Jessie. Through Rosamund's Eyes. 3/6. Jarrold.<br />
Atlay, J. B. Trial of Lord Cochrane before Lord EUenborough.<br />
18/- Smith, Elder.<br />
Bacon, E. M. Chronicles of Tarry town and Sleepy Hollow. 5/-<br />
Putnam.<br />
Bain, R. Nisbet. The Pupils of Peter the Great. 1 6 - net Constable.<br />
Baldwin, J. H. Social and Ethical Interpretations in Mental Develop-<br />
ment. 10/- net. Macmillan.<br />
Baly, E. Eur-Aryan Roots, with their English Derivatives, Ac.<br />
50/- net. Kegan Paul.<br />
Banbury, G. A. L. On the Verge of Two Worlas. 8/6. Boxburghe.<br />
Barkly, F. A. From the Tropics to the North Sea. 8/6. Roxburghe.<br />
Barrett, Wilson. The Harlequin's Last Leap, Ac. 1/- Saxon.<br />
Barstow, 0. H. Natty's Violin. 1/6. Warne.<br />
Becke, Louis. Wild Life in Southern Seas. 6/- Unwin.<br />
Baoby, 0. E. Creed and Life. Beverley: Wright<br />
Bellot, H. L. and Willis, B. J. The Law relating to Unconscionable<br />
Bargains with Moneylenders. 7/6. Stevens and Haynes.<br />
Berenson, B. The Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance. 4/6.<br />
Putnam.<br />
Rerridge, Ruth. The Baby Philosopher. 3/6 Jarrold.<br />
Bickford-Smith, R. A. H Cretan Sketches. 6/- Bentley.<br />
Bicknell, Anna L. The Story of Marie Antoinette. 12/- Unwin.<br />
Binns, Charles F. The Story of the Potter. 1/- Newnes.<br />
Black, Hugh. Friendship. 2/6. Hodder and Stoughton.<br />
Boas, Mrs. F. English History for Children. 2/6. Nisbet.<br />
Boulger, D. C. The Life of Sir Stamford Raffles. 21/- net Horace<br />
Marshall.<br />
Brewer, H. W. Medissval Oxford: a Bird's Eye View. D. Fonrdrinier.<br />
Briggs, U. M. By Roadside and Biver. 4/- Stock.<br />
Brockman, Louisa. Bright Thoughts. 2/6. Digby.<br />
Bryant, Emi'y M. Norma: A School Tale. 3/6. Digby.<br />
Budd, A , and others. Football. 1/- Lawrence.<br />
Budge, E. A. Wallis (ed.). The Book of the Dead: The Chapters of<br />
Coming Forth by Day. 60/- Kegan Paul.<br />
Builder, The. Album of Royal Academy Architecture, 1897. Builder<br />
Offlce.<br />
Butcher, E. L. Story of the Church of Egypt. 16/- Smith, Elder.<br />
Butler, Life and Letters of William John. 12/6 net<br />
Macmillan.<br />
Carey, R. Nouchette. Other People's Lives. 6/- Hodderand Stoughton.<br />
Chambers, C. H. An Underground Tragedy, Ac. 1/- Saxon.<br />
Channing, F. A. The Truth about Agricultural Depression. 6/-<br />
Church, Dean. Village Sermons Third Series. 6/-<br />
Clark, W. Eras of the Christian Church: The Anglican Revival. 6/-<br />
Olark.<br />
Clarke, H. B. The Cld Campcador and the Waning of the Orescent<br />
in the West 6/- Putnam.<br />
Cochrane, B. (ed.). Four Hundred Animal Stories. 2/6. Chambers.<br />
Cohn, J., and Swales, F. Practical Horse Dentistry. 3/6. Vinton.<br />
Coillard, Francois (tr. by 0. W. Mackintosh^. On the Threshold of<br />
Central Africa. 15/- Hodder and Stoughton.<br />
Collins, W. E. Beginnings of English Christianity. 8/6. M<"<br />
Conrad, Joseph. The Nigger of the " Narcissus." 6/- Heini<br />
Conybcare, Edward. A History of Cambridgeshire. 7/6. Stock.<br />
Ooonley, L. A. (worda by). Singing Verses for Children. 8/6 net.<br />
Cooper, E. H. The Marchioness against the County. 6/- Chapman.<br />
Cordery, J. G. (tr.). The Odyssey of Homer. 7/6. Methnen.<br />
Cotton, A. E. Queer Creatures. 2/6. Simplrin.<br />
Couch, M. Qulller. Some Westora Folk. 8/6. Horace Marshall.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 227 (#661) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
227<br />
Cox, the father of Rev. W. S. Evly Promoted: A Memoir. 2/6. Low.<br />
Oragg, A. B. HintB to Young Valuers. Land Agent s Record.<br />
Crawford, Arthur. Our Troubles in Poona and the Deccan. 14/-<br />
Constable.<br />
Greswlcke, Louis. Love's Usuries. 3/6. Drane.<br />
Crosland, N. Bumbles Round my Life, 1819-96. 7/6. E. W. Allen.<br />
Cuthbertson, Evan J. William Shakespeare. 1/- Chambers.<br />
D'Ache, C., and Wolseley, Hon. F. The Story of Marlborough. 10/6.<br />
Grevel.<br />
Danvers, F. C. (ed.). Letters Received by the East India Company<br />
from its Servants in the East. 21'- net. Low.<br />
Derbyshire, A. An Architect's Experiences. Manchester: Cornish.<br />
Dawson, W. J. The Endless Choice, 1/6. Nisbet<br />
De la Pasture, Mrs. H. Deborah of Tods. 6/- Smith, Elder.<br />
De Nolhac, Pierre* (from the French of). Marie Antoinette the<br />
Dauphine. 63/-net. Simpkin.<br />
De Salis, Mrs. Art of Cookery, Past and Present. 2/- Hutchinson.<br />
D'Esperance, E. Shadow Land. 6/- net Redway.<br />
Dircks, Rudolf. Verisimilitudes. 3/6. Unicorn Press.<br />
Dixon, Charles. Onr Favourite Song Birds. 7/6. Lawrence.<br />
Douglas, Sir Goo., Bart. Poems of a Country Gentleman. 3/6.<br />
Longmans.<br />
Drummond, Henry. The Ideal Life, and other Unpublished Addresses.<br />
6/- Hodder and Stoughton.<br />
Drummond, Henry. The Monkey that Would Not Kill. 2/6.<br />
Hodder and Stoughton.<br />
Dubois, AbM J. A. (ed. by H. K. Beaucbamp). Hindu Manners,<br />
Customs, and Ceremonies. 21/- net. Frowde.<br />
Duggan, J. Steps Towards Reunion. 61- Eegan Paul.<br />
Ebbs, Ellen H. The Inner Light and Other Poems. 1/6 net. Digby.<br />
Egerton, George. Fantasias. 3/6. Lane.<br />
Ellis, Havelock. Affirmations. 6/- Scott.<br />
Erskine, the Hon. Stuart. Lord Dullborougb. 3/6. Arrowsmith.<br />
Evans, late Rev. E. H. True and False Alms, 6/- Hodder and Stn.<br />
Evans, T. J. Notes on Carpentry and Joinery.—I. 7/6. Chapman.<br />
Furrar, Dean. Sin and Its Conquerors. 1/6. Nisbet.<br />
Ferguson, R. Art of Elocution and Public Sp aking. 1/- Greening.<br />
Field, Eugene (selected by E. Grahame). Lullaby Land. 6/- Lane.<br />
Fields, A. Life and Letters of Harriet Beecher Stowe. 7/6 Low.<br />
Fincham, H. W. Artists and Engravers of British and American<br />
Book Plates. 21/- Eegan Paul.<br />
Fiske, John. Old Virginia and Her Neighbours. 16/- Macmillan.<br />
Fltchett, W. H. (" Vedette "). Deeds that Won the Empire 6/-<br />
Smith, Elder.<br />
Flu-Gerald, S. J. Adair. Fame the Fiddler. 6/- Greening.<br />
Fitzgerald, P. Pickwickian Manners and Customs. 2/6. Roxburghe.<br />
Fitzgi-rald, P. The Real Sheridan. F. J. Griffiths.<br />
Fletcher, B. F. and H. P. Carpentry and Joinery. D. Fourdrinier.<br />
Fletcher, J. S. The Making of Matthias. 5/- Lane.<br />
Forman, H. B. The Books of William Morris. 10/6 net. Boilings.<br />
Fowler, G. H. On the Outside Edge. (Skating.) field Office.<br />
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| 310 | https://historysoa.com/items/show/310 | The Author, Vol. 08 Issue 07 (December 1897) | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=%3Cem%3EThe+Author%3C%2Fem%3E%2C+Vol.+08+Issue+07+%28December+1897%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 08 Issue 07 (December 1897)</a> | | | <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049239455" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049239455</a> | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Publication">Publication</a> | 1897-12-01-The-Author-8-7 | | | | | 173–200 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=8">8</a> | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1897-12-01">1897-12-01</a> | | | | | | | 7 | | | 18971201 | Uhc Butbot\<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br />
CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br />
Vol. VIII.—No. 7.] DECEMBER i, 1897. [Price Sixpence.<br />
General Memoranda<br />
The Society of Authors and the Discount Question .<br />
Literary Property—<br />
I. Report on Copyright<br />
J. The Cost of Production<br />
3. Serial Rights<br />
4. A Case<br />
5. A Fancy Offer<br />
New York Letter. By Norman Hapgood<br />
CONTENTS.<br />
PASS PA8B<br />
..ITS j Note* and News. By the Editor. 187<br />
.. 175 Two Poems—1. Ishmael. 2. Light and Night 190<br />
Correspondence—1. "Literature." 2. The Published Price. 8.<br />
.. 182 Current Criticism. 4. The Publisher's Header as School-<br />
..182 master. 5. "The Scotsman's Library." 6. A Book Wanted 190<br />
.. 182 Book Talk 192<br />
..184 ! Literature in the Periodicals 198<br />
.. 185 1 Story Competition 198<br />
.. 185 The Books of the Month 198<br />
PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY.<br />
1. The Annual Report. That for January 1897 can be had on application to the Secretary.<br />
2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary<br />
Property. Issued to all Members, 6*. 6d. per annum. Back numbers are offered at the<br />
following prices: Vol. I., io«. 6d. (Bound); Vols. II., III., and IV., 8s. 6d. each (Bound);<br />
Vol. V., 6s. 6d< (Unbound).<br />
3. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher,<br />
95, Strand, W.C.) 3*.<br />
4. The History of the Societe des (Jens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigqe, late Secretary to<br />
the Society, i*.<br />
5. The Cost of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type,<br />
size of page, Ac, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of<br />
books. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 2s. 6d.<br />
6. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprigqe. In this work, compiled from the<br />
papers in the Society's offices, the various forms of agreements proposed by Publishers to<br />
Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various<br />
kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements.<br />
Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 3s.<br />
7. Copyright Law Reform, An Exposition of Lord Monks well's Copyright Bill now before Parlia-<br />
ment. With Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix<br />
containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely. Eyre<br />
and Spottiswoode. i*. 6d.<br />
8. The Society Of Authors. A Record of its Action from its Foundation. By Walter Besant<br />
(Chairman of Committee, 1888—1892). is.<br />
9. The Contract of Publication in Sermany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland. By Ebnst<br />
Lunoe, J.TJ.D. 2s. 6d.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 172 (#602) ############################################<br />
<br />
AD VER TISEMENTS.<br />
lft)e $ociefg of Jluffrors (gncotporqfe&).<br />
PRESIDENT.<br />
C3-EOieC3:E MEEEDITH.<br />
COUNCIL.<br />
S.I. | Austin Dobson.<br />
A. Conan Doyle, M.D.<br />
A. W. Duboueg.<br />
Pbof. Michael Fosteb, F.E.S.<br />
D. W. Freshfibld.<br />
Richard Garnett, C.B., LL.D.<br />
Edmund flossn.<br />
H. Rider Haooabd.<br />
Thomas Habdt.<br />
Anthony Hope Hawkins.<br />
P.C. | Jerome K. Jerome.<br />
Rudtard Kipling.<br />
Prof. E. Rat Lankester, F.R.S.<br />
W. E. H. Leckt, P.C.<br />
J. M. Lelt.<br />
Mrs. E. Lynn Linton.<br />
Rev. W. J. LoFTiE, F.S.A.<br />
Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mas.Doc.<br />
Prof. J. M. D. Meiklejohn.<br />
Herman C. Merivale.<br />
Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E., C.I<br />
J. M. Barbie.<br />
A. W. X Beckett.<br />
Robert Batsman.<br />
F. E. Beddard, F.R.S.<br />
Sib Henrt Bebone, K.C.M.G.<br />
Sir Walter Besant.<br />
auqustine blrkell, m.p.<br />
Rev. Prof. Bonnet, F.R.S.<br />
Right Hon. James Bryce, M.P.<br />
Right Hon. Lord Burohclere,<br />
Hall Caine.<br />
Egerton Castle, F.S.A.<br />
P. W. Clatden.<br />
Edward Clodd.<br />
W. Morris Colleb.<br />
Hon. John Collier.<br />
Sir W. Martin Conwat.<br />
F. Marion Crawford.<br />
The Earl of Dbsart.<br />
Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wakk.<br />
Sir Lewis Morris.<br />
Henry Norman.<br />
Miss E. A. Ormerod.<br />
J. C. Parkinson.<br />
Right Hon. Lord Pirbrioht, P.C,<br />
F.R.S.<br />
Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D.<br />
Walter Herries Pollock.<br />
w. bapti8te scoones.<br />
Miss Flora L. Shaw.<br />
O. R. Sims.<br />
S. Squire Sprigge.<br />
J. J. Stevenson.<br />
Francis Storr.<br />
William Moy Thomas.<br />
H. D. Traill, D.C.L.<br />
Mrs. Humphry Ward.<br />
Miss Charlotte M. Yonge.<br />
Hon. Counsel — E. M. Underdown, Q.C.<br />
A.. W. X Beckett.<br />
Sir Walter Besant.<br />
Eoerton Castle, F.S.A.<br />
W. Morris Colles.<br />
COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT.<br />
Chairman—H. Rider Haooabd.<br />
Sir W. Martin Conway.<br />
D. W. Frbshfield.<br />
Anthony Hope Hawkins.<br />
J. M. Lely.<br />
Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mas.Doo.<br />
Henby Norman.<br />
Francib Storr.<br />
COMMITTEES.<br />
MUSIC.<br />
C. Villiers Stanford, Mus.D. (Chairman).<br />
Jacques Blumenthal.<br />
J. L. Molloy.<br />
SUB<br />
ART.<br />
Hon. John Collier (Chairman)<br />
Sir W. Martin Conway.<br />
M. H. Spislmann.<br />
8oUeitors f *"IBLD> Roscob, and Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields<br />
\ G. Herbert Thring, B.A., 4, Portugal-street. Secretary—G. Herbert Thbino, B.A OFFICES: 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C.<br />
DRAMA.<br />
Henry Abthub Jones (Chairman).<br />
A. W. X Beckett.<br />
Edward Rose.<br />
j±. :p. watt & sonsr,<br />
LITERARY AGENTS,<br />
Formerly of 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE,<br />
Have now removed to<br />
HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND,<br />
LONDON. W.C.<br />
THE TEMPLE TYPEWRITING OFFICE. *<br />
TYPEWRITING EXCEPTIONALLY ACCURATE. Moderate prioes. Dnplioates of Circulars by the latest<br />
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<br />
<br />
## p. 173 (#603) ############################################<br />
<br />
XL he Hutbor*<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br />
CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br />
Vol. VIII.—No. 7.] DECEMBER 1, 1897. [Price Sixpence.<br />
For the Opinions expressed in papers that are<br />
signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br />
responsible. None of the papers or para-<br />
graphs must be taken as expressing the<br />
collective opinions of the Committee unless<br />
they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br />
Thring, Sec.<br />
THE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br />
remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br />
requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br />
important communications within two days will write to him<br />
without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br />
Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br />
letter only. _ ^<br />
Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br />
all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br />
jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br />
returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br />
GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br />
EOR some years it has been the practice to insert, in<br />
every number of The Author, certain " General Con-<br />
siderations," Warnings, Notices, Ac, for the guidance<br />
of the reader. It has been objected as regards these<br />
warnings that the tricks or frauds against which they are<br />
directed cannot all be guarded against, for obvious reasons.<br />
It is, however, well that they should be borne in mind, and<br />
if any publisher refuses a clause of precaution he simply<br />
reveals his true character, and should be left to carry on<br />
his business in his own way.<br />
Let us, however, draw up a few of the rules to be<br />
observed in an agreement. There are three methods of<br />
dealing with literary property :—<br />
I. That of selling it outright.<br />
This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br />
price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br />
managed by a competent agent.<br />
II. A profit-sharing agreement.<br />
In this case the following rules should be attended to:<br />
(1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br />
duction forms a part.<br />
(2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br />
profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements<br />
TOIi. VIII.<br />
in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise-<br />
ments.<br />
(3.) Not to allow a special charge for " office expenses,"<br />
unleBS the same allowance is made to the author.<br />
(4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br />
rights.<br />
(5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights.<br />
(6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher.<br />
As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br />
doctor!<br />
(7.) To stamp the agreement.<br />
HI. The royalty system.<br />
In this system, which has opened the door to a most<br />
amazing amount of overreaching and trading on the<br />
author's ignorance, it is above all things neoessary to know<br />
what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now<br />
possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very<br />
nearly the truth. From time to time the very important<br />
figures connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br />
Headers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br />
"Cost of Production." Let no one, not even the youngest<br />
writer, sign a royalty agreement without finding out what<br />
it gives the publisher as well as himself.<br />
It has been objected that these precautions presuppose a<br />
great success for the book, and that very few books indeed<br />
attain to this great success. That is quite true : but there is<br />
always this uncertainty of literary property that, although<br />
the works of a great many authors carry with them no risk<br />
at all, and although of a great many it is known within a few<br />
copies what will be their minimum circulation, it is not<br />
known what will be their maximum. Therefore every<br />
author, for every book, should arrange on the chanoe of a<br />
success which will not, probably, come at all; but which<br />
may come.<br />
The four points which the Society has always demanded<br />
from the outset are:—<br />
(1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement<br />
means.<br />
(2.) The inspection of those account books which belong<br />
to the author. We are advised that thiB is a right, in the<br />
nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied o<br />
withheld.<br />
(3.) That there shall be no secret profits.<br />
(4.) That nothing shall be charged which has not been<br />
actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for<br />
advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for<br />
exohanged advertisements and that all discounts shall be<br />
duly entered.<br />
If these points are carefully looked after, the author may<br />
rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the<br />
same time he will do well to send his agreement to the<br />
secretary before he signs it.<br />
Q 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 174 (#604) ############################################<br />
<br />
i74 THE AUTHOR.<br />
HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br />
i. ill VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br />
advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br />
lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br />
business or the administration of his property. If the advice<br />
sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member<br />
has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the<br />
case is snch that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com-<br />
mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this<br />
without any cost to the member.<br />
2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br />
and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the<br />
experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br />
to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually<br />
engaged upon such questions for us.<br />
3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past<br />
accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in<br />
order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree-<br />
ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively<br />
so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any<br />
agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor-<br />
mation thus obtained may prove invaluable.<br />
4. If the examination of your previous business trans-<br />
actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should<br />
take advice as to a change of publishers.<br />
5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br />
posed document to the Society for examination.<br />
6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in<br />
the case of fraudulent houBes—the tricks of every publish-<br />
ing firm in the oountry.<br />
7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society yo<br />
are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are<br />
reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing<br />
the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen-<br />
dence of the writer.<br />
8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of everything<br />
important to literature that you may hear or meet with.<br />
9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of<br />
members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br />
safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br />
fidential documents to be read only by the Seoretary, who<br />
will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers:—(1)<br />
To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To<br />
stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon<br />
them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments<br />
due according to agreements.<br />
THE AUTHORS' SYNDICATE,<br />
"V/T EMBERS are informed:<br />
J3_L 1. That the Authors' Syndicate takes charge of<br />
the business of members of the Society. That it<br />
Bubmits MSS. to publishers and editors, concludes agree-<br />
ments, examines, passes, and collects accounts, and, gene-<br />
rally, relieves members of the trouble of managing business<br />
details.<br />
2. That the terms upon whioh its services can be secured<br />
will be forwarded upon detailed application.<br />
3. That the Authors' Syndicate works only for those<br />
members of the Society whose work possesses a market<br />
value.<br />
4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiations<br />
whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia-<br />
tions are placed exclusively in its hands, and that all<br />
communications relating thereto are referred to it.<br />
5. That clients can only be seen by the Director by<br />
appointment, and that, when possible, at least two days'<br />
notice should be given.<br />
6. That every attempt is made to deal with all communi-<br />
cations promptly. That stamps should, in all cases, be sent<br />
to defray postage.<br />
7. That the Authors' Syndicate does not invite MSS.<br />
without previous correspondence; does not hold itself<br />
responsible for MSS. forwarded without notice; and that<br />
in all cases MSS. must be accompanied by stamps to defray<br />
postage.<br />
8. That the Syndicate undertakes arrangements for<br />
lectures by some of the leading members of the Society;<br />
that it has a "Transfer Department" for the sale and<br />
purchase of journals and periodicals; and that a " Register<br />
of Wants and Wanted" is open. Members are invited to<br />
communicate their requirements to the Manager.<br />
There is an Honorary Advisory Committee, whose services<br />
will be called upon in any case of dispute or difficulty. It<br />
is perhaps necessary to state that the members of the<br />
Advisory Committee have no pecuniary interest whatever in<br />
the Syndicate.<br />
NOTICES.<br />
f 11HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br />
I Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br />
of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br />
heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br />
many members did not forward to the Seoretary the modest<br />
6s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br />
The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and<br />
communications on all subjects connected with literature<br />
from members and others. Nothing can do more good to<br />
the Society than to make The Author oomplete, attractive,<br />
and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this<br />
work send thoir names and the special subjects on which<br />
they are willing to write?<br />
Communications for Tlie Author should reach the Editor<br />
not later than the 21 st of each month.<br />
All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether<br />
members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate<br />
to the Editor any points connected with their work which<br />
it would be advisable in the general interest to publish.<br />
Members and others who wish their MSS. read are<br />
requested not to send them to the Office without previously<br />
communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable<br />
despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in<br />
which they are received. It must also be distinctly under-<br />
stood that the Society does not, under any circumstances^<br />
undertake the publication of MSS.<br />
The Authors' Club is now open in its new premises, at<br />
3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary<br />
for information, rules of admission, Ac.<br />
Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they<br />
have paid their subscriptions for the year? If they will do<br />
this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's<br />
order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the-<br />
trouble of sending out a reminder.<br />
Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the<br />
following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a<br />
most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding<br />
for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they<br />
would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five<br />
years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 175 (#605) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
i75<br />
or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then<br />
hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them-<br />
selves into literary bondage for three or five years t<br />
Those who possess the "Cost of Production" are<br />
requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15<br />
per cent. This means, for those who do not like the trouble<br />
•f "doing sums," the addition of three shillings in the<br />
pound on this head. In other words, if the cost of binding<br />
is set down in our book at eight pounds, to this must now be<br />
added twenty-four shillings more, so that it now stands<br />
at £g 48. The figures in our book are as near the exact<br />
truth as can be procured; but a printer's, or a binder's,<br />
bill is so elastic a thing that nothing more exact can be<br />
arrived at.<br />
Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged<br />
in the " Cost of Production " for advertising. Of course, we<br />
have not included any sums which may be charged for<br />
inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines,<br />
or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too<br />
•ften go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from<br />
sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket,<br />
by inserting any number of advertisements in his own<br />
magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are<br />
who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those<br />
who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it.<br />
THE SOCIETY OP AUTHOKS AND THE<br />
DISCOUNT QUESTION.<br />
THE Report printed below has been forwarded<br />
to Mr. C. J. Longman, president of the<br />
Publishers' Association, with the following<br />
letter from the chairman of the Committee of<br />
Management of the Society of Authors:—<br />
"Nov. 30, 1897.<br />
"My dear Longman,—In reply to your letter of<br />
July 6 re the publishers' and booksellers' pro-<br />
posals on the discount question, I now beg to<br />
forward to your Association a Report which has<br />
been presented to us by a sub-committee of our<br />
society appointed to consider and take evidence<br />
upon these proposals. The Committee of Manage-<br />
ment of this Society endorse and adopt the con-<br />
clusions arrived at by its sub-committee. I may<br />
add, however, that, independently of these detailed<br />
conclusions, we feel it impossible to give support<br />
to the joint proposals of the publishers and book-<br />
sellers as presented in the papers forwarded by<br />
you, on the broad ground that, even were it<br />
possible to carry them into effect—which remains<br />
an open question—they would, as we understand<br />
them, be in restraint of free trade and a fetter on<br />
individual liberty.<br />
It is with the greatest regret that we have<br />
come to a decision adverse to the wishes of your<br />
Association and to those of a large proportion<br />
of the bookselling trade, since the result of our<br />
inquiries and our own observations amply convince<br />
us that the distress among the country book-<br />
sellers is genuine and widespread.<br />
Thanking you for so kindly submitting the<br />
matter to the consideration of our Society,<br />
Believe me to remain, my dear Longman,<br />
Very sincerely yours,<br />
(Signed) H. Rider Haggard,<br />
Chairman of Committee of Management.<br />
P.S.—I shall be much obliged if you will con-<br />
sider the enclosed Report as confidential to your<br />
association until its appearance in The Author on<br />
Thursday next.<br />
To C. J. Longman, Esq.,<br />
President of the Publishers' Association<br />
of Great Britain and Ireland."<br />
REPORT OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE.<br />
Report of the Sub-Committee â– appointed by the<br />
Committee of Management of the Society of<br />
Authors to consider the Publishers'' and Book-<br />
sellers'1 proposals with regard to Raising<br />
Discounts.<br />
YOUR Committee have been constituted to<br />
inquire into and report upon a letter<br />
addressed to the Society on July 6th by<br />
Mr. C. J. Longman, President of the Publishers'<br />
Association, which is to the following effect:—<br />
"Stationers' Hall, E.C.,<br />
July 6th, 1897.<br />
My dear Haggard,<br />
In accordance with a resolution passed<br />
item. con. at a special general meeting of the<br />
Publishers' Association, held on July 1st, I am<br />
writing to ask the attention of the Society of<br />
Authors to a matter which has for some time<br />
been the subject of anxious consideration in the<br />
bookselling trade. I need not go into the matter<br />
in detail, as the papers I inclose herewith, which<br />
I hope you will lay before your Society, contain<br />
full information on the matter in which we ask<br />
your co-operation. Briefly, we are anxious to<br />
assist the retail trade in the very serious<br />
difficulties which beset their business owing to<br />
the excessive discounts which are now given to<br />
the public in London and many other towns,<br />
though not in all. Although it is the retail<br />
trade only which are directly interested in the<br />
movement which we ask you to support, yet it is<br />
a matter of great importance, both to authors and<br />
publishers, that a numerous and flourishing body<br />
of retailers should exist throughout the Kingdom.<br />
I inclose six copies of a Report of the Sub-<br />
committee on Trade Terms to our Council,<br />
which contains the details of the proposal, and<br />
also six copies of the Publisher«' Circular for<br />
July 3rd, containing a report of the meeting on<br />
July 1st, which I have already mentioned. Great<br />
hopes are entertained among the retail booksellers<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 176 (#606) ############################################<br />
<br />
176<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
throughout the country that this movement will<br />
be carried to a successful issue, as has been done<br />
satisfactorily in France and in Germany.<br />
We trust, therefore, that we shall receive the<br />
hearty support of the Society of Authors.<br />
Should this be the case we have little doubt of<br />
the success of the movement, while in the<br />
contrary event the proposal must necessarily<br />
drop, to the deep disappointment of the retail<br />
trade.<br />
Should you desire it our Sub-Committee would<br />
be happy to meet you to give any further<br />
information you may desire.<br />
I am, yours faithfully,<br />
(Signed) C. J. Longman,<br />
President Publishers' Association of Great<br />
Britain and Ireland.<br />
H. Rider Haosaed, Esq.,<br />
Incorporated Society of Authors."<br />
Your Committee having read the various<br />
documents and pamphlets placed before them, and<br />
having examined a numb, r of booksellers and<br />
representatives of trade societies, have now the<br />
honour to report:<br />
At the general meeting of the publishers on<br />
July 1st, the chairman, Mr. Longman, began<br />
by stating that "It is alleged by retail book-<br />
sellers, in town and country, that it is impossible<br />
for them to make a living profit by the sale of<br />
copyright books at the discount now given of 3d.<br />
in the shilling. . . . It is not stated that<br />
booksellers as a whole do not make a profit, but<br />
that the profit is derived from the sale of non-<br />
copyright literature, stationery, and fancy goods."<br />
(Publisher's Circular, July 3, 1897, p. 7). The<br />
proposals of the publishers to remedy the<br />
grievance were set forth by Mr. F. Macmillan at<br />
the same meeting as "Briefly, that the present<br />
trade terms should be given only to booksellers<br />
who agree to allow no more than 2d. in the<br />
shilling on ordinary books, and sell net l>ooks at<br />
full prices : and that those dealers who refuse to<br />
come into the arrangement, or who break their<br />
agreement, should be supplied at no better terms<br />
than scrip without odd books, or discount at settle-<br />
ment" (16. p. 8); or, speaking in plain terms, if<br />
a bookseller chose to sell the books at 25 per cent,<br />
discount, he would be selling them at cost price.<br />
Mr. Macmillan concluded by observing, "It is<br />
imperative that before entering into any arrange-<br />
ment with the Associated Booksellers as to this<br />
important question, we should approach the<br />
Society of Authors, should explain to them what<br />
it is that we and the booksellers propose, and<br />
should get them to agr^e with us in saying that<br />
the suggested action is taken in the interest of<br />
all connected with the commercial side of<br />
literature—of the authors who write books, of<br />
the publishers who bring them out, and of the<br />
booksellers who sell them to the public. I do not<br />
anticipate that there will be any difficulty in<br />
putting the matter before the Society of Authors<br />
in such a way as to induce them to coincide with<br />
our views and those of the booksellers" (ib.<br />
p. 8).*<br />
Your Committee desire at the outset to<br />
endorse the statements as to the present<br />
depressed state of the retail book trade. Injury<br />
to the bookseller must partly fall upon the<br />
author, since much of his own welfare is bound<br />
up with the prosperity of the bookseller. Many<br />
books, indeed, cannot be said to be effectively<br />
published until the booksellers are interested in<br />
them; and no bookseller can be said to be<br />
interested in a book unless he gains a fair profit<br />
from selling it. In the general interest of<br />
literature, moreover, it is important that the<br />
race of trained and intelligent booksellers in<br />
this country should not be crowded out of<br />
existence.<br />
While fully recognising and deploring the<br />
existing conditions of the bookselling trade, your<br />
Committee cannot recommend you to give the<br />
"hearty support" asked for in Mr. Longman's<br />
letter, and still more difficult do they find it<br />
to agree with Mr. Macmillan's much more<br />
decided assertion that "the suggested action is<br />
taken in the interest of all connected with the<br />
commercial side of literature."<br />
The discount question is not one of senti-<br />
ment. It is purely an economic question, and<br />
must be considered from a commercial point<br />
of view. It is produced by modern com-<br />
petition, and it is to be paralleled by examples<br />
in many other trades. Chemists and druggists<br />
make the same complaint of excessive reductions<br />
in the retail price of patent medicines and well-<br />
known drugs.<br />
Retrospect.<br />
So far in general terms. Before proceeding<br />
to consider the question in detail, and as<br />
it is affected by the conditions of the day, it if<br />
necessary to recall previous attempts made in the<br />
same direction.<br />
The first and most serious attempt to regulate<br />
the rate of discount was made in the years'<br />
1848-52. On July 12, 1850, the following de-<br />
claration was signed by every bookseller re-<br />
* The exact words of the resolution referred to by Mr.<br />
F. Macmillan were:<br />
"That the present trade terms should be given only to<br />
those booksellers who pledge themselves not to exceed 2d.<br />
in the Is. discount, and to maintain the published price of<br />
Net Books.<br />
"Those who are unwilling so to pledge themselves to b»<br />
supplied at scrip, net, and no odd copy."<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 177 (#607) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
•77<br />
siding within twelve miles of the Post Office.<br />
Their number was 1200.<br />
"1. That we will not supply books at trade price,<br />
except to those who are in possession of a<br />
ticket. Special trades dealing occasionally<br />
in books connected with their trade, may<br />
be supplied with such books at trade price,<br />
at the discretion of each bookseller.<br />
"2. That, as a general rule, no greater allow-<br />
ance than 10 per cent, for cash be made to<br />
private customers unconnected with the<br />
trade or with publishing.<br />
"3. That, as a general rule, no greater allowance<br />
than 15 per cent, be made to book societies.<br />
"4. That we will not advertise, or ticket, at less<br />
than the publication price, copyright books,<br />
unless bond fide second-hand or unless<br />
depreciated by the publisher, or such as<br />
are notoriously unsuccessful.<br />
"We mutually agree that any one systematically<br />
acting contrary to these regulations, after remon-<br />
strance, shall be no longer considered entitled to<br />
the privileges of the trade."<br />
This engagement was broken as soon as made.<br />
The chairman himself (Mr. J. M. Richardson<br />
at that time) admitted that he supplied books to<br />
the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge,<br />
and that the latter re-sold them to its members<br />
at cost price. Another prominent member<br />
supplied books to a college at 25 per<br />
cent, discount. A third supplied the books to<br />
form the Bank of England library at a similar<br />
discount; and so on. Certain country book-<br />
sellers would on no account be guilty of selling a<br />
book under its published price, but to be equal<br />
with their neighbours who had no such scruples,<br />
they fell upon the following expedient: "If a<br />
person asked one of them for a book, published<br />
at 2s. 6d. for example, it was offered to him at<br />
that price, but if he objected that he could get it<br />
at 2s. elsewhere, the vendor at once overcame the<br />
difficulty by cutting open a few leaves of the<br />
volume, or if it chanced to be cut when published,<br />
by allowing a drop of ink to deface it—the<br />
conscientious bibliopole being able to regard it<br />
in that condition as ' second-hand,' and therefore<br />
holding himself entitled, according to orthodox<br />
principles, to sell it at a reduced price!"<br />
In April, 1852, an important paper on "The<br />
Commerce of Literature " appeared in the West-<br />
minster Review. It was written by Mr. John<br />
Chapman. This article vigorously opposed the<br />
restrictive action of the publishers. The Times<br />
followed up the article; that great paper could<br />
not discover any valid reason for " this anomalous<br />
interference with the free course of competition<br />
and the natural operation of trade," and did not<br />
hesitate to call the methods of the publishers "an<br />
organised system of coercion."<br />
On May 6th, 1852, a meeting of authors was<br />
held at Mr. Chapman's, 142, Strand, Charles<br />
Dickens taking the chair. It was a very<br />
remarkable gathering.<br />
Amongst the men distinguished in literature<br />
and science who were present were Professors<br />
Owen, Newman, and Ansted, Mr. Babbage, Mr.<br />
Tom Taylor, Dr. Lankester, Dr. Arnott, and<br />
Mr. Crabbe Robinson. Letters concurring in<br />
the views of the meeting were read from Mr.<br />
Carlyle, Mr. John Stuart Mill, Mr. Gladstone,<br />
Professor de Morgan, Mr. James Wilson, M.P.,<br />
Mr. Cobden, M.P., and others. From this meet-<br />
ing there arose the definite steps taken which<br />
ended in the abolition of the trade restrictions.<br />
Five resolutions were adopted, declaring that<br />
free trade ought to be applied to books as to all<br />
other articles of commerce; that the principles<br />
of the Booksellers' Association were not only<br />
opposed to free trade, but were tyrannical and<br />
vexatious in their operations, and had the effect<br />
of keeping the prices of books much higher than<br />
they would otherwise be; and that the retailer,<br />
not the publisher, should determine the retail<br />
prices.<br />
This was not enough. On April 30, 1852, a<br />
circular was issued by Messrs. J. W. Parker and<br />
Son, addrossed to leading authors, inviting them<br />
to send a reply to the following question:<br />
"If a retail bookseller, of ascertained credit and<br />
respectability, applies to your publisher for copies<br />
of any book in which you are directly or indirectly<br />
interested, which he is ready to purchase on the<br />
terms at which the publisher has offered them to<br />
the trade at large, but with the avowed intention<br />
of retailing his purchases at a smaller profit than<br />
that provided for between the wholesale rate and<br />
the retail price fixed for single copies, do you<br />
consider the intention to sell at a low rate of<br />
profit a good and sufficient reason why the pub-<br />
lisher should refuse to supply him with books<br />
which he is ready to purchase and to keep in<br />
stock at his own risk?<br />
All, with the exception of three, who were<br />
dubious, answered in the negative.<br />
Among those who then replied were J. S. Mill,<br />
Tennyson, Dickens, Carlyle, Qoldwin Smith,<br />
Herbert Spencer, Darwin, Charles Kingsley,<br />
Francis Newman, Babbage, Forbes Winslow,<br />
Cornewall Lewis, and Leigh Hunt.<br />
Finally the question was referred to a commis-<br />
sion, consisting of Lord Campbell, Dean Mil-<br />
man, and George Grote. The commission decided<br />
that the regulations were unreasonable and in-<br />
expedient, and contrary to the freedom which<br />
ought to prevail in commercial transactions.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 178 (#608) ############################################<br />
<br />
178<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
This, then, was the opinion of the most distin-<br />
guished men in Literature, Law, and Science in<br />
1852.<br />
In 1869 another attempt was made to impose<br />
restrictions upon the retail booksellers. This<br />
proposal was speedily dropped.<br />
Witnesses and Documents.<br />
Your Committee, in order to ascertain the facts<br />
and figures necessary for th«ir guidance, have<br />
received evidence from:<br />
1. Mr. Thomas Burleigh (secretary of the<br />
Booksellers' Association), 370, Oxford - street,<br />
W.<br />
2. Mr. E. Gowing-Scopes (secretary of the<br />
Retail Newsagents' and Booksellers' Union, 185,<br />
Fleet-street, E.C.)<br />
3. Certain representatives of booksellers, viz.:<br />
Mr. Frederick H. Evans, of Queen-street,<br />
Cheapside, E C.<br />
Mr. Henry Glaisher, of 95, Strand, W.C.<br />
Mr. Henry W. Keay, of Eastbourne.<br />
Mr. Robert Maclehose, of Glasgow.<br />
Mr. N. V. Collier (Mr. Edward Stanford's), of<br />
Cockspur-street, S.W.<br />
Mr. Arthur L.Humphreys (Messrs. Hatchard's),<br />
of Piccadilly, W.<br />
Mr. John Stone ham, of Cheapside, E.C.<br />
4. The Committee have also before them a<br />
pamphlet issued by Mr. William Heinemann,<br />
of 21, Bedford-street, W.C, who kindly forwarded<br />
it to them.<br />
5. The evidence contained in various issues of<br />
the Publishers' Circular, together with a full<br />
account of the speeches of Mr. Frederick Mac-<br />
millan and others, setting forth the publishers'<br />
views on the subject.<br />
6. An article that appeared in the Westminster<br />
Review of 1852, entitled "The Commerce of<br />
Literature."<br />
7. A pamphlet by Mr. Thomas Bosworth, of 215,<br />
Regent-street, W., dated 1868.<br />
8. The evidence from the Booksellers' Review<br />
and correspondence in the Times and the other<br />
papers on the subject, together wifh a ' mass<br />
of private and confidential letters written to the<br />
Committee.<br />
9. They have also had before them the answers<br />
of members of the Council of the Society to the<br />
same question as that put in 1852 by Messrs.<br />
Parker.<br />
Evidence.<br />
The following facts and opinions have been<br />
elicited:<br />
1. It has been stated that the larger book-<br />
sellers get better terms than the smaller.<br />
2. "Office expenses" are by some booksellers<br />
'estimated as high as 15 or 16 percent, on receipts.<br />
This item must obviously vary enormously.<br />
3. It is stated that country booksellers obtain<br />
10 per cent, discount, instead of the London<br />
allowance of 5 per cent., as a set-off against<br />
carriage.<br />
4. Books that are non-copyright are sold to the<br />
trade at various prices. The most common terms<br />
are a little over half the published price.<br />
5. It is stated that the increasing practice of<br />
the drapers in selling non-copyright books very<br />
cheaply—even under cost price—greatly injures<br />
booksellers.<br />
6. Several of the most experienced witnesses<br />
stated as their conviction that the proposed<br />
coercion could not be carried out; although they<br />
were aware that in the case of magazines some-<br />
thing has been done in certain provincial towns<br />
by the Newsagents' Association.<br />
7. The probable effect of raising the price<br />
was variously estimated. The public, according<br />
to many booksellers, will not mind the addition of<br />
sixpence or so: the public, according to others,<br />
will not pay an additional sixpence: the public,<br />
according to some, will readily pay a net price:<br />
according to others, will insist on getting dis-<br />
count. The truth appears to be that the public<br />
will have discount if they can get it. As for<br />
reducing the retail price, it is generally considered<br />
by the trade that the increased sale would not<br />
compensate the loss.<br />
8. Several witnesses were of opinion that some<br />
form of "sale or return" would be very helpful.<br />
One practical proposal before your Committee was<br />
to treat books as magazines are treated, viz., to<br />
allow so many per doz. to be returned; the book-<br />
sellers, of course, to have the choice of books to<br />
be sent to them. In the case of highly priced<br />
books it is absolutely necessary that they should<br />
be sent on sale or return if they are to be shown<br />
to the public by the smaller country booksellers.<br />
9. There seems to be a universal consent in the<br />
trade that it would be of no use to rearrange<br />
terms with publishers unless some way could be<br />
found to prevent further increase of discount.<br />
10. The publishers fix the price of books. One<br />
witness suggested that the publishers should fix<br />
only the trade price, leaving the booksellers free<br />
to sell the books at any price they please. This<br />
is the custom with prayerbooks.<br />
11. As regards the proposed regulation of the<br />
trade, it is urged, on the oue hand, that there is no<br />
fear of further coercion, and that booksellers cannot<br />
be worse off than they are. On the other hand, it<br />
is pointed out that booksellers desire immediate<br />
relief by the reduction of the discount, and that<br />
they do not realise the state of dependence in which<br />
the attainment of their desires would place them.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 179 (#609) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
'79<br />
Causb8 of Depression.<br />
So far for the evidence. We have next to<br />
consider the causes of the present depression of<br />
trade.<br />
1. The 3d. in the shilling discount is generally<br />
advanced as the sole cause. This, however, is not<br />
the case; there are other causes, and this<br />
discount is not universal. Where the practice<br />
prevails, it is quite clear that the small bookseller<br />
cannot live by the sale of copyright works alone.<br />
Booksellers, however, have brought this discount<br />
system upon themselves. Publishers do not appear<br />
to have recognised it in their trade prices. Book-<br />
sellers introduced the system, and there is no<br />
possible guarantee that they would not be com-<br />
pelled, in the future, by the necessities of com-<br />
petition, to render inoperative any improved<br />
terms of sale that might be introduced with a<br />
view to their benefit.<br />
2. A second cause of the position of the book-<br />
seller is the depression of agriculture, which has<br />
inflicted such enormous losses on country gentle-<br />
men, cathedral and county clergy, and fellows of<br />
colleges, all of whom were formerly buyers of<br />
books.<br />
8. The competition of other traders who have<br />
added books to their other wares.<br />
4. The partial loss of the educational book<br />
trade, whether of elementary or of higher schools,<br />
which is now often carried on direct between<br />
schools and publishers.<br />
5. The practice of many Free Libraries, which<br />
deal with the publisher or the wholesale agent<br />
direct instead of with the local bookseller.<br />
(i. The failure of the bookseller to meet the new<br />
demands for reading from the many millions<br />
added to the number of readers by the spread of<br />
education. The drapers, for instance, seem to<br />
have discovered a new stratum of purchasers.<br />
7. A want of energy and "push" among book-<br />
sellers as a whole. It is quite evident that if<br />
the mass of people are to buy books they must<br />
have lK>oks attractively offered to them.<br />
Conclusions.<br />
In considering the condition of the trade, and<br />
the proposals of the booksellers and publishers,<br />
your Committee have come to the conclusion<br />
that the coercive measures proposed could not<br />
be carried out.<br />
This was proved in 1852. Evasion in every<br />
form was then, and would be now, practised by<br />
the discontented, and successfully practised now<br />
as then.<br />
In connection with the vital question of the<br />
possibility of enforcing upon unwilling booksellers<br />
a uniform and reduced discount, your Com-<br />
mittee think it necessary to draw attention to an<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
aspect of the matter which frequently escapes<br />
notice.<br />
Let us suppose that the publishers decide to<br />
raise their terms or to refuse books to any<br />
bookseller who gives a discount of more<br />
than 2d. in the shilling. Many booksellers<br />
would gladly welcome the announcement, but<br />
others—amongst these the great London shops,<br />
who often sell in an hour as many copies<br />
of a popular work as a small country book-<br />
seller sells in a year—certainly would not. On<br />
the contrary, they would frankly endeavour to<br />
find some method of evasion. "But," reply<br />
the publishers, " since ex hypothesi we should all<br />
be united in action, evasion would be impossible.<br />
The would-be 25 per cent, discount man simply<br />
could not get his books to sell, cither from us, or<br />
from a wholesale distributor himself dependent<br />
upon us."<br />
It is in comment upon this assertion that your<br />
Committee feel it necessary to speak. The<br />
publishers' contention may be perfectly true con-<br />
cerning the publishers who now exist, though all<br />
publishers do not belong to "the Association ":<br />
it is completely shattered by the fact that nothing<br />
prevents other publishers from coming into<br />
existence—indeed, from coming into existence<br />
ad hoc.<br />
For example, the success of the publishers<br />
would be at the mercy of a single author whose<br />
new book was certain beforehand of a very large<br />
sale. Such an author is in no way dependent<br />
upon a publisher. He might publish his new<br />
book hiinself, publish it through a bookseller,<br />
through a printer, through a literary agent, or<br />
through a draper. Having done so, he would<br />
supply it to booksellers at cheaper rates than<br />
those previously charged for his books, and<br />
leave the booksellers to give what discount they<br />
chose. Thus, instead of retail discount being<br />
reduced by the combinaton of publishers, it might<br />
well be increased.<br />
Lest it be thought that your Committee is<br />
imagining an impossible state of things, we may<br />
call attention to two statements in the evidence<br />
before us. First, a retail bookseller, doing,<br />
perhaps, the largest business in the United<br />
Kingdom, seriously asked your Committee, " Why<br />
not start a branch of the Authors' Society as<br />
the Authors' Publishing Association?" Secondly,<br />
a witness of great experience, being asked<br />
whether booksellers would be prepared to deal<br />
with the author direct, replied: "The trade<br />
would be quite willing to deal with a popular<br />
author direct, providing he gave suitable terms.<br />
In my opinion, such a move would have astound-<br />
ing results."<br />
We know of no reason why the retailer of<br />
R<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 180 (#610) ############################################<br />
<br />
i8o<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
books should be fettered as to the prices he<br />
charges, more than the retailer of any other<br />
commodity.<br />
If it were found possible to enforce the<br />
present proposals, other and more stringent<br />
restrictions would, doubtless, follow, such as<br />
refusal to supply books to booksellers who bought<br />
of firms outside the Publishers' Association. The<br />
independence of the author would be seriously<br />
compromised by the existence of a close ring of<br />
publishers and booksellers, who might as easily<br />
dictate to him a royalty of 5 per cent, as to the<br />
bookseller a 2d. discount.<br />
If experience showed that the public, would<br />
pay without complaint the enhanced price of<br />
books caused by the lowering of the discount, the<br />
next step would be that publishers would be<br />
strongly tempted to use the monopoly thus created<br />
to go on augmenting the price of their wares.<br />
Thus a result of the present proposals would<br />
probably be that the individual book - buyer<br />
would have to pay more and more for his<br />
literature.<br />
It should be observed that, according to the<br />
figures given to us, a 6s. book, now sold to the<br />
public at 48. 6d., yields to the bookseller a profit<br />
of from lOd. to Is.; if sold at 5s., it would yield<br />
him a profit of from Is. 4d. to Is. 6d.; on the<br />
other hand, a book sold to the public at a net<br />
price of 5s., yields to the bookseller, by the present<br />
arrangements of the trade, a profit of Is. 0|d.<br />
Thepubbsher receives for a 5s.net book from 3|d.<br />
to 5|d. more than for a 6s. book subject to the<br />
discount system, whether the discount be 3d. in<br />
the Is., or whether it be lowered (as by the<br />
proposal under consideration) to 2d. The net<br />
system, therefore, being so much more profit-<br />
able to publishers, would tend to supplant the<br />
revised discount system, and the author must<br />
be prepared to rearrange terms with the publisher<br />
on this new basis.<br />
If proposals limiting the freedom of the<br />
retail bookseller are to be considered at all —<br />
a course of action which your Committee<br />
earnestly deprecate — they must be taken up<br />
by representatives of authors, publishers, and<br />
booksellers. In every such consideration or dis-<br />
cussion the whole question of book production<br />
will have to be freely and openly laid on the<br />
table, including actual cost of production, money<br />
actually spent on advertisements, &c, before<br />
anything definite can be arrived at as regards<br />
the proper proportion of profit to be assigned<br />
to the author, the bookseller, and the publisher.<br />
With regard to the pamphlet issued by Mr.<br />
Heinemann, and sent by him to your Committee:<br />
The German system there explained is a system<br />
of which it can only be said that no tiador<br />
in these islands could possibly adopt or endure it.<br />
While all other dealers and traders around<br />
him were free to do as they pleased with<br />
their own property, he alone would be a ser-<br />
vant and a clerk, ordered to sell as he was<br />
told or to be ruined. The pamphlet invites<br />
the closest attention, as showing the actual<br />
desire of some among the promoters of these<br />
measures. Your Committee believe that the<br />
Germanisation of the British Book Trade in-<br />
volved in these proposals would not be to the<br />
advantage either of the "commercial," or any<br />
other side of literature.<br />
Remedial Measures.<br />
Tour Committee venture to suggest the<br />
following as remedial measures:<br />
1. An endeavour by local booksellers to get the<br />
whole of the local trade—school books, prize<br />
books, books for free libraries—and to reach the<br />
lower strata of readers by stocking and pushing<br />
the sale of cheap editions of sound literature.<br />
Greater energy and enterprise, as displayed in<br />
other retail trades, if the country book trade is to<br />
be saved from extinction.*<br />
2. The development of a system of sending<br />
out on sale or return books protected in suitable<br />
wrappers or cases.<br />
3. The publication of non-copyright books by<br />
booksellers for themselves. The printing and<br />
issue in an attractive form of such books would<br />
require little preliminary capital, provided there<br />
were an undertaking of the trade generally to<br />
further the sale of the series.<br />
4. It is obvious that unless the retail book-<br />
seller himself knows the difference between<br />
good and bad style and workmanship in paper,<br />
print, binding, and illustration, he cannot direct<br />
the taste of his customers to purchases which,<br />
while securing for him a remunerative business,<br />
provide them with a collection of books of<br />
permanent and even increasing value.<br />
5. It is suggested that country booksellers<br />
should add to their business that of selling<br />
second-hand books.<br />
6. A great feature of modern trade in printed<br />
publications is the sale of magazines, and the<br />
consequent notable increase in the number of<br />
newsagents. It is suggested that the news-<br />
agent, who must (at present, at any rate) be<br />
a local tradesman, is destined to supplant<br />
the country bookseller, unless the latter, on his<br />
* Ono of our most capable witnesses—himself a book-<br />
seller—declared that the country bookseller who fails to<br />
make a living deserves to fail, and that the profits upon<br />
bookselling are sufficient to-day in the hands of a man of<br />
real intelligence, ingenuity, and industry to enable him to<br />
thrive.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 181 (#611) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
181<br />
side, takes over the business of the newsagent,<br />
and adopts his methods, as, indeed, the more<br />
enterprising are already beginning to do. Pub-<br />
lishers, we think, will do well to bear this<br />
development in mind, and extend accordingly the<br />
system of issuing expensive books in cheap weekly<br />
or monthly parts.<br />
7. The fusion of the Booksellers' Association<br />
with the Booksellers' Union and the sinking of<br />
minor differences, are desirable in the interests of<br />
the trade.<br />
your Committee venture to suggest that the<br />
Committee of Management of the Society of<br />
Authors should signify to the Booksellers' Trade<br />
Organisations aud other similar bodies their<br />
willingness to advise and assist in the discussion<br />
of trade questions if so desired.<br />
Tour Committee make the above suggestions<br />
as the best that have come to their notice, with-<br />
out, however, attaching undue importance to<br />
them. We cannot hope that the country book<br />
trade will be restored to prosperity by com-<br />
paratively superficial methods. Owing to the<br />
operation of economic forces, destined in the<br />
future to increase and not to diminish in<br />
energy, the old - fashioned methods of book-<br />
selling cannot possibly survive. Rapid- and<br />
cheap means of communication tend to place all<br />
small local dealers at a disadvantage, and no<br />
formation of trading rings, or limited monopolies<br />
of sale, can invert the normal development of the<br />
processes of trade. It is only by following and<br />
taking advantage of new opportunities afforded<br />
by that normal development that injuries suffered<br />
can be repaired.<br />
(Signed) A. VV. a'Beckett.<br />
P. E. Beddard.<br />
Walter Besant.<br />
Martin Conway.<br />
Henry Arthur Jones.<br />
Henry Norman.<br />
P. Storr.<br />
Henry R, Tedder.<br />
The Bookselling Question,<br />
As one who has had nearly forty years practical<br />
experience of the book trade, perhaps you would<br />
allow me to venture a suggestion that, if given<br />
effect to, might help very considerably to relievo<br />
the present unsatisfactory condition of the retail<br />
book business.<br />
The main pressure upon the town and, particu-<br />
larly, the country bookseller is felt in the risk he<br />
is made to run in stocking his shop with new<br />
copyright books. These, when asked for, he is<br />
expected to dispose of at so bare a margin ($d. in<br />
the is.) above the invoice price that insufficient<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
profit remains to allow of a certain proportion of<br />
his stock failing to find purchase, but which<br />
he has to pay for all the same. Here it is<br />
the publishers might come to the help of the<br />
retailer by adopting the practice which so largely<br />
prevails in Germany of permitting the bookseller<br />
to obtain new books " on sale or return" for a<br />
limited time after publication. By this means<br />
the retailer is freed from loss on unsuccessful<br />
books, while the volumes are exposed to the public<br />
on his counter, and the author can count upon his<br />
work being brought within the purview of the<br />
book-buyer for a month or two after it has been<br />
published. This arrangement may not be an alto-<br />
gether agreeable one to the publishers, who have<br />
naturally a strong preference for the " buying out<br />
and out" system. They don't take kindly to<br />
"returns." Nevertheless, the proposed relaxation<br />
of the purchase terms would radically improve the<br />
pecuniary conditions of retail bookselling, and at<br />
the same time be a gain to the public and. to the<br />
author as well. _____ Ex-Publisher.<br />
Additional.<br />
[The following additional considerations are submitted<br />
by a member of the Committee.]<br />
The bookselling trade has been subject to two<br />
contrary, though not contradictory, tendencies of<br />
the age, the tendency to combination, and the<br />
tendency to differentiation, and by both these<br />
movements the present race of booksellers have<br />
been disastrously affected. The former move-<br />
ment, of which the Co-operative Stores are the<br />
concrete embodiment, will be considered in a later<br />
portion of this report. Of the tendency to<br />
specialisation, one result is such an integral<br />
feature of our inquiry that it must be clearly<br />
pointed out at starting. To the general public,<br />
booksellers form a single class, distinguished only<br />
by the extent of their business. Those behind<br />
the scenes know that they may be roughly<br />
divided into two distinct classes—those who deal<br />
in copyright books, and those who deal in non-<br />
copyright books. There is, of course, the hard-<br />
and-fast line between the two; the seller of new<br />
books will keep among his ware a popular reprint<br />
of a standard work, and the seller of reprints will<br />
speculate in a new novel bearing some well-known<br />
name on its title-page—there are not at the<br />
present moment more than half a dozen such<br />
names at most—and he will procure for his cus-<br />
tomers any new book they may demand, but he<br />
will not keep it in stock. But though the two<br />
classes may overlap, the distinction between them is<br />
essential. Thus among the hundreds of book-<br />
shops and bookstalls east of St. Paul's, we<br />
believe there is not a single boo_aeller, in the<br />
older and stricter sense of the word. And the<br />
b 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 182 (#612) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
reason is not far to seek. In rough figures, the<br />
seller of copyright books makes 15 per cent,<br />
gross profits on his sales, the seller of non-<br />
copyright books makes anything from 2 5 to 50<br />
per cent., or even more.<br />
This is a no less serious matter for authors<br />
than for booksellers. A book that is not dis-<br />
played can hardly be said to be published, and<br />
the vast majority of the population, all—in fact,<br />
except the inhabitants of great centres like<br />
London, Manchester, and Oxford—have uo oppor-<br />
tunity of seeing a new book, unless it happens to<br />
be in the Free Library, or they order it through<br />
the Circulating Library, and the class which<br />
makes use of these two agencies is not to any great<br />
extent a book-purchasing class.<br />
LITERARY PROPERTY.<br />
I.—Report on Copyright.<br />
THE Report of the Royal Commission on the<br />
Law of Copyright, which has been out of<br />
print for some ten years, has been reprinted,<br />
in consequence, we presume, of a fresh demand<br />
being caused by the proceedings in the House of<br />
Lords in connection with the amending Bill pro-<br />
moted by the Society of Authors last session, which<br />
passed the House after investigation by a Select<br />
Committee with the assistance of skilled witnesses.<br />
Since the first issue of the Report in 1878, con-<br />
solidation and amendment of the law have been<br />
three times attempted: first, in 1879, by the<br />
present Duke of Rutland, then Lord John<br />
Manners, on behalf of the Conservative Govern-<br />
ment; secondly, in 1886, by the Society of<br />
Authors in a Bill which was not brought before<br />
Parliament; and thirdly, in 1891, by Lord<br />
Monkswell's Bill, promoted by the same society<br />
after consultation of all parties interested, and<br />
read a second time in the House of Lords subject<br />
to the singular condition imposed by Lord Hals-<br />
bury, as representing the Government, that it<br />
should not be further proceeded with. Various<br />
amending Bills have also been introduced, notably<br />
that of last session by Lord Monkswell, which<br />
will be re-introduced in Parliament as soon as<br />
possible. All the Bills, whether consolidating or<br />
amending, have, as might be expected, been<br />
framed on the lines marked out by the Report<br />
of the Commission of 1878. The Bill of 1891 is<br />
prefixed by an elaborate memorandum summaris-<br />
ing its contents, and giving reasons for almost<br />
every alteration proposed; and the same course<br />
was pursued on a smaller scale in connection with<br />
the Bill of last session. Perhaps the best mode<br />
of procedure in the matter would be for Parlia-<br />
ment to pass the Bill with such amendments, if<br />
any, as may seem desirable, but to postpone its<br />
operation for a few months, before the expiration<br />
of which period a consolidating Bill repealing<br />
and precisely re-enacting it may also be passed.<br />
This procedure, which has the advantage of dis-<br />
tinguishing amendment from re-enactment, and<br />
of enabling the opinion of Parliament to be taken<br />
separately on amendments, was successfully fol-<br />
lowed in connection with the amendments of the<br />
law of lunacy which were placed on the Statute-<br />
book in 1889 and 1890.—Law Times, Nov. 13,<br />
1897.<br />
II.—The Cost of Production.<br />
I have before me estimates from four printers<br />
of a certain piece of work. I tabulated these<br />
estimates, and compared them with the corre-<br />
sponding figures in the Society's "Cost of<br />
Production." Whenever I get accounts or esti-<br />
mates I always make this comparison, and always<br />
with the same result. And yet we find certain<br />
publishers gravely and impudently asserting that<br />
the figures in the "Cost of Production" are far<br />
too low:<br />
Composing Printing Paper for the<br />
Per sheet. Per sheet. whole work.<br />
£ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d.<br />
Society's figures 1 16 6 ... o 16 2 ... 28 7 o<br />
PrinterA i is 6 ... 1 4 6 ... 18 2 3<br />
» B 1 16 o ... 1 40 ... 30 2 o<br />
„ C 2 5 o ... o 17 6 ... 18 o o<br />
( (Lumped these items }<br />
1, U > . , i IS II O<br />
(. togother) ) 3<br />
The very low estimate of printing—16s. zd.<br />
a sheet—(see "Cost of Production," p. 28) is<br />
perhaps due to its being the charge for printing<br />
after stereotyping.<br />
Observe the wonderful unanimity of the charge<br />
for composing. As for the cost of paper, we<br />
must, it is evident, lower this item by 36 per<br />
cent., an immense saving.<br />
The Secretary showed me recently three<br />
accounts. They all came from the same house:<br />
they were all, under every head, lower than those<br />
of the Society's book.<br />
I think, with these facts before us, we need not<br />
distress ourselves with the complaints about our<br />
impossible figures. W. B.<br />
III.—Serial Rights.<br />
As serial rights have been steadily growing in<br />
importance, it has been found necessary from<br />
time to time to repeat in The Author the difficul-<br />
ties of dealing with this kind of property and the<br />
pitfalls that should be avoided.<br />
By serial publication is meant not publication<br />
in a series of books, but publication in the form<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 183 (#613) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
»83<br />
of periodical issue. Serial rights may be divided<br />
as follows.<br />
These are the common formB:<br />
:. Rights in Some important London maga-<br />
zine or paper.<br />
2. Rights in some important American maga-<br />
zine or paper.<br />
3. Secondary rights in England.<br />
4. Secondary rights in America.<br />
5. Rights in the Colonies and Dependencies<br />
of Great Britain.<br />
In selling any of these rights the author<br />
should be very careful of what he is selling, and<br />
of the date of publication.<br />
If the author is careless, he may find that he<br />
has sold all serial rights, that his story is being<br />
syndicated in the provinces and in America and is<br />
bringing in moneys that he could have put into<br />
his own pocket, or that his work is being con-<br />
stantly reproduced in serial versions in the same<br />
paper.<br />
Another result of this carelessness may be that<br />
he finds his work in serial form advertised at<br />
absurdly cheap prices, which may tend to depre-<br />
ciate the value of any fresh work from his pen.<br />
He may find again, that he has brought him-<br />
self within the toils of the 18th section of the<br />
Copyright Act. The 18th section runs as follows:<br />
"XVIII. And be it enacted, that when any pub-<br />
lisher or other person shall, before or at the time<br />
of the passing of this Act, have projected, con-<br />
ducted, and carried on, or shall hereafter project,<br />
conduct, and carry on, or be the proprietor of<br />
any encyclopaedia, review, magazine, periodical<br />
work, or work published in a series of books or<br />
parts, or any book whatsoever, and shall have<br />
employed or shall employ any persons to compose<br />
the same, or any volume, parts, essays, articles,<br />
or portions thereof for publication in or as part<br />
of the same, and such work, volumes, parts,<br />
essays, articles, or portions shall have been or<br />
shall hereafter be composed under such employ-<br />
ment, on the terms that the copyright therein<br />
shall belong to such proprietor, projector, pub-<br />
lisher, or conductor, and paid for by such pro-<br />
prietor, publisher, projector, or conductor, the<br />
copyright in every such encyclopaedia, review,<br />
magazine, periodical work, and work published in<br />
a series of books or parts, and in every volume,<br />
part, essay, article, and portion so composed and<br />
paid for, shall be the property of such proprietor,<br />
projector, publisher, or other conductor, who<br />
shall enjoy the same rights as if he were the<br />
actual author thereof, and shall have such term<br />
of copyright therein as is given to the authors of<br />
books by this Act; except only that in the case<br />
of essays, articles, or portions forming part of<br />
and first published in reviews, magazines, or<br />
other periodical works of a like nature after the<br />
term of twenty-eight years from the first pub-<br />
lication thereof respectively, the right of publishing<br />
the same in a separate form shall revert to the<br />
author for the remainder of the term given by<br />
this Act: Provided always, that during the term<br />
of twenty-eight years the said proprietor, pro-<br />
jector, publisher, or conductor, shall not publish<br />
any such essay, article, or portion separately or<br />
singly, without the consent previously obtained<br />
of the author thereof, or hiB assigns: Provided<br />
also that nothing herein contained shall alter or<br />
affect the right of any person who shall have been<br />
or who shall be so employed as aforesaid to<br />
publish any such his composition in a separate<br />
form who by any contract, express or implied,<br />
may have reserved or may hereafter reserve to<br />
himself such right; but every author reserving,<br />
retaining, or having such right shall be entitled<br />
to the copyright in such composition when<br />
published in a separate form, according to this<br />
Act, without prejudice to the right of such<br />
proprietor, projector, publisher, or conductor, as<br />
aforesaid."<br />
It will be seen from this that when the pro-<br />
prietor employs and pays (a most important<br />
feature) a writer on the terms that the copyright<br />
in the work done shall belong to such proprietor,<br />
then the proprietor can for twenty-eight years<br />
republish the work, but only with the consent<br />
of the author; but that the author may on the<br />
other hand expressly or impliedly retain his copy-<br />
right.<br />
The question of what would happen if nothing<br />
was said about copyright is left open. Does the<br />
author impliedly reserve it?<br />
One case decided in the courts seems to point<br />
to this view, but the question is still by good<br />
authorities considered doubtful.<br />
The author should always endeavour to have a<br />
special contract with regard to the sale of serial<br />
rights, and should under all circumstances try to<br />
avoid coming under the ban of the 18th section.<br />
The Society of Authors in their Copyright Bill<br />
which passed through the House of Lords last<br />
session, having been settled by a very strong<br />
committee of that House, have remedied this<br />
difficulty, and in that Bill have repealed the 18th<br />
section.<br />
The committee of the Society intend to use their<br />
utmost endeavours to push the Bill through, as<br />
they have the support of the Publishers' aud<br />
Copyright Associations and hope to succeed, but<br />
as the 18th section is still law it must still In-<br />
dealt with.<br />
If the author can sell both the American and<br />
English serial rights he must arrange for simul-<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 184 (#614) ############################################<br />
<br />
184<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
taueous publication so as not to lose t he American<br />
copyright.<br />
There are certain periodicals that publish long<br />
stories in single numbers. This is often the case<br />
with annuals.<br />
The author when selling to such periodicals<br />
should keep this point before him, as it is possible<br />
that such circulation may damage the book rights,<br />
and if this is likely he should secure an enhanced<br />
price.<br />
The author should never sign a receipt for<br />
moneys in payment for serial use which is so<br />
expressed as to convey the copyright to the<br />
proprietor.<br />
If an author does not understand what he is<br />
signing he had better take the advice of someone<br />
who does.<br />
He should be careful of the date of publication,<br />
for the very simple reason that the tale will be<br />
published in book form, and it cannot appear in<br />
this form until it has ran at any rate for some<br />
months as a serial.<br />
It is important for an author to arrange that<br />
the publication of one story does not conflict with<br />
the publication of another.<br />
There is the further question that many<br />
periodicals do not pay until publication takes<br />
place. This, of course, could not be delayed<br />
indefinitely, but the expense and difficulty of<br />
bringing the machinery of the law to work ought,<br />
if possible, to be avoided. Let the contract<br />
be quite clear by taking a little care in the<br />
beginning.<br />
Authors should be careful also that their MS.<br />
is sent type-written. If type-writing is too<br />
expensive, then the writing should be very<br />
distinct.<br />
There is no doubt, however, that a type-written<br />
MS. increases an author's chance of being read,<br />
and he should not neglect this chance.<br />
The author should always retain a copy in case<br />
of accidents, and should be very careful of the<br />
position and repute of the periodical he intends<br />
to deal with.<br />
An author when writing to an editor should<br />
clearly state what he is offering for sale. Thus:<br />
"Dear Sir,—I beg to offer you the enclosed<br />
for serial publication in number of ,<br />
or any number that may be subsequently agreed<br />
upon."<br />
The author should also mention the price that<br />
he is willing to take, that is if he is particular on<br />
this point.<br />
If the tale is accepted without any further<br />
special stipulations, then it is accepted on the<br />
terms of the letter.<br />
It is important therefore to keep copies of<br />
letters.<br />
Lastly, and this is most important, do not<br />
assign to publishers when contracting with them<br />
for the publication of a book, "serial, &c, &c.,<br />
rights," either on half profits or any other<br />
terms.<br />
The much-abused agent charges in nearly all<br />
cases between 5 and 15 per cent., whereas the<br />
publisher when undertaking this agency work for<br />
sale of serial rights charges anything from 2 5 to<br />
50 per cent.<br />
He is, in addition, not nearly so competent as an<br />
agent to carry through this work, and in many<br />
cases does not even attempt to do so.<br />
As this work is really outside his publishing<br />
business he does not strive to make a good<br />
bargain in order to maintain the author's interests,<br />
but is willing to sell for whatever he can get, as<br />
he is reaping a large benefit from that for which<br />
he has not toiled.<br />
It would be possible to quote many clauses<br />
taken from various agreements in the Society's<br />
hands, but the following, as perhaps most<br />
typical, is chosen as an example:<br />
"That the publisher shall have the sole right<br />
to sell or assign the serial, American, Colonial,<br />
Continental translation and dramatic rights in<br />
the above work, and the publisher shall pay to<br />
the author one half of the profits from the sale<br />
of the same, such amounts to be payable as and<br />
when provided in Clause 5 hereof. In the case of<br />
stereo-plates, electro-plates, or shells with rights<br />
being sold, the net profits of their sale, after<br />
deducting the invoiced cost of their production,<br />
shall be received, divided, and paid over in the<br />
same way. Quires or bound copies sold to<br />
America shall come under Clause 5 hereof."<br />
IV.—A Case.<br />
The following case will no doubt be a very<br />
interesting one to members of the Society :—<br />
An article was sent to one of the best known<br />
evening papers on a certain subject, and shortly<br />
afterwards the writer obtained the following<br />
letter:<br />
Aug. 24, 1897.<br />
Dear Sir,—Your article on" "has been accepted<br />
by this paper, and will be nsed in due course,—Tours<br />
faithfully, (Signed) ,<br />
Acting editor of the paper<br />
Two months later, without hearing anything in<br />
the meantime, the writer received the subjoined<br />
letter. He had naturally taken for granted that<br />
his article would either appear in due course, or in<br />
case of non-publication that the editor would at<br />
any rate pay him for it as it had been definitely<br />
accepted. It never entered his head that the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 185 (#615) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
•85<br />
editor would not carry out the contract that he<br />
had entered into: ^ a ^<br />
The editor of the" "regrets that he is unable to<br />
make use of the enclosed MS., whioh he accordingly returns<br />
with many thanks.<br />
The article has been returned to the paper, but<br />
nothing further has been heard from the editor up<br />
to the present date.<br />
The secretary of the Society will be pleased to<br />
give the name of the paper to any member of the<br />
Society who cares to verify this statement.<br />
V.—A Fancy Offee.<br />
Here is a publisher's offer of a fancy or sport-<br />
ing kind. A young writer has a MS. which he<br />
thinks likely to attract attention. He offers it to<br />
a certain firm; he receives the following pro-<br />
posal:<br />
1. He is to pay down in advance «£uo.<br />
2. The publishers will produce an edition of<br />
1500 copies free of cost to the author.<br />
3. After 100 copies have been sold, they will<br />
pay the author is. 6d. a copy royalty.<br />
Let us see how this works out.<br />
(1) On the sale of 500:<br />
£ s. £ s.<br />
Cost of production, say 100 o<br />
Royaltyon400at2*.6rf. 50 o<br />
Profit to publisher ... 47 10<br />
197 10<br />
(2) On the sale of 1000:<br />
Cost of production ...<br />
Royalty on 900 at2s. 6d.<br />
Profit to publisher ...<br />
I 10<br />
0<br />
87<br />
10<br />
100<br />
0<br />
112<br />
10<br />
72<br />
10<br />
IIO<br />
0<br />
175<br />
0<br />
197 10<br />
285<br />
(3) On the sale of 1500 copies:<br />
Cost of production ... 100 o<br />
Royalty to author on<br />
1400 copies 175 10<br />
Profit to publisher ... 97 o<br />
285<br />
372 10<br />
By author no o<br />
Sale of 1500 at 3*. 6d. 262 10<br />
372 10<br />
£ *.<br />
So that, the author, by 500 copies, loses 60 o<br />
„ 1000 „ gains 2 10<br />
„ 1500 „ „ 65 io<br />
The publisher by 500 „ „ 47 10<br />
1000 „ „ 72 10<br />
1500 „ » 97 °<br />
Very likely the new writer accepted the pro-<br />
posal because he wanted his work to appear.<br />
Yet, you see, the publisher, who is completely<br />
covered from risk, gains =£72 io*. on a thousand<br />
copies, and the author £2 10s. I<br />
The fault of the agreement is that the royalty<br />
is paid by the publisher to the author instead of<br />
by the author to the publisher.<br />
NEW YORK LETTER.<br />
New York, Nov. 16.<br />
THE questions of ethics and of business<br />
between authors and publishers are being<br />
discussed with as much liveliness now in<br />
the United States as they are in England. The<br />
latest contribution to the subject is an article by<br />
Professor C. G. D. Roberts, a minor poet of some<br />
reputation, in the Illustrated American. He<br />
makes some pleasant concessions to the human<br />
nature of publishers, but says that before the<br />
days of international copyright they acted like<br />
brain cannibals. One of his exceptions, the<br />
Harpers, who tried to pay Mr. Gilbert some-<br />
thing on account of one of his operas, had the<br />
cheque returned by him with a sarcastic letter!<br />
Rather entertaining light is thrown on the busi-<br />
ness of providing the public with what it wants<br />
by the prospectus for 1898, just published by<br />
Scribner's Magazine. A series of articles on<br />
great businesses is to be continued another year.<br />
The central idea of each article is to show what a<br />
tremendous lot of brains the men who run the<br />
business possess. Anything critical, anything<br />
which takes away from the magnificence of<br />
the impressions, is frowned upon. The idea is<br />
not unlike that which animates our so-called<br />
yellow journals, to get the reader excited, enthu-<br />
siastic, to give him what we call a sensation. Of<br />
course, that is only one part of a great magazine,<br />
though it is coming to be the principal part.<br />
Another of the Scribner's announcements is a con-<br />
tinuation of a series of articles which tell how a<br />
college graduate occupied himself with various<br />
humble employments and learned to know the<br />
people. This series has been very popular, and<br />
shows that there is rather wide taste for this<br />
condescending interest in all sorts and con-<br />
ditions of men. One of the more cheerful signs<br />
of the times as given by the fodder promised<br />
by the magazine is that, if a man is famous<br />
enough, he may write as well as he pleases. A<br />
poem is promised on Stevenson by James Whit-<br />
comb Riley, which will undoubtedly have life in<br />
it, and Kipling is to be a contributor. Henry<br />
Cabot Lodge will write a history of the American<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 186 (#616) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Revolution in instalments, and it is interesting<br />
to notice that the principal emphasis is put on<br />
the pictures. The picture is becoming the central<br />
point, not only of magazines, but of a large part<br />
of the book-publishing business. The other day<br />
a writer was talking to a publisher about a forth-<br />
coming yolume. "I wish we could have that<br />
book," said the publisher, " it would go well; but<br />
the difficulty would be to make the pictures."<br />
Now, the book was a series of essays, requiring<br />
absolutely no illustration in the real sense, for<br />
pictures would do nothing to bring out the mean-<br />
ing of the text. The publisher's comment simply<br />
represented a judgment which is becoming an<br />
instinct.<br />
Another commercial feature of the treatment of<br />
literature is brought out by the Chap Book in its<br />
last number in connection with a matter of which<br />
I have already spoken, the great library of the<br />
World's Best Literature. The periodical calls<br />
attention to the fact that Abigail Adams has 25<br />
pages and Addison 23 ; iEschylus 17 and T. B.<br />
Aldrich 37; Alfieri 12 and George W. Cable 20.<br />
The moral is very obvious, and besides, it has been<br />
clearly enough stated before.<br />
Clearly as we may see these unhappy elements<br />
of literary life, however, it is only decent to<br />
realise the strength of the temptation. Most of<br />
our publishers are exceptionally moral and high-<br />
minded men. They almost always succeed in<br />
deceiving themselves before they deceive the<br />
public. When a strong temptation to make a<br />
popular move comes up they reason about how<br />
much more good you can do by working with the<br />
prejudices of the populace than by working<br />
against them, and what bad taste and unkind-<br />
ness it is to speak evil of anybody. After a little<br />
course in this sort of thought, the habit of cater-<br />
ing to a large circulation becomes an easy one,<br />
quite in line with their convictions.<br />
While some men seem to lose their equilibrium<br />
in the business desire to stretch the maxim Vox<br />
Populi Vox Dei beyond its legitimate meaning,<br />
others lose it by too thorough distrust of the<br />
popular verdict. George Bernard Shaw, whose<br />
clever play "The Devil's Disciple" is running<br />
with unexpected success here, has taken the<br />
trouble to write an open letter, in which he shows<br />
how he is always right and the public always<br />
wrong whenever there is any difference of opinion<br />
about the success of one of his manwuvres. Now<br />
the particular thing which aroused bis wrath was<br />
not a moral or intellectual difference at all, but<br />
a very bad piece of execution, where human<br />
beings were made to act ridiculously in order to<br />
keep the outcome of the plot from being seen at<br />
a particular time. Mr. Shaw accuses the public<br />
of Philistinism, which whether true or not,<br />
is beside the mark. The audience in America,<br />
at least, and presumably elsewhere, is an un-<br />
critical mass of persons which responds to<br />
certain dramatic effects and fails to respond<br />
to others. It may put its judgment in intellec-<br />
tual terms, but what really causes the success or<br />
failure of the play is usually a matter of con-<br />
structive workmanship. Mr. Barrie's "Little<br />
Minister," now running in New York to remark-<br />
able houses, is an instance of practically perfect<br />
dramatic construction. The play is so well<br />
balanced and so neatly written, so without any<br />
superfluous touches, that even Mr. Charles<br />
Frohman's characteristic move of making one of<br />
the principal characters unimportant in order to<br />
pay only one prominent actor, fails to ruin the<br />
play. An instance, however, of how a bad play<br />
can be made to score some sort of a success is<br />
being given at the same time. "A Lady of<br />
Quality " is constructed in such a childish way,<br />
so full of idiotic speeches, long pauses, and<br />
affected explanations, that almost everybody is<br />
surprised that even Julia Arthur's acting carries<br />
the venture to success, but it does with the aid of<br />
a liberal allowance of scenery.<br />
One of our most intelligent actors, Minnie<br />
Madden Pisk, has just made a strong protest<br />
against what is known as the Theatrical Trust,<br />
an institution which does more to stifle original<br />
dramatic production than anything else in the<br />
country. It is under the control of two or three<br />
small-natured but successful business men, who<br />
control the largest theatres in all of the cities,<br />
and all of the theatres in some of the cities, and<br />
refuse to allow any play or actor there until con-<br />
cessions are made to them. Not one of these<br />
two or three men has any idea of art, or any<br />
ideal beyond money and large type for his<br />
own name in the playbill, and the result is<br />
disastrous.<br />
One trifling incident which happened a few<br />
weeks ago has been a good deal misjudged.<br />
"Les Miserables " was excluded from a course of<br />
reading in a Philadelphia school on account of<br />
supposed impropriety. The Journal des Debats<br />
say that commercial motives were uppermost in<br />
this move. A good deal has been done to favour<br />
American books, but nothing quite so ridiculous<br />
as that. The motive was honest, however foolish.<br />
It was a case of ignorant goodness.<br />
Norman Hafoood.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 187 (#617) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
NOTES AND NEWS.<br />
THE Keport of the Sub-Coruuiittee appointed<br />
to consider the publishers' proposals with<br />
regard to the discount question will be<br />
found in another page. The Committee was<br />
intended to be a representative one. In Mr.<br />
a'Beckett and Mr. Henry Norman, Literature and<br />
Journalism are combined. Sir Martin Conway is<br />
not only a distinguished traveller but he is also a<br />
distinguished writer on Art. Mr. Beddard, F.R.S.,<br />
is a leader in science. Mr. Storr, editor of the<br />
Journal of Education, is an authority on all<br />
subjects connected with educational literature.<br />
Mr. Henry Arthur Jones very fitly represents the<br />
Drama. Mr. Tedder probably knows more about<br />
books and the history of books and their circu-<br />
lation than any other living man. Of the last<br />
member, myself, it would be false modesty to<br />
pretend, after five years' chairmanship of the<br />
Society, and six years' editing of The Author, that<br />
I do not know something of the subject.<br />
I hope that every member of the Society will<br />
read this Report very carefully, and will agree<br />
with it. The Sub-Committee, briefly, cannot adopt<br />
the proposals. There is every conceivable reason<br />
why they should not, and not one why they<br />
should, for—<br />
(i.) The 3(7. in the shilling discoimt is only<br />
one of many reasons, as is shown in the Report,<br />
for the alleged depression in the book trade.<br />
(2.) There is no depression in the book trade,<br />
which was never more flourishing, but a grave<br />
depression in the trade of the country bookseller.<br />
(3.) It would be impossible to carry out the<br />
proposed coercion.<br />
(4.) If it were possible, the reduction of a large<br />
body of men to practical slavery is a thing against<br />
which all Englishmen must protest.<br />
(5.) The system is in vogue in Germany, where<br />
it is a grinding tyranny.<br />
(6.) These reasons are enough, but the Report<br />
shows more. Should we, for instance, regard the<br />
proposal as the first step in an organised plan for<br />
placing the whole of the business of literature in<br />
the hands of the publishers H<br />
(7.) The next step would then be to prohibit<br />
booksellers from buying and selling any other<br />
than the books of the Publishers' Asssociation.<br />
(8.) That step would prevent the author from<br />
publishing at all, except through the Association.<br />
(9.) The Association would then be able to make<br />
any terms they pleased with authors.<br />
(10.) The slavery of the author following on<br />
that of the bookseller, would naturallv lead to the<br />
decline of literature.<br />
This anticipation is not by any means imagi-<br />
nary. There is every reason to believe that some<br />
such action is contemplated with the view of<br />
bringing royalties down to 10 per cent.<br />
What does a 10 per cent, royalty mean? It<br />
means several things. (1.) That the publisher<br />
on a 6s. book gives the author jd. and takes for<br />
himself is. nd. (2.) That no one except the<br />
few very successful men could live by writing.<br />
(3.) That a writer who now makes ,£2000 a year<br />
would be reduced to £800 a year. (4.) That a<br />
writer who now makes £600 a year would be<br />
reduced to £250. Of course similar reductions<br />
would be made in the magazines.<br />
If any other reason were wanted, we might find<br />
it in the consideration that the reduction of the<br />
discount by one penny in the shilling would<br />
increase the price of books in a corresponding<br />
degree, and therefore prohibit the sale. In a<br />
word, people will not pay 5*. when they have been<br />
accustomed to pay sixpence less.<br />
But the whole business is a question for book-<br />
sellers. If they agree among themselves in any<br />
town it is open and legitimate for them to do so.<br />
It is also to be observed, very carefully, that the<br />
proposals of the publishers do not cost themselves<br />
a single penny. On the other hand, as they<br />
contemplate the substitution of net prices for the<br />
present system, they actually mean to put a<br />
substantial addition of money into their own<br />
pockets.<br />
Thus, the 6«. book will become 5*. net.<br />
At present the publisher gets 3s. 6d. on an<br />
average for a 6s. book. At the net price he will<br />
get 3«. n^d.<br />
He therefore pockets 5|rf. by the change so<br />
benevolently advanced for the good of the book-<br />
seller, who takes for his share about $d. It is<br />
indeed disinterested.<br />
The question of the Publishing " Trust" must<br />
be kept over for a time. Action of some sort may<br />
be forced upon us sooner than was anticipated.<br />
Meantime many encouraging notes have been<br />
received, and I shall be glad to hear more if<br />
members, especially members whose works have<br />
been successful, will consider the scheme, or any<br />
scheme of a similar nature. It may, for instance,<br />
be found more easy to develop the trade outside<br />
the regular channels: to make drapers and others<br />
booksellers in reality of new and copyright<br />
works. _<br />
I have received the following private letter<br />
from a member. It seems to me to concern all of<br />
us, not the editor of this paper alone; therefore,<br />
I have asked leave to publish it:—<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 188 (#618) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
"I am always concerned when I read the<br />
annual report of the Committee to mark how slow<br />
the progress of the Society is. Do you agitate<br />
enough? Do you make the world of letters<br />
really understand that the Society does not exist<br />
for novelists only, as our enemies are fond of<br />
declaring: that it is not a fad or a sham distinc-<br />
tion or an affectation of this, that, or the other:<br />
t hat it is not a body which arrogates to itself the<br />
function of 'encouraging' literature, or " advanc-<br />
ing " literature: but that it is, on the other hand,<br />
a perfectly serious society, whose work is wholly<br />
devoted to the business aspect of the literary<br />
profession? If writers once understood and<br />
realised this they would all flock in. If they<br />
would be taught, at the same time, what the<br />
Society has already effected: how royalties have<br />
been doubled, trebled, quadrupled; how lying<br />
accounts have been checked; how the cost of<br />
production has been, for the first time, revealed<br />
to the world, having always before been studiously<br />
concealed—the intention being to trade on the<br />
ignorance of the author: how, for the first time,<br />
the author has found himself protected: then<br />
there would be no hesitation: every man of letters<br />
whose work was a property, however small, would<br />
become a member. And it would be the duty,<br />
even of those who did not want the services of<br />
the Society, to join for the sake of others.<br />
"General literature and fiction, I take it, are<br />
well represented on your list. I believe that<br />
education is very poorly represented. Why is<br />
this? Educational books are, commercially, the<br />
most important branch of letters. Your late<br />
report shows how widespread are the iniquities<br />
endured by educational writers. Why do they<br />
not become members in larger numbers? They<br />
have great interests, increasing every day, to<br />
defend. They seem to have received your educa-<br />
tional report with a kind of apathy. In business<br />
matters they are for the most part entirely at the<br />
mercy of their publishers. Yet they seem<br />
incapable of making an effort for themselves even<br />
by joining a society which would look after their<br />
affairs for them. It may be that some of them<br />
are afraid of publishers. If they themselves are<br />
of repute and in demand, they have no occasion<br />
to be afraid, because where there is money there<br />
are always business men to snatch at it. Some,<br />
perhaps, look on their books as a means of extend-<br />
ing their own connection: still, if their books sell,<br />
there are men of business always ready to take<br />
them over. My point is this: Why do not educa-<br />
tional writers give the Society a larger support P<br />
"Men of science, I am informed, do belong,<br />
but not all men of science. My own desire is to<br />
see the Society a catholic body, including men<br />
and women in all branches of literature—that is<br />
to say, in every line of intellectual endeavour,<br />
because every line has its own literature. Will<br />
not the members themselves take this view, and<br />
bring the claims of the Society before those who<br />
have not yet thought it worthy of support from<br />
themselves?" _____<br />
I make no apology for criticising the critic, first<br />
because he ought to be criticised as well as the<br />
author; second, because in this case it is the<br />
Spectator, a paper which, more than any other,<br />
endeavours to present the whole truth to its<br />
readers. The paper to which I refer is a review<br />
of Putnam's "Authors and Publishers," a book<br />
which has been already noticed in these columns.<br />
The writer, after pointing out that the Messrs.<br />
Putnam do not like the literary agent, and quite<br />
failing to see the humourous nature of their<br />
objection, goes on to speak of the literary agent.<br />
He says, "After all, it is the author who, though<br />
he may not know it, pays the literary agent." Is<br />
it?<br />
Let us examine. The author hitherto has been<br />
made to sign agreements in complete ignorance<br />
of what they mean. It therefore follows, as a<br />
matter of course, that his ignorance has been<br />
made the means of getting a one-sided agree-<br />
ment. Much stronger language might be used,<br />
suitable for the great majority of cases. But this<br />
will suffice. The literary agent knows. That is<br />
the first thing. He knows. He therefore pre-<br />
vents his client from suffering through his<br />
ignorance. The publisher has to substitute a<br />
proper agreement.<br />
Who pays for that transaction? The author,<br />
whose property is perhaps doubled in value?<br />
Or the publisher, whose gains have shrunk by a<br />
half?<br />
Here are two cases, both of which are abso-<br />
lutely true:<br />
I. A. B. is a novelist of repute. He took a<br />
MS. to a certain firm, who offered him a<br />
certain sum of money. Fortunately he<br />
became suspicious. He went to a literary<br />
agent, who, the very same day, obtained<br />
from the very same firm four times their<br />
original offer!<br />
II. C. D. received a call from a publisher, who<br />
invited him to write a paper for a certain<br />
magazine. C. D. expressed his willing-<br />
ness to consider the proposal. The pub-<br />
lisher drew out his cheque book. "Let<br />
me say," he spread it on the table and<br />
took a pen. "Let me say—so much."<br />
He relied on the temptation of an out-<br />
ward and visible cheque. "My work,"<br />
said C. D.," is in the hands of Mr. .<br />
He will call upon you." The literary<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 189 (#619) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
agent called: the amount he arranged<br />
for was exactly five times the amount<br />
offered.<br />
Who paid the literary agent in these two trans-<br />
actions? Was it the author or was it the pub-<br />
lisher F<br />
And now, I hope, if the writer of that review<br />
sees this note he will alter his views as to the side<br />
which pays the agent. |<br />
If one thinks of the situation for a moment it<br />
becomes .self evident that so long as the literary<br />
agent exists, it is the publisher who pays him and<br />
not the author at all. For the literary agent<br />
exists for the purpose of obtaining fair terms for<br />
the author. The moment that the publisher of<br />
his own accord proposes those fair terms, the<br />
literary agent is not wanted: he has no locus<br />
standi: if the author knows that he has only to<br />
present himself to the publishers to receive equi-<br />
table proposals, there is no reason at all for the<br />
existence of the agent. That existence, in fact, is<br />
a standing proof that publishers as a body do seek<br />
to trade on the ignorance of the author, to get<br />
him to accept the very lowest terms they can<br />
venture to offer. Ten years ago nothing was more<br />
common than a royalty of 10 per cent, or even of<br />
5 per cent. Where is now the publisher who dares<br />
to offer a royalty of 5 per cent.? Out of the<br />
difference between the old prices and the new the<br />
literary agent is paid—by the publisher.<br />
The Americans take a sensible view of the<br />
literary agent. I have before me a long slip from<br />
the New York Sun, describing the work .and the<br />
great success of the literary agent in this country.<br />
The writer, who is not accurate in all the details,<br />
begins with a statement which will be received<br />
with a smile :—<br />
The literary agent is one form of the middleman against<br />
whom little complaint has been heard. Maybe this oomes<br />
from the fact that he deals with writers who are apt to<br />
know little abont business matters. However that may be,<br />
it is certain that the writers accepted the middleman with<br />
enthusiasm. With his advent the traditional antagonism<br />
between publishers and writers lost its sharpest edge. Nor<br />
does the old spirit vent itself on the agent who serves as<br />
buffer between the opposing interests. The writers swear<br />
by him. The publishers are not unfriendly to him.<br />
He has never heard of the publisher's clerk who<br />
was put on to abuse the literary agent in a maga-<br />
zine; or of the publisher who called the literary<br />
agent a "canker," because he protects authors;<br />
or of the publisher who refused to deal with the<br />
literary agent—till he found he was obliged to do<br />
so; or of the publishers who go behind the back<br />
of the agent and try to trap the author into con-<br />
ducting the business himself. Whatever the<br />
American publisher may do, the English pufj<br />
lisher as a rule resents the appearance of the<br />
agent and would refuse to deal with him if he<br />
dared. In America, according to the Sun, the<br />
publisher is pleased to deal with an agent simply<br />
because he is a business man. As regards his<br />
work and functions, they are thus summed up:—<br />
The snocess of the literary agent here is easy enough tc<br />
understand, for he relieves the writer of the work whioh<br />
the latter was least capable of doing. The agent has time<br />
to make himself acquainted with facts whioh the writers<br />
wonld never have the opportunity of finding out. He knows,<br />
for instance, where books or stories of a eertain kind are<br />
needed and how badly they are wanted. He knows which<br />
magazine is buying material and spending its money and<br />
which is using only stuff that was bought long before.<br />
Among the publishers, he knows whioh firm is in search of a<br />
book on any particular subject, or, if a novel is wanted,<br />
what kind it should be. These are things which no writer<br />
has the time to find out, even if he oonld learn them.<br />
Knowing the situation as well as he does, the literary agent<br />
can demand better terms. It happens sometimes that a<br />
magazine may have enongh stories of adventure or travel to<br />
last for two or three years and yet be entirely withont<br />
stories of social life. In another office exactly the opposite<br />
condition may exist. The writer does not know this<br />
usually, and it is a waste of time to send to these places the<br />
sort of material which is not needed. But writers do this,<br />
and it of course moans a loss of time. The agent knows<br />
just where to place material so that it will have a show.<br />
One magazine has for the past two years paid out<br />
absolutely nothing for fiction and has used the large supply<br />
on hand. But writers are not supposed to know that, and<br />
the magazine had no idea of allowing it to become known.<br />
So writers continued to send stories right along, and the<br />
manuscripts were always returned. By placing work<br />
where it is most wanted and by attending to the business of<br />
writers, with a care which the writers themselves are not<br />
likely to show, the agents can get better rates and insure<br />
the sale of more matter. Since I have had an agent to take<br />
charge of my work I have as many orders as I can fill and<br />
get a cent more a word than I ever did before.<br />
The agent simply means the introduction of<br />
business principles into the business of publishing.<br />
One cannot understand why a publisher should<br />
resent his intervention save on the ground that<br />
he decides to go on the old system of trading in<br />
ignorance. If there is any other reason one would<br />
like to know what it is.<br />
I cut the following paragraph from the West-<br />
minster Gazette of Nov. 23 :—<br />
The old literary gibe, " Now Barabbas was a publisher"<br />
has been steadily losing point since the new generation of<br />
publishers arose. The London correspondent of the<br />
Western Daily Mercury hears of a case of confidence placed<br />
in one of the newest of our publishers by a novelist whose<br />
books sell by thousands and tens of thousands. This<br />
writer was so well satisfied with the fairness and even<br />
generosity displayed by the publisher in regard to his last<br />
book, that he has now given him his next work unreservedly,<br />
without contract or promise, saying that he will be per-<br />
fectly content with whatever cheque the publisher may<br />
ultimately send to him.<br />
This is a very pretty paragraph. First, we are<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 190 (#620) ############################################<br />
<br />
i go<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
informed that "since the new generation of pub-<br />
lishers arose" the old gibe has lost point. Does<br />
that mean that the older publishers were all<br />
robbers? I suppose that it is useless to ask<br />
whether the author of the remark has ever read a<br />
book issued by the Society of Authors, called<br />
"Methods of Publishing" The old gibe has cer-<br />
tainly not lost its point, Barabbas is among the<br />
new publishers as well as the old. Yet not even'<br />
new publisher—any more than every old publisher<br />
—is a Barabbas. There are new publishers who,<br />
if they can, will fleece and rob every author who is<br />
so unfortunate as to go to them. This is not a<br />
surmise or a suspicion. It is a grave, serious<br />
fact: and it is the reason why the Society must be<br />
carried on, and why literary agents exist. Next,<br />
for the story of the confidence case. A novelist<br />
whose novels "sell by tons of thousands "—â– <br />
there are not a dozen of them, so that it would be<br />
easy to "spot" the writer—is pleased with the<br />
fairness and "even the generosity" of his publisher.<br />
Generosity? I really had thought that we had<br />
done with the degradation of the word<br />
"generosity." Is the steward " generous " with his<br />
employer's money? Has this novelist no sense of<br />
self-respect at all? He has now given his next<br />
work unreservedly to his publisher, and will be<br />
content with whatever the latter is good enough<br />
o give him. Well, he can do what he likes with<br />
his own. If he chooses—1>eing the master—<br />
to become the servant: bein< the employer, to<br />
become the employe1: being the owner of a great<br />
estate, to give it to a steward: he can. At the<br />
same time, as I know the names of all the novelists<br />
whose works command a sale of " tens of thou-<br />
sands," and as I know, besides, how most of them<br />
manage their own affairs, I venture to express my<br />
profound disbelief in the whole story.<br />
Walter Besant.<br />
TWO POEMS.<br />
I.—ISHMAEL.<br />
Some men have souls like gardens:<br />
Fair plots of fruitful ground;<br />
Smooth lawns, and ways well orderM,<br />
With choicest blossoms border'd,<br />
And walls to fence them round.<br />
Oh, still and safe and fragrant!<br />
Fair homes of peace and lore!<br />
All things unoouth excluding.<br />
Free only to the brooding<br />
Of the great sky above.<br />
Tis said, by angel footsteps<br />
Those garden paths are trod—<br />
Angels, the sky forsaking,<br />
Tend every blossom, making<br />
A pleasure-place for God.<br />
I have walk'd in some such garden.<br />
How well it was, how meet'.<br />
Yet, down eaoh alley shining,<br />
With tears I wander'd, pining<br />
For wild things round my feet.<br />
Sweeter than thrush or robin,<br />
To me, the seagull's scream.<br />
Fairer the blacken'd heather<br />
That fronts the bleak moor-weather,<br />
Than that soft garden-dream!<br />
Ob, peace is not bo precious,<br />
Perchance, as is distress'.<br />
Forbid Thine angels, Father,<br />
To tend me! Keep Thou rather<br />
One unwall'd wilderness!<br />
II.— LlOHT AND NlOHT.<br />
Ligh t.! Light! Light!<br />
Mother of the wide-ey'd flowers,<br />
Mother of glad lips, and bright<br />
Dancing feet of the noon-day hours,<br />
Dancing with delight!<br />
Oh, the joy, the rapture (strong<br />
Thrilling thro'- the adoring air,<br />
When thy glory rides along<br />
Heaven's high ramparts Dare!<br />
Mother of ecstasy, mother of might,<br />
Come, sweet Light:<br />
Light, fierce Light!<br />
O intolerable gaze!<br />
0 unslaked, relentless blight,<br />
Battening thine insatiate blaze<br />
On hidden roots of sight!<br />
Mercy! mercy! Mind and heart<br />
Writhe beneath the answering 6re.<br />
Mercy, mercy, Light' Depart,<br />
O thou first-born of Ire!<br />
O for darkness, dulness, Night!<br />
Hence, dread Light!<br />
B. K. B.<br />
CORRESPONDENCE.<br />
I.—" Literature."<br />
IAM delighted to see that the new publica-<br />
tion, Literature, print* the prices of the<br />
books reviewed in the review itself, and is<br />
issued with machine-cut pages, but regret that<br />
the publishers have not seen their way to placing<br />
the table of contents on the front page, as in The<br />
Author, the Spectator, and one or two other<br />
weeklies, but, alas! no dailies as yet.<br />
The important new departure in treatment of<br />
books sent for review and not intended by the<br />
editor to be reviewed (on which I commented in<br />
your last issue) is carried out as follows in the<br />
issue of Nov. 6:<br />
A considerable number of volumes, which will not be<br />
noticed in Literature, are at the disposal of publishers,<br />
and will be handed to anyone they may authorise to receive<br />
them. They will be otherwise disposed of if not called for<br />
by the 20th inst.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 191 (#621) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
191<br />
The period during which the books are to be at<br />
the disposal of the publishers is, I think, shorter<br />
than that stated in the prospectus, but this altera-<br />
tion would be a small matter when the importance<br />
of the new departure—which cannot be too widely<br />
made known—is considered.<br />
As for the contents of the new publication,<br />
their praise (or blame) "is hymned by loftier<br />
harps than mine," but I will ask you to allow<br />
me to suggest, hpropos of the fourth volume of<br />
Dr. Pusey's life and its review (unhappily omitted<br />
from the table of contents) that four octavo<br />
volumes are too much for the biography of any<br />
man whatever, and the index to the fourth volume<br />
might well have been at least four times longer<br />
than it is. J. M. Lely.<br />
Nov. 7.<br />
II.—The Published Price.<br />
In the current number of The Author Mr.<br />
J. M. Lely writes as if the only periodicals that<br />
announce the prices of books in reviews were<br />
Literature, the Literary World, and the Book-<br />
man. Permit me to state that for many years<br />
past the Dundee Advertiser has regularly given<br />
the prices of all books reviewed, where these prices<br />
had been furnished by the publishers. I have<br />
forwarded the two most recent copies of the<br />
Advertiser in which reviews appear, and from<br />
these you will see how this announcement is<br />
made. A. H. Millar.<br />
Dundee, Nov. 11.<br />
III.—Current Criticism.<br />
Have you not admired Mr. Stephen's bold and<br />
original estimate of Tennyson in the National<br />
Review? Surely, in the din of indiscriminate<br />
eulogy, it is something to find the voice of a critic<br />
who can keep his head. One is reminded of<br />
Landor's comment on the " Ode on the Exhibition<br />
of 1862," where the grand old Pagan writes: "I<br />
wish our present roets would pay more attention<br />
to solid models, and less to hollow and light<br />
plaster. The Laureate could well afford to<br />
throw away the last verse, which, in fact, is two<br />
verses—an Alexandrine in an overall. Do not<br />
think I undervalue this excellent man o' poetry."<br />
Mr. Stephen is one of the few sincere and<br />
thoughtful critics who have seen that the real<br />
merit of the late Laureate is his technique and not<br />
his philosophy. If only he could have had<br />
Browning's mind, or Browning his incomparable<br />
art!<br />
You are perhaps acquainted with an anecdote<br />
which shows how much truer was Tennyson's own<br />
appreciation. Dining with John Sterling at<br />
Ventnor, about the time when his lovely little<br />
volume of lyrics appeared, he suddenly observed:<br />
"I don't think that since Shakspere there has<br />
been such a master of the English language as<br />
I," and when those at table looked round as if<br />
astonished, added calmly, "To be sure I've got<br />
nothing to say."<br />
I had this from one who was present; and it<br />
may be new, and not uninteresting, to some of<br />
your readers. Senex.<br />
IV.—The Publisher's Beader as School-<br />
master.<br />
Another terror for the unfortunate author!<br />
The manuscript of a novel which I submitted a<br />
few weeks ago to a well-known publishing firm<br />
has just been returned to me "declined with<br />
thanks." So far, so bad! But what is my<br />
amazement and horror, on turning over the pages<br />
of my work, to discover that the obliging<br />
"reader" has been amusing himself by giving<br />
gratuitous advice and making gratuitous correc-<br />
tions, and that page after page of the manuscript<br />
will have to be re-typed at considerable expense.<br />
On and off I have been scribbling for the press<br />
for a good many years, but this is the first time<br />
in my experience that a "reader" has assumed<br />
the post of schoolmaster as well. A broad state-<br />
ment against the work as a whole might have<br />
been wholesome, and perhaps tolerable; but the<br />
finicking manner in which this gentleman has<br />
played the critic is, to a sensitive author, simply<br />
unbearable. I cull one or two instances from<br />
many of this "reader's" method.<br />
I wrote colloquially, "A 'varsity man"; the<br />
correction is "university man." "Rubbish and<br />
commonplace" is the comment in another place.<br />
I am not even allowed the use of certain words,<br />
and for "pallid" my censor insists on " pale."<br />
As for punctuation, I am nowhere; and the self-<br />
appointed critic waxes diffuse on this subject.<br />
"Clauses in opposition," he says, "must not be<br />
divided by a full stop." Heavens alive! why<br />
not? He is rigid, too, on capital letters. I<br />
ventured to personify wind and rain, honouring<br />
them with a capital W and a capital B respec-<br />
tively. The "reader's" well-pointed pencil<br />
stabbed them through, and neat "l.c.'s dis-<br />
figured the margin for yards.<br />
Somehow I cannot escape the conviction that<br />
this gentleman has gained the critic's chair from<br />
the compositor's desk at a single leap.<br />
Bichard Free.<br />
V.—"The Scotsman's Library."<br />
Will you allow me to inquire among your<br />
correspondents and readers whether anyone<br />
knows a small book called "The Scotsman's<br />
Library"? I bought a copy of it in Edinburgh<br />
some years ago; it has lost its title-page; the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 192 (#622) ############################################<br />
<br />
192<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
printer's name is D. Sidney and Co., Northuniber-<br />
iand-street, Strand. The only information I<br />
could obtain respecting its authorship is that it<br />
was compiled by "Mitchell of Aberdeen." I should<br />
be very glad to know who Mitchell was, who<br />
Sidney and Co. were, and whether they are non-<br />
represented by any publishing firm.<br />
F. Bayford Harbison.<br />
f ^Suffolk House, Weybridge,<br />
Nov. 14.<br />
VI.—A Book Wanted.<br />
May I suggest to authors through The Author<br />
that a book is much wanted describing and illus-<br />
trating the mansions of Great Britain, something<br />
after the style of "Baronial Halls," published in<br />
1858, and "The Stately Homes of England,"<br />
1 inly that it should be very much more compre-<br />
hensive and complete than either?<br />
Owners would probably give a competent<br />
author considerable assistance. The work would<br />
probably comprise several volumes. It would be<br />
in great demand by owners, the various branches<br />
of their families, by local residents, solicitors<br />
and agents, as well as by the general public.<br />
C. P. Dowsett.<br />
3, Lincoln's-inn-fields. London.<br />
BOOK TALK.<br />
MR. MORLEY is writing a work on<br />
modern political history, in which, we<br />
understand, much of the inner history<br />
of the Irish Home Rule movement will be<br />
revealed. It is probable that his monograph on<br />
Lord Chatham, for the "Twelve English States-<br />
men" series, will also, at length, be completed<br />
before long.<br />
The first volume of the important revised<br />
edition of Byron—prose and verse—will probably<br />
be ready about the beginning of February. It<br />
is being issued with the authority of the family<br />
and representatives of Byron, whose grandson,<br />
Lord Lovelace, and Mr. E. H. Coleridge are<br />
responsible for the laborious revision. There will<br />
be twelve volumes in all, and new material from<br />
the MSS. in the possession of Mr. Murray will<br />
be incorporated. Thus the first volume will con-<br />
tain several unpublished poems of Byron's early<br />
days, and some new portraits of him. The pub-<br />
lisher of the work is, of course, Mr. Murray.<br />
A series of College Histories of Oxford, and<br />
another of Cambridge, will be published by Mr.<br />
F. E. Robinson during the next two years, begin-<br />
ning early in 1898. Each book will be written<br />
by one connected with the College; the Oxford<br />
series will consist of twenty-one volumes, and the<br />
Cambridge of eighteen, price 54-. net each. Among<br />
the writers in the Oxford series are: University<br />
College, A. C. Hamilton, M.A.; Balliol, H. W.<br />
Carless Davis, B.A.; Queen's, Rev. J. R. Magrath.<br />
D.D., Vice-Chancellor of the University; New,<br />
Rev. Hastings Rashdall, M.A.; All Souls, C.<br />
Grant Robertson, M.A; Magdalen, Rev. H. A.<br />
Wilson, M.A.; Brasenose, J. Buchan; Corpus<br />
Christi. Rev. T. Fowler, D.D.; Trinity, Rev<br />
H. E. D. Blakiston, M.A.; Jesus, E. G. Hardv.<br />
M.A.; Wadham, J. Wells, M.A.; Pembroke,<br />
Rev. Douglas Macleane, M.A. The writers iu<br />
the Cambridge series include: Peterhouse<br />
College, Rev. T. A. Walker, LL.D.; Clare, J. R.<br />
Wardale, M.A.; Pembroke, W. S. Hadley, M.A.;<br />
Caius, J. Venn, Sc.D., F.R.S.; Corpus" Christi.<br />
Rev. H. P. Stokes, LL.D.; King's, Rev. A. Austen<br />
Leigh, M.A.; Queen's, Rev. J. H. Gray, M.A.;<br />
St. Catherine's, the Lord Bishop of Bristol;<br />
Christ's, John Peile, Litt.D., the Master; St.<br />
John's, J. Bass Mullinger, M.A.; Magdalene,<br />
W. A. Gill, M.A.; Trinity, Rev. A. H. F. Boughey,<br />
M.A., Fellow and late Tutor of Trinity, and<br />
J. Willis Clark, M.A.<br />
After a month, the late William Morris's<br />
Kelmscott Press will be no more. The type will<br />
be retained by the trustees; the special orna-<br />
ment will be discontinued; and in the British<br />
Museum the charming wood blocks will find a<br />
resting place. There are still some works to<br />
appear from the Press, however. Among them<br />
"Sigurd the Volsung," "Love is Enough,"<br />
"The Sundering Flood," and "Some German<br />
Woodcuts of the Fifteenth Century." The last-<br />
named consists of thirty-five reproductions from<br />
books that were in the library at Kelmscott<br />
House. Last of all will come "A Note by<br />
William Morris on his Aims in Starting the<br />
Kelmscott Press," to which Mr. Coekerell adds<br />
a list of the books there printed.<br />
Mr. Wells's "War of the Worlds" will In-<br />
considerably revised, and several chapters added,<br />
for book publication, which will take place iu<br />
January (Heinemann). The author is writing a<br />
long novel of city life in the next century, to be<br />
entitled " When the Sleeper Wakes."<br />
Mr. Kipling will contribute " Just-So Stories"<br />
—about animals— to St. Nicholas during 1898.<br />
Mrs. Croker's new novel, to be published<br />
by Messrs. Chatto, is called "Miss Balmain's<br />
Past."<br />
Mr. Zangwill's "Dreamers of the Ghetto," is<br />
not expected lefore January. It will contain<br />
a character-sketch of Heine.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 193 (#623) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
i93<br />
Mr. Robert Chambers is writing " The Haunts<br />
of Men," which will appear early in 1898.<br />
Mr. William Le Queux's novel of Monte Carlo<br />
life, "If Sinners Entice Thee," is running in the<br />
Golden Penny and New York Truth.<br />
"Edna Lyall" is writing a romance of the<br />
period of William and Mary's reign. The action<br />
is in the North Country, and the title will be<br />
"Hope the Hermit," but the book will not appear<br />
for a year yet.<br />
Lady Gregory will publish shortly (Smith and<br />
Elder) the correspondence of her late husband's<br />
grandfather, the Bight Hon. William Gregory,<br />
Under-Secretary for Ireland from 1813 to 1830.<br />
New light on the government of Ireland during<br />
that period is promised in the work.<br />
A Life of the Prince of Wales is being prepared.<br />
Dr. Traill, the editor of Literature, is reported to<br />
be the author, but the ascription is not confirmed.<br />
The publisher is Mr. Grant Richards.<br />
The Life of Cardinal Wiseman, by Mr. Wilfrid<br />
Ward, will appear on Dec. 7 (Longmans).<br />
Mr. P. H. Emerson has edited a genealogical<br />
history of the family from the earliest times,<br />
which Mr. David Nutt will publish shortly under<br />
the title of " The English Emersons."<br />
The first volume (of four) of the Life of<br />
Spurgeon, edited by Mrs. Spurgeon and Mr.<br />
Harrald, who was the preacher's private secre-<br />
tary, will be ready about the middle of this<br />
month.<br />
A book on the Indian frontier warfare, from<br />
the pen of Major Younghusband, will be issued<br />
shortly by Messrs. Kegan Paul, in their<br />
"Wolseley " series.<br />
Commenting on the analysis of the books of<br />
the season, which appeared in The Author last<br />
month, the Globe says:—<br />
It is a little sad to find only 20 books of essays on this<br />
list. The essay is so exquisite a vehicle for the presentation<br />
of thought and fancy and pleasant personality, that one can-<br />
not bnt regret that its vogue is for the time over. Perhaps<br />
a better day will dawn soon. When the 20 volumes of essays<br />
are placed beside the 54 mathematical works our loss is<br />
made the more clear. Nor is it right for 221 theological<br />
books to assail ns in one Beason. The number of children's<br />
books is again vastly greater than it should be. Children<br />
are not to-day one whit happier, with all this reading<br />
afforded them, than they were a hundred years ago, with a<br />
nursery library of some poor half-dozen volumes. A poor<br />
half-dozen—but better thumbed than is the case with any-<br />
thing now published.<br />
Mr. Warington Smyth was superintendent of<br />
mines under the Siamese Government for five<br />
years, and he is about to publish, through Mr.<br />
Murray, a work on "Siam and the Siamese,"<br />
with reproductions of his own sketehes<br />
Captain Count Gleichen, of the Grenadier<br />
Guards, who acted as Intelligence Officer to Mr.<br />
Rennell Rodd's mission to Abyssinia, has written<br />
an account of the expedition, entitled "With the<br />
British Mission to Menelik, 1897," which Mr<br />
Edward Arnold will publish immediately.<br />
"The great historic county of Bucks," as<br />
Beaconsfield, who knew the district well, called<br />
it, is the principal subject of Mr. J. K. Fowler's<br />
"Records of Old Times," which Messrs. Chatto<br />
and Windus are about to publish. Its character<br />
is variously social, historical, sporting, and<br />
agricultural.<br />
A series of volumes on modern schools of<br />
painting, under the editorship of Mr. Gleeson<br />
White, is announced by Messrs. Bell. The first,<br />
"The Glasgow School," will be by Mr. David<br />
Martin, with an introduction by Mr. Frank<br />
Newbery and sixty reproductions of paintings.<br />
Count Tolstoy's new book, translated by Mr.<br />
A. Maude, and to be published by the Brother-<br />
hood Company, Croydon, will be called "On<br />
Art."<br />
Mr. Arthur H. Neumann tells of his elephant-<br />
hunting experiences in East Equatorial Africa,<br />
in a volume which Messrs. Rowland Ward will<br />
shortly publish, with illustrations and a map.<br />
Captain Mahan, of the United States Navy, is<br />
publishing through Messrs. Sampson Low a work<br />
on "The Interest of the United States in Sea-<br />
Power, Present and Future." He will also con-<br />
tribute a paper to the third volume of Mr. Laird<br />
Clowes's History of the Royal Navy.<br />
Mr. Sidney Low has resigned the editorship of<br />
the -S'f. James's Gazette, and is succeeded by his<br />
assistant, Mr. Hugh Chisholm.<br />
Mr. Barry Pain has succeeded Mr. Jerome as<br />
editor of To-Day.<br />
"The Antipodean," a Christmas annual written<br />
by Australians, will be published shortly by Messrs.<br />
Chatto and Windus.<br />
Mr. E. S. Prior is dealing, in a book on English<br />
Gothic which Messrs. Bell will publish, with the<br />
evolution of an original and characteristic style<br />
from the style which, introduced by the Normans,<br />
was for a time common to England and Northern<br />
France. Mr. Gerald Horsley will illustrate Mr.<br />
Prior's work.<br />
The story of England's growth from Elizabeth<br />
to Victoria has been told by Mr. Alfred Thomas<br />
Story, in two volumes which Messrs Chapman<br />
and Hall will publish shortly, entitled "The<br />
Building of the Empire." There will he portraits<br />
of these two Sovereigns in photogravure, and<br />
upwards of 100 portraits and illustrations.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 194 (#624) ############################################<br />
<br />
i94<br />
THE AUTHOli.<br />
From the Pall Mall Gazette :—<br />
BALLADE OF THE PUBLISHING SEASON.<br />
Year by year, at the sommer's close,<br />
I watoh the Season of Books draw nigh,<br />
Troops of poetry, hordes of prose,<br />
Books, books, books for the world to buy.<br />
Can you wonder reviewers sigh i<br />
Think of the parcels strewn about,<br />
Cases for critics to test and try—<br />
MoBt of them books we could do without.<br />
• • * •<br />
But fiction—there is the stuff that goes:<br />
Novels and stories, piled on high,<br />
What becomes of them? Goodness knows<br />
Critics are hard to satisfy.<br />
Many are smitten hip and thigh<br />
(They sell the better for that, no doubt).<br />
Some are published only to die—<br />
Those are the books we conld do without.<br />
Envoy.<br />
Prinoe! Who writes this rubbish, and why '<<br />
All the lot should be put to rout,<br />
Save two or three; and you can't deny<br />
Most of their books we could do without.<br />
Mr. Frank Preston Stearns, an American, is the<br />
author of "Modern English Prose Writers,"<br />
which Messrs Putnam will publish.<br />
Mr. T. B. Harbottle has during many years<br />
been preparing a dictionary of classical quotations.<br />
The work is nearly ready to be published by<br />
Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein.<br />
"The Gleaming Dawn," by James Baker,<br />
which has just gone into its third thousand,<br />
has elicited some remarkable letters from well-<br />
known Churchmen. The Bishop of London, in<br />
writing upon it, says: "It deals with a period<br />
of English history which is often overlooked.<br />
The connection of England with Bohemia is of<br />
great interest, and Peter Payne is a forgotten<br />
Englishman who deserves notice. I think your<br />
story is very true to the time of which it treats."<br />
The Bishop of Manchester also writes: "I have<br />
read ' The Gleaming Dawn' with great interest,<br />
and believe it may be profitable at the pi'esent<br />
time. It is written with great spirit and power."<br />
The Bishop of Hereford, Dean Farrar, and<br />
Archdeacon Sinclair also write of it in terms of<br />
appreciation and praise.<br />
Mr. Lawrence Gomme's lectures on " Principles<br />
of Local Government," delivered last year at the<br />
London School of Economies, have been revised<br />
and will be published by Messrs. Constable.<br />
The letter Z will be reached in the " Dictionary<br />
of National Biography" in the course of 1899.<br />
Another year will be occupied with getting out<br />
a supplement containing memoirs of persons who<br />
have died during the progress of the "Dictionary,"<br />
and a general index.<br />
The relations of Scot', and the Ballantynes are<br />
discussed from a special point of view by the Rev.<br />
James Hay. of Kirn, in a work on Sir Walter<br />
Scott which he is writing. Scott, he contends,<br />
was ambitious of reaching the position of head of<br />
a great publishing house which should outrival<br />
that of Constable.<br />
An essay on bimetallism, by Major Darwin, is<br />
among Mr. Murray's forthcoming publications.<br />
Lord Charles Beresford and Mr. H. W. Wilson<br />
are writing the " Life of Nelson," and giving new<br />
letters, &c. Messrs. Harmsworth are publishing<br />
the work in parts.<br />
A new edition of Mr. Ferrar Fenton's "New<br />
Testament in Current English " is called for, and<br />
will be shortly issued. This will make the fifth<br />
edition of his "St. Paul's Epistles" and the<br />
second of the Gospels.<br />
A one-act play by Mrs. Clifford, the author of<br />
"Mrs. Keith's Crime," &c., will be produced at the<br />
Comedy Theatre in a few days. It is called " A<br />
Supreme Moment." The chief part is to be<br />
taken by Mrs. Bernard Beere. It has been<br />
translated into French by Mr. Walter Pollock<br />
with a view to its production on the French staj;e.<br />
An adaptation of one of Mrs. Clifford's stories<br />
was lately played in Paris. The author is herself<br />
dramatising the same story for home consump-<br />
tion.<br />
"A Woman Tempted Him," a story written by<br />
William Westall and syndicated by Messrs.<br />
Tillotson and Son, will be published by Chatto<br />
and Windus early in 1898. The same author is<br />
writing a story for Pearson's Weekly, and in the<br />
course of next year he hopes to complete a<br />
historical romance, begun some time ago, dealing<br />
with the same period as " With the Red Eagle,"<br />
which is now in a third edition.<br />
Several illustrated poems by Miss Helen<br />
Marion Burnside are published as Christmas and<br />
New Year gift-books by the Artistic Lithographic<br />
Company, 13, Buuhill-row. Of these one entitled<br />
"A Cycle of Song" is also suitable for a gift-book<br />
for any season. The same firm also issues daily<br />
text-books, edited by Miss Burnside.<br />
Mrs. George Corbett has been one of the first<br />
to make copy out of the new goldfields, and her latest<br />
novel, " The Star of Yukon," is now running in<br />
serial form. It is being syndicated by Messrs.<br />
Tillotson and Son, and will be published in book<br />
form twelve months after the commencement of<br />
the serial run. Mrs. Corbett has also written a<br />
musical farce entitled "Back from Klondyke,"<br />
which was enthusiastically approved by the<br />
West-end audience before whom it was produced<br />
on Oct. 21.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 195 (#625) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
i95<br />
Jean Carlyle Graham hopes to finish a seven<br />
years' labour of love early in 1898. She wishes<br />
to present "The Words of Oliver Cromwell" on<br />
good paper, printed at the Edinburgh University<br />
Press, bound in comfortable volumes, with por-<br />
traits of Cromwell, his family, and correspon-<br />
dents. Only 100 copies will be printed, and she<br />
trusts that each free library in the British<br />
Empire will possess a copy, in order that the<br />
veriest man in the street may have, at last, a<br />
chance of knowing the mighty Englishman who<br />
strove to win for him hie individual liberty.<br />
"Many Memories of Many People," by Mrs.<br />
Simpson, daughter of the late Mr. Nassau Senior,<br />
is to be published by Mr. Arnold. The daughter<br />
was companion to the father, and with him dwelt<br />
among various distinguished people.<br />
A privately-circulated volume of the reminis-<br />
cences of Miss Grant of Rothiemurchus, after-<br />
wards the wife of General Smith, of Baltiboys,<br />
co. Wicklow, is now to be published by Mr.<br />
Murray, and is being edited by Lady Strachey, a<br />
niece of the author. A chief note of the book,<br />
which is to be called "The Memoirs of a High-<br />
land Lady," will be its light upon Scottish social<br />
life in the early part of this century. The author,<br />
however, also introduces the names of Mr. Perce-<br />
val, Mr. Canning, Lord Lauderdale, Shelley, Sir<br />
Walter Scott, and other notabilities.<br />
Dr. Max Nordau is very displeased with the<br />
Maupassant monument which Paris has just<br />
erected in the Pare Monceau. The monument is<br />
a bust on a pedestal, below which is represented<br />
a French woman reclining on a couch with one of<br />
Maupassant's novels in her hand. "The likeness,"<br />
says the author of "Degeneration," "is almost<br />
terrifying. It has the low forehead, the short<br />
fleshy nose, the bristling moustache, the vulgar,<br />
coarsely sensual mouth, and the general expres-<br />
sion of a soldier on his Sunday out bent on gay<br />
adventures."<br />
Travel and adventure are to be the interests of<br />
a new magazine—the "Passport "—which Mr.<br />
Pearson will begin to publish, probably in the<br />
spring.—Mr. Newnes, at a much earlier date,<br />
gives to the world a monthly paper called the<br />
"Ladies' Field."<br />
Antiquarian Gossip is a new sixpenny monthly<br />
which will aim at making the study of antiquities<br />
popular.<br />
Mr. H. C. Cust contributes an introduction to<br />
the ninth of the reproductions of Tudor trans-<br />
lations, Philemon Holland's " Historie of Twelve<br />
Ceesars, Emperors of Rome," translated from<br />
Suetonius. The work will be issued (600 copies)<br />
early next year by Mr. Nutt.<br />
LITERATURE IN THE PERIODICALS.<br />
Authors, Publishers, and Booksellers. The Times<br />
on the following dates: Article, "From a Correspondent,"<br />
Nov. 9; E. Marston and K. MaoLehose, Nov. 10; the editor<br />
of the Bookseller and Messrs. Skeffington, Nov. 11 ; Secre-<br />
tary of the Society of Author?, Eev. Harry Jones, and<br />
W. Day, Nov. 12 ; The Writer of the Article, A Member of<br />
the Publishers' Association, M. J. B. Baddelcy, A Country<br />
Hook seller, Publisher's Reader, Alfred Wilson, Nov. 15;<br />
Leading Artiole, Nov. 15; The Writer of the Article, F.R.S.,<br />
Andrew W. Tuer, Nov. 19.<br />
Thc Bookselling Question. Andrew Lang. Chap-<br />
man's Magazine for November.<br />
An Academy -of Letters. The Academy for Not. 6,<br />
13, 20.<br />
Is it Literary Suicidei Daily Chronicle for Oct. 28.<br />
Tennyson. Hamilton Wright Mabie. Atlantic Monthly<br />
for November.—Blackwood's Magazine for November.—<br />
Tennyson in Ireland : A Reminiscence. Alfred Peroival<br />
Graves. Cornhill Magazine for November.<br />
Modern Education. Professor Mahaffy. Nineteenth<br />
Century for November.<br />
The Coming Literary Revival —I. J. S. Tunison.<br />
Atlantic Monthly for November.<br />
The analogy between the bookselling question<br />
of the early fifties and that of the late nineties<br />
is borne out in still another respect by the appear-<br />
ance of this controversy in the columns of the<br />
Times. If such a mild judgment may be allowed<br />
to one who has studied both series of letters,<br />
there is now a spirit of reticence and guardedness<br />
in expressing opinion in favour or against the<br />
proposed system of uniform discounts, which<br />
was not a pronounced feature of the letters of the<br />
earlier period. This may be, and probably is,<br />
clue, however, to the fact that the Society of<br />
Authors has the matter under consideration.<br />
One correspondent, Mr. Robert MacLehose, of<br />
Glasgow, does, indeed, attest anxiety and zeal, if<br />
these qualities be judged by the fact that, writing<br />
from the important bookselling centre of the West<br />
of Scotland, he is able to publish a reply to the<br />
Times article in the very next issue of that journal.<br />
The article "From a Correspondent" which<br />
opened the discussion, did not favour the new<br />
proposal of compulsorily making the discount 2d.<br />
in the shilling instead of $d. In the first place,<br />
he argued, a strong minority of the booksellers<br />
themselves is opposed to it. Let such be boy-<br />
cotted 'i But that was done in 1850, and yet the<br />
recalcitrant firms succeeded in obtaining the<br />
books they wanted; and it has been done now in<br />
the case of certain firms who persisted "in doing<br />
what they liked with their own," with the same<br />
result. Next, the proposal is one involving " thc<br />
well-being, nay, the very existence of the author."<br />
Were the rate of discount reduced, sales would<br />
drop; because the public cries aloud for cheap<br />
books. In this connection the writer places<br />
books outside the economic pale as being neither<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 196 (#626) ############################################<br />
<br />
196<br />
lllh AUTHOR.<br />
necessity nor luxury. Willy, nilly, the average<br />
book-buyer thinks that in this age of mechanical<br />
ingenuity books might be produced both in better<br />
taste and at less cost; and the writer goes so far<br />
as to say that, as a rule, sixpence more or less<br />
will decide whether a book shall be bought or<br />
remain unsold. Nor has salvation been found in<br />
the net system, which, he says has been "prac-<br />
tically abandoned owing to the rooted aversion of<br />
buyers." The writer plumps, therefore, for a<br />
cheaper book:—<br />
Matthew Arnold was generally accounted a visionary, bat<br />
he was eminently practical when he pleaded for cheap books.<br />
That way lies the true remedy for existing evils. Were a<br />
popular writer and powerful publisher to make the experi-<br />
ment of bringing out, let ub say, the six-shilling novel at<br />
3s., the result would probably be gratifying beyond expecta-<br />
tion—provided, of course, the booksellers did not repeat<br />
their old folly. Tne history of popular literature proves<br />
that fortunes lie, not in high prices, but in big sales. The<br />
cost of production need not frighten anyone. The book of<br />
to-day is produced at a figure which even five years ago<br />
would have been thought impossible ; and the cheaper book<br />
could be produced at a yet lower rate without sacrifice of<br />
quality. What has been done in France with Buoh signal<br />
success can be done in England. With the three-shilling or<br />
the half-crown volume "every genuine reader," to quote<br />
Arnold again, " will feel that the book be cares to read he<br />
will care to possess." Would not that awakened desire of<br />
possession be the best of all auguries? Would it not, in<br />
fact, mean a final solution of all the difficulties whioh now<br />
hamper and oppress the book-trade?<br />
"A Member of the Publishers' Association"<br />
came forward with a case for the 6*. novel. He<br />
takes a recent popular book; he estimates the cost<br />
of production and advertising at is. 6d. per copy;<br />
he knows very well that it is under a shilling:<br />
this fact vitiates all the figures that follow.<br />
"A Country Bookseller " asks, what is the use of<br />
books being both "good" and "cheap" if the<br />
public is not to have a chance of examining them<br />
in booksellers' shops? The public ought to pay<br />
adequately for this service, and every town, large<br />
or small, support its bookseller. The Rev. Harry<br />
Jones, on his part, attributes the non-purchasing<br />
of books to the fewness of the booksellers, whom<br />
also he would have show their menu as attractively<br />
as the newspaper shop at the corner of a dirty<br />
street.<br />
The editor of the Bookseller credited the<br />
Society of Authors with having, in taking up<br />
with the matter, recognised the advantage that<br />
less-known writers would reap if booksellers<br />
were enabled to display their books; stated<br />
that, as a matter of fact, the author was a<br />
"wholly unimportant factor in the arrangement of<br />
trade terms" ; and was corrected on the following<br />
day by Mr. Thring for having assumed that the<br />
Society had assented to the new proposal—the<br />
fact being, of course, that the sub-committee had<br />
not yet issued its report. He supported the idea<br />
of coercion, pointing to the leading case of<br />
Germany as a shining example of "completest<br />
success " in this policy. Even at home, in places<br />
where the reduced discount had been now<br />
enforced, the public readily acquiesced in the<br />
arrangement, and the booksellers' turnover had in<br />
no way suffered. As for the cry for cheap litera-<br />
ture, to obtain this a wide circulation must be<br />
assured, and, except in the case of a well-known<br />
and popular writer, such wide circulation was<br />
usually impossible. Let the coercion be rigid, and<br />
recalcitrant booksellers would soon find resistance<br />
to be unprofitable. Apropos," Publisher's Reader"<br />
suggested that someone learned in the law should<br />
first say "whether it will be a sufficient protection<br />
for the Publishers' Association, should they<br />
resolve to follow the editor's advice, to declare<br />
themselves a 'trade union,' and register their<br />
association under the Trades Union Act of 1871."<br />
Mr. MacLehose intervened in defence of the<br />
net system, which, he said, so far from having<br />
been "practically abandoned," had grown quite<br />
remarkably within the last few years. Mr.<br />
M. J. B. Baddeley testified that his "Thorough<br />
Guide " series, notwithstanding the facts that the<br />
net price was printed on the binding and that big<br />
firms in London who advertised 25 per cent, dis-<br />
count on all books had boycotted these volumes,<br />
had been eminently successful all round. In<br />
answer to Mr. E. Marston, publisher, who said<br />
that whatever the published price might be the<br />
public expected their full 2 5 per cent, therefrom,<br />
Mr. Alfred Wilson, bookseller, said that the<br />
public certainly wanted to buy at the lowest<br />
price, but if they could get no discount they<br />
would be quite content to pay the published price<br />
if they thought the book worth it.<br />
Mr. Andrew W. Tuer contributed to the dis-<br />
cussion the interesting speculation that " books,<br />
like tea and tallow, may oue day perhaps be<br />
bought and sold by the pound," but, for a league<br />
of publishers to charge all booksellers alike would<br />
mean simply that another and more complacent<br />
race of publishers would arise. "Too many<br />
books and ' cutting' are ruining the book trade.<br />
Among the other letters was one of Mr. W.<br />
Day, a business man, who suggested a fresh way<br />
out of the difficulty, namely:—<br />
for the publisher to work out the exact net amount per<br />
book he gets from the large buyer, including odd books and<br />
extra discounts, and then, having arrived at the figure, for<br />
ever after charge this price, thus getting rid of odd copies<br />
and extra discounts, charging the bookseller who buys one<br />
book the same price as the man who buys 1000. The little<br />
man would thus have the same rate of profit as the big man,<br />
and would have a margin of profit to work upon. The<br />
country bookseller would be at a disadvantage still as com-<br />
pared with the London bookseller, as he would have to bear<br />
carriage in addition to the cost of the books.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 197 (#627) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
197<br />
Everything turns, said the Times itself officially,<br />
on the point of whether the frugal and often<br />
impecunious book-buyer will be persuaded to<br />
forego the discount of 3d. Upon this it will not<br />
commit itself at the present stage. If the bulk of<br />
the leading publishers legally decline to supply<br />
books except on the basis of the 2d. discount, "it<br />
is not very easy to see how eveu the largest retail<br />
booksellers can continue to make a profit by selling<br />
at the larger discount." And if the case were<br />
properly put to him the aforesaid frugal book-<br />
buyer would probably recognise that his interests<br />
and requirements are best served by supporting<br />
the booksellers. After a reflection upon the general<br />
superiority of the provincial bookseller "whom<br />
many of us recollect," compared with his successor<br />
who to-day "ekes out a precarious existence by<br />
catering for the taste in trifles of customers whose<br />
taste in literature is nothing if not trifling," the<br />
Times concluded as follows:<br />
Meanwhile the " hungry sheep," who onee were wont to<br />
browse on the pastures of good literature, "look up and are<br />
not fed "—we will not continue the quotation, though it is<br />
not a little to the purpose. In any case we are satisfied<br />
that if the retail bookseller could be restored to his former<br />
ttatus and dignity in the world of letters neither authors<br />
nor publishers, neither booksellers nor book-buyers, would<br />
in the long run have any reason to complain of the result.<br />
It may be, as our correspondent has suggested, that the loss<br />
incurred by book-buyers through the proposed reduction of<br />
discount will have to be compensated in some measure by a<br />
general reduction in the price of books. But ... it<br />
is not perhaps amiss to observe that publishers probably<br />
understand their own business best, and that not many of<br />
them have been known to make their fortunes.<br />
Mr. Lang does not pretend, in his discussion<br />
of the question in eight pages of Chapman's<br />
Magazine, to give an opinion about the discount<br />
question, which, he says, " I am sensible is beyond<br />
my limited faculties." He is willing that his own<br />
royalties should be cut down, if that will make even<br />
one bookseller happy. But before "the few rich<br />
authors" will be equally charitable, publishers<br />
must have a trade union, and persecute the pub-<br />
lisher who pays the author more than a certain<br />
rate. Mr. Lang confesses, indeed, that he knows<br />
no remedy for devotion to discount but increased<br />
enerosity, and no specific against the circulating<br />
brary but the production of books which<br />
readers will desire to own—though verily the<br />
public "does not greatly want any book." But<br />
in the last case he appeals to "our great dealers<br />
in fiction." "Peddling science and history of<br />
belles lettres are ndgligeables. We therefore<br />
await the voice of the novelist on Discount."<br />
The custom of using bad paper in books—a<br />
subject which contains the possibility of " literary<br />
suicide "—has not offered any practical evidence<br />
up to the present at the British Museum. Dr.<br />
Garnett has not seen any consumptive books<br />
there, but probably the particular kinds of paper<br />
which hold the germs of decay have not been in<br />
use sufficiently long to permit of the disease show-<br />
ing itself. Mr. John Murray wonders whether<br />
poor land in England might not be employed to<br />
grow some fibrous plant which would make good<br />
paper at a cheap rate. Much of the paper now iu<br />
use he stigmatises as abominably cheap and<br />
nasty. The interviewer who has thus questioned<br />
several authorities on the matter supposes the<br />
case of a historian, three generations hence,<br />
going to the British Museum to consult Blue<br />
Books, which, as he takes them up, fall to dust in<br />
his hand; for Blue Books, on the authority of<br />
Mr. MacAlister, are the worst offenders. Such a<br />
prospect Mr. John Murray's father used to laugh<br />
over. "It will be the grand time for publishers,"<br />
he would say, "when a book on falling from a<br />
table goes to pieces like a piece of china."<br />
Finally, the views of Mr. Frank Lloyd, of the<br />
great paper-manufacturing firm of Edward Lloyd<br />
(Limited), on this question of bad paper (which a<br />
committee of the Society of Arts is now consider-<br />
ing) possess a special interest:—<br />
There were one or two facts whioh might be taken for<br />
granted. A considerable proportion of the paper printed<br />
upon at present must be expected to prove wanting in the<br />
qualities of very lengthened endurance. He instanced<br />
paper made from wood pulp from which the resin had not<br />
been extracted. Technically this ingredient was called<br />
"mechanical wood," as distinct from wood pulp which had<br />
been purified by ehemioal process. Needless to say, paper<br />
made from the latter oost muoh more than paper manu-<br />
factured from the former. Now, paper in which there<br />
remained " mechanical wood " had for years been used in<br />
the printing of books. The Germans had done a good deal<br />
towards the introduction of this, but the great factor was<br />
the rise and development of popular literature. That meant<br />
the production of paper at less and less cost; otherwise<br />
there could not be the wonderfully cheap books. It was<br />
one thing or the other. Similarly it was only the cheap-<br />
ness of paper that made possible the size of the modern<br />
journal. "I am afraid," Mr. Lloyd summed up, " that after<br />
a hundred years a book would not bear handling if its paper<br />
had been of the nature to whioh I have alluded."<br />
The "coming literary revival" is coming on<br />
the other side of the Atlantic. There, the present<br />
is the age of the short story and the minor poet,<br />
two classes of literary art that " lack seriousness,<br />
if considered as an end in themselves," and "are<br />
characteristic of a tentative, a waiting age." Who<br />
is to write the great American novel, or the great<br />
American drama, or the great American epic?<br />
If the outline here given of the opportunities of<br />
genius be approximately correct, this much-<br />
desiderated American may never emerge. "The<br />
only lesson which America is now teaching the<br />
world in the ideal realm is precisely the lesson<br />
which von Hartmann has already put in words—<br />
namely, that the literature of the future is to be<br />
as the tarce which the Berlin business man goes<br />
g<br />
li<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 198 (#628) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
to see of an evening by way of recreation." The<br />
writer would welcome a profoundly one-sided<br />
thinker who should arise and "shake to pieces<br />
the eminently respectable but fatally monotonous<br />
philosophy of the American schools." For him a<br />
search will be made over a wide area in another<br />
article.<br />
Professor Mahaffy discovers, in spite of national<br />
reforms in education, a decline in the quality of<br />
our reading: the great masters—poets, philo-<br />
sophers, historians, even novelists—set aside for<br />
the trivial, the sensational, the affected, the<br />
ephemeral.<br />
STORY COMPETITION.<br />
Jw<br />
APRIZE of .£100 is offered by the People's<br />
Journal, Dundee, for the best short serial<br />
story, in fifteen or twenty instalments of<br />
about 4200 words each. Stories must be located in<br />
Scotland, in some place or district the correct<br />
name of which is given, while its features are<br />
described and its local peculiarities introduced.<br />
The story should be told as largely as possible<br />
in dialogue, and the subject be either historical<br />
or modern—modern factory life, railway life,<br />
mining life, or school teachers' life, &c. Com-<br />
petitors must send in the first three chapters of<br />
their stories, along with a short summary of the<br />
remainder, not later than Jan. 14, 1898.<br />
THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH.<br />
[Oct. 25 to Nov. 23.-379 Books.]<br />
Abbott, T. K. Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the EpiB<br />
to the Ephosiana and to the Colossians. 10/6. Clark.<br />
Addcrley. James. Paul Mercer. 8/6. Arnold.<br />
Adie, B. H., and Woods, T. If. Agricultural Chemistry. 11- net.<br />
Regan Paul.<br />
Aflalu, F. Q. Sea Fish. (Angler's Library) 6 - Lawrence.<br />
Alexander, Rupert. The Vicar of St. Nicholas. 6/- Dlgby.<br />
Allen, Grant. Evolution of the Idea of God. 20/- net. Richards.<br />
Andre1, R. Colonel Bogey's Sketch-Book. 2/6. Longmans.<br />
Anonymous (M. W. L.). Reveries of a Paragrapher. 6/- Unwin.<br />
Anonymous. Handley Cross. 2/- Lawrence.<br />
Anonymous. German Lyrical and other Poems, with Isometrical<br />
Translations. Williams.<br />
Anonymous. Groote Schuur. Residence of Right Hon. C. J. Rhodes.<br />
2/6. Simpkin.<br />
Anonymous. Catesby, A Tragedy of the Gunpowder Plot.<br />
Guildford: Billing.<br />
Anonymous. Lessons from Life, Animal and Human. 7/6. Stock.<br />
Anonymous. Poems by a New Zealander. 5/- Kegan Paul.<br />
Anonymous. The English Tulip and Its History. 1/6. Barr.<br />
Anonymous. The Reform of Currency. 2/6. E. Wilson.<br />
Anonymous (author of "How to be Happy though Married"). The<br />
Love Affairs of Some Famous Men. 6/- Unwln.<br />
Anonymous. Memorials, Journal, and Botanical Correspondence of<br />
Charles Cardale Babington. 10/6 net. Cambridge: Macmillan<br />
and Bowes.<br />
Anonymous (" M. S.") Romance of a Rose. 6/- net. Digby.<br />
Anonymous. English Masques. 3/6. Blsckie.<br />
Anonymous (author of "Mademoiselle Mori "). Niccolina Niccollni.<br />
6/- Gardner, Darton.<br />
Anonymous. The Canon. 12/- net. Mathews.<br />
Armour. Margaret (ed.). The Eerie Book. 6/- Shiells.<br />
Asbfomsen, P. C. (tr. by H. L.Brrckstad). Fairy Tales from the Far<br />
North. 6/- Xutt.<br />
Atkinson. T. D. Cambridge Described and Illustrated. SI/- net.<br />
Macmillan.<br />
AUeridge. Holen. Butterfly Ballads. 3/6. MBne<br />
Averv. Harold. Soldiers of the Queen. 2/- Nelson.<br />
Bacon. R. H. Benin, the City of Blood. 7/6. Arnold.<br />
Bain. Charlotte. Ace o' HeartB. 6/- Hurst.<br />
Barneti. Canon. The Service of God. 6/-<br />
Barr. Amelia E. A Knight of the Nets. 6/- Hnt<<br />
Battenberg, Prince Louis of. Men-of-War Names. 5/- Stanford-<br />
Bedford, H. L, Prue the Poetess. 8/6. Skefllngton<br />
Belcher. H. A. (ed.). All About Klondike. 1/- Simpkin<br />
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| 309 | https://historysoa.com/items/show/309 | The Author, Vol. 08 Issue 06 (November 1897) | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=%3Cem%3EThe+Author%3C%2Fem%3E%2C+Vol.+08+Issue+06+%28November+1897%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 08 Issue 06 (November 1897)</a> | | | <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049239455" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049239455</a> | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Publication">Publication</a> | 1897-11-01-The-Author-8-6 | | | | | 137–172 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=8">8</a> | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1897-11-01">1897-11-01</a> | | | | | | | 6 | | | 18971101 | XL he Hutbot\<br />
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PAOE<br />
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... 139<br />
... 141<br />
... 142<br />
... 143<br />
... 144<br />
... 148<br />
... 150<br />
... 154<br />
... 156<br />
The Tennyson Biography<br />
The Library Association. Presidential Address<br />
The Wisdom of 1772<br />
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PAOK<br />
.. 157<br />
. 159<br />
.. 161<br />
.. 162<br />
Book Talk<br />
Literature in the Periodicals<br />
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The Books of the Month ...<br />
1(4<br />
, 1«7<br />
169<br />
, 170<br />
PUBLICATIONS OP THE SOCIETY.<br />
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STICKPHAST PASTE.<br />
Heaps better than gum,<br />
6d. and Is., with strong, useful brush.<br />
Sold by Stationers, Chemists, Stores, Ac.<br />
Factory, SUGAR I^O-A-TP COURT, E.G.<br />
WANTED.<br />
Advanced Lessons in Novel-Writing.<br />
State Successful Works.<br />
Replies will be considered Confidential.<br />
Address— "FICTION,"<br />
Advertising Offices, 10, High Holhorn, W.C.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 137 (#563) ############################################<br />
<br />
XT b e Hutbor,<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br />
CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br />
Vol. Vin.—No. 6.] NOVEMBER i, 1897. [Price Sixpence.<br />
For the Opinions expressed in papers that are<br />
signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br />
responsible. None of the papers or para-<br />
graphs must be taken as expressing the<br />
collective opinions of the Committee unless<br />
they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br />
Thring, Sec.<br />
THE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br />
remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br />
requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br />
important communications within two days will write to him<br />
without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br />
Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br />
letter only.<br />
Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br />
all subjects connected with literature, bnt on no other sub-<br />
jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br />
returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br />
GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br />
EOR some years it has been the practice to insert, in<br />
every number of The Author, certain " General Con-<br />
siderations," Warnings, Notices, &c, for the guidance<br />
of the reader. It has been objected as regards these<br />
warnings that the tricks or frauds against which they are<br />
directed cannot all be guarded against, for obvious reasons.<br />
It is, however, well that they should be borne in mind, and<br />
if any publisher refuses a clause of precaution he simply<br />
reveals his true character, and should be left to carry on<br />
his business in his own way.<br />
Let us, however, draw up a few of the rules to be<br />
observed in an agreement. There are three methods of<br />
dealing with literary property:—<br />
I. That of selling it outright.<br />
This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br />
price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br />
managed by a competent agent.<br />
II. A profit-sharing agreement.<br />
In this case the following rules should be attended to:<br />
(1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br />
duction forms a part.<br />
(2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br />
profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise-<br />
ments.<br />
(3.) Not to allow a special charge for " office expenses,"<br />
unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br />
(4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br />
rights.<br />
(5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights.<br />
(6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher.<br />
As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br />
doctor!<br />
(7.) To stamp the agreement.<br />
III. The royalty system.<br />
In this system, which has opened the door to a most<br />
amazing amonnt of overreaching and trading on the<br />
author's ignorance, it is above all things necessary to know<br />
what the proposed royalty means to both 'ides. It is now<br />
possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very<br />
nearly the truth. From time to time the very important<br />
figures connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br />
Headers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br />
"Cost of Production." Let no one, not even the youngest<br />
writer, Bign a royalty agreement without finding out what<br />
it gives the publisher as well as himself.<br />
It has been objeoted that these precautions presuppose a<br />
great success for the book, and that very few books indeed<br />
attain to this great success. That is quite true: but there is<br />
always this uncertainty of literary property that, although<br />
the works of a great many authors carry with them no risk<br />
at all, and although of a great many it iB known within a few<br />
copies what will be their minimum circulation, it is not<br />
known what will be their maximum. Therefore every<br />
author, for every book, should arrange on the chance of a<br />
success which will not, probably, come at all; but which<br />
may come.<br />
The four points which the Society has always demanded<br />
from the outset are:—<br />
(1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement<br />
means.<br />
(2.) The inspection of tho3e account books which belong<br />
to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the<br />
nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or<br />
withheld.<br />
(3.) That there shall be no secret profits.<br />
(4.) That nothing shall be charged which has not been<br />
actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for<br />
advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none tor<br />
exchanged advertisements and that all discounts shall be<br />
duly entered.<br />
If these points are carefully looked after, the author may<br />
rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the<br />
same time he will do well to send his agreement to the<br />
secretary before he signs it.<br />
N 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 138 (#564) ############################################<br />
<br />
138 THE AUTHOR.<br />
HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br />
I. liT VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br />
ITi advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br />
lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br />
business or the administration of his property. If the advice<br />
Bought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member<br />
has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the<br />
case is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com-<br />
mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this<br />
without any cost to the member.<br />
2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br />
and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the<br />
experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br />
to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually<br />
engaged upon such qnestions for us.<br />
3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past<br />
accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in<br />
order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree-<br />
ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively<br />
so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any<br />
agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor-<br />
mation thus obtained may prove invaluable.<br />
4. If the examination of your previous business trans-<br />
actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, yon should<br />
take advice as to a ohange of publishers.<br />
5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br />
posed document to the Society for examination.<br />
6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in<br />
the case of fraudulent nouses—the tricks of every publish,<br />
ing firm in the country.<br />
7. 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 />
8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of everything<br />
important to literature that you may hear or meet with.<br />
9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of<br />
members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br />
safe. The agreements will, of coarse, 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 />
THE AUTHOES' SYNDICATE.<br />
MEMBERS are informed:<br />
1. That the Authors' Syndicate takes charge of<br />
the business of members of the Society. That it<br />
submits MSS. to publishers and editors, concludes agree-<br />
ments, examines, passes, and collects accounts, and, gene-<br />
rally, relieves members of the trouble of managing business<br />
details.<br />
2. That the terms upon whioh its services can be secured<br />
will be forwarded upon detailed application.<br />
3. That the Authors' Syndicate works only for those<br />
members of the Society whose work possesses a market<br />
value.<br />
4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiations<br />
whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia-<br />
tions are placed exclusively in its hands, and that al$<br />
communications relating thereto are referred to it.<br />
5. That clients can only be seen by the Director by-<br />
appointment, and that, when possible, at least two days"<br />
notice should be given.<br />
6. That every attempt is made to deal with all communi-<br />
cations promptly. That stamps should, in alt cases, be sent<br />
to defray postage.<br />
7. That the Authors' Syndicate does not invite MSS.<br />
without previous correspondence; does not hold itself<br />
responsible for MSS. forwarded without notice; and that<br />
in all cases MSS. must be accompanied by stamps to defray<br />
postage.<br />
8. That the Syndicate undertakes arrangements for<br />
lectures by some of the leading members of the Society;<br />
that it has a "Transfer Department" for the sale and<br />
purchase of journals and periodicals; and that a " Register<br />
of Wants and Wanted" is open. Members arc invited to-<br />
communicate their requirements to the Manager.<br />
There is an Honorary Advisory Committee, whose services<br />
will be called upon in any case of dispute or difficulty. It<br />
is perhaps necessary to state that the members of the<br />
Advisory Committee have no pecuniary interest whatever in<br />
the Syndicate.<br />
NOTICES.<br />
THE Editor of Tlie Author begs to remind members of the*<br />
Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br />
of charge, the oost 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. 6tZ. subscription for tho year.<br />
The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and<br />
communications on all subjects connected with literature<br />
from members and others. Nothing can do more good to<br />
the Society than to make The Author complete, attractive,<br />
and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this<br />
work send their names and the special subjects on which<br />
they are willing to write?<br />
Communications for The Author Bhould reach the Editor<br />
not later than the 21st of each month.<br />
All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether<br />
members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate<br />
to the Editor any points connected with their work which<br />
it would be advisable in the general interest to publish.<br />
Members and others who wish their MSS. read are<br />
requested not to send them to the Office without previously<br />
communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable<br />
despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in<br />
which they are received. It mnst also be distinctly under-<br />
stood that the Sooiety does not, under any circumstances,<br />
undertake the publication of MSS.<br />
The Authors' Club is now open in its new premises, at<br />
3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary<br />
for information, rules of admission, &c.<br />
Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they<br />
have paid their subscriptions for the year P If they will do<br />
this, and remit the amonnt, if still unpaid, or a banker's<br />
order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and Bave him the<br />
trouble of sending out a reminder.<br />
Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to tho<br />
following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a<br />
most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding<br />
for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they<br />
would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five<br />
years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 139 (#565) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
l39<br />
or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then<br />
hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them-<br />
selves into literary bondage for three or five years?<br />
Those who possess the "Cost of Production" are<br />
requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15<br />
per cent. This means, for those who do not like the trouble<br />
of "doing sums," the addition of three shillings in the<br />
pound on this head. In other words, if the cost of binding<br />
is set down in our book at eight pounds, to this must now be<br />
added twenty-four shillings more, so that it now stands<br />
at £g 4s. The figures in our book are as near the exact<br />
truth as can be procured; but a printer's, or a binder's,<br />
bill is so elastic a thing that nothing more exact can be<br />
arrived at.<br />
Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged<br />
in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of course, we<br />
have not included any sums which may be charged for<br />
inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines,<br />
or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too<br />
often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from<br />
sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket,<br />
by inserting any number of advertisements in his own<br />
magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are<br />
who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those<br />
who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it.<br />
LITERARY PROPERTY.<br />
I.—Educational Report.<br />
Report of the Sub-Committee of the Society<br />
of Authors appointed to deal with the Publi-<br />
cation of Educational Works. Approved by<br />
the Committee.<br />
THERE is no literary property more valuable<br />
than a successful class book. The yearly<br />
consumption of such books in elementary<br />
schools may be reckoned by the hundred thousand,<br />
and even in secondary schools a class book of<br />
repute, such as the Public School Latin Primer<br />
or Bradley's Arnold, has a sale of from five to ten<br />
thousand copies a year.<br />
Such hits in educational books, no less than in<br />
other branches of literature, are, of course, rare,<br />
yet we could name ten eminently successful school<br />
books for one scholastic author who has made a<br />
considerable income by his writings. The reason<br />
is not far to seek. Hitherto the educational writer<br />
has, as a rule, been either a schoolmaster who<br />
regards what he makes by his pen as an<br />
unexpected bonus in addition to his regular<br />
salary, or else a distinguished specialist, who, at<br />
the request of a publisher, writes a primer of<br />
history or geography in his leisure hours, and is<br />
content, for a mere nominal sum, to dispose of a<br />
valuable property because it has cost him little<br />
time and trouble to create it.<br />
It may be argued that by so doing the scholar<br />
only wrongs himself, and that not only the pub-<br />
lisher, but the general public, benefits by his care-<br />
less generosity; as a matter of fact, it is only the<br />
publisher who gains. The published price of a<br />
book is not appreciably, if at all, affected by the<br />
consideration whether the author has been paid<br />
lio or jfiiooo for the copyright; but the terms<br />
that a publisher is willing to give are determined<br />
by what the leading authorities are willing to take.<br />
In this way the market price is lowered, and the<br />
out-put of educational literature is stopped. It<br />
ceases to be a paying profession. In all branches<br />
of literature the professional author must expect<br />
to be under-bid by the amateur, but the condi-<br />
tions under which educational works appear are in<br />
some respects peculiar.<br />
Very often the inducement to write is the need<br />
the author has felt for a certain manual or class<br />
book in his own teaching, and if he can find a<br />
publisher who will produce the book he needs, and<br />
relieve him of all risk, he is indifferent to any<br />
profit.<br />
Let us urge upon all persons connected with<br />
educational literature to take over into their own<br />
hands the management, in part, at least, of their<br />
own books.<br />
A study of the notes appended to this Report<br />
will perhaps open their eyes. These notes point<br />
out at least some of the dangers to be avoided.<br />
The leading principles to be insisted on are<br />
these:—<br />
1. Never to sell the copyright of an educational<br />
book under any circumstances.<br />
2. To arrive at an understanding what the agree-<br />
ment gives the publisher as well as what it<br />
gives the author. If the publisher refuses to<br />
give these figures, the author should either<br />
refuse to sign the agreement, or should take<br />
advice as to the cost of producing the book,<br />
and therefore the proportion the publisher<br />
proposes to reserve for himself. A sliding<br />
scale offers a certain kind of remedy.<br />
3. The insertion of clauses in the agreement<br />
which would prevent the publisher from<br />
altering the book, transferring the book, or<br />
killing the book.<br />
4. Provision for improved terms if the book<br />
becomes a success.<br />
And as a further security we should urge upon<br />
all authors of educational books to join the<br />
Society of Authors, and to sign no agreement<br />
without sending it to the secretary for revision.<br />
Notes on the Cases.<br />
The sub-committee appointed for considering<br />
the present condition of educational publishing<br />
have received and analysed a certain number of<br />
cases. Notes of the chief objections to the<br />
contracts and terms for publication investigated<br />
by them are epitomised below as follows :—<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 140 (#566) ############################################<br />
<br />
140<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Deferred Royalty.<br />
1. The worst feature that one observes after<br />
tabulating the agreements is the deferred royalty.<br />
The author is induced by the bribe of a small<br />
sum, generally =£25, to accept an agreement by<br />
which he actually gives the publisher many<br />
thousand—say, seven to ten—copies for himself,<br />
should the book succeed! After this, the author<br />
is to have 10 or perhaps 15 per cent. Let us,<br />
remembering that even with books actually carry-<br />
ing great risk the publishers never used to<br />
venture on asking for more than half profits,<br />
consider what this means.<br />
Most of these works are small books, pub-<br />
lished at 2s. or 2s. 6d. It must be a very expen-<br />
sive little book that, offered at 2,v. 6r/., would cost<br />
more than 6d. to produce in a large edition of 6000,<br />
including advertising. This means an apparent<br />
risk of .£75. As for the cost of advertising, the<br />
sum of JE10 spent in advertising means no more<br />
than ?d. a volume for an edition of 6000. As<br />
educational books are published, the publisher<br />
gets about is. yl. a copy or gd. a copy<br />
profit, taking, oi course, an average book of<br />
the size and price under consideration. So<br />
that in, say, 6coo copies lie gains .£250,<br />
less what he advanced the author, say .£25.<br />
In fact, this agreement says, practically to the<br />
author: "Yours is the book: it is your pro-<br />
perty, your estate: if I administer it I must have<br />
for the first 6000 copies nine times your share.<br />
Afterwards, at a 10 per cent, royalty, I am to<br />
have three times your share."<br />
What is the way to put an end to the accept-<br />
ance of these one-sided terms? The first thing<br />
is to pour a flood of light upon the situation, so<br />
that everyone shall clearly understand it. After-<br />
wards to refuse the agreement on such terms, and<br />
to take the book elsewhere.<br />
Amount oj Royalties.<br />
2. Ten per cent, used to be considered a very<br />
fair royalty. This means, however, that, with a<br />
large sale, the publisher generally gets about<br />
three times what he gives the author!<br />
Deferred Payments.<br />
3. It is a commou practice to makeup accounts<br />
to Dec. 31, and not to pay till three, four, or six<br />
months later.<br />
This should not be consented to. It means at<br />
least three months' enjoyment of the author's<br />
money, which is more than enough. It has<br />
been contended that a large part, if not<br />
the whole, of a publisher's working expenses<br />
are frequently defrayed by this mode of with-<br />
holding money due to authors for six months<br />
or a whole year. For instance, if a publisher has<br />
to pay £25,000 a year to authors, and keeps it<br />
back for a year, there accrues to the house the<br />
sum of ,£2500 (reckoning a commercial interest of<br />
10 per cent.) out of which to pay their clerks,<br />
accountants, and travellers.<br />
A clause in one agreement, for instance, states<br />
that accounts are to be made up once a year—<br />
say, June 30, and rendered to the author soon<br />
after that date; and the money due is to be paid<br />
on or bt-fore Dec. 31 of the same year.<br />
Therefore the account of June 30, 1896,<br />
includes all sales from June 30, 1895. The<br />
author, therefore, has none of the money due for<br />
the sales of July, 1895, until Dec. 1896. He is<br />
kept out of his money for eighteen mouths! The<br />
fact has ODly to be stated in order to show the<br />
monstrous nature of the thing.<br />
Small Sums Paid to Great Scholars.<br />
4. There is a certain series of books, all of<br />
which have run into many thousands of copies.<br />
It will hardly be believed that the publishers have<br />
actually offered one of our greatest living scholars<br />
,£35 and ,£40 respectively for the preparation aod<br />
editing of two books in this series!<br />
Arbitration Clause.<br />
5. In one or two cases the appointment of an<br />
arbitrator in case of dispute is provided for, and<br />
this may frequently prove useful. But it is of the<br />
utmost importance to point out that an arbitrator<br />
after the agreement is signed is frequently quite<br />
unnecessary, because the dispute is generally as<br />
to the keeping of the agreement, which is a simple<br />
matter for a lawyer's letter. What is wanted is<br />
an arbitrator before the agreement is signed. We<br />
would suggest that the secretary of the Society of<br />
Authors should be called in to approve every<br />
agreement on behalf of the author, to meet the<br />
publisher's representatives if need be, and to<br />
procure a settlement by some conveyancing<br />
counsel, perfectly indifferent to both parties, in<br />
case of difference.<br />
Remainder Stoci.<br />
6. In one of the cases before us the publisher<br />
binds himself not to sell off the remainder stock<br />
for a certain time. After that time he can, if he<br />
pleases, kill the book in favour of some other on<br />
the same subject by selling the remainder stock.<br />
The clause should contain a proviso that the<br />
remainder stock should not be sold unless with<br />
the author's consent. This consent would, of<br />
course, be given if the book were clearly dead.<br />
Binding Clauses.<br />
7. The author frequently contracts not to write<br />
another book on the subject. We never find,<br />
however, the publisher entering into a similar<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 141 (#567) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
contract not to publish another book on the<br />
subject. It is essential that either both or neither<br />
of the parties to the contract should be bound by<br />
such a stipulation.<br />
Royalty Lowered.<br />
8. There is often a clause about lowering the<br />
royalty in case of bringing out the book in<br />
America. Care must be taken that the lowering<br />
should be in proportion to the actual price paid<br />
by the public.<br />
Thus, in a 6s. book, a shilling on each copy is a<br />
shilling on 4s. 6d„ i.e., 22* per cent, on the pub-<br />
lished price. If the American edition is published<br />
at 75 cents, the corresponding American royalty<br />
should be 8d.<br />
Odd Copies.<br />
9. In one case a publisher so far presumed<br />
upon the ignorance of his author as to insert a<br />
clause stating that for " odd copies " no royalty<br />
should be granted! In other words, if a book-<br />
seller ordered single copies of the work, the<br />
author was to have nothing. Rex ipsa loquitur.<br />
"13 as 12."<br />
10. In some agreements the royalties have to<br />
be paid on the sale of "13 as 12." This means<br />
knocking off 8 per cent, from the author's profits,<br />
and, as the publisher does not sell 13 copies as 12,<br />
except in special cases where a batch is ordered,<br />
he must not account at this rate as if the practice<br />
were universal.<br />
A Good Agreement.<br />
11. If a half profit system is ever a good<br />
system, then we have one good agreement in the<br />
following case actually before us:<br />
i. The author is provided with vouchers for<br />
every item of cost.<br />
ii. He is not charged with office expenses—both<br />
himself and the publisher paying his own.<br />
iii. The advertisements are detailed, with date<br />
and cost.<br />
iv. All the discounts are allowed in the<br />
account.<br />
v. It is a real bond fide, half profit system,<br />
with no secret profits, and everything<br />
fair and above board.<br />
vi. "Overs " are included in the account.<br />
This will be news to most of our readers. At<br />
any printing off of an edition the press runs on<br />
to make uptime. Extra numbers—called "overs"<br />
—are thus printed, and used to supply the place<br />
of spoiled copies. In the book before us there were<br />
in three editions seventy-eight " overs," the sale<br />
of which, supposing there were no spoiled copies,<br />
meant about ,£14. Never once in any publisher's<br />
account have we seen these " overs" entered and<br />
accounted for except in this.<br />
Sale of Copyright.<br />
12. Perhaps the most unfair clause of these<br />
agreements is that which assigns the copyrights of<br />
the book to the publisher. The dangers behind<br />
this clause are unbounded.<br />
Above all things, an educational writer must<br />
keep the control of new editions. This he cannot<br />
do if the copyright is in the hands of his pub-<br />
lisher, nor can he prevent additions, alterations,<br />
and omissions to the book except by expensive<br />
lawsuits, which may, after all, go against him.<br />
Or the book might be transferred to some other<br />
house, where it would conflict with another book<br />
on the same subject. Such transfers are not<br />
unknown.<br />
Or the publishers might resolve not to re-<br />
edit the book in favour of a new one which might<br />
sell better.<br />
Right of Author to Re cdit.<br />
13. One additional proviso should be added to<br />
the present notes. In a case where the author<br />
sells his copyright, a system of which the society<br />
gravely doubts the expediency, but which perhaps<br />
for some reason the author might desire to adopt,<br />
it is absolutely essential that the author should<br />
bind the publisher, in case a fresh edition is<br />
wanted, to give him the option to re-edit upon a<br />
fixed notice. The following clause appears in a<br />
publisher's agreement where he has purchased<br />
the copyright:<br />
The said author, in consideration of the payments and<br />
royalties reserved to him under this agreement, undertakes,<br />
as occasion may require, to edit new editions of the said<br />
work, and supply any new matter that may be necessary<br />
to bring- the information contained in the work up to date.<br />
This is very clumsily expressed. The author,<br />
so far as the words go, binds himself to re-edit,<br />
but the publisher, on the other hand, does not<br />
bind himself to ask the author to do so. If this<br />
be the proper construction of the clause, the<br />
author might find himself in the position of<br />
having his book re-edited by an incompetent hand<br />
with no redress. _..<br />
II.—Alleged Infringement op Copyright.<br />
Metcalf v. Conway.<br />
A suit dealing with an alleged infringement of<br />
copyright was taken before the Chief Judge in<br />
Equity. The parties were Sydney Metcalf, plaintiff,<br />
and James Conway, defendant.<br />
Mr. F. J. M'Manamey (instructed by Messrs.<br />
Lane and Roberts) appeared for plaintiff, Mr.<br />
J. T. Lingen (instructed by Mr. W. H. Piggott)<br />
for defendant.<br />
In the statement made by plaintiff it was said<br />
that about the end of 18y6 the Public Service<br />
Board issued and published certain regulations<br />
in connection with certain competitive examiua-<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 142 (#568) ############################################<br />
<br />
142<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
tions to be held by the Board, and also certain<br />
directions to be observed by candidates, together<br />
with instructions for the guidance of persons<br />
appointed to superintend at such examinations.<br />
In Feb., 1897, the plaintiff printed and pub-<br />
lished an original work of thirty-two pages,<br />
entitled "A Guide to the Public Service Com-<br />
petitive Examinations," which was duly registered<br />
in accordance with the Copyright Act of 1879.<br />
Plaintiff was sole proprietor of the copyright of<br />
this work. Defendant was editor and part pro-<br />
prietor of a certain periodical published monthly<br />
in Sydney, called the New South Wales Educa-<br />
tional Gazette. About April and May last<br />
defendant printed and published, in the issues of<br />
the Gazette for those months, certain paragraphs<br />
about the said examinations, which, in the<br />
arrangement of the matter, abridgement of the<br />
statements, and otherwise, consisted almost ex-<br />
clusively of extracts from the plaintiff's said<br />
work, with slight variations. No authority or<br />
permission had been given by plaintiff for the use<br />
of his work, or of extracts therefrom, to defen-<br />
dant, or any other person, on behalf of or con-<br />
nected with the said Gazette, and the use made<br />
of plaintiff's work in the said monthly numbers<br />
was an illegal and unauthorised infringement of<br />
plaintiff's rights, and plaintiff had sustained<br />
great damage thereby. It was asked by plaintiff<br />
that an amount be token of the profits made by<br />
defendant by the sale of the said monthly<br />
nuuibers, that the damages sustained by plaintiff<br />
by the sale of the said numbers be ascertained<br />
by the Court, that defendant be ordered to pay<br />
to the plaintiff the amount of such profits and<br />
damages, and that defendant be restrained from<br />
disposing of any copies of the Gazette containing<br />
any portion or extract from "The Guide to the<br />
Public Service Competitive Examinations."<br />
For the defence it was not admitted that the<br />
work printed and published by plaintiff was an<br />
original work, and it was denied that what had<br />
been publislnd by defendant was an illegal or<br />
unauthorised infringement of the plaintiff's<br />
alleged rights. Defendant also denied that plain-<br />
tiff had sustained any damage by the publication<br />
of the same, and said that the sale of the book<br />
ceased prior to such publication, and that his<br />
book had become obsolete owing to alterations of<br />
the regulations in the examinations. It was also<br />
said that the alleged paragraphs consisted only of<br />
a verbatim copy of the examination 2^apers, of<br />
which many hundred copies had been published<br />
and distributed by the Government, and were<br />
public property, before plaintiff printed them in<br />
his book, and that defendant was himself the<br />
possessor of a printed copy sent by the Govern-<br />
ment of every question published in his Gazette,<br />
and were the result of no independent work 011<br />
the part of the plaintiff, and were the mere<br />
re-publication of information which was open to<br />
all the world to publish and obtain from the same<br />
source.<br />
After hearing lengthy argument, his Honour<br />
said there appeared to have been no infringement<br />
of any kind, and he was satisfied that the suit haxl<br />
failed. The suit would be dismissed with costs.<br />
—Sydney Daily Telegraph, Sept. 10.<br />
III.—The Berne Convention.<br />
The following is from Le Droit a"'Auteur •<br />
Ratification of the Additional Act and of the<br />
Interpretive Declaration of Mav 4, 1896. Sept. 9,<br />
1897.<br />
Certain circumstances having rendered it im-<br />
possible to execute, within the period originally<br />
fixed, the exchange of the ratifications of the<br />
Additional Act of May 4, 1896, modifying<br />
articles 2, 3, 5, 7, 12, and 20 of the Convention<br />
of Sept. 9, 1886, and the Xos. 1 and 4 of the<br />
Final Prvtovol attached to it, as well as the<br />
Declaration interpretive of certain provisions of<br />
the Convention of Berne of Sept. 9, 1886, and of<br />
the Additional Act signed at Paris on May 4,<br />
1896, it has been unanimously agreed that the<br />
period originally fixed should be extended to the<br />
present day.<br />
In consequence of which the imdersigned have<br />
met to sign and to deposit the present deed.<br />
Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy,<br />
Luxemburg, Monaco, Montenegro, Switzerland,<br />
and Tunis have ratified the two Acts.<br />
Great Britain has ratified only the Additional<br />
Act, both for the United Kingdom and for all<br />
the British Colonies and possessions.<br />
Norway has ratified ODly the Interpretive<br />
Declaration.<br />
The copies of these ratifications having been<br />
produced, and found to be in right and due form,<br />
have been placed in the hands of the Minister of<br />
Foreign Affairs of the French Republic, for<br />
deposition in the archives of the Ministry, this<br />
deposition being in place of the exchange of the<br />
said Acts.<br />
(The date, Paris, Sept. 9, 1S97, and the signa-<br />
tures of the representatives of the various<br />
countries, follow.)<br />
The Droit a" Auteur adds the following<br />
interesting note:<br />
According to the fourth article of the<br />
Additional Act of May 4, 1896, this Act will<br />
come into force three months after the exchange<br />
of the ratifications by the ratifying countries—<br />
that is to say, in all countries of the Union, with<br />
the exception of Norway and Hayti. It accord-<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 143 (#569) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
i43<br />
ingly becomes law on Dec. 9, 1897. From that<br />
date it will form one whole with the Convention to<br />
which it is attached, so that it cannot be separ-<br />
ately denounced.<br />
The Interpretive Declaration becomes law as<br />
soon as it is ratified. It therefore applies to all<br />
countries of the Union, with the exception of<br />
Great Britain and Hayti, from Sept. 9, 1897.<br />
—<br />
ON BRINGING OUT A BOOE.<br />
I.—Do We Want a Publisher?<br />
1.<br />
<br />
BEG to submit the following observations<br />
for the very serious consideration of<br />
readers:<br />
What does a publisher do for a book which<br />
could not be done by a clerk of intelligence suffi-<br />
cient to carry out a work of the most common<br />
routine?<br />
First; he arranges with the printer about the<br />
printing, with the papermaker about the paper,<br />
with the binder about the binding. These matters<br />
can be so adjusted that nothing is to be paid<br />
until the first returns of the book. It will be<br />
observed that experience makes the three arrange-<br />
ments perfectly easy and a mere matter of a few<br />
minutes. He then, before he decides on the<br />
number to be printed, subscribes the book in<br />
London as a kind of feeler or guide. He knows<br />
pretty well from the number thus taken how<br />
many will be taken by the country. The diffe-<br />
rence between the cost of production and the first<br />
subscription is the "risk" of a book. In the<br />
case of books attractive by their subject or by<br />
the reputation of their writers, it is needless to<br />
say that the risk is nil; that is to say, without<br />
counting money that may have been paid to the<br />
writer. The advertising follows. It needs very<br />
little intelligence to understand that very little<br />
advertising is wanted for a book which can have<br />
but a limited demand; and, still less to under-<br />
stand that it is quite useless to advertise in papers<br />
which either have a small circulation, or deal with<br />
subjects not concerned with that of the book in<br />
question.<br />
What else does a publisher do for a book? He<br />
has travellers who "push" it: that is to say,<br />
offer it to the trade, which is already ruined by<br />
taking books at prices which do not allow them<br />
to make a living profit on them.<br />
These things being so, why cannot authors<br />
recognise the fact that the publisher is no longer<br />
necessary, and that the present method of pub-<br />
lishing should be buried and regarded as a relic<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
of bygone days when authors were few and the<br />
circulation of publications very limited?<br />
What is to-day required, if the pecuniary<br />
results of a book are to be apportioned justly to<br />
the source of production, is for all, great or com-<br />
paratively unknown, to create a publishing<br />
agency of their own, become their own pub-<br />
lishers, and dispense absolutely with the pub-<br />
lisher.<br />
To accomplish this would necessitate no colossal<br />
task, or present any insurmountable barrier. The<br />
only one principle of difficulty involved to some<br />
would be that every author must be liable for<br />
deferred payment on account of the first outlay in<br />
the production of his work.<br />
To do this it will be necessary for the agent to<br />
arrange for the printing and production in the<br />
author's name; he himself will not be personally<br />
liable for any expenditure. Otherwise his method<br />
of procedure would be exactly the same as that of<br />
the publisher.<br />
Of course, when a work has no marketable<br />
value, or is not appreciated by the public, no<br />
advantage would result, which is only natural,<br />
and would result in a loss under any circum-<br />
stances; but if there is any profit possible to be<br />
derived, it could be obtained under this system,<br />
when a heavy loss would be the only reward<br />
under present conditions; and an author would be<br />
recompensed up to the very hilt for his works,<br />
whereas now, even in the most favourable case,<br />
he is compelled to accept but a small proportion<br />
of the published price of his volumes. When the<br />
successful circulation of books on this system was<br />
achieved, it is obvious that the old methods would<br />
fall into complete disrepute and would be aban-<br />
doned. F. B.<br />
11.<br />
On the above proposition—<br />
It may be objected that the agent would want<br />
a warehouse. But some publishers do not keep<br />
their books in a warehouse: they let them lie<br />
at the binder's till they are wanted: they are<br />
sent out by the binder. A few copies of each<br />
book would be sufficient.<br />
The details of management would be exactly<br />
the same in all respects as at present, save and<br />
except the very important—though essential—<br />
point that the selling price of the book would<br />
be divided between bookseller and author, the<br />
agent taking only his percentage.<br />
Let us see how this method would work with a<br />
book fairly successful.<br />
We take the 6». book—our most convenient<br />
unit.<br />
If 3000 copies were sold, the figures would<br />
come out approximately as follows:<br />
1. The cost of production may be assumed tc-<br />
o<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 144 (#570) ############################################<br />
<br />
144<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
be i«. with advertising. There is before me a<br />
publisher's account showing cost of production of<br />
1750 copies—without advertising, q\d. a copy.<br />
2. The trade price, covering carriage, might<br />
be 3*. id.<br />
3. The agent's charge on all moneys received<br />
would be \2\ per cent.<br />
4. The price paid by the public would be<br />
4*. 6d.<br />
£ s. d.<br />
Cost of production at i*., wilh<br />
advertising 150 o o<br />
Agent's charge 60 18 9<br />
For the author 276 11 3<br />
487 10 o<br />
By 3000 copies at 3*. 3d 487 10 o<br />
So that the three persons concerned, the<br />
author, the bookseller, and the agent, would<br />
profit in the following proportion:<br />
Author, .£276 iii. 3<?., i.e., a royalty of is. io\d.,<br />
or 31 per cent., a copy.<br />
Bookseller, £187 10s., i.e., a royalty of is. 3d., or<br />
20 per cent., a copy.<br />
Agent, £60 18*. gd., i.e.,a royalty of 4}d., or 7 per<br />
cent., a copy.<br />
Of course, the bookseller could be " squeezed,"<br />
so as to afford a still larger profit to the author;<br />
but he has been squeezed too much already. It<br />
is .greatly to the interests of the author that the<br />
trade should be treated with far greater liberality<br />
than has hitherto been the case.<br />
Take the more common case, however, where<br />
the book produced only sells about a thousand<br />
copies. How will the figures come out?<br />
There lies before me a publisher's bill in which<br />
the cost of producing 1750 copies is =£70, without<br />
advertising:<br />
£ t. d.<br />
Cost of production of 1750 copies... 70 o o<br />
Advertising 20 o o<br />
Agent 20 7 o<br />
Author 52 3 o<br />
162 10 o<br />
By sale of 1000 at 3*. 3^ 162 10 o<br />
i.e.—Royalty to the author, is. a, copy.<br />
Royalty to the bookseller, i*. 3</. a copy.<br />
Royalty to the agent, 5J. a copy.<br />
But, it may be objected, by such a method the<br />
newcomer would have no chance. Has he much<br />
chance now? Under this method the newcomer<br />
would take the advice of the Society's reader<br />
before becoming liable: it must be remembered<br />
that the liability which interested persons always<br />
represent as the whole cost of production, is<br />
nothing but the difference between the cost of<br />
production and the Jirst subscription. This<br />
difference, when booksellers recognise the agency<br />
and understand what it means, would speedily<br />
vanish.<br />
In addition to the machinery advised by " F. B.,"<br />
it is suggested that a small board, unpaid, of men<br />
and women of letters should decide what books<br />
should be taken by the agency. A business or<br />
publishing agency which admitted all books, good<br />
or bad, would very soon become a mere machinery<br />
for the production of any stuff for which the<br />
writer chose to pay. From the outset the agency<br />
must possess authority and command respect.<br />
Apart from the question of author and pub-<br />
lisher, the present methods of publishing are<br />
in many respects antiquated and mischievous.<br />
The method advocated is simple and easy. It<br />
could be started in a single day and perfected in<br />
a month, provided that a certain number—not a<br />
great many—of popular and successful writers<br />
would adopt the method. The figures given<br />
above are only tentative and approximate: in the<br />
case of writers having a very large circulation the<br />
authors' royalty would be, of course, much<br />
greater.<br />
This is only one answer to the question of " Do<br />
we want a Publisher?"<br />
The method proposed will sweep away the whole<br />
tribe of small publishers.<br />
There will remain, however, the solid houses.<br />
For instance, it is not conceivable that any body<br />
of scholars should of their own will unite in the<br />
production of an encyclopaedia; a dictionary of<br />
biography; a dictionary of antiquities; the estab-<br />
lishment of an illustrated magazine, or any series<br />
requiring thought, management, and care for<br />
arrangement and detail. These things require,<br />
first, the mind, which watches the requirements,<br />
demands, and fashions of the day; the organiser;<br />
the administrator. The method of publishing<br />
recommended by "F. B. " seems to me very good,<br />
and extremely simple. But it is not the only<br />
answer to the question.<br />
We do want a publisher, and must have a<br />
publisher, for vast fields of intellectual work<br />
which a publishing agency could only attack if<br />
it had a large reserve fund at its disposal. But<br />
for the contributor to the various departments of<br />
general literature a publishing agency, managed<br />
intelligently, would remove the whole of the fric-<br />
tion, suspicion, and jealousy which, it cannot be<br />
denied, now exists in the relations of author and<br />
publisher. W. B.<br />
II.—Another View.<br />
In the following paper is attempted a sober<br />
discussion of the relationship between authors<br />
and their public, eliminating on the one hand the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 145 (#571) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
145<br />
purely business speculations of large or small<br />
publishing houses, such as reprints, standard<br />
collections, encyclopaedias, dictionaries, and so<br />
forth, and on the other hand all contentious<br />
questions as to what relation the Society of<br />
Authors, or other official body, shall bear or shall<br />
not bear toward facilitating the path of literary<br />
beginners. And to clear the ground, a few intro-<br />
ductory remarks on the function of the publisher<br />
are necessary.<br />
The function is twofold. It is that of entre-<br />
preneur—undertaker, as the economists say; it is<br />
also that of agent pure and simple.<br />
As entrepreneur the position of the publisher<br />
is not only unassailable, it is essential. In other<br />
words, this is the legitimate branch of the<br />
publishing business. In the production of a<br />
"series " or set of "lives," it is a mere matter of<br />
supply and demand, a speculation in which the<br />
publisher contracts for his literary wares according<br />
to the quality he desires, and purveys them to<br />
the pubbc. No one is compelled to do this class<br />
of work except at his own price, and if A.'s<br />
repute makes it essential that he and he only<br />
should be intrusted with any particular division<br />
of it, A.'s price has to be paid. If, on the other<br />
hand, anyone can do the thing, it falls into the<br />
class of literary unskilled labour, and is paid for<br />
accordingly. No amount of grumbling will ever<br />
alter this. In work of this kind the initiative<br />
belongs to the publisher, and he is accordingly<br />
and rightly master of the situation.<br />
In the second division of the publisher's func-<br />
tion, that of agent, the initiative belongs to the<br />
author, and therefore he, and he only, should have<br />
control. Now, the real mischief is that the pub-<br />
lisher always, the public generally, and the author<br />
often, allow the vast difference between these<br />
two very diverse functions of the publisher to<br />
drop out of sight. Add that few, we fear very<br />
few, literary people have the least idea of the<br />
most ordinary business transactions, and the<br />
spectacle of the publisher as autocrat need arouse<br />
no surprise. It is the working of this function<br />
that we propose to examine.<br />
Having defined the subject of our paper as<br />
dealing with books initiated by the author and<br />
written by him at his own proper charge, we<br />
arrive at the necessity for a fresh division of what<br />
is after all a very large subject.<br />
We have to consider (1) books written by<br />
authors of sufficient means to pay the real<br />
expense of printing and advertising them, and (2)<br />
books written by less fortunate authors who<br />
cannot bear any expenses whatever. There will<br />
be of course a few who are able to pay a certain<br />
sum towards cost of production, but for the<br />
purposes of the argument we will classify these<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
under the second heading and treat them as (pro-<br />
ductively) insolvent.<br />
Let us consider the second category first. It is<br />
to be feared that for persons thus situated no<br />
drastic remedies can possibly be devised. Con-<br />
sider that almost everyone above a certain level<br />
is, in these days, capable of writing a book of<br />
some sort, just as everyone is able to daub a<br />
canvas, and set piano wires vibrating on some<br />
kind of preconcerted plan. It is the average<br />
talent that is thus seeking to perpetuate its<br />
existence. But it is unfortunately the average<br />
achievement that is of no earthly interest to any-<br />
body, and only those things can possibly attract<br />
attention which contain the element of progress,<br />
lifting us out of the old ruts on to the ridges, and<br />
permitting a new survey from that vantage<br />
ground.<br />
It is quite clear that the impecunious author must<br />
offer himself to the publisher—the publisher, be it<br />
remembered, operating in his first and legitimate<br />
function, the publisher as entrepreneur. And it is<br />
unfortunately equally clear that here the stern<br />
and inflexible maxims of commercial business<br />
will operate. In risky transactions the success-<br />
ful ones have to pay for the unsuccessful. That<br />
is no fault of the publisher. Were he a thing of<br />
iron and steel, a merepenny-in-the-slot mechanism,<br />
he could not be expected to give out more than he<br />
got in. And besides, the publisher works neither<br />
for hope nor glory—he wants dividends. There<br />
is little advantage to him if a book has high<br />
literary merit but lacks sale. Such things we<br />
believe have been known. He gains no renown.<br />
On the other hand, the author stands to profit<br />
largely by such a contretemps. Directly by kudos,<br />
indirectly possibly by work, which he would<br />
otherwise have lacked.<br />
We have desired to do justice to the publisher.<br />
It is to be feared many persons not only mix the<br />
two distinct functions we have referred to, but<br />
import into the question a very debateable and<br />
wholly foreign thing, viz., the desirability of pro-<br />
viding some kind of "foundation" whereby<br />
talented and deserving authors may have their<br />
first works subsidised.<br />
In the July Author, the letter of "E. W. H."<br />
furnishes us with an example of this. He wishes<br />
to see a most portentous phenomenon—an<br />
academy, a literary publishing company, limited,<br />
and a censorship pledged to "raise the tone of<br />
English literature —all in one. This is a large<br />
order.<br />
It is most desirable that all such schemes for<br />
stimulating the production of literature be left<br />
out of account in the discussion of the vexed<br />
question of the relations between Author and<br />
Publisher. It may be desirable to adopt the<br />
o 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 146 (#572) ############################################<br />
<br />
146<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
principle of the Prize Essay; it would be very<br />
feasible if only some philanthropic person would<br />
provide the funds; but it is utterly beside any<br />
question arising out of publishing considered as a<br />
serious business.<br />
We are, therefore, regretfully compelled to<br />
leave the unfledged author (with his pile of<br />
manuscript which he lacks means to put into<br />
print) diffidently seated in the awful presence of<br />
the Publisher operating as entrepreneur, and the<br />
best we can do for him—is to wish him success.<br />
• * » • #<br />
If we have hitherto been genially inclined<br />
towards the publisher, and have even mentioned<br />
the word "justice " in connection with his deeds,<br />
it is only because we have not yet considered the<br />
case of those authors able and willing to finance<br />
their own works, and requiring the publisher's<br />
assistance only in his second function—-that of<br />
agent.<br />
We may say at once that there appears to be in<br />
this direction room for sharp and drastic altera-<br />
tion of existing relationships.<br />
It is a very fundamental principle, not of pub-<br />
lishing only, but of most other things also, that<br />
"he who pays the piper has a right to call the<br />
tune." But when it conies to publishing books,<br />
it appears that the author is expected to pay and<br />
be thankful that the "house condescends to<br />
accept his money. This is no personal experience<br />
of our own; it is based upon facts accessible to<br />
everybody—the publications of the Society and<br />
the very interesting little histories they contain.<br />
Enough, however, of recrimination, which, though<br />
pleasant and helpful to the intellect, can easily be<br />
overdone, perhaps has already been overdone. The<br />
point is, what is the remedy?<br />
We will first collect the facts pertaining to the<br />
average production of a book, initiated by its<br />
author, and waiting in MS. form to be offered to<br />
the public.<br />
It will readily be allowed that the details of<br />
printing and binding are purely mechanical, and<br />
that the real crux of the problem is reached<br />
when the green and gold volumes stand in the<br />
printer's (or the binder's) warehouse at the<br />
disposal of the person who has paid for them.<br />
Those volumes have to gain the attention of the<br />
reviewers, and not only of the reviewers, but of<br />
the public; they have to be distributed through-<br />
out the kingdom, perhaps throughout the world,<br />
to the public; they have to be paid for by the<br />
public, and by more or less indirect channels the<br />
amount so paid has to be collected by the author.<br />
Not so simple a matter after all.<br />
It is manitlnit that the author, even were he<br />
willing, cannot hawk his own wares. He must,<br />
at every stage mentioned above, avail himself of<br />
the services of other persons, which services will<br />
have to be paid for. But the question at once<br />
suggests itself—shall he pay exorbitantly for<br />
those services; shall he, for the sake of those<br />
services, part with all right and control over his<br />
own property, or shall he establish a state of<br />
things by which those services shall bear a recog-<br />
nised and constant and modest market value, and<br />
himself be the sole person to benefit by any<br />
exceptional favour shown by the public to his<br />
work.<br />
In our opinion the author who is in a position<br />
to finance his own output has entire mastery of<br />
the situation, and is himself to blame if he<br />
allows others to make speculative profits to his<br />
detriment.<br />
He can effect this desirable change in one of<br />
two ways—by forming a healthy public opinion,<br />
by helping to establish a compact body of prece-<br />
dents, and thus entrench his position relatively<br />
to the existing publishing fraternity: in other<br />
words by consulting with and supporting the<br />
Society of Authors before and during every<br />
negotiation he undertakes, until the various ideals<br />
striven for have become matters of course, and<br />
this is perhaps, though the least heroic, the most<br />
obviously practical way; or he can originate or<br />
assist in originating a new organisation for reach-<br />
ing the public.<br />
By this we mean the establishment of a pub-<br />
lishing centre, whose business shall be entirely<br />
confined to publishing the works of its members<br />
at a fixed percentage on cost, or, more accurately,<br />
on receipts.<br />
Nothing whatever stands in the way of such<br />
an establishment. There is no mystery, no<br />
masonic secret in the art and craft of publishing<br />
that a competent man familiar with its ins and<br />
outs cannot be secured at a fair remuneration to<br />
undertake those details of business which, as we<br />
have said, no author can with any possibility, or<br />
at least with any regard to dignity, do for him-<br />
self? We speak, it is true, without knowledge<br />
of the inner life of publishing, but having had<br />
a somewhat varied experience of commercial<br />
affairs, it appears to us inconceivable that it<br />
should be unlike all other businesses, without<br />
energy and talent of management ready to be<br />
engaged by any holder of a sufficiently long<br />
purse.<br />
To deal a death-blow to the whole system of<br />
demands for transfer of copyrights, of exorbi-<br />
tant charges for printing, of inordinate and<br />
useless expenditure in advertising, is a very<br />
simple matter. It requires only a little courage.<br />
It requires only that a few, perhaps a very few,<br />
authors of repute shall countenance the forma-<br />
tion of a Trust on business lines, and shall con-<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 147 (#573) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
sent to serve on its committee or directorate, in<br />
the face of the world. There must be many<br />
persons, probably very many, who desire to<br />
publish their works at their own expense, could<br />
they be assured that the working of such a<br />
Publishing Centre would be above suspicion, and<br />
would, on the other hand, not be regarded as an<br />
eccentric and doubtfully "respectable " avenue of<br />
publicity.<br />
As a business speculation it would undoubtedly<br />
pay well. The records of the Society show that.<br />
There would be fewer victims. If no good were<br />
done, at least no harm would be done, to the<br />
interests of those who would have otherwise<br />
fallen into the clutches of the greedier type of<br />
publisher.<br />
But such an undertaking must be a business<br />
oue, ran on business lines. There must be no<br />
Utopian ideas about publishing works of genius<br />
by unknown writers. In fact, no risks whatever<br />
must be undertaken, either from the experienced<br />
or the unexperienced author.<br />
Such a Trust would not in any sense supersede<br />
or render superfluous the work of the Society.<br />
On the contrary, however eminent the sponsors,<br />
however experienced the management, the lynx-<br />
eye of the Society should watch over its proceed-<br />
ings with as zealous care as if it were a publisher<br />
strongly suspected of impending bankruptcy.<br />
The Society is and should remain a regulating<br />
agency, no suspicion of other motives (pace<br />
"E. W. H." and others) should be allowed for a<br />
moment to sully its 'scutcheon. As well the<br />
Royal Society start a manufactory of microscopes!<br />
We are advocating no impracticable system of<br />
"co-operation." Co-operation as applied to the<br />
selling of cheese and the wholesale handling of<br />
tea is a great success, but it is a co-operation of<br />
consumers and not of producers. Indeed, for our<br />
purpose it is not essential that the capital required<br />
be held by literary persons at all. It is only<br />
necessary that it be countenanced by them, and,<br />
broadly speaking, supervised by some of them. As<br />
a matter of business the organising of a publish-<br />
ing Trust on the lines indicated would not be a<br />
difficult undertaking if set about in something like<br />
the following way.<br />
Seven or more persons, being authors of repute,<br />
meet and mutually agree to form a public com-<br />
pany for the publication of their own and others'<br />
works.<br />
They draw up or adopt a prospectus setting<br />
forth the objects of the Trust, which they declare<br />
to be as follows:—<br />
(i) The engagement of a competent and expe-<br />
rienced manager, familiar with the publishing<br />
trade, to undertake the business management of<br />
the Trust's affairs.<br />
(2) The production, i.e., printing, binding, Ac.,<br />
of the works of authors who are willing to pay in<br />
cash for the work done, such printing, &c.f to be<br />
given out by the Trust to competent tradesmen by<br />
tender in the usual way, and the cost price—the<br />
actual net cost price, free of all rebates, dis-<br />
counts, and allowances—charged against the<br />
author.<br />
(3) The advertising of the author's work on an<br />
estimated scale to be previously agreed on with<br />
him (with the same provision as to net cost and<br />
cash payments by the author).<br />
(4) The introduction to the retail trade and<br />
Press (by the usual recognised methods) of the<br />
author's work, the coat of such introduction being<br />
charged against the author as a fixed percentage<br />
on the transaction.<br />
(5) The collection of moneys and the crediting<br />
of same to the author.<br />
(6) The author to pay to the Trust a fixed per-<br />
centage on receipts for its services.<br />
(7) The stringent limitation of the Trust's<br />
business to the publishing of works whose authors<br />
are able to pay in advance for the work to be<br />
done, or furnish approved guarantees for the said<br />
payment. It should not be competent for the<br />
Trust to undertake any business whatever of a<br />
speculative character.<br />
Thus far for the Trust. It is clear that pro-<br />
vided a sufficient number of works be published<br />
through its agency, it would be a financial success.<br />
But in consideration of the special purpose of the<br />
organisation, and to exclude the speculative com-<br />
mercial spirit as far as may be from its councils,<br />
two useful principles might be worked into its<br />
constitution. It should not be competent for it<br />
to pay bonus or dividend exceeding, say, 7 per cent.,<br />
nor to increase its management expenses beyond a<br />
certain percentage of turnover.<br />
And the author. How would he benefit? 1st, by<br />
retaining absolute control over his own productions;<br />
2nd, by an increased revenue from his work. And<br />
the effect of this control and increased value<br />
would reach favourably over the whole field of<br />
literary work. Did he desire to sell outright, and<br />
realise at once the prospective profits, the market<br />
price of such a "deal" would be affected in his<br />
favour by the increase in average profits that would<br />
thus have come to him.<br />
Yet we believe that the financial is the least<br />
important side of the question. Literature would<br />
gain a new freedom and a new dignity by shaking<br />
off the shackles of commercialism that at present<br />
have it strongly in grip. Not only the strong<br />
and prosperous would benefit, but many would<br />
be lifted out of the ranks of dependents into that<br />
of masters of their own work.<br />
When this reform shall have been carried out<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 148 (#574) ############################################<br />
<br />
148<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
it will bo time to consider the bitter cry of<br />
impecunious genius, and how best it can be assisted<br />
on to the ladder of fame.<br />
In this paper, already too long, the test of all<br />
theories, i.e., figures, cannot be gone into. In<br />
a future article, if the Editor is willing, the<br />
practical details of such a Trust can be threshed<br />
out.<br />
But it would be an interesting thing if those of<br />
the readers of The Author who would be prepared<br />
to support such an institution by publishing<br />
through it on the terms suggested would write to<br />
the Editor and say so. By this means the<br />
amount of support the scheme would receive may<br />
be tentatively gauged.<br />
We suggest that each reader of The Author<br />
ask himself this question:<br />
"Were a Trust instituted, the workings of which<br />
(freely open to the Society's inspection) tcere<br />
recognised to be abore suspicion, and whose entry<br />
into the icorld tcere to be countenanced by men of<br />
rejmtation, should I, in that case, be in a position<br />
to place my work in its hands, pay for the cost of<br />
production and advertising, and receive all the<br />
proceeds, less a percentage for the Trust's trouble."<br />
And when each reader has answered this<br />
question to his own satisfaction, let him embody<br />
that answer in a succinct phrase, and send it on a<br />
post-card to the Editor. N. C.<br />
NEW YORE LETTER.<br />
New York, Oct. 16.<br />
THE second volume of the " Literary History<br />
of the American Revolution" has just<br />
been published by the Putnams. Like the<br />
first volume, it gives a mass of information of<br />
the most interesting kind about the intellectual<br />
and artistic activities of our country at a time<br />
when it was most alive to real subjects. One<br />
who has any interest in the Revolution or in the<br />
origin of American literature should read the<br />
whole book; but if one were picking out the<br />
most salient poiuts he might call attention to<br />
Sam Adams, the character who counted for so<br />
much during his life, and was so much in the<br />
shade a little while after. Adams, although he<br />
wrote with correctness and distinction, had his<br />
greatest influence through the action of his mind<br />
on his contemporaries, but the historical tendency<br />
of the day is restoring him to his former im-<br />
portance. Tom Paine, the most remarkable pure<br />
journalist of the time, who seemed to voice the<br />
very feelings of the people from day to day, is<br />
another exceptionally interesting figure; and the<br />
poet Freneau, the first genuine poet of American<br />
democracy, stands out vividly. The production!<br />
of a certain number of dramatic works, both<br />
by the loyalists and by the Tories, is an enter-<br />
taining episode of the times. By the way, the<br />
most interesting dramatic success of the present<br />
season in this country, is that of Richard<br />
Mansfield in George Bernard Shaw's play<br />
of the American Revolution. Everybody goes to<br />
see it. and everybody comes away somewhat<br />
baffled. The general feeling is one of satisfac-<br />
tion, which promises that the drama will hold<br />
American interest for a long time. Of course^<br />
the principal ideas in the play deal with human<br />
nature in its general aspects, but the two quali-<br />
ties of the American character, a love of praise<br />
for this country and a love of fair play, are so<br />
cleverly mixed up by Mr. Shaw with his alternate<br />
raps at the British and the Americans, that the-<br />
national element does count for something in the<br />
attractions of the play. As for Mr. Mansfield,<br />
it has always been something of a puzzle to many<br />
of his admirers that there seems to be no more<br />
interest in him in England than there is. Nobody<br />
in America can compete with him along his line<br />
of subtle critical characterisation, and the general<br />
feeling of dramatic experts that he is the first<br />
American actor in rank—at least if an exception<br />
be made of Joe Jefferson, who is so near the end<br />
of his career—is founded on a good deal of<br />
undoubted truth.<br />
In connection with this subject of patriotism,<br />
an interesting occurrence of the last few weeks<br />
may be mentioned. Three English poets were to<br />
be put among a list of names in the new Con-<br />
gressional Library at Washington, and the large<br />
Irish societies of this country fought hard to have<br />
Tom Moore among them. He was finally excluded<br />
upon the the ground that he once made a bitter<br />
attack on Thomas Jefferson.<br />
Houghton, Mifflin, and Co. have on their list of<br />
fall books some essays by Charles William Eliot,<br />
the President of Harvard University, who writes<br />
about American affairs, especially in their educa-<br />
tional, sociological, and political aspects, with the-<br />
authority of long and careful observation, in a.<br />
strong and simple style. Another Harvard pro-<br />
duction of interest, to the specialist at least, is a<br />
new edition, in five volumes, of Professor Child's<br />
great ten-volume work on English ballads. A<br />
limited edition of the last volume is to be pub-<br />
lished by itself in gorgeous form.<br />
The new firm of Doubleday and McChire has.<br />
started a device which seems to bring the pub-<br />
lishing business still nearer daily journalism.<br />
Upon the temporary paper cover of some of their<br />
books is printed a synopsis of the contents,<br />
intended to let the casual wanderer in the book-<br />
store decide whether he cares to purchase the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 149 (#575) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
149<br />
work. Most of our newspapers now publish<br />
serial stories, in which each chapter is preceded<br />
by an abstract of everything that has gone<br />
before.<br />
McClure and Munsey in their new book-pub-<br />
lishing ventures, as well as in their magazines,<br />
illustrate the truth of Mr. Steffen's article,<br />
referred to in my last letter; they have jumped<br />
for a vacant field. Munsey goes frankly for the<br />
greatest number, without any pretence of refine-<br />
ment—in fact, with a rather aggressive declara-<br />
tion that he does not want to be coloured by any<br />
literary tastes. The McClure Company, on the<br />
other hand, are trying to give the people as much<br />
literary quality as they can without reducing<br />
their sales. At the other end of the gamut in<br />
periodical literature stands the Atlantic Monthly,<br />
which, in its last number, celebrated its fortieth<br />
anniversary, and declared that it should stand<br />
hereafter, as it has stood in the past, for literature<br />
pure and simple, and no considerations would<br />
turn it from that path.<br />
The new venture in England, Literature, is<br />
looked upon with much interest here, but the<br />
business man's point of view—that is the point<br />
of view of the practical publisher or business<br />
manager—is that the magazine is entering a field<br />
in which in this country the Nation is impregnable.<br />
The Nation, which stands as high here as<br />
anything of the kind could, not only treats<br />
literature in much the indiscriminating and<br />
severe way which Mr. Traill promises, but has<br />
the additional appeal of political interest: yet its<br />
circulation is less than ten thousand, mainly in<br />
the colleges, libraries, and clubs. There could<br />
not be a more distinct issue than that which is<br />
presented to-day between the temptation to this<br />
kind of success and those larger possibilities<br />
which lie in an appeal to the common people. It<br />
is by no means true that the most cultivated<br />
persons are all on the side of the exclusive and<br />
severe kind of criticism. One reviewer in New<br />
York, of very high standing as a professor of<br />
English, has recently sarcastically dismissed the<br />
Atlantic Monthly from very serious considera-<br />
tion, on the ground that literature was so much<br />
smaller than life. He much prefers Harper's and<br />
the Century and Scribncr's, which aim at the<br />
heart of the Philistine. It seems to me, however,<br />
that the representative quality of these publica-<br />
tions is lacking in vital interest. If you are<br />
going to mirror the interests of the people in-<br />
discriminately, a daily newspaper is a more<br />
faithful engine, and I for one do not see what<br />
the magazine of 300,000 circulation is worth as a<br />
half-way step between the newspaper and real<br />
literature.<br />
Mr. Bret Harte in an article this month makes<br />
a point which might seem in conflict with this<br />
position, but of course is not; for to put into real<br />
literary form what should have a strong and<br />
lasting interest for the simple man is an entirely<br />
different matter, and one of the highest objects<br />
that a writer can aim at. Mr. Harte says: "We<br />
may wish him to know of what our hero is<br />
thinking—he only cares for what he is doing; we<br />
may—more fatal error !—wish him to know of<br />
what we are thinking—and he calmly skips! We<br />
may scatter the flowers of our fancy in his way;<br />
like the old fox hunter in the story, he only hates<br />
'them stinkin' vi'lets' that lead him off the<br />
scent we have started. Action! Movement! He<br />
only seeks these, until the climax is 'run down,'"<br />
The Saturday Berieic,s attack on Bret Harte, in<br />
which he was charged with carelessness and<br />
insincerity, opens an interesting question which<br />
is far from decided; but whether Mr. Harte has<br />
reached the end of his gamut or not, he has left<br />
American literature something that few writers of<br />
his generation can equal.<br />
The most popular books during the last<br />
summer have in them some rather interest-<br />
ing facts. It will be seen that the Am>-rican<br />
literary jingo has some reason for satisfac-<br />
tion, as American books occupy so much larger<br />
place than those of any other country. The<br />
old wail about the English novelist having two<br />
fields and the American novelist only one has been<br />
raised again, the writer saying that Mark Twain,<br />
Mary Wilkins, and Bret Harte, with perhaps two<br />
or three others, are the only Americans known in<br />
England; but the demand for fiction about local<br />
subjects is so strong here now, that if any writer<br />
does not get a good circulation for a story, it<br />
simply means that he has not been equal to the<br />
thousand untaken opportunities offered by the<br />
present American conditions. This writer, by<br />
the way, says that the royalties in this country<br />
average from ten to twenty per cent.<br />
The assets of the firm of Stone and Kimball are<br />
in the hands of the sheriff. It should be noticed<br />
that this firm is really Mr. Kimball's, Mr. Stone<br />
having set up his own firm of H. S. Stone and<br />
Co. in Chicago some time ago, and being<br />
extremely solvent.<br />
The question about the importation of books<br />
which has been raised here is set at rest by the<br />
following official answer from Washington to a<br />
private letter: "In reply to your letter of the<br />
27th inst., I have to state that a book printed in<br />
a foreign language, with the exception of the<br />
title-page and the preface, is not exempt from<br />
duty, such book not being printed exclusively in<br />
a language other than English, as prescribed in<br />
paragraph 502 of the Act of July 24, 1897."<br />
Norman Hapqood.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 150 (#576) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
NOTES AND NEWS.<br />
ATTENTION is very earnestly invited to the<br />
report of the sub-committee appointed to<br />
consider the question of educational<br />
publications. Headers are especially entreated<br />
to place their report in the nands of educa-<br />
tional writers, and the latter are urged to<br />
place themselves in the hands of the secre-<br />
tary, and to submit to him a statement of<br />
their own agreements and their results. The<br />
report has been prepared after a long and careful<br />
investigation into all the facts that could be<br />
obtained. The committee will be very grateful<br />
for any additional information. This branch of<br />
literature is, from a business point of view, the<br />
most important of any. It rests with educational<br />
writers themselves whether they will follow up<br />
the lines of action indicated in the report. They<br />
may reckon upon every assistance possible from<br />
the committee. .<br />
The first number—by this time, the second<br />
number—of Literature is in everybody's hands,<br />
and is under discussion everywhere among those<br />
who write and those who read. The importance,<br />
to the former class, of a paper wholly devoted<br />
to literature and t-qual to its responsibility<br />
cannot be overrated, while to the greater class<br />
of those who read, such a paper ought to prove of<br />
inestimable value as a guide and counsellor.<br />
There is a third class: those who write reviews.<br />
For this class, which contains a great number of<br />
persons absolutely incompetent to write, criticism<br />
simply means not even a question of liking a book<br />
or not, but a chance of saying something smart.<br />
They know no canons: they have no standards:<br />
they are ignorant of the subject on which they<br />
write: a few of them are absolutely untruthful. If,<br />
for instance, one of the latter tribe reads these<br />
lines, he will be impelled to sit down and say that I<br />
call all reviewers ignorant and incompetent. That<br />
is the kind of falsehood which he always delights to<br />
write down. I am in hopes that this new paper,<br />
which has time to prepare its judgments, and<br />
can confide the work to competent hands, will act<br />
as a model and a standard, and will put a stop to<br />
some at least of the slipshod, spiteful and inaccu-<br />
rate stuff which we have to read in some papers.<br />
A leading article—the first by Mr. Augustine<br />
Birrell—on some literary subject: reviews and<br />
criticisms: a poem—this time by Mr. Rudyard<br />
Kipling: and the bibliography of some subject:<br />
this is the table of contents of Literature. For<br />
my own part, I am sorry to see no space devoted<br />
to correspondence. I am always of opinion that<br />
correspondence is a most important part of<br />
English journalism. In America there is little or<br />
none. By means of correspondence the world hears<br />
the opinion of specialists: the writers on the staff<br />
have the subject presented to them from every<br />
point of view: the judgment of the paper is<br />
deferred until it has been so presented: the paper<br />
is kept in touch with its readers. Where there is<br />
no correspondence, there must be authority: if<br />
there is no authority, the paper is naught. The<br />
old Saturday Review, for instance, had no corre-<br />
spondence. Its influence, therefore, was measured<br />
by the authority it commanded: the belief in the<br />
wisdom of an anonymous staff. Great as that<br />
authority at one time undoubtedly was, the paper<br />
never got the same hold of its readers as the<br />
Spectator with its columns of correspondence.<br />
It is from the letters in the Times—letters on all<br />
possible subjects, letters written by the greatest<br />
authorities and specialists—that its readers are<br />
mostly instructed; and, of course, the same thing<br />
must be said of other papers.<br />
Literature may do well as an anonymous, in-<br />
dependent organ, with an amount of authority,<br />
like that of the Saturday, measured by the<br />
general belief in the capacity and the integrity of<br />
the staff. On the other hand, the interests of<br />
literature are many: opinions vary on all kinds of<br />
points: will the paper be silent on these points?<br />
Consider the variety of topics always coming<br />
before our own paper, which takes charge of one<br />
side of literature only—what certain interested<br />
persons call the sordid side. There are the group<br />
of questions connected with copyright: trans-<br />
lation: magazines: play writing: novel writing:<br />
education: lectures: the various methods of pub-<br />
lishing: what is meant by royalties: the tricks<br />
and traps of the crafty: how to meet the tricks,<br />
and avoid the traps—one could go on for columns.<br />
If so much has to be said on the business side of<br />
literature, there will be as much on the purely<br />
literary side. For instance, there are the relations<br />
of editor and author: these want a great deal<br />
more examination and discussion than they have<br />
received. That is only one point. The rela-<br />
tions of literature to the public libraries: the<br />
distribution and dissemination of books: the<br />
introduction of standards: the share that poetry<br />
ought to take in education and reading—there<br />
are a thousand subjects of the deepest interest.<br />
Let us hope that in time the new paper may take<br />
the lead, with authority, in considering these and<br />
all other questions which affect the welfare of<br />
Literature and her followers.<br />
No anecdote in the Memoir of Tennyson has been more<br />
quoted than Mr. Aubrey de Vere's story of the three<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 151 (#577) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
judgments on Bums delivered to himself in the course of<br />
a single day by judges no leBS eminent than Wordsworth,<br />
Tennyson, and Sir Henry Taylor, and their amusing mutual<br />
oontradiotoriness. Tennyson forgave " those stupid things,<br />
Burns's serious pieces," for the sake of the exquisite songs,<br />
perfect as a berry, radiant as a dewdrop. Wordsworth<br />
forgave " those foolish little amatory songs " for the sake of<br />
his " Berious efforts, suoh as ' The Cotter's Saturday Night.'"<br />
To Sir Henry Taylor both songs and serious efforts wero<br />
alike tedious and disagreeable reading. We venture to<br />
suggest that gentlemen like Sir Walter Besant, who are<br />
scandalised because all the reviewers do not agree about a<br />
new book, should ponder the moral of this story. These<br />
three oritios, at all events, were not men who had failed. Why,<br />
indeed, more uniformity should be demanded in literary<br />
oritioism than in philosophy, politios, and religion, one<br />
cannot quite see, especially as questions of taste are<br />
proverbially disputable.<br />
The above paragraph is taken from the St.<br />
James's Gazette of Oct. 23. Surely the conclu-<br />
sion to be drawn is not that drawn by the writer.<br />
He presents us with three critics contradicting<br />
each other. Now, a man may be a very fine poet<br />
and a very bad critic. Of these three, two were<br />
poets of the first rank: one a poet of a much<br />
lower rank. What are the poems of which they<br />
spoke? They are written in one branch of the<br />
many Scottish dialects—I believe I am right in<br />
thinking that the country people of the east of<br />
Scotland speak a tongue that is in many respects<br />
different from that of the west. However, they<br />
are in a dialect of which about 20 per cent, of<br />
the words have to be explained in a footnote<br />
for English readers. Is there any other reason<br />
wanted to account for the fact that three<br />
English readers have arrived at three different<br />
conclusions? If the three readers had taken<br />
the pains to master the language, they would<br />
not have arrived at conclusions so contradic-<br />
tory. I am quite sure that one to whom<br />
the Burns language has been familiar from<br />
childhood reads his verse with a joy and<br />
an appreciation which cannot be felt by one<br />
who has to "look out" the words. That is<br />
the true moral of the story. The writer says that<br />
"these three critics, at all events, were not men<br />
who had failed." The true critic, the man who<br />
brings to his work learning, reading, and canons<br />
of criticism; who is quick to appreciate; slow to<br />
depreciate; and abhors the criticaster's tricks, is<br />
never a man who has failed. Quite the contrary:<br />
he is a man who has succeeded. Again, true<br />
criticism is not a question of taste. And it is<br />
impossible—perfectly impossible—for a book to<br />
be charged by two critics with possessing qualities<br />
absolutely opposite. And the chief reason why<br />
criticism is so bad, and judgments so irreconcil-<br />
able, is that criticism is regarded as a " question<br />
of taste." It is very much to be desired that one<br />
of the very few living masters of criticism would<br />
VOL VIII.<br />
give the world such a treatise on the subject as<br />
would convince some of the young gentlemen who<br />
tackle literature with so light a heart that there is<br />
very much more in the "Gay Science" than the<br />
question of how they like a book—or the author.<br />
One reason why I welcome the new venture is the<br />
hope that Literature will become an example and<br />
a model of what modern criticism should be. And<br />
I beg the above-named young gentlemen to<br />
resist the temptation—I own it is strong—to<br />
abuse me for saying that there is no criticism in<br />
our papers. Because that would not be true.<br />
The real critic, one must add, is careful not to<br />
misrepresent, not to overstate, never to set<br />
down, in a word, a thing which is not true.<br />
I should like to call attention to what seems to<br />
me a new dodge, and one that ought to be put<br />
down at the outset. An unknown person sends<br />
to a man or woman of letters a request for an<br />
answer to some question—it matters not of<br />
what nature, frivolous or ostensibly serious.<br />
He requests that the answer mav be written on<br />
an inclosed card and forwarded to him The<br />
question is always something in general terms,<br />
on the face of it made up for the purpose, and<br />
evidently invented to cover the dodge of getting<br />
a large number of signed opinions out of<br />
persons more or less popular for some private<br />
purpose of the writer. I believe in some cases<br />
it means only autographs which may be after-<br />
wards sold; in other cases it means an album of<br />
opinions which may afterwards be sold. In some<br />
cases it may mean only a collection of opinions<br />
or autographs for private use. I venture to<br />
recommend that recipients of these documents<br />
put them at once, and without replying, into the<br />
wastepaper basket.<br />
The bookstalls along the quays of France—<br />
the quays of the "other" side, are going to be<br />
swept away, This is very sad. How many<br />
delightful mornings and afternoons have we all<br />
spent among those boxes where the books were<br />
laid out to catch the eye of the purchaser! How<br />
many retired professors, dilapidated scholars, and<br />
eager book-hunters will lose the principal occu-<br />
pation of their lives! Where will they go, the<br />
secondhand—the third and fourth hand—book-<br />
sellers? I fear we cannot invite them over here,<br />
otherwise the Thames Embankment cries aloud<br />
for the booksellers' boxes, but so far cries in<br />
vain. oio<br />
There seems to be a feeling in the minds of<br />
many that they ought to put on a show of indig-<br />
nation at what is called selling literature by the<br />
thousand words. The imagination is called upon<br />
p<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 152 (#578) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
to create the effigies of an author counting his<br />
words and running up the value by the introduc-<br />
tion of a thousand words here and a thousand<br />
there. It is all part, they mournfully declare, of<br />
the spirit of sordid greed which has seized upon<br />
writers of all kinds, and especially writers of<br />
fiction. The indignation iB entirely wasted, for<br />
the simple reason that it is the publisher or the<br />
editor who speaks of MSS. as of so many thousand<br />
words, not the author at all, unless it is put to<br />
him in that way. The question of length is<br />
always, and must always be, of very great impor-<br />
tance to publisher or editor. In the case of a<br />
book the main thing to find out before a pub-<br />
lisher finally decides to bring it out, is the length<br />
it will make. He used to measure the length by<br />
sheets, and now, in some cases at least, he<br />
measures it by the thousand words. In the case<br />
of an article for a magazine, it is still more neces-<br />
sary to ascertain the length, because a magazine<br />
can only afford so many pages for the paper.<br />
Now, many writers, unpractised writers, have no<br />
knowledge at all of the connection between<br />
printed sheets and written sheets. It is, however<br />
perfectly easy for anyone to understand that his<br />
page of writing makes so many words, and that<br />
there are so many words in a page of the maga-<br />
zine. So that there is nothing sordid at all<br />
about an author counting his words, but, on the<br />
contrary, the action is necessary and a part of the<br />
business of literary work. Do the indignant<br />
moralists mean that a writer is to set down his<br />
thoughts, or to spin his story, without the least<br />
reference to the form in which it is to appear?<br />
But there is another side to the question. The<br />
writer is paid, they say, by the thousand words.<br />
Formerly he was paid by the sheet, and in the<br />
last century a guinea a sheet was the common<br />
rate of pay. Twenty years ago he was paid by<br />
the page—generally a pound a page; he is still<br />
paid by the page by some of the magazines, by<br />
others he is paid by the thousand words. I can-<br />
not, for the life of me, understand what it<br />
matters. For instance, I was invited some time<br />
ago to contribute to the pages of the Illustrated<br />
London News a story which should run three<br />
months. The editor meant, and he knew that I<br />
meant, written instalments, each varying in<br />
length from 6000 to 7000 words. He was not<br />
going to count the words, nor was I, because I<br />
knew very well how many pages of my writing,<br />
more or less, without actual counting, would be<br />
wanted. I mean that I was allowed just so<br />
much space, more or less, as would not reduce me<br />
to the necessity of counting. Another personal<br />
experience. I was invited to write a story by<br />
another editor, who said, simply, "I want it about<br />
so many thousand words." Again, he is not<br />
going to count the words, nor am I. Now, I ask<br />
what difference it makes whether, as in the one<br />
case, the editor wants so many instalments, and<br />
says so: or whether, as in the other case, the<br />
editor wants so many thousand words, and says<br />
so. Oh! but it is sordid to sell by the space.<br />
Is it? Then it is sordid for a barrister to take<br />
a larger fee for a long case than a short case.<br />
It is sordid for a doctor to charge by the visit.<br />
It is sordid i to be paid by the column: by the<br />
page: by the sheet. It is sordid, in fact, to be<br />
paid at all. And this old assumption is at the<br />
bottom of the whole talk. It is sordid to be paid<br />
at all. _____<br />
This silly prejudice is a survival of the old<br />
feeling that it does not become a gentleman to<br />
take money for anything except rents first, and<br />
official salary next. Lord Lyttelton inarches into<br />
Dodsley's shop and presents him with his "Life<br />
of Henry II." Horace Walpole despises the<br />
author who is paid. Lord Byron, at first, is<br />
ashamed of taking money. Therefore we are<br />
to be ashamed of taking money, though we live<br />
by our pens: we are to talk about sordidness of<br />
authors' gains, while we grab at every farthing<br />
we can get. There was a pretence, formerly, that<br />
every lady drove out to a dinner party in her<br />
own carriage: nobody owned to a cab. There was<br />
formerly a pretence that no gentleman could carry<br />
anything in his hand: nobody would own to<br />
not having a man servant. There was formerly a<br />
pretence that it was degrading to write for the<br />
press: nobody would own to such a practice.<br />
These pretences are gone off to the distaut past:<br />
they are almost invisible. Is it not time to leave<br />
off talking about the sordidness of looking after<br />
our own affairs? To be sure the prejudice<br />
has so far retreated that it lingers now almost<br />
altogether among those whose affairs are not<br />
worth looking after. There is no one so keen<br />
to the necessity of preserving literature from<br />
any taint of commercialism as those who by no<br />
possible efforts of their own can bring their<br />
writings within the domain of commerciahsm.<br />
Some months ago I called attention in these<br />
columns to a very dastardly outrage committed<br />
upon Mr. Robert Sherard. Some person unknown,<br />
he complained, had been amusing himself with<br />
writing letters in his name, that is to say, pre-<br />
tending to be signed by him, to editors and pro-<br />
prietors of papers, abusing and threatening<br />
violence. This annoyance ceased for a time, and<br />
has again commenced. The manager of a certain<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 153 (#579) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
newspaper syndicate has written to Mr. Sherard<br />
expostulating with him on a letter " from him"<br />
addressed to editors of papers in the North of<br />
England, and the editor of the Referee has<br />
received a letter signed "Robert Sherard"<br />
threatening to horsewhip him. The only way to<br />
meet a practice such as the above is a warning<br />
advertised extensively, with the offer of a reward.<br />
The poet who flatters himself that he has erected<br />
a monument more lasting than brass, may be<br />
reminded that his monument is made of paper,<br />
and that the paper now used is warranted to<br />
crumble to dust within a certain very limited<br />
period. The authority for this terrible warning<br />
is Mr. MacAlister, the hon. secretary of the<br />
Library Association, who curdled the blood<br />
of his hearers at the meeting of Oct. 20 by this<br />
fearful announcement. The paper used by the<br />
publishers and proprietors of the journals of<br />
to-day is made chiefly of sawdust: dust it is,<br />
and unto dust it will return. Imagine the whole<br />
of the Victorian literature vanishing, say, in<br />
five or ten years' time! Picture the despair of<br />
the immortal bard who sees, in his own lifetime,<br />
the destruction of his immortality! Think of the<br />
Keeper of Printed Books, when he discovers that<br />
the miles upon miles of Victorian books have all<br />
become, like the dolls, stuffed with nothing but<br />
sawdust: the life and spirit and breath of them<br />
gone! Nothing left but the bindings, and these<br />
in a condition so dilapidated as to have even<br />
their titles illegible. Where, then, will be the<br />
name and fame of our poets, essayists, and<br />
novelists? Who will be able to give reasons for<br />
his admiration of Tennyson or his worship of<br />
Browning? Mr. MacAlister says that he has<br />
written to the leading publishers, and that " most<br />
of them had frankly acknowledged that the paper<br />
used would not last, but complained that the modern<br />
craze for cheap, but at the same time highly-<br />
finished, papers was to blame." This is a grave<br />
charge, but it does not appear who the persons<br />
are who are affected by the craze. Certainly not<br />
the public, because they do not get their books any<br />
cheaper: the tendency is in the opposite direction.<br />
Certainly not the authors, who cannot desire to<br />
witness the reduction of their works to sawdust.<br />
There remain the publishers, who are thus<br />
accused of so great a craze for producing cheaply,<br />
that they put forth shoddy wares for sale which<br />
will only last a few years. Had anybody in this<br />
Society brought such a charge against publishers<br />
there would have been an outcry. Publishers, we<br />
should have been told, are beyond all suspicion<br />
of desiring to produce cheaply. Since the charge<br />
is brought by "leading publishers" we can only<br />
recommend it to the consideration of the Pub-<br />
lishers' Association. It will, no doubt, be re-<br />
ferred to a sub-committee for inquiry, and mag-<br />
nanimity in the matter of paper will be insisted<br />
upon. Meantime Mr. MacAlister proposed the<br />
following resolution:—<br />
"(1) That the Copyright Act should be<br />
amended by the addition of a clause stipulating<br />
that books sent to the copyright libraries should<br />
be printed upon a paper of approved specifica-<br />
tion. (2) That the libraries of the country<br />
should notify publishers that they would not in<br />
future purchase books unless the paper used<br />
came up to a certain normal standard. (3) That<br />
a committee should be appointed to consider the<br />
whole question, and to take such action as<br />
seemed to them most desirable."<br />
On this subject a good many suggestions occur.<br />
Thus, a first edition, or the whole demand for a<br />
twelvemonth or for five years, might be printed<br />
on paper certain to return to its original sawdust<br />
within a certain period—say, ten years. If any<br />
demand exists for the book after five years, then<br />
a new edition would be issued on durable paper.<br />
In this way the "crazed" publisher would be<br />
able to gratify his yearning after cheap produc-<br />
tion; the people who buy the book and never<br />
wish to read it again would be happy in feeling<br />
that it was sure to become extinct of its<br />
own accord, when its place on their shelves<br />
could be swept up; and the poet who saw him-<br />
self doomed to popular oblivion, just as much as<br />
if he had been a cheesemonger, would console<br />
himself by remembering that his rivals, the bad<br />
poets, would, like him, be plunged in Lethe.<br />
Charming verses will be written on tho Common<br />
Lot. How many books, do you think, survive<br />
the first five years? Look at the lists in the<br />
Athenmum of twenty years ago. Five years is a<br />
very long life, far beyond the average; a book<br />
which could put in a claim for durable paper<br />
would bo a veteran, tried and proved, a popular<br />
favourite—good for another ten years, perhaps<br />
for twenty, even for fifty.<br />
The death of Mrs. Katharine Hodges, at the<br />
age of sixty-nine, took place a few days ago at.<br />
Chicago. The name probably conveys very little<br />
meaning to most of our readers. Some, however,<br />
may remember how in one of the " rooms "—or<br />
inclosures—in the Women's Huilding at the<br />
Chicago Exhibition, Mrs. Hodges, an elderly lady,<br />
sat at a table covered with papers, ami welcomed,<br />
all day long, a stream of visitors to whom she<br />
distributed her papers ami told her tide and the<br />
tale of others. Her ease was tho tule of her<br />
treatment by a certain firm, of American pub-<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 154 (#580) ############################################<br />
<br />
»54<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
lishers. I do not know what effect was produced<br />
upon the business of that firm by the disclosures<br />
of Mrs. Hodges, or whether that firm ever<br />
answered her charges: in this country an answer<br />
would have to be forthcoming, or the result would<br />
certainly be damaging to the business of the firm<br />
concerned. However, there is no doubt that<br />
many thousands of visitors left the Exhibition<br />
with the belief that Mrs. Hodges was a greatly<br />
injured person. After this courageous act, which<br />
took up her whole time while the Exhibition<br />
remained open, Mrs. Hodges founded an asso-<br />
ciation, called the American Authors' Protective<br />
Publishing Company. This company has pub-<br />
lished several works, but I am not able to ascertain<br />
how far it has proved successful in enabling<br />
American writers to do without a publisher.<br />
Mrs. Hodges was the author of several books:<br />
among them, a " History of Colorado," a " History<br />
of New York," "Fifty Years a Queen," and the<br />
"Life of Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher." She was<br />
also a journalist of considerable repute. I first<br />
met her at the Chicago Exhibition, when her<br />
personality greatly impressed me for its earnest-<br />
ness and directness. She was not punishing or<br />
persecuting a publisher; she was maintaining a<br />
principle, the same principle, in fact, that we<br />
ourselves advocate continually: that the commer-<br />
cial side of literature must be governed by the<br />
same rules as obtain in all other kinds of business,<br />
so that to charge as expenditure what has not<br />
been expended is neither more nor less than<br />
common theft, and to trade upon the ignorance<br />
of an author is the part of a horse-coper or a<br />
thimblerigger, and should be considered as such<br />
by all honest people. Nor was she afraid, even<br />
in the States—where to fight a case in court is<br />
even worse, if possible, than it is here—to bring<br />
or defend an action, and to give evidence herself.<br />
She was, in a word, a brave and true and loyal<br />
woman. One who knew her well writes to me:<br />
"She worked to the last, with all her noble<br />
heart, for all that could tend towards helping<br />
writers, especially struggling journalists<br />
While she loved America, she never forgot her<br />
birthplace "—she was born in Kent—" nor her<br />
Queen, as her lost labour bears eloquent witness."<br />
Her "lost labour" was the book called "Fifty<br />
Years a Queen," which, if I remember aright,<br />
provided the subject for one of her circulars.<br />
I have spoken above of the educational sub-<br />
committee. Another sub-committee is now<br />
sitting to consider the question of book-selling<br />
general, and the discount system especially. As<br />
this is a subject which deeply interests all readers<br />
of this journal, I venture to suggest that if any<br />
of them have suggestions to make, or opinions to<br />
offer, or facta to contribute, they should without<br />
any delay communicate with the Secretary. The<br />
most important points are: (i) the probable effect<br />
of raising the price of a 6*. book from 4s. 6d.<br />
to 5*.; (2) the effect of "net " prices instead of<br />
a discount allowance for cash; (3) the expediency<br />
of allowing publishers the complete control of the<br />
whole book trade; (4) the effect of making book-<br />
sellers the mere servants of publishers; and (5)<br />
the interference with free trade.<br />
The following cutting has been sent to me. It<br />
is taken from the Middlesex and Hertfordshire<br />
Notes and Queries :—<br />
Lamb's Neglected Grave.—For long past it has been<br />
my custom to visit, onoe a year, Edmonton Churchyard,<br />
and to view the resting-place of Charles Lamb. The<br />
quotation "lies apart from the great city" is no longer<br />
applicable to Lamb's resting-place, for London has now<br />
orept up to Edmonton and surrounded it; and as for his<br />
grave, only those who know it well can succeed in finding<br />
it, surrounded and overtowered as it is by other graves. Its<br />
condition, when found, is not satisfactory, and something<br />
should be done to put it into, at least, decent order.<br />
A drawing of the grave and the monument<br />
was presented some years ago to the Authors'<br />
Society by Mr. Robert Bateraan, from a sketch<br />
made by himself. It hangs in the Secretary's<br />
office. I do not know how much it would take<br />
to keep the grave in order, but it would surely<br />
be a fitting thing for the Society to undertake<br />
this little tribute of gratitude and affection for<br />
the best loved of all English men of letters. I<br />
would suggest that someone should visit the<br />
place, ascertain what is wanted, and form a little<br />
committee for the purpose of getting a small<br />
fund and carrying out the work. I shall be<br />
very glad to receive any offers of assistance. It<br />
is not, of course, posssible for the Committee to<br />
expend their funds on this object, but, if we can<br />
get up a little committee among the members, we<br />
might submit the scheme to the Committee of the<br />
Society for their approval.<br />
Walter Besant.<br />
THE DIGNITY OP AUTHORSHIP.<br />
THE Spectator (Oct. 16, 1897) has been in-<br />
dulging itself, and pleasing its readers,<br />
with a really good old-fashioned grumble<br />
over the decay of the times, especially with regard<br />
to the "dignity of authorship." Formerly no<br />
author was allowed to put his name to what he<br />
wrote: he was expected to take humbly what-<br />
ever was given him. That gave him dignity,<br />
you see. "Mr. Blackwood," says the writer,<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 155 (#581) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
•55<br />
"expressly stated" — expressly is good — that<br />
although he made a principle " of giving prompt<br />
and liberal payment for whatever he published,<br />
he never would hold out money as the induce-<br />
ment to any man of ability to write." The<br />
author had only to accept what was tossed him<br />
with the gratitude which became his professional<br />
dignity. We understand that it is the dignity<br />
of a servant to accept whatever wages the<br />
master may offer. This, however, is now changed:<br />
"the author now employs the publisher." So<br />
low has his dignity sunk that he has now become<br />
an employer. Nay, more, "any of the dozen<br />
well-established novelists can sell his work years<br />
before a line is written. He contracts to furnish<br />
at such a date so many thousand words at so<br />
much per thousand. Nothing is specified as to<br />
the quality." Quite so. Pray, at what period in<br />
history was anything ever said about " quality"<br />
to a " well-established " novelist ?" There must<br />
be so many thousand words, which can be sold to<br />
the world as authentic John Smith." Well—but<br />
if they are authentic, why not? Should they be<br />
sold as " authentic " Dickens when they are John<br />
Smith? People want to read the John Smith<br />
whom they know and love, not auother anony-<br />
mous John Smith whom they do not know or<br />
love.<br />
The writer next laments that a magazine no<br />
longer commands the respect of the public on its<br />
own merits: this surely is not the fault of good<br />
writers, because a magazine entirely written by<br />
good writers would command enormous respect.<br />
The English magazine of the present day is<br />
falling into decay because it is not written<br />
entirely, or for the greater part, by good writers.<br />
Again, " the modern author writes for posterity,<br />
and bitter is his complaint if the editor should<br />
attempt to alter a line of his inspired effusion."<br />
Does the modern author really write for<br />
posterity? Surely, with examples as thick as<br />
autumnal leaves falling all round him, of writers<br />
once popular dropping into rapid oblivion, the<br />
modern author cannot expect immortality.<br />
Anthony Trollope, Lytton, George Eliot, are but<br />
seldom called for at the libraries; even Dickens<br />
and Thackeray are reported to be falling into<br />
neglect: Reade and Wilkie Collins are remem-<br />
bered by two or three books each: and that<br />
•m mortal work — what was it ? — of which so<br />
many hundreds of thousands were circulated<br />
three or four years ago—where is it now?<br />
No. One cannot l)elieve that the modern<br />
author writes for posterity. That he resents an<br />
editor's emendations, is quite another matter. It<br />
is part of the miserable decay of his dignity that<br />
he should not allow anyone to improve him.<br />
"The editor's rule is being rapidly reduced to<br />
one of acceptance or rejection." Not quite. There<br />
are magazines of which this cannot be said—<br />
may we mention the Nineteenth Century, the<br />
Contemporary, the Pall Mall, with some of the<br />
lighter ones whose editors are always planning<br />
and contriving in advance? There are, it is true,<br />
some of which the charge is true, but these are<br />
not the successful magazines. "The only things<br />
which influence popular opinion seriously are the<br />
anonymous journals." Is that really so? Then<br />
what of papers contributed by men who write on<br />
their own subjects? Could the writer seriously<br />
contend that a paper by a great man of science<br />
on his own subject—signed, say, by Professor<br />
Ray Lankester — would command less respect<br />
than an anonymous column in the Spectator?<br />
The writer sums up—the paper should be called<br />
"In Defence of the Anonymous," not "The<br />
Dignity of Authorship " :—" In the real reward of<br />
thought or dialectic vigour in magazine work,<br />
which is the power to influence other minds,<br />
they "—the modern writers—" are far worse off<br />
than were the gentlemen who, with not inferior<br />
talents, consented to sink their own personality<br />
in the collective unity of some organised and<br />
disciplined body of opinion. Free-lances may be<br />
very fine fellows, but it is drilled soldiers who<br />
win battles."<br />
The writer starts on one line and goes off on<br />
another. It is quite true that anonymous<br />
writing in an organ of repute may command<br />
very great authority and influence. The influence<br />
of the Spectator itself is a case in point. But the<br />
drilled soldiers may be good officers. If they<br />
are not only good officers, but known to the out-<br />
side world as such, they will command more<br />
influence by writing signed articles than by<br />
writing anonymously. That seems elementary.<br />
To return to the question of dignity. The<br />
decay of dignity is shown by the use of the new<br />
standard of measurement—words by the thousand<br />
instead of words by the page or words by the<br />
sheet. In the imagination of the writer, the man<br />
of letters is now laboriously counting his words,<br />
putting on a few or taking off a few. This is<br />
pure ignorance. The new standard is in fact a<br />
much more elastic way than the old one, as is<br />
stated elsewhere (p. 152).<br />
The alleged decay of dignity is therefore proved<br />
by the servile meanness of the author, who<br />
refuses any longer to take just what the great<br />
and magnanimous publisher chooses to toss him;<br />
and it is illustrated by the fact that he now<br />
employs the publisher instead of being employed<br />
by him! No wonder we live in a time of general<br />
decadence. Literature will never become great<br />
and grand and noble again till we return to the<br />
arched back and the bending knees.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 156 (#582) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
THE AUTUMN LISTS.<br />
THE following table of new books of the<br />
season has been compiled from the<br />
Publishers' Circular of Oct. 2. The table<br />
includes new editions as well as new books. The<br />
total number is 1941. In the classification fiction<br />
heads the list. It is needless, however, to point<br />
out that a great many under this heading are<br />
merely trifling little tales for children, or for school<br />
presents. Perhaps 120 may be subtracted on this<br />
ground as not being of general interest. When<br />
the new editions have also been subtracted there<br />
will remain about 250 books calling themselves<br />
new novels, and inviting the public to read them.<br />
Of other kinds the large number of classical,<br />
mathematical, scientific, and historical books<br />
mean niainlv educational books.<br />
Of children's books there are 178, but to this<br />
number must be added the stories already<br />
indicated published by the religious societies.<br />
Poetry seems to be slowly advancing—year<br />
after year. We may look forward to a time<br />
when the people will demand poetry as they<br />
now demand fiction.<br />
Essays are in small demand. There are two<br />
or three writers who are favourites in this branch<br />
but reputation for essay writing is extremely<br />
difficult to achieve.<br />
We note, of course, year after year, the in-<br />
creasing number of publishers. There are now<br />
sixty-five on the list. It is beginning, in<br />
fact, to be found out that publishing is about<br />
the best business going. We may expect to<br />
see this list more than doubled in a very short<br />
time.<br />
<br />
George Allen<br />
William Andrews<br />
Edward Arnold<br />
B. T. Batsford<br />
George Bell and Sons<br />
Bemrose and Sons<br />
Black, A. and C<br />
Blaokie and Son<br />
Blackwood and Sons<br />
Bliss, Sands, and Co<br />
James Bowden<br />
Burns and Oates<br />
Cambridge University Press<br />
Cassell and Co<br />
W. and B. Chambers<br />
Chapman and Hall<br />
Chatto and Windus<br />
Church Monthly<br />
J. and A. Churchill<br />
Clarendon Press<br />
T. and T. Clark<br />
James Clarke and Co<br />
Cotton Press<br />
J. M. Dent<br />
Gardner, Darton and Co. ..<br />
H. Grevel and Co<br />
Griffith, Farran, Browne<br />
W. Heinemann<br />
Hodder and Stoughton<br />
Home Words<br />
A. D. Innes<br />
Lawrence and Bnllen<br />
Crosby Lockwood and Son<br />
Longmans, Green<br />
Sampson Low, Marston<br />
Mocmillon and Co<br />
John Macqneen<br />
Methaon and Co<br />
National Society<br />
i<br />
heological.<br />
Mathematics.<br />
History and<br />
Biography.<br />
rcbitectnre.<br />
a g<br />
hildron s<br />
Books.<br />
1<br />
1<br />
:ientific.<br />
S.s<br />
ED<br />
oetry.<br />
iction.<br />
oi<br />
I<br />
el<br />
!<br />
S3<br />
3<br />
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1<br />
1 B<br />
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0<br />
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PM<br />
P<br />
â– 3<br />
a<br />
J<br />
y<br />
03<br />
I<br />
3<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
2<br />
2<br />
2<br />
4<br />
18<br />
I<br />
1<br />
6<br />
2<br />
2<br />
12<br />
I<br />
3<br />
4<br />
1<br />
4<br />
1<br />
4<br />
2<br />
20<br />
11<br />
1<br />
2<br />
8<br />
1<br />
i<br />
16<br />
3<br />
3<br />
1<br />
2<br />
4<br />
3<br />
1<br />
1<br />
2<br />
38<br />
2<br />
2<br />
1<br />
2<br />
1<br />
1<br />
9<br />
I<br />
2<br />
1<br />
3<br />
5<br />
2<br />
5<br />
"9<br />
2<br />
4<br />
12<br />
1<br />
8<br />
27<br />
3<br />
18<br />
5<br />
11<br />
4<br />
I<br />
6<br />
2<br />
4<br />
54<br />
5<br />
1<br />
6<br />
2<br />
6<br />
1<br />
1<br />
2<br />
1<br />
25<br />
3<br />
1<br />
2<br />
5<br />
1<br />
1<br />
13<br />
7<br />
1<br />
3<br />
11<br />
23<br />
'7<br />
9<br />
12<br />
13<br />
2<br />
8<br />
2<br />
1<br />
5<br />
92<br />
8<br />
4<br />
2<br />
11<br />
9<br />
I<br />
1<br />
23<br />
2<br />
3<br />
7<br />
2<br />
1<br />
74<br />
1<br />
1<br />
2<br />
6<br />
S<br />
15<br />
3<br />
2<br />
2<br />
I<br />
4<br />
6<br />
2<br />
3<br />
3<br />
2<br />
28<br />
3<br />
1<br />
1<br />
7<br />
I<br />
3<br />
49<br />
1<br />
3<br />
1<br />
70<br />
1<br />
1<br />
11<br />
•<br />
2<br />
11<br />
â– 7<br />
21<br />
1<br />
2<br />
5<br />
6<br />
1<br />
9<br />
1<br />
1<br />
64<br />
11<br />
1<br />
12<br />
4<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
6<br />
1<br />
5<br />
17<br />
4<br />
1<br />
7<br />
IS<br />
1<br />
1<br />
7<br />
3<br />
2<br />
2<br />
2<br />
33<br />
8<br />
2<br />
4<br />
1<br />
1<br />
6<br />
2<br />
6<br />
3<br />
1<br />
10<br />
1<br />
30<br />
8<br />
1<br />
»5<br />
23<br />
4<br />
2<br />
10<br />
I<br />
4<br />
29<br />
3<br />
2<br />
56<br />
21<br />
3<br />
1<br />
16<br />
3<br />
1<br />
45<br />
6<br />
5<br />
11<br />
2<br />
3<br />
2<br />
3<br />
4<br />
28<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
5<br />
1<br />
3<br />
6<br />
1<br />
1<br />
7<br />
27<br />
11<br />
10<br />
9<br />
4<br />
1<br />
10<br />
5<br />
6<br />
7<br />
1<br />
7<br />
2<br />
9<br />
61<br />
3<br />
7<br />
1<br />
12<br />
10<br />
I<br />
18<br />
2<br />
3<br />
57<br />
7<br />
12<br />
•9<br />
13<br />
3<br />
«7<br />
1<br />
4<br />
'7<br />
93<br />
1"<br />
7<br />
7<br />
4<br />
11<br />
2<br />
1<br />
20<br />
12<br />
1<br />
3<br />
1<br />
s<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 157 (#583) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR. 157<br />
<br />
T. Nelson and Sons<br />
J. C. Nimmo<br />
Ernest Nister<br />
David Nutt<br />
Oliphant, Anderson<br />
S. W. Partridge<br />
C.A. Pearson<br />
G. Philip and Son<br />
G. P. Putnam's Sons ...<br />
George Redway<br />
L. Reeve and Co<br />
Religious Tract Society<br />
Grant Richards<br />
Messrs. Rivington<br />
G. Rontledge and Sons<br />
Walter Scott<br />
Seeley and Co<br />
Service and Paton<br />
Skeffington and Son ...<br />
Smith, Elder, and Co.<br />
S.P.C.K<br />
Swan Sonnenschein ...<br />
W. Thacker and Co. ...<br />
Univ. C. C. Press<br />
T. Fisher Unwin<br />
Ward, Look, and Co. ...<br />
P. Warno and Co<br />
Theological.<br />
Classical.<br />
Mathematics.<br />
Scientific.<br />
History and<br />
Biography.<br />
Architecture.<br />
Letters and<br />
Reminiscences.<br />
Children's<br />
Books.<br />
Literature.<br />
|<br />
Poetry.<br />
Fiction.<br />
oi<br />
§<br />
4ci<br />
*5<br />
0<br />
Sports.<br />
Total.<br />
GO<br />
a<br />
Art.<br />
a<br />
2<br />
K<br />
17<br />
9<br />
28<br />
1<br />
2<br />
1<br />
3<br />
1<br />
8<br />
14<br />
14<br />
4<br />
13<br />
2<br />
4<br />
7<br />
S<br />
3<br />
3<br />
40<br />
5<br />
3<br />
2<br />
2<br />
2<br />
1<br />
'5<br />
4<br />
1<br />
6<br />
1<br />
29<br />
12<br />
53<br />
1<br />
'5<br />
16<br />
1<br />
II<br />
1<br />
I<br />
1<br />
"5<br />
1<br />
6<br />
S<br />
2<br />
17<br />
I<br />
4<br />
2<br />
5<br />
1<br />
1<br />
45<br />
1<br />
4<br />
1<br />
8<br />
3<br />
4<br />
1<br />
3<br />
1<br />
2<br />
1<br />
30<br />
6<br />
6<br />
6<br />
1<br />
S<br />
26<br />
5<br />
43<br />
1<br />
2<br />
1<br />
2<br />
1<br />
4<br />
2<br />
1<br />
2<br />
16<br />
9<br />
2<br />
2<br />
6<br />
I<br />
1<br />
7<br />
28<br />
1<br />
2<br />
2<br />
1<br />
2<br />
7<br />
I<br />
16<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
6<br />
1<br />
11<br />
1<br />
1<br />
3<br />
1<br />
1<br />
7<br />
4<br />
1<br />
«3<br />
1<br />
>9<br />
7<br />
8<br />
'5<br />
5<br />
6<br />
6<br />
2<br />
6<br />
2<br />
1<br />
1<br />
29<br />
9<br />
3<br />
3<br />
18<br />
3<br />
36<br />
2<br />
2<br />
3<br />
32<br />
14<br />
2<br />
4<br />
1<br />
6<br />
66<br />
3<br />
1<br />
2<br />
4<br />
1<br />
11<br />
«3<br />
S<br />
2<br />
7<br />
2<br />
8<br />
37<br />
2<br />
4<br />
13<br />
4<br />
"4<br />
7<br />
5<br />
49<br />
1<br />
3<br />
I<br />
1<br />
IS<br />
'4<br />
35<br />
3<br />
2<br />
4<br />
2<br />
9<br />
~i<br />
20<br />
3<br />
43<br />
221<br />
181<br />
54<br />
214<br />
243<br />
20<br />
86<br />
506<br />
23<br />
31<br />
3<br />
7'<br />
178<br />
45<br />
48<br />
1941<br />
THE TENNYSON BIOGRAPHY.*<br />
THE biography of Lord Tennyson was pub-<br />
lished on Oct. 6, the fifth anniversary of<br />
his death. As Tennyson's letters to Arthur<br />
Hallain—" A. H. H." of these volumes—were<br />
destroyed by Hallam's father, the world now gets<br />
practically everything that can be looked for in<br />
respect of the life and letters of the late Poet-<br />
Laureate. Many fragmentary poems are pub-<br />
lished for the first time in the biography. The<br />
work lias had a distinguished reception every-<br />
where, and the Queen—to whom the Memoir is<br />
dedicated with a hitherto unpublished version of<br />
the lines to Her Majesty written in 1851<br />
For, tho' the faults be thick as dust<br />
In vaoant chambers, I can trust.<br />
—has congratulated Lord Tennyson upon the<br />
success of his accomplishment. Personal recol-<br />
lections by Mr. F. T. Palgrave, Jowett, Tyndall,<br />
the Duke of Argyll, Mr. Aubrey de Vere, and<br />
others, are included in the woi'k.<br />
* " Alfred, Lord Tennyson. A Memoir." By his Son<br />
(Hallam, Lord Tennyson). (London: Macmillan and Co.)<br />
The main facts of the late Poet-Laureate's life<br />
are well known; a notice in The Author may<br />
therefore be concerned lather with the rich<br />
anecdotal character of the Memoir.<br />
Tennyson and the Critics.<br />
The reception of his first volume of poems was<br />
so unsympathetic that he was inclined to take up<br />
residence in Jersey or the South of Prance, or<br />
Italy. He was "very sensitive," writes Jowett<br />
of Tennyson, "and had an honest hatred of<br />
being gossiped about. He called the malignant<br />
critics and chatterers 'mosquitoes.' He never<br />
felt any pleasure at praise (except from his<br />
friends), but he felt a great pain at the injustice<br />
of censure." He wrote to James Spedding in<br />
1835 as follows:—" John Heath writes me word<br />
that Mill is going to review me in a new<br />
magazine, to be called the London Review, and<br />
favourably; but it is the last thing I wish for,<br />
and I would that you or some other who may be<br />
friends of Mill would hint as much to him. I do<br />
not wish to be dragged forward again in any<br />
shape before the reading public at present, par-<br />
ticularly on the score of my old poems, most of<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 158 (#584) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
which I have so corrected (particularly 'CEnone ')<br />
as to make them much less imperfect, which<br />
you who are a wise man would own if you had<br />
the corrections. I may very possibly send you<br />
these some time." Aid after being persuaded<br />
by Mr. Gladstone to accept the peerage, he was<br />
eager "as soon as possible to get over the dis-<br />
agreeable results of the newspaper comments and<br />
abuse." This side of Tennyson is well illus-<br />
trated by the following anecdote he related about<br />
1883 to Mr. Gladstone :—" I heard of an old lady<br />
the other day to whom all the great men of her<br />
time had written. When Froude's 'Carlyle'<br />
came out, she rushed up to her room, and to an<br />
old chest there wherein she kept their letters, and<br />
flung them into the fire. 'They were written to<br />
me,' she said,' not to the public!' and she set her<br />
chimney on fire, and her children and grand-<br />
children ran in—'The chimney's on fire!'<br />
'Never mind !' she said, and went on burning.<br />
I should hke to raise an altar to that old lady,<br />
and burn incense upon it."<br />
The Author's Notes.<br />
A valuable part of the Memoir is the series of<br />
Tennyson's notes on his poems. "The coming of<br />
Arthur," we are told, " is on the night of the New<br />
Year; when he is wedded 'the world is white<br />
with May'; on a summer night the vision of the<br />
Holy Grail appears; and the 'Last Tournament'<br />
is in 'yellowing autumn-tide.' Guinevere flees<br />
through the mists of autumn, and Arthur's death<br />
takes place at midnight in midwinter." Some of<br />
the other notes are the following :—<br />
"In Memoriam."—It must be remembered that this is<br />
a poem, not an actual biography. It is founded on our<br />
friendship, on the engagement of Arthur 'Hallam to my<br />
sister, on his sudden death at Vienna just before the time<br />
fixed for their marriage, and on his burial at Clevedon<br />
Church. The poem concludes with the marriage of my<br />
youngest sister, Cecilia. It was meant to be a kind of<br />
"Divina Commedia," ending with happiness. The sections<br />
were written at many different plaoes, and as the phases of<br />
our intercourse came to memory and suggested them. I<br />
did not write them with any view of weaving them into a<br />
whole, or for publication, until I found that I had written bo<br />
many. The different moods of sorrow as in a drama are<br />
dramatically given, and my conviction that fear, doubts,<br />
and suffering will find answer and relief only through Faith<br />
in a God of Love. "I " is not always the author speaking<br />
of himself, but the voice of the human race speaking<br />
through him. After the death of A. H. H. the divisions of<br />
the poem are made by First Xmas Eve (section xxviii.),<br />
Second Xmas (lxxviii.), Third Xmas Eve (civ. and cv., eto.).<br />
"The Northern Farmer."—Kodon Noel oalls these<br />
two poems "photographs," but they are imaginative. The<br />
first is founded on the dying words of a farm bailiff, as<br />
reported to me by a great-unole of mine when verging upon<br />
eighty — " God A'mighty little knows what He's about,<br />
a'taking me. An' Squire will be so mad an' all." I conjec-<br />
tured the man from that one saying.<br />
The "Farmer, new style" (in " The Holy Grail " volume),<br />
is likewise founded on a bingle sentence, "When I canters<br />
my 'erse along the ramper (highway) I 'ears proputty, pro-<br />
putty, proputty." I had been told that a rich farmer in our<br />
neighbourhood was in the habit of saying this. I never<br />
saw the man, and know no more of him. It was also<br />
reported of the wife of this worthy that, when she entered<br />
the mile A manger of a sea bathing plaee, she slapt her<br />
pockets and said, "When I married I brought him .£5000 on<br />
each shoulder."<br />
Here is a specimen of his studies for his finished<br />
work :—<br />
(Babbicombe.) Like serpent coils upon the deep.<br />
(Torquay.) As the little thrift<br />
Trembles in perilous plaoes o'er the deep.<br />
(From the Old Bed Sandstone.)<br />
As a stony spring<br />
Blocks its own issue (tho' it makes a<br />
fresh one of oourse).<br />
(Fowey.) A cow drinking from a trough on the hillside.<br />
The netted beams of light played on the<br />
wrinkles of her throat.<br />
No Biography in "Locksley Hall."<br />
Replying to the writer of a book who had<br />
assumed that "Locksley Hall" was autobio-<br />
graphical, Tennyson said :—" I must object, and<br />
strongly, to the statement in your preface that /<br />
am the hero in either poem. I never had a cousin<br />
Henry; 'Locksley Hall' is an entirely imagina-<br />
tive edifice. My grandsons are little boys. T am<br />
not even white-headed; I never had a grey hair<br />
in my head. The whole thing is a dramatic im-<br />
personation, but I find in almost all modern<br />
criticism this absurd tendency to personalities.<br />
Some of my thought may come out in the poem,<br />
but am I therefore the hero. There is not one<br />
touch of biography in it from beginning to<br />
end."<br />
Jowett on Tennyson.<br />
Carlyle described Tennyson as "one of the<br />
finest looking men in the world." "I do not.<br />
meet in these late decades such company over a<br />
pipe!" Here is his picture by the late Master<br />
of Balliol:—" He was a magnificent man, who<br />
stood before you in his native refinement and<br />
strength. The unconventionality of his manners<br />
was in keeping with the originality of his figure.<br />
He would sometimes say nothing, or a word or<br />
two only, to the stranger who approached him<br />
out of shyness. He would sometimes come into<br />
the drawing-room reading a book. At other<br />
times, especially to ladies, he was singularly<br />
gracious and benevolent. . . . His repertory<br />
of stories was perfectly inexhaustible. . . .<br />
In the commonest conversation he showed himself<br />
a man of genius."<br />
Froude's Tribute.<br />
Of his happy married life ("The peace of<br />
God came into my life before the alter when<br />
I married her," he said); of his correspondence<br />
with the Queen; of his'intimacy with Browning,<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 159 (#585) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
i59<br />
Thackeray, Dickens, Douglas Jerrold, Coventry<br />
Patinore, Edward Fitzgerald, William Allingham,<br />
George Eliot, with Bossetti and William Morris,<br />
and of many other relationships; of his admira-<br />
tion of Scott as having the finest imagination<br />
since Shakespeare; of his belief in the genius of<br />
Burns—his visit to Alloway Kirk, he owned, was<br />
the most treasured incident of an early journey<br />
through Scotland; and of his intense love for<br />
Shakespeare—of all these the volumes contain<br />
record. We may take leave of the biography<br />
here with quoting a letter written by the late Mr.<br />
J. A. Froude to the present Lord Tennyson:<br />
I owe to your father the first serious reflections upon life<br />
and the nature of it which have followed me for more than<br />
fifty years. The same voice speaks to me now as I come<br />
near ray own end, from beyond the bar. Of the early<br />
poem°, " Love and Death " had the deepest effect upon me.<br />
The same thought is in the last lines of the last poems which<br />
we shall ever have from him.<br />
Your father, in my estimate, stands, and will stand, far<br />
away by the side of Shakespeare above all other English<br />
poetB, with this relative superiority even to Shakespeare,<br />
that he speaks the thoughts and speaks to the perplexities<br />
and misgivings of his own age.<br />
lie was born at the fit time, before the world had grown<br />
inflated with the vanity of Progress, and there was still an<br />
atmosphere in which such a soul oould grow. There will be<br />
110 such others for many a long age.<br />
THE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION - PRESIDEN-<br />
TIAL ADDRESS.<br />
(Pro-a the Timet of Oct. 21.)<br />
THE Library Association, which was founded<br />
in 1877, began on the 20th Oct. its<br />
twentieth annual meeting in the rooms of<br />
the Society of Arts. The retiring president is<br />
Mr. Alderman Harry Rawson, and his successor<br />
in the chair is Mr. Henry Richard Tedder, of the<br />
Athenaeum Club. There were present Dr.<br />
Garnett, Keeper of Printed Books, British<br />
Museum, who introduced the new president to<br />
the meeting; Mr. J. Y. W. MacAlister, the hon.<br />
sec.; Mr. Douthwaite, of Gray's-inn; Mr. Charles<br />
Welch, of the Guildhall Library; Mr. Sidney<br />
Webb, Mr. Cyril Davenport, of the British<br />
Museum, and many others.<br />
Twenty Years' Progress.<br />
In the course of his address the President,<br />
after a brief reference to the great conference<br />
which took place in July last, said that he<br />
rejoiced to see present of the twenty-two<br />
members of the committee which organised the<br />
conference of 1877, Dr. Garnett, Mr. Douthwaite,<br />
and Mr. Wheatley. Of the others he was sorry<br />
to say only five remained. At the commence-<br />
ment the association professed that "its main<br />
object shall be to unite all persons engaged or<br />
interested in library work for the purpose of pro-<br />
moting the best possible administration of exist-<br />
ing libraries and the formation of new libraries<br />
where desirable. It shall also aim at the<br />
encouragement of bibliographical research."<br />
Before 1877 the British and American librarian<br />
had no means of exchanging experience with his<br />
fellows—no journal, no organisation. Among<br />
their publications were the handsome volumes of<br />
reports of their earlier meetings. Many<br />
regretted their disappearance. Their first<br />
attempt in the way of a journal was Monthly<br />
Notes, a modest and in many respects an<br />
adequate organ. Then came the more spacious<br />
pages of the Library Chronicle, edited by E. C.<br />
Thomas, a name ever to be remembered with<br />
affectionate regret. This was followed by the<br />
Library, for which they were indebted to Mr.<br />
MacAlister. The "Year Book" was a useful<br />
work, which at least ought to keep to its name.<br />
The "Library Association Series" contained<br />
some extremely helpful little treitises, which<br />
were not yet superseded by more ambitious<br />
attempts. As to growth in numbers, they began<br />
with a roll of 140; it was now about 550.<br />
Librarians were upon the eve of a great<br />
alteration in their position. They hoped shortly<br />
to be recognised by the State as belonging to one<br />
of the organised and professional classes. The<br />
council's report told them that a charter of<br />
incorporation would probably soon be granted by<br />
the Privy Council. In 1877 their roll included<br />
217 names. In July last they numbered about<br />
600 members, about seventy or eighty of whom<br />
came from America. Others were present from<br />
France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, and Japan.<br />
He congratulated the association on the twenty-<br />
first number of the Library Journal, and among<br />
other publications of interest and importance to<br />
them were the catalogue of the "Bibliotheque<br />
Nationale," two volumes of Dr. Garnett's series;<br />
Mr. Ogle's and Mr. Burgoyne's interesting<br />
volumes, Mr. Pollard's "Bibliographia," and<br />
the British Museum catalogue of Shakespeare<br />
literature.<br />
Private Book-Collecting.<br />
As to modern private book-collecting, as he<br />
was addressing lovers of old and curious books<br />
and fine manuscripts, as well as librarians, the<br />
private collector as a factor in the formation<br />
of the public library should not be forgotten.<br />
It was not till the middle of the eighteenth<br />
century that book-collectors thought of prizing<br />
the dramatic and poetic literature of old England.<br />
One of the men who valued Caxtons as litonture<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 160 (#586) ############################################<br />
<br />
i6o<br />
Ulh AblHOll.<br />
was Stanesby Alchorne (died 1800), whose hooks<br />
were incorporated in Lord Spencer's library in<br />
1813. 'Another was Sir John Fenn, who may be<br />
bracketed with the bibliographers Ames and<br />
Herbert, as a discoverer of old English dramatic<br />
and poetic literature. Next after him came the<br />
Duke of Roxburghe (died 1804), really the first<br />
who attached their due importance to the<br />
innumerable volumes and pamphlets in which<br />
English writers from 1400 to 1630 were lying<br />
neglected. This was the main feature of his col-<br />
lection, which was a very large one (30,000<br />
volumes), and comprised several valuable manu-<br />
scripts of the old Anglo-French romances of the<br />
Round Table, which belonged as much to the<br />
literature of England as to that of France, and<br />
some books more decidedly foreign, including the<br />
famous Boccaccio of 1471. About the same<br />
period Michael Wodhull was collecting the books<br />
of the early presses, while the Rev. Mr. Crofts,<br />
Colonel Stanley, and "Don " Bowie were paying<br />
attention to old Spanish literature. Italian<br />
books had been for more than two centuries a<br />
favourite secondary pursuit with all English<br />
collectors, and it still maintained its vogue.<br />
William Roscoe kept up the tradition in a more<br />
special form, and it was not until the middle of<br />
the present century, or a little later, that Italian<br />
books began to decline in interest. The great Lord<br />
Spencer came into the field in the last decade of the<br />
eighteenth century, and spent over forty years in<br />
the accumulation of his marvellous library.<br />
The late Lord Ashburnham was of similar type,<br />
but his interest in books comprised a wider circle.<br />
The earliest traces of intellectual exercise were<br />
sought in MSS., the more ancient the more<br />
esteemed, while Morris cared little for MSS.,<br />
except as examples of ornamental art during the<br />
twelfth to the fourteenth century. Lord Ash-<br />
burnham prized them for their contents, and,<br />
being also keenly alive to beauty, did not limit<br />
his appreciation of decorative MSS. to any par-<br />
ticular period. It was a remarkable test of his<br />
shrewdness and knowledge that he bought for<br />
£8000, over the heads of the British Museum<br />
authorities, the Stowe MSS., which the present<br />
earl a few years ago sold to the English Govern-<br />
ment for ,£45,000. The first of the great modern<br />
book sales was that of the library of Henry<br />
Perkins, dispersed in 1873, which was formed<br />
between 1820 and 1840. It consisted of only 865<br />
numbers, but realised =£26,000. It included two<br />
copies of the Mazarine Bible—one (,£2680) on<br />
paper, now in the Huth Library, one (.£3400) on<br />
vellum, at one time in Lord Ashburnham's<br />
possession. Sir William Tite's library was large<br />
(about 15,000 volumes), and brought ,£20,000,<br />
and the sale was the second of the great modern<br />
book auctions, that is, of those in which a marked<br />
change in the prices of books began. It was<br />
formed bet ween 1835 and 1865, and was sold in<br />
1874. It contained rare books which had passed<br />
through the Roxburghe, George Daniel, and other<br />
sales, Shakespeare quartos, English Bibles, in-<br />
cluding a Tyndall's "Pentateuch" of 1530-31, a<br />
blockbook " Apocalypse," and some Caxtons. The<br />
Beckford collection, of which the final sale took<br />
place thirteen years ago, was even then a marvel-<br />
lous gathering of books in all departments, except<br />
the purely English. The Duke of Hamilton's<br />
library, so far as printed books were concerned,<br />
was somewhat in the style of Beckford's-—general<br />
in character, but dashed with a by no means too<br />
prominent Scottish tinge. It was in the main<br />
gathered between 1780 and i860. The most<br />
striking books were the 1481 "Dante," with all<br />
the engravings, and the copy of Boyce's "Scottish<br />
History," printed on vellum for James V. The<br />
MSS. were, however, of matchless excellence, and<br />
unfortunately for the greater part secured by the<br />
Berlin Royal Museum. Amongst them were<br />
the celebrated "Dante" drawings by Botti-<br />
celli, and some glorious Italian illuminated<br />
works of the period of 1490-1510, besides<br />
a number of rare volumes from Burgundian<br />
and Rhenish monasteries in the eighth and<br />
ninth centuries, There was also the superbest<br />
volume of "Latin Gospels," written on purple<br />
vellum in letters of gold, in the eighth century,<br />
which had belonged to Henry VIII., but this<br />
came back to England in 1887 with several other<br />
MSS., which the Berlin authorities unwillingly<br />
sold to make up the purchase money of the whole<br />
collection. It is now in America. He next<br />
referred to the Thorold and the Osterly collec-<br />
tions. The late Earl of Crawford achieved the rare<br />
distinction of creating a library perfect in balance<br />
and completeness, representative of all branches<br />
of literature, art, and science, including the most<br />
modern books, as well as the finest examples of<br />
early typography and priceless MSS. in all<br />
languages and of all periods.<br />
The Librarian op To-Day.<br />
The first president, Mr. Winter Jones, gave in<br />
his conference address a remarkable general view<br />
of the whole field of librarianship. In twenty<br />
years the subject had become too extensive to be<br />
treated in the same manner, but he would venture<br />
to place before them a certain standard of excel-<br />
lence to which the librarian should aspire. It<br />
was rarely the lot of man to attain even a limited<br />
mastership in any calling, but it was within the<br />
compass of all to follow, even at a distance, in<br />
the footsteps of such a noble example of pro-<br />
fessional ardour and technical excellence as Brad-<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 161 (#587) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
shaw bequeathed. No two libraries were exactly<br />
alike. No two University libraries, no two<br />
scientific libraries, no two rate-supported libraries<br />
had precisely the same income, appealed to pre-<br />
cisely the same public, were organised in precisely<br />
the same manner; and the qualifications of their<br />
respective librarians must also vary in as many<br />
ways. But the main qualifications were:—i. A<br />
good general education and a knowledge of<br />
several languages and literatures. 2. Next, pro-<br />
fessional training, kept up by converse with fellow-<br />
workers. 3. The study of bibliography was of<br />
paramount importance, and nothing was more<br />
absurd than to think that it could only concern<br />
rare, old, and curious books. Every printed<br />
volume in a library demanded full and exact<br />
description, and the contents of each book must<br />
be noted for the purpose of classification. 4.<br />
Love of books and reading. To the librarian<br />
reading was a duty, perhaps his first duty. He<br />
was not only the guardian of books, but had a<br />
higher office as a humble apostle of light and<br />
learning. In Milton's stately phrase, they should<br />
be " Enflamed with the study of learning' and the<br />
admiration of virtue; stirred up with high hopes<br />
of living to be brave men and worthy patriots,<br />
dear to God, and famous to all ages."<br />
THE WISDOM OF 1772.<br />
(From "Joineriana," 1772).<br />
To The Author.<br />
WRITE not to the million, but to the under-<br />
standing few—so shall praise, in pro-<br />
portion to what you have merited, crown<br />
your endeavour.<br />
Invent not idle tales—more to seduce the heart<br />
than mend the morals. Be well assured your tale<br />
can do no harm, and promises much good.<br />
Write not for hire—that's pitiful, for the most<br />
part swelling vast volumes seldom to any profit<br />
save the bookseller's.<br />
Write not for the sake of applause, but for the<br />
sake of truth.<br />
On Books.<br />
Books, like friends, should bo few and well<br />
chosen.<br />
Books change their fashion, almost as much as<br />
apparel.<br />
There is nothing from which humanity derives<br />
so much honour.<br />
The greatest monuments of men are letters—<br />
they are not only the foundation of all, but they<br />
outlive all other.<br />
Books, to judicious ^compilers, are useful—to<br />
particular arts and professions absolutely neces-<br />
sary, to men of real science, they are tools—but<br />
more are tools to them.<br />
The Bookseller.<br />
He is generally a bad judge of everything—but<br />
his slupidity shines most conspicuously in that<br />
particular branch of knowledge by which he is to<br />
get his bread.<br />
Yet he takes upon him to cater both for the<br />
learned and unlearned, and, by the help of his<br />
bookmaker, provides plentiful messes of literature<br />
of all sorts—olios, fricassee and hashes without<br />
number and without taste.<br />
In other words, he is a cook without a pxlate.<br />
Yet the fate of the living author, in these<br />
abused and hard times, depends much upon the-<br />
caprice of this tasteless confectioner.<br />
On Literary Property.<br />
The property being once conveyed, whole and<br />
entire, from the author, for what is called a<br />
valuable consideration to the bookseller, he, the<br />
said bookseller, has an unquestionable right<br />
thereafter to multiply copies of the same after<br />
any form and manner as to his good liking shall<br />
seem best, for his own particular benefit and<br />
emolument, neither shall any have licence to<br />
utter, vend, print, pirate, abridge, hash, fritter<br />
part or parcel thereof, without the concurrence of<br />
him, the said purchaser. It is become a part of<br />
his freehold—and so I understand it to be<br />
accounted in every country in Europe—the<br />
Imperial, Royal, Ducal, or State privileges<br />
amounting to no less.<br />
He may sell, let; lease, mortgage the whole or<br />
any part thereof; he may convey in trust, give<br />
outright, devise by will. In case of any mis-<br />
fortune to himself, it becomes the property of<br />
his creditors. In the purchase thereof he<br />
hazarded a considerable part of their substance<br />
as well as his own, and it now devolves to them to<br />
make good deficiencies. But it seems it bears no<br />
title, at best an imaginary one.<br />
To the right owner, by purchase, whom it cost<br />
a thousand pounds, it is not worth a thousand<br />
pence; but to the thief, who stole it, knowing it<br />
to be another's property (there being no Law to<br />
hang such thieves) it has been worth far more<br />
than the first purchase.<br />
This appears to be a matter of some moment,<br />
upon several accounts, and, sooner or later, we<br />
hope will be thought an object worthy the atten-<br />
tion of the Legislature.<br />
I need say no more upon this head—much has<br />
been said upon it, within these few years, in the<br />
Courts of Chancery and King's Bench—but<br />
nothing has been effectually done, save that not<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 162 (#588) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
only the usual but even enormous fees (too much<br />
in use of late, and advancing every Term) have<br />
been expended.<br />
At present the matter of literary property<br />
scarce amounts to any property at all, and leaves<br />
the case of authors a lamentable case indeed.<br />
For disappoint them of their booksellers and they<br />
are undone. Cry down the only market for<br />
literature, where shall they sell their ware':'<br />
Spoil them of the only patrons which modish<br />
folly and a dissipated age have left, what must<br />
become of them?<br />
They will no longer be able to wait upon<br />
ministers and managers in clean shirts and hose!<br />
Ragged and darned ones they have been contented<br />
to put up with a long while. But you would not,<br />
surely, reduce them once more to the painful<br />
necessity of hawking their histories and singing<br />
their ballads through the streets.<br />
THE HISTORICAL ENGLISH DICTIONARY.<br />
THE Vice-Chancellor of the University of<br />
Oxford, the Rev. Dr. Magrath, Provost of<br />
Queen's, entertained at dinner on Oct. 12,<br />
in the hall of Queen's College, Dr. Murray, Mr.<br />
Henry Bradley, and others who have helped in<br />
the production of the Historical English Dic-<br />
tionary.<br />
Dr. Murray, in reply to the toast of the even-<br />
ing, gave a resumd of the work in which he was<br />
â– engaged, quoting the efforts of lexicographers of<br />
centuries ago. It was not until 1857, when Dr.<br />
'Trench read his papers on the deficiencies of the<br />
English dictionaries and recommended the Philo-<br />
logical Society to make an effort to redress them,<br />
that the Dean and Dr. Furnivall and others took<br />
the work in hand; but Hartley Coleridge died<br />
before the letter A was completed. From that<br />
time, through various societies, dictionary work<br />
had gone on, but the interest in it fell off; and<br />
when he joined the Philological Society the move-<br />
ment had almost come to an end. In 1875 he<br />
received an offer for an effort to make a dictionary.<br />
Negotiations followed, and ultimately the Claren-<br />
don Press undertook the present work. New<br />
quotations by the million were sent in from all<br />
parts, and in 1882 began the serious work of<br />
making the dictionary. Three years later he<br />
.gave up his school work and came to Oxford;<br />
and since then, with the help of his assistants<br />
•and contributors, the work had been hastened in<br />
the Scriptorium. One of their most serious<br />
â– difficulties was to know what words should be put<br />
in and what should not. With regard to the<br />
â– time at which the dictionary would be finished,<br />
he saw it was stated that it would be finished<br />
about the year 1918. By a simple rule of pro-<br />
portion which he had worked out his estimate<br />
was that it would be finished about 1910; and<br />
with the additional strength that the delegates<br />
might perhaps give he saw no reason why it<br />
should not be finished by the year 1908.—Times.<br />
CORRESPONDENCE.<br />
I.—" Literature."<br />
IOBSERVE with great satisfaction that two<br />
important new departures in the conduct of<br />
periodicals will be taken in the newest of<br />
them, "Literature," of which I have just read the<br />
prospectus. They are:<br />
(1) Books sent, but not reviewed, will be at<br />
the disposal of the publishers for two months.<br />
(2) Books if reviewed at all will be reviewed<br />
within not much more than three weeks from<br />
being received.<br />
The first-named is one which I have before now<br />
advocated in The Author, and the example<br />
of " Literature" will, I hope, be followed by other<br />
periodicals. The Athenaeum, to my knowledge,<br />
has at least once returned an expensive unre-<br />
viewed book on the ground that it was "not in<br />
their way," but I believe the almost universal<br />
practice is for the proprietors of periodicals to<br />
sell for their own benefit all books received for<br />
review, whether reviewed or not and whether<br />
expensive or not. Surely this practice should be<br />
checked, if not discontinued. I have heard of<br />
cases in which the books are destroyed, but have<br />
not been able to verify them.<br />
It is also stated in the prospectus of " Litera-<br />
ture " that the price of all books sent for review<br />
will be stated, but I do not gather that it will be<br />
stated in the review itself, as should, I submit, be<br />
universally the case, but is, I believe, done in the<br />
Literary World and Bookman alone. The<br />
mention of the price in the review itself is not only a<br />
great convenience to readers generally—who fre-<br />
quently fail to find the book of their choice for the<br />
moment amongst a crowd of advertisements—<br />
but must also greatly assist the sale of a book.<br />
Oct. 12. ^ e J. M. Lelt.<br />
II.—The Effect of Reviews.<br />
Is it a logical conclusion that, because a very<br />
large number of a new work has been taken<br />
immediately on publication, hostile reviews have<br />
not injured the sale, as maintained in The Author<br />
(page 121)? How is it known that twice as<br />
many copies would not have been disposed of if<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 163 (#589) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
favourable notices had appeared in the place of<br />
those that were adverse?<br />
And, since people buy the books before they<br />
have made themselves acquainted with their<br />
contents, how can the large sale show the<br />
approval of the public taste? I suppose that a<br />
desire to be able to join in discussions upon the<br />
latest production induces many to buy it, but<br />
who knows how many private purchasers in the<br />
end regret having spent their money and time<br />
over the work so far as their own entertainment<br />
in its perusal is concerned.<br />
Many, perhaps, would prefer that reviewers<br />
should not go further than giving information<br />
about a work, pointing out the author's errors as<br />
to fact, &c. Too often a reviewer uses a book as<br />
a peg on which to hang his own views for public<br />
inspection, whilst he adopts an ex cathedra style<br />
which is not pleasant, nor justified by his own<br />
superior abilities. F. R.<br />
[The above note contains three points. To the<br />
first the answer seems plain. In the case of a<br />
book by an unknown writer it is impossible to say<br />
how the circulation is affected by a hostile review.<br />
In the case of a known writer, when it is found<br />
that in spite of hostility the demand is as great as,<br />
or greater than, that of previous books by the<br />
same writer, the conclusion is, surely, that the<br />
reviewers' opinions have had no weight.<br />
The second point is that people do not buy<br />
books by unknown writers unless they are recom-<br />
mended to do so by their own friends after read-<br />
ing. All the persons who have been consulted on<br />
this point agree that such recommendation is the<br />
chief cause that makes a book to "go."<br />
The third point shows that the writer himself<br />
pays no regard to a critical opinion on any book.<br />
He says that many would prefer a mere "account"<br />
of a book. Well, so far as the public is con-<br />
cerned, that would, perhaps, be quite enough, but<br />
that would not be criticism, and there are still<br />
many who desire not to suppress criticism, but to<br />
lift criticism out of the fields of log-rolling,<br />
personal animosity, and office boy's work into<br />
which it has fallen in some of our organs.—Ed.]<br />
III.—Novelist r. Reviewer.<br />
I have read with considerable interest your<br />
allusion, in the October number of The Autlwr,<br />
to my article on " Novelist v. Reviewer," which<br />
appeared in the August number of the New<br />
Century Review. Will you forgive me for sug-<br />
gesting that your remarks miss entirely the main<br />
point of my argument? You quote a passage in<br />
which I say that " no critic would wilfully defame<br />
a good book," but in your comments on this<br />
you lose sight altogether of that most important<br />
word wilfully. I have, in my article, given<br />
reasons for the proposition advanced, and I still<br />
fail to see how these reasons admit of logical<br />
refutation. In speaking of critics, my article was,<br />
of course, meant to refer to those only who are com-<br />
petent to form an opinion of value upon the works<br />
they criticise. Many criticisms, and more especially<br />
those appearing in local newspapers, are written<br />
not by critics but by reporters, who are obviously<br />
in eVery way unfitted to act in a critical capacity.<br />
I entirely agree with you when you say that<br />
a critic should be a scholar; but I think his<br />
education should be conducted more or less with<br />
a view to that special branch of critical work<br />
which he proposes to undertake. Heaven forbid<br />
that reviews of novels should be written by a<br />
mere scholiast, a man almost invariably pedantic<br />
and ignorant of the world. The cntic should<br />
be essentially broad-minded. One should have<br />
read at least a thousand novels and five hundred<br />
miscellaneous books before beginning to review a<br />
single work of fiction. And the thousand novels<br />
should not be merely skimmed; each should be<br />
read with an eye to its technical construction, its<br />
style, and its psychology.<br />
You attribute to me the assumption that<br />
novelists are the sole traducers of the critics.<br />
This was certainly not my intention. I merely<br />
considered the case of the novelists as being the<br />
most common, and of greatest general interest.<br />
Again, you deny that the attacking force com-<br />
prises those only whose work has failed to win<br />
favourable reviews. But I never asserted that it<br />
was so. I simply remarked that it was from this<br />
class that the attacks "almost invariably 'r<br />
emanated. As a general rule it certainly is the<br />
adversely criticised authors who start the battle,<br />
but others may join in afterwards.<br />
Before closing this letter, I should like to<br />
emphasise one point which, it seems to me, has<br />
attracted less attention than it deserves. It is<br />
that critical notices are in so few instances<br />
written at the best moment for writing them.<br />
I believe it is a very common practice to write a<br />
review immediately after reading the book to be<br />
reviewed This I venture to think is too soon:<br />
one's opinions of a book should have time duly<br />
to allocate themselves, to find their proper level.<br />
Personally, I never—if I can possibly avoid so<br />
doing—review a book on the same day that I<br />
read it, and I never defer the writing of a review<br />
more than three days after reading the book. If<br />
this system be methodically pursued, there need<br />
be no diminution in the amonnt of work accom-<br />
plished, and the result is infinitely more satis-<br />
factory. Finally, may I suggest that the three<br />
great duties of a critic to himself are: to culti-<br />
vate the analytic faculty, to pay great attention<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 164 (#590) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
to literary style, and to observe with care all that<br />
goes on in the world around him? It is by<br />
â– doing his duty to himself that a critic will best<br />
be able to do his duty to the public.<br />
Cecil J. Mead Allen.<br />
The Cedars, Exeter, Oct. 12.<br />
IV.—Editob and Contributor.<br />
I notice, periodically, in The Author, com-<br />
plaints as to editors retaining for many months<br />
MSS. offered for consideration, and then return-<br />
ing them as unsuitable without a word of apology.<br />
In the October issue "Hard Worker" complains<br />
of this practice. I have not yet seen any letters<br />
referring to the other side of the question, and<br />
as I think we ought to be perfectly fair in our<br />
dealings with the long-suffering editor, perhaps<br />
you will allow me to say that my short experi-<br />
ence has been the direct opposite.<br />
For the past three years I have been bom-<br />
barding editors with MSS., and am not able to<br />
charge any one of them with discourtesy or with<br />
unduly retaining a MS.<br />
Perhaps I may specially refer to To-Day,<br />
Chapman's, and Answers, as being most con-<br />
siderate to a totally unknown writer, returning<br />
MSS. within a few weeks if unsuitable, and<br />
promptly paying for those accepted; so that in<br />
this last important particular my experience does<br />
not coincide with that of " M.," who writes to you<br />
in the same issue, In one case where Answers<br />
had kept a MS. a long while a letter of apology<br />
came with it, and on my mentioning (in my reply)<br />
the length of time it had been kept, a further<br />
letter came with a request that I would send it<br />
back so that it might be made use of.<br />
Of course, I have had numbers of MSS.<br />
refused, that goes without saying; but I do<br />
not expect unreasonable things from such<br />
heavily-burdened fellow creatures as popular<br />
editors must be.<br />
I think, if writers would send in nothing but<br />
type-written matter, and be careful that their<br />
full name and address appeared upon each, and<br />
if stamps were affixed to each article or story<br />
for return if unsuitable, it would make our<br />
unfortunate editors' lives less a burden to them,<br />
and ensure for us more prompt attention. Fancy<br />
having to wade through and decide upon all the<br />
short stories which a popular magazine receives!<br />
_____ Alan Oscar.<br />
V.—Stamps for MSS. going Abroad.<br />
I observe that a correspondent of The Author<br />
wants to know where unused foreign stamps can<br />
be procured for the purpose of prepaying the<br />
postage of MSS. despatched to, and liable to be<br />
returned from, the United States or other distant<br />
lands.<br />
All the big stamp merchants have such stamps<br />
in stock, and they may also be bought at most of<br />
the offices at which foreign money is exchanged.<br />
The window of one such office, close to Charing<br />
Cross Station, is plastered with such stamps.<br />
Francis Gubble.<br />
VI.—The Right op Reply.<br />
A question interesting to authors, critics, and<br />
editors, but especially interesting to editors,<br />
comes on early next month for decision by a<br />
French tribunal. It involves a no less important<br />
matter than the right of reply. M. Dubout, a<br />
dramatic author, recently produced a play which<br />
was not a success. M. Jules Lemaitre, who does<br />
the theatrical criticism for the Revue des Deux<br />
Maudes, explained in that periodical why M.<br />
Dubout's "Fredcgonde" was a failure. The<br />
explanation was unsatisfactory to M. Dubout, and<br />
he claimed the right to reply to it. Now, French<br />
law is somewhat peculiar in the matter of this<br />
right. It gives it to any person whatsoever who,<br />
not having manifestly put himself out of court,<br />
may consider himself disparagingly referred to in<br />
a public print. And, further, it gives such per-<br />
son the right to have his reply inserted in the<br />
print inculpated to the extent of double the num-<br />
ber of lines employed upon the disparagement.<br />
By virtue of this law, M. Dubout claimed the<br />
right of replying to M. Lemaitre, to the fullest<br />
extent, in the Revue. M. Brunetiere, the editor,<br />
refused to insert his reply. Hence, an action at<br />
law. If M. Dubout wins, as he confidently<br />
expects, some very curious complications must<br />
necessarily follow.—Pall Mall Gazette.<br />
BOOE TALE-<br />
MISS BETHAM-EDWARDS has edited<br />
"The Autobiography of Arthur Young,<br />
with Selections from His Correspond-<br />
ence." In this volume, of which Messrs. Smith,<br />
Elder, and Co. are the publishers, many letters of<br />
eminent persons will be given for the first time,<br />
and will, it is expected, be an interesting and<br />
valuable addition to the history of the last forty<br />
years or so of the eighteenth century and the first<br />
twenty of the nineteenth. Two portraits of the<br />
famous traveller and two views will illustrate the<br />
work.<br />
A book on the "British Post Office," written<br />
by a member of the administrative staff, is about<br />
to be published by Messrs. Partridge.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 165 (#591) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Mr. Edwin Pugh has written " Tony Drum: a<br />
Cockney Boy," for publication by Mr. Heinemann<br />
shortly.<br />
Mr. Wickham Flower, F.S.A., is the author of<br />
a large volume—" Aquitaine: A Traveller's<br />
Tales "—which Messrs. Chapman and Hall will<br />
publish.<br />
Professor Robert K. Douglas has co-operated<br />
with Mrs. L. T. Meade in writing a series of<br />
stories dealing with social life in China. "Under<br />
the Dragon Throne," as the volume is entitled,<br />
will be published by Messrs. Gardner, Darton,<br />
and Co.<br />
Madame Sarah Grand's new novel, "The Beth<br />
Book," is due on Nov. 5.<br />
A volume of tales of the West Highlands, by<br />
the Marquis of Lorne, is announced by Messrs.<br />
Constable, under the title of "Adventures in<br />
Legend." The same firm will publish "The<br />
Pupils of Peter the Great," by Mr. Nisbet Bain.<br />
Mr. Anthony Hope has written a new romance,<br />
"Born in the Purple." It will appear serially,<br />
and a year hence in book form.<br />
Mr. William Le Queux is engaged on a new<br />
story, called " In the Day of Temptation." The<br />
work is to be in Messrs. Tillotson's hands for<br />
serial publication about March.<br />
Mr. A. Cotgreave, librarian of West Ham, is<br />
preparing a contents subject-index of a popular<br />
character to general and periodical literature.<br />
A work on "The Artists and Engravers of<br />
British and American Bookplates," by Mr. H. W.<br />
Fincham, member of council of the Ex-Libris<br />
Society, will be published shortly by Messrs.<br />
Kegan Paul, Trench, and Co. Signed examples<br />
of all periods will illustrate the subject, and some<br />
will be printed from the original copper plates.<br />
The Rev. J. Baly, late Archdeacon of Cal-<br />
cutta, is the author of a philological work which<br />
Messrs. Regan Paul have in preparation, and<br />
which will contain a pedigree of the greater<br />
portion of English words now in use.<br />
"Essays and Reviews in English Literature,"<br />
by the Rev. Duncan C. Tovey, Clark Lecturer<br />
at Trinity College, Cambridge, is to be pub-<br />
lished by Messrs. Bell.<br />
A work entitled "Picturesque Dublin, Old<br />
and New," by Frances Gerard, will be published<br />
shortly by Messrs. Hutchinson.<br />
The fund organised by the Neie Age for a<br />
tribute to the memory of the late Mr. James<br />
Ashcroft Noble has been very successful. A<br />
portion of the sum has been used to raise a<br />
memorial stone over the grave in Wandsworth<br />
Cemetery, and the balance is to be devoted to the<br />
education of his children.<br />
Professor J. K. Laughton is editing a volume<br />
entitled "Twelve British Sailors, from Sir<br />
Francis Drake to Lord St. Vincent," which<br />
Messrs. Lawrence and Bullen are to publish.<br />
The contributors will include Sir Frederick<br />
Bedford, Captain Montagu Burrows, Admiral<br />
Markham, Sir Edmund Fremantle, and Admiral<br />
Colomb. For a companion volume dealing with<br />
"Twelve British Soldiers, from Cromwell to<br />
Wellington," Mr. Spencer Wilkinson, who edits<br />
it, has secured as writers Sir Archibald Alison,<br />
General Maurice, Count Gleichen, and other<br />
authorities on military subjects.<br />
The autobiography of Admiral of the Fleet Sir<br />
Henry Keppel, G.C.B., from 1809 to 1897, will<br />
be published shortly", in two volumes, by Messrs.<br />
Bentley, with illustrations by the late Sir Oswald<br />
Brierly, marine painter to Her Majesty.<br />
The long-expected biography of Cardinal Wise-<br />
man, by Mr. Wilfrid Ward, will be ready shortly.<br />
Mr. Oswald John Simon is preparing a memoir<br />
of his father, the late Sir John Simon, serjeant-<br />
at-law, formerly M.P. for Dewsbury, who had<br />
interesting correspondence with eminent law-<br />
yers and statesmen, and took an active share in<br />
Jewish affairs.<br />
The Earl of Camperdown is writing a Life of<br />
Admiral Viscount Duncan, which Messrs. Long-<br />
mans, Green, and Co. will publish early in 1898.<br />
Mrs. Arthur Bell has prepared a memoir of<br />
Gainsborough, for which an effort has been made<br />
to trace many specimens of his work hitherto<br />
unknown. Gainsborough seldom signed his work.<br />
The book will be published by Messrs. Bell.<br />
A companion volume to "London City<br />
Churches " will be " London Riverside Churches,"<br />
written by Mr. A. E. Daniell and illustrated by<br />
Mr. Alexander Ansted, which Messrs. Constable<br />
are to publish.<br />
Mr. Gerald Duckworth is about to terminate<br />
his connection with Messrs. J. M. Dent and Co.,<br />
in order to set up, in company with a friend, as a<br />
publisher on his own account, under the style of<br />
Duckworth and Co.<br />
Messrs. Macmillan and Co. (Limited) have<br />
removed from Bedford-street to new premises in<br />
St. Martin's-street, W.C. (leading out of Leicester-<br />
square) .<br />
Miss Beatrice Harraden's "Echoes of Olden<br />
Days " is in the press for issue by Messrs. Black-<br />
wood in time for the children's Christmas season.<br />
The illustrations are by H. R. Millar.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 166 (#592) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Mr. H. B. Irving has written a study of Ju<lge<br />
Jeffreys. The book will appear after Christmas.<br />
Dr. Emil Reich has written a study of Hungary,<br />
its characteristic literature, and people, which<br />
Messrs. Jarrold and Sons will publish.<br />
In Mr. Cuthbert Hadden's work, "George<br />
Thomson, the Friend of Burns," to be published<br />
by Mr. Nimmo, the author will reveal that at the<br />
time when Thomson sent ,£5 to the poet he had<br />
only <£ioo a year, and was a married man with<br />
a young family. He will also show that Thomson<br />
did see Burns. Letters will be included from<br />
Scott, Hogg, Byron, Moore, Campbell, Beethoven,<br />
and others.<br />
Mr. Christie Murray has written a book<br />
describing his travels in the Colonies and America,<br />
which Messrs. Downey will publish, the title being<br />
"A Cockney Columbus."<br />
Two more volumes of the "Diaries of Sir<br />
Mountstuart Grant-Duff'' are to be published by<br />
Mr. Murray. The period covered is from 1873 to<br />
1881, and they are to contain anecdotes of Tour-<br />
guenieff, Hans Andersen, Renan, Taine, Lord<br />
Melbourne, Disraeli, Mr. Gladstone, Jowett,<br />
Thackeray, Kinglake, Cobden, Bright, Kingsley,<br />
Newman, Gambetta, and other notabilities.<br />
Mr. Harry Furniss has drawn the illustrations<br />
for Miss Davenport Adams's story for the young,<br />
entitled "Miss Secretary Ethel," which will<br />
be published by Messrs. Hurst andBlackett.<br />
The book on etching, by Mr. William Strang<br />
and Dr. Singer, which was announced a long<br />
time ago, is now about to appear, published by<br />
Messrs. Kegan Paul.<br />
Professor Flinders Petrie has seen the final<br />
proofs of his work, " Six Temples at Thebes,"<br />
which Mr. Quaritch is to publish. This includes<br />
the one inscription hitherto found in Egypt<br />
wherein the name of the people of Israel is men-<br />
tioned. Professor Petrie's account of his excava-<br />
tions last spring, under the auspices of the Egypt<br />
Exploration Fund, is now being printed, and will<br />
be called " Deshasheh."<br />
Mr. Ernest Rhys is editing the " Hampstead<br />
Annual," an enterprise which will see the light<br />
this month. Among the contributors are Canon<br />
Ainger, Sir Walter Besant, Mr. Buxton Forman,<br />
Dr. Birkbeck Hill, Mr. H. W. Nevinson, and Mr.<br />
Frederick Wedmore.<br />
Hollandia, a Dutch weekly journal for all<br />
Hollanders abroad, will be published on the 6th<br />
inst. at no, St. Martin's-lane, London, W.C. It<br />
will be conducted by Mr. J. T. Grein.<br />
Chapman's Magazine has hitherto been devoted<br />
entirely to fiction, but future numbers will<br />
contain one or more articles by expert writers on<br />
subjects of immediate social, literary, or general<br />
interest.<br />
'• Philosophy and Psychology," writes a corre-<br />
spondent, "are not represented in the American<br />
list, given in the October number. Let me<br />
remove the reproach, if there is any, by informing<br />
you that Messrs. D. C. Heath and Co. are bringing<br />
out a book by Mr. John Adams on 'The Herbas-<br />
tian Psychology applied to Education.'"<br />
"On London Stones," a novel, by Catherine<br />
March ("Carl Swerdna"), author of "Cruel<br />
Kindred," " A Long Lane," "Snared," " A Year<br />
Between," &c, is announced by Messrs. James<br />
Clarke and Co. One volume. 6s.<br />
"Fidelis, and other Poems," by Mrs. C. M.<br />
Gemmer, has just been published by Messrs.<br />
Archibald Constable and Co. It is a pretty little<br />
book of verse, and we especially recommend the<br />
first poem, after which the book is named.<br />
A valuable prize recently offered by T. Winter<br />
Wood ("Vanguard"), of Paignton, Devon, has<br />
been awarded to W. B. Wallace for a poem on<br />
"Liberty."<br />
A novel by the late Mr. George Augustus Sala<br />
is about to be published by Mr. Unwin. The<br />
story is one of London life, and called " Margaret<br />
Forster."<br />
Mrs. Bird's book on Korea, is to appear from<br />
Mr. Murray this month.<br />
Mr. Fred. J. Whishaw has written " A Tsar's<br />
Gratitude," a story which Messrs. Longmans will<br />
publish.<br />
The Countess of Warwick has edited the report<br />
of conferences and a congress held in connection<br />
with the educational section of the Victorian Era<br />
Exhibition. "Progress in Women's Education in<br />
the British Empire," is the title of the volume,<br />
which Messrs. Longmans will publish.<br />
A correspondent to the Chronicle calls attention<br />
to another change of title. He says "' The<br />
Beetle: A Mystery,' a novel by Mr. R. Marsh<br />
(Skeffington) has previously appeared in Answers<br />
under the title of 'The Peril of Paul Lessing-<br />
ham.'" The correspondent wants to know the<br />
reason.<br />
"The Nurse's Handbook of Cookery," by<br />
E. M. Worsnop, assisted by Miss M. C. Blair, has<br />
just been published by Messrs. A. and C. Black.<br />
By a curious coincidence, the title of Miss Mary<br />
Wilkins' latest novel is the same as one written<br />
by Annabel Gray, called "Jerome," which was<br />
published in 1891 by Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 167 (#593) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
167<br />
Messrs. Hutchinson are preparing to publish<br />
this autumn a novel entitled "For Love of a<br />
Bedouin Maid," by Le Voleur, author of a novel<br />
entitled "By Order of the Brotherhood" (which<br />
had a large sale both here and in the colonies).<br />
The story, which is one of adventure in the days<br />
of the first Napoleon, is illustrated with sixteen<br />
drawings by a rising young Sussex artist, Mr.<br />
Ernest Dyer.<br />
Mr. Ferrar Fenton, author of "St. Paul's<br />
Epistles" and the "New Testament in Current<br />
English," is about to publish, through Mr. Elliot<br />
Stock, of Paternoster-row, " The Book of Job in<br />
English." The peculiarity of this version is that<br />
it claims to be absolutely literal, and yet in the<br />
same metrical verse as the original Hebrew, and<br />
line for line. The sacred poem contains about<br />
two thousand lines.<br />
"John Gilbert, Yeoman," by Richard Gilbert<br />
Soans, is published by Messrs. Frederick Warne<br />
and Co. It is an historical romance of ye times<br />
of Cromwell, the scenes of which are for the most<br />
part laid in beautiful Sussex.<br />
"The Hand of His Brother," by Edith C.<br />
Kenyon, is about to be published by Messrs. Gay<br />
and Bird. Many of the scenes of this novel are<br />
laid in the picturesque neighbourhood of Hastings<br />
—the Lovers' Seat, the old Church at Winchelsea,<br />
Pett Levels, &c.<br />
"Stories from Italy," by G. S. Godkin, is about<br />
to issue from the press of A. C. McClurg and Co.,<br />
of Chicago. This author writes out of the fullness<br />
of a long residence in Italy, and presents Italian<br />
character in a new and intimate light. The<br />
volume contains six or seven stories, different in<br />
action and scene, and yet connected here and<br />
there by the reappearance in the later tales of<br />
characters that had appeared in the earlier.<br />
LITERATURE INTHE PERIODICALS.<br />
The Publisher in Ireland. B. Blake. New Ireland<br />
Recieiv for October.<br />
The Celtic Mind. Sophie Bryant, D.So. Contemporary<br />
for October.<br />
John Dat. Algernon Charles Swinburne. Nineteenth<br />
Century for October.<br />
Latin Verses. Times for Oct. 8. Letter of Major<br />
Alex. B. Tulloch in Times for Oct. 16.<br />
The Harleian Library. J. M. Stone. Blackwood's<br />
for October.<br />
Edmond de Goncourt. Macmillan's Magazine for<br />
October.<br />
A New Academy. Macmillan's Magazinelor November.<br />
Letters of Dr. Holmes to a Classmate. May Blake<br />
Morge. Century Magazine for October.<br />
The Children's Book. Editorial Note in Harper's for<br />
October.<br />
Alfred Lord Tjsnnnyson. By Andrew Lang. Long,<br />
man's Magazine for November. By Stephen Gwynn.<br />
Macmillan's Magazine for November. By William Canton.<br />
Good Words for November. By Leslie Stephen. National<br />
Review for November. By Harold Spender. Fori nightly<br />
Review for November. By Agnes Grace Weld. Contempo-<br />
rary for November.<br />
What of publishing in Ireland? Is it like the<br />
proverbial snakes in Ireland? A writer on the<br />
subject tells us that it is, more or less, only that<br />
there is a great possibility ia it. Edinburgh, and<br />
Glasgow a little, still maintain a fair output for<br />
Scotland, but one does not often come across a<br />
book that has been published in Dublin or<br />
Belfast. While he is about it, the writer in the<br />
New Ire/and Review indulges in a scathing<br />
characterisation of what London—the centre of<br />
the publishing trade of the Kingdom—reads, and<br />
what she does not want to read. "As publishing<br />
is to so great an extent centralised in London,<br />
and is almost exclusively in the hands of Eaglish<br />
firms," he says, " there is a constant paralysing<br />
pressure exercised by trade influence against the<br />
development, even against the survival, of those<br />
peculiarly Irish gifts, to the splendour of which<br />
the literature of the English language owes so<br />
much. Anglo-Saxon readers will have nothing,<br />
we are told, except those slap-dash, tear-away<br />
tales of extravagant incident which are poured<br />
out in such profusion from the London Press;<br />
and in poetry the only quality they value is an<br />
obscurity sufficiently profound to be a good<br />
excuse for not reading it at all." And it is<br />
because such work does not suit Irish litterateurs<br />
â– —unless they "mortify their senses"—that<br />
Ireland's opportunity is created! Genuine<br />
Irish books, full of Irish wit and humour,<br />
will find a market, not only among the<br />
Irish in all parts of the British Empire, but<br />
among all the people to whom the modern Anglo-<br />
Saxon literature is oppressive or offensive. But<br />
this Irish literature must issue from Ireland, for,<br />
if published in London, it would inevitably be the<br />
fruit of perpetual compromise, which would<br />
deprive it of all virility. From a material point<br />
of view, England may have evolved a higher<br />
culture than Ireland, but where literature is con-<br />
cerned, says the writer, England cannot even claim<br />
equality. "In taste, fertility of imagination,<br />
humour—in fact, in all the gifts which are needed<br />
for the production of a great literature, Irish<br />
writers infinitely surpass those of England." A<br />
genuinely national literature for Ireland is wanted;<br />
not "a mealy-mouthed temporising literature,<br />
written by men who are afraid to speak out<br />
about those among whom they are obliged to live."<br />
The gifts of the Irish mind, meanwhile—its<br />
adaptability, its expressiveness—are the subject<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 168 (#594) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
of a psychological study in the Contemporary by<br />
Dr. Sophie Bryant.<br />
A useful future for M. de Goncourt's new<br />
French Academy is not predicted by the writer in<br />
Macmillati's. Its design to encourage literature<br />
(although it excludes funeeionaries—i.e., civil<br />
servants—and poets) and to make war upon the<br />
Academy, is excellent. But so little does it<br />
encourage literature, that its president (M.<br />
Alphonse Daudet) is a distinguished novelist who<br />
needs no encouragement, while two of its members<br />
are practised journalists, who see the reward of<br />
their work at the week's end. M. Huysmans<br />
alone indisputably deserves his place. The critic<br />
is sarcastic at the expense of both the old and<br />
new institutes. The old—it will never lack<br />
esteem—is a gentlemanly club, which every<br />
Frenchman would be glad to enter, and bored<br />
when once he got there ; the Academic dictionary<br />
is an amiable and foolish pastime : not even forty<br />
angels could purify a language. The new<br />
includes the same elements in a state of less<br />
intensity; it is not to discuss literature,<br />
and will only save itself from boredom if<br />
it takes to collecting Japanese prints. In fact,<br />
genius holds aloof from Academies. To mention<br />
some, Balzac, Dumas, Gautier, Barbey d'Aure-<br />
villy, "could never have been elected to the<br />
Academy, because their talents set them too high<br />
above the decent level of mediocrity which is<br />
essential to a branch of the civil service"—the<br />
Academy being now a conspicuous department of<br />
State. M. de Goncourt's Academy will award<br />
the monthly prize to a mediocre piece of prose—<br />
for ten men at variance with themselves are not<br />
likely to make an admirable choice. They will<br />
quarrel as much as fifty men at their monthly<br />
dinner—men of letters are notoriously quarrel-<br />
some. The only regret is that M. de Goncourt<br />
himself is not here to enjoy the spectacle, because<br />
none was more skilled than he in half-irony.<br />
Above all, the writer concludes, the new Academy<br />
will never profit literature, since literature is too<br />
wayward to be fostered by endowment:<br />
Give a man a thousand pounds and a comfortable house,<br />
and probably he will refrain from that masterpiece which<br />
once was seething in his brain. Moreover, the very power<br />
of election prevents a simple honesty. The unhappy ten<br />
may perhaps discover Borne common ground of sociability,<br />
and shift their judgment from literature to life. But what-<br />
ever their fate they will eat their dinner disdained or for-<br />
gotten by the writers of France. They were ohosen to<br />
found an Academy, and they will never escape from a<br />
collection of coteries.<br />
"Are we to go on â– « ith Latin verses ?"—the<br />
question Mr. Lyttleton's pamphlet puts—is dis-<br />
cussed by a writer in the Times, who thinks that,<br />
on the whole, we are. There is no alternative<br />
classical subject that can take the place of<br />
classical verse-writing, and if the object and<br />
effect of it are such as the supporters of the<br />
present system assert them to be, it cannot be<br />
abolished without injury to classical learning.<br />
As for the schoolboy's ignorance the while, that<br />
may be, but he is sent to school to "learn t o<br />
learn"—to be grounded for the future. The<br />
question is not whether the making of Latin<br />
verses is directly useful and informing, but<br />
whether it is a valuable educational instrument.<br />
The answer is that it is such an instrument.<br />
Spenser, Milton, Addison, Gray, and other<br />
famous men wrote Latin verses. Major Tulloch<br />
is entirely with the writer of the article in sup-<br />
porting a thorough classical education, but<br />
observes that for those entering the military<br />
service modern languages are far more important<br />
than Latin verses.<br />
Is the children's book a useful, a good insti-<br />
tution P The editor of Harper s is among those<br />
who think that books written for children have<br />
done more harm than good. Children recognise<br />
a genuine thing almost as soon as we do, and<br />
they are "turning their backs upon the fictitious<br />
twaddle of little Joe and little Lucy, and the<br />
impossible goody-goody children of recent years."<br />
At the same time the editor makes a distinction<br />
between the literature merely for children, and<br />
that—the Grimm stories and the Andersen stories<br />
—about children. "We and all healthy-minded<br />
children" admire every bit of folk-lore and<br />
every legend that is touched with creative imagi-<br />
nation.<br />
The classmate to whom the few Holmes letters<br />
were addressed is the late Hon. Isaac E. Morse of<br />
New Orleans. The two were at Harvard together,<br />
afterwards met in Paris, and in the later days<br />
became fast friends at home. Holmes's letters<br />
(which could not be found when the "Life " was<br />
being prepared) are in a light, sometimes even<br />
gay tone, and discuss family affairs, the relations<br />
of the South and North, &c. In one case there is<br />
an interesting reply to a request for an opinion of<br />
some poems by Morse. "No one can fail of appre-<br />
ciating the feeling they show," Holmes wrote:<br />
"they have the truth which real sorrow crushes<br />
out of a sensitive and delicate nature, and which<br />
is the stuff that poetry is made of. . . . In<br />
art the lines are deficient, perhaps too much so to<br />
be offered to the surly criticism of the public.<br />
You will find this axiom of mine true, I think:<br />
the more personal and intimate are the feelings<br />
which a poet reveals, the higher art is required<br />
to justify their exposure. . . . They are too<br />
artless, too careless, too much like an extract from<br />
a private letter, to be made common property. I<br />
should not, therefore, recommend their publica-<br />
tion; but I am only one adviser."<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 169 (#595) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
169<br />
TWO MEMORIALS.<br />
Felicia Hemans.<br />
ANOTHEE meeting has been held of the<br />
members of the Felicia Hemans Memorial<br />
Committee at Liverpool under the presi-<br />
dency of Mr. Mackenzie Bell. It has been followed<br />
by a letter addressed to the editor of the Liver-<br />
pool Mercury, which we have great pleasure in<br />
producing in these columns, in the hope that the<br />
memorial will be supported by our readers.<br />
(To the Editors of the Liverpool Mercury.)<br />
Gentlemen,—It is gratifying that this city is<br />
at length awakening to the fact of its long neglect<br />
of the claims of Felicia Hemans to adequate local<br />
recognition. We do not forget that Liverpool<br />
has also been the birthplace of other prominent<br />
personages in literature—such as Clouyh, to<br />
name only one. But, nevertheless, it can hardly<br />
be questioned that Time, " the editor of editors,"<br />
to quote a happy phrase of Mr. Alfred H. Miles in<br />
his "Poets and Poetry of theCentury," has awarded<br />
to Felicia Hemans a conspicuous and almost<br />
unique place in letters as an exponent in verse of<br />
simple emotion. Canon Blencowe, in his interest-<br />
ing note read at the meeting of the Memorial<br />
Committee on Fridiiy, rightly characterised her<br />
work as "unambitious "; but he added with<br />
truth, that it "always appeals to our best feel-<br />
ings," and, nowadays, though it is well that we<br />
should lay great stress on technical craftmanship<br />
in verse, it is also well that we should feel grateful<br />
to the poet who has touched our hearts, thus<br />
showing the possession of a gift beyond and, as<br />
we think, higher than any mere craftsmanship,<br />
however excellent. There is much force in the<br />
classical adage, bis dat qui cito tint. The Liver-<br />
pool public have now a good opportunity of show-<br />
ing in a practical way that they believe in it by<br />
subscribing at once to the Felicia Hemans Memo-<br />
rial, and also by giving any suggestions whereby<br />
the claims of a memorial to her can be brought to<br />
the notice of the poet's multitudinous admirers<br />
throughout the English-speaking world.<br />
Mackenzie Bell.<br />
oi_ W. H. PlCTON.<br />
Cjedmon, the Saxon Poet.<br />
This memorial has been undertaken by the<br />
people of Whitby, the place of Csedmon's resi-<br />
dence, if not of his birth. The Eev. H. D.<br />
Rawnsley, one of the promoters of the memorial,<br />
writes a letter to the Daily Chronicle on the<br />
doubt concerning Csedmon's existence. He<br />
adduces as evidence, first, the Venerable Bede,<br />
second, J. R. Green, the historian, and third, Mr.<br />
Stopford Brooke. We should be content with the<br />
evidence of Bede and the translation of his poems<br />
The memorial will consist of an Iona cross<br />
inscribed to the memory of the poet, set up on the<br />
Abbey Hill overlooking the town of Whitby.<br />
(The Editor of the Daily Chronicle.)<br />
Sir,—First let me thank you for your courteous<br />
notice of the meeting which inaugurated the pro-<br />
posed memorial to Csedmon, and then let me say<br />
in answer to your assertion that " there have been<br />
historical sceptics who have expressed doubts as<br />
to whether Csednion ever had a corporate exis-<br />
tence," that we at Whitby are obstinately con-<br />
vinced not only of Csedmon's actual existence,<br />
life work, and death here at St. Hilda's Abbey,<br />
but that we also look upon him as the founder of<br />
English poetry. Untd the Daily Chronicle<br />
disprove the statement of Bede and discredits<br />
such a careful historian as John Richard Green,<br />
or a man of such literary acumen as Stopford<br />
Brooke, we shall go on holding to our faith, and<br />
giving the reason for that faith that is in us.<br />
Bede was seven years old when Csedinon died in<br />
63o, and no one grew to know Northumbrian<br />
history better than Bede. Bede lxad no doubt of<br />
the corporate existence of Csedmon. "There was<br />
in the Abbey of Hilda," says he, "a certain<br />
brother who had an extraordinary gift, and whose<br />
name was Csedmon "; and he continues, " Sweet<br />
and humble was his poetry; no trivial or vain<br />
song came from his lips: others after him strove<br />
to compose religious poems, but none could vie<br />
with him, for he learned the art of poetry, not<br />
from men or of men, but from God."<br />
John Richard Green had no doubt of the cor-<br />
porate existence of Csedmon. "The stern gran-<br />
deur of the spot—Whitby," says he, "blends<br />
fitly with the thought of the poet who broke its<br />
stillness with the first great song that English<br />
singer had wrought, since our fathers came to<br />
Britain." And the historian adds, "The memory<br />
that endears Whitby to us is not that of Hild,<br />
or of the scholars and priests who gathered<br />
round her . . . the name which really throws<br />
glory over Whitby is the name neither of king<br />
nor bishop, but of a cowherd of the house."<br />
Stopford Brooke has no doubt apparently of<br />
the corporate existence of Csedmon. "Csedmon,"'<br />
writes he, "is the first Englisman whose name<br />
we know who wrote poetry in our island of Eng-<br />
land, and the first to embody in verse the new<br />
passions and ideas which Christianity had brought<br />
to England . . . honour from all the English<br />
race, from all the poets, greatest of the English<br />
race, is due to Csedmon's name."<br />
It is something of this honour that the Whitby<br />
people are about to pay, by erecting a beautiful<br />
Iona cross inscribed to Csedmon's memory, upon<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 170 (#596) ############################################<br />
<br />
170<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
the Abbey hill overlooking the town. Such a<br />
memorial will be a recall to the beginnings of our<br />
English literature, and may be an inspiration to<br />
generations who pass up the church steps to the<br />
ruined abbey of St. Hilda.— Yours truly,<br />
H. D. Rawnsley.<br />
4, West-terrace, Whitby, Oct. 25.<br />
THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH.<br />
[Sbpt. 24 to Oct. 23.-424 Books.]<br />
Alexander, lira. Barbara. 6/-<br />
Allanson-Winn, R. O. Boxing. 5/-<br />
A ntleraon, Robert. The Silence of God.<br />
Anonymous ("A Sexagenarian Rector<br />
together? Ac. 1/<br />
White.<br />
Innes.<br />
5/- Hoddcr and Stoughton.<br />
). Whom God hath joined<br />
Kegan Paul.<br />
Anonymous (" Jim's Wife"). Gordon League Ballads. 2/t<br />
Skefflngton.<br />
Anonymous. Herbariom of the TTniverBity of Oxford. GU. Frowde.<br />
Anonymous (An Ex)wrt). A Lesson in Seeing. Gill and Sons.<br />
Anonymous. Ramji, a Tragedy of the Indian Famine. 1 - Unwin.<br />
Anonymous. The Rivers of Great Britain. Rivers of the South and<br />
West Coasts. 42/- Cassell.<br />
Anonymous. Within Sound of Great Tom. 5 - Oxford: Black well.<br />
Anonymous. Posterity; or, Democracy a.d. 2100. 2/6.<br />
Williams and Norgate.<br />
Anonymous ('-A. C. C") The Stray Notes of a Wayfarer. 2 6.<br />
Roxburghe.<br />
Anonymous ('-A. E."). The Earth Breath and Other Poems. 8/6.<br />
Lane.<br />
Anstey, F. Baboo Jabberjee, B A. 8/6 net. Dent.<br />
Anstev, F. A Tinted Venus. 6/- Harper.<br />
Arnold-Foster, H. O. A History of England. 6/- Cassell.<br />
Armagh, Celia. Joy Meredith. 5/- Hodder and Stoughton.<br />
Baigent, F. J. Registers of John De Sandale and Rigaud De Asserio,<br />
Bishops of Winchester (1316-1323). Winchester: Warren.<br />
Balfour, M. C. The Fall of the Sparrow. 6/- Methuen.<br />
Barbe, L. A. Kirkcaldy of Grange (Famous Scots). 1/6. Oliphant.<br />
Baring-Gould, S. (ed.). English Minstrelsie. 80 - Edinburgh : Jack.<br />
B«rker, Johnson. A Digest of Deductive Logic. 2 6. Methuen.<br />
Barlow. Jane. A Creel of Irish Stories. 6/- Methuen.<br />
Beanlsley, Aubrey (illustrator). Pope's'<br />
Beet, Joseph Agar. The Last Things.<br />
Bennett, W. H. A Primer of the Bible.<br />
Besant. Annie. The Ancient Wisdom.<br />
'Rape of the Lock.'' 4/- net.<br />
Smithers.<br />
Hodder and Stoughton.<br />
2/6. Methuen.<br />
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Bigelow, Poulteney. White Man's Africa. 16/- Harper.<br />
Birch's Manual of Cycle Companies, 1899. First IsBtie. 5 - Simpkin.<br />
Bjura son, B. Captain Mansana and Mother's Hands. 3/- net.<br />
Heinemann.<br />
Blomlleld, Reginald. A History of Renaissance Architecture in Eng-<br />
land. 50'- Bell.<br />
Boisragon, Alan. The Benin Massacre. 3/6. Methuen.<br />
Bool-*, M. E. The Mathematical Psychology of Gratry and Boole.<br />
3/- Sonnenschein.<br />
Bourdi'lon, F. W. Minusula (LyricsV 5/- Lawrence and Bullen.<br />
Bovill, Mii, and Askwith, G. R. "Roddy Owen." 12.'- Murray.<br />
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Bradley, A. C. and Benson, G. R. Philosophical Lectures and<br />
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Gardner, Darton.<br />
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King.<br />
Murray.<br />
7,6. Hodder and St.<br />
\llen.<br />
net.<br />
17<br />
â– lift.<br />
If<br />
Remains of Richard Lewis Nettleship.<br />
Braine, Sheila E. The Luck of the Eardleys.<br />
Bramston, M. Told by Two. 2/6.<br />
Broadbent, Sir W. H. and Broidbent, J. F<br />
10/6.<br />
Brock man, Jane- From Story to Story. 0,-<br />
Brooke-Hunt, Violet. Young King Arthur.<br />
Brooke, C. W. A. Religious Teaching in<br />
Schools, fid.<br />
Brousrh, J. The Early Life of our Lord 5/-<br />
Brue^ A. B. Providential Order of the World.<br />
Burgoyne, F. J. Library Construction. 6 - net.<br />
Bushby, D. C. The Royal Shepherdess and other Poems<br />
Digby.<br />
Bryden, H. A. Nature and Sport in South Africa. 6/- Chapman.<br />
Calvert, A. My Fourth Tour in Western Australia. Heinemann.<br />
Campbell, C. M. Deilie Jock. 6/- Innes.<br />
Canney, H. E. L. The Winter Meteorology of Egypt and its<br />
Tntluence on Disease. 8/fl net. BaillUâ– re.<br />
Cardella, G. For the Life of Others. A novel. 6/- Sonnenschein.<br />
Carey, R. N. Dr. Luttrell's First Patient. 5/- Hutchinson.<br />
€hunce, W. Children under the Poor Law. 7/6. Sonnenschein.<br />
Chang, Wo. England through Chinese Spectacles. 6/-<br />
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Cbarleton, R. J, Netherdyke, 6/- Arnold.<br />
Chetwode, R. D. John of Strathbourne. 3/6. Pearson.<br />
Church. A. J. Lords of the World. 6/- Blackie.<br />
Church, W. C. ITIvbscs S. Grant. 5/- Putnam.<br />
Coats. Jervis. The Master's Watchword. Glasgow: Maclchose.<br />
Cobban, J . Her Royal Highness's Love Affair. 3/6. Pearson.<br />
Coleridge, M. E. The King with Two Faces. 6/- Arnold.<br />
CoIliDgwood. Harry. The Homewixd Voyago. 3/6. S.P.U.K.<br />
Conway, R. S. (ed.). The Italic Dialects. 30/- Clay.<br />
Cookson, George. Poems. 4/6. Innes.<br />
Corder, Annie. The Wandering Albatross. 5/ Longmans.<br />
Cornish. C. J. Nights with an Old Gunner, and other Stories of<br />
Wild Life. 6/- Seeley.<br />
Couch. L. yuiller, A Spanish Maid. 6/- Service.<br />
Cox, M. B. Noal West. Jack'* Mate. 3/6 Gardner, Darton.<br />
Cowper, H. S. (ed.). Oldest Register Book of Parish of Hawkshead,<br />
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Crimpton. G. ' El Carmen. 6/- Digby.<br />
Craven, Helen. Catherine Cruiner. 6/- Innes.<br />
Craven. Lady Helen. Notes of a Music Lover. 6/- Bentley.<br />
Crockett, S. R. Lochinvar. 6/- Methuen.<br />
Cromarty, Deas. His Fault or Hera? 6/- Bentley.<br />
Cromie, Robert. The King's Oak. I/- Newnas<br />
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Curtis, Audrey. Plain Jeremiah. 2/- National Society.<br />
Cust, Lionel. Albrecht Durer. 7/6 net. Seeley.<br />
Dale, Darley. Chloe, 6/- Bliss.<br />
D'Anethan, Baroness A. His Chief's Wife. 6/- Chapman.<br />
Davis, Harding. Cuba in Wrar Time. 3/6. Heinemann.<br />
Dawson, W. J. Thro' Lattice Windows. 6/- Hodder and Stoughton.<br />
Debenham, Mary H. One Red Rose. 8/8. National Society.<br />
Deir, Andrew. When a Maiden Marries. 3/6, Digby.<br />
Desart, Earl of. The Raid of the" Detrimental.M 6/- Pearson.<br />
De Vere. Aubrey. Recollections. 16/- Arnold<br />
Drueiy.C. T. The New Gulliver. Roxburghe.<br />
Durham, Bishop of. Christian Aspects of Life. 7/6. Macmillan.<br />
Dzickonska, K. (tr.) Journal of Countess Krasinska. Kegan Paul.<br />
Eady, K. M. and Eady, R. The Boys of Huntingley. 2 6. Melrose.<br />
Ebers, Georg (tr. by Mary J. Safford.) Barbara Biomberg. 6 - Low.<br />
Eden, Charles H. Afloat with Nelson. Macqueen.<br />
Edmonds, W.J. Exeter Cathedral. 1/- Isbister.<br />
Ed ridge-Green, F. W. Memorv and Its Cultivation. 6 - Kegan Paul.<br />
Elliot, Anne. Where the Reeds Wave. 12/- Bentley.<br />
Ellis, E. S. Pontiac, Chief of the Ottawas. 2/6. Cassell.<br />
Evans, A. J. and Fearensidc, C. S. England under the Later<br />
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Everett-Green, E. Sister: A Chronicle of Fair Haven. 5/- Nelson,<br />
Eyton, Robert. The Glory of the Lord (Sermons). 1/6. Nisbct.<br />
Farrar. F. W. The Herods. 3/6. Service.<br />
Fenn, G. Mauville. Frank and'Saxon. 5/- S.P.C.K.<br />
Fenn, G. Manville. Vinee the Rebel. 6/ Chambers.<br />
Ferguson, Sir S. Lays of the Red Branch. 2/- Unwin.<br />
Fichte, J. G. (tr. by A. E. Kroeger). The Science of Ethics. 97-<br />
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Findlater. Jane Helen. A Daughter of Strife. 0/. Methuen.<br />
Finney, Violet G. A Daughter of Erin. 2/6. Blackie.<br />
FitzGerald. S- J- A. Stories of Famous Sjngs. 7/6. Nimmo.<br />
FitzGerald, S. J. A. A Tragedy of Grub-street and other Stories.<br />
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Flammarion, Camille. Lumen. 3/6. Heinemann.<br />
Fleming, D. Hay. Mary t^ueen of Scots. 7/6. Hodder and Stoughton,<br />
Fletcher, J. S. The Builders. 6,- Methuen.<br />
Florenz, K. (tr. from German by A. Lloyd). Poetical Gleanings from<br />
the Far East: Japanese Poems. 7/6. Low.<br />
Flower, W. Dante: A Defence of the 11 Divina Commedia." 3/6.<br />
Chapman.<br />
Forbes-Robertson, Frances. Odd Stories. 6,'- ConBiable.<br />
Ford, Marj-. Rome. (The Children's Study). 2 6. Unwin.<br />
Ford, P. L. The Great K. and A. Train Robbery. 6/- Low.<br />
Fowler, Ellen T Cupid's Garden. G/- Cassell.<br />
Francis, M. E. Maime o' the Corner. 6/- Harper.<br />
Gallon, Tom. A Prince of Mischance. 6/- Hu'chinBon.<br />
Gane, Douglas M. The Building of the Intellect. 5/- Stock.<br />
Gardiner. S. R. History of tbe Commonwealth and Protectorate.<br />
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Gardner, Alice. Rome the Middle of the World. 3/6. Arnold.<br />
Garrett, W. Chips from my Blockheads. 1 - Bristol: Arrowsmith.<br />
Geikie*, Sir A. The Founders of Geology. 6/. net. Macmillon-<br />
Gemmer, C. M. Fidelis. and other Poem?. 3/6 net. Constable.<br />
Graham, James N. The Son of the Czar. 0,'- Harper.<br />
Graham, Scott. The Showman's Daughter. 6/- Hurst and Blackett.<br />
Gray, A. Origin and Early History of Christianity in Britain. 4/6.<br />
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Gray, Maxwell. SweetheartB and Friends. 6/- Marshall, Russell.<br />
Green, E. M. The Child of the Caravan. 3/6. Griffith, Farran.<br />
Gerard, Dorothea. Miss Providence. 6/- Jarrold.<br />
Gethen, H. F. Nell's Schooldays. 2/6. Blackie<br />
Gllliat, E. In Lincoln Green. 5/- Seeley.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 171 (#597) ############################################<br />
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THE AUTHOR.<br />
171<br />
Girdlcstone, It. B. Synonyms of the OKI Testament 12 . Nisl>et.<br />
G Ulster. J. Manual of Hygiene for Students and Nurses. S/6.<br />
Scientific Press.<br />
Green, G. B. Notes on Greek and Latin Syntax. 2/6. Methuen.<br />
Greeuhow, H. M. Amy Vivian's Ring. .V- Skefflngton.<br />
Grey, Cyril. The Misanthrope's Heir. C- Skefflngton.<br />
Griffiths, Major A. Forbidden by Law. ti - Jarrold.<br />
Groser, Horace G. The Kingdom of Manhood. 3 C>. Melrose.<br />
Gordon, the late Lady Camilla. Suffolk Tales, and other Stories.<br />
5 - Longmans,<br />
(fuyon, Madame. Autobiography. Tr. by T. T. Allen. 21 -<br />
Kegan Paul.<br />
Guyou, M. J. Non-Religion of the Future 1" - Heinemann.<br />
Hales, J. W. (intro.) and Fairfax, L. (UL). Spenser's "Faerie<br />
Queene.*' 40/- net. Dent.<br />
Hall, Edith. Adventures in Tovland. - Blackie.<br />
Hall, Mrs. A. W. (tr. and ed.). Icelandic Fairy Tn.les. 3/6. Warne.<br />
Hamilton, M. The Freedom of Honry Meredyth. *> - Heinemann.<br />
Harding, Wm. Fevers and Infectious Diseases. 1 - Scientific Press.<br />
Hare, Christopher. Broken Arcs. G/- Harper.<br />
Harris, Charles. Some Last Words in n Country Church. 2 -<br />
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Harris, J. (', Aaron In the Wildwoods. fi - Harper.<br />
Harrison. Frederic. William the SiJent '2 *>. MacmiUan.<br />
Harrison, Clifford. Notes on the Margins. â– "> - net. Red way.<br />
Hartshorne, Albert. Old English Glasses, fi;: - net. Arnold.<br />
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Hayens, Herbert. An Emperor's Doom. .'», - Nelson.<br />
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Hearn, L. Gleanings in Buddha Fields. 5 - Harper.<br />
Hendow, Z. S. The Future Power. 1'- Roxburghe.<br />
Hendry, Hamish. Red Apple and Silver Bells. 6- Blackie.<br />
Hendry, Hamish. Just Forty Winks, o - Blackie.<br />
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Henty, G. A. A March on London. 5/- Blackie.<br />
Henty, G. A. With Moore at Corunna. 6 - Blackie.<br />
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Hill, Headon. By a Hair's Breadth. 6 - C&sselL<br />
Hill, Headon. Beacon Fires 3/6. Ward, Lock.<br />
Hill, Headon. The Zone of Fire, 6/- Pearson.<br />
Hocking. Silas K. In Spite of Fate. 3-6. Warne.<br />
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Holdsworth, Annio E. The Gcds Arrive. 6 - Heinemann.<br />
Holliiiga. G. S. The Heavenly Stair, y 6. Longmans.<br />
Holyoake. G. J. Jubilee History of Leeds Industrial Co-operative<br />
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Hopkins, A. A. Magic Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions.<br />
Low.<br />
Hop wood, A. Down by the Suwannee River. 6/- Kegan Paul.<br />
Hooper, L. The Singer or Marly, fi - Methuen.<br />
Horsley, Reginald. Hunted Through Fiji. 3 6. Chambers.<br />
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Horton. R. F. Women of the Old Testament. 3 6. Service.<br />
Howarth, Anne. Jan: An Africander. 6 - Smith,Elder.<br />
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Hunt. Violet. Unkist. Unkind! A Romance. 6 - Chapman.<br />
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Jackson, A. M. The Revelaiions of a Sprite. 8 6. Unwin.<br />
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Jannaris, A. N. Historical Greek <Grammar. 25 - net. MacmiUan.<br />
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Kingston. Alfred. East Anglia and the Great Civil War. Stock,<br />
Kipling, Rudvard. Captains Courageous. G - MacmiUan.<br />
Kneipp, Mgr." S. The Codicil to "My Will": For the Healthy and<br />
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STATUTES OF PRAGTIGAIi UTILITY<br />
PASSED IN 1897.<br />
With Notes, and a SUMMARY of the Statutes selected. In further continuation of CHITTY'C 3TATUTE3.<br />
BY J". IMT. LELY.<br />
By the same Editor. Fifth Edition. In 13 volumes. Price, £13 13s. Cash price, £10 18s. 6d.<br />
CHITTY'S STATUTES OF PRACTICAL UTILITY.<br />
Arranged in Alphabetical and Chronological Order. With Notes and Indexes.<br />
EXTRACTS FROM PREFACES.<br />
'• I have done my best to carry ont, and improve upon, the original scheme, with an intention of seleoting, arranging,<br />
and annotating, in a fashion most conducive to ready reference, all statutes applicable to and generally used in London or<br />
throughout the United Kingdom, down to the end of 1894."<br />
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Peace, Members of Parliament, Parliamentary Draftsmen, Literary Men, and generally of all English-speaking readers.<br />
The index is to a certain extent analytical, actual and sufficient information superseding mere indicatory reference, where<br />
this could be done with combined exactness and brevity."<br />
N.B.—Continued annually by J. M. Lely. 1895, 5s.; 1896, 10s.<br />
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Printed and Published by Hoback Cox, Windsor House, Bream'a-bnildings, London, E.C. | https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/309/1897-11-01-The-Author-8-6.pdf | publications, The Author |
| 308 | https://historysoa.com/items/show/308 | The Author, Vol. 08 Issue 05 (October 1897) | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=%3Cem%3EThe+Author%3C%2Fem%3E%2C+Vol.+08+Issue+05+%28October+1897%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 08 Issue 05 (October 1897)</a> | | | <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049239455" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049239455</a> | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Publication">Publication</a> | 1897-10-01-The-Author-8-5 | | | | | 109–136 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=8">8</a> | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1897-10-01">1897-10-01</a> | | | | | | | 5 | | | 18971001 | XL he Hutbor*<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br />
CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br />
Vol. VIII.—No. 5.]<br />
OCTOBER i, 1897.<br />
[Price Sixpence.<br />
CONTENTS.<br />
PAOB<br />
.. 109<br />
.. Ill<br />
General Memoranda<br />
From the Committee<br />
Literary Property—1. A Case. 2. Another Cafe. 3. A Copy-<br />
right Case. 4. Publishers'Obligations. 5. A Warning from<br />
America m<br />
"Authora and Publishers" 113<br />
Printing in the Victorian Era 117<br />
New York Letter. By Nornian Hapgood<br />
Bad Paper 119<br />
The American Autumn List 119<br />
Notes and News. By the Editor WO<br />
Public Library Theft* I*»<br />
Cheapness of Books 123<br />
A Bule for the Use of the Subjunctive Mood.<br />
Collins<br />
Robert Louis Stevenson<br />
The Autograph Fiend<br />
Sir Henry Cralk on Impressionism<br />
A Small Literary Problem. By H. Q. Keene ...<br />
Book Talk<br />
FAU<br />
By F. Howard<br />
lis<br />
IM<br />
IM<br />
1*5<br />
m<br />
126<br />
Correspondence—1. The Beturn of MSS. 2. Criticism in Conflict.<br />
8. "Dictionary of National Biography" Dinner. 4. An<br />
Inquiry. 5. An Unpaid Magazine Article 181<br />
Obituary 133<br />
Literature in the Periodicals 134<br />
The Books of the Month 133<br />
PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY.<br />
1. The Annual Report. That for January 1897 can be had on application to the Secretary.<br />
2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary<br />
Property. Issued to all Members, 6s. 6d. per annum. Back numbers are offered at the<br />
following prices: Vol. I., 10s. 6d. (Bound); Vols. II., III., and IV., 8*. 6d. each (Bound);<br />
Vol. V., 6s. 6d. (Unbound).<br />
3. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colleb, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher,<br />
95, Strand, W.C.) 3*.<br />
4. The History of the Societe des Q-ens de Lettres. By S. Squire Spriooe, late Secretary to<br />
the Society, is.<br />
5. The Cost Of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type,<br />
size of page, &c, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of<br />
books. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 2s. 6d.<br />
6. The Various Methods Of Publication. By S. Squire Spriooe. In this work, compiled from the<br />
papers in the Society's offices, the various forms of agreements proposed by Publishers to<br />
Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various<br />
kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements.<br />
Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 3#.<br />
7. Copyright Law Reform. An Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill now before Parlia-<br />
ment. With Extracts from the Eeport of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix<br />
containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lelt. Eyre<br />
and Spottiswoode. it. 6d.<br />
8. The Society of Authors. A Record of its Action from its Foundation. By Walter Besant<br />
(Chairman of Committee, 1888—1892). 1*.<br />
9. The Contract of Publication in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland. By Ernst<br />
Lunge, J.U.D. 2s. 6d.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 108 (#530) ############################################<br />
<br />
11<br />
AD VER TISEMENTS.<br />
^fye g>octefp of JluiJjors (§ncotpotafc5).<br />
8ib Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E., C.S.I.<br />
J. M. Barrie.<br />
A. W. 1 Beckett.<br />
Robert Bateman.<br />
F. E. Beddard, F.R.S.<br />
Sib Henry Bebgne, K.C.M.Q.<br />
Sib Walteb Besant.<br />
AUGUSTINE BlBBBIiL, M.P.<br />
Rev. Prof. Bonnet, F.R.S.<br />
Right Hon. James Brtce, M.P.<br />
Right Hon. Lord Burghclerb, P.C<br />
Hall Caine.<br />
Eqebton Castle, F.S.A.<br />
P. W. Clatden.<br />
Edward Clodd.<br />
W. Morris Colles.<br />
Hon. John Collieb.<br />
Sib W. Martin Conwat.<br />
F. Marion Crawford.<br />
The Eabl or Desabt.<br />
PRESIDENT.<br />
Q-EO^a-E MEBEDITH.<br />
COUNCIL.<br />
Austin Dobson.<br />
A. CoNAN DOYLE, M.D.<br />
A. W. Dubourq.<br />
Prof. Michael Foster, F.R.S.<br />
D. W. FRE8HFIELD.<br />
Richard Garnett, C.B., LL.D.<br />
Edmund Gosse.<br />
H. Rider Haggard.<br />
Thomas Hardy.<br />
Anthont Hope Hawkins.<br />
Jerome K. Jerome.<br />
Rudtard Kipling.<br />
Prof. E. Rat Lankester, F.R.S.<br />
W. E. H. Leckt, P.C.<br />
J. M. Lelt.<br />
Mrs. E. Ltnn Linton.<br />
Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A.<br />
Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mns.Doc.<br />
Prof. J. M. D. Meiklejohn.<br />
Herman C. Meritale.<br />
Bon. Counsel — E. M. Undebdown, Q.C.<br />
Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wake.<br />
Sir Lewis Morris.<br />
Henry Norman.<br />
Miss E. A. Ormerod.<br />
J. C. Parkinson.<br />
Right Hon. Lord Pirbrioht, P.C.,<br />
F.R.S.<br />
Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D.<br />
Walter Herries Pollock.<br />
W. Baptists Scoones.<br />
Miss Flora L. Shaw.<br />
G. R. Sims.<br />
S. Squire Sprigge.<br />
j. j. steven80n.<br />
franci8 storr.<br />
William Moy Thomas.<br />
H. D. Traill, D.C.L.<br />
Mrs. Humphry Ward.<br />
Miss Charlotte M. Tonge.<br />
COMMITTEE<br />
Chairman-<br />
k. W. 1 Beckett.<br />
Sir Walter Besant.<br />
Egerton Castle, F.S.A.<br />
W. Mobbis Colles.<br />
Sir W. Mabtin Conway.<br />
D. W. Freshfield.<br />
Anthony Hope Hawkins.<br />
J. M. Lely.<br />
OF MANAGEMENT.<br />
-H. Rider Haggard.<br />
Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mus.Doc.<br />
Henry Norman.<br />
Francis Storr.<br />
S U B- CO M M I TTE E S.<br />
MUSIC.<br />
C. Villiers Stanford, Mas.D. (Chairman)<br />
Jacques Blumenthal.<br />
j. l. molloy.<br />
_ ,. . ( Field, Roscoe, and Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields.<br />
Solicitors £ G Herbert Thring, B.A., 4, Portugal-Btreet. Secretary—G. Hebbebt Thring, B.A.<br />
4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C.<br />
ART.<br />
Hon. John Collier (Chairman)<br />
Sib W. Martin Conway.<br />
M. H. Spielmann<br />
DRAMA.<br />
Henry Arthur Jones (Chairman).<br />
A. W. a Beckett.<br />
Edward Rose.<br />
OFFICES:<br />
.A.. J?. WATT &c SO 1ST,<br />
LITERARY AGENTS,<br />
Formerly of 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE,<br />
Have now removed to<br />
HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND,<br />
LONDON", W.C.<br />
Published every Friday morning: price, without lieports, 9d.; with<br />
Reports, Is.<br />
THE LAW TIMES, the Journal of (lie Law and the<br />
Lawyers, which haa now been established fen .vcr half a century,<br />
supplies to the Profession a complete Record of the 1'rogress of Legal<br />
Reforms, and of all matters affecting the LecM Profession. The<br />
Reports of the Law Times are now recognise.1 the most complete<br />
and efficient series published.<br />
Offices: Windsor House, Breani's-bniMings, E 0<br />
THE ART of CHESS. By James Mason. Price 5s.<br />
net, by post 5s. 4d.<br />
London: HORACE Cox, Windsor House, Bream's-buildings, E.O.<br />
THE KNIGHTS and KINGS of CHESS. By the Rev.<br />
O. A. MACDONNELL, B.A. With Portrait and 17 niustra<br />
tions. Grown Svo., cloth boards, price 2s. 6d. net.<br />
London: Horaoe Cox, Windsor House, Bream'e-bulldlngs, E.O.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 109 (#531) ############################################<br />
<br />
^Tbe Hutbor*<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br />
CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br />
Vol. Vin.—No. 5.]<br />
OCTOBER 1, 1897.<br />
[Price Sixpence.<br />
For the Opinions expressed in papers that are<br />
signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br />
responsible. None of the papers or para-<br />
graphs must be taken as expressing the<br />
collective opinions of the Committee unless<br />
t/iey are officially signed by G. Herbert<br />
Thring, Sec.<br />
THE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br />
remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br />
requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br />
important communications within two days will write to him<br />
without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br />
Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br />
letter only.<br />
Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br />
all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br />
jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br />
returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br />
GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br />
EOK some years it has been the practice to insert, in<br />
every number of The Author, certain " General Con-<br />
siderations," Warnings, Notices, Ac, for the guidance<br />
of the reader. It has been objected as regards these<br />
warnings that the tricks or frauds against which they are<br />
directed cannot all be guarded against, for obvious reasons.<br />
It is, however, well that they should be borne in mind, and<br />
if any publisher refuses a clause of precaution he simply<br />
reveals his true oharacter, and should be left to carry on<br />
his business in his own way.<br />
Let us, however, draw up a few of the rules to be<br />
observed in an agreement. There are three methods of<br />
dealing with literary property:—<br />
I. That of selling it outright.<br />
This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br />
price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br />
managed by a competent agent.<br />
II. A profit-sharing agreement.<br />
In this case the following rules should be attended to:<br />
(1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br />
duction forms a part.<br />
(2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br />
profits into his own pocket by charging for<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise-<br />
ments.<br />
(3.) Not to allow a special charge for " office expenses,"<br />
unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br />
(4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br />
rights.<br />
(5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights.<br />
(6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher.<br />
As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br />
doctor!<br />
(7.) To stamp the agreement.<br />
III. The royalty system.<br />
In this system, which has opened the door to a most<br />
amazing amount of overreaching and trading on the<br />
author's ignorance, it is above all things necessary to know<br />
what the proposed royalty means to both "ides. It is now<br />
possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very<br />
nearly the truth. From time to time the very important<br />
figures connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br />
Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br />
"Cost of Production." Let no one, not even the youngest<br />
writer, sign a royalty agreement without finding out what<br />
it gives the publisher as well as himself.<br />
It has been objected that these precautions presuppose a<br />
great success for the book, and that very few books indeed<br />
attain to this great success. That is quite true: but there is<br />
always this uncertainty of literary property that, although<br />
the works of a great many authors carry with them no risk<br />
at all, and although of a great many it is known within a few<br />
copies what will be their minimum circulation, it is not<br />
known what will be their maximum. Therefore every<br />
author, for every book, should arrange on the ohanoe of a<br />
success which will not, probably, come at all; but which<br />
may come.<br />
The four points which the Society has always demanded<br />
from the outset are:—<br />
(1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement<br />
means.<br />
(2.) The inspection of those account books which belong<br />
to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the<br />
nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or<br />
withheld.<br />
(3.) That there shall be no secret profits.<br />
(4.) That nothing shall be charged whioh has not been<br />
actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for<br />
advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for<br />
exchanged advertisements and that all discounts shall b«<br />
duly entered.<br />
If these points are carefully looked after, the author may<br />
rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the<br />
same time he will do well to send his agreement to the<br />
secretary before he signs it.<br />
L 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 110 (#532) ############################################<br />
<br />
no THE AUTHOR.<br />
HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br />
I. "TTWERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br />
J_}J advice npon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br />
lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br />
business or the administration of his property. If the advioe<br />
roujht is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member<br />
has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the<br />
case is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com-<br />
mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this<br />
without any cost to the member.<br />
2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br />
and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the<br />
experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br />
to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually<br />
engaged upon suoh questions for us.<br />
3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past<br />
accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in<br />
order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree-<br />
ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively<br />
so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any<br />
agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor-<br />
mation thus obtained may prove invaluable.<br />
4. If the examination of your previous business trans-<br />
actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should<br />
take advice as to a change of publishers.<br />
5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br />
posed document to the Society for examination.<br />
6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in<br />
the case of fraudulent nouses—the tricks of every publish-<br />
ing firm in the country.<br />
7. 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 />
8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of everything<br />
important to literature that you may hear or meet with.<br />
9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of<br />
members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br />
safe. The agreements will, of oourse, 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 npon<br />
them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments<br />
due according to agreements.<br />
THE AUTHORS' SYNDICATE.<br />
MEMBERS are informed:<br />
1. That the Authors' Syndicate takes charge of<br />
the business of members of the Society. That it<br />
submits MSS. to publishers and editors, concludes agree-<br />
ments, examines, passes, and collects accounts, and, gene-<br />
rally, relieves members of the trouble of managing business<br />
details.<br />
2. That the terms upon which its servioes can be secured<br />
will be forwarded upon detailed application.<br />
3. That the Authors' Syndicate works only for those<br />
members of the Society whose work possesses a market<br />
value.<br />
4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiations<br />
whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia-<br />
tions are placed exclusively in its hands, and that all<br />
communications relating thereto are referred to it.<br />
5. That clients can only be seen by the Director by<br />
appointment, and that, when possible, at least two days'<br />
notice should be given.<br />
6. That every attempt is made to deal with all communi-<br />
cations promptly. That stamps Bhould, in all cases, be sent<br />
to defray postage.<br />
7. That the Authors' Syndicate does not invite MSS.<br />
without previous correspondence; does not hold itself<br />
responsible for MSS. forwarded without notice; and that<br />
in all cases MSS. must be accompanied by stamps to defray<br />
postage.<br />
8. That the Syndioate undertakes arrangements for<br />
lectures by some of the leading members of the Society;<br />
that it has a "Transfer Department" for the sale and<br />
purchase of journals and periodicals; and that a " Register<br />
of Wants and Wanted" is open. Members arc invited to<br />
communicate their requirements to the Manager.<br />
There is an Honorary Advisory Committee, whose servioes<br />
will be called upon in any case of dispute or difficulty. It<br />
is perhaps necessary to state that the members of the<br />
Advisory Committee have no pecuniary interest whatever in<br />
the Syndicate.<br />
NOTICES.<br />
THE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br />
Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br />
of oharge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br />
heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br />
many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br />
6«. 6d. subscription for the year.<br />
The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and<br />
communications on all subjects connected with literature<br />
from members and others. Nothing can do more good to<br />
the Society than to make The Author complete, attractive,<br />
and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this<br />
work send thoir names and the special subjects on which<br />
they are willing to write?<br />
Communications for The Author should reach the Editor<br />
not later than the 2ist of each month.<br />
All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether<br />
members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate<br />
to the Editor any points connected with their work which<br />
it would be advisable in the general interest to publish.<br />
Members and others who wish their MSS. read are<br />
requested not to send them to the Office without previously<br />
communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable<br />
despatoh is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in<br />
which they are received. It must also be distinctly under-<br />
stood that the Society does not, under any circumstances,<br />
undertake the publication of MSS.<br />
. The Authors' Club is now open in its new premises, at<br />
3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary<br />
for information, rules of admission, &c.<br />
Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they<br />
have paid their subscriptions for the year P If they will do<br />
this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's<br />
order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the<br />
trouble of sending out a reminder.<br />
Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the<br />
following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a<br />
most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding<br />
for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they<br />
would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five<br />
years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 111 (#533) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then<br />
hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them-<br />
selves into literary bondage for three or five years?<br />
Those who possess the "Cost of Production" are<br />
requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15<br />
per cent. This means, for those who do not like the trouble<br />
of "doing sums," the addition of three shillings in the<br />
pound on this head. In other words, if the cost of binding<br />
is set down in our book at eight pounds, to this must now be<br />
added twenty-four shillings more, bo that it now stands<br />
at J89 48. The figures in our book are as near the exact<br />
truth as can be procured; but a printer's, or a binder's,<br />
bill is so elastic a thing that nothing more exact can be<br />
arrived at.<br />
Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged<br />
in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of course, we<br />
have not included any sums which may be charged for<br />
inserting advertisem mts in the publisher's own magazines,<br />
or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too<br />
often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from<br />
sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket,<br />
ky inserting any number of advertisements in his own<br />
magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are<br />
who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those<br />
who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it.<br />
FROM THE COMMITTEE.<br />
ri^HE sub-committee appointed to inquire into<br />
I the publishing of educational works com-<br />
pleted its labours and sent in its report in<br />
July last. It was adopted by the committee of<br />
management, and ordered to be circulated among<br />
lecturers and masters of colleges and schools after<br />
the summer holidays.<br />
The sub-committee appointed in July last for<br />
the purpose of inquiring into the proposed change<br />
in the discount system has commenced its work.<br />
By Order. G. H. Thring.<br />
LITERARY PROPERTY.<br />
I.—A Case.<br />
AN author had a book, the publication of<br />
which he wanted to transfer, as his<br />
publisher was retiring from business. He<br />
went to one of the largest firms in London and<br />
offered them the publication of his work. The<br />
book was a technical work and had an established<br />
position and a firm and constant sale. After some<br />
discussion with one of the partners an offer was<br />
made to publish the book for the author on a<br />
certain financial basis, the details of which it is<br />
not necessary to mention. The author applied to<br />
the Secretary of the Society for advice, and was<br />
strongly advised by him to accept the offer, which<br />
was, in his opinion, fair to all parties. The<br />
author thereupon wrote to the publisher and<br />
asked for an agreement to be forwarded, embody-<br />
ing the terms arranged. The agreement came to<br />
hand in due course; but, on the author bringing<br />
it to the Secretary, the latter was astonished to<br />
see that one of the first clauses in the agreement<br />
was a clause for the transfer of all copyrights and<br />
all rights whatsoever and wheresoever in the said<br />
book to the publisher. Not the slightest mention<br />
had been made in the first interview between the<br />
author and publisher with regard to the transfer<br />
of the copyright, and no point had been brought<br />
forward with the exception of the point giving<br />
the publisher the right to publish, on a certain<br />
stated royalty. The Secretary pointed out the<br />
fatal disadvantage of transferring the copyright<br />
in an educational book of this kind, and stated at<br />
the same time that he was surprised that such a<br />
clause had been inserted when the point had<br />
never been mooted before. The author there-<br />
upon wrote a letter explaining his view of the<br />
matter, and the publisher at once withdrew the<br />
clause referred to, as no doubt he was anxious to<br />
obtain the publication of a book which had such<br />
a reputation and was such a good property. If<br />
the publisher at the time had desired to purchase<br />
the copyright it would have been only fair in the<br />
first instance to have stated so to the author, who<br />
could have accepted his proposition or not as he<br />
thought fit. If, in the present case, the writer of<br />
the book had not had the advice of the Society<br />
behind him he might have signed the agreement,<br />
thinking that it was properly drawn up on the<br />
basis of the previous conversation. This example<br />
shows how careful an author should be before<br />
signing the final contract.<br />
II.—Another Case.<br />
An author took a book to a well-known firm of<br />
publishers, and they, after perusal, stated that<br />
they would be willing to publish the work on a<br />
certain basis.* (The only point that it is neces-<br />
sary to mention is that the royalty was to be paid<br />
after the cost of production had been covered.)<br />
In the conversation that followed, the author<br />
mentioned that it would be necessary to have the<br />
right to see the books of the firm. To this the<br />
publishers demurred in a half-hearted sort of<br />
way, and nothing further was said on the subject<br />
at the time. In due course the agreement was<br />
forwarded to the author. In it was the usual<br />
clause for rendering accounts, but no clause was<br />
inserted giving the author the right to inspect<br />
the books if necessary. The author had read<br />
the little book published by the Society on the<br />
* They offered an exceedingly bad form of agreement, one<br />
not recommended by the Society. In this case, however, there<br />
was a special reason for the author acquiescing.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 112 (#534) ############################################<br />
<br />
I 12<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Methods of Publishing, and had gleaned from<br />
that the absolute necessity of being able, should<br />
occasion arise, to check the accounts from the<br />
books and vouchers of the publishers. He did<br />
not know that there existed a common law right<br />
to see these books, and accordingly he drafted a<br />
clause which should cover the point. As the<br />
right existed, of course, this clause was unneces-<br />
sary. As soon as the agreement was returned<br />
with the clause, the publishers refused to have<br />
anything further to do with the publication of<br />
the book. To the ordinary mind there can only<br />
be one deduction to be drawn from this refusal.<br />
These examples are not, as has often been<br />
stated by those who wish to minimise the value<br />
of them, drawn from the imagination of the<br />
writer. The Secretary of the Society will be<br />
pleased, as in all cases published in The Autlior,<br />
to give the name of the publishers referred to to<br />
those members of the Society who desire to have<br />
such information. _<br />
HI.—A Copyright Case.<br />
"I am a writer of poems for children,and some<br />
time since gave permission to a musical composer<br />
to set one of them to music. The composer, not<br />
knowing that the words were mine (they had been<br />
published anonymously in a collection I had<br />
made) spoilt one of the stanzas—to my thinking<br />
—by a material alteration, of which I knew<br />
nothing till after the song had been published.<br />
Meanwhile, the copyright of the music was sold to<br />
a well known musical publisher, whose name pro-<br />
mises a wide circulation both of the song and the<br />
travestied stanza. The composer, with whom I<br />
have remonstrated, is as sorry as I am for what<br />
has occurred; but what remedy have we? The<br />
publisher has, of course, no right in the words, of<br />
which the composer did not possess the copyright.<br />
Can he be required to withdraw or modify them,<br />
or at least to do so—if we are content to wait so<br />
long—as soon as the present edition is exhausted?<br />
I should be grateful for advice in the matter.<br />
Meanwhile, I trust other writers will take warning<br />
by my example, and protect both themselves and<br />
their musical coadjutors from mistakes as to copy-<br />
right by a proviso against alteration of words."<br />
A Membek of the Society.<br />
[The Secretary advised the writer of this letter<br />
as follows: That she could obtain an injunction<br />
against the musical publishers for infringement of<br />
copyright, and also could maintain an action for<br />
damages against the composer for user of her<br />
words and for consequent infringement, but that<br />
the best plan would be, if possible, to arrange for<br />
some satisfactory payment, as is usually the case<br />
with other song writers.]<br />
IV.—Publishers' Obligations.<br />
An interesting case has been recently decided<br />
in the French courts. It may be found in full in<br />
the Publishers' Circular of Sept. 11, from which<br />
we quote the decision of the court.<br />
Briefly, the case is as follows:<br />
A publisher bought of the compiler a work<br />
entitled " Vocabulaire des Vocabulaires," being a<br />
dictionary of terms used in the French language.<br />
The publisher was to give the compiler the sum<br />
of 12,500 francs, with a certain number of copies.<br />
In return, the property was to be his own abso-<br />
lutely, to alter if he pleased, and to publish in<br />
any manner that he pleased.<br />
This was in 1891.<br />
In 1892 there were troubles about charges.<br />
In 1893 the compiler consented to take 10,485<br />
francs, instead of 12,500.<br />
In 1894, as the book was not published, the<br />
compiler brought an action to compel the publisher<br />
to produce the book, or to restore the MS., with<br />
15,000 francs damages.<br />
On Jan. 10, 1897, the tribunal delivered its<br />
judgment.<br />
The arguments of the publisher, as quoted in<br />
the Publishers' Circular, stated that there were<br />
many errors which had to be corrected; that there<br />
was nothing in the agreement about time of pub-<br />
lication; that it would take two years to produce<br />
the book, &c. The tribunal concluded that, "con-<br />
sidering the documents and the examination ordered<br />
by this tribunal, it appears that in this case the<br />
compiler cannot be considered as a collaborator<br />
who has contributed with other writers to a work<br />
which the publisher had conceived, edited, and<br />
combined in one whole, but that it is he, on the<br />
contrary, who brought to the publisher the plan<br />
of the work at the same time as the collection of<br />
documents composing it; that the publisher<br />
cannot, therefore, deny him the title of author<br />
and allege that only an ordinary contract of hire<br />
of work has been made between him and the<br />
applicant; that if it is established that on the<br />
terms of the agreement the publisher has bought<br />
the entire and exclusive rights of the compiler's<br />
dictionary; that he has even reserved the right<br />
of adding to it such modification as he might<br />
judge fit, and to dispose of it as he pleased, it<br />
is no less true that the compiler has only ceded<br />
to him the right of printing on the tacit under-<br />
standing that he should exercise it; that the pub-<br />
lisher would not be justified in alleging that the<br />
appellant ought to have stated, with respect to<br />
the publication of his book, the rights which<br />
he intended to reserve; that it is, in fact,<br />
inadmissible that, unless stipulated to the con-<br />
trary, an author alienates his work in such an<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 113 (#535) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
113<br />
absolute fashion, that from that moment there<br />
should enter into his calculations the possibility<br />
of seeing his work neutralised, his thoughts<br />
annihilated; that the use made by the purchaser<br />
of the work become his property ought not to<br />
injure the author's interests, which survive the<br />
cession; and that the publisher who has bought<br />
has not fulfilled all his obligations when he has<br />
paid the price, but that there remains the<br />
obligation to do what he has contracted to do,<br />
that is to say, to publish, from which only clear<br />
and precise agreements could dispense him. But<br />
such stipulations do not exist in this case."<br />
The verdict was that "within a period of<br />
eighteen months from the notice of this judgment<br />
the publisher shall be bound to publish the<br />
dictionary which has been ceded to him by the<br />
appellant, and to deliver to the latter twenty com-<br />
plete copies, and this under a penalty of 50 francs<br />
per day's delay during one month, after which<br />
date judgment shall be given as well with regard<br />
to the demand for cancelling the agreements<br />
entered into between the parties as with regard to<br />
damages and the restitution of the manuscript.<br />
Condemns, also, the publisher to pay all costs.<br />
This judgment was appealed against by the<br />
publisher. Miiitre Straus, plaintiff's counsel,<br />
replying, hoped the court would maintain the<br />
judgment. After hearing M. Van Cassel,<br />
Advocate-General, the Court annulled the appeal,<br />
ordering that "that which is appealed against<br />
shall have full and entire effect; says, neverthe-<br />
less, that the penalty of 50 francs for each day<br />
of delay shall only begin to run in default of the<br />
publisher having published the dictionary and<br />
delivered twenty copies to the compiler within<br />
a period of one year, to be calculated from this<br />
day; condemns the publisher in the fine and all<br />
costs of appeal."<br />
V.—A Warning from America.<br />
The following is a curious story, and suggests<br />
a few points:<br />
1. Did the Press Directory give no hint that<br />
the Revietc was an American organ?<br />
2. Does the editor habitually write without any<br />
address?<br />
3. Are all the papers submitted to the editor<br />
sent through the English publisher? In which<br />
case, who pays the postage r<br />
4. Where can one get American stamps for<br />
inclosure with a MS.?<br />
5. Readers will take notice that stamps must<br />
be sent with MSS. At the same time they will<br />
do well to keep a copy in case of accident.<br />
"On June 4 I sent a typewritten manuscript,<br />
which was originally a prize essay, to the Psycho-<br />
logical Review, care of Messrs. Macmillan and<br />
Co., Bedford-street, Strand, which was the address<br />
I found in the Newspaper Press Directory. On<br />
July 4 I wrote to the editor asking whether he<br />
intended to use the manuscript, and on the<br />
23rd of the same month received the following<br />
reply (no address given); but the post mark<br />
indicated that the post card was from Princeton,<br />
New Jersey. 'Dear Sir,—We cannot attempt<br />
to return MSS. sent us which, as in your case,<br />
had no available (American) stamps inclosed.<br />
Tour paper, which we did not find valuable, is<br />
not preserved.' I have written to the editor,<br />
pointing out that the manuscript was valuable to<br />
me, and requesting that he make some effort to<br />
recover it and return it to me."<br />
"AUTHORS AND PUBLISHEES.<br />
THIS book, by Messrs. G. H. and J. B. Put-<br />
nam, professes to be a manual of sugges-<br />
tions for beginners in literature containing<br />
all kinds of information for their use. It has<br />
arrived at a seventh edition, and is now re-written<br />
with additional material.<br />
Let us acknowledge at once that up to a certain<br />
point, and within certain limitations, the book is<br />
admirable—from the publishers' point of view.<br />
The style and the e xcellent Engbsh, the manner<br />
of conveying such information as it gives, are<br />
worthy of great commendation. Yet for prac-<br />
tical purposes—the great practical purpose—of<br />
guiding the beginner as to the nature of literary<br />
property, and the best way of having it adminis-<br />
tered, the book is silent. It says nothing of the<br />
dangers which lurk in the agreement: it points<br />
out none of the tricks which the author must<br />
expect: it does not warn him of the absolute<br />
certainty that if he trusts himself, helpless and<br />
ignorant, in the hands of one who wants to make<br />
money out of him, he will be "bested"—the<br />
reader may put what interpretation he pleases<br />
upon this word. In short, it does not, at the<br />
outset, as it should, admonish the young author<br />
that in publishing, as in everything else, if a man<br />
has absolute freedom to impose what terms he<br />
pleases, with secrecy, ignorance, and long success<br />
in the confidence trick, that man will abuse the<br />
position. This is a mere commonplace. And when<br />
a book is published, pretending to be a guide for<br />
the young author, which does not recognise this<br />
cardinal fact, it is necessary to warn the young<br />
author very seriously on this point.<br />
It is, indeed, as if a man should write a book<br />
on the buying of a horse—or the sale of a house—<br />
or the acquisition of a business—and should<br />
absolutely ignore the existence of sharpers and<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 114 (#536) ############################################<br />
<br />
ii4<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
rogues. Everybody understands that the thing<br />
would be too ridiculous. Yet the authors of the<br />
book before us blandly sail along the unruffled<br />
surface which they imagine, without so much as a<br />
hint that the author must expect in this business<br />
exactly what he is taught to expect in every<br />
other: viz., that advantage will be taken of<br />
ignorance, and that rogues will overreach him.<br />
The book gives many quotations from writers<br />
in favour of publishers: Howells, G. W. Curtis,<br />
Thomas Hughes, Washington Irving. But their<br />
testimonies are absolutely worthless unless the<br />
writers had been able to examine the books of the<br />
men they praise. We do not say, or hint, or suggest<br />
that their publishers were unworthy of the praise.<br />
It is only contended that the favourable opinion,<br />
any opinion, favourable or otherwise, as to the<br />
honesty of a publisher's treatment of authors is<br />
mere guess work unless the books could be<br />
examined. In other words, a publisher might<br />
cheat in his charges: cheat in his returns: cheat<br />
in the money he paid for royalties: cheat in his<br />
royalties: and yet, for all that these laudatory<br />
writers know, stand out as a most honourable<br />
and upright man<br />
Surely it is better to make agreements as in<br />
other kinds of business, those, namely, in which<br />
the facts of the case are admitted and known on<br />
both sides. And, since the author is probably<br />
ignorant, an honourable publisher cannot object<br />
to a Society which provides him with full light on<br />
every part of the commercial side of his work.<br />
On the question of publishers' risk, the book<br />
presents the usual claims made by publishers<br />
without any arguments to support them. Our<br />
position is absolutely impregnable. Any book,<br />
considered from the commercial point of view,<br />
must stand by itself. For example, it is ridicu-<br />
lous to suppose that Dickens's books should be<br />
loaded with the losses made by an incompetent<br />
publisher over his unsuccessful ventures. These<br />
writers draw an imaginary picture of a publisher<br />
losing all his capital by successive losses. Such a<br />
picture is misleading, for the simple reason that<br />
in every department of literature men are writing<br />
by the dozen whose name is a guarantee against<br />
loss: that the publishers who take risks are very<br />
few, and the books they issue that carry risk are<br />
also very few—excepting such great works as<br />
Encyclopaedias, National Biographies, Dictionaries,<br />
and such books, which the Messrs. Putnam<br />
would not mix up with general literature : and that<br />
publishers, with very few exceptions, do all<br />
prosper, while those who do the largest trade<br />
prosper the most—a thing natural in trade, but<br />
only in profitable trade.<br />
The chapter on "Publishing Arrangements"<br />
complains that authors have "paraded their<br />
grievances" before the public. Well, it was<br />
their only way to make them known, and. to warn<br />
others. He asks why Dean Farrar " appealed to<br />
the public for sympathy because his publishers<br />
had made more money than himself from the<br />
publication of a book that had been written ' to<br />
order' under their suggestion and contract, and<br />
for which, according to the statement of the<br />
Canon himself, he had been paid a good deal<br />
more than his contract price?"<br />
This is not the proper way to put it. Dean<br />
Farrar received a sum of money for a book. He<br />
did not complain of this, because he had accepted an<br />
offer. He complained of the offer made to him for<br />
the second book. Did the publishers explain to<br />
him the meaning of his first success?<br />
Then Messrs. Putnam ask, "Why should<br />
authors, presumably of adult age and sound<br />
mind, plead the 1 baby act' in regard to their<br />
contracts (or their failure to make contracts) any<br />
more than the clients of lawyers, architects, or<br />
stockbrokers?"<br />
By the use of the word "clients" they give<br />
away their case. Every man is safe if he is the<br />
"client," in any business, of a lawyer who knows<br />
the subject. He is only in danger when he acts<br />
for himself in ignorance of the conditions.<br />
The writers speak of "compensation." What<br />
do they mean? Compensation means payment in<br />
atonement of injuries. If authors were compen-<br />
sated for the injuries inflicted on them by the<br />
publishers of their books there would be a large<br />
crowd of the latter in Portugal-street. They have<br />
yet to recognise the fact that a MS. is a piece of<br />
property belonging to the writer, who may sell it<br />
or may let it out to a publisher to be administered,<br />
or may go into partnership with a publisher. We<br />
do not ask, however, for compensation, but for our<br />
own property.<br />
Then follow the pages on " publishing arrange-<br />
ments." And here there is no explanation, except<br />
one or two lame ones, of the reason why a pub-<br />
lisher should have this or that share, or what he<br />
does to earn his money.<br />
As for the lame explanations:<br />
I. The writers (p. 47) state that a royalty of<br />
10 per cent. "on the retail price was ca culated on<br />
the basis of securing for the author an average<br />
return of half the net profits."<br />
This may possibly be true in America. In this<br />
country nothing could be more untrue or more<br />
misleading.<br />
Take an average 6*. book—exactly such as that<br />
considered in the "Cost of Production"—one<br />
with a sale, not of 10,000 copies, to which the<br />
writers object, but of 4000, which is much more<br />
common. The cost of each volume, including<br />
advertising, is as near as possible a shilling; the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 115 (#537) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
retail price is 3*. 6d., as near as possible. A<br />
royalty of 10 per cent, on the retail price means<br />
4}d. The profit of the publisher would be 2s. i±d.!<br />
And this is what the writers of a book which has<br />
gone through six editions seem to regard as a<br />
system of high profits!!<br />
II. On the "Cost of Production," issued by<br />
the Society, the Messrs. Putnam say:<br />
Authors who hare read in the mannal of the " Authors'<br />
Society" the cost of producing a i6mo. ori2mo. volume<br />
containing a certain number of pages, are likely to assume<br />
that the figures should be precisely the same for any other<br />
volume printed in the same size and containing the same<br />
number of pages. It is necessary, however, to remind them<br />
of various possible differences which will affect the com-<br />
parison, such as the number of words contained in the page,<br />
the width of the printed text, the leading of the lines (npon<br />
whioh items depend the number of thousand eme charged<br />
for in the printing-office), the printing of the edition from<br />
type or from plates, the quality of the paper used, the<br />
quality of the material put into the cover, the character of<br />
the cover stamp (involving an initial expense for designing<br />
and for cutting, and a later current expenditure in the<br />
stamping of the covers), and a number of other similar<br />
details.<br />
It is a great pity that the writers did not look<br />
at the "Cost of Production" before committing<br />
themselves to this statement. For in that book<br />
care has been taken to give the number of lines<br />
and the number of words in the page, in order<br />
to prevent this mistake. The quality of the paper<br />
is an average quality: the price of the binding<br />
shows that it is a plain average binding: the<br />
extras, such as a small stamp, extra gilding, finer<br />
binding, are surely matters of easy arrangement<br />
with the author. The "Cost of Production"<br />
gives figures which are good working figures in<br />
getting at an estimate.<br />
After so much fault-finding, it is pleasant to<br />
recognise to the utmost the spirit of fairness which<br />
elsewhere appears in the book. The writers have<br />
not been able to shake off the conventional talk<br />
about the importance of the publisher and the<br />
fearful risks he runs: but they do recognise to<br />
an extent previously unknown some of the points<br />
demanded by the Society. For instance, as to<br />
the cost of production in a half-profit system:<br />
A fourth objection to the half-profit system which is from<br />
time to time emphasised on the part of the authors, is that the<br />
author is not in a position to verify the accuracy of the<br />
charges made by the publisher against the book, and that<br />
these charges are frequently made to include items which<br />
do not properly belong in such an amonnt or amounts whioh<br />
have been unduly increased by manufacturing commissions<br />
or " secret profit," whioh is appropriated by the publisher.<br />
The remedy for such a difficulty is to be sought in one or<br />
two directions. The author should, in the first place, at the<br />
time the publication agreement is executed, secure from the<br />
publisher an estimate upon whioh this agreement will be<br />
based, showing the amonnt that the publisher proposes to<br />
debit against the book or against the joint acoonnt, for the<br />
various items comprising the cost of its publication and<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
distribution. The estimate for the use of such joint<br />
account should, in fact, be as precise and as full as if the<br />
book were to be undertaken at the entire cost of the<br />
author. This estimate would remain available for future<br />
reference, and in so far as the conditions of the publication<br />
(that is to say, the amonnt of the material to be printed,<br />
the style of the printing, the amonnt of changes made in<br />
the text while it was going through the press, the outlay<br />
for advertising, the oost of circulars, Ac), have not been<br />
modified under the instructions of the author or under later<br />
agreement between the author and the publisher, the final<br />
charge against the joint account should, of course, be in<br />
exact accord with the amounts specified in the original<br />
estimate, and mnst, in any case, be in accord with the rates<br />
so specified.<br />
This advice is good but incomplete. In many<br />
cases the estimate has been made a means of<br />
fraud, by inserting exaggerated figures, which<br />
then form part of the signed agreement. The<br />
estimate must be submitted to the secretary.<br />
One chapter is devoted to the shortcomings of<br />
the author. These assume several forms:<br />
(1.) A writer has undertaken to contribute<br />
a volume to a series, the length and form and<br />
price of which have been carefully thought out<br />
and fixed beforehand. He presents, when the<br />
time comes, a MS. of double the length stipulated:<br />
It would also seem hardly probable that an author<br />
having been so regardless of the preliminary conditions<br />
laid down for his work, should, when this work was com-<br />
pleted, be so unreasonable as to insist that his volume must<br />
be accepted in the precise form in which he has written it;<br />
that, whatever the conditions or the limitations of the<br />
series, his own individual literary methods and literary<br />
execution must not be interfered with; and that (his own<br />
compensation being assured under some fixed payment<br />
arrangement) the question of possible profit or loss for the<br />
publisher is a matter concerning which he need give him-<br />
self no conoern. Improbable as such a state of mind or<br />
such a method of action appears to be, as thus sot forth, I<br />
can only say that the experience of nearly all publishers<br />
and editors who have had to do with the publication of<br />
series, will show not a few examples of just such literary<br />
perversities.<br />
(a.) The practice of rewriting or reshaping<br />
work after it has been set up in type.<br />
(3.) Breach of faith in delay of delivery.<br />
Several instances are quoted of this bad practice.<br />
(4.) The production of another work by the<br />
same writer on the same subject with another<br />
publisher.<br />
(5.) The acceptance of a salary and doing no<br />
work for it.<br />
The sympathy of every man of honour must<br />
be with the publisher who suffers in any of these<br />
ways. At the same time, one would poiut out the<br />
very simple fact that by introducing the ordinary<br />
methods of business into this part of the trans-<br />
action every one of these dangers can be met.<br />
Now publishers—for which one does not blame<br />
them—are adamant in the matter of the sum or<br />
the royalties for which they acquire control of<br />
M<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 116 (#538) ############################################<br />
<br />
n6<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
the author's property. Why can they not be as<br />
careful in other matters?<br />
(i.) Take the first case.<br />
In such a series there is generally an editor.<br />
Some of us have written for such series : we have<br />
all understood the limitations as to length. I<br />
cannot understand any editor worth his salt who<br />
would find any difficulty in returning a MS.<br />
to be reduced to the proper length. The danger<br />
on this side of the Atlantic seems wholly<br />
imaginary.<br />
(2.) In the second case; that of excessive<br />
corrections.<br />
The agreement in almost all cases safeguards<br />
the publisher. Some honourable gentlemen make<br />
the corrections a source of profit. They insert a<br />
clause limiting the corrections to so many shillings<br />
a sheet. But they are very careful not to connect<br />
shillings with the number of words, so that the<br />
author is in no way helped, and goes on correcting<br />
in blind ignorance, which, when profit by over-<br />
charge is intended, is carefully left without<br />
warning. Nothing is easier or simpler than to<br />
give the author a type-written copy, and to tell<br />
him that this is a first proof which he may cut<br />
up as he pleases, but that he will be allowed no<br />
more corrections.<br />
(3.) Breach of faith in delivery.<br />
In every other business transaction this would<br />
mean an action for damages. One such action<br />
brought would prevent any more such cases.<br />
Nor would any jjublisher suffer who should bring<br />
an action of the kind.<br />
(4.) The production of another wrork on the<br />
same subject.<br />
This danger is met by some publishers by a<br />
clause to the effect that the author is not to<br />
produce another book on the same subject within<br />
a stated time. But, so far, I have never yet seen<br />
a clause binding the publisher not to produce<br />
another book on the same subject within a stated<br />
time.<br />
(5.) If a publisher calmly offers a man a<br />
salary without stipulating for work, one cannot<br />
really sympathise with him if he gets no work,<br />
whatever opinion one may have of a man who<br />
would take money and do nothing for it. But on<br />
this side of the Atlantic publishers do not act<br />
with such uncalculating prodigality.<br />
In a word, these complaints, which are very<br />
seldom heard from English publishers, go to<br />
show that a man of business who complains of<br />
them does not carry on his business on business<br />
principles.<br />
The above notes were already written when the<br />
following were placed in the writer's hands.<br />
They are added to show that the objections<br />
raised by him have occurred to more than one<br />
reader.<br />
Page 8. "The interests of authors and pub-<br />
lishers are practically identical.'' This may be<br />
the case after the agreement has been entered<br />
into, but they are certainly diametrically opposed<br />
as far as the agreement is concerned. If pub-<br />
lishers advance money to their subsequent destruc-<br />
tion, it only shows they are not business men, or<br />
that their business instincts are false. They do<br />
not do this with a view of generosity to the<br />
author, but with a view of retaining the author as<br />
one of their writers during the term—so long as<br />
he does not pay off the money—of his natural<br />
life. It is a good speculation.<br />
Page 37. "Why should authors plead the<br />
'baby act'?" Mr. Putnam compares the rela-<br />
tions between authors and publishers to ordinary<br />
business relations between stockbrokers, &c, but<br />
there is this vital difference, which he seems to<br />
have overlooked, that stockbrokers are competing<br />
keen business men with keen business men.<br />
Authors, in many instances entirely ignorant of<br />
business and incapable of transacting business,<br />
place themselves to a great extent in the hands<br />
of keen business men, who take advantage of<br />
their ignorance. Mr. Putnam is evidently writ-<br />
ing from the methods of his own firm of trans-<br />
acting business, and he appears to be entirely<br />
ignorant of the ways of those publishers who do<br />
not stand in the very first rank.<br />
Page 60. "Half-profit arrangements and<br />
charge of business expenses." The statements<br />
with regard to half-profit arrangements contained<br />
in the book certainly give the author an erroneous<br />
idea of this very disastrous method of pubUshing.<br />
Page 66. "Unless the author," &c. The whole<br />
chapter on publishing arrangements is written<br />
from the point of view of the publisher's agree-<br />
ment and the benefit likely to accrue to the<br />
publisher.<br />
There are some useful hints to authors on<br />
pp. 84 and following, on keeping books together.<br />
Also on p. 93, " Syndicating arrangements."<br />
Page 98. "Obligations under the pubUshing<br />
agreement." These entirely refer to the author's<br />
obligations. There is no mention whatever of the<br />
points an author should protect himself against<br />
with regard to publisher's obligations, which are<br />
many and varied, and often broken.<br />
He quotes instances of delinquent authors. How<br />
about delinquent publishers?<br />
Page 119. "Contract between authors and<br />
publishers," &c. He has subverted the whole<br />
paragraph.<br />
Page 149. The paragraph beginning "Here<br />
also, however." It may be possible to force a<br />
publisher to specific performance in America, but<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 117 (#539) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
117<br />
the best legal authorities doubt its possibility in<br />
England. Even if you did enforce specific per-<br />
formance, a book published by an unwilling pub-<br />
lisher might as well not be published at all. It<br />
is very seldom that publishers enter into an<br />
agreement without the MS. being fully com-<br />
pleted, or, rather, out of 100 cases, in quite<br />
ninety the MS. is complete and to hand, so that<br />
there is no danger from the procrastination of the<br />
author.<br />
Page 160. "Boards of arbitration." These<br />
would be found practically useless.<br />
<br />
PRINTING- IN THE VICTORIAN ERA.<br />
"~]VT"0 good printing has been done since<br />
I X 1550," the late Mr, William Morris was<br />
wont to say. Mr. John Southward,<br />
who has just issued a work on the subject,*<br />
contends that better printing has been done during<br />
the last sixty years than was ever done before.<br />
The progress in book printing begun soon after<br />
1828, when Charles Whittingham became asso-<br />
ciated with the publisher and bibliophile, William<br />
Pickering. The late Henry Stevens, describing<br />
the co-operation of these men, says it was<br />
amusing as well as instructive to see each of them<br />
when they met pull from his bulging side-pocket<br />
well-worn title pages and sample leaves for dis-<br />
cussion and consideration. About 1840 Mr.<br />
Whittingham's office, the Chiswick Press, acquired<br />
an unrivalled collection of head and tail pieces,<br />
borders, and other typographical ornaments.<br />
Other printers were compelled to rival him; and<br />
the forward movement was begun which has gone<br />
on to the present day. As regards the inferiority<br />
of the printing of process blocks in England as<br />
compared with America, the author of this work<br />
is of opinion that the explanation is to be found<br />
in the weakness and insufficient inking and dis-<br />
tributing capacity of our presses, and the inepti-<br />
tude of many of our pressmen. "Already efforts<br />
are being made," he adds, " to remedy both of<br />
these shortcomings." Our general bookwork is<br />
not inferior to that of any other country in the<br />
world:<br />
This is more especially obvious in regard to cheap books,<br />
snch as reprints of non-copyright books, issued for a few<br />
pence each. They are, as a rule, in all respects, admirable<br />
specimens of typography. They are printed on thin, cheap<br />
paper, but it has generally received a fine, bnt not excessive,<br />
polish, by being rolled before printing. The printing is<br />
usually done without damping, and thus destroying the<br />
surface of the paper. The types make little or no indents-<br />
•" Progress in Printing and the Graphic Arts during<br />
the Victorian Era." By John Southward. London:<br />
Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. 28. 6d.<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
tion; both sides of the paper are usually smooth and glossy.<br />
The ink is black and the colour full, but not smudgy. The<br />
type used has been fresh and clear.and the plate taken from it<br />
has been sharp and deep. It may have been printed direct<br />
from linotype bars, and it may be impossible to distinguish<br />
the type from the linotype. The register is always accurate.<br />
Process blocks are freely introduced, and, as a rule,<br />
they are well, if not quite perfectly, made ready and<br />
brought up.<br />
Sixty years ago there were cheap books, but they did not<br />
show these qualities. In every element of good workman-<br />
ship the book of to-day is as superior to that of 1837 as the<br />
locomotive of to-day is to that of the time of Robert<br />
Stephenson.<br />
Mr. Southward also sketches the progress in<br />
job and news printing. His book is fully illus-<br />
trated, and itself, of course, a model of excellent<br />
production. He is enthusiastic about the Lino-<br />
type machine, which, he says, has elevated the<br />
condition of the working printer, and also made<br />
possible even bigger papers and a larger number<br />
of cheap books than we get now.<br />
NEW YORE LETTER.<br />
New Tobk, Sept. 17.<br />
TI^HE Editor's remarks on "little notices," in<br />
I a recent number of this paper, apply with<br />
even greater force to American reviewing.<br />
In this country a really capable judgment is a<br />
secondary consideration, and timeliness is every-<br />
thing. The worst part of the situation is that<br />
this idea that books are news, to be treated with<br />
the same haste that the events of every day are<br />
treated with, is on the increase, which is perhaps<br />
one reason why the Evening Post with its late<br />
reviews is the only daily newspaper in the country<br />
worth serious consideration from a literary point<br />
of view. Any one interested in the fundamental<br />
motives which influence publication in the United<br />
States should read a convincing and rather de-<br />
pressing analysis of the whole newspaper question<br />
in the October number of Scribner's Magazine.<br />
J. Lincoln Steffens, who wrote the article, is one<br />
of the most intelligent and most successful young<br />
newspaper men in the city, and he has also written<br />
enough for the magazines to know that end of the<br />
publishing business. He speaks without fear, or<br />
without softening in any way the facts which he<br />
has found out. The substance of the article is<br />
that pubhshing is not an ideal occupation, but<br />
just as much a mercenary one as any commercial<br />
enterprise, and this general point of view is worked<br />
out in careful detail showing how everything that<br />
goes into a newspaper, from the events of the day<br />
to the literary notices, is determined by the field<br />
which seems most promising; that is, the class<br />
of readers who seem to be less well provided<br />
m 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 118 (#540) ############################################<br />
<br />
u8<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
with a newspaper fitting their taste than any<br />
other class.<br />
Whether the generalisation can be made with<br />
equal safety about the publishing houses is<br />
perhaps an open question, but the more one<br />
learns the inside of things here, the more sur-<br />
prised he is at the number of books where the<br />
author takes the risk while the publisher is pub-<br />
licly supposed to do so; at the number of books<br />
which are taken against the literary judgment of<br />
the publishers for purely business reasons ; at<br />
the number which are rejected for similar com-<br />
mercial reasons, although the publishers think<br />
highly of their literary quality; and at the num-<br />
ber of articles which leading magazines are paid<br />
for accepting.<br />
William Gillette, t'.ie dramatic author and<br />
editor, gave his idea of what criticism ought to<br />
be in a recent talk itpropos of some absurd tech-<br />
nical suggestions that had been made to him by<br />
less skilful playwrights while he was abroad.<br />
"The only criticism I care for," he said, " is the<br />
criticism of the simple man who goes to the<br />
theatre without a desire to judge what he sees.<br />
Emotions are raised in him—fear, suspense, hope,<br />
sympathy, anger—real emotions, which he does<br />
not put into intellectual terms. It is to the<br />
ingenuous man that dramatic art appeals, and if<br />
somebody could transcribe his feelings into words,<br />
and thus show whether the drama carried out<br />
the object for which it was written, that would be<br />
valuable criticism, and it would be a work of the<br />
highest intelligence."<br />
It is rather interesting to notice that the<br />
"Almanach Hachette," which published in<br />
France recently a long list of books forming a<br />
library for a young girl of eighteen years old,<br />
selected just two American books and oue about<br />
America. From England it took "Robinson<br />
Crusoe," " Gulliver's Travels," "Ivanhoe," " Bob<br />
Eoy," "Waverley," "David Copperfield "; and<br />
from America, "The Last of the Mohicans " and<br />
"Uncle Tom's Cabin." It is a pretty fair test of<br />
a book to ask whether it appeals to any other<br />
nation, and their are no two American novels<br />
which give more true and distinctive information<br />
about the history of the United States than these<br />
two, although one of them, at least, is not remark-<br />
able for its artistic form. An excellent choice<br />
was also made in the book about contempo-<br />
rary America, Mme. Blanc's "Les Americaines<br />
Chez Hies."<br />
The first fall announcements of the McClure<br />
and Doubleday Companies are watched with<br />
interest, especially because of the firm's success<br />
in other fields of publishing, which the leading<br />
men in the new venture have had. Their little<br />
sets of "Tales from McClure's" and "Little<br />
Masterpieces" at thirty cents each justify their<br />
attempt to show that cheap publishing is con-<br />
sistent with good taste. They will say very<br />
frankly in a future announcement, "We, like<br />
other men, wish to gain material success, but<br />
we want to gain it by those means which<br />
appeal to our intellectual as well as to our<br />
moral self-respect." Perhaps the book on their<br />
list which is most interesting from the point<br />
of view of originality is "Prince Uno," a<br />
fairy story written by a prominent New York<br />
business man, who wishes to remain anonymous;<br />
"Charles A. Dana's Reminiscences of the War,"<br />
which Miss Ida M. Tarbell is preparing, will<br />
begin in the November number of the magazine.<br />
The interview is an idea which this magazine is<br />
adopting freely from journalism. In the last<br />
number Mr. Steffens put a good deal of art into<br />
an interview on the Klondike, and in a few-<br />
months Mr. Robert Barr will have an interview<br />
with Mark Twain.<br />
Although nobody holds in some respects a-<br />
higher place in New England literature than<br />
James Russell Lowell, the attempt to get enough<br />
money by popular subscription to save his old<br />
homestead promises to be a miserable failure.<br />
Very few of the little sums which were expected<br />
came in, and there have thus far been no large<br />
gifts from rich men.<br />
On the Scribners' list of books for next season<br />
is "This Country of Ours," by Benjamin Harrison,<br />
ex-president of the United States. Mr. Harrison<br />
is not a remarkable writer, he is not a man of<br />
imagination or great culture, but he is a man of<br />
marked business intelligence and some indepen-<br />
dence of thought, and for anyone studying the<br />
political side of the United States his book is<br />
worth reading.<br />
A new publishing house is about to begin its<br />
career in Boston called Small, Maynard, and Co.<br />
The best known member of the firm is a silent<br />
partner, Mr. Bliss Carman, rather prominent as a<br />
lyric poet. The new firm begins its work with a<br />
new edition of Walt Whitman, which is worth<br />
while, since the publication of Whitman's writings<br />
has heretofore been extremely irregular, and<br />
since the interest in him seems to be on the<br />
increase.<br />
A reader for one of the prominent publishing<br />
houses told me the other day that 90 per cent, of<br />
the matter submitted to his house was fiction. It<br />
is not, as a rule, the echo of any successful book;<br />
the idea is original, but weak, and the execution<br />
bad. A great many of the writers live by them-<br />
selves in small places, and their novels represent<br />
the work of years.<br />
Mr. Stanley Waterloo, whose works seem to be<br />
popular in London, has written an introduction to<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 119 (#541) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
119<br />
the New England edition of his first novel—" A<br />
Man and a Woman." Whether any of it has yet<br />
been made public in England I do not know, but<br />
the general purport of it is that there is no school<br />
of writers in the region of which Chicago is the<br />
metropolis. He prefers " the Chicago group," on<br />
the ground that, although the treatment of life<br />
by these Western writers varies from that found<br />
elsewhere in the country, the writers are so diffe-<br />
rent among themselves that the term " school " is<br />
somewhat misleading.<br />
Another Chicago writer, now dead—Eugene<br />
Field—is to be honoured by two clubs this season.<br />
The Caxton Club of Chicago will bring out some-<br />
thing about him, not yet decided on; and the<br />
Duodecimo Club of the same city will bring out a<br />
bibliography of his works.<br />
NOBMAN HAPOOOD.<br />
BAD PAPER.<br />
IN an interview with Mr. J. T. W. MacAlister,<br />
a well-known librarian, which appeared in<br />
the June number of The Author, that gentle-<br />
man referred inter alia to the very perishable<br />
character of the paper employed for a large pro-<br />
portion of the books of the present day. We<br />
learn that the Society of Arts have appointed<br />
a representative committee of paper-makers,<br />
librarians, and chemists, to investigate the ques-<br />
tion of the deterioration of paper, and the whole<br />
subject of perishable paper when used for books<br />
of importance or reference. The committee asks<br />
to be supplied with any instances of books pub-<br />
lished within the last thirty years which already<br />
show signs of perishing, particularly where the<br />
books have been much used. Sir H. Trueman<br />
Wood, secretary of the committee, will also be<br />
glad to have any other information bearing on<br />
this matter, which may be sent to him at the<br />
Society of Arts, John-street, Adelphi, London.<br />
THE AMERICAN AUTUMN LIST.<br />
OTJR own Autumn List will not be complete<br />
before the end of October, owing to the<br />
custom with some publishers of sending in<br />
their lists up till November, for publication in the<br />
Athenteum. The American Autumn List, how-<br />
ever, has been fully announced in one number of<br />
the Chicago Dial. The list comprises over a<br />
thousand books. In the analysis, and in the<br />
remarks which follow, books educational, medical<br />
and surgical, of reference, new editions of stan-<br />
dard literature, and holiday gift-books, have been<br />
omitted:<br />
In Biography and Memoirs there are 60 entries.<br />
In History 43 ..<br />
In General Literature 90 „<br />
In Poetry 23<br />
In Fiction 184 „<br />
In Travels 28<br />
In Art and Archaeology 19 „<br />
In Music and the Drama 7 „<br />
In Science and Nature 27 ,,<br />
In Politics and Economics 23 „<br />
In Philosophy and Psychology 15 „<br />
In Theology and Religion 85 „<br />
In Sport 12 „<br />
The English reader naturally asks what pro-<br />
portion of these books belong to ourselves.<br />
Of English<br />
Origin.<br />
In Biography there are 32<br />
In History 7<br />
In General Literature 38<br />
In Poetry 5<br />
In Fiction 48<br />
In Travels 12<br />
In Art and Archaeology 12<br />
In Music and the Drama 3<br />
In Science and Nature 4<br />
In Politics and Economics 4<br />
In Philosophy and Psychology ... o<br />
In Theology and Religion 22<br />
In Sport 12<br />
Of<br />
28<br />
36<br />
5*<br />
18<br />
136<br />
16<br />
7<br />
4<br />
»3<br />
'9<br />
15<br />
63<br />
o<br />
199 417<br />
These figures may be incorrect to a trifling<br />
extent, but they are near enough for our pur-<br />
poses. They show that out of 616 books in the<br />
principal subjects of literature, 199 are of English<br />
origin, and 417 are of American origin. The last<br />
time that the present writer analysed an American<br />
autumn list, now some years ago, the numbers<br />
showed a much larger proportion of English<br />
origin. The reason was that while American<br />
editors could flood the market with pirated books<br />
at a wretchedly low price, the American author<br />
had no chance. The effect was to deprive<br />
the writers of fiction of the market altogether,<br />
and to make it very difficult to persuade the<br />
American public to buy any books except at a<br />
miserable price. This licence being abolished, the<br />
native author begins at once to take his place;<br />
so that we now see out of 184 new works of<br />
fiction 136 are of American writers: out of<br />
twenty-three new volumes of verse, eighteen<br />
belong to Americans: and so on.<br />
The proportion of English to American writers<br />
may be expected to become still less every year.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 120 (#542) ############################################<br />
<br />
120<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
This is what should be looked for: the bulk of<br />
popular fiction must be redolent of the soil: the<br />
great majority of writers cannot hope to provide<br />
the fiction of the more popular kind except for<br />
their own countrymen. There is springing up, as<br />
was foretold in these pages two or three years ago,<br />
a purely American literature in America: a purely<br />
British bterature here: and an Anglo-Saxon<br />
literature, containing what is precious and Catholic<br />
out of both literatures. To these will be joined<br />
before long the literature of the other great<br />
branches of our race. It will be a great thing<br />
for an American or an Englishman to delight his<br />
own countrymen: it will be a far greater thing<br />
for him to be included in the list of those writers<br />
who belong to all who speak our language over<br />
the whole world.<br />
s»«<-<br />
NOTES AND NEWS.<br />
IBEG to inform a great many people who<br />
addressed communications to me during the<br />
months of August and September that I<br />
only received their letters on Sept. 21, owing to the<br />
neglect of a clerk at the Society's oflices, to which<br />
the letters were addressed. I hope that they will<br />
receive this statement as an excuse or explanation<br />
for my silence as to their communications.<br />
Information has reached the secretary of several<br />
attempts recently made to entrap authors by the<br />
old trick, regularly denounced in these pages, into<br />
binding themselves down for future books with<br />
the same publisher. Would any medical man<br />
dare to propose that his patient should bind<br />
himself to call in no one else; or any solicitor?<br />
The worst feature about these cases—there are at<br />
least three publishers concerned — is that they<br />
occur with first books. The victim is offered<br />
low terms—perhaps to be excused in considera-<br />
tion of its being a first book—with the condition<br />
that the publisher is to have the second book, if<br />
he pleases, on the same terms. Take the case of<br />
Charles Dickens. His "Sketches by Boz" were<br />
sold, I believe, to Bentley for ,£150: what if he<br />
had bound himself down to let that publisher<br />
have " The Pickwick Papers" for the same sum?<br />
Experience shows that the same tricks—always<br />
the same tricks—are tried on time after time: and<br />
that the same vigilance must be kept up to<br />
expose them. The Secretary can furnish mem-<br />
bers with the names of the three publishers con-<br />
cerned. .<br />
The sub-committee to examine into the Dis-<br />
ount Question has begun its work. It will be a<br />
laborious work. Meantime I refer readers once<br />
more to the " Battle of Books," in The Autlior of<br />
February, 1897. And, without instructions from<br />
the sub-committee to this effect, I may also remind<br />
readers of The A uthor, who are probably members<br />
of the Society, that the matter under discussion<br />
is one of the very highest importance to themselves,<br />
and that they ought to consider for themselves<br />
what it means. The proposal of certain pub-<br />
lishers, which appears to be accepted by certain<br />
booksellers, is this: (1) To maintain the present<br />
arrangements and prices with the retail trade,<br />
provided the latter reduce their discount from.<br />
3<Z. to 2d. in the shilling: but (2) to issue books<br />
at a net price for which the bookseller will pay<br />
four-fifths of that price. We have to consider<br />
how such a change will affect our own interests,<br />
the interests of booksellers, the interests of<br />
publishers, and the interests of literature<br />
generally. nin<br />
The new literary journal, concerning which a<br />
good deal of whispering has gone round, will<br />
appear this month. As we all know now, it is to be<br />
called " Literature": it is to be published at the<br />
office of the Times: it is to be edited by Dr.<br />
Traill. It would seem that the journal could<br />
hardly appear at a more opportune moment:<br />
the British Review and the National Observer<br />
are extinct: so, after a brief existence, is the New<br />
Saturday; the Saturday has undergone changes;<br />
the Spectator has lost its principal pillar of<br />
support, and is practically on its trial for its<br />
future position. The Athetueum remains what it<br />
always has been, filling a place of its own from<br />
which it will not be easily dislodged. The Book-<br />
man still remains a monthly paper: the Literary<br />
Gazette has got, and will keep, its own place, and<br />
a very useful place it is. The Publishers' Circular<br />
and the Bookseller are organs of the publishing<br />
trade: The Author is the organ of the Authors'<br />
Society, and is not a review at all. None of<br />
these papers would stand in the way of the new<br />
weekly. There would seem to be plenty of<br />
room for another paper devoted entirely to<br />
Literature. There would seem to be a great<br />
future possible for such a paper.<br />
Those who remember—sorrowfully I confess<br />
that I remember — the early days of the Satur-<br />
day Review, will recall the pleasure with which<br />
one welcomed reviews of books which were<br />
obviously written by scholars who knew, and<br />
were guided by, canons of criticism. It was a<br />
time, I believe, and have been told, when criticism<br />
was at its very worst, with log-rolling—but the<br />
name had not yet been invented—and personal<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 121 (#543) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
121<br />
animosities of the most violent kind; the most<br />
blackguard abuse; and the most flagrant incom-<br />
petence. The Saturday Review came, and the<br />
•whole tone of criticism changed. Some of the<br />
earlier numbers of the new paper were violent,<br />
but no paper can be completely in advance of<br />
the time. The justice of the line taken by the<br />
writers: the ability with which the subject, as<br />
well as the book, was handled; the breadth of<br />
view: the fearlessness with which abuses were<br />
attacked: the separation of the journal from any<br />
considerations of advertisements, whether they<br />
would be attracted or repelled: the knowledge<br />
that the journal belonged to a rich man, who<br />
would not care much if it brought him but a<br />
small return—these points gave the paper, almost<br />
from the outset, a commanding position. Will<br />
the new paper be able to take up that position,<br />
and so dominate the literary world? The place is<br />
vacant: the door is open. No one, I think,<br />
understands the position better than Dr. Traill<br />
himself, as much distinguished for his journalism<br />
as for his books.<br />
On all sides we hear the same complaint.<br />
Reviews are of no use : they have lost their interest<br />
and their value. The world is no longer guided<br />
by them. A most remarkable illustration of the<br />
fact is before us all at this moment in the case of<br />
a certain book which appeared a month or six<br />
weeks ago. It was instantly seized upon by all<br />
the reviewers for all the papers. I hope that I am<br />
not understood as saying or suggesting anything<br />
against, or for, the merits of the book, when I use<br />
it as an illustration of my position. By one part<br />
of the reviewers the work was fiercely, savagely<br />
assailed; by the other part it was as cordially<br />
welcomed and praised. What is the result? A<br />
larger demand for the book than has greeted any<br />
other novel on its first appearance for many years.<br />
In three or four weeks, in the teeth of the most<br />
"damaging " assaults upon the book, the circula-<br />
tion has been 50,000, and a new edition of 20,000<br />
is announced. The hostility, therefore, of that part<br />
of the Press has not had the slightest effect upon<br />
the demand for the book. I am not, I repeat,<br />
finding fault with either section of the reviewers.<br />
I only point out that, as the " slating" has not<br />
affected the book, it is not too much to assume that<br />
the praise bestowed upon it has also been unable<br />
to affect it. In spite of praise or blame, the public<br />
have received the book on their own judgment. I<br />
have received twenty letters all asking the same<br />
question—I have printed one—p. 132. On all sides<br />
the same question is asked: "If critics—educated<br />
men — produce judgments so diametrically<br />
opposite, what is the use of criticism?" The<br />
answer is, that judgments diametrically opposite<br />
cannot proceed from critics who work on any<br />
canons of criticism.<br />
How, then, can a literary paper proceed? The<br />
only safe way is to follow the example of the<br />
Saturday Review iu 1859 or i860—namely, to<br />
admit on the staff none but scholars and proved<br />
writers ; and to take the greatest care not to suffer<br />
any book to fall into the hands of friend or<br />
enemy of the author. The Critic of New York<br />
observes this rule most strictly, and would never<br />
allow a man to write a second time who infringed<br />
the rule. Of course, one need not in this place<br />
dilate on log-rolling and animosities.<br />
There is anothar point on which the original<br />
practice of the Saturday might be followed. It<br />
is to give importance to literature as well as to<br />
the author by assigning to each review an<br />
adequate space. It was then, and should be now,<br />
a distinction to be reviewed—to be selected for<br />
review. A journal which would follow that<br />
custom, without "minor notices" at all, would<br />
immediately become distinguished above the rest.<br />
As to the "minor notices," the world cares<br />
nothing for them: they do not help or instruct<br />
the author: they do not advance the interests of<br />
the book; they damage the paper by destroying<br />
the value of so many columns; worse still—worst<br />
of all—it is impossible for a reviewer to read<br />
books for which he is allotted only an inch or<br />
two of space: no scale of pay ever invented<br />
would enable writers of short " notices" to read<br />
the books. One has been encouraged by the<br />
occasion to make these remarks; which are, after<br />
all, mere echoes of what is said everywhere. But<br />
no doubt Dr. Traill understands the situation far<br />
better than the writer of these lines.<br />
At this point I fell in with a paper by Mr.<br />
Cecil Mead Allen in the New Century Review,<br />
called "Novelist v. Reviewer," in which he takes<br />
the side of the reviewer. He assumes, however,<br />
that those who find fault with the present con-<br />
dition of criticism do so because they themselves<br />
have been severely treated; also that they are<br />
novelists only. Both these assumptions are<br />
baseless.<br />
He also says that, "No critic would wilfully<br />
defame a good book." The converse proposition<br />
therefore follows: "No critic would wilfully praise<br />
a bad book." Apply these propositions to the<br />
book whose case we are considering.<br />
I. If it is good, no writer would defame it.<br />
But critics have defamed it. Therefore it must<br />
be bad.<br />
II. If it is bad, no critic would praise it. But<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 122 (#544) ############################################<br />
<br />
I 22<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
critics have praised it. Therefore it must be<br />
good.<br />
Yet it cannot be both good and bad.<br />
Mr. Allen very justly points out that the signifi-<br />
cance of a criticism depends greatly on experience<br />
and education. Does this fact explain the reason<br />
why it is supposed that anybody can review books?<br />
So we come back to what was said at first—that the<br />
time is highly propitious for the formation of a<br />
literary organ whose staff shall be scholars, who<br />
will be free from personal motives, who will read<br />
the books they judge, and whose judgment shall<br />
carry weight.<br />
I am very pleased to publish the following<br />
letter, which speaks for itself. It will be, I<br />
believe, as new to the world as it is to me to hear<br />
that the late Charles Dickens was a contributor to<br />
the Press. That he was an excellent editor I<br />
know very well, for I wrote his Christmas story<br />
for him, either alone or with the late James Eice,<br />
for ten or eleven years—1876-1886, or 1887—<br />
with relations perfectly satisfactory. Of course,<br />
one cannot believe that his family would be hurt<br />
by the statement that he was a printer. Let us,<br />
however, correct these words, and say that the<br />
late Charles Dickens was not known to the world<br />
as a writer, save of guide-books; that he was an<br />
editor for many years; and that he was also a<br />
printer for many years.<br />
"When commenting upon the above in last<br />
month's Author, you remark that the 'late<br />
Charles Dickens, jun., was not a writer, except<br />
of one or two guide-books. He was a printer.'<br />
Will you kindly allow me to say that I think<br />
these remarks are calculated to give an entirely<br />
wrong impression of the late Mr. C. Dickens's<br />
position in the literary world. I fear also<br />
they are likrly to give pain to a large number<br />
< f your readers, and more especially to those who,<br />
like myself, knew him not merely as a personal<br />
friend or as a contributor of brilliant unsigned<br />
articles to the Press, but also as a most conscien-<br />
tious and genuinely artistic editor. As such no<br />
slovenly work ever passed muster with him, nor<br />
did any really good work ever suffer at his hands<br />
from rough and ready pruning. For ten years<br />
(dating from 1884) I was serial writer to his two<br />
magazines, All the Year Round and Household<br />
Words, and, looking back dispassionately upon<br />
the work which I placed in his hands during that<br />
time, I gratefully acknowledge how much it owes<br />
to his most thoughtful suggestions, which were<br />
invariably the outcome of genuine artistic feeling<br />
and wide literary knowledge."<br />
The following note is taken from the Daily<br />
News, with thanks to the editor for providing a<br />
piece of literary gossip so interesting:—" The<br />
oldest member of the Soeicte des Gens de Lettres<br />
is neither M. Eugene Veuillot, who is 89, nor<br />
M. Legouve.who is 90, but Mme. du Bosd'Elbbecq,<br />
who is 99. She is very sorry to have lived so<br />
long. Her experience of a very great age is given<br />
in one word—solitude. She has outlived hus-<br />
band, son, grandchildren, friends, and has, for a<br />
little quiet society, gone to live in a convent at<br />
Angers. Mme. du Bos d'Elbhecq was a prolific<br />
authoress. A list of her books would fill a<br />
column of a large newspaper. Some of them<br />
were highly successful. 'Le Pere Fargeau'<br />
still sells. It had an early sale of 36,000. She<br />
has to write every year to the secretary of the<br />
Socicte' des Gens de Lettres, to enclose a certificate<br />
that she lives. Her handwriting remains firm<br />
and legible. She works still as an authoress,<br />
chiefly writing for peasants and country folks.<br />
When she last applied for her pension, she was<br />
suffering from influenza, but has recovered. She<br />
began to work for the printers at the age of<br />
twenty, that is to say, seventy-nine years ago.<br />
She led a regular life, was never poor, never very<br />
well off, and had many kind friends. The last of<br />
her old friends, Admiral de Eibours, died two<br />
years ago. She was elected a member of the<br />
Societc fifty-three years ago."<br />
Walter Besant.<br />
—)» —<br />
PUBLIC LIBRARY THEFTS.<br />
IN the report of the Stoke Newington<br />
Public Library for 1896-7, it is stated that<br />
sixteen volumes were stolen during the<br />
year, fourteen of which wore taken from the<br />
shelves to which the readers had free access, only<br />
two being lost under the old system by which<br />
books were obtained through the library staff.<br />
Not long ago two city libraries, working also<br />
under the free access system, had to bewail the<br />
loss of some 200 volumes or more, one of the<br />
thieves being caught at a library using the old<br />
safe method, where, in trying to exercise his<br />
thievish ability, he was at once detected and<br />
handed over to the police. Libraries at Oxford,<br />
Liverpool, Cardiff, Nottingham, and other impor-<br />
tant places, which have more or less given up<br />
this risky method, have all suffered, and it is<br />
obvious that only where the authorities are pre-<br />
pared to lose many of their most valuable<br />
works, and are not particular as to the general<br />
disorder and misplacement of books on the<br />
shelves, can such a method be tolerated. One<br />
characteristic of this report is its unquestion-<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 123 (#545) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
123<br />
able honesty, as it is not pleasant to have to<br />
report the failure of a system after once it is<br />
adopted.<br />
CHEAPNESS OF BOOKS.<br />
"T HAVE long felt that a great number of<br />
I books are much too cheap. Books are<br />
published now at 28. 6d. that twenty<br />
years ago would have easily commanded 6s.,<br />
and those that were once 2s. 6d. are now<br />
published at i*., which means qd. Having<br />
thoroughly debauched the British public by in-<br />
ducing them to believe and to practice the lie that<br />
nd. is only t)d., what are we to do? The British<br />
public will not repent in sackcloth and ashes, and<br />
thus retrace its steps. What is to be done? I think<br />
the only thing to be done is for the publishers to<br />
agree to revise their prices. Let them, among<br />
other things, give up the old conventions-. Haif-<br />
a-crown is a price, 5*. is a price, 6*., io*, and 15*.<br />
are prices. But you never hear of 3*. 6d., or of<br />
6s. 6d., or of 12s. 6d. Why not '< We have<br />
grown into routiue and custom. The publishers<br />
can, I fancy, easily break through this. Let them<br />
in future make a is. book is. 6d., a zs. 6d. book<br />
3*. 6d., a 5*. book 6s. 6d., and so on. The public<br />
will pay only is. i\d. for a is. 6d. book; they<br />
will be well pleased, and the publisher will have<br />
i^d. on the is. to the good.<br />
"The competition in the book market is quite<br />
different in character from the competition in<br />
fish, or bread, or beef. A book is a book, and on<br />
the other hand, a book is not a book. No man<br />
buys a book on history when he wants a novel,<br />
because the first is cheaper; he has in his head a<br />
quite fixed idea of the book he wants and will<br />
have; and the temptation of Qd. or is. cheaper<br />
does not make him waver (unless he is going to<br />
make a present to someone he does not care<br />
about). It appears to me that the publishers<br />
have not sufficiently regarded this side of the<br />
question. Every book has its own public."—<br />
(From a Letter.)<br />
A RULE FOB THE USE OF THE<br />
SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.<br />
0| INCE the publication of my "suggested<br />
1^ rule" for the use of the subjunctive mood<br />
by beginners in literature, in the July<br />
number of The Author, I have been in corre-<br />
spondence with some who have an acknowledged<br />
literary style, and also with others who are<br />
authorities on English Grammar.<br />
The views of the former class are well repre-<br />
sented in a letter which I received from Professor<br />
Dowden—the writer of one of the ten books which<br />
formed the basis of this investigation. He writes:<br />
"Your rule seems a good one for regulating<br />
the use of the subjunctive after 'if.' But I<br />
am not sure that there are not shades of meaning<br />
brought out by its use with other verbs than<br />
'to be'; and, although the use is rare after<br />
'whether,' 'though,' and 'although,'the propor-<br />
tion of subjunctives is large enough to suggest<br />
that it has some use. I should accept your rule<br />
as sufficient for beginners, but, should a yearning<br />
for a subjunctive possess me, I should like to<br />
think the passion not wholly criminal. I am<br />
afraid I have written in what Milton would call<br />
the unfettered liberty of a Christian. Now I<br />
shall feel that the number of ' tongue sins,' which<br />
Baxter fixed at thirty, is at least thirty-one."<br />
The sentence, "the proportion of subjunctives<br />
is large enough to suggest that it has some use,"<br />
is interesting as bearing out the views of some<br />
other author*, who, while seeming to think that it<br />
has "some use," are apparently at a loss to say<br />
what that use is. In the words of others,<br />
"instinct" or their "ear " leads them to employ<br />
this moud without being able to understand or to<br />
explain to others why, in particular cases, it seems<br />
better than the indicative. Can it possibly be for<br />
the reason which leads to the use of synonyms,<br />
to avoid, that is, the too frequent repetition of<br />
the same word? It would certainly appear to be<br />
so in some instances that have come under my<br />
notice. Another reason may be traced to the<br />
schoolroom, for one author, distinguished for<br />
the purity of his style, admits that 'the use with<br />
me is simply that I was somehow taught that it<br />
was the proper thing to use 'be' after 'if.' I<br />
did not ask for any reason, but obeyed blindly."<br />
'J'his is not the only case where this same reason<br />
holds.<br />
Coming to the other class, the grammarians,<br />
as distinguished from authors pure and simple.<br />
Professor Skeat writes: "I can only say that<br />
you have taken very great pains — that your<br />
general rule seems to be quite reasonable—and<br />
that there is 110 compulsion or necessity for using<br />
the subjunctive mood in any case, unless one<br />
wishes to do so. Its use seems to be most<br />
agreeable when real contingency is to be ex-<br />
pressed by a sentence involving be or were.<br />
And certainly the conjunction if is the one which<br />
generally goes with it. The net result is clearly<br />
that the subjunctive is in a moribund state. Dr.<br />
Sweet says, I believe, truly that it is completely<br />
dead in the spoken language. I take this to<br />
include all but flights of oratory and speeches of<br />
an ambitious character. In common talk it<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 124 (#546) ############################################<br />
<br />
124<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
sounds terribly pedantic, and that is why we may<br />
disregard it if we please. This 'obsolescent'<br />
stage has lasted for a long time. Even in middle<br />
English the subjunctive is comparatively rare.<br />
'• I think it probable that the reason why the<br />
subjunctive of 'be' has survived other subjunc-<br />
tives is partly because that verb has peculiarities<br />
of its own. In Anglo-Saxon the future and the<br />
present of all verbs were alike with one sole<br />
exception BE. Thus ic ga, I go=(i) I am<br />
going; (2) I will go." But, ic com, I am,<br />
is present only; ic beo, I be, is both present<br />
and future, but commonly future. Later<br />
on 'I am,' and 'I be,' were both common;<br />
and the above distinction was often made.<br />
But (if I remember rightly) 'I be' died<br />
out in northern English at any rate in the<br />
indicative mood. There was great confusion.<br />
Moreover, the Anglo-Saxon for 'that I may<br />
be' was neither 'thaet ic eom,' nor yet, ' thaet<br />
ic beo,' but 4 thaet ic sy!' that is, there was yet<br />
a third form, used in the subjunctive only. This<br />
separated ' be' from all other verbs.<br />
"I think we ought all to be much obliged to<br />
you. To compile statistics is highly laborious,<br />
and is not always appreciated as it should be."<br />
Prof. Henry Sweet, the author of the exceed-<br />
ingly interesting " New English Grammar," writes:<br />
"My own practice, both in writing and speaking, is<br />
to use 'were' after ' if' to express rejected condi-<br />
tion 'if it were possible,' implying 'it is not<br />
possible.' Otherwise I do not think I use the<br />
subjunctive at all except in 'petrified phrases'—<br />
that is I say and write 'if it is possible' in all<br />
cases ... I should advise young authors to<br />
follow their own instincts about the subjunctive,<br />
that is, to write it only when they speak it; but<br />
if they must set up an artificial standard, I think<br />
they could not do better than follow your rules."<br />
It should be noted that we cannot use "was"<br />
everywhere after "if":—"I do not know whether<br />
he was there or not; if he teas, I did not see him."<br />
Here "were" would make nonsense.<br />
The author of a very well known grammar<br />
writes: "I feel inclined to put the results of<br />
inquiries into the following form: It is not now<br />
necessary to use the form of the subjunctive<br />
mood except in one single instance—in the past<br />
tense of the verb ' to be.'<br />
"You can now use the indicative of the present<br />
of 'to be' in place of the older subjunctive,<br />
without offence to the grammatical sense (of<br />
which only a minimum survives in the English<br />
nation) or to the ear. If anyone likes to say<br />
'If he be at home I will call on him,' we have a<br />
feeling that he is unnecessarily particular, and<br />
therefore a little pedantic. But you cannot get<br />
out of the necessity of saying ' If only he were<br />
here, we should,' &c. If 'was' were used, it<br />
would at once be felt to be 'bad grammar '—that<br />
is, against all ordinary usage.<br />
"I don't myself believe that the English<br />
people will ever get out of the habit of using the<br />
subjunctive mood in this single instance, ' If I<br />
were, he were,' &c, because it seems to me to<br />
mark a real need of thought. To substitute<br />
'was' would be to confuse two very different<br />
things, and would also be felt as a weakness—<br />
that is the feeling that it is impossible he could<br />
be here, when we say 'If he were here' would<br />
not be done adequate justice to.<br />
"Why not go in boldly for the one rule; use<br />
the subjunctive only in the past tense of the<br />
verb 'to be'—or use the subjunctive only in<br />
'were '?"<br />
While much may be said in favour of the brief<br />
"Use the subjunctive only in were," I should<br />
hardly be summing up fairly the results of the<br />
correspondence this investigation has brought<br />
me—larger, possibly, than the foregoing extracts<br />
would suggest—without giving the "suggested<br />
rule" in a form that has met with general<br />
assent, and which may easily be remembered.<br />
I am now justified in recommending the fol-<br />
lowing to those who feel the need of some<br />
guidance beyond their "ear" or "instinct":—<br />
The subjunctive mood should be used with<br />
no other verb than "to be," and then only<br />
after "if" in cases (i) where there is<br />
real contingency, e.g., "H it be thought<br />
advisable, such and such measures will be pro-<br />
ceeded With "; (2) OR WHERE DEFINITE ASSER-<br />
TION is withheld, e.g., "It is as indispensable<br />
as any other . . . if it be not more so."<br />
Where the style is familiar the subjunc-<br />
tive SHOULD NOT BE USED AT ALL, e.g., do not<br />
write, "If he be naughty, he shall go without<br />
desert." F. Howard Collins.<br />
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.<br />
IN a criticism of R. L. Stevenson's collected<br />
works, the Athenteum prints the following<br />
letter it received from Stevenson himself,<br />
after it had reviewed " Kidnapped":—<br />
I wish to thank yon for your notioe of "Kidnapped,"<br />
and that not because it was kind, though for that also I<br />
valued it, but in the same sense as I have thanked you<br />
before now for a hundred articles on a hundred different<br />
writers—you who fight the good fight, contending with<br />
stupidity, and I would fain hope not all in vain; in my own<br />
case, for instance, surely not in vain. What you say of the<br />
two parts in "Kidnapped " was felt by no one more pain-<br />
fully than by myself. I began it partly as a lark, partly as a<br />
pot-boiler; and suddenly it moved. David and Alan<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 125 (#547) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
stepped out from the canvas, and I found I was in another<br />
world. Bat there was the cursed beginning, and a cursed<br />
end must be appended, and an old friend, Byles the Batcher,<br />
was plainly audible, tapping at the back door. So it had to<br />
go into the world, one part (as it does seem to me) alive,<br />
one part merely galvanised: no work, only an essay. For a<br />
man of tentative method, and weak health, and a scarcity<br />
of private means, and not too much of that frugality which<br />
is the artist's proper virtue, the days of sinecures and<br />
patrons look very golden, the days of professional literature<br />
very hard. Yet I do not so far deceive myself as to think<br />
I should change any character by changing my epoch; the<br />
sum of virtue in our books is in a relation of equality to the<br />
sum of virtues in ourselves; and my "Kidnapped" was<br />
doomed while still in the womb, and while I was yet in the<br />
cradle, to be the thing it is.<br />
It may not be generally known that Stevenson<br />
at one time aspired to fill a professorial chair. The<br />
Critic recently printed an article describing this<br />
incident. The position he applied for was the<br />
Chair of History and Constitutional Law at Edin-<br />
burgh University. In the summer of 1881<br />
Stevenson's mother read in the Scotsman the<br />
announcement that the chair was vacant. She<br />
said to him: "I am sorry that that Chair has<br />
become vacant, as I have always thought it was<br />
the one position in Edinburgh which would suit<br />
you." He replied: "I have never thought of it,<br />
but you are quite right, and I don't see why I<br />
should not apply now." He at once wrote round<br />
to his influential friends soliciting their testi-<br />
monials as to his fitness for the post. Copies of<br />
these letters were bound in a pamphlet and dis-<br />
tributed among those who had the power of filling<br />
the vacancy. These pamphlets are now exceed-<br />
ingly rare. Stevenson received very eulogistic<br />
letters from Leslie Stephen, J. A. Symonds, and<br />
Andrew Lang, among others, but did not obtain<br />
the Chair.<br />
—>•<<br />
THE AUTOGRAPH FIEND-<br />
THE following is from a circular copied from<br />
an American paper, and used by the late<br />
Sir Isaac Pitman in reply to letters asking<br />
him for his autograph:—<br />
"One of the forces not duly rated in this world<br />
is the power involved in making oneself disagree-<br />
able.<br />
"The autograph hunter is the embodiment of<br />
it, and it is his crowning glory that few have<br />
attained the distinction of being cursed as he has<br />
been, for being an unmitigated nuisance; and<br />
aroused, even in the breasts of the pious, thoughts<br />
that lie too deep, not only for tears, but for words<br />
not fit for polite society. Yet it is in proportion<br />
to this supreme capacity for making oneself<br />
odious that the autograph hunter exhibits, like<br />
the Indian, the trophies of his hunt. Nor does it<br />
seem to require the brazen hardihood of age and<br />
experience. Owing to the fact that age puts by<br />
this sort of thing with other follies, it is the youth<br />
that most indulge and most exult in this lion-<br />
baiting pastime.<br />
"One of these young fiends in Brooklyn, having<br />
scarcely attained the age of eighteen, has whole<br />
folios full of autographic scalps. His waking<br />
hours are devoted to the task of plotting<br />
against the peace and comfort of the great.<br />
Having no scruples and no humanity, he smiles at<br />
the refusals of his victims, knowing well that he<br />
has settled down upon them never to depart<br />
until he shall carry with him in triumph the<br />
plunder he is seeking. To his credit, be it said,<br />
he is no respecter of persons. Bismarck and the<br />
German Emperor are made to stand and deliver<br />
as well as Mark Twain and the Sweet Singer of<br />
Michigan; Susan B. Anthony and Von Moltke as.<br />
well as Mother Goose and K. B. Hayes. He has<br />
drawn autographs from people who have regis-<br />
tered a solemu vow b3fore high heaven never to<br />
write another. Eminent lawyers have pleaded for<br />
mercy as they never pleaded for a verdict, but<br />
they have not always been let off even with a short<br />
sentence. Distinguished clergymen, at first<br />
excusing themselves on the ground that they were<br />
too engrossed in Holy Writ to furnish the secular<br />
sort, have yielded to the inevitable in order to<br />
escape eternal suffering in this world."<br />
SIR HENRY CRAIK ON IMPRESSIONISM.<br />
SIE HENRY CRAIK, K.C.B., Secretary of<br />
the Scotch Education Department, delivered<br />
an address to the boys of Glasgow High<br />
School on the 21st ult., on the occasion of the<br />
opening of a new wing of that establishment.<br />
His subject was the training for citizenship, and he<br />
advised the curbing of the emotions, and the<br />
development of the imagination. He suggested<br />
that in the nineteenth century we had specialised<br />
knowledge too much, and forgotten that balance<br />
of judgment which is the chief quality of wisdom;<br />
that in our poetry we had torn at our heart-<br />
strings too much, and carried our feelings too<br />
much upon our sleeves; that in our philosophy<br />
we had tried to solve the insoluble, pursuing<br />
perhaps some nebulous and misty produce of<br />
esoteric philosophy borrowed from Germany;<br />
and that in fiction we had neglected the early pic-<br />
turesof domestic life—which, after all, had so much<br />
of interest, so much of tragedy, so much of comedy<br />
—and rather pursued after exaggerated types of<br />
morbid ideas in which, to use a common phrase, each<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 126 (#548) ############################################<br />
<br />
126<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
man had striven to go one better than his neigh-<br />
bour. It was quite possible we might have to<br />
wait for a time before the pendulum swung back;<br />
we might have to carry further the exaggeration<br />
of emotionalism, of what was called impres-<br />
sionism. But sooner or later some reaction<br />
would come. What if we reverted somewhat to<br />
the tone of an older age; if we repeated some-<br />
thing of that much decried eighteenth century,<br />
which we thought was wanting in enthusiasm,<br />
and sacrificed too much to form? Suppose we<br />
attempted, after all our energy of effort, to<br />
garner a few of the fruits—to seek after lucidity,<br />
clearness, and simplicity in our speculations,<br />
calmness in our judgment of politics and of<br />
social questions, order and good form in our<br />
poetry, simplicity in our pictures of human<br />
life as represented in fiction?<br />
A SMALL LITERARY PROBLEM.<br />
AGENUINE, if not very important, mystery<br />
arises out of the strange twist in Sir<br />
Walter Scott's nature which led that just<br />
and honourable man to take a gratuitous delight<br />
in hoax and humbug. The endless population<br />
of Clutterbucks and Cleisbothams, indeed, could<br />
hardly deceive the most simple-minded readers;<br />
and the authorship of " Waverley," though abso-<br />
lutely denied, soon became of the sort known<br />
in France as "a secret of Punch." But Scott<br />
made a most determined effort to mislead the<br />
world in another direction. It was early in 1813,<br />
while engaged in "Rokeby" and making his<br />
new departure in "Waverley," that his fertile<br />
brain was inspired by the idea of competing<br />
with himself by an anonymous poem. In March<br />
of that year the Ballantynes brought out the<br />
"Bridal of Triermain," pains being taken to<br />
make it appear the work of a friend, William<br />
Erskine. The thing took; the critics hailed an<br />
imitation—however inferior—of the great Min-<br />
strel; and it was not until the appearance of a<br />
third edition that the true authorship became<br />
known. Had this, however, been the whole story<br />
it would have been nothing unusual. "Waverley<br />
came out about two years later, in a similar cloud<br />
of concealment and mystification; and in 1817<br />
another poem—" Harold the Dauntless "—was<br />
launched anonymously, and the critics were once<br />
more at fault, and hailed an inferior imitation.<br />
What makes " Triermain " a special case is that<br />
it was not a frank exercise in the manner of the<br />
"Lay" and "Marmion," but rather an attempt<br />
at a new style, resembling that of Byron's tales,<br />
and apparently modelled on "Christabel," which<br />
Coleridge asserted to be written in a new form<br />
invented by himself. But the darkness deepens<br />
when we remember that "Christabel" was not<br />
published until 1816, three years later than the<br />
poem of Scott, of which the first canto, in which<br />
the Coleridge manner is most apparent, had<br />
appeared still earlier.* And yet it is hard to<br />
resist the conclusion that Scott must have seen<br />
Coleridge's poem in MS. Although of this<br />
there seems no external evidence, yet there is the<br />
strange similarity of style and manner; above<br />
all there is the name of Geraldine's father—<br />
"Roland de Vaux of Tryermaine "—which, allow-<br />
ing for slight difference in spelling, gives the<br />
exact appellation of Scott's hero. "Christabel"<br />
was written in 1797, though not published, and<br />
Scott must have seen it in MS. before 1809.<br />
It is further remarkable that—whatever may<br />
have been the opinion of contemporary critics—a<br />
great improvement in workmanship made itself<br />
manifest in Scott's new venture. The poem is<br />
not, perhaps, as well known as it ought to be, by<br />
reason of its humour, descriptive skill, and<br />
delicate technique- Altogether the unsolved<br />
mystery remains full of literary interest.<br />
Its elucidation may be commended to those<br />
ingenious philosophers who teach that genius is<br />
but a form of epilepsy, and essentially morbid.<br />
Scott dictated his matchless " Lammermoor " in a<br />
state approaching to delirium a few years later;<br />
and the mattoid sect will perhaps attempt to<br />
account for the strange incidents above noticed<br />
by the theory of a disordered constitution. One<br />
thing, at least, they may be trusted to do : if they<br />
establish no other conclusion, they will certainly<br />
add to the already existing proofs that the<br />
disease of genius is not contagious.<br />
Note —In the atanzaa introductory to Canto First the<br />
author uaeB a distinct denial of identity with the Last<br />
Minstrel:—<br />
Nor "on—beat meed to minatrel true—<br />
One fav'ring smile from fair Buoclenoh.<br />
H. G. Keene.<br />
BOOK TALE.<br />
AWORK on Klondyke, by Mr. Harry de<br />
Windt, is to be published by Messrs.<br />
Chatto and Windus under the title<br />
"Through the Goldfields of Alaska to Behring<br />
Straits."<br />
The new work by Mr. Ruskin which Mr. George<br />
Allen has unearthed, consisting of the lectures on<br />
landscape delivered to Oxford undergraduates in<br />
* The fragment first saw the light in the Edinburgh.<br />
Annual Register for 1809, no leaa than seven years before<br />
"Christabel." It was an avowed imitation (see first preface).<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 127 (#549) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
127<br />
1871, will be published with illustrations repro-<br />
duced from the author's private collection which<br />
accompanied the addresses.<br />
A story called " Poppy," by Mrs. Isla Sitwell,<br />
will be brought out this autumn by Messrs.<br />
Nelson and Co.<br />
Mr. Romesh C. Dutt, I.C.S., CLE., the late<br />
officiating Commissioner of Orissa, and author of<br />
"Civilization in Ancient India," has produced a<br />
book called "England and India," a record of pro-<br />
gress during a hundred years, 1785-1885. The<br />
preface points out that since 1837 there has<br />
been a great famine every twenty years: that while<br />
the rule of the English has been honest, it has<br />
been found necessary to call for reforms in many<br />
directions, and that other reforms await the legis-<br />
lator. What these are the book attempts to point •<br />
out. The publishers are Chatto and Windus.<br />
A second and enlarged edition of Miss Roalfe<br />
Cox's "Introduction to Folk-Lore" is in the<br />
press. The special feature of the new issue is a<br />
classified list of books designed for the use of<br />
students of the science. The publisher is Mr.<br />
Nutt.<br />
Messrs. Moran and Co., Crown Press, Aberdeen,<br />
will issue early in October an important book,<br />
"My First Prisoner," from the pen of Mr. Bartle<br />
Teeling, who has an interesting career as governor<br />
of an Irish prison and as one of the Pontifical<br />
Zouaves. The picture of Ireland and Rome of<br />
more than a quarter of a century ago will be<br />
found interesting at this moment, viewed in the<br />
light of the present political state of Ireland and<br />
Italy. The work will be published in London by<br />
the Roxburghe Press Limited.<br />
"Richard de Lyrienne," the author of the skit<br />
on Mr. Le Gallienne's book, published recently by<br />
Mr. Lane, is Mr. David Hodge, a Glasgow<br />
journalist. This is his first book. Mr. Hodge is<br />
connected with the same journal as Mr. Neil<br />
Munro, whose volume of stories of life in the<br />
Highlands of Scotland Messrs. Blackwood<br />
published some time ago.<br />
Mr. Thomas Wright, Olney, Bucks, is writing<br />
a work on "Hind Head, and Its Literary and<br />
Historical Associations." This locality is noted<br />
for the number of literary and scientific gentlemen<br />
who reside in it.<br />
Dr. Wallis Budge is editing the text of the<br />
Coptic Psalter discovered about two years ago in<br />
Upper Egypt, and the work will be published by<br />
Messrs. Kegan Paul. The manuscript was found<br />
in the ruins of an ancient Coptic monastery,<br />
inclosed in a stone box, which had been firmly<br />
fastened into the ground. The manuscript is<br />
interesting also as containing the spurious cli.<br />
Psalm.<br />
Professor George Ebers's novel, "Barbara<br />
Blomberg: a Romance of the Days of Charles V,"<br />
is about to be published by Messrs. Sampson<br />
Low.<br />
Early this month Mr. Andrew Lang's book for<br />
the young, "The Pink Fairy Book," will be<br />
published by Messrs. Longmans, Green. Mr. H. J.<br />
Ford illustrates it.<br />
"Weeping Ferry, and Other Stories," is the<br />
title of a volume by Margaret L. Woods (author<br />
of "A Village Tragedy "), which Messrs. Long-<br />
mans, Green, and Co. have in the press.<br />
Golfers will get "Colonel Bogey's Sketch<br />
Book" added to their literature shortly. The<br />
author is Mr. R. Andre, of the West Herts Golf<br />
Club.<br />
Mr. F. H. S. Merewether, Reuter's special<br />
correspondent during the Indian Famine, who<br />
travelled in the stricken districts, has written<br />
an account of his experiences. This will be pub-<br />
lished by Messrs. A. D. Innes and Co., entitled<br />
"Through the Famine Districts of India."<br />
This firm also announces "The Coldstream<br />
Guards in the Crimea," by Lieutenant-Colonel<br />
Ross, C.B., of Bladensburg.<br />
Mr. Clark Russell has written a novel entitled<br />
"The Two Captains," which Messrs. Sampson<br />
Low are about to publish.<br />
Mr. James F. Sullivan has written and illus-<br />
trated a volume entitled "More Stories," which<br />
Messrs. Longmans will publish.<br />
The author of " The Devil Tree of El Dorado"<br />
has written another novel, entitled "A Studio<br />
Mystery," which Messrs. Jarrold will publish.<br />
Mr. Silas K. Hocking's serial "In Spite of<br />
Fate" is to be published shortly by Messrs.<br />
Warne.<br />
"Stories of Famous Songs" is a work by Mr.<br />
S. J. Adair Fitz-Gerald shortly to appear from Mr.<br />
Nimmo's house in King William-street. The<br />
writer has spent fifteen years, he tells, upon the<br />
work, and has gathered the histories of all the<br />
world's most famous and popular songs and<br />
ballads from all sorts of sources.<br />
Mr. Beckles Willson is the author of "The<br />
Tenth Island: being some Account of Newfound-<br />
land, its People, its Politics, its Problems, and<br />
its Peculiarities." The work is the result of Mr.<br />
Willson's special correspondence from North-<br />
western America to the London Daily Mail. Sir<br />
William Whiteway and Lord Charles Beresford<br />
will write contributions to the work.<br />
Dr. Newman Hall is writing his Life. The<br />
book will be called "Sixty Years Ago, by an<br />
Octogenarian."<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 128 (#550) ############################################<br />
<br />
128<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Mr. F. H. Le Queux is engaged upon a new<br />
story, to be called "The Eve of the Seventh<br />
Resurrection. It will be ready for publication<br />
early in December.<br />
"Steadfast and True" is a tale of the Hugue-<br />
nots, by L. C. Silke, author of "Margaret<br />
Somerset," <fec. Published by the Religious<br />
Tract Society. 2s. 6c?.<br />
"School Life at Bartram's" is another story<br />
by L. C. Silke, author of "A Hero in the Strife,"<br />
"Margaret Somerset," &c. Same publishers,<br />
i*. 6c?.<br />
The second edition of "Reflections on the Art<br />
of War," price ys. 6c?., and the fourth edition of<br />
"Sanitation and Health," cloth, is. 6c?., both<br />
books by Brigadier-General R. C. Hart, V.C.,<br />
C.B. (commanding a district in India), are about<br />
to be published.<br />
There will be three serial stories in the Monthly<br />
Packet during the course of 1898: "The Gospel<br />
Writ in Steel," by Arthur Paterson, a story of<br />
the American War; "The Main Chance," bv<br />
Christabel Coleridge; and " Off the High Road,'"'<br />
by Eleanor C. Price.<br />
A second edition of Mary L. Pendered's fairy<br />
tale, "To Suniland with a Moon Goblin," has<br />
been issued by Messrs. Marshall, Russell, and<br />
Co. It is a dainty little volume, being the story<br />
of one "Queer Eye," a boy of inquiring mind, who<br />
wanders it, to strange lands, where he is shown<br />
many marvellous things by a goblin guide, whose<br />
moralising on the way is quaint and amusing.<br />
The illustrations by a child of ten are remarkably<br />
clever.<br />
Mr. Bloundelle-Burton's new novel, "The<br />
Clash of Arms," will be published on the 15th<br />
by Methuen and Co., in London, and Appleton<br />
and Co., in New York, a colonial edition also<br />
appearing at the same time. The author has,<br />
during the holiday season, revisited the scene of<br />
the novel, viz., the heart of the Vosges moun-<br />
tains, and carefully verified his description of the<br />
locality. It was in this neighbourhood, many<br />
years ago, that Mr. Bloundelle-Burton was told<br />
by an old peasant the story which forms the<br />
groundwork of "The Clash of Arms," to wit, the<br />
abduction of an English girl by a French noble-<br />
man serving under Turenne, and the implac-<br />
able vengeance with which he was afterwards<br />
pursued and brought to bay by one of her<br />
countrymen.<br />
Among Messrs Harpers immediately forth-<br />
coming publications is Mr. J. M. Graham's<br />
historical novel, "The Son of the Czar." This<br />
work, first announced in March last, but held<br />
over for the autumn season, is fixed for issue on<br />
Oct. 15. The book deals, of course, from the point<br />
of view of the romance writer, with the relations<br />
between Peter the Great and the Russian Crown<br />
Prince Alexis. And the a.uthor, while not relieving<br />
the father from entire responsibility for the tragic<br />
fate of the son, seeks to remove some of the stains<br />
which have clung to the memory of the Czar in<br />
this connection, and, above all, is careful to point<br />
to the countless provocations received by Peter<br />
from the heir to his throne.<br />
"Verdi: Man and Musician" is the title of a<br />
monograph now in the press, from the pen of<br />
Frederic J. Crowest, author of "The Great Tone<br />
Poets," "The Story of British Music," and many<br />
other accepted musical writings. The name of the<br />
composer of " II Trovatore," " Otello," and "Fal-<br />
staff," is a household word, and it is matter for<br />
surprise that no English biographer has hitherto<br />
been found to give to lovers and students of his<br />
music the romantic story of his early struggles<br />
and their successful issue, or to attempt to assign<br />
to him a position, critically, among the great<br />
masters of music. The present volume, while being<br />
a complete biography, will contain the results of<br />
lengthened research into the hitherto neglected<br />
English experiences of the maestro, and will deal<br />
with the extraordinary and diverse criticisms which<br />
his successive operas evoked from the leading<br />
musical critics of the day. The vol ume will be<br />
issued on Oct. 5, in demy 8vo. form at js. 6c?.,<br />
and will contain several full-length family por-<br />
traits, including a photogravure frontispiece repro-<br />
duced from the latest portrait of the composer,<br />
with his dated autograph.<br />
"A Frisky Matron," by Percy Lysle, published<br />
by Messrs. George Routledge and Sons, has<br />
received some very favourable notices, and is going<br />
very well.<br />
Mr. James Baker, the author of "The Gleam-<br />
ing Dawn," &c, has been travelling in Scandi-<br />
navia and Finland, visiting the Lap district<br />
within the Arctic circle, and the interesting<br />
mining mountainous district round Gellivara,<br />
from whence he crossed over to Russia to be<br />
present at the Faure fetes in honour of the French<br />
President at St. Petersburg. He is writing for<br />
the Pall Mall Gazette, the Queen, Black and<br />
White, and some provincial papers.<br />
Messrs. Cassell and Company (Limited) will<br />
publish in October a volume of aphoristic poems,<br />
"Quiet Waters," by Frederick Langbridge.<br />
The book—which is intended as a sequel to the<br />
author's "Cluster of Quiet Thoughts"—will<br />
have twenty illustrations by Zillah Taylor. Miss<br />
Taylor has also designed a cover and a frontis-<br />
piece for Mr. Langbridge's "Sent Back by the<br />
Angels."<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 129 (#551) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Mr. David Nutt will shortly publish Surgeon<br />
Lieutenant-Colonel John MacGregor's new volume<br />
of Gaelic Poems, entitled "Luinneagan Luaineach"<br />
(Random Lyrics). The volume will also contain<br />
several renderings of the original Gaelic into<br />
English verse by the author himself, as well as<br />
the Jubilee poems of "Victoria Maxima," lately<br />
accepted by Her Majesty the Queen.<br />
Messrs. W. Thacker and Co. will publish, on<br />
the 5th inst., a work entitled: "A Servant<br />
of John Company" (1825-1882), by H. G.<br />
Keene, C.I.E., author of "Sketches in Indian<br />
Ink," &c, and for many years a district judge<br />
in the North-West Provinces of India. Among<br />
other subjects the volume deals with: Posting<br />
Days in England, Fighting Fitzgerald, Daniel<br />
O'Connell, Reminiscences of the Indian Mutiny,<br />
Duelling in the Army and the part the late<br />
Prince Consort took in the abolition of the<br />
same, Agra, Calcutta, &c, Bishop Wilson, the<br />
Right Hon. J. Wilson, Lord Canning, Sir Henry<br />
Lawrence, Lord Dalhousie, Sir H. M. Elliot,<br />
Anglo-Indian Society in the days of the East<br />
India Company; interspersed with original stories<br />
and anecdotes of the times. The book will be<br />
illustrated by Mr. W. Simpson, R.I., the well-<br />
known artist and correspondent of the Illustrated<br />
London Neics, from original sketches by the<br />
author.<br />
The Quiver has arranged with Mr. W. Edwards<br />
Tirebuck for a new serial story to begin next<br />
November. It is to be called "The White Woman:<br />
An Adventure."<br />
"I was visiting Stratford-upon-Avon," a<br />
gentleman writes to the Standard, "and, while<br />
looking at a shop window, a boy of about ten or<br />
eleven volunteered the information (pointing to a<br />
photograph) that that was ' Shakespeare's house.'<br />
I inquired, 'Who was Shakespeare'(' and with<br />
a merry twinkle in his eye, the boy said, 'He<br />
stole the deer.' I said, 'I had not seen anything of<br />
it in the papers—was it recently—this week or<br />
last?' He replied, ' It was three or four years<br />
ago.' I inquired if that was all that Shakespeare<br />
did, and why there were so many pictures about<br />
of his birthplace?' He said,' He was a rich man,<br />
and lived in a big house.'"<br />
Mr. Fisher Unwin would be greatly obliged if<br />
anyone possessing information about books and<br />
etchings of the late Charles Keene, not mentioned<br />
in Mr. Layard's "Life," would communicate the<br />
same to him for the purpose of a forthcoming<br />
bibliography.<br />
If a sufficient number of guinea subscriptions<br />
are obtained, the Clarendon Press propose to<br />
publish, by the collotype process, a facsimile of<br />
the original MS. of the Epistles to Timothy,<br />
Titus, and Philemon in Welsh, reproduced from<br />
the MS. of Bishop Richard Davies, and compared<br />
with the parallel versions of Salesbury (1567)<br />
and Morgan (1588). To this will be added an<br />
account of a draft petition for a translation into<br />
"the vulgar walsh tong," and a bond in connec-<br />
tion therewith, bound with the MS., and a disser-<br />
tation on some early Welsh versions of Holy<br />
Scripture by Archdeacon D. R. Thomas, Llan-<br />
drinio.<br />
A book of private letters, illustrating high life<br />
in the Elizabethan period, has been prepared by<br />
Lady Newdegate of Arbury, and will shortly be<br />
published by Mr. David Nutt. It is entitled<br />
"Gossip from a Muniment Room," and the<br />
correspondence is that of two Fitton sisters, one<br />
of whom married Sir John Newdigate of Arbury,<br />
and the other was maid of honour to Queen<br />
Elizabeth. Sir William Knollys, Sir Fulke<br />
Greville, Sir Richard Leveson, and Francis Beau-<br />
mont are among the correspondents introduced.<br />
The book will be illustrated from family portraits.<br />
The latest volume in Mr. Thomas J. Wise's<br />
library of privately-printed books is a collection<br />
of "Letters from Shelley to Hogg." These<br />
were written in 1810-11.<br />
Mr. St. Loe Strachey, editor of the Cornhill<br />
Magazine, has succeeded to the post of joint-<br />
editor and joint-proprietor of the Spectator,<br />
on the death of Mr. Hutton.<br />
The Progressive Review is dead.—The Angli-<br />
can, an illustrated church review, makes its first<br />
appearance this month. It is a monthly, price<br />
i*., and is published from 37, Norfolk-street,<br />
Strand.— To-morrow has not been issued for the<br />
last two months, but begins again now under a<br />
new publisher, Mr. Grant Richards.<br />
Another series of biographies, this time of<br />
"Masters of Medicine" of Great Britain and<br />
Europe, has been projected, and will appear before<br />
long. Among early volumes to appear will be<br />
"John Hunter," by Dr. Stephen Paget; and<br />
"William Harvey," by Mr. D'Arcy Power.<br />
Miss Beatrice Whitby's " Sunset" and Mr. F.<br />
W. Robinson's "Little Nin," are among the<br />
new novels which Messrs. Hurst and Blackett<br />
will issue this month.<br />
"This Little World" is the title of Mr. D.<br />
Christie Murray's new novel which Messrs.<br />
Chatto and Windus are to publish immediately.<br />
Miss Alcock has introduced Armenian history<br />
in her novel, " By Far Euphrates," which Messrs.<br />
Hodder and Stoughton are about to issue.<br />
The Rev. E. Convbeare, whose antiquarian<br />
researches in Cambridgeshire are well known, is<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 130 (#552) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
engaged on a history of that county for Mr.<br />
Elliot Stock's Popular County History series.<br />
Particular attention has been bestowed on the<br />
part taken by Cambridgeshire in the baronial<br />
wars of the thirteenth century.<br />
A new work by Count Tolstoy is announced.<br />
The subject will be the tardy repentance of a<br />
man who is on a jury that condemns a young<br />
woman to Siberia for theft. This man recog-<br />
nises in the prisoner a girl whom he has wronged<br />
years before, and he eventually accompanies her<br />
into exile.<br />
"Manners, Institutions, and Ceremonies of the<br />
Hindus," by the Abbe J. A. Dubois, is shortly<br />
to be published by Mr. Henry Frowde. The work<br />
has been translated from the author's later French<br />
MS. in the Madras Government's records, with<br />
notes and corrections, and a biography of the<br />
author, by Mr. H. K. Beauchamp.<br />
Dean Farrar has written " The Herods" for a<br />
set of volumes called the Popular Biblical<br />
Library, an enterprise of Messrs. Service and<br />
Paton. This firm also announce "Our Churches,<br />
and "Why We Belong to Them," by Canon Knox-<br />
Little, Dr. Horton, and other preachers.<br />
A two-volume work by Mr. J. E. C. Bodley, on<br />
"France since the Revolution," is to be published<br />
by Messrs. Macmillan.<br />
The 6nal part of " Flora of British India," by<br />
Sir Joseph Hooker, will be issued this month by<br />
Messrs. L. Reeve and Co., who have also in hand<br />
the following:—By Mr. A. Fryer, an illustrated<br />
"Potamogetons of the British Isles "; by Miss<br />
E. M. Bowdler Sharpe, an illustrated monograph<br />
on the genus Teracolus.<br />
Dr. Jessopp has written a "Life of Donne " for<br />
•Messrs. Methuen's "Leaders of Religion" series.<br />
Mr. W. S. Gilbert is bringing his old "Bab<br />
Ballads" volume into line with his "more<br />
chastened sense of humour." The text has been<br />
revised, and a number of illustrations added.<br />
Messrs. Routledge will publish the book.<br />
A volume of poems by Mrs. Shorter (Miss Dora<br />
Sigerson) will be published by Mr. Lane this<br />
month.<br />
A monument is to be erected to the memory of<br />
Joanna Baillie at her birthplace, Bothwell, Lanark-<br />
shire. It is given by a friend of letters who wishes<br />
to remain anonymous.<br />
Mr. Owen Seaman succeeds the late Mr. E. J.<br />
Milliken on the staff of Punch.<br />
Mr. W. E. Henley's "English Lyrics" is<br />
announced by Messrs. Methuen for this month.<br />
Mr. F. G. Kitton, the well-known authority on<br />
Dickens, has discovered a number of stories,<br />
articles, and essays by the novelist. These will<br />
shortly be published by Mr. George Redway in<br />
a volume entitled " To be Read at Dusk." There<br />
will be an edition for England, and another for<br />
America, and each will contain matter that the<br />
other will not.<br />
Mr. Aylmer Gowing's new book "Merely<br />
Players" is now ready. The publishers are<br />
F. V. White and Co.<br />
Messrs. Barnicott and Pearce, of Taunton, have<br />
issued "Memorials of Wells and Glastonbury,"<br />
in the shape of two cards, each with collotype<br />
views of the cathedral and the abbey respectively,<br />
with sonnets by the Rev. Prebendary Godfrey<br />
Thring, well known for his hymn "Fierce raged<br />
the tempest o'er the deep," and others, in the<br />
collection of Ancient and Modern Hymns. Those<br />
who know these monuments may note that the<br />
cards can be had for a shilling each.<br />
Mr. H. A. Salmonc, the professor of Arabic at<br />
King's College, London, has devised and is editing<br />
a unique souvenir of the Jubilee. This is the<br />
third verse of the National Anthem metrically<br />
rendered into fifty of the principal languages<br />
spoken throught the British Empire. Sir W. B.<br />
Richmond has done an emblematic design, and<br />
each page will have a decorative border. The<br />
Queen has accepted the dedication of the volume,<br />
which will be published by Mr. Nutt at Christ-<br />
mas.<br />
The long legal and political career of the late<br />
Sir John Simon, serjeant-at-law, formerly M.P.<br />
for Dewsbury, is to be treated in a memoir now<br />
being prepared by his son, Mr. Oswald John<br />
Simon.<br />
The biography of Lord Tennyson will be pub-<br />
lished on the 6th inst. It will contain poems and<br />
letters that have not yet been made public.<br />
Mr. R. H. Sherard is engaged on a biography<br />
of Herr Andree for Messrs. McClure.<br />
Under the title "Tourgueneff and his French<br />
Circle," Miss Ethel Arnold will shortly publish,<br />
through Mr. Unwin, a translation of various<br />
letters addressed to Flaubert, George Sand, Zola,<br />
Maupassant, Gambetta, and others. The volume<br />
is edited by Mme. E. Halperine-Kaminsky. The<br />
letters have been appearing in monthly instal-<br />
ments in Cosmopolis.<br />
The posthumous volume of stories by Mr.<br />
Hubert Crackanthorpe is to be published by Mr.<br />
Heinemann.<br />
"The Canon," by a Symbolist, is a work on<br />
ancient symbolism and mysticism which Mr.<br />
Mathews is to publish. It will have a preface by<br />
Mr. R. B. Cunningham Grahame.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 131 (#553) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
A volume of Pitt's letters to Wilberforce is to<br />
be published on Monday by Mr. Unwin. Lord<br />
Rosebery, who has seen them, describes the letters<br />
as "among the most interesting we possess of<br />
Pitt."<br />
Mr. Archibald Forbes's "Life of Napoleon<br />
III." will be published shortly by Messrs. Chatto<br />
and Windus.<br />
The memoirs of the late Archbishop of Canter-<br />
bury are to be published by Macmillan.<br />
Mr. J. Cuthbert Hadden has written a memoir<br />
entitled " George Thomson, the Friend of Burns:<br />
His Life and Correspondence." Thomson's cor-<br />
respondence, which was placed by his descen-<br />
dants in Mr. Hadden's hands, includes letters<br />
from Scott, Hogg, Bjron, Moore, Campbell, and<br />
Joanna Baillie.<br />
New material concerning Mary Queen of Scots<br />
is promised in a forthcoming biography by Mr.<br />
Hay Fleming, to be published by Messrs.<br />
Hodder and Stoughton. The work is founded<br />
upon documents recently discovered by Mr.<br />
Maitland Thomson, the head of the historical<br />
department in the Register House, Edinburgh.<br />
Mr. Clement K. Shorter's book on Victorian<br />
Literature will be published from Mr. Bowden's<br />
house this month.<br />
Mr. B. T. Batsford has in the press the follow-<br />
ing architectural and decorative works :—" The<br />
Influence of Materials on Architecture," by Mr.<br />
Banister F. Fletcher j "Examples of Old Furniture,<br />
English and Foreign," drawn by Mr. A. E.<br />
Chancellor; "Windows: A Book about Stained<br />
and Painted Glass," by Mr. Lewis F. Day; and<br />
"Alphabets Old and New," selected by Mr. Lewis<br />
F. Day.<br />
An illuminated alphabet, and "An Almanac<br />
of Twelve Sports for 1898," both by Mr. William<br />
Nicholson, are being brought out by Mr. Heine-<br />
mann.<br />
A new volume of poems, by the Rev. S. J.<br />
Stone, author of "The Knight of Intercession,"<br />
will shortly be published by Messrs. Longman.<br />
The chief poem of the volume will be in seven<br />
cantos. The volume will be called "Lays of<br />
Iona."<br />
A new story by Miss Eliza F. Pollard, entitled<br />
"A Gentleman of England," is to be published by<br />
Mr. Addison.<br />
Mr. F. Anstey has placed with Messrs. Dent<br />
for publication his new work, entitled "Baboo<br />
Jabberjee, B.A."<br />
Stevenson's last novel, "St. Ives," which Mr.<br />
Quiller Couch is completing, will be published<br />
soon by Mr. Heinemann.<br />
The Free Quakers and the American War of<br />
Independence share the interest of a tale by Dr.<br />
Weir Mitchell, which Mr. Unwin will publish in a<br />
few days.<br />
Messrs. Methuen announce " Traits and Confi-<br />
dences," by Miss Emily Lawless; "A Creel of<br />
Irish Tales," by Miss Barlow; "Josiah's Wife,"<br />
by Miss Lorimer; "A Passionate Pilgram," bv<br />
Mr. Percy White; "Lochinvar," by Mr. S. R.<br />
Crockett; and "Secretary to Bivne, M.P.," by<br />
Mr. Pett Ridge.<br />
"The Tormentor'' is the title of Mr. Benjamin<br />
Swift's new novel, which Mr. Unwin will publish.<br />
The title of Mark Twain's book has been<br />
altered to " Following the Equator."<br />
Two new stories by Mr. Henty —" With<br />
Frederick the Great" and "With Moore at<br />
Corunna "—will be published shortly by Messrs.<br />
Black.<br />
Mrs. Alice M. Dale has written a novel called<br />
"Marcus Warwick, Atheist," which Messrs.<br />
Kegan Paul will publish. It is in some measure<br />
a study of the criminal laws.<br />
Mrs. Pinsent is the author of "Job Hildred,"<br />
a novel to be published by Mr. Arnold.<br />
"By the Rise of the River" is the title which<br />
"Austin Clare" has given to a volume of<br />
Northumberland tales and sketches which Messrs.<br />
Chatto are to publish.<br />
Mme. Sarah Grand's novel is to be called<br />
"Beth Book," and will probably appear at the end<br />
of this month. The publisher is Mr. Heinemann,<br />
who also announces novels by Mr. H. G. Wells,<br />
Mr. Harold Frederic, Mr. Stephen Crane, Mr.<br />
Robert Hichens, and Dr. Max Nordan.<br />
Mr. Justin MacCarthy's volume of stories,<br />
"The Three Disgraces," is due on the 28th.<br />
Mr. Lacon Watson has depicted the life of a<br />
small coterie, settled in one of the Inns of Court,<br />
in his new volume which Mr. Elkin Mathews is<br />
about to publish, entitled " An Attic in Bohemia."<br />
Miss Violet Hunt's new story, *' Unkist, Un-<br />
kind," which has been running in Chapman is<br />
Magazine of Fiction, will to-day be published<br />
in a volume by Messrs. Chapman and Hall.<br />
From the Atlanta Constitution (Georgia) :—<br />
Instead of wasting whole columns for or against authors,<br />
the critics would do well to pattern by the example of a<br />
certain Georgia literary society of which an exohange says:<br />
"There was a lively meeting of the literary club last night,<br />
at which the secretary and treasurer engaged in a wrestling<br />
match to decide which was the best poet—Tennyson or<br />
Kipling? The secretary was for Tennyson, the treasurer<br />
for Kipling. The latter threw the secretary three times, and<br />
Kipling won out."<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 132 (#554) ############################################<br />
<br />
132 THE AUTHOR.<br />
CORRESPONDENCE.<br />
I.—The Return of MSS.<br />
WILL you allow mo to point, out in The<br />
Author a very real grievance to which<br />
even experienced writers are subject. I<br />
allude to the practice of accepting MSS. for con-<br />
sideration, by editors of reviews and magazines,<br />
and retaining them for many months, after which<br />
period they are returned to their owners as no<br />
longer available. Often such papers depend<br />
entirely for their value on being immediately<br />
taken up, and are quite valueless after the lapse<br />
of three or four months. I contend that an<br />
editor of a large periodical should either pay for<br />
the privilege of keeping MSS. by him in case he<br />
uses it, or should at once return it for use or con-<br />
sideration elsewhere.<br />
A very real hardship is inflicted on many who<br />
are unable to bear the loss of income by this<br />
very common delay in returning unaccepted work.<br />
So many journalists have seen their usual weekly<br />
contributions crowded out during the last few<br />
weeks to make room for "Jubilee" matter,<br />
whereby the paper has made a rich harvest to the<br />
loss of the everyday journalist, that I represent<br />
the opinion of many when I say—editors' drawers<br />
need prompter overhauling.<br />
. Hard Worker.<br />
II.—Criticism in Conflict.<br />
The amazing divergence of opinion expressed<br />
of late as to the literary value of certain works<br />
of fiction sets one pondering over what the true<br />
standard of excellence may be, and whether<br />
those who profess to assay with fidelity the pro-<br />
ducts from Brainland submitted to them for<br />
analysis are qualified for so responsible a trust.<br />
A daily journal which provides much service-<br />
able book "chat" for its readers, recently<br />
remarked ..." one is tempted to ask one-<br />
self ... of what possible use such con-<br />
flicting criticism can be in moulding, or at least<br />
guiding, the taste of the public in literature?"<br />
Of what use, indeed? many will feel disposed<br />
to echo. The uncomfortable fact is forced upon<br />
us that there must be something rotten in the<br />
state of Denmark when such wide clefts in critical<br />
unanimity are possible. How to unite these<br />
chasms with some more stable platform as foot-<br />
hold for the intelligent reading public is the<br />
poser now propounded. I imagine the solution<br />
thereof should be best left to the appraisers<br />
themselves. Meanwhile that body must not be<br />
surprised if the already somewhat impaired con-<br />
fidence in their judgments becomes even further<br />
oosened. Cecil Clarke.<br />
Authors' Club, S.W. 21st Aug.<br />
111.—" Dictionary of National Biography"<br />
Dinner.<br />
In the last issue of this paper, under the head<br />
"Personal," occurs an account of Mr. George<br />
Smith's dinner " to his friends and the contribu-<br />
tors to the 'Dictionary of National Biography.'"<br />
I am surprised to find Tlie Author, like all the<br />
other papers, repeating this extremely inaccu-<br />
rate statement. As a matter of fact, the dinner<br />
was given only to one, the larger, section of the<br />
contributors. The women, some fifteen to twenty<br />
in number, who have worked upon the dictionary,<br />
many of them since the early volumes, were<br />
excluded from the invitation. And this not-<br />
withstanding a printed communication (the first<br />
in the annals of the magnum opus in which we<br />
have not been addressed as Dear Sir) received<br />
shortly before, stating that publisher and editor<br />
wished, to take an early opportunity of per-<br />
sonally thanking the workers who had assisted<br />
in bringing the conclusion so near in sight.<br />
That we have not yet mastered the man's art<br />
of dining I willingly concede (although our<br />
Jubilee dinner might seem to disprove this ancient<br />
legend, and to show we have an art of our own);<br />
but that our work should be thus publicly ignored<br />
and discounted on the score of sex seems alto-<br />
gether anomalous in this year of Jubilee, when<br />
all the nations of the world have agreed that a<br />
woman's rule over one of the greatest has been<br />
of unexampled success.<br />
From the one or two contributors who meekly<br />
repaired on July 8 to a gallery at the Hotel<br />
Mctropole, I gathered that some allusion to the<br />
absent workers was made by one or two of the<br />
"guests who were not contributors," but I did<br />
not learn that anyone proposed the toast of<br />
"Contributors who were not G-uests."<br />
More illogical productions than the cards<br />
issued to us, in common with numerous female<br />
relations of the staff, a few days before the enter-<br />
tainment, I have seldom seen. Headed by the<br />
magic words, "Dinner to the contributors, &c,<br />
&c„" they went on to request those contributors<br />
to honour their host by gliding in afterwards to<br />
"listen to the speeches."<br />
No one, I think, can have worked for years at<br />
this laborious task without feeling the most<br />
intense pride and interest in all the other far<br />
more distinguished workers, and the disappoint-<br />
ment at not sharing in the general felicitations<br />
was proportionately bitter.<br />
Charlotte Fell Smith.<br />
Great Saling, Essex.<br />
IV.—An Inquiry.<br />
Can you or any of your readers refer me to any<br />
bDok containing practical directions as to the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 133 (#555) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
l33<br />
construction of plays, with a view to their pro-<br />
duction on the stage, a glossary of terms, a<br />
concise account of the technique of the play-<br />
wright and stage manager, &c.?<br />
I beg to take this opportunity to ask also:<br />
"Where is the best guide to correct punctuation?<br />
Last year reference was made in The Author to a<br />
work published for private circulation by some<br />
Oxford printer; and it was suggested that it<br />
might be a boon to many if the work could be<br />
obtained generally. Tyro.<br />
V.—An Unpaid Magazine Article.<br />
I wrote an article which appeared in the March<br />
number of a certain magazine. Two months<br />
afterwards I wrote to the editor to ask whether<br />
the publication of an article was, like virtue, its<br />
own reward. I was answered that it was not,<br />
and that the reward would come. Six months<br />
have now passed since the paper first appeared,<br />
and the reward has not arrived. Am I justified<br />
in writing again to demand it? Or ought I to<br />
sit down quietly and wait till I get it? M.<br />
OBITUARY.<br />
MR. SAMUEL LAING was a second<br />
Wrangler and second Smith's Prizeman<br />
in 1832, became a Fellow of St. John's,<br />
and was called to the Bar in 1837. He entered<br />
Parliament in 1852, after being for a time the<br />
private secretary to the President of the Board of<br />
Trade. In 1859 he became Financial Secretary to<br />
the Treasury, and as Finance Minister spent five<br />
years in India. On his return he resumed the<br />
chairmanship of the London, Brighton, and<br />
South Coast Railway Board. His career as an<br />
author dated from 1863, when he published<br />
"India and China"; then followed " Prehistoric<br />
Remains of Caithness" (1865): his best known<br />
work, "Modern Science and Thought" (1885);<br />
a novel called " A Modern Zoroastrian" (1887);<br />
"Problems of the Future" (1889) ; and " Human<br />
Origins" (1892). Mr. Laing died on Aug. 6,<br />
at the age of eighty-six.<br />
Bishop Bickersteth, of South Tokio, who died<br />
in England on the 5th Aug., at the age of forty-<br />
seven, was the author of "The Church in<br />
Japan," "The Anglican Union," and "A Basis<br />
of Christian Union."<br />
The late Sir George Osborne Morgan, Bart,<br />
M.P., was the author of several legal and political<br />
work*, and the translator of "Hexameters of the<br />
Eclogues of Virgil."<br />
Mr. Richard Holt Hutton, editor of the<br />
Spectator, died on the 9th ult., after a long<br />
and painful illness. He was born at Leeds<br />
seventy-one years ago. His father was a<br />
Unitarian minister; Hutton also qualified for<br />
this ministry, but never filled a pulpit regularly,<br />
and soon relinquished preaching. For a brief<br />
period he edited the Unitarian organ, the<br />
Inquirer, and he also held the Principalship<br />
of University Hall until his health demanded a<br />
trip to the West Indies. Then he edited the<br />
National Review, a short-lived but brilliant<br />
quarterly. From this publication his book of<br />
"Essays Theological and Literary" was reprinted.<br />
These two volumes are now included in Messrs.<br />
Macmillan's Eversley Series. His other pub-<br />
lished works are: "Modern Guides of Thought,"<br />
"Criticisms on Contemporary Thought," " Words-<br />
worth and his Genius," "Shelley's Poetical<br />
Mysticism," "Studies in Parliament," "Holiday<br />
Rambles" (jointly with his wife), "Scott"<br />
(English Men of Letters series), and a mono-<br />
graph, "Cardinal Newman." He also edited<br />
the works, of Bagehot. He was intellectu-<br />
ally influenced by F. D. Maurice, and at a<br />
later date was a strong admirer of Cardinal<br />
Newman. Mr. Gladstone called Richard Holt<br />
Hutton "the first critic of the nineteenth cen-<br />
tury." He "found" Mr. Swinburne, some of<br />
whose "Poems and Ballads" first appeared in the<br />
Spectator; and Arnold,Tennyson,and Mr. William<br />
Watson owed something to him as well. Mrs.<br />
Hutton (he was married twice) died two months<br />
ago.<br />
Mr. Colin Rie-Brown died on the nth ult.<br />
in his 76th year. His published works include<br />
"Glimpses of Scottish Life" and several volumes<br />
of verse. He founded London Burns Club,<br />
and was a friend of De Quincey.<br />
The late Rev. Edward Arthur Litton was<br />
Bampton Lecturer in 1866, the lectures being<br />
subsequently published under the title of<br />
"The Connection of the Church and the Old<br />
and New Testament." Among his other works<br />
was " Introduction to Dogmatic Theology on the<br />
Basis of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church<br />
of England."<br />
Miss Munro Ferguson, who died of influenza<br />
on the 13th ult., was a gifted lady, the author of<br />
several novels, and possessed a decided talent for<br />
verse-writing.<br />
The late Rev. Andrew Matthews, rector of<br />
Gumley, had written several works on natural<br />
history.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 134 (#556) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
LITERATURE INJTHE PERIODICALS.<br />
Mb. Robert Barr and His Public. Letters in Daily<br />
Chronicle for Aug. 24, 28, and 31.<br />
A Warning to Novelists. A Novel-Reader. New<br />
Review for September.<br />
Maeterlinck as a Mystic. Arthur Symons. Contem-<br />
porary Review for September.<br />
Are our School Histories Anolophobe? Goldwin<br />
Smith. North American Review for September.<br />
Wanted: A Philanthropist for Research. The<br />
Academy for Sept. 18.<br />
A New Criticism of Poetry. Contemporary Review<br />
for September.<br />
Novelist v. Reviewer. Cecil M. Allen. New Century<br />
Review for September.<br />
Sir Waltee Scott's Letter Bao. G. le Grys Norgate.<br />
Temple Bar for September.<br />
Gboroes Darien. Onida. Fortnightly Review for<br />
September.<br />
Mrs. Oliphant as a Novelist. Blackwood's Magazine<br />
for September.<br />
Longfellow with his Children. Alice Longfellow.<br />
Strand Magazine for September.<br />
Jean Inoelow. Helen C. Black. Englishwoman for<br />
September.<br />
When a story which has appeared in a maga-<br />
zine under one title, is published in a volume<br />
under another title, who is answerable to the<br />
public for the inconvenience that may result?<br />
A story of Mr. Robert Barr's, when sold for<br />
serial publication, was called "At War with<br />
His Workers," and ran its course under that<br />
title, but the editor wished to call the book<br />
"The Mutable Many." Mr. Barr gave his per-<br />
mission to the change, as he says, " I think an<br />
editor, who knows his public better than an<br />
author can know it, should be at liberty to make<br />
such amendments as he deems necessary in the<br />
serial he buys." But he suggested that the<br />
editor of Tit Bits (in which the story appeared)<br />
should refund 6s. to each of his readers who<br />
bought the novel under a misapprehension. Sir<br />
George Newnes immediately telegraphed a reply,<br />
in which he declined—with much good humour—<br />
Mr. Barr's proposal. Of course such an altera-<br />
tion has occurred before, witness Mr. Hardy's<br />
"Hearts Insurgent" being resolved into "Jude<br />
the Obscure."<br />
The text of much banter by "A Novel-<br />
Reader " appears to be that writers of fiction are<br />
pandering to public demand, and ciring for the<br />
ethic foundation rather than the aesthetic. The<br />
Victorian Era, according to this critic of novelists<br />
in the lump, is the Golden Age of Fiction, and<br />
there was a vague feeling abroad last June that<br />
10,000 British novelists were sharing the Queen's<br />
triumph. On the other hand, there are not more<br />
than six novelists ("miserable usurpers") who<br />
have never congratulated America on her love of<br />
arbitration, and never advised Crete to take up<br />
arms against half the world. This little minority<br />
kes no thought of the public; for them " vast<br />
circulation" has no charm. But the faithful<br />
10,000—to be one of them is to be great indeed,<br />
but it is difficult. One—the " successful novelist"<br />
—" must have a perfect mastery of that brisk<br />
market whereon is quoted 'the price per<br />
thousand,' and whose jargon suggests the opera-<br />
tions of the Wool Exchange. American copyright<br />
must keep no secrets from him, and the Colonies<br />
must be taught to yield him homage and profit.<br />
Above all, he must discover a trusty ' agent' who<br />
for a trifling percentage shall act the watchdog<br />
upon the shifty publisher, and shall be quick to<br />
squeeze the welcome fiver from the pirate journals<br />
of Australasia." Nor is this all. He is only on<br />
the threshold thus far; for he has next to learn<br />
how most accurately to "feel the public pulse,"<br />
and it is in the triumphant performance of<br />
this delicate duty that be best displays his<br />
genius. Still, it seems he is 10,000 to six.<br />
Only six pretenders, who follow art to a<br />
great extent for art's sake; only six who are<br />
determined to drag from the English tongue all<br />
the music with which it is harmonious; only six<br />
who leap for joy at the proper snap of a phrase;<br />
to whose vision, as they write, the world of<br />
common statistics closes its windows; who think<br />
no more of literal fact than their readers, but<br />
present that which they have found in tli9 manner<br />
best suited to their artistic conscience.<br />
The "artistic conscience" is badly wanted,<br />
according to Professor Goldwin Smith, in<br />
American histories. An examination into the<br />
histories in use has convinced him that their<br />
special fault is not that they stimulate hatred of<br />
Great Britain, but that they are deficient in<br />
literary art. This is in reply to charges of<br />
Anglophobism from various quarters. Professor<br />
Goldwin Smith does not, however, among the<br />
accusers whom he combats, mention the indict-<br />
ment against American school histories which<br />
appeared in Blackwood's Magazine a year or two<br />
ago. But he makes the following statement<br />
regarding the construction of the books:—<br />
A large, and what appears a disproportionate, space is given,<br />
perhaps even in the later histories, to the Revolutionary<br />
War, and the details of that war, some of whioh, of course,<br />
are exasperating, since the royal armies unquestionably<br />
committed excesses, are narrated with disagreeable minute-<br />
ness. But it is not necessary to ascribe this to deliberate<br />
malice. The Revolutionary War does, in fact, fill rather a<br />
large space in the comparatively brief annals of the<br />
United States. Its chief actors are the national<br />
heroes and the national types of patriotic virtue. Its<br />
inoidents, or those of the war of 1812, are about the only<br />
matter by whioh an nngif ted American writer can hope to<br />
enliven his work and appeal to the imagination of young<br />
readers. It is not in American school histories alone that<br />
a disproportionate space is occupied by the annals of war.<br />
Thirst of martial glory ia nowhere extinot, and nothing is<br />
so picturesque as a battle. It is not easy to present in a<br />
form interesting to a child a Beries of political events and<br />
characters, the issues between Jefferson and Hamilton, the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 135 (#557) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
i35<br />
struggles between Adams and Jackson, or even the political<br />
contest with slavery. Nor can an ordinary writer lend<br />
piotnresqnenesB to the progress of social improvement, of<br />
commerce, or of invention.<br />
A writer in the Academy appeals for more<br />
support being given by this country to Oriental<br />
studies. In England, he says, a few unpaid<br />
chairs at the Universities is all that has been<br />
done for advanced studies; whereas in France<br />
there are schools subsidised on the ground of<br />
public utility, at which a student can obtain the<br />
best instruction at a trifling expense; in Austria,<br />
Italy, and Q-ermany, the same work is in part<br />
done by the Imperial and Royal Academies;<br />
while in America similar institutions, founded by<br />
individual generosity, are springing up every<br />
year. As the Treasury will hardly allow the<br />
British Museum enough money to bind its books,<br />
it is useless, says the writer, to expect any help<br />
from Government. What is wanted is some<br />
means by which those versed in advanced studies<br />
can find a steady, if small, market for their wares,<br />
such as is provided in France by foundations like<br />
the Musue Guimet. The providing of these facili-<br />
ties would, the writer says, be " a way in which<br />
some philanthropic lover of learning might do<br />
much to take away England's reproach as the<br />
most unkind country in the world to scholars."<br />
At the present time no publisher will risk the<br />
expense of publishing the result of the student's<br />
researches, for they can never appeal to any but a<br />
few readers. The philanthropist is to provide a<br />
certain sum every year, to be given to the author<br />
of advanced works dealing with any branch of<br />
study that he may affect, a committee deciding on<br />
the merits of the works. .£500—say the interest<br />
on ,£20,000—would suffice for the production of<br />
one large or several smaller works every year, and<br />
yet give a handsome reward to the authors.<br />
Poetry has been used very ill by the critics,<br />
says a Contemporary Reviewer. It was always<br />
thus, indeed, but the modern methods are novel.<br />
If a writer uses a quaint epithet from Milton, he<br />
is accused of plagiarism; the actual text of a<br />
poem may be parodied, and so rendered ridiculous.<br />
Then there is the log-rolling art, "in the greatest<br />
request among the younger members of the poetic<br />
brotherhood "; and, deadliest method of modern<br />
critical ill-will, there is the conspiracy of silence,<br />
now greatly in use. The writer of the article<br />
supports the suggestion of Mr. Charles Leonard<br />
Moore—the author of a half-serious paper in an<br />
American review—that critics should adopt a<br />
scheme of assigning so many marks to the various<br />
kinds of excellence which make up a poetical<br />
whole. The result, at any rate, would be to make<br />
it more difficult for a critic who is really ignorant<br />
of the elements of his art to pose as an omniscient<br />
judge.<br />
THE BOOKS OP THE MONTH.<br />
[August 24 to Sept. 23.—201 Books.]<br />
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6/- Isbister.<br />
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6/- Unwin.<br />
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3 (i.<br />
8/-<br />
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Skcfflngton.<br />
Macmillan.<br />
Marshall<br />
Unwln.<br />
: filackwell.<br />
J. Bowden.<br />
Pearson.<br />
Bell.<br />
Richard<br />
Dent.<br />
Handbook of the German Army. 1/fl Eyre<br />
and Spottiswoode.<br />
Alcock, D. Doctor Adrian. 8 - Religious Tract Society.<br />
Amarga Naranja. The Settling of Bertie Merian. 6/- Bristol:<br />
Arrowsmith.<br />
Andrews, Frederic B. Yet. 5 - Unwln.<br />
Anderson, Msry. Tales of the Bock. 3/6. Downey.<br />
Anonymous (author of "Eric's Good News "). On the Edge of a<br />
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Anonymous (the author of " The Spirit of Love "). Daughters of the<br />
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Anonymous. Posterity: Its Verdicts and its Methods. Williams and<br />
Norgate.<br />
Anonymous (" A Member of the Aristocracy "). The Art of Con-<br />
versing. 2/6. Warne.<br />
Armstrong, Annie E. Mona St. Claire. 3/6. Warne.<br />
Ashmead-Uartlett, Sir E. The Battlefields of The ssaly. !>/- Murray.<br />
Aubrey, Frank. A Studio Mystery. 1/6. Jarrold.<br />
Bagot, A. G. Sport and Travel in India and Central America. 6 -<br />
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Baring-Gould, S. Bladys of the Stewponey. 6/-<br />
Baring-Gould, S. Perpetua: A Story of Nimes in A.D. 213.<br />
Barlow, George. The Daughters of Minerva. 2/6.<br />
Barr, Amelia £. Prisoners of Conscience. 6 -<br />
Bartram, George. The People of Clopton. 6/-<br />
Beale, A. Charlie Is My Darling.<br />
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Burgin, G. B. Fortune's Footfalls. 3,6.<br />
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Wagner. 25/- net.<br />
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Faiy, P. C. Ninety-eight: Being the Recollections of Cormac Caplr<br />
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<br />
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136<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Hall, Owen. Jetsam. 3/6.<br />
Hall. S. E. Sybil Fairleigh. 6 -<br />
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Hammertou, J. A. (ed.) The Actor's Art.<br />
Hannan, Charles, The Captive of Pekln.<br />
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Digby.<br />
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Reilway.<br />
Jarrold.<br />
Harcourt, A. F. P. On the Knees of the Gods. 12 - Bentley.<br />
Harnack, Adolf (tr. by J as. Miller). History of Dogma. Vol. III.<br />
10,6. Williams and Norgat«.<br />
Hart, Frank. When Passions Rule. 3/6. Digby.<br />
Harte, Bret. Three Partners 3/6. Chatto.<br />
Haslack, P. N. Cycle Building and Repairing. 1/- Cassell.<br />
Hastings, F. Sundays Bound the World. .V- Religious Tract Soc.<br />
Heekethorn, C. W. The Printers or Basle in the XV. and XVI.<br />
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Heekethorn, C. W. The Secret Societies of all Ages and Countries.<br />
81/6 net. Redway.<br />
Hedley, W. S. Practical Muscle Testing and the Treatment of<br />
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Henham, E. G. Menotah; a Tale of the Red Rebellion. «/-<br />
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HolliB Margery. Stapleton's Luck. 12/- Bentley.<br />
Holmes. E. Through another Man's Eyes. 3 6. Jarrold.<br />
Hood, E. P. The World of Anecdote. 3 R. Hodder and Stoughton.<br />
Hood, E. P. The World of Moral and Religiona Anecdote. 3/6.<br />
Hodder and Stoughton.<br />
Hope, Ascott B. Half-Text History. SI- Black<br />
Howard, Lady, of Glossop. Journal of a Tour in the United States,<br />
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Hume, Martin A. S. Sir Walter Raleigh. 5/- Unwin.<br />
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Jacobs, W. W. The Skipper's Wooing and the Brown Man's<br />
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Jocelyn, Mrs. B. Lady Mary's Experiences. 6/- White.<br />
Johnston, R. M. Old Times in Middle Georgia. 6/- Macmillan.<br />
Pool, J. J. The Life-Story 0' a Village Pastor (Robert Pool). 3/6,<br />
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<br />
<br />
## p. 136 (#559) ############################################<br />
<br />
AD VER TISEMENTS.<br />
Crown 8vo., Cloth Boards, Silver Lettering, Price 6s.<br />
A LADY OF WALES.<br />
"AStopy of the Siege of Chester, 1645."<br />
BY THE<br />
Rey. VINCENT J. LEATHERDALE, M.A.<br />
London: Horace Cox, Windsor House, Bream's -buildings, E.O.<br />
Demy 8vo., cloth boards, price 10s. 6d.<br />
IN NEW SOUTH AFRICA.<br />
Travels in the Transvaal and Rhodesia.<br />
With Hap and Twenty-sis Illustrations,<br />
By II. LINCOLN TANGYE.<br />
CONTENTS.<br />
Introductory.<br />
PART L<br />
Chapter L—The Land of Oold and the Way there.<br />
„ II.—Across Desert and Veldt.<br />
,, IH,—Johannesburg the Golden.<br />
„ IV.—A Transvaal Coach Journey.<br />
„ V.—Natal: the South African Garden.<br />
,, VI.—Ostracised In Africa. Home with the Swallows.<br />
PAET II.—BAMBLES IN EHODESIA.<br />
Chapter I.—Eendragt Maakt Magt.<br />
„ IL—Into the Country of Lobengula.<br />
„ III.—The Trail of War.<br />
,, IV.—Goldmining, Ancient and Modern.<br />
„ V.—Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.<br />
„ VL—To Northern MaBhonaland.<br />
„ VIL—Primitive Art The Misadventures of a Wagon.<br />
Index.<br />
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11 The balladB are full of the spirit and directness of style proper to<br />
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AN AUSTRALIAN<br />
IN CHINA:<br />
Being the Narrative of a Quiet Journey Acros<br />
China to British Burma.<br />
Bv G. E. MORRISON<br />
11 Mr. Morrison is an Australian doctor who has achieved probably<br />
the most remarkable journey through the Flowery Land ever<br />
attempted by a Christian. ... He was entirely unarmed and<br />
unaccompanied, save for the coolies who carried his baggage. Such<br />
a journey—three thousand miles in length—could not fall to present<br />
many curious customs and as many curious people. But it is owing<br />
entirely to Dr. Morrison's graphic manner of description, and his<br />
acutely keen observation, that his travels are such a reality to the<br />
reader. This portly volume is one of the most interesting books of<br />
travel of the many published this year. It is frank, original, and<br />
quite ungarnished by adventitious colouring."—St. James's Budget.<br />
"One of the most interesting books of travel we remember to have<br />
read."—European Mail.<br />
"A very lively book of travel. . . . His account of the walk<br />
of 1600 miles from Chungking to Burma, over the remotest districts<br />
of Western China, is full of interest."—The Time*.<br />
u Dr. Morrison writes crisply, sensibly, humorously, and with an<br />
engaging frankness. . . . There is not a pago he has written that<br />
is not worth the perusal of the student of China and the Chinese."—<br />
The Scotsman.<br />
"By far the most interesting and entertaining narrative of travel<br />
in the Flowery Land that has appeared for several years."—The<br />
World.<br />
London: Horace Cox, Windsor House, Bream'a-buildings, E.G.<br />
London : Horace Cox, Windsor House, BreamVbuildings, E.G.<br />
<br />
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Printed and Published by Horace Cox, Windsor Honse, Broam's-baildings, London, E.C. | https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/308/1897-10-01-The-Author-8-5.pdf | publications, The Author |
| 307 | https://historysoa.com/items/show/307 | The Author, Vol. 08 Issue 04 (September 1897) | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=%3Cem%3EThe+Author%3C%2Fem%3E%2C+Vol.+08+Issue+04+%28September+1897%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 08 Issue 04 (September 1897)</a> | | | <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049239455" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049239455</a> | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Publication">Publication</a> | 1897-09-01-The-Author-8-4 | | | | | 89–108 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=8">8</a> | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1897-09-01">1897-09-01</a> | | | | | | | 4 | | | 18970901 | XT be Hutbor*<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br />
CONDUCTED B7 WALTER BESANT.<br />
Vol. VIII.—No. 4.] SEPTEMBER 1, 1897. [Price Sixpence.<br />
CONT<br />
PAOl<br />
General Memoranda. 89<br />
From the Committee—//! /f« Whitcon.b 91<br />
Literary Property—<br />
1. On the New Law of Copyright 91<br />
J. The Localisation of Copyright 9»<br />
Solecisms a Hundred Years Ago 93<br />
New York Letter. By Norman Hapgood 91<br />
ENTS.<br />
PAOl<br />
Notes from Elsewhere. By B. H. Sherard 97<br />
Feuilleton.—The Story of a Broken Pen *W<br />
Book Advertising in 11*00 103<br />
Freedom of Criticism 104<br />
Book Talk J04<br />
Literature in the Periodicals 106<br />
The Books of the Month 108<br />
PUBLICATIONS OP THE SOCIETY.<br />
1. The Annual Report, That for January 1897 can be had on application to the Secretary.<br />
2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary<br />
Property. Issued to all Members, 6*. 6d. per annum. Back numbers are offered at the<br />
following prices: Vol. I., ios. 6d. (Bound); Vols. II., HI., and IV., 8s. 6d. each (Bound);<br />
Vol. V., 6s. 6d. (Unbound).<br />
3. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colleb, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher,<br />
95, Strand, W.C.) 3*.<br />
4. The History of the Societe des GeilS de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprioge, late Secretary to<br />
the Society, is.<br />
5. The Cost of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type,<br />
size of page, Ac., with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of<br />
books. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. as. 6d.<br />
6. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprigge. In this work, compiled from the<br />
papers in the Society's offices, the various forms of agreements proposed by Publishers to<br />
Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various<br />
kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements.<br />
Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 3s.<br />
7. Copyright Law Reform. An Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill now before Parlia.<br />
ment. With Extracts from the Eeport of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix<br />
containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely. Eyre<br />
and Spottiswoode. is. 6d.<br />
8. The Society Of Authors. A Record of its Action from its Foundation. By Walter Besant<br />
(Chairman of Committee, 1888—1892). is.<br />
9. The Contract of Publication in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland. By Ernst<br />
Lunge, J.U.D. 2s. 6d.<br />
<br />
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## p. 88 (#506) #############################################<br />
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11<br />
AD VER TISEMENTS.<br />
g>ocietp of Jlufljors (gncorporafeb).<br />
8ib Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E., C.S.I.<br />
J. M. Barbie.<br />
A. W. X Beckett.<br />
ROBEKT BATEMAN.<br />
F. E. Beddabd, F.R.S.<br />
Sib Henrt Bebone, K.C.M.G.<br />
Sib Walter Besant.<br />
Augustine Birrell, M.P.<br />
Bbv. Prop. Bonnet, F.B.S.<br />
Right Hon. James Bryce, M.P.<br />
Bight Hon. Lord Burghclebe, P.C<br />
Hall Caine.<br />
Egerton Castle, F.S.A.<br />
P. W. Clatden.<br />
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The Earl of Desart.<br />
PRESIDENT.<br />
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D. W. Freshfield.<br />
Bichabd Gabnett, C.B., LL.D.<br />
Edmund Gosse.<br />
H. Bideb Haggard.<br />
Thomas Habdt.<br />
Anthony Hope Hawkins.<br />
Jerome K. Jerome.<br />
Eudyabd Kipling.<br />
Pbof. E. Bay Lankesteb, F.E.S.<br />
W. E. H. Lecky, P.C.<br />
J. M. Lely.<br />
Mbs. E. Lynn Linton.<br />
Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A.<br />
Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mus.Doo.<br />
Pbof. J. M. D. Meiklejohn.<br />
Hebman C. Mebivalb.<br />
Hon. Counsel — E. M. Undebdown, Q.C.<br />
Eev. C. H. Middleton-Wakk.<br />
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w. bapti8te scoones.<br />
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COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT.<br />
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Sir W. Martin Conway.<br />
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'( G. Herbert Thring, B.A., 4, Portugal-street. Secretary—G. Herbert Thbing, BA. OFFICES: 4, Pobtuoal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C.<br />
A. W. X Beckett.<br />
Sir Walter Besant.<br />
Egerton Castle, F.S.A.<br />
W. Morris Colles.<br />
ART.<br />
Hon. John Collier (Chairman).<br />
Sir W. Martin Conway.<br />
M. H. Spielmann.<br />
Solicitors-<br />
Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mus.Doo.<br />
Henry Norman.<br />
Francis Storr.<br />
DRAMA.<br />
Henry Arthur Jones [Chairman]<br />
A. W. X Beckett.<br />
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IF. WATT &c SOIDsT,<br />
LITERARY AGENTS,<br />
Formerly of 2, PATERNOSTER SdUARE,<br />
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## p. 89 (#507) #############################################<br />
<br />
XT be Hutbor*<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br />
CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br />
Vol. Vin.—No. 4.]<br />
SEPTEMBER 1, 1897.<br />
[Price Sixpence.<br />
For the Opinion* expressed in papers that are<br />
signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br />
responsible. None of the papers or para-<br />
graphs must be taken as expressing the<br />
collective opinions of the Committee unless<br />
they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br />
Thring, Sec.<br />
THE Secretary of the Sooiety begs to give notioe that all<br />
remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br />
requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br />
important communications within two days will write to him<br />
without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br />
Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br />
letter only.<br />
Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br />
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jects whatever. Articles which cannot bo accepted are<br />
returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br />
GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br />
]J\OTH some years it has been the practice to insert, in<br />
j every number of The Author, certain " General Con-<br />
siderations," Warnings, Notices, to., for the guidance<br />
of the reader. It has been objected as regards those<br />
warnings that the tricks or frauds against which they are<br />
directed cannot all be guarded against, for obvious reasons.<br />
It is, however, well that they should be borne in mind, and<br />
if any publisher refuses a clause of precaution he simply<br />
reveals his true character, and should be left to carry on<br />
his business in his own way.<br />
Let us, however, draw up a few of the rules to bo<br />
observed in an agreement. There are three methods of<br />
dealing with literary property:—<br />
I. That of selling it outright.<br />
This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br />
price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br />
managed by a competent agent.<br />
II. A profit-sharing agreement.<br />
In this case the following rules should be attended to:<br />
(1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br />
duction forms a part.<br />
(2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br />
profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
in his own organs: or by oharging exohange advertise-<br />
ments.<br />
(3.) Not to allow a special oharge 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 Berial or translation rights.<br />
(6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher.<br />
As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br />
doctor!<br />
(7.) To stamp the agreement.<br />
III. The royalty system.<br />
In this system, which has oponed the door to a most<br />
amazing amount of overreaching and trading on the<br />
author's ignorance, it is above all things necessary to know<br />
what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now<br />
possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very<br />
nearly the truth. From time to time the very important<br />
figures connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br />
Readers can also work out the figures themselves from tho<br />
"Cost of Production." Let no one, not evon the youngest<br />
writer, sign a royalty agreement without finding out what<br />
it gives the publisher as well as himself.<br />
It has been objected that those precautions presuppose a<br />
great succoss for the book, and that very few books indeed<br />
attain to this great success. That is quite true: but there is<br />
always this uncertainty of literary property that, although<br />
the works of a great many authors carry with them no risk<br />
at all, and although of a great many it is known within a few<br />
copies what will be their minimum circulation, it is not<br />
known what will be their maximum. Therefore every<br />
author, for every book, should arrange on the ohance of a<br />
success which will not, probably, come at all; but which<br />
may come.<br />
The four points which the Society has always domanded<br />
from the outset are:—<br />
(1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement<br />
means.<br />
(2.) The inspection of tho3e account books which belong<br />
to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the<br />
nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or<br />
withheld.<br />
(3.) That there Bhall be no secret profits.<br />
(4.) That nothing Bhall be charged which has not been<br />
actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for<br />
advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none tor<br />
exchanged advertisements and that all discounts shall be<br />
duly entered.<br />
If those points are carefully looked after, the author may<br />
rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the<br />
same time he will do well to Bend his agreement to the<br />
secretary before he signs it.<br />
i 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 90 (#508) #############################################<br />
<br />
go<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br />
I. IjTVERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br />
Fj advioe upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br />
lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br />
business or the administration of his property. If the advioe<br />
sought is snch as can be given best by a solicitor, the member<br />
has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the<br />
case is suoh that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com-<br />
mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this<br />
without any cost to the member.<br />
2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br />
and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the<br />
experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br />
to use tho Socioty first—our solicitors are continually<br />
engaged upon such questions for us.<br />
3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past<br />
accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in<br />
order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree-<br />
ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively<br />
so far. The Seoretary will always be glad to have any<br />
agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor-<br />
mation thus obtained may prove invaluable.<br />
4. If the examination of your previous business trans-<br />
actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should<br />
take advice as to a change of publishers.<br />
5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br />
posed document to the Society for examination.<br />
6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in<br />
the case of fraudulent nouses—the tricks of every publish-<br />
ing firm in the country.<br />
7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society yon<br />
are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are<br />
reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing<br />
the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen-<br />
dence of the writer.<br />
8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of everything<br />
important to literature that you may hear or meet with.<br />
9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of<br />
members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br />
safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br />
fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who<br />
will keep tho key of tho safe. Tho Sooiety now offers:—(1)<br />
To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To<br />
stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon<br />
them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments<br />
due according to agreements.<br />
THE AUTHORS' SYNDICATE.<br />
MEMBERS are informed:<br />
I. That the Authors' Syndicate takes charge of<br />
the business of members of the Society. That it<br />
submits MSS. to publishers and editors, concludes agree-<br />
ments, examines, passes, and collects accounts, and, gene-<br />
rally, relieves members of the trouble of managing business<br />
details.<br />
2. That the terms upon which its services can be secured<br />
will be forwarded upon detailed application.<br />
3. That the Authors' Syndicate works only for those<br />
members of the Society whose work possesses a market<br />
value.<br />
4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiations<br />
whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia-<br />
tions are placed exclusively in its hands, and that all<br />
communications relating thereto are referred to it.<br />
5. That clients can only be seen by the Director by<br />
appointment, and that, when possible, at least two days'<br />
notice should be given.<br />
6. That every attempt is made to deal with all communi-<br />
cations promptly. That stamps should, in alt coses, be sont<br />
to defray postage.<br />
7. That the Authors' Syndicate does not invite MSS.<br />
without previous correspondence; does not hold itself<br />
responsible for MSS. forwarded without notice; and that<br />
in all cases MSS. must be accompanied by stamps to defray<br />
postage.<br />
8. That the Syndicate undertakes arrangements for<br />
lectures by some of the leading members of the Socioty;<br />
that it has a "Transfer Department" for the sale and<br />
purchase of journals and periodicals; and that a " Register<br />
of Wants and Wanted" is open. Members aro invited to<br />
communicate their requirements to the Manager.<br />
There is an Honorary Advisory Committee, whoso services<br />
will be called upon in any ooso of dispute or difficulty. It<br />
is perhaps necessary to state that the members of the<br />
Advisory Committee have no peouniary interest whatever in<br />
the Syndicate.<br />
NOTICES.<br />
THE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of tho<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 />
The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and<br />
communications on all subjects connected with literature<br />
from members and others. Nothing can do more good to<br />
the Society than to make The Author complete, attractive,<br />
and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this<br />
work send thoir names and the special subjects on which<br />
they are willing to write P<br />
Communications for The Author should reach the Editor<br />
not later than the 21st of each month.<br />
All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether<br />
members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate<br />
to the Editor any points connected with their work which<br />
it would be advisable in the general interest to publish.<br />
Members and others who wish their MSS. read are<br />
requested not to send them to the Office without previously<br />
communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable<br />
despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in<br />
which they are received. It must also be distinctly under-<br />
stood that the Sooiety does not, under any circumstances,<br />
undertake the publication of MSS.<br />
The Authors' Club is now open in its new premises, at<br />
3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary<br />
for information, rules of admission, &c.<br />
Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they<br />
have paid their subscriptions for the year? If they will do<br />
this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's<br />
order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the<br />
trouble of sending out a reminder.<br />
Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the<br />
following warning. It is a most foolish and may bo a<br />
most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding<br />
for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they<br />
would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five<br />
years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 91 (#509) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
9i<br />
or dishonest? Of conrse they would not. Why then<br />
hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them-<br />
selves into literary bondage for three or fire years?<br />
Those who possess the "Cost of Production" are<br />
requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15<br />
per oent. This means, for those who do not like the trouble<br />
of "doing sums," the addition of three shillings in the<br />
pound on this head. In other words, if the cost of binding<br />
is set down in our book at eight pounds, to this must now be<br />
added twenty-four shillings more, so that it now stands<br />
at Jig 4s. The figures in our book are as near the exact<br />
truth as can be procured; but a printer's, or a binder's,<br />
bill is so elastic a thing that nothing more exact can be<br />
arrived at.<br />
Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged<br />
in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of course, we<br />
have not included any sums which may be charged for<br />
inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines,<br />
or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too<br />
often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from<br />
sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket,<br />
by inserting any number of advertisements in his own<br />
magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are<br />
who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those<br />
who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it.<br />
FROM THE COMMITTEE.<br />
HIGH COURT OP JUSTICE.—QUEEN'S<br />
BENCH DIVISION.<br />
(Sittings in Bankruptcy, before Mr. Registrar<br />
Hope.)<br />
In Be Whitcomb.<br />
THIS was an adjourned sitting for public<br />
examination under a receiving order made<br />
against H. and B. W. Whitcomb,described<br />
as of 12, Burleigh-street, Strand. The examina-<br />
tion of the debtor, H. Whitcomb, was ordered to<br />
be concluded on June 30 last, and the other<br />
debtor now attended. His accounts showed<br />
liabilities <£i 169, with assets ,£1034.<br />
Mr. C. A. Pope attended as assistant official<br />
receiver, and Mr. Mellor appeared for creditors.<br />
In the course of his evidence, B. W. Whitcomb<br />
s:ui<mI that he was an actor, and had followed<br />
that profession for eight or nine years, his income<br />
from that source averaging about £300 a year. In<br />
Sept. 1896, he started a journal known as the New<br />
Saturday,Andput about*£20ointo the undertaking.<br />
He had no knowledge of journalism, and it was<br />
arranged that his brother (the debtor, H. Whit-<br />
tomb) should act as manager of the paper. He<br />
skirted the journal because he thought it would<br />
prove a successful speculation. His brother, who<br />
had experience in journalistic work, was an un-<br />
discharged bankrupt at the time.<br />
The Assistant Official Receiver.—Was not the<br />
object of your becoming the registered proprietor<br />
merely to cover your brother and enable him to<br />
carry on the newspaper, in spite of the fact that<br />
he was an undischarged bankrupt P<br />
The debtor emphatically denied that this was<br />
the case, and said that the idea was to form a<br />
syndicate to carry on the business, but the syndi-<br />
cate never got beyond a suggestion. The paper<br />
was a loss throughout, and he was responsible for<br />
all the debts incurred.<br />
Mr. Mellor also briefly questioned the debtor,<br />
and the examination was ordered to be concluded.<br />
—The Times, Aug. 17.<br />
LITERARY PROPERTY.<br />
L—On the New Law op Copyright.<br />
THE Incorporated Society of Authors and the<br />
Incorporated Institute of Journalists are<br />
doing their best to press forward a long-<br />
needed amendment of the Law of Copyright. As<br />
things are, successful writers, dramatists, lecturers,<br />
and even preachers, are at the mercy of the un-<br />
scrupulous class of persons who find it much easier<br />
to steal other people's ideas than to create ideas of<br />
their own. Of course there is a copyright law in<br />
existence, but its imperfections are only fully<br />
known to those who have had occasion to seek its<br />
protection. By some strange perversity of judg-<br />
ment, it has long appeared to otherwise honest<br />
and honourable men that a broad distinction may<br />
properly be drawn between property in the pro-<br />
duction of a man's brains and property in the<br />
production of a man's hands. If a carpenter<br />
lawfully acquires a few slips of wood and makes<br />
them into a chair or a table, that chair or table<br />
is his own, and the individual who attempts to<br />
dispose of it, without first satisfying the maker,<br />
runs a good chance of spending a few weeks in<br />
close confinement. Even if the thief takes the<br />
precaution of taking the chair or table to pieces,<br />
and selling the pieces of wood separately, he is<br />
still held responsible for an act of dishonesty.<br />
Or, in another case, if the carpenter or ironworker<br />
or other artificer produces quite a new design in<br />
his work, and has the design properly registered,<br />
then he can prevent by law a less ingenious com-<br />
petitor from palpably copying that design and<br />
passing the work off as his own. But mark how<br />
the law deals with a brain-production in the<br />
shape of a book, or a play, or a lecture, or a<br />
sermon. Perhaps sermons are pilfered least; but<br />
this, in turn, may be because they are, as a<br />
rule, least worth pilfering. The principle holds<br />
good all the same, and those who are moving<br />
in the matter wish to protect brain-workers<br />
of all grades, just as hand-workers are already<br />
protected. Their principle is that what a man<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 92 (#510) #############################################<br />
<br />
92<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
produces by the exercise of thought, invention,<br />
and cultivated mental effort is as much his own<br />
property as the coster's donkey-cart belongs to<br />
the coster, and cannot be "appropriated" by the<br />
first person who sees his way to make money by<br />
the elementary process of taking something that<br />
does not belong to him. As a rule it is the<br />
novelist and the dramatist who get their brains<br />
"picked " most persistently. Mr. Brain Stoker,<br />
who gave evidence before the Lords' Committee,<br />
put the matter very clearly. The successful<br />
novel is forthwith pounced down on by the light-<br />
fingered dramatist; and the successful dramatist<br />
is the immediate victim of the cadging novelist.<br />
In other words, the man who has no ideas walks<br />
about like a hungry jackal, ready to devour,<br />
without leave and without reward, the ideas of<br />
the man more favoured in that respect than<br />
himself. Of course, in spite of the doubtful<br />
dictum that a good novel usually makes a bad<br />
play, there will always be a natural, and perhaps<br />
laudable, desire to see the characters of a favourite<br />
story personified on the stage. There is no harm<br />
in that; indeed, quite the contrary. But surely<br />
the man who wrote the story and created all that<br />
is worth appropriating from it ought to be pre-<br />
sumed to have such legal property in his own<br />
production as would prevent its appropriation<br />
by anyone without his consent, and without<br />
affording him any recompense. So with the<br />
dramatist; if after a long expenditure of<br />
thought he produces a play which "means<br />
money," why should the hack story-writer<br />
steal, from a back seat in the gallery, all<br />
the ideas, the situations, and the general<br />
effect that mean so much to the dramatist?<br />
Or, to take the lecturer, why, because he reads or<br />
recites his "book," should he be less protected<br />
than if he issued it in printed form? What a<br />
man writes, so far as it is his own, ought to be<br />
protected as his own; and it should be legally his<br />
"property" as against all comers who decline to<br />
pay the owner's price for it. To the question, Is<br />
there not already a Copyright Act? the short<br />
answer is that it fails in nine cases out of ten<br />
through technical defects, or through its limited<br />
application, or, perhaps most of all, through the<br />
expense and difficulty of putting it into operation.<br />
If a thief steals a pennyworth of tintacks he may<br />
be treated with "summary diligence," and the<br />
owner's rights be vindicated. If he "appro-<br />
j>riates " the year's labour of a man's brain he<br />
may go on his way rejoicing, for the chances are<br />
the law will be too slow, too clumsy, and too<br />
costly to overtake him. It is high time this state<br />
of things should be altered.—Birmingham Daily<br />
News, July io.<br />
II.—Localisation of Copyright.<br />
At a meeting of the Council of the Publishers'<br />
Association held on Aug. 6, it was resolved that<br />
the following recommendation should be circulated<br />
among the members:—<br />
The subject of the localisation of copyright, as<br />
illustrated by special American, Colonial, and<br />
Continental editions of English publications,<br />
having engaged the attention of the second Inter-<br />
national Publishers' Congress, held at Brussels in<br />
June, 1897, that body passed the following reso-<br />
lution: "La cession d'cditions localisces k certains<br />
pays implique pour le cessionaire l'obligation<br />
d'indiquer sur ces editions spcciales autorisces les<br />
pays auxquels la vente en est liinitee."<br />
The importance of the American market to Eng-<br />
lish publishers is so great that it seems specially<br />
desirable to secure the adherence of American<br />
publishers to this resolution. With that object<br />
it is recommended that authors and publishers<br />
(following the precedent of Continental and<br />
Colonial editions) should, in all agreements made<br />
with American publishers, stipulate that a noti-<br />
fication limiting the American issue to the United<br />
States be insisted on, while at the same time the<br />
British edition should bear a notice excluding it<br />
from circulation in the United States.— The Pub-<br />
lishers' Circular.<br />
<br />
SOLECISMS A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.<br />
u Tip j8 weu known that the ancient Greeks and<br />
I Romans took infinite pains to improve their<br />
respective languages. We have many re-<br />
markable instances of their labours to this effect<br />
in the writings of Dionysius of Halicarnassus,<br />
the author who passes under the name of<br />
Demetrius Phalereus, Cicero, Quinctilian, Aulus<br />
Gellius, and others. The English reader will<br />
be surprised to see with what exactness they<br />
measured their periods, analysed their phrases,<br />
arranged their words, determined the length of<br />
their syllables, and avoided all harsh and ele-<br />
mentary sounds, in order to give grace and<br />
harmony to their compositions. To this refine-<br />
ment we may, in a great measure, ascribe that<br />
inexpressible charm which every man of taste<br />
and learning discovers in some of the classics,<br />
and which is not to be found in the generality of<br />
modern compositions.<br />
Such an attention to propriety and elegance<br />
of style is of the greatest importance, as no pro-<br />
duction can be read with pleasure, or transmitted<br />
to posterity with applause, if it is defective in<br />
this respect. It should likewise be considered,<br />
that the literary character of a nation will always<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 93 (#511) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
93<br />
depend on the accuracy and elegance of its publi-<br />
cations.<br />
Since the" beginning of the present century the<br />
English language has been much improved and<br />
refined. Several able writers have examined its<br />
principles, and pointed out its beauties and<br />
defects, with a critical and philosophical investi-<br />
gation.<br />
I must, however, observe that many enormous<br />
solecisms still appear in almost all the produc-<br />
tions of our English writers, such as,<br />
You was. This expression sometimes occurs<br />
in books, is often heard in conversation, and<br />
frequently echoes through the caverns of West-<br />
minster Hall. The nominative case is the second<br />
person plural, and the verb to which it is united<br />
is the first or the third person singular.<br />
More or most universal. 'Its success was not<br />
more universal' (Gibbon, vol. II., p. 357).<br />
'Money is the most universal incitement of<br />
human industry' (lb., vol. I., p. 356; vol. III.,<br />
p. 66, <fec.). 'Company more universally accept-<br />
able' (Zeluco, vol. I., p. 398). 'That which<br />
pleases most universally is religion' (' Blair's<br />
Sermons,' vol. II., p. 168). What is universal<br />
cannot admit of augmentation.<br />
Of all others. 'The profession, of all others,<br />
for which he was the fittest' (Zeluco, vol. I.,<br />
pp. 75, 118). 'The most precious of all others'<br />
(Anachar, vol. III., p. 288). 'It is that species<br />
of goodness with which, of all ot/iers, we are best<br />
acquainted' ('Blair's Sermons,' vol. II., p. 129).<br />
'To collect a dictionary seems a work, of all<br />
others, least practicable in a state of blindness'<br />
(Johnson's 'Life of Milton,' p. 169). This ex-<br />
pression resembles the following absurdity in<br />
Milton:<br />
Adam, the goodliest man of men since born<br />
His sons; the fairest of her daughters Eve.<br />
B. IV., 322.<br />
I would not attempt to vindicate Milton, as<br />
some have done, by pleading that this is a figure<br />
of speech or a 'poetic licence.' I would rather<br />
say, with Horace, it is one of the<br />
Macula;, qnas ant incnria fndit,<br />
Ant humana parum cavit natnra.<br />
Ax. P. 552-<br />
No apology, however, can be made for the fore-<br />
going expression in prose.<br />
Either side. 'Either sex and every age was<br />
engaged in the pursuits of industry' (Gibbon,<br />
vol. I., 452). 'He retired with a multitude of<br />
captives of either sex' (lb., vol. IV., 281).<br />
'Pilled with a great number of persons of<br />
either sex' (lb., vol. II., 324; alibi passim).<br />
'In that violent conflict of parties, he (Edmund<br />
Smith) had a prologue and epilogue from the<br />
first wits on either side* (Johnson's 'Lives,'<br />
vol. II., p. 248).<br />
Either signifies only the one or the other; and<br />
is improperly used instead of each in the<br />
singular number, or both in the plural.<br />
We meet with innumerable writers who talk of<br />
looking into the tcomb of Time. But this expression<br />
suggests a gross and indelicate idea, and is in<br />
itself absurd; for Time, according to the mytho-<br />
logists, is an old fellow, the Chronos or Saturn<br />
of the ancients, and consequently has no womb.<br />
All personifications ought to be consistent.<br />
An accusative or objective case after a passive<br />
participle.<br />
'He (Thompson) was taught the common rudiments of<br />
learning' (Johnson's 'Lives,' vol. IV., p. 252). 'He<br />
(Watts) was taught Latin by Mr. Pinhorae ' (lb., p. 278).<br />
'He (Milton) was offered the continuance of his employ,<br />
ment' (lb., vol. I., p. 183). 'Thus I have been told the<br />
story' (Telem. vol. I., p. 92, edit 1795).<br />
It would be better to say: he was instructed in<br />
the rudiments of learning; he learned Latin under<br />
the tuition of Mr. Pinhorne; the King, or the<br />
Ministry, offered to continue him in his former<br />
employment; thus I have heard the story, or thus<br />
I have been informed. The author of these<br />
remarks has observed, with regret, the last of<br />
these expressions in a translation, which he wished<br />
to give the public in an unexceptionable style.<br />
But he has been long convinced that no work was<br />
ever published without some inadvertencies of the<br />
author and the printer.<br />
'Two highwaymen were hung this morning.'<br />
This is a common vulgarism. We should rather<br />
say: 'two highwaymen were hanged.' This<br />
verb should be used in the regular form when it<br />
signifies to execute, and in the irregular when it<br />
denotes only suspension; as, 'he was hanged,<br />
and afterwards hung in chains.'<br />
The eldest of the two. 'Her eldest son, Esau'<br />
(Genesis xxvii., 15). When only two things are<br />
mentioned, there cannot be what grammarians<br />
sometimes call the third degree of comparison.<br />
In this case we should say, the younger, the elder,<br />
the wiser, the better.<br />
The conjunction nor is frequently used after an<br />
affirmative sentence very improperly in this<br />
manner:<br />
'It was impossible that a soldier could esteem so dissolnte<br />
a sovereign, nor is it easy to conceal a just contempt'<br />
(' Gibbon,' vol. II., 5). 'Modern Europe has produced<br />
several illustrious women, who have sustained with glory<br />
the weight of empire; nor is our own age destitute of such<br />
distinguished characters' (lb. 32).<br />
It would, I think, be much better to begin the<br />
latter part of these sentences without this con-<br />
junction, which only seems to form a connection,<br />
but in reality has no corresponding negative.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 94 (#512) #############################################<br />
<br />
94<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
The simple independent word 'not' would be<br />
preferable.<br />
The impropriety, I believe, has never yet been<br />
observed; and some, perhaps, may think the<br />
foregoing expressions unexceptionable. I shall<br />
not dispute with critics who are so easily satis-<br />
fied."—" Eubebiub," in the Gentleman's Maga-<br />
zine, for July 1797.<br />
NEW YORE LETTER.<br />
New York, July 18.<br />
THE recent announcement in England, that a<br />
magazine is to be started in England to<br />
comment on books and literary matters<br />
"in the American manner," would be more inte-<br />
resting with more explanation. If it means, as it<br />
probably does, in a light, bright, and somewhat<br />
callow manner, with what we call "freshness," it<br />
begins at a time when that tone is less in demand<br />
here than it was a short time ago. We have had<br />
so much " cleverness " of a certain kind that the<br />
public is sick of it. "Chap-Booky" used to be<br />
the adjective for this quality. Herbert Stone,<br />
editor of the Chap-Book, was in New York the<br />
other day, and I asked him if he had any ideal<br />
for the periodical. "Yes," he said, "a bi-weekly<br />
Atlantic Monthly. At first the ideal was the<br />
Saturday Review, but we have now given that up."<br />
Smartness simply did not pay any more than the<br />
other idea, yellowness—which he also imported<br />
from England—did, and he has also abandoned<br />
that. "Your book business and your paper will<br />
never pay," said a watchful critic to him, " until<br />
you make people take them seriously. They were<br />
amused by your experiment for awhile, but that<br />
sort of interest doesn't last." Stone is now trying<br />
to get as solid a line of books as he can, and also<br />
to get short essays and stories for the Chap-Booh,<br />
which shall carry by their solid worth.<br />
The essay of from 1000 to 2000 words on<br />
literary subjects or general topics of the day is<br />
especially called for just now. The Atlantic<br />
Monthly, which is as good as it has ever been<br />
now that Walter H. Page has charge of it, and is<br />
much the best periodical we have, wishes to get<br />
so many of these little essays that it can ru u two<br />
departments of them every month. The same<br />
sort of thing is wanted in books by all the<br />
leading publishers, except the Harpers, who<br />
confine their interests, as in fiction and essays<br />
and literature generally, to a few men of an estab-<br />
lished market.<br />
A tendency that is visible in current American<br />
criticism, especially in newspapers, is to substitute<br />
exposition for judgment; to tell just what is in<br />
a book, and quote the best things in it, saying<br />
comparatively little by way of comment. This is<br />
called " getting the news out of books," and the<br />
ethics of it and its effect on the sale have been<br />
fully discussed in The Author.<br />
Nothing pays like "news" of whatever kind.<br />
The marked success of the Bookman is largely<br />
due to the unusual amount of news in it. "I<br />
have always thought I ought to have been a<br />
newspaper man," said Professor Peck, the editor,<br />
the other day.<br />
Frank A. Munsey is going to show the essence<br />
of cheap American literary methods in their most<br />
interesting form to the English public by esta-<br />
blishing his magazine in London. If he lives up<br />
to his reputation, he will make the Strand and.<br />
the Pall Mall "bustle" before he has been<br />
there long, and also any other periodicals in his<br />
field which England may boast. The McClure-<br />
Doubleday Company is going into cheap editions<br />
of good works in the fall, heavily, relying on<br />
large sales, taking classics on which the copy*<br />
right has expired, and publishing them in pretty<br />
little sets in boxes at 25 cents, a volume. The<br />
public, at least, is the gainer.<br />
All writers will naturally be interested in the<br />
new edition of "Authors and Publishers," by<br />
G. H. and J. B. Putnam, especially as there is<br />
matter in it which was not in the earlier editions.<br />
George Haven Putnam is decidedly entertaining<br />
in his introduction, and he puts in many true<br />
observations,'_which are mixed, however, with some<br />
unconvincing ones. It is an old storv that a man<br />
ought not to write unless he is "called to," and<br />
Mr. Putnam retells it. But it is not a very pro-<br />
found observation. It is an axiom to any observer<br />
that a man often does best in something in which<br />
he is not most interested, and writing is not an<br />
exception to the ordinary laws of human nature.<br />
"Go to, let us make a book," has led to many of<br />
the best books we have, and the worst books are,<br />
in large part, those which the author was "com-<br />
pelled by something inside him" to write. Again<br />
in the cbapteron " publishing arrangements," Mr.<br />
Putnam makes some implications which might be<br />
staggered by cross-examination. For instance, he<br />
says "royalty is paid either on all the copies<br />
sold, or on all copies sold after enough have<br />
been sold to return the first manufacturing out-<br />
lays and to insure for the undertaking a profit<br />
instead of a deficiency. The theory of such a<br />
reservation is that the author and the publisher<br />
should begin to make money out of the book at<br />
the same time." A little later he puts in a<br />
parenthesis the argument that the suggestion<br />
comes from the author, so the publisher should<br />
not be asked to take any more risk than is neces-<br />
sary. And that point is worth dissecting. Mr.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 95 (#513) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
95<br />
Putnam probably would not deny that, leaving<br />
out authors who have reputations which make it<br />
possible for them to make good terms at any<br />
time, it is the general custom, in New York at<br />
least, for the publisher to pay no royalty on a<br />
thousand copies of a book if it has been offered<br />
to him, where he would pay from the beginning<br />
if he had heard of the existence of the book and<br />
asked for it; this even where he is sure the book<br />
will pay. In other words, he simply takes<br />
advantage of the author's desire to publish to<br />
pay him less than he could afford to pay him.<br />
Mr. Putnam calls the complaints of literary men<br />
about publishers "the baby act." One may admit<br />
it is a pure business deal, and yet think it only<br />
fair to get all the facts into the mind of writers,<br />
as they meet the publisher at a disadvantage as<br />
it is, as shown by the fact that a writer whose<br />
personal acquaintance with publishers helps him<br />
to "know the ropes" is sure to make a better<br />
bargain than one of equal standing who has not<br />
the information necessary to enable him to make<br />
a decent contract. Of course few authors in<br />
comparison to the whole number can get at<br />
the proper "counsellor" to whom Mr. Putnam<br />
refers.<br />
It is perhaps scarcely necessary to add that<br />
these differences of opinion ought not to turn the<br />
attention of any reader of this letter from the fact<br />
that no author, publisher, or general reader, who<br />
cares for the subject, can fail to find this book one<br />
of the most instructive and interesting accessible,<br />
and the attractive make-up adds another merit<br />
to it. I would add one to the list of methods of<br />
advertising mentioned. It appeared recently in<br />
the advertising columns of the Dial:—<br />
A NEW BOOK SENT FBEE.<br />
A new book of verse, issued by a well-known publishing<br />
house at one dollar, will be sent free to any address upon<br />
receipt of a postal-card request. If you wish to keep the<br />
book, sixty cents in stamps or money-order will make it<br />
yours. If yon do not wish to keep it, return by mail, and the<br />
postage (four cents) is the price you will have paid for the<br />
privilege of reading a new book. Address P. A. L., Box 84,<br />
Evanston, 111.<br />
Last fall the Century Company advertised John<br />
La Farge's "An Artist's Letters from Japan"<br />
for publication in the winter. It did not come<br />
out, and now they promise it again. There are<br />
pieces of prose in it as good as (and I have almost<br />
the boldness to say better than) any other<br />
American writer of the day could produce, and<br />
the sketches by the author, in at least two<br />
respects our strongest artist, add greatly to the<br />
charm. Mr. La Farge is a poet, and Japan brought<br />
out the best there is in him.<br />
Probably the tariff question will be settled this<br />
week. The chances seem to be that the pro-<br />
VOL. â–¼III.<br />
visions about the importation of books will be<br />
about what they were under the McKinley law.<br />
The Dingley Bill, as originally intended, put a<br />
tax on books, whether they imported for sale, or<br />
for exhibition or instruction, and the exemptions<br />
on behalf of educational institutions amounted<br />
to nothing. The outcry from the public and the<br />
Press had its effect when the Bill got to the<br />
Senate Committee, for books imported for<br />
scientific and educational purposes were restored<br />
to the free list, and the whole thing left about as<br />
it is under the present Wilson law. Later, how-<br />
ever, the Senate, by amendments, put it back to<br />
the McKinley law, which means that literary<br />
productions more than twenty years old will<br />
com* in free, and some of the restrictions on<br />
importation for educational purposes are taken<br />
off; and this will probably be finally adopted by<br />
the Conference committee.<br />
New York, Aug. 16.<br />
Authors whose books appear in the United<br />
States this fall apparently have cause to be more<br />
cheerful than they have been for some time, if<br />
the general notion of the publishers is to be<br />
trusted. They seem even in the West and South,<br />
where they have been most depressed, to share<br />
the streak of confidence which the merchants are<br />
feeling. Of course the Republicans think their<br />
laws are responsible; others believe that the good<br />
crops are starting a change which has been long<br />
preparing, and the real fatalistic American spirit<br />
says, "When everything has been bad so long<br />
there will be an improvement, and nobody will<br />
know why."<br />
The middle of the summer brings some of the<br />
most conspicuous books. Of course they are<br />
mostly novels, and it is noticeable that publishers<br />
are tending more and more to believe the summer<br />
a good time for the publication of important<br />
fiction, but there are enough other works on the<br />
list to make one wonder if our idea that the three<br />
hot months are a fatal time for the birth of a<br />
book is to be done away with.<br />
With one of the books to come out in the fall<br />
a little story is connected. Writers have long<br />
been warned in this paper not to allow a publisher<br />
to deduct anything for office expenses, and pos-<br />
sibly the spirit of that warning would cover this<br />
case. A certain firm in this city stands as high<br />
as any in America, and it is often said, "Send<br />
your book to so and so, and you will be treated<br />
squarely, with no unexpected developments when<br />
settlement time comes." None stands higher in<br />
America, and it is practically part of a firm of<br />
equal standing in Great Britain. Last winter it<br />
brought out a story, the first literary work of<br />
K<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 96 (#514) #############################################<br />
<br />
96<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
a poor man. The story had remarkable success,<br />
and is still selling rapidly. Ten per cent, royalty<br />
was the arrangement. When the first payment<br />
came to be made 150 dollars was deducted for<br />
editing. The beauty of the charge is, that the<br />
firm had no editing to do, as it was all done by<br />
an outsider, a friend of the author, who was inte-<br />
rested in the success of the book. It all amounts<br />
to this. Some of our little publishers have to<br />
say, " We cannot pay you royalty until after we<br />
have sold 500 or 1000 copies," but this big firm<br />
was too dignified for that, so it takes out the<br />
royalty on the first 1500 copies by a subterfuge.<br />
Some of the firms have their fall announce-<br />
ments ready. On the Putnam's list studies of<br />
interesting things in American history are pro-<br />
minent. The second volume of the writings of<br />
Thomas Jefferson, the fourth volume of the<br />
writings of James Monroe, four volumes of the<br />
life and correspondence of Rufus King are<br />
announced. It is a fact, not a publisher's adver-<br />
tisement, that some of the volumes in this series<br />
of the works of the early American statesmen<br />
have sold at auction at twice their original price<br />
immediately after publication, which is a good<br />
omen for the direction of the interests of the<br />
readers of this country. Lives of Grant and Lee<br />
are also on the Putnam's list, and the second<br />
volume of the "Literary History of the Ameri-<br />
can Revolution," which in its first volume was<br />
one of the best books of last season, although not<br />
yet announced, will doubtless appear before very<br />
long. Among the interesting books of the same<br />
company connected with politics will be a volume<br />
of essays by Theodore Roosevelt, not yet<br />
announced, but probably to be ready during the<br />
fall. He is now Assistant-Secretary of the Navy,<br />
and before taking that position made a great<br />
stir as President of the Police Board of New<br />
York City. He has been in politics a good deal,<br />
and he has a taste for the picturesque, and a<br />
number of his essays and sketches deal with<br />
aspects of political life which are peculiar to this<br />
country, and which, indeed, offer one of the best<br />
literary fields we have, and one of the least<br />
worked.<br />
Among the novels of prominence which have<br />
just appeared, one of the most interesting is Miss<br />
Wilkins's "Jerome," published by the Harpers.<br />
It is a hybrid, partly a study in her usual line of<br />
New England pride and poverty, and partly a love<br />
story, which is touching because it plays with<br />
accuracy upon the well tested chords. It is, I<br />
believe, her third novel, and confirms the indica-<br />
tion of the other two, that her permanent repu-<br />
tation will rest on her short stories. The strong<br />
parts of her novels are precisely the touches that<br />
might be taken out and made into short stories,<br />
and the more complex structure of the novel is<br />
what she is weakest in. In this story the plot,<br />
although skilfully handled, is artificial and made<br />
up of the conventional devices. The machinery<br />
includes several timely inheritances and other<br />
overworked means, in carrying out which she is<br />
sometimes led to injure her characters by impro-<br />
babilities. But Miss Wilkins is an artist, and<br />
her conversations especially, which are always her<br />
greatest strength, are excellent in this book. Her<br />
style is her most marked imitation. When she<br />
talks in her own person she is frequently guilty<br />
of something approaching precocity, but her cha-<br />
racters, varied enough in their well-defined field,<br />
talk admirably. She brings out the severer<br />
aspects of New England life and character with<br />
constant power, and probably with no more<br />
exaggeration than is legitimate for artistic em-<br />
phasis; and a person who reads her stories and<br />
tempers them with Miss Jewett's will get some-<br />
where near the facts.<br />
Another good student of American life is to be<br />
honoured by the Appletons with a uniform edition.<br />
The works of Mr. Hamlin Garland, whom the<br />
Spectator thinks a woman, will appear as follows:<br />
(1) "Spoils of Office"; (2) "Wayside Court-<br />
ships"; (3) "Jason Edwards"; (4) "The<br />
Member of the Third House."<br />
William Gillette, whose recent success in London<br />
as dramatic author and actor has been so decided,<br />
reached home on Saturday. He is a man of<br />
originality as well as of skill. Years ago, after<br />
the success of "Held by the Enemy," which had<br />
some literary merit, his friends regretted the<br />
attention which he gave to pure farce. He used<br />
to answer that he was not writing for posterity,<br />
which could take care of itself, but that he was<br />
endeavouring to amuse the people who were<br />
alive to-day, which he thought a sufficiently high<br />
aim.<br />
The Macmillan Company has just accepted a<br />
novel of railroad life by Herbert E. Hamblen,<br />
who, under the name of Fred B. Williams, wrote<br />
"On Many Seas," one of the successes of last<br />
year. The new book tells the life of the railroad<br />
engineer with the ingenuousness, so the Macmillan<br />
reader tells me, that made the success of the sea<br />
stories. Mr. Hamblen is himself an engineer,<br />
and the scene of the book is limited to what he<br />
sees in his daily life on his engine. Perhaps this<br />
will come nearer to making a success of the<br />
subject, the possibilities of which have been so<br />
much extolled of late, than Mr. Kipling's fanciful<br />
treatment of it in the last number of Scribner's<br />
Magazine.<br />
The tariff on books passed in the form which<br />
seemed probable at the date of my last letter.<br />
There is no duty on books for public institutions,<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 97 (#515) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
97<br />
or on books printed in foreign languages, or on<br />
English books more than twenty years old. The<br />
tax on Art is retained in its worst form.<br />
Norman Hapoood.<br />
NOTES PEOM ELSEWHERE.<br />
AREVIEW entitled " Industrial Jim-Jams,"<br />
dealing with my book on the White Slaves,<br />
appears to have given such sincere pleasure<br />
to many people that it may interest these further<br />
to hear that the acting editor of the periodical in<br />
which this review appears informs me that it was<br />
"written by a very capable man, who was fully in<br />
sympathy with your object, but not with your<br />
method; and had he felt it possible to deliver a<br />
favourable verdict he would gladly have done so."<br />
This letter was an answer to one of mine, in<br />
which I had pointed out certain misrepresenta-<br />
tions, and had objected to the introduction, as<br />
irrelevant, of the following remark: "Mr. Sherard,<br />
we understand, has published novels. They do<br />
not appear to have brought him a great reputa-<br />
tion. This is somewhat strange. 'The White<br />
Slaves of England' is proof that, as a fiction<br />
writer, Mr. Sherard possesses powers of no common<br />
order."<br />
The acting editor in question concludes his<br />
letter with a piece of advice. "Meantime," he<br />
writes, " if you will permit me, in all friendliness,<br />
to say so, nothing could be calculated to do you<br />
more harm than the foolish document you send<br />
from the 'degenerate' Max Nordau." This in<br />
reference to a long critique which the author of<br />
"Degeneration "—whom I have only met once in<br />
my life—wrote me spontaneously after reading the<br />
book in question. This review and this letter<br />
form a valuable addition to the literary documents<br />
which the publication of " The White Slaves " has<br />
brought with it, and to which I referred in my<br />
last.<br />
George Cable, the American author, is to visit<br />
England shortly on a lecture tour, and will make<br />
his dfbnt at Liverpool, when Ian Maclaren will<br />
take the chair. Though a man of very small<br />
physique, Mr. Cable is a powerful speaker, having<br />
been specially trained for the lecture platform by<br />
a New YorK elocutionist. He is the delight of<br />
American audiences, and it is to be hoped that his<br />
reception in England may be a very warm one.<br />
Mr. Cable believes in regularity and methodicity<br />
of work. He sits down to his work every<br />
morning at nine o'clock with the strictest<br />
punctuality, and writes till one, when he lunches,<br />
resuming work at two, and working on steadily<br />
till six.<br />
I am very glad to hear that Mark Twain's<br />
financial troubles have been greatly exaggerated<br />
in the papers, and that his deliverance from the<br />
same is only a question of months, so that one of<br />
the best fellows in the world will soon be released<br />
from what is more cruel to the writer than to<br />
any other worker. Mark's troubles all sprang<br />
from a type-setting machine, an invention in<br />
which he sank every penny of his fortune; and<br />
h propos of this a pretty and very creditable story<br />
is told of him. When, on a New Year's Day, he<br />
carried to Mrs. Grant, as her first returns on the<br />
"Lifeof General Grant," the largest cheque which<br />
has ever changed hands over a literary transac-<br />
tion, Mrs. Grant asked him to invest it for<br />
her. "No, no," said Mark Twain, "don't ask<br />
me to do that. I should only invest it in this<br />
type-setting machine, and there's far too much<br />
risk about that." I think this was very fine of<br />
Mark Twain.<br />
Mark Twain's description of the Jubilee pro-<br />
cession, published in the New York Journal, was<br />
considered in America a magnificent piece of<br />
writing. Hearst, the proprietor of the Journal,<br />
is very anxious that Mark Twain should con-<br />
tribute a series of fifty letters to the Sunday issue<br />
of his paper.<br />
The fight for pre-eminence between the Journal<br />
and the World is not without its pathos. However<br />
much one may disapprove of Mr. Joseph Pulitzer's<br />
journalistic methods, one cannot but admire his<br />
stupendous energy. He is almost, if not totally,<br />
blind; he is a confirmed invalid (they say of him,<br />
in New York, that he has seven organic diseases),<br />
yet since the competition of the Journal began<br />
to make itself felt, he has resumed the<br />
entire direction of his colossal enterprise, and<br />
may be seen day and night—as in the old<br />
days of his early struggles —â– working from<br />
fifteen to twenty hours out of the twenty-four,<br />
surrounded by stenographers, fighting a fight of<br />
the bitterness of which none but those who know<br />
the fierceness of the competition in American<br />
journalism can have any conception, 10 maintain<br />
the supremacy, commercial, it must be admitted,<br />
of his creation, a creation of which, he is so<br />
proud, that one day he told me that he would far<br />
rather see his son edito â– of the New York World<br />
than President of the United States, for the power<br />
and influence enjoyed.<br />
The Mercnre de France publishing house in<br />
Paris allows its authors to stamp each copy of<br />
a book published by that firm as a check<br />
on sales. Whether this is the reason of the<br />
popularity which this firm enjoys amongst authors<br />
I do not know, but the fact is that the Edition du<br />
Mercure de France is getting all the books of the<br />
younger authors, and has scored many successes,<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 98 (#516) #############################################<br />
<br />
98<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
including the most phenomenal success known in<br />
the Paris publishing trade during the last five<br />
years. A similar plan was under consideration by<br />
the Canadian Government. It was proposed that<br />
the author should stamp each copy of his book—<br />
he could either do it himself or by deputy—at<br />
one of the Government offices at Toronto, and<br />
that only books so stamped would enjoy copy-<br />
right protection, unstamped copies being regarded<br />
as piracies. It was also proposed that the author's<br />
royalties should be paid to him directly by the<br />
Government office. I may add that it would<br />
have been necessary, had this proposal been carried<br />
into effect, only to bring the fly-leaves of the<br />
edition to the stamping house. I remember that<br />
when something similar was proposed in England,<br />
a publisher wrote pointing out the material diffi-<br />
culty of sending van-loads of books—representing<br />
the first edition of a popular author's book—to the<br />
author's house to be stamped, and suggesting the<br />
probable reluctance of the author to deal with<br />
such a task. It is, of course, the less popular<br />
authors—the men to whom the selling of a single<br />
copy is of some importance—who would mainly<br />
benefit, and to whom this system would be most<br />
welcome.<br />
A charming photograph of Sir Henry Irving—<br />
as a young man—has recently come to light at a<br />
photographer's in Douglas. It should be posses-<br />
sed by every admirer. Mr. Edward Terry was<br />
acting at that time with Henry Irving in Douglas,<br />
and he recently referred to this. "I was only<br />
getting thirty shillings a week," said Mr. Terry<br />
"and you were the star." "I was a star at<br />
thirty-five shillings a week," said Henry Irving.<br />
Robert H. Shebaed.<br />
FEUILLETON.<br />
The Stoet op a Beoken Pen.<br />
UP in a garret a young author, with genius<br />
enough, as I conceive, to get him a tomb<br />
at Westminster, had he lived, died pre-<br />
maturely. The poets, therefore, in their select<br />
"Corner," have escaped crowding by one memo-<br />
rial, which is undeniably a benefit in its way.<br />
I know something about the manner of his<br />
death and something of the history of his life. I<br />
breathed the same air with him, and gripped his<br />
hand almost daily for a few years during the<br />
early part of his short career, when he roused in<br />
me a more than passing interest as a youth likely,<br />
if God favoured him, to accomplish no small<br />
thing in the world.<br />
To me, who am by nature careful, and slow to<br />
conceive and act upon ideas, his has always<br />
seemed a truly remarkable character. The con-<br />
centrated energy of mind which he was capable of<br />
manifesting moved me not a few times to admira-<br />
tion, even in his youth, and the tremendous<br />
enthnsiasm which lay behind an apparently re-<br />
served nature made me even then, at times, appre-<br />
hensive for his future. In my own mind, there<br />
can be no doubt that he had burning within him<br />
the divine spark which is called Genius.<br />
In appearance, as I last remember him, he was<br />
slender and somewhat fair, with a face narrow at<br />
the base and broad at the brow, showing the gift<br />
of a great imagination. His mouth was like a<br />
woman's; but his eyes were, perhaps, the most<br />
noteworthy feature about him—very prominent<br />
and brilliant, betokening a strong spirit in an<br />
unequal body. He was sensitive to the last<br />
degree, and, as a consequence, made few friends.<br />
With the exception of myself, he talked fami-<br />
liarly with no one during the whole term of his<br />
stay at the commercial house to which his parents<br />
sent him on leaving school, and where I first<br />
shook him by the hand. To me, however, for<br />
some reason or other, he attached himself strongly.<br />
With an almost childish craving for sympathy,<br />
when we knew each other better, he would pour<br />
into my ear the dreams and aspirations which<br />
possessed him, most of which to me seemed splen-<br />
didly impracticable, and all of which were exceed-<br />
ingly ambitious.<br />
There are three books at my side now, formerly<br />
belonging to him. They were purchased when<br />
he was nearing his fifteenth year, and two of<br />
them have a small square disfigurement on the<br />
back, underneath the title, where doubtless<br />
a secondhand-bookseller's label once adhered<br />
marking the price. One is Murray's Grammar,<br />
another a Latin Primer, and the third Trench's<br />
"Study of Words." On the fly-leaf of each<br />
book, written large in the centre of the page in<br />
an unformed hand (and yet a hand which betrays<br />
the germ of his singular individuality) is the<br />
one word, " Advance."<br />
I have found in my experience that a single<br />
word may sometimes speak a volume; and as I<br />
gaze at this one simple verb it seems to me that I<br />
see my author completely embodied in its two<br />
syllables. In writing that word he seems for the<br />
first time to have given voice to what was in him,<br />
and to have begun the inglorious tragedy of his<br />
life.<br />
The parentage of my author was humble, and<br />
it was therefore at an early hour of the day that<br />
he was started to work in the vineyard of this<br />
our world. At the period to which I have come<br />
he had for nearly two years tasted the joys of<br />
labour in the driving of a commercial pen from<br />
nine in the morning until six in the evening.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 99 (#517) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
99<br />
It was an evening close upon a year after the<br />
inscription of that motto in his three books, and<br />
he was seated behind one of the partitions in a<br />
little eating house in North-street, taking tea<br />
after his day's labours. Over that simple repast<br />
he perused the pages of yesterday's Telegraph.<br />
Now it happened that in that paper there appeared<br />
a leader, written in a somewhat lofty style and<br />
with considerable show of language, and dealing<br />
with matters of literary importance. On that<br />
leader he at length alighted.<br />
"While I read it," he says in his diary, "the<br />
strangest thing happened. The earth and all<br />
things vanished away from me and I Moated up<br />
into a heaven of aspiration and dreamed dreams<br />
and saw visions of the future, and found my<br />
destiny. When I returned to earth I brought a<br />
purpose with me. The spirit of language had at<br />
length found me: I had caught the melody of<br />
speech and had seen for the first time the beauty<br />
of the written word. I could no longer remain a<br />
mere reader: I also would write. The question<br />
that had for so long been dancing through my brain<br />
unanswered was then, under those circumstances,<br />
finally decided. I had identified myself: 1 was<br />
a writer."<br />
He goes on to relate, in his characteristic style,<br />
how, lost in his great discovery, he " walked the<br />
streets on air like a man with his first love, and<br />
spent the midnight hours sleepless, in the<br />
restless and delightful torture of a first conception,<br />
trying to work out an idea."<br />
That is the second chapter in the history of his<br />
life; the second stage in his development when<br />
he found what he conceived to be his purpose in<br />
life. And from the date of this discovery right<br />
onwards to the end I should say there was but<br />
one idea in his head.<br />
Then began the struggle against adverse<br />
circumstances. His education, which had been<br />
sadly curtailed, owing to poverty on the part of<br />
his parents, had to be repaired and extended;<br />
and, most galling of all, his lack of means<br />
obliged him to continue to give eight of his best<br />
hours daily to mechanical drudgery, which became<br />
abhorrence itself to him. Writing, in one place,<br />
retrospectively of this period, he says:<br />
"Ah! How I slaved, even in those early days!<br />
While the sun crossed from the East to the West<br />
my fingers would be driving that detested office<br />
pen in company with ten others, of whom I was<br />
the least. Then while the others left the office to<br />
wield a billiard cue or sing songs in friends'<br />
houses, I would mount to my own room and take<br />
up another pen or dip deep into my books for<br />
hours and hours until the oil in my lamp became<br />
midnight oil, and the short hours sounded, and a<br />
man's stride down the silent street suggested to<br />
one's mind a footstep in a city of the dead. And<br />
next morning there would come the office again;<br />
and McCrae, peering into my face with those<br />
small keen eyes of his, would point out the bluish<br />
tint round my own eyes, and would tell me,<br />
perhaps, that my voice was dry and tremulous, a<br />
sign that my nerves were becoming deranged.<br />
Dear, honest old fellow! How often did he repeat<br />
to me the maxim of which he was so fond: 'Safe<br />
with caution, Arthur, my boy, safe with caution;<br />
you are overdoing it.' I acknowledge his wisdom;<br />
but I am built in another way; and that very<br />
night would see me in front of my lamp again<br />
and my bed empty at one o'clock. No doubt I<br />
was a fool. 'Nature never can be defied with<br />
impunity, and penalty always follows abuse,' as<br />
McCrae taught me. I know it—don't I know it<br />
But I can't help it—Excelsior!"<br />
In process of time, after training his powers to<br />
some extent on syntax, Latin, and standard<br />
literature, he began to turn off at intervals<br />
scrappy productions of his own, both in prose<br />
and verse. One of the former, in a moment of<br />
self-exaltation, he posted to the editor of that<br />
important publication, Blackwood's Magazine.<br />
It was returned.<br />
"I hid it away," he says, " at the back of a<br />
drawer; read through once more the story of the<br />
early struggles of Balzac, greatest of French<br />
novelists, and set my pen again to paper."<br />
Eighteen months and more passed, and one<br />
morning the following telegram arrived at the<br />
offices in Abercrombie-street:—" My son unfit to<br />
come business for some days. Writing." It was<br />
from his father, and it was what I had for some<br />
time been expecting. I went to the outskirts of<br />
the town that evening and rang the bell of the<br />
little house wheie his parents lived. I found<br />
him in a condition that was abject; unable to<br />
remain still, his forehead like fire to the touch,<br />
and in his eyes an expression that frightened his<br />
mother, as she told me in the passage, in a<br />
whisper, the moment I arrived. I heard (what<br />
I already knew) that he had been unable to sleep<br />
for five consecutive nights, his imagination<br />
working furiously and his head swarming with<br />
nightmare immediately he closed his eves.<br />
There was nothing to be done but to call in a<br />
medical man, who administered a powerful sleeping<br />
draught. This had the desired effect of allaying<br />
the alarming activity of brain by throwing him<br />
into a stupor, but the physician afterwards<br />
informed me that he had escaped brain fever by a<br />
kind of miracle.<br />
After three weeks' complete rest he climbed his<br />
stool atthe office again, but very weak, and with his<br />
mind in a state of semi-torpor. This condition<br />
remained for nearly three months, during which<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 100 (#518) ############################################<br />
<br />
IOO<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
time the earth spun round him unregarded, and<br />
he seemed completely to have lost interest in every-<br />
thing—even in his writing. I half began to think<br />
that he had abandoned his plans, and that his<br />
ambition had died within him. But I was<br />
deceived; gradually, as his mind strengthened<br />
and freshened, the old ideas returned; the fever<br />
to write stirred in his veins again one day, and he<br />
cleaned his pens and laid paper out on his table<br />
in his bedroom. But his parents mercifully held<br />
him off from the resumption of his work for some<br />
time, and removed his lamp every night half an<br />
hour after he went to his room. At the end of a<br />
year, however, from the date of his break-down,<br />
(by which time he had recovered to a surprising<br />
degree), seeing that it was useless to deny him<br />
any longer, his parents to some extent relaxed<br />
their prohibition and he fell upon his work again,<br />
but with tempered zeal at first.<br />
Then a calamity occurred; for in ten weeks his<br />
home was empty, his father and his mother<br />
descending, almost abreast, into the same grave.<br />
He buried them in succession with many tears, and<br />
returned to the now silent little house melancholy<br />
and unsettled in mind. He was the only child<br />
of his parents; they were strange reserved<br />
people, with no capacity for making friends; and<br />
there were no relatives of theirs living that ever I<br />
heard of. I was in Canada on business at the time,<br />
and was kept away for six weeks. I am afraid<br />
I never properly understood him; I fear nobody<br />
really did. Our friendship had been somewhat<br />
strained for a while past—I think it must have<br />
been because I sometimes failed to see things as<br />
he saw them—but I was not prepared for the<br />
communication that was put into my hands on<br />
my return to Edinburgh. It bore his signature,<br />
and was dated two weeks back, my housekeeper<br />
having been instructed not to forward it, but to<br />
let it await my home-coming. In it he told me<br />
that he had sold the household effects of his late<br />
home, and, with the modest sum thus realised,<br />
intended to repair to London, and fight his way<br />
to fame in the city where so many literary men<br />
had come to light in the past. Further, he said<br />
—and this was the unkindest cut—that, knowing<br />
well enough I should not fall in with his plans,<br />
and desiring to take all the responsibility of his<br />
conduct upon his own shoulders, he would not<br />
send me his address until his name was known in<br />
the world. From the tone of his letter he<br />
evidently did not think that this determination on<br />
his part would keep us asunder very loug, and he<br />
spoke with enthusiasm of the early day when I<br />
should receive the first printed work of his pen.<br />
Anyhow, he concluded, come fortune or failure, he<br />
would be free; never again should a detested<br />
office stool support him. I did not attempt to<br />
follow him up for some months; and when I did<br />
set inquiries afloat later they came to nothing. It<br />
was not until five years afterwards that I heard<br />
news of him.<br />
The rest of my story comes partly from the<br />
lips of those who at different periods housed him<br />
as lodger, but chiefly from the many pages of<br />
diaries in which, with increasing elaborateness as<br />
he neared the end, he recorded the experiences<br />
through which he passed and the emotions which<br />
beset him as he journeyed through those lonely,<br />
ineffectual years. The self-consciousness which<br />
he developed in his solitude in the crowded<br />
wilderness of London is full of an eloquent pathos<br />
for me.<br />
He tells how he spent his first few months in<br />
the metropolis; how, seizing with avidity upon<br />
the marvellous wealth of varied life which it<br />
offered for observation, his feet never wearied of<br />
treading its highways and low places, and his eyes<br />
were never tired of gazing upon the human faces<br />
which for ever in the streets crowded about him.<br />
Somehow no other town, north or south, is like<br />
London in its peculiar fascination for the student<br />
of humanity. He says:<br />
"I think I have learnt to read the secret<br />
writing on men's faces and to gather the tale that<br />
is told by the lined mouth, the hungry, the eager,<br />
or the saddened eye, and the marked brow. I<br />
have become an artist in humanity! I can read,<br />
too, the signs of disease; the dusky pallor of<br />
complexion; the eye hung with a pouch (there<br />
are so many of these amongst the restless city<br />
men), the eye painted dark underneath; the<br />
yellow tint, the purple tint, the small red fever<br />
spot on the cheek. How many faces that pass<br />
tell disease, and how many death! And I know<br />
the character behind the prominent and the<br />
receding chin, and the full cheek, and the<br />
one with high cheek bones, and in fair<br />
hair and black hair. Also in the walk of a<br />
man and in the cut and shape of his hands as he<br />
sits in the 'buses. Humanity is becoming an<br />
open book to me. Many strangers I pity who<br />
pass me, and many I despise, and some I love.<br />
There are a few faces burnt deep into my memory<br />
that I shall never forget. A woman went by me<br />
yesterday in the street—I caught her eyes full -<br />
her face I shall never forget."<br />
There is much like this in his diary. Had I<br />
the skill, I could paint a history of him from this<br />
material which would be wondered at for nine<br />
full days. Whenever he saw a crowd he joined<br />
it, and read the faces, and afterwards recorded<br />
what he saw there in his note-books, "An acci-<br />
dent," he says in one place, "is a gold mine to<br />
me. It opens up the possibilities of the human<br />
face as lightning opens up the night."<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 101 (#519) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
101<br />
A tall, maudlin woman in University-street,<br />
one of his landladies, said to me: "He give me<br />
the creeps, sometimes, he did, the way he used to<br />
look at you, as if he could see right through you,<br />
and all the time making believe he wasn't noticing<br />
you."<br />
During his first year in London he seems to<br />
have written chiefly short stories and essays. One<br />
of the former apparently found its way into the<br />
pages of some obscure weekly journal. I have<br />
not been able to trace it, but there is a note in<br />
one of his diaries joyfully recording the event,<br />
and also the fact that it was not paid for. One<br />
day also he sent a production of his to a leading<br />
novelist for criticism, for I find amongst his<br />
letters a communication from , in which<br />
that competent writer gives him some good<br />
advice as well as some warm praise. The letter<br />
says :—<br />
"You have only to persevere in order to acquire<br />
a really fine style, a distinctive style of your own.<br />
There are turns of thought and touches which<br />
show the true possibility of style. But you seem<br />
not to have had sufficient association with the<br />
world; jour characters have not enough red<br />
blood in their veins, they are too imaginative.<br />
You should draw more upon real life for your<br />
creations."<br />
In the early part of '87, shortly after the<br />
receipt of this letter, he began his novel, the<br />
work which drew this modicum of praise from<br />
the critic's mouth. Remembering his advice, he<br />
conceived the idea of putting himself into his<br />
work, so that, as he himself expresses it, " there<br />
should be at least a pound of real human flesh<br />
amongst my characters."<br />
"For," he continues, "what my literary friend<br />
says is, I fear, but too true. My field, which I<br />
thought so rich, is after all a barren one. A<br />
man's face I may know, I may be able to read the<br />
speech that is in his eyes, or tell the malady that<br />
is in his body, but I do not know his soul. I<br />
have never seen a mother actually bereft of her<br />
child, nor have I yet seen amongst those I know<br />
two loving hearts torn asunder. I may fancy I<br />
can read the history of such things in the faces<br />
of strangers; but I cannot be sure. I have never<br />
had another soul beside my own fully bared to<br />
my vision. If there would but come a violent<br />
passion of love in my own breast! So my<br />
characters have not much flesh and bone; they<br />
do not seem to palpitate with real emotion as if<br />
they had lived and loved, and wept, and beat<br />
their hearts out against the world. However,<br />
there is myself. I have lived, and if I have not<br />
yet loved, I have wept, and I have already been<br />
roughly handled by the world. I had. not<br />
thought of that before. I will put myself into<br />
my work."<br />
To this end therefore there sprang into<br />
existence at this period some further note books,<br />
and he also began to greatly elaborate the diaries<br />
which he already used. There is a book labelled<br />
"My Emotions," another "My Appearance," a<br />
third " Thoughts," and in these he daily dissected<br />
himself and served himself up for his novel. I<br />
have had tears in my eyes in reading some of<br />
these notes.<br />
Slowly and with infinite pains the work was<br />
created. About the period when he would be in<br />
the middle of it there occurs a sentence in the<br />
book of "Thoughts," over which I have bent my<br />
brows many times. It is in the centre of a clean<br />
page; there is no other writing on the page.<br />
It is :—<br />
"Love paints the world with roses for a man—and for a<br />
month!"<br />
Why he wrote this sentence and left it alone ou<br />
the sheet I cannot gather, for nowhere in the<br />
whole number of his books are the details filled<br />
in. Only, there is a gap of three months in the<br />
diary of '88 caused by the removal of many<br />
leaves; and, also, it was about this time that his<br />
heart went more completely than ever into his<br />
book and he began to sit over it with such<br />
incessant energy. The sentence is pregnant and<br />
impressive enough; it holds the suggestion of a<br />
bitter story within its narrow compass, and the<br />
active imagination may fill it in. But one would<br />
like to have known in detail how his singular<br />
heart was captured and occupied and then left<br />
desolate; what the circumstances were and who<br />
was the person that stirred that " violent passion<br />
of love in his own breast" (if it were such) for<br />
which he had so ardently longed.<br />
How he lived about this period has been some-<br />
thing of a mystery to me, for he was apparently<br />
producing nothing that paid. On this matter he<br />
is silent in his diaries. But there are certain<br />
indications which would had one almost to<br />
suppose that he wrote short stories for a woman<br />
who paid him for them and published them under<br />
her own name.<br />
His novel became his very daily bread.<br />
"I have sat over it," he wrote just before it was<br />
finished, "for six half years, sometimes with<br />
burning eyes and flying pen—beautiful sensation!<br />
sometimes almost weeping. I have continued over<br />
it often, till a dull pain coming out of the side of<br />
my head has warned me that I have gone too<br />
far, and shall pay for it with a sleepless night."<br />
He had been living in a way that was certain<br />
to kill him. He had a constitutional weakness<br />
which made his mode of life to him like a stone<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 102 (#520) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOtt.<br />
round the neck of a man in the water. In one<br />
place he says:<br />
"It was good of my father to give me his<br />
powerful nervous brain for heritage, but I could<br />
have dispensed with my mother's weak heart.<br />
That dusky pallor is always on my face now;<br />
people have begun to notice it in the streets;<br />
Mary can run up the stairs easily. I am older<br />
than she, and I am a man, but I had to stop four<br />
times this morning coming up the stairs, and T<br />
get these feelings of deadly faintness more often.<br />
I must drink more brandy."<br />
And yet, apparently, he never had a serious<br />
thought of giving up. The tenacity of his<br />
ambition was terrible, and his heart, although<br />
weak at the valves, was the heart of a hero. His<br />
pen still went from side to side of the MS., and at<br />
the other end of it his weakening brain continued<br />
to evolve the novel. At length the following<br />
entry appears:<br />
"I am now a prisoner in my own room as<br />
secure as ever Crusoe was on his famous island;<br />
I have not been out of the house for three weeks,<br />
and see no present likelihood of going. That<br />
terrible flight of stairs has mastered me at last.<br />
Regent's Park is now a thing of the past. I<br />
finished my novel yesterday, and this morning<br />
pushed it away from me in disgust. All is<br />
vanity beneath the sun! I will get Mary to buy<br />
me some flowers—I almost forget the smell of<br />
them."<br />
On Sept. 20, 1894 he was up in a garret within<br />
ear-shot of the traffic of Marylebone-road. It<br />
was a tall house in reduced circumstances and<br />
now let out to many lodgers. There was a church<br />
within throwing distance from the back, and<br />
when the wind was in the right direction and the<br />
windows were open, one might detect some fra-<br />
grance in the air from Regent's Park. But the<br />
author's window had not been opened for many<br />
days.<br />
There was a servant girl at this place between<br />
whom and the author there appears to have<br />
existed a bond of genuine friendship, and from<br />
her I gathered much of the information which has<br />
enabled me to fill in the details of these last<br />
pages. A little brown-eyed, sympathetic girl,<br />
quite out of place in the sordid London lodging-<br />
house.<br />
The first entry in his diary of this date is<br />
unfinished, and the writing is that of one in<br />
pain:<br />
"It is early morning. I can just hear the<br />
market carts rumbling by in the distance. I am<br />
half dead. No sleep now for nearly a week, and<br />
my head racked with neuralgia"<br />
There is also the last entry in the book labelled<br />
"My Appearance," which was no doubt made on<br />
this day, although he did a quite unusual thing<br />
for him in omitting to date the page:<br />
"Dark and hollow under the eyes; Hps<br />
colourless, and cheeks more dusky white than<br />
ever."<br />
Mary came up at nine with his breakfast, and<br />
found him in his armchair, his novel open on his<br />
lap, but his head resting on his hand, and his<br />
eyes fixed vacantly upon the fire-place. As<br />
Mary was lighting the fire he asked' her a<br />
question.<br />
"Mary, did you ever hear of anyone who had<br />
forgotten how to pray?"<br />
Mary said, "No, Sir."<br />
"No!" he said in a low voice, and remained<br />
quiet.<br />
There are no more entries in his books. At<br />
one his dinner came up, and went away again<br />
untasted. He talked with Mary as long as she<br />
could stay, told her the neuralgia had now gone,<br />
and that he had had a sort of a doze but did not<br />
feel refreshed, on the contrary he felt more<br />
exhausted; and asked her about her home in<br />
Suffolk. He seemed to cling to her presence like<br />
a child. And when the sound of her over-large<br />
shoes on the stairs had died away in the base-<br />
ment he felt as if all the world had left him<br />
alone to die. He told her this when she brought<br />
up his tea.<br />
That long afternoon must have crawled away<br />
by hours that seemed endless. Wrapped in his<br />
long overcoat (which he always wore about the<br />
room), and with his hands lying listlessly on the<br />
chair arms, he waited and waited.<br />
Outside, there was a white, dead sky weeping a<br />
dismal mist, the smoke, under the influence of<br />
the heavy air, curling low as it left the chimney<br />
pots opposite and wreathing outside his window;<br />
and there was the faint sound of traffic from<br />
the streets; and there were the chimes at<br />
intervals from the clock of the neighbouring<br />
church.<br />
What thoughts came to him in that lonely vigil<br />
waiting for the Messenger, one can only in faith<br />
and hope surmise. One wonders if he had even<br />
then quite penetrated to the vanity of human<br />
things; if he beheld anything beyond the dust<br />
and ashes; if God came first and, in the last<br />
hour, before the Messenger arrived, taught him<br />
how to pray.<br />
Once, unable for the moment to bear it any<br />
longer, he sent his hand out towards the bell-rope<br />
—the tongue of the bell in the basement lifted<br />
and swung within an ace of striking. But it did<br />
not: and he waited on alone.'<br />
At six, the mockery of tea, and conversation<br />
with Mary. At eleven, Marv, looking sleepily in<br />
at the doorway, saw the author lying- on his bed<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 103 (#521) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
103<br />
in his clothes. She thought him asleep, and<br />
carried her candle into her bedroom opposite, but<br />
left his door ajar.<br />
Twelve; and, later, the clocks with an un-<br />
happy want of unanimity struck one. A minute<br />
afterwards there was a sound in his room<br />
as of a match being scratched along its bos<br />
unsteadily; then the same sound again; thea<br />
the noise of something like a book striking the<br />
floor.<br />
Whether it reached his ears or not I cannot<br />
say, but next minute there came the creaking of<br />
a door, and Mary, in her nightdress, was crouch-<br />
ing in his doorway peering into the room with<br />
large frightened eyes. What she saw and<br />
heard, down to the minutest detail, appears<br />
to have been cut into her mind with terrible<br />
distinctness.<br />
The author was muttering, " It's come at last,"<br />
meaning, doubtless, the end. He was in his arm-<br />
chair, his face showing deathly white against its<br />
black leather ; there was a glowing match between<br />
his fingers and a candle sputtering on the table<br />
immediately before him.<br />
There was dead stillness for a moment when<br />
the candle burnt with a clear flame and the<br />
shadows in the room receded. The servant was<br />
about to make a movement to go to him, but she<br />
held back; for his hands, still with the match<br />
between the fingers, were coming together in the<br />
attitude of prayer. But suddenly his head and<br />
arms fell forward—a cab rattled by in the street<br />
below—and Mary, with a smothered scream,<br />
fainted in the doorway.<br />
When she opened her eyes and presently<br />
recovered, the candle was out, but pale moonlight<br />
was in the room and around the figure in the<br />
chair.<br />
Coming in stealthily, she gazed at the head<br />
that was hanging motionless on the breast and at<br />
the right hand, which would not hold a pen again,<br />
falling straight and limp by his side. Then,<br />
shivering, and with her hands over her eyes, she<br />
went to call her mistress.<br />
When his novel came out one of the critics<br />
said: "There are unquestionable signs of<br />
something more than talent in this work—<br />
there is promise of real genius. Who is the<br />
author?"<br />
The Vestry of Marylebone, at any time, pro-<br />
vided expenses are defrayed, can produce a hand-<br />
ful, of bones from one of their pauper coffins, the<br />
remains of this dead autltor.<br />
BOOS ADVERTISE IN 1900.<br />
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Marriage*<br />
Abductions<br />
Court Scenes<br />
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INCIDENTS.<br />
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<br />
<br />
## p. 104 (#522) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
FREEDOM OF CRITICISM.<br />
AN action for libel was brought a few weeks<br />
ago by Miss Lottie Collins, a music-hall<br />
artiste, against Society, a journal which<br />
had criticised one of the songs of her repertoire.<br />
For describing the song as vulgar, the editor had<br />
to pay ,£25. Writing in To-Day, Mr. S. L.<br />
Bensusan tells us that unintelligent "puff" has<br />
been the form of notice which music-hall per-<br />
formances have received in the Press until lately,<br />
when there has been an attempt to substitute the<br />
critique for the " puff." This authority would like<br />
to see men representing responsible journals<br />
taking up a fair and well-defined position with<br />
regard to the variety stage; in nearly every<br />
respect, he says, the modern music-hall calls for<br />
reform. But that is a question apart. The<br />
point the journalist and the critic may be supposed<br />
to put is this: If the criticism of a song is<br />
penalised to-day, what guarantee is there that a<br />
British jury may not fall foul of the criticism of<br />
a book to-morrow?<br />
Another aspect. The Newspaper Society has<br />
issued a return of the number of libel actions,<br />
mostly against newspapers, which have been tried<br />
in recent years. In 1878 there were forty-six; in<br />
1896 there were eighty-two. The total damages<br />
noted in the High Court returns for last year was<br />
.£18,238. The amount of the costs is not<br />
recorded, nor the amount paid to settle the<br />
thirty or forty cases settled out of court; but<br />
probably the total penalty is not less than<br />
£50,000 a year. The Daily Chronicle, in re-<br />
cording these figures, is confident that a large<br />
part of the money is a fine which the newspapers<br />
have to pay for doing their duty. How easy and<br />
cheap a notice of an action for libel is, the words<br />
of NortJiern Finance and Trade, a Manchester<br />
organ, explain :—<br />
The initiatory coat of issuing the writ need not be more<br />
than a few shillings, and the man who takes it oat may not<br />
even intend to take it into court, the object being to frighten<br />
the individual against whom the document is issued, to pay<br />
something in damages and costs rather than go through a<br />
long, costly, and harassing action at law. No matter how<br />
trivial the charge of libel may bo; nor how certain it may<br />
be that the plaintiff will withdraw from the action; the<br />
unfortunate defendant has to take all Bteps to defend<br />
himself as if the action would be fought out; and the first<br />
call upon him is generally .£150 on the part of his own<br />
solicitor, " to be going on with." Of course, in nine cases<br />
out of ten, the plaintiff is no better than a blackmailer and<br />
a man of straw, and an action for libel lands an editor in<br />
a big loss, although he may win all along the line.<br />
A recent utterance of Lord Chief Justice<br />
Russell is very valuable as an aid to—at any<br />
rate—the critic of financial schemes in the dis-<br />
charge of his duty. In the case of Wicks v. The<br />
Financial Times, the Lord Chief Justice con-<br />
cluded his charge to the jury in these terms:<br />
Gentlemen, I repeat, the main question is, Is this an honest<br />
article f If you arrive at the conclusion that it is an<br />
honest article, I would not advise you to be astute to see<br />
whether there may not be here or there a little more<br />
exaggeration than your own judgment would go with. I would<br />
not advise you to be scrupulous to consider and scrutinise<br />
whether the writer has crossed all his t's and dotted all<br />
his i's. As was once said in a case of libel, I would not<br />
advise you to condemn the defendant merely because the<br />
patches and the feathers of his rhetoric have not been composed<br />
as you in your better good taste perhaps might have 00m-<br />
posed it. If you believe the thing is honest, I would not<br />
look for inaccuracies, unless they are inaccuracies which<br />
you think of the greatest importance as indicating unfair-<br />
ness or as constituting libels and imputations. If, on the<br />
contrary, you think it is dishonest, and that there is any<br />
foundation, any real foundation, I mean, for the suggestion<br />
that it iB not an honestly conceived article, then, of course,<br />
you ought to give your verdict for the plaintiff. But if you<br />
think it was honest, if you think, taking the whole thing<br />
into consideration, either that there is no libel, or that,<br />
although there are observations in it which in your judg-<br />
ment might be so considered, yet they are covered by fair<br />
comment, you ought to give your verdiot for the defen-<br />
dants.<br />
BOOK TALE.<br />
EEADERS who are interested in India may<br />
be glad to know that Messrs. W. Thacker,<br />
of Creed-lane, have in the press a book of<br />
social gossip, dating from a period a little earlier<br />
than the "Forty-one Years of Lord Roberts,<br />
which has had such a remarkable success. The<br />
present work is called "A Servant of John<br />
Company," and contains the recollections of Mr.<br />
H. G-. Keene, CLE., with illustrations (from the<br />
author's sketches) drawn by the well-known artist<br />
of the Illustrated London News, Mr. Wm.<br />
Simpson, R.I.<br />
Mr. Tighe Hopkins has written the Christmas<br />
annual for Mr. Arrowsmith's Bristol Library<br />
this year, and has called it "Pepita of the<br />
Pagoda."<br />
Mr. Rudyard Kipling's works are to be issued<br />
in a uniform edition of twelve volumes, by Messrs.<br />
Macmillan. The first volume " Plain Tales from<br />
the Hills," containing a new portrait of the author,<br />
etched by Mr. William Strang, will probably<br />
appear next month, the others following at<br />
monthly intervals. The issue of the edition is<br />
limited to 1050 copies. Each volume will cost<br />
half a guinea net.<br />
Mr. Cutcliffe Hine's new book, "The Paradise<br />
Coal-Boat," to be published by Mr. James<br />
Bowden, is the outeome of many thousand miles<br />
of travel, and deals specially with the life of the<br />
steamer sailor.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 105 (#523) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Mr. E. D. Chetwode has a new story to be pub-<br />
lished by Messrs. Pearson. It will be called<br />
"John of Strathbourne," and it is laid in the<br />
stirring times of Francis the First.<br />
It has been announced that a Dutch publisher<br />
has already brought out a Dutch translation of<br />
Miss Olive Schreiner's "Trooper Peter Halkett<br />
of Mashonaland," and that the owners of the<br />
English copyright are never likely to get a penny<br />
therefrom.<br />
The Rev. S. Baring-Gould is engaged on a<br />
Welsh story.<br />
An edition of "The Shepheard's Calender,"<br />
with twelve pictures and other devices, by Mr.<br />
Walter Crane, is in preparation by Messrs. Harper<br />
Brothers.<br />
Mr. Bichard Ashe King is writing a new Life<br />
of Goldsmith.<br />
"John Oliver Hobbes's" new novel, "The<br />
School for Saints," is announced among the<br />
early autumn publications of Mr. Unwin.<br />
The Eev. H. R. Haweis has written a volume<br />
on "Old Violins" for Mr. George Redway's<br />
series of books for collectors.<br />
A selection of the late R. L. Stevenson's poems<br />
has been set to music by Katharine M. Ram-<br />
say, and will be published as "Song Flowers," by<br />
Messrs. Gardner, Darton, and Co. Mr. S. R.<br />
Crockett has written an introduction for the<br />
volume, and the illustrated headings and tail-<br />
pieces will be by Mr. Gordon Browne.<br />
A book by Miss Susan Horner on Greek Vases,<br />
containing a history of their manufacture, their<br />
uses, and their gradual development, illustrated,<br />
will be published by Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein.<br />
Mr. Claude Phillips is at work on a catalogue<br />
of the Wallace Collection of pictures, of which<br />
he has been appointed keeper. He has also in<br />
view a more elaborate work on the subject.<br />
Mr. George Griffith has written an historical<br />
romance called "The Knights of the White<br />
Rose," telling of the adventures in the service of<br />
the Grand Monarch of a company of exiled sons<br />
of English, Scotch, and Irish noble families. It<br />
will be published by Messrs. F. V. White and Co.<br />
Mr. F. C. Burkitt will edit the fragment of<br />
Aquila which he recently discovered in the<br />
Cambridge University Library. The volume will<br />
contain photographs, and probably an excursus or<br />
appendix by Dr. Taylor, master of St. John's<br />
College.<br />
The story for girls written by the late Christina<br />
Rosetti nearly fifty years ago, which was an-<br />
nounced in these columns some months ago, is<br />
now announced by Mr. James Bowden for early<br />
publication. It is entitled "Maude," and has<br />
not hitherto been published. A short sketch<br />
of the authoress, by Dante G. Rossetti, and a<br />
preface, giving the history of the story, by W. M.<br />
Rossetti, will be included.<br />
Mr. Brimley Johnson is editing a selection of<br />
the prose writings of the late W. B. Rands, better<br />
known under the pseudonym of "Matthew<br />
Browne." The volume will be published by Mr.<br />
James Bowden.<br />
Mr. A. E. T. Watson, editor of the Badminton<br />
Magazine, is bringing out a volume of his stories<br />
through Messrs. Longman.<br />
Mrs. Walford will be represented this autumn<br />
by a novel entitled " Iva Kildare," which Messrs.<br />
Longman hope to issue next month.<br />
Miss Nina F. Layard has placed a volume<br />
entitled " Songs in Many Moods" with Messrs.<br />
Longman for publication.<br />
A new illustrated edition of Thackeray's works<br />
will begin to appear shortly, with biographical<br />
and anecdotal introductions by Mrs. Richmond<br />
Ritchie. Each novel will be complete in one<br />
volume, and they will appear at intervals of one<br />
month. A hitherto unpublished portrait of the<br />
novelist will be given. The publishers, of course,<br />
are Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co.<br />
George Eliot's "Scenes of Clerical Life" will<br />
shortly be published in a sixpenny edition, by<br />
Messrs. Blackwood.<br />
Mr. E. Livingston Prescott's new romance of<br />
military life, called "The Rip's Redemption,"<br />
will be published in a few days by Messrs. Nisbet.<br />
"To Be Had in Remembrance" is the title of<br />
a new anthology of poems concerning the future<br />
life, which will be edited by Mr. A. E. Chance<br />
and published by Mr. Stock.<br />
Mr. Blackmore's new romance, "Dariel," will<br />
be issued shortly by Messrs. Blackwood. "Loraa<br />
Doone," by the way, is about to be published by<br />
Messrs. Sampson Low in a sixpenny form.<br />
Mr. Robert Leighton and Mrs. Marie Connor<br />
Leighton, who have written a number of serials,<br />
are about to publish certain of them in volume<br />
form through Mr. Grant Richards. The first will<br />
be '* Convict 99."<br />
Miss Jean Middlemass is about to run a serial<br />
called "A Life's Surrender" in the syndicate of<br />
newspapers connected with the National Press<br />
Agency.<br />
Mr. Graham Wallas has written "The Life of<br />
Francis Place," which Messrs. Longman will<br />
publish.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 106 (#524) ############################################<br />
<br />
io6<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
The late William Morris's last wort, "The<br />
Sundering Flood," is nearly ready at the Kelms-<br />
cott Press. There will be 300 copies at the sub-<br />
scription price of two guineas, and ten on vellum<br />
at ten guineas.<br />
Miss H. C. Foxcroft is the author of "TheLife<br />
and Letters of Sir George Savile, Baronet, First<br />
Marquis of Halifax," which Messrs. Longman<br />
have in the press.<br />
The volume edited by Mr. Frederick Wedmore<br />
and his daughter, and entitled "Poems of the<br />
Love and Pride of England," will be published<br />
shortly by Messrs. Ward, Lock, and Co. Among<br />
living writers who will be represented in it are<br />
Mr. Swinburne, Mr. Austin Dobson, Mr. Watts-<br />
Dunton, the Poet Laureate, Sir Lewis Morris,<br />
Mr. William Watson, Mr. Kobert Bridges, and<br />
Mr. Conan Doyle.<br />
Mr. Walter Redmond, M.P., has contributed<br />
articles to an Irish newspaper on "A Shooting<br />
Trip in the Australian Bush," the result of his<br />
visit there. These will be published in book<br />
form, and will constitute Mr. Redmond's debut<br />
as an author.<br />
The Marquis of Granby is writing "The<br />
Trout," and Mr. J. E. Harting "The Rabbit,"<br />
for Messrs. Longman and Co.'s "Fur, Feather,<br />
and Fin" series of volumes.<br />
The fourth and last volume of the "Life of<br />
Edward Bouverie Pusey, D.D.," by Dr. Liddon,<br />
edited and prepared for publication by the Rev.<br />
J. 0. Johnston, the Rev. Dr. Wilson, and the<br />
Rev. Canon Newbolt, is in the press by Messrs.<br />
Longman.<br />
The second volume of Dr. Gardiner's "History<br />
of the Commonwealth" is in the press (Long-<br />
man).<br />
Mr. J. K. Laughton is preparing "The Life<br />
and Letters of Henry Reeve, C.B.," late editor of<br />
the Edinburgh Review, which will be published<br />
by Messrs. Longman. This firm will also pub-<br />
lish in the course of the autumn a memoir of<br />
the late Sir Henry Rawlinson, Bart., <fce. It is<br />
written chiefly by the Rev. Canon Rawlinson, but<br />
the present baronet will contribute one chapter,<br />
and Lord Roberts another.<br />
Mr. W. W. Yates has written " The Father of<br />
the Brontes." He has made a close study of the<br />
family history. A portrait of Mr. Bronte as he<br />
was in 1809 will be given.<br />
"Wellington: His Comrades and his Contem-<br />
poraries," is the title of a work on the great<br />
soldier by Major Griffiths, which Mr. George<br />
Allen will publish.<br />
Mr. Bernard Quaritch has in hand the publica-<br />
tion of a work entitled "A Florentine Picture-<br />
Chronicle: Being a Series of Ninety-nine Draw-<br />
ings representing Scenes and Personages of<br />
Sacred and Profane History by Maso Finiguerra,<br />
Reproduced in Facsimile from the Originals in<br />
the British Museum by the Imperial Press,<br />
Berlin, with a Critical and Descriptive Text by<br />
Sidney Colvin, M.A., Keeper of the Prints and<br />
Drawings in the British Museum." The British<br />
Museum acquired the drawings in 1889 from Mr.<br />
Ruskin, who had bought them eighteen years<br />
previously. Mr. Colvin at length discovered<br />
evidence to show that they are the work of the<br />
famous Florentine goldsmith, niello-worker, and<br />
engraver, Maso Finiguerra (1426-1464). Mr.<br />
Colvin hopes to set forth in quite a new light the<br />
artistic personality of this master. The edition<br />
of the work will consist of 300 copies, the price to<br />
subscribers before publication being ^9 9s., and<br />
afterwards ,£12 12*.<br />
LITERATURE IN THE PERIODICALS.<br />
Book Titles. Daily Newt for Ang. 7. Daily Chronicle<br />
for Ang. 13.<br />
Booksellers' Discounts. Interview with Mr. T. Bar*<br />
leigh: Daily Chronicle for Aug. 14. Interview with Mr.<br />
Frederick Maomillan: Daily News for Ang. 4. Opinions of<br />
Booksellers; Daily News for Aug. 11 and 13. Interview<br />
with Mr. M. H. Hodder: Daily News for Ang. 16.<br />
The True Story of Eugene Aram. H. B. Irving.<br />
Nineteenth Century for Angnst.<br />
The Novels of Mr. George Gissing. H. G. Wells.<br />
Contemporary Revieic for Angnst.<br />
George Du Maurier. Henry James. Barper't for<br />
September.<br />
The Sentiment of Chivalry: Burke and Scott.<br />
T. £. Kebbel. Macmillan't Magazine for Angnst.<br />
Some Unpublished Letters of Dean Swift. Geo.<br />
Birkbeck Hill. Atlantic Monthly for Angnst and September.<br />
Ten Years of English Literature. Edmund Gosse.<br />
North American Review for Angnst.<br />
Stationers' Hall has printed a " Lexicographical<br />
Index " of all productions entered there since the<br />
passing of the Copyright Act of 1842. From that<br />
year up to 1884 all entries made at the Hall are<br />
alphabetically indexed, either under authors'<br />
names or under titles; while from 1884 forward,<br />
not only authors and titles, but sub-titles, subjects,<br />
and even publishers, are recorded in the same<br />
alphabetical arrangement. This is a substantial<br />
reform, but the drawback, as the Daily News<br />
writer remarks, lies in the fact that the Copyright<br />
Acts impose no obligation to register literary pro-<br />
ductions unless the owner of the copyright is<br />
about to take legal proceedings for infringement<br />
—which he very seldom has to do. "It would<br />
certainly be safe to say that of the quarter of a<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 107 (#525) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
million or more of books and pamphlets published<br />
in Great Britain since 1842, not 25,000 have been<br />
heard of at Stationers' Hall." Therefore, "Mr.<br />
Payn's felicitations to his brother novelists and<br />
men of letters, must continue to be premature till<br />
the Legislature has created that long-desired<br />
institution, a compulsory register of all literary<br />
property." It is also suggested that the fee for<br />
registration should be reduced from 5*. to, say, is.<br />
Another proposal is that an index of all books<br />
as they reach the British Museum should be<br />
made there, and kept at the disposal of those who<br />
wish to consult it.<br />
Mr. T. Burleigh, of Oxfoi-d-street, who is the<br />
secretary of the Booksellers' Association, has<br />
given extracts from his own business ledger to<br />
prove the narrow profits that are being made in<br />
the trade. He quotes his dealings with eight<br />
first-class publishers for a certain period. All<br />
the books are copyright volumes. Here is the<br />
statement:<br />
JB1649 10s. 6<2. did not produce enough to pay working<br />
expenses.<br />
JE1391 7s. yd. produced 2j per cent, beyond working<br />
expenses.<br />
JE406 6s. yd. produced 51 per cent.<br />
.£14 28. od. „ 10 „<br />
£$3 31. gd. „ ii „<br />
£74 17s. gd. „ 7<br />
£10 7s. sd. „ 5 „<br />
JB131 118. od. ., 3 „<br />
£16 is. 6d. just paid working expenses.<br />
The above represents handling thousands of<br />
books by the best authors, "Surely," says Mr.<br />
Burleigh, "those authors may well consider<br />
whether such a condition of the book trade can<br />
be satisfactory to anybody." Out of his profit<br />
he has to make good the loss on ,£1649 10s. 6d.,<br />
and to keep stock. "I want to know," he adds,<br />
"where I come in for food and raiment?"<br />
Mr. Glaisher, bookseller, declares that the<br />
proposed change to a fixed discount of 2d. in<br />
the i*. would be bad for authors and publishers,<br />
and would make the whole trade suffer. It<br />
would mean, for one thing, a decrease in the sale<br />
of six-shilling novels, for although the public<br />
have said nothing yet about these becoming<br />
shorter and padded out with leaded type, they<br />
would not give an extra sixpence for them.<br />
What the country bookseller suffers from, in Mr.<br />
Glaisher's opinion, is lack of enterprise. "I find<br />
country drapers much more awake," he declares,<br />
"than the booksellers are. Offer a country<br />
draper a special book, and if the price is low he<br />
will take a large stock. Then he gets a fair<br />
profit." Mr. Henry Bumpus, speaking for him-<br />
self—as distinct from his firm—doubts the<br />
wisdom of the proposed change. He is opposed<br />
to coercion, and would have any alteration of<br />
discount come about voluntarily. Another large<br />
trader is doubtful whether the opposition of the<br />
few London houses who are against the scheme<br />
could be overcome. This gentleman does not<br />
think that to the man who pays 4*. 6d. for a<br />
novel another sixpence is of vital importance;<br />
but, on the other hand, Mr. Stoneham, one of the<br />
leaders of the old "3d. in the is." party, is<br />
quite convinced that the public would not submit<br />
to this, and once the prices went up, he, for one,<br />
would not be able to sell nearly so many six-<br />
shilling novels. Mr. Kichard Poole, a country<br />
bookseller, disputes the charge that it is "lack<br />
of enterprise" prevents his class from buying<br />
largely. The reason, on the contrary, he says,<br />
is that the demand would not justify it:—<br />
Where then can his profit be if he has to pay 48. 2d. and<br />
commission, or 48. 6d. net, for his 6s. book, plus expenses?<br />
The result of these discounts is that booksellers in small<br />
country towns (and in the aggregate they are many) do<br />
not now, as a rule, Btock these books, and this fact does not<br />
tend to increase sales. The country draper may be open<br />
to buy a special book " if the price be low," but I have never<br />
yet known this apply to new books of the day.<br />
As regards the suggestion that the public will<br />
not pay 5*., instead of 4s. 6d., for the 6*. novel, a<br />
decided contradiction comes from Sheffield. The<br />
District Booksellers' Association there became<br />
convinced of the virtue of the proposed reform,<br />
and on the 1st July they began the system of<br />
allowing 2d. in the shilling off the published<br />
prices of the general run of books. Since that<br />
time the Sheffield booksellers have sold 6s. novels<br />
at 5s., and their experience—expressed officially<br />
—is that the public do not object, but, on the<br />
contrary, they purchase the books and sympathise<br />
with the movement.<br />
Mr. M. H. Hodder, of the firm of Messrs.<br />
Hodder and Stoughton, publishers, does not<br />
believe that an alteration in the discount in the<br />
country will greatly help the booksellers there.<br />
Indeed, he believes it will take trade from them.<br />
The discount system in London he is positive<br />
cannot be altered, and he foresees only a greater<br />
patronage to the metropolitan dealer if a less<br />
discount is the rule in the country. Mr. Macmillan<br />
remarks that if the authors are not willing, then<br />
the whole scheme will be dropped.<br />
Mr. Henry James enjoyed the acquaintance of<br />
the late Mr. Du Maurier during nineteen years.<br />
One of the most notable things in his paper,<br />
which is largely persona', is the account of the<br />
effect of the "Trilby" boom upon Du Maurier,<br />
an event which coincided with his diminished<br />
relish for life. Mr. James has "small difficulty<br />
in seeing" these occurrences rather painfully<br />
related:—<br />
What I Bee certainly is that no such violence of publicity<br />
can leavo untroubled and unadulterated the sources of the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 108 (#526) ############################################<br />
<br />
io8<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
production in which it may have found Hb pretext. The<br />
whole phenomenon grew and grew until it became, at any<br />
rate for this particular victim, a fountain of gloom and a<br />
portent of woe; it darkened all his sky with a hugeness of<br />
vulgarity. It became a mere immensity of sound, the<br />
senseless hnm of a million of newspapers, and the irresponsible<br />
chatter of ten million of gossips. The pleasant sense of having<br />
done well was deprived of all sweetness, all privacy, all<br />
sanctity. . . . The demonstrations and revelations<br />
encircled him like a ronde infernale.<br />
The new Swift letters are those written by him<br />
to his friend Knightley Chetwode, of Wood-<br />
brooke, during the seventeen years (1714-1731)<br />
which followed his appointment to the deanery of<br />
St. Patrick's.<br />
THE BOOES OE THE MONTH.<br />
[August 24 to Sept. 23.—113 Books.]<br />
Allbutt, T. 0. (ed.). A System of Medicine. Vol. III. 25/- net.<br />
Ailing-ham, II., and Crawford. B. Captain Cuellar's AdTentures in<br />
Connacht and Ulster, A.D., 1588; Captain Cucllar'B Narrative of<br />
the Spanish Armada, Ac. 2/- Stock.<br />
Ames, P. W. (ed.). The Mirror of the Sinful Soul. A prose trans-<br />
lation from the French, made by the PrinccBS (afterwards Queen)<br />
Elizabeth. 10 ,'6. Ashor.<br />
Anderson, E. J. Some AspectB of Mimicry. Galway : M. Clayton.<br />
Anne, Mrs. C. A Women of Moods. 5/- Burns and Oaten.<br />
Anonymous ("A.B."). The Blasted Life. 1/- Roxbnrghe.<br />
Anonymous ("AnExpert"). A LesBon in Seeing. G.Gill<br />
Anonymous ("An Old Golfer"). Golf on a New Principle 16 net.<br />
Bournemouth: Bright.<br />
Anonymous (" One of Themselves "). Libellua Precum: A Manual<br />
of Prayers for the Use of the Clergy. 3/6. Ilodgea.<br />
Architectural Review, The. Vol. L 5 6. Builders' Journal Office.<br />
Bailey. G. H. The Principles of FruitGrowing. J'-net. Macmillan.<br />
Balfour, Andrew. By Stroke of Sword. 6/- Methuen.<br />
Bateman, G. C. The Vivarium. 7/6. Upcott Gill.<br />
Belcher, A., and Macartney, M. E. Later Renaissance Architecture<br />
in England. Part I. ill- not. BatBford.<br />
Bemmclen, J. F. Van. Guide to the Dutch East Indies (trauB. by B.<br />
J. Berrtngton) Luzac.<br />
Beresford, E. M. Songs and Shadows B/- net. Digby.<br />
Berlyii, Mrs. Alfred. Sunrise Land. 2- Jarrold.<br />
Bezant, Anna L. K. The Vocallht. 10.6 net. Augener.<br />
Bland, 0. C. S., and Bower, H. M. Ulpon Grammar School: The<br />
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Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S.<br />
W. E. H. Lecky, P.C.<br />
J. M. Lely.<br />
Mrs. E. Lynn Linton.<br />
Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A.<br />
Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mas.Doc.<br />
Prof. J. M. D. Meiklejohn.<br />
Herman C. Merivale.<br />
Eon. Counsel — E. M. Underdown,<br />
Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wake.<br />
Sir Lewis Morris.<br />
Henry Norman.<br />
Miss E. A. Ormerod.<br />
J. C. Parkinson.<br />
Right Hon. Lord Pirbrioht, P.C,<br />
F.R.S.<br />
Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D.<br />
Walter Herries Pollock.<br />
W. Baptiste Scoones.<br />
Miss Flora L. Shaw.<br />
G. R. Sims.<br />
S. Squire Spriqoe.<br />
J. J. Stevenson.<br />
Francis Store.<br />
William Moy Thomas.<br />
H. D. Traill, D.C.L.<br />
Mrs. Humphry Ward.<br />
Miss Charlotte M. Yonoe.<br />
Q.C.<br />
A.. W. X Beckett.<br />
Sir Walter Besant.<br />
Eoerton Castle, F.S.A.<br />
W. Morris Colles.<br />
ART.<br />
Hon. John Collier (Chairman).<br />
Sir W. Martin Conway.<br />
M. H. Spielmann<br />
COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT<br />
Chairman—H. Rider Haggard.<br />
Sir W. Martin Conway.<br />
D. W. Freshfield.<br />
Anthony Hope Hawkins.<br />
J. M. Lely.<br />
SU B-COM M ITTEES.<br />
MUSIC.<br />
C. Villiers Stanford, Mas.D. (Chairman)<br />
Jacques Blumenthal.<br />
J. L. Molloy.<br />
Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mub.Doc.<br />
Henry Norman.<br />
Francis Storr.<br />
Solicitors—<br />
f Field, Roscoe, and Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields<br />
DRAMA.<br />
Henry Arthur Jones (Chairman).<br />
A. W. a Beckett.<br />
Edward Rose.<br />
Herbert Thring, B.A., 4, Portugal-street. Secretary—G. Herbert Thrino, B.A.<br />
OFFICES: 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C.<br />
.A.. IP. WJ^TT & SOINT,<br />
LITERARY AGENTS,<br />
Formerly of 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE,<br />
Have now removed to<br />
HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND,<br />
LONDON". W.C.<br />
Published every Friday morning; price, without Reports, 9<L; with<br />
Reports, Is.<br />
THE LAW TIMES, the Journal of the Law and the<br />
Lawyers, which has now been established for over half a century,<br />
supplies to the Profession a complete Record of the Progress of Legal<br />
Reforms, and of all matters affecting the Legal Profession. The<br />
Reports of the Law Times are now recognised as the most complete<br />
and efficient Beries published.<br />
Offices: Windsor House, Bream's-buildings, E.0<br />
THE ART of CHESS. By James Mason. Price 5s.<br />
net, by post 5s. 4d.<br />
London: Horace Cox, Windsor House, Bream's-buildings, E.0.<br />
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tions. Crown 8vo., cloth boards, price 2s. «d. net.<br />
London: HouACE Cox, Windsor House, Bream's-buildings, E.O.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 57 (#471) #############################################<br />
<br />
be Hutbor*<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br />
CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br />
Vol. VIII.—No. 3.] AUGUST 2, 1897. [Price Sixpence.<br />
For the Opinions expressed in papers that are<br />
signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br />
responsible. None of the papers or para-<br />
graphs must be taken as expressing the<br />
collective opinions of the Committee unless<br />
they are. officially signed by G. Herbert<br />
Thring, Sec.<br />
THE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br />
remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br />
requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br />
important communications within two days will write to him<br />
without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br />
Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br />
letter only.<br />
Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br />
all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br />
jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br />
returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br />
GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br />
FOB some years it has been the praotioe to insert, in<br />
every number of The Author, certain " General Con-<br />
siderations," Warnings, Notices, &c, for the guidance<br />
of the reader. It has been objeoted as regards these<br />
warnings that the tricks or frauds against which they are<br />
directed cannot all be guarded against, for obvious reasons.<br />
It is, however, well that they should be borne in mind, and<br />
if any publisher refuses a clause of precaution he simply<br />
reveals his true character, and should be left to carry on<br />
his business in his own way.<br />
Let us, however, draw up a few of the rules to be<br />
observed in an agreement. There are three methods of<br />
dealing with literary property:—<br />
I. That of Belling it outright.<br />
This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br />
price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br />
managed by a competent agent.<br />
II. A pro&t-sharing agreement.<br />
In this case the following rules should be attended to ><br />
(1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br />
duction forms a part.<br />
(2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br />
profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise-<br />
ments.<br />
_ (3.) Not to allow a special charge for " offioe expenses,"<br />
unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br />
(4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br />
rights.<br />
(5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights.<br />
(6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher.<br />
As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br />
doctor!<br />
(7.) To stamp the agreement.<br />
III. The royalty system.<br />
In this system, which has opened the door to a most<br />
amazing amount of overreaching and trading on the<br />
author's ignorance, it is above all things necessary to know<br />
what the proposed royalty means to both °ides. It is now<br />
possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very<br />
nearly the truth. Prom time to time the very important<br />
figures conneoted with royalties are published in The Author.<br />
Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br />
"Cost of Production." Let no one, not even the youngest<br />
writer, sign a royalty agreement without finding out what<br />
it gives the publisher as well as himself.<br />
It has been objeoted. that these precautions presuppose a<br />
great success for the book, and that very few books indeed<br />
attain to this great success. That is quite true: but there is<br />
always this uncertainty of literary property that, although<br />
the works of a groat many authors carry with them no risk<br />
at all, and although of a great many it is known within a few<br />
copies what will be their minimum circulation, it is not<br />
known what will be their maximum. Therefore every<br />
author, for every book, should arrange on the chance of a<br />
success whioh will not, probably, come at all; but which<br />
may come.<br />
The four points whioh the Society has always demanded<br />
from the outset are:—<br />
(1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement<br />
means.<br />
(2.) The inspection of those account books which belong<br />
to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the<br />
nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or<br />
withheld.<br />
(3.) That there shall be no secret profits.<br />
(4.) That nothing shall be charged whioh has not been<br />
actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for<br />
advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for<br />
exchanged advertisements and that all dissounta shall b"<br />
duly entered.<br />
If these points are carefully looked after, the author may<br />
rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the<br />
same time he will do well to send his agreement to the<br />
secretary before he signs it.<br />
F 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 58 (#472) #############################################<br />
<br />
58 THE AUTHOR.<br />
HOW TO USB THE SOCIETY.<br />
I. "TTWERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br />
I* J advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br />
lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br />
business or the administration of his property. If the advice<br />
sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member<br />
has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the<br />
case is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com-<br />
mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this<br />
without any cost to the member.<br />
2. Eemember that questions connected with oopyright<br />
and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the<br />
experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br />
to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually<br />
engaged upon such questions for us.<br />
3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past<br />
accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in<br />
order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree-<br />
ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively<br />
so far. The Seoretary will always be glad to have any<br />
agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor-<br />
mation thns obtained may prove invaluable.<br />
4. If the examination of your previous business trans-<br />
actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should<br />
take advice as to a change of publishers.<br />
5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br />
posed dooument to the Society for examination.<br />
6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in<br />
the cose of fraudulent houses—the tricks of every publish-<br />
ing firm in the country.<br />
7. 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 />
8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of everything<br />
important to literature that you may hear or meet with.<br />
9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of<br />
members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br />
safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br />
fidential documents to be read only by the 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 />
THE AUTHORS' SYNDICATE.<br />
MEMBERS are informed:<br />
1. That the Authors' Syndicate takes charge of<br />
the business of members of the Society. That it<br />
submits MSS. to publishers and editors, concludes agree-<br />
ments, examines, passes, and collects accounts, and, gene-<br />
rally, relieves members of the trouble of managing business<br />
details.<br />
2. That the terms upon which its services can be secured<br />
will be forwarded upon detailed application.<br />
3. That the Authors' Syndicate works only for those<br />
members of the Society whose work possesses a market<br />
value.<br />
4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiations<br />
whatever ou the distinct understanding that those negotia-<br />
tions are placed exclusively in its hands, and that all<br />
communications relating thereto are referred to it.<br />
5. That clients can only be seen by the Direotor by<br />
appointment, and that, when possible, at least two days'<br />
notice should be given.<br />
6. That every attempt is made to deal with all communi-<br />
cations promptly. That stamps should, in ail cases, be sent<br />
to defray postage.<br />
7. That the Authors' Syndicate does not invite MSS.<br />
without previous correspondence; does not hold itself<br />
responsible for MSS. forwarded without notice; and that<br />
in all cases MSS. must be accompanied by stamps to defray<br />
postage.<br />
8. That the Syndicate undertakes arrangements for<br />
lectures by some of the leading members of the Society;<br />
that it has a "Transfer Department" for the sale and<br />
purchase of journals and periodicals; and that a " Register<br />
of Wants and Wanted" is open. Members are invited to<br />
communicate their requirements to the Manager.<br />
There is an Honorary Advisory Committee, whose services<br />
will be called upon in any case of dispute or difficulty. It<br />
is perhaps necessary to state that the members of the<br />
Advisory Committee have no pecuniary interest whatever in<br />
the Syndicate.<br />
NOTICES.<br />
THE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br />
Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br />
of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br />
heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br />
many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br />
6s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br />
The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and<br />
communications on all subjects connected with literature<br />
from members and others. Nothing can do more good to<br />
the Society than to make The Author complete, attractive,<br />
and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this<br />
work send their names and the special subjects on which<br />
they ore willing to write?<br />
Communications for The Author should reach the Editor<br />
not later than the 21 st of each month.<br />
All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether<br />
members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate<br />
to the Editor any points connected with their work which<br />
it would be advisable in the general interest to publish.<br />
Members and others who wish their MSS. read are<br />
requested not to send them to the Office without previously<br />
communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable<br />
despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in<br />
which they are received. It must also be distinctly under-<br />
stood that the Society does not, under any circumstances,<br />
undertake the publication of MSS.<br />
The Authors' Club is now open in its new premises, at<br />
3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary<br />
for information, rules of admission, Ac.<br />
Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they<br />
have paid their subscriptions for the year? If they will do<br />
this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's<br />
order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the<br />
trouble of sending out a reminder.<br />
Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the<br />
following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a<br />
most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding<br />
for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they<br />
would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five<br />
years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest<br />
. I<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 59 (#473) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
59<br />
or dishonest? Of coarse they would not. Why then<br />
hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them-<br />
selves into literary bondage for three or five years?<br />
Those who possess the "Cost of Production" are<br />
requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15<br />
per cent. This means, for those who do not like the trouble<br />
of "doing sums," the addition of three shillings in the<br />
pound on this head. In other words, if the cost of binding<br />
is set down in our book at eight pounds, to this must now be<br />
added twenty-four shillings more, bo that it now stands<br />
at £g 48. The figures in our book are as near the exact<br />
truth as can be procured; but a printer's, or a binder's,<br />
bill is so elastic a thing that nothing more exact can be<br />
arrived at.<br />
Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged<br />
in the " Cost of Production " for advertising. Of course, we<br />
have not included any sums which may be charged for<br />
inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines,<br />
or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too<br />
often go, there is nothing to prevent the publishor from<br />
sweeping the whole profits o a book into his own pocket,<br />
by inserting any number of advertisements in his own<br />
magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are<br />
who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those<br />
who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it.<br />
FROM THE COMMITTEE.<br />
ON Thursday, July 26, a meeting of the Com-<br />
mittee was held at the Medical Association<br />
Rooms, Hanover-square. It was Resolved:<br />
"That in view of the proposed action of the<br />
Publishers' Association towards the booksellers,<br />
a committee be appointed to consider the whole<br />
questiou, and to arrive at the opinions and inte-<br />
rests of the persons most concerned. That the<br />
committee should consist of five, who should have<br />
power to extend their number to twelve, but not<br />
more."<br />
It is expected that the committee will begin<br />
their work in September.<br />
Owing to the great pressure upon our space<br />
this month, Mr. Hapgood's New York Letter, and<br />
Mr. Sherard's Notes from Elsewhere, have been<br />
unavoidably held over.<br />
LITERARY PROPERTY.<br />
I.—The House of Loeds Committee.<br />
THE Select Committee of the House of Lords<br />
which has been appointed to deal with the<br />
copyright law promoted by the Society, and<br />
drafted for the Society by Mr. J. Rolt, of 4, New-<br />
square, sat for the first time on Thursday, July 1.<br />
As previously stated in The Author, the Bill is<br />
being brought forward on behalf of the Society<br />
by Lord Monkswell, who acted as chairman of<br />
the Lords' Committee.<br />
Mr. Daldy, who was a member of the com-<br />
mission of 1878, and who is secretary of the<br />
Copyright Association, was the first witness<br />
called.<br />
He gave evidence on the various points of the<br />
Bill, and answered the numerous questions put to<br />
him by their Lordships as to the effect of the Bill<br />
and its bearing with regard to change in the exist-<br />
ing law.<br />
The witness, in answer to their Lordships,<br />
touched on the point of the inclusion of transla-<br />
tion rights in a definition of copyright and its<br />
effect on the International law; on the question<br />
of the definition of " book" shall include " news-<br />
paper"; on the existing law with respect to<br />
lectures ; on the proposed amendment of that law;<br />
and generally on all the other points dealt with<br />
in the Bill.<br />
After the witness had given his evidence on<br />
the point relating to the definition "book shall<br />
include newspaper," the room was cleared, and on<br />
the re-admission of the public the chairman said<br />
that the committee had come to the conclusion<br />
that they would not include any alteration in the<br />
law with regard to the copyright in newspapers<br />
in the present Bill.<br />
Mr. Daldy was taken through various objec-<br />
tions, and suggested amendments, which objec-<br />
tions and amendments he had furnished to the<br />
secretary of the Society, who in turn had forwarded<br />
them to the chairman of the committee.<br />
Their Lordships listened with attention to his<br />
statements, and reserved the points for their con-<br />
sideration.<br />
At the conclusion of Mr. Daldy's evidence,<br />
Mr. C. J. Longman, representing the Publishers'<br />
Association, was called. His evidence was given<br />
in support of the Bill in all its important essen-<br />
tials. He did not touch on the points that had<br />
already been covered by the former witness except<br />
when it appeared to him that errors of law or<br />
fact had been put before their Lordships. His<br />
evidence was very strongly in favour of the fullest<br />
protection for the performance of dramatic works,<br />
whether such performance took place in a place<br />
of dramatic entertainment or in a private house.<br />
Although not supporting the suggestion in the<br />
Bill for registration at the British Museum, he<br />
stated that he looked forward to a time when<br />
registration should be made compulsory.<br />
Mr. G. H. Thring, the secretary of the Society,<br />
as representing the promoters of the Bill, was<br />
called last so as, if necessary, to supplement or<br />
correct the evidence already given, and to put<br />
before the Committee, should they desire, the views<br />
of the promoters of the Bill on any of the sepa-<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 60 (#474) #############################################<br />
<br />
6o<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
rate clauses. As most of the difficulties had<br />
already been explained (both of the former wit-<br />
nesses being mainly in favour of the Bill), there<br />
was very little to add, but the secretary pressed<br />
those points which appeared to be of the greatest<br />
benefit to authors, namely, the repeal of the 18th<br />
section of the existing Act and the adoption of<br />
the present clauses; the retention in the author<br />
of rights of dramaiisation of his novels, and the<br />
necessity for complete registration.<br />
The committee then adjourned to Thursday,<br />
July 8.<br />
On Thursday, July 8th, their Lordships' Special<br />
Committee again sat, Mr. Bram Stoker, Sir<br />
Henry Irving's manager, was called as being<br />
able to answer for the theatrical managers on the<br />
points relating to the drama and dramatic rights.<br />
He stated that the practice of dramatising novels<br />
was on the increase, and he thought it was<br />
absolutely essential both that the author of a<br />
book should be protected from dramatisation,<br />
and the author of a drama from novelisation.<br />
He submitted that dramatic authors should be<br />
able to prohibit performances in public or private.<br />
He desired to see a simplification if possible of<br />
the method of obtaining an injunction against the<br />
infringing parties, and stated that managers<br />
would prefer such simplified legal remedy rather<br />
than merely the power of obtaining penalties.<br />
He also touched on the subject of copyright in<br />
lectures.<br />
At the close of his evidence the room was<br />
â– cleared for the consideration of the Bill by their<br />
Lordships.<br />
The Bill has now been revised by the Special<br />
Committee, Lord Thring undertaking the redraft-<br />
ing of it on behalf of their Lordships' Special<br />
Committee.<br />
On Monday, July 19, Lord Monkswell on the<br />
motion to go into committee on the Bill made the<br />
following speech. The House then went into<br />
committee, and the amendments proposed by the<br />
Special Committee were agreed to.<br />
Lord Monkswell asked to be allowed to say<br />
a few words as to the proceedings of the<br />
Select Committee to which the Bill was referred.<br />
The benches opposite were represented by Lord<br />
Knutsford, Lord Pirbright, Lord Hatherton,<br />
and Lord Tennyson; while Lord Farrer, Lord<br />
Thring, and Lord Wei by represented that side.<br />
The committee sat several days, and went into<br />
the subject carefully. The first point which<br />
they devoted a great deal of attention to was that<br />
of translation. It was absolutely necessary to<br />
amend the law with regard to translations. It<br />
was now in a sad state of confusion. Trans-<br />
lation into foreign tongues were dealt with<br />
under the Berne Convention and under the<br />
International Copyright Act. But as to trans-<br />
lations into Hindustani, Welsh, Gaelic, and other<br />
tongues current within the British Dominions the<br />
law was in a doubtful state indeed. With regard<br />
to this he could not do better than quote from<br />
the evidence of Mr. Daldy, one of the Commis-<br />
sioners of 1878, and who was now, and had been<br />
for many years, honorary secretary of the Copy-<br />
right Association.<br />
Lord Monkswell then read the portion of the<br />
evidence bearing on this point, and then pro-<br />
ceeded :—It was certain, therefore, that the matter<br />
of translation ought to be dealt with as soon as<br />
possible, and the promoters of the Bill proposed<br />
to deal with it by giving, as was proposed in the<br />
original Bill, the absolute right during the whole<br />
period of the copyright to prevent unauthorised<br />
translations. An endeavour had been made to<br />
lighten the Bill so that it might be got through<br />
their Lordships' House this Session, and it dealt<br />
only with those subjects which were most press-<br />
ing and least contentious. All reference to news-<br />
paper copyright had been struck out. With<br />
regard to magazine copyright, it was proposed to<br />
make it retrospective, but as there was a diffe-<br />
rence of opinion as to that, the clause in the Bill<br />
making the copyright retrospective had been<br />
omitted. With regard to lectures the Bill<br />
had also been considerably lightened. The<br />
great point on which the committee wished<br />
to insist was that eojiyright should be given not<br />
only in lectures when published in a book, but<br />
when delivered, and that they had tried to effect<br />
by the Bill. It was further suggested in the<br />
original Bill that the law should be altered so as<br />
to give copyright, which did not now exist, to<br />
lectures delivered in endowed buildings. The<br />
Select Committee were on the whole favourable to<br />
that proposition, but, at the same time, they re-<br />
cognised that any alteration of the law to effect<br />
that must seriously affect very considerable inte-<br />
rests; and they thought it was not desirable,<br />
without taking a great deal of evidence and going<br />
into the matter very thoroughly, to recommend<br />
such an alteration in the law, consequently they<br />
had inserted in the amended Bill a proviso set-<br />
ting up again the provision that now existed—<br />
not allowing copyright to lectures in endowed<br />
buildings. For the present it had been decided<br />
not to propose any change in the law with<br />
regard to the difficult and thorny question of<br />
registration. Another alteration had been made<br />
which he thought would commend itself to their<br />
lordships. The principil Act of 1842 now<br />
applied to all British possessions, unless by Order<br />
in Council they should bo exempted either from<br />
the whole Act or part of it. It was proposed<br />
in the amended Bill to give the British posses-<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 61 (#475) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
61<br />
sion8 much greater freedom of action by declar-<br />
ing that the Act, if it passed, should not run in<br />
any of the British possessions unless they them-<br />
selves asked either for the whole or part of it.<br />
The net result, therefore, of the labours of the<br />
Select Committee had been to greatly lighten<br />
the Bill, and to clear it of almost every subject<br />
of controversy, whilst at the same time it intro-<br />
duced a great many alterations of the law which<br />
were of considerable value. He might, perhaps,<br />
be allowed to say that the best thanks of the<br />
committee were due to Lord Thring for the great<br />
care and attention he had bestowed on the draft-<br />
ing of this measure. (Hear.) He found that<br />
two or three amendments would have to be made,<br />
which, however, did not touch the Bill in this<br />
respect. In order that noble lords might have<br />
an opportunity of considering the amendments<br />
he had put down, he proposed to take the<br />
report stage to-morrow, and the amendments<br />
on Thursday or Friday, when he hoped the<br />
House would give a third reading to the Bill.<br />
(Hear, hear.) He begged to move that the<br />
House now resolve itself into Committee on the<br />
Bill.<br />
On Friday, July 23, the Bill was read a third<br />
time.<br />
Lord Monkswell stated that at the wish of the<br />
Colonial Office he desired to move that Clause 12<br />
be omitted.<br />
The omission was agreed to.<br />
II.—The New Copyright Bill.<br />
I. FBOM THE "TIMES."<br />
A gentleman engaged in a publishing business<br />
recently wrote to Lord Monkswell suggesting that<br />
it was desirable to take steps to protect the titles<br />
of series of books, and so to prevent the foisting<br />
upon the public of hasty imitations of deservedly<br />
popular volumes. "I have been," he said, "in<br />
correspondence both with the Stationers' Hall<br />
authorities and the Trade Mark Office of the<br />
Board of Trade; and recently I took occasion to<br />
have an interview with the respective chiefs of<br />
these offices. The Eegistrar of Trade Marks told<br />
me that, unquestionably, such titles fall outside<br />
the scope of the present Trade Mark Acts; but<br />
he seemed to see no objection whatever to the re-<br />
gistration of such titles, only he thought that<br />
such a matter would fall more fittingly within the<br />
province of Stationers' Hall. The chief man at<br />
Stationers' Hall said: (1) That my application<br />
was by no means the first of the sort, that, on the<br />
contrary, more people came to his office with<br />
similar requests than with any other; (2) that he<br />
thought that means for registering novel titles of<br />
businesses and series of books should be given to<br />
the public; (3) that he had noted with surprise<br />
that the new Copyright Bill which your lordship<br />
was introducing into the House of Lords contained<br />
no provision for this purpose; (4) that he thought<br />
it very possible that, if the matter were brought<br />
before your lordship, your lordship would see the<br />
desirability of making such an addition." Lord<br />
Monkswell's reply was as follows: "I will lay<br />
your statement before the Copyright Committee<br />
at its next meeting; but, as the amendments you<br />
suggest would enlarge the scope of the Bill, I do<br />
not think they will consider themselves justified<br />
in recommending them to the House."<br />
II. FBOM THE " DAILY NEWS."<br />
Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill has been<br />
printed and circulated with the amendments made<br />
by the Select Committee of the House of Lords.<br />
These were accepted in committee of the whole<br />
House yesterday afternoon, and the Bill now<br />
stands for third reading. As it has not yet passed<br />
through the House of Commons, the chances of<br />
its becoming law this session must be regarded as<br />
remote. But it has now been brought into the<br />
best shape which legal minds can give it, and<br />
there may be some hope for it in 1898. Even<br />
this year, if some general agreement could be<br />
obtained, a judicious attempt to deal with a<br />
difficult subject might be crowned with success.<br />
Social reform is not achieved in England with<br />
reckless or thoughtless haste. The essence of this<br />
measure formed the subject of a Bill which the<br />
present Duke of Rutland, then Lord John<br />
Manners and Postmaster-General, introduced<br />
into the House of Commons in 1879. That<br />
was, if we are not mistaken, the year in<br />
which the late Sir John Holker moved the<br />
second reading of the Criminal Code Bill, which<br />
has never got beyond a second reading since.<br />
There are presentable, we do not say conclusive,<br />
arguments against the codification of the criminal<br />
law. But the law of copyright has been osten-<br />
sibly codified for more than half a century, and<br />
all that is now required may be accomplished by<br />
a short amending Bill. In 1878 there was a<br />
Royal Commission on Copyright, to which Lord<br />
John Manners' Bill was due, and thirteen years<br />
afterwards, in 1891, Lord Monkswell again<br />
endeavoured to legislate upon the Commission's<br />
Report. But there is none of "that slippery<br />
stuff," as Mr. Morley calls party capital, to be<br />
made out of copyright, and so copyright, like the<br />
Corporation of London, remains unreformed. In<br />
1891 Lord Monkswell's Bill was read a second<br />
time. This year it has advanced a step further,<br />
and has gone through Committee. The first<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 62 (#476) #############################################<br />
<br />
62<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
clause makes translation an infringement of copy-<br />
right. This is obviously just, if there is to be<br />
any copyright at all, whether the right has or has<br />
not been expressly reserved. A very important<br />
change is made in the copyright of magazines.<br />
In 1842, when the principal Copyright Act was<br />
passed, there were very few magazines, except the<br />
old quarterlies, with Blachicood's and the Gentle-<br />
man's. Now there are almost as many magazines<br />
in a month as there are days in a year, and a large<br />
number of the articles contributed to them have a<br />
really permanent value. At present the author of<br />
an article has a right of separate publication for<br />
eight-and-twenty years. Macaulay, for instance,<br />
could not without permission from the editor of<br />
the Edinburgh Review—which was, of course,<br />
given, but which might have been refused—have<br />
republished during his lifetime any of his essays<br />
except those on Milton, Machiavelb, and, perhaps,<br />
one or two more.<br />
The Bill provides that while the proprietor of<br />
the magazine shall have the sole right of pub-<br />
lishing the magazine itself, and the articles as<br />
part of it, the author of an article may publish<br />
it separately after three years. This is a great<br />
change, but a change wholly, in our opinion,<br />
for the better. Copyright is essentially the asser-<br />
tion of property. But whei-e a special kind of<br />
property, which did not exist at common law, is<br />
created by statute, Parliament should be careful<br />
to regulate it in the public interest. The interest<br />
of the public lies in the rapid diffusion of readable<br />
matter, and cannot be served by locking up<br />
interesting essays for a generation. Seven years<br />
before the Copyright Act of 1842 there was passed<br />
the Lectures Copyright Act of 1835. This Act<br />
gives a lecturer the exclusive right of publication.<br />
But it requires a preliminary notice to Justices of<br />
the Peace, which savours of the terror inspired by<br />
the French Revolution, when lectures were<br />
regarded much as dynamite w-as regarded a hun-<br />
dred years later. It is doubtful whether the Act<br />
applies to sermons, and there must, we should<br />
imagine, be very few magistrates who have been<br />
formally notified that a new volume of sermons<br />
was about to dazzle the world. The Bill abolishes<br />
this rather ridiculous formality, and gives the<br />
lecturer, as well as the preacher, an absolute<br />
copyright. But it allows a lecture to be reported<br />
in a newspaper unless the lecturer expressly<br />
states that he does not wish to be reported.<br />
There are not many lectures which would suffi-<br />
ciently attract the general reader to be reported<br />
at any great length, nor would many newspapers<br />
have space for them. But a paid lecturer, who<br />
delivers the same lecture, which may have cost<br />
him much labour and research, at several places,<br />
is entitled to protection against a form of<br />
publicity which would destroy his market. Suchr<br />
at least, is the view popular in the literary class,<br />
and the view to which Carlyle gave such forcible<br />
emphasis in his famous petition to the House of<br />
Commons. There is, of course, the theory,<br />
understood to find favour with at least one<br />
eminent statesman, that copyright is an infringe-<br />
of public right, and that authors should be com-<br />
pensated by a royalty. But that is not within<br />
the range of practical politics. One of Johnson's<br />
biographers narrates an argument upon a Scottish<br />
case, which went from the Court of Session to<br />
the House of Lords, and which raised the point<br />
of copyright at common law in lectures or<br />
sermons. Dr. Johnson declared that it was<br />
unjust to stereotype a man's doctrines and ideas,<br />
which he might afterwards see cause to alter.<br />
That motive had not previously restrained the<br />
sage from reporting Parliamentary debates in<br />
what he was pleased to call the "Senate of<br />
Liliput."<br />
Wot the least important clauses in the Bill are<br />
those which deal with abridgments. As Lord<br />
Monkswell says in the useful memorandum pre-<br />
fixed to the Bill: "It is now easy without any<br />
infringement of copyright, in a few weeks, by<br />
skilful abridgment, to appropriate the fruit of<br />
the labours of many years, and to compete with<br />
the original copyright bought and published at a<br />
very great expense." The art of judicious<br />
abridgment is not perhaps quite so common as<br />
Lord Monkswell supposes. But a farrago of<br />
extracts any fool can turn out, and they may<br />
be so copious or so vital as to prevent many<br />
readers from approaching the original work.<br />
Under this Bill copyright carries with it the right<br />
of abridgment as well as the right of transla-<br />
lation, and the author would be empowered to<br />
insist upon a disclaimer of his authorship being<br />
printed upon the title-page. There is no copy-<br />
right in ideas. That is to say, that an illegitimate<br />
reproduction of another man's work must be a.<br />
verbal one, or there is no remedy. Any one,<br />
therefore, is at liberty to make a play out of<br />
somebody else's novel, or a novel out of somebody<br />
else's play. The whole plot may in either case be<br />
stolen. But no penalty is imposed upon the thief.<br />
It is for this reason that novelists who intend<br />
afterwards to dramatise their own novels arrange<br />
for one colourable performance on the stage so-<br />
soon as the story appears, so as to bring them-<br />
selves under the protection of the Dramatic Copy-<br />
right Act. It is proposed to make a statutory<br />
copyright in ideas, and to make the unauthorised<br />
dramatisation of a novel an infringement of it.<br />
Such are the chief features of this excellent Bill.<br />
<br />
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## p. 63 (#477) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
63<br />
III.—The Eight of Criticism.<br />
In the action brought by Sir John Carr in<br />
1808 against Messrs. Hood and Sharpe, the<br />
exact words of Lord Ellenborough were as<br />
follows:—<br />
Every man who publishes a book commits himself to the<br />
judgment of the public, and anyone may comment upon his<br />
performance. Ridicule is often the fittest weapon that can<br />
be employed for such a purpose. Reflection on personal<br />
character is another thing. Show me an attack on the<br />
moral character of this plaintiff, or any attack upon his<br />
character unconnected with his authorship, and I shall be<br />
as ready as any judge who ever sat here to protect him;<br />
but I cannot hear of malice on acconnt of turning his works<br />
into ridicule.<br />
In the more recent case of Merivale v. Carson<br />
(20 Q. B. Div. at pp. 280-1), Lord Esher, M.E.,<br />
said, carrying the doctrine, if possible, even<br />
further:—<br />
Every latitude must be given to opinion and to prejudice,<br />
and then an ordinary set of men with ordinary judgment<br />
must say whether any fair man would have made such a<br />
comment. . . . Mere exaggeration, or even gross exag-<br />
geration, would not make the comment unfair. However<br />
wrong the opinion expressed may be in point of truth, or<br />
however prejudiced the writer, it may still be within the<br />
prescribed limit. The question which the jury must con-<br />
sider is this. Would any fair man, however prejudiced he<br />
may be, however exaggerated or obstinate his views, have<br />
said that which this criticism has said of the work which is<br />
criticised?<br />
IV.—University op Cam bridge v. Blacxie<br />
and Sons.<br />
(Before Mr. Justice Kekewich.)<br />
In this ease the plaintiffs as proprietors of the<br />
"Pitt Press" brought this action and now moved<br />
the court for an injunction in respect of an alleged<br />
infringement of their copyright in annotated<br />
editions of Pope's "Essay on Criticism" and<br />
Milton's " Lycidas," "Allegro," and "II Pense-<br />
roso." Copyright was, of course, claimed solely<br />
in respect of the annotations.<br />
Mr. Millar, Q.C., and Mr. Ingpen appeared<br />
for the plaintiffs, and Mr. Stokes for the defen-<br />
dants.<br />
It was now arranged that on the defendants<br />
undertaking to keep an account of all books sold<br />
by them, and to file affidavits and deliver copies of<br />
exhibits within the first seven days of October, the<br />
motion should stand over until the second motion<br />
day in Michaelmas sittings; and<br />
Mr. Justice Kekewich made an order to that<br />
effect.— Times, July 23.<br />
VOL. Till.<br />
COPYRIGHT (AMENDMENT) BILL. [H. L]<br />
[As Amended by the Select Committee.]<br />
MEMORANDUM.<br />
THIS Bill is intended to amend some of the<br />
most serious defects in the present law of<br />
copyright. Its provisions do not mate-<br />
rially differ from the provisions on the same<br />
points contained in the Bill introduced by Lord<br />
John Manners (on behalf of the then Govern-<br />
ment) in the House of Commons in 1879, and in<br />
the Bill introduced by Lord Monkswell in the<br />
House of Lords in 1891. Both these Bills were<br />
mainly founded on the report of the Royal Com-<br />
mission on Copyright of 1878. Lord Monkswell's<br />
Bill passed a second reading in the House of<br />
Lords.<br />
The amendments are directed to the following<br />
points :—<br />
I.—Translations.<br />
Translation is made an infringement of copy-<br />
right.<br />
II.—Magazine Copyright.<br />
Since the passing of the Copyright Act, 1842,<br />
this kind of copyright property has probably<br />
increased a hundredfold in value and importance,<br />
both to authors and publishers, much literature<br />
of high merit being constantly published in the<br />
first instance in magazine form. The 18th section<br />
of the Act of 1842, which deals with the subject,<br />
is expressed in language so obscure as to be<br />
almost unintelligible, and defers the author's<br />
right of separate publication to the end of a<br />
period of twenty-eight years. It is proposed that<br />
that section should be repealed, and that the<br />
copyright should be vested in the author, subject<br />
to the following qualifications :—<br />
(1.) The proprietor of the magazine to have<br />
the sole right of publishing as part of the<br />
magazine.<br />
(2.) The author not to publish separately until<br />
after the expiration of three years from<br />
publication.<br />
The entire copyright in encyclopaedias is vested<br />
in the publisher as before, but in a separate<br />
section.<br />
III.—Lectures.<br />
The Lectures Copyright Act, 1835, gives to the<br />
lecturer the exclusive right of publication, but<br />
requires a preliminary notice to justices of the<br />
peace, and probably does not apply to sermons.<br />
It is proposed to repeal this Act, and to give the<br />
lecturer (including the preacher) copyright with-<br />
out any useless formalities, but permitting a<br />
newspaper report unless expressly prohibited by<br />
the lecturer. It will be observed that a proviso<br />
has been inserted maintaining the present law as<br />
G<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 64 (#478) #############################################<br />
<br />
64<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
to lectures in endowed buildings, &c. The com-<br />
mittee have taken this course because they did<br />
not think it desirable to alter the law without<br />
taking more evidence than time permitted.<br />
IV.—Abridgments.<br />
It is now easy, without any infringement of<br />
copyright, in a few weeks, by skilful abridgment,<br />
to appropriate the fruit of the labours of many<br />
years, and to compete with the original copyright,<br />
bought and published at very great expense. This<br />
will be prevented by the" simple enactment that<br />
copyright shall carry with it the right to abridge.<br />
The reputation of the author is also safeguarded<br />
by a provision that a disclaimer of his author-<br />
ship of the abridgment shall, if required by the<br />
author, be printed on the title page ; and that the<br />
abridgment shall not be issued without the<br />
author's consent in eases where the author retains<br />
an interest in the sale (by royalties or otherwise)<br />
though not in the copyright.<br />
V.—Dramatisation of Novels.<br />
As there is no copyright in ideas, it is easy for<br />
any person to take the whole plot of a novel and<br />
practically reproduce the novel itself in dramatic<br />
form without any legal infringement of copyright,<br />
and a similar injury can be inflicted by the<br />
novelisation of dramas. It is proposed to convert<br />
these moral into legal infringements of copyright.<br />
Owners of dramatic copyright are also given a<br />
summary remedy against infringement which is<br />
much needed, as pirates are often difficult to<br />
detect, or are not worth the expense of an action<br />
in the High Court when detected ; and the remedy<br />
is to be available against those who •â– permit" as<br />
well as those who " cause " the representation.<br />
AEEANGEMENT OF CLAUSES.<br />
Translations.<br />
Clause.<br />
1. Translations and infringement of copy-<br />
right. Copyright in translations.<br />
Copyright in Periodical Works.<br />
2. Copyright in articles in periodical works.<br />
3. Registration of article by author.<br />
4. Registration by owner of periodical work.<br />
5. Articles in encyclopaedias.<br />
Copyright in Lectures.<br />
6. Lectures.<br />
Abridgments.<br />
7. Abridgments without consent prohibited.<br />
Copyright owner not to abridge without<br />
author's consent in certain cases. Notice<br />
on title page that abridgment is not by<br />
author.<br />
Dramatisation.<br />
8. Dramatisation of novels prohibited.<br />
9. Conversion or adaptation of dramatic<br />
works prohibited.<br />
Summary Remedy for Infringement of Dramatic<br />
Copyright.<br />
10. Liability to fine of person representing<br />
drama without consent of owner of per-<br />
forming right.<br />
Repeal.<br />
11. Repeal.<br />
12. Application of Act.<br />
13. Short title.<br />
14. Commencement of Act.<br />
Schedules.<br />
A Bill (as amended by the Select • Committee)<br />
intituled an Act to amend the Law relating to<br />
Copyright in Periodical Works, Lectures,<br />
Abridgments, and otherwise. — [The Lord<br />
Monkswell.]<br />
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent<br />
Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of<br />
the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons,<br />
in this present Parliament assembled, and by the<br />
authority of the same, as follows:—<br />
Translations.<br />
1. —(1.) In the case of a book, it shall be an<br />
infringement of the copyright therein if any<br />
person shall, without the consent of the owner<br />
of the copyright, translate the book:<br />
(2.) The author of an authorised translation<br />
of a book shall be entitled to copyright therein<br />
in the same manner as if it was an original<br />
work.<br />
Copyright in Periodical Works.<br />
2. Where any article, essay, poem, or other<br />
work is first published in and forms part of a<br />
review, magazine, or other periodical, the copy-<br />
right in such article, essay, poem, or other work<br />
shall, in the absence of any agreement in writing<br />
to the contrary, be the property of the author<br />
thereof. Provided that where the author is paid<br />
for the writing of such work as aforesaid by or<br />
on behalf of the owner of the review, magazine,<br />
or other periodical, then—<br />
(i.) the owner of the review, magazine, or<br />
periodical shall, during the subsistence of<br />
copyright in such article, essay, poem, or<br />
other work, have the sole right of publishing<br />
the same as part of the review, magazine,<br />
or periodical, but not otherwise;<br />
(ii.) neither the author nor his assigns shall,<br />
without the consent of the owner of the<br />
review, magazine, or periodical, print or<br />
<br />
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## p. 65 (#479) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
65<br />
publish such article, essay, poem, or other<br />
work in any form until after the expiration<br />
of three years from its first publication in<br />
the review, magazine, or periodical, and any<br />
printing or publication contrary to this pro-<br />
vision shall be an infringement of the rights<br />
of the owner of the review, magazine, or<br />
periodical.<br />
3. The author of any such article, essay, poem,<br />
or other work as aforesaid, or his assigns, may<br />
either before or after the expiration of the said<br />
term of three years register the same at Stationers'<br />
Hall as a separate work, and shall thereupon be<br />
entitled to restrain and obtain damages for any<br />
infringement of the copyright therein as a separate<br />
work.<br />
4. —(i.) The owner of a review, magazine, or<br />
other periodical may register the same at<br />
Stationers' Hall, and shall thereupon be entitled<br />
to restrain and obtain damages for any infringe-<br />
ment of his rights in the same or any part<br />
thereof.<br />
(ii.) Registration of a review, magazine, or<br />
other periodical shall be in the form set forth in<br />
the First Schedule hereto, or as near thereto as<br />
circumstances will permit.<br />
(iii.) It shall be necessary to register only the<br />
first number, volume, or part of a review, magazine,<br />
or other periodical published in numbers, volumes,<br />
or parts.<br />
5. Where any article, essay, poem, or other<br />
work is first published in and forms part of an<br />
encyclopaedia or similar collective work, and the<br />
author is paid for the writing thereof by or on<br />
behalf of the owner of the encyclopaedia or similar<br />
collective work, the copyright in such article,<br />
essay, poem, or other work shall, in the absence of<br />
any agreement in writing to the contrary, belong<br />
to the owner of the encyclopaedia or similar collec-<br />
tive work.<br />
Copyright in Lectures.<br />
6. The author of any lecture shall be entitled<br />
to copyright therein as if the same were a<br />
book, subject to the following modifications and<br />
additions:—<br />
(i.) The first delivery of a lecture shall be<br />
deemed to be the first publication thereof.<br />
(ii.) So long as a lecture has not been published<br />
as a book by or with the consent of the<br />
author, the copyright therein shall include<br />
the exclusive right of delivering the same in<br />
public, but when so published the copyright<br />
in the book shall date from the first delivery<br />
of the lecture.<br />
(iii.) It shall not be necessary to register the<br />
copyright in a lecture which has not been<br />
published as a book by or with the consent of<br />
the author.<br />
VOL. Till.<br />
(iv.) A report of a lecture delivered in public,<br />
in the ordinary current edition of a newspaper<br />
after the delivery of such lecture, shall not<br />
be deemed an infringement of the copy-<br />
right unless the author before delivering the<br />
same gives public notice that he prohibits<br />
the same being reported, but no such report<br />
shall be deemed to be a publication of the<br />
lecture within the meaning of sub-sect, (ii.)<br />
(v.) The notice referred to in the last preceding<br />
clause may be given either by affixing the<br />
same to the door of the place where the<br />
lecture is delivered, or by advertisement in<br />
one or more newspapers published and circu-<br />
lating in the district, or by a declaration<br />
made by the lecturer before the delivery of<br />
his lecture at the place where he delivers the<br />
same.<br />
(vi.) The term "lecture" shall include a piece<br />
for recitation, address, or sermon.<br />
(vii.) Provided that this enactment shall not<br />
extend to any lectures delivered in any uni-.<br />
versity or public school or college or on any<br />
public foundation, or by any individual in<br />
virtue of or according to any gift, endowment<br />
or foundation [5 & 6 Will 4, c. 65, s. 5.]<br />
Abridgments.<br />
7.—(i.) It shall be an infringement of the<br />
copyright in a book if any person shall, without<br />
the consent of the owner of the copyright, print or<br />
otherwise multiply, or cause to ba printed or<br />
otherwise multiplied, any abridgment of such<br />
book, or shall export or import any abridgment<br />
so unlawfully produced, or shall sell, publish, or<br />
expose for sale or hire, or cause to be sold, pub-<br />
lished, or exposed for sale or hire, any abridg-<br />
ment, knowing, or having reasonable grounds to<br />
suspect, that the same has been so unlawfully<br />
produced or imported.<br />
(ii.) Where the author of a book has sold the<br />
copyright thereof in consideration (whether wholly<br />
or in part) of a royalty or a share of the profits to<br />
be derived from the publication thereof, or is<br />
otherwise, notwithstanding such sale, possessed of<br />
a pecuniary interest therein, such book shall not,<br />
during the continuance of the copyright therein,<br />
and so long as the author shall be entitled to such<br />
royalty, share of profits, or shall be so interested<br />
as aforesaid, be abridged by the purchaser of such<br />
copyright without the consent in writing of tht<br />
author or his assigns.<br />
(iii.) Where the author has sold the exclusive<br />
right of publication of a book without assigning<br />
the copyright, he shall not be at liberty to publish<br />
an abridgment of the work without the consent<br />
of the owner of the exclusive right of publication.<br />
(iv.) If the owner of the copyright in a book<br />
o 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 66 (#480) #############################################<br />
<br />
66<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
to the abridgment whereof the author's consent<br />
is not required under the preceding proviso<br />
intends to publish an abridgment thereof made<br />
by some person other than the author of the<br />
original book, he shall give notice of such inten-<br />
tion to the author, if living, by registered letter,<br />
directed to his last known address, and shall, if so<br />
required by such author, either state or cause to<br />
be stated on the title page of each part or volume<br />
of the abridgment that the abridgment is not by<br />
the author of the original book, or shall in like<br />
manner state or cause to be stated the name of the<br />
maker of the abridgment.<br />
(v.) The author of a book shall be entitled to<br />
restrain and obtain damages for any abridgment<br />
published in contravention of the above provisions<br />
of the section.<br />
Dramatisation.<br />
8. In the case of a book which is a work of<br />
fiction in prose or in verse, it shall be an infringe-<br />
ment of the copyright therein if any person shall<br />
without the consent of the owner of the copyright,<br />
take or colourably imitate the title of such book,<br />
or take from such book any material or substan-<br />
tial part thereof, and use or convert it into or<br />
adapt it for a dramatic work, or knowing or<br />
having reasonable grounds to suspect such<br />
dramatic work to have been so made shall<br />
perform or permit or cause the same to be<br />
performed.<br />
9. In the case of a dramatic work it shall be an<br />
infringement of the copyright therein if any<br />
person shall, without the consent of the owner of<br />
the copyright, take or colourably imitate the title<br />
of such book, or take from such book any material<br />
or substantial part thereof and convert or adapt<br />
such part into any other form of work, whether<br />
dramatic or otherwise, or knowing or having<br />
reasonable grounds to suspect any work to have<br />
been so made shall print or otherwise multiply, or<br />
cause to be printed or otherwise multiplied, copies<br />
thereof for sale or exportation, or shall export or<br />
import, or sell, publish, or expose for sale or hire,<br />
or cause to be sold, published, or exposed for sale<br />
or hire, any copies thereof, or shall perform such<br />
work, or permit or cause the same to be per-<br />
formed.<br />
Summary Remedy for Infringement of Dramatic<br />
Copyright.<br />
10. If any person shall represent or cause or<br />
permit any dramatic work to be represented<br />
without the consent in writing of the owner of<br />
the performing right in such work, it shall be<br />
lawful for the owner of the performing right<br />
(without prejudice to any action for damages or<br />
other remedy he may be entitled to) to apply<br />
within two months after the commission of the<br />
offence to a court of summary jurisdiction having<br />
jurisdiction in the place where the representation<br />
has taken place, or where the offender dwells, and<br />
such court shall, on production of the certificate<br />
of registration, order the offender to pay as a civil<br />
debt a sum not exceeding fifty pounds and costs,<br />
and such sum shall go to the owner of the per-<br />
forming right by way of compensation. Provided<br />
that not more than one penalty shall be recovered<br />
in respect of each representation.<br />
Repeal.<br />
11. The Acts or parts of Acts specified in the<br />
Second Schedule hereto are hereby repealed as<br />
from the passing of this Act, but except as<br />
hereinbefore expressly provided, such repeal<br />
shall not prejudice or affect any rights acquired<br />
previously to such repeal, and such rights may be<br />
enforced and enjoyed as if such repeal had not<br />
been made.<br />
Extent of Act.<br />
12. —(i.) This Act shall extend only to the<br />
British Islands, but if Her Majesty the Queen<br />
is satisfied that the Legislature of any<br />
British possession has by resolution declared<br />
its assent to this Act or any part thereof<br />
being extended to such possession, Her Majesty<br />
may direct by Order in Council that this Act<br />
or such part thereof shall apply to such<br />
possession, and this Act or such part shall apply<br />
accordingly.<br />
(ii.) Any such Order in Council may, with such<br />
assent as aforesaid, from time to time, be revoked<br />
or altered by any further Order in Council.<br />
(iii.) Every such Order in Council shall, as<br />
soon as may be after the making thereof, be<br />
published in the London Gazette.<br />
(iv.) A copy of every such Order in Council<br />
shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament<br />
within six weeks after the issuing thereof if<br />
Parliament is then sitting, and if not, then<br />
within six weeks after the commencement of the<br />
next session of Parliament.<br />
(v.) No such Order in Council shall affect<br />
prejudicially any right acquired at the date of<br />
its coming into operation.<br />
13. This Act may be cited as the Copyright<br />
(Amendment) Act, 1897, and shall, except so<br />
far as is inconsistent with this Act, be read and<br />
construed with the Copyright Acts.<br />
14. This Act shall come into operation on the<br />
first day of January, one thousand eight hundred<br />
and ninety-eight.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 67 (#481) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
67<br />
SCHEDULES.<br />
First Schedule.<br />
Form of Entry of a Periodical Work.<br />
Date of Publica-<br />
tion of first<br />
Volume, Part, or<br />
Number.<br />
Name and<br />
Address<br />
of Owner.<br />
Name and<br />
Address<br />
of Publisher.<br />
Title of Work.<br />
Second Schedule.<br />
Ads Repealed.<br />
Session and Chapter.<br />
Short Title.<br />
Extent of Repeal.<br />
5 & 6 Will. 4 0. 65.<br />
5 4 6 Vict. c. 45.<br />
Lectures Copyright The whole Act.<br />
Act, 1835.<br />
Copyright Act, 1842 Sections eighteeen<br />
and nineteen.<br />
CIVIL LIST PENSIONS.<br />
APAELIAMENTARY return which has just<br />
been issued gives the following list of all<br />
pensions granted during the year ended<br />
June 20, 1897, and charged upon the Civil<br />
List:—<br />
Mary Anne, Lady Broome, <£ioo, in considera-<br />
tion of the public services of ber late husband, Sir<br />
F. N. Broome, K.C.M.G., especially as Governor<br />
of Western Australia, and of her own literary<br />
merits.<br />
Mr. William Alexander Hunter, £200, in con-<br />
sideration of his labours in connection with<br />
Roman law and scientific jurisprudence.<br />
Dr. John Thomas Arlidge, .£150, in considera-<br />
tion of his valuable labours in the cause of<br />
public health, and especially his investigation into<br />
the hygienic results of particular industries and<br />
occupations.<br />
Miss Beatrice Hatch, .£30, Miss Ethel Hatch,<br />
JB30, Miss Evelyn Hatch, ,£30, in consideration<br />
of the services of their father, the late Rev. Edwin<br />
Hatch, in connection with ecclesiastical history.<br />
Amelia, Lady Thurston, £150, in recognition of<br />
the distinguished services of her husband, the<br />
late Sir John Bates Thurston, as Governor of<br />
Fiji and High Commissioner for the Western<br />
Pacific.<br />
Mrs. Elizabeth Dickens, £100, in consideration<br />
of the literary eminence of the late Mr. Charles<br />
Dickens, and of the straitened circumstances in<br />
which she has been left by the death of her<br />
husband, Mr. Charles Dickens, jun.<br />
Mrs. Rose Trollope, £100, in consideration of<br />
the distinguished literary merits of her husband,<br />
the late Mr. Anthony Trollope, and of her<br />
straitened circumstances.<br />
Miss May Martha Mason, £30.<br />
Mrs. Mary Caroline Florence Wood, £30, in<br />
recognition of the originality and merit of the<br />
work of their father, the late Mr. George Mason,<br />
in painting.<br />
Mr. Augustus Henry Keane, F.R.G.S., £50, in<br />
consideration of his labours in the field of<br />
ethnology.<br />
Dr. Francis Steingass, £50, in consideration<br />
of his services to Oriental scholarship in England.<br />
Mrs. Maria Garrett, £50, in recognition of the<br />
merits of her husband, the late Dr. George<br />
Garrett, as a composer of church music.<br />
Mrs. Jane Wallace, £50, in recognition of the<br />
philosophical labours of her husband, the late<br />
Whyte's professor of moral philosophy in the<br />
University of Oxford.<br />
Mr. Archibald Hamilton Bryce, D.C.L., £50, in<br />
recognition of his services in the cause of secon-<br />
dary education in Scotland.<br />
The total is £ 1200.<br />
NOTES AND NEWS.<br />
TINHERE is an article in the current number<br />
I of the Quarterly Review entitled "Ou<br />
Commencing Author," which purports to<br />
be based on this journal and its contents for the<br />
last seven years. The paper is in many respects,<br />
as I shall show immediately, quite satisfactory<br />
and even sympathetic. The writer begins with<br />
recognising the right of the author to a full<br />
understanding at least of what is meant by the<br />
estate which his publisher administers: therefore,<br />
of course, his further right to understand what<br />
the publisher makes by his administration. As<br />
to the sympathetic side, we will return to that<br />
immediately. Let us first take the points to<br />
which I must take exception.<br />
It has been our contention in this paper, over<br />
and over again, that the literary and the com-<br />
mercial side of literature are totally distinct.<br />
The poet at work, if he allows any other con-<br />
sideration to enter his brain — any touch of<br />
commercialism—must infallibly mar that work.<br />
In every art, the artist must be absorbed while<br />
he is at work. The work done, he may be as<br />
commercial as he pleases. That is the just<br />
and obvious deduction. But this writer cannot<br />
understand such a distinction. His view is that<br />
an artist, when his work is finished, must not,<br />
without detriment to that work, pay any atten-<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 68 (#482) #############################################<br />
<br />
68<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
tion to its commercial value. He says, "To<br />
such men"—i.e., men who, when their work is<br />
finished, do consider its literary value—" there<br />
comes a literary half and a commercial half."<br />
Just so. Why not ?" Where the commercial half<br />
arrives at being real, there is some danger that it<br />
will drive out the literary half." No : because the<br />
two have nothing to do with each other. If the<br />
writer means that there is danger that the artist<br />
may have his brain filled with commercialism<br />
while he is at work, one can only reply that he<br />
must be a very mean and miserable artist. Apply<br />
the same kind of conventional talk to painting.<br />
All great painters receive large sums of money for<br />
their work. No one in his senses has ever re-<br />
proached them with doing so: no one has ever<br />
asserted that they have ruined their art as their<br />
price went up. In the name of common sense,<br />
then, why cannot literary men be treated as on<br />
the same footing as painters?<br />
There is, again, another distinction between<br />
the literary and the commercial side of literature<br />
which must not be forgotten. It by no means<br />
follows that a writer of the highest kind will<br />
become popular, while a person of tenth-rate<br />
merit may command the shillings of millions.<br />
This consideration alone should show the futility<br />
of the common talk about commercialism. My<br />
position is this: If an author chooses to give his<br />
property to a publisher, let him. If he chooses to<br />
keep his property for himself, or to administrate<br />
it for himself, or to let its administration out at a<br />
rent or royalty, or to sell it, there is no danger<br />
whatever that the same care of his commercial<br />
interests will damage that completed tcork<br />
any more than the same care icill damage a<br />
painting. There is, perhaps, the danger that he<br />
may scamp the next poem, and that commercialism<br />
may "infect it." Surely, however, something<br />
must be allowed to the artistic sense which<br />
governs and controls artistic production.<br />
Again, the writer says: "In some of our lesser<br />
men, it is conceivable that a journeyman's credit-<br />
able faculty of going straight on, and of produc-<br />
ing yet another book, and yet another book, will<br />
survive." Here we seem to discern the bogey of<br />
"inspiration." The writer plainly understands, I<br />
have no doubt, that the painter must go on paint-<br />
ing because he is a painter; yet he cannot see that<br />
the poet, the story-teller, the dramatist—where<br />
are we to stop ?—the critic, the essayist—everyone<br />
who writes because he is to the manner born,<br />
must go on—must go on writing till he dies.<br />
Lo boa Diea me dit, " Chante,<br />
Chante, paavre petit."<br />
The writer quote3 these lines—full of tears as<br />
well as of consolation—yet cannot understand that<br />
they contradict flatly what he has just advanced<br />
about the dangers of " going on."<br />
He finds fault with The Author for hoping-<br />
that copyright may be so enlarged as to enable a<br />
successful and popular writer to found a family.<br />
Says that it is an ignoble wish. Why does he<br />
think so? Because he confuses the literary<br />
and the artistic value of a book. He says, he who<br />
could act " on a pill-vendor's conditions, namely,<br />
that he keep his private property for ever, must<br />
receive only as a pill-vendor.'' This is nonsense.<br />
One might as well say that the Marquis of<br />
Salisbury if he receives his rents and keeps-<br />
his property does so as a pill vendor. But<br />
this kind of rubbish will continue to be talked<br />
so long as literary value and literary property are<br />
mixed.<br />
The Reviewer speaks of a certain writer who<br />
would abolish criticism. I wonder who that<br />
writer is. The position taken up by The Author<br />
has always been (i) that criticism should be a<br />
distinction—that is to say, that a paper should,<br />
as some papers do, select books for careful criti-<br />
cism by competent persons; (2) that the system of<br />
"reviewing" books in a batch is injurious to<br />
literature because it does not give importance to<br />
important books, because " notice " is not criticism,<br />
and because it is impossible for the writer, with the<br />
best intentions, to read the books he notices, and<br />
that the system is injurious to the paper because it<br />
ruins the literary character of that paper; (3)<br />
that to notice harmless weak productions is useless,<br />
because such a notice does not educate the writer<br />
nor does it help the pubbc, which, whatever its<br />
faults, does not buy or read we.ak books; (4)<br />
that the space in the paper taken up by little<br />
notices written without reading the books would<br />
be much better bestowed upon an important<br />
notice; (5) that the present depressed condition<br />
of criticism is due mainly to the system of the little<br />
notices, which simply will not allow their writers<br />
to read the books; and, lastly, that the public<br />
never read, and pay no heed, to these little notices.<br />
This is the position taken up in these columns on<br />
the subject of reviewing. It will be seen that this<br />
is very, very far from wishing to abolish criticism.<br />
The Reviewer is also very angry with some<br />
uuknown persons who, it seems, object to literary<br />
men advising publishers. Who, again, are these<br />
people? The position of adviser to publishers is<br />
one of the greatest responsibility and importance.<br />
Most men of letters have at various times done<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 69 (#483) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
69<br />
such work: some, occasionally: some by engage-<br />
ment and on salary. It seems to me quite<br />
unnecessary to defend the work, and I do not<br />
know who has attacked it. Personally, I have<br />
myself done such work, and I see no reason at all<br />
to be ashamed of it.<br />
Nor do I think it necessary in these columns to<br />
do more than enter a protest against the implied<br />
accusation that The Author, the only publication<br />
standing at the head of the article, finds any fault<br />
with any literary man or woman who advises for<br />
pay a publishing house.<br />
He says that in demanding inspection of docu-<br />
ments I myself have done a " grea,t service" and<br />
have been right, "however injudiciously" I may<br />
be held to have done it. My methods—or rather the<br />
methods of the Committee—have always been<br />
perfectly simple. There has been throughout a<br />
steady determination to get at the facts and the<br />
figures and to publish them; to pour a flood of<br />
light on facts strenuously concealed. There has<br />
been no other method, and that method will be<br />
continued. _<br />
In many points: on the necessity for main-<br />
taining the responsibility and the honour of<br />
authorship: on the differences which mark men<br />
of genius: on the writer as teacher: and so forth,<br />
one has nothing but gratitude to this Reviewer,<br />
because it is good that such things should be said.<br />
But the whole paper is tainted and spoiled by<br />
this inability to distinguish literary value from<br />
commercial value: so that the writer, while he is<br />
fain to acknowledge the genius of Scott and<br />
Dickens, must needs try to explain away or to lament<br />
the fact that they were good at business. Nearly<br />
all popular writers have thought very much of the<br />
separate commercial side: Scott: Dickens: Trol-<br />
lope: George Eliot: Macaulay: Byron: every-<br />
body.<br />
At the same time one must certainly not obtrude<br />
the subject. As our writer says: "If the public<br />
once hears too much about profits—it has not<br />
bothered itself yet about the matter—but if it<br />
should?" In The Author the question of profits<br />
is a question of principle: there is no mention<br />
of any single writer's returns: or of what he<br />
obtained from any book: and there never will be<br />
any. It is the trade organ of literary men and<br />
women generally: its object is to give such facts<br />
and figures as illustrate principles. But the<br />
writer is quite wrong about the matter. The public<br />
has heard about these profits: it hears often : not<br />
from us, but from other papers, what this and<br />
that writer is receiving.<br />
Again, the Beviewer protests against the use of<br />
the phrase " thousand words," " so many thousand<br />
words:" "so much for so many thousand words."<br />
Now this is not the phrase of the author, but of<br />
the editor. He wants an article of a certain<br />
length, and no longer: it is to fill a definite space<br />
in his magazine: he may say, if he likes, so<br />
many pages: or he may say so many thousand<br />
words. What on earth does it matter? Or the<br />
author, in that commercial spirit which the<br />
reviewer confuses with the artistic spirit, may<br />
say, "Here is my work. It occupies so many<br />
pages," or "Here is my work. It occupies so<br />
many thousand words." Will anybody in his<br />
senses contend that there is any difference? It<br />
is a fctfon de parler. I am myself, for instance,<br />
under agreement to hand in, by a certain time,<br />
a certain story to a certain editor. My editor tells<br />
me, " I want a story of 8o,coo words." He means<br />
that it is to occupy a certain number of months<br />
in his serial. Whether it is 70,000 words, or<br />
80,000 words, or 90,000 words he will not mind,<br />
nor will he count. But he means that I am not<br />
to take lip the old space, and that he will not fill<br />
up his pages with the old-fashioned three-volume<br />
novel. He must assign a limit: he must say how<br />
much space he can give. Whether he says words<br />
or pages, I repea", what does it matter?<br />
In a word, this Reviewer means well: he sees<br />
that we are absolutely in the right, and he says so:<br />
but because he confuses literary and commercial<br />
value he has got hopelessly muddled ; while in such<br />
little matters, as one or two which I have quoted,<br />
he is wrong simply because he does not know the<br />
practice.<br />
There are one or two remarks which I should<br />
like to quote:<br />
There is this special feature in the writing business, that<br />
it is entirely volunteered.<br />
Some few years ago writers awoke to the belief that they<br />
had not received a fair share in the net profit of their<br />
wares. More particularly they desired to make a declara-<br />
tion of their right to know the amount of expense incurred<br />
in the publication of their volumes. In this they have<br />
nothing bnt our sympathies, and part of their work is yet<br />
to do.<br />
What are the more prevalent motives which set genuine<br />
men of letters to work? We fear that the first motive we<br />
assign will appear to many most honourable men of the day<br />
l; perilously near to cant." Yet, upon omviction, we<br />
cannot but put it in the forefront of the battle. We speak<br />
of a mission, a vocation, a priestly office; a priestly office<br />
assuredly in a wider natural church. And this office no<br />
man lightly takes upon himself. The real men are never<br />
likely to take it upon themselves lightly, for they slide<br />
into it involuntarily and unconsciously. And they slide<br />
into it too with a good deal of that suffering, whioh, in the<br />
genuine man of letters, seems inevitable.<br />
Business men who have selected as their path to fortune<br />
the financial side of books, are, from one commercial point<br />
of view at least, exceptionally lucky. They are hardehells<br />
who have to deal with softshelU. It is not to be wondered<br />
at that the softshells have not been conspicuous for getting<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 70 (#484) #############################################<br />
<br />
7°<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
the best of it. Many a publisher might say perhaps, as<br />
Robert Clive said in the gold vaults of the Indian city, " By<br />
heaven ! I am surprised at my own moderation!"<br />
A man oan only be an author in so far as he is a man who<br />
has perceived, or known, or done real things, and possesses<br />
the gift and feels the duty of speaking about them.<br />
A woman and an author must be either something above<br />
the average robust male or something below him.<br />
The following information is here published as<br />
a warning to typewriters:<br />
"Some time ago a friend lent me a small but<br />
interesting pamphlet, and as it is out of print I<br />
was allowed to have a typewritten copy made<br />
of it. The friend recommended as type-<br />
writer a young lady, orphan daughter of a clergy-<br />
man, recently deceased, who courageously sup-<br />
ported herself by typewriting, She copied the<br />
pamphlet for me very nicely, and when I paid<br />
her bill she said she wished to get regular work<br />
from authors, so I advised her to advertise in<br />
The Author, which she has done every month since<br />
January, 1897. She now writes to say that some<br />
one, whose name she does not mention, has<br />
written to ask her terms, but says his MS. is so<br />
precious that she must pay him a guinea as<br />
caution money before he sends her the MS. She<br />
naturally declines to have anything to do with a<br />
person of this sort."<br />
I would only add to the above that the object of<br />
the demand is made obvious by the fact that when<br />
a manuscript, which is very rare, is precious, it is<br />
probably worth many hundred guineas. Asking<br />
a guinea as caution money for a manuscript which<br />
the writer declares to be "precious," is too thin<br />
to deceive anybody. I shall be much obliged if<br />
papers generally will be so good as to copy this<br />
warning in the interests of typewriters, who have<br />
not, probably, too much experience of the world.<br />
The Civil List, which is published in another<br />
column, is the very best list that has ever ap-<br />
peared since its commencement. There are sixteen<br />
recipients of pensions. Among them, eleven are<br />
widows and daughters. One observes that these<br />
pensions are granted more and more to widows<br />
and daughters instead of the workers themselves.<br />
The change will be accepted by everybody with<br />
satisfaction. One observes, also, that it is not yet<br />
possible to obtain a list completely in accord with<br />
the famous resolution of 1837. That resolution<br />
undoubtedly gave power to place in this list<br />
persons who had claims upon the Sovereign. Thus,<br />
the Queen's tutors and teachers were placed upon<br />
the list by authority of that clause. Yet the list<br />
was then, and has always been, intended for persons<br />
distinguished or connected with literature, science,<br />
and art. There are two ladies in this list who<br />
are widows of Colonial Governors. One of these,<br />
Lady Broome, better known as Lady Jackson, is<br />
herself a writer of some distinction; the other,<br />
Lady Thurston, is simply the widow of a Colonial<br />
Governor. As such, her pension has no place on<br />
this list. The power of foisting all kinds of<br />
people into this meagre provision for literature,<br />
science, and art could be removed by passing<br />
another resolution omitting the clause referred to.<br />
I observed in a certain paper a question meant<br />
to be " smart." "Is it," the writer asked, " the<br />
wickedness of the publisher which causes the<br />
names of Dickens and Trollope to appear in this<br />
list?" It is not in these pages that private affairs<br />
will be discussed. The late Charles Dickens, jun.,<br />
however, was not a writer, except of one or two guide<br />
books. He was a printer. Perhaps publishers<br />
showed their "wickedness" by not paying his<br />
accounts. As for the name of Trollope, it was<br />
stated at the time of Anthony Trollope's death<br />
that he was possessed of a large sum saved from<br />
the proceeds of his novels. Publishers have<br />
hardly been so "wicked " as to take that money<br />
from his family. But what silly nonsense it is to<br />
ask such a question!<br />
I have received from a correspondent a collec-<br />
tion of extracts from letters received from various<br />
publishers, which inform him that they cannot<br />
undertake the responsibility of publishing his<br />
manuscript.<br />
The letters are very curious and instructive.<br />
Various reasons were assigned, all of which were<br />
different, but all contained one cardinal fact in<br />
which they were agreed: that the work was too<br />
long.<br />
One firm frankly admitted that what they<br />
wanted was a manuscript of about 60,000<br />
words.<br />
What may be gathered from all these letters<br />
is, in fact, that some publishers are becoming<br />
increasingly anxious to bring out books at 6*.<br />
which contain the minimum leugth for which the<br />
long suffering public will pay 4s. 6d. In these<br />
columns mention has already been made of a<br />
little book, containing about 24,000 words, and<br />
taking very little more than an hour to read, and<br />
costing 4.S'. 6d. cash.<br />
To what lengths is this practice going to be<br />
carried?<br />
A certain result will be that before long the<br />
advertised price of 6*. and the real price of<br />
4«. 6d. will fall into contempt, and the public<br />
will refuse to pay more than a shilling for a little<br />
book which can be read in one hour.<br />
It is true there may be cases in which the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 71 (#485) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
author's name is great enough to carry off a high<br />
price for a short story, but these cases must<br />
always be very rare.<br />
It seems that it should always be the duty of<br />
novelists to provide the public with work which,<br />
in length, at least, will give them some fair return<br />
for the cost of the book.<br />
Let us turn to lighter themes. The following<br />
appeared in the Times, July 24, in the form of a<br />
letter from Mr. Walter Wren. He kindly<br />
gives me permission to reproduce it here. Mr.<br />
Wren is well known as a profound student of<br />
Dickens. The origin of Do-the-boys Hall seems<br />
settled by this discovery beyond the reach of<br />
reasonable doubt. One pities the unfortunate<br />
Mr. Simpson, of Easby, near Richmond, York-<br />
shire:<br />
"In your article of June 12, on the coronation<br />
number of the Times, telling your readers that<br />
they would be presented gratis with a reproduc-<br />
tion in facsimile of the Times of Friday, June 29,<br />
1838, you call attention to these two advertise-<br />
ments as containing a hint of some of the abuses<br />
which Dickens (whose 'Oliver Twist' is here an-<br />
nounced as appearing in Bentley's Miscellany)<br />
was already setting himself to scourge. 'These<br />
are of schools—one in Yorkshire—at which<br />
youths are boarded and instructed according to<br />
age, including clothes, books, and other neces-<br />
saries. No extras and no vacations.'<br />
"I respectfully submit that you might have put<br />
this more strongly, and that these must be the<br />
originals from which Dickens made up Mr.<br />
Squeers's card. 'Nicholas Nickleby' was published<br />
in 1839. It seems to me clear that Mr. Squeers's<br />
card was based on them. It will be found on<br />
page 20 of the original edition. Please print all<br />
three.<br />
'" Education.—At Winton Hall, near Kirby<br />
Stephen, in Westmoreland, young gentlemen are<br />
boarded, clothed, provided with books, and edu-<br />
cated, by Mr. Twycross, in whatever their future<br />
prospects may require, at £20 per annum. There<br />
are no extras nor vacations. Prospectuses and<br />
references may be had at Peele's Coffee-house,<br />
Fleet-street, where Mr. T. attends daily, between<br />
12 and 2 o'clock.'<br />
"' Education.—At Mr. Simpson's Academy,<br />
Easby, near Richmond, Yorkshire, youth are<br />
boarded, and instructed by Mr. S. and proper<br />
assistants in whatever their future prospects may<br />
require, at twenty and twenty-three guineas a<br />
year, according to age, including clothes, books,<br />
and other necessaries. No extras and no vaca-<br />
tions. Cards with references to be had from Mr.<br />
S., who attends from 12 to 2 o'clock daily at<br />
VOL VIII.<br />
the Saracen's Head, Snow-hill. Conveyance by<br />
steam vessel weekly.'<br />
'" Education.—At Mr. Wackford Squeers's<br />
Academy, Dotheboys-hall, at the delightful village<br />
of Dotheboys, near Greta-bridge, in Yorkshire,<br />
youth are boarded, clothed, booked, furnished<br />
with pocket money, provided with all necessaries,<br />
instructed in all languages living and dead,<br />
mathematics, orthography, geometry, astronomy,<br />
trigonometry, the use of the globes, algebra,<br />
single stick (if required), writing, arithmetic,<br />
fortification, and every branch of classical litera-<br />
ture. Terms twenty guineas per annum. No<br />
extras, no vacations, and diet unparalleled. Mr.<br />
Squeers is in town, and attends daily, from one<br />
to four, at the Saracen's Head, Snow-hill.'<br />
"Dickons added to the advertisements in your<br />
issue of 1838. But the leading principles are in<br />
all three—viz., ,£20 a year for clothes, books, and<br />
education; no extras, no vacations; and both Mr.<br />
Simpson and Mr. Squeers, the two Yorkshire<br />
schoolmasters, 'attended daily at the Saracen's<br />
Head.'"<br />
Mr. Howard Collins projxises to take up and<br />
continue the subject of the subjunctive mood in<br />
the October number of The Author if possible.<br />
He is consulting.as many men of letters as he can<br />
reach as to their opinion of his j>osition.<br />
Walter Besant.<br />
THE PROPOSED NET SYSTEM.<br />
ACOMMITTEE has been appointed by the<br />
Society for the investigation of the whole<br />
subject. It would be injudicious therefore<br />
to express any opinion until that committee has<br />
given in its report. There has already appeared<br />
a sheaf of papers and articles dealing with the<br />
proposal. It is well known that among the book-<br />
sellers—the persons most concerned—there is con-<br />
siderable difference of opinion. Perhaps it would<br />
be well, before their views are ascertained, and<br />
before the committee completes its labours, that<br />
there should be a general silence. On the produc-<br />
tion of the report, no doubt, the floods will be<br />
let loose. The bare facts of the case seem fairly<br />
stated in a brief article which appeared in the<br />
Pall Mall Gazette of July 13. There is one word,<br />
however, which should be altered. It is there said<br />
that the publishers "intend to boycott discount<br />
booksellers." They do not intend: they propose<br />
—a very different thing.<br />
One Book, One Price.<br />
Shall we buy a book at gd. or is.? The outside<br />
public say, unhesitatingly, gd.; the booksellers<br />
H<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 72 (#486) #############################################<br />
<br />
72<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
say, unhesitatingly, i«. Both natural enough,<br />
when you come to look at it. The advantages of<br />
selling at is. and buying at gd. are so obvious<br />
that there is no need to go further into them.<br />
But the most casual observer who remarks the<br />
prices on the bookstalls and compares them with<br />
the rumours that reach us from the traHe cannot<br />
help seeing that a Battle of the Books is only a<br />
question of time. Here and there we find six-<br />
penny magazines sold at 4.|«?., and books pub-<br />
lished at 6*. going at 4*. 6d.<br />
The thing seems simple enough. Can a retail<br />
bookseller sell at what price he likes r He gets<br />
his books at a discount of 25 per cent., or some-<br />
thing more than that; has he a free hand after<br />
that? With the vague idea we all have of the<br />
principles of law, we declare offhand that any-<br />
thing else would be interfering with the liberty<br />
of the subject. The question is nothing new. It<br />
has been gone into years ago. The only novelty<br />
now is that the booksellers have got an associa-<br />
tion, and have the powers of a trade union.<br />
They are the only people who object to the<br />
discount. The publishers do not. The authors<br />
do not. If an author is getting a royalty on the<br />
published price it is nothing to him how the book<br />
is sold. In any case the lower rate is probably to<br />
his advantage, for it increases the sale of his work.<br />
The same thing would apply to the publisher. In<br />
fact, the opinions of all the great writers of the<br />
day were taken on the subject, and were published<br />
in Sir W. Besant's paper, The Author. Speaking<br />
from memory, we recollect they were practically<br />
unanimous and decided in saying the retail<br />
price was the bookseller's affair. The price at<br />
which the wholesale bookseller buys from the<br />
publisher is quite another matter. It is allowed<br />
that to break this is to ruin the book for regular<br />
trade.<br />
Against all this the fact remains that most of<br />
the big publishers intend to boycott the discount<br />
booksellers. Taking it logically, the publishers<br />
are really the employes, and are going on strike.<br />
To the average onlooker it would seem to lje just<br />
a case in which a strike would not succeed. The<br />
discount man can get his books indirectly if he<br />
likes; and he can appeal to the public to support<br />
him. The reduction of yl. in the shilling is an<br />
argument which touches the British public in its<br />
tenderest point. It is the argument which he<br />
has always made till now whenever the difficulty<br />
has come up; and in these days of libraries the<br />
British public wants every possible encourage-<br />
ment in buying books.<br />
However, publishers are not ignorant of the<br />
world, nor are they, by any means, incapable<br />
men of business. Obviously, the new Book-<br />
sellers' Association have found their power, and<br />
can put pressure on the publisher which he is-<br />
unable to resist. But the fight has hardly yet<br />
begun.<br />
The publication of a book appears a simple<br />
thing at first sight. When you come to look<br />
into it, or, worse still, have anything to do with<br />
it, it is a problem which runs close South African<br />
politics or the Irish question itself.—Pall Mall<br />
Gazette, July 13.<br />
A WARNING- TO AUTHORS-AND OTHERS.<br />
ITHINK the following story may interest<br />
some readers of The Author, if only as a<br />
curious instance of human effrontery. It<br />
may, however, act as a warning against a certain<br />
class of "literary agents."<br />
About a year ago Madame X., a French lady,<br />
wished to have some short articles and stories,<br />
which she had written in English, corrected for<br />
the press, and inserted an advertisement in a local<br />
London paper. It brought several replies, and<br />
among them one from a gentleman whom I will<br />
call Mr. A. He stated that he was "late editor<br />
of the Readers' Gazette" (I give a fictitious<br />
title), and named several persons as his referees;<br />
among them, a well-known publishing firm, "for<br />
literary publications "; and for " scholastic pub-<br />
lications " a certain "Jones, Manchester." in a<br />
foot-note he also named a gentleman, very well<br />
known in the scholastic world, as able to speak<br />
to his literary qualifications. I will call him<br />
"Mr. N." Mine. X. was delighted. She<br />
fancied that fortune had directed her to a literary<br />
man, and she hastened to communicate with A.<br />
He called upon her, and in conversation told<br />
her he held an official post in the Civil Service.<br />
It was agreed that he should undertake the<br />
corrections, the only thing contemplated up to<br />
now. But, in the course of the interview, he<br />
intimated that he was prepared to undertake the<br />
duties of literary agent, and to place the MSS.<br />
as well as to correct them.<br />
Mine. X. said that she could not afford' to<br />
pay for this, but Mr. A. replied that she had told<br />
him she was acquainted with many French<br />
journalists. Now, it was the wish "of his heart<br />
to become a correspondent of the Continental<br />
Press, and if she would give him an introduction<br />
he would consider himself paid. On this Mme.<br />
X. confided to him a number of MSS., and gave<br />
him an introduction to the editor of one of the<br />
most widely known of continental journals.<br />
Months passed, during which Mr. A. wrote<br />
from time to time, speaking vaguely of his efforts<br />
on Mine. X.'s behalf—they had been uusuccess-<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 73 (#487) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
73<br />
ful, but he expressed himself as by no means<br />
discouraged. During this time he corrected the<br />
longest of the articles—it was a short story. I<br />
saw the copy he had made—the MS. was entirely<br />
in his handwriting, and so far his assertion that<br />
he had "re-written" it was true. But his<br />
corrections were a farce. As I myself had to<br />
"re-write" it, I speak from knowledge, and a<br />
gentleman, who is himself a writer, said of it that<br />
it was not worth having, even if done for nothing,<br />
that no one with the least literary ear could<br />
possibly have passed the foreign turns of expres-<br />
sion. Even obvious omissions of parts of sen-<br />
tences were not supplied, and the general<br />
incompetence displayed in this specimen of A.'s<br />
powers confirmed our suspicions that he was not<br />
what he had represented himself to be. We<br />
were not at all surprised to find that the foreign<br />
editor had been puzzled by his letter, had evi-<br />
dently conceived an unfavourable opinion of A.,<br />
and declined to have anything to do with him. I<br />
should say that A. asked and received 5*. for<br />
correcting this short story.<br />
On my return to England after an absence,<br />
Mme. X. had confided her doubts to me. I<br />
advised her to get her MSS. back as soon as<br />
possible—especially as she had a chance of dispos-<br />
ing of them herself. She wrote explaining this.<br />
A. replied in a manner which struck us as evasive,<br />
but at last, after many weeks and many letters<br />
from Mme. X., he returned all but one. .In the<br />
accompanying letter, lie said that he had sent all,<br />
and also said that he had "re-written" two<br />
others of the MSS.; but the parcel, on being<br />
opened, did not contain these copies, nor were<br />
the returned MSS. "corrected." Mme. X. felt<br />
that she had simply wasted six months—A. had<br />
done absolutely nothing—his corrections were<br />
worthless in the instance in which he made them,<br />
and, in the majority of instances, he had done no<br />
work at all. Of course he could not be held<br />
responsible for failing to dispose of the MSS.,<br />
supposing lie ever tried, which the sequel makes<br />
us gravely doubt. Mme. X. wrote in vain, asking<br />
for the missing MS. and the two "copies." A.<br />
replied that he had sent the MS., and he ignored<br />
the question of the copies. And in a few days he<br />
sent in a bill for ,£3 3*. for "professional ser-<br />
vices." Mme. X. was in despair, she was utterly<br />
unable to pay £3 38., and A. had known this<br />
from the first. She wrote reminding him that<br />
he had himself offered those services in return for<br />
an introduction which she had given; and added<br />
that she was ready to pay on the same scale as<br />
before for the "corrections" of the MSS. which<br />
he had said he had" re-written," when she received<br />
the rc-tcritten copies. The reply was a threat of<br />
the County Court. Neither then, nor afterwards,<br />
did A. ever allude to the (verbal) agreement, or<br />
to the missing copies. He simply repeated his<br />
threats of the County Court if a remittance was<br />
not sent " to-morrow," or " next Tuesday," as the<br />
case might be. It was almost amusingly evident<br />
that he was trying to strike terror into a helpless<br />
foreigner. He numbered his letters "second and<br />
third " application." His first threat of the County<br />
Court came barely a fortnight after the "first<br />
application," and in reply to a civil request for the<br />
work he was demanding payment for. Mme. X.<br />
was in very bad health, and was much distressed<br />
at the prospect of appeariug in Court, and<br />
perhaps being made to say what she did not mean.<br />
Under these circumstances a friend began to<br />
make inquiries of the persons given by A. as<br />
referees.<br />
The first person applied to was the present<br />
editor of the Readers Gazette. He replied<br />
that there must be some mistake—he himself<br />
had been editor many years—and he suggested<br />
imposture. Next, the Civil Service List was<br />
tried, with the result that nothing whatever<br />
was known of Mr. A. A slight clue, however,<br />
was followed up, and at last Mr. A. was dis-<br />
covered—not as a Civil servant, but as under-<br />
master in a primary school in an adjacent<br />
parish. Meantime, the firm of publishers was<br />
written to. They at length remembered—not<br />
Mr. A.'s name, but a now, de plume which he<br />
had mentioned as the name he wrote under.<br />
A MS. by a writer with this nom de plume had<br />
been submitted to the firm, and declined. The<br />
"scholastic" side of Mr. A. was next probed;<br />
and here, strange to say, we came upon the first<br />
piece of bond fides we had yet discovered.<br />
"Jones, Manchester," whose name had sounded<br />
to us so apocryphal that we had not thought it<br />
worth while to waste a letter upon him, turned<br />
out to be a most respectable firm of publishers<br />
—almost entirely, it seemed, of school books for<br />
primary schools. They knew Mr. A., and thought<br />
well of him. He had published an " elementary<br />
book " and a leaflet or two for children to learn.<br />
It was not precisely a testimony to "scholastic"<br />
qualification, but at least he was known. More-<br />
over, Mr. N, whom A. had mentioned as able to<br />
speak to his literary qualifications, replied favour-<br />
ably, and said that A. had held " high positions,"<br />
and was "an educated gentleman," but added<br />
that he knew nothing of his literary qualifications.<br />
Thinking there was a mistake in identity, and that<br />
A. was trading on a similarity of name, we asked<br />
for further particulars, and learned that Mr. N.<br />
had obviously no personal knowledge of A., but<br />
that A. really had been inspector of some diocesan<br />
schools in the provinces, and afterward* head-<br />
master of a " high school." All this while, A.'s<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 74 (#488) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE A UTHOR.<br />
threats were becoming more urgent, and he repre-<br />
sented himself as on the eve of placing the<br />
matter in the hands of his solicitor. The friend<br />
who made the inquiries thought it was time to do<br />
something, and wrote a letter to A., repeating the<br />
facts as stated by Mine. X., and informing A.<br />
of the result of the inquiries. The letter con-<br />
cluded with a renewed offer to pay him 58. each<br />
for the corrected stories, on receiving the correc-<br />
tions. A reply came by return of post. It<br />
appeared to be written by A.'s wife at. his dicta-<br />
tion, and stated that Mr. A. could not answer the<br />
letter now, as the matter had passed out of his<br />
hands.<br />
Before this, at first, in order to learn whether<br />
A. was already known to our Society, 1 had con-<br />
sulted Mr, Thring, who with the greatest kind-<br />
ness gave me counsel. He now reiterated his<br />
opinion that wc ought to get a " friendly solicitor"<br />
to write A. a letter. A legal friend of my own<br />
most kindly consented to do this, and wrote deny-<br />
ing any indebtedness for "professional services,"<br />
but again renewing the offer to pay for the cor-<br />
rections. It brought the following answer again<br />
by return:<br />
"Sib,—-I have received yours of the , and<br />
it has been duly filed."<br />
This extraordinary reply, and the effrontery of<br />
A.'s whole attitude, astonished the solicitor, and is<br />
still a puzzle to us all. We are, however, consoled<br />
by seeing that A. is really not so clever. For six<br />
weeks after this, when we all thought the matter<br />
was ended, he suddenly wrote once more to Mme.<br />
X., threatening to put the matter into a<br />
lawyer's hands if the money was not sent within<br />
three days. By this time the threat had lost its<br />
terrors—even Mme. X. was able to laugh at it,<br />
and so I trust all was well that ended well. But<br />
it is a singular story, for there can be no doubt<br />
that A. was at no distant period in an excellent<br />
position, and yet his calm effrontery would seem<br />
to show a practised hand. It is my deliberate<br />
conviction, basrd on several small indications,<br />
that he never showed the MSS. to a single editor.<br />
This, of course, we cannot prove, but if he had<br />
ventured to force us into court he would have<br />
heen required to mention names. I should say<br />
that in this last letter he repeated that he had<br />
been editor of the Readers' Gazette — it was<br />
the only allusion he ever made to the unmasking<br />
of his pretensions. Finally, I would entreat, not<br />
only authors, but everybody, to "look up their<br />
references"—though, as a gentleman I consulted<br />
over this business said very frankly, " When does<br />
one look them up, if they are good ones?" And<br />
I confess that I should have thought it impossible<br />
that a man would venture falsely to call himself<br />
ex-editor of a paper—it is a statement so easily<br />
verified. But perhaps A. is a student of human<br />
nature, and reckoned on our reasoning thus!<br />
And candour compels me to admit, that had<br />
inquiries been made at first, and had we happened<br />
to begin with Mr. N. and "Jones, Manchester,"<br />
we might have- been perfectly satisfied, and have<br />
gone no farther. Wherefore, when references are<br />
given you, write to them all. Y.<br />
A CASE IN POINT.<br />
IOUGHT to have joined the Society of<br />
Authors long ago; but I suppose it is a<br />
case of stinginess over the wrong thing, and<br />
that even the demands of a large family upon a<br />
slender income should not have hindered my<br />
finding that guinea subscription. Every author<br />
wants more or less protection under the present<br />
conditions of things: certainly the unwary one.<br />
Here is a case in point.<br />
A well-known publisher asked me to prepare a<br />
book for the present season. It was to be ready<br />
at the New Tear, and I was to receive =£50 in<br />
advance, on account of royalties, upon delivery of<br />
the MS. I sent in the complete work in the last<br />
days of December. I waited, and at length hud<br />
to remind the publisher that three weeks had<br />
elapsed, and I was expecting to hear from hiin.<br />
To my surprise his reply, and several subsequent<br />
communications, showed me that he was " off the<br />
job," if possible, having doubts of its probable<br />
success. But I stuck to him. He suggested<br />
additions and improvements, which I loyally<br />
worked up with great benefit to the book. At<br />
length, early in April, I had the first proofs and a<br />
cheque for .-£25.<br />
The last sheets were returned, and I was look-<br />
ing for the completion of the payment. But,<br />
guess my astonishment on being informed by<br />
letter that many faults in composition, cant<br />
phrases, and so forth, had been discovered, and it<br />
had been necessary to take the thing to pieces<br />
—also " whether the thing will ever pay is becom-<br />
ing more than ever a matter of doubt with me."<br />
With the best possible grace I accepted the<br />
possibility that my style was open to criticism,<br />
but I asserted that for acquiescence in his<br />
improvements I must first have the opportunity<br />
of weighing their value. Now that the book is<br />
published I find that, far from " improvement,"<br />
the book has been utterly damaged by interpola-<br />
tions and omissions, and many alterations of very<br />
slight importance but destructive to that coherent<br />
unity of style which should throughout reveal an<br />
author's personality. There are six verbal altera-<br />
tions which I should consent to. The remainder<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 75 (#489) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
75<br />
are of a piece with the specimens I have marked<br />
in the copy of the work inclosed for your inspec-<br />
tion, which amount to nothing more nor less than<br />
interpolated blunders.<br />
The book has been brought out, price 7«. 6d.<br />
As it looks more like a 4*. or 58. volume, the<br />
booksellers won't touch it, and it has fallen still-<br />
born upon a season especially favourable for the<br />
sale of such a work. Our publisher tells me it is<br />
"complete failure," and ascribes the failure to<br />
the numerous alterations rendered necessary after<br />
the thing was in type, and which added heavily to<br />
the printer's bill. What this has to do with the<br />
shyness of the retail booksellers passes me, but I<br />
have been so worked upon by the sad story of<br />
£150 or more thrown away upon my " diabolical"<br />
(tie) book as to give a renunciation of all further<br />
right or claim upon payment of ,£5 5*. There is<br />
nothing now to hinder Mr. X. T. from reforming<br />
his mode of publication, and making a small<br />
income out of it.<br />
Simpleton, you will say! I deserve it.<br />
S.<br />
INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY CONFERENCE.<br />
President—Sir John Lubbock. Chairman of<br />
Committee—Kichard Garnett, LL.D. Hon.<br />
Treasurer—H. K. Tedder. Hon. Secretary—<br />
J. Y. W. MacAlister. Secretary—J. D. Brown.<br />
f I ^HE Conference was opened on Tuesday, July<br />
I 14, by the Lord Mayor, in the Council<br />
Chamber of the Guildhall. The following<br />
notes of the principal proceedings are taken from<br />
the Times:—<br />
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.<br />
The President (Sir J. Lubbock) then gave his<br />
inaugural address. He said that the existence of<br />
this congress was an indirect result of an Act<br />
passed by a private member of Parliament (Mr.<br />
Ewart) in the year 1850. The Act was a striking<br />
example of beneficent legislation passed by a<br />
private member. It had been adopted by some<br />
350 places, containing nearly half our people.<br />
From 1857 to 1866 it was adopted by fifteen<br />
localities, from 1867 to 1876 by forty-five, from<br />
1877 to 1886 by sixty-two, from 1887 to 1896 by<br />
no fewer than 190. In London the recent pro-<br />
gress had been even more remarkable. From<br />
1850-66 only one public library was established,<br />
and Westminster had the honour of taking the<br />
lead; from 1867 to 1876 not one, from 1876 to<br />
1886 only two, from 1887 to 1896 no fewer than<br />
thirty-two. These libraries now contained over<br />
5,000,000 volumes, the annual issues amounted to<br />
27,000,000, and the attendances to 60,000,000.<br />
Australia had 844 public libraries with 1,400,000<br />
volumes, New Zealand 298 with 330,000, South<br />
Africa about 100 with 300,000. In Canada the<br />
public libraries contained over 1,500,000 of<br />
volumes. The United States possessed in 1890<br />
1686 public libraries, containing 13,800,000<br />
volumes. These numbers, however, were hardly<br />
comparable with ours, as they included in some<br />
cases college and law libraries. Moreover, we had<br />
many public libraries which were not included in<br />
the above numbers. The British Museum alone<br />
contained 2,000,000 volumes. Those who doubted<br />
the advantage of public libraries generally based<br />
their argument on the assertion that an immense<br />
preponderance of the books read were novels.<br />
But it must be remembered that a book of poems,<br />
and even more a work of science, would take much<br />
longer to read than a novel. Moreover, many<br />
novels were not only amusing and refreshing, but<br />
also instructive. No doubt the wise choice of books<br />
was becoming more and more difficult. The<br />
National Home Reading Union had done, and was<br />
doing, excellent service in assisting our country-<br />
men and countrywomen to what to read, and how<br />
to read. A recent writer had referred to the<br />
treasures of ancient lore in Egyptian papyri,<br />
which were now scattered in large numbers<br />
through the museums of Europe, where, for want<br />
of catalogues and descriptions, they lay well nigh<br />
as profoundly buried as if they were in their<br />
original tombs. Many authors buried their own<br />
creations by misleading titles, or by bringing<br />
together incongruous subjects, which led to un-<br />
fortuuate results, like other ill-assorted marriages.<br />
A friend of his had recently mentioned a remark-<br />
able case in point. In the year 1850, Dr.<br />
Mitchell, the Director of the Observatory of<br />
Cincinnati, which was then the only astro-<br />
nomical observatory in the United States,<br />
brought out a perfectly beautiful book, and<br />
it came over here for sale in the ordi-<br />
narv way. It was called "The Planetary and<br />
Stellar Worlds." The publisher of the book<br />
complained bitterly about it, and said that he had<br />
not sold a single copy. His friend said, "Well,<br />
you have killed the book by its title. Why not<br />
call it ' The Orbs of Heaven'?" That was acted<br />
upon, and 6000 copies were sold in a month.<br />
(Cheers and laughter.) As regarded Govern-<br />
ment, our own had set a very good example. An<br />
American writer (E. H. Walworth), in an article<br />
on " The Value of National Archives," had paid<br />
us the compliment of stating that "perhaps no<br />
nation had been more careful than England in<br />
the preservation of her archives; and perhaps no<br />
nation has been more careless in this direction<br />
than the United States." (Cheers.) This was,<br />
however, no longer true of the United States<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 76 (#490) #############################################<br />
<br />
76<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Government, which now issued excellent monthly-<br />
catalogues. India also had for some time taken<br />
much pains to make her publications as available<br />
as possible. The Eoyal Colonial Institute had<br />
recently taken an important step in adopting and<br />
forwarding to every colonial Government a reso-<br />
lution, "That the colonial Governments be<br />
respectfully invited to issue—through the medium<br />
of their Government gazettes or otherwise—<br />
registers containing entries of all publications<br />
within given periods, and also all other locally<br />
published works, with their full titles, so as to<br />
furnish for general information complete records<br />
of the literature of each colony." To turn to the<br />
scientific societies, our own Eoyal Society had<br />
accomplished a great and most useful work in its<br />
catalogue of scientific papers, contained in nine<br />
thick quarto volumes. These had been extremely<br />
useful. The society was moreover organising a<br />
catalogue which aimed at completeness, and was<br />
intended to contain the titles of scientific publica-<br />
tions, whether appearing in periodicals or inde-<br />
pendently. In such a catalogue the titles of<br />
scientific publications would be arranged, not only<br />
according to authors' names, but also according to<br />
subject-matter, the text of each paper and not the<br />
title only being consulted for the latter purpose.<br />
The preparation and publication of such a com-<br />
plete catalogue was far beyond the power and<br />
means of any single society. Led by the above<br />
considerations, the president and council of the<br />
Royal Society had appointed a committee to<br />
inquire into and report upon the feasibility of<br />
such a catalogue being compiled through inter-<br />
national co-operation. (Hear, hear.) There was<br />
one other catalogue to which he should like to<br />
refer, namely, the classified index of the London<br />
Library in which were given the names of the<br />
principal authors who had written on each sub-<br />
ject; and the assistance there given to the student<br />
was invaluable. To every true lover of books it<br />
was sad to see our countrymen and countrywomen<br />
neglecting the great masterpieces of science and<br />
literature, and wasting their time over " books<br />
that were no books," merely because they were<br />
new—in many cases, to use Buskin's words,<br />
"fresh from the fount of folly." (Cheers.)<br />
EVOLUTION OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.<br />
Mr. Henry Tedder read a paper on "The<br />
Evolution of the Public Library." Mr. Herbert<br />
Spencer had, he said, traced the origin of all our<br />
professions. The processes of development and<br />
differentiation had been as clearly shown in the<br />
case of public libraries as in other departments.<br />
The earliest librarians were priests, and the<br />
earliest libraries ienples. The earliest civilisa-<br />
tions—those, e.g., of Assyria and Egypt—had<br />
their public libraries, which, however, were purely<br />
of an ecclesiastical character. Aulus Gellus said<br />
that Pisistratus in the sixth century b.c. was the<br />
first founder of a real public library, whilst others<br />
ascribed their origin to Aristotle. One of<br />
Caesar's projects was the establishment of a great<br />
public library, and Varro had written a treatise<br />
on the subject; and at Herculaneum a beauti-<br />
fully arranged small room was found with 1756<br />
manuscripts, which gave an insight into the<br />
arrangements of libraries of that time. Christian<br />
libraries, of course, dated from Constantine; and<br />
his successors, especially Theodosius, busied<br />
themselves with their establishment, and St.<br />
Augustine gave his library to the church at<br />
Hippo. The early church was, however, more or<br />
less hostile to the ancient literature of Greece and<br />
Rome. But the Benedictines early in the sixth,<br />
century were the first of the Christian bodies to<br />
establish libraries, and their example was followed<br />
by the Carthusians, Cistercians, Prasmonstraten-<br />
sians, and others; and the Cistercians were the<br />
first to allow persons outside their orders to<br />
borrow books. In the thirteenth century a<br />
library was formed at St. Germain des Pres.<br />
Paris, where, in 1513, a noble library was<br />
founded. For much which was in his paper he<br />
wished to acknowledge his obligations to Mr.<br />
J. Willis Clarke, who had clearly traced the con-<br />
nection between collegiate and monastic libraries<br />
—a connection specially manifest at Merton<br />
College, Oxford. Mr. Tedder also gave interest-<br />
ing accounts of the construction and arrangements<br />
of college libraries; and particularly of the<br />
Escurial Library founded in 1584. He also<br />
described cathedral libraries, of which he took<br />
Westminster as a type. The old type was mainly<br />
for the benefit of the professional scholar; and it<br />
was not until the middle of the eighteenth<br />
century t hat the needs of the people at large were<br />
considered, and the Bodleian and Mazarin<br />
libraries were splendid instances of private<br />
munificence. The free library movement started<br />
by E wart's Act was mainly educational, and the<br />
rapid growth of rate-supported libraries—which<br />
were peculiar to this country—had been described<br />
by Sir John Lubbock. In the United States a<br />
similar movement had been going on, and France<br />
afforded numerous examples of public libraries on<br />
every scale of magnitude. Belgium, Austria-<br />
Hungary, and Scandinavia were also well<br />
equipped, and in recent years a vast number of<br />
library associations had grown up both here and<br />
in the United States. In conclusion, Mr. Tedder<br />
described public libraries as the real universities<br />
of the unattached, and said that the librarian<br />
should remeinbir that he was a priest of litera-<br />
ture. (Cheers.)<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 77 (#491) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
77<br />
PUBLIC LIBRARY AUTHORITIES.<br />
Mr. Herbert Jones read a paper on "Public<br />
Library Authorities, their Constitution and<br />
Powers, as they are and as they should be."<br />
Our present system, he observed, was due to<br />
the happy-go-lucky methods which were so<br />
characteristic of the British people. The results<br />
had, no doubt, on the whole been good, but the<br />
time had come for a reconstruction on a more<br />
logical and consistent basis. Library committees<br />
were variously constituted in different centres,<br />
and the numbers were fluctuating and sometimes<br />
too great for useful action, and their relations to<br />
other local bodies vague and ill-defined. But<br />
when commissioners were appointed a better<br />
system prevailed. Our free library legislation<br />
needed amendment, and it was not desirable tliat<br />
a possibly hostile vestry should be able to super-<br />
sede the regular library authority. A small body<br />
appointed or elected ad hoc was surely better than<br />
a large body constituted for a variety of purposes.<br />
He was in favour of the appointment in each<br />
district of a distinct library authority—not<br />
constituted of too many persons, but varying<br />
according to population—whose sole work would<br />
be the supervision of libraries. In this way<br />
a uniformity of action and a security which<br />
was greatly to be desired would be effected.<br />
(Cheers.)<br />
Mr. Alderman Rawson, of Manchester, said<br />
that his city was the first to adopt Mr. Ewart's<br />
Act. A like movement had almost simultaneously<br />
started in the United States. Since the estab-<br />
lishment of the libraries the numbers of books<br />
and readers in Manchester had increased tenfold.<br />
Notwithstanding the enormous circulation of<br />
books, the loss by missing or injured books was a<br />
mere trifle. The employment of women in the<br />
libraries had produced most beneficial effects in<br />
the maintenance of silence and order. The cor-<br />
poration, though entitled to elect outsiders on the<br />
library committees, had not done so, and had, with<br />
pardonable vanity, thought themselves competent<br />
to manage their libraries. The Manchester<br />
libraries were peculiar in one respect, that they<br />
never levied fines, and their confidence in the public<br />
had never been abused. (Cheers.) The Inland<br />
Revenue had tried to exact income-tax, and the<br />
case had been carried to the House of Lords,<br />
where in the end the library authority of Man-<br />
chester achieved a notable victory for themselves<br />
and all the public libraries of the country.<br />
THE TRAINING OF LIBRARIANS.<br />
Mr. Charles Welch, Guildhall Librarian, read a<br />
paper on "The Training of Librarians." He<br />
insisted on the primary importance of a wide and<br />
liberal education.<br />
BOOKS AND TEXT-BOOKS.<br />
A paper on "Books and Text-Books: The<br />
Function of the Library in Education," was<br />
read by Mr. F. M. Crunder, librarian, Public<br />
Library, St. Louis, U.SA., who said that the<br />
problem was to provide the best education for the<br />
masses. Could text-books furnish that educa-<br />
tion P He remembered his surreptitious enjoy-<br />
ment as a schoolboy of a book of extracts—chiefly<br />
poetry and oratory—and those poems and speeches<br />
were to him worth all the arithmetic and text-<br />
book learning which he was compelled to learn.<br />
To use Sir John Lubbock's words, "the main •<br />
thing is not so much that every child should be<br />
taught as that every child should wish to learn."<br />
Franklin's was the ideal education—that no child<br />
should be taught until he desired to learn.<br />
Books were the true university, and the true edu-<br />
cation was to stimulate the love of good literature,<br />
and to enable the child to discriminate between<br />
what is good and bad in books. Education<br />
should seek to make not lawyers, engineers,<br />
farmers, &c., but men; and the larger aim would<br />
be found also invariably to have included the<br />
narrower. The text-book should only be employed<br />
as the guide to what was of permanent value and<br />
interest in literature.<br />
NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY.<br />
Mr. Sidney Lee, editor of the Dictionary of<br />
National Biography, read the next paper on<br />
"National Biography and National Biblio-<br />
graphy." He said he should make his immediate<br />
purpose plainer if he said a few words about the<br />
aims and scope of the Dictionary of National<br />
Biography, which might be defined as a bio-<br />
graphical census of all dwellers in the British<br />
dominions who had achieved anything worthy of<br />
commemoration. The most notable feature in<br />
their methods of execution was the effort to give<br />
authority for every fact recorded. The life of<br />
Shakespeare, for instance, would be practically<br />
useless were not the authenticity of each of the<br />
traditions which had accumulated about his name<br />
carefuly determined. He had himself attempted<br />
on a modest scale a bibliography of Shakesperiana<br />
arranged in the order in which the student of<br />
Shakespearian biography was likely to find it<br />
convenient to approach the books. His biblio-<br />
graphy was far from complete; the catalogues<br />
of the British Museum Library, with its 3680<br />
entries; the Barton collection in the Boston<br />
Public Library, with its 2500 entries; and the<br />
Birmingham Public Library, with 9640 volumes,<br />
supplied far longer lists of Shakesperiana. But he<br />
had endeavoured to observe some logical principle<br />
of classification which the larger library cata-<br />
logues did not attempt. After a reference to the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 78 (#492) #############################################<br />
<br />
78<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
bibliography respecting Milton, Sir Walter Scott,<br />
Sir W. Raleigh, Dryden, and others, he said that<br />
all that was possible was to mention, as a rule<br />
in chronological sequence, the chief articles or<br />
memoirs previously published. The Dictionary's<br />
list of authorities contained much that was<br />
material for the preparation of a subject<br />
catalogue of literature, and a subject catalogue<br />
was obviously of high importance in developing<br />
the utility of public libraries. The making<br />
of subject catalogues was a subsidiary branch<br />
of the science of bibliography. In its essence<br />
bibliography was the science of describing<br />
books as books, in contradistinction to books as<br />
literature. For the literature of Great Britain<br />
and Ireland there existed at present four notable<br />
experiments in national bibliography. At the<br />
beginning of the century Eobert Watt, a poor<br />
surgeon of Paisley, sacrificed twenty years of<br />
arduous labour in compiling his "Bibliotheca<br />
Britannica," an elaborate catalogue mainly of<br />
British literature, though a few foreign works<br />
were included, arranged in two indices—one of<br />
authors' names, the other of the titles of books.<br />
The next effort in national bibliography was made<br />
by William Thomas Lowndes, who in his<br />
"Bibliographers' Manual," first published in<br />
1834, endeavoured to arrange the titles of books<br />
(under authors' names) with some regard to their<br />
intrinsic interest. Lowndes, after many years of<br />
abject poverty, lost his reason and died in 1843.<br />
The third great attempt at a bibliography of<br />
English literature was made in America, and it was<br />
to the credit of that great country that its history<br />
involved no distressing incidents like those which<br />
accompanied the efforts of Watts and Lowndes.<br />
Allibone's ample " Dictionary of English Litera-<br />
ture" was projected in 1850, and the last proof<br />
sheets were read by the author on the last day of<br />
1870. The work was published by Messrs.<br />
Lippincottof Philadelphia, in three large volumes,<br />
and a supplement in two volumes, almost equally<br />
large, appeared in 1891. Living authors were<br />
included as well as the dead, and to all books<br />
of importance there were appended illustrative<br />
quotations from critical reviews. Although<br />
Allibone's book was open to criticism and con-<br />
tained many blunders, jet the work was an<br />
invaluable book of reference, as every librarian<br />
would acknowledge. The fourth great experi-<br />
ment in national bibliography was the printed<br />
British Museum catalogue, which is a permanent<br />
memorial of the skill, knowledge, and industry<br />
of Dr. Garnett, the Keeper of Printed Books, and<br />
his staff.<br />
BOOE TALE.<br />
THE Earl of Desart's new novel will be<br />
entitled " The Raid of the Detrimental."<br />
In it he has made a new departure. The<br />
tale deals with the true history of the Great<br />
Disappearance of 1862, and is related by several<br />
of those implicated, and others. The book will<br />
be published early in September by Messrs. C.<br />
Arthur Pearson Limited.<br />
Professor Laughton is engaged upon "The<br />
Life and Letters of Henry Reeve." The book<br />
will be published by Messrs. Longmans, Green,<br />
and Co. Among other forthcoming publications<br />
by this firm are "The Validity of the Papal<br />
Claims," by Dr. Nutcombe Oxenham, with a<br />
preface by the Archbishop of "Xork; and a<br />
biography of Dr. Maples, Bishop of Likoma, in<br />
Central Africa, by his sister.<br />
Colonel H. M. Vibart has written a work on<br />
"The Siege of Delhi, in the Indian Mutiny," in<br />
which he gives to Colonel Bard Smith's services a<br />
more adequate recognition than he believes they<br />
have hitherto been granted. The book will be<br />
published by Messrs. A. Constable and Co.<br />
Mr. Bret Harte's new novel is called "Three<br />
Partners," and treats of a strike in a mining<br />
camp. It will be published next month by<br />
Messrs. Chatto and Windus.<br />
Mr. Meredith's volume of selected poems will<br />
appear shortly.<br />
Mr. W. Clark Russell's articles on the life of<br />
Nelson, which are running in one of the maga-<br />
zines, will be issued in book form in the autumn<br />
by Mr. James Bowden.<br />
Mr. Sidney G. Murray is the author of "A<br />
Popular Manual of Finance," which will be issued<br />
immediately by Messrs. Blackwood.<br />
The late Mr. Du Maurier's novel, "The<br />
Martian," will be published by Messrs. Harper<br />
on Sept. 17.<br />
Mine. Sarah Grand's new novel is to be published<br />
by Mr. Heinemann.<br />
Mr. Herbert Warren, the president of Magdalen<br />
College, is having his poems published by Mr.<br />
Murray, under the title " By Severn Sea." Some<br />
time ago they were printed by Mr. Daniel, of<br />
Oxford, but only circulated privately. They are<br />
now to be available to the public.<br />
Mr. Geo. Haven Putnam has a scheme for the<br />
institution of literary courts or boards of arbitra-<br />
tion, to settle disputes arising between the writing<br />
and publishing professions. Details of it are to<br />
be given in the revised edition of his work,<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 79 (#493) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
79<br />
"Authors and Publishers," which is to appear<br />
shortly.<br />
Sir Ellis Ashmead Bartlett, M.P., has written<br />
"The War in Thessaly, with Personal Experiences<br />
in Turkey and Greece." It will be remembered<br />
that one of the "personal experiences" of the<br />
author was to be captured by a Greek torpedo<br />
boat and carried to Athens.<br />
Mr. Fitzgerald Molloy has aimed at presenting<br />
a complete picture of Irish society in the last<br />
century, in his forthcoming work entitled "The<br />
Romance of the Irish Stage." Messrs. Downey<br />
and Co., who will publish the book, are also about<br />
to issue a uniform edition of Mr. Molloy's social<br />
and historical studies at a popular price.<br />
Mr. D. J. O'Donoghue, the biographer of<br />
Carleton, will shortly conclude " The Life and<br />
Writings of James Clarence Mangan," a work he<br />
has been engaged at for some time. It will tell<br />
for the first time the story of the young poet's<br />
tragic career in the Young Ireland days; and<br />
there will also be reminiscences of Mangan by Sir<br />
Frederick Burton, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, Dr.<br />
J. K. Ingram, and others.<br />
A biography of the engineer who laid the first<br />
Atlantic cable—Sir Charles Tilston Bright—is<br />
being prepared for publication (by subscription)<br />
by Messrs. Constable and Co. A brother and a<br />
son of the distinguished pioneer have compiled<br />
the work from the diaries which Sir Charles kept;<br />
therefore it will be largely autobiographical in<br />
character.<br />
Lord Eibblesdale, who was Master of the<br />
Buckhounds under the last administration, is<br />
writing his recollections of " The Queen's Hounds<br />
and Stag Hunting," to which will be contributed<br />
illustrations by prints and drawings from Her<br />
Majesty's collections at Windsor Castle and at<br />
Cumberland Lodge. The book will be published<br />
by Messrs. Longmans.<br />
Mr. Theodore A. Cook will write a book about<br />
Rouen, and Miss Margaret Symonds (daughter of<br />
the late John Addington Symonds) one about<br />
Perugia, for a series of volumes dealings with<br />
mediaeval towns which Messrs. J. M. Dent and<br />
Co. are to publish. The late Mrs. Oliphant was<br />
writing "Sienna," but had only completed three<br />
chapters of it.<br />
The biography of Professor Huxley is not<br />
likely to be ready before the autumn of 1898.<br />
Prince Ranjitsinhji's book on cricket is to be<br />
published by Messrs. Blackwood, and will be<br />
dedicated to the Queen. There will be an ddition<br />
de luxe in crown quarto, with the author's auto-<br />
graph, twenty photogravures, and eighty full-<br />
page plates; a fine-paper edition in royal octavo,<br />
with a photogravure frontispiece and ninety-nine<br />
plates; and a popular edition in large crown<br />
octavo, with eighty page illustrations and twenty<br />
in the text.<br />
Mr. George Bernard Shaw is revising his plays<br />
for their coming publication in book form under<br />
the title " Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant." They<br />
will be in two volumes, to be published by Mr.<br />
Grant Richards in the autumn.<br />
The several stories contained in Mr. Coulson<br />
Kernahan's "Book of Strange Sins," are being<br />
published in separate numbers by Messrs. Ward,<br />
Lock and Co.<br />
Mr. Fraser Rae is at work upon a new edition<br />
of Sheridan, in which he will correct the accepted<br />
text to a considerable extent.<br />
Mr. William Le Queux's new Tuscan novel, now<br />
in the press, is to be called "A Madonna of the<br />
Music Halls."<br />
Mr. F. E. Robinson, M.A., the latest recruit to<br />
the ranks of London publishers, announces that<br />
he has nearly completed arrangements for a series<br />
of Oxford and Cambridge College Histories,<br />
which will be written by dons and other well-<br />
known graduates.<br />
Mr. Frank A. Munsey—whose enterprise has<br />
lately been spoken of by Mr. Hapgood in the<br />
New York Letter of The Author—has been in<br />
London making preliminary arrangements for an<br />
English edition of Mungey's Magazine. He will<br />
probably send a manager from New York, and<br />
open a branch establishment here. Mr. Munsey<br />
has secured a story by Mr. Max Pemberton for<br />
the magazine, to succeed Mr. Hall Caine's " The<br />
Christian."<br />
Mr. Alfred Kingston is engaged upon a work<br />
entitled " East Anglia and the Great Civil War,"<br />
in which he tells the story of the rising of Crom-<br />
well's Ironsides in the counties of Cambridge,<br />
Huntingdon, Lincoln, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex,<br />
and Hertford.<br />
The "Victorian Era" series of books, to be<br />
issued by Messrs. Blackie, is intended as an<br />
authoritative record of the great movements of<br />
the century. Mr. J. H. Rose, M.A., late Scholar<br />
of Christ's College, Cambridge, will edit the<br />
series, and contribute a volume on " The Rise of<br />
the Democracy." Canon J. H. Overton will write<br />
"The Anglican Revival ;" Dean Stubbs, a<br />
biography of Charles Kingsley; Mr. George<br />
Gissing, a biography of Charles Dickens; Mr.<br />
H. Holman, "National Education;" Mr. G.<br />
Aimitage Smith, " Free Trade and Its Results;"<br />
Mr. Lawrence Gomme," Modern London;" &c.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 80 (#494) #############################################<br />
<br />
8o<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Mr. F. Anstey's "Baboo Jabberjee" will be<br />
published by Messrs. Dent this autumn.<br />
Mr. Barry Pain's new novel, which Messrs.<br />
Harper will publish immediately, is entitled " The<br />
Octave of Claudius."<br />
Colonel L. J. Trotter has written the " Life of<br />
John Nicholson, Soldier and Administrator,"<br />
which Mr. Murray will publish.<br />
A series of stories by Mr. Barry Pain, dealing<br />
with the career of Eobin Hood; a series by Mr.<br />
Max Pemberton, dealing with the French<br />
Revolution; and a series of detective stories by<br />
Major Arthur Griffith, are among the forth-<br />
coming projects of the English Illustrated<br />
Magazine,<br />
Mr. Andrew Lang has edited a volume of selec-<br />
tions from Wordsworth, which is in the press, and<br />
which will be the first of a new series of "Selec-<br />
tions from the Poets," to be published by Messrs.<br />
Longmans.<br />
Mr. William Harbutt Dawson has written a<br />
comprehensive account of the present day social<br />
movement in Switzerland in its various branches.<br />
The volume, entitled "Social Switzerland," will<br />
be published by Messrs. Chapman and Hall at<br />
once.<br />
"The Typewriter Girl" is the title of a story<br />
dealing with an aspect of London life untouched<br />
hitherto, which Messrs. Pearson are about to<br />
publish. "Olive Pratt Rayner" is the name<br />
assumed by the writer.<br />
A work on English monastic history, by the<br />
Rev. Ethelred L. Taunton, will be published by<br />
Mr. John C. Nimnio in the autumn. It will be<br />
called, "The English Black Monks of St. Bene-<br />
dict: A Sketch of their History from the Coming<br />
of St. Augustine to the Present Day."<br />
The third volume of the series entitled " Litera-<br />
tures of the World," which Mr. Heinemann<br />
publishes, will be "Italian Literature," by Dr.<br />
Richard Garnett. It will appear early in the<br />
autumn. Three months later "English Litera-<br />
ture," by Mr. Edmund Gosse, the editor of<br />
the series, will be ready.<br />
Mr. G. Forrest, Director of Records, Govern-<br />
ment of Tndia, is to write "A History of<br />
British India" for the important project, the<br />
Cambridge Historical Series.<br />
The Historical Society of Trinity College,<br />
Dublin, is co-operating with the National Literary<br />
Society of Dublin to celebrate the centenary<br />
of Burke's death. It is proposed to hold a<br />
public meeting in November, and to erect a<br />
tablet on the house in which Burke was born.<br />
Miss Phoebe Allen, whose work in interesting<br />
children and spreading their love for Nature is<br />
well known, is the editor of a small botanical<br />
quarterly called the Sunchildren's Budget, which<br />
is the organ of two botany clubs, the second of<br />
which is for children. Readers of this paper who<br />
are interested in the subjects are invited to make<br />
the acquaintance of the magazine for their<br />
children.<br />
Mrs. Butcher, wife of Dean Butcher of Cairo,<br />
will publish in October a book on Egypt, where<br />
she has lived for nearly twenty years. It gives<br />
an outline of the history of Egypt from the time<br />
of the Roman occupation in the year 30 b.c. to the<br />
English occupation in the year 1882 a.d., and so<br />
will fill a blank in our knowledge of that ancient<br />
country. As the Christianity of Egypt is the<br />
connecting thread for all the various epochs com-<br />
prehended in these twenty centuries, the book<br />
will be called "The Story of the Church of<br />
Egypt." Messrs. Smith and Elder are the<br />
publishers, and it will appear in two volumes.<br />
A story of public school life, entitled " The Gift<br />
of God," is about to be brought out in volume<br />
form. It is by Mrs. Laffan, the wife of the Prin-<br />
cipal of Cheltenham College; better known to the<br />
reading public by her former name—" Mrs. Leith<br />
Adams." Mrs. Laffan gave a lecture at the<br />
Ladies' College, Cheltenham, last month, on the<br />
subject of "Fictional Literature as a Profession<br />
for Women." It has created great interest, and<br />
will be repeated. New editions of "Madelon<br />
Lemoine," and" The Old Pastures," by this<br />
writer, are in the press.<br />
Volume 2 of Mr. Edwin 0. Sachs' monumental<br />
work, "Modern Opera Houses and Theatres," has<br />
now been issued, and with it, perhaps, that part<br />
of the undertaking which appeals most to the<br />
general public has seen its completion, for the<br />
third volume, due in December, will mainly deal<br />
with the historical and practical details of theatre<br />
construction, finance, and management, and have<br />
an essentially technical character. Mr. Sachs has<br />
been able to extend materially the scope of the<br />
second volume beyond what was originally in-<br />
tended, so that the part now completed contains<br />
descriptions of over fifty playhouses in Europe,<br />
with no less than 450 illustrations. Most of the<br />
latter are on plates. Every country is represented,<br />
including Russia with three theatres, Roumania<br />
and Greece with one each. Garnier's charming<br />
theatre at Monte Carlo even stands to do credit<br />
for the principality of Monaco. The playhouse<br />
most elaborately illustrated in vol. 2 is the Paris<br />
Opera House, and the French capital is further<br />
represented by the new Opera Comique in course<br />
of construction, and the Eden Varietv Theatre.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 81 (#495) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
81<br />
The great Vienna Opera House heads the Austrian<br />
examples in vol. 2, whilst Her Majesty's takes<br />
a similar position among our metropolitan houses.<br />
Mr. Sachs has received great assistance from<br />
many foreign Governments whilst preparing the<br />
work, and many of the names prominently asso-<br />
ciated with drama on the one hand, and with<br />
architecture on the other, will also be found on<br />
his list of subscribers.<br />
Mr. Arthur Lee Knight has a new book for<br />
boys in the press, entitled "Under the White<br />
Ensign; or, for Queen and Empire." Messrs.<br />
Jarrold are the publishers, and the volume will<br />
be profusely illustrated by Mr. J. B. Greene, who<br />
makes a special study of naval subjects.<br />
"The King's Oak" will be the title of a volume<br />
of stories by Robert Cromie, which Messrs. E.<br />
Aickin and Co., Limited, of Belfast, have in the<br />
press. Mr. Cromie is best known as the author<br />
of " The Crack of Doom," which had an extraordi-<br />
nary circulation in Sir GeorgeNewnes' "Famous<br />
Books " series.<br />
The author of " The Song-Book of Bethia Hard-<br />
acre" (Chapman and Hall) is Mrs. (not Miss)<br />
Fuller Maitland.<br />
"The Demon of Santa Fc," by Mr. Farquhar<br />
Palliser (Heber K. Daniels), commences in the<br />
current number of Eureka: The Playgoers'<br />
Magazine, conjointly with "A Romance of Nor-<br />
way," from the same pen, in No. 4 of the<br />
"Favourite Illustrated Stories." A sequel to Mr.<br />
Palliser's " Me and Jim," entitled " Our Tenants,"<br />
will also be published by the same publishers—<br />
the Favourite Publishing Company, Pentonville-<br />
road.<br />
The Navy and Army Illustrated (edited by<br />
Commander C. N. Robinson, R.N.) is devoting a<br />
series of special numbers to the Yeomanry and<br />
Volunteers. The title of the work is "Our<br />
Citizen Army," and the entire letterpress is by<br />
Callum Beg, author of " The Life of a Soldier,"<br />
&c. The second number of the series was lately<br />
published and contains some fifty or sixty<br />
illustrations descriptive of the duties falling<br />
to the lot of our citizen soldiers in camp and<br />
elsewhere.<br />
"Cruelties of Civilisation."—Early in August<br />
the Humanitarian League will issue the third<br />
volume of its publications. It will contain the<br />
following essays: "Literce Humaniores: An<br />
Appeal to Teachers," by Henry S. Salt; "Public<br />
Control of Hospitals," by Harry Roberts; "The<br />
Shadow of the Sword," by G. W. Foote; "What<br />
it Costs to be Vaccinated," by Joseph Collinson;<br />
"The Gallows and the Lash," by Hypatia Brad-<br />
laugh Bonner; "The Sweating System," by<br />
Maurice Adams; "The Humanities of Diet," by<br />
H. S. Salt. One of the League's new pamphlets<br />
will deal with the English Game Laws.<br />
FASHIONS IN LANGUAGE.<br />
VERT great men may almost be said to be<br />
"of no time." The English of Shakspeare<br />
is still modern, and one reads it with more<br />
ease and pleasure than that of much more recent<br />
writers; the reason being that he writes sincerely,<br />
and is but little swayed by the thoughtless<br />
fashions of his day. This is not the case with a<br />
vast majority of even good authors; most of whom<br />
are content to swim with the tide, and to gain a<br />
temporary success at the cost of all chance<br />
of immortality. Addison, Gray, Coleridge,<br />
Macaulay, Tennyson, are all instances of men who<br />
have stedfastly resisted such temptations, and of<br />
whom, therefore, we may feel sure that their<br />
works will endure and will become classics.<br />
It is when one turns to the colloquial idiom<br />
recorded by writers of various times that one<br />
observes how fashions affect our language, and<br />
realises what changes are in store for it among<br />
the multitudes of so-called "English-speaking<br />
people" that are growing up in America and the<br />
Colonies. Yet precisely similar changes have been<br />
always going on, even in the comparatively small<br />
and well-trained circle of London society, without<br />
seriously affecting the purity of written English.<br />
Time and space would not suffice for a com-<br />
plete exemplification of these remarks; we may<br />
however, find enough to justify them in con-<br />
sidering one class of words—the adjectives and<br />
adverbs by which indolent and ill-trained men and<br />
women have been wont to express intenseness and<br />
superlative quality. Thus, in the London of the<br />
Revolution, when institutions began to be fixed<br />
and West-end society to become organised, we<br />
find colloquialism of this sort recorded by Con-<br />
preve and the Spectator; and the fine ladies and<br />
their beaux at once began to coin current epithets<br />
which circulated with but little regard to their<br />
intrinsic value. Mrs. Fainall hates her husband<br />
"transcendentally"; Mirabell is a "pretty"<br />
fellow; Cleantha has been "hugely" diverted.<br />
Then comes the Hanoverian age, beginning with<br />
George II. and ending with George IV., when<br />
convention was lord of all, and " enthusiasm"<br />
was regarded as a form of insanity. Here we<br />
come upon yet more artificial epithets, the paper-<br />
money of social intercourse. Not only are words<br />
used without any pretence of their proper signifi-<br />
cation, but the lords and ladies who set the<br />
fashion do not even deign to employ the neces-<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 82 (#496) #############################################<br />
<br />
82<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
sary termination to indicate an adverbial meaning<br />
The characters in Miss Burney's novels talk of a<br />
"monstrous handsome woman," and a "prodi-<br />
gious pretty place;" like the mediaeval emperor,<br />
they are above grammar, though they can hardly<br />
be said to have mastered that humble science.<br />
Many other instances will occur to readers of<br />
eighteenth century books, and will be even found<br />
in sermons and works intended to be dignified.<br />
"Respectable " is used as a high form of praise;<br />
few words, indeed, can have more changed their<br />
value.<br />
Boswell writes of "Chief Baron Smith of<br />
respectable and pious memory," where he evidently<br />
means to exhaust eulogy. Two other favourite<br />
epithets of the period have fallen from their high<br />
estate—"elegant"and "genteel," the former used<br />
to mean much what we mean when we say that a<br />
lady is refined, or that her hospitality is gracious;<br />
the latter meant well bred or polite.<br />
Lord Chesterfield, about the middle of the<br />
period, touched the subject with his habitual<br />
plesantry:—<br />
"Not content," writes the witty peer, "with<br />
enriching our language with words absolutely<br />
new, my fair countrywomen have gone still<br />
farther and improved it by the application and<br />
extension of old ones to various and very different<br />
significations. They take a word and change it,<br />
like a guinea into shillings for pocket-money, to<br />
be employed in the several occasional purposes of<br />
the day. For instance, adjective vast, and its<br />
adverb vastly, mean anything. . . . Large<br />
objects are vastly great, small ones are vastly<br />
little; and I had lately the pleasure to hear a<br />
fine woman pronounce a very small gold snuff-<br />
box that was produced in company to be vastly<br />
pretty because it was vastly little."<br />
On this Walpole noted: "Humming is a cant<br />
word for vast. A person meaning to describe a<br />
very large bird, said 'It was a humming bird.'"<br />
Surely we seem to be on familiar ground here.<br />
Is it not the fact that for the last thirty years we<br />
have had "cant words," or intensive expletives,<br />
of at least equal absurdity?<br />
What is the meaning of a lady who is awfully<br />
ugly, but has an airfu/ly jolly house?" Or of<br />
the young officer who comes down to breakfast in<br />
a strange house declaring that he has had "a<br />
rippin' night's rest?"<br />
H. G. K.<br />
CORRESPONDENCE.<br />
I.—Corruptions of the Language,<br />
THE AUTHOR" is fulfilling several useful<br />
functions, and its usefulness seems to<br />
grow with every month.<br />
The suggestion of " E. W. H." appears to me<br />
to be an excellent one; and I shall be glad to<br />
support it.<br />
But I am hunting smaller game just now; and<br />
I ask for only a few lines of your journal to call<br />
attention to a minor nuisance. The English<br />
language is in daily danger of being corrupted<br />
by slovenly phrases introduced by journalists<br />
and reporters in a hurry; and it might be one of<br />
the duties, and one of the privileges, of The<br />
Author to guard the purity of the language, in<br />
so far as this is possible and practicable for any<br />
one journal. But, as The Author is read by<br />
hundreds of men and women who write, and who<br />
have an honest respect for the language they<br />
write in, it is, probably, a task that becomes it<br />
well, to exclude from the language words and<br />
phrases that are "bad English" or ungram-<br />
matical, or ill-sounding.<br />
An obituary notice of Mrs. Oliphant in the<br />
July number of The Author, concludes with<br />
the words: "Mrs. Oliphant was predeceased by<br />
her husband and two sons." Now, I did not<br />
expect to find that in The Author. Let me talk<br />
grammar for a minute; I will try not to bore you.<br />
"Predeceased by " is clearly a verb in the passive<br />
voice. If one can "be predeceased," it follows<br />
that one can "decease" and even "predecease."<br />
Then " decease" is an active verb. What is to<br />
decease/ There is no such verb in the English<br />
language. Still less is there the verb to pre-<br />
decease. The writer might have given the sad<br />
facts in a truer way if he had not gone after<br />
Latin words, but kept within the bounds of his<br />
mother tongue: "Mrs. Oliphant was a widow;<br />
and all her children had died before her."<br />
There is another Latin word that is hauled in<br />
by every penny-a-liner with fatal facility and<br />
unpleasant results. I saw this heading in a<br />
country newspaper the other day: "Demise of a<br />
Dundee Baker in Canada." What is a demise*<br />
It is a demissio—a handing down (of the crown<br />
or of some title). Shakespeare has the verb to<br />
demise in the sense of to bequeath. Mr. Greville,<br />
in his Memoirs (quoted in the Century Dictionary),<br />
writes: "Now arose anew difficulty—whether the<br />
property of the late king demised to the king or<br />
to the Crown." Here the word demise is rightly<br />
used. An act of demise is a handing down of<br />
something to somebody. But the small journalist<br />
saw the word, liked the sound of it and the look<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 83 (#497) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
83<br />
of it, didn't know what it meant, took the ignotum<br />
pro magnifico, and applied it to the death of the<br />
first person he had to mention the departure of.<br />
As I am on the prowl for a few minutes, I will<br />
mention another piece of bad English that seems<br />
likely to gain and to keep a place in our language.<br />
It is the American vulgarism " at that." Anyone<br />
whose ear has been trained by the reading of the<br />
best English prose, must be shocked by the use of<br />
a phrase so unrhythmical.<br />
I should like to suggest to you the usefulness<br />
of setting apart a column as a sort of Index<br />
Expurgatorius, in which all kinds of bad English<br />
and slovenly grammar would be gibbeted, as the<br />
gamekeeper nails stoats and other vermin to the<br />
barn door. J. M. D. Meiklejohn.<br />
St. Andrew's, July 6.<br />
II.—Editor and Contributor.<br />
What is the law in the following supposed<br />
case? I write an article, more or less ephemeral,<br />
and send it to a daily paper. I receive a proof;<br />
on it is a notice that such proof is no guarantee<br />
that the article will be accepted or published.<br />
There is, therefore, no contract.<br />
I send a copy of the same article to another<br />
daily paper, which at once prints and pub-<br />
lishes it.<br />
It happens that on the first of the Greek<br />
Kalends my article appears in both papers.<br />
Has either paper any remedy against me, or<br />
are they both equally in my debt?<br />
Delay spells ruin to an ephemeral article; how<br />
am I to view the notice printed on the proof<br />
slip? Dubious.<br />
[My opinion is that, if the author of the article<br />
in question was not able, or willing, to take his<br />
chance, he should have kept the proof and<br />
informed the editor of his intention to offer it<br />
elsewhere, unless he received a note of acceptance<br />
or contract to publish. I do not think that he<br />
was justified in sending it to the second paper<br />
without such warning or notification to the first<br />
paper. Clearly, the editor of the first paper<br />
was entitled to believe that the article was offered<br />
to him alone. By the decision of the Westminster<br />
County Court in the case of "Macdonald v.<br />
National Revieic," the forwarding of a proof is<br />
in itself an acceptance of the article, or a contract<br />
to pay for it, if not to publish it. The notice<br />
that the proof is not a guarantee of acceptance<br />
is probably sent with the proof in consequence of<br />
that decision.—Ed.]<br />
III.—English Novels in Germany.<br />
I have read with considerable surprise the<br />
statement of your contributor, " E. W. H.," to the<br />
effect that " Germans have found it necessary to-'<br />
forbid the perusal by young girls of English<br />
novels." The italics are his.<br />
After a comprehensive study of the works of<br />
prominent German writers of to-day, I confess it<br />
would seem to me quite unnecessary to banish<br />
even some very advanced English novels from the<br />
library unless, at the s:ime time, an enormous per-<br />
centage of the romances read, with or without<br />
permission of the parents, by girls of seventeen or<br />
younger, were forbidden at the same time. Per-<br />
sonally, I have the greatest admiration for the<br />
style and literary merits of works I could men-<br />
tion, written by leading Teuton (men and women)<br />
authors; but it is impossible to deny that few<br />
books which attain general popularity in the<br />
Fatherland would escape the verdict in England<br />
of "highly pernicious," or that they would<br />
instantly be locked away on the shelf with the<br />
glass windows, of which only " papa" is supposed<br />
to have the key.<br />
As the assertion in question is not" E. W. H.'s"<br />
own, I trust he will forgive me for taking up the<br />
cudgels in defence of English literature.<br />
Gwendoline Ashworth-Edwards.<br />
Germany. ii<ri<br />
IV.—A Query.<br />
I should feel much obliged if any reader of 'The<br />
Author could give a definite rule, or refer to a<br />
satisfactory authority, in the following cases:<br />
(a) The correct form of the predicate verb,<br />
"when two or more pronouns of different persons,<br />
are connected by alternative conjunctions."<br />
According to Professor Bain, there is a diver-<br />
gence of use among classical writers.<br />
(/?) The correct auxiliary to be used with<br />
verbs of motion.<br />
(y) The present day use of, and distinction<br />
between, the prepositions " by " and " with."<br />
A. E. Aldington.<br />
V.—Transliteration.<br />
With reference to the note by "H. G. K." on<br />
"Transliteration" in The Author for this month,<br />
I beg to point out that the congress he wishes for<br />
has sat, and to a great extent settled the question.<br />
At the Tenth Oriental Congress, held at Geneva<br />
in 1894, on the motion of Lord Reay, President<br />
of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain, a<br />
commission was appointed to consider this<br />
subject. The scheme adopted by the commission<br />
was printed in the Proceedings of the Congress,<br />
and a translation of it was published in the<br />
Asiatic Society's Journal for October, 1895.<br />
This system has, with a few alterations, been<br />
adopted by the society, and earnestly recom-<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 84 (#498) #############################################<br />
<br />
84<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
mended for adoption by all writers on Oriental<br />
subjects.<br />
As one who has written and published a good<br />
deal on Indian languages, I am deeply impressed<br />
with the necessity of uniformity on this point—<br />
not for the sake of Oriental scholars, to whom,<br />
knowing as they do the words in their Oriental<br />
alphabets, transliteration is of little moment, but<br />
for the general public, who are apt to be bewil-<br />
dered by diversity of spelling. The system<br />
adopted by the Geneva Congress does not com-<br />
mend itself to me in every particular, and in such<br />
of my writings as are intended for students of<br />
Oriental languages only I could not conscien-<br />
tiously adopt some of the Roman equivalents<br />
proposed, as I consider them misleading. But in<br />
writing for the general public this objection<br />
would not arise, and the Geneva system might<br />
be used. I think, however, for general use<br />
the employment of dots and diacritical signs<br />
would have to be dispensed with, as the public<br />
would not understand them without previous<br />
study—and the public has no time to study such<br />
matters.<br />
In the Arabic language there are four letters,<br />
all of which in India are pronounced as z, three<br />
which are pronounced s, and two pronounced t.<br />
It would suffice to write all these letters as they<br />
are pronounced without putting dots under them.<br />
But then the four letters pronounced as z in India<br />
are pronounced differently in other Mahomedan<br />
countries. For instance, the name of the month<br />
during which all good Muslims fast is pronounced<br />
in India and Persia Ramzan, while in Arabia and<br />
Turkey it is pronounced Ramadhan (i.e., like the<br />
two English words "rummer " and "darn," not<br />
like "rammer" and "dan"). I do not think<br />
any system, except one which hideously distorted<br />
them, would enable the Englishman who is unac-<br />
quainted with Arabic to pronounce these words<br />
properly at sight—one would not like to see the<br />
word written " rummer darn!" The short indis-<br />
tinct vowel which is so very frequent in Oriental<br />
languages creates a great difficulty. The sound<br />
of it is exactly the same as the u in English<br />
bun, sun, run. It is also the same as the unac-<br />
cented e in the French le, jc, me; and the half<br />
audible c at the end of German eine, meine, gate.<br />
But it is also the same as the final unaccented a in<br />
America, woman. Consequently the Geneva<br />
Congress, following an already established rule,<br />
has adopted a to express this sound, and this<br />
course is now followed by all Oriental scholars.<br />
French writers (not scholars), however, use e.<br />
Thus the general whose name we should pro-<br />
nounce in India as Uzzum Pasha, appears in<br />
Thessaly as Edhem, and Muhammad is written<br />
Mehemet.<br />
While, therefore, absolute uniformity is,per haps,<br />
not likely to be attained soon, it might be an<br />
advantage if the alphabet adopted by the Geneva<br />
Congress were made more geuerally known, and<br />
used by English writers at least. Foreign writers<br />
may perhaps in time consent to use it also.<br />
John Beames.<br />
Netherclay House, Bishop's Hull,<br />
Taunton, July 6.<br />
VI.—Subjunctive Mood: Its Present Day<br />
Use.<br />
Your correspondent might have ascertained<br />
Mr. Lang's views on this subject by a shorter<br />
process than the study of 68,000 words.<br />
"I," says Prince Prigio, "unworthy as I am,<br />
represent the sole hope of the Royal Family.<br />
Therefore to send me after the Fired rake were*<br />
both dangerous and unnecessary." To which the<br />
author appends a note: *" Subjunctive mood!<br />
He was a great grammarian!"<br />
Apparently a suspicion of priggishness attaches<br />
at the present day even to the use of "the sub-<br />
junctive of to be after if." E. C. S.<br />
VII.—Cost of Production.<br />
In re the letter of "S. R.," published on page<br />
38 of the current issue of The Author, I think he<br />
is quite wrong in his deduction that because a<br />
decent publisher declines to accept a book that<br />
therefore it is not worth publishing! Not so,<br />
friend " S. R."! However meritorious a book is,<br />
many publishers will not accept it unless the<br />
author has already a well-known name in the<br />
literary world, as they think that without this the<br />
work will not "catch on." The commercial side<br />
comes in, you see, and publishers will not take<br />
the first plunge.<br />
The refusal of a book by a decent publisher is<br />
no sign that it is not worth publishing, for it is<br />
not its literary merit so much as the status of<br />
the author that the publisher considers. Many<br />
historic cases—" Vanity Fair," "Jane Eyre,"<br />
&c. — prove this. My own book, "Fisherman<br />
Fancies," Elliot Stock declined to bring out at<br />
his own risk, and yet it was much praised by Mr.<br />
R. D. Blackmore, and had capital reviews from<br />
good London and provincial journals.<br />
F. B. Doveton.<br />
VIII—How Long?<br />
Here is another choice experience of the<br />
courtesy of editors. Last December I submitted<br />
a contribution to a weekly paper circulating in<br />
the parish where I reside. No acknowledgment<br />
was vouchsafed. After a couple of reminders, it<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 85 (#499) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
85<br />
has to-day been sent back, declined with thanks.<br />
Seven months to consider a short story! It is<br />
difficult to believe that a small suburban news-<br />
paper can find any valid excuse for so long a<br />
detention of manuscript. C. C.<br />
Authors' Club, July 15.<br />
—â– »•«><br />
LITERATURE IN THE PERIODICALS.<br />
On Commencing Author. Quarterly Review for July.<br />
On the Complaints op Authors. A. T. Q. C<br />
Speaker for July 3.<br />
The Proposed School op Fiction. A. T. Quiller<br />
Coach. Pall Hall Magazine for Jaly.<br />
John Sterling, and a Correspondence between<br />
Sterling and Emerson. Edward Waldo Emerson.<br />
Atlantic Monthly for July.<br />
Some Reminiscences op English Journalism Sir<br />
Wemysa Reid. Nineteenth Century for July.<br />
Pascal. Leslie Stephen. Fortnightly Review for July.<br />
A Woman Poet [Mme. Marceline Valmore]. Fort-<br />
nightly Review for July.<br />
The paper in the Quarterly Review has been<br />
treated elsewhere (see Notes and News).<br />
A practical suggestion the Quarterly Review<br />
makes has regard to the work of agents. At the<br />
present time, many agents only look at the work<br />
of well-known people; but the writer seems to<br />
foresee considerable remuneration to a firm who<br />
will announce themselves as the depositaries of<br />
everything—sonnets, epics, turnovers for a paper,<br />
or anything else, by servant girls, duchesses, or<br />
eminent men. For these they would have to give<br />
an immediate receipt. They would be free to send<br />
back at once anything considered unmarketable.<br />
They would be at liberty to charge (say) ten per<br />
cent, on whatever they obtained for the item, and to<br />
pay themselves. There would be no temptation to<br />
dishonesty, because the action of the percentage<br />
and the immediate receipt for the document would<br />
be so self-working. It will be noticed that the<br />
idea is substantially that which Mr. Isidore G.<br />
Ascher put forward in the July number of The<br />
Author.<br />
Just before the latest Quarterly appeared,<br />
Mr. Quiller Couch had been writing his view that<br />
the commercial side of the literary calling has<br />
been too prominent of late. He believes " that<br />
writing has aims and rewards of its own which<br />
must and always will escape what I may call a<br />
bagman's estimate, and that if a man can only<br />
bring a bagman's estimate to this calling, a bag-<br />
man he had better be." The author and the<br />
publisher, is a case of the workman and the<br />
capitalist; and "give and take" is the best<br />
motto for each. There is a class of authors,<br />
one would point out to Mr. Couch, who take<br />
their money, as much as they can get, and then<br />
pretend not to care how much it is. There is, as<br />
a rule, no one more anxious for money than the<br />
writer who talks big about bagmen. Those who<br />
know how to separate literary from commercial<br />
value do not talk about the sordidness of keeping<br />
watch over property.<br />
An interesting friendship between Emerson and<br />
Sterling is revealed by Mr. E. Waldo Emerson.<br />
The correspondence (they never met) that passed<br />
between the American poet and the British man<br />
of letters, here published for the first time, shows<br />
their relations to have originated by Emerson<br />
sending a presentation copy of his "Essays."<br />
Sterling acknowledges this in a letter from<br />
Clifton, dated Sept. 30,1839. "I have read very,<br />
very little modern English writing that has<br />
pleased, me so much," he says; "among recent<br />
productions almost only those of our friend<br />
Carlyle, whose shaggy-browed and deep-eyed<br />
thoughts have often a likeDess to yours which is<br />
very attractive and impressive, neither evidently<br />
being the double of the other." Emerson, in re-<br />
plying, criticises Sterling's volume of poems,<br />
saying, "I must count him happy who has this<br />
delirious music in his brain;" and " I am natu-<br />
rally keenly susceptible of the pleasures of rhythm,<br />
and cannot believe but that one day—I ask not<br />
where or when—I shall attain to the speech of<br />
this splendid dialect." There are twenty letters<br />
altogether, eight of them Emerson's. They are<br />
made up of criticisms of literature, and passages<br />
of tender personal sympathy with trouble.<br />
"Ill-health, many petty concerns, much loco-<br />
motion, and infinite laziness," are Sterling's first<br />
excuse for delay; and the Eame reason of ill-<br />
health continues until in June, 1844, when he is<br />
dying, he writes from Ventnor that his condition<br />
is one of " expecting to be dead in five minutes,<br />
and noticing the pattern of the room paper<br />
and of the doctor's waistcoat as composedly<br />
as if the whole had been a dream." We find<br />
Sterling saying, in 1840, that "Hartley Cole-<br />
ridge, Alfred Tennyson, and Henry Taylor are<br />
the only younger men I now think of who have<br />
shown anything like genius, and the last—<br />
perhaps the most remarkable—has more of voli-<br />
tion and understanding than imagination."<br />
In 1842 Sterling thought of visiting New Eng-<br />
land. "Come and bring your scroll in hand,"<br />
promptly writes the American sage. "Come to<br />
Boston and Concord, and I will go to Niagara<br />
with you. I have never been there." Again he<br />
writes, introducing his countryman Bronson Alcott<br />
as " a man who cannot write, but whose conver-<br />
sation is unrivalled in its way—such insight, such<br />
discernment of spirits, such pure intellectual play,<br />
such revolutionary impulses of thought." Another<br />
friend Emerson introduces is Henry James, of New<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 86 (#500) #############################################<br />
<br />
86<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
York, "a man of ingenuous and liberal spirit, and<br />
a chief consolation to me when I visit his city."<br />
Here is one paragraph from a letter of Emerson's,<br />
dated January 31, 1844.<br />
I learned by your last letter that you had builded a<br />
house, and I glean from Russell all I can of your health and<br />
aspect; and as James is gone to your island, I think to come<br />
still nearer to you through his friendly and intelligent eyes.<br />
Send me a good gossiping letter, and prevent all my proxies.<br />
What can I tell you to invite such retaliation? I dwell<br />
with my mother, my wife, and two little girl -. the eldest five<br />
years old, in the midst of flowery fields. I wasted much<br />
time from graver work in the last two months in reading<br />
lectures to Lyceums far and near; for there is now a<br />
"lyceum," so oalled, in almost every town in New Eogland,<br />
and, if I would accept every invitation, I might read a<br />
lecture every night. My neighbours in this village of<br />
Concord are Ellery Cbanning, who sent his poems to you, a<br />
yontb of genius; Thoreau, whose name you may have Been<br />
in the Dial ; and Hawthorne, a writer of tales and historiettes,<br />
whose name you may not have Been, though he, too,<br />
prints books. All these three persons are superior to their<br />
writings, and, therefore, not obnoxious to Kant's observa-<br />
tion, " Detestable is the company of literary men."<br />
Emerson was trying to arrange for the printing<br />
of Sterling's poems in America, but the project<br />
hung fire. The reasons are given by Emerson in<br />
his letter of June 30, 1843, which shows the un-<br />
satisfactory state of the book law at that time:<br />
Oar whole foreign book market has suffered a revolution<br />
within eighteen months, by the new practice of printing<br />
whatever good books or vendible books you send ns, in the<br />
cheapest newspaper form, and hawking them in the streets<br />
at twelve, eighteen, and twenty-five cents the whole work;<br />
and I suppose that fears, if his book should prove<br />
popular, that it would be pirated at once. I printed Carlyle's<br />
•' Past and Present" two months ago, with a preface beseech-<br />
ing all honest men to spare our book; but already a wretched<br />
reprint has appeared, published, to be sure, by a man<br />
unknown to the trade, whose wretchedness of type and<br />
paper, I have hope, will still give my edition the market for<br />
all persons who have eyes and wish to keep them. But,<br />
beside the risk of piracy, this cheap system hurts the sale<br />
of dear books, or such whose price contains any profit to<br />
an author. Add one more unfavonrable incident whioh<br />
damped the design, that a Philadelphia edition of<br />
"Sterling's Poems " was published a year ago, though bo ill<br />
got up that it did not succeed well, our booksellers think.<br />
To judge from this year's issue of Professor<br />
Kiirschner's "Deutsche Litteratur Kalender,"<br />
which has been fully described in this journal<br />
before, the guild of writers must be on the<br />
increase in Germany. It numbers sixty pages<br />
more than last year's issue, and contains much<br />
new and valuable information. The portraits<br />
inserted in the present volume are of special<br />
interest. The one facing the title-page represents<br />
the popular and prolific romancer Mas Ring, who,<br />
as we learn from Kiirschner, is a doctor of<br />
medicine, and will celebrate on the 4th of next<br />
month his eightieth birthday. Among his<br />
various successful novels the one entitled "John<br />
Milton und seine Zeit" has attracted in Germany<br />
particular attention. The second portrait is that<br />
of the well-known poet . Detlev von Liliencron.<br />
As for the rest, the useful literary and biographical<br />
annual fully maintains its standard, and we<br />
may cordially recommend it to all who take an<br />
interest in current German literature.<br />
PERSONAL.<br />
"|V TE- GEORGE SMITH gave a dinner at<br />
IVI the Hotel Mctropole, on July 8, to his<br />
friends and the contributors to the<br />
"Dictionary of National Biography." In pro-<br />
posing the health of Mr. Sidney Lee, Mr. Smith<br />
said that twenty-one volumes of the "Dic-<br />
tionary" had appeared under the editorship of<br />
Mr. Leslie Stephen, with the assistance of Mr.<br />
Sidney Lee; five were edited jointly by Mr.<br />
Stephen and Mr. Lee; and twenty-five had been<br />
produced under the editorship of Mr. Lee. The<br />
number of contributors was 634; and each volume<br />
contained between 400 and 500 separate biogra-<br />
phies. Mr. Lee, in replying to the toast, said<br />
that when ill-health unhappily compelled Mr.<br />
Stephen to retire from the editorship, it was the<br />
force of his example that had enabled him to<br />
carry the work forward to the stage it had<br />
reached. Mr. Stephen also acknowledged the<br />
toast. Mr. Lee gave " The Health of the Con-<br />
tributors," and Canon Ainger replied. "The<br />
Guests who were not Contributors" was proposed<br />
by the Chairman, who coupled with it the names<br />
of Viscount Peel and Mr. Lecky. One of the<br />
most remarkable features of the time, said Mr.<br />
Lecky, was the manner in which individual exer-<br />
tion had been replaced by corporate work, by<br />
syndicates and companies. It was old fashioned<br />
now to think that a history could only be written<br />
by one hand in a uniform style.<br />
The Tennyson Memorial in the Isle of Wight<br />
will be unveiled by Lady Tennyson, and dedicated<br />
by the Archbishop of Canterbury, on Friday, the<br />
6th inst., at 3 p.m. It is placed in Freshwater<br />
Down, the favourite walk of the late Laureate.<br />
Mark Twain has declined the fund which was<br />
set on foot for him by the New York Herald, and<br />
supported in London by the Westminster Gazette.<br />
A man who is able to work, he says, should not<br />
accept charity. The appeal was meeting with<br />
ready response.<br />
A successful Dickens fete was held at Broad-<br />
stairs in the first week of July. The principal<br />
feature was a fancy dress bazaar, in which the<br />
stall-holders impersonated characters in the<br />
novelist's books. The proceeds will be devoted to<br />
erecting a club-house and other buildings in<br />
memory of Charles Dickens.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 87 (#501) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
87<br />
OBITUARY.<br />
MISS JEAN INGELOW died at Kensing-<br />
ton on July 20, at the age of seventy-<br />
seven. She came, like Tennyson, of a<br />
Lincolnshire family (her mother was a Scotch,<br />
woman of literary inclinations), and was one of a<br />
banker's eleven children. Her first volume which<br />
attained fame was "Poems" (1863), which has<br />
been popular through the half century that has<br />
elapsed since. This was her second work, the<br />
first, "A Rhyming Chronicle of Incidents and<br />
Feelings," having been published anonymously in<br />
1850. "The Brothers," " Divided," and " Songs<br />
of Seven" were likewise well received; and<br />
Mr. Swinburne, for one, paid very high praise<br />
to "Requiescat in Pace." Both in this country<br />
and in the United States her works com-<br />
manded large sale in the sixties and seventies.<br />
Her stories in blank verse included " Lawrance"<br />
and "Gladys and Her Island "; "Supper at<br />
the Mill" and "Afternoon at a Parsonage"<br />
were dainty sketches. The poem by which<br />
Miss Ingelow is best known is "High Tide<br />
on the Coast of Lincolnshire," which is a<br />
favourite piece with public reciters. She also<br />
wrote fairy stories for children and novels for the<br />
young. "Off the Skelligs" was perhaps her<br />
best prose work. Miss Ingelow seldom revised<br />
her poems after she had once committed them to<br />
paper. She shunned publicity, and was a generous<br />
friend of the poor.<br />
Sir John Skelton, K.C.B., LL.D., Advocate,<br />
late Vice-President of the Local Government<br />
Board for Scotland, died in his native city, Edin-<br />
burgh, on the 20th ult., aged sixty-six. He was<br />
the author of several books on public health and<br />
the poor law; of "Nugse Criticse," a volume of<br />
essays published in 1862; and of historical and<br />
other works, including " A Campaigner at Home,"<br />
"The Impeachment of Mary Stuart," " Maitland<br />
of Lethington and the Scotland of Mary Stuart,"<br />
"Mary Stuart," "Essays in Romance," and<br />
one novel, "Crookit Meg." It was Disraeli's<br />
admiration for "Crookit Meg" that removed<br />
the young barrister from Parliament House at<br />
Edinburgh to be Secretary of the old Board<br />
of Supervision. His latest work was "Table<br />
Talk of Shirley" (1895), of which a second<br />
series appeared last winter. This work contains<br />
reminiscences of some of the foremost writers of<br />
the present reign. Dr. Skelton was a consistent<br />
admirer of the unfortunate Queen of Scots, but<br />
this did not interfere with his close friendship<br />
with Froude. Under the pseudonym of " Shirley"<br />
lie was a frequent contributor to Frasers and<br />
Blackwood's. He was the original of Lord<br />
Glenalmond in Stevenson's" Weir of Hermiston."<br />
"' Shirley' is the last of them," the late Miss<br />
Isabella Blackwood used to say in speaking<br />
of the former but departed glories of literary<br />
Edinburgh.<br />
Sir John Charles Bucknill, M.D., F.R.C.P.,<br />
F.R.S., who died at Bournemouth on the 19th<br />
ult., aged seventy-nine, originated, in 1853, the<br />
Journal of Mental Science—which for nine years<br />
he edited, was one of the original editors—and<br />
Brain; and wrote numerous psychological works.<br />
The most important of these are: "Unsound-<br />
ness of Mind in Relation to Criminal Acts,"<br />
"The Mad Folk of Shakespeare," "Notes on<br />
American Asylums," "Habitual Drunkards and<br />
Insane Drunkards," and " Care of the Insane and<br />
their Legal Control."<br />
THE BOOKS OP THE MONTH.<br />
[June 24 to July 23.—154 Books.]<br />
About, Edmond. The King of the Mountains, [trans, by Richard<br />
Davey.] 3/6. Heinemann.<br />
Allen, Grant. An African Millionaire. 6'- Richards.<br />
Allingham, Francis. Crooked Paths. 6/- Longmans.<br />
Aloysius, Slater Mary. Memories of the Crimea. Burns and Oates.<br />
Anglican, An. Some Thoughts on the Third Order of St. Francis.<br />
I/- Skeffington.<br />
Anonymous. A Catalogue of the Egyptian Antiquities in tho Posses-<br />
sion of F. G. Hilton Price. Quaritch.<br />
Anonymous [*'E."]. Peggy's Decision. 1/- Simpkin.<br />
Anonymous. Notes on tho Painted Glass in Canterbury Cathedral.<br />
Canterbury: E. Crow.<br />
AnonymouB. The Oxford Debate on tho Textual Criticisms of the New<br />
Testament. Bell.<br />
Anonymous [•'One of H. M.'s servants."] The Private Life of tho<br />
Queen. 2/6. Pearson.<br />
Armitage, E. S. A Key to English Antiquities, with special reference<br />
to the Sheffield and Roiherham District. 7, - Sheffield:<br />
W, Townsend.<br />
ABtlns, G. S. Wayside Echoes. 2/- King, Sell, and Railton.<br />
Austin, Alfred. Victoria: June 20, 1S37—June 20, 1897. 6d.<br />
Macmillan.<br />
Bailey, James. Sunday School Teaching. 1/6. R. Cully.<br />
Barnes, W. E. An Apparatus Criticus to Chronicles in the Pesbitta<br />
Version. 5/- Clay.<br />
Harnett. P. A. (ed.) Teaching and Organisation. 6/6. Longmans.<br />
Barr, Robert. Tho Mutable Many, (i - Methueu.<br />
Bathurst, J. K. The Royal Houses of Great Britain. Genealogical<br />
Chart, with notes. Comparative Synoptical Chart Company.<br />
Be a van, A. A. Popular Royalty. 10 6. Low.<br />
Bell, R. S. Warren. The Cub in Love and Other Stories. 18.<br />
Richards.<br />
Bellamy, Edward. Equality 0 - Heinemann.<br />
Besant, Sir W. The Queen's Reign and its Commemoration.<br />
The Werner Company.<br />
Bingham, Clive. With the Turkish Army in Thessaly. C tj net.<br />
Macmillan.<br />
Blrrel), Augustine. Four Lectures on the Law of Employers' Liability<br />
at Home and Abroad. 2/6. Macmillan.<br />
Boae. W. P. Du. The Ecumenical Councils. 6 - Edinburgh: Clark.<br />
Bower, Marfan. The Story of Molly. 3;(J. Andrews.<br />
Brown, J. D., and Stratton, S. S. British Musical Biography. 10,6<br />
net. Birmingham: S. S. Stratton.<br />
Browning, Oscar (ed.) The Journal of Sir George Rooke, Admiral<br />
of the Fleet. Navy Records Society.<br />
Bryant, Sophie. The Teaching of Morality in the Family and the<br />
School. 8/- Sonnenschein.<br />
Bryden, H. A. The Victorian Era in South Africa. Offices of<br />
African Criiic.<br />
Caine, Caisar (editor). AnaVcta Eboracensia: Some Hemaynesof the<br />
Ancient City of York. 42 - Phillimore.<br />
Cameron, MrB. Lovott. A Man's Undoing. White.<br />
Campbell, C. T. British South Africa: A History of the Colony of<br />
the Cape of Good Hope. 7 C. Haddon<br />
Campbell, F. Index-Catalogue of Bibliographical Works (chiefly<br />
in the English language) relating to India. Library Bureau.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 88 (#502) #############################################<br />
<br />
88<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Cavalry Officer, A. Cavalry Titetics. 4 - Stanford.<br />
Clarke, L. W. Tlie Miracle Play in England. 3/6. Andrews.<br />
Cocking. B. D. A Primer of French Etymology. 1/6. Innes.<br />
Cotton, John. Thoughts and Fancies. Simpkin.<br />
Cowell, E. B. (ed.) The Jataka. Vol. III. 12/6. Clay.<br />
Crawford, J. W. Wild Flowers of Scotland. 6/- net. Hacqueen.<br />
Davenport, Cyril. The English Regalia. 21 - net. Kegan Paul.<br />
Donaldson, T. Walt Whitman, The Man. 6/- (lay and Bird.<br />
Druery, O. T. The New Gulliver, or Travels in Athomia. 3/6.<br />
Roxburghe.<br />
Earlo, Mrs. C. W. Pot-Pourri from a Surrey Oarden. 7/6. Smith,<br />
Elder.<br />
England, Frances. Small Concerns. 1/- Dlgby.<br />
Farquharson, C. D. The Federation of the Powers. 1/- Warno.<br />
Forlong, J. G. R. Short StudieB in the Science of Comparative<br />
Bcligion, embracing all the religions of Asia. Quaritch.<br />
Fowler, Edith H. The Professor's Children. 6/- Longmans.<br />
Oarbctt, Captain H. Naval Gunnery. 6/- Bell.<br />
Gardiner, S. It. What Gunpowder Plot Was. o/- Longmans.<br />
Gardner, J. Starkie. Armour in England. 3/6 net. Seeley.<br />
Glnsburg. C. D. Introduction to the Massoretieo—Critical Edition of<br />
the Hebrew Bible. Tractarian Bible Society.<br />
Gorst, MrB. Harold. E. Possessed of Devils. 6/- Macqueen.<br />
Gregor, N. Ter. The Star of the Sea. 6/- Hoywood.<br />
Grenfell, B. P. and Hunt, A. S. (editors land trs.) AOriA IHCOY:<br />
Sayings of our Lord. From an early Greek Papyrus. 2 - net,<br />
and 6d. net. Frowde.<br />
Haldane, J. W. C. Bailway Engineering, Mechanical and Electrical.<br />
15/- Spon.<br />
Hallard, J. H. Gold and Silver: an Elementary Treatise on Bimetall-<br />
ism. 2/6. Bivington.<br />
Hammond, Joseph. A Coinish Parish. [St. Austell ] 10/6.<br />
Skeffington.<br />
Hancock, F. The Parish of Selworthy. Taunton: Barnicott and<br />
Pea re e.<br />
Harris, C. F. The Science of Brickmaking. H. Grevile Montgomery.<br />
Harvey, M. Newfoundland in 181)7. 6/- Low.<br />
Hay, J. Speech at Unveiling of the Scott Bust. 1/- net. Lane-<br />
Herbert, W. de Brocy. A Handbook of the Law of Banks and<br />
Bankers. 2/6. C. Wilson.<br />
Hewitt, J. D. It. Creation with Development, or Evolution. <; -<br />
Kegan Paul.<br />
Hewitt, J. T. Organic Chemical Manipulation. 7/6. Whittaker.<br />
Hill, G. F. Scenes from Greek History between tho Persian and<br />
Peloponnesian Wars. 10/6. Froude.<br />
Holt, B. B. Whitby PaBt and Present. Copas<br />
Howard. J. J., and Crisp, F. A. Visitation of England »nd Wales.<br />
Vol. V. 21/- F. A. Crisp, Grove Park, Denmark Hill, S.E.<br />
Hull, E. Our Coal Resources at the Close of the 19th century. Spon.<br />
James, R. N. Painters and their Works. Vol. III. Gill.<br />
Jane, Fred. T. The Torpedo Book. 1/- Bcoman.<br />
Jane, Fred. T. To Venice in Five Seconds. 1/6. Innes.<br />
Jay. Rose. A Missionary Family. 3/6. Marshall Bros.<br />
Johnson. A. H. Europe in the Sixteenth Century. 7/6. Rivington.<br />
Johnston, Sir H. H. British Central Africa. Mcthuen.<br />
Jones, H. A. The Case of Rebellious Susan. 2/6. Macmillan.<br />
Klrsop, Jos. Life of Thomas N. Carthew. Crombie.<br />
Lamond, B. The Sporting Adventures of M. Lolotte. 1/- Dlgby.<br />
Lang, Andrew, Modern Mythology. 9/. Longmans.<br />
Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. LI.<br />
Smith, Elder.<br />
Leith, Mrs. Disney. Three Visits to Iceland. 5/G. J. Masters and Co.<br />
Levett-Yeata, S. The Chevalier d'Aurlac. 6/- LongmanB.<br />
Lillie, A. Croquet: Its HiBtory, Rules, and Secrets. 6/- Longmans.<br />
Lowndes, Frederic S. Bishops of the Day. 5/- Richards.<br />
Lyrienne, B. de. The Quest of the Qilt-Edged Girl. 1/-net Lane.<br />
Macgregor, Sir William. British New Guinea. 4/. Murray.<br />
Macleane, D. A HiBtory of Pembroke College, Oxford. Oxford His-<br />
torical Society.<br />
Macray, W. D. A Register of the Members of St. Mary Magdalen<br />
College, Oxford. New Series, Vol. II.—Fellows, 1522-1575.<br />
7,6. net. Frowde.<br />
Maeterlinck, M. Aglavaine and Selysette. (tr. by A. Sutro). 2 6.<br />
net. Richards.<br />
Marlon, Neville. Sweet Scented Grass. 1/- Digbv.<br />
MarBh, F. E. Five Hundred Bible Readings. 6/- Marshall Bros.<br />
Martin, E. A. Nature Cbat.l/- Taylor.<br />
Maurice, Major-General. National Defences. 2/6. Macmillan.<br />
Mlall, L. C. Thirty Years of Teaching. 8/6. Macmillan.<br />
Morloy, George. In Russet Mantle Clad. 10,6. Skeffington.<br />
Morris, Sir Lewis. The Diamond Jubilee, an Ode. 6d. Kegan Paul.<br />
Morris, Wm. O'Connor. Hannibal. 5/- Putnam's.<br />
Oates, John. The Sorrow of God, and Other Sermons. 8/6. Bowden.<br />
Oliver, Pasfleld (tr. and editor). The Voyages made by the Sieur<br />
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| 305 | https://historysoa.com/items/show/305 | The Author, Vol. 08 Issue 02 (July 1897) | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=%3Cem%3EThe+Author%3C%2Fem%3E%2C+Vol.+08+Issue+02+%28July+1897%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 08 Issue 02 (July 1897)</a> | | | <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049239455" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049239455</a> | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Publication">Publication</a> | 1897-07-01-The-Author-8-2 | | | | | 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=8">8</a> | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1897-07-01">1897-07-01</a> | | | | | | | 2 | | | 18970701 | Ube Butbor*<br />
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tTbe Hutbot*<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br />
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without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br />
Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br />
letter only.<br />
Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br />
all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br />
jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br />
returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br />
GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br />
EOR some years it has been the practioe to insert, in<br />
every number of The Author, certain " General Con-<br />
siderations," Warnings, Notices, &o., for the guidance<br />
of the reader. It has been objected as regards theBe<br />
warnings that the tricks or frauds against which they are<br />
directed cannot all be guarded against, for obvious reasons.<br />
It is, however, well that they should be borne in mind, and<br />
if any publisher refuses a clause of precaution he simply<br />
reveals his true character, and should be left to oarry on<br />
bis business in his own way.<br />
Let us, however, draw up a few of the rnles to be<br />
observed in an agreement. There are three methods of<br />
dealing with literary property:—<br />
I. That of selling it outright.<br />
This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br />
price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br />
managed by a competent agent.<br />
II. A profit-sharing agreement.<br />
In this case the following rules should be attended to:<br />
(1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br />
duction forms a part.<br />
(2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br />
profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements<br />
VOL. Till.<br />
in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise-<br />
ments.<br />
(3.) Not to allow a special oharge for " office expenses,"<br />
unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br />
(4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br />
rights.<br />
(5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights.<br />
(6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher.<br />
As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br />
doctor!<br />
(7.) To stamp the agreement.<br />
III. The royalty system.<br />
In this system, which has opened the door to a most<br />
amazing amount of overreaching and trading on the<br />
author's ignorance, it is above all things necessary to know<br />
what the proposed royalty means to both "ides. It is now<br />
possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very<br />
nearly the truth. From time to time the very important<br />
figures connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br />
Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br />
"Cost of Production." Let no one, not even the youngest<br />
writer, sign a royalty agreement without finding out what<br />
it gives the publisher as well as himself.<br />
It has been objected that these precautions presuppose a<br />
great success for the book, and that very few books indeed<br />
attain to this great success. That is quite true : but there is<br />
always this uncertainty of literary property that, although<br />
the works of a great many authors carry with them no risk<br />
at all, and although of a great many it is known within a few<br />
copies what will be their minimum circulation, it is not<br />
known what will be their maximum. Therefore every<br />
author, for every book, should arrange on the ohanoe of a<br />
success whioh will not, probably, come at all; but which<br />
may oome.<br />
The four points which the Society has always demanded<br />
from the outset are :—<br />
(1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement<br />
means.<br />
(2.) The inspection of those account books which belong<br />
to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the<br />
nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or<br />
withheld.<br />
(3.) That there shall be no secret profits.<br />
(4.) That nothing shall be charged whioh has not been<br />
actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for<br />
advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for<br />
exchanged advertisements; and that all discounts shall be<br />
duly entered.<br />
If these points are carefully looked after, the author may<br />
rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the<br />
same time he will do well to send his agreement to the<br />
secretary before he signs it.<br />
D 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 30 (#440) #############################################<br />
<br />
So THE AUTHOR.<br />
HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br />
I. INVERT member has a right to ask for and to receive<br />
JQj advice upon his agreements, his choioe of a pub-<br />
lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduot of his<br />
business or the administration of his property. If the advice<br />
sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, tho member<br />
has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the<br />
case is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com-<br />
mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this<br />
without any cost to the member.<br />
2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br />
and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the<br />
experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br />
to use the Society first—our solicitors are oontinually<br />
engaged upon such questions for us.<br />
3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past<br />
accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in<br />
order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree-<br />
ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively<br />
so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any<br />
agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor-<br />
mation thus obtained may prove invaluable.<br />
4. If the examination of your previous business trans-<br />
actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should<br />
take advice as to a change of publishers.<br />
5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br />
posed document to the Society for examination.<br />
6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in<br />
the case of fraudulent houses—the trioks of every publish-<br />
ing firm in the country.<br />
7. 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 />
8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of everything<br />
important to literature that you may hear or meet with.<br />
9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of<br />
members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br />
safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br />
fidential documents to be read only by the 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 />
THE AUTHORS' SYNDICATE.<br />
MEMBERS are informed:<br />
1. That the Authors' Syndicate takes charge of<br />
the business of members of the Society. That it<br />
submits MSS. to publishers and editors, concludes agree-<br />
ments, examines, passes, and collects accounts, and, gene-<br />
rally, reliovcs members of the trouble of managing business<br />
details.<br />
2. That the terms upon which its services can be secured<br />
will be forwarded upon detailed application.<br />
3. That the Authors' Syndicate works only for those<br />
members of the Society whose work possesses a market<br />
value.<br />
4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiations<br />
whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia-<br />
tions are placed exclusively in its hands, and that all<br />
communications relating thereto are referred to it.<br />
5. That clients can only be seen by the Director by<br />
appointment, and that, when possible, at least two days'<br />
notice should be given.<br />
6. That every attempt is made to deal with all communi-<br />
cations promptly. That stamps should, in ail cases, be sent<br />
to defray postage.<br />
7. That the Authors' Syndicate does not invite MSS.<br />
without previous correspondence; does not hold itself<br />
responsible for MSS. forwarded without notice; and that<br />
in all cases MSS. must be accompanied by stamps to defray<br />
postage.<br />
8. That the Syndicate undertakes arrangements for<br />
lectures by some of the leading members of the Society -r<br />
that it has a "Transfer Department" for the sale and<br />
purchase of journals and periodicals; and that a " Register<br />
of Wants and Wanted" is open. Members are invited to-<br />
communicate their requirements to the Manager.<br />
There is an Honorary Advisory Committee, whose services<br />
will be called npon in any case of dispute or difficulty. It<br />
is perhaps necessary to state that the members of the<br />
Advisory Committee have no pecuniary interest whatever in<br />
the Syndicate.<br />
NOTICES.<br />
THE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br />
Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br />
of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br />
heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br />
many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br />
6s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br />
The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and<br />
communications on all subjects connected with literature<br />
from members and others. Nothing can do more good to<br />
the Society than to make The Author complete, attractive,<br />
and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this<br />
work send their names and tho special subjects on which<br />
they are willing to write P<br />
Communications for The Author should reach the Editor<br />
not later than the 21 st of each month.<br />
All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether<br />
members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate<br />
to the Editor any points connected with their work which<br />
it would be advisable in the general interest to publish.<br />
Members and others who wish their MSS. read are<br />
requested not to send them to the Office without previously<br />
communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable<br />
despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in<br />
which they are recoived. It must also be distinctly under-<br />
stood that the Society doeB not, under any circumstances,<br />
undertake the publication of MSS.<br />
The Authors' Club is now open in its new premises, at<br />
3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary<br />
for information, rules of admission, Ac.<br />
Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they<br />
have paid their subscriptions for the year H If they will do<br />
this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's<br />
order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the<br />
trouble of sending out a reminder.<br />
Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the<br />
following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a<br />
most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding<br />
for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they<br />
would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five<br />
years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 31 (#441) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
3»<br />
V* dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then<br />
hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them-<br />
selves into literary bondage for three or five years?<br />
Those who possess the "Cost of Production" are<br />
requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15<br />
per cent. This means, for those who do not like the trouble<br />
of "doing sums," the addition of three shillings in the<br />
pound on this head. In other words, if the cost of binding<br />
IB set down in our book at eight pounds, to this must now be<br />
added twenty-four shillings more, bo that it now stands<br />
at £g 4s. The figures in our book are as near the exact<br />
truth as can be procured; but a printer's, or a binder's,<br />
bill is so elastic a thing that nothing more exact can be<br />
arrived at.<br />
Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged<br />
in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of oourse, we<br />
have not included any sums whioh may be charged for<br />
inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines,<br />
or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too<br />
often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from<br />
sweeping the whole profits o a book into his own pocket,<br />
by inserting any number of advertisements in his own<br />
magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are<br />
who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those<br />
who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it.<br />
PROM THE COMMITTEE.<br />
THE Incorporated Society of Authors have<br />
forwarded the following congratulatory<br />
address to the Queen. The address has<br />
been signed by Mr. George Meredith (President<br />
of the Society), Mr. H. Rider Haggard (Chairman<br />
of the Committee of Management), and Mr. G.<br />
Herbert Thring (Secretary) :—<br />
"We, the undersigned, representing a body of<br />
more than 1400 authors, avail ourselves of your<br />
Majesty's gracious permission to oubmit, with<br />
the utmost loyalty and devotion, our most respect-<br />
ful congratulations on the sixtieth anniversary of<br />
jour Majesty's reign, glorious from every point of<br />
view, and unprecedented in every achievement<br />
which can enrich and advance your people.<br />
"We rejoice especially, and in this we believe<br />
that your Majesty, as an author, will sympathise<br />
with us, that during the last sixty years the<br />
achievements of literature in all its branches have<br />
been great beyond parallel.<br />
"Thus, among scholars, divines, and philoso-<br />
phers, we only need to mention the great names of<br />
Stanley, Carlyle, and Mill; in poetry, those of<br />
Tennyson, Browning, and Matthew Arnold; in<br />
history, those of Macaulay, Grote, Freeman, and<br />
Froude; in science, those of Darwin, Faraday,<br />
Huxley, Owen, and Tyndall; in fiction, those of<br />
Dickens and Thackeray. We desire also to allude<br />
to the splendid and sudden development of the<br />
genius of women in the sphere of literary work,<br />
as instanced, amongst others, by Elizabeth<br />
Barrett Browning, Mrs. Gaskell, George Eliot<br />
Miss Mulock, and Charlotte Bronte. With these<br />
leaders we rejoice to think that in this period<br />
there have lived and passed away many writers<br />
and workers in literature whom the world will<br />
not willingly suffer to be forgotten, such as Hood,<br />
William Morris, Lord Houghton, Charles Kings,<br />
ley, De Quincey, Wilkie Collins, and others in<br />
every branch of letters.<br />
"We invite your Majesty's attention to the fact<br />
that the dependencies and colonies working par-<br />
ticularly in the domains of poetry and fiction have<br />
begun to create a literature individual, indeed, to<br />
each community, but the common possession of<br />
your Empire.<br />
"We believe that it is above everything<br />
desirable to welcome whatever may help to bind<br />
together the myriads who call your Majesty Queen<br />
and Empress in the various quarters of the earth,<br />
and we submit that nothing is working more<br />
powerfully to this end than the literature of the<br />
English tongue which is open to and in the hands<br />
of all.<br />
"We respectfully recognise the deep interest<br />
which you, Madam, have always shown in the<br />
intellectual achievements of our time, whether<br />
literary or scientific, and we humbly pray that<br />
your Majesty may long be spared to reign over<br />
an Empire as illustrious for its literature as<br />
for its arms, its arts, its industries, and its<br />
trades." r, TT „<br />
G. Herbert Thring, Secretary.<br />
LITEEAEY PEOPEETY.<br />
L-—Revision op the Berne Convention in<br />
Germany.<br />
THE diplomatic conference on international<br />
copyright convoked in Paris on April 15,<br />
1896, to discuss a first revision of the<br />
Berne Convention, drew up an Additional Act,<br />
modifying certain articles of the Convention of<br />
Sept. 9, 1886, and also a Declaration explanatory<br />
of certain stipulations of the Convention. The<br />
Federal Council of the German Empire having<br />
given its assent to both of these documents, they<br />
were, in January of the present year, presented<br />
to the Reichstag, and received its sanction on the<br />
Feb. 10, 1897.<br />
The German Empire is thus the first of the<br />
countries of the Union in which the Additional<br />
Act and the Declaration drawn up at Paris have<br />
become law.<br />
The document in which the Imperial Chancellor,<br />
Prince von Hohenlohe-Schillingsfurst, placed<br />
before the Reichstag the Additional Act and<br />
the Declaration, is lying before us. (" Reichstag,<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 32 (#442) #############################################<br />
<br />
32<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
9 Legislatur-Periode IV., Session 1895-97, No.<br />
640.") The contents are of a most interesting<br />
nature, comprising, besides the Additional Act<br />
and Declaration both in the original text and in a<br />
German translation, a Memorandum (Denk-<br />
schrift) and four appendixes. The whole is<br />
deserving of the serious attention of all -who are<br />
interested in questions of international, or indeed<br />
of national copyright, whilst many of the Chan-<br />
cellor's remarks bear upon questions of grave<br />
importance to both authors and publishers. One<br />
of the appendixes contains the Articles as they<br />
stood in the original Convention and as they now<br />
appear altered, side by side in parallel columns,<br />
offering a most convenient comparison of the two,<br />
and it must here suffice to mention that the<br />
modified Articles are numbers 2, 3, 5, 7, 12, and<br />
20, together with paragraphs 1 and 4 of the Final<br />
Protocol. From the Memorandum and the other<br />
appendixes the following passages have been<br />
selected as likely to be the most interesting to<br />
authors, but the perusal of the whole can be<br />
recommended, as no single particular of the<br />
results of the conference, however small, is over-<br />
looked in the valuable and suggestive notes which<br />
accompany them.<br />
The Memorandum amounts almost to a report<br />
of the part taken in the conference by the dele-<br />
gates of the German Empire. After enumerating<br />
the countries represented, the Memorandum con-<br />
tinues:<br />
"The Office of the International Union for the<br />
Protection of Literary and Artistic Works in<br />
Berne had previously forwarded certain ' Proposi-<br />
tions de l'Administration Francaise et du Bureau<br />
international,' and these furnished a base for the<br />
work of the conference. In addition to this, there<br />
were also to be considered, especially by the<br />
German delegates, certain wishes which, since<br />
the existence of the Berne Convention, had been<br />
expressed amongst ourselves in circles which these<br />
questions interested. The matter laid before us<br />
had been subjected to a careful examination in a<br />
number of previous conferences of the commis-<br />
saries of the associated Imperial and Prussian<br />
jurisdictions, and, to a great extent, had been<br />
further submitted to a searching inquiry at the<br />
hands of experts.<br />
UNIFORM COPYRIGHT LAW.<br />
"The 'propositions' above mentioned bore<br />
direct reference to the several articles of the<br />
previous Convention, or to the Final Protocol<br />
attached to it. It was evident from the way in<br />
which they were framed that it would be impos-<br />
sible in this conference also to look forward to the<br />
desirable consummation of a uniform international<br />
codification of the law of copyright; and, as the<br />
labours of the conference advanced, it became<br />
more and more plain that a uniform revised con-<br />
vention of that kind was absolutely unattainable,<br />
notwithstanding the best intentions on the part<br />
of the majority of the countries of the Union -<br />
The reason of this was the opposition of particular<br />
countries, based principally upon their own<br />
domestic legislation.<br />
"In consequence of this, the final result of the<br />
conference consists in the drawing up of an Addi-<br />
tional Act, bearing upon some articles of the<br />
previous Convention and of its Final Protocol<br />
(this Additional Act embraces all the countries of<br />
the Union except Norway), and of a 'Declara-<br />
tion' attached to the Berne Convention and the<br />
Additional Act. This Declaration embraces all the<br />
countries of the Union, including Norway, with<br />
the exception of Great Britain. (The ultimate<br />
agreement of the Republic of Hayti to both may<br />
be regarded as certain).<br />
"Although, under these circumstances, it must<br />
be admitted that the result of the Paris Inter-<br />
national Copyright Conference lacks coherence<br />
and finality, it is just, on the other hand, to<br />
emphasise the fact that, practically speaking, the<br />
contents of the new stipulations will be found to<br />
be, as far as is possible, adapted to the views<br />
resulting from recent developments of the law re-<br />
specting such matters. Taken in connection with<br />
the other Articles of the Berne Convention, which<br />
remain unaltered, they are calculated to form a<br />
convenient base both for a practical exposition<br />
of uniform international copyright, and for a<br />
further development of it. In addition, in No. 5.<br />
of the " Voeux" which the conference adopted, it<br />
has also expressed its hope that the consultations<br />
of the next conference may again result in a text<br />
uniformly applicable to all countries within the<br />
Union.<br />
"So far as Germany is concerned, what was<br />
effected in Paris practically corresponds with the<br />
wishes expressed by those amongst ourselves<br />
interested in the matter. On the one hand,<br />
account was taken of our legitimate efforts, as,<br />
for example, in the case of the extension of the<br />
period of protection of the exclusive right of<br />
translation; and, on the other hand, a check has<br />
been in several ways placed upon the disadvan-<br />
tages arising from exaggerated effoits in favour<br />
of prolongation of copyright."<br />
PROTECTION OF THE OUTSIDE AUTHOR.<br />
The Memorandum proceeds next to describe<br />
and comment upon the additions made to the<br />
several Articles of the Convention of 1886, taking<br />
them one by one. Amongst other passages of<br />
great interest may be quoted the following<br />
respecting the modification of Article 3:<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 33 (#443) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
33<br />
"It results from the wording of the revised<br />
3rd Article that an author of a country outside<br />
the Union, in order to enjoy the protection<br />
accorded hy the Union, must comply with the<br />
conditions and formalities prescribed by the<br />
country in which he publishes his work or causes<br />
it to be published. If he has complied with these<br />
preliminaries, he enjoys the full protection which<br />
the Union guarantees—that is to say, he is pro-<br />
tected not only against unauthorised editions,<br />
but also against unauthorised translations, and<br />
unauthorised representations, or exhibitions of<br />
the work which he has published in one of<br />
the countries of the Union, in accordance with<br />
Article 5 of the Convention, to which refers<br />
Article 1, iii., of the Additional Act, and Article 9<br />
of the Convention.<br />
"The author who does not belong to a country<br />
of the Union is in a worse position than one who<br />
does belong to one in this respect, that his un-<br />
published works cannot obtain protection in a<br />
country of the Union. It was considered at the<br />
Paris Conference that this difference in the treat-<br />
ment of the author outside the Union (one arising<br />
from the nature of the case) would form an<br />
inducement to other States to join the Union."<br />
UNAUTHORISED TRANSLATIONS.<br />
Respecting the new Article 5, which deals with<br />
the very important question of translations, the<br />
Memorandum remarks:<br />
"How far an author is to be internationally<br />
protected against unauthorised translations of his<br />
work is an important question. On the part of<br />
Germany a strong effort was made to obtain a<br />
complete uniformity in all replies to this question.<br />
In consequence of the opposition of some coun-<br />
tries of the Union that was not possible. How-<br />
ever, a real step in the direction of the evolution<br />
of international protec tion was made by the pro-<br />
posed alteration of Article 5, clause 1. The<br />
author's exclusive right to translate,* which<br />
according to the previous stipulation was secured<br />
him for ten years only after the publication of<br />
the original, is in future to be extended to the<br />
whole period during which the original is pro-<br />
tected against piracy in its original language,<br />
provided that the author has published a transla-<br />
tion of his own within those ten years. Apart<br />
from this limitation, the reproduction of a work<br />
in an unauthorised translation is therefore placed<br />
upon the same footing as an unauthorised repro-<br />
duction in the original form. This principle has<br />
been already accepted by the Legislatures of a<br />
number of countries (for example, Belgium,<br />
France, Spain, and, according to the general<br />
opinion, Great Britain), and is strongly supported<br />
by German authors.<br />
"On the side of Germany there was no hesitation<br />
about agreement to this modification. The idea<br />
that protection of translations is a contradiction<br />
because the author has a right to his work only<br />
in the language in which he wrote it, may be con-<br />
sidered as exploded. How far it may seem<br />
requisite to limit the duration of an exclusive<br />
right of translation is a question of expediency.<br />
At the conclusion of the Berne Convention the<br />
shorter limit of time was decided upon from a<br />
hope that this regulation might persuade the<br />
countries which held back from the Union the<br />
more rapidly to overcome their hesitation.<br />
Weight can no longer be attached to that con-<br />
sideration. So far as German interests are con-<br />
cerned, the real hesitations respecting any further<br />
limitation of liberty of translation come practi-<br />
cally to this—a misgiving that the result would<br />
be to increase the difficulty and the expense of the<br />
translation of foreign works into German. If,<br />
in addition, the possibility of the author's<br />
entirely withholding his work from translation<br />
is suggested, that danger is a very remote one.<br />
Besides, this case is provided for by the limita-<br />
tion which has been introduced into Article 5. In<br />
addition to this, however, some misgiving is<br />
expressed that, in consequence of the extension of<br />
the protection, we should more frequently than<br />
hitherto have to content ourselves with inadequate<br />
translations, in consequence of these alone having<br />
been authorised by the author. But, as a matter<br />
of fact, in the present state of the law, the con-<br />
sequence of the fierce competition is that good<br />
translations are often placed at a disadvantage by<br />
inferior but cheaper ones. And this circumstance<br />
cannot but have a deleterious effect upon the<br />
production of good translations. In the nature<br />
of things it will be a matter of consequence<br />
rather to the author himself than to anyone else<br />
that the translation should be a good one.<br />
Ordinarily no one is more interested than he, or<br />
the publisher to whom he has assigned the pro-<br />
duction of the translation, to provide, by the<br />
choice of the translator, and by the supervision of<br />
the work, that the result shall bj satisfactory.<br />
But both author and publisher will feel more dis-<br />
posed for such enterprises when they no longer,<br />
have any occasion to be anxious lest, after a short,<br />
interval, someone else should publish another<br />
translation which may obtain command of the<br />
market in consequence of its greater cheapness,<br />
notwithstanding its actual inferiority.<br />
"It by no means follows that, in consequence of<br />
the extension of the duration of the copyright,<br />
translations at the present moderate prices will be<br />
in the future withdrawn from the market. The<br />
danger of the price being placed too high is limited<br />
in this case, exactly as in the case of originaj<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 34 (#444) #############################################<br />
<br />
34<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
German works, by the trade competition.<br />
Besides, in the province of literature, the lower<br />
price can certainly not be regarded as an advan-<br />
tage, when what is offered for it is of inferior<br />
value. In the interests of the community it is<br />
by all means to be desired that unsatisfactory<br />
translations of foreign works, many of them of<br />
no value in themselves, should not be put before<br />
the reading public in such excessive numbers as<br />
at present. Both from the point of view of the<br />
German author and that of the actual national<br />
book trade, it will be a gain to have placed a<br />
check upon the flooding of .the book market with<br />
worthless translations.<br />
EXCLUSIVE EIGHT OF TRANSLATION.<br />
"It must also be considered a step in advance<br />
for Germany that a wider protection of the<br />
exclusive right of translation has been secured by<br />
Germany for the foreign author. This will pre-<br />
pare the way for a German literature of good<br />
translations. On the other hand, respecting a<br />
just treatment of German authors in the other<br />
countries of the Union, both their perfectly<br />
reasonable wish not to see their works translated<br />
by persons who have no authority to do so, and<br />
their very material pecuniary interests, connected<br />
with the increasing dissemination of German<br />
literature in foreign countries, alike plead for<br />
the widest possible extension of this sort of<br />
protection.<br />
"The exclusive right of translation depends<br />
upon the condition that the individual work shall<br />
first of all be under the protection of the Con-<br />
vention—that is to say, that those conditions and<br />
formalities have been complied with which are<br />
prescribed by the Legislature of the country of<br />
origin to secure the original work from reproduc-<br />
tion. (Article 2, clause 2, of the Convention.)<br />
On the other hand, it is not necessary that the<br />
author should also have complied with sundry<br />
peculiar stipulations respecting the right of trans-<br />
lation contained in the law of the country of<br />
origin (as, for example, the Imperial law of<br />
June 11, 1870, s. 6)."<br />
THE PERIOD OF PROTECTION.<br />
The extension of the period of protection<br />
beyond ten years is made further depeudent upon<br />
the fact that the author shall have, within that<br />
period, published a translation in a country<br />
within the Union, in that language, or in those<br />
languages, for which the period of longer pro-<br />
tection will be claimed. After the lapse of this<br />
period of ten years the right of translation into<br />
all the other languages in which translations of<br />
the work have noc appeared, will have fallen into<br />
the public domain. The period of ten years begins<br />
from the date of publication of the original work.<br />
It follows next, from No." 2 of the Declaration,<br />
that dramatic and dramatico-musical works, which<br />
have not appeared in print, and therefore, not-<br />
withstanding their actual performance, are not<br />
held to be published, are protected as long against<br />
translation as they are against being reproduced<br />
in any other way. In addition to this, according<br />
to the wording which has been chosen, the<br />
owner of the copyright (even though, in conse-<br />
quence of the lapse of the appointed period, he<br />
may have lost his rights for the future, either<br />
entirely, or for this or that language) is not pro-<br />
hibited from taking legal proceedings against a<br />
translation which has previously appeared in an<br />
illegal manner.<br />
PROTECTION OF NEWSPAPER ARTICLES.<br />
The following passage deals with the new<br />
stipulations for the protection of newspaper<br />
articles and articles in periodical publications:<br />
"Also respecting the protection of articles<br />
appearing either in newspapers or in periodical<br />
publications, the proposals made by the German<br />
delega es were substantially adopted by the<br />
Conference.<br />
"For the future are protected:<br />
"1. Absolutely; Boinances and novels ap-<br />
pearing iu Feuilletous. Under the head of novels<br />
are included, as was more precisely explained at<br />
Paris, short stories and anecdotes, as well as,<br />
under certain circumstances, such compositions<br />
as do not contain mere news, but have been<br />
embellished by touches of the author's imagi-<br />
nation.<br />
"2. Conditionally: it being presupposed that<br />
eithtr the newspaper article, or the number in<br />
question of the periodical publication, is furnished<br />
with an express prohibition of reproduction—all<br />
other articles in periodicals. If the prohibition<br />
is omitted such articles may be reprinted, if the<br />
source whence they are taken is mentioned. It<br />
was also taken for granted at Paris that the<br />
mention of source should not amount merely<br />
to a mention of the name of the newspaper or<br />
periodical publication in which the article in<br />
question had appeared, but, in the case of the<br />
article being signed, should include also the<br />
name of the author.<br />
"The distinction between longer and shorter<br />
articles, similar to that in the German copyright<br />
law of June 11, 1870, was left an open question,<br />
as it had been previously left by the Berne<br />
Convention.<br />
"3. Unrestrictedly is permitted the reproduction<br />
of political articles, news, and 'current topics,'<br />
as hitherto, either in the original language or in<br />
translations, and that notwithstanding a pro-<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 35 (#445) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
35<br />
hibition on the part of the author even expressly<br />
notified, and without any mention of source."<br />
WHAT BBITAIN DECLINED TO ACCEPT.<br />
Perhaps no part of the whole document is more<br />
interesting to English authors than that which<br />
deals with the Declaration which our English<br />
delegates found themselves unable to accept<br />
"Whilst reading it the English author will be unable<br />
to avoid reflecting sadly that he is, in consequence<br />
of some of our own statutes, in a distinctly worse<br />
case than the German author. It seems, however,<br />
that even so the fact that this Declaration has<br />
become law in Germany may be of importance<br />
to English dramatists.<br />
"All the stipulations which are contained in<br />
the Declaration of May 4, 1896, might have<br />
been included in the Additional Act had not<br />
difficulties about accepting them as an inter-<br />
national arrangement been raised by the delegates<br />
of Great Britain on the ground of the domestic<br />
legislation of their country.<br />
"The Conference was accordingly compelled to<br />
choose between either forfeiting entirely the par-<br />
ticipation in the Additional Act of the United<br />
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with its<br />
extended colonial territories, or collecting the<br />
explanatory prescriptions here in question, to<br />
which Great Britain could not agree, in a sepa-<br />
rate document. The Conference chose the latter<br />
course, and respecting three doubtful points<br />
decided as follows:<br />
"1. Latterly judgments have been given by<br />
several courts according to which the protec-<br />
tion of a literary or artistic work published<br />
in one country of the Union must depend in<br />
another country of the Union, not only upon<br />
compliance with those conditions and formalities<br />
which are prescribed by the country of origin,<br />
but also upon compliance with those required for<br />
the home productions in the other country in<br />
which protection is claimed. Under these cir-<br />
cumstances it seemed desirable once and for all to<br />
make it clear, by an authoritative interpretation<br />
of the meaning of Article 2, clause 2, that the pro-<br />
tection afforded to literary and artistic works by<br />
the Berne Convention of Sept. 9, 1886, and<br />
the Additional Act of May 4, 1896, depends<br />
alone upon compliance with the conditions and<br />
formalities required by the country in which the<br />
work originated."<br />
Respecting the second point, we may quote:<br />
"2. Having regard to the fact that the protec-<br />
tion which the Berne Union guarantees is, under<br />
certain circumstances, made dependent upon this<br />
—that the work in question must have been<br />
published in one of the countries of the Union—<br />
it appeared to the great majority of the delegates<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
of the various States represented at Paris neces-<br />
sary that the term 'publication' should be defined.<br />
According to the definition of 'publication'<br />
given, in consequence, under No. 2 of the Decla-<br />
ration, 'to publish' (veroffentlichen: publier) is<br />
equivalent to 'to bring out' (herausgeben:<br />
(Salter), by which is to be understood the first<br />
multiplication (Vervielfaltigung) with a view to<br />
public sale."<br />
The third point deals with a matter that has<br />
long been a very sore subject with English<br />
novelists.<br />
"3. The fact that the dramatisation of popular<br />
romances, and also the production in the form of<br />
romance of attractive dramatic pieces, has of late<br />
become constantly more and more common, led<br />
to a desire definitely to include all such cases<br />
under the heading of ' adaptations' mentioned in<br />
the 10th Article of the Berne Convention. The<br />
opposition of the British delegates compelled the<br />
Conference to renounce either incorporating a<br />
declaration to this effect with the article itself, or<br />
altering the article in the Additional Act."<br />
As regards Germany, the new declaration (Die<br />
Umgestaltung eines Romans in ein Theaterstuck<br />
oder eines Theaterstucks in einen Roman fallt<br />
unter die Bestimmungen von Artikel 10) amounts<br />
simply to giving complete expression to the view<br />
which has for a long time past found acceptance<br />
in this country—namely, that all such transforma-<br />
tions as are here dealt with can be included in<br />
the term "adaptations," and that it is simply the<br />
office of the judge to examine and determine,<br />
with the assistance of experts, whether, in each<br />
case, an adaptation lies before him or a new work<br />
has been created. We were able to assent with-<br />
out hesitation, as the intervention of the tribunal<br />
is provided for in the 1 oth article.<br />
THE MEANING OF PUBLICATION.<br />
In Appendix III. the definition of "publica-<br />
tion," which is the second point of the " Declara-<br />
tion, is discussed at somewhat greater length.<br />
As the international importance of this definition<br />
may not be at first sight quite plain, the clear<br />
elucidation of the point here given seems well<br />
worth quoting. As a matter of fact, one of the<br />
cases here mentioned as a possible one has<br />
actually recently occurred, and was mentioned in<br />
the March number of The Author.<br />
"According to various provisions of the<br />
Berne Convention (Articles 2, 3, 5, 7, 9), the<br />
grounds and the duration of the covenanted pro-<br />
tection depend either upon the country in which<br />
the work was published or upon the date of pub-<br />
lication. In the meantime it has been found in<br />
practice that in the application of these dire«-<br />
tions a difference of opinion exists respecting what<br />
E<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 36 (#446) #############################################<br />
<br />
36<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
is meant by publication. Taken in its widest<br />
sense, publication is that act which for the first<br />
time brings the work into publicity. The public<br />
reading aloud of a literary composition might be<br />
considered an act of this kind. So miiht the<br />
public performance of a play, or of a musical<br />
work; or the public exhibition of a picture, or of<br />
a sculpture. In a narrower sense, publication<br />
takes place only when the work is by means of<br />
reproduction put within the reach of the public<br />
—that is, has been brought out as a publica-<br />
tion."<br />
The practical range of the question which has<br />
been raised is very important. For example, if<br />
an opera has been originally produced in Germany,<br />
and then appears in print in Italy, which of these<br />
two countries is to be considered the " country of<br />
origin" (in the sense of Article 2) will depend<br />
upon which of the above definitions of " publica-<br />
tion is chosen." In the case of a play which has<br />
been put upon the boards before its appearance in<br />
the book market, the duration of the exclusive<br />
right of translation (according to article 5 as it<br />
has hitherto stood, and, under certain circum-<br />
stances, also as it now stands in its altered form)<br />
depends upon whether the former or the latter<br />
date is to be accepted as that of publication. In<br />
this connection also Article 2, clause 1, and<br />
Article 3 are of moment.<br />
"For if any act which brings the work into<br />
publicity is to be regarded as publication, the<br />
author, whether he belongs to one of the countries<br />
of the Union or not, immediately secures himself<br />
the protection of the Convention by causing his<br />
work, before it has been in any way multiplied by<br />
reproduction, to be either produced (auffiihren)<br />
or exhibited (aufstellen) within the Union. This<br />
protection is thenceforward a lasting one. The<br />
circumstance that the author afterwards has his<br />
work brought out by a publisher in a country<br />
outside the Union is in no way prejudicial to him.<br />
On the other hand, the author who belongs to a<br />
country of the Union would lose the protection to<br />
which his unpublished work is entitled so soon as<br />
he allowed it to be performed or exhibited in a<br />
country outside the Union. An author who did<br />
not belong to the Union would, under the same<br />
circumstances, be robbed of the prospect of pro-<br />
curing himself protection under the Union. For<br />
both it would be equally useless afterwards to<br />
bring out (herausgeben) the work for the first<br />
time within the Union. But if only production<br />
by a publisher is esteemed as publication, in all<br />
the above instances the case would be exactly th-i<br />
contrary."<br />
Having regard to this uncertainty, it was pro-<br />
posed by agreement to limit the meaning of<br />
"publication " so as to ensure a uniform adminis-<br />
tration of the Convention in all the different<br />
countries. Hereupon the position taken by<br />
Germany, having regard to the well-known sense<br />
of the Imperial law respecting copyright, was<br />
that publication must be regarded as consisting<br />
in the putting forth of reproductions. It may<br />
here be left as an open question whether this<br />
view might be at once deduced from Article 9,<br />
clause 3, of the Berne Convention. But in any<br />
case its being so pre-eminently to the purpose is<br />
an argument in its favour. Besides, the de-<br />
sirability in legal questions of giving full import-<br />
ance to certainty is in favour of it, as there will<br />
often be difficulties in the way of proving whether<br />
a work may, in some way or another, previously<br />
have obtained publicity. The grounds which had<br />
led to making publication within the Union the<br />
point of departure of protection, also pointed to<br />
t.he adoption of the narrower view of publication.<br />
It could be nothing but disadvantageous to the<br />
publishing world within the Union if the author<br />
could avail himself of protection by means of so<br />
transitory an act as performance or exhibition<br />
would often be, and the subsequent first edition<br />
became of no importance. On the other hand, it<br />
would be a facility contrary to the aims of the<br />
Union given to the authors of States outside it, if<br />
they were thus enabled by a transitory act of<br />
this sort to create protection for themselves and<br />
to publish the work in some other region.<br />
So, according to the Declaration, "veroffent-<br />
licht" (publiees) is equivalent to "herausgegeben"<br />
(editces). Doubt can scarcely arise about what<br />
is meant by this. A work is published (heraus-<br />
gegeben) in a given country, when the reproduc-<br />
tions of it there, for the first time, having been<br />
brought into publicity with a view to sale, come<br />
into the market. No importance, as the rule at<br />
present stands, is attached to the question whethrr<br />
the copies offered for sale have been also supplied<br />
within the Union, which will generally be the<br />
case. Such a requirement, apart from the diffi-<br />
culties attached to carrying it out, would not be<br />
justified, since the advantages which publication<br />
within the Union carries with it are already<br />
sufficient to attach the concession of protection to<br />
publication.<br />
II.—The Right of Criticism.<br />
In July, 1808, an action was brought by Sir<br />
John Carr against Messrs. Hood and Sharpe,<br />
booksellers. The facts, which were not denied,<br />
were as follows:<br />
The plaintiff was the author of certain books<br />
called respectively " The Stranger in France," for<br />
which he received the sum of ,£100; "The<br />
Summer Tour in France," for which he received<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 37 (#447) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
37<br />
£500; "The Stranger in Ireland," for which he<br />
received ,£200; and "The Tour through Ireland,"<br />
for which he received .£600. He had written<br />
another book, called " The Stranger in Scotland,"<br />
for which he expected a sum of money equal at<br />
least to what he had before received, when the<br />
defendants produced a book called " My Pocket<br />
Book," in which the plaintiff's writings were held<br />
up to derision. In consequence, his book became<br />
greatly depreciated, and his publishers refused to<br />
look at " The Stranger in Scotland "; hence this<br />
action.<br />
Sir Richard Phillips, the publisher in question,<br />
was asked if he ever read reviews. He declared<br />
that he did not, knowing the scurrility, partiality,<br />
and misrepresentation with which they abounded,<br />
and the manner in which they were produced.<br />
The Attorney-General contended that" My Pocket<br />
Book " was only fair criticism. Lord Ellenborough<br />
observed "that every man had a right to criticise<br />
the writings of another, and even to hold them<br />
up to ridicule, so that he cast no personal re-<br />
flections on the author. If fair criticism injured<br />
the sale of a work, it was damnum absque<br />
injuria. As to the present question, if the<br />
criticism went beyond observations on the work<br />
or on the author, merely as such, it was action-<br />
able, and not otherwise." The jury found for<br />
the defendant.<br />
I have always thought, as a matter of common<br />
sense, that the right to criticise a book should<br />
be exactly the same as the right to criticise<br />
anything else that is sold. For instance, a man<br />
who criticises a baker's bread, and charges the<br />
baker with using alum and potatoes, and other<br />
substances besides flour, would certainly be liable<br />
to an action for libel. He would have to prove<br />
the use of alum and potatoes. So a man<br />
who charges a writer with plagiarism, inde-<br />
cency, vulgarity, incompetence, or ignorance—<br />
charges constantly hurled at authors by critics<br />
who are too often personal enemies or rivals—<br />
would have to prove his charges in open court.<br />
That is to say, if he could only justify a charge of<br />
ignorance by a single point or a few points only,<br />
he would be very rightly cast in damages. Lord<br />
Ellenborough used the word "fair" criticism.<br />
What is "fair" criticism? It is, surely, such<br />
criticism as can be defended in open court. One<br />
would by no means seek to suppress "fair"<br />
criticism, without which literature would become<br />
flabby, but it is very much to be desired that<br />
critics themselves should remember what " fair"<br />
criticism means. One or two actions at law<br />
would probably do more to improve certain<br />
current criticism than all the remonstrances in<br />
the world. W. B.<br />
vol. vm<br />
III.—WlLLOUGHBY V. KeGAN PAUL AND Co.<br />
High Court of Justice:—Queen's Bench Division.<br />
(Before Mr. Justice Hawkins and a Middlesex<br />
Special Jury.)<br />
Willoughby v. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trflbner, and<br />
Co. (Limited).<br />
In this action Sir Edward Clarke, Q.C., and<br />
Mr. A. M. Bremner appeared for the plaintiff, Sir<br />
John Willoughby; and Mr. Cock, Q.C., Mr. E.<br />
Glen, and Mr. J. H. Lindsay for the defendant<br />
company.<br />
This action was for damages for libels alleged<br />
to be contained in a book called " How We made<br />
Rhodesia," published by the defendant company.<br />
On the case being called on,<br />
Mr. Cock, Q.C., on behalf of the defendants,<br />
expressed his regret that the passages complained<br />
of had appeared in a book published by them.<br />
They acknowledged that there was no foundation<br />
for any suggestion against the plaintiff's character,<br />
and withdrew every imputation. They consented<br />
to pay the plaintiff the sum of .£200, and would<br />
withdraw the book.<br />
Sir Edward Clarke, on behalf of the plaintiff,<br />
stated that, while he had thought it neces-<br />
sary to clear his character as a military man<br />
and a man of honour, he was willing to accept<br />
the apology and the terms offered by the defen-<br />
dants.<br />
His Lordship said that he was glad the case<br />
had been so dealt with. It would have been im-<br />
possible for the plaintiff to have slept under the<br />
allegations made against him, but his character<br />
was now absolutely cleared.<br />
The record was then withdrawn. — Times,<br />
June 16. .<br />
IV.—Cost of Production.<br />
The following is an actual printer's estimate<br />
for printing a book 224 pages, or 14 sheets, in<br />
length, crown 8vo., small pica, 28 lines on a page,<br />
or 280 words. (N.B.—The MS. turned out to<br />
be 15 sheets in length.) The estimate is for 250<br />
copies. The printers have their works in the<br />
country.<br />
£ s. d.<br />
Composition per sheet, .£1 5*.<br />
(This includes footnotes, of<br />
which there are some in<br />
every page) 17 10 o<br />
Printing, 48. 3d a sheet 2 19 6<br />
Paper 2 12 6<br />
Binding, at 4<f. a volume 434<br />
•£27 5 4<br />
e 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 38 (#448) #############################################<br />
<br />
38<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Turning to the Society's " Cost of Production,"<br />
p. 27, we find the following:<br />
Composition, .£1 7 s. 6d. a sheet 19 5 o<br />
Printing (see p. 63), 48. od. a<br />
sheet 2 16 o<br />
Paper, 9*. od. a sheet 6 6 o<br />
Binding, ts,d 4 3 4<br />
£32 10 4<br />
So that the printers'estimate is actually .£5 55. od.<br />
less than that of the Society. "We are constantly<br />
coming across such cases as this. Members of<br />
the Society who are proposing to pay for produc-<br />
ing their own books should make a note of this,<br />
and should look into their estimates with the<br />
greatest care. The secretary has the name of the<br />
firm.<br />
The following letter speaks for itself. Of<br />
course, it is an old story. We have exposed the<br />
game over and over again. But still it goes on.<br />
A manuscript is sent to a certain firm of<br />
advertising publishers. Whether it is read or<br />
whether it is not read, matters little, because<br />
the reply is always the same. It is to the effect<br />
that the reader thinks so highly of the work<br />
that the worthy firm are emboldened to make<br />
"the following favourable offer." There then<br />
comes a demand for as much money as they think<br />
they can safely ask. Should this be objected to,<br />
they proceed to offer lower terms. The invariable<br />
clause at the end of the letter is to the effect that<br />
"this is the best time of the year for publish-<br />
ing." Eeaders will observe that while this London<br />
firm generously offered to do the job for .£50, a<br />
local printer offered to do it for £18! Aspirants<br />
who receive such letters would do well to<br />
remember that the offer made has nothing<br />
whatever to do with the literary merits of the<br />
work, so that, in throwing the letter into the fire,<br />
as they ought to do, they need not therefore<br />
assume that their work is worthless. Let them<br />
proceed, instead, to try if they can find a respect-<br />
able publisher, and hear what he says.<br />
"June 11, 1897.<br />
"Iam tempted by the invitation in the columns<br />
of the outspoken Author to give you an experience<br />
I have had with an ' enterprising ' firm of pub-<br />
lishers.<br />
"The copy of the letter I received speaks<br />
for itself. Second thoughts came to the rescue,<br />
and prevented me from launching a book at the<br />
upset price of .£50. The MS. languishes in a<br />
drawer, and may remain there until it is moth-<br />
eaten. But I must confess the temptation was<br />
strong, and visions of fame at the expense of my<br />
shilling shocker haunted me for days. My fame<br />
is not yet come, nor will I risk publishing at my<br />
own cost; especially when I read your repeated<br />
and timely warnings. I may say a local firm<br />
agreed to print and publish 1000 copies of this<br />
magnum opus for £18. Even that didn't draw<br />
me; for what is worth publishing is worth<br />
acceptance at the hands of any decent publisher.<br />
All this goes to prove that my book in 'attractive<br />
covers' is not worth having. It is a pity other<br />
tyros do not see the matter in the same light.—<br />
I am, yours faithfully, "S. R."<br />
"Publishers,<br />
"London.<br />
"Dear Sir,—We now beg to reply to your letter of the<br />
8th inst. Our terms for a is. book in attractive paper<br />
covers would be J50; £30 when you sign the agreement,<br />
and £20 when yon see the proofs. The edition to be 3000<br />
copies—you could not well print less of a is. book. Two-<br />
thirds of the proceeds of sales to be your property, and<br />
the book to be advertised at our sole expense to the amount<br />
of £7.<br />
"This is the best time of year for is. books, and we<br />
could put yours on the market in a month from now.<br />
"Awaiting your instructions,<br />
"Faithfully yours,<br />
And here is another letter on the same subject<br />
referring to the same worthy gentlemen :—<br />
"May I add my chronicle of recent experience<br />
to those you have already published?<br />
"Some time ago I sent the MS. of a novel to a<br />
certain publishing firm. A little later I received<br />
an answer to the effect that the novel had im-<br />
pressed them 'favourably,' and that they there-<br />
fore offered me the following 'favourable terms'<br />
(The expression was theirs, but the italics are<br />
mine.) I was to pay, in ali, £88. Needless to<br />
say, I rejected the offer of terms so favourable—<br />
to themselves—and requested the return of the<br />
MS. _____ "G. E. M. G."<br />
V.—The Publisher's Vade Mecum.<br />
The following table is prepared for the use of<br />
publishers as a ready reckoner. It means the<br />
price paid by the retail trade, subject to certain<br />
discounts:<br />
5 P-o-<br />
10 p. c.<br />
I2i p.c.<br />
15 P- 0.<br />
1.<br />
d.<br />
1. d.<br />
s. d.<br />
>. d.<br />
s. d.<br />
6<br />
3i<br />
3*<br />
3-ft<br />
3A<br />
I<br />
0<br />
7&<br />
11*<br />
6i<br />
«H<br />
I<br />
6<br />
ioi<br />
ioi<br />
2<br />
0<br />
« 3<br />
1 2<br />
1 ii<br />
I Ii<br />
2<br />
6<br />
1 6\<br />
1 Si<br />
1 S<br />
1 4i<br />
3<br />
0<br />
1 10<br />
1 8f<br />
1 8i<br />
1 7i<br />
3<br />
6<br />
2 2i<br />
2 1<br />
2 oi<br />
1 ui<br />
4<br />
0<br />
2 Si<br />
2 4i<br />
2 3i<br />
2 2}<br />
4<br />
6<br />
2 g{<br />
2 7i<br />
2 <H<br />
2 5*<br />
5<br />
0<br />
3 «i<br />
2 11$<br />
2 ioJ<br />
2 oi<br />
6<br />
0<br />
3 7l<br />
3 Si<br />
3 4i<br />
3 3i<br />
I<br />
6<br />
4 8<br />
4 5i<br />
4 3i<br />
4 2i<br />
0<br />
4 "i<br />
4 8i<br />
4 7<br />
4 Si<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 39 (#449) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
39<br />
The calculations are based on sale price 13 as<br />
12, but, as it is not the custom to give this dis-<br />
count on single copies, the average is, of course,<br />
very sensibly raised.<br />
NEW YORK LETTER.<br />
New York, June 16.<br />
THERE is as usual more gossip than impor-<br />
tant news at this period of the year.<br />
Whether the market is really any more<br />
depressed than it is on the average at the begin-<br />
ning of summer may be doubted, although a<br />
member of the firm of Roberts Bros., of Boston,<br />
remarked the other day that he he had never<br />
known things so dead. He lays it to the bicycle;<br />
but then we lay everything to the bicycle. He<br />
said that nothing would sell now except history<br />
and translations; and although the statement is<br />
absurd, it does point to the popularity of these<br />
two branches of the publishing business. Known<br />
writers, he admitted, might be published any<br />
time and pay something, but a new writer would<br />
only invite his own death by publishing before<br />
times changed.<br />
This same firm, which once stood high, has<br />
just returned a novel which it accepted two years<br />
ago. During those two years it has been writing<br />
every few months to the author telling why it was<br />
thought advisable to postpone publication a little<br />
longer. That is the kind of business that the<br />
respectable publishing houses here look upon as<br />
disreputable.<br />
Two men of wide experience in the book world<br />
have given ine within a short time directly<br />
opposite advice on the best time of year to pub-<br />
lish. A well-known author said: "Bring out<br />
your first volume in the spring; you won't sell<br />
quite so many copies, but you will get more<br />
notice. Most of the important books are published<br />
in the fall when the reviewers are too crowded for<br />
space. In the spring they are seeking something<br />
worth writing about, and if a new writer offers<br />
anything promising they will spread on his book."<br />
A week or two later a member of a large pub-<br />
lishing firm advised me to beware of the spring,<br />
for my own sake as well as for the sake of the<br />
publisher. The important thing in his mind was<br />
to start the book among the readers directly,<br />
instead of among the reviewers.<br />
Papers in various cities have taken up a letter<br />
written a month or so ago to the Dial of Chicago<br />
by John J. Chapman, attacking the magazines<br />
for their timidity. He said they preferred to give<br />
their readers what they know they will read,<br />
instead of doing what he thought they ought to<br />
do, giving the best literature they could get. A<br />
multitude of replies have defended the commercial<br />
point of view, and at the same time have pre-<br />
tended that the magazines do publish the best<br />
writing they can find. The facts are simple.<br />
All the prominent periodicals in this country are<br />
run, not for artistic or literary satisfaction, but<br />
for money. The editors are probably paid salaries<br />
ranging from 5000 dols. to 10,000 dols. on the<br />
most successful magazines, and there are several<br />
assistant editors and a host of subordinates. A<br />
magazine editor remarked to me the other day,<br />
"We charge ten cents for our paper, and we don't<br />
calculate to give our readers but ten cents<br />
worth." I suggested that there might be some<br />
satisfaction in having a paper run by men who<br />
were willing to make less and give more. He<br />
said that that was a boy's point of view, and that<br />
publishing a magazine was a serious matter when<br />
it was done by men. He had his dream, how-<br />
ever. When he was finally where he wanted to<br />
be financially, he would found an ideal magazine,<br />
and in it he would publish some of the best<br />
books which appear, as nearly all the best writing<br />
is destined for publication in book form. He<br />
thought that a first-rate magazine should be made<br />
up of serials.<br />
I do not know what editors receive in England,<br />
but it is hard to believe that it will ever be<br />
possible for the owners and editors of our<br />
periodicals to make them worth much from a<br />
literary point of view as long as they look upon<br />
them merely as business investments. There has<br />
been another change of management in the<br />
Forum; Dr. J. M. Rice succeeding Mr. Keet. It<br />
is an open secret that the best editor this or any<br />
similar publication has had in this country for a<br />
long time, Mr. Page, now of the Atlantic, left<br />
because the owners, who are largely Hebrews,<br />
wanted to see some money come out of the paper.<br />
It would interest me a great deal to know how<br />
many men have to make their living out of the<br />
Fortnightly and Contemporary, and what scale<br />
they have to live on.<br />
It is very hard to keep from talking about Mr.<br />
Munsey. He is the most daring and the most<br />
entertaining adventurer in the publishing world.<br />
In the June number of his magazine, in a personal<br />
chat with his readers, he discusses his aims and<br />
how he hopes to carry them out. He has been asking<br />
his readers to decide for him whether the con-<br />
tinued stories were worth while; and he says that<br />
the success of his magazine is, in his opinion,<br />
mainly due to the short, unsigned articles, espe-<br />
cially, I believe, what he calls " Storiettes." He<br />
has, however, undertaken to make himself neces-<br />
sary to the elect, whom he pretends to despise,<br />
somewhat on the principle that I explained in<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 40 (#450) #############################################<br />
<br />
4°<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
connection with the "Library of World's Best<br />
Literature." He is giving a series of articles on<br />
"My Favourite Novelists," signed by the best<br />
known names, and the criticism by Frank Stock-<br />
ton on Defoe and Dickens, in the current number,<br />
is very high-class work. This -will be followed by<br />
articles on the same subject by Mark Twain, Walter<br />
Besant, Marion Crawford, Richard Harding Davis,<br />
Paul Bourget, S. R. Crockett, Mrs. Burton Harri-<br />
son, James Whitcomb Riley, General Lew Wal-<br />
lace, and Bret Harte. The other publishers<br />
promise him bankruptcy. "Munsey succeeded<br />
first," said one, "because he paid nothing for his<br />
pictures or his articles; now he is beginning to<br />
thrash about—he is advertising, and that is a bad<br />
sign. Then the people are beginning to demand<br />
fees for their pictures and payment for their con-<br />
tributions." Mr. Munsey is serene, however, and<br />
remarks that the same prophecy was made about<br />
him when he began the ten cent, principle, If it<br />
were not for the fear of seeming to wish to ad-<br />
vertise him, I should like to talk indefinitely<br />
about this exaggerated representative of American<br />
publishing principles.<br />
The process of making contemporary Ameri-<br />
can writing familiar to the French goes on, and<br />
Madame Blanc is being most unjustly scolded for<br />
her part in it, on the ground that she is patronis-<br />
ing. La Revue de Paris has translated Hamlin<br />
Garland's "A Member of the Third House." M.<br />
Brunetiere will give his impressions of Americans<br />
in La Revue de deux Monde*; and he will also<br />
contribute a series of articles on French litera-<br />
ture to the Atlantic Monthly.<br />
It now looks as if books for libraries and<br />
educational institutions would be let in free<br />
under the new tariff, although it is not yet<br />
decided. The Macmillan Company have for-<br />
warded a letter to the Committee on Tariff Revi-<br />
sion, in which they say: "In the present law<br />
and for some time past there have been legal<br />
exemptions from the collection of a tariff on books<br />
in favour of libraries and educational institutions,<br />
and some of these, it is currently reported, have<br />
become regular smuggling agencies, importing<br />
free of duty, not only for themselves, but for any<br />
friends who want to buy, to the extent of their<br />
legal limit as to number, and in some cases<br />
without regard to that limit. The exempted<br />
institutions, which furnish naturally a large<br />
proportion of the book business of the country,<br />
can import through the booksellers, but, for<br />
whatever reason, nearly all have found it<br />
wise to avoid the booksellers, and that to such<br />
an extent as greatly to undermine the bookselling<br />
business of the country." They suggest that<br />
either exemption be done away with and the<br />
present duty continued, which might work hard-<br />
ship to educational institutions, or that the duty<br />
on books be made so low that there need be no<br />
exemptions at all.<br />
The librarian's annual report puts the number<br />
of books in the library of Congress at 748,115<br />
—an increase of 16,674 for the year. There are<br />
245,000 pamphlets. During the year there were<br />
72,470 new copyrights—an increase of 4896,<br />
attributed mainly to the extension of the inter-<br />
national copyright system, which now includes<br />
eleven countries: Belgium, Chili, Denmark, France,<br />
Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Mexico, Portugal,<br />
Spain, and Switzerland.<br />
Colonel Higginson and Professor H. T. Peck<br />
are among the writers who will spend the summer<br />
in Europe. Mr. Howells goes to Carlsbad.<br />
Norman Hapgood.<br />
NOTES FROM ELSEWHERE.<br />
June 21.<br />
THE friendly move to which I alluded last<br />
month has been much commented upon,<br />
and the hope has been expressed that I<br />
may be mistaken in supposing that the author of<br />
the letters was a dear confrere. My reason for<br />
this supposition was that the critics of the papers<br />
were abused by my pseudo-ego by name, and that<br />
their names are not generally known by the out-<br />
side world.<br />
The book in question has given offence to some<br />
people, and the journalists who are in the pay of<br />
these people have considered fair every means of<br />
discrediting it and of vilifying its author. Let<br />
me mention some instances. They are curiosities<br />
of criticism.<br />
In one case a Bradford paper informed its<br />
readers that the author of the book was not an<br />
Englishman, and, ergo, merely wrote it to vilify<br />
a nation alien to him. In the second case a<br />
Manchester journalist wrote a leader of more than<br />
a column's length on a statement invented by<br />
himself as my own, a statement which was the<br />
direct opposite of something I had said. When<br />
I drew his attention to the matter, he responded<br />
by printing as his authority what purported to<br />
be a quotation from the book. This quotation<br />
was made up of words and phrases picked here<br />
and there from the book and supplemented with<br />
phrases and words supplied by the writer. This<br />
is done, remember, in a leading provincial paper,<br />
and in the most prominent part of that paper.<br />
Another paper contented itself with announcing<br />
the book under a totally false description. Thus,<br />
published at 2*. 6d. with forty illustrations, it was<br />
described as published at 6*. with one illustration.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 41 (#451) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
41<br />
A fourth informed its readers that the book<br />
was rendered practically useless by the careless<br />
way in which some of the sheets had been turned<br />
in printing and passed by the binder.<br />
Altogether, if any of my readers wish for novel<br />
experiences and a wider knowledge of the use to<br />
which the pen can be put, let me recommend<br />
them to publish a book dealing with social<br />
reform.<br />
That some such book as the one alluded to was<br />
necessary, would appear from a letter I received<br />
the other day from one of the unfortunate indi-<br />
viduals whose acquaintance I made when I was<br />
collecting the materials. This is a middle-aged<br />
man, a skilled worker, who works fourteen hours<br />
a day. He occupies a two-roomed cottage in a<br />
slum, and has only one child dependent on him.<br />
It occurred to me that a month in the country<br />
might save the child's life, for he is going to join<br />
his mother and brothers and sister, and I wrote<br />
to the father to ask him to let me have the boy<br />
down to the duchy. He answered: "I am very<br />
sorry to inform you that my social condition<br />
remains unchanged" (12*. a week at a skilled<br />
trade). "I am still rubbing against the roughest<br />
side of the world, and I suppose it will remain so<br />
to the end of the chapter. In fact, I have given<br />
iip all hope long ago. With regard to your offer<br />
to my little boy, I am very sorry indeed that I<br />
cannot accept it—not from choice, for T certainly<br />
would like to see the little fellow get such a<br />
treat; but the truth is I cannot keep him in<br />
anything like a presentable appearance." Sans<br />
commentaires, n'est-ce pas? A propos, this<br />
reminds me of the outcry which was raised<br />
by us literary folk at an offer made by a literary<br />
employer of £10 for 400,000 words. It was<br />
calculated and set forth with just indignation<br />
that at this rate of payment the literary craftsman<br />
would have to produce 166 words for a penny.<br />
We have living in England able-bodied men and<br />
women who at this very moment are producing<br />
220 Flemish tacks hand-wrought, for that sum of<br />
one penny; each tack involving from twenty to<br />
thirty different manipulations. The question is,<br />
of course, which is more useful and valuable a<br />
commodity, the 166 words, or the 220 Flemish<br />
tacks? It should also be remembered that to pro-<br />
duce the 220 Flemish tacks, a certain outlay has<br />
to be made on fuel, repair of tools and rent. So<br />
we can console ourselves with the thought that<br />
the very worst sweating in the literary labour<br />
market is very much more lenient than in many<br />
other branches of industry.<br />
Here is a little drama of rural life which has<br />
been passing under my eyes recently, which I<br />
commend to the English Maupassant—or one of<br />
them. If people tell him that he has a morbid<br />
imagination, let him refer them to me. A village<br />
schoolmaster, who had lost his place by drunken-<br />
ness, came into a sum of money exceeding ,£1000.<br />
He placed this money in the bank, and announced<br />
in the public-house which he frequented that he<br />
intended to drink every penny of it. "And when<br />
it's all spent?" he is asked. "Then I shall hang<br />
myself." So he sets to work, and gets drunk<br />
regularly. He is often seen at mid-day lying in<br />
the ditch by the roadside; at nights he is wheeled<br />
home by brother topers in a barrow. The tree on<br />
which he intends to hang himself is designated,<br />
and one day, returning from the neighbouring<br />
town, he displayed the rope. He is pointed out to<br />
strangers, the story is told, and attention is called<br />
to the tree. It is an understood thing that, as<br />
soon as the money is all spent, the man will hang<br />
himself. Lately the money has been getting low,<br />
and the boys of the village now follow the man<br />
when he staggers homewards. This takes place<br />
in England of to-day.<br />
If French dramatic authors suffered formerly<br />
from the piracy of foreigners, they have been com-<br />
pensating themselves handsomely since the Berne<br />
Convention protected their property. In fact,<br />
unless the agents moderate their demands, the<br />
adapters in England and elsewhere will soon have<br />
to abandon the business as unremunerative.<br />
Fancy prices are the rule, and, in many cases,<br />
the performance of the adaptation has resulted<br />
in a dead loss. But dramatists the world over<br />
look to Paris for their light. I was much<br />
amused once to witness a transaction between an<br />
English dramatic author and the French dra-<br />
matic agent. My friend wanted to buy the<br />
English rights of a j>lay which had recently been<br />
produced in Paris, not because it had been a<br />
success—for it had been withdrawn after four<br />
performances—but because it contained one good<br />
scene, which could be admirably worked into a<br />
play which he was then writing. A similar<br />
scene, even more adaptable, was to be had in<br />
another French play, which had been produced<br />
at the same time. It was like buying a chair<br />
or a horse—all most business-like. "How much<br />
for so and so?" "Four thousand francs," said<br />
the agent. "That's a good deal." "You can<br />
take it or leave it." "You see, I only want one<br />
scene." "We can't cut up the material." "I<br />
thought perhaps Messrs. would accept<br />
." "I can telephone to them at once if<br />
you wish, but I know it is quite useless." Then<br />
the agent telephoned. "Absolument impossible"<br />
was the answer—" absolutely impossible, as I told<br />
you." "Well, I'll see next door"—there was<br />
another agency on the same landing. "They have<br />
another play which would suit me even better."<br />
"As Monsieur likes." We went next door, and<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 42 (#452) #############################################<br />
<br />
\2<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
asked the price of the other play. "Eighteen<br />
thousand francs." So we returned to the first<br />
office, and there the business was completed. My<br />
friend got the rights, and has them still, for he<br />
was never able to make anything of his purchase<br />
to suit an English manager. The eighteen thou-<br />
sand franc goods, by the way, was disposed of the<br />
same day -next door, and cost the manager about<br />
as many pounds.<br />
When a young dramatic author writes a play in<br />
France he is certain that it will be read if he<br />
submits it to the management of one of the<br />
thidtres subventionnes, and that, if suitable, it will<br />
be produced. By graceful tradition it is custo-<br />
mary at the Francais and Odeon to grant his<br />
entrees to an author who has submitted a play<br />
even when this is not suitable, if it shows a certain<br />
standard of merit. In France there is every<br />
encouragement to write plays. This is perhaps the<br />
reason why so many good plays are written there.<br />
In England things are different, as I am told.<br />
A few days ago, I was driven by a violent storm<br />
to take refuge in a farmhouse. It was a big house,<br />
and the farmer seemed a prosperous agriculturist.<br />
His wife supplied me with tea and let me dry<br />
myself before the fire. She begged to be excused,<br />
as she had to attend to her butter; and as to the<br />
farmer, he had to absent himself also to do some-<br />
thing to the bullocks. So I asked the farmer's<br />
wife if she would lend me a book. "It doesn't<br />
matter what it is." "We have no books in the<br />
house." .And so it was. There was not a book<br />
of any sort, except the family Bible in the draw-<br />
ing room. They took in no papers. They had<br />
never heard of any of the great writers of England.<br />
The farmer had once read a storv about a miner.<br />
Et voilh!<br />
A day or two later it fell to me to escort a<br />
young lady home from an afternoon affair to a<br />
neighbouring town. She was very fond of<br />
reading. I asked her about her tastes. She<br />
had never heard of Dickens, she thought she<br />
knew a Mr. Reade, did he not let out bicycles at<br />
C ?and no, she had never read any-<br />
thing by Wilkie Collins. As to living authors—<br />
O, popularity and press cuttings !—there was not<br />
one of our great men whose name had penetrated<br />
so far. She might have read this book or that,<br />
she said, but she never troubled about the<br />
author's name.<br />
I do not think that this could be matched in<br />
France.<br />
May I, for this time, adopt a new signature?<br />
It is the way by which the writers of literary<br />
paragraphs in some of the English and American<br />
papers like to designate me when quoting from<br />
these pages. It is rather neat.<br />
"A Me. Shbeabd."<br />
P.S.—To-morrow we shall be able to send four<br />
ounces for a penny. What an impetus this will<br />
give to what the Americans call "the shooting<br />
of paper-bolts." Poor, poor editors! Four<br />
ounces for a penny!<br />
NOTES AND NEWS-<br />
THE death of Mrs. Oliphant will be to<br />
millions among those who speak and read<br />
our language the death of a personal<br />
friend, deeply loved. For nearly fifty years her<br />
busy pen has been running, her active brain has<br />
been at work. And her work has been always<br />
goo I: sometimes excellent: and sometimes of the<br />
very first order. There is little in English litera-<br />
ture that can surpass the greatness of conception,<br />
the skill of execution, the artistic atmosphere,<br />
the terror and the vividness of "The Beleaguered<br />
City," a book in which her imaginative power<br />
touched its highest point. Mrs. Oliphant wrote<br />
many books besides novels: they may be de-<br />
scribed as Impressions of History and Biography,<br />
rather than finished works—amoi;g them three<br />
monograms, on Dante, Cervantes, and Moliere,<br />
for her own series of "Foreign Classics for<br />
English Readers." These works may live or may<br />
die: probably they are already dead. The writer<br />
will be remembered for her novels. Out of these<br />
the world will select two or three, and the rest<br />
will be forgotten. It is the common lot: what<br />
more can a writer expect? Pity that so much<br />
good work should be lost: but posterity will be<br />
chiefly concerned with its own writers, its own<br />
art, and its own manners and customs. As for<br />
the two which will live, I venture to prophecy<br />
that they will be " The Beleaguered City " and<br />
"Salem Chapel." Mrs. Oliphant was a member<br />
of our Society from its foundation. She refused,<br />
however, a place on the Council on the ground of<br />
age-<br />
In the June number of The Autlwr a brief<br />
mention was made of a speech by Mr. Lecky—<br />
now, as all friends of literature are pleased to see,<br />
the Right Hon. W. E. H. Lecky—on the multipli-<br />
cation of books. We are bound to receive with<br />
the greatest respect any utterance of Mr. Lecky,<br />
but, surely, when he complains of the multiplica-<br />
tion of books he is confusing things. What<br />
would it matter, let us ask, if a hundred<br />
books a day were published? Simply nothing<br />
at all. In every branch of learning, science,<br />
and philosophy there are a few, and only a<br />
few, authorities: in the great field of history<br />
the writers whom the world will receive are<br />
limited to half a dozen or so; in poetry, the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 43 (#453) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
43<br />
â– world will only read the works of a dozen living<br />
writers; in fiction there are about two hundred,<br />
or two hundred and fifty at the outside, who<br />
succeed in getting a hearing; in essays and<br />
criticism the number who obtain any vogue is<br />
certainly not more than twenty or thirty. What<br />
happens, then, with the books which, it is com-<br />
monly and foolishly stated, "flood the market"?<br />
Nothing happens. The circulating libraries take<br />
a few copies : the publisher's name has a certain<br />
power of recommending a few more: the book-<br />
sellers do not "stock" them: they die. By far<br />
the greater number of published books have no<br />
life at all: they find no readers and no purchasers:<br />
the reviews mention them: they die. They cost,<br />
for the most part, very little to produce; by their<br />
extremely limited sale they pay their expenses<br />
with something over. Take for instance, our<br />
old friend the average 6*. book. An edition<br />
of a thousand copies can be produced, advertising<br />
and all, for about .£65. The cost of production<br />
is covered, allowing a shilling a copy for the<br />
author, by the sale of 5 20 copies. What possible<br />
â– effect upon the vast world of English readers—<br />
even upon the smaller world of London—even,<br />
again, upon the still smaller world of literary<br />
London—by a tiny circulation of 520copies? It<br />
may be argued that a book may have so small a<br />
sale, and yet be a book destined to live and to<br />
produce a great effect. If so, the effect must be<br />
produced by a vast increase of circulation. But,<br />
indeed, there are very few such books. If a good<br />
book of any kind in any branch be produced, it<br />
is speedily singled out and thrust into notice and<br />
popularity. __t<br />
In another part of the June number was an<br />
account of Mr. Herbert Paul's article in the Con-<br />
temporary Review on the English novel. It is a<br />
very remarkable thing how all people, in all pro-<br />
fessions, especially the men who do not write<br />
novels, are always ready to write about the<br />
modern novel. For my own part, if I were an<br />
•editor, I would have an article every month,<br />
always from the pen of a man more or less<br />
distinguished, on the English novel. I should<br />
begin with the Archbishop of Canterbury, who<br />
should tell us what a novel ought to be: the<br />
Bishop of London would certainly be able to tell<br />
us what a novel is: the Premier would probably<br />
delegate Mr. Arthur Balfour to write on the<br />
subject for him. From the Presidents of the<br />
College of Physicians, the College of Surgeons,<br />
the Law Institute, the Institute of Civil Engineers,<br />
and other learned bodies a great deal of light and<br />
learning could be expected. In a word, as the<br />
modern art of fiction was thus continually being<br />
examined and dissected, I would openly recog-<br />
nise the abiding interest of the subject by<br />
devoting to it a monthly article, and, to repeat, I<br />
would invite none but men of distinction to con-<br />
tribute. After going on for twenty years,<br />
however, no one would be one whit nearer to<br />
understanding how it is done. For, indeed,<br />
the art of holding an audience cannot be taught;<br />
the mechanical part may be taught, the magical<br />
part is personal.<br />
Mr. Herbert Paul is reported to have said in<br />
his article that Charles Reade and Wilkie Collins<br />
have fallen into oblivion. That is a great mistake.<br />
With these authors, as happens to all, the world<br />
has made a selection. Both of them wrote a<br />
great many novels: both of them survive in two<br />
— Wilkie Collins in "The Woman in White"<br />
and "The Moonstone," Charles Reade in "The<br />
Cloister and the Hearth" and "It is Never too<br />
Late to Mend." Of the latter two a cheap<br />
edition issued the other day went through<br />
150,000 copies of each in three weeks. That does<br />
not look like oblivion. Lovers of Reade, whom I<br />
myself consider a writer very near to the highest<br />
place among English novelists, will not allow<br />
many others of his novels to fall into oblivion.<br />
These two writers, however, illustrate exactly<br />
what is said above about Mrs. Oliphant. First,<br />
to delight your own generation; then, to leave two<br />
books or so which shall still delight generations<br />
to come—what happier lot cimld man desire?<br />
I hope that readers of The Author will give a<br />
little more than passing attention to the " Pub-<br />
lisher's Vade Mecum," which appears on another<br />
page. It is a kind of "ready reckoner," which<br />
shows what discounts made to the trade really<br />
mean. Those who have taken an interest in the<br />
denials of our figures will remember that we have<br />
always maintained that the sum of 3*. 6d. repre-<br />
sents the average price obtained by the publisher<br />
for his 6s. book: that this statement has been<br />
stoutly denied: that we have published in these<br />
columns proofs that the estimate is strictly correct.<br />
We have now the paper in daily use among<br />
many of them, at least, which shows that on<br />
the 10 per cent, discount—the common one<br />
up to the latest intelligence — and counting<br />
thirteen as twelve, the price to the trade of the 6s.<br />
book is 3*. 5^<Z. Now, single copies are not sold<br />
thirteen as twelve, nor do they obtain discount,<br />
except "for the account." Their price is from<br />
3». Sd. to 3«. lo^d., which, of course, runs up the<br />
3*. ${d. very materially. From the other figures<br />
before me, some of which have been already given<br />
in The Author, I am convinced that in all agree-<br />
ments for the 6*. book the average trade price of<br />
3*. 6d. may be accepted. As regards the cost of<br />
production, our own book on the subject is fairly<br />
good, but it wants to be brought down to the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 44 (#454) #############################################<br />
<br />
44<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
present time. Paper has gone down in price very<br />
greatly-. In another column (pp. 37, 38) will be<br />
found a comparison between an actual printer's<br />
estimate and our proposed cost. It will be found<br />
on examination that the proposed cost of is. on<br />
large editions must be materially reduced.<br />
The following lines have been sent me by an<br />
American reader. They appeared some years<br />
since in " Putnam's Papers."<br />
At a library desk stood some readers one day<br />
Crying " Novels, oh, novels, oh, novels!"<br />
And I said to them, " People, oh, why do yon Bay<br />
'Give ns novels, oh, novels, oh, novels?'<br />
Is it weakness of intellect, people," I cried,<br />
"Or simply a space where the brains should abide t"<br />
They answered me not, or they only replied,<br />
"Give ns novels, oh, novels, oh, novelB!"<br />
Here are thousands of books that will do you more good<br />
Than the novels, oh, novels, oh, novels!<br />
Yon will weaken your brain with such poor mental food<br />
As the novels, oh, novels, oh, novels!<br />
Pray take history, mnsio, or travelB or plays,<br />
Biography, poetry, science, essays,<br />
Or anything else that more wisdom displays<br />
Than the novels, oh, novels, oh, novels!<br />
A librarian may talk till he's black in the face<br />
About novels, oh, novels, oh, novels!<br />
And may think that with patience he may raise the taste<br />
Above novels, oh, novels, oh novels!<br />
He may talk till with age his round shoulders ore bent,<br />
And the white hairs of time 'mid the black ones are sent;<br />
When he handB his report in, still seventy per oent.<br />
Will be novels, oh, novels, oh, novels!<br />
There is complaint about the illiteracy of under-<br />
graduates. WheD have they been, as a rule, any-<br />
thing but illiterate, as a body? What time or<br />
leisure has the undergraduate for books, when he<br />
has athlet ics to consider first and the examinations<br />
next? The bookish boy at school is an extremely<br />
i-are person: at the university he is just as rare.<br />
When one's attention is wholly occupied by<br />
other things, what room is there for literature, or<br />
art, or anything? Perhaps a defence of youthful<br />
illiteracy might be set up. Thus: It is very<br />
good for young men to practise manly sports; it<br />
is especially desirable that those who read, for the<br />
highest honours and are certain to become the<br />
intellectual leaders of their time, should be physi-<br />
cally fit for the work; there is not room for the<br />
pursuit of more than two subjects with absorption;<br />
if athletics is one subject, the Senate House is the<br />
other. And what becomes of literature? Well,<br />
in the after years, when sports have lost their<br />
attraction, when the profession has been entered<br />
upon and the great heat of study is over, when the<br />
quiet country vicarage gives many idle hours—<br />
then the illiterate undergraduate becomes uncon-<br />
sciously a reader, a student in literature, and<br />
sometimes even a writer. Walter Besant.<br />
THE SOCIETY AS A PUBLISHING<br />
COMPANY.<br />
IS the consideration of the possibility that the<br />
I.S.A. shall be their own publishers going<br />
to die out, I wonder? May I make a pro-<br />
position? I do so with extreme diffidence, for I<br />
am obscure and almost unknown in the world of<br />
letters. Will not some influential person take up<br />
my proposal?<br />
England has its Royal Academy, founded for<br />
the purpose of raising the status of artists; to<br />
consolidate their efforts; to provide means for<br />
presenting their work to Ihe public. 'Why should<br />
not England have its Royal Society of Authors<br />
too? And why should not its Royal Society of<br />
Authors publish the works of its own members;<br />
decide the status of writers; consolidate their<br />
efforts, and thus provide means for presenting<br />
their work to the public? That Her Majesty-<br />
would give her gracious sanction to the title one<br />
cannot doubt. The Queen, who has throughout<br />
her glorious reign endeavoured to promote the<br />
welfare of her people, would assuredly not—in<br />
this the sixtieth year of her rule—refuse her<br />
royal sanction to any scheme brought forward<br />
for the aid and furtherance of literature and<br />
talent in her land.<br />
Why, then, should not the members of the<br />
I.S.A. join together and make this Society an abid-<br />
ing monument to England, and a commemora-<br />
tion of Her Majesty's long reign? The painter<br />
must produce his best work ere he dare hope to<br />
find it hung in the Academy. So let the author<br />
strive to accomplish something worthy his Society<br />
ere he may hope to have it published by them.<br />
Art is encouraged—and rightly—-in every country,<br />
and in every age. Art, says Schiller, found man<br />
a savage, and makes him lord of nature. But,<br />
unhappily, if we are to judge from many publica-<br />
tions of recent years, we may be allowed to<br />
question whether the art of the present day<br />
(literary art, at any rate) is helping to develop<br />
"lords of nature."<br />
I remember how proud of my country men and<br />
women I used to feel, years ago, while living in<br />
Paris, when I heard, as I often did hear, the<br />
words: "Ah! Oui, c'est une traduction Anglaise;<br />
certainment vous pouvez la lire." Alas, for my<br />
English pride! Only the other day I read that,<br />
since the publication of certain books, the Germans<br />
have found it necessary to forbid the perusal, by<br />
young girls, of English novels.<br />
I feel very strongly on this point. Literature<br />
is one of the highest arts. To attain to anything<br />
worthy in any art there must be noble endeavour.<br />
There very often is, of necessity, self-sacrifice, and<br />
it is right that it should be so. It is only through<br />
trial that we can show the spirit of the true<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 45 (#455) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
45<br />
artist; only through warfare that we can prove<br />
ourselves conquerors. We must accept the<br />
challenge if we would win the prize. Thus,<br />
in having to prove ourselves worthy to gain<br />
the help and countenance of a powerful society<br />
we should have to work. Let the "honour<br />
be won by good work and true—and by that<br />
alone.<br />
My suggestions are :—<br />
1. That the I.S.A. unite and become a limited<br />
liability company. Shares of £i.<br />
2. That works published by the Society be only<br />
such as tend to raise the tone of English<br />
literature.<br />
3. That the members be limited to the number<br />
already on the list; new members enlisted only<br />
as old ones pass from the Society.<br />
4. That an entrance fee of £1 be charged<br />
all new members, plus the annual subscrip-<br />
tion (unless the Committee sanction free<br />
entrance).<br />
5. That a certain number (say fifty) of eminent<br />
writers be elected as members who have done<br />
honour to the cause of literature in England.<br />
These members to hold the highest honour as in<br />
L'Acadcmie Francaise.<br />
Is my scheme Utopian? I think not. With<br />
a few of our leaders at the head of such a move-<br />
ment, I feel convinced that before the end of this<br />
great Commemoration Year it would be almost, if<br />
not quite, un fait accompli.<br />
E. W. H.<br />
THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD:<br />
DAY USE.<br />
ITS PRESENT<br />
ALL readers of The Author will be much<br />
indebted to Miss Meyer for her excellent<br />
article in the June number on the subjunc-<br />
tive, and very grateful for the labour expended in<br />
stalking this wily mood through the pages of so-<br />
many standard works.<br />
With the assistance of some figures which she<br />
has kindly allowed me to use, it will be possible,<br />
I think, to prove that, contrary to what Miss<br />
Meyer wrote, we are "nearer to a clear and<br />
succinct rule than before." Repeating her former<br />
summary:—<br />
Approximate<br />
number of words<br />
Author. Book. in book.<br />
E. Dowden Life of Sonthey 67,000<br />
T. Hardy Pair of Blue Eyes 99,000<br />
Henry James ... Daisy Miller 56,000<br />
Andrew Lang ... Custom and Myth 68,000<br />
W. E. H. Lecky History of Rationalism,<br />
vol. 1 102,000<br />
The Egoist 190,000<br />
On Compromise 57,000<br />
Social Rights and Duties,<br />
vol. H 71,000<br />
Men and Books 99.000<br />
Life of Coleridge 60,000<br />
George Meredith<br />
John Morley ,..<br />
Leslie Stephen...<br />
L. Stevenson<br />
D. Trail<br />
Total 869,000<br />
We find that in the ten volumes selected are<br />
approximately 900,000 words, and that there<br />
are only fifteen instances of the subjunctive mood<br />
of any other verb than the verb "to be," twelve<br />
of which are distributed among only three of the<br />
books, and hence three of the authors. That, in<br />
fact, its use is "exceedingly rare." Therefoi-e,<br />
we shall not be wrong in saying to beginners<br />
— for whom these articles were commenced —<br />
Only use the subjunctive mood of the verb "to<br />
be." Writers of years' standing, yearning, and<br />
only then, to employ it with other verbs may<br />
use it once in a volume, although the propor-<br />
tion of authors who do not use it at all would<br />
tend to show that this is an unwarranted<br />
frequency.<br />
The next point to arise, is when to use<br />
"to be" in this mood? The following<br />
figures which I have re-arranged may serve as.<br />
a guide:<br />
The verb " to be" after:—<br />
Dowden .<br />
Hardy ... .<br />
James<br />
Lang<br />
Leoky<br />
Meredith ..<br />
Morley<br />
Stephen ..<br />
Stevenson<br />
Traill<br />
Total<br />
If<br />
+Sub.<br />
13<br />
26<br />
18<br />
23<br />
12<br />
32<br />
22<br />
28<br />
32<br />
12<br />
218<br />
-Sub.<br />
3<br />
'4<br />
'5<br />
'5<br />
'4<br />
54<br />
'5<br />
7<br />
>5<br />
4<br />
'55<br />
Whether<br />
+ Sub.<br />
4<br />
-Sub.<br />
Though<br />
Although<br />
Unless<br />
1 As it were"<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 46 (#456) #############################################<br />
<br />
46<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
The point for consideration here is, is it not justi-<br />
fiable to recommend to beginners that if a form<br />
of words can only be used on an average twice in<br />
a complete volume of a hundred thousand words<br />
it should be omitted entirely, especially when its<br />
correct usage entails a consideration so careful as<br />
to prohibit its easy employment? Bearing in<br />
mind the practical good of a simple rule, I think<br />
the answer should be—yes! This being granted,<br />
a very great simplification of the results of the<br />
foregoing table follows: The subjunctive of "to<br />
be" should only be used after "if" Tt should<br />
not be used after whether, though, although,<br />
unless. The column headed "as it were" is<br />
added as an illustration of the existence of one<br />
of Professor Skeat's "petrified phrases."<br />
Now, as "if" is used so many times, both with<br />
and without "to be" in the subjunctive, it<br />
becomes necessary to try and find out the reason<br />
for this varying practice. Miss Meyer's un-<br />
published analysis shows the following:—<br />
The subjunctive of "to be" is used<br />
after "if" — in hypothetical in-<br />
stances with real contingency 213 times.<br />
Where a definite assertion is withheld 44 „<br />
Total ... 257 „<br />
The subjunctive of "to be " is not<br />
used after "if "—in hypothetical<br />
instances without real contingency 62 times.<br />
When the style is familiar 55 „<br />
Total ... 117 „<br />
Passing from these general statements to par-<br />
ticulars, I find the following instances of its<br />
detailed use, which may be of interest to some<br />
readers, and possibly of use to those fond of<br />
statistics:<br />
If" and<br />
Were<br />
Be<br />
Total<br />
la<br />
Wan<br />
Are<br />
Am<br />
Total<br />
5<br />
4<br />
9<br />
0<br />
2<br />
0<br />
O<br />
2<br />
Hardy<br />
26<br />
0<br />
26<br />
7<br />
6<br />
2<br />
0<br />
14<br />
James<br />
18<br />
0<br />
18<br />
1<br />
8<br />
7<br />
0<br />
"5<br />
Lang<br />
6<br />
24<br />
30<br />
3<br />
6<br />
6<br />
0<br />
IS<br />
5<br />
16<br />
21<br />
4<br />
9<br />
1<br />
0<br />
14<br />
26<br />
6<br />
32<br />
28<br />
9<br />
8<br />
9<br />
54<br />
12<br />
•5<br />
27<br />
•3<br />
0<br />
2<br />
0<br />
IS<br />
7<br />
37<br />
44<br />
3<br />
1<br />
3<br />
0<br />
7<br />
20<br />
H<br />
34<br />
S<br />
7<br />
2<br />
1<br />
IS<br />
Trail<br />
10<br />
6<br />
16<br />
1<br />
3<br />
0<br />
0<br />
4<br />
Total<br />
I3S<br />
122<br />
257<br />
65<br />
Si<br />
31<br />
10<br />
155<br />
In conclusion—passing over some inconsistencies<br />
â– as unnecessarily complicating the argument—will<br />
some of those in authority favour the pages of<br />
TJie Author with their views upon the following<br />
suggested rule, which seems at least to represent the<br />
•current use of the subjunctive mood among some<br />
of our best present day writers, and hence help<br />
those who are not yet standing upon the highest<br />
rungs of the ladder of ltterature?<br />
SuOaKSTED EULE.<br />
(in hypothetical instances,<br />
use the suhjnnc- ) or<br />
tiveof "to be"<br />
DISILLUSION.<br />
You might, perhaps, have loved me yet—<br />
As angels loved before they fell—<br />
Bnt on a day of Fate we met,<br />
And meeting broke the spell.<br />
The poet should be like a bird<br />
That sings in May where woods are green,<br />
Divined by glimpses, gladly heard,<br />
But never plainly seen.<br />
H. G. K.<br />
Only after<br />
"If"<br />
use not<br />
where definite assertion<br />
is withheld,<br />
in hypothetical instances,<br />
without real contin-<br />
gency,<br />
or<br />
where the style is fami-<br />
liar.<br />
F. Howaed Collins.<br />
BOOK TALK<br />
DE. SAMUEL SMILES has recovered from<br />
his accident of a year ago, and is prepar-<br />
ing a new book of a character identical<br />
with that of " Self-Help" and his other works.<br />
Mrs. Humphry Ward is at work on a new<br />
novel.<br />
Mrs. Hodgson Burnett is engaged upon a new<br />
novel for publication in the autumn.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 47 (#457) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
47<br />
Mr. C. Arthur Pearson has become a publisher.<br />
He announces novels by Mr. H. G. Wells, Mr. Max<br />
Pemberton, Mr. W. W. Jacobs, Mr. Frankfort<br />
Moore, and Mr. G. B. Bargin.<br />
Madame Sarah Grand is writing a new novel,<br />
which will be a study of a woman's life from the<br />
cradle to the grave, and will probably introduce<br />
the subject of heredity.<br />
An account of a "Trip to Venus " has been<br />
written by Mr. John Munro, and will be published<br />
by Messrs. Jarrold and Sons.<br />
Mr. Lane announces a skit on Mr. Le<br />
Gallienne's romance "The Quest of the Golden<br />
Girl." The title will be "The Quest of the<br />
Gilt-Edged Girl," and the author, Richard De<br />
Lyrienne.<br />
Mr. Frederick Wedmore has prepared a selec-<br />
tion of "Poems of Love and Pride of England,"<br />
which will be published early in July by Messrs.<br />
Ward, Lock, and Co.<br />
Mrs. Leith-Adams has written a novel entitled<br />
"Madelon Lemoine," which Messrs. Jarrold will<br />
publish.<br />
The late Mrs. Hungerford's last work, "The<br />
Coming of Chloe," will be issued early this<br />
month by Messrs. White.<br />
A story by Mr. Warren Bell will inaugurate<br />
the "Henrietta Volumes," a new library of fiction<br />
in paper covers which Mr. Grant Richards is<br />
publishing. Mr. Richards also publishes Mr.<br />
Grant Allen's new romance entitled " An African<br />
MiUionaire."<br />
Mr. David Hannay will write a volume on<br />
"The Later Renaissance" for the series on<br />
periods of European literature which Professor<br />
Saintsbury is editing and Messrs. Blackwood<br />
publishing.<br />
"Secretary to Bayne, M.P.," is the title of a<br />
story by Mr. Pett Ridge, to be published soon.<br />
Later on, " Mordemly," a novel treating of low<br />
life, will come from the same pen.<br />
Mr. Silas K. Hocking has completed a new<br />
story, called "God's Outcast," which will run in<br />
the Leistire Hour.<br />
Mrs. Annie S. Swan has finished a new Scotch<br />
story, entitled "The Curse of Cowden," which<br />
Messrs. Hutchinson will publish.<br />
Mr. Morley Roberts has a novel, entitled<br />
"Strong Men and True," in course of publication<br />
by Messrs. Downey and Co.<br />
Mr. Lewis Sergeant has written a work entitled<br />
"Greece in the Nineteenth Century," which will<br />
be published shortly by Mr. Fisher Unwin.<br />
Eighteen years ago Mr. Sergeant wrote "New<br />
Greece," which is long out of print, and so much<br />
as is applicable to the present time will be trans-<br />
ferred now to the new work. A large part of the<br />
new volume is devoted to the relations between<br />
Greece and the Powers during the last twenty<br />
years, and there is also an account of contempo-<br />
rary Greek literature.<br />
An account of the late Turco-Greek war by Mr.<br />
Clive Bigham, who was the Times correspondent<br />
with the Ottoman Army, will be published by<br />
Messrs. Macmillan, entitled "The Campaign in<br />
Thessaly."<br />
Mr. Demetrius Boulger is engaged upon a new<br />
"Life of Sir Stamford Raffles," for which he has<br />
the sanction and co-operation of the Raffles,<br />
family. The book will contain a large number of<br />
new letters and other documents, and will be<br />
issued by Messrs. Horace Marshall and Sons early<br />
in October.<br />
Mr. Leonard Huxley is making good progress,<br />
with the biography of his father.<br />
Mr. Andrew Lang's Christmas book for 1897<br />
is to be called the " Pink Fairy Book."<br />
In the sonnet printed in The Author last month<br />
(on page 14), line three should have been " His<br />
own, or flout," not " flount."<br />
The Right Hon. (as he now is) Sir Herbert<br />
Maxwell, M.P., and Mr. F. G. Aflalo are to edit<br />
an Anglers' Library. The first volume in the<br />
series will be on "Coarse Fish," by Mr. C. H.<br />
Wheeley. Messrs. Lawrence and Bullen are the<br />
publishers.<br />
Messrs. J. M. Dent and Co. now become the<br />
publishers of the monthly review, Natural<br />
Science.<br />
The anniversary meeting of the Scottish<br />
branch of the Franco-Scottish Society will be<br />
held in Edinburgh from the 12th to the 17th<br />
inst. Among the papers to be read are "The<br />
Influence of Scottish Philosophy upon the<br />
French," by Professor Boutroux; "The Teaching<br />
of French Literature in Scottish and English<br />
Universities," by Dr. Sarolea; and "Le Mouve-<br />
ment Neo-Hellenique dans la Litterature Fran-<br />
caise," by Professor Croiset.<br />
"Through Finland in Carts," Mrs. Alec<br />
Tweedie's new book of travel, is now ready. It<br />
is published by Messrs. A. and C. Black. There<br />
are nineteen full-page illustrations. Mrs. Tweedie<br />
has not simply gone first to a hotel and then read<br />
up all the books about Finland; she has lived<br />
among the people, and learned their life and their<br />
ways of thought, and of manners. The volume<br />
contains her experiences and an estimate of a<br />
people very little known by Western Europe.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 48 (#458) #############################################<br />
<br />
4«<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Mr. Robert Sherard's new novel "Uncle<br />
Christopher's Treasure" has been re-christened.<br />
It will be published in the autumn by the<br />
Messrs. Pearson under the title of "The Magpie<br />
House."<br />
Mr. J. LI. Warden Page has completed his<br />
''North Coast of Cornwall." It is to be pub-<br />
lished this month, in time for the tourists and the<br />
holidav-makers. Mr. W. Crofton Hemmons, of<br />
Bristol, publishes Mr. Page's work. All lovers<br />
.of the west country know Mr. Page's " Dartmoor"<br />
and the " Coasts of Devon and Lundy" (Horace<br />
iCox).<br />
The autobiography of Nelson, the Common-<br />
place Book of Robert Burns, and five original<br />
manuscripts of poems and novels by Sir Walter<br />
Scott, were sold by auction on the 15th ult. by<br />
Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson, and Hodge. The<br />
Nelson lot included not only the autobiography,<br />
but autograph letters to John McArthur, corre-<br />
spondence with Earl Nelson and Lady Nelson, a<br />
full-length tinted lithograph portrait (one-armed)<br />
a sketch of the ball which killed Lord Nelson,<br />
and a complete transcript of the "Memoir" for<br />
the press—thirty-three articles in all. The<br />
collection was bought for <£iooo by Messrs.<br />
Sotheran. A collection of twenty-three autograph<br />
letters from Nelson to his friend Admiral Sir<br />
Thomas Trowbridge fetched ,£280.<br />
Of the Scott manuscripts "The Lady of the<br />
Lake" 1810 realised £1290; a portion of " Tales<br />
of a Grandfather," <£io6; the introductory essay<br />
on "Popular and Ballad Poetry," "Halidon<br />
Hill," and "Doom of Devorgoil," =£62; "Old<br />
Mortality," <£6oo; the original manuscript of<br />
"Castle Dangerous," dictated by Scott to his<br />
amanuensis, W. Laidlaw, but with numerous<br />
corrections and additions in the author's hand,<br />
£32. The Burns Commonplace Book or Private<br />
Journal, commenced by Burns on April 9, 1787,<br />
and consisting of thirty-eight pages of the poet's<br />
handwriting, in capital preservation, sold for<br />
£365.<br />
Mr. James Payn is publishing, through<br />
Messrs. Downey, a new novel entitled "Another's<br />
Burthen."<br />
Mr. David Pryde, author of "Pleasant Memo-<br />
ries of a Busy Life," has written a study of life<br />
and character in the east of Scotland—or, rather,<br />
in the " kingdom " of Fife. It will be published<br />
l>v Messrs. Morison Brothers, Glasgow, under<br />
the title "The Queer Folk of Fife."<br />
The first volume in a series upon Historical<br />
Women will be published immediately by the<br />
Roxburghe Press. It will be "Victoria, Queen<br />
and Empress," written by Mr. Richard Davey.<br />
Mr. Wickham Flower has finished a little<br />
volume in the defence of an old reading in Dante's<br />
"Inferno," and the work will be published<br />
shortly by Messrs. Chapman and Hall.<br />
The fourth volume of the series of "Periods<br />
of European History," published by Messrs.<br />
Rivington, Percival, and Co., will be "Europe in<br />
the 16th Century," by Mr. A. H. Johnson, M.A.,<br />
Historical Lecturer to Merton, Trinity, and Uni-<br />
versity Colleges, Oxford. It will be published<br />
immediately.<br />
Messrs. Hutchinson and Co. have in hand a<br />
volume of poems by Miss Helen Marion Burnside,<br />
with a title-page designed by the author, which<br />
will be issued in the autumn.<br />
Miss Burnside has also written two tales for<br />
children, entitled respectively "The Little V.C."<br />
and "The Adventures of a Postage Stamp,"<br />
which will be published by Messrs. Thomas<br />
Nelson and Sons.<br />
The Queen has been pleased to accept the<br />
original copy of Surgeon-Colonel John Mac-<br />
Gregor's Jubilee poems, entitled "Victoria<br />
Maxima et Victoria Regina," which were specially<br />
mounted and embroidered by Mrs. MacGregor.<br />
Some of the poems were written for the present<br />
celebration, and some ten years ago, in honour of<br />
the previous Jubilee of 1887, when the author was<br />
on active service in Upper Burmah during the<br />
late Burmese War. We believe it is intended to<br />
publish them shortly in combination with other<br />
poems by the same author.<br />
Mr. Mark Twain's book on his tour round the<br />
world is finished, and will appear in the autumn.<br />
The scenes of Mr. Gilbert Parker's forthcoming<br />
novel are laid in the French-Canadian village of<br />
Bonaventure, and the period is that of the abor-<br />
tive rising under Louis Papineau, who aimed at<br />
establishing une nation Canadienne on the banks<br />
of the St. Lawrence. The two leading characters<br />
in the novel are Tom Ferrol, an attractive Irish<br />
rapscallion, and Christine Lavilette, a charming<br />
French-Canadian girl. The title of the book is<br />
"The Pomp of the Lavilettes," and it will be<br />
published shortly.<br />
The business of Messrs. Osgood, Mcllvaine,<br />
and Co., publishers, Lonr on, has been amal-<br />
gamated with that of Messrs. Harper Brothers,<br />
New York, and will in future bear the latter<br />
name.<br />
The Jubilee articles for the Illustrated London<br />
Ncics and the Queen were written by the editor<br />
of this paper. He also wrote for a Chicago firm<br />
a short volume on the Sixty Years' Reign. This<br />
work has been produced in this country by the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 49 (#459) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
49<br />
Globe. It was written for American readers, who,<br />
as a general rule, are wonderfully misinformed on<br />
the government and social order of this country.<br />
â– Consequently, it contains certain passages which<br />
may appear superfluous to English readers.<br />
The editor is also under contract to deliver to<br />
Messrs. Chapman and Hall a story of the ordinary<br />
one volume length before the end of September.<br />
It will be finished, it is hoped, in the month of<br />
August. Mr. Walter Pollock, in collaboration<br />
•with Miss Lilian Mowbrey, has produced a roman-<br />
tic play in five acts, entitled "King and Artist"<br />
—William Heinemann. The period is the year<br />
1540. Benvenuto Cellini is one of the principal<br />
(characters.<br />
CORRESPONDENCE.<br />
I.—Translitebation.<br />
THIS once thorny subject—which Sir W.<br />
Hunter rendered plain in India some<br />
twenty years ago — has been rearing its<br />
prickles in the European newspaper press since<br />
the recrudescence of Graeco-Turkish conflict.<br />
Almost every principal nation has its own way<br />
•of pronouncing vowels and consonants, and<br />
this leads to impenetrable darkness when the<br />
.correspondents and editors try to express, each<br />
in the fashion of his country, the sounds of<br />
names—mostly Arabic — of which they do not<br />
know the meaning. To make the matter worse,<br />
the representatives of the London papers attempt<br />
to spell Turkish names as they hear them pro-<br />
nounced by foreigners, until it becomes difficult,<br />
-even for well-educated people, to make out what<br />
may be the designation intended to be conveyed.<br />
We hear of Edhem Pacha and Sey Foola Beg, of<br />
Nedgib and Eedschid, and have to enter into<br />
abstruse reflection and calculation before we can<br />
ascertain what our well-intentioned informants<br />
wish us to understand.<br />
The evil proceeds from the varying use of<br />
letters.<br />
Thus, the French use ch for s/t, dj for j, e for a;<br />
the Germans express the Arabic jim by dsch;<br />
Italy has her own fashions, not very different<br />
from the French.<br />
Surely, it is desirable that some common system<br />
of transliteration should be adopted, by which an<br />
English or American reader could be guided to<br />
some dim conception of the names and titles of<br />
distinguished Orientals.<br />
The Russians transliterate like the French, and<br />
the English system is peculiar to ourselves, so<br />
that it may not prove easy to decide which of the<br />
various methods is to be adopted. But that is<br />
urely a point of convention; only let some<br />
efinite code be adopted, and scrupulously<br />
followed by all the journalists of Christendom.<br />
It will be of no importance whatsoever whether<br />
the mysterious words be transliterated after this<br />
or that fashion, so long as uniformity be pre-<br />
served. Surely a congress might sit and settle<br />
the details. H. G. K.<br />
[On this important subject perhaps the follow-<br />
ing experience may prove useful. Many years<br />
ago the Palestine Exploration Society found itself<br />
face to face with the same difficulty. Every man<br />
who worked for them in Syria followed his now<br />
method of transliteration in his reports. The<br />
result was bewildering. Finally, the committee<br />
resolved that the method adopted by Dr. Robin-<br />
son, the American traveller, should be followed in<br />
all their printed documents. The result was that<br />
their readers were no longer confused.—W. B.]<br />
II.—The Mockeby of Realism.<br />
Mr. Howard Collins's article on the subjunctive<br />
reminds me of an appeal that I made to you<br />
some months ago on the subject of an authority<br />
for the protection of the good old language com-<br />
monly called "the Queen's English." From<br />
Addison to Macaulay writers were content to<br />
follow certain acknowledged rules: words, of<br />
course, were added from time to time as new ideas<br />
arose or new objects were created, but the<br />
grammatical structure conformed to established<br />
standards, and—except in the case of royal or<br />
noble authors—one was usually able to under-<br />
stand what was meant. Setting aside Queen's<br />
Speeches, diplomatic despatches, and the like,<br />
where ambiguity might be intentionally caused,<br />
the adherence to these rules and standards<br />
brought the meaning of printed matter home to<br />
all men and women of average culture and intelli-<br />
gence. But it is no longer so in our modern<br />
days of universal "education." Literature now<br />
means novel-writing, and novels—if they are to<br />
be profitable—must be written for the third-class<br />
passenger and the board school alumnus; with<br />
what consequences we can see. As in the days<br />
of Horace:<br />
Soribimus indocti dooidqne.<br />
The mass and multitude of readers run as they<br />
read, and only ask to be amused; and that can<br />
be done by and as well as by-<br />
Thackeray or Meredith.<br />
Another curious result is the extraordinary<br />
etiquette as to topics. You may be almost as<br />
paradoxical and heterodox as you like if you will<br />
only maintain a discreet reserve and primness of<br />
manner. There is a convention, for example, that<br />
no reference is ever to be made to a certain<br />
P<br />
(1<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 50 (#460) #############################################<br />
<br />
5°<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
portion of the human frame; motives may be<br />
Belfish and conduct lawless, but people must be<br />
painted in kit-cat. Dr. Conan Doyle has said<br />
of this that the modern fiction-writer never hits<br />
below the belt. But it is not altogether a ques-<br />
tion of hitting; a touch of friendliness is as bad.<br />
You may talk as much as ever you please about<br />
brain work or even of brain-fever; your charac-<br />
ters may have all sorts of sentiments in their<br />
breasts, and pulmonary phthisis has its allotted<br />
share of romantic pathos; the heart is supreme<br />
by old tradition, and even its diseases are ad-<br />
missible; the death of Svengali, has it not<br />
thrilled two continents? The legs and feet may<br />
be under a cloud in the United States, but are<br />
not quite unmentionable; in English fiction they<br />
are even cultivated. But the engine-room, the<br />
place of the machinery and propelling power,<br />
is everywhere tabu; excepting to those vulgar<br />
folk who talk of "pluck," and of "white-livered<br />
scoundrels," and call a spade " a spade."<br />
Yet, if you come to think of it, the region<br />
between the diaphragm and the pelvis contains<br />
the seat of all we do or suffer. A man could<br />
live awhile with tubercles on his lungs, heart-<br />
complaint and softening of the brain; but take<br />
away the healthy life of the region in question,<br />
and you will soon see a paralysis of the pre-<br />
sumptuous " higher " organs. It may not be amiss<br />
for the romantic school to describe the adven-<br />
tures of cherubs, but it is the most hollow mockery<br />
of realism to ignore the primary instincts which<br />
are the basis of all our actions. H. K.<br />
III.—The Need of a Literary Bureau.<br />
In conversation this week with an editor of a<br />
notable paper, we agreed as to the usefulness of<br />
an establishment where editors could at once lay<br />
their hands on what they wanted, and authors<br />
could find an immediate outlet and market for their<br />
work.<br />
Consider what time an editor might save by<br />
not having to wade through a mass of MSS. in<br />
order to discover suitable matter, and how the<br />
author would be benefited by knowing the exact<br />
periodical where his poem, article, dialogue, or story<br />
would be accepted. At present he gropes blindly<br />
in the darkness of uncertainty. The majority of<br />
writers, unless on the regular staff of a paper,<br />
heedlessly send their work about on a postal-<br />
roaming expedition, to seek a haven where it<br />
might be generously welcomed and paid for.<br />
What heartaches, disappointments, tribulations,<br />
the long-suffering community of scribblers might<br />
save if a competent distributing agency would<br />
only do this work for them!<br />
Looking at the matter from a commercial—<br />
often the necessary—standpoint, it seems to me<br />
that the rules which govern manufacturers of any<br />
commodity ought also to apply to the products of<br />
the brain. For instance, a manufacturer of nails<br />
deals with the wholesale house or middleman who<br />
supplies the shops, instead of selling his nails to<br />
the latter. Why, then, is there not a literary<br />
middleman who can at once dispose of an author's<br />
wares?<br />
In France such institutions are common.<br />
There are bureaus where even plays, songs, and<br />
musical pieces are distributed where they are<br />
needed; it is therefore surprising that what is<br />
deemed necessary in France should be completely<br />
ignored in this country.<br />
I believe the matter has been often broached in<br />
The Author, but as yet no one has had the<br />
courage or the spirit to carry out what would<br />
prove a boon to editors and contributors.<br />
The bureau could be made profitable, the editor<br />
and author paying a yearly subscription, whilst<br />
the latter would not grudge 10 per cent, com-<br />
mission to secure an immediate profitable<br />
customer.<br />
The Authors' Society might, I think, with their<br />
knowledge and experience easily further or bring<br />
this undertaking to a practical issue. They have<br />
helped, they have advised, they have protected<br />
the writers of books, and opened their eyes,<br />
to the greed of rapacious publishers; but to<br />
found and successfully inaugurate a practical<br />
institution of this kind would prove their<br />
crowning usefulness.<br />
Isidore G. Abcher.<br />
IV.—Mutual Help amono Writers.<br />
The communication from " An Occasional Con-<br />
tributor," in the June number of The Author<br />
opens up a wide field for possibilities of mutual<br />
self-help among the portion of the community—<br />
members of the Society and others—engaged in<br />
literary work. Why should not literary people,<br />
whether known actually personally to one another<br />
or not, communicate their various personal expe-<br />
riences, give and take advice, or otherwise, direct<br />
through the Society or post? Much disappoint-<br />
ment might be avoided, many of the pit-falls<br />
which beset the path of a young author might be<br />
escaped. Much mutual work might be accom-<br />
plished, many pleasant and useful literary friend-<br />
ships might be the result. Although in no way<br />
seeking an advertisement, or making any claim to<br />
a literary standing, yet the quarter of a century or<br />
so connection that I have had more or less with<br />
literary work may enable me to counsel usefully<br />
on many points those who are mere beginners or<br />
have had less; and that advice I should ever be<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 51 (#461) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
pleased to give. On the other hand, I am only<br />
:stul a, learner, and shall be till the end of my days,<br />
.and shall be just as glad often to ask and receive<br />
;advice as T shall be to give it.<br />
Thomas W. D. Lisle.<br />
Amesbury, Salisbuiy.<br />
PERSONAL.<br />
AMONUMENT to the late Joseph Thomson,<br />
the African explorer, was unveiled at his<br />
native place—Thornhill, Dumfriesshire—<br />
last month by Sir Clements Markham, president<br />
of the Royal Geographical Society.<br />
Mr. William Holden, custodian of the Grenville<br />
Xiibrary at the British Museum, has retired on a<br />
pension, having passed fifty years in the service of<br />
the Trustees.<br />
Mr. Qeorge Smith is about to give a dinner to<br />
the contributors to the "Dictionary of National<br />
Biography," in celebration of the completion of<br />
the list of names. Vol. 52, issued last week, in-<br />
cluded the articles on Shakspeare, by Mr. Sidney<br />
Lee; Scott, by Mr. Leslie Stephen; and Seeley,<br />
by Professor Prothero.<br />
Mr. Henry James has become London corre-<br />
spondent with Harper's Weekly.<br />
Mrs. Olive Schreiner has been obliged by<br />
indisposition to leave London and to seek com-<br />
plete rest at a quiet seaside place.<br />
The Women Writers of England held their<br />
annual dinner at the Criterion Restaurant, London,<br />
on June 14; Mrs. Steel presided, and spoke upon<br />
the ethics of literature. There were many things<br />
in the commercial aspect of literature, she said,<br />
that even men acknowledged to be wrong, and<br />
which might be amended if women would be both<br />
bold and honest, now they had got their say.<br />
Miss Montresor proposed the toast of "Absent<br />
Friends," and Mrs. Creighton subsequently made<br />
a speech on the pleasures of research. The com-<br />
pany included also Mrs. J. R. Green, Mrs.<br />
Thackeray Ritehie, Miss M. A. Dickens, Mrs.<br />
Meade, Miss Mary Kingsley, Mrs. Clifford, "Edna<br />
Lyall," and Miss Adeline Sergeant. At the out-<br />
set of the dinner, after "The Queen" had been<br />
honoured, the following telegram was despatched:<br />
"A hundred and twenty women writers, at their<br />
-annual dinner, humbly and heartily congratulate<br />
Victoria, Queen, Empress, and authoress, on her<br />
Diamond. Jubilee."<br />
OBITUARY.<br />
MRS. OLIPHANT died on the 25th ult., at<br />
her house at Wimbledon, from cancer.<br />
Born at Walliford, near Musselburgh,<br />
Midlothian, in 1828, she began to write in 1849,<br />
when "Passages in the Life of Margaret Mait-<br />
land" appeared. She rapidly obtained a foothold<br />
among fiction readers, and subsequently traversed<br />
also the fields of popular biography and history.<br />
Altogether she had written about 100 books,<br />
among which may be mentioned " The Chronicles<br />
of Carlingford," " It was a Lover and His Lass,"<br />
"The Prodigals," "Diana Trelawny," "Neigh-<br />
bours on the Green," "Sir Robert's Fortune,"<br />
"Old Mr. Tredgold," "Life of Edward Irving,"<br />
"Memoir of the Life of Laurence Oliphant and<br />
of Alice his Wife," "Memoir of Count Montalem-<br />
bert," "Francis of Assisi," "Jeanne d'Arc,"<br />
"Historical Sketches of the Reign of Queen<br />
Anne," "Royal Edinburgh," "The Makers of<br />
Venice," "The Makers of Florence," "The<br />
Makers of Modern Rome," "The Literary History<br />
of England in the End of the Eighteenth and<br />
Beginning of the Nineteenth Century," and a<br />
"Child's History of Scotland." She also con-<br />
tributed " Molicre" and "Cervantes" to Black-<br />
wood's series of Foreign Classics for English<br />
readers, edited by herself, and "Sheridan" to<br />
the English Men of Letters Series. Only recently<br />
she published two stories, entitled "Two Ways<br />
of Life," and wrote a biography of the Queen for<br />
the Diamond Jubilee number of the Graphic. She<br />
was engaged upon a " History of the Blackwood<br />
Group," which was to run to three or four<br />
volumes, two of which are practically ready for<br />
publication. She was a frequent contributor to<br />
Blackwood's Magazine, in which many of her<br />
novels originally appeared. Mrs. Oliphant,<br />
whose maiden name was Wilson, was pre-<br />
deceased by her husband and two sons.<br />
RE-OPENING OF THE BRONTE. MUSEUM.-<br />
Apeil 10, 1897.<br />
Tf^HE following report, written for The Author,<br />
I has been unavoidably delayed. Readers<br />
will rather hear about the Bronte Museum<br />
late than never:—<br />
Moorside Haworth is said to be uncouth and<br />
rugged, but at least she has learned the elements<br />
of hospitality. Dr. Robertson Nicoll and Mr.<br />
Clement Shorter, not coutent with the hard<br />
work they have already done in the interests<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 52 (#462) #############################################<br />
<br />
52<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
of Bronte lore, wished to add one more to<br />
their efforts; and Haworth generously put by<br />
her winds and rain for the time being, and<br />
gave them as cheery weather as they could have<br />
hoped for.<br />
A sympathetic crowd assembled in front of the<br />
museum doors at three o'clock. Mr. Shorter briefly<br />
declared the museum re-opened for the summer,<br />
after which everyone dispersed in the direction<br />
of the moors. Mr. Wade, the rector, was most<br />
courteous in his willingness to show the visitors<br />
the rectory.<br />
In the evening a well-attended meeting was<br />
held in the Baptist schoolroom. Mr. Brigg, in<br />
the chair, performed his duties cheerily and well,<br />
and, in introducing the author of "Charlotte<br />
Bronte and Her Circle" to the audience, he had<br />
a singularly pleasant task. Mr. Shorter struck a<br />
true note when he claimed to be at home amongst<br />
us. From the start there could be no doubt as<br />
to the reception in store for him from those<br />
who had read the biography, and I think we<br />
abandoned for the time being our prerogative as<br />
Yorkshiremen to express a little less than we feel.<br />
His speech, dwelling as it did on a subject of<br />
which he has shown himself the master, could not<br />
fail to be interesting; nothing could have been<br />
happier than the chatty way in which he talked<br />
to us, as a friend among friends. Mr. Shorter<br />
expressed a lively desire to see the Bronte<br />
biography re-written once for all, and that by a<br />
Yorkshireman and a literary artist. If Mr.<br />
Shorter himself is possessed only of the latter of<br />
these two essentials, it is surely our misfortune<br />
rather than his fault that another soil is respon-<br />
sible for him.<br />
Dr. Robertson Nicoll followed with a speech of<br />
rare power. There was something very con-<br />
vincing in the quiet, well-chosen periods in which<br />
he gave expression to his enthusiasm — an<br />
enthusiasm which has led him to do more for<br />
Bronte literature, perhaps, than any literary man<br />
of the age. Dr. Nicoll laid stress on the hard-<br />
ships through which the Bronte family passed;<br />
on the unfailing heroism and strength under trial<br />
exhibited by the three sisters; on the remarkable<br />
union of these with the power of feeling passion,<br />
the power of restraining passion, and the power<br />
of giving it an outlet in literary form. He<br />
gave credit to the moor-environment of<br />
Haworth for suggesting all that was strongest<br />
and best in the Bronte novels, and claimed<br />
that the sisters, despite accidents of birth,<br />
were essentially Yorkshire in character, habits,<br />
and associations.<br />
As the upshot of the meeting, one thing is<br />
abundantly clear—the Brontes live to-day as they<br />
never lived in their own time. There is nothing<br />
easier of diagnosis than mock enthusiasm,<br />
and at the same time there is no doubting<br />
the genuine fervour which once in a while we<br />
find reflected in the faces of an audience. Little<br />
Haworth, wild, provincial to the heart, has pro-<br />
duced literature that will only die with the<br />
language; of her ruggedness has been born<br />
strength, from her tenderness has sprung im-<br />
mortality.<br />
Halliwell Sutcliffe.<br />
A NOTE PROM BUCELE.<br />
THE following note may be read by those who<br />
doubt the existence or the importance of a<br />
love for literature among the people:—<br />
"The extension of knowledge being thus<br />
accompanied by an increased simplicity in the<br />
manner of its communication, naturally gave<br />
rise to a greater independence in literary men,<br />
and a greater boldness in literary inquiries. As<br />
long as books, either from the difficulty of their<br />
style or from the general incuriosity of the people,<br />
found but few readers, it was evident that authors<br />
must rely upon the patronage of public bodies or<br />
of rich and titled individuals. And as men are<br />
always inclined to flatter those upon whom they<br />
are dependent, it too often happened that even,<br />
our greatest writers prostituted their abilities by<br />
fawning upon the prejudices of their patrons.<br />
The consequence was that literature, so far from<br />
disturbing ancient superstitions and stirring up<br />
the mind to new inquiries, frequently assumed a<br />
timid aHd subservient air, natural to its subordi-<br />
nate position. But now all this was changed.<br />
Those servile and shameful dedications; that<br />
mean and crouching spirit; that incessant homage<br />
to mere rank and birth; that constant confusion<br />
between power and right; that ignorant admira-<br />
tion for everything which is old, and that still<br />
more ignorant contempt for everything which is<br />
new; all these features became gradually fainter ,<br />
and authors, relying upon the patronage of the<br />
people, began to advocate the claims of their new<br />
allies with a boldness upon which they could not<br />
have ventured in any previous age."<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 53 (#463) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR. 53<br />
LITERATURE IN THE PERIODICALS.<br />
Woman's Place in the World of Letters. Mrs.<br />
J. B. Green. Nineteenth Century for June.<br />
Poetry and the Jubilee: A Temptation for Mil-<br />
lionaires. Richard Le Gallienne. Westminster Gazette<br />
for Jane a i.<br />
Self-Consciousness in Poetry. The Spectator of<br />
Jnne 12.<br />
School of Fiction. Mrs. Meade and Sir W. Besant.<br />
New Century Revietv for Jnne.<br />
The Real Monsieur D'Artaqnan. Sir Herbert<br />
Maxwell. Blackwood's Magazine for June.<br />
Oxford and Jowett. A. M. Fairbairn, D.D. Contem-<br />
porary Review for June.<br />
The Abuse of Dialect. Matmilla n's for Jnne.<br />
Our Men of Letters and Our Empire. W. Gress-<br />
well. Temple Bar for Jnne.<br />
A Plea for the Study of Sonnets. Emily G. Kemp.<br />
Temple Bar for Jnne.<br />
Notable Beview.<br />
Francis Thompson's " New Poems." Daily Chronicle for<br />
May 29.<br />
Woman remains essentially mysterious, even in<br />
her literary venture, says Mrs. J. R. Green; she<br />
does not come forward unprotected and bare to<br />
attack, but she covers her advance with a whole<br />
machinery of arrow-proof bides and wooden<br />
shelters, or seeks safety in what is known in<br />
Nature as protective mimicry. The problem of<br />
this precaution and disguise is not to be solved<br />
by merely accounting for a prudent demeanour,<br />
which may be explained by timidity, self-distrust,<br />
a sensitive vanity, and hatred of criticism. "To<br />
the truth first pointed out by Schopenhauer—<br />
that there is another and a greater force than<br />
Thought in the Universe, namely, the force<br />
of Will—woman remains the living witness."<br />
Here are her perplexities as Mrs. Green states<br />
them :—<br />
She is haunted by a twofold experience. Primitive<br />
emotions and instincts that rise from abysses of Nature<br />
where she herself is one with the world that lies below con-<br />
sciousness, carry with them an authority so potent and<br />
tyrannical that she is impelled to rank them above all<br />
functions of intelligence. On the other hand, a rude<br />
and ruthless discipline warns her that these are but<br />
the raw material with which Nature works, lopping off<br />
here, and cutting down there, everything that pnshes<br />
above the sanctioned level. By a thousand indications,<br />
too. Life mocks her with the awful panorama of emotion<br />
continually swept before the power of common realities<br />
of the world life shifting sand driven before the storm—<br />
nothing stable that is not comprehended. Nowhere is the<br />
bewildering civil strife of Nature, the battle that is with<br />
confused noise and garments rolled in blood, stranger or<br />
less intelligible than in the devastated field of woman's<br />
experience.<br />
With the exceptions, it may be said, of Mrs.<br />
Hutchinson, Mrs. Catherine Macaulay, and Mme.<br />
de Stael, woman has left on one side, or only-<br />
skirted, the fields of theological, metaphysical,<br />
and political speculation, an aloofness which is<br />
possibly of the same character as her detachment<br />
from the whole classic world. "The Modern<br />
Englishwoman has in no way been subdued to<br />
the civilisations of Greece and Rome; her cry<br />
still resounds: 'Let them see no wisdom<br />
but in Thy eternal law, no beauty but in<br />
holiness.'" Perhaps woman is never quite<br />
self-forgetful enough for frank expression of<br />
her feeling, save under the passionate impulse of<br />
poetry. True, such prose writers as Charlotte<br />
Bronte and George Eliot at the height of their<br />
argument overleap common bounds; "but," says<br />
Mrs. Green, " it may be doubted whether there is<br />
any woman save Christina Rossetti (and, within<br />
her own limits, Emily Bronte), whose sincerity<br />
has never faltered, and whose ardent soul has-<br />
constantly scorned to wear the livery of any pas-<br />
sion save its own." Woman is an anarchist of<br />
the deepest dye; she has allied herself with the<br />
poor, and all who like herself were seeking some-<br />
thing different from that which they knew, and<br />
the two great religions which have expressed tha<br />
feminine side of feeling, the Buddhist and the<br />
Christian, have been sustained by her ardour;<br />
Stoicism has been routed, and the enormous value<br />
supposed to attach to each separate being, the<br />
importance of life and death, have been given a<br />
prominence such as was never before known—<br />
and this has been mainly done by woman, who is<br />
herself perhaps Nature's chief witness to the<br />
truth that humauity is not the centre of the<br />
universe. And the future? The feminine as<br />
opposed to the masculine forces in the modern<br />
world are becoming more and more decisive in<br />
human affairs; but " if woman is to deliver her<br />
true message, or to be the apostle of a new era,<br />
she must throw aside the curiosity of the stranger<br />
and the licence of the anarchist. The history and<br />
philosophy of man must be the very alphabet of<br />
her studies, and she must speak the language of<br />
the world to which she is the high ambassador,<br />
not as a barbarian or foreigner, but as a skilled<br />
and fine interpreter. From culture she must<br />
learn deeper lessons than ' Taste,' and the Reason<br />
which in the last resort must give stability to the<br />
shadows projected by her instinct must be hon-<br />
ourably reckoned with."<br />
May not poor poetry presume to be " like things<br />
of the season gay 'r1" asks Mr. Le Gallienne.<br />
He is pleading for an adequate recognition, at<br />
this Jubilee season, of the fact that in nothing<br />
has the Victorian era juster reason to pride itself<br />
than in its literature. Novelists live in castles,<br />
build mansions for themselves, and are generally<br />
self-supporiing; for the most part poets must<br />
either be supported, or, in the process of earning<br />
their honest livings, surely and swiftly cease to<br />
be poets. The poet only wants to be fed—not<br />
for idleness, but, like every other worker, for the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 54 (#464) #############################################<br />
<br />
54<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
service he does the community. State support<br />
being out of the question—" a proposal more<br />
appropriate for the Millennium than the Jubilee"<br />
—Mr. Le Gallienne addresses his appeal less to<br />
the nation than to the nation's millionaires. To<br />
these he shows such a way of originality in the<br />
spending of their money as will lift them at once<br />
out of the mere rabble of millionaires. He puts<br />
it thus:<br />
ft year's rest for these men, 0 millionaires, a year's rest<br />
—to work in. How easy it were for you to give them all<br />
five years' rest—to work in, mind!—a whole life's rest.<br />
With the stroke of a pen yon conld endow all the<br />
genius that deserves and needs endowment; yon conld be<br />
the virtual founders of Twentieth Century English Litera-<br />
ture! .£50,000 invested at 4 per cent, would provide eight<br />
poets with JB250 a year for life; and what is £50,000,<br />
seriously speaking, to pay for the honour of doing so great<br />
a servioe to your country? . . . Have you not said<br />
that you would spend more on your stables than the sum I<br />
. ask? Or if one of you cannot Bee your way, how about a<br />
syndicate of Maecenases P<br />
The Spectator differs a little from Professor<br />
Courthope in the examples he has cited of the<br />
"vast growth of individual self-consciousness"<br />
as one of the main causes of the poetical deca-<br />
dence. The poets were Matthew Arnold, Algernon<br />
Swinburne, and Eudyard Kipling. As to the<br />
latter two, the Spectator "should not have<br />
thought that, whatever their faults may be, there<br />
was any exaggerated element of self-conscious-<br />
ness in either of them "; and as to Arnold, with<br />
whom the article deals principally, the writer<br />
argues that the "individual self-consciousness"<br />
in his poems was not of the kind fatal, or other-<br />
wise than exalting, to his genius as a writer, and<br />
that, in fact, Wordsworth is often guiltier of the<br />
fatal kind of self-consciousness — that which<br />
throws up the oddities and unmeaning eccentri-<br />
cities of individuals, instead of bringing out<br />
more fully the characteristics of human nature<br />
at large—than Arnold. As evidences that the<br />
self-consciousness is not of the kind which dwells<br />
on what is petty and egotistic in the poet's mind,<br />
the writer instances " Empedocles on Etna," and<br />
the lines in " The Scholar Gipsy " which express<br />
the craving of the Oxford student for a calm life.<br />
Pidgin English is discussed by Colonel Shaw<br />
(in an article in the New Revieie for May,<br />
which we had no space to notice last month),<br />
who locates the birthplace of this dialect as<br />
Canton. It is so easily learned that it i3 popular<br />
with the native hangers-on of the English.<br />
English merchants find it profitable too, because<br />
while it takes six years to learn the Chinese<br />
language (which has eighteen dialects, in addi-<br />
tion to the Mandarin, or Court, dialogue), Pidgin<br />
can be acquired in as many months—and it serves<br />
-their turn. At Hong Kong, in spite of official<br />
discountenance, Canton English still holds its<br />
own. At Canton and various coast settlements<br />
the Chinese have regular schools and classes in<br />
which it is taught, and it is believed that similar<br />
arrangements exist, under the rose, in our colony<br />
of Hong Kong itself. The vocabulary is made<br />
up of three classes of words: (1) words purely<br />
English; (2) words purely Chinese, a very small<br />
proportion; and (3) words of doubtful parentage.<br />
The word •' pidgin" means "business." Thus<br />
"joss-pidgin" is divine worship; "singsong<br />
pidgin," theatricals; "coolie-pidgin," work of a<br />
labourer; "too muchie pidgin," press of work.<br />
"My" stands for " I or me "; "you" is used as<br />
in English; "he" does duty for he, him, she,<br />
her, or it. There are no genders. The possessive<br />
adjectives and pronouns are formed by the addi-<br />
tion of the word "belong," so that "belong to<br />
pidgin" means "his or her business." "That"<br />
and " this " are used much as in English, but the<br />
former also takes the place of our "the."<br />
"Number one" is the phrase for excellence or<br />
superiority either in a person or a thing. Thus,<br />
the Bishop of Victoria is ordinarily described in<br />
Hong Kong as "that number one heaven-pidgin<br />
man." When the youth in the missionary school<br />
is puzzled by difficulties in the study of pure<br />
English, he is apt to seek refuge in the easier<br />
Pidgin, and it is told of one convert that he<br />
could not be made to understand the Psalm for<br />
the day: "Why do the heathen so furiously rage<br />
together:" until his European teacher rendered<br />
the line into Chinese, when as the meaning<br />
dawned upon him he broke out, to the great<br />
scandal of all present: "My savee: what for<br />
that Heathen man makee too muchie bobbely."<br />
The popularity of the dialect is remarkable,<br />
although in the Colonial Government schools at<br />
Hong Kong every possible effort is made in the<br />
opposite direction :—<br />
It is spoken not only by the English residents in com-<br />
municating with their servants and employees, but also by<br />
the merchants and visitors to China of all other nations.<br />
The Dutch captains who voyage to Hong Kong from Batavia,<br />
with little knowledge of our pure vernacular, are often excel-<br />
lent hands at Pidgin. The French and Germans make use<br />
of it with few exceptions, and learn it on arrival quite as a<br />
distinct study.<br />
In the New Century Mrs. Meade replies to<br />
criticism of the proposed '• school of fiction,"<br />
holding that it would serve to weed o.it the<br />
incapable, the weak, and the commonplace<br />
novelists; and Sir Walter Besant states his<br />
opinion that a " School of Literature and Com-<br />
position" would raise the standard of literary<br />
art, and allow clever young writers to have a<br />
systematic study of English literature, style, logic,<br />
and the art of putting things.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 55 (#465) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
55<br />
Sir Herbert Maxwell gives an account in Black-<br />
tcood's of the real D'Artagnan, from whose<br />
memoirs Dumas's famous trilogy was written.<br />
He was a great intriguer, a great lover, and a<br />
great warrior. "You will always be the same,<br />
Sir," said Mazarin to him; "the first petticoat—<br />
and serious matters fly out of the window."<br />
THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH.<br />
[Mat 24 to June 23—219 Books.]<br />
Adams, D. C. 0., and Carter. T. T. The Salnta and Missionaries of<br />
the Anglo-Saxon Era. First series. Mowbray.<br />
Allen, Grant Cities of Belgium. (Historical Guide). 8/6 net.<br />
Richards.<br />
Allen, James Lane. The Choir Invisible. 6/- Macmillan.<br />
Ames, P. W. The Mirror of the Sinful Soul. A translation by<br />
Queen Elizabeth when eleven years of age. 10 6 net. Afiher.<br />
Anglican Pulpit Library. Vol. VI:—The SnndajB after Trinity. 15/-<br />
H odder and Stoughton.<br />
Armstrong, Lord. Electric Movement in Air and Water, with<br />
Theoretical Inferences. 30/- net. Smith, Elder.<br />
Armstrong, G. F. S. Queen, Empress, and Empire. Poem. 6/-<br />
Marcus Ward.<br />
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. Art and Life and the Building<br />
and Decoration of Cities. 6/- Rivington, Percival.<br />
Avellng, F. W. Who was Jesus Christ? and other Questions. 6'-<br />
Kegan Paul-<br />
Aubyn, Alan St. The Wooing of May. 8/6. White.<br />
Baker, II. F. Abel's Theorem nod the Allied Theory, including the<br />
Theory of the Theta Functions. 2-1/- net. Clay.<br />
Bangs, J. E. The Pursuit of the House-Boat. 2/- Osgood.<br />
Barkiy, F. A. Among Boers and Basutos and with Barkly's Horse.<br />
2 6. Roxburghe Press.<br />
Barton, D. P., and Cherry, K- R. The Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1896.<br />
Dublin: J. Falconer.<br />
Becke, Louis. Pacific Tales. 6/- Unwin.<br />
Bedford, Duke of, and Pickering, 8. U. Report on the Working and<br />
Results of the Woburn Experimental Fruit Farm since its Estab-<br />
lishment. 5/- Eyre and Spottiswoode.<br />
Berkeley, M. Empty Pockets and Other Stories. 1/6.<br />
E. Vaughan and Co.<br />
Besant, Sir Walter. The Rise of the Empire. 1/6. Marshall.<br />
Bishop, M. C. Memoirs of Mrs. TTrnuhart. 6/- Kegan Paul.<br />
Blaikie, W. B. Itinerary of Prince Charles Edward Stuart. 1745-6.<br />
Scottish Historical Society.<br />
Blavatsky, H. P. The Secret Doctrine. Vol. III. 15 - net.<br />
Thcosophical Publishing Society.<br />
Bolssevain, G. M. The Monetary Situation in 1897. Macmillan.<br />
Bold re wood, Rolf. My Run Home. 6/- Macmillan.<br />
Borlase, W. C. The Dolmens of Ireland. 105, - Chapman.<br />
Brandis, Sir D. Indian Forestry. Woking: Oriental University<br />
Institute.<br />
Briggs, Sir J. H. (the late). Naval Administrations, 1827 to 1892.<br />
21.'-. Low.<br />
Brown, A. M. Moliereand the Medical Associations. 6 -<br />
The Cotton Press.<br />
Brunton,T. L. Lectures on the Action of Medicines. 10/6 net.<br />
Macmillan.<br />
Burden, H. C. Burdett's Hospitals and Charities, 1897. 6/-<br />
ScientihV Press.<br />
Burke, A. P. Family Records. 42/- net. Harrison.<br />
Burn and, F. C. The Z. Z. G. Round and About the Kentish Coast.<br />
2 6. Black.<br />
Campbell, Robert (ed.). Ruling Cases. Vol. XL 33 - Stevens.<br />
Carlyle, Thomas. Montaigne and Other Essays, chiefly Biographical.<br />
Now first collected. Foreword by S. R. Crockett. 8 6 net. Gowans.<br />
Chamberlain's (Right Hon. J.) Foreign and Colonial Speeches. 3/6.<br />
Routledge.<br />
Charles, R. H. The Assumption of Moses. 7/6. Black.<br />
Chat field-Taylor. H. C. The Land or the Castanet. 5 - Gay and Bird.<br />
Chaytor, H. J. The Light of the Eye. 8 6. Digby, Long.<br />
Clark, A. C. Clinical Manual of Mental Diseases. 10 6.<br />
Balliere, Tindall.<br />
Cleeve, Lucas. Lazarus. 6/- Hutchinson<br />
Clutterbuck, G. W. In India; or Bombay the Beautiful.<br />
Ideal Publishing Union.<br />
Coates, Ante. Rle's Diary. 8/6. Chatto<br />
Cook, E. C. London and Environs. 3 6 net. Llangollen:<br />
Darlington and Co-.<br />
Copinger, Walter A The Bible and its Transmission. 106/- net.<br />
Sotberan.<br />
Corelli, M. Jane: A Social Incident 2/- Hutchinson.<br />
Courthope, W. J. Ode on the Completion of the Sixtieth Tear of the<br />
Reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. 2/6. Frowde.<br />
Crawford, Marion. A Rose of Yesterday. 6/- Macmillan.<br />
Crofton, F. B. (Nova Scotia). For Closer Union [of Britain and<br />
America]. Low.<br />
Crothers, T. D., and others. The Centenary of the Methodist New<br />
Connexion. G. Burroughs.<br />
Crow, M. F. (ed.). Elizabethan Sonnet-Cycles. 5/. Kegan, Paul.<br />
Dale, T. F. The Game of Polo. 21/- net. Constable.<br />
D'Aurevilly, J. A. B. (trans, by Douglas Ainslie). Of Dandyism and<br />
of George Brummell. 5 - net. Dent,<br />
Deland, Margaret The Wisdom of Fools. 6/- Longmans.<br />
Denny, G. A. The Klerksdorp Gold Fields. 42/- net. Macmillan.<br />
Dickens, the late Miss M. My Father as I Recall Him. 3/6.<br />
Roxburghe,<br />
Dickson, Canon. Ely Cathedral. 1/. Isbister,<br />
Dunbar, Paul L. Lyrics of Lowly Life. 5/- Chapman.<br />
Eardley-Wilmot, S. Tho British Navy, Past and Present. 6d.<br />
Stanford.<br />
Egerton, George. Symphonies. 4 6 net. Lane!<br />
Emerson, S. H. Life of Abby Hopper Gibbons. 15/- Putnam.<br />
Farrar, Dean. Progress in the Reign of.'Queen Victoria. 1- Bliss,<br />
Feasey, H. J. Ancient English Holy Week Ceremonial. 7 - net.<br />
Thos. Baker.<br />
Fernandez, J. (cd.) The Fernandez Reciter. Routledge.<br />
Findlay, J. J. (ed.) Arnold of Rugby: His School Life and Contribu-<br />
tions to Education. 6/ Clav.<br />
Fiske, A. K. The Myths of Israel. 6/- Macmillaii.<br />
FitzGerald. G. B. A Fleeting Show. 6.- Digbv, Long.<br />
Fleming, George. Little Stories about Women. 3/6 Richards:<br />
Foil, Hattil. Major Carlile. 6/- Digby, Long.<br />
Forbes, Hon. Mrs. W. R. D. (E. M. Farwell). Blight. 6/- Osgood.<br />
Ford, George. The Larramys. 6/- Hutchinson.<br />
Furniss, H. Pen and Pencil in Parliament 5/- Low.<br />
Fyfe, H. Hamilton. A Trick of Fame. 12/ - Bentley.<br />
Gamble. E. B. The God-Idoa of the Ancients. Sex in Religion. 10 6<br />
Putnam.<br />
Oarratt, R. D. Practical Pig-keeping. 1/- Gill.<br />
Gerard, E An Electric Shock and Other Stories . 1- Blackwood.<br />
Gilchrist, R. M. A Peakland Faggot. 2/6. Richards.<br />
Godfrey, Hal. The Rejuvenation of Miss Semaphore. 8/6. Jarrold.<br />
Gough, Gen. Sir Hugh. Old Memories. Blackwood.<br />
Gould, Nat. Not so bad after all. 2 6. Routlcdgo.<br />
Gow, Wm. A British Imperial Customs Union. 1 - Edinburgh:<br />
D. Douglas.<br />
Graham, P. A. The Victorian Era. 2/6. Longmans.<br />
Greaves, H. L. A Genealogical Chart showing Four Generations of<br />
the Royal House of Britain. 1/6. Dolling.<br />
Greer, Maria. A Vision's Voice, and other Poems. 2/6 net. Digby.<br />
Greene, T. L. Corporation Finance [United States]. 5/- Putnam.<br />
"Gretchen." The Mystic Five. Stock.<br />
Grey. Rowland. The Craftsman. 27- Ward, Lock.<br />
Grifflnhoofe, C. O. Helps towards Belief in the Christian Faith. 3 6.<br />
Ward and Downey.<br />
Griffiths, George. The Romance of Golden Star. 3/6. White.<br />
Gunter, A. C. Bob Covington. 2/6. Routledge.<br />
Gwynne, It. (ed.). Guide to London and Its Suburbs. 1/6. Routledge.<br />
Halford. F. M. Dry Fly Entomology. 25'- net. Vinton.<br />
Hammond, E. and Row, B. P. London Town [Guide]. 6d. Daily<br />
Mail Office.<br />
HaBluck, Paul N. Dynamos and Electric Motors. 1/- Cassell<br />
Heath. Admiral Sir L. G. LetterB from tho Black Sea during the<br />
Crimean War, 1854-1855. Bentley,<br />
Hervey,M. H. David Dimsdale, M.D. 4 0 net. Redway.<br />
Higginson, T. N. The Procession and the Flowers, and other Kin-<br />
dred Papers. 5 - Longmans.<br />
Hill, George Birkbeck. Johnsonian Miscellanies. 28 - Frowde.<br />
Hill. S. M. Rameau's Nephew; a translation from Diderot's Auto-<br />
graphic text. 3j6. Longmans.<br />
Hint on, A. N H. Pla'inotype Printing. 1/- llazell.<br />
Hodges, E. The Cabots and the Discovery of America. 6d. net.<br />
Bristol: W. F. Mack and Co.<br />
Howe, H. A. Elements of Descriptive Astronomy. 7/6. Gay and<br />
Bird.<br />
Hume, Fergus. The Tombstone Treasure. 7/6. Jarrold.<br />
HurBt, J. H. Stephen Lcscombe, Bachelor of Arts. 5/- Putnam.<br />
Inglefleld, S. H. S. (trans.). The Mornings of the Kings of Prussia.<br />
2/6 net. Gihbings.<br />
Irish University Question. Selections from Speeches and Writings<br />
of Catholic Archbishop of Dublin. Dublin: Browne and Nolan<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 56 (#466) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
James, W. The Will to Believe, and Other Ens ays in Popular<br />
Philosophy. 7 6. Longmans.<br />
J anew ay, C. Glimpses at Greece To-day and Before Yesterday.<br />
Kegan Paul.<br />
Jeaffreson, J. C. Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson. (Revised ed ,<br />
with new material). 6/- Hurst.<br />
Jepheon, A. J. M. The Story of a Billiard Ball. 2/6. Saxon.<br />
Johnson, H. Temple Bar and State Pageants. 1 - Partridge and<br />
Cooper.<br />
Jones-Parry, S. H. An Old Soldier's Memories. 12/- Hurst.<br />
JonsBen-Bose, N. Lawns and Gardens. 15/- Putnam.<br />
Keddell, E, A., and Standing, P. C. Gleanings from Ibsen. â– '> -<br />
Stock.<br />
Keith, Leslie. My Bonnie Lady. 6/- Jarrold.<br />
Kennedy, Bart. Darab's Wine Cup and other Tales. 6/- Olllf.<br />
King, R. D. Father Hilarion. 6 - Hntchinson.<br />
Kuegg, A. E. (compiler). The Victorian Birthday Book. 3/-<br />
C. Letts and Co.<br />
Kulpe, Oswald (tr. by W. B. Pillsbury and E. B. Titchener) Intro-<br />
duction to Civilisation. 6/- SonnenBchein.<br />
Litchfield, G. D. In the Crucible. 6/- Putnam.<br />
Longridge, C. C. A Glossary of Mining Terms. 2/6. Mining<br />
Journal Office.<br />
Louis, A. B. Mallerton. 6 - Bliss, Sands.<br />
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Miss Flora L. Shaw.<br />
G. B. Sims.<br />
S. Squire Sprigge.<br />
J. J. Stevenson.<br />
Francis Storr.<br />
Prof. Jas. Sully.<br />
William Moy Thomas.<br />
H. D. Traill, D.C.L.<br />
Mrs. Humphry Ward.<br />
Miss Charlotte M. Yonge.<br />
Q.C.<br />
A W. 1 Beckett.<br />
Sib Walter Besant.<br />
Egerton Castle, F.S.A.<br />
W. Morris Colles.<br />
ART.<br />
Hon. John Collier (Chairman).<br />
Sib W. Martin Conway.<br />
M. H. Spielmann.<br />
COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT.<br />
Chairman—H. Eider Haggard.<br />
Sir W. Mabtin Conway.<br />
D. W. Freshfield.<br />
Anthony Hope Hawkins.<br />
J. M. Lely.<br />
SUB-COMMITTEES.<br />
MUSIC.<br />
C. Villiers Stanford, Mub.D. (Chairman).<br />
Jacques Blumenthal.<br />
J. L. Mollot.<br />
Solicitors—<br />
f Field, Boscoe, and Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields,<br />
i, G. Herbert Theing, B.A., 4, Portugal-street<br />
Sib A. C. Mackenzie, Mub.Doc.<br />
Henry Norman.<br />
Francis Storr.<br />
DEAMA.<br />
Henry Arthur Jones (Cha<br />
A. W. a Beckett.<br />
Edward Bose.<br />
OFFICES:<br />
Secretary—G. Hebbeet Theing, B.A.<br />
4, Pobtuqal Stbebt, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C.<br />
IP. WATT So SO 1ST,<br />
LITERARY AGENTS,<br />
Formerly of 2, PATERNOSTER SdUARE,<br />
Have now removed to<br />
HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND,<br />
LONDON", W.C.<br />
Published every Friday morning; price, without Reports, 9d.; with<br />
Reports, Is.<br />
THE LAW TIMES, the Journal of the Law and the<br />
Lawyers, which has now been established for over half a century,<br />
supplies to the Profession a complete Becord of the Progress of Legal<br />
Reforms, and of all matters affecting the Legal Profession. The<br />
Reports of the Law Times are now recognised as the most complete<br />
and efficient series published.<br />
Offices: Windsor House, Broam's-bulldings, E.O<br />
HHE AET of CHESS. By James Mason. Price 5e.<br />
L net, by post 5s. 4d.<br />
London: Horace Cox, Windsor Houbb, Bream's-buildings, E.O.<br />
THE KNIGHTS and KINGS of CHESS. By the Eev.<br />
O. A. MACDONNELL, B.A. With Portrait and 17 Dlustra<br />
tionB. Crown 8vo.t cloth boards, price 2s. fid. net.<br />
London: Horace Cox, Windsor Bouse, Bream's-buildings, E.O.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 1 (#407) ##############################################<br />
<br />
tTbe Hutbor*<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated. Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br />
CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br />
Vol. Vin.—No. i.] JUNE i, 1897. [Pbice Sixpence.<br />
For the Opinions expressed in papers that are<br />
signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br />
responsible. None of the papers or para-<br />
graphs must be taken as expressing the<br />
collective opinions of the Committee unless<br />
they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br />
Thring, Sec.<br />
THE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br />
remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br />
requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br />
important communications within two days will write to him<br />
without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union<br />
Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br />
letter only. oio<br />
Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br />
all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br />
jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br />
returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br />
GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br />
FOR some years it has been the practice to insert, in<br />
every number of The Author, certain " General Con-<br />
siderations," Warnings, Notices, &c, for the guidance<br />
of the reader. It hag been objected as regards these<br />
warnings that the trioks or frauds against which they are<br />
directed cannot all be guarded against, for obvious reasons.<br />
It is, however, well that they should bo borne in mind, and<br />
if any publisher refuses a clause of precaution he simply<br />
reveals his true character, and should be left to carry on<br />
his business in his own way.<br />
Let us, however, draw up a few of the rules to be<br />
observed in an agreement. There are three methods of<br />
dealing with literary property :—<br />
I. That of selling it outright.<br />
This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br />
price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br />
managed by a competent agent.<br />
II. A profit-sharing agreement.<br />
In this case the following rules should be attended to:<br />
(1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br />
duction forms a part.<br />
(2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br />
profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise-<br />
ments.<br />
(3.) Not to allow a special charge for " office expenses,"<br />
unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br />
(4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br />
rights.<br />
(5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights.<br />
(6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher.<br />
As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br />
doctor!<br />
(7.) To stamp the agreement.<br />
HI. The royalty system.<br />
In this system, whioh has opened the door to a most<br />
amazing amount of overreaching and trading on the<br />
author's ignorance, it is above all things necessary to know<br />
what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now<br />
possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very<br />
nearly the truth. From time to time the very important<br />
figures connected with royalties are published in The Author.<br />
Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br />
"Cost of Production." Let no one, not even the youngest<br />
writer, sign a royalty agreement without finding out what<br />
it gives the publisher as well as himself.<br />
It has been objected that these precautions presuppose a<br />
great success for the book, and that very few books indeed<br />
attain to this great success. That is quite true: but there is<br />
always this uncertainty of literary property that, although<br />
the works of a great many authors carry with them no risk<br />
at all, and although of a great many it is known within a few<br />
copies what will be their minimum circulation, it is not<br />
known what will be their maximum. Therefore every<br />
author, for every book, should arrange on the ohanoe of a<br />
success which will not, probably, come at all; but which<br />
may come.<br />
The four points whioh the Society has always demanded<br />
from the outset are:—<br />
(1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement<br />
means.<br />
(2.) The inspection of those account books whioh belong<br />
to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the<br />
nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or<br />
withheld.<br />
(3.) That there shall be no secret profits.<br />
(4.) That nothing shall be charged which has not been<br />
actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for<br />
advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for<br />
exchanged advertisements; and that all discounts shall be<br />
duly entered.<br />
If these points are carefully looked after, the author may<br />
rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the<br />
game time he will do well to send his agreement to the<br />
secretary before he signs it.<br />
B 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 2 (#408) ##############################################<br />
<br />
2 THE AUTHOR.<br />
HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br />
I. IiTVEBY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br />
Pj advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br />
lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br />
business or the administration of his property. If the advice<br />
sought is snch as can be given beBt by a solicitor, the member<br />
has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the<br />
case is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com-<br />
mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this<br />
without any cost to the member.<br />
2. Bemember that questions connected with copyright<br />
and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the<br />
experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br />
to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually<br />
engaged upon such questions for us.<br />
3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past<br />
accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in<br />
order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree-<br />
ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively<br />
so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any<br />
agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor-<br />
mation thus obtained may prove invaluable.<br />
4. If the examination of your previous business trans-<br />
actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should<br />
take advice as to a change of publishers.<br />
5. Before signing any agreement whatever, Bend the pro-<br />
posed document to the Society for examination.<br />
6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in<br />
the case of fraudulent houses—the trioks of every publish-<br />
ing firm in the country.<br />
7. Bemember always that in belonging to the Society you<br />
are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are<br />
reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing<br />
the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen-<br />
dence of the writer.<br />
8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of everything<br />
important to literature that yon may hear or meet with.<br />
9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of<br />
members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br />
safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br />
fidential documents to be read only by the 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 npon<br />
them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments<br />
due according to agreements.<br />
<br />
THE AUTHORS' SYNDICATE.<br />
MEMBERS are informed:<br />
1. That the Authors' Syndicate takes charge of<br />
the business of members of the Society. That it<br />
submits MSS. to publishers and editors, oonclndes agree-<br />
ments, examines, passes, and collects accounts, and, gene-<br />
rally, relieves members of the trouble of managing business<br />
details.<br />
2. That the terms upon whioh its services can be secured<br />
will be forwarded upon detailed application.<br />
3. That the Authors' Syndicate works only for those<br />
members of the Society whose work possesses a market<br />
value.<br />
4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiations<br />
whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia-<br />
tions are placed exclusively in its hands, and that nil<br />
communications relating thereto are referred to it.<br />
5. That clients can only be seen by the Director by<br />
appointment, and that, when possible, at least two days'<br />
notice should be given.<br />
6. That every attempt is made to deal with all communi-<br />
cations promptly. That stamps should, in nil cases, be sent<br />
to defray postage.<br />
7. That the Authors' Syndicate does not invito MSS.<br />
without previous correspondence; does not hold itself<br />
responsible for MSS. forwarded without notice; and that<br />
in all cases MSS. must be accompanied by stamps to defray<br />
postage.<br />
8. That the Syndicate undertakes arrangements for<br />
lectures by Borne of the leading members of the Sooiety;<br />
that it has a "Transfer Department" for the sale and<br />
purchase of journals and periodicals; and that a " Register<br />
of Wants and Wanted" is open. Members are invited to<br />
communicate their requirements to the Manager.<br />
There is an Honorary Advisory Committee, whose services<br />
will be called upon in any case of dispute or difficulty. It<br />
is perhaps necessary to state that the members of the<br />
Advisory Committee have no pecuniary interest whatever in<br />
the Syndicate.<br />
NOTICES.<br />
THE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the<br />
Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br />
of charge, the oost 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. 6</. subscription for the year.<br />
The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and<br />
communications on all subjects connected with literature<br />
from members and others. Nothing can do more good to<br />
the Society than to make The Author complete, attractive,<br />
and interesting. Will thoBe who are willing to aid in this<br />
work send their names and the special subjects on which<br />
they are willing to write?<br />
Communications for The Author should reach the Editor<br />
not later than the 21st of each month.<br />
All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether<br />
members of the Sooiety or not, are invited to communicate<br />
to the Editor any points connected with their work which<br />
it would be advisable in the general interest to publish.<br />
Members and others who wish their MSS. read are<br />
requested not to send them to the Office without previously<br />
communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable<br />
despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in<br />
whioh they are received. It must also be distinctly under-<br />
stood that the Sooiety does not, under any circumstances,<br />
undertake the publication of MSS.<br />
The Authors' Club is now open in its new premises, at<br />
3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary<br />
for information, rules of admission, Ac.<br />
Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they<br />
have paid their subscriptions for the year p If they will do<br />
thiB, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's<br />
order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the<br />
trouble of sending out a reminder.<br />
Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the<br />
following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a<br />
most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding<br />
for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they<br />
would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five<br />
years to come, whatever his conduot, whether he was honest<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 3 (#409) ##############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
3<br />
or dishonest? Of coarse they would not. Why then<br />
hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them-<br />
selves into literary bondage for three or five years P<br />
Those who possess the "Cost of Production" are<br />
requested to note that the cost of binding has advanoed 15<br />
per cent. This means, for those who do not like the trouble<br />
of "doing sums," the addition of three shillings in the<br />
pound on this head. In other words, if the cost of binding<br />
is set down in our book at eight pounds, to this must now be<br />
added twenty-four shillings more, so that it now stands<br />
at Jtg 48. The figures in our book are as near the exact<br />
truth as can be procured; but a printer's, or a binder's,<br />
bill is so elastic a thing that nothing more exact can be<br />
arrived at.<br />
Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged<br />
in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of course, we<br />
have not included any sums whioh may be charged for<br />
inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines,<br />
or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too<br />
often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from<br />
sweeping the whole profits o a book into his own pocket,<br />
by inserting any number of advertisements in his own<br />
magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are<br />
who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those<br />
who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it.<br />
FROM THE COMMITTEE.<br />
I.<br />
THE short Copyright Bill, drafted on behalf<br />
of the Society of Authors, is now in Lord<br />
Monkswell's hands.<br />
The fact that the International Copyright<br />
sections settled at the Paris Conference last year<br />
have passed into law in Germany was brought to<br />
the notice of the Committee at their meeting.<br />
The Committee were unable, owing to the short<br />
notice, to send a representative to the meeting of<br />
the Association Littcraire et Artistique Inter-<br />
nationale at Monaco at Easter. They, however,<br />
informed the secretary of the Association that they<br />
would be willing to express an opinion on any<br />
subject the Association chose to put before the<br />
Society.<br />
The three sub-committees are now complete, and<br />
consist of the following gentlemen :—<br />
Aet.—The Hon. John Collier (chairman), Sir<br />
W. Martin Conway, and Mr. M. H. Spiel-<br />
mann.<br />
Music.—Professor C. Villiers Stanford (chair-<br />
man), Mr. Jacques Blumenthal, and Mr.<br />
J. L. Molloy.<br />
Drama.—Mr. Henry Arthur Jones (chairman),<br />
Mr. A. W. A'Beckett, and Mr. Edward<br />
Bose.<br />
A bankruptcy petition has been presented<br />
against Messrs. Horace and Beresford Whitcomb<br />
as representing the Neic Saturday. The Society<br />
is acting on behalf of its members, and repre-<br />
sents claims amounting to between two and three<br />
hundred pounds. The course of events will be<br />
reported from time to time in The Author.<br />
II.<br />
Me. E. H. Lacon Watson v. Catholic<br />
Gazette (Limited).<br />
An interesting case, supported by the Society,<br />
came up for trial at the City of London Court on<br />
May 11. Unfortunately, the defendants did not<br />
appear, so the judgment was given by default;<br />
but it may be useful to members of the Society<br />
to state the facts of the case.<br />
The plaintiff was asked by the editor of the<br />
defendant paper to write an article, which article<br />
was written and accepted by the editor, for a<br />
sum agreed upon.<br />
Subsequently, the editor resigned his post, and,<br />
when the plaintiff wrote to the defendant paper,<br />
he received a reply that the defendant paper did<br />
not hold itself responsible, as the editor had no<br />
power to make financial arrangements.<br />
The plaintiff had no notice whatever of this,<br />
and brought the matter before the Society. The<br />
Society, on writing to the defendant paper,<br />
received the same response; and thereupon the<br />
plaintiff, with the support of the Society, com-<br />
menced action in the City of London Court.<br />
The defendants, on the case coming up for<br />
trial, did not appear, and judgment, as stated<br />
above, went by default.<br />
It would have been interesting to hear the<br />
defence of the defendants, as it is, without doubt,<br />
a recognised custom of all papers that the editor,<br />
as agent of the proprietor, is capable and respon-<br />
sible for the making of contracts that refer to the<br />
literary contents of the paper.<br />
The amount at stake was a small one, but the<br />
Society felt bound to carry it through, as a matter<br />
of principle was involved.<br />
m.<br />
A Copyright Case.<br />
It seems to me that the following facts should<br />
be made known, in the interest of all authors who<br />
are concerned in the question of copyright.<br />
On March 28 a poem from one of my books<br />
was printed in the Weekly Sun. No acknow-<br />
ledgment of its source was appended, and the<br />
name affixed was E. Nesbitt (the name, I believe,<br />
of another author). I wrote to the editor point-<br />
ing out these facts and asking for a cheque to the<br />
amount of my usual fee for the use of a poem. I<br />
received in reply a letter stating that it was an<br />
advantage to an author to have his poems " taken"<br />
by the TVceftly Sun, and that the editor " preferred<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 4 (#410) ##############################################<br />
<br />
4<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
to regard the advantage as mutual." To this I<br />
replied that the question of advantage need not<br />
be considered, as no acknowledgment of the<br />
source of the poem had been made, and the<br />
name was mis-spelled; and again I asked for<br />
a cheque. The reply from the Weekly Sun<br />
regretted Mr. Charles Watney's inability to en-<br />
dorse this suggestion.<br />
Then I wrote remarking that as yet I had<br />
claimed no damages, and named a day on which<br />
I should, unless I received a cheque, place<br />
the matter in the hands of my solicitor. By<br />
return of post came the cheque, together with<br />
the following interesting letter, in which Mr.<br />
Charles Watney plainly puts the alternatives—<br />
robbery or boycott. The boycott of the Weekly<br />
Sun is perhaps not important, but the prin-<br />
ciple is.<br />
The Weekly Sun, Temple House, Temple-avenue.<br />
London, E.C.<br />
April 19, 1897.<br />
Madam,—As I have no wish to protract this unpleasant-<br />
ness, I enclose the oheque for £2 2s. At the same time I<br />
take leave to reaffirm my view of the position, and, to avoid<br />
any recurrence of any incident of the kind, have (riven<br />
instructions that no future reference, either direct or indirect,<br />
shall be made to you or your works in the numerous publi-<br />
cations with whioh I am connected.—Tours truly, Chah.<br />
Watnhy.<br />
Comment is superfluous. E. Nesbit.<br />
Three Cables, Grove Park, Kent.<br />
LITERARY PROPERTY.<br />
L—Copyright (Amendment) Bill,<br />
[dbaft memoeandtjm.]<br />
THIS Bill is intended to amend the most<br />
serious defects in present law of copy-<br />
right. Its provisions do not materially<br />
differ from the provisions on the same points<br />
contained in the Bill introduced by Lord John<br />
Manners (on behalf of the then Government) in<br />
the House of Commons in 1879, and in the Bill<br />
introduced by Lord Monkswell in the House of<br />
Lords in 1891. Both those Bills were mainly<br />
founded on the Report of the Royal Commission<br />
on Copyright of 1878. Lord Monkswell's Bill<br />
passed a second reading in the House of Lords.<br />
The amendments are directed to the following<br />
points :—<br />
I. MAGAZINE COPYRIGHT.<br />
Since the passing of the Copyright Act, 1842,<br />
this kind of copyright property has probably<br />
increased a hundredfold in value and importance,<br />
both to authors and publishers, much literature<br />
of high merit being constantly published in the<br />
first instance in magazine form. The 18th section<br />
of the Act of 1842, which deals with the subject,<br />
is expressed in language so obscure as to be<br />
almost unintelligible, and defers the author's<br />
right of separate publication to the end of a<br />
period of twenty-eight years. It is proposed that<br />
that section should be repealed, and that the<br />
copyright should be vested in the author, subject<br />
to the following qualifications:<br />
(1) The proprietor of the magazine to have the<br />
sole right of publishing as part of the<br />
magazine.<br />
(2) The author not to publish separately until<br />
after the expiration of three years from<br />
publication.<br />
It is further proposed, as recommended by the<br />
Royal Commission (see report, paragraph 43),<br />
that the alterations should be retrospective. The<br />
entire copyright in encyclopaedias is vested in the<br />
publisher as before, but in a separate section.<br />
11.—newspapers.<br />
It has been thought advisable to make the Copy-<br />
right Acts and the present Bill expressly apply<br />
to newspapers. It was at one time (see Cox v.<br />
Land and Water Co., L. Rep. 2 Eq., 324) con-<br />
sidered that the Copyright Act, 1842, did not<br />
extend to newspapers, but later decisions (see<br />
Walter v. Howe, 17 Ch. Div. 608; Trade Aux-<br />
iliary Co.'s Case, 40 Ch. Div, 625) have overruled<br />
Cox v. Land and Water Co., and have placed the<br />
applicability of the Act to newspapers beyond the<br />
possibility of doubt.<br />
in. LECTURES.<br />
The Lectures Copyright Act, 1835, gives to the<br />
lecturer the exclusive right of publication, but<br />
requires a preliminary notice to justices of the<br />
peace, and probably does not apply to sermons.<br />
It is proposed to repeal this Act, and to give the<br />
lecturer (including the preacher) copyright with-<br />
out any useless formalities, but permitting a<br />
newspaper report unless expressly prohibited by<br />
the lecturer.<br />
IV. ABRIDGMENTS.<br />
It is now easy without any infringement of<br />
copyright in a few weeks, by skilful abridgment,<br />
to appropriate the fruit of the labours of many<br />
years, and to compete with the original copyright,<br />
bought and published at a very great expense.<br />
This will be prevented by the simple enactment<br />
that copyright shall carry with it the right to<br />
abridge. The reputation of the author is also<br />
safeguarded by a provision that a disclaimer of<br />
his authorship of the abridgment shall, if<br />
required by the author, be printed on the title-<br />
page; and that the abridgment shall not be<br />
issued without the author's consent in cases where<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 5 (#411) ##############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
5<br />
the author retains an interest in the sale (by<br />
royalties or otherwise) though not in the copy-<br />
right.<br />
V.—DRAMATISATION OF NOVELS.<br />
As there is no copyright in ideas, it is easy for<br />
any person to take the whole plot of a novel and<br />
practically reproduce the novel itself in dramatic<br />
form without any legal infringement of copyright,<br />
and a similar injury can be inflicted by the<br />
novelisation of dramas. It is proposed to convert<br />
these moral into legal infringements of copyright.<br />
Owners of dramatic copyright are also given a<br />
summary remedy against infringement which is<br />
much needed, as pirates are often difficult to<br />
detect, or are not worth the expense of an action<br />
in the High Court when detected; and the<br />
remedy is to be available against those who "per-<br />
mit " as well as those who "cause" the repre-<br />
sentation.<br />
VI. ASCERTAINMENT OF THE DATE OF<br />
PUBLICATION.<br />
The present term of copyright is for the life of<br />
the author, and seven years after his death, or<br />
forty-two years after first publication, whichever<br />
may be the longer period. To ascertain the date<br />
of first publication is always difficult and fre-<br />
quently impossible. It is proposed, therefore,<br />
that the British Museum authorities should com-<br />
bine with the publisher of every book in so certi-<br />
fying the date of "first publication" that no<br />
doubt" should be possible, and that a certified<br />
copy of the entry of the date of publication<br />
should be primdfacie evidence of that date in all<br />
courts. The British Museum, by the 6th section<br />
of the Act of 1842, is entitled to a free copy of<br />
every book published. The supply of these free<br />
copies has long been felt to be a considerable<br />
burden on the producers of large and expensive<br />
works, and it is submitted that the British<br />
Museum may fairly be asked to perform the<br />
small but useful service of certifying the date of a<br />
first publication.<br />
COPYBIGHT AMENDMENT BILL.<br />
Arrangement of Clauses.<br />
Definitions.<br />
1. Definitions of "book " and " copyright."<br />
Copyright in Periodical Works.<br />
2. Copyright in articles in periodical works.<br />
3. Registration of articles by anthor.<br />
4. Retrospective operation of clauses 2 and 3.<br />
5. Registration by owner of periodical work.<br />
6. Copyright in articles in encyclopedias.<br />
Copyright in Lectures.<br />
7. Copyright in lectures as in book.<br />
Abridgements.<br />
8. Abridgements without consent of copyright owner to<br />
be infringement of copyright.<br />
Dramatisation and Novelisation.<br />
9. Dramatisation of novels to be infringement of<br />
copyright.<br />
10. Conversion or adaptations of dramas to be infringe-<br />
ment of copyright.<br />
Summary Remedy for Infringement of Right of Repre-<br />
sentation of Drama.<br />
11. Liability to fine of person representing drama without<br />
consent of owner of performing right.<br />
Date of Publication of Book.<br />
12. Date of publication of book to be furnished to and<br />
certified by British Mnsenm.<br />
Repeal. Suspension in Colonies. Short Title. Com-<br />
mencement.<br />
13. Repeal of Lectures Copyright Act, and sects. 18<br />
and 19 of Copyright Act, 1842.<br />
14. Power to suspend Aot, or any part thereof, in British<br />
possessions.<br />
15. Short title.<br />
16. Commencement of Aot.<br />
Schedules:<br />
1. Enactments repealed.<br />
2. Form of entry of periodical work.<br />
A Bill to Amend the Law relating to Copyright<br />
in Periodical Works, Lectures, Abridgments,<br />
and otherwise.<br />
Whereas it is desirable to amend the Law of<br />
Copyright in relation to Periodical Works, Lec-<br />
tures, Abridgments, and otherwise.<br />
Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's Most<br />
Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and<br />
consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and<br />
Commons, in this present Parliament assembled,<br />
and by the Authority of the same, as follows:—<br />
DEFINITIONS.<br />
1. In this Act and in the Copyright Acts<br />
(i) "Book" shall include " newspaper."<br />
(ii) "Copyright" in the case of books shall<br />
include the exclusive right of translating,<br />
abridging, and (as regards works of<br />
fictiou in prose or in verse) of drama-<br />
tising the same,<br />
(iii.) "Copyright" in the case of dramatic<br />
works shall include the exclusive right of<br />
converting or adapting the same into any<br />
other •form of work whether dramatic or<br />
otherwise.<br />
COPYRIGHT IN PERIODICAL WORKS.<br />
2. Where any article, essay, poem, or other<br />
work is first published in and forms part of a<br />
review, magazine, or other periodical, the copy-<br />
right in such article, e<say, poem, or other work<br />
shall, in the absence of any agreement in writing<br />
to the contrary, be the property of the author<br />
thereof. Provided that where the author is paid<br />
for the writing of such work as aforesaid by or on<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 6 (#412) ##############################################<br />
<br />
6<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
behalf of the owner of the review, magazine, or<br />
other periodical, then :—<br />
(i.) The owner of the review, magazine, or<br />
periodical shall, during the subsistence of<br />
copyright in such article, essay, poem, or<br />
other work, have the sole right of publish-<br />
ing the same as part of the review, maga-<br />
zine, or periodical, but not otherwise,<br />
(ii.) Neither the author nor his assigns shall<br />
print or publish such article, essay, poem,<br />
or other work in any form until after the<br />
expiration of three years from its first<br />
publication in the review, magazine, or<br />
periodical, and any printing or publica-<br />
tion contrary to this provision shall be an<br />
infringement of the rights of the owner<br />
of the review, magazine, or periodical.<br />
3. The author of any such article, essay, poem,<br />
or other work as aforesaid, or his assigns, may,<br />
either before or after the expiration of the said<br />
term of three years, register the same at Stationers'<br />
Hall as a separate work, and shall thereupon be<br />
entitled to restrain and obtain damages for any<br />
infringement of the copyright therein as a sepa-<br />
rate work.<br />
4. The provisions of sections 2 and 3 shall<br />
apply to articles, essays, poems, and other works<br />
first published in a review, magazine, or other<br />
periodical, whether such publication took place<br />
before or after the commencement of this Act,<br />
and in the case of articles, essays, poems, or other<br />
works first published before the commencement<br />
of this Act, the copyright and other rights therein<br />
shall as from the commencement of this Act be<br />
held and enjoyed in accordance with the pro-<br />
visions of those sections.<br />
5. (i.) The owner of a review, magazine, or<br />
other periodical may register the same<br />
at Stationers' Hall, and shall thereupon<br />
be entitled to restrain and obtain damages<br />
for any infringement of his rights in the<br />
same or any part thereof<br />
(ii.) Registration of a review, magazine, or<br />
other periodical shall be in the form set<br />
forth in the second schedule hereto, or<br />
as near thereto as circumstances will<br />
permit.<br />
(iii.) It shall be necessary to register only the<br />
first number, volume, or part of a review,<br />
magazine, or other periodical published<br />
in numbers, volumes, or parts.<br />
^ 6. Where any article, essay, poem, or other<br />
work is first published in and forms part of an<br />
encyclopaedia, or similar collective work, and the<br />
author is paid for the writing thereof by or on<br />
behalf of the owner of the encyclopaedia, the<br />
copyright in such article, essay, poem, or other<br />
work shall, in the absence of any agreement in<br />
writing to the contrary, belong to the owner of the<br />
encyclopaedia.<br />
COPYRIGHT IN LECTURES.<br />
7. The author of any lecture shall be entitled<br />
to copyright therein as if the same were a book,<br />
subject to the following modifications and<br />
additions :—<br />
(i.) The first delivery of a lecture shall be<br />
deemed to be the first publication there-<br />
of.<br />
(ii.) So long as a lecture has not been pub-<br />
lished as a book by or with the consent<br />
of the author, the copyright therein shall<br />
include the exclusive right of delivering<br />
the same in public.<br />
(iii.) It shall not be necessary to register the<br />
copyright in a lecture which has not been<br />
published as a book by or with the con-<br />
sent of the author.<br />
(iv.) A report of a lecture delivered in public<br />
in the ordinary current edition of a news-<br />
paper, after the delivery of such lecture,<br />
shall not be deemed an infringement of<br />
the copyright unless the author, before<br />
delivering the same, gives public notice<br />
that he prohibits the same being reported,<br />
but no such report shall be deemed to be<br />
a publication of the lecture within the<br />
meaning of sub-sect. ii.<br />
(v.) The notice referred to in the last preced-<br />
ing clause may be given either by affixing<br />
the same to the door of the place where<br />
the lecture is delivered, or by advertise-<br />
ment in one or more newspapers published<br />
and circulating in the district.<br />
(vi.) The term "Lecture" shall include apiece<br />
for recitation, address, or sermon.<br />
ABRIDGMENTS.<br />
8. (i.) It shall be an infringement of the copy-<br />
right in a book if any person shall with-<br />
out the consent of the owner of the copy-<br />
right print or otherwise multiply or cause<br />
to be printed or otherwise multiplied any<br />
abridgment of such book, or shall export<br />
or import any abridgment so unlawfully<br />
printed, or shall sell, publish, or expose<br />
for sale or hire, or cause to be sold,<br />
published, or exposed for sale or hire,<br />
any abridgment, knowing or having<br />
reasonable grounds to suspect that the<br />
same has been so unlawfully printed or<br />
imported.<br />
(ii.) Where the author of a book has sold<br />
the copyright thereof in consideration<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 7 (#413) ##############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
7<br />
(whether wholly or in part) of a royalty,<br />
or a share of the profits to be derived<br />
froin the publication thereof, or is other-<br />
wise notwithstanding such sale possessed<br />
of a pecuniary interest therein, such book<br />
shall not, during the continuance of the<br />
copyright therein and so long as the<br />
author shall be entitled to such royalty,<br />
share of profits, or shall be so interested<br />
as aforesaid, be abridged by the purchaser<br />
of such copyright without the consent in<br />
writing of the author or his assigns.<br />
(iii.) If the owner of the copyright in a book<br />
to the abridgment whereof the consent of<br />
the author is not required under the pre-<br />
ceding proviso, intends to publish an<br />
abridgment thereof made by some person<br />
other than the author of the original<br />
book, he shall give notice of such inten-<br />
tion to the author, if living, by registered<br />
letter directed to his best known address,<br />
and shall, if so required by such author,<br />
either state or cause to be stated on the<br />
title-page of each part or volume of the<br />
abridgment that the abridgment is not<br />
by the author of the original book, or<br />
shall in like manner state or cause to be<br />
stated the name of the maker of the<br />
abridgment.<br />
(iv.) The author of a book shall be entitled to<br />
restrain and obtain damages for any<br />
abridgment published in contravention of<br />
the above provisions of this section.<br />
DRAMATISATION.<br />
9. In the case of a book which is a work of<br />
fiction in prose or in verse, it shall be an infringe-<br />
ment of the copyright therein if any person shall<br />
without the consent of the owner of the copyright<br />
take or colourably imitate the title of such book, or<br />
take from such book any material or substantial<br />
part of the dialogue, plot, or incidents thereof and<br />
use or convert it into or adapt it for a dramatic<br />
work, or knowing or having reasonable grounds<br />
to suspect such dramatic work to have been so<br />
made, shall publicly perform the same or permit<br />
or cause the same to be publicly performed.<br />
10. In the case of a dramatic work it shall be<br />
an infringement of the copyright therein if any<br />
person shall without the consent of the owner of<br />
the copyright take or colourably imitate the title<br />
of such book, or take from such book the dialogue,<br />
plot, or incidents thereof, and convert or adapt<br />
them into any other form of work whether dramatic<br />
or otherwise, or knowing or having reasonable<br />
grounds to suspect any work to have been so<br />
made shall print or otherwise multiply, or cause<br />
to be printed or otherwise multiplied copies<br />
VOL. VIII.<br />
thereof for sale or exportation, or shall export or<br />
import, or sell, publish, or expose for sale or hire,<br />
or cause to be sold, published, or exposed for sale<br />
or hire, any copies thereof, or shall publicly per-<br />
form such work or permit or cause the same to be<br />
publicly performed.<br />
SUMMARY REMEDY FOR INFRINGEMENT OF<br />
DRAMATIC COPYRIGHT.<br />
11. If any person shall represent or cause or<br />
permit any dramatic work to be represented at<br />
any place of dramatic entertainment without the<br />
consent in writing of the owner of the performing<br />
right in such work, it shall be lawful for the<br />
owner of the performing right (without preju-<br />
dice to any action for damages or other remedy<br />
he may be entitled to) to apply in a summary<br />
manner to a court of summary jurisdiction in<br />
that part of the British Dominions where such<br />
representation has taken place or where the<br />
offender dwells, and such court shall, on produc-<br />
tion of the certificate of registration, order the<br />
offender to pay a penalty not exceeding twenty<br />
pounds and costs, and such penalty shall go to<br />
the owner of the performing right by way of<br />
compensation. Provided that not more than one<br />
penalty shall be recovered in respect of each<br />
representation.<br />
DATE OF PUBLICATION.<br />
12. (i.) Upon the delivery of a book at the British<br />
Museum, the publisher shall therewith<br />
deliver a certificate setting forth the name<br />
of the book and the date of the first<br />
publication thereof, and such certificate<br />
shall be registered in a book to be kept<br />
by an officer provided for that purpose<br />
by the trustees of the said Museum.<br />
(ii.) Such officer shall upon payment to him of<br />
the prescribed fee not exceeding 2*. 6d.<br />
give a certified copy of any entry in such<br />
book to any person requiring the same.<br />
(iii.) Such certified copy shall be prima facie<br />
evidence in all courts of the date of the<br />
first publication of the work therein<br />
referred to.<br />
(iv.) The delivery of a book at the British<br />
Museum without such certificate as afore-<br />
said shall not be deemed a compliance<br />
with the provisions of the Copyright Act,<br />
1842, and the publisher shall be liable to<br />
the penaltv provided by section 10 of such<br />
Act.<br />
REPEAL.<br />
13. The Acts or parts of Acts specified in the<br />
first schedule hereto are hereby repealed as from<br />
the passing of this Act, but except as hereinbefore<br />
expressly provided such repeal shall not prejudice<br />
or affect any rights acquired previously to such<br />
c<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 8 (#414) ##############################################<br />
<br />
8<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
repeal, and such rights may be enforced and<br />
enjoyed as if such repeal had not been made.<br />
14. (i.) If it shall at any time appear to Her<br />
Majesty to be expedient that this Act, or<br />
any part thereof, should not apply to<br />
any British possession, it shall be lawful<br />
for Her Majesty by Order in Council to<br />
declare that this Act, or any part or parts<br />
thereof specified in such Order, shall be<br />
suspended so far as regards such British<br />
possession, either generally or during<br />
such period as may be thought expedient.<br />
(ii.) Any such Order in Council may from time<br />
to time be revoked or altered by any<br />
further Order in Council.<br />
(iii.) Every such Order in Council shall, as<br />
soon as may be after the making thereof,<br />
be published in the London Gazette, and<br />
shall take effect as from the date of such<br />
publication.<br />
(iv.) A copy of every such Order in Council<br />
shall be laid before both Houses of Parlia-<br />
ment within six weeks after the issuing<br />
thereof if Parliament is then sitting, and<br />
if not, then within six weeks after the<br />
commencement of the next session of<br />
Parliament.<br />
(v.) No such Order in Council shall affect<br />
prejudicially any right acquired at the<br />
date of its coming into operation.<br />
15. This Act may be cited as the Copyright<br />
(Amendment) Act 1896 ; and shall be read and<br />
construed with the Copyright Acts.<br />
16. This Act shall come into operation at the<br />
expiration of one calendar month after receiving<br />
the Royal assent.<br />
FIEST SCHEDULE.<br />
ACTS REPEALED.<br />
Sessions and Chapter<br />
Short T.tle<br />
Extent of Repeal.<br />
5 & 6 Will. IT. 0.65<br />
5 & 6 Vict. c. 45.<br />
Lectures Copyright<br />
The whole Act.<br />
Sections 18 & 19.<br />
Act 1835.<br />
Copyright Aot 1842.<br />
SECOND SCHEDULE.<br />
FORM OF ENTRY OF A PERIODICAL WORK.<br />
Date of Publi-<br />
cation cf nrst<br />
vol., part, or<br />
number.<br />
Title of Work<br />
Name and address<br />
of owner.<br />
Name and address<br />
of Publisher.<br />
II.—Denmark and the Union.<br />
We learn with regret from Le Droit d'Auteur<br />
that the hopes recently entertained that the<br />
kingdom of Denmark would shortly enter the<br />
Berne Union are not likely to be immediately<br />
fulfilled. A considerable number of difficulties<br />
have arisen, in consequence of opposition to any<br />
protection of the foreign author, on the part of<br />
the same persons who raised difficulties in<br />
Sweden—proprietors of newspapers, editors, and<br />
theatrical managers. Their principal arguments<br />
are the same as usual, with the ordinary varia-<br />
tions upon the increased price that translations of<br />
foreign works would command. The Danish<br />
Press, and especially the Dannebora, has made a<br />
vigorous attack upon international literary agree-<br />
ments, insisting particularly upon the injury to<br />
public education and the general culture of the<br />
people that would result from Denmark's enter-<br />
ing the Berne Union. The result has been an<br />
unfavourable vote in the Danish Parliament. At<br />
the same time the supporters of international<br />
copyright do not despair of final success.<br />
III.—The Pabis Conference.<br />
France and Switzerland have now followed the<br />
German Empire in ratifying the Acts of the<br />
Paris Conference of 1896, reforming certain<br />
articles of the Berne Convention.<br />
IV.—Literary Property in Russia.<br />
The committee of the French Socicte des Gens<br />
de Lettres has for some years past been diligently<br />
engaged in making efforts to bring about some<br />
literary convention between France and Russia.<br />
At a meeting of Dec. 21, 1896, it resolved to<br />
accredit Mme. de Wasilief with a letter to the<br />
Russian Government, authorising her to resume<br />
previous negotiations undertaken with this aim.<br />
It has also been decided that the President of the<br />
Society (M. Henri Houssaye) should write to the<br />
Minister of Public Instruction to call his attention<br />
to the interests of literary property in Russia,<br />
and to ask him to consider whether it might be<br />
now opportune to commence negotiations on this<br />
subject in combination with the Minister of<br />
Foreign Affairs. It is worth ' while to remark<br />
that, apart from the particularly friendly feeling<br />
which has of late existed between France and the<br />
Russian Empire, France has been for some time<br />
past much more forward than the other western<br />
nations to pay due attention to the ever-increasing<br />
importance of Russian literature.<br />
V.—Tauchnitz Editions.<br />
It will be good news to authors whose works<br />
are published in cheap form by the firm of<br />
Tauchnitz to know that the Cusioms House<br />
authorities have at last awakened to a sense of<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 9 (#415) ##############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
9<br />
duty. For many years copies of Tauchnitz<br />
•editions have been introduced wholesale into<br />
England, but 'within the last few weeks a special<br />
order has been issued to all Customs officers at<br />
Dover, Folkestone, Queenborough, and Harwich,<br />
to search carefully for any concealed books, with<br />
the result that hundreds of copies are daily confis-<br />
cated. A correspondent informs us that while<br />
crossing from Calais to Dover one morning last<br />
week he witnessed a whole portmanteau full of<br />
new Tauchnitz editions seized by the Customs<br />
officers, and five minutes later a lady was dis-<br />
covered with no fewer than eighteen of the neat<br />
little volumes carefully packed at the bottom of<br />
tier trunks. In fact, our correspondent says that<br />
in almost every person's baggage there seemed<br />
-one or two of the books.—Literary World.<br />
NEW YORK LETTER.<br />
New York, May 13.<br />
MBETTNETIERE'S five lectures in New<br />
York aroused more interest among<br />
* literary people than any event which<br />
has happened within my recollection. Not only<br />
did he draw very large audiences, which nhowei<br />
the wisdom of Columbia College in chousing a<br />
public hall instead of one of the University<br />
buildings for the lectures, but what he said was<br />
the text for a great deal of private conversation<br />
about many points connected with literary<br />
criticism, and with differences in culture between<br />
Paris and New York. In one of his lectures he<br />
hinted at some of the faults of criticism in this<br />
country, particularly its lack of disinterestedness<br />
and courage. In a democracy, he thinks, there<br />
is an especial need of the highest and fairest<br />
criticism to act as a tendency against the con-<br />
fusion in ideals which grows out of the increasing<br />
number and variety of readers and the greater<br />
literary output. There is an especial danger of<br />
levelling all reputations by constant mutual<br />
praise and laudation of local writers. No sugges-<br />
tion could be more deserved. Our literary men<br />
not only rejoice in praising each other, but some<br />
of them have expressed to me the opin'on,<br />
mingled with some reproach, that to speak of a<br />
living writer, especially of a living American<br />
writer, unless what you wish to say is distinctly<br />
laudatory, is at least a breach of taste. Perhaps<br />
our desire for a national literature is responsible<br />
in part for this position, but it is hard to believe<br />
that lower motives are not part of the cause.<br />
M. Brunetiere met a popular demand by speaking<br />
freely about Zola, condemning himwith the greatest<br />
earnestness and without the least reserve for his<br />
VOL. VIII<br />
falsity to French life and his lack of the per-<br />
manent elevated qualities of style. Asked in<br />
conversation the old question about Zola's admis-<br />
sion to the Academy, M. Brunetiere answered with<br />
a laugh, " It is possible; but it will not be my<br />
fault." The story, which I believe is told in the<br />
"G-oncourt Journals," was told in answer to this<br />
remark by the man to whom Daudet related it;<br />
that Zola came to him one day and said: "This is<br />
my fiftieth birthday, and after this I intend to<br />
live. You understand, I intend to live. You<br />
others have always lived, but I have spent my<br />
life in grinding. It is my turn now." And<br />
Daudet added: "That is the man who has been<br />
telling us for so long what life is." Sarcey M.<br />
Brunetiere dismissed in a sentence, as a man who<br />
never yielded an inch to the opinion of his fellow<br />
critics, but who reversed any belief if he fflt<br />
the notions of the crowd about to shift. The<br />
most interesting of his other judgments are in<br />
the main those that will be found in his books,<br />
although his high praise of Maupassant was a sur-<br />
prise. In social intercourse M. Brunetiere noticed<br />
that conversation was less sustained than in France.<br />
If a new person joins a small group, the subject,<br />
whatever it may be, is usually dropped, and, even<br />
if there is no interruption, after one topic has<br />
been talked about for a little while it seems to die<br />
of inertia, and there is silence until another is<br />
brought up. He noticed also less charity towards<br />
other opinions, more of a desire to discuss<br />
whether another opinion is true or false than to<br />
allow each person to do the best he can in bring-<br />
ing out the interest of his own point of view,<br />
for which a generous appreciation of the points of<br />
view of others is necessary.<br />
Frank Munsey is about to follow the lead of<br />
the owner of another 10 cent magazine (S. S.<br />
McClure) in founding a publishing house. It is<br />
announced that in the fall Mr. Munsey will<br />
begin the publication of books of the quality<br />
usually sold for 1 dollar, which he will sell for<br />
25 cents, and that his first book will have a first<br />
edition of 250,000 copies. Extravagant as the<br />
assertion sounds, it borrows some plausibility<br />
from the success which Mr. Munsey has already<br />
had as the innovator and the most successful<br />
practitioner in the field of cheap magazines. The<br />
recent death of William Taylor Adams, whose<br />
pen name was Oliver Optic, led the Chap Booh<br />
into some moralising founded on the popularity<br />
of this writer, who received no attention from the<br />
critics, but perhaps is the most widely read of<br />
American authors, certainly the most popular<br />
writer of boys' books. From the age of thirty-<br />
four to that of seventy, he wrote about 130<br />
volumes and more than 1000 short stories, and<br />
more than two million copies of his books have<br />
c 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 10 (#416) #############################################<br />
<br />
IO<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
been sold. The Chap Book gives a flippant and<br />
not very adequate explanation that he had the good<br />
fortune to be ignored by the critics, and<br />
it backs up this explanation with quota-<br />
tions from an Advertisers' Directory, show-<br />
ing that some magazines of which nobody<br />
has ever heard have larger circulations than<br />
any of the more prominent periodicals. For in-<br />
stance, Comfort, published in Augusta, was rated<br />
at 1,252,325; the Hearthstone, of New York, at<br />
6oo,coo; the Delineator, at 500,000; and so on.<br />
One answer to this is, that these directories must<br />
found their estimates on the statements of the<br />
publishers, which are mostly unreliable; and<br />
another answer is, that circulations of such maga-<br />
zines are largely made up of copies to give away or<br />
throw away. The Ladies' Home Journal un-<br />
doubtedly leads all of our magazines. It is rated in<br />
Lord and Taylor's "Advertisers' Directory " atover<br />
700,000, and it probably has at least half a million<br />
genuine purchasers. McClure's and the Cosmo-<br />
politan are given 300,000 each, and Munsey's<br />
500,000, which is too much. Harper's Monthly<br />
is given 175,000, and it probably is gradually<br />
actually approaching 150,000. The Century<br />
is supposed to be now about even with it, with<br />
Scribner's a little behind. Mr. John Corbin,<br />
one of the editors of Harper's Monthly, was dis-<br />
cussing the other day the demands of our three<br />
leading illustrated magazines. Harper's Monthly<br />
wants articles which they call " vital "—that is,<br />
which connect themselves with the practical inte-<br />
rests of a large number of people; and literary form<br />
is frankly very secondary. In carrying out this<br />
principle, it touches partly on the field of the<br />
English reviews in welcoming summary treatment<br />
of political, economical, and social questions; but<br />
within this field it will take nothing which<br />
appeals mainly to the literary man and the<br />
scholar. Scribner's Magazine, Mr. Corbin<br />
said, was lighter, caring more for literary<br />
form; the Century had no settled policy what-<br />
ever, but had made its great hit on the sensa-<br />
tion of its war articles, and was now losing it<br />
and looking about for another sensation. The<br />
editors of Harper's, on the other hand, never<br />
allow the magazine to be thrown on to one of<br />
these sudden and short waves of interest, for fear<br />
that when that subsided it would be necessary to<br />
find another sensation to save it. They believe<br />
that a greater permanent circulation will be<br />
built up by keeping almost exclusively to interests<br />
which are at once general and somewhat perma-<br />
nent, although slight variations with the current<br />
of feeling in various parts of the country are<br />
allowed. This magazine especially, with others<br />
to some extent, is becoming more and more<br />
like monthly newspapers of the better class, both<br />
in the subjects of their articles and the mode of<br />
treatment, at the same time that the dailies,<br />
especially in the Saturday and Sunday editions,<br />
become more and more like magazines, both in<br />
their general articles and in certain special literary<br />
features, such as the space now given to serials.<br />
It is impossible in a cursory letter to do justice<br />
to the most important book of the past month.<br />
In the " Literary History of the American Revo-<br />
lution," just published by G. P. Putnam's Sons,<br />
readers on both sides of the water will find much<br />
about one of the two most interesting periods of<br />
our history, which has not been accessible before.<br />
The Revolutionary period differed from that of the<br />
Civil "War, among other things, in having a more<br />
full and varied literary expression, and Professor<br />
Tyler has given us generous extracts from it,<br />
together with a clear narrative to connect them.<br />
I have already said that we have no such<br />
interesting single group of writers as the Fede-<br />
ralists, and those that immediately preceded<br />
them had much of their vigour and genuine-<br />
ness. In this first volume of Professor<br />
Tyler's History, which covers a period from<br />
1763 to 1776, James Otis, John Adams,<br />
Philip Freneau, John Trumbull, John Dickinson,<br />
Josiah Quincy, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin<br />
Franklin, James Paine, and Thomas Jefferson<br />
are a minority of the interesting personalities<br />
to which life is given in this volume. That time<br />
was very much alive, and none of the other<br />
histories that have covered it have given it a kind<br />
of treatment which will satisfy a literary interest<br />
as well as this. Of course, it is incomplete, for<br />
the thoughts and feelings which found their<br />
expression in the writings covered by this book-<br />
were concentrated in a few dramatic external<br />
events, which are here kept in the background, so<br />
that the reader to whom the book will be most<br />
satisfactory is the one who already knows the<br />
political history of the time. English readers<br />
will doubtless be pleased to see that the Tories<br />
are treated with fairness as the most respectable<br />
Conservatives of the times, including the majority<br />
of clergymen, physicians, lawyers, and teachers.<br />
Two or three literary men have, in my hearing,<br />
expressed a desire to make a novel out of the Salva-<br />
tion Army, which offers exceptional temptations in<br />
the picturesque. Mary A. Denison has just pub-<br />
lished a love story called "Captain Mollie," with<br />
Lee and Shepard of Boston, but it totally fails to<br />
take advantage of the Salvation Army motif, being<br />
utterly colourless<br />
The copyright provision punishing the piracy of<br />
plays has just had its first test in a suit brought by<br />
Klaw and Erlanger against Louis Robie, who is<br />
charged with stealing songs from "In Gay<br />
New York " and using them in a variety enter-<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 11 (#417) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
tainment called " The Bohemians." There was an<br />
indictment, and about a week ago the defendant<br />
was held in the United States Court for trial.<br />
This is regarded as a test case.<br />
Norman Hapgood.<br />
NOTES FROM A DUCHY.<br />
NOBODY in St. Ives could give me any<br />
information about Mr. Pearce, the Cor-<br />
nish novelist about whom Sir George<br />
Douglas wrote last month. The fact is we are<br />
not great readers down here. "Nobody buys<br />
books here," said the bookstall man. Halfpenny<br />
papers go well. I suppose, absorbed as we are<br />
with the wonderful beauties of Nature, we have<br />
no time or no wish to think. Hence the demand<br />
for halfpenny papers. One can read them with-<br />
out any mental fatigue whatever. Rudyard<br />
Kipling once said that he bought Answers every<br />
week " because there are times when a man<br />
doesn't want to think."<br />
Kipling, by the way, was asked his opinion on<br />
Torquay before he left, and he said that with 30<br />
per cent, less moisture it would be the prettiest<br />
place outside Paradise, a characteristic remark<br />
of which the Torquay people are taking advan-<br />
tage for publicity purposes. I heard that Mr.<br />
Kipling used to visit the railway bookstall every<br />
day and " have a look round." The railway book-<br />
stall has its fascination to most of us.<br />
In Camborne, to revert to Mr. Pearce, I heard<br />
his work enthusiastically talked about, with<br />
special reference to the Esther novel. I was told<br />
that Mr. Pearce was a Newlyn man, who lived in<br />
London, where he was engaged in clerical work;<br />
that he was about thirty-five years old, and that<br />
he wrote, not professionally, but pour passer le<br />
temps.<br />
Madame Alphonse Daudet's book, "Notes sur<br />
Londres," has been translated into English by<br />
Marie Belloc, and will be published in London<br />
this season.<br />
I was over at Fowey a few weeks ago. It is<br />
without exception the most beautiful and most<br />
interesting seaport I have seen anywhere. I envy<br />
"Q.," but after his fine descriptions of his home I<br />
shall not attempt to descrilje it. I was fortunate<br />
enough to see " Q." also with his little boy, who, if<br />
children's faces reveal anything of the future, will<br />
be an artist of the pen or pencil. What a happy<br />
life " Q.'8" must be. From what the papers are<br />
saying down here everybody is very glad that it is<br />
he who is to finish " St. Ives."<br />
In my perambulations about the district I came,<br />
the other day, across an inn at St. Hilary, called<br />
"The Jolly Tinners," which has the following<br />
sign:<br />
Come all true Coinish boys walk in,<br />
Here's brandy, beer, rum, Bhrnb, and gin;<br />
Yon can't do less than drink Buocess,<br />
To copper, fish, and tin.<br />
Fish, perhaps, but not all the votive beer in the<br />
world, I am afraid, will bring back success to<br />
copper or tin. Slave labour in the Straits Settle-<br />
ments has killed the tin mining industry in<br />
Cornwall. "Jolly Tinners," indeed! Why, the<br />
other day, in Camborne, a jolly-faced woman told<br />
me that all the earnings of a life of hard work<br />
had been invested in tin mines, and that the only<br />
dividend she drew was "trouble and tears for<br />
dinner, and tears and sorrow for tea "; and she<br />
wiped her eyes on her apron as she spoke. All<br />
the profits of her business went in meeting the<br />
calls on her worthless shares.<br />
I have received from Annemasse, in La Haute-<br />
Savoie, a copy of a journal called L'Avant Garde,<br />
which describes a new language—"the universal<br />
and instantaneous language, an invention for pro-<br />
nouncing, reading, and writing all languages in<br />
the world at first sight, with their pure accent ";<br />
and gives, or, rather, says that it gives, " imme-<br />
diate and irrefutable proofs" of this in French,<br />
English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese,<br />
Russian, Servian, &c.<br />
It seems that all that is wanted to enable<br />
everybody to read, write, and pronouce any lan-<br />
guage in the world—though not to understand it<br />
nor speak it—is the universal adoption of the<br />
new " Universal Phonographic Alphabet," which<br />
consists of forty-two letters. These are the ordi-<br />
nary letters of the alphabet, the additional letters<br />
being made up by the help of accents and italici-<br />
sation, whilst one or two letters turned upside<br />
down represent other sounds than when standing<br />
on their feet. This alphabet is supposed to re-<br />
present all the sounds which the human voice<br />
uses in articulation. People who have found<br />
Volapuk and other universal languages wanting,<br />
might study this new system, which is evidently<br />
being worked with some energy by the " body of<br />
professors." Particulars can be obtained at the<br />
office of the journal.<br />
Several people have written to mo about my<br />
story of the two unfilial daughters and their<br />
father at the inn at Verton, and in answer to the<br />
general inquiry I want to say that it is quite true<br />
in every detail. The point about these women<br />
which interested and pleased me most was their<br />
absolute ignorance of and indifference to all<br />
matters outside their narrow sphere. It must be<br />
an ideal existence. Animal spirits arise from the<br />
animal state, and, as far as I know, animals never<br />
"worrit" themselves about anything or anybody<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 12 (#418) #############################################<br />
<br />
12<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
in whom or which they have no direct and imme-<br />
diate concern. My good Bretonnes had never<br />
heard even of M. Carnot. Very well; when we<br />
were passing through hours and days of grief at<br />
his cruel fate, they were quietly pickling their<br />
walnuts or salting butter for the winter, and<br />
rejoicing to think how nice they would be. And<br />
in this there was no selfishness. They narrowed<br />
their interests, and thus reduced the chances<br />
of having to Buffer for oihers. I sometimes<br />
fancy that hermits have no other object in view<br />
when they retire to mountain tops or lonely caves.<br />
What was curious about the Bretonnes was that<br />
they dwelt neither on mountain tops nor in<br />
lonely caves, but within three-quarters of an hour<br />
of one of the biggest ports in France.<br />
A novel personal experience in the literary<br />
world. A book of mine has recently been pub-<br />
lished. Some days after its publication the<br />
editors of various papers receive letters signed<br />
with my name, full of personal abuse of the gentle-<br />
men who act as their literary critics. The letters<br />
were never written by me, nor is the handwriting<br />
in any way like mine, though the signature is<br />
imitated. I heard of this friendly move from one<br />
of the critics. He had written a favourable notice<br />
of the book in question, and had sent it in. Said<br />
his editor to him, " If you knew what that man<br />
has been writing about you, I do not think you<br />
would want to do him a good turn." The critic<br />
wrote to ask me what I had been "up to." I<br />
answered that I had written no letters to editors,<br />
other than for money. He then procured the<br />
letter, and recognised that the writing was not<br />
mine, though the signature was a good imitation.<br />
I have since heard of other similar letters. Can<br />
this be anything else than an attempt to wreck<br />
my book at the outset, by provoking editors and<br />
critics very naturally and reasonably to put it<br />
under tabu? And what can one say of the cher<br />
confrere, the brother writer who can act like this?<br />
Robert H. Sheraed.<br />
THE FRIENDSJ^CHARLES LAMB.<br />
"Let me not lose my friends," he prayed, when pain<br />
And horror of great darkness veiled his way;<br />
And when an afterglow of peace held sway,<br />
"To all dear friends be thanks " was still his strain.<br />
Pathos touched sharpest in the wild refrain<br />
Of " old familiar faces " passed away:<br />
Laughter rose sweetest at the close of day<br />
When comrade voices eohoed his again.<br />
And Fate itself, grown kind, fulfilled desire—<br />
Even death consigned to no unfriendly grave<br />
This spirit, trained to noblest, gentlest ends:<br />
Still rose new hearts to listen, love, admire,<br />
And each new decade more than brethren gave<br />
To him who, dying, murmured " names of friends."<br />
"Murmuring in his last moments the names of<br />
his dearest friends, he passed tranquilly out of<br />
life."—Ainger's "Charles Lamb," (Men of Letters<br />
series), p. 165. M. C. V.<br />
NOTES AND NEWS.<br />
THE Bill printed in another column was<br />
originally started with a view of doing<br />
away with the 18th section of the Act<br />
of 1842, and gradually developed into its pre-<br />
sent form. The sub-committee of the Authors'<br />
Society have acted throughout with Parlia-<br />
mentary counsel (Mr. James Rolt of Lincoln's-<br />
inn), and have had also the assistance of their<br />
solicitors, Messrs. Field, Eoscoe, and Co. They<br />
have discussed the Bill fully with the sub-com-<br />
mittees of the Publishers' and Copyright Associa-<br />
tions. With some exceptions (especially clauses<br />
4 and 13) the Bill has received the approval of<br />
the Publishers' Association. There are, however,<br />
some points on which the Copyright Association<br />
are not absolutely in accord with the Society.<br />
These points will no doubt be discussed when the<br />
Bill is in Committee.<br />
In another column will be found a letter on the<br />
ruling passion in the mind of the youug writer.<br />
It is, of course, the desire to be published. He<br />
wants to be published. Sometimes he believes in<br />
himself; then there is hope for him. Sometimes<br />
he is diffident about his own work, yet has put<br />
into it all the strength, and knowledge and power<br />
that is in him; then there is hope for him.<br />
Sometimes he thinks that his production is as good<br />
as that of many people who do get published. In<br />
other words, he knows that he has written rubbish<br />
yet wants it published. Then there is no hope<br />
for him. Sometimes—and this is very frequently<br />
the case—he fondly imagines that all the books in<br />
the advertised lists are bringing to their authors<br />
large fortunes, and he writes in the expectation<br />
of making a large fortune for himself. Then<br />
there is no hope whatever for that writer. In<br />
any case, however, the one thing which he desires<br />
is publication. Now, since the best thing for the<br />
bad writer is to learn that he cannot hope to-<br />
Bucceed, and since the best thing for the good<br />
writer is to get a chance, the publisher who<br />
brings out the first work of a new writer confers<br />
so great a boon upon that candidate that we ought<br />
not to be too careful about the first agreement, if<br />
it only makes provision for success and for equi-<br />
table terms in new editions. Readers of this<br />
paper, who are for the most part members of the<br />
Society, would do well to impress upon young<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 13 (#419) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
'3<br />
writers: (i) that very, very few of the advertised<br />
books are successful in any sense of the word:<br />
(2) that it is generally the height of folly to<br />
suppose that what good publishers refuse bad<br />
publishers can cause to succeed, because for<br />
good or for bad publishers ulike there is but one<br />
public: (3) that it is therefore as a rule a certain<br />
waste of money to pay for production.<br />
Messrs. Archibald Constable and Co. write from 2, White-<br />
hall-gardens: "At the request of Mrs. F. A. Steel we wish<br />
to let the public know that she does not derive any benefit<br />
of any kind whatever from the publication of her book' In the<br />
Tideway,' beyond the lump sum we agreed to pay her for a<br />
seven years' lease from the date of publication. This lease<br />
is dated three years back, and as it contains no clause<br />
specifying either prioe or manner of appearance, we have<br />
not consulted her as to either."<br />
The above letter appeared in the Times. It<br />
explains itself. Mrs. Steel, in 1894, sold, on a<br />
lease for a limited term, a story of about 30,000<br />
words. She sold all rights, and the publishers<br />
were fully entitled to produce the book in any<br />
form, or at any price, they pleased. They have<br />
chosen to produce it at the price of 6s. The case<br />
is not, therefore, at all one of author v. publisher,<br />
but of bookseller and public v. publisher. It is<br />
not, either, a case of right and wrong. It is<br />
simply a case of what the public expect to get for<br />
a 6*. book, and what, in the interests of authors,<br />
as well as of themselves, publishers should<br />
offer as a 6*. book. It is, one would think,<br />
understood that such a book should give a certain<br />
amount of solid reading. But of late there have<br />
appeared several cases in which a short story of,<br />
say, 30,000 words or so, has been priced at 6s. A<br />
notable case was that of Olive Schreiner's<br />
"Trooper Halket." Of course, it may be argued<br />
that, in giving 6«. for so short a work, the buyer<br />
may be tempted by the name and the reputation<br />
of the author. Perhaps; but in very few<br />
instances. In most cases the course seems to be<br />
a mistake on the part of the publishers, and a<br />
mistake which canDot be otherwise than pre-<br />
judicial to the commercial value of a book. We<br />
cannot have a Literary Weights and Measures<br />
Act, but we can recognise the broad principle<br />
that 6s. or 4s. 6d. is a substantial sum to pay,<br />
and that most people cannot afford to pay so<br />
much for one short hour's reading. The ordinary<br />
6*. book generally contains from 70,000 to<br />
200,000 words, the average being about 100,000.<br />
The following letter makes an offer which may<br />
perhaps overwhelm the writer with an avalanche<br />
of acceptances and requests. The Secretary has<br />
his name, and will forward it to any member on<br />
application. The letter is written in the best<br />
spirit—one that we have long advocated—that of<br />
encouraging people of the literary profession to<br />
put away their foolish shyness and false shame<br />
and to communicate to each other through the<br />
Society their own experiences. If "An Occasional<br />
Contributor " would be so good as to follow up<br />
this letter by suggesting some practical plan for<br />
such interchange, he might do great good.<br />
"I have only just seen the February number of<br />
The Author, when I came across a letter by<br />
'Well-wisher' (Correspondence 4), asking if<br />
any of your town readers would look up articles<br />
in a reading-room. I should be happy to do this<br />
free of charge, as I have to go to a reading-room<br />
anyway for the purpose of looking up my own<br />
articles and stories. It strikes me, too, that it<br />
would be a good thing if occasional contributors,<br />
like myself and 'Well-wisher,' had more oppor-<br />
tunity of interchanging views with regard to the<br />
prices paid by various papers and the possibilities<br />
of acceptance. I have contributed to various<br />
monthly and other papers, and as 'Well-wisher'<br />
has evidently done likewise, I should be glad to<br />
relate and receive experiences.<br />
"An Occasional Conteibutob."<br />
A letter of which the following is an extract<br />
appeared in the Times of May 20:<br />
It has long been felt as a matter of regret by many men<br />
and women associated with Liverpool, that the city<br />
possesses no memorial of Felicia Hemans, a native of that<br />
city, who also resided there when many of her best<br />
writings were produced.<br />
On May 14 a preliminary meeting was held in Liverpool<br />
to consider the question of a local memorial to Felicia<br />
Hemans. It was Resolved " That the memorial Bhould take<br />
the form of a prize associated with the name of Felioia<br />
Hemans, to be awarded for the composition of a lyrioal<br />
poem." It is considered that from £2$o to £300 will be<br />
required, and towards this amount several subscriptions<br />
have been promised. Contributions will be received by<br />
Mr. A. Theodore Brown, 26, Exchange-street East, Liver-<br />
pool, or by Mr. W. H. Picton, College-avenue, Crosby, near<br />
Liverpool."<br />
This letter was signed by Mr. Mackenzie Bell<br />
and Mr. W. H. Picton.<br />
It is late in the day, but it could not be<br />
too late to create some memorial to Felicia<br />
Hemans. Her short life of forty years terminated<br />
sixty-two years ago, in the year 1835. This is a<br />
period long enough to prove what enduring powers<br />
lie in her work. At the present moment there is<br />
but one opinion: that she is one of the sweetest<br />
and simplest of English poets, that her poems<br />
are still widely read and known, and that her<br />
influence is wholly good. The memorial will<br />
take the form of a prize to be awarded for the<br />
composition of a lyrical poem. This object can<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 14 (#420) #############################################<br />
<br />
'4<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
be attained by the raising of a small sum of from<br />
^£250 to .£300. I wish the promoters would make<br />
it .£2000 so that the prize might be a substantial<br />
help to some young poet. Liverpool has reason<br />
to be proud of her sons, if we consider only the<br />
names of the committee.<br />
How many readers will recognise this "Por-<br />
trait," and will know who drew it?<br />
I am Sir Oracle; when my tongue wags,<br />
Ay! and my beard, let no man call his soul<br />
His own, or flount me with the filthy rags<br />
Of an opinion free from my control.<br />
Let Shelley chatterers style my gait a roll,<br />
And witless upstarts criticise my "bags";<br />
I am English-Saxon, rough as mountain crags,<br />
One grand, historic, rude, Belf-centred whole.<br />
Ancient is modern, modern ancient too,<br />
I have said so myriad times. Who doubts it?<br />
Fool!<br />
I want some nincompoop to state his view.<br />
I'd smash him flat as Fronde or Martin Rule.<br />
Yea, by my balidom! Certes! God wot!<br />
I am the Oxford Witenagemot.<br />
We have often advocated the prohibition of<br />
introducing Tauchnitz books into this country,<br />
hitherto without effect. At last, it appears, the<br />
Customs House officers have been ordered to do<br />
their duty. These books, which are pirate copies<br />
in this country, have been brought into the country<br />
every year by hundreds of thousands. The<br />
importation, which is usually conducted by<br />
travellers for their own private bookshelves, is a<br />
direct injury and loss to the author and owner of<br />
the property—how great a loss it is difficuly to com-<br />
pute. For certainly it does not follow that if<br />
a Tauchnitz copy is prohibited, a much dearer<br />
copy will be bought—that is not contended. But<br />
almost every copy of every readable book is lent<br />
by its owner, and it is fair to suppose that out of<br />
the twenty or thirty who read it one would prob-<br />
ably buy it. But all private book-shelves presently<br />
fall to the eecond-liand bookseller. There are<br />
many such shops where there are rows of Tauch-<br />
nitz books. The sale of Tauchnitz books must be<br />
prohibited as well as their importation. Indeed, I<br />
am astonished that booksellers have not imported<br />
them in quantities and sold them openly as new<br />
books and latest editions.<br />
I beg especial attention to the last paragraph<br />
of Mr. Sherard's letter. It describes an entirely<br />
new departure in venom and spite. He says that<br />
he has recently published a book, presumably his<br />
book on "White Slaves," which has been reviewed<br />
in many papers. Apart, it would seem, from any<br />
consideration of the review itself, whether it was<br />
favourable or the reverse, some infamous person<br />
has been sending to the editor of every paper a<br />
letter, signed with Mr. Sherard's name, abusing<br />
the critic of his book. One hopes that the perpe-<br />
trator of this spiteful forgery is not himself a man<br />
of letters. If so, the famous book on the " Quarrels<br />
of Authors" must be brought up to date. Mean-<br />
time an advertisement or two in the papers<br />
warning editors might produce a good effect.<br />
Walter Besant.<br />
THE RULING PASSION.<br />
IN the columns of The Author frequent mention<br />
is made of, and warning given on, the folly<br />
of paying for publication; and in almost<br />
every case, I venture to think, it would be well<br />
were the warning taken.<br />
I cannot agree with those who assert that it is<br />
"contemptible conceit" or egotism that makes a<br />
writer willing to sacrifice almost anything, some-<br />
times everything, in order to see his work in print.<br />
Bather let us take the broader, more generous view<br />
of sympathy with the worker.<br />
"In looking back," says Jeffrey—that stern<br />
critic—" I can hardly conceive anything in after<br />
life more to be envied than the recollection of<br />
that first outburst of intellect, when, freed from<br />
scholastic restraint, and throwing off the thraldom<br />
of a somewhat servile docility, the mind first<br />
aspired to reason and question nature for itself;<br />
and, half wondering at its own temerity, first<br />
ventured its unaided flight into the regions of<br />
adventure to revel uncontrolled through the<br />
bright and boundless realms of literature and<br />
science."<br />
And so it is with every worker who possesses<br />
true "grit."<br />
There are, of course, genuine writers and not<br />
genuine—as in everything there is genuine and<br />
spurious; and he who feels that he possesses<br />
the noble gift of inspiration, who has a profound<br />
love of literature, an earnest sincerity in his<br />
work, may surely be forgiven if, in that first burst<br />
of enthusiasm, he commit the folly of presenting<br />
to the cold, calculating eye of the critic, or the<br />
often unsympathetic gaze of the public, his<br />
innermost treasured thoughts.<br />
My own case. Since childhood the thought<br />
had possessed me: "I will write a book."<br />
I wrote that book. Through much tribulation<br />
and burning of the midnight oil did I write it,<br />
yet my days were days without leisure.<br />
My work was a loved and cherished secret.<br />
Each day as it grew I lived more and more in a<br />
land of dreams—an ideal world. My characters<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 15 (#421) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
'5<br />
became as living beings who awaited me in the<br />
quiet of my own room.<br />
Was not I lonely? asked my friends. Lonely?<br />
I laughed gaily. How could I feel loneliness<br />
while exchanging golden hopes with creatures of<br />
my own creation!<br />
At length the day arrived that saw the end of<br />
my labour.<br />
My " book," thought I, should go forth and<br />
speak to the world, while I remained unknown.<br />
I wrote to my chosen publisher—and be it<br />
understood he was one of the first and foremost<br />
in Her Majesty's dominions.<br />
Audacity? Conceit? Egotism? As you will.<br />
I know it was none of these.<br />
In due course I received a courteous note from<br />
Messrs. and Co. My MS. was refused. My<br />
loved work came home; it rests with me still.<br />
Looking over it now I know what a debt of<br />
gratitude I owe to the honourable firm of pub-<br />
lishers who " regretted they could not undertake<br />
the publication of my book."<br />
Smarting under my "failure" (so called), I<br />
wrote to a man whose advertisement appeared in<br />
that stately and fashionable paper, the Morning<br />
Post. It ran as follows:<br />
"A. well-known firm of London publishers is<br />
prepared to publish approved MSS., &c."<br />
Those who have had an experience like unto<br />
mine will understand my feelings when, after<br />
having hastily written and sent up a story of<br />
About 25,000 words, I received the following:<br />
"I have read this MS. with considerable inte-<br />
rest, and I like it. Kindly send more," &c.<br />
Nice comforting words; words to flatter and<br />
"tickle the ears" of any aspirant to literary<br />
fame. Need I add more? I fell among thieves. I<br />
â– was caught in a trap dexterously laid. The more<br />
â– easily was I snared when this publisher, because<br />
•of his " considerable interest" in my MS., offered<br />
to share half expenses and all risks!<br />
The result? Not sweet to the taste; in sooth,<br />
very bitter. Earperientia docet. I had bought<br />
my experience—how dearly none but myself will<br />
ever know—ere I chanced upon the I.S.A.<br />
And now I would ask, Can nothing be done to<br />
stamp out of existence these fraudulent publish-<br />
ing houses? Finns which are a disgrace to any<br />
community, and which trade on the inexperience<br />
of young writers—cannot their dealings be made<br />
public?<br />
I read with keen pleasure the proposal made in<br />
the February number of The Author by " An Old<br />
Bird," that the I.S.A. should " show the world of<br />
letters how a book should be turned out on true<br />
business lines," &c.<br />
I cannot but think that the proposal might be<br />
carried out with incalculable benefit to writers,<br />
and with honour, as well as lucrative returns, to<br />
the Society.<br />
I, for one, entirely hope that the "Old Bird's"<br />
eyes, and many others, may be gladdened in the<br />
near future with a sight of "I.S.A." upon many<br />
a title-page. E. W. H.<br />
MOODS -TENSES-VOICES.<br />
CYNICISM is a selfishness, a shallowness, a<br />
silliness, a sourness, or a sham.<br />
Idealism may be a matter of sunshine,<br />
or only a manner of moonshine.<br />
Materialism is a blindness, a hollowness, a<br />
hopelessness, or a truthfulness.<br />
Optimism is religious, scientific, selfish or super-<br />
ficial.<br />
Pessimism is dyspeptic, irreligious, unscientific,<br />
or unwise.<br />
Realism may be sunny, stormy, or only shady.<br />
Common criticism discovers little, but invents<br />
much.<br />
Proper criticism finds merit, while the common-<br />
place only finds fault.<br />
Wisdom is less a matter of reasoning than a<br />
manner of understanding.<br />
Were there no misunderstanding, there would<br />
be no misfortune.<br />
The wise suspend their judgment, while the<br />
unwise only strangle theirs.<br />
No one fully knows the Past, realises the Pre-<br />
sent, or understands the Future.<br />
Some romance never did happen, some never<br />
could, some never ought.<br />
Fallacies for the Past, facts for the Present,<br />
fancies for the Future.<br />
The Past may be perfect in fancy, but must be<br />
imperfect in fact.<br />
Perfection ever lies in the Future.<br />
Capacities, like conceits and reputes, are ever<br />
in process of change.<br />
Opportunities, like microbes, are often imper-<br />
ceptible, but always inexhaustible.<br />
Social reputes are as overcoats, and personal<br />
conceits as undershirts.<br />
Greatness is not a matter of fame, but a manner<br />
of force or of grace.<br />
Cons, ience is a common mean between Chance<br />
and Providence.<br />
Both humour and reverence are phases of sane<br />
sympathy.<br />
Faith may madden and truth may sadden, but<br />
Love must strengthen and sweeten.<br />
Religion may be feminine and science mascu-<br />
line, but shams must be neuter.<br />
Moods may be emotional, rational, or wilful.<br />
Morbid moods make trying tenses.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 16 (#422) #############################################<br />
<br />
i6<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Sanity simply suggests sweet sympathy.<br />
Moderate truth must inspire; the immoderate<br />
may irritate.<br />
The manly voice is not fog horny, nor the<br />
womanly steam-sirenish.<br />
Higher art transfigures common things with<br />
uncommon thoughts.<br />
Impression may be a matter of gift; expres-<br />
sion must be a manner of growth.<br />
To be loved is to be encouraged; to love is to<br />
be raised. Phinlay G-lenelg.<br />
A FLEMISH SAGA.<br />
THOSE who are acquainted with the suburb<br />
of Brussels known as the Commune of<br />
Ixelles, must have observed at the foot of<br />
the causeway leading to the city a flower-garden<br />
on the bank of a piece of ornamental water. In<br />
the midst of the glowing beds of geranium and<br />
mignonette, heliotrope and rose, is a weeping<br />
willow shading a singular monument of masonry.<br />
It consists of a sort of portico, in the centre of<br />
which are two bronze statues of a man and woman<br />
seated, the woman leaning on the man, who looks<br />
straight before him with a rapt and visionary<br />
gaze. Symbolical carvings surround them—a<br />
spinning-wheel, a dog, and other graven images;<br />
on the man's breast hangs a small bag, and over all is<br />
a medallion showing a pure and thoughtful profile<br />
surmounted by the iegend " Charles De Coster."<br />
Among the many English who pass by, there<br />
are few who understand the meaning of this<br />
memorial. But to the Belgians it is a place of<br />
reverent honour. Hither came, one beautiful<br />
summer morning in 1894, a company of more or<br />
less distinguished men to unveil the newly-built<br />
monument, and to hear an eloquent address by<br />
M. Camille Lemonnier. In this discourse were<br />
rehearsed the praises of a man who had died,<br />
obscure and almost alone, the author of a work<br />
hardly noticed in his life-time, but now pronounced<br />
by enthusiastic compatriots to be the "Bible of<br />
Flanders."<br />
Of De Coster himself there was little to say.<br />
Born in on Munich, Aug. 20, 1827, he lived poor<br />
and solitary till May 7, 1879, when he succumbed<br />
to tubercular disease in a small apartment over a<br />
greengrocer's in Ixelles. His last moments were<br />
cheered by the presence of M. and Mme. Hector<br />
Denis—M. Denis being known even beyond the<br />
boundaries of his own little land as a distinguished<br />
member of the Left in the Belgian Senate, and a<br />
devoted friend of the labouring poor. It is by his<br />
work, long neglected, that De Coster deserves a<br />
loving record. Borrowing the name of the Ger-<br />
man jester of the Middle Ages, he has created him<br />
anew as the incarnation of his country's genius,<br />
placing him—by a bold anachronism—in the<br />
sixteenth century, among the fields and streets<br />
of Flanders, full of the havoc of the Spanish<br />
persecution and the bold resistance of the kindly<br />
but tenacious burgesses and peasants. The book<br />
at its first appearance was too novel in conception,<br />
perhaps too sumptuous in form, to catch the<br />
public. A bulky quarto volume, it was illustrated<br />
with numerous etchings by the best artists of that<br />
most artistic country, and had but a slow circula-<br />
tion. In his spirited discourse, M. Lemonnier,<br />
speaking in somewhat sorrowful tones, said: "The<br />
author was unnoticed in his own day"; "he<br />
died unappreciated "; "no glory smiled upon his<br />
pillow"; "all appeared at an end—his life and<br />
its oblivion." But "Death touched nothing<br />
but what was perishable; the turf of his grave<br />
opened, and a luminous soul arose—the soul of<br />
his country—the lark singing to the free heavens."<br />
Round the speaker stood men more fortunate in<br />
their own day: Maurice Maeterlinck; the great<br />
sculptor of modern Flanders, Julien Dillens; the<br />
Liberal Senator, Edmond Picard, author of " La<br />
Vie Simple "; Charles Buls, the famous Bourg-<br />
mestre who shared with King Leopold the honour<br />
of bearing the insults of a misled mob a few<br />
years ago; Professor Pergameni, of the Brussels<br />
University, and many others of local distinction,<br />
in whose persons a repentant public made atone-<br />
ment. The publisher, M. Paul Lacomblez, who<br />
was one of 1 he company, made haste to bring out<br />
a handsome reprint of the book, without the<br />
etchings, and at a popular price; the original<br />
work is now food for the wealthy bibliophile.<br />
It is impossible to give in a few words any just<br />
idea of the literary merits of the "Roman<br />
d'Ulenspiegel." It stands alone as the national<br />
expression of Flemish patriotism, and this sets it<br />
beyond comparison with historical romances of a<br />
purely pleasurable character, like "Quentin<br />
Durward" or "The Cloister and the Hearth."<br />
In its language and its incidents it breathes the<br />
very spirit of the dawn of modern European life.<br />
Chaotic in form, archaic in expression, it gives<br />
but a secondary place to that passion of a boy<br />
and girl which is the recognised essence of an<br />
ordinary romance. The narratives of sorrow and<br />
cruelty peculiarly belonging to the place and time<br />
are related with grim realism, while a light of<br />
idealism breaks out here and there which gives<br />
occasional glimpses of epic inspiration. In the<br />
end, after adventures sometimes bloody and often<br />
gross and crude, the hero is purified and raised<br />
above the common world. In vain do his enemies<br />
heap the light sand above what they deem to be<br />
his dead form. Leaping up with a laugh, Ulen-<br />
spiegel asks, "' Can you bury me, the genius of the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 17 (#423) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
17<br />
mother-country? She also seems to sleep, but<br />
die she cannot.' And he fared on singing his<br />
sixth song, but his last—no man knows where he<br />
sang it."<br />
De Coster, too, has leapt to life after his teem-<br />
ing burial, and literary history can hardly show<br />
such another resurrection. H. G. Kbenk.<br />
SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD-ITS PRESENT-DAT<br />
USE.<br />
rr^HE correspondence on this subject in The<br />
\ Author is interesting as having brought<br />
into prominence what one correspondent<br />
has called the absence of any " self-conscious rules of<br />
grammar " in the English language. While I have<br />
not the smallest claim to speak as an authority on<br />
the matter, yet it seemed to me that none of the<br />
rules adduced by various correspondents were<br />
framed in sufficiently comprehensive terms to in-<br />
clude all cases where the subjunctive mood is used<br />
both in accordance with the cumbrous and complex<br />
rules of the grammar books, as well as in the pages<br />
of the " most approved authors of the day." To<br />
these pages then,following Professor Skeat's advice,<br />
I betook myself, thinking that it might, perhaps, be<br />
possible to deduce from them a fairly clear and com-<br />
prehensive canon as to the use of the subjunctive<br />
mood in English. Readers of the correspondence in<br />
TAe-i^MfAormayperliaps be interested to hear of my<br />
results—if, indeed, they can be called results, for I<br />
must at once confess that I am no nearer the "clear<br />
and succinct rule " which Mr. Howard Collins de-<br />
sires, than I was before starting on my enterprise.<br />
The authors I selected were: Mr. George Meredith,<br />
Mr. Lecky, Mr. Andrew Lang, Mr. Henry James,<br />
Mr. Leslie Stephen, Mr. H. D. Traill, Mr. John<br />
Morley, Mr. Hardy, Professor Dowden, and R. L.<br />
Stevenson; and after stalking subjunctives<br />
throughout the pages of one of each of the above-<br />
named authors' works, the only point on which I<br />
seem approximately clear is that the use of the sub-<br />
junctive in any verb except the verb "to be," is<br />
exceedingly rare. Of my ten authors, four, i.e., Mr.<br />
George Meredith, Mr. Lecky, Mr. Andrew Lang,<br />
and Mr. Henry James, never use any other verb<br />
in the subjunctive ; three, i.e., Mr. Leslie Stephen,<br />
Mr. H. D. Traill, and Mr. John Morley, have<br />
a single instance each; while R. L. Steven-<br />
son, Mr. Hardy, and Professor Dowden yield<br />
respectively six, four, and two such instances.<br />
Mr. L. Stephen's solitary instance of a verb<br />
other than the verb "to be" in the subjunc-<br />
tive mood, "even though it contain" (" Social<br />
Rights and Duties," vol. II., p. 161), is the more<br />
perplexing when we observe what might almost<br />
be called his callous indifference to the claims of<br />
that mood in other passages. Thus, he writes:<br />
"What difference does it make whether the brain<br />
. . . has a fixed resemblance to ... or<br />
be . . . the product," &c. {Ib., p. 9). "^If<br />
the honourable gentleman means to say . . .<br />
But, if his meaning be simply," &c. (Ib., p. 160).<br />
"It might be a question . . . whether the<br />
pleasure . . . be really so great, &c. . . .<br />
It is certainly also a question whether his expen-<br />
diture was ethically right " (Ib , p. 110). Similar<br />
instances might be multiplied. Mr. Lecky—whose<br />
sentences in his "History of Rationalism" are<br />
seldom cast in the hypothetical form—has, on p. 11,<br />
vol. I.: "Those who lived when the evidences of<br />
witchcraft existed in profusion . . . must surely<br />
have been as competent judges as ourselves, if<br />
the question was [and his argument goes to prove<br />
that it was not] merely a question of evidence ;"<br />
and again (lb., 433), where the case is purely<br />
hypothetical: "//"some great misfortune were to<br />
befall a man . . . if the physician declared<br />
[here there is no special form for the subjunctive]<br />
. . . if concealment was only possible by a<br />
falsehood, there are very few moralists who would<br />
condemn," &c.<br />
Mr. Andrew Lang (" Custom and Myth," p. 239)<br />
has: "If this was the cast*, surely the presence<br />
of those elements . . . should have been<br />
indicated. ... Is nothing said about the<br />
spirits of the dead ... in the Vedas? Much<br />
is said, of course. But were it otherwise," &c.<br />
Mr. Hardy (" Pair of Blue Eyes," p. 333) writes:<br />
"The gentle-modest would turn their faces south<br />
if I were coming east, flit down a passage 1/1 was<br />
about to halve the pavement with them." Mr.<br />
Henry James, in the volume entitled "Daisy<br />
Miller," never uses the subjunctive in the present<br />
tense, although he appears to discriminate care-<br />
fully between "was " and " were." Mr. Morley's<br />
"The most that the individual can do is to seek<br />
for himself, even if he seek alone" ("On Compro-<br />
mise," p. 101) is somewhat puzzling when com-<br />
pared with his: "Even if he thinhe it does mom<br />
harm than good" (76., p. 223); nor does his " if<br />
it be valid (lb., 174) explain itself side by side<br />
with "If the principle of such conformity is<br />
Hood for anything at all " on the following page.<br />
On the other hand, he appears to be consistent in<br />
his use of the past subjunctive. Mr. Meredith<br />
likes the subjunctive mood (of the verb " to be "),<br />
nevertheless we meet with: "It is a lute to scatter<br />
songs to his mistress; a rapier it she obstinate"<br />
("Egoist," p. 12). "If it is necessary" (lb.,<br />
p. 60), where there is both futurity and contin-<br />
gency, "Yet if my friend is not the same," &j.<br />
(Ib., p. 132, where the case is purely hypothe-<br />
tical). Contrast these with: "For any maltreat-<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 18 (#424) #############################################<br />
<br />
i8<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
ment of the dear boy Love . . . you [i.e., the<br />
reader], if you be of common soundness" {lb.,<br />
p. 300), "If it be a failing" (lb., p. 86), and "If<br />
this line of verse be not yet in our literature"<br />
{lb., p. 5). Professor Dowden, in his "Life of<br />
Southey," only twice uses the indicative after<br />
"if," and here again, it seems difficult to dis-<br />
criminate between, e.g., "If the ice were fairly<br />
broken he found it natural to be easy and<br />
familiar" (lb., p. 90), and "If to these melody<br />
icas added, he had attained" (lb., p. 193), &c.<br />
And while " except," "if," and "whether" are all<br />
followed by the present subjunctive, we find:<br />
"There was nothing in the poem that could be<br />
remembered with shame unless it is shameful to<br />
be generous," &c. (p. 170). I have, I fear, only<br />
made confusion worse confounded by my re-<br />
searches. But should any one object to our use<br />
or non-use of the subjunctive we can at least feel<br />
that the onus probandi rests with the accuser.<br />
Summary. .<br />
I Approximate<br />
number of words<br />
Author. Book. in book.<br />
â– George Meredith The Egoist 190,000<br />
W. E. Lecky ... History of BationaliBm,<br />
vol. 1 102,000<br />
Andrew Lang . .. Custom and Myth 68,000<br />
Leslie Stephen... Social Eights and Duties,<br />
vol. II 71,000<br />
T. Hardy Pair of Blue Eyes 99,000<br />
E. Dowden Life of Southey 67,000<br />
E. L. StevenBon. Men and Books 99,044<br />
H. D. Traill Life of Coleridge 60,000<br />
Henry James ... Daisy Miller 56,000<br />
John Morley .. On Compromise 57,000<br />
-Positive instances. Subjunctive moods.<br />
To be. Words to<br />
one sub-<br />
junctive.<br />
2800<br />
.. 3800<br />
.. 2300<br />
1400<br />
2300<br />
.. 3200<br />
.. 1900<br />
2900<br />
2200<br />
.. 2500<br />
2S3oI<br />
â– • 2043<br />
• â– 5370<br />
• • 2957<br />
â– • 1543<br />
• • 55oo<br />
• • 16750<br />
.. 4280<br />
.. 6666<br />
2800<br />
â– • 1055<br />
BOOKS AND THEIR ZEE PEES.<br />
[i.-<br />
<br />
Present.<br />
George Meredith 11<br />
W. E. Leoky ... 11 .<br />
A. Lang 20<br />
L. Stephen 36<br />
T. Hardy..- 3* .<br />
E. Dowden 5<br />
E. L. Stevenson. 5<br />
H. D. Traill 5 .<br />
H. James —<br />
J. Morley 16<br />
III.—Negative Instances.<br />
George Meredith 50 ... 11 ... 32 ... 93<br />
W. E. Lecky ... 7 ... 2 ... 10 ... 19<br />
A. Lang 13 ... 4 ... 6 ... 23<br />
L.Stephen 15 ... 3 ... 28 ... 46<br />
T. Hardy 11 ... 6 ... 1 ... 18<br />
E. Dowden 1 ... 3 ... o ... 4<br />
E. L. Stevenson. 6 ... 11 ... 8 ... 25<br />
H.D.Traill 2 ... 2 ... 5 ... 9<br />
H. James 2 ... 16 ... 2 ... 20<br />
J. Morley 29 ... o ... 25 ... 54<br />
* 2 "if so be." t After " though."<br />
I Average,<br />
B. E. Meyer.<br />
An Interview with Me. J. T. W. MacAlistee.<br />
"fT^HE index of a book should be made by the<br />
I author; anybody can do the rest of it."<br />
This curious saying, not Mr. Mac Aba-<br />
ter's, rang in the ears of the interviewer when, in his<br />
talk with the honorary secretary of the forthcoming<br />
International Library Conference, he came to the<br />
point of discussing questions that stand between<br />
librarians and authors. "It should be a rule,"<br />
replied Mr. MacAlister, " that every book should<br />
be provided with a good index. To publish a<br />
book without one ought to be reckoned an<br />
offence."<br />
Another offence lies in the framing of titles.<br />
"Titles," said Mr. MacAlister, "should set forth<br />
clearly the nature of the books, instead of being<br />
merely fanciful, as they often are. It would<br />
amuse authors," he continued, "to find to what<br />
an extent librarians have to make new titles for<br />
their works. First we have to catalogue the title<br />
which the author has given to the book, but that<br />
has to be constantly followed by other titles which<br />
are absolutely necessary to make the ordinary<br />
reader understand what the book is about."<br />
Mr. MacAlister selected at random the follow-<br />
ing titles, which are meaningless to the average<br />
library user:—Buskin's "Ethics of the Dust,"<br />
"Crown of Wild Olive," "Eagle's Nest," " Queen<br />
of the Air," " St. Mark's Best;'' Dr. John Brown's<br />
"Horse Subseeivae," Birrell's "Obiter Dicta,"<br />
MacMichael's "Goldheaded Cane," Kinglake's<br />
"Eothen," MacDonald's " Orts," Miller's "Cruise<br />
of the Betsey." Again, "The Despot's Champion"<br />
is the title of a life of Claverhouse; "Through<br />
the Long Day," "Shadows of the Past," and<br />
"Faint, yet Pursuing," are also biographies; "In<br />
an Enchanted Island" is an account of Cyprus;<br />
while " Through the Long Night " is a pleasant<br />
specimen of the indefiniteness of many titles of<br />
novels.<br />
While on the subject of book-titles the inter-<br />
viewer ask-d Mr. MacAlister's opinion of the<br />
proposal made in The Author by Mr. F. Howard<br />
Collins, to the effect that the Society of Authors<br />
should compile a list of all the book-titles that<br />
had been used, in order that a writer would be<br />
saved from selecting a title which is already<br />
appropriated. Mr. MacAlister did not think sued<br />
an undertaking would be seriously worth while.<br />
"Bemember," he said, " that such a case of the<br />
same title being selected over again cannot<br />
happen where a very famous or important book<br />
is concerned. When it does occur, it argues that the<br />
forerunner in the title is a ' dead' book. The British<br />
Museum catalogue can always be discussed by the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 19 (#425) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
19<br />
author, and, besides, Stationers' Hall people are<br />
very good in that way. To compile such a list as<br />
is proposed would be a gigantic task, and a very<br />
expensive one, but it would be like employing a<br />
Nasmyth hammer to crack an egg."<br />
The issue of old books under new titles is a<br />
practice more common than is generally supposed.<br />
"This may be said to be exclusively a trick of<br />
the novelist's," Mr. MacAlister remarked; "it is<br />
unknown in other fields of authorship. Thus a<br />
book which has been unfortunate as 'The Maid<br />
Forlorn ' will reappear after a decent interval as<br />
'How to Prepare an Underdone Mutton Chop,'<br />
and the librarian buys the new book, as he thinks<br />
it to be, not knowing that it is on the shelves<br />
already in another dress. Of course it is com-<br />
mon for a story that has appeared as a serial<br />
to be published in volume form under a new<br />
title; that is quite different. But when a<br />
book that has failed under one title gets a<br />
new title-page stuck in and is then put on the<br />
market as a new book, it is simply a piece of<br />
dishonesty." [At this stage several cases were<br />
instanced.]<br />
"Authors do not realise either," said Mr.<br />
MacAlister in answer to another question, " how<br />
often their books sere printed on wretched paper.<br />
It would not be fair to mention names, but some<br />
well-known editions of popular novels are issued<br />
on paper so notoriously bad that librarians do<br />
not bind them after they have been in use a year<br />
or two. The difference in cost between a paper<br />
that will last one hundred or two hundred years<br />
and one that will, like the present average, hardly<br />
last fifty must be very trifling. Any author who<br />
seeks a lasting reputation cannot afford to<br />
overlook this matter, although I suppose the<br />
question of paper will lie principally with the<br />
publisher."<br />
On July 13 to 16 the second International<br />
Library Conference will be held in the Council<br />
Chamber of the Corporation of London. Libra-<br />
rians from all civilised parts will foregather here,<br />
under the presidency of Sir John Lubbock.<br />
Delegates—in the majority of cases representing<br />
the Government of these countries—will be<br />
present from France, Germany, Italy, Austria,<br />
Spain, Holland, India, Canada, Australia, New<br />
Zealand, and South Af nca. Largest contingent of<br />
all, 300 American librarians will absent themselves<br />
from the States for two months with the avowed<br />
objects of becoming acquainted with as many<br />
English librarians as possible, seeing English<br />
methods of library administration, and visiting as<br />
many places of historic and literary interest as<br />
they can. Since its formation twenty years ago,<br />
the Library Association of the United Kingdom<br />
has grown from a membership of scarcely 200 to<br />
one of upwards of 500. The American librarian<br />
thinks he has a good deal to learn in England,<br />
but, on the other hand, this feeling is fully<br />
reciprocated by his British confrere with regard<br />
to America. Both from the Government and<br />
through private munificence, the American<br />
libraries have received much larger gifts than<br />
those of Britain. But, as Mr. MacAlister<br />
pointed out, the British experiment of establish-<br />
ing libraries by the will of the people, and having<br />
them voluntarily supported by the rates, has in<br />
many respects produced a better effect by leading<br />
the people to take a more personal interest in<br />
them. "At the same time," continued Mr.<br />
MacAlister, "we should be very glad indeed if<br />
public spirit in this country could induce the<br />
Government to do something for public libraries.<br />
They have done nothing so far."<br />
"We have not attained to the Bibliographical<br />
Professorships yet?"<br />
"No, but there is an approach to it in the<br />
Sandars Readership in Bibliography at Cambridge.<br />
Mr. Sandars was a member of our association<br />
who bequeathed a considerable sum, the interest<br />
of which was to be devoted to the payment of<br />
the lecturer. In America, of course, there are<br />
fully equipped library schools, with lecturers<br />
attached, and degrees in librarianship. We have<br />
hopes that when a new teaching and examining<br />
University is established in London there may<br />
be a chance of getting the new authorities to<br />
recognise the importance of the subject. It is<br />
only in London that there is sufficient material<br />
to give practical illustrations to students."<br />
PERSONAL.<br />
MR. LECKY, M.P., presided at the Book-<br />
sellers' Dinner on the 8th ult., and in<br />
proposing "Literatureand Science,"said<br />
that the first thing that would strike one was the<br />
enormous multiplication of books. The power<br />
of spinning something in the nature of a book<br />
from the slenderest possible materials with the<br />
greatest possible haste was an accomplishment<br />
which the present age had brought to a perfec-<br />
tion that no other generation had ever attained.<br />
It might be said that there was no great harm in<br />
writing a book which no one was obliged to read,<br />
and, indeed, the sale of some works had the<br />
positive advantage of making the lives of their<br />
authors somewhat more easy than they otherwise<br />
would be. But, after making all allowances, he<br />
still felt bound to say that contemporary litera-<br />
ture would probably be much better if it were<br />
somewhat less voluminous and somewhat more<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 20 (#426) #############################################<br />
<br />
20<br />
THE A UTHOh.<br />
choice. He did not wish to speak in a desponding<br />
way about literature. If poor books were greatly<br />
multiplied it did not mean that good books were<br />
less numerous. Nothing was more remarkable<br />
than the silent, steady sale of good books long<br />
after people had ceased talking about them.<br />
Tuesday, May n, was a ladies' night of the<br />
New Vagabond Club, when five to six hundred<br />
guests sat down to dinner in the Holborn Restau-<br />
rant. Mr. Hall Caine, who presided, in giving<br />
"The Ladies," said that the reign all were going<br />
to celebrate had been pre-eminently the reign of<br />
woman. Some rumours they heard of masculine<br />
jealousy that women were competing, perhaps<br />
too successfully, with some of them in the pro-<br />
fessions, but he did not believe that any man<br />
worthy of the name ever yet owed a woman a<br />
grudge because she was beating him in his craft,<br />
and he appealed to them to see that when a woman<br />
crossed their path in her struggle to live she<br />
should have fair play and every chance and every<br />
help that a man's hsmd could give her.<br />
Lecturing at the Royal Institution on<br />
"Romance," Mr. Anthony Hope Hawkins said<br />
that the leading characteristics of romance as<br />
a quality in literature were, first strong<br />
emotion; second, a high pitch of abstraction;<br />
and third, self-assertion. Every novel which<br />
dealt with love was not romance. For example,<br />
there was a large class of novels which gave<br />
pictures of the life that was about them every<br />
day, and in which love played, so far as the<br />
incidents went, a leading part. But the love was<br />
not a subject; it was rather a datum. That was<br />
not of necessity untrue to life, but it might be<br />
anything in the world except romance. Novels<br />
with "love" for their theme failed in that<br />
respect. The love-making was itself mechanical.<br />
It did not rule the book. They were, in fact,<br />
constrained to believe that the author did not<br />
understand his theme, or had confused the theme<br />
with the auxiliaries. That was why those books<br />
were not romances. There was no power, no<br />
imagination in them. The " problem novel" and<br />
the "realistic novel" were not in the nature of<br />
romances, for, instead of simplicity and confidence,<br />
they found in them complexity and self-distrust.<br />
He admitted that it was not always so easy to<br />
draw the line between the novel and the romance.<br />
For example, in "Tom Jones," "Vanity Fair,"<br />
and " Pendennis," there would be found matter<br />
of a romantic character. Generally speaking,<br />
the reader should ask what was the theme, and by<br />
that he should judge. Let them take the story<br />
of "The Three Musketeers." They would<br />
exclaim, "Here is romance!" Why Y Because,<br />
in spite of all its complexity, they found running<br />
through the whole book and inspiring it that one<br />
strong simple passion or emotion which ruled the<br />
lives of the leading characters, and, above all, that of<br />
the great hero D'Artagnan. Dumas's trilogy of the<br />
Musketeers was a romance of the joy of action.<br />
Those men did not so much care as to what<br />
they were at, but they must be at something.<br />
At the same time, he did not say there was<br />
nothing in " Tom Jones" or "Pendennis" of a<br />
similar kind. It would be, perhaps, correct to<br />
say that the great English writers used their<br />
heroes to gratify the world, and the great<br />
Frenchman used the world to gratify his heroes.<br />
The romancist was not the worst companion that<br />
a reader would find speaking to him words of<br />
truth.<br />
The New York Critic of April 10 announces<br />
the result of its prize competition for the best<br />
list of the best twelve American short stories.<br />
The prize has gone to Mr. J. W. George, of St.<br />
Louis, who has selected two stories by Hawthorne,<br />
two by Irving, two by Poe, and one each by Dr.<br />
Hale (" The Man Without a Country," of course),<br />
Bret Harte, Frank R. Stockton, Thomas Nelson<br />
Page, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, and Mary E.<br />
Wilkins. The editors add that they do not offer<br />
this "as an ideal list, be it observed, but merely<br />
as, on the whole, the best of those submitted."<br />
Some 500 lists were received, and they publish,<br />
also, another list, containing only one story by a<br />
single author—the authors selected being T. B.<br />
Aldrich, H. Bunner, F. R. Stockton, Mary E.<br />
Wilkins, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne,<br />
Bret Harte, Mark Twain, E. E. Hale, G. W.<br />
Cable, and Richard Harding Davis.<br />
Mrs. Linnaeus Banks, the novelist, died at<br />
Dalston, on May 4, in her seventy-sixth year.<br />
Her best known stories are "God's Providence<br />
House" (the historic building in Chester which<br />
escaped the plague) and "The Manchester<br />
Man." Like the author of "Uncle Tom's<br />
Cabin," Mrs. Banks was well advanced in life<br />
before she began to publish any remarkable<br />
work. "God's Providence House" appeared<br />
when she was forty-five, and "The Manchester<br />
Man" about a decade later. As Miss Isabella<br />
Varley she had, however, written and published<br />
verses in Manchester newspapers as early as her<br />
sixteenth year. Her first collection of poems,<br />
"Ivy Leaves," appeared in 1844. Mrs. Banks<br />
was a native of Manchester, and her works were<br />
especially popular in Lancashire. It is told<br />
of the late Mrs. Banks that, when negotiating<br />
for the serial publication of one of her novels,<br />
she felt herself somewhat worsted in the<br />
bargaining. She accepted the terms, but, by<br />
way of revenge, exclaimed, "' It is naught, it is<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 21 (#427) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
2 1<br />
naught, saith the buyer; but when he is gone his<br />
way then he boasteth.'" The publisher was<br />
greatly pleased with the cleverness of the quota-<br />
tion, and his estimate of Mrs. Banks's work by<br />
no means suffered in consequence of her witty<br />
protest.<br />
Mr. Theodore Bent, the indefatigable explorer<br />
of South-East Africa and Arabia, died, on May 5,<br />
of malarial fever and pneumonia, at the age of<br />
fifty-two. His works included "The Cyclades;<br />
or Life among the Insular Greeks" (1885);<br />
"Ruined Cities of Mashonaland" (1892); and<br />
"Sacred Cities of the Ethiopians" (1893).<br />
FROM "POEMS" BY S. L. E.<br />
An jEolian Harp.<br />
From harp strings strained before the wind<br />
Strange music issues forth;<br />
It comoth now from east and west,<br />
And now from south and north.<br />
At first a sweet, low, moaning wail,<br />
Pathetic, fitful, mild;<br />
Then, gathering strength—the sound bursts forth<br />
In music strong and wild.<br />
We listen breathless; joyful strains<br />
Must crown this fitful play.<br />
Alas! the mnBic drops and falls,<br />
And, moaning, dies away.<br />
The song of life, the Christian song,<br />
Begins full oft in pain;<br />
Then, gathering strength, bursts forth in song,<br />
Begins a heavenly strain.<br />
Begins—a hopeful prelude gives<br />
Of heavenly music here;<br />
But soon ib quenohed in death—the theme<br />
Is for another sphere.<br />
There will earth's wild, tumultuous notes,<br />
And discords here too strong,<br />
Be gathered up in one complete,<br />
One rapturous, perfect song.<br />
A SUGGESTED RECONSTITUTE.<br />
AT the recent annual meeting of the Society I<br />
brought forward a proposition for the<br />
direct election of the Council by the whole<br />
body of the members of the Society. Sir W.<br />
Besant asked me to put my suggestions into<br />
writing for publication in The Author, and this<br />
request I now comply witb.<br />
Of course we all know that, at present, the<br />
Council, however generally representative it may<br />
be, is in no sense elective; for the members of the<br />
Society have no voice in the choice of their<br />
"representatives." No doubt, in the early days of<br />
the Society this arrangement was judicious, for<br />
the great body of members were ignorant and<br />
helpless, whilst a few leading spirits alone had<br />
any adequate knowledge of the needs and true<br />
interests of the Society. It was therefore well<br />
that those who so generously devoted time<br />
and labour to promoting the interest of their<br />
fellow authors should be given a free hand in<br />
their choice of colleagues; in other words, it was<br />
perhaps well that the infant Society should be<br />
governed autocratically.<br />
But it is obvious that the rigime which is good<br />
for infancy is highly unsuitable for adolescence,<br />
and that sooner or later the Society must be<br />
released from leading strings and allowed to<br />
govern itself and to exercise the franchise; and I<br />
think that many members agree with me in hold-<br />
ing that the time for a Reform Bill has now<br />
arrived. Last year an attempt was made to<br />
introduce a small elected element into the Society,<br />
but this attempt resulted in failure. The reason<br />
for this failure I alluded to at the annual meeting,<br />
but it is unnecessary to repeat my remarks here,<br />
since we are looking forward and not back-<br />
ward.<br />
I proposed that the whole Council shall be<br />
directly elected by the Society, each member<br />
serving, say, three years, and a third of the Council<br />
retiring every year. For the purpose of election<br />
the Society should be divided into faculties, each<br />
faculty electing a proportionate number of<br />
councillors. For instance we should require a<br />
faculty out of Fiction, Poetry, Music, Education,<br />
Physical Science, and so on. It would be neces-<br />
sary to fix a minimum number of members for<br />
each faculty, and as a basis for negotiation I<br />
suggest that no faculty should be constituted with<br />
fewer than 100 members. Where the writers<br />
upon any subject were too few to claim a faculty<br />
for themselves, they should be classed with writers<br />
on allied subjects into a joint faculty, just as at<br />
London University the graduates in music, being<br />
too few to claim a faculty of their own, are classed<br />
for voting purposes with the graduates in science.<br />
Thus it might be necessary, at present, to put<br />
sociologists, historians, and legal writers into one<br />
faculty; to class dramatists, poets, and all other<br />
writers on aesthetics together; to put psychologists<br />
into the Physical Science faculty, and so on; but<br />
these are all matters of detail that can easily be<br />
arranged. Similarly when a writer belongs<br />
equally to two subject-faculties he should be<br />
allowed to decide in which he would be classed for<br />
voting purposes.<br />
One point I must especially emphasise. It is<br />
absolutely essential to this scheme that each<br />
faculty, whether including 100 or 400 members,<br />
should elect the same number of representatives,<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 22 (#428) #############################################<br />
<br />
22<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
for the Society is concerned with the interests of<br />
every branch of literature, and not merely with<br />
the interests of a majority of its present members.<br />
We must here adopt the old political principle<br />
that interests and classes, not simply heads, must<br />
be counted. Unless this system be adopted it is<br />
clear that one slightly dominant faculty might<br />
outvote the others, and "nobble" the whole<br />
machinery of the Society in the interests of one<br />
class of writers only. This, of course, would soon<br />
lead to a secession of the other members, and the<br />
foundation of a rival Authors' Society, and that<br />
would be a disaster which we must avoid at all<br />
hazards. Therefore we must make it a tine qua<br />
nun that each faculty elect the same number of<br />
representatives.<br />
One word more and I have done. The elec-<br />
tions must be real and not formal. Everyone<br />
who has belonged to any of our scientific societies<br />
knows that, although theoretically their consti-<br />
tution is a pure democracy, yet actually it is a<br />
pure oligarchy, for the outgoing council always<br />
nominate their successors, and the society goes<br />
through the farce of filling up ballot papers<br />
which never include the names of any rival candi-<br />
dates, for it is considered "bad form " to oppose<br />
the council's nominees. Against this un-English<br />
abuse we must make stringent safeguards, and I<br />
therefore propose that, at each election there shall<br />
be at least two candidates for every vacancy, so<br />
that the election must necessarily be real. I pro-<br />
pose that the initiative shall be left with private<br />
members of each faculty, but that if in any<br />
faculty there be fewer than two candidates pro-<br />
posed for each vacancy, the Council, or preferably<br />
individual members thereof, shall propose suffi-<br />
cient candidates to make up the required number;<br />
but otherwise the Council should nor, interfere in<br />
the elections.<br />
Such is, in brief, the outline of the Reform<br />
Bill which I have the honour of laying before<br />
the Council and my fellow-members of the<br />
Society; and I hope that the English spirit<br />
of popular government and an unrestricted fran-<br />
chise will be amply strong enough in the<br />
Society to ensure its adoption.<br />
F. H. Perky Coste.<br />
BOOK TALK.<br />
THE Jubilee celebrations are causing a healthy<br />
stoppage for a week or two in the free<br />
flow of new books. As one result, the<br />
autumn season will perhaps prove to be an unusu-<br />
ally busy one this year.<br />
The Royal Asiatic Society will commemorate<br />
the completion of the sixtieth year of the reign<br />
of Queen Victoria by founding a gold medal for<br />
distinguished scholarship, to be awarded trien-<br />
nially for the best work on an Oriental subject in<br />
the English language.<br />
A series of small books upon the "Imperial"<br />
platform is projected by Messrs. Horace Marshall<br />
and Sons, entitled "The Story of the Empire,"<br />
edited by Mr. Howard Angus Kennedy. The<br />
series will begin with a volume by Sir Walter<br />
Besant on "The Rise of the English-Speaking<br />
Race"; to be followed by volumes on South<br />
Africa, by Mr. E. F. Knight; on Australia and<br />
New Zealand, by Miss Flora Shaw; and on<br />
Canada, by Mr. Kennedy. These books will be all<br />
short; and, it is hoped, attractive and instructive.<br />
Mrs. Alfred Baldwin's " Story of a Marriage"<br />
has been added to Messrs. Macmillan's Colonial<br />
Library.<br />
"Daughters of Thespis: a story of the Green<br />
Room," is the title of Mr. John Bickerdyke's new<br />
novel. The publishers are Messrs. Simpkin,<br />
Marshall and Co., Limited. The same author<br />
has recently published through Mr. L. Upcott<br />
Gill, 170, Strand, an illustrated six-shilling<br />
volume entitled "Wild Sports in Ireland." It<br />
includes descriptions of the author's considerable<br />
yachting, wildfowling, and fishing experiences on<br />
the large Shannon lakes.<br />
"False Gods," a novel by Mrs. Albert S.<br />
Bradshaw, has just been published by Messrs.<br />
Henry and Co.<br />
Two poems by Mrs. Albert S. Bradshaw have<br />
been taken by Messrs. George Routledge and Co.<br />
for publication in the "Fernandez Reciter," just<br />
published.<br />
Miss Bertha Thomas has written a series of<br />
stories presenting various pictures of modern<br />
English society. The book, entitled "Camera<br />
Lucida; or, Strange Passages from Common<br />
Life," will be published by Messrs. Sampson Low<br />
and Co.<br />
Mr. Guy Boothby's new story, "The Fascination<br />
of the King," is about to be published by Messrs.<br />
Ward, Lock, and Co.<br />
Mr. Clark Russell has written "A Tale of Two<br />
Tunnels," which Messrs. Chapman and Hall will<br />
publish.<br />
Mr. Hume Nisbet and Mr. Alan St. Aubyn<br />
each has a new work of fiction in course of publi-<br />
cation by Messrs. White.<br />
Mr. Marion Crawford has written a novel<br />
entitled "A Rose of Yesterday," which Messrs.<br />
Macmillan will publish.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 23 (#429) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
23<br />
Mr. Lane is publishing this month two volumes<br />
—one of prose and one of verse—of the works of<br />
Col. John Hay, the new American Ambassador<br />
to the Court of St. James's. The books are<br />
"Castilian Days " and " Poems."<br />
Mr. Tom Gallon's novel, "Tatterley," is being<br />
adapted for the stage by Mr. Norman Forbes.<br />
Professor Miall, of Leeds, has written " Thirty<br />
Years of Teaching," a volume which Messrs. Mac-<br />
millan will publish shortly.<br />
Professor George Adam Smith, of the Free<br />
Church College, Glasgow, has undertaken to write<br />
the biography of the late Professor Henry Drum-<br />
mond. The possessors of material connected with<br />
the subject are invited to send it to Professor<br />
Smith, 22, Sardinia-terrace, Glasgow; or to<br />
Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton.<br />
The Indian prince and famous English cricketer,<br />
K. S. Ranjitsinhji, has written a book upon the<br />
game. It will be published by Messrs. Black-<br />
wood.<br />
"The Diary of Master William Silence " is the<br />
title of a study of Shakespeare and of Elizabethan<br />
sport, which Mr. Justice Madden, of the Irish<br />
Bench, has written. It will be published by<br />
Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co.<br />
The long-expected Life of Lord Tennyson will<br />
be published on Oct. 6, the fifth anniversary<br />
of the poet's death, by Messrs. Macmillan and<br />
Co.<br />
"Are We to go on with Latin Verses?"<br />
This inquiry is the subject of a pamphlet by<br />
the Hon. Edward Lyttelton, head master of<br />
Haileybury College, which Messrs. Longmans will<br />
publish.<br />
Mr. W. M. Rossetti has selected and edited a<br />
volume of "Poems " by the late Mr. J. Lucas<br />
Tupper, who was a contributor to the Germ in<br />
1850. The volume will be published by Messrs.<br />
Longmans.<br />
Miss Ella Fuller Maitland is publishing a col-<br />
lection of her verses, under the title " The Song<br />
Book of Bethia Hardacre."<br />
A volume of poems by Mr. F. W. Bourdillon,<br />
some of which are new, while others appeared<br />
anonymously in Oxford some years ago, is to be<br />
published by Messrs. Lawrence and Bullen. The<br />
title will be "Minuscula: Lyrics of Nature, Art,<br />
and Love."<br />
Mr. Henry Craik, C.B., is writing a history of<br />
Scotland from the Union, which will deal in special<br />
detail with the 100 years following 1745.<br />
General Maurice, C.B., is writing a volume on<br />
"National Defence" for Messrs. Macmillan's<br />
English Citizen series.<br />
The rebuilding of the London Library will be<br />
begun next month. A number of Spanish books<br />
have been added to the collection lately, but the<br />
library is still deficient in the literature of the<br />
Romance languages.<br />
At the 107th anniversary dinner of the Royal<br />
Literary Fund subscriptions were announced to<br />
the amount of nearly <£iooo, headed by the<br />
sixtieth donation of £100 by Her Majesty the<br />
Queen. Lord Lister, who presided, said that<br />
Literature was an uncertain calling by no means<br />
rewarded according to its deserts. To a man<br />
of high literary culture and exquisite sensibility,<br />
the mercy extended through this fund blessed<br />
those who gave and those who but for that would<br />
have been lost to the world.<br />
A fine copy of the extremely rare quarto, the<br />
"Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice"<br />
(1600), was sold at Sotheby's for ,£315. This is<br />
the highest sum ever realised for a first edition of<br />
one of Shakespeare's plays.<br />
Mr. Vere Foster is printing the correspondence<br />
of the two Duchesses of Devonshire, in which<br />
there will be letters of Fox, Sheridan, Gibbon,<br />
Moreau, Napoleon, the Emperor Alexander I. of<br />
Russia, and others. The work will be entitled<br />
"The Two Duchesses."<br />
Mrs. Patmore is engaged writing a memoir<br />
of her husband. She will be assisted in the<br />
work by Mr. Basil Champneys and Mr. Frederick<br />
Greenwood. Mr. Champneys has also designed<br />
the monument to be erected over the grave<br />
of the poet in Lymington Cemetery, and per-<br />
mission has been granted by the authorities<br />
for trees to be planted near the spot. To<br />
the expense of the latter object all who wish<br />
to do so may send contributions to Rev. Father<br />
O'Connell, The Presbytery, Lymington; or to<br />
Mr. F. G. Stephens, 10, The Terrace, Hammer-<br />
smith, W.<br />
Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein have brought out<br />
a one-volume storv, entitled "A Princess of<br />
Islam." The author is Mr. J. W. Sherer, C.S.I.,<br />
whose chapters ou the great Mutiny formed a<br />
feature in Col. Maude's book published in 1895.<br />
The new story is mainly devoted to the domestic<br />
life of the Indian Muslims — a curious and<br />
interesting subject.<br />
A curious illustration is to hand (says a corre-<br />
spondent) of the small equipment of historical<br />
knowledge requisite for a successful journalist.<br />
Here is an editor who in expressing sympathy<br />
with the Greeks observes that the best soldiers<br />
are subject to panic when ill led! Under a<br />
Wellington or a Nelson, Tommy is "practically<br />
invincible; at Fontenoy or Bunker's Hill he runs."<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 24 (#430) #############################################<br />
<br />
24<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
The writer ought surely to have known that as<br />
much valour was shown by the private soldiers at<br />
these two fights as at Waterloo. If any use was<br />
to be made of the argument it would have been<br />
more to the purpose to compare the Royalists and<br />
Roundheads at Naseby. But this, doubtless, is<br />
"ancient history," which journalism, we know,<br />
disdains.<br />
"The Note-book of Tristram Risdon " |(i6o3-<br />
1628) has long lain buried in the richly-stocked<br />
library of Exeter Cathedral. It is a companion<br />
to the well-known "Chronological Description or<br />
Survey of the County of Devon," published in<br />
1714, and contains much information which<br />
closely concerns Devonshire genealogists. Mr.<br />
James Dallas, F.L.S., Curator of the Exeter<br />
Museum, has transcribed the MS., and the<br />
volume is about to be issued by Mr. Elliot Stock.<br />
Two hundred and fifty copies only will be printed<br />
for subscribers.<br />
Headon Hill's new novel "By a Hair's<br />
Breadth," which begins to run in Cassell's Maga-<br />
zine this month, will be published in volume form<br />
when it has finished its serial course, simulta-<br />
neously in London and New York. The English<br />
publishers will be Messrs. Cassell and Co., and the<br />
American rights have been acquired by Messrs.<br />
Dodd, Mead, and Co., of New York.<br />
—> • «^<br />
LITERATURE IN THE PERIODICALS.<br />
The Literature or the Victorian Era. H. D-<br />
Traill. Fortnightly Review for June.<br />
The Apotheosis op the Novel under Queen<br />
Victoria Herbert Paul. Nineteenth Century for May.<br />
Canton English. Colonel Wilkinson J. Shaw. New<br />
Revievi for May.<br />
Shall English Become a Dead Language? Review<br />
of Reviews for April; Spectator for May 1.<br />
Stevenson as a Writer. Mr. George Moore in Daily<br />
Chronicle for May 12; E. Le Gallienne in Westminster<br />
Gazette for May 19.<br />
Canadian Poetry. John A. Cooper. National Review<br />
for May.<br />
A Poet op Spring [Herriok],—Temple Bar for May.<br />
On the Theory and Practice op Local Colour.<br />
W. P. James, Macmillan's for May.<br />
The day of estimates of Victorian literature is<br />
upon us. Mr. Lang, indeed, opened the ball a<br />
few months ago. Dr. Traill contributes a more<br />
lengthy review to the new Fortnightly. Except<br />
for the triumph.* of the Romantic and Naturalist<br />
movement in English poetry, the literature of the<br />
nineteenth century, he says, will mean exclusively<br />
the literature of the Victorian Era. The two<br />
decades—1837-1857—which witnessed the birth<br />
of the works of Tennyson Browning, Carlyle,<br />
Macaulay, Dickens, Thackeray, and Ruskin, was<br />
a dazzling period which need fear no com-<br />
parison with the most famous periods of English<br />
history.<br />
From 1857 to 1877 the tide of literary produc-<br />
tion was steadily receding. Only, it produced<br />
Mr. Swinburne—beside whom Dr. Traill declines<br />
to place Rossetti or Matthew Arnold. In fiction,<br />
George Eliot's advent might, at first sight, appear<br />
to retrieve the literary credit of the period, but<br />
"we should be careful not to mistake the ap-<br />
proval of the critical and cultured English society<br />
for a popular pronouncement. The middle Vic-<br />
torian Era is not really the age of Tennyson in<br />
poetry and George Eliot in prose fiction; it is the<br />
age of Trollope as a novelist and of Martin<br />
Tupper as a poet"—and "one need not cast<br />
about for any severer criticism on the taste of the<br />
time." The reaction, as regards fiction, may be<br />
said to have begun when Mr. Blackmore gave<br />
"Lorna Doone to the world; and certainly,<br />
from the middle of the seventies to the present<br />
time, the art of the novelist has displayed a<br />
vitality, a strength, a many-sided activity, on<br />
which we may justly pride ourselves. They have<br />
witnessed Mr. Hardy's elevation to a foremost<br />
place among English novelists; Mr. Meredith's<br />
emergence from the shadow of an almost lifelong<br />
neglect; and the career of Stevenson. The last—<br />
"the youngest, and much younger than the<br />
eldest "—has naturally exercised the greatest influ-<br />
ence. To him we owe the new romantic move-<br />
ment, whose only serious competitor for popularity<br />
at the present day is the "Kailyard " school. As<br />
to this latter band of writers, Dr. Traill observes:<br />
"Time may be trusted to sift out the Scotch<br />
novelists who are novelists first and masters of<br />
the Doric afterwards from those with whom this<br />
order of procedure is reversed; and it will be in-<br />
teresting to note which of them will prove his<br />
substance and solidity as a wi-iter by remaining<br />
in the sieve."<br />
Dr. Traill also notices a remarkable improve-<br />
ment in workmanship during the last dozen years,<br />
which has made it difficult, in the case of dozens<br />
of novels which are issued from the press every<br />
year, to discover the delineating line between the<br />
merits of their form, and the merits or demerits<br />
of their matter. In a concluding passage he has a<br />
word of mordant reproof for some present-day<br />
criticism:<br />
If the democratic movement has made for the wider<br />
diffusion of the literary faculty, it has, on the other hand,<br />
infected the published estimates of literary productions<br />
with the peculiar and characteristic vices of democracy—<br />
with its vehemence, its ignorance, its inconsistency, its<br />
insatiable thirst for the sensational, its vulgar admiration for<br />
artistic vulgarity, its utter laok of measure and reserve.<br />
From the exaggerated eulogy, the shameless reclame which<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 25 (#431) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
attends even the most moderate of contemporary successes<br />
in literature, sober criticism revolts . . and it needs a<br />
determined fair-mindedness on the part of the critic to<br />
refrain from judging the whole literary movement of the<br />
time by these repellent incidents.<br />
"The novel threatens to supersede the pulpit.<br />
. . Perhaps few of us realise the extent to<br />
which the novel is a growth of the present reign.<br />
If we put aside the great and conspicuous in-<br />
stances of Defoe, Richardson and Fielding, of<br />
Fanny Burney, Jane Austen, and Walter Scott,<br />
there is scarcely an English novelist now read<br />
who died before Her Majesty's accession to the<br />
throne." Thus Mr. Herbert Paul. The weight of<br />
responsibility that has been shown to result from<br />
this serious view which is taken of themselves by<br />
the new class of novelists does not, however,<br />
wholly recommend itself to Mr. Paul. "Those<br />
who love, Uke Horace, the golden mean, may look<br />
back," he says," with fondness to the beginning of<br />
Her Majesty's reign, when novelists had ceased to<br />
be pariahs and had not become prigs." The poli-<br />
tical novel is among the more or less literary<br />
products of the Victorian age, and chief of poli-<br />
tical novelists is, of course, Mr. Disraeli. But<br />
how far is either the political or the historical<br />
novel (which may be considered as a variety of<br />
the political) legitimate or desirable r "I must<br />
confess to thinking," Mr. Paul answers, "that a<br />
novel should be a work of the imagination, and<br />
that it must stand or fall upon its own merits,<br />
without reference to any external standard what-<br />
ever. A novel which only interests those who are<br />
interested in the subject of it does not, if this<br />
view be correct, belong to the highest class." The<br />
"novel with a purpose" is also a product of the<br />
Victorian age. Dickens began it when he ran<br />
a tilt at the Poor-law in "Oliver Twist," and con-<br />
tinued it when he attacked the Court of Chancery<br />
in "Bleak House." Charles Kingsley's novels<br />
had a great practical influence in the promotion<br />
of sanitary improvement; although their earnest-<br />
ness was not conducive to literary perfection.<br />
And if novels with a purpose are to be written<br />
at all, they could hardly be written more wisely<br />
than Charles Reade, whose purposes were in every<br />
respect benevolent and praiseworthy, wrote them<br />
—Charles Reade whom, by the way, Mr. Paul<br />
classes with Whyte Melville and Wilkie Collins<br />
as authors who have fallen into oblivion. Mr.<br />
Paul is happy, too, that the school of Dickens<br />
is at last dying out. Their dreary mechanical<br />
jokes, their hideous unmeaning caricatures, their<br />
descriptions that describe nothing, their tears<br />
of gin and water, provoke only unmitigated<br />
disgust. But Dickens is absolved from responsi-<br />
bility for the long lingering train of weak<br />
imitators. His position is "unassailed and<br />
unassailable. He must always remain an<br />
acknowledged master of fiction and a prince of<br />
English humourists."<br />
Mr. Stead's alarm for the language is not<br />
shared by the writer in the Spectator. Mr. Stead<br />
pictures one language being spoken in London,<br />
another in Chicago, and a third in Melbourne,<br />
the users of these dialects being mutually un-<br />
intelligible. He proposes that to avert the<br />
danger of our race being struck with the curse of<br />
Babel, a sort of academy of editors and men of<br />
letters should be formed, who would keep the<br />
language true and make our words and phrases<br />
keep line. Assuming for the moment that the<br />
danger feared by Mr. Stead doesexist, the Spectator<br />
replies that this suggested remedy would be worse<br />
than the disease, and they would rather see the<br />
English language grow so disunited that it would<br />
cease to be a single language, than see it perish<br />
by being confined in an academic strait-waistcoat.<br />
The beauty of any language is its freedom and<br />
adaptability; when it has become fixed and rigid<br />
it is dead. Again, no committee could tell<br />
whether a word is a good word or a bad word, or<br />
whether it is wanted or not. Thousands of words<br />
which we now consider absolutely essential to the<br />
language were, when they were first introduced,<br />
described as quite unnecessary and the mere<br />
surplusage of pedantry or affectation. Each<br />
word must take its chance. But all this is beside<br />
the question, for the Spectator writer does not<br />
admit the need for an academy for the English<br />
language; he denies the proposition that the<br />
English race in its various habitations is taking<br />
to unintelligible dialects. "We have never met<br />
a newspaper article in modern English, much less<br />
a printed book, whether hailing from America or<br />
Australia, which, if not deliberately intended to-<br />
be a skit on current local slang, was not perfectly<br />
intelligible to every educated man who uses the<br />
English language as his mother tongue." Free<br />
trade in words has kept the language steady. Books<br />
written in the Elizabethan age are still perfectly<br />
intelligible. The language will broaden and<br />
deepen, and yet remain as clear as ever.<br />
CORRESPONDENCE.<br />
I.—The Output op Authors.<br />
IFIND it stated in The Author for May i that<br />
I confess to having written two of my books<br />
at the rate of 7000 words a day. I made no<br />
such confession. I said that while I had two of<br />
my earlier books in hand I must have written as<br />
much as 7000 words a day, but that that included<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 26 (#432) #############################################<br />
<br />
26<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
a mass of journalistic work—a very different thing<br />
from invention.<br />
H. G. Wells.<br />
Heatherlea, Worcester<br />
Park, Surrey.<br />
II. —The Moi-meme in Journalism.<br />
Students of literary methods cannot fail to<br />
have remarked the extensive growth of late of<br />
the moi-meme style of contribution, whether as<br />
applied to books, the drama, parliamentary<br />
reporting, or even the telegraphic views of "our<br />
own " or " our special." Is this new departure a<br />
healthy one? I venture to think not. The<br />
advantage of a lavish employment, over initials,<br />
of the personal pronoun is by no means apparent.<br />
Rightly or wrongly, a feeling is engendered that<br />
the impartial duties of a writer towards the organ<br />
he represents are being sacrificed upon the altar<br />
of egoism. Thus the small, not infrequently very<br />
insignificant, " I myself" flouts the more potent<br />
editorial " we " in quite a cheeky fashion. As a<br />
matter of fact, the general public are apt to<br />
resent individual opinions as above indicated, and<br />
fail as a rule to even identify such contributors,<br />
save when pseudonyms or initials are of established<br />
reputation. Anonymity in journalism, apart<br />
from book reviewing, seems to me the wisest<br />
course for all parties concerned.<br />
Cecil Clarke.<br />
Authors' Club, S.W.<br />
March 17. _<br />
III. —The Criticism of "Dolomite<br />
Strongholds."<br />
That "the works of members should not be<br />
criticised in The Author" is a healthy rule, and I<br />
was glad to see it formulated, on p. 287, in the<br />
last number. But, in the previous number<br />
(p. 264), I am sorry to see that Sir William<br />
Martin Conway has managed to insert a very<br />
damaging criticism of a member's book, which he<br />
names in full—"' Dolomite Strongholds,' by J.<br />
Sanger Davies "—and the attack is none the less<br />
effective because it is brought in " to illustrate"<br />
Sir W. M. Conway's novel views of the moral<br />
obligations which should govern his reviewing, or<br />
should not. What necessity was there for giving<br />
the full title and author's name? The " illustra-<br />
tion" in no way needed it.<br />
Of course, as Sir W. M. Conway declares that<br />
he has "reviewed with open hostility .<br />
only three books," I am not seeking a reason<br />
for the supposition that he intended, in this<br />
case, "to kill the book if he can," although<br />
members of the Alpine Club did once suggest<br />
something.<br />
But why trouble your readers, who are chiefly<br />
non-climbers, with a climbing criticism of my<br />
book? Sir William Martin Conway informs<br />
them: "The book is not a good. one from the<br />
point of view of an expert climber."<br />
The opinion, as an opinion, is a perfectly legiti-<br />
mate one, especially coming from one who pro-<br />
jected and announced a little book of his own upon<br />
the same group of mountains, with the aid, how-<br />
ever, of another hand.<br />
But why drag in this, or any other opinion,<br />
with full title of book and the author's name,<br />
into an illustration in a letter to The Author?<br />
True, there was a balancing clause, that he<br />
"praised" the same book in a popular weekly<br />
because it was " quite amusing," &c.; and, from<br />
the context, I may gain the further comfort that<br />
the readers of popular weeklies, "being possibly<br />
the fools they are," will get "no false notions of<br />
any importance " from my book.<br />
But I must decline to see the compensation<br />
even in this " praise," and I trust that there will<br />
be no further criticism of the works of any<br />
member of the Authors' Society in the pages of<br />
The Author.<br />
J. Sanger Davies.<br />
IV.—A Good Word for Editors.<br />
I recently sent a short story to one of our<br />
current publications, and received a cheque from<br />
the editor for just twice the amount asked.<br />
Though the fee named was a modest one, it<br />
was at a rate of payment that is, I believe, often<br />
used. That the story may have been worth more<br />
than the author asked for it makes no difference<br />
to the liberality of the transaction, but helps<br />
to prove that editors are not all mean and<br />
grasping.<br />
Why do I write this? Justice is my plea.<br />
May 17, 1897. Margarita.<br />
V.—Answers to some of the Questions in<br />
"A Self-Examination Paper for Candid<br />
Critics."—[The Author for May.]<br />
1. I have only read " Robinson Crusoe " in Ger-<br />
man, where the hero figures as Crusoe Robinson.<br />
I never make any remarks upon the book, affec-<br />
tionate or other.<br />
3. I published an article in the National<br />
Review for July, 1890, showing the "Vicar of<br />
Wakefield" to he one of the coarsest and<br />
most grossly absurd stories in English litera-<br />
ture.<br />
5. Ranke's "History of the Popes," of course.<br />
—Contemplating the ruins of St. Paul's with a<br />
view to sketching them. Who doesn't know<br />
that?<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 27 (#433) #############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
27<br />
6. Give the article. Will any do?<br />
4. (b.) I have a ri^ht to draw comparisons<br />
between any two novelists that are comoarable.<br />
Does M. C. V. intend to insinuate that, for<br />
instance, George Eliot, Mrs. Gaskell, Mrs.<br />
Oliphant, and, say, Mrs. Humphry Ward, are not<br />
comparable to Jane Austen, or that the female<br />
novelist of the present day is "incomparable "?<br />
In either case I disagree with him.<br />
Frederic H. Balfour.<br />
THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH.<br />
[April 24 to Mat 22—240 Books.]<br />
"Actinotus." The Power of (he Pane. 3/6. Sonnenschein.<br />
Adcock. A. St. John. East-End IdyllB. 8/6. Bowden.<br />
Alexander, Mrs. Mrs. Crichton'B Creditor. White.<br />
Anonymous. America and the Americana. Heinemann.<br />
Anonymous: A. O. M. Two Brothers. Gardner.<br />
Anonymous: M. R. S. OptimuB, and Other Poems. 2/6.<br />
Sonuenschein.<br />
Anonymous. The Platitudes of a Pessimist. 6- Kegan Paul.<br />
Anonymous. The Revolutionary Tendencies of the Age. 6/- Putnam's.<br />
Anonymous. The Sale Prices of 189*!. Vol. I. Henry Grant.<br />
Archer, William. The Theatrical " World" of 1896. 3/6. Scott.<br />
Archibald, D. The Story of the Earth's Atmosphere. 1 - Newnea.<br />
Baddeley, St. Clair. Robert The Wise and His Heirs, 1276-1362.<br />
Banks, L A. Hero Tales from Sacred Story. Funk md Wagnalls.<br />
Barclay. Rev. P. A Surrey of Foreign Missions. 3/6. Blackwood.<br />
Baring Gould, S. A Study of St Paul. 10/6. lsbiBter.<br />
Baxter, Katherine S. In Bamboo Lands. 10/- net. Gay and Bird.<br />
Bedford, Duke of. A Great Agricultural Estate. 6/- Murray.<br />
Bell, C. D. The Gospel, The Power of God, and Other Sermons.<br />
3 6. Arnold.<br />
Bell, Mrs. A. Flowering Plants. 2/- Philip.<br />
Berry, C. A. MischievouB Goodness, and Other Papers. 1/6.<br />
Clarke.<br />
Berwick. J. The Secret of Saint Florel. 6/- Macmillan.<br />
Besant, Walter A Fountain Sealed. 6/- Chatto.<br />
Bingham, Clive. A Ride Through Western Asia. 8 6 net.<br />
Macmillan.<br />
Bonner, G. A. The Law of Motor Cars, Hackney, and Other<br />
Carriages. 7 6. Stevens.<br />
Boore, Emma. Wrektn Sketches. Stock.<br />
Bosammet, B. Psychology of the Moral Self. 3,6 net. Macmillan.<br />
Bottome. M- A Sunshine Trip. Glimpsas of the Orient. 6/-<br />
Arnold.<br />
Boyle, Dean. Salisbury Cathedral. 1/- net. Isbister.<br />
Breton, John Le. Miss Tudor. Maequoen.<br />
Bridge, John. Dinner for Thirteen. 6/- Digby, Long.<br />
Broughton, Rhoda. Dear Faustina. 6/- Bentl*y.<br />
Bryan, W. J. The First Battle. A Story of the Campaign of 1896.<br />
10/6 net. Low.<br />
Buckler, A. Word Sketches in Windsor. 2 6. Digby, Long.<br />
Burr age, E. N. The Missing Million. 3/6. Partridge.<br />
Butler, A. G. British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs.—II.<br />
Brumby and ^lar^e<br />
Canton, W. The Invisible Playmate and W. V. Her Book. 3/6.<br />
Iebister.<br />
Carev, Rosa X. Coasin Mona. 2,6. Religious Tract Society.<br />
Carpenter. F. J. (Intro, by) English Lyric Poetry, 1600-1700. 3 6.<br />
Blackie.<br />
Cassidy, James. The Gift of Life. A Romance. Chapman.<br />
Chapman. Abel. Wild Norway. 16/- Arnold.<br />
Chaytor, D. G. The Law and Practice Relating to the Variation of<br />
Tithe Rent-charges in Ireland. 10/6 Sweet and Maxwell.<br />
Chesson, Wilfrid H. A Great Lie. 6/- TJnwln.<br />
Clark, F. T. The Mistress of the Ranch. Low.<br />
Clark, Sir George S. Imperial Defence. Imperial Press.<br />
Clark, J. W. The Observances in Use at the Augustinian Priory of<br />
S. Giles and S. Andrew at Barnwell. Cambridgeshire. 21 - net.<br />
Cambnge: Macmillan and Bowes.<br />
Clowes, W. L. The Royal Navy: A HiBtory from the Earliest<br />
Times.—I. 26/- Low<br />
Conway, Sir W. M. The Crossing of Spitsbergen. 30'- net. Dent.<br />
Cooke, P. J. Forensic Eloquence. 2/6. G.Barber.<br />
CoBtello, Michael. Harold Eflermere. 3/6. Sonnenschein..<br />
Coulter, F. W. England's Glory. A Poem. 1/6 net. Digby.<br />
Courthope. Prof. W. J. A History of Modern Poetry.—II. 10/fi<br />
net. Macmillan.<br />
Crane, Stephen. The Third Violet 6 - Heinemann.<br />
Cresswell. Henry. Without Issue. 6 - Hurst.<br />
Crooke. W. The North-Western Provinces of India. 10/6. Methuen.<br />
Crozier, J. B. History of Intellectual Development. — I. 14/-<br />
Longmans.<br />
Dallinger, F. W. Nominations for Elective Office in the United<br />
States, 7/6. Longmans.<br />
Davis, Richard H. Soldiers of Fortune. 6/- Heinemann.<br />
Dawson, P. Electric Railways and Tramways. Offices of Engineering.<br />
Dayton, A. C. Last Days of Knickerbocker Life in New York.<br />
12/6. Putnam's.<br />
Dearmer, Rev. P. The Cathedral Church of Oxford. 1/6. Bell.<br />
Deighton, K. The Old Dramatists. 8/6 net Constable.<br />
Dhnbleby, E. J. All Past Time by Astronomical Lines. 3/6. Nister.<br />
Donovan, Dick. The Chronicles of Michael Donevitch. 3 6 Chatto.<br />
Doudney, Sarah. Pilgrims of the Night. 67- W. H. Addison.<br />
Douglas, Sir George, The "Blackwood'* Group. [Famous Scots.]<br />
16. Oliphant.<br />
Dowden, Edward. The French Revolution and English Literature.<br />
7/6. Kegan Panl.<br />
Dowden, J. (Bishop of Edinburgh). Outlines of the History of the<br />
Theological Literature of the Church of England. 3/- S.P.C.K,<br />
Dowling, R. Old Corcoran'B Monev. 8/6, Chatto.<br />
Doyle, A. Conan. Uncle Bernac. 6 - Smith, Elder,<br />
Dyke, Watson. Cralktrees. 6/- Unwin.<br />
Eller. The Prime Minister of Wiirtemhurg. 3/6. Andrews.<br />
Ellis, W. A. (trans.). Richard Wagner's Prose Works. Vol. V.—<br />
Actors and Singers V2 6. net. Kegan Paul.<br />
Escott, T. H. S. Social Transformations of the Victorian Age. 6/-<br />
Seeley.<br />
Farini, G. A. How to Grow Begonias. 2/. Low.<br />
Farrar. F. W. (Dean). The Bible: Its Meaning and Supremacy.<br />
16'- Longmans.<br />
Fernatd, J. C. Englishnonyms and Sy Autonyms. Funk and<br />
Wagnalls.<br />
Filon, AuguBtin (trans, by F. Whyte). The English Stage. 7 6. Milne.<br />
Ford, Paul L. The True George Washington. 6/6. Lipplncott.<br />
Franks, Fanny (adapted from Hauschmnnn's work). The Kinder-<br />
garten System. 6/- Sonnenschein.<br />
Freese, J. H. A Short Popular Htstory of Crete. 1/6. Jarrold.<br />
Fremantle, Dean. Canterbury Cathedral. 1/- net. Isbister.<br />
Fulcher, F. A. Birds of our Islands. 3 6. Melrose.<br />
Fuller, Morris The Life, Letters and Writings of John Davenant,<br />
D. D. 10 6 Methuen.<br />
Furse, CoL G. A. Military Expeditions beyond the Seas. 15 - Clowes.<br />
Galller, A. The Majestic Family Cook-Book. 12/6. Putnam's.<br />
Gardner, S. R. Cromwell's Place in History. 3/6. Longmans.<br />
Gastrell, W. S. H. Our Trade in the World In relation to Foreign<br />
Competition. 6/- Chapman.<br />
Gibbs, Henry. A Long Probation. 6/- BurnB and Ontos.<br />
Gladstone, W. E. Later Gleanings. Theological and Ecclesiastical<br />
3/6. Murray.<br />
Gordon, G. A. Immortality and the New Theodicy. 47- net.<br />
Clarke.<br />
Gribble, Francis. Only an Angel 2/- limes.<br />
Hall, W. C. The Queen's Reign, for Children. 2/6. Unwin.<br />
Hare, C. As We Sow. 3,6. Osgood,<br />
Harris, G. Moral Evolution. 6/- Clarke.<br />
HaweiB, Mrs. A Flame of Fire. A Novel. 6'- Hurst.<br />
Hester, G. N. The Annals of England. In Verse and Rhyme. 3 6.<br />
Chapman.<br />
Hilton, J. D. Marie Hilton, Her Life and Work. 7/6. IabiBter.<br />
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